Welcome in Frindos to Leading Off right here on Fantasy Pros. I am the Welsh, that is the Arico. It's not easy to say, and we're glad to be with you here on this late August playoff time for some some it's not. It's playoff prep either way. That is what we're gonna be doing a little bit today, talking to you about whether you're in your playoffs for the prep or the upcoming playoff prep. Glad to have you guys here. As always a busy, busy day here on Monday. We'll
be telling you about some of the other stuff. A lot of stuff going over on Fantasy Pros. But Leading Off is brought to you by Bet three six five. Use promo code leading Off. You can bet five dollars and get one hundred and fifty in bonus bets exclusively when you use bet three sixty five. Download the app today promo code leading Off and don't worry gambling problem one called one eight hundred bets off, one eight hundred gambler.
We got you covered, mister Joe Rico, What up, buddy, Not much, my friend, just kicking the week off the best way we know how. I'm leading off, So it's always always great when I get to be on on a Monday. It just gets the week off on the right foot.
Everybody was ready to go to the comments section was Blair and I looked. I was like, Okay, geez, get everybody going here. But as mentioned, we've got a lot of kind of like playoff push happening. Some people. I've got a there's a playoff starting in the Scott White Dynasty League. Some of you are a week or two away. But either way, a lot of what we're going to do is to kind of get you prepped in here,
so let's jump right into it. This is actually not going to be necessarily a performance based thing from this weekend. But this report is something we've kind of been talking about. But I guess we've got a pseudo answer. The athletics kin Rosenthal reports that the Pirates have openly said about restricting. Everybody's kind of talked about Paul Skins. His last two starts, they've not been good. They've been pretty black, and they've been talking about, oh, do we need to shut them
down here there. The report is that the only restriction that the Pirates are considering for Paul skiing is potentially shortening his outings. And in an article I think this was over on ESPN and an article they kind of describe it as the same thing that Garrett Crochet is dealing with in that you might see four outing a four inning outings, very anti baseball with what they want
to do with the upcoming future. But I ask you, Joe, what changes for you as far as anything for fantasy relevance if Paul Skeins is going to have like a much shorter leash moving forward. Now they did say nothing about like cutting him down, which is great, but if you got shorter outings, are you concerned at all?
I am? I am a little bit. We've seen with Garrett Crochet what that can mean from a fantasy point of view. It kills a lot of the value, especially if you're really trying to catch up in either wins or quality starts. Right now, you're not gonna be able to do that at all. And Garret Crochet where we are, he's kind of a drop at this point. Like I know, he had a great start the other night, but it's really tricky to carry him on a lot of shallow rosters.
And I think it might get to that point with Skeens. If he's only getting three or four innings, he's gonna have to be perfect in those outings. And as he keeps going along this year, he has not looked quite as sharp as he did out of the gate. So this could come to a situation where you're getting down to your finals and you don't really trust Paul Skeins. If he's getting two three innings going into that last week, it might be tricky to use a spot on him on your roster. I think I saw your.
Tweet the like, was that preemptive to the start? Because you did the Garrett Crochet thing. We were like, hey, listen, we gotta cut him. And then I saw you tweet that and I looked at the line. I was like, it's a pretty good line. It's a pretty good line for Crochet. It's just not going super deep. What was that tweet after or was it pre line?
No, that was after. That was after the game, or maybe the game was still going on. But I was doing my usual searches on baseball savant, getting my recaps ready, and he had thrown fifty five pitches. He threw eighty percent strikes. He was absolutely dominant, dominant, there was no reason to pull him, and yet still he only went four innings. So I see that, and I think, okay, So even when Crochet is going to be perfect against a tough line of in Houston, they're still not going
to let him go. So if that's what we're seeing on his best nights, what's the point. I can still see if you really need the strikeouts and you're hoping that he's good for your ratios, I can kind of get it. But in those like ten team leagues twelve team leagues, I don't know if those three or four inning starts are really going to be worth it. So with here Crochet, I think he's a cut unless you're really confident in those ratios and you really desperately need strikeouts.
I just don't think he's going to do a lot for you, especially if you need wins and quality starts like you're screwed there.
