Fantasy Baseball Today - 04/11: Rankings Disputes, Trade Talk, Pivetta/Darvish (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 11, 2019

Is it time to drop Nick Pivetta and Yu Darvish? Should Trevor Richards be owned in all leagues? These are just a couple of the questions we answer at the top of the show as we rave about Collin McHugh and Tyler Glasnow (5:30), provide more Wednesday standouts and give you some deep league players who are making a case for mixed leagues (14:30) ... Concerned about James Paxton or Jose LeClerc (20:24)? Would we rather have Clayton Kershaw or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. rest of season (23:30)? Which prospects do you need to know about (26:40)? ... Buy low (28:00), sell high (30:50) and buy high players (35:00) and then we have rankings disputes (38:10) for a couple of infielders and a young SP. We finish the show with the leftovers from Wednesday (46:00) which includes Slump Busters, the Legitometer and your leaders in saves ... Email us 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. What's going on, Nick Povetta owners? Not such a great Thursday for you. You Darvish owners, you can't be feeling too good either.

We welcome you to Fantasy Baseball today. Adam Azer with Scott White and Heath coming. And yeah, we've got to talk about these lousy pitchers, but also a couple of great pitchers, Tyler Glassnow, and Colin McHugh are awesome. We got a lot more from Wednesday. We have some rankings disputes to talk about, and it's a trade show. Buy low, sell high, and buy high. Guys who are off to a good start and we're totally buying it. Good morning, Scott.

What's going on? How much, Adam? What about you? Well, really just you Darvish. He's going on. He's bad. he's bad right now you have a lot of shares of you Darvish right two I think two maybe three out of six

so okay it's you know it's not nothing but it's not everything yeah um Heath and Nick Povetta what the heck let's not start off with this negative no there's so many positive things in the world to talk about the Witt streak is up to 31 games in a row we just lead with the wit streak every day sure royals record royal's record of course he couldn't do it all in one season but 31 straight for him.

I have some pretty cool stats for you, like what the twins did last night and what the Dodgers and Cardinals have done in the last 127 years, I believe. Yes, more on that later. All right, let's start with the dropometer. Well, actually, let me ask you this. If you were going to drop one of the two,

would you drop Nick Povetta or you Darvish first, Scott? I would drop Povetta. I actually just released a... do not drop list. I guess it's probably out this morning. And I decided to leave Darvish on it. Povetta was not on it. But obviously, Darvish with his

history, I feel like he's deserving of a longer look. Okay. I'm not dropping you, Darvish or Nick Povetta. Why? Well, Darvish's history, I think, speaks for itself. And I mostly agree with Scott. And he

he did look better in that start, then he looked in his first start. So I think we're moving in the right direction. Pivotta, it's just the reasons that I believed in him coming into this year. The peripherals made him look like a top 25 starting pitcher, all three of them, FIP, X-FIP, and Sierra. And a lot of those things still look the same, and three starts just isn't going to be enough for me to change my mind. I'm holding on to both the plan is to hold on to both those guys until May 1st.

Okay, here's what Gabe Kapler said about Nick Povetta. quote, Nick has been really close for quite some time. A lot of that starts with his intent and preparation. It's conviction and attack. He sometimes picks around the strike zone instead of aggressively attacking hitters. It's a mindset. All right, there's that. And then I don't have a quote on you, Darvish, except my quote was,

Damn you, U Darvish! Which I probably said a few times last night. But, yeah, I don't know. Not a lot of encouraging things here. Like, look at the fringy starting pitchers. Trevor Richards is only 61% owned. Brandon Woodruff pitched last night. He's been okay, 66% own.

Are you dropping these guys? I know you don't want to drop them, but if a stallion is out there or a brewer is out there, would you make that move? There's no way I'd drop them for Woodruff. Richards, I have ranked right in the same range. I probably wouldn't do it. I'd probably just hold them. I don't think I'm certain enough that Richard is going to be better. Okay.

I'm not certain enough either, but I feel like. after three great starts and maybe the best one of all yesterday, you're more at risk of losing Richards to somebody else than you are of losing Pivotta if you drop Povetta today. That's my hunch. Could be wrong. I think if it is wrong,

the chances of Richard being great are so high that it probably won't regret it still even if Povetta does come back and have a strong season. But, I mean, there's a good chance. you will get away with it and maybe have another shot at Pivotta later. So you're all in on Trevor Richards? Yeah, I mean, pretty much.

I have three starts. It's impossible to be all in on somebody after only three starts, but it's all gone exactly as I hoped it would. He's dominating with that change-up and missing a lot of bats. Only one hit yesterday. The walks were kind of weird,

but both pitchers had a lot of walks in that game. I'm not sure what that was all about. Yeah, he looked really good after a really strong spring. Zero wins. He is my favorite stallion. He's zero wins, though. You know, just keep that out of mind.

He's got a 2ERA, a 11-11-whip, 18 strikeouts and 18 innings. Three quality starts, zero wins. That does have to matter a little bit. I mean, I still think he's probably Trevor Richards under-owned at 61%. But, you know, it's going to be tough. Definitely under-owned. Oh, yeah, it will be tough to win games. They could settle on a closer.

It might help. They're, you know, Drew Steckin-Rider, clearly not getting the job done. All right. How about the good from yesterday, guys? So much for spring trading. Colin McHugh and Tyler Glass now are off to great starts. I think we may have been a little concerned about them in spring training. But McHugh has a 265 ERA, five walks, 22 strikeouts in 17 innings.

0.88 whip. And he has faced Tampa Bay, Oakland, and the Yankees. An OK Yankees lineup. Tyler Glass now struck out 11 White Sox. He is three walks, 21st, three walks for Glass Now, that's huge, in 17 innings. He hasn't thrown more than 85 pitches in a start yet and didn't throw more than 98 pitches in any start last year. So keep that in mind for Glass Now. But would you guys like to say anything about Colin McHugh and Tyler Glass Now?

