Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/17: Most Added, Rankings Review, Week 9 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 17, 2019

Who are our favorite two-start pitchers to add for next week (2:30) and who are our favorite weekend streamers (5:00)? Then we get into Trevor Bauer (7:15), Brendan Rodgers (14:00) and the Most Added list (21:00) which is full of prospects and other interesting players like Reynaldo Lopez and some catchers to consider ... Thoughts on Zack Wheeler (30:10), and are we "Buying the Breakout" (32:30) for Zach Davies, Zach Eflin, Chris Bassitt, Paul Dejong and a few others? ... Some emails (41:30) about Juan Soto, Eloy Jimenez, Wil Myers, Cole Irvin and Jose Ramirez. Also Grade the Trade, random stats (48:30) that might be important and a thorough look at two-start pitchers (54:10) and weekend streamers (58:10) ... 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

It is Kokemo Friday, May 17th, and boy, do we have an underwhelming week of two-star pitchers coming up for you. Now, full disclosure, I actually haven't had a chance to look at the list yet. I'm going to do that right now, but I have heard Chris talk about it, and Chris is very pessimistic about the two-star pitchers. Isn't that right, Chris, Towers? Oh, I mean, you know, Trevor Bowers got the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays. That's not bad. Carlos Carrasco's got Oakland and Tampa Bay. Yeah.

Patrick Corbyn's got New York Mets. Miami. So there's a lot of great two-star pitcher options this week. I don't know what you're talking about. Not the guys we were, not the guys I was referring to, and also Zach Grinke's on this list and he might not be able to make two starts. But in terms of the available guys, yeah, it might be a little rough

next week. That's Chris. Good morning, Heath Cummings. Welcome. That was extremely smooth and a great transition and did not seem weird at all, and I appreciate the way that you did it. Good morning to you as well, sir. I was trying to think of something to say. Like, I feel like we should

hey, how about that game last night? There were many really good baseball games yesterday. So many runs, so many football scores, position players pitching, which I know Chris hates and I kind of love. So yeah, it was a great day of baseball. It was fun when like once every two weeks a shortstop had to pitch in like the 14th inning of a tie game. Now it's like twice a day.

Blame the baseballs. Somebody had, I can't remember which team. I think it might have been the White Sox. They had someone pitching, a position player pitching in the ninth inning in a five-run game. That's stupid. That is not, that's terrible. It's fun. I think they're trying to ban that scenario.

I think next year, if you have a position player pitching, it might have to be a certain amount of runs. How about this quote, actually? I hate doing that. I absolutely hate it. I've been managing for a long time. That's only the second time I've ever done it. There was just no one left in our book.

Bullpen, and Brandon told me he did it a few times last year with Cincinnati, so I put him out there. That was Ron Gardenhire, Tiger's Manager on using Brandon Dixon to pitch the ninth. Okay, welcome to the show. Let's talk about some baseball here. When I said to Heath, how about that game? I was actually referring to the Warriors game, but whatever. Who is your favorite two-start streamer that might actually be available in some leagues and his own, in less than 70% of leagues?

Who's it going to be next week? Spencer Turnbull. Sorry, I just wanted to say it really fast because he is absolutely the only possible answer that might be even kind of good and only because he's facing the Marlins in one of those starts. I think he's kind of good. I think there's definitely something there with Spencer Turnbull and Given that, I think he's a very good two-star pitcher option this week, but yeah, there's just There's a very limited number that are owned in less than 70% of leagues that are projected and None of them are good.

And none of them have good matchups. Like, I'm not totally disinterested in Wade Miley. And he does get the white socks to start off the week. But then he's against the Red Sox. And I'm not sure I trust Wade Miley against the Red Sox enough to start him. Yeah, I mean, he's probably going to be fine at a points league. You're going to use him. And I don't, like, I don't think Turnbull's bad.

It's just I don't think we really know anything about him yet. He is this really weird thing where he's given up 13 earned runs. seven unearned runs on the season. He's got a Sierra and ex-fip like 4.3, and he's got an ERA of 2.4. So, yeah, he's definitely the kind of guy you start in a two-start week with hope,

but I don't think with any sort of certainty. Okay, and we'll see if the two-star pitcher list tends to change, so it'll be a little fluid. And what's really going to be interesting, and we'll look at this later in the show, is a bunch of highly-owned two-star pitchers and whether or not we're willing to start them next

week. Jay Hap, Chris Archer. Trevor Bauer. You Darvish. Obviously, we're going to talk about Trevor Bauer in just a little bit. But I think Turnbull and Miley are probably the only two-worth really looking at. And then if you look at the two-star pitcher list right now, you'll see Daniel Norris on there. He is only going to be a one-star pitcher next week.

I'm almost positive. But I do think his start will be against Miami. So keep that in mind. Weekend streamers. So, yeah, last week I said Pablo Lopez and he gave up like 10 runs. in an inning, I think. And I sort of said his name and gave him somewhat of an endorsement and got killed for it, so I apologize.

Let me just say with weekend streamers. And guys, if you take a look at the notes I sent you, I did this just before we started the show. I put about 15 names in there for weekend streamers. It's not great. I like Cole Irving a little bit against Colorado. I like, okay, I think you need to pick up Corbyn Martin. He's only 66% owned.

I don't think you have to start him at Boston. But I'm surprised Martin's not more owned after his major league debut with Houston. Ronaldo Lopez against Toronto is really interesting. Yeah, I think he's probably underowned at 46%. He's actually, I had kind of given up on him coming into the season, but he's shown some stuff, particularly with the change-up. He's showing a renewed confidence in that, and that was something last year,

late in the year that both he and the pitching coach for the White Sox, talked about as being a key for him. So, you know, that's interesting. I think Stephen Matt's at the Marlins is probably my favorite. Yeah, right off the IL, though? Yeah. It was just a little injury. He's fine.

I think it's... I think it's good, too. Okay, so you got Renauda Lopez. You also have Lucas Gialito against Toronto. Matt's at Miami. He's 71% on. But the thing is, here's a theme with a lot of these pitchers. I could see them having good starts.

I could also see them because of their track record, having terrible starts. Jordan Liles at San Diego, Gialito in particular, Renaldo Lopez, these guys are really unpredictable. Tyler Skaggs against Kansas City, I can't quite trust him. John Means at Cleveland is interesting. I actually do think there are a lot of interesting weekend streamers, but if you had to pick one, who would it be, if you look at that list? Or maybe two? Would it be Gialito and Icoff against, or Gialito and Lopez against Toronto? I'd rather have Icoff than Lopez, I think. Okay, he...