I mean, I think everybody needs strikeouts. To your point, the quality start thing is kind of an issue. I don't know. I mean, I think maybe that discussion with Crochet is like a tiny bit more ten man league than anything else. I'm really not sure I'm looking to cut him in any other spot, and the same thing kind of goes for this is that application thing, Lok, we talk about Paul Skins. What's the application for you? Probably nothing. Some of you guys still have trade deadlines
out there. Probably more of a reason, like you know, over this next little run to not run him out. But you know what, the chat's got an interest sting point, and this is where I was gonna go. Barry whips. Barry had said springs striking out eight over five. That's kind of the similar run you're gonna probably see with Skeins, Like I don't I think Skins could still go six, don't. I think seven's are off the board. I think five
is the sweet spot. But I also think we can maybe tiny bit acknowledge like he might be paring down a little bit. I think this is part of it. Like I think he's getting a little bit worn league maybe catching up. I want to say one of the starts to Velo, might it not down down, but might have just been like slightly down. I think five. I think five is going to be the key. So there might be something still in there if you were able
to move off. But it's not a cut situation. But at least you now have some clarity that they are not in a full shutdown mode. Now they say that, say that with Proche, they say that with Skeins. Mid September could happen two weeks in and they could just say, you know, Championship week, they could be shut down, but just know the process is starting. But I felt like they held it up a little bit by saying that this is the only element they're doing. And they're also
they're vying. They're like, he's vying for a Rookie of the Year not And I don't think that's just like thrown to the side like he is the current odds on favorite. Just buy a smidge, Just buy a smidge over Jackson Merrill. So I don't think they want to like completely take that away from him or anything like that. This weekend we had another gimmicky game. What's your thoughts on gimmicky games? By the way, the what was it
the Field of Dreams game? This weekend we had the Little League game Are you a gimmick game guy?
I kind of am. Yeah. I liked when they mix things up. I like the London games. I like the Field of Dreams games. I don't like the first week of the season when they do that whole thing in March when they go to Korea or wherever, and it just kind of complicates everything for fantasy. But in season, I like these little things. I think it adds a little bit of spice to the season. When it gets a little bit, you know, it slags on a little
bit in the middle of the summer. You get a nice little event like that that just kind of gets the fans more invested in it. So I like it. I think it's a fun event.
I'm okay, I'm all, what's man, Everyone's gonna kill me for this. What's the baseball movie that everybody loves with the little kids.
I'm fraiding the name with the kids.
So you're not good for this.
You're not talking about the rookie, are you.
No? No, the one that everybody cares about, the ball with the dog and Sandlot. Thank you, Donnie, Thank you Donnie. Donnie doesn't even know baseball, and he knew that Arico. I need someone else that can instantly pick me up in those instances. You can't be like me. You can't also not know it. I would I would like them to run a sandlot MLB game where they all just wear T shirts and there's a dog. There's a big fence, big wooden fence at the end, and there's like a
dog that's gonna bite the baseball. That's the type of gimmick I want, or you know, just normal baseball that I can watch without it being blacked out or having to have Apple TV. But you know what, to each his own. In that game, Trick Scooble had a no decision, just one run, three hits over six innings. Clay Holmes ended up blowing the save where Parker Meadows ended up having I believe the RBI win in the tenth inning in that Little League Classic. Any other takeaways from that,
Marcus Stroman is really good. I don't know if there's anything gimme. I mean it's cool, like they got to hang out with the kids, and I enjoyed that type of stuff. We did have a reiteration of how good turik' Schooble is. And I'd also point out this weekend you had Corbyn Burns get obliterated and Treike's scouble good. That actually might have been the last call for Trike's scuble
to be the league's best Pitcher. You know that maybe isn't Chris Sale, but any takeaways from the Little League Classic.
Well, it was the Clay Holmes and the Clay Holmes takes online. Yankees fans are ready to earn this guy at the steak. He has a two eighty eight ERA this year, like they look at the blown saves and he has been kind of frustrating. But you know, I heard everybody talking about Clay Holmes, Clay Homes, he socks, he's awfully's terrible. So I went and looked, because I don't have any Clay Homes on my teams this year, so I'm like, what has he actually been up to?
To eighty eight ERA? Twenty six saves, one thirty whip isn't great. But the takeaway for me was just how much Yankees fans hate their team when things don't go correctly.
