Fantasy Baseball Today - Waiver Options for the Final Week, Hitter Updates & Early 2025 SP Rankings! (9/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Shane Baz has been pitching well (2:22)! ... Griffin Canning dominated the White Sox and faces them again next week (8:22). ... The Yankees tee'd off on Bryan Woo (17:02). ... News (23:43): Steven Kwan was placed on the IL. ... Which pitchers could be used as streamers in the final week (28:57)? ... We have some deep league waiver wire hitters (31:58). ... Let's take a closer look at five hitters who've recently returned to the Majors (36:50). ... We got more pitcher letdowns on Tuesday (50:55). ... How do we plan to rank these starting pitchers in 2025 (55:02)? ... We wrap up with some unsung heroes, leftovers, bullpens and streamers (59:01). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in to fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, September 18th.

I am Frank Stanful, joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we have potential waiver wire options for the final week of the season. We have updates on five hitters who've recently returned to the majors, some early 2025 starting pitcher talk, and much more. Let's jump in.

Can you believe it? Wow! All right, Chris, you are up. Player the Night. And I said I would do Shane Boss, who had a very good start. He's a two-star pitcher this week. Got the first one out of the way against Boston.

Seven innings, two earned runs, two hits. One walk. six strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 96 pitches. And that feels like an especially big deal for Baz because while he has pitched well for the most part this season and coming back from Tommy John surgery, the strikeouts and the whiffs have not really been terribly impressive. And I want to be more optimistic about this start because he had 18 whiffs and what was six strikeouts and seven innings, which is fine but not great. But the 18 whiffs, that's great. 10 of them on the four seamer on 26 swings. That's really good.

Everything else is still kind of not that impressive. Five whiffs on 20 swings with the curveball. He was pounding the zone in this one, 60% in zone contact rate or in zone pitch rate overall for Shane Buz in this one. And I started him in my big Roto league this week with two starts. I'm happy that I did with this start. He's for the most part been quite solid this season. But when we're talking about projecting for 2025, I still can't quite figure out where I'm at on Shane Boss

because what we've seen this season is the floor looks pretty high, right? Like he's managed a 321 ERA. The XERA is right around 370, so not quite as good, but playable. And that's without, you know, big strikeout stuff. The question is how likely is he to unlock enough upside to be more than just a high floor play, right? Like this was a guy who was at one point the top pitching prospect in baseball, came back from Tommy John surgery. And I don't know if I want to say I was hoping for more because obviously like a 321 ERA over half a season for,

for a guy you picked up on waivers, that's awesome. He's been a great pickup. It just, I don't necessarily know if I see the ace upside that we were hoping for from Shane Boss. Yeah, it does take a bit of a leap of faith and some projection for next season, but trusting in the prospect pedigree and Tampa Bay, which typically does do a good job with their pitchers, Shane Boss returning this year from Tommy John surgery. The last six starts have been great.

237 ERA, a 0.84 whip. the underlying number is not buying it at all, but the surface level numbers and the fact that, you know, he's consistently going deep into his starts, you know, he's pitched well overall, but he's also doing it in spite of his slider. He just hasn't had his slider.

That's, you know, years prior before Tommy John's surgery, looked like one of, if not his best pitch. Me thinking about next year, I think the race are going to find a way and chain boss to get that slider back on track. And if he does that, he's kind of giving you a glimpse like you said

of the floor here. If he gets that slider back on track, I mean, the upside could be he performs like a top 20 pitcher on a per start basis. I don't know how many starts he's actually going to give you, but well, that's the thing is when you're talking about the upside case for

him, I think you really need the upside to hit. If you're talking about drafting Shane Boss next year because I think there are certainly injury concerns but also just volume concerns. Like I don't know if I would really expect more than 150 innings from Shane Boz next season.

And so I wouldn't know. If it's 150 innings of like a 350 ERA and less than a strikeout per inning, it's kind of like how worth it is it to chase that? Yeah. So I do think, and when you look at like the plate discipline metrics, um,

he's not, he's pitching in the zone a lot. He's not really generating many chases. and really not many whiffs at all. His whiff rate is only 23.1% overall. League average is 24.9%. That's whiffs per swing. So, you know, it's like,

he needs to figure out a way to get more chases or a way to miss more bats in the zone. So very good start. I think overall promising, when you're talking about chasing the upside with boss, that's where I think the questions come in. Yeah. again, I would still bet on him figuring out that slider for next season.

He's an interesting one. I wonder how just the fantasy industry will project Shane Bosz or where they'll draft him for next season because we all see the same things that you're talking about, the fact the underlying numbers don't look great. But again, this was a pitcher that had a ton of prospect pedigree. So I think most people will probably have that in the back of their mind as well with Shane Bos for next season.

talking about this season with Shane Boss, he does face the Blue Jays later on this week, and then it looks like he'll be at Boston the final week of the season. And typically I would not like starting a pitcher in Boston, but Shane Bosz just pitched really well against them in this start. I think it's probably okay for next week. I think it's okay.

I don't think it's a must start situation, but I think it's fine if you don't have a better option. And the last week of the season is always tough. A lot of bad pitchers are probably going to be. be out there just because, you know, some guys will get bumped. And so, yeah, I think he's probably fine. And I do wonder if by the time he makes that start, the Red Sox right now are five games out of a wild card spot, once they are officially eliminated, if they are, there's still a

chance they can make it. Do they start to shut some guys down? Do they kind of roll out the B, the C lineup, something like that? So, you know, that could potentially help Shane Baz the final week as well. Another pitcher I could see you streaming in the final week. Griffin Canning. He did what we wanted to read Detmer's to do yesterday against the White Sox,

which obviously did not come to fruition. But this was a great start for Griffin Canning. Six shot out inning, six strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 88 pitches. He only allowed two hard hits in this game. The secondaries were dominant, both the slider and the changeup had five plus whiffs each.

And obviously the last start out was dreadful. And typically, we're not excited about starting Griffin Canning and, you know, the overall numbers this year are really bad. but he's 18% rostered and he's at the White Sox again next week. So, you know, same pitcher, same opponent two times in a row. I usually don't like that. But Chris, it's the White Sox.

