Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Fooled You! Rest of Season Rankings and More

Episode Date: May 23, 2017

Who ya got rest of season (4:48): Adam Jones or Corey Dickerson? Jake Lamb or Miguel Sano? Zack Greinke or Jon Lester? ... We talk Joe Ross (2:40), Cameron Maybin (31:10), Michael Pineda (27:15) and m...ore of yesterday's standouts, and we update you on some prospects who may get called up soon (22:55) ... It's time for our first ever game of FOOLED YOU (36:00)!!! It's interesting, to say the least. Also, it's Team Name Tuesday, and we're previewing today's matchups at the end of the show! ... Your emails at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:02 Doesn't buy the high book for throwing knuckleball. Scott likes using jiffs the most. Adam loves ERA and auto tunes himself this way. Paxton's regression screams. Mike Todd plays near. Welcome to fantasy baseball today on this Tuesday morning. We've got like riled up, fired up Chris Towers today. Chris, man, you're going to bring the energy.
Starting point is 00:00:38 What? Why? I don't know. You just, you seem like you're in a good mood. We've got some very good would you rather's coming up. We do. We have some rest of sense. season rankings to talk about.
Starting point is 00:00:48 We're going to play... Oh, we're playing a game today, guys. You know, we never officially played the game. We've done the drop a little bit before, but I'm going to give you some names. You're going to tell me if it's legit or if it's... What? You're not happy about that, Scott?
Starting point is 00:01:05 No, that was excitement. Oh, okay. Good. It was a non-descript noise. That should be a good show today. I'm going to start with this, though. A trivia question. Name the top three hitters in fantasy baseball. in order.
Starting point is 00:01:19 Mike Trout. Go on. Oh, I got one of them. There's three of us. You guys can name another two. I don't know that I can. Paul Goldschmidt. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:31 Chris, nope. It's just Chris. And Ryan Zimmerman. No. It's Bryce Harper, but you don't have the order right. Okay, so Trout Harper and then Goldschmidt. So, no, exactly. Nope.
Starting point is 00:01:46 You still don't have the order right. Goldschmidt, Trout, and Harper. Boo, yeah. Paul Goldsmith is your number one hitter. What he's doing this season? Do you even watch baseball? Come on, Scott. This is exactly what we expected it to be two years ago.
Starting point is 00:02:00 Uh, yeah, Goldschmidt, Trout, Harper. Goldschmidt leading those three in steals. Harper has no steals, by the way. Goldschmidt has 11. But I was surprised, well, Goldschmidt has seven more runs scored than Trout. Maybe that's what it is. Trout is slugging like, he's slugging 741, Goldschmidt, slugging 580. and Paul Goldschmidt right now in points and roto is your number one hitter in fantasy baseball.
Starting point is 00:02:22 How about that? Yeah, that's good. He's a very good hitter. Yes, yep, just confirming. Okay. It's nice to see that he bounced back. Today on the show, the rest of the season stuff, we're going to start that right now. We've got a Twitter poll to update you on.
Starting point is 00:02:36 Joe Ross is going to start today for the Nationals. Joe Ross is 41% owned? Is Joe Ross underowned? I picked him up in three different leagues yesterday when I saw that he was making the start on Tuesday. I'm very excited. I think he is one of their five best pitchers and should not leave the rotation from this point forward. You gotta be a little concerned though, right? About what? He wasn't great in his previous stint in the majors
Starting point is 00:03:01 early in the season. He had a 5-2 ERA in AAA. That's why they sent him in the AAA. Yeah, it's just... He apparently his arm slot was off when he was up before, and so they sent him down, put him on a program to raise the arm slot back to its normal level, and apparently they're satisfied with the progress he's made. So, look, I don't think he's really shown Ace Upside in his two-year stint in the majors, but he has enough strikeout potential for a high ground ball generator that I think he can
Starting point is 00:03:34 be reliable, and obviously that supporting cast will help his peripherals play up. I never mentioned Ace Upside. I know. I have before. Okay, maybe that's why you're worried. Yeah, like, I think he is someone who could, if everything goes right, maybe not ace, but top 20 upside. It's just, I'm worried because he hasn't shown that this year. Yeah, I'm expecting a top 40 fantasy pitcher rest of season.
Starting point is 00:04:05 Okay, this is Joe Ross we're talking about. Would you drop? Would you drop John Lackey for Joe Ross? Yep. Like he's hot. I don't think you have to do that. You probably have a worse starting pitcher, but if he's your worst... I'd stick with Lacky.
Starting point is 00:04:22 I mean, everything that's right for Ross is... Well, I don't know. Lacky has a better strikeout rate than I expect Ross to have. I guess he is struggling to keep the ball in the yard in a way. I wouldn't expect Ross to, but also a great supporting cast. I think he'll come around. Oh, I think this one's an easy one. Would you drop Vince Velasquez for Joe Ross?
Starting point is 00:04:44 Yes. Yeah, you probably have to. I need to move them down my rankings. All righty, rest of season. Who would you rather have? We're going to talk about yesterday's standouts by doing a little comparison here. Would you rather have Corey Dickerson, who is the number eight outfielder in points, number seven in Roto, has 12 home runs. Or Adam Jones, who is coming out of a slump a little bit, home runs in two straight games, three home runs in his last five games.
Starting point is 00:05:07 But I just can't believe what Corey Dickerson is doing. Would you rather have Dickerson or Adam Jones rest of season? I also can't believe what Corey Dickerson. Dickerson is doing, I would rather have Corey Dickerson. Oh, then Adam Jones. All right. Yes, I put him, I put Dickerson in my, I had a column out last night, eight breakout hitters who I'm not fully buying. And Dickerson was among them, but Adam Jones, I think, is just such a middling player in this environment that I'd rather take the chance on the upside.
Starting point is 00:05:41 Anyone agree, disagree? I not only can't believe what Corey Dickerson. Dickerson's doing, I don't necessarily believe what he's doing. And I don't, like, okay, maybe Adam Jones is middling, but if he hits 275 with 32 home runs and 90 RBIs, which is what he's on pace for, I'm great with that. So you're taking Jones? Yep. All right, break the tie, Chris Towers.
Starting point is 00:06:06 Corey Dickerson or Adam Jones. I'll go with Dickerson. He's been, the thing with him is he's reversed some of the fly ball heavy trends from last season. He's also reversed his infield fly ball trends from the last two seasons. And I look at that as someone who, you know, is maybe becoming a bit more of a consistent hitter. You know, having fewer extremes, fewer pop-ups, making more consistent contact. Just to be clear, Chris is praising a player for hitting more ground ball. This is like crossing the streams.
Starting point is 00:06:40 I thought crossing the streams was bad. I wrote a whole thing about it. He doesn't really care if it's more or less. He just wants to be able to say the word fly ball. Yeah. I wish some of those, the reduction in fly balls, was being applied to line drives as opposed to ground balls. Then I would bind to Dickerson more,
Starting point is 00:06:57 but the line drive rate is still well down from his Colorado days, which is the main reason I'm skeptical. But, you know, skepticism isn't quite the same. same as disbelief. I think if you were to sell high on Dickerson, like, I'm also skeptical I would get an offer good enough for me to trade Dickerson, though I would be willing to explore it. And to be clear, I think he's probably more like a 270 hitter. So there's a lot of regression coming. But if he's a 270 hitter, then what do we expect that he has on Jones? I just think there's more upside there. Like, he might not be a 270 hitter. He might have a 370 hitter. He might have a
Starting point is 00:07:38 330 BAPA, which is what his career is, in which case he's a $2.90 hit. All right. So, if I know that if I had Cory Dickerson, which I do in one league, and somebody offered me, Andrew McCutcheon, I would hit the reject button. I would write a nasty note with some expletives in there. I would say, you know, for even thinking about it. How about you? Would you rather have McCutcheon or Dickerson? McCutcheon still.
