Fantasy Baseball Show: Rhett Lowder Called Up, Pitcher Inning Limits

[Music] welcome in the newest edition of caught stealing the fantasy alarm Fantasy Baseball podcast I guess I should reintroduce myself here Colby Conway here at Fantasy alarm over on X Colby or Conway and here as usual with me sometimes me being the sometimes he's always here is Matt Sals at the salsman over on X um first off Matt before I ask you how everything is going quick shout out uh pinch hitter James Grande stepping in for a couple of weeks on a short notice so certainly appreciate him we I'll send only positive words to him this time I'll keep the other words to the side because he did step in quite admirably so shout out James Grande but Matt SS you are here so how is everything going for you things are good um you know we're coming down to the to the home stretch here we're recording this on Wednesday of this week Wednesday evening so we're almost a Labor Day weekend and then basically one month left of the regular season which is going to be an absolute slugfest uh to figure out playoff standings um down the wire we come for Fantasy Baseball all sorts of stuff going on we got to pay attention to prospects because you know some of those guys are getting called up we saw some notable ones get called up this week a fun time man and then oh yeah by by the way NFL Creeps in on our fun here with baseball uh next week so great great Sports time of year here because we got football and college football and baseball and then soon enough NBA NHL uh and if you're in my neck of the woods also Premier League we follow that here so we got that going on lot of stuff to pay attention to we are entering that time of year it's the sports Mecca as some would say in that you get baseball during the week mix in some football in the evenings in the days it's hard to complain I know it's always fun those first couple of weeks of the NFL season if you're still fighting for something in fantasy baseball when you're kind of setting the baseball lineups and like you're like you're doing your watching your football live streams you're setting your lineup and then you're looking Jackson holiday is not a starter today Tyler Stevenson is not a starter today it's like wonderful I got Flex decisions I have to make now my catcher's not playing my second baseman's not playing highlights on the Sunday Night Football show I'm setting Waiver Wires I'm setting that's right for the next week yeah hey all sorts of fun stuff wouldn't have it any other way I'm battling for the for the money in my home League when I drafted on two and a half hours of sleep online when everybody else was in person for an auction over an iPad against a person with all of my notes and targets who were supposed to draft for me but wound up drafting his own team well you know what happens though if you win I don't have to split it you're doing the same exact thing next year two and half hours of sleep in a row I've done this and I'm battling for the money so nope two and a half hours of sleep and you send the whole league your scouting report and your draft rankings that's it I mean two years ago the entire league got my Prospect rankings before the draft one one of the uh when when the uh draft guide was free and my Prospect rankings were in there one of our members in my home League was like is this is there another Matt s or is this you like nope that's me so he sent the link to everybody all my top 400 you never post your content till after you do the drafts that matter the most my friend unfortunately that's not how it works get paid the right that's true that's true I hear you on that one you mentioned prospects and obviously today as we're recording this is Wednesday evening I'm calling it it was gonna be Dylan Cruz day because he had his first major league home run but then have to take attention elsewhere out in Cincinnati I saw a day or two ago over on X it was rumored that Rett louder was going to come up then he didn't and then he did he's going to start one of the games on Friday I believe since he has a double header so louder's going to come up first round pick from the 2023 draft class if I remember correctly and don't really typically love pitchers in Great American Ballpark but the minor league numbers look good what's kind of the scouting report on louder and do you think he can stick or is he just coming up to fill a spot start I think he's gonna stick I think the um the Reds need some help in that rotation there's already um a you know spot open for him now technically if it's a double header he could come up as the 27th man and they wouldn't have to make a move um he would just fill the extra spot for that day um but he's mainly a three- pitch guy he's got um you know fairly standard mix of a fastball slider change up the change up is arguably his best pitch um you know not quite I don't know if he's quite a Frontline starter for me I would say maybe a number two he's certainly not an ace he could would be you know a low-end SP2 and an MLB rotation he's probably better suited as a high-end uh number three starter with a lot of strikeout upside you know look he's got the standard velocity we're looking for he's got run he's kind of got a little bit of a funky delivery um that gives him some you know he gets a little bit more strikeouts than the stuff probably on its own would get so you know it's kind of one of those it is the next good pitcher but he's not to the chase Burns level he's not to the hunter green level he's probably more like a nickola doo type for the r a high breakout mid rotation starter is what I would put him as minus the injuries hopefully minus minus the injuries yeah hopefully hopefully minus the injury so let's say this teams are pushing for Fantasy contention they need a they need