2nd Half

On this episode of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Grey Albright and B_Don flip the script and dive into the players who’ve stumbled through the second half of the season. After weeks of covering late-season breakouts, it’s time to talk about the guys who’ve let fantasy managers down when it matters most and whether their struggles should impact your outlook heading into 2026.

The show kicks off with a look at the latest wave of prospect call-ups, including Harry Ford, Sal Stewart, Jonah Tong, Carter Jensen, and Payton Tolle. From big strikeout arms to power-speed bats, we break down who’s worth watching and who might be more hype than help for this season.

From there, they turn their attention to some big names slipping late in the year. Kyle Tucker’s numbers have taken a hit amid an ongoing finger issue. James Wood has massively fallen off, but can he adapt back? Seiya Suzuki, Jeremy Peña, and Lawrence Butler have all fallen off the map offensively, leaving managers wondering if they’re due for rebounds or regression. And what do we even make of Oneil Cruz at this point? Even top pick Elly De La Cruz hasn’t been immune to the slump.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You like fantasy ball sans chasm that I shall not
me hear myself stun spans and they can't even count
some of you uniforcasom surround. It ain't even better the health, well,
ye have several charges on everyone something else And I'm
already I'm.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Like to hear my baby sounds just.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Like your name was Mark. And it's a rhyde By podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's a rapp podcast. It's a rapp podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
It's a ride by podcast. It's a rap up.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Podcast, a wrap up podcast. Got a turn doh rap
bo podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Hey, everybody, welcome back. It is the Raspball Fantasy Baseball Podcast.
I am beat On, joined by the Fantasy Master Lethario himself. Great,
all right, how's it going over there? Great?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
What's up beat on? How's it going?

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I uh, I just wanted to inform you, uh, you're
not gonna get the You're not getting the call up
this year to the the big league squad.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
We're rosters are expanding, but unfortunately we're gonna have to
uh leave you in the minors for a little bit
more fine tuning on your audio visual skill. Sorry, I'm
sorry if you do I know you were expecting the
call up. It's uh, it's unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
That's actually that gives me a good idea.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
You know how the social media they teams on social media,
they put out these videos of the players getting called up.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
They should have videos of players not getting called up.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
I'd like to see that, like, yeah, hey, uh, thanks
Justin Crawford, thanks for coming in. Yeah, here's a here's
a camera setup. So you you're you're anticipating something, aren't you. Yeah,
see yeah here here just uh, just I'll have the
camera right on my shoulder and you could you look

(02:29):
at me. Don't look at the camera, but just so
you know, the camera's right here because we're gonna put
this out the social media.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Okay, anyway, thanks for coming into the office. Unfortunately we're
not calling you up.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
What sorry, man, Sorry, it was a good Uh you
had a good run this year in the minor leagues,
mister Crawford.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Justin Crawford. It's like he's so overdue.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
So my big thing remember uh, way back and like
twenty nineteen when the rosters used to expand to forty
that was so awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
That was awesome and terrible at the exact stime Oh good.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
It was so good. Oh my god. That was like,
like I'm not like, I'm not mister.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Let's do throwbacks. Okay, I'm I'm I'm I'm a progressive
guy here. I like the pitch clock, I like the
shorter games. I don't need to see pitchers hitting. But
the rosters expanding in September, Oh man, you have like
you have like forty guys in the dugout, like overflowing.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
There are a few of the guys that have to sit.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
In like the first row behind the dugout because there'll
be no room. It was so awesome. Unfortunately that no
longer happens. It's, uh, what does it expand like two
players or something?

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh yeah, we go from twenty six to twenty eight players.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah exactly. It's like it's like you get a.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Cannesota and then a two ounce shot behind it, and
you used to get like a forty a forty ounce
fosters can. The thing with the the call ups too,
that I really kind of don't understand. Like I get
that you want arms to like, you know, use, but

(04:23):
these for the teams that are at least for the
teams that are going to the playoffs. You would think
they'd want to call up their best players in order
to possibly have them at their disposal in the playoffs,
but instead.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
You get like Ryan Yarbro. Who else you get?

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Like you get the most random, like oh, like Garrett
Stubbs for the Phillies, Like what what is that?

Speaker 2 (04:52):
What's that doing you? Like, why wouldn't you call up
Justin Crawford just for nothing else?

Speaker 3 (04:57):
To have, like as a pinch runner, because like he
could steal a couple of bags in the playoffs if
you need it, Like if you have like I don't.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Know, Kepler's on second and you need a pinch runner.
I mean it's just like I I.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Don't understand some team decisions sometimes, man, I just I
really don't like it just doesn't make sense why you
wouldn't call up the best of the best that you
have at your disposable, because like.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Why wouldn't you like those those guys you have them.
It's not like you're.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Expiring service time or something like you know they're gonna
be up next year.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I don't know, I don't I don't get it, really,
But anyway, that's sort of my thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, I mean I don't really have a whole lot there,
except that all you need is one person to go
to the IL and then you can swap in whoever
you want for the playoff roster. So you know, there's
there's ways around it. I'm sure there's there's phantom I
l's or just just way to finagle the roster. I
think if you cut somebody from the Act of twenty

(06:04):
six that you had, you can add one of those
last two people or somebody else. So always a way
around it.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, that's I mean, that's fair.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
It's also though, like what do you really need Garrett Stumps?
Do you really needy? Do you need buying yard bro?

Speaker 1 (06:22):
I mean, I completely understand, just I feel like they're
very specific players, so maybe they're just needing a little
bit of defense and speed. And then you know Ryan
Yarbros swing man, he can do a little bit of everything.
So it's just I guess I'm just trying to make
a case here. Great, I don't know that I actually

(06:45):
believe my case. But also on the arms side, a
lot of pitchers, especially young ones, are starting to hit
their innings limits, so it becomes a thing of like,
well if we call them up or we calling them
up just to sit around and watch people pitch versus
you know, Ryan Rbro, who cares if you toss in
for however many innings you need if you're just if

(07:07):
you just need somebody to throw innings?

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah, no, I get it, but it's like you want
to have the fun of having Spencer Jones get called
up or do you want Ryan Yarbro was like so boring.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
I mean, oh my god, and no, I mean I hear.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
You, like, if one guy goes on the I l
then you could, you know, grab a different guy. Sure,
there's ways around it. I I totally hear you. But
it's just I don't I don't understand.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I don't know, man, I just I I'm with you,
I understand.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Just like it's like, oh, the doctors signed Andrew heany like,
so to save Enrique Hernandez's arm for like blowouts, like
what are we doing here?