I can totally see using Griffin Canning again next week. So I feel like this has been the trend lately with the White Sox. We have one pitcher that we're excited to stream against the White Sox. It was Redembers this week. It was Spencer Arredgetti a couple weeks ago. go and the guy we're excited to stream against the white socks falls on their face and then the next scrubby guy who comes up is great against them it feels like this has happened like three or four different times in the past month it's been very frustrating i think griffin canning is bad i do too by the way

i don't particularly think there's anything griffin canning does at this point especially well He's got like the slider and change up are decent swing and miss pitches, but if he misses, he tends to get hit really, really hard on both of them. And so I just, I am not going to sit here and tell people they should stream Griffin Canning. If you want to,

that is between you and whoever you pray to. But I'm not going to be the one to tell you. Like, I think Red Demers is a much better pitcher than Griffin Canning. despite all the redembers of it all. And so I think there's a very good chance Griffin Canning gets completely bombed. And I'm not going to be the one to tell anyone to start him.

Who would you rather use the final week? Shane Boz at Boston or Griffin Canning at the White Sox? Shane Boss, for sure. Yeah, I don't know. It's kind of close for me. I think I would lean Bos, but I think both are fine streamers for next week. Totally understand you wanting to have nothing to do with Griffin Canning.

But man, it's just white socks are so so bad. Can I give you one more? Oh my goodness gracious. I know you've got a couple more listed. Yeah, I've got like a whole list of shoutouts here, but go for it. Hunter Goodman, baby. Take that Scott. Two games this week.

Two ding-dongs for Hunter Goodman. Let's go. He's probably going to go hitless the rest of the. week. Yeah, I mean, this doesn't matter. This home run, by the way, for Hunter Goodman. 107.5, exit velocity, 441 feet. And 11 games since returning in September, 257 batting average, five homers, 983 OPS for Hunter Goodman. 10% rostered, six games in Cores next week. If you need a second catcher, Hunter Goodman is your guy. I, I'm starting him in one league. like a league that I'm competing for first place in.

So I'm, I'm there. Some oh my goodness gracious shoutouts of the night to the Tigers. You were talking beforehand. Since August 11th, 24 and 10, the Detroit Tigers, they are a game and a half out of the wild card spot,

which clearly I don't think they expected to be here because they traded away Jack Flerty at the trade deadline. But, you know, lineups have been hitting. Tarek's goobble's been doing his thing. You know, bullpen's been much better lately. So yeah, man, shout out to the Olson's back. Shout out to the Tigers. Let's see.

Yeah, I mean, I think we noticed like, was it last week? Yeah, I think last week we saw there were like, oh, three and a half games out of the water. Yeah, they were like, they've been hitting well. Yeah, it's been, uh, I'm happy. I'm happy because the Royals and the tigers were probably the two non-Dodgers, obviously, teams this, offseason that actually like tried to get a lot better. And you can say, you know, whether the signings were smart, Kentomayeta not working out so well.

But at least they went for it and are being rewarded. And I like to see that because it's good when teams actually are trying in the off season rather than waiting until February to sign guys as much of a discount as possible. Especially these smaller, you know, mid-market teams. I guess you could probably just say small markets for the Tigers and Royals. Teams that typically do not spend in free agency. Royals bring in Seth Lugo, Michael Waka. The Tigers bring in Jack Flaherty, who obviously they traded away.

But it worked out for as long as they had him. And also, you know, the Kenta Maidov at all, which didn't work out. But hey, man, they're hot and I'm rooting for him. Let's go Tigers. Bobby Witt Jr. is up to 30-30, the first short. stop in MLB history with multiple 30 30 seasons, which I just couldn't really wrap my brain around. Like, how is that possible? But it, yeah, it's a real stat.

It's a real thing. So I guess did Arod, like, did he only do it when he was a third basement or did he never get a second 30-30 seasons? He went 40-40. Yeah. My guess is the steals probably trailed off after that. The second highest steals was 29. Yeah.

So that's a little surprising. And Bobby Wood Jr., by the way, only 24 years old. So shout out to that. Oh, I see you put here, Francisco Indar also four steals away from doing it in consecutive seasons. A bit at this, it felt like a lock five days ago. And now it feels like a pretty long shot, but would be cool if he got there.

Yeah, that is pretty annoying for Francisco Indoor. Chris, did you see Jose Altuve take his sock and shoe off to show the umpire that he actually fouled the ball off of his foot. So were you watching this game? Yes. Before that? Yes. There was the weird like pitch clock violation that wasn't a pitch clock,

pitch clock violation before that, the half ending before that, where Josh Hater disengaged, but they hit him with a pitch clock violation. They had to review it to see. It was a weird inning for the home plate umpire where he pretty clearly botched to, two plays in a row because that ball definitely hit Jose Al two vase foot and I guess they can't review that it's yeah I mean there has to be weird

weird loophole in the rule that you can't review whether a ball was foul or fair or not yeah I mean look baseball's getting there in terms of you know some of the advancements that they're doing I think once we get not maybe not a complete ABS system automatic balls and strikes but you know just the ability for hitters to challenge pitches we've seen some of that

in the minor leagues, just things like this. You know, it's just like so obvious. We have the technology to get a time. Let's just get the call right. Let's do things the right way. Yeah, that disengagement was kind of weird too, because I'm pretty sure you can't use a disengagement as a way to not get a pitch timer against you.

Yeah. But Josh Hater did it anyway, so. Yeah, I'll be honest. I don't quite understand the ins and outs of all of that, but clearly the umpire didn't either. The way he announced it, rule check. That's what he announced to the, like, everyone in the state. It's like, what? Rule check. Dude, you're the umpire. You're supposed to know the rules.

I guess you can't take your shoes off. That is frowned upon. Or maybe it was the shoe would have been fine, but taking the sock off. Maybe that's what crossed the line for the umpire when he tossed his out. But that was, it was a good acting job from Jose Altovae too. Because once he takes his shoe off and he starts walking, he gets tossed. He's starts walking back to the dugout. You can see there's a point where he's like, oh, I got to sell it. He's like, oh, that hurts. So he was like a big exaggerated limp. And then he's just like,

this is stupid. I'm going to walk normal. Yeah. The low-hanging fruit here, by the way, for Altovae. He can take his sock and shoe off, but he can't take his jersey off.

We get it. We got it. Yep. Oh, my goodness gracious, lineup of the night. Going to highlight my Yankees. There were other teams that scored more. Yeah, I know.

