Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/03: Fantasy Jeopardy, Trade Talk, Week 7 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 3, 2019

Who are our favorite two-start pitchers for Week 7 (1:50)? Who are our favorite weekend streamers (4:40)? And who are our favorite Buy Low and Sell High (8:00) candidates? What about some Buy High guys (17:15)? It's getting harder to doubt Hunter Dozier and Joey Gallo. But are we willing to buy low on Yasiel Puig? ... Reading your emails (21:00) and discussing our favorite advanced stats (26:00). We also review all of yesterday's important stuff (30:00) including brilliant performances from aces, Jose Berrios' ascent to the top tier and the struggles of Mike Foltynewicz and Brad Peacock ... Fantasy Jeopardy (41:30)! Scott and Heath compete in some FBT trivia. We've also got the Dropometer (53:00) for guys like Brandon Nimmo, Miguel Cabrera and Ryan McMahon, plus a full review of two-start pitchers (55:30) and weekend streamers ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Domingo Sanjambi. Everybody, what's up? Welcome to fantasy baseball today. Kokomo Friday. Scott Heath, you feeling good? You feeling Friday horrific? Eh, why not? Sure, Friday.

Yeah, very convincing. Very convincing. I'm feeling great because I think I have put together a great show. It is up to you guys to execute it. Okay, if the show is not great, it is squarely on your shoulders. and what I mean is I have a lot of segments, a lot of segments, and one segment that I think everybody's going to be excited about is, uh,

there it is, there it is, Fantasy Jeopardy! We're going to play some Fantasy Jeopardy later. Yes. It's going to be one of them. Scott, have you ever played Fantasy Jeopardy? I've never played Fantasy Jeopardy. I've only played Fantasy Feud.

Yeah, well, we haven't done in a while, but Fantasy Jeopardy sounds fun. Yeah, Fantasy Feud is for dummies. Fantasy Jeopardy is for Smart Beard. Oh. watch Wheel of Fortune, which is what people who aren't smart enough to watch Jeopardy Watch. So we'll do that a little bit later. So let's do like a rapid fire fantasy baseball today episode. And let's start with your favorite to-start pitcher option for Fantasy Week 7,

guys who are owned in 70% of leagues or fewer or less. Still not sure grammatically there. Who are we looking at Heath, favorite or favorites? If nothing else, I'm a stubborn man. and I am not going away from a guy that has been good more often than he's been bad this year. Vince Fulasquez at St. Louis at Kansas City. Okay, yes, I was thinking about dropping Vince Velasquez, but I will not do that in his two-star week.

This is actually a pretty good week for two-star pitchers, I think, not like last week's garbage. I feel like I just stunned you with that answer. You just weren't expecting him. Am I wrong about him being a two-start pitcher? What's going on here, Adam? I just don't think he's been that good. because he doesn't really go six innings ever.

He's done it once this year. He's better, I think, for, like, Categories leagues than points leagues. Which is weird because normally... Yeah. Normally you'd think a two-star pitcher, there's a higher threshold to meet in Categories leagues. But for him, in particular, I feel like it's kind of reversed. because part of the reason he's going,

he has such good ratios is because he's not pitching deep into games and not having his arsenal exposed that third time through the order. But obviously that limits his win potential, his point scoring potential. It's kind of a put up or shut up week, in my opinion, for Velasquez, because he has one quality start, and it was at Miami. So, all right, we shall see. I will be starting him, Heath, so I don't disagree.

Scott, how about a two-star pitcher that you're looking at? So I like the guys we talked about yesterday, Anthony Desclifani being my favorite of the two, and Martin Perez, who are both available in less than 40% of leagues. Both have really good matchups this week, doing some different things with their arsenals that kind of explains the success they've had recently. I do feel like the ceiling is higher for Desclophani. He could be somebody you keep even beyond this week if he delivers on his two. starts, which are San Francisco and San Francisco again. Beautiful. So I put in claims for both of them in the podcast league, the podcast points

league yesterday, which is the format where you should be most heavily pursuing two-star options. Yeah, I put in claims for both of them as well. Did not get either Anthony DiScliffeani or Martine Perez. They are widely available. We're going to talk about more pitchers who are widely available that were pretty good. last night, including a guy like Dakota Hudson, who is a two-star pitcher. Also, Griffin Canning, you might see him on the two-star pitcher list, but that is not guaranteed.

We'll go more into that list later on in the show. But Canning would be a great start at Detroit and at Baltimore, but he's not guaranteed to make that second start. All right. Weekend streamers, that's another thing we'll do at the end of the show. I was looking at it this morning. You guys can take a quick look at the notes. If Kevin Gosman is available, he's 80. percent owned. He's the highest-owned player that I put on this weekend streamer list. He is at Miami, and maybe people dropped him after his two terrible starts. That would be

somebody I'd be looking at. I'm not sure if I have a favorite, but if Yanni Chorinos is, in fact, starting at Baltimore, I'd be very interested in him. And I'm thinking maybe Spencer Turnbull against Kansas City. He hasn't given up more than three-runs in any start. He's got three straight starts without three-run runs. Doesn't go deep into games, but Spencer Turnbull against Kansas City might be someone who helps you win a week. He's a weekend streamer. He's pitching on Sunday. So there's that.

And also, Wade Miley never gives up more than three runs. And he's at the Angels. So not a terrible option there. But I got more options for you later in the show. It was hard to find that one guy who's widely available that is just like a lights out, got to pick him up guy. I don't know if you've had a chance to look, fellas. Have any thoughts?

No. Okay. Okay. Wonderful. I just want to talk about a few sponsors real quick. Again, Mother's Day's coming up. about eight days, nine days. So proflowers.com or berries.com.

That's proflowers and Sherry's berries. I've gotten both of them over the last week. I've ordered more of them. They're great. Our promo code is FBT for a pretty significant discount on both sites. Proflowers.com. FBTs the code. Berries.com.

