Rates & Barrels - Globe Life Field Has Changed, Weekend Waiver Preview & Wild Hot Dogs in Cleveland

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Eno and DVR discuss good news for Zach Neto, whose return from shoulder surgery has gone well in the first half of the season, another injury in the Mets' rotation, and a verdict in the Wander Franco case. Plus, they discuss a surprising multi-year move of Globe Life Field into a pitcher-friendly environment, and weekend waiver-wire targets before checking in with Senior Hot Dog Correspondent Niv Shah about a few ottoneu trends and a big culinary swing at Progressive Field in Cleveland.Rundown1:37 Zach Neto: Good News on Follow-Up for Shoulder5:22 A Potential Long-Term Absence for Griffin Canning9:24 HBPs Reaching an All-Time High (J-Ram & Vlad Jr. day-to-day)13:13 A Verdict in the Wander Franco Case16:39 Globe Life Field Is Changing, Reasons TBD27:46 Hitters of Interest: A Single-Catcher Shuffle & Joey Ortiz Is Waking Up38:05 Pitchers of Interest: Charlie Morton Back on the Shallow League Radar?46:17 Senior Hot Dog Correspondent Niv Shah Returns! (Jacob Lopez's rising roster rates, Didier Fuentes' long-term appeal, and Wenceel Pérez adds thump)1:08:48 What Is Happening in Cleveland?Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.socialFollow DVR on Bluesky: @dvr.bsky.socialFollow Niv on Bluesky: @ottoneu.bsky.sociale-mail: [e-mail] our Discord: https://discord.gg/FyBa9f3wFeSubscribe to The Athletic: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrelsHosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno SarrisProducer: Brian SmithGuest: Niv ShahExecutive Producer: Derek VanRiper Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that socks are one of the most requested clothing items by organizations addressing homelessness? It's true. And it's also why we started Bombas. Every time you buy, well, anything from Bombas, an essential item is donated to someone facing homelessness. That's Bombas's one purchased, one donated promise. Bombas makes socks, underwear, slippers, slides and t-shirts all designed to feel good and do good. Since we're new in Canada, all new customers enjoy 20% off your first purchase. Just visit bombas.ca.

That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot C-A. And use Cove Music to start doing good and feeling even better. Slip into a deep restful sleep on a luxurious feeling mattress you can afford. Logan & Cove is named Canada's best luxury hybrid mattress. Designed and handcrafted in Canada, it starts at just $7.99. Melt into its plush top cover. Stay comfortable with cooling gel foam. Designed and handcrafted in Canada, it starts at just $7.99. Melt into its plush top cover. Stay comfortable with cooling gel foam.

And let supportive coils cradle you to sleep. Try Logan & Cove at home risk-free for 365 nights. And if you're a listener in Canada, we have an exclusive offer for you. Get a free bedding bundle when you buy now at loganandcove.ca slash podcast. What's better than a well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever

groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy zero dollar delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver. Welcome to Rates and Barrels, it's Friday June 27th, Derek and Rhyber Enoceris here with you. On this episode we've got some baseball news you should know. We have park factors that appear to be changing in Texas and no one really seems to know why, which is pretty interesting because the pitching is popping, the bats are not doing what is expected and

we don't know if there's going to be some sort of change mid-season that kind of twists that script and makes things even more difficult to predict but it looks like a longer term trend so we'll talk a bit about that. Our senior hot dog correspondent Niv Shaw has returned from his travels and I gotta say if you do not currently subscribe to our YouTube channel if you're just listening to this podcast audio only we love you it's probably time to subscribe to the YouTube channel and check out our hot dogs of the World segment today because Niv put it all on the line, I think, to try something that I would not have ordered. There were better options on the board

and Niv went off the high dive for us. So we'll get to that in just a little while. And as we do every Friday, we'll talk about some players you should be thinking about on the waiver wire this weekend. So a jam packed show. And then based on our conversation with this weekend. So a jam-packed show and then based on our conversation with Niv, probably a pretty long episode based on where things are at right now. So let's get into the news, you know, some injuries to start with. Zach Neto, good news here,

he jammed his shoulder earlier this week on a Snolan base attempt. It was his right shoulder, the one he had surgery on during the offseason. A follow-up MRI this week revealed no damage. We don't have his status for Friday, but if you were worried about a massive setback akin to what happened to Garrett Mitchell on his rehab assignment, it appears Zach Neto has avoided a major, major problem with that surgically repaired shoulder. Yeah, I've been surprised by his production coming back from injury and I hope this doesn't aggravate anything because he's got the same max EV, a better barrel rate, the hard hit rate is the best of his career so he seemed to come back really well. I guess

it's a testament to you know being young and coming back from injury young as opposed to coming back from injury old. So hopefully that means good things for him going ahead. This is unrelated but there's just an interesting thing over at Baseball Prospectus they did an update to their defensive stats has to do with basically extending the way that they were assessing range and extending it to the entire infield to get a better sense of each of the individual infielders accomplishments because it used to be just a thing you did for the shortstop. They did that and here is a table of the biggest changers, you know, in that stat. And what you've got is

Zach Netto has gone from a positive to much less of a positive. He dropped from an 11 rating, so that's a sort of just behind like an Ezekiel Tovar near the top of the position to a 2. So he is the one of the five biggest droppers in their new metric. I don't know if that means anything except for maybe the back end of his time with the Angels. Will he make it all the way through with the Angels as the short stop or will he already be heading towards second base? That also often has a lot to do with

what's happening internally. Do they have a new short stop that pushes them off the position? Just a couple notes, other, you might see on the table that Predomo dropped from a positive that pushes them off the position. Just a couple of notes, other you might see on the table that Pridomo dropped from a positive to a negative with the update. I wonder if there's any room for Lawler, you know, coming up and taking shortstop

and Pridomo moving to third. On top of that, Ketel Marte went from a positive to a negative, so I wonder if he's closer to DHing or first base or something than we thought. So just an interesting thing. Of course, you like the list because Bryce Turing went from really great to even greater. But Bobby Witt goes from a negative to a positive, and that speaks to his ability to stay at shortstop.

I'm pretty sure Bobby Witt will be a third baseman by the end of his career. We were talking about that at the beginning of his career. I think that sort of thing follows you a little bit. But it's nice to know that he's not a negative a shortstop right now. Yeah when Bobby with juniors 30 and I'm 47 Why did my brain just sabotage me like that that is On a Friday no less. Come on. I'm not gonna do the math for me. No, don't do it. No Please do not do that

Some other injury news to get to though Griffin canning suffered what appeared to be an Achilles injury during his start had the Non-contact and a planted and then couldn't get off the field without assistance Which is just another in a growing list of injuries for this Mets rotation where earlier this week Sean Manaya needed a cortisone shot for a loose body in his elbow. There's still some optimism that Manaya's gonna come back before the All-Star break, but that timetable could be a little tight. Well, that seems unlikely.

They gotta wait, with a cortisone shot, you have to wait, I think, a couple days before you do stuff again. For example, Lars Knutbar just recently got some sort of shot, I think it was a cortisone shot, and they said he's in his 48 hour period of inactivity. I think I remember when I got a cortisone shot too, they said, yeah, you can rehab this,

you can come back from this, but just give it at least a couple days. I think me, a plebe, not a professional athlete, I think they told me to rest it for a week. Yeah, they told you a week, and you probably, did you even, did you rest it for a week. Yeah, they told you a week and you probably, did you even, did you rest it for a week? Yeah, probably. Probably even longer. It was easy for me. Not a pro athlete.

They said do nothing, so I just, I did nothing. So I did nothing, yeah. In hindsight, that'd be, like at this age, that's exactly what I'd like the doctor to tell me. Just like, hey, just do nothing for a week. Okay, doc. No, but I mean, I think Manaya's gonna be a little bit while off. I would say, if you ask me, I think right after the All-Star break makes a lot of sense.

