Buying/Selling Streaking Players: Bogaerts, Crawford + more | Rotoworld Baseball Show (FULL SHOW)

hello and welcome to the root World Baseball show I'm your host Eric smolski joined by my co-host Scott panowski we've been uh we've been back and forth a few times this summer Scott but you know it's nice to be back in the saddle again um how are you doing doing great uh just had a few days of final vacation before we step into the craziness of all the sports colliding right and we get baseball pennant races hockey's not far off obviously the NFL season is coming we have some exciting news that we'll duck in about that uh some promos we're doing with Yahoo and NBC and you know NBA feels like they just played the Olympics but they're not far away you know there's some great golf tournaments going on with the Tour Championship so we're always in season here Eric and it's great to be talking sports but really baseball with you yes and there are t there are tons of seasons and we are weirdly involved in all of them but yes we're going to focus on baseball today um we are now about a month away from the end of the season um so what Scott and I are going to try to focus on here is a little bit of like buy or sell or ignore uh on guys that are streaking or cold over the last you know month or so um trying to help you with some pickups or I think also importantly for this time of year help you decide who to cut um some guys who are maybe name brands who we've been afraid to move on from uh but it might be the time of year to say you know what I need X Y and Z to get over the hump and if this player isn't giving it to me then I need to move on so we're going to try to help you with those decisions and then as we've been doing for a while in our midweek um pod we're going to you know rank the streamers at the end of the show uh just quickly give you our our picks for streamers on Friday Saturday and Sunday of this week to try to help you um either win your head-to-head matchups or make some pickups um we can help you in your Roto leagues as well um Scott the big news story at the top which we'll go real quick on Monday Dylan Cruz made his debut um for the Washington Nationals obviously um it's big story Cruz is not type the not exactly the type of player prospect that James Wood is but there is some five category upside here um you know not as much power um as James would but um you know was showing decent uh contact gains he hit second uh against a lefty on Monday and then hit seventh against a righty uh on Tuesday so I get the sense that like that's kind of how they're going to play it he'll start every day he'll hit up in the order against uh lefties and down in the order against righties in what type of leagues are you actually looking to add Dylan Cruz in redraft formats yeah I thought was maybe borderline in 12 teamers and then you would certainly look to add him in anything deeper than that Washington has not been afraid to throw its young players into key roles right away they obviously haven't been shy about doing that with wood and even though Cruz didn't have the same Prospect pedigree at the time of his call up he was the second overall pick in the draft 2023 the big debate was him or Wyatt Langford did Cruz go before Langford because of signability and all that I look at Cruz he reminds me just a little bit of Jackson Merill maybe with a little bit less pop but he's got it's that balanced player profile that you talked about and Bill James said many years ago that players who are good at a lot of things often tend to be underrated and players who are Specialists and great at one thing right tend to be sometimes a little bit overrated I think sometimes the player Merl's been a really good hit this year in an up and down season for rookies he's a Cornerstone to one of my keeper League teams so I have a soft spot for him I think Cruz is eventually going to be one of those players you're going to look at he's not going to overwhelm you with any one skill you're gonna be like well he's good at a lot of different things and makes him a useful fantasy Prospect yeah I mean you know I I I wrote about this on on the blurbs for um for roto world right that there were there were nice contact gains for him this year um there were you know he went hitless in his first game had one hit um in the second game you know uh he has made good swing decisions this year was hitting 272 you know 13 homers 25 steals across double A and triaa you know again this is his first full Pro season right so there are going to be ups and downs we've seen guys like Kobe Mayo with you know a lot longer minor league track records and probably higher highs struggle off the bat so I think we have to expect that with Cruz as well obviously the 25 steals this year are nice because even if he's not hitting you know balls over the fence early on he could still give you some some category juice in steals as well um I think you know if you have the spot for like an upside stash go for it um because you know you're you're rolling the dice and you're hoping he hits the ground running there are some outfielders we're going to talk about later who are boring veterans but are maybe better bets for like immediate production um and so I think it depends on like are you sitting comfortably in your league right now and all you want is consistent production you maybe don't want Dylan Cruz do you kind of need to throw a Hail Mary to get to first or second in your league if you do maybe that's a situation where you take a gamble on Dylan Cruz because if he doesn't produce right away you're not really in a different place than you were before but if he does kind of get to his 80th or 90th percentile you know outcome then maybe that makes a major difference for you um so it does depend on on your setup um negative news was Nick Lolo heading to the iil with sprained middle finger um the Cubs basically said that he's been dealing with this issue since his last injury uh which was a blister on his finger um and so that kind of maybe explains the poor performance um ldo mentioned that the you know the sprained middle finger was impacting his curveball grip which is impacting his curveball performance he was somebody who's like Sierra and xfip over the last month far better than his actual erra um so look sprain finger it's his pitching finger so we don't really know if he's going to be the minimum ilil stint um maybe he comes back in in two weeks and you get like two starts from ldo to end the year is that enough for you in like an nfbc format with no iil to hold him on on your roster I would only hold him in a very specific situation if you needed strikeouts and if your ratios were nowhere near anybody else I mean this guy here ra is in the mid fours it's in the high fours this year it was over six last year I'll be in just a few starts we're always t ized by the strikeouts right just one of those guys who Strikes Out players by the ton but he walks too many he's a little bit Homer friendly it's just just he's a Fantasy teas right I know that his component thatat say his ear is a little bit misleading but whatever I mean his FIP this year is still 395 that's not good enough so you'd have to have a very specialized fit for your generally when any pitcher gets hurt this late in the season I kind of write them off it's only a finger injury it's not you know the elbow the shoulder the forearm the stuff that we would really worry about it's something that should heal and be fine but you need to be he's a strikeout play only that's the only consideration I would give for rostering him can I uh maybe do a give you a tiebreaker piece of information I just looked up what his projected starts were obviously this changes because he's on the iil but if he were to just return to his rotation spot his last two starts are against the Braves and the Guardians um those are probably not starts where you would want to pitch him and especially coming off an injury like that too the only good thing that could happen is maybe with that last start with the Guardians maybe they're locked into playoff position and they roll out like that spring training lineup or something but even then that's something you could you could make that decision in the final week I bet if you don't add him or if you drop him he's just going to sit in a little corner ignored because like oh he's a hurt pitcher no when everybody does their free agent searches for their bidding they're not going to see a player who's hurt they're just gonna ignore it's like an illegal move in chess you don't even consider it so true I just leave him on the wire and then if we find out that Cleveland is sending their JV team and and even if lello comes back I mean who's to say he doesn't throw four Innings you know 80 you know 57 65 pitches whatever the okay fine that's this day of every starting pitcher is gonna stay in with a lead to try to get the win everything teams just don't play like that anymore espe the Reds aren't going to be in contention so they don't really need to do that right he's still a young pitcher who's cons you considered part of their future so I would think they'd probably be cautious with him again I'm not I'm not saying I'm not saying forever no I'm just saying that it would have to