Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/08 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Surging Hitters; Fantasy Feud!

Episode Date: May 8, 2018

While we were very impressed with Fernando Romero yesterday (3:36), the streaking sluggers like Odubel Herrera, Nomar Mazara (8:00), Leonys Martin (11:40) and Matt Adams (13;40) also warrant a lot of discussion on today's show. Find out if their production can last ... Adam's favorite buy low infielder (24:00), Fantasy Feud (31:00), Fantasy Regulators (42:00), our takes on Matt Olson (44:20), Clayton Kershaw, Marcell Ozuna, Ryon Healy and more ... After big days from Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce, Ian Happ and a couple of other struggling hitters, do we think better times are ahead (49:15)? Also Team Name Tuesday (54:14) and a look at today's matchups (56:15) ... Your emails at [e-mail] This episode is sponsored by www.ZipRecruiter.com 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

Hey, real quick, scott's boomed about the humidor. And take your milk for breakfast cereal. Mount Rushmore. They'll be there for Roach and there. There was some bad pitching on Monday night. That means there was some good hitting. Pitching was so bad. It was so bad.

It was so bad. No, no, you're supposed to say, how bad was. How bad was it? It was so bad. even Michael Conforto homered yesterday. It was so bad. Ian Habb homered twice. Yes.

Homer twice. Agon went gone twice. Even, yeah, why did I lead with Conforto? Adrian Gonzalez and Ian Hap homer twice yesterday. That's how bad the pitching was. And there was also Fernando Romero. So on today's show, Adam, Scott, and Chris are here to tell you all about Monday's action. and to give you at least one player that you should buy low on.

To answer a bunch of your emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com to be fantasy regulators a little bit later. Okay, that's coming up later. Actually, we have a pretty busy show, so I'm looking forward to it. And let's get started with the standouts. Oh, Mr. Scott White, who stood out to you on Monday night? One player who stood out, who people kept trying, trying to tell me was actually good, and I kept insisting was not, is Zach Eflin.

You mentioned the Romero start, and I'm sure we'll get into that later, but Zach Eflin was probably the other noteworthy start of the day, nine strikeouts and six and two-thirds shutout innings. But newsflash, I still don't think he's good, despite his many backers out there. I'm actually a little sad for Matt Wissler, because when I made the same case for Matt Whizler not actually being good when he had that 8 strikeout 2 hit Jim a while back. I don't remember nearly as many backers showing up in my timeline.

What is the case for Zach Eifflin? I don't know. I don't know because if you look at his minor league track record consistently like 6Ks per 9 even before he got called up this year and 4 starts 6.8 with a 4-ERA in the minors. But he's put together two good starts here since getting called up. first one though

was six three hit innings only five swinging strikes in that one so it's not like it was really you know any reason to believe he was up to anything new and this start just seems like an aberration based on everything we're seeing now I will point out something his backers pointed out to me the velocity is up but

unless it's being consistently reflected in the dominance the dominance metrics, which it wasn't at AAA and it wasn't in his first start, I'm not sure it really matters. Yeah, I just, like, he got nine swinging strikes yesterday, or 14 swinging strikes yesterday, which is a lot,

but it's not like an overwhelming amount. And nine of them came on his fastball, which is like, that's a good sign, but it's probably not sustainable. Your fastball can't be your primary swing in this place. We're reaching our Zach Eflin quota. We cannot lead off the show at Zach Eflin. I do not care about Zach Eflin.

I care only about Fernando Romero, and I need to talk about him. He's much more interesting. Yes. 68% owned Fernando Romero. He has now thrown 11 and 2 thirds scoreless innings with seven hits, six walks, which isn't good, 14 strikeouts, which is good, and he's getting a lot of ground balls. So watch the game last night.

all of it, but I watched about half of his start, and they were raving about him on the broadcast, but one thing they brought up was not really throwing his change up a lot. So you know how I feel about guys who don't have a big arsenal, especially Rites. And that concerns me a little bit with Fernando Romero, but you know what? That's okay. I'm allowed to, you're allowed to have some concerns. He doesn't have to be amazing. Bottom line is, you might want to pick this guy up if he's available, 68% own, and off to a wonderful start for the twins. Yeah, I think he needs to be must own. He throws hard, he's got good stuff. He was never like, a top top prospect, but he was at least listed on prospect lists.

And the first two starts have been encouraging. There have been some command and control problems, but I think for the most part, he's been very impressive so far. Yesterday we were trying to rank all these surprising starters who've emerged on waivers recently because there have been so many of them. And Romero was lower on the list for me. I actually put together that list, 16 of the pitchers off waivers who have enticed us the most this season, which goes back to guys like John Lucasey and Nick Povetta.

They're all included in there along with Romero. Based on this start, I was only able, I thought I was going to be able to move them up more, but that just shows how many of them I like. I was only able to move them up one spot ahead of Tyler Malley. but that's going to be up on the site later today, so be sure to check that. I believe it's already up. Oh, okay, there you go. Chris is the boss.

So would you rather have Fernando Romero or Jack Flaherty, as Adam Wainwright looks like he's going to take his turn in the rotation this week. So Romero or Flerty? I would have this point. Probably got to be Romero. Yeah, I would think so. Romero or Tyson Ross? Romero.

Yes, Romero. I just, you know, I like Romero. Romero, and like I said, the ground balls and the velocity is really good. Sorry, I like Tyson Ross more. I was distracted when I answered. Okay. I actually like Tyson Ross. Yeah, I do too.

And Ross pitched pretty well yesterday. He gave up four runs in the sixth inning. He had held the Nationals to only one run through five and then kind of fell apart a little bit. Ran into Matt Adams. So anyway, with Romero, I just wonder, you know, because I own him in four leagues. and in at least one of them, I am going to be making some offers to try to sell him today. And I just, he's got, you look at his minor league numbers, very inconsistent with the walk. Sometimes the walks were not a problem, sometimes they really were.

So far, six walks in 11, two-thirds, and doesn't really have a third pitch. So, you know, you got to sell high, but I think I'm going to be looking to do that if anybody's buying. I don't think he's going to change my fantasy team, like completely win me a league or. anything like that, you know? Right? Right? Feel me? Yeah, I mean, probably not.