I'd rather have Lopez than Icoff for this matchup. Are the Blue Jays worse than the Rockies on the road? Oh, I don't know. I just think Rinalda Lopez is potentially a better pitcher, and I think there's more upside for sure. And if you're streaming starting pitchers, you're probably looking for upside at this point. Okay, and Matt's...

What went wrong with Jared Ikoff? What did I miss? He had a terrible start two days ago. Okay. Yeah. It was a really bad start. I mean, you're talking about where you're going to... We might have to bench Trevor Bauer in a two-star week with good matchups.

So, you know, if anybody's overreacting, it's not me. You're not betting. You're not Betching Bauer, right, Heath? No, I think the most interesting thing is where to, because I had just updated all of my rankings yesterday. And now I, the one thing I thought of this morning is I was like, well, I'm going to move Bauer down a little bit. He was like fifth. Would you rather have Trevor Bauer or Chris Sail rest of year? I think the answer has to be Chris Seale.

I have. So like, here's the thing that's tough. They were pretty much identical last season. Sale had a better ERA, I'm pretty sure. But in terms of peripherals, they were very close. They both had injury issues. Bowers was less concerning. If we're saying we're fine with Chris Sale now because he's made four good starts in a row,

well, Trevor Bowers made, I would, I would have. have to assume just as many good starts this season's Chris Sale has, but since they've been out of order that, like, I, I think based on peripheral, sale has been better than Bauer this year. Maybe. He has like the third best Sierra in baseball. Really? Yeah.

I think that I'm pretty confident that when sale pitches, he'll be better than Bauer, not much better, but he'll be better. I'd rather have him when he pitches, but you cannot just ignore your concerns coming into the season that he missed so much time at the time. end of last year with a shoulder injury. It could happen again. He's probably more likely to get hurt. I would, I would, I would take sale.

I would take sale over Bauer. So just, just to clarify what I said earlier, Chris Sale has a 2.72 Sierra and a 2.86, a ex-fip. Trevor Bowers are 4.15 and 4.12. I don't understand what's going. Like, unless it's just the thing we talked about at the beginning of the year, I didn't look last night if he threw the curveballs. little bit more.

They said his earlier in the year, it was just that he was not throwing his best pitch. They said his curveball was not working last night. As I watch a little bit of it. So he had a seven,

we're talking about Trevor Bauerd right now. He had a seven earned run start three starts ago. So I decided to watch his last start before last night, I think was over the weekend. And he was amazing. And I just did not have any concerns.

I think he gave him two unerned runs. And I was like, he's fine. It was a fluke, whatever. And last night he was awful again. He just didn't have it. The broadcaster said his curveball wasn't really.

working for him for what that's worth. He did throw it a lot last night. It's two out of three starts now with seven earned runs. You also look at the walks for Trevor Bauer, and they are way up. 31 walks in 64 and 2 thirds. Last year he had, where's the stat? I'm sorry, I don't have it in front of me. But last year he also did walk a lot of guys in the early going.

First seven starts, he had 19 walks. Last 21 appearances, he had 38 walks. So maybe that's just, I don't know, maybe that'll work its way out. But I can't, I don't know, I just can't be concerned about Trevor Bauer. There are too many pitchers that are unreliable and I'm not putting Bauer there yet. It's just two of his last three starts being terrible. No, no, no. I know you aren't either.

This is a totally different conversation. It's the, where does he rank amongst the Aces now? But he's still in the top 15 starting pitchers. He's just, he's not in my top five anymore. He's lost a little velocity on his non-fastball pitches, which is interesting because I haven't really, especially the slider and cutter and I haven't really heard anything that says that that was intentional. He has over the last couple of starts throwing his curveball about 25 to 30% of the time. So whether he had the feel for it yesterday or not, he does seem to be more confident than he was with it early in the season.

So Heath, as I look at your recently updated rankings, Scherzer, Verlander, Snell, Cole de Grom, Kershaw, Sale, Corbin, Bauer. It's right there at 9 with Bauer. Once you get to 10 and beyond, probably some exceptions there, but I don't know, I feel like that's a tier there. And then you have Carasco, Paxton, Strasbourg, Cindergarde, Granky, Nola. You've got some injury issues there. You got some guys who have been, like, Nola, just been really disappointed.

But the only one that I would really take you up, take up issue with is Kershaw. I would not put Kershaw over Bauer. Yeah, I don't think I would either. Because I think he's going to be too homer prone, because I think he's maybe the most likely pitcher in baseball to go back on the IL, and because his strikeout rate is going to pale in comparison to Bowers. Yeah, and that's not to say that Kershaw is not going to be good. I just think I would rather have him at maybe.

the top of the next tier than in the middle of the tier he's in. Care to respond? Cool. Okay. No. No. I mean I think we should spend the whole show doing this. On Kirshall? No. Oh. Just picking apart. We've done this Kirshaw thing

plenty of times before this season. And I just think he's going to be good. Yeah, maybe he's going to get hurt. Maybe all of the pictures in the top 10 are going to get hurt. If we're being fair, like Kirshall hasn't been great. What's he got like a 330-ish ERA? He's been, I think, better than Bauer by every measure but strikeout.

Now he has been. After yesterday's start, I don't know about before that. Okay, Bauer, I just, last thing on Bauer for me, I just wish Terry Francona would ease off a little bit. Like, he just won't take him out of games early. Even yesterday, he threw like 99 pitches. He throws so many pitches and it's frustrating. I mean, look, he's built. We all know, we all know there are a certain matchup that you just have to write off.

And I think we can all agree that Baltimore is one of them. So I would like to. look and this will be too difficult. His team did get the win. He didn't though, so he was not responsible for it. He was the winner. There was some research a year or two back about what 115 pitch outings did to starting pitchers in their next start.

And he's had multiple of those this year. And I feel like he's been coming off of one like the last two times he's blown up. I don't think he did last time though. I don't think he threw that many pitches previous time out. But there, you can tell me. He threw 122 the previous timeout. Oh, did he really? Yeah.

It's insane. It's just like take him out of the game. He overuses him. All right, guys, we got to move on because we haven't even talked about Brendan Rogers, who I put in the notes is Brendan Ryan. Less interesting than Brendan Rogers. So here are your news and notes. Oh, wait, something very important to tell you about.

