Fantasy Baseball Today - Vintage Luis Severino, Week 3 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (4/15 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 15, 2022

Luis Severino looked like he was back Thursday night (1:20)! Shohei Ohtani did not. ... Manny Machado had a historic game (9:44)! ... Charlie Morton and Adam Wainwright really stunk it up (13:40). ... What's going on with Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez (16:32)? Which two-start pitchers and sleepers should you target in Week 3 (18:35)? ... News and notes (31:34): We have a Ronald Acuña update. ... Let's fire up the Interest-O-Meter for these waiver wire options (39:39). ... Aces gonna ace (47:04). ... Which hitters stood out on Thursday (51:11)? ... We wrap up with bullpens and streamers (57:06). 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 in to fantasy baseball today on April 15th. Frank Sandville joined by Scott White. Here to break down all of Thursday's action. We had a historic offensive performance, a bunch of stinky pitchers that we'll get to pretty early on. Plus, we'll get you ready for week three. Big win for my yanks. You know what that means.

Oh, my goodness gracious. How are we doing, Scotty? Oh, I'm fine. I'm doing just fine. I wanted to make sure you spoke before I got to my oh my goodness gracious player because it would have just been me talking for like the first five minutes and that would have been weird. I've had a lot to say already. Doing good. All right.

So let's get it to my oh my goodness gracious player. And I'm going to stick with the theme here. The Yankees, Luis Severino, vintage Severino in this performance against the Toronto Blue Jays. Five shutout innings, two hits, two walks, six strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 83. pitches. That's an 18% swinging strike rate. Six of those came on the changeup. Five on the cutter. And that new cutter's guy, I know we mentioned it recently and kind of worried that he wasn't throwing his slider because it used to be one of his best pitches. He used this cutter 23% of the time. And the results on that pitch were tremendous. 71% whiff rate, 53% CSW. That's cold strikes plus

whiffs just awesome. His velocity was back up. Same point to where it was at back in 2018. Scott just like that, flip on a dime. I thought he looked amazing in the start. He did. No, he looked good and some of those new pitches looked good. They were very effective. I kind of dispute the vintage Severino claim because it's not just the slider was one of his most effective pitches before Tommy John surgery. It was the breadwinner. It was, okay, maybe he'll develop a change up someday, but this slider is so good that it may not matter. It was one of those types of pitches.

And, you know, sliders are notoriously put a strain on the elbow. So you could understand how he might want to lay off that pitch. He might want to develop some new ones. And at least in this start here, against a very good Blue Jays lineup, it looked like it could be a successful formula for Luis Severino. but we don't really know, like, if he's changed his pitch mix that much, we don't really know what we're dealing with here. And that scares me.

I'm encouraged, if I have Severino, more encouraged than after his first start. But I think it's a, I think there's still a lot we need to discover. It's basically a different pitcher now than the one we saw when he last pitched significantly, which was like, what, 2018? It was a long time ago. Yeah, yep. And the velocity that I mentioned, I mean, that was something that was really encouraging. That fastball velocity was the same as it was back in 2018.

I guess my retort to your retort, Scott, would be, what if the cutter just kind of takes the place of the slider? I mean, just for tonight, it was basically as good as we've seen the slider in the past. And I kind of agree with your assessment where the slider does put a lot of strain on the elbow. I was going to present that as a conspiracy theory that he's using this cutter so that there's not as much strain on his elbow. So I agree with you. Oh, no, I think that's, why else would he stop throwing his best pitch? I think that's, it's not a conspiracy theory. I think it's just a logical theory.

Right. You know? This cutter, by the way, Scott, I mean, it's like nasty. 91 miles per hour. I saw it maxed out at 95. I forgot who he struck out, but like there was one strikeout with this cutter that was really, really nasty. So I agree he's a new pitcher.

I don't want to like overreact to this, but maybe the cutter just kind of slots in for the slider for Severino. Yeah, no, it totally could. And like I said, this start is a good early sign, but it's just one start. And again, I feel like I need more data on this pitcher who only faintly resembles the previous Severino before I can have a lot of confidence in him. But yeah, I mean, if this was just a no name who did this tonight, like if this was Tyler McGill at the start of the season, just turning in this start Severino just did, it'd be like, okay, let's get excited.

But I'm comparing it to this previous standard of Severino, which was top 10 type pitcher in fantasy. And I still don't know, I still don't know if he's quite capable of that, as encouraging as this start was. Yeah, this is legitimately his best start in four years. I mean, I guess it would be like three and a half years, but yeah, it's a good sign.

And he is at Detroit next week, Scott. Would you be okay starting Severino in that spot? Yeah, that's fine. All right, cool. Oh, my goodness, gracious player for you, Scotty, who you got? So I'm going to say, Shohei Otani, who, wow, what a difference a turn makes. Because last time on opening day, he looked so overpowering against the Astros, right? The best lineup in baseball last year.

And he went against Texas this time, and the results were very different. six earned runs and three and two-thirds innings. And specifically, you know, those Astros couldn't do anything off Otani, but Jonah Haim, the Rangers backup catcher, just murdered him. He had a grand slam off Otani. He went three for four on the day. It was a bad start. But you know what?

The velocity that we were raving about after that first start, it was still way up from a year ago. The spin rates were still great on all of his pitches. is like it's not a question of stuff for Otani. I don't really read much into this performance from him. You know, we've seen a lot of really good pitchers have bad outings the first time through. And a lot with clear warning signs than I'd say Otani showed here. So probably just write it off as a bad one.

Go get him next time. And Jonah Heim, of course. We're not going to hear much from him this season because the Rangers have Mitch Garver. So it's noteworthy, but I don't really think it's actionable in any way in fantasy. All right. Are you comfortable if you have just Otani the pitcher using him next week at Houston? I know he was good against him on opening day. Yeah.

All right. Yeah, I'm comfortable. Otani, the pitcher, using him against anybody. Okay. Unless he has like two more starts in a row like this, then I'd start to question it. But I doubt that's going to happen. Scott, do you have any concerns with Otani the hitter thus far? He is 5 for 29 with 10 strikeouts to one walk,

a 34 and a half percent strikeout rate as a hitter to start the season. There were some doubts he could live up to last year's numbers, and he had, his batting average took a drop quite a bit in the second half. So to a degree, yes, I mean, I feel a little less confident he's going to return first round value. But am I so worried about Otani then I'm binging him in fantasy? No. And I think it's important. You know, we stress this every year.

