Fantasy Baseball Today - 04/02 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Weekend Roundup

Episode Date: April 2, 2018

We tell you who we added and dropped (2:10) before looking at the Most Added list (10:00). It was a great weekend for Tyler Skaggs, Mitch Haniger an Joakim Soria among others ... Talking weekend standouts (14:00) including David Price, Jose Berrios and Shohei Ohtani plus the mysterious disappearance of Kenley Jansen's velocity (20:55). And if you're speculating on saves we've got some helpful tips for you (26:31) ... Lineup notes (34:00) including Trea Turner batting sixth, and then we spend a lot of time on the SPs who caught our eye (in a good or bad way) over the weekend. We talk Lucas Giolito, Johnny Cueto, Michael Fulmer, Robbie Ray, James Paxton, Carlos Carrasco, Yu Darvish and so many more ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, real quick, Scott's bombed about the humidor. And take your milk for breakfast cereal. Mount Rushmore. They'll be there for a change. All right, here we go. Our first weekend of baseball is in the books, and we have a lot to react to. Everybody, you better set aside an hour. Listen to the whole show.

We're going to educate you. We're going to try anyway. Tell you who we added and drop. Look at the most added list. Bullpen stuff. Delano to Shield's already out four to six weeks. I have jinxed him. Way to go Adam. This is the year of the handmade bone, right?

I guess so. We have broken handmaid bone for him. So we'll update you on the injuries and all that. I am Adam Azer with Heath Cummings and Scott White. Do you guys have a nice Easter Passover slash birthday weekend, Scott White? Happy birthday. Yeah, it was fine. It was fine. My weekends are tough now.

Having two little kids is tough. And Saturdays my wife works. So my birthday, my big celebration for my birthday was going to Dairy Queen. Do you get a Blizzard? I actually didn't, and I regretted my choice. So I didn't even do Dairy Queen right. Yeah, that's pretty weird. They treat me right, but only if you choose right.

Oh, yeah, the blizzard's got to go. And Heath, how you doing? I am doing fantastic, not stressed at all. I did not drive halfway to work this morning before realizing my laptop was still at home and have to turn around. and do an hours with a work in 20 minutes. But it's done. So we're a miserable too here.

No, I'm very happy. This is a downer start. Not down about the Kansas Jayox getting blown out by Villanova at all. In a really good mood. Hey, if you're going to lose, you might as well lose big. Now, Heath wrote the waiver wire column for today. We will have a waiver wire column every morning on CBSports.com slash fantasy. So go there and check it out.

We'll talk about some of those guys right now. Any interesting ad drops for you guys this weekend? I had a few. He's only 66% owned, and yet he was only available in one league for me. I'm back on board with Mitch Hanigar. Yeah, there it is. Two home runs, zero strikeouts through three games. And while, you know, obviously he was solid last year,

I can't say he was a disappointing player for the investment. He underwhelmed me a little. I fell a little short of my expectations. And a big reason for that was because he just struck out so much more than I thought he was going to. And so this is an encouraging start. I think he's definitely one of the more interesting bats you can pick up. Mitch Hanager had eight, I mentioned it last week, 1054 OPS in 21 games, and then he missed six weeks with an injury.

Probably didn't. Yeah, and then he was okay coming off the DL, and then he struggled, and then he went on the DL again, but it was oblique. and the obliques can really suck. And he was a rookie. He was a 26-year-old rookie, but maybe just saying, oh, this is who he is. It was a little unfair. Sure.

Okay. So Mitch Hanager is 66-per-owned. And, yeah, I agree, Scott. Not available in the leagues that I look for him in. So, yeah, there you go. Dexter Fowler, I was going to say, someone I dropped this weekend. Probably someone that you should drop for Mitch Hanigar, right? That's exactly the move I made in that league where he was available.

Yeah. I mean, I'm not down on. Fowler or anything. He's off to a terrible start. He's still going to be fine, but Hanager is a more exciting player. Heath, any interesting ad drops for you? I was that able to pick up Hunter Strickland in a league. I was able to pick up Joachim Soria in a league, so I was able to get some closers. I don't, I have Hanigur already in a couple of leagues. I was not able to get him anywhere else. Can't think of any significant hitter additions that I made, although I apparently picked up someone that Scott wanted. I'm just not sure who that was.

You know, maybe wasn't you now that I think about it. I actually was interested in a league where I lost Justin Turner, a roto league where I lost Justin Turner. I had finally decided, you know, several days after opening day, maybe I should pick up Matt Davidson. I need some power help. Let's do it. But apparently somebody else decided at the same time and bid the exact same amount I did. So I did not get Matt Davidson. But in a league where I need Steele's help, because I lost to Shields, I went ahead and made.

to play for Kevin Pilar. Now, I know all three of his stolen bases came against the same battery in the same inning. He went second, third, home, stole them all. And the home one is so dumb. That's not a stolen base. Well, you understand that Del and Botanus, there should be a rule with John Lester and with Delham Batances. Any base stolen off of those guys should only count as half of a stolen base.

So he stole three on Batanzas. But the bottom line is Kevin Pilar is freaking fast. I mean, one of the best defensive centerfielder's. He could steal more if he wanted to, and maybe the Blue Jays off. defense being, you know, not looking as dominant this year he'll need to. I think even as he is, he's kind of a poor man's Brett Gardner. So maybe a little undervalued in those five outfielded Roto leagues. Not huge upside, but interesting enough that I was making a play for him with some players on the D.L.

All right, Pilar is something like 15% owned. He's, you know, he could get you 20 steals. I think he's had like 25-ish deals a few years ago. All right, and I added also Soria, Harardo Parra. I added in the 12-team Roto League. Brandon Jury, I added in a 12-team Roto League, kind of desperate for hitting right now. I didn't mention this because people think I'm a homer when I mention it,

but I know the Yankees and the Diamondbacks think that Brandon Jury has a lot of untapped potential. So he's also going to be first base, no, second-based and third-based eligible. He's going to have dual eligibility. Yeah, he's already second, he's going to get third. He was one of the guys. I had eight or nine names for Waverwire. He was one that didn't quite make the cut, but definitely somebody I'm considering.

Okay, so that's Brandon Drury. And then the other, the guy that I added that was the most excited to add was Tyler Skaggs. Skaggs is number five on the most added list. Yep. It is certainly an overreaction to one start. He's not 41% owned, but it was a really good start. Six and a third, three hits, no walks, no runs, five Ks, 15 swinging strikes on 98 pitches at Oakland. Yeah, that's the key.