But it's interesting. He is. Yeah, but I'm glad I own him. All right, Jeff Samarja. What a bum, 88% owned, but Bruce Bochie was actually encouraged, said his command is getting back there. Oh, his velocity is getting back there.

That's what he said. He thinks that Samarja is going to be fine, and that just needs to get his command down. He left some pitches up out over the plate. So is anybody worried about Samarja? or is this a good time to buy low on Samarja? Chris Towers, what do you think? I think it's a good time to buy low.

If only because he's coming back from injury, his velocity is up. It was 94.8 miles per hour on average of his fastball over his last two starts. It was 93.2 in his starts during April. So that's a very good sign. And look, he came back a little earlier than expected from this injury. So a little bit of rust isn't really concerning to me.

I think he's a good pitcher. he's going to figure it out. All right. Chris, how about to stand out from you? Let's have the Nomar Mazar discussion. I can't quite make sense of it. Like, it looks like on the surface that this is a talented young player who is, what, the number five prospect in baseball when he got called up two years ago, finally starting to figure it out, putting it all together.

I don't think that's what it is. He homered yesterday. He has eight on the season, I believe. And that's, that's, that. That's exactly what it looks like. When you look at it, you're all, all of a sudden, he's on like a 35 to 40 homer pace, driving in a bunch of runs, hitting 287. It all looks great.

And then you just realize, like, he's striking out more than he ever has. He's walking less than he ever has. And it's early enough that one extra walk could skew that sample size. But he's, the problem with him coming into the season is that he hits the ball on the ground too much. he is hitting the ball on the ground more than he ever has. But is that, do you know, so Mazar has eight home runs, seven of them have come in his last 20 games.

He's been on a real tear. He's got what, like four home runs, five home runs in his last seven games, something like that. Do you know if he's hitting the ball in the air more now? You know, because you know what I'm saying? Like, can you split it by timeframe? I can look it up, yeah.

Yeah, and here the thing about Mizarra is that, He's batting 287, eight home runs, and he's only the number 31 outfielder in points, number 29 Noroto. Now, it's all very close. You know, one more good game could move him up a lot. But he doesn't do anything else. He's got six doubles, which is whatever, in 36 games. His walk-to-strike-out ratio isn't very good. He has zero steals.

He hasn't even attempted one. 24 runs, 24 RBI's 20 runs is very good. But I just wanted to point that out because, like Addubo Herrera and Nomar Mazar were two guys that they are ranked back-to-back in rankings. They're both right around number 30 in both points in Roto. And Herrera, I believe, has had two two homer games this year. But

like they don't really do much. It's like empty stats. Herrera is going to hit for average and he's going to get a lot of extra base hits apart from just his home run total. I actually like Herrera a little more than Omar Mizarra.

Mazara, based on what we've seen from Mazarra so far, Now, if this sudden home run binge is part of a deeper transformation, and... Spoiler alert, it's not. Okay. I have the deets. Yeah, so even during this short stretch, he's still not hitting mini-fly balls.

I mean, you've got to be skeptical of the power, if that's the case. I mean, this is what we've always harped on with Eric Cosmer and Christian Yellich. But the difference for them, the reason they're fantasy assets, even with the power limitations, is because they're just really good hitters overall. I'm not sure of Mazarra has proven to be that. He's showing some signs that he could be. Like, the striker rate is probably too high. He's 23%.

That's not outrageously high, but for a guy who doesn't hit a lot of power. But he is hitting more line drives. He's hitting the ball harder. So there are promising signs that he could take an Eryk Osmer turn, but I just don't even think. Like, over the last 20 games, Adam, you said he has seven of his home runs over the last 20 games. Yeah. He has a 58% ground ball rate.

Okay. In that span. Not good enough, Nomar Mazar. We are not buying it, and you should maybe be selling it. Put out some Nomar Mizarra offers. We are not buying that he is breaking out, and he will be home run binging. While we're on the subject, I was going to bring up this guy later, but Leonis Martine, have you looked at his batted ball data? He has completely changed his profile.

Fly balls all the way. His ground ball rate way down. His fly ball rate way up. Leonis Martine is about 35% owned. He is not running. This is the guy who has never even slugged 400. And he's out of the deeper league discussion, I think, unfortunately, because he's 35% owned. But is there a breakout here for Leonis Martin?

I'm assuming the answer is no. But I have to ask anyway. I mean, there could be. I'm not ruling it out. He's shown so little in the past. Like, the only reason you would own him in fantasy basically was for some limited steals help. And like you said, he has not been useful at all in that area this year. But if the hitter profile is entirely changed like that, you know, just trying to get the numbers to jive with the batted ball data just within the context of this season alone, it works out pretty well.

So if he keeps doing what he's doing in terms of batted balls, he could be this good. But track record, I mean, it's right to be skeptical of it, too. I'm leaving them for five outfielder leagues right now. The ironic thing is I'm looking at a Detroit news column from before the season. He got caught up in the launch angle crazy. He hit 15 home runs and he thought if he could change his swing mechanics, get more of an uppercuts type swing. Maybe he'd hit 25 home runs. It's a shame, he said.

I got confused because when I showed up in spring training last year with one plan and then in the middle of spring training, I changed. I got confused and I never found myself. Oh, well, that's sad. That's not my game, man. I always try to hit the ball to the gaps, and I changed it. It doesn't work like that. When was he saying? This spring.

Sorry about that musical. He's a liar. Yeah, Leonis Martian is a big liar. Okay, so that's, but still pretty interesting what he's doing right now. Last guy, I got a really fun email to read. We're going to play the feud in a little bit. Oh, yeah. I'll give me a by-low.

