Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/18: Most Added, Prospects, Week 9 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 18, 2018

How good is Mookie Betts (2:42)!? Is he now the #2 overall player in Fantasy if we were drafting today? And who is our favorite two-start pitcher for the upcoming Fantasy week (4:55)? ... Reacting to yesterday's best performances (6:55). Are we buying Matt Boyd? Is Marco Gonzales underrated? What are our thoughts on Vince Velasquez (11:15) and David Price (14:00)? We also talk more teammate combos (22:44) and give you a prospects update (26:24) ... Streaking sluggers (32:16)! Matt Olson, Brandon Belt, Yasiel Puig and C.J. Cron won't stop homering. We also look at the Most Added list (37:20), tell you who to drop (41:12), discuss yesterday's noteworthy SPs (46:24) and take you through the full list of two-start pitchers for Week 9 (55:02) ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Domingo, Santana, who I want to add you to my roster in Roto, replacing Gio Soto, Gio Lido and Brito, baby, where my Fabco? Near the Florida key, there's a place in my... That's where you want to be to get ahead of your loop because he's under 30, because he's an anxious. Project you that's scary a lot. Happy Kokomo Friday. Domingo Santana, you bet we want to add.

You are 59% owned with a 302 batting average and 866 OPS in your last 13 games. Are you on the most added list, Domingo Santana? And why am I talking directly to you? I don't know. Scott and Chris, good morning. Happy Kokomo Friday. Here's Adam Scott, Heath and Chris. Just in case people were missing that other intro today.

Bad morning. It is so good that intro. It's so well done. It's so professional. It's got Michael Kaye on there. It's got some cool calls. It's got a fantasy. It's so good.

I don't know. People hate change. Oh, wait. Can I bring up something very interesting? Sure. Do you guys watch The Bachelorette? I don't. No.

But I know lots of people do. No, Chris. I don't watch The Bachelorette. There is a fantasy sports writer. No way. On The Bachelorette this season. And how'd you find that out? Guy who doesn't watch?

It was all over Twitter yesterday. What is it? Mike from PFF from Pro Football Focus. He's PFF underscore Mike on Twitter. He's on The Bachelorette. It's amazing. I don't watch The Bachelorette, but it's going to be hilarious. That's pretty cool.

Oh, I hope he wins. Yeah. Now I will... Great hair. Not watch, but I will care about it. Stat of the day, Mookie Betts has 20 more fantasy points than the number two hitter in fantasy.

fantasy, which is Manny Machado. Mookie Betz is number one with a bullet right now, betting 364. He stole three bases yesterday to give him 11, and he hasn't homered in 12 straight games, and he's still crushing everybody. Is Mookiee Betz the number two fantasy player right now? Would you take him number two overall? Yeah, he's the number one fantasy player. Yeah, I know, I know.

Sorry. In the latest straight chart, I did. I moved him up to number two for the first time this season. So that is exactly where I would rank him rest of season. And I guess the difference between him and Jose Al-Tuvae right now is Mookie's running, right? Like, other than that, we probably think they're pretty much the same guy. Well, he's hitting for a lot more power, too. Right, but that, like, we don't, maybe we do, but I don't really think Mookie Betz is just all of a sudden a better hitter than Jose L-Tu-Tu-A.

Like, I think in the long run, they'll probably hit about the same, but Mookie Betz is on pace for 35 steals, and Jose-L-Tu-Eat's. Tuve is on pace for seven? I would I would guess how Tuvei hits for the higher batting average this year, but that's that's all I'm going to give him. Yeah, I mean,

Al Tuve's 24 homers usually, right? We've seen Betts be a 30 homer guy in the past and that was when he wasn't, like he's hitting for power on the road in a way I don't think we're used to seeing, right? Mm-hmm. He was at one point, yeah. I mean, he hasn't

homeward in 12 games, so I'm assuming that's the same. And remember, they've played the most road games in baseball, or at least they had before this homestand started. I think they still have. The Red Sox have a bunch of home games coming up, and that's usually where Mukie Betts does his damage. Yeah, he's awesome, and I don't think we have to go any more into it. We are going to take a look at week nine. Of course, we'll save our big rundown of two-star pitchers for later in the show. We are going to talk about Vince Velasquez, Matt Boyd, David Price, and many more. Brandon Belts and C.J. Crone,

they keep on hitting. Yassil Pueg, Matt Olson, they keep on hitting. We got some emails at Fantasy Baseball at Cbsi.com. Who is if there's one two-star pitcher to pick up for next week? Who is it? You know how last week was really good? Sorry, over than 70% of leagues are less. Go ahead.

Yeah, you know how last week was really, really good for new two-star pitchers? And we had like a thousand guys that we liked. This week is... Let's just move on in the next second. Jordan Liles has been good. We like the skill set he's showing. Yeah. Unfortunately, he is at the Nationals and at the Dodgers.

The Dodgers aren't a terrible matchup these days, but... I don't know. Are the Nationals? I guess they have Rendon back, and they're closer to Full House. Yeah. Just no Eaton. Yeah, I mean, Liles and the only other one that... Like, I think Trevor Cahill is pretty interesting.

Yeah. And he's versus Seattle and versus Arizona, so he's got two games at the, is it O. Dot Co still? I don't know. The Coliseum. But it's a second start back from the DL and he just had one strikeout. I think the Mariners aren't exactly a good matchup anyway. Well, it depends on Nelson Cruz. He should be back by then.

He could be back today. If that injury lingers and they don't have Canoe or Cruz, you know, I think they're a pretty above-average matchup. Yeah. Nick Povetta is still available in 22% of leagues. He's got Atlanta and Toronto. Yeah. But that's outside of it. That's above Adam's 70% threshold.

Well, I don't play by Adams rule. How about Jake Ferreya? Two home games, Boston and Baltimore. No. Yeah, I mean, the Baltimore starts not a terrible matchup. They strike out a lot, but they've actually been good lately. And Boston's. Boston's okay offensively.