When you just learned that you knew here, you knew here? Kidding me. Patrick has the best idea ever. Patrick, you win. He said in that My Sandlot game they should just have one ball, just one baseball that they play with the entire game. I love it. I absolutely love it. I also like the idea, let's do an angels in the outfield one. Let's see if we can figure out how they're gonna play that one, Like maybe they get
Hollywood involved and they just have guys on wire. I'm all for these are the games that I want, But I love Patrick's idea sandlot baseball. It's at a crappy backfield. They get one baseball to play with. I'm in, I'm totaling in. Let's do that. Let's let these gimmick games be way way better than they are, way way better than they were early on in the year. Blake Snell is insane. Blake Snell this weekend, seven innings, ten strike,
mister Jo Rico, here are some stats for you. Over his last seven starts he has gone, Blake Snell has gone at least six innings over his last seven starts. He has struck out ten or more four times in those seven starts, and over those seven starts, he has given up a total of six earned runs. Blake Snell
is pitching like a top five sp in baseball. So the question is next year, is Blake Snell a top ten starting pitcher now that we've seen all the early chaos get out or with that early part of the season, hold on to you, because I'm saying top five. There hasn't been many of any that has been better over that seven game stretch than Blake Snell.
So the rest of the season, Like my next update for rankings, which will come out in like a week or so, Blake Snell is going to be a top five or seven starting pitcher because what he does down the stretch second half every year is just stupid. But when I go to make rankings at the beginning of next we also have to factor in what he does in the first half every season and how he's literally like unplayable for a lot of those first early months. So I think he'll probably be like a top twenty
five starting pitcher. For me, I think this year coming into the season, I had him like twenty three, But dude, you got to go through so much crap through the first half of the season this year last year, it does even out to being pretty good. But there is a lot of risk associated with Snow. There's a lot
of injury risk, there's a lot of walk risk. The command is if he at best a lot of the time he does put it together for stretches during the year, but you also have to factor in that half of the season where he's awful.
I don't know, Man, top twenty five is wild to me, like he didn't have a spring training at all. The injury stuff you have to consider into it. I don't know. I think I think the not properly training, you know, into February into March with spring training, had had an extra effect on the injuries. I think he kind of knows it. There's still, you know, the contractual stuff has something to think about. Yeah, he starts off a little bit slow and he picks it up, But I don't think.
I don't know if you can look at Blake Snell as not a top fifteen guy at this point because there were so many things that were stacking on before it was like, oh, you know, he doesn't go six and he's only got these pitches, and yes he does walk, and now we see there's like a calculated chaos to his walks. And now he's gone six in seven straight games. He's striking out like crazy. He's found his rhythm. He's
found his rhythm as a pitcher. Overall, one a freakin ci young And the thing we're holding against is the guy didn't do any of the training in the first two months, and guess what first two months is kind of his spring training. So I don't know, give me
a discount on Blake Snell. Next year, I'm gonna be all in one of the best pitchers in baseball, and he's going he is going to carry some people into this playoff run because he was got at a you know, a cheap ish cost last year, and there might be a lot of people that just absolutely could have been dumped, could have been dumped in some spots. I don't know.
Top twenty five is wild to me. If you wanted to say, like fifteen to twenty maybe, I mean, we're not gonna go through the list of all the pictures, but like the twenty pitchers that you trust consistently more than Blake Snell right now. I get the first half thing, but I mean, you think you could rattle it off.
Well, he also at the factor and we're getting some pictures back into the pool next year. McClanahan, I think is gonna be back. I'm not sure if he'll be right from the beginning of the year. Yeah, Rob will be healthy, Strider will be healthy. All contra I don't know. I think He's the type of guy that I'd rather not really pay for on draft day, and then I'll just trade for him when he is struggling earlier in
the season. I think that's more the play with Snell, because this year, I guess is a little bit different with the whole signing thing. But pretty consistently he does struggle out of the gate, and then he figures himself out. I almost swore there really quickly. Almost he does figure himself out pretty quickly, but you do have to eat a lot of bad outings. I don't have a problem if people want to put him like top fifteen, top twenty.
I might end up having him there myself, but I just worry about that first half and then yeah, Otani's also be back next year. It's I think I think he'll be in the twenty to twenty five range. For me, we'll have to see when I actually sit down and put everything together. Maybe before I'm on next time, I'll do a brief twenty twenty five rankings and we'll talk about it.
