Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/23: Trade Talk, Prospects, Double Dongs and More! (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 23, 2019

Gleyber Torres and Eloy Jimenez went yard twice yesterday. Torres continues to punish the Orioles, but how much does that matter when evaluating him? And did this two-homer game from Jimenez change our opinions at all? Then let's get the Thurryometer out on Gerrit Cole and Cole Hamels (9:05) ... Top prospects to stash (12:50), big news (17:40), Manny Machado's struggles (24:00) and some Buy Low/Sell High/Buy High candidates (27:30). We're buying Rafael Devers, but what about Austin Riley? ... Breaking down four of the top hitters in Fantasy (34:50) and wondering how legit these performances are. Bellinger over Betts rest of season? And how about those struggling Cardinals sluggers (42:40)? Buy low on Carpenter and Goldschmidt? And we finish the show with more from Wednesday's games (46:00) including some deep league options and SP rankings ... 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

I care about statistical scarcity more than positional scarcity. Have I killed fun? Yeah. Podcasts is going off the rails already. They're pop-ups. They're not infield fly balls. These guys told you look at Fip, not ERA. So wait for Glover's sale, but pass on Robbie Ray.

Hey, real quick, Scott's boomed about the humidor. And pick your milk for breakfast cereal, Mount Rushmore. Thursday, May 23rd, what's going on? Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. We got some two homer games from yesterday. DeGrom and Scherzer getting right. A lot of injuries to update you on. And Garrett Cole is going to be on that thurionometer,

along with Cole Hamels. Garrett Cole Hamels. We got some more before and afters. You missed that, Scott, but we have... Oh, it was Domingo Armand-Marquez, was the before and after. Which one do you like better? Domingo Armand-Marquez or Garrett Cole Hamels? I like, I think Domingo Harmon-Marquez.

Yeah. What is that inspired by? What is that exercise inspired by? There is a category on Wheel of Fortune called Before and After. Oh, yeah. That's it. Meant to mess with the contestant's mind. Yeah, but Domingo Armand-Marquez pitched yesterday, or pitched Tuesday,

and Garrett Cole Hamels pitched on Wednesday, and our listeners are loving it, and they sent in some more before and afters. We'll get to that. Your emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Remember, we have a mailbag show. We're recording Friday afternoon. It's going to air on Monday on Memorial Day. Let's get to some standouts.

Scott White, who stood out to you on Wednesday? So many standouts. I think the place I want to start is actually with Sean Kelly. How does that sound? Okay. Sean Kelly. Yeah. A save on a second straight day.

So I think it's pretty clear. he's the closer again. Jose LeClerc. Did he work the 8th yesterday? Was it on Tuesday? Two days ago. Tuesday. Tuesday, yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, he's getting closer probably to reclaiming the role, but Kelly should be fine in it in the meantime. And all that Chris Martin talk is, clearly a bunch of hot air. So, all right, so we got a closer there. That's good.

That's a standout. We had two guys who doubled dong yesterday. Glaver Torres, the great, the greatest, broadcasting clip in history, Gary Thorne calling Glaver Torres is, I think it was his second home run. And he's just like, oh, goodbye, home run. I can't believe this is happening. It's really funny. So try to check it out. Try to look it up. Glabre Torres has now hit 10 home runs in 11 games

against the Orioles. The major league record for home runs in one season against one team is 12. And he's got, I think, seven more games against the Orioles to go. Maybe he'll hit two more today. But again, he's 465 with 10 home runs against the Orioles with six walks to eight strikeouts against everyone else batting 250 with two home runs. Five walks, 33 strikeouts. He's been straight up bad against everyone else. But Scott is buying into Glaver Torres. He doesn't buy the Orioles argument. Scott says he's a buy high. I mean, I don't think the color of the other team's uniform is like, you know, it's not like he's a mad bull responding to the color red.

In a second, are you serious? It's just... That's not what the argument is. That's not what it is. What's the argument? The Orioles are terrible. They are the worst pitching. They have literally the most homer-prone pitching staff in baseball history, ever.

Does no other team have any bad pitchers? But not like this. But not like this. The five worst pitchers in the majors are in the Orioles pitching staff. Is that what you're suggesting? I'm saying that they are the worst. And one through five, they are the worst. And they are historically bad.

