Examining 8 CONFUSING PITCHERS, Yamamoto's Return & More! | Fantasy Baseball Advice

Intro [Music] hello and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday September 11th I am Frank SEL joined by Chris Towers today on the show welcome back to yoshinobu Yamamoto what to do with these eight confusing pitchers we got big games from the Tigers and the Braves and much more let's jump in holy cow how about that how about P Crow Armstrong I just want to give him a shout out the top that game just went final he made three incredible catches in center field including a game-ending home run robbery against Max Muny he's just a Madman Chris like he is so good in the Outfield and he's he's gotten much better as a hitter throughout the season too so I mean that that was always the thing with peer Armstrong is like like you know as a prospect early on his MLB career it was like if he's just decent as a hitter he's gonna be a freaking star because of how good the defense is and he might be the best defensive center fielder in baseball already and the bat seems pretty good right now so yeah he's uh he had a couple of just kind of Bonkers plays in this one uh including one that like there was some misom communication with him and Cody Bellinger and he had to like kind of make a a last minute like backhand like Willie Mays hay catch yeah you know have you have you seen that movie yeah that's a major league right okay all right you never know no no it's worth asking for sure all right Chris let's stick with you and your player of the night ker Montero uh the I Keider Montero think most impressive performance of the night in terms of results complete game shut out toss the Maddox uh for those you don't know that's a complete Game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches and he was awesome 17 whiffs on 96 pitches five strikeouts three hits in the complete Game shutout I just don't think it matters very much for fantasy and I always feel bad when we do this we have this portion of the show that is dedicated to the most impressive performances of the day but it's not really just about the most impressive performances of the day we're also like meant to give a reason why this was exciting for fantasy and nobody started cater Montero and I don't think this necessarily means he's someone you need to care about for Fantasy he is the 16th pitcher to throw a complete Game shutout in the majors this season and there are some really impressive names on the list of guys who have done it Tyler glass now uh did it Blake Snell obviously Dylan CE uh with their their no hitters but you've also got Tyler Phillips had a complete game shut out and Joey Estus and brexton Garrett had a complete game shut out against the Diamondbacks back in like May or June I completely erased that one from my memory and then some like Gavin Stone and Luis srino and Kevin Gosman have all had complete Game shutout so it's like about half of them are really good pitchers and half of them are just kind of guys at best and I think ker Montero is much more of just a guy but this was a really good start and that's great tremendous start for ker Montero who did have 17 whiffs on 96 pitches kind of wish that he could just face the Rockies on the road every time out but that is uh not going to be the case I did want to highlight a change that he made in this one he did lower his fast ball usage and he threw more sliders and curveballs which is a great idea because his fast ball gets hit really really hard so a tangible change that he made and obviously went out and threw an amazing start he's 12% rostered it looks like he lines up to face the Orioles later this week and then at the Orioles again next week so I don't think you're using him for either of those would line up for the White Sox the final week of the season so I'll just throw that out there now get it on people's Radars and you know Chris last night to stream or not stream I actually did say use kont go I mean look that's the thing is like the Rockies on the road the white socks yeah I think he can be useful in those matchups two straight against the Orioles probably not rolling that dice no no no no let's just stick with the Tigers who had a big game here want to highlight Parker Meadows who went two for three with two walks and his seventh home run in 30 Games since returning from the I a 308 batting average four homers counting stats look good five steals 896 Ops 28% roster he's been serviceable against lefties I'm not going to say good but he's been okay against them and he's pretty much playing every day right now for the Tigers I feel like we've expressed a little bit more optimism here enthusiasm I guess for Parker Meadows it feels like he should be more than 28% roster roster rates always get a little junky at this point in the season there's a lot of teams that are out of it there's a lot of leagues that are just over uh by now I'm in a couple that like either the finals have started or uh you know they they haven't or or they're just finished so you know that could explain it but yeah he has started I believe 29 of 34 games overall since returning from the I he's hitting really well he's running the bases really well he's not striking out that much I think it's like 27 strikeout let me get the exact number yeah 27 strikeouts 125 plate appearances that's that sounds pretty good 22% like that's not uh a a poor strikeout rate at all in a head-to-head points league so I I think Parker Meadows even in three outfielder leagues is looking like a pretty viable option at this point um I'm I'm really impressed with what he's doing and I think he could make for a sneaky sleeper for next year as well so just keep that M name file it away for uh for next season you know five outfielder leagues and we've said it for the past couple years we we keep thinking the Tigers lineup is going to take that next step with some of these young guys getting called up and they're like actually pretty good right now are they I don't know what the overall record but I think in the games that Parker Meadows has played since coming off the iil they're 21 and nine I did see I think just yesterday I think they're only three games out of a wild card spot which really Sur yeah they're yeah tigers are are slightly feisty is yeah they're two games over 500 let's go Tigers I just pulled up there w three games over 500 woba in the