I'm not sure we've gone far enough stressing it this year. And, you know, you don't like to keep hammering at home because it just, you know, it just sounds redundant. It sounds like a cop out. But it's important to remind everyone, including myself, the season's a week old. Right. It feels like it's been going on a lot longer than that. It's been a week. A week ago was the opening day podcast.

And so almost nothing means anything at this point. And I say I have to remind myself, because I'm furiously refreshing all my scoreboard pages on my rotisserie leagues or really any league and just, you know, begging me to move up in the standings. and it's just like what's happened so far is a drop in the bucket and like if this was a week in the middle of July nothing anybody did would be getting any kind of reaction from us you know like if it was just an isolated week not you know I'm not obviously like three weeks leading up to it or whatever

so yeah it's just it's important to keep that in mind No, I think it's a good reminder for everyone, Scott. I mean, there is a human element, obviously, to this game. There's a lot of psychology that comes with playing fantasy and stuff and not overreacting and trying to overcome biases, biases. There's a lot going on. And I have to remind myself, too, I had the ultimate gut punch earlier on Thursday,

and I'll get to it in just a little bit. But it felt like the sky was falling. It was like one thing after another. But before we get to that, got to give a shout out to Manny Machado with a game for the ages. here, five for five with a home run and two steals. That's a sock and two shoes. That's one stinky foot. Scott, were you someone who ever, did you ever wear sneakers without socks? Because I always

thought that was so weird. Does anybody do that? I knew some people growing up that, I mean, maybe you don't do it all the time, but you're in a rush, you're just like, I'm going to throw my sneakers on with no socks. Like if I'm going out to check the mail or something, maybe. But, But, you know, no, not as, you know, for a while, I wondered, you know, I'd look around, you know, particularly like middle school age, you know, that really difficult period where you just, you feel like it's impossible to live up to your peers at anything. And you look around at other people's feet and it looked like they weren't wearing socks. But then I came to discover there's such a thing as ankles socks, you know, like that just are completely hidden by the shoe. and it's not that they weren't wearing socks. So, you know, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure I've encountered that, that somebody legitimately, consistently not wearing socks in their sneakers. Don't do that. That's gross. Anyway, Machado, awesome game. Five for five, a home run and two steals. 18 fantasy points on CBS.

That's basically a quality start for a pitcher. So shout out to him. And per Jeremy Frank, at MLB random stats on Twitter. Encourage everyone to follow him there. Machado is just the fifth player since 1901, with five hits, four run scored, two steals, and a home run in the same game. That's how historic this performance was. Just an absolute breakout for Manny Machado.

You love to see it. And I wanted to give a shout out to some other Padres who had big games as well, Scott. Eric Hosmer, four for five with a double two RBI, not hitting for much power early on, but he's hitting 12 hits. He's batting 462, 25% rostered. I was kind of interested, Scott, you know, maybe in some deeper leagues. I picked him up in a 15-team Roto League last week, using him as my corner infielder. But I saw that he has four lefties on the schedule next week. So that kind of dampens any excitement for Eric Hosmer.

I don't think you should have much anyway. Like he's, the issue with Eric Cosmer has always been he doesn't elevate enough. And there's, like, he's still not, you know, early this season. And even though he's been getting some hits, he's still not elevating enough to deliver the kind of power we need from a first baseman. So, again, it's one week.

And I don't think he's going to continue getting a bunch of ground ball hits at this rate. Occasional line drive hits, too, I understand. But the point is, not enough power in the long run for you to want to start him at first base. Do you have his Stackcast page pulled up? Not at the moment. I was looking at it earlier tonight. Would you like to guess his launch angle entering tonight's game?

I think it was negative. Negative 0.1 for Eric Cosmer. So that's a lot of ground balls. I agree with you. It's probably not going to last. He is hitting the ball very hard. So obviously that helps these balls find a few holes. And even if he had like a 12-degree launch angle, you know, something good,

would be the best on record for him, frankly. Yeah. It would still only be a week of him doing that. So I would still be highly skeptical of it. But at least there would be a better justification for having enthusiasm for Hosmer. Yeah. The other Padre, I wanted to give a shout out to, C.J. Abrams, one for five, with his first career home run. Came off of our guy, Charlie Morton, unfortunately.

But, yeah, gets a homer in the books before his first steal. I saw you tweeting about that, Scott. We didn't expect it, but hey, here we are. And speaking of Abrams and Charlie Morton, Scott, have you had one of these gut punch days in fantasy baseball yet? I know we're only a weekend, but have you had any? What do you mean by that? Just an awful day?

Yeah, just like everything that can go wrong did go wrong. What pitchers would you guess I'm most invested in? What's starting pitchers, Frank? Well, then I would say that you just had the same day as I did because Adam Wainwright and Charlie Morton, they were not good in my main event league, which is. is my most important league, NFBC. It's huge buy-in, frankly. And I started Adam Wainwright, Kyle Gibson, and Charlie Morton.

That came out to an 8.36 ERA on the day, and it was just brutal. I also wanted to ask you, are you superstitious at all? Because a lot of people say, like, don't watch your pitchers pitch in fantasy. I watched all three pitchers pitch, and each one just got rocked. And I'm just left my head in my hands.

What am I doing? Why do I play fantasy sports? I am so bad at this. Not only am I not superstitious. I am, I don't even know what the word, like, anti-superstitious. If you tell me not to do something for superstitious reasons, I will do it. Just to prove you wrong. I don't know what the opposite is.

I thought it would just be stitious, but that doesn't sound right either. Anyway, between these three pitchers, Scott, Adam Wainwright, he gave up four earned runs over four and a third. Kyle Gibson, I mean, he's obviously not in the same category as these guys. Four earned runs over four in two-thirds. He did have 17 swinging strikes in the start. And then our guy, Charlie Morton, five earned runs over five innings pitched. Anything that you saw notable from those three performances? The pitchers?

Yes. Wainwright Gibson and Morton? No, I mean, obviously Gibson is the one we have the least confidence in. He had a great first outing. But I don't know that anybody was expected. expecting him to have a career season based on that. Interestingly enough, at the Marlins today, he had 17 swinging strikes on 91 pitches.

And in the past, he's had some pretty good swinging strike seasons, as Kyle Gibson, but not so much last season. And I don't know. I don't make, I don't think there's a real takeaway yet, but the 17 wins did catch my attention.

All right. Again, for Kyle Gibson, he had 17 swinging strikes in this start, 16 swinging strikes in his first start. I would hold him in deeper leagues, you know, in 12-teamers, if someone like Mackenzie Gore or Merrill Kelly is available, I would drop Kyle Gibson for one of those guys. But I would hold them in deeper leagues.

