Fantasy Baseball Today - Weekend Recap, Waiver Wire Adds & the Worryometer! (4/11 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 11, 2022

Byron Buxton leads baseball in home runs (1:12)! Steven Kwan also looks awesome thus far. Add him or Andrew Vaughn? ... What made Kyle Wright so good in his first start (11:24)? Kyle Wright, Merrill Kelly or Kyle Gibson? ... News and notes (22:23): both Lucas Giolito and Blake Snell are going on the IL. ... Lineup notes (28:57): what's the deal with Jo Adell's playing time? ... Is Jeremy Peña the top rookie shortstop to add (34:22)? ... What's our Worryometer level for Robbie Ray, Julio Urias and others (38:15)? ... What velocity and pitch-mix changes did we notice (49:20)? ... How were bullpens used this weekend (56:16)? ... We wrap up with daily pitchers to stream (1:04:20). '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. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. With fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday. April 11th, Frank Stanful joined by Scott White,

and Chris Towers is back. Today on the show, we're going to recap all of the opening day weekend. I guess it's not opening day. That doesn't make sense. opening weekend. Lots of games going on. Waiverwire ads, players to drop, velocity readings. People kind of freaking out about that. We've got the Wariometer on a Monday and much more. So many standout performances, but who reigned above the rest? Let's find out. Oh my goodness gracious. And I'm still working on oh my goodness gracious. It was a busy weekend,

but people are sending in submissions. So I'm going to make that rotation. I promise. Chris, why don't you kick us off? I can only wonder where we're Will Chris go for, oh my goodness gracious. Well, I think, you know, three games in is the perfect time for a victory. That's not a victory lap. Byron Biron Bucston is awesome. He had three home runs in the first three games of the season. One of them was maybe the most impressive home run of the season.

So far, 101 mile an hour fastball above the strike zone that he hit 436 feet. Byron Buckson is really, really awesome. You got hit by a pitch today, didn't manage to not get hurt. That's like four since the start of spring that he's been able to play through. So it's all coming up Byron today. It was a good weekend overall for the Chris fan club because John Carlos Stan, we were talking beforehand. Homer in each of his first two games, he has three more hits on Sunday night.

So everything's looking good for Chris. Well, no, Aaronado seems to be out to personally make me look like an idiot so far. So that wasn't great. But yeah, no. I love to see Byron Bucksian and John Carlos Stanton healthy and match. That's what they do. It's pretty fun to go to Byron Buxton's stat cast page and look at his average XIV velocity so far.

101 mile an hour. It's uh, wow. It is godly, God level. Oof, yeah. He's really good. Just stay healthy, man. I mean, it's starting to look more and more like what he did last year. It's kind of just who he is now.

Obviously it's a super small sample size, but he did it in spring training as well. Just stay healthy. That's all we need from Byron Buckson. if it happens, lots of power, lots of speed, and hopefully good batting average as well. Not really anything actionable with Byron Bucks and so we'll just remind you that he's awesome. And so far he leads baseball with three home runs. Scott, who is your, oh my goodness gracious player of the weekend?

Well, I feel like the talk of the league right now, and certainly he's making me say, oh my goodness gracious as well, is the rookie for the Cleveland Guardians, Stephen Kwan, who remember when he won a job in spring training, I was like, yeah, I don't know. It doesn't sound like, at least among writers on the Guardian's beat, they don't sound particularly enthused. They kind of make it sound like he just won an open spot on the roster.

And I don't know that he's going to be an integral part of the lineup. Well, it looks like he's an integral part of the lineup now. Because all he's done in three games, started all of them, which is saying something in and of itself, because we've seen a lot of off days for players we think of as everyday players already. But Kwan has started all three games for the Guardians. He went five for five on Sunday. He has been up to the plate in all 14 times

and gotten on base 12 of those times. The two times he hasn't gotten on base weren't strikeouts, and that means now that going back to spring training, we have now seen Kwan come up to the plate 48 times, 48 plate appearances and not a single strikeout. I think it's fair to say his contact skills translate to the majors. I'm okay. I'm comfortable saying that now.

I'm also comfortable saying he's going to stick around. Guardians haven't faced a left-hander yet as a starting pitcher, and he's a left-handed batter, so still some question, would they sit him against a lefty? I mean, he's continued to hit when lefty relievers have come in. So I'm hopeful he will continue to bat against lefties. I mean, what else do they have, really? I think the question with Kwan is just how usable is he going to be in fantasy,

even if we buy the contact skills completely. It's not going to steal bases for you. How much power is there? Well, he hit 12 home runs in 77 minor league games last year. That's a nice pace. didn't show much power before then. So far in the majors, it's been all line drives and ground balls.

There hasn't really been any many fly balls to speak of. But he's hit the ball hard enough to be, you know, a guy who could potentially hit 20 or so home runs in a season. I'm not ruling it out. I'm not ruling it out. I was getting a lot of questions today. Oh, do I drop a Kielpadoo for him?

Do I drop? Joe Adele. Yeah. Yeah, Joe Adele. Well, that's, he's got his own weird situation going on. And I would say, look, if you're talking about a base stealer and a categories league, it's going to be kind of hard to make that switch because, you know, Kwan's not going to give you steals. And again, there's a question how much power he's going to give you.

But if you're talking a points league or if you're talking, you know, another fringy outfielder who you're not expecting steals from, I think you have to make the swap. I mean, he's only 21% rostered, so he's widely available still. And, you know, I think he could be a pretty big deal. He could be pretty special. By the way, Scott, Stephen Kwan did start on Sunday against Chris Bubich, left-handed pitchers. So he was batting second in the lineup in that, yeah, in that game.

So another vote of confidence. Sorry, I faced a righty. Another vote of confidence for Stephen Kwan there. And I think once they traded away Bradley Zimmer the other day, I think that that was also another level of confidence for him in that, okay, we know what we have in this guy. We feel pretty confident. We're going to start him.

Not only are we going to start him, we're going to bat him near the top of that lineup. So now Miles Straw. And that's second against the lefty. That's what I was about to say. Straw, Kwan hitting ahead of Jose Ramirez. You know, there's going to be a lot of run scoring opportunities for both of those guys. Chris, another outfielder who had a big weekend.

And I just want to kind of compare the two because I'm getting a lot of questions about both of them is someone that you liked and it's Andrew Vaughn he started all three games for the white Sox he had two home runs one was off of a lefty one was off of a righty uh the one off of a lefty by the way clutch home run ninth inning against gregory soto on friday uh andrew vaughn is 49 percent rostered who would you rather add right now vaughn or stephen kwan it would be vaughn i was drafting him in a lot of places with a late round pick um i just i think there's much more potential for him to be a difference maker than Stephen Kwan, although Kwan, you know, certainly has a,

an easier path to every day at bats with, you know, if the white socks are healthy, AJ Pollock left Saturday's game with a hamstring injury. So, you know, who knows whether that's going to be the kind of thing that lingers and allows Andrew Vaughn. But look, if he, if Andrew Vaughn's right, like what we've seen so far this season, he's hitting the ball really, really hard. His average eggs of velocity, it's only three games, but 98. 8 miles per hour.