And Motos came back and we were talking off air, but it surprisingly looked pretty good. I mean, it wasn't a good rehab stint, but most of the stuff is there. If you're wondering why the fastball stuff is down a little bit, his release point is up so that renders some of his IVB more conventional. But the slider, the sinker, the splitter, they all rated pretty well. I think he can be a guy you pitch at home and then carefully on the road. So that's fancy relevant, but he's I think he's in the rotation and there were some,

oh, is he going to be in the rotation? He's in the rotation. So, you know, that's Peterson, Holmes, Montas are in the rotation and they're trying to figure everything else out. McGill has got the sprain, Canning's got the leg injury, whatever it is. Senka's hurt, Manaya's not back yet. So I think Blake Tidwell's gonna come up. Maybe we see even Nolan McClain start, depending on Paul Blackburn's health and how well he does. They're gonna just be all hands on deck until,

you know, once Manaya comes back, you got a decent four and then you're sort of rotating through that fifth spot. But that gives Tidwell probably two, three starts of runway. And that makes them interesting. I think if we're trying to forecast the long term value, I like Nolan McClain quite a bit more than Blade Tidwell, though. What it would take, though, is in addition to the 40 man roster for Nolan McClain but if this canning injury you know if it's a most Achilles injuries end up being long-term problems like if it's a tear or rupture or

anything along those lines it's a massive. You end up talking about like McClain's another injury away which is not impossible to consider. A 60 day IL move probably is the thing that at least opens the door for a non 40 man option like the roster spot to get up there on the roster. So that's kind of what I'm keeping an eye on as we try to sort it out. Tidwell gets the Yankees next week. Right, they don't need a fifth starter until July 5th so they can get by a little bit. They have an off day on Monday and we'll see.

I mean, Kodai Singa is not supposed to return until after the All-Star break. I don't think McGill is coming back until after the All-Star break and it might be a lot longer for him too. Yeah, that's a longer one. You know, I saw Levi Weaver writing about the tempers flaring around the league and it seems like it's, is it the heat? Is it the fact that we're halfway through the season? Division rivals have seen each other a little bit more so I think that explains what we were seeing last week with the Padres and Dodgers. Hit by pitches are also at an all time high. They've just been up every year. They're just, if you're talking about strikeouts peaking hit by pitches or have the same.

Daniel Palencia hit Wilson Contreras and as the game was ending, that almost turned into something. I mean, there's been a bunch and then even. Was it with the fastball? It was up front shoulder like. Well, he throws. Yeah, I didn't get this since it was on purpose. He doesn't have great command. I mean, that's part of it.

It's stuff, it's throwing higher in the zone, it's throwing harder. You mean, that's all contrived. Both Jose Ramirez and Vlad Junior got hit, had to leave early, they had x-rays, neither of them, none of the x-rays revealed further damage for those guys, so we could see them both back in the lineup on Friday. But yeah, it feels like there's a lot of tension

in the league right now. Giants Marlins, Hayden Birdsong hit Otto Lopez and gave a bunch of runs after that. I think the Marlins swept the Giants in that series. Just some wild stuff happening out there around the league. Yes, the fandom out here is not happy. I feel like the energy from the fans is up, but the performance has not met that.

Well, there's just this expectation. We got Devers. Expectations. And Miami's in town, like, here we go, you know. And then it was like, that's not what we thought was going to happen. It's baseball. There's every every team goes through stretches like that. And if your stretch happens to come after you acquire an impact player like that, it's probably twice as frustrating as if it just happens without that transaction

along the way. And the Red Sox, however, have like have an okay record. But ever since the Devers trade, they have the worst OPS in baseball. That's you know, that's a weird little asterisk. I don't expect that to continue. I do think that they are a decent offensive team without it. But that's when we were talking about the teams and I wanted to make the case the Red Sox is like I can't I don't know what their post-Devers trade to town to

talent offense looks like so I can't necessarily give them a the stamp of Dark Horse approval. I do think the the possibility of things clicking for some combination of young players there gives them a wider range of outcomes like the positive outcome is Roman Anthony, after a month or two months in the big leagues, finds his stride and finishes really strong in August and September. Christian Campbell comes back up

and hits better than he did in his first stint. Like you can see things like that coming together. Marcel Amire is better later in the year than he was the beginning of the year. Like some combination of those things does seem somewhat likely, at least enough to was the beginning of the year. Like some combination of those things does seem somewhat likely, at least enough to keep them out of the bottom of the league sort of offensive range. Their future is fairly bright.

I would take them over most of the teams in the league in terms of future next five years. I think that there's a good runway there, even if they definitely kind of shot themselves in the foot a little bit in the short term, I think. I mean, it's you'd rather have a bat like shot themselves in the foot a little bit in the short term I think. I mean it's you'd rather have a bat like Devers than line up. We'll see again what they do with the money they freed up and what the trade deadline holds for them but also what this offseason holds for them. I think it's going to be a big 12 month stretch for Craig Breslow and company.

It's already underway with that decision to trade away Rafael Devers. We do have a resolution in the Wander Franco case. Franco was found guilty on charges of sexual abuse of a minor. He was given a two-year suspended prison sentence with some conditions so he actually will not go to prison unless he violates those terms. And the mother of the victim in the case was actually convicted of money laundering and commercial sexual exploitation of a minor and sentenced to 10 years. So I do not know nearly enough, normally anything, about the Dominican legal system but that doesn't make a lot of

sense to me on the surface. But I think we've reached that point now, now that the legal process has played out. Maybe we get a further update on like the final resolution from Major League Baseball's perspective. My expectation all along is that almost regardless of the outcome of the case that Wander was never going to come back to the states and for good reason. Yeah, I don't know exactly how that will play out. They've made an announcement that, of course, that they will continue their investigation. They have not concluded it. They have not made a decision. But there's not only what they decide,

but then also what basically immigration decides, because he would have to apply for a visa. And having this sort of thing as a mark against you makes it much harder to get a visa and you know having this sort of thing as a mark against you makes it much harder to get a visa. So there are many hurdles for him to ever come back. I think of somebody like Julio Urias who's you know had many much time away from the game because of things he's done and I expect him Wander to be treated even harsher. So I don't expect him to be able to come back during this two-year period you know because he has restrictions on his movement and restrictions on what he can do.

Even after that two year period, there'd be a lot of work to be done to rehabilitate himself to get back. And as for the difference, you know, you could make the case that maybe she knows the age of her daughter and maybe he made the case that I didn't know the age and so that might account for the discrepancy in years And as for like the different legal systems I did check up our legal system and I was surprised to learn that there are it's a state-by-state thing that what what? statutory means and there are really

large error bars in terms of what you can get sentenced for. Even in one state alone, I was looking at North Dakota. In North Dakota, you can get one to 50, or Nebraska, you can get one to 50 years in prison. So I guess the details of the case matter. The judge matters. A lot of the context matters. I don't want to really comment anymore on that part of it. If you are wondering why the discrepancy, those are two reasons why the discrepancy

might be there. There are different sentencing guidelines. She was accused of something else. So it's like there are just different guidelines for each of these things. But I still don't expect him to come back to major league baseball. I don't think it's ever going to happen. And again, for good reason, let's move on to another story that I thought was perplexing because I hadn't noticed how extreme it was as far as a change in

park factors, but globe life field has changed. If you look at a two year rolling park factor, you see Globe Life Field playing basically like T-Mobile in Seattle with the main difference being that it doesn't boost strikeouts the way that T-Mobile does. But in terms of suppressing run production, that was something I didn't expect because previously, this is something Ken Rosenthal wrote about at the athletic, I think on Friday morning, it was a top end park for offense just a few years ago. So interestingly, the Rangers have looked at all different factors, different panels that are open or closed, different things, and they internally at least have not pinned down what has caused the dramatic shift in how their ballpark is playing.

Yeah, I wonder, you know, one thing that you can see, I've made this graphic here of the three-year park factors next to the one-year park factor. And I know there's a lot here and it's too little. And my point is you can see the relative place of it. So even in three-year factors, Globe Life was not a hitter friendly park. And then in the one year park factor, it's the most picture friendly park. You can also see the different reds and blues and you can see how it used to be a

park that was fairly neutral, but augmented homers to a small degree. And then now basically homers are around a league average and everything else has gone down. I'm also looking at you know the condition open air and it looks to me like maybe it's been open more this year. I have 14 I have 1500 plate appearances with the Globe Life field open this year already. So we're halfway through the year and I have six thousand for three years. So I think it's a little bit ahead.

Think it's been open a little bit more. And if you look at open on like a two on a three year scale, you'd think open. Oh, it's hot, but yeah, actually if you do open three year scale, it's the sixth best park for hitters. So I don't understand, it's been open more, but when it's open, it's crappier. So I would look into wind patterns, I would look into if something was built around it since,

you know, do they put up skyscrapers around it since? Those are the kind of things that can change the wind patterns in a park. I don't know. You know, that's the main thing I would look at. I don't, like they didn't change the walls. They didn't change the walls. They didn't change the outfield walls.

