Fantasy Baseball Today - What's WRONG With Eury Perez!? Late Season Tips & Strategy! | Fantasy Baseball Advice

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Chris Towers and Scott White discuss Eury Perez's struggles, late season strategy and recap the rest of Wednesday's action! Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, and welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. It is Thursday, September 4th.

I am Chris Towers here with Scott White. We are going to recap all of Wednesday's action. We've got some... exciting potential breakouts. We've got some dropometer players to talk about. And we've got the dog of the week. And I think it's a fascinating one this week. There's a lot to talk about. So let's get to it. Scott, who is your oh my goodness gracious player from Tuesday? Well, it, I got to go with Kate Horton. It's been a long time coming for Kate Horton. What he did Tuesday specifically was throw five no-hit innings, struck out six against the Braves. But, you know, five no-hit

innings, that would seem like a remarkable feat normally. But it's kind of just what Kate Horton's been doing for, well, I have last nine starts now. Last nine starts for Kate Horton, a 0.77 ERA, a 0.81 whip, 8.4K per nine. I guess you could be disappointed in the 8.4K per nine, but when you're facing so few hitters, it kind of puts it in a different light. Now, of those nine starts where he's had those ridiculous ratios, only two have been quality starts because only twice has he gone the minimum six innings needed for a quality start. So it's like he hasn't been nearly as useful in fantasy as those ratios would have you believe, but he's probably been more useful than we've given him credit for, particularly

in categories leagues with the ratio help he can offer. Is he this good? Well, no, nobody's this good. Is he good enough that you should just plan him in your lineup the way we've done Drew Rasmussen? Okay, maybe they'll be short starts, but those ratios will be so good that you don't mind so much. I think in Roto, yes.

I think definitely so. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah, probably. I say that as someone who I think I'm much more skeptical of Kate Horton than you probably are in terms of what he's achieving right now. I mean, I've, I haven't, I haven't given him a lot of credit. In large part, because when the starts are this short consistently, there's, like, you pretty much have to have an outlier ratios like that to matter in fantasy.

But you start looking at the game log for Kate Horton. Again, nine starts with a 0.77 ERA. It's like, okay, I guess now with what three and a half weeks left in the season, maybe it's time to get on board here. But you look at his ERA estimators, they're approaching four. Some of them exceed four. So like, they don't totally buy it. Even in this eight start stretch, it's a four,

14 X-FIP. The swinging strike rate is pretty good. I mentioned the K-per-9 is just okay, but, you know, it's kind of skewed by him facing so few hitters, but the swinging strike rate is, you know, it's just okay. He puts the ball in the air. It's pretty balanced in terms of ground balls and fly-balls, but he's allowed so few home runs, I think, too,

was to be to the point of being unbelievable, especially since average exit velocity is about 90 miles per hour off Cade Horn. So he was a top prospect and it deserves, I think, extra credit for that. But I guess I'd just be a little worried about saying, okay, because these ratios have been so good for his last nine starts, then I don't have to worry about the fact that the starts are so short. because it's like if he had a four ERA over his next, I don't know, three starts, four starts, however many he has left. I don't think that would shock anybody. No. And here's the risk with the five-inning start.

Is that margin for error between a good start and a bad start is really slim. Exactly. You give up two earn runs in a five-inning start. That's pretty good. You give up three. That's pretty bad. And that is just one run. You know, like that and look, ultimately that doesn't matter all that much.

It's just one run over the course of, of, you know, a full week. But it's still, it just, he needs to be exceptional if he's only going five innings, most starts. And he has been getting exceptional results for two and a half months, really. I mean, going back to the start of July, he's got, you know, 152 ERA in July as well. I think Kate Horton is good. I think he has shown he has a bright future as a starter for the Cubs when he's allowed to pitch like a normal starter. Yes.

But I think it's a trap right now. And we're mostly talking to people, again, with three and a half weeks left in the season. We're mostly, and some leagues might not even include all three half of those weeks. So we're mostly talking to people that are like, strong contenders at this point. And strong contenders likely have strong pitching staffs. And probably don't need to mess around with somebody like Horton is kind of my thought.

If you happen to have made it this far and you have a weak pitching staff, okay, he might represent. I mean, what is he? How rostered is he? I think he's pretty close to 90% at least. Yeah. So it's not like we can even, it's not even really an ad drop discussion. It's just how committed are you to starting him every week.

And I think most good teams with good pitching staffs, I could come up with five or six starters that I'd feel like are more impactful on a week-to-week basis with less risk. Now, here's a fun question. Who would you rather start next week? Kate Horton at Atlanta or Yuri Perez who gets the nationals who just destroyed him and the Tigers in what looks like a two-star week? Who would you rather start? I don't see how you can start Yuri Perez. I mean, five of six starts now have been disastrous. And I don't think that's overstating it.

No, no, he's got an 853 area over his past six starts. Yeah, this particular start, seven runs in four innings against the Nationals. The previous one, he didn't even make it out of the first inning against the Mets. I know. I was there. You were there, huh? It was a sad day for you. So I don't know what's going on with him.

There was kind of what kicked off this bad stretch, a bad start against. the Guardians where there was that clip of Jose Ramirez, kind of sharing with the rest of the dugout, the way that Yuri Perez was tipping his pitches. So is it still related to that? You'd think as as publicized as that video was, you'd think the Marlins would have gotten to the bottom of it real quick and fixed it. But who knows?

Maybe it's more subtle. Maybe he's tipping his pitches in more ways than one. He did say in that start against the Mets where he didn't make it out of the first, Yuri Perez said his hand was dry and he had trouble getting moisture on it. Like he feels like he can control his pitches better when his hand is wet. I get that. I don't know how in, you know, it's still pretty muggy out there. It's still, we're a few weeks from the end of summer.

I don't, I don't know when you could ask for your hand to be wetter than right now. I guess if it's raining. But I don't, I don't know. I feel like that's. grasping at straws and all of this is grasping at straws. I just know you can't start Yuri Perez right now. Yeah. For some context, he went four innings on Wednesday, gave up seven earned runs on eight hits, one walk, two strikeouts. The thing that's been really, uh, I don't know, notable for Perez lately is it just seems like every single guy who

reaches base against him scores. His left on base rate for the season is 67%, which is pretty bad. or 64% now. I would guess it's a lot lower than that lately because it seems like every start, it's like five hits, four earned runs. And I think part of that is just he gives up a lot of home runs, and that's probably always going to be a bit of an issue for Yuri Perez. Even if he lives up to expectations,

I think it could be in a, he's not likely to be this good, but like Garrett Cole and Justin Verlander, where even when those guys are really good, they give up a lot of home runs, you just you can live with it because they never put guys on base. And Perez still has a whip right around one for the season, I believe. Yeah, just a little over one.

