What's going on? Everybody? Welcome into Leading Off the Fantasy Pros Baseball Podcast. We are presented by Bet three six five. Bet five bucks get one hundred and fifteen bonus bets when you use that promo code leading Off only at Bet three six five. There's a different dynamic going on today. You guys can probably notice that Joel Rico here behind the mic, joined by my dear friend Casey Bubba. We are going to be taking you through about two thirds
of the remaining shows of the baseball season. We're still gonna have wells, shehy on on Mondays. Bubba and I are going to be taking you through the Wednesday and Friday shows and now we're gonna be switching off on the Mondays and also joining Welsh. But this is great. This is really fun for me. Get to join Bubba, who has been a good friend for the last couple of years, and we get to kind of talk some baseball. Here, Bubba, how you doing today? Man?
I am doing great getting to talk some baseball. It seems like it's been a while since with you and I have got the chat, even though we're in the same like message groups and everything. But it's a different platform for us too, which is crazy. It's using my show, your show something else. So it's gonna be fun, and I'm looking forward to the final month of the year. Is you know a lot of people are wrapping up seasons, like we said before the show, but you and I
we just keep on going. This is what we like to do, so I hope we can help some people that are still grinding till the end.
If you guys are here at this time of the season, you are the diehards. Absolutely. If you're still watching baseball content, listening to podcasts, reading articles this time of year, then you automatically have a bit of an edge on the rest of your league because as we know, football's coming, people going back to school, everybody's got busy live. So if you're still paying attention this time of year, it gives you just that little bit of extra edge on
the competition. We're gonna be breaking down the headlines today doing the usual stuff. Just because Joe and Welsh aren't here. We are not gonna divvy up things from different to not defer too much rem usual there as I stumble over my words here as we get going, But we are gonna go through some headlines. We're gonna take a couple of your questions if you guys want to throw some things in the chat. We're also gonna be talking a couple of fantasy playoff questions if you got anything.
Later on we'll talk injuries, best bets, home runs and all that. But let's get started off off with Katee Povich, who was just brutal for a good chunk of the season and honestly not somebody that I was really trying to invest in so much, even against the White Sox. I just didn't really trust him this time of year. But seven and a third shutout innings with ten strikeouts. But but is this the sign that he's maybe figuring
things out and turning the corner a little bit? Or is this just it was the White Sox.
I'm gonna lean more so it's the White Sox. That's why I wanted to discuss as we had Albert Swarz going on Wednesday. This will be the real telltale sign if it's the White Sox. But at the same time, Povich looked good and he got called up for a spot start a few weeks back. He's showed improvements throughout the Miners If anything, it's something to kind of keep our eye on as the season goes on, as we
head into twenty twenty five. To start all that draft prep, he was a highly touttered prospect, so it is great to see him take advantage of teams you need to take advantage of. That's always like a big first step in my mind as a hitter, take advantage of bad pitching, pitching, take advantage of bad hitting. Povic got that check mark, So that's a good sign going forward.
Or for ka Povic, is it something where you'd want to continue to stream him rest of the season or is it more so we'll take this gym against the White Sox and then kind of take our foot off the gas.
Probably take this gym and take our foot off the gas. I know there's a privy Like the final two weeks of the year pretty favorable for Orioles pitching, But coming up here I beieve they have Boston and like Minnesota, probably take those off for Kate and look at him for the final couple weeks of the Yearnings to Detroit and maybe another White Sox start throwing in there. Too.
Could be interesting. Yeah, like we were saying before we started getting going this time of year. It's really just so much about picking and choosing the right matchups at this time. Streaming against the White Sox, against the Marlins, against the Rockies, away from cours. That type of thing really just so so important this time of year. Another important thing this time of year for real teams is
choosing who to pitch too and who to avoid. And the Blue Jays yesterday did not choose to avoid Kyle schwarb But even after he'd already burned them for a couple homers, he went five for six scored four runs. Obviously, the three homers drove in six. I tweeted it out yesterday he probably won some head to head leagus by himself. You know, in the average head to head week you might get like ten twelve home runs twenty five thirty ribis. Maybe this is a huge, huge boost for Kyle schuber
and this season as a whole. He's actually got that batting average back up into the two forty type of range that was a huge concern for a lot of people coming into the year. He's gonna kill your batting average. But being in the two forties and stealing a couple of bases again, I might add has kind of brought his value back. What are your thoughts on Schwarber going forward? Is he somebody where he'll be faded again next year?