Two studs from yesterday. Heath Cummings. I love, love what Glass Now is doing. Think this guy is the absolute limit for him. Well, 90 pitches might be the limit. He could be an absolute star in this league. And McHugh has made the concerns over spring training look ridiculous. He's a very good spark, and I am excited about him, but I'm much more excited about Glass Now. The crazy thing about McHugh is his best pitch is one.

He didn't even have the last time he was a starter. He picked up the Brad Peacock slider, which was the pitch that made Peacock good for the Astros. after bouncing around from organization to organization. McHugh, the slider was basically the main pitchy through yesterday. Through the fastball on slider, nothing else really, and dominated like this. I think 14 of his swinging strikes came on the slider. It's really impressive to see.

I mean, they're both. They're both awesome. And they're both, I think, poster childs for why like a bad spring when a pitcher is struggling in spring training and I felt victim too at some

I end up with fewer shares of these guys than I should have because they both had issues this spring but unless it's an issue of stuff like the guy just can't get the velocity where it belongs you have to ignore it I feel like because there's been too many

examples of this where and I'll have to remind myself next time it happens, I guess. I even brought up the Rich Hill comparison, his first year with athletics. I grew concerned about it then when he was struggling in spring training. You just have to kind of tune it out.

If you believe in the ability and what evidence the guy showed in the previous season. Yeah, well, I guess why I kind of bought into the McHugh struggles was that he hadn't really been a good starting pitcher.

It'd been all right. But never like a must start as a starter. His numbers in the bullpen were great. It's nice to see it translate. He's off to a great start. Now, Heath, you wanted us to be happy and optimistic and not talk about you, Darvish and Nick Povetta. So what on Thursday, other than with Merrifield's Stinking Hidden Streak, what on Wednesday, excuse me, made you super happy? Well, I mean, we've talked about several things. I think Trevor Richards was phenomenal. And again, he was my favor of the Stallions, and the only one that I really was considering must add. I didn't know he was only 61% owned. I don't think he's available

any of my leagues because Scott and Chris are in most of them and they were more excited about these pitchers than I am. But I think he's a legitimate top 30 starting pitcher, probably the rest of the way. I've got him right around 40 for now. I just told me he said a little bit more. And then Frankie Montas had one bad inning, but another very good start for him. Okay. Well, why don't we jump to the fringes here that pitched yesterday? In sorted by ownership percentage, they are Brandon Woodruff, Trevor Richards, Derek Rodriguez, and a 40% own Frankie Montas, who has a 318 ERA and three starts with four walks to 14 strikeouts. And he'll face the Astros next week, which is a little scary.

But Woodruff, Richards, Derek Rodriguez, and Frankie Montas, Heath, how would you rank them? I've got them, and I need to update my Montas ranking, but I believe Richards in a points league, I might put Derek Rodriguez second. Montas and then Woodruff. Ooh. Yeah, what's up with the Woodruff hate? I'd like to know what's up with the Woodruff love. It's a fair question, I suppose.

I mean, he has been getting strikeouts, missing bats. He hasn't pitched deep into a game yet, which I guess would be my main concern, but he's clearly equipped to three pitches. four pitches, actually, and he gets, like, he gets swinging strikes on all of them. He had four on the fastball, four on the change up four on the slider yesterday. I think he has double-digit swinging strikes

in all three of his starts. He hasn't been efficient enough to go deep into games yet, but it's not like it's a control issue. So I still feel really good about. He's not been good enough to go, you've got up 10 runs and 15 innings. If you look at the... Yeah, but it's a lot of like four runs and five innings.

It's nothing like he's getting shelled out. Well, okay, I'll give you the breakdown of the three starts. Only one was, like, really bad. First start was five innings, two runs against St. Louis. Second start was terrible. Four innings, four runs on six hits against the Cubs. And then last night for Woodruff, six innings, four runs, one walk seven strikeouts. So it's like he's flirting with a good line in two of his three starts, but not quite getting there.

No quality starts yet. You got to like the walk to strikeout ratio, five walks of 20 strikeouts, or four walks of 20 strikeouts. Very good. Yeah, I mean, I see both sides here. The production isn't been that good, but then again, like, I mean, what does Nick Povetta have over Brandon Woodruff? You know? Like, there's never been good production. Yeah.

20 strikeouts in 15 innings. I guess it's been, like, if I'm a Woodruff owner today, I'm not disappointed. Like, I definitely feel like things are moving in the right direction here. and he just hasn't had the start where it all comes together yet, but it's not like, you know, it's not like he's struggled with a ton of walks or he hasn't missed bats like I thought he would.

I think, you know, I think there's still a lot to like here. I just wonder, and I don't know, Freddie Peralta has the best start and probably the worst start of the group. I don't know who's losing their job in a week, week and a half when Jimmy Nelson's back, because he looked great in his first rehab start.

It'll be Peralta Or Davies Or Davies Act Davies Yeah So Heath by the way What happened to that trade offer That we talked about At the end of yesterday's show

Is it happening? I told you to send it to me Oh we sent it to you Okay well I can't act unilaterally anymore I have to bring in Scott So Scott we would give up Chris Sale And we would What was it?

We'd give up sale and we'd get Gary Sanchez And Max Fried And Max Fried Scott has already turned this trade down once Scott, I think we have to take it. What? I'd give up. I'd rather have Sanchez than sale.

But our lineup is so good. Not our catcher. Why do we need more? We don't need more power. Max Fried is a better, is a harder throwing lefty than Chris Sale. You can't dispute that. He throws harder. Well, the funny thing about this is Chris was very adamant that we are not doing this trade yesterday.

He wants no part of it. of this deal. Scott wants no part of this deal and Adam and I want to make it. Actually, I don't know. Sounds like it's probably an even trade. I'm having second thoughts now. I'm having second thoughts. Yeah, so Scott, who would you rather have Gary Sanchez or Chris Sale? Straight up.

