Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/06: Weekend Roundup - Who to Add for Week 7 and Beyond (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 6, 2019

We start with hitters (1:40) and SPs (10:00) to add. Are Josh VanMeter or Derek Dietrich worth a look? What are we seeing from Pablo Lopez right now? And who are the one-start streamers you could use this week (12:15)? ... A lot of news to get to (17:00) as we update you on Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon, all of the Yankees and some day-to-day guys. Then we review the Most Added list (23:30) as we wonder if any of the SPs like Anthony DeSclafani, Martin Perez, Griffin Canning and Spencer Turnbull have staying power ... How Adam botched Fantasy Jeopardy last week (32:00), bullpen updates (35:00), more hitters to add (38:40) and SP talk (42:30) to finish 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. We're fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. And we are on to Fantasy Week 7 here. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today.

It is Monday morning. And I hope everybody got to watch us on CBS Sports HQ yesterday. Uh, belated happy Cinco to Mayo. Scott, Heath, did you have Mexican food or beverage yesterday? I did not. No, I did not. Why? Did you?

Yes, of course. I felt obligated. I wasn't even hungry. And I had a burrito. Come on. I had, uh, Taco Bell for lunch. Really? And then for dinner, we made casadillas, behitas, yellow rice, guacamole, guacamole,

and margaritas. You had nothing but Mexican. That's true. That's the only thing I ate yesterday. Did you have like Flan for dessert? I did not have any dessert. I had beer. Oh, okay.

Mexican beer, I hope. Dosakis. Heath had dosakis last night. Let's just go out of that. No, no, I didn't. All right, welcome to this show. You know how we'd do it. Hitters to add, pitchers to add,

everything you need to know from over the weekend. Was it an active weekend for you guys? Heath on the waiver wire. make a lot of moves? I don't know that I'd say I made a lot of moves, but I definitely made some moves. Okay. I'm sure we'll talk about that.

Scott, I'd ask you, but whatever, we'll find out soon enough. One hitter to add, one pitcher to add. Scott, I'm going to go to you first. Give me the hitter that we need to add right now. Well, depending on the depth of your league, and it would have to be a pretty deep league. but I am interested in a recent call-up of the Reds by the name of Josh Van Meter, who was so under the radar coming into the season that,

other than CBS, none of the other sites I played on even had them in their play or database. He wasn't a top 30 prospect according to MLB.com. He wasn't a top 30 prospect according to Baseball America. But the reason he ended up getting called up yesterday is because, You look at what he did in the, has done in the minors so far this year, 336 batting average with 13 home runs in 110 at bats. So how could this be this complete no-name doing stuff like that? Well, he did, he kind of joined the fly ball revolution last year. And with the move up to AAA, with the switch to the MLB ball at AAA, it may, that switch in his batted ball profile may be paying.

devidence. Obviously, a high fly ball rate is going to play well in Cincinnati. He's a shortstop. Right now, that's where he's eligible, but I can see him getting a lot of time at second base. That's obviously a position of need. In deep leagues, middle infield depth is something that's in question. He didn't start yesterday, Josh Van Meter, but he came off the bench, walked and stole a base, which was a nice bonus. Yeah, he's got a little bit of steals in his profile, Josh Fameter. He stole 10 bases last year. He had a 15 steel season. So, you know, maybe he'll get you a handful of those.

Is he going to play? He's going to play every day. If he plays, if he plays. But between Jose Paraza and Jose Iglesias. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, neither of those are bats worth keeping in a lineup, at least the way Braza started this year. So I could see the opportunity there.

Derek Dietrich, I don't know, maybe because the way he had performed this weekend and the power he's shown, maybe that's more of an obstacle. I'm interested in, I'm interested enough in Van Meeter's profile that in those deeper leagues, in any league where I've struggled to fill a middle-end field spot, I'm taking a flyer on him. I will just say that until 30 games ago, we weren't even sure Josh Van Meter was worthy of a AAA roster spot. His OPS in the minor leagues has been mostly terrible. Yeah, I hadn't heard of him until last week. If the baseball makes this guy good, then we need to seriously consider changing the baseball.

No, but you know what? I am so desperate for middle infields. I don't know about you, but like in our Roto League, our 12-team, 30-man roster Roto League. I start Brian Dozier every week, and I'm so sick of starting Brian Dozier. So I actually picked up Chris Taylor, who has started a lot lately. Now, they just face like four lefties in five games. So, you know, I don't know. I think they only have two lefties out of seven on the schedule this week.

I don't know if Chris Taylor is going to play more than four games this week, and I'm going to start him over Brian Dozier. But I probably should have thought about Van Meeter in this league and taking a shot there. But, yeah, I mean, there's not much of a track record, but my goodness is he just tearing the cover off the ball. All right, so, Heath, if there was a hitter for you to add, who would it be? This is always, I always forget to look at the ownership, right? And because the guys that I add, it seems like, are the guys that I'm surprised they're still available, and then I find out they're 80% owned. I was able to find Hunter Dozier in a league still.

Was probably like the guy I was the most happy to add. I added Kelvin Gutierrez in a different league. Now I'm just adding Royals, so that's fantastic. Great. I think in weekly leagues, Nate Lowe was a pretty interesting guy to go get. Okay. Well, Gutierrez is widely available. He's only 9% owned.

Who would you rather have Kelvin Gutierrez or Josh Van Meter? Goodierrez. Scott? I'd rather have Van Meter, but Gutierrez's playing time seems more assured. I do second the Hunter Dozier move. Yeah, he is widely owned. I got him. Maybe there was two leagues where he was available.

He's because I got him in one of ours, too, the head-to-head auction league. He is to the point now where you can't let him go unowned. This is not. not slowing down. You look at his ex-Woba. It's over 400. X-WO-Bah is rated so that a good Wobah is a good on-base percentage. Obviously, a guy with an on-base percentage over 400. That's a very good thing. X-Woba is over 400. That's expected Wobah. Which means that is what his profile suggests his Wobah should be.

