Fantasy Baseball Advice | MLB Risers & Fallers, Rookie Rundown & Injury Updates (Ep. 1120) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Baseball Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's going on. Everybody. Welcome into Fantasy pros. This is
Leading Off Live, the Fantasy Baseball Podcast. I'm your host,
Joe Rico, and I'm gonna be taking you through today's
show through today's show solo. We're off to a great
start here because Casey Bubba is having some Wi Fi issues,
So I'm gonna be taking your questions, running through some
of the headlines, the injuries, best bets of the day.

(00:25):
We're gonna try and keep it as normal as the
show as possible, but get your questions into the chat
and I will be answering them. But we are going
to start off with some headlines from around Major League
Baseball yesterday, starting off with Nick Kurtz. He had his
twenty sixth home run of the season on Thursday. He's
actually been leading off for the Athletics recently, which is
not something that I really expected considering his power. He's

(00:45):
leading Major League Baseball and ops in the second half,
but he's been leading off in Oakland or for the Athletics.
I should say. Now, Bubba was gonna be here and
we were going to talk about an early draft that
he took part in on Wednesday night, where Nick Kurtz
went the seventeenth overall pick in that draft. I want
to get your guys comments below about what you think

(01:06):
on that number is seventeen Off the top of your head.
Does it feel too high for Nick Kurtz, Does it
feel too low? Does it feel about right? One pick
after Vladimir Guerrero Junior. So that one was kind of
interesting to me. Not sure if he's gonna end up
there consistently, but I do understand it considering the power
that we've seen from him. He's hitting for a decent
batting average. He's done everything, especially considering that ballpark, in
the good lineup around him, I understand the price on

(01:27):
Nick Kurtz, but it does feel a little bit expensive
as well. But let me know below, what do you
guys think about that price seventeen overall for Nick Kurtz
in the first Fantasy Baseball draft of twenty twenty six. Now,
his teammate Tyler Soderstrom had a four for four day
himself on Thursday, and he's somebody that I wanted to
discuss just because his season got off to such a
boiling hot start. Tyler Soderstrom was the number one Fantasy

(01:47):
player in April he did cool down a little bit,
but overall, we're still looking at a very good season.
The two to seventy three batting average, twenty three home
runs and six dole in basis for Sodershrum and you know,
projecting forward, he seems like a guy who may fall
a lit a little bit in drafts next year, just
because he is maybe a little bit boring. You know,
first base is a rather deep position. He does have

(02:08):
outfield eligibility as well, so I don't know, he just
feels like somebody that doesn't excite a ton for fantasy.
I know he did early on in the season, but
he's been pretty quiet for the last three and a
half months. Still, that production is looking pretty pretty good overall.
Van Rod saying that she would take Kurtz over Vladdy.
I think it's really close. But I think the plate

(02:28):
discipline that Vladdy brings to the table, and the fact
that I think he has a more projectable batting average
would lead me towards his side. Nick Kurtz is running
close to a thirty percent strikeout rate, where with Vladdy,
you know you're never going to get above even twenty percent.
Would be very high for him. The batting average, I
think is pretty much locked in as a three hundred
hitter for Latti every year, so that would be the

(02:49):
route that I would go. I don't have any problems
with taking Kurts shortly after, but for me, I think
I am probably still going to be taking Flatty. Second
round for Kurtz seems about right. According to Todd, Lee asked,
are we pro Jack Perkins or meh, I would be
dumping that letdown Jeffrey Springs. Springs has been kind of
up and down this year. He hasn't been light in

(03:09):
the world on fire, but there have been times where
he has been very usable. Perkins had himself a decent
start yesterday. I think it was only two strikeouts, but
he did pick up the win. Overall, He's not somebody
that I am necessarily married to. The strikeout upside hasn't
been amazing. Twenty three percent strikeout rate is fine, but
when you're walking eleven percent of batters, that can lead
to some trouble. So what I like to usually do

(03:31):
in these situations is just look at the upcoming schedule.
His next start is against Detroit, the following one after
that is Saint Louis. Those aren't too bad, so I'd
probably be willing to pick up Perkins. In terms of
where Springs is at. It's going to be Seattle for
him and then Texas, so I don't think there's a
huge difference there. If you wanted to go with Perkins
and play the hot hand, I don't really blame you there.

(03:52):
Todd is asking normally don't like starting pitchers fresh off
the sixty Day I album. With Beaver's pitch counts and
triple A in the matchup, do we start him in
most leagues? I am totally on board with starting Shane
Bieber tonight. Like you mentioned, his rehab starts have been very,
very strong. Miami is a team that you don't want
to mess around with too much. I think that's a
fair statement to make. But at the same time, we
have to remember that they just lost arguably probably their

(04:14):
best hitter in Kyle Stowers, so when you're taking him
out of the equation, it becomes a lot less scary.
Miami as a whole in August has a one oh
five WRC plus as a team that's thirteenth in Major
League Baseball. It's fine. But with Shane Bieber, a guy
where we know the potential is seven innings of shutout ball.
He's a former c young winner. I don't have any
problem starting him today. If you're in the head toad league,

(04:36):
then you can kind of play that based on where
you are in the rest of your league, if you
need wins, if you need ERA, if you're already set
for strikeouts, et cetera. I think that's where you can
make the decision from be asking is Waldrip legit? I
think this is a flash or will this carry over
for the next couple of years. I like Hurston Waldrip.
I don't know if he's going to continue at this
pace because these first four starts have been remarkable for him.