FPT's the code. And the Kentucky Derby's coming up this weekend. You've got just a little bit of time left to get your first month for a dollar with the promo code Derby on Sportsline.com. Sportsline.com promo code is Derby. We got some trade talk in a minute. First, here's some news and notes. Steven Strassberg reached 1,500 strikeouts in fewer innings than any pitcher in Major League history.

And he was rewarded with a new pitching coach. The Nationals fired their pitching coach. Carlos Rodon is on the IL with elbow inflammation, and he might need Tommy John surgery. We don't know. Nothing's been ruled out. But Rodon's going to be out for a while. Miguel Ann Duhar could be back this weekend. Aaron Hicks played in the outfield for the first time since his injury.

According to John Heyman, the Yankees could be interested in Dallas-Kichael, but not until after the MLB draft, which is in June. Josh Donaldson expected back today. Shohei Otani expected back sometime within the next couple of weeks. Juan Soto has missed two straight games with back spasms. Jose Martinez, I talked about yesterday how he's been able to stay in the lineup. Well, not yesterday. He did sit, so that's something I'll be looking at over the weekend. Tyler O'Neill was back in the lineup.

Dexter Fowler's been out with an ill. this, but Martinez was not able to play yesterday. He did pinch hit. How about this weird factoid? Trevor Cahill is about to become the first pitcher, weather-permitting, to pitch in four different countries, to start in four different countries, because he will be pitching in Mexico this weekend. Didn't know that, did you guys?

I didn't. I'm guessing, well, obviously, United States, Canada, and then I guess Japan is probably the third one. No, mate. No, what is it? Australia. you. Ah, down under. Yeah, there it is.

And we got to talk about Raphael Devers. He's on the dropometer. He's having a pretty good week. But he made a crucial error in the ninth inning yesterday. He has nine errors, Raphael Devers. So, Heath, I apologize, you did all your homework yesterday for bi-low, for sell high, and for buy-high, and we didn't get to any of it. But I promise you get a chance today.

So who is a buy-low candidate for Heath Cummings? I still believe in Jose Ramirez No longer he goes with an average under 200 I think the easier it gets to make a by-low offer on him I don't know that he's necessarily going to be a top three pick or the number one third baseman Neither of those things probably now But I still think he's going to be worth the first round pick

And I think you can get him for less Beautiful Scott White, by-low This is a by-low I've actually pulled off In one of my leagues which is rare But Udarvish I think is a by-low right now really like the way he's been trending in terms of the velocity picking up the strikeouts picking up i i i think he actually has a career high swinging strike right now um still some things to hammer out with the control but obviously he missed a lot of time last year working

his way back from surgery this year and control has always been kind of a a touch and go thing with him but i think he's going to eventually be a uh it's somebody who pays off at a position where it's hard to find real difference makers. And you should be able to get him for pretty cheap now because the production has been limited so far. Does anybody think James and Tyone is a by-low? I do think it's weird how his swinging strike rates gone up and his strikeouts have gone down.

Right. And so I think there's a, like, I haven't actually lowered James and Tion in my season-long rankings except for the fact that I've moved Luis Castillo, Shane Bieber, that class of pitcher ahead of him. So he's still in my top 25, I think, top 26. I absolutely think he's a by-low, if you can get him for less than that.

Does anyone think Yassio Pueig is a by-low? Because that was the guy I was going to bring up. He has played 29 games, and he's batting 178 with four home runs and three steals. Now, what's really shocking, five walks to 30 strikeouts, that's terrible for Pueg. But again, that's 29 games for Pueg. His first 28 games of last year, he had a 500 OPS. He batted 200 and did not homer. The plate discipline is much worse this year, but even though I'm sure if we looked at Pueke's profile, there's probably not a lot to like.

But I'm looking at his track record. I know he's better than this. And I think Bailo on Yassil Pueg. Yeah, my confidence is shaken. I've moved him down in my ranking some, but obviously not to a point that it matches up with his season long statistics, which are dreadful. And he is a notoriously slow starter. April production over the course of his career much lower than everything else. So that's, you can take some solace in that too.

Yeah, I mean, for, like, the price you should be buying low on for Pui, certainly in like a three outfielder league is close to being dropped. Because certainly if he was dropped, I'd be adding him in whatever league I'm in. Right, right. Okay, so we have given you Jose Ramirez, you Darvish. Jamison Tyone maybe and Yasupewit. Sell high candidates, Heath Cummings.

This is, and Scott before the show was talking about this, this is not a week where it feels great saying sell high on some of the players that are doing really well. So I'm going to go a little bit lower maybe in the, maybe you could sell this guy high for Yassie L Puig. But this is kind of a low-in guy that I would sell high. It's Aaron Sanchez. I don't buy anything about him.

him being better. He's got a 3.09 ERA. It might start to look a little bit like when he was good in 2015 and 2016. His FIP is 472. His Sierra is like 5.5. He is walking way too many hitters. He's still not striking anyone out. He's not good.

Okay. Yeah, I can buy that he's healthy and that he'll be better, but not a low 3 ZRA. Aaron Sanchez did have a bad stuff. He has the same peripherals that he has. had last year. Almost exactly. That's no good. Okay, well, he's only 62% own.

Scott, do you have a buy, sell high, sell high? I do. And it's a guy, I think I talked a little about yesterday, Marco Gonzalez, who is coming off a bad start, but the numbers are still, oh, he's really high in the starting pitching scoring. He's in between Garik Cole and Marco Gonzalez in the top 20, it looks like. You know, a lot of that is because he has. five wins, one loss.

A lot of that is because he already has eight starts when nobody else has more than seven. But regardless, I think this is the highest point his value is going to be this year, both because he's not a top 20 pitcher, even at his best, and because he hasn't really been at his best this year, the ground ball rate is much lower to the point that he's not even a ground ball pitcher this year, making him susceptible to home runs, especially when he misses his few. bat's as he does. And frankly, when he throws as many strikes as he does,

the walk rate is the one thing that's as good as it was last year, at least close to as good as it was last year. Strikeouts are down, ground balls are down. That's going to be a problem for him if it continues. Marco Gonzalez. All right, Heath, I think you could do better.