So that's still a strong skill set for him. His XERA is still, it was 319 coming into this start. His velocity was down a little bit in this one, which is not great. Secondary offerings, not on the fastball. It was down about half a mile on the fastball, right? Which is a concern. I want to point that out just because it's a concern because he's grown more fastball dependent this season than he was as a rookie. His fastball rate was about 45% as a rookie.

It's been closer to 55% this year. And his curveball has especially been a problem for him. And that's a pitch that Yuri Perez has been working on since coming back from Tommy John surgery. I thought he was going to shelve it because he didn't love the feel for it as a rookie. Instead, he's added a sweeper in addition to keeping the curveball. And the curveball's just been bad. And it might be time to shelve that pitch and just go fastball sweeper, slide or change. I don't know if that's something the Marlins are going to do.

But look, I still think this guy is super, super talented. I still think he's going to be a great pitcher. I think he's just going through it. He was excellent in, I think, June was it? Or July. There was a month where you are really, really good. I moved it into my top 24 rest of season, the way those first few outings went. And obviously, I feel like Yuri Perez is unknown talent.

So it didn't take much to get him that high in the rank. He's always looking healthy. He's looking as effective. Let's, let's move him way up. But then it's, that's what makes this stretch so hard to explain. It's just been terrible, which is why I think it's probably tipping related. Yeah. But it's.

Or could just be running out of gas at the end of the season coming back from Tommy John surgery. I guess. But it's not like he's thrown that. many innings. Just grasping for straws here because Yuri Perez looking pretty bad right now. I think he'll turn it around. I think he'll be excellent next season. But I agree it's going to be really hard to start him this week.

Next week, week 25 with the Nationals and Tigers. Unfortunately, it's a two-start week. We are going to talk more about some pitchers and some hitters who are struggling and whether it's time to drop them. We are going to talk about the dog of the week shortly. First, I do before we go to our. break. I just want to point out, Mason Miller had an immaculate inning where he threw nine straight sliders. That is bonkers. Now, what was fun about it is the first pitch should not have been a strike.

It was out of the strike zone. Then he got eight straight whiffs to close out the immaculate inning. So I'm going to say he earned that one, even with the generous strike zone on the first. he is still you know I've seen some people even in saves plus holds leagues dropping Mason Miller and because he hadn't it had been a while since he had even gotten a hold I still think in those kind of leagues

he's a must roster and I assume next season he's going to be the closer for the San Diego Padres is only entered he's only entered prior to the eighth once since joining the Padres it's been very consistently the eighth oh yeah and Robert Suarez is one of the most

prolific save-getters. Yeah. Like, yeah, I don't know what's been going on. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why. I don't know why anybody in a saves plus holds leagues would lose faith and Miller. All right. We are going to take our first break. We're right back on fantasy baseball today.

All right. We are back on fantasy baseball today. I'm Chris Tarris here with Scott White. And let's talk some news and notes from Wednesday. And unfortunately, Roman Anthony was placed on the IL before Wednesday's game. And that seems very like. to end his season. I saw four to six week timetable, so it doesn't seem likely we're going to see him, at least in the regular season. Maybe he gets out in the postseason. But if that's it, he finishes

his rookie season with a 292 average, 396 on base, 466-on-bass, 4-63 slug, eight home runs, four steals in 71 games. The fantasy stats, a little underwhelming. He was definitely a better real life than fantasy player, at least as a rookie, but obviously, an outrageously talented player, hits the ball really hard, has an excellent approach at the plate, even a decent athlete. Where do you see yourself ranking,

Roman Anthony for 2026? Probably top in the outfield. Top well. I have a hard time, like, coming up with a concept for what top 50 looks like. I can imagine like the first two rounds, first three rounds,

but no, I don't, think top 50 overall because that would put him in the top four rounds. I think it'll be a top 24 outfielder for me. And that's, you know, Frank was quizzing me yesterday. Joe Adele is he top 36? Yeah, we had another home run today. Is George Springer top 24?

And I said no to both of those because I just, you know, it's, I'm not stacking up names, obviously, to say for sure, but my concept of how plentiful the outfield is, particularly when you bring all the injured guys back in. as you would going into a new season. I just think it's going to be hard for players with clear risk factors, I think, to give them the benefit of the doubt. And the risk factor for Roman Anthony is, okay, well, he hasn't actualized the power yet. You know, it's there potentially, but is he going to put the ball in the air enough? We saw it a little more leading up to the injury.

My hunch is he will. My hunch is, you know, one of my bold predictions for next year is Roman Anthony's going to lead the Red Sox and home runs. So I am inclined to rank him a little more glass half full, which I think people tend to do with younger players in general. And so I think that's going to, I think that's going to nudge him into the top 24, but just barely. I think at least he'll be a top five round player. I think top 60 pick. So that sounds like you're going to have him. Because if I'm saying barely top 24.

Yeah, the number 24 outfielder was the last pick of the seventh round last year, basically. Right. So it sounds like you'll have more like your 15th outfiel. Well, there's a difference between like what the Royal Wee will do and what the non-royal I will do. You should stop using the Royal Wee because it just confuses me. What I think is I think six or seventh round sounds right. But I would guess he ends up probably not quite as high as where Wyatt Langford was last season. And James Wood was 50th in ADP, and that's, like, he had a more immediately impactful fantasy profile.

So I think Robin Anthony probably shouldn't be higher than that, but I feel like people are going to talk themselves into it. Because Anthony's not really a base dealer. That's, that hurts. Yeah. That hurts a lot for, at least for roto value. I mean, Points League is probably a different conversation because of how much he gets on base. All right, Spencer Araggetti was placed on the aisle with elbow inflammation. That's a frustrating one because it kind of comes out of nowhere.