Starting point is 00:08:01 Yep. I don't know. I don't know. I'd rather have McCutcheon than Jones. I'm not sure Dickerson, I'm sorry, I'm not sure McCutcheon would be a good enough offer for me to trade Dickerson if I was the owner of the air. But there would be no expletives? There would be no expletive. It's a perfectly reasonable offer. Scott's never going to send it. But you should at least try to get better than Andrew McCutcheon if you're trading Cory Dickerson.
Starting point is 00:08:27 I might do the Kubert thing where I put like the pound sign and the dollar sign and the exclamation mark. Next one. Next one. Rest of season, who would you rather have? Two of the four best second or third base in fantasy, in fact, the top two third baseman in roto leagues. Jake Lamb or Miguel Sinoe? I'm saying Sanoe. I love Sanoe. I'm very excited by his breakout. I do just want to add a little notice on that that there's going to be a point sometime, I would guess, in the next couple of months,
Starting point is 00:09:01 where we're going to say what happened to Miguel Sanoe, because some people may be getting under the idea that he's going to hit 300. Yeah, he's not. The batting average is going to come crashing down. Yeah, he was also in that column yesterday, a breakout hitters who I'm not fully buying, mainly because, yeah, I would be a little surprised if he hit his high as 260. But I would not at all be surprised if he exceeded 40 home runs. I feel like he's kind of the new Chris Davis, C-Riss Davis. Oh, well, who are you taking, Scott, though?
Starting point is 00:09:35 Lamb or Sineau? I need to know. I'm taking Sineau because Lamb has his own strikeout issues and he has platoon split issues and he's for the downside of Sano's strikeout rate he's hitting the ball harder than any player in baseball and his soft contact percentage
Starting point is 00:09:52 I believe it's the lowest in fan grafts tracking history It was 3.8 And I don't think anyone else was lower than 8%. And he went four for six with a home run yesterday so probably didn't go up a lot No, no it did go down This is Sineau, by the way.
Starting point is 00:10:08 Sano. There's positive and negative with Sineau. I think he can't sustain this pace, but it's more promising than Lamb overall. Something I was looking at Sano and realizing that, okay, some of this is, there's some regression coming. If somebody had Donaldson, would you trade Sano for Donaldson? Yes. That would be without hesitation. So you don't have any concerns about Donaldson
Starting point is 00:10:37 just coming back and being his old self immediately? I wouldn't say, well, no, if he's healthy, I think he'll be his old self. I do worry a little about the calf could flare up again, but he began a rehab assignment last night, which is, you know, the biggest step he's taken towards returning. He's gotten a nice, long, extended period of rest. So I feel pretty good.
Starting point is 00:10:57 I think there are a lot of leagues where you could make that deal, or you could get Donald's enforcing no. If I own snow anywhere. And with Snow, it's worth noting he does have a 479 Babbib. That's going to come crashing down. All right. Let's talk about Lamb, though, too. Let's talk about Lamb.
Starting point is 00:11:13 Talk about both of that. We're not as excited about Lamb. Well, then... I think Lamb's very good. He's right in that Travis Shaw breakout third base category. Oh, he's Travis Shaw? I mean, we do have the Humidor thing coming, you know, to a ballpark in your U at some point, right? But you can't put Lamb and Shaw in the same...
Starting point is 00:11:34 I had him and Shaw and Castellanos in the same group, and I moved all three of them up, and I know I'm probably a bit alone on Castellanos in that way. But I think he's pulling away just a little bit. I've moved him up to 11. Okay. Well, that's, you know, that's still, is anybody putting Jake Lam as the top 10th third basement? I'm checking right now, because I have him in a tier with Travis Shaw, and I have Shaw 10th Lamb 11. Okay. All right. He's outside it for me. Though, I mean, he's hitting the ball really hard, too. I think he's among those with about an 8% soft contact rate.
Starting point is 00:12:13 It's not in its own tier like Suno, but he's in, Lamb is in the next year. Right now, Jake Lamb's home road splits are pretty even. He's been outstanding both at home and on the road. But I think that's kind of recent with the road stuff. He just had a good series at San Diego. He can't hit lefties and he's much. much better at home. So if there is a ballpark effect for Jake Lamb, it could really affect him. But, you know, for like a few weeks, I said, I really want to sell high on Cory Dickerson, I really want to sell high on Jake Lamb.
Starting point is 00:12:46 I haven't done either. And it's been great. But maybe I should. I don't know. Or maybe you just write it out. Sometimes you don't have to sell high. Just get the production that you got from a late pick and enjoy it. Or a mid-round pick, I guess, for a lamb. All right, last one. Who would you rather have rest of season? Zach Granky, who struck out 12 white socks last night and has a 0.97 whip or John Lester? Zach Granky or John Lester? Granky. Yeah, I need to move Grinky up again. I'm trying to think of the pitchers I would rather have than Grinky, and it's less than 10 now.
Starting point is 00:13:26 All right. So, like, Darvish, dominant? I mean, has he ever had a better strikeout rate than he has? right now. I would still take Strausberg over Grinky. I would still take you. Me? Oh, thanks, bud. I would still take Scherzer Sale, Khrusha to Grom. Yeah, I'm struggling with where to put him. Right in the mix with Quato, Kluber, and Lester, I think, which is the back end of the top ten. Scott, to answer your question, he is 10.5 strikeouts per nine. He had the same rate in 2011,
Starting point is 00:13:59 which wasn't even that good of a year for him. He had a 383 URA with Milwaukee. but that was his best. It was a Richard Shorten here, too. Did you see the quote from Granky, by the way? He said like... He's a joy. His stuff isn't as good as it was with the Dodgers in his Cy Young season, but his location, I think he said, is even better.
Starting point is 00:14:22 So I thought that was interesting. Well, something has to be better because, yeah, the velocity isn't as good. That hasn't come back, but it hasn't mattered. Here's the quote. Right now I'm making really good pitches, Grinky said. The pitches aren't quite as sharp maybe as that year, but the location's been just as good.
Starting point is 00:14:43 I don't know what that means. I think he was talking about, oh no, he was talking about 2015. Yeah, I'm just, I can't exactly just, and this is the same issue I have with Keikl before the injury, is I can't just throw out 2016 either. And so that's what I'm struggling with when figuring out where to rank them. But he's got a much longer track record as an ace than Keikl does. Sure, but I'm talking about comparing him to like Lester or Kluber or Strasbourg.
Starting point is 00:15:13 Yeah. Who have maybe not quite as high highs, but very good track records of their own. All right, guys. Well, we are buying into Zach Granky. That is for sure. He is a fantasy ace. We had a Twitter poll yesterday. I just am quite stunned by the...
