 What's going on and welcome to the solo shot? My name is Tom Vecchio. We have an eight-game MLB Slate tonight lock is set for 705. As always, this is one of the many shows on the Feindle podcast network. You can find that anywhere, whether it's Spotify, whether it's Apple Podcasts. You name it, make sure to give it a like, follow or subscribe. Leave a review that's greatly appreciated. And you can follow me on Twitter at Tom underscore Vecchio1. Before we hop into things, snap into action this NFL season with Feindle America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet. That's right, $200 in bonus bets, win or lose. If you've been thinking about joining Feindle, there's no better time to get in on the action. The app is easy to use and there's a wide range of betting options, including spreads, player props, overrunters and more. So visit Feindle.com and kick off the NFL season. 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Or call 1-877-8 Hope in Y or text Hope in Y in New York. All right, let's get to tonight's eight-game MLB Slate. Again, lock is set for 705. We are looking at very clear when it comes to weather. There's a few weather notes if you're playing one of the earlier Slates. Some of the day games could have a little bit of weather, specifically in Detroit. So, pay attention to that if you're playing like an all-day slate or something along those lines. Again, we're seeing some cooler temperatures across many of these stadiums. We also, of course, field on tonight's slate with the Dodgers visiting the Rockies. So, let's hop right into pitching, starting off at the top where Pablo Lopez is the most expensive pitcher at $11,300. Garacol is $11,100. Fromber Valdez is $10.6. Jose Barrios is $9.9. Those are the only options that are above $9K, of course. A few other options in the $8,000 range. Griffin Kenning, Dane Dunning, Wade Miley, Bryce Miller. Some of the other options we could be considering. As I mentioned, we have, of course, field on tonight's slate with the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are very, very expensive tonight. Just to give a brief overview, Mookie Betz, Freddie Freeman, GD Martinez, Max Muncie, all $4,200 and above Will Smith is $3,900. So, we have elite hitters on tonight's slate. We also have the Braves on tonight's slate. So, we have, arguably, two of the best, if not the two actual best offenses in the entire league, and they're very, very expensive. And I say all this because we have two absolutely elite pitchers at the top with Pablo Lopez and Garacol. Pablo Lopez is $11,300. He has been lights out this season coming with a 29.2% strikeout rate, 6.0% walk rate, 1.14 homers per 90 is a 3.39 Sierra. He has a 53.1% medium contact rate and a 44.7% ground ball rate. He is in an awesome matchup going up against the Oakland Athletics. This is the type of matchup that we like to see for him to really reach for that fantasy ceiling of 50, 60 some odd points. He's going up against the Athletics. They come with a 25.2% strikeout rate versus right-handed pitching, their current active roster, which is the fourth worst in the league. They also come in with an 89 WRC plus in this split, which is 25th in the league. And they have basically no power in their lineup with a 149 at T. Misa, which is 24th. Lopez is that type of pitcher to, again, really reach for 50, 60 some odd, feint two points as he's really shown throughout the season. The issue is his salary. As I mentioned, we have all these great hitters at Coors Field. We have the Braves. They're super, super expensive. When you drop Pablo Lopez into your lineups, you're immediately left with about 2900 per player remaining. And as I mentioned, there are four hitters from the Dodgers that are above 4K. So this is where we have to really find some value at hitters, or we have to drop down and take some different pitching options. Now, whether you go with Pablo Lopez or whether you go with Garrett Cole, it's essentially the same path when it comes to roster construction. They're 200 apart. Cole has obviously been fantastic this season. He's on his way to the ALSI young. He comes in with a 27.4% strike array, only 0.90 homeruns per nine, 6.1% walk rate, a 3.61 Sierra, largely in line with Pablo Lopez, a 40.1% ground ball rate, 54.1% medium contact rate. We're splitting hairs here, right? $200 of salary difference really isn't that big of a deal. If this was any other slate, you know, we'd be splitting hairs. I do like Pablo Lopez more just because he's going up against Oakland. I don't think that's too much for surprise rather than Cole going up against the Blue Jays. Now, Cole obviously looked fantastic last week against the same very, you know, Blue Jays. Nine strikeouts, eight innings, one earn run. But the matchup is just 100% easier for Pablo Lopez. Regardless of that, we still have to be considering their salaries and what we want to be paying up for these expensive hitters. I think Fromber Valdez is in an awesome spot. And he's really been pushing up his strikeouts that much higher as of late. He comes in overall in the season. With a 24.6% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 0.84 home runs per 9 allowed. You know, very modest in the grand scheme of things. The home runs and the walks are great, but the strikeouts are relatively modest overall. He's really pushed those strikeouts a little bit higher as of late. And this is the type of matchup going up against Seattle where he should be able to continue to do that. Right now, their current active roster versus left-handed pitching. The Mariners have a 26% strikeout rate, which is the worst in the league. Absolute the highest in the league. It's higher than Colorado. It's higher than the White Sox. It's higher than Oakland. It's higher than Pittsburgh. You name it. Seattle right now versus lefties