It's not, they're historically bad. Well, I still don't quite understand the argument unless you're saying he's never going to face a bad pitcher on another team. Maybe he beat up on bad pitchers and the Orioles happened to have a lot of bad pitchers. I can understand that argument. But I don't buy the argument that the Orioles pitchers are the only ones he can hit again. I wasn't making that argument. I'm just saying that's what the stats have said. Of course, I think he's better than 250 with two home runs and 35 games against the race.

rest of the competition, but I am saying that the Orioles are certainly inflating Glabra Torres's value. Currently the number four second baseman of fantasy. He wasn't even top 12 like a week ago before he started assaulting the Orioles again. So that's all I'm saying. I mean, he's better than, again, $2.50 with two homers and 33 strikeouts and 35 games. It's better than that. But I can't ignore the fact that he has beaten up on the worst pitching staff ever.

Okay. Well, what I choose to point to with Claver Torres is that his strikeout rate is way down from a year ago. And his BAB, at least entering yesterday's game. So let's subtract the two home runs. His BABIP and home run to fly ball rate were about the same as last year. So, you know, maybe he's needed, maybe this hot streak has been a regression, the good kind of regression to get him where he should have been all along. I am not super skeptical of what he's doing right now. Okay.

Top four second basement at the moment, and that's obviously a pretty bad position. And batting 302 now with 12 home runs, also three steals for Glabritores. The other double dunger was Eloy Jimenez. That was really nice to see. His batted ball profile is pretty bad. 26.7% hard contact rate. I don't know how moved I should be by this two-homer game. but it was nice.

You should bring a tear to your eye. Okay. Yeah, one thing I guess I didn't realize is that even in the minor leagues, Jimenez is kind of a, I'll double check, but according to his fan grab space, ground ball hitter. So, yeah.

That's something he and Vladimir Guerrero had in common, I think, in the minors, and it's carried over to their rookie season. So what do you make of it? What do you make of this good game from Eloy Jimenez, who's had an otherwise bad season. And he has five strikeouts in three games since returning from the IL.

I said it right. And so, yeah, I'm not sure I make much of a two-homer game in isolation. He still seems like he's striking out too much, given the kind of hitter he's supposed to be. You know, it's not like he was supposed to be an all-or-nothing slugger. He's probably not going to walk a lot, so he needs to get hits in other ways. and hasn't shown many signs of breaking through and doing that. I still think anything but a points league probably he's worth rostering for the upside. And there's nothing wrong with Rossing and the points league either.

It's just not necessarily a must in that format. All right, so I'm going to guess that you and Heath are pretty different on your Eloy Jimenez rankings. Oh, no, he's moved him down to 38. I don't know if he's going to move him. But he updated his rankings yesterday. You have Eloy 42nd at outfield. So guys like Gregory Polanco and Fram Mel Reyes, Yassil Pueig ahead of him. Is Aaron Hicks ahead of Iloi Jimenez?

Of the top of my head, I can't remember if he is in Roto, but he probably is, yeah. He certainly is in points league. Okay, so we need to see a little bit more from Eloui Jimenez. You know what we need to see from Eli? Just maybe a three-game set against the Orioles. We'll get him going. So Sunday. if you're not doing anything.

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Let's get the thuri-a-meter out for Garrett Cole Hamels. I'm going to guess we're a zero on Garrett Cole. He got rocked last night, six home runs. Six runs on two home runs. Six home runs. We might be a little more than a zero if that were the case. But for Garrett Cole, 411 ERA, that's really the only thing that jumps out. Everything else is amazing.

The home runs are a little high. Are you concerned at all? Where are you zero to ten on the thuriameter here on Thursday? The worryometer for Garrett Cole. The home runs are a lot high His He is Home runs per 9 is almost twice what it was last year

So preventing long balls was a big part of his Big key to his success a year ago But the thing is the fly ball rate is actually down this year You look at his Sierra and X-Pip They both have them for like a 250-ish ERA As opposed to 4-11 So It's a zero.

It's a zero. He'll be fine. 17 walks to 100 strikeouts. Is that the best? Let me see if that's the best strikeout to walk ratio in baseball.

Yes. No, it's just Blake Snell, 31.4%. Garer Cole, 31.3%. Blake Snell, look at. Yeah. Let me read the top 10 here.

You're going to just love number four. Blake Snell is one. This is walk-to-strikeout ratio. That's a nice Blake-Bady headline, by the way. You're going to love number. Okay. God.

You're right. You're never going to guess who's number four on this list. Okay, so here, let's go through the slide show. Blake Snell's number one on a walk-to-strike-out ratio, strike-out-to-walk ratio. And this is a pretty good – this is usually a list populated with great pitchers. Snell, Cole, Sale. Scherzer's five. Who do you think is four?