Joe almost got pulled. That was the most last start. I've done that multiple times where I'm like, remember where I am. A couple other notes here do at least Garcia. That's been one that I mean, I turned heavy on. But he has been good as of recent two run Homer Doubled scored the winning run in the tenth as the Rangers beat the Twins this weekend, and believe in August he's hitting over three hundred. I don't know what to make of him. It doesn't really matter right now.
If he's out there, you've gotten to roll with him. Hand up. I was wrong in the I was done, but you know why I was done. Three straight months of hitting under two hundred, and then all of a sudden it just clicked in this last month. So he's gonna do the most annoying thing ever. He's gonna be really good the last two months, and then we're gonna look at an entire season of trash before that. Maybe he's a Blake Snell of hitters. I don't know, there's that out there. I do want to get your take
on this, though. Boden Francis held the Cubs to three hits over seven innings in a one to zero victory, and he is looking more than streamy. So talk to me about mister Boden Francis.
As the Blue Jays guy. I thought that he was very mediocre for most of the season. What we saw was, you know, a hybrid relievers starter role where he'd go three or four innings. He was okay, But the last three outings five inning, seven innings, seven innings, two runs, one run, zero runs. But the big thing is the strikeouts seven, eight and seven. When I think leading up to that is high for the year was like five. So he has really found a groove in terms of strikeouts.
He's been really reliable, and I didn't think we'd get there at all with him. I'd also want to mention that the opponent the last couple of starts the Angels in the cub so it's not like crazy crazy difficulty, but the one before that, which was also solid, was the Orioles. So I think at this point, if you're seeing him out there, he's worth picking up and starting
in those right matchups. I don't know if I'm just saying, like Muss roster player, pick him up everyone, but in the right matchup, I think he can provide some decent value down the stretch.
Yeah, looking, I mean, doesn't really have a dominant with pitch under twenty three percent on his really any pitch he uses over ten percent of the time gives up a really bad barrel rate. Ten percent barrel rate for a pitcher is massively worrisome, and I think he's just getting away with some stuff right now. Does have a little bit of a lower expected ERA, but good streaming pitcher right now. Streaming streaming is what you got to be looking at. Pistol oh Man, I got to be
Blake Snell. I'm hadrated, baby, I'm ho draded. I got something for you guys. This's what I was gonna do on Mondays, I think the rest of the way through. So this is what I teased at the beginning. Let's do some playoff prep. We're gonna go through just a couple of closers, some starting pitchers on Tuesday, I didn't find any that I love today for streaming and some
hitting pickups. If you guys want to get the week right, whether again you are actually in your playoffs and your prep ring or you're just about there on the closer front. Four closers with an under twenty five percent combined Yahoo ESPN usage hand up. You know what that means to other leagues, and they may have been picked up. But here are four closers who have been doing some business that are widely available. Michael Kopek, who has been getting
saves for the Dodgers over the last two weeks. He's got two saves. Victor Vodnik, who sounds like a variant of Doctor Doom. Four saves over the last two weeks. It's incredible for a Rockies team. Satadi Domingez he's got three. Lucik Ers, Lucas Erseg has two for Kansas City. All of these guys wildly under owned a way that you can get in on saves. Joe Rico, please order said closers for me in order of pickup.
I think it's Copek at the top right now is insane as that feels. He's just found another level as a Dodger. That team is able to do some weird things with pitchers. Sometimes sometimes they touries as well, but usually they are able to revitalize these careers of these guys like Copek. I worry about the command, like the command is always a thing with him, but you know the way they're back end of that, Penn has struggled. I think Copek is going to be in line for
some good opportunities down the stretch. I think he's at the top for me, probably ear Seg. I don't know if there's a lot of clarity outside of him in Kansas City, with the way Hunter Harvey got hurt and MacArthur's been pretty bad. I think he's two. Probably Sir Anthony Dimingez at three with Kimberl's struggles, and then Victor Vodnick, who I don't think is all that reliable being in Colorado, but he's actually been a lot better than I expected
this year. And I want to give a shout out to our friend Jesse Severe, who was the first person I ever heard mentioned Victor Vodnick earlier this year. He was like, you got to keep an eye out for this guy. I was like, really, I don't know Colorado, he's down the depth chart, but Jesse saw something there, So shout out to our mutual friend. But I think he's at the bottom of the list here.
