Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/02 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Soroka, Pillar, Bullpens & More

Episode Date: May 2, 2018

We react to Mike Soroka's MLB debut (1:40) and discuss which SPs to drop for him. And there is bullpen madness across baseball (9:50) as Keynan Middleton is on the DL, Bud Norris will get more saves and Ken Giles legitimately punched himself in the face ... Tuesday's standouts (12:50) include Matt Carpenter, Kevin Pillar and Jorge Soler. Are we buying the production from Pillar and Soler? Is Max Kepler breaking out (19:05)? Also we've got "Hey, Real Quick" (24:00) with Tyson Ross vs. Sonny Gray, Christian Villanueva vs. Nick Castellanos and more ... Worryometer Wednesday (32:30) for some struggling OFs, Grade the Trade Part One (38:30), fringy SPs (46:00), ranking aces (49:30), deep league options (51:45), today's matchups (55:02) and more Grade the Trade to end 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

A very, very wild Tuesday in Major League Baseball is going to lead to an even wilder Wednesday fantasy baseball today podcast. But Scott, Chris, please do not punch yourself in the face. This is a punch yourself in the face free zone here on FBT. I can't guarantee anything. That is my go-to whenever I'm frustrated with myself. I just punch myself in the face. I will every once in a while just hear, I'll be sitting at my desk, got it to a cubicle diagonal from me, and I'll just hear, you know, like the sound of flesh hitting flesh. I mean, I was watching that and I was like, did Ken Giles just punch himself in the face?

And I have a really, like, lame DVR, so I can't rewind live TV. So I had to wait for it. Isn't that terrible? Like, it's 2018. I can't rewind live TV. It has dark ages. Yeah, but I did see the replay, and he did, in fact, punch himself in the face. It was amazing.

So actually, bullpen stuff is kind of crazy right now. I got to tell you, like, Sunday night, Saturday night are usually my busiest waiver wire days. I went bananas yesterday on the waiver wire, but Norris has got to be owned. Delano de Shields might be underowned. I made two pickups that scared me a little bit. I might have overspent on Mike Soroka and Jorge Soler. I want to get your thoughts on that. Let's start with Mike Soroka.

Everything was great for Soroka. Six innings, one run, no walks, five strikeouts at the Mets in his major league debut. 13 swinging strikes, all good stuff. I guess the only thing that concerned me is he got, you know, like third time to the order. He gave up the home run and I think a single, whatever. That's not a huge deal. But I guess half the hits off him were by cesspitous. Yes.

Thank you for lying to us, Cespitous, about missing three days and me putting you on the bench, by the way. Is he a two-pitch pitcher? Because he didn't throw very many change-ups. I thought he had a change-up. He didn't throw... I don't like that. You know, I don't like that. 42% owed.

He may just not have needed to, Adam. Like, what I liked about him, I mean, there's a number of things to like about a great control pitcher. The amount of sync, there were some great jiffs going around on Twitter yesterday. the sink he was getting on his fastball, which just went from like, you know, thigh high to around the ankles as it crossed the plate. And he got on one version of the fastball or another, he got nine swinging strikes yesterday,

which is a, considering he threw only 80 pitches, that's a really high number for fastballs. And if you can miss bats like that with your fastball, which generally isn't a great swing and miss pitch for anybody, there's the potential for a really high ceiling here. Chris, so Mike Soroka's 42% owned, and by the way, we don't even know if he's making another start immediately.

What do you think? How owned do you think Soroka should be? I would say probably in the Jack Flaherty range, seems right to me. I don't know what the Jack Flaherty range is. Who would you rather have? Chris? Who would I rather have?

Yes, yes. Sorry, it sounded like you were going to continue. I would rather have, gosh, I mean... It's a tough call. Yeah, and you know, yesterday... But Flaherty is also... I'm going to say his name correctly now. Flaherty's also...

He's just really impressed, and he seems to have taken a step forward as a prospect, adding a couple miles per hour to his fastball, So, you know, maybe those prospect rankings aren't entirely indicative of his current talent level. So I would probably go with Flaherty. I would have said Flaherty yesterday because it wasn't clear. You know, this is probably one and done for Soroka. We'll see how committed they are to Annabal Sanchez, who's working his way back from the DL. My feeling before yesterday was it wasn't clear at the next opening, whether it be Soroka or Louise Gohara, who would be further along in his recovery at that.

point when obviously we know Flaherty's the next man up for the Cardinals. But I think there are clearer entry points into the Braves rotation. And I'm not so sure Soroka didn't surpass Luis Gohara with this start. Like, it won't take much to get Anabal Sanchez out of the rotation, assuming he's even back in. I mean, Soroka could just stick around. Yeah. Also, he looks like he's 15. I just want to point that out.

So that's fun. Well, he's 20. It's not far off. Soroka did look really good yesterday. All right, the three most added pitchers in CBS Sports.com leagues are Nick Kingham, Kyle Gibson, and Mike Soroka. And they're all owned in about, you know, 43 to 53% of these, okay? It's pretty close. Nick Kingham, Kyle Gibson, Mike Soroka.

And I want you to rank them first Chris, then Scott. Nick Kingham, Kyle Gibson, Mike Soroka. Syroka Gibson, Gibson. Oh, my goodness. I'm actually going, I'm actually going Kingdom first, followed by Soroka and Gibson. All right, that will conclude our Mike Soroka conversation. Of course, you can email us and tweet us if you have any questions. We got a lot of big news to get to Tuesday standouts.

