Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/10: Pence, Darvish, Most Added, Week 8 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 10, 2019

Who is our favorite two-start pitcher for Fantasy Week 8? And are we believing in this Hunter Pence revival (5:30)? We've also got the the Addometer (7:25) and the Dropometer (15:00) as we discuss Yu Darvish, Derek Dietrich, Wade Miley, Miguel Andujar and more ... Prospects to stash (21:30), thoughts on Daniel Murphy (26:40) and Josh Bell (29:00), Grade the Trade (38:50) ... A look at the Most Added list (44:20), are we "Still Buying it" for some hot starters who are currently cold (49:00), a quick Thursday recap (51:00) and two-start pitchers (57:00) and weekend streamers to end the show ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mazara and Parra project to That's scarya And you're ready for fantasy week eight, everybody. What's going on? Adam Aiser with Scott White and Chris Towers here on this fantasy baseball today. Kokomo Friday. Scott, happy, happy Kokomo Friday. Big weekend plans, sir?

Oh, not for me. No. No big weekend plans. What'd you get your life? Except, of course, what's happening on Sunday. Yeah, well, there's that, but did you get your wife a nice Mother's Day gift? Oh, yeah, I guess that's happening, too. Yeah, I mean, I've been working with my kids on their Mother's Day gift, too.

So, yeah, we're all ready to go for that. Yes. Chris, did you get your wife a nice Mother's Day gift? No, no, because she is not a mother. Oh, yeah. Okay, I'm sorry about that. Yeah. I mean, we have two cats and a dog, but I don't think that quite counts.

Mother of dog. I don't know what the exchange rate is. No, it doesn't count. Well, sorry, awkward. So who's your favorite two-start pitcher owned in less than 70% of leagues for next week? What's that grunt about? Not a good week? There are some interesting options with good matchups,

but they are guys who are not necessarily great pitcher. Like Mike Fires has at Seattle at Detroit, it's a pretty good matchups. I know he's coming off a no-hitter, but Mike Fires has thrown a no-hitter before, and it did not magically turn him into a very good pitcher. And Rinalda Lopez, another one, who has really good matchups and has shown some signs this season.

but they've been really sporadic. I think he's coming off, if not his most recent start, the one before that was just awful. But he's versus Cleveland and versus Toronto, so I guess he's my pick, because there's big strikeout potential. Yes, it was two starts to go against Boston.

That was terrible. His previous start for Ronaldo Lopez was Cleveland, six, not exactly good. Six innings, nine hits, three runs, one walk, two strikeouts. That's Ronald Lopez. Yeah, I am forced to start him in a two-start week. Scott, I think I know who you're going to say.

Kyle Gibson. Kyle Gibson. Angels and Maritors. Yes. Yeah, I'm excited to get him in my lineup. And I actually think it's a pretty good week for two start streamers, if that's the way. If that's what floats your boat, especially if you use 80% of the cut off instead of 70, like you chose. 80.

Yeah. That's like. Why is it any more cheating? 80 instead of 70. Oh, I don't know. Everybody knows. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows.

It's 70% not 80. Usually when you look at the ownership percentages and you go by position, the big drop where it goes from being a bunch of players owned in this many or more or, you know, fewer owned in that. It's 80. You can't argue with natural law. It's 70. Thank you, Chris.

Thank you for pointing that out. All right, so Kyle Gibson might be the winner here. Brandon Woodruff is 75% owned. Jared Eichoff is 73% owned. So those would be good options. Tyler Skaggs, if you want a bad pitcher right now. Sunny Gray, if you want another guy who's been bad and who has terrible matchups. But, yeah, okay, there are some good options.

Hopefully one of those guys sneaks through the waiver wire is available in your leagues. And then, of course, we'll get into the full list later on in the show. I was going to give you a weekend streamer, but I ran out of time this morning. So if you give me some time, I will have weekend streamers for you at the end of the show, and that'll be great. We have CBS Sports HQ, our free 24-7 streaming service, and we're going to be on it on Sunday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. And it's going to be awesome.

So make sure you check it out. So that's on CBS SportsHQ. Download the CBS Sports app on your Amazon Fire, on your Roku, on your Apple TV, on wherever you watch, your Apple. CBS Sports app. Everything is free and it starts streaming CBS Sports HQ. And look, right now it's great. They cover everything.

You got highlights. You got analysis. You got smart analysis. Not the fake arguments that you see on the other TV stations. And sportsline.com. Sportsline.com. Go to sportsline.com. And get some PGA championship picks and stuff like that.

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We have great golf coverage and coverage of every other sport. And that's your first month for only $1. promo code is Swing, first month for a buck. All right, I'm feeling a little goofy today. I've got some goofy headlines. Hunter Pence, none the richer, is the first one. Add me. Hunter Pence should have had two home runs last night,

which would have given him four in his last three. games, but Josh Reddick robbed him in the ninth inning. But boy, Hunter Penn's 17% owned. He is red hot. He's earning more playing time. Is he earning a spot on your roster? Scott White. I mean, he hasn't quite earned enough playing time that I'm picking him up in a standard

size league, but the numbers have been really good. And he is a guy who worked this offseason to adjust his swing, work with Hitting guru Doug. Doug Lada, that's one of the well-known ones who, I don't remember which one he's known for working with J.D. Martinez or Justin Turner. One of those hitting gurus who pulled somebody's career out of nothing and made them something. Though I will point out in terms of line drives versus fly balls versus ground balls, it doesn't look like that's changed so much, but he's hitting the ball incredibly hard,

Hunter Pence is, and probably deserves more playing time, given the alternatives on that team. So I'm definitely interested in seeing where this goes. But right now, no, he's mostly playing against lefties. You know, after I saw that he had homered in two straight games, and then he homered again yesterday, I was like, there he goes, there he goes again. Yeah, that was a cover, though, so that's why I didn't go with that.

I think it's a cover by the lead singer's dad. I'm like 72% sure. Really? I think I saw that on pop-up video. Pop-up video. Wow. Okay, he's 17% owned. How owned should Hunter Pence be?