Yeah, I know, right? Five weeks or whatever. We've got to play the feud. Love me. few. So get ready for that. But Matt Adams, two home runs yesterday for Matt Adams. He is 61% owned. You know, last June, Matt Adams hit 314 with 10 home runs. Right now he's hitting 307 with 10 home runs in 29 games. That was Adams' only month with more than three home runs. Also, his only month last year with more than 74 at bat. So he didn't exactly get that much playing time. But,

man, this guy's locked in. 61% own Matt Adams. When Ryan Zimmerman has missed the last three, games with side soreness. Yeah, what are we thinking here? What do you think about that ownership? Is that porridge too cold, too hot, or just right? Scott White. I think the porridge, 61% is probably just right because in a week with a bunch of right he's coming up and as hot as he is, it would make sense that he started.

And we've seen him have extended hot stretches in the past. And Ryan's Herman's hurt, right? Yeah, he's missed three in a row. Yeah Now Adams hasn't actually started against a lefty during this hot stretch And so that like Let's say in the off chance Once Zimmerman's healthy

Assuming Adam Eaton is still out I mean there's a lot of ifs in this scenario But let's just assume the Nationers are willing to put up with Adams' defensive limitations In left field Which itself is a big if if they're not doing it on an everyday basis, if they're not playing against lefties, I think in the long run,

that alone will keep him from being somebody who matters in standard mixed leagues. But I wish they would, because I feel like the enthusiasm we felt for Adams last June and the Braves were willing to move Freddie Freeman to third base, at least for a couple weeks, to give Adams a chance to stick in the lineup. I just wonder how much of this is

Oh, Matt Adams is hot again, but we know it won't last And how much of it is, hey, a team's actually letting Matt Adams play consistently And he's living up to his God-given potential because of it. I don't think it's going to work out with the nationals in the long run. The opportunity still isn't there. But I wish he would get more of an extended look. But it's like you said, the Braves did too. But it was only a couple weeks.

And they had to move their franchise player at third base to make it happen. But then they realized that he can't hit lefties and never has been. I mean, it's only two weeks. Like, that's not enough of a chance. It's seven years. Yeah, but I don't feel like I would guess in the

minors, too. He's got 354 plate appearances against lefties. He has a 602 OPS. The Cardinals started messing with his playing time pretty early in his career, too. So, I don't know. I don't feel like he's been treated fairly. I'd like see him go to an AL club where he can dh and maybe he'll actually have enough trade value from this hot stretch that it'll happen like Logan Morrison'll get hurt or something it'll get traded to

the twins i would love to see that happen but yeah i think uh the best type of lead to own matt adams in is a is a daily lineup league and right now you've got to start him against every right-handed pitcher yeah for me it's i look at uh like i'm going to write the waiver wire column after this and and i'm looking for things that are different or that we don't know. And so like Zach Eflin throwing harder. That's something that I may use that to get him in my in the column or you know, Fernando Romero, nothing new necessarily, but people need done. Matt Adams, it's like, yeah, we know Matt Adams can hit Ritees. He hit a home run off a lefty last night. That was good, but I don't think we've learned anything new about Matt Adams. We know he

hit Rite's this well, then he's going to be really good. You know, the question is how good is he? Like I said, he had a month last year, which is very, very similar to this. You know, he can't, he's going to have to clobber Ritey's to be mixed league relevant. I'm 100% sure he's had stretches like this before. And he has a 1,200 OPS against Ritey's. He's not going to maintain that either. Right, right, right. All right.

So I just went and checked if Matt Adams was available in my one daily league, and he is not. But Leonis Martine is. But guess what? I've got players that are better than Leonis Martin, and I don't need him. But if I did need Leonis Martin, let's say I wanted to hire Leonis Martine for my company, I'm going on ZipRecruiter. Everybody, if you need to make a hire, if you need the right people for your company and a better way to find them, something better than just posting your job online and praying for the right people to see it, you got to use ZipRecruiter. And you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike.

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Here's our email of the day. It's from John at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. With Max Scher and Corey Klobner inching up on their mid-30s, Clayton Kirschaw potentially battling the injury bug. Who are your next Big Four? Who would you bet on being the Big Four on opening day 2020? Garrette Cole, Madison Bumgarner? You tell me.

I think we're missing the most obvious one. I saw a stat earlier today. Since the start of 2017, the top four in ERA and FIPP features both, I believe it's Chris Allen, Max Scherzer, and then one of either Corey Kluber or Clayton Kershaw goes in each category. The other one that's in both is Louis Severian. I said it. I said it. I think that's the obvious one.

He might, like, is he there already? Question. How much more do we need to see of Louis-Sah? I have a theory. Does he need a fourth pitch to be, I'm serious. I'm serious. To be, you know, capable of a 250 ERA. 230 strikeout season. Does he need a fourth pitch to be a great pitcher? No.

He's already a great pitch. Does he need to be exactly. Does he need to be, does he need a fourth pitch to be one of the truly elite pitchers in baseball? I mean, you had a 290 RA and 230 strikeouts last year. He had 230? Wow. Okay. I mean, we're assuming there are going to be four Max Scherzer level pitchers in 2020, which I think is pretty unlikely. because you need the crazy strikeout rate and you need the crazy depth that is becoming less and less common in the game today. Now, Severino's shown enough depth at this, you know, the last couple years that I feel like he could be

that 200-plus innings guy with more than a K per inning, and that's probably going to be enough to get him in the top four, or at least in that conversation two years from now. Cole, I mean, Chris Sale's only 29, So I would assume he'd be in the big four still. And I'm not ruling out Klubber still being there, or Kirchall, for that matter. But if you want new names, I mean, Strasbourg is a possibility, right? Although he's almost in his, he's in his late 20s already, isn't he?

Yeah. We're talking two years from now. Right, but he turns 30 in two months. Yeah. Cindergarde? DeGrom. DeGromarge. Cindergarde, Severino.

I'm betting against Cindergarde because I'm just... I think the innings are always going to be a issue for him. And, you know, maybe I'll be proven wrong, but that's just my gut feeling right now. What about these rookie pitchers that are making waves this year? What about Alex Reyes? You know, any prospects that could take the Severino jump? I guess it's a little soon, but... It's possible.