second half for the Tigers still 25th yeah the offense isn't great yeah I wanted to give a shout out to Riley green who clearly has had a uh you know a breakout season here he's missed some time but 263 batting average 20 homers 837 Ops and obviously had a really good game here for the Tigers my Seth Lugo player of the night is going to be Seth Lugo who dominated my New York Yankee he seven shutout Innings with 10 strikeouts he had 14 whiffs on 105 pitches five on the curve four on the cutter four on the fast ball barely allowed any hard contact in this one and he changed up the pitch mix he threw a lot more Cutters he threw more change ups and he threw less fast balls less for teams less sinkers and that is a really good idea for Seth luga who throws about 18 different pitches but of all those pitches the fast balls are the ones that get hit quite a bit uh so yeah I think throwing in mixing in a little bit more spin upping the change up usage uh that has helped Seth Lugo and he now has three straight seven ining quality start so we had a pretty rough stretch in there Chris but it looks like Seth Lugo is now finishing strong once again yeah I I think the overall like you you look at the overall numbers I think the ra is still under three for the season since the All-Star break I think it's 381 um that's that sounds right that sounds right and I think that's what I always expected Lugo to do is be more like a high three Z guy but with the the ability to go deep into games as much as he does and you know pretty good team backing him up it still does make for I think a must start pitcher moving forward especially now that he's out of that like August doldrum or whatever you want to call it and he might help people win some championships because next week two start week against the Tigers and the Giants so two good yeah awesome matchups there for Seth Lugo wanted to give a shout out to the Atlanta Braves as well their offense had a big night against Braves big night the Nationals they won 12 zip Michael Harris three for six with a double dong Matt Olsen three for five with a double two runs and two RBI and uh people may not have realized this about olssen because the overall numbers are still lacking but over his last 46 games he basically has been matad olon 272 batting average 12 homers and an Ops right around 900 so so uh you know that's basically since like mid July Matt Olson has been basically himself wanted to spend a little bit of time on Michael Harris because he's not a name that we've talked a lot about this season missed a ton of time with that hamstring injury 26 games since returning from the iil only batting 234 he's got six home runs 17 RBI helps but uh zero steals he's got two caught stealing during that time and a 680 Ops on the season as a whole it's a 661 Ops everything that I was excited about Michael Harris doing last year and the improvements he made from his rookie season to his second season have basically all taken a step back here in the third season for Michael Harris yeah and and I I think the fact that you know he had that injury in what May June yeah yeah missed two months it was one where like remember he got off to a really slow start last year as well as the summer months came he really heated up and and ended up being the the breakout that we hoped he would be and you know it's kind of like the hamstring injury maybe prevented that from ever really happening um so yeah it it hasn't been the season that you wanted from Michael Harris I'm still mostly willing to buy the dip for 20125 I I still think this is a should be a very very good lineup I know it's been a little hit or miss this season but I think when the Braves are you know went everyone's not hurt except for Marcel zuno which it seemed like is what happened this year um I think the Braves are going to be a good offense and Michael Harris is more like the 800ish Ops bat we saw last year than the 661 he has right now all right before we hit the break reminder to sign up for the fbt newsletter if you haven't already I realize it is a crazy time in the sports calendar football has started up obviously baseball is winding down here but uh we're not going anywhere we're still podcasting five times a week Chris is still putting out a newsletter every single weekday uh so again if you are watching on YouTube scan the QR code that will take you right to the website where you can click on the fbt logo punch in your email address and you can sign up for the fbt newsletter for free let's take our final break final break first break and when we return we'll hit the news and notes right after this you hear that it's the steady pulse of the world's game that's turning fans into family and Sport for into passion you hear that it's the heartbeat of American soccer the USL on CBS Sports [Applause] Network welcome back in news and notes what do you know as soon as we pump up News: Reynaldo Lopez injury Ronaldo Lopez for how well he's pitched since returning from injury he left Tuesday's start due to right shoulder tightness and his velocity was way down across the board fast ball was down 3.6 mil per hour his slider down nearly 5 miles hour uh which is a very Troublesome site um my guesses this won't end well at least for the rest of this season but that's just speculation on my part yeah I mean no way of knowing but we we've now had one he's thrown more Innings than any season since 2019 I believe maybe 2018 and then we've now had an elbow and a shoulder scare so I would be surprised if we saw Ronaldo Lopez pitch again this season the fact that the velocity was down seems to indicate that it was an issue from the start uh yeah doesn't doesn't look great yeah Ronaldo Lopez up to 128 and two-thirds Innings last year he threw 66 and this is his most since 2019 as you mentioned Luis Castillo was placed in the I with a grade two left hamstring strain and I apologize a lot of people were asking me what to do with Luis Castillo they said he was going for an MRI on Monday and those results didn't come out until like later on on Tuesday so it it kind of got a little bit difficult in terms of like do I start do I sit do I drop Luis Castillo but the fact that he's gone on the iil I think it's uh pretty pretty safe to drop Luis Castillo there yeah grade two with only two weeks left in the season basically yeah uh 18 days yeah I think it's pretty unlikely we