Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Weekend Roundup

Episode Date: May 22, 2017

If Koda Glover, Edwin Diaz or Devon Travis are still available in your league you may want to add them. If you're in a deeper league, keep an eye on Mike Clevinger and Erasmo Ramirez, plus a few underowned hitters (44:00). We review the Most Added list (17:00) and help you make some moves on today's show ... Who's better rest of season: Masahiro Tanaka or Marco Estrada (5:12)? Is Jeff Samardzija's impressive stretch of starts legit (21:00)? ... We talk hot-hitting catchers (25:00), underowned pitchers (57:00), today's matchups (58:50) and much more ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Fantasy Week 8. It is Monday, May 22nd. Hope you all had a great weekend. I sure did. Scott and Heath, they never say, how was your weekend? So I'm just going to tell you all I had a great weekend. Scott and Heath, how was your weekend? I trust yours is good.

Oh, you just assume. You don't even ask. You've got a really nice haircut. Looks super sharp. That feels sarcastic to me. Like, every time I compliment somebody in any way, they look at me as if I'm insulting them somehow. It was that smile.

That smile on your face just felt so insincere. Am I supposed to frown when I compliment you? Well, it's just like mischievous smile. Right. You give whenever you're trying to rile somebody up. So, yeah, it's hard to take you, it's hard to take it sincerely. Let me, let me rile Heath up. I watched, and this will be the last thing I say until later on in the show about this subject,

I watched one play of basketball, one single play, the intense. entire weekend. One play, and it was Avery Bradley's game-winning shot. And boy, do I have something negative to say about it. But that's coming up later. Right now, baseball, agree or disagree, I didn't feel like this was the most addie-droppy kind of weekend, you know? Yeah. I agree. This is the least I spent on WaverWire on any Sunday, much to the relief of my wife and son. Yeah, I have to write WaverWire on Monday morning and finding the names for today's WaverWire was not that fun. You guys had some names that I didn't put in there. So we'll have some disagreements on that.

Let's do it right now. Let's do Cota Glover, right? Devin Travis. Devin Travis. Still being below 50% owned. And I wrote in WaverWire a little bit about how we talk about sequencing with starting pitchers and how it matters from start to start. Maybe you get a little bit unlucky because five hits were strung together, whereas if

you've given up five hits over six innings, it wouldn't have been. a big deal. But I kind of feel like that's what happened with Travis, too, because we were all pretty much on the, Travis should be universally owned. He has a just awful April. That was a lot of bad luck and bad performance. Now he's crushing the baseball again. And everybody's just really slow to react because his season long numbers don't look that great. He should be owned in all Roto leagues. And he's getting really close to the point to where I think he should be owned in all points leagues. Would you take him over like Jason Kipness? That's the tier that I have not moved him ahead of yet.

Yeah, Scott, you just asked about Kipness. I was going to ask about Padroia. Would you drop Padroia? I'm moving him ahead of Padroia. Devin Travis, 43% own batting 369 in May with one walk to 13 strikeouts. But he does have 14 doubles in May alone, only one homer. I actually, so I dropped him in that Roto League that Heath ended up in because I have Kipness. And if Kipness gets hurt, I have Carpenter that I could move there.

But still, I knew. I knew Devin Travis was going to be the one guy that I dropped, that I regretted dropping, and I totally regret it now. So good for him. Yeah. But Cota Glover, Scott, that was somebody that we talked about off the air. Dusty Baker's kind of saying he's the best right now. Not committing to him as the closer, but he got a four-out save yesterday and did a really nice job. Well, the quote I saw was we're willing to give it to him as long as he keeps doing the job, which is kind of the understanding.

stated standard for anyone in the closer role, right? Kind of. The problem with that, and I feel like the problem with all of the Washington closers, is like we're willing to give it to him until he stops doing the job. There's some other names on this list like Sung Juan O, Kelvin Herrera, that have not done the job several times, and they get to keep doing it. And Glover, like saying, I'll give it to him until he doesn't do the job, so what, he messes up once and he's not the closure again? I would imagine it would depend how early that mess up is. If he messes up the next opportunity, then, yeah, it's all back up in the air still. But if he converts five saves in a row, I think that buys him some leash.

I still think ultimately the Nationals, they have too much to lose by not acquiring a closer. So that's going to happen. But Cota Glover is clearly the frontrunner right now. And the clearest frontrunner, I think they've had in weeks. And Edwin Diaz, if he's available, you might want to pick him up, because after he pitched well on Friday, it was said that he's going to get it back. I think it was Scott Service said. He's going to get it back soon, the closers role, something like that.

And, yeah, Edwin Diaz came in on Friday in a tie game, pitched two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and Tony Zick's struggle. They haven't really had anybody take over. They used James Pazos in the sixth inning or the seventh inning. So the writing's on the wall there. That's going to happen sooner rather than later. But enough about closers. Here's a question for you.

Let's start the show. Well, not exactly start the show. But five minutes into the show, let's start the show with this. Who would you rather have Masahiro Tanaka or Marco Estrada? And aren't their names kind of similar? Well, they both start with M's, and they both end with A's. And their last names end with O's. The less letter of their first name is, oh, no, that's wrong, actually.

But they do sound kind of sound, oh no, they both, yeah, Masa Hero, Marco. I don't think this is the part we need to be breaking down. I do, Scott. Like, I want to be different than the other podcasts. No, I don't. Who would you rather own Estrada or Tanaka? Well, they both need to be owned. So, you know, Estrada, I think, it's more like Tanaka's fallen behind.

Estrada for me, though I would say also Estrada's value has improved since the start. of the year. He's getting more strikeouts than he has since putting on a Blue Jays uniform. He's had strikeout seasons kind of like this back in his Brewer days, but he was sort of a different pitcher overall back then. And his best pitch to the change up, he's been emphasizing it a lot. He threw it like 50% of the time in this 12 strikeout effort at Baltimore, and they're just like, they can't see the difference out of the hand between the change up and the fastball. So there's like a 12 mile per hour difference on them and nobody can hit it. I'm moving Estrada up.

I'm moving Tanaka down. They're not going to pass each other yet, though. I still, I haven't given up on Tanaka becoming a borderline fantasy ace again. And I just don't see that type of upside for Estrada. Like I think Estrada could be a very nice low end number two, high end number three. It is very best. Well, if he's maintaining this strikeout and walk rate, I mean, it's been an elite control pitcher, too. Then I think he could, at least by today's standard of this.

Yes, if he continues to strike out 10 batters per nine and keep his walks below three, then he will be. What if it's nine batters per nine? Where is the babbip? Is it where it's been the last two years? No, this is unbelievable to me. This blew my mind with Estrada. Okay, so his babbip this year is $2.95. It was going into yesterday's start.