be a very special set of circumstances so just leave them on the wire and if those C circumstances come up we can revisit agreed um on Tuesday the Orioles put Ryan Mount Castle um on the iil they he had with a left wrist injury they' had been giving him treatment um and Brandon Hyde the manager said that the treatment uh he didn't respond to the treatment as well as they'd hoped his quote is um it's going to be a lot of treatment here over the next week timetable of that I don't know I'm hoping I'm staying optimistic that when the IL stint is over the days are over he's able to join us um so that would be 10 days if you take the I'm hoping I'm optimistic um it doesn't make us feel real good about that uh being in 10 days so you could be looking at two to three weeks without Mount Castle um you know the Orioles are in a pennant battle so if he's healthy they're going to want him back in the lineup I know he is not like a uber talented player but you know hitting 265 with a 730 Ops of the year he's been a regular starter for the Oriol um so obviously if you if you can hold that's fine um my other question to you is it looks like ELO Jimenez is going to be the regular DH now for the Orioles uh with Ryan o'hern playing first base um against righties now that Mount Castle is out both o'hern and Jimenez are on the waiver wire in a lot of leagues um o'hern has been a regular starter against righties all year so this doesn't really change his value but does this make you at all interested in in Eli I he's slugging 349 this year I I don't know what happened to Eli himz I know he's hurt a lot of times but he's 27 it feels like he's 35 he's only with Baltimore he's get one walk and 14 strikeouts even though he's hitting three 300 you know the Ops is terrible he's not hitting FR power I would love to see ELO jimnez rocking the ball again but I'm not going to bet on him yeah I agree with you on that as well um let's see oh can't believe this is made it to the news but it made it to the news as another po potential pickup um but jav bayz has been transferred to the 60-day iil um his season is over since that has happened uh Trey Sweeney has become the regular starter at shortstop for the tigers um look this is a guy who has been was a 251 career Minor League hitter has not you know been electric was striking out 27% of the time in triple A with the Dodgers before coming over to the Tigers but did hit 381 in 11 games in Triple A you know on the year has 15 homers and 20 steals in 107 Minor League games um he's only hitting 192 in eight games for the tigers are there any formats outside of AO only where you would consider picking up Trey Sweeney now that he seems likely to be the starter for the uh Tigers the rest of the way yeah it' have to be probably a 15 team and up a deeper League where any at bats have a currency although I will say this was Sweeney I know people thought maybe the Tigers didn't get enough in the FL deal I'm trying to figure out why the Yankees gave up so quickly on he was a first round pick and they basically gave him away to the Dodgers for for two guys who I don't think they have any Great Hopes for and maybe FL was is a rental anyway I mean they knew that he had to be trayed at the deadline probably for the shape of the Tigers roster it didn't make any sense to keep him but why not Sween he's 24 um first round pedigree as you said he had the power and speed this year he's striking out too much but um anything is going to look better than jav bayas it's funny I I tweeted something about jav bayas about how frustrating it was to watch him play and how he's just Sun cost and you should just forget about the contract and maybe just move on and the week I tweeted that he actually I think he hit three or four home runs that week and one of the home runs he hit when I was in attendance and I'm like okay I fixed Javi bayas I see something you a little negative about him on Twitter and here he comes but um it's just I don't know what went wrong with it I know jav bay is even at his best with swinging anything it feels like his career might be over now and um I take no joy in saying that but yeah Sweeny um you know maybe he's a little bit post hype 15 and up I'd be okay with it for the shallower leagues you basically put him on the watch list and see if he gets hot you'd probably need some production before you'd make an ad but he's at least somebody to be aware of yeah uh we got another rookie Short Stop to be aware of uh A's Short Stop Jacob Wilson is back off the iil um he started on Tuesday so are you more likely to add Jacob Wilson you know he was kind of like the hot flavor of the month when he was first called up because he was you know absolutely torching the minor leagues in terms of batting average uh hurt his hamstring in his first game um are you more inclined to pick up Jacob Wilson than you would be somebody like Trace yeah probably I mean the triaa numbers read like a misprint right I mean you only struck out 15 times in 53 games had almost equal walks and strikeouts 433 474 668 slash and he still just 22 you know a lot of times when you see guys do stuff like that you're like oh okay is he old for the level or something like that that's not the case he comes up and gets hurt right away I think Oakland and know a lot of crazy things are going on with Oakland we don't know where the team's headed there's just so much chaos in the front office but you would think they would just leave Wilson alone for the next five weeks and see if they have a piece here I'm I don't know that he's gonna have the category juice that we want but you know batting average is a stat too it is um it is a stat it's an important stat it's a stat we forget about um so yeah I I am I'm inclined to agree with you even though Sweeney has some like minor five category upside um I would rather go with well Wilson in what what is a better lineup I mean I don't know that coming into the year we thought we'd say that about the A's lineup but like that is a better lineup right now um something not on the rundown but it is your team so I'll just ask you because we're talking about the tigers um Spencer Tolson has come back he's sitting fine he's hting you know 308 since coming back two home runs I'm just curious if you are willing to buy back in on on Spencer Tolson um and in what league types you would be willing to buy back in on Spencer TR the funny thing is I didn't see anything encouraging him about what he was doing in the miners and now he's come back and he's he's he's been productive he's still striking out too much I looked at some of the leagues where I cut tlon I didn't have a ton of torlon but I had one or two shares and I think he's been already added in those groups so it's one of those things where if you can get him at your price you the zero bid or the $1 bid I'm okay with that but if you don't get them it's not the end of the world Detroit's still got a lineup with a lot of holes in it you know if for every Riley green they have two or three guys you're never going to consider rostering I'm just glad to see him up and producing again but I'm afraid there's still too much swing and miss here and Detroit's curse was that the years that they had high picks you know number one overall picks they ended up with people like Tolson and Casey M and it seems like the year the Orioles had number one pick it was like oh okay we have adley Rutman who's gonna be like the next the best catcher in the American League for the next eight years or something like that so I think Detroit was a little bit unlucky that they didn't have slam dunks when they had that number one overall pick I'd like to see Tolson get his career on track and you know in a couple of you know the heck with it why not have one sometimes you just want to get one sh guy so if something happens at least you're not locked out of it but he's still striking out way too much yeah and I will say like you know I had to pick up Corner infield in a few leagues um where you know I lost Austin riy and I was just kind of casting a wide net for any Corner infielder not just like a third baseman um and it's dark days out there for Corner infielders uh you know like the best corner infield options are also guys like Ernie Clement who are like second base Short Stop like they're not like those power hitting Corner infield um you know guys that we we're used to seeing on The Wire Ernie Clement is like Ben zis Ben zis at this point you will not get Ernie Clement off my rosters I need him he starting for me every day Ernie is my guy so my guy Ernie's my guy too you move over the place yeah when uh when I I used to run a college wood bat summer league um in the perfect game collegiate baseball league the Aly Dutchman um no longer in existence but thank you for you know 13 years Albany Dutchman um and my responsibility for the team as the assistant GM was putting the roster together um and I signed Ernie when he was a high school senior because I talked to the UVA coach and you know our team was allowed to have two incoming freshmen and they said we've got a you know we've got a local kid um we think he's really good and you know I think he'd benefit from playing in the league for you know against College pitchers and so Ernie played for us just after a