All right, so it is not a great week. Jordan Lyles might be the guy you look at. and we'll go through the list a little bit later. James Shields and Doug Fister are on the list. They were terrific yesterday. That was kind of weird. All right, more on that coming up. Thursday standout.

Scott, started off. Who stood out to you? Do you want to get into Matt Boyd? Yeah. Yeah, sure do. Let's get into Matt Boyd. Where do you think he's ranked without looking at my notes among starting pitchers? Not ranked.

Where do you think he is in the current starting pitcher standings in points leagues? Matt Boyd. 22nd. Sure. Let's say he's top 25. He is 44th with a 2-and-3 record. So he overdid it. I didn't know what his record was. That tells a lot when it comes to where they place in the points.

Points leagues. So nine strikeouts, obviously, in this start, hasn't been common for him even this year. He entered the game averaging less than 7 per 9, and pretty much we've been skeptical of the entire performance. One thing I have noticed, though, is that his weak contact percentage is among the highest of any pitcher in baseball. Now, I still think there's a lot of correction coming, particularly as many fly balls as he gives up. He's due to give up some home runs. But I think if the weak contact thing is something he can sustain, it at least puts him in like that Trevor Williams, Tyler Anderson class.

definitively outside of like the top 70 pitchers I'd be looking to own in fantasy but not maybe we maybe we don't need to be totally dismissive of them yeah I mean that that just to me sounds like the first guy you're dropping when someone interesting Oh yeah yeah for sure but it also means he's usable too

All right Matt Boyd is 31% owned and oh I wish I had his matchup I have matchups for almost every pitcher that we were going to talk about today, except for Matt Boyd next week. I could try to look that up, but I will get back to that. I will get back to that. How about, all right, you know, here's a guy that we got an email that I was going to read yesterday.

I never got a chance to do it, and it was about Marco Gonzalez, who's 26% on us. So we're looking for guys who are available in a lot of leagues. Matt Boyd's one of them. Marco Gonzalez is another one. And he's got 466 ERA and a 1.47 whip, but only nine walks, 43 strikeouts, five homers allowed in 46 and a third. He must have a pretty high babbip, I'm guessing, Marco Gonzalez. The email was about how unlucky he's been and the advanced stats.

I don't know. I didn't get a chance to dig into it, but is there something here with Marco Gonzalez? Is he sort of flying under the radar a little bit? Marco Gonzalez has a 380 babbip right now. He looks like about average with strikeout rate, 21.1.4.1.1.1.5.1.1.5. ground ball rate 44.5%. That's a little below average, but not much. And he's had really good control. 4.5% walk rate, 1.75 per 9. So the FIP is 340. He does look like a pretty good pitcher. I do wonder with him specifically if he could stand to walk a few more batters. And I know that

sounds antithetical to what we typically say, but he might just be living in the strike zone too much, and I don't know if he has the kind of stuff to just keep battling hitters when it's in, you know, a two-one count and throw up a fastball at the knees. I would also point out that while his bad bit is high, it is the highest of any qualifying pitcher, his line drive rate is also the highest of any qualifying pitcher, which jibs. Right, right. That makes sense. All right, so you've got Matt Boyd and Marco Gonzalez, who are owned in about 30% of leagues. Marco Gonzalez is at Oakland next week.

Matt Boyd is at Minnesota next week. And even if you don't want to play it week to week, who would you rather pick up Matt Boyd or Marco Gonzalez? Oh, Marco Gonzalez for me. I think I'll go Boyd. All righty. But these are not high priorities. Let's just stress that. Whereas Vince Velazquez, is he a high priority?

He is 58% own, guys. I don't love him as much as a lot of people do, but yeah, I'd take him over those two. This was his third good start in the row. Obviously, the middle of those three starts was fantastic. But he consistently does not get many swinging strikes for somebody who has this electric basketball, in part because he doesn't have much to go with the electric basketball,

and I think that seriously limits his ceiling. I will ask a question. Sure. It's a question I've asked before. Okay. What is the difference between Vince Velazquez and Jose Berrios? Because that sounds like Jose Berrios. Jose Berrios has a great...

I can't remember. Is it a change-up or a curveball? It's a curve ball. Oh, yeah. But the overall swinging strike rate is about the same for both of them. I mean, it has been for... Vince Velazquez has actually been better. for his career. Last year was a down year, but he was, I think, pretty clearly hurt all year.

Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, we're both on the same page with concerns over Barrios' swinging strike rate. But, I mean, having two good pitches as opposed to one is a pretty big deal. So, gosh, the Phillies, man. The Phillies are such an interesting fantasy team. Would you rather have Drew Pomerans or Vince Velasquez? Velasquez. Let me point one thing out about Velasquez before you answer, Scott. So he's had five quality starts this year. They have come against mostly bad lineups. He had a six-inning three-earned run start against Atlanta, or at Atlanta,

and Atlanta is one of the best lineups so far in baseball. The other quality starts have been Miami at Tampa Bay, San Francisco, and at St. Louis. The bad starts have been at Atlanta, Arizona, Atlanta, who he's faced three times already, and at Washington. So Velasquez has been pretty matchup dependent, and next week he does face Atlanta, which is a good and bad thing, because he's clearly getting his Braves matchups out of the way.

But I don't know that I trust him next week against the team that has already roughed him up twice, and his best start in three starts against Atlanta with six innings three runs. Yeah, no, I think he's... Yeah, he's definitely outside of that range of pitchers who you use when they just have one start regardless of matchups.

Like he's either a two-start option or really good matchup option. But a lot of pitchers are like that. You know, getting back to the Pomeran's thing, I'll take Velasquez over him. It's mostly because Pomerant hasn't looked right this whole season. He's not throwing as hard. If he gets back to being Pomeran's, I think it's pretty easy to take Pomerans at that point. Okay, another standout is clearly David Price. Complete game, two runs, took a shutout into the ninth inning, and he only threw

95 pitches. His first quality start in his last seven starts. Price has a 438 ERA. If you remove the Yankee start, which he left with the hand injury. He threw one inning, he gave up four runs. Take that start out. David Price is a 375 ERA. I assume we'll start him at Tampa Bay next week.