It's $2.90 now. It was $2.17, two years ago, and $2.34 the year before. I didn't realize this. His opponent's batting average. He's got to be one of the best in baseball over the last three years. He keeps an opponent's hitting about $200 each of the last two years. If he strikes out a batter per inning and gets back to the 240 Babbitt, then yeah, he could be an ace that way, too. Well, he's basically been an ace so far, even with that high Babbitt.

Yeah, he has been. But I was amazed. I didn't realize. Look, Estrada's really good. Three years in a row now with the Blue Jays where you can expect. He's got a 330 ERA now, and I think that's kind of what he's been. And I guess I wanted to talk more about Tanaka. Okay.

Because I was thinking back to last year, and Price was really bad, and Verlander was really bad, and Keikl was really bad. And I don't know. I guess generally speaking, Unless there's an injury, I just feel like starting pitchers with a track record, they turn it around. But a lot of those pitchers didn't turn it around, at least not. Well, like Sunny Gray didn't it? Garrett Cole didn't.

Well, Cole didn't. Well, Cole got hurt. Okay. But, no, you're right. I want to keep thinking of more examples because I feel like Tanaka's going to turn it around. Yeah, I mean, Kikl really didn't. I mean, he had like a two-month stretch, Kiko with like a 320. 330 E.R.A. But he never got back to being

Kichol, and then he got hurt, and then he went on the D.L. But he was pitching hurt all year. He was kind of hurt all along. Yeah, exactly. I look at Tanaka's numbers for the season, and his swinging strike rate is higher than it's been since 2014. He's throwing more pitches in the strike zone than he ever has. I don't believe he's going to continue to give up a 25% home run to fly ball rate. Well, that's why those comparisons Adam was bringing up are interesting,

because, I mean, gray peripherally looks like the same pitcher. Granky did last year as well. But, yeah, like you said, Tanaka, his slider and split rates, so, you know, his secondary pitches, both of their whiff rates are up. His velocity is up. But there's nothing. That's so weird, Scott, because it just keeps being said about Masa Hiro Tanaka that he hasn't had his splitter, like, all year.

Yeah, yeah. So, and I was trying, people keep coming up with these narratives that when I tried to see, if the data backs it up, they really don't. I've heard obviously the, oh, well, the elbow injury is finally catching up to him. But I don't think the velocity would be up if that's the case. So I don't know. I'd absolutely buy low on him now, but I can't guarantee he's going to turn things around. I think we're beyond that point.

Well, if we look back to last week, we talked about a lot of pitchers that were struggling. And almost all of them had good starts over the world. weekend. DeGrom, struggling, you know, his whip was high as walks were high, and he still walk three, I think, but he had a really good start. Now he's a blister, of course. Areeta had a really good start. Verlander had a, you know, certainly a good enough start. Carlos Martinez through a complete game. Tanaka, I think, was really the only one in that group that we were talking about a week ago. Oh, Kentano was another guy that had a good start. Tanaka was like the only one that had a bad start. Salazar continued to do what he's done.

I wasn't really including him, but yes, Salazar. This is a lot. This was actually a great start for Salazar, but it wasn't a very good start. Oh, you know what else I heard about Tanaka? Not to get us bogged down on that, but a narrative I've heard is that he's not locating pitches while they're up in the zone. I looked at the heat map from this year compared to last year. It couldn't be closer to identical. No, but what is happening, you know, from what I've noticed and heard on the broadcast

is that he's, remember I talked about how he was kind of like Dallas Keiko when he was doing well Tanaka, not too long ago, that great start against the Red Sox. everything was down, down, down, down, down. He's getting a ton of ground balls. Hitters are laying off, and they are forcing him to throw up in the zone, and he is getting hammered. And the home runs, two or three years ago wasn't for Tanaka? The home runs were really the reason why he had a disappointing season.

And they are back. Yeah, and then last year, yeah, that's been up and down rate for him. Which is fine if it goes back up to 1.3 homers per nine, he's going to have a disappointing season, but he's at two and a half per nine right now. I think, I agree, Scott, like, I do, people, you know, every time he gets hammered now, is, is Tanaka still the best by-low? I still believe in him. If he's not hurt, I still believe that Tanaka's going to turn it around because I believe

that any pitcher with the track record is going to turn it around. But yeah, you do bring up good points about Sonny Gray, about Zach Granky last year, where they really didn't turn around. They were not good by-low candidates. We probably were calling them that last year. I don't remember, but I'm sure we were. And it didn't work out. I thought it's also like we can say regression is coming.

We don't get to say when it's going to come. It may not come for two months. It may come in his very next start. And in a case of somebody like Grinky, it may not happen until the next year. Yeah. I'd take a shot on it. Would we all agree that, you know, that he's a buy-low candidate Tanaka? Yes.

Okay. You know, you could hopefully super low at this point. So who did we add and drop? What were some of your interesting transactions, if any, over the weekend. I picked up Bradley Zimmer for a zero dollar bid in our head-to-head auction league. Picked up Travis in a couple of spots. Picked up a couple of two-star pitchers, Jordan Montgomery and one, Tyler Glassnow in one. I'm not, I think there's some encouraging things for Glass Now. I'm not sure. I'm not ready to give up on him ever being good. Oh, I'm not either, but I'm not ready to

put him in my starting lineup when he can hurt me twice. Mike Clevenger was the starting pitcher I put in the claim for... Oh, yeah, we can't consider Tyler Glass Now. Well, I... Fight Clevenger, A. What is Glass Now done? You know what Glass Now's name should be? Glass Now should be glass half empty now. That should be...

That should be him? That should be his name. Because right now, Glass is kind of half empty. Well, Clevenger threw seven, two-hit innings with eight strikeouts and only two walks after having some control issues in his first two starts. Not a pedigree quite as grand as glass now, but he was a prospect,

I think before he exhausted that last year. Now, his start this week, I think it's a favorable matchup, I think maybe KC. That sounds right. They play the Royals. It's probably going to be his last term before Corey Kluber comes back,

so this may end up being just a short-term pickup for me. But if he dominates the Royal, as well, I think any of Bauer, Tomlin, or potentially even Salazar, could get bumped for him. Well, we got an email from

who's it from? It is from David. And he says, hey, Carl, Nick, Adrian, and Josh. I don't. I'm not sure. Mike Fultenevich has two starts this week. At home against the Pirates

and in San Francisco. If you take out the seven-run start against the Cardinals, Fultenevich has a 287 ERA. Is Mike Fultenevich, who's 47-% owned in CBSPorts.com leagues, a must-start pitcher with the pirates at home and the Giants on the road? He's an okay start. I mean, like, he's a more exciting two-star option than most of what you'll probably find on the waiver wire. In my mixed leagues, I couldn't motivate myself to drop someone else to pick him up and get those two starts. The ERA is good, but there's not a lot peripherally to back it up. He's not missing a lot of bats.