I'm looking forward to loving it. All right. Caleb Smith. Okay. Yeah. All right. Good. Caleb Smith, Scherzer, Verlander, Carasco, Strasbourg, Ryu,

Glassnow. That's your top 10. Matthew Boyd, Jacob de Grom. This is a list of great pitchers for the most part. Or, no. Great pitchers. Okay. Completely.

Yeah. Cole Hamel, Scott. There used to be that Bartolo Colos, Cologne sneaking in there. Well, it's not all great pitchers, but now that he's out of the way. No, this is. Tyler Mallee's number 19. Brandon Woodruff's number 20. We talked about them on the Aces piece yesterday.

So maybe there's something to it with those guys. Back to the Thuriometer and Cole Hamels. Three runs on nine hits in four innings against the Phillies. And overall, you know, solid numbers whips a little high, 1.26, but a strikeout per inning, a 3.30-80-ERA. Last six starts have been rough. Only two quality starts. Only two starts of more than five in a third.

You know, still only a 386 ERA, but just hasn't really put together a lot of good. good starts. Cole Hamels. And next week is at Houston and at St. Louis. Zero to 10 on the Worryometer for Cole Hamels. Uh, Cole Hamels I'd put maybe about a three. I'm not sure I would have characterized it the way you did. I guess he hasn't had a lot of great starts recently, but he's been mostly fine. He allowed in this start zero home runs and had 18 swinging strike. Uh, he's been really good at getting ground balls, so really good at home run prevention, kind of surprisingly this year.

I don't really have any concerns about him. I think he's basically a must start. I'd be fine rolling with him for the two matchups next week. All right. It's going to be at Houston and at St. Louis. And good luck to you, Cole Hamels. So, Scott, let's get a prospects update. I've been getting a lot of emails about C.J. Crohn's brother.

It's Kevin Crone, right? Kevin Crone, son of Frisk Crone, who manages in the AAA Reno. So baseball bloodlines here for Kevin Crone. And yet he's been passed over at 26 years old and beating up on AAA, five straight seasons with 20 plus home runs. And he's already there this year. This is the fifth straight. I wonder how much the new ball has to do with that. Wow.

But it's just it's just an unfortunate profile. He's a big-bodied corner infielder. so, you know, there's no possibility of putting them in another position. And that's how you get guys like Christian Walker and Daniel Vogelbach this year. It's just hard to find a place with those guys. You know, I guess it's possible if Christian Walker slumps much longer that Kevin Crone will overtake him. But I'm not betting on it because I think Christian Walker is pretty good. So, you know, he's played some third base, Crone has.

I don't think he's a real option there. And obviously, Eduardo Escobar isn't going anywhere. But yeah, Kevin, Cron's the minor league leader in home runs and if you were to get a shot, I think he could prize in fantasy. I just don't see barring injury, I just don't see a great chance of that.

I actually don't even know what organization he's in. Oh, he's in the Diamondbacks organization. Okay. He's slugging 800. And one thing I'll say about Cron is just looking at his minor league track record, a lot of power, a lot of power. Plate discipline, much, much better. I'm not sure if you said that. Much better this year. 27 walks

and 33 strikeouts. uh, like, but thanks for paying attention. You did say that? I didn't, no. Oh, but thanks for paying attention. But you could have figured out from contextual clues what organization he's in.

Uh, maybe. Yes. I was, I was really blown away by his, by his stats page. So who are the other prospects that, that we need to, uh,

pick, we need to stash right now. I texted Scott the other night. I said, yo, when's, uh, Cabin Bigio,

gonna get called up. And Scott said, I'm surprised he hasn't been called up already. So I, I am now on a, like, a $3 bid in a $250 Fab League. I got Bigio. I'm excited about that. Let's hope he comes up.