Speaker 1 (07:55):
But yeah, anyway, yep, Cubs brought in bout Carlo Santana
and back down Owen casey Uh. That's a that's a
fun one to just mull over in my head as.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
At about everything that's actually brings up another one, which
is just incredible. The Angels brought up Scott Kingery and
sent down Christian Moore.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
What what, dude? I mean?

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Think about that so seriously, you know, think about how
disorganized this organization is.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
If you have a guy.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
Christian Moore who's a future, who's your future, he's an
actual prospect, you bring him up.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
He struggles for sure, but when rosters expand, you send
him down basically being like, hey man, you failed, goodbye, goodbye,
and then.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
You send them down in September in the minor league,
seasons are ending, so it's like you're sending me down
to where man.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
As they're eight and a half back from the wild card.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
As they're out of every race. It's like, why are
you sending me now?

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Oh man?

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Uh yeah, that's yea.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
I do remember from the old, the old forty man
roster days that I was firm believer that at least
head to head league should end in August because it
just becomes this crazy thing in head to head leagues
where you can't really figure anything out, especially in like
a weekly head to head league. It's just impossible to

(09:37):
figure out rosters day to day. And that was just
it just didn't feel like you were playing the same
season that you had played all the way up until
September and it switched over. But you know it was
great for pitching gray if you were behind in pitching categories,
you could throw whoever you wanted out and it didn't
matter because it was basically triple A teams sent out

(10:00):
for anybody who was out of the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah no, I yeah, no, I hear you. I I
also I feel like I feel like to a certain extent,
it's still like that with.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
When it comes to pitching. Like I I always like
I like the stream in September because you have a
really you have the best idea you're gonna have as
to which teams are actually good and competing, and you
also have a good idea of like which players, which
pitchers are uh you know, pitching well, and like you

(10:32):
have all the information you're possibly gonna have from the season. Uh,
and you know, matchups are really pretty clear. With that said,
I would have started Charlie Morton today on Monday, and
he just got rocked, so.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
You know, and that is the Charlie Morton special. I
mean it is, Uh, he'll go, he'll go three straight
quality starts and then just bomb you and just leave
you wondering what happened then? What seems like a positive matchup.
But let's talk about some of the call ups that
have gotten the September call up. Gray harry Ford was

(11:10):
brought up by the Mariners and Triple A this year.
He has sixteen or nine seven stone bases. He hit
two eighty three nineteen point two percent strike out rate,
sixteen point two percent walk rate, number forty two one.
It is Prospect rankings. What do you think about the
harry Ford call up in Seattle? Do you think he's
playing or is this just a situation where he's sitting

(11:33):
behind like four catchers.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
On the.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Harry Ford sounds like a seventies pimped out car with
like a shag rug.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
For a seat covers. My here's my harry Ford, the
dogmobile from Dumb and Dumber. Yeah, welcome to my harry Ford, ladies.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, I mean he looks great, right, so power speed,
As you mentioned, he also even hit for a decent
average in the minor leagues this year, which I don't
know if that's necessarily going to be his thing, but
he did. He did hit for good power and stole
some bags. And I mean the fact that he had
thirty five steals in double A. I mean that's last year.

(12:23):
That's insane for a catcher. I mean, we haven't seen
something like that since one Jason Kendall, Tony Paana, Benito Santiago.
It's been a while since we've seen someone with this
kind of speed. I think as a catcher, the big
issue is obviously where's he play?

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Like is uh, you know, maybe next year.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
They go with a combo of cal Rawley at DH
and harry Ford, which is a harry Ford's a tough
name to say with a straight face. They maybe they
go with a combo of like cal Rawley Harry Ford's
a DH catcher combo where you know, three days, one

(13:09):
guy's at DH, three gate, three days, one guys at
catcher and they they swap.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Maybe they do that next year, but for this year,
they're I think all their spots are spoken for.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Like if they go into the season with a DH
spot open for one of them, then fine. But right now,
like Jorge Blanco has been dhing for them, he's been solid.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
There's no reason to move him out of there.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
I think this is a case where Ford is getting
a call up as like a pat in the back
and maybe you get like, I don't know, fifty at
bats this month or something like, he's not. I don't
think he's gonna get anywhere close to full time playing time.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
So I I like, I like him in the like
a dynasty or.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
A keeper something like big picture wise, but I don't
think he's gonna be relevant for most mixed leagues this year,
at least shallower than fifteen team Maybe in a fifteen
team two catcher league, you take a flyer on him
and you're like, you know, if you're struggling a catcher

(14:18):
and you take a flyer on him and you just
set him and forget him and see what happens if
you're in a fifteen team mix league or deeper.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
I could see that for a two catcher, but for
one catcher leagues, I just don't see it.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, I would agree. Maybe in a daily league where
you're strictly chasing stolen bases just because there's so few
catchers you can get stolen bases from, I could maybe
see that if that once particular scenario. But yeah, I
don't really see where Harry Ford unfortunately, because like I said,

(14:53):
I think we both like him, and it is a
catcher eligible, power speed guy. That's pretty rare and and
it's just, uh, I don't think there's enough playing time
at this point for it to matter. Good pool on
the Jason Kendall, I think he's the most stolen bases
by a catcher since the nineties. Pud would be on
that list, and Craig Bigio, who I forgot started as

(15:16):
a catcher. So some fun names on that list. Let's
move over to Cincinnati, where they have called up Sal
Stewart across Double A and Triple A. Eighty games in
Double A, thirty eight games in Triple A. He had
twenty home runs, seventeen stone bases. He had three or nine,
three eighty three five twenty four. He had a fifteen
point six percent strikeout rate in a nine three point

(15:38):
three percent walk rate. That ballpark's always interesting. Do you
think he's going to get the playing time to make
it interesting?

Speaker 2 (15:48):
I want to say maybe possibly.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
I you know, I I actually i'd been on him
in only my tout Wars league. I've been on him
and I won him for seventy two dollars out of
a thousand. Obviously we don't have a thousand anymore.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
But anyway, I did win him, and because I lost
Alec Burlison.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Anyway, I was pretty excited about getting him because I
do think there might be some playing time there. I
think it's I think he's more interesting to me than Ford, and.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Actually more interesting to me than any of the guys
that we're gonna go over today.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
He's the most interesting because I feel like the Reds
are kind of they feel like they're kind of moving
away from Spencer Steer, and like even today South Stewart
started in front of Steer.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
He came out. I believe Stewart came out later in
the game. He was replaced.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
But I think the playing time might be there in
the at least it's worth giving a shot because, like
you already mentioned, like well was Spear going back to
Steer excuse me Steer for a second, Like he's really struggled.
I mean, he's been like so boring. Nothing's really popping

(17:11):
for him this year. And Stewart, as you mentioned, like
he has solid speed, he's got solid power, He's in
a great park. He's had really fantastic contact fifteen point
six strikeout percentage in the minor leagues this year, hitting
three ZHO nine with not that absurd of a bab