Like, I got to call you. I don't understand Sanchez, that's not a very good so high. I'm going to give you a little time to think. But I think you can do better. I really do. I've had like 48 hours to think. I was straining to find a cell high too. What's that, Scott?

I was straining to find a cell high too. I feel like I have enough reason for optimism with most of the guys who are performing well so far. I've got something completely different to make up for my sell high. I do have a question for you guys. I'll make it quick at them so we can get to Jeopardy. Okay. But when you were doing the Mother's Day ads, and I need to buy some Mother's Day things. I am unsure if I am still on the hook for buying my wife something for Mother's Day.

Yeah. Like, you guys obviously are. My dad definitely is not. I am at that stage where I've got a 19-year-old. I've got a 17-year-old. They can pretty, they have their money. I could even give them money and they, if I have to. Your dad just puns on Mother's Day.

What's that? You never stop being a mother heath. I know I get stuff for my mother. My dad gets my dad gets something for my mom every year. My dad does. Yeah. Gosh, man. So like forever.

So I need to get something from me and still get something from the kids. Yes. Or something really big from all of you. I don't think that's what we're going to do. I mean. Wow, what a lucky lady. Wow. I buy her things all the time.

So high on heat. I celebrate her regularly, but I am not her child. That's true. Yes, but you mothered your children. You're acknowledging her role as a mother that clearly has, well, she mothered, no, never mind. Yeah. It's an opportunity to celebrate her. It's not a compelling case.

And you don't want to feel left out. All right. Here's my sell high. You tell me if you agree, Brandon Lowe. He's got a 407 Babbitt. And if you're selling high, you better be selling high because I like Brandon Lowe. It's not like, you know, like I like him better than Tim Anderson, for example, who's obviously we've been calling him to sell high, Tim Anderson.

But I just don't know what to expect for Low's batting average. I mean, the truth is he actually, he got off to a terrible start last year, first 10 games of his career. He batted 0-91. Then he batted 281 in the final 33 games. In the minors, he batted 290s. in 2018. In his career in the minors, he batted 281,

but he strikes out so much. He's got eight walks of 37 strikeouts. Brandon Lau, I don't think he's a 304 hitter. He's a 304 hitter with a 407 Babbitt. So I'm just a little concerned he's like a 260 hitter with Pop, and he's going to be good. He's going to be worth owning. But right now might be the time to try to turn Brandon Lau into something great.

Yeah, if you could get something great, I'd be okay with it. but I don't want to just sell Brandon Lowe by any stretch of the imagination. Because even with a bad batting average, I think he's possibly a starting second base. Yeah, totally agree. Yeah, yeah. But maybe you throw him in for Jose Ramirez. Obviously, you're not getting Ramirez straight up for Lowe. But, you know.

Maybe you can do Lowe and Aaron Sanchez for Jose Ramirez. Oh, you could do Lowe and, you know, Charlie Morton for Jose Ramirez. You know, giving him good players. Getting back one great player, sometimes that's, that works. All right, let's go to buy-A-Live. I think that's a good choice to pick. Like, we said, we had trouble finding sell high candidates. You know, as long as you are actually selling high, I think LOW is a good candidate for that.

Buy-high. Heath, what do you got? Joey Gallo. And that's probably not surprising if you've listened to this podcast for a couple of years, because I've talked about how I think he might have an MVP-type season if he just has one year with decent babb. he has great bad babe right now and a lot of it is actually real. He has kind of changed his profile just a little bit. He's hitting the ball even harder if that's even possible.

He has a better line drive rate. He has a higher, his barrel rate's like 30% right now. That won't last. But the past couple of years when he's had an average around 200, his expected batting average has been 220, 230, and we've talked about how he's been unlucky, but whatever. It didn't really matter he had a bad average. This year, his average is up in a more respectable range.

his expected batting average this year is 281 so far. I think he legitimately could be like a 250 hitter with 50 home run. All right, Joey Gallo, buy high. Scott White, who's a buy high? So I'm having a hard time finding much reason to doubt Hunter Dozier at this point. There is going to be some bad bit progression. But the main things I look for in a hitter are, does he walk enough? Does he strike out too much?

Does he elevate the ball enough to hit for power? And Dozier checks all three of those boxes, showing no signs of slowing down. People are having a hard time coming around to it. He's still less than 90% owned, which given where he is in production so far is, it should be higher. But obviously, in those 87% of leagues where he is owned, I don't think he would cost as much as maybe his upside, at least what I'm perceiving his upside to be at this point, would demand. He's dual eligible.

You know, if I owned him in any league, I wouldn't be benching him right now. So, yeah, I think I'm ready to buy into Dozier at this point, Hunter Dozier. Hunter Dozier. Hunter Dozier, are by highs. Emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com plus Fantasy Jeopardy, plus a lot from yesterday. Noah Cindergarde first since 1983, I believe, was it, to hit a solo home run in his complete game shutout in a 1-0 win. It was amazing what he did. So we'll talk about him. Jose Barrios is the number one starting pitcher in points leagues right now, so we'll talk about him.

Yeah, he is. Yeah, pretty good. I'll try to rain on the parade a little bit, but only a little bit. And all right, that's coming up right after this quick break on fantasy baseball today. I want to read some emails. We've been neglecting the emailers. So let's go to Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. This one is from Marty Connor from Columbia, Missouri.

Should I drop Jose Alvarez in a 5-by-5 Roto League? Seems like he's dropped a third in the saves pecking order. And that was actually before. This email came before last night when Diego Castillo got his fourth save. And Alvarado has not... Oh, he said Jose Alvarez, sorry. Jose Alvarado is who he meant. He has not had a save since April 7th.

So should Alvarado be dropped in a Roto League five by five? Yes. Unless you're owning him for ratios, there's not much reason to own him at this point. Wow. Okay. I sort of disagree. I feel like he could get the next one.

