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 you ain't better be health well? Yeah,
several charges on everyone up the.
Speaker 2: El s and I'm alreadium.
Speaker 1: I hear my baby sound just like your name was Mark.
Speaker 2: And it's a rap by podcast.
Speaker 1: It's a rapop podcast. It's a rapop podcast. It's a
bride bo podcast.
Speaker 2: It's a rapp podcast, a wrap up podcast. Got a turn?
Speaker 1: Do it should? Rap bo podcast?
Speaker 2: All right, welcome everybody to the Rasball Baseball Podcast. I
am my cooler filling in once again for beat On,
and I am joined by the bespectacled man himself, the
man who puts abs into abs, fantasy Master Lithario himself.
All Brad, how are you doing it to me?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 1: I do put abs, and I put abs actually into
everything I get into because I can't go anywhere with
a man sinks back. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, Yeah, it's hiding underneath the desk behind you, right,
there's just like a crunch master. That's what you every
time you're just back there crunching.
Speaker 1: You have no idea from like the bottom of the
screen to the floor. I am so jack. Just the
stuff that is exactly out of screen is like insane,
Like you would be like, oh my god, Like this
guy must work out twenty hours a day. I mean
it's like, what who is this? Who is this guy?
That's like you can bounce a quarter on this guy
all different areas you can bounce quarters on, like not
just one, like you know, like you can take quarters
and bounds them on every single area underneath underneath the frame.
You'll you'll never see what's below the frame.
Speaker 2: I mean we got to cover it up because if
people saw it was below the frame, they might they
doubt your your fantasy baseball acumen. They're like, is this
guy just on here to show off his apps or
is he actually here to give us fantasy baseball advice?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's that's exactly what people would think. They'd
be like, oh yeah, no, wonder why his teams are
doing so bad? This guy's working out too much. Oh man,
speaking of teams doing bad. So this is something that
I uh so I have confession to make. Okay, I
don't even know if I don't know if it's a
confession as much as I'm talking about it for the
first time, because I never really I don't. I don't
talk about my TGFBI team really, but I don't want
to say that. Like, so I'm in in this TGFBI thing,
which is like, you know, this big tournament of all
different fantasy baseball experts and anyway, any anyway, so I
was like, you know, I think, God, I actually I
should have should have prepared. Unfortunately I was in the
gym and I wasn't prepared to discuss this. But anyway
I was. I had I think, pick ten, I want
to say pick ten. Maybe maybe it was like eight
or nine, I don't know, somewhere in that range. And
you know what, I was like, you know, because I
never ever talk about this team, I'm gonna draft Paul
Skans with my first pick, just because as just to
see how I can do with that, because it wouldn't
be something I would ever normally do. But it's like
a bit of an experiment, and you know, compared to
some people's experiments with their expert teams, this experiment is
pretty tame. I mean, this is not even barely an
experiment because most people would just draft Paul Skians. They
wouldn't have an issue with drafting them. But you know,
I never really draft starters in the in the early going,
in the first, you know, twenty or something picks, I
don't draft a starter in the first two rounds. So anyway,
so I drafted Paul Skians with the first pick, and
then I took Jackson Churio, and then I took I believe,
I don't know, I'm not gonna RecA my whole draft,
but let me just say I I drafted Paul Skames
in the first round. And my team is so awful.
It's so so bad. It's like I think I might
out of over on the overall standings, I might be
in dead last. It's so bad. It's like I've never
had a team as bad as this team before. And maybe,
you know, I'm gonna give I'm gonna give people who
draft starters early at least the benefit of the doubt
and say maybe that they're more experienced at drafting starters
early so they know how to draft hitters later. And
it's a you know, it's a learning process that I'm in.
And then I'm getting my ass handed to me. Man
I mean just so, I mean awful. You don't even
like my starting pitching is somehow, It's like it's not
even I mean, it's barely competitive. If I'm like in
last place, essentially, obviously, everything's bad on my team, including
my pitching with Paul Skeens. I have Paul Skeens, Framber Valdez,
Ron Hill, Suarez.
Speaker 3: Nolan McLean, Noah Cameron, my own fault, Jack Flattery, and
Kwait Tang. I mean, you would think Framber, Skeens and
McLean would have been able and Suarez would have been
able to at least hold down the flour.
Speaker 1: It's a fifth oh, by the way, it's a fifteen
team league, Justine's mixed league. So you would have thought
I would have at least decent pitching. But oh my god,
my team is so bad. It's so bad, and my
pitching is so horrendous. It's only beaten by how awful
my hang is. My hitting is actually hilariously terrible. Actually,
so it's gonna say, I'll see the highlights. So Auto Lopez,
c j Abrams, Jackson, Suri has been fine, injured obviously,
but been fine. That's that's where the highlights end. That's
it for the highlights the low lights. Mark Fiento's is
my first baseman, Manny Machilad and Terrible, Isaac Collins, Jeremiah Jackson, T. J.
Friedel is my outfield, Vinny Pascatino is my corner man,
and Naceum Nunez is that my ami. Wow awful? Oh
so bad? So anyway, Uh, that's a that's that's a
story about that.
Speaker 2: I will, I will give you a little bit comfort.
It is three and twenty fourth out of three. I'm
also I'm I'm not I'm not too far ahead of you.
I'm down there as well to eighty seven. I'm looking
at her squads. There's a lot of crossover, a lot.
We both got Joe Adell, We've both got Venny p
We've both got Jack Flaherty, We've both got Ranger Suarez,
and I can see why we're hanging out at the
bottom of teach FBI standings together.
Speaker 1: I've officially moved on from Jack Flattery as of his
eyes of one day, Well, he's getting dropped this week.
I really like Jack Flattery coming into the year. As
you know, anyone knows from my if they're reading Rasball.
But he's just so he like, he does not seem
capable of knowing where the ball's going when he's pitching,
which is an actual problem. I don't I don't know
why he can't locate at all, you know. Good. The
Tigers have just been awful this year and Jack Flattery
has been incredibly terrible. So yeah, I'm dropping them. And
that's a fifteen team league, as I mentioned, and I'm jacking.
I'm dropping Gi Flattery. So if anyone's listening and they
have Gi Flattery, you know, yeah, listen, hey, listen to
the guy who's in three hundred fourth place. Okay, anyway,
that's actually in that team somehow. That's one of my
few teams that doesn't have Fernando Tattoos Junior and Ronald d'acuna.
Speaker 2: She's on my TEACHFPI squad. Bernando Tattoos Junior finally had
a tatar this weekend. It was a pretty giant one
in Washington, but it's hot there, the wind was blown out.
He finally went yard. So congratulations to all Fernando Tatist
Junior owners out there that the the long wait is
finally over, as well as I mean Ronald Lacuna there's
nothing that can get you right better than a little
bit of a late May weekend in Cincinnati with the
blaring hot just blasting heat in humidity off of that river.
So I mean, are you feeling pretty good about Tatis
and Kuna the rest of the year. Is this what
you want to see? Or is this kind of you're
like a little bit of a dead cat bounce here
coming out of.
Speaker 1: Them, you know. I mean, I hate to I hate
to be a bummer when it comes to Akunya because Tatis,
Tatis I think has actual I think he has actual
issues with his swing right now. I don't know, like
he is hitting the ball hard. So it's not like
I don't think he's hiding an injury. I just think
he happens to be, you know, needing a swing adjustment,
which is really not a not an easy thing to
do in the middle of the season. You know, if
it was easy, he would have changed his swing. So
I do I am concerned about Tatis even with you
know that one homer, which is you know, thankfully he
hit a homer finally, so I can stop making up
blurbs about how he's so hasn't hit a home run,
but yeah. I mean, I I'm really concerned about tattoos
now with a Cunya. I you know, I feel like
I feel like I'm a bit of a bummer saying this,
but I am concerned that like we've seen Acunya come
out of you know, cold spells before and it usually
leads to you know, he gets incredibly hot and then
outside of twenty twenty three, he gets injured. So I
you know, I don't want I don't want to be
the the the doom sayer here, but Acunya has really
like I mean, he's he's either like cold, hot or injured.