Homer, Frank. Yeah, yeah. Put up 10 runs. But they did it against Brian Wu, who's been like one of the best pitchers in baseball for the past like two months of the season. Juan Soto wanted to shout out 40th home run of the season, also the 200th of his career. He's also homered in every MLB ballpark at just 26 years old. So that is pretty amazing. Soto and Judge both have 40 home runs. They become the third pair of Yankee teammates to

accomplish that feat. Ruth and Garrig did it three times and Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did it once back in 1961. One, here's a fun fact. I was doing some Brent Rooker research today for tomorrow's newsletter. He's been the top of the town on this podcast. Yeah, I've got like 1,400 words where I'm still not quite sure what to make of Brent Rooker. But one thing I did notice is he never homers on pitches up in the zone. It has happened three times all season where he has homered on a pitch in the top third of the strike zone.

For the league, about 25% of all home runs come on pitch. pitches in the top third of the strike zone. So only three of 38 for Brent Rucker. Aaron Judge, only four of 53. That kind of makes sense. He just doesn't see many pitches in the top of the strike zone because pitchers aren't used to throwing that high. He's a very tall person.

Juan Soto, 18 of 40 have come in the top third of the strike zone. I thought that was interesting that him and Judge are kind of on opposite ends of the extreme spectrum in that regard. Juan Soto just feasting on. on high pitches this season, Aaron Judge, never homers off of them. Speaking of Judge, by the way, two for four with four more RBI. He's up to 136 on the season. Jason Dominguez launched his first home run of the season.

And in seven games since being recalled, a very small sample size, only batting 167. The plate discipline's been nice so far, four walks to two strikeouts for Dominguez. And I mentioned they did all this damage off Brian Wu. I guess you could say he was due for a bad start because his previous 10 before this, it's a 234 ERA and a 0.78 whip, gives up seven earned runs, but still did rack up seven strikeouts, 20 whiffs on 94 pitches.

Feels like he just got hit by a buzzsaw here. Yeah, I mean, the Yankees certainly are capable of doing this to anyone. The one thing with Brian Wu, though, is he is showing more strikeout ability lately, and that's a good thing. But I think from what we've seen, I don't know if I expect. like great strike out numbers ever from him.

He just pitches too much in the strike zone, pitches to contact too much. I think like up average, maybe slightly above average is what I expect from Brian Wu at the high end. So he really has had to be an extreme outlier in terms of quality of contact. He gave up,

gives up. I look this up just now. Over the past two seasons, he has a 316 expected Wobon contact. Only one pitcher who has faced at least, 500 batters over the past two seasons besides Brian Wu has a mark even below 330 and he's at 316. I believe Justin Steele has the third lowest and it's like 337 or something. So even if we expect him to be an outlier in that regard, there's probably a decent amount of regression coming.

Like he could be the best pitcher in baseball at limiting hard contact and still see 20 to 30 points of Wobah regression. And so a start like this, and then, you know, I think it was seven hard hit balls on 15 balls in play, seven batted balls with at least a 680XBA for Brian Wu. It's one of those things where you never want to overreact to one start, but it's, he does need to be such an outlier in that regard that it's, it's worth noting when he does actually get hit hard. And I would imagine a team like the Yankees aren't especially bad matchup for him because he pitches a lot in the zone.

And obviously they have very disciplined hitters who take advantage of mistakes within the zone. So, you know, guys like Soto and Judge and that's exactly what we saw here. So I think just all things considered a bad matchup for Wu. And obviously the Yankees took advantage here. Big thanks to everyone. Still watching and listening at this point in the season. We do greatly appreciate you. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube.

already. YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. Not going anywhere in the offseason. Obviously, we will lower the frequency of how often we do this podcast. Two podcasts per week from basically October through December, and then once the new year starts up, we'll go up to three podcasts per week, February. You know, we get up to four, so on and so forth. But we will still be here doing podcasts, so make sure to subscribe. If you enjoy the audio podcast, feel free to drop us a five-star rating and review on both

Apple and Spotify. Let's take our first break, and when we return, we'll hit some news and notes right after this. Welcome back in news and notes. Stephen Kwan was placed on the IL due to back discomfort, and he was out of the lineup, I believe, for five straight games before this happened, originally listed as body fatigue, but now back discomfort. And can he be ready for the postseason for the Guardians? Because if not, that's a pretty big loss for them.

Yeah, I don't know. were probably a little more than two weeks out from whenever the postseason about to start. Yeah, I guess if it's like retroactive, he probably could be back, but will he be 100%? That's a pretty big question mark there. They are pretty much locked in, right?

Yeah, they're five games up. Yeah, I would say so. Anhele Martinez has started and let off four games in a row for the Guardians in Stephen Kwan's place. He has multiple hits in three of those and could be worth a look in deeper five outfielder leagues. Again, that's Anheel Martinez.

O'Neill Cruz has missed two straight due to a left ankle soreness. Hunter Green threw 50 pitches over a three-inning simulated game Tuesday. He could be ready to return this Sunday against the Pirates. Boba Chet was reinstated from the IL. He was in the lineup batting second. He finished two for five with an RBI. His first game since July 19th, he's been out quite a while due to a calf strain, just a lingering calf strain that's derailed his entire season.

The Giants placed Matt Chapman on the paternity list, which means he'll miss between one and three days. Tyler Fitzgerald returned to the lineup after missing three straight with lower back tightness. Colt Keith was removed. Rocked a platinum sombrero? I believe in this one, four strikeouts? Golden sombrero.

O for five with four strikeouts. So not a great sign for him. Oof, yeah, that was Tyler Fitzgerald? Yeah, oh for five or four strikeouts, yeah. Yeah, he has not been as good over the past month or so. which, you know, I think at least you and Sky, you were much more adamant about, you know, it's not going to last forever here with Tyler Fitzgerald.

Colt Keith was removed Tuesday night due to a right shoulder injury. Jordan Westberg took batting practice on Tuesday and is on track to return for the final week of the season and would be a big boost for the Orioles postseason hopes as well. Although, can he pitching the bullpen? I don't know. That's where they need the most help. Speaking of which, Orioles GM, Mike Elias said it's possible. Grayson Rodriguez.

temporarily pitches out of the bullpen when he returns. He's currently on the IL with a right latch train, but we're just running out of season. So it's going to be tough for him to build up in time. And I think it makes a lot of sense, man. If they wanted to, if they have the confidence in Gracer Rodriguez, throw them in the closer roll. Yeah.

For the postseason, like, why not? Yeah, I mean, Kimberl looks cooked, so. Real bad. Dominguez has been okay. but yeah, but I just think they, they could use another big arm out there for sure. 100% yeah. Because yeah, Kimbril came up six more runs in two thirds of an inning today. Is this it? Is this the end of the line for Craig Kimball?

