Fantasy Baseball Today - What's Wrong With Paul Skenes? Who Is This Dansby Swanson? (7/2 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Dansby Swanson is on a historic run (1:00). ... Who else did damage in that Cubs game (10:35)? ... What's up with Paul Skenes (13:00)? ... News (19:50): Brent Rooker will undergo season-ending surgery. ... Let's fire up the WORRY-O-METER for Peralta, Tolle and Gore (27:52). ... Let's re-rank recent waiver wire SP (35:10). ... Why isn't JT Ginn rostered everywhere (42:18)? ... Hitter fun with arbitrary endpoints (49:46). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens and streamers (59:45).Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters

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 lead. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hello, welcome into fantasy baseball today on Thursday, July 2nd. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Scott White.

Today on the show, you got to fire up the Worryometer for some. pitcher blowups. We're looking at you, Paul Skeens. Dansby Swanson is on a historic run right now. No idea what to do with that. I have fun with arbitrary endpoints for hitters and much more. Let's jump in. All right, Scott, let's start with the positives before we talk about Paul Skeens here.

Dansby Swanson, man. What more can we say? Another three home runs for Dansby, a day after hitting two home runs. He also had 8 RBI in this game after having, what was it in that doubleheader just last week? 11 RBI on the day. An 11 RBI day now has an 8 RBI day. In all, Dan Sby Swanson in his last 13 games, 365 batting average, nine home runs, 29 RBI. Jeez.

And 13 games. He has gone from slugging 316. Let's go back a little further, actually. He was slugging 306 on June 16th. It was just a couple weeks ago. Now he's slugging 431. Wow. Yeah.

And now he's on page for career high. 125 points in 16 days? Yeah. Wow. He's on. pace for a career high in home runs now too by pretty healthy margins. So he's gone from having this like career worst season. Oh is he you know is this the end for this 32 year old shortstop to you know like now now in some ways he's he's on pace for a career season. Now the batting average

is still 210. He has some ground to make up there. But but the point is Danesby Swanson is back to being plenty usable in fantasy. In fact, he was one of my top sleeper hitters for this current week. He's going to be next week as well. He's not quite up to 80% roster ships. But that obviously needs to change. I mean, his track record, you know, he's still on pace for close to 20 steals in addition to the home runs.

It's sorts of things he's done every year. It's just the batting average that's lagging now. and obviously he's making up ground to that too. Now, I talked about how, you know, even when he was at his worst, a lot of the underlying numbers still looked pretty strong, still looked pretty typical for Dan Sbe Swanson. So I was feeling good about his chances of bouncing back.

To some degree, I obviously didn't know he'd go on this insane tear like this. We talked last week about how I acquired him in a dynasty league trade. So obviously he's, I think he's up over 41 points. now for this week because it's a head-down-points league. So, you know, couldn't ask for better timing as far as that goes. Oh, yeah, I'm facing you in the Dynasty League, by the way.

That's fun. Oh, yeah, that's true. Sorry about that. Here's, though I think my favorite part of this whole thing for Dan Svyswanson is this quote from Craig Counsel, Cubs manager, today after the three-homer game. He said, we never have baseball figured out, and I think this tells you that.

He probably went through the roughest patch of his career and on the other side of it is the best stretch of his career. You figure it out. I don't think Dansby could explain it to you either. And I just feel like I feel validated by this quote from Craig Counsel because obviously we get on here every night or morning, if you prefer. And we want to have explanations for things. People demand explanations for things that really are inexplicable.

I mean, a lot of it is just, oh, regression, it happened. You know, like, but that doesn't feel satisfying because that's treating players like, like a, you know, like a computer program or something, like a mathematical law. obviously there are things underlying the regression reasons why I play your struggles for some time and then reason why he heats up for some time and you know could be health related we don't hear about it could be small mechanical things we don't hear about it could be all kinds of things it could it could just be random chance working against him but it is true what Craig counsel says there that like you could try to explain it but most of the time it's just

it's just things need more time you know things need more time to normalize and whatever goes into that there always there isn't always a tidy explanation for it and he's pointing out than a Danesby Swanson's case there isn't yeah and we spoke about this last week with Danesby Swansons it's like you look at his career he he's so consistent year in and year out, right? It's like around 240 batting average, 20 homers, 20 steals. Now he was getting to an age where

you could start to expect a little bit of, you know, offensive decline, but not as bad as it was earlier on this season, right? So, yeah, the overall numbers now have jumped way up for Danes v. Swanson, if we're trying to, I guess, explain what has happened. He's just

hitting the ball a ton harder right now and obviously locked in as a result. His average EV in the 12 games before this, before today, was 93 miles per hour. Obviously, that number's only going to go up after a game like this. I did have a fun stat here as well. 26 RBI in a 10 game span. Only other hitters to do that since RBI became official in 1920.

Joe DiMaggio, Jimmy Fox, Lou Gehrig did it, Back to Back Seasons, and Mel Ott. So whenever you're in a conversation with hitters like that, it's pretty crazy stuff that's going on. legit video game numbers that Dan v. Swanson is putting up. He is 77% rostered on CBS. We are dealing with some shortstop injuries right now, Jeremy Pena, Corey Seeger, both landed on the IL this week.

So Danesby Swanson pretty ideal as a, you know, shallow league shortstop replacement right now. And yeah, my guess is he's, you know, moving back up the rankings. How high will he go? I don't know. It's a pretty loaded position, Scott. It is a loaded position. And, you know, even Dan B. Swanson in his prime, he wasn't like a stud shortstop.

He was a guy who deserved to be started in every league. A guy would flirt with 2020 numbers, but never with or rarely with a particularly helpful batting average. So, you know, I don't actually think he's the best he's ever been. One thing I want to point out, too, about this, at least the last two games with the five home runs. I want to point this out because it's going to come up later. The wind in Wrigley Field the past two days, the Cubs scored 23 runs here on Wednesday, and they scored nine the day before,

but with a bunch of home runs being hit, you know? The wind's been blowing out. It's probably contributed to this. I'm looking at the stats on one of his home runs. It went 397 feet while being hit 102.9 with a 36-degree launch angle. So that's a pretty high home run, right? Right. Am I wrong about that?

That's a pretty steep launch angle for a home run. That is a steep launch angle. But Statcast has it as a homer in 30 of 30 ballparks. Right, because of the distance. Yeah. And I'm sure that was wind dated. I don't know. I didn't see it.