Starting point is 00:15:30 results. We'll get to them after the big news. Joe Ross will start today. We talked about him. Mike Zanino is back up for the Mariners. He went down and unpredictably he crushed minor league pitching. Anybody think this is going to be the renaissance for Mike Zanino? He's going to be better than ever.
Starting point is 00:15:48 Zanino. I'll always believe in Mike Zanino in my heart. Maybe not in my head. Or on your roster. Or on my roster. Sure. Carlos Carrasco feels good. He's going to pitch tonight.
Starting point is 00:16:00 Corey Klober will make a rehab start tonight. He may come off the DL after this rehab start. And Scott and I traded for Corey Klobri yesterday, which would be the second time this year I've traded for an injured player. And the first time it was Zach Britton. So let's cross our fingers, Scott. Yes, hopefully this goes better. You know, incidentally, that was in the podcast for the People League,
Starting point is 00:16:21 the 16 team, had the Head Categories League. And we traded Incarnacion in that deal. So we drafted Kershaw in the first round, and Asseon was our second round pick, and now we swapped him out for Kluber. We, our first two picks in that league were basically pitchers now. Chris, how do you feel about teams that have been mathematically eliminated? We're far from mathematically eliminated. Two eight and two weeks in a row, and we're basically five hundred.
Starting point is 00:16:50 Yeah, we could do that. We could do that. Just two weeks of a 130 win pace. It happens. It happens. It does happen to some teams. I'm curious how you've... It's not strange at all.
Starting point is 00:17:03 I don't know why you guys are acting weird about that. Well, it would be strange for a team that started off with a 30% win percentage to win 8 out of 10, two weeks in a row. Did you ever see Moneyball? You see what the A's did? They won 21 games in a row or something? We're money balled it. Scott Hatterberg ain't walking through that door, Adam. You got Joe Biagini going this week for you, so I don't know what can go wrong.
Starting point is 00:17:24 We just got rid of our worst player. I bet in Cardassio and he's off the team. So anyway... Start Mike Napoli at first base? Yes. He's hot, baby. He's going to do more than incarnate's young world. It's really strange.
Starting point is 00:17:36 I'm looking at your starting lineup right now, and I'm wondering what type of... It looks like you have two first basemen. Yeah, we have Yonder Alonzo. He's our utility. Oh, they're not listed in the right order. Okay. All right, anyway, back to stuff that people care about. Junior Gera is going to be back this week.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Any interest in... I'm sorry? Junior Gera... Well, I led Waver Wire this morning. It's not actually up on the site yet, but I led it with Joe Ross. I did not even mention Junior Guerra, so that shows the discrepancy there. Yeah. But I wouldn't say I'm without interest.
Starting point is 00:18:17 Okay. You know, if you have like a terrible player on your team that you're willing to drop, just dying to drop, maybe Junior Garah take a chance. Josh Donaldson, as mentioned, did begin the rehab assignment yesterday. So did Troy To Lewitsky. Carlos Rodan is 61% owned. He's still got a little ways to go, but he threw a simulated game yesterday. Houston Street could begin a rehab assignment soon, and Cam Bedrosian threw off a mound yesterday,
Starting point is 00:18:39 but Bud Norris, do you think Bud Norris going to remain the closer? That's what my gut's telling me, yeah. I mean, Camp Edrosian is their best relievers, so I wouldn't rule out him reclaiming the role at some point. But it didn't seem like Socha wanted him in the role in the first place. He wanted him more reversion. So Bud Norris makes that easy to do. Kyle Schwerber and Ian Hap, they both sat yesterday with a lefty on the mound, which is probably more relevant for Schwerber.
Starting point is 00:19:09 Albert O'Mora Jr. was in the lineup, and so is J. Baez is actually having a pretty, like now his numbers look pretty good, batting 264, 301 on base, 496 slugging. Baez homered, Hap went one for two with a double off the bench. And we got an email from John. John says, I dropped Kyle Schwerber for Ian Hap. Is that a good move? Will that be a happy ending? I don't think so. I know Ian Hap is a top prospect, but he's not nearly the talent that Kyle Schwerber is, I don't think.
Starting point is 00:19:42 And John asks if it's possible if Hap is a top 30 outfielder. I think it is, but it's more likely that Schwerber is than you already had him. Yeah. You know, before I went to Adam Jones, I originally had Corey Dickerson or Kyle Schwerber. Then I changed it to Cory Dickerson or Adam Jones. Yeah, I would rather have Schwabber than Dickerson or Jones. Really? Okay, all right.
Starting point is 00:20:02 And Schwaber's showing real signs of turning it around in May. The strikeout rates way down, the hard hit rates way up. Oh, okay. He's going to be fine. Should have stuck with him instead of that stinking Adam Jones. I didn't know if this was recent or if I missed this. I don't think I said it, but maybe I did actually. Alex Bregman is middle infield eligible?
Starting point is 00:20:22 I think that happened late last week, and I think we mentioned it on the podcast. Yeah, now that I'm saying it was not. What'd you say, Scott? You mentioned it at least five times. Five times? I already hearing about it, Frank. Okay, my bad. But he's still not shortstop or second base out.
Starting point is 00:20:36 Just what we needed. Another middle infielder that can't hit. Right. Hey, hey, both of his home runs have come in the last 10 games. All both of them. He's turning it around. Team scam. He's not on Team scam, but he should be.
Starting point is 00:20:50 And Brad Peacock had a great start yesterday. He only threw, I think, 70 pitches. He was making a spot start for Dallas Kikele. But look, if they want to get somebody in the rotation, they could get rid of fires. They could get rid of Musgrove. Do you think Brad Peacock is a speculative stash? That's a good thought. I hadn't really considered that possibility, but there are a couple of weak links there at the back.
Starting point is 00:21:15 I looked at Peacocks because, you know, we had that whole thing with Danny Duffy and David Phelps last year moving to the bullpen. gaining velocity and then more or less keeping the velocity and the return to the rotation. Peacock kept the velocity but it wasn't that big of a gain so I'm not really sure that helped him that much but he did throw his slider more than any other pitch in this start
Starting point is 00:21:41 so I don't know if maybe Stent in the bullpen has helped him gain the confidence in his secondary stuff in a way he didn't have in his previous time as a starter I mean obviously this was a very encouraging showing you know we're talking about it Go ahead, Chris.
Starting point is 00:21:56 No, no. We're talking about a 29-year-old that's ever really been good, that just threw four good innings. It sounds like pop peacock to me. Well, look, I mean, Phelps wasn't a very good starter. Your boy, Danny Duffy wasn't a very good starter. That all sounds very similar to Danny Duffy at this point last year. Well, Danny Duffy was three years younger. I think he's 27 last year, wasn't he?
Starting point is 00:22:23 That would be too much. Wrap it up. Wrap it up. That's your age is particularly relevant in this particular timeline. A history of not being good is relevant. It is. I do want to point out before we move on that Peacock, you said he's throwing his slider more, fastball less. That's actually a league-wide trend.
Starting point is 00:22:42 The league as a whole is relying on fastballs less and last year after year. It's something we haven't really talked about. But it's an interesting trend. That is interesting. Okay. And some prospects. prospect stuff here. The Yankees promoted Glaber Torres to AAA.