(04:57):
A point seven to three ERA, a point seven to
seven win. He's not going to do that. I think
we all know that. But the stuff is very good.
Stuff isn't the be all and end all, But for
him it's one oh seven with four of his pitches
grading out above average. You really really like to see that,
and you also like to see a lot of the
swing and myss that we have seen from him so far.
Twelve percent swinging strike rate doesn't necessarily blow you away,

(05:18):
but he's been striking out twenty seven percent of the
batters that he has faced, so Herston Waldrip does feel
pretty legitimate. His next start is at Miami. After that
is at Chicago, so we've already talked about Miami doesn't
really scare me that much. And Chicago, I should specify,
it's the Cubs. The Cubs of the worst offense in
Major League Baseball in the month of August. You wouldn't
really think so, just thinking, Okay, the Cubs. You know,
they've been a competitive team all year. A seventy two

(05:41):
WRC plus as a team in the month of August
is not going to get it done. And we know
why that's happening, right Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow Armstrong not performing.
That is essentially what's happening here. So I think, yes,
Waldrop is somebody you should be adding, and you should
be putting Hi into your starting lineup as much as
you can for the time being. Jordan Westbrook a board
in the aisle but likely missing four to six games
just so annoying. Just put him on the IL. I

(06:02):
hear you, Jordan Westburg. We're getting to a point now
where this is becoming a little bit of a problem.
Over the last couple of years. The talent is pretty undeniable.
Like what he has done in very short sample size
of seventy three games this year, fifteen homers, fifty three runs.
He's hitting two seventy six no problem at all, but
one hundred and seven games last year he had to
miss time. And it's just been a bunch of different injuries.

(06:22):
I don't know if this is a situation where he
is injury prone or anything like that. But you know,
in that early draft the other night, Jordan Westburg went
in the fifth round, and if he's going in the
fifth round consistently with all the injury troubles, and you
got to mention that the Orioles also underperformed the season. Eh,
it does kind of worry me a little bit drafting
Jordan Westburg at such a high price. Is Ramon Loriano

(06:43):
for real? He has been on fire. He absolutely has been.
He's been a good player for the majority of his career.
He did have a PD suspension that he got popped
for in Oakland at one point. Kind of at that
point I tapped out. I didn't think there was gonna
be much after that, And you know, ninety four WRC
plus and twenty ninety and twenty twenty three. Last year
he was a little bit better. This season, Ramon Loriento

(07:05):
is hitting three hundred with a one fifty WRC plus
nineteen home runs. I don't think that you're seeing him
on any waiver wires at this point. You maybe are
on some shallow leagues, but if you are, Ramone Loreano
is an absolute must roster player. The Padres went through
some struggles and they work a team that you could
kind of target for a little while, but over the
last month one seventeen WRC plus they are a top

(07:26):
ten offense again in baseball. Ramone Loriento has been a
huge part of that. Perkins or Lorenzen, I'm not a
big Michael Lorenzen fan. I think in the right matchups
you can kind of pick and choose and he can
have some value. For me, though, I think he is
more of a streamer now. His next start comes against
the White Sox. If you wanted to stream him for
that one, don't have a huge problem with it. But
if I'm looking forward to the next six weeks as

(07:47):
a whole, I think it would still be Perkins for me.
What do we do with Framber is there anything in
the underlying metrics that explains this with Framber unless I
have missed something. It was really just the one truly
bad start. Than that, I think there might have been
a couple of like shiky ones a little bit, but yeah,
it was the seven earned runs against Detroit. The one
against the Yankees wasn't great. Five and two thirds, four

(08:09):
earned runs Boston, six innings, five earned runs a little
bit before that. I think this is just the natural
ebb and flow of a season, which is not what
anybody wants to hear as we are ramping up on
fantasy playoff time. But Framer Valdez had been pretty immaculate
for the majority of the year. He went like three
full months without allowing more than three earned runs and
the start. You know, just looking at these last couple

(08:31):
of games, is there anything that I would take forward
and say, like you need to be benching Framber Valdez,
You should be trying to move on from him, Like, no,
there's nothing, nothing there at all. He is still absolutely
a must start Muss roster pitcher. Next start again comes
against Colorado, away from Corsfield, so there should be no
real worries here with Framber Valdez, positive grouge, Happy Friday.

(08:52):
I'm out of the playoffs. There's a couple of leagues
like that myself, and you know this is the time
of year you got. You gotta really be honest with yourself.
If you see a team is in eleventh play and
you're behind by forty two roto points, you don't need
to invest as much time in that league. That might
be controversial, take whatever. I think you should allocate your
time and your resources to what makes the most sense.
If you have a chance to win this league, that league,
and the other league, then focus on those three. If

(09:14):
you're seeing a league where you're probably not going to
make the playoffs, you're really down and out. I would
just be focusing on those ones where you do have
a good chance. Thoughts on the waist Garcia. He's possibly
coming back next week. I'm not a huge Luis Garcia fan.
After such a long layoff, I really don't know what
to expect from him. He's also been a guy who
kind of has outperformed his expected numbers for the last

(09:36):
several seasons, and when you're talking about a guy who
hasn't pitching a couple of years, I just want to
temper my expectations there a little bit, so deeper leagues
don't have a huge problem with it. But outside of that,
I just can't really see it myself. Honestly, if you're
desperate for pitching, if you have no options, and it's
a fifteen team league or it's an only league, then

(09:57):
maybe I can get behind it. But by and large,
I'm not really that interested. Should we pick up Chris Sale?
All the reports I've seen indicate that there is a
decent chance he does come back and makes a few starts.
He is progressing in his rehab assignment, so I think
he is worth picking up. But I think another situation
where you should temper your expectations. Obviously, Chris Sale so

(10:19):
far and a way better pitcher than Luis Garcia, obviously,
no question. But when you've been off for so long,
when you're coming back for a team like Atlanta, who
has nothing to play for Atlanta at this point, is
gonna start slowly shutting guys down. We saw it with Riley.
They made the decision for him to have surgery the
other day Austin Riley, So I feel like, even if
Sale comes back, are they going to let him go?
Seven innings, one hundred and ten pitches and really ramp

(10:40):
up the radar gun like probably not. Is he worth
adding if you need a pitcher? Yes, but I'm keeping
my expectations in check a little bit. Here would you
start Bergert versus the Tigers tonight? I kind of like
Ryan Bergert. Honestly, I didn't think I would be that
interested in him, but he's strung together some decent starts
this year. As a whole, it's a two seventy five era.