Is he going to go too low in drafts because he's been a top fifty player each of the last couple of seasons, now, is that where he should be going? You think?
Yeah, I think he should be. I know it's it's not everybody's cup of tea drafting Kyle Schubert because there's the batting average concerns, and he can literally just destroy the team's batting average because he does lead off, So it's a lot of played appearances. It's a large sample
size when all things are said and done. But yeah, if you can put a two forty average out there with forty plus bombs, he's going to play one hundred or he's between runs and RBI's getting close to two hundred combined, like you mentioned, throwing some stole bases in there. That's elite stuff, Like you mentioned top fifty player in fantasy. So I know I was bullish on him because of the batting average. I thought it was really really bad and I don't like taking on that risk. But maybe
that's something I should think about again. Could he revert to that? Sure? Could he be a two forty guy going forward? Definitely? And if he's two forty then that's pretty darn good.
In that lineup. Yeah, I think he is generally gonna be worth it, and he might be pushed down. People will have the same conversations next year. I don't want to take the two twenty batting average risk, and that's fine with me. If people want to want to fade
him again, I'll happily take him. I didn't draft enough of him this year because of that worry in the back of my head, and when I did take him, it was like I backed him up with Corey Seeger or somebody who could you know, Yandy Diaz, who we thought was gonna hit like three to twenty coming into the season. I think next year I wouldn't worry so much about that because he's probably like a two twenty two thirty hitter, and in this day and age, it's not so bad. Really, it's not so bad when the
league average is about two thirty all around. Wyatt Langford hit a walk off grand Slam against the Yankees yesterday. The season as a whole for whya at Langford kind of underwhelming. It's been one hundred and eleven games. He has ten home runs, twelve stolen bases, He's hit two forty three pretty good play skills though twenty percent strikeout rate. We're talking about an eight point eight percent walk right,
so he's not getting overmatched. Really, I wonder if Langford is gonna be somebody that really does take a step forward next season. I know that he was one of the best hitting prospects we've seen in a long time. Is your expectation that we fully see him hit his stride next season or is that maybe we need to just change our expectations a little bit from that number one overall hitting prospect.
I think he definitely takes a step forward. I don't know if it's a full stride. I'm horrible with prospects. That's a welshy thing if we're going to go there. But I know a lot of people are still very optimistic on him. Than that early meatball draft I did, he still went relatively decent. He didn't go like Jackson Churio, Jackson Merrill World, but he still has like a sixth or seventh round pick. So I think that moves up come further in a draft season. He's hit three homers
in the last six Maybe he's getting health. He's been banged up a lot after the slow start, still down season, like you said, But I think we definitely see a move in the right direction next year for White Langford.
I just wonder if we're gonna have to pay. Like you said, he was a sixth round pick, he's probably gonna get more expensive. Is he gonna be worth it. It's like you have to project that growth, but we also know that growth isn't necessarily linear. Maybe he goes for seventeen homers and twelve steels next season and it's a bit better, but it's not, you know, top fifty, top seventy five. He's one of those guys I'm gonna be pretty worried to actually hit the draft button on.
I think it's at this point in time pretty clearly like Churio and Merrill and James Wood ahead of him. Would you agree there.
Yeah, one hundred percent agree. Again, that's where they all want ahead of him in the draft. So I probably won't have much Langford. I'm just still I'm a very cautious drafter. Good or bad in that sense, and so he just won't fit my mold when I'm picking my team.
Yeah, I think I'm probably on the same page with you there, although it's just so tempting with that sprint speed, there's just so much to really like, but I think I kind of need to see it before I'm willing to pay such a high price, and I do think he'll be pretty expensive heading into next season. Let's talk about David Peterson, though man six innings of one run ball with eleven strikeouts against the Red Sox. This is the start that I wanted nothing to do with. The
Red Sox have been a great offense. Peterson has been really solid, but I don't really buy it when I dig below the surface. He is a two to seventy five ERA. He has a nine to one record, and yet we're looking at a four to eighty five expected era. He's a four to forty four SI era, And I think the big thing with David Peterson is the strikeouts. I mean, outside of yesterday, where they were obviously there,
they haven't really been there this season. Nineteen and a half percent strikeout rate when he had been in the twenty five to twenty seven percent range the last couple of years. So are we buying into Peterson going forward? For me, I've loved him the last couple of seasons, but the dipping strikeouts does concern me. It's just strange that it's come with a two seventy five era but also a one to thirty one whip. It's kind of a hard eval for David Peterson Bubba.