Who else should we be stashing? He's probably sixth on my list, so he didn't make the column this week. But just because, I mean, he hasn't shown much power recently. Like, it's not like he's streaking his way to the majors. He's not, you know, he's kind of cooled off. But, yeah, the top choice is obviously Jordan, Jordan Alvarez, who, homered again yesterday. He's two home runs behind Kevin Crone for the major league lead. The problem is Kyle Tucker's on this list for me now too and has completely turned his

season around, his numbers over the last six weeks, as good as they were last year. And I'm not positive, but my guess is if an opening were to develop, they would go to him first because he's already on the 40-man roster. And Alvarez isn't. But I could be wrong. about that. Alvarez does have the exciting numbers overall. They're both on that list. Zach Gallen of the Marlins, he's still on that list. Though, this is an interesting

staff. For as bad as the Marlins have been, they've used the same five starting pitchers all year. Zach Gallin, where that to change, he'd almost certainly be the guy in getting called up to replace him. But he's not on the 40 men either, so I guess if it's just a one-turn scenario,

maybe not. And then I also like Jesus Luzardo, who still hasn't pitched this year technically, but he is set to face live batters this weekend, so he continues to progress from a strange rotator cup. And finally, my fifth choice for right now is Luis Arania. Orrani. Or I'm sorry. Arias. Oh, man. Arias.

Arias. Yeah, Luis Arias. What is that? Yeah. Luis Arias. who's up to like a dozen homers has a 1,200 OPS at AAA. And that's like he wasn't even thought to be a power prospect,

but he's clearly bringing the power right now. And Ian Kinsler is not in the majors. So it's only a matter of time before that, which happens, hopefully permanently this time. Well, Ian Kinsler is now going to curse at you when he hits his next home run since you, I hope you get that reference since you just dissed his power.

Kyle Tucker is 40% owned, Yordan Alvarez, 57% own. Zach Gowan, 27%, Luis Rias, 26%. And I did not have time to look up Jesus Lazzardo. But Kevin Bigio is actually only 17% own, which is probably why I was able to pick him up in that league. We got some big news for you.

John Carlos Stanton was removed. It's like, how do you get a calf strain by getting hit by a pitch in the calf? That's so weird. He's going to be shut down. Maybe trying to nod to it. That's maybe. Not the most nimble guy.

Stan is going to be shut down for a week to 10 days and reevaluated after that. Oh, probably should have talked about this earlier, Scott. I'm sorry. Wade Davis is on the I.L. with an oblique injury, and Scott Oberg will be the primary closer for the Colorado Rockies.

So what is your take there? He's a disgrace to the name, Scott. He actually has a good ERA, but not missing enough that the FIP is over four. Um, he wouldn't be my choice. You wouldn't be my choice. It would be your choice. You added somebody to our team without my permission, by the way.

Sure. I think it was Carlos Estevez, right? Yes, it was Carlos Estevez. You were kind of speculating there. Well, Oberg was already picked up. And we own Wade Davis, which is why I thought it was important to get someone there. And this was before I saw the report that Oberg was going to get the saves. Estevez has a better profile.

a worse CRA But I dropped Yohenna Caspidus So I don't think we're gonna I don't think we're gonna need Yoannesespidus anymore So I assume I assume and I probably should have had his name ready

If I was gonna interject like this Man I'm having a hard time with names today The former Cardinals closer The pitch for the Blue Jays last year He's been terrible The Rockies Senwano he's been absolutely terrible Yeah

Yeah I assume he wasn't an option No he wasn't I don't think he's been picked up, but he's got a 960 ERA, so I just don't see. Not an option for the Rock. Oh, for the Rockies, yeah, yeah. All right, so Scott Oberg, and it might not be, like, it's an oblique injury. It might not be a long-term one for Wade Davis, so I don't think we're going to be super high on Scott Oberberg right now. Robinson Canot left with a quad strain that could certainly be an I-L stint.

Omar Narvias is day-to-day with a bruise knee. He is the number six catcher in points, number five, and Roto. Although I feel like he should be number five in points, number six in Roto. Maybe I messed that up. George Springer sat again with back tightness. He is apparently making progress. Elvis Andrews should be back on Saturday. Christian Yelich hopes to play tomorrow.

J.D. Martinez, I thought he sat with an illness. It turns out he had a sore back. So he missed now, I think three straight games with either an illness or a sore back. Two games with an illness sore back yesterday. Maybe he had a cough and he hurt his back coughing. That's a joke. Willie Calhoun is on the I.O. with a quad strain. that'll keep Hunter Pence in the lineup for sure.

David Peralta sat, so we've got to keep an eye on him. Javier Baez is back, and right now Chris Davis is not yet on the IL. He still could happen. Mark Kana, DH'd and started again, and he homered again in place of Chris Davis. We are going to take a quick break on fantasy baseball today. We've got a few bullpen notes, a Mani Machado note, buy low, sell high, buy high, and a lot more trade talk right after this. Scott, let's take a look at the bullpen now.