It seemed like, you know, obviously the seven-run start against the Cardinals was not really who he is, but I don't think the 287 ERA is really who he is either. All righty. Let's look at the most added list then here on CBSports.com. Later on in the show, we'll go through, you know, all the pitchers that we usually do. I think we'll probably have time to look at Monday's matchups and tell you who to start and sit just based on today. Fultenevich is really going to be a tough one for me.

In the Points League, it's kind of an easy call, like we always say. In a Roto League, you don't want to put a two-star pitcher in there and get two bad starts. Could really hurt you, but it's probably going to come down for me to like Fultenevich or a middle reliever just to make sure I get the whip. I picked up Tommy Connolly, by the way, because as the nationals keep looking and looking, like it just seems like David Robertson is obviously going to be,

a trade candidate. He's going to get traded eventually, you'd think. And do you think it would be Conley or Nate Jones who took over? Well, Nate Jones, is he back from the DL? He's been hurt for a lot of this year. No, I think he's supposed to start a rehab assignment later this week. Yeah, so that

I think... Connolly's probably in the driver's seat right now. I don't really know that I expect any trades to happen until June. It gets really rare for trades to happen way before the trade deadline. We're in May 20 seconds, so, you know... Right. I think it'll be late June.

Okay. Maybe it won't be, but... Look, in a Roto League, I can stand having Conley on my bed, even in my lineup before he's a closer for a month, you know, just being so good with the ratios and strikeouts. Cape 9 is unbelievable. Yeah. All right, here's the most added list.

It's mostly hitters, and we've got to talk about the Cubs in their lineup, because Ian Hap is the third most added player. Ian Hap or Devin Travis, if you need a second baseman. Yep. Okay. Yep. Justin Smoke, number one, Bradley Zimmer, number two, Ian Hap, number three on the most added list.

Hap is the most owned of those guys. He's playing center field with Hayward back, so it looks like he's here to stay. Okay. Armand Marquez is number four, and he's got two starts this week. One of them is a home start for Marquez. What did you think? He's 40% owned.

I wasn't motivated to pick him up. Yeah, I mean, that's... I think there are about... 20 two-star pitchers that I'm really confident using this week, and he's like number 30. If you look at my two-star pitcher rankings on the site, maybe he's more like 25, but he's outside of that group for me. Where was Matt Garza? He's on the most added list, too. He, I don't believe he's a two-star pitcher anymore. I think Jimmy Nelson, that's been a change since Friday when I first put together the list. Jimmy Nelson's now the Brewers' two-star pitcher for this week.

Until there's a rain delay and nobody makes two-star. A rain out. In a vacuum, would you rather have Jimmy Nelson who has Toronto? They're hitting pretty decently right now and Arizona, both at home. Nelson or Garza? There's no rainouts in the law. Yeah, no. That joke doesn't work. Sorry.

Yeah, back to your question. Jimmy Nelson or who? Garza. I think, I have a little more confidence in Garza right now, but Jimmy Nelson's had a couple good starts in a row. There may be something to build off there. Corey Canable is 69% owned. He is the Brewer's Closer, so if you need one.

Would you rather have Canabel or Edwin Diaz? I think Diaz. But the fact I have to think shows how much of an upgrade Canabel is over... Yeah, I'd go with Diaz. Just because I feel like we're seeing almost every week, we're talking about closers that are 40 to 60% owned. and I don't know that I expect and able to keep up this level of performance throughout the year.

Chris Taylor for the Dodgers. Now Logan Forsyth is expected to come back on Tuesday and play third base. Chris Taylor is 24% owned. What do you think about him? I don't really buy what he's done so far this year. He's a nice short-term replacement. I don't think he's going to be a long-term answer to anything. Okay.

And looking at the rest of the most out of list, I mean, it's a lot of two-star pitchers. So let's just move on. Any big time weekend standouts for you, guys? A couple of short stops. I don't know if I'd say big time, but they were maybe one of Scott's favorite deeper short stops and my favorite deeper short stops

that didn't hit a lick for the first five weeks of the season. Tim Anderson and Dansby Swanson are both doing their best Devon Travel impersonations over the last week. Who are you more excited about Tim Anderson or Dansby Swanson? I'm going to say Danesby Swanson and I'm going to say Tim Anderson. Right. I haven't been motivated to add either, though. I mean, Tim Anderson, his strikeout to walk ratio is still horrendous. And Swanson's still striking out a lot too.

They moved him up to his second in the order Sunday, which may boost his appeal in the long run if he can keep the job. But against Strasbourg yesterday, who had a season high 11 strikeouts, I think Swanson struck out two or three times. So I don't know. He also had a big two-run double, but, yeah, I don't know. There's still a lot of reason for skepticism there. All right, well, Jeff Samarja certainly was a standout, in my opinion. He went on the road to St. Louis and fired eight shutout innings, five hits, no walks, eight strikeouts, giving Samarja 10 walks to 71 strikeouts in 61 innings.

He still has a 457 ERA. But in his last five starts, Samarja's got a 270 ERA with one walk and three. 41 strikeouts in 36 and 2 thirds. Woo! Well, if it's last four starts, it's 36 strikeouts to zero walks. Oh. Everybody's going to buy in just in time for him to implode. No, no.

I think it's different. We haven't seen him dominate to this level since that year he split between the Cubs and A's when he legitimately was a fantasy ace. And he's basically ditched the cutter that he picked up the year after, while with the White Sox that was not a very effective pitch for him. My number one biggest regret this season in fantasy is one weekend in a couple of my shallower head-to-head points leagues. I dropped Samarja for some short-term pickup. Somebody else picked up Samarja right away, and now I feel like – I would call him a by-low candidate,

but after this start, that's probably not even possible. No, I disagree because I think a lot of people just won. They'll feel the way Heath does. And if you believe in Samarja, then I'll make some offers for him. He's a guy you can actually trust to go when he's as effective as he's been this year. He'll go seven innings, some consistency. If we're going to talk standouts. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Heath.

You're still thinking Samarja's just Samarja? I think Samarja is going to have a better year than I anticipated. He is pitching very well right now. I'm not saying you should drop him or trade him for nothing. I'm not giving up a top 40 starting pitcher for him. Okay. All right. Who else did you want to talk about?

Salvador Perez at three home runs yesterday. Mm-hmm. In two games. Yeah, in two. Oh, I'm sorry. It was just in two games? Well, it wasn't a three-home game. I just wanted it.