(11:01):
I wish the command was a little bit better. Ten
percent walk rate, twenty three percent strikeout rate doesn't blow
you away, but I think he's a pretty solid pitcher.
And the Tigers, I don't know they're They're a decent offense.
You shouldn't take them too lightly, but they're not this
juggernaut that we thought they were earlier in the season.
So I think in a situation like Berger, you can
take your time there and stream him in. Okay, Joe,

(11:24):
So this is us here today. What do you think
has been Welsh's worst taken? What was piece of p is?
I won't tell. Oh my god, I can't come up
with these off the top of my head. We did
so many shows in the preseason where this is the
nature of fantasy content. You're if you're getting sixty percent
of the takes right, you're doing very very well. So
if you go back and listen to the shows that
we did in the preseason, any of us did, you

(11:46):
are going to find a bunch of hits. You're going
to find a bunch of misses. And that's just kind
of the way it is. You know, I don't want
to throw them under the bus, but I also can't
think of one off the top of my head that
they were wrong about and I was right about or
anything like that. But you know, think about it. If
you guys want to dig up some old clips and
send them over, I'm sure we can have a little
bit of fun with that concern level. For Max Freed,

(12:07):
are we starting him tonight?

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Ah?

Speaker 1 (12:09):
This is a tricky one. I think if you are
in a head to head league, it really does come
down to where you are in the week. If you
are desperate for a win and you you know, ratios
are already blown away and you just in a desperation mode,
then there's no reason not to start him. If you
are preserving ratios and you need an immaculate start tonight
to really get back into it. I don't know if
Max Free should really be your guy at this point. Boston,

(12:31):
even though they don't really scare me right now, I
think they're like that. You know, they're not bad offensively,
They're kind of a mid pack team in my view.
But Max Freed has been truly awful going back to
the beginning of July, that first start in July against
the Blue Jays. Since then, it's been four and runs
four three, four, four four seven, Just not at all

(12:52):
that Max Freed that he was earlier in the season.
So I don't mind if you're gonna start him. If
it's like I need the start, I need the innings,
I just I have to do it, then that's okay.
But if you are in a position where you can
pick and choose, I'm not starting him. I'm doing what
I can to avoid starting him. In fact, for twenty
twenty six Redraft, Roman Anthony or Jackson Merril. Right now,
it is firmly Roman Anthony. I know Michael Kelly is

(13:14):
not going to want to be hearing that. But here's
the thing. Roman Anthony is kind of like in that
Wyatt Leang for James Wood territory from last year. Big
promising rookie comes up in the second half, hits the
ground running. He hit a mammoth home run last night
at Yankee Stadium, and he's going to go in the
third round. I don't have that draft board pulled up
in front of me from the other night. Actually no,

(13:35):
I do have it. He went as the last pick
in the third round of fifteen team drafts, so Roman
Anthony went pick forty five overall. Jackson Merrill went in
the eighth round. He went in the early part of
the eighth round. So that's where the market is right now.
These are super sharp players in that room, and I
agree with them. Roman Anthony should go ahead of Meryl.
The upside is higher, but Merril is becoming a really

(13:58):
nice BILO for next season. Is an eighth round pick.
I think I'm gonna have quite a bit of Jackson
Merrill because I think a lot of his struggles this season.
You can you can put it into two things. Sophomore's
Sophomore slump is a phrase for a reason. Guys hit
the ground running in year one, the league adjusted them
in year two, and then they kind of have to
make some adjustments. That's the first thing here, and I
think there's nothing like, oh, he was a fraud in

(14:18):
year one. Jackson Merrill isn't nearly this good. No, he's
a great ballplayer and he's gonna have a great career,
but this year just wasn't his year. He was also
injured and he's missed a bunch of times, so he's
not going to be able to accumulate the volume stats
that you'd need to take him in those early rounds.
He has one stolen base, nine home runs. A lot
of the underlying data is still very good. The barrel
rate is still at eleven percent. The hard hit rate
went down slightly from forty three percent to forty percent,

(14:40):
but that's not a big deal. He's still making as
much contact in the zone. Swinging strike rate is a
little bit higher, which is probably the most concerning thing
that he's swinging and missing more. But by and large,
Jackson Merrill, if he's going in the eighth round, I
am going to have a lot a lot of Jackson Merrill.
And like Kelly's saying here, Meryl had an insane year
last year. Regression was coming still a solid play. I
absolutely agree be saying Roman Anthony already has the OEP

(15:04):
covered and the power is coming. After an offseason with
Duran in the weight room, you know, I was surprised
going through some average exit velocity numbers. I didn't realize
how hard Jaron Durant hit the ball. This guy has
hitting at like ninety two miles an hour on average.
He definitely has some thumb, So spending some time with
him in the weight room, I could think of worse ideas.
That swagger after hit that bomb of Yankee Stadium was
pretty sweet from Roman Anthony. Probably getting get drilled, but

(15:24):
it was sweet. Hey, you know what if Tommy fam
didn't get drilled after the other night, then I don't
even know what we're drilling guys for anymore. If you're
desperate for help at second base in the Points League.
Lennin Sosa, brooks Lee, Willie Cashrow or Stott or some
other sleeper, look Lennin' Sosa. I never thought that I
would be a big Lennin Sosa fan, but he actually
went in that draft the other night where they just

(15:45):
did the first eleven rounds. They did one hundred and
sixty five picks. Lennin Sosa went and at first I
was like, you gotta be kidding me. But he's got
seventeen home runs. He's hitting for average at two seventy one.
The lineup in Chicago for the White Sox isn't amazing,
but they're definitely a lot better than we anticipated they
would be. They've got some good contributions this year, and
Sosa has definitely been one of them. So I think
that Sosa is to play there. Not that I have

(16:07):
a huge problem with going brooks Lee or with price
in s thought, but I think for my money, I
am going to have to go with Lenine Sosa. There
what other questions that we have right now, Luke Keishel
or Otto Lopez. I think I'm going Luke Keishell. You know,
he is playing every day top of the order. Now,
it's not much of an order in Minnesota. They have
been pretty bad for the last few weeks. But I
think that you got to go with Keishel. I think

(16:28):
he's more of a well rounded fantasy asset. Now. Lopez
has had a very good year, and I don't think
there's a huge gap between them. But if I was
given my choice, I would probably just go with Keishel.
Here let's get back to a couple of headlines. Keep
filling up the chat with your questions and I will
continue to get to them, but I want to talk
about a couple more pieces of news. Vinnie pass Quentino
fourth consecutive game with the home run on Thursday twenty

(16:49):
six homers, eighty seven ribi in a two sixty one
patting average for the year. Vinnie pass Quentino also is
somebody that feels like he's going to be a pretty
good deal next year. He went in the fifth round
of that draft, and again it's a fifteen teamer, so
he went in the seventy ish overall range. And actually
the guy who took him was Casey Bubba in the
fifth round there as his first baseman. I love Vinnie Passmentino.