has the highest strikeout rate. Now, they do come in with a 107 WRC+, in this split, which is the 12th best in the league, but they have a 148 Team ISO versus lefties, which is 21st in the league. So they strike out an immense amount, or the most, I should say, literally the most versus lefties. They're lacking power. But yeah, their offense can get things going at times. So I really, really do like Fromber-Valdes tonight. But again, his salary is not that much different compared to Pablo Lopez and Garry Cole. If you were to drop Valdes into your lineup, you're left with just under, or just under $3,100 remaining per player. It's not that much different compared to $2,900 when you take Lopez or Cole. So the question becomes, if we can't pay up for pitching, where we're, you know, some lineups we're going to pay up for pitching, some lineups we're not going to pay up for pitching, we want to load up on hitters, you know, where do we go for pitching? Where do we look for a little bit of value? You know, Dane Dunning might be one of the answers today for a lot of people, $8,200 going for Texas, going up against the Los Angeles Angels. And this is not to say that Dane Dunning can compete with the strikeout rate of Cole or Valdes or Lopez. All these pitchers have immense strikeout upside significantly higher compared to Dane Dunning. But we're looking at Dane Dunning's salary. And we're looking at his matchup going up against the Los Angeles Angels. Now, I know, you know, they put up some runs last night. It is what it is. I still think he's going to be in play today, especially really just given how he fits well into lineup construction. And that's ultimately what we're worried about. Can we be looking to him just based on the fact that it opens up so much in salary? So when it comes to Dane Dunning, overall, yes, his 18.9% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate can't compete with these top pitchers. He has a 4.59 Sierra. But what he does have is a 54% medium contact rate and a 46.6% ground ball rate. So he does keep the ball down. He's never going to pile up a massive amount of strikeouts. But we do like this matchup going up against the Angels. They come in with a 25.3% strikeout rate versus right-handed pitching, which is the third worst in the league, their current active roster versus righties. Now, they have a little bit of power in their lineup still, the 187 ISO. So, yeah, it's okay. It's an okay matchup, right? That's what ultimately we're worried about. Like, it's an okay matchup for Dane Dunning. He's never going to be going for 100 plus pitches, 9-10 strikeouts, eight innings of like hitless ball and nowhere in runs. Like, that's not who he is. But he fits well into roster construction when we're trying to pay up for several hitters that are 35, 38, 39, 4, 200, whatever it might be between the Braves and the Dodgers. So, Dane Dunning, certainly very interesting tonight simply due to roster construction. I will also say Darius Vines for the Atlanta Braves. He's 5,800. It's one of the lowest salaries we could ever possibly see for one of these pitchers. He's likely to be starting for the Braves. He's probably not going super deep into the game. So, just kind of keep that in mind in terms of just, you know, punting, pitching essentially and just loading up on all the hitters. He could be somewhat popular today, especially as we have so many expensive hitters. So, keep that in mind. When it comes to stacks on tonight's slate, I'm going to say this again and again. The Dodgers are just in an awesome matchup. At Coorsfield going up against Noah Davis. I want plenty of exposure to the Dodgers today. The Braves also in a great matchup at home going up against Jameson Tyon for the Chicago Cubs. Tyon has been a pitcher that looks great one-star. He looks terrible the next start. He looks great one-star. Terrible the next start. He does have some strikeout upside. Sometimes he walks too many hitters. Overall, he's not a pitcher we should be worried about. And frankly, the Braves lineup is significantly better than Tyon is a pitcher. So, I'm going to be loading up on the Braves. Between the Braves and the Dodgers today, we have a 6.90 implied run total for the Dodgers and a 5.7 implied run total for the Braves. These are two lineups we actually want to be getting exposure to. That is very clear. Next up, we want to be looking at Minnesota. They are at home. They're going up against Joey Estes for the Oakland Athletics. Very recently called up. He has a 4.2 innings pitch at the Major League level. Literally a single game starter for them just the other day. He has a 32.2 innings pitch at the AAA level this season. We are dealing with an extremely small sample size. I will say when he was in AAA this season, for those 30-plus innings, he allowed 2.76 homeruns per 9, had a 21.5% strike rate, and an 8.3% walk rate at AAA. When he was in AA earlier this year for 104.1 innings pitch, he was still allowing 1.21 homeruns per 9, had a 23.3% strike rate, and 7.2% walk rate. So, as he moved from AA to AAA, the homeruns increased, his strike rate decreased, and his walk rate increased, which means he may not be ready. He's struggling with better and better hitters. Obviously, there's nothing we can take from this 4.2 innings sample size. He has at the Major League level, but this is still a matchup we should be looking at. Because eventually, it's going to get to the Oakland bullpen, and that's not a spot we should be worried about in any capacity. So, yes, let's go to Minnesota. Let's go to several of their hitters. More importantly, Minnesota, very, very affordable tonight. A key team on tonight's slate when it comes to roster construction, because of the salary relief that they offer. Jorge Polanco at $3,200 is the most expensive hitter for the twins. Ryan Jeffers, Max