PGA championships going on. People like golf. It is true. You can watch this coverage on CBS Sports HQ, not streaming the tournament on CBS Sports. but on the mobile app we are, you can watch the tournament live stream on Saturday and Sunday in the CBS Sports mobile app and on CBS Sports.com. It is entirely free. And if you want some great analysis of the NBA playoffs, of baseball, of the Stanley Cup playoffs, of anything going on in sports,

but specifically this weekend, PGA Championship, please check out CBS Sports HQ. Streaming Sports Network, it's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You get the news, the highlights, and the in-depth analysis and insider takes from our fantasy experts, from our betting experts. Yeah, please check it out, CBS Sports HQ. Download the CBS Sports app on your phone. Youroku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, start watching today. So Brendan Rogers is up. Shortstop eligible might be able to play a little second base for the Colorado Rockies.

He is right-handed, which is good. The Rockies have faced seven consecutive left-handed starters. that's amazing. And people are freaking out about Daniel Murphy because he has sat five straight games. Maybe he just sits against lefties now. And he's not really been good this year so far. Well, yeah, I think it's not he sits against lefties now.

I think he's not hitting well right now. And once he does, he'll probably play more against left. All right. But Rogers, do you think he plays every day? I hope so. I don't know how this relates to Trevor Stor. injury that he suffered earlier this week. I don't, I think that there's an opportunity for him too because McMahon certainly hasn't

taken the job. Garrett Hampson couldn't hit anything at all. So there's a huge opportunity here. We just need, the way the Rockies have handled this situation, it feels like he just has to perform almost immediately. Yeah, that's, that's the biggest concern with him. When we talk about like the five or six prospects who've been called up in the last week, I think in terms of talent and situation, he's either one.

A or 1B for me with Kestan Hira. It's just a question of will the Rockies finally give a young guy the opportunity to play every day? Because they didn't do it with David Dahl. They didn't do it with Ryan McMahon. They didn't do it with Garrett Hampson. And so at some point, you do have to wonder what the organizational philosophy is. And over the last couple of years, the organizational philosophy for the Rocky seems to be,

let's play worse players than better player. Yeah, Mark Reynolds is playing a lot right now. But we'll see what happens when they get some writers in the lineup. I put in a pretty big bid for Brendan Ryan. Did I get him in the Memorial League? Not if you bid on Brennan and Ryan because I don't think he's not player. Redden Rogers. I put in at least a $30 bid, which did I get him?

I got Cole Irvin for $0. Talk about him. I got him for $31. And yet the day before, the day before Keston Hero went for $33. So these guys are big. Austin Riley went for $16, although if he were still available and he, He doubled off the wall last night. You know what?

We're going to get into all these prospects in a second because they're all to both dead of this. I got Niki Lopez for zero dollars. Congratulations. Malik. Malik Smith is back. Needless to say, Malik Smith should be owned in any steals league, any league that has steals. 100%. Yeah.

Yeah. He was hitting like 340 in AAA. So hopefully he just figured out whatever was wrong and can go back to being. I'm not going to expect 2018 levels again, but. a 280 hitter, and that'll be enough for him to steal a bunch of bases. Yeah, I think he's probably going to be musterun in points leagues too, but you don't have to add him yet. Okay, he's batting 9th yesterday. He homered at Malick Smith, so we'll keep an eye on where he bats.

Trey Turner could return today. Carlos Martinez is going to come off the IL this weekend. He'll pitch out of the bullpen. We don't expect him to get saves, right? Carlos Martinez. If Jordan Hicks implode. Yeah, we don't. There was something in notes yesterday or the day before that Martinez is still hopeful that he can work his way

back into the rotation after the All-Star break. So I don't know if that's in the Cardinals' plans, but that seems to be in Martinez's plans. He wants to start. Michael Confordo could go on the seven-day concussion IEL, seems somewhat likely. Jeff McNeil also left yesterday's game, and he expects to return soon.

He doesn't think it's a big deal. He has a side issue. Kenta Maeda is going on the IL with a hamstring strain. So what does that mean for the Dodgers with Maeda on the IL? So Ross Stripling, I don't think, has pitched since May 5th. So... He's ready. One would hope.

I would guess he slides into the rotation. Julio Arias is not currently with the team. So Ross Stripling could get a chance. It's the Dodgers, so who knows how serious the injury for Kenta Maeda is. He's coming off his best start of the season. Maybe he threw too many

pitches and it hurt his hamstring. He threw 85 pitches. That might be too many. I think 86 is his season high. But they can't let him get to 160 innings. So you've got to put on the aisle for a couple of leagues. Trevor Williams left with side discomfort. Zach Granky is going to have an MRI today. Stephen Mattes is going to start tomorrow at Miami, 71% own.

We talked about him. Cleveland outfielder, Tyler Naquin, will be out longer than expected. Why is that significant? Because it could impact Oscar Mercado, who did not start yesterday. Mike Fultenevich is changing his mechanics. They are not going to skip his turn in the rotation. We'll see if this mechanical adjustment for Fultenevich works. Anthony Rizzo expected back this weekend.

Chris Bryan has made three appearances at first base. Probably won't get to five. Nelson Cruz expected back today. By the way, five in CBS leagues get you position eligibility. And Annabal Sanchez likely going on the I-L with a hamstring strain, Eric Fetty will probably replace him in the Nationals rotation. I know you want even more talk about all of these prospects. They are, of course, on the most added list.

Number one on the most added list is Corbin Martin, then Austin Riley, then Keston Hero. So we're going to talk about it all right after this quick break. on fantasy baseball today. Okay, Corbyn Martin number one. He is up to 66% own. He's the most added player. He was 5% owned last week.

Austin Riley and Keston Hurd, Hira. All three of these guys. Martin, pitcher for the Astros. Riley, third baseman, soon outfield eligible for the Braves. Hira, second baseman for the Brewers. 66 to 68% own. Does that sound appropriate to you guys? I would think Hira and Riley

should be higher than that. Martin, I just, I don't know how long he's going to stay. He kind of skipped the line in terms of the Astros rotation. He was not a name on anyone's radars before the season to be the sixth starter. I think Forrest Whitley's gone off to a really bad start in AAA. Josh James hasn't been good out of the bullpen. But who knows how strong his grip on a rotation spot might be. I think you could say the same thing for here for sure, though. Maybe for Riley? Like, Heera had a 28% strikeout rate this year in AAA,

and he's whipped in about 40% of his plate of him. But he's a top 10 prospect in baseball, at least a top 20 across the board. Corby Martin, I would assume was a top 10 prospect for the Astros, but I'm not actually even sure of that.

No, there's more upside with Euro. I just don't think, I think the problem, and it was kind of similar to Rogers. You just don't know if he's going to be a full-time player the rest of the year, or if he's up while Travis Schall's in the IL.