see him again in the regular season at least Tyler glass now felt good after his Bullpen on Tuesday and will face hitters in a simulated game over the weekend Kyle schwarber left Tuesday game he's what I saw was he's going to return after that if if it goes well he may not be fully stretched out but they're just kind of running out of time so what I saw was they are likely to just have kind of like Yoshi Yamamoto today who only pitched four innings in his first start back right yeah yeah I think that makes sense it's they're running out of time they they've got to build glass now up for the postseason so you know the first couple times out it's you know maybe he gives you a three four five innings something like that but they could be really good Innings there from Tyler glass now Kyle schwarber left Tuesday's game with left elbow discomfort Jacob deg Grom will make his season debut Friday against the Mariners Max Sher will make his return on Saturday also against the Mariners deg Grom in four rehab starts pretty much Jacob De GR4 ra 47 whip 15 strikeouts over 10 in two3 Innings he only got up to 49 pitches in his last start so my guess is 60 to 70 pitches in his debut but against the Mariners yeah like it'll be hard in a head-to-head points League yeah uh because wins and quality starts are so important there and he might only go four Innings yeah he might strike out 10 in four Innings like he averaged 98 mes hour with his for seamer in his uh rehab outings at Triple A his whiff rate on his slider was like 50% on the change up it was like 43% yeah I I this is the lead for the newsletter tomorrow but I'm basically I don't know what to expect from Jacob deg grum coming back from his second Tommy John surgery I think he's probably just going to dominate the rest of the way even if it's only like 14 innings it's a tough spot for me as a baseball fan as a fantasy baseball player because obviously I'm rooting for Jacob deg Grom and I want him to do well but if he is awesome for his final three starts I mean that will give people confidence to draft him even higher next year in draft so I don't know how good I want Jacob to actually do but yeah still rooting for the guy tcar Hernandez was out Tuesday and has now missed four straight after fouling a ball off of his ankle last Friday Conor Norby was scratched in the lineup for unknown reasons Chris did you see anything here for Conor Norby no I didn't see anything yeah weird uh Ben Joyce was placed in the iil with right shoulder inflammation and I guess one of Hunter Strickland or ranzi conteras would be next up for saves but that's pretty gross yeah it's it's like we talked about Miami with Calvin fet on the IL I just I think it's unlikely to matter enough to to worry too much about it but if you're truly desperate yeah I would guess Strickland he's got a little bit of experience in that role that seems like something Ron Washington would care about so if you have to do that yeah I guess he's the the best option Ben Lively left his start early after getting hit by hit in the leg by a comebacker Oswaldo beo was placed in the I with a right wrist flexer tendonitis uh Brady basso was recalled and is a name to watch in deeper leagues Robbie Ray is scheduled to throw 50 to 60 pitches in a Bullpen on Wednesday he's on the iil with a hamstring strain the Cardinals promoted one of their top prospects Thomas Saji who is 22 years old and he's played all over the infield in the miners this season a 253 batting average 20 homers nine steals a 751 Ops has taken a step back this year put up some pretty massive numbers in the miners last year only 5% rostered anything to see here Chris with Thomas to jai or or maybe just a name to watch in Dynasty League uh among the three prospects we learned about getting called up yesterday Jason Dominguez Kamar rocker and Thomas Aji uh Sai is clearly the least interesting of that group um but it's worth a look I think in deeper categories leagues there's a little bit of power speed there um yeah Tyler Mill is sticking in the Mets rotation for at least one more start following his great outing on Monday and Anthony Ren was placed in the ilil with a left oblique trrain retroactive to Sunday can I just one real quick complaint so in the podcast listeners League the first round of the playoffs was two weeks right we did a two- we scoring system yeah I thought we were doing that for the second round of the playoffs we are we are yeah I don't are you sure yeah it didn't carry over the scores have reset from the first week then yeah yeah oh we're gonna add them together add them together at the end of okay because I thought I was looking at that I hope you set your lineup I did but I was looking at that earlier today and I thought that I lost last week and I was gonna say that the reason I lost is because I started Justin Verlander and my opponent had Ryan Nelson and I had like a 25-point lead heading into Sunday night baseball and I was like great it's safe I don't even need to worry about it turns out I did need to worry about it it went very very poorly yeah I did set my lineup I know there's a way on CVS to like add in the previous week's score so you see I'm a little lazy to be honest with it so uh yeah we're just gonna add the scores together at the end of the two week scoring period there and uh you know you you still have a chance Chris so yeah it's not looking great but I but I I was confused so I'm glad I got some clarification on that because I thought it was two weeks the lone representative on this podcast who is still alive one of the podcast cast league so love to see it love to see it shout out to you what do we do with these eight confusing Eight confusing pitchers pitchers right now start sit slh hold do you drop any of these names I don't know let's find out Taj Bradley turned in a quality start at the Phillies six Innings four four runs three of those were earned he had six strikeouts with 16 whiffs on 90 pitches still allowed two homers in this one uh lots of hard contact but completely changed the pitch mix and it did help him get a ton of whiffs uh 76% rostered 50% started for Taj Bradley who's at the Guardians later this week he looks like he's home against the Blue Jays next week and at Boston the final week of the Season uh what do we do Chris are you just holding Taj Bradley to prevent other teams from getting him is he all right to