Fantasy Baseball Today - Waiver Wire Adds, Injury Replacements & Early Pitch-Mix Changes (4/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

Jared Jones struck out 10 in his Pirates debut (2:55)! ... Should you drop AJ Puk or Luis Severino (5:15)? ... Is Oswaldo Cabrera somebody to add (14:18)? ... Royce Lewis is dealing with a severe quad strain while Sean Murphy was diagnosed with a Grade 1 left oblique strain (24:27). ... Who are the top Royce Lewis replacements off waivers (29:57)? ... Jack Flaherty or Jared Jones (36:56)? Are we buying this Brady Singer start? ... Which pitchers added or lost velocity (47:37)? ... Which hitters stood out this weekend (59:08)? ... We wrap up with bullpen updates from the weekend (1:01:53). 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 lead. Well, fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott and Chris. Opening weekend is in the books, and oh my, there's a lot to talk about. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday.

April 1st, make sure keep that head on a swivel here on this April Fool's Day because people get pretty crazy. on the internet, man. Frank Stample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show. Opening weekend recap, injury replacements, waiver wire moves, new pitches, velocity changes, all that fun stuff. Let's jump in.

Unbelievable. Oh my goodness. Standouts from the weekend. Scott, the birthday boy, I might add. Happy birthday, Scott. Thank you, Frank. You will lead off the show. Who you got?

I'm 40, by the way. I just want to throw that out. out there. It's a big... He's a man. It's a big number, man. I'm a man. He's 40. Yeah. No, I mean... Go after him. Geez. Wow.

Thanks for... Yeah. I'm thinking how old I was when that clip aired. And, man, how far away am I from 40? It felt at the time. But here we are, and I'm 40. Anyway. Okay. Jared Jones is who I'm going with. He had a big start for the Pirates, major league debut even, for the Pirates on Saturday.

struck out 10 at Miami and 5 and 2 3rds innings. Three earn runs allowed. So, you know, he gave him some runs. But only 5 base runners in the 5 and 2 3rds inning. Struck out 10, 22 swinging strikes on 89 pitches. And it was just like pure stuff for this guy because it was pretty much just fastball slider. He threw each like 45% of the time.

10 of the whiffs came on the slider, 11 on the fastball. That's a lot of whiffs for a fastball, which peaked at 99.9. Couldn't get it quite up to 100 there in this start. But it was impressive. Obviously, he turned some heads this spring, but we didn't see huge strikeout numbers for him.

So, you know, the velocity got headlines, but I wasn't sure if it would be as effective as we needed to be, especially since he's a rookie. And, you know, there's going to be innings, limitations and all that. But this was impressive enough that I would have to say Jared Jones is somebody who you have to find a way

to get on your roster if he's still available in your league and he's available in more than half of CBS leagues I believe. Not anymore, 57% rostered. Okay, so he's already been added in some probably. Still available in a good chunk

of CBS Sports leagues and I would say is we need to get that roster rate up over up around 90% probably for Jared Jones. I am doing a waiver wire piece that's going out on like Sunday afternoon, hopefully afternoons, you know,

maybe closer to like seven or eight, maybe evening, maybe suppertime. And I wrote about five must start or must add pitchers coming out of the first weekend of the season. And we will talk more about all of these guys, I'm sure coming up. But Jared Jones was one of them. Jack Flaherty, Garra Crochet, Abner Uribe, and Jason Foley were the other ones. And the question I want to ask dovetails into my, oh, my goodness gracious player of the weekend. Would you drop A.J. Puck for any of Crochet Jones or Flaherty, 77% roster, so he barely qualifies.

But would you drop A.J. Puck for any of those three? All right. List them off again for me. Jack Flaherty, Jared Jones, and Garrett Crochet. Hmm. Well, I do think they're the must-ads among starting pitchers, certainly. And so if it came to it, I suppose, I'd have to just from like a... This is your last chance to get them.

Game theory, right? Like, this is your last chance to get them, and AJ Puck was terrible in his first start. He walked six if you... If you happen to miss it, walk six. Oh, I was watching. Oh, I know you were. I'm talking to the audience when I say that. AJ puck, walk six and two innings against the pirates.

So it was really bad. And if you're in the kind of shallow league where it's hard to justify an unproven starter who has a bad debut like that, then okay, you can probably justify dropping puck for one of those guys, Flaherty. Garrett Crochet and Jared Jones, who showed with their first start of the season that they may have as much, if not more,

upside than Puck anyway. Having said that, speaking to the general fantasy player out there, speaking to people who hopefully have somebody worse than Puck on their roster, because I doubt Puck was a last round pick for anybody, I don't want to drop Puck. I don't want to drop A.J. Puck

because I think the six walks that he had against the pirates were so out of character that something weird was obviously going on. And we just have to toss this start out because we can't make a fair assessment off of it. And both Puck and his manager, Skip Schumacher, after the game made reference to a grip issue that might explain it.

And it was a game in Miami, even in April. It's muggy, it's gross. The roof was open, which, almost never happens in Miami. The roof was open for all three games this weekend. I don't think we'll ever see that again. The players were not happy about that today, if you saw. And one thing that I definitely noticed with Puck in particular was his sweeper was his most used pitch.

He threw it 23 times out of 68 pitches. And the movement profile was all jacked up on that pitch. He added six inches of vertical break. and three inches of horizontal break on the sweeper while also being down 3.3 miles per hour with his velocity. And so that what that might suggest to me is partially just the grip issue, like you said they alluded to, it could also just be that like because he's starting now,

he can't throw with as much effort as he did in the bullpen and he still has to calibrate the movement of that pitch at a, like, you know, because it's a sweeper, because it has so much horizontal, because that's so much sweep that it could be the kind of thing that he's just, he's not used to the movement profile of this pitch at this velocity band. Now, do you happen to remember seeing a lot of velocity from a lot of stat cast data, I guess, whether it's, you know, velocity readings from puck or movement profiles of this pitch. You haven't remember seeing a lot of that data during the spring because I didn't. And so I don't know how to take the fact that his velocity was down three miles per hour on virtually everything. Not uncommon for a pitcher moving from relief to starting. But I don't know if that was going on this spring,

if it's something we can attribute to the grip issue or not. I don't really know about that. But the bottom line is, AJ Puck was dominant this spring. He walked four for all of spring training. He issued 2.1 walks per nine last year. This was just weird. And, you know, if it continues, then obviously, okay, this isn't working for AJ Puck and we have to move on. But, you know, look what happened to Yoshinobu Yamamoto first start versus the second start.

You know, like it's, it is just one start. And because it's so weird and out of character, I think we just have to say, okay, well, let's see what the next one looks like. And if there's more problems and they're not still citing the grip issue, they're moving the goalposts and coming up with some other. explanation. All right. Something. I don't know. You guys are begging for a solution here. But right now, I'm going to take their word for it on the grip issue and give Puck at least one more. Yeah. Agreed on Jones, Crochet and Flaherty are the only three pitchers I would drop AJ Puck for right. Well, Foley and. Abner-A. Abner-Ariba. Yeah, I would drop him for those two if I need saves specifically, not in a head-to-head points. I'd rather take the chance on Puck's upside as a spark.

