Rays Click Their Prospect Button While Red Sox Just Pound Fists Into Keyboard

Welcome back to the Jhosty/Nxon interviews. I’m your host David Brinkley and I just want to catch those of you up who are just joining us. Last week on Jhosty/Nxon, the Red Sox were having Jhosty/Nxon take reps at 1st base, and internally they were talking about promoting him. Then, after a break-in at the Watergate, where the Red Sox GM Breslow was staying, he said he woke with a note next to his bed that said merely, “Nathaniel Lowe.” The end of the name “Nathaniel” was on a 2nd line because the person writing misjudged the space on the notepad. So, Breslow went out and got Nathaniel Lowe, and 1st base seemed all but shored up. They even got rid of Abraham Toro. Then, out of nowhere, Wilyer Abreu was injured, hit the IL and room opened up again. Then, after another break-in at the Watergate, and a note that took up two pages to spell out Jhostynxon Garcia, he was called up. By the way, anyone that calls him The Password instead of Jhosty/Nxon, we are not the same. Jhostynxon tore up the minors: 20/6/.289 in 381 ABs and, at 22, he could be an immediate impact bat, and would take the flyer in most mixed leagues. Also, called up, but this time by the Rays was Carson Williams, who seems completely out of his depth being called up. He had a 34.1 K% in Triple-A and hit .213. Sure, he went 23/22, so maybe he could Marsee. Ya see, I Marsaw Marsee in every prospect. So, before pitchers have a game plan how to attack Williams, they throw him nothing but fastballs and he finds quick success with some Maas Appeal. Feels more of a deep league bat, but you never know with small sample sizes — that’s never what she said! Okay, I’m still David Brinkley and need to get back into my tomb. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Lucas Giolito – 4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.72. Like a total sicko I watched the Yankees-Red Sox with the sound on to hear Smoltz — his lack of sense carried over to his inability to say the word — and Giolito’s delivery is so wild. It’s crazy no one at any stop in his career was like, “That’s awful.”

Roman Anthony – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 5th homer. As the home run sailed into the stands, the entire Yankee Stadium turned to Volpe and said, “Why can’t you do that?”

Luis Gil – 5 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners (5 BBs), 3 Ks, ERA at 4.26. Let’s just say Lucas Giolito and Luis Gil — Lucis Gilito? — were lucky no one could drive in a run.

Ben Rice – 2-for-3 and his 20th homer. Was trying to think where Rice would go next year in very early drafts and would it be the same place as very late drafts. By that I mean, Rice will appear to be the Yanks’ catcher from October thru January, but will he be in March?

Ryan McMahon – 0-for-4. Nothing much to say here other than he’s a lefty who can’t righties. Really cornering that market!

Jack Perkins – 5 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners (4 BBs), 2 Ks, ERA at 4.19. Went to look to see if Perkins pancake restaurants were still around, and their Wikipedia page is roughly 700 words and 500 words of it is private equity firms buying and selling them. So, yes, maybe? I don’t know. Any hoo! Four walks to two Ks is not great, but Streamonator loves his next one. Like Humpty Dumpty, I’m on the fence.

Nick Kurtz – 2-for-4, 2 runs and his 26th homer. Solid way to get your biggest power bat prospect since Matt Olson to underwhelm and hit a bunch of solo homers is to hit him leadoff so job well done by everyone.

Vinnie Pasquantino – 1-for-5 and his 26th homer, and 4th straight game with a homer. Pasketti is instructive of how quickly a guy can turn his season around and also how a guy can be bleh for five months, have one huge month and have a respectable season. Outside of the top five players, no one is great for 162 games. I nearly said the top 10 players, but I couldn’t even include Juan Soto, PCA and Elly. Season’s long, great players even miss a month or two of production.

Nick Loftin – 1-for-3, 2 runs and his 4th homer. As he hit that towering homer he yelled, “I be Loftin!”

Evan Carter – Left yesterday’s game with an injury and I removed him from this afternoon’s Buy column. I’m just so done with this guy. I’m sorry, I wish him well, but he can eff off.

Brice Turang – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 14th homer. He went from a 50-steal guy last year to thinking he’s Mell Ott. You ain’t Ott! Steal a freakin’ bag! I have you for steals! Not homers! Though, they are nice! But that doesn’t matter!

Quinn Priester – 4 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners (5 BBs), 4 Ks, ERA at 3.44. When you’re holding the other team to one run after five walks, the other team is on the struggle bus to hell–[looks over to see who he faced]–Son of a gun! I know that is not Kyle Tucker’s dopey ass hitting in that lineup! He has a fractured hand! I appreciate the gamesmanship but sit out and fix your hand!

Shota Imanaga – 7 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.03. I’m still cackling about Kyle Tucker trying to hit with a fractured hand. He went 0-for-4 because of course he did! Did you see any of his at-bats? He got all of one pitch that I saw, and drove it 215 feet to short center. It was very good, and he’s hitting 2nd.