And it's usually in that progression where if you got
a guy who goes cold to hot to injured, it's like,
oh god man, you know. So I mean, hopefully Acunya
is you know, it stays on the field and and
remains healthy because I do you know, I do worry
about him knees. Uh you know, is his numbers. So
I was looking at his numbers after his big Thursday.
I looked at Acunya's numbers and they are down a
bit from where he was in previous seasons. Now, I
don't know if you know that those it's still early
enough where a lot of those numbers could bounce back.
Like you know, as of the recording of this, we're
not even in June yet, so there's possibility here Acunya
has like a huge month of June. His numbers look
all in line with previous years. But you know, like
like I mentioned in the post on on Friday after
the Thursday night game, I mentioned how like, you know,
his exit velocity is the lowest it's been in his career,
which is I mean, it is concerning, It's not I mean,
it's not a terrible exit velocity. Like it's not like,
you know, he hasn't become you know, who's the guy
that we talked about last week with the A team
percent who is the guy anyway? So it's not like
he's become awful Akunya that is, But I mean the
exitplocity is the worst of his career. His uh, you know,
his max is decent, good even I would say top
ten percent of the major leagues, even though you know
usually he's above where it is now. So it's it's
also like you know, max Is max Ebo is a
little bit low as well. But you know, the numbers,
I mean, the numbers aren't awful. Like, don't get me wrong,
Like Acunya doesn't look like he's a bummed by any
stretch of the imagination. I just want, like Akunya, I think,
to stay. If Acunya stays healthy for one hundred and
forty games, he's gonna be worth his draft pick. He'll
he'll be fine at the end of the day. Like
he'll end up with like you know, probably twenty five
plus homers, twenty to twenty five steals, eighty ish average, Like,
and that's all twenty five, twenty five to eighty with
all the counting stats that comes with that. That's totally fine.
It's just a matter of, like, he has to stay
on the field to get those numbers, because if he's
like you know, like we've already had, we've already lost him. Actually,
I said, one forty Is he even gonna be able
to get to one forty games after what we call it,
after his injuries? Yeah, I mean, I like, I like
Acunya still. I mean, we saw what he's capable of
this uh, this weekend in what we call it in Cincinnati,
So I mean it's possible that like you know, uh,
he won't get to one forty. I'm looking at his
stats now, so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's two games left, I think right or
is that am I reading that wrong?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: They have one hundred and two left, so he'll.
Speaker 1: Be one and two. Okay, So so he might he
might get around there forty. It could be uh, yeah,
it's gonna be a close call. But I mean he
needs to stay healthy. That's like the uh, you know,
the worst, the worst thing that can happen as you
lose him for a month, and like you know, because
you know, even even in shallow leagues, you're not gonna
be able to replace the guy who just did what
he did this weekend. I mean, that's the kind of
stuff he's capable of. So you figure the average comes
up a little bit. He uh still gets to like
twenty five homers, twenty five steals, maybe even you know,
maybe even plus on both of those. Maybe he gets
twenty five plus or twenty five plus steels or homers,
I don't know, but around there with a two to
eighty average. And if he could stay on the field,
he's gonna be he'll be worthwhile. But there's a few
ifs there, which are you know, it's a little it's
a little iffy, let's be honest. And then you know,
I mentioned already how I feel about Tatis them. I'm
still really yeah, I'm still concerned. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I mean the other factor here at the Kunya too,
is I mean, the Braves have already cracked open a
nine game lead on the rest of the NL West,
on the NL East there. Man, that's a throwback remember
when the Braves were in the NL.
Speaker 1: West Atlanta, the Brewers in the al Or.
Speaker 2: Yes, but the Braves, I mean, because they've got a
big lead there in the NL East. That that's another
consideration too. Maybe they don't have Ronald Acunya run as much.
Maybe they don't push him out there every game in
terms of like a day game after a night game,
to give him a little more rust down the stretch.
So that's another factor with Ronald Acuna Junior. As we
move forward, we are speaking here on May thirty first,
so it is we've got a little bit of like
end of May numbers. Uh, we don't have the player
raider fully up to date for today's action. Because if
you go and sort by the last thirty days, you're
gonna find two pitchers look like Paul Skans Intreeks scooble
right now they are not Paul Skans in Teeks scouble
their Jacob mister Rowski and Chris Sanchez from the Philadelphia Phillies.
There where Sanchez it's done, His May is done. In
terms of the player Raider, he was sixty two and
a half dollars worth of value there in May, forty
five and two thirds innings, a point three to nine ERA,
a point seven to seven whip, fifty two k's. Miserrowski,
he pitched today before the today he was at fifty
nine two thirds innings and he was clocking in at
a point to nine ERA, a point five to four
whip forty nine k's in thirty one and a third innings. Sorry,
that was fifty nine point two dollars worth of value,
not fifty nine and two thirds innings. Then went out
through seven shutout innings today with ten k's was it
eight k's. In addition, I think he the double he
gave up to Estoc Paradus today was the first extra
base hit he gave up in all of May, which.
Speaker 1: Is ridiculous, I mean ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's bunkers. So if I was Oh, go ahead,
who you picking for the rest of the season in
terms of like if you had to go with one
or the other and think about it. Here, Sanchez has
a little more volume, so the ratios play a little
bit better, but Mislerowski the strikeout rate is absurd. So
if you have to build one for the rest of
the year, who you're going with Sanchez or Misslerowski.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I was gonna say, you know whose job
I went in. I don't envy right now as the
person has to pick the nl picture of the money.
But then as I as I say that, I realized that, like,
if that was your job, I mean, talk about a
cushy job. What else you do for the living man?
All you do is choose who's the best picture of
That sounds amazing. I want that job, and I would probably,
you know, as crazy as it is, because Sanchez didn't
give up one earned run. I think I gotta go
Mezzeroski for the best picture of May, which is nuts
because Sanchez had like the best uh. I think he
had the most inning scoreless in a month. Since like
the oral hersheis are a crazy year and like, hey,
both of these guys, you know, the really insane thing
is like both of these guys had like years where
it was like basic, I mean, excuse me. They had
months where it was like no one had seen a
month like this in like fifteen years, and they both
had an exact similar month in the same month this year.
Like it's kind of crazy because, like, you know, we
hadn't seen anything like this since Cliff Lee and I
believe it was twenty eleven, and then before that it
was like Oral, and then before that it was Fernando
and then it's like that's it, Like those are the
biggest months of all time, and Mezzerowski and Sanchez both
do it in the month of May in twenty twenty six,
So it's really I mean, it's actually kind of crazy.
If I if I worked for Alia Sports Bureau right now,
my head would be exploding. I'd be like, wow, I
got to come up with some stats here, I you know,
for the rest of the year. I think it's an
Actually it's bizarre to say this, but I think it's
actually kind of an easy call. I'm going Sanchez easily because,
like you know, like you mentioned just the innings alone.