Probably ends his fantasy season. Will Smith left Wednesday's game with a right-hand contusion after being hit by a foul baller. I can remember if it was a foul ball or just a pitch. Dalton Russian replaced him and Smith will have further testing done to determine the severity of the injury. If you need a second catcher, maybe Dalton rushing gets a little more opportunity. He's shown some ability to hit the ball hard. strikeout rate is like 38%, so that's untenable right now, but still have a lot of faith in him long term if he gets the opportunity.

Yeah, if he does. And I don't know, catcher so deep. We just had another couple catcher prospects come up at September 1st. I don't know how much either of them is going to play. That's Carter Jensen and Harry Ford on the Royals and Mariners, respectively. So they got some pretty big names ahead of him in those two organizations. organizations, but like, rushing and maybe it's unfair to judge him on a stat line because the playing time has been so sparse, but it's a really bad stat line.

I'm mostly just willing to give him the benefit out that it's just he's not playing hardly at all. I hope he's still hitting the ball really hard. I hope he gets traded because like, I don't. It's, it was a shock when the Dodgers called Dalton rush rushing up and unless they have. saying only to play backup catcher, not left field like he didn't in the mind. Yeah, unless they have faith in him playing the outfield,

but even then they've got some really good corner outfielders who are probably going to start at AA next season. So yeah, not sure where the playing time is supposed to come from from Dalton Rushing. Will Smith's only got like nine years left on his contract though. Don Rushing may get to play when he's in his mid-30s. More Dodgers news, they have no plans to bring Roki Sasaki back to the majors at this point. And frankly, I don't see any reason to his fast. is still sitting around 94 miles per hour in his most recent rehab start.

I think he just needs a full off season to be rebuilt at this point because he's got eight strikeouts to eight walks and 14 innings on his rehab assignment. I just haven't seen anything. Roki Sasaki is still 64% rostered in CBS Fantasy Leaks. I guess a bunch of those are keeper, dynasty, or just dead rosters. But if you've got Roki Sasaki, there's no reason to hold on them. maybe maybe leagues with a lot of iL spots yeah unlimited iL spots i guess yeah um i don't know because we don't have that many dead leagues it's not a huge problem mm-hmm but i know just dead teams

i know i know half the lit teams in the league not even half the cbs leagues are like dynasty leagues so for him to be 64% roster that's pretty surprising uh kyle tucker missed uh wednesday's game with his calf injury. The hope is that he'll be able to play on Friday, although very much up in the air at this point. And I still think there's a chance he goes on the IL and maybe Owen Casey gets called back up. Pekker Armstrong was also out of the lineup Wednesday. We're going to talk a little more about him in just a minute. So hold any thoughts you have there. Jackson Churio was out of the lineup with hamstring stiffness. Kyle Finnegan suffered an injury while warming up to enter Wednesday's game. So that's something to keep an eye on. Shelby.

Miller was placed on the 60-day aisle with a sprained UCL on his right elbow. His season is over. Shohei Otani was a late scratch from Wednesday's start with an illness. He was not feeling well on Tuesday when he hit a 120 mile an hour home run, just in case you needed more reason to be impressed by Shohei Otani. Emma Sheen got the start instead, which is a little frustrating because we didn't think he was going to start this week, and he was fine, turn runs, six strikeouts, and he had like 18 swings and misses.

20 in this 20 in this one um he's starting to look like he's starting to look like he's figuring it out so hopefully you hung out into him i'm very excited again about emmitchian for next year because when he first came back my enthusiasm was mostly tied to his outlier whiff rates in the minors and even during uh his last stretch in the majors two years ago uh He was getting, I don't know, at the time I was calling them Spencer Strider-like swinging strike rates. That doesn't mean the same thing anymore. That was, that was a compliment at one point. That was the gold standard.

That Strider, 2023 season was the gold standard for starting pitchers getting swinging strikes and 19% rate. Sheehan was doing similar things, and it wasn't there at first. But all of a sudden it's back. His previous start, he went seven innings, got 10 strikeouts. The start before that, he went. six. This was, again, like you said, an unexpected start for Sheehan inserted last minute, so he didn't give us the length we're looking for. And because he's not like a regular part of the Dodgers rotation right now, it's hard to imagine in a typical fantasy league finding use for him. But presuming Sheehan has a job to call his own to begin next year with the way his whiffs have taken off here recently and his track record of those, there's a lot of reason to be excited about him as a sleeper. Agreed. Kyle Stowers could go on a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. He's been on the aisle since mid-August with that oblique injury, which means we could see him before the end of the season. And just a reminder, he was an All-Star was in the swing-off in the All-Star game. 30 plus Homer 100 RBI pace before the injury was kind of having a like a Brent Rooker-esque breakout here. And I hope we get to see him just because I'll take any more information I can get on a guy who broke out out of nowhere like that. because I think that's going to really, it's going to be really hard to rank him for 2026.

I think at this point it's got to be a top 40 outfielder, right? Well, I was saying yesterday when Frank was asking if I thought Joe Adele should be top 36, I was saying I think I'd still take Kyle Stowers over him. They've both got excellent underlying stats to back it up. Right. The next three weeks might sort that out. Yeah. All right.

Adoles Garcia missed his third strike game with a quad injury. Sucke Paredes has been cleared for baseball activities with his hamstring injury. Still not clear if he's going to play during the regular season. I kind of doubt it. Anthony Santander could begin a minor league rehab assignment at AAA next week as he comes back from that shoulder injury. It's been a long time waiting for him. Mike Trout missed his- He was terrible before that, Santander, but I seem to recall he would have been playing through that shoulder issue for a while.

I think so, yeah. So I don't, like, he- You know, I don't know how much time he actually plays the final two weeks, the final week and a half. We'd like to see something from him. Yeah, I don't think Santanderas done as a fantasy contributor. All right, Mike Trout missed his second straight game with a skin infection. Taylor Ward returned to the lineup after missing two games after running into the wall in left field over the weekend. I'm shocked he's back as quickly as he is.

He went 0 for two with a walk. Marlins placed Derek Hill on the IL, and Jack Caglion was back in the Royals lineup. on Wednesday and he went 0 for two with a walk and a strikeout. So still waiting for Jack Hageleyone to figure things out. We are still waiting for Pete Kaur Armstrong to figure out. And that is the dog of the week. And let's have a little Pete Karr Armstrong discussion. I know you guys probably had a Pete Karr Armstrong discussion yesterday.

