Fantasy Baseball Today - 04/19: Double Dongs, Most Added, Week 5 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 19, 2019

Who is our favorite two-start pitcher for Fantasy Week 5 (2:30)? Spoiler alert: It's Luke Weaver. Are we buying what we've seen in his last two starts? And who stood out on Thursday (5:45)? We'll cover Mike Soroka, Ryan McMahon, and a SP that is only owned in 8% of CBS leagues ... News and notes (14:16), and we revisit some concerns we had in Spring Training to see how they are playing out thus far (21:00). From Patrick Corbin's fastball to velocity issues for several closers to Garrett Hampson's playing time ... A couple of big time hitters are off to bad starts (31:40), the Dropometer returns (35:40), we look at the Most Added list (40:00), discuss Joey Votto (44:40) and Mike Clevinger among others, preview two-start pitchers (55:40) and weekend streamers at the end of the show ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Domingo San Diego Today. It is Kokomo Friday. It is casual Friday. It is holiday Friday. Oh, it's a good day. We are going to talk about some fantasy baseball. Get you ready for...

You might even say it's good Friday. It is. It should be a great Friday. Happy Good Friday, everybody. Happy Passover. You're celebrating the holiday. Have a wonderful, wonderful holiday. And a great weekend.

And let's tell you how to win some fantasy baseball. We're going to tell you who to add, who to drop, two-start pitchers. for next week. I want Heath to tell his coffee story. Heath, are you ready to tell your story? I can tell it. It's not going to be as funny now. It was two days ago.

I know. You want to tell you, I thought about that. I never wanted to tell my story. It was such a good story. Scott, have you heard the story? I haven't heard the story. Okay, good. Yeah, yeah.

All right, we'll get to that. Scott, I just want you to know. I was in the office in Fort Lauderdale each of the last two days. I'm back in New York now. I want you to know, I forgot to tell you that I sat at your desk, and I want to know if that if you feel I kind of violated, because I wouldn't be happy if someone sat at my desk. Well, no, because everything, I saw the desk Wednesday, and everything was in order.

You didn't move things around. So that, it only bothers me when I show up to my desk and everything's kind of disheveled and it's like, what came through here? Hurricane Adam wasn't so bad. I should have taken something from Scott's desk, hit it. And then Scott would have been looking for it, and Adam would have been the person to sit at his desk. That would have been perfect. I screwed up.

Lessons learned for next time. I did change the channel on the TV, though. All right, who is your favorite? Who is your favorite two-start pitcher for Fantasy Week 5 that is owned in less than 70% of leagues, or 70% of leagues or less, I guess I should say? If we're looking ahead, we'll do two-star pitchers later in the show at the end of the show like we usually do. who's the best one to pick up off waivers i'll throw it to you first scott uh so i'm pulling up the list now i think it may be i think it may be luke weaver you hate luke weaver scott hates we go

an email about how you hate luke weaver so i was just uh interrupting to to yell at you for hating luke weaver i don't hate luke weaver scott well i don't as a two-star pitcher for next week we can all one of the starts being pittsburgh which is a good match if other the Cubs, which is sometimes a good matchup. But yeah, his last two starts, he's looked really good. 16 swinging strikes yesterday, 8 or 7 on the changeup. 17 strikeouts between the last two starts. So he's, you know, it's not for sure that he's back, but that's very encouraging.

And he would be somebody worth adding even if it was just one start, potentially. Kreeh, you got your eyes on any two-star. pitchers for next week? I am interested in Lance Lynn for this upcoming week. He's been better this year than he was last year so far at the very least. And he's at Oakland and then at Seattle. Seattle should be a pretty tough matchup, but it's not a terrible place to pitch. He's just, he's got two good parks that he's pitching in.

The matchups aren't super great, but I think he can be useful at the very Easton-Had to Head Points League. Yeah, mine was definitely going to be Luke Weaver, because I actually like Luke Weaver. And I think I started in this week in a one-start week. I think he's someone that's not necessarily must-start, but someone you can absolutely start, even if he doesn't have two-starts, you'd definitely start him when he has two. Okay, and I just want to say, I'm sure Chris likes Luke Weaver better than Lance Lynn. Chris wanted to give us a different name.

Lance Lynn is only 23% owned. So that's someone you can look at, I think, you know, there are not... He didn't go with the stout? He didn't go with the stallion. You could have gone with the stallion, Chris. He's got one tough matchup among the two, and we're going to have a whole segment about this later. About the stallions?

Well, probably, but also just about two-star pitchers. It's true. You know. Save some ammo for later. Yeah, I don't give someone under the radar for your favorite. I want to leave some arrows in the quiver, Heath. I don't know. He didn't scroll far enough.

Okay. No, he's above Lance Lynn, actually, sir. I saw him at Philadelphia was the thing that pushed me away from him. It depends how you sort it, I guess. What's a worst matchup at Philadelphia or at Seattle? I think at Philadelphia for sure. I don't buy that Seattle is this elite offense because they've had a good three weeks collectively.

Philadelphia has much more talent and it's a much better place to hit. but they don't have fantasy irrelevant player Udubo Herrera. I'm glad we don't have to argue about him anymore. He is on the intro list. Like anymore, he's going to come back. Yeah, but by that point, we just won't be arguing about him anymore. All right, so let's go to the standouts, and the first standout was going to be, well, the two pitchers in the Diamondbacks Braves game, Mike Soroka and Luke Weaver,

both are owned in less than 50% of leagues. Soroka's 41% own, Weaver's 48% own. Scott alluded to it that Weaver's now had two good starts in a row against San Diego and at Atlanta, and he is a two-star pitcher. Soroka, if he stays in the rotation, he's lined up to make one start at Cincinnati. Is he staying in the rotation? And encouraging start, five innings, four hits, one run, two walks, six strikeouts against Arizona, and he gets a no decision. Who would you rather have? I think it's an easy question because of job security, but Soroka versus Weaver, it's Weaver, right?

We're getting over our skis on Luke Weaver right now, I feel like. Well, I'm just asking you to Soroka. Two good starts? I haven't really moved him all years. Top 50 starting pitcher, but not in my top 40. That's just where I had him. All I said is it was encouraging and he's worth picking up. I don't know that that's getting over his skis.