He showed that kind of upside in the minors as an amateur and in stretches last season. So I would rather have him than Kwan because I think the most likely outcome for Stephen Kwan is he's like David Fletcher probably. Like, you know, in terms of like the high, I guess the OBP might be better for Kwan. We'll probably be better for Kwan in a way that could make his upside higher. I'll give him more potential than that. Like I said, 12 home runs in 77 minor league games last year. I don't know that he's going to be a 20 homer guy, but I'll give him double digits if he's playing every day. So, sure, but if it's 12, like the difference between him and David Fletcher, if it's 12 home runs is, you know, because David Fletcher's going to steal more bases.

So, you know, but like in terms of the overall fantasy impact, it's not a profile that I find terribly exciting based on what we've seen in the miners from him. Andrew Vaughn is a much more exciting prospect for me. But that's not to say I'm not interested in Stephen Kwan. you know, there's, there's a chance that he's, you know, sub-peak Michael Brantley, you know, someone who hits 18 homers and drives in a bunch of runs because he's, you know, making so much contact. So it's not, there's not nothing there for sure, but I would rather have Vaughn. Points League.

Vaughn or Kwan. Oh, they rhyme. Vaughn or Kwan? Von are in a points league. I would still go, Vaughn. I would still go Vaughn. I think the overall upside is higher. But again, it's not selling.

It's not selling Kwan short. I like him. I like him a lot too. You know, roster space is limited. And while Vaughn is platooning, I'm just not sure how much. Vaughn hasn't struck out either. Vaughn started all three games this weekend, too, Scott.

So I don't know if he actually is platooning. I thought he sat for Gavin Sheets on, which day was it? I think he's their second game. I think he got in the lineup because. Maybe he came in early after Pollock left the game. E.J. Pollock left. Yeah, Pollack did leave that game.

Yeah, Vaughn was not in Saturday's lineup. Ah, correct. All right, well, but the ideal version of Andrew Vaughn is also someone who doesn't strike out very much and then hits for power. Scott, I'll throw one more name in the mix here with these two.

Conor Joe, of course. We've got to talk about Connor Joe. Hit a home run on Saturday. He stole a base on Sunday. He played all three games this weekend. We didn't know exactly what the playing time would look like. We were hopeful that he would play every day. And so far, he's done that.

He hits sixth against the two righties he faced. and then he let off on Sunday against Julio O'Reas, who is a lefty. So 32% rostered is Connor Joe. How do you rank those three? Vaughn, Quan, Joe. I think I would say Joe Vaughn, Kwan. Sounds like an actual name. I agree with that way.

Until we see the playing time shakeout for Vaughn. I feel like Vaughn is the least playable of the three right now. and in Joe's case if there's a full week away from Corse Field you might sit him We'll see how they are at Course Field this week, right? Four games at Corse Field this upcoming week

and the other two are at Texas against bad pitchers. So yeah, I do like Connor Joe for this upcoming week. But yeah, no, I mean my biggest concern for Joe was just how much would they play him and it seems like they're

as committed to playing him as any team is committed to playing to anybody because like I said at the top we saw a lot of, We saw a lot of guys get days off over the weekend. All right. Oh my goodness gracious for me. I want to talk about one of the most added starting pitchers right now in fantasy baseball.

And that is Kyle Wright, who went up against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday. He threw six shutout innings, two hits, one walk, six strikeouts. He had 12 swinging strikes on 76 pitches, eight of those 12 swinging strikes on the curveball, which the VILO on that pitch was of three miles per hour. The V-Lo on his sinker was up 1.2 miles per hour compared to last year. And he used that curb bowl nearly 41% in this start. Last year, that was only 14%. So, Chris, that's something that stands out to me right away.

The V-L-O-up for Kyle Wright and using this curb ball more than we've ever seen before. You know, he was kind of just like two-pitcher-ish in the start on Saturday. So I don't really know what the overall upside is, but he's available. He's widely available. only 27% rostered. What are your thoughts on Kyle Wright? Well, the problem with Kyle Wright in the past has been walks. And I believe he walked one in this outing.

He had one walk in spring training in like nine innings. So that's a good sign. And maybe it's something where the sinker curveball combination, which he threw 84% of the time today after I think he was like 25 to 30% with those two pitches last season, maybe that's something that's allowed him to throw strikes more consistently. And if that's the case, you know, people, have always liked the stuff with Kyle, right? So I don't know.

I think it's worth taking a look at. I can't say I'm breaking the bank for him where he's available. I put in like a 9% bid in one of our leagues. So I don't know if I'll get him and I'm not beating the door down. But yeah, it's certainly interesting, certainly someone who's worth a look. Yeah. And again, I mentioned he's a popular ad right now. And in leagues with Fab that I play in, my 12 teams Out Wars League,

he went for $143 out of a $1,000 fab budget on Sunday night. In my 15-team main event in the NFBC, he went for $122 out of $1,000. So people are being aggressive right now with Kyle Wright. Just to put that into context, these are leagues where Kyle Wright is the best player available. These are leagues where Stephen Kwan's already gone, right? Kwan was available in Tout Wars.

Yeah, Kwan was available in my TGFBI, I believe. Lucky Ducks. both in the annual nine. Yeah, I think part of it is... Tyler McGill or Kyle right, I'm taking Tyler McGill. I would seem. Yeah.

So he's Merrill Kelly or Kyle right. I'm taking Merrill Kelly. We haven't gotten into what he did this weekend, but I'm very impressed. Yeah, Merrill Kelly in that start against the Padres four shutout, seven strikeouts. He had 12 swinging strikes on 75 pitches. Seven of those came on the change-up,

which he's been raving about. Scott, I know you've... talked up that change up for Merrill Kelly, and he is available in over 50% of CBS League. So, Scott is going Merrill Kelly over Kyle, Kyle Wright. How about you, Chris? I guess I would go Kelly over right. I don't feel super strongly about it. This is the difficult thing about what we're doing right now, even more so than a normal opening weekend is like, we're going off four innings for Merrill Kelly. Well, you know, his spring training was pretty good and the velocity was up. But

It's still a small sample. It was like a ton of strikeouts. We saw Mitch Keller. Mitch Keller was throwing harder. He still wasn't good. So, well, you know, Velocis not everything. It's important. It's valuable.

I'm just saying, I wish we had a larger sample size with these. I am not willing to drop Mitch Keller after that first. I'm not necessarily willing to drop Mitch Keller either. I'm planning on writing about this tomorrow. And what I would say is I'm not going to have a long leash for him. If I get one more bad start from Mitch Keller, I'm okay dropping him. Let's talk about Mitch Keller, not to be confused with Meryl Kelly. So he allowed four and runs in six, four and runs in four innings.

So bad ERA. Velocity was up 2.4 from last years, which we expected. Throwing, topping out at 99. He got nine whiffs on his 70 pitches. And his XERA for the start was 344. So I think, Chris is trying to say something. It's fine.