I would probably I think Copek and Sir Anthony Dimingez are their own tier. I'd go er Seg is like one B, and then Vodnick is down there. Opportunities for the Rockies, fuel and far between. I do think Ersik has that gig so that one can be exciting. My only problem I would have Sir Anthony tom megas number one. But it's like I feel that they're going to probably do the same thing the Diamondbacks would do with like
a seawalld like it's only a matter of time. But I'm very comfortable with those And by the way, I will go out on a limb and tell you I think the next save opportunity for the Diamondbacks is going to go to Paul Seawald. Justin Martinez once again. Now he was twice put into situations that were not closer spots. They were tied games and blew two games this past week. But Ryan Thompson out Justin Martinez has been shaky and I wouldn't be surprised they have not given up on
Paul sea Wald. So if he is sitting out there, maybe take a look at him. Two streaming pitchers for Tuesday to take a look at maybe last week, you know the two start thing, there weren't really a lot of great two starts. I didn't see a lot that I love. Today, here are two that you might want to get in on, and you tell me what you think about it? Number one, DJ Hers going up against Colorado. Why. I love that. We've seen DJ Hurs put up double
digit strikeout performances and the Rockies are the worst. They're the worst. They swing at everything, starting with Tovar and Cody Bradford for the Rangers going up against Pittsburgh four and our records so far this year, those two with some low ownership across the board here, Either one of those you like for an early week streamer and knowing your playoff might be on the line.
Yeah, I think I like both of them a lot. DJ Hurts I've been a big fan of his. When he got sent down earlier in the year, I was kind of surprised he had struggled. But below the surface, the numbers are really good, so four to twenty five ERA, but he is a three forty six expected ERA. His ex FIP is three seventy four, his Sierra's three fifty four. He's been unlucky in terms of the results. He also was a twenty percent strike up minus walk rate. You
don't see that very often. That's a pretty elite number. I know we're talking about twelve starts, but that is an excellent number, twenty eight percent strikeout rate, solid command. I think it Hurts is a really excellent streamer and even maybe even like a touch above streaming territory. I might just be a little bit biased towards him because I really like him, but i'd be rostering him in
twelve team leagues unless there's a really tricky matchup. And Cody Bradford, he started the year off looking so well he got hurt. I don't trust him quite as much. I don't think there's as much strikeout upside, but the command is really good. I think they're both really great options. I'd probably prioritize Hurts, especially if you're looking for strikeouts though same.
Seas that's where I would go with that. And then finally on some hitters if you're looking for a little bit of a boost. Over the last two weeks, Andrew bin and Tendee keeps hitting hitting three zero six has five homers in that time. David Hamilton is back up three point thirty three, two homers, five stolen bases, and Parker Meadows is hitting three p forty two best average of them all homer and another five stolen bases. So some stolen base guys in there. Some homers really really
low ownership. There's other guys. Jock Peterson might be a player that you can take a look at. But those are a few of the hottest hitters over the last two weeks that have got really low ownership. Is there one you would prioritize over the other?
I think Parker Meadows. I really was a big fan of his coming into the season. He's looked really good since he's come back. I would say Hamilton if his playing time wasn't so erratic and you wouldn't seehim at the bottom of the order. Earlier in the year, he looked like the pickup of the season. He was batting at the top of the order. He has thirty stolen bases. I thought this was going to be a huge year for him. If you're really desperate for speed, he might
be the way I would go. But if you're just looking for a well rounded asset off the wire, you're just looking for some offensive help all around, I think the Parker Meadows would be the way I would go.
So murky, LOOKI just a couple of little pieces here. According to the Miami Harold Marlins are promoting Connor Norby from tripa a here on Monday. He's going to get his opportunity. I think he's probably a half decent pickup compared to I think the actually the Diamondbacks out to shoot here, but compared to like those hitters that we just talked about, I would put him probably. I don't know if I'm that interested in benin Tendi, even though
he's been hot. I might take a shot on Norby, but like he's in the same territory as those guys. If they're all available, Norby will probably get to be pushed up a little bit in the lineup. He can he hit a little bit. He wasn't dominating in Triple A since he's been over with the Marlins, but opportunity is good, so I would take a look at him. And then also just wanted to mention this. We don't do a ton of this in the back half of the year. Obviously we haven't been doing like the prospect
looks and stuff. But the Red Sox promoted second basemen Christian Campbell to Triple A. And just why it's important is the Red Sox, you guys don't want to pay attention to anything. Have what essentially we're calling the Big four in Triple A right now, four absolutely dominant prospects were all there, and Christian Campbell to me might be the most exciting. Roman Anthony is there who my recent I have my prospect ADPs that I do, which is creating a prospect ADP. Obviously the P and ADP drafts.