But yeah, he's, and specifically like why I would rather have Gare Crochet is, one, he was already better. And two, he's making the same change that A.J. Puck is going from the bullpen to the rotation. And he added velocity to his fastball and slider and looked really good. So I just think I had Puck 90 spots ahead of Crochet in the rankings, but the difference between 312 and 212 or whatever. was to 222 is small enough that I'm fine making that jump. Somebody in a similar situation to AJ Puck, Luis Severino had a great spring and we were

excited about him because they said they figured out the the pitch tipping issues and he got rocked his first time out as well against the Brewers five innings 12 hits allowed six earned runs didn't walk any one so that was the good news for him six strikeouts but didn't get many whiffs only six swinging strikes the fast bowl is down one mile per hour. also 79% rostered. So in a similar range to puck, would you drop Severino for any of those pitchers mentioned Flaherty, Crochet, and Jared Jones? For those three, yeah, I'd have an easier time doing it with Severino than those other three since Severino's coming off a season as awful as it was. And, you know, most of my enthusiasm for them was based on the Met saying, oh, we

fixed the pitch tipping issue. For what it's worth, it was 54 degrees in that game. And Severino said, he was having a hard time getting his breaking ball going in those conditions. And so he just didn't have anything to vary the movement profile. So, you know, that seems like a valid enough explanation if he turns around and regular conditions has a great start. And I'll point out a lot of weak contact early on in that start. And there was one hit that definitely should have been an error that I think led to a run. we're making excuses to a certain extent, but I don't think in watching him

it was as bad as the score would make you think. I'll say that. I think just taking what they did in their first starts, Severino pitched a lot better than Puck. That's not to say I would rather have Severino than Puck, but Severino looked, pitched better than Puck did at least. I mean, that's a relatively low bar because... Yeah.

I think Bailey Ober might be the only pitcher who pitched worse. Oh, Cleveland. Yeah. Might be the only pitchers who pitched worse than AJ puck this weekend. But yeah, like Severino, Mike Soroka,

who's on a different level, but was rostered in some leagues. I would, I would happily drop him for, for those three guys. Yeah, there are, there are what I consider to be dark throw pitchers that,

you know, you don't really have any idea what to think, but they were, there was enough reason for hope, I guess, that you maybe took a flyer on them, and that would include like Mike Soroka or Ryan Weathers, who also put... Yeah, Trevor Rogers was also bad for the Marlins, yeah.

Trevor Rogers, sure. Like, I would say that, especially AJ Puck, but Louis Severino also to agree, they rise above that dart throw level for me, so I try really hard not to drop them. But if, you know, if you have to drop Soroka or Ryan Weather, or anybody like that to get whoever you feel like you need to get. I'd be okay with it.

It doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on how their next few starts go, but I don't have nearly as much optimism with as much optimism with them as I did with Puck and Severino. All right, I stand out for me this weekend. No surprise. Going with the Homer Pick, break out the brooms, by the way. Let's go, Yankees. As Waldo Cabrera, he had a huge first series against the Houston Astros,

two for four with a home run on opening day. He went four for five with three RBI on Friday, hit another home run on Saturday. He's only 17% rostered. Outfield only on CBS. To start the season, he will gain third base eligibility. He's currently filling in for DJ LaMayhew. They acquired John Birdie.

So maybe, you know, if Oswaldo Cabrera cools down, he'll lose some playing time to John Birdie. But Cabrera is someone who looked pretty good when he came up as a rookie two years ago in 2022. And then last year, kind of in a super utility role, did not perform well, 115 games at 2-11,

five homers, eight steals, a 5-74 OPS. Widely available, like I mentioned, only 17% rostered. You know, in 15 team leagues and leagues deeper than that, I saw people adding him already. Any enthusiasm here for Aswaldo Cabrera?

The problem is, I think there are at least three outfielders who are really widely available that I'd rather have. And the third big, Baseman, I'm interested in your thoughts because I think I'd rather have J.D. Davis than Cabrera, but I'm interested in your thoughts. And then the outfielder's would be Victor Scott, but I think he's probably already rostered where he needs to be. But then Michael Conforto,

Mitch Hanigur, and Jose, Siri's got some really interesting stuff going on. And I think I'd rather take the flyer on him in a deeper league. than Oswaldo Cabrera. Yeah, I think my only interest in Oswaldo Cabrera is in the leagues where the players you listed off are mostly rostered on. Yeah. So we're talking deeper roto leagues, five outfielder leagues. I think it's a closer call with J.D. Davis. Yeah, that one's, yeah, they're 15, they're 14 and 17 percent rostered.

I might go with the mystery box, the relative mystery box. Obviously, we've seen some of Cabrera in the majors, but not not giving. in full run at a position like he's getting right now and a year older and all that. So I might go with him over J.D. Davis, but the others, you mentioned Jose Siri and who are some of the others? Michael Conforto, Mitch Hanager. Yeah. Yeah.

Conforto. I don't have a lot of faith in Conforto, but he's just so hot right now. Yeah. I might lean him over Cabrera too because basically hotness is the only reason we're going with Cabrera. Yeah, no, I agree with that. I would take Siri. He said he wanted to steal 30 bases coming into the season.

I think Yerty has, what, three steals? Three or four. Yeah, three steals this weekend. So he's off and running. Yeah, the Conforto thing. Maybe I would take Cabrero over Conforto just to see what's there. That's fine. Yeah, that's close enough.

But I've talked about Mitch Hanigar for a while now. So I would take Hanigar, and I think as long as he's healthy, he's going to perform pretty well. An honorable mention for Player of the Weekend, Lord is Gueriel. What a weekend for this guy. Eight hits, three homers, 10 RBI, and a steel. Obviously, a really small sample size and going up. against Rocky's pitching is going to help, but so far lots of fly balls for Gurriel to the pull side. So this could unlock a new level of upside for Gurriel that we haven't seen before.

And he's obviously batting third for what looks to be a pretty damn good Diamondbacks lineup. So we'll see how much of this he can carry on with this season. Again, that is Lourdes Griel. The dishonorable mentions, Aaron Nolam. I mean, I get it's the Braves, but like 12 hits, Seven earned runs, four in a third innings, gave up two homers in this start, lots of hard contact. Velocity look fine, pitch mix basically the same. This is part of the Aeronola experience. And look, I'm not going to make too much out of one start, but part of the problem is when he gets hit, he gets hit really hard. And he could just have these blow up starts.

And that's exactly what happened for Aeronola. Yeah, there will be better days for Aranola for sure, but you can't help it feel like here we go again. seeing this start. And the recap of this game talked about him leaving too many pitches over the plate, which is like his pure stuff isn't good enough for him to survive that. He has to be really pinpoint with his control and really work the edges of the plate. We talked about that being part of his problem last year that he solved before the playoffs because he was pointing his shoulder.