Do not start him next week. He's at the Colorado Rockies. Obviously, we just want nothing to do with that. Scott, before we get to your week three sleepers, we'll hit that early on here. Quick thoughts on the Mariners youngsters, because they had, well, Jared Kelnick had a huge game. Julio Rodriguez was okay.

Kelnik, a sock in a shoe of his own, a home run, his second steal of the season. The Homer, 114 mile per hour exit velocity, the hardest hit by a left-handed batter this season. Thought that was awesome to see. Julio Rodriguez went one for three with a walk and his second steal. However, two more strikeouts brings him to a 52% strikeout rate on the season. Some early thoughts on those two. Kelnick and Julio Rodriguez. I am a little concerned with the strikeouts.

If they were making outs that weren't all strikeouts, it'd be different, especially since we just went through this with Kelnik last year. But the performance Kelnik had with the sock in the shoe, with the loud home run, as you point out, Frank. I mean, that's a reminder of the upside that's there. And of course, it's only a weak rule still applies for them, too. it's a little harder to have faith when you haven't seen them succeed at the major league level before, not for any real length of time anyway. But it's too early to consider dropping either. And, you know, hopefully this performance from Kelnick, and frankly, Julio Rodriguez,

the fact he already has two stolen bases. I mean, that was the most questionable part. Would he run at the major league level? And for somebody who's hardly gotten on base to have already two stolen bases, I think is very encouraging from that standpoint. But in the end, he's going to need to hit. Let's give it a few more weeks. Yeah, I mentioned on last night's podcast,

you weren't here, Scott, but Kyle Lewis is rehabbing, and he's on his way back soon. And once he returns, this outfield gets a little bit more crowded. So by then, if these guys aren't hitting, then I think, you know, someone could find themselves on the outside looking at.

I don't, it'll depend on who is performing better at that time. But, you know, now is the time. These guys have to show up, Jared Kelnick and Julio Rodriguez. Let's get into week three. I know it might sound weird for some people. If you played the long week one, then this is technically week two for you. But based on the CBS default schedule, the short weekend was week one. This past week was week two.

This upcoming week that starts on April 18th will be week three. Scheduling to know. 12 teams have seven games. 18 teams have six games, obviously zero there with five games. what I think I said teams. 12 teams have seven games, 18 teams have six games, zero teams have five games. You'll love to see it,

a very even week in terms of scheduling. Scott, kick us off here with some two-start pitchers that you are looking at for week three. Well, as if we haven't brought his name up enough, Merrill Kelly is my favorite two-star pitcher, who's rostered in less than 80% of leagues, and therefore somebody you could potentially pick up. He's still only 52%

rastered for as much as we've discussed him. And, you know, his latest outing, I was a little discouraged by it. He didn't get all the swinging strikes with the change-up that he got in his first start, that he got in spring training. And it's still, you know, it's still more likely than not that he's kind of a fringe guy all year. But it's worth pointing out that start was against the Astros. He still had success. they're not a team that swings and misses much to begin with.

So, you know, let's not bury him based on what was still a successful start. And his matchups this week are the Nationals and the Mets, two pretty good matchups. I also like Tristan McKenzie. He's a little more rostered 71%. And, of course, he's been very hit or miss since first getting promoted in 2020. But his last start was very much a hit. just Wednesday night. I don't know if it was at night, but on Wednesday.

His matchups this week, White Sox at the Yankees. You know, iffy matchups, but there's a lot of upside there. And he's making two stars. Nicolodolo at San Diego versus St. Louis. Did not look good in his Major League debut, but to get an extra start in there, might be worth taking a shot on the talent. Kind of a deep pick is George.

Jordan Hicks, I'm not sure. It's technically going to be his first start of the season on Tuesday because they kept having to push it back for scheduling reasons. But he's in line for two starts beginning Tuesday at Miami, at Cincinnati. And he's transitioning to a starting role. And he's been primarily reliever in his major league career at this point. So I'm not sure he's going to be stretched out fully. But we're getting pretty deep into the recommendations here.

Josiah Gray versus Diamond's Giants. Oh, Scott, you're breaking up. You're breaking up, bud. Man. How you doing? I've got me? Are you back? You got me?

I think so. Okay. All right, I think we're good now. Sorry. Sorry, man. Sorry about that. There's no interruption of mine. Anyway, so yeah, I would say of those five names I rattled off, the two I might actually

considered starting, or Merrill Kelly and Tristan McKenzie. But Lodolo, Hicks, Josiah Gray. You could think about them if you're, if you're, if you're, somebody who just wants as many starts as you can get. I think Jordan Hicks, specifically in a points league too, which might sound weird, but you can throw him in your relief pitcher spot,

and between those two starts, I think he'll give you enough length that would equal one start, if that makes sense. So maybe he goes like three innings in each of those, so that would be like what a normal pitcher would give you. So just something to keep in mind if you're looking for a spark in a points league.

All right, Scott, How about some single-start streamers that we're looking at? I see you have four names rostered in less than 75% of CBS leagues. Yeah, so Matt Brash is my favorite sleeper overall for this upcoming week, one start or two. He was very impressive in his major league debut through a lot of strikes. And this week he gets the Royals. So very much like that.

Andrew Heaney at the Padres, you know, they just beat up on Charlie Morton and the Braves. I still think they're a middling lineup. And he showed a lot of swing and miss potential with that new sweeper in his first start. We'll see how Mitch Keller's start goes over this weekend. If it's unsuccessful, then maybe I'll take him out of the sleeper pitchers for the upcoming week.

But at Milwaukee, that's who he lines up for. If he does look good over this weekend, I think he'll be somebody to consider for that matchup against the Brewers. and was there any, did you want me to mention Miles Michaelis as well at Miami? You know, it's kind of a boring pitcher, but good matchup

and he might go deep enough to get a win. Yeah, more of a deeper league play, I would say, for Miles Michaelis. Mitch Keller, I think he said it right. We got to see something this weekend in order to trust him at Milwaukee. They, their bats look like they woke up

on Thursday against Adam Wainwright. Lots of hard hits off of him. A few near, home runs as well. Christian Yelich hit one that was like off the wall near home run. Yeah, so lots of hard hits. Andrew McCutcheon too.

Yes. They both headed over 400 feet, I think. Yeah, they didn't go out. Yeah, it was scary. So it looks like the Brewers lineup is starting to wake up so that could be kind of scary there for Mitch Keller. I wanted to bring one up, Scott. This is purely in deeper leagues.

