Fantasy Baseball Today - Weekend Recap! Trade deadline fallout and big-name injuries (8/2 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 2, 2021

Chris Towers and Scott White look at the impact of Fernando Tatis' injury and the trade deadline fallout. Can Brendan Rodgers or Luis Garcia help replace Tatis? Is Jacob deGrom droppable after his latest setback? Is Josiah Gray the answer as your replacement? Plus, we look at how Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Craig Kimbrel and the rest of the trade deadline headliners are fitting with their new teams and see which pitchers are in or out of Scott White's circle of trust. '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, @AdamAizer 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. Centerfield 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.

All right. Hello and welcome to Fantasy Baseball. Today, I'm Chris Towers. Joined by Scott White. Frank Stample is on vacation this week. and he left us with a lot to cover this weekend, Scott. And I got it just before we start, just a quick shout out to my guy, Scott White,

for helping me out with the notes. That was clutch. Thank you very much, Scott. I don't know how Frank does this Sunday, this Monday morning show. There is way too much stuff to keep up with. I feel like, I feel like I got to a lot of it, but I also like, I'm going to get to the end of the episode

and you're probably going to be like, well, you didn't mention the most important thing of the day. And I'm sure that's going to happen. But no, no, I feel confident that you're going to get everything that you need from this episode of fantasy baseball today. Speaking of that, on this episode, we're going to recap the weekend, including checking out what's up with all of the trade deadline headliners, where they were hitting in their new lineups, what the next plan is, and who was replacing some of them in their key spots, especially in the bullpen. We're also going to be looking at a

actually a handful of pretty big names came back from the injured list today or this weekend Catel Marte, Corey Seeger, Mukit, Bets, only two of those guys

play for the Dodgers. Those are just two of the stars that play for the Dodgers. And we're also going to be looking at which starting pitchers are in the circle of trust. This is one of my favorite Scott White bits from

probably like two years ago now, right? I don't remember. You don't remember this? I remember, like a whole column. I didn't know it was a whole bit. I remember I did have, I did refer to a circle of trust before. I think you wrote a whole column about which starting pitchers were in or out of the circle of trust. So that's what we're going to do because there are a lot of pretty interesting performances this weekend.

Some good, some bad. But first, we've got some really, really big news. Frankly, bad injury news about the best hitter and best pitcher in fantasy. So we'll start with, for, Fernando Tatis on the aisle again with a shoulder subluxation. This was, uh, it occurred, I think was this Saturday while the, while running the bases. He slid awkwardly. This is now the third time that this has been an issue for him with the left shoulder,

spring training. Obviously when Frank Stample, uh, backed out of eating a hat. Um, when Fernando Tatis came back from that injury the first time, my cats are fighting in the background, good timing girls. and Fernando Tatis has been placed on the 10-day-I-L. He's going to rest and rehab the shoulder, but, and this is key, Jace Tingler talking to the media today, did say that surgery is on the table. Didn't make it sound like surgery is likely,

but this was always the risk for Fernando Tatis trying to play through this injury. And I made the Hanley-Ramara's comp in, you know, early on the season, how that was kind of a lingering thing. that kept going until he finally had surgery with for it. Hopefully it's not going to require surgery right now, but it does seem like Fernando Tatis is going to need surgery at some point in the off season. So if you lost Fernando Tatis,

there's absolutely no replacing him, but one will start with any interest in Hacian Kim, the likely beneficiary of Tatis's injury. He did Homer with three RBI on. Sunday. It's not nearly enough to capture my interest. No. You know, I keep going back to this well, and it seems like when people start to buy in, he cools off.

The well, the well cools off. But the well is warming up again. I don't know what's going on. It's like too close to the mantle of the earth or something. But, yeah, the well is starting to warm up. I don't know what you're referring to. Okay. is I'm making the analogy worse.

Brendan Rogers. Yeah, that he seems like the key, the, the most obvious potentially available player that you should try to pick up. He's 47% rostered in CBS Fantasy leagues. He is, he didn't have a home run in his first 12 games of the season

as he was coming back from that hamstring injury. Since then, he's hitting 287 with a 36 home run pace. I think he had five home runs in the month of July. sub 800 OPS in the month of July, but that was partially due to a 270 Babbitt, which is low for him. So, Brennan Rogers, especially in a Roto League, because he should be a pretty good batting average source. But even in points league, I think he's the top guy. Yeah. Yeah, just the upside to availability ratio there for Brendan Rogers.

I mean, nobody else who qualifies at shortstop comes close. So, yeah, that would be. would be the first place to turn for me. What about in a points league? This is a guy that came up for me, Kyle Farmer. He has been ridiculously hot lately. I believe he had another three RBI game this weekend. Where do you put Kyle Farmer in the discussion of potential for Nanotatis replacements?

I mean, pretty low. He feels like a hot hand play. He's not a young guy. He's never shown this kind of upside before. He did elevate the ball better in July, better than he ever has before. So, you know, maybe some kind of change happened there that can have him tap into power more like he showed in July. But Kyle Farmer is not somebody I'd invest a lot of trust in. I did put in a couple bids for him in Roto leagues, just looking for a hot hand to fill all those lineup spots.

but not with a lot of conviction, not a very big bid. Not somebody to get excited about, I don't think. All right, let's look at some of the most added players at shortstop, or at least shortstop eligible players. You got Kyle Farmer, he's 19% rostered right now. Enrique Hernandez, 70% rostered. Is he, would you rather have him than Farmer? He's coming off a very good month of July.

I would, but, I mean, he's been around long enough that we know his deal. can look like a like he's indispensable at times he goes on these like power surges he's actually coming off of one here recently but you know the final numbers are never very impressive uh after that i mean you've got brenner rogers who we already mentioned horhe polanco glaber tors who are nearly universally owned let me get my cat out of here uh bobby wit but you know, not in the majors and doesn't seem like it's likely to happen anytime soon. At least we haven't been given any indication of that. So then you go down to Miguel Rojas, Jose Iglesias,

and those are definitely guys who it feels like we know who they are. And like Miguel Rojas is actually, he's okay, I think, but certainly not someone who is going to make any kind of difference. So let's look at some guys who are available in 75% or fewer, of CBS Sports.com leagues. And that starts us off with Jazz Chisholm at 75%. He's 40% started relative to Brennan Rogers. Would you rather have Rogers or Chisholm rest of season?

That's actually a close call. I think we've seen so little from Chisholm really since April that I've kind of liking Rogers more. I still really like Rogers. I know after a good June, he kind of cooled off in July. and maybe everybody thought he fake them out. But I would stick with it. Like even if you're not looking to fill in for Fernando Tatis, you just want a high upside middle infielder.

