Fantasy Baseball Today - Weekend Recap! Ranking Waiver Wire Options & Gausman Concern (8/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 23, 2021

Is Triston McKenzie the top waiver wire pitcher right now (3:20)? Nicky Lopez is running wild and Tyler Naquin is hitting bombs again! ... Chris Sale's velocity was down again in his second start (13:25). Should you start him this week? ... News and notes (14:51). Anthony DeSclafani went to the IL, Miguel Cabrera hit his 500th career homer, Kenta Maeda is dealing with a forearm injury and more. ... Daulton Varsho or Elias Diaz (27:30)? Any interest in these deep league hitters? ... Who were the hitting standouts from the weekend (32:32)? Is Christian Yelich showing signs of coming around? ... Let's rank a bunch of pitching streamers for this week (36:07)! How worried are we about Yusei Kikuchi and Kevin Gausman (42:00)? ... Start or sit these SP (47:34)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates, and streamers for Monday and Tuesday (52:18).  'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive. Center Field. What is magnificent? Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality.

Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam. What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, August 23rd. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. To recap, the weekend, get you the latest waiver wire ads. Aaron Nola and Christian Yelich might be back and much more.

First and foremost, hope everybody is doing all right. This tropical storm that hit the Northeast is, it's pretty bad. We're recording around midnight, and I just got my power back about an hour ago. So tweeted out, Christmas Miracle. Thankfully, we're here. We're all together.

Chris Scott, me. Frank. What's up, Chris? How you doing? How was the weekend? It was good. I went to a concert on Saturday. my favorite band, Wilco, saw a little bit of Sleader Kinney as well, but unfortunately the

tropical storm kind of wrecked that. They had to stop the concert for like an hour because of lightning and all that, but I got to say watching a concert in the rain when everybody's just decided that we're okay getting soaked. That was kind of a really good time. Like, I'm hoping I don't get sick as a result of it, you know, running around and just a, perpetual downpour for like three and a half hours, but I gotta say, I wouldn't want it at every concert, but I had a good time. I saw a video of you. It might have been on Facebook of you just like running around in the rain. It actually looked pretty fun. Yeah, it was a good time. You know, it's not something you do often as an adult playing the rain, but I have fun memories of running

around in the rain as a younger person. How you doing, Scott? Did you run around in the rain this weekend? No, no, I didn't. I did not run around in the rain. There wasn't a lot. of rain here actually there usually is but we got all of it yeah you got all of it you took it it got dragged up there uh no didn't i watched a lot of rick and morty i'm becoming pretty obsessed with that show i think it's it's it's lived up it's one of those shows that you know people talk about on social media all the time and you're like gosh just get over it already it's a tv show and then you watch it you're like oh okay i get it now for some reason have you gotten to tiny rick um um Yes.

I'm not through season two yet, so I'm still pretty early on. His song about being stuck in a child version of his body, it's very, very catchy. Chris, I'm not going to put you on the spot and force you to do anything you don't want to do, but I feel like you can probably do a really good impression of either Rick or Morty. You don't have to do it, but if you decide you want to break it out at any point in this podcast, feel free to do so. Oh, geez, Rick.

I don't know about this. Morty. Morty, you just got to listen to me, Morty. Just listen to your grandpa, Rick. Very nice, very nice. See, you guys are the best. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, let's talk about stuff that happened this weekend,

and we will start with, who do we want to start? But let's go with Chris. I feel like you usually start with me for this. You always do a little show of like, I don't know who it's going to be, and it's always me. Which is fine. All right. It's just something I've noticed.

Tristan McKenzie. I've always been a big Tristan McKenzie fan. I think he's a very talented pitcher, and we're really seeing that lately. You know, he had a stretch last season where he looked really good, but especially over his last, is it the last two starts, especially that he's been really, really great. The velocity's been there. Seven strikeouts, sorry, eight strikeouts and seven. innings, one earned run, two hits this time out. He had the eight shutout, 11 strikeout game.

And this is four quality starts in a row for Tristan McKenzie, who got off to a really tough start this season. And, you know, I think that fueled a lot more concerns about, you know, whether he was suited to be a starter long term. But the fact that he's pitching into August, sustaining his velocity, something he couldn't do last year and pitching better is a really good sign. Yeah, and the fact that the velocity has been up recently during this stretch as well. He's actually made eight starts since returning to the majors. And in that stretch, 3.49 ERA, just a 0.78 whip, 48 strikeouts to just eight walks over 49 innings pitch. So that's really the key. The fact that the-

He was like a walk per inning before he got sent down. I mean, it was a disaster. So, yeah, I mean, you see how much just little adjustments in the miners can make. because now Tristan McKinsey, if four great starts in a row, I mean. Turns out, like having a consistent role can also help because he was, true.

He used him really weird early on in the season, and you have to think that, you know, didn't help at the very least. Yeah, 100%. Control much better for McKenzie. He's got a 13% swinging strike rate during this last eight start stretch.

And let's rank, I would say these are the best waiver wire starting pitchers available at this point that are rostered in less than 80% of CBS leagues. I'll check to see how roster Josiah Gray is, but he should probably be in this mix as well. But all of these pitchers pitched pretty well over the weekend. McKenzie, Vladimir Gutierrez, another strong start on Sunday, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts

against the Miami Marlins, obviously pretty strong matchup there. He has six straight quality starts now. Vladimir Gutierrez does Tuki Toussont at the Orioles, five and a third, one run, five strikeouts. He was fine. He's got a 3.69 ERA in seven starts since being recalled. And then Cal Quantrell on Sunday Night Baseball. Another really, really strong performance. Seven shutout, two hits, two walks, nine strikeouts.

He's got a 1.50 ERA over his last eight starts. Scott, how would you rank that group? Mackenzie, Gutierrez, Toussaint, Cal Quantrell. I would rank them McKenzie and Toussaint. Clearly one and two, I think. I have major questions. about how good Gutierrez actually is, as we've talked about before. And yet, he just turned in his sixth straight quality start on Sunday.

So, you know, he was picked up for the two-star week. I can imagine he'll be kept. I'm just trying to look ahead because I think, you know, we're running out of time here, and I think the Reds have run out of season, I should say. And I think the Reds have among the best matchups of any team going forward. They face the pirates three times in September, the Cubs, the Nationals, the Tigers. Yeah, it looks like a pretty good road ahead for the Reds. So because of that, I'm going to put Gutierrez ahead of Quantrell, who I'm also not totally sold on.