But I like to look at the first game that the Rockies are out of Colorado. So they're playing six games from today, well, Thursday night, through next week, six games in a row at Corse Field. And then their first game next week is in Detroit, and they're going up against Matt Manning. I know Matt Manning isn't great,

but I feel like that hangover game, that first game out of Corse Field, is somewhere where you can really attack the Rockies. What do you think about Matt Manning in a deeper league? I mean, look, when you get to the point that you're recommending Miles Michaelis, I don't think somebody like Matt Manning for that reason is off the table.

But I do want to reiterate, as I maybe too often do with these sleeper pitcher and hitter recommendations, is like, I'd rather not have to resort to any of these guys, really. Like, I come up with a list of 10 to cover all the bases. But realistically, you know, usually my top 10 sleeper pitchers, it might be the top three that I'd consider starting in any of my leagues, you know? So we're getting pretty far down there with a Matt Manning type recommendation or even a Miles Michaelis recommendation. Yeah, these are deeper leagues, probably 15 team mixed or NL only A or only something like. Desperate situations, you know. Yeah, that's what you want to use the sleepers for.

It's, look, if you have stud pitchers on your team, then you're playing those guys. Maybe you're looking for a two starter to mix in there. But for the most part, you're playing your studs early on. And these are mostly desperation calls. For the most part. Now, my top two sleeper pitchers for this week are Matt Brash and Merrill Kelly. I've mentioned both of them already, so I'm not going to get into the Y again. But, like, I'd be fine starting Matt Brash or Merrill Kelly and basically any league.

But, yeah, you don't have to go too far. Like, there's a reason these guys are rostered in less than 80% of leagues. And it's because you'd rather not have to start them, you know. Yeah, for sure. Let's move over to the hitter side of things. Scott, who are the names that you're looking at, less than 70% rostered on CBS. So boy, like, this is not a fun week to do sleeper pitchers and hitters.

I guess that's why I'm apologizing for them because the way every team's rotation lines up, this is a week where every team's best starters are going twice. So it makes it hard to find sleeper pitchers because the ones getting the most starts are really good pitchers. And it makes it hard to find sleeper hitters because hitters are generally going against really good pitchers. So don't love this group. My top two picks are Connor Joe and Randall Gritchick, who, you know, they were near the top in weeks one and two as well.

People are probably tired of hearing about them. But they do remain rostered in few enough leagues that I can recommend them. The Rockies spend half a week at home and half a week against the Tigers rotation, Matt Manning included, which is not a very good rotation. So I think I can recommend them with some confidence. I like the Cubs matchups this week. so Ian Hap I feel okay of recommending him Joshua Lowe of the Rays

hasn't done much yet but he's impacted the ball well he's gotten on base with walks and they've been playing him against both lefties and righties so the matches for him are pretty good I believe the toughest pitcher

the Rays faced this upcoming week is Nate Avaldi and then Kyle Hendrickson and Stroman are on there but you know, it's not like a lot of big bat missers where you worry about him just getting carved up. So I could see low coming to life this week if you're in a five outfielder league.

Seth Brown, I think, is the sneakiest play. He's only 14% rostered. The A's have the best matchups of any team this week. Seven games they're going against the Orioles and the Rangers. Brown's off to a good start. And they've only faced one lefty so far at the A's, but he started that game. So it seems like they're treating him as more.

or less an everyday player, which is a surprise, frankly. Also Jorge Mateo, who's 19% rostered. And I like the Orioles matchups this week, seven games. He's been walking, he's been running when he's gotten on base. If steals don't matter in your league, I'm not sure you need to care that much about Jorge Mateo. But if you haven't invested, if steals do matter and you haven't invested in him yet,

I think this week is a good time too. I don't think he'll be. 80% available forever. All right. The best hitter matchups per Scott, and these are for the specific teams, the A's, the Twins, the Cubs, the Mariners, and the Orioles, the worst hitter matchups in week three,

the Braves, the Dodgers, the Cardinals, the Mets, and the Milwaukee Brewers. Let's promote a few things. Fantasy baseball today is here to help you dominate your league all season long, but now you can represent your favorite podcast with official Fantasy Baseball Today gear only found on the CBS Sports store. Discover T-shirts, mugs, sweatpants,

laser-engraved pint glasses, hats, water bottles, and more to remind your buddies how you got the inside scoop to crush the competition. Right now, Fantasy Baseball Today listeners will get 20% off orders when they use this podcast exclusive code.

Fantasy Baseball 20 during checkout again. That's Fantasy Baseball 20. and it's only available for our listeners. Head over to store.cbsports.com slash collections slash fantasy baseball today. That's a really long link. The link is in the podcast and YouTube description, so if you want to find it,

you can look for it there. And again, use that code and you will get 20% off your order. And if you want to hear about the latest on top prospects in the game, listen to our Saturday episode of Fantasy Baseball today in five hour, minute podcast, download and follow wherever you listen to this podcast. Every Saturday, that's

going to be the plan moving forward. We'll talk about prospects on there. Make sure you go and check out Scott's prospect report live on the site as well. CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Let's take a break. And when we return news and notes here on fantasy baseball today. All right, let's get into the news and notes per an article from Justin Tuscano, who covers the Braves for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The plan is for Ronald de Cunia to join Triple A. Gwinnett on April 26th for a rehab assignment that seems to be in line with his early May timeline. Within the article, they referenced that if he looks really good, maybe he'll start a rehab assignment next week, but I think that April 26th timeline sounds

a little bit more accurate for Ronald Acuna. Mackenzie Gore, he's here, Scott. He has been confirmed. Excuse me. As the starter on Friday against the Atlanta Braves, he is 61% rostered. So please check to see if he is available in your league. Again, that is McKenzie Gore. Everywhere. Make sure you get him on your team. He is a must add right now. I would say beyond Jesus Lazzardo and Tyler McGill,

who are now around like 85% rostered in CBS. So, you know, it's too late for them. But McKenzie Gore is the most exciting pickup of the year at starting pitcher so far after them. So I don't even care. that much how the start goes. I mean, obviously he needs to stick around after it. But he was the gold standard of pitching prospects prior to his mechanical issues last year. And, you know, he showed up to camp looking like that guy again and looked like that in his first AAA starts. So I think

we should treat him that way. All right. Well, Scott, that's why you're a professional, because we got an email from Ben and he asked, do I add McKenzie Gore or Tyler McGill? So you would still go McGill there. Yeah, I would still go McGill. But, like, who else would be in that discussion? Trista McKenzie, maybe. Merrill Kelly, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, but even he's

only up to 52. I would, like, Andrew Heaney, I feel like had an exciting first start, but he's not even up to 50 yet in terms of roster rate. Matt Brash. I think Matt Brash is in that discussion. Okay. Yeah, you need, you should have Brash over McKenzie Court, too. I forgot about him. Yeah, it's a fun time for

early in the season for some young, exciting starting pitchers. So Tyler McGill, Mackenzie Gore, Matt Brass, those are the top three right now. Ben also said that Scott needs to grow a stash, make it happen. I don't know how we're going to do it, but I would love for it to happen. I have no interest in doing that. To be honest, that's too controversial. It's too controversial for Friday. I feel, okay, I'm going to do it anyway. Do it. I feel like most facial hair is grown ironically.