So this is a new park. It's very strange. It's weird that the splits exist for the visiting teams and they're not as extreme as they've been for the Rangers. Like the park is hurting the Rangers lineup more than it's hurting the teams coming in, even though it's reducing offensive course for everybody. So there's some part of that that seems kind of fluky

unless there is something about their approach as a team that is also amplifying the negative park effects for their bats. That doesn't seem like it would even make sense. But I think they're just baffled right now by what's happening. And yeah, the construction factors, we talked about that at different parks before, too, adding different things, even in the ballpark sometimes for open air stadiums. The example I always think of is when Petco put their giant video board in left field

that blocked some of the wind that used to be pushing balls back in towards home plate, right? Like the larger construction can be a factor, wind patterns, all that stuff is definitely a part of the equation. Are you doing anything proactively with your Rangers hitters? Like are you moving away from guys that are underperforming because you're not expecting a rebound? Are you targeting pictures there that you wouldn't previously use because you think this is going to continue? Like how are you handling what you're seeing in these changes? Is there any any actionable advice for fantasy players from it? Attempted to treat this as mostly noise. I mean, if you

look at the bat tracking statistics, there's nothing that stands out. Like when you talk about the Mets letting the ball travel more than anybody else in baseball and the Padres being right there with them. And you can talk about, you know, who has an opposite field attack direction as a team. It's the Brewers and the Mets. And again, the Padres a little bit relative to the league. There's nothing that you can look at like, or swing path tilt or, you know, attack angle. There's nothing you can look at where the Rangers are a real outlier.

And you know, I can't think of like even ideal attack angle, they're a leader, they're near the leaders in that. There's nothing that they're doing that's like, oh man, you know, if only they stopped doing that. And when I look at their players, there are the players that I'm still in on, even Simeon's been showing signs of life. Simeon and Adolis Garcia, like, you know,

in the deeper leagues, I'm not dropping them. In 10, like, you know, in the deeper leagues, I'm not dropping them in 10 team leagues, you know, they're already dropped, you know, or maybe they should be like, what would you do with Simeon Garcia in a 10 year team league? I might drop them in a tan, especially if you're starting three outfielders, if you don't have middles or as many UT like you've at least explored it Simeon and I think because of all the all the shortcomings of second base Like you may not have found a better option despite The brutal first half that he's put together I've got by ATC Simeon is the 11th best second baseman the rest of the way and Garcia is

The 47th best outfielder. So there you go. I mean, they're in 10 team leagues, they're possibly dropable depending on your settings. And otherwise, like what else? I don't necessarily, I wouldn't put a big stamp of approval

for acquiring those guys. Even in deeper leagues, I think they're just guys you pick up if someone dropped them, if you can get them for free, you know, maybe. I guess I wonder a little bit about Evan Carter, who's playing well now, but I don't necessarily believe the power. So what if the power reduces, then where does he end up? But I still like Wyatt Langford.

I know there was some discussion in the Discord that Wyatt Langford has some surprising amount of 600 OPS months on his ledger. And I would just point to him being a young player that's figuring out. I was just looking for that on my phone and Gilded Age. If you look at Wyatt Langford's month by month split since debuting, it's a little startling how many of those months are just a low 600 OPS, even after discarding May of 2024 with a small sample laying for his head a 631 or lower OPS in five of his nine months in the majors. Contrast that with James Wood, whose lowest was 690 OPS in his first month and has had an OPS equal to or better than 850 in four of his first six months. I think James Wood is going gonna have some months like this.

I mean, just look at the strikeout rate. He's gonna have a month where it's just like, it's, oh, everyone's like, oh, what happened to James Wood? You know, I think, hey, there's a buy, there's a, I'm putting a stamp on there. We need a sound like the, what is it that Kramer does? The buy, buy, buy, you know, like I wanna put a, oh, you want the mad money, buy, buy, buy. You know, I want to put a, oh, you want the mad money.

Buy, buy, buy. Yeah. Yeah. You get, if you can, if you have shares of, if anybody listening is in my leagues and you have white Langford, I will buy it. I will buy your shares of white. Thank you. I want him.

He does everything I want. Hits the ball hard, hits the ball hard in the air, makes decent amount of contact. I think he can have better strikeout rate going forward. Walks runs. Does everything. He does. I think when you look at the past calendar year, it's interesting that you get a snapshot that actually holds up pretty well

for Wyatt Langford against James Wood. My perception is James Wood has played his way into the first round and Wyatt Langford is still lagging somewhere behind him but past calendar year James Wood 31 homers, Wyatt Langford 26 both guys have 23 steals there's a almost a 30 but 27 point gap in batting average that's a little surprising when you consider that Wyatt Langford strikes out or has struck out 23.3% of the time in that same span that James Wood has struck out 28.1% of the time. So is it the types of batted balls? I mean,

James Wood hits the ball really hard. So that helps. That helps kind of elevate that BABIP and keep that number up a little bit. Even if Langford is not as good as James Wood, Wyatt Langford's really good. So if there is any sort of opening to get him in a long-term league you should be doing it because the the numbers are going to be there. I still have a lot of confidence in him as well. But the park being the way it is it explains in part why when you look at the home splits of the Rangers pitchers you see a.82 ERA for Tyler Malley in 44 innings. You see a 175 from Nathan Evolvi.

Even DeGroms got a 183 at home. Kumar Rocker only 17 innings. I think that's where it's almost the most usable is like, oh, I need to put Globe Life on my list of like, places I want to pitch marginal arms. Yeah, Patrick Corbin. I mean, we haven't talked about Patrick Corbin in the pod at all.

He's got a 366 at home right now, over 8Ks per nine. He's not walking that many guys. He's actually been pretty useful. And they've got that working for just about everybody on that staff right now. So yeah, it's a much safer place to throw your pitchers than it has been. And I think that's the most immediate adjustment

that I'm making. It's not necessarily specific, avoid the bats and go get the pitchers that are already there. It's like play the pitchers differently when you see at Texas and home starts for those pitchers. Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it? It's the best deal, the highest cash back, the most savings on your shopping.

So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Uniqlo, Best Buy, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back. Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at rakuten.ca or download the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N, Rakuten.ca. What's better than a well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door.

A well marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Let's get to some hitters of interest here as the weekend approaches. Lots of different ways we could go on this one, you know. I think it's probably best if we focus a little more on the less rostered guys this week because time is at a little bit of a premium.

On your under 80 guys, the, you know, there's a lot of, I just wanted to point out the catchers. I don't understand why Logan Ohapi and Augustin Ramirez are not owned as if they are top 10 hitters, top 10 catchers. They need to be owned in every league. If you're in a 10 teamers, they need to be owned in every league. If you're in a 10-team league, they need to be owned. If you are holding on to even somebody like an Alejandro Kirk or Ryan Jeffers, or I don't know, even Austin Wells at this point,

I would rather have Augustin Ramirez and Logan O'Hoppe. And so I think that maybe it's just hard to make that decision because you're like, hey, this guy's going well now. And Augustin Ramirez is a pretty special talent. And I think he's shown enough to me that both of those guys belong in the top 10 and catchers for me.

So I just wanted to point that out. A player raider for catchers, interesting. Raleigh, of course, the leader by far. Hunter Goodman, second. Will Smith, third. Wilson Contreras, fourth. Alejandro Kirk's five. I think after a little bit of a slow start,

he's been really good. It's a lot of batting average value, but it's enough power. It's like the good version of the Kibbut Ruiz profile we've always been hoping for. So I think Kirk's like okay as a catcher. It's kind of one note for me. Like I would rather have Ramirez or Ohapi over Kirk still.

As much as I'm happy with my Kirk shares, I have more than a few. I just think there's a little more in the Roto league, a little more of a, what do you need? Do you actually need the power lift? If you need the power lift, yeah, then the likes of Ohabi and Ramirez I think are safer. But I think that batting average is hard to find behind the plate. And Kirk I think will bring that with a high volume playing time too. So it should carry a lot of weight.