I mean, Brendan Rogers' numbers aren't bad just as they are. And yet he's never, he hasn't really had that kind of streak that, you know, that really catapults him to start him. his Babbitt for playing at Corse Field is only 301. I mean, it's a pretty normal Babbat for a guy at Corse Field is like 50 points too low, you know? Yeah. Actually, his

road numbers are better than his home numbers, which is very odd for a Rocky's hitter. And that's usually a reason to buy a Rocky hitter. Right, right. So, yeah, Rogers would definitely be the one I'm most excited about. What about a couple of other names? Joey Wendell, he's slowed down a lot from his hot start

and Louisa Reyes. They're both right around 65 to 70% rostered. How do you feel about those guys? They are multi-position eligible. You can use them as shortstop, but also corner infield. Yeah, it's a playing time issue for both, especially Arias. Now that they've acquired Eduardo Escobar, the Brewers have, to play third base, really leaves Arias without a place to play regularly.

I imagine he'll steal starts from Colton Wong at second base sometimes, but not really an opening for him there. You know, if One name you haven't mentioned here And he's on the IL currently But he's only 47% rostered is Josh Rojas He's running kind of hot and cold this year Coming back from that dislocated finger

Yeah, I don't expect he's going to be out long With that injury So, you know, that might be somebody to stash away And actually somebody I wanted to talk about who isn't shortstop eligible, but he's second base eligible and is widely, widely available, is Luis Garcia, not the Astros pitcher.

Actually... The one who was a better prospect. Oh, the one, yeah, the more famous Louise Garcia before the Astros pitcher took off this year, and that's the Nationals second baseman who has now been called up to play second base with, I guess...

Who was? that that opened up that spot for him. Josh Harrison, I guess. Yeah, I mean, John Harrison and Trey Turner. Oh, right. Yeah, they traded Trey Turner. So, yeah, he's playing, he's playing and, yeah, playing shorts. So he will be shortstop, Elisville.

It seems like potentially here soon. He's been playing both second base and shortstop. But what I really wanted to point out with him is, you know, he'd come up the past couple years and didn't really do much. and so he seems like, you know, kind of a post-hype guy, but he's only 21 years old. Just turned 21.

And he, you know, I feel kind of bad that I'd overlooked him in the prospects report. I didn't even realize what kind of year Luis Garcia, this 21-year-old, was having at AAA, really has been... Yeah, those numbers, 303, 371 on base, 599 slug, 13 home runs. He has 17 home runs, sorry, 25 home runs in 342 games. 13 of them have come in his most recent 37 at AAA. And, you know, that's the kind of thing that you can write off as a small sample size. But like you said, because he's so young, he wasn't even 21 when the season started. And his previous high for home runs in the minors is seven.

And that was over a full season. So over like a quarter of the season, he had 13. I mean, that's a loud breakthrough for a guy who the scouts always liked. and, you know, he showed that power with a 16.4% strikeout rate too. So Luis Garcia hasn't done much since getting called up and there have been higher in the prospects who have taken their time to deliver in the majors. But, you know, it's upside. It's upside.

And maybe Luis Garcia having been exposed to the majors before, he will be able to break through. All right. Let's move on to the next bit of very bad news. That's Jacob de Grom. He's been shut down for two more weeks after, you know, he had more inflammation after throwing a bullpen session on Thursday. This was a classic Met situation where he didn't throw on Friday. Jacob de Grom has been, you know, for most of his career, he likes to throw every day in some way. And even during this layoff, he had been trying to. He didn't throw on Friday. The, you know, the manager says, oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. And then it turns out, yeah, we have to worry about it. He's going to be shut down for two more weeks and then try to work his way back. So you're probably looking at all of August lost. And my question is, if you're in a head-to-head points league and you're not guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, could you consider dropping Jacob de Grom?

I don't think that would be something I could entertain. No, I mean, just the impact is too great. If you want to have any hope of winning in the playoffs once you do get there, Jacob de Grasem, I assume, would be a big part of that. Yeah, I am a little concerned about this beyond just the time he's going to miss. I mean, forearm issues.

Yep, recurring, just. Yeah, and that's often a precursor to something significant with the elbow. So, you know, that was, I actually had him in the Scott White Dynasty League for the past few years as people who regularly listen now on the three-time defending champion

had a team role three of those years. Three-time defending champion. We've heard it enough already, Scott. I'm coming for the crown. Actually, he had it for a decent salary. It was only be a $36 keeper this off-season, but I decided to move him. Just for context,

if he was healthy going into next season and he was available in the draft, he would probably be a $70 player. Yeah, for sure. It's a Head Dead Points League, worth pointing out, even if in a redraft league, I mean, DeGrom wouldn't be surprising to see him go for more than 50.

So yeah, good salary, 24 team league. I'm trying to win this year, but I traded him for significant prospect package because I'm worried about how much he's going to be available next year is part of it. That was part of the reason. I decided to go ahead and move on that deal. part of it was because I got Clayton Kirchow back and it's like okay

although Kirchall might make it back sooner though he had he had his own elbow inflammation setback or soreness I guess it wasn't inflammation it was just some soreness but yeah this is um you you have to start thinking about that with Jacob de Grom you know this is one thing that we've talked about a lot over the last couple years is how it's there's always like something every season the last like three years that

been like some, there was one point where it was his elbow, I think two or two or three years ago, where he went on the IL with elbow inflammation and it turned out to be nothing. Yeah. Now the recurring nature of this, I think you do have to be concerned. Here's a question for you. Is Max Scherzer the number one starting pitcher in fantasy right now? I, he might be. Would you rank him that way?

Let me double, because obviously I had to Grom. Yeah. Even, you know, when I anticipated, he might be back as soon as this week, you know? And I know I moved down Udarvish recently. I think there's definitely a case for Scherzer. I think I would still take Garrett Cole over him, but of course he's had his issues since the foreign substance crackdown started. I think there's been enough of a rebound happening that I'm still buying into Cole

is the second best pitcher behind DeGrom. So, yeah, I'd go Cole over Scherzer, but that's the only one, I think. Brandon Woodruff probably in that conversation. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a, and Gary Cole had a pretty terrible start in his most recent outing. Might actually be his worst of the season. Yeah, it was worse of the season. Seven run runs and five and a third.

Still 10 strikeouts and two walks. But yeah, quite a bit of attrition at the top of the starting pitcher rankings for various reasons over the last couple of weeks. Although I be remiss not to point out that Walker Bueller has actually been the highest scoring pitcher in fantasy. Well, because, as we all predicted, Walker Bueller has just been an absolute rock, a stable, deep innings-eating pitcher, just like we all thought. It's one of the most amazing stats of this season. He had one start where he went six innings last year. He's had one this year where he hasn't gone six-dicts. It's pretty amazing.