And I keep waiting for that phenomenon to end. It's been going on for maybe like a decade now. But I still have a hard time taking it seriously. Like a well-manicured beard like yours, Frank, I'm not so much talking about that. But I'm talking about the standalone mustache or the very bushy beard, you know. Oh, good thing Chris is in here. You know, I understand certain faces look better with it.

I get that. But it's just, it's so prevalent. And I don't know. I haven't totally, all these years into it. I haven't totally warmed up to it. Like, I feel like it started with Johnny Damon. Remember when Johnny Damon grew that beard for the Red Sox? And everyone was like, what's going on?

He looks like a hobo. And then, and then like. you go back and you look at pictures of that beard now and it looks very tame but the standards of today. Right. You know? I don't know.

No, I think that's my, that's my highly offensive rant for the day. Hot Take Friday from Scott White. Johnny Damon, yeah, he probably was one of the first. I know Jason Worth comes to mind where, oh man, at some point I was like, how do they let this guy into the ballpark? but no, yeah, he had a big beard going on as well.

Look, good thing you don't live here in the five boroughs, Scott, because you walk into Brooklyn and it's just there are beards everywhere. And yeah, there's a lot going on there. And you know what? Like, I'm not saying you can't have it if you want it. I get it. Like it's, you know, you do you. It's a free country, all of that.

But like, don't pressure me into doing it. It's not my thing. Yeah, no. I mean, I think it's just, it's like one of those phenomenines, right? I think people just kind of wonder like, how would Scott White look with a mustache? That's, I mean, that's why I would want to do it. Well, you're seeing how I look with glasses now. How's that going? Yeah, it looks all. I think it suits you well.

I don't like it. I don't like it at all, but it's, it's functional. It's not just there for looks. All right, let's get back into it. Teoscar Hernandez placed on the IL with a left oblique strain. This is a big loss. He was being drafting the third or fourth round in most leagues. So he's going to be out. I didn't see an official timetable, but obfiel. bleaks can be tricky. Rimal Tapio was batting fifth and he started in left field on right field, rather, on Thursday. He went one for four. Not lots of excitement with Tapia. Maybe worth a look in deeper five outfielder leagues. Luis Castillo will throw a live bullpen on Friday. If all goes well, a rehab assignment could be up next. Javier Baez was scratched due to thumb soreness.

Eloy Jimenez out of the lineup Thursday after fouling a ball off of his ankle the day before. Gene Seguerra, was out of the lineup after getting hit by a pitch on his arm on Wednesday as well. Robbie Grossman has missed the last two games due to groin tightness. Bryce Elder, Scott, I need you to talk to me about Bryce Elder. I don't know much about this gentleman. He will pitch on Saturday for the Braves, which means Wascarinaoa will lose his second start this weekend. So unfortunately, if you started him as a two-star pitcher like I did in a few leagues,

he will not get that second start. What do we need to know about Elder, Scott? I saw, I think he was like a borderline top 10 or top 15 prospect in the Braves organization. Yeah, he's really unconventional. He pitches like somebody much older than he is. He has a lot of different pitches, gets good movement on them, locates them well, and got a lot of strikeouts in the minors last year, but he throws like 91. He doesn't have the fastball that most young pitchers have. And so I don't think there's a ton of upside there,

despite the numbers being good. And, you know, got good results in his first start. Maybe got a little gassed at the end, gave up a couple home runs in his final inning. But I'm not rushing out to add, Elder. He's 4% rostered. So, I mean, NL only,

are you going to put any bids in on him in your 15 team leagues this weekend? No. So the start scheduled for Sunday? Yeah. I mean, I guess for next year. Let's see how that start goes. But as things stand now, no, I would not be looking at NL only is a different story. Obviously, you'd pick them up and NL only, but a 15 team mixed. I would say that roster rate is maybe it could be as high as 10%. But we'll see how that second start goes.

I have my doubts about elders upside. I just refreshed some player news, and I saw that Jonathan India left Thursday's game with right hamstring tightness. So hopefully not too bad for him. We need you, Jonathan India. Spencer Howard was placed on the aisle with a cracked fingernail slash blister issue.

James Caprillion started a rehab assignment on Thursday. He's 17% rostered. He was kind of useful at times last year, Scott. Any interest in James Caprillion in deeper leagues? Not really. No, he was useful for a stretch, but it was short-lived. And certainly not fresh off injury. All right. Let's get to the waiver wire, interest o meter. We need more meters. 10 is a must-add player. One, don't even bother.

Hesu Sanchez, I know I brought him up the other day, Scott, but another good game, two for four with a triple, an RBI, a run scored. He is 68% rostered. The waiver wire interest-o-meter in Hazu Sanchez. I would say probably about a five I mean there's just no utility for him in a points league because the plate discipline's so bad

he'd need to have a ton of power so it's pretty much limited to five outfielder category leagues traditional roto leagues I guess so I don't know I don't know if I went too high with the five there we'll see how I haven't figured out how to calibrate this meter you've just invented yet

but I'll say five for Jesus Sanchez and try to base my subsequent ratings on that. All right. I mean, I think he might be valuable in three outfield category leagues if you need power. Yeah, he only has... Maybe. I'm just not there yet with them.

You know, there are a lot of outfielders out there. And theoretically, a three outfielder categories league, assuming 12 teams. How many... 36 started, obviously. How many rostered? 45, maybe. 46. Maybe as many as 50.

Is he in my top 50 yet? No, he's not. So that's where I'm at with, say, Jesus Sanchez. And I love Hazu Sanchez. He's not inside my top 50 either. So I watch him very closely. I have him in the Scott White Dynasty League. And if nothing else, he's just a fun player to watch.