(17:10):
I think the vine Passmentino is really an underrated asset,
specifically for points leagues. I know a lot of you
guys playing points leagues, and we and Fantasy at large
kind of leave points league content behind. We don't talk
about it as much as we should. But if you
are playing in points leagues, Vinnie Passmentino is a absolute
darling hitting for average, hitting for power. The lineup around
him I thought would be a lot better this year,
but even in absence of that, he has still had

(17:31):
a very good season and I could see him probably
a top seven or eight first basement off the board
next year off the top of my head. All let's
talk Dylan Cees, though another frustrating outing for him, four
earned runs on six hits with two walks. Against the Giants,
he struck out seven, but four to seventy one ERA
and a one to thirty one whip is not pretty.
Now here's what I'm going to say Aboutdylan Cees. You

(17:53):
buy the dip. You buy the dip because a lot
of the numbers and you guys are rolling your eyes.
I can already feel it through the camera. But all
the numbers below the surface are very good for Dylan
SE's The strikeout rate is still thirty percent. He's only
been over thirty percent twice in his career before. The
walks are no longer a huge, huge issue. It's nine
point eight percent when I like it a little bit lower, sure,

(18:13):
but it's not a huge problem. Three fifty one expected
ERA three sixty five fIF my personal favorite of Sierra,
and he's at three pot fifty. There the stuff is
still very good at one oh eight. Everything here is good.
The thing what happens with Dylan Sees is once he
has a good season, people will pay an exorbitant price
for him, and then he tends to do this every
other year. Thing. If you look at his era's over

(18:33):
the last five years, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Three ninety one, two twenty four, fifty eight, three forty seven,
four seventy one. This is when you buy the dip.
Now we have a chance to buy the dip on
Dylan Ce's because after this year, a lot of people
are gonna say, forget about it. I'm not taking Dylan
CEA's again in the third, fourth round, and that's when
you'll get a sixth or a seventh round Dylan Cease
when really there's no difference with the skills. He's the

(18:54):
same pitcher he's always been. It's just been a bad
season for him, and I get it. Ceases such overrated garbage.
He's had two good seasons, three bad seasons. I get
it because, like I mentioned, in those five seasons, three
of them have been kind of disappointments for fantasy. But
the skills are still there, and this is where I
implore you to buy low on a player. We're past
the point where you're trading for him in twenty twenty five,

(19:16):
and he's making a huge difference because we have thirty
some odd games left in the year and trade deadlines
are mostly gone. But for next season, I'm telling you guys,
he is going to be once I start doing those
show are those short form videos on the Fantasy pros
MLB YouTube channel. Seven players to target for next year,
six players whatever. Dylan Cees is going to be in
all of those videos. I'm telling you right now. I

(19:38):
believe he is a free agent, so maybe his destination
will change some of that depending on the ballpark. But
I still really like Dylan Ceas and this will be
the year to buy the dip. And I get it.
You know. The chat is filled with never again see
stinks and I get it. But I really don't think
he is as bad as what we have seen this year.
I want to highlight Bryce Terrang though, because Bryce Terrang
may be the most disrespected player in fans he baseball

(20:00):
this year, even in this draft. The other night, he
went at the end of the ninth round, which is
a absolute steal. It's a gorgeous price to get on
a guy like Bryce Terrang. Yesterday he had his fourteenth
home run of the season, and I think it's worth
running over his stat line as a whole because this
might surprise you. He is the number one second baseman
by pretty much every single player raider you're looking at
for the year. I don't think any single person called that,

(20:22):
but he has fourteen home runs, twenty one stolen bases,
seventy seven runs, sixty four ribies in a two to
eighty six batting average. This is a legit ballplayer. This
is a very very legit ballplayer. He's made gains in
terms of his barrel rates this year. He was always
a kind of a slappy hitter. Right two percent barrel rate,
twenty nine percent hard hit rate, Okay, whatever, He's up
to a seven point six percent barel rate with a

(20:43):
forty six percent hard hit rate. This is a solid,
solid hitter. When you also look at the contact skills
that he has eighty six percent zone contact. He doesn't chase,
he doesn't swing and miss. He's in a great lineup.
Milwaukee has been the best offense, or arguably the best
offense as a hole this year. I don't know why
Bryce Terrang gets disrespected. I think Bryce Terrang should be
somebody that is probably a fourth or a fifth rounder

(21:05):
next year in fifteen teamers. But I really don't expect
him to get up that high because people just for
some reason always tend to overrate him or underrate him.
I should say Cecar Snell most overrated. I mean, Blake
Snell has two cy Young Awards. I don't know if
he's overrated necessarily in terms of this question, I guess
it would have to be Dylan Ceas. But I don't
know if I agree that Blake Snell is overrated exactly. Yeah,

(21:25):
he's He's won cy Young in both leagues. Now. The
problem with him has always been staying on the field.
I believe Blake Snell has two seasons of one hundred
and eighty innings in his career, and they were both
cy Young seasons. So I don't think he's overrated. I
think that's a little bit extreme. In the playoff, drop
Westbroog for Terrang or Colt Keith. I cannot believe Bryce
Terrang is available. That is crazy. But pick up Bryce Terrang,

