Fantasy Baseball Today - 04/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Trade Talk, Andrus Replacements

Episode Date: April 12, 2018

Hey Real Quick (2:46): Zack Wheeler, Nick Pivetta or Yonny Chirinos? And how do these guys compare to the other trendy SPs (5:00) like Tyler Skaggs, Jake Junis and Reynaldo Lopez? And find out what to... do if you're the Elvis Andrus owner (10:56) ... Talking trade! We give you three buy lows (18:42), three sell highs (23:20), three buy highs (26:00) and three players we are worried about (28:20). Find out where Matt Carpenter, Chris Taylor, Eric Thames and Andrelton Simmons fit in ... Discussing Ozzie Albies' interesting start to the season (36:30), new RP developments (39:30), Javier Baez's home run binge (43:35), Matt Davidson (47:30) and more plus today's matchups (56:10) ... Email us at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com This episode is sponsored by www.ziprecruiter.com. 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Talking trade on this episode of the fantasy baseball today podcast. We are going to give you a buy low, a sell high, a buy high, somebody we're buying. And someone that we're actually worried about because it is early. And I feel like every time I say, hey, you worried about this guy? And so I was like, nah, not worried. Heath, just a carefree Heath Cummings. Not worry about anything. I am worried about one thing, and that is violence in baseball, Adam.
Starting point is 00:00:41 Oh, yeah. And I'm hoping that you are going to publicly denounce the thuggish behavior of the York Yankees. You know, it's kind of tough from my perspective because obviously I consider myself a role model to many, many people out there, right? Right. I don't want to glamorize the brawling. I think it's stupid.
Starting point is 00:01:02 But I'm human, and I was very entertained by it. Okay. Tyler Austin, Superman punching Carlos Fablis, a well-respected baseball man, third base coach. I didn't see that. When he wasn't even looking. see that. I had no idea. That happened. You should look at my Twitter feed and watch the video and then
Starting point is 00:01:22 I mean, Carlos Fablix. Poor guy! How can you punch Carlos Fablis? Well, which brawl did you... See, this is the thing. I feel bad that we're like glamorizing it, but I'm sorry, but which brawl did you find more entertaining?
Starting point is 00:01:41 I mean, probably that one. Yeah. He threw a Superman punch. No one Aronado. I didn't realize how big he is. He is. He is He's a terrifying guy. My goodness. Have you seen the tape? What you tweeted?
Starting point is 00:01:56 Yes. No, I'm going to look it up right now, but while I look it up, let's get into the show. Scott's going to be joining us soon. We're going to update you on some bullpens. Interesting saves yesterday from Albers, from Kenan Middleton, from Nate Jones, some blown saves to talk about. More Double Dongs, Hobby Baez has homered four times in his last two games. Max Kepler, Kurt Suzuki, Gary Sanchez, also went deep twice.
Starting point is 00:02:18 We're bringing back the Thames watch. Somebody tweeted me yesterday. You got to bring back the Thames watch, and I think we do. This guy's got five home runs. But we're adding another watch, another player to watch. And then I think there were nine starting pitchers that are off to very interesting starts through three starts. And they are McCullors, Robbie Ray, Carrasco, Paxton, Tanaka, Alex Wood, John Lester, Luis Castillo, and Danny Duffy. Some dealing with velocity decreases.
Starting point is 00:02:44 Some good, some bad. So we'll talk about that. But hey, real quick! Let's talk about some of the stars of last night. Hey, real quick, Keith, Zach Wheeler or Nick Povetta or Yanni Chorinos, three choices there. Before I answer, I think it's important to recognize all three of these starting pitchers have plenty of reason to doubt them. Nick Povetta has had two outstanding starts in a row. It's against two of the worst offenses in baseball.
Starting point is 00:03:10 Zach Wheeler just threw seven innings against one of those teams, the Marlins in Marlins Park. And then Yanni Chorinos, they won't. actually even say that he's a part of the rotation, and he's still on a 75 pitch limit. I'm going to say Wheeler, I think it's more likely that he is a good pitcher for the entire season. The second one I'd go with is Sherinos, just because of the opportunity in that race rotation,
Starting point is 00:03:37 pitching a lot of games in a good park, and he's like he hasn't given up a run yet in two games against the Red Sox and one against the White Sox. And then I'll say Pavetta last. That's very interesting. That is by far the most owned. He's 48% own. All three of these guys could be two-star pitchers next week.
Starting point is 00:03:54 That's typically the case with Wednesday starters. Although it's unclear how long Jason Vargas is going to be out. Zach Wheeler, it seems almost certain that he will get another start. And he said he made a mechanical adjustment. And really, I don't know what that means. A lot of guys make mechanical adjustments. But with Wheeler, the control Heath is obviously really important. So he made one minor league start.
Starting point is 00:04:16 one batter in five innings. He made one major league start against the minor league team, the Marlins, and walked one batter in seven innings. So that's got to be pretty interesting for you, huh? Yeah, and if I knew that he was going to be a two-star pitcher next week, I'd be picking him up to do that. I don't... I find it hard to believe.
Starting point is 00:04:32 They may just go with, like, a six-man rotation for a week or something, because one of those guys is going to get hurt eventually. And then the other thing I'll say is, in points leagues, I'd actually put Sharinos first because he is a spark. Okay, and Povetta is the only one we have, currently listed as a two-star pitcher, but I guess we'll try to sort that out. Tomorrow, that is at Atlanta and home against the Pirates. And I think we should really review the trendy starting pitchers.
Starting point is 00:04:59 And, you know, because I'm getting a lot of questions specifically right now about Lou Casey and comparing him to some of the guys that have been picked up. So, all right, I think I got like 10 names. Yeah, that's a lot. Rinaldo Lopez, Jake Junis, Shaw Manaya. Tyler Skaggs, Joey Lucchase, Zach Wheeler, Nick Povetta, throw Yanni Chorinos in there, Sean Newcomb, Mike Fultenevich,
Starting point is 00:05:27 Jake Odarezi, Ian Kennedy. Who are your favorites? The first one is the easiest, I think. Well, Newcomb and Mania are the two guys at the top, and then it gets really, really, like, with Reinaldo Lopez, Joey Lucchese, Jake Junis, those guys are all right in the same range. And it could really be as simple as what does their next start look like.
Starting point is 00:05:54 Yeah, it could be a little interchangeable. But Manaya and Nukum, you said, are at the top there. Absolutely, yes. And I think there's a better chance that Mani just has a good season than any of these guys, but Nukum has the most upside. Yeah, Manaya, can he be a very good pitcher without a great strikeout rate? It doesn't seem, based on his career, based on so far this year. It doesn't seem like you're going to get that.
Starting point is 00:06:16 him. You said very good, and yes, I think he could be a very good pitcher. I also think that's probably the ceiling, if that makes sense. Like, I don't think he can be a top 15 starting pitcher, but top 30, sure. I just got to say with Nukum, for me, I think it's just sort of a philosophy that I've built, built, I don't know, that's a stupid word for it, philosophy that I have, with guys that have really sketchy control, I really need to see it for. an extended period of time before I fully buy it.