I may be presuming a little too much with that Danesby-Swanson home run. But like, let's see, between the two teams, nine home runs hit in this game and the day before it was two, three, four, five, five for the Cubs and

six, seven, eight, eight, nine, nine. So nine home runs on consecutive days in that Padres Cubs series because of the way, yeah, the way the wind was playing at Rick. field. So, you know, that's something to keep in mind to is, is, uh, and a reason why you don't

want to go crazy in overvaluing Swanson because of the, this awesome two game stretch. But, you know, I can probably get them as high as 16. Maybe. It's tough to get much higher than that, because then you're getting into like stud territory. You got the rookie short stops and all those guys. And, um, look, Boba Shad is not a stud anymore, but, you know, he's coming off a, a, a really good June where he looks like himself again. So you get into those types of conversations. But yeah, Dansby Swanson, on fire right now. I think it also helps that it's just really hot around the country right now.

And it's like we're going through a heat wave. And juice balls, right? Like, juice balls are kind of back. And we spoke about it extensively yesterday, too. There was another tweet from Enosaris where he followed up with Major League Baseball to try and get more information about what's going on. And yeah, they did kind of admit to like a manufacturing thing that's going, anyway, there's more, there's less drag on the baseball, and so they're traveling further.

So I'm sure that also has helped contribute to lots of home runs in Chicago, lots of home runs all around baseball. I do just want to touch on the rest of this game real quick while we're on it. They put up 23 runs, as you mentioned. PCA, new month, same hotness, doesn't matter. Two for four, with a sock in his shoe, his 19th home run, his 21st stolen base of the season. and yeah, he's got the batting average all the way up to 287. His on base is 374.

I think I moved him up to my eighth ranked outfielder. He's back-to-back with Jackson Turyo. So he's been amazing. Sayas Suzuki's picking things up, three-for-five with his 13th home run. Last 24 games for him. 344, six homers, 23 RBI, OPS over 1,0.91.2 average EV. He definitely had a rough stretch in there from probably the middle of May to early June,

but has really picked things back up. Michael Conforto had a huge day as well, hit two home runs, but he just doesn't really play enough, so I don't really think that's, probably doesn't matter too much, right? Scott, Michael Conforto. Well, he might play more with Matt Shaw on the IEL. Matt Shaw was playing more because Moises by Asteros got sent down,

so say Suzuki had shifted over to DH. Conforto has performed well when he's been in the lineup up for the Cubs this year. It's been sparse playing time, but his average exit velocity is up over. Let's see. It's up over 92 miles per hour, 92.5. Yeah.

That's way up from last year. His pull air rate up. His pull air rate also way up from last year's 28%. That's dark red on his baseball savant page. So, like, he's doing what he needs to do to power up again after really disappointing season with the Dodgers. And there may be something too Conforto. I don't know that you need to add him in every five outfielder league,

but there's a path to playing the time right now, and there are some encouraging signs. And then he has a two-homer game here. And who started for the Padres here? That would be Walker Bueller, who was charged with nine earned runs over four innings, four walks, three homers loud. His previous nine starts before this one.

It was a 264 ERA 117 whip. actually had been pitching better. It's not just like he wasn't completely lucky. He was getting ground balls and things. But obviously just ran into a buzzsaw. Just wrong place, wrong time here for Walker Bueller. Let's talk about Paul Skeen's got maybe the worst start of his career at the Phillies. Four innings, eight hits, seven earned runs.

That was a career high. He gave up two home runs in this game as well. Had 10 whiffs on 81 pitches. Obviously not a great number there. Four Seamer performed well here, had six of those ten whiffs, but also noticed the velocity 96.3 miles per hour on the fastball, which according to an article on MLB.com, tied for his lowest in a start in his career.

And on the season, he's averaging 97 miles per hour on the fastball. That is down, 1.2 miles per hour from last year, which, you know, if you're watching Paul Skeen's pitch, you still see 97-98, you might not think too much of it. But, you know, for other pitchers, we would point that out, right? Like, velocity is down. I'm trying to figure out, like, what has gone wrong here for Paul Skeen's last nine starts to 536 ERA, a 140 whip? His stuff plus metric is 99 on the season.

And last year it was 110 as a rookie was 108. I don't really know what to do with that number, Scott, but it is a number and it exists. And obviously, it's much lower than where it normally is for Paul Skeen. So take all of this, this bad start, recent 9th start stretch, stuff plus being down, velocity being down. Where is Paul Skeens on the Worryometer? Oh, I'd put it at maybe like a three. That's as high as I'd go.

I was thinking three or four, yeah. Stuff plus, I think it probably has value with players who haven't broken out yet. But it doesn't correlate that close. with performance I've found. I try not to make too much of it. What I see on the fastball, other than it being down a mile per hour from last year, on average,

the effectiveness is still about the same. Enter the start 189 batting average against whiff rate 29.5%. It was 29.6% last year. So like the fastball is still getting the results it needs to. the reason why I wanted to bring up the wind blowing out in Wrigley field it is something people have been talking about

it was blowing out 12 miles per hour to center field in the Cubs 23 run outburst here on Wednesday it was blowing out 10 miles per hour to center field in this game between the pirates and the Phillies in Philadelphia. And who started opposite Paul Skeens in this game? Zach Wheeler. And what happened to him?

Well, he got knocked around too. True. And everything else looked fine. Like, Zach Wheeler had 22 whiffs, 10 strikeouts. There were four home runs hit in this game between the pirates and the Phillies with the wind blowing out to center field. Three of them were hit less than 100 miles per. hour.

And normally doesn't result in a home run. So I think environment was in play, environmental conditions were contributing to Skeen's rough outing. They contributed to Wheeler, having a lesser outing than he should have. Also, you know, the heat was brought up as a possibility that maybe explains why Skeen's velocity was down a little bit. It was, like you said, the lowest average fastball. velocity of his career.

You know, it was down half a mile per hour from the season average. It wasn't anything crazy. And so, you know, you factor in the wind, you factor in the temperature. It just seemed like a bad day. And there's still, you know, even if, even if Skeens, you know, isn't quite throwing as hard as his first two years, the rest of the data in terms of how his pitches are playing, very strong. He might not finish with an ERA under two again.

It's over 360 now. Okay. He's still going to be really good. Yeah. And even with this velocity, we saw him have a crazy stretch just earlier this season, where I think it was like a seven or eight

start stretch with a one ERA or something crazy like that. So we know he's still capable of doing that. I do think that, again, it's like partially, yes, the heat, the environmental conditions, this baseball too, this kind of juice ball thing that's going on as well. I don't know that there's much actionable if you have Paul Skeens on your team.

I think you just, you know, obviously you roll them out there. If you don't have Paul Skeens, I would try and, you know, send offers 75, 80 cents on the dollar. It probably won't go through, but it doesn't hurt to try. His value has never been less in fantasy than it is today. Yep. That doesn't mean it couldn't get less, potentially. it could, but I don't think it will. I think this is the high point

for his ERA this season. Bold prediction. I've said it before for other pitchers and it's been wrong. Yeah. But I'm saying it again. No, don't say it, Scott. That's like... I'm saying it. It's like the, I don't know, the jinx, the bad jinx here from Scott, the ERA jinx. Let's hope that isn't true.