(21:48):
I Westburg. You know, at this point for this year,
I don't know that we're gonna get a ton more
from him. Bryce Terrang that is a gold mine. The
number one second basement is available. You should thank your
lucky stars and go and pick him up. Lenin sosaar Westburg.
I would have to go with Sosa at this point.
I just don't really trust Westburg with these injuries and
over the last couple of weeks of the season, with
the Orioles again not really playing for a ton. To

(22:12):
put it kindly, they're not going anywhere this year. I
don't know if they're gonna rush him back just to
have another injury for a guy who's had so many injuries.
I just I don't think that it makes a ton
of sense. O'Neil Cruz or Jerks and profar Rest of
season Man. A few weeks ago, I would have told
you you were crazy for asking this. At this point,
I don't really have a huge problem going with Profar,
but I feel like Cruise is the type of guy

(22:32):
the second you drop him, the second you bench him.
That's a weekend where he's hitting three home runs and
stealing four bases. So you know, my gut tells me
that it's still O'Neil Cruz. But I don't have a
huge problem going with Profar at this point, just considering
what I mean, Profar has been unbelievable. I met you
want to talk about an l that we took Welsh
and I big l on Jerkson Profar a couple of
weeks ago, saying like especially me saying like this guy, okay,

(22:55):
PD suspension, I don't know if there's gonna be much
bad lineup whatever. And he's like the number one fan
player for the last couple of weeks, So pretty funny
stuff there, weekly lineup league? How concern would you be
starting to Grom movie forward losing a start and from
Strider this week? I know in a weekly fifteen team lineup,
I put Spencer Strider in and I benched taesus Lozardo
in a team in the league that I actually have

(23:17):
a good chance at winning, a team that I'm in
second place, No Buno, But how concerned are we about
Jacob B. G Grom. I'm a little bit concerned. My
main point here of concern is why are they doing
this now? Like why is this the time of year
when you thought you'd give him a break. If you're
gonna do this, do it in the middle of the year.
It's not like we need to rest up for playoff time.
I mean, unless something pretty remarkable happens. The Rangers are

(23:39):
not going to the postseason, so they're resting him and
missing a couple starts out of the last six. It
just doesn't make a lot of sense. If you're gonna
do this, do it at the All Star break. Do
it in June or July, at the halfway point, so
you can give him time to actually rest and recuperate.
But as Chow says in the chat here, de gram
is set for a two star week next week, and
that is where I get pretty excited, because obviously I'm

(24:03):
gonna get excited. I love Jacob Bigrant, but two starts
Angels and athletics, Yeah, I'm starting him. I'm sorry, I
can't do it. I would never be able to bench
to Grohm. This year. You paid a fourth round price
or a third round price on him. He's been great.
I know this is a bit of a concern with
the shoulder, but it's not an il. They didn't put
him on the shelf. He's still healthy. This is just

(24:24):
simply a matter to try and preserve his health. So
I don't have any problem starting him. In fact, I
have a problem if you didn't start him at this point.
Randy Rodriguez Jose Ferrer. Rodriguez hasn't been getting a ton
of appearances just because the Giants have been dogwater, But
I think I'd still have to go his way. I
think it would still have to be Randy Rodriguez for me.
Farrera is okay, but Rodriguez, I think, is a better pitcher,

(24:46):
and I think that overall the rest of the season,
you're gonna prefer to have him, maybe because Strider was
set for two stars this week too. Strider is a
whole other animal, like with the struggles we've seen from him.
This is the worst three start stretch of his entire career,
and it's been like hilariously bad. Seven earned runs, eight
earned runs, five earned runs, even the strikeouts haven't been

(25:06):
there in the last two Stryder is a guy where
I have a lot more concern than I do with
de Gram At the moment, I think that you could
reasonably justify benching Strider, But I don't know, man, because
he's got a two star week himself, Like you mentioned
Miami in Philadelphia, I think it would really depend on
the other options. I think it would really depend on
who I've got as alternative starts for that week. I

(25:29):
think it would be hard to bench Strider, especially in
deeper formats, But I think it honestly would just come
down to who the other options you have are to
put in there. I trust to Groam far more. Yeah,
I think you gotta. I think you gotta. At this
point to Gram and Lee mentioned de Graham hasn't seen
this number of innings in three years, which is fair.
But my pushback on de Gram is that even though
he is thirty seven years old, his arm does not

(25:50):
have the wear and tear of a normal thirty seven
year old considering the number of innings he's thrown the
amount of time that he's missed. So I understand your point,
but I think the Gram is still going to get
probably four or five more starts of about five innings
in length, and we end up at the around one
hundred and seven innings, and we're all pretty pretty darn
happy with that. Let's talk about a couple of brief transactions.
The Red Sox are discussing moving Walker Pueler to the bullpen.

(26:12):
Please God, do it as soon as you can. This guy,
I don't even know why they've rolled him out as
long as they have. He's been awful. I'm hoping that
they get him out of there soon. Craig Kimberrell granted
his release by the Rangers, decided he'd liked the state
of Texas and immediately signed with the Astros, and Cal
Quantrell claimed off waivers by the Braves. You know, Kyle
Quantrill had some stretches this year where he was actually

(26:32):
a decent streamer. Not to say that he's somebody you
should have been targeting all the time, blah blah blah,
but I think he was a decent streamer at certain
points this year. With Atlanta for the final few weeks.
That's a nail in the coffin. Let's do a little
three up and three down. Hayesu Sanchez five for five
against the Ools. I was so excited for Hazu Sanchez
to get freed from Miami going to play in Houston,
and he was brutal. And he's been pretty awful since

(26:54):
the deadline. I think he went two weeks without a hit,
but good to see a five for five out of
him yesterday. Brenton Doyle two three with a home run
and four RBI and Chandler Simpson two for four with
a walk and three runs. No stolen bases from Chandler Simpson,
but we'll take that production anyway. On the downs, Justin
Verlanders seven earned runs on seven hits across four and
a third against the Padres. Just retire already. I'm tired

(27:15):
of watching Justin Verlander just destroy his career numbers ever
so slightly by start. Just just hang him up. Go
sit on the porch with Kate Upton in a glass
of lemonade. Mackenzie Gore just lasted four and a third
yesterday against the Mets, striking out five, but allowed three
earned runs, four walks and six hits. This was not
a good one. And Joe Boyle allowed five earn runs
on nine hits and three walks over just four innings.

