Speaker 1: You like bestv sense talk chasm that I shall not
me hear myself stun spans and they can't even count
some of uniforcasom surround.
Speaker 2: You ain't better be health well, yeah, several charges on.
Everyone up the.
Speaker 1: El s and I'm alreadium.
Speaker 2: I hear my baby sound just like your name was Mark.
Speaker 1: And it's a rap by podcast.
Speaker 2: It's a rapop podcast. It's a rapop podcast. It's a
bride bo podcast. It's a rapp podcast, a wrap up podcast.
Speaker 1: Got a turn?
Speaker 2: Do it should?
Speaker 1: Rap bo podcast? All right, welcome everybody to the Rasball Podcast.
I am my cool art filling in this week for Beaton,
and I am joined by the man with the Lima plan,
the mustachioed Master Lithario himself, the bespectacled man of wonder,
great Albright. How are you doing tonight today, buddy?
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm good man. We uh yeah, we have a
beat On. This is so beat On. Last week he
got it, he got a new job and he was like,
I'm gonna be out of the country for the next
two weeks. So I was like, Okay, where are you headed?
And He's like Zurich like is like beat On is
the man of mystery, like you know, like he's you
ever see the TV show The Patriot that's basically beat On.
He's he's a spy, I am. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're working in like real high end like Swiss banking.
He's got all these Swiss bank accounties, got clear out?
Maybe yeah? Is he auditioning for the new Bond? Possibly?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well I actually I think the beat and it's
actually beat On is a act as an anagram for Bond,
So he was like telling us the whole time that
he was basically Bond. I've always wondered why Beaton was like, Okay,
to start this podcast, I have to uh put the
red wire with the green wire and then snip the
blue wire at the same time. I don't know why
he was always walking me through that, but you know
it worked out. Okay, guy?
Speaker 1: Is that is that what the flag in the background
of his normal video is covering. It's like his like
secret layer with all of his fancy weapons from Cube
and all of the beautiful women that are like hanging
out with him.
Speaker 2: He's got he's got like you know, in the old
Batman has like the statue that like you press the bine,
you open the head and press the button. He's actually
got ahead of himself. He just opens That's how the
podcast starts. He just presses the button inside of his
own head. You know what the great thing is, he'll
never listen to this.
Speaker 1: Well, what miss we miss you this week? Beat On?
I am filling in. I am usually on the Cards
and Categories podcast, So check that out. It comes out
usually on Thursdays. But I think we've got a great
show lined up for you. We are speaking on Sunday,
May twenty fourth, right in the smack dab of the
Memorial Day weekend and all of the Major league action
we've had, so I mean, it's been a busy weeks
since you potted last time with beat On, so I
think we should probably just dive right into it, right, Yeah,
all right, let's get into some call ups, because the
first one we have is a significant one. We have
Dylan Cruz coming back for the Washington Nationals, who did
not cover himself in glory and Triple A before this
call up. It was a two fifty eight three forty
five four thirty two slash line. That's a one oh
two WRC plus in forty one games at Triple A.
Since he has come up, it has been a two seventeen,
two fifty three forty eight slash line over twenty four
plate appearances one stolen base, which is probably just about
all you can count on from Dylan Cruz nowadays, right,
is it just stolen bases and a bunch of blah otherwise?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, because like you opened it with, like,
well we are our big call up this week is
Dylan Cruz, and then you start going over his numbers
and you're like, oh, man, wait, what happened there? Uh
Dylan Cruz, right, I mean, he was supposed to be excellent.
I don't know exactly what happened along the way, but
something happened. I don't know. I don't know really if
you can rely on Dylan Cruz outside of NL only,
I'll say possibly. I mean I could see picking him
up in a fifteen team mix league for just for
the chance for the upside, But more than likely you're
gonna be relying on him in an NL only, I
would say at this point until we see something, because
like he was in the minor leagues not really performing
very well this year that is, and he ended up
in the minor leagues because he wasn't performing in spring training,
so they sent him down, which was a bit of
a surprise to start the year they send him down.
He doesn't really do much of anything outside of like,
you know, a handful of steals. But I just, I mean,
I used to be a big Dylan Cruz fan, and
I just don't think there's anything there right now for
most mixed leagues. I would say, if you're in a
twelve team mix league, he's likely on waivers and that's
probably where he should be until he can show something,
because it's just like he's just not hitting the ball
very hard like right now. You know, it's a small
sample size, but since he got called up, his hard
hit rate is eighteen point eight percent.
Speaker 1: That's as.
Speaker 2: Basically, you know, he's dribbling the ball to second base
the eighteen point eight percent, and there's it's very hard
to be any sort of value for you know, fantasy.
When you're hitting the ball that softly, you know, it's
like great and and sadly on top of it, it's
not even actually dribblers the second base, it's pop ups
the second because his fly ball rate is almost forty
four percent, so he's basically he's hitting a ton of
two one hundred and twenty foot outs to like the
right fielder. It's not good. Like I would not pick
up Dylan Cruz probably in a fifteen team mix league.
I would, I could see someone I would. I would
guess someone will pick him up in a fifteen team
mix league, but it won't be me. It just I
just don't see enough there. And Anna only. Sure, I mean,
you know, you throw a couple bucks out him if
he's on waivers, more than likely in Anna only. He's
already rostered in most leagues, so it's like a mood point.
But sure, and only you go for it, UH fifteen
teen mix league. I would imagine he's gonna go for
you know, out of one thousand dollars. I would assume
somewhere in the uh fifteen to twenty five dollars range.
But I wouldn't. It wouldn't be me. Someone will do it.
Someone will try it, you know, on the fire. But
I would say, you know, anything more than that, like
look at just look at a hot guy on waivers
versus Dylan Cruz. If you're really desperate for like an outfielder,
like I know my in one of my leagues. I
lost Mickey Moniac, and Dylan Cruise will not be the
guy I'm going for in that league to fill in
for Moniac. It'll be, you know, it'll be someone like
Jake McCarthy or something, someone is like you know, that
has like some chance to be like of some value
to me. So I you know, unfortunately, I really did
like Dylan Cruise when he first got called up. I'm
basically as out as you can be right now on him.
Speaker 1: Yep. I think that's all very fair. I am one
of those people with a bid in on Cruise and
my TGFBI. But it's exactly at the level that you
were saying. I think it's like twenty five bucks and
dropping an extraneous piece to be a bench outfielder slash
maybe stolen base option in a fifteen teamer, And I
think that's pretty much all it is. It's a pretty
boring slash line. I don't think you're gonna get a
lot of power out of Dylan Crue, as you said,
and so unless we see a significant swing change, I
think this is who he is, and he really he
really did mess up his swing, because there were reports
out of spring training he didn't make the club because
all he could do was it pop ups. And I
think it's gonna be a lost season for Cruise as
he tries to refine whatever bit of magic he had
as a prospect, because it's gone at this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, definitely it was. I mean, the the
Nationals passed over who to select Dylan Cruise who.
Speaker 1: I think it was just White Langford, right, yeah, yeah,
Langford and a lot of the folks, but Langford was.