He has been benched consecutive games. They are giving him a little reset. And he's two for 19 over the past week. He had a 446 OPS in August. He has just been bad for not quite as long as he was good, but it's been a while now, about a month and a half. And there was a really good piece by Matthew Trueblood at Northsidebaseball.com on Wednesday. Talking about how peak or armstrong's mechanics are just all screwed up at the plate,

he's moved a little bit off the plate. He's brought his feet closer together, but he's taking a much longer stride when he swings. And it's just screwed his. timing up and that's especially bad for Pete Carr Armstrong who makes terrible swing decisions and so he's got to have excellent bat to ball skills to make up for that and right now he doesn't I don't know if you can fix that midseason it went wrong midseason so I guess it's not out unreasonable I think some people can definitely

fix that midseason I did we don't have enough of a track record for Crow Armstrong to know if, to know how quickly he bounces back from these sorts of things. But these are the kinds of things that contribute to slumps for every player. Yes. So I'm not particularly alarmed to hear that. It's nice to have the insights. I do think it's,

it's a, it exemplifies why players with poor plate discipline. I don't. I don't like them. I don't like them. I generally try to avoid them in fantasy. Even in leagues where plate discipline doesn't count for something in and of itself, like a standard roto league is just when they slump,

it tends to be a much more debilitating slump. Yeah. And we, you know, we saw that from Michael Harris earlier this season. We're seeing it from Pete Crow Armstrong now. We're seeing it from like Yiner Diaz. We've seen Salvador Perez's head stretches like that in his career as well. Yeah. And there's just nothing to fall back on.

Right. I mean, Pete Crow Armstrong, even at his best, is a low OBP guy. I mean, his first three months of the season when everybody agreed

Peacro Armstrong was like an MVP candidate. Only one of those three months did he have even a 300 OPP. So like the guy doesn't get on base that much. It's just there are enough of the counting stats when he's going well, the home runs and the steals especially that you don't, you don't care so much. but now we're seeing the other side of the coin here. It's pretty ugly.

I think, well, you haven't really brought up the point, but I think you wanted to talk about where we rank Pekro Armstrong for next year, which I think is a much fairer discussion. It's a tough question to answer right now. It's a fairer discussion than the one Frank and I were having yesterday inspired by, I don't know, some people asking questions, they wanted to know if they could drop Pekro Armstrong. And I thought that was such a ridiculous idea that it earned a little bit of a rant for me. I mean, look, it's your team to whatever you want. But no, you shouldn't. That's always the answer when push comes to shove. If you really want to.

I don't want to make your decisions for you, but I can tell you what I'd do. You're probably an adult. Yeah. But anyway, where did we draft Pete Crow Armstrong? Because when we were redrafting for the second half and he had none and he kind of slummed. yet and so we're only seeing upside. Okay, late first round is what we're talking about. I think we had him 17th.

And even that, he didn't make the first round. I think I may have had him in the first round, at least for Roto. And even 17th overall was not high enough for some of you. Maybe I had more like 14th. Maybe it wasn't first round. Anyway, the point is clearly in the first two rounds. And now, probably not. in the first two rounds up.

Beyond that, I don't know. If he hits, if he goes on to hit 160 in September like he did in August, then we might be talking about round four or five even. But I don't think he'll hit 160 in September. Maybe this little reset he's on will work. We've seen it work with players surprisingly often. Say a Suzuki with the Cubs two years ago, I think. 2023 had a similar.

Even Kyle Tucker just before the calf injury. He was bouncing back. So, you know, maybe it'll work. If you want evidence of how suddenly things can change for Pete Crow Armstrong, just look at his last August versus his September last year. August being the good one and September being the bad one. I think part of the reverse of that. And, like, he could, he could contribute to combined 15 homers and steals in September.

I think that's, that would, that should not surprise anybody if it happens. No. It, that wouldn't surprise me. Him hitting 180 wouldn't surprise me. I think what we might just have to accept about Pete Karamstrung in, look, no, no players ever a finished product, especially a super talented 23-year-old, but we might just have to accept this as the cost of doing business with Pete Kromchung. Just, just like it's been with Michael Harris, where.

He's never quite as good as he looks at his best and he's never quite as bad as he looks at his worst. And Ellie De LaCruz, another guy who has been a first round caliber player multiple years in a row now, is doing the same thing. Really up and down, really inconsistent. But the fantasy skill set for P. Kro Armstrong, unless it goes disastrously bad in September, he's going to go 30.30. He's at 2831 right now. But he can't really hit lefties yet. 606 OPS against lefties, 188 batting average.

The defense does insulate him somewhat from playing time concern, but as we're seeing over the past month, they've been giving him some pretty regular off days to try to get him right. So there might just be, it might just be that his ceiling is a first or second round player and his floor is not usable for fantasy. And that might just be a range of outcomes that you have to live with with Pete Kronstrom. When you say not usable, you mean for week-long stretches during the season. You don't mean like a full season of unusable.

I mean, that's possible. Theoretically. Yeah. I think things could go wrong that way, but it's not likely. Right. The thing is, we probably got a 90th percentile outcome in the first half of the season. We're getting a 10th percentile outcome in the second half of the season. The thing about 10th and 90th percentile outcomes is,

they happen about 10% of the time, which is not often, but like, that's a, that's more often than Cowrally hits a home run. And Cow rally hits a lot of home runs. Like, that happens pretty regularly. So that's one thing you have to think about is that some, he might just have a really wide error bar. And that's just something we have to live with with P. Kro Armstrong. And we're just seeing the worst of it right now. But I don't think he's this bad, certainly. No. I agree. The crowd loves champions. Gladiator 2 is an epic spectacle.

Remarmoos to amuse you is my only wish. Glory is yours, not mine. Very good. Gladiator 2 rated R. Now streaming on Paramount Plus. And we are back on fantasy baseball today, and let's fire up the drop o meter. We already had Yuri Perez discussed earlier. How dropable is he?

This is the part of the season where like it's kind of either zero or ten, right? I'm going to go with my stock answer for players of this caliber. And I think you have to hold on to Yuri Perez just so it just so the dropping doesn't backfire you. You stick them on your bench. That way, you know, he's, you're safe from somebody else picking him up when he turns things around to pitches like an ace. but he's not hurting you either because he's just on your bench. And I understand if you have him and all the other players like that, at some point you've got to drop somebody,

but most people, most of the time it's not like that. You just have one or two of these guys. Aaron Nola has been terrible all season. There's really nothing positive you can point to. He has one quality start and four tries since returning from the aisle. He has an 838 ERA in that stretch. He gave up six earned runs in five innings. This is the second time he's given up six earned runs since coming back.