You know, he was looking at the wrong pitch clock behind the batter. and so his shoulder was kind of turned in and it was causing him to leave pitches over the plate. I don't know if that's what happened in this start, but for whatever reason he was leaving pitches over the plate and he got destroyed again. So it just, I think that level of volatility is just going to remain a part of NOLUS profile,

and that doesn't mean he can't have years where he's more consistent than others, but not off to a good start this year. One other dishonorable mention, Bailey Ober, more like, Bailey, take the ober when he pitches. Am I right? He got bombed at the Royals. He recorded four outs, nine hits, eight earned runs, three homers loud. He gave me a cool negative 18.5 fantasy points in the podcast league against Scott, by the way. You were laughing that I started. I almost called him Jeff Francis, but his name's not Jeff Francis. His name is Kyle Freeland in that NL only league. This is. You know how it feels, Frank.

This is my karma. This is my karma. Yep. And look, all the stuff we said about Aaron Nola kind of applies to Bailey Ober. Like, he doesn't have overwhelming stuff. He's always going to be someone who has a very thin margin for error. I think the hope was that with the velocity up and, you know, with a new breaking ball, maybe that would help overcome that. But didn't happen this time. I think it's just one bad start.

Yeah, it's one really, really bad start. And I mean, for anyone who has. Ober and Aranola on the same team? I'm sorry, gosh. What's weirdest about this Bailey Ober start, though, is the one whiff on 53 pitches. And that was with his fastball being up a mile per hour

from last year. Like, those velocity gains from spring, they carried over for Bailey Ober, and he got one whiff on 53 pitches against the Royals. That seems like pitch tipping. A pitch tipping, that's the kind of stuff you see when a guy's tipping

his pitches. I didn't see any mention of that, but I wonder if it's going to come out for Bayley-Ober because it doesn't seem like this should happen to Bailey-Ober, especially against that lineup. Are you still starting him this week against Cleveland if you drafted Billy Ober? I would. Unless it's like a shallow league where you got great alternatives. I mean, I'd like to be able to sit them, but in most cases, I don't think you're going to have anyone good enough to do that with. Yeah, and I don't have stats to back this up, but just, thinking about it.

Whenever a pitcher gets rocked, it feels like they kind of settle down in their next start and they're just like really like hone in and it's not, obviously it's not the case for every pitcher, but I feel like for pitchers who are talented, more often than not, they bounce back in that next start. I am in a situation.

It's not Bailey Ober, but I am sitting Zach Eflin in one league because I have Jack Flaherty. Right. And I, Jack Flaherty has Oakland. Zach Efflin has Texas. So like in most circumstances, I would say you're not sitting Bailey over, but it's possible that.

Yeah. You know, like I think Zach Eflin and Bailey over. I like Zach Efflin more, but really tough matchup against Texas. I'm sitting. I would start Flarity over Bailey over this week too. So yeah, I think I would as well. But part, that's the Oakland of it also. Right. Yep. But Flaherty might also just be back. He might be. And we'll get to that in a little bit. Let's take our first break. When we return, lots of injuries, some news to get to you. We'll talk about that right after. this. Big injuries from the weekend. We already knew about two of them. We just did not know the severity.

And it turns out, Royce Lewis suffered a severe quad strain and will be sidelined for over a month. The twins promoted prospect Austin Martin. Willie Castro started at third base this weekend and does have some stolen base upside if you play in a categories league.

Any interest in Austin Martin, former first round pick? Seven homers, 19 steals and 67 games in the minors last year? It would have to a deep league, but I'm not going to say there's no interest there. 263, 387, 405 at AAA with 16 steals and 59 games. I think in deeper category leagues, he could be, you know, if he sticks, a 10-home or 20 steel guy.

I think that's the ceiling probably, but it's possible. Okay. Justin Steele was diagnosed with a grade one left hamstring train and is, and is expected to miss all of April. The Cubs promoted one of their top pitching prospects, Ben Brown, six foot six righty. He pitched in relief on Saturday, gave up six runs over an inning in two-thirds.

And there's lots of strikeout upside here, but the ratios have kind of been questionable in the minors. I don't think we have any interest in Ben Brown, right? I don't even think he's going to start. Yeah. He made an appearance and it was a disaster. Yeah.

Exactly right. Sean Murphy diagnosed with a grade one left oblique strain and Travis Darnow is the obvious backup there and he'll step in as the starter. Really good lineup. He's 36% rostered. We'll talk a little bit more about injury replacements in a little bit. But some other news and notes from the weekend, Raphael Devers was out Friday and Saturday due to shoulder soreness

but was back in the lineup on Sunday, thankfully. Boba Chet was scratched on Sunday due to neck spasms. Bryce Harper took a pretty nasty spill in the camera well on Saturday and then was out of the lineup on Sunday. Manager Rob Thompson said it was a scheduled off day for Harper and was not related to that. So I don't know if I believe him, but hopefully he's in the lineup on Monday.

Yeah, we're going to start him anyway. Right. By the way, tomorrow is the 11 a.m. first start time, right? I don't think so. I think there's a 2 o'clock game. Okay. No, yeah, tomorrow's not. I may be getting ahead of myself.

Sorry about that. That's the Boston. Marathon day, right? The Red Sox do that. Yeah. It's usually Patriots Day or something like that. That's a way. That's a way.

That's a couple weeks from now. It seems like. Yeah. But it's not until April 15th. My bad. 15th. Yeah. Yeah.

My best. Still worth mentioning that people. I mean, you got to set your line as before 2 p.m. on Monday because there is. And next Monday as well. There's two games at two. There's another game at four p.m. Eastern time. So just keep that in mind. Justin Verlander will throw a live batting practice on Monday.

And if that goes well, he'll go out. on a rehab assignment. Yuri Perez through a bullpen session Saturday, his first time throwing off a mound since experiencing inflammation in his right elbow. Met's president of baseball operations, David Stern said Friday that it would be one to two weeks

before a throwing program is laid out for Kodi Senga. Kenley Jansen was unavailable Saturday due to a tight back. And then- I think he was also on available Sunday as well. Yeah, I saw, I don't even know the person's name, but someone recorded a seven out-send for the Red Sox here on Sunday. So yeah, this back thing

continues to pop up for Kenley. Not good. Glaver Torres took a pitch off his right thumb on Friday, but X-rays came back negative. He was in the lineup on Saturday and Sunday. Mitch Garver missed Friday and Saturday due to back spasms. So Team Cranful has to pick up a catcher, unfortunately.

Eloy Jimenez was removed Sunday due to left adductor soreness. And I think I read this is something he's dealt with in the past as well. He went on the IL last year, I believe, with this injury. Not good. Not good for him. Alec Thomas was removed Sunday due to an apparent injury.

Did anyone see what that was for Alex Thomas? Did not know. Yep. All right. DJ LaMayhew has a non-displaced bone fracture in his right foot and will be re-imaged in two weeks. Classic Yankees. Jose Abrae. They're just saying for a week and a half, there's no fracture.

Right. And then, oh, we found one. Yeah. Oh, how did that get there? Jose Abraeu was hitting the hand on Saturday and then was out of the lineup on Sunday. Max Kepler was out on Saturday and Sunday after, fouling a ball off his right leg on opening day. Anthony Deskovani will miss the entire season

after undergoing flexor tendon surgery on his right elbow, and there was lots of rehab assignments either started or announced. This weekend, Walker Bueller made a rehab start at AAA on Sunday. Wasn't great. Three and a third, four runs loud, three earn, two walks, two strikeouts. Sunny Gray will pitch at AAA on Wednesday. He's on the 15-day IL with a right hamstring train. Lars Neupar will likely begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday.