I think with Hira especially, I think it just will come down to performance. And he did strike out four times in yesterday's game. So that wasn't a great one. All right. So we've got Martin Riley and Hira there. Then we have Brendan Rogers, who's also in that group,

and we've already talked about him. You've got to get him. You know, the issue with Rogers right now is that he's shortstop eligible. And if you play in a shallow league like our podcast league, you know, I have Carlos Correa and I have Elvis Andrews. I did pick up Brendan Robbins. Rogers, because he'll hopefully have second base eligibility.

That would really be a game changer. But in that league, nobody needs a shortstop, really. Oh, shortstop is, I was looking at that yesterday. There are like seven elite shortstops and like eight more that might be elite. And I don't. Who was, there was someone that you pointed out was like 12th at shortstop who was having a. Carlos Correa has like a 950 OPS and he's hitting over 300. And he's played 40 games.

Yeah. And he has 12th at shortstop. Because he doesn't run. He doesn't run. If you don't steal bases. Yeah, but still, like, if you don't, that's true, but also if you don't steal bases, also, Correa did miss a little bit of time with a minor injury. He's played the same number of games, I think, is Javi Baez.

Really? Oh, then I have no explanation for it. You're right, though. I mean, it's just, the position's incredibly deep. And maybe Correa's had a lower amount of runs in RBI than you would otherwise expect. maybe hitting behind George Springer hasn't given him a lot of RBI opportunities because George Springer is hitting every ball for a home run right now. But yeah, it's just the position is incredibly deep right now.

And it's actually, I think it's an interesting philosophical discussion that we're going to have to have in the next couple of years because, you know, I don't really care about the positional replacement level, basically. I think second base and catcher are maybe the two exceptions, but because teams are shifting so much more often, there's a lot of evidence that they just don't care about infield defense quite as much as they used to. I mean, the brewers are a perfect example.

They were playing Travis Shaw and Mike Mustakis, alternating at second and third base. So maybe it's just worth seeing more guys who even five years ago might not have been at shortstop, but teams are more willing to keep them there, to keep their bat in the lineup. Okay, so Rogers, 56% own, and that might go up. Then we have other prospects who aren't quite his own.

We have Nikki Lopez at 22%, Oscar Mercado at 27%, and Willie Calhoun at 25%. And he has homered in both games since being recalled. And I don't know if I'm missing anyone. Cole Irvin at 16%. Pitcher for the Phillies, who I believe is pitching today against the Rockies. And not a strikeout guy, but maybe he could help you with the RA. and whip maybe get some wins.

All right. So anyway, with those other guys, the next tier, Nikki Lopez, Oscar Mercado, Willie Calhoun, and, and who, oh, Cole Irvin, thank you, sorry. What do you think?

Should they be more owned? They're widely available. I'm not sure that Nicky Lopez is in the top five in terms of the upside of prospects on this list, but I would bet he's going to be in the top three at the end of the year in terms of performance just because they called him up,

plotted him in second in the order between Merrifield and Mondesie. There's really no competition. They don't want to put Chrissy Owings back on the field. And he has the type of profile that has a pretty high floor with very few strikeouts and a lot of walks in decent contact. So he's not going...

I would much rather own him in a deeper league where I need to have the performance right now as opposed to somewhere where I'm just adding someone to stash to see if they're going to be great. And he'll be second. I actually do like his profile

quite a bit. I know Oscar Mercado's been someone who's gotten more height than Lopez, and that's just because of the stolen bases, but, Nicky Lopez has a little bit of Whitmeryfield in his profile.

Makes a lot of contact, steals a few bases. And he walks. Yeah, so I think there's the potential there for him to be a useful fantasy option. The problem is he's shortstop.

Yeah, but he'll be second base. He'll be second base very soon. That's big. Okay, so then quickly, do you think Mercado, Willie Calhoun, definitely worth talking about here, or Cole Irvin need to be added in more leagues? I think Mercado and Willie Calhoun. Mercado should be owned in, I think, most roto leagues.

I am baffled by the idea that Tyler Naquin's eventual return might cost him playing time. If Mercado hits, I think he'll play pretty regularly. I don't really see it with Cole Irvin. And I think Willie Cahoon, he's a big beefy baseball boy. And you know I'm always going to, you know, I'm always going to love those guys. Probably going to be in the minor leagues again in like a month. I, maybe, but I hope not. Like this is, this is, this is, it's a very similar thing to what we saw with Alex Verdugo before this season where there were big defensive concerns.

Actually, Willa Calhoun apparently lost a bunch of weight this off season and has been, I mean, I think they've played him at DH. No, he played left field last night. Okay, there you go. And there were reports in spring training that he was looking better in the outfield. I don't have defensive metrics for AAA round rock or whatever, wherever they play. But I'm hopeful because the profile for fantasy is potentially really, really good. It's potentially a four category profile. It's potentially, you know, if he does hit because he doesn't strike out very much

because he hits for solid power. I think Willie Calhoun could be someone that you're starting in every fantasy league. Yeah, I think he's worth a shot. We can't give up on him this early in his career just because he was a little disappointing. Okay, so back to the...

What? What? Why are you laughing? I'm just enjoying the show. What did we do? Is somebody moving by furniture right now? No one was moving your furniture. It was the...

It was the... the combination of you sending repeated messages, faster, please, faster. And Chris going on about Willie Callish. I didn't receive any of those messages, Adam. It was just so. Every time you sent a message, Chris would bring up a new thing about Willie Calvin.

I don't know if you sent me that message, Adam, because I'm not getting the little ding noise. You shouldn't be. Your computer should be muted. So as I read more players, I read more players on the most out of this tier. If they're available in your league, are you rushing to pick them up?

Tommy Lestell is 70% own. No. Sure, you should probably add him. Lucas Gialito, 72% own. Yeah, I think he's a pitcher with upside, so... Hunter... Hunter Pence, 44%. No.

Ronnie Rodriguez, 31%. No. No. James McCann, 66%. There should be more catchers on here. Jason Castro, 16%. Crushing the ball. Maybe.

Yeah, maybe. Okay. He's a catcher. Aledmus Diaz, 18%. No. Steve Sechak, 25%. Yes. Yeah.

And he's going to get the saves for the Cubs for as long as their current injury situation lasts. Let's talk about more from Thursday's games, including this annoying cough I have. So Trevor Bauer is not the only stud starting pitcher to struggle yesterday. Zach Wheeler. His previous six starts,

Wheeler was three and one with a 293 ERA, 49 strikeouts and 40 innings, 12% swinging strike rate. Seven innings are more in four of six starts, actually just seven innings and four of six starts.