I'd rather have him than Soroka. Are you not, are you ignoring him, Chris? No, I just like, he said he's a must start in a two-star week. Yeah. Yeah, I don't agree with that. He's been the high guy on Weaver. long. So that's something that sounds like

it sounds like something he would say. I think if Mike Soroka had a rotation spot based on what he showed yesterday, there are some really, really encouraging signs and it's not just in the results. His velocity was up and he pretty much doubled his change up and slider

usage yesterday from what he did in 2018 and as we've seen across baseball, that's usually a good thing. His velocity was up to 94.1 miles prow on average, 92.6 last year. So really encouraging signs from him.

Here's what I like seeing from him. He got 13 swinging strikes, two on the two seamer, four on the four seamer, five on the slider, two on the change. When a guy is able to spread his swinging strikes among that many pitches,

I feel like it says, it shows how good the Arsenal is, and he's 21 years old. The fact that he has that many pitches is a big reason why he's been such a highly regarded prospect for so long. I say so long, even though he's 21 years old. And the fact that the Braves haven't sent him down yet, I mean, they could have sent him down right after this start,

because it's not clear that Mike Fultenevich won't be ready to take that next turn. Maybe they'll send him down this morning, but it kind of signals to me that they're waiting to see how Tuki Touss start goes today, and then maybe sending the worst of those two down. It's a tough call, though. I mean, do you add, do you add Mike Soroka, knowing that you could be wasting a roster spot on somebody who's about to get sent out? You know? Would you rather have Frankie Motas yesterday's standout or Mike Soroka?

Well, the non-Montas believer, I would say Soroka. But yeah, you're only picking him up with the idea that it's a roster spot to play with, and you may be dropping them in a couple days. But sometimes that's, sometimes that makes sense when you're pursuing upside. Okay. All right, who else stood out yesterday? Kreeh, Heath in particular. Tell me who stood out to you in Thursday's games? Ryan McMahon's back.

He got three hits and hit two home runs. I think that stood out more than anything to me. He is someone that has the ability to be a top 12 second baseman and top 20 first baseman. And one of the reasons is because of course field and they took advantage of it yesterday. And he only has played two home games this year, Ryan. McMahon and his numbers look a lot better. Guess how owned Ryan McMahon is? 62%.

Yes, yes he is. That was a lot of suspense. Well, it depends where you're playing. I mean, we usually address the CBS ownership percentages, but this is something I got into on Twitter last night is just how different it is across various sites. He's only like 10% owned in ESPN leagues. He's only like 25% owned in Yahoo leagues. And I feel like there's even better, more upside than what Heath was giving him credit for.

I feel like he could be a total stud. Obviously, you know, the probability of that happening is lower than a not happening. But it could happen. And we were talking about that kind of upside, what he showed this spring, what he showed in the minors, the fact he's playing at course field. I think you take a shot on that sort of player, even in the shallowest leagues. In some of those other formats,

he's probably going to be triple eligible, and on our site he's soon going to have second base to go with first base. So there are going to be several places to use them. This is Ryan McMahon. We're talking about 62-0-Douin' double-dong yesterday, one of three players who had two home runs. I think when we talk about, what Scott just said, in the shallow leagues,

I think we need to get Chris doing his invitation of Bradley Cooper in that song Shallow. I'm not sure if you want to break that out, but it was very funny when I heard it earlier. In the shallow, shallow, in the shallow. And then he does the Lady Gaga. Yeah, nice. Very good. We love them, folks. Anyone, we got a lot of time to talk about players on the show.

What? What? You've been designated to side show. We love it. We love them, folks. We'll bring it back out later. You guys will get used to them. Autographs after the show.

I want to promote Spotify. We're on Spotify. Spotify is podcast now. And please, even if you don't want to listen to us on Spotify, just follow us on Spotify. Follow us on this podcast because we need, we entered the Spotify game late. We need to push ourselves up in the ratings. So we need people listening and following us on Spotify. So please give it a listen there if you'd like.

All right. I was going to ask you for more standouts. Let's get one more. Who else from yesterday did we need to know about? Chris never gave one. Scott didn't really either. Yeah, it was just me. Yeah.

How about Homer Bailey? No. No, not Homer Bailey. What's happening? Well, he's been kind of awesome this year. Sometimes I remember things that we talked about last year, and I remember doing this last year with Homer Bailey because he had like two really good starts in a row

coming off the DL in July or something like that. I have it somewhere of my notes. And then he was just straight up awful after that. Yeah, so he had two starts in July with 14 and 2 thirds, four runs, 14 strikeouts, 12% swinging strike weight, which is really good. And then he was awful after that. No, no, no.

Never, never, never on Homer Bailey for me. Wow, sounds like someone's mad that his favorite team got dominated by Homer Bailey yesterday. That splitters really looked good for us. Yeah. Yeah, the splitter's been awesome, and it's something that he's used in the past, but not nearly as often as he has so far. He's getting swinging strikes.

The velocity's down, but I don't know if Homer Bailey's velocity was ever anything to get excited about. It's just, it's an interesting start. I don't know if it's much more than AL-only relevant, but I don't think we should just ignore it. He's only 8% own, which makes it easier, which probably means he's like 0.1% owned everywhere else.

Probably it would be owned in a 15-team league or deeper. And just a fun fact, there were only two players in the Yankees lineup yesterday that have an OPS over 800. Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier? Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier. There you go. Homer Bailey, two starts next week at Tampa Bay, against the Angels. Not bad. Not bad, but not for me. But I don't play in any 15 team.

I play in a 16 team league. I guess I could see our thinking of up. Yeah, I think if a 16 team, especially points, I think you definitely want to pick them up if it's like 14 or deeper point. Let's pick them up in the four the people league. Go ahead, pick them up. I hope we're playing you next week. Are we actually going to start him? The two-star pitcher. There you go. There you go. There you go. Exactly. Homer Bailey for everyone else, not for me. Let's go through the news and notes. Lucas Gialito is on the IL with a hamstring injury.

Ken Jin Ryu is going to rejoin the Dodgers rotation tomorrow, and Julio Arias coming off a brilliant start against the Brewers is going back to the bullpen, but Dave Robert said we see Arias as a starter. Scott, what should we do if we own Julio Arias? If it's the kind of league where you can stash like a prospect, the kind of league where if you owned Nick Povetta, you wouldn't have dropped him.