But I want to have a problem with anybody picking up any of these guys at this point. I just think skills-wise, McKenzie and Toussant stand out the most. Gutierrez, by the way, is at the Marlins this upcoming week. He's 78% rostered. So more so in shallower leagues, 10%, 10 team leagues, head-to-head points leagues. Obviously, you might see Gutierrez available. Josiah Gray, by the way, is 76% rostered. Where would he rank among this group, Scott?

Is he a head of Tristan McKenzie? No, I can't put him ahead of Tristan McKenzie after the way the last three hits, three combined hits, 19 combined strikeouts, the last two starts for McKinsey. So, no, Gray would be second. He would be between McKinsey and Toussaint for me. Chris, how would you rank this group? Exactly the same way. Cool.

All righty. So McKenzie and Josiah Gray up at the top. Oh my goodness gracious for you, Scotty. So this is a profile I hate, but kind of hard to ignore after the week he had. Nikki Lopez, little Nikki, which I can only assume is one of your favorite movies, Frank. Favorite. We talked about it beforehand, so I actually knew that. But yeah, Nikki Lopez.

is up to, let me see if I can find it. Is it eight steals in his last seven games? Is that right, Frank? Yeah, 11 hits eight steals over his last seven games. Eight steals in his last seven games. So, I mean, we know the Royals produce some big base dealers.

They like to run. And he's fitting the mold. Now, we saw him get called up with moderate hype, I would say, in 2019, and he just didn't hit at all. It was kind of a Nick Madrigal situation because he has zero power basically, but makes a lot of contact, can run a bit. And so this is the kind of player we dreamed he would be when he first got called up two years ago.

Since mid-July, he's batting about 320 with a 375 Babbap. So, you know, it's not like he's, you may be having some luck, but not crazy amount of luck. And he's still in a bunch. He's 18 for 18 now this season. So if you need a steel specialist, a batting average specialist, from an up-the-middle guy, I think he's eligible of both second and short, I want to say. Yep, he is. Nicky, a little Nicky, little Nicky Lopez.

He was one and six on stolen base attempts in his first two seasons combined. And now 18 for 18. And I will say that the Nick Madrigal comparison is probably a little unfair. Nikki Lopez has 10 home runs and 88 games at AAA. I'm not sure Nick Madrigal has that many home runs in a game going back to high school. So you're saying it was unfair to Nicky. Not unfair to, okay. I was thinking of the power.

Let me see. Because Magigal was a much more highly touted prospect. Sorry, Nick Madrigal does have 14 career home runs going back to high school. Interesting. I would have taken the under on 10, honestly, for Nick Magigal. Yeah, it's a nice stretch that we're on here. here for Nikki Lopez, and specifically for this upcoming week, the Royals play seven games. So give you some volume there.

If you do need some speed, he is someone that you can look at. For me, I'm going to go with Tyler Naquin. He is hot again, seven hits, including three home runs this weekend, and including a double dong on Sunday. 53% rostered is Tyler Naquin. They play six games this upcoming week. The Cincinnati Reds do. They do have two lefties on the schedule, so that doesn't bode well for Naquin.

but he is playing consistently as long as Jesse Winker is on the IL. And in the month of August, strikeout rate is way down for Tyler Naquin below 16% with a near 34% line drive rate. So he's putting the ball in play. He's lifting the ball and obviously in Cincinnati. That's going to mean very good things. Chris, how would you rank this group of Waverwire outfielders from the weekend? Tyler Naquin, Miles Straw now in 21 games with Cleveland, 318 batting average,

four steals, 18 runs scored in 21 games. Brandon Nimmo over his last 15 games, batting 2. 95, 2 homers, 1 steal. Andrew Benintendi is hot again as well. 14 hits over his last 8 games, and Oduble Herrera went 4 for 5 on Sunday. He has a home run in back-to-back games. Naquin, Straw, Nimmo, Benintendi, Herrera.

How would you rank him? Honestly, probably Straw, Nimmo, and then Benintendi or Naikwin. I don't feel super strong about it. They're, you know, Naquin has more pop. Benintendi has more potential to steal some bases, but I'm not particularly enthused about either of them.

What do you think of this group, Scott? Yeah, I mean, did you point out Naquen's full numbers in August? No, just the strikeout rate and the line drive rate. He's having a bananas month here. He's batting like around 400 for the month with, you had the two home runs today and he is at we learned our lesson here right

or maybe we learned the wrong lesson because he's up to seven home runs now in August batting nearly 400 and as I pointed out for Vladimir Gutierrez the Reds matchups the final month are extremely favorable I don't know I don't know I don't think I don't know what to make of Tyler Naquin, to be honest.

He's had two amazing months and not much in between, but he seems to have the center field job locked up and really good matchups ahead. And it's hot as he's been all season. So I don't know. I might put him, I can see going straw ahead of him if you need the steals, but otherwise I might go Naquin number one here of this group.

All right. Again, that group includes Naquin, Miles Straw, Brennan, Nemo, Andrew Benatendi, and Odubill Herrera. Those guys are hot right now from the week. I did want to point out, oh my goodness gracious, just missed here, but I wanted to talk about him at the top. Chris Sale, he was fine against the Texas Rangers. Five shutout, five hits, one walk, five strikeouts. He only had seven swinging strikes on 71 pitches. His fastball velocity, we spoke about it after the first start. It was right around 93 miles per hour in that first start, just over 93, which is where he was at before he got hurt back in 2019. In this start, the fastball velocity, down even more, 92.3 miles per hour, on average. Are you guys worried about Chris, so would you start him

against the Minnesota Twins this week? I'm not worried at all. Yeah. Definitely start him. I don't think Velocity's a big deal with him. It's fluctuated a lot over the course of his career. And he's someone who's talked about, you know,

not going 100% all the time. I did want to see, he didn't throw his slider much in the first start. I wanted to see what the usage was this time around. He's at 21% slider usage so far through two starts, which is really low for him, obviously. He was starting to use his slider. It's his primary pitch the last three or four seasons.

So, you know, that's something to keep an eye on. But no, I don't think there's anything to be concerned about Chris Sails. All right. As long as he's healthy. Keep him in your lineup up against the Minnesota Twins this week, this upcoming week. News and notes from the weekend. These players went to the I.L.

Anthony Descophani. right ankle inflammation. Evan Longoria and Nelson Cruz both went to the COVID IL. They didn't really tell us if those guys tested positive or not, so you've got to play the situation by ear for both Longoria and Nelson Cruz.