drop do you want to start him I what were the matchups at Cleveland later this week versus Toronto I don't know if I love starting him in any of them it is worth noting the splitter looked better in this one he got seven whiffs with it the movement profile wasn't quite where it was earlier in the season uh he was still not getting as much drop on the pitch but I think in his previous start he was getting like five inches of drop less and in this one it was two inches less so that's a good sign but I I don't see how you could start Taj Bradley with confidence against any of those matchups maybe Toronto would be the closest but he he just seems after a stretch where it looked like he had figured it out it seems like he's back to being the guy he was early in the season last season where the stuff is really good and the highs are going to be really high and maybe you're desperate and he can give you something there but I can't trust him right now no are you okay calling him a drop if you need the roster spot how badly do you need a roster spot this week right you want to pick up Matthew Boyd um I can't say I'm more confident in Matthew boy I mean Matthew Boyd has really good matchups right he faces the white socks this week and then I think he's a two star pitcher for next week one of the starts is against the twins I will quickly yeah whatever the yeah I remember we talked about this the other night um Twins and Cardinals next week for Matthew I think in a points League I'd be fine dropping Bradley for Boyd okay Ranger Suarez has been pretty mid since returning from injury he was up against Tampa Bay five in a third Innings 12 hits four earned runs two walks to two strikeouts he allowed 10 hard hits in this one velocity was down four starts since returning from the iil a 419 ER and a 155 whip he has only completed six Innings once in his last eight starts that's Ranger Suarez he's uh 69% started looks like he's in line for two starts next week at the Brewers and at the Mets kind of tough matchups yeah that's not great what do you think about Rangers forz I think in a points League I might be okay starting him but I I think I'm leaning against using him in a roto League especially if you need to protect your ratios just because he's been getting hit really hard and you know this was what what we talked about earlier on the season where he was doing really really well and what he was doing really well with was pitching in the shadows of the zone you know close enough that hitters had to swing close enough that he could steal a few strikes but not close enough that hitters could do much damage with it and that can work Dallas kyo's whole career was built off of that um but it's really hard to do it consistently and whether it's the back injury whether it's just regression to the mean Ranger Suarez has seemingly lost that ability so I I think he's pretty fringy moving forward yeah Ranger Suarez those two matchups next week the Mets and the Braves both uh Mets and Brewers excuse me top 11 in woba against left-handed pitching this season so in a points League you could probably get away with it in a categories league if you're protecting ratios I I I would probably stay away from those two matchups it's been a few decades since the Braves played in Milwaukee I have to tell you that's fair UD darish was solid at the Mariners five innings two runs five strikeouts he did allow two homers in this one uh 12 whiffs on 63 pitches that's a 19% swinging strike great and on the season 352 ra a 114 whip he's only 79% rostered 31% started and looks like two starts next week for darish up against the Astros which is scary but also the white socks yeah so this is tough because it's what 63 and 63 pitches in his last two starts since coming back from the ilil hadn't pitched since May didn't go on a a minor league rehab assignment right so no I think he threw some Sim simulated games but that's it how much like can he get to 85 pitches in his next couple of starts that seems reasonable like he he's you know a veteran maybe they just wanted to get him out after five innings and you know in different circumstances he might have pitched six or more than 63 pitches um I don't know I I think I'm okay starting him I I think I would start him ahead of Rangers farz next week actually I feel better about Darvish than either of the first two pitches we spoke I think yeah I think so yeah let's talk about George Kirby who got hit hard once again up against the Padres five innings five runs heow two more homers in this one and over his last six starts Kirby has a 668 ER and a 158 whip just under a strikeout per inning nine homers allowed in his last six starts lots of hard contact the babip is high the hits are obviously adding up here but when when you live in the zone and you give up that much hard contact I mean you can be prone to stretches like this uh this one's kind of a tough one to figure out he's at the Rangers next week that's typically a good matchup I start him it feels LA to just say oh yeah you're starting Kirby he's ranked as like a top 12 starting pitcher I'm a lazy guy you know yeah is that it there's like nothing else yeah like I'll have that conversation about guys in the 30 to 50 range yeah but I we've seen stretches like this from Kirby this season he has generally figured it out I I I'm going to go down with that ship all right I did want to quickly pull up his season long splits just to see if he's faced Texas already this season and how they've done against him and uh one start six shut out Innings with six strikeouts so all right maybe that uh bodess well for George Kirby next week Chris Basset pitched very well up against the Mets in a Revenge game six Innings one run eight strikeouts 10 whiffs on 101 pitches and uh he's turned in a quality start in two of his last three he's got a 250 ER over that span 24 strikeouts over 18 Innings so starting to get the strikeouts back and uh Chris Basset 63% started on CBS looks like a two-star pitcher at the Rangers at the ray next week I kind of like it good matchup he's pitching well right now look Chris Basset he's gonna end up with a pretty disappointing season um and maybe we've been a little a little too hesitant to be critical of him given his track record which has been you know bad stretches that he always generally bounces back from and he has not really this season you know 420 ra 