Are You For Real? Week 24 dives into under-5% rostered starters who flashed upside or noise in the final stretch. Freeland carved up San Diego in eight innings with 10 strikeouts, leaning on a dominant knuckle curve and a refined four-seam fastball while phasing out the sinker. The performance comes with Coors caveats, making it a one-off question mark rather than a commitment. Brad Lord followed a rough patch with a strong outing against Chicago, showing plus fastball movement and a usable slider but lingering questions about command and secondary depth. Cleveland's Parker Messick dazzled in six frames versus Tampa Bay, riding a signature changeup and a blossoming sinker to a string of quality starts. All three carry streamer appeal in the right matchups, especially in deeper formats, but fantasy rosters should remain cautious about long-term upside without more proof.

Freeland's mix shift and the curve's success raise the floor for a few more Coors-adjacent starts, yet road games and velocity concerns temper enthusiasm. Lord's slider and changeup offer glimpses, but the lack of a true knockout secondary paves the way for regression. Messick, while intriguing, is still a relative risk/reward play whose best path to sustained value hinges on continued changeup effectiveness and improved command of his other offerings. In Week 24, the message is clear: chase upside in the right contexts, but don’t baked-in trust into these three just yet.