Fantasy Baseball Today - Xander Bogaerts Replacements & Rankings Risers/Fallers! (5/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

Chris Towers is back from Eurotrip (2:00)! ... Max Fried just threw his second complete game of the season (4:47). ... Blake Snell stunk it up again (9:50). ... Bryce Miller has struggled in May (13:25). ... Xander Bogaerts has a fractured shoulder (16:40)! Who are the top replacements? ... News (24:42): Josh Lowe left with right side soreness. ... Who are the top rankings risers and fallers this week (28:12)? ... Matt Chapman or Jeimer Candelario (41:46)? ... Tyler Anderson continues to pitch well (47:07). ... Tarik Skubal and Cole Ragans battled for Scott's adoration (50:50). ... What is wrong with Justin Steele (56:06)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (58:17). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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/ 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. Well, fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, May 23rd. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White, and fresh off his Euro trip. The returning Chris P. Towers.

the crowd goes wild let's go he's back it's really Krispy yeah he's yeah crispy that's yeah that feels like it should be a nickname my yeah my my my my I used to have Chris P. Towers as a as an email address and all my friends made fun of me and started calling me Krispy Towers

and so I had to as as they should it yeah so uh well Chris Paul Chris Paul towers that that's that's the name yeah so you heard a CP3 this so interesting is such a an interesting name you have, sir. I've always admired how your name is a complete sentence.

Chris Towers. Yeah. This is like, this is not what you expected to hear in your first show back. Go ahead. You haven't talked in two weeks. Say some things. Oh,

I talked plenty while I was on vacation. So I don't need to talk, actually. My voice is kind of gone. So I'm fine. You sound great. I had to be back. I,

you know, I was gone for 13 days. I was in Europe. it was incredible. Highly recommend traveling. First time ever leaving the country. Cool stuff. Then I spent all day today trying to catch up on what I missed and updating rankings and stuff.

So that was fun. When you were backpacking through Europe, which I know you weren't actually doing in Europe, but you're in Europe, different places in Europe. How much did you keep up with baseball? Like were you checking the box scores every night? I wouldn't say I was checking the box scores every night. every night. But like I actually, where were we?

We were at, we might have been just like out on the twillery gardens in Paris. I'm just going to name drop things like that now because I'm cultured. And I pulled, I paid for the, the international roaming data services. And I watched a little bit of Paul Skeen's major league debut while I was in Paris. So, you know,

wow, you haven't, you haven't been here since he debuted. Yeah, I don't know if you guys. I haven't heard, but I was in Europe. I was watching some baseball on this. Paul Skeen's guy looks pretty good. You guys probably haven't talked about it. Yeah, that's it. He is pretty damn good.

And yeah, I finally moved him up the rankings because when he first got called up, I was way too low on Paul Skeen. Today on the show, we will talk about rankings, risers, and fallers. Zander Bogart's replacements. He has a shoulder injury and he's going to be out for quite some time.

And we had some pitching duels. and pitching duds. Let's jump in. Go crazy, folks. Go crazy. All right, Scott. Who made you go crazy on Wednesday? All right.

Well, not to be accused of being a homer or anything. Homer. Max Freed. Got to talk about Max Freed here. He threw a complete game at the Cubs. Struck out nine, allowed three hits. He had a, I believe into, The fifth he hadn't allowed a hit yet, which is notable because he's already had two starts this year where he didn't allow a hit at all.

And it was kind of interesting timing him having this great start because, okay, he's had a couple great starts this year. This is actually a second complete game two. He said he's basically had prior to this start, he had three amazing starts. And then the rest had been pretty shaky, including his most recent start against the Padres when he gave up nine hits and four in a third inning. So the overall numbers haven't looked great for Max Reed. The strikeout rate is down. And those occasional dominant starts, particularly in this pitching environment, weren't enough for me to continue to hold Max Fried in especially high esteem.

And we're all kind of texting with each other, how high up are you going to move Ranger Suarez? We had that whole conversation yesterday, and we may have it again today. He who must not be named, Scott. And I was telling you guys, you know, I got them all the way up to 21, which kind of surprised me, Ranger Suarez, that is. But in part because I decided Framber Valdez and Max Fried, I didn't consider them particularly in this environment to be sort of like unquestioned aces anymore. and I was trying to get Ranger Swaras at the top of the group that I considered to be not unquestioned aces. And 21st was where that was. But then Max Fried had this stuff.

And I said, well, maybe I wasn't giving Max Fried enough credit. Everything I was still saying about him is true in that, you know, there have been just as many really unappetizing starts as there have been great ones. But there have been those great ones. the strikeout rate is down, but there have been those great ones and he's Max Fried. So what's going on with Max Fried? Why is he so inconsistent like this?

And I think a big part of it is just he has too many pitches now. I'm not a pitching coach, so I can't really speak with authority on this, but I think that's what's going on here. He's developed such an expansive arsenal that he doesn't even know what to throw half the time. And we've kind of seen evidence

of this already because after one of his great starts, he threw more sliders. And he was asked about after the game. And he was like, yeah, I don't know. I kind of just forgot about it. It's a great pitch, though. I should throw it more. And then he didn't throw it more.

He went away from the slider again until tonight when he threw 17% sliders up from normal 6%. And those 17% sliders were responsible for seven of his whiffs. So when he finds the right pitch selection, and the Max Fried we know and love is still in there, but it's been kind of a struggle to get to that, and I hope he's able to narrow his focus to the right pitches and get back to doing this more consistently.

Max Fried over his last six starts, by the way, which includes two complete games, a 170 ERA, a 0.71 whip, just under a strikeout per inning. He's getting lots of ground balls and inducing lots of soft contact this year, doing it a little bit different than how we've seen Max Fried do it in the past, but overall, he's been really good over the past six weeks or so.

Chris, let's move over to you, your player of the night. Well, one thing I do want to point out about Max Fried is, at least entering this start, he had simplified his approach. He has basically gotten rid of the sweeper since the end of April. He had only thrown four of them entering tonight in the month of May. he had only thrown 15 cutters. His cutter usage was down to 5%. So I do think we've seen some of that simplifying.

And look, he's since that first complete game, I think it's his last six starts, Frank you said. Yep. 23% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate. That's not quite where it was last season. It was 25 and 6. That's close enough. That's a rounding error in both regards.