I totally agree with that. But April 70th. April 70. I understand, but he is like, he is going to really help you in ratios. And I do think he's I would not be surprised

if he gets the next save at all. Over under 15 saves this year for Jose Alvarado. That's a great number. Under. Just over. This is from J.T. in Boston. What do you expect from Matt Olson upon his return? If I recall,

Hamate Bone injuries have sapped power from others in the past. What do you expect from Matt Bolson. Dongs. Yeah, this is why I haven't considered him mustache in a points league where roster sizes are smaller and where strikeouts hold back his production. It's because I don't think he's going to be, in that format, particularly usable for the first four to six weeks after his return. After that, probably normal Matt Olson.

Yeah, Heath seems more confident, but I do think that that is a bad injury. We've seen it. Ham A-Bones, Chris has harped on that. They're bad. All right, Dongs from Heath. Jake from Madison. Fringy starting pitchers galore. In a 12-te-to-head points league, I'm looking for the next breakout starter.

I am intrigued by Lucas Gialito, Jared Eichof, Chris Bassett, Desclavani, Martine Ponce. Who do you like in that group? Gialito, Icoff, Bassett, Dysclavani, and Martine Perez. I would rank them the top three for me, Desclavani, Perez, Gialito. All over Icoff? showing. Anne Bassett? Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like... You are really buying into DeScoffani and Perez who have had pretty underwhelming careers. Well, who on this list hasn't? Everyone. I thought about that as soon as I said it. You are 100% right.

The only thing I would definitely argue with is I would not want Gialito over any of these guys. I mean, the production hasn't been there. But the underlying, there are some encouraging underlying things going on. His secondary arsenal seems greatly improved this year, even yesterday, which was less than a quality star, nine base runners, I think, at five innings. But 16 swinging strikes. The slider especially has been getting a lot more whiz. His whiff rate is kind of, is just outside of like an elite level so far this year. So he's 27% owned.

I don't know that it needs to be much. higher than that, but this is, you know, obviously you're digging pretty deep for a breakout candidate here. And Gialito did that against the Red Sox. They don't strike out much. Yeah, I think Iikoff, I just want to mention Ikoff could be a good weekend streamer. He's got the Nationals today. And if Juan Soto does not play, I mean, that is not a very good lineup right now, in my opinion. So Jared Eichoff, take a look at him, 53% own. He's been pitching well. I'm sort of intrigued by him. All right, this is from John in New York. I noticed Heath does not have Nick Marcakis in his top 100 outfielders. Really, Heath?

Nick Markechis, not in the top 100? Is it? Heath does not have Nick Markechis Day already? We get this email once a year, right? At least. He should be in the top 100. He's definitely in my top 100. I think he just missed him.

I haven't moved Nick Markechis in forever. I believe he's 79 in my first. rankings? Yes, he is. 79. 79. There's an owner and I should...

Yeah, go ahead. I should probably move him up a little bit. Yeah. There's an owner in our podcast league that keeps trying to trade me Nick Marcaikas and I'm just not interested and I have terrible outfielders and I'm just not interested in Nick Marcaacus.

But I know he's not bad in points leagues. I know. But I know he's also not that good. Jason from Carlsbad. Hey, non-zero chance. I've been listening to the podcast religiously for the past few seasons, I appreciate your insight. Yesterday morning, after Heath talked about Anthony Disclofani's FIPP and Sierra, it occurred

to me that Heath Scott and Chris seem to have their favorite go-to stats as indicators of a player's value. Scott enjoys swinging strikes nearly as much as peeps in his tea. Chris loves him some ex-woba more than his annoying Wilco Twitter handle, which I thought he agreed to change, and Heath guzzles down some X-FIP like a frothy double IPA. What is Adam's pets that? I've certainly heard about team at batches, versus lefties more than I thought was possible only a month into the season. What do you guys think? And this is so funny because I currently have the team at bat versus lefties split pulled up on my computer,

and I was going to bring it up at one point, but I didn't. That is your offense death this year. Every year. But I will say that four of the top five in team at bats against lefties are in the NOS, which I talked about a lot during the preseason. For the NRS, every year, they face a ton of lefties. And San Francisco has 422 to lead baseball. I think you should start a new league with team at bats versus lefties as a stat.

Well, I think it's relevant because the reason I pulled it up was when you started talking about Joey Gallo. Because Texas has the eighth fewest that bats against lefties. And maybe that's why his indicators look really good right now. If they see a lot more lefties, would that change? Are we deep enough into the season to just know that the teams are going? I mean, since we're citing that the NL West has the most played appearances against lefties, and you were right about that, so that's going to continue for the rest of the year, I would presume that if the Rangers have the 8th fewest, that would continue.

Well, I didn't know what you were going to say, but I was going to say you're wrong anyway. It's not as if the entire AL West is low against lefties. But if the teams at the top are going to stay at the top, wouldn't the teams towards the bottoms? stay towards the bottom? Not necessarily. It depends how much they face their own division. Or only the NOS teams that you had predicted are going to stay in their class. No, I didn't predict anything about Texas.

I'm just saying, only, oh, NOS teams. Yeah, because every single year, the NOS teams face a lot of lefties. I don't know if there's a trend with the ALS. I know the Rangers. Who cares? I don't really have a pet stat that I go to. I think what I've learned is that hard contact seems to be the stat that works the best in predicting the future. None of them are perfect. But you guys have brought it up a lot.

This guy hits the ball hard. And I feel like if there's one stat that I want to pay more attention to going forward, it is hard contact rate or exit velocity, things like that. I think they're really important. So that there you go. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that I'd consider it the biggest thing. What is to you? Bringing strikes. It can be. Yeah, I mean, for pitchers, honestly, if you do, if you look at a swinging strike leaderboard every year, it's the ACEs. Same with the, same with walk-to-strikeout ratio, which is why I think a lot of people love Nick Povetta.