(17:32):
but at three thirty five, he's probably closer to like
a two fifty five to sixty hitter, but still the
power and speed are there. I kind of like south Stewart.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
I think there might actually be at bats there for him.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
They also have like not only Steer, but they have Hayes, who's,
you know, very injury prone, Matt McClain who's shows he's
struggled so much.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Cabrian Hayes, who has been good for the Reds. But
again it's Cabrian Hayes. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
I mean, he's playing good defense, so Hayes probably stays there.
Gavin Lux is not like someone they have to play.
He's at DH, so they have a lot of spots
where Stewart can end up getting some at bats.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
I'm I'm interested. I'm kind of like.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
I feel like probably fifteen team Mix League or deeper
still for right now, but I'm kind of watching to
see if maybe he gets on like twelve team Mix
League radars, because I think there could be some serious
talent here.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, I think I think you're right. That is probably
the most interesting guy that we'll talk about in regards
to shallow league pickups, you know, like you said, power speed,
and there's opportunity here for him to play. It seems
like there's kind of a curse of corner infielders there
in Cincinnati. They just can't really lock anybody down. Who

(19:01):
we get, We get little glimpses of people and then
they're they're just terrible gray. So maybe eventually we can
get the right mixture of people into this lineup to
not be completely boring. As you mentioned, Spencer Steer, he could.
He could be on our section later where we're going
to talk about some of the bad, bad second half.
Spencer Steers definitely on that list. Even though his first

(19:24):
half was pretty boring, it the second half has been
it's been bad.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, the curse of Heimer Condelaria, Uh, Joey Vado, his
ghost still wants to be at first base, that is anymore.
Let's go over to New York where the Mets called
up joanah Toong uh double A triple a mostly double,
A one hundred and thirteen and two thirds innings one

(19:49):
four to three e or a nine to two whip
is a forty and a half percent strikeout rate and
a ten point six percent walk rate ninety five mile
hour fastball curve change. I mean, the numbers are ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Gray, is this somebody that you would look at grabbing
for you know, an occasional start here there?

Speaker 3 (20:10):
You know, it's actually it's kind of funny if anyone
has seen him, how much how identical he looks at
Tim linselkom Right, you've seen the comparisons. Yes, I'm sure,
I'm sure most people have. You know. What's kind of
interesting though with that is like the guy with possibly
the worst mechanics who is going to lead to injury.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Let me let me replicate that. Let me let me
look for the guy who has the worst possible mechanics
of all possible pictures.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah, I hope, I hope Jonah knows what he's doing,
because I don't know, I don't know if those mechanics
are really meant for the long haul.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
But for now, Hey, he looks great. I mean, he
he looked.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
He looked as good as any starter that's been called up.
I believe this year. Maybe you know Bubba Bubba's looked great,
uh in mineral belief, Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
There's been a few, but yeah, Tong's looked incredible. I
watched his whole start. I was impressed. I I think
there's something to the fact.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
That, like the Mets have already been like, you know,
they said they went to a six man rotation, right,
so they're so they're in a six man now, and
they seem to keep uh saying like what they're gonna
like each week.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
It feels like there's updates on that, which leads me
to believe at some.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Point they're gonna drop tong or Nolan MacLean out of
the rotation.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
It's not or or one or one or the other
or both or you know something.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
At some point, I believe Uh, Jonah Tongue at least,
who we're talking about right now, is gotta he's got
to get shut down at some point. There's just so
many innings he can possibly throw, Like he might have
another five innings start in him, maybe two more five
innings starts, But I can't believe they're gonna throw him

(22:11):
for much more than maybe fifteen innings at the most.
Maybe so maybe three more starts of five innings each maybe,
but it's gonna be so it's gonna be real limited
on like what you're gonna get out of him. You
might get a few k's, you're not probably gonna get
a chance for too many wins you could.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
I mean, he looks good. I don't mind streaming him.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
But I think this is more of like you're getting
a little taste of what potentially he could do next year,
which is he's there's a few guys that are gonna
be really exciting about for drafts next year.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Jonah tom is definitely gonna be a guy I.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Want to be surprised if he's pretty high up, because
like he looks like a guy who you're gonna want
to get in on early in his career. If the
Linsingcom comparisons remain, you know, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
I mean we talked about some of the names last week.
I mean you mentioned Bubba Chandler, Logan Henderson, Jacob is Rosky,
Dolan McLain already, uh, Chase Burns, Ronnie and Riquez. There's
been so many great young pitchers. Kate Horton has been
great as well. So yeah, next year is gonna be
a fun draft with all these young arms that have
looked you know, they've performed amazingly while they've been up.

(23:33):
And I will say, when we're talking about the rest
of the season. Here, the six man rotation matters because
we are probably going to miss a start even if
they stick with it. But we're really only looking at
like three to five starts from anybody this point, So
I don't really mind grabbing somebody who looks as dobins
as as Tong did in his first start and running

(23:55):
him out if you're going, you know, if you think
that that's what you're looking for is to gamble, and
you know it's a rookie pitcher, there's always a little
gamble in that. He's not the picture of control, but
he has very nice upside as we've seen.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
Also like the uh speaking of like last speaking of
like next year, with like Young Pictures and the list
you mentioned, those guys like you want to get in
on Young Pictures like before they've thrown a lot of innings,
so it's like it's almost you know, it's like you
want to you want to jump, you want to be

(24:32):
in before. You'd prefer it's better to be in before
than after, you know, because it's like once once it's after,
you're either you're overpaying for, like you know you're gonna
overpay for like Cole Reagan's for instance, it was better
to be in in twenty twenty four than it was
to be in twenty twenty five. You know, Like it's
like you want to be in for the first year

(24:54):
a guy's throwing one hundred and fifty plus innings instead
of being in in the second year.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
He's got to do it.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, absolutely, And I think that even extends to the
hitters that we've seen, you know, in this in this
newer era, Like I feel like you want to get
them very early in their career, especially for our game
where we're looking at power and speed, you get the
most steals earlier in their career. You want the Bobby
Wit you know, thirty forty nine or thirty thirty three,

(25:22):
thirty two seasons, Like you've got to get those while
these guys are young, because you never know what happens,
especially speedstairs. You never can predict what happens there. And
power hitters, once they lose a little bit of bat
speed can be real bad too, so kind of swings
both ways, although power hitters do tend to age a
little bit more gracefully and can can even develop obviously

(25:45):
because there it's hits hit tool that they need in
an understanding, but yes, absolutely, I like Jonah Thong. Next
year is gonna be fun. Let's talk about Carter Jansen,
who was called up by the Royals Double A and
Triple A this year. He had twenty home runs ten stones.
He hit two ninety three seventy seven five on one,
just under a twenty five percent strikeout rate, just over