Speaker 2: About four or five hundred other people. Obviously they didn't
they didn't least pass over at Paul Skeens to pick
Dylan Cruise. At least there's that they did. They did
pass over Max Clark and why Langford Walker Jan Kains.
There's a few people there in the twenty twenty three
MLB draft. But yeah, I don't know, man, you know,
if you're in a keeper or dynasty league, I guess,
you know, hold on and see maybe he can have
that swing change like you mentioned, But right now he
looks very lost.
Speaker 1: Yes, I totally agree. Okay, next call up we have
is in the same division as the Nationals. It's in
New York with the Mets. As Jonah Tong has been
called up for this year. It was not exactly a
smooth line for him in Triple A before this call up.
It was a five to sixty eight er over thirty
eight innings with a fourteen point three percent walk rate.
Those strikeouts were there at thirty two point seven percent
in his debut against the Marlins just on Friday, went
only three innings, two k's, but didn't allow any runs.
It was a very, very muted outing as I don't
know what the plan here is with the Mets in
terms of like do they want to stretch him out
more or are they just looking for him to be
this opener or are they sending him right back down
to Triple A? So what are you doing with donah
Tong this weekend in terms of putting in any bids
where he might be available in leagues?
Speaker 2: What are the Mets doing? Could fill a good hour
of this podcast. That's a great question. What Sky?
Speaker 1: I think that's the point of Blue Sky right in general?
Speaker 2: What are the Mets doing? You know, when the Mets
signed Jorge Polanco and Louis Robert Jr. I was one
of the loudest critics of that. Of those and Marcus
Simeon too. Well, they actually they I believe they traded
for him, but when they brought those guys in, I
was one of the loudest critics of that of those moves,
And honestly, I feel like those like the Sterns and
whatever the Mets are doing, like with with those moves,
I'm glad it feels like those moves are kind of
in the past now because like now they've had you know,
they have they brought up Tongue. Have you mentioned they
went with you ing they're Christian Scott Like, it looks
like they're at least realizing, you know, I mean it
is May twenty fourth, but it's good that they've released
realized at this point. So, you know, some props to
the fact that the Mets have realized that their fortunes
were going nowhere fast and they started looking towards the future.
So anyway, with that said, you know, Jonah Tong has
sort of been a bit of a mess this year
with his command is uh, you know, his walk rate
is a walk per nine in Triple A was five
point seven. It's just like it's it's unosterable if he's
going to be anywhere near that in the Major League.
So assuming he hasn't fixed himself just randomly by getting
promoted to the major leagues. I'm assuming he's still somewhat
broken as far as command goes. And so with that thought,
I'm not really that interested. I you know, I feel
like if he's in, you know, in a fifteen team
mix league, he's again, like I feel like he's even
lower than Dylan Cruz because he's a starter, So there
should be other guys you can just stream. Even in
a fifteen team league, you should be able to stream
guys like I saw Kwait teng was in my was
on waivers in one of my fifteen team mix leagues,
So there's guys available. So you know, I just feel
like Tong is just like better left to someone else
until like he looks like he's fixed his command, which
you know, I mean, three innings this weekend doesn't really
tell me anything. It's just such a small sample size that, like,
you know, I'm looking at this point, I'm still looking
at his minor league numbers and they weren't great, and
I I just can't I can't fathom grabbing him and
starting him in any league outside of NL only, Like
I just I don't imagine like if I were to
take a flyer on him fifteen team mix league, I
would be benching him until I saw something. I wouldn't
put him directly into my lineup until like he looked decent.
So you know, if you have room, I guess to
play with and to see what happens. Okay, fine, but
you know they have you know, the Mets, they haven't
really committed to Tongue staying up, and you know they
have Senga, who's I believe code Senga is out on
a minor league rehab, so he's not I don't that
far back play. Holmes is obviously out for a while
with the Phibia. But I think Jonah Tongue is worth
a flyer in a fifteen team mix league or deeper.
But I wouldn't start him necessarily, and I wouldn't go
near him in a twelve team mix.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I agree that, especially he can't find
the zone right now. It was a forty five percent
zone rate INTERPA before being called up in the outing
this weekend, it was a thirty nine percent zone rate.
So it's not like those walks are being created out
of nowhere or tough calls on the edge of the zone,
like he can't find the zone right now, and especially
somebody who is a curveball kind of change up forward
pitcher like Tong. If you can't find the bottom of
the zone, these MLB hitters will just allow it to
go out of the zone and not swing. So yeah,
I think I'm there with you. Someone who might be
a strikeout upside play, but what he's showing right now
nothing more than And I'll only really deep fifteen team
mix leagues, So let's get to our next one. We
actually have a pair of outfielders to talk about, and
they're both in Pittsburgh. Esmerlin Valdez was touled up this week,
who was absolute like All Star last fall in the
Fall Stars Game and the actual kind of Fall League
overall out in Arizona. Everybody who went to first but
Arizona got to see a little bit of him in action.
We also have Yo Stinson Garcia, who you guys talked
about a little bit last week, but he we actually
got to see some action out of him this past week.
Both of them are kind of playing for the same spot,
so they're kind of in a face off sort of
situation trying to get this fourth outfield, maybe get into
a corner outfield spot for the Pirates. So far, Yostinson
Garcia over his first eighteen play appearances, it's a two
ninety four three thirty three two ninety four slash line.
Esmerelin Valdez is at nine plate appearances with a one
twenty five to twenty two five hundred, but was hitting
much better with ten homers at two fifty three average
in the Triple A before this. Which one of these
guys do you like better? In Pittsburgh?
Speaker 2: Man? You know, I I watched a home run off
of as Morel Valdez is Bad today and I was
just I fell in love. I felt I fell in
love with Valdez today. I was just like randomly watching him.
He looks like, you know, watching because I when he
first got called up last week, I comped him to
Craig Munroe is super random. From not watching him, I
feel like, well, he's got he's got He's definitely got
that like a dollas Garcia, you know power or like
I was also seeing like frail uh reyis like he's
got that, like he's got that easy power where you
know the h I mean the strikeouts aren't even that
bad for him in the minors, Like I'm comping him
to guys who have strikeouts and like not necessarily the
kind of contact that Valdez has. So I don't know,
I really was like I was expecting to be like eh,
but I'm really kind of liking them a lot. I
imagine he's gonna go for a decent amount in FAB
this week. I I do worry about the playing time
because like even you know, one of the things I
absolutely hate is when I see something like with the
Pirates did on Sunday, whereas like Valdez hit a homer
and then there was a pitching change and the Pirates
pulled them from pulled Valdez out of the game. So
it's like, obviously he's not I mean, if he's not
facing rities, I mean that's bad like that, Like, it
doesn't get any worse than a hitter not facing ritis.
So I'm a little bit concerned about the playing time.
I wish, you know, the fact that they called them
up and they're like still with you know, Jake Magnum
or whoever is starting in front of them, Like I
kind of wish they would just commit to Valdez. I
don't think they are, though, because like you know, like
I said, I mean, you you see a guy gets
pulled after a home run just with a pitching change,
that's a sign. So I like, I like what I
saw off of like his power so easy, I mean, god,
it's like that's that's a beautiful thing to see, and
the fact that he makes a lot of contact. Like,
I am incredibly interested, but I wish the h I
wish the bats were were better. So I'll say, like
fifteen team mix league, I think he's worth a flyer.