Starting point is 00:06:50 That basically, though, means you're just with those types of guys, not going to pursue them mid-season. Because if Sean Newcomb shows it for a month, good control, he might be viewed as a top 25 starting pitcher. And your opportunity to attain him is pretty much gone. That's probably true. And I do want to obtain Sean Newcomb, but there are, I just gave like 10 pitchers, not that he'd be 10th.
Starting point is 00:07:15 But I don't know Maybe that means I'd go Rinaldo Lopez over him or Tyler Skaggs But Rinaldo Lopez just walked five in his last hour I know, but like we said Lopez does not have a history of control issues And Nukam does I mean, okay, maybe I should dig in
Starting point is 00:07:30 A little further into Renaldo Lopez's control But he walked 14 and 47 and two thirds Last year, which is pretty good I think he's got Nukam beat there I don't care about his last start You know, if he does it again Okay, but
Starting point is 00:07:43 Look, everybody on the same list, it's not like you can't say something negative about all of them. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Half of this list could be, and even more than half of this list could be just completely irrelevant a month from now. Okay.
Starting point is 00:08:01 But Nukim and I at the top and then the rest. So if you had to go with a third guy, Lopez, Skaggs, Lucchese, Fulte. Don't forget Jake Junis. Junis. The next tier for me of these guys would be Lopez, Junis, and Lucchese. and I would take Lopez just because of the pedigree, but if you were someone looking at this without thinking about that, I think he'd probably be third on the list.
Starting point is 00:08:26 Where would you put Scott White in those rankings? I would definitely put Scott White towards the top of the list. I think he really has good stuff. That's not the direction I thought you were going to go with that. The only problem with Scott White is the timing of his release. And if you can get the timing right, then yeah. He could be unhittable. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:47 Hey, Scott White. Scott White does not want to be ahead of Sean Newcomb. We know that he wants to be teammates with Sean Newcomb. He wants to be a brave. What's up, buddy? Hey, Adam. Hey, Heath. How's it going?
Starting point is 00:08:58 What are you guys talked about so far? Zach Wheeler, Nick Povetta, but just pitchers. Thuggish Tyler Austin that Scott will not denounce. Oh, right. Yeah. So, Tyler, I did see the punch. I wonder if he was trying to punch him in the face or he was just randomly throwing a punch and it landed on the third base base.
Starting point is 00:09:16 Okay, when you throw a Superman punch and hit somebody like that, you don't get the, I wonder. Oh, maybe it was an accident. Hey, listen, I know what was an accident was how bad of a team I took in the draft app yesterday. I was so sure that Alex Wood was going to have a good start, so I made him my starting pitcher. Joey Vado was fine. Corey Seeger was not, Yueness Espetus, was not in Mookie Betts, went one for five. I finished last. I finished so far and last.
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Starting point is 00:10:10 You will probably take my money because I have been so bad. the draft app. But we only play for a dollar a day. It's no big deal. It's really fun. I actually won a couple days ago. So I won $4.50 to make up for some of my losing. And I really love playing on the draft app.
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Starting point is 00:10:44 Download the draft app or go to draft.com. It really is awesome. It's really fun. I promise you're going to like it. Use the promo code FB today. I'm getting a lot of people playing, too, so I think everybody's kind of getting the message. All right. Got the big news, and then we'll get into some trade talk.
Starting point is 00:11:00 Elvis Andrews has a fractured elbow. Very, very upsetting. So Bogart's is out a couple weeks, whatever. This is going to be longer. I think we need to approach it from two perspectives, guys. we need shortstop replacements and steals replacements. So what are the Andrews owners do? And maybe it's six weeks, I don't know, rough estimate.
Starting point is 00:11:27 Maybe you make a trade. Maybe you make a buy-low trade for a shortstop or something like that. I'm definitely going to have to do something because I have a lot of shares in Elvis Andrews. Usually when we talk about waiver wire pickups, we talk about 80% or less. So pulling up the old roster trends, most owned shortstops. I mean, Yonhervis Salarte is 79% owned, so he's probably not available. Marcus Simeon's 70% owned. He's somebody who I thought was undervalued on draft day, but he's already getting a lot of attention.
Starting point is 00:11:58 I think as Drewbill-Cabreira, 56% owned with the kind of start, he's off too. a guy who makes a lot of contact, decent pop. That looks like an attractive pickup to me. Yeah, if you're looking for a guy that's less owned and is a steel source, hopefully, Jose Parraza has been hitting towards the top of the lineup. I don't know how much longer that will last if he doesn't start also hitting, but I think Paraza, he had a double last night.
Starting point is 00:12:25 He's 30% owned and could absolutely steal a bunch of bases. Ahmed Rosario, he hasn't really run yet, but there's some base stealing potential there. I think like the upside for Rosario is similar to Elvis Andrews, but obviously upside. He hasn't really shown he's close to meeting that. It gets really ugly beyond those three. Honestly, there's Brandon Crawford at 25%. He at least plays every day.
Starting point is 00:12:49 Freddie Galvis at 22%. This is not a position where you want to lose a player. If you're just looking for steel sources and can slot them somewhere else, Malick Smith, is a guy I wrote about a couple days ago in the waiver wire. they started off with five games in like their first nine against left-handed starters, and so he didn't play near as regularly as they plan on. He's expected to play against Ritey's. He's 19% owned, and he has enough upside that if he actually hit just a little bit,
Starting point is 00:13:16 he might play a little bit more than that. And then I think Gerard Dyson has led off the last two days for the Diamondbacks. And so he could be, he's probably less than 15% owned. Yeah, so you mentioned Malik Smith. I was curious to see if he was going to play with Kiermeyer back at the last. lineup and he did play yesterday. So like you said, he'll play against Ritey's. Parraza also did steal a base yesterday. So, yeah, good call there. This stinks, no question. Here's what I'm going to do. And I'm going to ask you guys for
Starting point is 00:13:44 one of each, a buy low, a sell high, a buy high, and someone you're worried about. But my sell high, and this is what I would do if I own this guy, I would go to the Elvis Andrews owner and I would offer him Angelton Simmons. And I might get some pushback from you guys, but I'm not a Simmons guy. Right now he's the number three shortstop in fantasy. He is basically just singling. He's got a 3.45 batting average, one homer, two doubles. I know he's going to have a great walk-to-strike-out ratio.
Starting point is 00:14:11 He doesn't strike out, and he's okay in points leagues. Yeah. But Simmons- That's honestly what I think the Elvis Andrews, if the Elvis Andrews owner is going to make a trade in a points league, I think Simmons is a good candidate for him to pursue because he's not this highly regarded play. He's probably somebody who just got picked up off the waiver wire because he's off to a hot start. You're not going to have to pay a lot to get him in all likelihood. Now, you were looking at it from the other perspective, the Simmons owner trading to the Andrews owner.