I think you hold on to Urius, but otherwise I think you can let him go because it's not just it's not just he's about to get bumped for Junjun Riu. Ross Stripling is about to get bumped for Rich Hill. And there will be an opportunity later, but you don't know how soon.

It seems like stripling's still ahead in the pecking order. They're obviously motivated to preserve Rias' innings. So it could be a while before we see him start again. And I don't know that you want to devote a precious roster spot to that in in like a standard head-to-head league where you're dealing with 21 roster spots. All right, Kyle Freeland left with a blister.

Oduble Herrera is on the I.L. with a hamstring strain. Tanner O'Rourke had a three-pitch inning at San Diego, which began with a lead-off hit or hit by pitch or something. Lead-off batter got on, double play, fly-out, three-pitch inning for Tanner-Rowark. Byron Buxton stole his fourth base, I believe, yesterday. is now stolen 33 consecutive bases without getting caught, extending a

twins record, Byron Buxton. Justin Turner, returner... Maybe he should do that more. To the line... Yeah, he should run more. Justin Turner, returner to the lineup, L.O.L. Mike Mustakas sat against a lefty. Sometimes it's moves. Sometimes it's Shaw. Gene Segura remains day-to-day. It looks like he'll avoid the IL.

Whereas Dustin Bidroa is on the IL, and that could be a long-term thing. I told you yesterday I picked up Eduardo Nunez in a Roto League. Oakland signed Chris Davis to a two-year extension. Fernando Tatis led off for the Padres. Joey Vado has led off three straight games for the Reds, and he homered yesterday,

and we are going to talk about him today in our mailbag section. And according to graphics guide, John Demuzio, for the show, Chris Towers jinxed Zach Eflin last night with a congratulatory tweet about how well he was pitching in Coresfield. Oh, it wasn't even that. I tuned in, like, the fifth inning, and he hadn't given up a run. And I just had the thought. And I think it's an interesting discussion point.

But I think we kind of assume that when a pitcher is on the road in Colorado and they pitch well, that means more than pitching well in any other circumstance. And I got the thing yesterday, I don't know if that's true because course field is so weird. I'm not sure that pitching well there. And Eflin ended up, I think, with a quality start. you gave up a three-run home run like almost immediately after I tweeted that. I think that's what John's referred.

Yes, that is exactly what I'm referring to. But I'm kind of, I kind of think it makes more sense to just not even think about what happens in course field for visiting pitchers, good or bad. And actually I feel a little good about that idea because former Braves pitcher Eric O'Flaherty

jumped in on Twitter and confirmed that that place is like the, Twilight Zone. So I think it's a good point. Yeah, I remember looking at Luke Weaver about the same point last night. I didn't see your tweet, which is really weird because I usually get notifications. But there's a little icon.

I remember looking and he was at five innings pitch, scoreless. And I thought, man, Zach Eflin's having a good start. He had three walks and no strikeouts at that point. He ended up striking out two in the six and then gave up some runs. So this was whatever. It doesn't change my opinion at all. Right, but that's what I think that's what I'm

saying is that regardless of the outcome because it's so weird and because what you need to succeed there doesn't really translate anywhere else. It's almost like if you did well or you did poorly, let's just not even think about it in course field. Freddie Peralta's, uh, why

why would it why would a good start at a hitter's park not be better? Because it's not a hitter's park. It's not a hitter's park. Coorsfield is not a hitter's park. It's not a hitter's park in the traditional sense of a hitter's park. It's a completely different environment from anywhere else that you're hitting or pitching.

The ball doesn't move the same way. It carries further. And so I just, I don't think any lessons we can learn from course field good or bad with visiting pitchers. Freddie Peralta, his major league debut was five and two thirds, one hit, no runs, two walks, 13 strikeouts at Colorado last year. His next start was four runs in four in four innings at. Minnesota. Yeah, to be fair, he actually, three of his first four starts were great.

But, yeah, I mean, it is just one start even if it is at Colorado. And I was disappointed, the strikeouts weren't there for Eflin. Before the game, I feel like a strikeout rate was pretty good. Last year, I think it was 8.6 per 9. But in his first two seasons, which wasn't a ton of innings, it was like less than five strikeouts per nine. So, yeah, something to keep mind with Eflin. We're going to talk about, I asked you guys before the show,

hey, what were your spring training concerns and how have they played out so far in 2019? And have they come to fruition? Have they been, you know, alleviated? You're not concerned about it anymore. I'm going to ask you what your responses are, spring training concerns and what you've noticed so far in the first four weeks of the season. We're going to take a quick break on fantasy baseball today and come right back. So I wanted to talk about Patrick Corbyn. I was a little concerned about his velocity.

I will get to that, but I will throw it to you guys first. Heath, a spring training concern and how it has played out in the regular season this far. Yeah, I've got three of them. I was concerned about whether Garrett Hampson was actually going to get to play every day and whether he'd be any good with his bat if he did. And I've been completely and totally right. I was also really concerned about Hermann Marquez and the small sample size of his breakout last year. And I'd look like a complete idiot.

Well, I like Marquez, but just to be fair to you, even though you know you complete idiot sure he's only had one home start right and it was terrible that's true so we shall see how that one goes he's been great on the road okay so that's two any other rockies related spring training concern i don't think i have any other rockies related i guess the one other spring training concern that i had that kind of stood out was i was concerned that the blue jays were really going to mess with flathamererara and not just mess with him like major league baseball teams normally do and that one's looking more and more legit i think he's going to be up in like the next week yeah let's pick it everybody pick a day

everybody pick a day it's april 19th i'm going to go with the 28th my wife's birthday vladimir guerrero junior day it's going to be the start of a series oh that's a sunday i'm going to say I'm going to say the 23rd. Scott? Scott, what do you have? I would have said today, except if you'd ask me two days ago. So instead, they got five games next week. They're all at home.

I assume the first one's on Tuesday, so I'm going to say Tuesday. That's a smart guess. Okay, Heath. Tuesday is the 23rd, so he's picking the same date as you. Wow. And I will pick the 29th, so that way I have the entire rest of the season to be right. If it's April 29th or later, I win. You price is right at us.

Yeah, I'll be the closest. No. Yeah, that's exactly how it works. There you go. It's always the competition. Reminds me of a great Price's Right Family Guy moment, which I can't say on the air. One of my favorite moments in the show. When you see the struggles of Eloy Jimenez, does that make you back off your expectations of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.??