So I feel pretty confident that as long as Max Fried remains healthy, he's going to be probably not an ace, but I didn't necessarily expect him to be an ace because the strikeouts aren't quite what they are for the other aases. But he's really good. This is a guy who had a 266 ERA and his four previous seasons entering 2024. So the bigger concern for me is the injury risk coming back from that forearm strain last year. That red flag is still there, but it's not, it's not enough for me to. downgrade him significantly. My, oh my goodness, go crazy player of the day is Blake Snell, who came back from the IL and stunk yet again today. And I assume there's probably a lot of people who are panicking about Blake Snell. And I can't say there are no reasons to panic. He's been really,

really bad. 22% strikeout rate, 12% walk rate, 11.4 ERA through his first four start. And remember, he didn't sign until almost the end of March. We thought this might disrupt his season. And it's possible that Blake Snell just never figures it out. But we do this every year. And I just want to remind everyone that he had a 5.40 ERA through his first nine starts last season. He had an ERA over five as late as July 15th in 2022. and he's still finished with really good numbers in both seasons.

So I just, I want to remind everyone that this is what we talked about with Blake Snell coming into the season, even before his start got delayed, is that he is one of the most consistently inconsistent pitchers in baseball. And I think he is going to figure it out at some point. There's nothing in the profile right now that I can point to and say, this is why he's going to figure it out. it's just this is who Blake Snell is.

And I, if someone is going to drop him, I will gladly pick him up. If someone's going to make him available on trades for very little in return, I will try to trade for him. This is the Blake Snell experience. And if you, if you don't want to ride the ride, don't get on. What's funny about this return for Blake Snell is on his rehab assignment. Yeah, he was amazing. He, between two rehab starts, he threw nine no hitnings. He walked one.

He struck out 17. He was clearly way too good for minor league hitters, but there's a big difference between minor league hitters and major league hitters as the minor league hitters who are being promoted this year discovering because they're no good. And I wrote quite a bit about that in the prospects report this week if you want to read about that. But yeah, Blake Snell, I agree with everything he said there. just, yeah, the minor league rehab assignment was not evidence of him coming around. Blake's Nell, 36% started on CBS.

There is absolutely no way you could start him right now, right? Because he's in line for two starts next week. It looks like the Phillies and the Yankees. Yeah, no, you're not starting him against those two matchups. But no way. If he went out and threw 15 innings with 22 strikeouts next week, I wouldn't really be that surprised. I wouldn't, if I had that on my bench, I wouldn't even be mad at it. No, there's just no way you could play him right now as bad as he's been. And against those

lineups in particular, you know? So no, I completely agree with that. But that being said, I, I think there's a very good chance that you're looking at him in week 11, right? That would be week 11. And you feel great about starting Blake Snell again. So I, yeah, I agree with you. I probably, maybe in a head-to-head points league, I'd be okay starting him just because he's not going to wreck your season-long ratios if you start him. But in a Roto League, especially with how he's pitching right now, no, you can't start him. I'd like to give a hat tip to old Adam Azer because Bryce Miller might have hit us with the fool do. He has taken a step back in the month of May, six innings, five runs allowed, four strikeouts, three homers allowed in this start at the Yankees. Obviously a tough place to pitch right now. lineup is clicking, Judge Soto, all those guys mashing. And it's just a bet. It's a recipe for disaster for Bryce Miller who gives up hard contact. He gives up fly balls. And in the month of May, he now has a 579 ERA, a 111 whip, well below a strikeout per inning. And he has allowed six home runs

in four starts. And overall, the numbers still look pretty good, but the FIP, the FIP, pretty high. The home runs per nine up to 1.7. That's fifth highest among qualified starting pitchers. We spoke about him maybe a month ago, and he was a big rankings riser at the time. And I just kind of mentioned maybe looking to selling high. And, you know, Scott, I feel like we talked more about it offline,

and I should have been more adamant about it. But I was a little bit worried for all these reasons. And what do we do now with Bryce Miller? Are you guys worried? I just updated my starting pitcher ranking. earlier today, it took probably about four hours because I have to basically redo all of the starting pitcher rankings every week. And I had Bryce Miller in my top 30, and now after this start, I kind of want to move them out of the top 60 because that's all it takes in our current

pitching environment, the current pitching landscape and fantasy. I mean, what stood out to me in this start was the three home runs, which brings them up to 11 for the season, which is pacing for like 35 in a year where nobody is hitting home runs. It's kind of remarkable considering that Bryce Miller has a 353 ERA, even as one of the few pitchers in baseball actually giving up home runs, but less than a strikeout per inning, so you can't even look to that as reason for optimism. The swinging strike rate isn't very good either.

So, yeah, I've quickly become disillusioned here. That's not to say I don't think Bryce Miller. needs to like it's not like we're dropping him or anything but there's so much good pitching out of there that it does like I said it doesn't take much it doesn't take much for him to go from being the the latest and greatest big thing to being uh the the the one everybody's down on and yeah I don't think you're going to get much for him in a trade at this point at least not in 12 team leaks. I think the thing this start highlights is just his arsenal is still really limited. The splitter's been a really nice addition to his arsenal for him. And that's been a good thing

for him. But the problem is he still tends to go as far as his four seamer will carry him. And today, he allowed seven balls in play with a 93.8 mile per hour average X velocity. That's not going to work for a guy who's breaking balls especially, his sweeper and slider just aren't very good pitches. He doesn't tend to get good results on them. He doesn't tend to generate a lot of swings with them. And so it remains the case that if his fastball is not on point, Bryce Miller is really hitable. And I think it's just going to lead to a lot of inconsistency. They're going to be really, really good starts where the fastball is electric. But yeah, I don't think the leap to not ace level production,

because I don't think anybody was necessarily buying him at that price. But to being a must start pitcher, I don't think he's there yet. And frankly, I'm skeptical he's ever going to get there, given that despite putting in the work in the offseason on his breaking balls. And he talked about this, the slider and sweeper still just don't look very good. Again, that is, yeah. Again, that is Bryce Miller. A quick reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already.

Chris is back. He's taking it back over. So you're going to get a whole bunch delivered to your inbox every weekday for free. If you're watching live on YouTube, scan that QR code that will take you right to the website. You click on the FBT logo. You punch your email address. And it's easy as that. Let's take our first break.

