Rates & Barrels - A No-No for Blake Snell, Intriguing Free Agent Pitchers & A Mailbag Monday

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

Eno and DVR discuss Blake Snell's no-hitter, the path for Snell to opt out of his current deal with the Giants and get a longer contract this winter, and their approach with Max Scherzer in keeper/dynasty leagues, the recent struggles of Tanner Houck, and a busy weekend for pickups with Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo leading the way in bidding where available.  Rundown 0:50 Blake Snell Throws a No-Hitter Against the Reds 7:33 An Intriguing Class of Free-Agent Pitchers On Tap 11:59 Is Max Scherzer a Drop in Shallow Dynasty & Keeper Leagues? 18:57 Making Sense of Tanner Houck's Recent Struggles 27:02 Why Isn't Randy Vásquez Getting Better Results? 36:35 Will Jeffrey Springs' Velocity Return Before the End of 2024? 44:51 Calvin Faucher & Victor Vodnik Getting Save Chances? 48:02 Jackson Holliday & Coby Mayo Join the O's Regular Lineup 52:31 Does Jordan Westburg Have Another Level? Follow Eno on Twitter: @enosarris Follow DVR on Twitter: @DerekVanRiper e-mail: [e-mail] Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/FyBa9f3wFe Join us on Thursdays at 1p ET/10a PT for our livestream episodes! Subscribe to The Athletic: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris Executive Producer: Derek VanRiper Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know what's great about ambition? You can't see it. Some things look ambitious, but looks can be deceiving. For example, a runner could be training for a marathon, or they could be late for the bus. You never know. Ambition is on the inside. So that goal to beat your personal best? Keep chasing it. Drive your ambition. Mitsubishi Motors. Welcome to Rates and Barrels. It's Monday, August 5th. Derek from Rhyper, Inos it's Monday, August 5th. Derek from Ryper, you know, Saris here with you on this episode. We dig into some things that happened over the weekend where the money went.

Big weekend for Fab. We had some top prospects promoted for the first time. We had one brought back, happened to be on the same team. We'll talk about some of the big bids that happened there. There was a little bit of pitching available in certain instances. If you were in a league where a pitcher had to pitch this season to be in the pool you were in luck. If you're in a league where injured players could be picked up you probably were not in luck over the weekend so we'll dig into some of those

happenings. Got some mailbag questions here and we had a no-hitter. Blake Snell threw a no-hitter against the Reds Eno, 21 swinging strikes, 11 strikeouts. He's been great ever since he came off the IL in July. A 41 to 10 strikeout to walk ratio now, a.55 ERA, a.55 whip. The only two pitchers who've been better by the player-rater over the last 30 days, Dylan Cease who's also thrown thrown no hitter and Hunter Green, who has not thrown no hitter, but this put up great ratios. Both of those guys have more wins than Snell during that span.

But this quote says it all like Snell after the game. They can't say it anymore. Complete game. Shut out. No hitter. Leave me alone. Yeah, I guess we've been saying that, you know, some of his innings, that's been the long thing that you've pointed out is that some of the concerns about his innings and going deep into games has been overblown.

Big win for stuff plus for these three guys to you mentioned, those are all big stuff guys. I did struggle a little bit when I was ranking to where to put Blake Snell. Just because the projections for him were so good, they stomped the stuff and there was such a rocky beginning. But this is who he is. You know, I think he just has little bad stretches and underneath the hoodies, a really good pitcher. That is who he is exactly.

I think we are teetering closer to the Blake Snell has an option this off season. And if he continues to pitch anywhere near the level he's pitched at since coming off the IL, he will probably opt out and go back onto the free agent market. Because the guarantee of three or four or five years might be out there as opposed to just pitching on the second year of a two year deal and staying in San Francisco.

I think that's the trajectory he's on right now. If I had to predict it as of August 5th, I think he's going to continue pitching well enough to make that the better option. And then he could be maybe the best free agent pitcher on the board, at least on a shorter deal. Yeah, that's a good point about who's on the market. Because Max Fried will be a free agent, but he's dealt with a couple of injuries again this year. It makes the same sort of package, right?

Yeah, with a little bit, it's like the results get there. And they're a little more consistent. You don't have as wide of a you don't have as high as a high, but you don't have as low of a low on Max Fried with ratios. But I think you trust Snell just a little bit more from a stuff perspective at this stage. Yeah. One thing that I'm just sort of struggling with is that will he go on the market will Blake snow go on the market and be more attractive. After he puts up a hundred innings. I mean the part of the risk was that he sometimes puts up 180 and sometimes puts up 100, 120. So then he goes out and puts up 180s,

no matter how good they are, I feel like that's still the risk. I don't know. Yeah, that's the tough part. He comes off the season or the career best since 2018, first time he'd been up even above the 120 range and the deal that just happened is the one that happened. Right?

So you're, you're raising a good point. Like after another season of durability concerns, which that was the concern I had last winter. I wasn't worried about Blake Snell, five and dive, all that stuff. That's something we talked about all winter. I was worried about Blake Snell, adductor strain, Blake Snell, you knowctor strain, Blake Snell,

you know, various things that have put them on the IL over the years that have, that have, those have cost him more time and that hasn't gone away. That's a fair point to make too. But if it's injury risk all over the place, what I think is probably going to happen is just a bigger AAV and maybe something that's still somewhat creative. Yeah. I think you go a little higher on AAV and you keep the kind of flexible options built in and maybe he gets sort of the, the picture equivalent of the Carlos Correa treatment,

but he goes back, he does a little better, but it's still not quite the mega deal you would have expected with better health throughout his career. I'm still a little surprised he won't get the deal that like Robbie Ray and Kevin Gossman got after, you know, they'd had sort of pop-up seasons, um, you know, like four and a hundred or five and a hundred, you know. Yeah. The Ray deal was five for 115, 115.

Yeah, with an opt out after 2024. So he can probably rake it up down if he wants to, too. Geez. Giants are going to have a weird off season. They always do. I do think that Matt Chapman will opt out. Yeah, I mean, I think the problem is when you're on the wrong side of 30, you generally need to exercise and opt out.

If you think there's any chance you can beat the current deal, because if you wait another year to hit free agency, it's even less likely you're going to beat it. Yeah. Time works against you so hard at that point in your career. So yeah, congrats to Blake though. I mean, getting the haters to probably quiet down for a little bit after that no hitter. I could see Chapman signing extension.