But what is the season-long outlook for David Price, guys? You know, I was taking a longer look at him after this start, obviously, and feel like reports. of his demise may have been greatly exaggerated. Specifically, I was harping on the fact that, well, oh, even though his velocity looks normal, he's not getting many swinging strikes. But looking over the course of his career, he's always been kind of low swinging, swinging strike great guy.

This season isn't that abnormal. It's pretty close to his career average, actually. So, I mean, obviously, he's not an ace anymore, and there's a lot of health risk there still, but I think we should still view him as a top 30, top 35 guy. It is, like, his swing and strike rate is within range of his career, but it's well below the previous four seasons, which were in the 11 to 12% range. This season, it's 9.1%. And so he's not going to get a lot of strikeouts, and he's not getting a ton of ground balls. And he's, he's not getting a ton of ground balls. pitches in a bad park for a guy who's not going to get a ton of ground balls.

I just, yeah, I don't know. Like, the biggest thing David Price had going over the last couple of seasons was probably safety, at least going into last season. You know, he had the bad year in 2016, but the peripherals were good, and this is a workhorse. And now the peripherals are mediocre. He doesn't get a lot of strikeouts. He's an injury risk.

Pitchers in a bad park. Yeah, I wouldn't mind putting out some offers. I mean, he's 8.1 strikeouts per 9 now. And in the days when he had swinging strike rates like this year, he was like 8.7. But that was a lot. That was a different. We have to recalibrate K per 9 every year, right? Well, I mean, he was exceeding.

Like, he was probably above average in those years. Let's wrap up David Price guys. And even now he's on pace for what? 200 strikeouts, a little less? Like, I don't know. I think he's, if he stays healthy, I think he's going to be a decent fantasy option. Okay, that's going to, hopefully not going to be too much to ask for him to stay healthy, for David Price to stay healthy.

Before we move on, is there any standout that I'm missing that we must, must talk about? We will talk about Brandon Bell and C.J. Kroen and Yasil Puygan and all those guys in a little bit. So is there anyone else? Speak now for Everhold your piece. Over the last month or so, we had been spelling Caleb Smith with a K. And last night, he went back to being Caleb Smith with 2B. But, you know, Caleb Smith has had like three bad starts this year, and they've all been the high walk starts.

And they haven't been consecutive. So when he throws strikes, he seems to be really good. And when he does it, he's terrible. Yeah, and I think that he's probably going to be that kind of pitcher. I wish I had more actionable information for you. But he's going to be inconsistent. He's not good with a capital G. Where did you get that?

That was really clever, by the way, that K and BB thing. Did you come up with that, or did you see that on Twitter? I mean, I've seen people refer to him as Caleb Smith with a K. I saw someone refer to him as Caleb Smith with two Bs yesterday. I just threw him together. All right, you know what? I'm going to give you credit for that then. That's really creative.

You're like one of those DJs that takes two songs that other people wrote that were great and combines them and then acts like he's amazing and other people play along and like, this guy's so good. No, he's just taking two so stupid. All right, what do you do with Caleb Smith? Do you drop him for Vince Velasquez? Yeah. I'd rather have Caleb Smith still.

I thought it was, like, even though the walks went, the control went awry in this start, the swinging strikes were back up after being down the previous two starts. So, like, there's still good stuff here. And, yeah, he'll be inconsistent, but, like, Vince Velasquez won't. We should talk about the other guy in that game, too. All right, we will, we will. Kenta Maida.

I will ask you if it's okay to drop Kenta Maeda. After all, one great start against the Marlins does not make you a great pitcher. You don't have to say yes, by the way, when I ask you. I won't say yes. Okay, fine. I got a lot to say about Kenta Maida. Say yes to Seatgeek, people. Put it on your phone or go to Seatgeek.com.

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Keenan Middleton will have Tommy John surgery. All right, you guys seem hesitant to do it, so I will do it. If there's one pitcher I want in the Angels bullpen, it's Jim Johnson. How about you? I agree. Okay. As much as I can agree with anybody. All right.

Thank you. That's all I wanted. Ryan Braun is on the DL. So, is Domingo Santana criminally under owned? What did I say? It was like 53, 58% owned? The Brewers have really good matchups this week, so I think he'll probably be. be among the top 10 sleeper hitters.

All right. Man, where is the power, Domingo? Where is it? Well, you know, what are I... It's on the ground. Oh, I saw... Here's stats. He has two home runs in his last 13 games. He has three doubles.

So, still not that much power, but... But a 210 ISO in that stretch. A 393 Babbup? That helps. Cole Hamels was scratched with... What, was it, a neck issue for Cole Hamels? I believe That's what it says in the notes

I think that's what happened I mean he was supposed to pitch yesterday Andrew Triggs left with nerve discomfort in his forearm Carlos Rodon is set for a rehab start tomorrow How much interest do you have in stashing Carlos Rodon There are so many pitchers

That are worth owning right now That I would really have trouble stashing him outside of a DL spot. If you do have a DL spot to spare, you should absolutely stash him. Because the last time we saw him, did he pitch it all last season in the majors? Yeah, a little bit. I barely remember it. The last one, we saw him in 2016, he was starting to show signs of getting the walk rate under control and developing that change up. If he can and he can hold his own against Ritey's a little more, there's really high upside here. It's Carlos Rodon we're talking about last year. He threw a, uh, through,

69 and a third innings and had a 415 ERA and a 1-3-7 whip. Cole Hamels, by the way, had a stiff neck, so no big deal. Baltimore was not happy with the strike zone. They are blaming the strike zone last night. They are blaming Kevin Gosman's terrible start on the strike zone. Framerea sat yesterday. He started two of the last three games since being called up. Two of three games.