He watches at bats and he's like wiggling his hips around. And when he's taking pitches, he's a unique player. He's a fun player. Let's stick with the Marlins here. I know that you talk about Anthony Bender a lot, Scott. He's only 41% rostered. He gave up two hits, but escaped with his second save in a one-run game. against the Philadelphia Phillies, your waiver-wire interest o meter in Anthony Bender?

10. It's ridiculous how rostered Jake McGee is compared to Anthony Bender. Bender's probably better, and he's a confirmed closer when McGee hasn't been used anything like a closer so far. And I'm picking on McGee here, but he's not the only example. They're relative to other relievers, Bender's roster rate is just, it's just, outrageous to me. I guess people are still holding out hope.

Dylan Floro comes, maybe not holding out hope, but they're halfway expecting Dylan Flora to come back and take that role. But it's not like Floreau was a natural closer. He was the guy who backed into the role last year when they traded away their closer. And now that Don Mattingly has already declared Bender,

his go-to guy in the ninth, I'm not sure why he would revert to Floreau. I understand I haven't exactly been the closer whisperer this year, so maybe I'll be dead wrong about this. But I feel like, in my own relief pitcher rankings, I think I put him like 15th at relief pitcher. So, definitely need to pick a bender anywhere. Anywhere saves are valuable. Scott, I don't know that a closer whisperer exists because it is just so tough, especially this time of year, trying to figure out what's going on. I pulled up Jake McGee's player page just to see how old he was,

35 years old, I thought, you know, maybe at some point in life, he, like, stole Scott's lunch money or something because Scott, you just really do not like Jake McGee, man. Every day, something to say about Jake McGee. Well, it's, it's just because people bought in so hard to this little comment from Dave Kapler. I was one of them. I got Kapler. And I'm like, come, guys, you know better than this. You know, it's interesting. You know the baseball sim out of the park? Yes, it's a great baseball sim on the PC. Well, you know, as long as like, I feel like everything's 10 years ago for me,

but like 10 years ago, I used to play it like all day. And I had a Pirates franchise going. And Jake McGee was just this minor leagher for the race at the time. And, you know, I was building up the pirates, so I traded for a bunch of prospects from all these different teams. Jake McGee ended up becoming my ace. That's how the Sim, what the Sim developed. them into. So I have a soft spot for Jake McGee, actually, just to just to share with you some of my

SIM exploits. I'm sure it's very interesting. All right. I'll take your word for it. But, uh, yeah, I, I have, uh, Jake McGee on my main event team again and a team that I have three, what I thought were closers coming in and I have zero saves. So there you go, baseball. J.P. Crawford went two for five with his first deal and he's off to a nice start. He's 10 for 24. He has three doubles. Just one strikeout. He's 42% rostered. Scott, your waiver wire intraso meter

in J.P. Crawford. One. No, there's nothing to see here. All right. Fair enough. Ronesi Contreras, I wanted to ask you about. He came in in relief

on Thursday for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He's one of the top pitching prospects in their organization. Three shutout, one hit, one walk, five strikeouts, nine swinging strikes on 46 pitches.

And he averaged 97 miles miles per hour on the fastball. Spin rate on his curveball, 2,853 RPM. That is elite. 14% rostered. Scott, what is your waiver wire interest o meter in Ronesy Contreras?

So I guess he's in the same spot Spencer Striders in, and Aaron Ashby was in. Now it sounds like Ashby's at least getting one turn in the rotation upcoming for the Brewers. I don't know how long they'll go six-man, maybe he'll end up bumping somebody out

completely, but it's more of a stash now for Contreras. I think maybe you could use him in deeper categories. Leagues is just kind of a cheap strikeouts guy. So I'll call my interest level in him like a four. The purposes of this exercise. But yeah, like whenever he does enter the rotation for the pirates, he's going to be pretty interesting. All right.

In deeper leagues, let's get through these a little bit quicker. Aroldus Chapman enters in a three-run league, three-run game. He walks the bases loaded, no outs. And then I think Michael King came in to close the game out. Any interest in stashing Jonathan Loisaga and or Chad Green? Very little. This was Chapman's first shaky outing out of the season,

and basically every closer has had one by now. Yep. This is one where I have to remind myself to, like, take it easy, Scott. I mean, more so as a fan, because I'm just like done with the role to Chapman. I'm done with him. Raver San Martín came in in relief. He was the, I guess, the long, reliever, the follower against the Dodgers. Five shutout, two hit, zero walks, two strikeouts.

In deeper leagues, any interest? I would say minimal interest. All right. The last one on this list, Dan Vogelbach, four for five with his first homer, and he, as of now, strong side of the platoon, he's 2% rostered. I've always kind of like Daniel Vogelbach against my better judgment. But the pirates are going to give him a lot of chances. So that's, you know, this may be his best opportunity ever to break in and emerges something. You know, four-hit games, not really moving the needle for me, but we'll keep an eye on him. All right.

Ace is going to ace. Let's take a look at a few aces from Thursday. Sandy Alcantara, a nice bounce back here, six and a third, one run, five strikeouts. He had 19 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. Kevin Galsman, very strong outing at the Yankees, five and two-thirds, two runs, nine strikeouts, 21 swinging strikes and he induced one of the worst swings I've ever seen in my life

on John Carlos Stanton go check out my Twitter or or pitching ninja because he tweeted it out it was bad and then Joe Musgrove just put on a clinic against the Braves, sorry Scott six and two-thirds shut out with six strikeouts anything that you notice here Scott

on Sandy Gosman why did I say his name like that Sandy Gosman and Joe Musgrove you know, that's the right way to say. You're right. Gossmann, 21 swinging strikes, and specifically, 13 on just 24 splitters. Nasty.

I think he's going to be fine. I know we're a little worried, you know, kind of a bumpy second half, and now he's going to Toronto. Again, it's only one week, so things could change. But you can feel pretty comfortable with Gosman right now. I should say. Musgrove, the velocity was down and the spin was down quite a bit.

Obviously, it didn't affect the results in this start, but I would add him to the list of high-end pitchers who were at least a little concerning first time through. You know, I'm not looking to dump them or anything. I say first time through. This was a second start, obviously. But yeah, I definitely want to keep an eye on those velocities and spin rates in the starts ahead.

All right. For Kevin Galsman, I wanted to add the. slider velo is up two miles per hour. So that is a good velocity reading. We haven't got a lot of those so far. So just more greatness from Kevin Galsman. Not nearly an ace scout outcome from these two scouts, but they were solid.