We have the Worryometer Wednesday. We have Hey Real Quick, and we have Grade the Trade. And what's today's teacher theme song for Grade the Trade? Pretty good, right? Pretty good one. Although this song is It's an anti-keeper That's okay

Right Look, you can't It's like It's tough It's a bad, isn't it? How does the rest of it go, Chris? Hey, teacher Leave those kids alone

Yeah, it's pretty, actually that was really shrill And very difficult on the ears All right, Jordan Montgomery Left with Elbow tightness And he's going to have an examination today And he's probably going on the DL And hopefully it's not, you know,

something terrible for Montgomery Domingo Erman will join, looks like he will join the Yankees rotation. And is he an AL-only guy, Domingo or Man? Yeah, for now. I mean, he's not a prospect on the level of like Soroka Flaherty, but some interesting minor league numbers, as you'd expect for a guy who is getting a shot in a big league rotation. I think it's bad news for Jordan Montgomery, though,

that they basically announced this before his start was even over, right? Yeah, they announced. announced that he was going back to New York to, uh, yeah, to have a second opinion, or to, to be, you know, examined. Yeah. It's usually, the, the examinations usually not, we think your elbow's fine, and we just want to, you know, see how good of shape your elbows in. Yeah, no, it's usually not what it means. And Armand, uh, his last two appearances in long relief, seven innings, eight hits, one run, two walks, seven strikeouts against Minnesota. and yesterday at Houston.

So it looks like he would slot in to start this weekend against Cleveland, or maybe next week against Boston. Johnny Quato, yeah, I'll just finish up with that. Johnny Quato's on the DL with elbow inflammation. I win? It'll be a race to see who gets back first between him and Eaton. Yes. These are partaking in baseball activities right now. Did I win for Corey Seeger?

Sure. Yes. Okay, then you win for Johnny Quedo. Get well soon, Johnny Quedo. We wish you will get well or whatever. Yes, as Scott mentioned, Adam Eaton shut down from baseball activity. Two players were moved into, and that doesn't mean, I don't know what that means for Eaton, by the way.

He could resume it in a few days, a week, something like that, but right now they're taking it slow with him, which is... We don't know what it means for Quato either. Elbow inflammation among the vaguest of diagnoses. So, like, this could be a season-ending injury for Quito, I guess, hypothetical. Or it could mean he's on the DL two weeks. Right. So Rizzo and Harper both moved to leadoff in the order.

Harper, they were pitching around Harper all the time. He had entered the game with 12 straight games without an extra base hit, which was the longest such streak of his career. And Harper Homered yesterday. And Rizzo homered yesterday. Is this big news to you guys? I think Rizzo is more likely to stay in the leadoff spot, right? Yes.

Because the Nationals started Max Scherzer in the eighth spot yesterday, and I believe Dave Martinez, that their manager's name? Yes. That is their manager. I'm pretty sure he said that it was more like having Harper in the number two spot. Actually, I think I may have jumped the gun in saying, yes, Rizzo more likely. Because I think Amora and Bia sat yesterday. So, you know. But, like, Rizzo has batted lead-off for stretches for the Cubs in recent years.

I don't know that either is very likely. Is that fair? That Joe Madden likes to tinker. And, yeah, I would agree it's probably not a long-term situation, but Madden's enough of a madman to potentially keep it going. Okay. And in the bullpen, so we got a lot of bullpen stuff, but here's part one. Kenan Middleton is on the DL.

Cambridge-Rosian blew it yesterday. He had been very... good over his previous six appearances, but gave up three hits and two runs against the Orioles for his second blown save. Who do you want in the Angels bullpen? And Middleton is optimistic. He can come back after 10 days, but a lot of pitchers are optimistic about that and get it wrong. Who do you want the Angels bullpen? Nobody for a premium, because it doesn't sound like a long-term issue for Middleton. And I don't think anybody will be good enough to wrestle that job away in the meantime.

But particularly since Bedrosian already flopped in his first chance. Jeff Fletcher, a beatwriter for the Orange County Register. Even before that appearance was speculating rookie Justin Anderson could be the one to get the opportunity. And he had been pitching in sort of a set-up role. So as much as Mike Sosha likes to move those guys around, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get the next one. Justin Anderson. Okay, yeah, Anderson pitched in the seven. He pitched in like the sixth and seventh innings yesterday.

And, yeah, Bidrojan blew it. Bud Norris is the St. Louis closer for the foreseeable future. I don't know how he's doing it, but he's got two walks, 20 strikeouts, and 14 and a third. A great season so far for Norris. And yes, I did feel like it was necessary to pick him up in a head-to-head points league yesterday. 55% owned Bud Norris. Corey Canable beginning a rehab assignment. So I know Jeremy Jeffers got a save yesterday, but obviously.

That's actually one thing we have not talked about with Hader while Canable is out. which I guess isn't going to be that much longer. Hater's probably not going to get that many back-to-back saves if he's going to pitch two to three innings every time. Yep. So keep that in mind. And Ken Giles punched himself in the face. He gave up a three-run homer.

He was charged with four runs in a third of an inning. Should we be worried about not just his face, but his role, Ken Giles? He had been lawless his previous seven appearances. no base runners at all, which caused me to move him up to rankings quite a bit before this outing. It's just so frustrating because he's obviously a good pitcher, but it keeps pulling crap like this. And the Astros are the kind of organization that would go to a bicamidity situation, at least for a stretch. So I don't know. I mean, Giles is still obviously the Astros reliever to own, above all others.

I guess Devansky would be my next choice. But I really have no idea what they're going to do. Okay. So that's Ken Giles and the Astro situation. And a lot more news coming up later. And hey real quick and all that good stuff. But let's talk about Tuesday standouts other than Mike Soroka. Chris Towers, who stood out to you yesterday on Tuesday night?

Let's talk about Matt Carpenter, who went to Ding Dong City in a clutch moment last night. and, you know, there's been a lot of hand-wringing about Matt Carpenter and whether he's just done, and I don't think so. And so yesterday was a nice bit of confirmation bias for me. Now, this was a, I don't know where he hit the home run, you know, left or right field? Probably right. I do not.

It was a wind is blowing out like crazy to left field day at Wrigley Field and was actually pretty low scoring given that. But, yes, Carpenter homered. Oh, wait, no, I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. He did not play. Who did they play last night? The Brewers? They played the Chicago White Sox.

Well, the White Sox. It was in St. Louis. And he homered off. He homered off Soria. That's what it was. Okay. All right. Well, Lynn must have been blowing there, right? It was in St. Louis. St. Louis.