It's fine. It's enough. It's enough for me to maintain some optimism. I'm just saying, so what I would say is with regards to someone like Mitch Keller, he isn't nearly, like, given that the baseline level for him has been so bad, I need to be impressed by him. And I was not impressed in the first stuff. He still looked more or less like the Mitch Keller.

he's always been just with more velocity. That's not to say he will be that forever. It seems like he kind of got bad-uped in this start because he only allowed two hard hit balls. Sure, the exit of reload wasn't as bad as it has been. Yeah. Would you drop Mitch Keller for Kyle, right? No.

No. Would you drop Mitch Keller for Merrill Kelly? That's closer. Probably not. I wouldn't. I would do it for Tyler McGill, though. Yeah. I think I agree with it.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. One of their name I wanted to include in this mix was Kyle Gibson, who had a fantastic start himself against the Oakland A's. The thing is, every time a pitcher faces Oakland, you're just going to have the little asterisk next to it because the Oakland A's lineup, as we've highlighted, is terrible. But Kyle Gibson went seven shutout, two hits allowed, zero walks, 10 strikeouts,

16 swinging strikes on 82 pitches. And he used his cutter nearly 26 percent in the start last year. that was 15%. He's still 60% rostered, and he's at Miami this week. So even if you don't love him long-term, great matchup this week against the Miami-Marlin. So Chris, where would Gibson rank amongst Merrill Kelly and Kyle Wright?

I would say behind them. All right? I would take the flyer on the guys with potential upside. Yeah, I didn't see anything here from Gibson that made me think he's this transformed pitcher. He does this occasion. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, he'll have some good starts.

They'll have some bad starts. So those numbers will probably come out looking like they normally do. He will probably be more useful than Kyle Wright this season. You're just hoping the Kyle Wright can be more than useful. Yeah. And I think the roster percentage kind of reflects that too, Chris. I think a lot of people picked up Kyle Gibson for the start against Oakland, which makes a ton of sense.

I think you should be streaming many pitchers against the Oakland A's this year. And I would be okay holding on to him for the second start against the Marlins. If nothing else, Gibson will be a strong streamer this upcoming season. Just a few other names here wanted to mention quickly. Zach Plesack 5 and 2 3rd shutout, Brad Keller, six shutout opposing him against the Cleveland Guardians. They're both widely, no, I'm lying. Zach Plessack is 83% rostered. Why? Why is that a thing? Brad Keller is 16% rostered. Any interest there? Frankly, I like Brad Keller more than Zach Plesack, but now these are on a different category

from the other pitchers we've talked about. I mean, Keller might be close to Gibson. He's had good years in the past. Last year was kind of a disaster. I noticed a slider velocity was way up in this start, and that is his best swing and miss pitch. So I could see Keller being Brad Keller. We've got to specify which Keller.

I can see Brad Keller being streamable this year, but he's not, this isn't the sort of upside play you should be making off the waiver wire this time of year. Something I do want to watch with Brad Keller. He threw his change up 14.5% in this start. Last year, that was 6%. And I read an article over on The Athletic where the whole Royals pitching staff

worked with, I forgot what they called it or what the organization was, but basically an outside company that came in and basically helped them develop their pitches. And the change up is one that they were talking up for Brad Keller. So just something to watch for now. You don't have to go in at him,

but 16% roster, let's throw them on the scout team. I gotta give a shout out to my man, Sean Mania, too. just missed the cut here for me, oh my goodness gracious, but seven no-hit innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which seems like it's becoming pretty popular because you Darvish went six no-hit innings the night before. One walk, seven strikeouts, the fastball velocity, which I want to watch closely early on,

which hall mania, 91.1 miles per hour. Last year was 92.1. So honestly, as great as the start was, it was fantastic. He looked awesome. He was getting a bunch of swings and misses out of the zone, a lot of first pitch strikes. there was nothing that really stood out for me. So as much as I love the start,

there was nothing that really, I don't know, grabbed my attention. Was there anything for you guys? Can I throw one other pitcher who did pitch this weekend, but not in the majors, who might be worth adding over all of those guys? Mackenzie Gore. Mackenzie Gore. Tell me. It was awesome in his AAA debut, I think no walks in five innings,

seven strikeouts, continuing what he did in spring training when he looked good can you know was the consensus top pitching prospect in baseball a couple of years ago before you know his mechanics just got really messed up and he seems to have figured things out and with Blake Snell going on the IR or on IL today it's entirely possible that McKenzie Gore gets picked up all of a sudden the Padres you went from having six or seven starting pitchers to maybe five now so yeah I'm hoping McKenzie Gore after a really impressive AAA debut, gets the call. And I think he would be,

like I guess if I had to make a decision on Tyler McGill or McKenzie Gore right now, I would pick up Tyler McGill. But if you're asking who has more upside, I don't think there's any question. It's McKenzie Gore. Yeah. All right, let's just put a bow on this conversation just in case, you know, for people following along.

Scott, Rank Gore, Kyle Wright, Tyler McGill, Merrill Kelly. In terms of how much I want to run. foster them. I would say Gore. I would go Gore over Miguel. And then what are the other two names? Kyle Wright and

Merrill Kelly. Merrill Kelly and then Kyle Wright, fourth. All righty. Let's get into the news and notes. Before we do that, join our Fantasy Baseball Today Facebook group if you haven't already. Lots of people asking questions.

And we try to get to many questions, emails as we possibly can. I answer those in my downtime, but there are lots. So if you want to join our community and ask along over there, there's people constantly helping each other out. So again, that's Facebook.com slash groups slash fantasy baseball today. News and notes, Lucas Gilito exited his start on Friday with a low abdominal strain. He's expected to land on the IL and miss two starts. Blake Snell, you already mentioned Chris, scratch from Sunday start with left adductor tightness. And like, headed to the IL. We just spoke about Mackenzie Gore, that awesome first start he had in the minors.

Go out and add him if he is available in your league. Ryan Yarbrough will be placed on the IL with a groin injury of his own. The Tampa Bay Rays haven't mentioned a replacement yet, but obviously they can get creative and maybe go with like an opener or something like that. Francisco Lindor was hit in the face with a pitch on Friday. X-rays were negative and he seems fine because he hit a home run and he stole a base on Sunday in the same game. Socking his shoe, Scott. Let's go. Francisco Lindor, my man. A.J. Pollack suffered a hamstring train on Saturday and was out of the lineup on Sunday. Pollock said he thinks it's just a short-term injury, but hamstrings can definitely be tricky.

He's about to go on paternity leave, too. So he'll get some time off either way. All right. So, yeah, if you're... Time away from playing baseball. If you are setting your lineup for this upcoming week, you probably want to get A.J. Pollock out, and maybe that gives you a little bit more incentive to add Andrew Vaughn and start him this week. CJ Abrams has started two games against right-handed pitching, but has sat both games against left-handed pitching this weekend. So it seems like that will be the case for the time being.