Well, clearly I'd clearly I'd rather have sale. I guess it's not clear, but the specific circumstances in this particular league are are driving my opinion. I think if you had a deep staff and you had questions about your offense,

this would maybe be a way to protect yourself from a disaster scenario with sale, which is certainly possible. But I still feel like he's going to put it all together and be fine. That's my... I put this trade offer on Twitter asking people to pick a... side and 920 votes later it is tied 50. Wow. That's got that Twitter poll has nothing on the Dodgers and Cardinals.

I keep teasing this stat that I'm going to give out that's going to completely underwhelm everybody. Scott, did you have a standout from Wednesday's games? I am going to point to Jordan Liles here because that was an interesting start he made against the Cubs striking out 10 and 6 innings after not really impressing. this spring, but the pirate showed a lot of confidence in him heading into spring training. They had a few candidates for the fifth starter job and were pretty consistently saying it's going to go to Lyles after signing him this offseason because they were really impressed with what

he did with his secondary arsenal last year split between the Padres and the Brewers. And there were times last year where he looked like he might be fantasy relevant. did his best work out of the bullpen for the Brewers down the stretch last year just kind of seems to have made the same sort of adjustment Colin McHugh made when he first broke out for the Astros in terms of going from being like a sinker ball

or pitch-to-contact type to four-seamer curveball hopefully get some strikeouts. So he's behind the other group of interesting Waver Wire ads at starting pitcher that we've been mentioning for weeks now. You know, the Corbin Burns is all the stallions. He's behind them.

But I think he's in the discussion, particularly in a points league since he's relieved pitcher eligible. Okay, so let's then go to the Deep League guys here because I did want to talk about Jordan Liles, and I believe he gets... I don't have his matchup for next week. I apologize. It might be a two-star pitcher.

Let's find out. He is a one-star pitcher at the Detroit Tigers. Not so bad. He will face Matthew Boyd. So here are the Deep League guys. All these players are owned in 21% of leagues or fewer. I'm going to start with the pitchers here. I'm going to make Scott pronounce the first name.

The guy who pitched for the Padres last night, Nick is his first name. You're going to pronounce his last name. What's his last name, Scott? Nick. Nick Margevichus. I believe it's Margavichus, but that was pretty good. That was pretty good. Nick Margavichis, not good enough.

Jordan Liles, Lance Lynn, Tyler Malley, and Jeremy Hellickson. Jeremy Hellickson threw 100 pitches last night more than he threw in any start last year. Nick Margavichus,

Jordan Liles, Lance Lynn, Tyler Malley, Jeremy Hellickson. Guys, who's worth owning in anything other than a super deep league? Just Liles? No, they're all on the periphery for me,

I think. Let me make sure I'm not including. anybody there who I shun it. Helixen, not really. And Malley, I think, would be the obvious guy to go once Alex Wood is ready, so he's deeper leagues too. But Margevages... Margarovius.

Markavichus. I have been taking a long... I've been taking a long look at him every start. Really good control. Not a hard thrower at all. But seems to have enough of a secondary arsenal there that obviously he's having success. So I'm not ready to pick him up, but he's in, you know, I'm closely monitoring him. I would rank them Margavichitz,

Liles, Malley, Helluxson. I'm really curious about Lance Lent now. I have no interest in Lance Lynn. Oh, so you intentionally left him off. strikes yesterday. Yeah, at Arizona. And that was after seven strong innings the previous start. Only 5Ks in that start. But yeah, his fastball's looking really good right now. Okay, his two, his one bad start, Lance Lynn. He's on the Rangers now, by the way, was at home. And his two good starts have been on the road. So we'll see if that is a trend that continues.

He will get the Angels next week. Your deep league hitters, guys. Chad Pinder, 21% of I talked about him yesterday. He had another good game. Lauri Garcia has three steals so far. He's 10% owned. He leads off for the White Sox. Lauri Garcia has scored nine runs, and he's 10% own. And Mitch Garver had another good game, and he's 11% own. Still only four starts this season, but two in a row for Mitch Garver. So Pinder, Lauri Garcia, Mitch Garver.

Heath, real quick on them. Pender's probably the only one. Like in a deep league, I'll add Garcia just because he's been leading. off and he does have a little bit of steals potential. But Pender's the most interesting. Quick break here on fantasy baseball today. When we come back, how worried are we about James Paxton? How worried are we about Jose LaClerc? And we have some news on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

We're coming right back. All right. So Wednesday is Worryometer Wednesday. You know I love alliteration. So if you're new to the show, Thursday is Thuriameter Thursday. We get the Worryometer out. It's nothing. It's a thoreometer.

It means nothing. It means you're worried on Thursday. is what it means. Thuriameter Thursday for two pitchers. James Paxton and Jose LeClerc. Paxton said, I just didn't have the extra gear. I will get to work between starts and my next one and between this start and my next one, excuse me, and try to figure out what's going on.

Over the next few days, I will look at video and see if there's something going on with my delivery. So, Scott, how thuried are you about James Paxton zero to ten on the thurometer? Probably like a two. I mean, if you look at the game log, the first start, you didn't allow many runs, but the strikeouts were down. The second start, it was kind of a branded Woodruff start, a lot of strikeouts, but four runs in less than six innings. And then this third start was kind of the worst of both worlds. But it's not like, I don't see a concrete issue here that would raise concern for me. I think it's just scuffling out of the gate.

Yeah, I'll give him a zero. I think you have to give him a pass. This was his first start against a major league team this year. Yeah. But the first two weren't good. I mean, that's actually what bothers me because he didn't do that well against Baltimore. He didn't fine. It just felt like spring training still.

He thought he was pitching against a college. I guess so. Working on things. Yeah, yeah. He's one and two with a six ERA, six walks, 19 strikeouts. Are you going to start him against the Red Sox next week at home? Probably. I think of one.