When we return, Zander Bogart's Replacements. We'll talk about it right after this. Welcome back in and let's talk about the biggest news of the day. Zander Bogartz placed in the aisle with a fractured left shoulder and heel avoid surgery, but we'll need significant time for the shoulder to heal. There's no official timeline, but Bogart's intends to play again this season, perhaps later in the summer. Luisa Rise will take over at second base and it's a pretty big blow in fantasy.

Not that Bogart's has been very good so far this season, but he was a top 100 pick in most drafts and offered some versatility with that second base and shortstop eligibility. So let's talk some replacements. We'll go through each of the positions and we will start with shortstop replacements in head-to-head points leagues.

Scott, how would you rank Ezekiel Tovar, Luis Renhifo, and J.P. Crockford. Again, head-to-head points. Well, you know, Luis Renhifo is at the top of the list for me and by a lot, he is one of the few hitters who I can say is, significantly under-roastered at this point. I know it's getting up.

It's probably over 70% now. Right at 70. Right, it's 70. Yeah. So it's, we're running, I'm not going to be able to say that for much longer, but it remains so,

especially with that quadruple eligibility. So he's number one in points leagues. I would go J.P. Crawford over Tovar, two and three. All right. Let's talk about second base replacements in a points league. Luis Renhifo also on this list because he has all that eligibility. He's eligible everywhere.

But Chris, how would you rank Renhifo, Abraham Toro, who's consistently leading off for the A's, and Joey Ortiz, someone I know who's moved up in your rankings. Yeah, it would be Renhifo, Ortiz, and Toro. Maybe that's being unfair to Toro, but I just,

I have trouble really buying into him as much more than a fringe fantasy option. So I just, I don't know what he does. That makes him much more than just, a guy. And I think Joseph Ortiz

could potentially be a little bit more than that. So it's mostly banking on or hoping for some upside for Joseph Ortiz that I don't think

is there for Abraham Toro. You might know Joseph Ortiz as Joey Ortiz. That's what he's named everywhere except for CBS

where his official name is. We call him Joseph. Every time I see... Go ahead, Scott. He still has an OPS around 900, doesn't he? Ortiz, 886. Yeah, he's one of the most under-rusted players, too.

Not to the point that he needs to be rostered and across the board like I think Renhifo does, but Ortiz is definitely gaining traction and gaining playing time, and I'm a big fan. Middle infield replacements in category league. Scott, how would you rank Jose Caballero, Luis Renhifo, again, and Willie Castro. I would rank them. Is this for categories, leagues you said? Yep, for categories. Okay, still Renhifo, who's giving you plenty of stolen bases, just like Cabiero is.

But Cabiero over Willie Castro. I guess they could all be base dealers. We saw Castro be a prolific one last year, but he hasn't been running as much so far, and Cabiero has been running plenty. So, yeah, that's a pretty easy order there. Renhifo, Cabiero, and then Castro. And if those are all gone, how do you? you rank these names under 50% rostered.

Chris, I'll throw this your way. Luis Garcia, Davis Schneider, who has been leading off recently for the Blue Jays, and who is the last name? Wenzel Perez with the Tigers, who has surprised to this point as well. I think it's the order that you put them in. So Luis Garcia, Davis Schneider, Wenzel Perez would probably be the order that I would go in. but I'm not necessarily sure. Any of those guys are particularly likely to be must-start options for fantasy, even in a categories league, even in a deeper categories league.

But Garcia certainly, in my eyes, has the most upside of that. I would take Schneider there. I like that he's basically playing every day now. I believe in the high walk, high-pull rate profile. and just every player we've talked about so far. My top three, who should be rostered in fantasy, would be Luis Renhifo 1, Joey Ortiz 2, and Davis Schneider 3.

And in Deeper League, some names you can look at, Colt Keith, who we spoke about yesterday. He's been coming around. Mason Wynne, who actually hit his second home run here on Wednesday, then Jorge Mateo, Dylan Moore, Paul DeYoung. Those last three are like, 15-team, Roto leagues, middle infielder,

you're just super desperate. You need players that are just basically playing, and those are the guys available. Some by-low trade candidates, Boba-Chet, Nico Horner, Dansby Swanson, and Tyro Estrada. There you have it. As many replacements as you could possibly think of

for Zander Bogart's injury, or maybe you just need a middle infielder. Those are some names you can look at. Let's get into some other news and notes. Josh Lowe was removed due to right-side tightness. That's the same oblique that he hurt back in spring training

and he'll undergo an MRI on Thursday. Doesn't sound too good. I think that was like exactly the quote that Kevin Cash gave. Oh yeah? Doesn't sound good. Yeah. Look at me.

I should be a manager. Probably not. John Means was removed from his start due to left elbow discomfort and will undergo medical testing. His fastball velocity was down two miles per hour in this start and obviously...

Doesn't sound good. Does not sound good. No, it doesn't. It was weird because like, apparently on the broadcast, he was like shaking his arm throughout the start. And he kept pitching up until the rain delay. And it just, it, like, he wasn't going to go back in after the rain delay anyway. But it just, it seemed like something given his history, they should have been a little more proactive about. Uh, Austin Riley has now missed nine straight with side soreness.

And apparently he hit off a. What is this? I, I, what? This is something we expect from the. Yankees, not the Braves. I don't, just, what? I mean, how do you, like, it's a 10-day I-L. Right.

Just. And you can backdate. Is he going to start tomorrow? No. Okay, then put them on the IL and have an extra bad. I don't know why they've been playing short-handed for so long. It's weird. Yeah.

Apparently, he hit off a T without any issues before Wednesday's game. We'll see what happens with Austin Riley. Adolos Garcia was back in the lineup after missing two games with right forearm discomfort. Zach Netto left early. with right elbow soreness, he'll undergo further testing. Evan Phillips is scheduled to throw a live bullpen at High A on Thursday, and if all goes well, he'll begin a rehab assignment on Sunday.

Merrill Kelly will undergo an MRI later this week to see how his strained right shoulder is progressing. Noel V. Marte recently reported to the Reds facility in the Dominican Republic to continue participating in exhibition games before the start of the Dominican Summer League, and Marte is 32% rostered. Scott, do you think he needs to be rostered in all leagues? I think he could return June 19th or June, I don't know, around there, June 20, it's something like that. Or is it only a categories thing for Noel V. Marte?