He's obviously in a platoon there. Matt Barnes was unavailable this weekend dealing with back tightness. I saw that Jake Deakman closed that game out for the Red Sox, and he did so successfully. I think he struck out at least two batters. It might have been three, but he looked awesome. On Sunday? Yes.

Yeah, he struck out all three. All right. So Jake Deekman, a name to potentially add in deeper category leagues. John Gray was placed on the IL Saturday with a blister. The Giants called up outfield prospect, Elliot Ramos on Sunday. He hit sixth, and he went two for three with a run scored. He is just 12% rostered in CBS leagues right now. And Chris, I know before we started, you were, you were talking about Ramos and how you're pretty interested in him.

What do you think about him versus like Kwan and Connor Joe and Andrew. Oh, he's behind all those guys. I mean, yeah, I was talking about him for like a 15 team league. So it's not necessarily like I'm, you know, breaking the bank for him either. And I was hoping to kind of get him for cheap in a 15 team league. But yeah, I mean, the thing is the Giants, even if he was on the roster for good moving forward. That's no guarantee he would play every day. That's a team that loves

to platoon and play matchups. But he's interesting. He's got a pretty interesting skill set. I don't know if he's necessarily a must roster, but you know, I want to keep an eye on him. It doesn't seem like he has one standout trait, but maybe a jack of all trades kind of guy. Last year he hit

254 in the minors, 14 homers, 15 steals. So some power, some speed. I think again, in any 15 team, 5 outfield or leagues, maybe even 12 team 5 Alphilo leagues if you want to take a shot on power and speed. Elliot Ramos is the name there that's spelled H-E-L-I-O-T. Ian Hap left Saturday's game after getting hit by a pitch on his knee, and he was not in the lineup on Sunday. So, Scott, I believe you had Ian Hap as one of your sleeper hitters. I'll have to see if he's good to go early on on Monday.

Yeah, I usually take out anybody with an injury when I update that list on Sunday. but I left him in because I saw on the Cubs official website, David Ross says he should be available for the series that begins on Tuesday. The team has an off day Monday. So, you know, off to a hot start and they get four games at Colorado later in the week. All right. Brian Hayes was back in the lineup Saturday and Sunday after leaving opening day with a thumb injury. He had multiple hits on both Saturday and Sunday.

Lucas Sims will begin a rehab assignment this week. And what a mascot. I mean, the Cincinnati Reds. They're just doing Cincinnati Reds things all over again. I don't know. I don't know that it's a mess. I don't know. That's the truest thing I can say about it. But my hunch is considering Tony Sentian, who got the first safe,

he was warming up in the bullpen when was it Thursday? Yes. When it became a safe situation, the Brave scored two runs in the eighth and made it a safe situation, Santeean was already warming up, so he came in and got the save. Art Warren hadn't been used until Sunday because they didn't have a safe situation Friday or Saturday. Art Warren had yet to make his season debut until they were faced with a very conventional buildup to the ninth inning on Sunday, six three lead. Santian came in for the final out of the seventh, pitched the whole eighth, and Art Warren came in, season debut.

It worked a very quick ninth. Gave up a single double play, got a strikeout. And I don't know. That leads me to believe, more than anything, it's just the fact they didn't use Art Warren in their first three games because they never had like a normal, okay, we're going into this inning.

It's going to be a safe situation. Let's get our closer up. They hadn't faced that situation yet. And when they did, it seemed like they were saving it for Art Warren, preserving that situation for Art Warren. So, you know, Lucas Sims could come back and throw a wrench and everything, but considering David Bell never really got behind him as the closer last year,

I think Art Warren's definitely the guy having that bullpen. Okay, so no longer interested in adding Tony Santian. Not unless it's the safes plus holds league. All right, fair enough. Miles Straw signed a five-year, $25 million contract extension with the Cleveland Guardians. Pirates pitching prospect, Ronesi Contreras, was recalled on Friday. He's expected to pitch out of the bullpen while he gets stressed out.

He is 14. I'm stressed out right now. 14% rostered is Ronesi Contreras. Chris, would you be looking to add Contreras anywhere? Probably only in a 15 team league at this point. Okay. Yeah, I mean, or NL only.

Really strong numbers in the minors last year, but I don't know how aggressive they're going to be in terms of like how many endings they're going to let him throw on a per-star basis. Some lineup notes I wanted to mention. Joe Adele talked about him a little bit earlier, but let's talk about it again now. He started just two of the Angels four games this weekend,

once against a lefty and once was against a righty. He sat against Justin Furlander and Jake Oterese. Joe Madden explained that prior to Taylor Ward's injury, he was slated to be the team starting right fielder with Brandon Marsh and Joe Adele platooning in left field. That was the plan, supposedly. Yeah. And apparently he followed it up by saying that with off days,

he expects to get all three of those outfielders 450 at bat. So, you know, maybe it's not as crazy as it sounds, but I don't know why you have your top prospect up in the majors to be the weak side of a platoon. Your top two prospects. Yeah, true, platooning with each other. But here's the crazy thing is Ward isn't healthy. He's on the IL, and yet he's still only played Adele against the painted pitchers the Angels have faced. So that is not a recipe for success for Adele, and obviously not a recipe for using him in fantasy.

And I don't want to give up on Adele because there's like tons of upside here. And it might only take, you know, it might just take a couple good games in a row from him and suddenly he's an everyday player. But he hasn't forced the issue yet. Yeah. Strikeouts in his first nine plate appearances, but I'm not dropping him yet. I think in three outfielder leagues. Sure, sure. But he was.

Right. But he was fringing a three outfielder league, even for us who liked him. Yeah. Yeah. Especially, you know, a lot of the three outfieler leagues are head to points leagues too. And that's not his best format. He's probably still going to strike out about a quarter of the time and doesn't

walk all that much. So yeah. If you play in a head-ed-points league with three outfielder, I think you probably could move on. Honestly, just ride the hot hand with others. Not forever. Not forever. Like, keep an eye on Adele in his playing time and all of that.

But I think it just comes down to like, if he hits, it's not going to matter. He just has to hit first. Right. You know? Right. I agree. A few other lineup notes,

each of Glaber Torres, DJ Lemayhew, and Aaron Hicks sat once for the Yankees this weekend. So still trying to figure out what the playing time going to look like for each of those guys. But as of now, it's just a rotation. Jazz Chisholm hit 8th and 9th in his two starts this weekend. He didn't play against a tough lefty and Carl Sordawn on Saturday. His career numbers against righties and lefties are nearly identical. And I will say, Don Mattingly is the man, the kind of manager who wants everyone in the lineup at least once during the first weekend. He's, you know, done that pretty much every year. And

Marlins B-Writers talked about that as well. So I don't think there was anything that I think it was just he was going to get a day off at some point this weekend. Everybody in the lineup did, I'm pretty sure. So why not do it against Carlos Rodon? Who looked? Oh my. So freaking good. Carlos Rodon.