(27:38):
You know, a friend of mine, Nate Schwartz, who works
at Pitcher Lists, said on Twitter yesterday, the idea of
Joe Boyle is a lot more appealing than the reality
of Joe Boyle, because this has been just awful. I
don't even understand at this point why we're bothering, you know,
I thought that there was going to be. When he
got called up, I was as excited as anybody. I
added him everywhere, started him everywhere, continued to recommend him

(27:59):
as a start. I'm done, I think at this point,
until he figures out how to pitch at the major
league level, I can't do it. The command is not there.
He's getting blown up, even when the command does seem
to be there at times, lots of homers. I just
I can't do it with Joe Boyle at this point,
with McLain looking like the real deal, I think the
Mets will also call up Sprout soon. The Mets are

(28:20):
in free fall mode right now, and I don't really
know how to predict what's going to happen with them.
I don't think that they are going to make any
other moves in the rotation, though. I think they're pretty
solidified as Manaiah, as brutal as he's looked, McLain, Holmes, Peterson,
and Senga. Now maybe as Clay Holmes' innings continue to
push up and he continues to look worse, maybe they say, Okay,
we're gonna tap out on Clay Holmes. He's going to

(28:42):
the pen. We're going to bring up sprout. I don't
expect it to happen. It is a small possibility. I'd
put it at, you know, a ten percent chance, maybe
ten or fifteen percent chance that he gets a call
up soon. Did maybe we see like one or two
starts at the end of the year, just so they
can get his feet wet with the major league pitching.
That's a possibility. I don't expect it to be in
time for it to make any kind of impact in fantasy.

(29:05):
When will we get to c tray? You savage? You
think we'll get the cee tray? You savage. I don't
think it's gonna happen. In the regular season. The Blue
Jays have been very very I don't even want to
say they've been very smart, because sometimes they've been very stupid.
But in this sense with promoting prospects, they don't tend
to rush guys up. You know, you see a lot
of teams, specifically the Angels come to mind, like a
guy get drafted three weeks later, he's in the show.

(29:26):
The Jays tend to be on the opposite end of
that spectrum. They will take their sweet time bringing a
guy up to the major leagues, and with a guy
like you Savage, who is looking like one of the
best pitching prospects in baseball right now forty two percent
strikeout rate, sub one whip three point thirty one ERA.
I think what Toronto is gonna do is they're gonna
take their time with him, and what will probably happen,

(29:48):
if I were to guess, would be that he comes
up as a reliever in the postseason and he is
a guy who works two or three innings for them
in October and probably is in a situation where he's
gonna help fantasy managers. But I do think that he
probably does help the Blue Jays in the playoffs. Next season,
he'll be a very very interesting target because the Blue
Jays rotation he's getting older and crappier. Jose Burrios, I

(30:10):
can't do it with this guy anymore. Don't think he
should be on the team next year. He will because
of the contract, but the performances have been awful. Kevin
Gosman is going to be thirty five, Max Schurz is
going to be forty two next year, and Chris Bassett
is going to be thirty seven, so they need an
infusion of some young blood. And I think Treya Savage
is going to do exactly that next season for the
Blue Jays. Let's talk about some injuries. We have been

(30:31):
off for a couple of days. We haven't mentioned this,
but Kyle Tucker and the Gong Show in Chicago. He's
been playing through a hairline fracture in his wrist since June,
but the injury is apparently healed now. I don't know
if I buy that, considering that he has been awful
for a couple of months and the fact that they
had to sit him for three consecutive games before this
news came out. Not sure I'm really all that interested
in Kyle Tucker right now. You're not dropping him or anything,

(30:53):
but man, this has been really frustrating two years now.
It's not just this year for Kyle Tucker, because last
year he missed like three and a half months because
the Astros reporting was just never accurate on his injuries.
We've seen the same thing with Jordan Alvarez this year.
But my god, like, I don't even know what to
do with this guy. Two years in a row where
we can't get a straight answer about what's actually wrong
with him. Very frustrating for our potential first round player

(31:17):
Choheo Tani's expected return to the lineup on Friday after
taking a comeback or to his thigh during Wednesday's start,
and he also missed Thursday. I alluded to this earlier,
but Austin Riley underwent season ending core muscle surgery. The
expectation is that he'll be ready to go for spring training.
Marcus Simon was removed early after fouling a ball off
his left foot. No bueno and really no bueno. Yandy

(31:37):
Diaz had to leave Thursday's game due to hamstring sore
and is after hitting a home run. Yandy Diaz has
been one of my favorite players to watch this season.
I was really in on him in draft year. On
draft season, picked him a bunch as my first basement
slast corner infielder. I really need him for the last
couple weeks though, so let's hope he is all right.
Joey Ortiz had to leave early on Thursday due to
a left hamstring injury. Tanner Scott is expected to be

(31:58):
activated from the IL on Friday, and I would assume
that he is a candidate again for saves there in
Chavez Ravine. Now here's the news that I saw somebody
mentioned it in the chat. We talked about Samuel Bisseio
in his contract, so let's do that right now in
conjunction with Adley Rutchman. Rutchman is going on the io
with a mild oblique strain. The Oriols have said the
Bazaio will be there every day catcher, and that coincides,

(32:21):
excuse me, with Samuel Bissio signing a contract extension. As reported.
I believe Jeff Passen was first on it, as he
usually is. But Samuel Bissio is signing a eight year,
sixty seven million dollar contract extension with the Orioles, and
with incentives, I believe it could go up to eighty
eight point five million dollars, the largest ever pre arbitration