starting they need some starting pitching help eight Team league is louder an ad yes okay well then if he's an ad in eight then he's an ad in 10 12 I mean at this point if you need an arm go get them yeah if you're dropping an actual starter who may be struggling a little bit then come ask us in Discord but if you're if it's like a lever or a starter you never play drop him and go pick up louder because there's only upside right if you never play the guy it literally doesn't hurt you drop them and pick up somebody you may play fair enough I I think that's the move as well I missed out on louder in a couple of leagues but it's we'll see how that plays out for me moving to the AL Central I want to ask you this question and I'm being I'm going to be very particular with my word choice can the Royals run away with the AL Central I don't know they're going to run away with it they are can they win it the answer is yes but can they run away spoke in what was it June when we did bold predictions Midway yeah I said they get a wild card spot do the no you put you said in an earlier podcast that they would win that that you would bet them to win the AL Central oh yeah yeah yeah before the year I mentioned it yes yes yes it might have been before the year yes that you had then then I hedged my bet a couple weeks ago and I said I think the RS are going to get a wild card spot yeah hedged my bet there you go but they are I was looking at the odds to win the division earlier today actually and I think the Guardians were going off at like plus 135 and the Royals are at plus 150 and the twins are at plus 300 I think it was on DK that I saw that um I don't know about elsewhere I was quite frankly looking to see if they had Wan soda free agent odds um fair enough at least you're honest but I did stumble across that I do think that the Royals have a shot do does everything does everybody have to play as well as they possibly can down the stretch for that to happen yes I think Cleveland is deeper and has pieces that are more equipped for it than the Royals do but they they've got it they've got a shot look I think at this point it's reasonably safe to say that they are winding up in the playoffs MH which is remarkable since I'm pretty sure they lost 100 games last year so but hey last year's World Series had two teams that had lost 100 games two years prior and made the World Series against each other so there's that that is true and as I'm looking at it over here in 20203 Royals did in fact lose 106 games 97 the year before so so I I I like them as I keep going back and forth I think I like them to win the division I'm back on that train now I went from winning the division to Wild Card back to winning the division I think they have that like 2015 Mojo about them where like they just if you make a mistake they make you pay and the pitching is just really good right now like really good and the deadline that they had we liked it when it happened yes like it was like listen they did not get the biggest name players but we had talked about uh the I forget his last name Lucas e is what I call him because I can never remember his last name but I had said that he's gonna get saves coming out there he's gonna solidify the bullpen and Michael Michael lenen has done fine in the rotation like they've done well and then you have other teams like Baltimore who trade away two notable prospects for a pitcher that they send to the miners after a handful of starts so like winning the deadline matters and the Royals are showing that it's uh the that it is important and you know we'll talk about a particular guy in that deal for Trevor Rogers how bad was that they have they have a shot they have a shot to uh make the World Series given that they did sign Will Smith in the offseason who's made I think four straight World Series now with four different teams so I know he's injured but he's still on the roster um how bad is that Trevor Rogers deal though like it was bad when it happened and it hasn't gotten any better it hasn't they look I think it's going to take some time for Baltimore to get the most out of him I think they like his pitch mix I think they're adjusting some stuff um it hasn't gone well clearly um people who thought it was an overpay to give up Conor Norby okay we'll we'll see but it's not like Baltimore's hurting for bats again I make this claim they traded from a position of strength to take a shot and if it worked out it worked out it didn't so it happens um but they have Trevor Rogers for a few more years and if they can get the pitch mix right if they can you know kind of help the pitch shape a little bit I think there's some stuff to work with with Trevor Rogers it's gonna suck for 2024 but Baltimore has enough that I think they'll be I don't know if this will quite be I don't think they win the division I think the division while this might be a bad deal in the moment I don't know if this turns out to be as bad as the infamous Pittsburgh Pirates in Chris Archer deal I don't know if it yeah because that the sto deal is going to linger for potentially like another decade and here's the thing yeah that's resigned sto then it's really bad yeah oh it's really bad if you give them six players and get the guy back it's not just like the Yankees AAL this Chapman situation right where they traded her oldest Chapman of the Cubs in 2016 and they got um glaber I believe so that seems right yeah they got the top bat from the Cubs at the time I'm pretty sure it was glaver um and then two and a half months later resigned Chapman because he was a rental and he wasn't going to resign with the cups it's not that bad because that was a one for one thing for a rental yeah the Padres gave up six dudes for one guy well technically two because it was also Josh Bell at the time um