Yeah. It's Paxton. Sounds like we can throw a little. buy low tag on James Paxton, if anyone's selling. How about Jose LeClerc? Two crap appearances in a row. Now, I didn't mention this on yesterday's show I should have, but I didn't realize it. When he gave up three runs at Arizona two nights ago, LeClerc had him pitched in six days. And they wanted to get him back on the mound last night to get that taste out of his mouth,

and he gives up one run on one hit and one walk in a third of an inning. So that's two bad ones in a row for Jose LeClerc. Thuriameter, zero to ten, Scott White. I'll go four. You have to be a little worried, given his past control issues. He hit a couple batters yesterday, so it was clearly struggling with that. But I don't think his role is in any kind of jeopardy right now. Chris Woodward, the Rangers manager, said after yesterday's game that he's their best pitcher on the entire staff.

So they still seem to have a lot of confidence in him. Yeah, I'll go six. really the control hasn't been that bad so far this year. The weird thing is he's got five swinging strikes on the season in 81 pitches. That's which is just a little under a game's worth. And he's got three strikeouts in six appearances. That is pretty interesting. All right, Jose LeClerc.

I don't think it's worth speculating on someone, as Scott said. I mean, they're sticking with Jose LeClerc right now. Right. Yeah. All right, news and notes. All right, so Toronto sent Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to AAA after a rehab assignment. So, you know, he's healthy now. He just has to get his swings in in AAA, and hopefully we'll see Vlad's soon.

And Clayton Kirchaw is going to pitch either Sunday or Monday. He was throwing between 88 and 90 regularly, apparently, and peaking at 92 miles per hour in his rehab start. So I would ask you guys, who would you rather have rest of season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Clayton Kershaw? Kerrero. Oh, really? Okay. I was drafted in Guerrero ahead of Kirschau. So I don't, you know, nothing's changed based on the way Kershaw's rehab assignment's gone.

That sounds about like the range he was throwing in last year, velocity-wise. And I'm not expecting a major resurgence, but, you know, he was pretty good last year. Must start. So I'm fine with Kersh. I just think Guerrero will arrive soon and will be a stud right away. Max Muncie made his third appearance at second base. He's hitting better. He's almost second base eligibility.

That's awesome news from Max Muncie. Dodgers catcher Russell Martin is on the IL, and Martin had basically been alternating with Austin Barnes at catchers, so Barnes could get more playing time now. He's gotten a little cold, batting 188 in his last six games, but that's a good thing for Austin Barnes, 74% own. Meanwhile, Williams Astidio has started three of the last four games at three different positions for the twins.

So we want to see that continue. Jonathan V.R. is shortstop eligible. C.C. Sabath. is going to start against the White Sox on Saturday. How owned should C.C. Sabathia be? Would you rather have Sabathia or Jordan Liles? Liles. Yep.

Okay. Gary Sanchez had leg tightness. He was able to pinch hit. Mike Trout sat. Alex Bregman sat. Jay Bruce left with an Achilles injury. Daniel Vogelbach. Potentially more playing time.

He didn't to play anyway. Yeah, yeah. But this would clear up a logjam. But honestly, we're not rooting for that. We're rooting for Jay Bruce to be okay. because he, believe, has the Major League lead in home runs right now. And Travis Shaw bruised his hand. He is day-to-day.

Here are some weird baseball notes for you weirdos out there. Trevor Rosenthal, he retired a batter for the first time this season. The first 10 hitters that Trevor Rosenthal faced this season all reached base safely. So he's off the Schneid. The Twins pitching staff allowed seven straight Mets hitters to reach base without a hit or an error. They walks and hits batsmen, basically. the first time that has happened in 25 years, seven straight batters, reach base without a hit or an error. And here we go, the stat no one cares about. Since the year 1892, the Dodgers and Cardinals are tied with 1,029 wins apiece.

And I think there are some ties in there as well. But they are even 500 in more than 2,000 games since 1892. That's actually pretty cool. Right? Pretty cool. It's pretty cool. Sure. All right. Thank you. Pretty cool. Hey, Scott White, what's going on in prospect land? Who do we need to know about? Carter Kibum seems to be off to a pretty good start for the nationals, which is interesting because he's their top remaining prospect and also shortstop.

And they're kind of without their shortstop or the time being. He's at AAA, still young. I'm not sure Trey Turner is going to miss enough time that the nationals would want to take the lid off that. But it's worth noting that he's off to a good start. Other prospects who I think top the list of ones I'd be stashing right now include Forst Whitley, include Kyle Tucker, still waiting for Nick Senzel to return to action, but he is high on that list as well because there's a clear path for him to get at bats with the Reds. Obviously, the upside is high. And Jesus Lazzardo, also not pitching yet, but I think he'll be in the major league rotation soon after returning. So he is still high on my stash list.

All right. So the prospects mentioned here, Washington shortstop Carter Keyboom. Houston starting pitcher, Forrest Whitley, and outfielder Kyle Tucker, Cincinnati's second baseman, Nick Senzel, who could play some outfield as well, or maybe all outfield. And Oakland, actually, I think it makes more sense from the play second base without Murphy, and Oakland starting pitcher, Jesus Lazzardo. You know, it's kind of a shame because I drafted Nick Senzel to be an outfielder for me.

And I'm not sure that's going to happen. But you know what? I'll take it. Just come up. They said, I mean, before he got hurt, they said they still wanted him to get reps in the outfield and the minors even after Jeanette went down. So I suspect that's still how he's going to arrive, but maybe not.

Things could change. Fellas, it is Thursday. I can't make alliteration with the word trade. Trade. Trade talk, trade talk. Trade talk itself is alliteration. That works for me. Let's do buy low, sell high, and buy high.

And Heath, since you completed your homework assignment first when I asked for these names yesterday, I'm going to let you kick it off. I always do. Yeah, you're very good, very good at doing your homework. Were you, did you do your homework in school, like when you were growing up? Almost never. Yeah, I got that sense. I feel like you're a bit of a rebel. I don't know that as a rebel.