I hope that lasts all year because it's just too perfect. And speaking of attrition at the top of the starting pitcher tables, this is going to affect next season. as well, Tyler Glassnow is expected to have Tommy John's surgery. Looks exceedingly likely that we won't see him next season, I would guess. It's possible that he comes back in 12 months, but you look at Chris Sale and Luis Severino and Noah Cindergarde. Those three are going on 15 months or more since having surgery. So I would guess Tyler Glassnow is out until 2023. And I believe this is his second Tommy John surgery, too.

I think he had one as a Pirates minor league I love when I just pulled out a fact like that but I didn't look up before me I want to say that happened though that I'm not sure I'm going to have to look that up I don't think so now

because this is saying well that makes me feel better about his dynasty value and everything but yeah and I mean even so and this is definitely looking ahead to next season or even following that

and expect to the next season. He is under, he's arbitration eligible through the end of the 2020 season. So he's going to be pitching in a contract year when he comes back. Remember he had 123 strikeouts in 88 innings, 2.66 ERA.

He looked like, I mean, really like a top five to top 10 starting pitcher earlier in this season. and I mean he might be the biggest consequence of the sticky stuff crackdown. You know, the way he talked about how he had to, you know, change his grip and change his mechanics when he stopped using sticky stuff. He was pretty adamant that that played a part in his injury. So that's unfortunate.

Hopefully we'll see him back at full strength in 2023. Let's move on to this weekend's games. And let's start off with, oh my gosh. goodness gracious. I don't have the drop. Scott, if you want to say it, if you want to do your best Susan Wolden. Oh my goodness gracious. All right. You got. How was that? Is that pretty good? That was all right. Yeah. What's your, oh my goodness gracious player of the weekend? Well, Chris, if I had to pick one guy to say, oh my goodness gracious about, um, trying to remember who was. I know I had somebody picked out here. I'll start. I always love to talk about my beloved Miami Marlins. How about Sandy Alcantara? 10 strikeouts,

seven innings pitched. All shutout against the Yankees. Obviously, this is the Yankees lineup that will destroy pitchers and will get destroyed by some pitchers, because there's a lot of swing and miss in this lineup. There always has been. Now there's even more, although it's interesting that they basically have like the three

highest strikeout guys in the majors, plus Gary Sanchez, and then nobody else in the lineup strikes out. Sandy Alcantar, very good in this one. And this kind of, I guess, I don't know if it reversed. versus a slide that he had been on, especially with regards to his strikeout rate. He had not struck out more than five in a start going back to June 22nd. I had 23 strikeouts and 32 and a third before this one.

And the swinging strike rate had been down. But he still had a 329 ERA coming into this start. That went down even further. I still view him as at this point probably almost the top 15. team starting pitcher. What about you? Well, I mean, he feels stable.

And I think we're going to see a lot of instability at the position this year. It seems like I don't know if it's by design, but well, I know the Brewer's situation is by design. Freddie Peralta and Corbyn Burns probably going to have their innings cut back. I don't know if it's by design, but it seems like

Carlos Rodon, you know, not as many pitches, not as many innings lately. Trevor Rogers. There were a lot of start with only like 80-something pitches this weekend. And I think we're going to see a lot of that down the stretch, particularly from the young guys. And Sandy Alcantaro is a young guy,

but he just seems to have that. Yeah, he's a workhorse. Yeah, just developed that workhorse reputation. I will point out that his strikeout rate and his swinging strike rate weren't nearly as good in June and July as they were in April and May. So he's kind of, he's kind of reverted back to

where he was prior to 2021, but... But the control has still been very good. Yeah. So, you know, not an ace, but just a steady, steady stable innings eater. Kind of a Jose Barrios type.

Except I think probably better at run prevention because he pitches in the NL. So that's my own, my goodness gracious. How about yours? So I'm not sure this is the guy I picked up before. But I think it works, and I think we shouldn't wait any longer to get to it. Craig Kimbril. Craig Kimbril's usage has to be, since joining the White Sox is highly disturbing so far.

Highly disturbing. I agree. So on Saturday, on Saturday, he made his White Sox debut, pitch the ninth inning, a scoreless ninth inning, with the White Sox down by a run. Sunday Kimberl pitched again but he pitched the eighth inning of a tie game

Liam Hendrix worked the ninth inning of that tie game so still nobody neither of those pitchers have gotten a safe since that trade was made but it certainly seems like from the first two days of usage

Kimberl is being treated more like the setup man and I don't think that's reason to drop Kimbril because it's like Like, there's, I think you got to give it at least a week, even in shallow leagues. I will say.

In shallow leagues where the ratios don't matter. Listening to Friday's podcast, I was surprised that you were so confident that Kimbril was going to be the closer for them because. Oh, I didn't say I was confident, did I? You seemed pretty confident. That was my best guess. I thought it made the most sense. I mean, Liam Hendricks has spent most of his career as the setup man. My thought, my thought was just very simply, he's got another year under contract and Craig Kimbril doesn't. Yeah, I mean

And he's the incumbent So it just It feels like a You know Give that guy The You know The deference

Because you're you know Clubhouse reasons and all that That was just my sense But yeah I will say in a 10 team roto league He's not a must roster And I think even potentially

In a 12 team points league Craig Kimbrel May not be a must roster If he turns out to be a setup man But I'm just saying Two days worth isn't enough to really know. I think we need a lot more information

and I'd hate to cut Kimbril too soon. So I know you probably don't want dead weight around. I get that, but you just got to wait and see because, I mean, it could be a situation where they're basically splitting the role.

In which case... It could be a situation where, you know, maybe Tony Larissa just changes his mind one day. Like, maybe... But what I will say is... conversation that happens between the three of them. In a points league, if he's not getting 80% of the 6th, he's probably not a must roster player.

That's just the fact of life in a points league with a closer. In a 12-team points league, there's only 24 of them, and even then there are enough RP eligible starting pitchers that you might be only looking at like 20 closers being used at any given point. Yeah. Yeah. mean, because how many, how many teams don't have a closer right now? Don't have a clear closer.

I mean, a decent amount, but that should settle down. Yeah. Relatively. I'm not so confident. I'm not so confident. All right. Well, uh, let's move on to, well, since Frank's not here, I'll, I'll throw him another. Oh my goodness gracious player.

And we'll make it a Yankees player because how could we not talk about Anthony Rizzo? He's, uh, what? Home runs in two of his first, or his first, or his first, two games with the Yankees, had a decent game on Sunday as well. You know, it was nice. Anthony Rizzo gets traded from the only major league team he's ever played in the majors for, but he still gets to have a little homecoming.

Fort Lauderdale kid gets to play in Miami for his first series after the trade. So that was probably nice for him. He hit fourth in his first two games with the Yankees, batted leadoff Sunday, Homer in his first two games, and this is what we were talking about. I mean, I guess not really because it's not Yankee Stadium yet, but both of the home run that he hit was pulled. And so that's what you want to see. I think all but one of his home runs so far has been hit to the pull side.