Should be 30% owned? I don't think so. All right, let's do the addometer. Let's see who we do want to add. Wade Miley is 50% owned. Chris Bassett is 43% owned. Who's higher on the addometer? Wade Miley or Chris Bassett?

I probably Bassett. I don't really buy into what he's doing. And it's worth noting the swinging strikes have been down. in the past two starts, but this is now two of his last three, I think, with seven innings, nine strikeouts, and you're just not seeing that kind of stuff from a guy on waivers very often. I do think I'm trying to make sure I got this figured out right last night, but he's very likely a two-star pitcher next week, Bassett, because of the way the off-day lands for the athletics, they tend to skip Aaron Brooks on those days. so it looks like Bassett could be a Tuesday Sunday two-star pitcher.

Oh, interesting, which would give him Seattle and Detroit, I believe, next week. Here's a quote from Chris Bassett talking about his performance so far this season. He credits going through Tommy John surgery and not having his stuff in the aftermath of that, learning to pitch with more than just his fastball, and now the fastball velocity is back up, and that's all great. But when asked about strikeouts, do I think this, quote, do I think it's probably going to keep up like this? Probably not.

But at the same time, I think I can punch a lot of guys out all the time. I don't know. I struggle with it. This is a, I think his career strikeout rate is right around 7 per 9, I think. And his previous career high was 7.7. So I just, I have trouble buying in, but given how well he's pitching right now, yeah, he should be more owned than 43%. All right. So Bass, Bass, it's 43% owned.

is 50% own. Now, Miley got strikeouts last night, but we know that that's not going to typically happen. He will have Detroit on the road next week, and Wade Miley has now gone 24 straight starts without allowing more than three run runs. So that's a useful player. Yeah, 318 ERA,

110 whip. He's going to probably get some wins. He's three and two. He'll get your quality starts. So, you know, you have to understand how important strikeouts are for your team, because you're not going to get them with Wade Miley. But it's hard to argue with his consistency and his ability to six innings, three runs are better, basically.

I mean, almost every time out. So, you know, you out there, I think, can determine how much you want that on your roster. He's certainly not great, but Wade Miley is solid and could be a good streamer for you next week at Detroit. All right, I got some hitters that are on the addometer. Zero to ten for these guys. How badly do you want to add? Or we can do the onometer. Maybe we should do the onometer, where the number course.

to the ownership percentage. So a 10 means he should be 100% own, a 5, 50% own, and 880% own. Jake Bowers, in his last 21 games, he is batting 323, but it's mostly singles, it's a 432 Babbitt. 9 walks 20 strength guys.

Yeah, all right, so 0 to 10 on the Jake Bowers O'Meater. 4? Yeah, I was going to say 3. Oh, well, he's a lot of... 35% O. You're putting him on the drop o meter. I guess. So, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I just, he doesn't hit the ball hard yet. I don't want to write him off entirely because the prospect pedigree is pretty good, but he doesn't profile like a power hitter right now at all. And unless he's going to steal 15 to 20 bases, I just don't see what the appeal is. That's Jake Bowers. How about Derek Dietrich? One thing I did not realize about Derek Dietrich is that he had a 290,

363-496 slash line on the road last year with 12 of his 16 home runs. The two previous years he hit well on the road, but certainly not that well. But he has batted three straight seasons with the Marlins, 2016, 17, and 18. Derek Dietrich has batted between 284 and 293 on the road. Obviously, this is important because Christian Yelich got a huge bump. Hopefully J.T. Raamuto, the same, leaving that stupid park and going to a better hitter's park. And Derek Dietrich Homer, yesterday, he is having a really good year. He's hit five home runs in his last six seasons.

I don't think he plays against lefties. Or five home runs in the last six games. Seven played appearances against lefties so far. He's 33% owned. Oh, no meter for Derek Dietrich. I could go as high as five, I think, given that he's not playing against lefties. He has, however, started against seven straight righties, which is a sign that they're gaining more and more trust in him, kind of played all over.

He's eligible at three spots. And I do think there's I do think there's actual power there that may be translating to that park in a way in a way like we saw once Scooter Jeanette started to get regular playing time there.

So it's interesting, but again, it's when you're talking to less than a full-time player, it really limits the utility. Okay. That's Derek D. He should be owned in all daily leagues

and all hit by pitch lead. He gets hit by pitch a lot? Yes. Six times already this season. I believe that's more than Michael Franco has unintentional walks. That's pretty funny. All right, how about some deeper league guys? Gerard Dyson, two steals yesterday,

and he consistently leads off against Ritey's for the Diamondbacks. He is 8% owned. Where's Gerard Dyson on the onometer? Chris Towers. I'm going to say a four. There's a lot of roto. leagues out there. And he probably needs to be owned in most of them. I mean, we talked about him as a Rotta League specialist even before he was hitting well a lot, you know, a couple of seasons ago.

And now he's actually hitting well. I'm not sure how real that is, but I think it's at least worth taking a flyer on if you need stolen bases. And, you know, with Dee Gordon likely going on the IL, everyone needs stolen bases right now. Okay, so Dyson's 8% own. Scott, how Howie Kendrick, 18% own. He's batting 325 with six home runs in 29 games. Nine walks, 12 strikeouts. Zero to 10 on the on meter for Howie Kendrick. Yeah, that seems too low, 18.

Maybe a five like Dietrich. Like there's more opportunities, I think, even more opportunities for playing time for Kendrick than there is for Dietrich. and I mean, he's really been a good hitter the past few years. A lot of injuries have kept him out of the lineup. But when he's played, he has been productive like we're seeing from him this year. The power pace might be a little too good to be true. But he can definitely hit.

And with the multi-eligibility, that can be a handy player. Howie, Kendrick. All right, Tyler Austin, Jordan Lupplow. Can you guys just say no real quick on them? I actually think Loeblo is kind of interesting. If he's going to play with any regularity. And, you know, with Cleveland, he might. All right.

Didn't see that one coming. The past three years in the mind, really good. I should clarify, actually, it's Luplo. Jordan Looplo. Yeah. I would say he's like a 1.8 on the own. All right. And Tyler Austin hit his first two home runs yesterday.