So, obviously, things are going well for Dozier in a way that's largely, at least according to advance metrics largely sustainable. And I think Michael Chavis is the other guy that if he's available, you have to pick him up. He is 80% owned and just he's been outstanding for the Red Sox. He's the most added hitter right now in our leagues. And let me just bring up Derek Dietrich. Is Derek Dietrich, I think, four home runs over the weekend? You know, just a great weekend for him.

And he, I believe, is 23% owned. Heath, do you feel like we need to be adding Derek Dietrich? I would rather add Derek Dietrich than Van Meter, for sure. Okay, you really. See, like, I'm just going to differ on that and just say, like, we know Derek Dietrich's not a good hitter. Like, I have no interest in adding him. He was ice cold before this weekend.

And so I'm just, I'm not moved by this at all. In his previous 18 games, he had a 675 OPS. I didn't add either of them this weekend. Fair enough, but wouldn't you rather just take a shot on somebody who might come out of nowhere, like other than like the known quantity? quantity of Derek Dietrich, which just isn't good? Like, we've seen Derek Dietrich go through stretches where he's usable in fantasy baseball, especially as a middle infielder in a roto league.

So I don't, like, I'm not saying he's a great player by any stretch of the imagination, but we've seen him put up an 800 OPS in the major leagues before. I think the main distinction for me between Dietrich and Van Meter, and obviously Van Meter isn't guaranteed anything as far as we know. But I think there's a better chance just because he's a, a young guy and not a, more like a journeyman type, that he does find his way into regular playing time. Well, Dietrich might always be limited to right-handed pitchers. But, I mean, going from Miami to Cincinnati, that's a pretty big park change for a guy who elevates the ball like Dietrich does.

I mean, his swing is geared for power. And, I mean, nine home runs already from a part-time player. It seems to be manifesting. And I would say, like, in over the last four seasons, Derek Dietrich, OPS is very, very similar to Van Meeters in A, AA and AAA, and this season, the thing that has excited about Van Meter is he's hit, what, 13 home runs and what do you say, 110 at Bad Scott? Something like that, yeah.

Well, Dietrich's hit 9 and 70. Yeah. So he's been better than Van Meter, both of their entire lives. We have this. He's been just about this year in the majors. We have this conversation four days ago, though, and we don't say Derek Dietrich. We have no interest in Derek Dietrich. He hasn't had a lot of.

an 800 OPS since 2015. Four days ago, we didn't even know who Josh Bannemir was. All right, but we should have. He didn't even exist in our minds or on most sites. All right. Derek Dietrich is just, he's not good. I mean, like, he walks. That's why his OPS is high.

Maybe the park change helps, but he's also been really good on the road. So, well, all right, I'm done talking about Derek Dietrich. Pitchers, pitchers to add. I think he lost his voice for the first time. Wow. He was pissed off about John. Josh Van Meter, I will not ask you about Josh Van Meter again. How about a pitcher to add? Scott, who you got?

Pitcher to add. The main ones I was looking to add were the top two-starred sleepers. I do not want to hear about them. We have talked about them way too much. I am going to challenge you someone over the weekend. Do you need time to think about it? Well, I don't think I added any of these guys on the most added. I was. encouraged yesterday by Pablo Lopez's start against Braves, and I know he is widely available still. What was interesting about that, and it was six shutout and six strikeouts, of his 11 swinging strike zero came on his changeup, and that is like his swing and miss pitch. So he found a way to succeed even without it against a good lineup.

And I think there's definite talent here. I moved him ahead of Trent, or is it Trent or is it Trent, Trent Richards, right? Trevor. Trevor Richards, Trevor, Travis, Trent. I get those names mixed up. But yeah, Trevor Richards. I moved him ahead of Trevor Richards in my stallion rankings, obviously all of them behind Caleb Smith. Okay, Pablo Lopez, that's a good answer.

And Lopez, I get you his matchup. So, Martin Perez and Anthony Di Di Di Di Di DiScoffani are probably the two guys, Scott, was going to talk about, They are the two most added players in fantasy, and they're both pretty old now, and they have good matchups. Heath, you got a pitcher to add? I added Matt Strom in a couple leagues. One of them, I realized this morning it was an illegal ad because I didn't have a roster spot, so I had to drop him. So that was kind of terrible. I also added Frankie Motus in a league or two.

I was pretty encouraged by what he did once again, and it does look like he's increasing that splitter usage just a little bit. And I would second what Scott said. I'm trying to find a way in a couple of different leagues to add Pablo Lopez and just struggling to find the right guy to drop. But I do think he has a ton of upside and the peripherals look very, very good. Lopez is at the Mets this week. He's about 34% owned. And Chris and I talked about him on CBS Sports HQ. Yeah, his ERA is an unlucky one at 403.

Don't know that you're going to get a lot of wins from him, but Lopez could give you some good ratios for sure. and he's at the Mets this week. Which brings us to some one-start streamers. Mets have been ice cold, so maybe Lopez is a guy to go to, although they do have some good hitters there. But the one that really popped to me, the one-star streamers, was Jake Oteresee.

But since his start on Friday or Saturday, was Saturday, his ownership has gone up from 53% to 73%. And Jake Oterrezi has the Tigers this week. I think he's been lucky, you know, 2780RA, nobody thinks Oterreze's that good. I don't know how long it'll last, but I certainly, I think he's worth a flyer this week.

Brandon Woodruff's pretty interesting to me. I believe he gets Washington this week. If Woodruff has Washington this week, he's more interesting than if he's at the Cubs this week. So you've got to check the matchup. It's one of those two. What else? Jared Eichoff at St. Louis. Icoff's been pitching pretty well, although they are limiting

his workload because they fear his injury history. Chris Bassett has Cleveland at home this week. He's 30% on if you want to go a little bit deeper. If I'm going to go a little shallower. I don't know how you feel about Michael Waka. It was a pretty awful week for him. But he has Pittsburgh this week.

