Fantasy Baseball Today - Week 14 Sleepers & Two-Start Pitchers (7/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 1, 2022

Before we preview Week 14, we talk about Christopher Morel and Darick Hall's massive performances Thursday (4:00) ... Shane Bieber, Luis Severino, and Aaron Nola were all good, but not great Thursday. Are they true aces? (12:00) ... News and notes, including good news about Ronald Acuña and Mookie Betts (33:56). ... Which two-start pitchers are we looking to use in Week 14 (37:30)? ... Which hitters have the best matchups (45:40)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (50:20). Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to fantasy baseball today. I'm Chris Towers here with Scott White. No Frank Stample. He's on vacation getting married this weekend. Congratulations to Frank. We'll see him back next week, but for the next couple of days after the weekend. You've got Scott and I, and we're here on Friday, Kokomo Friday, to break down Thursday night's action. We had a amazing third pirate in the month of June to hit three home runs. We'll talk about that we'll talk about some of the other Thursday night action and preview week 14 we've got your streamers your two start sleepers your sleeper hitters best and worst hitting matchups all that but first frank and i yeah frank and i did the uh stranger thing segment yesterday to you know celebrate the return of of one of both frank and i's favorite series stranger things got i don't know if you've watched it but no volume two comes out i believe like right now maybe oh so Wow. Sorry to pull you away from this, Chris. I wasn't going to be. I'm not going to be able to watch it until next week anyway.

Those episodes are like two hours long for the final time. I got I got a wait. But we did a Stranger Things segment talking about some strange things that have happened in Major League Baseball this season. And Stranger Things Volume 2 is here on Thursday night because Michael Perez hit three home runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates today. one of the most, one of the more unbelievable three homer games, I have to imagine in Major League history, he entered today with an OPS below 500,

leaves today with an OPS slightly above 600, so that tells you how bad he was. But yeah, three home runs, five RBI, four hit game for catcher Michael Perez. And it kind of feels like when Reed Demers threw a no hitter. And we just know. Note it and that might be unfair to read that. That is unfair to read Detmer's, I would say,

because he at least was high draft pick, top prospect, great minor league numbers. Michael Perez is just a guy that the pirates plug in behind the plate sometimes because their starter needs a day off. Not that the alternatives are great either. I guess it's possible he could earn more playing time because of this, But I don't think, I don't think there's much to dig into here for fantasy. It's just one of those.

Amazing. Two, two days in a row. The pirates have a guy hit three home runs. Obviously, Brian Reynolds did it on Wednesday night. And this is the third time in the month of June. This is the eighth team ever to have three, three home run games in one season. The pirates are. A couple teams have had four.

And the first ever to have three in the same month. Jake Swinsky did it earlier. in the month of June. That is incredible for one of the worst offenses in baseball. So one of those, you know, you go to the ballpark and you see something new every day kind of things. But yeah, that was that was incredible one. We had to start off with that. Let's move on to, oh my goodness gracious. I don't have the the drop. So Scott, if you can give me your best Susan Waldman. Oh my goodness gracious. And who are you going with for your my goodness,

I didn't talk about this beforehand, so I'm just going to have to go top of minds here. No, I have somebody picked out. It's Christopher Morel, another Christopher Christopher Christopher. And he had... The better Christopher.

Well, at some things. Christopher Morell went five for five with a home run, a majestic 440-foot home run, though I will note it was off a position player, who was particularly bad for a position player pitching. today. Which position player was that again? I believe it was Mike Ford. No, no it wasn't. It wasn't. It was Max Schrock. Max Schrock who allowed two home runs five earn runs in his inning of work and yeah, one was this majestic blast by Christopher Morrell. Not that he's a stranger to hitting home runs.

He just hit one the day before. So two good games in a row, you know, five hit day always stands out. on the one hand I'm encouraged to see this this two-game stretch from Morel because he had fallen off pretty hard and I'm always encouraged when the young guy who comes up takes the league by storm

and then tails off I'm always encouraged when he bounces back because a lot of times they don't particularly when it's not like a noteworthy prospect Christopher Morel was, you know, barely a top 30 guy in the Cubs system coming into the year. And so, you know, sometimes the league just figures them out and that's it. So on the one hand, encouraged by Christopher Morel. On the other hand, if you remember all the times I've talked about Christopher Morel previously,

I have said this was a guy who struck out a lot in the minors. And amazingly, he's not striking out that much in the majors. And it's allowing his natural tools, his ability to hit for power, to steal bases. It's allowing them to play up beyond what the scouting reports suggested. Well, his struggles, yeah, it changed during that. It changed during that. So in his last 17 games, including this 5 for 5 performance, where obviously he didn't strike out at all.

In his last 17 games, Christopher Morel has struck out at a 42.9% rate. which has gotten his season strikeout rate up over 30%. One of the basic tenets of Moneyball is that plate discipline generally doesn't improve for players. It does improve sometimes. But when a player particularly one entering new circumstances like this, when he does see a change in plate discipline, the right response is to be skeptical of it. And I think that's playing out for Morel now.

So are his natural tools enough that he can overcome a high strikeout rate? I think potentially, but it's going to be with a low batting average in all likelihood. So keep that in mind for Morel going forward. He's versatile. He can contribute power and speed. But I think now we have reason to believe that his bat might do. disappear at times because of the strikeouts. Yeah, I mean, one thing that that is particularly alarming is he's someone who

actually doesn't chase the ball outside of the strikes and all that often. His chase rate is only 25.9%. His own swing rate is 72%. So, you know, that that's generally what you want. So that actually makes the six, he's in the sixth percentile and whiff rate at 35%. That actually makes it even worse because he's generally swinging more. or less at the pitches that he should and still swinging missing a lot. So that's definitely concerning and that definitely, you know, indicates a middling or, you know,

maybe worse contact skill. So, you know, that would be the concern there. But yeah, the underlying skills, or at least the tools are very impressive. So Christopher Morrell remains someone who is very interesting for fantasies. He must roster in Roto leagues for you. Yeah, and Roto, I wouldn't be tempted to move on. And in a points league, if you gave a shot on, if you took a shot on him as your second baseman,

more likely than outfield, I think he's, I think he's pretty fringy now and is probably going to remain so. All right, my oh my goodness, gracious player of the day, Derek Hall got his first two major league hits today, and they were both home runs. He went two for five, two home runs, three RBI and a 14-4 Phillies win over the Braves.