senior year of high school great kid um and you know great kid at the time obviously he's like an adult man now um but you know he was a great kid on and off the field we've been rooting for his success for a while um you know he got he was an up and down guy for a while um you know with some of the other organizations he's been with um and so it's super cool to see him having the success that he has he's a tremendously hard worker and so it's nice to see that kind of uh pay off for him what an awesome I said he was my guy he literally is your guy that's not only is that clment story great but that you running that organization in that wooden bats League which I didn't know is is fantastic there there is so so much great backstory with Eric that comes out during the podcast one of my favorite stories of the Season we parse it we parse it out through yes um let's let's end with one more that I want to just have you talk about uh we you know we have been pounding the table for Joey Bart here for for weeks because he been playing really well um really unfortunate that a guy who was like the next big thing a catcher for the Giants finally seemed to find it and now he's hurt again um there's no timeline right now the for the Pirates are saying he's starting to throw but like you know there's no timeline for when he's going to return they've called up Henry Davis in the meantime um Henry Davis started the first game against the Lefty ymani grandal is starting today against a righty that might kind of be the way that it it works um obviously if Henry Davis is only starting against lefties you're probably not picking him up but let's say Henry Davis starts to get a couple more starts here and there are you willing to Charlie Brown try to kick the football again or are you done well I I'm not interested and the reason why is because I think the catcher and I I put out some Joey Bart promotion maybe a week ago and just mentioned how many of the top 12 catchers this year still rostered under 50% and it even now if you lost Bart who's been really good to us and as you mentioned he was playing at first base getting DH times who's basically in the lineup every day if you lost him I'm just looking at the best free agents in in leagues that are under 25% Rost there's a bunch of guys who who are playing a lot who are producing a catcher this has not been a tough position to fill so rather than tell myself a story that maybe Henry Davis is gonna figure it out I'm just there's guys who are already productive who I think are easier to add so Henry Davis is nowhere near my radar right now oh great um and we'll talk about some of those guys later if you need somebody at catcher uh a couple quick hitters uh Christian Walker took batting practice on Monday inching closer to a return for the Diamondbacks which is great news if he's on your fantasy team we talked about how there are very limited quarter infield options um Jason Hayward is signing with the Houston Astros because nobody knows when Kyle Tucker is going to play baseball again um the you know the Astros keep saying early September for Tucker he still as of Monday um had not yet started running the bases which he needs to do because it's a shin injury right he needs to be able to run and Sprint before he goes out on a rehab assignment so we have no idea when that's going to happen um just today the Mariners uh activated JP Crawford off the iil so for those of you in deeper leagues um JP Crawford is back to most likely hit lead off and play every day for the Mariners uh Joe Ryan was moved to the 60-day iil so his regular season is over if you were holding on to him in any sort of redraft League um his regular season is done hopefully they still have some hope he can make it back for the playoffs um Jared Jones was activated off the I um had a rough start against the Cubs yesterday looked pretty good in his rehab starts um I'm not too concerned about you know first start off the ilil um with with Jared Jones there so I'm still trying to get him um I had had him on my bench in a lot of leagues and I kind of do that with pitchers in their first start back so but I I could see myself throwing him right back into the lightup next week um Xavier Edwards was placed on the I which is unfortunate if you picked him up and were using um the stolen base upside it allowed Griffin conine to get called up that's just a cool little you know hey another former um MLB player son getting a shot U Xavier Edwards we don't yet know what his timeline is but we expect the Marlins are going to try to to get him back on the field before the end of the year uh the tigers called up one of their former prosp top prospects Tai Madden um you may see the name value and think I have to get him my lineups just know that Tai Madden was having a really horrible year uh this year for the Tigers and a lot of the Tigers beat writers are suggesting that he was called up right now because the team wants to see him face MLB pitching to decide if he's going into the offseason as a starter or a reliever because there is some thought that his um fastball slider combo would play up really nicely out of the bullpen um that's interesting to hear because the tigers kind of have an option at closer and so if Tai Madden if they do feel like Tai Madden is better out of the Bullpen there's a path for him in 2025 to be an impact reliever for the Tigers so just keep an eye on that uh speaking of impact relievers Liam Hendricks could return as early as the end of next week um for the Red Sox he is not going to close right that's still Kenley Jansen but the Red Sox bullpen could desperately use him um and there's a chance he picks up a spare save here or there if he kind of works into high leverage Innings um and if you're in keeper leagues um he is signed to a two-year deal uh if he looks good at the end of this year if he's back there is a very very strong likelihood that Liam Hendrick is the closer for the Red Sox at the start of the 2025 season um so if you have an opportunity in leagues to pick him up that is something to think about um some minor league guys just to note uh Chase deer is on fire for the Guardians in Triple A right now rosters will expand soon um and the Guardians offense has really been struggling in particular in the Outfield where laye Thomas is giving them nothing so Chase to Lauder could be a pickup um with rosters expanding Jacob mizerowski um has been used primarily out of the bullpen for the Brewers and is absolutely on fire um for Triple A for them unfortunately he's probably going to come up as a reliever but that is also just a name to keep in mind um for the Brewers and then last thing which is not fantasy relevant but the Cardinals designated Shawn Armstrong for assignment uh Sean Sean Armstrong was the return at this year's trade deadline for Dylan Carlson and he is already on waivers um so the Cardinals yes Dylan Carlson probably need a change of scenery but they traded him away for a reliever that they designated for assignment less than a month after trading away Dylan Carlson who still has I believe two years of control after this year um so just remember that maybe next year when Dylan Carlson is a starter for the Rays and you're thinking about what did the Cardinals get for him uh nothing is the answer to that question they got nothing so just a couple of rebuttal to all that um man the the Xavier Edwards injury kills me he was stealing a base just about every day I am using il's spot for him hoping that he does come back and because he again top of the lineup hitting for a great average and can steal a base pretty much anytime he wants it I think he might have gotten hurt stealing base on Friday so that was a big sting for me on a bunch of my rosters Jason Hayward I have a nickname for him it's infield practice because I feel like when I think of Jason Hayward I think of him grounding out the second base routinely um it's just so weird he came up he was 20 years old he looked great early his career and just the Arc of his career was so strange and let me just ask you a question about you mentioned uh the Guardians they're getting nothing out of Lane Thomas it gives me two questions to you one is Lane Thomas a cut right now because I think in some leagues I'm I'm not I don't want to play him anymore and once you don't want to play somebody you might as well cut them and the Royals have caught the Guardians in the AL Central I don't think it's the juiciest maybe Wild Card penet Race season that we've had a lot of the stuff is already decided but that's really exciting the Royals remember they they were worse than the white socks last year right this is a fun team Bobby Wht it's gonna be a great debate next year who do you take first overall take shoh do you take Bobby Wht do you take and judge there's a lot to talk about and breakdown there but the Royals are fun I'd like to see the Royals do it just it's a fresh story so are we cutting Lane Thomas and who are we picking in the AL Central um I'm still picking the Guardians I'm I'm biased obviously uh but I believe in in vote I believe in their ability to turn that that team around a little bit I believe in the pieces on the Guardians um I am okay moving on from Lane Thomas in 12 Team league I'm trying to hold in