I was just lazy. Oh, okay. He's a rebel. Too lazy to be a full, full-fledged rebel. Yeah, look at that beard. Who's a by-low, Heath? I'm going with Chris Sale. I do think, like, I think Gary Sanchez and Max Fried is a very by-low offer,

and half of my Twitter followers thought it was a fair deal or they would take it. I offered Aaron Nola and Oduble Herrera for sale and Starling Marte. It got rejected. But again, like 40% of people seem to think that was a fair trade. I expect that sale, listen, I think this is a bad, bad plan that they came into the year with. And I think it's going to have a negative impact probably for a few more starts on sale. But I expect that within the next month, we're going to see the real Chris sale. And he's going to be an ace for the rest of the year.

Scott, who's a by-low? I think I have to go with a Jesus Aguilar, which isn't to say there aren't concerns there, but I've been seeing, you know, I've been getting talk of people maybe dropping him. I think it's premature for that. So if somebody is on the last, you know, if somebody's on the verge of doing that in your league, it doesn't hurt to float an offer out there, you know, one of your, maybe like your sixth starting pitcher for him or something, seventh starting pitcher. Sure. It's not like it's a crazy strikeout raid or anything to think he couldn't bounce back. He was disappointing in the second half last year, but obviously he had a great year overall. Yeah, they had the DH last night and he didn't play. But give him a little bit of a break. Get your head right, Hesu Sagalore.

All right, Heath, who's a sell-high candidate? You're not going to like this one, and nobody's going to like it, and it's not fun. but I'm going to say Pete Alonzo, he has been fantastic to start the year. He's not this good. He's got like a 455 Bavip, a 30% strikeout rate, and a home run to fly ball ratio that's almost 40%. It's not going to be near this good.

I think he could be a borderline top 12 first baseman, but if someone's really excited about him, especially if you have a Mets fan in your league, and they've got one of those struggling firsts, basement at the start of the year, I would, I'd be trying to sell high. On Pete Alonzo. All right. Scott, who's a sell high?

Claibor Torres, like both him and Alonzo. I get what he's saying about Alonzo, but I recognize that the upside is really high, too, and he didn't have near that strikeout rate in spring training. So I'm not really sure what to buy in terms of the strikeouts. It is technically 30% now, but obviously a small sample. So, Glambert Torres is a guy who also has a lot of upside, and this could be a full-fledged breakout, but I think it's also an opportunity to maybe get a stud return for a player who may be a stud, but you didn't draft him to be, you know? And I'd rather have the sure thing than the possible thing. It would have to be a legit cell high, though, which is always something I like to stress in these discussions.

It's not like you need to get rid of this problem. It's you have this opportunity now. I'm going to throw out two names. Will Myers. I just, you know, he's got a 400 babbit. And he's off to a really good start, but I think there's probably a cold streak coming. And like he's a 260 hitter. So just in a good year, he's a 260 hitter.

In fact, he hasn't hit 260 since his rookie year in 2013, although he did hit 259 once, just looking at his stat page now. So, like, a really consistent slash line, three years in a row, around 250, around 330 OBP, around 460 slugging percentage. That's what he is. Right now, he's adding 326 with a 565 slugging percentage, Will Myers. You guys feel free to disagree. Also, I really want to see what I can get for Clayton Kershaw. I brought this up last week, but I feel like maybe there's an owner that's really excited about Clayton Kershaw.

And like I said, I don't think this is his last DL stint. I was, you know, what he did in the postseason was really high and really low. Sometimes great. If he's throwing 88 to 90 miles per hour, how great can he be? I don't know. I think you have to get, I think you have to get obviously a stud. But I would take, I don't know if this is possible, but I would take Aaron Nola. I know Aaron Nola's off to a really bad start.

I would take him over Clayton Kershaw. Like if you can just get an ace or a guy that was drafted in like the first three rounds, I think that's worth it for Kirshaw. Would you rather have Kirshah or Chris Sale rest of the season? I'd rather have Kirshaw, but I could see... I'm such a wimp. I really am. Like, and just in life, I'm just such a wimp,

and I'm just terrified of Chris Sale. I feel like there could be an underlying shoulder issue there, because there was last year. Yeah. You know? Well, isn't it... Wouldn't it also be wimpy? Like, couldn't you make the argument the coward's way out is to trade Chris Sale?

I mean... Or Clayton Kershaw? Either one is scary. Either one could go disastrously wrong for you. And I do think, in talking about his velocity, it's worth saying he averaged 90.9 miles per hour in his fast bowl last year and at a 273 error. Right. I don't think he threw a 94 mile per hour pitch all year. Okay, but if he's at 89, look, he's building up his arm's strength.

I get it. But if he can't get to 90-91, he could be a little bit worse, you know? That was a really high Yard for Clayton Kershaw. But you would rather have Noah than Kershaw, right? I do have no more than Kershaw, yes. I would rather have sale than Kershaw. I get it. Okay, how about a buy high?

Heath, you're first. Buy high. I'll go with Luis Castillo. If what he's done early on this season is legit, and he continues to post a 55% ground ball rate, I think he's at 58 now, and he continues at the 16% swinging strike rate, he's going to be a top 10 starting pitcher. Oh, Luis Castillo could be top 10. All right, so buy high on Luis Castillo.

Scott, who you're buying? I mean, I don't want to necessarily stick to the same names, but I think Tyler Glass now is somebody who fits this completely. He just looks like, even beyond what he showed down the stretch for the raise last year. His strike percentage then was 62%, which was a great improvement over his Pittsburgh days. It's been better than that in each of his three starts. The reason his pitch count has been so low is because he's been ridiculously efficient, which is crazy to say, given his past and given his stuff, but that's what it's been.

He looks like he's taking an ace turn here, and I'm totally buying it. I'm 100% with Scott on Tyler Glass now. He and Castillo are two of the three young pitchers that I've moved into my top 25 starting pitchers in the first month of the season. And I'm very excited about buying high on both. Okay, let's see if we can figure out the third young starting pitcher that has moved into Heath's top 25.