And, you know, Hall is someone who not a big-time prospect, but it's going to be interesting, like, even by the standards of like Vinnie Pasquantino, who not a big-time, like, real-life prospect, but has had a lot of hype around his debut for fantasy. Derek Hall didn't even have that, but his minor league numbers are fairly similar to two home runs today, 102 and 109 miles per hour. And given that he's already had a big game, what do you think? the chances are that people are going to flock to Derek Hall instead of any Pasquantino.

Oh, I don't think they should. The thing about Pasquantino is, so I was spending some time on baseball prospectus the other day. And I forget which are their writers, but he was saying, and I don't know exactly how they do their midseason top 50 if they include players who are already in the majors and happen to still have rookie eligibility or not. but he was saying they were prepared to have Vinny Pasquantino in their top 15 when they released the top 50. Wow. And this particular writer was saying he was the best hitter in the minors.

So I would say his prospect stock has improved over the course of this season. I think maybe there was some skepticism about the way his 2021 went. But based on what a lot of evaluators have seen from this year, Pasquantino has become a full-fledged prospect. But getting back to the player you brought up here, Derek Hall, I believe he's 26, right? The strikeout rate isn't unwieldy in the minors, and I actually had the choice to add him in the 24-team Dynasty League, where obviously anyone who you can get for a buck-off waivers when he first gets called up, you know, it could turn into a valuable chip for him. I decided to stick with Gavin Sheets over him.

So that, you know, if I had known Derek Hall was going to Homer twice the next day, I probably would have made a different decision. But I think that's the range we're talking about here, where it's, yes, the guy has some hitting ability. But he profiles more as maybe a part-timer or somebody who gets shuttled between the majors and minors pretty often. I think it's unlikely he turns into a legit asset just based. on the lack of of enthusiasm for him among prospect evaluators. Yeah, it's not clear he's going to play against lefties. He hasn't had the opportunity yet. So that's also a knock against him.

But good game, worth keeping an eye on. He did have 20 home runs in 72 games entering the before getting called up back when he was in AAA. So, you know, there's some pop there, 20% strikeout rate. So not outrageous. So someone to keep an eye on. now that he's had this big game. Let's give a shout out to the Cubs offense.

Six players had multiple hits, including Christopher Morrell, as we talked about. Nico Horner had three, went three for five, two home runs for Patrick Wisdom, plus a shoe. So two socks and one shoe. I guess that second sock will get dirty. Joey Votto and Tommy Fam also had three hits

on the other side of that game, including a home run for each of them. Tommy Fan went deep in the ninth. So big games for both those guys, which is what you want to see. And let's talk about the pitchers from Thursday as we move on again later in the show we're going to have Week 14 preview sleeper pitchers sleeper hitters all that good stuff but for now let's continue to recap Thursday night's action Let's talk about the pitchers there were only what seven games on the schedule today

So we can pretty much touch everyone if we want we had some aces who pitched What was that that was me touching? Oh, that was you touching okay yeah Aces who pitched, they're fine. Shane Bieber got a quality start, five strikeouts, two walks against Minnesota, 49% slider usage in this game, 10 whiffs with that pitch, 13 overall. He's more or less settled in as a low 3S ERA. I think he's down to 3-1 range right now, but 4.0 XERA. Any concerns about that at all for Shane Bieber,

or are you pretty much on Shane Bieber as a borderline ace again? Yeah, I'm pretty much in on him as a borderline ace. And, you know, a lot of it's just because he's been so consistent. He's in spite of the decline in velocity, which, by the way, it was up a little in this start, but, you know, still below what we expected from him coming in. He still has 13.7% swinging strike rate. Like, obviously the stuff is playing for Bieber and still has incredible control for a pitcher with that kind of stuff.

I think he's fine. Yeah, it's interesting, like, and I don't think this changes how I view him at all. It's just, it's interesting, like I was looking at him and the way he's evolved over the years and like the fact that he's now a slider first pitcher. I mean, he's throwing at 41% of the time overall this season, 49% today. That was in that massive 2020 shortened season. That was his least used, uh, of the, the major pitches. I guess it's change up, you know, which he rarely uses anyway.

Yeah, he's kind of ditched that cutter and made the slider his go-to pitch. And so far this season, 39% whiff rate, 288X Wobah, the fastball remains an issue for him. And that's kind of an example of why he's going so slider-heavy. It's just it was interesting to note that he's preferring the slider to the curveball now. Maybe it's just slider's a little easier to throw for strikes. and if he doesn't have that fastball. So that's the one thing I noticed. But yeah, at this point,

I think Shane Bieber's back inside my top 15. Yeah, he's been, good about him. Yeah, he's been in my top 12 for a while now. But by the way, I wanted to, I wanted to throw a shout out to Jared Sadeler. That's the baseball prospectus writer

who offered those insights on Pasquantina. So I always hate when I bring up an author for another site. Just by the work alone about making the name. Yeah. Yeah. No. Good. He does good work. I always like reading his prospect stuff. Another ace who pitched pretty well today.

Aaron Nola, seven innings, four run, so, you know, the ERA is not great. But eight strikeouts, one walk. He continues to pitch very well. Third time this season that he's allowed at least four runs and gotten a win, which is, you know, I guess when the Phillies are prioritizing offense and going away from defense the way they have, that will happen. Aaron Nola or Shane Bieber at this point? Who do you have ranked higher? I think they're right back to back for me, but I do have Nola higher. Just because I think there are fewer concerns with him.