One hundred percent. And that's kind of the bummer with Peterson because I'm with you, I've been a big fan and he shows strikeout stuff. From previous seasons, it was more walk issues to go with the strikeouts. It kind of kept you a few steps back with David Peterson. This year. The walks have gotten a little better, honestly, But you mentioned you look at the Sierra as the x fips any underlying EIRA metric shows he's overachieving. The fact he strikes out eleven Boston Red Sox is just bonkers.
After you mentioned that the previous six starts he had twenty seven strikeouts in thirty eight innings, so obviously not
a dominating strikeout arm in that sense. But like you go deeper into that start against Boston, dude had a forty percent CSW and twenty whiffs in that start, Like he was just just dominating the Boston Red Sox, which is baffling at the same time, very very tough to trust as you were mentioning, And it's got to be a start by star basis we're at the part of the year though, or maybe you just roll the hot
hand all things considered. But like when you look at Peterson's next few starts coming up here for the Mets, he takes on the Toronto Blue Jays next week, So how you feeling about that one?
I mean, our offense has been a bit better as of late. Yes, yes, yes, not exactly world beaters still, so i'd probably stream him in a lot of cases. Maybe not in like a ten team league, but twelves and fifteen's I probably would do it. It's risky, but I think I would do it.
Well, we'll have we'll expand this out a second here, So over the next twenty eight days basically the rest of the season. So he's Toronto next week, then he gets a two step if then this is obviously could
change in moments. Notice Washington and Philadelphia, so one Washington's been sneaky too, and then the last week of the year he gets the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee, so none of them are cupcake matchups, but maybe the Nets, but they just don't strike out, so that's tough tough one with Peterson.
Toronto doesn't really strike out that much either. As bad as they are generally speaking, they're not a team that're like one of the ten best teams in terms of strikeout rate in baseball. So if you're looking for those strikeouts to come back and remain and it's probably not gonna happen for David Peterson. But man like, he's one of those guys. I think it's like an Edward Caperero
type of thing. With me, I'll always still kind of believe, but we're getting to the point where it's like I need to see more below the surface and everybody's probably listening like two seventy five era. He's been great, but I don't buy it. I just don't buy that he should be doing that well. Randall Gritchick is also somebody I think is worth mentioning. He had a couple of home runs yesterday filling in for Lordis Guriel Junior, and
honestly It kind of surprised me. It's snuck up on me a little bit how solid Gritchick has been this year. It hasn't been in a huge sample size two hundred and eighteen at bats, but he's hit two eighty four eight home runs, thirty four ribies, and just over the last two weeks he's hit four home runs in his last nineteen at bats. So there's a situation where if you need a little bit of outfield help, specifically in deeper leagues, would you take a shot at Gritchick. He's
two percent rostered on Yahoo leagues. People aren't really paying attention, but should they be.
I think they should be for a couple of reason. With Guryel going on the IL, this makes things very very interesting because now you have a team that was platuning Gritchick, and obviously Guriel was starting every day. But Gritchick looks like he's gonna slide in to that everyday role, which makes him much more enticing for fantasy. You mentioned some of the power he showcased of late, like over the last seventeen games three forty nine average, five homers,
ten runs, eleven RBIs. I'll play. That'll play for sure. We know he matched his lefties, but if he's gonna play every day, why Guriel's out. There's still no timetable for Gurile's return. That makes Ritchick quite serviceable coming up, especially a team that gets to face you know, Texas Milwaukee and then they go to Colorado in a couple weeks. That's pretty nice. So Gritchick could have some viability if he gets some long term run.
Arizona's offense has been one of the best, the best all of baseball too, and I think part of that is probably Corbyn Carroll's turnaround recently has really boosted that. But like, they are the number one team in baseball for the season in runs and hits per game, second in batting average, first and on base percentage in ops, seventh in home runs. Pretty basic stats we're reading off there, but they are. They are doing pretty damn well for themselves.
And yes, uh cousin Donnie in the chat, I did in fact get a fresh cut because the hairhead I was looking like Pete tim linsekm Jacob deGrom there. I needed to needed to cut it off. I put it off for way too long. But yes, the flow is officially gone. Oh no, oh, No, it's finally gone. Hopefully. Man, by the time you see me in November in Arizona, it'll probably be a little bit longer. Again. One more news on the one more piece of news on the headlines.