And that's where you talk about like if Rizzo is going to have this big second half, it's going to be with a power boost playing with the Yankees in a very good lineup. You've seen that stat. It's worth reiterating for the people who didn't listen to the emergency podcasts that stat cast 15 home runs at the time of the trade 14 home runs at the time of the trade Baseball savant has this section on each player's page it would be home runs by venue like just

it's just measuring the distance of the home runs basically the distance and location of the home runs it's not taking into account environmental factors but those 14 home runs for anthony rizzo would be 23 if he was playing at yankee stadium so I was it just seems like the perfect move for him you know, it seems to be validated already,

and he hasn't even played his first game at Yankee Stadium. Yeah, so let's talk about the players who were traded, what they looked like this weekend, mostly with the hitters, where they were batting, how often they were playing. Like I mentioned, Rizzo hit fourth cleanup in the first two games, and then batted leadoff in the third. You can't take a ton from the Yankees lineups in the first three games

because one, there was no DH. They were playing in Miami. And so Giancarlo Stan, I believe, played in the outfield twice. Luke Voight did not play at all this weekend. And, DJ LaMayhew, he had a triceps injury. He was scratched from Friday's game, but he was able to play. And then he didn't play Saturday or Sunday. So those were two of the interesting notes that I saw for the Yankees.

Well, just to clarify, Voight's still hurt. He's not back yet. Oh, that's right. That's right. So, but I did say. see, or actually I guess here, a very concerning snippet of an interview with Brian Cashman, where

you know, he didn't really sound, it doesn't sound like the Yankees are all that motivated to play Luke Voight when he gets back. Like, said basically we all know what Void's capable of, but you know, he's just in a position now where we had to fill the spot

and, you know, it would have been very easy for him to say, well, we're going to try Stanton in the outfield more so that we can get Void some of the bats at DH, and he didn't say that. So I'm worried about Voight's relevance at this point. Of course,

one injury could change everything. I think there are reasons to be at least somewhat concerned about DJ LaMahue and Glaber Torres just with the fact that yes, they didn't have a DH this weekend, but Stanton only started two of the games. LeMayhew didn't start, the one that Stan didn't start. So, you know, I don't know if that's

necessarily a concern. Like I said, he was Scratch Friday with a triceps issue, but something to keep in mind, for sure. All right. Moving on to some of the other players, let's just get all the whole Cubs lineup out of the way in their new homes. And man, wouldn't it be nice if the Cubs had those guys

in their lineup this weekend? Because Chris Bryant debuted Sunday for the Giants, hit a home run. Bat's second for the Giants. That's where he was hitting for the Cubs. I think that's where he's going to hit moving forward. big, big lineup upgrade. Like you guys talked about on Friday's episode.

And, um, you know, I, you know, I'm a, an analytics guy. I don't really love the like, feely-wheels kind of stuff. But I will say like Chris Bryant does, like this situation does seem like it could be the kind of thing that gets Chris Bryant going just because, God, like him and Anthony Rizzo on the bench in that final, what Thursday night, uh, game for the Cubs where they didn't play. they just left them on the bench and what ended up being their final game for the Cubs. Like, they looked so sad.

Like, Chris Bryant looked legitimately, like, emotional at the end of that game. And, you know, given the history with that team, given how poorly the last couple of seasons have gone, given that everyone knew he was just playing out the string this season until he got traded or became a free agent. I could just see this being the kind of thing that, like, I could see a huge second half for Chris Bryant

because he's such a good player. He had a really good, July after struggling in June. I think he's just going to be awesome for the Giants. I think that's a great pickup for them. Too many feely-wheels from you, Chris. That's all right. But it's also just that he's good.

You know, it's Chris Bryant. He's really good. And the fact that he's batting second in a good lineup that's only going to get better with Evan Longoria, Tommy Lestella, and Brandon Belt, all likely coming back this week. They actually have, far too many players for the lineup spots that they have.

It's a good problem to have if you're relying on a bunch of 34-year-olds like the Giants are. Javier Bay has hit cleanup in his Mets debut, also homered. So all three of those guys homered in their first game for their new teams. It's Frank, I bet. Feels like old times. I feel like he would have texted me first. Oh, it was Frank? No, I'm just kidding.

I didn't think anyone was saying I was doing a good job. I actually want to explain who it was. So the Scott White Dynasty League had its trade deadline on Saturday. And I was trying to negotiate a deal with somebody else in the league. He sent me his number to put in my phone. I typed in the number wrong. And so I texted just some random somebody about it. And that's some random somebody just replied to me.

Did they, was it okay? Yeah, they just wanted to know who I am. Don't they know who you are? All right. That's what I should say. The other new Yankee, Joey Gallo hit second twice in the lineup, third once.

You know, like we said earlier, LeMayhew didn't really play this weekend. Voight's still out of the starting lineups or still on the aisle. So, you know, we still don't know quite what that's going to look like, but Joe Gallo is going to play every day, you know, somewhere.

Yeah. Yeah. I hope at the center field because that means stands and left and voids at DH. And, you know, less Brett Gardner is probably better at this point. Yeah. Like we mentioned, Craig Kimberl worked the 8th. Kyle Hendrix in the 9th in a tie game on Sunday. And on the Cubs side, you had Kyle Ryan got to save versus Washington on Saturday.

Manuel Rodriguez worked the bottom of the 8th and a loss Friday. He struck out two in his major league debut. then came in in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game on Sunday. Did allow a walk-off home run. But Manuel Rodriguez is someone who throws in the high 90s, seems like he has a pretty good slider. You know, interesting to look at that usage for him. What do you think?

You think Kyle Ryan's the guy? I think they're going to mix and match the Cubs are. I mean, Manuel Rodriguez, it's possible somebody like him steps up and claims the role. The guy I was investing in where I had the space for it was Dylan Maples, who I know was on the IL right now, but only with a blister. And he's put up closer caliber numbers when he's been healthy this year. He's under control for another year. So I'd look at him too.

But it may be a situation where they never really settle on a guy over the final two months. Yeah, Manuel Rodriguez. I don't have a lot of faith in Kyle Ryan. I can say that for sure. Yeah, Manuel Rodriguez is a 24-year-old who the last two seasons in the minors, 2019 and 2021, he had 92 strikeouts over 67 and two-thirds innings. So, you know, they're, I would say of all of them, he probably at least represents some glimmer of upside and hope.

Moving on to some of the other traded players, Starling Marte hit second in all three, actually all four games that he's played for the Oakland athletics so far, has four stolen bases in his first. four games, including three on Sunday, still first and second in the second, the first inning in this game. So that's good to see. Josiah Gray acquired by the Nationals in that Max Scher's trade, Turner trade. He will make his Nationals debut on Monday.