This is a big lefty. me. It's a big lefty who throws hard. He's got a big breaking ball. He's going to try to throw his change up more. You know, this is the type of type of guy that I don't know what's going to happen, but I want to at least have a chance to get some type of breakout from Tyler Skaggs. So I recommend adding him if you have someone that you're fine dropping.

Former, like really high-end pitching prospect, too, in the Diamondbacks organization. Right. And has had some injuries since then. Yeah, I mean, the 15th strikeouts, like I was saying. is the key for me. Swinging strikes. Swinging strikes. Yeah, swinging strikes.

Among the pitchers who were highly available, who had good starts this weekend, most kind of underwhelmed in the swinging strikes department. But 15 is definitely a big number for anybody. All right. So that's Tyler Skaggs. And that, like I said, he's number five on the most added list. And how about this? I just got a trade offer.

Come on, dude. You're giving me Justin Smoke for Chris Archer. You think I'm stupid? Justin Smoke is a lot. on fire. Did you see the story where they were actually thinking about sitting him and starting Kendris Morales on Saturday? And then they realized it was Justin Smoke Bobblehead Day and they started smoke. And he hit home run. He had two home runs, right? Or did he? Is he up to three now? I think it was two home runs. That was Sunday. Sunday, yeah. Yeah. No, so I'm not doing that. But, okay,

if there's a hitter that also had a huge week that you could trade for someone that was drafted in the first four or five rounds, and I'm not even sure that you can. You shouldn't. You should at this point. Let's talk about Adam Eaton real quick, because he's off to a great start. He apparently has an old man walk where it looks like he's hurt, but he said, no, I always walk like that. My wife makes fun of me, so that was a little alarming. But like Adam Eaton, look, we don't expect to be a home run hitter. But being a dynamic hitter at the top of the order, this looks great. I think, like, I'm not going to trade Chris Archer for Justin Smoke. I think you could turn Adam Eaton into a top 50 pick right now.

What do you think? Well, there are certain top 50 picks. I think that's definitely possible because there were some starting pitchers that were drafted really close to that that were just awful over the weekend. Right, and you could make that. And I really like Adam Eaton. We know that. So I wouldn't be surprised at the top 50 player, but I do think you could, you know, he's not going to be a big home run hitter. Yeah, that's the thing.

Like, if he's a top 50 player, and first of all, this is something that should, that may be passed over our previous Adam Eaton discussions. a big reason why he might not be an Adam Eaton player. He played two consecutive games only once in spring training, and apparently, you know, he was saying he's really sore after playing two in a row this weekend. And like the plan is they're going to rest him periodically, so his first year back from a major knee surgery. Now maybe he's just so good that eventually that, you know, that falls by the, that falls by the,

wayside by May, but, you know, I feel like if he is a top 50 player, the way he becomes that is by being consistently in the lineup and kind of compiling stats, you know, a lot of runs with the guys batting behind him. He's not going to be like this monster carrier team every week sort of player. And he has compiled the most stats so far. So far, yeah. Number one hitter and fantasy. Adam Eaton. All right. All right, so here's the most added list. Matt Davidson is 76% owned. Then this is really not that interesting right now, but Davidson, Strickland and Boxberger are both on there, and that makes sense.

Strickland is 55% owned, Boxburger is 54% owned. So who would you rather? Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm looking at their change in ownership. Strickland is 57% owned, Boxburger is 72% own. That makes more sense. All right, this one, four is interesting. Jose Martinez is 84% owned.

So I don't like Cardinals, and I like the best. by the way, I've been on the mess. But the Cardinals' in-field defense is terrible. And Martinez at first, Carpenter at third. Carpenter played second on Sunday. It's terrible. Also, Dexter Fowler and Wright Field could be a bit of an adventure. But do you think, are you worried about that with Jose Martinez that their defense

is going to be too bad for him to stay in the lineup? You know, and I read something about this over the weekend, and it wasn't about him. It was about Aaron Judge playing center field for the Yankees. teams seem to really kind of be embracing the idea that it's going to be all home runs and strikeouts, and defense just doesn't matter as much. I don't know if that's as true for the Cardinals. You know, is there defense, infield defense terrible? Because Paul DeYoung's pretty good.

Okay, I'm sorry. Those two, like Carpenter at third and Martinez at first could be. I don't really think it matters that much how bad your first baseman is. It might not. I think we gave you a month at spring training. You could be a fine first baseman. You hate Moneyball, but you should at least take one thing from that movie, where first base is hard. Ron Washington said it.

It's hard. But that was the old school non-moneyball guy saying that in the movie. That was – Moneyball was all about sacrificing defense. Now, I feel like since that book was written, this is a total tangent, I understand. Yeah, it went the opposite way for about five years. Yeah. And now it's kind of going back. Now it's kind of swinging back.

You think Jose Martinez should be 84% owned? It seems a little high. I would have picked him up if I could have anywhere. I mean, Jose Okendo basically confirmed he's an everyday player. Tyler Skaggs is five, Keone, Keone, Kele, is six. Rather, Keogne, Strickland, they are owned about the same amount of leagues. I'm going Strickland. I mean, and I don't have a lot of faith in Melanson returning, but Bruce Bochy said it could be a couple weeks.

So, like, there's just a chance that he tries to return in a couple weeks and we find out he's just done. Yeah, I understand. But, you know, if he does return, then Strickland is just done, you know? So Strickland is among, like, I'm fine with Strict playing Strickland while he has the role and hopefully it lasts all season. But I'm prioritizing Keller. I'm prioritizing Boxburger. Somebody like a road his guy, you know, same thing. Yeah, and I could be wrong.

I don't think that's necessarily a wrong approach. I just, I don't know that Strickland's chances of losing his job are that much higher than any of the guys that Scott just mentioned. We got Jack Flaherty on the list. He'll start on Tuesday. Scott Kingery is now 85% owned. He's been good. Keep playing. Yeah, started two or three, baby.

Shortstop and third base. Right, so he's going to need a little time to get eligibility. Right now, Kingery is only second base eligible. Oh, and he played in left field, too. Oh, okay. Yeah, he was like the second player in 10 years or something to start at shortstop and then move to left field. His major league debut hit a couple balls, 100 plus. Exit Velocity.

Yeah, all right. It's a good start. So Miguel Andohar is... Under 8 plus exit velocity, even better. Currently tied with Yolmer Sanchez for 22nd base. We got a lot of two-star pitchers on this list or pitchers who are about to pitch this week, like Flaherty. But what was I going to say? Who did I just mention?

Oh, Miguel Andehar. Yeah, he's now 45% on. It might be a little premature. He got called up by the Yankees, but he might get sent down when Ellsbury or Hicks comes off to D.E. I'm not sure. But what about you guys? And Dohar, 45% owned. No.