Roman Anthony was a top ten prospect in those. Overall, you've got Kyle Teal, Marcela Mayer, and now Christian Campbell. Christian Campbell has had one of the most ridiculous seasons so far. Three point thirty twelve homer or sixteen homers, twenty steals between hy A and Double A. He's now up there. These are all great Dynasty options. They're not options to come up this year, but the beginning of next year I would be looking at all of those guys and I would rank it. I think I currently
have it. Roman Anthony, Christian Campbell, Mayor and teel A. They're like all together, and some people are talking about Roman Anthony being the number one overall, but probably the best team. They'll remember the Orioles at the beginning of the year, where it's like you got the Jackson Holiday and you've got kershtat and you've got Mayo. That's what this is with the Red Sox. This is that version of it. And if they don't break camp, this Red Sox team will be that next season. The beginning of
next season. Three up and three down on the up, mister Corbyn Carol two for five, three runs, one homer and two RBI. I didn't lead off the show or anything with it, Joe, but Corbin Carroll's power output has absolutely been immense. Batting average really hasn't gotten there, but he has been. He's been dude like again.
Just in time to get that price all back and expensive again for twenty twenty five. Man, I think we mentioned it. Maybe it was. I think it was you and I were talking. Will he maybe get back into the first round now? You don't think so? If he stays hot like this, Nope. Where do you think the second round?
Yeah? I think it's late second, early third, somewhere in there, somewhere in that territory of it. I mean, the power outputs really good. Everything else has still been kind of black guys like fifty RBI so far in the year. CJ. Abrams, a first round pick two for four, had three stolen bases this weekend and Franber Valdez six inning, seven strikeout, zero earned runs on the down people were bringing up in the chat Merle Merril Kelly got lit up them.
Things were lit five inning, six earned runs, eight hits. Diamondbacks just looked absolutely atrocious in there. He was throwing everything down the middle. Nope, Tyler O'Neill oh for four with four ks some railroad time, and Jorge al Kala only made it through two thirds of an inning, gave up five earned runs and two homers. Absolute garbage. On the injury front, another Diamondback piece gets to start off each segment. Katel Marte was removed from Sunday's game against
the Rays after reaggravating his ankle injury. And the worst part about this is, I think this is going to be a stint. They're gonna have an MRI. But this exact same thing happened. They held off for a couple days, brought him back in, he reaggravated. I don't see how we avoid an il stint. He's been the number one second basement in fantasy. The reaggravation tells me everything we
need to know. Diamondbacks need to keep winning games, so I think, I mean, I guess there's a possibility they could just like let him sit for eight days or whatever it is. But I think they're gonna be extra cautious assuming that the MRI comes back clean. But we haven't even seen that yet, Joe, any major massive concerns for Marte.
They might as well. If they're thinking he's going to be out for a week or eight days, they might as well put him on the IL and get some replacements up there. In terms of fantasy, what is it going to mean when he comes back, I don't know. It's obviously at this time of year, you just there's so little certainty about anything. If he misses an extra week, then you're expecting then there's a chance that he becomes
a drop. If we hear he's going to be out for like three weeks or so, what would be that line for you with Marte? If we hear he's out for a month from today, he's expected back like last week is September or two weeks. I don't know if they've even been specific about that, but is there a line where you'd be willing to drop him right now?
Well, they're not specific because they don't know. They have to do the MRI. They don't know anything yet. Like I mean, for me, I don't know. I probably don't drop him in any scenario unless they say he's out for the year, because I would I l him. He he prioritizes anybody else you have on the IL. There's nobody who else on the IL that is currently hurt Tatis, you know, like Tatis might be a drop. What the
hell's going on with him? I thought it sounded like they made it sound like Fernando was going to come back after the trade deadline, like we were close to coming back after like the All Star Game, right, and he is still not going. Other than other than that, who else like probably not? So do you have one?
Well maybe Tucker, but that's another situation for who the hell knows was going on.