I mean, that guy could have been. Oh my goodness gracious too. Five innings, one run, 12 strikeouts, 24 swinging strikes. His fastball velo was up two miles per hour on average from where it was last year. 97.4 in this start last year. It was 95.4. I look back at his game log. There were only three starts where he averaged more than 97 miles per hour

out of his 24 starts last season. So only three times he did that. And he did that on opening day. So maybe he was just like super jacked up. But either way, he looked amazing. Yeah. Yeah, he looked well worth a qualifying offer. The concern with Jazz would be that he hit eighth and ninth.

I think that's a legitimate concern. Jorge Salar is batting lead off for the Marlins. but the getting a day off like I don't think jazz chisholm is at risk of being a platoon player or anything like that yeah I hope not Scott how are we doing? I don't know

you're still breaking up Scott maybe back out of the room and then join back in and hopefully we'll get you back on track here let's take a quick break and when we return I do have another waiver wire hitter I want to ask Chris about we'll do that here on fantasy baseball today all right we are back and I want to ask you about Jeremy Pena, Chris,

someone I know you drafted in our For the People League, and this weekend was pretty impressive for him. Six for 16. He hit his first career home run on Friday. He is 70% rostered on CBS leagues. And, you know, the top four most added short stops in CBS are, they're all pretty intriguing.

It's C.J. Abrams, Bryson Stott, Jeremy Payne, Pena, Gavin Lux. I think I like Pena the most just because I feel the most confident in his playing time. What do you think? Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a decent chance that Stah and Lux are both platoon bats unless they just light the world on fire. Pena's going to play every day. Abrams looks like a platoon bat as well. I think you can make a case for Abrams ahead of Pena in a Roto League specifically because of the stolen base potential. But I also think there's a chance that he's just up for a couple weeks and just doesn't play enough and they send him down. That seems entirely possible to me. Obviously, it depends on whether he hits. But yeah, I think Pena would probably be the one I would want most out of those four.

I'm trying to keep Abrams stashed everywhere I can for the outside. Yeah, the stolen base upside alone makes him... Even in points leagues. I mean, in theory, he's not going to strike out as much as Pena, who's struck out a lot already and doesn't have good play discipline overall. So, like, I definitely feel like Abrams is the upside play here, but they're not ready to play him against lefties yet, and maybe like you said, Chris, he just won't hit well enough period and get sent down.

But I've invested in him in a lot of leagues. I just want to plant it on my bench until I see how this plays out. Because the upside is considerable more than more than Pena has, I think. Quality of contact stuff for Pena has is someone encouraging so far. He's hit the ball well. 107 max exit velocity is not incredible. but you know like for for reference like Stephen Kwan was 103 so far 101 so you know it is still at least a little better than that but that's the big question with Pena because he's basically only hit for power in one like 30 game stretch

in his career and it was at the end of last season when he came back from wrist injury so that's the big question but the playing time is safe enough for him that I'm you know certainly above Gavin Lux and and Bryson Stott. All right. In deeper leagues, a few names that I was targeting in like my 15 teamers.

They might be available in like some A.L. and only, Jerkson ProFar. He had a big weekend. He hit a home run on Friday. Grand Slam on Sunday. He's got seven games this week.

Brad Miller went four for 11 with two home runs. He's now on the Texas Rangers and leading off against right-handed pitching in the games that he started against righties. So,

I mean, batting ahead of Marcus Semyon and Corey Seeger, there's some intrigue there for me. And then Diego Castillo, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he went three for five with two run scored on Sunday. All three of these are 11% rostered or less on CBS. Scott, any interest in deeper leagues in these names?

ProFar, Miller, Castillo. I think ProFar is the least interesting of them. I have interest in the other two. Brad Miller, you know, he's not going to play against lefties. So I think he, no matter how hot he gets, he's probably best left for those deeper leagues. I think Sunday was Castillo, Diego Castillo's first start, which was disappointing because he had a,

huge spring and won a job with some, won the job with some fanfare, but it turns out he may have only been winning a bench job. But he did get three hits in that first start, so hopefully that encourages the pirates to play him more. I think of the three, he's the one who could break through as a mixed league option. All right, let's get over to some pitchers here,

and we're going to fire up for the first time this season, the Wuriometer. How does it work? 10, we're freaking out. Like, we cannot be more scared of a player than if they rank 10 on the Worryometer. One, it's fine. This player's gonna be alright.

Let's talk about Robbie Ray, who's kind of weird to have him on this list because he was actually really good in his start. Seven innings, one run, four walks, five strikeouts, had 17 swinging strikes. But Chris, the fastball velocity down two and a half miles per hour for Robbie Ray in the start. The slider was down 2.3 miles per hour.

and last year that's something we kept referencing. And I think that did contribute to his breakout Siyong season was that increased velocity. What do you make about this for Robbie Ray? Where are you at on the Wuriometer? It's not nothing, but I would say this is probably a two or three right now. Robbie Ray, given the fact that he did pitch well, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt there.

I can't tell if Scott is meditating or if he's frozen again. But right now for those watching on the YouTube. side. His eyes are just closed. Maybe he's really bored of Robbie Ray, he just doesn't want to talk about him. All right. No, he's starting to make it back. I don't know what's going on, Scottie, but I don't know what's going on either. Yeah, the internet connection. They don't like us today. Let's move over. You guys are interrupted for me. Uninterrupted for me. Scott, one to 10 on Robbie Ray. I would say three for now. It's kind of the double whammy of, okay, the velocity was way down and two and a half miles per hour. I mean, that's nothing to

to sneeze at. And he walked for batters, which more than even the velocity game last year, the control improvement was the big, the key to his breakthrough. But it is just one start. So the walks in one start

shouldn't really mean that much. It's like with Shane Bieber. I wasn't on the show. But, you know, anytime we're talking about the one start sample size with velocity is like it's, it's concerning if Robbie Ray is just throwing 92 miles per hour with this fastball now.

It's concerning if Shane Bieber is just throwing 90 miles per hour at this fastball. Is it concerning enough right now to do anything about it? No. I don't think so. Which, like, you know, in our For the People podcast, like we saw someone make a Holiarius panic trade. I wouldn't do that. But five starts from now. If these guys are throwing, you know, two and a half miles an hour slower than they did last year.

Yeah. Well, you know, and that's not to say that Robbie Ray will definitely be. It's not to say Robbie Way will definitely be less effective. It's really likely that Robbie Ray and Shane Bieber and Julio Reis will be less effective if they're throwing two and a half miles per hour lower. Like that's just, that's a significant number. We're not talking about one mile per thing. Yeah. Yeah.

But we know, it also like, if. Robbie Ray gets 17 swinging strikes in each of his next four starts and he's averaging 93 miles per hour with his fastball. I'm not going to be that concerned. Five starts from now, the velocity's still down and they're struggling to perform. Like if they're getting a lot of whiffs and the velocity's down, I'm not sure I care that much. And Robbie Ray did get a lot of whiffs in this start. And Shane Bieber got a decent amount in his start. The one whose fastball velocity was down two plus miles per hour,

who just looked completely ineffective was Julio Arias. And that was the panic trade that you mentioned, Chris. I was offered Arreas straight up for Max Muncie in an OBP league. And I hesitated. I did.