Starting point is 00:14:41 And sure, you can pursue this lopsided deal. But I think from the Andrews owner's perspective, you probably don't have to make that to get your hands on Simmons in a points league. Now, in a roto league, I don't want to do it. This is actually my buy high guy. Oh. So maybe we hold off on that so we get to that stuff. All right, all right. I look forward to squaring off about Angleton Simmons.
Starting point is 00:15:05 No, no, no, no. The roto, the guy I would trade for as the Andrews owner in Roto league is my buy-high guy, not Simmons. Hit me with it now. Who's your buy-high that you'd look for? Tim Anderson. Okay. Okay, okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:19 I see the similarities there, yeah. Yeah, because he's, as I've said before, stolen baseball. are a matter of intent, largely. He has said he has the confidence to run now, and he's going to keep doing it, six for six for steals. And it was a total surprise because nine of his 15 steals last season
Starting point is 00:15:39 came in September. So that's really where this started for Anderson. But now that he's doing it, I don't know why he'd stop. I think he's going to be at least a 40 steel guy this year. And I don't love him for points leagues because he never walks, but for Roto leagues, that's,
Starting point is 00:15:54 he may be, he may give you more of what you wanted from Andrews anyway. By the way, if you're in a deep league and you need a short stop, Jurex and ProFar is definitely staying in the lineup for a while. So I don't know how good he's going to be, but I'm sure you could be kind of desperate. ProFar is pretty available. A. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. O'Hanio, Suarez, could be back in less than a month.
Starting point is 00:16:16 David Price might not miss a start after having issues with his hand last night. So he was just having issues, you know, with feeling in his hand. And he had a terrible start, but he also wasn't throwing a very hard his velocity was down. Can we give him... He says it was the cold weather. It was like 42 degrees. Yeah, that's what he says.
Starting point is 00:16:33 Can we give him a pass? Can we give David Price a pass? I mean, you have to, right? What are you going to do? Yeah, you can't do anything about this. And the whole numbness and the hand thing sounds kind of bad. And if it was just the cold, that's good. But I remember it was like three years ago.
Starting point is 00:16:46 I think it was Ronald Ventura had that one start. And he was out there shaking his hand because he couldn't feel it. And he was fine like two days later. So... Yeah. I mean, the first thought I have when I hear sensation in hand is the Jurassic Outlet Syndrome, but he says it's the cold weather. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now because there's really no
Starting point is 00:17:02 upside to not doing that. Yeah, all right. No-Anon Aronado going to get suspended for sure. We will wait on that. Jordan Zimmerman, thank goodness, is okay after being hit in the jaw by a comebacker. And, you know, I don't know if this qualifies as big news, but I think it kind of does. Michael Conforto sat against the lefty again. And that's a little annoying.
Starting point is 00:17:23 And also, Adrian Gonzalez sat against the lefty, which I, only bring up because, you know, they could move Jay Bruce to first base and keep Conforto in the lineup. But no, they put Wilmer Flores in the lineup for N.J. Bruce was in there against a lefty. So I think that's both lefties that the Marlins have, actually, actually, I think two out of three he's sat. They face a lot of lefties since he's come back. Not 100% on that, but, but look, it's not great. Right? I mean, am I overreacting here? That was one of my concerns about going hog wild, moving Confordo up my rankings is
Starting point is 00:18:00 not a natural center fielder, struggles against lefties, wasn't quite an everyday player before he got hurt last year, and it seems like that's happening again. I know, and with the Wilmer Flores thing, Mickey Calloway has said
Starting point is 00:18:16 he needs to play Flores more than the old regime played him, so that I think is going to continue. I wouldn't count on seeing Bruce much at first base. was terrible there last year anyway. Okay. All right, let's talk trade. One of each.
Starting point is 00:18:30 Buy low, sell high, buy high, which I could not think of, and someone you're actually worried about. I might just steal Scott's buy high. Tim Anderson's by buy high. Great. But first, buy low. Who you buying low on? Heath Cummings.
Starting point is 00:18:45 I'll go with Carlos Santana. I think you talked about it a couple of times about how he's a notorious low starter. A lot of this is just not really his fault. He's got a 118 BABIP. ISO 225 is fine. Strikeout rate, barely striking out more than he's walking. I think everything is perfectly fine with Carlos Santana. And he was a little bit undervalued during draft season.
Starting point is 00:19:08 So I can imagine that the Santana owner may not be thrilled right now. Question, follow up on that, because I was going to, I was almost put him down, Santana. Is now the time to buy low on Santana? Should you wait like a month? Because he really gets off to such. bad starts. Usually it's two months. Yeah, I have a hard, and maybe I'm wrong, but I wouldn't want to just try to
Starting point is 00:19:30 time it right. I know that now is a good opportunity. He's hitting 150. I expect any time now. So I would do it now. This is crazy too. I was looking at this the other day. Just, you know, the top players
Starting point is 00:19:45 at every position, and I was looking at points league specifically, which is, of course, Carlos Santana's better format. As bad of the start as Carlos Santana's off to. I think I'm double checking here. Yeah, he's still a top 10 first base man going to sleep. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:20:02 which is you know, part of what makes him so special. Like even when he's hitting awful, he's getting on base enough to make a worthwhile contribution. Is it worth buying low on Carlos Santana in a Categories League or a Roto League? You're buying
Starting point is 00:20:18 lower, but yeah, I mean, he's going to be a lot better than this. Right. Is he going to even be worth starting, you know, he's kind of borderline. Well, I mean, maybe not a head-to-head categories league with the standard head-to-head lineup, but when you get into corner infielders and, you know, all those extra hitters starting in a Roto
Starting point is 00:20:36 league, yeah. For most of the season, you'll consider a must start. Last year, Santana was the number seven first basement of points, number 16 in Roto. So he is, as we always mentioned, A, a slow starter, but be also a guy whose value is arguably the most different in points versus Roto. Scott, your
Starting point is 00:20:51 by-low candidate, please. similar to Carlos Santana. And by the way, there's like a ton of pitchers I could choose for this category. You went with Matt Carper. I feel like we talked about the pitchers lot. Yeah, I went with Matt Carper. Good call there. So yeah, I feel like part of the reason I'm choosing him is because I feel like you actually can buy low on him.
Starting point is 00:21:13 He was kind of going later than he should in drafts anyway. Didn't seem to have a lot of buzz, a lot of believers anymore. but first of all he has a babbiff of 200 he's walking a ton he's uh his batted ball profile supports a high babb again which is something he said he wanted to get back to doing um and i i still look at the spring he had with the big production there he's gained third base eligibility since the season started second base is just around the corner he looks like a guy whose value could skyrocket once he puts together a hot street. Carpenter and Santana, they're like the same player.
Starting point is 00:21:56 I mean, they're both much better in points. I think Carpenter in the past has shown us a little bit more versatile of a skill set and that he could be a little bit more valuable in categories than Santana would be. But, I mean, are they basically the same? They're like must-starts in points leagues. I would say the Carpenter from the last two years is, but I think there's a chance Carpenter gets back to being a 300 hitter, as he has said he intends to do. He's made some changes to his approach to get back to that.