I probably wouldn't go crazy, like I like him more
than Dylan Cruz just but it's really a matter of
whether or not you can you know, whether or not
you can like sit him on your bench and see
if he's gonna play, because Dylan Cruz does have the bats,
So in reality, Dylan Cruise is probably gonna be more
valuable just because he has at bats where Valdez if
he doesn't have at bats, I mean, he's kind of useless.
So I do like I like what I saw though,
so I kind of feel like you throw a couple
bucks at Valdez to see if you can get him
in a fifteen team mix league, and if you do,
then you know, maybe you play him this week coming up,
maybe you sit him to see what his playing time's like.
But I do worry that, you know, and that's also
with Garcia as well. Uh he he doesn't have playing
time either, so neither of them really have playing time.
I like valde is probably a bit more than Garcia,
but I don't love the lack of at bats potentially,
so you know, I kind of like Valdez enough to
take a flyer though, just to see what happens, because
you know, a guy that kind of power, he should
be the playing time should shake out in his favor
at some point, you would assume, you know, because like
you look at the Pirates lineup and it's like it's
not terrible, but there are areas where like Ozuna is
so cooked, right, Oza probably should retire. He won't because
he's under contract and making money, so you know, but
Ozuna really should go to the bench. Magham is like
fine for you know, because he's you know, better fielder,
probably a bit you know, he's got some speed. So
I don't know, but I do think there's ways to
get Valdez into the lineup. So I kind of am
interested in seeing if that happens, but right now you
really gotta go. You gotta either be in a daily
league where you can move him into the lineup when
he's actually in it, or you just put him on
your bench in a fifteen team mixed league and see
what happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that's I think I'm also with
you on Valdez. It's a much better bat when you
just also watch it. You're just like, Wow, this dude
has something a little special. And I mean the Pirates
have started him three straight games in right field while
they've been dhing O'Neil Cruz and then benching Marcelosuna except
for against lefties, and honestly, I think that's probably the
ideal Pirates line up there to cut Ozuna, move Cruise
to DH position and then and play both Garcia and
Valdez and the corner. Make Mangum a fourth outfielder, speedy guy,
kind of late defensive replacement that you just can't trust.
The Pirates though, right like, this is an organization that
loves shooting themselves in the foot with their what I mean,
they have to take a little time to reload the
Flint talk every time because you know they're pirates. There's
an old school gun joke there. But this is a
franchise where you can't always count on them making the
best decision for their prospects. But hopefully the talent wins out.
And I'm with you that if there's somebody to take
a fire on, it's Valdez, just in the case that
it really does all click together, all right. Next promotion
we had is in Arizona. It's Tommy Troy, who actually
has come through the system mostly as an infielder, like
a shortstop second baseman, but we'll be getting full time
at bats. It looks like in left field as Lurtis
Guriel Junior is down for the Dbacks and they put
Tommy Troy out in left field for it looks like
eighteen games this year. And you know what they said,
Good luck, kid, get out there, enjoy left field. You're
in the majors now. It was a good batting line
in TRIPLEA, but it was the PCL, so keep that miners.
The three oh seven, three ninety seven four forty nine
slash line in forty four games for Troy, so that's
only a one oh nine WRC plus because of the PCL.
In his debut today, he's laced two doubles, but one
was off Jose Kintana and the other was off Seth Halverson.
So kind of like the lowest rungs of MLB pitching,
but good to see him at least get those first
major league hits today. What do you make of Tommy
Troy in Arizona?
Speaker 2: You know, I kind of like Tommy Troy because of
the speed, So you're right with the PCL like you can,
you can. His power might not translate as well, but
I do think the speed will translate. So as long
as he's got speed, and the Diamondbacks already said that
while Gourriel is out the Tommy Troy is gonna play
left field for them, so he's gonna have the bats.
He's got speed, He's always been able to make decent contact,
even though his h K rate did balloon a little
bit in Triple A this year, but it's still decent enough.
I'm I'm a little bit interested. I think probably Tommy Troy,
because he's gonna have at bats and he does have speed,
I would probably say, and he's also I mean I'm
guessing here, but I think he's probably gonna be cheaper
in most fab situations, and he's probably gonna be more
available than you know, even Dylan Cruz or Valdez. I
would say Tommy Troy is a good, sneaky pick for
like a two week run where maybe you get some steals,
maybe he hits a home runner or two, and if
he does, you know, do well, the Diamondbacks could figure
out a way to keep him around even when Gouriel returns.
So I you know, I I think it's this. I
think Tommy Troy actually could be something more than just
like he's obviously l only, but I think he could
actually be more than that. I'm kind of interested in
Tommy Troy. Like his his bat I think will play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree. And on top of it too,
like once he picks up that outfield eligibility playing with
the Dbacks here over the next week or so, you're
looking at a guy who's middle infield, outfield eligible and
deep leagues. That is money, that's found money. I think
there's a lot of great things in Troy's profile. So yeah,
I think out of all the guys that we've talked
about on the heating side, so far he's I think
he's less talented than Valdez, but he's probably got a
better path to playing time in Arizona right now, and
if he plays well, there's no reason to kick him
out of the lineup because it's kind of like the
time is now for Tommy Troy in terms of the
promotion cycle and everything like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, totally. I I one hundred percent of gree
I think I think Troy is probably the least talked
about well, I mean, I don't know what other people
are gonna be talking about, but I think he's probably
gonna be the least you know, uh sought after guy
in fab and off of waivers, and he actually could
turn into the best profit out of all these guys.
Like I'm you know, like I've already said, Dylan Cruz
worries me, Valdez is really interesting. But the playing time
Tommy Troy actually has got speed, a little bit of power,
can hit for a decent average, and he's gonna have
playing time over at least the next two weeks. So yeah,
I like Tommy Troy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a great call. Okay, we are
going to go just down the street for me here
in Chicago for the next round of call ups, where
we've actually got two. One of the dudes who maybe
the National should have drafted in that draft, Matt Shaw
went down and has hit the iel. So they brought
up Pedro Ramirez, an infielder who has been extremely hot
for the Cubs at Triple A to start the season
three twelve, three ninety five, five seventy four slash line
with nine homers, nineteen stolen bases, one thirty six WRC
plus brew and I covered him a couple of weeks
on the Cards and Categories podcast. We were big fans.