(32:41):
contract extension for a catcher. They saw three four games
and they figured, okay, we've seen all we need to see.
He's the guy in the future. What does this mean
for Adley Rutchman For this year? Adley Rutchman is probably
a drop there. This is the year of the catcher.
We've had so many great catchers come out of nowhere,
from Hunter Goodman at the top all the way to
the Dylan Ding of the world and Alejandro Kirk having

(33:01):
another great season. I shouldn't say another could, It's been
a couple of rough seasons, but Augustine Ramirez, ben Rice Drake, Baldwin,
Yvon Herrera. Your waiver wires probably flushed with catchers. You
don't need to hold on to Adley for this season.
I think he's a good buyback for next year. For
right now, I don't think that there's much for Adley
now with Pasio. This is something that's potentially very interesting

(33:22):
because as much as I have been down on the
Oriols this year, they have dealt with a ton of injuries.
It's not even really a fair judgment on their offense
to look at like metrics for the year as a whole,
because they've they've missed a lot of guys, and I
think that we need to factor that in here. But
at the same time, this is a team that looking forward,
it's going to be very good. Holiday Henderson, Westburg, Rutschman,

(33:45):
some of the outfield prospects like they are still going
to be a very very solid team that you have
to think presumably will add pieces over the next couple
of years as they continue to get better. Now I
thought they would have done that this year, adding some
starting pitching, but they haven't done that. They added no
starting pitching, which really really hurt them. Dylan Beaver's also
mentioned the chat as well. This is a good up
and coming offense. Samuel Bissio is potentially a very very

(34:07):
interesting pick for next year, and in this draft he
went in the eleventh round. He went, I picked one
fifty four overall, and I think I can get behind that.
I believe he was the thirteenth catcher off the board
in that early room. That seems like a relatively reasonable
price to pay for me. I'm not super interested in
adding Basio right now for twelve team leagues, just because,
like I mentioned, there are so many catchers. There have

(34:29):
been so many breakout, slash elite catchers this year that
you don't really need to take a chance on a
rookie hitting his stride over six weeks. But I think
if you're projecting for next year, Bissio with what he's
done in terms of the power metrics now, I don't
know if he's a first base r actually me, I
don't know if he's a catcher. I think he's probably
a first baseman, but he is somebody that I think
I'm gonna be very very interested in next season, and

(34:50):
based on the fact that he is playing catcher right now,
which had been up in the air, he will have
that eligibility heading into next season. Do you think we
pray hard enough? I Von Herrero will make the sixth
starts he needs for catcher eligibility next season. So this
one is where it comes down to the format and
the site you play on, because there are some sites
where von Herrera will already have locked in catcher eligibility

(35:11):
at fourteen. If you're playing on Yahoo, I believe ESPN,
and I'm not one hundred percent sure about CBS. If
you're playing on the NFBC, which is where I play
a lot of fantasy, we need six more Yvon Herrera
starts for him to get that. Now, they've kind of
already shown their hand here and said he's not going
to get it. The last time Evon Herrera was behind
the dish was he's actually played left field more recently

(35:33):
than he's caught. Last time he caught was on June nineteenth,
So I mean, I would I would think it's a
very very low chance that he gets six more games
behind the dish unless something happens to Pedro Paiez, unless
there are just a bunch of injuries. It's not something
that I'm forecasting, not something that I would be projecting
to happen Beyo or Augustine Ramirez in twenty twenty six

(35:54):
or Besio, excuse me, not Bayo. I probably go Augustine Ramirez.
We've already seen a good sample side of him being
a productive five category catcher. He hits for average, he
steals bases. There's been multiple times this year where Augustine
Ramirez has stolen multiple bases in the game. You just
don't get that from the catcher position with good batting average.
I think Besio, you know this is a reasonable conversation

(36:15):
to have, But for me, I would be going with Augustine.
And Shay Leanngeliers has been just unbelievably good too. I'm
so impressed with the cutting down of the strikeouts. It's
a shame he had to miss time this year. It's
a shame that Shaye Leanngeliers got hurt because, man, he
had been unbelievable and even though he had missed some time,
I think he is still like the number four or

(36:36):
something catcher for the season. Is Vaughn cooling off? Yeah,
a little bit. It was inevitable, but Wels and I
talked about it on Monday. He has in the eighteen
games he had played in August at that point, hits
in like fifteen of them. So he's cooling off a
little bit, which was always going to happen. But it's
not like he's been bad or anything like. He's still
definitely somebody that I would be starting for the time being. Now,

(36:59):
is he gonna be somebody you're gonna be starting, like say,
the last week of the season. Is he still gonna
be worth it? Eh, We'll see. I think we kind
of have to see at that point how the trajectory
looks over the next couple of weeks. Jack Haglio and
still worth an il spot. He had a big rehab
game the other night. I forget the exact line, but
I believe he hit a home run, hit a couple
of hits, and he should be coming back in the
next week or so. From what I understand, that timeline

(37:21):
could be a little bit off based on the most
recent reporting. I haven't seen anything in the last couple hours,
but I believe he is still worth holding on to
Is he gonna be Nick Kurtz? Is he gonna do
what Nick Kurtz did? Probably not know, but this is
a legitimate hitter. He struggled at first, Absolutely no question
happens with rookies. But I think Jack Kaglion is still
definitely worth stashing if you are able to hold onto him.

(37:42):
Let's go to the best bets of the day. We're
going to talk with a couple of bets here, just
little old me. We do not have Bubba, but I
am going to be talking about three bets. Kay Cavali
over four and a half strikeouts. He just hit this
the other day, going up against the Phillies, and he's
facing them again, which does worry me a lit little bit.
But I've been pretty impressed with Kate Cavally as a whole.