That kind of need is defense. It's going to be it would be a wow. He has options for both of the next years. What this crazy ass contract. They'll just bump them up to like, you know, 20, 25 million or something. Maybe two for 50 or something instead of two for 36, which are the options by AV, this pitching market is going to be kind of packed with old. Guys, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander,

we know they're going to struggle to come up to the 40 plus million AVs they were at previously Alex Cobb Yeah, I mean Cobb unfortunately has one of the worst injury histories out there So Snell can opt out Garrett Cole can opt out. What do you think about that? Garrett Cole could actually opt out I mean, he's been hurt a lot this year and he hasn't been himself and he's got 36 million How much do you have left if he stays in four years left? So he's got to beat four averaging 36 after this season No, I don't think he does actually it'll be 34 in September. He missed time with general body soreness Again think that was from an illness. I don't think that was an aging problem where everything just hurt. I think it was he was sick.

But that injury before that, the nerve related problem in his arm, that ultimately is going to lead to a lot of questions. If if Garrett Cole had another two hundreding season this year, then I think it's a totally different conversation. I think Robbie Ray opts out. He just has to be one and twenty five. He could leave. Don't you think he could get like a three and 70 or something? Probably.

Yeah, I think so. He's 32. Charlie Morton is just either going back to Atlanta or retiring, I feel like. Yep. He's pretty easy to read at this point, I think. Gialito, Iovaldi, Iovaldi could do okay. Burns will be a free agent. Oh, invested, I think. Soito, Ivaldi, Ivaldi could do okay. Burns will be a free agent. Oh, invested, I think.

So he gets 20 million. That's the thing that changes everything too. Corbin Burns is out there. He's a free agent this off-season. That's the big one. Yeah. Kikuchi will be out there, and then a lot of second tier guys behind that.

I think Kikuchi gets the $100 million deal. I think there's a lot of similarities between Kikuchi, especially because they did this in Toronto with the improved command and Robbie Ray. I think. Oh, except that Kikuchi is already 33. Yeah. So then you have to shorten the deal because of the age and how the modeling is going to work on that. I think it's maybe three for 75. Yeah, that's nice.

This is the problem though. Like, this is the... The problem is you put people that stare at this stuff a lot together and they're going to spit out similar numbers and the formulas are going to spit out similar numbers. And that's why it's like, oh my God, of the places that are offering me the same number, which one do I like? It's really, it's really not any more complicated than that for Kikuchi. Yeah, I think so.

And I do have that piece in my back pocket that's, you know, is it collusion if the computers did it? We just that was on top of our heads. We spend a lot of time together. We look at a lot of the same stuff, but. It's just it's kind of sad in a lot of ways. Shane Bieber is 29. Coming off a pretty big injury. Wait, so it's kind of sad in a lot of ways. Shane Bieber is 29. Coming off a pretty big injury. Wait, so it's Tommy John, right?

Yeah, did you have Tommy John? Did he embrace? Did he ever get a confirmation on that one? Oh, so he's going to get the, um, what's the like two year deal special that you get when you get, they give you the first year, they kind of give you like two and 40 or two and 50. Yeah, like five to seven million the first year and then like the big number in the second year. Yeah, or they just spread it out and just pay for, you know, get two for 40 and they

pay in 20 the first year to get you for less than the second year. Hypothetically, if you're in the position of Shane Beaver, he'll be 29, so he's 29 now, he'll be 30 in May. Do you take a one-year deal instead to hit free agency sooner? Because, again, you don't want to push that back any more than you have to. Well, he is a free agent. Well, instead of taking a two-year deal. Oh, oh, oh.

And having your age 30 season be the first of a two-year deal. Just sign like a one and 10 and try to just be healthy. That's the bet on yourself version, right? The bet on yourself version. Like which one are you more comfortable with? Knowing him, I could actually see the one in 10. Yeah. So there's some decent pitching out there. It's got plenty of question marks around it. Beaver's been a Cleveland guardian. You know, he's probably been salivating at free agency.

Not that Cleveland is a bad place to play. It's just sort of a little bit like Tampa ask where it's like, you know, it's probably been salivating at free agency. Not that Cleveland's a bad place to play. It's just sort of a little bit like Tampa ask where it's like, you know, you're not going to get paid there. Yeah, you generally are not going to get the big deal from Cleveland. On some level, you're looking to get paid somewhere else. So we had some mailbag questions today. One of them actually connects to a pending free agent. Is Max Scherzer a drop in 12 team dynasty leagues?

This is from Redzen4 in our Discord and Redzen4 is contending for a title as well. I mean, arm fatigue is the cause of Max Scherzer's latest move to the IL. So even if it's only a couple of weeks, let's say it's a relatively quick stint, we're still at the point in the year now where that could be the middle of August.

Yeah, it could be the end of August. August 15th is the earliest possible return date, I think. So I'm not particularly optimistic. And while I would be surprised if Max Scherzer just stopped and retired this off season. I don't know if I'm necessarily clinging to them, the idea of holding onto him in a dynasty league at this point. I think the fact that he wasn't traded the trade deadline is in a major

sort of red flag. Basically, he does have a no trade clause though. Yeah, but it just complicates things. You're saying in the sense that contenders, but like a contender generally wasn't knocking down the door. Yeah, you know, the Orioles, like, you know, if he was vintage Max Scherzer and they thought they could get real Max Scherzer, the Orioles would have called the Dodgers that are called, you know. But what you see is 9-2-7 on the fastball right now for Max Scherzer, the Orioles would have called the Dodgers that are called, you know. But what you see is 927 on the fastball right now for Max Scherzer.

That's down 1.2 from last year and that's down basically two ticks from when he was at his best. He's never been a stuffed god, but you know, in 2021 and 2020, he had 110, 111 stuff. Even in 22 and 23, his fastball was still above 100 in stuff. Plus this year, his fastball 77 stuff plus 83 overall. Like, I don't I hate to over emphasize one stat, but that sort of brings together why teams might say, no, thanks. For us, I'm sure he could still put up like three nines, you know, I feel like a three nine era like he's had so far and a decent whip. OK, strikeouts. I feel like he could do that.

But the number of starts that I give him over the rest of the season, the over under is like five. Yeah, probably could count them on one hand. I was thinking four and a half or five would be where I'd probably put the number if I was making something like that. But the interesting thing here, too, is you look back at these last three seasons. Now you go back to even twenty twenty two hundred and forty five and a third for the Mets.

It was one fifty two and two thirds last, split between the Mets and Rangers. That's probably the higher end outcome for Scherzer in future years too. And those pitchers are valuable, but then that's still like almost a best case scenario. I think last year is the best case scenario you have going forward in the next three years. Yeah, cause that was a 377 ERA and a 112 whip

with more than a strikeout per inning. It was a major home run for sure. It was the last year. But I would if I was projecting him, I'd probably project him for, you know, a 380 ERA and next year for like 100 innings, 120. Then the the offshoot of this question is for people out there that are thinking about this, are you interested in taking the flyer on someone who hasn't debuted yet?