They've also called up Elvin Kevin al Kantara there in Chicago,
where I'm a little bit less interested in all Kantara
just because he seems to be more of like a
fourth outfielder type. It's gonna be hard for him to
crack the rotation. But Pedromires has showed a lot of
great stuff here in twenty twenty six for the Cubs
in Iowa. What do you make here of Pedro Omras
and Kevin al Kantara for the Chicago Cubs.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll do al Kantara first. I think he's probably
a he could probably be an all star in like
the KBO. I don't really see him doing much for
the Cubs. I mean, I think there's a good chance
that like he probably should go overseas and be like
a great a great star for either in Japan or Korea,
because I just don't see it for him unfortunately. I
think he's you know, is his k rate is just abysmal,
and I mean, you know, God blessed, but I just
don't see it with him. Uh Paigro Ramirez is actually
really kind of interesting. My biggest problem so Pedro Ramir's
you know, power, great speed, uh hit for a decent
average like you mentioned all that stuff with uh you know,
had a sort of a breakout here in uh Triple
A this year with at twenty two years old, uh
uh at Iowa, I think, uh the problem for me
is even more so than a bunch of the guys
we mentioned before. I really don't see where Patro Like
It's like Pedro Ramirez got called up to fill in
for Matt Shaw and Matt Shaw didn't have a job,
So I don't know Petro Ramrez is got I don't like,
I don't know where these guys are gonna go like
I know al Qatar is not gonna play. I really
don't know where Pedro Ramirez is gonna play, Like, I
have no idea, Like I I like him for like
a flyer in an NL only league. Maybe, like so
maybe Confordo goes to the bench. I don't know, there's
I mean, you know, Ian Happ has been struggling, so
he's been like I think he's like been out the
last couple of days, you know, trying to get a
mental break. So I don't know, maybe Pedro somehow they
shuffle their lineup to get Pedro Ramir some at bats there.
I don't know. I just don't see the adbats. Unfortunately,
I like him, but I don't know, I don't see
where he plays.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's all you do have to wonder, like
if the Cubs maybe do tap him for a few
more games just because I mean, they're struggling. They've lost
what I think nine in a row or something now,
and things are not going well for the Chicago Cubs,
and so if they need to find something to give
them a little bit of a boost, Pedro Muirs might
be it. As they're looking at especially, you know, Michael
Bush has really been cooling off to Dancy. Swanson is
lost and old this year, but the defense will play.
They're gonna have a tough conversation, I think as the
season goes on, to decide, you know, do we continue
taking the l with Dansby Swanson hitting in our lineup
when we've got somebody like patro mirrors ready to go?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I don't have his swinging. I don't have
how fast he's swinging Swanson that is, I don't have
it in front of me. But I would have to
assume he's he's had a bit of a falloff. I
would have to assume it because his numbers scream to
me a guy who has hit the age of like,
you know, the point of no return for aging vets,
where it's like, yeah, I mean, you know, he's good
for a couple of days. It's not really good enough
to be in the line up all the time. It's
just like, you know, it's a real big flashing red
light when a guy like Swanson has a under twenty
two percent strikeout rate and is hitting one eighty nine,
Like that's that's really bad. Like the things don't get
much worse than when a guy isn't striking out and
still hitting for an absolutely atrocious average. Like that's as
bad as things get really for a hitter. We've seen
it before from vets in the past, Like it's what
happens when guys get older and you know, there things
just like their swing just as does not do as
much as it used to do. So even when they're
making contact, the balls just sort of like you know,
plops off their bat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it looks like actually the bets beeat's pretty
similar to prior years. But I think he's been old
man for a little bit where he's been selling out
because the whiff has been increasing and the hard hit
rate is ticked down a little bit where he's swing
as hard as he can because he needs to to
get as much as he can out of the bat,
and it's just not there for Swanson.
Speaker 2: But yeah, there you go. That's it. And that doesn't right, Yeah, no,
that I mean that makes sense, And that doesn't magically
get better.
Speaker 1: It does not.
Speaker 2: That's like, you know, the beginning of the end. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Yeah, time for him to be a house husband. I
mean I would too if I had a wife like him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's married to a Yeah.
Speaker 1: From the US women's national team, so he doesn't even
need to work anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah, guys, you know that. Actually that that brings up
a good point for me. Like so many times you'll
see like a Rod or any of these guys, these
retired guys are like at the or they're doing broadcasting,
and I'm like, you made like three hundred million dollars.
Why are you not like on the beach somewhere. I would, honestly,
I mean, I love I love doing this. This is
this is a joy for me. But if you gave
me three hundred million dollars, you would never see me again.
You would be like, hey, whatever happened a grey, I
don't know, he got three hundred million dollars, That's what happened.
Speaker 1: Yes, I totally agree. It confounds me as well. Okay,
we've got one more call up, and this one is uh.
I want to get your take on this, because even
I'm confounded by this as a as a semi Cardinals
fan here, even though I've got the socks stuff in
the background where Brian Torres, he was in the minor
leagues forever twenty eight years old, finally made his MLB
debut this weekend and it went fantastically. After hitting three
thirty six, four fifty four, four seventy seven a one
forty nine WRC plus with two homers and ten stole
bases in TRIPLEA, they brought Brian Torres up and he
hit his first homer in his debut and put up
a three seventy five average in the first couple of games.
Looks like he should be the starting every day left
fielder for the Cardinals. While Nathan True is out, the
devil magic is alive in Saint Louis. So is this
gonna last or is this something that's gonna disappear into
the Wind'm.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm putting my money on wind. I'm going
I'm going wind in this case, I think there's a
good chance that, like, you know, looking at his stats,
like in Triple A he was, you know, ripping the
cover off the ball, but also like I'm assuming the
Cardinals were looking at at him and being like, yeah, well,
I mean he's twenty eight years old. He's not ripping
the cover off the ball in Triple A, then like,
what are we even doing here?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: I honestly think like there's a situation where he was
hitting so well in triple A that like he he
had his confidence at an all time high. He was
called up, confidence is even built even higher. So he's
still continuing a hint, because he's in the zone that
hitters get in and you know, like a hosh potato.
I just I see it as like a guy who
just happens to be hot right now, and there's no
way this lasts. You know, one case I can think
of in the past, Joey Menez for the Nationals, Like
he was right, so he hit so well in the
miners as an old guy old, I mean, I think
he was probably like twenty seven or twenty eight. He
got called up and he continued to hit well, and
that lasted actually like a full season. So there is
a chance that Brian Torres just continues to hit. But
at some point we're going to get a rug poll
and Torres is no longer going to be good, because
I mean he's not. I mean, there was a reason
why he was in the minors for so long. It's
like he wasn't in the minors for eleven years because
he's so good that they didn't want to intimidate other
teams with him. I mean there's a reason.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I think so too, honestly, and it it'll
only it'll be useful for a couple of weeks while
Church is out because depending on your league, you might
have second base am I eligibility for Torres too, and
that'll be huge. But it is gonna be, I think
a bench piece for the Cardinals down the stretch. So yeah,
it's a fun story and it was a fun weekend
so far in Cincinnati. But I think it's a bit
of a flash in the pan for Torres, so that
covers us for the call ups. Let's get into some
hot and cold players of the last thirty days. The
first one I've got is one who I've just been
getting founded by. I want to get your take on.
Is Xavier Edwards? A power hitter. Now he has been
super hot in our player Raider for quite some time now.
He has risen to the twentieth over the last thirty
days on the strength of five homers out of that
bat in mister slap dick prospect himself. So is he
mister power dick prospect?