So you mentioned Sean Kelly. He's 29% own. You can pick him up. A little annoyed about Matt Barnes. He pitched the eighth again. I know he gave up a run, but the funny thing is the Red Sox bullpen was supposed to be their weakness. They actually have some pretty good options there. But, yeah, I'm annoyed about Matt Barnes.

Again, not getting a save chance. And then I think Brazier pitched the 11th. So it's a leverage thing. I mean, I still think Barnes is the first option there, but just another bullpen where you can count on any one guy to get a big safe total. Marcus Walden ended up getting the save chance, and he blew it in the ninth. Josh Hader once again got the save. That's 12 for him. Jeremy Jeffers pitched the eighth.

And Sean Doolittle, his ERA went up from 171 to 343, his whip from 119 to 133. he's actually even had like he's had a great year before giving up four runs without recording it out yesterday but some bad luck I'd say because he had a 321 Babbip with a with a hard contact rate that was actually lower than last year and he's actually getting more fly balls than ground balls so I think Sean Doolittle is probably just fine right I think so this is six earned runs in his past three appearances though so you know the ERA's gone up even more dramatically than that four of the three of the four runs yesterday were on a home run Daveis, which, you know, you could take his good news or bad news, I guess, depending on how you look at it.

But I think he's going to be fine. I'm not, I don't think they're looking to replace him. I'm not looking to bench him. I think it'll be okay. The way I look at it is like Sean Doolittle obviously said, Rajay Davis was not even with the team by first pitch. He showed up in like the third inning or something like that, which is true. I don't remember specifically when he showed up, but he just got called up because Nimmo's on the IL. There's no way Rajay Davis, who hit one home run last year, is going to Homer off of me.

I'm going to throw him a cookie, and he underestimated the great Raja Davis. Scott, I was looking at your rankings last night. Manny Machado is your number eight shortstop. So let's talk about Machado. After we talk about Machado, I'm going to get a buy low, a sell high, and a buy high from you, and I'm going to do more buy low and sell high after that. This is a Thursday show. This is a trade show.

But Machado entering yesterday's game had a 381 slugging percentage at home, All of those fears about the ballpark have come true, basically just not being in tandem yards. And shortstop's really good. So you've obviously moved him down. Okay, okay. It's more the latter. I got tired of seeing Carlos Correa down at 8th,

so I had to put somebody else there. It's 8th, but if we were redrafting today, he'd probably be like a fourth round pick for me. Okay, because he's been pretty, I don't want to say bad, but I don't know. I mean, OPS under 800 and no steals or, I think, one steal. So he's been kind of bad overall. He's on pace for more than 30 homers.

And, but the biggest, so, you know, let's not overstate it. The biggest issue for me is that he's striking out far more than ever. Like his entire, even go back to his rookie season, he's striking out more than that. And that shouldn't be a ballpark thing. I'm skeptical that's going to continue. And if it does, obviously, his batting average is going to go up. His batbip is normal. The home run pace is pretty normal, like I said.

So I think he's going to be okay. But I'd rather have Carlos Gray. I'd rather have Alberto Mondes to see who I also moved ahead of him. Right. And that's where I'm at with Mani Machado. Right behind Machado is Bogart's, Jorge Polanco, Paul DeYoung. This is a points league, so in Elvis Andrews. In a roto league, would you take,

Andrews or DeYoung over many Machado? No, I'd still take Machado. I'm not ready to give them those two that kind of benefit of the doubt that we're replacing them with what had been a perennial first, second round type hitter. Right. Here's a weird stat for Machado.

I mean, he's been really bad against righties this year, which is not typical for him, but slugging 342. He has a 1536 OPS against lefties. And you hear it all the time. I talk about the NOS consistently sees the most Lefties.

Here are the leaders in at bats against lefties. Number one, Colorado. Number two, the Dodgers. Number three, Arizona. Number four, San Francisco. Number 27 is San Diego. They're the team that doesn't see the lefties so far. They do have lefties in their rotation.