Starting point is 00:22:26 Okay, so Carlos Santana Matt Carpenter. By the way, Carpenter yesterday was the first game all season. He did not reach base safely. And I don't know how many players have reached base safely in every game, but I do know that Marcus Simeon is actually one of them, which is a little surprising. His numbers aren't that good. My by-law is Ioannus Cespitus. He is in a really bad slump.
Starting point is 00:22:45 He's been dealing with an illness. It's led to a ton of strikeouts. And in his last five games, he's batting 087 with one walk 11 strikeouts. But as much as a power hitter as he is, over his last three seasons, his 162 game pace is 287 with 37 homers and 102 RBIs. He has a, you know, for a guy like that, a pretty good, like a one to two walk to strikeout ratio. So I just think the illness is dragging his numbers down and I'm still in on Cespitus. I still think he's a great hitter. You guys, any beef with that?
Starting point is 00:23:15 No. Okay. So hi. So I said Anselson Simmons just because I don't think he's that good. He's usually a guy with an OPS under 700, and he had like a great 70 game stretch last year. He was terrible the rest of the way, whatever. I don't really think he's that good, but you guys can feel free to disagree. Or just tell me who you're selling high on Eve Cummings.
Starting point is 00:23:37 Yeah, it's another shortstop that I think you could probably get more for based on the responses that I've gotten on social media. And that's Dansby Swanson. He is statistically off to a really hot start, 348, 375, 565 slug. I don't really believe it at all. He is hitting the ball in the air more. He has just a 34% ground ball rate this year, and he's been a 46, 47% ground ball rate for his career. So that's a positive, except that he's got a 22% hard contact rate.
Starting point is 00:24:10 hitting the ball in the air a lot with that type of hard contact rate does not generally result in good things. But as of right now, he's got a 429 BABIP, so the average is awesome. What I see when that regression happens is maybe a good average, but there's not pop. He's not running, and he's not hitting the right part of the order for good run production. Dansby Swanson is 57% owned. He has five doubles, which is nice. He has one home run, one triple. His home run, his triple, and one of his five doubles all came at Corsefield.
Starting point is 00:24:45 So also something to keep in mind with Swanson. Scott, so high on? I'm going to go with Eric Thames. Oh, Thames Watch. You home it again. Yeah. And it's mostly just because we've seen this before. part of it's also
Starting point is 00:25:06 the playing time crunch although Braun hasn't played first base since the second game of the season he started the first two games there and none since still even they also have Jesus Aguilar
Starting point is 00:25:20 Aguilar Yeah sorry Jesus Aguilar I was thinking Aguilera That's not right Yeah they also have him who spells Thames against Tough Lefties Sometimes so there is a playing time
Starting point is 00:25:29 concern there The thing is I mean if you look at if you look at what Thames is doing on batted balls, it looks very impressive. He's hitting the ball very, very hard. But the same was true all of last year, too, and he only got one good month out of it,
Starting point is 00:25:44 one month where we cared to use him in fantasy. So I'm reluctant to buy into him despite an early season power surge. But I think there's plenty of people who would be more willing to buy into him. All right, time for the buy high. Somebody that's off to a good start. somebody might try to sell this person say, hey, here you go, take him.
Starting point is 00:26:03 He's a sell high. You're saying, no, he's actually good. He's a buy high. I didn't really have anybody, but I'll just say Patrick Corbyn. We all think he's good, right? Yeah, that's a good one. I'll say another starting pitcher. I'll say Garrett Cole.
Starting point is 00:26:15 I moved him into my top 10, my starting pitcher rankings. He is 10th, and I'm buying it. Yep, that's another good one. Adam, we bought high together. Who do we buy high on? Jameson Tayao. And you're the, and you're the, And you're the one who was, you know, pushing for it.
Starting point is 00:26:33 So I figured you could just pick him. I don't know why I was really so hitter-focused with this segment. I think it is because we've talked so much about pitchers. Yeah, I'm in on Tyone for sure, Corbyn. I don't want to give up too much because, you know, it's only been a few starts, but I think these guys are going to be pretty reliable this year. Like, I could see buying high on Otani, but I could also see selling high on Otani. It just depends what kind of offers you're getting.
Starting point is 00:26:57 And I've seen on Twitter some ridiculous offers for Otani that you're. absolutely have to take. Oh, yeah. And some that look pretty good. So it's hard for me to classify him as anything. But he is a guy who's moved up a lot in my ranking. So in theory, he could be a buy high. And the other thing that I should say is that I've seen emails, tweets with a bunch of trades like Joe Evado.
Starting point is 00:27:17 People are getting dirt cheap right now. That's insane. I saw a trade go down in one of my leagues last night that, you know, if I had offered it, people would be up in arms like, you idiot with this azure trade. I'll look it up. It was such a bad trade, and I'll tell you what it was. But you can do this. You can make these types of trades, which is why I bring them up because you're not playing with fantasy experts.
Starting point is 00:27:40 So I don't think any of the really early players are concerning us. I just want to get that out there. Yes, by low on Joey Vado. Yes, by low on George Springer. I don't know that we're really downgrading any of the studs that are struggling right now. So even though we left them off the official by low-sell-high discussion, you know, they're part of it. The trade was Adam Wainwright and Carlos Gomez for Michael Brantley. I was so pissed off when I saw that.
Starting point is 00:28:08 Ridiculous. And what kind of league? 13-team Roto League. Just an awful, awful trade. Yeah. 13-team Roto. I like that. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:18 Someone you're actually worried about. You're actually worried about who? The other Anderson. Not Tim, but Chase. I'm worried about Chase Anderson, who's actually off to a pretty good start in terms of run prevention. But the key to his breakout last year
Starting point is 00:28:37 was just he started throwing the ball a lot harder. And he's back to status quo, back to pre-2017 levels with that now. And he's really not missing paths like he did a year ago. So I kind of feel like it's just, I guess he's gotten, a little bit lucky these first three starts. That would be the, I guess, the generous way to describe it.
Starting point is 00:29:06 And I don't know, look, I don't know that he's going to be a disaster, but I don't think he's going to be who he was last year, and I don't think he's going to be what you paid for him to be. I think he's going to be pretty fringy unless he can get that velocity back up. Well, it's interesting because I have gotten a lot of, hey, should I drop Chase Anderson for pitcher of the day questions. I really struggle with that one. I'm typically saying no.
Starting point is 00:29:25 but who of those trendy starting pitchers, if they were out there, would you drop Chase Anderson for? I'm not sure. I'm not sure I would, to be honest. I would for Newcomb. Okay. I want to see another good start like that for Newcomb before I can move them up that high in my rankings. These, yeah, they're all below Chase Anderson in my rankings still, which kind of says something about this entire exercise. Even the player who I'm legitimately worried about, I only feel like.