No, he had two in one game and one another. Uh, reclaimed his spot as the number one catcher over Buster Posey so far this year in points leagues. And there's a huge separation between those two and everybody else. We hope where this is going to end Best sell high candidate in baseball history, right? Well, you got probably another two to three weeks left. Yeah, he's been great.

He's the number one in Roto, too. And Brian McCann is now on the seven-day concussion DL. He's the number three catcher in fantasy, at least in Roto. I haven't looked at points. Which should help Evan Gattis climb back up into the standings because he'd fallen out of the top 12 in points. Really? God, get Beltron out of the lineup.

Contreras has passed Evan Gettus in points. Ben Zobris is red-hot right now. He's very owned, but you might want to consider starting him now that Ben Zobris is leading off for these Chicago Cubs. And you talked about one deep league pitcher, Mike Clevenger is 12% owned. How about Erasmo Ramirez? I thought he had a really nice start. Five and a third. Six hits, two runs, one walk, five strikeouts against the Yankees.

And Ramirez is a three ERA. 2015, he was a starting pitcher, and he had a 351. all right, he did not have a lot of strikeouts, but I don't know, what do you think about Arasmo Ramirez was 8% owned? Team Kreece picked him up in the Four of the People League and I was unaware of it until I saw the transaction.

But I think it was just a troll move by Chris to drop Blake Snell for Arasmo Ramirez, whatever. He's fine in a deep league. I'm not getting excited about him in a 12-team league. A couple other catcher notes. Travis Darno is about to be back, but Rene Rivera is hitting so well that Darno is

going to be, it seems, the backup, I don't know how long that will last. It will last as long as René Rivera keeps hitting well, but he's not going to come back and get his starting job back. Also, Darno can't throw anyone out, so that doesn't help. And Alex Avila, actually DH yesterday for the Tigers, and he's hitting really well. So that could either affect James, yeah, McCann or Victor Martinez. They said they got to keep Avila in the lineup for now. What do you make of that? Anything, or just the hot streak? Oh no

Avila I'm glad they found some place for him to play I wish he'd bump James McCann out of the catcher spot because he is doing he's part of this fly ball revolution

this year if you'll remember way back in 2011 he was an all-star catcher one of the elites in fantasy at 295 with 19 home runs and then we just never heard

gotten anything from him since then That was his highest fly ball rate ever at 40.5%. This year it's 44%. And his line drive rate is 34%. He's only hitting 22% a ground ball 22% of the time, down from 52% of the time last year. That is astronomical. This is Alex Avila of the Tigers.

So, I mean, if you could tell me he was getting every day at bats from here on out, he'd be in my top 12 catchers. Okay. I still think that's up in the air, but certainly in two catcher leagues, it's got to be owned. Yep. Okay, well, that's a little overview of what we saw over the weekend. You want to go see some baseball? Why don't you use Seat Geek?

Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing, but there's a simpler way to buy now. It is Seat Geek, the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every baseball game all season long. I use it for Yankees tickets. I've used it for concerts. I'm going to use it for theater. free ticket on Seekkeek that you buy is fully guaranteed. You can shop for tickets on Seekek with confidence. This is an outstanding app and website, and we have an outstanding offer for you. You can save $10 on your first Seekkeek purchase with our promo code fantasy. Again, the promo code is

fantasy. If you forget the promo code, please feel free to ask me on Twitter or in email, I will respond. With Seat Geek's seamless mobile experience, you can buy and sell tickets and sell. Don't forget that. in just two taps. And you're getting the best seats at the best prices because Seekkeek goes and looks at multiple websites, looks here, looks there, finds all of them, puts them all in one place. You can find the best deals. You can buy them right on the app. You can use your phone to get into the game.

It's the easiest thing in the world. You need to use Seekek to save you time and money. And again, our listeners are getting $10 off their first Seat Geek purchase. Download the Seatgeek app and enter the promo code fantasy for $10 off your first Seat Geek purchase. Also, bullpen stuff, any concerns about Kelvin Herrera, Sen Juan O, or A.J. Ramos, who struggled over the weekend. Kelvin Herrera, Senwon O, A.J. Ramos. I have ongoing concerns about O. But Trevor Rosenthal, he has some kind of unstated physical issue going on that makes them reluctant to use him with the frequency required of a closer.

O has pretty good job security, but I mean, he's sliding in my closer rankings. He's probably down there on the A.J. Ramos level at this point, just because I don't have a lot of confidence in him. Herrera already has allowed five home runs this year. I think he had a total of six last year and a total of five the year before that. So I don't know what's going on there, but that's a little worrisome too. Didn't exactly have a lot of steady work the first month of the year, and I just wonder if you got a little bit rusty. I have not heard anything about any of these three getting ready to lose their job, but I think you could be concerned. They're all number two closers at best.

Well, I mean, AJ Ramos is pitching for literally the worst team in baseball right now. I'm pretty sure the Marlins have the worst record, and he never gets saves. But you know how these things work? I think he was very good in the first place. That's... Yeah, but you know how these things work. I mean, teams, closers get four saves in a week sometimes. But I did drop, I dropped A.J. Ramos for Addison Reed. I think you guys would do that, right?

Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah, definitely. Addison Reed over all of these guys. Calvin Herrera is probably second, but the home run thing is concerning. I don't have Reed over O and Herrera, but I could understand why. Look, Sen Juan O, his previous 13 appearances before his blown save on Friday, he threw 14 innings, didn't give it up in a run. Yeah, I don't buy that at all. They weren't the very cleanest innings. No. And he wasn't striking out. batters at a rate like he did last year. No, he had 13 strikeouts and 14 innings, which is fine, but he did have seven walks. He did have seven walks. Yeah, he had 18 base runners, 13 strikeouts, and he gave up a three-run dong that wasn't

earned because there was an error before it. Which happened to him in, I think, the first game of the season or something like that, too. All right, big news. Not a lot of it, thankfully. But Jacob de Grom has a blister. Are you guys concerned about starting him this week? It's on his ring finger. I don't feel like that's one that's one that

comes into play often on pitches. Am I wrong about that? I'm wondering at the change-up. Yeah. I saw the start on Friday night. Like, he's cruising along. The blister starts acting up on him in the seventh inning, and he immediately starts struggling. They left him in the game, and he gutted out the end, and he got through it.

But they're also, I think they're looking to push him back at least one day. I could definitely see this being a situation where you start the gram and you don't get a start out of him. Yeah, no, I mean, all the blister drama we've seen. already this year. I think it does raise some alarm. So that's, I'd probably start him, but I'd be nervous

about it. I had a blister on my hand, like a few weeks ago. It took a while to heal, but you did not hear me complaining about it. What is going on? I don't think they're complaining about it. I just don't think they can throw their pitches like they're normally able to and an impact their effectiveness. I think that's the real issue.