You should definitely know it, Adam. There is no question. You already know the answer. Trevor Richards? No. No, no. It's in the notes. It's in the notes today?

It's in the notes today. You put it in the notes. Yeah, you could say, you could say he has a fever. Yeah, yeah, Shane Bieber. Because he's made one start this year, right? Okay, well, that's great, because we are going to do some rankings disputes right after this quick break on fantasy baseball today. Rankings disputes, here we go.

All right, well, let's start with Shane Bieber, okay? Scott's got him 36. Heath, I believe Heath, this is one of three young starting pitchers that you have moved into your top 25. You have moved. That is exactly right. Yeah, Shane Bieber to 21st overall. I'm going to give Scott the first word here, 36th on Bieber, which is pretty good still, but 15 spots behind Heath. Yeah, I wouldn't say I'm down on Bieber having him 36th.

It's, it's a, heath's ranking is, I think, is particularly aggressive, considering he's made one star. a really good start. But the main reason I got excited about him leading up to the season was he flashed this change up in spring training that everybody was raving about. His numbers

against left-handed hitters last year were terrible. I feel like he really needs that change up to complete the arsenal and to become the well-rounded pitcher. That would even live up to a 36th overall ranking, you know? He threw it once, I believe, in that first

start. Maybe he was just pitching so well he didn't need to mess with it, but it makes me wonder how much confidence he really has in it. If he doesn't have a change up this year, he's probably going to get hit hard by lefties again. The funny thing was he actually threw his slider a third of the time in that start. So it is just one start. It's tough to make too much out of what pitches he threw, what percent of the time. The thing basically for me was I had Shane Bieber higher than 36 before the season. I think I had him 29th or 30th. And those guys in that 20 to 30 range, it has not

been a great start to the season four. I believe that Bieber had borderline ace upside coming into the year. He looked like a borderline ace in his first start, and I'm riding with it. Here are some of the pitchers that Heath has Bieber ahead of. Right behind Bieber, Castillo, and Glass Now, so let's just call that a

three-way tie between those three youngsters. Beaver Castillo Glass Now. Then it's Chris Archer. You've got him ahead of German Marquez and Charlie Morton. Have you ever seen German Marquez pitch at Coorsfield in the year 2019? I saw it in the year 2018. It was glorious.

He was, look, you got to understand with Marquez. He was intimidated by Max Fried. That is why he struggled. But you got him over Charlie Morton, Bieber over Morton and Wheeler. And then after that, I mean, you know, Tanaka,

John Gray, Kentimae, Kenta, Maeda, Robbie, David Price, Bumgarner, everybody's got question marks there. I will dispute, I will definitely dispute the Charlie Morton, Shane Bieber thing. Yeah, I, Morton's been good so far. He's been good in a very limited fashion. He seems to have a shorter leash than even Glassnow does. I guess that's true.

I mean, expect that from the race. I will definitely dispute the Hermann thing because I think 19 of Herman Marquez's last 20 starts has been exactly what Heath is hoping for from Shane Beaver. Beaver. Probably better than Heath is realistically hoping for for Dave. No, not better. Okay, so let's move on to our next rankings dispute here. And I changed it up on you guys.

I took Jay Bruce out and I put Jose Paraza in. Bruce is hurt. So I don't know what the severity is, but no need to debate that. But Jose Paraza, Scott, you have him 13th at second base and Heath. You have him 20th. Scott, people are wondering, should I drop Jose Parazza? You still have him as your number 13 second baseman. Again, like I said, Heath has him 20th.

Kick it off with Jose Parraza. I flirted with dropping him in one of our shallowest leagues, the podcast Points League, 12 teams, 21-man rosters. Danzby Swanson was out there, who I think is showing signs of a breakout. And I thought about dropping Paraza for him. I ultimately didn't do it. Paraza was basically Gene Sagura last year. It would surprise you how many points he ended up scoring.

The power was. better than I think people expected, but nonetheless it was there. He doesn't strike out much. He steals bases. I think he's worth giving more time than that. I think the main difference between this year and last year is he's batting lower in the lineup,

so maybe that run. Total takes a hit, and that brings down his overall value, but there's still enough to like there for a guy who's now dual eligible, picked up second base eligibility with the scooter genet injury. And Certainly in a categories league, just the possibility of him helping you and batting average and steals.

That makes him worth keeping around. At shortstop. Oh, sorry. Parazza was ninth in points, 10th and roto at shortstop last year. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, and I really think that there can be a big enough difference. He spent most of last year hitting first or second. He has not hit higher than sixth in the order this year.

And he's not really, like, he's not very good. He's not bad. He's a fine player. he leads off in front of good hitters, I think he could have very good value. I'm not sure that he's good enough to make any sort of fantasy impact other than the steals, hitting 6, 7, 3. And let's go to our final rankings dispute, and it's Paul DeYoung. As we look at shortstop here, Scott has Paul DeYoung 20th.

This is almost the exact opposite of Paraza. Scott has DeYoung 20th, and Heath has DeYoung 13th. And right now, DeYoung is the number two short, it's weird, he's the number two shortstop and points. number five in Roto. It should be better in Roto. But batting 333 with a 419 babup, and he's hitting the ball really hard. He's off to a great start, bottom line. Heath, you've always been, I think, the high guy on Paul DeYoung.

You have him 13th. Are you going to move him up even higher than 13th ahead of Glaver Torres? It would be hard to get him ahead of Gene Seguer, I guess, at 11. No, I think 13. I haven't moved him up since the start of the season, and he's not going to hit 333. So this is good fortune. but he's already got 18 runs plus RBI in 12 games. And one of the big keys for him, kind of the opposite of Parazas,

he's spending most of his time in the middle of the order in a very, very good lineup that hasn't been quite as good yet as we expected it was going to be. I think this is more a case. And Scott and I have a little difference in our preseason rankings in that he lets ADP affect his rankings a little bit. There's no reason to rank a guy 150th if you can get him 220th. But that doesn't matter anymore. So I think Scott's going to move him up now.