(26:06):
a twelve percent walk rate. What do you think about
Carter Jansen.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Gray, Yeah, I mean I sort of have the very
similar feelings to him as I did with Harry Ford.
I think they you know, sal Perez plays every day
he can go to move the DH.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Even though they brought up.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
They also well, I think he was actually activated from
the IAU cagleone, so Jack cagleone got activated, so he's
kind of in the DH, which we call potential DH
role as well. But sal Perez really catches every day
or close to it, so I you know, again it's like,

(26:49):
how much can Carter Jensen really play? I mean, his
numbers look great. I think sal Ford's numbers look better
to me than Jensen. And even though Seattle is not
a great part for hitting, but Kaufman I think is
even worse.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Kaufman's really terrible. So I yeah, so I don't. I
don't like he's not gonna be Jensen, that is, it's
not gonna be helped by the park. He's not helped
with playing time because of Perez.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
So I mean again, I feel like this is kind
of like they called him up as a pat in
the back and be like, hey, good job. Like you know,
hopefully you're you're primed and ready to go for spring
training next year where you have a real opportunity to
win a job. But right now, I just I don't
see the at bats there for him.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah I would, I would agree, I don't. I don't
know that he's necessarily getting a whole lot of the bats.
I mean, if he starts just absolutely on fire, maybe
they just fit him in. But again, when you call it,
when they call it a catcher too, that means they're
carrying at least three catchers, usually because they obviously have
two on an active roster or most active rosters. So

(28:02):
it's really hard to get a useful fantasy catcher in
that scenario. Maybe Luke Bailey doesn't need to play at
all and Carter Jansen can play regularly, but we'll wait
and see that. You know if he gets a chance.
I do like Carter Chancy, he has always had pretty
good average, he's controlled the strike strikeouts for the most part,

(28:27):
and he takes a walk. So there's a little bit
of everything there with Carter Jansen if he gets the opportunity.
But I don't see it coming this year either. Peyton
Toll was called up by Boston. He's gone across three
levels this year, grade ninety one and two thirds innings
three or four year A nine to nine with thirty
six and a half percent strike out rate, six point

(28:49):
three percent walk rate. He's got a ninety six plus
nine hour fastball cutter, and then he throws a bunch
of kind of random other stuff on occasion. What's your
thoughts on Peyton Toll. So I.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Don't actually have his excuse me, I don't have his
college numbers in front of me, so I don't know
how many innings he threw in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
But it looks like he looks like he has enough
innings to go to the end of the year.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
At least, where you know, like I was saying with Tongue,
I would throttle tongue down a little bit where Tola
looks like he can go to the end of September.
I mean, he's still a young arm so maybe not.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
I you know, I was.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
I was.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
I also watched Toley's start too, at least I was
flipping back and forth between Totally and tong Anyway, you know,
he looked excellent as well. He looks like he's he
kind of looked like a you know, well, first of all,
he looked like he was from the seventies. I mean,
he looked like he was from like nineteen seventy eight,
and he had like the shaggy hair and mustache to

(29:58):
prove it used to be there. Tola used to have
that mustache. Koug's got to me, man, don't don't get married. Yeah,
you know, I like I like Tolay a lot. He
looks like a guy who like could have I kind
of like Tolay more than Tongue big picture as in

(30:19):
like Keeper Leagues and Dynasty, because Totlay looks like I mean,
just looks alone. He looks like Totally looks like he
could throw two hundred innings in like twelve straight seasons.
Like that's you know, obviously, I mean, who knows what happens.
But totally looks like he can handle a workload, right,

(30:40):
Like he he looks like he's he's built for like pitching.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
He looks he looks like he was, you know, throwing
hay baals for practice or something.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yeah, he looks like he would.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
He would be the guy who'd be like on the
roof of like a house party, diving off and like
elbowing someone sitting on a chase lounge chair.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Like he's like, he looks like a monster.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
I yeah, I mean he he looks he looks backyard
wrestling tole Let's say that he looks like he's basically
forty five years old. Yeah, I mean I like him,
but for this so for this year, I mean, Fenway's
a tough park.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Would I would try him in every league. I don't
have a problem with streaming him.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
I wouldn't be shocked if, like, you know, he's you know,
if he a little bit, if he you know, because
it's just like a small sample size, anyone could be
like he was. If he in his first start against
who the Pirates. I mean, so it's like he was fine.
I mean he looked good, but you know it's the Pirates,
and he still was like you know, struggling a little

(31:57):
bit here or there with his command, but I.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
He'll he'll be fine in like the long run. I think,
you know, knock on wood.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
But I I feel like for this year, Tongue and
Tola and any picture really is a streamer. So I mean,
I like him, but it's with like you know, caveat
of like if you need starts, I'm fine dropping Tolay
or if you need to pick him up, I'm fine

(32:27):
trying him as well. So yeah, I mean for this year,
it's really just a matter of matchups.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
But he looks good.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
I was.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
I was seriously impressed with tol for you know, the
five plus innings that he threw.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, I think he did. He looked as you mentioned,
it wasn't completely clean, but looked good for what it was.
I just saw a clip of it. I didn't actually
watched the full start, but what I saw looked good.
And you know, the numbers have been very solid. I
will say, talk through one hundred and thirteen last year,
he's still He's at one hundred thirteen now, so he's
kind of where he was last year. I think he

(33:03):
can finish out the season in general. But I also
wouldn't be surprised if they do, maybe a stacked starter
where they use him and McClain back to back and
just kind of throw them each three or four innings.
Tole a. He threw I believe eighty two innings last
year and he's at ninety one, So again, I don't
think there's any problem if they want them to finish

(33:24):
out the season. I think they can. It's just kind
of whether the team needs it at this point or not.
Let's move on to a different topic here, Gray, and
that is some second half strugglers. You know, we've talked
about plenty of players who have been been good in
the second half, but let's look forward to next year
and talk about some guys who, you know, we're really

(33:46):
good in the first half and not so much here
in the second. Let's start with my Cubs and Kyle Tucker,
who I can only say is on my Cubs for
right now. That may change as soon as the season ends.
But the first half to eighty fourteen home run, twenty
two stone bases, second half two forty two, four home
runs and three stolen bases. He has been dealing with

(34:09):
kind of a finger issue all second half, but that
does that give him a free pass from you? Or
are there any signs of concern for you from Kyle Tucker?