Starting point is 00:22:59 Probably not going to see him this year, but if you do, I would guess it'd be at third base. They're going to play them around the infield. Toronto, over the weekend, they called up prospect Anthony Alford, outfielder. Any interest in him? No, he hadn't done much, but hit for average in the minors this year, and he didn't even do that last year. He seems a little, like this was a college football player who, you know, wasn't as experienced as baseball in baseball as most players are when they start their minor league careers. And he still seems pretty raw to me. I don't think this will last long.
Starting point is 00:23:38 Okay. This is Dominic. This is, excuse me, Anthony Alford. The next guy we're going to talk about, and that's a Blue Jays outfielder, is Mets, first baseman Dominic Smith, who's batting 320 right now, but only slugging 481 in AAA at the PCL. apparently the Mets may call up first baseman Dominic Smith at some point. Please, soon. Is he a prospect? Do we care?
Starting point is 00:23:59 Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, he's a big prospect. He's one of those players who everyone's confident he's going to hit. It's just will he have enough power for a first baseman? Kind of the same thing we've been talking about with Josh Bell. And I've seen enough progression with power over the last couple years in the minors that I feel like he is going to be one of those players who ends up showing more power in the majors than he ever did in the minors. But it's, you know, it's questionable.
Starting point is 00:24:29 Dominic Smith met's first base prospect. Colorado's starting pitcher Jeff Hoffman pitched yesterday through a gem at the Phillies, seven innings, one run, seven strikeouts, three hits, no walks. And pitched pretty well against the Dodgers in a home start earlier. So strikeouts are getting a little bit better for him, and you might see Jeff Hoffman later this year. But, of course, he does pitch for Colorado. And the Angels called up Nolan Fontana after they demoted C.J. Crone and Fontana started at second base. Is he somebody that you'd be looking to pick up in an AL-only league, Nolan Fontana?
Starting point is 00:25:05 Nah, I don't think so. Yeah, it would only be an AL-only league if it was. All right. Look, you all listen to this podcast, obviously. I'm going to go ahead and assume that since you're, you know, listening to this podcast. You must love fantasy baseball. And let me tell you about the draft app. It's the most fun daily fantasy app you're going to find.
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Starting point is 00:26:18 It'll come up first and use that promo code FB Today for a 100% bonus on up to 600 bucks when you deposit. Search draft in the app store and use the promo code FB Today. Any standouts from yesterday? We'll do fooled you in a little bit. We have an email about Manny Machado and his struggles. Any standouts you want to talk about from yesterday? Sat Grinke threw a 65-mile-an-hour curveball. That was fun.
Starting point is 00:26:46 We already talked about the two biggest standouts. Miguel Snowe going four for six with a dong and Grinky being awesome. One guy I was getting ready to move down even more in my rankings was Joe Panic. He had a big night last night, hit a home run, and had hit two doubles, leading off for the Giants. So you were beginning to panic. Who are you? He was on notice. So I'll hold off on that for a little bit.
Starting point is 00:27:14 Michael Panetta had another good start. He has a 288 ERA over his last four starts, despite allowing six home runs in that span. I don't know. Is it just that he had really bad luck before with home runs? And now he's having really good luck and only giving up, like, solo home runs? Jorge Dongafacio did take him deep. Look, I wanted to talk about Panetta because he's got eight or nine starts this year now. And a 335 ERA, a 1.04 whip.
Starting point is 00:27:44 You expect a pretty decent whip from him. He doesn't really walk anybody. But I looked at the last two seasons. 2015, Michael Paneda did not have more than two straight quality starts all season. 2016, his best stretch was June. Five starts. He had a 290-70. All right.
Starting point is 00:28:01 So we can say now in the last two and, you know, a quarter seasons, whatever we are, third, he hasn't had this much prolonged success. I still have no idea what to do. make of Michael Paneda, but congratulations to him. He's been, you know, in this landscape, absolutely a must-star guy. And I would be reluctant to sell him for the
Starting point is 00:28:24 in this landscape reason you brought up. I mean, maybe for another pitcher who I thought was more reliable, but if I wasn't getting a pitcher in return, have a hard time doing that. For his career, Michael Panetta has had an OPS allowed more than 100 points worse
Starting point is 00:28:40 with men on bases versus with the bases empty. This season his OPS allowed with men on bases is 200 points lower. Yeah. Heath, did you watch the game last night? No. Nope. Is he doing something different?
Starting point is 00:28:54 Well, and this gets back to, is it possible that Michael Panato was really unlucky for two years? No. Why not? Because he's obviously really. No, but some pitchers are worse. Like, there's bad luck. No, but there's bad luck and then there's like being worse pitching out of the stress. I understand.
Starting point is 00:29:14 He had a 332 and 339 BAPIP two years in a row. He had a strand rate of 68% one year. Even guys that are bad with guys on base don't have a 68% strand rate generally. He's been a little bit lucky this year. He's probably a 4-ERA pitcher. 56% of his home runs for his career have come with the base is empty. This year it's like 85%. I just said he's been a little bit lucky this year, not as unlucky as he's not as a little bit unlucky.
Starting point is 00:29:40 Could be the difference between a 335 ERA and a 4-ERA. Right. If Michael Paneda had a 4ERA, we're not talking about him as... No. If Michael Paneda throws 200 innings with a 4ERA and more than 10 k's per 9, he's a top 40 starting pitcher. Right, but that's very different from I'm not trading him. And if we're talking about him as someone that we don't feel comfortable trading. Oh, you'll trade him for a top 25 pitcher. Nobody will give you that for him. But I'm talking... That's what they just said. That's what Adam and Scott both just said.
Starting point is 00:30:07 They said, I don't want to sell high. Wait a second. What did we just say? that you wouldn't just trade Michael Panetta for anybody. I didn't say that. Scott said that, and I mean, I'll agree. I wouldn't just trade him because I need a pitcher. But, yeah, Scott said I'd trade him for a better pitcher. We didn't say top 20 or 30. I'd trade him for Porcelo or Hendricks.
Starting point is 00:30:28 I'd trade him for Salazar. I'd trade him for Tanaka. Okay. I'm just pointing out that, like, there's a difference between, like, he's had a little bit of good luck versus like he's probably a 4ERA pitcher. Right. That's what you think, Chris? That he's probably a, okay.
Starting point is 00:30:46 I think he's probably, but I thought last year he was probably a 4ERA picture. But even if he is a 4ERA picture, it's fine. If it's a 4ERA with his strikeout rate, his walk rate, so his whip, in other words. His whip, yeah. I mean, that's still probably a top 40 pitch.
Starting point is 00:30:59 Right, yeah, definitely. Right. So, uh, you know, we don't really disagree on Michael Panetta that much. Okay. Yeah. I do. I want to talk about,
Starting point is 00:31:10 Cameron Mabin. Yeah, I did too. He was my standout. Yeah, he's batting leadoff and batting 542 with seven walks and six games. Mabin has 10 steals right now. Yeah, 10 for 10 and was on base four times yesterday. His walk rate, walked a strikeout ratio for the years basically one to one, 26 to 28. So, you know, the fact he's only batting 244. A guy who profiles as a high bat-bip guy was around 380 last year. I think that batting average is going to continue to rise. And the lead-off thing, since this hot streak coincided with his move to the lead-off spot,
Starting point is 00:31:45 I don't generally buy in to that sort of thing, but he had a quote about this that was interesting. At the top, I can be more patiently aggressive, where opposed to hitting 6th and 7th, a lot of times they want you to be a little more aggressive early in the count. They probably shouldn't do that. So, I mean, it makes sense. In more of a situation where you're coming up with runners already on, they want you. you to hit your way on. They don't want you to walk necessarily.