Yeah, what do you think, Scott? I will move him up. Okay. I will move him up. Obviously, it's an unsustainable start, but he is a good power hitter at a position that runs out of power hitters after, you know, the big elite tier, which is a large tier, but, you know, it thins out quickly shortstop.

The highest I could justify moving him up is 16th. That would put him right behind Fernando Tatis for me. I'd rather have the upside of Tatis. Other guys in that range that DeYoung could move ahead of are Enrique Hernandez, Cotel Marte. I probably wouldn't move him ahead of Tim Anderson in my rhodo rankings, but points rather have DeYoung. No, I'd rather have Paraza based on the arguments I made in his favor.

I mean, he was a really productive player last year, surprisingly productive. Basically, Gene Seguro, like I said, compare their numbers side by side. He had an extra 60 plate appearances. I understand. I don't think he's going to be as good, but I think... It's not going to be as good as Paul DeYoung. I think his combined run and steel total will be higher than Paul Deon's. You got to drop pro far. You got to drop pro far. Let's do it now. I'd rather have pro far on a points league, but maybe in a category's league.

Okay. More from yesterday. Here we go. Double dongs. Jose Altuve and Chris Davis double-donged. And Al-Tuve, only one steal so far. far, but it's always fun to look at numbers after a hot streak. He now has five home runs, four of them in the last three games. I think there's a perfectly fine argument to taking Jose Al Tuvei. If we were redrafting, as high as third overall. What do you think? And it never, it never crept up.

I mean, his ADP stayed in the second round. I just figured as we got closer and closer to the start of the season, it would move up. And the leagues I was doing, he was going late. I just don't get it. He's back, right? At Tuve? Oh, I agree completely. I took him forth in a couple of our roto leagues, so I agree with you completely.

Yeah, great value. I mean, anybody got on the second round, it's amazing. So, let me see if I have this stat right, but both of his, the exit velocity on both of his home runs yesterday was over 108 miles per hour. And he had four total batted balls last year where the exit velocity was 108 miles. per hour per higher. So clearly showing that he's hitting the ball harder here healthy than when he wasn't healthy last season. Yeah, good stuff for Al Tuve. All right, how about the slump busters?

I'm going to read you some guys who are hopefully busting out of slumps and you tell me, if anything really jumps out of you. Brian Dozier, you know, three for six yesterday. Homer a few days ago, he's five for his last 14 with one walk and one strikeout. That's Dozier. Jerks and Profar. Just needed to get away from home. And now he's at Baltimore and he's homered in two straight games.

Brandon Nimmo, 70% owned Brandon Nimmo, maybe coming around. He's four for his last 10. But he does have one walk and four strikeouts in that stretch. Brandon Nimmo. Jesse Winker, you know what's so disappointing about Jesse Winker, even though he has gotten, he's been good the last couple games. The Reds have not faced a left-handed starter yet. That's amazing.

And he's 59% owns. There's Jesse Winker. And then Jonathan's scope, his last two games, he is five for nine with two home runs. It's actually batting 3.48 on the year. So, Dozier, profile. Turn around. Yeah. Nimmo, Winker, Scope. Trying to bust out of their slumps.

What do you guys think? I hope one does. I have not lost faith in any of them. I haven't talked about potentially dropping some of them just because roster space is scarce. but if you know if you did drop one of them and suddenly have a spot to play with again

I would make a move for any of them you know Doja and Profile probably aren't available in many leagues but the others Nimmo Winker and Scope I would rank them Winker Nimmo and scope in terms of priority maybe move scope ahead of Nimmo in a categories league

depending on need I was very close I was very close I think they can all be still be productive dropping Brandon Nimmo just a few days ago. I'm glad I didn't, but I would like to see him walk a little bit more, just overall, because that was his best skill. Okay, how about the Legitometer?

So give me a zero to ten on these guys. Mike El Franco, only two strikeouts. I know he's a low strikeout guy, but 10 walks at two strikeouts this year, and he's off to a good start. Michael Franco, zero to ten on the Legitometer. I'll give him a four. We've seen a lot of hot streaks from Franco. I hope he's good, but it's going to be really. hard to be good hitting 7th rate.

That walk rate, that's something he's never done before. And it is too early to know if it means anything, but I actually put him on this do not drop list I put together yesterday just because I'd hate, you know, obviously if you drop him, he's getting

picked up right away, the kind of start he's off to. And I'd hate if this was a skill change for him and he suddenly was a guy who could work the count and get on base apart from the that, you know, hitting his way on. Yeah, I wonder, I wonder, though. Oh, I'm going to reign on the parade a little bit.

I mean, this is a good thing, but it's also a bad thing. So 10 walks, how many walks? 10 walks? Six intentional. I had a feeling because, you know, he's batting 8th, Michael Franco. So six intentional. I didn't know to that. Look, I mean, that's going to help his OBP.

It's going to give him some points, but it may not mean that he's actually changed his skills at all. Yeah. No, that's a good point. Yeah, I just thought of it. Thanks. I'm the best. Austin Meadows. Zero to ten for Austin Meadows.

Another good game. Three for five with a home run. I'll give him a five because I think he's legit half the time. I'm not sure if he'll be legit against left-handed pitching or if he'll get to play all that much against left-handed pitching. Mm-hmm. Yeah, five sounds about Ray. He is, like, in terms of bad a ball profile, he's doing everything you want to see so far. His soft contact rate is microscopic.

He's tunnel line drives, a good fly ball rate. But yeah, he's got to earn his way into everyday bats, and that's not a foregone conclusion. All right, Nick, that's Austin Meadows. Next up, Matt Boyd. Another great start for Matt Boyd. And he is now, they got a 260 ERA, six walks, 29 strikeouts,

and has not allowed a home run in 17 and a third. So Legitometer Heath on Matt Boyd. Still has a fit below one. I'm going to give him a seven, which if you know my history with Matt Boyd, you know that is very, very high for me. I did finally move him up into my top 40 starting pitch. I are 42 or something like that. He's right in that range.