Starting point is 00:29:57 I can drop them so far when we're talking about three starts into the season. But it's okay. This is 10% of his season. Yeah, it's all right because I think it's important to, I called it pre-wurried. Like we're worried about getting worried about someone. And, you know, maybe Chase Anderson has a bad start. Joey Lucchese is another good one. And before somebody's able to listen to our podcast the next day,
Starting point is 00:30:19 where I specifically ask, would you drop this guy for this guy? Well, now you're arming them with the information they need to go out and make that decision. The other thing is this is just a format shallow. Like if Chase Anderson is honestly your worst player, the first one you drop, this is a much shallower format that I'm used to playing in. Right. And maybe if it's that shallow, there's going to be players like Chase Anderson getting turned over on the waiver wire all the time, so you don't need to be so protective of him.
Starting point is 00:30:48 I think that's exactly right. Yeah. Heath, go for it. Someone you're actually worried about. I had a name and then I started thinking about Chase Anderson and looking up Sean Newcomb and I told, give me yours first, Adam. I'd like to hear yours. I want to know what you are thinking.
Starting point is 00:31:05 It's fairly hot. Chris Taylor. I am worried about Chris Taylor. I was worried about all the players who didn't have track records and surprised us. Chris Taylor is batting 208. He has one walk to 12 strikeouts. So I'm certainly not dropping Chris Taylor yet, but I am pre-dropping him. I am, you know, I am maybe a month away from dropping Chris Taylor and a little bit worried about that spot on my roster.
Starting point is 00:31:30 I think that's fair. I'm not going to comment on Chris Taylor, though, because I don't want to forget this player's name again. I think there's reason to be worried about Robbie Ray. Ooh, okay. Yeah. And part of it is that the things that we expected to regress, his BABIP, which was 267 last year, has bounced back up to 303. His strand rate, which was like, he's had some bad sequences like this, just so far, where he gives up three runs, but they're all in the same inning. But his strand rate last year was 85%.
Starting point is 00:32:00 It's back down to 72, which is what his career norm is. If you look at his peripherals right now, the Sierra will make you feel the best, and it's a 370 Sierra, which is pretty close to in line with 2016 and 2017 and pretty close to in line with about where I'd expect his ERA to eventually settle. That's not good enough for where he was being drafted. Well, I mean, isn't that like a Chris Archer? That would be like a good Chris Archer ERA, and they have similar strikeout rates. The Archer's probably going to throw 50 more innings. Maybe. I mean, but based on all past events.
Starting point is 00:32:37 But there's a good chance he'll have an ERA have run higher, too. Well, the other reason I think people will be more worried about Robbie Ray is we've just seen this in 2016 when he did not. he looked like he got unlucky. I would say, I argued that he did get unlucky, but we know that's within the range of possibilities when you walk guys like he does to have an ERA that's just not even useful. Here's my Ravi Ray take, and you knew one was coming,
Starting point is 00:33:04 so here it is. Kind of like Chris said with Blake Snell yesterday, you know Robbie Ray isn't going to have a walk rate of 6.3 per 9 all season. That's ridiculous. Now, he's going to have three start stretches where he has a walk rate of 6.3 per 9, sure. But that's not really something that, like,
Starting point is 00:33:26 the Robbie Ray we've seen so far is not the Robbie Ray we're going to see all season. I think that's without question. The other concern that's been raised about Robbie Ray is the velocity's down a couple miles per hour. And maybe that's a big deal. Maybe it's not. Maybe he gets it back.
Starting point is 00:33:44 I don't know. But I feel like it's not as big of a concern as somebody like Anderson, because Robbie Ray, at least looking at on baseball reference, his swinging strike rate is exactly the same as it was a year ago. So the way that's playing out, it's not like he's getting beaten into submission and not missing bats anymore. He's just walking a lot of guys.
Starting point is 00:34:01 That's why he's struggled. He's always walked a lot of guys. Yes, but not 6.3 per 9-80s. No, it'll probably drop down to 4. Right. At worse. You know, I don't know where I see both arguments. They're both good arguments.
Starting point is 00:34:15 In 2016, he had a. 536 ERA at home and a 450 ERA on the road. It wasn't really usable either place. But I do think he's a guy. They're all going to be helped by the humidor because it does seem like the humidor is going to make an impact. But yeah, I mean, this is the thing. I just said it earlier about Sean Nukum.
Starting point is 00:34:32 I control. Guys with bad control scare me. And that's probably why I didn't draft Robbie Ray. But I also didn't, it's not like I felt like super strong conviction either way. I think it's because you both were so polarized on Robbie Ray. and you both made really good arguments. What I tweeted about Robbie Ray yesterday and, again, the Chris Archer comparison, because I've had them back to back in my rankings this whole time.
Starting point is 00:35:00 They're both very annoying to own. But at their best, they're good enough to make up for it. And I feel like we haven't seen the best anywhere close to the best from either of them this year. So I would consider both of them by Lowe's. Who was the other one? Ray and who? Archer. Okay. Yeah, obviously we all agree.
Starting point is 00:35:16 We're sitting Archer in every road start. L-O-L. J-K. L-O-L. All right, guys, I have a bonus. Sell High. I think it's very interesting. Another hot take. I'm bringing it today. But first, here's something even hotter. Look, every business needs great people and a better way to find them. Something better than just posting your job online and praying for the right people to see it. ZipRecruiter is going to make that happen for you. ZipRecruiter learns what you're looking for, identifies people with the right experience, and invites them to apply to your job. So ZipRecruiter is a website that goes out and does this for you, gets the right candidates for you. In fact, 80% of employers who post the job on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site in just one day. That is one hell of a turnaround. The right candidates are out there. ZipRecruiter is how you're going to find them. And your business is like your fantasy team, right? You need to get the right people on your team. You use us for fantasy advice. You need to use ZipRecruiter to get people for the job openings at your company.
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Starting point is 00:36:40 ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. All right, here we go. Bonus sell high with a question mark. Ozzy Albies Really excited about Albies Off to a good start is batting 278 He's got four homers He has one steal and two attempts
Starting point is 00:36:54 Five doubles and a triple He's got a 921 OPS Ozzy Albies also has No Walks and 11 strikeouts Which is weird because his plate discipline Was very, very good for a rookie last year Now why am I calling him a cell high? Well the No Walks 11 strikeouts
Starting point is 00:37:11 That hurts But also two home runs And two doubles in three games at Colorado. They will not be in Colorado for the rest of the season. So emphasizing the word high, should you look to sell Ozzy Albies or are you afraid that you'd be giving up
Starting point is 00:37:28 one of the true breakout players, and that would be a huge mistake? For me, it's the latter. I wish he had walked by now. I wish he had more stolen bases, but it's still early and he's doing some things well. You know, his soft contact percentage is actually lower than it was.
Starting point is 00:37:46 was last year. It's pretty darn low, generally speaking, in fact. And the strikeouts, they're up from last year, but they're still low compared to the league as a whole. So, yeah, I mean, I feel like a lot of the things we expect Albies
Starting point is 00:38:02 to do, he hasn't done yet, and yet look where he ranks among second baseman. That's kind of the way I've been approaching it. Yeah, I would have a difficulty just looking at the second base rankings. I haven't moved him up. So, like, I would Definitely, if somebody was worried about Jose Ramirez, trade Ozzy Albies for Jose Ramirez.