a 15 um he was acquired at the deadline also because he has another year of control they view him as a starting outfielder next year so I don't think they're going to take him out of the lineup so in a 15 Team league I'm willing to bench him because I think that the Guardians will continue to try to let him get you know back in the groove a little bit um I think it is really detrimental if you bench him now and then say hey you're a starting outfielder next year like I just don't know that's going to happen however in a 12 team League like even before the trade I think he was hitting like 250 for the Nationals a lot of the value was coming in in his speed um and the Guardians will run so if he gets on base he will run he just has to get on base and that's where like in a 15 Team league I'm still willing to hold you know for solid lineup context and good speed um but in shallower leagues I think I can get that on the wire while he's struggling so you know I can move on yeah I think maybe the biggest thing is that he's not in today's lineup and so that would be one two three four times in the last nine days where he's actually not started and I I need guys playing in in mixed leagues and I real you have to sprinkle to taste um 10 team you wouldn't be considering him 15 team maybe you have to hold him but in that 12 team sweet spot I need guys playing every day and right now the Indians Indians the Guardians have spoken they don't view him as a fulltime player whether he needs to get his mojo back as you mentioned team control he's been really good player for me the last couple years the Washington years but once they started once I started to see that red X when I when I call up my roster and Yahoo and and elain Thomas isn't playing he becomes a chore for me now I have to say is Lane Thomas even in the lineup today what's worse than you don't get to your lineup in time and you have somebody who's in your active lineup in a daily league and he's not starting really frustrating so I think that's probably what pushed me over the cliff here yeah um I yeah I I get it I see it um and I I think you I don't think you're G to really regret cutting Lane Thomas so if you need to go for it um we're going to get some guys that you could pick up if you do cut Lane Thomas uh before we do that though fantasy football season just got better $1 million better create or join a private Yahoo fantasy league and enter the $1 million NBC sweep Stakes plus earn extra entries to win when players on your fantasy roster score a touchdown during an opening weekend game on NBC or peacock download the redesigned Yahoo fantasy app or go to nbcsports.com fantasy million to learn more that's also a good tiebreaker if you're in your fantasy football draft um and you're trying to figure out who should draft um well if you're tied between two guys and one of them plays an opening weekend game on NBC or peacock um that gives you an extra chance if you draft them uh to you know earn some more entries to win a million dollars uh that could be a million-dollar decision for you in your draft and by the way they did a they did a great job with the scheduling because they're all loaded offensive teams right the Ravens and Chiefs are playing in the opener I think the Packers Eagles lions and somebody else I mean lions and Rams maybe I think those are the six teams you're going to want a draft players it's really obvious draft fantasy football players from the the really good offenses you know who doesn't want an Andy Reid offense a sha McVey offense my colleague D Delon Yahoo was saying the lions at home are like Kors field you know they're so good in inside on The Fast Track and everything so um we know the Eagles score a bunch of points Jordan love Rising quarterback for the Packers who was great in the second half last year and is one of my favorite targets so you're gonna want to draft those guys anyway why not make a million bucks while you're doing it agreed uh all right we're gonna play a little Buy sell ignore which is basically I'm going to give you some some hitters and pitchers who are either streaking or struggling in recent weeks and you're going to tell me whether you buying the hot streak um whether you're selling the player uh just like get him off my roster or whether we're just ignoring the recent stats um and either leaving the player on the wire or holding him on your roster um it starts with a catcher because the sixth ranked hitter over the last two weeks is Miguel Amaya of the Cubs um who's hitting 421 with three home runs nine RBI sorry n runs and 14 RBI over his last 11 games however it goes back even farther with Amaya um who changed his swing the beginning of July is hitting 358 in 105 plate appearances um with a 589 slugging percentage since changing his swing it's 11.4% strikeout rate it's 177 weighted runs created plus five homers seven doubles are you buying what Miguel Amaya is selling oh yeah for sure I mean we're not looking for Mr right we're looking for Mr right now and he is the number five catcher in Yahoo value over the last month and that one of the four guys in front of them is Joey Bart who's hurt now and you know so if you if you missed out if Bart was somebody you were playing why not pivot to Amaya and still just 25% rostered in Yahoo so I mentioned how catcher was not the hardest solve this year because it seems like there's just a bunch of guys who are under rostered who are producing so yeah a Maya to me and I like maybe it's a false equivalency but whenever somebody's producing and I could point to something there's a technical change in the swing I love that that that always is like a selling point for me that's what I was going to say it's not just hot streak it's not just opponent um you know they they changed his swing he had been using um a like a leg kick his whole career um and they changed him to using a tow drag and getting away from the leg kick because they thought it would help him um look like get his foot down earlier which is why you're seeing like huge increases in in exit velocity bat speed pull rate because he's actually getting down early and able to turn on the ball um what I love my favorite little anecdote from the whole story is that he didn't know if he wanted to make the change because obviously even though he's struggling this is how he swung his entire life it got him to the major league so why would I make the change uh the assistant hitting coach Juan Caba um texted Nelson Cruz because Nelson Cruz made a similar change um and Nelson Cruz basically said what does he have to lose he's hitting 186 and so they showed Miguel Amaya the text message from Nelson Cruz and he basically that helped push him over the edge of like all right what do I have to lose um and it's worked out and so I just love that as an anecdote I love it as a story um and I love Miguel and Maya as a pickup so go get him if you can can can Nelson crew send a text message to Joey Gallo who for some reason is still in baseball even though he hits like 157 every year yeah maybe what does what does he have to lose by retiring our own Adam W is a Washington fan he deserves better than Joey Gall let's let's get that fixed he does yeah um Andre chaparo though I like Andre chaparo in Washington not on our our list here but um hope he gets some regular playing time uh Corner infielder who is on our list is Ramon uas uh Ramon oras listen I am one of the group that has been like I can't believe we're going to this guy as the regular third baseman instead of Kobe Mayo um but you know Ramona rias is delivering uh he is the 14th ranked hitter overall in Yahoo over the last two weeks um he's hitting 306 with four home runs seven runs scored 13 RBI and one steel over the last 13 games are you buying what Ramon uas is selling and I'll just add the kicker that uh he plays in Colorado this weekend yes it's a couple nice kickers right the schedule fits he covers first base second base third base in Yahoo he's tied to the Baltimore lineup gives him some buoyancy it's another Mr Right Now thing I would cut youru R in a second if he hit any kind of a cold patch but that's unlikely to happen with the schedule lining up sure uh he's only rostered 11% of Yahoo too so he's widely available and you know for you and me losing Austin Riley these are the types of players you have to consider for sure not only losing lost and Riley on one team I have rapael Des who sat last night Tuesday night because he's managing shoulder soreness and I realized at that point when I went to switch him out because I'm in a Yahoo daily moves League I didn't have a backup third baseman um and so in a situation like that ramonas we have du we have bi-weekly pickups so we have pickups on Wednesday night I putting in bids for ramonas tonight because if I get him um in Coors I can use him just in the utility spot Corner infield spot and if for whatever reason the Red Sox are resting Des again I throw uas in there but again yeah I when he goes cold he goes off my roster but that's a great lineup to have a piece of and I'm happy to do that and you want to have a couple of those Rovers we talked about Clement earlier who's one of those players too you want like one or two players on your team who play three different positions because it