Fantasy Baseball Today - 04/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Keuchel, A Cycle, Bellinger and More!

Episode Date: April 26, 2017

Recapping a wild Tuesday that featured a cycle, another Eric Thames home run, a Dallas Keuchel complete game and Cody Bellinger's major league debut ... Thames isn't the only Brewer making noise right now as we discuss Hernan Perez and Keon Broxton. Plus a look at Kris Bryant and Michael Brantley through 3+ weeks ... Much more from Tuesday including Wade Miley, Danny Duffy, Joey Gallo and whether you can drop Felix Hernandez ... 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

Brother Seeger, mad bum, rookie bets, lackey John, Wilma, Stavish you, Brandon Bell's calling me Q. Tuesday night's games, man. That was a podcaster's dream. So much stuff going on. We had a call-up that's pretty big. We've got the Thames Watch. We got a Felix Hernandez injury. But Scott White, Chris Towers, tell me, in your opinion, the single most important fantasy baseball thing that happened yesterday was what?

Oh, it was Bellinger. It was Bellinger. That's one of the bigger things we've seen this season. You know, compared to last year, by this point, we had already seen a lot of high-profile prospect call-ups, and we'd been lacking them to this point. And then the Dodgers, surprisingly, call up Cody Bellinger, who, you know, I have my concerns.

It's too early. He's 21 years old. He had great numbers at AAA, but was striking out one every three at bats. In spring training, he hit about 200. So there's reason to wonder if it's too early. But at the same time, among minor league hitters, short of like Yon Makata, I'm not sure we're going to see a more exciting call-up this theater than Ballinger. Scott, I did want to ask you about Ballinger.

MLB.com's pipeline did not have him ranked prior to the 2016 season in their top 100. Baseball prospectus did not have him in their top 200. Baseball America had him 54. This year, Baseball America jumped him all the way to number seven, and he's top 25 in each of the other two. What changed? Well, he had a big year. He had a really good year, but his numbers in 2016 are nearly identical to his numbers in 2015. I think part of it's just as players get closer.

There's so many talented teenagers and the minors that it's hard to distinguish between them. Bellinger, as he moved up the ladder, he's gotten better. You know, it's actually interesting because I pointed out the strikeout rate. It's too high. It's higher than we want to see it for sure. It's not Joey Gallo high. Yeah. And last year, at AA, after his strikeout rate initially spiked with a big power surge in single A,

he made adjustments. He actually struck out less than 100 times last year. So he's a guy who's shown the ability to make adjustments. In the 20 to 80 scale that scouts use, baseball America gives him a 70 power grade, which is very rare. I mean, that's the expectation is 30 home runs a year in his prime with a rating like that. He has a 30 homer season in the minors, which we don't see too many of those. And yeah, it was just off to a ridiculous start of AAA apart from the strikeouts. So this is exciting.

I mean, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he's just overmatched. strikes out too much. It is in AAA two weeks from now. But if he ends up making the kind of impact Gary Sanchez did last year, like I don't think that's outside the realm of possibility either. All right. So you got to get him. And Bellinger, I actually didn't see what his ownership percentage is. I was lucky enough to pick him up two days ago, you know, on a hunch. And we both said, no, you shouldn't have done that. Yeah, I got lucky. But we'll see. 41% owned right now.

Yeah, 41% own, but I went through my leagues, you know, I'm in 15 leagues. There was only one I could pick him up, and he was already owned. And he was either already owned in the others or the others' waivers is just a once-a-week thing. So there was no reason to put in a claim in him last night. So I was surprised by that. What I struggle with is like the shallower leagues, like the 21-man roster leagues, where you've got a guy, like I've got a guy like Michael Franco on my bench. and I wouldn't drop Franco for Bellinger,

but sometimes with these prospects that get called up, I say, you know, that's a five outfielder league type thing, or that's a corner infield, middle infield type league where I'm going to pick him up. And then they end up being really good. Like, I don't even know that I was excited to pick up Trey Turner. I can't remember, but I don't know that I even was going to pick up Trey Turner last year, and Turner ended up being obviously relevant in all leagues.

So it's the deeper leagues, it's easy. You take a shot on a guy like Bollinger, no question. The shallower leagues, you know, it's a little bit more. And there were some instances people on Twitter. You know, my flat advice is, yes, you need to pick up Bellinger. And people were suggesting who the lowest player on their roster was. Like somebody said Yassiel Pweig. And I'm like, no, I don't think you can do that.

Somebody said my Conforto. It's kind of a toss-up for me. I think I might actually lean Conforto. But the idea is even in those shallower leagues with 21-man rosters, you know, if you've been aggressive on the waiver wire early, you don't have a lot. lot of wiggle room. Okay, maybe you don't, but somebody in that league does. Somebody in your league needs to be picking up Cody Bellinger. So, you know, if he's still available in your league, then somebody's messed up. Okay. I'm sorry, I may have missed it. Did you mention that he might get

sent down when Peterson's back? Yeah, I mean, if he doesn't perform, there's a chance of that. If he does perform, though, I mean, it's not like Andrew Tolls was, had locked down the left field job before this call-up. So it's, no, if he hit, it's completely dependent on Bellinger, I feel like.

Okay. It's not like, you know, they need to be tied day during Gonzalez either. This is a guy who's a natural first basement as well. Sure. Okay, let's wrap up Bellinger with this question from Kevin.

How much fab should we be spending on Bellinger? A question that's difficult to answer, absent any other con. context. What percent? I would, I would say 15. Okay.

I was, okay. I was going to kind of take 10 as a middle ground. I mean, in some like in some leagues, depending on the depth and everything, it could be 50%, you know, but I think 15 is a nice, safe middle ground for a

one side, if I have to give a one size, it's all a number. Chris Towers, what was the single most important thing that happened in fantasy baseball yesterday. We had a cycle. That happened. Yeah, Trey Turner, starting to turn things around. Seems pretty exciting. I would be nice.

For me, there were so many rainouts last night, and it really cost me. I lost a couple of two-start pitchers this week as a result of it. Same. Robert Czellman. Was it a two-star bit into the last release? Selman looks like he's going to get skipped in the rotation. He is. He should still make a start this week on Sunday, but it's against the nationals. And it kind of tells you, Scott, you were saying this in the office yesterday,

it kind of tells you that the Mets might view him as a true number five starter and not someone that they, you know, necessarily need to have on the Mound. Not somebody they're prioritizing. I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to skip Wheeler if they were going to skip anybody? I would think so. Yeah, yeah, it was disappointing. All right, well, let's go through everything that happened yesterday. That's really important.