He is a two-star pitcher next week against the Mets and Royals. So a terrible matchup and pretty good matchup. There's no way you can start Aaron Nola. And if you can't start Aaron Nola in a two-star week, you probably don't need to keep him around, right? What did you say the matchups were? I have it as Mets and Royals. Okay.

I actually could see starting Nola in a points league. And I may rank him in that third tier of the two-star pitcher rankings. I don't know. I got to see all the names to know for sure. Yeah. But I don't think Aaron Nola's a big deal anymore. I mean, I have him. He's 60th in my rest of season rankings.

So I'd be fine with you dropping him. Anybody that low in the rankings is dropable, fringy? but you know it it's not a situation like if you drop darinola i don't see it backfiring in a major way i think it's fine but if you want to use them for the two starts one against the royals i i think at least in a points league that's fine too he's not so old that i can see him just being completely finished he's only 32 years old right now um feels like he's older than that i think part of that's just he's always been like an old pitcher you know like he's never been a blazing fastball that he throws 60% of the time guy.

But he's going to have to be a late-round pick next year for me to have any interest in him. What about Casey Meis? He actually had a decent start in this one, five innings, one-earned-run, run, three strikeouts. This was probably his best start in about two months. He has just one quality start in his past nine, only 37 strikeouts and 40 innings with a 653-R-in that span. And yet Casey Meis is still 86% rostered. He's got the Yankees next week in Yankee Stadium.

I think he's like a nine on the drop of meter. What about you? I mean, I'd say 10. I don't see any reason to hold on to him outside of the deep league, the sort of deep leagues where you obviously wouldn't drop him because roster, anybody is a rotation, yeah. Tumbleweeds.

Same for Clay Holmes. He's at Philadelphia next week. He gave up two run runs and four and two thirds innings. Not a terrible start, but three walks. He has a four-fifty. 7 ERA since the start of July and has gone more than 5.1 innings once in his last 12 starts. Clay Holmes does not need to be 79% rostered and he has not needed to be as rostered as he is since July or so. Right. I agree. Yeah. I mean, we've been saying that for a while now. There's just there's no reason to roster Holmes. He's of no use to you. They should probably move into the bullpen, especially now that Jonah Tong is up and the clean and all of them.

It's not clear. Shaamania needs to be in the rotation. Kodi Sena definitely doesn't need to be in the rotation right now. It's bad right after the match. That's true. That's true. But I would give them, because at least there's a chance with Senga and Manaya.

I feel like Clay Holmes is, he's washed, at least for this year, the number of innings he's taken on. And then one more pitcher, who I think is just way over-roastered, 76% rostered. Zach Lattel,

you gave up four home runs on Wednesday against the blue. which is tough matchup, five earned runs and four in a third innings. He's given up eight homers in six starts with the Reds. He has a 478 ERA in that stretch, and he's still 76% rostered. We didn't think the trade to Cincinnati was going to go well for Zach Lattel, who was already leading the majors in home runs. But I think he's way over-rastered at the time.

I mean, I'm going to disagree with you on this one. Okay. Because last start, three earn runs in seven innings. Three starts ago, one run in six innings. five starts ago, one and runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts. If we're thinking of it in a points league context, Zach Lattel is a volume guy that might be worth keeping around for the right matchups. I'm not saying he's must-roastered.

I'm not saying how rostered is he. You said 70-something percent. That's probably too high, yeah. But where does he actually rank in point six? he's at sandy year to date by the way was not a bad matchup at all yeah

um where's he actually year to date and points so he has Zach Lattel has more points than David Peterson uh than Gavin Williams

then let's do per game here so Zach Lattel entered this start it's not updated with this start but it was 13.3 points per game that's more than sunny green gray, that's more than, more than Jose Soriano, who I keep talking up. It's pretty close to Andrew Abbott, to be honest.

So that, I think that's, I think that's why Zach Lattels is rostered as he is. He's been those innings he gives you and the number of like six-inning, seven-innings starts that are decent. It adds up to a fine number of points. All right. Let's talk about a couple of hitters on the dropometer. that I admit I sort of bought into and I know Scott you were you were pretty bought into

Andrew Vaughan he's been out of the line up the past two days down to a 276 Wobah over his past 25 games did we get fooled um maybe maybe I mean I think the jury's still out he looked so good Andrew Vaughan and the quality of contact was exceptional Yeah. And it's still

like the strikeout rate is still better during this bad stretch. Not that it was bad with the white sucks, but it's still like a really good strikeout rate during this rough stretch. And it may just be that Andrew Vaughn's had a bad couple weeks the same way any good player would have a bad couple weeks if he's actually a good player. But since there's so, such a small sample of him being good,

I think the jury's still out. I think it's fine, particularly in shallower leagues. head to head if you want to drop Vaughn. That's fine. I mean, it's not clear what he is right now. But I think obviously the odds lean toward him not being useful rest of the way, just given that he hasn't been that useful for most of his career. But I'm not ready in like a theoretical sense to say, okay, it was just,

it was just this, this flash in the panes. and Vaughn leaving the White Sox isn't really going to be this transformative thing. I'm not ready to declare a final verdict in that. I think it's fine to drop them, though. All right. Now, I don't, I know I don't command the same authority or respect as Frank when I'm sitting in the host chair. And that's fine. Can you give me a dropometer number for one player in the dropometer segment, though?

Just can you give me a number for one guy? I said 10 for my eyes. That was one. Uh, I'll give you a number for all of them. All right. Aaron Nola is a seven. Casey Mize is a 10. Clay Holmes is a 10.

Zach Lattel is a six. Andrew Vaughn is a, uh, I'm going to give Aaronola a six. I'm going to give Andrew Vaughn a seven. All right. And then one more, Signs of Life from Madison Barger on Wednesday. He went two for four with four RBI. But he has been pretty awful. since the end of July

211 batting average 583 OPS if I'm doing the math in my head where are we at on Addison Barger here I still like the profile there are playing time concerns especially when he's slumping like he is

and so I think it'd have to be a pretty deep league for you to hold on to him but worth monitoring in case he turns things around all right no number on that one that's fine we can just move on. I do want to also just drop one potential hot take. I think the Brewers peak too soon.