Diego Castillo with right shoulder inflammation. Scott, the next Mariners save will go to Paul Seewald. Unless it goes to Drew Steckenrider. I think Diego Castillo was pretty clearly third in that conversation anyway. But no, I think I think Paul Seawald, he's only rostered in about a third of CBS Sports Leagues,

and he's probably the most under-roastered reliever right now. I think if anybody's going to claim the job outright, it'll be him. And even if only gets half the saves, he'll be worth using in most leagues. Willie Peralta went to the IL with a blister. Joe Barlow went to the IL with a blister as well, and looked like he was the closer for the Rangers. Scott, the next save for Texas will go to blank and doesn't matter. Yeah, Spencer Patton, because he had dropped back to the setup role when Barlow

overtook him. Yep. And I picked him up in a 15-team Roto League for dirt cheap, but man, I am desperate for save, so it's probably Spencer Patton. I don't think he's very good. And Tyrone Taylor went to the aisle with a right oblique injury. Congratulations. Miguel Cabrera hit his 500th career home run on Sunday. He is the 28th player in MLB history to do so.

it's been an awesome career. Miguel Cabrera and Albert Poul are really the two that I look at as like generational talents from like the past two decades basically in terms of just hitting talent. So awesome to see that accomplished. Yeah, just two of the best right-handed hitters ever.

It's weird that I'm at the point now where like Miguel Cabrera has hit 500 home runs. He's close to the end of his career and like I was 15 when he made his debut. you know, obviously being a Marlins fan. Yeah, it's been, it ages you. Makes it a little old. I was in college.

But he's, yeah, he's unbelievable player. Remember the Miguel Cabrera hype distinctly. Yeah. Drafted, signed as a shortstop, played shortstop in the minors. I mean, he was. Go back and watch some videos of him as a rookie. Dude was spelt. I actually saw the video that you posted earlier too.

Yeah. Yeah. It's always interesting to see like, It gets brushed back by Roger Clemens in game four, the World Series. Four pitches later, hits an opposite field home run. Marlins won that game. All right, all right. Yeah, we can move on.

Remember that one. We can, let's go to walk off home run. Yep, yep, yep. They would later go on to win the series. Okay. The World Series. Okay.

In Yankee Stadium. You done? You done? You done? No. All right. Good. Good.

Ketsamai to left Saturday, start with forearm tightness, and he is slated to undergo additional test. This obviously has the potential to be pretty bad. for Kent and there's a chance that he shut down for the rest of the season. As far as I saw, he was not placed on the IL yet, but it doesn't sound good. Mike Trout worked out on the field prior to Friday's game and indicated that he is feeling good. He also admitted to experiencing some soreness earlier in the week, but it appears to have subsided. So we're waiting for Mike Trout to come back from that calf strain, which he's been out since

probably May, right? It's been a super long time. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if we're going to get anything else from Mike Trout. Same thing with Clayton Kirshaw. He threw from 120 feet on Saturday and may get back on the mound this week. Astro's GM James Click said that Alex Bregman will appear in another rehab game on Monday. Very weird situation because on Thursday, Dusty Baker said they had no update on Alex Bregman and when he's going to play. And then on Friday, they're just like, hey, he's going to play in rehab. So I don't know. I hope he's all right. And I hope he's back soon.

But he did hit a home run at AAA. And I think John Heyman jumped in there and said he might be activated Sunday or Monday. So we were all over the place with Bregman this weekend. But I do think... Weird recovery. I do think he's trending toward being activated this week in deeper leagues. I would plan on starting Bregman. Nice. Let's do it.

Kyle Tucker is also trending towards a midweek return. He's currently on the COVID-I-L. Chris Paddock through 25 pitches in an intensive bullpen session on Friday. Jose Orkitti threw a bullpen session on Sunday. Aaron Savali made a rehab start at AA on Sunday. Ian Anderson will make one more rehab start at AAA before likely rejoining the Atlanta starting rotation. Pablo Lopez made a rehab start this weekend.

He went three no-hit innings with three strikeouts. Scott, how would you rank the IL stashes in terms of starting pitchers? Paddock, Orkidi, Savale, Ian Anderson, Pablo Lopez. I'll throw Corey Kluber in that mix as well. I guess give me the three that you're most excited about potentially helping us down the stretch. Well, obviously, timeline's going to factor into this

as late as we are in the season. And yet, having said that, Ian Anderson, I think clearly is number one, since he's about to return. I think I'm going to gamble on Lopez and Savale returning with enough time to impact you. If you need somebody sooner than that, than Jose or Kiti.

The Pirates waived Gregory Polanco. T.J. Anton is expected to return on Tuesday for the Reds. He's 21% rostered. Chris, would you look to add T.J. Anton anywhere? I think in Roto leagues, because of his multi-inning strikeout potential, he can have some value even if he isn't necessarily in a closer's role, which maybe he does get there. Man, the Cincinnati Reds, by the way, gosh.

They've been one of the more fun teams. The word I will use is fun to predict. this season in terms of their close role. I would choose a different word. But yeah, Michael Givens got a save on Friday, and then Michael Lorenzen got two saves, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

So do you have any feel for this bullpen right now, Scott? He was, okay, so to clarify, he was bailing out Givens on Saturday. Yes. But Givens was brought in to pitch the eighth, which, you know, where did that come from? Givens seemed very, for over a week now,

given seemed lock into that closer roll. Which is as long as, as anyone's had it for the red. Yeah, pretty much. And then, and then, you know, maybe Lorenzen just got the safe Sunday because Givens had worked back-to-back days.

I don't know. I don't know. I would still guess Givens is in the driver's seat there, but it's not as clear-cut as I thought heading into the weekend. Nick Solek was recalled by the Texas Rangers and is expected to be their everyday second baseman for the rest of the season.

He did pick up two hits on Saturday. Scott, do you have any interest in Nick Solac in deeper leagues. Yeah, in deeper leagues. Sure. I'm not optimistic. He's going to come and look like the guy we saw in April. One of the few hitters who stood out in April.

And it disappeared after that. But, you know, he's done things before. Keep an eye on him. Alec Bohm was optioned to AAA. He was batting 2.45 with a 645 OPS this season. 26% strikeout rate, a lot of ground balls. Chris, how worried are you about Alec Bohm if you have him in a Dynasty League? Well, he just turned 25 three weeks ago.

So, I mean, he's not old, but he's certainly not, you know, so young that you can just easily project him to turn things around. It's clear he's still a physically talented player, but his approach isn't good. You know, he was someone who, you know, I don't know if maybe he's been trying to get, you know, more power into games in the majors. And that's why his contact rate and strikeout rate have been so poor. he is hitting the ball surprisingly hard. 92 miles per hour average. A velocity, 50% hard hit rate. But

hitting the ball into the ground a bunch. I don't know. I definitely don't feel good about him right now. Yeah, me neither. It's going to be interesting to see if the Phillies can get him back on track. Someone who hit for a lot of batting average in the minors.