So we'll talk about Michael Brantley, obviously, themes. Can you drop Felix Hernandez? Dallas Kikel throws another complete game. He's got a 122 ERA, and he's not even the number one starting pitcher in fantasy. Can you guess who it is? Think about it out there. Let's talk about a different promotion, though. Other than Cody Bellinger, a few days ago, Kenneth Vargas was called up,

and he's three for nine with a home run that he hit yesterday, two walks and three strikeouts. Is there any interest in Kenneth Vargas, who is 4% owned? Isn't it Kinney Vargas? I can't remember. I think you might be right. It's not often I get to correct you on pronunciation, so I like to take advantage whenever I can.

He's started two games in a row. So, I mean, Robbie Grossman's been so good that I feel like he'd have to take an outfield spot away from somebody. And I'm trying to think of the Twins' outfield right now. I can't imagine. Kepler, Buxton. Okay, they're Kepler and Bucking. are probably still in.

Who's in the other spot? Is it, is it Rosario? Oh, gosh. I don't know. I'm pronouncing names wrong. I can't get the twins' depth chart right. In any case, I mean, he, Vargas had some low-end sleeper appeal before he didn't secure the D.H job this spring.

He's definitely got pop. Yeah. It's just a question of whether he can make the kind of adjustments that someone like Miguel Snow has made. this season. He's not nearly as talented as Miguel Sinoe, but there's a chance that he could settle in as a 25 to 30 homer guy if he gets an everyday job. Rosario has been playing a lot of left field for them. Long story short, he's not a Vargas. That is, isn't somebody I'm racing out to add, except in like AOL only leagues. All right, let me read a couple of emails that I think could be

useful for fantasy owners. This one's from Joshua. Dear Mark, Marty, Doc, Einstein, and Jennifer. I have no idea. Yeah, everybody should know that. Rick and Morty. Anyone worried about Chris Bryant? I'm just going to stop reading the rest of the email there. Is anybody worried about Chris Bryant?

He's betting 259 with two homers. In the email, he said that he's got a high strikeout rate, and so I went to look at it because I hadn't really picked up on that. I thought maybe there was something I was missing. There's not. His strikeout rates identical to what it was. Last season, which is, I think, a positive sign because I thought there was some definite room for strikeout regression with him. I thought maybe he would come back to like the 26% range

and the fact that he hasn't makes me positive. Now, his bad at ball indicators are bad, his hard hit rate is down, his average edge velocity's down. Those are bad signs, but I can't bring myself to be concerned about the guy who won the MVP last year. He's going to destroy things soon. And he's got four steals. Chris Bryant, too. So just be patient. I know I got a lot of Chris Bryant, and I'm off to a slow start in my Chris Bryant league.

So just be patient. But not only are the strikeouts the same, the walks are actually a little bit up this year and the steals. So that's good stuff. You've got more stolen on base opportunities. Email up, there you go. Email the day number two is from Chris from Nashville. I know Eric Thames has gotten a lot of love for his hot start,

but what do you guys think about Michael Brantley? Can he be, can Michael Brantley be a top fantasy production? producer again. Where does he rate on your stud meter? But we actually would call it a stud o meter, Chris. What's weird about Michael Brantley is he's been really good so far, but not in Michael Brantley ways. Right. Well, he's not, he doesn't have the contact rate we're used to see it from him. But that being said, he's on pace for 120 strikeouts, which would be a fine number for most players. Just not a guy we're used to seeing half that from. Yeah, 22% strikeout rate is Chris Bryant number. He doesn't have Chris Bryant's power.

Yeah. His swinging strike rate is only 7%, but that's double what it was at his peak. So he doesn't look like the same guy. And, you know, I don't expect him to be that guy right now based on what we've seen. It's, I kind of just attributed to Rust. I mean, he was away for so long. And the fact that, you know, he's also on like a 30-30 pace. You know, I'm like, I'm starting Brantley everywhere I own. And I'm just happy I drafted. And that's kind of the attitude I'm taking with him right now because a lot of people didn't have faith he'd even be able to do this. Well, okay, who would you rather own rest of the season? Michael Brantley or Gregory Polanco? I don't say Brantle.

Oh, okay. Yeah, interesting. Brantley got to put him over Jose Batista at this point? Yeah. Brantley or Ian Desmond? Kind of similar players. Is that Brantley's going to have a better, well, I don't know, he probably would have a better batting average.

Yeah, I would have to take Brantley to, there's still some hurdles for Desmond to clear. And there's just no guarantee that he and Desmond comes back from a hand injury and is perfectly fine. Right, yeah, that's what I mean. Like, he could hit some snags. Like, we think we have a pretty clear idea of his timetable, but there could be some setbacks.

And he could be back healthy and just not hit, which is something that we've seen a lot with guys when they come back from that kind of injury. Yeah, we're assuming he'll be okay offensively because of where he'll be playing his home games. But we were, before that signing happened, we were not thinking he would be okay as a hitter. So, you know, it may not be the, like, it may not be a cure-all for what ails him. Sure. Now, look, Scott, I'm actually really happy for you. You sound good today, you sound fun, you sound into the podcast. I know it wasn't, you know, the Hanager thing yesterday. I learned about the Hanager injury by going on Twitter.

I was out for most of the night, had an event to go to, and not as fancy as it sounds. But I come back, I see a tweet says Hanager from Scott White. And I think, what, oh no, what happened here? So Hanager's got the oblique injury. We're going to wait and see. It's never a good thing. But sometimes oblique injuries are like a few days and people are fine. This doesn't sound like a few day one.

Which, I mean, his season's not over either, so let's... It's over. Drop Mitch Hanager. No. Don't do that. Don't do that. You know, I'm expecting like a four to six week time table, which is, you know, it's a bad blow. I mean, even knowing Hanigur was no more than a late round pick, he's been the best player on my team in a lot of leagues.

So it's, you know, and I got all the tweets, a bunch of... Scott, let's... The sad puppy dog eyes, the Doctor Who in the rain, me. I got a lot of those in my Twitter timeline last night. Is that from Doctor Who? I think it's Doctor Who. I believe that is the fella from Doctor. Well, let's wait and get upset about it when we find out that he's on the DL.

But for now, we're going to wait and see on Mitch Hanigar. Tough blow. He's going on the D. All right. What did you hear optimistic about this? He had an oblique injury. He left the game. He's not on the DL yet.