Not that there are no concerns, and not that there are a lot of concerns for Bieber, but I think the velocity issue lingering over Bieber makes me a little more nervous than the defense behind Nola or the fact that Nola had a bad ERA last year. He's looked pretty dominant this year. All right. And then Luis Severino, six innings, three hits, two runs, two walks, only four strikeouts, only six whiffs in this one. But it was against a Houston team that rarely strikes out. Velocity and stuff looked fine. ERA down to 335. Is he inside your top 20 at this point at starting pitcher? That was Severino? Yes.

Yeah. He is. And I got, I've been kind of second guessing that because, uh, like right when I moved him into my top top 15 actually his like it was right at the height of his you know kind of return to form with a lot of strikeouts going deep into games really bringing back the slider in a way he wasn't doing at the start of the year and of course that was his put away pitch when back before he had Tommy John surgery so once he started unveiling that again oh Luis Severino clearly he's back to being an ace and the start since then, you know, they've been a little less dominant. But, you know, it's either Severino or somebody like Frankie Montas, who's not getting wins in Oakland, somebody like Pablo Lopez, who has some pretty... His own concerns. Yeah, significant health concerns. I suppose once I'm fully confident in Woodruff and Max Scherzer, when he's back,

they might bump Severino just outside of the top 15. But, yeah, the point is he's... If he's not back to being a fantasy ace for me, he's very close. He's been very consistent this season. ERA for each month, 332, 341, 330. Strikeouts have been way up lately before this start at least. So yeah, I don't have him quite in my top 20. He's behind like Robbie Ray and Logan Webb and Pablo Lopez.

I think Lopez I can probably safely move behind Severino, but he's right in that range. So, yeah, I feel pretty good about him. moving forward. And those six whiffs, I mean, that was his, only his second start this year with,

with fewer than double digit swinging strikes. So like even in that department, even when he wasn't using the slider that much early in the season, he was still getting wifts at a good rate. Yeah, has not actually really been a concern for him. I'm going to ask is Luis Garcia a must start?

He went five and a third, three hits, one run, two walks, six strikeouts against those Yankees, 14 whiffs on a hundred, 101 pitches, velocity was up slightly. ERA down to 354 and the XERA backs it up. Two earned runs or fewer in eight of his last 10 games started.

Three earned runs are fewer in nine of the last 10. Is he just must start against any matchup? Well, I can say he's must start next week because he's facing the Royals and the athletics in a two-star week. So definitely next week. Must start in any matchup, I think, you know, speaking to the general audience, plays in what we consider shallower leagues.

I don't know that I'd go that far. Luis Garcia has only six times gone six innings or more this year. So that's that and the fact that his ERA is in the mid-3s, I think he's more of a, not exactly a match-ups play. He's more valuable than that. But there are times when you're going to look at your options and he's just going to get pushed out because you have superior choices. All right, this next little mini segment I'm calling Drop City Population 2.

Ian Anderson, two innings, seven hits, seven earned runs, one walk, one strikeout versus Philadelphia. 531 ERA for the season now. The weird thing is his XERA is 3 to 7, which isn't great, but is much better than his actual ERA. His velocity in the stuff mostly seems fine. He's getting pretty good whiff numbers with his changeup in crime. curveball in particular, the fastball, not so much. But I think the changeup in curveball are both in like the 37% range. And I think anything above 35% we generally consider to be pretty good. So he's got these two, yeah, 37.5% both with the change up and curveball. So he's got these two pitches

that seem like they are getting the job done and the quality of contact metrics for both are pretty good, but he's just been miserable. I don't know what it is that explains why Ian Anderson's been so bad this year. Yeah. No, he should be better. And I've said that about him a couple times this season. I feel like he is a pitcher. You look at the metrics and this guy should be better than he is. But we've been saying that for a year and a half now. Yeah. It's only gotten worse. It's ERA and whip at this point, 531 and 152. And so it's amazing to me. He's like 90% rostered still. I mean, you could understand how stat dorks like us would say, yeah, there's still something to see here. But just, you know, the way the general fantasy player operates, I feel like they would have moved on from him long ago.

And the thing is, I wonder now if the Braves might consider sending him down for a stretch. I mean, they got Kyle Mueller, who's, we've seen a couple times in the majors before, and it hasn't gone great. but he's on quite a run now at AAA, 187 ERA in his past five starts, 43 strikeouts and 33 and two-thirds innings, a 15% swinging strike rate. But most notably, six walks in those five starts, a 69% strike rate. Like Kyle Muller has great stuff.

He's got that fastball as a left-hander that rises and gets a lot of whiffs itself. It's just he's had trouble throwing. strikes. And these last five starts, it seems like me he may have improved in that area. So I kind of feel like the Braves might be itching to give him another look, particularly with Ian Anderson struggling like he is. Could be dead wrong about that. I mean, Anderson's been a, you know, he's had some big moments in the playoffs for them the past couple of years and they may feel like he's earned his place. But yeah, he needs some, he needs something done because it's,

it's not working what he's doing now. Yeah, I think the, the thing I look at, he's, got only he's only has nine strikeouts this season with his curveball he has 13 with the fastball despite the fact that the curveball has a 38% whiff rate the fastball's only got a 17% with rate so it it kind of seems like he might stand to benefit more from using the the curveball as a put-away pitch because it seems like that's the biggest issue for him you know he's got a decent with rate he but he's got a 19% strikeout right now so it's like he's got to figure out how to get the whiff rate the whiff rate has held steady for Anderson for from the rookie year when he just had like a sub 2 ERA.

It was the 2020 season. So we're talking about, I don't know, like eight starts or something. Yeah, but still, I mean, he looked like, oh, man, this is the new ace. Yeah. And the whip rate is held steady. But yeah, it's just the strikeouts have gotten worse and everything's gotten worse. Yeah, I would be interested in buying low, but it would have to be like a, you're going to drop this guy anyway.