The power, a little bit skeptical because of that ground ball rate again, but he's still young, so let's see. Start or sit these players for the upcoming week. Tim Anderson has sat out two straight, and we saw this quote from Tony Larissa. If this was October, he'd be in there, but this is preventative.

Scott, what do you think? Start or sit? Tim Anderson. Probably start. I mean, if you have an awesome backup at shortstop, maybe not, but you probably don't. It's a position that thins out quickly. Tony Larusa also said that Carlos Rodon will start Thursday, quote, if he does a couple of more things. I don't really know what that means because you do anything. But would you guys start Carlos Rodon this week? I wouldn't start him.

All right. The Mets are hopeful that Francisco Lindor could be back on Tuesday. Would you start hitting? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if you were holding your breath for his return, if you found a pretty good alternative, it's not like he was super productive for you before getting hurt. Eduardo Escobar was removed Sunday with right hamstring discomfort.

What are we thinking there? probably sit if in doubt. And lastly, we have Travis Darno, who was placed on the paternity list on Saturday. The Braves play on Monday and Tuesday and then are off Wednesday. Again, we spoke about the scheduling this upcoming week is pretty weird. But there's a chance we don't see Travis Darno again until Friday. So why are teams off on Wednesday? I don't know.

There are two teams that are off Sunday, too. It's weird week. That's really strange. There's got to be something weird, like some... That never happens. Maybe some special kind of games or something. I don't know. Oh, is the...

No. The Little League thing already happened, right? Yeah, that was Sunday night baseball. I haven't the foggiest then. Yeah. By the way, Scott, we're going up against each other, Yankees and Braves, so... Should be fun. Well, both of our team's fortunes are suddenly looking much better.

It's true. Much better. You really hate to see it. I actually love to see it. Thank you. I was writing the Braves off, remember? Just in July, I was saying, all right, they're not going to the playoffs this year.

On this very podcast, I said that. How wrong I was, because now they have, some would say, an 81% chance. I don't know who exactly I'm citing here by saying that, but playoff odds, 81%. Are we starting, Travis Darno? In a two-catcher league, probably.

Not in one catcher league. Yeah, I have them in the podcast Points League. and I haven't set up my waiver wire bids yet, so I probably should do that right after this podcast. The thing is you may not want to pick up a second catcher is the thing. And, you know, catchers sit a lot anyway. So I can see starting him just because of that. And it's a three day.

Like if he was placed on Saturday, he should be back by Tuesday. The very latest, I think. Well, you have to. You leave us three days. Yeah, I think it's like three to seven is what it can be. It can go as far as seven, but the least amount is,

three days. So he's got to be there at least until Tuesday and then they don't play Wednesday or Thursday. So that's why it's just, it's a very weird week for the Braves overall. So it's strange. I would probably lean towards benching him if you could. Yeah, I think setting him makes sense. We had some returns this weekend. Reese Hoskins came back on Sunday with a double dong.

He's now up to 26 home runs. Javier Baez came back Sunday as well. He went two for four with two doubles. Kwonghan Kim returned on Sunday and will be used out of the bullpen for the rest of the season for St. Louis. Chris Archer, old friend, Two shutout innings with four strikeouts, but he left again with a tight hip.

Would we have any interest in Archer if he was completely healthy? Not that much. Not much, yeah. A few prospect updates. Orioles 2020 first round pick, Heston Kierstead. We have not seen him play at all yet in the minor leagues. He is close to resuming baseball activities. Has not made that professional debut yet because of a prolonged battle with inflammation in his heart.

big left-handed power for Heston Kirstad, issues with strikeout. So hopefully he can make it. I think that power would be able to play in Camden Yards, but obviously he's got a long road ahead. Heston Kirstad does. Nate Pearson pitched in relief at AAA on Sunday. He allowed a solo homer in his one inning of work, and the Blue Jays are planning to use him as a reliever this season with the big league club.

Let's get back to some hitters here. Are we doing the Dalton Varshow thing again, back-to-back games with a home run over the weekend? Corse Field definitely helps. 34% roster. He's got seven road games this upcoming week. Would you prefer Dalton Varsho or Alias Diaz?

Who has been pretty hot for the past two months. The problem is he's got six games this week there all on the road. So we'll not go to the thing. I'd take Diaz if you could guarantee me he was at home, but I'm pretty excited about Varsho actually. I know he's only

started eight of the team's last 16 games. But if he keeps heading like this, especially with his flexibility to play the outfield, you know, that's only going to go up. And he's not counting Sunday's game where he fell a single short of the cycle. Since the start of July, Varsho is batting 296 with a 1028 OPS. Yeah, and 8 of 16, like, that's not that much different than the kind of guys you're going to be starting in a two-catcher league anyway. Yeah, sure. Would you guys drop Travis Darno for Dalton Varsho in a one-catcher league?

I think so. Yeah, they're right in the same range for me. I was making that decision with Mitch Garver, actually. Garver, Varshow, darno. I was making that decision in several of my leagues, actually. Garver hasn't played that much. So I think he might be the back of the line for me now of that trio. So who would you rather have this week, Scott, Varsho or Diaz?

Farsho, right? Varsho. Varsho. Or Diaz on the road, yeah. Yeah. All right, cool. Do you have any interest in these hitters in deeper leagues? Jake Myers is a name

who over the last 15 games for the Houston Astros he's batting 3 41, 3 homers he does strike out quite a bit he's hitting the ball very hard 92.7 mile per hour average exit velocity was crushing it in the miners this year

some power some speed but I do wonder if Kyle Tucker returns what happens to the playing time for Jake Myers any interest here I'm gonna guess that it keeps it because it seems like he's the better

center fielder anyway Chas McCormick has moved over to right to accommodate Myers, and with Myers hitting this well, why would they take him out? Now, he is striking out like 30% of the time, but he struck out 19% of the time in the minor, so I don't know that that's going to be just forever part of his profile. Oh, this guy strikes out too much.

I like what I've seen from. It was right around 20% at AAA, right around 20% at AA. So, you know, I think you could project some influence. improvement there if he keeps playing every day. So yeah, I think, yeah, I think he's interesting. Jake Myers in my 15, in one of my 15 team, Roto leagues went for $21 out of a $1,000 fad budget.

So right around 2%, again, that's a five outfielder league. He is 9% rostered on CBS. Chas McCormick's currently dealing with a hand injury as well. So he's day-to-day. That could definitely help with Myers playing time in the short term, obviously. Lain Thomas has seven hits with one steal over this weekend. He's only 1% rostered. Some power, some speed in the miners, nothing overwhelming.