Redebtmers finally finally made his return to the majors. And I saw this and I was like, oh my god, it's against the Dodgers. Why do they have to bring him up to face the Dodgers. Well, six innings of two run ball with ten strikeouts for mister reed Debtmers. I don't know what to make of him, because he started off looking so brilliant this season, really fell apart in a hurry, and then spent most of the year in the miners. What he did in the miners wasn't
very good either. Fourteen starts down there have a five point fifty four era, a one forty whip. I don't really know if I want to trust him going forward. I think the win potential is probably pretty low with the Angels, but it's hard to say that this wasn't encouraging, especially against the Dodgers.
Yeah, this is a bummer because I've been writing for a couple of weeks. Pick Up debtmers. He's gonna be they have they just earned the extra year of control. All these things because his last like two or three starts in the miners were very good, lots of strikeouts. The whole sample sizes agreed. Horrible in the miners, but like it looked like he was trying to find his way. I told everybody for the Dodgers starts to add him,
don't start him, like, stay away from this. Obviously he pitched great, and his upcoming schedule is going to be interesting. The Angels are currently using a six man rotation, so two steps are tough. In two weeks, he's for now scheduled for a two step. One of them is the White Sox. That's a plus, But Deptmers, if you need strikeouts, could be a dude. Just no blow ups are coming when it comes with three Deptmers. But very very encouraging start, that's for sure.
Yeah, I mean I was stashing him in a lot of deeper leagues, a lot of NFBC leagues. I've been holding onto him for quite a while. Didn't have the guts to start him yesterday, but I think I'm probably gonna be putting him into the lineups going forward, depending on what's going on, but I think generally speaking, he's earned another start with what he looked like yesterday. One thing in the just for fun section today ben Joyce one hundred and five point five mile an hour strikeout.
It was the fastest strikeout in the stat cast era, and the third fastest pitch apparently that was ever recorded, behind a couple of our oldest Chapman pitches. This guy is just unbelievable. The thing that's kind of surprised me a little bit is that the strikeouts haven't been what you would probably expect from a guy who throws harder than probably anybody ever or close to it, like one of the top two or three hardest throwers we've ever seen,
and yet the strikeouts aren't really there for him. Do you see Joyce going forward as a closer, Because when you think about a closer with a twenty three percent strikeout rate ten percent walk rate, it doesn't really jive. But I think he does probably have closer stuff. Still, what do you think.
I think he's got the closer stuff. I think he should get the chance to be a closer. I agree, you'd like to see better than a basically thirteen percent k to walk. That is not going to be the ticket. Like we see a lot of guys with walk issues, but they also have like a thirty five percent K rate, So there's a big difference there. If Joyce doesn't have that, it's troublesome, especially throwing gas like he does, which is pretty wild. I think he's going to be the closer.
He should be the closer. Then again, it's the Angels, folks, So take everything I said was gigantic grain of salt.
Will you draft him next year as the Angels closer?
He'd have to be a closer three for me on my team, kind of like how I drafted Estevez and some other guys. I won't be reaching to grab him as a as a RP one or two for my team.
Yeah, I think that's that's totally fair. If he's like a third guy going and picked two hundred to two fifty type of range, just a little bit of insurance, then I can get behind it. If he saves five or six games down the stretch and pushes himself up fifty picks or so, that's probably where I have to tap out Rookie Lucky today, I just want to talk a little bit about the Rookie of the Year race, because we know Welsh has been on this one, following
it constantly. Paul Skimes at one point was minus five thousand and four of the year. He is now not even the favorite. Jackson Merrill is at minus nine hundred. The books just seem to be going whatever way the wind goes recently for NL Rookie of the Year, even
with Paul Skean's tossing five shutout innings last night. So looking at their lines, Paul Skans one hundred and fourteen innings, one hundred and forty two strikeouts, a two thirteen ERA, a point nine to eight whip and three point three fangrafts war versus Jackson Merrill's sixty eight runs, twenty one homers, seventy nine runs scored, sixteen steals in a two ninety one batting average with great defense, and a four point
two f woar. As a rookie, they've both been fantastic bub But do you think that it's Merrill's to lose at this point? And honestly, what do you think is your own opinion? Like, what do you think is gonna happen? And what do you think should happen.