I feel like he's bad. Yeah. Yeah, he probably is. 517 ERA. So many walks for Waka. I just dropped him in a 14-team league. So that gives you an idea of how I feel about him. Like every start, it's like Waka, Waka, Waka.

How about Woodruff? 59% owned. I like some. some of the things we're seeing from him. I mean, 12 walks, 45 strikeouts in 36 and a third, but does not go deep into games, but I don't know that that's a disqualifier this day and age, but I, you know, I'm interested in Brandon Woodruff. Yeah, so he has yet to throw 100 pitches in his start. He doesn't go deep into games like you've been saying, but it's, it's less because he's inefficient and more because it seems like the Brewers just aren't letting him go deep into

games and he has a very enough arsenal to do it it's not like he just has one swing and miss pitch his swinging strikes are usually divided between three or four pitches so i'm hopeful that changes at some point particularly if he continues to pitch like he has more recently uh yeah that strike out rate is is very high and the swinging strike rate is good so i'd be reluctant to drop him um even for like a Pablo lopez type i i think there's a lot of similar similarities between how Woodruff and Pablo Lopez have performed and what their peripherals look like. Both guys, I think, will be better than they've been so far. And Lopez has had some of the same issues as getting deep into games as Woodruff really seems to struggle

once the team gets through the third time through the order. So I'd put those guys in the same category, and I think they're both worth having on your bench. I don't know really, like I have to have a spot on the bench, though. I don't want to have my lineup. Okay, well Woodruff does get the Nationals this week, and they are really bad right now. I mean, they are so injured. Zimmerman Adams, obviously, Soto, although they will get Rendon back on Tuesday. So that does help the lineup a little bit, but it's still probably a pretty good matchup for Woodruff if you want to take a gamble, but he might be someone that's better off just stashing on your bench, as Heath mentioned, right now.

We've got a lot of news to update you on Corey Kluber, Jameson-Tay-One. Paxton and the rest of the entire Yankees roster, basically. We will be right back after the big news. We've got an update on Fantasy Jeopardy, which to nobody's surprise, I totally butchered and botched, and I'll tell you about that. And then we'll get into the ads and the drops and all the hitters and pitchers that you need to know about from over the weekend. We'll be right back on Fantasy Baseball today. The big news, Corey Klobber, is going to avoid surgery for now, and he will be reevaluated in three to four weeks.

Scott, do you have any interest in Jeffrey Rodriguez, 22% owned? I don't. I don't. He's looked okay in a few spots starts this year, but not in a way that I think is, not with like a lot of strikeouts or anything, just a low ERA. I'm not interested.

James and Tyone will not throw for at least four weeks due to a flexor tendon strain, which had been bothering him all year, which maybe helps explain some of the bad results for Tyone. Anthony Rendon expected back on Tuesday, So we know that the Reds called up Josh Van Meter. They also released Matt Kemp and demoted Scott Shebler, as Nick Senzel is up and will be playing every day.

Juan Soto is on the IL with back spasms. Blake Trinan has elbow issues right now, but did show some improvement. So maybe keep your fingers crossed there. Did either of you go out and pick up Lutrovino or anything like that? No. I didn't, though. It doesn't sound like a bad idea in like a 15-team road to league. or deeper.

Okay. Fernando Tatis is feeling good. So hopefully it's a shorter D.L stint. IL stint for him. Christian Yelich is back. He homered yesterday. I believe he has 15 home runs now and 14 of them have come at home. Shohei Otani could be back during the upcoming nine game road trip for the Angels.

Texas manager Chris Woodward wants Jose LeClerc to get the job back. So right now, Sean Kelly is a guy you can add in the short term for saves. Maybe it's a long-term thing. Who knows? but Woodward would like to see Jose LeClerc regain his form. And Stephen Mats has a nerve issue in his elbow. The only thing I wanted to add about Mats was that I was watching the game on Friday or whenever he was pitching and they talked about him.

And I guess he has thrown his change up more and he's also moved over on the rubber, which is helping him. He's moved over to the first base side. So if he misses with his change up, it's not right over the middle of the plate for Stephen Mats. But we will wait to see if he has an I-L stint because he has a nerve issue in his elbow. Tough calls this week. Lorenzo Kane was hit by a pitch on the hand. His x-rays were negative.

I don't know if you guys have a starter-sit feel for Kane. Chris Davis. Chris Davis thinks he will play tomorrow. This is why you DH Chris Davis. He played outfield for three games. He ran into a wall. He bruises hip. And then Ronald Acuna aggravated his back.

You can start Cody Bellinger. He did pinch hit on Sunday. But in terms of Kane, Chris Davis, and Ronald Acuna, do we have a strong sense of whether or not we should be starting or sitting them, Scott? Well, I know Kane is, you. going to miss today but is also expected back Tuesday. I don't feel like, I don't feel like Kane, it's not like Yelich last week, which obviously didn't turn out to be a very good play. But, you know, Yelich obviously is the key to your whole lineup.

I don't know that Kane is of that stature that if, you know, if you have a solid outfielder on your bench, you want to just play it safe and sit him. Bellinger, I feel like you have to start. Acuna, I feel like you have to start. But it's obviously a little risky. Yeah, I'm going to start most of those guys. The only way I'd sit Kane is in a three outfielder league. Yeah. Okay.

And then here's the Yankees news, which is a segment all by itself. James Paxton will hopefully miss no more than three weeks. That's according to Brian Cashman, who also said Luis Severino is probably not going to be back until after the All-Star break. Clint Frazier will be back today. And he's actually someone I did pick up. He's 73% own. I sort of feel like Frazier is in that same class with Hunter Dozier or Michael Chavis. Chavis, I think it's Chavis.

If he's available, I think you should probably pick up Clint Frazier. 73% own. Maybe not in the Points League. Maybe not in a Points League, but otherwise, yes. John Carlos Stanton's going to take batting practice this week. Aaron Hicks could be back as early as this weekend. Miguel And Duhar. It's a long term for And Duhar.

you got to really consider this. Like his defense is awful. He came back on Saturday and made two errors in his first game back. They were able to DH Gary Sanchez in that game. But eventually when Hicks is back, when Stanton is back, he could, and Duhar could see some time at first base. But honestly, like, if he doesn't hit, I would not be surprised if they sent him down at some point.