Any interest, Lane Thomas? Not really. All right. Next up we have Andrew Velasquez. He's been like this awesome spark plug for the Yankees. They're stealing bases left and right now, which I don't really know where it's come from, but he's part of the reason. Last seven games, he's betting 300.

One homer, two steals, 70 games at AAA the season. He was betting 283, seven homers. 26 deals for Andrew Velasquez. Any interest? He's real small. Small dude. He's a tiny little dude, even, you know, especially by Yankee standards at this point.

Is he like a little Nicky? I mean, he's listed like 5-9-170, and it looks like a generous 5-9. He's littler than little Nicky. Is he playing every day for the Yankees right now? He has been recently. With Glaver Torres on the aisle, yeah, he has. Yeah, the stolen bases, you know, anybody who can steal that many bases is worth, you know, a look as long as they're, you know, playing.

It's a really cool story, too. I mean, if you watch any Yankee game, they talk about it nonstop, but he's actually from the Bronx and grew up a Yankee fan. So it's really cool. I went to the game on Friday, and I actually noticed his height and weight. I'm like, oh, 59-170. That's basically me. I can be a major league ballplay. No, I can't, I obviously can not do that.

Last name here I wanted to bring up Andy Ibanez with the Texas Rangers 10 hits, one homer over his last six games. He's 2% rostered. He has first, second, and third base eligibility. This year in AAA, he was batting 352 with a 1058 OPS. Any interest in Andy Abanjas? It would have to be a 15 team league at least. Or a, you know, AL only. Sure.

All right. Some other hitting standouts from this. weekend, Salvador Perez had a double dung on Friday. He's now up to 32 home runs. Career season continues for him. Luke Voigt said that he deserves to play as much as Anthony Rizzo, and he's proving why. 13 hits, three homers over his last six games. Jose Ramirez had a sock in a shoe in two straight games on Friday and Saturday. And in August, we know that when Ramirez gets hot, I mean, this guy can single-handedly carry your fantasy baseball team. In the month of August, he's batting 275. Seven homers, five steals, a team.

1016 OPS for Jose Ramirez. Yerdon Alvarez has homered in three straight games. Wander Franco, five more hits this weekend in 32 second half games. He's batting 299, four homers, eight doubles, 22 RBI, 27 runs scored over his last 32 games. That is awesome for Wander Franco. And I did just want to bring out Christian Yelich. Get your thoughts. Find out if we think he's coming around a little bit.

I know last week, Bellinger was hot and we spoke about him maybe coming around. Since then, he's basically cooled off again. But Christian Yelich, three for five with a double dong on Saturday, including a grand slam. And I noticed in the month of August, strikeout rate is down. The hard contact is back up. Any faith here in Christian Yelich down the stretch? I have a lot more faith in him than Cody Ballinger at this point. I have for much of the season, because when you look at the underlying numbers for both of them,

there's basically been nothing really good for Cody Bellinger, season. Whereas, like, Christian Yowl is still 94th percent on mags, exit velocity, 90th percent down hard hit rate, 74th percent on average eggs of velocity. Like, it was all not nearly where it was at his best to be, to be certain. And, you know, the launch angle especially is, you know, more than half of what it was in 2019 or less than half. But, yeah, he's still been hitting the ball incredibly hard.

He's still been walking a ton. So I'm hopeful that Christian Yelch can keep this up, and I definitely have more confidence in him than someone like Hodi Ballinger. All right. Let's see if he can keep it up here. Like Jose Ramirez, and a lot of these hitters that we mentioned, he is someone that can carry your team if he gets hot in a hurry. So I think it's just a matter of him getting healthier from that back injury,

which has been a huge problem for Yelich this year. But if he's getting healthy, then, again, we could see some massive games here down the stretch. Let's take a quick break when we return. Let's rank some Waverwire starting pitchers, some streamers for the upcoming week next on Fantasy Baseball today. Let's start with ranking Waverwire Streamers Part 1. Brad Keller was at the Cubs this weekend, six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. He's 30% rostered, and he is at the Mariners this week. Jake Oterese had a nice start against the Mariners this weekend, five and two thirds, one run, eight strikeouts.

He is at the Texas Rangers this upcoming week. Patrick Corbin, you know that Corbin's not very good, but he was awesome in this start against the Brewers. It was his first quality start since July 7th, by the way. Six and a third, one run, zero walks, seven strikeouts.

His sinker velocity was up to 94 miles per hour on average in this one. Slider Velo was up about two miles per hour as well. Luis Pettino turned turned in a quality start with five strikeouts. He is at the Baltimore Orioles. Corby, by the way, is at the Marlins this week. And then

Carlos Hernandez gave us a great start this weekend against the Cubs, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, and he is at the Mariners. So, Scott, how would you rank these streamers? Keller at the Mariners, O'Dorizzi at the Rangers, Patrick Corbin at the Marlins, Luis Pettino at the Orioles, and Carlos Hernandez at the Mariners. I would rank them Brad Keller number one, six of his last eight now, quality starts and the two that weren't.

He was either dealing with the back issue or just coming back from it. I'll go Patino number two. The Orioles have been especially bad lately. And then I guess I don't really like

any of the others, to be honest. I might roll the dice on Corbyn with the velocity being way up his last start, but obviously we've not seen him sustain that kind of velocity for any stretch of time. Really don't have faith in Carlos Hernandez. This was only his third start this year with double-digit swinging strikes,

and he was going against a AAA lineup. The Mariners are better than the Cubs, I would say, at this point. And that leaves Jake O'Rizzi, bring it up the rear there. By the way, I want to point this out since I happened to look it up earlier today for Brad Keller, who I ranked number one here. You know, it's hard to tell exactly how any team's rotation is going to line up the rest of the way, especially this year. Royals currently have a six-man rotation.

I'm assuming it won't stay six-man the rest of the way. And you could see Keller's remaining matchups going this way. Mariners, Indians, Orioles, twins, Mariners again, tigers, twins again. All bottom feeders except the Mariners who's, you know, you know the Mariners offense. You know the story with the Mariners. He might throw no head.

And I'll point out, like, this isn't just like a random hot streak. He threw his slider, I believe, a career high, like 50% of 49% of the time on his July 4th start against the twins. And that that's this eight start stretch that he's on now. He's thrown the slider, I think at least 40% of the time in every start in that stretch. He's got 50 strikeouts, 18 walks, and 48 in a third inning. So he's almost averaging, by doing the math rate, he's almost averaging six and a half, starts per inning, something like that.