What do you mean? He's had, he's had three home runs. He's having a really bad season. I don't think that's accurate. He's had a little bit of a slow start, but I don't think he's had a really bad season. I think you're underplaying it a little bit. Thus, he's been striking out more than I would have expected. He is a 699 OPS.

I think he did by the last year now. Okay, baseball references and updated. He had a 699 OPS going into yesterday, and he homered. Four walks, 21s. strikeouts going in yesterday. He's been bad. I don't know why we're like splitting hairs on this.

He has a 740 OPS. He's hitting 261. This was a guy that we were talking about as a must start out. He's not been as good as I was hoping you would be. His first 75 plate appearances of his career, he's been a slightly average to above average hitter. Oh, get out of time.

Not for fantasy purpose. He's been a fantasy bust as of now. Does it change your... Look, I'm not saying. down on him. I'm just saying he has been. Does Jimenez's struggles change your thoughts on Vlad? No. I'm not sure what one would have to do with the

other, to be honest. And they don't change my thoughts on Jimenez. Okay, fair enough. It just we should expect guys to struggle when they get called up. It shouldn't be a shock if that happened. Scott White, spring training concerns and how have they played out? So I

had concerns about a couple of closers and how hard they were throwing one of them was Greg Holland and it was kind of unfortunate because they had him pitch regular spring games early on

and he got throttled and the velocity wasn't there and then they had him pitch on the backfields for a few weeks so we never got a chance there even came a point in spring training where I asked three different beat riders you know what's going on with him is his velocity looked better and that

They all, well, the ones who answered told me we haven't had a chance to see him because they haven't been pitching him. So obviously that has proven to be not a big deal because he's been dominant at the get going. Kenley Jansen, I had basically the same concerns for him. It sounded like the velocity was down even more early in spring training. The results were fine, but as much as it seemed to impact him across the board last year, the one mile per hour drop in velocity, I thought it would be, I thought it could just completely collapse if he continued, if his skills continued to erode. And the velocity is down a little more here at the start of the regular season, but he's looked, he's looked fine. Stringy strike rate is up a

little bit, so is the strikeout rate. He's not, he's not Pete Kenley Jansen, but he's still, you know, he's still perfectly one of the more reliable closers you're going to find. Go ahead, Chris. What concern you in? spring training and what have you seen so far? Travis Shaw definitely concerned me and that has continued to be a concern.

So whether that continues or not, it's hard to say, but the strikeout to walk ratio has been a problem yet again and it was a serious problem in the spring. So I do not think we can say one way or the other that it's

not a concern, but I'm more concerned about Travis Shaw than I was certainly going into spring training. Beyond that, I guess Tyler Glassnow would have been the one that, based on spring training, because he had a history of all these control problems, was tinkering with his delivery in the spring after it seemed like the raise had figured something out.

I think his last 10 starts of last year, he had like a three, four walks per nine. So the fact that, that he had, I think it was 11 walks in 14 innings or something, was certainly concerning. And then he's come out and probably had the best stretch of control in his career, including the minors, and probably high school. So it's one of those things where we shouldn't ignore spring training entirely, but you shouldn't fundamentally alter your perception of a player either,

unless there's a really good reason to. Yeah, I hate the Glass Now thing. because I didn't end up with any shares of him, even though I was very excited going into spring training. The same is true for Colin McHugh, for that matter. It's always tricky to know. I mean, that seemed like good information. He's altering his delivery, and look, he's throwing a bunch of balls again.

It's not like I took him off my breakout list because of him, but it made me probably wait just an extra round to draft him, and it ended up being a round too long. And I think at this point I just have to buy into Patrick Corbyn and just accept the fact that he's a guy who pitches off his slider, and it's a great pitch, and he's a really good pitcher. It's actually, it's interesting. He's throwing his slider less, and his curveball, less than he did last year.

He's back up so far this year around 55% fastball usage. Last year it was closer to 47, 48%. Okay. Well, however he's doing, thanks for filling me in. But Corbin is 236 CRA, but five walks, 33 strikeouts. now. Three straight starts with nine or more strikeouts. This is all in 26 and two-thirds. And there was an eight-start stretch last year where Corbyn went two and three with a 479 ERA. It still had a ton of strikeouts, but it just sort of seemed like he was getting hit kind of hard.

He just didn't have a great fastball. He could get the whiffs, but he would give up maybe some homers. And that just sort of stuck with me. But I think at this point, you know, obviously it's still early in the season and things can change, but I don't see a reason why I shouldn't be buying into Patrick Corbyn. And I completely regret not intentionally not drafting him. And at this point, I would certainly take him over Strasbourg. I think you guys probably had him ranked over Strasbourg. But in my mind, I like Strasbourg better. But I think it's obvious.

Corbin should be ahead of him. More from yesterday. We'll get to the most added list in a bit. We'll tell you who you can drop. And I want to read a lot of your emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. But just to go through yesterday, and we'll do this, I think, fairly quickly, guys. Ryan McMahon, double dong, also Eddie Rosario, and Ryan Healy. I don't know if you have anything to say about Rosario and Healy.

Scott, I'll throw it to you. Rosario, obviously, is universally owned. Ryan He's 72% owned. He had actually been 0 for 17 before hitting two home runs in his previous six games, 0 for 17. Yeah, early on he was kind of doing some interesting things with his approach that made me think, okay, maybe he's tapping into some of what he showed when he first got called up. He got called up. He was more of a contact overpower guy, average overpower guy. And I feel like he kind of sold out for power last year.

But things have largely normalized on that front. Despite him hitting two home runs yesterday, I'm not that excited about him. Yeah, he's a drag. Yeah, the Mariners had faced some tough pitching this week, but before yesterday, they scored 11 runs yesterday. Before yesterday, they had certainly cooled off at the dish. All right, we can take one more quick break on fantasy baseball today. When we come back, I want to talk about two typical standout

that have been really bad this year. The most added list, the dropometer, your emails, and then two-star pitchers, and one-start streamers. I'll try to get a list for you of one-star streamers for the end of the show. Coming right back on fantasy baseball today. So I was going to do this segment yesterday. I'll do it now. Hey, you know who's been really bad?