J.D. Martinez left with the stomach illness. Justin Upton left after being hit by a pitch on the hand. X-rays were negative. to Oscar Hernandez sat with a sore back and Matt Wheaters had hamstring surgery And we have an update from the combo The NBA jam combo conversation that we had yesterday Where I said clearly it's Nolan Aronado

And Charlie Blackman If you were going to take two players from the same team Well Stephen wrote in And said it should be Jose Ramirez And Francisco Indoor But the even better comment was How did we forget Bryce Harper and Trey Turner

Which is a hell of a point Do you guys realize... He's on fire! Yeah. Do you realize that Bryce Harper hit six home runs with a 345 batting average in 10 games, and in his last 32 games, he is batting 204? Boom, Shakalaka. He always does this.

Grabbs the rebound. Is it the shoes? This is really good stuff, guys. No, but I'm waiting for Bryce Harper to be like, he's heating up. For two. I don't know if there's anything to say about Bryce Harper. Actually, like last year, Harper, in his first 21 games, had a 1373 OPS. And then his last 90 games, he wasn't as good.

He's still had a 927 OPS. So it's still really good. All right. Here's what we say about Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper is hitting 232 with an OPS north of 920. Those are good numbers. Well, the OPS is. The batting average, not so much.

Right. He has a 192 Babbup. All right. He has a 929. Yeah, something like that. Nine something. OPS with a 192 babbip. He is fine.

What's more interesting to me is Trey Turner. Having a good year, but he's the number five shortstopping points, number seven in Roto. We were drafting him to be number one. And he got off to a slow start. His first 15 games, Trey Turner hit 211 with four runs scored. Last 28 games, he has batted 302,

four homers, 22 runs in 28 games, 7 steals, 17 walks, 18 strikeouts, 6 doubles, 894 OPS. Everything looks good for Trey Turner in the last 28 games. Yet somehow, over the last 28 days, which is most of that streak, he is still the fifth best shortstop in points and 6 best in Roto. It is weird. Shortstop's the best position in fantasy now. It's weird.

There certainly have been a handful of shortstops who have been among the hottest hitters, of baseball to begin the year. Machado. I think D. DeGregorius is still ahead of him, right? They're like tied, basically. Francisco Lindor. Yeah, like Lindor has like a 1400 OPS over the last three weeks, so he's ahead of Trey Turner. That's not a knock on Trey Turner.

Nope. Is there any shortstop you take over Trey Turner, or is he still number one? Manny Machado. Well, in Roto, the steel's probably still. Where does he rank in Roto? Overall, he's seventh, because the runs are still kind of, low, but that was because he scored four in his first 15 games.

And the batting average is only 270, and he is five homers, so... Yeah, I think him and Machado are probably right there. I don't think Lindor has passed him, but... Machado's right there. If he's your seal source, then, like, you can't trade him for Machado in a Roto League, probably. But I think I moved Machado ahead in both formats. And, you know, we discussed it a little bit before the season.

He's not running as much as he did last year. And that is worth noting. Like he's on like a, it's still a lot, it's like a 50 steel pace, but he stole 44 in like 115 games last year. All right, Trey Turner. Good stuff, though. I mean, 28 walks, 31 strikeouts for the season, so nothing to worry about by any means.

Scott White, let's talk prospects. Pittsburgh's calling up Austin Meadows. It should be a short-term thing. Is Starling Marte. They don't seem too concerned. Marte is on the DL. I should have mentioned that earlier. Sorry.

bleak injury, but it looks like he may have dodged a bullet. Marte, the number 11 outfielder in points, number 6 in Roto. He's having a great year. A dani inch of Aurea left with a hamstring injury. Could that mean Willie Adamas could get called up, if that is how he pronounce his name? Adam Wainwright's on the 60-day DL, so, you know, Flaherty and Reyes are factors. Mike Soroka's on the DL. So which prospect should we be looking at, Mr. White?

Well, Willie Adomas is in the latest prospects report among the top five to stash in light of this Etcherveria news. I feel like it should have happened already. The rays are notoriously frugal when it comes to these promotion decisions. So there's a chance they don't take advantage of this opportunity to turn the page there. But at what's still a position where there's a great amount of need, Willie Adamas has interesting upside. Hasn't shown a lot of power in the minors, but like a good enough,

uh, uh, like shows enough offensive aptitude that I think he could be one of those players who comes to the majors and hits better than he ever did the miners. Um, the top prospect to stash at this point is, I mean, I don't know if we're going to count Alex Reyes. I went ahead and counted him. Like, he's technically a major leaguer on a rehab assignment and not a minor leaguer, but, like, he obviously needs to be stashed. And he does still count as a prospect, yes.

Then Vladimir Guerrero, even though he's 19, he's hit, like, 600 over the last week, getting his batting average for the season up over 400 at double A. Like, it's just going to get embarrassing at some point. He just turned 19, like two weeks. Yeah. He's a baby. He's ridiculous. He's a small child. And I'm putting another 19-year-old.

on there. A guy we've talked about on this podcast a couple times recently. Juan Soto, it's not clear that there's going to be an opening for him in the Nationals outfield this season, particularly if Adam Eaton comes back sooner than later. But, like, the Nationals are getting more competition from the Phillies and Braves than I think people expected coming into the year, and they may not be able to afford to take their time with a guy who, like Guerrero, despite his youth, is just obliterating minor league pitching. Juan Soto already has 50 RBI. I know that's not like a predictive stat,

but that's amazing that basically a month into the minor league season, he has 50 RBI. Yeah, that's pretty good. He's been the best professional baseball hitter in the year 2018. Yeah, he has. So, you know, it's a low probability stash, but it's such an impactful stash that he's among the five, minor leaguers I'd invest a roster spot in right now.