I just owie. I don't think that's what's going on. No, but Aaron Sanchez is back. on the DL with a lacerated finger, which seems tied to his blisters. Taiwan Walker's on the DL with a blister. It's very strange. Julio Reyes was sent to AAA. Drop or stash Julio Rias?

I would probably drop them except in, you know, leagues where maybe 300, 320 plus players are owned. Yeah, my bigger issue is that I've got two pitchers that I can't fit on my DL on my bench right now in every league anyway, so I don't know how I can stash a minor league or two. Yeah. By the way, you see Scott White is wheeling and dealing right now in The For the People podcast. He is team scamming right now. Oh, really?

Two catchers he just picked up. And I like both the moves. Good for you, Scott. Oh, you guys have gone with the don't have to talk about the moves before you make them strategy? We have enough crappy players. We can just swap them out for other crappy players. I knew from some of our previous discussions, Adam, would be okay with both of these moves. So you picked up Francisco Sorrella yesterday, right?

Yes. And just dropped him for Alex Avila. Yep. And then dropped James Pazos for Devin Mazzarroco at the same time. Yes. This is a one-catcher league. Yes. Okay.

Just making sure. Yeah, we should probably mention Devin Mesa Rocco. Seven walks to eight strikeouts so far, up to two home runs. I think he had back-to-back two hit games. You just said up to two home runs. Well, he's just barely played. Yeah, for the few of bats he has. I mean, he has some pretty nice percentages.

And you still worry about the durability, but I don't think he should be ignored. he missed a few games with an injury recently that I think maybe kept him off the radar in some leagues, but two-catcher leagues, I think he needs to be owned. Right, and we own Mesoraco in this 16-team one-catcher league, which is similar to a two-catcher league, and we dropped him because I thought he was going on the DL, and now he's not. So, hooray, he's back. Robinson Canoe is expected to start on Tuesday. I am going to risk it and start Robinson Canoe.

Do you guys feel like that's okay this week? It really depends to me on who your other option is. You've got Starland Castro in seven games, then I'm probably just starting Castro. Okay. Edwin Diaz, close to gaining that rollback, I mentioned that. The White Sox signed 19-year-old Cuban outfielder Luis Robert for about $25 million, and I don't think we're going to see him this year, right? No, but this may be like another Yohan Moncada-type signing.

You know, the anonymous scouts being quoted in articles, that's always super reliable. One of them said he's the best player in the world. Oh, okay. So he's better than Mike Trout. This is what the anonymous scout said. As far as the reliability index goes for anonymous scouts, if they're starting off as I'm not sure how reliable this is, and they make the statement that someone is better than Mike Trout,

I feel like... That's not exactly what he said. You can infer that's what he was saying. If he said he's the best player in the world. It may have been hyperbole. And then they go, what about Mike Trout? Mike Trout. He goes, oh, I forgot about Mike Trout. He's the second best player of the world. Oh, I'm sorry. It was best player on the planet.

Oh, okay. I think you, like, at that point, you just strip away his anonymousness. You need to expose him. Give up your source. Who, but is this? You know, the article was taking the angle, get excited White Sox fans, and here's an exciting quote. His name is Luis Robert. You might want to pick him up in your dynasty leagues. Yeah. That's not the name of the scout that Heath is trying to out. journalism 101 over there from Heath Cummings. Renee Rivera, okay, mentioned that. He's going to remain the starter for the Mets.

Atlanta acquired Matt Adams from the Cardinals. Anybody care about Matt Adams? Going to be their first baseman now. Yeah? Yeah, you have to. Deep League, maybe. Look at all the first baseman. Like Logan Morrison, Justin Bore, Justin Smoke, Josh Bell, every day.

I'd rather have all of them than Adams. What reason do we have to believe now at 28 Adams is suddenly going to be good? I mean, yeah, he probably deserved more of a chance. than he got with the Cardinals, but he ultimately didn't live up to the chance he got. He's going to SunTrust Park, Scott. That's actually a good point. We're going to trust that the ball will hit the sun. Struck out three times in his debut.

We've got to hit the ball first for it to hit the sun. Yeah. I did pick him up in a couple of, like, deep leagues, like 2014 league. That may have been the only one, actually. I put in a claim for him in another league where I didn't get him of similar depth. That's Matt Adams. Eric Thames left with leg cramping yesterday. He should be fine. And that Cubs lineup has Ian Hap batting in the middle of the order playing center field, Hayward in right field, Ben Zobras leading off. Kyle Schwabert, now batting second,

followed by Bryant and Rizzo and Hap. So they seem to like Hap. And let me read this email from Josh. Josh says, which two are least likely to stay productive throughout the season between Bellinger, Altair, Conforto, and Hap. So I guess, you know, rank them. Altair, Conforto, and Happ. Conforto. One. Belcher. Okay.

Yeah, no, I'm having... That's the same thought process for me. I think I like Hap more than Altaire. I trust the skill set more from Hap than Altaire. But then there's the variable of how easily could his team replace him. Yep. Which, in fairness, Altaire wasn't a starter to begin the year either. Yeah, but...

Probably Altair then half, and I probably don't have it ranked that way. But it's because half second base eligible. So I have half ahead of Altair. Oh, you're going that route now. Yeah. I thought you didn't do that kind of those games with the rankings. Obviously, I do. Okay.

By the way, earlier I read that email and said, hey, Carl, Nick, Adrian, and Josh. Uh-huh. This appears to be, thank you, Google, the Red Sox Dodgers Blockbuster trade with Carl Crawford. I won't tell you who the Nick is. Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett. You remember the Nick? I'm pretty sure it's Nick Ponto. Okay.

So that's pretty random. You're pretty sure or you looked on baseball reference and we know? No, I'm seeing it in the Google. It could have been like James for James Loney. Nick Ponto didn't have to be the fourth name there. But, okay. Yeah, well, that's an obscure one. That's an obscure reference.

All right, let's talk hitters, get into the pitchers here. Double dongs over the weekend, Wellington Castillo. He's been amazing since coming off the DL, and he actually, I think he DHed one of the games, too. Wellington Castillo. Salvador Perez, Heath mentioned Avi Garcia. You know, he had kind of quiet weeks five and six, but a huge week seven, and Garcia is now 91% own, and he homered twice in a 16-1 win. I was able to get him back in the podcast league, the 12-team points league, where I dropped him last week, which I think says something, because he's been studly all year, and he just had his best week.