Mookie bets. Yikes, he's been really bad. He's batting 200 with three homers and one steal. 10 walks, 15 strikeouts, a career high K-rate so far. Hard contact rate down from 44.5% to 33.9%. But he's had a hard contact rate in that range. It's still been, you know, actually, I think the number one hitter one year. But Mookie Betz, you guys can just tell me right now that you're not worried about him, but he has been bad.

Yep. This is when you close your eyes and chant. It's early. It's early. It's early. Which you should be doing for most players, by the way. Okay. It's early.

Mookie Bets. You know what I think is really awesome is Mookiee Bets has been really bad. and the Red Sox offense has been a major disappointment, and he's on pace to score 110 runs. I will point out... That's interesting. This hasn't been bad luck. He's mostly earned this slow start with the way he's hitting.

But let's just move. Let's just not waste time, because he's going to be fine, right? Still the number two pick and drafts for everybody, except Heath, number one. And it's been a little bad luck. He's got a 208 bad bit. Right. Right, but when you look at like his expected average, it's $2.35 instead of $200. Don't care. Let's go. Jose Abraeu. Jose Abraeu has been really bad.

Batting 188. This is actually going into yesterday. Okay, there we go. Updated stats. Thank you, John. Our graphics guy. Batting 174. I think he went 0 for 5 yesterday, Jose Abraeu. Eight walks, 22 strikeouts, three homers. And he got off to such a good start. And I was like, yeah, I drafted a lot of Jose Abrae. I am so smart. And now I'm not. Now I'm not at all. He's been pretty bad, Jose Abra.

You're going to do the same thing with Abrey that you did with Bats, right? I don't know. He's not going to talk about. No. Just move on. Like I said, he's been, like I said in spring training, Josea Bray has been a little disappointing, underachieved, I'd say, two of the last three years.

And, you know, one of those years, I think it was kind of a counting stats thing. but this is a guy who bat at 265 with 22 home runs in 128 games last year so no I don't think we can just move past Jose Abraio. What do you think? I think another difference is Abraio is at least old enough at 32 years old where he could be exiting his prime.

There could be a small decline in skills. His strikeout rate, like Moogie Bet's a strikeout rate, you said it was the highest of his career. It was 18%. That's still really good. Abraio so far is up to 27.8. So I would be more concerned with Abraeu being what we thought he was going to be than bets, but not enough to where I've intentionally moved Abraeu down in my rankings yet.

I think the only change may be that I moved Joey Gallo ahead of Abraeu in Rotoli. Would you guys have any hesitation to give up Pete Alonzo for Jose Abraeu? Sure. I would have hesitation. Yeah, I would hesitate. Yeah. But I would still do it. I hate making trades like that just because I feel like.

the probability of me being wrong is too high. But I do rank a brave higher than Alonso. So in theory, I would make that trade. Sometimes when it's close, though, I just say no, because I'd rather not be wrong. Because you play scared, Scott. You all play scared. That's right. Okay, we're going to take a look at the most added list.

Or should we do emails first? Well, I'm pulling up the most added list because my brand. browser shut down. So why don't we do the drop-a-meter real quick? Yeah, you got to drop people to add people. Yeah, exactly. The point of the drop-o-meter is like, hey, there's a two-star pitcher I want, or somebody heats up over the weekend and we don't have a show on Saturday and Sunday to tell you what to do. So what do we do? Zero to ten. First guy is only 40% owned. Everybody else is owned in more than 80% of leagues. Zero to 10 on Garrett Hampson. I will remind you,

Garrett Hampson has played only six home games, 12 road games. I will also remind you that we don't know how he's going to stay in the lineup regularly. going forward. But zero to 10 on Hampson on the dropometer. It's about a nine for me. I wrote about 16 things that I feel like I'm already wrong about because, you know, I'm not changing my opinion on too much this time of year. But Garrett Hampson is absolutely one of them. He's striking out way more than he didn't in minors. He's not walking at all. He's not running at all. And I think his window to secure regular duty kind of closed with Ryan McMahon's return. He'll still play some until Daniel Murphy

gets back, but not as regularly. Okay, so we can drop Hampson. How about Miguel Cabrera, 82% own? Miguel Cabrera has no home runs, three doubles in 18 games. He's hitting the ball really hard, but really, really hard into the ground. Zero to ten on Miggy. I'm not dropping him. Yeah, maybe like a five for me.

Yeah. Maybe a six. Eight. Ooh. Okay. Okay. Yeah, his hard-ranged. His hard contact rate is in like in the 50s, 55-ish or so. And just to give perspective, that would have led baseball, it'll go down. But that would have been the best among qualified hitters last year.

So if we're all in last year, if we're in one of those leagues where, and you know, it's more likely on another site than ours, but where Ryan McMahon's available, we would all drop Cabrera for McMahon if it came to that, right? I would hope I have a player with less potential than Miguel Cabrera, given the fact that he's still hitting the ball hard, given the fact that there's still a lot of potential in his bat. I'm not giving up on him just yet. But I would do it.

It's like ground ball rate is getting close to Ian Desmond range. Yeah, it's... I mean, I feel like Miguel Cabrera could give you batting average, but out of a first baseman, you want some power. And he didn't have it last year, he doesn't have it this year. Travis Shaw, 96% own. Two for me. I am not giving up on Travis Shaw yet.

I got like 3.5. I only have them in one league, and it's a 10-team league, and it's a 10-team league where strikeouts count a full minus one. I've been very tempted to drop him there, but still haven't yet. He's the first player, I think the only player amongst all the guys in the drop meter that was drafted in the top 100, and so I'm just going to be more patient with the guy that was taken that early. Okay, Kyle Schwerber, he is batting only 182 against Ritees,

and he's just ice cold. Kyle Schwerber's 81% owned. Dropometer. And this is one where he changed his batting stance for, I believe, the second time in as many years. I want to change it back. And dropometer. I don't know.

Drop o meter. Ten. Five. Seven, though, becomes very hard to do in a five outfielder league. Tim Beckham, 84% own, got off to a great start. He had an okay game yesterday. The previous 16 games, Beckham was batting 246 with six walks, 19 strikeouts, 721 OPS. Tim Beckham on the dropometer.