Oh, okay. All right. My bad. I confused everyone. All right, Matt Carpenter is Chris a standout. Scott, who's a standout for you? A standout for me, not that I really have a great take on him, but I've got to point out what Kevin Pilar is doing for the Blue Jays.

fifth stolen base yesterday and five chances. Or actually, that may have not have come yesterday, but he's five for five in steals. He's up to 12 doubles already. His line drive rate is up. He's just hitting the ball harder than he has before. A guy who never is known to strike out much. More home runs, I think he's up to four home runs.

So, you know, like a 20 homer pace he's on. And it's made him a top 10 outfielder in, I think, both formats so far. I don't necessarily trust the hitting improvements because he's 29-year-olds and has never shown this kind of capability with the bat. The line drive rate is up, yes, but it's come at the expense of the fly ball rate rather than the ground ball rate,

which suggests to me there's going to be some leveling off there. But if he can continue to run like he has so far, again, five for five in steals, and he's certainly a fast player, one of the best center fielers in baseball. that would make him potentially like a fourth or fifth outfielder in standard roto leagues. So I'm not opposed to adding him in those formats. I'm not trusting him to be quite this good all season.

This is Kevin Pilar, and he's batting 315, and I think the most amazing thing about Kevin Pilar, his last 10 hits have been extra base hits. But just the five steals, remember, three of them came off Patanus in one sequence. That's true. including home. And he's only stolen twice since then. And I'm pretty sure he stole that base yesterday.

I was going to ask you later, hey real quick. I'll do it now. Hey, real quick. Kevin Pilar or Domingo Santana. Santana. Yeah. I mean, if it's a points league and I'm just looking for a hot handplay, I don't think Santana needs to be owned in a points league.

So I could see Pilar in that scenario. Okay. Yeah. But there are probably better points league that to make. Yeah. It's a good chance. You know, let's talk about Jorge Sillare right now, because this is a guy I spent $17 on him out of $250.

So that's not a huge bid. But I wanted him as a 13-team Roto League, not a ton on the waiver wire. Then I looked this morning at the batted ball data, and it's troubling, in my opinion. First of all, Solair hits more ground balls and fly balls. He has a pretty good hard contact rate. He's something like 25th or so in baseball. It's very good. He has a 4-11 Babbitt, I think.

which, I mean, he's hitting the ball really hard, so you expect a high Babbitt. But I guess three home runs. He's walking more lately. That's really good. I don't know. I see a lot of ground balls and not a lot of home runs and a very high Babbup. And maybe I overspent on Jorge Soler. Do you guys think that he might be breaking out a little bit?

What do you think about Salary's 35% owned? I think that's a little bit of a misreading of the ground ball to fly. ball ratio. He has a 42% ground ball rate, which is actually lower than average. Yeah, he does, he does hit more ground balls than fly ball, but he hits more balls in the air than he does on the ground because you have to add in line drive rate. So a 42% ground ball rate actually is an alarmingly high. It's not Domingo Santana levels. So I'm actually not worried about that. that he's an interesting player because he does hit the ball very hard when he hits the ball hard. And when he does and he tends to hit the ball very soft.

And so there's still some inconsistency in his swing. But the plate discipline has been really good. And it's that especially, he has a reputation as kind of a free swinger, but in his AAA career especially, he has actually walked a ton. He's going to strike out. out a good amount, but I think there's a lot that's really positive in Jorge Salar's profile right now. I'm buying.

You see how gently Chris told you you were wrong there? No, I appreciate that. I think that might be a little bit of a misreading. I actually was worried that was a little bit rude. No, not at all. Look, I encourage that, absolutely. That was a very nice way of letting me down easy. And I'm happy because I did.

I did spend it. Actually, I own Soler in three of my six leagues right now. So I hope this is the start of something. He has struck out seven times in his last three games. He hit a three-run Homer and extra innings yesterday. And, you know, he's got pedigree. He's got pop. So, all right, Soler, 35, 36 percent on, I guess.

Would you rather have Soler or Oduble Herrera? Soler. Soler. Soler. Soler or Franchi. Soler. The franchise. Oh, man.

Soler or Max Kepler. I really like Kepler. I'm going to take Kepler. He's my under-the-radar breakout player that, you know, there's the obvious ones and then there's the under-the-radar ones. He's breaking out. Scott, let me tell you the under-the-radar. Stat of the day on Max Kepler. Max Kepler went 22 consecutive plate appearances without a swing and miss the longest streak in baseball this year.

However, I'm surprised to hear you, of all people, you, Scott White. Colin Kepler a breakout, just because you look at the fantasy points per week, and I know you don't like guys who aren't everyday players, and I don't think he scored more than 16 points in a week yet, which isn't very good, and he's always had a lefty issue. So, yeah, let's stop Kepler. That's the biggest key for me. He does have a 982 OPS against lefties right now,

and it's not with like a super inflated batting average on balls in play. But it's also 20 plate appearances. And his career is, it's not, It's another one of those players where he cannot even, he shouldn't be on the roster in games that lefties are playing. And so that's the question for me. If he can become just decent against lefties, I think there's a chance he can be a useful option,

but I'd rather have Soler. He doesn't sit at him, though. He's played every game except one, I believe. The twins had a lot of weather-impacted games in the early going, which probably Oh, okay, that's a good point. Which probably impacts that week-by-week breakdown. Yeah, he's only started four games against the lefty.

And he's been bad in those games. He's apparently done some damage against left-handed relievers. Yeah. But I just like the stat you dropped about going that long without striking out, that's closer to who he was in the minors. Like a really good contact, really good play discipline guy who started swinging for the fences when he got to the majors. And it looks like this year Kepler is combining those two skills. And I think he could be – I think he could emerge as a must-star player as a result.

All right, Max Kepler. He was a sleeper hitter for Scott. Scott's sleeper hitters column, especially if you're in a shallower league and these guys are on waivers or a 12-team Head-Dead Points League. very, very useful. I use it every single week, basically, to fill out my lineup and just kind of stream outfielders mostly. All right, so that's the stat of the day. We got a lot coming up. I get to play Pink Floyd again, although I'll be 100% honest with you. I don't really like Pink Floyd. Chris, do you like Pink Floyd? They're fine. Okay. That's...