gives you the flexibility so much a fantasy baseball is volume is just getting the most opportunities in your league getting as many at bats as you can get and that's going to help you in the counting stats so you need a couple of these guys who can float anywhere they're needed yeah and that's why I love like if you're in a format like Yahoo look at your your starts right go scroll down look at like your starts by position because a lot of leagues will have start limits right so you can't just like load up all season long if your league has a starts limit you start to see what positions you have the most starts left at um and make sure your roster is filled with guys who can fill in those spots so if somebody's out for whatever reason you're not taking zeros on any day you're able every day to fill in somebody on that spot um that's again just figure out your league and try to make that work for you um over the last two weeks Pete Crow Armstrong is the 20th ranked hitter in Yahoo formats U hitting 297 in 12 games with three home runs eight runs scored nine RBIs and three steals uh was once a super top ranked Prospect for the Mets um Elite defensive center fielder but do he buy the offensive production we're seeing right now from Pete Crow Armstrong you know I've been slow to pick him up in leagues and I'm I'm probably going to be slow to to add him even now as you love the defense because it marks a spot in the lineup but they haven't moved him up at all and because there's been it's been such a rocky trajectory for his offense I just think this is more of a blip than something that's likely to continue I I'm open-minded to him I want to like PCA I think I like call him him PCA I'm a little bit of a cub sympathizer too but um I'd like to see the team by a little bit more he always bats ninth there's a lot of strikeouts in this game um I've been slow to adopt to this and and if that beats me I can be fine with that yeah I'll just say if you need speed right everyday player has stolen 26 bases in 94 games at the major league level this year so I don't really buy the full offensive output we're getting over the over the recent stretch however if I need speed then I'm happy to take a flyer because listen 22% strikeout rate he's making consistent contact so even if he is more of like a 250 hitter instead of this 290 version that we're getting from him recently that's going to lead to stolen bases and that's not going to kill me in batting average but I don't think the power that we've seen right now is is gonna stick um he's he's listen he's a 20 Homer 15 to 20 Homer full season guy um and there's nothing wrong with that um I just you know hitting at the bottom of the order those like counting stats are going to be hit or miss I wonder why he's not running he had that one game um a couple days ago where he stole three bases and over the last I think 16 games he's only stolen three bases they were all in one game I he's a plus spacee stealer he's a he's a really good athlete I I don't know what and then I don't know teams are listen hard to steal it's hard to steal bases when you're hitting home runs Scott that's true yeah you know home runs who who's the F was it Smoltz I forget what announcer said that home runs or maybe Joe Morgan said this back in the day that home runs kill your rally because nobody's on base now it's like you stop hitting home runs yeah you gotta do it you gotta get the ball in play um another Outfield option is Ramone laurano this is what the Braves do um you take a guy who has been nothing for a few years um and Ramon laurano has been great he's a 26th ranked hitter in Yahoo formats um over the last two weeks hitting 347 in 13 games of three home runs seven runs scored seven RB and two steals but it goes beyond that with laurano uh since coming to the Braves in 42 games uh he's hitting 301 with 20 runs scored 15 RBIs and steals um I have added Ramone laurano in a few leagues are you also adding Ramone laano yeah he's the Eddie Rosario winner right just the Recycled veteran uh you've forgotten about him he's still in the majors yeah he's still in the majors and I've been adding laurano all over the place power and speed at one point he was a really exciting player for Oakland A lot of things went wrong but I he's been probably my most added player over the last 10 days yeah I I love it listen if you and I love the work they do at rer resource over on fangraph so this is not a knock on them but if you go to the page he's on the bench even though he has started the last six games and Jared Kellick has only started two that I I believe that has been a swap Ramone laurano is the starter in left field right now Jared Kellick is on the bench Jared Kellick will sometimes start against righties though he didn't start against a righty on Tuesday Ramone laurano did um and so yes I think you'll see Ramon laurano get the odd day on the bench against a righty when they're going to get Kell in the lineup I just don't think it's going to be that often laurano is hitting fifth against lefties hitting seventh against righties he's hitting behind Marcel Ozuna and Matt Olson and Michael Harris there will be RBI opportunities there um again if he turns into a pumpkin you move on but but I'm buying Ramone laurano for right now uh by the way he's 16 straight starts and 19 out of 20 I'm eyeballing baseball reference right now so he's an everyday player they they have basically said he's our left fielder some days he's our right Fielder some days and I do think they've soured on Kellick and I I just don't know what to do with that guy I mean I was down on him and then he I cut him in some leagues he had a nice hot stretch in the middle of the year and since then I feel like he's been he's hit like 185 since then and they I think it might be it I mean he's 25 years old now which I know isn't really old but is older for like a baseball Prospect um you know he has we have a 370 game MLB sample of him being a 213 hitter with an over 30% strikeout rate like I think he'll be I think he'll be in a different organization next year or if if he is with the Braves he won't be a starter I mean he'll be their fourth outfielder I think they they're an organization that stinking championship at the beginning of the year he's just not good enough to really be on their roster like he got he's only there now because so many people have gotten hurt but as you talked about they've moved away from him as a key piece and Lano is just better he does more things well he's more reliable again they've done such a good job of recycling guys maybe they kind of thought that they could say the right thing to Kell Nick or coach him up or do whatever but I think that's been a failed experiment and again laurano he's only I think 9% 10% something like that roster and Yahoo that's he should be I get it you know football's coming people are going back to school and everything I realize the engagement goes down a little bit but he should be 25 35 40% rostered I think that's a great opportunity for the people listening to get a productive outfielder who El we talked about the last three weeks he's an everyday player yeah I I fully agree with you on that one um last outfielder or last player just sorry to to who's on a hot streak uh Trevor LNO has ranked the 43rd ranked hitter in Yahoo over the last two weeks he's hitting 351 in 11 games of three homers seven runs 10 RBI but he's actually had a really hot August uh in 19 games in August he's hitting 318 with those three home runs 15 runs scored 11 RBIs um L will sit against lefties though um so in what type of leagues could you see yourself adding Trevor LNO or would you not at all because you know he's just a part-time player yeah Minnesota their team and I realize part of it is because of we always talk about the roster has a lot of injury attrition it's hit this year plus they do platoon here and there you just never know what the lineup's going to look like left left and right but so you have it has to be a daily moves League where you can maneuver it and then maybe with a fair amount of bench spot because if you only have a few few bench spots you just you know that that platoon guy kills you but yeah in certain maneuver this so he's a specialty play but the good news is lately when he's been playing he's batting second or third mostly second still line I like obviously buckon has finally gotten hurt after being healthy for most of the Season which opens up a playing spot and an outfield spot what a shame too I went to a Twins game at at Detroit and watching buckon play center field was one of my highlights of the Season he just moves like a gazelle He's So Graceful and I was hoping this year he could play a full season but U Lardo is a chore he's a a responsibility you have to tend to although for the most part at least you know Lefty he's not playing so or he's going to be buried in the lineup occasionally he'll play against the Lefty so I guess if you want to say in weekly league if you see a bunch you you need what's the cut off for you in a weekly League do you need five ready starts six ready starts something like that if it's a 50-50 week you don't play them but um just be aware five would be ideal four is on the fence yep for me um and I will say I just looked