Yeah, not a clear enough path to a bath there. All right then. Some standouts from the weekend. Who stood out to you? Heath, why don't you kick it off? One guy we didn't talk about from the waiver wire that had a very good outing that wasn't, like, spectacular in a lot of the ways that we get excited about pitchers, but should have been drafted more and definitely should be added, and it's Mike Leak.

he was Mike Leak in his first start. Went seven innings just gave up two runs. And, like, I know why we don't get excited about him, and it's because he doesn't really strike anyone out. But Gabe Kapler's not the only one that's cutting into starting pitcher innings. They are going, going, gone. And he goes seven innings in his first start. He's thrown at least 186 innings for the last five years

and had a pretty decent fifth in most of those years. Pitching for a good team with what I think will be a good defense. Leak still 50% owned. I think that should probably be closer to 75. I can understand there are some roto leagues where he just doesn't fit on your roster with the way that it's built. He should be owned in all points leagues and really most roto leagues. Mike Leak at SafeGo last year had a 273 ERA.

One walk, 22 strikeouts in 26 and a third. His first start of the season was at Safeco on Sunday, and he threw seven innings, gave up two runs, struck out four Indians. He also had a great September, 253 ERA, but that was after a terrible August, but that was really mostly just one start. But, okay, Mike Leak for Heath Cummings. Scott, standout. Let's talk about the most viewed player on CBSSports.com right now,

and that player is Shohei Otani. Oh, yeah, him. whose pitching debut couldn't have gone much better. 18 swinging strikes, and we were just talking about how big of the number 15 is. He hit 100 miles per hour with his fastball at one point, a ton of swinging strikes with his splitter. Looks like somebody, you know,

if you didn't get scared away by his bad spring, you're going to be pretty satisfied with the performance. I don't know that you'll ever want to use him as a hitter. I don't know how long he's going to last as a hitter, but as a pitcher, he looks at. as advertised. Yeah, you know what Otani did to us in spring training? Fooled you!

Yes. First of the season. That movie was odd over the weekend, too, in honor of Shoah. And I need to throw one more in there because I think it was the only complete game so far this season. Yeah, it was. Jose Barrios. Still just six strikeouts in nine innings, but he was pretty good. It was the first complete game win.

I think Kluber went complete in a loss. Yes, he was. Berrios was good. If he does that every time, obviously, he's going to be a great fantasy asset. Still. Probably the best. For pitching a complete game, only 11 swinging strikes. It's still.

Oh, really? I had 14 swinging strikes. Where did you find that? Because I was looking on baseball subvant. I had ESPN. Okay. I'm going to go with the tiebreaker here on baseball reference. That's a big difference.

It's 11 and 14. Yeah, because I know early in the start, the swinging strike numbers look good. And when you posted 11, Scott, I didn't fact-check you because I just trust everything you say. Baseball reference has 11. ESPN is always a little higher than baseball reference, it seems, but it's usually one swinging strike. It's the strangest thing. 16 strikes looking. Well, look, it was a great start.

And I don't want to take anything away from Breos. It was a great start. One thing to note, the Orioles were terrible this weekend. And Kyle Gibson, no hit them through six. Jake O'Reasy had a shocking start. So it's something right now, the Orioles, right now, are a good matchup. They'll be a decent hitting team. But I just want to double-check.

Yeah, 14 swinging strikes scored in ESPN, but let's go with 11 for Rios and 107 pitches. Maybe one of the more important things about this. And it's going to be tough to quantify early in the year, but I think by the time we get to mid-May or June, it's going to be quite obvious. there are certain teams Gabe Kapler that are not going to let their pitchers do what the twins did with Jose Rios.

It's the very first start of the year. They let him throw 107 pitches and throw nine innings. That was one of the things that was exciting to me about him was the fact that he'd thrown almost 190 between AAA and the majors last year. And I thought he looked like a potential workhorse. Some teams he wouldn't necessarily get that opportunity. It looks like on the twins he will. We have so much more to talk about U. Darvish, Jose Cantana,

Robbie Ray. were really bad. I mean, so much to discuss from over the weekend. David Price, we got to talk about him. Let's talk about David Price. I see only six swinging strikes in 76 pitches, but who cares? Seven innings, four hits, no runs, no walks, five strikeouts. Now, again, the raise were awful, and they are bad, but every Red Sox pitcher did

very well, including one that I hadn't even heard of yesterday, Velasquez. But Price, I mean, seven innings in his first start in, only 76 pitches. Got to be feeling pretty good about that. Yeah, thoughts on Price? Yeah, I mean, it wasn't. There are reasons you can knock it. The swinging strike, yeah, I mean, he threw only 76 pitches, so six is probably fine for that. The velocity was a little down to, but, you know, the velocity was down for most pitchers their first time out.

If I drafted Price, I'm feeling good about him right now, but I don't think it's an open-and-shot case. No, it's not. And I would compare it a lot to Johnny Quedo. Both of those pitchers, phenomenal control. Neither of them walked a batter. I don't know that they're going to get back to what they were, but very, very encouraging if you got them at a, like, both pitchers were available at a severe discount because of what happened last year. And so you're feeling great about them right now. Yep.

Did you guys look at Johnny Quedo? He looks very heavy to me. Well, he's probably trying to add a little more deception to his delivery. He likes to dance a little up there on the mound, and he's just adding a little bit more to the backside. Yeah, I mean, Matt Harvey's been better when he's been kind of overweight, so I'm not going to, you know. But it was interesting to me. Would you guys be trying to put Price or Quedo on the market on the block right now? I would not.

Yeah, I don't think so. Pitching is to, I mean, I need it. myself, you know, like I don't feel like I can have enough right now, especially since half the Aces were so bad their first time out. Now, they're probably going to be okay. Pretty much say that for all of them individually, but at the same time, one or two of them may not be okay, you know? Let's see how you're feeling about this next guy. Kenley Jansen with his velocity down, like really down. Dave Roberts said it was mechanical, but zero swinging strikes on 12 pitches

for Jansen. He gave up a time losing home run to Joe Panic on Friday. a, you know, this is a guy who had a big workload last year pitching into the World Series and just like a oldest Chapman who struggled with it, you know, not his velocity, but struggled the following year. Is there any concern here for Kenley Jansen? There's some concern. I think it's too early to really do anything about it, personally. You know, what we're missing on this podcast today is Chris Towers

telling us that nothing matters. And so I'm just going to be Chris Towers. It's 12 pitches. If you threw 12 pitches like this, August and gave up a home run, we wouldn't even notice it. No, it doesn't matter. I'm not sure anybody had a bigger velocity drop than Kenley Johnson. Yeah, that's more the thing than the fact that he gave up a home run. So, I mean, again.