Like, Dark side of the moon's great. I don't... I'm not like spinning animals on the reg or anything. Did you see that one of our listeners on Twitter called me out for my horrible taste of music for not knowing about Animal Collective or something like that or one of the other indie bands you named? I mean, yeah, that sounds right. You have horrible taste of music. He tagged the wrong Chris Towers. Oh, everybody tagged the wrong Chris Towers.

Did he tag the British football writer? I have no idea who he tagged. But he was like, oh, wait, you're not that. Chris Towers, but every Chris Towers hates my taste of music. All right, I got to talk to everybody about something important here, something very important for the gentleman out there. It's a website. It's called forhims.com.

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This would ordinarily cost hundreds if you went to the doctor or a pharmacy. How about five bucks, everybody, forhams.com slash FBT, five bucks to help keep your hair. Forhams.com slash FBT. Hey, real quick, Ronald Acuna, or Mitch Haniguer. Ronald Acuna. Yep. All right, that works for me. I'll move on.

They're both of my top 25, though, I believe. It's just a cunez verging on top 20. Hey, real quick. Sunny Gray or Tyson Ross? Oh. I drop Sunny Gray quite a bit, but I do think he's still ahead of Tyson Ross. And I like Tyson Ross.

He bounced back post-cores as I expected him to. Tyson Ross is only 62% owned, folks. Yeah Tyson Ross or Or Soroka or Kingham Tyson Ross would be my top choice of those And I'm all about I know I wasn't on yesterday's

Oh I was on Tuesday's podcast That's when we were acting to Kingham, right? So I talked about Kingham. This audience has heard my Kingham take. Monday. Yeah Monday, yes Okay, so

Ross at 60, is Ross like very underowned at 62% This guy's got a 32080RA, 40 strikeouts and 35 and two thirds and he's only had two non-quality starts Tyson Ross, they were at Houston and at Colorado. I don't think he's very under-owned, but I do think he is under-owned. Yeah, I think he's a must-own.

He's in my top 55 pitchers, and it'd have to be a pretty deep format not to have one of those guys. It looks like that killer slider pre-theracic outlet syndrome is back. He got 12 of his 14 swinging strikes on it yesterday. That's been going on in every start, but the coarse field start where he hardly threw it, presumably because it wasn't sliding as much in the thin air. Scott, this is the guy you should have thrown all your weight behind.

Yeah, as opposed to Harvey. Yeah. I do think it's funny how, like, you know, just sports loudmouths have taken to calling Matt Harvey a fake ace. Like, he's supposed to be an ace post-surgery. Like, they're not giving him. No, I saw some guy saying he was over. hyped at his peak and it's so stupid. That's not, yeah. No, Matt Harvey was awesome.

I mean, he might have been overhyped. That kind of happens to New York people, but... Nah, he had like a 2.30 a year, all right? It's hard to be overhyped when you do that. Okay, how about, hey, real quick, Christian Villanueva or Nick Castiannos? Castianos. Yeah. Yeah, because Christian Villanueva is doing everything against lefties right now.

You're not going to get enough opportunities against lefties to keep that up. Yeah, you said it. He's got an 18, 15 OPS against lefties, eight home runs and 30 at bats. He struggles against Ritees thus far. And I think if you believe in batted ball data, then you've got to believe that Nick Castiano's is a by-low guy because 6.8% soft contact rate, a really low home run to fly ball ratio. Maybe he just hits too many line drives and not enough fly balls. I don't know. But Castiano's is hitting the crap out of the ball.

This is the baseball info solutions data, which is the hard hit, soft hit, that stuff, the little vaguer stuff, makes him look like an absolute superstar. And then the stack cast data, which tells you the exact miles per hour, you know, for the most part. He looks pretty normal by the stack cast data. He's hit 33% of his batted balls 95 miles per hour or harder. His average exit velocity is 88.5. his average X velocity on line drives and fly balls is 91. And that's all like, it's not terrible, but it's middling. So I continue to believe that there is something going on with the baseball info solutions data in Detroit.

And it tends to overstate a Castiano's impact. Okay, but you'll take him over Christian Villanueva. Yeah. All right. Moving on from Castellanos and Venova. Hey, real quick, Jed Lowry or Yohan Moncada? Yoan Moncada. Moncada.

Yep. Okay. Lowry is a top three second baseman. Moncada's ninth and points, sixth in Roto. He leads baseball in strikeouts. And now Moncada's got 11 straight games without a stolen base after he had four in a row, one steal and four straight games. But are you encouraged by Moncada's hard hit rate? Because he is amongst leaders in hard contact rate.

Are you discouraged by leading the league? League in strikeouts. How do you evaluate Yoam Moncada right now? I mean, the steals are going to be critical because I expect him to be a low batting average guy. I expect him to be a very high bad-bib guy. So, you know, if his strikeout rate is closer to the 30% it was last year, then, you know, it's up that 38% now, which is ridiculous. If it normalizes to the degree that he's still a bad but not historically bad strikeout hitter, then, you know, you know, there's a good chance he hits 240, 250,

and if there's 30 homer power, 20 steel speed, that's probably going to be a top 10 second basement. Here's the entire list of players who have hit the ball harder than Yuan Moncada on average per stat cast. Nelson Cruz, Aaron Judge. Here's the entire list of guys who have hit the ball 95 miles per hour or more in more of their batted balls. Tosca Hernandez, Luke, Luke Mail, Malley?

I don't think it's Malley. And Matt Olson. Actually, no, it's not Malley. It's Tyler Malley. It might be male. Luke M-A-I-L-E. He is a male. I have no idea who he is. Backup catcher for the race.

There you go. Or I'm not even sure it's the race. But yeah, he is top five in the entire Major League Baseball Syndicate in various batted ball metrics. good, right? We're pumped about that with... He hits the crap out of the ball. He doesn't actually swing and miss all that often.