So why don't you just give him to me for whatever I've got kind of situation. So really frustrating with Ian Anderson. Graham Ashcraft, another guy we've hyped up a little bit over the past couple of weeks. He was on the receiving end of all those Cubs, those six multi-hit games by the Cubs today. Two and a third inning, seven hits, seven earned runs, two walks, one strikeout. Used his cutter 59% of the time, got seven whiffs on 68 pitches total. ERA's up to 433. He's got 28 strikeouts and 43 and two-thirds innings.

you know, he doesn't give up any walks, really. You know, today he had two and two and a third. That's probably his worst of the season. But he also just doesn't strike anyone out. It's like a 16% strikeout rate. He's got this 98, 99 mile an hour cutter, but he doesn't get any swings and misses on it. And he pitches to contact in a way that he's going to have to really do a great job of mitigating the quality of contact.

And I don't know, you've been very bullish on Graham Ashcraft. Is he someone that you're looking to drop? Well, like with Anderson, I think even more likely than with Anderson, much more likely, actually. I think we could see Graham Ashcraft gets sent down in short order because Nick Ladolo is set to return early next week, may even be a two-star pitcher next week. And I was looking at the Reds rotation.

I'm like, oh, no, who are they going to move? They can't remove Ashcraft. I'd hate to see that. And then he goes out and has this start. And it's like, oh, well, yeah, they're probably going to remove Ashcraft. So, yeah, I mean, I still think there are definite tools to work with there for Ashcraft. And he has been a solid strikeout pitcher in the minors. So I still think that it's possible that he learns to do that more at the major league level,

even if he doesn't, the way he gets ground balls. He may not need to. But, yeah, I mean, three of his last four starts have been pretty bad now. so it just seems like rather than dumping Mike Minor, which the Reds would probably probably not want to do, it just seems like Ashcraft would be the obvious man out.

So yeah, I think you could make the case for dropping him anyway, but obviously if the Reds send him down here, most likely going to do that. Would you pick up any of these? I have Chris Archer listed on here, but I don't think there's any reason to add Chris Archer. Would you consider adding any of you say Kukuchi, Kyle Hendricks, or J.T. Brewbaker,

if you drop Graham Ashcraft, Kukuchi. Had a really good start against Tampa Bay today. Eight strikeouts, one walk, one earned run, and six innings. Even with that start, he finished a 717 ERA in the month of June after putting up a 236 in the month of May. I can't quit Yusay Kukuchi, so maybe that's just me being interested in him. Kyle Hendricks, two earned runs in six innings, seven strikeouts, one walk against Cincinnati, two earned runs are fewer in three of his last four starts, and finished June with a very respectable 390 ERA, 26 strikeouts to four walks and 27 and two-thirds innings over five starts. Not going as deep into starts these days as he once did, but at least he's gotten the control issues that plagued him early in the season.

He had 11 walks, I think, in 18 innings in April. At least he's gotten that under control. And then J.T. Brubaker, 12% rostered. And he was fine. Six strikeouts just missed out on a quality start against Milwaukee, but I think he's pretty fringe. So would you be interested in picking up Kukuchi or Kyle Hendricks in particular to if you dropped Graham Ashcraft? Well, you know, it's interesting how you said I've been bullish on Ashcraft. And I think part of the reason I have been is because it's a there's some relativity.

going on there where it's like if this is who you're picking up instead. I'm sorry. It's just not much to get excited about. I don't know if you've experienced this yourself, Chris, but I've noticed the last couple weeks when I go and put in my waiver claims on Sunday. There just hasn't been as many to put in. I think we've reached a point in the season where things have kind of stabilized and it doesn't mean there's never going to be any exciting waiver claims.

claims again, but the frequency is way down. Outside of the guys getting called up, which happened, you know, there was like a big blob of those guys a couple weeks ago. But other than that, yeah, I agree. It's been a lot less exciting. And you see a lot more like $7 bids and stuff like that. So, yeah. To address the player specifically, J.T. Brubaker has a surprisingly good swinging strike rate.

You know, he did last year, too. so I don't I don't read too much into that. Cacucci, yes, it was a good start. He's been so bad lately. I noticed he kind of reintroduced the change up a little in this one after not throwing it much recently. And so maybe that helped his arsenal play up. But there were there was there,

there have been other starts in June where he threw his change up a decent amount too. And they didn't go as well. So I definitely need more convincing there with him. And Hendricks, I'd actually moved on from Hendricks in some deep leagues, just kind of traded him for whatever I could get because I was just tired of the second straight year where, yeah, occasionally he has a start

where he looks like retro Hendrix, but then when he doesn't, it's just terrible. So three of his last four starts have been good, the one that hasn't was terrible, and I wouldn't put it past him to rediscover his old form. I mean, he was a real fantasy asset for, seven years. But, yeah, I mean, I've taken some lumps.

I've taken some lumps anticipating that happening for Hendricks, and it hasn't. So it's kind of steering clear of him for now. That makes sense. Yeah, I think I'd be fine dropping Ashcraft for Hendricks, you know, just to try to get a couple of good starts out of him. But I think I do have him, I do have him as a two-star sleeper for this upcoming week. I think expectations are rightly muted for Kyle Hendricks at this point, but he has been pitching, you know, much better of late. It's worth noting. We will take a quick break and then we come back. We'll talk about some news and notes from Thursday. We'll get you that week 14 preview.

And before we do that, though, I just want to remind you, we're doing a mailbag episode for Tuesday. We're going to record that on Sunday night so that Scott can celebrate my birthday the right way on Monday by not having to work. By not having to spend any time with me. That's that's your, that's how you're, that's how you're, that's, that's how you're. you're going to celebrate my birthday. So send your emails into Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com or leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and we'll get your questions answered, talking about the second half of the season, maybe some prospect call-ups,

maybe some keeper questions, whatever you got, we'll answer them on Tuesday's episodes. So send those in, and we'll be right back on Fantasy Baseball today. All right, let's talk about some news and notes before we move on to the week 14 preview. Ronald Acuna was available off-the-benchers. Thursday and is expected to play on Friday. He had been out since Saturday with a Bruce

foot. So that's a good sign. It sounds like he's going to be back and really surprising good news on the mooky bets front. It sounds like he could be back early next week. According to manager, Dave Roberts is what he said coming back from that rib injury. He's taken batting practice in the last couple of days. And it sounds like he's going to play second base. So that they don't have to so that he doesn't have to make those long throws from the outfield. So that's actually potentially a very significant deal because, you know, Mookie Betts obviously has experience playing second base before, but if he was able to get second base eligibility. Yeah, he was eligible at second base last year, right? Yeah, I mean, because they were sparing his hip.