Brandon Woodruff, he needed a bounce back performance. Five shutout, three hits, one walk, only two strikeouts in this one. And then Logan Gilbert, solid on the road at the White Sox. Five innings, four hits, one unearned run, four strikeouts, two, zero. walks, anything on Woodruff and or Logan Gilbert.

So Woodruff, I understand anything to get a lot of strikeouts. 12 swinging strikes on 89 pitches, that's whatever. I think he's, I don't think there's anything to worry about here. Bad spring, bad first start, this start, you know, a little

overwhelming with the strikeouts, but remember in that first start he was hardly throwing his secondaries at all, he threw like 70% fastballs. It was 53% fastballs this time, combined four-seem and two seamer, which is more in line with what he was doing last year. So I think those secondaries are starting to come around after the abbreviated spring training.

And this stuff looks fine in terms of velocity. I think Woodruff's going to be absolutely fine. All right. We got an email from Scott earlier in the day, not Scott White. Grade the trade. Head to head categories with expanded rosters, only eight teams in this league. The pigeon categories are wins plus quality starts, innings, strikeouts, ERA whip saves plus holds.

I gave Joe Musgrove and Logan Gilbert for Brandon Woodruff and Aaron Ashby in an eight-team league. Oh, a league that shallow, just sell out for the best player, which is Woodruff. So I would say, I would say that's a B-plus.

B-plus. I mean, you gave up two pretty good pitchers. And in like a 12-team league, I might hesitate to do it. But for an 18-team league, yeah, you just got to go for the best you can get. He does add that there's expanded rosters, so I wonder if maybe it plays like a 10 or 12 team league based on that. Woodruff is far and away the best player in this deal.

Then it's Musgrove, then it's Gilbert, then it's Ashby after those guys. I think in a vacuum, I think this is a very fair trade, Scott. I would give it a C, but because it's a shallower league, I give you a slight advantage, like a C plus or B minus for me. Let's talk about some hitter standouts from Thursday. Brandon Lowe, two for four with his third home run. This one was off of a lefty and Brandon Lows off to a very nice start. He's batting 2.96, just five strikeouts in

seven games. Jesse Winker stand out in the wrong, for the wrong reasons. O for four with two strikeouts. He is three for 22. Does have eight walks. So the OBP is there right now. All three of his hits are singles. However, the underlying stack cast metrics are all great right now for Jesse Winker. 92 mile per hour exit velocity, 317 XBA, 558 X-SL. So if you have, Have Winker. Don't do anything rash yet. It seems like better days are coming for him. Christian Yelich went one for four with a double. We mentioned nearly hit a home run in this game. He had three hard hit balls. And he's looked good so far, Scott. I think we were maybe talking off the podcast before the podcast the other day. And you and you and Chris were talking about how you've been impressed by Christian Yelich thus far.

Yeah, I can't remember what Stack Chris shared with us, something like he had the best hard hit rate of the year so far. or something like that. And he doesn't have a home run yet, Christian Eilich, but he's showing a good eye. He's making elite contact. And his launch ankle's better than it was last year. It's not where it was at his peak,

but it's good enough to suggest that if he keeps it going, obviously, and again, we're talking very little data, but encouraging signs from a player who I know a lot of people were, worried about coming into the year, rightfully so. It hasn't translated to big results yet, but the underlying numbers say it's coming.

All right, we can't talk about Yelich without, of course, talking about Cody Bellinger. Just checked in on the Dodger game. He's two for three with a walk. Both of his hits are singles. He also stole another base. So he's now up to three steals. He hit his first home run on Wednesday.

And now he's batting 286. So I'm not saying Cody Bellinger is back, but this is what we needed to see. We need to see some signs of life. And the past three or four games, Cody Belanger has looked a lot better. So credit to him. Let's see if he can keep it up. If nothing else, the willingness to run is very encouraging. It's obviously fast enough to do it.

But I don't think anybody was necessarily counting on him for stolen bases, even if he did bounce back. Because, you know, he's been kind of Mani Machado-like as far as those go. or you're never sure if they're going to be there from one year to the next. By the way, Mani Pichotto up to three stolen bases now too. Yeah. Tony Santian came in the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, and he got crushed.

Two hits, three earned runs, gave up a three-run homer to Will Smith. Scott, if you added Tony Santian, or if anyone added Tony Santian last weekend, you feel right dropping it, right? I mean, say it's plus holds leagues. Maybe not. But there aren't many of those.

So, sure. I mean, it doesn't look like he's gonna be even the second choice for saves once Lucas Sims gets back. I made such a bad move. We were talking before Scott, and I am just beating myself up for this, man. In a deeper league, I dropped to Michael Givens

who picked up the save on Thursday for Tony Santi and it feels awful. When you make a bad closer decision, it just feels so, so bad. Tommy Edmund, let's get back. I mean, not that Michael Givens, I think, is now replacing David Robertson as the Cubs closer, but that situation is not crystal clear, if nothing else.

Yeah. Let's get back into the hitters. Tommy Edmund won for two with his second home run. He's off to a great start. He's batting 400 with just two strikeouts in five games. Frankie, how many? Two hits is back. All he needed was Coorsfield.

Two hits in this game. He hit his first home run of the season. 87% rostered. That actually kind of surprised me. So people are in on Frankie two hits. Maybe Vlad Jr. felt the effects of that thing. injury today. Remember he got stepped on by Aaron Hicks when he was covering first base yesterday. Still hit the three home runs in that game, but then today he goes 0 for four with four

strikeouts. So, all right, he's all right. He's allowed to do that after three home runs. Corey Seeger, two for four with his first Rangers home run. He is batting 346 early on and a few stolen bases I wanted to mention. J.C. Real Muto, four for four with his first steel. Jason now has two steals for those who play in deeper leagues. Colton Wong went two for four with his first steal. Brian Hayes, true story. Scott wanted to talk about Cabrion Hayes as his oh my goodness gracious player

because he stole a base. That's the reason. It wasn't a lot of oh my goodness gracious today, so I was struggling to come up with one. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, so that's his third as well, right? I think it's his second, but I will confirm that once again right now. Yeah, you're right. It's a second.

Yeah. No, that's good. I mean, if you could get 10 to 15 steals out of a third baseman, those are out of position steals. Those are very valuable. Well, he's on pace for well more than that, because I don't know if you heard, Frank, it's only been a week. He's on pace for like 40 steals.