they fa three lefties next week um so you're so L is probably a pass for right now you got to look ahead to the schedule and see if um you can you know scoop him up later um some hitters struggling hitters uh might be see if it's time to move on or not uh over the last I went to a month for this because these are guys who like I need longer than a twoe sample to see if it's ready if we should cut them uh Yanni Diaz is the 295th ranked player over the last month he is hitting 298 over 25 games two home runs 10 runs 10 RBIs we know he doesn't steal and we know his power is not what we've wanted from Yanni Diaz so now that he hits leadoff in a bad raise lineup versus a good raise lineup does yandi Diaz need to be on your roster you need to do what he does he's a batting average guy who has a a little bit of power never runs at all and you know Tampa Bay I I I don't think there a good a quality team they're not great but they're not terrible right they're not a bottom out team I have almost no shares of their offense I think part of it is because I again I talked about the chore of having the grind a lineup every day I not only do I not know who's going to start but then they're going to pinch hit and they're gonna move guys around defense I just don't want to play somebody who may not start or may start and only get three at bats or in the case of Diaz he never runs right the power is marginally that one season last year we hit the 2200 runs he won the batting title for crying out loud and it's nice to see somebody actually winning a batting title hitting over 300 it may not happen the National League this year makes me a little bit nervous but I'm kind of sick of the Rays I get what they do they're smart they don't want to spend money their ballpark stinks whatever I don't have particular interest in Diaz because I like to ignore every Tampa Bay game if I can um I have kept him in a few places but yeah I I think if you don't need batting average um I could see moving on from from yand Diaz um Xander Bogarts who we talked about being kind of out on when he was coming back from the the fractured shoulder he's the 323rd ranked player in Yahoo over the last month hitting 263 in 26 games with one home run 10 runs 10 RBI and three steals he is still hitting in the middle of a good Padres lineup um are you holding are you moving on from Zander Bogarts I feel like I moved on a long time ago I he he man if if you told me he was 35 or 36 I'd believe it his skill erosion is really worrisome I'll be he surrounded by a lot of good hitters in that San Diego lineup I mentioned Merill earlier as one of my favorite players this year but I think he's just like a he's like a League average hitter maybe below that right now I I don't trust Bo and what do you get he needed even in his Salad Days a big selling point for him was the batting average I'm not sure that's even is that going to offset the fact that he has almost no power anymore and he occasionally steal a base his Ops plus is 91 his slugging is 366 Xander Bart that contract is not going to age well I guess he's 31 this season I it feels like he's four years older no notes um I agree with everything you said we talked about the struggling Guardians lineup uh Steven Quan is part of that he's ranked as the 349th hitter in Yahoo formats over the last month he's hitting 174 in 28 games with two home runs 16 runs scored though nine RB and five steals are you moving on from Steven Quan in any formats yeah I I probably hold a guy like this because on base skills and stolen base skills though he only has 11 Steals on the year but he's run more lately parked in the top of the lineup this is what you get with Quan he's been probably a little bit hit unlucky I don't have that in front of me but I would think with that outlier average and a player with this steady a profile and skill set that that's probably what's at play here he he gets a bat in front of Jose Ramirez who's having another wonderful season and man I when if you lost money on Jose Ramirez what he's like he's like the The Overlook star because he's not Aaron judge he's not aunia you know he's not even like the spectacle of Julio Rodriguez or whatever but so freaking good but yeah Stephen Quan he just this is just a blip I would hold on to him I I feel the same way about Quan as I did a month ago yeah and I think what's really important to note here too is like he's still hitting at the top of the lineup and he's still running um and it's just the Guardians lineup as a whole has really kind of dragged of late we've seen him be a high batting average guy for a while um so I'm happy to hold on to Steven Quan to if you don't need speed then he loses a lot of value but again he has a lot of value in runs and potential value in batting average as well so there are a lot of ways that he can help your team that I'm willing to hold on to uh I'm less confident in Brandon nmo who's ranked 458th over the last month he's hitting 218 um in 23 games with two home runs 10 runs scored nine RB and two steals um are you holding on to Brandon nmo or moving on from Brandon nmo this what this what I'm worried about because I have a lot of nmo shares and I've often made the case that he's an underrated modern player right because he gets on base and he's got some power but it's not overwhelming power the Mets have been pretty patient with nmo he was Bing second or third most of the Year even through the slump he's still batting third or fourth so at least the playing time hasn't come down I wonder if I don't remember if he had a minor injury earli this summer I think he missed a couple of games early in July I wonder if maybe something's bothering him that we don't know about we're going to find out after the season oh my shoulder hasn't been right or my wrist you know after a certain swing I took in a game my wrist hurt or whatever I feel like maybe something's at work here but the Mets haven't given up on him I'm still reluct here what's happened with me Eric and a lot of my mixed League teams a lot of times we're Lawrence Butler fans here okay A lot of times it's coming down to oh do I play Nimmo or Butler because Butler's been more productive lately I'm just playing the better player or maybe and has true five category upside too for sure Ernie Clement we talked about who's been hot lately you I when I'm Nemo has become the either or final roster pick on on a lot of nights and until he turns it around he's getting the thumbs down I have not cut him though yeah I think in in a 15 Team league I'm holding nmo because at everyday playing time listen even since the second half even though he's hitting 180 since the second since the All-Star break 25% strikeout rate over a 133% walk rate um so he does still have that plate discipline that we like to see the power is gone but like I don't know I I didn't really buy the 24 home runs from last year I understand he has 18 this year and so I I might not have been right but what I mean is like if I have nmo on my team I wasn't counting on power out of him um and I also wasn't counting on speed out of him because I know he has 11 steals this year he stole three last year and three the year before hey 11 for 11 man he's obviously been Consulting with Ricky Henderson or maybe Davey Lopes the great base running coach you wanted nmo for batting average in runs so if he's still hitting in the top third of the Mets lineup and still making good swing decisions then I think you're still going to potentially get that in a 12 team League I might just move on because I think I can find guys who are doing that right now what you're going to get at the end of the season is the batting average won't be what you wanted but he's going to be like 85 runs scored 85 RBI he's going to probably hit 20 plus home runs and he's got the Double J is still in basis he's basically going to be useful in four categories so you have to respect a and and the Mets haven't given up on him so right you know you would think with a slump like this they might think oh okay he said about seventh for a while they haven't done that yeah and that's that a vote of confidence from the team is always nice um you know who else keeps playing is Ryan McMahon uh but he's hitting 380 F sorry he's the 588th ranked hitter in yaho over the last month he's hitting 181 in 23 games with two homers nine runs scored 11 RBIs one steal no the Rockies didn't trade him this year when he was at his Peak value um and now he has been borderline unplayable for two months um are you holding on to Ryan mcmah reluctantly the crazy thing is it feels like he's having a good season even his home number numbers are not that great 264 353 432 that's good it's not Colorado of course feel good on the road he's 232 318 390 um 708 Ops and surrounded by a lineup for most part we don't like they're still hitting him third and fourth he struck out meekly on three pitches last night to end the game look kind of lost at the plate I he's probably been a guy I should have cut in a few leagues and then it's like every time I think about cutting them they're at home and I'm like well what am I going to do I I I have to ride this at some point I'm going to see that 53 three four box score and I man I haven't seen it for like it feels like for five weeks so I