I don't even knows where he is. He's missing. It's a milk carton. I don't know I read him on the IL in any scenario, But I think I don't think it's even so much about like what the value is at this point. It's just like if they put him on the IL, you're going to have to go and make a move, hopefully not because that's going to be pretty devastating, but it looks like that's going to be the destination that we're going on the Braves front.
Brian Snickert told reporters that Austin Riley's going to undergo further evaluation after initial X rays were inconclusive. Don't love that, Don't love where they it's inconclusive and it doesn't tell you a story. I like negative, snicker all So said, and confirmed that Raynaldo Lopez will return from the injured list to start Tuesday against the Phillies, So he will be out there. The Austin Riley stuff though scary. So I mean mid August, we might be without Marte, we
might be without Riley. We also might be without has Sung Kim as Mike Schuldt told reporters on Sunday that he's going to undergo an MRI exam on his injured right shoulder today. So we have got like massive medical report to wait on between Kateel Marte, Austin Riley and has Sun Kim right now. Absolutely brutal. Also a couple others on the Ray's front. Yandy Diaz, he did have X rays on his injured forearm. Which came back negative for any fractures, which is good news. And then this
one had been brought up a little bit earlier. Ben Charrington told reporters Sunday that Jared Jones is going to make at least one more rehab start before joining the Pirates rotation. So the question is, are you full full go when Jared Jones is off? Are you going to start him right out the sho shoot?
I think probably, do we know we have a rough idea of the opponents, because that would probably be the deciding factor for me. So they have coming up Rangers, Reds and Cubs or the next three series. I think I'm starting him.
It's a Red extent well, because if he's doing one more start and then he's going to come back to that, it's either who is the last series? You said?
So Thursday through Sunday they're playing the Reds and then they start next week against the Cubs.
There might be the Cubs. Then it might be like the beginning of the series with the Cubs. I'd be comfortable with it.
I think got started either way. Yeah, you're away from Great American Ballpark there, so there's no real worry for me for either of those teams.
I would be comfortable with that. All right, friends, you know what time it is, let's get to some betting. It's time full or Monday's best Bets of the Day. You come such a stupid segment that we do bets o the day. We need to have like a video thing next year or something like that. All right, our best bets brought to you by bet three six y five over on the Betting Pros three of our favorite bets, which, by the way, you guys can go and download the
Betting Pros app if you would like. You can download and follow some of your favorite betting analysts. You can track your own bets. Hell, I have even said it before. Something you can do, you know, you have to sync up books. If you are getting new into the betting world, even this late in the season, you can practice, you can put in what bets you would want to do, and you can track your own stuff. So it's a good way before you even dip your toe into the market,
as you could just individually track your own bets. But Joe, what do you got for your three favorite bets of the day.
I've been going with a lot of plus money stuff recently, so today we're going with some more favorites, starting with Debbie Matthews under one and a half walks. It is juiced to minus one eighty, so it's probably best to pair this with something else, but it really does feel free considering the command this guy has. He walks seven batters over I believe ninety six or ninety seven innings in the minors. He just doesn't know how to walk people.
This first start of the year in the majors is his debut five innings with no walks as well, so I think it'd be almost impossible to envision him walking two batters tonight. So if you want to make that one a bit of a better line, to compare it with something, maybe you go Twins money line if you're feeling a little adventurous there. But this one, this one is a pretty safe bet. I think we're going back to the well, you know, filling in for Bubba today.
We had a little bit of switch around, and I'm very grateful because that means I get to bet Todje Bradley again. Todge Bradley over six and a half strikeouts, minus one zero five. He is facing Oakland and Oakland even though They're maybe a little bit better offensively than we thought. They still strike out quite a bit, one of the five or six worst strikeout rates in all
of baseball. I'm on the record with Todge Bradley. He strikes out close to thirty percent of batters, one of the better strikeout pitchers in baseball, and he's struggled a little bit over these last couple starts. I think he'll bounce back today against Oakland, getting us to that seven number. We need to hit the over and then the final one. It's a total Baltimore and the Mets total of eight and a half. I'm taking the over on this one, and it comes down to the starting pitching matchup. Trevor
Rodgers and David Peterson. Just don't have a lot of confidence in either one of them. Peterson on the surface three h four era looks really good, but he's not striking guys out. The command is always an issue there. And Trevor Rodgers, I just don't think is very good at all. So I think this one will over that eight and a half number. It's at minus one twenty five, and those are all of course at bet three six five.