Let's say Brandon Sprote, Mets prospect, just got bumped with a triple A. Let's say Sprotes out there or Bubba Chandler's out there. Upper level pitching prospects. We haven't seen the big leagues yet. 12 team dynasty, the threshold to be a consistently good, valuable pitcher. Oh, it's a total team dynasty. I missed that last part. It's a question in redraft too.

It's easier to drop them in redraft. It's way easier in redraft. I thought this wasn't even a, I was like, okay, I was like, this is a slam dunk. We can move on, but dynasty, you always like, you're like, oh, couldn't you trade them to a contender for even a small prospect, but. Or if you are a contender, like, are you just looking for someone else who helps you more because you can either burn the roster spot

and just wait it out with Scherzer. You can swap to somebody else who's similarly. If he is a contender, I would say maybe you hold on because that could be a useful piece for your end game. You know, you think you think even with the deterioration, stuff is still good enough where you might prefer Scherzer at the end of the year if he's back over the other options?

Over a lower, where like, it's not like, you're not. Yeah, September starts from Scherzer versus Adam Mazer. Like that's probably the kind of question. Yeah, we're not talking about Mizorowski. We're not talking about the top end pitching prospects that are still down there. You know, we're talking about. No, you're talking about like back end fillers that are currently like fringy to get in or

prospects that haven't debuted yet. Those are probably your alternatives in those situations. I could go pick up Landon Nack maybe if you're lucky. Yeah. Maybe someone dropped him when he went back down. He's 12 teams, you know? Right. I would say if you're anything lower than fourth, then yeah,

because you're probably shopped in and nobody wanted them. If you run out of spots, go do something else with your time. You can definitely run out of spots. That is a real thing that actually happens in leagues that have the limits. My 12th dynasty. I have a Reese Olsen question where it's like he's on the I.L., but I have Jake DeGrom, Drew Rasmussen and somebody else on the I.L. It's my I.L.'s full. So I'm just staring at Rees Olson.

I'm trying to trade him to, you know, rebuilders. Further testing at least turned up OK on Rees Olson. But yeah, if you're kind of caught in the middle right now, he's he's someone that I would think you could more easily flip. Yeah, which is a good park. There should be a rebuilding team still interested in him because the reports on his shoulder are good

enough to make you think that this won't be a major, major problem for him, but it is hard. I think 12 team dynasty is maybe one of my hardest leagues. It's the one that I bug you about the most because I'm just like, I don't know.

These are all good players. What am I? Yeah, but this is what auto new does, too. And I think the at least the difference in auto new is that the chances of Max Scherzer being a very inexpensive player are very low. He's probably not a he's probably like a twenty five dollar Max Scherzer. And then you're like, yeah, that's easy drop or an easy rental to somebody else. Yeah, I'll just I'll if I can't find a taker, I cut them. I have salary cap space.

I could take a couple of interesting flyers and move that around. It makes more sense. Leaning more towards a drop in 12 team dynasty league. If you're not contending right now and you can't flip them. If you are contending, probably a little closer to a whole situation matters. Reds and four a little more

in that contending bucket right now. If you're shopping while working, eating, or even listening to this podcast, then you know and love the thrill of the hunt. But are you getting the thrill of the best deals? Rakuten shoppers do. They get the brands they love with the most savings and cash back.

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and Rakuten shares the money with you as cash back. Download the free Rakuten app and never miss a deal or go to rakuten.ca to start getting the most bang for your buck. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Here's a question for you. What is behind Tanner Hauck's recent struggles? Tanner Hauck was phenomenal throughout the first half. And this is a multiple person question through Discord. I have a text question about this over the weekend too. Results still look really good overall for the season, right? It's a 309 ERA, a 114 whip, 123 Ks in 134 innings,

a career best walk rate for Tanner Hauck. This is very good to see. Like the home run rate hasn't been a problem, but more recently he has started to come down from that. What do you think the explanation is of six earned on eight hits last time out over five innings against the Rangers four earned it was at Colorado a couple starts ago I think you kind of brushed that off he had a rough start against the Padres in late June where you have seven earned in four and a third I Had a short start against the Yankees

just after the 4th of July. So what are you seeing in the more recent outings from Hauck? There's a few things that come to mind. One is I always check out the velocity and there's a little bit of a V-Load dip. He was getting 93s, even with some 94s early in the season when he was feeling froggy. The last four have gone 93, 4, 93, 6, 93, 0, 92, 5.

So a little bit of a Velo drop edge. I also see that his slider has become a little bit more depth the and in the last three starts it has maybe an inch almost two inches more drop than it did earlier in the season that can be important because. Drop plays one way against same handed it should make it I think a dropper slider should be better for opposite handed because you think about, the frisbee sliders, the sweepers do poorly against opposite-handed. So, you know, he could be doing it on purpose, but the results haven't been amazing. And then the last thing that I just have to think about is just this idea that he made a tweak that is novel in the in the industry, along with all of Boston in cutting the strike, the fastball usage so much that you have to think that there might be sort of, you know, second order like people getting used to it. You know, just like.

second order, like people getting used to it, you know, just like. Everyone's read the story now, every, every advanced scouting, every team knows, OK, he's not going to throw the sinker much. He's throwing it 30% of the time. We have to maybe sit. Are we going to sit slider? You know what I mean? And, you know, I wonder if some of those strategies, sort of those like, you know, responses are filtering through.

One thing that is interesting is that the slider, while it's being, while it's changing in shape, and what I'm saying in terms of maybe some people sitting it, the slider has been a negative pitch type value for the first time in five out of his last six starts. So something's happened there. I think they might be sitting slider or the side is getting worse or both. And I think that the response though is fairly obvious is like, okay, if you're going to sit in slider, here comes some sinkers. So you think there's a counter adjustment that they can try to employ.

And I'm sure the Red Sox see it and are trying to diagnose it. I have no doubts about that. But while you look at his matchups on a start by start basis, you're like, okay, is he back in the streamer bucket? Is that the proper way to handle Tanner? How we've talked about the difficulty of pitching in Boston. It's hard enough when you have to deal with that home park. If we can't use you for all of your home starts, it starts to chip away at your value really fast.

The last eight starts, 523 ERA, 34 Ks and 43 innings, 20 walks. So the walk rates kind of back up and the home runs have come back mixed in there. I think they've been kind of scattered into about three starts though. So it's not necessarily every time out there he's giving up homers,

but we're starting to see those mistakes get crushed a bit more often. And like, where do you draw that line when it comes to being careful with him? So he has his next start is at home against Houston. Well, okay I think if I'm being careful with him, that's Fenway in Houston. That's a no and so the next start is versus Texas Is that a no if that's a no Then I have to go all the way to August 19 at Houston Well, if you wouldn't throw them at home against Houston,

you probably wouldn't do it on the road. Houston's so they're going to August 25th versus the Diamondbacks at home. And even that could be sneaky hard because the Diamondbacks are actually not a bad offensive team. They're the best of the three offenses you just mentioned by WRC plus. They keep the keys down. Stand that sort of intuitively. Like it doesn't make sense to me.