They're kind of falling apart right now. I know they're not bad, but like their pitching is kind of falling apart. I feel like the offense is kind of unsustainable. They've had a ton of bullpen injuries lately. I just, I don't, I don't know how worried about them I am in the playoffs. I hope they prove me wrong. They're a fun team.

It just, I don't know. I don't think that August is going to prove sustainable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but even during their winning streak, their latest winning streak, a talking point in the national media was that, yeah, but they're not really built to win the World Series. Yeah. So I think you're in good company with that take. I guess. I hope I'm wrong. They've got like fun players. I just, I have a lot of questions about pitching especially um let's let's see if to be clear like i am kind of agnostic about the whole

thing i i am of the mind that playoffs are mostly a crapshoot yeah of course on a player level you don't think of it that way yeah like the people playing the game don't think of them their outcomes is random but from the 30,000 foot view well i think it's fairly random so the brewer's absolutely good remember last year they came the world series just like the Padres could win the World Series or the Tigers could win the World Series. They were what? An out away from making the NLCS last year?

Right? I don't remember. I don't remember. I feel like that might be true. I don't remember. I'm not denying it. I'm just saying I don't remember. All right.

Let's see if we can get some straight answers out of you on the legit o meter, which only has two names. Zach Gallen showing signs of turning it around. six innings, no earn runs against the Rangers, five strikeouts, one walk, only two whiffs. Are you kidding me? That's weird. The Rangers just didn't swing in this game. It was bizarre.

They just, they swung at like 52% of pitches in the strike zone and only 36% overall. But this is four quality starts in a row for Zach Gallen and six in his past seven. only 33 strikeouts in 41 innings. I don't think Zach Gallen is back to being Zach Gallen. No. Is he useful? Are you starting him next week? Who's he facing?

Let's find out. Let's find out together so quickly. Well, I will tell you while you're looking that up, that in that seven-start stretch with the six quality starts, Zach Gallen has a 220 ERA, a 105-whip, 7.9K per 9. So the 7.9K per 9 tells you it's probably not back. But the other two numbers, the 220-E IRA 105 flip, yeah, that's usable. I'm not saying it's must start.

I think we're probably starting him next week, though, at San Francisco? I think in many cases you would start him, yes. It's unlikely that he's a two-star pitcher because they only play six games and he pitches on Tuesday. So yeah, he's almost certainly going to be a one-star pitcher. Could be a two-star pitcher the following week. San Francisco again and Philadelphia. I think you probably, I mean, we'll see how the next star goes, but I think right now you probably just start Zach Allen, right?

In most cases. I think if you're preserving ratios, even though he does have the 220, he or the 105 weapon's last seven starts. Like that shouldn't be your expectation with the next start. So if preservation of ratios rather than just accumulating volume is your priority right now, then maybe you consider sitting Zach Allen,

but maybe not. Volume-wise, I think he's start it. Another guy who's showing a lot lately. Jack Leiter, who was on the other side of that one, gave up two run runs, over six innings, eight strikeouts, three walks, 18 whiffs in this one, nine on the four seamer, three on the change-up, five on the slider, and that is now three quality starts in a row for Jack Leiter, who has 24 strikeouts, and this is the most important stat,

only four walks in that stretch. Now, we've seen very fleeting glimpses from Jack Leiter. How legit do you think this run is from him? I am encouraged. I'm encouraged. Look, we all know he has a lot of upside. I've noticed what's coincided with these three dominant starts. I mean, truly dominant starts for Jack Leiter consecutively.

You mentioned the good control. But what I've also noticed about them, he's leaned especially on his fastball. He's a really good fastball. I could argue his best pitch. And his change-up, which was a new pitch this year, the kick change-up that was all the rage this spring. Jack Leiter was one of the poster boys for it.

And it seems like he's kind of mastered it with the way he's used it recently. I mean, fastball change-up, that classic pairing, play so well off each other. and the results are there there's reason to be excited for Jack Leiter I think you know

now that we're kind of past the hype over the the Cam Schlittler and and Peyton Toley and Jonah Tong assuming they've all been picked up in your league

that that whole group of rookie pitchers that have gotten attention recently I mean Jack Leiders might be the next guy unless he's already more roster he's 70%

So there's some leagues where he's available, but yeah, he's pretty widely rostered. I'm surprised. I thought I didn't think he had been good enough for long enough to be so widely rostered. He has stayed like above 50% for most of the season, which is pretty surprising because it's been, uh, last three starts withstanding not a great season for Jack Leiter. Right. So, but trying in the right direction, I think is the most important thing.

All right. Another guy who's like 75% rosters, Joe Adele, who homered again. That's eight in his last 16 games. And I wanted to highlight an email we got from Gary. That's Fantasy Baseball at CBSI, if you want to be included. Call me crazy, but Joe Adele's 2025 breakout is giving me serious healthy Byron Buxton vibes. Both were consensus top 10 prospects with freaky athleticism. Five tool upside and the kind of power potential scouts drool over.

Both took longer than we'd like to figure it out, finally breaking out around age 26 after plenty of strikeout woes. The big difference is Buxton's never topped 120 games in a season. if Adele can simply stay on the field, we're looking at the Byron Buxden dream seasons we actually never got, only stretched across 200 to 300 extra plate appearances. Conclusion, Joe Adele is Byron Buxton, but with bubble wrap. I'll hang up and listen. Well, he doesn't have the speed that Byron Bucston has.

And I think Bucston is a better hitter, but that's also with, what, six or seven seasons now of Byron Bucston hitting at this level? and one season of Joe Adele hitting at this level. He had stretches last season where he was pretty useful, but this is the first time we've really seen Joe Adele look like a legitimate everyday caliber hitter. And I know you talked about it yesterday, so you don't have to go too in depth, but does he need to be most 100% rostered?

Well, points leagues are an issue because he's got a 302. OBP. Mm-hmm. And his strikeout rate. That much. It's gotten better, but it's still not like a low strikeout rate. It's still on the higher side. So I think, what does he?

Let's just look at the point per game average for Joe Adele. I'm going to guess 2.83. You are, it's 2.70. It's 2.70, which is less than T.J. Friedel, less than Stephen Kwan, who's been slumping less than Andy Pahas. it's not that great. So I'm not saying you can't start Adele in a points league, particularly with him being so hot right now.