10. I'd have no hesitations about dropping him, so I guess that means 10. Maybe not in like a 15 league, though. Brian Dozier, 78% own now. he has started only two of the last five games now that Harry Henry Kenrick is back and boy has he been bad he did steal a base yesterday his first of the season Brian Dozier on the dropometer nine five

and nine seems too high but I'd go I'd go seven it's it's very discouraging that the nationals are not sticking with him because I I'd feel much better about him eventually coming around if they were yeah okay that's the dropometer Now you know who to drop. Now you're going to find out who to add. The most added players in CBS Sports Leagues, really?

Josh Feigley is number one. I feel like he has had a total dud of a week after I picked him up. Yeah, well, he's only played, what was the first day of the week? He's only played two games this week. He's only played one game this week, Josh Feigley. Okay, so I'll give him a free pass. You're looking at the list there. It's Feigley, Toussaint, Hunter Dozier, Burr.

Brandon Lau, Alex Gordon, Nick Margievichus, he really burned me. I thought I could get him for a one-start streamer. Zach Davies, Mike Minor. What stands out to you guys on the most added list? Brandon Lau's too low-owned. 69%. He needs to be higher than that. Okay.

I think Hunter Docher's too low. 36%. I mean, I'd rather have Lau, obviously, but that's a 30% difference between the two. Okay. Yeah, most of these guys, I'm pretty, like, I guess I'll go with a different angle and say, I'm not really interested in adding Josh Feigley. I understand he's a catcher, but we don't, like, certainly not 66% of our leagues are two catcher leagues. And I don't think he's going to be relevant in a one catcher league.

So I'm not particularly interested in him. I am really questioning Margev-Margavishis. Margevich. Yeah, and he's 52% on. Zach, this is six different way you've said it this year. me Zach Davies is also someone I'm not buying into okay Zach Davies on those yeah I want to pull yeah no hold on one sec Scott one sec just

Markevich is okay um 52% own he feels like a guy that you can drop if there's a two-star pitcher out there that you really want and um fagley I just wanted I picked him up as a Gary Sanchez replacement so I will be dropping him go ahead Scott white there's not 12 catchers to go around is I think that why Feigley shows up here so whoever the hot hand is like there's probably like three owners, two or three owners in your league who are just going to be chasing the hot hand at catcher constantly. And maybe one of them will stick at some point, but I don't think it'll be Feigley either.

Mike Miner, I think, is probably deserving of being as owned as he is now. He has been, I think he's one of just, one of just a handful of pitcher with three seven innings starts already. and the kind of swinging strikes he's getting is closer to what he was getting in relief two years ago than what he got as a starter last year. So it's a very interesting start to the season for Mike Miner. Okay. And Margevich is, by the way, in case you're curious, just a one-star pitcher next week against Seattle. Try to look up Minor. Minor 71% own.

Let's see what he has coming up on the schedule. He is at Oakland on Sunday. I believe. And then at Seattle will be his following start. Yeah, I think I'd start them in both. Okay. Mike Minor. All right, I'm good with the most added list.

We've talked about a lot of these guys. I am starting to buy in a little bit more to Jason Hayward, even if it's just a hot hand play. He's doing his plate discipline's good. He's running a little bit. Because I think he's the kind of guy. You pick a lot. You can drop him.

Like, it's, he's going to be, yeah, it's not a huge deal. You have to invest in him all year. But, uh, take advantage. Take advantage. Yeah, I just, I always, I always struggle with the hot hand because you're, if you believe that he's just a hot hand plan at some point, you're probably going to drop him. You're going to burn yourself for at least a little while before you end up dropping him. It's possible.

Okay. It hasn't happened yet. Like, I, the, the thing about, hey, for me is like it's just if he is back it's just way too convenient of a player like because he's probably he's a points league specialist

and he's a rhodo league specialist. 20-20 potential with a microscopic strikeout rate. All right guys so he hasn't hit 20 home run since 2012. Let's move on. Jordan. Sorry, gosh, you were really

throwing me off right now. Okay. I'm blaming you for my struggles. Let's move on to emails. Let's read some emails. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Great moment in podcast history right there. This is from Jonathan. Are you worried about Joey Votto yet? I know you've loved him, but his first career pop up two days ago, striking out a ton, less walks. He kind of has been awful. Now, Jonathan did write this email before Votto homeward yesterday, but he still has been awful. He is not even a top 30 first baseman in either format, and it is strange to see him

with seven walks to 18 strikeouts. I'm going to just, I am worried about Joey Votto. I'm going to guess that nobody else is, but maybe I'm wrong this time. Are you worried about Joey Votto? I don't understand the question. Yeah. I mean, my base instinct is to worry. Yeah, I'm liable to worry about everybody.

But you have to fight that instinct, I feel like, for the upside and for the likelihood he does bounce back. I mean, just look at what he did in April of 2016, and that will hopefully calm your nerves a little bit. I feel less confident that Joey Votto is going to be good than I did at the beginning of the season. I feel more confident that Joey Votto is going to be good than Jason Hayward. Of course. Yes.

Yeah, I just, well said, Heath. Yeah, maybe he's just lost it, but, man. It's Joey Votto. I mean, if he bounces back to what he was in 2018, then you could still be worried about him. We need him to bounce back to two years ago. Sure. Well, two years ago, it kind of was a career season. Right, you didn't draft him to be what he was in 2017.

Okay. Before 2017. Right. How long has been, Joey Votto has been Joey Vado. I do obviously have some concerns, but this time last year, this conversation was being had about Matt Carpenter. Carpenter had like a bad season and a bad start, and then he went on a three-month heater, basically. So things can turn around. conversation about Matt Carpenter right now, I think.

Probably. From Darren, I've got both Ryan McMahon and Yandy Diaz. Who do you like better? Probably McMahon. Yep. I would go McMahon. Okay, next email's from Aaron. It's another Ryan McMahon question.

Who do you like better, Hunter Dozier or Ryan McMahon? Oh, definitely. Well, that's easy. Yeah, that's easy. This is from Elad. Diaz better than Dozier, if you want to know that, too. Okay, there we go. So it's McMahon-Diaz, Dozier.