But yes, that's I knew you were going to say something like that. But I'm doing that. Does that make sense? Does that make sense to you? There's no way that makes sense. If you're asking who those best offense of those three would I, I'd go Houston, Texas, Arizona. Yeah, it's how I would have ranked them, too, if we hadn't looked into this couple of weeks ago.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Diamondbacks this year. The other strange thing about the Diamondbacks as a team, and I realize like Corbin Carroll is a large part of where the Stolen Bases come from, they only have 75 steals. The makeup of- Even with McCarthy coming back up? Yeah, they're like mid-pack, they're tied for 14th in Stolen Bases as a team this year. I just, they're just not the team I thought they'd be as a lineup. And then you start to think about like telemarketer doesn't run older. Yeah, they're not running.

Yeah, they're just more power over speed. That's that's not what I expect them to be. They got a 424 slug. They're sixth. The Diamondbacks are sixth in Major League Baseball and slugging. Well, you know, maybe the losing Walker is a little bit of a problem for them. It could be. I don't know if it makes them a team you target, but maybe you just fear them a little bit less.

So anyway, back to the tenor Hulk thing. I liked him coming into the season. I still like him. I think I'm going to ride or die. You're going to push him through. Okay. So in this case, you're talking about still using him against an Astros lineup that's been kind of a fringy top 10 lineup, still good. Not an easy walk over.

They don't have Kyle Tucker. That's a key missing player. If he does poorly against Houston, though, versus Texas starts to be a problem. I mean, Houston should be one he can handle, I feel like. Should be. But also, what's going on with the Rangers lineup this year? It's not the same Texas we saw a year ago.

They're not playing to the same level, yeah. They've been missing guys. It's been a key part of it too. But they have been a bit tricky. Like a team that we've probably feared more than we should, at least by the results, up through the first four months of the season. But thank you for the Tanner out questions.

What is the, uh, one week, two weeks sort of thing. So five, five to 12 is one week. So he won't be a two starter anytime soon either. He could be a two starter the next week. It could be versus Texas at Houston next week. So you could sit them just for this week just to see as a sort of a bell weather and then you'd get a two start could sit him just for this week, just to see as a sort of a bellwether. And then you'd get a two start week from him, maybe against, uh, Texas.

And, and no, it won't be a two star week for him. So two start week, the next week would be at Houston versus Arizona. But you could sit in versus Houston just to see what you've got. I could see that. Anyway. Yeah. Good question. Yeah. I'd say put him in the SP3, SP4 treatment bucket right now, or he's not just the automatic start the way he might've been in the earlier part of this season.

Had a pretty direct question that was asked in a more polite way. Ethan in Discord wanted to know, why does Randy Vasquez not work with three fastballs, a decent off-speed breaking balls and good location numbers? Or the way I would ask it, why isn't Randy Vasquez not work with three fastballs, a decent off-speed breaking balls and good location numbers. Or the way I would ask it, why isn't Randy Vasquez better? I mentioned him maybe a month or so ago as something that I kind of liked in the second half because he could possibly narrow the pitch mix a little bit, use his better stuff

and maybe get some better results. We know Petco as a home park is great. The Padres are a team that keep trying to get better. So those win probabilities are probably up a bit compared to where they were at the beginning of the season. But to Ethan's question, why doesn't Randy Vasquez get better results? I wonder if he throws the fastball too much.

The fastball, the four-seam fastball is his worst pitch. And he still throws it 31% of the time. It's very weird when you have five other pitches you can throw. Yeah. I wonder if he couldn't benefit from a sort of Bostonization, you know, his, he doesn't locate the cutter as well as he locates his other, uh, fastballs. So maybe you'd be like, okay, replace some four seamers with cutters. Well, not if you can't locate them. And the last thing is he strikes me as someone that has poor command. The walk rates have been up and down in the miners.

The location plus numbers are good. We did, I did get some feedback from someone who worked for a team that said that he thought he agreed with my point that maybe internal location models are better than public ones. And I will say that here at pitching plus headquarters, we are working on that for sure. Then there are different ways to do it. But I would say too many fastballs and inconsistent command. That would be my guess. But still someone that I watch a lot. I watch his starts. I circle him. I put him in my fab list. He's always sort of circling around. And I've definitely had this kind of a question in my head myself. And I just, I'm sorry that I don't have a more definitive better answer, but I do think that he should have what it takes. And so I think if you're not getting

into great counts, having a good slider and good curveball and good change up is a little bit less useful. And that's why you see really good swing strike rates in the minors and you haven't seen it in majors yet. I think that it has to do with count leverage and fastball usage. Yeah, I mean, first career now, it's up over a hundred big beginnings

between the time with the Yankees and the time with the Padres. 7.7% swing strike rate for someone that was consistently in double digits coming through the Yankee system. It's a bit of a puzzle for Randy Vasquez, but I think the four seam usage would be a good place to start. Lowering that maybe would open up a few more interesting possibilities for him skills-wise If they decide to go that route with him in San Diego. Had a few other discord notes to pass along as a follow up on Trey Sweeney from BitCloud to random notes that he mentioned on the episode at the end of last week. There is a significant chance that Trey Sweeney's power looks played up because

of homers he hit in Albuquerque, which has more extreme part factors than Coors. Seven of his 13 homers at the time of this writing were hit in Albuquerque, which has more extreme part factors than Coors. Seven of his 13 homers at the time of this writing were hit in Albuquerque this year. He had a three homer game and a two homer game in the same series earlier this year. The PCL just continues to foil us, but thank you for sending that note, Big Cloud. I think we noticed that a little bit on air when I was kind of gushing about him and then was like, Oh, he has an 86 WRC plus. At least I remember while I was looking through all the signs, like, why do you get trade? Oh, okay. Yeah.

WRC plus is park adjusted. And so it takes the wind out of some of that power sales, but still a kind of player that I would trade for if I were the White Sox and I think you know better than some of the other ones like Brett better than Brendan like I'd rather have Trey Sweeney than Brendan Shoemake you know there's like there's a but like I don't know why they traded for Mike Serova like there was they had one year of team control on Mike Serova what's he gonna do for you you're gonna spend you knew you were going to spend half the year waiting for him to get healthy.

And then I don't know. I think it was the kind of flyer not unlike signing Eric Fetty. Right. With a lot less proof to go on. Right. We'll give him starts. If he pitches well, we'll get something back in a trade. You know, we have we have vacancies. He was very interesting. What was the trade for?