They were at Colorado. We're not interested. The drop o meter is more interesting, I think, than the on-o-meter today. It is headlined by U. Darvish. It includes Kyle Freeland. It includes a 92% own third baseman who does not have an extra base hit so far in only nine games this season. It includes this dude on Colorado who just doesn't get any hits. So let's go to the drop-o-meter.

And let's start with U-Darvish. You cannot throw strike, six walks, seven strikeouts, one run on a number. one hit in four innings, a very annoying start against the Marlins. He is 86% owned, and he is the most... He's not on the most drop, he might be on the most drop list, but he is the most asked, should I drop... It's the best way to say this. Nobody asks.

Our listeners ask about dropping you Darvish more than they ask about dropping any other player. Just rolls off the tongue. Yeah. Zero to 10 on the dropometer for you Darvish. Maybe like a five. The way I put it in today's waiver wire column is if I'm in the sort of league where prospects are being stashed and the hope they make an impact down the line, I don't know why Darvish is any less promising of a prospect than that. And I still say the main thing he's doing wrong is throwing not throwing enough strikes. Now that's like a really bad thing because he's walking everybody.

But the exit velocity is about where it's been throughout his career in terms of hard contact given up. The launch angle is actually really low. So, you know, not not giving up the kind of contact that should allow a lot of power. And his swinging strike rate is the highest of his career, or at least it was before yesterday. So he's still doing some things well. he just needs to get the he just needs to get it over the plate okay yeah my my only problem with like here's what you darvish is doing right is is he even doing that on purpose given how poorly he's throwing the ball like yeah his ground ball rate is i believe it's by far a career high or yeah 52.8%

he's usually been a 40% guy uh but i don't know how much credit to give him for that, given that he can't control where he's throwing the ball. And then there's just the fact that he's not inducing a lot of swings. He's down to 41% swing rate. It was 45 to 47 the last couple of years. That just tells me that hitters aren't really being fooled right now by him. And if Heath was here, he would make fun of the way I said that word. What, fooled?

Fould. Fould. Fould. Fould, fooled. Pool. But you switch it. Fool. Yeah, because when you're supposed to say pull, you say pool.

It's the Miami action. I like the way Michael Cain says fooled at the end of the prestige. What does he say? Fould. He says fold. That's what he said. He says, wait, hold on that. He says,

Okay, Yassio Pueg, on the dropometer. Yassio Pueg, zero to ten. It's a zero. I'm still buying, I'll fill in the blanks for you. I still want to buy low on Yassil Puik. He's too good. He's too 80s 5. Yeah, he's a buy low for sure.

But, you know, there's a lot of outfielders out there. There's a lot of three outfielder leagues out there. I'll go three on the drop of meter. Yeah, so I wrote on CBSSports.com yesterday. I kind of stole the worryometer from you, Adam, but I turned it into the concern levelometer. Because I didn't want to infringe on your intellectual property rights. Yeah, I'm the first guy to do meters on shows for sure.

What I said about Yassio Pueig was you were betting on the talent coming into the season and you still are, but you aren't starting him now. I don't know how that translates the dropping. I think you probably want to hang on to him or by low. But there's not any good signs right now. I also invented by herself. That was totally me. Kyle Freeland, 81% owned 0 to 10 on the dropometer. Freeland has a 584 ERA.

10, 10 from Chris. I mean, I'll go 8. You should probably be dropped, yeah, in standard-sized leagues. Miguel and Duhar, batting 143, slugging 143. He's only played nine games, and Duhar does not have an extra base hit. He has one-walked seven strikeouts. He is 92% owned. And Duhar drop-a-meter.

Maybe like a two. His ownership percentage never dipped below 90 even when there was questions about whether he might miss the full season with his shoulder injury. And I think there's questions about how he performs with the torn labrum in his shoulder. But I don't think we've given him enough time yet to know if it's impacting him in any way. and obviously there's enough need for him still that his ownership percentage never dropped below 90 so I'll go to we did have concerns about him losing playing time

before the shoulder injury and I do wonder like if the Yankees didn't have 8,000 people on the injured list roughly if he might have already had the surgery if it's just kind of they are so desperate for bodies that they're going to try and see if he can power through this but so far the signs are extremely, extremely poor. And then finally, guys, Ryan McMahon, he is only 62% owned.

I had mentioned this is a really big week for him. They had nothing but home games, but they did have a lot of lefties on the schedule. He started against the lefty yesterday. It didn't go well. And Ryan McMahon is batting 225 with three home runs, 12 walks to 28 strikeouts in 25 games, zero to 10, dropometer on McMahon. Four, seven. Okay.

Ready to give up. Chris has given up. I mean, I think he's just, I mean, I don't know. I hope he's good. I'd love to see some evidence of it. Scott, we have an email, and I want to get some prospect talk at some point. Actually, why don't we do it right now? We have an email.

Okay. What do you think about Brandon Rogers? Let me just see who this email is going to so I can credit it. He is among my top five prospects to stash, obviously. McMahon hasn't gone well and the other guy I can't think of his name.

Garrett Hampson. Garrett Hampson. That's gone even worse for the Rocky. So what looked like a really interesting position for them coming into the season with a lot of upside has become a sore spot. And Brendan Rogers, that's what he's playing most at AAA. He's their top prospect.

He's had kind of an up and down minor league career, but it's been much more patient this year and the numbers have been really good over the past month or so. So I don't know how close they are to pulling the plug on McMahon, but if they do do that, Roger seems like an obvious beneficiary. My other top prospects to stash include Jesus Luzardo, who, you know, he still has it.

He's still not back on the mound, but I don't think it'll take long for him to get to the majors once he does return. I also think Kevin Vigio is still up there, back that he's 24 makes it so there's not much incentive to hold him back really. Give me the position when you're, you know, Lizarro's starting pitcher.

Yeah. Kevin Vigio's eligible at second base, though he might be like a super utility type. He started at four different positions at AAA this year. A new one is Zach Gallin. Yeah. Is that the right way to pronounce it of the Marlins? Play Old Town Road at him.