It would just be a wild prediction on my part that they would get there in that amount of time. Or get there ever. And I think this is, it's worth noting that of the big four, only two of them were obviously, like, in the conversation for best pitching prospect and baseball kind of guys. You know, that's what always makes projecting even two months out with pitching so tough, let alone two years out, is guys make jumps. Like, Max Scher was a top pitching prospect, but he wasn't like a can't miss guy. and he had like four years in the majors before he really turned into that guy. Chris Sale was that guy immediately.

Clayton Kershaw needed a year, I think, to get to that level. But, you know, he had real control. Kluber and Scherzer in particular didn't become those guys until their late 20s. Scherzer was probably like 26 or 27, but still. So give me four names.

If you had to guess, 2020, your top four starting pitchers would be who? Sale, Kluber, Cole Severino. I would probably take out Kluber and I would go with Cindergarde. I got a sleeper for you.

He's a rookie. Shohei Otani. Sure. Yeah. Not much of a sleeper, just not somebody that's so obvious top of it. Right. Not something that we mentioned.

For that to be to happen. Maybe. Because there's going to be, that's going to live at the innings, as long as he's doing that. All right. Here's a segment.

So I have a bunch of emails in the show today, and one of them was about this guy, and I decided he needs to be his own segment. I must buy low on Alex Bregman. And quite honestly, I tried to buy low on him yesterday, and it did not work. I offered Darvish for him, and it was turned down. I might come back and offer Granky for him just because I need hitting. And that's a little steep, so I probably will. But I really want to get Bregman on my team. Is that really buying low?

No, it's not, but it's buying. And I don't see a reason why Bregman isn't going to turn it around. You look at his batted ball profile. It looks almost identical to last years, but he has a 4.4 home run-to-fly ball ratio. That is so low. He is not quite crushing. He's been terrible against lefties, and that's not going to continue. He has more walks and strikeouts.

In fact, Bregman is currently the number 13 shortstop in points, but number 21 in Roto. I can't offer Granky for him. You're right. I need to buy lower than that. But I'm positive there are some drafts where I took Granky ahead of Bregman. But they're close. They're close. They're close.

But no, you don't sell Granky for him. But the point is, I'm very confident in Alex Bregman, and he would be the one infielder that I'd be looking to buy low on right now. Yeah, I mean, definitely bailout. Basically, because, like you said, he looks like himself. Yeah, and he's been a slow starter each of his first two seasons. His bad ball profile is so weird because it doesn't look. like a very good hitter. Like it just, he kind of looks like average across the board in every way.

Like, he hits an average amount of fly balls. He hits a maybe slightly above average amount of line drives. He hits, like, he doesn't hit the ball particularly hard, but then you put it all together and that stew becomes a gumbo of a, I don't know, fourth round pick. Well, that's exactly. Isn't Jose Ramirez kind of that way, too? Sort of. Is it Christian Yellich that way, you know?

It's kind of the same thing, right? Well, Yelich at least, like, Yelich hits the ball. heart. Okay, but the final numbers are just a... No, no, that's what I mean is that for Bregman, the final numbers are kind of more than the sum of their parts. Yeah, okay. All right, so just wanted to throw that out there. Now, injuries, news, and notes, a very, very sad note. Stephen Piscotti, you might remember that the Cardinals traded him to the A's so he could be closer to his mother who was battling ALS, and she

has passed away, and our condolences to Stephen Piscotti and the family. Johnny Quato out six to eight weeks with an elbow strain. so at least he does not need Tommy John. The Giants are reportedly interested in Matt Harvey, along with some other teams. I don't think we're going to be interested in him. Oh, my goodness, the Pirates set Nick Kingham to AAA, but he could be back.

I think they just have some off days coming up, right? So, King of him, it's not that he's not going to make any more stars for the Pirates, right? I would assume it's not, but one of the Pirates beat writers for the Athletic. I can't remember his name was saying they absolutely still intend to have Joe Musgrove be a starter and he's going to be

by the time they need a fifth starter again there's a good chance he'll be ready to go so I don't know what that means that definitely dropped Kingham a couple spots in that article I mentioned earlier behind Fernando Romero? No he's still ahead of Romero for me

but he deserves to stick around and Joe Musgrove I mean frankly he deserves it more than Joe Musgrove based on what we saw from Musgrove the last time he was a starter. Musgrove was a great reliever for the Astros last year, so I'm not ruling out that they just take him in the bullpen for a while. But it seems like that one beat writer,

at least is skeptical of that potential opening for Kingham. Adam Wainwright, like I mentioned, likely to return to the St. Louis rotation this week. So I think that's the problem with a lot of these guys. They don't have solidified spots in the rotation, like Jack Flaherty, is who I'm talking about now. Flu Darvish is on the DL. That would be U Darvish who has the flu. He's now Flu Darvish.

Adrian Beltrade could be back any day now. Yohannes Siput has started and he played well. And then he was lifted for a pinch runner, but he played well. Tommy Fam sat, but he could be back today. Atlanta is expected to add Louise Gohara as a relief pitcher. They are going to put Gohara in the bullpen. Does that mean that Soroka is ahead of Gohara right now? That's what I took it to me.

and that kept Soroka high in those rankings on the site. Gohara, like, it would be pretty easy for him to overtake Brandon McCarthy or McCarthy just gets hurt or whatever. So, like,

if anything, this could lead to him gaining RP eligibility and, you know, them kind of easing him back into the starting role. I don't think it's altogether a bad thing for Gohara's fantasy value, but you always worry about

a guy getting stuck there if he's too good, you know? The opening doesn't happen soon enough. Does Anabon Sanchez still in the rotation? No, I believe Soroka ultimately replaced him. Yeah, it sounds like they're going to transition him to the bullpen. Sanchez, I mean. Danny Farquhar left the hospital, so that is good news. Happy to hear that.

He had the brain hemorrhage in the dugout a few weeks ago. Javier Baez left with groin tightness. Joe Madden says he's not concerned. Jordan Zimmerman is on the D.L. with a shoulder injury. Ryan Zimmerman, only one end on the end of his last name, as I've mentioned now twice, or now three times. He has missed three straight games with side sorensorness.