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Actually, the entire Cubs hitting really strung.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
I mean, say, uh, pie Crow, Armstrong, They're all they're
all kind of struggling, really, uh Tucker. I think has
the best excuse out of all of them, though, is
the fact that the finger he's got what a hairline
fracture in his finger, So yeah, maybe that would maybe
that is playing into a little bit. I say, I

(34:45):
actually I'm looking forward to I don't know where he's
gonna land, So there's that like if he lands in
I don't know, say Seattle, I won't be as excited
if he lands in, like, you know, Yankee Stadium, Like
you know, my excitement level might be contingent on where
he lands a little bit, Like, well, there's only really
five teams that can afford him.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
So Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mets, I don't know, Padres, maybe.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
They'll just He's going to Dodgers, isn't he.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
That's definitely yeah, He's probably gonna have Dodgers. But anyway, yeah,
I mean Dodger Stadium, Dodger Stadium and Dodger lineup would
be good for him, So he's a little bit contingent
on where he ends up a little bit, not much,
but I think he's actually there could be a buying
opportunity for him next year. I like Kyle Tucker still.
I think, you know, he's had the weird shin thing

(35:39):
last year and then the weird finger thing this year,
which you know, might grade him a little bit in
people's eyes as being like injury prone, but those are
they were really flukey injuries, So I'm not really concerned
about the injuries with him. I think there could be
a buying opportunity potentially if he can hinues to struggle

(36:00):
with the rest of this year, because I don't see
any reason why he can't come out of it and
have a solid year like he was having in the
first half of this year.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
So yeah, I like Kyle Tucker still a lot.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
I don't I wouldn't be buying right now for September
because you know, the finger, so I'm not excited about
him for this final month, but I do like him
in the big pitcher still.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, I agree, And you know, he's shown this year
he can still do everything and there's nothing really wrong
with that just ends up just depends where he ends
up a little bit. But yes, I agree. Let's move
on to James wood first half two seventy eight, twenty
four runs, twelve stolen bases, twenty seven and a half
percent strikeout rate, fourteen percent walk rate. Then in the

(36:48):
second half he said two thirteen two of runs with
three stolen bases, thirty nine percent, strikeout rate, ten percent
walk rate. James Wood was somebody who were both excited
about when we did our second half ranking show, Gray,
But what are your thoughts on James Wood's second half?

Speaker 5 (37:07):
Man a brutal man, you know, like him and James
Wood and Ellie de la Cruz just like completely tanked
my Tout Wars team. And I'm only you can't lose
James Wood and Elie dla Cruise. So I I'm struggling
in that league unfortunately.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
Now James Wood is a big part of my struggles too,
So I I and I don't I don't take that lightly.
I'm serious, I'm seriously mad. Yeah, it's a brutal man.
I don't know, maybe it's an adjustment period that he's
going through. I mean, you mentioned the numbers, the strikeout rates,
incredibly uh, you know, incredibly high. I would say it's

(37:49):
just a situation where it's like a you know, a slump,
begets like a deeper slump, and then before you know it,
you're swinging at everything and it's just like everything is
falling apart and you just need to reset. Maybe the
offseason is the reset that he needs. I think, you know,
unless he really comes out of it in September, I

(38:11):
think he's going to be lower than I expected in
drafts next year, which.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
You know, I think that's that'ld be a good thing.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
I'm still interested. But you know, if he continues this
sort of you know, downward spiral in September, I want
to be shocked if he barely is in the top
twenty five, like because it looked like he was gonna
be a top five player.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
But I believe like it is as deep as this
slump is. If it continues this deep, it could potentially
lead to him being a little bit undervalued next year.
I'm still interested. I you know, he's still too young,
he's too talented. I'm not out like by any stretching imagination.

(38:55):
I also have no.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
I have no confidence and him coming out of this
slump though, I mean he's I think today he just
went oh for four again, he goes over four, like
you know every day. It's just brutal. He's been brutal
for the last month plus. But I still have hope
for him in like, you know, deeper leagues for next year.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Yeah, I do too. I don't think this is necessarily
in circumstance for him, but it's not a great thing
to see Gray. The strikeout ray was already kind of
high for what we wanted at twenty seven and a
half in the first half, and then for the balloon
just short of forty here in the second half is

(39:40):
not a great look. So he's got to get that
under control. And anytime a strikeout jumps like that, along
with the production drop, it feels like, you know, pitchers
may have figured something out, especially when we're talking about
a player as young as James would that's also adjustment
for him back, you know, he has to figure out
how he covers.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
That, right, Yeah, no completely, And also like that is
that leads you on, You're on, You're teetering the next
year on that's what you're then I become on.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
The precipice of like disaster.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
And by that, I mean like you could draft him
next year in the top twenty five, and he could
struggle in April, and then that's could be like we
got to send him down he can't figure it out.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
And then and then it's like disaster time.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah. Then it's uh, then you're ruined and another season
and that's that's not good. Letting somebody ruin you in
back to back seasons is pretty tough. It's a it's
tough pill to swallow. Gray Again, he's young, he's super talented,
he has, you know, a professional team around him. They
should be able to figure out how to cover it,

(40:50):
you know. I think I think it's primarily uh, just
being the the low and inside and low and away,
so having having problems with a low part of the
right now, just you'll figure it out, I think. But
let's move on to another cup here, and I guess
we can just I'll just ask you, like it's say
a Suzuki. The numbers aren't good. He's hit two or

(41:12):
three to two of them were on two stone bases
in the second half. Is this just a Cubs thing
or are you concerned about Sazuki at all?

Speaker 3 (41:21):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (41:22):
No?

Speaker 3 (41:22):
You know, I think this is kind of just like
an I want to say, this is like the ebbs
and flows of a normal season with Saya s Azuki,
because he was he was extraordinarily good in the first half,
and now he's been extraordinarily bad. But when you put
him together, he's had a pretty much a Saya Suzuki season,

(41:44):
except for the fact that his average is a little
bit low. But his babbitt is a little bit low.
He's you know, he's making hard enough contact. I feel
like he's where he was a little bit lucky in
the first half, he's now a little unlucky. H he
has been fortunate enough to stay healthy and his power

(42:05):
has been up. So yeah, I mean I think I
think if he ends the year with like, say, thirty
two homers, seven steals and two fifty five average, I
think everyone in the beginning of the season would have
taken that. So I feel like you're you're getting sort
of like the.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Ups and downs of a Saya Suzuki season.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
But in reality, at the end of the day, he's
just gonna have a solid year and when you put
it all together, So I don't mind Saya Suzuki.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Right now, but if you.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
But I also feel like he's not undroppable for me
in shallower leagues, like if you have better options than
say as Azuki, I'm fine moving on from him this
year because he has struggled so much, and at the
end of the day, like the projections say he's gonna
hit four homers, steal two bags, and hit two sixty

