Fantasy Baseball Today - Wisdom Double Dong, Latest Pitcher Injures & Buy-Low Hitters! (4/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

Well, we have more pitcher injuries (1:00). ... Patrick Wisdom has five homers over his last four games (7:48)! ... Cody Bellinger is doing some interesting things (14:53). ... The Pirates beat up on the Rockies (20:00). ... Add Jorge Soler and Josh Lowe (25:17)? ... Hayden Wesneski bounced back in a big way (30:30). ... News (37:07): Fernando Tatis is back in San Diego. ... Should you buy-low on these hitters (44:35)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates, daily streamers and Team Name Tuesday (50:38)! Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  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, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Raise your hand if you started Patrick Wisdom. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, April 18th. Frank Stamphle joined by Scott White.

Today on the show, we're going to recap all of Monday's action. Unfortunately, more pitching injuries to talk about Team Name Tuesday. You bet you, we are going to get to it. Make sure to like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating. It really helps, and we really do appreciate it. Scott, before we get into the Players of the Night, just want to have a quick conversation about pitcher injuries and the latest injuries at that.

The biggest news from Monday was that Jacob de Grom, left his start with right wrist soreness. He had thrown four no-hit innings before that, so when he doesn't come out for the fifth, obviously starts sounding the alarm. The Rangers, of course, called it precautionary. Which, to their credit,

I feel like they have been consistent because they have really like held Jacob de Grom with kids gloves so far. Like going back to spring training, they've been very cautious with him. So I think that's pretty consistent with what they've done so far. Corbyn Burns left

his start in the sixth inning and was grabbing the left side of his chest. I haven't seen an update on that yet, but he was pitching well before he left that start. Five and a third, two runs with three strikeouts. And then Hunter Green also left Monday start after taking a comebacker off the shin. He was diagnosed with a right tibia contusion. X-rays were negative and Green said afterwards that he hopes to make his next start. So that's the latest guy. We've got DeGrom.

We've got Burns. Hunter Green, obviously, that's just kind of, that last one's kind of just a a freak occurrence that can happen every day in baseball. But someone tweeted at me and asked, do we know anything about the pitch clock, potentially affecting injury so far, or if injuries are up? And my initial response was,

I feel like we need more time. I feel like we need more data. Every year there are so many injuries that happen in April. Maybe it's just because the injuries have happened to such big name pitchers that it just, it feels heavier, it feels harder this year to get by. But any thoughts on the latest injuries?

and kind of what's going on in baseball right now? I guess I'll answer the general question first, and we don't have a lot of data at the major league level. That's true. But what people keep forgetting is that these rule changes were instituted years ago in the minors. So there's years worth of data from the minor leagues. And what MLB said before they even started, the season even started when they introduced these rules to the MLB audience,

is that their research, their data, again, a much larger sample of data than what we were dealing with here, shows that it had no effect on injuries or velocities for pitchers in the minors. Now, I'm taking their word for it. I haven't reviewed the study myself, and, you know, it's come, it's, it's, it's become sort of like a, a cliche, you know, know, you get these news reports, study show X. And if you actually look into the study, it's like, okay, but it was a BS study. So why are we giving it any credence, you know? So I don't know the methodology or any of the details of the study.

I'm taking MLB's word for it. So there's that. But I also don't know that injuries are actually up. And I want to know how to figure that out either. This is the sort of observation I usually wait for somebody. somebody who knows how to figure it out to tweet out at some point. And, oh, that's interesting. I can tell you that I was putting together my IL stash rankings for the first time this year.

Periodically, over the course of the season, I release IL stash rankings. You know, just for instances where you have a lot of injured players and you have to prioritize who to put in those IL spots or whether, you know, you need to drop a player who's injured, whatever. I come out with those periodically. And it's no deeper than it usually is in terms of relevant fantasy players. You know, I don't list every single player who's on the IL, but the cutoff is at a similar point.

So I'm not sure injuries are actually up that much. It's just something that we tend to feel every year because we imagine everybody's going to stay healthy and there's going to be no problems at all. And of course, that's not true. So those are the two generic points to make there. Getting into the specifics, I would rate these three pitching injuries today, rank them in order of concern. I would go Corbin Burns number one, Jacob deGrom number two, and Hunter Green number three.

And Corbin Burns is a distant number one. Corbin Burns is the one. I look at the way he reacted when he felt, whatever he felt, it seemed to be in. in the chest area. That's what he was grabbing. He had an immediate reaction calling out the trainer, and I don't know if it's like a strained pectoral, or I don't know, I can only speculate.

But his reaction and the nature of what the injury appeared to be, that one could potentially be a lengthy IL stent. I don't think Green's going to be. He says he's going to make his next start. It's only a contusion. Okay, fine. De Grombs, I'm not sure about, because wrist injuries for de Grom,

like that's not normally what we're concerned about with him. It's not normally what we're concerned about with any pitcher. And so I don't really know how to respond to that. The Rangers say it was precautionary and, okay, hopefully. I think we just have to wait for more information there. But I'm imagining if it's any absence for DeGrom, it'll be pretty short term. And it may not be an absence at all.

How about this, Scott? And I know everyone's dealing with injuries right now, but on my head to points Tout Wars team, I drafted Carlos Sordaun and Musgrove in the hopes of stashing them. You know, all right, the first couple of weeks might be rough, but I'll get them back. Hopefully everything will be all right.

I also drafted Luis Severino, and I have Corbin Burns. Oh, man, it's not looking too good right there in terms of the injuries. One more point on the, just your general take on pitcher injuries right now. I had the same reaction as you, and whoever I was talking to on Twitter,

apologies, I should have wrote down who. But they mentioned that pitchers are obviously older in the majors than they are in the minors. And, you know, they're very routine-based. And, you know, obviously could be more susceptible to injury because, so, like, this study doesn't really pertain to pitchers in the majors because they are obviously older. And you throw harder in the majors, too. So, I mean, I think those are two points to consider. But obviously, we're really, we're not going to know for sure until probably not even by the end of this season. This probably takes like years worth of data to know whether or not it actually affects injuries.

So it's possible that the pitch clock is kind of throwing pitchers off a little bit. But as we learn more, we'll continue to let you know. Let's get into Monday's action of Scott and we'll start off with some oh my goodness gracious players of the night. Holy cow. How about that? How about that? A little Harry Carey because Scott, we've got two cubbies that we'd like to talk about. and I'm going to kick us off.

I want to lead with Patrick Wisdom, who went three for five with a double dong and has now homered in four straight games, has five homers during that time. He is up to eight home runs total that's tied for the league lead with Pete Alonzo. He's batting 288. He's got 13 runs, 14 RBI.