Crushed yesterday by the Nationals, six runs on 11 hits in six innings. And he's got ugly numbers, 485 ERA, but I'm going to throw it out there. Now is the time to go get Zach Wheeler if anyone's selling. Is he done pitching against the national?

No. Any more outing scheduled against the national. His next start, it's the Nationals. He has faced the Nationals three times this season, and he has given up 17 runs in those three starts. He's been pretty good against everyone else. He cannot handle the Nationals. So I think maybe after his next start would be the time to go at him.

I think you got him now. Two starts next week. Not add him, trade for him, I guess. He might be cheaper after his next start, though. Maybe. I'm going to give you a player and you tell me if you're buying the breakout. But before we do that, actually, I will open the floor to you guys. If there's anyone from yesterday that you really want to talk about that we haven't spoken about yet.

So Willie Calhoun, you know, got into better shape. Nothing? No, we're good. Let's keep it flowing. You put these notes. Ruegnet O'Dore double-donged, and he needs to get going because he might not have a job when Elvis Andrews comes back. He'd been awful this year, but we know. as we have for three or four years

now that Ruegnat O'Dor is a very streaky hitter and so if he's getting ready to start a hot streak then might be paid to worthy of paying attention to. Yeah, his second home run, O'Dor's second home run did come off of a position player but last year his first 45 games he had a 602 OPS

his next 50 games he had a 1024 OPS with nine steals, 14 home runs 328 batting average in 50 games and then his last 34 games 516 OPS. So it's always something to keep an eye on a Rue Nettador hot streak. You know that Rugnododore's streakiness was the subject of Chris and I's first fight ever. Really?

At CBS. Yes. Oh, by the way, got an email from someone and said, I forgot one of the players that always makes us fight and argue on fantasy baseball today. And that's Joe Evato. So yes, thank you. Joey Votto is there. And apparently Rueh Nader D'R too. Okay, are you buying the breakout?

I'll give you a name. You tell me. Are you buying the break? breakout. Zach Davies? No. Okay. No, I just I don't see anything in his profile that would make me think this is anything close to sustainable.

Obviously, a 154 ERA isn't, but I think he's probably a 4ERA guy moving forward. At best. How about Zach Eflin? Not quite. It's really interesting because he was something that we all liked before the season because the stuff looked really good

last year and the stuff hasn't looked quite as good this year, but he's pitched better. So I'm kind of six on the biometer. I buy him much more than Davies. I own him. I start him regularly, but I feel like the bottom's getting ready to fall out.

Chris Bassett, 53% own. He's at Cleveland next week, so you might want him as a one-start guy, but Bassett's been amazing. 193 ERA, nine walks, 38 strikeouts, and 32 and two-thirds, three starts of seven or more innings and five starts. Anybody buying a 53-per-owned,

Chris Bassett. More than Davies for sure. The only reason that probably not as much as Eflon is because we liked Eflon before the season and basically ignored Bassett. But he's been really good so far and he should definitely be owned in more than 54% of leagues. Yeah, I just, I don't know because he's talked about he's not trying to strike more guys out and

he hasn't really made, he hasn't talked about any like significant change that he's made. He's throwing a sinker 37% of the time, which is not usually what you would think would lead to strikeout. So I'm buying it more than Davies for sure. But we had seen him, like, he'd had some injury problems and only been in the majors for short spurts in the past. But we had seen him be a slightly above average pitcher.

He's got a 358 career year. Right, but it was never the way he's doing it, man. Sure. So that's what's hard to buy him. Okay, Chris Bassett. I was looking to pick him up. For the first time, I was looking to pick him up. He's owned in a lot of my leagues.

Are we buying the breakout of Domingo Armand, top five starting pitcher, 250 ERA. He is 8 in 1. And a strikeout printing, a 0.95 whip. Are we buying the Domingo Armand breakout? Yes. Not top five pitcher, but, yeah, I think he's legitimately breaking out. I think what may determine whether he's legitimately breaking out is, whether he can continuously pitch deeper into ball games.

I think he's averaging just over six innings per start right now. He's still having a lot of good fortune currently. And so I think he's probably more of a top 30 starting pitcher than a top 15 starting. Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, I didn't think he was a, like I was thinking about it as I was talking. And I almost said like top 25, but. Yeah.

But that's a guy you're starting every time out. Pretty much. That's Zach Wheeler or Matt Boyd, according to Scott and Heath's rankings, top 25. I think I have him below both those guys for sure. Erman is getting a lot of whiffs. That's nice. But you're right about pitching deep into games. Going into the start on Wednesday, he had bad numbers third time through the order.

A lot of that was one start against the raise where he gave up two home runs. But against the Orioles, he went seven innings, but he really ran into trouble. I think he loaded the bases in the seventh, and he got out of the jam. So that is the concern there. But I think for six innings it's going to be really good, and then you turn it over to that bullpen, and that's why he's got eight wins, right? Paul DeYoung, are we buying the breakout?

Second and points? Obviously, yes. Seventh in Roan, he's been better in points. His plate discipline has been really good. 24 walks of 32 strikeouts, or at least to say his walk-to-strikeout ratio has been really good. And DeYoung has scored 36 runs in 44 games. I know he's buying the breakout.

Chris, are you buying the Paul DeYoung breakout? Sure. Sure. Not as a, again, not as a top six. shortstop or anything like that. But yeah, I think he was underrated coming into the season. I think he was 100%

correct on that. But I also don't buy him being like an elite shortstop. I think he'd probably settle in closer to the 10-12 range. But that's a lot better than what you drafted him at. The weird thing about DeYoung is like almost nothing that's happened so far, I think

makes a lot of sense. The improved strikeout rate's great. And he makes good contact. and he has good power, but he's scored way more runs than you would expect him to score moving forward. He's got considerably fewer RBI than you would expect for the way he's produced, hitting behind Paul Goldschmidt. He's not a 354 bad-bip guy, so he's not going to hit 300, but he only has a 12% home run to fly ball rate.

So he's probably going to hit a couple more home runs. Okay, Paul the Young. Would you rather have Paul the Young or... Let me take a look at the shortstop rankings here. Paul the Young or Zander Bogartz. Bogarts. Heath has him back-to-back. Bogart's 8, Paul the Young.