I mean, I don't you know, Meserawski as much as
I love him, and I think, you know, because of
the month he just did, and we saw and seeing like,
you know, a couple of weeks of this insanety before
the All Star Game last year, after he was called up,
like he's capable of He's capable of this, obviously, but
we also saw, you know, after the All Star break
with him last year, you know, he lost his control
a little bit. Like he is a tall guy. He
throws really fast. The ball is like, you know, it's
a he can get out of swords a little bit
and get a little wild. So I mean, obviously I'm
not giving him away for free. I'm not, you know,
I think he's incredible. I would be you know, if anything,
I'd be probably trying to Uh it's not like you
can trade for him right now, but I would, you know,
I would be buying versus selling, if anything. But I
do think Sanchez is just so refined that I want
Sanchez over Meserawski for rest of the season. But you know,
they are close. I mean, I'm not going to say
it's the easiest of calls.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's totally fair. Well, I mean, if
we're speaking about hot Maze, which we'll get into a
few more hot and cold players. After we get through
some of our call ups here, it's time to talk
to Chicago White Sox. My friend, they've been eighteen and
ten in May. They're responsible for the three main callps
that we have coming here. So unfortunately we want to
talk of Murakami went down with a hamstring injury in
terms of, you know, he came up against the greatest
mortal foe that the Chicago White Sox have ever seen,
which is running down the first baseline. I mean, just
as he let him in as Juan Mancatta, Louis Robert Junior.
It's not an easy thing to do. Murakami also fell
victim to that should be out four to six weeks
with a Grade two hamstring strain. Coming up for him
is Jacob Gonzalez, who at TRIPAA was hitting three, seventeen, four, nineteen, six,
sixty eight before the call up, a one sixty eight
WRC plus nineteen homers and eighteen stolen bases in fifty
two games. I will say that that parkin Charlotte does
play generous for bats, but he was a solid left
handed bat. Fifteenth overall pick back in twenty twenty three
out of Mississippi for the White Sox. So he does
have some pedigree, but it's always been more of a
glove first profile interest in Jacob Gonzalez, who should have
a strong side play tune roll according to Roster Resource,
while more comedy is shelfed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, definitely, I you know, the the more
comedy thing, not to not to add more fuel to
the absolute killer that the Murcammi injury is, because I
actually he was like the one guy who I had
right in a lot of leagues, Like more comedy is
one the one guy I haven't like multiple leagues that
is really killing it. And uh now I'm concerned that
more comedy is gonna return be a little bit rusty
and the strakeouds are gonna balloon and ah man, I'm
like I'm bumming myself out, just like man oh man,
the worst, I mean absolute worst injury that could happen.
And I've heard it's what it's multi week too.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, it's a great two.
Speaker 1: Oh god, that's like a month at least. Man, Oh,
that's so brutal. Okay, So Jacob Gonzalez, Yeah, I mean
his he looks like he's got like video game numbers
of like nineteen homers in fifty games. It's like it's
kind of insane. And you know, I mean decent contact,
looks like solid play, discipline with the walks. He actually
threw in speed. But I don't know, man, I mean,
he is really coming out of nowhere. He's like, you know,
a prospect that no one really considered much of. And
then you know, even I think it was like I
looked up to see what Itch said on ros Bull
about Jacob Gonzales and there was very little. And you know,
Itch usually writes about every player that's worthwhile, so you know,
there's just the alarm bells of a guy who has
very little of a write up. I'm like, oh, man, this,
I don't know. I don't know if there's a great sign.
So I mean, I could see grabbing him in like
a fifteen team mix league or deeper, just on the
off chance that he comes up and he is hot
and he stays hot because he is I mean, he
is legitimately hot coming out of the minor leagues. So
I don't know, grab him, see what happens. He does
have power and speed. If the minor league numbers are
to be believed, so I could see grabbing him and
see what happens. But I don't have a ton of
faith here in like him continuing this breakout, like in
a twelve team mix league, like in RCL. I didn't
even I didn't even look to see if he was available.
I mean, I you know, I mean, maybe maybe I
would pick him up if he started hitting, But I
feel like in a twelve team mix league, it's probably
a little bit too shallow for him. But yeah, I
mean it depends on how much you need a middle infielder. Maybe,
like I could see the flyer, I like, don't get
me wrong, but I just don't have a ton of
faith in them.
Speaker 2: Yep. I think that's fair. And the one thing that
will be trippy about him is he's going to be
shortstop eligible when he's coming up, but he's going to
play a lot of first base for the White Sox,
so he should pick up first base shortstop eligibility within
a week or two.
Speaker 1: Uh so something he think he is Ezekiel Duran exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very very strange combination. So the White Sox also
called up David Sandalin, who they acquired in the twenty
twenty five or no, just past offseason. Yeah, for uh.
In the Jordan Hicks trade is where David Sandlin showed
up and he came out of TRIPAA was looking pretty
good there. Over twelve innings a point seventy five ERA,
a two four four FIP with a twelve and a
half K nine looked really good. In his opening debut
against the Twins, featured a four pitch mix anchored by
a ninety seven point seven mile per hour fastball, which
is bread and butter and for the time being, has
some good run in that White Sox rotation. Because no
Schultz went down with another knee injury. There's some tendinitis
and I think it's Pateller tendon. And so as long
as Schultz is out, which I think they'll also baby
Schultz in Chicago because they don't want to wreck one
of their kind of big prized prospects, Sandlin should get
some pretty good runs. So what's your interest level in Sandlin? Nah?
Speaker 1: I didn't really have a ton of interest in Noah Schultz,
to be honest, because I mean I did when he
first got called up, but as we started to see him,
like you know, he obviously a lot of growing pains
there Sandlan. I don't know. I mean maybe, but the
command could be you know, like if the command is wonky,
it's like you're you're asking for trouble. And Sandlin's command
has been a bit wonky as he's moved up the
as he's moved up the minor league. So I don't know.
As a streamer, I guess in like a fifteen team
mix league or deeper. Sure, I don't know. I don't
even know if I'm streaming him necessarily in a twelve
team mix, but you know, it depends on the matchup.
I guess possibly he did look he looked decent in
his first start, better than actually better than I was expecting,
you know, to be honest, But I don't know. I'm
I don't really have a strong feel on whether or not,
like he is very good other than his numbers on
the page, Like I haven't really seen have you seen
him like I have, Like I mean, his velocity looks
like he throws like ninety eight, Like he looks like, yeah,
it looks like he's like it looks like he can
throw hard. But other than the fastball, nothing else is
really looking great. I mean, it's like and it's you know,
I mean, the White Sox are decent this year, so
I'm not gonna just be like just because he's a
White Sox pitcher that means I'm out, because, like, you know,
Davis Martin looks amazing and Sean Burke looks solid. But yeah,
I don't know, I'm not really into the sandline. Possibly
as a streamer, I don't know, do you have do
you have a better feel on him?
Speaker 2: I think it's a solid arm. It's gonna be a
It's a tough start. He gets a two start this week,
but it's at Minnesota at Philadelphia, which is two hitter sparks,
so that scares me. And then I think he would
then next go maybe in the Atlantis series. So it's
a tough kind of introduction where that first start against
the Twins was probably the one to stream, but probably
more of a bullpen arm honestly going forward that we
could see him move into some sort of high leverage
spot for the White Sox. Certainly an ale only play
you have to partly, but fifteen teamer, I don't think
I'm streaming yet, but maybe we'll see where the starts
settle going forward after this week. All right, the White
Sox also called up Riku Nishiga because I just brought
the because I don't think there's too much fancy value here.
It's a it's a right field utility in utility infielder
possibly where. This dude's just a blast to watch. I
don't know, did you see Nashida play yet? That He's
five foot six one point fifty with a cannon arm.
Just a lot of fun to be able to see
him play, lots of enthusiasm. I mean, he did pick
up fifteen stolen bases in forty four games before getting
called up with a one twenty nine WRC plus across
two levels, So maybe an ale only play. But anything
deeper or shallower than that that you might be looking
to pick up Nashida if you're desperate for speed.