Dude, want to give a shout out to, man, our guy, your guy, Junior Caminero. Guy just keeps on. in 24th home run. He is homered in six straight and now has nine home runs in his past eight games. He is on an absolute heater. We were, you know, exchanging some photos and videos on X earlier regarding Junior Camerrano, Scott. Who knows? Maybe we'll end today's podcast with the Camerrero song. Always got to tack it on to the end. Can't spare that one minute and 17 seconds. seconds mid-podcast. No, no, no, we can't. There's way too much going on.

Don't forget this time. Yeah, that's true. The last time you said you would, you forgot. I put a note at the end of the rundown to remind me to play at the end of the show. Before we hit our first break, reminder that Scott's prospects to stash are live on the website right now. Check it out. CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball or read about it on the CBS Fantasy app. And we have an FBT Express episode coming out later today discussing said prospects. make sure to check that out as well. Let's take that break, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today. Let's hit the news and notes.

And out of nowhere, we learned Brent Rooker will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a cartilage tear in his left knee, trying to figure out who this would affect on the roster. And the one I kind of landed on Scott for those who play in the deepest of two catcher leagues, Jonah Heim has been playing more for the athletics. He's started seven straight games and has that. actually hit well with them since joining the athletics team. Shay Langleyeris has been, you know, D-Hing more frequently.

So I think that's probably the biggest winner, but that doesn't really matter too much for fantasy. Obviously, losing Brent Rooker, who was like a top 50, top 60 pick in a lot of leagues, pretty just disappointing all around. When he played, he wasn't great, and then obviously season ends here with an injury. No surprise on this one,

but Corey Seeger was placed in the aisle with lower back inflammation. Yesterday, I told Chris, no more, I'm done. Next year, the 80p can be 200, Scott, I'm done. Done. Corey Seeger, done. Hmm. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, there's three months to go. Nope. I'm done. No, it doesn't matter what happens in the next three months. Is he going to play? Is he going to play in the next three months? That would be nice. I suspect he will play some.

Not right now. But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You know, I'm not ready. to say anything as definitive as you're saying. But that's fine. Yeah.

Maybe you'll be right. Sometimes you've got to go bold. Even when he plays, man. It's like the strikeout rate is way up this year. Yeah, he hasn't been good. There are signs of an old Corey Seeger here. That could be what's happening. Or, or the regression just hasn't happened yet.

Look at Danes B. Swanson. Oh, gosh. All right. Well, I will cue this up once again if we get a crazy stretch from Corey Seeger later on in the season. We figured out this, we figured this was coming as well. Connolly Early was placing the IL with left elbow inflammation, apparently dealing with something on the backside of the elbow here.

Scott, if you play in leagues with limited IL spots or no IL spots, do you think Connolly Early is a drop? That's hard to answer definitively. The injuries, you know, elbow inflammation, that's pretty vague. sometimes it can be a quick turnaround. An early had been pitching better, and I think he's good in a general sense. And, you know, you can never have too much starting pitcher help.

I guess if you don't have IL space and it's 12 teams or fewer, let's say. So there's decent talent on the waiver wire. You might be able to justify dropping them then. but as a general policy, I'd rather not drop him. Most leagues, I think, do offer I L.S. So hopefully he could just dash Connolly early there. This one sounds bad. Ryan Helsley felt something in his elbow while warming up in the bullpen here on Wednesday.

Craig Albernaz said Helsley will undergo further testing. And it's especially scary because he went on the IL with an elbow injury earlier this season. So, Scott, if you had to speculate right now, is there something? someone you would add in the Orioles bullpen. Last time, Helsley was down, it kind of felt like it was a mishmash of different players. Rico Garcia's

numbers this year are really good, but they just wouldn't commit to him as the closer. No, they treated him more like the leverage guy, and so, you know, it's kind of helpful since we got a trial run of being without Helsley and we have a better idea what to

expect. The other thing is Garcia, yeah, his overall number numbers are great because he got off to that great start but in June he had a 697 ERA so I don't know that they're going to treat him with the same prominence that they did the last time

Helsley was hurt I'm just checking here because I know Yaneer Canoe had been their best reliever in June but that ended on the 29th when he gave a four runs to earned so I don't think there's an obvious front runner

I think it'll be mixing and matching if Helsley is down and it sounds like he will be. If I had to bet on one guy, I guess Garcia, but that's not with much confidence at all. Yeah, I'm looking through their June numbers now for all the relievers.

Despite that bad outing, Canoe still had a good June. Kittridge had a good June as well. Kegan Aiken was money, but it looks like they use him in like a multi-inning role. It's probably going to be a mix match of like Kittridge and Kanoe and maybe someone else. Tyler Wells has been pitching really well and has been racking up holds, has 11 of them. True. But I doubt he just becomes the closer.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a mix. All right, Moogie Betts was scratched in the lineup with right wrist sorens. Byron Buxton has missed three straight with that right hip. impingement. Vlad Jr. returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday with back tightness. Christian Walker left early with lower back stiffness. I noticed he slowed down in June as well. So perhaps doing the reverse Christian Walker from last year. Really good second half. Not good in the first half this year. He was really good in the first two months. Perhaps he could bounce back. But yeah, bad over the past month or so for Christian Walker.

Matt Chapman was placing the aisle with an abdominal strain. Christian costs was recalled by the Giants. Sticking with San Francisco, Willie Adomis has missed three straight with lower back spasms. Will Smith will remain on the IL through the All-Star break with that neck inflammation, so more playing time here for Dalton rushing. Brandon Nimmo has missed three straight with that AC joint sprain in his left shoulder. The arrangers are expecting Nimmo to avoid the IL. Vinnie Pasquantino will continue his rehab in Arizona to begin July

with the hope of embarking on a rehab assignment before the All-Star break. He underwent Ham A Bone Surgery on June 14th. So, starting a rehab assignment before the All-Star break would be pretty aggressive for Vinnie P. But probably should expect him back sometime in late July, maybe early August there with Vinny Pasquantino. The Blue Jays placed George Springer on the paternity list. He will miss one to three days.

Sounds like Hurston Waldrop will start on Thursday for the Braves, and he's 21% rostered. Scott, what is your, how much of a priority is it to add Hurston Waldrop? Maybe before this start, before, if he has a good one, could maybe cost you some money. Or you might miss out on it, you know? Yeah, I mean, in a 15 team league context where the waiver wire is always so scarce. Obviously, it's a much higher priority. But I would say for the majority of listeners, it's a pretty low priority.