Byron Bucksson expected back this week, and Dexter Fowler almost homeward for the second straight game, but Eddie Rosario robbed him. All right, I think it's time for the fantasy feud. Are you ready? I am so ready. I am beyond ready. I have prepared my whole life for this moment.

Well, I'm not ready, because first I have to, tell you about the draft app. Yes, fantasy feud is fun, but we don't play it every single day. You want to play fantasy baseball every single day, and you love drafts or else you wouldn't play fantasy, so why not do drafts every day on the draft app? Or go to draft.com. This, by the way, this website, this company, they are sort of taking the fantasy world by storm.

This is, I don't even know if they're up and coming anymore. It's draft has arrived. It's daily fantasy sports, but not like the other guys. No salary caps. You do live snake drafts with other people, just like in your season-long leagues. If you join now and deposit and use the promo code F-B-T-T-day, you will get into a real money game for free. Again, the promo code is F-B-T-T-A. That will also get you automatically following me, Big K-N-2, on the Draft app, and I will post some drafts,

and I will play against you on the draft app. So again, download Draft or go to Draft.com, and the promo code is F-B-T-T-day, like Fantasy Baseball, today. FB today, get into a real money game for free, get some cold hard cash, get paid out the next day. Drafts start at $1. It's super fun. It's super quick. I love the draft app. Get on there and start playing some fantasy baseball. All right, here we go. So, since I am in New York and Scott and Chris are in Florida in different locations, you guys are going to have to say like bing or something to signify that you have buzzed in. Bing bong. That whatever it is that works for you.

Uh, you were, uh, you, that just, yeah, buzz in. You know what I'm saying. Here we go, Fantasy feud. The top five answers are on the board. I am looking for the top five first baseman in Roto. Bing-ball. That was, uh, that was Chris. Chris?

Frederick Freeman. Is the number one answer. Frederick Freeman. Pass or play, Chris Towers. Um, pass. All right. Scott, we need four more of the top five first baseman in rotisserie. And the roto format.

I am going to go with Paul Goldschmidt. Come on, dude. He's been really bad lately, by the way. People are worried. People are freaking out. You shouldn't be worried. I wasn't worried. Obviously, yes.

Obviously. Okay, so my second answer, my second crack at this. Better bring a list of teams up so we don't sit here and listen to you, you know, think about it for 10 minutes. Oh, you know me too well, Adam. Okay, so my next, for my next trick, I am going to say, uh. No, that's two strikes. Okay. All right, Scott, we've got Brandon Belt.

Brandon Belt is in points, but in Roto, that's three strikes. Wow. So we need the top five first baseman in Roto. If I've prepared my whole life for this moment, that's pretty sad. Yeah, it was really bad. Chris, all we need is one answer, two through five. Give me a top five first baseman and roto other than Freddie Freeman. Is Matt Adams a top five first baseman?

Is that your final answer? Yeah. You got it right. Congratulations. Ding, ding, ding. I know he wasn't before yesterday. Chris Towers. So it was Freddie Freeman won.

Joey Gallo, two, with a two-twous. 24 batting average. Wow, that's impressive. Matt Adams 3, Reese Hoskins, 4, and Handley Ramirez is 5 with three home runs. So I actually consider handsome person on this podcast has been a big fan of some of those guys. I was thinking Reese Hoskins with the walks, probably in points but not Roto, but he does have an uncharacteristic number of steel, so I probably should have thought of that. But man, if Hanley Ramirez is on that list. Yep, go ahead.

Say it. Some weak sauce at first base. Absolutely. First base has been really, really disappointing. In fact, honestly, Freddie Freeman, he is walking a ton. But he is not really, in Roto, he's not really doing anything exceptional. I mean, 307, he's having great year. I'm not trying to take away from him.

307, five home runs, 25 RBIs, two steals. I wouldn't think that that would be enough to make him the number one first baseman. Adam, that sounds pretty simple. It's very good, but it's five home runs. How many home runs does Belt have? How is Belt not in the top five, and Hanley is? Belt has six. Because Hanley has three steals.

Yeah, but it's only three steals. They're very close. This is my issue with the roto formula. But they're two spots apart. They're like basically tired. If Hanley Ramirez carrying your team in stolen bases, I don't think. And Belt's not carrying you in anything either. He's a ton of power and a ton of batting average.

He's got six home runs. Yeah, that's a thing. Twice as many. Adam, I just want to say Freddie Freeman's The Freddie Freeman take was eerily close to the Jacob de Groms on an electric take. Absolutely not. He's got five freaking

home runs. Are you kidding me? He's a first baseman. He's got 49 combined runs in RBI and Chewerey stolen bases and he's in 307. I'm just saying I wouldn't have expected him to be number one in Roto. In points, yes, because he's got 22 walks. In Roto, like Joey Gallo is 12 home runs.

That's why his number... Joey Gallo, as the number two first base with a 224, batting average. It's, you know. I mean, I mean, look, I'm just saying, there might have been someone

who might have told you that if Joey Gallo hits 2.30, he's going to be a top 50 player. I can't, I can't, I can't remember who said it. Well, he's 40th right now, and I have a feeling

you're going to be wrong about that. I can't remember who it was who said it, but I'm sure he was extremely handsome. I agree. Very handsome guy. All right. Chris Towers gets round one.

The top five answers are on the board. I am looking for the RBI leaders in baseball. Scott White. I am going with Jed Lowry. The number two answered Jed Lowry. Chris, you have a chance to get number one. Yeah, but I'm not going to. We'll get something.

D.D.Gregorius. Dede Gregorius is number four. Scott, pass or play. Top five RBI leaders. I'm going to play. All right, all right. So we've got number two, Jed Lowry, number four, D.D. Gregorius. Okay.

I'm going to go with kind of an oddball guess, Nick Marcaquas. No, Nick Marcakechis is incorrect. Incorrect. One strike. Okay. I'm going to go with Joey Gallo. Joey Gallo is. Incorrect.

All right. Oh, they're laughing at you, Scott. They're laughing at me because they can't get one right. That's fair, because these are like season long questions you're asking. Top five RBI leaders. Jed Lowry is number two. Deidugorious is number four. Who's number one?