Speaker 1: No, I don't think so, but I he is. I
mean I saw him for a guy at home plate.
I saw that highlight and I, uh, yeah, I've seen
him bad a couple of times. He looks like he
looks like a you know, a slap and run kind
of guy, which is fine, you know, I think for speed, Like,
if you're really desperate for steals, I could see a
flyer on him for like a fifteen team mix league
for you know, steals, but it's gonna be a daily
league because otherwise, I mean, he's gonna be in a platoon.
So I don't think he's as valuable as like even
Jacob Gonzalez, who I was like, you know ify on,
so I you know, totally different skill sets. Obviously Nashida
is a steals guy. In Gonzalez, well we were to
talk about Gonzalez, but yeah, so Nashida's like straight steals,
which is fine if you have a need for that,
but in a fifteen team mix league, I was saying,
you know, daily, because like, I don't think he's gonna
be worthwhile enough to just set him in your lineup
in a weekly league. Like I don't think at the
end of the week you're gonna be happy with what
you get from Nashida for fantasy for like you know,
maybe you get like one run, two steals, and like
three hits or something like maybe. I mean that sounds
like a good week. So it's like, that's that's hard
the roster in a weekly league. If you're in a
daily league and you need steals, you throw him in.
If he gets the steal, great, If he doesn't, you
pull him out of the lineup and you put someone
else in there, Like there's more room in the maneuver
with daily but with a weekly Yeah, don't. I don't
see going crazy for Nishida.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think that's fair. I think he's on the
all watch list in terms of actual viewing baseball, but
maybe not for our fantasy realm. Next call up we
had is in Sacramento, where the A's brought up one
of their top arms, Gates Jump, who was picked in
twenty twenty four out of LSU. Great, big fastball and
a nasty slider, a little bit of a location and
control issues you know in triple A before the call up,
a four fifty ERA across thirty eight innings with a
four to twenty seven FIP came with a thirty three
point one percent rate, but also an eleven zero point
eight percent walk rate. The debut at home against the
Mariners was okay. I would say four earned over five innings,
but did get you five strikeouts. So is Gage Jump
someone you might be targeting this weekend in fab dollars
with your fab dollars if you need some strikeouts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I'm desperate, But guess you have check clarity. Yeah,
because I'm Jack Flaherty. But you know, not not without
a little arm twisting. I think. I mean, you summed
up sort of the best and the worst of them
basically right there. When you recat his numbers, I think
there's like some real serious strikeout potential, but also there's
really gonna be there. There could be blow ups in
bing bong and also with the walks. So you have
walks and a hitter at one of the best hitters
parks in baseball, and walks lead to a disaster. So
I would be careful. I would start him probably on
the road, and you know, I like the strikeouts, so
you know, potentially he could you know, he might have
a run or two with some away starts, But I
would be pretty hard pressed to start him at home,
I think. But I mean, yeah, I mean, you never know,
like with strikeouts, he might be able to overcome bang bong,
But I'm not one hundred percent confident in that.
Speaker 2: Yep, I think I'm right there with you. I mean,
I'm jumping the gun a little bit. But when we
get to our pickups at the end of the pod.
Gauge Jump is actually one of my suggestions because it
is two road starts. It's not the easiest. It's against
at the Cubs and at the Astros, But I mean,
I think if you're looking for somebody who could pop
twenty k's in a week, Gauge Jump is probably one
of the names to look at this upcoming week.
Speaker 1: Last I have in our our league, not that I'm
doing good in that league either, but in our RCL league,
I actually have Gagee Jump for his for his road starts,
so we'll see. I mean, that's also a daily league though,
so if he's had in the if he's banned his
first road start, I might just move on before he
gets to the second one. But yeah, I mean road starts.
I'm I'm I'm interested in seeing the road start, so
we'll say.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's totally fair. Okay. Last call up
we have is in Los Angeles with the Dodgers, where
Ryan Ward is finally getting his chance with the big
league club coming up as ta Oscar Hernandez also going
down with a hamstring injury. Key k Hernandez also went down,
which is bringing up Alex Freeland. Ward and Freeland both
homered this afternoon for the Dodgers. So Ward is twenty eight.
Was crazy last year at twenty twenty five at Triple
A thirty six homers, sixteen storm bases, two ninety three
eighty five fifty seven slash line one two WRC plus.
Never got the call up. Wasn't dealt at the deadline either.
Was a little bit more muted at Triple A this
year before the call up, with six homers and six
dolen bases in forty seven games with a two fifty
four three seventy nine four eighteen slash line. Currently looks
like he's going to be a bench piece right now
for the Dodgers. But it's a pretty solid bat. So
any interest here in Ryan Ward for the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Almost zero interest. They go, he saw the I mean
I saw the home run today on Sunday, and I mean,
h he looked good. I mean everyone looks good on
a home run, really, but I mean, you know, he
looked good. I you know, I have real Uh you know,
I've said I think I've said this before many times.
I've said this many times before with like guys in
the minor leagues. If you have a guy who's like
you know, have a guy who has like thirty six homers,
sixteen steals and hits two ninety and he's twenty seven.
All that really tells me is like he's either he's
a quad a player and the team is like, you know,
I mean, he's good, but he's good for the minor leagues.
I don't know, Like that doesn't Usually it doesn't bode
well when a guy is that good in the minor
leagues because like, if a guy is good in the
minor leagues, he's good for like a month or two
and then he gets called up. He doesn't stay in
the minor leagues for five years hitting thirty five homers
every year, Like there's like there's a problem usually when
that when that is uh, when that's in the guy's profile. So,
I mean, I don't know. We'll see what We'll see
how much playing time he gets. I'm interested in an
NL only, but in an NL only, you know, everyone
in the NL is interesting. So I don't know, we'll
see if you know, if he gets hot, if he
comes up and he's like he gets playing time and
he hits a few homers, I mean I would be
fine picking him up in any league if he if
he's hot, but as of right now, I don't know.
I think we'll see, We'll see how far this goes.
I have major question marks though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I also just bring it up because first,
especially and only is like I think he will be
a hot commodity pick up because it's a good week
for Dodgers hitters. Seven games coming up, four of them
at Arizona and then three at home against the Angels,
So that's a it could be a bonanza offensively, and
if Ryan Ward gets into a couple of those games,
you don't know what you might get in in l only.
But something to watch for daily leagues too, I think,
especially those RcLs are out there. Or I mean, we've
also got RAS Slam bidding coming up for our last
final fab run of RAS Slam leagues out there, so
get that word out there as I've been trying to
toy all day with what the levels of the last
bids can be. So something to keep in mind. Let's
get back into some of those hot and cold players
that we've got throughout May in terms of the player
raider and what we've seen over the last couple weeks.
Because this first guy, he won't show up really great
in the May Player Raider, but he only entered the
rotation on May eighth and was getting stretched out from
his bullpen roll. I'm talking about Cubs pitcher Ben Brown.
He's been incredible over his five starts since entering the
rotation one seventy three ERA one seventy six to fIF
a ten k per nine with just two and a
half walks per nine over twenty six innings. Has only
picked up one win for you, But it started with
a couple of four innings starts and now he's regularly
going six seven innings. So what have you seen in
Ben Brown over these last five starts that gives you
hope for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: So, I, you know, I I'm obviously I'm a bit
of you know, I have to look up guys stats.