He was up there on a list that included like some of the absolute best in baseball. It doesn't work for everyone, but that that was a big one too. Continue speaking. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for hitters, because I assume you're talking about exit velocity for hitters too. Yeah. Yeah, that's all I meant was hitters, hard contact rate.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, launch angle, I think, is just as important. Honestly, line drives versus fly balls versus ground balls, I think is the single best indicator of what kind of batting average. Obviously, take it into account with strikeouts, what kind of batting average a hitter is capable of. Heath, want to give me a quick advance stat, thought? I think that email was perfect.

Sierra. Yeah. He loves him some. some Ruben Sierra. All right. Here's, we're going to get through everything that happened yesterday with like six subheadings here. Part one.

You missed your chance to buy low. Steven Strasbourg and Noah Cindergarde. Strasbourg in his last three starts, three runes, 29 strikeouts, and 21 and two thirds. And I didn't check the data, but I did see, I watched a little bit of the game and his velocity appeared to be up yesterday. So that was nice for Strasberg.

And Noah Cinderguard. You know, he talked about how he couldn't grip the ball. Well, he said that the warm, weather is helping that help that yesterday and Cinderguard with a complete game, shut out with a solo home run and 10 strikeouts. And would you agree you've missed your chance to buy low on Strasbourg and Cindergarde? Yep. Yeah.

Yes, sir. All right. Here's a section called Act Now before it's too late. What I want to know is these guys are available. Do you think we need to pick them up now before it's too late? Matt Strom and Michael Chavis. Let's start Chavis. Let's talk with that. Start with them. They're both about 60% own. Strom, pretty damn good lately. 150 R.A. in his last four starts.

Chavis, he does have six strikeouts in his last three games, but he has three homers and two steals in 12 games. Scott, are we risking, missing the boat on high-end players here? No, I do not see a scenario in which Strom is a high-end player. I think based on what we just talked about, you know my problem with Strom is that he doesn't miss any bats at all. It is a bottom of the barrel swinging strike rate for him. And I think that's going to catch up to him sooner than later. I'd be more convinced on Chavis that you could potentially be missing a high-end player here, especially since second base is the weakest non-catcher position.

and I really don't doubt the power potential. I question some of the other things he's doing, but he does have big power for a middle infielder. If he can keep the job, certainly in leagues where you have like a middle infield spot to fill, third middle infield spot to fill beyond the regular second base and shortstop, I think you need to make sure he's owned. Does he run? Do you expect steals from Michael Chavis?

I haven't seen a great history of that, no. So I'm not sure where those two steals have come from. And he's not the only one. one on the Red Sox running more than anticipated. Rafael Devers, too. It's too early for me to really make much of that, but it's notable. And I think I'm more optimistic about both of these guys than Scott is. And I don't think Strom is going to be an ace.

But we've got that group of sparse that for me are kind of towards the end of my top 20, top 24 relief pitchers in a points league. the Colin McHugh, the Brad Keller, the Brad Peacock. I think Strong could absolutely be a part of that group. All right. How about James McCann and Rymel Toppia? They are widely available. Did we feel like we need to act now before it's too late on James McCann,

White Sox catcher, and Rocky's outfield of Ryemel Tapia? I don't see that for either of them. Tapia is working with a crowded outfield situation. And I don't think the power upside is enough. that there's a lot to lose. I know one of his home runs. He doesn't even, I think he has four or three, and one of them at least was an inside the parker.

I mean, McCann is interesting just because there's nothing interesting at catcher, and he's been the primary guy there over Wellington Castillo, and line drives are up, exit velocity's up, strikeouts down. Why not play him if you're, you know, obviously dealing with sludge at that position, but I don't really see this being a big breakthrough season for him. All right, next category is called Are These Guys Aces? They weren't drafted necessarily to be Aces, but with some hope.

Jose Barrios, top three pitcher, third and Roto, first and points. Charlie Morton, David Price. Heath are Burrios, Morton, and Price Aces. I'm really having a hard time keeping Jose Brrios out of that tier. He is my number one pitcher in the tier just below that. Aaron Nola is the last player in the ace tier. And I really kind of think that I'd rather have Rios than Aaronola right now. He's pitching deep into games.

He's gone now seven starts without a blow up. And really, if you look at what he did last year, he had almost as many outings with seven innings and two or fewer runs any pitcher in baseball. But he would have once a month or two or three times in one month. He'd just have that stretch where he was awful. I'm getting more hopeful that he's just going to be concerned. consistent this season. If he's consistent and is as good as he's been in the past,

he's a top 10 starting pitcher, especially in points. Yeah, and Brios has faced a pretty easy schedule. Like, even the Astros are 16th and runs scored, but he's going to face an easy schedule. It's just, that's the beauty of it. I mean, the twins are the only good lineup in that division, so Brios

is going to have a great schedule. Would you guys consider Brios over Nola? I mean, I think it's in the conversation. I haven't moved Nola down. that far yet. But it's in the conversation. So my loose definition of Ace that I kind of set up this preseason. Let's go faster here. Let's go faster.

Go ahead, Scott. Finish your dog. Okay. Is the expectation of 200 innings and 200 strikeouts? Burrios fell just short of that in the innings last year. Morton fell a little more short of that in the innings last year. And Price was pretty close. So they're all in that conversation.

I still have them just a little outside of it. Okay. Are these guys must start? Mike Fultenevich and John Gray. They both have two starts. No, Fultenevich is two starts next week, but at the Dodgers and at Arizona, and John Gray is a one-star pitcher against San Francisco at home. Are Fulte and John Gray must start?

Nope. John Gray is closer to start, but I think Fulton Havich must sit right now. His velocity was down two miles per hour in his first start off the Dianna, He was down three miles per hour in the second one. He does not have much to fall back on if he doesn't have a lead velocity. Adam's preseason favorites, Brad Peacock and Tyler Skaggs. I like them less now than I did then. Even though Skaggs looks like he has pretty good numbers.