I mean, who knows? Let's just wait and see. I'm not optimistic. I'm sure he's going to go on the D.L. But we can... Wait and see, but... Like, yeah, I feel like this is one of those injuries where you don't... There's no reason for that kind of optimism.

Oh, gosh. Poor Scott White. Now you just brought the show down with the Hatton, with being upset about Mitch Hanigar. You already put him on the DL. He's not there yet. You're not the GM. Just be optimistic. That's all I'm saying.

All right. Hey, listen, Chris, I understand that you are kind of a watch guy. You like watches. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I like a watch. And we've got our movement watches. But you have like a history with watches, right?

Yeah, actually, when I was back in college, I worked for a watch company. I made some watch investments. I own some watches, yeah. And the movement watches, even though they don't cost that much, they're pretty freaking nice, aren't they? No, I'm a big fan of mine. I've got the, I've got one of the ones with the big white face, leather strap, you know, genuine leather. It's a really nice watch. It's, it's classy and understated. And that's what I like with my watch. I don't want a, I don't want a big, goddy watch that makes everyone look at me. I want something that that looks good, it's classy,

and that's what my movement watch is. Right, and in movement watches, it's spelled M-V-M-T, mvm t so here's the ural for you in addition to getting this awesome watch at a great price that you know they're unbelievably inexpensive compared to other watches you'd see you can get 15% off and free shipping if you want yourself a watch so you got a gift to buy or you just want to watch go to mvmtwaches.com slash f baseball mvmt watches dot com slash f baseball that's em as and mary both times by the way mvmt watches dot com slash m Baseball. Go to the website. The hardest part about going to the website is picking which one you want. There were like 10 that I absolutely loved. High quality watches, revolutionary prices, and this is the

world's fastest growing watch company. So 15% off, free shipping and free returns if you don't like it, which you will. But this is a great deal. MVMTW watches.com slash F baseball. Join the movement. All right, your news for the day, Felix Hernandez had shoulder stiffness and a dead arm. He gave up four runs on six hits and two innings. Felix Hernandez has given up 39 hits in 26 and 2 thirds innings. Not a lot of walks, but a lot of hits. So it was a tough night for the Mariners. I could have told you he had a dead arm at him.

Oh. Well, you're the injury man. Anyway, people want to know what they should do with Felix Hernandez. Drop hold. What do you think? I mean, he's probably going on the DL, too. It's a 10-day DL. You're right.

No, you're right about Bois. You're right about Bowman. miss one start. So, you know, presumably you can put him in a DL spot. If, like, you're just overrun with DL players, though, which is understandable the way this season started out, like, he's been pretty bad. And there were reasons to suspect he was not going to be able to turn the round after his terrible season last year. You got the guts to say it? You drop in Felix Hernandez?

I don't think it's, I don't think it's a crazy idea. It's worth pointing out. Like his terrible season last year was not drop-worthy. Oh, it was... I disagree. He weren't starting Felix Hernandez. Were you dropping Dallas Keiko last year? You could have.

You weren't dropping him because he had won the Say-Young. You know, like, you probably should have dropped him based on his production. You weren't dropping him because he can't... Oh, he's going to turn around. I mean, Dallas-Kichl's ERA was like a full run higher than Felix. He had a very strong finish, Keikl did. So, you know, somebody was benefiting from him toward the end of that season. last season?

Yeah. Didn't he go on the DL? Toward the end of the season where he was healthy. Like the last couple months for Dallas Kikele were good, is what I'm saying. So, you know. But his ERA was a full run higher than Felix. All right. So I'm just going to speed this up because I want to get to other stuff.

Felix Hernandez was bad last year. I don't care just if cherry picking ERA makes it look better to you, fine, but it was bad. It doesn't matter. You don't have to drop them, but I guess it's justifiable. in a 10-team league especially. Madison Bumgarner won't need shoulder surgery. He's likely going to be out about two months. Jose Al-Tuve was in a collision with Teoscar Hernandez.

Al-Tuvee seems okay. He's day-to-day with a shoulder injury. Hernandez leg contusion. And that was late in the game. George Springer did come in and replaced Hernandez, but Springer was sitting that game. So maybe he'll play today. Kendall Graveman's going to come off the DL tomorrow,

returning from his shoulder injury. David Price set to face hitters for the first time. Zach Britton could be back this weekend. The pirate. Oh, let me ask you. Do you guys just expect Zach Britton to come back and be Zach Britton? Pretty much. Yeah.

Yeah. If he's healthy enough to pitch, I would expect so. But it'll definitely be something to keep an eye on. I got a tradeoff for Zach Britton for Dylan Bundy. And Britain, like, Britain has a 1.86 whip this year. And then he went on the D.L. So he gave him up 10 hits, three walks, six strikeouts in 7.5. innings. It just was pitching out of jams. So I don't know. I kind of want to take the deal.

What is the injury for Britain again? I think it was an elbow injury. It seemed like one of those situations where maybe the struggles clued them into the injury, because I know I was seeing Zach Britton's line and thinking, hmm, wonder if everything's okay there. And then lo and behold, he winds up on the DL. So, but, you know, the flip side of that, is they wouldn't bring him back if it's not, it doesn't appear to be solved, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm really thinking about that one.

But all right, I just wanted to know if we thought that Zach Britton was still, you know, one of the best relievers in baseball. And I guess we're optimistic. It's been a fairly short D. Elston. I think he's eligible to come off today and they're talking about Sunday for Britain. More news and notes for you. The Pirates lead baseball on errors. their defense is terrible.

We'll talk about Gary Cole. Actually, had a great start yesterday against the Cubs. Aaron Nola, I did not mention this yesterday. He's on the DL with a lower back strain, but Noah is expected to only miss one or two starts. Seattle third baseman Kyle Swagger sat with hip soreness. That is an awesome auto-correct, Kyle Seeker, Kyle Swagger. And Chris, are you excited about Jeb Bush and Derek Jeter,

potentially owning the Miami Marlins? Sure. Yeah, the most popular player in baseball. Yeah. Pretty cool. Still. You've got two of the most... Two of the most popular Yankees in baseball history in Mattingly and Jeter, potentially.

Oh, okay. I thought you were talking about Jeb Bush. Did you see on Twitter I found a picture from the Miami Herald of Jeb Bush and Billy the Marlin eating paella? It's from like the late 90s and Jeb Bush is wearing like a six-foot-long ascot around his neck. It's a fantastic picture. That does sound great. Now, here's your stat of the day. Mike Trout hit his first extra inning home run of his career.