Starting point is 00:38:22 Okay. Sure. Like Robinson Cano is often extremely hot start. I think he's a better sell high than Albies is. So I wouldn't do that. I don't think I wouldn't trade him for Witt or D. Gordon in points. Daniel Murphy, it's hard to trade for. So I'd have a hard time seeing what I was going to do with that.
Starting point is 00:38:41 I think I might try to trade Albies in the one league. I own him to the Andrews owner. and see if, and so this is a weird league because you don't have to specifically start, you just have to start infielders. But, you know, it could still work because, you know, people think, probably expect the same amount of steals from Albies and Andrews, right?
Starting point is 00:39:00 Or close, close enough. Middle infielders. So maybe try to trade him and get something huge in return. But it would have to be huge. It would have to be huge. Yeah, I mean, where is the Albi's owner did you draft him? In a 12-team leagues, the later drafts we're doing,
Starting point is 00:39:17 I feel like it was round 8 or so is where you had to take them, right? So if you're selling high, obviously the assumption is you're going to get somebody who was drafted earlier than round 8. I feel like it would have to be somebody drafted in the first 5 round. Agreed. At least. Yes, agreed. Okay, thank you for this Ozzy Albi's discussion.
Starting point is 00:39:37 Let's talk about the bullpen. Three guys got saves yesterday. More than three, but these three were interesting. Keenan Middleton, it was an inning in two-thirds save, Matt Albers, and Nate Jones. Keenan Middleton, Matt Albers, and Nate Jones. What's the most significant one there? Middleton. Yeah, I think so.
Starting point is 00:40:00 It was weird that it was five outs. It was weird that Blake Parker didn't pitch at all. It was also weird that he gave up a run, right? So it wasn't a clean five outs. Right. but it certainly looked like he was Sosha's preferred bullpen option as it's looked for a while now
Starting point is 00:40:18 his last four appearances now have included the ninth inning and I think none of Blake Parker's last four have been in the ninth inning so that's I mean we're talking about four consecutive appearances for each of them that's pretty telling I would rank at Middleton
Starting point is 00:40:32 then Albers who I think is clearly the guy until Canebel's back and then Nate Jones like I was in Albers corner from the beginning when most of the world was going Barnes. You both were. I don't know how you can say it's clear.
Starting point is 00:40:48 Like, he gave up a run too. It wasn't clean. He did. He gave up an inherited run. No, he gave up his own run. He did? I am not showing that he did. No, Scott, he gave up two hits, but he did not give up a run.
Starting point is 00:41:02 Okay. Josh Hater gave up a run. So now you see. The Hater gave up a home run. Well, it's clear. It still was pretty shaky. Two hits in, um, What was it?
Starting point is 00:41:12 Was it a one-run game? Yes. So Hayter pitched the first batter of the ninth And gave up a home run Or he got an out in the ninth But he also gave up a solo home run And then Albers came in and shut the door But he did give up two single.
Starting point is 00:41:24 And it wasn't even a full inning. He gave up as many base runners as he got out. So I don't know that that... I think you're dip picking a little bit. Like, Am I think so? He's giving up one run all year. Like he's bringing it. He's bringing Craig counsel anxiety with that inning.
Starting point is 00:41:38 He struck out six batterers and walked one. I don't get the same. Save opportunity. I don't get the sense that either of them is going to get every save chance. Sure. One of them will eventually. I mean, Craig Counsel basically said, we're going to see where it goes, but eventually I'm going to settle on a guy.
Starting point is 00:41:53 Well, that is going to be Albers. I'm just, the way I, yes, I think Albers is the favorite for saves in Milwaukee right now. I would not feel comfortable dropping Barnes yet because nobody's really take the job and run with it. Okay. Hector Neras blew a save. Arodis of Skainu blew a save. Fernando Rodney blew a save.
Starting point is 00:42:09 And Greg Holland pitched in a non-saves. situation, and a scoreless inning with a walk and no strikeouts. Anything major here? Any potentially major? Hector Nerris, Viscayano, Fernando, Rodney, Greg Holland? A.J. Minter struck out the side in that game, and he had only had one strikeout all season, which was kind of worrisome. But he struck out the side in the perfect inning in this game, and yeah, I mean, Viscayino's
Starting point is 00:42:32 been pretty shaky so far. I still think that transition is going to happen sooner than later, though I don't think this is going to be the impetus for it. Yeah, I think Nairus may be in the most trouble because even after his first appearance, which was terrible, he said, we're not really sure we're going to have a set closer. And then he blows his second save opportunity. He's given up, had a couple of bad performances already. I do the most worried about Nairus. You know what's really saving him, though, is that I believe, and I'm going to confirm it here, especially since I just got something wrong, I believe that Tommy Hunter and Pat Nishak are both on the D.L.
Starting point is 00:43:07 Yes, so their prospective alternatives are both on the DL. Yeah, but those are not bad long-term stashes. I don't know. I mean, they're both pretty good. Both probably better than Neres. So I think a lot of people are already stashing Minter. A lot of people are stashing. I don't know if a lot of people are, but should be stashing Addison Reed.
Starting point is 00:43:29 Because Rodney's going to lose that job by May 1st, as you recall, I predicted. All right, let's move on here. We have a lot to get to. Fun show so far, but I need a little. talk about those starting pitchers, and we need to talk about the double dongs. Javier Baez, two more homers, Max Kepler, two homers, Kurt Suzuki, two homers, Gary Sanchez, two homers. He entered the game two for 36 Gary Sanchez. I think Baez, obviously, is the lead here.
Starting point is 00:43:55 Scott, how are you feeling about Hobby Baez? 90% own, 70% started, really had done nothing until two days ago. Now he is four home runs on the year. I'm starting to get kind of excited about Javier Baez. If you can believe it, if you can believe it, I am. Because one thing we forget about Javier Baez, it's only 25. He had a 37 homer season in the miners once. I mean, he was considered an elite power prospect when he first got called up,
Starting point is 00:44:26 and it hasn't exactly played out that way. But tons of bat speed and actualized bat speed in the miners. so far this year he's doing everything you want to see from a hitter if you're hoping that a hitter will improve his hard contact rate is up his pull percentages up his fly ball percentage is up his line drive
Starting point is 00:44:49 percentages up like everything everything that we get excited about for a hitter buys is doing walk rates up strikeout rates down everything so I mean it's early obviously and you know over the next two weeks, those numbers could totally normalize. But they could not also.
Starting point is 00:45:09 Probably it's not going to happen, but this won't be brought by as this breakout season, but it doesn't take much imagination to see it. I think the next step, if you work for fan graphs or any of these baseball reference, any of these sites, you really, like, get on this. Get your developers to listen to this clip of the podcast. What you have to do is let us do date ranges and find all these advanced stats. because I would love to know what his batted ball data was three days ago and how much the hard contact rate has gone up over the last two days.