Well, it's really more of a roto thing where you have to go deeper into the hitting pool and you need to fill a corner infield spot. Those are the kinds of leagues where I think he probably needs to be rostered in most of them. them at this point. I know he's I know he's rostered in all of my rhodo leagues because if he was out there this past

week when waivers ran, I picked him up. AJ Smith-Shawber will be recalled by the Braves to start Thursday against the Cubs and we brought his name up the other day when Bryce Elder was sent back down and Smith-Shawver has struggled in the minors this year. A 6-10

ERA, a 152 whip. He does have some prospect pedigree. I think he's a name to watch and obviously we'll see how that start goes tomorrow but I think it's just a Wait and see right now for Smith Chauver. Francisco Alvarez could begin taking batting practice next week as he continues his recovery from a torn UCL in his left thumb. Eloy Jimenez was placed in the IL with a left hamstring strain.

The White Sox recalled outfielder Zach Deloche, who was a second round pick back in 2020. He's a name you can monitor in the deepest of leagues, AL only, stuff like that. And Slade Sikoni was optioned back to AAA. Let's get into our rankings, risers, and fallers. Wednesday night here. We always have the big rankings update throughout the day and then we get you the latest here. Scott, I have no idea who your rankings risers and followers are because you never sent them to me.

I was working on my rankings, Frank. Give me a break. Yeah, I got it. Chris, you had a whole lot to update here. Who were some of the biggest names that stood out to you on the risers? Yeah, I mean, I tried to not go with like super obvious guys who have risen a ton in the two weeks since I last updated. Like, okay, yeah, Paul Skeens has risen a lot because he wasn't in my rankings. Starting, well, he was, but not high. And now he is number 22 for me. So I'm pretty much all in. The stuff looks incredible. It honestly looks better than advertised because of the addition of that splinker that he started throwing this spring that has just become a real weapon for him. I really think there is high-end ace level production potential from Paul Skeen.

So I didn't include him on the list, but obviously he's probably the biggest riser. Alec Boehm, I'm struggling with Alec Boeom. I don't know how you guys feel about him. The RDI numbers are obviously Gotti and the batting average is really good. Everything else is just kind of okay. He most still looks like Alec Bome. So I don't know what you guys think. He's a top 15 third baseman,

maybe top 13, but not top 10 or anything for me yet. Well, I made my biggest move with Alec Bome this week, but it was to put him in the top 10 at first base. And I believe he's 11th at third base. So I moved him ahead of the likes of... Oh, he's 12 for me. So it's not a big difference. I would guess Nolan Aronado is the difference.

No, I think. Well, at first base, I moved him ahead of Vinny Pasquantino and Spencer Steer and Yanti Diaz, in part because I think there are reasons to question the power potential of all of those guys, too. And then that's my biggest question about Albaum. I think he's going to be a good source of batting average, maybe not as good as he's been so far.

His spot in the Phillies lineup does lend itself to, lot of RBI. Yeah, I moved home ahead of Aeronado at third base directly ahead of him. So that is, you had that down. Yeah. And so he's, by having him 11th, that puts him ahead of Max Muncie, who of course is injured now, so it was pretty easy to move him down. Christopher Morel.

I think a big part of why I'm a little more open to this than I was a few weeks ago, because you're right. You look at the underlying numbers for Alec Bomi, looks like the same guy. It's just that I don't, all these hitters that are struggling now that we were saying for the first eight weeks, okay, you know, be patient, be patient.

They're going to come around, they're going to come around. One of the big things we were talking about when you were gone, Chris, is just how bad this environment seems to be for hitting. Home run to fly ball rate way down. Babip, even with the shift ban last year, remember that bad bit went up last year. last year, way down this year.

So whether it's home runs or hits in general, and I don't know how to explain the BAPB. But it's just, it's one of the worst environments for hitting that we've seen in like 10 years. It is the worst environment for hitting we've seen in 10 years. And maybe it could change over the summer as the weather heats up. I have to think it'll change some. But by this point in the season, we're usually seeing better results than this. And so I can't, I'm not as confident anymore that everything's going to be fine for Vinny Pasquantino or Yomdi Diaz or any of the many, many hitters who are performing well below expectations. Alec Bohm, I don't think he's this good, but at least he's doing something.

Yeah. You know, so there comes a point where it's just like you have to take what you can get. And that's why I've moved Bowman up more this week than I had previously. Yeah, I made that same move. I moved Bohm up to 10th at first base and 10th at third base as well. Chris, do you want to highlight any other pitchers here that you moved up outside of schemes? Ranger Suarez up to 27 at starting pitcher. Big, big riser as well. Not good enough, Chris.

It should be number one. Well, he has been number one so far, and that's the only thing to matter. And points like, Ranger Suarez has been number one by like 20%. He's 10 and 0. literally, right? 9 and 0. 9 and 0. 9.

Yeah. I moved, Gary Krochet, one spot ahead of Ranger Suarez. Take that. We hate the Phillies. And then Brian Wu.

Looked really good in his most recent start. He's back. So I'm pretty optimistic about him, but he's obviously much lower than those guys. He's SP 55 for me. Yeah, look, you guys have talked a lot about Suarez.

I haven't had the opportunity to talk as much about him. But I just, I don't know. My position. on him hasn't changed since, you know, we started talking about him like a month ago, where I think the, the explanation for why he's pitching so well right now is just, he's pitching really well right now. And that's kind of a tautology and that that's kind of an obnoxious way to put it. But I think it's also just true, right? Like, guys just go

through stretches. Jose Burrios has had stretches like that this season. Chris Bassett had stretches like that last season where these guys who mostly pitch to contact and rely on pinpoint command and generating weed contact, when they're on, they're really, really good. And I do think Ranger Suarez is good. I just don't think he's, it goes without saying he's not 1.36 ERA good, but like we saw him throw a 1.6 ERA in 106 in 106 in 201. He did that for 12 starts. he was used in multi-ending relief for most of that season. He came out in 2022 and had a 365 ERA over 155 in a third. We can point to, I'm sure, they're extenuating circumstances.