Yeah, Jackson Merril's the rookie of the year. I remember my very first show I came on this season for leading it off. Welsh brought up that minus five thousand nice to take the field. This is called gambling, folks, take the plus money and see what happens, because pitchers are one pitch away. Now Skeins is healthy, that's great, but he's also slowing down. That's the reality of the situation where Jackson Merrill that I expect him to go on this run. No, but it's been insane and it's
not slowing down anytime soon. And if he actually took the field at first, now you can go take Paul Skeens at plus money and you just watch the show. Just watch the show now, and you make some money either way. So that's how you play a book. It doesn't always work that way, no, but when you see plus money like that with a to me, anytime you see a pitcher leading that kind of charge, take a stand.
Skeens is awesome, and you know there's a weird world where he still probably wins it, but it should be Jackson Merril's to win. That's who I would pick.
I think you're probably right. I don't know which way the voters are gonna go on this one though, This rookie pitcher who's doing things that rookie pitcher shouldn't really be able to do, especially for a bad team. But Jackson Merrill going twenty twenty, hitting almost three hundred, he might finish with five war for the season. That being said, I don't know if even older voters know what war is, So again, it's kind of a tricky one to actually
guess what's gonna happen. But I agree like Paul Skean's at plus six hundred, a couple of bucks on that, especially if you already took him before, or if you take Meryl before a plus money, you're guaranteed to look pretty pretty good at the end of the season. Let's take a couple questions. Pistol here, who's always in the chat, always shouting us out here, good guy, wants to know what our thoughts are on David Bednar looks like he's going to be removed from high leverage role for a
little while. Are you dropping Bednar Baba with some little time left in the season. Are you still holding on here?
Yeah, I mentioned it last night with Ryan on our show that I will be dropping Bednar if I had him, just because it's been really bad to begin with. He's shown some really rough skills of late, and I feel like they're taking him out. It's going to be for at least two weeks. So now you have a week week and a half when he comes back. What's he going to get you? Two saves maybe three at best with the Pirates, So I would use that roster spot and maximize other options on my team. So yeah, Bednar,
he would be a drop for me going forward. He's just kind of a it sucks. It sucks to see, but he's lost it for now.
An absolutely terrible season, But I feel like I'll be buying the dip. I feel like I will be buying that coming in the next season. He's going to go outside the top one hundred and fifty picks probably. People are going to see that era, which is disgusting, and everything's been pretty bad. Even the supporting metrics aren't great,
but they're they're a bit better. But I think he's gonna be a pretty easy buy for me next season, considering how depressed that price is probably going to be any cheap saves out there, kind of a combination question. The big one for me, like looking at Yahoo rostership, is probably Jeff Hoffman. He's still forty three percent rostered. I mean, it's not like a guarantee. But there's not really so many guarantees that I'm seeing right now in
a lot of leagues. But is there anybody that really comes to mind for you in terms of cheap saves or somebody that's available in a lot of cases.
Yeah, there's nothing guarantee to like the Hoffman call. I know, when I looked at Michael Kopeck at the end of last week, he was around the fifty percent bubble and he's kind of split in the role with Evan Phillips, so he's getting good ratios and strikeouts, So I'm not a posed to Copeck in that one. And then he's just gonna play the roulette and Tampa Bay or the Cubs if you want. But that's a messy, messy situation.
So yeah, I like hop and call Kopek stick along those lines and see where it goes.
Nothing great out there, you're really just hoping for the best, hoping for some fortunate bounces this time of year. The last question we got. We're firing up about In Francis against the Phillies today may also take the Blue Jays money line, So I have one of my bets is
about bout In Francis later on today. Not to spoil it, but I feel like he's been running a little bit too pure coming up against a pretty good offense here, So I would say generally it's hard to bench him after like Pictuer of the Month in August, one of the best stretches we've ever seen from a starting pitcher. But I don't think I really trust him here unless you really need the volume. I think he's probably a sit.
Yeah, it's tough, Like I I would run him out there, and you hope because he's made the pitch mix changes, all the good stuff everyone likes to talk about, but you're just you gotta wait for the banana peel, is the way I look at it, Like it's gonna come here in one of these final starts, you think, because the one oh six era is great over his last five starts, but in the two six six years good, So like he's pitched well, but you know, a thirty
percent kate of walk. How sustainable is that. Let's be real, there's gonna be a setback, and he's facing the juggernaut in Philadelphia. There's no hiding that I'd still run him out there, just the same way I promoted a start. Spencer Arighedtty against him last week, and he went into Philadelphia and got the job done. You could get bad, There's no doubt in that, but I'll take my chances about in Francis.