All right. I'm going to have to expand my perspective here. Broaden my horizons. And in doing so, I'm going to come back with the answer, Mike Trout. Mike Trout is? Incorrect. Chris Towers, chance to steal, sir. I just need to get one. You just need one?

Correct. Let's go with Corris Davis with a C. How did you get that? Very good. Number three, Kris Davis and Chris Towers. The Oakland Athletics have a top five offense. Okay. So handsome. So handsome Chris Towers.

No, it's just that honestly, like I've had this discussion with a bunch of people who think that the Oakland athletics are like not good. And they have a really good offense. They had like the third best offense in the second half last season, and they've been like top three or four of the season. They're really good. Well, Chris Davis is only batting 210, but he has nine home runs and 30 RBIs. That makes him number three in RBI's. Number one, plays in the NL Central.

Got hurt last night? Tomicam? No. Joe Madden says it's precautionary? Oh, Javier Baez. Javier Baez is the first cub to have 10 home runs this many home runs in RBIs. runs 32 RBIs this early in the season since Sammy Sosa in 2001, I believe. Wow.

We need to talk about him. By the way, number five is A.J. Pollock. So it's Baez, Lowry, Chris Davis, D.D.Gorius. AJ Pollock. Just like we thought. I almost guessed Pollock. So what about Hobby Baez, guys? Are we still buying it?

Yeah. I mean, at the power breakthrough, I'm still buying it. Sure. Right age for it. You know, 37 homer season in the miners, great bat speed. It was thought to be a bigger power guy than he had been in the majors to this point. All right, there we go. Last feud category.

I'm not buying it, but as much. Okay. Well, you won fantasy feud, so I guess, you know. All right, this round is worth triple the points. That's right. That's not work. First two don't matter. Yeah, fantasy feud is such a rip-off or family feud.

Right. Because, well, you know, family feud. in general, like, really, this is how it works. Like, the first few hours just don't matter. Wow. Because, I mean, the show would be too short if they just let the family who won the first two automatically in.

Yeah, but then it just don't matter. Might as well tank. Get better draft pick. All right, here we go. The top five hitters in points leagues. Go. Bing-Bong. Chris.

Freddie Freeman. First base sucks. No, you suck. Scott, top five hitters. Okay. Oh my God. Don't need to think. Just go. Thank you. Mike Trout. Dig, dig, dig. Yay, they like you again. Pass or play. I'm against my better judgment going to play.

Good for you. Good for you. Mike Trout's number one. Who's two through five? I am going to go with Charlie Blackman. One strike. I am going to go with Mooky Betz. Number two, answer, Mooky Betts. All righty. I am going to go with Bryce Harper.

Number three, answer, Bryce Harper. Trout Betts Harper. Looking for the next two hitters and points leaps. I am going to go with Manuel Machado. All right, the two strikes, the Towers family, is going to think about it over there. They're huddling up. They're thinking about their best answer.

We're looking for the top five hitters and points leads. Is it my turn? Not yet. I get one more. I get one more. Scott gets shut up, Scott. You're killing time. Scott gets seven more seconds.

All right. I'm going to go with Aaron Judge. The answer is D.D.Gregorius. Thank you very much. Let's move on to the next section. Are you cheating? No. Such confidence.

Didi Grigorious and Chris Towers. is our winner. Way to go, Chris. Deegregorius is four and A.J. Pollux, five. Scott, you should have gone back to A.J. Pollock. Yeah. You were rushing me, Adam. I wasn't rushing you.

You were taking a very long time. It was necessary. It was necessary. Thank you for playing Fantasy Feud, everybody. And thank you for watching, everybody. Made in Georgia. Okay, it's time now. You like that?

Is that a thing? Yeah, that's at the end of it. every family feud episode. Most shows that they are filmed in Georgia, I think. I mean, I've seen the little peach. Hey, it's time to regulate. From Scotty Barnes. Mount up.

Scotty Barnes did a 12-team 5-5-Roto League. Three reserve spots, unlimited D.L spots. Scotty says he was recently scanning his league's roster for trade partners, saw something ridiculous. The first place team has 29 players on the D.L. DL. 29 players. Basically any player worth having in our size league that is on the DL he has control of. I'm pretty sure our commissioner listens to the podcast. Fantasy regulators, please help. I mean, change the rules, guys. Like, that's on you. Yeah. Like, that, I mean, that, like,

that's stupid. And that, that guy is, he is abiding by the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. You should not have an unlimited number of players. It's not, like, just, It's not just where you got to speculate on guys, but if the rules allow it. Yeah, we're okay with it. We have to be okay with it, but change the rule. If the commissioner is listening, then commissioner, we're regulating against you. And I'm fine with changing the rules in season. Well, why did you guys let him do that?

That's what I don't understand. Like, anybody could have done this. Why did you just let him have free reign to the way of the wire? Like, nobody was thinking of having 29 DL players. It's ridiculous. Right, but nobody thought of having one? Like, just, oh, who's the most attractive guy on waivers to begin the year? I'll pick him up.

I'm sure there are some people. I'm sure there are some. What's the solution? The solution is change the rules. Yeah. I mean, no, I actually kind of like the unlimited deal. But as with a lot of rules in fantasy baseball, it only works if everybody's equally invested than the league.

I have a feeling this guy's more invested than the rest of you if he was able to do this. Nobody, everybody just let them. Time now for 10 emails in four minutes. I don't have a theme song for this. Ten emails in four minutes. Thank you, Chris. That was very good. All right.

We are on the clock in five, four, three, two, one. Dear, Mary, Kate, Ashley, and Elizabeth. Those are Olsons. This is Dave from Ontario. What do we do with Matt Olson? Would you drop Matt Olson for Michael Franco, Ian Hap, Matt Kemp, or Matt Davidson? No. I don't think you can do anything. You just kind of have to wait.

Yep. I'm sorry. He's definitely better than those four still. Just in terms of playing time alone. I mean, the only one... Well, I guess the two-third basement can compete, but still, Olson's back. All right. Stick with Matt Olson. This is from Kevin. Hey, Ron, Chris, Ben, and Jerry.