Yeah, no, he definitely has to hit. And I don't know that it's a guarantee he's going to hit, playing with a torn labrum in his lead shoulder, his right shoulder. So he did Homer on his minor league rehab assignment. I guess that's something you could take away from it, that at least there was a sign of power still being there. But I agree with you. If he struggles out at the gate here,

it's going to be easy to kind of fade him into the background because Aaron Boone's already said he wants him being primarily the DH playing with this injury. Which means Giovanni Urchella is going to be playing a lot of third base for the Yankees in AL-only leagues that might be relevant. Didi Rigorius could be back, I don't know, a month or so. Probably going to begin a rehab assignment around May 20th. I would guess six weeks.

I would guess he takes pretty close to the full rehab time. Okay. It is an accelerated timeline, I'd say, though, for Didi, who's 55% own. And Luke Voitz on base streak ended at 42 games. And here is more news for you. We'll finish up. Carlos Martinez began a rehab. assignment. Jimmy Nelson

made a rehab start. Tampa Bay starting pitcher Jose de Leon made a rehab start, began a rehab assignment. Austin Meadows is nearing a rehab assignment. Would you pick up Carlos Martinez or Jimmy Nelson right now if you were speculating on someone?

Nelson. Well, Carlos Martinez is a middle reliever, so no. Is he a middle reliever? I know he's a reliever. Is there no, look, I hope, and I assume there's no way he's going to be the closer, but is there in your mind no way? I don't see why they'd remove Hicks with the way he's pitched. I mean, there's always a chance Hicks could struggle, and Carlos Martinez is going well,

and then they decide to switch it up. But there's no evidence that that's... I don't think there's any chance that's going to happen right when Martinez returns. Yeah, okay. So, no, I would not be looking to add him. Nelson. I was just looking at the results of this rehab start. It wasn't good.

I don't know what he was throwing in terms of velocity, though. Four walks and three and a third innings. That's going to end up being a bad start, obviously. But yeah, I have Nelson stashed away in my points leagues already. Roto, you know, it just depends if you have an aisle spot. If you have a free one, why not use it on him? Let's get into the most added players on CBSports.com. Please remind me to read the Jeopardy emails after we do this.

But Martine Perez and Anthony DiScliffeani are numbers one and two on the most added list. They both have two starts. They both have good matchups. Heath, who would you rather own? Perez, 72% own or DiClofani? 66% out. Descalfani. I wasn't quite as excited about either of these guys, but Deesclanio

Desclyfani would be my favorite. Scott, how about you? Yeah, Desclyfani is my preference. Do either of you think we have long-term potential here, or are we, obviously we can revisit it after their starts, but are we thinking this is just a one-week thing? There's a chance. They've both made significant enough changes to their arsenal that I think it's

fair to say I don't really know what to expect from either. I think Perez, the strikeout rate is still less than I normally like it to be from a waiver wire pickup. But velocity is way up and he has a cutter that he's featuring more than any other. He never threw it before and he's thrown at 33% of the time now. So that's a pitch that can often lead to weak contact and be a good way to counteract a lack of strikeout potential. And that's basically how it's gone for Perez so far. So I'm interested enough that if both of them deliver on the promise of their two-star weeks, I'm not just reflexively dropping them after the week is over.

Heath, if you take a look at all the pictures on the most added lists, Perez, DiScliffeani, Odarezi, Griffin Canning, Jeffrey Rodriguez, Spencer Turnbull, who has just dropped in our 14-Team League, like five minutes ago for someone bad. I don't get that. A lot time to do that, yeah. Oh, Heath just made an ad drop. All right.

Pablo Lopez and dropping Jake Bowers. That one must have hurt you. It didn't hurt too much. Okay. Hey, Bowers, have you seen the numbers on Jake Bowers, by the way? He's improving. A lot of singles. A lot of singles.

The good thing is the strikeouts haven't been where they were last year. So I have some hope that he's going to still turn it around this year. but I wanted Pablo Lopez on my team. Fair enough. Did you go over the pitching limit with that ad drop? I don't know. You probably did. I'm going to reg it.

You know, you can't have more than three bench pitchers. More than three bench pitchers? Well, I have exactly three bench pitchers, so I think I'm okay. All right, you're good then. Bowers, by the way, in his last 16 games entering Sunday, 320 batting average, 386 on base, only a 460 slugging, two homers and a double, a 438 bat. it. So things have been better, but it's been a lot of singles for him. All right. I'm sorry. Back to the question, though.

Perez, DiScoffani, Oterizi, Griffin, Canning, Jeffrey Rodriguez, Spencer Turnbull, Dakota Hudson, Jared Eichoff, Chris Bassett. Did I say a name that you feel like Heath has staying power? I am most excited about the possibility of Turnbull and Icoff on that list. I do not believe there is a pitcher on that list that I like as much as Pablo Lopez. Not Griffin Canning? I have no idea if Griffin Canning is going to make one more start, and I don't have as much sample size of his peripherals actually looking good.

Okay. All right, let's go. Scott, let's look at the hitters then on the most added list. Other than the ones that we think are pretty much must-owned right now, like Chavis and Nick Senzel is 87% on. We got Danny Santana. Ronald Guzman is going to be back on Friday for the Rangers. I hope that doesn't interfere with Danny Santana's playing time. But Santana is now 45% owned.

Derek Dietrich is 33%. Nate Lowe is 43%. Mostly pitchers. Alex Verdugo is 60%. I saw him in your sleeper hitters column. I'll be starting him this week. Brian Goodwin, 37%. So have I said anybody that really excites you?