That's finally clutch. That's weird, right? Yeah, he's so overrated. And your trivia question. Trivia question of the day. Which fictional character did Chris Coglin imitate perfectly last night? Willie Mays Hayes. That's right.

I saw, like, the limited fake Willie Maytays, the Omar Epps. Omar Epps. Major League 2. From Major League 2? Yeah. Now, I saw the gips of Willie Mays Hayes. Doesn't it look like Willie Mays Hayes was out? No.

No, he went right over him. I think the catcher's glove, Grazes is, like, lower leg. They didn't have replay review at the time, Scott. Yeah, apparently not. Negative Nancy Scott White. Now he's called Willie Maze Hayes out. All right, anyway, that was an amazing play by Chris Coglin. You should look it up.

It was. Let's get into some big-time performances. Dallas Keiko, complete game. and two runs, three walks, five strikeouts. He has a 122 ERA. He's the number two starting pitcher in fantasy. Kiko has 27 strikeouts in 37 innings. That's 7.1 per 9.

That's not very good. In 2014, so this is what I'm struggling with. Is Kiko a sell high? In 2014, he had a 293 ERA and a 1.175 whip, and he went 12 and 9. I think the record's going to be better than that.

this year. But that made him the number 26 starting pitcher in points leagues and number 33 in Roto with a 293 ERA because Kiko had 6.6 strikeouts per nine in exactly 200 innings. Then the following year, 8.4 strikeouts per nine. And I don't think we expect him to do that. And that was in 232 innings. He won the Salyong. He was the number four starting pitcher in points, number five in Roto. So, like, I look at 2014, and I see 200-innings, 6.6 strikeouts per 9, sub-3 ERA, wasn't even a top 24 starting pitcher in fantasy. I expect the win-loss record to be better, though, 12 and 9. I think it will be better than that. Personally, I buy into Kyko. I don't know how much you guys do, but I think the ERA is going to be better than 293. I think he's

going to have a special year. Yeah. And I expect, you know, seven-ish strikeouts per nine, not 6.6, and probably more than 200 innings. So what I'm saying is like, but I don't know if he's, with a 7.2 strikeout per 9, he might be like the 15th best pitcher. Can I ask, why do you expect a special season from him?

Because I just think he's awesome. I think he did it two years ago. He pitched with a shoulder injury last year. I am more or less willing to complete. But he was a better pitcher then. How is it better? It's not like he came out of nowhere with the year he won the Cy Young, though. Sure, but you're not. But you're saying you expect a better than 2.93RA.

You expect a special season. But he was a better pitcher in 2015 than he'd ever been before or since. Like, even if it's just a 293 ERA. Yeah, well, he had a 248 ERA in 2015. I don't think it's going to be that good. I mean, I don't want to get caught up in specific predictions, but it does seem like he's getting the kind of weak contact. Like, Kichel is a pitcher who, there's really no comps for Kichel, right?

I mean, he's a ground ball collecting fiend who, you know, his success is always going to depend on location and movement, not so much missing bats. When most pitchers in baseball, it's how much contact they're giving up. Sure. But what made him special in 2015 was the fact that he did start missing bats. He had an above average strikeout rate. Right. I just don't know that it's fair to compare Kichael at any point in his career to, the one who won the Cy Young, like, he can be a special pitcher and still not that pitcher. So where do you think he is?

I think it's, like, I'm looking at more as a comparison, Keikel this year versus Keikl last year. Can he be a front-line pitcher again? And I think he's giving us a pretty resounding yes, so far that he can be that. And that's what I expected to be. That's what I expected him to be.

Anyway, obviously, I'm more, say it with more conviction now. But like I said earlier, I like the way he finished last year. And I think there were some health issues that related to his early season struggles. Oh, there's no question. I still view him as like a number three starting pitcher. Wow.

Wow. I mean, you said he was the number 26 pitcher in 2014. I think he's probably the same guy he was in 2014. All right. Well, that was only more games. That was 200 innings with a 12 and 9 record. So if he stays healthy, I think he'll eclipse the innings. And he'll win, he'll definitely have a better record than 12 and 9.

Can I, Johnny Quato? Like, does that seem like a reasonable comp for Kikl? Just not in terms of the kind of pitcher he is, but the kind of numbers I'm expecting. Right. You know, a lot of innings, low ERA, and probably a lot of wins. I think, and they have a great bullpen and a great offense. So he's set up for a good season, Kikl. So, all right, would you rather have Kikl or Kato?

I know it's easy for Chris, but Scott? Yeah, I'll still take Kato. All right. Would you rather have Kikel or Karate? I'll take Carasco. Okay. Let's do the Thames watch. This is a tweet from Cameron.

Can you bring up Eric Thames versus Dominic Brown's big month a few years ago and other strong months from previous players? Are there any Eric Thames comps? I mean, this is ridiculous. He hit his 11th home run last night. He's batting 371 with 14 walks, 18 strikeouts. It seems like every day I see a Thames stat that impresses me more than the last. Here's today's The Thames stat of the day. You ready?

Yes. On Sliders. Sliders. Eric Thames is 5 for 10 with three home runs. Sliders. Nobody wants to hit a slider. He's 5 for 10 with three home runs. That's amazing.

He has, if you take his RBI and add them to his runs and then subtract home runs, so you're not double counting anything, he has accounted for 17% of the runs, the, red pitching staff has allowed this season. It wasn't even against the Reds yesterday, right? Yeah, it was. Oh, okay, sorry. I saw comments from Lackey and Schwerber, and so I thought it was against the Cubs. Is there anything historically that says this may not last? I mean, Dominic Brown is a good example.

He had an amazing month. He had 12 home runs in the month of May, but he also had 21 strikeouts and zero walks in that month. Heath was actually looking at this, players who hit at least a little. 11 home runs in the month of April, and it was all pretty much very good players. There was like a Brady Anderson the year he had the 50 homers. It was a very good player that year. 50 homer year.

There were a handful of guys who did not hit 30 home runs that season. And not necessarily because of injury. I think Chase Huttley actually had an 11 homer April and finished with like 27 home runs that year. So it's not a guarantee for sure. It's amazing. It's just amazing what he's doing. And we can spend every show talking about Eric. We won't. I want to talk about a couple other brewers, though.