He played in a simulated game Saturday and came out of that with no issues. Braxton Garrett threw two innings in a game at the Marlin Spring Training Complex. Edward Cabrera began a rehab assignment at AAA on Sunday where he threw three shutout innings, four walks, two strikeouts. John. John Means did not mean business on Sunday. His rehab assignment at AAA. one inning, seven runs allowed, two home runs allowed there.

He's going to take the full 30 days for his rehab assignment, I have to imagine. Probably. I would, yep, I would guess that. Some waiver wire hitters, and we'll take a look at Royce Lewis for placements first in shallower leagues. Four third baseman between 50 and 65 percent rostered. Matt Chapman, who hit two home runs on Friday. He had five hard hits in that game. He's 64 percent rostered. Colt Keith is, 61% Michael Garcia, 54%, hit another home run here on Sunday. And Eugenio Suarez, 50% rostered had multiple hits in three of his first four games. How would you guys rank those?

Royce Lewis for placement, Chapman, Keith Garcia, Suarez. Keith Chapman Garcia-Swarz for me. I think so, though I don't have a strong leaning toward anyone over another. and I don't think there's Matt Chapman's off to a good start if you want to play the hot hands let me see if the Giants are facing this week They all rank between 18 and 24

for me at third base so Yeah, Giants matchups aren't great But I want to blame anybody For picking up Chapman for the hot hand anyway I didn't notice Scott that you have the Royals as the best hitter matchups for week two So if anyone wants to chase that With Mikel Garcia you can go for it

See I already forgot about it I do have Mikel Garcia among my 10 sleeper hitters for next week, and he's the only one of those third baseman you mentioned. So if you're going to play it week by week, then I guess he would be the best choice. Yeah, maybe starting to tap into that power that we've talked about, where two home runs

in the first three games, he hit the ball hard last year, just never hit it hard in the air at the same time. Might be starting to figure that out. Slugger Michael Garcia would be nice to see him start running a little bit, but it's hard to run when you're hitting all these home runs. So you get to jog.

Deeper least. Royce Lewis Replacements. Jared Triolo, back-to-back multi-hit games on Saturday. And Sunday, he added a stolen base on Sunday. He had two seasons in the minors with 24-plus seals. It's 35% rostered. Willie Castro, I mentioned the name. He's 26% rostered.

He stole over 30 bases last year with the twins. Graham Pauly had a pinch hit home run on Saturday. His first career hit, and then he started on Sunday. He is just 7% rostered. And then the aforementioned J.D. Davis, 14% rostered, a double dung on Friday, started all four games for the Oakland A's so far. Any interest in these deeper league names, Triolo, Castro, Grand Pauley, J.D. Davis. I think Castro now that we feel confident he's going to get every day,

that's for the time being Willie Castro with that steals potential in Roto leagues, probably close to a must roster in that format. And that would make him the most interesting by far. Keeping an eye on Grand Polly, if that playing time improves, I could see him being of interest, but this was his, this start he got on Sunday was his first, right? Yeah. So that's not much

happening there yet. Sean Murphy Replacements in one catcher leagues. These names are between 50 and 70% rostered on CBS. Jonah Heim, Luis Camp Usano, who went three for five with a home run on Sunday. Cabert Ruiz, Alejandro Kirk, and of course there is Travis Darno.

How would you rank those? Heim, Camp Yusano, Ruiz, Kirk, and Darno. I guess I can look at my rankings, but off the top of my head, I kind of have the most interest in adding Camp Usano, even though I do have him ranked below Ruiz and Heim technically. But he's had a really interesting start to the season. One strikeout in his first 23 plate appearances,

obviously he's at Campu Sano, someone who came on really hot at the end of last season. He's got nine hits in his first four games, first five games. Yeah, they're up to five games already. No, they're up to six. Okay. And he started all six. He started five. But that's still a big point in his favor.

Because him being a first time starting catcher, it wasn't clear how much he'd play. If he'd be one of those guys who starts only 60% of the time, it looks like he's playing a lot for the Padre. So when I do my first in-season ranking update, I imagine Camp Osana is going to move up. Would I take him over? Hym. I still think I'd stick with Hime because of the lineup context, but Camp Osano might be right behind him. Some names in two catcher leagues, Shay Langaliers, Alias Diaz, Ryan Jeffers, Austin Wells, those are all 35% rostered or less. And if you play in a 15-team league and you lost Sean Murphy, I don't know what to tell you because it's really bad out there. I looked in a few leagues. I think

Yvonne Herrera was like the top catcher available. It was pretty gross. I think the Marlins have a bunch of lefties on the way. Christian Bettencourt. I think they have like five lefties on the schedule this week or something. Yep. That, so that might get you through this week. All right. The non-injury replacements, we already mentioned some of these outfielders. Michael Canforto already has two home runs.

They have six games this week. Only one lefty on the schedule. Taylor Ward, back-to-back games with a home run for the Angels. And I was surprised that he was only 39% rostered on CBS. That seems pretty low. He was a top 100 pick last year. Yeah. And Jose Siri had the two steals on Friday, and I think he added another one this weekend, so he's got the three steals. How do you rank those? Conforto, Taylor Ward, and Jose Siri. I think I'd go Ward, Siri, Conforto.

I might move Siri ahead of Ward in a categories league. Okay, yeah. But, and I might move Siri to the bottom in a categories league. And no, I'd put it between the two. Ward first in a points league, Siri first in a category league. Two names in deeper leagues. Any interest, Bryce Terrang, back to back. multi-hit games. He had three steals on Saturday, added another one on Sunday. So now up to four steals already. He did not start on opening day against a lefty.

And Braden Shoemake, I didn't know that he was going to be just part of the White Sox plans. I think he's going to start against right-handed pitching. He's, I think, more of a defense-first prospect. Scott, you could talk to him. I know he was in the Braves organization. Yeah. But he went one for four with a stolen base on Sunday.

He hit a home run on Saturday. That was his first career hit. I mean, this is like real deep league stuff, but anything on Bryce Terang and Braden Shoemake? They are desperation pickups only for very deep leagues, I would say. You know, I am realizing like waivers already ran in my AL-only Labor League. And like, I have Paul DeYoung on that team. I probably should have picked up Braden's Shoemake and dropped Paul DeMell. Yeah, maybe.

We'll see how like if this even lasts. But last year in the miners, Brandon Shue make 16 homers, 27 seals, a 234 batting average. I lost Matt McLean in the Scott White Dynasty League. So, man, I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for shortstop. So I picked a month. That's the 24 team or just to remind everyone. Yeah, very, very deep league stuff. Let's talk about some of those waiver wire pitchers and some Justin Steele replacements.

I think this makes some sense here. And we already kind of mentioned Jack Flarety. We haven't talked yet about what he did. But six innings, one run, seven strikeouts, had 13 swinging, strikes, even more importantly, zero walks. Great news there for Jack Flaherty. He's up to 77% rostered, so probably just 10 team, maybe some shallower points leagues on CBS.