12 pitches. Yeah, and he hardly pitched this spring. And, like, there's a reason none of us can throw even within 20 miles per hour of 90, you know. like it takes a lot to build out those arms to throw that. And he just may not be a mid-season form yet. Yeah. All right. So no concerns just yet, no major concerns for Kenley Jansen, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Let's go through the big news. Delano DeShield is out four to six weeks with a broken hamate bowing. So Elvis Andrews is leading off. That's nice. I don't know that you're going to get any good replacements there for DeShield in terms of hitting. Bring up Willie Calhoun. Right. Yeah, I guess it's because he can't play center field.

Well, but You'd think they'd move somebody else there If they thought they could play any outfield spot at all I would guess, and I could be wrong But I would expect in two weeks Will it Calhouns up Yeah, hope like the service time thing It's just he came up last year

Does September count against that at all? No, September callups do not count at all Okay, okay Yeah, maybe that's it But I just, I just worry Because defense has been such a Such an issue for him Like he came up as a second basement

And so left field was just like supposed to be the path of least resistance. But I don't know. Their D.H. is an outfielder. Shinsu Chu, right? So if nothing else, you'd think that would work. Okay. Willie Calhoun. Get him.

Nelson Cruz having an MRI on his ankle. We'll see on that one. Vogelbach did, I think, DH yesterday. Yeah, Dan Vogelbach and Ryan Healy are O for 2018 combined. Ian Desmond is day-to-day with knee-sornness. Michael Conforto could come off the DL on Thursday. Daniel Murphy fielded grounders yesterday. He's making some progress.

Josh Donaldson has been D-Hing, could play third base day-to-day. He could be back at third base very soon. Anthony Rizzo got an appearance at second base. Matt Carpenter played second base. Will Myers could be back today. Kurt Suzuki looks like he dodged a bullet. He could be back today or tomorrow. Mike Zanino on the 10-day-day-day-day.

DL, but he is expected to come back when he's first eligible, which is a sigh of relief. And Yule Furrier, Fier, Gureel, auto-corrected to Furrier, is expected to be in the lineup on Tuesday. So it looks like he is, sir, he will have served his suspension, will not need a stint on the DL. And you've got yourself some Uli Guriel. And I've got myself, you can take a look at it through Skype, guys, this beautiful, clean-shaven face. Heath most definitely does not have that.

Heath is still growing his playoff beard. But Heath, when you do decide to get a nice shave, Harry's Razors, everybody. Go to harries.com slash FBT. We have a special offer for our listeners. Harries.com slash FBT. I'm going to tell you why I love Harry's Razors. Okay, it is a very close shave. It is smooth.

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You're getting the $13 value trial set. It is outstanding, so much stuff that you'd be paying a ton more if you went to the store and bought all this stuff, you know, bought those other brands that are much more expensive and those other blades that are much more expensive. harries.com slash FBT, a great shave, a great price. And if you don't love your shave, let Harry's know within 30 days. They'll give you a full refund.

harrys.com slash FPT. I have not used, obviously, my Harry's razor for a while because I've not shaved since December. But Harry's razors are prominently used in my house. My wife uses Harry Razors and my teenage son using Harry's race. So not just for fantasy baseball analysts. Good stuff. That's good to know. All right, in the bullpen.

Felipe Rivera had a bad day Friday, but he got two saves on Sunday, so whatever. Shane Green stunk on Friday. Sen Juan O'O got a save, but Roberto Ozuna had pitched on Friday and Saturday. We mentioned Soria. He's 34% owned. He got a save for the White Sox. Nate Jones pitched the eighth. This does not mean that Soria is the closer.

But he got the first save, so that's not a bad thing for sure. Brad Ziegler got roughed up in his second inning of work on Saturday. Sean. Do a little gave a couple of runs. Brad Hand. Brad Hand was terrible. Blake Parker, though. It's actually, I think Blake Parker's probably the one that we need to lead with here, because he's not doing much to keep this job. Yeah. He got bailed out on Sunday by Kenyon Middleton, who would probably be the backup saves guy, I would guess, because Camp Bedrosian isn't off to a good start. But it did seem to me like Mike Sosha gave Blake Parker a vote of confidence after this game. saying he's not far off from where he wants to be.

We still have a lot of confidence in Blake Parker, that sort of thing. So I would guess maybe he gets a day off or something, but I would guess he is still the closer for the Angels. I'm most worried on this list about Shane Green, actually, because it wasn't just one appearance. He made two appearances, and didn't give up any runs in the second, but gave him three base runners. He's been awful.

Yeah, these are guys that don't have a great track record, you know, they have a short track record, let's say. You know, they don't have a history of being great year after year by any means, and relievers are mercurial. So if we're going to speculate on saves, we mentioned Middleton. Obviously, Sorio is going to be at the head of this list because he actually got a save, and he's 34% own, and Soria is going to be behind Brad Boxberger and Hunter Strickland and Keone Kele because, you know, team's not so good.

But who else? Is there anyone else you're speculating on? Like if there were someone in Detroit that's going to get that job, who would it be? In really deep leagues, I've been picking up Joe Jimenez, just because dating back to last year, they've kind of hyped him as the closer of the future. But I don't think he's off to a roaring start himself. Alex Wilson is probably the most reliable reliever they have. But is he good enough to keep the job, hold the job?

Is he desirable on a bad team? I don't know. I don't know. Joe Jimenez is probably the first guy I'd look at, but it would be in a pretty deep league. Okay. Let's read an email from Kyle. Email of the day number one at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com.

Kyle says, opening weekend observation, the Big Four starting pitchers are elite. Oh, no, excuse me. The Big Four starting pitchers and Elite closers are way more valuable than we have thought in the preseason. Pitching is terrible. There were a lot of, like, the Big Four were fine. But for the most part, Aces stunk this weekend.

The Aces and the guys we regarded as near Aces like James Paxton. Robbie Ray. We'll put Robbie Ray in there, sure. Chris Archer. Carrasco. Yeah, there were some duds. A lot of Archer. Did I say him already?

Archer was okay. I think Archer was actually good because he gave up a two run inside the parkhole run that was BS. Well, the line was certainly awful. No, no. It was six innings four. Four runs. It was less than quality. He wasn't that bad.

John Lester was awful. Lester was awful. You want more examples? I do. You know who wasn't awful, though? Zach Granky. Are we done crying about Zach Granky? Were we crying about Zach Granky?