Yvonne Herrera around injuries has been really good. William Contreras despite an injury still top 10 and then Austin Wells he mentioned before down at number nine. So yeah that soft spot right in the back of the top 10 even in a single catcher league can be a little bit frustrating with some under performers like Sal Perez isn't in the top 10 right now. That could flip. Like he could be easily a top 10 catcher throughout the second half. That wouldn't be surprising at all despite the age.

Yeah, ATC has him as fifth. Yeah, so that could be the opportunity in the shadow league. Maybe he was cut. He probably shouldn't have been, but I'm with you generally. That's a group of catchers that have played their way into that group if they were previously on the outside looking in From the lower rostered groups and looking more again like at least below 60 Maybe even as far down as below 40% rostered I think Parker Meadows has come up on the show a couple times recently. I'm willing to be a little more patient

You know, it was a pretty lengthy absence for him being a 60-day to be a little more patient, you know, it was a pretty lengthy absence for him being a 60 day IELTS situation that caused him to miss the start of the season. He's still not chasing a lot, still making contact in terms of barrel rate and hard hit rate in line with previous norms. The profile works for me. I still see, you know, 1515 is more of a floor, but I think 2020 is actually still gettable on a per game basis, even though he won't likely get there this season from the missed time. So he's one of those guys that keeps sitting below 50% rostered

that I see as being interesting enough in a five outfielder league. If you happen to be in one of those leagues where he's out there, there's a good chance he's an upgrade over somebody that you're playing in one of those spots. The flip side for me is that if you have the ability to look forward at all or stash, we mentioned this before, but Chase DeLotter, you know, there's a team there in the Guardians that are 25th in center field projections. They're look, they're scuttling, they're looking for offense.

Even their right field projection is below the fold. I think that they are about to make that switch and I don't know if it's going to be Angel Martinez in center. I'm looking at the lineup so I get it right because they do move things around. But yeah, Angel Martinez, well he's been playing second as well. So who's their center fielder right now? Lane Thomas, you know, do they move on from him? Do they maybe just use him against lefties to try and get him out of his, out of his, out of his slump. But, you know, Jonathan Rodriguez in, you know, in,

in right field, he's been losing time playing every third day. Like this is ripe for Chase DeLotter to come up and you haven't heard it yet, which means you can maybe get it for a little bit less money this week. And as soon as you hear it, then the price goes up. Yeah, I think in some leagues, he might not be in the pool because he probably wasn't drafted in the NFVC, but in places where it's an open player pool, you know, 12 team leagues where you just go get whatever you want, he might be worth stashing. My only fear for Chase the Lotter is that because of all the time he's missed in the minors, even though I don't think I would choose to do this if it were my job to make the call, they may wait until August and kind of keep his rookie of the year eligibility intact for next

season because of the incentives tied to that. So I think a later second half call up may be in the works and I think they can maybe justify that to themselves by the simple fact that he's only played 31 games this season due to injuries. And even last year, like was it 40 games, I think across four different levels, like it's just, it's been a lot of injury setbacks for DeLotter.

I think the argument you made earlier in the week was if he's out there and it's a risk because he's got a foot problem or anything that's longer term, like why not make it count given that your need as an organization is very clear in right field. That's mostly where I'm looking. Have you seen that Joey, Joey Ortiz, Joey Ortiz? Yeah, well, it's slowly turning. I don so cautious, I don't even wanna say it.

No, it's okay. I mean, we talked about it, I think, maybe three or four days ago, and he was just beginning that stretch. It depends where you put the marker down for how far back do you wanna go and try to find a nice stretch. He has been better lately.

I go back six weeks. For the last 14 days, you got 46% hard hit rate and a 9% barrel. But you're right. Over the last 30 days, it's 39% hard hit and a 4% barrel. Yeah. So I think, so I'm gonna look at the last 30 days in the player radar among short stops. Where do you think Joey Ortiz among short stops is

in the player radar for that 30 day span? He's 19th, 277, two homers, three steals, a dozen RBIs, 13 runs scored. It's solid. And the gap between him and a couple of guys around him is so small that one more runner RBI might've pumped up a couple of spots. So 12 team leagues with MIs, yeah, maybe playing because of the volume of playing time. I mean, what came up before is like,

the first half didn't cost them playing time. They don't have anyone that take the playing time from them. Like Andrew Monasterio is the only guy that takes playing time from him and he barely takes any. I thought there was a little bit where he kind of sat twice in three days or something and I was like, okay, here we go.

But that hasn't been the case. So his defense is keeping him on the field. And so I don't think he's a 10 or 12 team leaguer, but I do think 15 teams, especially if you had an injury or you're just, you're really hurting it at MI or something, I could see it. I just wanted to point out that he's been good. Luke Rayleigh is somebody that's under 20%. Especially if you're in daily leagues, I like Luke Rayleigh. I think he's a good, I think he's a good hit Luke Railey is somebody that's under 20%, especially if you're in daily leagues, I like Luke Railey.

I think he's a good hitter and he steals some bases and it gets a little bit harder to use him in weekly leagues because he's going to sit against lefties, most likely. But with the way the roster is, they may just be desperate enough to start playing him against lefties too. I think we had a question on Discord about Nick Gonzalez, wondering if maybe he had figured some things out. I mean seeing a career best and hard hit rate 42.6%. Barrel rates a little up from last

year to a career best 8.8%. Still has a little bit of a free swinging approach with a 37.3% O swing but he's kept the K rate under 20% again. Surprisingly it just looks more like an average above everything else sort of play right now for Nick Gonzalez. I'm, I'm actually a little surprised. There's not more in game power coming through given what's happening in those underlying numbers. Yeah. He had a wild tilt when he came into the league at first, 43 degree tilt would be among the most tilted in the big leagues and he flattened it out a little bit, gained some bat speed by doing that.

This year he's letting the ball travel a little bit more. I think that there's some skill in there, but I also, because you look at those K rates and those swinging strike rates, it's the classic case where he's kind of a free swinger that makes just enough contact to not strike out too much. A 13% swinging strike rate should produce more than an 18% strikeout rate, but because he just swings so much, he makes contact before he gets there. So he's never going to be an OBP asset really. I think he's probably over his skis with a 330 OBP based on a 338 BAPIP. He's going to have an OBP that's equal to hisAPA, is how it feels. And I don't see enough evidence that he's

going to be a 20 homer guy. But are we talking about a guy who can hit 260, 270 in this league with 12 to 15 homers? Yeah, I think that and a 320 OVP, it's a definition of a deep leaguer. But it's viable. Yeah, so a few interesting names out there this week that you can think about, at least, and we're going to shift the focus over to a few pitchers

and kind of do the same thing. I mean, up near the top, the under 80 percent group is it's a mix of injury guys and some massive underperformers. I'm surprised Brandon Fott is still rostered in 74% of CBS leagues because it's just kind of a, at this point in the season, we're halfway in, what are you hoping he's going to do? The K-Rate's down at 18.3% and it just seems like he can't string together.

Yeah, don't get caught with inertia. Don't get caught with like, you know, oh, he did it before. You know, just just move on. Yeah, I just can't figure out why it's so bad. But I also have no real belief in a turnaround being. G Alito is a tough one because he was one way and then he made some actual adjustments. And you can see he got his fastball back and a slider was back and he

Had two really good starts and then of course everyone started him going into San Francisco and he kind of had a mess start so it's like why didn't he have a better start in San Francisco and Are these things gonna hold and is it enough and what happens when he goes back to Fenway? Do you start him back at Fenway next time and I I have to think, as much as I liked you, Lito, and I liked the changes he made, I'm not sure that I have the stones to start him in Fenway. Yeah, I don't think I do either. I mean, I want to see him figured out after the injuries

and not going to gamble with active usage that it's going to happen. If it usage that it's going to happen. If it happens, it's going to happen probably on somebody else's roster. Moving a little further down that list, Charlie Morton moving up in roster rate again, up to 45% roster. It seems like he's going through a little bit of a midseason renaissance. I guess the simple question is, how much do you trust it after these struggles we saw from Morton earlier in the year?

Like if I take the the old arbitrary cutoff, let's say May 26. That was against St. Louis home start six innings to earn five case. Let's go from that point forward. I bet we're going to see Charlie Morton with some great ratios. Sure enough, a two ninety ERA over his last six starts, 37 to 10 strike out the walk ratio and 31 innings. He's won for those six starts as well. So extremely valuable coming from basically the the depths of the waiver wire to do it. Yeah, and there's some really simple reasons for it. He refound some of his velocity in the relief role when he, when they, when they put him in relief to start the year, he was 93, 92, nine, 93, 94, one 93.