And up until just recently, the strikeout rate had been looking better, but as of Monday's action, the strikeout rate is now 32%. That's very Patrick Wisdom-esque. He's hitting the ball very hard, 94.6 average exit velocity, a 16% barrel rate. That was entering Monday's action.

I assume those two numbers are only going to go up after this game. Some interesting numbers under the hood, too. His in-zone contact is up this year, and his swinging strike rate is actually down. So maybe making some adjustments, I think we have enough of a track record to know. Patrick Wisdom's going to strike out a lot. But if he keeps some of those adjustments up,

maybe he doesn't strike out as much as he has in years past. He is 55% rostered Patrick Wisdom, 25 plus home runs each of the past two years. And, you know, he's one of these guys that can get hot, Scott, and, you know, he can, he can carry you in terms of power. He's also probably going to get really cold at some point, too. Yes, that's true. And, you know, you make the point about how the strikeout rate has suddenly spiked again for Patrick Wisdom to the very high levels where we're used to seeing it. And I mean, that just kind of speaks to the stage of the season we're in. Strikeout rate is something that normalizes quicker than most stats.

And yet we're still dealing with such a small sample that we can see huge fluctuations from day to day or certainly from week to week still. So like what would Patrick Wisdom have to do if he's going to be a guy who strikes out more than 30% of the time? what would he have to do differently to become a true impact player in fantasy? Well, I mean, he would have to maintain something close to this. Remember how last week I was saying Austin Hayes had a barrel rate four times what he usually has? And so it's probably just an indication that he's hot. Well, Patrick Wisdom's barrel rate is about the same as Austin Hayes in the early going. It's over 20%, verging on 25%.

But Patrick Wisdom, to begin with, has a much higher barrel rate. He barrels the ball more consistently than Austin Hayes does. So it's only twice as high as normal for him. I don't think he can sustain where it's at right now. But if there's enough small improvements, you point out that he's swinging and missing less in the zone, and what else was it plate discipline-wise for Patrick Wisdom?

He's making more in-zone contact and his swinging tricrate rate was down entering Monday. Yeah. And again, we're dealing with a small sample. It's more likely to normalize than not. but he could be a higher, he could still be a really high strikeout guy, but if, you know,

looking at kind of the minutia of plate discipline, he makes enough small improvements there that he's able to barrel up the ball more consistently, then maybe he can be one of those 30% strikeout guys who, you know, hits somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 and with enough home runs to make him worthwhile. I will need to go there with wisdom. I'm just going to recommend him as a hot hand play

for now at a weak position, third base, and we'll see where it goes from there. Sometimes hot hand pickups early in the season become season-long plays, you know? Wisdom's going to provide you with home runs. Will he back closer to 200 than 250? Probably. But I'm not ruling out the possibility

that maybe this turns out to be a career season for him. And the same thing that we said about Austin Hayes when he was going off is that he was going up against the Oakland A's. And that's exactly who Patrick Wisdom was facing on Monday. So you take that with a grain of salt, but he also hit three home runs over the weekend against the Dodgers, which is a much better team and a much better pitching staff.

So somebody's kind of the same spot as Patrick Wisdom, who plays for the Oakland A's. And I was regretting we didn't talk about him after the weekend he had is, Brent Rooker, Brent Rooker of the A's this weekend. He, well, not even just this weekend. Like if you go back, for the year,

for the year, Brent Rooker is batting 324 with four home runs. A lot of that production has come recently. And he's a very like Patrick Wisdom type player, right-handed corner man who put up big power numbers throughout his minor league career, but it's taken him until about age 30 to get an honest look in the majors. And he has had big strikeout issues in the past.

He's getting his regular, chance with the A's because, I mean, they got to play somebody, right? And he's delivering on it. And unlike Patrick Wisdom, Brent Rooker's strikeout rate is still down much lower than where we've seen it in the past. And he hits the ball very hard. Again, huge power numbers throughout his minor league career. And I think somebody worth watching, because you know he's going to continue to get opportunities with A's as long as he's hitting. He's an outfielder where everybody in five outfielder leagues could use some more help there. So that's kind of a deeper option.

Like if we've already missed out on wisdom and you're looking for cheap power, I think Brent Rooker is somebody to bring up. How about Patrick Wisdom versus J.D. Davis, Scott, because I feel like that's a very similar conversation right now. Yeah, Davis is a lot more available than Wisdom. And I have more faith in Davis's ceiling. As I said before, like he was one of my favorite breakout candidates coming into 2020. In 2019, as a semi-regular for the Mets,

he, you know, if we could argue, he actually broke out then, and he just never, he just could never get it going after that, ended up with the Giants. But the Giants have a track record for reclaiming these veteran retreads. They've done it many times in recent years. And Davis could be the latest example of that. His average and max exit velocity has both been 85th percentile, and he's getting to play regularly for them.

Something he, after that 2019 season, and something he didn't really get to do with the Mets. So in 2019, J.D. Davis hit 307, 22 homers, 895 OPS for the Mets. And we haven't seen that since. He's showing signs of reclaiming that form now. Okay. I will disagree with you that I'll take Patrick Wisdom. I think it is close between those two.

But I just trust the Cubs more, I guess, in terms of the playing time. I know that J.D. Davis is playing now, but I don't know, man. Like the Giants just feel like they flip things on a dime. So I'll take Patrick Wisdom there. Let's take with the Cubs, Scotty, and you're, oh, my goodness gracious player of the night. I'm going to go with another cub. I'm going to go with one we're all more familiar with, and that's Cody Bellinger. Cody Bellinger is now batting 310 for the season.

How do you like that? Cody Bellinger, 300 hitter after a 5-for-5 performance here against the A's. And I actually picked him up in one of my shallowest lease because it was the only lease he's available, and he's close to 80% rostered right now. But I actually picked him up yesterday and started him for this week because I liked some of what we were seeing. He had hit in six straight games up to that point.

It's now a seven-game hitting streak with a five-hit performance. For the year, he's up to three home runs, three stolen bases. His strikeout rate, Cody Bellinger, is 13.8%. And I just pointed out with Patrick, Wisdom that, you know, it's still so early in the season, that impressive strikeout Rayfer Bellinger could escalate very quickly.

But unlike Patrick Wisdom, we've seen him strikeout. We've seen him be about a 15% strikeout guy in the past. And that was when he was at his best. And as has been the case for Cody Bellinger, each of the past few years, he made major mechanical changes this offseason. And you can never be sure if the latest round of them is going to be what Locker him back in. But I think the change of scenery helps.