That's fair. Yeah, I think in most cases it's really gonna be hard to put him on the bench after after what we've seen. I mean, just a ridiculous run. I mean even just that for that Boston start last week, I said the same thing, like that makes me a little bit nervous, I don't know, and then seven shutout
innings later, here we are about in Francis. I don't know if they officially named the pitchers of the month for August, but I feel like he's he's got to be the pitcher of the month in the American League for August.
What should he should be? He should be Let's still fight between him and are Getty.
Honestly, yeah, yeah, it definitely definitely could be. Let's move into the three up and three down, three up. Chris Sale seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts against the Rockies, putting the finishing touches on what is probably a cy Young season. Bubba, you think it's gonna be Chris Sales first cy Young this year?
Yes, yes, it should be. He's been great as long as that arms, so something that doesn't fall off the last three weeks of the year. It's his to lose, and nothing against anybody else. There's been some great pitchers, but it is definitely Chris Sales and real quick Dollon Francis was pitcher of the month. Just looked it up.
He was Pitcher of the month. Okay, I knew it was gonna happen. I just wasn't sure if they'd officially named it. Yeah, Chris Sale, I mean he probably should have won a cy Young back in his White Sox days. It was just so crowded in the American League in the twenty tens. Verlander and Schuzer probably won like five of the cy Youngs there, and then you had some random like Rick Porcello stuff, and Kluber won a couple. It was very crowded, so no room for him over there.
Although He probably should have won one still, but it looks like they're going to make up for that this season. Paul Goldsmith three for five with a combo meal yesterday, and Vladimir Gera junior four for five with a home run himself. He has been just unbelievable in the second half. On the three down. Tyler Phillips just got destroyed by the Blue Jays two thirds of an inning, got shell for eight hits and six earned runs. Clay Holmes. We
mentioned the Wyatt Langford walk off Grant slam earlier. That was off of Clay Holmes. Another blown save. Yankee fans are coming with the pitchforks. They are not happy about this one. And then Peter Armstrong, who's been very good recently, went over four with a golden sombrero yesterday. Bubba, I got a question for you in the chat here. What hat are you repping today?
This is the hove Alinas from the Arizona Fall League. Got it last year. I'm sorry, first pitch Arizona, So yeah, that's one of the fun looks. They answer, cool ass. I got a scorpions hat and some other ones, so yeah, I saw this crazy looking pig on here. That's all Neon. I'm like, yeah, that works for Bubba shows.
If you guys are looking to raz Us in person, have a couple of beers, shoots, some golf, come out to Arizona over Halloween and ten first Pitch Arizona. It's a great conference that Baseball HQ puts on. Let's talk about some injuries. Though we haven't been here in a few days because of the Labor Day weekend, we haven't done a show in like five days, so let's catch up on a couple of injury news and notes. Kyle Tucker surprise, surprise everybody, He did, in fact fracture his
shin in June, as we all kind of expected. You know, I've talked on god knows how many shows about like what's going on. It can't just be a bruise, right, it can't just be a bruise. Well, it wasn't a bruise. I don't know why teams do this kind of thing, but it looks like he's probably gonna return at the end of the week, or so we're told. I won't believe it until he's actually on a lineup card. But
can we do anything going forward with this? Or is it just like Teams lie and we just have to deal with it.
Teams Lie, we have to deal with it. I'd imagine they'll talk about this in the off season, kind of like the NFL made them report injuries, because when you get into bed, like baseball is now with betting agencies, you need to have a little more accountability to what is going on in the world, because like, if Tucker's out two weeks, you're taking a future's bet on the Astros. You feel good. If you knew Tucker was out for two months, how would that affect your thoughts or three months?
I should say. There's a lot of that going on. And to your point is he was expected back Wednesday or Thursday. Well, on Wednesday morning at day we're recording, they said they hope to have him back in three to five days. So yeah, so let's just and trust me. I'm a big Kyle Tucker fan. I love Kyle Tucker. This is beyond tilting. But I have some him to get healthy for next year because I already took him eighth overall in the Early Meet Paul Draft. So do what you gotta do, kid.
I just don't understand why they wouldn't be transparent. Like I've talked with this on my show. It's not football, it's not hockey. It's not like you're gonna get targeted when you come back. I don't get it. I don't get why they wouldn't just tell us. Now, if you had been told when he first went down in June that Tucker's gonna miss three months, would you have dropped him?