Because they got a bunch of nothing for it. It was shoemaking Sirocco for what? That was the Aaron Bummer trade, I believe. Oh, OK. Basically, the Braves said, here's a bunch of guys we can't keep on the 40 man. You have room on your 40 man. So you take all these lottery tickets. Get anything out of Bummer.

Is Bummer hurt? Oh, he's pitching. Yeah, Bummer's back. He's pitching okay. He's got a 210 fib. Wow. Yeah, that trade was Nikki Lopez, Braden Shoemake, Jared Schuster,

Michael Soroka, and Riley Gowans was in that trade. What a ridiculous trade. Ridiculous trade. I mean, if you have 40 man spots, you got to fill them somehow. I guess, but it just reeks of those fantasy trades you get near the trade deadline where someone's just trying to consolidate and he just gives you all your non-keepers. He's like, he was fun. Yeah, just clicking a bunch of names.

Yeah. I've made trades like that before where there's a salary cap or a roster limit. And I just tell the person like, look, these other three names I'm clicking on, I'm only throwing them in because I can't keep them at all. If you like them, great. If you don't, I don't think they're a value add. They're just you the first shot at them before they're waiver guys. Yeah.

And auto new, you can give people, you can loan people the money to pay for the players. So sometimes you will get the little click of the action where it's five expensive players that, you know, none of them you're going to keep, but he's loaning you the money to keep, to pay for them. So you might as well. Yeah. Take these upgrades off my hands, but no, thanks for that message. Bit Cloud, we got one from Pyre.

Every time I play OTP, Ben Joyce never works out. The game just hates him. My last run, I played as the angels and Nolan Shanuel randomly gained 65 game power and became like an eight time MVP. He'd be so good. Yeah, I mean, 65 game power would change everything for him. I guess I could I could see a little bit why that the why the game might not like him,

because what we have for Ben Joyce is 34 innings with a 20.8% strikeout rate. It's very bizarre in terms of aligning stuff to output. And I think it to some extent has to do with being a power sinker that's going to reduce home run rates and reduce BABIP and that's what Stuff Plus has given us is a little bit of a insight into you know run suppression, batted ball suppression. I think that you know adding the sinker this year could add to more strikeouts because he's going to throw the same hand to guys. You see the whiff rate you know it was 10% last year 9.9 it's up to 12.2.

You see way bigger spring strike rates in the minors, way big strikeout rates. I do think you'll eventually get there. I think he's a closer. I think he's the closer now, but I could see why the game might not like. Are we sure that Ben Joyce isn't another bruised our graderall? There are simulators there for 100% sure. You know, what? It's not Yannir Canel, but you know, the same sort of deal where it's like, is he going to have enough strikeouts to be the closer? But I think that that organization is so bereft of talent, honestly, that Brews Dark Radarall would close for the Angels right now. Right. So, you know, long term, it's a concern. So if you're thinking about you've bought him, like I have a bunch of dollar, I had two one dollar Ben Joyce's

in autumn that I bought like a month ago and I've got him cheap in a lot of places. It is worth thinking like, maybe I will trade this in the off season. You know, if there's a package that appeals to me because I'm not sure about his long term viability as a closer. Yeah, you know, if there's a package that appeals to me because I'm not sure about his long-term viability as a closer. Yeah, I don't think it's a lock. I think it's, there's a lot to like, but the Grattorall comparison and example to me is more like, hey, this sometimes what looks like electric stuff is really good, but it doesn't translate to the strike outs that we expect it to.

Probably one of the closest comps though in the end is Jordan Hicks. Yeah. That's another guy where it didn't quite go the way we wanted it to from a fantasy perspective for a little while. It looked like it was working as a starter to begin this year, but there were. He also had some really good years in the bullpen. So. Yeah. But even those years, I mean, 14 saves, I think was the career high from 2019, 12 saves last year split between a couple of teams. I mean, it just it never quite took off the way you would think where he was the guy getting 25 or 30 saves.

I'm I've convinced myself that's the comp. Fair enough. Well, just because Graderol is very unique in terms of what he does, like he's short arms the ball like nobody else and you know, tiny extension and you know, high velocity. He's a bizarre guy, but yeah, it's the same. It's the same phenotype for sure. But we're just wanting more from a strikeout perspective, especially let's take a look at where the money went this

weekend because I thought there were a lot of interesting names picked up, especially in the 12 team Rota wire online championship. The most added player of all was someone that you got on a few teams, Jeffrey Springs, and you were saying before the show, you weren't necessarily that excited to add Jeffrey Spring. So why did you do it then? He's a two star pitcher this week.

So he was chasing two starts. But but no, I mean, I paid, I paid a 30 something in one league. So that's not a streamer. A streamer for me is like $11 out of a thousand. So I paid more. I guess what I'm hoping for is a little more Velo. I hate to be so Velo specific, but 89.9 in his first start is not good for Jeffrey Springs. And, um, you know, he was not really a stuff guy before. He's always been a command guy.

But in 2023, and his first year in Tampa 2021, his stuff did pop like he did have an uptick in stuff and his fastball, four-seam fastball went up in Velo with Tampa those years. And so in 93-7 was 2021 where he was in the pen and starting. And then it was down to 91-7, but he had that great season in 2022, based off his command. I'm just not sure the command is going to come back. I just think there's a lot of questions, you know, how, how long are they going to let him pitch in the games? He went three and two thirds before his first one. You know, what's the strikeout rate going to be like?

What's his fastball Veto going to be like? So, uh, it was, I would say more out of desperation than anything. It was 76 pitches, though, so pretty close to a normal sort of workload. I mean, they may be a little careful with them, but I don't think it's a constant source of, oh, no, and he's never an opener in front of him. He's not going to not going to be eligible for wins. I don't think it's that bad. But I do think the VELO really needs to come back

because of where Springs lives on that, on that range. Like he can't really afford to be a tick or two less than what he was when it was all kind of coming together for him a couple of years ago before the injury popped up his last season. Do we have any sub 90 quality, uh, pictures? Let me see here for this year. Any sub-90 quality pitchers? Let me see here. For this year? Tyler Anderson, Marcus Stroman.

Ben Lively? That's where you're shopping. I had the qualified guy on, but without the qualified guy, Ben Lively, Jose Quintana is right there. I don't know, man. It's a, it's a tough place to live. Brady Singer, Bailey Ober. They're a little lighter on the Velo side. If he can, but if he can, but he, he needs to get there. Right.

He's still below that level. I want to see like 90.5. I want to, I want to see some 91s on the gun. Like, I don't know. 89.9 is, is a tough place to be. He might be more of a 20, 25 guy. Jeffrey Springs might be able to get it all back in the offseason. Sometimes just getting back, getting through a couple of months,

then going into your offseason where you're not rehabbing anymore. That ends up being the thing that sort of unlocks everything going back in that right direction. We've also just to the desperation point, like we we're getting close to yet another record of pitchers used. I think we're at like 750 or something last year, the record was set, you know, it's always year over year. The record is set, the record set like at 850. So that's the desperation you feel in different leagues.