Was encouraging the way Hurston Waldrop finished last year. I do think there's some upside there. But prior to his promotion this year, the little bit of time he spent in the minors 11 walks and 15 and third innings. And then he had four in the two innings he pitched for the brave. So I think he's still going through some stuff. And I'm not expecting these first couple outings to go particularly well for Hurston Waldrop.

I think it'll be, you know, if he does become usable in fantasy, it'll be a slow built up to that. All right. Chris Bubich was scratched from his rehab start and will return to Kansas City for further evaluation. He's been battling shoulder, elbow stuff, setbacks, so it doesn't sound good for Chris Bubich. Matt McLean made his first career start in center field on Wednesday,

and the Astros are planning to activate Christian Javier on Friday, and the plan is for him to pitch out of the bullpen. Let's continue on with the Worryometer here, Scott, and we had a trio of rough outings outside of Paul Skeen's. Freddie Peralta, man, he is going through it as well. another rough outing at the Blue Jays. Four innings, seven hits, five runs, three walks in this one as well.

The fastball velocity was up nearly two miles per hour. It did not matter. It got hit really hard. And over his last nine starts, 665 ERA, a 163 whip. Where is Freddie Peralta on the Wariometer? Probably like a six. I, he might be,

of all the established pitchers who've struggled this year, he might be the one who's confidence, my confidence in him is depleted the most. Because, I mean, for a few reasons, he hardly throws the slider anymore. And that was, you know,

it was recently as two years ago. That was his out pitch, you know? It worked okay for him last year, mixing in some other things instead. But, you know, this year is showing that may not be. the right approach long term, but I don't know that he brings it back.

His outings tend to be short. He's walking a lot of batters. He always has. I mean, it's not like it's a worse walk rate than it's typical. But one thing you could always count on Freddie Peralta for, again, leaning on that slider, was over 10K per 9. It was a great strikeout pitcher.

Less than a strikeout per inning this year. So short outings, lots of walks, underwhelming strikeout rate. I just don't see a lot here that's worthwhile. I haven't buried him in my rankings, but I believe he's outside of my top 40 SP rest of season, which is definitely the lowest he's been in several years. Yeah, I updated the rankings earlier today.

I dropped him down to SP 42. That was even before this start. So the names I have just behind him, Uri Perez, Casey Meis, Reid Detmer's. Would you move Paralta behind any of those three? Yuri Perez, Casey Meis, Reed Detmer's? I would still keep them ahead of those three because they have their own question marks

but I think that's the right range. All right, let's talk about Peyton Toley who had a rough outing here against the Nationals, three innings, seven hits, six runs, three walks, two homers allowed in this one and the Nationals against lefties. Outside of Connolly early the day before actually pitched well against them,

but yeah, they own lefties and they did that again here against Peyton Toley. Last time out, he was amazing against the Yankees. So I was going to say this is a one-off, but there have been a little things that popped up, you know, inefficiency and things like that. It's got overall, I think the arm talent is still really, really awesome here for Peyton Tolly.

But where would you put him on the Wariometer right now? Yeah, I don't know. Maybe, maybe like a five or a six. I don't know that it's quite on the level of Peralta, but it's enough to comment. comment on, I would say. And it's less about this start against the nationals than the general trend he was on. Now, you're right, his previous start against the Yankees was very good.

He had a three ERA for the entire month of June. And looking at the game log, you could say this was maybe his third bad start this year. Like, he's been pretty reliable, but dig a little deeper and he's become far less dominant. recently. Payton Toley had a 13.8% swinging strike rate in his first eight starts, dominant. 9.7K per 9.9. Good, you know. That was the first eight starts. Last five starts, that swinging strike rate is down to 9.1, well below average, and only 7.7K per 9, which is also below average. So, I, I, don't know why Peyton Toley isn't missing bats like he used to, but I think he has to miss bats to be effective and he was kind of getting away with it in June, I felt like.

So, you know, we'll see if he has, starts as bad as this moving forward. Obviously, it was against the top offensive baseball, the nationals. But I have some concerns for Tolly, not enough to drop him or anything. Not yet. Yeah, no. Definitely. But there are some concerns. Would you start Peyton Toley at the White Sox next week?

He's 70% started. I would prefer not to, but it would probably have to be a pretty shallow league where you can realistically decide to do that. I meant to ask you the same question for Freddie Peralta. Of course, like this usually happens, coming off a terrible start, he lines up for two next week. He gets the Royals and the Red Sox. 62% started as Freddie Peralta.

What do you think about that? And those are two really good matchups. I have a hard time believing there's the league where I'd sit, Freddie Peralta. All right, last name on this list is Mackenzie Gore, who really just had one terrible inning against the Guardians.

It was the second inning where he allowed five runs. That was all the damage against him, five runs over five innings. Did have seven strikeouts to one walk, 15 whiffs on 92 pitches, through 63% of his pitches for strikes. you know, you dig in like the whiffs, he threw strikes, the average EV was all right, but I mean, it's just more of frustration from McKenzie Gore.

I don't even know what else to say about him, Scott, but where would you put McKenzie Gore on the Worryometer? Should he be on the dropometer? I don't know. He is the original Jarzard, and he burned you today, and that's all the analysis I care to do on McKenzie Gore now. Unless he loses velocity, I guess that would change the equation. Yeah.

You know, any other little changes that seem it's encouraging or discouraging. It never lasts for long. And I don't know. Is McKenzie Gore the original Charzard or was it Eduardo? I'm sorry. It was Edward Cabrera. I think it was Gore. I think Gore came first.

I think so too. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. 92% roster. Should that number still be that high for McKenzie Gore? I mean, probably not. But it shouldn't be much lower than that.

Obviously, the roster rate for pitchers varies a lot by platform. So I don't know how meaningful that number is to anybody unless they play exclusively on CBS. But just relative to pitchers I value similarly, it seems a little high. Yeah, he's 66% started for next week, McKenzie Gore. He gets to Angels. It's a good matchup on paper. I said the same thing about the Guardians. This is a good matchup on paper,

but it really just comes down to McKenzie Gore himself. And is he on that day? I don't know. You got to wait until that day to find out. Let's check in on some waiver wire starting pitchers. The names that we keep talking about, a lot of those names were here pitching on Wednesday. And a specific trio, who we brought up last week,

Troy Melton, Joey Cantillo, and Tatsuya I. Mai. We'll go from best to worse, Scott. Troy Melton, great outing here, six and a third shotouts, seven strikeouts. against the Yankees, 12 whiffs on 84 pitches. And he didn't have the whiffs in his first four starts, but over his last three, it's now a 14% swinging strike rate for Troy Melton.