feel like I'm late on this Eric I maybe you can help me pull the cut trigger on McMahon because I feel like I probably should and I haven't done it yet I just cut him at the end of this week because he had a full week in in Coes and so this was the week to be like I'm gonna get some production out of him or you know I I if you were gonna hold him you were holding him because you wanted the seven games at Kors um and I cut him in a few places few weeks ago uh so far you know in the home games the two home games against Miami three for nine uh and a solo home run um so not terrible you know we'll see what happens the rest of the Miami series and Baltimore but you know I I'm not seeing unless we get like an otherworldly week from him it's just been so bad for so long including K starts and the lineup around him is so bad that like I'm not getting great counting stats because he's getting Line Drive doubles and cores so I I just don't see enough to hold on to right now such a depressing lineup do you have any hope that Nolan Jones can be useful for the fight by the way I was want mention really quick after this Baltimore weekend series they have nine Road games and then they have three more home uh six home games in a row Chicago and Arizona they play three at La and then the final week of the season they have six straight home games so that's I guess that's 12 of their final 15 or at home I'd like to have some piece of that if anything's gonna happen Nolan Jones is available in a lot of leagues I is there an underserved Colorado asset that maybe could help us at the end of September Michael toglia oh okay I like that uh still 32% rostered um in Yahoo formats so like taglia for the rest of this week then taglia for that six game stretch where they're at home um uh and that's it and also that final Series against the Dodgers man I bet they're gonna have the division wrapped up and they're going to be throwing JV guys they're not going to be taking this game seriously yeah I could see I could see that happening um we're going to get to some pitchers but before we do that that I just want to tell you a little bit about some golf uh the Tour Championship is here watch Scotty Sheffer and more of the top 30 golfers on the PGA tour faceof for the FedEx Cup this week you can catch it live on NBC the Golf Channel and peacock from Thursday through Sunday um Scott real quick I know you are a golfer uh but we got some baseball to talk about but who's your pick who's your pick for this tournament I mean Chef starts with a two- shot lead it sounds pretty good to me I know he wasn't great last week and and Chef and sha by the way would like to make a pitch for the player of the year and sheffer's got the six wins in the Masters he won the Players but chafl has two majors what if shaffle steals it it's gonna be shffle sheffler or shaffle in part because it's hard to say both those names back toback they had the great run the Olympics I'm gonna go sheffler but um Xander chafl is gonna be right there at the end too yep um I trust you because I don't know anything about which is what we want by the way they're the two best players in the world they you know this is basically you know this this is basically Aaron judge and wo and mono Amano for four days so it's East Lake is a great tournament my my good friend Don Port lives in that area and plays that course a lot and it's it's a really they have a great risk reward 18th hole that ends the tournament so it's one of my favorite venues it's all all the chips are push to the middle also end of my fantasy golf league I have I have Sheffer I'm being chased by the shaffle team it's it's one of the things where all the things need to go wrong for me not to win the league because Sheffer won six tournaments but sha won two majors so it's it's coming down to the final week and um it's you want to definitely tune in for some of the Great Golf it's it's only 30 guys so there's none of this you know no journeyman here it's only the Stars it's always fun fingers fingers crossed for you and your fantasy team thank you um let's help other people with their fantasy teams for pitching uh two hot Oakland Aid starters over the last month um Oswaldo beo is the 34th ranked pitcher on ya pitcher not just starter pitcher on Yahoo over the last month JP Sears um 67th over the last month they both have sub one whips beo has a 117 ra Sears has a 278 ra but they pitch for the A's they don't have long track records of success what is your belief in either asalo beo or JP Sears it's really simple it's schedule driven uh as you have in the rundown they're at Cincinnati you skip that one and then they have Seattle great draw they have Detroit at home great draw they have Seattle and Detroit at home which are great draws then Chicago which you know everybody knows how lousy they are so they're very preferred streamers or maybe stream to own players for that cushy part of the schedule you can't play them at Cincinnati and then the three matchups are absolute Dreams yeah I love those three matchups I personally would lean more towards Sears than beo even though BTO has better stats um I like Sears a little bit more as a pitcher and I can tie it to some changes he was in my mixing it up column two weeks ago which you can go check out on NBC Sports um he has kind of ditched his sweeper a little bit which again is nice because he's a lefty he faces a lot of righties sweepers from lefties to righties don't tend to be great pitches um his Le into his for seam and has Chang up more so I like some of the changes Sears has made um and as you mentioned you're skipping the Cincinnati start in Cincinnati and those next three starts are great um for those two guys uh Ryan Nelson confirmed in the rotation Jordan Montgomery to the bullpen Ryan Nelson we know has been great another guy who made a tangible change leaning into the for seam fastball like almost 60% of the time I it's really helped him but if we're just talking about the last month um 47th rank pitcher overall for the last month 256 ER 085 whip 38 strikeouts and 31 and two3 innings two great starts against the Mets and Giants coming up and then a tougher start against the Astros but are you adding Ryan Nelson oh not am I adding him if he pitches well in those first two I might even pitch him against Houston it's not the same level of Houston offense that we've grown up with and um there's been some guys dinged up there as well and I'm the strikeout rate speaks for itself and Arizona's a good team man and finally Montgomery's in the bull and I actually watched him pitch last night because I had Brandon fought we'll talk about him in a second I needed some fought runs to not come in and Montgomery comes in promptly hits a guy with the Bas is loaded then walks a guy with the Bas is loaded it's like oh man why why am I doing this to myself and watching this is just painful but yeah yeah I'm a Believer in Nelson I think he he sticks and produces or pitches well for the rest of the season um yeah and uh I got to say the like I will have an article coming out uh we're switching kind of pitching articles for the end of the year I have an article coming out tomorrow morning Thursday morning where I look at streaming schedules uh for the week ahead and try to rank the my pickups my streaming pickups um I still have Nelson in the top tier of like highly recommend even though it's a two start week Giants Astros so even though he does get the Astros I think the giant start balances that out you get a two start week of a pitcher who's pitching incredibly well um and so I really like picking up Nelson I want to we'll get back to some pitchers who are pitching well well but I want to talk about his teammates for a second because both Brandon fought and Merl Kelly have not been good of late um fought is the 62 first ranked pitcher over the last month um he has a 604 erra uh with a 145 whip 30 strikeouts and 28 in the third Innings which is nice um he gets the Mets next which is good but then he gets the Dodgers and the Astros and since Merill Kelly has come back he has a 675 ra with a 156 whip 11 strikeouts in 16 Innings Merill Kelly gets the Dodgers then he gets a pretty good start against the Giants but then he gets the Rangers and he has to pitch in Kors field um are you moving on from either of Brandon fought or Merl Kelly yeah I should have moved on from fought last night I it was a really tough slate for tout Wars DFS semi-finals and I had a couple of tickets fought manah some other guys um I went with f and watched him pitch you mentioned the Mets is a good start they ate his lunch Wednesday and then what was left of his lunch Jordan Montgomery you know threw it in the trash can by by hitting a guy and walking guy with the face is loaded throw the ball over the plate Jordan Montgomery so um the schedule's horrible the Mets already got them the Dodgers and Astros speak for themselves even though Houston I just looked it up 12th and runs scored but it's still you know it's not a plus matchup and and Kelly he gets some Jagged the Colorado starts in here his both their stats are the stats of these pitchers are really bad right now I I can't play even though Arizona's a good team even the defense kind of you know gives me me a little bit of the I don't