They moved him there just enough for him to get, obviously not to retain eligibility into this year, but for him to get it toward the end of last year. And so that'll be interesting to see because he would clearly be, I think, the number two second baseman if he became eligible there behind Trey Turner. who will only have second base eligibility. Yeah. What's that? They'd be neck and neck as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I think they're both top 10 players overall and both head to head endpoint and Roto.

And, you know, depending on how long they play, Mookiee Betts, you know, he needs 20 games to have eligibility for next season. But that could be, you know, significant for his, uh, his 2022 or 2022 value. Excuse me. So that'll definitely be something to keep an eye on as Mookie Betts makes his return. Uh, Manny Machado return from a week plus app. since to play DH Thursday. I saw he drove to Los Angeles rather than fly to avoid any swelling.

He went one for three with three strikeouts, but it's good to see him back out there. Been one of the best players in baseball this season. Yordaun Alvarez and Jeremy Pena were both out of the lineup Thursday against the Yankees following their collision in the field on Wednesday. They're still being evaluated for concussions. So that's not a great sign. Hopefully we'll get some good news on Friday. Anthony Rizzo played and homered after leaving Wednesday.

game with an elbow issue. He's got 21 home runs on the season now, so that's a good sign. Tyler Stevenson is making really good recovery in his really good time in his recovery from thumb injury and could be back in the next seven to ten days. He's been swinging and could go on a rehab assignment in the next few days. So he went out, I think, on June 10th with a four to six week timetable and it looks like he's going to beat that. So good sign for Tyler Stevenson, top 10 catcher, potentially top five at this point. Jacob de Grom could begin his rehab assignment on Saturday. Adrian Houser left his start on Thursday with elbow tightness and we'll go on the IL. That's a bad sign. David Price was placed on the family medical emergency

list. We'll be away from the team for the next three days. Chris Sale struck out seven over four innings pitched at AA Portland as part of his rehab assignment. Through 52 pitches in this one, so probably needs at least one more rehab start, but he's been awesome. 14 strikeouts to one walk in seven and two third innings. It's kind of unfair for double. a pitchers to have to face even a rehabbing Chris Sale, but that's a good sign for his recovery. Do you expect him to be a top 30 starting pitcher when he's healthy? Yeah, top 30, I think is a safe threshold to clear. I mean, I wouldn't put it past him to be top 10, honestly.

I'm not saying he will be. I'm just saying like it's okay to dream that big with Chris Sale. Yeah, well within the realm of possibility there. Jed Lowry was placed on the aisle with a shoulder injury. of the A's called up Vimal Machin. I'm not sure how you pronounce that name. He's got a little bit of pop, a little bit of speed, but I'm not sure there's much there.

They optioned Christian Pache to AAA. He had a 427 OPS this season. So not going well for him in one of his, you know, really first real opportunity to play like every, every day. So not great for Christian Pache. Mitch Hanigur dealing with that ankle injury, took part in batting practice and has been playing catch, but still isn't running at full speed,

hoping for a return around the All-Star break. And Kyle Lewis, who's recovering from a concussion, did base running drills and could go on a rehab assignment soon. So that's a good sign. Jake O'Reazy said he feels ready to return to the Houston rotation. Who do you think would lose their spot at this point? I mean, Jose O'Kiddy's been the worst starter for the Astros, 436 ERA, but I don't know if they'd be willing to remove him from the rotation.

Yeah, I kind of think it's going to be Oterizzi himself. Like, he's, he is worse than any of the five in there currently. And I know they've, they've been hesitant to do that in the past. Obviously, they've blown Christian Javier to the bullpen for long stretches. But, like, he's been, he's been their second best pitcher. Well, Framber Valdez, I guess, is in that discussion too. But certainly coming off a 13 strikeout effort if they were to send Christian Javier back to the bullpen, I think.

There might be some some riding over that. Specifically from you. Well, yeah, many people who play fantasy, many people who cheer for the Astros, probably. But Odorizzi, I don't know.

It should be Oter Izzy. I'll say that much. If it's not Oterizzi, I guess Orchidi is the, unless they're trying to preserve Louis Luis Garcia's innings. That's the only other scenario I could see. They could go six man for a little bit too. They could go six man for a while, yeah.

Maybe with everybody but for Lander. Yeah. Or maybe even with him. He's coming back from Tommy John after all. We'll see. Yeah, we'll be worth keeping an eye on. Marcus Stroman set to throw a bullpen session on Friday. He's been out since June 10th with shoulder inflammation.

Jeffrey Springs did not make his scheduled start Thursday after being placed on the family medical emergency list. Not sure how long he'll be out at this point, but that's why Matt Wiesler got the start as an opener with Ryan Garboe following him. And then Zach Eflin had a quarter zone injection in his knee. So hopefully that'll help speed up the healing process for Zach Eflin. Let's move on to the week 14 preview. And before we do, let's just take a look at the schedule.

And this is a nice spread out, even one. 18 teams have seven games. 12 teams have six games. Nice and balanced. Nobody's got eight. Nobody's got five, which is what we've seen in recent. week. So hopefully it stays that way with, you know, weather and all that. But yeah, should be a should be kind of a pretty straightforward week. Start your studs kind of week, I guess.