Starting point is 00:45:40 I can tell you what it was three days ago. Oh, you can do this? I think you can do it. It's just clumsy. So you want to go with the 8th of April? Sure. Oh, okay. You're doing this now.
Starting point is 00:45:53 Why you do that? You've got to take a few minutes. I can't do it instantly in my head. It's not like baseball reference where you click on one date and click on the other. Boom, there's the data. I've got it now. Okay, what do you got? So on April 8th, he had a 40% hard contact rate.
Starting point is 00:46:06 He had a 20% soft contact rate. That's good, right? This is good stuff. He had a 0% home run to fly ball rate. Had we looked at his batted ball data then, we would have said, Javi Baez is going to hit some home runs. That's important. All right.
Starting point is 00:46:21 So I will wait and see where it goes. Real quick, guys, anything on Kepler, Suzuki, or Sanchez? Kepler's really elevating the ball like never before, too. I haven't seen anything, him say anything, about that being something he's tried to do. But if you look at his batted ball profile this season, it looks very much like a Jay Bruce profile, and he has the homers to back it up.
Starting point is 00:46:46 So, you know, very early again, but you could at least see how maybe there is a transformation happening here. And by the way, he was in my top 10 sleeper hitters for this week. Would you rather have Kepler or Matt Kemp, who's actually pretty hot right now? I'll stay with Kim. I think I had, I think I'm staying with Kepler, and I think I had Kepler higher to begin with.
Starting point is 00:47:10 Okay, these guys are owned in less than 50% of leagues. Kepler or Dexter Fowler? I will stick with Fowler in a points league, but maybe take a chance on Kepler and Roto. I think I'll take Fowler on both. Okay, we had the FAMS watch. Well, Scott kind of ruined the FAMs Watch, called him to Sell High. So thanks for ruining the segment.
Starting point is 00:47:29 Let's do the Davidson Watch. The Davidson Watch. Matt Davidson, Homer, he's got five. And he's got nine walks, 14Ks. This is a guy who was like one walk every 10 strikeouts last year. Yeah, how many walks did he have total last year? 16? I think so, right around there.
Starting point is 00:47:44 So he's more than halfway there. And I'll just, again, say that he was always a good walk guy in the miners. Yeah, he was. He had a little more than a half a season where he didn't walk. But that looks like it's changed. Yeah, I mean, that'll be a game changer if he sustains it. And we've seen and guys have big walk months. before and not sustain it. So it's
Starting point is 00:48:04 too early to say, but I'm more open-minded to Tim Anderson than I was when, or sorry, not Tim Anderson. Matt Davidson. Matt Davidson, the other White Sock who homered multiple times on opening day. When Matt Davidson homered three times on opening day, I'm more open-minded to him now than I was then.
Starting point is 00:48:21 All right, I'm going to do the news and I feel like such a failure. I'll tell you why in a moment. Trey Mancini Day to day, hit by a pitch on the hand. Malik Smith, stayed in the lineup, mentioned that. Yadir Malina served his suspension. Brandon McCarthy partially dislocated his left shoulder, and he's got a good chance to make his next start. Yuli Guriel could be back tomorrow. Manuel Margo is on the DL. David Peralta sat yesterday. He's still bothered by a hand injury that he suffered in spring
Starting point is 00:48:44 training. It's David Peralta. Charlie Blackman sat again with quad tightness. Marco Estrada, it was looking great, and then it all fell apart. He was pitching with back discomfort, which he said was not the reason for his struggles, Marco Estrada. And Travis Darno, I don't know if they have they officially announced he will. have Tommy John surgery. He just might... He's going to be out for a while, if not the season. So Kevin Plewecki becomes a number two catcher, right? Yeah, I was looking at my rankings. I think I'd move him up to 17th among catchers,
Starting point is 00:49:14 so certainly in play in two catcher leagues. Plewecki got hurt yesterday, but it seems like it's just day-to-day. So I feel like a failure because we should have talked about these guys earlier, but they've had a very interesting, you know, good-spirited show, and unfortunately, the rotation. got pushed back. So let's go through it here and tell me who you're concerned about. Because all of these guys, I think, have at some point or are now giving us a reason to be concerned.
Starting point is 00:49:40 Lance McCullors, he has been terrible, third time through the order. Third time through the order, he has allowed 10 runs on 10 hits in an inning of a third. Opponents are hitting 769. And, okay, it's small sample size. But last year, he had a 1003-ERA third time through the order, Lance McCullors, and opponents hit 365. Robbie Ray, we talked about. Carlos Carrasco, Velocity's down, and the strikeouts are down. Now, he has faced three opponents so far.
Starting point is 00:50:07 They're all in the bottom seven in strikeouts per game, so that could be part of it, but the velocity is down after a complete game, one-run outing yesterday. Carrasco. You know, James Paxton, I think he's fine. He had a great start. The ERA is still kind of high, but he looks good. Tanaka, beautiful start to the season, beautiful start to the game against the Red Sox,
Starting point is 00:50:27 Then he got crushed in the fifth inning, gave up a grand slam, and now he has a 519 ERA and four homers in 17 and a third. Alex Wood, Velocity, way down. And yesterday, you can maybe excuse it because he had food poisoning a few days ago, but got roughed up by the A's. Bad sushi. Bad sushi for Alex Wood. That's why I'm never eating sushi.
Starting point is 00:50:47 Was it really sushi? Scott and I agree entirely on this subject. And so do I. Count me in. Oh, we're the sushi list podcast. Anti-Sushi podcast. It's a good thing to get a lecture from the sushi lovers out there. Oh, Chris Towers would absolutely, I'm sure, lecture us. But no sushi for non-zero chance.
Starting point is 00:51:06 I got enough foods I like. I don't need another. I'm sure it's delicious. But, you know, if I never try it and I'll never know. I'm pretty sure it's not. I've had it. Some of it's okay. Some of it's okay. I'll tell you what, guys.
Starting point is 00:51:16 I think that, so I have some data that tells me how long people are listening to the podcast. And while most people are probably still listening, there are a number that cannot listen for 50 minutes. So I think what we should do is start tomorrow's show with these starting pitchers and the ones that we're really worried about because it also includes John Lester, Luis Castillo, and Danny Duffy. You want to give me a... Great tease. Sneak peek on who you might be concerned about for tomorrow's show? Sure. I might be concerned. The only one from this list who gives me any concerns at all is Danny Duffy, and I'm not hugely concerned about him.
Starting point is 00:51:57 I am 100% concerned in Danny Duffy. I am 95% concerned in Alex Wood. And I'm about 90% concerned, 80% concern in Robbie Ray. Wood has such a good excuse. Bad sushi. I think, but it's been consistent. The velocity's been down all year. I actually, yeah, but the velocity's been down to where it was every year prior to last
Starting point is 00:52:17 year. Right. You don't want him to be the pitcher he was every year prior to last year. He was a great pitcher prior to last year. It's just when his velocity is. he was up last year, he was the best pitcher in baseball. Nobody drafted him to be the best pitcher in baseball. It's ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:52:30 He used to be 89 miles per hour last night, though. That's where he used to be. Really? He used to be 89 to 91. It was fine. He wasn't worth his ADP this year, though. Look at his career numbers. They're number three starter-type numbers in fantasy,
Starting point is 00:52:43 and that's what he was drafted to be. He's going to be exactly who you wanted him to be. All right, so moving on, I want to go through the fringey starting pitchers. Kevin Gosbin, Marco Estrada, Adam Wainwright, Brandon McCarthy, Gosman Estrada, Wayne Wright, McCarthy. Clearly, Gosman and Estrada are in a different class. Yeah, good stuff from Gosman.