Can I cheat? Sure. This guy's a prospect. Okay. He's not in a minor league system, but Louis Gahara. With Mike Soroka going on the DL, Luis Gahara,

we really liked this guy coming out. He had a breakout season last year, 10.7K per 9 between AA and AAA in his career. He could get a chance with Soroka on the DL. Now, they did say Soroka's issue should be a short-term one, but famous last words, it's a minor shoulder injury

for a young pitcher, so. We'll see. Why is Max Fried starting? He got called up yesterday, but then the game got rained out. He may not even make a start, and Gahara has just been pitching in relief, so they might want more time for him. And I assume it was because he recently had a multi-inning relief

appearance and wouldn't have been rested enough to start. Yeah, he pitched. Three days ago. He pitched on Tuesday. Yeah. Okay. Willie Adamas, Alex Reyes, Luis Goharo, who's 37% owned, Vladimir Guerrero,

Juan Soto. You want to read more about it? Check out Scott's column on cbsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. And let's talk about some of these sluggers that are hitting the cover off the ball. And hopefully you had Brandon Belt in your draft lineup. Also, we're going to look up, see how badly

I lost yesterday on the draft app. Yes, you can follow me, you can beat me, you can take my money on the draft app. You use the promo code FB Today when you make your first deposit. Download draft or go to draft.com, and the promo code is FB Today. Use that code, and you will automatically be following me. Big Cane 2. You can follow me if you don't use the code. Big Cane 2.

Let's see, I did not win yesterday. I came in fourth. I had Jeff, you know what? Yesterday was tough. It wasn't a big slate, and I had the fourth pick, so I knew. I wasn't going to get one of the good pitchers, so I had to go with Samarja. Wasn't my fault yesterday. My hitters weren't bad.

Samarja let me down. The winning team yesterday had Chad Kool, so I guess I can't complain about pitching. But also, Matt Olson, Brandon Belt, Mookie Betts, and Curtis Grannerson. Congratulations to Tony for beating me taking my money. Anyway, you do live snake drafts as often as you want. Every single day on the draft app. You can play for just $1. You get paid the next day.

get some cold hard cash. There's a draft out there for everyone. There's different sports. It's really fun. And the promo code is FB Today. FB today on the draft app when you make your first deposit. All righty, folks. Let's move on and talk about Brandon Bell and Matt Olson and all those guys.

So Olson, you know, 84% own, only 58% started this week. He is batting 239, seven home runs. He's still not having a great year, but three home runs in his last four games. The problem has been lefties. He's got a 503 OPS against lefties. Last year it was a more respectable 759, although he hit just 196, but he had the power. This guy's hitting the ball even harder. You've got a 51.5 hard contact rate.

The soft contact has been cut in half. The home run-to-fly ball ratio, we knew it was unsustainable for Olson. It was 41.4% last year. Now it's 21.9. All right, where are you on Olson? Did we miss the chance to buy low? What's going on here? Matt Olson.

the good news is he does have three and a half times as many doubles as he had last season. Yeah, half his hits were homers last year, basically, like right around half. And the whole thing with him last year was unsustainable in the pace with which he hit home runs relative to all of his other hits. Some of those home runs should have been doubles. But this is still a guy who hit for a lot of power in the minors. That shouldn't have been in doubt. the big thing for me is and as it is with every young lefty

is the stats versus lefties. He looks overmatched against lefties. He has a 43 ISO 043 3.8 walk percentage is actually not striking out against them very much but that he does have like a 30% strike rate on the year

which is obviously very bad. But what that kind of indicates to me is he might just be slapping at the ball and not really making a strong effort to actually hit the way he should against lefties. That'll be a problem. So, all right, Matt Olson, Brandon Belt, C.J. Cron. These guys are, you know, three of the hottest hitters in baseball. How would you rank Matt Olson, Brandon, Bell, C.J. Cron. Brandon, Matt, Olson, C.J. Cron.

I would go Olson, Belt, and then to quote, Billy Bean and Money. ball 20 feet of crap and then CJ Crone. Okay, I'll get to Crone in a second. Is Brandon Belt a sell high or a buy high? Brandon Belt? I think he's a sell high. I think he's good. I just, I don't think he can sustain this kind of performance in his home park. I guess, yeah, if you can get, like if we're being literal about this, people interpret he's a top five first baseman now, then yes, you should sell high. But I do think he's a top 15 first baseman.

I do think he's genuinely improved his value this year. A guy whose name I barely ever say on this show, would you rather have Jose Ibrahim or Brandon Belt? Jose Abraeo. Yep. Yeah, I figured as much. Would you rather have Carlos Santana or Brandon Belt? And they're both better in points leagues than Roto.

Yeah, I might take Belt in a Roto League because you know Santana's going to hurt you in batting average in that point. format, but in points league, I'll take Santana. Yeah. Okay. So are we getting any closer to buying in to C.J. Crone, who is homered in three straight games and is now respectable against Ritey's this year. Scott, you like him more than I do. More than you do, but it's hard to like him less than you do. Like, I just, there's a lot of good first baseman. Yeah. I don't think he's one of them.

If he was, like, second base eligible, I think I'd like him. He is a top 30 first baseman for me, which, I mean, good for him, but also not very good. So, like, this was a really good week for him matchup-wise, and he's taking advantage of it. So I will pat myself on the back for including him among the top 10 sleeper hitters. I guess I should have made him number one, but nonetheless, he's taking advantage in a predictable way. How about Yasil Pui, guys? is heating up. He's heating up. Three home runs in his last four games.

And he, I mean, he's really been terrible, though. 2.14, three homers all year. It does have four steals. In his last 92 games of last season, Yassio Puig had a 920 OPS. We were hoping it would carry over into this year. It hasn't. He's 80% own, though. What do you think about Puig?

I think he's going to turn things around eventually and make some people regret dropping him. I also don't think he, like somebody who you should just leave in your lineup in a three outfielder league. I don't think the upside is that high. We have seen the worst of Yossi El Puig this season most likely. He's going to be a, yeah, in that three to four outfielder range. Okay.

Oh, let's see what we're going to do now. I think we could take a look at the most added list. That's always fun. Let's see who the people are adding. Freddie Peralta has gone from 1% to 71% owned. He's got to be pitching against... Is he pitching tonight?

Saturday. He's pitching tomorrow against the twins. So Freddie Peralta is the most added player. Brewer's pitcher. Remember, Chase Anderson is coming back on Monday, so I guess we'll see what happens with Peralta. Framil Reyes is 40% on. He's number two.