Strong and Lauer. I can't think off the top of my head like this. But I expect them to start. seeing more left-handed pitchers, it's weird that they're 27th, and the other four teams are I don't even know how you find that. That's that. I go to ESPN.com, their stats page, and then they have splits. If you just look at the team stats versus lefties, and you should not look at the team that has scored the most runs versus lefties, because it's not per game. You should probably look at OPS if you want to see the teams that do the best against lefties,

but you could also just sort by it bats. Not played appearances, unfortunately, but by it bats. Also, Mani Machado has a career high, hard contact rate. Just wanted to bring that up. Let's do some by-low. I'm glad I gave you an opportunity to plug ESPN.com. That was so kind of me. Yes, I use CBS all the time. So, all right, Scott. Buy-Lose. Sell High, buy-high. I was going to talk about Heats regression candidates. I'll wait until he's back tomorrow. So give me some, give me a by-low, Scott White. So I don't have that ready to go here. So I'm going off the top of my head here. But I do think

I do think Jack Flaherty is a good by-low because the swinging strike rate is good. And unless it's changed recently, the walk rate had been better than last. Like that was his biggest problem last year was walk. I guess that's kind of normalized, so not

so much. But he has had bad home run luck, I feel like. And there's better days ahead. I think Jack Flaherty is a good candidate. as much help as you need at starting pitcher. I know we turned down an offer form recently in the podcast for the People League at him, but that wasn't exactly a case of somebody selling low on them. They were looking for full price.

No need for that. We're not doing that. All right. So Jack Flaherty is a good bi-low candidate. Sell high. I put Austin Riley down. He's homered again. 367, four home runs in eight games.

one walk to 10 strikeouts, so it reminds me a little bit of Pete Alonzo, who is still homering, but he's been batting in like the low 200s for... I mean, if he's been Alonso, that's great. I probably won't be. Alonzo's been great, but the batting average has gone way down for Alonzo

as the strikeouts are catching up with him. Right, you know. And I just think there's a lot of hype right now. Take advantage. Riley, throughout his minor league career, was a high strikeout guy. This year was an exception. It wouldn't surprise me if it goes back

to striking out a lot of the majors. And that is, you know, not everybody has Alonzo level power. I hesitate there because baseball reference actually gave them both a 70 rating for power, which is very high prior to this season. But obviously, you know, there is no reason to be totally sold on Riley

as this must-start player yet after only a little more than a week in the majors. So I would agree that's a sell-high possibility. Would you trade Austin Riley for Josh Donaldson? That's what my rankings say. Yeah, I would. Okay. I would.

Do you have another sell-high or you want to move to Buy High? Let's move to Buy-Hai. Who you got from me, Adam? I don't have anyone. This is your sentence. You don't have anyone. Okay. I was counting on you.

All right, how's this, Raphael Devers, Buy-Haw. He's up to six in the third base He's been the sixth best third baseman now in points leagues ahead of even Matt Chapman who has had Who's done some really impressive things this year I think it's all coming together for Devers I think this is it I think the breakout is happening before our eyes It's it's kind of been a piecemeal thing because the walks and

The walk rate and strikeout rate were both greatly improved from the start But the fly ball rate was what Way, way down. Well, that's normalized here in May. He is back to elevating the ball like past years. And it's resulted in four home runs in his past five games, I think it is. No, home runs in three straight. He's over to three straight, up to six now.

Yeah, I think I, you know, the six stolen bases, I don't know what to make of that is six for nine. So I'm not sure that's going to continue. but average in power yeah I probably need to figure out how to move him up in rankings because he's not nearly as high as I'm talking him up to be third base is a deep position but he is among those who I think

we're going to consider must start the rest of the way how about this for a buy high it's kind of an interesting one Ronald Acuna I believe that if people aren't paying attention and don't realize the splits, he's led off like 10 straight games now or 12 straight games. And I think there will be steals.

Whereas if he were... I guess the question is, is he going to continue? Is Kuna going to continue to lead off? Because I think if Kunya does continue to lead off, you are going to get a guy who's, you know, on a, maybe like a 20-steel pace or something like that. He'll help you with stolen bases. If he bats in the middle of the lineup, he definitely won't.

I think we have enough of a sample size to know that's not going to happen. Do you agree with that premise, and do you think that he'll stay at the top of the order? He just seems to be better as a lead-off hitter. He does seem to. I don't think it makes for the optimal lineup for the Braves to have him there, so I hesitate to say that definitely will happen. I think it partly depends on how well Austin. Riley keeps up his production.

Because there's just too many on-base guys who let them all fall in the hands of Nick Marcakechus driving them in. Right. So, you know, I think at this point it's fair to say fantasy owners would like to see him bat leadoff when that wasn't totally for sure, you know, given the RBI possibilities of him batting cleanup for.

Yeah, the ironic thing is he has nine RBIs and 12 games as a leadoff hitter because he's batting 327 and slugging 612, but Acuna has attempted five steals batting lead off, and he attempt, in 12 games. In 36 games, batting forth, he attempted two steals. So, yeah, it's a big deal with that.