Partly, I have some concerns about Max Muncie himself with the elbow. I don't think it's 100%. I don't think anyone thinks it's 100%. And he didn't hit in the spring. He hasn't hit so far. and I'm not ready to write off Max Muncie or anything,

but I have some concerns there too, so that made it pretty easy to pull the trigger on a guy I would have drafted three rounds, three four rounds earlier. It's worth pointing at, so those are the three most significant velocity drops, Ray, Bieber, and Aureas, but there have been a lot of velocity drops

of more like one and a half miles per hour across the league. I do think there's an element of, after a three-week spring training, a lot of pitchers just aren't. ready yet. And it manifests as more than just velocity. Some of the pitch selection, like Brandon Woodruff got crushed over the weekend, and he threw 70% fastball. He's normally like a 60% fastball guy, but, you know, when you're throwing 70% fastballs, there's, there's just nothing to keep hitters off the fastball, you know, and he just may not have built up his secondaries

enough yet. And of course, there were a lot of four-inning starts because just pure pitch count. And then there's weather and, you know, yeah, a lot of 40 degree games. So it's, yeah. Robbie Ray was pitching in Minnesota, which, look, I don't know what the weather was on Friday,

but I think it's reasonable for it to be pretty cold in Minnesota this time of year. So definitely could have contributed there. Julio Reyes, I mean, we referenced him a few times now. We didn't actually mention what he did. He gave up six runs in Coresfield.

Worth adding that. Two innings pitched. Two walks, zero strikeouts. The fast pole veloat down 2.7 miles per hour. the curve was down 1.1 miles per hour. Scott, you traded it for him. You just mentioned that.

But where are you at, like, Wuriometer-wise, 1 to 10 on Ares? So higher than Ray, I would guess, I already gave Ray a three. I guess I got to go five. Because here's the thing.

This was his lowest average velocity for any appearance. I think I saw one of the Dodgers beat writers report. Any appearance ever, this was his lowest average velocity. And the velocity was also, down in his previous exhibition outing against the Angels.

Now he says he's healthy. There's a lot of weird stuff going on. He's not worried about it. And Dave Roberts doesn't seem what he just thinks he's not built up enough yet. The Dodgers are totally downplaying it for what it's worth. But I will, like, it's worth saying relative to, like, I think Robbie Ray is also relatively

unproven in the same way that Julio Reyes is. Like, these are both guys. coming off huge breakout seasons, but there are reasons to be, like, they have more to prove in my eyes than Shane Bieber does, even as someone who's relatively skeptical of Shane Bieber. So, you know, there's also that. Like Brandon Woodruff, we haven't, you haven't asked us where we are on the scale on him. That's a zero or a point five. Like that, that guy has earned the benefit of the doubt pitching at a very high level for three

straight seasons now. That's just one start. Jose Berrios, that's probably a one. You know, Julio Reyes is a little higher because the velocity's down, but also because,

you know, he hasn't performed at that ace level for multiple seasons in a row. He's coming off a gigantic innings jump. So there are performance risks, injury risks with him as well. Plus,

he's got a lower margin for error. because he's not a big bat miss. Yeah. I was fine with it because the track record, a lot of it in relief, consistently showed him as a low XERA guy. But it's also on course field. There's a lot of factors involved.

Yeah, lots of moving parts here. Chris, would you bench Julio Reyes this week at home against the Cincinnati Reds? Not against the Reds. Okay, how about Jose Berrios? You mentioned that. You're not worried about him.

He's at the Yankees this week. I probably wouldn't bench him, but I'm not thrilled that that's his next matchup. Yeah. Let's talk about Noah Cindergarde because he actually turned in a strong performance against the Houston Astros. Five in two,

five and one third shutout with two hits, two walks, only one strikeout, but 12 swinging strikes on 76 pitches is very good. The fastball down three miles per hour compared to where he was at two years ago back in 2019. His slider was down five miles per hour. So Scott,

It's kind of a mixed bag here. Overall, a good start, put the velocity way down for Noah Cindergarde. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty worrisome. The results were good throughout spring training. And like, so he didn't allow any runs, many runs? How many runs did he give up in this outing? He did not give up any runs.

Okay, so it didn't allow any runs. He had only the, how many strikeouts? Sorry, my notes are too cluttered. One strikeout. Okay, thank you. But he didn't get hit hard. One strikeout. That's normally like, okay.

he actually gave up four runs. If I see that combination of runs and strikeouts, except he had all those whiffs, 12 whiffs on 76 pitches. So it's like, okay, clearly he was fooling people. So, like, I have a really hard time. Like, overall, I'm very worried. But, like, I know nobody's going to blow me away with an offer

for Noah Cindergarde right now either. So I'm just kind of, I'm just kind of letting it ride and hoping for the best. There's a smidgen of hope there still, all those whiffs. Yeah, like, if you're calibrating it to like Noah Cindergarde's chances of being a well above average pitcher, I think my rating would be pretty high in terms of how concerned I am, but you didn't draft him to be a high end pitcher.

You know, he didn't cost very much. So I also think like just ride it and just, you know, maybe, I don't know if I'm like excited to start him. You know, Texas hit the ball really, really well this weekend. So, you know, he's got them this. weekend I think he's an iffy start or this week but you know I'm not dropping no Cindergarde yeah no we're not dropping him but again yeah tough match up here against Texas probably one be put a number on it I'll say like seven or eight okay

I do have a bit of a theory though like he threw his sinker and his fastball usage a lot less in the start and he threw his secondary his change up in a slider so this might just be he would expect it might just be him learning how to pitch without velocity, which... Yeah, I mean, if you're going from... If you're going from averaging 99 to averaging 95, you're probably not going to be able to throw your fastball as much. That's just...

That's how most pitchers age. You know, most pitchers throw their fastballs less as they get older anyway, you know, which comes along with throwing lower velocity. So that's... It's also like some guys can't manage that. You know, like Matt Harvey, when he was throwing 94-95, instead of 97, 98 was terrible. So it's just a question of whether Noah Sindergarde can overcome that.

And I think the jury's very much still out. I want to talk about velocity readings the other way now. Logan Gilbert made a start on Saturday. Five innings, one run, seven strikeouts. He had 14 swinging strikes on 85 pitches. His slider velo was up three miles per hour. His curveball and his changeup was up five miles per hour compared to last year. Again, that is Logan Gilbert.

Carlos Rodom, we spoke about him earlier. And then Hermann Marquez looked really strong against the Dodgers on Saturday. Seven innings, one run, five strikeouts. His fastball was up 1.2 miles per hour. His slider up 1.4. His curve ball was up 1.8. Scott, any optimism here or any takeaways in general with Logan Gilbert and Hermann Marquez with the Velo up?