Joey Cantillo, he was erratic, but picked up the win here against the Rangers, five innings, two runs, five walks, four strikeouts. There will definitely be starts where he struggles with control. That's always kind of been an issue for him. But he did still continue to throw that curveball a lot, and the velocity remained up. So I think overall still mostly positive there for Cantillo. Tatsui Mae. This is where the positivity ends got awful, awful, awful.

He is the new age Charzard. He has taken over Mackenzie Gore because from one start to the next, Scott, I have no idea what I'm going to get from Tatsuya Emai. I don't think there is a wider range of outcomes from one start to the next on player performance. than with him. If someone tweeted at me today and said, it's like, you're either going to get Jacob de Grom or Chris Paddock.

There's like, there's no in between with Tatsuya Imi, but he had nothing. He recorded four outs, gave up five runs, five walks, two homers loud. I think he moves all the way to the back

of the waiver wire list right now. Yeah, he went from being one of the most exciting pickups to, I think, I think it'd be justified dropping him after a start this bad in most leagues. You know, obviously if it's, if it's hard to get any pitching talent

off the waiver, where you've got to give my a little more time. But, you know, a familiar problem in this one. He went from issuing just one walk combined in his previous two starts. Oh, finally turned the corner here with the control to five walks in his one-and-one-third innings. He threw 40% of his pitches for strikes,

which is... I don't know that I've ever seen a number of that. L.O. Yeah. And you understand why I give the couple home runs if you're pitching behind in the count that much. So I think there's plenty of talent there for Ami, but I've been saying with Trey is Savage

that he can only beat himself. Amai is like an even more extreme version of that. He, he if he doesn't beat himself, there's a lot of upside there. There's a lot to like. There's a lot of strikeout potential. But he so often beats himself.

And, you know, it's, it was such a big step back after those two big steps forward. Kind of a races. It was such a big step back and a race is two steps forward. How about that? Yeah. How about that turn of phrase I just came up with on the spot? I think that's fair. Thoughts here on Troy Melton and Joey Cantell.

Hello. So Melton, yeah, he missed a lot of bats again, 12 whiffs on 84 pitches, seven strikeouts and six in a third. And that's what he was lacking early on, even though he was succeeding. He was a huge bat misser in the miners. Would that ever come around? Seems like it has the last two starts.

What's strange about this start, the velocity was up on everything a little, like half a mile per hour. and remember that's what we were crediting Melton's previous start all the whiffs he got in that. It was always velocity was way up. But it was way up in that start. It was up like two to three miles per hour on some pitch. There was only up half a mile per hour on his pitches in this start.

So he didn't sustain those velocity gains, at least not completely, but he still got the whiffs. He still got the strikeouts against a good Yankees lineup. That excels against left-handed pitch. did I do the thing? They are historically bad over like this seven game losing streak right now. They have- They are slumping.

Falling off the face of the earth. I was just wondering if I did the thing where I was- Yeah, I did it. I did it. And now I'm telling on myself, I was about to call Melton a left-hander. Not a left-hander. He's a righty.

I caught myself, but then I told on myself. So does it really count? We appreciate the transfer. transparency, Scott. Yeah. Yeah. I'm dumb. Anyway.

Jeez. Who would you rather have between the two right now? Troy Melton or Joey Cantillo? I know you said the other day, Cantillo must, must, must. Yeah. Then he walked five. You know, but what's encouraging about Cantillo,

even though he walked five. He was walking more than four per nine coming in. So he walks, guys. He didn't in his previous two starts. but there's no reason to think that was going away completely. What he continued in this start against the Rangers was spamming that curveball, 39% of the time. It wasn't quite as high as the previous two,

which I believe were 50 and 45%. But he continued to lean on that curveball. It was still up more than a mile per hour. His top three pitches were all up more than a mile per hour. So it was throwing harder, leaning on that breaking ball. I think it was continuing the very encouraging trends for Kintillo and he just walked

a bunch of guys and that's going to happen sometimes. So you were asking Cantillo, what are you asking as far as Kintillo? How about you just rank these four? These kind of feel like the four that have emerged lately. It's Trevor Rogers, Cantillo, Cade Kavali and Troy Milton.

I'm still going to put Kintillo at the top of the list because I think you can sink, there's more to sink your teeth into there. There's something you can point to saying, okay, this is why he's getting better. And I always trust that more. So Cantilla won, but Melton has closed the gap quite a bit.

We'll put him two. I think I'm going to go Rogers three, because I really don't know what's going on with Cade Cavali, why his fastball was so dominant in that recent start when it was a bad pitch for him, like a bad pitch. And that's part of why he had been so inconsistent. If we come to find out, you know, next time Mattie dominates with the fastball, too, it might have to change my thinking.

But for now, I'm pretty skeptical of Cavali still. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, I have a few other waiver wire pitchers to ask about. We'll do fun with arbitrary endpoints for a bunch of hitters. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today. And you know what, Scott? It kind of confuses me that J.T. Ginn is just not universally rostered at this point.

because he just beat the Dodgers, despite walking five. I know walks have kind of crept up here every now and then. He has three different starts with five or more walks this season. J.T. Ginn, but over his last 11 starts, 248 ERA 121 whip, doing a good job avoiding hard contact, getting a lot of ground balls, 70% rostered. I don't know. I feel like he should just be rostered everywhere.

Do you agree? I like him. Yeah, I feel like I feel like he's slipped a little from his peak in, what was it, late May, early June, where he was getting a ton of strikeouts to go with all the ground balls, the weak contact. It's looked at a little more ordinary here in recent terms,

but it's still getting the job done. I think he needs to be rostered. Yeah, 70%. That seemed way too low. You're right. Got to get that up. I'm wondering who he faces. this week because I did not.

I have him at the Tigers next week. Ooh. Ooh. It's a pretty good matchup. Might need to add Gint to the sleeper pitchers. Honestly, I didn't think he qualified, and I thought it was too rostered. That's what I thought too.

Yeah. But here we are. J.T. Ganey's pitching well. Some two interesting names that I think could be like beat the waiver wire options here and just kind of get out ahead of this. Ronaldo Lopez looked good. Velocity up here,

got whiffs against the Cardinals back in the Braves rotation. He's only 17% rostered, and he's a SPARP for those who play in points leagues. Shane Drohan, this is a name that we've told you about a few times now, where 5 and 2 thirds, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 78 pitches. That is a 22% swinging strike rate in this outing. He's also a SPARP. Looks like he lines up for two next week. I know the Brewers have either been using a six-man.

Logan Henderson's coming back soon. I think they also have eight games next week, though, so he'll probably have two starts anyway. I don't know, Scott. What do you think about getting out ahead of Shane Drohan and Ronaldo Lopez beat the waiver wire? I do like Drohan. I like that nine of the whiffs came on the fastball.