141 whip especially is really tough but yeah I'm gonna start him against Texas and and Tampa Bay for sure Spencer arti bounced back with a strong start up against Oakland six and two3 innings two runs seven strikeouts 13 whiffs on 97 pitches and uh there's been some ups and downs we know that the last start out was obviously really bad but not as bad as we thought over his last 11 starts it's a 316 ER 116 whip well over a strikeout per inning and he's home against the Angels next week so I think I'm good with that yeah what makes arag get's recent stretch especially frustrating and I think what makes what might make people think he's been worse than he has been is that his two worst starts by far in that stretch were one against the white socks coming off what the back-to-back double digit strikeout games yep and then the most recent one against hu no not against Houston Seattle it was a good matchup yeah I it was a team we yeah it was a team we expected him to dominate he got let down by the defense a little bit ended up only pitching did he even get out of the first inning I don't think so uh and so the lows have been not just really low but very memorable and so I think people have probably per a perception of arag Getti that he's been less useful lately because the two times you tried to use him were really bad but yeah a bunch of people started him this week as they should have he's got a great matchup next week as well it's a volatile profile we know the the consist the command especially has been inconsistent but the stuff is really good and I I think I'm just rolling with arti I would start him ahead of Suarez and Bradley for sure darish is tough just because it's two starts but I feel better about the raos for arag Getti next week for than either darish or Basset I think he's a better bet at least and probably well I can't say better for strikeouts because they have two starts but yeah yeah on like a perar basis yeah I think obviously arti has a ton of upside in that department as well two starting pitchers that turned back into pumpkins here on Tuesday McKenzie Gore not great up against the Braves three and two-thirds Innings seven runs two of those were earned some bad defense behind him uh but he did have three quality starts in a row before this one so we were touting McKenzie Gore but bit of a let down here does get the Marlins later this week and then he's at the Cubs next week David Peterson also pretty bad at Toronto four and a third five runs four of those were earned um and previous seven starts before this he was dominant 181 ra and a 112 Whip and uh David Peterson looks like a two- star pitcher next week up against the Nationals and the Phillies so Chris what are you doing here with McKenzie Gore and David Peterson um so these are on opposite ends of the Spectrum in terms of the amount I believed in them but with Gore the frustrating thing is he had turned his season around in the in the last month or so or couple couple weeks at least by getting his fastball velocity back up to like 96 miles per hour on average which is where he was early in the season when he looked like a breakout it was back down to 95 in this one and so that's where it's like well if we can't I I think he's good when his mechanics are on and he's throwing hard and the fast ball is a plus pitch if the difference between McKenzie Gore being really good and being pretty bad is 96 to 95 miles per hour I just don't know if he's a guy you can trust um so yeah I I if you're in a daily lineup League I think I'd still start him against the Marlins probably not after that though yeah I think that's totally fair if you're locked in for the weekly lineup and he's already started one uh I I'd be okay dropping him for yeah somebody else with better matchups uh next week and David Peterson lines Kamar rocker honestly yeah I I I know we don't know what the workload is going to be like but I think there's a chance he just shoves for the next three weeks and we're talking about him in really really interesting ways for 2025 because he's been completely dominant what about David Peterson uh I yeah like I said I never really believed in him not nearly as much as McKenzie Gore so this backs up my prior I I don't think David Peterson's particularly good and he had a bad start I'm fine letting him go in a daily League like if you want to hang on to him until that start against Washington they've been bad against lefties they's still a bottom five offense against lefties I believe I'm fine with that I'm not starting him against the Phillies and Brewers after that though again that was David Peterson let's take our final break and when we return welcome back to Yoshi noou Yamamoto we'll talk about that right after this acire Place day one is now streaming on Paramount plus it's thrilling terrifying it will make your heart pound out of your chest a quiet place day one now streaming welcome back in and welcome back to yoshinobu Yamamoto who was dominant in his return up against the Yamamoto’s return Cubs four Innings one run eight strikeouts to zero walks he had 11 whiffs on 59 pitches 18.6% swinging strike rate here he only got up to 59 pitches so uh maybe 70 or 75 in his next outing he's only 29% started and looks like a two star pitcher next week home against the Rockies and at the Atlanta Braves I think it's wheels up for y yeah yeah anything you would like to add on this performance here no I mean velocity was up a little bit which is a good sign coming back from the shoulder injury he he's only got to make it through three more starts um you know if this was July he was coming back I might have some questions but uh yeah I'm I'm certainly starting him with Road Rockies and and the Braves next week yeah he will be a fascinating Yamamoto fascinating pitcher to evaluate for next season yeah because I was looking into just all the underlying numbers a 251 fit 277 X FIP 10.6k per9 and he gets ground balls 48% ground ball rate pitches for one of if not the best team in all of baseball uh but we're going to have this lingering shoulder injury in our minds and just the concern of whether or not his body can hold up for a full MLB season we just haven't seen that happen yet so it's it's a concern for me at least but on a per star basis talent-wise I I think he's probably one of the top 10 or 12 pitchers in baseball well and I think this is something we're