Normally we don't like a player leaving the Dodgers. We like him going to the Dodgers. But it clearly wasn't working with the Dodgers. And maybe a new set of eyes on him has helped him to recapture some of his lost form. He's still very athletic. He still can run fast. So you know he's going to be a contributor in steals, particularly in this environment. It's just a question of how much he hits.

So far, so good on that front. And I think the upside is enough that if you can't make a play, play for Cody Bellinger. Again, it's not a high probability play, but it's worth making, given the upside. Yeah, the plate discipline was instantly what stood out to me for Cody Bellinger so far. He's got three homers. He's got three steals. The quality of contact is, it's kind of what pushed me away. I mean, 86.4 mile per hour, exit velocity so far, 6.7% barrel rate. Maybe that goes up after today. I didn't actually look to see how many hard hits he had in this game. But look, five for five is five for five. And he did.

that with a lefty on the mound too in Kyle Muller. He was only one for 14 versus left-handed pitching entering Monday night. So nice little good sign there for Cody Bellinger. In terms of quality of contact, I will point out, Cody Bellinger has already hit at least one ball harder than he hit either of the previous two seasons. He already's hit 108 miles per hour. That didn't happen for Cody Bellinger either of the previous two years. Yes, the average exit velocity is low,

but I think that's a stat that can be misleading this early in the year. I noticed Chris Bryant actually entered today average exit velocity in the one percentile Chris Bryant. You couldn't

really have a worse average exit velocity than he had this season. But you know what he did today? Chris Bryant, he hit how many balls? Chris Bryant hit four balls harder than 94 miles per hour. So I doubt he's in the first

percentile for average exit velocity anymore. And for Chris Bryant, I mean, he's someone who routinely has lower average exit velocities, but he's been a productive player whenever he's healthy. And so far, that's the case. He looks, I think he's only got two home runs so far. He hit his second here on Monday, but the batting average has looked very good.

Just stay healthy. That's what we need most from Chris Bryant. Let's give a shout-out to Nico Horner, too, who went two-for-five in that game with an RBI, a walk. three runs scored and picked up his ninth stolen base already of the season. And I think it was you, Scott, who kind of just threw out the comp before the season that we could get like a Tommy Edmund type season out of Nico Horner.

I think that's possible with an even better batting average, like 2, 80, 10 homers and like 30 steals with a bunch of runs scored. It kind of looks like that's the way that things are trending right now for Nico Horner. Yeah, soft too nice. And unlike Tommy Edmund, he bats lead off. Existently. True. So you prefer to see that.

Like, he might be preferable to Tommy Ed. But I'm not ready to say that yet, but it's, they're not so far apart in terms of ability that it's crazy to think Horner could be the better fantasy option of the two this year. All right. Let's take our first break here. And when we return, we'll talk about an, oh, my goodness gracious game. The Pirates stomped out the Rockies. We'll do that here on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back.

And make sure to download and follow our five minutes. in a podcast if you aren't already. That's Fantasy Baseball today in 5. If you're watching us live on YouTube, we've got a QR code in the top right corner so you can just take out your phone, take a picture of that, and that will send you to where you can actually do those things.

Download and follow FBT in 5. The Pirates beat the Rockies 14 to 3 on Monday. The Pirates are 10 and 7 so far. They've been scrappy and I feel like they're kind of inspired, I guess, following the O'Neill Cruze. injury. They're playing well. So I wanted to give them another shout out. But what actually happened in this game? Kyle Freeland, the regression game. For everyone who picked him up on a two-star week, he got up to 75% rostered, Scott. And I know that was not via your recommendation, but

I guess people were looking at the volume there. He allowed nine runs, seven of those earned over two and two-thirds. And I will very quietly raise my hand for that as well because... Oh, come on, Frank. I followed in my dad's footsteps, and I, I was chasing the volume in Tout Wars this week. It's a head toad points league. I think I still wound up with like negative 12 fantasy points. So whatever, I deserve it for starting Kyle Freeland. How did the Rocky score all those runs?

Brian Hayes went two for four with three RBI. Andrew McCutche and two for six with his third home run. G. Juan Bay went one for four with two RBI, three runs and his fifth steal. And I think all three of those names are kind of interesting right now, Scott, because Brian Hayes hitting the ball really hard. his average launch angle is way up. I mean, we're talking about three times as much as it was last year. 14.9 was the launch angle entering Monday.

Last season, it was 5.2. The expected stats look really good for Cabrion Hayes. The one thing I wish he was doing more of so far was pulling the ball. He's still not pulling the ball very much, but man, he is hitting it really hard. It looks very encouraging for Ki-Bryan Hayes. Andrew McCutcheon just looks like he's playing some inspired ball as well right now.

3-08 batting average, three homers, three steals, more walks and strikeouts, hitting the ball hard, only 33% rostered. And based on that plate discipline, Scott, I think you can make a case that, look, if you need an outfielder in a points league, I think McCutche might be worth it. Yeah, no, he has been very hot to begin the season, and maybe he is inspired being back with the pirates, the team where it all began, the team when he was his very best and won a league MVP, not so. long ago.

Then again, he is 36 years old, and it kind of was a long time ago. Right? Like, when's the last time Andrew McCutcheon has been a true impact player in fantasy? It was probably his last full season with the Pirates, 2017. I think it's fine to look into him as a hot hand play, but I think it's a mistake to count on Andrew McCutcheon to be. you know, a quality starter for you all season long. You know, he showed glimpses, though, even last year.

The batting average has been low, but 17 homers, eight steals. It's not nothing. And then in 2021, 27 home runs, six steals. I don't know. I mean, you know, if he can continue to make contact at this rate, maybe hits for a little bit of a higher batting average than the past couple of years. That is Andrew McCutcheon. I will continue to bet against the 36-year-old who hasn't been an impact player in six years.

Come on, Scott. Let me have this. Growing up, you know, when I first started playing fantasy, it was at the time when McCutcheon, I started playing in, what, 2008 or nine? I don't know, when I was in high school. McCutcheon and Justin Upton were like the hottest prospects, right? So I started playing around fantasy around the time that they came up

and they kind of became superstars before my eyes. So it's just been really fun to watch their kind of careers develop here. And I'll always have a soft spot for Andrew McCutcheon. J-Huan Bay, anything there, Scott. He's hitting 220 so far, not walking very much. 14 strikeouts at the 26% rate. He's hitting the ball kind of hard for like a middle infield type. 88.6 average exit velocity.