But I stopped short of saying he must start in a points league. And, you know, at the start of August, he was batting 231 with a 761 OPS. At that point, he had hit 21 home runs. and I think the perspective on him was much different in fantasy than he has a great August and now he's the hottest thing and maybe like that was always destined to happen

because as we've been saying for Joe Wattell all year you look at his stack has page XBA 280 X-SL 571 it's very impressive and he's fallen well short of that so is that hot August him making up that ground or is it is are the expected stats themselves fake? Yeah. And Joe Adele's just coming off a really hot stretch.

And I don't know. I lean more towards the ladder. I lean more towards the ladder too. And that's why I've been kind of lukewarm in my assessment of Joe Adele recently, even though there are a lot. Like if you wanted to be burning hot for Adele, I get it. You could make that argument pretty easily. but he's been so

underwhelming for so long that he's got to go like the extra mile to prove it to me, I feel like. All right. We also had Nassim Nunez of the Nationals hit two home runs on Wednesday, his first and second career homers. He had two homers in 63 games at AAA.

I'm going to go ahead and say he doesn't matter and we can move on to waiver wire pitchers. And that starts with Zeb Matthews, who is a 47% rostered. He has incorporated a sinker into his arsenal since the start of August. That was something that I mentioned he might want to look into just because the four seamer gets hit so hard. And he has a 373 ERA since the start of August. Went six innings, one earned run, three hits against the White Sox, five Ks, two walks,

14 whiffs. He misses a lot of bats. I had multiple whiffs on five different pitches. In this one, he gets the Angels and Diamondbacks next week. I think you probably want to add Zebby Matthews. I know that's been kind of famous last words. Yeah. I was,

when Frank and I were talking about him for this White Sox start, I was saying there's, I feel like there's a lot of Zebby Matthews fatigue because he has been among the more interesting pictures available enough to mention in these contexts. And when we mention him, when we hype him up, including his previous start against the White Sox,

it often backfires. But I think my, my simple rule of thumb for pitchers. If the strike percentage is good and the swinging strike percentage is good, he's probably good. And for Zeb Matthews, just since returning from the minors,

66% strike rates, 13% swinging strike rate. Both those are very good. Yeah, I think he's good. And that doesn't mean there won't be growing pains. You know, maybe he is fine-tuning his arsenal, as you point out with the sinker.

And, you know, maybe you can't entirely trust him right now, but I do think Zebby Matthews is someone you shouldn't grow fatigued over because I think the talent is legitimate. Who do you prefer as a two-star pitcher for next week? Zebby Matthews or Ryan Berger from the Royals who five, one hit shutout innings with six strikeouts, three walks on Wednesday, seven whiffs with the sweeper, three with the slider. And he's at Cleveland and at Philadelphia next week. I don't think the strikeout upside is quite the same for Berger as it is for Matthews, but he's been very good since joining the Royals. What do you think there? Yeah, I don't think there is a lot of strikeout upside for Bergert.

I don't really get the Berger thing. I know I've seen kind of unexp—I've seen people in the fantasy baseball space voice enthusiasm for Bergert without really giving reasoning behind it. I'll explain what I like about him, what I think is interesting about him. He's got a high arm slot so he gets a lot of ride on his fastball he gets a lot of carry uh pretty good ivb i think it's like 17 inches or something um let me make sure that's right uh 19 inches of ivb on the four seamers so that's very good and he manages to get a lot of lateral movement on his sweeper and um his slider and so that combination is very rare you don't see usually you have to sacrifice something. Usually you have like the I think it's pronators versus supernators is the terminology.

Some guys are good at getting behind the ball. Some guys are good at spinning the ball. And Berger might be good at both. He's not really a big prospect or was not really a big prospect. His results are fine, but he doesn't miss a ton of bats. Again, I think he's interesting. I don't know if he's good yet. He's a big fly ball guy who gives up pretty hard contact. It's a bad combination. He is pitching in Kansas City now, but I think this was just his second home start. So most of the good starts he's had have been elsewhere, not in Kansas City, since they acquired him. So I feel like it's combustible and you shouldn't put too much faith in it. But I guess if, for those who see the glass half full, I guess you just explained why.

all right and um bryce elder had a good start that's three quality starts in a row i have zero faith in this i see zero reason to believe that he's any good 554 er a for the season xer a is near five and he's versus the cubs next week no reason to stream i'm right yeah we've been down this road a few times before with bryce elder uh any interest in yo andries gomez or kaden dana kaden dana kentana of the angels he's only 21 debuted last season Mm-hmm. He's a prospect of note. He was getting crushed at AAA, though. Right. He wasn't doing well this year, so I don't see any reason to rush out and at him just because he came up and had a strong start against a bad offense. But it's a name to remember.

Caden, Dana has prospect pedigree and was good at AA last year, and AAA is Salt Lake, which is, tough place to pitch. All right, we got some hitters to talk about Matt Chapman, three for four with two homers, three hard hit balls. He struggled in the second half. He was on the IL, but his numbers looked very similar to last season overall. Yandi Diaz had a really strange five-for-five game

with one run and no RBIs. So that was weird. He has an OPS over 900 since the All-Star break with 25 runs and 23 RBI. So he's continued to be very useful. John Carlos Stanton homered again on Tuesday. He started three straight. and five of six.

I think you just start him, at least in a Roto League. Probably not in points unless if he's going to play five and a six, then you probably just start him in points. But last time he played three games in a row in the outfield, I think he had to sit an entire weekend. So we'll see what happens here. And then Yordon Alvarez went three for three with a double, has multiple hits in three of his past four games.

Good to see him getting hot. And Royce Lewis is running more lately, which is weird. Two steals on Wednesday as part of a three-hit game. He has four steals in his past 11 games. He's hitting for power in that stretch, but also striking out a ton. Still don't really know what Royce Lewis is. I think looking ahead to 2026, late round corner infielder.

Yeah, probably. There's some upside there. You won't be a top 12 third basement, I'm pretty sure. I know like Devers is being removed from that group. Yeah. There's one other guy in that, and then that discussion is. I can't remember. Mikel Garcia is being removed from that group.

I just saw today. I don't know if that's who you were thinking of. I think so, yeah. Okay. So, yeah, not a top 12 guy, but I will have some late round interest. Let's talk about some pitching leftovers. Shane Bieber had his first poor start, five earn runs. It was really just one bad inning.