Ernan Perez is 28% owned. He is now shortstop eligible, so third base, outfield, and shortstop. Craig Counsel wants Perez in the lineup a little bit more. Look, shouldn't they just bench RSI already and put Ernan Perez, is their everyday shorts? I don't know how he used to defensively. I mean, he's made three starts at shortstop now. I don't know how much of the defensive downgrade that is. I just, I don't know. I'd like if they did that because I do think Perez has more utility and fantasy than Rcia does,

at least at this stage of their careers. But yeah, second straight gave with the home run, also had two triples in this. Don Perez, you look at the 260 batting average, but he is a 955 OPS. And like, obviously we know he can run too. So if counsel is able to live up to his own wishes and play Perez more,

he could become fantasy relevant again pretty quickly. It's just a tough spot for that team because they're not contending this year. It doesn't really matter. if they're more competitive this year with Hernam Perez or Orlando Arcea. Hernan Perez is 27. He's been on a couple of different teams.

He's probably not part of the next competitive, really good Burrers team. Orlando Arcea is supposed to be one of the building blocks for this team. He's supposed to be. It's hard to... I know they've kind of initiated this rebuilding plan, but, man, seeing the kind of player,

Thames, looks like he is, and the kind of year Travis Shaw is having. They're still only 500, though. I know, but... They're not going to stop competing until they're, you know, they're not going to stop. I think there's a chance for Perez to play, at least in the short term, a lot.

He's 28% owned. Would you rather own Christian Arroyo or Non-Perez? Corres. Yeah, I agree, Perez. Yeah, and Brandon Crawford might end up on the D.L. So if you're a Crawford owner, you need a shortstop, you take a look at Perez. Also, if you're a Crawford owner, you need a shortstop,

Didi Grigourius could be back on Friday. So he's, would you rather Oron Perez or Dede Gregorius? Probably. Well, I mean, in the context you're talking about where I'm slotting him in my lineup right away. Like, I don't know that I can go there with Perez. I'd rather have him on my bench.

So, Gregorius, I think I'd say Gregorius. Keon Broxton, Chris, 58% own in his last five games, he's five for 16 with a triple, three walks, four strikeouts, and three steals, including two last night. Are you seeing enough from Keon Broxton to keep him on your roster, or do you think Broxton is someone who's expendable for maybe Bellinger or something? Yeah, I'd rather have Bellinger than Broxton.

I'm just not sure where he's going to play, not sure how good he is. Let's go to a segment called Finally, Trey Turner. He hit for the cycle. About time he hit for the cycle, Trey Turner. We've been waiting. He had seven RBIs and four runs. But seriously, he had been pretty bad. He was batting 219 before yesterday.

now he's batting 289. In five games since coming off the DL, Turner has a hit in all four of his starts. He didn't start one of the games. He has three doubles, but no walks, three strikeouts. On the year, one walk, ten strikeouts in ten games for Trey Turner and a home run and three steals. I don't know, even with the cycle yesterday, it has not been a good start to the year for Trey Turner. Chris, where are you on Trey? I haven't changed my opinion on him at all.

And yesterday was a good example of why he's just such a dynamic player. It's too early. Especially in his season, he's played, what, 11 games? It's way too early, to be concerned. Maybe 11. All right, it was Coorsfield yesterday. Like last year, I think Andrew McCutcheon had a three-hommer game at Coorsfield, and he stunk again after that.

And that's Adam picking on Andrew McCutcheon. Let's go to Ian Kinsler. Scott, I put Ian Kinsler in the finally section. He went four for five with a double and four runs against Seattle in a 19-9 win. but actually he wasn't as I kind of felt like Kinsler wasn't doing anything he was a little better than I thought

14 walks 14 strikeouts on the year and right now he's the number 8 second baseman in fantasy three homers one steel and it wasn't as bad as I thought points leagues yeah both oh and both

A there have been a lot of slow starting second basement this year a lot of slow starting second baseman a lot of slow starting short stops yeah but I mean Kinsler before these last two games was he had a four for thirty four stretch so you I don't think you were wrong saying he hadn't done much of anything I think peripherals were

saving him in points leagues and just the the struggles of the position as a whole I mean my like even though it was a slump my my position on Kinsler hasn't really changed um like I wasn't looking to bench him in any leagues I do think he's at an age where you always have to worry if this year's going to be the year he drops off. But a rough 10-game stretch like that isn't enough to convince me, it is. Is there a second baseman that struggled out of the gate that you guys are actually worried about? Like a doger or a VR. A VR?

A VR, okay. I mean, if he counts as a second base, that's what he's playing for the Brewers. He wasn't obviously second base eligible coming into the year. But, you know, those relate back to concerns I had and some even, stronger than me, Heath, about VR. Like, it's not just, it's not just the season started, and my whole opinion of VR's changed. It's just the concerns I had are seeming to be realized with the, you know, the inconsistent contact of the impact it's having on batting average.

Yeah, like, I'm, you know, I look at Rognito-Dor. He's having a bad season. I'm not really worried about it. I have faith in his bat. I do worry a little bit. And not really a high-end guy, but someone who was going high eventually is Jose Parraza. Like, he's not striking out, but he's also not walking. He's stealing bases.

But I just wonder, like, does the bat play? And I think it's a fair question. You know, the babbip's low, but low babbip can happen if you're just overmatched. As far as Dozier and Canoe go, you feel pretty confident in them, turning things around. Good, buy-low candidates. Yeah. Yeah. And Cano has been a top five second basement, right?

Who do you think the number one second basement is right now, by the way? A little trivia for you. Well, I actually just looked at this Monday, I think. So it could have changed since then. But I think Jose Ramirez was at the time. Is he still? He is in points leagues. He's number two.

Ramirez is number two in Roto. Behind, anyone? Also shortstop eligible, I believe. No, I'm wrong. Cesar Hernandez. Oh, yes. It's been awesome. 338 batting.

That's a high, though. If you can get anything for him, I don't know that. Yeah, I don't know. There's another player who I think has crossed that threshold from enjoy it while at last because you can't really get anything for him to, okay, now maybe he is a cell high, but we'll get to him soon enough, I'm sure. Cesar Hernandez? No.

You know, I just say it, it's Irvin Santana. Oh, Irvin Santana, yeah, sure, Irvin Santana. I will tell you about Irvin Santana after I tell you about Seekek and your awesome way to save $20 when you want to go to a baseball game or a concert or theater or comedy, whatever it is. Get the Seekek app and enter the promo code Fantasy. That's promo code fantasy, all caps, $20 off your first Seekkeek purchase. Look, I got the Seek app on my phone. I use it very frequently. Anytime, it's weird. It's like not just to buy tickets, but I just want to know how much tickets are going for. I'll open up the Seeky app and I'll take a look. And then sometimes, oh, these are pretty cheap. Maybe I'll go to a game. And if you want to do that, you can save $20, again, with our Offer Code fantasy. Why is Seat Geek better than all the others? Because it searches multiple ticket sites.