Actually, Jerry, you can go home. I have absolutely no idea what that is. That sounds like Parks and Rec. Oh, okay. Very funny show. Am I C-Town B-Pants to trade Clayton Kershaw for Reese Hoskins in a six-by-six league? He's one of the additional categories. Kershaw, we don't really know how long he's out. I don't think it's crazy.

I wouldn't do it, but it's not crazy. It's probably about a C trade. Yeah, I don't know. Biceps 10 in a night as doesn't sound that bad. I've never had it, but. All right, Scott's calling it a C to give up. Kershofer Hoskins. Chris? I, yeah, C-minus.

All right, Patrick from Los Angeles. Is the Jorge Saler hype real? Should I pick him up? If so, who do I drop? NCRte, Schwaber, Smoke, or Jake Faria? And a 5-5 league, I think you can drop Berea pretty easily for Saler. Interesting. I would probably rather drop one of the hitters.

I'm just not sure which, so go with Perea. From Seth, how are the peripherals on Anthony Rizzo? Is this just a bad slump for Rizzo? He's fine. Yep. Like, I'm not even going to type his name into the Fangraph's search page. He's fine. Yeah, he came out of it last week.

He had a very good week. From Mike, Worryometer on Marcel Ozuna. Is he a by-low? He's a by-low. I mean, Heath and I both had him on our bus list, but it wasn't like a hard bus. Like, this guy is just going to fall flat on his face. It was, eh, he overachieved a little last year.

And that's probably still true, but his early season slump has gone well beyond that. Would you like to know what Marcelo Zuna's hard hit rate is? Yes, I know what it is. He has the sixth highest hard contact rate this year. It was 39.1% last season, which is really high. It's 49.5% this season. Yeah, but he hits so many ground balls. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, he's, that's definitely a limitation, but I don't know. This guy's pretty proven. All right, Caleb from Atlanta. Hey, Marty, Alex, and Scott. I don't know that. Given Josh Hayter... Morning wags. Given Josh Hayter's success in the bullpen

and counsel's employment of a closer by committee, are you worried that Canable doesn't step back into the closers' role immediately? Well, immediately, meaning what? Like, the first week? I think that's... There's a pretty decent chance of that. But, no, he's the closer. I do worry that it might...

Like, counsel may have grown. grown so fond of this once haters in the game. He stays in the game until the game's over approach. Like, it's worked so well for the Brewers that maybe he sticks with that. Maybe that robs Coneble a few save of opportunities. But now, Kenable's still the guy. All right, we have 30 seconds for three emails. Caleb Smith or Trevor Cahill from Jared.

Caleb Smith. Cahill. This is from, your boy, tanks. Would you guys do any of these trades? Barrios for Benintendi Barrios for Dickerson Oh sorry, Barrios for Ben and Tendi Burrios for Dickerson

Porcelo for Benintendi I would trade Baxter Barrios for him Rick Porcello for Benintendi seems like a win to me Yes, that would be my Barrios for Benintendi's fine too But Porcelo more And Adam in Chicago Hey Mikey, Don, Leo and Raff

I guess we'll have to figure out which Ninja Turtles we are Do you think Ryan Healy Will maintain Rostrable value for an extended time he did last year So I wouldn't need this year Okay, that works for me Yeah, I mean

It would have to be like a roto format Certainly not the smaller Head-to-head Size roster He's just not going to make the cut Also he says Are the first and third base lines wider this year They sure look like it

Yes They are yeah, they're definitely wider The bases are 10 feet farther away too So uh... What? You were joking, right Chris? They're not actually wider No, you guys didn't see

They're 94 degrees They are wider? No Oh, okay, shut up, Chris Leave me alone Leave me alone, go home I just thought even Are they painted wider

Like There's nothing to do With change in the angle, doesn't it? Everybody shut up and leave me alone All right More from yesterday There's really not that much Was there anything that?

Oh, oh, oh, I know I forgot a segment Hey, it's about time Hey, it's about time Michael Gnforto Homer Scott Kingery stole a base. It's about time George Springer had a six-hit game.

I've been waiting for that for a long time. He leads baseball and played appearances, by the way, no surprise. Yeah, his numbers all of a sudden look exactly like they should. Yep. It's about time Marble Gonzalez had an extra base hit. His first and eight games, he homered yesterday. It's about time Jay Bruce homered, and it's about time Ian Hap hit two home runs or did anything.

Yeah, Ian Hap also struck out twice and had... I didn't see the plate appearance, so it's possible that Game Day was lying to me, but somebody sent me like a screenshot of the pitch location, and it looked like he just was guessing. Like none of the pitches were within a foot of the strike zone. He still looks so lost. I picked him up after this two-home-or game just in case, and it's only because of position scarcity.

I really need a second baseman in that particular league. But, yeah, Hap, I mean, the two strikeouts, he's just so many, damn strikeouts, 41 strikeouts, the seven walks. And, like, 84 at bats. I was looking at his, like, game logs yesterday, just to see if, like, there was a point where he was striking out a lot. And then it's been since then that he's maybe just been stringing out, like, a Joey Gallo-esque amount. But, no, there has been no point.

Like, he's been 40 plus percent, basically every stretch this season. It's crazy. All right. So with this segment, it's about time. Conforto, Kingery, Springer. No, not Springer. I was a joke. Conforto, Kingery, Gonzales, Marwin Gonzalez,

Jay Bruce, Ian Hap. When you look at these guys, are there any of them that you don't think will get better? Not just get better, but get better to the point where we're starting them most of the time. Confordo, Kingery, Marwin, Bruce, and Hap. Hap is, you know, there's obvious concerns there, both performance and playing time-wise. Kingery.

I'm not going to bet on it this year with all the other options available. Yeah, the multi-eligibility is great and is super useful in some formats, but there are players, there are enough players better at him at all the positions he's eligible.

That I'm just not confident in that anymore. And I have questions about Conforto coming back from this major surgery. He's the most rosterable of those three, I think, because he deserves There's more benefit about based on his track record? Jay Bruce and Marwin Gonzalez are in there, too. I would rather have him than Marwan Gonzalez, too.