Yandy Diaz, Dozier. Elad from British Columbia I have a quick follow-up question regarding your Paul DeYoung debate from yesterday's podcast With his increasing maturity at the plate Would you say that youth is wasted on DeYoung Outstanding

Thank you, Elad from Chilowoc, British Columbia And I'm just glad we get to show Paul DeYoung stats Because they should be shown more often on this podcast He has been outstanding We should enjoy this while it lasts probably the start of every show, I'd say. From Maddie Norway, who claims he's our biggest fan. With all the MLB teams clearly giving up,

why don't they adjust the structure of the MLB draft? Stop rewarding poor play. The teams that just missed the playoff should get the first picks and so on. Incentivize winning. We did this in our fantasy league and it promotes activity. Why hasn't Major League Baseball adopted a similar structure? You know, I've had the same thought. It's something I do in my Dynasty League,

and I think it would take care of, I think it would take care of a lot of the problems. I honestly. The worst part about your. To be clear about the baseball draft and the tanking debate, it's not, they're not tanking for draft picks necessarily. Because draft picks take a long time to have value.

It's not a part of the discussion, but teams are more profitable when they're losing. That's been proven. The Cubs wouldn't have gotten where they got without Chris Bryant. The Astros certainly wouldn't have gotten where they got without Springer. Well, I guess Springer wasn't part of the, it was a mid-first rounder, but Bregman. Correct. Those early picks definitely jumpstart or rebuild.

Okay. Next email here is from Zach. Hey, Ray, Ed, and Joe. No idea. Should I drop Luke Voight for? for Jesus Aguilar in a six-by-six head-to-head categories league with strikeouts. Should I drop Luke Voigt for Jesus Aguilar? Is Hunter Dozier not available?

You'd rather have, yeah, I guess it makes sense. No, I think I have Aguilar ranked the highest of these guys, but I don't like either of them. Okay. Yeah, I think I would. I think I'd drop Vojutor for Aguilar, somebody who likes Voire. Okay. By the way, Rayette and Joe are Ravens. Lewis, Reed, Flacco.

No, they're not. They're not? No, Flacco is a Bronco. Well, for a... Yeah, I'd read and Ray Lewis. No iron playing in the NFL. Okay, this is from... Why would you include...

What? Go out. Yeah. Oh, maybe they're... Eh, they're rapids. This is from Josh. We do... Okay, he only has one IL spot, and he has Scooter Jeanette there.

Someone dropped Mike Clevenger. Should I add Mike Clevenger? And if yes, who of the... following should I drop? Scooter Jeanette, Frankie Montas, Zach Wheeler, Miles Michaelis, or you say Kikuchi? No.

I mean, I would drop Montas, but, you know, if I don't know how much you end up using your bench in your league, like if push came to shove, I would absolutely drop Jeanette for Clevenger. I think Jeanette's more likely to be good this year and more likely to

come back this year, so I would hold Jeanette. Yeah, and his projected timetable is closer. than Clevenger. Like, is it? I thought it was more like June. Clevenger probably won't be pitching until mid-July, the earliest, I believe.

I thought it was six to eight-week timetable for Clevenger versus like eight to 12. I mean, obviously, Jeanette got hurt, but. Yeah, well, it was six to eight before he can begin throwing. Right. Or before he'll be. Guder Jeanette was expected to miss eight to 12 weeks on March 22nd. Mm-hmm.

So that would be June. four weeks ago. Right. So that'd be June 22nd, it would be 12 week. Yeah, I, either way, I think you're more likely to get more value out of Frankie Montas for three months than you are for Clevenger whenever he comes back. I'm going to disagree with you guys. I'm going with Scott here. Like, you've got, if he's considering dropping Montas, Wheeler, Michaelis, and Kikuchi, that to me feels like he has a somewhat a deep pitching staff and doesn't necessarily need all of them. So obviously you can't drop Wheeler and Michaelis for now.

But I would drop Montas because Clevenger was off to a like Syong caliber start. And if you can get through these next two months to get to the All Star break and then you add Mike Clevenger, like that makes sense. I think you're set up. Yeah, it's it's all about impact. Like the impacts what's going to push you over the top more so than having more able bodies. Yeah, I think you guys are just more

confident that Mike Clevenger might be good this year. And less confident that Frankie Montes might be good. Possibly, but I also think like, I'm more confident in Clevenger than Severino. They have the same timeline, but Severino's already had a setback and he has a shoulder injury. Clevenger is a back issue. So, obviously, Clayton Courchall has been hampered

by a back issue, but if it were an arm issue, it would be more concerning to me. But yes, you're right. I am more confident in Clevenger, I guess, than you guys are. That is true. All right, one more email here. Actually, let's try to do three. Just try to do them real quick. This is from A.B.

Which two would you want from this group? Domingo Hermann, Brad Peacock, Tuki Toussaint, Trevor Richards, Caleb Smith, Luke Weaver, Mike Seroca, Mike Minor. Richards and Weaver. Hermann and Smith. Which two, you're going to pick, Chris. Peacock and Smith. I think that's what I was going to go. Actually, if it's a wicket.

Yeah, it's a wins league. I don't want Marlins' pitchers in Winsle. You like Smith better than Trevor Richards? Yes, I think he's a better pitcher. I will go Peacock, and I will let somebody else decide the second one for me. Richard from Sydney, Australia. I was in trade talks.

This is a Dynasty League with a bloke who was interested in Jeff McNeil. I inquired about Jose Ramirez. He said he would give me Jose Ramirez straight up for Jeff McNeil. He offered the trade. I just about broke my keyboard hitting accept. should I feel bad here? Should the trade be vetoed, even though he initiated it,

giving me Jose Ramirez for Jeff McNeil in a dynasty league? You should read the question as asked. Should the trade be vetoed even if the initiator was the one copping and absent hiding? Yeah, with an Australian accent. Which I assume means something.

You should not feel bad. You should feel very, very happy. and of course it should not be vetoed. Yeah, it shouldn't be vetoed. You can feel a little bad about it. Why? I just, my team just got a lot better. I'm very happy.

Yeah, but. Because it wasn't. You're not the only first. No, no, it's not about having committed a wrong. You can still feel bad. Yeah, about benefiting from someone else's misfortune while still benefiting from it. I am not about that. It costs you nothing.