Let's go. Give us 40 steals. We'll take it. And by us, I mean, I have like one share of Cabrian Hayes, so not much. He's hitting the ball hard too, but a little too much on the ground still. You know, jury's still out on what kind of player Hayes is going to be, I'd say. Yep. Adalberto Monasey, O for three with a walk, but he picked up his first two steals of the season.

Whitmerfield went one for five. He picked up his third steal. Ossinola stole a base as part of a double steel with Manny Machado. And then Yankees' backup catcher, Jose Trevino stole a base. He now has more steals than Boba Chishet, Jazz Chisholm, and Tim Anderson. Because baseball, that's why.

The call to the bullpen for the Oakland A's. Lou Trevino pitched three of the last four games, so he was not available on Thursday. A gentleman named Danny Jimenez picked up the save there. So just a name to watch if anything happens to Trevino or if he's traded at some point. For the Mariners, Drew Steckenrider pitched in the seventh inning up three to one. He faced the 6, 7, and 8 in the lineup.

Diego Castillo was used in the 8th. At that time, the score was 5 to 1, and then Paul Seawald was used in the 9th. Scott, would you be okay dropping Drew Steckenrider if you have him in deeper leagues? would you drop him for the Red Sox guys, for example, like Hansel Robles or Jake Deekman? Look, it's two versus three.

Right. So, well, I don't know. I don't know that we can completely rule out Mount Barnes for the Red Sox. I just, I hate closer situations like this. I mean, the Mariners never really settled on anybody last year, at least after they traded Kendall Graveman. So, I don't know. I think if saves are really hard to find in your league,

you probably need to hold on to Steckin Rider. I could always tell when you're stressed out, Scott, because you start rubbing your head. Well, it's just like, it's trying to... You need the stress ball. Where's the stress ball? Where's the stress ball? What really can only be known by experience, you know?

Where's the stress bowl, Scott? I don't know. I lost it. You could probably ran off with it. Yeah. For the Detroit Tigers, Gregory Soto was in, the ninth inning with a two-run lead, he converted his second save of the season. Michael Fulmer once again pitched in the eighth, and we mentioned for the Cubs, Michael Givens

picked up a save with a three-run lead. David Robertson technically should have been available. He pitched last on Tuesday, April 12th. He did pitch, no, not even back-to-back days. He pitched April 10th before that. So it seems like Robertson should have been available, but they still went to Michael Givens. So. Right. It was a three-run lead. So even though it was a safe situation, they may not have viewed it as the most high leverage situation. I mean, that's the thing. How many closers are they really? Most bullpins probably just have more of a leverage guy. That usually ends up getting their saves, but not with the same dedication, consistent. and see that we think of a true closer getting, you know? I have a theory, Scott. Michael Givens has pitched in Colorado before for the Rockies.

They were in Colorado for this game. That's why they used him. He knows how to pitch there. Yeah. I just completely made that up. I don't know if it's true, but... Is it a conspiracy theory or is it just a theory? That one, that's a conspiracy theory.

Yeah. We can file that under the, Luis Severino-Cutter conspiracy theories on today's podcast. To stream or not to stream? Oh, I just realized, Scott, we didn't give out a... Fortune favors the brave two-star pitcher of the week for next week. Is that something we have to do? Scott, you're breaking up again.

Oh, come on, man. Oh, there you go. You're back. I don't know what's going on. Maybe it's my internet. I don't know either. I forgot to pay my cable bill. Who is the scariest pitcher on this list?

You know, Josiah Gray is pretty scary. I mean, he had a home runs. Yeah, he had a great start recently against the Braves, but he is someone that can be very hit or miss. So I'm going to go. I think you're going to go with him. I'm going to go with just I agree. Who are you going to go with?

I'm going to go with Nicolodolo. Okay. I don't really want to start Nicolodolo after that debut, but he's making two starts and has a lot of upside. So that's my fortune favor. I think it should be fortune favors, the bold, Frank. Well, not brave. All right, you'll do bold.

I'll do brave. Let's wrap up here with our, to stream or not to stream, for the weekend for Friday. Let's start with Mitch Keller versus the Washington Nationals. Eric Fetty is at the Pirates. Zach Efflin at the Marlins. Drew Rasmussen at the White Sox. Reed Detmer's at the Rangers. Brad Keller versus the Tigers.

Kyle Wright at the Padres. And then McKenzie Gore making his debut against the Braves. You know, I don't think Gore is a must start in his debut, but he's, Probably my favorite of this group. I don't mind Kyle Wright or Mitch Keller or Brad Keller or Reed Demers or Drew Rasmus

or Zach Eflin. I think they're all usable. The only one who isn't is Eric Fetty. Get that out of there. Yeah. I think I might put Zach Eflin at the top of the list. Yeah. I like my eyes went there kind of late. No, I want to put him ahead of Gore,

but I might put him second behind Gore. With that matchup at Miami. Yeah, that's fair. Let's go to Saturday, James and Tyone at the Orioles. Nick Martinez versus the Braves. Josh Rogers at the Pirates, Adrian Houser versus the Cardinals,

Tommy Hearn versus the Angels, and then Paul Blackburn at the Blue Jays. I was kind of struggling to find names here, so. Yeah, Jameson, at Baltimore, obviously a really good matchup, and he got all those swinging strikes in his first start of the season. I don't know where those were last year.

A little skeptical of it, but with that matchup, I think you could roll the dice. If you need a second one, Adrian Houser versus the Cardinals would be my pick. No, no, no, no. They won't.

I'm sorry. Nick Martinez versus the Braves would be my second pick. And I actually am starting to like him quite a bit. Okay. So Adrian Houser third. I would like to apologize

to Taylor Hern because I called him Tommy Hern. I guess I had a legendary boxer Tommy Herns in my head. there. Taylor Hearn, by the way, if you haven't seen it, he had an awesome, like, press conference where his sister was asking the questions. I don't know if she's like a reporter or if she was just there, but it was awesome. It was like a really, like, wholesome response. So if anyone hasn't seen it, go check it out again. That is Taylor Hearn with the Texas Rangers. For Sunday,

Nesser Cortez at the Baltimore Orioles, Eliezer Hernandez versus the Phillies, Aaron Ashby versus the Cardinals, Carlos Hernandez versus the Tigers, and Jose Contiottes. versus the Nationals. So as good as Nestor Cortez looked against the Blue Jays, I'm happy to start him at Baltimore. I like the potential of Aaron Ashby, obviously. I'm not sure he's going to be ready to go to five inings needed to get a win.

But still, he'd be my second choice of this group. All right, we're going to wrap there. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy baseball today will be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.