trust their infield defense either with it hurts that they don't have everybody healthy right now I I'm not trusting F or Kelly in any format yeah I have never been a huge fought believer because he has some really bad righty Lefty splits um I could see using him against the Mets if you're in a deeper format and already have him on your team because the Mets don't have a ton of of left-handed hitters obviously guys like Lindor can can do damage um how dare you be smch Jesse Winker like that right Jessie Winker and Brandon nmo the aforementioned brand nmo um but yeah but I I I picked up Merill Kelly and I stashed him when he was coming back in a few leagues and I have moved on um you know you can question whether he's healthy or not but the the matchups aren't great and the results haven't been great um and if I get burned because he pitches amazingly against the Dodgers or the Rangers like I'm willing to to own that I just don't love that that matchup for me um but there are some really good matchups uh talk about the Mets for David Peterson um he is the 68th ranked pitcher in Yahoo formats over the last month he has a 171 erra a 107 whip 23 strikeouts in 31 and twoth thirs innings uh the underlying metrics hate him his Sierra is well over four but the results have been good he gets uh the he gets the white socks then he gets the Red Sox on the road and the Red Sox offense outside of Fenway has not been nearly as impactful they're kind of like a middle of the- pack offense on the road and they're a much better offense at home obviously Fenway is a nice hitters park um and then Peterson gets the Blue Jays uh are you willing to to pick up Peterson for all those starts or for you is it just like you'll throw him against the white sock and then move on I think you already should have picked him up I'm a Believer in Peterson go get him done all right uh let's talk about the aforementioned Red Sox because two of their starters have really struggled of late uh cutter Crawford is the 734th ranked pitch over the last month it's a 730 erra it is just a 1.14 whip but 19 strikeouts in 24 and 23s Innings um Tanner ha is the 940th ranked pitcher in Yahoo over the last month it's a 516 er a 148 whip 21 strikeouts and 29 and twoth thirs innings are you moving on from either cutter Crawford or ten around yeah I in some borderline leagues I cut Crawford recently and I I wonder the the Red Sox are Quasi in the playoff hunt but not really I'd see these guys getting shut down in a couple of weeks that that could be an option I mean Hal and Crawford are both over their career high in Innings because they've been kind of like hybrid reliever starters in the past if the Red Sox do uh get bumped out of the playoff out of play contention I could see them definitely being um you know shut down the Hal thing is interesting because he looked good for four innings in his last start and then things really unraveled for him in the fifth and again when you have a pitcher who's well over he's over 50 Innings Beyond his career high in Innings pitched and then when you see pitchers like that where down at as games go on it's easy to wonder does this guy is this guy kind of on fumes a little bit and so in a given start he is wearing down I am more inclined to hold ha and move on from Crawford um Crawford has more uh he's got a better whip which is making which is making his fantasy value better over the last month but he has major home run issues um and I just like the next two starts Crawford gets the Blue Jays and Mets which is fine but Hal gets the Tigers and Mets um and so obviously I'm comfortable starting ha in both of those games then they both would get the Orioles after that and the Yankees after that we'll see how those two starts go but at this point right now I can't see pitching Crawford and Hal against the orol and Yankees and Crawford Crawford's fit by the way is 4.73 I he's I'm never surprised when he pitches great I'm never surprised when he gets hammered he's got major home run issues it is a legitimate problem that he's dealing right now big problem um last this guy's only 56% rostered but people are still holding on to Taj Bradley because he had a really tremendous stretch he is the 1, 122nd ranked pitcher over the last month in Yahoo it's a 796 ra it's a 162 whip his upcoming schedule versus the Padres versus the twins at the Phillies at the Guardians I'm cutting Bradley in all formats I mean maybe Al only I'm keeping him but I can't see starting Bradley against any of those four teams and so why is he on your roster if you're not starting him in those four games yeah and he's not getting deep into games right I mean five four four and a third sometimes he gets to six Innings so there's not a lot of win Equity here either I Taj Bradley has mostly just been a tease this season yep I agree uh I'm just going to have you pick a closer here we're just talking about I just looked at the closers under 50% rostered in Yahoo um or guys who are in closer committees there's five names that are readily available out there in Yahoo formats it's Porter Hajj and Jorge Lopez um of the Cubs it's Justin Martinez of the Diamondbacks it's Manuel Rodriguez and Edwin useta of the Rays um if you were setting like a waiver priority where where are you Landing for those closers closer committee guys yeah useta if all I cared about was ratios and Lopez if saves were the biggest driving force although Martinez also has a case yeah I would say Martinez if I really needed saves useta if it was ratios for me um useta and feels like useta and hjj feel like they're both the high leverage guys that are going to get the the tough matchups at the end of games which will leave Lopez and Manuel Rodriguez to pick up saves Martinez is just the closer right now but seaold has been better is of late um so he could take that job um also mentioned T tender Scott's been pretty good in San Diego we'll get an occasional save and he's somebody who I've been picking up uh a couple of places just to smooth the ratios out yeah uh we're going to Quick hit the the streamers really quickly we're not really going to give you analysis sorry people but we we have kind of hit uh the end here we we hope that we did a lot of work giving you some guys to pick up uh I'm going to name four pictures on each of Friday Saturday or Sunday just tell me where you land Scott um and I'll give you my choices Friday you have Jonathan Cannon of the White Sox against the Mets you have Tyler McGill of the Mets against the White Soxs you have Martin Perez of the Padres against the Rays and you have John Gray of the Rangers against the Athletics where are you going mill first Perez second I have Perez first um I'm not afraid of the raay lineup and I think Perez has been better of late and um yeah I I I can't believe I'm saying this but yeah I'll go Migel Migel second and John Gray I would stream in deeper formats against the A's uh Saturday you've got DJ hers of the Nationals um against the Cubs you have Chad Bradford um of the Sorry Brad Cody Bradford no Chad Bradford Cody Bradford Cody Bradford I know where I got Chad Bradford from you must have just watched Money Ball I guess um must have been Cody Bradford of the Rangers against the A's uh Mason black of the Giants is scheduled to start against the Marlins according to roster resource and Matthew Boyd of the Guardians against the Pirates uh where you going there I'm back in on the Boyd Renaissance give me Matthew Boyd against Pittsburgh uh it's Bradford for me I think he's been looking really uh really good and I like the Oakland start uh but Boyd against Pirates I also like as well and I can't knock What DJ hers did um against the Braves I think hers looks really good and so yeah I'm going to go for him just a note here that zebie Matthews is also available in like almost 80% of Yahoo leagues he has a start on Saturday um he should definitely be added in Far More formats um lastly we're gonna end it up uh Cooper chriswell on Sunday of the Red Sox gets the Tigers Jameson tyion of the Cubs gets the Nationals uh Andrew Heeney of the Rangers gets the Oakland Athletics and Mitchell Parker of the Nationals gets the Cubs where are you going here yeah poor Heeney lost to start Tuesday because of that four pitch rain out snafu in Chicago I can't go Criswell because I just think he's not going to have any length he won't get a win there so I lean tyion tyion I I seem to guess wrong on him all the time but I'm not afraid of this Washington lineup he need would be a close second choice yeah I lean Heeney and then I would go tyion and if I'm in a really deep format I could see using Criswell I'm talking like 15 team leagues uh because the tigers don't scare me but I think you'll be lucky to get five out of Chiswell um is again to your point why he's a little bit of a knock uh so again uh Thursday over on NBC Sports uh check out my streaming picture article it will give you picks for uh the week of September 2nd that's Labor Day that's next Monday um so it will help you with your waiver picks for this week and I'll be doing that every week through the end of the year um you can check Scott and I both out on Twitter I'm samsky NYC Scott is Scott panowski um we'll be back next Wednesday for another episode of the rot World Baseball show