Where there's not even any top prospects coming up anytime soon. Like, you know, like I'm not going to save fab for Jacob Mizorowski if he never comes up, you know, that's a second mention of Jacob Mizorowski. You're thinking a lot about Mizorowski. How many, how many big pitching prospects are left to wait for? I mean, is Joe ever going to come up? It doesn't seem like they have to do it this year.

They could just bring him up for opening day 2025. And because of the time he's missed this year with with injuries, it's not, you know, any sort of developmental malpractice to do it that way. So it's a short list. We looked at it a couple of weeks ago, and that's how we landed on David Festa, who was a re-add for a lot of people. Who was a definitely I added him again, too, in a couple of people. Oh, who was a definitely, I added him again too in a couple of weeks, yeah.

Trying to get on that road again. Homer's had been a problem for him in the brief time that he's been up with the twins thus far. I'm hoping it's a two-star week, but it is one of those two-star weeks where you're nervous because it's a young guy, right? And it's like, oh, he could be a two-star, he lines up to be a two-star week,

but is he only up for this start and then somebody else is gonna get healthy healthy and, you know, take a start later in the week. That's always possible. I think what helps is that they have a double header on Friday. So it's a little more of a stretched pitching group situation. So that probably adds a little. Eight games this week?

No, they have Thursday off, but they have a double header on Friday. Ah, okay. But double headers are tough to plan for as an organization. This is pretty weird though, because Cleveland is also off Thursday. They could have just rescheduled that game for the eighth instead of just putting two of the ninth. Don't question the schedule makers. That is a hard job.

There has to be some reason why they decided to play a double header that day. You also get to ask the teams. Teams's like there's there's, you know, teams can say no to certain things. Right. That that day off might have been really valuable to them for some other reasons, of course. So who would you rather have had between Springs and JP Sears, who is also a two start pitcher this week's got the White Sox for his first one. That was pretty appealing. And he's on the road against the Blue Jays on Sunday for the second one.

I don't like to play JP Sears on the road. And so I generally stay away from that. He for some reason has a higher ERA at home this year, which annoys the crap out of me. And actually for his career. That's great. Great. Thank you Sears for working against my narrative. That is just beautiful.

I, I, I think for me, I'm OK with Sears. And if you can get it right, you get it right and you do well. I just feel like it's really hard to get it right with him. And with Springs, I was like

the if there's like a percentage, if there's like a percentage that one's better than the other for this week Maybe it's really close for them this week But if there's a percentage likelihood that one of them turns into a guy I keep in my roster, it's higher for Springs Yeah, I would have hundred percent agree with that. We've seen a higher Ceiling from Jeffrey Springs in the past But I think if Springs fails to get that V lo back they they end up being a constant, constant source of streaming and to start

conversations as a result of using them at home, try to stay away on the road or pick your spots carefully on the road. That's just sort of the way that it goes. A bunch of relievers got picked up this weekend as they often do. I saw Victor Vodnik, AJ puck because Paul Seawald got removed from the closer role this prior to the weekend. I think it was Ryan Thompson. They got the save Friday with Puck pitching in the sixth.

Then on Sunday, Thompson was in the eighth. Puck was in the ninth. And that makes a little bit more sense. The Thompson one was, though, was a reaction to a save that Seawald was blowing. So the it was more instructive that Seawall then pitched the sixth or seventh in the next game that they were winning and, uh, puck pitched the ninth because that's when they had it all set up like they

wanted to. Right. Everybody, everything had been kind of rewracked for that particular matchup. Puck is the closer. Uh, he's the big winner so far, although I do like Fauche. And I hope I'm saying the name right. It does look like it's a French last name. I like him.

I think he's got a little bit of a command bug up his nose and he's a little bit more like the breaking balls are better pitches than the fastballs. But it's not like he's zero below wise. Ninety six is only a little bit above average is not plus plus. But I think that's enough below. And I don't know. I just don't like Nardi as much. All right. So you're about over Nardi in Miami still.

What are you doing with Victor Vodnik? We've had Rockies closers occasionally pop up, provide enough value. Stuff looks like it's pretty good. It's close to a strikeout per inning this year. The home run rates not off the charts bad. All things considered, this looks pretty good. Last 30 days especially, sub 3 ERA, sub 1 whip, 5 for 5 in save chances, and 13 Ks and 13 and a or third inning.

So this this looks like it plays maybe as a bottom tier closer despite Vodnik having to pitch half his games in Colorado. You know, I think it actually I I probably should have maybe put some some bids in on them and try to get them in some places. The the interesting thing about a Rockies closer at this point in the season is that I wouldn't want to necessarily draft a guy that might he's given you a 137 whip and a 370 RA like those are still innings that are stacking up against other closer

innings. So there's going to be bad right. You know what I mean. Like those are bad numbers for a closer. And that's that's, that's course related, of course, but this point in the season, you have a lot more teams out there that say, well, you know, my era when whip aren't that great anyway. So just give me the saves and the case. Um, and so in that case, I think Vodkic Vodnik becomes a better bet and a better fit for certain teams Yeah, I think if you had previously been using Jason Foley as a source of saves

And you've been disappointed by the lack of saves in the last 30 days or so This is probably a good one for one swap. She's I bet you were at the bottom One thing that projections might be missing and one thing that is nice about this year's version of Stuff Plus is that we have altitude adjusted Stuff Plus and so that's why you'll see a 121 Stuff Plus for Victor Vodnik and that might not be factored into most of the public facing projections that we have. So they're all saying four eights, and I'm gonna take the hard under on that projection for Vodnik.

I think with that kind of stuff, he can still manage a sub four. Right, maybe there's, I don't know, something between a Daniel Bard, Houston street grade capable closer here with Vodnik. Yeah, he's slightly more Bard than street in terms of stuff, but yeah. Right.

But that's, that's a good thing. Even though street had the longer run. Some command foibles. Yeah. Yeah. Not as bad as barred. That's, that's, he's a legend level. Did you come away with any shares of Kobe Mayo or Jackson Holiday from the weekend?