I don't have a photographic memory when it comes to
every single player. So I hit the I hit then
I hit show minor league numbers for Ben Brown, and wow,
he's been in the minor leagues a long time. Wow,
I did not remember that. Okay, he's been in the
minor leagues for like ten years. Oh my god. So
and he's still only twenty six. Yeah, but you know,
I mean, okay, so what I've seen so far, I think,
you know, I think he's worthwhile in every league. His
velocity is up. Uh, he's started throwing his uh I
believe it's a sinker. He's throwing his sinker a lot
more like up to twenty percent on the sinker when
he didn't really throw it at all. And you know,
all his pitches are suddenly like he's found he's found
a pitch mix that is working for him. Like his uh,
his walks have never really well, I mean, at least
not in recent times. His walks haven't been terrible. So
you know, at the uh, at the point where he
is right now, I think the Cubs are seeing. You know,
what everyone else should be seeing is like this guys
seems to be emerging from like as someone who we
thought was like a just okay middle reliever to potentially
like here is what we we drafted or excuse me,
traded for you know, five six years ago now, and
we saw in the minor leagues when he was there
in the minor leagues, like you know, three or four
years ago. It's finally, it finally seems like it's clicking
for him, So I would I would grab Bet Brown
if he's available, I would grab him. I would also
I would trade for him. I think he's, you know,
possibly breaking out, and you want to be on the
forefront of the guy if he's breaking out. You want
to be there before he actually does completely break out.
So you know, it's like his numbers, potentially his EARRA
because it's so low, one ninety two. I mean, it
might make it impossible to trade because his owner is
probably being like, yeah, he's a some two year a.
Of course he's good, but he's actually I mean I
wouldn't say he's that good, but he is. Actually he
looks like a number two to three at worse. And
I you know, a month ago, I would have been like,
he's a middle reliever who I don't really care about. So,
you know, going from a middle reliever who I don't
care about too like a number two or three, that's
a huge jump. So yeah, Ben Brown looks great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it totally stunk up on all of us because
when I was doing my like depth chart updates for
Baseball Perspectus on the Cubs that like Ben Brown I
had written off because he looked like he was slated
for middle relief. They were putting him in high leverage situations,
but once they had a couple of injuries, he slotted
in right to that rotation where honestly, he might still
be available in some shallower leagues. There was one ten
team league that I have where he didn't get picked
up till Friday, and so like if you are in
a super shower league, I think Ben Brown is worthy
of being rostered in every league at this point. If
there is a buying window, now is the time, that's
for sure. The other guy who's looked amazing, also pretty young,
is Rokie Sasaki, who in May I never thought I'd
be saying this, but it was a great May twenty
eight and a third innings for him with a three
eighteen er and a one whip, a strikeout rate of
twenty four point six percent. But here's the big number
that's really helped Roki Sasaki. In May, the walk rate
has been five point three percent. He's actually been able
to keep his command on the pitches, where before, I
mean he was non competitive for the first month of
the season. The walk rate in the first month the
season was twelve percent. That was never going to play
as a starter. So, uh, this is a guy who
obviously people have known the hype story coming out of Japan.
They were really big into him last year and then
a little bit even into the preseason when it looked
like he might be the closer you know, early offseason
for a sickos drafting and holding back in like November
and December. What are you thinking about rookie Sasaki the
rest of the year, Because I think there is a
little bit more of a buying window here because the
overall stat line looks a lot worse than Ben Brown
because of that poor April. And if your owner of
rookie Sasaki in your league still remembers the control issues,
they might not be fully aware of how good he
truly has been over the last month, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no completely. I actually, I you know, I actually
even look to see if I could pick him up
in our RCL league to see if he was available,
because like you know, he was so bad for April
and and so so bad that I think he was
probably available on waivers in most leagues after that April.
So it just is, it depends on when someone's picked
him up in May, if they've actually picked him up.
But if they have, then you know, good for them,
because I you know, I think you you brought up
the uh you know, the five percent walk, right, you know,
if the guy is like if he's walking under two
per nine, there's like I mean, you know, then that's
and that's what he did in May, Like that's a
legitimate change to what is the what the problem was before,
because like the k's are not gonna be like incredibly elite.
He's gonna probably be around like a nine or a
twenty uh you know, twenty twenty two percent K rate?
Uh nine ish? Maybe under nine, like eight and a half,
I excuse you, like eight point seven maybe. But if
his if his walks are terrible, then he's unusable because
like you can't have that strikeout rate with those walks
if they're bad. But if he has fixed his command,
and you know, like coming into the States, he was
always considered a good command guy. So there was like
it was a little mind boggling why his command had
gone so bad. But maybe, you know, I think some
people will speculate it was the ball size. I don't
know why, but he's he seems like he's fixed the issue.
And if the issue of command is fixed, then Rokie's fixed,
you know, as far as that goes. I mean, I
don't I don't think he's suddenly going to be an ace,
but he's a usable starter for like, you know, any
league in the twelve team mixed league. I would say
he looks like, you know, at a number four starter,
which is, you know, own a ble roster ball, like
you got it, Like I wouldn't I went out a
problem rostering Rokie Hockey right now, and I've never said
that before. I will say though, I mean I wouldn't
be surprised if you know, at the trade deadline, so
you you you may only get like what is it,
June now, June July? You may only get two months,
which is fine. I mean, you know, if you if
you can get two months for free, why not take it.
But I mean, at some point, I think the Dodgers
are going to trade for a starter and Sazaki is
gonna move to the pen, because I mean, I don't
see why they wouldn't have Sazaki in the pen heading
into the playoffs like they did last year, because you know,
I think at a certain point they have to start
setting up their rotation for the playoffs. I don't know
when that point will be, but I would assume Suzaki
is not gonna be in the rotation for the entire year.
At some point, I think he's probably gonna move to
the pen. So you know, we'll see about and all that.
That's you know, that's down the road for now, though.
I mean, Suzaki looks solid. I don't think he looks
as good as Ben Brown, but he looks good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I totally agree, and I think he
can be added everywhere as well. And the other thing too,
is I mean two months is so far away when
you're talking pitchers in baseball that you know, two months
from now, when Susaki is in the Dodgers are getting
towards the trade deadline, you know, maybe somebody else in
that rotation goes down with an injury and Sasaki stays
in there. So certainly get in there now. Okay, let's
talk about some hitters that have been hot throughout May,
because let's start in cornering field, because I don't know
what's going down at the corner store. I don't know
if somebody went in and snapped and swapped out all
the snacks and replaced them the regular brownies with the
wacky brownies, and nobody noticed this season because the corners
have been bananas. If you look at the year to
date player Raider, of course, just like we all predicted,
Ben Rice is the number one first baseman. You look
in the past thirty days for the number first basin,
it's Casey Schmidt of the San Francisco Giants, who played
such poor first base that Matt Chapman chewed him out
for not raising his glove high enough when Matt Chapman
was throwing over there.
Speaker 1: Actually, you know what, that's actually a good point. Schmid
should every time Chapman grounds out to third base, Schmid
should be like, oh, man, I don't know, I don't know, man,
you should be hitting the ball better. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then we got Liam Hicks up there in the
top six for the season long. If you're in the
month of May of the past thirty days, your top
ten also contains Spencer Steer. Ezekiel Duran is in there.
Munataka Murakami has obviously been king of first base this season.
On the third base side, it's even stranger. We've got
a season long player Raider that again includes Casey Schmidt
as the fifth overall third baseman, just like we all predicted.
We've got McGonagall up there obviously, but Colson Montgomery is
up there. Max Munsey with his eyesight fixed, is up there,
old man. Noan Arnado is in the top twelve. Currently
if you're looking just the past month, Casey Schmidt again
is the number one, Zach Gelloff is up in the
top five, Ernie Clement is sixth. What is going on
with corners this year? Because I mean, sure we still
have some stalwarts up there, like your Jose Ramirez and
your junior Kmenaro and Bryce Harper and Nick Kurtz. Although
especially if you're not in an opp league, maybe Nick
Kurtz isn't holding up to what he was doing and
promised for you at first base. So what has been
happening at corner infield all season in twenty twenty six?