Oh, okay. In an environment at AAA where offense is just off the charts because they change the ball down there. Galin keeps throwing like two hitters, three hitters over seven innings with more than a strikeout per. He's not regarded for having particularly good stuff, but his command, especially he made a tweak this offseason in his delivery and his command is just top notch. Obviously translated to big things in the minors. I don't think Sandy Alcantara or Alcantara is long for the role. in Miami with the way he's been pitching, and it won't be long before Gallen gets a shot.

That's all I got for you, Chris. I'm not playing Old Town Road. I'll play Wild Stallion, some Bill and Ted's excellent. He could be the forgotten stallion. Zach Gallen. Yeah, he was, I think, just like a throw-in in the Marcelo Zuna trade. And he kind of looks like the most promising member of that trade right now. I do believe he added a little bit of velocity this offseason.

There was talk about that in spring training. He looks pretty good. All right. So we got Vigio, Lazzardo, Gowan. Give me two more names real quick. Just names. I'm trying to remember the names. Jordan Alvarez.

Yeah, you're Don Alvarez. Stash him. Yes. Jordan Alvarez. That's the biggest one. How could I forget him? Yes. Yes.

They're actually talking about it in the Astros front office. They're in the, they're in the Jeff Lunoz starts making excuses phase of of his trajectory to the majors. His defense needs to work. Which it does. I mean, in fairness, he's not a good defender really anywhere, and they want him to play left field. But he could play DH right now,

and it's not like they... It's not like they couldn't find a way to fit him in the lineup. They just want to make sure that he's, like, fully ready to be a professional when he gets up. And all that entail. Like a suit, he's like an Indochino suit, just got to be very professional. All right, let's pay some bills.

We'll take a quick break here on Fantasy Baseball today. I got a lot more coming up. We've got some good emails to read. We're going to rank some starting pitchers. We're going to grade some Clayton-Kershaw trades. We're going to update you on some bullpens. The Braves Bullpen. And, of course, obviously, help you get your line-ups set for the following,

or the upcoming week, week eight. Stick around. More to come on Fantasy Baseball today. All right, here we go. Three emails outside Ebbing, Missouri. What a weird name for a category. But that is a great. That is one of the best movies I've seen in like a really long time.

I never saw it. Oh, it is so good. All right. So, Andrew wants to know. He says, he implores us. You guys need to talk about how terrible Daniel Murphy is in a platoon and a lefty heavy division. Most people spend a fifth round pick on Daniel Murphy. He is un-eusterable at the moment.

I think that probably meant unrosterable at the moment. musterable at the moment. I have to disagree with that, but he is off to a bad start batting 192, and he's actually, he's not bad against lefties. Last year he was bad against lefties, but typically he's not. Is he actually in a

platoon, or is he just getting days off? Yeah, I think he's just getting days off. I mean, he's an old guy who's injury prone. I think one of the two. So he's started two of four against lefties since he returns. And so he's in the stage of his career where probably going to sit most of the

when there's a day game after a night game. So that comes with the territory. And yeah, he hasn't performed yet. You know, it's like, like, what, April 12th or something? Yeah, like that's true. It's 14 games for Murphy. Yeah. So are we going to put the by-low tag on Daniel Murphy?

Absolutely. I think something like 35%, maybe 40% of his played appearances have come at home so far as well. Yeah, come on. He's really good. He's really good. Be aware that he might sit a little bit, so maybe we should downgrade him from what we thought he'd be preseason. Is he more like a seventh round pick if we were drafting today instead of a fifth round pick?

But bylaw on Dana Murphy. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't drafted him in the fifth round in the first place, even though I liked him. That seventh round seems more appropriate. I'm a little more worried about David Dahl. I don't know. He has sat two straight games against lefties, and he's struggling. batting 161 in his last 10 games.

But I don't like seeing him sit against lefties. We'll keep an eye on it, but just leave him in the stinking lineup. All right, John from Philly, what is up with the lack of attention that Josh Bell is getting? On Wednesday, he had a 470-4-74-foot home run into the Allegheny River, becoming only the fourth player to do so since PNC Park opened up in 2001. Okay, we need to give more love to Josh Bell, number nine in points here. We need more love to Josh Bell. He's the super shredder. Like, we don't talk about him enough.

You guys know how far the Allegheny River is at PNC Park? This isn't like a McCove situation. You got to hit, to catch it on the fly, you got to hit a freaking bomb. He did. He is crushing the ball right now. Like, there is every sign that this breakout is real when we're talking about Josh Bell. 53% hard hit rate, which is in the top 5% of. in the league, top 5% in the league and expected Wobah, 94.5 mile per hour average exit velocity

with a 12% launch angle, or 12 degree launch angle, which is an improvement over the last couple years. He's a really good prospect who's worked on his swing over the last couple of years to elevate the ball more. And that's what we're seeing right now. And I think the results obviously speak for themselves. And then they're backed up by the advanced stats. So, I'm very, very happy with Josh Bell right now. And you liked him. And that was a player I loved. Yeah, that was a good call.

It was. Better than my U-Darvish player I love. Would you rather have Josh Bell or Joey Gallo? No, sorry, of Joey Vado. Josh Bell or Joey Vado? I'd certainly rather start Bell right now. That's not what I'm asking. Yeah.

Oh, it sounded like you were. I never asked that. I don't see why there's any reason to make that choice. I'm going to choose Votto still. He deserves the full, as much patience as I can afford any player. Joey Votto deserves it. And as we sit here on May 10th, you know, it might be late June before I really start to think about phasing Votto out for my fantasy team. Okay.

How about our third email, Jesse from Atlanta. Since being demoted to AAA, Malick Smith is hitting 474 with five steals and five games. When he was demoted, Scott Service said it would likely only be temporary. My question is, how quickly do you think Malick Smith will be recalled, and would you pick him up and stash Smith in a Roto League? He shouldn't ever been dropped in a Roto League. I mean, how many Steel Specialists are out there. So, yeah, pick him up now before it's too late. It could be any day he returns.