I think there was like a visa issue in spring training either last year or the year before that got him off to a slow start maybe. But I just think what he's a mid-3s ERA pitcher. And that's really valuable, especially on a very good team, especially for a guy who can pitch deep into games. I don't see much reason to think Ranger Suarez is just a a superstar ace pitcher now, given that we've seen stretches like this from him before.

All right, Scott, well, you've got to keep things moving. So give me your risers and your fallers together here. Who were some of the big movers? Well, I got Rangers forars, as I said before, all the way up to 22. putting him ahead of some names like Framber Valdez, which, you know, I'm having a hard time seeing a big difference between those two, given that Framber Valdez sometimes struggles with control.

Obviously, Suarez hasn't at all this year, but that would be the big concern with him. And they're both elite ground ball pitchers. Suarez is striking out batters at a much better rate. Yeah, like I said, I tried to get Ranger Suarez atop the list of pitchers who, obviously I think are good, but don't have the track record of being aces or don't have like the extreme strikeout upside. And so 22nd is where he arrived for me.

Let's see. Who else here? So Alec Mano and Taj Bradley, I've moved them up into my top 65 ahead of names like Christopher Sanchez, Zach Lattel and Charlie Morton, if you need some more suggestions about who to drop there in shallower leagues. I've moved Javier Assad and Andrew Abbott into my top 80, which gives you an idea of the threshold there because we talked yesterday about, okay,

if the environment changes Javier Assad and Andrew Abbott are going to be two of the first to drop out because they're not going to survive a more homer-friendly environment. So 80 is about the point there where you go from having good pitchers in fantasy to suspect ones. Very deep into the picture rankings, I'll point out. Let's see.

positions. I've moved Matt Olson behind Bryce Harper because there wasn't that big of the difference between the two coming in anyway. I moved Bryson Stott into my top six at second base ahead of Hassan Kim, ahead of Jordan Westberg. Don't think there's a huge difference between those three, but Bryson Stott, if he's going to be an elite base dealer, I think it's fair to put him there. I've gone ahead and moved Bryson to Rang into my top 10 at second base after being a naysay around him for a long time. He's basically Nico Horner this year, and Nico Horner isn't. So I think it's time to rank Bryce Terang as if he was who we thought Nico Horner would be because that's what he's doing.

Let's see. There was a big move at the top at one position. Oh, I've moved Ronald de Kuna down to fourth in points leagues. Whoa. Yep. Yeah, dropped him behind mooky bets, which had already happened, but also Juan Soto and Kyle Tucker, who has a strikeout to walk a walk much like Juan Soto actually, and it's just been a monster.

And, you know, Acunia's number one placement in points leagues was always contingent on him continuing to strike out at the very low rate he did last year. And I'm not sure he's going to get back to that. That is the outlier for his entire career. I think he's going to bounce back with the power. But I'm not sure he's going to be an elite plate discipline guy. And those other three are. Let's see. I moved Taylor Ward back up in my outfield.

rankings about 25 spots because basically he got hot again and that's what it takes to move up 25 spots in the outfield. To put some context on my Luis Renhifo enthusiasm, let's look at second base, one of the four positions where he's eligible. And there I've moved him into the top 15, which has him right behind Jake Croninworth and Luis Arise, a pretty good company there. Ahead of Ryan McMahon and Zach Galloff and Tara Estrada in the outfield.

Luis Renhifo is now for me. Oh, this is first initial. 38th. 38th in the outfield rankings. I've dropped Evan Carter behind him since he's not playing consistently. I've dropped Jackson Chorio behind him. Andy Pahes, who's cooled off a lot. Nick Castellanos, who continues to do absolutely nothing.

That's how useful I think Renhifo is. Top 40 in the outfield. Who would have thunk it? I will give you where I rank. at the other two positions, but yeah, he's moved up a lot. All right, well, we don't have time for fallers, so if you want to see the rest of our rankings... I have some fallers there, too. Did you?

Oh, you guys didn't give any fallers. No, we don't have any... We've got to get to other stuff. There's too much to talk about. If you want to check out the rest of our ranking, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball slash rankings. Let's take our final break. And when we return, the rest of Wednesday's action right after this.

Welcome back in. Let's talk some waiver-wire hitter decisions. Matt Chapman, we've talked about a lot recently. He is on a tear. Over his last five games, he has 11 hits, two homers, 10 runs scored, and two stolen bases. And Jammer Candelario wanted to mention in May he has hit better 269 with two home runs, 733 OPS.

Would like to see more power, obviously. Both are right around 75% rostered. This is shallow league stuff, but Chris, if you're playing a points league and you've been ravaged by injury at third base or you lost a Max Muncie, would you drop like a Michael Bush or a Jake Burger for either of those, Matt Chapman or Jammer Candelario?

I'm not particularly moved to drop either of those guys for either of those guys. And I think they're all fringy enough that in a points league, it's probably okay to just play the hot hand. But I don't know, it's not like Chapman's hand is so hot that I feel like you're missing.

out on something. So I don't know. Sure. Make that move. I don't, I don't really have a strong opinion on that. Yeah, I think in a points league, I mean, Jake Berger, God bless him. We loved them coming into the season. He's been a disaster. And he's striking out a ton. And he's not hitting for power. So yeah, if you're playing a points league, I think it's probably okay to let go of Jake Berger. Luis Matos or Williare Abrae, both continue to hit well. Luis Matos went two for six with a run and an RBI. And early on here with the Giants, he's batting 325 with an 899 OPS.

The expected stats look great. I think mostly because he only has one strikeout in 10 games. Obviously, that helps. He is 58% rostered. And Wiliare Abraeu went two for four with his fifth home run. He is batting 275. He also has seven steals in 843 OPS. Scott, who would you rather have Luis Matos or Williare Abraeu?

Well, if I'm checking out my updated outfield rankings, I have Luis Matos 55th, and I have Willioreau 58th. So very close. Now, I'm more confident in how Abraeu is going to perform, but there are going to be limits to the impact he makes in fantasy as long as he's sitting against lefties. And Luis Matos, you can at least have hope that he turns into a must-start type of player. So right now I'm inclined to say Matos over Brayu.