gonna have to keep in mind with all Dodgers pitchers next year is this is true likely going to be a six-man rotation next year with Sho Otani returning to the rotation obviously given that everyone else there has gotten hurt or been bad this year it probably behooves them to keep Tyler glass now on a six day six-man rotation and and Yoshi Yamamoto um well they have enough arms to fill out a six-man rotation yeah they might have to sign whoever the best pitching free agent is Corbin yeah just to get to a f a six-man rotation but no it's something to keep in mind just with you know in in Japan generally speaking they throw on every sixth day rather than every fifth day and so you know it's not just Otani you know that way a lot of teams have had to make adjustments with that we saw that with kod senga as well and yeah the fact that he wasn't able to hold up does raise questions about his long-term value but top 20 pitcher for sure next year right yeah I I think so I think if you know if you drave if you're someone who typically drafts like two pitchers in the first four or five rounds if you can get Yamamoto as your SP2 in round four I think I'd feel really really good about that yeah I mean he's been as good as advertised yeah it's just Talent plays yeah it's just workload like how many innings are we gonna get that that's really the only lingering question I have on Yamamoto let's talk some waiver Waiver wire pitchers wire pitchers from Tuesday's action Albert Suarez turned in a strong start at the Red Sox six Innings one run eight Stouts 21 whiffs on 101 pitches pretty awesome start here for Albert Suarez Rett louder was solid at the Cardinals five shutout Innings with three strikeouts there JP Sears a quality start at Houston six shutout Innings uh only one strikeout in this one last eight starts for JP Sears 281 ER 97 Whip and Aaron savali a solid start at San Francisco 5 in a third two runs two strikeouts 11 starts with the Brewers 384 ra 123 wh if you're looking at matchups for next week savali is at Arizona JP Sears home against the Yankees in a Revenge game Rett louder is home against the Pirates and Albert Suarez two starts against San Francisco and Detroit it's pretty nice yeah louder has been pretty much as advertised and what I mean by that is he was kind of he was a top prospect but it was more of a this is a high projectable floor not necessarily a high ceiling that's always tough when it comes to Pitchers because we are not as good as projecting either ceiling or floor as we think we are but he's basically been what we expected but he's got a good match up against the Pirates next week I I'm not really super impressed by what ret louder has done despite you know superficially pretty impressive numbers but I think he can be worth streaming against the Pirates next week but if you're asking me to rank these four did you ask me that I didn't but you can I I don't know if like any of them are particularly impactful fantasy pitchers in the long run but Albert Suarez gets two bottom five offenses next week and he's pitching well right now and he's got that offense behind I am fine with Albert Suarez as a streamer next week I think he probably should be like 65% rostered next week so that would be about double of where uh Suarez is now so I I would sign off on that as well and then the rest of these yeah I I probably would take JP Sears the Yankees are actually pretty middling against left-handed bitching this season um not that I love it but you know if you're desperate for a streamer I I think that could work out fine and then probably louder and uh savali at the bottom of the list some waiver wire hitters Carlos Santana hit another Homer his 21st home run of the Waiver wire hitters Season he's 40% rostered I think that's probably prob fine right like I don't think there's any overwhelming excitement for Carlos Santana Carlos Santana is someone that like realistically could fluctuate between 40 and 70% roster and I I would have no opinion on it one way or the other like I just if you need a corner infielder this week he's perfectly fine to add but I'm not I'm never gonna complain if you drop Carlos santani either some outfielders in five outfielder leagues Matt walner two for five with his 12th home run updated number since being recalled on July 7th 290 batting average 11 home runs an Ops over a thousand and just incredible stack cast data 94.6 average exit velocity 21% Barrel rate for Matt walner during that stretch Tommy fam has hit well since joining the Royals two for five with his ninth home run uh and with the team he's let off all nine games 270 batting average two homers and one steel Andrew M McCutchen has quietly had a very strong second half 284 batting average eight homers 25 rbii a 939 Ops for Andrew McCutchen more so deeper League stuff here Chris five outfielder leagues I'll throw Parker Meadows in this mix how would you rank Meadows walner fam McCutchen Meadows walner fam has not played every day right with the Royals he has he started and he's let off all nine yeah I'd probably go Meadows w walner fam McCutchen then um I think Meadows and walner both should be more widely rostered than they are I think probably the problem with walner specifically is the strikeout rate's always going to be so high that it's just going to make it hard for people in points leagues to get over um but Meadows you know we talked earlier he's playing close to every day um and I think over the last two or three weeks it's actually been every day I don't think he's missed a game like the last 14 or something so I I would go Meadows at the top and I just want to shout out Andrew McCutchen homered today right yeah he's got 20 homers he's like been way stronger in his 30s than I think anyone expected him to be I feel like he fell off pretty hard and it was just like kind of Forgotten and this doesn't really matter for Fantasy because he's not an everyday player and you know he's in a a bad lineup so the counting stats are pretty bad but like this is like 37y old Andrew McCutchen with like a 112 Ops plus he's starting to put together like an interesting Fringe Hall of Fame case is one I'm gonna say for Andrew MCC I don't think he's ever gonna get there but he had the peak four straight years with top five MVP finishes he's starting to put like he's going to get around like 5050 plus wins above replacement 300 100 plus