and then traded him got a little bit back but yeah I don't know those two are right up there or Fernando tatis for James Shields yeah yeah that one's that one's pretty bad yeah I regardless end of the story I love what the Royals did at the deadline it's validating everything good for them I hope they run away with the division and Bobby Whit wins MVP although I don't know if he will but I want to I don't think I mean let's put it this way I was looking at this earlier too um Aaron judge is minus 3,000 on DK to win Al MVP Bobby wit is second at plus 1100 okay in the NL it's not that bad sh is at minus 1400 and Francisco Lindor is at plus 550 that's Judge is minus 3,000 that's insane I mean he's having a hell of a year bet 300 bucks to win $100 back that's no bet 3,000 you bet 3,000 to win $100 back yep that is good for him and then Soto's like plus 5,000 it's a little better it won't happen but but Bobby wit who's having a ridiculous year is plus 1100 and is second behind judge imagine a guy hitting 346 Ops over a th000 27 stolen bases 28 home runs and is about a handful of RBI away from 100 100 to be 100 runs 100 RBI to be the distant second by the way they said something on the N broadcast about Judge the other day they said on balls in play his slugging percentage on balls in play this year is over 1,200 his slugging percentage not the Ops that's wild it's ridiculous imagine imagine having an Ops of well Bobby witz 17 imagine being nearly 200 points behind the guy ahead of you yeah and judge started slowly yeah he had a bad April yeah it's insane looking this up quick yeah he was he opened the year he opened the year two for 16 or 24 for 116 he had six home runs through his first 116 bats at bats since then in May 14 home runs 11 in June eight in July 12 in August yeah and by the way he's robbed like nine well that adds to his total then if it gets close to the record we just add those in and we call it a day he stole two from the N the other day by so well at this time of the year I know last week you and James had talked about the September prospects that we might need to call up or that it might get called up that we should stash for our fantasy baseball roster today I'm G to have to be I come back and of course we leave all the positivity out of it I come in and bring negativity and pessimism because we're now gonna talk about Grande suggested this this segment so we we're hanging on him okay fair enough yeah it's all it's yeah the nice stuff with Grande's gone it's now we're back to this it's of course he wanted to talk about this but there are pitchers who throw innings in Major League Baseball many of them are getting close to Andor have already surpassed previous highs and as we have seen with the likes of Garrett crochet already teams are going to instrum or Implement Innings limits to try to preserve some of these young arms so we got a bunch of different names this is not the full list it's just a couple that we kind of pointed out that we think are worth talking about so let's kind of start here keep it relatively relatively short with some of these guys but in Pittsburgh your 2025 World Series champions they do have Paul skes and Jared Jones Jones already missed amount of time with his arm injury schemes is just a young talent that they're probably G to try to preserve how do you think Pittsburgh handles them here the rest of the way I think they slow play it I think they they're they're two extra call-ups they get September because now it's 28 man rosters instead of 40 um I think most of the time it'll be for an arm they'll call them up either spot start or you know maybe if it's a two start week for that spot then they'll just bring them in to eat because let's face it they're not really in the playoff picture at this point um tightly contested NL I mean they've kind of fallen off the back of the pack here a little bit but have they been mathematically eliminated they have not then they're still in it they have not but that's that's that's my that's that's where I'm hanging my hat right now they're not gearing up for the start of their window next year's World Series Ron yeah yeah W with those two at the front of your uh rotation and some more depth pieces coming and a fairly solid young lineup being built um there's no reason to push these guys they have already stated that Paul skes is going to be slow you know slow played in September um Jared Jones I don't see any reason to push him he's already coming back from injury y um you know it's possible I don't think they pair the two of them together and use one as an opener and one as the bulk guy because it makes no sense but I would imagine that they would go with a six million rotation the rest of way and just spot start um from here on out I think so do you think Chicago does anything different with Garrett crochet than kind of what they're doing restrict them to four-ish Innings a start hand yeah I think I mean there's the man's not getting any more wins on that team if even if he pitches five innings so yeah I did see today the nine relievers they started the year with none of them are on the roster anymore is crochet still worth rostering I mean if he wants strikeouts I guess but because other than that his last looking here last seven starts 675 ER and a whip of just under 17 yeah he's definitely started to [ __ ] we're seeing this a lot with some of these young these young guys like McKenzie Gore's kind of falling off the last six starts or so Taj Bradley the same thing Garrick crochet um if you want to drop him and just spot start people in his place that's fine because I mean if you're in a keeper Dynasty you're not dropping G right right right redraft this is specifically redraft yes I think you can drop crochet at this point yep all this is related all this