Speaker 2: Now we got I think he's mister got into a
few meatballs in the last couple of weeks stick. I
don't really see I don't see the power you know,
necessarily changing as far as he goes. I mean, maybe
he gets to like twelve homers this year, which you
know is a lot for him, a guy who came
into the year with like three to five homer power
and now it's like if you know, if Fernando Tattoos
Junior was doing what Edwards is doing, I'd be so happy.
I would, you know, I would. Actually I would probably
still be complaining because it's still not enough of what
I wanted from Tattoos, but it's still it would be
more than what he's doing anyway. You know, I don't
really see Exavier Edwards, like you know, there's like there's
definitely like the hard hit is up, so I mean
that's good. His fly balls are up a little bit,
his homer per five balls, you know, better than it was.
Like there's there's some signs here that he is more
of a twelve homer guy, which you know, I don't
think anyone was really anticipating from him. So that's good
considering it still has you know, thirty steel speed and
great average, like he's a well rounded player. As far
as that goes like, you know, pretty low strikeout rate,
hitting threeho eight as we record this actually three thirteen.
But anyway, yeah, I mean I would take from him
twelve homers, thirty two steals, three two, even go down
to two eighty five two ninety five average. I mean,
even that, that's a great line. I mean, I wish
I had him on team, on more teams. Actually, I
don't even know if I have him on any teams,
but yeah, I wish I had him. I think he's legit.
I have no problem, like, you know, buying high on him,
if that's an option, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't
expect you know, the fact that he's got six homers
through fifty ish games. I wouldn't expect a twenty homer
season necessarily at some point, I think the power is
going to level out a little bit. But still, you know,
like I said, twelve homers from that is from that
from the rest of that line, because the rest of
the line is so good. That's good. I like them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think you're I think that all those
takes are fair that I think we've seen somebody who
has up their game a little bit, and somebody who
I didn't expect it either, that he's just become a
better hitter. I think being able to play in Miami
has allowed him to develop at the big league level. Yeah,
stample of approval from both of us on Xavier Edwards
on the pitching side, when you look at the last
thirty day player Raider the top four horses, as you
would expect, you got the miz Mizerowski, you got Chris Saale,
Zach Wheeler, Cam Schlitzler number five and six. Some new
up rising arms here between Kyle Harrison and Max Meyer.
Over the past month, Kyle Harrison's been worth They've both
been worth about forty bucks. Kyle Harrison has been on fire,
a one thirty two ra with well, no, I'm reading
the long wrong line that is his fit a one
a point ninety six ERA over twenty eight innings with
forty one k's and Max Meyer has a one fifty
one ERA over thirty five and two thirds innings with
forty k's himself. What do you what do you think
about these guys? Do you think either of them will
we'll stay at this level for the rest of the year.
And if there's one that you prefer over the other
let me know between Kyle Harrison and Max Meyer.
Speaker 2: So with Kyle Harrison, I think there's gonna be like
there should be some sort of uh punishment or at
least day some sort of like, uh, you gotta like go,
I feel like you gotta wear a shirt or something
that says like I traded away Kyle Harrison. If you're
on the Giants or the Red Sox in their front office,
like you, there should be some sort of like a
hazing or a punishment of some sort, Like you can't
just get rid of Kyle Harrison and have him break
out in this big of a way and just be
like oops, like someone should get fired, is what I'm saying.
There's a there's a real like there's a there's some
like serious like come to Jesus stuff that needs to
happen with the Giants and the Red Sox. If you
looked at Kyle Harrison.
Speaker 4: And you were like, I don't know, I don't like
either that or the Brewers are cheating, like there's something
going on because like he got unlocked, and I don't
know why he wasn't unlocked previously, but someone needs to
like look at themselves in the mirror.
Speaker 2: And be like why didn't we unlock Kyle Harrison because
we had them, like if you're the Giants, we had
them for a year and we did nothing with them.
Then the Red Sox just like got them for Devers
and that just got right up. They're just like, ah, whatever,
we don't need we don't need the return for devers
like whatever. I mean, we were just trying to unload devers. Anyway,
I don't know what the Red Sox are doing either,
but I mean, honestly though, Kyle Harrison has been unlocked,
and someone needs a reason why the Giants or the
Red Sox didn't do it, like like there's some I
know the Brewers are excellent when it comes to the stuff,
so I mean I'm not saying like like the Brewers
did not do as good as the Brewers always do,
but I mean you gotta think like someone really needs
to like pay up for like what they did, Like
I would be collected. I would fire Buster Posey and
Breswall absolutely, but I mean there's something something needs to
be like said here with like Kyle Harrison that was
like unset so it's been said now anyway, Obviously, I
like Harrison. I think I think he's probably like I mean,
the my biggest concern really is probably gonna be how
many innings can he throw this year? You know, he
should be able to. I would assume he can go
more or less a full ish season, like maybe one
hundred and forty innings, which is enough. I mean, that's great.
I think if he can go one hundred and forty innings.
I see nothing in his profile, like, you know, he's
not gonna stay necessarily as a one to seventy seven
era pitcher. But I see nothing in his profile telling
me like, right now he looks like, at worst a
two point seventy five e RA a guy, which is like,
I mean, if you're getting that from Kyle Harrison over
the course of one hundred and forty to one hundred
and fifty innings, I mean, you take, you're taking it
all day, and that's basically like, you know, you would
have been over the mood if you got that from
say like Tyler Glass now, I mean like that would
have been like you hit the Glass now lottery if
you've got those, if you got that sort of numbers
from him, So yeah, I think Kyle Harrison is basically
at worse the number two, probably a number one, I
would probably I would. I mean, it would be hard
to rank him outside the top twenty starters if I
were re ranking, And I mean, that's really good. That's
you know that I think is probably even maybe just
because we haven't seen it before, so I'm you know,
I'm giving I'm underestimating a little bit, but if you know,
if he can continue what he's doing, he's closer to
a number ten to twelve starter. But just because we
haven't seen it before, I'd probably rank him around twenty
rest of the season. But still, I mean, excellent numbers.
Max Meyer, I think is you know, I think Max
Meyer is taking the sort of standard path for most
starters where it's like they you know, they show signs
and they don't really break out until the third year.
He looks like he's he looks like he's doing what
he should have been doing. And I I'd say he's
a little bit below Kyle Harrison. For me, I would
say he's probably closer to like maybe a thirty to forty,
a top thirty to top forty guy. But is still
I mean, it's nothing to sneeze that. I mean, Max
Meyer looks good. He looks like a solid number two
maybe three, you know, depending on some a little bit
depending on wins, and uh, you know, his his walks
are a little bit high, I mean, not terrible. I
don't I don't mind them necessarily like I do like him,
but you know, probably closer to a he's at a
one point zero five whip right now, he's probably closer
to like maybe a one twelve. Uh, he's got probably
he's at a two five two yar ra right now.
He's probably close till like a three five to three six.