Then yes, I would have. Unfortunately, just because you know, you do the math. Now we're getting it back in mid September. That's three and a half months where I could have been streaming guys and doing what and he's been sitting on my bench because I'm stubborn and I kept thinking, Okay, he'll be back here, he'll be back here, and he never was. So I'm I'm not like angry about it, but I'm very frustrated about the situation.
Yeah, that's some of those things.
I'm not mad. I'm disappointed.
Yeah, I mean, it's not like it was Paul de Young or you know whoever that goes down and you think, all right, well they're drop whatever. It's your first round pick. You kind of have to just hold on and hope for the best. But absolute worst case scenario. After we started the season thinking Tucker might be in the one one conversation next year, you know, but I don't think he is at this point. But still he'll probably be a first round pick just based on what he's able
to do in that lineup. Another kind of interesting one. Jacob deGrom likely to make one more rehab start, but there's also been some talk that he could maybe start Saturday at the big league level and just not go through another rehab at Double A. Seems unlikely, but it has been discussed. I assume that you would throw de Grom back into your lineup first time out, Bubba.
Yeah, I usually don't throw guys like that, but yeah, when it comes to Grom, we just we roll in this situation, especially if you're looking at a weekend start against the believe it's the Cubs. None of the Cubs will fleaceing the Yankees, Texas, it would be the angel So yes, you would start Jacob de Grom if he pitches this weekend.
Yes, Oh yeah, because the thing is like you've been holding him all season long. You haven't been holding him when he comes back to sit him right like you're
getting him into the lineups. Even if he was face a tough team, I feel like personally, I'd probably do it what he's capable of doing in just a couple of starts, Like he could give you a point six ERA strikeout fifteen batters per nine and really really helps secure some championships, especially in head toad leagues, if you get that kind of reinforcement back man and I wonder, you know, I've talked about this with Well so he thinks I'm a lunatic, but I think if de Grom
has a few de grom esque starts, we could see him sneak into the first round next year. Is that crazy, Bubba?
I think second round first is tough, but you never know. He was a former first round guy. I just have a hard time with the first round because it there's so much talent right now doing that early meatball draft, Like, there is a lot of guys you could argue for the back end of that first round right now.
It's very true. Yeah, the first round is absolutely packed this year. Another one, this one is not so great. Justin Steele, who recently did a show with us here at Fantasy Pros unfortunately scratched from his start yesterday. With elbow inflammation, it looks like a possibility that he ends up on the IL that there's been not a ton
of clarity on when he's actually gonna pitch again. I think Steele is probably for those and head to head leagues, especially if you end on September fifteenth or even September twenty second, there's just not a lot of time for him to come back look like justin steel and actually be productive. Do you think that's fair to say that you should probably just drop him in most cases?
Yeah, I was hoping to get more information by Sunday, and right now it's kind of radio silent. He's optimistic, but we know how that goes. The Cubs aren't playing for anything. He kind of wants Steel for next year in my mind, So if you have no one to add, sure, hold him. But I think he's he's probably a drop because I would not force him to pitch if I'm the Cubs right now.
Yeah, common refrain on my show is if you have the IL space, then put him on the el But who the hell has IL space this time of season? Probably not too many people, But it's dicey, man, when you've got elbow inflammation. You gotta hope that he comes back and looks good. He could come back and look awful and ruin your head to headweek for you, it's a tricky situation. I think you probably hold on if you can, but it's not looking great at this point
for Justin Steele. John Gray placed on the al with a neuroma in his foot. Not one hundred percent sure exactly what that is. You're not exactly dealing with a couple of doctors up here, but it looks like he will miss the rest of twenty twenty four, so you can easily send John Gray back to the waiver wire and Ludis Guriel. We alluded to it earlier because of Randall Gritschet coming into the line up and doing good things.
But Guriel went to the isle with a calf injury and Christian Walker was also activated from the IL, so he goes back in the lineup. What does that mean for Josh Bell, I guess is the question. Because Josh Bell had been the replacement there had been doing pretty well, and honestly he's still done pretty well. Home runs have kind of dried up a little bit the last couple of weeks. Do you think he still sees any playing
time Josh Bell. Is he gonna get in there some DH at bats or is he more just like a deep league guy? At this point, you think.
Right now they're saying Bell will still play verse left handed pitching, which is a plus. Now the question is how much does he sneak in there? Maybe the Guriel injury opens the door for free more at bats at d H or something. So it's tough like if it's just left, he's only by a drop unless you're in a deep, deep league. So keep an eye on what goes on the rest of the week. Is the best I can say on this one.