So, yeah, I'll give him a seven. He looks like a different pitcher, and he's been phenomenal so far. Well, I feel like I got to go eight just to want a peep because I have, I've been really excited about what he's doing too. Of the pitchers who I didn't believe in at the start of the season, he is by far my favorite now. Like he has made a believer out of me with the increased use of the slider. Just kind of taking the Patrick Corbyn route to success.

And look, yesterday wasn't even a very good start. His velocity was down. He hardly used his third pitch and still got, you know, still had a really good line. The strikeouts weren't quite there, but it was one per inning. Yeah. And it was kind of disappointing, you know? Yeah.

And he has faced two terrible lineups and one solid lineup in the shadows. Toronto, the Yankees, and yesterday it was Cleveland for Map Away. Trey Mancini, keeping it going, man. 89% own, another homer. He's a top three first baseman. He's a top four outfielder right now, batting 362 with six home runs. Legitometer on Tray Mancini. I'll go five.

I could see it being a change for him. One of his big problems, well, his two biggest problems were he depended on having a high bat, if he depended on having a high home run to fly ball rate. Well, his fly ball rate is up considerably so far this year. Hard to tell if it's just early season noise or if it's legit, but if it is legit, then suddenly that takes care of the home run to fly ball rate, needing an outlier rate there to matter.

I will say he does have an outlier rate right now. Mancini. Well, even so, I mean, he's up, what, on like a 70 homer pace or something? So that kind of goes without saying. But, but yeah, I mean, if he's hitting more fly balls, he's going to, I think, be a 30 homer guy. And I'm not as confident that he can keep the strikeouts, the strikeout rate where it is so far. But that's, that obviously would be a good thing, too. I'll give him a four.

Okay, five for Mancini for Scott, four, four, Heath. Nico Goodrum, Nico Goodrum, 59% owned, and he went two for three with a home run yesterday. He's batting 289, it was his first home run. Eight walks, a 10 strikeout, six doubles for Nico Goodrum in 12 games. So that's nice. Heath, where are you on? Nico Goodrum? Is he legit?

Zero to 10. I mean, he's not really been great so far for fantasy purposes, and I don't think he's going to be good for fantasy purposes. so I guess he's legitimately not great. I don't like, he's got a 4-13 on base percentage and he scored five runs because he's on the Tigers. Yeah, yeah. Six doubles and the walk-to-strike-out ratio means that he's probably been good for points leagues, not Roto. Better for points leagues, I'm sure.

I mean, like just looking at what he did last year, he was a 16-home-12 steel guy, and as a part-timer. So if the plate discipline is something that can stick, like he could threaten for, I don't know, like a 2015 season, it's still somebody who's on the fringes of starting even like a roto lineup league, but I don't think he's, I don't think he's useless. Highly versatile. Neither of us gave a number.

Yeah, that's okay. He's like a top 45 outfielder in points league. right now, which, by the way, like one, two more hits, you know, would move him up probably four spots. But, okay, let's finish off with Jason Hayward. It was not easy to Homer yesterday in Chicago. You had 20 mile per hour winds blowing in, and U.Darvis still gave up two homers. It probably should have given up another.

Jason Hayward, though, did Homer, and he is now batting 371 with four home runs. His slugging percentage in his first three seasons with the Cubs is 325, 389, 3.4. 395 with a total of 26 homers and 16 steals total in three seasons. But right now, Jason Hayward has four taters and more walks than strikeouts. Legitometer. One. Oh, I will give him a four. I think he needs to be owned in five outfielder leagues at this point, just in case.

He hasn't had, this is fourth season with the Cubs. This is the first month in which he's hit four home runs, and there's still two-thirds of the month to go. the ground ball rate is down the fly ball rate is up and like yeah it's probably not gonna work out those are probably going to normalize but if they don't

you got a guy who hardly strikes out has some has a little speed gets on base a lot I don't know it could surprise people this year all right Scott's convinced me too

well let me see something Scott oh you know what I was going to call you I just figured you are wrong about the four home runs in a month because I was going to go, well, actually, he hit one of them in March. But he didn't. He hit all of them in April. So your stat is correct.

Good job. And I want to end the show. This is a stat I saw on Twitter. Sorry, but, oh, okay, great. I want to end. Verified, whatever that means. End the show with the saves leaders in the National League and the American League. They are Shane Green, who has eight saves.

And John Hicks, who has... I was going to read what his catcher John Hicks said about him. And Kirby 8, who has seven saves. John Hicks said that Shane Green's fastball has more depth, more sync to it than in years past, and he's gotten more confidence with that pitch. It's moving so much. Guys can't put the barrel on it. It is easy to think of Shane Green as a bad reliever because he was so bad last year,

but he was actually pretty good the year before with the 266 ERA, although he did have a 1-2-4 whip. That is his only good season. Shane Green and Kirby Yates finish the show with an exciting comment about these guys. Believe in Yates. Shane Green is still not good.

And he's going to get traded. Well, that's the thing. Only if he is good. Even if he is good, he makes himself more likely to be traded out of a closer rule. Yeah. Okay, there you go.

And Kirby Yates, I mean, I don't know that he's going to get traded because I think they're eight and five. They're obviously looking to compete. So that's, that's, I think Kirby Yates is going to keep that job and save a ton of games. Shane Green currently has more saves than strikeouts. That is awesome.

But, well, he has seven strikeouts and eight innings, so it's not like he's been a total dud there. It was a factual statement. It was a little misleading, while also factual, which is strange. Thank you so much for listening, everybody. That's going to do it for fantasy baseball today. We'll talk to you on a beautiful Kokomo Friday. Enjoy your Thursday.

Talk to you then.