Starting point is 00:32:14 And Mabin's good at walking. So if he's changing his approach based on where he bats in the order, that's probably not a good spot for him, six or seven. He's probably more himself in this spot. And we're seeing the good kind of regression happen as a result. I think for a guy who's like 26% owned, who can end up being a plus contributor in two of the hardest categories to fill, batting average and stolen bases, and probably runs too with as much as he walks if he continues to bat lead off.
Starting point is 00:32:46 I think he's 26% owned is too low. He needs to be added in most roto leagues. Have we seen any numbers on steals this year? Because I just feel like nobody's stealing. Is it even worse? I think the bigger problem might be there's guys stealing. It's just most of the guys stealing aren't very good at anything else. Except for Paul Goldschmidt is good at everything.
Starting point is 00:33:09 Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Dyson's got 12 or 13 steals. Mavon's got 10 steals already. These guys are on pace for near 40 steals. I think there's probably... How many guys do you think have 10 steals already? Ten.
Starting point is 00:33:26 Goldsmith, Hamilton, the two you just mentioned. Pollock, that's five. Maybe not 10. I don't know. Let me look it up. I can tell you. No, I've got it here, and it looks like it is nine. Good guess.
Starting point is 00:33:39 D. Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Eduardo Nunez, Broxton. That's a lot of guys who aren't very good at many things. Right. But then there's like seven more guys that have nine still-on bases, including VR, Turner, Paraza, some more guys that don't do anything. I could totally be wrong about it. It didn't feel like we were seeing a lot of steals, but we actually have Eduardo Nunez. It's slightly up on a per-game basis.
Starting point is 00:34:02 Slately up, okay. Eduardo Nunez is coming up later on in the notes because he is on a tear right now. But let's do our email of the day at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. It's from Chris from Toronto. He says, Dear Bryce, Jameson, and Mani. Good players. Good baseball player. There's got to be some tie in there.
Starting point is 00:34:25 Well, whatever. Can we discuss Mani Machado? The popular advice is, don't worry, he'll be fine. But I want to hear some theories. What's going on with Mani Machado, who is the number five shortstop in points league? This has got good plate discipline. That's the first three picks in the 2010 draft.
Starting point is 00:34:43 Ah, but number 11 shortstop in rotissary, Mani Machado. Batting 223 with 10 home runs and two steals and three attempts. Only 22 runs so far this year. Any concerns, guys, about Mani Machado? I mean, the betting average is really easy to explain. And as far as the slug percentage goes, his ISO is right in line with where he was the last two years. So I don't want to say it's just all luck, but he's got a 227 babbip, and that's the sole determining factor towards his batting average
Starting point is 00:35:15 and his slugging percentage. His hard contact rate is still exceptionally high. Last time I looked, his average exit velocity was amongst the best in baseball. He's hitting a ton of flybowls. I don't see anything to worry about. The line drive rate is down. The line drive rate is down, but that feels more descriptive. like he's been a little inconsistent with his contact maybe,
Starting point is 00:35:36 but if you were to ask me what percentage, I would still say bad luck is probably a plurality of the explanation. Zero to 10 on the Wariometer. Zero. Thank you, Scott. Way to go. Phil and host. I love it.
Starting point is 00:35:52 All right, but this is my time to shine because I have created the fool you game. And let's rock and roll. So I'm going to give you a player. And look, with a lot of these guys, like, they're good. We know they're good. But are they as good as we thought at the beginning of the year? So I'm going to kind of phrase it, or not at the beginning of the year, like three weeks in or whatever. I'm going to kind of phrase it sort of in a buyer sell way.
Starting point is 00:36:16 And you tell me, is this guy legit or did he fool you? And let's start with Ryan Zimmerman. And I will say it like this. Ryan Zimmerman is a must start all season. and he is slumping right now with a 182 batting average in his last 13 games. Was Ryan Zimmerman legit as a must-start all-season? Not as like one of the best players, but a must-start all season? Or fooled you?
Starting point is 00:36:42 Fool-Jew. I have a really hard time seeing myself sitting him. Well, you'll have to when he's on the DL. Even these... Even more than 115 games and four years. Are we adding that, like... Yes, if he is hurt, he is not must start. No, if he's healthy, is he must start.
Starting point is 00:36:58 I'll agree to that. And like the last 13 games, he's hitting 182, whatever. But like for the month of May as a whole, I think he has like an 830 OPS. I wrote about him yesterday as someone who's seen his production drop off from April to May. It's kind of an arbitrary end point either way. But like the 13 games takes out his most recent good game. If he's an 830 OPS guy, he's not necessarily must start in the current first base. He's not in head-to-head.
Starting point is 00:37:30 I think he isn't wrote up. Sorry. Sure. I'm not really sure what the verdict is. Is this a fool-jew? He's going to regress. He's in that column I wrote. Is anybody else playing the game?
Starting point is 00:37:44 Well, I don't know what the game is. You know what we're going to do. He has to fool me. Didn't fool you. Didn't fool you is not a thing. I'm not just going to say fooled you. Like, no, I mean, based on the way Adam framed it, I have a hard time seeing myself sitting him at any form.
Starting point is 00:37:58 Okay. So I'm going to say no. I think what we're going to do is we're going to debate it. And then at the end of the debate, we're going to come back and we're going to make a determination on the player. I'm going to say no. I'm going to say this is not a fool of him and I'm saying based on what you guys have said. Not legit, but is he must start. Those are two different questions. Well, that's what I'm saying is the must start, not the numbers, the must start. I don't think Adam worked out the rules of this game. Look, it's not. This is like when someone starts playing monopoly, but they don't know any of the rules. You know what? Try to explain it midway.
Starting point is 00:38:27 It's kind of like when the host tells us he has a really good show, and then he's like, fool you. All right, so anyway, let's go to the next guy. Ehuehanyos Juarez, remember how good he was, and then he slumped and he homered twice over the weekend, but that came after a five-for-34 stretch. So, A. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hainio-Swarz, as a must-owned player all season. Fool-you. We're doing that at the end, Heath. Come on. If we could get him. just like five Anthony Rizzo appearances at shortstop,
Starting point is 00:39:02 then I think he would be must own all season. But in the third base context, no way. He's unowned right now in one of our 12 team points leagues. And more than one. I keep seeing him every time I look at the way of the wire. And he's just someone that I think is fine, but I think he's fine in like the 25th best third baseman way, whereas that would be the 13th best shortstop.
Starting point is 00:39:24 What's unfair to him, and I will admit it, And it's just confirmation bias. He should have moved up with Travis Shaw and Jake Lamb and, for some of us, Nick Castiano's, into the, I think these guys are actually good because look what they're doing. Well, for me, like, specifically with Nick Castianos versus Auvres, the reason I have Castellanos ahead is the production clearly favors Hayohannius Swar. Can Castiano catch Swares? Is he too far behind for the year? But I just, I look at the way they're doing it. And I just think what Castianos is doing will lead to.