35% rostered, and again, he does have five seals. I don't think there's a lot here. I think he'll make, if he continues to play close to every day and his hitting hasn't necessarily justified that so far, but it is the pirates. And so maybe Bay will. If he continues to play close to every day, he'll make a relevant contribution in stolen bases. But I just think stolen bases are so much easier to get now that you probably won't have to resort to a specialist on the level of Gwan Bay.

And I'd rather look into other options if possible. Did you have any thoughts on to Brian Hayes before we move on? It's an interesting observation. his launch ankle being way up because that was you know, kind of the surface level analysis, oh look at how hard he's hitting the ball

if he just put it in the air more. It's only resulted in one home run so far. Even great exit velocities, even with him elevating like he has. And maybe that's just a small sample fluke, but maybe the average launch angle itself is the small sample fluke. You know, it's hard to say at this point.

And given his history and the continual disappointments therein, I need to see more from Kibrian Hayes before I'm going to buy in that hard. All right, let's talk about a few waiver wire hiters. Jorge Soler hit a pinch hit, go-ahead home run on Monday night. And it was his fifth home run of the season. He is crushing the ball early on. 95.8 average EV, 25% barrel rate. His expected numbers look fantastic, just a 21% strikeout rate.

still only rostered in 48% of leagues. I think people see the actual batting average Scott kind of lagging behind and they don't trust it yet with Jorge Salare, but he is doing some really, really nice things right now. Josh Lowe is also doing some nice things. Two for four with his fourth home run, he is batting 372, and he has just eight strikeouts

in 46 plate appearances. That is a 17% strikeout rate. Last year, that was the problem. 33% strikeouts as a rookie. Looks like he's worked on some things. He's come back. He's still not hitting the ball all that hard, but he is making the most of his opportunity right now.

Let me put Jorge Soler and Josh Lowe in the same category as Andrew McCutcheon. Scott, how would you rank those three outfielders if you need to add somebody? Salair would be first, followed by Lowe and then McCutcheon. If it was, I'm going to stash this guy in the hopes he turns into something big. If it was I needed an immediate play right now, I would probably go McCutcheon over low. since Lowe is not playing against left-handers, and that obviously lowers his utility for fantasy.

If he keeps hitting like this, maybe it'll change. He has been impressive, particularly keeping those strikeouts at bay. Like half the strikeout rate we saw from him last year, basically. So I'm definitely interested in what Josh Lowe is doing, but it's hard to actually put him in your lineup with as much as he's sitting. Let's talk about Josh Young, who went one-for-four with his third home run, and it was a moonshot, 108.9 off the bat, 441 feet. And so far this season, Young is batting 288 with 17 home runs, 17, 17 strikeouts,

not 17 home runs. That is a 27% strikeout rate, which is still a touch high, but last year, Young was pushing 40%. So we did want to see improvement. So far he has done exactly that. He's 67% rostered. Scott, how would you rank Young Brett Beatty, who just got called up, he's in the lineup,

Monday night for the Mets and Patrick Wisdom, who we spoke about earlier. Man, Young strikeout rate, it's kind of a microcosm of what I was saying earlier because I feel like every time I look at where Young strikeout rate is, I'm either like, oh, look, he's improved. He's fixed what was wrong last year. Or on the other hand, I look at it and it's like, oh, no, same Josh Young, still striking out way too much. And like, it's fluctuated so much just over the two weeks that baseball's been happening. In terms of ranking these third basemen, it was young, it was Beatty, it was who else? Patrick Wisdom. I'm going to go Beatty Young Wisdom.

Beatty, by the way, just pulling up what he did here on Monday night, one for four with an RBI single, a one strikeout, five left on base. He was pulled for, looks like a defensive replacement in Luis Guillaume. So, you know, an okay debut. I think Young versus Beatty is really close. I just worry about the Mets sitting Beatty against left-handed pitching early on. I mean, they're kind of messing with Francisco Alvarez right now too, but

yeah. Yeah, it's close. Yeah, I agree. Like, if you're setting your lineup right now, Young's more usable than Beatty. It seems to be a recurring question this year more often than years past. I don't know if it's just because we're seeing more specialization

or what, but you know, do I take the higher upside guy who isn't as usable right now, or do I take the more usable guy right now? And generally, I'm going to take the higher upside guy, but it does depend somewhat on your individual circumstances. Especially in chalower leagues, too. You just kind of always want to shoot for that upside in a league like that.

Does this matter at all? Corey Jolks had a big game on Monday against Kevin Gossman, who we'll get to in just a little bit. Jolks went two for four with his second home run, two runs, three RBI. He's hitting the ball hard, he's putting it in the air, He's batting 310 early on. This is someone who had a big season in the minors last year,

but he's 27 years old. He's kind of a journeyman type. Very deep league play, Scott. Anything there with Corey Jolks? I mean, look, he had big numbers last year at AAA. 31 homers, 22 steals. Did that as a 26-year-old to AAA. So it wasn't on anybody's radar, really,

even in prospect circles. So, you know, he's come up and he's done similar things when he's gotten a chance to play. usually it's against left-handed pitchers. He hasn't walked a single time, Corey jolks, and the plate discipline wasn't great in the minors either. So I think he's just a specialist for the Astros, and I'm not confident this level of productivity is even going to last.

I don't think there's much to see here. Okay, so mostly AL only for now. But if he does earn everyday playing time, maybe in like 15-team, five outfielder leagues, but I think we just need to see more consistency before we do that. Let's talk about Hayden Winske who had a big bounce back here.

It was at the Oakland A's, so obviously that's a good matchup. But I feel like we said that. Like the one time we tell people to sit in. Yeah, right? You know, because he was so bad those first two starts. We've said that about the A's.

The A's could be pesky at times, man. Kodi Senga didn't have a good start against them over the weekend. Like, they've randomly hit some pitchers this year. So I think it was still pretty impressive what Wesneski did. Seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts, zero walks, 11 swinging strikes on 90 pitches.

Five of those on the sweeper, four on the fastball. He did go sweeper heavy in this start, 41% usage. That was just 28.5% entering the start. He's 50% rostered. I think most people either bench him or probably dropped him before this two-star week. He's at the Dodgers this weekend. And then it looks like his next two starts after that

are at the Marlins and at the Nationals. So it's a pretty interesting matchups here. Yeah, and if he looks good against the Dodgers, I think everybody's going to be rushing to pick him up again for those good matchups. West Nesky, what's interesting about this start is clearly it was his best start of the year. He, I don't know if this was intentional or not, but he lost velocity, particularly on the foreseamer. It was much closer to where we saw last year.

And he lost a mile per hour on the two seamer as well. Still was higher than last year. But it was less. And he had better results. And I can't help but wonder because, you know, he looked very stable last September when he got a first taste of the majors. As somebody who didn't throw as hard, he was, you know, I saw him more as a high floor guy than a ceiling guy.