Santana, Danny Santana, Dietrich, Nate Lowe, Verdugo, Brian. Woodwin? Goodwin was also in the sleeper hitters column. I will point out in the case of Verdugo, it was just a bad week to try and find sleeper hitters, and the Dodgers actually have unfavorable matchups this week. But that's kind of just how much I like Verdugo.

He did get a start against the left-handed pitcher yesterday. I know there have been some concerns about that. I don't know how consistently he'll play against left-handed pitchers, but the Dodgers are kind of running out of, their enviable depth is thinning out. And Verdugo has what would have been a top 10 strikeout rate last year. So he is doing a good job of putting the bat on the ball with more power than I think a lot of people might have expected.

And look, that often happens when a guy gets to the majors, a guy with a really good hitting profile. We see the power increase. I think he's pretty close to must-own, right now, all but shallower three outfielder leagues where you just may not have room for him. I was looking to add Alex Verdugo this weekend, yeah, so I'm glad you brought him up. How about this?

Would you rather have Alex Verdugo or Fran Mill Reyes? Reyes, they're both about 60% owned. Reyes, I don't think he has walked in 15 straight games, but he does Homer. Who would you rather have Reyes or Verdugo? Reyes. And I think the playing type is a little more trustworthy for Reyes. That's a tough one. I like both of them a lot.

I think at a points league I might lean for Dugo just because that strikeout rate's so good. But it's almost a coin flip for me. Heath, any other ad drops you want to talk about? I'll just say in terms of bullpen stuff, I added Pedro Strope, 14 team points league, and Scott and I dropped Luke Jackson, and then Luke Jackson got a save.

So I actually dropped Luke Jackson in two leagues, so that's one I definitely regret. What's your, what's the team scam record in that league now? Oh, we're a scam all right. It's been all bad since that 10 and 0 week. All bad. It's all about Chris Davis.

He has been so bad for us after being so good for us. Yeah, as he's gone, we've gone. That's true. But we also have Cody Bellinger. Like, we've, I don't think we've won an offensive category the last two weeks with Cody Bellinger on our roster. I looked at the scoreboard yesterday morning, and I think you were down two to eight. We lost

Midday We were up 5 to Or it was tied 5 5 5 We lost 8 to 2 Yes Thank you for the update By the end of the day You lost 8 to 2

Yes So you are back below 500 Where you belong We'll be back We have Chris Sale And he is back And you know what We'll be back here

On fantasy baseball today I'm going to take one last break here And when we come back We will talk about the bullpen We will talk about Fantasy Jeopardy We will talk about Mitch Garver and Josh Feigley and Kurt Suzuki in case you need a catcher. We will talk about Ryan McMahon and Ryan Maltapia in case you need a Rocky and much more from over the weekend. We'll be right back on fantasy baseball today.

All right. It's time. Let's read these emails. Fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. This is from Casey. Heath, how are you feeling? I feel like Heath was really upset after he lost in Jeopardy on Friday's podcast. He seemed to be in a bad mood after that.

I think you guys need to play Jeopardy again and let Heath win. No one should ever let me win anything. I am in a fine mood. I was not upset about losing Jeopardy. It was a frustrating experience, as that game often is. But I will say the tweets and emails that I have received since Jeopardy concluded have made that experience entirely worth it. And I think we should just get to the next email.

Okay. It's from Zach. Good evening. Marshall, Ginsburg, O'Connor. And Aaron, are those all Supreme Court justices? Are we laying down the law here? Okay. As we witnessed with maximum security and country house at Churchill Downs this Saturday,

an objection filed on behalf of a losing participant can ultimately change an event's rightful winner. After careful review of the tapes from last Friday's episode, I am hereby filing a fantasy jeopardy objection on behalf of Mr. Heathcoming, Senior. At the 4740 mark on the tape, Mr. Cummings discovers the daily double. Mr. Azor laments that unfortunately Mr. Cummings only has $200 in current earnings, therefore, capping his wager at $200. Anyone who has watched Jeopardy ever knows that the maximum wager on a daily double is whichever is greater between the player's current earnings and the highest clue value available in the round. Mr. Cummings, therefore, should have been allowed to wager $600, which he would have done because Heath is smart. And his correct answer of Alberto Mondesie would have brought Mr. Cummings total to $800, exactly half of Mr. White's total.

While it may seem that this is a moot point as both contestants gave incorrect answers in Final Jeopardy, a comparative study of Mr. Cummings' vocal tendencies revealed that at the time when he gave his Final Jeopardy answer, he was complacent and disinterested. This can easily be attributed to the fact that he believed he had no chance of winning as a result of Mr. Azor's aforementioned error. given that Mr. Cummings gave two of the three correct answers, there is no doubt that had he been operating at even a standard engagement level, he would have said Tim Beckham instead of Edwin Incarnation. As the good FBT stewards that you are, I ask that you consider the merit of this objection and declare Mr. Heathcoming Senior the rightful winner of Fantasy Jeopardy. Wow. Outstanding email.

It is. And I've seen Jeopardy, but I, you know, I didn't know the daily double rules. I am sorry. Well, you're the one who makes the rules for this game, Adam. I mean, you also made a rule that wrong answers don't count negative. True. I'm not exactly sure why we're deciding your ruling on this doesn't count when you're the one who makes the rules in this particular game. But you know, whatever.

I'm used to people undermining successes in games for me. This is what my family does every time I play board games with me because they know I'm just too good. He always team up on me to try and bring me down. So I'm used to it. You know what then? I appreciate that. You respect my authority. This is my game.

These are my rules. And Heath Cummings is the rightful winner of Fantasy Jeopardy. Congratulations, Heath Cummings. What? Thank you. You're very welcome. He goes from having a chance to being the rightful winner. He was demoralized.

I heard it in his voice. All right, let's go to the bullpen. Hector Nerris got a save. very interested to see what happens when David Robertson gets back when Hector Nerris is the guy right now, he'll get most of the saves. Is that fair to say for the Phillies? Yeah, yeah, definitely fair to say. Most.