That's something I've been pointing out with him this whole time, how good of a bat misser his fastball itself is. And I think that is the strongest indicator of upside with the pitcher. If you're going to do the single factor analysis, then can he miss bats with his fastball? There are plenty of good pitchers that don't,

but if you can do that, you got a lot of upside. So 30% whiff rate coming in on that pitch. So really, it's just about, does he get the link? That's been the main thing for me with Drone. Does he offer enough length to be of real use in fantasy?

He went more than five innings in this start, only through 78 pitches. It's not often you're going to get through that many innings on so few pitches. So I don't know that he's cleared that hurdle yet, but does line up for two starts, as you said. And with the eight games, very likely to make them. So I like Drohan, and I would consider more of a priority

than Reynaldo Lopez, who's also in line for two starts. It was encouraging for Lopez. Average 95.1 on the fastball, remember two years ago when he had the ERA below two was averaging 95.5 on the fastball, I believe it was. So it's right there. He got that fastball up right to where it was in 2024. Here's what Walt Weiss had to say about it.

Lopez basically didn't pitch last year. We loved the trends we were seeing, presumably out of the bullpen. And then as his pitch count started to climb as a reliever, he became a feasible option to start. And again, that looked like 2024 to meet tonight. So the Braves seem excited. They seem to think Lopez has recaptures for him.

I'll just say we did this earlier this year. He had a good start and the velocity was up. And we were thinking, oh, maybe he's back. And very soon after that, he wound up in the bullpen. So I don't want to get too comfortable with it. I think we need to see him sustained it over a few starts. But it was an encouraging sign for, Lopez. Scott, do you have any interest in streaming Michael McGruevy next week? Six innings

of two run ball, three strikeouts here at the Braves. He has a quality start in five of his last six outings. I know the underlying numbers do not buy it at all, but it seems like he's been a pretty high floor pitcher, if nothing else, this season. And he makes two starts, it looks like it, against the Brewers and the Braves next week. Yeah, I would consider the Braves a favorable matchup for opposing pitchers right now. They've fallen all the way to the middle of the pack and run scored because their offense was so bad in June. Brewers, you know, they, they remain a really tough matchup. So we got one good, one bad there for McGreevy. He's a quality start machine. I think he's a good choice in points leagues. But, uh, yeah, I think there's too much

ratio risk there for, for categories leagues, probably. Two deeper names, Scott. Any interest in these to Dean Kramer, who looked good in his return. You know, whenever he has that splitter working, he can generate a decent amount of whiffs. And Trevor McDonald, a great outing here at the D-backs, was definitely struggling before this. I look at his individual pitches, and they seem pretty good.

He gets a lot of ground balls. It has not resulted in much success so far, but I don't know. I remain, like, mildly interested in Trevor McDonald. Deeper names, but what do you think about Dean Kramer and Trevor McDonald's? Yeah, I share your interest in Trevor McDonald that I don't want to overstate it because I'm not looking to pick him up anywhere right now.

But there are some good indicators there. So, you know, the last couple years, I think the two of us were saying that about J.T. again, and now he's become a worthwhile fantasy option. So maybe one day Trevor McDonald will wind up there. What I like about him, even prior to this start, 58% ground ball rate is very high. and what he did in this start

was throw a much harder and more effective change-up. Six of the ten whiffs came on that pitch. It was up two miles per hour. So maybe figure something out there with the change-up. He already gets ground balls at a good rate. Let's keep an eye on Trevor McDonald. That's as far as I'll go with it for now, though. Yeah.

I will just point out with Kramer too. I want to keep an eye on Kramer too because you mentioned the splitter. He's been throwing it way more this year. And it has been a very effective pitch. He continued to throw more in this first start back from the IL. So we'll see if that continues for him. If you are in a deeper league and you're in a pinch for next week,

it is risky. But Trevor McDonald looks like he lines up for two against the Blue Jays and the Rockies, both starts in San Francisco. So I don't know that. Matchups are good. Pitcher himself, not sure if he's good. Matchups are pretty good.

All right, let's do some hitter fun with arbitrary endpoints. And Trey Turner, man, he is coming around. Two for five with his 10th home run. Last 14 games for Turner, he's hitting 350 with three homers, 18 run scored two steals, and OPS over 950. Scott is Trey Turner back? Probably. Before I pat myself too hard on the back for getting Dan Sby Swanson

in that trade in the Dynasty League, I should note I gave up Trey Turner. It was a very big trade involving many pieces. Swanson was hardly the top thing, the top prize I was looking at there. But yeah, Turner, it's sort of like Swanson. When you looked under the hood there, sure, he's old and maybe there are things going on there age-wise that are harder to quantify. But when you did try to quantify what was going on with Turner, came up pretty empty. he seems like the same guy and so I suspect

this is regression at work for him too three risers with arbitrary endpoints Sam Antinacci last 22 games for him 338 four homers three steals and OPS over a thousand I have moved him inside of my top 30 outfielders Brandon Marsh last 28 games 322 10 homers four steals

OPS over 950 also comes with a 32% strikeout rate but I have moved to him inside of my top 40 outfielders in both formats, roto and head to head points. And Carson Benj, last 30 games for him, 286, 7 homers, 20 runs, 2 steals, 850 OPS. I have him inside my top 40 outfielders.

Scott, any thoughts on these three risers, Antonacci, Marsh, and Benj. I just wonder if I moved him up to the same range of my own outfield rankings, because I don't really disagree with any of your assessments there. Okay. I got Antonacci 33, so a little behind you. Brandon Marsh.

I'm expecting regression there, but like, especially now that the strikeouts are back up. But there are only so many quality outfielders. He's in my top 40 as well. He is 38th, so it looks like you have each of those guys about five spots ahead of where I do. Binge, I have 45. though I suppose

Rooker is one of the one outfielder I have ahead of him so he's obviously going to have to move up one spot because of that but it's you know I got George Springer ahead of him that's a little questionable

Spencer Steers definitely questionable Jaron Duran is the one I don't know what to do with right now I feel like just dropping them way down but it is risky because you know, we know what the upside could be. Even if his upside is not what he was two years ago, he still was a useful player just last year.

I thought I did drop him down a bunch. Man, he's in two of three months, he has an OPS below 500. It's bad. It's really bad. I don't know if the tool's saved correctly because I feel like I lowered him more. Maybe not.

Maybe. I just blame technology when the fault is mine. I still have him 24th. You have him 40th. but I don't like worry. I haven't had of Burleson, at least in Roto. You know, I think I moved him down a lot more on points than Roto, and I was a little hesitant because of the steals in Roto.