Would you rather have Paul the Young or Corey Seeger? The Young. I think DeYoung at this point. Okay. Finally, buying the breakout, Tray Mancini. Are you buying at 313 batting average? Nine home runs, a lot more fly balls this year. I feel like we did a different segment last week about like some kind of like

turning back into a pumpkin type thing. I'm not exactly sure how we phrased it, but I'm pretty sure that was the discussion on Trey Mancini. So I buy that he will be better than 2018 and probably closer to 2017. But I don't think he's significantly better. He's not like a top 18 first baseman for me. So and first base isn't a great position.

It's not like as good as shortstop. So yeah, I think he's going to be a little better. Okay. Would you prefer? Mancini or Hunter Dozier? Dozier. That's really close. I'm going to say push.

That's not an answer. It was a question. No, it was an answer. Mancini or... Chris is ranking to go this way and this way. Oh, no, the beautiful thing is I don't have rankings. Mancini or Matt Olson. Olson.

Hey, speaking of the Orioles, our headline of the day comes from Sports Illustrated. Orioles commit the most egregious play in MLB history. And then sport just Google it. Sports Illustrated absolutely eviscerates the Orioles for bouching this play with the bases loaded. It was like they forgot how to play baseball. I'm watching it right now. It's like they forgot the basic rules of the game of baseball. It was incredible.

Okay, wait, so Kipnis Grounds to Second. Was Kipnis Safe? Kipnis Grounds to second base was loaded. Everybody was safe on this play. They did not get an out in this play. They have a runner and a run down. It was bases loaded, ground out to second. So he tries to.

To tag the runner going from first to second, that guy like just backs up. And so he goes after him and then throws home, doesn't get the guy at home. No, he throws the first. He throws the first. He doesn't get Kipness. He threw it to first. Then the first basement throws home and the runner scores from third. So yeah, everybody was safe.

That was unbelievable. Like throw home immediately, dude. Just like nothing about, like nothing about the decision making on this play made any amount of sense. You go home and then to first. It's easy. Yeah. It is really funny. All right.

We got to take one more quick break on fantasy baseball today. We've got emails and tweets. We've got some random stats that are interesting. We've got some more double dongs, grand slam from jerks and pro far. Yeah, boy, we've got a lot of stuff here. We'll see how much we can get to. And weekend streamers and two-star pitchers right after this. Your emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com.

Okay, guys, I would like to spend more time on this one, but up against it a little bit here. So this is from Mike D. Dear Bald Bull, Piston Honda, and King Hippo. Are those Mike Tyson punchout characters? They are, and not in order of the way they show up, I don't think. Keeper League. All right, the questions about Juan Soto.

A lot of people have questions about Wan Soto. What is wrong with Juan Soto? He is batting 228 with 41 strikeouts and 33 games, 21 walks. and he's been terrible since coming off the IL, two for 18 with 9Ks. His OPS has gone from 835 to 7.59. Do you guys have concerns about Juan Soto? I have concerns about him being the immediately elite player

that I think we probably all at least hoped he would be coming into this season. I mean, I know he was elite last year, so that's kind of a silly way to frame it, but you know what I mean. Collaborate. No. I know. I know what you mean.

No, I think Juan Soto is going through a bad stretch. There may be some adjustments the league's made. He's made some adjustments that I think are mostly positive coming in this year. He is hitting the ball in the air just a little bit more. The ground ball rate that was a little concerning from last year has gone down a little bit, not quite as far as I would like. He's just swinging and missing too much right now. He's an extremely talented, extremely young kid,

and he's going to be very, very good again soon. I think last season he was the best hitter in baseball against fastballs and like the second worst against all other pitches. And baseball savants not loading. So I can't check if that's been the case in 2019. I always look, when a lefty's struggling, I always look at how he's doing against lefties. And really the problem for Soto, he's been terrible against righties.

I don't buy that at all. I think that'll turn around. So I think you're looking at a guy who has struggled since coming off the IL and his numbers look a lot worse. I don't think he's going to be as good as he was last year, but I didn't think that going into the year. I didn't draft any Juan Soto because I'm always afraid of the sophomore slump, which doesn't seem to have a rhyme or a reason.

It just happens sometimes. So that's just me, but I feel like there's a good time to buy low on Soto because I'm getting a lot of questions, people are very concerned about him. Brendan wants to know if we can discuss Eloy Jimenez amongst all these recent call-ups, and Jimenez should be back very soon and had his Jimenez rank with Brennan Rogers and Austin Riley, et cetera. I'd rather have him than all of them. He is by far the most talented of them.

Okay, this is from AB, subject line. Most added, most dropped swappo meter, which he says is trademarked, fully patented. Most added, most dropped swappo meter. Would you drop any of the following for any of the following? Would you drop Donaldson, Daniel Murphy, Will Myers, or Eloy Jimenez to pick up Hira, Riley, Riley, Rogers, or Malick Smith in a Categories league?

Um I would I'm kind of done with Will Myers Yeah In a points league for sure In a categories league Myers is always a little better But yeah

I'd rather have Malick Smith He's the dropable Yeah Will Myers isn't running much this year Is he? No he's got four steals now so I I probably wouldn't But I am also the guy

That misses out on most of the prospect, especially most of the prospects that get called up in April or June. Because I drafted those guys, I think the guys are good, and I just wait. Now, I did not draft any Josh Donaldson at all.

I was afraid he was going to be terrible. He hasn't been terrible, but he hasn't been particularly good either, and he's already had one flare-up with the calf. If you wanted to drop Josh Donaldson, I wouldn't think you were stupid. I dropped Myers before I dropped Donaldson, though. I would too. Yes, but

I'm saying if you wanted to get two of these guys. Okay. I would not drop Eloy, and I'd like to give Daniel Murphy a little more time just because the upside's so high in course field. A week from now, two weeks from now, I might be ready to drop Daniel Murphy. Yeah, I think at one point earlier this week, well, it's probably still true because he hasn't played all week. I think he's had something like 65% of his plate appearances on the road so far this season.

No, and I'll let him play at home. That's one thing. Okay. Let's move on. Real quick from Samuel, team name Tuesday on a Friday, Verdugo Horizon. I love it. From George, can I get a player evaluation on Cole Irving, Philly's starting pitcher? Yeah.

He's a pitch-to-contact guy in a bad environment for it. So I have pretty low expectations. Mine was faster. From Tim, grade the trade. Mine was more helpful. A lot of grade the trades here. We never do grade the trade anymore. 14-team points league.