I did not. I did not. I have some draft and hold mayos that I'm not even necessarily playing just because of who they're up against on my team. You know, Mayo does have outside strikeout rates aside normal strikeout rates, I'm not denigrating him overall as a prospect. I'm just saying there could be a possibility comes up and struggles with making contact in his first attempt to the league. We just saw, you know,

Holliday, who was a can't miss guy, come up and struggle. So, you know, Mayo was not somebody that I was going to drop $150, $200 on at this point in the season. Holiday, on the other hand, I've been, I feel really kind of angry about right now because in all of my Fab leagues, I've been trying to stash him over the last few weeks and I've had him on my rosters and then been like, Oh crap, I got to do something else. Or like, someone's gotten hurt. You know what I mean? So he's been on and off my rosters as like the last bench

guy all, all summer. If he breaks out now, I'm going to be kind of angry, but you know, obviously good talent. And I think slightly ahead of Mayo in terms of making adjustments already and smaller strikeout rates in the minors, you know, I think he's more likely to take a full time job. Whereas I think they have contingency plans if Mayo doesn't work out. move for a lot of people is to drop Jordan Westberg because of the broken hand too. So it was just replacing a really good middle and corner guy with one of the high ceiling literal replacements, right? And Holliday is homered twice since coming back up. They've, they've kept them in the nine spot so far.

I don't think that's necessarily locked in for the rest of the season. If he's performing, they'll move them around accordingly, but I think you're right. I think Mayo, you know, seeing big league pitching for the first time does bring more risk. I wouldn't be surprised that the strikeout rate was bad enough where he ends up being the guy that goes back down at some point if Westberg makes it back. I haven't seen a timetable for Westberg, but usually a broken hand

tends to be about a month for a hitter. It's just going to take a little time for that to heal. So they're both going to get a pretty good look. Mayo started all three games since for that to heal. So they're both going to get a pretty good look. Mayo started all three games since debuting on Friday. I think he hit eight and two of them and moved up to hit sixth against the lefty that they saw on Saturday. The would you rathers for these guys? I mean, it's like even with the downside, we're talking about the swing

and miss that Kobe Mayo has, even with holiday faltering the first time he was up. The ceiling is high enough where you probably want these guys in shallow leagues. All the way down to like a 10 teamer. Especially in 12 teamer, yeah. But in the 12, yeah, I went after Holiday this weekend in one league, I got him.

I think the projections are very light. I put this in the Discord and people were generally on the side, the projections are kind of like on the correct level. The Bat-X has a 245, 325, 383 on Holiday on the side the projections are kind of like on the correct level the bat X has a 245 325 383 on holiday for the rest of the season I'd be surprised if he doesn't beat that that would that would be especially on the power and 380 slugging for him I don't know yeah I mean this is a guy that ended up with a 271 431 477 as a 20

year old at AAA 10 homers eight for nine as a base dealer. I think it's going to click for him in these final two months. Like I, I'd be surprised if he doesn't beat that projection and the floor on that projection is still good enough to be the last player on your bench and just about any size league. Yeah. I've got a, a fascinating situation on the other side. The, this is the league that I, I text you the most about the 12 team dynasty.

I have Westberg and I have Morel and I have Mookie. So I can probably just wait for Mookie to come back and just make that switch. But of course, other people in the league have come calling for Westberg saying, Hey, I'll, I'll give you this, uh, you know, perfectly wrapped Marcus Simeon, um, and some other pieces for your, your Jordan Westberg. And to some extent, it's, um, it's tempting a little bit. I mean, cause Westberg is 25, right? So there's a chance that we're seeing something very close to his peak right now. Um, there's a question, we're seeing something very close to his peak right now. There's a question I think of like how many bases would Jordan Westberg steal next year?

I mean, we got two thirds of a season from him and he stole six. So if the strikeout rate comes back a little bit more next year and the batting average goes down a little bit. Where's the growth going to come from? You know, where, what's he going to do better next year? It's a fair question, right? Is this the, you know, the near peak performance or is there one more gear? I mean, he lowered the K rate this year in the larger sample that bodes well, I think where the improvement comes from, what if he more yeah but if he walks more then he'll probably

turn more of those whiffs into strikeouts so he could maybe get up to 10 and 25 right 10% walk rate 25% K rate for Westburger so you'd have a you have OVP go up and batting average go down I feel like a lot of times at this point in the year, the rest of season projection slash line is going to come up pretty close to what the 2025 slash line is going to be. 100%. Those are pointing toward what we see is what we get. Yeah. And if you feel that way, okay, then you're talking about a reduction in power a little bit. OK, then you're talking about a reduction in power a little bit.

Right. Like a 22 homer, 10 steel guy with a slightly better than average batting average in a great lineup. So the counting stats get a bit of a boost. Who is that player in the pool right now? Among middle infielders. It's interesting. It's not really I don't it's not I don't have a great comp for it. Is it could tell Martaish even even Marta? I don't know if he even runs better.

Bounding average, right? Let's see if our trusty player rater can help us a little bit with some similarly valued players. So Westberg has been worth 16 bucks in a five by five league, 12 by 12, five by five, 12 team league. Other $16 players, Brandon Nimmo. That's less average and a little more speed. Corey Seager usually expect more, more average. That's like sort of age related. And yeah, I don't think that's a good comp.

We've got Ezekiel Tovar is on here. That is that's so weird. I love that because Westberg is so much my player and Tovar is on here. Wow, that is, that's so weird. I love that because Westberg is so much my player and Tovar is so much not. And look at them coming up with the same value. I would bet on Westberg skills going forward though, I think. Yeah, I think the thing with Tovar that we'll probably have a deeper conversation about in the offseason, we're doing like a position review or something is that ballpark can protect

his flaws a little bit. But also make it so that he's not going to improve them. That's possible too. But also he's only 23, so he can still get better. It's not a fixed product. So that's two years younger than Westberg. So there's just sort of baked in improvement. Yeah.

So I'm trying to keep an open mind with Tovar because of where he plays specifically and being a little bit younger. They got him to the big leagues so quickly that he might not be at his peak. I can, as much as I like Jordan Westberg, I can tell myself the story that this is more or less a finished product.

But to get back to the comps, I mean, I think we're looking at like a Willie Adames type player, a fringy top 100 guy when it's good, a little bit of batting average downside. Like if the K's go up, the average could dip a little bit more than expected and everything could lag slightly. But I think he's a fixture for them the next couple of seasons, right? You think he's pretty safe as an everyday guy, isn't he? I think so, yeah. It is also interesting that a 230 ISO and 18 Homer's

from a righty in Baltimore, there's a little bit of pressure on, it's a decent max EV and a 12% barrel rate, 16.5% last year for Westberg. So I think to some extent, my question is, is what the power is. Here's the other way he could improve. Here's what I'm looking at. It's a small sample, of course, because any season numbers against lefties just chopping

it up pretty small. Jordan Westberg has a 29.2% K rate against lefties. He's under 20% against righties. He's better against same-handed pitching. He has a 134 WRC plus against righties and a 113 against lefties. And projections would reverse that. You don't believe in reverse platoon splits

until you basically have a thousand plate appearances in both handedness buckets. Right, but if he is able to sustain what he's doing against righties and do what a righty normally does against lefties, which being as good or better against them, that's the area where, Oh, Jordan Westbrook had one more gear. That's where it would come from. I wonder why he strikes out so much against lefties. I'm in second.