Yeah, but you said that three weeks ago when you picked up Avi Garcia. You unfortunately, I'm not trying to pick on you, you unfortunately have gotten only bad production for Lavi Garcia. I know, I know. That's why nobody's picking him up. Well, no. Look, peripherally, it doesn't make a lot of sense what he's doing. But, I mean, how long are you going to ignore it? Well, here's the problem.

I mean, the problem right now is that every single day, day, I see hitters doing well. I can't justify adding them because I don't need it. You know? And that's a thing with Garcia, that's a 12-team three outfielder league. And, like, I could have dropped Brett Gardner for him, but Gardner's got seven home games this week and he's killing it at home. I dropped Corey Dickerson in that same league. Every day I see these first baseman doing well.

And like Logan Morrison, right, is having a good year. I encourage everyone to read Scott's 10 sleeper hitter story. Logan Morrison has, I think, nothing but Riteys and bad Riteys at that this week. A lot of Riteys. A lot of Rite. And bad ones. Yeah. And it's like I was thinking about picking him up and starting him this week over like a five game Jose Bautista.

But I can't do that. So that's the issue. that I have with Avi Garcia. I don't even care about his performance at this point. I don't know who to drop. I mean, the Puegg's banged up right now. Gregory Polanco's on the DL. I will absolutely be starting Oviso Garcia in that league this week.

I don't think, it does not surprise me that you would have more room for an outfielder. Because I just don't have, but I prioritized the outfield a lot more in the drafts than you did. You probably have a hard time finding room for a second or third baseman, because you had like six of them on every team that you drafted. Well, I mean, I have Trout. I have Lorenzo Cain. I have, you know, those two I mentioned, Puegan Polanco, and a three outfielder league. And I have Ian Desmond. So I have a ton of outfielders, too. It's just there's some injuries. And that, and that's why I dropped Davy Sal Garcia. I tried trading him at first, didn't get any bites. So I didn't like it, but I dropped him, figuring I'd never see him again.

And lo and behold, after his best week, he's still out there. So, I mean, the BABBB over 400 is driving a 350 batting average. But let's say it's a, you know, that BABB normalizes to something like 34, which he's had before in the majors. I mean, you're still talking about a high average hitter. And in the power gain, it looks. At least that seems like it's understandable, given that he's a 25-year-old. Now, you guys give a lot more advice than I do. But all the advice that I've given since we started this year's podcasts,

the thing that I think I'm happiest about is after I did some mock drafts and I took outfielders early, I hated it. And I said over and over and over again, in a three outfielder league, do not fill your outfield spots too early. And in the five outfielder leagues, we liked the high-low approach. Take a couple early, maybe three, and then wait and wait and wait and take your last two or three. And I do feel like that has played out even more strongly than I expected. I mean, there is really like no argument to me at this point of saying you should have loaded up on outfielders early.

It's just, it's the, is it the deepest position? I don't know, but it is too deep. by far the deepest position. And it seemed not so deep coming into the year. It at least seemed very middle to bottom heavy coming into the year. And now, I mean, yeah, there's just, particularly in those three outfielder leagues, you can't trade an outfielder to anybody.

I can't, it is definitely deeper than first base, but the fact that you get to start three to five of them and you only have to start one first baseman, for me, means that first base is clearly the deeper position. There's like 30 of them now that you could start. But it's a deep position. I'm not unhappy with the teams where I loaded up on outfielder, but... Yeah, whatever. Okay.

Mike Napoli, speaking of your first baseman, he's one that we haven't really talked about, and Mitch Morland has homered in three straight games, but Napoli's 51% own. He's batting 3-10 with five homers, six walks, and nine strikeouts in his last nine games. Remember, I couldn't draw a walk before. So Mike Napoli, what do you think his value is? I've got him 29th at the position. I can move him up a little bit, but...

Team scams starting him this week. Back in the lineup, baby. All right, all right. Watch out, everyone. I'd get hot. I think he's an okay hot hand play, but to each point, it probably has to be a league of certain depth before you even need to dig that far.

I got to start Justin Boar, even in a five-game week. I've got him 29th, and I have Boar behind him. Okay. But Josh Bell, Mark Rindon. Yonder Alonso? I don't know. There's so many of them. What about Mark, yeah, Mark Reynolds or Mike Napley, would you rather have?

Reynolds. Yeah. Okay. Reynolds. I'm going to give you some names in deeper leagues. You tell me, if you like any of them. Marlon shortstop J.T. Riddle. Mark Kana, who has three homers in his last five games for the A's.

Jorge Bonafacio had a nice week for the Royals. Matt Davidson, D.Hing for the White So. Chad Pinder, Oakland infielder, he's hitting well right now. J.T. Riddle, Mark Kana, Jorge Bonafacio, Matt Davidson, Chad Pinder. Because of Pender's position, if you're talking, I mean, he's two percent. Yeah, if you're talking to a 2% owned guy, so do I want to pick him up in an AL only? Yes, his playing time's been more regular. There are other options up the middle have been awful so far this year, and Simeon's not going to be back anytime soon. So I think Pender and A.L. only, I'm beginning to wonder if, like, Jorge Salare is going to lose out to a different Jorge. Well, he's played a lot more than Bonifacio since coming back.

Right. But here recently, it's kind of switched back the other direction. And Bonifacio has been much better than he has so far this year. I don't know. These are all guys with single-digit ownership. Right. And that it probably doesn't need to exceed that, maybe just barely. Whatever percent the league's specific formats are, particularly if you're talking standard roto lineup or if all those hitters to start. I mean, I did put in a claim for J.T. Riddle and our 12 team, NL-only Roto League, and somebody outbid me for him like $3 to zero.

I think it's like, I mean, the depth of the league has more of a say in that than just who Riddle is. I mean, he's playing. That's about the main thing he has going for him. I did not, I missed out on bidding for Riddle because I think that's the, uh, that's the, uh, the first league that I'm giving up on. Remind me to talk about cupcakes. Remind me to talk about cupcakes in a little bit, guys. Okay?

Do you remember that? Cupcakes? Write that down. I'm going to talk about cupcakes. Here are your news and no. And basketball. Oh, that play. You know what?

Let me just tell you right now. Cupcakes and basketball. No, I'll talk about the cupcakes later, but the basketball. So, Avery Bradley hits the game winning three. I just have so many issues with the NBA. Here's another one. You can't officiate the game completely differently in the last 10 seconds. than you do the rest of the game.

The screen that Al Horford set was the most illegal screen in the history of illegal screen. So much so that Al Horford should now be known as Al Illegal Screen Horford. It was so illegal. It was ridiculous. Blow your stupid whistle. Take a stupid whistle out of your stupid hand and put it in between your lips and blow the damn whistle and call it like, wow. I hate the NBA. I love the NBA, but I also hate it.