Then he went into relief and he was high 94s. And since he's come back, he's kept that 94. at 94 and another way of saying it is his stuff plus to begin the season he had six seven starts where he had and he had the highest stuff plus he had those seven starts and the seven first seven appearances was a hundred and then he went into relief and he popped into the hundred and tens and then since he started his stuff plus since he's been back in the starting role his stuff plus has been above a hundred so I think it's pretty easy you know it's he's been back in the starting role his stuff plus has been above 100. So I think it's pretty easy. You know, it's he's got some of that velo back. He looks to me like

Just enough now obviously You know it could go away. He's old, you know, what if the velo starts dropping? I would watch the gun pretty hard if you're talking about week to week if he has an okay start and he's up against the yankees in New York, I mean, what does the probable say? What are his next ones? At Texas is the next one. Oh, we love that one. You got to pick him up for that one. It's streamable in those 50 plus percent leagues where he's still on the wire. Even if you don't want to buy long term, even if it makes you nervous, at least I think pick him up

and play him in that environment. That'll be the day that everything kicks back toward the previous iterations of Globe live field. I don't think it works quite that way. It's still a dangerous lineup. It's just a lineup you fear less because of the park, but Morton's form, those changes I think are enough

to bring him back into even some of the Shadow League conversations at least as a temporary option when you're just chasing viable starters. In the under 20% bin I'm all over Colton Gordon I think he's a guy that I just want on my team I think Frankie Montas at least deserves to be a guy that I have on my team I start when he's home I'm a little bit more careful on the road but that that's somebody who probably stays on my roster and is just on my bench for some some weeks, you know. I'm interested in Festa and Sawyer Gibson Long as guys that I'd like to maybe have on my

roster as I watch and see how they're used. Is Sawyer Gibson Long gonna become a traditional starter? What's his VELO gonna be in the traditional starter role as opposed to these three innings outings? I think that matters because he's a sinker guy. Grant Taylor might be the closer in Chicago for now. Long term, I have some concerns because there's absolutely no wiggle. We didn't talk about him in our rookie draft and maybe we could have, but you know, he's not a starter right now. There's no wiggle. He's just, he's like a, he's an ax thrower. Everything's over the top, high, middle, low. And so I, I'm not sure that I want to put him, I said I put him maybe around Roki Sasaki.

He'd be, you know, in our rookie draft, he'd be around fifth if we knew he was a starter, but as the closer, you know, if the, if the Chicago White Sox closer is relevant in your league, then you should probably own Grant Taylor. One more name to throw at you courtesy of our Discord. How about Jansen Junk? I think Lou and Spencer were kind of curious if there's actually something there because with the season ending hip injury for Max Meyer,

there's a longer term vacancy. You pair that with the Ryan Weathers absence. Jansen Junk has a lot of runway to just stick in the Marlins rotation if he continues to pitch well. Yeah, the curveball looks okay, but you know, there's a little bit of nervousness for me just because the home run rates have just been through the roof in his last tries of the big leagues. Of course they've been in really small samples.

You know, there's certainly some things that he's doing better this year, but for me, at home, I mean, it's weird that Stuff Plus likes his curveball better than a slider and he throws a slider 46% of the time. So it's a weird package for me. I'm just being really careful with him. I'll start him at home against weak offenses. I don't even know if I can give

him the a hundred percent at home treatment. His next one at home is going to be against the twins next week. Is that a, is that a green light or is that a cautious pass? It's close. It's close because as we said, the twins, uh, top 10 in hard hit rate over the, for further season and number one in the last month. So that may not be a slime dunk case. Yes, 16th in Wobba for the season, but an up arrow with the quality of contact

that they're making. I would probably wanna see a little more if we're in a really deep league, like 15 plus and you're desperate for a starter, I would say you could probably do worse. But a big part of the success so far, at least as far as keeping that ERA under four is just not walking anybody

He's only walked two guys and 31 and a third inning so far this season So interesting to see where it goes next But I think he's still a handle with care sort of deep league starter if you're looking at Jansen junk Well now it is our pleasure to be joined by our senior hot dog correspondent back from an important research trip that brought him to Cleveland, Seattle, San Francisco. He's now back home. It's Niv Shah. He's also the founder of Auto New.

Niv, how are you doing today? Doing great guys. How are you guys doing? Really well. Happy it's Friday. Need the weekend very very badly. We will get to the highlight of your trip here in just a few minutes before we get to this week's hot dog review and talk about some player movement on auto new. Jacob

Lopez I think is confusing people everywhere. He is the currently most auctioned player. He's already been added in a lot of leagues but he's on the block in a lot of leagues right now because he put together another impressive start this week. I'm baffled even though I'm probably slightly more into him than Eno. I think the concerns, especially the velocity, are easy enough to say, yeah, okay, this is fun for now, but Sacramento is going to be a really tough place to pitch, especially in these hot, hot summer months. And there's nowhere to go but down. Right. But look, he's got a twenty eight point nine percent K rate. It's supported by a twelve

and a half percent swing strike rate. What do you think it is that's drawing people in even with some concerns about Villa with Lopez? For me, I think it's just it's it's we're gonna talk about it with a couple other guys. July's around the corner where is pitching coming from if you need pitching right now. These guys jump so quickly the Lopez one is really interesting because I was sharing with you the most auction players and Lopez I think he's like over a hundred auctions going right now and you know this right around 400 out of new leagues so that's a quarter of leagues he's being auctioned in the second most guy

being auctioned is like only 30 something so Lopez is like flying off the charts here it's like this is crazy like three times more than anyone else this weekend and I think you're able to wait you're able to see a couple starts does he keep his spot it seems like he's probably going to keep his spot. And the result of that is like you just got to jump on it if you can jump on it. Like ask questions later. It's a lot of what is it like ready fire aim stuff like you don't really

have time to aim when you're trying to acquire pitching talent that without having to make a trade at this point in the season. That's really taking shots wherever you can. You know, I guess the question I have for you, you've played, you've played out a new longer than me. Jack Perkins is also up working out of the bullpen right now. We've seen the fluidity of roles in this athletics organization, right? Mitch Spence started the year in the bullpen. He has moved into a starting role. I think if you're trying to make the best long-term bet, it might actually be smarter to pick up Perkins while everybody's going after Lopez right now. I mean that would

be the stuff bet and it would probably be cheaper with Jacob Lopez 90 poo. I think that it's going to the magic's going to run out but you know one of the things is that you know anybody who's on auto news also on fan graphs so they can see the same stuff numbers. So you know, one of the things is, you know, anybody who's on auto news also on fan graphs, they can see the same stuff numbers. So, you know, the nice thing about Lopez is it's a bit of a, you know, load and play, you know, where you're anti-model on this one, where you're just saying, Hey, everybody else is going to let me have Jacob Lopez for two bucks because they see the stuff numbers and you know, they listen to rates and barrels.

And they, they, they, they, they don't like this, they listen to rates and barrels. They don't like this package of skills. One thing that is weird about Lopez is the thing that he's changed since he was with the raise is his cutter has three inches less drop. And so it's a really bizarre pitch that looks basically exactly like his foreseam, except it has 12 inches or 13 inches less horizontal movement, which is important because he's a sideways thrower. This is something that came up with Logan Webb.

His cutter does not, his cutter has armside movement, Logan Webbs does, and so does Jacob Lopez's. And what we know from the research is you want glove side movement for a cutter. That's what a cutter is supposed to do. It's supposed to cut. But as Logan Webb pointed out to me, and I think the model captures this to some extent, it's relative cut.

It's relative to his arm slot, to the horizontal break on his fore seam. So, I mean, there's some things that could work out there for him. Long term, I wonder what is going on here. Yeah, I think Bido's had his chance and he's gone. I keep expecting Jeffrey Springs to collapse, but I've also noticed Jeffrey Springs as being mentioned in trade talks.

So I wonder if Springs leaves town. Spence has been keeping up his bargain as a starter. JT Ginn seems to be like a model choice. The model choice would be Ginn and Jack Perkins. So yeah, it's really hard to figure out exactly what's going on there, but Lopez in the meantime, I think is just gonna hold onto it and maybe all the movement happens around him.