Like, Marwan Gonzalez is kind of in the Scott Kingery. He's done it for one major league season, but, like, if he's not going to hit, it doesn't matter that he's eligible in a bunch of spots. And I'm not sure he's going to hit. Who's the number one player out of Conforto, Marwin, Bruce, and Hap? And Kingery. For me, I... Yeah, it's Bruce.

only because I'm less likely to drop him, but there's no way I'm dropping Michael Conforto. I plan on writing about that today. All right. We got a bonus email, team name Tuesday, and today's matchups. Bonus email is from Jason in New York City. I have to take exception with Scott White's proclamation last week that Ben Linus from the show lost was the best villain ever. I still want to punch myself for watching that whole show. It went so far off the rails by season three, and then it kept going for like three more seasons,

and the writers clearly had no idea what they were doing and didn't really tie up any of the mysteries in the supremely convoluted plot. If none of you have seen the HBO show Deadwood, I highly recommend it. And I think that Ian McShane's character, Al Sweringen, I don't know, is one of the best villains ever, easily better than any character from Lost. I know that's more a lot of them. I agree with Al Swerington. Swerington or Sweringinj, he wrote.

Ian McShane, like, that may be the best acting performance of all time, that specific character. I also don't know if I consider that character. true villain. Oh, don't spoil it. Because now I'm interested. Well, there's no spoiler there. But, I mean, everybody on that show is pretty darn shady.

So, no. I mean, the whole lost was terrible because I didn't like the way it ended. You were only so hurt by how it ended because the show was that good and got you that invested. So people who take that stance, I just ignore them. Bill the Butcher is the best villain. Benny the Butcher. No. Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York.

Oh, Benny the Butcher from Magic City is amazing. And Ramsey Bolton is the best villain from Game of Thrones. A truly psychotic, crazed, amazing villain. But, of course, I've never seen any of the other ones. So I can't really comment. All right, team name Tuesday. Here we go. A familiar face.

Sure. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying it. Yep. Hold me closer. I like it, but, you know, that extra syllable kind of kills it. This is the Ozzy Smith walk-off hit, or I think it's a walk-off home run, right? Lou Casey, folks, Lou Casey. That's pretty good.

Yeah. The Domingo ate your baby. Kepler elves. Sollair, pretty death match. Sure. Goo Goo Dolls, which is actually one I've used. Sure. Doll about that base.

And here's another one I've used. I used it last year. Dance be Samsonite. Dance be Samsonite. Can I improve one of them? Yeah, sure. Shouldn't it be show hit closer, tiny dancer. I guess so.

Dance be Samsonite is great. Kepler elves is actually my favorite from this group. Kepler elves. It's time for today's matchups. I think we're ready. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yankees's Red Sox.

Fired up. Severino and Pomeranzas. But first we have Odorisi, Carlos Martinez. Wait a second. Here's a thing. I don't get it. You've got the two best records in baseball. You've got a team that's won 15 out of 16.

You've got the most heated rivalry in baseball. This is the problem with baseball. If this were like Stewards Ravens or Stewards Patriots, right? Like, I don't care about either of those teams. I would be so excited to watch. Why doesn't anybody want to watch? Yankees Red Sox. Because you only have so much time in your life.

And when you reach the pearly gates and St. Peter judges you, I don't want to have to account for the four and a half hours I spent watching a regular season Yankees Red Sox game in May of 2018. Twins Cardinals, Jake Oterie, good answer. Jake Oteresee at Carlos Martinez. Start Martinez. Yes. It's an early game. or easy.

Early game, get your lineup set. Drew Pomeran's at Luis Severino. Start Luis Severino. Yeah, not Pomeran's? Not Pomeran's. Derek Holland at Aaronola. Start Aaronola. Dany Duffy at Dylan Bundy.

I know Dylan Bundy's had a couple of tough starts, but I'm still starting him, especially against this matchup. Me too. Danny Duffy is the one I might roll dice on as bad as Orioles have been, but I think I'd lean against it. James Paxton at Marcus Stroman.

I will start James Paxton. I will probably give Marcus Stroman the day off. I might start Marcus Stroman. He's been better lately. Yeah, his last start was good. I started him in a two-star week. One start, I actually do have to make that decision. I'm probably going to go with no.

But it'll be a GTD. It depends on top. Careful you need to be with the R.A. I would say. Metz and Reds. Jason Vargas, Luis Castillo. I believe I am starting Luis Castillo in the league where I have him, so yeah. Sean Nucumit Blake Snell.

Start both. Yep. Corey Klooper, Wade Miley. Start Glooper. Mike Fires, Mike Minor. Stard Mining. Miner. Jose Arania and the guy that the Reds, that the Cubs are calling up.

Well, not him. Jen Ho's saying. I would not start either of those fellows. Yeah, me neither. Yvonne Nova Lucas Gialito Nope I would not start either of those guys I mean I'm fine with starting Nova Yeah Nova's interesting

I won't It's just a bad place for him to pitch Andrew Heaney and John Greyhine is interesting Not at course Oh no no no yeah okay nope Never mind What about John Gray? Yeah that's

I'd probably lean away from it He's been so disappointing this year Oh well not the last two starts Yeah I feel like he's turning around That's a tough lineup I would say the same thing I said for Stroman. It depends how careful you're... And you need to be with ERA and WIP,

certainly in like a points league. I'd run them out there. Lance McCullors at Shaw Mania. Start both. God, Sean Minas had a lot of tough matchups. The second time in three starts that he's going to have to go up against the Astros. That's rough. But yeah, you start him.

Jeremy Hullochson at Clayton, Richard. Yeah. Neither. Zach Godley at Rich Hill. Definitely Godly. Hill, it's the first star back from the DL, right? Yep. Yeah.

That's always iffy. Yeah. I'd prefer to give him another day. Yep. It would depend on ERA. I'll care. Listen to the Sportsline DFS podcast if you want some DFS help. And we'll talk to you tomorrow, which is great to show.