strictly redraft that's what we're going to focus on here and so another one here we go over to San Diego I'm looking here so Michael king is up to 146 and a third Innings on this young season here and when you look at past Year's last year he logged 104 Innings with the Yankees no minor league Innings so he's already up to a four just about a 42 inning jump and we can see now unlike crochet he's been pitching pretty well of late so maybe fatigue hasn't caught up to him 42 Innings still a sizable jump all things consider do you think they continue to run out Michael King or does he get slow played at all I think that he gets slow played I do think they have the luxury here of a couple of depth pieces one there are reports that UD Darvish is on his way back to uh the team after being on kind of a family leave basically from what I gather um nobody really knows he asked for privacy he's certainly entitled to to that so have UD darish coming back they do have Matt Waldren who they sent down to save Innings which is weird because he's a knuckle baller which as far as I'm aware takes like the least amount of effort to throw um they also have Johnny burito down in the miners who they could also um call up those are just the guys that are on the 40-man roster you could also go with Jackson wolf I know it didn't go well the last time he was up there um so I do think that they have a little bit more leeway with Michael King but it is also tougher for them because they're in the middle of a playoff hunt right they are smack dab in the middle of the NL Wild Card they still have an outside shot of chasing down the Dodgers for the N West um certainly fighting tooth and nail with the Diamondbacks for one of the top two wild card spots in the NL so I think King is okay I think they may go to a six-man thing kind of like Pittsburgh but I don't think I think if he's pitching well they're going to leave him in games with shots to win I'm inclined to believe with believe in you there and agree there let's go always been a team that's gone for it right and then just deal with next year next year that's very true that is that is that is that is their MMO I will I will they got a bunch of expiring contracts at the end of this year so I feel like they're going to go for it and then if next year then figure out next year next year yes I would agree with that let's go to the AL Central so two teams here Royals and tigers both with a couple of lefties that are approaching Innings limits and Cole Reagan of the Kansas City Royals who logged 96 last year and is up to 156 this year so we're already at about a 70 inning jump 60 no I'm sorry 60 inning jump with Cole Reagan then in Detroit you got tar scoel who 80 last year due to injury 117 the year before was up to 149 in 2021 but he's not up to 160 so he's effectively doubled from last year if you don't count the couple of rehab appearances he made in the miners while working his way back with the arm issue but Detroit's rattled off eight eight wins in their last 10 games now there's still about five and a half games out of the Wild Card eight and a half for the division lead do the tigers try to make a run for it do they C do they cautiously make a run for it and we're like we're going to kind of try but kind of not really try what do you think happens with these lefties I think well let's start with Detroit they kind of already played their hand at the Little League uh classic they basically came out and said that that would be the last start that scoo made on regular rest the rest of the season um at this point because they've got two years left with him um they want to maximize his value they want to maximize their potential window to compete in what is a generally wideopen division um so I think scoble get slow played here they've pretty well already announced it now the Royals are in a tough spot with Reagans because he's already well above you know he's made we've talked previously about with young guys you don't really want to exceed like a jump of like 35 Innings a year because it just tends to come back and com bite him the following year we're well past that with Reagans however there's not exactly a bunch of pitching depth in the Royals farm system right they've drafted a bunch of dudes in the last three years none of them have worked out they're in the middle of a playoff hunt for we just talked about wild card and division so I think they let things roll with Reagans I really do because he's also not look like it's been a lot of effort for him so if it's not a lot of effort and you know you're kind of playing easier squads down the stretch that might help a little bit so I think Reagan you're fine with scoble they've basically already said he's not pitching a regular you know Fay start from here on out I want to wrap it up and get to waiver wire pickups and weekend streamers but a couple of other names that we mention here in case you want to opine on any of them I'll give you the floor here but we got like r Ronaldo Lopez Spencer schwellenbach Tanner Hal and basically every Boston starter pretty much most of them and at least the main couple ones there and ryel Blanco and Houston I think Houston's the interesting one because they haven't been able to keep Verlander all that healthy Kyle Tucker has the worst Bru Shin in the world and is still working not even doing baseball act like he's not even running bases at this point yeah I it's a pretty bad Shin Bru and then you got ronell Blanca who's blown past his Innings limit and starting to show fatigue so any of those guys Lopez schwell andot H and or the rest of Boston staff and ryel Blanco that are worth opining about from a fantasy perspective I think Lopez is pretty interesting because he's been far better than I think anybody thought he would be yeah when they