What are your expectations for him? Two-star pitcher right away. Must start? No, I wouldn't say that. But, I mean, if you're looking to roll the dice on upside, he's definitely shown a ton of swing and missability early on. It's also given up four home runs in eight innings. But, I mean, the swaying strike rate is up there with DeGrom.

Very good minor league numbers as well. Consistently in the low twos in any R.A. Now that we know he has a spot and like he's going to stay in the nationals rotation unless he's just horrible. Yeah. I'm more interested in him now than when he was with the Dodgers. I mean, pick him up for the upside and don't necessarily start him right away. but if yeah if you're just looking for an upside play

if you're looking to replace de Grom I mean here's somebody with the same swinging strike rate uh Jose Burrios first start for the Blue Jays nice soft landing getting to keep playing against an AL Central team six innings of shutout ball seven strikeouts against the Royals

uh let's see Kyle Schwerber is expected begin a rehab assignment soon so he could be in the Red Sox lineup in a couple of weeks um the Braves did find room for both Jorge Saler and Adam Duval in their lineup. In two of the three games, Deval actually started all three.

Saler, I believe was just Friday and Sunday. Saler went four for seven with a walk and a strikeout. Hit sixth in his first game second in his second game. And then Adam Deval was, I think, sixth or seventh in all three games. So it was a, I think Jack Peterson sat out for the lefty, the Braves faced. So there was only one game where Duval, Saler, and Peterson were all in the Braves' outfield so far. And Peterson was the one to start in center. And batted leadoff.

Well, he's been batting leadoff most of the time since he was acquired. So, you know, they're at least willing to do that on occasion. They've shown play a bad outfield turn center field. I actually think Duval would be a better choice, but whatever. Yeah. I don't know if it's going to be an everyday situation. So there may be, I, I, well, Soler didn't really show up until Saturday. So he played both of the games that, he started both of the games that he was on the roster for.

It was really Peterson who is the only one who sat so far since, since everybody was there. Although everybody's not there yet. Yeah, Eddie Rosario was on the IAL. They talked about that. He's going to be out a few more weeks, but could be back relatively soon. and that's going to, you know, potentially change things because not exactly room for him to, you know, play anywhere else. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it'll be kind of a hot hand situation if Soler turns back into a 200 hitter, certainly because he's the worst defender, too, of a bunch of, you know, less than great defenders. Duval's good. Yeah, Duval's good. I mean, he's not a true center fielder, obviously, but he's won a gold glove before as a corner. or outfielder. All right, let's talk about the Nationals bullpen. Kyle Finnegan got the first two saves

for Washington after the Brad Hand trade. And he's got decent numbers. You know, 321 ERA, ugly 1.45 FIP, but their ERA, 3.7 FIP, 46Ks and 42 innings. What's your interest level in Kyle Finnegan? I'm wrong.

Adam Duval has not won a gold glove. I thought he was probably a finalist. He was a finalist, I think last year, actually. All right, so who were you actually asking me about? Kyle Finnegan Got the first two saves for Washington After the Brought hand trade So I'd been saying

You know Frank was like Oh Kyle Finnegan you got the first save And I was like come on Frank But It looks like it looks like the nationals Are just ready to go with that Until it doesn't work anymore Come on Scott

So I In Lees where I needed saves Kyle Finnegan You know there were a lot of potential closers on that list But Kyle Finnegan was near the top I think I had like Tyler Clippard ahead of him. I had like Dylan Floreau behind him though. Makes sense.

And trying to think of who else was in that group. Cole Solcer, who we saw I get two saves over the weekend. It's just, you know, how often are the Orioles going to have save chances? So he was pretty far down the list. We saw Spencer... Spencer Patton got his first save chance for the Rangers, but he blew the save. But he blew the save. But he blew the save.

So still uncertain there. We've been saying he looks like the lead guy all along. And how about Diego Castillo allowing a walkoff home run on Saturday and his first opportunity for the Mariners? With Paul Seawald working the bottom of the ninth in a tie game. I want to be so quick to give up on Paul Seawald in leagues where you can afford to speculate on relievers like that. Because Diego Castillo is, I think, a little less than closer caliber, really,

even though he has a history in the role. And Seawald, of course, has been awesome this year. I was also discouraged to see David Bedner, who looked like the most exciting closer pickup from the trade deadline. He was right back to working the eighth inning. I believe it was on Friday or Saturday, one of those days this weekend.

And it ended up not being a safe chance, I think actually Bedner blew the lead in eighth, but Chris Stratton worked the ninth, and Chris Stratton would have been my second guess. So I'd still rather invest in Bedner until we have more clarity here, but it could be Chris Stratton instead. And then a couple more before we move on.

Miles Straw has batted his eighth for Cleveland in his first two games. Homer on Sunday, actually. So way to go, Miles Straw. He's got 17 steals. And that's it. That's everything from that. to take a quick break when we're back.

Catch up on the rest of the injuries, news, and notes from the weekend. Take a look at some circle of trust guys at starting pitchers. See who Scott is willing to trust or isn't at this point in the season. And a little bit more next on fantasy baseball today. And we're back. All right, just like that. Injuries, news and notes from the weekend,

biggest news, Joey Votto did not Homer on Saturday. So came up one home run. And he sat out Sunday. they benched them. What a coward. Came one game short of tying the major league record for most consecutive games with a home run. He finished with seven straight games with a home run. Nine home runs in that span.

It was actually funny. He had a quote. It was something like, you know, I'm a stat-cast nerd, and I looked at it. And my first home run in the very first to start it was like it had a 100 expected batting average or something. It was like a wall scraper that he hit 94 miles per hour or something. And the last one, the game ends. His last at bat, I believe, was a 110 mile per hour double off the wall. That had like an 840 XBA.

So, you know, sometimes eat the bear and sometimes, well, you know, Alex Bregman was pulled from Sunday's game with hamstring tightness. That is hopefully not a big concern. It doesn't sound like it right now, but he is on the aisle with a quad injury right now. And, you know, now it's both sides of the leg. So that's never good. Yeah, they use the word precautionary. but we'll see.

I don't know. Not counting on him being back this week. I was actually willing to activate him in my Tau Wars League. Now I'm not going to for this week. So not what you want to see. James Caprilyan placed on the IL with shoulder impingement. Like we mentioned earlier, go ahead. They're also downplaying that one.

And I don't know if we're going to be able to get to it otherwise. So I'm just going to mention Dalton Jeffries. Yes. Dalton Jeffries, I remember, got a lot of hype this spring and we thought he was

going to win the job the fifth starter job once AJ Puck got hurt and Jeffreys himself got hurt. So he made his season debut in Caprillion's place and it, you know,

he'd been struggling for the most part at AAA, ERA over five, some better signs recently but just not very consistent. He looked pretty good against the Angels though on Sunday.