I mean, I feel like we've done that before and he comes out and has four good months the next year. So I don't know. But yeah, it certainly looks like it. Tanner Halk is on track to start Wednesday against the raise. He was scratched from his previous start due to dead arm. Nick Ladolo will not return the season. He'll end up missing the final five weeks due to a sprained finger,

and he finishes with a 476 ERA, a 120 whip over a strikeout per inning, but apparently was pitching through that finger injury for some time. I still think there's a lot of upside with Nicolodolo, but there also has been a lot of inconsistencies so far in his career.

Pete Fairbanks and Jeffrey Springs will not return this season. Fairbanks out with a lat injury, Springs with left elbow fatigue. Dalton Varsho was placed in the aisle with a shoulder strain. Turns out he needs surgery on his rotator cuff, and we'll get that done as soon as possible.

The Blue Jays placed Will Wagner on the 60-day IL with left knee inflammation. And some names we have not heard in a while, Sandy Alcansara and Yuri Perez. Alcansara through live batting practice on Tuesday, his first time facing hitters since he underwent Tommy John surgery in October of last year.

Should be ready for spring training, assuming no setbacks. And Yuri Perez through light toss. on flat ground Tuesday, his first time throwing since he underwent Tommy John surgery back in April. He's a name to remember in Keeper Leagues. Obviously, you're holding on to him in Dynasty Leagues. My guess is we'll see Yuri Perez in the second half of next year. Yeah, I think June in the absolute best case scenario. But technically the timetable is like 12 to 15 months. But it does feel like it's closer to 15 more often than not the last couple of years.

So, yeah, I wouldn't expect him until the summer. Especially for a young pitcher that is this electric, who throws this hard, for a team that will not be competing in 2025. Yeah, and I mean, he's going to be 22. Yeah. Shortly after opening day, there's no need to rush. Yeah, no need whatsoever. Let's take a look at some waiver wire pitchers who could be options for the final week.

We already spoke about Shane Baz and Griffin Canning, four other names on the list. Gavin Williams bounced back with a solid start up against the twins, five innings, seven strikeouts, 16 whiffs on 89 pitches, and completely changed this pitch mix through a ton of cutters in this one, and clearly it worked. Frankie Montas, a mixed start up against the Phillies, five and two-thirds innings, three runs, ten strikeouts, with 20 whiffs on 100 pitches.

Nine starts with the Brewers, it's a 355 ERA and a 118 whip over a strikeout per per inning for Frankie Montas. Tyler McGill, a strong start up against. against the Nationals, six innings, one unearned run with four strikeouts, and he's looked good in two starts since returning. Lance Lynn, a quality start up against the Pirates, six innings, one run, five strikeouts.

He also has looked good in two starts since returning. The matchups for next week, Lance Lynn at the Rockies, oh, yuck. Tyler McGill is at the Brewers, which is not great. Frankie Montas is on the other side of that, he faces the Mets, and Gavin Williams is home against the Astros. So, all right,

Probably not. Yeah, I don't really love any of those guys. And then obviously we're at the point now where that's probably the final start for all of these guys, right? Maybe they have one more after that. No, no, those are the starts for next week, the final week of the season. So yeah, those will be their last starts. Yeah, I think I would take Boz and Canning over all of them, to be honest. Baws for sure.

Again, I'm not going to recommend. How can I get you to endorse Griffin Canning? He's like, who do I have to put him up against? I might. I might start Lance Lynn at Colorado. I had of Griffin Canning. Oh, that's crazy. I don't know.

Like, none of his pitches move anyway. Yeah, so what's the thin air going to do to them? Lots of fast. I have no idea if that logic makes any sense. I just prefer him to Griffin Canning. Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to, like, McGill, I like what we've seen in two starts since returning.

Velocity has been up. He's always. Kind of have had some upside, but at the Brewers next week. Like, Montas is doing some interesting things too, but the Mets, it's up at the top of the list and then canning for me. I think Montas is probably second on that list for me, actually. Okay. Yeah, he's, if nothing else, he's getting lots of whiffs. He has 10 strikeouts in two of his last four starts, I think.

So, yeah, getting whiffs there for Frankie Bontas. Lance Lynn, career 236 ERA at Coors Field in five starts. Start him ahead of Griffin Canning. Let's go. Let's, I don't know, let's do a little friendly wager for next week. Canning versus Lance Lynn. All right, let's do it. What do we got?

I don't know. Winner gets a beer. I don't know. All right, let's talk about some deep league waiver wire hitters for the final week of the season. And just starting off with some outfielders, Mike Yistrenski has been hitting for power as of late. Last 22 games, he's got seven home runs and an OPS around 850. He's 15% rostered, only one lefty on the schedule for next week. Grant McCray, his teammate, two for two, two with two walks, two steals, and three runs scored in this one. And in 27 games with the

Giants, he's only batting 239, but he's got five homers and five steals, hits the ball extremely hard, also has a 40% strikeout rate. Scott last every time I bring up Hazu Sanchez, so I'll do it when he's not on the show. Five for five. with two doubles, two runs, three RBI in this one. And six games next week, all righties. I could see it working out for Hazu Sanchez. Garrett Mitchell has been

raking when he plays. He's not really someone we've talked about, but two for four with a triple and an RBI. Last 16 games for Garrett Mitchell, batting 306, four homers, three seals, and OPS over 1100 for Garrett Mitchell. Davis Schneider has homered

in three straight and Lioti Tavares had himself a huge game. Three for five with a sock in the shoe, his 11th Homer and 20th steel. Deep league stuff here, Chris, I think all are available in 80% or more of CBS League. So, like 5, 15 team, 5 outfielder leagues, but any name stand out here. Yaz, McCrae, Hazu Sanchez, Garrett Mitchell, David Schneider, and

Leodi Tavaris. Yeah, Yistremski is fine and Hazer Sanchez against you said six lefties? Six righties. Six righties. That would be much worse. if it was six lefties. That would also be really unlikely. Although the pirates did open the season

with like six straight lefties or something wild like that. If you remember way back in the halcyon days of April. But yeah, Haseu Sanchez has a 799 OPS. He's hitting 273 against Ritey's. So I think that's like if Scott put him on the sleeper hitters next week, that wouldn't be a terrible choice. He's good enough against Ritees. He won't do it.