Well, a lot of people were crying about Zach Granky. I will tell you something. I took, I drafted you. So I was doing a team with Jamie. and our turn came up and Granky was on the board. I took you Darvish over Granky. I was just a little concerned.

And then luckily Granky got back to us in the next round and we took both of them. That worked out slimically for you. Thank goodness. Now he was only averaging 89 miles per hour on his fastball in this one. But his average fastball velocity was like 90 last year and he was nearly

the Cy Young. So like he already had that big drop in velocity and has been ace level regardless. Here's a name. that we did not have in the ace tier that I think worked his way in one start into the Robbie Ray, James Paxon tier, maybe ahead of those guys.

Garrett Cole, 21 swinging strikes in seven innings, struck out 11, gave up just two hits, and one run. He was awesome. He was awesome. And what's weird about it is, like, supposedly, he was going to join the Astros, and they were going to convince him his secondary pitches are great. He doesn't need to lean on his fastball so more.

of those 21 swinging strikes, he got like 11 on his fastball. Like nobody gets 11 on their fastball. So suddenly his basketball is just like this dominant fastball. I don't know. It's weird. But obviously it was exactly what we were hoping to see with this Astros in their data mining ways. All right now, someone offers you Garrett Cole for you, Darvish, except to reject. I would.

You have Darvish. You've been offered coal. Yeah, no, I hear you. I'm thinking about it. I'm rejecting. I'm rejecting. That's probably one that just sits there because you can't make a decision. Sits there and the hopes that Cole makes a second start.

It's awesome again, and the guy doesn't pull it back real quick. You can just take it then. Okay. Darvish was obviously terrible. Lance McCuller also was outstanding. He only threw five and a third, but he struck out 10. And I just want to clarify, it's no concern about Darvish. It's not.

It's just that much enthusiasm about. Cool. Have you seen that black, have you seen that black, have you seen any black mirror? Have you seen that black mirror episode USS Callister? I saw the first black mirror episode and I was not really into it. Yeah, that wasn't a good. I mean, they're not, they're completely different individual storylines. They have no relation to one another. I've been watching some of them. They're hit or miss. The first one's not very good, I agree. But this one was awesome. And the way Jesse Plyman says, Cole in that. Like, that's all I hear now when I hear Garrett Cole. Very, okay. Yeah. I'm really into billions, and also the show Barry, I think everybody would enjoy.

I didn't see episode two last night, but Barry, Bill Hader is one of my favorites. So check out Barry on HBO. Email of the day number two is Josh in New York City. Adam should have to eat the same number of peeps as Fernando Rodney has strikeouts plus saves on the season on June 1st if Rodney is still the closer. I like it. Now I'm not going to eat that many peeps, but I'll eat like five, and they're off. Peeps are terrible, obviously.

Discussed. So I gave, I like peeps, as we talked about before. I let my three-year-old try a peep for the first time this weekend. And he was excited about, oh, marshmallow bunny. He ate the head of the marshal. It was the bunny version, not the chicks, obviously. He ate the head of the bunny and seemed to be enjoying it. But like about halfway through, he sets it down, and he's like, no thanks.

Yeah, he's a smart kid. It's off to a good start. He does have taste buds. Hey, listen to this. We got some stolen-based stuff here with the lineups. Trey Turner is batting sixth. I think he batted fifth on Sunday. Billy Hamilton sat one game, batted ninth, then he sat, then he let off.

And Starly Marte is batting sixth. Marte, though, has one steal in two attempts already, so that's nice. But, I mean, Trey Turner batting six, that is an eye-opener, guys. And what does that mean to you in terms of Turner's value? It's not as high as if he was betting first or second. Do you think he'll steal fewer bases? I don't know about that part, but I think he'll score fewer runs, and I think he'll get fewer plate appearances,

so I'll have less counting stats. And I don't think he, if he hits fifth or sixth for 90% of the season, then I had him ranked too high. I think the hope is that Ryan Zimmerman just stinks, which is possible. And then, because Zimmerman's sitting ahead of him. And then maybe you go Eaton and you put Turner second, Harper, then you move Rendon down to four or something like that. But yeah, I mean, that's really interesting.

Turner batting sixth. Hamilton. I think the ideal spot for Turner is fourth. Like, I don't want a batting second because I'm worried he won't run much ahead of Harper. As many free passes as Harper gets. I mean, I guess for fantasy purposes, the ideal spot is first, but that's probably not going to happen. It doesn't make as much sense for real life.

I would like to see Turner Betforth. Okay. Ian Hap sat twice against lefties with Albert Amora leading off for the Cubs. I'm terrified. What the hell? This goes against everything we read in spring training. And to be fair, Ian Hap's been awful since he hit that opening day home run. Javi Baez has been a disaster.

The Cubs just had a terrible weekend in Miami. And went two and two. But this is bad. Like, I also don't want to overreact to it if I drafted. have first of all second base there's a lot of excess out there so like you don't you don't have to react immediately and find a

replacement but this seems to happen every year you know most teams have played three games right um like managers have a tendency to want to work all their players into the lineup early just to kind of get them in the flow

of the season right so like everybody's sitting more than they're probably going to long term. Ryan Braun played for, so basically, what was the point of the Brewers thing? Thames seems to sit against lefties. Oh, Ryan Braun sat on Saturday,

and Domingo Santana was in the lineup, and then they got rained out on Sunday. Eric Thames was leading off against the righty and Ryan Braun sat. So we'll keep an eye on that. Garrett Cooper, if you're in an NL-only league, It seems like Garrett Cooper is ahead of Cameron Maven. Both were in the lineup on Sunday.

Justin Boer sat against the lefty, but they have been keeping Garrett Cooper in the lineup, the Marlins, that is. So we'll keep an eye on that. And like I said, Matt Carpenter played second on Sunday. Colton Wong sat against a lefty. All right, other hitter notes, Lorenzo Canis three steals. He has never stolen more than 28 bases,

but three steals and three attempts in three games, very good. Kevin Pilar stole three bases on Saturday, 14% Owen. Scott picked him up. Zander Bogart's off to a nice start, batting 4-71 with a homer, and five doubles. Kyle Schwabber. Kyle Schwaber has been in the lineup against the lefties,

and he is one for six with a double and two strikeouts against the lefties, so maybe that is the solution. He's actually hitting great, but it's been almost all against Ritees. Again, we'll see. Joe Panic, any interest in Joe Panic, 50% owned, big weekend for him? No. There are three second basemen that didn't quite make the waiver wire,

Panic, Drury, and Josh Harrison. Panics third in that group. Okay. Double dongs from the weekend, Justin Smoke, Paul D. Young, and Edwin O'Connornazio, and Tyler Austin, Brian Dozier, Bryce Harper. Not much to see here, but Tyler Austin, thoughts on him? I mean, he didn't play Sunday, so I don't know. I mean, it's, they obviously have Neil Walker who can play first base,

and they have some other options they like at second base, Tyler Wade, maybe at some point Glabre Torres gets involved. Like Tyler Austin has had some good minor league seasons, but I just don't know that there's any real commitment to him at first base. Okay, let's take a look at those interesting starting pitchers from whom we did not know what to expect. Is that grammatically correct, those interesting starting pitchers from whom we did not know what to expect?