It's kind of weird. He just... He's an extremely patient hitter. And it's... He'll wait for strike four. I mean, he will sit there and take... That's kind of the issue. But that's... To me, that means that, like,

it's possible he could improve. And if he doesn't, he's still going to get on base a ton because he walks. Yeah. All right, by the way, Luke Mail is a catcher for the Blue Jays. Yeah. Yeah. He might be better than the starting catcher for all we know. He might be.

He's hitting the ball that hard. Hey, Scott, who would you rather have Russell Martin or Wellington Castillo? I would rather have Wellington Castillo. Why don't you go ahead and make that move in the Scam League while we're speaking? Make that change. Okay. Yeah, go ahead. I hope he's not still on waivers.

All right, we've got Worryometer Wednesday and Grade the Trade the Trade coming up. But let me tell you about your fastest way to win some money. It's on the draft app or on draft.com. If you sign up with our promo code FB Today, you will play in a real money game for free just by using that code FB today when you make your first deposit on draft. And that will automatically get you following me, Big Cain 2. And you can also follow me just by looking up my username if you're already on draft, Big Cain 2. And you can win my money because I will challenge you to a draft and you will beat me because everybody beats me and we'll play for a dollar every day. And, of course, only a few people get in, but you have an opportunity every day, just about.

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So that's really quick. Get on draft right now or go to play or go to draft.com and enter the promo code FB today. The promo code is FB today. That'll get you a free entry into a real money game when you make your first deposit. FB today. I think we should do some grade the trade. First, let's do Wariometer Wednesday. All right, Worryometer Wednesday only have a few people.

They're all outfielers. Zero to 10. How worried are you about Michael Confortier. he is terrible lately, 209, with a home run. Terrible year for Michael Conforta, Wariometer, zero to ten. I'm about six, seven, something like that. Yeah, we still don't know how his shoulders going to react.

I mean, he showed some power while he was rehabbing, and so we kind of put that concern to rest. But this is an untested injury he's coming back from for hitters. And the closest comps we have among pitchers that ruined all of their careers. And if you were thinking about a guy who's not entirely comfortable with his shoulder, you would think about a guy who has inconsistent swings, doesn't make great contact, and more than anything, is a little wary of swinging. And his swing rate is down to career low levels.

And so that, you know, it's a little fan graph psychology, but it, It looks like a guy who's not entirely comfortable yet. Didn't you major in Fangraph psychology? Yes. Yeah. It's showing. Michael Conforto is the first up on the Wariometer. Second is Gregory Polanco.

His batting average is even lower than Michael Conforto. He's batting 1.92. He's been bad against lefties and righties. What's your Wariometer on Gregory Polanco, Chris Towers? One. Really? I mean, he's walking more than he ever has. He's struggling out more than he ever has, which is a little bit concerning, but he's also hitting for more power than he ever has.

The batted ball indicators are all very positive, and I mean, the 13% line drive rate isn't, but it's early enough that I'm not too concerned about a line drive rate being a little bit low. He has a 197 babb. The way you're speaking is almost like you're saying, buy low on Gregory Polanco. Yes, by very low on Gregory Polanco. Pick him up when whoever in his league drops him. Yeah. Like, he has a 197 badmib. His banning average should probably be 80 point higher.

Gotty? I mean, I... Wait, give me a number on the Wariometer for Polanco. I'll say five. Like, there's not much of a track cricket of success here. But there's a track record of... To say it's early in the season and, you know, you're going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't know that he's earned that.

But there's a track record. track record of a 285 career Babbitt. If all he does is that, he's hitting 280 and nobody's concerned about him at all. We're talking about the Gregory Polanco breakout. You know? Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, all right. Last one on the Worryometer on Worryometer Wednesday is Justin Upton.

228 batting average, four homers, 10 walks, 32nd strikeouts in 29 games. Scott, Worryometer on Justin Upton. One. And it'd be a zero. I moved him down in my rankings, but more so because other outfielders, I feel like, have surpassed him. Like, he's a guy who swings and misses a lot and has extended slumps. This isn't new.

That's all I think this is. Yeah, what are you, you worried that you drafted Justin Upton and he's been Justin Upton? Come on. Can I throw out a Worryometer? Yeah. Yeah. Jose Martinez. Oh, yeah.

Over his last 14 games, he's hitting 241 with no home runs, a 675 OPS. Are we 100% certain that Jose Martinez isn't just last year's Yuleiguriel with more walks? Well, that would still be a really good player. Yeah, it's a useful player, but we were talking about him in the first couple of weeks of the season

as if he was like a star. Well, I don't know about that. I mean, he's a top 30 outfielder for me. And if he is that version that you painted Uliuguriel with more walks, I still think he'd be a top 30 outfielder. So, yeah, I mean, I still think, like, the line drive rate is still as high, even higher than it was last year. Like, everything that made him a sleeper bat at ballwise, he's still doing. So I think it's just a cold stretch.

All right, guys. Yeah, well, let me move us on here because I want to tell you about the Kentucky Derby, which is coming up. And I already told you that draft is one way to take my money or to just win money. Here's another way to win money. Sportsline.com. Sportsline.com is a great, great resource for fantasy, and if you want to pick some games, or the Kentucky Derby. We've got an expert, a horse racing guru, Jody Demling. He had the Kentucky Derby winner last year, and he gets these horses early before they become favorites and whatnot. And he has nailed nine straight Oaks Derby doubles.

And be honest with you, I don't really know what that means. I mean, I do now. I've been told what it means. And it's very impressive. He's held the tickets with the winners of the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and the derby on Saturday. Nine straight years. So outstanding advice from Jody Demling, a real expert here. If you sign up on Sportsline.com with our promo code pitch for the fantasy baseball today listeners.

The promo code is pitch. And that will get you the first month for a $1 subscription. And by the way, the regular price is $9.99 a month, which is amazing for the research and the resources. you're getting on sportsline.com. But you want it for just one buck for the first month, sign up on Sportsline, and get that promo code pitch in there. All right. Let's do, let's do, I think, grade the trade.