Swinging strike rate is way down. The ground ball rate is down. 87.1% strand rate, so he's been a little bit lucky. I like him. I think he's actually underowned. He's 66%. But I don't think he's must start. and I was hoping he'd be must start.

And Peacock, yeah, I mean, it's a little bit of concern here, although he's mostly just gotten beaten up by Minnesota, and they're pretty good. But quick thoughts, Scott, on Peacock and Skaggs. I think Peacock's dropable in, like, you know, regular 12-team head-to-head league, or certainly Rhodo. I mean, head-to-heads what you want to most in. Ooh, I don't know.

That slider just hasn't been right this year. He's just not missing back. What if he gets it back? Then you're going to regret it. Right? Yeah. Adam. It's a big F.

I'd be scared to drop a guy who has major spark potential. Like, I don't, you know, just because he's RP eligible. I don't know. I still, okay. All right. I understand your point. I'm not there yet on Peacock, but I understand your point. Heath thought on Skaggs.

I don't feel much differently about him than I did before the season. He's still a top 50 starting pitcher for me, but he's not a top 40. so he's right in that range of guys that definitely not must start, but I might start him more than half the time. Widely available starting pitchers, are you interested in any of these guys? I know Scott has some interest in Gialito. Gialito, Tyler Malley, Danny Duffy,

Tyler Malley at Oakland at San Francisco next week. Danny Duffy at Houston next week. Gialito, I think he's at Cleveland and at Toronto next week. And Dakota Hudson, who has the Phillies and Pirates next week. Malley, Duffy, Gialito, Hudson, Heathie, Yovil. Are you interested in them? I'm not particularly interested in them. I think both Hudson and Malley have some possible mysterious upside potential.

I don't believe in Gialito anymore. Duffy's, this start was interesting in that he got to 100 pitches and he threw a ton of strikes, but it might take two more starts like this before I'd actually be interested in him. Yeah. 18 swinging strikes through his slider 33% of the time, which was a much. high rate than he threw it last year. So he may be going, at least attempting to go the Patrick Corbyn route. He needs to because he's not throwing as hard as he used to either. That's Danny Duffy. And you heard Scott talk about Gialito more glowingly a little bit earlier.

And in the bullpen, Scott, did we learn anything about Ryan Brazier and Matt Barnes and Hansel Robles and Ty Butchry? And you cannot bring Michael Caden today. No, he did not have a save today. Robles didn't either. It's worth pointing out. Bunchery wasn't available. Brazier. A four-run game in the ninth.

Go ahead, Brazier. Yeah, Brazier, blew a save, gave up a three-run homer, and it was a second-blown save and eight chances. But considering he wasn't firmly the guy, I think it's a little concerning if you've been relying on Brazier, because Matt Barnes struck out the side in a perfect date before that. He's a much better strikeout pitcher. He's a much better home-run pitcher.

Preventor. It's a great grab ball pitcher, actually, Barnes is. So it could tip the scales a little bit. Maybe Barnes is getting more. It remains to be seen. I think one note you don't have here about the bullpen is I'm not sure, terribly motivated to hold on to Luke Jackson. He pitched the eighth inning of a blowout loss was followed by Charlie Culberson, a position player. so clearly used in a low, low leverage situation and that was after Mentor had a great ninth inning

with a four-run lead in which he struck out to the day before. So I think Mentor is still clearly the first choice for saves there. Maybe he'll be terrible again and they'll turn back to Jackson at some point, but Jackson is not the guy. Fair enough, and who else had a great ninth inning

in a four-run game and struck out too? That would be Hansel Robles yesterday, but like Scott said, You've got to imagine Ty Butchery not available after pitching two innings the day before. All right, you've waited long enough. You will get your Fantasy Jeopardy when we come back from this quick break on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back, everybody. Okay, here's how it works, Scott.

I got three categories for you. I got a $200, a $400, and a $600 question. And then we have final jeopardy. So, also, you don't lose points for incorrect answers. What? And you have to be quick. You have to be quick on this. All right, here we go.

Your categories are middle infielders, breakout players, and nerd stats. For 200, 400, 600. Scott, you're the newcomer here. I will give you control of the board. Do you want middle infielders, breakout players, or nerd stats? So do I buzz in when I have the answer?

Is that how this works? Say your name, right? Yeah, you say your name. Scott. After I choose the clue, obviously. Right. And don't forget the answer. the norm of a question.

Okay. All right. Well, I am going to, I mean, there's no losing money, so let's go 600 in nerd stats. Nerd stats for 600. Nobody hits the ball harder than this sizzling serpentine. Scott. I heard Scott. Who is David Peralta?

That is incorrect. Ah Heath, would you care to guess? Nobody hits a little harder than this sizzling serpentine. Scott is disgusted. Heath, you have five seconds. Four, three, three, two, one. Cody Ballinger.

No, Cody Bellinger is wrong. This is Christian Walker. Who is Christian Walker. Hardest hitter in baseball, according to fan graphs. This was going into yesterday's games. Okay, Scott, the board is still yours. Oh, I thought we were going forever, Jigsit velocity. Disgusted with myself.

No, it was hard contact rate. I apologize. Middle infielder's for 600. Middle infielders for 600. This early waiver wire darling has a 678 OPS in his last 16 games, but has seven hits in his last four games. So he started off hot. Scott.

Who is Dansby Swanson? Heath, this early waiver wire darling has a 678 OPS in his last 16 games, but has seven hits in his last four games. These are tough. Scott keeps picking the six hundredths. Heath, you have four, three, two, one. Yeah? Tim Anderson.

Oh, wrong button. Kike Hernandez. Kekehardandez has certainly cooled off. Yes. Scott, the board is still yours. Jeopardy clues are less opaque. Anyway, what's the middle category? Breakout players.

Breakout players. For 600. For 600. His 11.6K per 9, much higher than his career rate of 8Ks per 9. Up to 11.6. Scott. Scott. Who is Matthew Boyd.

Woo! Yeah. Scott is on the board. 600 points for Scott White. And the board is yours. Matt Boyd was the breakout. Breakout players for 400. All right.