home runs I just he's gonna get some consideration is all I'm saying yeah 300 plus homers 200 plus steals for his career 831 Ops at this point over 370 career OBP really just really awesome career Andrew McCutchen and has not declined as sharply as I think a lot of people including myself expected he's playing on one leg too like doesn't he have a partially torn ailles and yeah he still doing this like man sh one of my favorite players absolutely like basically when I started playing Fantasy Baseball is exactly when he got called up so I have only known in my fantasy career Andrew McCutchen being the top prospect and following his career throughout so I've always just kind of thought about it that way like yes the year I started was the year Andrew McCutchen got called up and I've just I've always looked at it that way and I've yeah yeah awesome awesome love Andrew mccut uh some pitching leftovers Pablo Lopez finally did it the ER Leftovers, bullpens, streamers is under four for the season seven Innings four uned runs 10 strikeouts in this one his erra Pablo Lopez was 563 on June 18th in 14 starts since 232 ER 103 whip over a strikeout per inning this is uh the Pablo Lopez experience I guess Zack Gallen pitched well against Texas five five shutout Innings with seven strikeouts for him uh he has scoreless starts in three of his last four seven plus strikeouts in all four of those starts and Sh to imanaga turned in a quality start at the Dodgers seven Innings three runs four strikeouts three homers allowed in this one they were clearly all solo homers which helped uh but 16 whiffs on 89 pitches lots of hard contact 12 hard hits I think imanaga a little bit lucky to walk away with a quality start in this one but uh anything to add on him gallon and Pablo Lopez gallon seems to have figured it out it's been a weird season especially since he came back from that hamstring injury it's been a lot of ups and downs but the control seems to be better of late you'd like to see him pitch a little deeper into this one but uh I think you feel pretty good about him Pablo Lopez we're gonna do this next year maybe it's not with Pablo Lopez maybe it's with I don't know George Kirby or someone some very good pitcher is going to get off to a miserable start and people are going to cry and complain about it and just have faith I know it's frustrating in the moment when Pablo Lopez had a 583 ra or 563 RA in June on June 18th the worst thing you can do with a pitcher who you know is good when they are struggling like that is to trade them when their value is the lowest because what you're com you're compounding the problem you're banking the 563 ER you're selling them for a player who will probably not be as good as them and then you're not getting the Improvement and and so that's just I know it's tough I know it's frustrating have faith in these guys and then imaga you know I've seen some discussion about his change up and and he threw it more in this one three three whiffs with it um it is a distinct pitch from his sweeper or from his splitter um you usually don't see pitchers throw both a splitter and a change up but it's it's an actual pitch for him and and he's shown ability this season to to add and subtract things to his arsenal when he needs it and look I know he gave up three home runs today you're right he was probably lucky to get out of this one with a quality start against the Dodgers it's also the Dodgers you know most teams aren't uh quite that good and he's had a remarkable rookie season and I think he's going to be a really interesting player to Value next year because there's some ACE production there the ra certainly the whip really really good strikeouts are just okay the underlying metrics suggest there's been a decent amount of Fortune on his side I don't know if I want to say luck but it's uh it's an interesting profile when you're looking ahead to 2025 all right Chris I'm putting you on the spot here September 11th obviously not going to hold you to it but who do you foresee ranking higher for next year Pablo Lopez or Yoshi Yamamoto probably Pablo um the innings are safer yeah that's the thing he's gonna end up with 110 more Innings right yeah and I know he had the shoulders stuff earlier in his career but uh Pablo Lopez has complete non-issue four years in a row now right 100 he's going to wind up with 180 plus innings in three years in a row three the one oh no 2021 was the one before that but the last five years he's only missed time with injury once or one of those years in 2021 he made it through 2020 short and season but he didn't get hurt um so yeah I think we're kind of past that I mean look he's almost 30 or he will be 29 at the start of next season so I don't think he's any more of an injury concern than any other 29-year-old starting pitcher I guess is what I would say again that was Pablo Lopez let's talk some hitting leftovers Cedric Mullins had himself a huge game two for four with two socks and a shoe he is now up to 17 homers and 27 steals for the season having a pretty big second half is Collins uh who you know early on we kind of rote him off because all right the playing time was dwindling Orioles had all these options but the second half numberers 286 eight homers 11 seals 939 Ops that's a pretty awesome player he's going to end up he might end up with a 2030 season yeah that's that's pretty remarkable um it's a bad batting average but I think you were expecting that and it still does feel like we saw in the first half that the floor is super low and at some point the Orioles might decide it's not worth it but didn't happen this year so yeah I I think there's a decent F's just under valued in fantasy in 2025 again again that was Cedric Mullins Trey Turner is turning things back up three for five with a double dong for RBI last 25 games for him he's betting 304 five home runs only one steal you'd like turn it into run more but he had the hamstring injury earlier on in the season so I think that probably has affected him Zack Netto continues his breakout season two for three with a double and his 21st home run another one big second half 272 nine home 15 steals 869 Ops Lane Thomas is coming back to life two for four with his 11th home run 9 September Games he's betting 364 with three home runs one steel and an 1140 Ops Fernando tatis hit a homer Manny Machado hit another home run and Christian Walker