It was just, he added all those velocity to spring. And oh, maybe West Nesky has a huge ceiling too. also he cut out the cutter he more or less stopped throwing the cutter in this start and that pitch was getting absolutely throttled so far so between those two changes for West Nesky you know he may have figured something out

and so his next start against the Dodgers is going to be very interesting and I think again if he has a good outing against that lineup then I think everybody's going to be back on board with West Nesky I noticed that change with the cutter as well. And then I started thinking, is this somebody that can succeed

with just two variations of a fastball and a sweeper? Is that sweeper good enough where he can throw four seam and a sinker around 92, 93, and then he has that sweeper. And the other player that came to mind that has a similar pitch mix

is Alec Manoa the past couple of years, who four seam sinker and he's got that slider and it's worked for him. So maybe it's possible. Obviously, Munoa was a better prospect than Wesneski, but that was instantly what came to mind. And yeah, 50% rostered is Wazneski. Looking at some of the most added pitchers, Scott, I'm assuming as excited as you were about Yohan Oviato, you'd rather have him than Wazneski, right?

I'm sure. I think there is one league where I actually dropped West Neski for Oviato. I'm wondering now if that was the right move. But I'll go ahead and stick with it for now, say Oviato over West Neskiato. The next start for both of them will tell us a lot. I mean, that's the thing. You're forced to make decisions around the fringes of your roster this time of year. Because if you don't pick up the Johan Oviedo now, somebody else is going to.

And, you know, if he does emerge as something, you're not getting another shot at him. So you have to rush to judgment on these players at a time when, generally speaking, it's unwise to rush to judgment. We're getting so many questions. I'm sure you are too, Frank. Yeah. So I'll just say we on Twitter. What's wrong with this guy? What's wrong with that guy?

We're not going to know for another month, if anything's wrong with anybody, really. Like another month. We haven't even played a month yet. We still need a month of action, I think, before we see the numbers begin to normalize. And so I don't think, you know, what's wrong with this player, even somebody like West Nesky, I don't think that's as appropriate of a question as, you know, do I believe in the talent, first of all? And if I drop this player, will somebody else pick him up? And if the answer is a firm yes to either one of those, you probably hold on to him.

I don't think it was a firm yes in Wisniewski's case. I certainly didn't think anyone was going to pick him up right away if I dropped him. And I was kind of iffy on the talent. So I thought it was appropriate to let him go. But that doesn't mean necessarily letting them go forever. In deeper leagues, do either of these names matter? Jordan Liles went eight innings on Monday against the Rangers. Four runs allowed, two of those earned.

He only had three strikeouts. The other name, Ryan Weathers turned in a quality start versus the Braves. Six innings, two runs, five strikeouts for him. He's doing some interesting things this year. He's starting his change up more. He's throwing a new sweeper around 20% of the time. The fastball had been up. was down around a mile per hour in this start.

I'm kind of interested in weather, Scott, in deeper leagues, but I also think Joe Musgrove is going to take his spot in the rotation when he returned. Yeah, that is, and I guess I agree on both counts, and I hadn't considered who Musgrove

was going to replace. But weather's, I mean, they're going six men with weather's in there. I imagine they'd be more likely to replace him than Michael Waka. Nick Martinez hasn't looked good they could always throw him back in the bullpen They could

But I agree It's weather's is probably the odd man out And like he hasn't been good enough To overtake somebody that they were counting on Being in their rotation in the first place But there have been interesting signs The fact that that change up is completely new For him this year and he's throwing it a third of the time

That pitch just in this game against the Braves 86.9 average exit velocity against that changeup. So I think it's rounded out his arsenal nicely and made it so Ryan Weathers, formerly a pretty good prospect, might be able to live up to that potential still, but probably not worth pursuing in fantasy just yet. All right, let's hit some news and notes.

Fernando Tatis return to San Diego Monday and we'll work out at Petco Park the next three days before being reinstated on Thursday against the debacks. It's a big day for all of us. I know Chris has a ton of shares of him. Scott, I know you have Tatis. I have Mentat Wars as well, so definitely welcoming.

All three of us got him in Tau Wars. That's right. The Tatis Tatee's trio. And Tatis hit six home runs in three rehab games over the weekend. A triple dong, a double dong, and then I think he just hit one on Sunday. I mean, how dare he only hit one home run? But gosh, he looks, he looks ready to contribute again. Carlos Rodon faced hitters in a two-inning simulated game Sunday.

It sounds like he's targeting a May return. there is no definitive timeline. Reisel Eglacius threw a bullpen session Monday, and here's what manager Brian Snitker had to say, quote, he says he feels great. Now it's just a matter of progression. Tony Gonsland threw a 30-pitch bullpen session Monday and is scheduled to throw four innings

in a rehab start at AAA. Dodgers catcher Will Smith went through a full workout Monday and told reporters that he's hoping to return Thursday. Though he doesn't want to rush back, he was placed on the seven-day concussion IL before Sunday's game. John Carlos Stanton is expected to miss four to six weeks with that left hamstring strain.

It's got any interest in Franchi Cordero in the meantime. I mean, he's been doing impressive things for the Yankees. He's always had high quality contact and maybe in that environment with the short porch and right field he's getting more out of it. If it's hard to actually play Josh Lowe, then it's hard to play Franchi Cordero too because he basically never starts.

against lefties. So that's, I brought up Brent Rooker as a deep league pickup before. I'd rather have Brent Rooker than Franchie Cordero. Yeah, I agree with that too. I think you have to time it up right where a week that has a bunch of righties on the schedule, which was last week for the Yankees,

you can get Cordero in, you know, in a five outfielder league then, or maybe even in a deeper daily lineup league, but it's got to be the right situation for him in fantasy. Zach Eflin looked good, in a bullpen session and is on track to start Sunday against the White Sox. Tosge Bradley has been added to the Ray's

Taxi Squad and is in line to start Tuesday in Cincinnati. Scott, my theory with this is that if Tage Bradley pitches well Tuesday, even with Zach Eflin back in the rotation, I think that Tage Bradley could take over that spot in the rotation that's currently being occupied by Jalen Beeks and Josh Fleming combining to start a game.

Yeah, the one we since I'll go for them today, right? where Beaks went three innings. Basically, more of an opener, really, than a true signature. Yeah, I agree. That's definitely a way it could play out. And I mean, in some of these 15-team expert leagues we play in, people are sure hoping it goes that way

because the bids on Tage Bradley were ridiculous. Like people blowing a third of their season-long budget on him. him in 15-team weekly fab leagues. It wasn't me. He's a pretty talented player, but there are a lot of questions about how long he's going to be around. And it was probably not going to be a big source of strikeouts, even if he is good.