Interesting. Sure. Interesting? Interesting, not interesting. So how many syllables of that? I tested it. I put out a Twitter poll, and 80 to 85% of respondents said four syllables for interesting, which I take exception to because if we're saying juniors two because nobody pronounces the middle one,

there is no middle one. No, there is none. Like we know that the I. You're saying syllables are all about how we pronounce things. and very few people actually say interesting. Most say interesting. I voted for three syllables for what it's worth, Scott. I was at the 15%.

And I don't really have a horse in this fight other than the fact that syllables are crap. And the thing is, what are they even necessary for? Basically just writing poetry, and you cheat on syllables all the time in poetry. How many songs throughout human history have shortened over to O-A-R and make it or? I'm going to make the word over just one syllable.

fits within my song better. I can't believe what is happening. This is so passionate argument about syllables. Wow. They're stupid. They're stupid and pointless, and people need to lighten up about it. This is what happens when someone doesn't get his blizzard at Derry Quint. All right, those interesting starting pitchers from whom we did not know what to expect.

The good, the average, and the bad. The good, Johnny Quato, Shohay Otani. I put Joe Gonzalez in there. Joe Gonzalez had a surprisingly good year last year, off to a great start. six innings, five hits, one run, seven strikeouts at Cincinnati. It was not a fair fight. The Nationals at Cincinnati, they just, there's so much better than the Reds. But Geo had a great start.

I don't really know how to approach this segment because we have so many guys to talk about. I have Otani thoughts real quick. Okay. Because I had tweeted that Otani had nothing in the second inning of that game. And then he pitches better later in the game, and I get a lot of tweets about, I think we've got so interested in, like, things that are pretty. addictive, that when we make statements of fact about things that are happening and then those things change later in the game or later in the season, it's like you were wrong about that thing.

Shohei Otani in the second inning struck out Chris Davis on a curveball that was about eight inches above the strike zone when the catcher was set up low and away and pounding his glove in the dirt. So, and then he threw a bunch of flat fastballs and he got crushed and then he hung a slider or a curve. So this game, I thought it was very good how he bounced back. I'm not sold that his ADP has been justified because of one good start, which was just a quality start, like six runs, six innings, three runs. Okay.

Average pitchers, those interesting pitchers from whom we did not know what to expect. Lucas Gialito, one strikeout, four swinging strikes. I would guess a lot of weak contact. I did watch a lot of the game. I don't know what Bandgrab says, but it seemed like he actually pitched pretty well, but four walks, one strikeout. The control problems were in the first inning, two walks and a hit batter. Michael Fulmer, eight innings, one run, but three strikeouts, but 13 striking strikes.

Blake Snell, five and two thirds, scoreless against the Red Sox, only two strikeouts. If I recall correctly, the Red Sox did not strike out last year, right? They were very stingy with the K's. So, you know, Archer had a strikeout per inning, which is low for him. Snell didn't strike out a lot. Faria didn't strike out a lot of batters. So keep that in mind. Red Sox, tough matchup for K's.

And Rick Porcelo, pretty good, actually. Five and a third. He should be probably in good instead of average. Five and a third, six hits, one run, one walk, four strikeouts. But only two swinging strikes. That's why I put Porcelo in average. Yeah. So Gialito, Fulmer, Snell, Porcelo.

Anything interesting, interesting to say about these guys? I thought it was interesting, Gialito. Part of the reason we were getting excited about him late in spring training was we were watching that curb ball drop. And of his 89 pitches, only nine were curveballs in this one. And he said he just basically, he just didn't have it in this game, and he was having to go fastball change up pretty much exclusively. And so it's not surprising he had a bad outing.

but I'm a little encouraged to hear the explanation. I just didn't have that pitch this start. So it'll be back. I think it's interesting what we've done to Adam and his views on ERA because Michael Fulmer, Blake Snell, Rick Porcelo combined to give up two runs over 19 innings, and they are in the average column. Shohey Otani gave up three runs in six innings, and he was in the good column. I know that you cannot strike out three batters in eight innings.

and expect to give up one run very often. Plus Michael Fulmer has strikeout issues, you know, and his strikeouts were really good in spring training. He comes out and he strikes out three pirates, but he had good swinging strike rate. Drew Buktera. What about Drew Boutreira? What about him?

You got to say it a third time? Oh, how many syllables? Adam gets it. Oh, okay. Does anybody listening get it? Yes. Okay. What is, Boutera?

But ERA. Oh. Adams team name. No, I mean, what I'm saying basically is I'm trolling you, yes, but I was encouraged a lot by Fulmer. This is good Fulmer. He's not going to strike people out. I was encouraged by Blake Snell against that lineup. Yeah, the strikeouts weren't there, but against that lineup to go five and two thirds and not give up a run.

I was very encouraged by both of those. Sure. Yeah, I sat Snell, so oops. I sat Snell and I started Gosman. And the bad pitchers, speaking of Gosman, the interesting starting pitchers from whom we did not know what to expect. The bad, Stephen Mats, Aren Sanchez, Kevin Gosman, Matt, Sanchez, Waka, Gossman. Would you drop any of them for Tyler Skaggs? Matt, Waka, Gossman, and who is the fourth? Aaron Sanchez. Sanchez. Waka and Sanchez, for sure.

Yes. I wouldn't drop Sanchez, but Wachy, I'd be okay doing that. Matt's, I could think about it. Definitely want to see more from Gosman. His velocity was down. A couple miles per hour in this start, as was pretty common across the league. And it was cold. And he only threw a splitter 16% of the time.

He needs to throw it about a quarter of the time to have max effect. I'm thinking I'm probably going to sit Gosman until he gets it figured out because this guy has been terrible in April. Your F&E is a terrible. It's a terrible April starter. So that is a context that you need to know for Kevin Gossop. All right, Studs being studs. Garakow, Kenta Maeda, Alex Wood, Lance McCullors, Lance McAllors, Masahiro Tanaka.