You guys ready for some grade the trade? Yeah, let's grade them. We don't need no education. All right, Josiah from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, is in a 16-te-to-head points league. 16 team Head to head Points League

Mitch Hanager for Jose Ibrahim A plus I'll give it an A minus Contextual extra credit though Now he has to change his team name From eating Hanegers and hot dogs Eating Hanegers and hot dogs

Oh man Yeah You don't have to All right You don't have to So A plus or a minus there From Doug grade the trade 12-te-to-head Categories League with quality starts.

Give up. Ferrea and Junis. Great start for Junis yesterday. Ferrea and Junis for James Paxton. A. Yeah, it's going to be high. I'll give it... Yeah, A sounds good.

All right, good job, Doug. Vic from Farmington, California. I thought that... I didn't know that was a real place. I mean, that's where the shield takes place. Dear Angel, Spike and Freddie. It's probably not. He's Vic from Farmington, California.

Oh, yeah, he's Vic Mackey. Yeah, yeah, he is. Yeah. I don't know if the Angel Spike and Freddy. I don't think those are shield. That's Buffy, right? Okay. Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

I don't know who Freddy is, but I know there's an, I never saw the show, but I know there's an angel on a spike, so it's a good chance. 16 team head-to-head points league. Grade the trade. Please grade the trade and then publicly shame the owner that made this trade. Gave up Patrick Corbin. Luis Castillo and Eduardo Nunez.

Corbin, Castillo, and Nunez. Big trade here. Got back Moncada, A. E. E. Hainio Suarez, and Blake Trinan. He gave up Corbyn, Castillo, and Nunez. He got back Moncada, Suarez, Cordero, and Trinin. Yeah, that's a D. I mean, I got to adjust my perspective for a 16-team league. It looks a little better.

I don't think this is that bad. I'm not publicly shaming. I mean, unfortunately, Cordero and Moncada. I mean, I'd rather have the Corbyn side, but it's, it's, I'll give it a D plus at least. Oh, yeah, I don't know. Like, the problem is Moncada and Cordero are going to be because they strike out so much better in Roto than points, so that hurts. But, like, it's 16 teams. Eduardo Nunez could be pretty useless soon.

It could be. Castillo's been terrible. All right, fine, whatever. Eric in Atlanta. Dear Hank, Dale, and Larry. I mean, I thought it was a King of the Hill. I don't know any Larry and King of the Hill. It's, I think, famous Braves.

Larry being Chipper Jones. Oh, okay. That makes more sense from Eric and Atlanta. Grade the trade in a head-to-head categories league. Give up Polanco and Hamels. Ooh, this is relevant. Polanco and Hamels for Conforto and Newcomb. I will give that.

a... I think it's a C. C minus. Polanco and Hamels, Conforto, and Newcomb. Yeah. So there's me throwing some way... Some favoritism behind Polanco.

Okay. They might be... ...Corpoto at the very least. They might be famous Braves, but there was a Larry in King of the Hill. I would just like the record to show. Boy, I'll tell you what. Would you guys rather have Cole Hamels or Sean Newcomb?

Dang it, Bobby. Dang it, Bobby. Dang old man, I'll tell you what I'd say, Hamel. Hamils for Chris. Scott? Hamels. All right, here's some news and notes.

Happy returns. You went to Cessbitist returned and homered. Shohei Otani returned. And Mark Trumbo is back. Minor leaguers. Minnesota starting pitcher Francisco Romero will start against the Blue Jays today. Evan from Chicago wants to know if you drop any of these guys for Francisco Romero. Eric Lauer, Trevor Cahill, Vince Velasquez.

It's a Keeper League. Okay, Keeper League, I'd be more inclined to drop Cahill, although he's doing some interesting stuff, just like he did early last season. In a non-keeper league, to give a little more general advice, I'd be fine dropping Eric Lauer for Francisco Romero. Scott, is Romero a must-add in Keeper leagues? I agree with both of those takes.

Is he a must-ad, Romero, and Keeper Leaks? Yeah. Well, it depends on how many keepers. Like, you're keeping six guys, no. But if you're keeping most of your roster, yes. St. Louis called up Luke Voight. We don't care about that, right? No. Colorado sent Ryan McMahon to AAA.

Oops. That is not a good draft. The Rockies are... I hate to be, like, too critical because they are a professional baseball team, and they have smart people working for them, I'm sure. But they're not being smart with anything. Like, their lineup is bad.

And I'm not sure if they realized that yet. I mean, they cannot keep David Dahl out of the lineup. It's ridiculous. They were 27th in OPS Plus as a team last year, and they're 30th this year. They have a bad lineup. They really do. And they keep running, like, they have Rymel Tapia hitting well in AAA.

They have Ryan McMahon. They have David Dawth. And they keep running out these crappy players. And it's just, it's beyond infuriating. Okay, it is pretty annoying. Day to day, Mookie Betts came off the bench yesterday. Miguel Cabrera sat again. Scott Kingery left after being hit by a pitch.

Scooter Jeanette sat again with a shoulder injury, but an MRI revealed no major damage for Scooter Jeanette. Mike Mastakis could return today. And David Peralta was able to pinch hit yesterday. Making progress. Jake Lamb is making progress. Justin Turner could start a rehab assignment next week. Rich Hill will start Sunday.

We do have an interesting email from Brandon. This start for Rich Hill is going to be in Mexico. I recall Stephen Gunkowski kicking 80-yard field goals last year. Where is this game being played in his altitude a concern? I don't remember Stephen Gaskowski kicking 80-yard field goals. But no, if it is in Mexico City, I know that a lot of times games there have major altitude. Yeah. Yeah. I can't remember if it was baseball prospectus or fan graphs, but somebody on one of those sites did an analysis of what it would be like of a team moved to Mexico City because the altitude at the stadium there is like 8,000 feet above sea level. It's way higher than course field. It would be like the best hitters park in baseball most likely. Is that where he's pitching? I'm trying to get confirmation of that. But the bottom line anyway.