Jared Jones, he had the 10 strikeouts. Seth Lugo, great outing in his Royals debut, six shutout endings, four strikeouts against the twins, and Brady Singer, we haven't mentioned yet. He was great as well. Seven shutout endings, 10 strikeouts, 19th swing strikes, 16 of those came on the slider. I didn't notice that he did anything different. He did throw the slider more in this start, but the velocity was the same. The movement profiles pretty much looked the same as well. Scott, how do you rank this group? Flaherty, Jared Jones, Seth Lugo, Brady Singer. I think I'm going

to lean Flaherty over Jared Jones, and those are by far my favorite two of this group. We talked about Jared Jones already at the top. Flaherty, obviously, had a good start. You mentioned a lot of what happened there. His slider was up 1.2 miles per hour. His curveball was up 2.3 miles per hour. His fastball was up only 0.4 miles per hour, which was less than we saw this spring.

It means it wasn't quite what it was in 2019 the last time he was an ace for fantasy. So I guess that was a little disappointing, but it was 47 degrees outside when he was pitching. So that may have had something

to do with it. And I think there's a good chance Flaherty's velocity is up on the fastball. Even more. Next time out. As it is, he pitched great. No walks, as you mentioned,

plenty whiffs, plenty strikeouts. Overall, the successful outing for Jack Flaherty, and you should be eager to start him this upcoming week with the athletics on the schedule. So he's number one for me, then Jared Jones.

I I had Lugo and Singer originally ranked Lugo ahead of Singer, and I guess I'm going to stick with that. As you pointed out, Frank, I don't really see much that changed for Singer here to explain how he was so dominant, the 10-strikeouts, the 19 swinging strikes. So I'm highly skeptical of it. Obviously, he hasn't been a big strikeout pitcher in the past, and it may have just been one of those days.

but it's worth being aware of and keeping an eye on. Brady Singer had the most impressive start that I'm going to completely ignore so far this season because he talked about in spring training how he was working on throwing a four seamer and a sweeper.

He said the quote is when asked why he was finally considering making the change to those two pitches, he said the reason was probably sucking last year, probably that. That's a direct quote. And then he was just the same guy. It was just Sinker Slider.

So I think this might say more about the state of the twins and how much they are likely to strike out this season. Then it says anything about Brady Singer. I'll take Lugo over him. I will take each of the next four pitchers we're about to talk about. I think I'd take Eric Fetty. over him too. Mm, all right. So let's get into some of those other names.

Waverwire pitchers part two. Garrett Whitlock looked pretty good at the Mariners. Five innings, one run, eight strikeouts to zero walks, and did change his pitch mix in this one, is the changeup was his most used pitch. He added a traditional slider that he used 19% of the time. That is Garrett Whitlock. Jordan Hicks pitched well in his Giants debut at the Padres,

five shutout innings with six strikeouts there. Zach Lattel looks great against the Blue Jays, shutout with six strikeouts for him. And Reed Detmer's had seven strikeouts over five innings at the Orioles, only allowed one run, 17 swinging strikes on 88 pitches for Reed Detmer's. Chris, how do you rank this group? Detmer's, Letell, Jordan Hicks, and Garrett Whitlock. I think it's probably context dependent to a certain degree because both Whitlock and Hicks are Sparps. And that would probably put them at the head of the class. So was Lettel. Letell is as well.

Yes. Sorry. Sorry. So I think those three are clearly at the top and I had to head points league. Without taking that into consideration, I think I would go, gosh, I'm never going to be able to quit read Detmer. So he's at the top for me. Detmer's, I really like all four of these guys. I think they should be rostered in the majority of leagues, certainly.

I think I would go Detmer's, Lattel, Hicks, Whitlock. But I really, I think it's very close, and I like what we saw from all four of them. I'm not as comfortable with Letell as you are, just because I don't think he has the same upside, particularly with regard to strikeout. So I'm going to put him in a different category from the other three. But I would say Jordan Hicks, Reed Detmer's, and Garrett Whitlock, in that order for me, all need to be rostered over the two royals we talked about previously, Seth Lugo and Brady Singer. And in particular, I want to point out two things here. You mentioned the velocity was down on the slider, right? Frank, it was down about three miles per hour.

It was closer to where we saw it in 2022 when he had so much success in the second half. And there was talk earlier that he felt like throwing it as hard as he did last year, made it less effective, ultimately. And so he was trying to get back to the 2022 slider. So far, so good for Reed-Detmer. was, the start was very encouraging in that way. And then with Jordan Hicks, so, okay, it was a good start, the final line, three hits, one walk, and five shut out any six strikeouts. Only eight swinging strikes on 81 pitches.

And remember, that was after that really impressive spring with a lot of strikeouts. So was that just all fake? I think maybe not. Yeah, this wasn't a great whiff start for him at San Diego. but four of those eight whiffs came on the splitter, which he threw just 14 times and got four whiffs with it. It's a new pitch for him. It's not something Jordan Hicks has had before.

And if it turns out to be a really good swing in this pitch for him with everything else he has, it feels like that's what Jordan Hicks was lacking during his time in the bullpen. If he adds that while moving to the rotation, he could be a big contributor for fantasy this year. So I, even with, even prior to the start, I was trying to add Jordan Hicks everywhere. I would be even more eager to do so now. And I just want to add some color to my Brady Singer skepticism, because I'm seeing some Yahoo's in the chat popping off.

He had a two-start stretch last year with 19 strike ends, including a 10 strikeout game against Minnesota. He had a five-game stretch during that period when he had a 245 ERA. Brady Singer has had stretches like this before. He followed that five-star stretch up by allowing 20, four earned runs in his next 24 innings to close out the season. If Brady Singer is good, I will fall on that sword because I am not worried about it. Three final names in deeper leagues. Eric Fetty, actually it looked pretty solid, I thought, in his White Sox debut,

four and two thirds innings, two runs allowed, seven strikeouts. And it was a new pitch mix, something we hadn't seen before. It was a sinker, sweeper, splitter, cutter. The last time we saw Eric Fetty in the majors, it was just sinker. curve cutter. So this is just a new version of Eric Fetty. Paul Blackburn pitched well against the Guardian 7 shutout innings with three strikeouts. And then Stephen Mats look pretty good at the Dodgers. Five and a third innings, two runs allowed, three strikeouts. And the sinker actually was up almost one mile per hour. Good matchup to speak against the Marlins too. Any interest in deeper leagues?

Fetty, Blackburn, Stephen Mats. I was encouraged by these initial returns from Fetty. The strikeouts were better than we saw this spring. That was the biggest thing I was worried about. He got three plus whiffs on three different pitches. It's a sample of one, and the fact it went only four and two-thirds innings meant it wasn't an amazing return in fantasy, but it was encouraging enough that I wouldn't be looking to drop him.