No, there is no guilt here. I feel like if, if I won the championship in this league, it would, it would feel diminished by this trade. Because you made too good of a trade. Oh, dang it. I don't. Yeah, definitely not. I would not feel. No, I see what Scott's saying. Team scam. Okay, last email here

is from our man, Jeff from Cedar Rapids. Stephen Piscotti just became available in my categories league. Should I drop any of the following for Stephen Piscotti? Michael Brantley, Yassil Puee, Enrique Hernandez, Andrew McCutcheon. It would have to be. Maybe Hernandez? Enrique, yeah.

he's cooled off It's close I think I probably Yeah I think Prescottie's better But yeah But that's But yeah

But Hernandez does give you a lot of flexibility Yeah And if this is one of those categories leagues where you set your lineup every day You might use Hernandez a lot more often than you use Viscati I think I would hold on to Kiki Yeah it's it's kind of a toss-up for me It just depends on whether you need versatility

Or another outfield or more All right fellas let's do the two-star pitchers now And then I'll try to give some one-star streamers And actually I know we're going to do this a little unconventional We have six minutes left in the show, guys. I'm going to let Chris host this segment here, the two-star pitchers. Just go through the studs that you feel like we need to talk about. I think I'll just kick it off.

Chris Sale, Detroit and Tampa Bay at home. We're going to start them? I think you have to. Yeah. It still makes me a little queasy. I might bench him in a Categories League if I had several really good relievers. Jack Flaherty versus Milwaukee and Cincinnati. Starting him.

Sure. Okay. So you take it away, and while you do that, I am going to look for some one-start streamers, maybe help people win this weekend, and I'll be back. Go ahead, Chris. Yeah, I got this. I am ready. Joe Musgrove versus Arizona at Los Angeles Dodgers.

Are we starting him? Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's been great. Kyle Freeland versus Home versus Washington at Atlanta, assuming the blister. that he left yesterday start with is okay. Nope. I do it in a points league,

absolutely, but probably not categories. Because I don't think we can just assume, we cannot assume the blister does not remain a problem for the next two starts. And that really increases the risk, and there's a lot of risk with Kyle Freeland anyway. Yeah, no. I mean, monitor the news, obviously.

Zach Eflin at the Mets versus Miami? Yep. Yes. Domingo Armand at the Angels at San Francisco. Definitely a yes. No question. Yep. What about Kevin Gosman at Cincinnati Home versus Colorado?

Are we buying you? Oh, I'm all about that. I'm all about that. Yeah, definitely. The Rockies are not good away from Cours anyway. Is there a chance, is there a chance Gosman doesn't make two starts with Fultenevich possibly coming back? I mean, is there a rotation shuffling going on?

Is Fultonovich ever coming back? As soon as he looks like he did last year, they're going to bring him back. Is Fulton Havich ever coming back? Okay. Did we do that bit the other day? Okay. Felt familiar. Mike Minor at Oakland

at Seattle, I think we're all a yes on that one. Sunny Gray versus Atlanta at St. Louis is an interesting one. Oh yeah, he's bitched. He's looked like retro Sunday grade. He has looked really good. I need to move him up in my rankings. Both of those starts scare me a little bit,

but I would probably start him. All right, how about some guys who are widely available? We all said Luke Weaver. What about Wade, Finally, versus Minnesota versus Cleveland. I feel fine with that. I mean, he's not going to give you many strikeouts, but he's, you know, the second year in a row

where he's done a good job of run prevention in spite of it, and I feel like one of those matchups is obviously terrific. Pablo Lopez at Cleveland at Philadelphia? Yep. How was he so? Not a category. He's got like a 60-R-A. He hasn't been very good.

He's got a 1.5 FIPP. He's been awesome. Oh, please. He might be the best Marlins pitcher. Ever. They're called stallion. Come on. Spencer Turnbull at Boston at Chicago White Sox?

You could do worse. You could do worse. If I was really scraping for a sleeper, I could see myself making a play for him. I think these two are actually interesting. Homer Bailey at Tampa Bay versus the Angels two. Tampa Bay is not a great matchup, but it's a nice place to pitch,

and he's looked good. I'd start him over Spencer Turnbull. I don't know that it would. I'd start over Lance Lynn, too. Eric Swanson at San Diego versus Texas. So that's one game in a good pitchers park against San Diego, one game in a good pitchers park versus Texas. It would have to be a deep points league, I think.

It could turn out great, but we've just seen too little for me to have confidence in him. All right, sum it up, Chris. Who do you guys like? Because we got to go. I did have one two-start pitchers. your note. Brad Keller's listed as a two-start pitcher. He's probably not going to be a two-star pitcher. So we like Pablo Lopez, Luke Weaver, Wade Miley's a little split. Spencer Turnbull's a little split. I think we like Lance Lynn. So yeah, there's some good options out there.

Okay, let's take a look at one start, guys. I think my favorite one is the first one I came across. Jordan Liles today against San Francisco. I like the Friday guys, probably the best of the group. Jordan Lyles against San Francisco Cecee Sabathia against Kansas City Anabal Sanchez at Miami Last week it was Vince Alaskas at Miami that was The recommendation I gave

And it came through I'm going to pick on Miami a lot in this segment Caleb Smith against Washington We trust Caleb Smith in that start Versus Washington Yes I think I do Yeah their best hitters are all lefties right Rendon's their best hitter

Well, besides that. Tuki Tucson at Cleveland. I like Tuki at Cleveland. That could be a fun gamble. Derek Holland at Pittsburgh on Saturday. Matt Shoemaker against Toronto. I know we're not going to go with Julio Toronto. Eric Lauer.

Maybe Trevor Cahill against Seattle. Who's Matt Shoemaker against? Toronto. Who are they facing? Oakland. Whoever Toronto is. At Oakland. I'd like him better against Toronto.

Toronto's actually hitting ball pretty well right now. But yeah, Shoemaker at Oakland. I'm not sure. Shoemaker might be too old for this segment. Kyle Gibson at Baltimore on Sunday. I don't trust him, but, you know, if you're desperate. Trevor Richards against, put him against Miami, but he will be against Washington. Derek Rodriguez at Pittsburgh, Aaron Sanchez, and Oakland.

All these names, Jordan Liles is my favorite against San Francisco. How do you guys feel about that? I like it. It's okay. I think Jordan Liles, he's lost a little velocity from last year, but his second Pitches have looked pretty good. And I think he's throwing his curveball a lot more. I think Annabal Sanchez maybe at Miami.

I think that could be a really good one. Sure. Okay. That's probably... Trevor Richard. Okay. Thank you. I hope that's helpful.

Thanks for listening, everybody. Enjoy your weekend. Happy holidays. We'll talk to you on Monday. Fantasy baseball today.