Andy Pages – 2-for-4, 2 runs and a slam (21) and legs (13). Let’s talk 2026 drafts: Pages ends this year with a 25/15/.275 year. He’ll end up around a top 50-60 player for those stats, will he be drafted anywhere near that? My guess is no. Maybe 85-100, but my guess is 110-125. He’s a steal already and I just made up all these numbers!

Freddie Freeman – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 16th homer. You know Freeman so let me take this time to say batting Conforto cleanup is a very funny joke. Thank you, Dave Roberts, I needed that laugh.

Clayton Kershaw – 5 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.13. Kershaw’s gonna be 47 years old, able to throw only 15 IP in a season and still have a barely 3 ERA.

Brenton Doyle – 2-for-3, 4 RBIs and his 13th homer. My Doyle buy right before the break was the greatest buy in history. You gotta admit it! [waits six decades, silence] Guess you don’t have to admit it.

Adley Rutschman – Hit the IL with an oblique strain. You’d think this would mean more at-bats for Basallo, but Orioles love shenanigans.

Dylan Beavers – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 1st major league homer. I nearly called him Wally Beavers. Ha, my brain’s mush. He’ll be in this afternoon’s Buy column, and was featured in last week’s.

Brandon Young – 5 1/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 6.24. He left the game with “got yo’ shizz rocked.”

Craig Kimbrel –

Astros signed Craig Kimbrel

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— Razzball (@razzball.bsky.social) August 21, 2025 at 5:33 PM

Jason Alexander – 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.59. Astros are such good (lowdown dirty cheats) they’ve made a guy celebrated with a bobblehead at Yankee Stadium a decent pitcher. Okay, he’s not decent (or a cheat). He’s pitching better than Framber this week. Is this opposite world?

Christian Walker – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 17th homer. Always nice to be reminded of your failures. My failure was drafting you, you schmohawk!

Yainer Diaz – 1-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 18th homer, hitting .254. It’s an okay year, but at least he had a year. Yordan Alvarez has been locked in a closet under a stack of Yellow Pages all year.

Jesus Sanchez – 5-for-5, 1 run, 1 RBI, hitting .249. He hit four singles and a double. The Juan Pierre cycle!

Yandy Diaz – 2-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 21st homer. This season’s power is Big Stein. When he’s back in the Trop next year, he’s a 15-homer hitter again. He can’t lift anything but weights.

Joe Boyle – 4 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 5.15. Well, it’ll keep him a better 2026 sleeper. [dodges thrown tomato] What?

Willson Contreras –  2-for-5 and his 18th homer, 2nd homer in two games. As of this writing, William Contreras and Willson Contreras were next to each other on the Player Rater, and mom Wilma Contreras said, “If you like fantasy sports and sarcasm…” humming our podcast theme song.

Sonny Gray – 5 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.33. If you started him in Big Stein Stadium, I appreciate your pants grapes, but don’t think this was some kind of great start. He’s still as iffy as he was going into this. Streamonator loves his next one, and if he’s not good at home vs. the Pirates, then he’s been…[lifts cloche] Chopped.

Justin Verlander – 4 1/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 4.64. That magic Kershaw has to keep a low ERA does not run along a familiar line through all vet starters. Though, in fairness, when Kershaw is Verlander’s age he’ll be retired.

Rafael Devers – 1-for-4 and his 25th homer, and 2nd day in a row–no, that’s right, he had a homer robbed on Wednesday. At the end of the day, Devers’s stats aren’t gonna be that bad. Was he still overdrafted? Oh heck yeah.

Willy Adames – 1-for-2 and his 20th homer. Good news is you don’t have to deal with him again after the end of the year, unless you’re the Giants, and in that case you only have six more years.

Dylan Cease – 5 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.71. Haven’t really paid attention but is he telling reporters after games, “I’m an awful pitcher, one of the worst ever?” Or is he lying?

Starling Marte – 1-for-3 and his 7th homer. Well, at least you’re still getting steals from him, right? Say right so I can snap you! Do you think he has more or less steals than seven homers? Age comes for us all.

Francisco Lindor – 3-for-5 and his 25th homer, hitting .262. I went back and looked at 2014 prospect lists for the Indians to see where Lindor ranked and he was behind Clint Frazier and that made me howl. Neighbors were like, “Why is Grey doing the wolf man?” Utter hysteria.

Sean Manaea – 4 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 4 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.15. Don Draper standing in front of a whiteboard, “What if every pitcher threw at his max velocity and could only throw 4 2/3 IP?”

James Wood – 1-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 26th homer. “Hey, do you mind if I put a fulcrum in the middle of this stiff body and use it as a seesaw for my kids–Hold on! He moved! James Wood is alive!”

MacKenzie Gore – 4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.11. I don’t know where the guy was that was pitching in the 1st half with the name MacKenzie Gore, but could someone investigate who this new guy is pitching with the name MacKenzie Gore. I think we have an imposter.

Austin Riley – Out for the season after core surgery. Crazy that the Braves would’ve been better off just putting up a Poochie note instead of playing this year. Just turn on their games and see, “Braves went back to their home planet, see you for the 2026 season.”