announced that they were going to turn him back into a starter and the Braves are still fighting for a wild card spot somehow despite missing like everybody from what we thought we were gonna have um and even dudes who are there not having their best years so I think if in a couple of weeks or a week and a half or so the Braves start to Tumble a little bit they may start to slow their guys down but if they're H if they're hanging in in a wild card I think they let them go and say hey we're going to have more depth next year so let's use the Innings on these guys now and then we can give them a break next year when we have some of our key guys um back so that's that's uh how think and Boston I don't know it's impossible to tell what way Boston's going to go I mean ain't that the truth I mean they they I think they flirted with a seven man rotation at some point this year so I I don't they got Rich Hill coming up right maybe he takes over some of the Innings 44 year old Rich Hill yep I all you can say to that is yep you just we both nod and we both agree that neither of us know what to say about Rich Hill and it is what it it is and We Carry On from there has as many almost as many doubles as rich as Rich Hill has years alive on the planet yep and Trevor Rogers has let up just about as many earned runs with the Orioles as Rich Hill is as old anyway I digress from that deal and let's go to some waiver wire pickups and weekend streamers here and let's rub it in Taylor Rogers or and uh Trevor Rogers rogers's face a little bit more mine's Connor Norby dual position eligibility on the ESP and I believe he gets second base in Outfield and he's got a nine game hit streak currently at least he did at the time that we were recording this 333 385 667 Barrel rate just under 15% only an 86 mile per hour exit vow so he's not hitting it overly hard it's a humidity in Miami man yeah but hey he he's been good he's been good there's no way about where they ain't so that's that's all you that's all you need to yeah I'm G to double up on Conor Orby uh with you especially with the rash of second base injuries that we've seen over the last uh week or so or questionable play from some second baseman yeah why not get a guy in there who at this point is going to get every day at bats for an offense that has Jake Berger and literally nothing else so yep couldn't agree more there and let's head to the streamer option no free Square can't use ret louder can't use it we all know we're picking him up anyway so let's get rid of that can't use r l louder although we both agree he'd be the streamer but um Matt who are you looking at this weekend uh I am looking at a guy who you actually made an intriguing sound when I said his name earlier because you had picked a different guy but then you're were like he's interesting it's gonna be uh brand herder from Detroit they're facing Boston yes that unguessable team of Boston they're facing them Brant herder should pitch Sunday um in his 22 and two3 innings over his five starts he's got 22 strikeouts and three walks uh in his last start or I'm pretty sure he retired 10 consecutive guys at one point um he's keeping the ball in the yard pretty well Boston by the way Brent herder is a lefty this is where it gets interesting Boston in August has been atrocious for his lefties uh they're striking out 26.7% of the time which is top third in baseball they're batting a is 225 against lefties which is bottom 30 against you know in baseball and they're 87 uh WRC plus also not ideal that's bottom five in baseball versus lefties so we're going to go with brand herder for a streamer uh this weekend I like Mr herder myself and looking at it through his five Big League appearances ground ball rate a 57.8% and if you like some of those peripheral metrics Sierra sub3 xfip sub three so the only reason why he's not a the waiver wire at is because I don't know if he's GNA stick fair enough but hey that's why we that's why we break it up waiver wire and streamer so that we can have a catch all stream them and then just forget to drop them and see what happens hey you sure can and if you want another if you want a picture on a bad team you can take a look at my streamer and go with Joey Estus who's gonna get Texas on Sunday um believe it or not over the last two weeks against right-handed pitching Texas is basically middle of the pack strikeout rate they don't strike out a ton I'll give them that but they only have an 86 WRC plus and when you look at Estus over his last five starts 303 erra point8 whip 23 to4 strikeout to walk ratio across just under 30 Innings so not a big strikeout guy maybe Texas plays him up a little bit I don't think est' ceiling is overly high in this matchup but five or six Innings two earned runs three to five strike outs totally doable yeah and yeah and there because Texas can't score runs either so maybe maybe he can get out of there and they're up one nothing in the fifth that's about what we are hoping for but take a look at Conor Norby Brandt herder and Joey Estus if your fantasy baseball teams need some help as you're making a push to your League's Championship if you have some pitchers that you're concerned about their Innings limits and you are a member of the family get in the Discord tag us let us know we'll give you some insights whether you like it or not you'll get honest thoughts it's all I can tell you that's what you'll get in there with asking some of those questions we'd like to talk to you in there so once again join the family today and get into Discord and talk to all of the brains at Fantasy alarm make sure you like And subscribe wherever you're listening give me a follow over on X kobr Conway give Matt sells a follow atth salesman and we will see you next week with the newest edition of caught stealing oh