I give up Pete Alonzo and David Dahl. I get Jose Ramirez. I think you take it Yeah, you do Especially in a head of head Nervously B minus from Boris in Germany He's moved down in the order

The Boris in Germany Gotta get him going Give up Kyle Hendrix and Zach Davies Get Shane Bieber and Will Smith 100 Yeah, I like it I'm not 100% sure Bieber's better than Hendricks But I do this one

Will Smith is really good I know they stink but man, when he pitches, he's lights out. Yeah, he's going to be someone's set up, man, in about a month and a half, though. Or closer, you never know. From Justin. Gray the Trade, Lindor and DeGrom for Turner and Scherzer.

Oh, yeah. I assume it's Tray Turner. Oh, yeah, that's how I did too. It's an A, it's a B plus at least if it's Tray Turner. If it's Justin Turner, I don't know. Probably not. Probably a bad, true. because I don't think Scherzer's that much better than DeGrom.

But if it's Trey Turner, then yeah, you do it. From Everett, give up Bogarts and Mike Minor in a points league. Bogart's and Minor. Get Marcelo Zuna and Luke Weaver. And he's fine at short stout. B plus. It's good trade. From Phil in Arizona.

Brandon Lau and Frankie Montas. Give up Lau and Montas for Buxton and Archer. 95. I don't think I like that one, actually. You've reached the point of Frankie. Monsas is better than Chris Archer. I've reached the point of Brandon Lowe's better than Byron Buckson. And Montas might be as good as Archer.

Who has a higher strikeout this year? Lough or Buxden? Oh, Lowe, I would guess. I think this is a C. Yeah. I can see both sides. 68. 68. Okay.

I'm going to give you some random stats. No, and you're grading on a curve. That's indeed, buddy. I'm going to give you some random stats, and you tell me if they mean anything to you. Brandon Nimmo has nine walks in his last six games. He walks a lot. Confirmed.

So that's all it means to you? Yeah. Gene Seguer has homered four times this year, three of them at home, two straight games, and he has more home runs than steals so far. Gene Segarra. That means that he plays for the Phillies, and he's not going to run as much this year.

And you could also hear that on our March 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th podcasts. But he's probably going to hit more home runs this year. Yep. He's probably someone who will be about as valuable as he was last season and also be a lot less valuable than he was last season. Which, yes. Yeah, I think he's probably like the 15th shortstop or something. That's crazy because he's going to give you good batting average.

He might hit close to 20 homers because he had a 20 home season in Arizona. Not 20. He was 16 homers. Totally made up the 15th ranking. So I'm now looking to see. He missed some time, so I would assume that's... Yeah, he's not in the top 20.

Right behind Glaver Torres. He did miss time, though. Okay. Matt Chapman has struck out 13 times in May. It's May 17th, people, after striking out 13 times in April. So the K rate has gone back up for Matt Chapman. Yeah. he's good.

Maybe not great. Maybe just really good. Dan Vogelbach has three hits in his last three games. They're all homers. That's not sustainable. But overall, he's the number 14 first baseman in fantasy. He's been hot and he's been cold, but still 12 home runs this year in 38 games

and 26 walks at 35 strikeouts. I think he's a pretty good hitter who walks a ton, and that doesn't make for a super valuable fantasy. the option. C.J. C.J. Cron is a top six first basement over his last 30 games. He got off to a terrible start. 508 OPS in his first 10 games, but C.J. Crone

last 30 games, batting 274 with 10 home runs and a 923 OPS. And he's only 39% owned. I'm going to try to move him in my top 30 first baseman. He definitely belongs to your top 30 first baseman. That would put him ahead of Mancini, right?

Mancini's in my top 30, but just not by a lot. And Sini needs to be in your top 30. He is. I just said he is. Would you rather have C.J. C.J. Cron or Jake Bowers? Crone?

He's actually hitting. I guess I can move Miguel Cabrera out of my top 30 to make room for C.J. Cron. I mean, where do you have Jake Bowers right now? 29. Okay. All right. Get out of there.

C.J. C.C. C.C. C.C. C.C.Rone or Dan Vogelbach. I can move Nate or Dan Vogelbach. Vogelbach? I think. Chrome. Don't start acting like you like CJ Chrome. I don't, but he's going to play more. He's more proven. He's been a decent guy,

a decent hitter the last couple of years. 30 homers last year. Yeah, he's going to play more. You don't like it. And I, and really, like when you look at Daniel Vogelot's batting ball data, the first like month, it was incredible. And now he kind of looks

sort of averageish. So it's because CJ Crohn's hot street came this month. Months are artificial constructs. I mean, no, but it's, but it's also like Daniel Vogelbach hasn't sustained the success. We've seen CJ Crone do it for a full season. We've seen, yeah, we've seen him be above average. Yes, we've never seen Daniel Vogelbach being above average header for a full season. Has he been below average in the last month since he was good?

Like, he's still been good. He just hasn't been great, right? But he also doesn't play every day. Vogelbach went ice cold and now it's maybe he's snapping out of it. I think a lot of these like sluggers are streaky and you know, depending on when we have these conversations, Luke Void is a perfect example. I mean, he looks droppable right now.

He looked like a total breakout stud in the first month of this season. Vogelbach probably the same. Vogelbach, does he, he doesn't sit that much, does he? I mean, He doesn't what? He doesn't sit that much. He has appeared in 15 games against the lefties. He has started four.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Moving on, we are running out of time to talk about two-star pitchers, so we should probably get to that. We don't care about Jason Kipness and his double dong, right? No. And Kristen Yelich had two more home runs.

That gives him three on the road this year, and Christian Yelich is the best hitter in baseball. Besides Cody Bellinger? Besides Mike Trout. And Mike Trout. He is... He's a second pick in the draft. A head of Cody Belanger?

A head of Mookie Bets. Yeah, he has to be ahead of Cody Ballinger. He's been better than Cody Bellinger. You realize that, right? In fantasy? Yes. He hadn't been as of yesterday. So I guess he passed him yesterday?

Yeah. Yes, idiot. He did pass him yesterday. He did, yes. Okay. I'm actually surprised. I thought for sure he had been better than Bellinger going into yesterday. They have very similar stats.

Bellinger's sitting 401. Wow. All right, let's look at those two-star pitchers. Where are you? Do we have to? Yeah. All right. Trevor Bauer, start or sit?

Start. Okay. Zach Wheeler, start or sit? He has Washington and Detroit. Start. I'll start because of the Detroit matchup. Jose Gantan is a start. Erman Marquez at Pittsburgh home against Baltimore.

Yeah, start. Yeah. Zach Eflin at the Cubs and at the Brewers. This could be a disastrous week, but if Eflin comes out of These two matchups looking good. We might have to reevaluate, but start or Sid Eflin. I do not want to start him in those matchups. No, yeah, that's too tough.