Yeah. Six and a half innings per start. Six and a half endings per start. Six and a half starts per inning. What? All right, Brad Keller, up at the top there. Odarezi, I will point out at the Texas Rangers this week, but he has been much better at home in Minutemade Park than he has been on the road.

He's got an ERA over five on the road this season. Does Jake O'Doreasy? Let's rank WaverWire Streamers Part 2. These are all players that are rostered in under 40% of CBS League. So maybe you're looking at deeper leagues for these names. But Miles Michaelis,

he was up against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his return on Friday. Five innings, two runs. Zero earned, by the way, five strikeouts in that start. And he's at the Pirates again this upcoming week.

Chris Bubich took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He was at the Cubs and their AAA lineup. But six and a third, one hit, two runs, nine strikeouts for Bubich

in this start. He is at the Mariners this week. And then Jay Hap, who, Look, I don't think J-Hab is very good, but six endings, two runs, eight strikeouts, four starts with the Cardinals now. He's got a 1.99 ERA. He has had very favorable matchups. He faces the Pirates again this upcoming week. So, Chris, how would you rank this group of streamers?

Michaelis at the Pirates, Boobich, at the Mariners, Hap at the Pirates. I think I would go, Hap, Boobich, Michaelis. what do you think Scott I was not going to say that actually I was going to say Michael is Bubba chap well

I feel very strongly oh man about this oh man no I do want to mention Michaelis the results were good but you know normally he's a ground ball pitcher and in this start

he gave up nine fly balls versus three ground balls so I don't know I don't know that he's totally back to form, but he's going against the pirates. So is Jayhap. Yeah. I just, I'm pretty confident at this point. Jayhap's not good, like Frank was saying,

regardless of how things have gone in his first four starts at the Cardinals. That's reasonable. Yeah. In those four starts, he has a swinging strike rate that is below 8%. Lee averages around 11%. And he has a 48% fly ball rate. So it doesn't really bode well, but man, the pirates are really, really bad against less.

left-handed pitch. I mean, they're bad against most people, but specifically against lefties. Who are you worried about most from this group? And I mentioned we've got to talk about Kevin Gosman last week. I brought that up. I think now is the time to do that. Over his last seven starts, Kevin Gosman has a 5.17 ERA with a 1.69 whip. You say Kikuchi over his last eight starts has a 6.69 ERA, 1.82 whip. Sean Maniah, his last nine starts. A, 5.52 ERA, and then Logan Gilbert over his last six. He's got an ERA over eight. So between Gosman, Manaya, Logan Gilbert, Kikuchi, Scott, who do you worry about most? And if you can just kind of evaluate, like what is going on with Kevin Gosman that you've seen? Well, I am worried

about all of them a little bit. Yeah. None of them have looked right. And in a way where it's not like the underlying numbers are all fine either. I would say the one who's, you know, you're to the point where you might drop him is Logan Gilbert, just because, I mean, at his best, he was the least useful of this group. So that just makes it easy to do, right? But, you know, just in terms of how likely he is to get it back, if that's how you're going to interpret worried about the most, maybe Kikuchi. because velocity's been down,

the cutter usage has changed. I just don't. It just looks like, it just, I could see maybe how he's lost it, I guess. Yeah, it's hard to come up with like a really compelling explanation for it

because his cutter's been his worst pitch this season and he's throwing it less over the state starts. It's actually coincided with a, you know, like a 10 to 15% drop consistently in his cutter usage. but the problem is his fastball's been getting hit really hard in that same stretch too and he's mostly trading cutters for fastballs. So yeah,

I wonder if not really a tradeoff that's working out. Right, like maybe the cutter keeps them off his fastball or something. Yeah, yeah, I don't know exactly what, but. And even his slider in the month of August has gotten hit really, really hard too. So it's basically just been his changeups been good so far, which that's not enough. As for Gosman, I mean, it isn't just like I wondered, okay, I know his starts haven't been long lately. Only once in the past seven has he gone six innings, but are they doing this because they're obviously going to the playoffs, the Giants,

and they're just trying to preserve his innings after the very short season last year. But it's not just that because he has a 517 ERA over that seven-star stretch. His swinging strike rate is about 12% when his previous 18 starts. was it was about 16%. So that's a big drop in swinging strike rate during the stretch, too. Not that it's a horrible swinging strike rate, but it's certainly not the, you know, the ace-like one we were seeing from him earlier,

the dominant one. Some aces do have about a 12% strikeout rate. Yeah, I don't know. It's, I don't really know what's wrong with him, but he's, I don't think you can really give up on him either. He's too, he's too, ensconced in your team's success at this point. I think it's worth noting.

His ex-Woba this month is actually right in the middle. So it's 302 right now that's right in the middle for all of his months this season. He's had two better, too worse. So I don't know if the, you know, if he's really pitching all that much worse, you know. It certainly seems like his control and control slash command aren't there. but, you know, I don't know if there's a good explanation for that or if that's just kind of the ebbs and flows of a season. I think it's kind of the ebbs and flows of a predominant splitter pitcher as well, right?

Like, we've seen that before where, you know, Frankie Montas or even Kevin Galsman in the past, they just kind of lose it for stretches of time because it is hard to command that splitter. So obviously that is his best pitch. The walks have been an issue for him here. But I think we're leaving him in the lineup, right, at the mess this upcoming week.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the splitters actually remained a very, very good pitch this month. You know, the ex-wobo allowed is 224. The whiff rate's a little down, but not alarmingly. So, like, it's still 38%. It was 44% in July.

So I don't know if that's, if there's really a good explanation here. Well, how about for Kukuchi? Should we leave him in the lineup? He's up against the Royals this week. It's also a good matchup. So it's tough because he's been so bad. It is a good matchup, but no, I just think the potential is too high. Yeah, I think there's, he could be droppable.

Sean Mania, too, I mentioned ERA over five over his last nine starts. He's going up against the Yankees this week who are, they're obviously pretty hot right now. And they've been very good against the left-handed pitching too. So would you bench Sean Mania in that matchup? Yes, I would bench him. You mentioned his last nine starts, though, right? Yes, 5.52 ERA. Because really, really it's just the four starts in August that have been awful.

And then the last two before that were great. So I don't know that I'd go back that far to describe his struggles. Just I don't think it's quite as long as we've seen from Kukuchi or even Gosman. All right. Let's stick with some starter sit. And Sunny Gray had a great start this weekend. Up against tomorrow. This definitely helps.

Seven shut out with five strikeouts. And it was his first time going at least seven. seven innings since July 7th. The problem is he's at the Milwaukee Brewers this upcoming week, and over the last 30 days, they are fifth in weighted-on-base average. Start or sit, sunny, gray. I would probably sit him. It kind of depends what else I have.