Would you drop any of these names for either Abraeu or Matos? Andy Paez, Ian Hap, Jorge Saler, Byron Buxton. I would drop a few of those names for either one, yes. I would drop... Rattle them off for me again? Paixas, Haap, Soler, Buxton. I would drop Hap. I would drop Buxton.

I would not drop the other two. definitely not Pahas Soler you know he's right there with him he's 53rd so 53rd Solair 55th Luis Matos 58th Willier-Bray you yeah I mean Saler's one of those guys that like the underlying numbers are pretty

mediocre right now his average X velocity's only 89.4 miles per hour I would be stunned if Jorge Soler finished the season with an average X velocity below 90 miles per hour so what that tells me is he's not playing well right now, but it doesn't necessarily change

how I view him too much. He was a rankings faller for me. I did move him down quite a bit, but... Fifty-four. You got him basically right where I do. Yeah, so like he, and he was a top 40 guy for me in my previous rankings, so

I've definitely moved him down, but it's not a situation where I'm like, I don't think it's a five-alarm fire for Jorge Salare. Three names in five outfield Leagues. Tommy Femm is off to a great start. He continues to hit for the White Sox, two for four, with his third home run. He's batting 316. He also has three stolen bases. Lyotie Tavares having a solid May, 258 in the month with three home runs, 15 runs scored two steals and an 802 OPS.

And Harrison Bader is off to a solid start with the Mets, one for three with a sock and a shoe. His second home run, he also has seven steals. And he's hitting the ball a lot harder this year. not that it's hard by standards of like the rest of baseball, but it's hard for Harrison Bader. I mean, it's up like three miles per hour for him, hitting more line drives. Chris,

any interest in those three names and I don't know, some of like the deeper five outfield of leagues? Fam more so than the other two for sure. I think he's a lot more interesting. And even at 27% roster, I think that's probably too low. There are probably more than 27% and a CBS fan who needs to have five outfield spots.

He's probably worth rostering in most of those. Tavares and especially Bader, I can't get too excited about. Bader, I think he's just a decent source of speed and probably nothing else. Tavares is kind of the same thing, but there's, I think, a little better bat.

So those guys are clearly behind fan for me. Let's talk WaverWire Pitchers. Three names from Wednesday's action. Tyler Anderson continues to pitch really well this time at the Astros. Eight innings, one run, four strikeouts with 12 swinging strikes on 95 pitches. He did allow 11 hard hits in this game, and I don't really see anything he's doing too different this year.

The changeup remains nasty. I just think he's getting really good results on balls and play with his other pitches so far. That is Tyler Anderson. Jake Irvin turned in a quality start against the twins, six and a third innings, two runs, six strikeouts in that one. throw his curveball a lot more in this start, and that's been his best pitch so far the season. And Austin Gomber threw a gem,

and then the Rockies gonna Rocky, and they took him out after 90 pitches through eight innings, and they blew his win in the ninth inning. Poor guy. Eight innings, one run, six strikeouts, and some of these Rockies are pitching well. I mean, Gomber has a 276 ERA, a 11-whip. We spoke about Cal Quantrell yesterday.

It's got any interest in these names. Gombard, Jake Irvin, and Tyler Anderson. I think the Rockies and Nationals pitching staffs might be most representative of what's going on with pitching around the league because they should not be this good. And it's not just, oh, in the past Austin Gomba's been not very good, so he's not good. In the past, Jake Irfan's been not very good.

So he's not good. No, I mean, you look at what they're doing underneath, And it's like, it's nothing to get excited about it. It's like we were saying what we were saying with Andrew Abbott yesterday, except maybe even to a larger degree. And so it's, this is what I, this is kind of what I meant yesterday when I said I have pitching fatigue at this point because I'm, I'm getting tired of having to try and explain why these BS pitchers keep doing well. It's, it's just the environment, man. And when the environment changes to the extent that it does, these are going to be some of the first guys out. So that.

Yeah, I mean, Gomber has a 461 FIP. Right. Yeah. And Tyler Anderson, all his ERA estimates, all three of them, mid to high fours. Yeah. But Gomber in specific, 461 FIP, the Rockies over the past five seasons, their pitchers, ERA has been half a run higher than their FIP. For obvious reasons. They pitch a course field.

They're a bad team generally. I, yeah, I don't see any reason to, given how, like, Scott said there, he gets to 80 in his rankings before he runs out of, like, interesting pitchers, right? Is the way you phrased it? Well, I mean, there are some interesting ones even beyond that. It's just around, like, everybody above 80, I feel confident is good. And that's, that's so different even from just last year. And, like, Austin Gomberg definitely does not crack that 80. He doesn't crack the 120.

I'm not sure Tyler Anderson necessarily. Like, I think Tyler Anderson's fine to have a round. But at the first sign of trouble or the first interesting pitcher who pops up on the waiver wire, he's really easy to let go as well. And that's a big part of this too, is like, nobody's honestly looking to pick up these guys because their roster is already stuffed with better pitchers. Yeah. I might rather just take a flyer on AJ Smith.

Chavar, who I don't think is good. But at least there's a little bit of mystery box potential there relative to these guys. Well, let's talk about some pitchers that do matter then. And we had some pitchers' duels. The first one was the battle for Scott's heart. Terrick Scuba versus Cole Reagan. Scoobel did not have his best stuff in this one. Five innings, four runs allowed, six strikeouts, still had 14 swinging strikes on 96 pitches.

Cole Regans did have his best stuff. He threw six shutout, one hit, three walks, 12 strikeouts, which was a career high, 15 swinging strikes on 100 pitches. He leaned into the fastball, and it was awesome. 10 wiffs, 10 of his 15 whiffs on that fastball. Did not allow much hard contact on that pitch as well, but did notice the velocity down a little bit

for Cole Reagan's in the start, Scott. Anything to add on him and scuba? Who won? Who has your heart, Scott? Well, I have to stick up for Cole Regens more because there are people out there still who try to claim Cole Regens is not actually very good. I think they'll have a harder time claiming that after this start.

Or maybe they could just say it was against the Tigers. I don't know. Not everybody strikes out 12 against the Tigers, but they could try. Cole Regens is an ace. Yeah, absolutely. He's in my top 12. He's got the fifth best FIP in baseball.

and his slider hasn't been good yet this season. And that was a big part of his breakout last season. His slider has really not been super effective. I think he had one whiff with it today. Yeah. He's had two bad starts. And otherwise he's been as good. They were like seven runs starts.

