Prop Points | August 4, 2026

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This is Prop Points on VSiN, the Sports Betting Network.

**Nick Whalen** (0:11)
Welcome into Prop Points here on the Sports Betting Network. I'm Nick Whalen, joined by my good pal, Brandon Kravitz stepping in once again for Jeff Erickson. And boy, do we have a fun show coming your way over the next 60 minutes. Plenty to recap from a busy trade deadline in Major League Baseball. We'll talk about some of the biggest transactions we saw yesterday. Got a couple big contract announcements in the NFL, Bijon Robinson. Now the highest paid running back in NFL history. Zay Flowers making a lot of money now for the Baltimore Ravens. We'll talk about both of those to lead off the show. And look, when you got Nick Whalen and Brandon Kravitz together, two NBA guys at hearts, we are getting into some early NBA win totals. We'll play a game of What's More Likely To Cash, pitting a couple win totals against each other. The VSiN NFL, or excuse me, VSiN College Football betting guide is officially out. You could get your copy over at vsin.com/subscribe.
We're going to have Ben Stevens, Big Ten Ben, join in the show at 1 30 Eastern to talk about some of his plays from the guide. Take a look at national championship odds, some Heisman plays as well. Then we're going to dig deep into a full card of Heisman options from our guy, Brandon Kravitz. First and foremost though, make sure you are subscribed. Make sure you're downloading the Prop Points podcast. You can find it on Apple, on Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcast. Just search Prop Points or search VSiN. You will find us there.
Brandon, a lot to get to start the show. Let's start with the MLB trade deadline. Some of the big deals that came through under the gun yesterday afternoon. We were on air around 1 PM Eastern, and we started to hear some whispers that Adley Rutchman would likely be on the move. It would likely be to the Boston Red Sox. That deal did not officially close until later in the day, but we now have a three-time All-Star catcher heading to the division rival Red Sox. Red Sox did send out Carlos Narvaez. They sent out three prospects to the Baltimore Orioles. All three were considered to be top six prospects in that Red Sox system. Two of those three, by the way, inside RotoWire is James Anderson's top 100 prospects. So the Red Sox did pay a fairly hefty price, Brandon, but for a team that has been on an incredible run over the last month and a half, kind of framing differently the rest of this season and looking like they are now going for it in the American league.

**Brandon Kravitz** (2:33)
Very much so as they should, especially with the way that they've been playing with the pitching staff that they have that I think is good enough to carry them to an AL pennant. I'll save my best bet for you until the end of the hour. But Adley Richmond for me, by the way, for those that don't know, I was born in Baltimore, Maryland. I am a lifelong Orioles fan. I am from a fan perspective, heartbroken on this as somebody who took a Red Sox ticket at eight to one the day before the trade deadline hit and Adley Richmond was traded over there. I'm very much pleased with the value on that ticket. So a little bit of mixed feelings for me, but defensively he's still one of the league's elite. He hasn't been quite the hitter that we're used to seeing from Richmond and Orioles fans would probably tell you, especially the salty ones, that he hasn't quite lived up to his monstrous hype as the number one overall pick in 2019 But this is still a big blow for a franchise that, I mean, they probably don't pull the trigger on this. If Sammy Bisayo isn't sitting right behind him, but this is huge for the Red Sox when he returns from his wrist injury, he's going to be there, set it and forget the catcher that they hope to ride right into the postseason 23 and four since July 1st, a lot of reasons to feel optimistic about Boston.

**Nick Whalen** (3:51)
Well, it feels like kind of an admission to me by the Orioles as well, that this, this young core that we were so excited about as recently as what last season just maybe didn't pan out in the way that the O's thought it would. And then Rutchman, you know, he's been fine, but I don't think he's taken that next leap to the point where you're talking about him as one of the 10 to 15 best players in Major League Baseball. I think that was kind of the expectation when he came up. And, you know, they were so deep in terms of young players over the last couple of years. And just kind of feels like that core has stalled out for the O. So interesting to me that they were willing to deal an All-Star like Rutchman two-way division rival in Boston, but bringing much needed help to what was one of the weaker positions in that lineup for the Red Sox. We saw the Tampa Bay Rays also in the ALE spring in a catcher. They get Liam Hicks from the Miami Marlins. He's in 282, 14 homers, 62 RBI on the year. He should be the everyday catcher now down in Tampa. The Padres made a couple of additions on the pitching side of things. They get Robbie Ray from San Francisco. They get Casey Mize from Detroit. The Padres beef it up their staff a bit. Still two games out of the final wild card spot in the National League. What I do want to talk about, though, Brandon, is the Milwaukee Brewers who stood Pat, stood Pat, all due respect to Debo Naylor, who they traded for over the weekend, finally made a couple of ads. Another team that traded in division, getting Dustin May and Jojo Romero from the St. Louis Cardinals.