I'd drop him over AJ Puck probably, but I'd like to hold on to Fetty if I was already invested in him. And if, you know, I miss out on Jared Jones and Jack Flaherty, those other guys we talked about, I might be putting in a claim for Eric Fetty. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, talk about a bunch of new pitches

and or velocity changes. We'll do that right after this. Welcome in, let's talk about some new pitches and or velocity changes or just pitch mix changes so far this year. And let's try and keep it moving because we still have a lot to get to.

But Christian Javier pitched well against the Yankees, six shotout innings, six strikeouts in that one. Only eight swinging strikes. and I noticed while watching this start, tons of change-ups. He threw his change-up 25 times. That is a pitch that Christian Javier

has never used more than 6% in any season. Chris, are you encouraged by this outing from Christian Javier, the change-up usage? Yes, and I'm trying, I'm desperately typing trying to find it because there was, I saw somebody tweet about his fastball as well, and now I can't find it,

but apparently the, the ride on his fastball was back, and that's a big deal for Christian Javier as well. He's got that really unique fastball. So, yeah, I think we should be very encouraged by this performance against a Yankees lineup that was very tough the first month or week of the season. All right. Carlos Rodan on the other side,

a little bit shaky at Houston, four and a third, one run allowed, four strikeouts, but he did have 11 swinging strikes, and the fastball velocity was actually up a little bit. He threw that new cutter 15 times. this outing scout? What did you think from Carlos Rodon here? Yeah, the fastball seemed fine

after a spring of hand wringing over it and the slider was up two miles per hour. So I don't think velocity is something to be concerned about with Carlos Rodon right now. It wasn't a great start, but it wasn't bad enough that I'm freaking out about him and thinking about dropping him

or anything like that. So let's focus on the positives and hope that Carlos Rodan can do even better next time. Merrill Kelly looked great against the Rockies, six and two-thirds innings. One run eight strikeouts to zero walks, and he used his slider 18% of the time last year.

That was just 5.5% usage for Merrill Kelly. Chris, obviously a great matchup here against the Rockies. But I wonder, like maybe this slider opens up a new level of strikeout upside for Merrill Kelly. So if I'm remembering correctly last year, the change-up was like a huge swing and miss, for him. It took a huge step forward in that regard. And look, maybe it's just, uh, he has to add one infinity stone at a time to get there. Yeah, we're comparing Merrill Kelly to Thanos now. Um,

I would think that there's nothing really there with the slider and it was just a one time thing, but it's worth keeping an eye on. I'm not going to go trade for Merrill Kelly based on this, though. Aaron Savoy looked great against the Blue Jays, six innings, one run, six. strikeouts only had five swinging strikes on 86 pitches. He threw a new sweeper 16 times in this outing. Scott, uh, any, are you encouraged by what you saw from Aaron Savali here? Yeah. I, I don't know that my opinion changed on him one way or another. I think he's going to be pretty globy, but useful enough to keep around and head-to-head points leagues especially. Uh, good for a start. Okay. Bryce Miller gave up some hard contact against the Red Sox.

four runs allowed over five innings, but he had 16 swinging strikes on 91 pitches, completely changed the pitch mix, lowered that four-team fastball usage, and threw a new splitter 22% of the time, and it actually performed pretty well. Six whiffs, a 60% whiff rate. Chris, this was, I know the results weren't there,

but under the hood, it's kind of interesting for Bryce Miller. Yeah, the splitter looked good. The thing that I keep coming back to with him is, Last year, he would drop his arm slot when he threw his slider and sweeper. And that appeared to still be a bit of an issue today. And the way that manifested last year was opposing hitters just didn't swing at those two pitches. They just laid off of them.

And he only got nine swings on 26 sliders and sweepers today. So still appears to be something of an issue for him. I think it's encouraging. The splitter did look good. You know, I think like watching it. but I'm not necessarily like all in on a Bryce Miller breakout based on this. All right. Michael King struggled with his control against the Giants.

Four innings to run seven walks to six strikeouts. Only four swinging strikes on 88 pitches. And his velocity was way down. Fastball sweeper and sinker each down two miles per hour in this outing. That was the case in his relief appearance in the Korea series as well. Scott Michael King is 75% started. Would you start him at the Giants this week? maybe kind of wait and see what happens from here.

I would try not to start him. I said the same thing with Bailey Ober, but I would try even harder in Michael King's case. I understand in deeper leagues you may not have much of a choice, but I kind of need some reassurance at this point before I feel optimistic about him. Not that I'm dropping him, but another couple more starts like this,

and maybe start to think about it. Head to head points is a spark is the only place. I'd start him right now. Gavin Stone made his season debut on Sunday against the Cardinals. Five innings, three runs allowed. Six strikeouts had 16 swinging strikes on 85 pitches. And Chris, the velocity was up for Gavin Stone. Fastball up 1.4 miles per hour.

The changeup was up nearly two miles per hour. What did you think of Gavin Stone? And would you start him this week at the Cubs? Yeah, he didn't quite sustain the velocity all the way through as he went. He was like sitting 96 early on. It was more like 93, 94. But all in all, I think you have to be pretty impressed. A bunch of whiffs, the changeup looked as advertised, really, really good.

So you sit against the Cubs. I think I would start him ahead of. Would you start him ahead of Michael King? Yes. Yeah, I definitely would. Yeah. Okay. I'm really excited about Gavin Stone at this point.

Like Chris said, the change up. lived up to the billing finally. And he was getting like right on right whiffs with that. Yeah. He threw a 41% of the time. It had a 50% whiff rate. Yeah. And also when they made contact, when the Cardinals made contact off Gavin Stone,

76.6 was the average exit velocity. So it was weak, weak contact. And this looks like the guy who had those ridiculous numbers in the minors in 2022. And I'm, between this and the spring Gavin Stone had, I'm really buying the explanations we got for last year, the pitch tipping and the blister on his toe early on that caused problems with his mechanics to set in.

He looks amazing right now. He's still available in like 25% of CBS Sports League. So if he's out there in one of yours, I think I'd prioritize Gavin Stone over Jared Jones and probably Jack Flaherty too. All right, Scott. I'm gonna throw three names your way. Max Fried.

He only recorded two outs. Just a weird start at the Phillies where he gave up three runs. He allowed three walks. His velocity was way up. I almost thought it was maybe they tracked this incorrectly. His fastball was up three miles per hour. His slider was up seven miles per hour compared to where he normally sits. So just, I don't know, kind of a weird outing for Max Fried.

Joe Ryan was solid at the Royals, five and a third. One run allowed. Five strikeouts. for him. His velocity was up. The splitter was up four miles per hour, slider up four and a half miles per hour. So that was encouraging. And Yoshinobu Yamamoto,

five shot out innings, five strikeouts against the Cardinals. And he did change his pitch mix from his first outing where he basically faded the cutter in this start and obviously had better results. Anything to take away here from Yamamoto, Joe Ryan, Max Freed. You know, I think Freed, we just got to write it off. And unless it becomes a trend,

there's no reason to freak out and bench him or anything. It was obviously a bad start, but it just seemed like everything went wrong for him, obviously has a great track record. Joe Ryan, you know, Frank, you and I were pretty confident in him as a bust case this year, but this profile is so different with the velocity being way up on everything that I kind of don't know what to expect at this point.