(38:03):
Over four and a half total bases or excuse me,
over four and a half strikeouts, I think that that
is a fairly reasonable line to get, even though it
is the Phillies. I think that that's a solid number
to take, even at minus one zero four. Kate Cavally
over four and a half strikeouts. Katel Marte. This one
is courtesy of the Fantasy Pro's prop bet cheat sheet.
He is at plus money for total bases today against Cincinnati,

(38:26):
and I just couldn't pass that one up when I
saw it on the sheet, I jumped at it, to
be honest with you, plus money total basis Kattel Marte.
And then this one is also a courtesy of the
cheat sheet. The prop bet cheat sheet. Miles Michaels under
sixteen and a half outs. Miles Michaelis is one of
the worst pitchers in all of baseball. I don't think
that that's a hot take. Now he's facing Tampa and

(38:46):
Tampa has been very, very cold over the last month.
But this is in Tampa where they tend to have
a very good offensive output. So I'm taking Miles Michael's
under sixteen and a half outs today. That one should
be too too hard. But like I mentioned, go check
out the prop bet cheat sheet. There's a lot of
great stuff over there, and we've added some new markets
as well for you guys to be checking out. And
it makes me sad every time we see our good
friend Justin Steele on that screen. He got a tough

(39:08):
shake this year. But give yourself a good chance with
a prop bet cheat sheet. Makes some money over the
next couple of weeks and go to FanDuel and you
can use our code leading Off. It's Fantasypros dot Com
slash leading Off. You bet five bucks and win two
hundred and fifty if your first bet wins. So go
ahead and do that today. Do we have an update
at home run Board? We do have an update at

(39:28):
home run Board. Positive Grouch started to pull away at
fifty three at the top, Whips at fifty and second
place Bees at forty eight toied with George at forty
eight as well George eighty four with forty eight home
runs and the Fisher King with forty seven. He is
in fifth place right now. My home run call for
the day is actually Alex Bregman. It's not somebody that

(39:50):
I think I have called or we have called a
ton on the show this year, but he is in
New York and I didn't talk about him a little
bit earlier Max Freed. It's been a little bit shaky
for him versus righty, I am going to take Alex
Bregman there. Let's get a couple of more questions in
before we send you guys off of the weekend. Carson
Williams is going to contribute for fantasy. The reason Carson
Williams is a top prospect is because he has an

(40:11):
elite glove. Carson Williams is going to be a guy
who wins multiple gold Gloves at shortstop. I don't really
have any doubt about that. He has a massive strikeout rate,
really low batting average even in the minors. His WRC
plus was below league average. Decent little power speed mix,
but I think he is a deeper league target at
best right now. Not somebody that I would really be

(40:32):
super super interested in. Good places for Westburgh Lee Keith McNeil, Renhifo, Baty,
might go with Brooksley or no, you know, I think
I'm going cold Keith there. I think cold Keith would
be my option at Brooksley is not too bad either.
Do you expect Vladdie back today? I haven't seen a update,

(40:53):
And before we actually went on today, I was looking
for an update on this because I was thinking, Okay,
we've got to have something, we gotta have a lineup
or something. I haven't seen anything on Vladdie, so I
don't know if I expect him back today. This is
one like if you have a weekend lineup. There are
some sites where you set a Friday through Sunday lineup.
I would really really be checking back in like ten

(41:14):
minutes before game time, just making one hundred percent sure
Flattie's in there before you put him in. Tylan Walker's
on the wire. I know this sounds crazy, but cut
Eury Perez in the Quality Start League. I couldn't do it.
I don't trust Tywan Walker. I just the data is
not good. It's never been good for him. He's on
a good run right now, so I understand the temptation.
But Ury Perez, you know, he's just so elites and

(41:36):
I know it's been a couple of bad starts. I
totally get it, young guy off a surgery, bad starts,
bad team. I'd still have to go with Euriy Perez,
as much as that might feel like the wrong decision,
That's the way I'm going to go with it. Kyle
Teel or Alejandro Kirk twelve team Cats. It's a good question.
I think I'm probably going Kirk just because he's in
a much better lineup now. Toronto has cooled off themselves recently.

(41:59):
But I think it has to be Alejandro Kirk here.
Not that I have a huge issue going either way,
but I think I am going with Alejandro Kirk. Let's
see if there's a couple of more we can get
at here before I send you guys on your way.
But I think, actually, you know what, I might have
gotten to every single one of them. So you guys
have about thirty seconds if you got any more questions here.

(42:21):
But I really appreciate you guys hanging out. I know
this is a completely different show than we have done
on this pod in a very long time. I don't
even know we've done a solo pod going back to
like the Brandon Tuma days. But there's a lot of
fun guys. I appreciate you guys hanging out. Make sure
you are subscribing to the podcast, whether it's on the
podcast feed on YouTube, subscribing on Twitch, getting rid of
those nasty ads. You guys can help us out a

(42:43):
lot by doing all those things. Subscribe to all the places.
Why not? And I didn't mention this earlier. I'm a
bad host, But go and leave a comment on the
video and you can get yourself a signed Billy Wagner jersey.
We are still giving that away until the end of
the month. All you gotta do is subscribe to our
YouTube channel, Fantasy Pros MLB, comment on this video or
any other, and that's it. You will be entered for

(43:03):
a chance to win this signed Hall of Famer Billy
Wagner jersey. Now, you played mostly for Houston, this jersey
is with the Mets, but I'd argue this one is
an even nicer jersey that you guys can win. So
that will do it for me and for us for today.
Monday is gonna be a little bit different. As I
mentioned earlier this week, I got tickets to the Oasis
concert reunion on Sunday night. I took the day off

(43:24):
work on Monday because who knows what's going to happen
that night. I'm sure it'll be a late one, so
Bubba hopefully we'll have his Internet figured out by then.
I'm sure he will. We'll be here with our good
friend Chris Welsh, so this should be a lot of fun.
I think it'll be the only show those two guys
do together all season long. So make sure you guys
are tuning in, subscribing to the channel, and we will

(43:44):
see you again next time right here on the Fantasy
Pros Baseball Podcast. Take care everybody.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.
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Fantasy Baseball Advice | MLB Risers & Fallers, Rookie Rundown & Injury Updates (Ep. 1120)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Fantasy Baseball Advice | MLB Risers & Fallers, Rookie Rundown & Injury Updates (Ep. 1120)