Kyle Freeland and Jordan Liles and Andrew Heaney are the next three on the most added list. Kyle Freeland, Jordan Liles, Andrew Hini. We already talked about Liles being a... somewhat intriguing two-star pitcher. What do we think about Kyle Freeland? And he, let's see, I'm just trying to look up his,

he's pitching tonight at San Francisco, and then he's at the Dodgers in a one-star week next week. Kyle Freeland, 50% owned, you said? I think it could be a little higher than that. He's kind of, I've expressed some enthusiasm on this podcast recently for Tyler Anderson, who I also said earlier. in today's podcast is outside the top 70 pitchers. So, you know, to kind of contextualize that enthusiasm.

Freeland's doing some similar things for the Rockies. They both came up through that system, obviously, and they both, for the second straight year, are among the best weak contact pitchers in baseball. I feel like after nearly 30 years of playing a mile high, the Rockies organization has figured out something that works for the pitchers they're their homegrown pitchers and you know they're they've both been better at home than on the road so they're they're usable and uh but you know I'm not I'm not saying either is must own Kyle Freeland okay Kyle Freeland or Andrew Heaney Heaney Andrew Heaney or Freddie Peralta Andrew Heaney or Freddie Peralta?

Yeah. I think I'll go Peralta. It could change with Peralta's next start. Oh, well. Very helpful. Okay. Tyler Klippard is on the most added list. That makes sense.

He's 48% own, and most of the guys on this list we have talked about. So let's take a look at yesterday a little bit more. And players that you might want to drop tonight, though, is going to be a nice night. For me, it's going to be a blue, Apron night. I think I will be making my Tokyo Beef Bowl. It will be delicious. Now, Blue Apron, for a limited time, is teaming with

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Get three meals free at Blue Apron.com slash fantasy baseball. That is Blue Apron, a better way to cook. Blue Apron.com slash fantasy baseball. All right. What do you think about dropping these players? Say there's someone like an Andrew Heaney that you really want to pick up or a two-star pitcher that you want to pick up. Are you okay to drop Matt Chapman? No.

Yes. No, Chris. I'm surprised to hear that. Why? I didn't think you like Matt Chapman. No, I think he's pretty good. Okay. And Scott says yes.

I mean, that obviously makes a difference if you're talking about a league with a corner in field spot or not. But even in that, I don't think it's like a hard no for me. How about, and there's some weird names on this list, I admit. Aaron Sanchez. He's not that weird. Yeah. Drop him. Easy to drop.

Yeah. You should have dropped them already, probably. I'd rather have Nick Povetta. Me too. Justin Smoke. Yep. You know he's the top 10 in first basement in points leagues? Justin Smoke is ninth in points.

And 14th in Roto. He's hot right now. Scott ranks 15th at first base, actually. Oh, Scott? In points. So Scott's a points league guy. Now, Smoke is really annoying. I have him in the podcast points league.

Every time I'm ready to drop him, he does just enough to be like, no, Adam. Don't do it. The really annoying thing about him, is like, we've done this, I think it's four straight years now, where like all the stats, like the underlying batted ball metrics and all that, look pretty much the same, usually really good. And then, like, last year he's awesome. Two years ago, he couldn't stop striking out.

Three years ago he was just not that good. And now he's just, eh. He does walk a lot, so in points leagues, I mean, that helps. Adam Jones. Are you okay to drop Adam Jones? Not in a five outfield league, but otherwise, yes. Yeah. Ian Kinsler, 70% own. Yeah.

Yeah. Unless it's a middle and field spot. Kenta Maeda. New. So here's the thing about Maeda. All right, obviously, great start. You can dismiss it because it was the Marlins, whatever. 19 swinging strikes yesterday.

That number has actually been consistently high for him. Not only that, but he has a super high Babbitt before yesterday's start, it was approaching 400. Not only that, but he has a FIPP right now of 282, even before yesterday's start, it was like 320. Not only that, but you worry about the innings for him, are the Dodgers going to let him pitch deep enough? Well, you look at his numbers the third time through the order, both last year and this

year, they're actually better than the first two times through the order, and the Dodgers right now need all the help they can get. So I'm having a hard time finding anything Maeda's doing wrong. Not only that, he gets the Rockies at home next week, which could be good. But not only that, despite the numbers third times with the order, this was the first start all year of more than six innings for Maeda. Just saying. Yeah.

But we'll take six is the thing. Not his most. Not his most pitches. I think this was like the third or fourth most pitches of his season. He's had a couple of starts with over 100 pitches. Okay, so maybe there's better things to come from Maeda, even if it's just six innings at a time. Are you okay to drop Josh Bell, who's, you know, hitting better lately?

Josh Bell. He's in that smoke category. I think he's probably more in the Crone category. I was really hopeful because he did talk about changing his swing to hit more fly balls. And he's another one of those guys who, the raw power is there. He's big. He hits the ball hard, but he hits the ball into the ground,

and the batted ball profile has not changed. I think he's probably in the C.J. Crone range, which makes him worth owning, but also worth dropping. Yeah, Josh Bell last year was 15th in points, 17th in Roto at first base. He was really bad April and May, batted 222 with a 735 OPS. His next three months, Josh Bell was great. He had an 896 OPS. And then final month of the year, September plus a few days of October.

Terrible. 639 OPS. So he was frustrating, but he was young. Seeing some better things lately. Interesting player is probably not going to measure up power-wise. Yeah. These are all first basemen, smoke, bell, and even Crohn, who are like top, between my top, between 20 and 30 in my first base rankings,

which on the one hand says something about the depth at first base, even with it being off to a slow start pretty much all the way through, there's still a lot of potential at the position. Okay, so here's what I want to do for the next 15 minutes or so. Take a look at some of the pitchers from yesterday and then read some emails. It should only take about four minutes. And then look at the two-star pitchers for next week

and a little bit of weekend match-up stuff. Let's look at yesterday's pitchers. Four-man rotation of pitchers owned an 80-part. percent of leagues or more. Chris Archer. Really good start. Six and two-thirds, two hits, no runs at the Angels, but all of a sudden the strikeouts really aren't there. 57 strikeouts and 59 in a third for Chris Archer? What the hell is that all about? And will you start him against Boston this week? Luke Weaver had a nice start against the Phillies, and he gets Kansas City this week. Kevin Gosman was terrible. I did not start him. I did not trust Gossman in this matchup,

but I will trust him at the White Sox and at the Rays next week. And Tyler Skaggs is getting better and better, I think, guys. And he's at Toronto next week, which will be interesting. Archer, Weaver, Gossman, Skaggs, take it away, boys. You want us to rank them? Yeah, sure. Archer, Skaggs. Whoa, Skaggs over Weaver.