Like, I think that's Akunia's decision based on the comment sticker was making this spring. I could be wrong about that. It's just weird, because you'd rather get caught stealing with bad hitters behind you than with good hitters behind you. So, you know, it's a bigger risk running from the lead off spot.

I don't know why that is. I don't know why he's doing that. But it's, you know, two years in a row now. Scott making a subtle quasi and certainly unintentional Jane's addiction reference there, been caught stealing. Okay. Are we considering selling high? I'm going to give you four huge standouts this year. They've been total studs.

And I want you to tell me if we should sell high on them. And I want you to tell me if we should sell high on them after this quick break. Be right back. should we sell high on the following players? Anthony Rendon, he has just under an 1,100 OPS. He's having probably his best season. I mean, he's just been amazing. He's definitely having his best season.

But in the final 90 games of last season, Rendon had a 981 OPS. So he got off to a slow start and turn it around. Would you sell high on Rendon or just keep him and write it out? I'd keep him and write it. out. Yeah, he'd be a third round pick for me if we were drafting today, and I'm not sure he shouldn't be a second

round pick. Yeah, he's a really good player. Hot take. In a points league, because keep in mind, Rendon has great plate discipline, 17 walks, 24 strikeouts, and 45 games. I think he's a

first round caliber player. He was better in points leagues on a per game basis than Nolan Aranato last year. Right. So there's no reason to draft them that way because nobody thinks of them that way. Right. But, yeah, you're not wrong.

All right, how about Joey Gallo? Let me see if I could get the... There we go. Thank you, Chris. Joey Gallo, he's batting 293. He has a 60.7% hard contact rate. That is ridiculous. Even for a guy who always hits the ball hard, that is, like, out of this.

world. He is a 406 Babbip. But it's obviously a breakout year for Joey Gallo, who is one of the top hitters in fantasy so far, 11.13 OPS, and a career high 19% walk rate. Sell high or

no thanks guy on Joey Gallo? I don't think he's this good. We were hoping for a 240, 250 batting average right now it's 293. His Babbup is 406. So it's going to have to come down some. Now, he could be, he could go from being a low Babbat B5 guy about 250 the previous

two years to me, like a high Babbat guy, 3.50 because he is, you know, he's actually lowered his rate of fly balls in a significant way. He has one of the best line drive rate than baseball and that's how you get hit. That's how you get a high Babbitt. That's how you get hits on balls and play. So he is doing a much better job of that in a way. I think he might just be able to sustained, but even so, it shouldn't lead to a batting average this high. Having said that, I don't think anybody was disappointed in the player they got, you know, a week ago when he was hitting 260 or whatever. Right. Well, 260 I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure the 30 points of batting average is making a big difference in people's evaluation of Gallo as, you know, elite

Must start. Thrilled to have him in your lineup kind of guy. Sure, but I mean, as a Gallo owner, I'm certainly afraid that he's going to hit 210 the rest of the season. He's got that history. It's not outside the realm of possibility. I would bet against it. But I, look, if you are in a Roto league and you have a 20 home release or something,

maybe not even that high, but you're in first place by a lot. You know, maybe that's a good excuse to trade. Gallo for somebody who's a little safer in other categories. Would you rather have Gallo or Bryce Harper? Thinking about it, huh? I know what my rankings say. I take Harper. I am, yeah.

Yeah, I would. I mean, even when Harper. I'm not sure. I'm not sure they're not the same player at this point, except Gallo hits the ball harder. I'm not sure. But obviously, Harper has a much better track record with strikeouts than he's showing us now. Cody Bellinger, number one player in fantasy, your number one hitter in fantasy, at least. Any reason to sell high on him?

So, like, all of these guys have unsustainable rates, you know, 400 Babips and whatnot. Yeah, of course. You know, but still. But Bellinger's actually hitting 400. Yes, right, 394 now. And, you know, duh. Like, those numbers normalize.

Oh, he's going to be only a 315 hitter instead. So just keep him? Just keep Bellinger? If we were redrafting, I did this exercise on, in a column Monday. If we were redrafting today, he'd be the second pick. Wow. Wow.