Think I'd have to agree with you there, Bubba, it is time four the Best Bets of the Day presented by bet three six five Again, use that promo code leading off and you'll get one hundred and fifteen bonus bets when you bet five bucks using that promo code leading off. Buba, what do you got for us today on the betting side, Yeah.
It says, I love my prop bets. We're gonna have Francisco in door over one and a half total bases at plus one thirty five. Fun matchup for the Mets and anytime I get a little door at plus money like this, I will roll with it. Lawrence Butler, I said on the last time I was on the show as mad there is no prop bets. Will you Homer in his first at bat in that game, so that
was fun. But I'll take Lawrence Butler over one and a half total bases at plus one twenty going up against George Kirby, who's been atrocious of late, so I'll take my chances there. And then you mentioned PCA going oh for four with the Sun in his last start. I'm gonna take him over a half a run tonight at plus one six the little bounce back start there.
The Cubs offense has been very good, very favorable matchup first Domingo Herman and the Pittsburgh Pirates, so I expect a little bounce back from PCA, So three plus money ones there for you.
I will also be looking to target Dimingo Herman, the human pitching machine, and I'm taking Saya Suzuki over one and a half total bases at plus one forty five. It feels like a really nice number to get there for Suzuki, who's been really just excellent this season, so I really like that one. Spencer Araghetty over five and a half strikeouts against the Cincinnati team that strikes out a decent bit. I don't know why the line is so low, considering what we've seen from him recently. That
one is set at minus one twenty five. It's in Cincinnati, so there is a little bit of concern there that I have whenever anybody's pitching in Cincinnati. But I think five and a half is a very attainable number for Araghetty. And then going back on something we said earlier about bout In Francis, I just think he's run a little bit too pure recently. I'm taking over two and a half earned runs. Even if he allows three earn runs, it can still be a good start. It doesn't mean
he's gonna get blown up necessarily. But against Philadelphia, I do think that we're gonna start to see him come back to earth a little bit, So that would be mine. Spencer Raghetti over five and a half strikeouts, say a Suzuki over one and a half total bases about in France's over two and a half earned runs, and then Bubba Francisco Lindor over one and a half bases Lawrence Butler over one and a half bases and Pete crow Armstrong over point five runs. Friends, those are the best
bets of the day for Wednesday. Still got Joe and Welsh here up on the art. We're probably not gonna have any Joe and Bubba art rest of season. Maybe we could pull something off, but I think you're gonna have to just be reminded of Joe and Welsh going forward. Bubba, we got one more thing love to do today. I don't think there is a new home run board, so I apologize for those watching in the live chat, but let's get your home run call for today before we sign off.
I love to say a call by the way, he was looking at that one quite a bit. But for me, mett Olsen started to figure things out of late, it feels like, and he get the Rockies taking the bump there in Atlanta. So give me matt Olson finding the seats there for the hometown favorites.
Matt Olsen has turned the season around a little bit. I wonder how expensive he's gonna be next year. My call for today is show heyo Tani. I know, I know not the most original, but I took Reee Hoskins last week on the show, and we got a Reese Hoskins win. Went with a little more niche name last time. But we're taking show. Hey, three days without a home run, It's like, what does this guy have a temperature or something?
He's facing Griffin Canning, so I think that one should be pretty easy to see tonight him taking Griffin Canning yard tonight in Anaheim. But baba, we've done it. We've taken over leading off. Thank you my friend for joining me today. It's been a lot of fun.
It's been a blast. It's almost like we've done this before together. So that was that was awesome and looking forward to Friday, and listeners liked it. The chat was fun. Yeah, Joe and I will be with you guys every Wednesday and Friday the rest of the way here in September. So fun stuff and thanks again my friend, looking forward to chatting a few days.
Always always let us know what you think. Throw some comments into the chat. If you liked us, if you hated us, if for better than Welsh and Joe, for worse than Welson, Joe, whatever it is, let us know. We always like to see any input you guys have for us. Like Bubba said, we'll be back again on Friday, twelve thirty pm Eastern nine thirty Pacific, running through the same stuff we usually do, catching up on the previous
couple of days worth of action. I'll make sure you're checking out Bubba over on the Twitter at b D entric b D E N t R e K. I am at Joel Rico ninety nine. Just my name in the number ninety nine. Very original, of course, but that will do it. Guys. We'll be back again on Friday. Until then, take care, have yourselves a great day.
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