Weaver Gossman. I'm just, I don't know, I'm not totally bought in with Luke Weaver. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because he's been really bad. out this year. Last two starts though, he's come around. The problem for him

during that rough patch is he just wasn't throwing enough strikes. And he's the kind he doesn't have a swing in this arsenal. He has to pound the strike zone, get ahead of the count, and then he can put hitters away. And if he falls behind he just doesn't have the knockout stuff to come back

and take care of business. But he's second on the list for me. The way you listed him here is how I'd rank them. Weaver Gosman Skaggs. Not, which isn't to say I don't like Skaggs. He's been very consistent this year, but I do think the upside is the lowest of the four. What do you think about Archer's strikeouts? Less than a strikeout peruni.

Well, to be honest, I hadn't noticed. I had been mostly encouraged by the way things have gone for him lately. Four of his last six starts have been good. I'm going to see if the swinging strike rate is different, because if it's, The same. I'm not really going to worry about the script. It's exactly the same. It's exactly the same. So that seems pretty fluky. Is he at Boston this week?

No, he's home against Boston. Otherwise, otherwise it'd be a set for me. Yeah, I think I'd start him. Okay, I think I'm going to look up his history, not now, of how he does at home against Boston over the last two seasons. Because I know he's been terrible at Fenway Park. Yep. But I'd have a hard time. Three of his last four starts have been very good in good, in good pitching environments. I'd have a hard time sitting archer.

Hey, is Skaggs approaching must-start territory? He's 80% owned. No. Not must-start, no. I mean, probably start him more often than not, but if he had one-start week and there was an interesting two-start pitcher you could go with instead,

clearly this week is not the week for that, then I could see sitting scags. Okay, fringy starting pitchers. We had Tyler Chatwood, we had Jake Faria. I'm combining two days of no. by the way, because they didn't get to this yesterday. Tyler Chatwood, Jake Faria, Trevor Cahill, Zach Wheeler, Matt Cook, Jeff Samarja.

I guess he was okay yesterday. Caleb Smith. Chad Betas, Brandon McCarthy, Matt Harvey, Nate Jones. Oh, Nate Jones, by that it's a separate section. He got a save yesterday. Which is the moment I saw that, I was like, okay, I officially don't care about the white sucks bullpen.

Who are some fringy starting pitchers that might be available in leagues that you'd be interested in picking up from the list I just read? I'm not going to read him again. Just give me some names. Brandon McCarthy. It's 28% owned. I think that should be higher. The peripherals are, I think, better than the 505 ERA.

And the peripherals have been good for the last couple of years. I think as long as he's healthy, I think he's going to be a useful fantasy option. I'd much rather have him. How about this for a hot take? I would much rather have Brandon McCarthy than Tyler Chattwood. Tyler Chattwood is the luckiest man in America. I mean, Tyler Chattwood isn't very good.

Right, but he's 80% owned, and he's 59% started. I don't get it. Yeah, that's got to stop. I mean, he's got a 314 ERA. If there are people who honestly believe in him, then I mean, I guess the ownership percentage. I'm surprised he's that owned with a walk rate as high as he has, but we have mentioned a lot of pitchers who I would drop Tyler Troutwood for. But like, I don't know, I can't really get on board with the McCarthy love. It's a 457 FEP on the year. And he's like barely hanging on do his job, I feel like, with Gohara, biting his time in the bullpen. Eventually, maybe they want to give Max Breed an even longer look.

So the issue there is... Goldie Gallard is going to be up at some point. The issue there is the 21% home run rate, home run to fly ball rate, 376 X-FIP. But it's 7.4K per 9 is 3.3BB per 9. He's not really doing anything that well. All right, guys, moving on. I still am not giving up on Jake Faria. I think you can start him in big parks.

He was terrible two days ago. Had absolutely nothing at Kansas City. But I don't know. Look, I don't think he's a must start, but I don't think he's a must drop either. And let's read these e-mail. Do we have time for this? All right, we go turbo speed on the emails, guys? Yes.

Ludicrous speed. Ludicrous speed. From Chris, which Houston catcher should I start rest of season? McCann or Gattis. Gattis. From Mike, 12-te-to-head categories, 6x6. I have a roster crunch. Who should I drop?

Conforto, Trey Mancini, or Byron Buxton? I would drop... Is it Roto? Yes. Categories. Mancini. Yeah, I would drop Mancini. From Eric and Costa Mesa, would you drop Tyone for any of these pitchers in a points league?

Tyone. Drop him for Povetta, Flaherty, Heaney, or Bundy. I would hope you have a worse pitcher on your staff to drop, but I think Nick Povetta's better. Well, I think Bundy's the best of all of them. Grade the trade from Josh. Give Harper and Hoskins, get Mike Trout. C? C. Harper and Hoskins from Trout. That's a losing trade. That's too much. I'll give it a D-plus.

Grade the trade from no name, 10-team Categories League. Give up Blake Snell, get Anthony Rendon. B. Blake Snell for Rendon. Blake Snell for Rendon. I'll give it a C-plus. From Lew in Connecticut, with Berea being sent down, Jaime Berea, is he worth picking up and dropping either Rich Hill or Tyler Anderson? No.