They could obviously mix him into the lineup. They don't. A lot of their hot performers at the start of the season have cooled off. I am mad. I don't think they're on the verge of like just outright benching anybody, but Malick Smith would be a part of that mix. And yeah, I mean, you don't necessarily need full time but bats even to make a big impact in that category

where so few players are capable of making a big impact. And the other thing to keep in mind with Seattle is they started off the season awesome and it was like, oh, hey, maybe they're not rebuilding. they're rebuilding. The team has just completely run out of gas. They had a bunch of really good performances early on, but they haven't been able to sustain those.

Most of, like Scott said, a lot of the guys who were incredible early on, Domingo Santana's one of them, have slowed down. I think they probably go into sell mode pretty soon. And that doesn't necessarily guarantee they'll be making trades, but I would guess by the end of July, Jay Bruce isn't on this team. Maybe Domingo Santana isn't on this team.

Encarnazio. Second baseman, Edwin on Carnione. You know, getting some work out there to boost his trade value. No. He had to play second base yesterday, and I think they hit one ball to him, and he dove for it, and he hurt his wrist, but he's fine. But Ancarnasio is actually having a good year. We've got to give him some credit.

Would you rather have Encarnazion or Josh Bell? I know I rank Incarnacion higher, but that's a range where it gets tricky because they're both obviously must own. So maybe you're ranking them for trade purposes. I don't know. I'm usually going to side with the track record there unless it becomes blatantly obvious Bell is better than Incarnazian. I don't think we're to that point yet. Scott, he really does not like my rankings questions today. I asked him, you know, Bell versus Vado.

He's like, I don't see why you'd have to do that. And then I asked him Bell versus Naciosios. He's like, eh, that's just dumb, dummy. It's not that I don't like your questions. It's just when, like, it's a range. When you're talking about the upper level of the rankings and when you're talking about slow starters versus hot starters, it's, you run out of ways to defend your position and you have to come up with new ones. Because you get tired of saying the same thing over and over again.

You could have just answered the Josh Bell and Carnaccione question. Like Heathwood. What's that? What's that? What's that? What's that? He would have gone. He would have gone.

And then he would answer. Well, sure. News and notes. Buster Posey's on the seven-day concussion aisle. That could be a quick one. He's hoping to play next week. Mike Clevenger, all things have been pretty good so far. He's expected to return in June.

Drew Pomeranz is on the IL. Danny Santana sat with Ronald Guzman off the IL for Texas, so that's a situation we will have to check out. Sean Kelly is on the IL with an infection. Jose LeClerc was bad yesterday. So how interested are you in picking up Chris Martin? I think the clocks are starting to play for him or something. Yellow.

Yeah. Viva LaVita. Yellow, like a yellow light on picking him up? Or are you saying? Yeah, Viva LaVita on Chris Martin's save time. Yeah, I think you're like a scientist. This is working really well. This is just really riffing.

We're flowing. You're the scientist of cold play puns today. Those improv classes have really been paying off. Scott, you're very interested in picking up Chris Martin. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we don't know what kind of infection it is for Kelly. I haven't seen any reports of that. But if it's serious enough to put him on the IL, it could be one of the bad ones.

And, I mean, Martin's been pretty good this year. He has allowed three home runs, which is in four. He's inflated his FIP. Obviously, not many innings for a relief pitcher, but he's not a flyball pitcher. I don't think that's really going to be an issue for him going forward. And since LeClerc, having issued three walks yesterday, it's not really showing signs of being ready to step back into the role. Like, Martin could theoretically take this job and run with it. As of last night, he was only 6% owned. So obviously, there's a lot of room for that to go up.

He also just bought... He throws the baseball at the speed of sound. He also just bought a Malibu home for $5.75 million, although that could be the cold play guy. Yeah, he told the manager about the ninth inning situation. I will try to fix you. So this is enough. Luke Jackson blew a save yesterday, but he was used as the closer,

and then AJ Minter was bad. He lost the game in the 10th. And let's be fair to Luke Jackson. He gave up four runs in his first appearance of the season, and this was last night his first run allowed since March 28th. So he has actually been really good. Dee Gordon was hit by a pitch on the wrist. X-rays were inconclusive, but apparently J.P. Crawford was scratched from his AAA game.

So it could be an I.L stint for Gordon, and it could be a call-up for Crawford. Chris Davis hopefully will return today. Aaron Hicks will likely return Monday. Jed Lowry is not going to be activated today. He is not hitting well, so they're going to take some time. with Jed Lowry. Stephen Mats does end up going on the IL with a nerve issue in his elbow.

Albert Poultholz is the third player in MLB history with 2,000 RBIs. He hit a home run to get there, and the fan is keeping the ball. Okay, so he's probably the fifth player because Babe Ruth and Cap Anson probably did it, but they weren't counted as official stats before 1920. Thank you, Chris.

Jesse Winker sat with quad tightness, and Edwin Encarnacion appeared at second base, but don't get used to that. Don't expect him to pick up second base eligibility. We've got to take one more. A quick break on fantasy baseball today, and when we come back. Grade the Trade, Twitter polls, most added list. Are we still buying it?

Angels in the Rout field. Chris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. And more stupid puns right after this on Fantasy Baseball today. Okay, grade the Clayton Kirshaw audition. What are you laughing at, Scott? Angels at the Routfield? I don't know. I don't know.

Okay. You're the guy who's reading his own tweet on the air. What do you mean? Oh, like... You know what I mean. Like, I'm literally reading my own tweet. You tweeted that like 12 hours ago. Oh, but I tweeted it when I wrote the segment into the show notes.

Like the show came first, then the tweet. Then I said it on the air. Uh, grade the trade from Chris. I give up Ben Intendi and Kershaw. I get Judge and Corbyn in a points league. Ben and Tendi and Kershaw for Judge and Corbyn. C-minus. Yeah.