I don't think he'd be the worst start in the world, but I'd try to sit him. Yeah, he's struggled last time he faced the Brewers in July, first game back from the All-Star break, five and run four and two-thirds. So I think it'd be okay to set him. He's just, he's so inconsistent at this point. I think more often than not, we're benching Blake Snell at this part of the season, five innings, three runs, nine strikeouts over the weekend,

and he's up against the Dodgers this upcoming week, but it's at home and he's got a 2.68 ERA at home. And he's actually pitched very well against the Dodgers this year. So Blake Snell, starter sit. I think the matchup decides it for you. he's fringy enough that that's that's the case now I mean his last four starts have been pretty good only one of them's technically been quality but that's that's kind of been the story for for Blake Snell for the past few years now yeah I mean even with that 2680 RA at home it's under five and a half endings per start it comes with the 259 BABIP you know still right around four walks per nine so I think there's still enough reasons to to not want to rely on on Blake's now. Yanjin Ryu bounced back this weekend against the tiger.

Seven shutout with five strikeouts, including 15 swinging strikes on 105 pitches. Really, the past two months have been very inconsistent for Ryu, but a big issue for him has been the lack of swinging strikes. So it was nice to see that bounce back for him. The problem going up against the White Sox this week, tougher matchup than the Tigers. Would you start or sit Ryu there? He's kind of in the sunny gray category for me, I guess. So, you know, certainly.

not a priority to start him, but it's not the worst thing in a world if you have to. This is the most Zach Gallen thing ever, right? So he's only started in 42% of CBS leagues this weekend, and he's at the Rockies, which you shouldn't have been starting Zach Gallen there, obviously. Seven shutout with nine strikeouts, right? It's just, that's the way these things go sometimes. It's very weird. Anyway, I noticed his fastball spin rate was up over 100.

His cutter spin rate up over 220 RPM in that start. He's 79% rostered at. the Phillies this week, what do we think about Zach Gowan? I'm not ready to start him yet, but I was encouraged by this. Overall, I still feel discouraged about Zach Gowan and still wonder if something's wrong with them still.

You know, you had the elbow issue earlier on, the ligament issue, but this start gave me some hope that maybe he'll be able to pull out of it without any surgical intervention. Although I do always, I always feel like even when a pitcher pitches well in course field it you can't learn anything about a pitcher pitching well or poorly at

course field like like i think there's like a sense like oh wow he pitched well at course field that's a good sign but it's like but it's so different than pitching anywhere else that it's like whatever he did in this start that went well would that work necessarily as well somewhere else against the different it's like course field is just kind of its own like vacuum of fantasy relevance. Last one we have here, John means meh. A quality start against the Braves on Sunday with five strikeouts. Start or sit against the Tampa Bay Rays' upcoming week, which I believe he got hit hard very, he got hit very hard against him last time out.

Yes. Yeah, I think you have to sit him. And, you know, I, like I said, the last time we talked about him, I don't think it's, I don't think he's like a lost cause or anything, but I just I just think he's going to be too inconsistent, particularly for the team he pitches for you to get much use out of him this season. And as I

mentioned before, he's out of my top 60 now. It's starting pitcher. His full season pace over his last 11 starts would be 56 home runs allowed. That's not going to 11th in his in 56 innings over the last 11 starts.

So that would be really bad. Sheesh, yeah. And that start is in Camden Yards, so... Yeah, I don't think you can trust him there. No, thanks. All right, where should we add any of these starting pitchers?

Let's quickly run through. Nester Cortez was up against the Twins on Friday. Seven innings, two runs, seven strikeouts. He is 27% rostered. Do we need to add Nester Cortez anywhere? Yeah, I think you could triple that roster percentage almost.

I would add him most everywhere at this point. 270X. RA. The ex-fip's kind of high because he doesn't get a lot of strikeouts, but he's got a very deceptive delivery so you can understand why there's weak contact. Well, and he's, it's not really even just deceptive. It's just all over the place. He's kind of got a little bit of like the, like early, I don't think Rizel Iglesias does this quite as much as he used to, but he would throw consistently from different arm slots. And Nestor Cortez really like, you look at his release point, it's kind of just like a wave across like,

several feet. Yes. If you enjoy watching crafty starting pitchers, that is the word I would use to describe Nestor Cortez. He changes up his arm slots.

He changes up his pacing in terms of delivery. Sometimes he quick pitches people and other times he stalls. He has like that Johnny Quato thing going on. So it's not a great matchup this week at the Oakland Aids, but he has pitched very,

very well for the Yankees. As has Kyle Freeland for the Colorado Rockies. Seven innings two runs 10 strikeouts this weekend against the Diamondbacks over his last. 11 starts, 2.53 ERA. Now, we can't get that production anymore. I don't know if he's going to be

able to keep up anything close to this level, but he's at the Dodgers this upcoming week. He's only 22% rostered. Should we be adding Kyle Freeland anywhere? Man, I don't think so. I know it's been a long run of success here. Still, I think it's three home runs allowed during that 11-star stretch for a fly-ball pitcher. And granted, you could say Nestor Cortez has had good home run luck, too, because he's a fly-ball pitcher in a hitter's park. But I just, I think Nestor Cortez has enough weirdness going on that he might be able to get away with it.

And I just, I don't feel the same way about Freeland. It's worth noting Kyle Freeland has had a season, a full season like this before, that 2018 season when he had a 285 ERA over 202.1 innings. The problem for our purpose is when it comes. to projecting forward is his next season. He had a 673 ERA. Obviously, there were injury issues there, but I think that kind of tells you,

you know, the value of buying into this good run, like against a good matchup on the road, maybe, but certainly not worth adding on a week when he has to face the Dodgers, so you know you can't use him anyway. Yep. Last two names here, Tyler Alexander and Jordan Liles. They each pitch seven innings of one-run ball this weekend.

Do we need to add either anywhere? I don't think either's very interesting now. All right. Much like Christian Yelich, it's been a weird season for Aronola where we've been waiting to see something, some sign of life. And he gave us that against the Padres.

He left him in a little bit too long, trying to give him that complete game, winds up throwing 117 pitches, 8 and 2 thirds, 3 runs. Two of those were earned. 11 strikeouts gave up that game tying Homer to Jake Cronenworth on the last out of the game, but would have been the last out.