Before we get into the two-start pitchers to add, how are you treating these fringy two-start options? Let's go rapid fire with these. Just tell me start them in all formats, just head-to-head or none. Taiwan Walker at Cincinnati and at Miami or versus Miami. So he is my favorite in my two-star pitcher rankings, he is the top ranked of the non-must-start pitchers. So I'm pretty high on Taiwan Walker this week with those two matchups and with the kind of run he's been on. Cal Quantrell coming off a pretty good start at Detroit, at Kansas City, great matchups. And he is a spark. He is.

And I still don't know how he's doing it. I'm still skeptical of him long term, but he remains. a quality start machine and with those two matchups I think most people gonna want to start him Eric Lauer versus Chicago Cubs versus Pittsburgh pretty good matchups but he's been bad yeah I already over four now it's been one of the one of the big fakeouts from the start of the season but those matchups being what they are I have him in that same tier with Walker and Quintral in my two-star pitcher rankings which means most people are gonna probably want to start him. How about

Terek Scoobel versus Cleveland at Chicago? He's another guy. I don't know if he's as big of a fake out as Eric Lauer. I think he's more talented. I have more faith in him moving forward, but it's been ugly lately. Even uglier than Lauer lately. Yeah, I mean,

yeah, it's, like, I could totally understand anybody sitting, Scoobel, and I think after his last start, I may have said, go ahead and sit him for now. But of course, he lines it for two starts with the special favorable matchups. So it's like just cross your fingers and start them. That's the approach

I'm going to take with them. All right. And then this might actually just answer the should you drop Ian Anderson. He's got two starts versus St. Louis versus Washington. And we've kind of got that adage we go with where if you're not willing to start a guy in a two-star week, they're probably not a must roster player. So Ian Anderson versus St. Louis versus Washington. There's no way you start him, right?

I have them in the points league only section. So there is a way I start them. But certainly not if I'm looking to preserve ERA and whip. All right. Here are your two-star pitchers to stream for week 14. How does Frank usually do this? I'm blanking. Do you usually talk about them on your own or do I just go through it?

Yeah, it just throws it to me. And I ramble for a few minutes and everybody seems to be happy with it. All right. So we're going to go out and add Ranger Suarez versus Washington and at St. Louis. Well, let me preface the whole thing by saying, you know, just as I was pointing out that it's hard to get excited about any waiver wire claims at this point in the year because things have stabilized. That means it's also hard to find sleeper pitchers. I was just thinking a couple weeks ago, you know, I haven't had to apologize for my sleeper pitchers in a while. They've actually genuinely been happy to recommend them.

But this is one of those weeks where not so much, not so much. So Ranger Suarez, I've lost a lot of faith in him. I don't think he is, well, I mean, obviously he's 72% roster now, so he is not a must roster. But those matchups, certainly the Washington one. They're good enough that I think he's an advisable play. Not a must in Roto. leagues especially, but good enough. Do you have him ranked over Hunter Green, who's versus New York

Mets and versus Tampa Bay? I do. Okay. Yeah. Hunter Green probably has more upside. You know, there's a chance to get 25 strikeouts from Hunter Green this week. There's also a chance you get, you know, 12 earned runs allowed. Yeah. Yep, ZRA is terrible. Alex Wood also rostered in a similar number of leagues. He's at Arizona at San Diego. So Good matchup to open, mixed bag after that. Would you rather him or Suarez? I would rather Suarez. I think Suarez.

Green or would? I have green over wood. Okay. Yep. And then you've got Zach Rankie and Kyle Hendrix. And you actually do have Zach Rankie ranked ahead of Kyle Hendricks as a streamer, right? Yeah, I do. Zach Granky since coming off the I.L.

He's put together back-to-back quality starts where, you know, he gets more than one or two strikeouts like he was at the beginning of the year. And the velocity on his fastball has been up by a mile per hour and a half since, and both of those starts. And I don't think the success and the velocity, I don't think those are unrelated. And, you know, Zach Grinke isn't far removed from being a must-star pitcher. So I think in a week where he's making two starts, one against Cleveland.

And I don't know how this is possible, but the Astros are actually in the lower third of the league and runs scored. So it's not as... It is not as bad of a matchup as... It's a very top heavy lineup these days. Yeah. You know, I guess once you get to the Chas McCormick part of the lineup,

things tend to get a little easier. Yeah, I mean, lately it's been Jake Myers. Yeah. But, yeah. And then any interest, I don't know if these guys probably... Maybe these guys all belong in the fortune favors, the Brave Poeastern. portion of the of the the segment but Cole Irvin versus Toronto versus Houston

Nick Lodolo coming back versus New York Mats versus Tampa Bay Kyle Freeland at the Dodgers at Arizona and Armand Marquez at the Dodgers in Arizona as well would you go with any of those guys they are all in the no thanks portion of the two-star pitcher rankings for me if Irvin had better matchups and I know I know I just said Houston's not that bad of a matchup I still think they're a bad matchup. So going against them in Toronto, I think you should probably steer clear of Irvin as well as those others you mentioned.

Hopefully, hopefully this is a good return for Nicolodolo, but I'm not, I'm not going to tough matchups. Right. And, you know, it's not like he was all that proven before he went on the aisle. Yeah, I'm going to throw Armand Marquez on the fortune favors the brave, along with you say Kikuchi at Oakland, at Seattle. I could see both those guys having good weeks. They're not going to make you feel good about the prospect of starting them,

given the way their seasons have mostly gone. But I could see Aram Marquez and you say Kikuchi having good two-star weeks. You're doubling up on the fortune favors the brave. That is especially brave. I am scared to make a fortune favors the brave pick. Well, let's hear who it is. Again, I want to do it. That is the conceit here.

but if you're braver than me Dylan Bundy at the White Sox at the Rangers he's he's occasionally been okay all right single start streamers John Gray versus Minnesota we think he should be universally rostered right I think I'm yeah inside my top 50 starting pitchers this week yeah that's that one's not really even a matchup's play

I think John Gray you know in my struggle to fill out a sleeper pitchers list for this week He snuck in at 79% roster. I didn't... I didn't care who he was facing. He's my number one sleeper pitcher for this week. All right.