I'm still skeptical, good first results. and that's all I can say about Joe Ryan right now. Yamamoto looks like he's on track. Like it was just, I don't know, he was nervous. He talked about being nervous in that first start in Korea, major league debut technically. And his debut state side here was much, much better. The command was as advertised.

The secondary pitches played well. Must start, Yamamoto. I think we can say at this point. All right, yeah. He's at the Cubs. this week, so make sure to, if you had them out of your lineup, which you probably shouldn't have, make sure to get Yamamoto in there. We had a pair of pitchers' duels out in Seattle.

Nick Povetta up against George Kirby on Friday night. Povetta, six innings, one run, 10 strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes. And George Kirby on the other side, six and two-thirds shutout, eight strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes. Chris, I thought this was an awesome showing for both of these guys, Nick Povetta and George Kirby. Yeah, I think the interesting thing is Kirby didn't get any whiffs on his splitter. Right? Am I reading that right? So that was one of the pitches that we were pointing to as a reason why George Carby might take a big step forward as a strikeout pitcher, and he didn't need that this time around.

So that was interesting. And Pivotta, yeah, I'm feeling not so great about my Nick Povetta skepticism right now. We'll see how things look moving forward. But the focus on the sweeper especially, going from, you know, what, 10% of the time last year or something like that to 33% is a big change. You got eight of the whiffs on that one. So, yeah, that was very impressive as well. We'll see how it looks moving forward. We have a long track record of Nick Favetta not living up to expectations, especially when expectations are highest.

But this was a very, very, very. very good start. Yeah, 5.4% usage for the sweeper last year for Paveeta. He introduced it in the second half, but this was one of the highest usage he's ever had, I'm pretty sure. And the other pitchers duel in Seattle, Cutter Crawford against Logan Gilbert, Crawford, six innings, one unearned run, seven strikeouts to one walk, completely changed his pitch mix. And that just seems like it might be an organizational, just philosophy with the Red Sox, where you're seeing Povetta change his pitch mix. Cutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock, they're all just doing new things this year.

And obviously Crawford looked really good. Logan Gilbert on the other side, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts with 16 swinging strikes. He threw a new cutter 14% of the time. And the slider was his most used pitch in this outing, 32%. It's got anything to add on Logan Gilbert, Cutter Crawford. No, not really.

I think you about covered it. All right, quickly run through some hitting leftovers and studs being studs. Fernando Tatis, two for four with a double dung on Friday. Both were hit over 109 exit velocity. One of them was 114.9. So, it looks good. Looks like Fernando Tatis.

Mookie Betts is off to a scorching start homered in four straight games. Luis Robert, three for four with a double dong on Saturday. Big weekend for Ozzy Albies, three for five, with a sock and a shoe on Saturday, and then hit another home run on Sunday. Randy Rosarana had a huge game on Saturday, two for three with a sock and two shoes. That's right.

One homer, two steals for Randy, and then added another solo home run on Sunday. Adolas Garcia, one for four with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. That's after two for four with a home run on opening day. CJ Abrams picked up three stolen bases on Saturday and then hit his first home run on Sunday. So he's off to a nice star. Christian Yelich, multiple hits on Friday and Saturday.

Homered on Friday added two stars. steals on Sunday. Michael Harris, back-to-back three hit games on Friday and Saturday. One of those hits was a home run. And Juan Soto had himself a nice first weekend with the Yankees. Nine hits, including one homer, a go-ahead home run on Saturday. Some successful debuts. Jackson Trio had four hits this weekend. He stole base on Friday. And notice that he is leading off against lefties, but betting ninth against righties. So don't love that. Hopefully it changes soon for It'll change if his performance demands the change. Something else I thought was interesting was they only started Joey Ortiz against lefties,

and they started a gentleman named Oliver Dunn against Wrighties this weekend. So see how long that lasts for the Brewers. To Oscar Hernandez, two for three with a double dong on Friday, added another home run on Sunday. He's now up to three. Did you guys see this Reese Hoskins drama on Friday with the, it was a pretty late slide? Like, I understand why Jeff McNeil was upset. But Jeff McNeil was like screaming in Reese Hoskins face and then Reese Hoskins made his way back to the dugout and started doing like the way, stop crying. It's pretty funny to watch. It was like the villain from rookie of the year.

You can't come back from someone hitting you with a crying face. It's, there's no coming back from it. He waited until he was in the dugout to do it. That's fine. Kind of a wimpy move. I don't know. But he did go three for four with his first. Yeah, that's the thing. He got the, he got the homer. The brewer, yeah, his first Brewers home run on Saturday. That was for Reese Hoskins. Lots of bullpents to talk about. So we're going to go a little bit longer here. Scott, I know you want to make sure we get to all these things. And there is a lot to get to it.

I feel like we should have gotten to it earlier, but that's fine. Yeah, yeah, you're probably right. The Brewers this weekend, Trevor McGill in the 7th. This was on Friday. McGill was using the 7th, Pyeamps in the 8th, then Abner Arebe in the 9th. And he pitched a clean inning for his first save. Aribe then pitched again on Saturday with a two. run lead. He gave up a solo homer, but

picked up his second save, and then on Sunday with Arribay unavailable, it was Yoel Paiamps who pitched a clean ninth inning for his first save, but it looks like Arribay is the guy, the first one up. I think he's the guy. And he's 47% rostered. That number should be higher.

Yeah, Pyeamps only got to save that third day because Ariebe had worked two in a row. And, you know, that in it went so well for Pai Amps that I can't help but wonder if they might if that might cause, I've said his name so much recently, the Brewers manager. Pat Murphy.

Pat Murphy, thank you, to mix it up a little. But if you're banking on any Brewer's reliever right now, it should be a rebate. Yeah, I would say don't drop PIE amps, if you can avoid it. I agree. Go ahead and drop McGill. Unfortunately, I think all three of them are really, really good. And I think whoever had that, that was what we were saying coming in. Whoever got the job, I think is going to stick.

with the job because they're going to be really good in it. I still think Garibay has more meltdown potential than the other two guys. So like, don't drop Pai-Aps yet. Yeah, and Pai-Aps looks really good in the setup role on Friday. I think it was a clean inning. He struck out too. He's really good. Yeah.

There was, yeah. For the Phillies on Friday, Jose Alvarado got the eighth inning with the game tied. He gave up five earned runs, took the loss. And then on Sunday, he bounced back. a one-run lead in the ninth inning pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout picked up his first save. So they used them in the eighth inning Friday

because Matt Olson and Michael Harris were two of the three hitters do up. That seemed pretty clear to me. What was odd is that they used Jeff Hoffman the inning before. So who would have lined up for the save in the ninth if it had come to that? I don't know.

Sir Anthony Dominguez, maybe I don't know. but I do think they consider Jose Alvarado to be their highest leverage reliever, at least, which is why he was back out to get the save on Sunday, despite that rough eighth inning on Friday. So he still remains the guy to roster

from the Phillies bullpen, but it's a little bit murky. For the D-backs on Friday, Kevin Ginkl pitched the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He gave up a hit, but no runs. And then on Sunday, he got the ninth inning again with a four-run lead.