I don't know, Scott. I mean, that curveball looked really good in his first starting. He had eight strikeouts in that one. I don't know that I would expect that every time out, but it's always hard for me to see a pitcher improving on his minor league strikeout in the majors and Taj Bradley's been like a 9.5K per night guy in the minors, which isn't bad, but it's not, you know, particularly if your innings are limited. It's not going to be making a huge impact in that category.

All right. Daniel Bard rejoined the Rockies on Monday and could be activated from the IL Tuesday. Do we just assume that he retakes the closers role? So Daniel Bard, like this is crazy, right, that he's already coming back from this. Like when they first put him on the IL with what they called anxiety, but it was, you know, more, to put it more in baseball terms, it was a case of the yips. Like, he couldn't find the strike zone. And it's something he dealt with previously in his career.

And it knocked them out of the game for years. And so I didn't know if Bart, if we'd even see Bard again this year, you know, and he's coming back after pretty close to a minimum stay on the IL. He did throw 17 of his 23 pitches for strikes in his AAA rehab outing. So that's very encouraging. But since it's mostly like a mental psychological thing, you know, you put him in, you raise the pressure so it's a major league game and then you raise it even more so it's, you know, closing out a win.

And is he going to respond the same way? Like we can't be sure Daniel Bard has this thing licked. And until we get confirmation that he does by seeing him actually perform in those circumstances, I'm not ready to assume anything with him. And I'd be holding on to Pierce Johnson still. But if Bard does look fine, if he does prove he's back, then he probably does claim the closer roll. Bard is 60% rostered for those that need saves.

So if you want to speculate on him, feel free to do so. Mitch Hanigar is said to begin a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. He's missed the start of the season with an oblique strain. Speaking of Obliques, Jesse Winker was out Monday with oblique tightness. Chris Bubich will require a second opinion on his. his elbow after he was diagnosed with a left flexor strain. That does not sound very good. Luis Campusano was placed on the I.O. with a left thumb sprain.

Spencer Steer was out of the lineup Monday due to a sore right knee. Jake McCarthy has set two of the last four games and is off to a pretty rough start. Scott, how long is the leash for Jake McCarthy in fantasy? In like traditional five outfielder roto leagues where stolen bases are of great priority. It's pretty long. Anywhere else, you could probably go ahead and drop them. I mean, it was a much lower draft pick in those, like a points league, I'm thinking. He was a much lower draft pick to begin with.

It's not going to provide much power. Just because the Diamondbacks at him against a righty this time doesn't mean that's what they're going to keep doing. But it does suggest that he needs to turn things around pretty quickly. I'll also point out Michael Massey, favorite of this podcast, and especially me, has now sat out two in a row against right-hander. Massey also being a left-handed hitter. And off to a dreadful start for the Royals, much less roster than McCarthy,

but in all but the deepest leagues, there's no reason to stick with Massey. All right. Last but not least, Pablo Lopez and the twins agreed on a four-year $73.5 million deal. Oh, just real quick on Boobitch, you said the flexor strain. they say there's concern about the elbow. That's why he's getting the second opinion.

So this is the boo bitch saga could be ended rather abruptly here. We'll see. Hopefully not. Well, we tried. Let's take our final break and when we return, I have a group of by-low options that I will present to Scott and see what he thinks. Let's do that right after this. Welcome back. I have five by-low hitters. And this all comes via statcast.

I have a whole bunch of stats written down here. This was entering Monday, obviously. The five names, Scott, and if you check out the rundown, the expected numbers for these guys look really good. In some cases, the plate discipline looks really strong, especially with the first name here. And that's Miguel Vargas, because his XBA was 305. His X-SLG was 499 entering Monday.

More walks than strikeouts, so especially if you play in a points league. Staling Marte is another one, 280XBA, 484X-SL. The strikeout rate is down. He's barreling the ball up. And he's running. The sprint speed is very low when I check that out. But the Mets are giving him every opportunity to run when he's on base. And he looks healthy.

I mean, maybe the dual groin surgery actually, you know, got Starling Marte back on track. JD Martinez hitting the ball really hard early on, but also striking out quite a bit. M.J. Melendez, I think 99th percentile in average exit velocity, he's hitting the ball hard. Just not hitting it enough. 37% strikeout rate for him. And Jake Cronoworth, I think, is an interesting one. His hard hit rate is currently a career high. Its expected numbers look very good.

He's got a 12% walk rate. And once Fernando Tatis is back, I mean, the county stats for this entire lineup are going to go up. I mean, especially someone like Kronoworth, who's probably going to hit, you know, fifth or sixth in the lineup. So five names there, Scott, Miguel Vargas, Marte, J.D. Martinez, M.J. Martinez, M.J. Cronaweath. What do you think about those five as by low options? Are you not going to ask me about Juan Soto? Oh, you mean Juan Succo. Yeah.

Bilo on Juan Soto, if you can. Yes. But getting back to these players here, yeah, the one I've been getting asked about the most is Miguel Vargas, perhaps not surprisingly, since he was a personal favorite of mine. And I've had zero concerns about him. I know he hasn't done much yet other than Walk. But, like, that's pretty impressive in its own. right, that he's batting around the Mendoza line with an OBP around 450, I think speaks well to his hitting instincts.

And as you point out, Frank, his expected stats are awesome. 305XBA, 499X lug. I just think he's such a gifted hitter that we're going to see him, we're going to see him get hot very soon and be a reliable. reliable source of batting average in a very deep lineup. So that's the one, I mean, especially since we're getting some questions about whether to drop them. I think you could get Miguel Vargas for very cheap. And it's worth looking into.

The others here, I had less confidence in, well, I mean, Starling Marte. You know, I think he's basically Starling Marte. Even if he has lost to step, as you point out, Frank, it's not affecting him. It's not affecting his ability to take advantage of these new rules. so I have no concerns there. I think he's, you know, he's probably going to get hurt at some point because that's the way it goes with Starling Marte. But if you like the stats he generally produces,

then you should treat him as that player still. The others, J.D. Martinez, M.J. Melendez, Jake Cronenworth. None of them appealed to me that greatly coming in. I think, I think Jake Croninworth, just as a versatile guy, in a good lineup who's going to deliver fine number. I think that's basically what he's going to be again, regardless of what the expected stats say

or the actual stats say. I think they're both going to normalize and give us a guy who hits about 250 with 20 homers. Like I said, in a good lineup context. J.D. Martinez is interesting because he appeared to lose something as a, hitter last year. His average

exit velocity was way down. And obviously his overall production was way down. The Dodgers had enough faith to bring him in and the exit velocities are very high in the early going. He's striking out too much. But that's not something we've been concerned about with J.D. Martinez in the past. So I think that'll

normalize. Because he's DH only, he's harder to hold on to, and those shallower head-to-head leagues especially. But I think if you can hold on to him, it's still worth your wise. like J.D. Martinez is not somebody I'd drop for Brent Rooker, for instance. Let's see. And then MJ Melendez. I don't know. Like, I don't know.