Compared to everyone else's individual total, I would say that's accurate. I don't know that I bet on him receiving more than half of the saves over the rest of. I don't know why you say that, considering the way they've used him. There was this one odd appearance where he worked like the sixth inning or something, but otherwise he's gotten one, two, three, each of the team's last five, four of the last five saves. And I think that one appearance was the only time he didn't work in a non-save situation since that run started. So, I mean, I understand we can't trust Gabe Kapler ever with these situations, but this has been as consistent as he's ever been.

All right, who is the real quick, guys, who's the closer in Seattle? Uh, I, I think probably still Swarzak, though there's a case to be made, Rowanus Elias? Who's the closer of Milwaukee? Hater. Forever? I wouldn't say yes, but I wouldn't say no, either. We already updated you on Texas. It's right now, Sean Kelly.

It's hopefully going to be the clerk for Chris Woodward in a little bit. Blake Parker, is he the closer for Minnesota? Yeah. Yeah. Who's the closer for Atlanta? I mean, who is the closer for Atlanta? Because it's maybe. Yeah, go ahead.

I think that's a committee. The reason we dropped Jackson is because AJ Mentor, they hadn't had a safe situation, but Mentor, his last two appearances, had come in the ninth, and he had five total strikeouts to no base runners between them. So it's like, oh, Mentor's coming back around.

Obviously, they're going to turn the reins back over to him. And then Jackson gets the same. in a situation where mentor clearly should have been available. So I don't think it's Jackson just outright, but I think they're playing matchups, and it's going to be kind of a committee for the time being. Okay. Everybody understood my outcast, Luke Jackson. It was very funny.

It was very, very good. Are you concerned about Ryssel Iglesias? The dude is having a bad year. Yeah, a little bit. But I don't think he's going to lose his job. It's just that whenever he misses a save, you have to worry that he's not going to get the next one, then you're going to have to wait another week for him to get a save opportunity.

So I'm, like, I think I had him 12th to start the year. I think I have him maybe 16th right now. Would you drop him for Blake Parker? No. Okay. Let's go to some hitters now, and I'll stick with Heath here on the catchers. Mitch Garver, Jonathan Lucroy, Josh Fegley, Kurt Suzuki,

they did some good stuff over the weekend. Do you see any of these guys as Mustone players? Luke, Garver, Fegley, Kurtzziuki. I wouldn't call any of them, and we talked about this a little bit yesterday on the show. I do think that Garver is someone you can just start with relative confidence right now until he goes into the tank,

and that will probably happen sometime in the next month or two. I'm okay with really starting any of these three guys just because the bar is so low and a couple of the guys that we saw as low-in starting catchers have just fallen completely on their face. Like we've had people ask, can I drop Danny Jansen for one of these guys? Danny Jansen's been absolutely killing your baseball team.

I understand if you want to do that. I don't know why Jansen's been so terrible, but sure. Right. I actually like Mitch Garber. Like I think he could be a genuine breakout. What he did, his final minor league season, 291 batting average 17 homers and 928 OPS and 88 games. Like he was, he looked like somebody who could be a real difference baker at the catcher position.

His biggest problem is just so does Williams astudeo. And when he returns, will Garver get a big enough share there? Scott, I don't think that's his biggest problem. I think his biggest problem is Castro. Like, Garver doesn't play enough. Well, he had been playing, he has been playing a lot more recently. Has he? He had, entering yesterday, he had started five of the past seven games.

Now it's five of eight. So I guess now it's five of the last eight, which doesn't sound as good as five for the last seven, but it was obviously a day game. And a lot of times the starting catcher sits then. Yeah, like, if he is making that, if he is making that turn to playing more regularly, then that would certainly be great for Garver. And I would say Asadio has been dropped. He's now 62% owned, and he's on the IL, but could get back.

fairly soon. He's not going to return when he's first eligible, which is Wednesday. But Ossadillo could be back by the end of the week. So take a look at that if you need a catcher. All right, other hitters. So Travis Shaw sat against the lefty on Friday. Then he started against the lefty on Sunday with Mike Mustaka sitting.

This week is so interesting to me for Ryan McMahon because he might sit against some lefties, and I think they have three of them on the schedule, and they have a full week of home games. So it's a big week for Ryan McMan. McMahon, I just want to see him in the lineup. Ryan Maltapia, I think, is worth talking about guys. He's 14% owned.

Brian Reynolds is 6% owned. If you were going to take a flyer on a young outfielder, would it be Ryan Maltapia or Brian Reynolds? I've had a hard time really buying into Tapia because I'm not sure everyday playing time is there for him. Absent injury. So I think I might go Reynolds. he was crushing it at AAA and has come up and has done more of the same. Not so much in terms of power, but he's hitting the ball really hard. And I do think there is power potential there based on what he showed at AAA.

So he's interesting. He's been playing every day for the Pirates. I don't think either a must add. Has he? Has he? It has to be like a deep five outfield league. He has played five in a row. Before that, he was not an everyday player, but he's earning that, Brian Reynolds.

And he has six doubles in 12 games, which is nice, one home run. All right, let's talk about some pitchers now. We have about 15, 20 minutes left in the show, and it's time to talk about some of the arms from over the weekend that we haven't already talked about. Studs being studs, part one. There were a lot of studs being studs over the weekend. Chris Sale, is he back, or is he just taking advantage of good matchups lately? I'm tired of having this conversation about Chris Sale.

His last four starts, he's given great results. 28 strikeouts in 18, well, last three starts, 28 strikeouts in 18 innings with four earned runs. I don't know that he's all the way back. The exit velocity is still high, but he's close enough to being back that I'm just, I'm done worrying about him. He's just a fixture in my lineup, and that's it. Heath, Tyler Glass now, is he a legit ace? He has not quite moved into that top 16 range for me yet, but he is right there with Luis Castillo just knocking on the door.

Zach Wheeler. So I feel like we're going to just be looking at the walks every outing. And then there's Shane Bieber who had a good start against Seattle. Who would you guys rather have Zach Wheeler or Shane Bieber? Bieber. Yeah, but it's close. I think one thing you have to look at with Wheeler is he has a 311 fit, and that's obviously very good.