(42:59):
of the rest of the way, that's that's replaceable in
shallower leagues if you can try and find if you
can find a hot bat, I could see moving on.
But I mean he's I think at the end of
the day, he's gonna be fine. I just think this
is a normal sort of slump for him.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Yeah, would you drop a saying for South Stewart? No, Yeah,
I wouldn't either. Let's move on to Jeremy Pania. First half,
he hit three twenty two with eleven home runs and
fifteen stolen bases. In the second half, he has hit
two fifty two with three home runs and four stolen bases.
We thought the breakout was here, Gray, We were kind

(43:39):
of really excited about Jeremy Penia finally fulfilling what we
thought he could be. And it's it's kind of back
to Jeremy Pagne now, yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I mean he seemed like it
was like.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
The precipice of becoming a thirty thirty twenty three hundred hitter,
but in reality he is just kind of like a
fifteen twenty two seventy hitter at the end of the day,
which is fine.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
I mean it's kind of like, uh, you know, top
twelve in am I.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
Maybe you know, top fifteen shortstop, top top twelve shortstop.
I mean it's not it's not awful. It's just not
it's not a top three type shortstop or a guy
who's like, you know, breaking out. I mean, he's his
breakout is like he just doesn't have he doesn't have

(44:42):
the seat. He doesn't really have a huge ceiling. He's
you know, a lot it's a lot lower of a
ceiling I think than maybe.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Maybe we thought in the first half. But yeah, I
mean he's he's okay.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
I I think I recently said he was drop a
ball on the and I stay with I stick with
that too, like if you if you can find a
better AM I right now, I'm fine moving on from
Jeremy Paynya. I don't I don't think anything you're gonna
get from him is anything special either, like you know
his projection, say, he's gonna hit three homers and three

(45:16):
steal and steal three bags the rest of the way.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
I mean, you know, it's like, eh, you could find
that elsewhere if you're in a shallow enough league. I'm
also fine, you know, holding on to him. If if
you're in a deep enough league and you need it,
it's like, you go with it. You do what you
gotta do. But I feel like there's probably guys that
you can move on from.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
Now, you know.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
And also with the Jeremy Payna, I just I think
he is what he is at this point.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Like you know, we've seen now four seasons of him
do almost nearly identical stuff, Like every year he does
kind of the same thing, you know, plus orus three
with power and speed.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
So it's like, yeah, I mean, he he is that player.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
He's just he had a high babbit in the first
half that kind of led to a bit higher of
an average. But I don't think he's really I don't
think he's really a three hundred plus hitter, and I
don't I don't think he has that much power or speed.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
Yeah, I mean I would agree. I don't think he's
he's really maxing out either side of the power speed combo,
and the average I think probably ends up somewhere in
the two eighty five range this year, which will be
you know, his career best average, But as you mentioned,
it's with a high Babbitt, very high in the first half. Specifically,

(46:46):
you know, strikeout rate continues to get better. So just
from a pure hitter standpoint, that's nice to see from
him and kind of is what has helped become, you know,
make this a better start to the season. But now
we're back again to pretty standard Jeremy Payne. You look here,
very solid millin fielder, But I don't know that you're

(47:09):
you're you know, reaching for him in drafts as as
he some people have in previous seasons. Speaking of reaching
four in drafts, Gray Lawrence Butler went two fifty one,
thirteen home runs, sixteen stolen bases in the first half.
In the second half, grade he has hit one seventy
five with five home runs in a stolen base. I

(47:31):
think everybody was a little iffy on Lawrence Butler to
begin the season. It was a little shaky right out
of the gate, and then he kind of got together.
Is he just a streaky player and this is the
Lawrence Butler experience or are you just going to be
out on the Lawrence Butler experience from there on?

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (47:52):
I actually I trained Lawrence Butler. I think at the
at the break this year, and before people think about
me actually being smart, I traded him for Michael Bush,
who's also been awful.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yes, So so don't get any misconceptions in your head
that I know what I'm doing. I mean, actually I
kind of like Lawrence Butler as a bounce back for
next year.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
I think there there could be something here because like
he upped his walks, the k's are the key's got
a little bit high, but he has a lot of speed.
I don't think and and bing bong in Sacktown. I mean,
the stadium in Sacktown is so beautiful. I can't I
can't stop raving about how wonderful that park is for power.

(48:44):
So if he gets into a few for next year
and shows off more of his speed and gets a
little bit lucky on Babbitt, I mean, I don't know.
I kind of like the Lawrence Butler experience for next year.
I'm I'm interested now. I feel like there could be
more there, and he's young enough. What is he twenty

(49:06):
four right now, actually just turned twenty five, but still
twenty five.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
He's in the prime of his career.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
I like Lawrence Butler still, but yeah, this Lawrence Butler experience,
for like in September is no good.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
This is not good. I would look to move on.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
In shallower leagues if I had Lawrence Butler, Like he's
at this point, he's getting platooned, so he's not playing
every day, he's hitting at the bottom of the lineup,
like he.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Needs a reset.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
He needs to come back next year, do well in
spring training, sit at the top of the lineup in April,
and hit the ground running.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
And he can do that. I believe that. But for
right now, I don't want any part of Lawrence Butler.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
No, I don't want it right now. The Laman to
strike out rate is up here in the second half.
But the good news at least looking towards next year,
like hard hit is within one percentage, bail ray is
actually up, which is you know, a little finicky here
with such small samples. Average exit velocity is like one
point three off, So really he's been very similar in

(50:17):
the way his batted ball has looked. But the two
twenty one babbitt versus three twenty six Babbitt, you know,
that's hitting herding into that one seventy five average. So yes,
I think ods Butler could potentially be okay next year,
but it's really hard to watch what he's doing right now.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
Gray.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Speaking of somebody who's who has been really tough to
watch pretty much since April ended, Gray, and that is
O'Neill Cruz. I will you know, I thought we were
often running with the O'Dell Cruz breakout in April. He
was absolutely amazing, and then it's just it's falling apart.
He won it out of Pittsburgh, and then there were

(50:58):
some rumors he was, you know, taking his play for
that purpose. But it's not been basically the whole season
other than April. What are your thoughts on odeal Cruise?
Do we need to accept he's just a tall rootin
in odor, a.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Tall rooting on door nice?