As you point out, the exit velocities are amazing, so you probably shouldn't drop them for anybody. But particularly since it's catcher and I can't imagine there's much interesting on the waiver wire at that position. Regardless. I don't know. I guess you're thinking more of a trade scenario, but... Yeah, like in a two-catcher league,

I think Melendez is someone I would go out and try and get on the cheap right now. Well, I wasn't as high as you on him coming in. Right. Because the data was pretty impressive for him last year, and the production was pretty underwhelming. He hit, what, 220 or thereabouts? And it's a very difficult environment, Kansas City, that may be holding him back and maybe continuing to hold him back.

But he's better than he's shown so far. I feel confident in saying that. So in the strictest sense, sure, M.J. Melendez is a by-low. He's still on the fringe of a top 12 catcher for me overall. All right. Again, the names there. Miguel Vargas, Starling Marte, J.D. Martinez, MJ Melendez, J. Cronenworth. The stack cast numbers look really good for all of them right now. So I think Miguel Vargas is at the top of the list for both of us as a by-low option here, really in this season.

Some pitching left over is the ones that I really wanted to highlight. Kevin Gosman got destroyed at the Astros, four and two thirds, eight runs allowed, seven of those earned, two home runs allowed. He gave up four batted balls over 105 mile per hour exit velocity, and when he gets in trouble, that's what happens. He gives up a lot of hard contact.

The fastball velocity bounced back in his previous start, and it was back down again, this one, 93 and a half miles per hour. Last year, he was around 95, so I don't know, Scott. I mean, are you actually worried about what we're seeing from Gosman right now? It would be hard to worry about Gosman specifically. He entered this start with a 135 ERA in a very difficult year for pitching so far. It jumped to 365 with this outing, but, you know, he had three starts where he was as good as anybody.

And I just think, you know, nobody is immune to the, nobody is immune to this environment forever. and that's kind of what happened to him against a very good lineup, the Astros lineup. As far as the velocity fluctuations and whatnot, I don't know. It's been a little bit up and down, but not to such extremes that it really moves the needle for me. Maybe if he's,

maybe if Gosman doesn't bounce back in his neck, starting has another ugly outing, it'd be different. All right. The other name was Max Fried, who made his return to the mound. He was at the Padres. He went five shut out with four strikeouts to zero walks. Got up to 79 pitches. He only allowed one hard hit. And he threw a sweeper 10% of the time. And apparently he threw only four of those pitches all of last season. So he's already kind of a jack of all trades kind of pitcher, Scott, but you might have one more card in the deck, a sweeper for Max Yeah. And I really liked in this start, the average exit velocity against Max Freed was like 74 miles per hour, 78 miles per hour. Sorry, gave him a little too much credit. But it was very impressive. And that's, that's even more than whiffs and strikeouts. That's what we want to see from Max Freed. Exactly. Quick shout out to Freddie Freeman, who went three for four with a double dong. And he was kind of off to a slow start power.

wise, but that gets him up to three home runs. Both of them came off of lefty David Peterson, so some nice signs there for Freddie Freeman. Some bullpen updates for the Angels. Jose Kihada pitched a clean eighth with a two-run lead. Carlos Estevez got the ninth. He did give up a run, but picked up his second save. For the Marlins, AJ Puck, pitch a clean ninth inning in a one-run game for his second save. For the Diamondbacks, Andrew Chaffin, got the ninth with a three-run lead, picked up his third save. So he's the name that we spoke. about a lot recently. And all of those names are pretty widely available, Scott. If you just need saves, how would you rank those three? Chaffin, Puck, and Carlos Estevez. I'd rank them Puck,

Chaffin, and Carlos Estevez. I think Puck has a chance to be a standout closer if the Marlins could give them enough chances. And I think every appearance so far, it's been the ninth inning to close out a game, just not always for a save. Carlos Estabez, who I ranked third there, I wouldn't be surprised if Jose Quijada overtook him. I guess Stavess hasn't looked very stable. The other ones for the Braves, AJ Minter, pitch a clean ninth for his fourth save. He's 74% rostered, so not as widely available.

For Texas, Jose LeClerc pitched a ninth with a four-run lead, and for the Mets, David Robertson was unavailable. Adam Adivino picked up his second save and is 30% rostered. He's more of a deep league play. if he needs saves there. A couple quick things here. So you brought up Minter.

Ryssel Iglesias finally threw off a mound today. That's right. And they say it's just a matter of building him up again. Well, Scott. You already mentioned that? Were you listening to me during the news and notes? All right. Well, the other thing, shout out to Merrill Kelly and Jack Flaherty.

Yes. Two pitchers I'm somewhat invested in who had a duel going into the sixth inning. and I was very pleased to finally get some production out of them. Unfortunately, the Cardinals brought Flaherty back out for the seventh, and he ended up with four earned runs in a six innings because of that decision. And I'll point out that in both Flaherty and Kelly's case, not a lot in the underlying data to suggest they're, oh, wow, look, they're back. This is something to get excited about.

Kelly mainly just needed to throw more strikes, so there was less to worry about with him. But Flaherty wasn't getting to. getting a lot of whiffs in the start, even though he was avoiding damage. I think he left with one or two runs allowed, but the bases were loaded, and then whoever came and gave up a grand slam. I think that's Andre Palanti. So, yeah, that's what kind of messed up the line there for Jack Flaherty. Streamers for Tuesday. Hunter, oh, lots of games, Scott, because we had some rainouts on Monday and so we got a whole bunch of games on Tuesday.

Hunter Gaddis at the Tigers. No. Matthew Boyd versus the Guardians. Maybe. Peyton Baton Field at the Tigers. No. Eduardo Rodriguez versus the Guardians. Maybe. Tiger maybe than boys. Edward Cabrera versus the Giants. No.

Jose Suarez at the Yankees. No. Clark Schmidt versus the Angels. No. Josiah Gray versus the Orioles. A little too risky. Bailey Falter at the White Sox. I don't think so there either.