And him in 15th, team leagues? You know, I'd actually rather add Reed Detmer's, who was making his major league debut opposite him. And he did not look as good. No, let me find that line. Six earn runs and four in a third innings,

gave up two home runs. Two strikeouts, two walks. But he was among the minor league leaders in strikeouts. Like, he was having an awesome year in the minors. He'd only made one start at AAA. So they're moving in pretty quickly. Big jump in velocity in his first professional.

He was only drafted last year. So, you know, college guy, not young, but his velocity was up this year. To go along with a great curveball, tons of strikeouts in the minors. I know the first start didn't go well. Logan Gilbert's didn't go that well either, as memory recalls. So I'd still rather, like, Dadmurs, the upside is more interesting to me than Dalton Jeffrey. Dalton Jeffery's the best thing he has going for him is he throws a lot of strikes of Wood walks

and he walked three in his debut maybe just nerves I feel like we had that same conversation about Caprillion himself actually when he first came up but Jeffries I don't think disqualified himself from being a contributor this year with that start

all right Chris Sale had seven strikeouts over five innings in Saturday start at AAA AAA Worcester is that how they pronounce it Isn't that one of those? It's got like a non- medic?

Yeah, I don't know. AAA Worcester for the Boston Red Sox. He's probably going to make one more rehab start. So we're getting very close to the return of Chris Sale. Next rehab start, I believe we'll be on Saturday for AAA. And he could be back after that. And actually, I would bet on it, assuming nothing goes wrong. Tony Gonson was placed on the IL with shoulder inflammation.

Chris Paddock was placed on the aisle with a left oblique strain. the Mets did not sign number 10 overall pick Kumar Rocker. There were some concerns about his elbow, so they will get the number 11 pick in next year's draft, and Kumar Rocker just goes back to school or pitches an independent ball, which is kind of silly. He should be a free agent. Anyway, Jeffrey Springer, Jeffrey Springer, Jeffrey Springer,

Jeffrey Spring was on the aisle with a right knee sprain, stuffer during Saturday's start. Brad Keller left Sunday's game with back. tightness. Domingo Armand was placed on the aisle with shoulder inflammation. He actually pitched pretty well on Saturday before that injury. Travis Darno has begun a rehab assignment. Alex Cobb was placed on the aisle with a wrist injury. Byron Buxden has begun hitting off a T and swinging a bat, so that's a good sign as he comes back from that wrist injury. Ranger Suarez is moving to the rotation. Did not see that coming. Yeah. There was a point where we thought

he was going to be the closer. Vince Fulaska is having been a pen. Yeah, yeah. Velasquez to the pen. Suarez to the rotation. So obviously this clears up. Oh, is Ian Kennedy going to close now that he joins the Phillies? We thought he would. Seems like he will. Yeah.

And he did work the ninth inning Sunday in his Phillies debut. Lopsided win for the Phillies. And he gave up a two-run homer, but, you know, lopsided win. I'm not so anxious to drop Suarez if I'd already picked him up for saves. He had, you know, before he moved into the closer roll, he had several appearances where he worked like two, three innings, you know, came up as a starter in the minors, obviously. And extreme ground ball rate, extreme, extreme ground ball rate. There's a reason why his ERAs as low as it is.

You know, it may not work as well, stretched out to start, you know. But I think it's worth a shot. I think it's worth holding on to him to see how this goes, especially in a points league where you don't necessarily need a big strikeout total from your starting pitchers. and you could slot them in as a relief pitcher. There you go. Which could be very valuable.

All right, let's talk about a few other injuries and whether you can start them in the upcoming week. Josh Donaldson left Friday's game with a hamstring injury, sat out Saturday and Sunday. Are you starting Josh Donaldson this week? Probably not, if I can help it. Michael Brantley left Sunday's game with an ankle injury. X-rays came back negative.

Are you starting Michael Brantley? It might be harder to help it with him. Yeah. Three outfielder league, though, I'd try to avoid it. Andrew McCutcheon left Saturdays, game with a knee injury, did not play on Sunday. The Phillies are downplaying it, but would you start him? More likely, I mean, he's not as high end as Brantley, so that factors in, but, yeah, I think it'll probably be okay.

Reese Hoskins missed the last three games with a groin injury. What about him? Try to avoid it, not many days in a row. Yeah, and same for Eli Jimenez with that groin injury. He sat four straight. Yep. unfortunate. What do you get four or five games back before suffering the injury? That's just bad. Everybody, everybody who's come back or attempted to come back from a long-term injury

has either gotten hurt again on their rehab assignment or gotten hurt as soon as they got called up. Well, we'll knock on wood for all these guys coming back from injuries who came back this weekend. Alec Manoa pits seven strong innings against Casey. Is he a top 40 starting pitcher for you right now? he's got a 2.47 ERA a whip under 1 and 56Ks and 47 innings. He has been feels like it's gone under disgust how good Alec Minoa has been actually.

I mean he missed what three weeks so it's been a while since I had to think about him. I wasn't just saying you, Scott. There hasn't been as much hype around him as I would have thought. Yeah, I mean I have him around 60th now. I could definitely stand to move him up a lot. but I probably wouldn't make it in my top 40.

That's a pretty tough group. Sure. But top 50. All right. Some of the other big names who came back. Trevor Rogers, his velocity was fine. The results against the Yankees, not so much. Three and two-thirds innings.

Five hits, three walks, four strikeouts, two-armed runs allowed. Yeah, not exactly what you want to see, but continued his streak of not allowing more than three earned runs all season. So, you know, that's good. I imagine he'll be fine. moving forward, but innings and pitch counts are going to be a concern. Three big-name hitters who came back this weekend, Mookie Betts actually started at second base for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It would have imagined him starting at second before Trey Turner. Would he be your number one second baseman if he qualified there? Well, yeah, I would say so. That would be great for his value. I don't expect he's going to qualify there, but we'll see. So either Trey Turner or Mookie Bats. number one second baseman at some point. Oh yeah, I mean, there's a really good chance, obviously, Trey Turner picks up second base eligibility,

not just for this season, but for next season too. And yeah, he'd clearly be number one at that position. It's been a while since there's been a first round second baseman, but he would be one. Yeah, probably two years with Altovae, probably going back to 2019. Corey Seeger made his return, went three for ten over the weekend. Good to see him back after missing so much time with a broken hand. Cattel Marte made his return to the lineup on Sunday. I believe he went one for four in that one.

one. Lordus Guerriel, Anthony Santander, and Jazz Chisholm all came back from their I-L stints, as did Carlos Carrasco made his debut after missing the whole season and most of spring training with elbow and quad injuries, four innings. Yeah, he was another one who suffered a setbacker since he was gearing up to return. Yeah, four innings, three hits. Not surprising that he didn't pitch deep into that game. He wasn't really stretched out in his minor League Rehab assignment. They just wanted to get them back. Four strikeouts, one walk,

eight whiffs on 58 pitches. Fastball spin rate was down from last season. A lot. 300 RPM. Yeah, with anyone who we haven't seen, obviously that's something to keep an eye on. But I think more significant was the actual output from Carlos Carrasco.