Can you explain it? Great?
Speaker 1: No, No, I can't. It's just so bizarre, Like you
look at the first baseman for the year and it's
like it it looks like it's just from outer space.
None of it makes any sense at all. I mean,
it's good that Nick Kurtz has finally gotten hot. He
had a good May. He came in third for first
basement in May, so he's actually he picked up things
a little bit in May. For a while he was struggling.
So he's finally moved into He's now seventh on the
player Raider for first baseman on the year, So that's
good to see. But other than him, I look at
that first baseman, I'm like, what is what is this? Dude?
I mean, I had hopes for south Stewart, Like, don't
get me wrong, but I didn't expect this. I didn't
I didn't expect him to be this good and uh,
and he's actually he's fallen off of it in May.
He was much better in April. But Ben Rice as
the number one first baseman, Like I was, like, I
was pretty iffy on the Ben Rice play in drafts
when you were when people were drafting him as a catcher.
And here he is as the number one first baseman.
And it's not particularly close either. Like it's like he's
by far the number one first baseman. He's actually he's
on the top of the player raider in general. He's
he's the number one guy overall. That might change by
the time people listen to this because James Wood hit
a home run, so James Wood might move to the top.
But yeah, Ben Rice, I mean god, I really, honestly
I thought Ben Rice was gonna be He's me struggle.
He was a struggle hit lefties, Like I was kind
of convinced that he wasn't gonna and if he didn't
struggle to hit him, I didn't. I didn't. I wasn't
sure Boone was gonna play him against him. And then
on the other side of the coin, the guys who were,
you know, struggling, like Pete Alonso, Oh my god, Vinnie Pascatino, like,
oh my god, like Vinnie p has killed me. I
mean in so many leagues, it's just been absolutely brutal.
I was convinced Vinnie Pascatino is gonna break out after
his second half last year. But as my as my
other podcast host bet Don will say, he only really
had a good August, and I'm starting to believe that now.
I really was convinced to Tyler Soderestrum. But I will say, like,
you know, Sacramano is gonna get hot, so I'm I'm
buying soda Strum. I think I think there's still could
be something there Pascatino. I mean, it depends on what
you can get him for, but I can't imagine he's
gonna be worse than this. So the fact that, like,
you know, he's had such a terrible you know, first
two months actually in a twelve team mix league, I've
started benching Pascatino. I'm not even starting him anymore. He's
been so miserable. And that's like, that's a weekly league.
So I'm like, just I'm basically benching one of my
top hitters. I think I'm benching him this week for
like Colt Emerson or something, and that actually worked out,
like I think Emerson hit a home run yesterday or something,
so anyway on Saturday. So yeah, So so there's that.
And also flat Junior, what happened there? Man, Like it's
just been so miserable, Like I saw the end for
Freddie Freeman coming a mile away for like, you know,
years now. But I mean the fact that he's he's
right next to Vlad Junior on the Player Raider for
the year as far as first baseman go, it's I mean,
it's not great man Blad Junior is currently he's at
he's the twentieth first baseman, and I think he went
oh for five today, and I honestly I wouldn't at
this point. I would just take Vlad hitting twenty homers
and three fifteen or better for average. But it's like, I,
I mean, god, like, this is awful. This is really miserable. Yes,
just a bitch fast, it's lots of hasn't been much
better either. Let me tell you well in.
Speaker 2: Two of the top five third basemen drafted have been
so awful they're not even like on the Player Raider
to find them. I'm Austin Riley's been better, but like,
what is wrong with Manny Machado? And what do you
you doing with Riley and Machado because they've been ice
ice cold as well, because you brought that up. Your
TGFBI squad does feature Manny Machado also dragging you down
with VP. So that's solid corners, I know, Like.
Speaker 1: You know Hennio Suarez who homerd today on Sunday, hopefully
he gets hot. He's very low on the play Raider
and I have I still have hope for him. Uh
and he's been you know, he's been bad, but he's
also he missed like a month of the season, so
it's like almost understandable. But like Machado, it's like he
plays day in and day out is just terrible. It's
like over four day after day after day, like he's
doing nothing, nothing at all. And it's like such a
shock because like he was one of the guys who
I felt like was the most reliable when it came
to like stats, Like it wasn't like he was gonna
put up video game numbers, but you figure like twenty
seven homers to thirty homers, ten steals to seventy five average,
like that was the expectation. But man, it's just I
mean to talk about how awful it's been. And this
is like this. If people are listening to this in
their car, they might want to pull over if they
have Manny Machado because this is going to enrage people.
But right now on the player Raider, Brady House, who
was sent down weeks ago, is above Manny Machado. Ooh
oh nah that hurts, oh man. Austin Riley was the
Austin Riley was the other one. So I you know,
I think with Austin Riley, I think he's this guy.
Now Unfortunately, I don't think he's I don't think he's
gonna getting back to that other guy who he was like,
you know, so three or four years ago. I at
this point, we've seen so much from Austin Riley and uh,
you know, brooks Lee hit two homers today, So I
imagine he's gonna move in front of Austin Riley on
the playwraiders for a third basement. So that gives you
an idea where you're at with Austin Riley. I mean,
right now, as of the recording of those Josh Jones
in front of Boston Riley, Aaronado's in front of him.
I mean it's I mean, third base is not a
good position. The fact that Austin Riley is not doing
well at it doesn't help. I I've sort of given
up hope on Austin Riley getting to the point where
he was like years ago. And now I think if
you get like, you know, maybe a two thirty average
and solid counting stats and like you know, maybe twenty
four to twenty six homers and you know, he doesn't
give you any speed. But if you get like maybe
a two thirty average to forty, like you know, it's
like okay, I mean that's I think at that at
this point that's what and hopefully runs an RBIs so
you know, because it is a good lineup, So you know,
I wouldn't be I wouldn't be expecting a huge bounce
back about Austin Riley if like, if I could trade him,
I would. I don't think. I don't think anyone's really
buying Austin Riley, but you know that's where I would be.
That's where I would be thinking. Mikel Garcia has also
been very awful, and now he's injured. I think it's hamstring.
So yeah, I mean, you know, Bobashett is having one
of his off years. It's just bad. I mean, third
base is really bad. Like I said, I think I said,
like three or four weeks ago, to trade Alex Bregman
if you can get anything for him, because I think
his sort of like similar to Austin Riley, and like
his name value tells people something that I don't think
is the actual case. Like Alex Bregman is not that
good anymore. Like he's you know, he had that insane
year with like you know that when it was the
bouncy ball at like you know, twenty nineteen or something
but I Alex Bragman hasn't really been that amazing other
than spurts here and there for a couple of years now,
and you know, it doesn't look like he's really taking
well to Wrigley. It's I don't know I would be
selling Alex Bregman based on name value if you can
get anything. I don't know if you can get anything,
to be honest, because he's been really bad. You know,
I was talking about how terrible Manny Machata is. Machada
is actually above Bragman on the Player Raider. So yeah,
there you go with that. That's nut. Okay.
Speaker 2: Well, yes, if you are out there struggling at Corner
and Field, I think we commiserate with you because it
has been a bloodbath. It has been tough all year.
With that, you want to get even darker. You want
to get into Sagnoff, you want to do some sames
and got no face because it has been quite the
tumultuous week for Bullpen since we last talked. I think
we probably cursed it last week because we were on
here last week saying, eh, things look stabilized a little bit.