I might even go D plus. We have no idea when Judge is getting back. It could be months. It could be six weeks. But it's got to be a while. And I think you bought, I think you sold low on Ben and Tendi here. And while Corbyn is better than Kirchall,

not by a huge amount. Ben from Newmanstown, Pennsylvania, grade the trade in a categories league, 10-team categories league. Kershaw and Brantley for Jose Ramirez. Kershaw and Brantley for Jose Ramirez. I mean, I definitely rank Jose Ramirez the highest of these three. And it is 10 teams, which makes it more justifiable.

It's really hard to give up a high-end pitcher like that. And Brantley obviously must start, I think, even in a 10-team league. I don't like it. I don't like it. I'd go C-minus. F-plus and a C-minus. Are we 100% sure Brantley's not as good as Ramirez? No, but I mean, I think if you're playing fantasy baseball, you've got to probably still think that Jose Ramirez is better than Brantley. I'm not 100% sure.

Definitely expect more steals from Ramirez than Brantley. Yeah. That might be it at this point. Please don't be right about that. I hope I'm wrong. It's as much to do with Michael Brantley's a good hitter than anything else, right? Yeah, no, he's just really. good. He fits in that park and lineup

really well. He's been I think I read he has the most wins above replacement of any free agents signed this offseason. Wow. Even ahead of Corbyn? I believe so. Maybe it was any position player, but yeah, that was what I saw yesterday.

Even ahead of Giovanni or Schella? All right, so a couple of Twitter polls to update you on here. I went back to the debate from yesterday. Your team's down 5-0 in the sixth inning. You're at the game. The opposing pitcher has a no hitter. What would you rather see? You're there in person.

A, your teams come back win, B, a no hitter. People, what's wrong with you? 60% Ridiculous. 60% said your teams come back win. There is no

honor in like being a fan in and of itself. And this is just, you're rooting against history. You're rooting against something that you will never get the chance to see again. True.

So that your team can win one random regular season game. I came to see a win for the hometown team. That's why I'm there. That's what I'm rooting for. You know, well, okay, maybe you're just not a big enough fan, Chris. Maybe that's what it boils down to. I'm a baseball fan. So when other pitchers throwing a no-hitter, you're rooting for the pitcher as

opposed to your own team. Oh, absolutely. When Roy Halliday threw his perfect game against the Marlins, like once we got to like the sixth, seventh inning, I was 100. 100% rooting for Roy Halliday to get that. Yeah. I want to watch, I want to watch standout athletes standing out. I don't want to watch something that happens probably five times per season.

Like a four-run comeback, you're at that game, you're really, you're going to forget that game in three weeks. It's true. You'll never forget having been at a no-hitter. He's right. He's right, folks. He's wrong about one. He's wrong about something, though.

I guess it depends on the games to go to, but I, you know, I've never been the type of person to go to that many games that I can really forget any of them. You know, I think it's annoying. I think it's kind of annoying personally when the opposing pitchers throwing a no-hitter, he loses it late in the game, and the home crowd or the road crowd in this pitchers case starts to applaud. I love it. Oh, it was a good effort. Like, no.

Jesus, Scott. Ebenezer over there. All right. And Chris is really wrong about this Twitter poll. It was my Twitter poll, but his take is wrong. Which of these three songs is the best ska song? Sell Out by Real Big Fish, the impression that I get by the Mighty Mighty Bostones,

or Superman by Goldfinger, which I had to go and listen to on YouTube. I had heard it. I didn't remember that I heard it, but I've heard that song. It's okay. It's really very okay. It's such a good song. Well, it's tied with sellout at 29% for second place.

The impression that I get, and I think this is the right answer, wins the poll at 42%. I'm just going to quote you and the very rude thing that you said, on, I believe, Tuesday's podcast, which was, quote, 40% of my Twitter followers are idiots. No, apparently 60%,

I believe this rule holds in this case. 60%, because those are the 60% said your team's comeback win over a no-hitter. Let's go to the most added list. Martin Perez and Anthony DiSclophani are 1 and 2. They are 84 and 73% owned, Jake Oterreasy is 84% owned.

Derek Dietrich, 34%. How about Jeffrey Rodriguez at 33% owned? And then Spencer Turnbull at 55% owned. Do any of the starting pitcher ownership percentages seem out of line or out of whack to you? Martine Perez, Disclafani, Oda Rezi, they're all 73 to 84% owned. And then you've got Turnbull at 55% and Jeffrey Rodriguez at 33%. Odiurizi will seem high when he's not on a throughstart week. I would imagine he will come back down after.

he's a two-star pitcher next week otterese i believe he's a two-star pitcher this week right uh yes yes maybe yeah i probably 55's too high for him he said he was 70 he's 80 otoree is 84 spencer turnbull is 55 percent that's that's too much 55 84 is too much oh for oterizzi yeah yeah he's a two-star pitcher this upcoming week so it's probably not going down. But, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't, yeah, I don't think it's, I don't think he's, like he's not even necessarily among my advisable two-star options for this week. Maybe in a points league, but that's it.

Okay, sorry to be a jerk face, but I, I don't see him, I think he's a two-star pitcher this current week. Well, Adam, I just went through this last night. No, no. Well, he's not listed currently as a. Yeah, I think, I think what happens is they have a double-header. this weekend, so the projected starter's tool is kind of messed up because

of that. Based on my calculations, he's a two-star pitcher this upcoming week. I think Scott's wrong. What else on the most added list? Danny Duffy, 31%, Chris Bassett, 44%. So Duffy, Bassett, and Spencer Turnbull. If these guys

are available in your leagues, are you adding any of them? I mean, it just depends on what kind of space I have. I would like to add both Turnbull and Bassett. I think Bassett's a dog. I already made a Bassett hound joke the other day, Chris. I didn't hear it. It was at the very end of yesterday's show, and it was, if people who love prospects are

prospect hounds, what do you call people who love Chris Bassett? And Scott was disgusted. He was like, are they Bassett House? Yeah. And I was like, yep. I, well, I mean, it was, I mean, did I, did I, really need to answer it at that point. It was such an obvious. That's why you go with the misdirect.