You know, Springs goes and Perkins takes his job or, you know, there's always injuries as well. It is interesting to think about Springs getting out of that ballpark. And as I mentioned before, the hottest months haven't really played out yet for this A's team, but you already see nearly a full run difference. Home area for Jeffrey Spring sitting at 473 Road 398. And he's on that affordable extension that he signed with the Rays a few years ago.

That's like seven million in change per year for the rest of this season and then for next year. And there's a club option for 2027. So you could see where a team that's desperate for pitching in a more neutral sort of environment might find Jeffrey Springs appealing. Might not be a massive windfall going back to the A's, but it could actually make Springs better for us from a fantasy perspective and open up

opportunities for guys that we think are more interesting. Niv, I see a Wenzil Perez in Detroit also popping as one of the more added players and I saw a story from Cody Stevenhagen of the Athletic indicating that there's been some changes to Perez's stance, I believe. But I'm tripped up by players like this. I think like Willie Castro is sort of like maybe the other recent example of a guy that has turned a super utility role into everyday playing time. And then by grabbing multiple position eligibility, like they just end up being really good glue guys. So like, what's the appeal with Winsil Perez

in auto news specifically? Well, I think you nailed it with the positional stuff. Like positional flexibility is really important, especially in formats that really emphasize hitting your game caps and maxing out your production every year. We talked about that a little bit last time I was on too, I think so in points leagues, in head to head where you're playing for points, number go up, right?

So you want to make sure you have players in slots every day. When you have a guy with like a couple different positional abilities, that makes it easier to just handle your Thursday getaway days, handle your surprise guy getting a breather situation. And you know, there are more of those now than there used to be, right? You don't see 162 games played in a year very often. Having guys that you can slot in at any time, it might be enough, especially if they can get the at-bats and they're being just productive enough.

You want to get points in those slots. You don't want to leave those slots empty. And any points is often considered better than an empty slot, right? Now, it's up to you guys if you want to believe the skill set right like a lot of these questions end up being sort of independent from that and where the skill set comes in is how you price your bid on lenzel perez as he's coming up for auction in your leagues what kind of guys you're willing to cut for him what kind of like team building you're allowing yourself to do for this kind of player i don't think a lot of guys you're willing to cut for him? What kind of like team building you're allowing yourself to do for this kind of player?

I don't think a lot of guys are making big sacrifices to add one so press to their teams more like a one or two dollars Yeah, it's a couple bucks. It's a it's a bet. I think that you know when Matt Vierling is healthy that You know, maybe Parker Meadows goes down because he hasn't really been hitting that well. Or maybe Matt Vierling just ends up in a super sub situation and Jami Jones goes down and Vierling doesn't really change who's playing every day. But you know, there's an interesting, there's some interesting stuff happening in this Detroit lineup because Trey Sweeney is not playing every day and he's, looks like he's lost his everyday because Trey Sweeney is not playing every day.

And he looks like he's lost his everyday job. Javier Baez has got a resurgence back at shortstop. And so maybe it's Trey Sweeney that goes back down when Vierling is healthy if they can identify another backup shortstop on this roster. So there's a lot of different ways this can go. And I guess the bet is that when seal press, who's a switch hitter, could just be in the lineup every day. And if it's a points league, just maybe he's only going to give you three and a half points per game or something or four. It's not what you'd consider a starter. But like you said, on those days when, you know, you have a platoon, do you like a six outfielder? You have a guy who's going to play on those days that you know you have a platoon, you're like a six outfielder. You have a guy who's going to play on those days that you're on a Thursday getaway or

someone sitting. That's just really nice. And and yeah, I'm looking at his player page right now. His average salary was, let's see here, something like a buck 50 a buck in May and now it's up to three bucks. This isn't a guy going for big money. in for the thrill. Escape the everyday with stories that leave you breathless. Whether it's heart-pounding suspense like the Audible Originals' 10 Rules for the Perfect Murder by James Patterson, or the downloaded with Brendan Fraser. Or how about a fantasy adventure like Onyx Storm or Amelia Hart's The Sirens?

Audible has an incredible selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one app. Start listening and discover what's beyond the edge of your seat when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.ca. Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it? It's the best deal, the highest cash back, the most savings on your shopping. So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Uniqlo, Best Buy, Expedia and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cashback. Just start your

shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at rakuten.ca or download the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N, Rakuten.ca. I got Will Benson for a buck for the same thing where I was like, I think he's gonna play. And if he's in Cincinnati, I'd be happy to put him in. Maybe he gets a homer for me. Right, and I think that's the math here. It's, again, the skill set,

if it was something super enticing, you might see more like $6, $7 bids, but you're only seeing two, $3 bids. I think people are just gonna write him off because coming up he had more of that utility role. And then in his time at Detroit, he plays three outfield spots. He just plays all the outfields.

And it seems like he's finding a home in right. And if they like him in right, I mean the arm and the defense are a factor in that but They probably believe in some of that growth We're seeing from him as a hitter the hard hit rate and barrel rate our way up in the Libid sample because it's been a Small sample with injury. There's an opportunity here I think this is a gamble a little more worth taking and I agree with you know Like Will Benson's the kind of guy that when he gets a chance you throw the buck at him if it doesn't work. It's

the kind of guy that when he gets a chance you throw the buck at him if it doesn't work it's absolutely right off minimal cost just just drop them and and move on I think Perez may even have a little more playing time runway than Benson did so I'm in in deeper leagues where he is still sitting out there on the waiver wire the one last thing I'd say on him just real quick is that we've been hearing about him for a long time, the Detroit system. He's still only 25 years old. So there is something there that's like, you know, growth is still possible. You know, if you want to say batting stance, whatever you want to say, but, you know, he's

attributing it to batting stance, but there's also a chance of skill improvements still at that age. So. The other name we've been talking about a little bit this week, he was part of our rookie starting pitcher draft that we had on Thursday with Trevor May is Didier Fuentes. Two starts in the big leagues now and a guy that has flown through the Atlanta system. I mean, he started this season at high A has made very brief appearances at high A double A and triple A before reaching the big leagues only 20 years old and we've seen Atlanta get very aggressive with

areas of need on the roster throughout the Alex Anthopolis era I think this is a great format for Fuentes like in all of my typical like redraft leagues I am nervous if I pick him up They'll just make a quick change send him back down and he'll be an easy cut But I think there's enough ceiling here where even if he doesn't stick you can justify a relatively small bid one, two, three bucks maybe on Fuentes and have it actually pay off in a big way in the long run. So how do you balance the long-term appeal here with the opportunity to add a guy that maybe even hasn't been a prospect long enough to push his value up

and generate as much hype as he probably would have had even stuck at double A all year and dominated at that level. Yeah, I mean, he's 20, right? Like he's a kid and that's really exciting. In my opinion, he's shown the ability to strike players out at all levels, even if he's not getting outs at all levels. And to me, that's an appealing skill set. Because he's already have the spot,

I think, sorry, a spot in the Atlanta rotation, for now at least, I would probably be bidding a little bit more than what he is going for. He's sitting again, very similar to the last guy we were talking about, Perez. He's sitting in like the $250 to $3 range right now. I wouldn't be surprised if that average salary goes up a little bit more. especially like one more good start.

You're sort of like holding on to something interesting. You can sort of write off the Mets start and just be like, look, he's showing skills. He's 20 years old. Seems like the Braves are sticking with them. That is exciting to me. That's definitely worth because these kinds of pictures, if they get a full season and they can be a three starter for your fantasy team, you're paying $15, $20 for that at auction, maybe closer to like 15, 18.

So if you can snag them for five, six bucks now, that's surplus for you. So that's the upside, that's the appeal. And if I was not competing this year, I would take a long look at bidding five to six bucks on him this year, I think. I think he's got a month runway at least. So you're looking at Reynaldo Lopez.

He's shut down until two weeks from now. So that means he's building from zero two weeks from now. So I think he might be six weeks before we get Reynaldo lopez and the latest news on Crisale is he will pitch again this season which is not not exactly what you want to hear It's like okay, so september dreaded vote of confidence kind of situation there Yeah, and if he does get six weeks, there's a non-zero chance. He out pitches brice elder who's And if he does get six weeks, there's a non-zero chance he outpitches Bryce Elder, who's, you know, Bryce Elder's fine, but he's, I think he's pushed himself to being a competent Major League starter, probably a five.