I know he can't. hit lefties, Heiser Sanchez. And so even like if those righties don't last long in the games, he's probably going to see a lefty or two. But yeah, I think Hazer Sanchez is probably fine. I don't have much interest in anyone else. I think I finally dropped Laota Tavares in a AL only league recently. So yeah. Yeah. You know, Garrett Mitchell is kind of interesting because like he's the hottest of this group. The problem is that he started only nine of the past 15 games. and they're just not playing them against lefties. They have three lefties on the schedule for this.

Yeah, that's the thing. And like, you want to say like, oh, in a daily lineups league. But even then, if he's only going to start three of those games, is that even that good of a choice for using your roster spot for? I don't think so, yeah. Let's talk about Luis Anhele Ocuna,

who had himself a big game in Francisco Lindorra's place, three for four with his first career home run. He added three runs and two RBI. Two hard hits in this game. Huge exit velocity. A double 109.5 exit velocity And the home run was 103.2, 414 feet. Didn't really see much of this in the minor.

So it's like, all right, very small sample, take it with a grain of salt. But, you know, if he can finish strong, maybe gives us a little bit of optimism as like a very deep sleeper for next season. Yeah, he, Louis-San Heliccuna has, like if you look at him, it kind of looks like Ronald Cunia

just like shrunk in. he's like 5-9 I think it's like for for Halloween when you get the the bite-sized candy to give out of your work but like he's got the same swing he just like 109 miles per hour is right around

his season long max exevalo so the fact that he got into that this early into his major league career I suppose bodes well he's a very aggressive swinger not great plate discipline makes a lot of contact but yeah it was a pretty rough season for him and kind of like he looked like a breakout early last

season got traded for was he in the verlander deal or the sherser deal he was in the sherser deal um looked like a really good pickup for the Mets then struggled when he got the double A for them had a really tough season at triple A I think a lot of prospect people have soured on him I think there are interesting skills here but I can't say he's anything more than a deep league shortstop at this point. Yeah. And then for deep league catchers, we already spoke about Hunter Goodman.

Again, he's only 10% rostered. Six games in Corse Field next week. So just, if he's not on Scott's sleeper hitters list on Friday, Chris, then. We riot. We will riot indeed. How have these five hitters been

since returning to the majors? Fernando Tatees 2-4, I believe you wound up two-for-five in that game, with a steel and two-run scored, 13 games since returning, a 308 bat, average four homers, 11 runs, two steals, and OPS over 900. He's basically been Fernando Tatis, which is crazy because he's been out for so long.

It kind of surprised me, Chris, that in the sample we have this year, 93 games, he's only on pace for 29 homers and 16 steals. That's a 150 game pace. But even if we bump it up to a full season pace, it's like barely over 30 homers, close to 20 steals, that's a good season, but it's, is it a first round player? I don't know. It kind of feels like it isn't. No, and I don't know if you guys talked about this last night,

but Scott did his, you know, way too early ranking of the first round, first two rounds. He did have Tatease 14th in Roto. That sounds right. It sounds right. It feels a little high at first blush. I think I would take Julio Rodriguez ahead of him.

Corbyn Carroll's a tough one. Some pitchers are, yeah, like, I think the range is right. I think not first round, but close. And the key thing there is the underlying numbers are still very, very good for Fernando Tatez. And his expected Wobon on the season 394, that's a little bit worse than the 2020, 2020, 2020, peak for him.

But the strikeout rate is much lower. He still hits the ball really, really hard, really consistently. So, yeah, I still think Fernando Tatis has top five upside. I think the biggest question is whether the speed is going to come back. Because he has only stolen two bases in 13 games since coming back, which I guess that's not a terrible pace. So the speed just kind of hasn't been there all year. And his sprint speed is down to 76th percentile.

Is that because of the fifth? Fibula injury. Was he was that limiting him before he went on the IL? I would guess yes. Yeah. And I think they said as much. I think there was a quote that it was something that he had been dealing with for a little while. So maybe that's the explanation here. But I, I think he's for the most part still a sub elite, but very, very, very good player for Roto. And honestly, with the strikeout rate improvements, probably not a big gap between his Roto and his head to head performance. this season. Yeah. You know, if I'm just way too early projections for next year for Tatis, 275,

25 to 30 homers, 20 to 25 steals, pretty good counting stats. I feel like that's a pretty fair projection for him, which, yeah, it feels a little low. Yeah?

You think so? I think like 285, 30 to 35 homers. And obviously the ceiling is 40 to 45 and a 310 batting average. My only thing is that since he's returned from, you know, all the steroid suspension and, well, PED suspension and, you know, coming back from the certain, the power hasn't been the same. So he was a one night.

This year, the underlying numbers are much better. 191 ISO last year, 202 ISO this year. I don't know. It's not great. Kind of feels like a 25 to 30 home run hitter, but. Sure. Yeah. How has junior Kemanero been two for four with his fourth home run in 33 games?

with the race. He's batting 256, four home runs, 745 OPS. Playt discipline is mostly fine. He's been a little bit too aggressive, I would say. Groundball rate is a little bit high. He's also super young and this is like his first legit taste in the major, so I don't want to overreact too much to it. But Chris, what's your, what's been your takeaway from Junior Camerro so far? So this is kind of an aesthetic comp, but watching him today, he hit a home run. day, right? That was where the highlight came from. Yeah. And it was like one of those ones that was like way above the strike zone. He's got a pretty flat bat path. Um, and it sort of reminds me of Yandi Diaz.

And what we've seen so far is kind of Yandi Diaz ask where he hits the ball hard. Play discipline's not quite that good, but whose is. Um, but he tends to hit a lot of line drives and a lot of ground balls and not a ton of fly balls yet it's an elite player elite young player 21 years old great minor league numbers i think it's worth betting on the fact that he's holding his own is i think a very good sign i do wonder if the power is going to play up immediately as a like difference making because i do think you know the underlying skills could get to you know it could be 30 plus raw power, raw Homer upside. But, you know, it might be more like 20 projecting for 20. Yeah, which is pretty much spot on. If you look at the fan graphs prospect grades, the 20 to 80 scale,

they have his raw power right now at 70, but is in-game power only a 50. So that seems to line up with what we're talking about here. You know, if I'm just conservatively, again, projecting for next season, I'd probably expect something like 20, low 20s in home runs for Caminero, but if he figures out, you know, pulling the ball, putting in the air a little bit, I mean, we could very easily see like 30 plus home run power from junior Camerro. What about Tristan Casas? One for two with his ninth home run.