Dre Jameson at the Cardinals Yeah, I could see doing that If you're really looking to stream Ken Waldichuk versus the Cubs No Tyler McGill at the Dodgers No Tage Bradley at the Reds

Yeah, that's fine, I do that Alex Wood at the Marlins Wood hasn't gone the minimum for a win yet But man, the Marlins They are Bad That is a lineup of Wood could take advantage of. So I lean yes on that one.

Brad Keller versus the Rangers. I'm not excited about that one. I think you're higher on Keller. Yes. Brad Keller. Yes. Then I am. You do it? I think Chris referred to him last week as Rad Keller because he is back baby. I don't know what he's back to but he is back. And look, he's going up against the Rangers who don't have Corey Seeger. So yeah, I would use Brad Keller in that spot. For Wednesday, Wednesday, Griffin Canning at the Yankees.

No, I liked all the whiffs he got in his first start, but that's a dangerous matchup to run him out there. I want to see more. Cal Quantrell at the Tigers. That one's okay. Trevor Rogers versus the Giants. I'll pass. Taiwan Walker at the White Sox.

Both him and Bailey Falter against the White Sox are kind of interesting to me, but a little scary too. I think I'd pass. Mike Clevenger versus the Phillies. No. Johann Oviedo at the Rockies. I'm really tempted. I'm going to be honest, I did do it in a couple leagues and a couple of, you know,

obviously not daily lineup leagues. Yeah. I started Oviedo. Oveh. Not every league where I picked them up, but a couple. You know, let's, we saw Josiah Gray have a great start at Colorado. Yeah. I may come to regret this, but maybe not.

Cross your fingers, cross your toes, Scotty. Eric Lauer at the Mariners. No. Nick Martinez versus the Braves. No. Johnny Brito versus the Angels. No. And McKenzie Gore versus the Orioles.

I'd rather not do that. All right. We finally did it, Scott. Team name Tuesday. Are you ready? Sure. All right. These are from Josh.

Cut it out, man. I like it. It's clean. Do you like paying your colladas? I, you know. I'm kind of getting a Bob Sagitt vibe here. Is it still too soon to talk about Bob Sagitt? Not that he's like directly related to either of these references.

He's just tangentially related because cut it out, you know, Uncle Joey on Full House and do you like Pena Coladas. There's the famous fight scene from the movie. I can't even remember the name of the movie, but it was directed by Bob Sagitt. Was it dirty work? Was that what it was called? You're asking the wrong. Yeah, that was it. You're asking the wrong guys.

I have no idea. Anyway, these are from Felix. Mecasas, and Su-Casus. I actually have a team named this. It's actually M-Cases-No-Su-Cas-is is my team's name. Oh, all right. I said it. You can't have him.

He's mine. I said it on draft day, and I thought it, like, for my home league draft, I thought it was so clever, but I guess, I guess everyone's on that one. Call me Maven. Call me, maybe. Solid. I know Chris would like that one if he was here. From Bill,

Flaherty will get you nowhere. That's a clever use of Flaherty's name. Yeah, solid. I like it. This one's from John, Lord Volpemort. Hmm. Wow. Tell us how you really feel, John.

Are you big into Harry Potter, Scott, or were you ever? I have seen all the movies. Oh, gosh, all of them. Yeah, I've seen all the movies. Okay. Just once. I watched them. all once and I you know I enjoyed it a reasonable amount but I'm not I was never like obsessive

or can tell you like all these finer details I could probably recall maybe six of the characters names I think I saw the first four or five movies and then there were just too many so I gave oh they got better as they went all went along yeah yeah I actually think I think I read the first two or three books too and there was a lot that happened in the books that didn't happen in the movies. And I was kind of upset by that. So I don't know why. That's the way it goes. Yeah, usually does. Like a short story can translate fully to a movie. But if you're trying to fit a whole novel into a movie, you're going to have to make some major cuts. Otherwise, just turn it into a mini-series, you know. That's right. This one's

from Drew, King Gazzardo and the Lazzardo Wazardo. Apparently there's a band named King Glizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I'm sure Chris would know that. Probably would, yes. I don't do well with the music references, I have to say. I don't do good with any references. This one's from Ben, the Manoa who knew too much. Okay, so this is referencing the Alfred Hitchcock movie,

The Man Who Knewk Too Much. It's always tough cramming more than one name in there. This one's not so bad, though. From Jason, from Ruchman with Glove. Okay. And God dang it, Bobby Witt. I love King of the Hell. This one's from Jeff Yoshida's Story.

I like that. That's good. What's that referencing? I'm not sure. Yoshi's Story? The Nintendo 64 game. Okay. Not familiar with that one.

It's not often. I know a video game reference that Scott doesn't. I did not have a Nintendo 64. Ah, we're going to have to change that, Scott. When's your birthday? Oh, it already passed. This was from Charlie, 2000 Kwan Class A Mondesey. Okay.

That's a lot going on there. That's a stretch, but okay. From Optimus Bob, Albi's the judge of that. I like it. It's pretty good. It rolls off the tongue well. From Brad, stay Class A, San Diego. Okay, yeah, sure.

From Casey, Nito Burrito. Is that the thing? some kind of chain restaurant because I had to look it up I've I never heard of it. Nido Burrito? Apparently that's a thing. It's just something people used to say like in no wait. No I'm thinking of Nito torpedo. Do you know Nito? Have you heard Nito Torpedo? No. Okay. When I googled this though it seems like there's some kind of restaurant named Nito Grito. But yeah, Nito torpedo was something 90s kids

used to say. From Benji, the McMahon healthy faction. It's a wrestling reference for my nerds out there. From Rosenberg, Mount Ruchman. We need some help for the Mount Rushmore this season. From Forest, Albee's Your Crying Shoulder. Okay. From Doug, Jordan Walker, Texas Ranger. There's a lot of players named Walker,

and you could do this with any one of them. Sure. And, oh, man, Scott, do you want to help me out with these? How's your Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation? probably not great I don't know it's been a while since I've

pulled that one out all right well these are Arnold Schwarzenger theme they're from Kevin who is your Vladdy and what does he do okay

let's just alternate just trying to be Arnold Schwarzenegger all right you're up put that Mookie down now that's pretty good

Astabatista baby it's not a cunea I don't I don't know where this one, this next one is from, so I don't even know how to say it correctly, but let's kick some Bryce. That was not an Arnold impersonation. I don't know what that's from either.

Consider that a diverse. I don't know. I think the impression got worse with each one. All right, well, we're going to wrap there. Those are all the team names. They're very good. I enjoyed the Arnold Schwarzenegger ones. We're going to wrap there for Scott.

I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.