Starting point is 00:39:57 better production in the future. Okay, so I'm going to say with A.U. Anio Hano Suarez, what is with me today? Best game, as a must-owned all season. For you. And let's go to our next guy. Alex Wood, as a borderline must-start pitcher, Alex Wood, with a 188 ERA, a 1.02 whip, and a career-high K-rate and swinging strike rate.
Starting point is 00:40:22 He has had a pretty easy schedule, but also dominated at Colorado. So I ask you, Alex Wood, as a borderline must start, what do you think? I'm going to say as a borderline must start fooled you, because I think he's a must start at this point. Yeah. Not for the rest of the season, maybe. But right now, there's no way you're sitting there. But this is the rest of the game. And if he can sustain the velocity jump that he's had without getting injured, I see a lot to like about him.
Starting point is 00:40:49 This is a guy who got by on guile and deceptiveness early on in his career and was very good. was able to get a lot of swinging strikes. This season, he's paired that with a 93-mile-an-hour fastball, which is above average. He's doing a good job of getting a lot of swings out of the strike zone and a lot of called pitches in the strike zone. That to me says that he's still doing a great job of deceiving hitters. Very efficient, but I'll even add that I don't even think he needs to sustain
Starting point is 00:41:17 the velocity gain to be a must-start pitcher. He basically was his first two years starting for the Braves and then kind of lost his release point for a year and a half there. Regained it right before his injury last year, so he didn't get a chance to really show us what he could do, and now he is. Since he relies so much on deception, he needs a consistent release point.
Starting point is 00:41:39 He has it now, along with a velocity gain. I mean, he's a borderline ace. So we're talking about a guy that is throwing a lot harder that has had injury problems in the past, that is pitching for a team that just throws guys on the DL. Heath, can I ask you questions? Can I ask you questions? Can you name 15 pitchers who aren't an injury risk?
Starting point is 00:41:59 All pitchers are injury risk. Okay. But he has an injury history. So kind of bringing that up. Injury. But if that's your only argument against him, it's not a particularly compelling one. When he's pitching this well... His history as a starting pitcher is also...
Starting point is 00:42:12 Isn't it like one history? Injury? One injury? I think so. All right. I'm going to say Alex would legit, it because it's two to one. He's just saying fooled you for everyone, which I appreciate because it's fun. But I'm going to say, I'm going to say no fooled you for Alex Wood.
Starting point is 00:42:29 Next one, Jose Ramirez is a big time breakout. Because when he was at the beginning of the year, he's cooled off in May. Jose Ramirez, big time breakout in 2017. If we're saying that what he's done to this point in the season constitutes a big time breakout, then I believe it. I don't see anything. No, no, no, no. I'm saying what he did earlier in this season. He started off like super hot.
Starting point is 00:42:54 It looked like, you know, this year's, oh, what a great pick. This is a breakout. And last 18 games has come back down to Earth, batting 206, but still with a 306 on base. I still think he's a great pick. I'm a big fan of Jose Ramirez, but I'm going to, I'm going to cop one of Scott's phrases and say that if stolen bases are all about intent,
Starting point is 00:43:14 he doesn't seem to have the intent to steal bases this year, and I don't quite understand it. but this was a guy who, you know, I was looking at as a potential 15-home or 25 steel guy, he's got two steals. He's been caught three times. That might be why he's lost his intense. I think he has regressed back to the player he was last year, which is still a very good player. Okay.
Starting point is 00:43:35 Probably somebody who needs to start in every league. Yeah, he must start. But technically, based on the rules of the game. For you. There you go. Thank you. All right, similar situation here. with Francisco Lindor, who obviously is a great player, a must start,
Starting point is 00:43:53 one of the best short stops in fantasy baseball, but it looked like Francisco Lindor was taking his game to another level at the beginning of the year. And he has basically mirrored Jose Ramirez. In the last 18, 19 games, they're hitting 206 and 203, with a 306 and 303 on base percentage, and a 286 and 299 slugging percentage with no home runs and no steals. It's weird. They've gone through the same exact slump, but in the meantime, while they're slumping,
Starting point is 00:44:19 They're maintaining their walking a little bit, which is good. So Francisco Lindor will take his game to the next level this season. That is the way I'm phrasing this one. Is that legit based on what we saw earlier, or was he fooling us? No, I think he's basically the same player he's been for the last year and a half. And that's got outstanding top four starting shortstop. He's been – his situation is really strange because he is someone who apparently is part of the fly ball revolution. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:44:47 A ton more fly ball. idea for him. And I think that's probably true. Like, I think a little increase in his home run in his fly ball rate would be good. Um, but he's a 45% fly ball rate guy. And that's been consistent in both April and May. And in April, he had a 38% hard contact rate. In May, it's gone back down to like 29% where it was last season. So you think, you think Lindorra's basically what he was last season? Yes. Oh, well, no, I think he's a little better. He's traded some batting average for power. But what's weird is he has a fantasy value. He's explicitly
Starting point is 00:45:20 said I'm not trying to hit more fly ball. Yeah. And so that's why it's contagious. It's really strange, and I don't quite understand it. I think he's going to hit more than 20 home runs this year. So you know, he's six away
Starting point is 00:45:36 from last year's total. 20 would mean 11 more. I would bet the house on him getting a career high in home runs. Yeah. So I think it's, I'm not, I don't think he's fooled us. I think this is going to be his best year, even from today forward. Okay. All right, I'm going to leave him off then. I'm going to leave him off. Can't have
Starting point is 00:45:54 everybody fooling us. Two more. Michael Fulmer is an ace. Well, we get into the discussion of what exactly is an ace. So, I mean, he's not Zach Rankie. He's not even who I think Jake Ariette is going to be. But he's probably up there with Jose Cantana, certainly ahead of Masahiro Tanach. and somebody who I can't imagine myself sitting, even if he was starting at Corse Field. So is that an ace? No, no, I don't think.
Starting point is 00:46:30 7.5Ks per 9 is not make an ace. No. Fooled you. No. He's a very good starting pitcher. I am 22nd. Excellent. Number two starter.
Starting point is 00:46:42 Love him. Is he... Not an ace. Like, has he fooled us, or is... Well, is this just a question of semantics? He's not an ace, but he's better than I thought he would. And he's not a 2-5-E-R-A guy, so he has fooled us. He will be a 3-4-E-R-A guy the rest of the year.
Starting point is 00:47:00 Very specific prediction. Thank you. Well, I like it. I need it for the sake of this game. I'm going to tell you where Michael Fulmer ranks right now amongst starting pitchers. He is, I think, eighth. He is one of the 25 or so I trust without reservation. You know what?
Starting point is 00:47:16 I'm not satisfied. I'm going for you on Michael Fulmer. So thank you. Thank you guys. Last one, Brett Gardner. Well, he already fooled us with those. Yeah, remember when he was stealing a bunch? Right, he already fooled us with the five steals at the beginning of the year.
Starting point is 00:47:34 He has stolen a base in like 20 games, right? April 10. Yeah. No, but he's got all these home runs now. He doesn't need to steal. Eight homers, nine homers now. He can't steal home. No, you can't.