In the meantime, it looks how many bullet points. We've
got lined up, about a fifth of the league is
in some sort of tumult in terms of save chances. First,
we're gonna start in Milwaukee, because this is not a
case of player performance. Well, I guess some sort of
performance in terms of the gesticulation costing abner Y Rebay.
He made a strikeout against the Cardinals and went immediately
to the nWo suck it chop at his crotch, which,
to be honest, I also maybe I'm just so inundated
it as a millennial, an older millennial, where I was like,
that's offensive. I've seen it so many times in my life.
But I think you also see where Rebey crossed the edge.
I think he did like three or four times. You
just you can't do more than two pumps. Is that
with the key and peel sketches, it's you get a
two pump limit. So he crossed that threshold, got suspended
for a game, got on Pat Murphy's bad side. Your
bait had been kind of splitting saves there in Milwaukee.
Since then, they've just gone straight to Trevor McGill. Is
this the first instance where you've seen any sort of
crotch related celebration maybe cost somebody the closer role.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I you know what I love. I love
everything about this Mickyel's situation and Abner Euriba, like this
is just so goddamn funny. The fact that the fact
that he lost a rebay lost a closer role because
he crotch chopped. I mean, it's just fantastic. It's like
the best thing I've ever heard. Oh man, I think
the last like job, last time someone lost a job
due to a crotch grabbing this, I think rose and
bar after singing the national anthem, like, I think she
grabbed her crouch and fit and lost a job. There,
I you know, grabbing a crotch and losing a job.
I mean it depends, Like if it's not your crotch,
I can understand it. I don't know otherwise, I'm not
sure if there's other crotch incidents that I could think
of where someone gestured towards their crotch and lost the job.
I don't know. It's just so great though, It's just
it's fantastic. I mean, and it even gets more fantastic.
But just for the fact that a rebae did that
crotch chop on a ABS challenge, so you weren't even
sure if it was a strike, Like he started chopping
his crotch, and the and the umpaddn't even they haven't
even decided if it was a strike. It ended up
being a strike, but it was very borderline. I mean,
it was so close to being a ball. And also
like the fact that it was a six run game.
I mean it was the eighth inning of a six
run game. I mean, I love, I do kind of love,
like how much of a head case baseball players are?
Speaker 2: This is?
Speaker 1: I mean it is great. Sometimes it goes over the edge,
but a lot of times it's it's fantastic. Like these
guys are just like complete like head cases. You're like,
what are you doing, man, six run game? You could
you go to the dugout maybe and crouch in the crotch,
chop in the corner, like you don't have to do
it on the mound at the other dugout. Ah Man.
So anyway, yeah, I guess McGill is the closer now.
Speaker 2: And then we go analysis is a raft. Don't even
even get into the numbers. Let's move on to our
next one. We're gonna go to the Washington Nationals, who uh,
we talked about this situation last week. We anointed Gus
Varland as the closer. Clayton Peter comes back and picks
up two saves this weekend. So is Clayton Peter the
one to own now in Washington?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I think he is the problem. I think
with Drew Paterra, who actually sounds like a wrestler. Speaking
of wrestlers, the Nats manager, Drew Butterra, I kind of
feel like the issue with him is like he he
sends a guy out there like Beeter, for instance, and
you know he gets to save on Saturday and Sunday. Uh,
And now Beeter is gonna be, you know, too tired
to go in the next game because he's worked back
to back days. So now you know, BITTERO will go
to Varland and then he'll be like, you know, Varlin
will pitch well and be like you know what, I
think Varlin's the closer now, and then that and then
that just perpetuates itself where Varlin then for for a
couple of days and then Patia's like, well, I can't
throw him. I think I'm gonna throw love Letter or
love Ladies. So then Love lady is the closer, so
I don't I don't know if I'd put a lot
of money on Beeter being the closer, but I would
say if I had to choose one, I would go
Clinton Beeter.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right? In Detroit we have Kenlee Jansen went
down with a strained groin, and so in his stead
we've got Kyle Finnigan and Drew Anderson battling it out
for saves. Neither of kind of wrapped themselves in glory
this weekend against the White Sox. On Friday, both of
them blue saves, with Drew Anderson taking the loss. In extras. Today,
Drew Anderson blew another save. He entered in the seventh
with a one run lead against the White Sox. This
is also a Detroit team that is twenty two and
thirty eight, so keep that in mind as they're going
out there spending fab bucks on Anderson and Finnegan this weekend.
Do you have a favorite between the two?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean I actually I kind of liked Drew
Anderson before I got thrust into the closer role. Like
I liked him just like I wanted him to be
like a starter. I don't know what happened there, but
it looks like they're gonna try him as like a reliever,
as a high leverage reliever. So I don't know. I
don't like Anderson in that role, so I'm I'm going Finnegan,
but I don't, you know, I don't if Finnigan at
least has like, you know, some closer experience, So I
would say Finnigan. Unfortunately, Finnigan's numbers look awful. I mean
they're just like they're bad, like five k per nine,
six plus walk rate, six plus walk per nine. I
mean it is awful, like incredibly bad. So I don't
trust Finnegan either. And you mentioned that the Tigers record,
so I don't know, maybe just like you know, skip
it all together, like you do with like, you know,
other terrible teams. I would say Push came in the shop.
Speaker 2: I'd say, Finnigan, Okay, let's go and talk about the
situation in Toronto, because this is it's also very instructive.
If you go to Roster Resource and Fangrafts and just
look at the page there. They put colors on there
for hold saves, wins, losses, and blown saves in a bullpen,
and it is the colors are all across the board
in the Blue Jays because Louis Varland has picked up
one save in the past week, Tyler Rodgers has picked
up one save, Brandon Fisher has picked up one save.
Jeff Hoffman came in and looked good and got two wins,
but then on Saturday completely melted down in Jeff Hoffman fashion,
loaded the bases for the Orioles to allow them to
come all the way back from a five run lead,
I believe, And so people were starting to pick up
Jeff Hoffman. He get in some steam, but then kind
of return to his old ways.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Louis Varlin has been fantastic as always, and I think
it's been continually used in higher leverage situations than the rest,
with Tyler Rodgers kind of right behind him. So are
you buying into Jeff Hoffman working his way back into
the closer role in Toronto? Or is Louis Varlin still
the main man for you?
Speaker 1: Yeah? No, I you know, I think Uh, I think
what you d call it, John Schneider, the Blue Jays
manager has to have a screw loose to even try
Hoffman in the role. I wouldn't. I don't know what
I mean unless he's just like, I can't use Hoffman
in any other role, so I have to try and
make him the closer still, because like Varlin looks incredible,
Like Varlin, he's got it. Varlin's got an zero point
two nine ERA and a twelve point two kber nine.
Like what else is there the scene? Man? Like Farlin's
basically having like that sort of breakout closer like what
we saw years ago from like Josh Hater, and then
we saw from Mason Miller, and then we saw from
Devin Williams, like you know, back when Devin will was
on the Brewers obviously. But yeah, I mean, you know,
Varlin's having a breakout, Like I would just go at Varland,
but yeah, I don't know, I wouldn't pick up anyone
else though if I was gone for saves.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think that's very fair. Let's talk about the
Houston Astros. Who I mean, they've started to look a
little bit better. They're four games back in the Al West.
They've had Josh Hater rehabbing all throughout May actually between
Triple A and Double A. He was going to go
through a big test this past week where he's going
to do back to back nights on Wednesday and Thursday
to pitch. Let's just say they didn't go so hot.
So he threw two innings on Wednesday and Thursday between
the two. Well, it was only one in two thirds innings,
so that tells you how it went. Gave up five
total runs, three earned runs, two homers, two walks, no
strikeouts in those twelve total batters faced, So it looks
like he might not be the sharpest coming back from
that injury. He's been dealing with a strained biceps sore
biceps which is also kind of a precursor to Tommy
John surgery. So lots of kind of woes that Jason
Josh Hater has been working his way through. But they
do need him in Houston. It's still a foreheaded monster.