Not bad numbers, though, I mean, these these aren't bad
at all. So I like Max Meyer a lot. Harrison's
above them, though, Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1: I'm there with you too, and especially those strikeouts, like
the strikeouts for Harrison are otherworldly at this at this
point that you're starting to push number one starter. So yeah,
I think those are great takes. Let's flip to the
cold side here, because I think it is time to
maybe have a little bit of a requiem on two
of these guys that have been hanging out, you know,
maybe not towards the bottom bottom of our player raider,
but certainly not where they should be. I'm glad you're
looking at the year to date player Raider on this.
Let's talk about these two first rounders. First, we have
Gunner Henderson of the Overhols at eighty ninth. Then that's
worth roughly thirteen and a half dollars of value just
because you are still getting those home runs out of
Gunner Henderson. This other guy was a first round pick,
maybe more so around the corner into a second round.
This is especially killing me because I thought I'd made
off like a bandit my TGFBI squad. I had taken
both of these dudes in my first and second picks,
and you can imagine what place or what spot in
the standings that club is taking. But the second guy
is Fernando Tatis Junior, picked up second base eligibility only
has been worth a dollar on our player Raider has
yet to hit a home run, is just barely hanging
on in terms of value. What have you been doing
with Henderson and Tatis and how are you evaluating them
for the rest of twenty twenty six?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, they're awful, you know, I mean, what's that?
Fool me one? Shame on you, fool me twice. Connor
Henderson's gout. This is going on like fool me five times.
Now he's really guy. I mean, he's really sucker me
and Gunner Henderson. It's like I say to Gunner Henderson,
just be normal man. Like last year it was like
no power speed average. This year is like power speed
striking out and what strike out? Nearly twenty eight percent
of the time, Like where did that come from? Gunner
Henderson's has some serious problems to strikeouts, and it's like
understatement of the year at this point, Like I don't
really know that, Like I mean, because strikeouts really do
stabilize as one of the fastest stats in baseball, So
it's really concerning that you have Gunner Henderson who just
like cannot make contact all of a sudden, Like I
don't know, Like I think it was something like today
is like the and it's sort of weird because it's
like a matter of not being he's not being aggressive
enough in some ways, and then in other ways he's
not he's being too aggressive. So it's like he's basically
not he is not recognizing pitches, which I'm I mean,
at his age, he's been in the league enough like
this should not be an issue for him. So the
fact that it is, it's like, it's really kind of concerning,
right I we I mean, I don't know the power
still there. Like his gunner Henderson's homer today Sunday was
the first, it was the it was on the first
pitch of the bat. It was the first time he
has swung at the first pitch of the bat is
since April tenth, and he was the first o oh
kurpall since August fifteenth, twenty twenty four. So that, uh
so that was from you know, someone someone, a reporter
put that out there.
Speaker 1: So I thought you were digging deep through the archives.
Speaker 2: So that, I mean, that's you know, it's a it's
a bit of a lie of sports bureau like okay,
who cares. But it's also it says a lot. It
says a lot about the guys, like he's he's not
selecting pitches, he's not swinging, he's not being aggressive, he's
not knowing what he's swinging at. Like there's something wrong there.
I don't know what's going on. He's actually a strikeout
rate is over twenty eight percent. This is coming from
a guy who last year struggled a lot and still
had a twenty one percent strikeout rate, Like seven percent
on a strikeout rate for a guy who's twenty four
and has been in the league for five years, Like
what is going on? Like, I don't know, man, it's
not good though, Like everything looks exceptionally bizarre when he
like his numbers just under the surface, like first strike,
his first strike percentage is up way up, as his
percentage of pitches he's swung out outside of the strike
zone up from twenty seven percent to thirty five percent.
Like what that's bad? Like that's really bad. So anyway,
I mean the I'm glad the power is still there,
but I you know, I've now I've decided to, uh,
I'm hoping for a two forty five to two fifty
five type year from Gunner. I'm up on the I've
given up on the hope of a two to eighty
plus year, So hopefully he gets up to two fifty five.
But since the power and the speed are there, you know,
I think there's you know, there's a little bit of
hope for value, but you're looking at closer to like
a top forty to fifty player versus a top twelve player.
And then Tatus is just man is depressing. Tatis's numbers
are super depressing as wellful.
Speaker 3: Because like Tatus is actually so Tatus is actually making
a lot of hard contact and he's like he's I mean,
his the ball is just like going straight into the ground,
like he's I think his average his average distance on
a fly ball is like three feet.
Speaker 2: Basically he's just pounding the ball into the ground. Everything.
It's awful. I don't and honestly, like again, like like
his launch angles were never like amazing, but now it's like,
oh my god, man, like what is going on here?
Speaker 1: This is so bad.
Speaker 2: So, I mean, and the fact that you know, he's
still making some contact. It's not like, you know, I mean,
not that hitting two thirty eight is assially the best
thing in the world. Actually he's forty nine as of
right now. But still, I mean it's not obviously it's
not great. But the k raid is you know, Okay,
his walk RDE is fine. So I'm assuming, you know,
if we can get a hot streak out of him.
I mean, I'm I'm now hoping for like fifteen plus homers,
which you know, if you told me I was getting
fifteen plus armers from datis I don't think I would
have draft him in the top seventy five, So I'm
obviously I'm very concerned. But I mean, I I you know,
I said probably like a month ago now to sell
him low, and that was a month ago at this point. Yeah,
I mean, at this point, I don't know, man, I
you know, like it depends on what you can get
in the trade, but I would probably top I would say,
hopefully you can get top fifty value. But I mean,
if I were redrafting right now, I would probably I
don't know, I'd probably take a flyer at like, you know,
between fifty and seventy five overall, and that would be
just like holding my nose hoping he could come out
of it, because nothing in his line is really saying like,
oh yeah, he's gonna definitely get better.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean it is rough on both ends
for them, so I yeah it And they're kind of
impossible to trade because, as you alluded to, like how
do you find the right value, Like you shelled out
a number one or like a top twenty pick for
both of these guys. So trying to just eat that
this early in the season just hurts so much. Even
though yeah, It'll be fascinating to see where they come
in at the twenty twenty seven draft table as well,
because these du dudes are gonna fall off an absolute cliff,
I think if they're kind of staying on this trajectory
and on top of it, like I kind of expect
them to, because I haven't seen any glimmers of hope
out of either of them. It's it's been a tough,
tough season for both Tatis and Henderson.
Speaker 2: I h yeah, I mean I think it's probably early
still to say, but I would I would guess Tatis
and Henderson, Gunner and Tattis, they're probably I would probably
compt them to where like Jackson Merrill went this year.