Well, I'm not that quick on my feet, Chris. Hey, Scott. I don't know. What are he's projected to go Monday? I'm looking, I'm looking at it again. He's projected to go right. Two-star pitcher. No, he's not going to be. No, he's wrong. Two-star pitch. He pitched on May 4th. How is that probably pitched on May 4th? That was six days ago. He's probably, okay, we'll find out. You and I will, We'll talk about it on Monday. Okay, last guy on the most out of this. Jorge Soler, 52% owned.

What do you think about that? Are you fine? He's giving you good power, strikes out way too much. He's a top 10 sleeper hitter for me this upcoming week, but I don't see much reason to own him in like a three outfielder league. Yeah, he's kind of like the ultimate replacement level. hitter right now, I think, in fantasy, just because what he provides you is

available everywhere, and he doesn't really do much besides hit homer. So, like, he's fine to have if you need someone to replace either a slumping bat or someone who gets hurt, but definitely not a must-one. So Laird leads baseball with 53 strikeouts, so that's obviously going to tank his points league value, but I start him in two Roto leagues. Both of them

or five outfielder leagues. Okay, I stink at producing this show. There is so much to get to, and about 10 minutes left. So that's pretty bad on my part, and I apologize. So let's go fast here. Tell me, are you still buying it? Wait a second. Wait a second. I know.

He doesn't. I know. He's pitching tonight. Yep, I know. Tonight. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know.

I'm going to have to double check that, I guess. I don't know what happened there. Okay. Are you still buying it? These guys got off to Hot Star. and haven't been so good lately. So I really need you to be quick, guys, so we can fire through the rest of the show.

Yoan Moncada, are you still buying it? Yes. Yes. Yandi Diaz, are you still buying it? No. Yes. Yeah, I am because the plate discipline's still been really good, even though he's been slumping.

I'm pretty sure last I saw his... One of the big things about him was, well, he hits the ball hard, the rays are a, you know, a stack. that's heavy organization and they're going to coax better results out of him. And right now his launch angle is actually lower than it was last year. And so is his average exit velocity. And so is his hard hit percentage.

And so that doesn't really back up what we thought was happening with the NDPA. Trey Mancini, are you still buying it? No. Ish. Okay. Batting average has still been pretty good. The batting average might be pretty good. It's more the power production.

Is it going to be enough to make them a real standout? Somebody won even in a three outfielder league. Jason Hayward, are you still buying it? No. No. Michael Franco, are you still buying it? Absolutely no. No.

Chris, very harsh today. Not buying it. We're not buying it with most of these guys, but we are with Yoamoncata, and Chris is not, but Scott is with Yandi Diaz. Angels in the route field. They won 13-0 yesterday. They routed the Tigers. Cole Calhoun, 42% owned, he had a good game.

Tommy Lestella has already set a career high in home runs, and he has nine. He had 10 home runs going into 2019 in 396 games. that was interesting. And then Felix Pena didn't start the game. They had an opener, but Felix Pena threw seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, and he's pretty good numbers this year.

Scott, you want to say anything about the Angels? Cole Calhoun, Tommy Lestella, and Felix Pena? Calhoun and Lestella both are in my top ten sleeper hitters for next week. Lestella is getting to be pretty interesting because there is no real track record of power in either the majors or the minors. the fly ball rate is up

and it's obviously gone on long enough that I don't think we can just continue to laugh it off. I mean, he has three two homer games this year. And his strikeout rate, like the main thing he does is make contact. Like that hasn't been stifled by this power outburst. His strikeout rate would have led the league last year. He walks a lot more than he strikes out. Come on. He's dead.

The biggest thing only me back from picking up Lestella at this point is that he doesn't play against left-handed pitcher. But he's bad. He's bad. He's in a hot streak. Like, this guy's at the worst track. A worst career. So he does have an average exit velocity after not really hitting the ball hard at all. Prior to this, his average launch angle and fly ball rate are up. So given the offensive environment, it is conceivable that he could sustain a career power pace.

But it kind of feels like every time Eric Sogar joins a new team. team and he's good for like three weeks, you know? But nine home run. I mean, Sokarts never hit nine home run. But look at the segment that we just did. We just said we're not buying it anymore for Tremancini, Jason Hayward, Michael Franco, and half of Yandi Diaz. It's different standard. Lestella's out homeered all of them, right?

Even Munkata. Like this... Is he? I don't know. Like, if a hot streak for past Lestella would have been like, you know, two hundred. home runs over a three or over a six week stretch nine i don't know like but it's still just six weeks yeah but it's nine like i'm not saying he's going to hit 40 home runs but i am it it it's okay no right no but that's my question at all a career best power pace for him would be 12 home runs

from this point on yes but his plate discipline so good that if he finds his way into every day at bats particularly with second base eligibility, that would still be super valuable in fantasy. Look, he's only 30% owned. I haven't added him in anything of a standard size because of that playing time question, but he's not disinterested. I'm not disinterested in Lestella.

Okay. All right, here's our next segment. I'm going to throw, I'm going to say like 15 pitchers, and you're going to give me a one to two cents, thought on them. Jayhap. He went back to throw it to emphasizing the four-seamer yesterday,

and so the strikeouts were back after doing the two-seamer thing. He's always going to be hard to pinpoint because he kind of changes his approach like that. He's fine. Joe Musgrove. Joe Musgrove certainly thinks he's fine. He said he watched the tape of his performance twice after leaving yesterday's He thinks there's just a couple small tweaks he needs to make. The five walks, I mean, that's the most he's ever had as a professional, majors, minors.

He's never done that before. So I think that's a total fluke. But obviously two bad starts in a row. Okay. Okay. Too long. Sorry. We should have talked about him earlier.

Mike Soroka. Mike Soroka. He's good. Must start? Yeah. Pretty much. Luke Weaver. Luke Weaver.

Mustone. Available in 12% of leagues, go get him. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He's on all my leagues. The Cutter seems to be the third pitch he was lacking. He tried for the curveball last year. It didn't go well.

Cutter's going better. Rich Hill. He'll be okay. Yeah. Mike Miner. I think we might have seen the start of him turning back. No, I don't think so. I don't think so.