It is. Seven innings in three of his last four starts. Zero or one walk in two of his last three starts. Like, really, that is the only thing that is concerning me with Wheeler. Is he going to be a high walk guy like in the past? It's going to hurt his production. All right, Studs being Studs part two. We have two Red Sox here.

We have Rick Porcelo and Eduardo Rodriguez. And we have Jake Arietta and Kyle Hendricks, who threw a complete game on 81 pitches. I think he and you Darvish through the same. same amount of pitches in their Friday and Saturday starts, Eduardo Rodriguez, through a complete game, or sorry, Kyle Hendricks threw a complete game,

and U. Darvish was complete trash. But how would you rank Porcelo Rodriguez, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jake Arenda and Kyle Hendrix, Heath, two Red Sox, Arenda, Areeta, and Hendricks. How would you rank them? In a points league, I think I'd go Hendricks, Corcello, Rodriguez, Arelletta.

And? And I'd probably switch Rodriguez and Porcelo in a categories league. So Arieta's last? Yes. Okay. Let's talk about Hendricks. So two of his last three starts have been, like, great, although only three strikeouts against St. Louis in this complete game shutout. The start in between that was seven run runs and five innings.

So obviously fantasy owners don't really trust them. He was only started in 49% of leagues. I still don't try. trust them. Scott, where are you on Kyle Hendricks? Yeah, trust is the trust isn't there for me. I couldn't imagine like dropping him. Obviously, I don't think you

would after this start, but there's enough of a track record that I think he's eventually going to come around where he's eventually going to get to a point where we trust him, but there's just been too many starts that are awful like two starts ago for me to

make him a fixture in my lineup, which is kind of where we were with Rick Porcelli. a couple starts ago, but now he's stringed together for good ones in a row. And I think we're back to basically trusting him, at least the people who trusted him in the first place, not so much Heath Cummings. Well, and I think that kind of probably lends itself more towards just the different way that we look at it. Because just because Rick Porcello's three bad starts were all in a row and his three good starts were all in a row, I don't think that's a big enough sample size to say, okay, Rick Porcelo is just good. and Kyle Hendricks has had good, bad, good, bad, so he's not trustworthy. I think they're very, like, none of these guys are in my top 40 starting pitchers.

They're all kind of in that range between 40 and 60. But you look at Hendricks' peripherals, he's got a 3-4-1-fip, 393 ERA. I think he's pretty good. Yeah, so I just think it's worth noting with basically all of the Red Sox pitchers. they all started really badly. And they've pretty much all turned it around. I mean, I would say they've all turned it around. Price was probably the best from the get-go, but he's been even better.

Sales turned it around. Eduardo Rodriguez is on a nice little stretch here. Of course, Rodriguez has three quality starts this year. They're against Baltimore, Detroit, and the White Sox. So I do think the Red Sox have taken a little bit of advantage of bad matchups. Sorry, bad teams good matchups lately. All right, Studs being Studs Part 3. What I want to know is how many of these guys

are must start most weak most start option must start options excuse me I won't get carried away and say they're always must start but how many of them

are usually going to be starters Matt Boyd Mike Minor Lou Lou Lou Weaver sorry that was a kind of half havesy there

Mike Soroka Domingo Armand Frankie Montas and Zach Eflin Matt Boyd Mike Minor Luke Weaver Mike Soroka

Domingo Armand, Frankie Montas, and Zach Eflin. Heath, when you look at that group, how many must-starts do we have? I think they're all most starts. But I don't know, like, I don't know for sure when we say must-start. Like, we're not including cores, I assume. Are we including Miller Park? Are we including, like, at Finway? Mike Miner.

Mike Miner's at Houston this week. I feel good enough about Mike Minor to start him at Houston. Yeah. So I think that makes him definitely a most start pitcher. I think Boyd's definitely must start. I think Miner has just entered that territory for me. There's another just dominant start. Eight innings, nine strikeouts against the Blue Jays.

Obviously, the Astros aren't the Blue Jays, but Minor is doing things that are very impressive. And Domingo Hermann's the other one who isn't quite on the level of Boyd for Minor for me, but I just have a hard time envisioning a scenario or my pitching steps deep enough that I can sit him ever. Yeah, he's been very good. Weaver's borderline. Montas and Ethelin are still the ones I just don't really believe in.

And I guess it mostly has to do with strikeouts. I will point out that Montas yesterday had his second 15 swinging strike game in three. So that's obviously a high number, and that's unusual for him. If that becomes a trend with the new splitter, then obviously I'll change my tune on him. But overall, he doesn't have a good strikeout rate or a good swinging strike rate, and I'm still skeptical of him. Heath, are you skeptical of Montas? I think we can all agree to start him this week against Cleveland.

I am, like, I haven't bought into he's a must-start pitcher or that we're going to use him. I'm going to be a top 40 guy, but I feel relatively, I feel pretty good about it. him as a top 50, top 60 starting pitcher in that same range as Hendricks and Porcelo. All right. Studs being Duds, part one. Jack Flaherty, Dudd at Chicago. Armand Marquez.

Another bad home start for Armand Marquez. And you stink, you Darvish. He gets the Marlins this week. He's already had one bad start against the Marlins, so I have to start him by default, but really concerned about Darvish. You don't have to start. My team, yes, I have to start him. You shouldn't have to start U. Darvish, but I do have to start U. Darvish.

But let's talk about... Okay, first question, would you guys consider dropping U.S. I don't think it's wrong to consider it. I want to drop him any of my leagues because it's kind of what you were saying about Zach Wheeler just kind of to the nth degree is that I look at what's going on with you Darvish. And the only real problem I see is the walks. It's a very big problem.