Aaron Ashby versus the Pirates. Jose Arkiti versus Kansas City. Zach Pleasack versus Kansas City and Michael Lorenzen at Baltimore all make the single-star streamers list. Yes, I do want to mention Aaron Ashby against the Pirates that's subject to change based on how his return this weekend goes. Coming back from that. forearm entry that nobody seems that concerned about for whatever reason.

But obviously, if that doesn't go smoothly on Saturday when he's scheduled to start, then Aaron Ashby will no longer be my number two sleeper pitcher for next week. But ranking them that high goes to show how limited the options are. How little confidence you have in the two-start options. Exactly. Let's talk about the best and worst hitter matchups, best hitter matchups. White Sox have seen. Seven games, Minnesota and Detroit. Braves have seven games, St. Louis and Washington.

You got the Dodgers, you got the Guardians, you got the Diamondbacks, rounding out the top five best hitter matchups for the upcoming week. And the worst, you've got the athletics against Toronto and Houston, the pirates get the Yankees, the Reds, and the Brewers. And then you got the Mariners, Cubs, and Padres, rounding out the worst hitter matchups. And let's just run through these sleeper hitters. Christian Walker, 78%, versus San Francisco. versus Colorado. Do they have any lefties on the schedule? They have four.

Okay. So that helps because, you know, Christian Walker's around the Mendoza line overall, but he's batting like 280 against lefties. And his expected stats, I mean, his expected stats suggest that Christian Walker should be like one of the best hitters in baseball. And I don't think he's that. But I still think he's better than a 200 average at the very least. As long as he keeps hitting the ball the way he has been.

So, yeah. Michael Harris, another guy that I would imagine it's not really, like the matchups are good, but it's more, he's just under roster to 76% right? Yeah. Hit another home run today. Yeah, I mean, the matchups are good. The Braves have the second best, but yes, he's, the one thing I want to see more of his walks. He's not doing much of that. Not much of that at all, yeah.

Plate discipline, like a, it's around like a 10 to 1 strike out to walk ratio right now, I think. Right. but you know he's batting over 300 he has four home runs four steals and a little over 100 it's hard to complain too much about what he's doing the quality of contact is pretty good you know not elite yeah the average exit velocity is actually kind of low but the max exit velocity is impressive yeah the you could make a case i think that he's a sell high candidate he's got a 325 427 526 triple slash line right now i i don't think michael harris is is suddenly one of the best hitters in baseball,

you know, making a leap from double A. So, you know, I think there's, there's an argument to be made that he's a sell high candidate, but even then, 76% roster rate is too. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. How do you sell low on a guy who's still out there in a quarter of leagues?

It would probably be only, it would probably be a pretty deep league where you could pull off to sell high. Uh, rest of the sleeper hitters, you just stop me if you want to mention anyone or go into any more detail, but Radi Teles, Ahmed Reserv. Zario, Nate Lowe, Adam DeVall, Alec Thomas.

Alec Thomas, another guy that I think is just under-roastered at 60, 58%. Gavin Lux has seven games, Andrew McCutcheon, and Josh H. Smith, hitting leadoff for Texas. Anybody want to add some thoughts on? So Adam Deval, Homer, for a second straight game. It finished June with 10 of them. Thursday? 10, really? Okay.

Now, he did hit about 2.30 for the month, but by Adam Duvall standards, that's pretty good. Like, if he keeps doing that, you'll be, you'll be happy with the investment. Yeah, Andrew McCutcheon has had a surprisingly good June as well. Let me see if I can find the numbers I wrote down for him. Yeah, so he went three for four with two doubles on Thursday for the month of June has slashed 315, 411,500. And remember- Yeah, we talked about him a little bit on Thursday, is it?

Show, yeah. And he's been better against righties and lefties this year, which last year it seemed like he had completely dropped off against righties. And so that's been encouraging to see, and the Brewers have good matchups. You didn't mention them as being among the five best matchups. But I did want to point out that there are a lot of teams that, a lot more than five teams that are facing some really weak pitchers this week. So beyond the five, which you gave White Sox, Braves, Dodgers, Guardians, and Diamondbacks,

there's the Astros, Angels, Brewers, Yankees, Rangers, and Blue Jays. Any one of those teams I would have been happy to put in the top five. The reason most of them got left out is because they're playing six games instead of seven. Okay. All right. Let's move on to just pick up some of the hitters from Thursday's action before we close out what is looking like it's going to be the shortest show of the year. So how about that? I mean, I guess that'll happen when you got seven games on the schedule. Teasker Hernandez went to three for four with two runs, including a home run.

Finished June hitting 327 with an OPS over 950. No concerns about Teoscar Hernandez at this point. Issaac Perretti, Homer again went Thursday, his sixth and seven games. He's 49% rostered. Who would you rather have rest of season? Issaq Paredes or Jose Miranda, who went? had three RBI, hit a basis clearing double off Shane Bieber, finished June hitting 306 with 13 RBI since coming back.

Who would you rather have Miranda or Paredes? Well, I can tell you in a dynasty context, I'd much rather have Miranda. Yes. For this season, I did in my latest rankings update move Miranda just behind Paredes because I think there are playing time concerns there as well.

But, you know, if he heats up enough, that could change. So we'll see if we'll see if the last couple games here are the start of something for Miranda. All right. Do we need to give Jake Swinsky more credit? He hit his eighth home run in 27 games in June on Thursday. He's up to a 770, 761 OPS despite hitting 216. So the power's actually been pretty impressive for Jake Swinsky. Is there anything there for a mixed league context?

I don't think so. I don't think he's faking the power, but a lot of players have power, and they just don't have enough to go with it. And that's what I think the most likely outcome here is for Swinsky. I mean, even just, it's not so much I expect him to regress. It's just even as it is, his numbers aren't good enough, you know? Yeah, 31.7% strikeout rate.