It was not the most illegal screen set in the history of a legal screen. It was the most single most. And the problem with that is that if they call that illegal screen, I would have no trouble going through the archive of 2017 NBA games and finding 10 screens in the middle of the second quarter. Then call it. Just like that. Then call it. It's just like prevalent. They don't call it.

They should call it. It affected the game. I mean, hats off to the guy for making the shot. I don't care who wins. I'm not rooting against Celtics. I swear. But, I mean, it just annoys me that you're allowed to mug people. They don't want officials to decide the game.

So the last shot of the game is always like so much stuff going. All right. Jeremy Halickson left Friday start with a back injury. He expects to make his next start. Is Nate Carnes going to make his next start? I know he has fluid in his elbow, I believe. Yeah, they don't know. They're still looking into that.

Don't start him. No. David Price should be back next week. Adrian Belchray could begin a rehab assignment. weekend. All right, here we go. I'm going to read these fast. Everybody sit down, sit tight, buckle your seatbelt.

Stephen Mats could be back after two more rehab starts. Taiwan Walker, D.L. with a blister. Logan Forsyth, expected back on Tuesday to play third base. I already told you about that. Ryan Braun is back. The Red Sox are interested in Todd Frazier, according to the Boston Globe. Jose Reyes, day-to-day with side tightness. Terry Collins said Reyes will be fine for Tuesday.

Junior Gera could come off the DL this week. Yonder Alonzo could be back Tuesday. That one seems a little bit risky. I thought he'd be back by now. Danny Valencia has a wrist injury. James Paxon could be back soon. Mitch Hanigar could start a rehab assignment soon, and Yasil Puig, pinch hit on Sunday.

Okay, pitchers. Studs being Studs, Part 1, Carlos Martinez, complete game shutout, Jake Areietta, Jose Kentana, DeGrom and Verlander, they were all good. Do we have anything to say about these guys? Has the expectations lowered enough to where Verlander striking out five and giving up three runs over seven innings is a stud? being stud? Yeah, he was the worst.

Yes. It's a good point. Okay, that's fine. I was encouraged by Areeta. Martinez starts kind of weird. The five strikeouts over nine innings, but I like the fact that he didn't walk anybody. They were all encouraging starts,

and ultimately in the cases of Kentana and Areeta, and Verlander, I don't think he walked anybody in this start, or maybe one walk, he had some issues with walks prior to this. I think they were all close. closer to the version we're going to see of each of these pitchers going forward. And your opportunity to buy low is shrinking by the start. What a boring weekend. Not in a bad way.

Just I don't want to manufacture storylines. And there wasn't a lot. Baseball didn't give us a lot this weekend. But that's fine. Is that what you're saying? I just put you to sleep. No. I, you know, since you didn't ask, I did have a great weekend.

I had a very fun weekend. And my mom and my sister were in town, so I spent a lot of time with the family. I didn't watch that much baseball. But luckily, it was actually a good thing for me because there wasn't that much crazy stuff. Like, I hate not watching baseball, and then there's somebody breaks through, and I wish I had seen it, and wish I had picked someone up. I didn't get beat to the punch because it was just one of those types of weekends. And I had delicious cupcakes, which I tell you about it.

Cupcakes. Yeah, at the end of the show. So more studs being studs. That's a tease. Yeah, everybody can't wait. Alex Wood, Alex Wood threw his season high, 96 pitches. He only struck out four Marlins. I think he got four double plays, so it wasn't his best start,

and yet Alex Wood threw seven and a third scoreless innings. Yeah. Some margin. He's not 96 pitches with all those strikeouts. He's been uber efficient. Yeah. I think he is a stud. All right, he's got 180-A-R-A, so good for him.

Nova. Ivan Nova, I don't, I mean, look, he, He is what he is. Doesn't strike out a lot of guys, but I can't get him out of my lineup of Von Nova. Oh, you've got to start him. You can't get him out of your head. No. Eduardo Rodriguez seems to be getting better and better.

Oh, yeah. Pitching great. Yeah, must start. Erod. Robbie Ray, is he a must start? Pretty close. Pretty close. Pretty close.

I'm not going to start him at home against a good offense. Probably. He does have some drastic home-away splits. Yes, he does. They need to hurry up and get that humidor finished. Right? On his days off, he should be working on the humidors. Robbie Ray has a 675 ERA at home, 103 on the road right now.

Yeah. Did that the whole thing just, like, they decided not to do it, and they didn't want to tell anybody? Because it was six weeks ago, they said it was expected to be done in about a month. A bunch of people write bad things about it, and they just never talk about it again. Maybe it is done. Heath, I got construction going on right behind me right now. They're doing construction in my backyard. They're two years behind.

So I'm telling you, like the humerus. It's just going to take a while. Construction takes a while. They always missed their date. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, you can just go to the cigar shop and buy a humidor if it's a ball in. They beat the date fixing that I-85 bridge in Atlanta. Oh, they beat it.

Huge, suntrust. Big, very important thing. I'll tell you a guy that I think is one of the hardest players to evaluate in fantasy. He had a great start this weekend. And Pete McCannan said he looked like last year. It looked like he's back. Aaron Nola is 80% owned. He gave up one run in the game.

seven innings with five strikeouts at Pittsburgh. Only seven swinging strikes, but this was nice to see coming off the DL, Nola having a really good start. I just, I kind of stay away from Noah because I have no idea what to expect from him. I feel like he's going to be a solid number three or number four starter, and I'm starting him with confidence. I really like it when we get this first start back from the DL on a Sunday, because there's no way I could have used him last week, and now I feel confident using him for the next

week. Not sure where to go now. Severino, Danny Salazar, Gio Gonzalez, Charlie Morton, Andrew Triggs, Zach Wheeler. Severino, Salazar, Gio, Charlie Morton, Andrew Triggs, Zach Wheeler. These are guys that are owned in more than 80% of leagues and all struggled over the weekend. I am getting a slightly concerned about Luis Severino. He's come back down to Earth.

He's got a 450 ERA in his last four starts. And I'm just not really seeing much of that change up. but at least it hasn't really seemed effective to me lately, but of course I haven't seen or charted every pitch. But I kind of feel like Severino's falling back to becoming a two-pitch pitcher, which is not a good thing. What do you guys think? Is he still going to have that breakthrough season we were hoping for?