Anyone stand out? We've talked about Granky and Cole. But Maeda, Alex Wood, Lance McCullors, Masahiro Tanaka are the others? Studs being Studs. Anyone stand out to you guys? I mean, Tanaka's interesting. Yeah. All right, sorry.

Because he hardly threw his fastball at all. Yes. We had a great article about that on CBSports.com, actually. He is the anti-fastball pitcher. Yeah, Mike Accesa wrote it. Right. And it makes sense in today's environment. One of the things I was reading, again, going back to our suspicions about Garrett Cole throwing his fastball less once he joined the Astros, which didn't actually happen in his first start, but whatever.

the Astros were among the teams that threw the fastball the least last year and it's just because hitters have gotten so good at hitting high 90s heat you know like they're had they're they don't hit the other stuff as well and since Tanaka has a whole secondary arsenal a lot of good secondary pitches the slider and the splitter especially leaned heavily on them in this start and dominated so apparently he kind of um when he improved down the stretch last year and that was something he started to do then, and then took it to a new level in the opener.

At a time of year, when you would expect pitchers lean on fastballs more, just because their secondary arsenals aren't completely built up yet. So he may be on to something with that. Maeda, off to a nice start, five innings with 10 strikeouts, 19 swinging strikes against the Giants on Saturday. Studs being Duds, Heath, let's go to Studs being Duds, Part 1. Udarvish, Robbie Ray, James Paxon, Carlos Carrasco,

Ew, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm not as worried about Darvish as I am. Ray is probably the one I'm most worried about. And I know that makes sense because I was the one that was doubting whether it really transitioned into this super race. The whole Humidor thing just like looks non-existent. It's way too short of a period of time to say that's true. I'm not saying that's true. I'm just saying what it looks like.

But Ray didn't really have the control, gave up a time. kind of hard contact again, and that's what gets him in trouble. Walks and dongs. Yeah. You know, I've been sweating this privately, and I'm just going to say it because it makes a podcast more interesting. All the data that was calculating the humidor stuff,

I'm not sure it took into account that Chase Fields is air conditions. That's accurate. I don't believe they've played a game with the roof closed yet. Yeah. that's also, I get that too. And for what I understand, air conditioning removes moisture anyway. So if anything, you'd think it would make it, it would amplify the effect. But still, that's had me sweating the last couple of days once I came to that realization.

But I agree with Heath that it's too early to really know anything. And I'm not like, of these four, I guess you'd have to be the most worried about Ray, because there was some of the peripherals for him where most. alarming last year and there's really zero concern for like darvish and carasco paxson would be the second most because he didn't he didn't really have a bunch of strikeouts either and he didn't have his usual velocity but yeah i mean when things go bad for ray he walks a lot of guys he gives up a lot of home runs and i think he only had one start last year where he gave up three home runs like he did in this one so paxton really had a very little

control and then he grooved the fastball to yonder alonzo and alonzo had a grand slam and good for alonzo by the way, home run off a big lefty. Off a lefty. Delano, not Delano should. Nomar Mazzara homered off a lefty, which was impressive. Yeah, who was it? Oh, right. Carrasco, velocity,

velocity, seemed fine. He was hitting, like, 95. I know there was some concern late in spring training, but seemed fine. Studs being Duds part two. Concerns about Stroman, Luis Castillo, Kentana, Lou Guiva.

He wasn't that bad. Why do I have him in here? Oh, two swinging, Strives. Two swinging strikes. And Sunny Gray, 17 swinging strikes, but only pitched four innings, gave up seven hits and three walks. Stroman, Luis Castillo, Kentana, Luke Weaver, and Sunny Gray. I have no sense of what happened in Marcus Stroman start. It was the least Marcus Stroman start in the history of Marcus Stroman starts.

No control, tons of strikeouts, 33% home run to fly ball rate in the game. I think you just, like, ignore it completely. I'm less worried about this group than the last group. Like, I can't find anything to worry about. Like, obviously, if Weaver keeps getting two winning strikes every time, that's going to be a problem. But a single start, I can't take anything from that. How did it take Sunny Gray 89 pitches to get through four innings? This is what he is.

Too many walks, too many strikeouts. He was so inefficient with the Yankees last year. So inefficient. I worry a little bit about him in a quality starts league. Yeah, this was extreme because there were so many walks and so many strikeouts, eight strikeouts and four innings. But the strikeouts went up last year for Ray, but he was just very inefficient with the Yankees, and they rely on their bullpen, which led him down yesterday, but not that he could have gotten a win anyway, only pitched four innings. Castillo, there was just one thing I wanted to check with him, and it was his pitch selection,

and they don't have the dad on Brooks baseball. But he was bad. I mean, I hope he's more than just fastball change-up. So he was terrible against the nationals, and he still struck out six with one. and walk. He has nasty stuff. Still had 19 swinging strikes at him. I know, but he was, I mean, I watched the game. They just, they hit the crap out of the ball.

Yeah. I heard he didn't have his usual commands. I read. Quite possible. Oh, and I only have him with... Oh, you know what it was? Fifteen swinging strikes on the 28 changeups he threw. That is an unhittable pitch. It is a great pitch. But the fastball was the problem for him. So, okay, that's Luis Castillo.

Fringy starting pitchers. Just tell me who you like parts Parts 1, 2, and 3 65 to 79% own Yvonne Nova, Jake Ferrea, Marco Estrada, Sean Minaya. Mania was awesome, by the way. Yeah, he was. He was really good.

This is, like, this is exactly what I expect for Marco Estrada. Seven innings, three runs, two strikeouts. He should be able to get more strikeouts than that. He was good. If he's going well. Yvonne Nova is the one that does not belong in this group. Yeah, I mean, and he wasn't, you know, nine base runners in five innings. He wasn't very good.

Ferrea, yeah, I mean, Estrada was pretty good, Manai was great. Nova shouldn't be 78% out. No, no. That's a guy you dropped for Skaggs, for sure. Fringy starting pitchers part two. Sabathia, Fultenevich, Mike Leek. All did fine. Leak better than the others.