He's got some good stuff. stuff, man. I watched that start. Like, his pitches move, he's got velocity. He's got an arsenal. Look, I don't think he's going to turn back into a pumpkin. I don't think he's going to be crap, but he'll regress. He wasn't a crap last year. He was fine.

He has a lot of pitches that are effective in that I always I always like that as opposed to just if there's one and he has to figure out a way to make that unpredictable. Yeah, this wasn't really

that bad of a start. Especially consider the Astros. I'm not, I'm not abandoning my faith in minor based on this start. Okay. Rank,

Musgrove, Soroka, Weaver, Minor. Minor, Musgrove, Weaver, Soroka. I'll move Weaver out of Soroka.

Yeah. Weaver, Soroka, Musgrove Mine. I think we have to look at two start pictures now. Backward.

Yeah. I've totally lost my faith in knowing what a two-star pitcher is, even though I should be the most prepared, if anyone. Scott, double-headers screw things up, so I forgive you. I think what it would be... I went day by day to try and figure out who was starting for the twins and what's the other team, the Tigers, I think. You know what?

Look, you're busy getting a Mother's Day gift for your wife. I forgive you. Let's take a look at two-star pitchers now. Are you going to start Joe Musgrove at Arizona? and at San Diego? Yes. I think so. All right.

Mike Fultenevich is apparently a two-star pitcher this current week, but he'll be a two-star pitcher next week, and we'll be sitting him again, right, against St. Louis and Milwaukee? We might be dropping him. I'm not ready to drop him, but yeah, if his velocity stays down two miles per hour, I don't think that's something he's equipped to survive. Chris, do me a favor and take over from here,

starting with Brad Peacock and as many guys as you want to talk about, and I will look for some weekend streamers. Brad Peacock's an interesting one coming off his best start of the year. He does get at Detroit to start off the week, but at Boston, Scott, does that make him more of a head-to-head than a Categories League two-start option? He's 10th in my two-star pitcher rankings and just outside of the must-start group.

So I would advise him anywhere. Brandon Woodruff at Philadelphia, at Atlanta, coming off his best start, really good start. stuff tough match. Yeah, I like, I do that in spite of the matchups. Tyler Skaggs, great matchups, pitching really poorly. Well, at Minnesota is not a great matchup. It's a pretty bad one at this point, but I don't quite buy them as the best

offense in baseball. But Casey, are you starting him at all? Casey's good, a good matchup, but it would be a desperation-type move in a points league. I'm not excited to start him. I do have him at a head of Fultenevich in my rankings, though. Icoff or Fulton-Evitt? Icoff versus Milwaukee versus Colorado. Yeah, I cough I'm fine with.

Sunny Gray's got really tough matchups, Cubs, Dodgers. Yeah, he's kind of fringy. I probably wouldn't do it in a Categories league, but maybe in a points league. Kyle Gibson against the Angels at Seattle over Sunny Gray? Yeah. I definitely like what Kyle Gibson has done his last three starts. He's getting a lot of swinging strikes with that slider. Mike fires at Seattle at Detroit?

No. No, no, no. So if you're not starting him in this week with what looked like two pretty good matchups, he doesn't need to be owned, right? All right, let me double check here. No, he doesn't. Because I don't even have him as a two-star pitcher. So, I mean, the fact that he's coming off a 135 pitch outing,

We're always a little concerned about that the next time out. And, yeah, I basically think I think it was pretty fluky what he did. So, yeah, he's only 32% owned, but that doesn't, if you're not starting him in a two-star week against good matchups, I don't know when you are. Jonathan Loisigga, Baltimore and Tampa Bay. Do we think he makes both starts? I'm not starting. There's a good chance he starts, yeah, but I'm not, I'm just not that interested. Got good stuff.

He does have good stuff. And on the lower end, not a lot in the really truly low end. Wilmore Font might be a two-start pitcher. Is that true? Yeah, looks like he probably will be. Two good matchups. At Washington is not a bad matchup at this point.

Then at Miami is a great one. Any interest at all in him as a streamer? Zero percent. No, I mean, I just, no, not really. It seems like it could do more harm than good. There's nothing, like, it's just a total stab in the dark, I feel like. Good stuff. You're done?

I'm done. Okay, so here's what I've got for you. Well, first of all, Tyler Malley, pick him up. He's at San Francisco, and he's doing some good stuff, and he's like 21% owned. Tyler Malley has a chance to be someone that you are going to be. going to regret not having. So pick him up. Pablo Lopez at the Mets. Not bad. Mets have been ice cold lately. Spencer Turnbull at Minnesota. That's a risky one. It's a tough matchup. Michael Panetta against Detroit. Zach Davies at the Cubs. I think my favorite would probably

be Yanni Chorinos against the Yankees or Griffin Canning at Baltimore. Oh, yeah, I like Canning. Yeah. Lucas Gialito at Toronto. Like Gialito, and Malley are maybe, like, pick him up now, see what happens, and get, you know, beat the waiver wire kind of deal. And then Dakota Hudson against Pittsburgh is iffy and Vince Velasquez at Kansas City. It's just he's Vince Velasquez, but I think, what do you think? I think Canning is a great option.

I think Yonni Tcherinos is a really good pitcher. Tyler Malley, is it, am I crazy on Tyler Malley? No, no, I think he deserves to be way more owned than he is. he's always had really good command, really good control, but the stuff seems to be a little better this season. And you said he's at San Francisco? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I thought he should have been started as a two-star pitcher versus San Francisco and then at San Francisco. So, yeah, I'm all in on starting him and probably get rocked somehow. I'm going to start him. I'm just confirming that I actually own him in this league that I'm, yeah, I'm going to start him. All right, so you got some options there. And do I have Tyler Mell? I do have Tyler Mallee.

All right. Everybody wins. Hey, happy Mother's Day, everybody. Watch us on CBS Sports H.Q on Sunday. Have a great, great weekend. We will talk to you on Monday for Scott and Chris. I'm Adam. See you later.

We'll talk to you on Monday on Fantasy Baseball today.