That's probably what happens. Three players since returning that have, look, two of them have looked good. It's a very small sample. Nelvi-Marte, it's kind of a mixed bag. But he hit his fifth home run, 222 games since returning, 2.25, 5 homers, three steals. He's hitting the ball hard and has started 10 of the past 11 games.

So it looks like maybe the Reds starting to show a little bit more trust in Noelvi-Marte. Chase DeLauder in four games since returning has eight hits, three runs, four RBI, and a steal. And Elliot Ramos in his four games since returning four hits, two homers, four runs, and three steals. Scott, how would you rank these, I guess, Waver-Wire outfielderers? DeLotter's not really available in too many leagues, but DeLotter, Noel V. Marte, Elliot Ramos. How would you rank those three? I probably would have to put Marte 3rd.

Let me double check this here. Yeah, I think I'd have to go Marte 3rd. I don't trust the playing time even though it's picked up recently. There's upside there for sure, but I'm going to put him third for now. The other two, I'd be part of the reason I'm putting Marte 3rd also is because I like Ramos's matchups next week so much. I have them as one of my sleeper hitters' giants have the second best hitter matchups. So,

Marte has a lot more upside than Ramos, I think. I guess it's fine if you prefer him over the long haul. If you play in a daily lineup league,

Ramos has three games in Cors Field this weekend, too. So if you want to make him up and use him for that. There you go. DeLotter, I was wondering if,

uh, you know, I was trying to think, okay, he missed time with the bruised ribs. Was that something that was, lingering. It doesn't seem like it was. It was a collision with the outfield wall on June 13th.

He suffered that injury. I just, I bring it up because he was struggling for so long before going on the eye on. He comes back and he's hitting well again. But I don't know, apparently isn't tied to health. All right. Some other waiver wire arbitrary endpoints here. Cody Clemens keeps on hitting for power. Hit his 14th home run. Last 31 games, 252, 10 homers. And OPS over 850 and he's hitting the ball really hard, his expected stats really good during that spend. 56% rostered, first, second, outfield eligible. Dylan Cruz stole his fifth base and last 20 games for him, 278, three homers, four steals, 90 mile per hour average EV.

Other names are a little bit deeper down, but I guess I'll just stop there for a second, Scott. Cody Clemens and Dylan Cruz. just five outfielder leagues for now on those two? Yeah, for now, I guess. Dylan Cruz, I think, is trending really well. I don't think the power production has been such that there's a lot of urgency to add him in three outfielder leagues, but I do like the trend he's on.

I think he could get there soon. One name I wanted to mention that I've seen you don't have in the rundown, And he's been widely rostered in CBS leagues all season, but I think that's kind of an aberration. It's Mickey Moniac who went three for four double triple home run. So missed, was a single away from the cycle, Mickey Moniac.

And he had been struggling since coming back from the IEL, but there was a good article in MLB.com about how he had gotten in some bad habits contending with the ankle tendonitis that put him on the eye. I.L. It was his right ankle. That's his front foot when he's hitting. And he had been, the way he was shifting his weight had changed because he was favoring

that ankle. And it went into the process of trying to get out of that bad habit. And it seems like he got out of it with this huge game on Thursday. Or, sorry, Wednesday. So the Rockies are on the road all of next week after a full week at home. You may not want to use Moniac. Five outfit or leagues, though, you probably do. Yeah, and it's a good point you bring about other websites with Moniac.

Only 36% rostered on Yahoo. And I think that is probably the best place to use him because a lot of those are head-to-head daily lineup leagues and you play Moniac, whatever, he's at home, or even on the road against a right-handed pitcher, like maybe you use him. But having that optionality with Moniac in a daily lineup league just feels like the best way to utilize his skills.

Three deeper names here. Got Nasim Nunez. He is on the board. His first home run of the season. Might be the first home run of his career. Probably is. Last 233 games. 333.

A homer, 10 steals, OPS over 850? I don't know. He's hitting. Cedric Mullins last 35 games. I feel like I bring up Cedric Mullins every other day. I don't know why. 287 homers, five steals, and OPS over 800.

And Trevor Larnick, last 13 games for him. 431, two homers, 12 steals. 12 RBI, not 12 steals. That would be crazy. He leads off against right-handed pitchers. He does not play against any lefties at all. These are deeper names, Scott, but do you have any interest in the scene Nunez,

Cedric Mullins, or Trevor Larnick? Only special situations, I would say. You know, Larnik, Larnick, I've always liked the skill set. It just hasn't translated to enough production to count in fantasy. And he hardly plays against left-handers. So I think this far, into his career, there isn't much we can cling to here.

Nune is obviously a steel specialist and that's it. And Mullins, I guess Mullen strikes me as the most useful. But I can't say I have a lot of confidence in him, even though he's been hitting well lately. Nassim Nunez, I must apologize. Hit his first home run of the season. He had four home runs in 39 games last year. Where did that come from?

I was not expecting to see that. That's baseball season. That is. Scroll it on down, getting into the leftovers here on the hitting side. James Wood looking to bounce back in July after a down June. He went two for four with his 22nd home run. He is on pace for 40 homeowners, 138 runs scored, 100 RBI, and 233 steals. That would be awesome.

Ozzy Albee's two for four with his 13 home run. Solid season for him. I wish he would run a little bit, but I'm getting a little greedy there with Ozzy Albies. And new month, same Hunter Goodman. Hit his 27th Homer and now has six home runs in its past six games. Anything on this trio? Nothing much to add, really. All right.

Pitching leftovers. And we mentioned earlier, Zach Wheeler. He's human after all. Four and two thirds, nine hits, four runs. still had 10 strikeouts, 22 whiffs on 104 pitches. Anything to see here, Scott, or just bump in the road,

weird weather, wind blowing out situation? Yeah, that's it. I think we basically covered it. He missed so many bats that I could give him a pass for everything else on top of the sort of the oddities of the game there.

Again, that was Wheeler facing up head-to-head with Paul Skeens, and we went into, we went into that already. Yeah, just to highlight how weird it was, it was a season high 10 strikeouts for Zach Wheeler, also a season high nine hits in that game against Zach Wheeler. So just kind of weird, all around there for him.

Corse Field, speaking of weird, Max Meyer, took his first loss of the season here, six innings, five runs, only one of those was earned. There was an error behind him in the fifth inning, which extended the inning. Then following that, there was a two-run triple, a two-run homer. So, I mean, at least the runs were unearned here, Scott.

But, yeah, first loss of the season for Max Meyer. I kind of just think it's mostly a course field thing here. Yeah, he's really good. I'm not concerned. Two bouncebacks. Shane O. Mack. I do not have his sound drop loaded up. Sorry about that.

Shane McClanahan looked great after the extra time off. Six shut out any. four strikeouts, zero walks. He did that at the Royals. Don't get fooled by the six innings. It was still just 69 pitches here for McClanahan. And Will Warren, five in a third, two runs, seven strikeouts to zero walks.