I think like around fifty to sixty maybe somewhere in
that range.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's fair. Okay, Well, now that we've
depressed everybody greatly enough with Gunner, Anderson and Beranando Tatis
to you want to talk about some late May bullpens,
because we've got some fun ones too. First, we're going
to get into the Washington Nationals bullpen, who they did
return Clayton Beeter this week and he is being entered
into the fray with Gus Varland, Richard Lovelady, Brad Lord,
who knows. Maybe John Wetland is still there he transferred
down from Montreal. It is a rough bullpen there in Washington,
but the team keeps winning. They're around a five hundred team,
they are. It's a great offense. So, like, there are
plenty of save opportunities around. What do you do with
Beater coming back to the National's bullpen coming off of
his injury? Are you investing in him or are you
sticking maybe with Gus Barland, who is technically the leader
in the clubhouse according to roster resource, But the latest
save went to our boy, Dicky Lovelady, who has bounced
around on dfase and waiver wires in real life, not
even on fantasies rosters for years. So it's a tricky
bullpen and we've got to resolve it because unlike you know,
like the Angels bullpen, which I've given up on because
that team's about to win about forty games, we've actually
got real wins and real saves to chase in Washington.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no completely. I think you know, Dick love Lady,
I think his name says it all. It's like you
can't commit there, he's not going to commit. He's a
commit phobe. I would assume from that name, I would
assume that anyone in the if you're chasing national saves,
I would say, go with the guy who's like been
the best as far as the most saves and also
the best era, and that's Varland. I think, you know,
I think he's been decent enough where I don't mind
Varland if you're looking for saves. Beeter. Actually, I in
one twelve team mixed league, Beeter came off of the
AL and I dropped him because I just didn't have
room for him. And I mean, I wouldn't say that
team's doing that great, so I I, you know, if
anyone could have used saves, probably I could have. But
I didn't have room for Beeter coming off of the AL,
and I just don't see it. So I would say Varland,
I don't like love Lady like the problem with the
problem actually with all these guys except for Varland. Farland's
numbers look okay, But Beeter and love Lady like they
both are like walking in the world like it's like
their command is such a mess that even though peters
eer A looks okay, but his walk grade is like
six point six walk per nine and Love Lady is
five point six. I honestly, I don't think i'd mess
with either of them, just because I feel like there
could be a blow up around the corner at any point,
and Varland has really been okay. I kind of wish
I wish uh Drew, But Tara would just commit to
Varland because I don't see why not. I mean, you know,
I think he's I think he's their best bet, so
I would go him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's where I'm at too, So yeah,
Varland is still my favorite choice out of that bullpen.
Let's go to the Sacramento A's bullpen, because this one's
been getting wild over the kind of the past couple
of weeks. We've had Jack Perkins, who looked like the
man to own and roster there for the Athletics, but
he's really kind of backed up over the past couple
of weeks and looked really shaky even when he's kind
of gotten opportunities here and there. So according to Roster Resource,
we've got a three headed monster here as well, between
Hogan Harris who picked up a save on Wednesday, Mark
Later Junior, who picked up a save on Thursday, but
that was also partly because Hogan Harris had pitched back
to back games on Tuesday and Wednesday. The winner on
Thursday was Joel Kuhnel, who has been in and out
of this kind of like closer situation.
Speaker 2: He is.
Speaker 1: It's a have you watched him pitch much? Because it
is goofy. He is a very low strikeout guy, very
low velocity junk baller. I love this type of pitcher.
But in Sacramento, you're asking for trouble. And so I
think your leaders in the in the clubhouse right now
are probably Hogan, Harrison, Mark Later Junior. But how are
you waiting through this messy situation in Sacramento?
Speaker 2: You know, so Hogan is so it's kind of he goes,
Hogan Harris is, uh walk per nine is seven point one,
which is hilariously awful. I mean, Hogan Harris is like
he's got nineteen walks in twenty four innings, So that's awful.
And then Mark Lander Junior actually has really good commands
and solid strikeouts and has a six point two three ERA,
So what do we do with that? Right? I mean?
And then like you mentioned, Koonel is like I mean,
he basically throws the contact like he's a like he's
like a nineteen thirties pitcher. I mean it's like he's
got a five point two k per nine and somehow
a two point one eight e arra. So you know,
I think I think it's probably a three head monster.
I mean that doesn't really it's not really super helpful.
But you know, because as of right now, I would
say I have Mark le So you know, personally, I
have Mark Letter Junior, and I have benched him for
the better part of the season because he just hasn't
looked good as far as like giving up runs, which
is like, you know, important part of being a closer.
And Hogan Harris has been so terrible for like he
has like a one point sixty seven whip so like
Hogan Harris's numbers, like his era has been fine, but
I mean some of these numbers with Hogan Harris have
been so awful I wouldn't trust them. So that leaves
Joel Knell, who feels like he could potentially have a
blow up at some point, but he's been fine and
if you're just looking for saves, he's got, you know,
like he's leading I think it's between him and Oh
actually they all have four saves a piece. That's funny,
but they all have four saves. But I would say
Canal well at least, you know, I mean, he's got
a decent e array and he's not going to kill
and his whip is one point oh two so he's
not going to kill you on the ratios, and he's
got as many saves as the other two guys. So
I would just go him, you know, if you know,
push came the shove and I really needed saves. But
and it's a tough bullpen to really roster anyone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's also like one of those bullpens where
you're trying to like look for the next man up.
I don't know if there is. It's just like decided
we're gonna not go with any high leverage relievers this
year in Sacramento. And it might be funny because it
might cost them because they are in the middle of
that Ale West Race and without a bullpen, I don't
see how they get across the finish line.
Speaker 2: If they, I mean imagine they would have held on
to Mason Miller like that would be they would honestly,
they would probably be the favorite for the Al West
right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it would just make things easier because I
think part of like what's happening that bullpen is, you know,
the roles are uncertain and people don't know what they're
gonna do on any given day. It just makes it
more difficult than you can actually imagine, you know, when
it's your day and day out job to sit in
a bullpen all day. Okay, well, let's move on to
the next situation, because in the second half of May
here the Yankees have discovered that bad David Bednar shit.
The Bednar exists because it has been very brutal. Four innings,
six strikeouts, four walks, five earned runs. It's eleven and
twenty five era, it's a nine walk per nine, a
thirteen and a half k per nine. It's David Bednar
having no idea where it's going. So are you worried
here is this blip for David Bardnar the beginning of
the end? Or is it just kind of a classic
David Bednar goes through it every year at some point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I you know, because like I think
Boone is pretty loyal to these guys, Like for the
most part, and it's not like he doesn't Fernando Cruz.
I do like Fernando Cruz, so I could see rostering
Fernando Cruz just to see if Bennar can't stay in
the role. But I do think Bennar is gonna get
a lot of chances to fail, and he could fail.
I mean we've seen him before, Like he got hit
so hard in Pittsburgh one year. I think it was
a twenty twenty four he got you know, he got
replaced in Pittsburgh. He left went to the Yankees as
like you know, they were like, you know, we'll go
with Dennis Santana for you, So you know, I mean
there is like a chance here Bennar could potentially get replaced.
It wouldn't it wouldn't shock me. But I do think
there's They're probably not one hundred percent there yet. So
I mean, I don't mind the flyer on Fernando Cruz
because he has been so good, Like his command is
a little bit wonky, but his k's are really good.