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So, our listeners, you're awesome. You get $20 off your first Seatkeek purchase when you use the promo code fantasy. Download the Seatkeek app, use the promo code Fantasy, $20 off your first purchase. All right, Irvin Santana coming up in a... We'll do it now. Why not? Rankings, Shockers. Number one pitcher in fantasy is Irvin Santana.

The number one shortstop in Roto Leagues is Chris. Owings. He's number five in points. And Addison Russell, I was surprised to see, is the number three shortstop in Points League's number four in Roto. He's actually having a nice little year, and he was a breakout for Scott. Let's talk about Irvin Santana, and then we'll get into those short stops. I'm going to throw it to Chris Towers. Do you think Irvin Santana's good? No. Move on. 23 starts. He's got a 203 ERA, dating back to last year.

That's fine. He's fine. He's useful. he was decent last year he's worth out decent most years yeah but i i don't think this is some new irvin santana that that we need to go run out and get i think he's got like a one 12 babbip right now yeah and i mean it's it's like it's a situation where coming into the year i felt like irvin santana was underrated so i was happy to pick him up he made he had a two-star week the first week so i think He saw more action than usual because of that. But now, you know, he's been up over 90% owned up, basically universally owned for a couple weeks now.

It's up to five starts where he's kept an ERA below 1.77. So I think just knowing, particularly at starting pitcher, where, you know, one bad start can get people panicking and can really skew in categories, leagues, ERA and WIPP numbers in a way that makes you feel like you have a pitching problem than when maybe you don't. And just the fact, you know, Irvin Santana is sitting there at the top of the rankings. I think he's entered the point where with this start, he crossed the threshold from, okay, everybody's kind of suspicious of it too. Now maybe you can take advantage of somebody with Irvin Santana because like this isn't the first time he's done this.

Just going back to 2014, his first six starts for Atlanta, actually, he had a 190. ERA and then he finished that year with a 395 ERA. 114 games was a fine fantasy option, but there's correction coming just like there was then. He's a high 3SERA guy. And that's how I view. Look, I moved him up in my rankings as you were speaking to number 73 right behind Ivan Nova. Ivan Nova. Oh, see, now we all get to correct each other's pronunciation.

Well, me mispronouncing something is not. Would you trade Irvin Santana for Jose Cantana? Yeah. Yes. And I think that's fairly realistic, too. Yeah. All right. How about those short stops?

Addison Russell having a nice year. Top four shortstop in both formats. Chris Owings, fifth and points, first in roto. What do you think, guys? I think Chris Owings, probably his ownership percentage should keep going up. he's dual eligible he steals bases 79% own a lot of that values

based on the five stolen bases and the 16 runs and the 16 runs especially is just totally unsustainable for a guy that usually doesn't hit at the top of the order um i but there's some pop there and and you know like i don't think the pace he's currently on which is 15 homers 40 steals

like obviously the batting average is going to come down a little the run scored are going to come down but just those two categories which are the measurements we care about most for a hitter I would say like they don't seem crazy and considering he's shortstop eligible considering he's actually playing every day I don't know I'm intrigued enough

you know I'd add like a belliger over him but I'm intrigued enough to give Owings a look He's stolen around 15 bases per 500 played appearances in the majors. Well, last year was good, though. Owings had 21 steals in 119 games. He is five and six attempts. He's off to a good start, but four walks, 17 strikeouts. So there's probably a cold stretch coming.

And you know what I say about stolen bases? That's the one stat that doesn't just happen by happenstance by a player beating himself. It's a player consciously deciding to do something, and he can impact that number. And we know the Diamondbacks like to steal as well. Pollock stole two bases yesterday. I think he's up to six now. His numbers look great at the moment. All right, we'll come back.

We'll do Addison Russell some other time. Let's talk about some players. By the way, we got great the trade coming up later on in the show. Stockwatch here. Are these players stocks rising? And then are they falling? Let's start with the risers. Is Garrett Cole's stock rising?

As in his last three starts, he's given up four runs with three walks, 21 strikeouts in 19 innings. That includes two starts against the Cubs. Is Garrett Cole's stock rising? Is Kyle Hendricks stock rising? And we'll stop here. We'll do half the list here. Actually, we'll do all the pitchers.

Cole, Hendrix, Marco Estrada, who is also a great start, 270 ERA, and 33Ks and 30 innings. And Michael Waka, 255 ERA, and about a strike out per inning, and four quality starts and four starts. Cole, Hendrix, Estrada, and Waka are their stocks? rising right now. Well, it was nice to see Kyle Hendricks pull out of the tailspin. His velocity was up about three miles per hour yesterday over where it had been in his previous

start. It's more in line with where he was in his spring outing. So I guess that's a promising sign. That sounds like stock rising to me. But he only had like five swinging strikes in three Ks for what it's worth. Well, stock rising relative to how it was falling. I still have, yeah, he's turned his stock rising. around but I still have Garrett Cole ahead of him and I might I might be uh as the as the low guy on

Garrett Cole coming in the year yeah I mean two hitting the Cubs with more than a strikeout per inning after another start that was also encouraging and not really understanding what was wrong with him the first place considering how hard he was throwing it's not like there was diminished velocity or appear to be diminished stuff so he had one bad start to open the season well I know but just after last year it didn't uh right but no what i'm saying is like didn't it assuaged my concerns five runs against boston in the opener which that's fine you get them all again against boston i think he's got a two fifty two er a i with a strikeout per inning in four starts since then i'm yeah i'm very optimistic about garrick hall right right me too i'm a little nervous though because i i do think

the defense is a major problem like like he lost yesterday because of an under run field defense shouldn't be well i don't know josh harrison josh harrison has been just dreadful i don't know what that's all about, but he's kicking the ball around. I think he's making some errors that you don't expect to see. And this was something that you, yeah, I was listening to Monday's podcast and you brought it up. This was the groundball heaviest pitching staff in baseball last season. So it is worth noting that the outfield defense should be less of a concern. And they have changed the way they're aligning their outfield. Okay. Andrew McCutcheon's playing a little more in now, or a little further out. Yeah, a little further out. Yeah, a little further out. Yeah, he

is playing further out. I saw that over the weekend and he didn't get to a ball, maybe two, that most people would have. Right, but you'll trade singles for doubles and triples every time. You will, but it doesn't change the fact that he's a bad defender. But all right, fine. How about Estrada and Waka? Has their stock risen for you since, you know, your preseason ideas of Marco Estrada and Michael Waka? Well, Waka has especially because he just looks like he's back to where he was two years ago, which may have been a little overrated in fantasy, but it's still universally owned starter more often than not. You know, he looks like he's going to be a mid-range but reliable option for you. Estrada was much higher to begin with, and the fact he has more than a strikeout per inning so far,