Jake Odarezi at the Angels Home Against the White Sox. I'm fine with it. Yeah. He's probably over-owned after this week. Okay, I think it's an easy. Like this coming week. Easy call to start at San Francisco and at St. Louis. How about J-Hap at Baltimore?

He has struggled against Baltimore this year. at Baltimore and at Kansas City for Jayhap. Yeah. You start him. Disgruntled Jayhap, not happy about getting yanked in the fifth inning every time out. He should pitch better.

Yeah, I can't. Jake Areetta, at the Cubs and at the Brewers, same matchups as Eifflin for Arieta. I do not. No. Eduardo Rodriguez at Toronto and at Houston. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Strong. The best thing about him right now is that he gets a ton of strikeouts in Houston. strikes out, is it least frequently or second least frequently? I think it's Angels 1, Houston 2, but let's check. I go to this website called TeamRankings.com. I don't know if it's reputable or accurate, but it seems like it is. And they have...

It's a good domain name. I'm glad you're promoting them on the podcast. Angels as the fewest strikeouts per game and the Astros second fewest, followed by the Twins and the A's and the Dodgers. Yeah, it's a good site because it breaks things down by game, Runs per game, strikeouts per game. Probably any stat you want. This early in the season, we're starting to get to the point where per game doesn't quite matter as much.

But check out TeamRankings.com. Team advance batting. You got a new sponsorship, didn't you? No. By the way, use our promo code. All right, back to the two-set. So Matt Strom, Arizona and at Toronto. Yep.

Oh, this guy's pitching great lately, Julio Toronto. at San Francisco. He had four walks and four strikeouts in five innings last night. He's not pitching great lately. Two runs in his last three starts. He's terrible. He's terrible. He's terrible.

Please don't call him terrible. He's not terrible. Is he a same? He's not being so mean to Julio Tarant. He's one of the ten worst pitchers that has been a starting pitcher for the last three years in Major League Baseball. Yeah, but that's only like, there's only like 70 guy. Right. So he's been top 60.

No. No, he has not. I don't think he's starting Julio Tarant. How about Marcus Stroman? Boston and San Diego at home. Probably not. I'd rather not. I'd rather start him than the two Phillies, guys.

Wade Miley, White Sox and Red Sox at home. Kind of iffy. He is next to last on this list ahead of only Julio Toronto. U. Darvish, Phillies, and Reds at home. Yeah. Ahead of Miley and Toronto. Yeah, he might pitch nine innings.

Chris Archer, Rockies, and Dodgers at home. Yeah, for sure. You obviously have a start-curtz-Racher. In a points league, not a roto league. With his track record? Spencer Turnbull. Yes, start-up. And then we've got Samarja, Mike Leak, Brett Anderson, Andrew Cashner,

Felix Pena, Daniel Norris, David Hess. Oh, Daniel Norris will not be a two-star pitcher. Mani Banuelos, who probably won't make his next start. Shelby Miller, he might. Mani Mani-Manuels has been on the I-L-11 times, by the way. Edwin Jackson and Dylan Coe. That's true. I heard that on the Broadway.

I'm looking at a league that is probably the deepest league that we play in. And all of these pitchers your naming are currently owned in this league. And I just like for you to know the crew. Oh, is it the Dynasty League?

Chris has Mani Van Wenz on a team and probably starting in this week. No, no. I have started him in the past though. He had some pedigree. That's why I traded for C.C. Sabathia. There you go. Okay.

One start streamers for the weekend. Just tell me start or sit. Merrill Kelly against San Francisco. Where is it? At home. Arizona. Start. Yeah.

Oh, if we were at San Francisco, you'd say sit, Merrill Kelly. I would have really started him for sure in San Francisco. I had to think about it in Arizona. It started him a lot more. Jordan Liles at San Diego. Sit. 100% dependent on where you're at in the week. Cole Irving against Colorado.

I don't see it I'll sit him In Philly? Yes Start Believe that I would not have been asking If it had been in Colorado Saturday

Lucas Gilito against Toronto Start Yeah Stephen Matt's at Miami Sure John Means at Cleveland Start Corbin Martin at Boston

Great streamers this week Shit No there are a lot of interesting ones Corbyn at Boston sit Chase Anderson at Atlanta. The Griffin Canning Company at Kansas City. He's just not going to get a ton of strikeouts against this matchup, you would think. No, no.

See, that's where TeamRankings.com comes into play because they actually do strike out a lot. Well, they're ninth. They're ninth fewest in strike. They're not a low-low strike-ups. They don't strike out much at all. I won't stand there like 16th in runs, right? Yeah, they're a middle-up. The biggest thing about canning is the swinging strikes in strike.

strikeouts so far. And, you know, he's not going to, it's very unlikely he's going to pitch into the sixth or seventh inning. So you need him to have a good amount of strikeouts. And I'm, yeah, I'll sit him. I'm sitting in because he just has been crap. Jared Eichoff against Colorado on Sunday. Start. Renardo Lopez against Toronto. Start. Yeah. Danny Duffy or Tyler Skaggs in a game in, in Los Angeles. Danny Duffy and Tyler Skaggs. sit both.

Kyle Gibson at Seattle. Start. All right, listen, Chris, without giving anything away, without, honestly, without saying anything, how excited are you for Game of Thrones on Sunday? Series finale. Did they get different showrunners between episode seven and eight? Such a baby.

You don't get to complain about Game of Thrones. You're such a bandwagon fan. You don't even like it. The entire nation is complaining. I want to go back to the, because I was kind of silent on the Reyno-Lophez thing. For just a second. We got like two more.

minutes, right? What happened that made us, I thought, because I thought maybe like I was out of town, Raynello Lopez threw another really good outing. Like, he had an okay outing against the Indians. He's got a 5.5 ERA and all of his peripherals are in the fives. Why do we think that Raynaldo Lopez might be good? Stand by your guns, Chris. It's change up, didn't you hear?

He's been good against good matches. He's only had one bad start in his last six. The strikeout rate has been. up, 41 strikeouts in 36 and two-thirds innings. The control has been pretty good. There are signs that he's figuring out something. I'm not saying he's great, but just

pointing to a 550-E-R-A, well, he gave up 18 runs in his first three starts, but he's been pretty good ever since then. All right, guys, we're out. Let's wrap it up. Thank you. Major point. I think the person

most excited about the Game of Thrones series finale is he, since he doesn't want to hear about Game Thrones anymore. So have a great weekend. Enjoy Game of Thrones. Enjoy your baseball. Good luck this weekend. We'll talk you on Monday on Fantasy Baseball.