Yeah, he's giving up seven runs and two starts. One of them was over six and a third. One was I think in less than an inning. He's been as good as anyone in baseball outside of those. those two starts. And it's not like a Mitch Keller situation. Sorry, Scott, I'm not doing the bit. I'm just saying he has a 334 ERA. Like you don't have to like manipulate the numbers to make Cole Reagan's look good. He just looks good and then. Yeah, yeah. Well, it was 370 something coming into today to it. And I guess it was just people looking at that. And 370.R. And this in this economy

is not that good. And okay, fair enough. But yeah, every other way like, all the ERA estimators love them, the strikeout rate, the swinging strike rate, they're both elite. Yeah, he threw his fastball 53% of the time in this one, and it got 10 of the 15 whiffs. And so Cole Regens was like, forget the slider. I'm just, I can just blow you guys away on the fastball. And that's kind of what's so attractive about him is he has so many weapons. And today he pretty much just needed the fastball. So good for him.

Chris, why do you hate Cole Regens? You have them SP 16. Is that too low? It's a little bit lower than us, but I think it's totally good. Yeah, I could move him up a little bit. Sure. We had one other pitchers duel out in Miami. Freddie Peralta up against Jesus Lazzardo.

Peralta, much needed bounce back for him. Seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts with 13 swinging strikes on 98 pitches. And Jesus Lazzardo threw eight shutout innings, three hits, zero walks, four strikeouts. 17 swinging strikes on 100 pitches for him. But notice the velocity was down quite a bit for Lazardo in this one. Fastball down 1.7 miles per hour, slider. Also down 1.7. Dealt with some elbow forearm inflammation this season.

So it's something to watch. He has been much better since returning. Chris, anything to add on? Go ahead. If I could interject real quick, he's been much better since he started shaving off velocity. because that was true in his previous start too, and he threw six shutout innings, I believe it was. Yeah, he's allowed two earned runs in 19 and two-thirds innings

since coming back from the injury with 19 strikeouts and just one walk. And so I guess the case would be that he's improving the command while losing some velocity. And you might look at like the four strikeouts here in eight innings and think, oh, this was a bit of a fluke, but the 17 swinging strikes, I think. point to the four strikeouts being more of a fluke than the results here.

I think you can make a case for Luzardo as a sell high candidate mostly because of the elbow injury and because in 2022 he missed time of the forearm injury and he just has a long history of injuries. It's not really a high priority for me though. I don't think you can sell high on Luzardo because he has a 414 ERA. Sure.

And nobody in this environment, people are going to get to, tired of me saying that. In this economy, nobody is going to look at that and say, I got to have it. So I'm just encouraged he's pitching, but there is a quote here after the game where he says he's not looking to blow people away because it's just not that important. I don't know. They don't address the velocity specifically, but it seems to me that since the drop in velocity about 1.5 across the board has coincided with improved performance,

that it's not so much a bad thing. And the changeup was very good today, which I think it's a positive sign in that regard. What is going on with Justin Steele, who's turned in three clunkers in a row. He was facing the Atlanta Braves, where he allowed five runs over six in a third inning. He had five strikeouts,

only eight swinging strikes on 93 pitches, and he threw his fastball and a slider a little bit less than this start. That's his bread and butter. He threw a few more sinkers, curves, changeups than he normally does. And what that tells me is, I think he's searching right now. I think Justin Steele is trying to figure something out

and maybe just doesn't have the same feel for that fastball and slider as he normally does. He spent a month on the IL with that hamstring injury. So just trying to piece this together and figure out what's going on. Scott, what have you seen from Justin Steele? Will you start him next week? He might be a two-star pitcher against the Reds and at the Brewers. Yeah, if he's making two-starts,

definitely start him. I'm not that concerned. I mean, even this start, I kind of had the game on in the background, but I didn't really see how it came together. Things kind of unraveled for him in the seventh inning. He gave up a total of seven base runners

in six and a third innings. So it's not like he was just getting shelled out there. I just think he had one of those innings that caused things to fall apart. But, you know, he probably overachieved to it extent last year.

And coming off the IL back from the handstring injury, there was probably some rust at first with command. And it's been amplified in a league where good starts are so common. But I don't see anything that's really a red flag for me with Justin Steele. You know, he has a 118 whip to go with the 560A. That's pretty good. I stick with him. He is giving up more fly balls this year, N-hard contact,

which has led to a pretty high home-run rate. So I think that's part of the problem. He's giving up six home runs over his last three starts. But, you know, when Justin Steele is at his best, he's getting lots of ground balls. And, you know, if he gets back on track, I do think that home-run rate will come down quite a bit for him. Some pitching leftovers.

Michael King turned in a quality start at the Reds, six-and-two-thirds, three runs loud, six strikeouts. He tweaked the pitch mix in this one. He actually led with the change-up, which I think is a good idea. The change-up has been his best pitch so far the season. Jared Jones turned in a quality start against the Giants, six innings, three runs,

five strikeouts with 16 swinging strikes in that one. Nester Cortez's velocity up quite a bit against the Mariners. He threw five shutout with six strikeouts, and the fastball up 1.6, the cutter up 2.3, the sweeper up 1.7 for Nester Cortez. And Chris Bassett turned in his best start of the season, up against the White Sox, seven shutout with four strikeouts. Chris, anything you'd like to add on Bassett, Cortez, Jared Jones, and Michael King?