Speaker 3 (51:19):
Uh god, what that's all? That's awful. That's a terrible
comp man. That's a kind of comp where if O'Neil
Cruis was listening to this, if I were him, I
would come to your house, you know, I would be like,
you know what, you need.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
To get there and work on your strikeouts.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Man, that's on your eye. Work on your eye, bro.
You know you know what I'm saying. It started and
stuff hit my face first.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
You know.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
O'Neil Cruiz is a guy who I just love, right,
I mean, he's just yeah, I think we both like him.
I mean, I'm so I'm such a huge fan.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
But he's he's been miserable to roster. He's really not
good when it comes to like for fantasy. It's just
like it's been brutal, man. I mean it's just yeah,
outside of April, I mean it's.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Just I don't know.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
I wonder, I wonder what this is gonna like next
year because if you take April way, I mean, man,
his stats really just they just really bottom out. Like
if you take April away, like how okay, so you
can't just take all the way, but if you were to,

(52:36):
and he's sitting at eleven eleven homers and twenty four
steals since May first, Like what that's awful, man. I
Mean for a guy who's going, you know, in the
top thirty or whatever overall in drafts.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
Yeah, you know, I might sit out the O'Neill crew.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
It depends on where you go in drafts. Next year,
he's gonna be a he's gonna be a hard one
to uh, you know, to get totally invested in, because.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
This really, I mean as you as you said, I
mean really from May through.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
Well, at this point, August May through August, it's just
been so miserable, Like how do you get in on
that in the top I don't know where's he going?

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Top sixty.

Speaker 3 (53:22):
Maybe next year he's gonna he's gotta fall a few
rounds from you know, he's.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
Not I was saying, I was thinking might fall further
than that, just because there's already a group of people
who absolutely despise him and this isn't helping.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Yeah, okay, so say top seventy five, top eighty. I
don't know, even if it's a top one hundred, it's
still like it's it's a struggle because it's not like
the strikeouts are just something that just appeared. I mean,
he's had this problem for his entire career, Like this
is not this is not a new thing for him,

(53:55):
and now it's got to the point where, you know,
he's hitting two A four. He had you know, injuries
in previous years. Outside of April, he's been really terrible.
So it's not like like you're not and you're not
gonna get to March of next year and be like, well,
he was good in April, so that's good.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Like that's not that's not gonna be appealing in drafts.
So I don't know, man, I might be out on
the O'Neill Cruiz experience next year. It could potentially be
I'm and I'm not sold.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
He's like this year, if you know, we're going like
it looks like he's platooning out versus lefties, so he's
not even facing lefties anymore. He's hitting at the bottom
of a Pirates lineup, a lineup that isn't good, and
he's hitting at like seventh in a Pirates lineup, Like

(54:51):
what that's a mess, man, that's not good. I could
actually I could see dropping O'Neil Cruz if you're in
a shallow enough league this year and say I wouldn't
say all leagues, I'd probably hold him in twelve team
or deeper. But if you're in a ten team mix league,
like I don't know what do you what do you
holding him for? The occasional Homer. I don't know if

(55:12):
he's got a big month in them, but I don't
know he could.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
I guess, uh. It's it's bad though, He's he's so fun.
But man, is his stats terrible?

Speaker 1 (55:25):
Yeah, it's been. It's been terrible owning him, and really
if without the speed, he would be impossible to own.
But the stolen base is just it keep him just
valuable enough if you're just looking around at one else
is out there, especially in deeper leagues. Let's talk about
another top player and then you know this guy was,

(55:47):
you know, not top three rounds, he was a top
three player Gray, and that is Elie day Light Cruz.
He had two eighty four eighteen them runs, twenty five
stolen bases in the first half. In the second and
half he is at two forty six. He has a
home run in seven stolen bases. Awful. I don't know,

(56:07):
I don't know what's going on here, Gray, But his
his April was better than his entire second half has
been as well.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
Yeah, yeah, man, it hasn't been great. Oh, I'll be honest,
it's not good. Him and James Wood have really just
killed my entire second half. I was I was cruising
in tow wars man, I was cruising and uh yeah,
Elie dela Cruise as uh he's cruise missiled me.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
I yeah, I mean I think I'm a little bit easier.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
I'm giving Ellie a little bit more of a pass
than O'Neil Cruz because I do think the uh you know,
the speed is so incredible with Elie de la Cruz
and the power. While while the power in the second
half has been miser well, the park's really good. He
continues to, like you mentioned, like he hit two forty

(57:06):
six in the second half, so he's not like he's
bottomed out to like he's not hitting like one eighty
in the second half, Like he's he's still.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
Getting on base nearly a quarter of the time.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
He's got speed he can. I feel like he could
still turn it on. So I'm I'm holding out hope.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
For a decent September from Ellie d la Cruz.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
But again, like I've been watching the box scores for
him and James Wood all August and it's just like
one oh for four after another, oh for four, lots
of oh for fours.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Man not not great.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
So I still have faith in Ellie more so than
I do in O'Neill. I think Ellie Ellie at least,
you know, the strikeouts aren't insane, like yeah, like what
we were saying with O'Neil, Cruz and uh or even
James Wood. I mean, James Wood straightouts are absolutely insane.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
But Ellie's.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
You know, while Ellie's strikeouts did go up in the
second half, they're still under thirty percent. I mean, for
whatever that's worth. But he's hitting two forty six. I
mean it's like, you know, it's not great obviously, but
I still have faith.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Yeah, it's really just that the power and speed of disappeared.
I mean, if you give him the power speedback and
he hits two forty five, that's not the end of
the world. But the fact that the power speed is
now gone for some reason, that's that's just a killer.
When the average is also dropping from the first half.
At the same time, let's go ahead and move over

(58:43):
to the sagn Off. Let's just talk about some closers.
Gray over in Cincinnati, Emilia Pagan. We've all been waiting
for the other shoe to drop, and it might have
finally dropped Gray, he gave a three earned blew a save.
He's not exactly been, you know, the cleanest of closers
this season. Do you think that Cincinnati is finally due

(59:06):
for a change, Well.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
They should have probably swapped him out for a Centillan
back in like August, the beginning of August. I mean
it's or at least middle of August. It's been a
couple of weeks now where Pegan has just not looked right.
I would I would if I were speculating and I
really needed saves, I would go for Tony Santillan. I

(59:31):
think he's probably the guy who's going to get the
next save with Cincinnati, if if not the next one,
and then they try and work Pegan back in, or
Santillan's just going to get the rest of the saves
like I I or or Pagans just gonna get removed
and they're going to do a committee, but Santilaan's going
to be the head of that committee. There's the Pegan

(59:53):
just has not looked right. He hasn't been He couldn't
even get through an inning today like Monday, as we
record this on Monday, like he looked awful.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
He was giving.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
He gave up a home run to Boba Schett, I mean,
come on, our nemesis, really.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Come on, man, And then he gave up another homer
and then they had the poem from the game because
he just couldn't make it. He couldn't get anyone out.
I mean, it's like ridiculous. So yeah, I would I
would say Pegan's in trouble. Santillan would be the guy
who I would uh who I'd be rostering right now.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
Yeah, I think Santillan is is probably the right call.
I guess if you're in a deep league where you're
looking at the next guy, even if you know probably
only at that point. Scott Barlow has been really good
as well as Tony Santillan, so I think he would
be the one if it's not Santillan when they look