His control has just been terrible. But everything else looks good. It looks like if he can get his control under control, then he could still end up being a huge asset for you. And control is something he's dealt with for his whole career. And he's had times where he figured out something that made him throw strikes better. So I'm not putting it past him to figure that out again. And I feel like you're not going to find that kind of upside on the way.

waiver wire, but he does look pretty much like a must sit right now because there hasn't been, I think there's really been one start that was good enough that you wanted it in your lineup, right? Yeah. It hasn't been good. The Marlins are the only team right now that I would consider starting Darvish against. They are so bad. They are-Hulio Toronto looked good yesterday.

They did. They are historically bad. They're run differential. I was reading today on CBSports.com. The Marlins run differential. Like if they continue at this pace, they could have the worst run differential, I think, since the 1800s. So just smile about that. Is anybody thinking we have to start sitting Arm-Marquez at home?

I think you have to consider it, but you have to have a good option to sit him. Because there still is upside for him at home. But I don't, like, it's quite obviously not a sure thing anymore. Yeah, I'm... You'd have to have a pretty good pitching staff because of what I liked about yesterday's start, which wasn't great, but he still had... The problem with Corsefield isn't just that the ball carries because it's thin air. It's that the ball doesn't move on the way to the plate. And, you know, for some pitchers, it can become sort of a head where they play mind games with themselves and they feel like they have to make it move more to compensate for that.

And then it just messes them up and they're ruined forever. But Marquez, he still had, I think it was 16 swinging strikes in this, including I think 12 of them were on his two breaking balls, which are the pitches you worry about at Coorsfield. So, like, the stuff still seems to be there. It just obviously has, there's a higher margin for error because of the way the ball comes off the bat and how big the field is and all of that. I think I'd pretty much still just stick them in my lineup and trust that the stuff is going to play up more often than not. He has pitched 23 innings at home, faced 106 batters at home. He's given up an 898 OPS. He's faced 104 batters on the road and given up a 390 OPS.

I really think Armaghaz is a stud. If he were on a different team, he might win the Siong. I hope he can overcome this obstacle. Yeah, I think I'd start him this week. San Diego at home. I'm not quite there yet, you know? We got a guy to start them. Okay, we got a lot more.

So I'm going to save it for tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get to it. We'll do some leftovers from the weekend. But we did talk about a lot of the pitchers, like the ones that are available on waivers that I think needed to be talked about. So let's read some emails. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Here's one from Dylan.

I was recently offered a trade in a keeper league of mine from a Red Sox fan. He offered to trade me Domingo or Mon from Michael Chavis in a points league. Who would you rather have in a points league in a Keeper League? Domingo or Michael Chavis? Erma. This is from Kurt in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Which of the three outfielders would you want rest of season? 12-team categories league.

Walks are a category, and apparently strikes. Strikeouts are a category, too. There's a lot of categories here. It looks like, what, 10? One, two, three, five, ten. All right, pick three. Clint Fraser, David Dahl. Gregory Polanco,

Eloy Jimenez, and Brandon Lau. I would go Dahl Jimenez and I think Lau over Frazier. I was thinking Dahl Jimenez and Polanco. Okay. Yeah, I don't think that's wrong necessarily.

Five good options, but I think Dahl's the clear standout, right? No doubt's about him. Yep, that's the easy one. The walks and strikeouts counting make Lowe and Frazier tough. You know? Yeah, and I think Frazier,

in terms of profile, feels a little safer, but I don't, yeah, I mean, even compared to some of the raised surplus, I don't trust the playing time as much as I do for Lao because of the Anduhar's situation,

and soon Aaron Hicks is going to be back in Stanton and all that. Do I keep Domingo Santana or pick up Max Muncie? asks Carl. Domingo Santana or Max Muncie? Max Muncie. I think probably Santana.

It's got to be as simple as what do you need in your lineup. Utility. You know, Max Muncie has second base eligibility. That's huge. Right. So if he can, he's actually been hot. I also think maybe in a points league, Santana might hurt you with all these strikeouts.

Maybe it's a format thing. Do we have an answer here? Scott, I think you said Santana. I mean, Muncie is striking out. lot too. I did say Santana mostly just because of a playing time situation, but I don't I wouldn't have a

I, you know, Muncie's fine too. Like if you want to, if you prefer Muncie, then I don't think that's a problem. Heath? I think it's like, if you need a utility then it comes down to format. I'd still rather have Santana in Roto, but I'd take Moncy in points.

Okay. And grade the trade from Nicholas, 12 team head to head league. I give up Mike Wustaka Michael Brantley and Mike Soroka. Wow. Drop the mic. Right? He's trading Mike Mustakas,

Mike Brantley, and Mike Soroka. Thank you, Scott, for laughing. To get Jose Ramirez, great to trade. I think it's probably a B-minus. I do it. I do it. It's getting close to the point where I want to do it, but it's not there.

I do it. I am team nuance today. And so I will say if this was a 10-team league or shallower, then I do think it's probably like a B-minus. 12-team league, I'll just call it a C. I think it's pretty even. If it's anything deeper at all, I think you lost this trade and maybe significantly.

Scott from Chicago, great work on HQ yesterday. It was fun to see your faces when you talk. Can we get a Wuriometer on Jose Altoouet as a first-round pick? His power is all but gone since that hot stretch a few weeks ago. He hasn't been running. and now Altuva is not even getting on base at an elite level. What's going on here? What should we expect from Jose Altuve rest of season?

Heath. I don't really have a lot of cause for concern. Like, home run streaks happen, and guys go a couple of weeks without home runs, and we didn't draft him to be a 30-homer guy. He's got nine in his first 34 games. I don't think he's probably going to be a 237 bab-ip guy the rest of the year, so I'm not too worried about his batting average, like, at all.

The stolen bases, if he doesn't run any more than he has so far, will hurt his value. But I don't think he necessarily had to have stolen bases to be a first round value. So one. Oh, worryometer. Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Scott and Heath.

Much appreciated. Great show today. Thank you for listening, everybody. Thank you for watching us on HQ yesterday. And we will talk to you tomorrow. I'm Fantasy Baseball today.