his first big game since returning from the I two for four with a double dong and three RBI there lots of names Chris but um anyone stand out here anything you'd like to mention so I think Trey Turner are really interesting one for 2025 as well because overall the hitting has been pretty solid you know 295 average if not for the injury he easily would have gotten to 100 plus runs probably 75 RBI as well 15 steals is really disappointing however you mentioned the hamstring injury he got hurt on May 3rd did you realize on May 3rd Trey Turner had 10 steals already yeah no he he got off to a great start yeah he was off he was on a 50 steel pace and he's stolen five games in or five bases in what 70 games since then something like that yes 71 games so like he's still 96 percenti Sprint speed which is actually I I think he'd been like 99th or 998th percentile like every previous year so he has slowed down a little bit and I I think the hamstring injury is a reason why but you know last year we are so like well he didn't steal as much as he probably could have he was on Pace to do it early on I don't know how much you can expect Trey Turner to steal next season but I will say it just he always seems to get there in some way like if the steals aren't quite there he usually hits a little better um probably a second round pick right I exactly what I was thinking he just feels like a second rounder at this point he's he's just not in my opinion a firstr impact bat and I mean what it looks like if he can stay healthy for a full season I think he's still capable of hitting 300 with like 25 25 and really good counting stats but it's you know the first couple years in Philly it's it's just been a little bit off for TR Turner so I think he's a still he's still a really good player but just feels like a second round pick and then the other thing I will point out Fernando tatis good to see him do something since coming back from that injury another guy who did not have a minor league rehab assignment so not terribly surprising that he's been struggling Manny Machado is the Padre's all-time home run leader now what right wow the the uh who was the other one there are three currently active players who are the franchise home run leader for a franchise it's Manny Machado with the Padres I can't remember the second one and John Carlos Stanton with the Marlins wow yeah I thought that was kind of that was kind of funny that Manny Machado like that that doesn't seem like it could be right but like then you start to think about like who are the longtime padr like Adrian Gonzalez and Brian Giles were there for a while but like they weren't they were in a horrible park for their power so yeah it's that was that was a weird one to see today but uh as far as I know a true fact I really want to know that third player now who's uh an active franchise home run leader for their for their team previous Padre's home run leader by the way Nate Colbert uh a name that I will admit I was not familiar with no before today all right some Bullpen updates from Tuesday for the Pirates Aroldis Chapman got the ninth inning with a three-run lead he gave up one run on three hits picked up his eighth save for the Orioles Sir Anthony Dominguez got the ninth with a two-run lead he struck out two for his 10th save for the Reds Alexis Diaz was unavailable alilio Pagan got the ninth inning with a three-run lead he allowed three base runners but also struck out three for his first save for the Brewers dein Williams allowed a hit and a walk but struck out two for his 10th save and for the Cubs Porter Hajj uh got a got the ninth inning with a three-run lead he walked one but picked up his fifth save there were something going on there he was like holding his chest the trainer came out yeah feels like maybe had a shortness of breath or something like that but he was able to close it out and hopefully everything is all good there with Porter hjj uh three names on this list that are available Chris how would you rank Hajj Dominguez and Chapman if you needed saves Dominguez Haj Chapman I guess yeah I I think I'd probably put hod at the top of the list sure that's fine yeah yeah I think hod and Dominguez are probably interchangeable there by the way it's another one that's makes sense but is also kind of surprising Mike Trout is the Angels Fran home run record yeah that that makes some sense uh to stream or not to stream for Wednesday we have Matthew Boyd at the white socks absolutely 100,000% start him uh Cody Bradford is at the Dbacks we have man can we get a good start out of Casey M against the Rockies in Detroit he was good back in like April it could happen I could yeah that one I could see for sure yeah zebie Matthews is home against the angels we got Colin Ray at the Giants uh yeah I think for me it's Boyd Bradford and man if you want to try I guess Casey M but honestly I would go M or gomber ahead of Cody Bradford actually don't love the match up yeah it's very tough but he's pitched really well he's been really good all year it's just that's a really tough matchup yeah sure is for the Thursday slate we have DJ hers is home against the Marlins Gavin Williams is home against Tampa Bay he got destroyed his last time out against the Dodgers Kumar rocker debut against the Mariners and Frankie Monas is at the Giants so I you guys presumably talked a lot about Kamar rocker yesterday right yep I my hot take this might be too hot but I'll I'll I'll put it out there I am more excited to see Kumar rocker the rest of the way than Jason Dominguez I don't I don't think that's a hot take especially just because we've seen Dominguez once before already yeah and but like I mean even for fantasy like I think rocker could be a Difference Maker down the stretch I think there will probably be some Innings limitations he's only thrown more than 70 Innings or 70 pitches once so far but the landing spot at Seattle the stuff looks incredible he might be that guy we thought he was you know four years ago when he was in college uh for the Thursday slate I will go with uh DJ hers Montas and yeah I'd go rocker yeah yeah yeah I'd probably put him third on that list all right we are going to wrap there for Chris I am Frank thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today please make sure to follow and leave a Fest star rating on Apple or Spotify and we will be back again tomorrow bye-bye