I think Michael King is just a guy. I'm not saying he should be dropped, but I don't really see a path to him being a difference maker this season. I think he's just going to be a matchups-based fringe starting on. option. Basset is tough just because I don't know, there never seems to be a good reason for why he's pitching well or why he's pitching poorly. He seems like the same guy and it's just the results are kind of random, but he's been so good for

what, four years now that whenever things are going poorly, I just kind of assume. I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt that they'll be fine. And it might just be that he throws eight pitches and that's it to like, you Darvish has been really inconsistent over the years. And it might just be that when you've, yeah, Mack and yeah, I mean,

he's, so it might just be, there are a lot more pitchers doing that. I've noticed this year. Yeah. And I think that that makes sense in terms of how teams are developing pitchers. It's kind of either spam your best pitches or

try to keep hitters off balance as much as possible. And I think in Bassett's case, it just, it might just be that there's a very slim, margin for error and there's not really that much of a difference between the good and bad version of him but I think at this point I feel very confident he's going to be good moving forward. So I'm hitting leftovers four names who've picked things up recently. Luis Arise has taken off since joining the Padres. He went four for five with his first home run in 16 games in San Diego

batting 3991, one homer eight runs three stolen bases. Maybe could chip in a couple steals this year for a rise. Corey Seeger went two for three with his eighth home run. His last 17 games, he's betting 313 with six homers, 11 RBI, tons of barrels during that time. J.T. Real Mutu over his last 18 games, betting 338 with three home runs,

15 runs scored and 10 RBI. Still not running though. Yeah, I think he only has one steal on the season. Yeah, only one steal, only three attempts in 41 games now. Despite sprint speed is 89th percentile, which is actually, up quite a bit from last season.

So that's kind of weird. Yeah, I was going to say, well, he's getting up there in age, but if he's still really fast, then I don't really have a reason for him not to run. Jazz Chisholm has picked things up and numbers are basically where they should be right now. He's betting 254 with six home runs and nine stolen bases here on the season.

A few other hitters, Juan Soto has two multi-home run games in his past five. He is up to 13 homers on the season, batting 313. Aaron Judge continues his hair, has eight home runs in his past 16 games. Dalton Varsho, I just wanted to shed some love, I guess, for Varsho here, show some love. You can shed love too. Yeah, we'll shed some love.

He entered Wednesday as the 30th ranked outfielder in Roto and 25th in head-to-head points. Well, part of the reason is the position hasn't been great, but, you know, he's got eight homers. The counting stats look good. He's got five seals, so Dalton Varsho is doing some things. I mean, when league-wide the BAP-IP is down as much as it is, you're going to have some low-batting average guys who are productive relative to their peers. Christopher Morel is another one. I noticed that with a lot of players as I was going through the year-to-date numbers

and updating my rankings. And lastly, Marcel Azuna keeps on mashing, one-for-four with a walk and a three-run homer. He is now up to 15 home runs and 46 RBI on the season. Some bullpen updates for the twins. Yohan Duran got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up one run on two hits but picked up his fourth save for the Guardians. Emmanuel Class A and Scott Barlow were unavailable. It was Cade Smith who picked up his first save.

For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley picked up his 15th save in the suspended game, which was resumed here on Wednesday. And then in their second game, somebody named Ryan Fernandez picked up his first save of the season. For the Angels, Carlos Estevez was unavailable. Luis Garcia got the ninth with a one-run lead. He struck out two for his third save.

And for the Marlins, Tanner Scott got the ninth with a one-run lead. He gave up a hit, but struck out one for his sixth save of the season. Yohan Duran, I believe that's his third straight game, giving up a home run. Was it a home run or just a run? It was just a run.

It was just a run. Okay, he gave up a home run in the previous two. His velocity was down. like one and a half to three and a half miles per hour on all three of his pitches that he throws and that's been going on. You know, still like he throws 100 miles per hour, but he was throwing it harder.

He was throwing more like 101 last year. And they're not consistently using him and save chances. He was a big faller for me. He does have four of their six saves since coming back from the aisle. Yeah. He's worked the eighth four times. Yeah.

And I think part of that, that they've talked about is because Brock Stewart's on the IL and so they when he's back this was something I saw on the Twins broadcast they think they will use Yon Duran more as a

traditional closer moving forward once Brock Stewart's back. That's the hope at least. Okay. Hopefully. I did move him behind Paul Seewald and Jordan Romano and Camillo DeVall though. So he's now 19th. Yon Duran is

in my relief pitcher rankings. To stream or not to stream on Thursday? Not great. Not a lot to choose from here, I think, yesterday. And we lost Cole Irvin, too, who was going to be one of the names we were looking at. Yeah, I don't know. If I had to choose one, like Ryan Feltoner at the A's, I guess.

I don't know. Probably shouldn't do it. Want to be me. I, if you're forcing me to pick something, buddy. And that's the only way you'd get me to start one of them is your life depends on it.

You have to start one of these guys. Matt Waldron at Cincinnati. I think I'd go Feltoner versus the A's or at the A's, but yeah, I'd prefer not to. Baseball is better with a knuckleballer. Oh, absolutely. Hopefully he comes through.

Matt Waldron does. Friday, just realizing now, I didn't write any names in, so I'm going to have to just go down. on the list here. Alec Manoa at the Tigers, I think that's a... Yeah, I think that's perfectly fine. Pretty good thumbs up there.

How about on the other side, Matt Manning, home against the Blue Jays? They've been so bad, but I don't have a lot of faith in Matt Manning. Yeah. Ah, man. Yeah, Friday doesn't look very good either. Miles Michaelis at home against the Cubs. Are the Red Sox? Uh, actually no.

for some reason, I don't know if we talked about this. I don't know if you guys have pictures like this where like Bryce Wilson, I just assume he's a lefty. I know he's a righty, but in my head, every time I think about him, he's a lefty. And I was about to ask if the Red Sox are good against lefties because Bryce Wilson has been pretty good, but they, he's not a lefty.

No, he is not. But yes, that does happen sometimes. Like you have an idea. He just feels like a lefty, you know? Speaking of lefties, Logan Allen, and Patrick Sandoval are facing off against each other. How about those? I mean, it's better than any of the options we saw Thursday.

Yeah. But I'm not eager to do either one. Yeah. I would. What about Jose Arania against the twins? He's been pitching decently. I don't think I could do it. Are they?

Oh, yeah, he's actually pitching deep. I wasn't sure. Yeah. I think I'd rather, I want to say Brax and Garrett against the Diamondbacks, but I don't think. He was going to be the next one I brought up, but they mash lefties too. Yeah, I think so. I think I would know. Christian Scott against the Giants.

Is he too rostered at this point? I didn't mention him because, yeah. Yeah, I didn't mention him because I assumed he was too rostered. That's an easy one. Yeah. So Christian Scott in some of those shallower leagues, Alec Manoa. Actually, yeah, Christian Scott, 67% wants to do that. And if I had to choose one more, I would say, I guess, Patrick Sandoval at home against the Guardians.

We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in. It's up 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.