33 and 30 innings. You know, I just, I don't know that he's really changed the way I view him. I just kind of view that as early season skewing of numbers because he's going to have good strikeout starts sometimes and he just happened to have a couple here in the early going but you know he's he's proven the last couple years he's a quality pitcher yeah and he's unorthodox yeah he looked awesome against boston the previous start to this one this is marco estrata we're talking about so chris on monday's show scott asked would you trade uh estrata for bumgarner and i said no i said maybe if i had like a three and o team

and Chris, and he said, like, absolutely, you probably heard it because you listened to the show. Would you trade Marco Estrada for Bum Garner? I have Bumgarner ranked significantly higher, so I would not. I would rather have Bum Garner. So, yeah, you would trade Estrada for Bumgarner. Yes. Okay. And, Scott, where did you fall on that?

It kind of, it depended on your team. Yeah, I think that was me kind of gauging out loud where I should rank Bum Garner. I have him ahead of Estrada. I would trade Estrada for Bumgarner Because I feel like Estrada while he's good He's not like make or break your pitching staff good You know and Bumgarner certainly is Okay

And others are there stocks rising? Couple of third baseman Mike Mustakis hit his seventh home run And Joey Gallo hit his seventh home run And he's a top five third baseman I don't know how he's so much higher than Mustakis And he's got five more RBIs And a triple.

Yeah That's a big part of it. They both have seven home runs, and Mastakis is batting 50 points higher. Anyway, Moose and Gallo, they keep rising up for you? I'm still, I still have big concerns about Gallo. I mean, he's still a bad week, I think, away from getting discussed for a demotion, considering the starting point is a 224 batting average. Mustakis, like, this might be a chicken and egg thing where, you know,

the fact that he already has seven home runs means he's hitting more flyball. but he's among the increased fly ball guys in a way that suggests, okay, maybe he can sustain a career high, home, or pace. And I've always liked how much contact he makes, that that rate's actually been a little worse this year, but still above average for a power hitter. So I think Mustakis is somebody who I wouldn't necessarily be looking to sell. The thing with Mastakis is the breakout might have started.

started last year. And it's just that the injury came in and ruined it because, you know, the Homer pace wasn't quite this, but he was, you know, hitting the ball a lot harder per hard hit contact rate. And he sustained those gains so far in the early going. Okay. Would you rather have Moose or Guriel who had another good game yesterday? Moose. Moose or Gallo? Gallo. Moose. Gallo, huh?

Yep. But I'm the buyer on Gallo. Yeah, you like him. All right. Gallo and Sineau. You're all about the 200 strikeout guys with a lot of power. Well, the big thing for me with Joey Gallo is he's gotten his strikeout to a bad but still manageable place. He's gotten his strikeouts to where Miguel Sineau has been. And Miguel Sineau has been a top 15 third baseman.

I mean, sometimes, there have been 200 strikeout guys. They're both on pace for more than 200 strikeouts. There have been ones who have impacted fantasy, but I'll particularly. with the lack of track record. I'll bet against it for both of them. All right. Well, the thing is with Chris, it's like he's like Joey Gallo for a long time. And you have to. You got to be excited because this is your moment. This is huge. Yeah. And it's, there's, there's certainly some confirmation bias in both how I and Scott view him, I would say, is that we're, we're both seeing the things we want to see from. Right, right.

But I just, when you have a standout 80 grade tool, like, he does with raw power. It's just he's showing enough skill to play it in games. And guys who have 45-50 homer potential, you know, they're rare. By the way, Mitch Hanigur expected to miss one game with the oblique injury. You don't believe me, do you? Are you serious? No, I'm not serious.

It was a total joke. Yeah, I'm sorry. Of course he isn't. Come on. All right. Look, I want to get to grade the trade and an email. So let me get through some other stuff here. Danny Duffy, terrible start yesterday.

Chris, are you concerned you've written and spoken a lot about Danny Duffy? Yeah, I mean, this was my concern that the lower velocity was going to catch up to him eventually. And I just hope it hasn't because I do own a lot of Danny Duffy. I still, the swinging strike rate is still healthy, although it wasn't very good yesterday. You know what's funny is he had his best velocity yesterday. There you go. Average 94.4 touch 97. There you go.

That's great. And like it's worth noting too, obviously at awful start to bring him to a 281 ERA. And, you know, good ERAs are usually like this is the way seasons play out for good pitchers. Series of good starts, really bad start. Like it's not always just, you know, two earn runs in seven innings, two run runs and six innings. So, like, I don't know. Like, I can understand if Chris coming in with concerns, he's kind of confirming them. Well, I just, I can't really figure out how I feel about Danny Duffy so far.

The swinging strike rate has been really healthy. He's pitching like he got four years older in the offseason with the velocity loss, the fact that he's not throwing his fastball nearly as much. But he's also 28. So he could be just figuring out how to pitch. Sure. All right, let's plow through the rest of this and finish with Grady the Trade. We'll do the rankings, excuse me, we'll do the stock falling section tomorrow.

Speak at him. Alex Bregman, John Ed Luchroy, Kiermeyer, Cargo, who homered yesterday. He's heating up. He's heating up? Yes, five, hit safely in five straight. Stock rising. It's the start of something. Maybe I'll get cargo out of the stock falling section.

Wade Miley and Patrick Corbyn had good starts yesterday. They are 70% and 55% owned, respectively. Corbin has dominated the Padres twice in a row, but now he has a 310 ERA. I said Miley had a good start. He actually walks six, but two runs, eight strikeouts against the team that strikes out more than any in baseball. However, that's 32Ks and 26 innings. What do you think about Miley and Corbyn? Should they be owned in the amount of leagues that they're owned in 70 and 55 percent?