I didn't see anything alarming here. He's getting hit hard at like 95 mile per hour average exit velocity through three starts or like 94 after this one. But that's kind of always been the Shane Bieber thing. You live with the home runs and the hard contact because he never lets anybody on base. I have no concerns here, do you? Yeah. I mean, first two starts were great. This one, you know, you don't like five and runs in six innings,

but everything else about the start looks good. I think shame. And again, pretty close to must start. It was the second inning. He gave up all five runs. I think he gave up six of his eight batted balls with an XBA over 400 in the second inning. He just didn't have it for one inning. Robbie Ray, not a great result, but I think this is his most.

encouraging start in a little while because he have a four-run runs at course field over four and two-thirds innings this is course field but eight strikeouts one walk velocity was actually up one and a half miles per hour from his season average and the control was fine both of them have been recent red flags good to see those red flags going away in this start i'm starting robbie ray i don't know or care what the matchup is for next week uh george kirby yikes it looked like he was starting to figure it out four runs in his previous four starts he's now given up seven earn runs in two starts this season with two others of five and three of four so uh that's how you get george kirby having like a four 60 era or whatever it is on the season um look he he dealt with a

shoulder injury it i think you sort of look at this season as a wash uh when you're looking ahead to 2026. I'm probably starting him for his next start and just kind of giving him the benefit of the doubt that this season's mostly a mulligan. He had, he's always kind of had these disaster starts interspersed with the many, many good starts that George Kirby gives you. And he did seem to have it put together last seven starts, this is the numbers I have. Last seven starts for George Kirby prior to this one, 295, ERA 120 whip. 9.3K per 9. His control this year

hasn't been up to George Kirby standards, which is like best in the league. It's merely been good control. His walk rate's twice as high as it was last year. It turns out he's not any less hitable with good control rather than great control, so that's why the whip is running a little high and I guess the ERA is too.

But he doesn't seem like he's... Like I said, it's still a good walk, right? It doesn't seem like there are these obvious red flags for George Kirby, like there are for Spencer Shrider, for instance, that would cause you to lose faith in him. I still have him as a top 20 pitcher rest of season, and like you, I would plan on starting him next time out. I will probably rank him top 20 next year as well. Will Warren had a fine start. He just kind of peaks at fine, unfortunately. Five whiffs on 68 pitches.

strike rate has been mediocre for a few months now. Could be in line for two starts next week versus Detroit at Boston. Is he a viable starter for next week? I missed who you brought up. Will Warren. Will Warren. I have not had interest in starting Will Warren in months. He may have made the streamer pitchers in like the 10th spot a couple times during that stretch,

but I don't see a lot of reason to feel confident in him. And then Jeffrey Springs just had a Jeffrey Spring start. He was good against the athletics. He had nine whiffs on the changeup, one on the 67 other pitches he threw. I just think Jeffrey Springs is very funny. He has one good pitch. You guys keep doubting him. He keeps getting it done.

I mean, he's got like a 410 ERA. Let's not overstate the extent to which he's getting it done. He's fine. But he was terrible. He was terrible at the start of the year. And then he's basically, other than those. two starts in early August he's been very reliable he's fine

since May 1st it's like a 360 ERA for Jeffrey Springs all right that's a that's roughly a half run better than a 410 ERA let's call down to the bullpen this was weird Milwaukee gave the save to Jared Koenig

Kinnig probably I think that's how you do the OENIG letters I don't know I look it up after your eBay worked the eighth. Jared Kainek, yeah. And he faced the five,

six, and seven hitters. That's weird. I don't really know what's going on there. Yeah, I don't know if they've lost confidence in him. They shun it because... I don't think so. He's been amazing. And then in Baltimore,

Yenier-Kano got the ninth inning, got two strikeouts for his second save. It's his first since Felix Batista's injury. I don't really think there's anything here. I don't know if you do. No. All right. Arizona, Jake Woodford got the ninth for his second save.

Is there a closer in Arizona? I thought it was Sal Frank. Yeah. But the usage for him is like just at the point where it started to stabilize and he seemed like that that's Andrew Sal Frank. Just Saul Frank actually is how you pronounce that. S-A-A-L-Frank. Just when it seemed like the usage was stabilizing, he was clearly the guy, they've stopped using him in the ninth. So he'd still be the betting favorite, I guess, but not very strongly.

In Los Angeles, for the Angels, Reed Detmer's got the save on Wednesday, but I think it's just because Kenley Jansen had pitched three of the previous four days, so I don't think there's anything there. Jordan Leisure got his six save for the White Sox, and that was the only other notable thing that I saw. So let's move on to stream or not to stream, and we don't have a ton of options on Thursday. Would you start Christian Javier versus the Yankees?

Remember, I'm going to go ahead and guess the last time he faced them. No, that's not right. His no hitter wasn't against the Yankees, was it? Scratch that. It was against the Phillies, was in the World Series. Christian Javier, start him against the Yankees? I kind of think I would. I think that's very dangerous.

I like what I saw from him in his last star, but the Yankees seems like way too dangerous a time to try. out. Would you start Shane Smith at the Twins? Yes. That is the one I like for Thursday. And the only one I like for Thursday. I'm not going to touch Taj Bradley versus the White Sucks. I need about three months of good Taj

Bradley performance before I trust him. On Friday, Javier Assad versus the Nationals, Martin Perez versus the Tigers, Dean Kramer versus the Dodgers, Ian Seymour versus the Guardians, Michael McGreevy versus the Giants, Jose Soriano versus the A's, Peyton

Toley at the Diamondbacks and Eduardo Rodriguez versus the Red Sox. I think Peyton Tolly stands out. Probably shouldn't be a streamer. I love Peyton Tolly. I was telling Frank yesterday how much I love him. Like I'm ready to say he's my rookie of the year pick for next year. Maybe it'll be famous last words when Arizona knocks him around for six runs.

But that fastball just looked so sinister to me. That fastball looks like it might be like a 70 grade pitch. It's really good. Yeah. It's a great foundation. So I like Tolly at Arizona. I like Soriano against the athletics. I pretty much always like Jose Soriano.

I like Ian Seymour against the Guardians. I like Ian Seymour. There are some good options here Friday. All right. And that is going to do it for Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday. We'll be back tomorrow and we'll probably talk about some sitcom actors tomorrow. We'll see you that. Bye.