He has been sitting out against lefties lately. He's only started eight of the past 13 games. And in 29 games since returning, 247 batting average, three home runs, 11 RBI, and OPS under 700 with a 37% strikeout. rate. I'm not sure how many people that are competing for anything are still using Triss and Kossis at this point. You probably could get away from him for the rest of this season. You know, he's just missed so much time. I kind of want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I think I'm still going to be really excited about Kossis for next season too. So the one thing I would say is last year he held his own against lefties, but that was with like a 33% strikeout rate, 32% strikeout rate. This year, it's only, 52 plate appearances last year was only 97 uh the old like 712 ops is not bad uh for a lefty against lefties like that's that's playable 20 strikeouts and 52 played appearances is a problem yeah and he hasn't gotten as many opportunities this year obviously lately he's just not playing against them you can't get better if you don't face lefties um and so that is my one concern is that are are the red socks viewing him more like a platoon bat.

I think that would be a mistake to do with a 24 year old with his kind of skill set. But that if I have a concern, it's that. What about Max Muncie, three for five with two doubles, five RBI and his first stolen base,

24 games since returning from the IL 250 batting average six homers. OPS over 900. He's hitting tons of fly balls. He's pulling it. He's hitting the ball extremely hard. The barrel rate is there. He's another one.

he's basically been Max Muncie. It's a little frustrating because I would have loved to see to see what he could do over a full season in that stacked lineup in terms of just the home runs and the counting stats. Yeah. And man, if he could stay healthy for next year, look, it's been hard to bet on health for Max Muncie.

But I mean, everything in this recent stretch says that, man, he still could be an elite hitter, elite power hitter, at least. The counting stats are pretty bonkers. in the 64 games he's played 45 RBI, 15 homers, 40 runs. Yeah. Just doing a little head math. That sounds like 40 homers,

100 runs, like 110 RBI. I don't think you should actually expect that for Max Muncie, but it's not forget. He hit 36 homers last season. And that's like he was dreadful for the first 2,000. third to the season in 2022, but basically since like August or September of 2022, he's just been Max Muncie. And I know we expect him to slow down at some point.

We haven't really seen it. I don't know. He might just be really, really good. And it might just be worth taking whatever injury discount you can get on him because if he goes late enough and I don't know, like just. eyeballing it, it feels like this is a guy who could easily fall outside of the top 175 on draft day next year. That's, you get to a point, I've made this point about Byron Buckson in the past,

you get to a point where I don't care how much time a guy misses. If he's a 175th overall in the draft and I get 55 really good games out of him, I'll figure it out. Like that's, it's a reason to be to not draft a player in the top 100, but to avoid a guy with that kind of upside if he falls closer to 200, I think that's a mistake. The full season pays for Max Muncie this year,

37 home runs, 113 RBI. So there you go. Still pretty much on track with what he's been doing. Jordan Walker hit another home run, one for three with his fourth homer, and it was hit pretty hard. 108 exit velocity 425 feet in 16 games since returning to the Cardinals,

250 batting average, four homers, one steal in OPS right around 800. He's been solid, 33% rostered. If you're just looking forward, the final week, the Cardinals have six games, three in Corse field. So five outfieler leagues, I can get with it on Jordan Walker for the final week.

Yeah, and, you know, he was, has continued to hit the ball really hard. At AAA, the overall numbers were not great. But if you were looking at the trends, he was starting to hit more barrels, hit more line drives, hit more fly balls to the pole side over the final month before he was initially called up

back in like late, was that early August when he first got called up for a few days and then they sent him back down? Yep. And now he's starting to do that at the major league level. It's still striking out too much, 30% strikeout rate. It's even higher since he came back, right?

35%. But I don't know. It's one of those situations where he swings and misses a decent amount, but his in-zone contact rate this season is 85%. It's actually solidly better than league average right now. So it's mostly a problem of not swinging. He only swings at 66% of pitches in the strike zone.

If he can find a way to be more selectively aggressive, I still think the raw skills here for Jordan Walker are really impressive. and is he 23 yet? I don't think he's 22 and 119 days. I think he is younger than like several of the top 10 picks from this year's MLB drafts. That's something to keep in mind with Jordan Walker. I can't imagine unless he just goes bonkers over the next 12 days that he's going to cost much for 20, 25 drafts. I think it's reasonable to be skeptical about any.

skeptical about any young Cardinals player. They have not had a great track record lately, but I will be drafting Jordan Walker as a sleeper in 2025. And if there's any chance you could buy low on him in Dynasty, I still would look into doing that as well. My guess is whoever has Jordan Walker in that format, they invested a lot to get him initially. So they probably won't give him up for like whatever, 10 cents on the dollar. But it doesn't hurt to try. So maybe 20 cents. Yeah, certainly you can try. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll get back into the rest of Tuesday's action.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Yesterday, we got letdowns from Reed Detmer's and Matthew Boyd. Today, it was Nick Povetta and Albert Suarez. Nick Povetta and Reed Detmers, by the way, they are the same, dude. It is just so crazy how often we get sucked in, sucked back into believing in these players, and then they just crush us in the most inoperable. tune time.

Do you know your A soaps fables? No chance. The, the viper and the farmer, I think is one of them. And it's like a kind farmer sees a viper out in the snow and it's dying.

So he takes it into his jacket and revives it. And then the viper bites him. And I think some version of it go end up with the viper going like, you knew what I was when you took me in or whatever. Yeah. That's how I feel about Nick Pibald.

vet. I like 100%. Like, okay, at the beginning of this season, you could talk yourself into, he figured something out last year. You know, he started throwing that sweeper in the second half and he's a different guy. Once it became clear that he was not in fact a different guy, start him at your own peril. There are, he's useful. Redemers has been useful at times. But you always know this is a very likely possibility every time Nick Povetta goes out on the mound and just can you avoid the landmines enough to to win it's this should be a good matchup yeah so yeah this is just who nick Povetta is and has always been and it's just even more frustrating when nick Povetta

it's feel like this happens so often where he gets blown up in your lineup you take him out for like a month. He pitches amazing during that month. His four starts before this were awesome. And then you put him back in your lineup for a two star week and boom, he gets crushed. It just rinse and repeat. I feel like we could say something similar about Albert Suarez, who I think the last time we touted him was against the White Sox like a month ago. He was awful in that start. Previous seven starts before this one, 243 ERA 113 whip. We're like, all right, Albert Suarez is pitching well. He's got two starts, good matchups. And what happens? Three in a third innings, four runs, three strikeouts.