I mean, the Gilbert thing means more to me because there was a whole storyline behind the harder slider this spring and working. with Jacob de Grom and all of that and the immediate returns were strong. Hermann Marquez, I think, is always going to be pretty frustrating. Now, he managed to do this at Coors Field against the Dodgers, but

we've seen him have to turn an impressive course starts. Coorsfield, whether the start is good or bad, I don't think you can ever take anything from it. This has kind of been the thing with Coorsfield is just, it's so different that like even

if what he did in his most recent start was repeatable, even if it did have predictive power, I don't think it would have predictive power for him pitching anywhere else. Because course field is such a unique environment. A few pitch mix changes I noticed this weekend. Luis Severino, he made a start Saturday against the Red Sox. He only went three innings. He allowed two runs, five strikeouts. Fastball velocity looked great. So you love to see that for Severino. He used a new cutter, 17% of the time. and he used his slider just 6% in the start. Back in 2018,

last time we saw Severino for a full year, he used his slider 36%. So, that's, that's discouraging to me because the slider was the wipeout pitch. That was the brilliant five swing, swing the misses.

Yeah. Would you, Scott, would you bench Severino against the Blue Jays this week? I think it's pretty easy to do. Oh, if I could help it. Yeah.

Yeah. The other one was Chris Bassett at the Nationals on Saturday. And he's someone who typically throws a bunch of different pitches, like five or six different pitches. He looked great in this one. Six shutout, three hits, one walk, eight strikeouts. He used his slider nearly 25% in this start.

Last year, that was 10%. So, look, if that slider is a legit weapon for Basson, and he's using it more, then maybe we could see more strikeout upside with him this season. A few other pitching standouts, I wanted to quickly mention. Verlander, five innings, one run, seven strikeouts against the Angels. Carlos Carrasco on Sunday against the Nationals, five and two-thirds, one run, five strikeouts.

And then Hunter Green, specifically early in that start, just looked awesome against the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, five innings, three runs, seven strikeouts. He had 14 swinging strikes on 92 pitches. Chris, any takeaways for these three, Verlander, Carrasco, Hunter Green? I think you have to be encouraged by Verlander and Carrasco, Carrasco especially because I think Verlander we were all higher on anyway.

Did we all end up with him in the top 20 at starting pitcher before the end of spring training? I had him like 16th. Yeah, I might have gotten him close to the top 15. Hunter Green looked really good through 92 pitches in his major league debut. Control was a little iffy. I think it was like a 60% strike rate, which isn't great. But yeah, the 99.7 mile per hour average fastball velocity in a game where he, He threw 92 pitches.

That is, I mean, he's, I don't know if we've seen a starting pitcher at this level. I mean, Noah Cindergarde was around that level, but 99.7, that's like where Jacob de Grom was. Yeah, that was the only one I could think of Chris was to grow. That's really, I mean, 14 swinging strikes, eight with the fastball, which is to be expected at that velocity. There's a really high spin rate fastball as well. Five with the slider. The changeup looked okay. I think this was a very, very encouraging major league debut for Hunter Green.

And I'm very encouraged that they let him throw that many pitches in his first start. Yeah. No, overall, I thought it was an impressive start. Scott, I think I might bench Hunter Green this week, though. He's at the Dodgers. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's a must bench, but that would definitely be my preference. What's his roster?

Okay, 79%. So wherever he's available, I think he's probably. Probably the number one starting pitcher to add, even ahead of someone like Tyler McGill. Yeah. The upside here is significant. Yeah. I'm so relieved about Carlos Carrasco because he's just, even the years he's been good, sometimes it's taken him a while to be good, you know? And I was afraid I'd have him on all the sleeper pitchers list and he'd just get bombed right away and I'd have to spend a month defending him.

Nobody would believe me. I'm glad we're not starting down that path already. He looked really good. And Carrasco is someone you should look to start this week. He's going up against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Maybe he'll throw a no-hitter. Hitter studs being studs this weekend. Some quick mentions.

Alex Bregman, two home runs already. Love to see it coming off of the wrist surgery. Gene Cigura hit two home runs this weekend. Wander Franco had two, three-hit games. He also stole a base on Sunday. Welcome site. Let's get Wander Franco running. Luis Robert, five hits with two steward.

this weekend. Byron Buckson with the double dong on Sunday. He leads baseball with three homers. And Sayas Suzuki, three for eight, four walks, also has four strikeouts, hit his first home run on Sunday, which came off of Freddie Peralta. I was just very impressed with Sayas Suzuki this weekend. I mean, going up against Corbyn Burns, Brandon Woodruff, Freddie Peralta, looking like you belong and then hitting that

long home run off of Freddie Peralta, that is impressive for your first weekend of baseball. So, say Suzuki, nice job so far. The call to the bullpen, let's see how many. I wanted to with Wander Franco. I saw note that his average exit velocity in the spring

was up about three miles per hour from where it was as a rookie. That's been the same through. I mean, it's only three days, three games so far, but that's a good sign. I think he's hit. I think three of his five hardest hit balls for his career have come in the first

three games of this season so far. So that's That's encouraging because, you know, the quality of contact metrics for him last season were pretty mediocre. So he did have to take a step forward and at least so far it's early, but some signs of that. All right. Let's take a look at some bullpens here for Tampa Bay this weekend. Andrew Kittridge pitched in the eighth inning in a tie game on Friday. He faced two, three, and four in the Orioles lineup. Then the race took the lead. JP Fire Eisen pitched the first two outs in the ninth.

Lefty Brooks Raleighly got the final out against Cedric Mowens and got the save. and then on Saturday, Andrew Kitchidge pitched in the ninth, gave up one run, but picked up his first save of the season. For the Mariters on Friday, Paul Seawald pitched in the 8th, and he faced the top of the order

in a one-run game. Drew Steckenrider got the save after that. He is 58% rostered. Diego Castillo then got the save on Saturday. Obviously, both Seawald and Steck and Ryder pitched on Friday. Scott, would you be out, would you be going out and adding Steck and Ryder in Categories leagues right now?

It feels like kind of a desperation play that's going to be pretty messy. I know Kitcheridge isn't available in those leagues, but like I feel better about that situation. I think he's clearly the leverage guy

for the raise and usually that's going to mean he works the ninth for the save, but sometimes not. All right, let's talk about the Giants. Gabe Kapler, whoa, buddy boy, Jake McGee pitched in the 8th, inning on Friday with a one-run lead. He faced the three, four, and five in the Marlins lineup. Camillo Deval got their first save opportunity, promptly gave up three hits and three runs.

Then on Saturday, Jake McGee pitched in the seventh inning with the game tied. He gave up two hits, a run. He took the loss. Camillo Deval pitched one inning later in the eighth. And then on Sunday, Tyler Rogers pitched in the eighth inning. Dominic Leone got two strikeouts and picked up the save. Obviously, McGee and Deval likely not available because they pitched on Friday and Saturday. Chris, do you have any idea what's going on with the Giants already? I would think Deval is in a better spot, having gotten that first save opportunity. But of the situations we've talked about so far, Tampa might be the one where I feel most confident in one guy getting 50% of the save opportunities. But even there, I think it's probably pretty close to 50-50 in terms of not 50-50.

one guy versus one guy, but, you know, Kittridge getting 50%. A mix of others. Yeah, I, I tell you, McGee are probably pretty close. Not more than five saves for Jake McGee this year. Feeling good about that bold prediction already. Oh, man. So you are going with Camila Duval to get the next save opportunity, Scott, for the Giants?