This buff baseball boy is currently top three at his position and has reached base safely in every game this season. Scott. Scott. Who is Luke Voight? Luke Void is correct. Scott White. I got the first of category.

Heath, are you playing? 200. Breakouts. All right. Heath, let's see if you get on the board. Breakout players for 200. Christian Yellich has 14 home runs and six steals. So does this guy.

Scott. Scott. Who is Cody Bellin? He swept the category, ladies and gentlemen. Heath, you got some work to do. Bart down 1,200 to nothing. Cody Bellinger and Christian Delich, both at 14 homers and six steals. Scott, we have nerd stats and middle infielers.

Yeah, let's go nerd stats for 400. This South Paul Sultan of SWAT has a 50% home run to fly ball rate as of yesterday. Scott? Scott. Who is Joey Gallo? Scott White is on fire. He has $1,600. Scott, nerd stats or middle infielders?

Let's do nerd stats for 200. Only Tim Anderson has a higher babbip than this veteran shortstop. Only Tim Anderson is a higher. Heath. Who is Elvis Andrews? Hey, Heath, you're on the board. 200 to Heath. What do you think about that?

Elvis Andrews. That was the easiest one? Elvis Andrews with like a 400 Babbip, Heath. Does that mean he's not a buy-high? I don't think he's a bi-high, no. But I told you that a week ago because his Babbup was so high. Well, he's a bai-high, even if his Babbup's high. All right, Heath, we got middle infielder for 200 and 400 remaining.

You cannot win. I don't think. But go ahead anyway. Oh, no, we have Final Jeopardy coming up, so maybe you can win. 400. The answer there is your daily double. which really sucks because you only have

200 remaining and it would have been worth 400 so you want to wager all of it? 1.99 please. Okay. For 199 this American League Central Middle Infielder

leads all middle infielers in RBI's Leads middle infielders. Who is at Alberto Mondes? Hey, all right. You guys are doing great. So Heath has $399. Scott has $1,600.

And Heath, for $200, this is the amount of stolen bases for Jose Altuve. Scott. No, it's... Oh, Scott, you're right. Sorry, Scott. Zero. That is incorrect. Heath.

Heath. Two. First of all, I think you were trying to say, what is two? The answer is actually, what is one? One still one base for Jose Altuve. Heath, you sound very demoralized, but don't worry. Final Jeopardy is coming up. Figure out how much you want to wager.

$399 for Heath. $1,600 for Scott. And your category is strikeout machines. Strikeout machines. Okay, Scott, how much are you wagering of your $1,600? Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, no. Write down your wager. I forgot.

Write down your wager. But you have to be honest about it. Otter code. pin or paper, I just chatted it to you. Oh, okay. Scott, G-chat, your wager to me, please. All right.

All right, here we go. I'm gonna... Okay. And here is... Okay, great. Here is your question or your answer. These three West Coast teammates are all tied

for fourth in baseball with 39 strikeouts. They are hitters. They are on the same team. They're on the West Coast, and they all have 39 strikeouts this year. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do. I guess I could actually get the music up. All right, three hitters, tied with 39 strikeouts on the same team on the West Coast.

Scott, you wagered $801. Let's get your answer, please, or your question. Shouldn't he? If he gives the answer. I already have Heath's answer written, so I know... Okay. Oh, okay. Who is it, Scott?

I don't. I don't know. Okay, that's okay. That's okay. Scott, you lost $801. That leaves you with $799. Heath, you have wagered 398 of your 399, which means if you get it right, that leaves you with, what, 797? I believe? Yes.

Okay, so what is your answer, Heath, or your question? Domingo Santana, Mitch Hanager, and Edwin and Carnaccio. That is so close. Oh, damn it. There we go. Very close. Domingo Santana, Mitch Hanager, and Tim Beckham. Not Edward, Edwin and Carnacian.

That was a really good guess, though. So, Heath, you have $2 or $1. Scott, $799. congratulations. You are the winner of Fantasy Jack. Yeah. So where can I pick up my check? You can do this for me, Scott. I'm going to give you 30, I'm going to give you one minute, maybe one minute and 30 seconds to tell us about prospects we need to stash. Prospects you need to stash. Well, there have been some big graduations, of course, Vladimir Guerr and Nick Senzel's happening today. I still have Jesus Luzardo at the top of my list because I feel pretty confident that once he's healthy and back up to speed.

He'll be in the rotation and doing Chris Paddock-like things there. Jordan Alvarez in the Astros lineup, or in the Astros system, is somebody who you may want to go ahead and pick up and stash right now because he is putting pressure on the Astros to call him up with each passing day. I think four multi-hit games in his past five, 12 home runs already. A batting average over 400 and OPS over 1,400. he is he needs to be called up they have room for him let's make it happen astros uh cabin bizio has been playing a few different positions in the miners he's already 24

so he's he's kind of eating away at his prime already no reason why the blue jays should keep him down much longer he's hitting for average this year unlike last year power speed a lot of on base ability very interesting player there I also think Luis Rias is going to be back sooner than later. He has a three-homer game and a two-homer game since getting sent down. Now, his game that made him a top prospect is contact hitting more than power hitting, and the contact hitting has suffered in sort of a trade-off for more power here.

But if he hits for that kind of power, you know, he's interesting still. And fifth on my list is, I don't think, as high a priority as the top four. But Brendan Rogers has really heated up at AAA. And although I have a lot of confidence in Reich McMahon coming around and delivering on all the promise we thought he had, the Rockies may not be as patient as may. I mean, Rogers was part of the competition for second base this spring. he's considered one of their top prospects, if not their top prospect. And he's pushing for a call-up right now, so we'll see what happens there.

All right, great. Lizarro, Alvarez, Bigio, Luis Arias, and Brennan Rogers. Thank you, Scott. Drop-O-Meter real quick here. Zero to 10. Zero is no way. Don't drop them, you moron. 10 is, yeah, drop them.