According to Roster Resource for saves with Brian King, Brian Obrau,
and Yo Delo Santos Nate Pearson, all of them have
been pitching pretty mediocrely except for Innio Delo Santos, who
picked up a save this past week. So what are
you doing in Houston for saves?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: You know, I think if I push kin of shove,
I think I'd probably go Brian King. You know, he's
gotten the most saves, I believe, but it's barely a
recommendation a brain who's been better of of of late.
But like you mentioned that, all these guys have gotten
some for you know, like Dela Santos has gone saves.
Pearson's there, So they're they're not committing to anyone, So
I don't I don't claim to know who the closers
is in Houston. I don't think there is one. I
think they're just going with whoever happens to be up
in the ninth inning until Josh Hater returns, and I
don't know when that's gonna be. I mean, I think
this is feeling like, you know, I feel like Josh
Hater is, Like, it doesn't it doesn't feel like it's
heading in the right direction.
Speaker 2: No, it really doesn't, especially like he's always had issues
with those back to back days and doing it on
rehab and failing. Yeah, it doesn't feel great. I mean,
if you've hold on to him this long, you kind
of have to roll with Hater. But if he fails,
I don't feel bad about cutting bait early on him.
I think, Okay, next one we have is in La
where Kyle Hurt picked up a save this past week.
You know, Tara Scott's been looking a little bit shaky,
blew a save last night Saturday night, while Kyle Hurt
picked up the hold in that. What do you think
about Kyle Hurt? Is it somebody to throw a dart
at considering it is a little bit of an open
bullpen situation there for the Dodgers until Edwin Diaz returns.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, Kyle Hurts looked great. You know, eighteen innings
so far, ten and a half camper, nine, no walks,
one ear I would go. I would go Kyle Hurt
in any league where I was chasing saves. I wouldn't necessarily,
you know, I don't necessarily think he's the closer, but
so far he hasn't been you know, it hasn't been
bad where like you could roster him and get like
good middle reliever ratios in some CA's and not like
regret it even though you may not get every save.
So I would grab Kyle Hurt, even though I think
probably Tanner Scott is still like more or less the guy,
even though I mean Dave Roberts has said he's not
choosing a closer. In the time that Edwin's out. But
you know, Tanner Scott's been pretty good, like you mentioned
the Saturday Nights game. But I think you know, Tanner
Scott for the most part has been solid, So I
would go Tanner Scott for absolute saves. Kyle Hurt could
get a few and looks good just in general. Maybe
he gets like a vulture win here or there, so
I would pick up Kyle Hert anyway.
Speaker 2: Yep, I think I like it too, especially if you're
in a league where like Alex Vessio's rostered. It's kind
of like right handed Alex Vessio where hopefully you get
good ratios, hopefully get some pretty sterling whip in Ura,
but then pick up a win or save here or there.
With Kyle Hurt last one we have. I mean, it
feels like you have to talk about the Minnesota Twins
bullpen every week because it's mess. But we have a
new contender for the closer who's actually been performing well
over the past month. You interest Gomez, a former Tampa
Bay Ray who actually was with the Rays through April
then got cut. Since he's been with Minnesota in May,
he's put up a point eight seven yarra A two
two nine FIP and eleven point three K nine has
picked up five holes and two saves.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Is he the man to chase in Minnesota? Now?
Speaker 1: Hmmm, Yeah, I would say he's been I want to
say he's like the first Twins reliever who I can
I can understand picking him up and not be not
like WinCE or Grimace. I think I think Gomez is
probably the first guy where I don't I don't know
if he's actually gonna get every saved because you know,
Derek Shelton doesn't seem like he wants to commit to
a close for whatever reason. I mean, it doesn't really
make any sense. I don't see why he's trying to
make it more difficult for himself. But anyway, I think
Gomez is the first guy where I could see actually
rostering him and being fine with, you know, getting k's
and ratios from him without worrying about if I get
every single save, whereas like any of the other guys,
I don't really want to mess around with the other
guys in that bullpen. That is so Yeah, I would
say you can grab Gomez. I think he's been fine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree and It's kind of strange too,
because he's got a really good fastball and a really
good slider. The Rays were having him throw more cutters
and sinkers, and then the Twins were just like, just
throw your crazy good fastball slider and guess what, it's working.
So I totally agree. I think Gomez could be a
little bit of a hidden gem there in Minnesota. Finally,
again with the caveats that you laid out, Okay, we're
finally at the end. Are you going to pick up
for waiver wire ads on the hitting side?
Speaker 1: Okay? So at the top of the seven day player
raider is Leoti Tavers, So that's a shocker. I guess
I'm picking him up. Then after him we have Isaiah Kiner, Fileffel,
Sam Antoci and tacci and Antonocci, Jack Peterson, Evan Carter, Colton, Cowser, Blaze, Alexander.
It sounds like the Oreos had some good hitting this
past week. Anyway, Moving on, Curtis Mead, who keeps this up?
We might actually have to talk about him in general
at some point. Anyway, Continuing on, Nick Allen has been
hot for the Astros, playing some shorts up. Ahmed Rosario playing,
you know, platooning out on the Yankee side. But he's
been good. He's been hot. Spencer Horwitz, Ernie Clemet, Nathaniel
Lowe has been hot. I don't know where he's he's
rostered at fifty percent. So yeah, he should be available
in some leagues anyway. Moving on, Anthony Volpe actually been hot.
Trent Grisham, so the Yankees obviously have been hot. They
were in Sacramento, so it's not that surprising. Let's see
brooks Lee, who we mentioned earlier in the show. Cam
Smith has been hot, Vaughan Grisham, and finally a Wade Meckler.
Speaker 2: Yeah they Wade love it. The card community rejoices. Okay,
Well from the pitching side, Well, first, the three kind
of teams that have the easiest pitching schedules next week,
I would say are the Mets. They have six games
on the road, three at Seattle, three at San Diego, Texas,
six games at in total, three at Saint Louis, three
at home against Cleveland. And then the Rays have six games,
three at Detroit which is looked terrible, and then three
at Miami. So those are the if you're looking at
just kind of rotations to focus on. Those would be
the three I'd be looking at. In terms of two
start pitchers. You gotta hold your nose on all these guys,
but I think if you need two starts, Aaron Nola
is probably the best one available. He's got two starts
on the road or no at home against the Padres
and the White Sox. The Mike Burrows has two at
home against the Pirates and the Athletics, Gage Jump, who
I mentioned previously at Chicago Cubs and at Houston. A
couple of one start guys who have some good matchups.
Maybe Jared Jones, if he got dropped, has a second
turn against Houston at home. We have Dustin May who's
been really good, really sharp lately at home against Texas,
and Matthew Libertor who's been striking dudes out out of
nowhere against Cincinnati at home. So that's going to wrap
us up for this week on the ras Ball Fantasy
Baseball Podcast. Thanks for checking us out, Thanks for joining us.
You can find us on ras ball at Blue Sky
and all socials right that it's just rasball wherever you're at.
You can find me on Blue Sky at m cool seven.
And thanks Gray for letting me fill in here for
beat On for the next couple of weeks. Should have
beat On next or back next week. That these two
weeks will end my little bit of a run here.
I appreciate you letting me come on. It's been a
fun time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, I mean thanks for being on.
No wait wait, thanks for having me no, thanks for
filling in for bet On anytime.
Speaker 2: And with that we're gonna wrap it up for this week.
Good luck everybody.