He does get the Tigers later this week, but I mean, it's just, yeah. It's been a pretty rough week for some of the two-star recommendations. Yeah. Did we recommend Joey Estes as a two-star pitcher? Because that was pretty bad yesterday. I don't think we really did, but we were on Demers. We were on Mattie Boy, and those guys were bad yesterday. Yeah, look, it's, this is always the problem when we're talking.

talking about two-start streamers or any streamer in general. Like for the most part, unless it's a player who was recently recalled or was hurt for a long time or some extenuating circumstances, there's a reason these guys are available. If they were helping teams win fantasy baseball games, they wouldn't have been on the wire. Right.

And, you know, Albers Juarez, like, he had been good the last seven starts or whatever it was, 243 ERA. The underlying skill set has never looked strong here. The case for Suarez was always, if he can be a league average pitcher, the Orioles offense can pick him up and make him more valuable than he otherwise would be. Orioles offense hasn't been great lately. So, yeah, it's tough. It stinks when this happens.

But like, one, how many good pitch? How many reliable pitchers are there right now? 20? How many pitchers can you actually go out there and say, every time they go out, I expect good results. You've got to start some crappy pitchers at this point in the season. So that's just the nature of the game. And maybe we should have been hyping Shane Bosmore, but he was already 75% rostered. So there was only so much we could do. Yeah. Let's take a look into that crystal ball again for next year. And as we've done, we continue to do it. Taking a way

too early look for 2025. Nice. Nice. Yeah, I think I move my my baseball back to another shelf, so I don't have it near me right now. But how do you envision ranking these five for next season? Either Aces, near Aces, whatever you want to call them. Blake Snell, huge start here at the Orioles, six shot-out innings, 12 strikeouts, 22 whiffs. Cole Riggins, another great one, seven innings, one run, six strikeouts, 17 whiffs. Zach Wheeler has turned in nine straight quality starts, 171, ERA, 0.81 1.81 1.81 whip during that span. Hunter Brown turned in yet another quality start as well. He has a quality

start in nine of his last 12 and he was at the Padres, six innings, two runs with three strikeouts and Michael King on the other side of that one. He was great up against the Astros, seven innings, two runs, seven strikeouts and he had 14 whiffs in that start. Chris, what do you think? How do you, you know, I'm not going to hold you to it. Are you asking me to rank these five relative to one another or give a range for this five. You can do both. What I was thinking was just like rank, how are you going to rank them for 2025?

But you know, you can also add in like, I think they're all like top 24 starting pitchers. Wheeler's number one easily. He's a top three pitcher and might not be three. I would go Reagan's next of this group. I would have him ahead of Blake Snell. There have been some warning signs down

the stretch. Control has been a little iffy over the past two months especially. Velocity has fluctuated. And he's going to be pitching with a 65 plus inning jump from 2023 to 2024. So that's a little scary. But he's made it through it. I don't know how much I want to hold that against him, given everything else happening at starting pitcher right now. I think Cole Reagan's is probably in the top 12 discussion. I'm not sure exactly if he's top 12. Blake Snell is third. 20 at starting pitcher. I don't, I have no. I never know how to rank Blake Snell. Like, we know there's going to be some awful stretch where people think about dropping him and there's going to be some stretch where he's the best pitcher in baseball. When is each one going to happen? When is each one going to stop? I don't

know. I have no idea. I've never been able to figure out Blake Snell. So I'm going to just say, 23rd at starting pitcher. The more I talk about it, the more I talk myself out of him. Michael King is in the same range. It's another one where gigantic jumping innings this season from 2023 raises some red flags for 2025 as far as the ability to stay healthy. He has been, I mean, what, a top five pitcher? since like May 1st,

if not actually top 5, probably not far off. He's been incredible. And the overall numbers now look really, really good. So I'm going to say top 24 for Michael King. And then Hunter Brown is probably more like 36. Yeah.

He feels very Mitch Keller to me. Where like I never know if he's quite as good as he is at his best. he's got a very wide arsenal and I always feel pretty good that he's going to figure it out but I'm I'm not sure I want Hunter Brown to be one of the two best pitchers

on any pitching staff that I have I think that's fair yeah but as your SP3 that feels right feels fine sounds right yeah for Hunter Brown all right let's show a little bit of appreciation for these three unsung hitters this season Shay Lang Lear's 2 for 4 with a double

dong 3 RBI his third multi-home home run game of the season. And entering Tuesday, he was a top eight catcher in both Roto and head to head points. 28 home runs, second among catchers, 74 RBI, sixth among catchers this season. Ian Hap got off to a slow start,

but the numbers are basically where they should be. 249 batting average, 25 homers, 86 runs, 85 RBI, 13 steals, 807 OPS, enter Tuesday, 53rd overall in Roto and three fantasy points per game. And Ezekiel Tovar has had

quietly a very solid season three for five with his 25th home run and overall 266 batting average the 25 homers 80 runs six deals 762 OPS and entering Tuesday 80th overall in rhodo 2.5 fantasy points per game Tovar takes a hit there because the plate discipline is awful but yeah I mean Tovar I think was like a 175 or two hundred like top 200 pick and he's 80th overall like that that's a huge huge return on investment. So yeah, just three hitters that have just chugged along and got it done, Tovar, Ian Hap, and Chey Langaleers.

Kind of stunned that Ezekiel Tovar has not been significantly better at course field than the alternative this year. Actually, has just been better on the road than at course field, at least entering this start. 752 OPS at home 755 away. but I think you generally assume he will be better at course field next year. So the question is, is he a 750-ish OPS bat? And then you get the course field bump because that makes him a lot more interesting. That could potentially get him into a top 12 discussion at shortstop in a Roto League.

I tend to think it's probably more like he's a 700 OPS bat. and a 755 OPS bat at cores, but reasonable people can disagree. In my first run of catcher rankings, I had Shea Langalear's number seven ahead of J.T. Romuto. Wow. I don't know how I feel about that one. Romuto has not run at all since suffering that injury to his knee in May.

I think he's attempted two, three steals, something like that. obviously had surgery. If he's not going to run, J.T. Romuto feels like a pretty middling catcher. And I think Shea Langleyers has shown this year that he's a little bit more than that. Like there may not be that much separating him in Cow Rally. They feel very similar in my opinion. Yeah. Yeah.