No, I'd rather have Hill, for sure. From Corey, this question's a little bit too long. Yeah, a little bit too long. Sorry, Corey. And Joe, from a small town north of Boston, wants to know some weekend streamers. Weekend streamers. I was looking, like for this weekend, who to pick up? I was looking while the guys were talking earlier, and I found some.

Tonight I am streaming Sabhafia at Kansas City. I don't think I would stream Felix Hernandez against Detroit, would you guys? I actually don't mind that. Yeah. I probably wouldn't, but you could do worse. Tropiano against Tampa Bay? No I like Kyle Freeland at San Francisco

Or do I Do I like Kyle Freeland in San Francisco? He's better at home I like him the best of the options You've mentioned so far I prefer Kyle Gibson Versus Milwaukee Me too

Yeah okay How about you like Freeland over Sabathia Who is Sabathia facing again At Kansas City Okay so no I like Sabathia more Sorry tomorrow I've got

Zach Eflin At the Cardinals I don't believe in Zach Eflin one little bit, so I would not be with you there. No, no, no, I was asking. I'm not to... Oh, okay. Nick Kingham is 50% owned.

He's got the Padres tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. That could be a nice one. We've got Freddie Peralta at Fernando Romero. Romero. I don't know that you can pick either of those guys. Yeah, I mean, Peralta is 71% owned.

Freddie Peralta at Minnesota? I would start both of those guys. Yeah. Okay. And I'm going to leave it at that. Sorry, I will not have time to get to Sunday's games. All right, let's take a look at the two-star pitchers. We can probably do this pretty quickly because they suck.

Any studs that were worried about next week? Trying to look for like an at Colorado, even though I'm not sure that's a huge deal anymore. We're going to start Walker Bueller home against Colorado in San Diego. That's beautiful. You guys are on board with Gosman at the White Sox and at Tampa Bay? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Tyone at Cincinnati and home against St. Louis. Sure. Yeah. All right, so now we get to the guys who are owned in 60% of leagues or fewer. Well, here's an interesting one. Jay Hap versus the Angels at Philadelphia. He's struggled a bit. The strikeouts are still there, but he's a lot of home runs.

Those are two teams that can hit some ding-dongs. I think as few two-starred options are there, I don't. I don't think twice about it. Hap is in. Okay. So we will not be hapless next week. L-O-L. All right.

You said no to Faria, two starts against Boston and Baltimore at home. Yeah. Yeah. Matt Cook at Milwaukee at Oakland. Nope. Yep. Yolish has seen, Arizona and the Mets. No, I'm not.

Halfway consider. him like just straining for a sleeper. Yeah. But I'd rather not. Mike Leak at Oakland and home against Minnesota. Another interesting one. Like, yeah, if you're like really desperate. But I'd rather not.

How about, I'm just trying to get met. Mike Leake's game log. Yeah, could do worse, I guess. Zach Wheeler, no. Well, he's got Miami and at Milwaukee. Nah. And Trevor Cahill, Seattle and Seattle. Arizona.

That was one of the two we could tepidly endorse. And Jordan Lyles at Geo, at, at Washington and at the Dodgers. Oh, man. Maybe if we could give Jordan Lyles Trevor Cahill's matchups. Andrew, but, okay, Liles and Cahill are like our two kind of favorites. We're not going to risk it on Cashner, Harvey, Ian Kennedy, Cologne, home against the Yankees and royals? Like,

I'm sure someone out there is making an argument for this, but I just, I don't believe in Cologne at all. I think this is as hitable as he's ever been, and it just hasn't caught up to him yet. I don't even think I should read the other names. And I'm not going to.

Screw you other names. Eliezer Hernandez. I like him because there's Azer in it. I just wanted to say, At the Mets and O'HSA. I want to practice, L.E.Azer. The Mets right now are probably one of the worst offenses without sestpidus, but at Washington is his other matchup.

And he is an Azer. And he's not good. Okay, then I think we can look at today's games and yesterday's favorites. Right? Like today's hits, yesterday's favorites. 97.3 of the coast. Dodgers National. Adam.

Scott, Heath and Chris. Ross Stripling at Max Scherzer. Sid Stripling starts Scherzer. How about Tyson Ross at Yvonne Nova? Oh, Ivan Nova, I guess, is a streaming option. Yeah, I would start both. Nova is 62% owned. I don't like Nova.

Even against the Padres? Yeah. Brett Anderson at Marco Estrada. I would sit both. Or not start both. Correct. We are going to start Zach Goddly and Jacob de Grom. Alex Cobb,

at Drew Pomerans. I would probably not start either. Neither's these. John Lester. John Lester at Homer Bailey. John Lester. Oh, I can't wait for Billy Hamilton to steal four bases tonight. Oh, yeah.

Actually, he usually homers against John Lester or something. He's got really oddly good history against John Lester. Dan Straitly at Sean Newcomb. Newcomb. Newcomb. Newcomb all. Damn near killed him. Clevenger at Charlie Morton.

I will start bothsies. It's a fun match. Matt Moore, Carson Folmer. That's fun magic the other way. Yeah, sit both. Brent Suter, Kyle Gibson. I will start Kyle Gibson. Me too.

Jake Arieta, Michael Waka. I guess both. I mean... That's a couple of arsonists. That's two guys who are playing with fire. Right. C.C. Sabathia and Jake Junis. You will start C.C. Sabatia.

I don't know about Junis. Start both these. Is it at New York? No, it's Kansas City. Okay, yeah, definitely both. Blake Snell and Nick Troppiano. I think you probably start both. Yeah, I'm not starting to drop.

No Tropiano. Michael Fulmer and Felix Hernandez. Felix. I'd be more likely to start Fulmer. The Mariners aren't a terrible matchup, I guess. Actually. Yeah, I mean, Nelson Cruz's availability could be a big factor with Fullmer.

Yeah. Yeah. And Kyle Freeland, Derek Holland. So Freeland is definitely not Holland. What about Freeland? That's a maybe. I like him better than either Fulmer or Hernandez.

I like you both better than Fulmer and Hernandez. Thank you, Chris and Scott. Thank you all for listening. We'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend, everybody. Good luck. See you later.