Starting point is 00:47:45 But not a home run. Yeah, Brett Gardner going to have a great year, basically. This is the premise I'm going off. What do you think? Nice head start for him. Nine home runs already. He's more than halfway to his career high. He's topped last year's total.
Starting point is 00:48:01 He's hitting more line drives this year. Normal, pretty normal fly ball rate for him. Full dude. I just think outfield has become so deep. It's hard to get excited about him. It's hard to call him a must start even with what he's doing right now, at least in those three outfielder leagues. So I do think he'll probably exceed 15 home runs again
Starting point is 00:48:25 and be the player he was, you know, three, four years ago. I'll take under 20. I love him as a sell high. I love Brett Gardner as a sell high. Yeah, he's a pretty easy choice to sell high. You sell high and then you tell the other person, guess what? For you! All right, thank you.
Starting point is 00:48:44 And that concludes this week's edition of Fool's You. And rest of the news and notes, Brandon Finnegan is going to throw a bullpen session today. Carlos Santana, they were in an NL park. He started in right field at Bradley Zimmer sat. Brian McCann expects to return on Saturday. I already gave you that note about Nolan Fontana, so we'll skip that.
Starting point is 00:49:02 Jordi Mercer left with a hand injury. Dinarz Ban is injured. Stop me if you heard that before. He will miss a few days with a jam thumb, DeNard Span. And Randall Delgado is going to start for Arizona on Wednesday as he replaces Taiwan Walker for now. I just want to see them give Archie Bradley a chance.
Starting point is 00:49:18 Yeah. I want to see if he can be Alex Wood or Danny Duffy or David Phelps, one of those guys who can sustain the velocity gains in the rotation. For Carlos Santani, he mentions he started in the outfield. They have another interleague game today. He's one game away from outfield eligibility. And on that same note, Anthony Rizzo is now one game away from second league. Oh, yes.
Starting point is 00:49:43 Oh, God. That is the best thing. There are going to be some Twitter fights over this. Oh, I forgot about the Twitter poll. Oh, yeah. The idiots out there have this all wrong. Settle the debate, which is the better dessert. 53% said pie over cake.
Starting point is 00:50:03 I said pie or cake. 53% said pie, 47% said cake. What the hell is mad at you, people? We are the 53%. I cannot believe it wasn't unanimous. This is terrible. It's clearly cake. Look, Marie Antoinette didn't say let them eat pie.
Starting point is 00:50:18 Exactly. There's no she's my cheery cake. Adam, yes. What is a cheesecake? Is that a cake or a pie? It's a cake. It's not a cake. Obviously not a cake.
Starting point is 00:50:31 I'm going to tell you something. Cake has layers. Cake has flour. I'm going to tell you something, Chris. It requires like the chemistry of the flour interacting with the baking soda in order to create bubbles to rise while it's cooking. Well, that might be why. None of these things. That might be why I hate cheesecake.
Starting point is 00:50:47 So it is really irrelevant to me. Cheesecake is one of my least favorite desserts. I mean, how does one man have so many just pie is a higher floor and a higher cereal? It definitely is a higher floor dessert pie. I think if you eat a lot of store-bought cake, you'll probably come away with the impression that pie is the better dessert. No. I mean, as long as you're not using like fake fruit and pie, it's always pretty good. Here's the problem with cake is you have to put icing on it.
Starting point is 00:51:14 icing's not very good. Okay. All right. This is a... Calm down, calm down, Azer. Me? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:51:20 I don't know. I'm just trashed icing. I know. I'm saying anybody who has a bad opinion. I mean, you can overdo it on the icing, as many store-bought cakes do, but... I will say a red velvet with cream cheese icing. That's about as good as a cake gets. We have one in our refrigerator right now, Chris.
Starting point is 00:51:37 You should go eat it. I like a nice lemon cake, lemon blueberry cake with the cream cheese frosting. That's basically a scone. What's the skone? It's a cake. Okay. So it's also team name Tuesday. We got one from Elliot.
Starting point is 00:51:53 Hey there to Lino. Yeah, that's a good one. I like that one a lot. Good job, Elliot. We'll leave you a good. Samir says, it's clubering time, which is... That's very good. What is the real thing?
Starting point is 00:52:04 The thing says from Fantastic Four, it's clobbering time? Blobbering time. Andy on Long Island has Brock Obama, B-R-A-C-H. That's a good one. That is pretty good. This one's an only-but-go-goodie from Dave in Boulder, California. The Jerko store call. They're running out of you.
Starting point is 00:52:20 I like that. I've never heard that one. I like it. Oh, I like this one a lot. Derek has a song of Bryce and Fires. Very good. I don't know that one. Game of Thrones.
Starting point is 00:52:31 Game of Thrones. All right. More baseball. That's the official name of the Game of Thrones series. I wanted to talk. Bryce and Fires? Of Ice and Fire. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:52:40 I wanted to talk about, yeah, like, The book is not called Game of Thrones. It's called Song of Ice and Fire. So I want to talk about a lot of stuff here. J.C. Ramirez, Mike Fultenevich. How interested are you in picking J.C. Ramirez and Mike Fultenevich up? If you didn't pick them up for this two-week start, I don't know. Like, they're probably not relevant in your league.
Starting point is 00:53:04 All right. Boring. Scott Shebler is 66% owned. Does that feel light to you? Yes, it does, Adam. Yes, it does up to 13 home runs on a 40 homer pace, and he's actually had some bad babit luck this year. Like, I'm not super confident he can sustain quite this home run pace,
Starting point is 00:53:26 but I think he's going to make up for it with some batting average regression, the good kind. I think he's very Adam Duval-esque. Scott Shebbler, yeah, they're teammates, and they're very similar. They're friends. And I like both of them. I think they're both top 50 outfits. builders. Okay, wonderful. Brett Gardner or Scott Shebler? Shebler. Shebler. Yeah. Shebler. Okay. Last guy I want to talk about is Eduardo Nunez. He's the number 10 shortstop in points and Roto.
Starting point is 00:53:58 And a lot of that is recent. He has gone on a tear, nine-game hitting streak with a 351 batting average, two homers, five steals. And he has struggled at AT&T Park. He was actually great at AT&T Park last year, Eduardo Nunez. But it was limited. Not as limited as this year. But anyway, um, What do you think? You know, we were kind of ready to maybe drop him, at least in a non-categories format. Yeah, it's kind of interesting coming into the year that Edwardland and Nunez was the one that we pretty much all agreed on was not for real last year. And Jonathan V.R. was the one that was for real. And Nunez has been...
Starting point is 00:54:30 I don't think we're all the same page than VR. You hated VR. Well, no, but I thought he was... I had him higher than Nunez. And I still have him higher than Nunez. Yeah, I do too. I mean, Nunez hasn't hit for any power, and that was a big part of his production last year. And Nunez is someone that, like, every time I'm...
Starting point is 00:54:44 look at my rankings, I'm just like, what do I do with this guy? Yeah. It's just, the thing about Nunez is he's shortstop eligible, and a shortstop who provides anything is worthwhile in fantasy. And he's been better than VR this year. Yeah, technically, not by much. Not by much, at least in points leagues. They are separated by seven and a half points, eight and a half points.