But if Fuentes is better by then, then you're going to pick Fuentes and you can still option Elder. So I think six weeks plus, and that's all you can ask for in some cases. think six weeks plus and that's all you can ask for in some cases. Yeah, and I think you know, again, it's if you want the play for this year, you're probably spending a little bit more. But if you want the play in auto new leagues for next year, I think you can be patient with that. Even if you you can see what the six weeks looks like, you can see what the Braves decide to do when people start getting healthy again, but you're still looking towards 2026, right?

Yeah, by the way, if you want the next DDEF front desk who maybe hasn't hit your top list and you're on auto new, thank you my people. Like Tidwell, we got a bunch of injury news from the Mets camp in a similar fashion. Tidwell has raised the ranks really quickly in the Mets organization, and they've just run out of arms. They're just done. Well, in any case, the Griffin-Canning legs. So, you know, there,

I think that they have no choice. I mean, Nolan McClain, I guess, is the other choice, but they've already turned to Tidwell. So I feel like that they've already showed their hand in that way. I thought you were going to endorse Kam Schlittler as a stash, a cheap pickup for now that will maybe in 2026 get that longer run as a member of the Yankees rotation. What happens to the auto-new though is you just run out of roster spots, you know, and so it's been hard for me to even in my real rebuilding squad, I'm stashing Gage Jump, Carson Wisenhunt, and another one. And it's too much. It's too much.

Like I'm having trouble. I'm way behind my innings pace. And like I'm rebuilding, so maybe I don't care. But like, you know, I'm actually rebuilding but in six. So I'm like, I kind of at least want to hit my innings totals. See what you got, you know. So I don't know if I could, how many, how many like in your, in your situation, how many, what's the most amount of non pitching pitchers that you, and I also have injured

this guys, cause I have Joe Musgrove on the team and like, so I have like five arm stashes. Isn't that way too much? Like how many, how many teams do you like, that's a rebuilding squad. Like you can have five arm stashes that aren't pitching for you. I'm looking in league one right now. And I mean, the big part for Auto New especially is, you know, 60IL will get you the extra roster spot.

And so the guys I'm stashing are 60IL guys, like sort of unfortunately Darvish, who I thought was coming back and then, you know, isn't. Blanco and Gray, sort of figuring out what I want to do with those guys You're right once you get that extra Ross's spot at least you can you punt the decision for later backfill it with a guy Who's actually pitching right now, but this team is in eighth and it's going nowhere fast, but I have one prospect Two prospects on this team. I have Kavis and I have Travis Saikora and I guess I have Susanna also. So I have two Nats pitching prospects, one who may have a serious arm injury.

Yay. Which one is that? Susanna? Susanna, he got shut down. He's on the seven aisle and he got shut down a few weeks ago and actually a longer time than that ago. And there has not been any word about him pitching again And so I'm not really sure what's going on there because the dude throws I mean, we know how hard he throws so it's a little scary a little scary when you have to do that

Yeah, anyway, so I think you know to answer your question I think I'm pushing it with three guys that aren't 60 il guys So I'm not getting a roster spot back, but aren't gonna pitch or aren't gonna play. You start running, you're like, oh, I'm not hitting 90. I don't have a guy to play. Yeah, yeah. I don't have a guy to play.

And like, you know, even if you're an eighth, it feels bad to check in on your lineups and being like, I don't have a guy to play there today. It just doesn't feel good. I think we're gonna have to do a segment one week where we take my roster, which has been just spinning in the middle of the league, I think for three seasons now since this league was created.

Chad Youngs, the commish, does a great job running it for us. And I have the, I am trying to hold too much long-term value problem. And I, even with guys that are in the big leagues that are five and six bucks, like Kyle Manzardo, look at Kyle Manzardo right now. Perfect example.

If I'm not getting enough for six bucks, like I probably should be turning that spot over. And there's so much to like about that skill set, but it's still the perfect example of like, I need production. Like you just need production. It's a 12-team league, which you have to remember is a 12-team league. Like that's heart. There's all these like things about it. Yeah, you're like, oh, it's deep. It's deep rosters, but it's still like in terms of what you need to put on the field It needs to be 12 team worthy one of the big faints in auto new is that you have a 40-man roster So you think that's deeper than I actually play 25 man 23 man, whatever

It's this is way deeper, but that's not true middle infield five outfield spots. They're all made such that five outfield spots. They're all made such that basically 50% of major league starters in real life have to be rostered by auto new teams. Once you get into that bottom 50%, you're starting to be like, what am I doing here? You can talk yourself into, oh, Manzardo, I like the skill set and I like his long-term outlook, but you still sort of need to have production. And if you don't have production, you're going to be down here with me in eighth place or whatever. So if you run the auction calculator, I'm not saying it's perfect But if you run the auction calculator, it's very sobering Yes, because you realize you know, you're like Oh all these guys I have for like three to four bucks that I've convinced myself like playing role on my team

The calculator is calling them minus thirties Yeah, and they're gonna get more expensive if you try to hold them at the end of the year to get future value out of them. So like, live in the now, do something about it, Derek. Don't just sit there and be a passive observer to your roster thinking your future is amazing because you've proven two seasons in a row,

your future is not actually amazing. It's tough, it's a tough format, honestly. But it's fun. It keeps you engaged. This is the point though, right? You're staying in the middle of the pack, and it's July, and you're not... You're like, I have to start thinking about what the rest of this year looks like

and what 2026 looks like. And I think that's the big draw of Autumn now. Yeah, that's what I love about the game design. There's always something you can be doing. I'm not playing it right so I want to make it very clear There are plenty of levers to pull to make your team better I am pulling the wrong levers or not pulling enough levers most likely if I'm being a fair critique of myself Oh my god Clearly if you do not follow or subscribe to our YouTube channel

This is the day to do it right if you're one of our long-term listeners Only I get it. I think audio is great I hope you keep listening on audio but you need to go on YouTube and watch the segment of today's show with Niv and just look at the monstrosity on your screen. My question on the cryon is what is happening in Cleveland? And all I can hear in my head is the Mark Shapiro in Moneyball voice saying, this is how we make hot dogs in Cleveland.

And I'm just like, dude. All right, all right, Cleveland, and I'm just dude I'm an open-minded person a couple things here niv you this is called the slider dog And it is a grilled all beef hot dog topped with fruit loops pimento mac and cheese and Bacon that's what I'm looking at right now. That's what you are looking at. That is what it is. It's a nice color Yeah, I mean it's festive looking. That's the look. It kind of looks like my dog barfed and then like alright And you know, I want to give Cleveland a little bit of credit here, this is the deal with the situation

there's a chain include or not change a bar in Cleveland called Happy Dog. And what they're trying to do from what I can tell is it's a regular bar but they're doing the Cold Stone Creamery of hot dogs. We have 20 plus toppings, build your own. Go nuts. I think when they were trying to get into progressive, the Jacobs field, whatever you want to call it, they decided we're going to go viral. We're going to do something nuts. And the slider is the guardian's mascot. It's a Philly fanatics mascot, you know,

big muppety purple pink thing. Mascots are mascots, whatever. But this guy's not like, it's not like a guardian. It's like a Philly fanatic type thing. and they try to make a hot dog that embodies what a ridiculous thing that is and I'm gonna give it a little bit of defense up front you can see what they're going for there's pimento mac and cheese so they're trying to get a little bit of I'm gonna say Midwestern spicy not actually spicy but a little Midwestern spicy.