Sabathia, Fultenevich, Mike Leak. Yeah, Leak is. better than the others and should be owned more than the others and he's owned less than the others so there's your opportunity yeah i wasn't super interested in having poltonevich yet i know the k number was high but man we're going to keep harping on this number this is like our new favorite number right swingy strikes six swingings strikes i know people are probably already tired of hearing that i think i'm gonna i think i'm gonna hold back on it i mean when rick porcelo has two swinging strikes like that was very interesting to me yeah but it is something

something that we could sort of get bogged out and on a start-to-start basis. Maybe we need more of a sample size there. Of course. Fringy starting pitchers part 3. 30 to 49% own, do you want any of these guys? Vince Velasquez, Mike Miner, Armand Marquez. This is an awful year, awful year, so far for SPARPS. So any type of sign of success from a SPARP, and I'm going to get excited, this is a sign

of a success for Mike Miner right now. I know he only went four and two-thirds, but against that offense, Five strikeouts in four and two-third, only giving up two runs. He should be owned in all points leagues if he's not already. Yep, felt the same way. Mike Minor, 46% owned, faced the Astros on Sunday and pitched fine. And then in deep leagues, these guys are owned in less than 30% of leagues. Brandon McCarthy, Chris Stratton, Matt Shoemaker,

Jordan Zimmerman, Ian Kennedy. Those are like the 20 to 26% own guys. McCarthy, Stratton, Shoemaker, Zimmerman, and Ian Kennedy. Do you think any of them are underowned? I know you wrote about Ian Kennedy today, Heath, and he's an interesting player because this spring he had like struck out 20, 23 and 18 innings this spring after an awful season last year. And I didn't make much of it because he was awful and, you know, he's rarely good. But a quote of his after this start, he says that he's healthy and can push with his. backside better than he could last year.

I didn't remember him having an injury last year. I didn't either, but I mean, last year he was just disastrously bad. But in the past, he's been one of those guys that outperforms his FIPP. He's a fly-ball. What I said about him today is he's a fly-ball pitcher that his style should play very well for at least the first couple of months pitching half of his games at Coffin. When he gets to July and August, maybe not. That's what I liked it.

I liked him last year, you may remember. going there, such as pitchers park, because his problems are walks and home runs when he has problems. But he's typically been a good strikeout pitcher. He lost that last year, had it this spring, and this first start was encouraging. So he probably deserves to be more than 21 percent owned. I'm not adding him on the level of Skaggs. I would also say if this group Brandon McCarthy at 26 percent seems underowned to me. All right, then in these Super Deep League's, Trevor Williams, Kyle Gibson, Brent Suter, Homer Bailey,

Doug Fister, Hector Velasquez. No, you don't want to pick him up. He's going to be out of the Red Sox rotation soon. Sal Romano, Caleb Smith, and Dylan Peters. Trevor Williams, Kyle Gibson, Brent Souter, Homer Bailey, Doug Fister, Sal Ramano, Caleb Smith, and Dylan Peters. Yeah, that's a pretty uninspiring group there. Now, it's, I mean, Trevor Williams and Kyle Gibson, it has to be said,

they were both removed while throwing no-hitters this weekend. Yeah. They had six no-hit innings apiece. the five walks for each that'll get them pulled early I noticed Kyle Gibson had a lot of swinging strikes

17 of them but I looked at his game log last year he had a few games like that then too so I don't think he suddenly reached a new level but it's worth keeping on it quick news and notes then we'll read some emails

and finish the show I'm always looking for these relievers and it's just a new thing in fantasy you want these relievers with big strike strikeout rates. Jordan Hicks for the, for the Cardinals, is possibly the hardest thrower in baseball. He's right up there with Chapman, but he doesn't strike guys out, so it's weird.

We have the new 100-mile-power flame thrower. Can't get any strikeout. Aaron Hicks on the D.L. with an intercostal strain could be back soon. Troy 2 Lewitsky's out eight weeks. Ian Kinsler's on the DL with a groin injury. That's good news for Zach Kozart. He's moving around the infield leading off. I don't think it's a long-term thing for Kinsler. Alex Reyes is on the 60th ADL. Yasmani Tomas is on waivers.

The Brewers have denied a Ryan Braun for Matt Kemp, Trade Rumor, and Pittsburgh's starting pitcher Joe Musgrove expects to start next week. And let's read emails. John in New York City, who do you want to own in a 14-team Claims? Gregory Polanco, Tommy Fam, Blake Snell, Mike Clevenger, Kyle Seeger, Aaron Hicks, and Tyler Glassnow. Who are your favorites there? Falunco, Fam, Snell, Clevenger, Seeger, Hicks, and Glass now.

I mean, obviously, fam's number one, right? And I want to mention he was on base four times Sunday, including two walks, so hopefully seeing the ball a little better. And then after him, I think the two pitchers, Snell and Clevenger, or who I'd want the most. And then Seeger's four. I think I'd take Polanco over Clevenger. Yeah, I'm going to go, Fam, Snell, Polanco, Clevenger.

Seeger, Glassnow, Hicks. From Seth. Well, this is kind of a long question. I feel like a lot of people always claim Mike Trout as the best player in baseball without question, but never discuss his upside. How much greater could Mike Trout be from what we've already seen? I don't think he could be much better than he was last year, to be honest. I mean, he's off to the best start of player who's played this game has ever gotten off to.

In terms of war, so I'm factoring his defense. still like I'm not sure I'm not sure you should be counting on more yeah I think I think Adam's right last year I mean he could hit let's say he hits 330 and he has the same plate that's disciplined he did last year so he's got a 455

is on base percentage a slugging percentage 630 last year that seems like the highest so that's an 1,100 OPS he was on pace for 40 plus home run has he had the 40 40 season yet because he he's done each individually, right? No, he hasn't had that.

I don't think he has 40-40 ups. I don't think he's going to run that much. I'd say 40-30 upside. Yeah. 40-30 with an 1,100 OPS, 130 runs, and 130 RBI. Here's an email from Dan. Who should I get for steals to replace the shields? The steals?

Dyson, Malik Smith, Rajé Davis, Ernan Perez, Carlos Gomez, Lionis-Martinez, Kevin Pilar, Adam Engel, Chris Owings. Well, I mean, playing time is an issue, especially since we're talking a four to six week absence for DeShields. This isn't. You're not looking to replace his steals total for a full season. So I think I actually do like Pilar the best, just because I trust he's going to play. I just don't know how much he's actually going to run.

That's fair. I don't either. I think I'd probably say it's going to depend on the rest of your team and how confident you feel about the rest of those categories. but I'd probably say Dyson. We'll get the most steals out of that group over the next four to six weeks. And Andrew, a White Sox fan, is letting us know that in a very small sample size, Joanne Munkata is hitting the cover off the ball, and he wants us to keep an eye on it.

So we will, Y'an Mankata and your hard contact rate. We've got our eyes on you. And that is it for Monday's show. We'll come back on Tuesday. Breakdown Monday's action. Tell you more about the Baltimore Orioles logo and why it is so interesting. Until then, see you later. Thank you.