Starting point is 00:55:09 Yeah, in Roto. A big game, VR's ahead of him. Yeah, well, they both. I think he's probably just a stolen base guy in Rodo. I don't think he's going to hit for much average. Yeah. Okay, let's read emails, and then if we have time, we'll get tonight's matchups.
Starting point is 00:55:26 But your emails, this is a rest of season in a categories league question, needing shortstop help. I got to, the pages are stuck together. There we go. Joe in New York City, Dansby-Swanson, a Ledmas Diaz or Tim Anderson. I will go a lead miss, and I don't think it's particularly close. I'm going to stick with a leadmiss as well.
Starting point is 00:55:50 Phil in Philly. That's fun. Good morning, Natalie, Emily, and Marty. Marty spelled T-I-E. Yeah, what's up with this? I don't know the answer. How emasculating. I was offered the following trade.
Starting point is 00:56:05 Eric Thames, straight up for Craig Kimball. I'm still fairly new to fantasy baseball. I'm not sure how I should be valuing closers versus position players in a 12-team head-to-head categories league. So he would give up Kimbril and get Eric Thames. I think that's mostly fine. I think it's a fairly fair trade. I wouldn't not say that I'm definitely taking it.
Starting point is 00:56:24 It would depend on the construction of my team. I think 12 teams is shallow enough that I'd part with any closer for a... I mean, how are we evaluating Thames at this point? Is he still a top 20, 25 bat overall? I kind of feel like... I do not have him in the top 25 bats overall. You know what? That probably is overstating his value.
Starting point is 00:56:43 Top 40 bats. When I look at my top 300, Thames is right in the same range as the elite closers in terms of value. It's really a question of how important – can you get saves? Closers are the hardest thing. How replaceable are saves. I mean, Kimmer was one of the best savings. And head-to-head categories league. Some jerk team probably has like six closers and doesn't start any starting pitchers every week.
Starting point is 00:57:06 Also, like, you might have – in one league I've got Eric Thames, Ryan Zimmerman, and, like, Jake Lamb. So I've got three guys that have outperformed expectations, so I might be willing to give up one of them. Let me ask you this, because I have Thames in my top 12 outfielders. I do not. Would you trade Kimbril for Nelson Cruz, let's say? I would not. No. Okay.
Starting point is 00:57:27 So we are different on how we value Thames. That would, yeah, I would have an easier time doing this to you. All right. But Closers aren't very tough to value. It's really kind of specific to your team. Yeah. Just don't say specialists. Right.
Starting point is 00:57:42 Rich in Hollywood has, he wants to know why you think Carlos Santana is better than Jose Abraeu. In points, it's specifically because Carlos Santana walks just a ton. And Abraeu doesn't much at all. Yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty much all the difference right there. In Roto, it's a much closer call.
Starting point is 00:58:07 And I'm not sure who I have ranked ahead right now. I think I probably should have Abraeu ranked ahead because he's usually a pretty a pretty good source of average and Sanana's liability. But they'll have similar power production, I think. It's just a slow start from San Diego. He's going to be fine. Yeah, but he is a great on-base guy, and the points leagues are like on base leagues.
Starting point is 00:58:27 Bert says, Dear Ray, Peter, Egon, and Winston. Okay, I know them. By the way, the Natalie-Emily Marty thing appears to be some country music thing, so that's Chris's thing. Ten-team Rotor Keeper... Ten-team Roto-Keeper League. Someone dropped Piscati in our league.
Starting point is 00:58:44 an idiot? I haven't heard much about Piscotti this year should I scoop him up. I think when he says is he an idiot, he's talking about the guy who dropped Piscotti, not Steven Piscotti himself. I think the answer to the question is he an idiot is always yes. 10-team league. I don't think Piscotti is necessarily
Starting point is 00:59:03 must-own all the outfield depth. It's Roto. He's a top 50 outfield. Assuming it's a five outfielder league. If it's a three outfielder league, 10-team league, you know, we assume five outfielders with Roto, but particularly on other sites, that's not always true. I think he's a fringy utility guy. I thought we stopped taking emails from people that played on other sites. I don't know if he does. If he does, then damn Burt.
Starting point is 00:59:25 He's a fringy utility guy in a three outfielder league, but I think he's a must-start outfielder and five outfielder. And Mark in New Jersey, I was offered Eric Thames and $2 in cap money for $125 for Ryan Zimmerman. Would you give up Zimmerman for Eric Thames and $2?000. Oh, yeah. I'd give up Zimmerman straight up for things. So if we take a look at today's matchups, go a little overboard today, a little overtime. Going overboard, remember that comic strip? No.
Starting point is 00:59:57 No. It was the Adam Sandler movie. Adam Sandler's first movie. Oh, yeah, it was awful. I never saw it because I've heard it's awful. It doesn't even really count as a movie. It's like a frat boys documenting their cruise. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:18 All right. Rockies at Phillies, Jemar, or Erman Marquez and Zach Efflin. Would you start either one? Maybe Marquez. Okay. Pass. We'll start Quedo and Lester.
Starting point is 01:00:30 Irvin Santana at Dylan Bundy. Start both of them. Start them both and hold on to your butt. Start Danny Duffy. Jordan Montgomery. Yes. Yep. Christian Bergman and Joe Ross.
Starting point is 01:00:48 Joe Ross, but it's a little shaky against the marriage. Uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah. Yolisha Seine and Matt Harvey. I don't know, Adam. I don't know. Yolisha Seed and Matt Harvey. I'm going to roll the dice on Harvey. I'm doing it.
Starting point is 01:01:04 It's a hell of a dice roll. I mean, you roll a dice knowing nothing about the previous outcomes. of the dice, and we know the previous outcomes for Matt Harvey. The singular of dice is die. Well, I was rolling two. We were playing Yon- You said A, so. Just wanted to clarify.
Starting point is 01:01:21 Would you start Amir Garrett against the Indians? No. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Would you start Andrew Cashner at the Red Sox? No. Are we starting both Matt Shoemaker and Alex Cobb? Yes.
Starting point is 01:01:35 Yeah. I like both of them very much tonight. Yeah, I guess so. Cobb is the one I'm on. offense about because he still doesn't have that change of back and that's that's his everything are you sitting both tyler glass now and r a dicky in the course field of the south sun truss stadium or park whatever the heck's called uh i i wouldn't feel comfortable starting either them i mean i don't know why i am starting glass now in one league
Starting point is 01:01:59 after they just throttled garrett cole talk about hold on to your butt it's a uh don't start it's a reverse league you get points for the run you know that's samuel l jackson's uh A line from Jurassic Park was hold on to your butts. I guess he was talking to multiple people. I was just thinking that makes, what you're saying makes more sense because everybody has just one butt. Yeah. So would you start Joe be a genie tonight at the Brewers? No.
Starting point is 01:02:27 We are in the For the People League. I like it. All right. I'm doing. I'm at Miller Park. I'm not picking him up to start him. But if I owned him, I'd do it. Guys, I got to finish up.
Starting point is 01:02:39 Jimmy Nelson against the Blue Jays. Patrick Corbyn against the White Sox. Yes. Jesse Hahn against the Marlins. And that's it. I think everybody else is an obvious start or sit. Would you start Jesse Han? Where can I find a matchup like that?
Starting point is 01:02:57 I think I might. All right. Goodbye, everybody. Fooled you.

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