You're going for a little salt and a little texture with that bacon. You're going for richness with the mac and cheese. And then you're going for like a crunch and a sweetness bacon and, uh, and the fruit loops both. It doesn't work. It just doesn't work. It didn't work. It's the fruit part. Like if it was maple bacon, I would get it. I had delicious candied bacon at a place in Cleveland, actually, a farm to table place

that my phone recommended. It was awesome, a good brunch spot. Candied bacon, some of the best bacon I've ever had. I would work on that. If you did candied bacon and chopped that up instead of the Froot Loops, it would not look like a thing that a kid would want to eat, but it would probably taste better and it might actually hit the notes that you were describing. Because the fruit part was disgusting, right? Like part of the Froot Loops part, the fruit. Well, to be clear, it's Froot Loops. That's not a thing that tastes like fruit. That's just a thing

that tastes like sugar. Yeah, but it has like a...'s two things. Yeah, you're right. You're right. It has like that skittles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's over the top fake fruit. So one in defense of the Froot Loops. I think this is an homage to the fact that slider is this giant purple and yellow thing, right? Very colorful. We're trying to add some color. The problem with Froot Loops, now I'm a weird kid who doesn't put milk in a cereal. I like cereal dry and when I eat my cereal dry, which I know you guys are making faces at me, I know it's not necessarily a normal take, I've been eating my cereal dry since I was a little kid. I've lived in places that are very humid. One of those places was Cleveland, Ohio. If you have dry cereal in a place that's humid and you go outside with

that cereal, it sucks up all that moisture humid and you go outside with that cereal, it sucks up all that moisture in the air and it becomes soggy, which is the thing I am trying to avoid in the first place by not pouring milk on it. So the thing is you got no texture here. It was just mush. And then a little, yeah, yeah, it was mush. It absorbs the, it absorbs some of the cheese, though less of the cheese than you might expect because that bacon layer kind of protects it, which is this insane sentence I just said. And then it's absorbing, you know, I'm out there. It's a beautiful blue blue sky hot day. And the cereal does not stay crispy. It's been sitting out in the bucket that they're pouring it out of right. So it's been it's been like, it's not just getting wet when it's sitting on the hot dog. It's been sitting out in the bucket that they're pouring it out of, right? So it's been, it's been like, it's not just getting wet when it's sitting on the hot dog, it's been wet the whole time. So it's just, it was just mush. It was a big mushy mess. It's too bad. Some of the other ones there look kind of interesting. There's one with peanut butter and sriracha sauce and pickle

relish. Yeah, it's just going for a pretty solid Asian dog flavor. There's like the fun with the spicy Cheetos one, that one looked really good with the chili cheese and everything. But I am not the senior hot dog correspondent for no reason. Right. I had to earn that title. I've been getting a little guff about it. And I feel like this was a moment where I looked at all these hot dogs. And I was like, you know, I show, you know, this menu, he's going to demote me if I don't bring that the slider dog.

I had to bring it. It was not super great. I'd be interested in trying it in their bar, and I would also be interested in never eating it again. That would be competing interest. Yeah, that's right. But but, you know, just harkening back to what we talked about a couple weeks ago, last time I was on, you still have to give credit to Cleveland for hosting this monstrosity, and the other stuff that they host in it, like with the Happy Dog. We want ballparks to be fun. Fun is not always gonna be hit after hit after hit,

but there's creativity there, they're having fun with it. I'm happy that it's there. I don't recommend eating it. Try something else at the stand. But support Happy Dog, I think. I love the concept. Fun is good, but even the picture of that dog, it just looks, for all the stuff on it, it just looks like it was going to fall apart. It looks like Sad Niv was inevitably going gonna have hot dog falling apart in the tray But that seemed like a guarantee and one of the things I'm used to eating just like a hot dog with mustard on it

So I don't necessarily think I need a pile of napkins and a fork when I take a hot dog with me and That's a big guy. This one got there This one it was a mess and if you thought those photos were rough, you should see the ones I didn't send you They are. It is hard to make that thing beautiful. We got to follow you on Instagram. You could send ugly hot dog photos there.

We don't want to actually steer people away from the show with the worst of the worst from the hot dog world. And this is why the pros are at Nats Park. They know they know not to put cereal on a hot dog in humid conditions. I didn't think about taking my cereal outside. So I apologize for my face reacting the way it did when you said you eat dry set. I know that when I say dry cereal, I'm not going to get I'm in the minority on that one. I accept it. I'm lactose intolerant.

So actually, I have a lot of dry cereal because whenever my kids are having cereal, I just take handfuls out of it. Yes. I eat it with a spoon and a bowl. Okay, so like that's like yeah Rolls off the spoon bar You're eating it is actually the way that people would eat dry cereal, which is like, oh I took a couple of handfuls That's a snack. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm I don't know Whatever we don't have to talk about different I I don't know. You had the whole bowl out. Whatever. We don't have to talk about it. It's a different podcast entirely. I just thought of a cereal that would actually fix that hot dog a little bit.

It wouldn't completely save it. But the maple waffle squares, they're like, I think the malt-o-meal brand that comes in a four pound bag. I bought that for myself once for reasons. I don't know why. Does the frosting keep it from getting wet, getting like absorbing? I can see stuff like Cinnamon Toast Crunch working, you know, just something that's like that's like through loops have a lot of air in them.

Like Cinnamon Toast Crunch is bringing crunch. Like, I think that could work. It's thinner. Yeah, I could see it staying crunchier. But I think they really wanted to do something that's bright colors and like, you know, credit to them for not doing Fuity pebbles, I guess. Like you could have got a lot of directions. But fun is good. I think you said it well, Derek.

So I'm going to stick with that as my review on that place. All right. Well, you you earned the title this week for sure. Yeah, you're up for VP. All right. VP of hot dogs. I got a couple more hot dogs to share with you guys for my trip. So hopefully we can do it again soon. Yeah, looking forward to those reviews is our senior hot dog correspondent, Niv Shaw, also the founder of Auto New. Thanks for joining us, Niv.

Thanks guys, it was fun. Well that's gonna do it for this episode of Rates and Barrels. Thanks again to our senior hot dog correspondent, Niv Shaw, for all of the hard work, especially, oh man, that slider dog. I wouldn't have ordered it. Took one for the team. I think I would have got to the point, you know, where they would have handed it to me and I would have looked at it and I just would have offered it to people.

I'm like, hey, I changed my mind. Like, I can't, I don't want to throw it away. Would anybody else like try the slider dog? I would have bailed. I would have bailed upon sight at the song. I might have taken a fork and a knife and like, cut a piece off of it Oh, I'm willing to try and split it, right? Yeah, that's one thing about that

You need to know about me is I will try anything once but you know once I had one bite of it I would feel like I might have been like I got it Got the gist of it. Yep Actually that hot dogs then had four options and I think the wild thing had a vegetarian dog And then there's a Cuban dog that was also a vegetarian sausage, but it had ham on it, which I thought was The veggie dog things great like they have have the alternative meats all for that But I don't think the ham was alternative ham. So it was still So I thought that was kind of interesting

I think the play at that stand would have been to get three friends, order one of every dog, cut each one into quarters, and just try each one because they were all like, do like a hot dog flight. Yeah, hot dog flight. They need like a, they need like a sliders version of hot dog. I mean, it's called a slider. It should be like this big. It should be like a little mini hot dog. The hot dog flight. I think I just invented something

we're going to see at a minor league ballpark that should have been invented already Maybe it exists somewhere some corner of minor league baseball But if it's not someone can have the idea for free because I don't have the means to distribute hot dog flights Can you imagine me at a farmers market with a pop-up canopy trying to get people to try hot dog flights? That's be Nobody many hot dog. They would just look like little bite-sized hot dogs hot dogs cut into quarters no no it's not gonna happen alright we're gonna go reminder you can join our discord the link in the show description if you made it all the way to the end of this episode be sure to hit the like button

on this video we appreciate everybody who does that each and every time we're out there have a great weekend. We're back with you on Monday. And thanks again to our producer, Brian Smith, for putting this monstrosity of an episode. Thanks for listening. Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it?

It's the best deal, the highest cash back, the most savings on your shopping. So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Uniqlo, Best Buy, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back. Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at rakuten.ca or download the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N rakuten.ca. Did you know that socks are one of the most requested

clothing items by organizations addressing homelessness? It's true. And it's also why we started Bombas. Every time you buy, well, anything from Bombas, an essential item is donated to someone facing homelessness. That's Bombas's one purchased, one donated promise. Bombas makes socks, underwear, slippers, slides, and t-shirts all designed to feel good and do good. Since we're new in Canada, all new customers enjoy 20% off your first purchase. Just visit bombas.ca. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot C-A. And use code MUSIC to start doing good and feeling even better. Summer's coming. Is your business ready?

From hiring to inventory, iCapital helps Canadian small businesses move fast with flexible financing. We're not a broker. We're a direct lender. Apply in under 5 minutes. Approval in 24 hours. Up to $250,000 in your account within 48 hours. No red tape. No delays. Just real support. Up to $250,000 in your account within 48 hours. No red tape, no delays. Just real support. Visit iCapital.ca today.