Kepler, Eduardo Julian, Matt Wollner, all $2,900 and below. Trevor Lorneck, Michael A. Taylor, Alex Kirloff, all $2,827, $2,727, Kyle Farmer, $2,700. You name it, we can find all the salary relief we possibly want when it comes to Minnesota. Now, Ryan Jeffers actually comes in the $2,60 ISO in this split versus lefties, which we absolutely love to see. So, the twins are a team that we want to take into account for tonight. Excuse me. Not versus lefties versus righties. So, this is a team that we absolutely want to be taking account because of the salary relief, because of the expensive pitchers that we want to be paying out for potentially, and because of the stacks that we have between course field with the Dodgers and then the Braves. So, the twins and their salaries going up against Oakland. That's always a spot we're going to be interested in attacking. I also think we could be considering the Milwaukee Brewers today going up against Zach Thompson of the St. Louis Cardinals. A picture that does certainly have a little bit of a strikeout upside that he's shown at least in his first bit in the majors. He has a 61-inning sample size this season. He had a 34.2-inning sample size last season at the major league level. He was at a 19.9% strike rate last year. He's up at 25.4%, which is certainly solid, but he does have a 9.1% walk rate, a 341-babbath, and he's allowing 1.18 homeruns per nine. Milwaukee also falls under the same category, roughly the same as the twins where we're liking some of their salaries. Outside of Christian Yelich, who's $3,800, Marcona is $3,200. He's their next most expensive hitter. So if you can leave off Yelich as a brewer stack, Kana, Contreras, Santana, Adamez, all these players are $3,200 and below. So this is really where we're looking for, again, that roster flexibility. You want to get up to a pitcher like Valdez who's over $10,000. You may not be able to afford Lopez or Cole who are over $11,000, but Valdez with a bit of value from Milwaukee, a little bit of value from Minnesota, and then that is what allows you to pay up for some Braves hitters, some Dodgers hitters. That's really where we should be focusing in on roster construction. Again, that's assuming you do pay up for pitching. If you want to go to a Dane Dunning, that opens up so much in your roster. As I said, when we're going to Valdez or Cole, you're left with $3,100 or $2,900 remaining per play. When you go to Dane Dunning, you're left with $3,300, and that just opens up even more flexibility. So Dane Dunning might be a pitcher that becomes, again, popular throughout the day if you're looking to really stack up on those hitters. So the Brewers, the Twins, the Dodgers, the Braves, of course, then I wouldn't mind taking a shot on the San Francisco Giants tonight, going up against Matt Waldron for the San Diego Padres, pitcher with a smaller sample size at 35.1 in his pitch this year in the majors, his first year at the Major League level, allowing 2.04 homeruns per nine. 19.5% strikeout rate is below the league average. He's allowing a 41.8% fly ball rate. He has a 4.53 skill interactive ERA. I think a pitcher we can certainly look to attack. Now, I will be putting San Francisco a little bit further down the list in terms of overall priority. Obviously, this is a pretty significant pitchers' park, and I'd rather focus on some of the better hitting spots between Milwaukee and Minnesota specifically, Minnesota first ahead of Milwaukee, but certainly want to look to San Fran for a bit of the sour relief. Again, we're not dealing with too many expensive hitters here, and I think that's going to be kind of the key on tonight's slate of getting these cheaper hitters into the lineup. Stario Estrada at 3100 is the most expensive hitter from the Giants right now. Wilmer Flores, Mike Estremski, Michael Conforto, Lamonte Wade Jr., you name it, all of them are 3K or less than 3K. Wilmer Flores is 2900. Really, whoever you target from the Giants lineup will, again, fit well into the line of construction. So maybe you go with a priority Braves stack, and then you go to Braves plus Minnesota, Braves plus Milwaukee, whatever it might be, then you go Dodgers plus Minnesota, whatever your stacking policy is or whatever your stacking process is. We really should be in a good spot, because I actually do have a good bit of value on this eight game slate. And again, if you can pay it for pitching, certainly look to do so with really some great pitchers at the top with Pablo Lopez leading the way against Oakland. Let's get to some homerun calls to close things out. The easy answer on tonight's slate, I think, would be Max Muncie at Coorsfield. Certainly want to roll with him just the upside that the hitters at Coorsfield has, not to mention the fact that it's a good matchup. He has plenty of power in this lefty righty split. Not too much of a surprise there. We'll certainly always be looking for that type of power in my lineups. If you want to roll with Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, obviously all fantastic options. And then I like William Contreras for Milwaukee. Certainly got some nice power in this split versus Zach Thompson for the St. Louis Cardinals. I think this is a matchup we should be actively looking to attack. I believe the Brewers have their spots secured for the NL Central. Like they clinched the spot. I'm not sure if they've 100% clinched the division. But again, some of that is important as we get to the final few days of the MLB season. All right, so that does it for today's podcast. As always, we found on the Apple podcast. We found on Spotify, the video version we found on the Fandall YouTube page. And we found on Fandall TV Plus. We found on Fandall.com slash watch. You can follow me on Twitter at Tom underscore, Becky, a one. Until next time. Good luck in your contests.