I feel more confident in Raleigh's power. You know, like he's a 30 homer bat. Shea Langelliers, I know he has 28 right now. but feels more like a 25 homer guy, but that's really valuable at catcher, even with a bad batting average. And then Ian Hap just, he always just ends up doing Ian Hap things.

It's always like the shape of his production is always a little bit different. Like some years he runs a little more, some years he hits for more power, some years it's very on base percentage heavy, but he always ends up being pretty much, much this. And yeah, I don't know, he's he's perfectly solid. His numbers are actually like eerily similar last season. Hitter studs being studs here on Tuesday. Shohei Otani

inches closer to 50-50. He hit his 48 home run of the season. Pete Alonzo had himself a huge game three for five of the double 33rd homer and five RBI. Kyle Schwerber having himself a pretty massive September 364, seven home runs 1219 OPS. And Manny Machado continues. to mash hit another home run. I believe his 30th of the season, which is just, it's pretty crazy. No, 27th. But he's close to it, and obviously,

just where he started the season with the elbow injury to where he's kind of finishing up. You know, he's up to a 278 batting average, 802 OPS. Counting stats are awesome. It's, yeah, big, big, in-season bounceback here for Mani Machado. Some other hitting leftovers,

a big game for Willie Castro, two for three with a sock and a shoe. his 12th home run, 14th steel. He's played a lot this year. Surprise to see the steals have dropped as much as they have from 33 to 14. That is just massive, massive drop and really makes Willie Castro

nothing more than like a deep league fill-in just because of his position eligibility. Lane Thomas has flipped a switch for the Guardians here in September. 317, 5 home runs, 16 RBI, OPS near 1,000 so far in the month. Matt Olson has basically been himself since late July, 52 games, 275, 13 home runs,

and OPS over 900. And Wyatt Langford had a huge game, three for four, with two walks, two doubles, and his 12th home run. Last 35 games for Langford. He's hitting 289, six home runs, six deals, and an OPS over 800 during that span. Were we, did I mention that Brent Rooker stat about his bat speed

on the podcast? I think you told me that before. forehand. Okay. So he he's one of five players with a, whose bat speed is in the 80th percentile and whose swing length is lower than the 30th percentile. And it's like an interesting group of hitters. It's him, Bobby Witt, Lawrence Butler, Elliott Ramos, and, uh, White Lankford was actually one of the other ones. And that's, it's a short direct swing that is still fast. And one thing that we've learned from the, the swing data this year is swing length and swing speed are generally pretty correlated. So having a short swing that is fast would seem to be a good thing.

And Wyatt Langford certainly starting to show his upside lately. So that's a good thing. Could be a big time breakout next year. You know, it might be someone who you get cheaper than last year and ends up actually being much more valuable. Did Willie Castro get hurt? in like late June because he was remember he made the all-star team right did he

that's what I remember but either way he was yeah he made the all-star team he had like an 800 OPS at the end of June and then just stopped running like completely he got caught stealing three times in July didn't wasn't successful and had just four attempts in 41 games since all

August 1st. So I don't know if maybe he's just not healthy. Pro sports transactions doesn't have him for anything. Yeah. No day to day, nothing. Okay. But his production overall tanked and he stopped running around the end of June. So maybe there's something there. Some bullpen updates for the twins. Yohan Duran entered in the eighth inning with a three run lead facing nine, one and two in the, who were they facing? It was against the Guardians in the Guardians lineup. And then Duran started the ninth inning. He gave up a double and a walk. He struck out Josh Naylor.

Griffin Jacks wound up getting the final two outs for his ninth save of the season. For the Marlins, Jesus Tinocho, got the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He gave up two runs on three hits. But I think more notably here is just the fact that he pitched in the ninth inning with the lead. So it kind of feels like Tinoco is the guy to close things out here for the Marlins. For the Reds, Alexis Diaz got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit, but struck out two for his 20th inning. 28th save.

For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsey, Shirkout two for his 45th. For the A's, Mason Miller, got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up a solo homer, but picked up his 26th save. For the Tigers, Jason Foley,

pitched a clean 10th inning for his 25th save. And then for the Astros, Josh Hader, in his return to San Diego, entered with a runner on third base in the eighth inning, and a wild pitch. He took the blown save,

pitched a clean ninth inning, and then the Astros took the lead, and it was Hector Neris who got the save in extra innings for the Asherst. Worth noting that Wild pitch, I believe was the first pitch he threw after a lengthy delay because of that weird

pitch clock thing that we were talking about earlier where like it took like seven minutes to figure out. So that's extenuating circumstances there, I guess. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday we have Dean Kramer facing the Giants, Landon Nack at the Marlins.

DJ Herds is at the Mets. Jose Cantana faces the nationals. Alec Marsh faces the Tigers and Cody Bradford up against the Blue Jays. Yeah, I mean, NAC, talk about guys who really let us down last time they pitched. He was pretty bad. I think he has got to be the top choice, though.

I could see another good game from Alec Marsh, but obviously not expecting double-digit strikeouts. Cody Bradford hoping for a bounce back after his, it was his worst start of the season, right? last time out? I would probably bet on it, yeah. I think DJ Hers is good.

I don't love the matchup against the Mets, but I think he's probably the most talented pitcher on this slate. So if you want to take a flyer on that, I would probably go NAC, Kintana, who I didn't mention, and hers. I think I would put Bradford at the top of the list, then Landon Nack. It's a pretty good day, man.

Like, I can see Dean Kramer being fine, Kentana, Alec Marsh. Third on the list is... I could see Jacob Junis being okay against Atlanta. Yeah. I think Catana's probably third for me. So I'll go Bradford, Nack, and then Kintana. On Thursday, we have Simeon Woods Richardson at the Guardians.

Joey Cantillo faces the twins. Kumar Rocker up against the Blue Jays. Clark Schmidt is at the Mariners. Zach Lattel faces the Red Sox. Patrick Corbin and Javier Assad face each other. There are a few interesting talents on this list. I think most specifically

Edward Cabrera and Tobias Myers, but I hate the matchups for them. I'm starting Kamar Rocker. Yeah. I think he's clear top option. I would go Clark Schmidt second and

I would try to avoid everyone else, but maybe Joey Cantillo versus Minnesota, they've been pretty bad for the last month or so. Yeah. I would go Schmidt at the top and then Kumar Rocker.

And yeah, I agree. Don't want to use anyone else on Thursday. If you need an extra streamer, I would say try and get that person in on Wednesday. We are going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a 5-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.