I was tempted when, when, when people are coming to me with this kind of offer, I want to win and keep that player. Yep, that's that's the classic have your cake and eat it too, isn't it? Exactly two timelines. Did you see any interesting drops in your legs? I saw a bunch of injured guys and players that were optioned, right? I mean Mike trout his seasons over has to curse that down at triple a again right? I mean, like trout, his season's over. Heston Kirstad's down at triple A again. Westberg with the broken hand. I could see maybe picking him up for the final couple of weeks

that he might be a good ad for whatever, two, three weeks in September whenever he's back. But Trevor McGill getting dropped. Devin Williams is back. That's not really interesting. Luis Garcia is not getting saves anymore in Anaheim. He's behind Kenley Jansen in Boston. He made sense as a cut.

Was there anybody that got dropped? You were like, yes, I'm definitely interested in this player. A.S.A.P. Tyra Estrada got dropped in the great fantasy baseball invitational. Hmm. He's on the I.L. for a wrist sprain. But it's not a new injury. It's the old injury.

Yeah, flared up on him, right? Yeah, but you know, that doesn't sound like a long one for me. And if you drop into him a few days after he's gone on the IL, there's always a chance that he comes back on off the IL like within the week. That's just a name that I'm monitoring because you you mentioned a lot of people got dropped or hurt, but they were longer term injuries, you know. You know, with Tyra Strada, it's like he could be back in the next week. So you always want to try and catch someone where you're buying them before they come back. So it may just be as quickly as this next week that you're back interested in picking him up again. Some David Hamilton drops.

That's just, I guess, is Saddam playing over him at short? I think the way they were using Hamilton last time I looked was in more of a platoon role. Yeah, that's still happening. He's not playing against lefties. That's been pretty consistent. I think he's got one start against lefties out of like the last six that they've seen. And he's even getting occasional days off against righties. Yeah, he sat on the second against a righty. And they did play Raffaella short on that short. Yeah So I guess it's hard in this is weekly leagues that we're mostly looking at

So I guess it's hard to keep him around if you don't know Somebody just dropped Hunter Harvey for Lucas Erceg Hmm, which is funny because Hunter Harvey just got the save. I say funny and I'm not throwing any shade on this owner because I've been Hunter Harvey is the Jackson holiday of my stash list. I've been I've had him on in every league waiting for him to finally become. I thought he'd be the closer in Washington two months ago, you know, and I don't even know that he's the closer

in Kansas City now, even though he got the last save. In fact, who do you think is the closer in Kansas City? I think it might just be a committee. I don't know if they have a fixed closer right now, and it could be, they're a good enough team where taking your shots on each of them might make sense. But yeah, Harvey got the first save they'd had in almost a week. At least the first one since the deadline when everybody had reported.

So I guess you give the edge to Harvey for now and keep an eye on that situation. I liked all three of them. You know, I like I like her sick. I like MacArthur. MacArthur is blown enough saves that you know, he could be He could be someone that's on the hot seat for sure. Yeah, these are 15 team leagues. I'm also in so you know, I'm going to be talking about players that are Borderline anyway, but Richie Palacios was dropped in one league. I think that we've talked about how that Tampa situation is just

ridiculously hard to figure out. Yeah, an IL stint for him. They said four to six weeks for a knee sprain, so it must be like a great two. For Richie Palacios? Yeah. Oh, okay. So that makes more sense. Thank you.

Yeah. Before, when it was just an undeterminedetermined, like IELTS stint, it was tempting to want to hold onto him if you needed speed. But now it's, you know, maybe pick him up for the final week if he makes it back or something. But then how much speed is he also going to give you with him? Right. Might not even be taken off as much as he was then, but yeah. 19 for 20 as a base dealer in just a 300 plate appearances this year. So there's, there's plenty of speed there.

I thought they were going to unlock a little more power with Richie Palacios, and it just hasn't happened. I picked up as in Barger in one league and in that same league, Davis Schneider was dropped. But Davis Schneider has played more than as in Barger. So I think I'd rather have David Schneider. He seems like an everyday player. Barger is a guy we talked about, I think, as rather have David Schneider. He seems like an everyday player. Barger is a guy we talked about, I think, as a prospect of the week once upon a time, and he's interesting.

And that's why I have him stashed. I have don't have him in my lineup, though, because I need to have you playing five days out of the week, at least before I put you in my weekly lineup. So yeah, I'm worried that they would use a right-handed bench option to platoon him. And then in weekly leagues, you're just a little bit light on playing time with barger while you see if he can figure it out from a skills perspective, probably more of a wait and see for me outside of the deepest of leagues.

But from a skills perspective, if you were looking at Joey Lopofito, lefty, Spencer Horowitz, lefty, as in barger lefty, and you knew that perhaps platooning one of them would stunt their ability to develop. Which one would you platoon? Probably would platoon, wow. Spencer Horowitz, the oldest one?

Horowitz, cause he's oldest. Yeah, like I think there's there's less of a chance of him being a special player, even though he's might be a good player. Yeah. But there's a slightly lower chance for me that he's an above average regular. Compared to a really interesting player. Sure. They're all risky. Just yeah. For different reasons.

And that's why I think in the end, what will the choice will be that none of them is in a strict platoon. And I don't even think Addison Barge will be in a split platoon. And if one of them starts hitting homers that you'll see them against lefties. It'll be that simple because what they're doing

in all three of those players is auditioning for the future. Who's gonna be on the roster next year? Play your way into it. Yeah. Horowitz has been consistently good in terms of limiting the strikeouts this year. He's the lowest ceiling, but he's the, he's the highest floor. And he's the one that's played the best at all. Yeah.

And he's, he's lifting the ball enough where the barrel rate's not bad. So you can kind of, I could say, get so maybe there's a little more power with here He's gonna get on base can be a table setter, but maybe there's one more thing that he'll still unlock So yeah, there's there's temptation to try and fit all those guys in the lineup Maybe it just takes an injury for someone at a position that just makes it possible for all those guys to play all the time Down the stretch in Toronto. We are gonna head out on our way out the door. A reminder, you can get a subscription at theathletic.com slash rates and barrels.

$2 a month gets you in the door at the athletic. Check out all the great coverage we have. Got stuff from the Olympics. We got fantasy football season coming up. We're gonna keep you entertained, hopefully for the final two months of baseball season and the post season as well. All of that for one low price.

Theathletic.com slash rates and barrels. Find Eno on Twitter at EnoSaris. Find me at Derek Van Riper. Find the pod at rates and barrels. We're back with you on Tuesday. Thanks for watching!