He's very pull-heavy, so that's how he's getting the most out of his power. But yeah, that's pretty much all he brings to the table. What Nick Hesdianos? We kind of went in depth on him on Thursday. I wrote about him in the trade values column and how this new offense environment appears to have affected him more than most players. He had his first home run since May 30th on Thursday. So I guess it's a good thing that he got out of June with a home run.

but yeah, I still think he's a by-low, as we mentioned yesterday, but I also, I viewed Nick Castiano's more, probably more like the Detroit version of him than the guy he's been the last couple of years, at least when it comes to power. I think this, the way the ball is traveling, it's just, I think it's going to be harder for him to be like a 30 homer guy. I think he's probably more like a mid-20s homer guy,

but should still hit for better batting average than he has, especially. Yeah, so I, I haven't looked into that specifically, the way it sounds like you have. I was noticing today that the bad at ball metrics don't know. They're not as good. Yeah, I mean, I guess the average X of velocity is a couple miles per hour. Not a full two miles per hour lower, but lower. Max is the same launch angle, the same, strikeout rate about the same walk rate.

barrel rate is down which would impact exit velocity it's down even from his tiger's days he'd actually been a very consistent yeah well some years he's been an amazing barrel guy barreling up balls

some years he's just been a good one this year he's been an average one and so I think that is likely to correct itself yes so I don't know I've I've been dropping him in my rankings because

Like he's he's been really bad Yeah, but I agree he's the sell high I'm not buy I mean Yeah by low. I'm not as I'm not as sure I know what's going on with him as and I'm not you know maybe you're not sure either You should read the trade values chart Scott I guess I should it's a good read okay good good good little deep dive And Nick has he on his teammate Kyle Schwerber hit his 12th home run of the month of June to close it out. That gives him 28 home runs over the past two June, which is just incredible. That is really something. He had 16 last June. Let's do the call

to the bullpen real quick. Yerry DeLos Santos got a one out save for the Pirates because David Bednar imploded in this one. I'll have three earned runs before De LaSanto's ended the game with two runners on. Bednar had missed a couple of games with a back issue, so I wonder if that was related. been so good this season and really flashed a lot last season that I'm willing to give him more than just a little bit of the benefit of the doubt here. But something to keep an eye on, he's been used a ton. A bunch of multi-inning appearances. He's on pace for I think like 75 innings or something, which is a really high number for a reliever. So yeah, just something to keep an eye on. Ryan Presley, two strikeouts in a perfect ninth inning against the Yankees to get

the save velocity has been back up to the 95 mile per hour range over the past two outings that's a good sign because velocity had been down you know really for much of the season but especially since that knee issue uh and then adam simburgh got the save for the blue jays versus Tampa bay that's his fourth of the season i think that's just because jordan romano had thrown 42 pitches the previous two days so nothing yeah concerning there and then uh Craig kimbril worked a clean ninth for a save in the dog Rogers Padres game, and I believe that. And Paul Seawald got a save.

Gave up one run, but got the save against the Oakland Athletics in those late games as well. So that's your bullpen notes. I mean, that's notable with Seawald because that's... Yeah, I think that's four or five in a row for him. Or four, I think he has four of the teams past five. And the one he didn't get was a day after he'd work. He'd worked the previous two days. You needed a day off.

I think that's as much... I think he's a closer now. Wow. I mean, it's the most anyone's been the closer there since. Since they traded Kendall Graveman last year. Yeah, I mean, Scott's service has been as committed to the committee as any manager since then. But Seawald is, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if Diego Castillo got the next three saves. But at the same time, I think we're at a point now where Seawald is, you know, needs to be picked up as

if he is the closer. It's good for me in the Scott White Dynasty League. All right. And then let's go to stream or not to stream for the weekend to close out the show. Friday, we've got Marco Gonzalez versus Oakland. We've got Alex Cobb versus the White Sox, Trevor Rogers at Washington. Rowensy Contreras versus Milwaukee. Aaron Savale versus the Yankees.

Rich Hill versus the Cubs. James Caprillion at Seattle and Glenn Otto versus the Mets. There's pretty wide range of guys there. gone a little too high end for the Marco Gonzalez, Randall Cobb, Trevor Rogers range, but tell me who you like. I'm glad you did because that was the only ones I can get even halfway behind. Marco Gonzalez against Hayes is my top choice. Alice Cobb would probably be my second,

but I kind of want to see a good start from him before I actually use him. Trevor Rogers has shown some signs lately, but still, again, another guy that you have to see some good starts from before you trust. but I wouldn't mind picking him up if he's been dropped in a 12-team roto league. Saturday, David Peterson versus Texas, Brady Singer at Detroit. David Peterson, right? Yeah. Jordan Lyles at Minnesota, Alex Fayetteau versus Kansas City, Austin Gomber versus Arizona, or Matthew Liberator at Philadelphia.

Peterson's got a bunch of strikeouts. I mean, I guess he would be the choice for me. I want to say he was doing something different too but now I can't remember what it once I know I talked about it the last time we talked about him and that is range of marlins again this week yeah he did face in this week yeah he's got like 20 strikeouts and two starts against the Marlins his last two starts so he's been throwing his slider more and his slider has a 50% whiff rate that was it so the 50% width rate is yeah you don't see many pitches with a higher whiff rate than that

So that could be something. Is he your, your guy here? Yeah, yeah. Not enthusiastically, but yeah. All right. Sunday, Chad Kuhl versus Arizona. Tyler Wells at Minnesota, Jose Kintana versus Milwaukee, Eric Fetty versus Miami,

Chris Bubich versus Detroit or Jose Suarez at Houston. Like any of those guys? Jose Kintana is okay. But it's kind of like Jose Kandana. It's okay. All right, that's going to do it for fantasy baseball today for Friday. That's Scott White. I'm Chris Towers.

We'll be back on Sunday to recap the weekend. And remember, send your emails to FantasyBaseball. At cbsi.com for that Monday mailbag. We'll see you next time. Bye.