I'm not going to worry about the spin rate until it really affects their performance or, you know, if it seems to be affecting their performance. I was encouraged, by this, eight whiffs on just 58 pitches. Yeah, I feel good about having stashed Carrasco all this time. All right. We'll try to get to more of the weekend standouts,

but first, did you know, Danesby Swanson has 20 home runs career high? I was kind of surprised to learn that. I did know. He's coming off a 7-Homer July. Yeah, two home run game on Saturday. He's on pace for 30 homers. Did you know Dylan Carlson stole his first.

base of the season on Sunday. I did not know that. I knew he was underperforming in that category, but you can't underperform much more than zero. Zero is the ultimate underperformance, and one is actually only one better.

Did you know Sebi Zavala was the first player to have his first three home runs in the majors come in the same game? So how about that? Oh, wow. Now, he's a nobody. That's a fun fact. Yeah, we actually had two low-end

He's a, is he a catcher? Sebi Zavala is a catcher. So we had two low... 27-year-old catcher who was hitting 178 AAA. Two very, very low-end catchers in the city of Chicago had three home-run games this weekend. Well, the other one wasn't a catcher, right?

I don't think he's a catcher. Is he a catcher? I'm looking at up. I'll check that. No, um, center field. Rafael Ortega, yes. Yeah, Raphael Ortega. And he's, you know, he does have some, he has shown power in the miners before 21 home runs in AAA two years ago.

But he's like 29 years old. So, I mean, he might play quite a bit just because they need somebody to play. Yeah, he's 30. But I wouldn't be investing in Raphael Ortega outside of deeper leagues. There you go. All right. And let's, let's see which starting pitchers are in or out of the circle of trust. And Scott, I'm just going to let you define it however you want.

Let's try to move quickly. We've got about 10 minutes left. We got a lot of names to get to. So first, is Kevin Gosman in the circle of trust anymore? It's been a... Velocity's been down a little bit. Three straight starts under five innings. He has not looked good lately.

He was obviously the number one starting pitcher, at least through the end of June in both points and Roto. Four and a third innings in this one. Nine strikeouts is good, but six hits, three-hand runs. Any concerns? Is Kevin Gosman in your circle of trust? Yeah, he's in my circle and trust. There's different levels, you know? He's, he's in the inner circle.

Okay. He's in the inner circle. I was trying to buy low on him in one league. Top 10 starting pitcher still? Yeah, three bad starts. And, you know, not even bad all the way. He struck out nine and four in a third innings in this most recent one. So, you know, can't bail on a guy who was very recent.

recently the number one pitcher in all of fantasy as of I think think around the all-star break that was after just three shaky stops. All right. What about Framber Valdez five innings four hits, two runs, three walks, six strikeouts. He had 24 walks to 31 strikeouts and 33 and a third innings in the month of July. He had a 405 ERA that speaks to how great he is limiting damage on contact with all the ground balls he gets, but 24 walks and 33 and a third innings. Can you trust for him Rvaldez right now? He's still in the circle of trust. I still

would be okay, I would still be comfortable starting him in basically any league, haven't given any thoughts to dropping him or anything like that. I'm not as sold on him as a truly high-end guy as I am Gosman. Sure. I mean, that goes without

saying, I think. But he's in my circle of trust still. What about Zach Allen? Had a really good start against the Dodgers on Friday night. Six innings, two-iron runs, eight strikeouts, but has been very up and down while dealing with, what was it, a hamstring and then an elbow scare, or an elbow scare, then a hamstring.

23 strikeouts and 17 and two-thirds innings in the month of July. Strikeout rate's been very good since coming back from the IL. Only one bad start. He has 20 strikeout. out's over the last 15 and two-thirds innings over three starts. One start he gave up a seven-seven-four year a. Where are you at with Zach Gallen? You know, the underlying numbers haven't been that good even when the results have been good.

And the fact that he was dealing with an elbow sprain, I mean, you know, that that was, he returned from that in June. As you mentioned, the hamstring injury was most recent. but like that I'm not sure he's totally right I'm not sure he's totally healthy I actually dropped him after his last start which was not good in a 10 team league to pick up Patrick Sandoval

who by the way is it would now be number one in swinging strike rate after a 20 swinging strike game this weekend but that's Patrick Sandoval Gallin you know his swinging strike rate is nowhere near that and I would say he's not really inside the circle of trust right now. Obviously, if I dropped him in a league,

you could get back there, and I'm not anxious to drop him anywhere. It's kind of a weird situation, but I would say he's not in the circle of trust right now. How about Zach Ranky? Give up four home runs in his start on Saturday against the Giants. Obviously, Giants at this point, pretty tough matchup, but that is now six straight starts

where he's allowed a home run, and who looks like 12 of his last 13 with at least one home run allowed before this start his previous eight games

he had been pretty up or down only more than six innings and two starts only reached six innings in three of eight had a 368 ERA do you trust that

Granky right now yeah I still trust him that eight start stretch no the ERA there's a bit of an arbitrary standpoint because he had an eight-inning start and a nine-inning start right before that. Right, but even if even if you're not crediting him for those, it's still 36080 or

however they start stretch. I mean, yeah, I'm not really, I'm not really that concerned about Zach Grinky. All right, let's move on to some guys who are either have worked their way into the circle of trust or are trying to. What about Luis Garcia? He gave up five earned runs and four and two-thirds innings against the Giants this weekend. Again, another bad, tough matchup. He's got the twins next this week. Would you start Luis Garcia this week? It's that twins lineup?

No, I mean, they didn't sell off as many pieces as they could, but, you know, obviously no Cruz, maybe no Donaldson. Regardless, I'm not, Luis Garcia is in the circle of trust. He's still, you know, other than him giving up runs, these past two starts. Everything else has looked good. What about Shane McClanahan? Six innings, one earned run, seven strikeouts against Boston this weekend. We have been kind of waiting for Shane McClanahan to put it all together, but he has been pitching deeper into games over his last five starts. Where are you on him? Actually, last seven starts. He has gone six innings in four of

him. I feel like he's more of an upside play than like a must start guy. So, you know, maybe, maybe I'm in the outer circle of trust. I would say what's interesting for McLanahan is four straight starts with his velocity down significantly, more than one mile per hour on the fastball. But all of them have been good. So I don't know if he's taken a little something off to get better command. But I found that. to be interesting. Marcus Stroman, he has gone fewer than six innings and seven of his last eight starts, gave up four earned runs in five and two-thirds innings this weekend. As Marcus Stroman out of the circle of trust? No, no, but there are...