He's always managed to uh, at least for the last
two years, he's managed to have like solid ratios. I
don't mind taking a flyer on cruise and seeing what happens,
and if Bennar continues to be terrible, then I think
Cruise is the guy, at least I would assume so,
because I mean Duval, we know Duval is just like
a bit of a mess himself. So I mean, I
know Duval has a closer experience quote unquote, but he
hasn't He wasn't good in San Francisco to the point
where they they replaced him because he was such a mess,
and they you know, they got rid of him. So
I'd say Cruise is worthy of a flyer to like
handcuff Bednar. But I'm not willing to say we're at
the point where Bennar is getting replaced yet, but I
do think like by the time, by this time next
week Bennar has three more terrible outings, he could be out.
I mean, he needs to fix he needs to right
the ship and quickly, but he will have a chance
to do that.
Speaker 1: Yep, yep. I think that's all very fair. All right,
We've got one more kind of situation in terms of
saves and closers that got a little bit hairy and
dicey over the past week. So in Chicago, the White Sox,
I mean as we speak, they're five hundred. They're right
in the middle of this wild card, so they're actually
kind of chasing these wins. I think they're also right
in the middle of the division that I think they're
going to try to make a little bit of a
run for it and see what can happen. And because
of that, Sir Anthony Dominguez, he hadn't pitched all week
until today. He got a little bit of just throw
time against San Francisco as we're speaking on Sunday. But
it's also been dicey when you've had Sir Anthony Dominguez
on the on the mound. The walks have been substantial,
a thirteen point three walk percentage, and the k's are
down from last year too, So you know, he hasn't
looked fantastic when he's been out there. He has blown
three save opportunities, and the latest save in that White
Sox bullpen went to Grant Taylor, who is I mean,
on track to almost be like the next Mason Miller.
He's been a lights out reliever for the White Sox
this year, kind of has been an opener, has pitched
in high leverage situations. It's a one seventy eight era
a one oh four FIP over twenty five and a
third innings this season. So what's your wererio meter for
Sir Anthony Dominguez. And I mean Grant Taylor also might
not be terribly available in deeper leagues because people were
using him for ratios. But if Grant Taylor isn't available
is available in any of the leagues that you're looking at,
are you swooping up to pick him up?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: No, absolutely, I feel like Grant Taylor could potentially be
like the pickup of the year when it comes to bullpens.
I you know, Sir Anthony di Mingaz really hasn't been
very good for quite a while now, Like there is
there was a time there where like he's gotten a
chance as the close games in the past, he had
so many opportunities to be a closer, like a lot
more opportunities to be a closer than like most people
who stink. I think he's like in Philly, he had
opportunity after opportunity, and he just kept lowing the he
kept losing the job because he just wasn't that good.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I think at one point they went to Hector Nirez
over him. And Hector Neras wasn't good. So yeah, I mean,
I don't think Dimingez is the answer for the White
Sox and grand Taylor is so clearly the answer, Like
it's like you you really gotta be trying to lose
games to go to Dominguez instead of Grand Taylor, because
like it's not a matter of like you know, like
with Bednar and Fernando Cruz, like Bednar can be very good,
so I can understand why you'd want him to be
the closer, but with Dominguez and Taylor, like Taylor is
so obviously the guy, like it's head and shoulders, Like
there's no reason why you would go to Domingas. Now,
you know, clubs do funny things, and I don't know,
maybe it's a an arbitration thing. I don't know. I
don't know why. For whatever reason they you know, maybe
they want Dimngas to be the closer. Maybe they think
he can't do anything else.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but.
Speaker 2: I'll say that, like grand Taylor looks like he could
be a top ten closer if he's given the job
from this point forward, Like I would put him up
there with like some of the best closers in the
game if he got the job right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's I think that's very fair. Four
above average pitches on stuff. Plus it's a nasty, nasty
repertoire for Grant Taylor. So if he is still hanging
out in your leagues, I would go pick him up
for the saves and on top of it, honestly, he
should be added just for the ratios work that he
can provide in terms of I would rather be playing
Grant Taylor every week than some of the number five
start they are available on your waiver wire. So yeah,
I think you got two recommendations for Grant Taylor right here.
All right, we got a few waiver wire ads I
think to suggest. You want me to start with pitching,
you want to start with hitting.
Speaker 2: I'll go through the hitters. Okay, So guys on the
seven day player Raider at rasball dot com who are
under seventy five percent still probably rostered and maybe more
leagues and deeper leagues. But so here's some hitters who
have been hot, quote unquote calm and Zarto has been hot.
Casey Schmidt. I don't know why he's not rostered in
more legs, and he should be rostered one hundred percent
of leagues at this point. Casey Schmidt, I'm about to
drop Vlad Junior for Casey Schmidt, Like, let's go. Casey
Schmidt has been so good. Ezekiel Durant has been hot
for a bit now. Josh Bell. You know, when Josh
Bell gets hot, he stays hot for about a week
or so and until he's traded to another team, then
he goes cold for three months. Zach Geloff has been hot.
Shouldn't be probably unrostered. He should probably be on one
hundred percent of leagues. Let's see. Jake Bowers is hot.
Kyle Stowers is finally showing signs. He's actually he's at
ninety nine percent rostered, so he's not available anywhere. Mike Yastremsky,
he's been hot. Javier Saya Sanjaya who also he came
in I think I believe he came in second for
American Idol. Uh, he's been hot. Miguel Andrew Harr has
been hot. Alec Baum finally has is showing signs.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: Dominic Smith has been hot as getting playing time over
there in Atlanta Lords Goryo. Actually he just got injured,
so strike that Blake Dunn has been hot, David Hamilton
has been hot. Jake McArthur has been hot, and also
he's gonna have every day playing time and maybe hit
in like the top three of the lineup because Mickey
Mooniac's out for a little bit. So he's been hot.
Jose Fernandez has been hot, and Tristan Peters, altfielder for
the White Sox, has also been hot. So there's some
names for you.
Speaker 1: I like him. That is a great collection. Lots of
multiple eligibility guys in there too, so lots of great
additions there on the pitching site. It's actually kind of
a fun week in terms of low ownerships and two starters,
so I think a handful that we've got opportunities that
should be relatively available Zebbi Matthews at Chicago White Sox
and at the Pirates where that ownership is probably ticking
up on Matthews but should still be relatively available. Kumar
Rocker has two starts at home in Texas, one of
if not the best pitchers, parks against Houston in Kansas City,
both not great offenses. We've got Anthony k of the
Chicago White Sox two home matchups against the Twins and
the Tigers who have both than scuffling and Anthony Kaye's
been looking pretty solid. So if you're looking for two
starters that are available, I'm attacking those three. And then
if you're just looking for guys that just have one
start coming up and you just need a stream for
this upcoming week, I'm looking at Griffin Jacks against Baltimore
in Baltimore. He's been slowly but surely stretching out for
the Rays. Should be getting into a position where he
can go five to six innings and gets you wins.
And then I'm going with it again. I'm coming back
to you, David Peterson. I can't quit you. The Rads
are terrible. David Peterson gets a start against the Reds
at home this week, so I think those are that's
a good collection of guys to attack. And with that
Gray we made it through this Memorial Day pod. Anything
to send off all the people out there listening to
the pod on the wires all across the country, all
across the land. Now, lads, all right, see everybody and
have a great rest of your Memorial Day weekend. We
will see you next week for some more Rasball Baseball
Podcast