(01:00:52):
to make it, or if they look to make a
change there. Let's move over to Arizona. Gray Andrew saw
Frank has been you know, getting saves. I think for
the last couple of weeks. He got one this week
as well. Do you think we have a closer in
Arizona and the mess is finally over for now? Or
is this just a one save and he happened to

(01:01:13):
be the guy.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
Yeah, I mean I would say I'd probably put him
at like sixty forty. Probably South Frank is the closer,
and you know, sixty percent of the time he's the
closer and forty percent he's not. I don't know who
would really be the other guy. It's probably be a
committee behind him.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
So it's like.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
South Frank and the Pussycats. I don't it's South Frank
and whoever else is there. I would say more than likely.
You know, I wouldn't go deeper than South Frank for
you know, speculation, unless it's like NL only and then
maybe I guess Woodford or Bacchus possibly, But yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
I would I would go Self Frank, though, is rosterable
I think at this point.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Yeah, I agree. Let's move over to Dodger Land Gray,
where we've been trying to speculate for pretty much all season.
Who the closer is. Tanner Scott the guy. Now he
got to save this week, but also did not look
particularly good in his second outing when he gave up
three earned runs. Is it Tanner Scott? Is it still

(01:02:28):
just a parade of arms? What are your thoughts?

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
After Tanner Scott gave up to three runs.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
I think it was on Sunday that was the point
where I dropped Tanner Scott from my team.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
I was done. I'm done at that point.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
It's like I can't, I can't handle any more of
these blow ups. I didn't need this, but in that
league specifically, I didn't need to save that much. So
this is a it'll be a fantasy team by team
basis a type situation where if you really need the saves,
you can go with Tanner Scott and try to get
saves out of him.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
But I didn't need the saves. I think Blake Trining's been.

Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
Perfectly named guy because Roberts has been trying him all
year to get him saves that ain't working really, you know, Bondas,
I mean, they have some decent arms behind all these guys,
but no one's really stepping up.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
So I'm I'm guessing it is Tanner Scott, but I.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
Don't even I don't even want the headache of trying
to get the saves anymore from Tanner Scott because he's
been I mean, he's been kind of miserable, and you know,
I think it was Sunday that was like the last
straw for me.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
I was like, I'm done.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Yeah, No, I would completely agree with you, and I
don't think I would necessarily want to hold on Tanner Scott.
It looks like there's something wrong with him, and as
we mentioned, it's kind of a bad situation for closers. Anyways,
they just throw whoever happens to be, you know, whoever
they want that day. Could be Casparius, could be Jack Dryer,

(01:04:07):
could be banned. Any of them could get an opportunity.
And honestly, the three, the three non Tanner Scott options
have been better than Tanner Scott. So at some point
they've got to look somewhere else. You on would think
they're you know, they're looking to win something more than
just a regular season title there in Dodger Land. Let's

(01:04:29):
move over to the dreaded Saint Louis Cardinals. Gray Jojo
Romero has been kind of this the closer there is
he locked in now? Is it? Is it official? Or
do you think there's still some some different arms here
getting save opportunities because we've seen three people in a

(01:04:49):
week get save opportunities.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Yeah, I know, lady looks pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
Riley O'Brien looks pretty good and Romero looks pretty good,
and I don't I don't think there's a favorite amongst them.
I would I would if I had to, I would
say Romero, O'Brien, Lahey in that order, but it could
easily be reversed by next week.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
So I don't mind any of them. But they're all
sort of they seem like they're in a straight committee
where they're just you know, throwing.

Speaker 3 (01:05:22):
It depends on what the day is on who gets
thrown out there in the seventh, who gets thrown out
in the eighth, and who gets thrown out of the ninth.
So yeah, I don't mind them, but I wouldn't I
wouldn't be able to tell you who's going to get
the next save there either.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Yeah, and for what it's worth, Riley O'Brien will be
shut down for a few days after having a little
bit of an arm issue, so at least for the
next few days it'll be a little slightly clear, but
still not clear at all. Gray, let's move over to
the waiver wire. Give the people some bats.

Speaker 3 (01:05:53):
Oh, okay, okay, So it looks like Matt Wollner is
near the top on the seven day player right now
for guys who aren't rostered in one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Of their leagues.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
Uh, then you have Josh Young, Jorge Polonko, Kyle Higga Shoka.
What Kyle Higgas Shioko Higgas Shioka is somehow hot?

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
I guess I don't remember when that happened.

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
Anyway, Moving on, Jack Peterson's been hot, Ian Half's been hot,
Gavin Sheetz has been hot, Jackson Merril just came back.
That might hurt his playing time. Drake Balwin's been hot.
Lazy Alexander's been hot, Andrew Monticro has been hot for
the Brewers, but Cheerio just came back, so that might
hurt his playing time a little bit. Luis Torrence has

(01:06:41):
been hot, Mike Yastremsky has been hot, Andres jmenez Ido Lopez,
Helio Ramos, Josh Low, Jake Croninworth and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
I'm not saying his name, okay, Nolan Jones has been hot.

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
I really don't even want to say his name though,
because I mean, I can't trust that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
You've just cursed everybody. Now, thanks, thanks for that, all right,
some streaming streaming pitchers. It's not it's not a great
matchups week if I'm honest, Justin Erlin or at Saint Louis,
Ian Seymour versus Cleveland, Michael McGreevy versus San Francisco, Martine
Prez at Detroit, Ryan burge Berger versus the Angels, Andrew

(01:07:30):
Alvares he's actually pitching right now, or he finished up
today in a really good start versus Miami, and then
he gets the Cubs later in the week. Max Schurzer,
if he's healthy, I think he's going at New York,
which is not great. So I'm actually gonna pull that
recommendation right now before that happens to be terrible. Uh,

(01:07:51):
And I'll say that's it right now. The rest of
these matchups are not aperball. Gray, I'm not gonna recommend
people go get bombed here in September. It's a great
streaming time, but you have to know when to when
the hold them and when the fold them.

Speaker 3 (01:08:05):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
This might be a fold them week and and and
save up or throw throw some multi inning relievers out there.
And Edwin you say that, you know you can always
throw him out. He's been phenomenal and is just available
in every league because nobody wants them. Absolutely if you
have any specific questions, you can always find us on Twitter.
I am at rasbeat On. Gray is the owner of

(01:08:27):
the at rasball account. You can find us on YouTube
dot com, slash rasball Fantasy, the comments section on rasball
dot com. May you win all your head to head matchups,
May your lineups be perfect, and I will talk to
you next week, Gray leads, I miss you. You f