Yeah, I presume you would have if he would have been available. but, you know, maybe Tomlinic Leon and striking out too for the save. He's... He looked good. He's earned a bigger piece of Capilar's trust, but yeah, it's... Deval gave up a home run to Jazz Chisholm

on a ball that off the bat, I thought, was a pop fly. And it just... He's really strong, but it wasn't like he pitched incredibly poorly or anything like that, so... Yeah. I've been careful not to drop DeVille. Even when he said McGee's the closer, which was clearly a lie.

I've been careful not to drop DeVal. Yeah, I'm trying to, because there are a lot of, so like Anthony Bender's only 35% roster now. I dropped DeVall for Bender. I drop any Mariners guy for Bender. Bender is the Marlins closer. Yeah. And he's only 35% rostered.

Art Warren, who we talked about earlier, he's 32% rostered. I'd rather have Deval or I'd rather have Deval than. Okay. It's close, but I think I'd rather have Warren than DeVall. I just, I think Sims is going to be the closer if he gets back relatively soon and looks okay. But that's more my faith in Sims than anything else. Okay. And then let's see.

Oh, I don't know if he's further down here. Daniel Bard, 11% rostered. Now, here's the thing. he was terrible last year. He was pretty good the year before. His stuff certainly seems good. Like he throws 99. He struck out the side against the Dodgers at Cours Field to get that first save.

And, you know, clearly they decided he needed to be the closer over Alex Colomé, who has a much longer track record. So, like, I'd take him over any of the Mariners guys, I think. But I'd keep Deval over him. I'd keep Art worn over him. Bart could be okay. We kind of liked him going in it. I know you and I kind of liked him going into last year, Frank.

Yeah, I drafted him a bunch. And then I think he wound up with like a six or seven ERA. He was terrible. The strikeouts are there. He's got the stuff. And of course, yeah, he performed his first time out. So it looks like for now. Yeah, Daniel Bart is the guy.

He's only 11% rostered on CBS. So any kind of categories league or honestly, even in a head to head points league where you don't have a spark. If you're looking for someone we think is like the closer for their respective team, I think it's Daniel Bard for now. For the Padres, Bob Melvin said that Taylor Rogers is his closer and he told the truth. Two clean saves for Taylor Rogers on Friday and Saturday. We don't get that often nowadays, Sky. You know, I get excited whenever it actually does happen. For the- I believe to Bob Melvin. Nice. Yeah. For the Minnesota Twins on Saturday, Tyler Duffy entered with,

With a one-run lead, he gave up three hits and two runs. He took the loss. Yohan Duran and Jorge Alcala pitched the day before, and both guys have looked pretty good thus far. For the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, Will Smith got the save, but that was because Kenley Jansen pitched a day before, and he gave up three runs on Friday.

So that's why they went with Will Smith on Saturday. For the Nationals on Sunday, Tanner, Rainey gave up a hit, but he picked up the save in a two-run game. Kyle Finnegan pitched in the eighth inning. Chris, only 15% rostered here. I know coming into the season, we didn't really want to have anything to do with the nationals, but Dave Martinez said he wanted Rainey to be the guy.

He gets the first save. He's only 15% rostered. I'm kind of interested. I mean, I just don't think he's good, but if he is good, then he will probably be the closure moving forward. You know, that's, so yeah, sure. They just don't have any, they just don't have anybody who's good. bullpen.

Yeah, like, that's the thing is if he's good enough. I mean, he doesn't even have to be good. I think it's similar to Daniel Bard. If he's good enough, he'll probably just be the closer moving forward. So, you know, sure. Yeah. I mean, we need saves. Yeah, we do.

And then for the Cubs on Sunday, they were down five to four. David Robertson pitched in the eighth inning. And Michael Givens pitched in the ninth inning. I don't know if this matters at all. Obviously, Robertson got the save on opening day. So they were losing. Yes. Yeah, I mean, David Robertson hadn't worked since Thursday,

so I think he probably needed work. That was part of the thinking. Yeah, I mean, he might be used like the leverage guy, which means usually in line for the save, but maybe not always. I tell you, for me, it's probably a tough call between Daniel Bard and David Robertson, who I'd prefer. I think Robertson, but I'm not convinced Robertson, is that good either, you know?

And if there's more clarity with Bard and it's just a saved league, obviously, not saves plus hold. I wish I had a little more info on how the Cubs were going to play it, but I'm kind of lean a more. No, I would take Robertson over Bard, but it's a close call.

All right, let's wrap up here with to stream or not to stream. These are matchup starts to play in a daily lineup league. So we will start with Monday. And a bunch of names here. just read them off. You guys give me like your two or three favorites. Jameson Tion is going up against the Blue Jays. Carlos Hernandez against the Guardians, Dakota Hudson against the Pirates,

Zach Thompson at the Cardinals, Adrian Houser at the Orioles, Austin Gomber at the Rangers, Taylor Hearn versus the Rockies, that's with the Rockies on the road, Luis Petinoe versus Oakland, Wascarianoa versus the Nationals, Dylan Bundy versus the Mariners, Michael Lorenzen versus the Marlins, Eliezer Hernandez at the Angels, and Nick Martinez at the Giants. Chris, do you have two or three names here that you like? I think Eliezer Hernandez, Luis Petino, although I have concerns about how much Petino's going to pitch,

because I don't think he pitched much in the spring. Those two stand out, and then I would say probably I wish the matchup was better, but Zach Thompson, I think, is interesting. I like Wascar and Noah I feel like we'd get him in there Yeah you know

versus Washington again I'm not sure how much he's going to pitch Yeah I was gonna pick the two ground ball guys Dakota Hudson against the pirates And Adrian Houser at Baltimore

Because I at least trust them To keep runs off the board You know Yeah Yeah those are the ones That probably Just in terms of matchups Hudson, Hauser

Patino against Oakland ENOA against the nationals Those are probably Top four I would say And then on Tuesday we have Yusay Kikuchi at the Yankees. Nester Cortez versus the Blue Jays. Drew Smiley at the Pirates, Jose Katana versus the Cubs, Tyler McGill at the Phillies,

and Eric Lauer at the Orioles. I think Smiley and Kantanar are P eligible, but even that's not enough. McGill's the only one here. Nestor Cortez is interesting. Maybe Lauer at the Orioles. Maybe. Not Nestor Cortez against the Blue Jays.

Yeah, I like Lauer at the Orioles. Frank, but McGill at Philadelphia. Looks like a tough lineup. But after that first start he had, he's the one I trust most of this group. Yeah, just get them on your team anyway. Pick them up for a stream and then keep them around because I think upside is pretty enticing here for Tyler McGill.

All right, we're going to wrap there. For Scott, Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.