And he changed things up little bit here. Through the curveball and change up a lot less, use his sinker more, the fastball velocity was up. Obviously, I think we're starting him against the Diamondbacks this week, which is a pretty good matchup there, but how encouraged are you by this

from Aaron Noah? Very encouraged. I wish they took him out earlier, but otherwise, I mean, it was a great start, and he's had great starts before this season, and the underlying numbers have looked great the whole time. So I still think he could be an ace for you down the

stretch and the start shows how that would be possible. Yeah, the underlying numbers have looked good the whole time. That's the key here is that it's not, you know, like that 2019 season we've talked about a lot where he just didn't pitch as well. Most of the things that we look at when we look for pitchers, you know, were where they should be more or less. A few stud starting pitcher performances that I did want to point out quickly. And if you have anything to add on any, feel free.

but Max Friede a four-hit shutout. Robbie Ray had 11 more strikeouts over eight innings against the Tigers. Lucas G. Alito, seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. He had 24 swinging strikes against the Tampa Bay Rays. And then Walker Bueller,

seven and two-thirds, two runs, eight strikeouts. He has now gone six-plus innings in 24 of 25 starts, averaging 21 fantasy points per game is Walker Bueller. That is second among starting pitchers behind only Jacob de Gras.

Freed, Robbie Ray, G. Leto, Walker Bueller. I pointed this out last time we talked about Freed, but it's worth pointing out again. Because now it's even better. Since those three starts in April, when his velocity was down, and we soon learned he had an injury. What kind of injury was it? He had an injury of some kind. Since those three starts in April, Max Freed has a 267 ERA. That's compared to the 225 ERA he had last year.

that we all thought was highly unsustainable. I mean, 267 isn't 225, but guys looking more legit than we gave him credit for. A couple of their studs I wanted to mention. Sandy Alcantara, Alcantara. Apologies, Sandy, if you're listening. Seven innings, two runs, 11 strikeouts at the Reds. He has seven inning quality starts in four of his last five.

Framber Valdez, seven shutout with six strikeouts against the Mariners. Adam Wainwright, just keep facing the pirates, man. Let's do it. Eight shutout with nine strikeouts on Sunday. He has gone six plus innings in 14 of his last 15 starts. Kyle Gibson was at the Padres, eight innings, one run, three strikeouts. And then we had just a great pitching duel on Sunday between Logan Webb and Frankie Montas. Webb's six innings, one run, seven strikeouts.

We've talked about him a ton over the past couple of weeks. Looks like he's setting up to be a league winner. he's 90% rostered at this point is Logan Webb's six straight quality starts. Fray Montas, seven shutout on the other side, nine strikeouts, 21 swinging strikes against the Giants, a team that does not swing and miss all that much. And over his last 10 starts, 2.55 ERA for Montas, a near 17% swinging strike rate,

which is the top, which is the best in all of baseball during that stretch. So that's dating back to late June. Yeah, so Montas, Webb, Gibson, Wainwright, Valdez, and Sandy. Chris, anything you'd like to add on that group? I hope Frankie Montas keeps it up. It's never a given. And just, you know, to point out one, Cindy Alcantara, Ocantara.

Sorry. You're the same thing. Even the Marlins fans getting it wrong. Well, I'm pretty bad at pronouncing names in general. Looks like he's probably going to get to 200 innings pretty easily this season. And that's going to give him two out of the last three with at least 197 with an ERA, well south of 3-5 over the last two seasons now. So it's pretty good, even though he's not an ace, ace.

Calls to the Penn. Some bullpen updates will wrap up with these. Tampa Bay on Friday. J.T. Sharkuagwag. for the save up 5'4. He gave up a solo home run to Tim Anderson. And then on Saturday, Colin McHugh recorded the final five outs for his first save of the season. Scott, do you have any read here on Tampa Bay?

Nope. I mean, McHugh's their best reliever, but I doubt this means he's the closer now. We spoke about the Reds, complete mess there. And T.J. Antone is expected back, which we also mentioned. On Friday for the Nationals, Kyle Finnegan got his fifth save. only 37% rostered. The Nationals probably not going to win that many games,

but he is definitely the closer. So if you do need saves, he's out there. For the Royals on Saturday, Scott Barlow got his eighth save. He's 27% rostered. Two in a row for him. Yep. And then for the Pirates on Saturday, David Bednar got his first save.

He is 16% rostered. Scott, how would you rank those last three we just mentioned? Finnegan, Barlow, Bednar, if you need saves. I mean, Bednar's the best pitcher, but probably on the worst team. And this was the first time they got to save opportunities since the trade deadline. So I'm going to say, I'm going to say Finn again, just because you know who, you know, they're going to go with him. But I think he's probably the worst pitcher.

Go with the best pitcher. Go with the best. Are you going with Bednar? Yeah, just because like, it's so hard to predict when and where save opportunities are going to go. remember the Diamondbacks went something like 40 games without a save opportunity earlier this season? I may be exaggerating that, but I actually don't think so. I think it really was that long.

That sounds right. And, you know, now they've kind of had just a normal bad team's amount of saves since then. So one problem with Bednar, not to extend the conversation forever, but he worked part of the 7th and 8th on Friday with Stratton following him in the 9th in a non-save chance. so I don't even know for sure that he's the closer for the pirates, you know? Sure. Yeah. At least with Finnegan, we know. He is the guy. To stream or not to stream with Monday,

Colby Allard at the Red Sox, Will Crow versus the Diamondbacks, Antonio Sensatella at the Cubs, Daniel Lynch, at the Houston Astros, and Paul Blackburn versus the Mariners. Should we just say no? That would be my preference, but that's usually not how this segment has worked

this season. That is true. I do like Lynch as a two-star pitcher this week, but the second matchup is much better than at Houston. Yeah. Yeah. So... And Houston... No.

Houston just had a massive offensive weekend, too. It's... I don't know if I want to get in the way of the Astros right now. I'm going to say no. Let's just go with no for Monday. How about Tuesday? We have Justin Steele versus the Rockies. Eric Fetty at the Marlins, Dylan Bundy at the Orioles, revenge game.

Eli Morgan versus the Rangers and Tyler McGill versus the Giants and Ranger Suarez versus the race. This isn't much better. That's number one for me. Even with the matchup against the Giants, I just think he's the best pitcher here. McGill. Yeah. I don't hate Eli Morgan. I don't think he's very good, but I think the Rangers are worse.

Yeah. I'd probably say the same thing about Eric Fetty, but he's the one I like the least of the ones that we've mentioned. So. I might, McGill and Suarez, I could say the same for both of them that I said for Lynch. I like them as two-star pitchers this week. But the first matchup is the bad matchup. Yeah.

So if you had to choose one, Scott, who would you go with? Oh, I agree with Chris. It'd be Miguel. And I think I agree with you, Morgan, would be my second choice. All right. For Scott and Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy baseball today will be back again on Tuesday.

Bye-bye. You know,