Notice a pretty big change in this one, no pun intended. He used his change-up a lot more, and it was really good for Will Warren. Anything on him and Shane O. Mack? Yeah, the change-up thing with Will Warren caught my attention as well. It's 29% usage versus 9%.

So it was a very minimally used pitch. And it got so many of the whiffs in this start. Entered with a 171 batting average against. So it was just screaming to be used more, and Will Warren used it more and snapped out of a pretty rough four-start stretch while doing that. So hopefully, hopefully it's a key.

to getting his season back on track. Would you start these two next week? Will Warren at the Rays and at the Nationals? And Shane O'Mac, home against the Yankees, home against the Mariners? I think McClanahan everywhere, since these last two starts were so good.

Will Warren, probably just points leaks. And last name on this list, where are you on Tage Bradley? Five innings of one-run ball, 11 strikeouts here against the Astros. but only had 10 whiffs on 97 pitches still gave up some hard contact in this one. The velocity up, that was kind of interesting.

But where are you right now? The last three starts have looked better for Todge Bradley. I'm skeptical, big picture. Smaller picture encouraged, if that makes sense. The main thing that encourages me is he's gotten his splitter usage back to where it was before the I-Sstand when he was getting such great results. He was throwing that splitter.

closer to 20% of the time came back from the IL and had a 607 ERA in his first I didn't write down how many starts it was. A handful of starts had a

607 ERA was thrown that splitter only about 10% of the time. So cut its usage in half. Last two starts has gotten it back up. Actually, it was 23% in this one. It just seems like it's kind of a linchpin for him. And

it was certainly the results back. back it up. I still think his best starts are a little too good to be true. But I think Taj Bradley you know, got to have him rostered again with the way he's looked to the last couple outings. And I think he's someone that

you would want to use next week against the Guardians. Again, I'm going to keep picking on that matchup. Didn't work for McKenzie Gore. And you know what's funny? It's like, Taj Bradley is definitely in that Charzard category too. He is someone that could go out and have a huge start. He can also just

rip your team apart. He could. Yeah, that's true. That's what the game log shows. There may be a method to the madness, though, with the splitter usage. So that's part of what makes McKinsey Gore so frustrating is like it just comes out of nowhere, you know, and it doesn't seem like there's anything behind it.

Just some starts, he's great, some starts he's not. The call to the bullpen for the Tigers. Drew Anderson was going for the two-inning save, but he ran into trouble in the ninth. up two runs to tie the game. He took his fourth blown save. Interestingly enough, they opted not to use Kenley Jansen. And I saw Jansen warming up in the 10th inning of that game. So he's, he's coming off, I think, a blown save or a loss in extra innings, Kenley Jansen. And he just hasn't been as good this year. So something to watch with the Tigers bullpen. Kader Montero wound up with the win. He

threw two hitless innings in extras with three strikeouts. For the Brewers, Trevor McGill got the ninth with a two-run lead. He allowed a hit, but struck out one for his 12th save, and he just looks like the closer for the Brewers. Once again, he's like inside my top 15 relievers, I think, in category leagues, rightfully so. He's looked really good. For the Rockies, Jimmy Hergett got the eighth inning with a three-run lead facing the heart of the Marlins lineup. He threw a clean inning. It was the lefty Brennan Bernardino, who got the ninth and picked up his first save of the season. Rocky's bowl. Open.

And then for the Giants, Caleb Killian struck out two for his in the ninth inning for his seventh save. Despite that recent blowup, they just keep going to Killian. So I'm just going to keep thinking it's him for now. Yeah. I mean, as much as as much as the Giants have any closer. Yeah. What size leagues do you think Killian needs to be Rossvin's got like 12 team category

leagues or deeper as like a third closer? That's probably the shallowest I would be rostering Killian N. Yeah. Would you take him over any of Yo Injries Gomez or Alex Lang? No. I agree. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we have Jared Jones at the Phillies, Slate Cicone against the White Sox, Hurston Waldrop against the Cardinals, Ian Seymour at the Royals,

Stephen Colac against the Reyes, Walmart Arania at the Padres. Nope, Walmart Arrani at the Mariners. and Roki Sasaki is home against the Padres. He faced them last time out. I know it's a good matchup, but he was really, really bad in that start. So what do you think about streamers on Thursday? Seymour's number one.

It's putting a lot on his most recent start, but there was a lot to like about it, and we're picking from bad options here. So we're going to go with Seymour for sure. Is Sasaki the best choice? I didn't want to put him in my sleep. sleeper pitchers, you know, the weekly, the weekly article. I think I would put Seymour and Arania ahead of Sasaki, but he's probably,

yeah, I could go with that. Probably third on this list, I would say. Yeah, I agree. On Friday, we have Andre Palante at the Cubs. Trevor Rogers is at the Reds. Anthony Kay at the Guardians, Christian Scott at the Braves, Jake Bennett at the Angels, Jack Perkins against the Marlins. I think I would go with Jake Bennett.

at the Angels. Hope he gets a lot of strikeouts against that lineup. Everyone else is a stretch. Probably Jack Perkins against the Marlins, though he hasn't been very reliable in Anthony Kay at the Guardians, though I don't think he's very good.

What about Rogers? Trevor Rogers. Oh, yeah. In Cincinnati. Cincinnati is not hitting right now. Obviously, it's a scary place to pitch, but I think I would be okay. Yeah, probably have to do Rogers second behind Bennett. Yeah, I think so. I think I probably go Bennett, Rogers, and then don't love any of the third options.

Palante has pitched well, but the Cubs lineup is on fire right now. Probably would choose Anthony K. as a third, but don't feel great about that one. All right, we are going to wrap there. Scott, I wish you happy 4th of July. This is your last podcast. I won't see you again before the 4th of July, so hope you enjoy it. Any big plans coming up? What are we got? Same to you. We are as a family, the 4th of the 4th. of us. We are going tubing in Brevard, North Carolina. Nice. Yeah. I'm trying to, I don't even know what river it is. It looks like Googling it now. Looks like the French Broad River, which I didn't even know was a river. I went tubing once in Helen, Georgia, in my youth with my family.

I was probably like 11, 12, something like that. That was the chat. of Hoochee River. And I'm not into a lot of outdoor activities. I did a lot of outdoor activities when I was young because I was in Boy Scouts. But, you know, the interests never really took off for most of them. But that was one of like the funnest trips I remember going on with my family as a kid. It was that tubing trip in Helen Georgia. I'm looking forward to it.

My oldest is about the same age I was then. And hopefully, hopefully we can make some. memories. Very nice. Very nice. All right, we are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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