Starting point is 00:53:04 Six innings, three runs, three walks, seven strikeouts. And he's somewhat rebounded since the terrible opening day start. Or, yeah, pitched opening day, right? Yeah, whatever it was, for his first start. Okay, yeah, I don't think there's much to say here. Gosman and Estrada, how do you compare them with the hot pickups? Skaggs is over the world. I prefer both to Skaggs.
Starting point is 00:53:29 I would have Estrada behind some of those guys. But Estrada gets a pass for this start because he dominated for the first three innings and then had some back issues flare up in the fourth, and that's when he got shelled. It was actually his best swinging strike rate of the total of the season, even though it was an abbreviated start. So he had that change of working.
Starting point is 00:53:51 Yeah, other guys we talked about at the top, I'd rather have Nukem. I'd rather have Monique. I'd rather have Raneldo Lopez. They're ahead of the rest of them. Than both? Than both. Brandon McCarthy, I mean, I think 34% is higher than I thought, but I think it's pretty appropriate.
Starting point is 00:54:05 Like, I kind of want a little bit of Brandon McCarthy. I don't want any of Adam Wayne, right? None. Get that guy out of there. He can go suck an egg. Deep Leagues, Junior Gera, Brewer's pitcher. Jarlane Garcia, Jarlane the Marlin? It's Jarlane?
Starting point is 00:54:22 What would it be, Arlin? Jarlene? I've been calling him Harlan. Harlan. Harlan would make sense, too. I had an uncle named Harlan once, but it wasn't spelled like that. Sometimes when you get those Germanic names in Spanish, like Johan, you know? Johann Santana.
Starting point is 00:54:39 Harlan. With that Y sound at the front. All right, might be. I don't know. Maybe we can look it up. Angels first basement. Jeffrey Marte is batting 440, and they're all 7% less or 7% owner less. Any interest in Junior Garra, Arlen Garcia, or Jeffrey Marte?
Starting point is 00:54:54 Not really. No. It is Harleen. Harleen. Harleen Garcia. Well, then they can't call him Harleen the Marlene. No. They could.
Starting point is 00:55:08 Harleen. Nobody's stopping them. That's stupid. Two syllables. That would be the sushi of nicknames. Thank you, He. For the syllabus. Hey, make sure you listen to Jonah Carey's interview with Bill de Blasio.
Starting point is 00:55:23 Overheard on that podcast. was this little debate. If I had the power, I would just take Tampa Bay and move them to Montreal right this minute. I will interject for one second, and here's what I will say about that.
Starting point is 00:55:33 I know the pain of losing a team. Yeah. I'm also against public funding for stadium. I don't believe that's a good idea. I think we named 40 different ventures that are better off than that. There needs to be a balance, but from a fan-based perspective,
Starting point is 00:55:46 I wouldn't talk to somebody from Tampa or St. Pete or Orlando and say, yeah, you don't deserve it because you didn't show up. Even if it meant a team coming to Montreal, which I want very much, I would not want Tampa Bay to lose their keys. All right, that's really noble. But one counter, one counter to that. And you'll have to tune in to hear the counter.
Starting point is 00:56:03 You know my favorite part of that exchange? What? Jonah Carey called the plural of stadiums, stadia. That's one of those weird English things that I'm always arguing with people about. I feel like that's what it should be. I didn't even catch that. Stadia. Heath sings, wow.
Starting point is 00:56:20 How about that? That's a new one. All right, today's matchups. Pirates Cubs, Trevor Williams, at Kyle Hendricks. I will go start Hendricks, and that's it. Yep. Michael Fulmer at Trevor Bauer. Start both.
Starting point is 00:56:37 Start them. Michael Waka at Sal Romano. I'm borderline on Waka. I guess I'd lean toward it. What do you think, Heath? At this point in the week, I think I know well enough in my head-to-head categories league, whether I'm starting Michael Waka. It's like if you're chasing wins and strikeouts, start them. If you're trying to hold a small lead in the RA and whip, I wouldn't.
Starting point is 00:57:05 Rockies at Nationals, Chad Bettis at Gio Gonzalez. Start Gio? Yeah. Very nervous about starting Sunny Gray at Boston against Rick Porcelo. For whatever reason, I feel better about Porcelo than Gray. You know what? I'd start them both. I would probably, like, I would start WACA over either of them.
Starting point is 00:57:23 I wouldn't do that. Okay. White Sox of Twins. Gialito at Boreos? I think we got to bench Gialito until that curve comes around. It's looking like 37-degree weather in Minnesota. So yeah, Golito's no. But Berrios is yes.
Starting point is 00:57:38 This Gialito, in DFS terms, is what we would call a tournament play. And I think he is a big swing and miss type play, which is what the twins have done a lot this year. They have the second highest swinging strike rate or strikeout rate. They also have the second highest ISO. This could go really well or really bad. Angels at Royals? Tropeiano at Ian Kennedy. I'll throw Kennedy out there.
Starting point is 00:58:01 I'm terrified of Ian Kennedy. Things have drastically warmed up in Kansas City. 75 degrees with a 20-mile-on-hour wind blowing out to left tonight with Trout, Upton. Otani. I'd rather start walking. Kinsler back. Kinsler back, too. Did you know that Kinsler did not come off the DL yesterday so O'Tani could stay in the lineup?
Starting point is 00:58:23 Because Kinsler, I guess, is going to have to D.H. something keep an eye. I don't know what the situation is going to have to get at the second base. Well, yeah, there was a report that Otani is, like, actively lobbying for more playing time. Wait. Why is Kinsler going to have to
Starting point is 00:58:37 DH? Not healthy enough to... Maybe just yesterday. I don't know. But that's what he said... That would throw a wrench and thing. He said he didn't want to take Otani out of the lineup, but he'll be back today. Giants and Padres, Chris Stratton at Brian Mitchell.
Starting point is 00:58:53 No. Nah. Okay, and we've got a show tomorrow that with just eight games on the schedule that should leave us plenty of time for a mailbag. We've got some listeners who are beefing, or at least I'm going to try to make them beef, which should be fun. Sounds really productive. Yeah, we'd try to get a listener bench-clearing brawl going. We'll read some emails. We will talk about those starting pitchers.
Starting point is 00:59:17 We will talk about anything from today's games. We'll rock and roll. Thank you very much, everybody, for Heath Cummings and Scott White. I'm Adam Azer. Talk about you on Friday. Thank you.

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