You should have dropped them yesterday, moron. Brandon Nimmo, 66% own. Yeah, you should have dropped him yesterday. I'll go, I'll go nine. Eight. Ryan McMahon. Two. Three.

He's about to start a big home stand, so let's make it happen, Ryan McMahon. Adam Eaton. One. Five. Take him or leave him. Travis Shaw, 90% own. Four. Three.

Miguel Cabrera, 75% own. Nine. Five. All right. Scott's certainly ready to. to drop miggy. Ryan Braun. There's so many first baseman, man.

Ryan Braun, 78% own. He's... Seven? I don't know, nine for him, too. I don't really care about Ryan Braun anymore. Jeremy Jeffress, 35% own. Two. I mean, if he was worth rostering in your league

in the first place, I would say like four. Byron Buxton, 75% own. I'm going to say zero in categories, but he might be a 10 in points. Not like an 8. Yeah. Yeah, I think there's a big divide between the two formats. Batting 9th just really hurts.

And Raphael Devers, 90% own. It's starting to come around. I was having a nice week. But man, those errors. I'm worried about his playing time a little bit. But Devers, 90% own. Six, maybe more like a seven in points leagues or head-to-head leagues where roster sizes are small.

Three for Heath. All right. Two-star. pitchers. Okay, let's see what we got here. I'm sure we have plenty of confidence in Blake Snell. We'll start him. How about Walker Bueller, Atlanta, and Washington at home?

Start him. Are you starting Mike Minor at Pittsburgh and at Houston? Yep. Tanaka against Seattle and at Tampa Bay. Let's do it. How about Marco Gonzalez at the Yankees and at the Red Sox? Points of League, yes. maybe not in Roto.

You're saying no? Are you saying yes and both? I was scared. Yeah, I understand. For Marco Gonzalez. Caleb Smith at Chicago and at the Mets. Oh, yeah, of course. Madison, Bumgarner.

Not sitting in Caleb Smith for anything. Bumgarner at Colorado and home against Cincinnati. Definitely points. I'd still start him, but probably not in Roto. Column McHugh, Kansas City, and Texas at home. Probably. Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine with them. Stroman against the Twins and White Sox at home.

Yeah. Yep. The over-owned, overrated Robbie Ray at Tampa Bay and home against Atlanta. Yep. Yeah, why wouldn't. Only in points leave. Why wouldn't I want my whip destroyed and my ERA? My lack of quality starts.

Sounds great. Okay. After Robbie Ray, who's that? Get out of here, Robbie Ray. Max Freed at the Dodgers and National. Arizona? Of course. Yeah.

Probably. Are we sitting Fultenevich? Yes. Heath? If I could help it, I mean. Oh, yeah, I don't think there's a... I'm not even sure he's going to be messed own. Michaelis is home against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah, his last two starts have been pretty good. All right, I'm not going to read all the matchups here, but these are guys that you could think about picking up. Yolice Chasine, Vince Velasquez, Aaron Sanchez, Chasine Velasquez Sanchez? Velasquez. Only Velasquez?

Yes. Junis, hopefully Griffin Canning, but we're not sure. Sabathia, Merrill Kelly. No. Doesn't sound good to me. I mean, maybe Sabathia, if you were hard up for starts, but that's the only one I'd consider. Yeah, I mean, I

Like canning, are you comfortable starting him one start at Detroit? And then hoping for that second start at Baltimore. Yeah, I don't think that's a bad idea. It depends on what kind of alternatives you have, of course. But it's not like I'm scared to start him at Detroit. And if he makes that second start at Baltimore, then obviously it was a great idea. Martin Perez, Dakota Hudson, Drew Pomerant, Anthony DiClofani, Felix Hernandez. I'm guessing Disclavani and Perez are our favorites there?

They are mine. Who does Felix have? At the Yankees and at the Red Sox. Yeah, not him. Yeah, different matchups. He might be interesting, but those are... I mean, I guess those are tough. Are the Yankees a tough matchup?

Not really. But at Yankee Stadium, they might be. Sensatella, Nova, Alcantara, Malley, Brooks, Daniel Norris, David Hess, Shelby Miller. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. All right. And then my one-start streamers. Jared Icoff.

Who's your favorite on Friday? Ikoff against Washington. Tyler Beattie at Cincinnati. Kevin Gosman at Miami. Rinaldo Lopez against Boston. Eric Lauer against the Dodgers. Gosman. He's the most owned.

Ikoff for Heath. Okay. I really would like to see. If Soto's not playing, I feel good about Icoff. Saturday. Odarezi at the Yankees, Waka at the Cubs. Tyson Ross against Kansas City, Homer Bailey at Detroit. Trevor Richards against Atlanta.

Yanni Chorino's at Baltimore. Wade Miley at the Angels, Tanner Roark against San Francisco. Yonnie. Yeah, I had trouble keeping up with that, but I think Yanni, it's the pick fair. Or is it Laurel. It is in your notes, just so you know. Yeah, all right, Sunday. Panetta at the Yankees Revenge game.

John Means against Tampa Bay. Spencer Turnbull against Kansas City. Julio Tehran at Miami, 80% owned. Nick Margievich is against the Dodgers. Turnbull. Did you say Julio Toron's 80% owned? Yeah. That is amazing.

Two start week and the last one's at Miami. That is amazing. Turnbull is 80% owned. Turnbull's a sneaky one. I think I like them more than Turnbull on this list, actually. Yeah, that's fair. But Turnbull is owned in 30% of league, so much more available. He's a sneaky.

Thanks for listening, everybody. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the Kentucky Derby. Get every mother that you know a Mother's Day gift. Get Heath's wife a Mother's Day gift. I mean, for goodness sake. Or Heath's Mama Mother's Day gift. Oh, and I forgot to mention, gosh, I can't believe I forgot to mention it, but we're going to be on HQ on Sunday.

So check that out. I'll tweet out the details. Thanks for listening. Have a great weekend. Talk to you, Monday.