It is weird that he's not pitching deep into games anymore, and I know there was an IL stint during that time, like in the middle of a very long stretch of not pitching deep into games. Let's see, what is he up to now? Yeah, so seven of his past eight have all been less than six. One eight's any thing to start there.

And seven right before that. Right. There was an I-L stint in the middle of that. So I don't know if it's totally fair. But, you know, I think Stroman is, yeah, he's obviously not high end, but he's in the circle of trust still. Yeah, I mean, you look at that eight start stretch.

He still has a 382 ERA, which isn't great, but if that's your worst stretch of the season, that's still pretty good. What about Terrick Scouble? 586 ERA in July, only 23 strikeouts. He gave up four run runs and five and two-thirds in his most recent start. Obviously, he was pitching really, really well from the time he made that switch to being more sinker and change-up heavy as opposed to four seam and splitter. But diminishing returns lately. Where are you at on Tarek Scouble?

I would say he's outside of the circle of trust. I've given some thought to dropping him in some shallower leagues. I still like the upside. So, you know, again, I'm not anxious to drop him. But I don't trust him right now. How about a pitcher who's kind of tough to figure out? I'm interested to see what you think about Jordan Montgomery, who had a solid start against Miami, five innings,

one-earned run, five strikeouts. The problem is, you're getting full. five innings out of him. That's pretty much it. Last six starts dating back to the start of July. Two starts with more than, with six innings or more. He pitched into the six than another one. But he's got a 276 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 32 innings in that stretch.

He's pitching really well. You know, basically since, it looks like it's really since like the start of May. He's got a 348 ERA in his last 16 starts. Yeah. I think trust is a good word for him because I really don't You know

I think there are definite limits to his upside But Just seems really Steady in a way that I think is believable And pretty much every time We're talking about streamer pitchers for the next day Frank lists off Jordan Montgomery Regardless of who his opponent is

I'm picking Jordan Montgomery Here's an interesting one Who do you trust more Jordan Montgomery or his teammate Jameson Tion, who just put together a 11-ERA over five starts in the month of July 31 innings, helped along by a 21-babb. The peripherals aren't nearly as good. He basically had the one start with nine strikeouts. And other than that, the results have been good. Yeah. But 16 strikeouts over his last four starts and 24 innings. It's not what you want to see. no I mean I'm I'm cautiously optimistic about Jameson Tyone because I feel like the underlying numbers actually look better earlier in the year when he wasn't pitching as well

but I mean I can't say I trust him more than Jordan Montgomery and I wouldn't even say he's Tyone is in the side the circle of trust yeah it's hard to it's hard to figure out exactly what was going on in that month of June where obviously he had a lot more success on balls and play, even though he wasn't missing as many bats. Yeah, it was a month of July, by the way. Yeah, July. Sorry. What about Kyle Muller? He had another very solid start against Milwaukee on Saturday,

seven strikeouts, two walks, one earned run and five innings pitched. He's got over the course of the season, a 243 RA, 33Ks, and 29 and two-thirds innings. That's over seven appearances, six starts. So it's 28 innings and 6 starts. Yeah, I mean, I think there's upside here for sure. It's just, is he how, it is like five innings when he's going to top out this at this year? Is there going to be a lot of walks along the way?

I think probably the answer is yes to both. I don't see many six-inning seasons happening as a rookie and walks were an issue for him for him throughout the minors as well. I think the stuff is good. I think the long-term value is interesting, but I would not be putting a lot of trust in Kyle Mueller for 2021. That makes sense. All right. We're kind of out of time.

There's a lot we didn't get to. Give me two things that you need to talk about before we go. Austin Gomber struggled. Four earned runs in one inning. What do we think of Austin Gomber? I think we don't need to worry about him based on this start alone. Since April, he had put together a 267 ERA.88 whip, 8.4K per 9. I mean, he probably overachieved.

He had become an elite control pitcher after being really bad before that. Really bad in April, yeah. So, you know, he was due for some regression, but I'm not so anxious to drop him. And I'm not so anxious to drop Tuki Toussaint, either. Seven earn runs. three and a third, five strikeouts, two walks. Another, one more start like that, and yes, get him out of there. But, you know, he looks so good the previous two starts,

10 strikeouts in the start just before this one. And even in this bad start against Milwaukee, he had 11 swinging strikes on 79 pitches. That's a good rate. So, you know, give him the mulligan and see if he bounces back next time. All right, and then one more question before we go. is George Springer back to being a top 20 outfielder for you?

I never moved him out of my top 20. I didn't either. Yeah. Is he a top 15 outfielder? I'm not sure I moved. Maybe when he was first injured, I moved him outside of my top 15. Is he a top 10 outfielder? Eight home runs, 993 OPS in the month of July.

And then he opened August on Sunday with a one for three game with two walks. top 10 I man he's right on the verge of that I put him a little outside but you know it's it's it's hard not for it not for any good reason kind of kind of parsing at that point yeah it's hard to get him up there but yeah he's definitely close all right was there anything else you wanted to talk about before we go I think actually I'm looking at some of the stuff we didn't get to in the notes and we kind of snuck it in there different parts we talked about

all the perspective closers already. Yeah. Well, I did want to point out James Karen Chack. He's been pretty bad since the sticky substance ban. Obviously, I don't want to, you know, imply anything, although, you know, I think there may have been something going on in Cleveland. I'm not sure what. But he's been pretty bad, basically, since the start of June, his ERA, up to 471 over his

23 appearances. 26 strikeouts and 21 innings is still good. but not James Karen check. So he had, and actually it was actually a little bit before that, the end of May was pretty rough too. So if you go back, his last 28 appearances, 20 walks and last 25 innings with a 648 ERA. He gave up three run runs, recorded one out in the eighth inning,

and then Emmanuel Class A came in, did allow an inherited runner to score, but got a five out save. I think that was on Friday or Saturday. So seems like it's tilting back towards manual class A, probably. Yeah, probably. Okay, since you didn't put streamer pitchers in here, I'm going to do it real quick before we go. If you need pitchers to stream for Monday,

I like Tyler McGill against the Marlins. Michael Waka against the Mariners. And I think I would go Ranger Suarez against the depleted nationals over his opponent Josiah Gray in that game. Those all seem like decent streamers Could be a fun one to watch Could be All right

That's it We made it through our first show Without Frank Only four more to go Nope I hope it was okay Look there's a lot of stuff to talk about There was stuff to keep up with A lot of ins and a lot of outs

A lot of what have you So thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today Thanks to Scott White Frank we miss you We'll see you next week We'll be back tomorrow Bye Thank you.