I still think he's going to, in this bumpy four-starred-stretch, more strikeouts than innings pitched. Only three home runs allowed in the four, which maybe, you know, in a vacuum isn't a small number, but just like he's not getting pounded in the way like a Tanaka is. Yeah, I mean, he's a 1.35 home run per Nye guy for his career and 1.34 this year. So he's been pretty much who he was in that regard. I didn't get quite as excited about Severino as you did,

but I am not really that concerned with what's happened recently either. So I'm looking at Brooks baseball. You know, it's like, okay, he's not dominating what you did early on. What did you think he was going to be? Well, look, I'm looking at Brooks Baseball right now. He's throwing that change up less and less, it seems. Yeah, I mean, that needs to change, but... Can we go back to the U-Charting Every Pitch idea?

I think that would be an excellent video or podcast where you just, like, sit down and chart a game's worth of pitches and tell us what you think they were, and then, like, Brooks Baseball tells us what they were? Brooks Baseball's wrong sometimes. I've got to tell you. Because sometimes they just class... Well, sometimes they classify things differently than the pitcher himself might,

and sometimes broadcasters. This whole idea that everybody knows what every pitch is being thrown, it doesn't exist, it's fake news. Right, maybe the three-headed panel then. We get a starting pitcher and Brooks Baseball and Azer to chart every pitch of a game. I'm not up for that challenge. Are you ready to drop Geo Gonzalez, Charlie Morton, or Andrew Triggs? You know, I'm no Geo fan.

Seven straight starts with three walks or more. He still has a 286 ERA miraculously, but that whip is up to 130. and I think he's going the inefficient way we've seen him go the last couple years. I'm not spite dropping him. Okay. I never owned him in the first place. I'm not saying I wouldn't drop him if there was somebody else on the waiver where I was excited about. As for Triggs, I really only owned him in points leagues, I think.

So I would be fine with dropping him in Roto. And they finally openly acknowledged that Charlie Borton has an issue third time around through the order. and it just keeps rearing its ugly head. Yeah, I mean, I don't think he's must-own. He'd be the least likely of these three I'd drop because I do like what's happening with him with the strikeouts and obviously the velocity increase. I think there's something new and exciting there for him to build off of,

but it's not like he's established himself as a reliable member of my pitching staff yet. Zach Wheeler is on this list also. Did you mention him just a second? I mean, you know, real fast. So this ended up not being such a great start. He walked five in five innings. Two run runs, five strikeouts. He was going well before he entered the sixth. And I think he had a couple walks there. But it's becoming pretty clear now that their big talk of limiting him to 125 innings at the start of the year was more a guideline than a rule.

And the way their pitching staff has been decimated by injuries, I think the way GM Sandy Alderson put it was that they're reevaluating his limits continuously. It doesn't seem like they're really holding him back at all, is what I'm getting at. And I don't know that that needs to be a major consideration in our evaluation of him for the rest of this year. he needs to get more efficient before I call a must own or certainly must start. But he's been pretty good, and I don't think innings is a big drawback anymore. Do me in favor, guys, and take a look at the rest of the notes and all these pitchers, probably 35 of them or whatever. I don't know.

And just tell me if there's anyone that you see on the list that you think is underowned. I've got to give him a little hat tip to Zach Godley, who didn't really have a great start at San Diego, but he had a really nice week. He's 62% owned. Any underowned pitchers out there? Yeah Yeah I think Ian Kennedy's underwent at 71%. He got pounded in his first start back from the DL Sunday

But I think you could give him a pass for that Let's see how the next one goes I'm glad you said it Sean Maniah at 78%. He's had some lock issues, he's had some efficiency issues But he's been an elite whiff rate guy this year And so I'm encouraged to see Where that goes

Derek Holland at 78%. That's probably about right, but he's going to be all four years. He's been a quality start. I think 7 of 9 quality starts. His last start was his best yet, one run in 8. I think he's just, I think he's boring, but I think he's more usable than our normal conventions of rating pitchers would have us believe.

Okay. Anything you see Heath, maybe a little deeper? Uh, yeah, if you go a little bit deeper, I think that Jaime Garcia is probably underowned at 22%. And I'm not necessarily excited to add him in a normal standard league, depending on who his matchups are that week. But he's probably somebody that should be closer to the 35, 40% range. He had a very good start against Washington. No walks, eight strikeouts. Um, and then Clevenger at 12% just because of this matchup.

this week against the Royals. Let's take a look at today's matchups here. I'm going to pull up the schedule. Give me one second, everybody. Just stop yelling at me. Today, Monday, the 22nd, we've got Hoffman and Eikoff as the Rockies visit the Phillies. I'll give Eichoff a whirl. Yep.

Jason Vargas and Michael Paneda. Vargas has had like one bad start this year. It was against these Yankees last week. He got killed. Start of both. Yeah, I'd start them both. All right. Twins and Orioles, Kyle Gibson, Obaldo Jimenez.

Nope, right? No. Josh Tomlin, Scott Feldman, Indians and Reds. No. J.C. Ramirez at Jake Oteresee. Yes. Otorez, I guess if I already rostered him, I'd be willing to run him out there, but I'm not running out and picking him up for this start.

Such bad traffic in Atlanta, they start their games. It's 735 p.m. Eastern, Mike Fultenevich, and Garrett Cole. Start Fulte? Yeah, same thing as I said for Ramirez. Like, I could live without him, but if I had him, I'd probably start him. Giants of Cubs, Blach and Lackey. Lacky. I'll start Lacky. Fulmer and Brad Peacock's spot start.

Well, obviously, Fulmer, and probably not Peacock, because, yeah, he's taking the one-turn Kikl's going to miss and has been in the bullpen all this time. I don't think he's going to pitch very long. Nope. Tigers are slugging right now, J.D. Martinez. Miggy looks good. And finally, we have Miguel Gonzalez at Zach Granky. Definitely Granky.

Miki, he's in that Ramirez Fultenevich class for me. He's been pretty reliable. It's a tough matchup, but I'm not going to, if I've already gone through the trouble of rostering him, I'm not going to say, no, I can't start. Adam has a cup cake and a make. How delicious does that look? Okay? And it's like... I got to peek at this. It's almost like the ingredients have been rearranged, and they're just in this jar, and you just take a fork in there.

I had one yesterday, a chocolate chip. This is lemon raspberry, so I wouldn't be interested in that. It's like, it's more like one of those desserts you get, like at Carrabahs, you know, those little, like... It's like a parfait. Yeah. Yeah, but it's a cup. It's so good. Oh, my God. That's not a cupcake. And I was going to give the website, but I've been going to the website, just now, and it's like taking me to spam.

So I can't, I can't in good conscious tell you the website, but, man, they were good. A mini-triple. Well, whatever they are, they're delicious. And cupcakes, I think, are my favorite dessert, so now we all know. I think most cakes are overrated. Okay, well, I think you're overrated. This is a cake. Pies are far better than it.

Oh, what? Pies are far better than cakes. Goodbye, everybody. Show's over.