All Right, my best bets I'm gonna join you in something here. I'm gonna go with the Arizona Diamondbacks run line minus one and a half. Boy, they shot themselves in the foot with that Tampa Bay series, just losing stupid. I mean they had to come back every time and just couldn't hold it. I think they are going to bounce back even without Catel Marte. They're gonna get back into action and they are gonna put up some runs today. So minus one and a half, right around minus one eighteen,
you might get it. Minus one fifteen Arizona run line. I'm also gonna go with Kansas City on the run line minus one and a half, almost exact same odds we got Seth Lugo on the mound. Both of these are really good matchups. And guess what gonna join you, Taj Bradley almost even money. Six and a half strikeouts, Yes, sir,
because it is Oakland. If this was like a you know, with San Diego a Toronto, one of those teams that just don't put up big strikeout numbers, I'd say no. If you gave me a middling team, I'd be very interested. If you give me one of the higher strikeout teams I'm very interested in, and that is exactly what you're getting. So Taj Bradley six and a half strikeouts on the over, and I may even get cheeky and find one other guy like to pare him to to come down one
notch as I like to do. But that's what I'll go with. Arizona run line, Kansas City run line, Taj Bradley's strikeouts, and we got Joe with the ZEBBI Matthews under walks, tadje Bradley over strikeouts, and the Baltimore Mets total over. There you go, friends, for today's best bets of the day. That's right, you're trying to do it with me, joe A right, what do you got on the home run marker? Oh, we should probably go and take a look at the board here. Of course, I'm
not back on this board. I have no idea where I'm at. I don't even know if I got any homers this weekend. But Joey p and Wonkee they are fighting it out Battle of the Pros with thirty six homers tied for fourteenth and fifteenth place over on the top of the leaderboard. South African g is starting to run away forty six, has a two home run lead over be Trot. So right now, South African g can see that wonderful Vladimir Guerrero Junior bat just coming straight
home to him or her. Be Trot forty four. Larry c has got forty two, El skel At forty two and two others with forty, so we got six people in the forty range. I am in the thirty something range, so not quite there. Someday, some way, maybe I'll get on the board before the end of the year. Joe, what do you think who a you going with on your home run call today?
Can you imagine how insufferable Joe is going to be if he comes back and somehow ends up winning the thing?
If I mean it's not gonna happen, but yes it would. Any anything will be unsufferable with Joe.
So I'm taking Pete Alonso. I'm also leaning into that Trevor Rodgers again. Alonso has been a lot better as of late. I think the general feeling about his season is that he has been pretty disappointing for where you drafted him. But he's up to twenty seven homers. He said four of them in the last two weeks and against Trevor Rodgers. I think that's a really nice matchup for him to take one out. So I'm going with Pete Alonzo tonight, little Chalky, Well.
I'm gonna go with the Batman himself. Give me Vladimir Guerrero Junior playing my home run per nine against so give me Vladdie Junior to get me on that board and get me some homers. Frindos. That's it. Thank you guys so much for hanging out. Hey, I want to give you a reminder. As I mentioned before, we got a lot going on here on Fantasy Pros in about
two hours. If you're watching this live, if you're listening on the podcast starting at three pm Eastern on the main Fantasy Pro channel, Just Fantasy Pros YouTube dot com Slazed Fantaship pros'reing be live for five straight hours. If you're into the fantasy football talk, Joe's running the first couple hours. We got worm Ryan Wormley, host of the cycle, is going to be doing the next few and I
will be on the last hour. Got Andrew ericson with me, Scott Pianowski, Mike Florio, so you can check that out if you want five straight hours. If you miss any you can watch after. But just in case you guys wanted to have some fun, we will be there live for five hours later today. We will be back though on Wednesday, Casey Bubba will be back in the house. We'll keep all your prep going for the fantasy baseball season.
As someone mentioned before, people do turn to fantasy football, but now it's the time to grind, and we're still grinding. You can find Joe Rico at Joe Rico ninety nine on Twitter. Find me at Iazath the Welsh Friends. Thank you so much for hanging out with us, and until next time, we'll talk to you. Leading off, we're out of here peace. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros
Fantasy Baseball podcast. If you love the show, the best freeway to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, Follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros MLB