Looks like Kevin Ginkul, is the guy in the absence of Paul Seawald. For the Guardians on Friday, Emmanuel Class A gave up two hits but picked up his first save. For the Mariners on Friday, Andres Munoz got the final four outs, three via the strikeout for his first save.

For the White Sox on Saturday, Jordan Leisure pitched the sixth inning with a two-run lead. John Brebia later pitched a ninth. That was with the game tied. And then on Sunday, Brebia pitched... He got two outs across the sixth and the seventh inning.

He was relieved by Michael Kopeck, who recorded five outs, three of those via the strikeout. So I don't know if we're any closer to figuring out the White Sox bullpen, at least not yet. No, but Kopeck is still the one I want, especially as good as he looks Sunday. Might be some confirmation bias there, but yeah, I agree. Kopec's the guy to have here. It looked really good. And the stuff metrics were all really positive about the way he looked. For the Tigers on Saturday, Alex Lang pitched December.

seventh inning with the game tied. He walked three, only recorded one out. And then on Sunday, Jason Foley got the final two outs with just a one-run lead for his second save. And we had a fab run in a few 15 teamers so far. And Foley went for 261 and 286 in a $1,000 fab budget. He's 27% rostered. Obviously, you got to go out and add Jason Foley. I think Alex Lange could be dropped to. So that's what I'm, I'm more confident. that you can drop Alex Lang than I am that Jason Foley is just the closer now. I'm pretty confident Foley's the closer, though. I understand both of his saves were not a full inning.

And the Tiger's best two relievers apart from him are both left-handers. So there was a left-hander who worked the eighth inning each of those games, and I think a left-hander was due up first and the ninth. So A.J. Hinch just stuck with that left-hander to face the left-handed back. and then brought in Foley after that left-handed batter was retired, which, you know, if it just so happens that a left-handed batter is going to lead off the ninth inning, it doesn't, there's no reason for AJ Hinch not to do that. It's not like the reliever's going to get pulled for a pinch hitter.

That doesn't happen anymore, and it hasn't happened in the American League in 50 years. What I would say, though, is it's not just that their other relievers are lefties. It's that Jason Foley is really bad against lefties. Historically, he's had like a sub-600 OPS against righties and a plus 800 against lefties. And so, like, what I worry about here is, what if the second batter of the inning is a lefty? How are they going to approach those situations?

Do they, like, I think part of it is just that, like, Shelby Miller might be their best reliever. Oh, that's true. And so what if there's a situation? I said our second and third best reliever were both left-handers, but I forgot about Shelby Miller. So I think the bigger takeaway here is I, yeah, Alex Lang seems to be out of the picture.

We'll see if, yeah. I'm not saying Foley, I'm not saying there will never be a situation where one of those left-handers gets the save instead, but it does seem like Foley is Hinch's most trusted guy. And because of the three-batter minimum, rule, it's only going to allow for so much mixing and matching on AJ Hinch's part. So if Alex Lang is getting 75, I'm sorry, not Alex Lang, if Jason Foley is getting 75% of the

saves for a team that looks like it could be a contender, that's probably going to be enough to justify the big bids that we're seeing in these leagues where saves are scarce. I would prefer to have Foley over Adner Uribe even because there's the potential runway of a full season there in Foley's case and because I think he's really good. But yeah, it's not for sure yet, but it's the most attractive safe target that we've seen emerge on the Waver Wire this year, in my opinion. And I saw him go for over 400 in my TGFBI league. I was the runner up at 168.

Yeah, I'm okay not getting him at that. Yeah. Yeah. Geez, yep. Blowing money, here we are. For the Reds on Saturday, Alexis Diaz got the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up three runs on two hits and two walks. He took the blown save and the loss in that one.

For the Nationals on Saturday, Kyle Finnegan got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He picked up his first save. And then on Sunday, Finnegan was called upon again in the ninth inning with a two-run lead. He gave up a two-run homer to Will Benson and then a back-to-back walk-off home run to Christian and Carnacian Strand. For the Royals on Saturday, Will Smith got the ninth inning with the game tied. He gave up four earned runs and took the loss.

I had, in some of those deeper leagues, I was willing to drop Will Smith to get either Jason Foley or a rebate if he was out there. I mean, maybe Will Smith is just the guy, but he just looks so bad. Kevin Ginkle was out there in one of my leagues still too. But, yeah, no, I mean, sticking with him for now in those deep saves leagues.

I agree that those other guys would be better. For the Twins on Saturday, Griffin Jacks pitched the eighth inning with the game tied. He faced the top of the Royals lineup. They took a four-run lead, and then Brock Stewart pitched a ninth. He allowed a single but struck out three. Warned you not to drop that Brock Stewart. So, yeah, they might be mixing and matching a little bit. They might be.

And I think Brock Stewart is better than Griffin, Jacks. So if Jacks hasn't claimed the job out right yet, there's still a lot. chance Stewart could. For the... For the Rockies on Saturday, Tyler Kinley pitched the eighth inning with a five-run lead. Justin Lawrence got the ninth.

So I think that might be an indication that Lawrence will get the first save opportunity. For the Cardinals on Saturday, Ryan Helsley got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up two runs on four hits. He took the blown save, but wound up with the win. Giovanni Gallegos got the save in the 10th inning. Ryan Helsley's velocity is still down, though.

Yeah. Average 97 with his forcing fastball in this one. Now it's down 2.7 miles per hour. It was down in the spring as well. Slider has still been a really good pitch. He's still getting a lot of whiffs, but we have not seen a version of Ryan Helsley who pitches in this velocity band and is successful.

So that's the only thing I'm pointing out there. I will mention, though, that Giovanni Gaiagos' velocity was down just as much as Helsley's in this outing. Maybe you can survive it better. For the Pirates, after our opening day scared, David Bednar looks fine. He pitched on Saturday with a six-run lead, and then he got the ninth inning on Sunday. With a one-run lead, he did give up a solo homer to Nick Gordon, but wound up with the win. For the Marlins on Sunday, Tanner Scott got the 10th inning with the game tied.

He gave up two unearned runs on a walk and a hit. I saw some people speculating on Anthony Bender already in Fab. so we'll see what happens with the Marlins. For the Rangers on Sunday, Jose LeClerc got the ninth inning with the game tied. He gave up four runs on three walks and a hit. He took the loss. Would you look to get David Robertson on your team

if you had Jose LeClerc in a Categories League? I think you have to. We've seen LeClerc go through these lapses with control, and he comes out of it usually. But because Bruce Bochie already seem to be hedging on him this spring. I don't know that LeClerc's going to have a particularly long leash. So two really rough outings to begin the year.

I'd want to protect that asset. And the thing there is David Robertson, when he's right at least, he wasn't right with the Marlins. But for the most part over the last half decade, really, he has been good enough that he could just run away with the job, even if LeClerc does figure it out eventually. If Robertson gets the opportunity, Robertson could just be the job. God. And then for the Cubs on Sunday, Hector Neris pitched the eighth inning with the game tied. They took that full run lead.

Adbert Alzali came out for the ninth. So I thought it was nice to see Alzali once again used in a ninth inning even after blowing that save on opening day. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

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