Yes. And I could stand to go higher on Corbyn, maybe up to Miley's level at 70. like, Miley has a one hitter, a two hitter, and a four hitter already, and the strikeout rate has been terrific. He's had a couple starts now where the walks have been, like, scary high, but that's not, like, it's just, it's like, I don't know, it's like some kind of alien being inhabited Miley's body because he's not doing anything recognizable. but I'm like what he's doing is intriguing enough that I want to see a play out for me and then Corbin just I mean I wish he was doing it against somebody other than the Padres but there's reasons to be high to be to be optimistic about him to begin with and the relief picture eligibility I think makes them clearly must own in the formats where that matters

is it is it strange that I think it's reasonable for them to be owned this in the same percentage of league because I'm not convinced they're not the same person. Corbyn and Miley? I just, for some reason, I just, I think they're like the same guy. Well, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I would like to see. Corbin had seven walks and seven strikeouts and three starts, and then he faced the Padres, two walks, 17 strikeouts. Bullpen, Roberto Ozuna, he's struggling this year. Now, he got a little unlucky yesterday. It was sort of a softly hit infield single that tied the game, but his velocity's down a little bit. should we be concerned about Roberto Ozuna.

Hmm. And he had the DL stint, and he had low velocity to begin the, before the DL stint to begin the season. So, you know, I think it's something at least worth looking into here. Yeah, it's not something that it caught my attention before, so I haven't looked into it much. But if the velocity is still down, or did you say it was still down? Yeah. It was, it was down a lot. Yeah, yesterday's, they didn't have yesterday's stats.

Brooke baseball, but... I mean, the biggest problem for O'Zuna might just be that the Blue Jays are terrible. Yeah, right? It's not helping. Yeah. It's not helping, and I guess Greeley, if there's a problem there, but Joe Smith's been a lot better. Yeah. Yeah, Grilly's had his own issues.

They don't have a great bullpen. It doesn't see. No, it might be a little early to think replacement's for Ozuna, but there's some concern here, for sure. Yeah. And San Diego can see a blue is saved, but he made, according to Josh Feigley, a good pitch, a good hit or Mike Trout hit for his first extra inning home run. Any interest in these guys? J.C. Ramirez, Ty Block, Jesse Hahn.

As pitchers, J.C. Ramirez, Thai Block, Jesse Hahn. And Jesse Hahn's off to a really good start prior to even this one-hit effort against the Angels. And he was making some changes in spring training after a bad year last year, trying to get back to being more of an extreme ground ball guy. It hadn't really shown up in the results until this start, and yet he had been having a good ERA and beat us anyway.

I think of him as a deeper league option, but 19% owned. I mean, it seems like that can stand to go up a little. All right. I do want to point out that they're getting Graven back, and they're getting Sunny Gray back in a week. So I don't, like, I feel like he might not even have a spot, Mania caught. He might not. He might not. It's between him and Triggs. Probably who blinks first. And Triggs wasn't great last time, so we'll see.

Jose Martinez of St. Louis, do you feel like they might have to get him into the lineup a little bit more? This is for Deep League, obviously. He's batting 375. He had his first home run of the season. And Martinez is mostly pinch hit, but Gritchick's been terrible since the first day of the season. He strikes out a ton. He forced their hand in the spring. Yeah, he had a great spring, Jose Martinez, and he's sort of, he's old. He's the reason Matt Adams is playing the outfield. So, what do you think?

They kept Jose Martinez on the roster and had to force Matt Adams into the outfield in order to get his bat on the roster. Okay, so it would shock me if they started, and, you know, that Cardinals' devil magic, they seem to find guys like this every once in a while. NL only. Okay, yeah, for now. Now, I just want to throw the name out there, I give you a little heads up. Now, we don't really have time for grade the trade. So I'm going to save that for tomorrow.

I knew we weren't going to get to everything. We had three rainouts yesterday, too, and still had a... We talked too much. A little bit, you know, but that's okay. We got to help people win. We didn't even mention Eric Thames' fantastic quote. Oh, I got a lot of blood in me and keep testing. I got a lot of blood and urine in me.

Yeah. He's funny. I saw the interview yesterday. Thames is... I like him. Yeah, he wasn't, like, mad about it. They were asking him about the steroid accusations, and he seemed to have a pretty good sense about him. Other notes, Jason Kipnis was robbed of a home run.

Dustin Bedroia is going to play tonight. Pablo Sandoval D.L., Rage Davis, D.L. expected him to miss 10 days. Cespitus and Darno should be in the lineup tonight. J.Ris Familia is officially the Mets closer again. Chris Tillman's nearing a return. Brandon Crawford, groin injury. Arizona called up Zach Godley to replace Shelby Miller.

David Peralta sat against the lefty. Julio Areas, likely to stay in the Dodgers rotation, rest of season, and Matt Cain will not miss a start. And here's the best part of the show. It's an email from... Who are you? From Stephen in a remote island in the North Atlantic. He says, Chris likes to cite that the NBA is no worse or different today because Michael Jordan used to dominate the league back in the good old days. While that's true, the big differences, players used to try and beat Jordan their whole career.

You didn't see Reggie Miller or John Stockton joining the Bulls and the Bulls in the... the free agent market when they couldn't beat them. Oh, God. Who cares? The competitive spirit is different in today's NBA, and that makes it worse. The competitive spirit. Guys want to win. Who cares?

I do, I think it was a little more competitive back then. The competitive spirit of Magic Johnson, who was drafted onto a team with the best center ever. The competitive spirit of Labor. Drafted. Drafted. Drafted. Don't tell me about competitive.

Drafted. It's different. Drafted is different than going, signing, in free agent and whining about. Robert Lemberg didn't have to leave his team because he was. drafted onto a team with three Hall of Famers. Yeah, all right, fine, but I'm just saying, like, guys... If the Cavaliers weren't woefully incompetent and had drafted three Hall of Famers next to LeBron James, he never would have left.

Yeah, but then they pull these power plays to get out of their... Like, what Carmelo Anthony did and Kevin Love, I got to go play with my buddy. I got to go play with my buddies and be on a superstar team. Like, come on, dude, this stuff is weak. Plus, there's... Why does it bother you that they make decisions about where they want to do? do their job. I actually, I don't think they're doing anything wrong.

They're entitled to it. I just don't really like it. I like when we have more markets that mattered, and there are really only two teams that have a shot at winning the championship. Like the good old days in the NBA. Two teams have a chance to win the championship. Like the good old days in the NBA, when every team had a chance. No, I think five or six teams had a chance.

Revisionist history, and you know it. It's not revisions. Take your L. Oh, don't say that. Chris Towers. I hate that. You don't take your L. I hate that.

Chris Towers. All right, we're done for today. Back tomorrow. I promise we'll grade some trades. See you then.