It's his first start back from a cracked fingernail that then became a worse issue and like, why would you start it anyway, you know. Stephen Sousa is nearing a return. Brett Anderson is going to pitch for the A's today. That is not something we really care about. Trey Turner was caught stealing for the first time. Yanni Chorinos is on the deal with a forearm strain. And Andrew McCutcheon is having good at bats, according to the San Francisco announcer, which I heard yesterday. And in fact, he did have some very good at bat.

And this is the guy who has started off horribly last year, McCutcheon, and then got very hot for a few months. All right, more from yesterday. Fringy starting pitchers part one. These guys are owned in more than 85% of leagues, probably because of two starts, I'm guessing, this current week. Should they be owned in more than 85% and more than 80% of leagues, let's say? Felix Hernandez, and Scott Service said his curveball is getting better, which is making his change up better, Felix Hernandez. Jake Junis, Michael Waka. Scott.

I feel like Felix Hernandez isn't the same place in his career Cici Sabathia is at, where they're figuring out a way with obviously diminished stuff to at least be serviceable. But I think, you know, I called Sabathia last time I was on a streamer pitcher, a quality streaming option. I feel like that's all Hernandez is. 86% seems too high. Of these three, Junis is the only one I would not consider a streamer. I'd consider them more than a streamer. All right.

Chris, let's take a look at the next group of pitchers. Fringy starting pitchers part two. I would like to correct the record on the Mexico thing. Okay. They are not playing in Mexico City. They are playing at Estadio de baseball Monterey, which is in Monterey, Mexico, which is 1772 feet above sea level. So not nearly as extreme as Mexico City would be, but, you know, that's still, that's comparable to like AAA PCL kind of parks like Albuquerque. Okay. Chris, let's take a look now at the Fringe starting pitchers part two.

Okay. Harlan Garcia, Kyle Gibson, Matt Boyd, Alex Cobb. All did some good things yesterday. Harlan Garcia, Kyle Gibson, Matt Boyd, Alex Cobb. How would you rank them? And are any of them under-owned, none of them are owned and even 60% of league? Oh, yeah, none of them are owned in 60% of leagues. Here's how I would rank them.

Are you ready? Oh, yeah. Kyle Gibson. Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to say that. I'm really interested in Kyle Gibson. He's been good since the All-Star Break last year. There was an article I was reading the other day that he has increased the spin rate and break on both his slider and his curveball. They've been two of the best swing and miss pitches in baseball so far this season.

What does Trevor Bauer have to say about that? Trevor Bauer has so many things to say about so much. And he's kind of a clown. But Kyle Gibson looks like a pretty good pitcher. And this is a former top prospect who disappointed mostly through his first four seasons. But he's shown some real signs of life. I think there's a lot to like about what Kyle Gibson's doing. I think he's underowned at 53%.

Yeah, even compared to the previous group, like Felix Hernandez, Junis, Waka. If we were combining these two groups, I'd go Junis number one and then Gibson number two. So even ahead of Hernandez and Waka. Now, the upside for him looking at last year's at the second half last year, you know, it's probably, I've used the Jake Ferrea comparison before. It's probably comparable to that. We're not talking about ace potential. But, yeah, he needs to be more owned than 53% for sure. Harlan Garcia has given up 15 hits in 33 innings, and he has a 109 ERA and a 0.85 whip.

Nobody is. He stole Jose Orania's Babbat power from last year. Okay. All right. I want to talk about five aces who pitched yesterday, and I want you to rank them rest of season. Justin Verlander, 14 strikeouts against the Yankees. He had one of the best starts ever against the Yankees in the history of the Yankees.

And Verlander is the number one starting pitcher in fantasy. Max Scherzer is the number two starting pitcher in fantasy. Chris Sale, Chris Sale last year in the first four months of the season, had only one start of less than 100 pitches. This year, he has only two starts of more than 96 pitches. And I do wonder, I've brought this up. I wonder if they're trying to keep him fresh because historically, Sale has, for his standard, struggled in August and September.

So we have Verlander, Scherzer, and Sale, who's number 10 in points, number 14 in Roto. Noah Cindergarde is number 18 in points, number 26 in Roto. It's another guy who's not giving you a lot of depth. Only one start of more than sixth innings. And Clayton Kershaw, he's 1 in 4. 286 ERA, lowest swinging strike rate in five years, number 29 pitcher and points, number 30 in Roto. How would you rank, Verlander, Scherzer, Sairz, Sangerg, Cindergarde, Kershaw, Scott?

I can understand dropping Kershaw behind Scherzer because Scherzer is just that good, but like a month of lower swinging strike rate for Kershaw, considering he's been pretty successful regardless. Like, to me, that's nothing to worry about. I'll still go Kirchel 1, Scherzer 2, Sale, Verlander, Cindergarde. That might just be the top five pitch.

Yeah, the top five pitchers in baseball, too. They all pits yesterday. Well, Kluber didn't pitch. Yeah, I mean, they're, like, I've seen some concern about Chris Sale because the velocity's down, and I couldn't even imagine being worried about Chris Sale. They may be.

The velocity's where it was in 2016. It's not like it's like four miles per hour down. We've seen him be effective. at this point at this velocity level he's still getting a ton of strikeouts and a ton of swinging misses i just yeah chrisale is amazing there's nothing to be concerned about here and they may be taking it easy on them to for a better second hat but in the long run you're going to benefit from that because he's going to have a better second half you know absolutely all right deep league hit i'll give the deep league hitters to uh chris i'll give the deep league pitchers to scott horhe al farro he

made some type of adjustment i can't remember what it was but he's seven for twelve with two homers in his last four games. Of course, no walks five strikeouts for Jorge Alfaro. Kenjus Morales, Matt Adams, both double-donged yesterday. Mitch Morland, Jesus Aguilar. I hope I'm pronouncing this right. Isaiah Kynerfalefa for the Rangers. And Pedro Alvarez.

Do you have interest in any of these guys? None of them strike me as anything more than league-specific type hitters except for Jorge Alfaro, who I think. And this could be confirmation bias because I have him as my number two catcher in most of our roto leagues. But I think he's pretty Mike Zanino-e. And I know that doesn't sound like a huge compliment. But at catcher, if you have a pulse, you're in the top 24. And he's got a pulse and could hit 25 home runs this season.

So I think he's a valuable number two catcher. Jorge Alfaro. The others I mentioned were Morales, Adams, Moreland. Aguilar, Kiner Filetha, there's no way I pronounce that right, I apologize, and Pedro Alvarez. Pitchers, Scott, any interest in Matt Cook, Nick Troppiano, Doug Fister, Suarez, or Zach Eflin? Cook, Troppiano, Fister, Suarez, Eflin. Tropiano's the most interesting of them. This was his second really good start of four since returning to the Angels rotation,

and he's shown swinging his potential in the past throughout his minor league career. where injuries are what have sidetracked him, the reason we haven't talked about him in a couple years. Obviously, it's going to take probably like three starts in a row of the caliber he had yesterday for me to honestly look into him in mixed leagues, but he's at least worth keeping an eye on. All right, great start yesterday for Chris Archer. I did not intentionally avoid that, I promise.

But that's, I mean, I'm never going to have any worries about him at Detroit against a team that doesn't have Miguel Cabrera, a great start for Archer. Is Chase Anderson dropable? Probably not dropable. I mean, he's not dropable, right? Like, he's off to a good start by traditional measures. And so somebody, given the shortage of pitching,

somebody's going to want to take him off your hand. Would you drop Chase Anderson for Soroka? No. Okay. But it wouldn't surprise me if Kyle Gibson's better than Chase Anderson this season. Do you think there are any other interesting bullpen developments with Soria, Herrera, Strickland, Keller, Kenley Jansen, and Craig Kimbril struggling yesterday? I don't think with any of those, no. Obviously, this guy he knows perpetually on thin ice, but, you know, ATMinto really hasn't lit it up in the setup for a lot of walks.

So I don't think there's real danger there. But there are a lot of bullpen changes happening. I'm going to write, it'll probably go up tomorrow, but I'm going to write a bullpen report. And like a third of the league's closer situations are experiencing bullpen closer turmoil right now. Today's matchups, start or sit. Let's do this quick guy. Start or sit. Danny Duffy at Drew Pomerance.

I would start Pomerans. Just Pomerans for Chris and neither for Scott. Blake Snell at Michael Fulmer. I would start both. No former Chris? No consensus here so far. Marcus Strowman at Romero, at Fernando Romero. Have I been calling him Francisco again earlier in the show?

What the hell is the matter with me? Fernando Romero. That's on you guys. You never corrected me. Yeah, well, I like the way you said that. It reminded me of George Peterson. This is George Peterson. Francisco Romero of Marcus Strow and Marcus Strowman.

Started either of them? Yes. I am starting nine. I'm going to start neither of them. Okay. I want to see what Romero does. Sit Matt Moore, start Cory Klober. Sit Lucas Giulieto, start Carlos Martinez. Tyler Anderson at you, Darvish. I would start you. I would start you too, Scott. Clayton, Richard, Derek Holland, sit in both. Yes.

Yvonne Nova at Stephen Strasbourg. Start Strasbourg. What about Nova? I'm going to lean no But it's not crazy Not a crazy idea I don't think he's very good But he's on a nice run In the nationals lineup is week right now Okay start to Grom

What about Sean Nucum at the Mets Start boat Wade Miley, Luis Castillo Neither Yeah Chris Noah on Castillo Nola at Arania Star Nola

Star Nola Severino and Kikel Will start Riu and Godley I'm assuming we're starting both. Yeah. Yes. Dylan Bundy, we're going to start. What about Andrew Heaney against the Orioles?

No. All right. And sit, Brett Anderson, start James Paxton, and grade the trade part, too. All right, from No Name. Categories League, K-per-9 is a category. Very important note there, guys. K-per-9 is a category. Give up Travis Shaw and Josh Hater.

Get Anthony Rendon. Give up Shaw and Hater for Rendon. Travis Shaw. Is OBP a category? Because if not, I'm not sure there's a huge difference between Rendon and Shaw. I'd still lean yes. Grade. So I'll give it a C plus.

Chris? Sure, C. Shaw and Hater for Rendon, pretty even. All right, from Jordan. 12 team head-to-head categories. Ooh, big names here. Give up Jose Al-Tuve and Hyunjin Ryu. Get Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel and Duhar, and Tyson Ross.

So give up Al-Tuvei and Riu. Get Stanton and Duhar and Tyson Ross. This seems fair. It's a C. It's a... I mean, I like Al-Tube a pretty good bit more than Stanton. I'll give it a C-minus. From Peter, Gray the Trade, Ben, Joel, Dario, and Markell.

Scott, you know who that is? Who those guys are? Ben, Joel, Dario, and Markell? I don't. Oh, how did it take Chris this long to figure out? They're 76ers. What is it? Philadelphia 76ers.

Okay. They are the process. They are. Trade Cody Bellinger and Rich Hill for Tommy Fam and Blake Snell. Ooh. And is fam ahead of... of Cody Bellinger at this point. Trade Bellinger and Hill,

Rich Hill, for Tommy Fam and Blake Snell. Fam is not ahead of Bellinger at this point, but they're not far apart. I think Rich Hill and Blake Snell are substantially apart. So I will give this a B. It's a solid win for the side getting Snell. Snell is ahead of Hill, you're saying. Yes.

And finally from Neil, grade the trade, Charlie Morton and Sean Minia, Give up Morton and Mania Why am I saying Morton like that? Give up Morton and Mania. Wasn't that weird? For Jose Quintana and I in Hap. How many syllables does it have when he say it that way?

Morton and Mania for Kentana and Hap. I will give this. Oh my goodness, you're getting... That's bad. Yeah, that's bad. I'm dead. I think Charlie Morton for me now. And Hap is almost valueless.

So I will give that a... A D. Yeah, I don't like it. That's bad. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, listeners. Back tomorrow with Bilo.

Sell High. Bye, hi. And someone we're worried about. And something glue and something bar. Bye.