Okay, so I think I'd probably take bets over Bellinger, I think. But I can't really argue with you here. I think I'd take Bellinger over Jose Ramirez. He's running more than bet. His strikeout rate is now about the same as Bet. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's possible that that changes, obviously. but those are, the strikeout rate in particular is something,

you know, I trust a little more than obviously batting average at this point in the season. But Mooky Betts has had two MVP caliber seasons. You know, we're still 50 games into this season. Yeah, no, I hear you. And Moogie Betts would be the fourth pick for me. I also moved Yellick ahead of them. Right.

But that's, it's, you know, Bellinger is clearly a better power hitter, I think, than mooky bet. and it's hard to find where he lags behind Moopy Bed unless there's just an all-around regression to the mean and not just here's where he's been lucky he'll regress to the... Here's where he'll been lucky,

so therefore he'll regress the meet. Yeah, right. No, I mean, he does run. The play discipline is amazing. One walks to strike out, you know, 29 of each. And he's hit Lefties well, which was something he was terrible at last year. He's batting 355 against Lefties.

Guess what? The Dodgers have faced a lot of lefties. And finally, Josh Bell. Josh Bell is the number four-hitter in fantasy. He homered again yesterday. This power is looking legit. What do you think? Would you sell high on Josh Bell? I would trade him for Anthony Rizzo.

I would trade him. I think for Paul Goldschmidt, I think I would do that. But the fact that we're having to, that I'm hesitating about it, shows obviously how high he's come up the rankings for me and how highly I regard him now. If it's just you're worried about him no longer being a must-start first basement, I don't think that's going to happen. I think the BABF is too high and the batting average is going to come down some, but the power gains.

I mean, his home run pace will probably slow, too, but not enough that he's going to be somebody you ever think about sitting. I think this breakout is one of the truer breakouts we've seen here in the early going. Gallo or Bell rest of the season? I rank I think I rank Bell ahead. You do. Way to know your ranking. Scott White.

All right. All right. So those are some guys that you could consider selling high, but you probably shouldn't, unless you get something like completely great for Gallo or Bell or something. But we are more or less buying it. Are we sure we're buying low on these two players? There are only two players here, and they're both on the same

team. And they are Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldishman. Carpenter is the number 23 first baseman in points leagues, number 42 in Roto. Goldschmidt is 17th in points, 18th in Roto. Goldsmith does have a career high, hard contact rate. I think he's going to turn it around. His strikeout rate is up again. Carpenter, I'm less certain.

I don't know. I don't think he's going to get on that heater like he had last year. I know there's a hot streak coming. I don't expect it to be as epic as it was last season. But, yeah, are we sure we're buying low on Carpenter and Goldsmith? I'm actually more confident we're buying low on Carpenter than Goldschmidt. Obviously, Carpenter is, you know, there's a lower standard for him to meet, and he's been more useless so far. So that's, you know, I'm not saying Carpenter's better than Goldschmidt.

I just think. The price. I'm more confident he's going to, for the cost, he's going to be worth it. Okay. But, yeah, Gulch. Okay, what? No, no, no, go ahead. I'm sorry.

I don't know what you're saying. Okay. Okay. Goldschmidt. Yeah, that strikeout rate. And look, it looked terrible last May. It looked worse than this last May. And obviously, he came roaring back.

And that, you know, I think that's fair to include that in your assessment because, you know, you're obviously dealing with a smaller sample size than ideal here. But he didn't get the strikeout rate all the way back last year. It's even worse this year. His profile has always depended on. high babbits and that's that's a little scary um it's the batting average is the main thing i'm worried about is he going to be just like a 260 hitter or is he going to be 290300 and uh with all the depth of first base i think it probably makes the difference for him yeah i'm still betting

on him but i'm not totally confident he's you know he's on the wrong side of 30 now this this could be the start of him beginning to slow down okay but you do think that Goldsmith will start hitting for some power. He has 10 home runs. I mean, it's not bad. But you think... No, it's not... Yeah, more than...

On pace for more than 30. Yeah. It's still hard to evaluate that... It's weird. It doesn't feel like it. I mean, there's a couple of reason why it's hard to evaluate. This is shaping up to be another record-setting season in home run. So, what does 30 home runs even mean anymore?

Right. I don't... I don't know. I don't know. And then, two, there... It's still early enough that there's got... guys on pace for more than 60, you know, and that those paces obviously aren't going to last. And it makes somebody who's only on pace for 30-something look bad by comparison.

But, so there's going to be some normalization there. You know, as long as Goldschmidt keep at this pace, he should be fine in terms of power production. I think there are about, I just, I just did this while you were talking there, about 40 hitters who have hit more than 10 home runs. So he's got 10 home runs, Paul Goldschmidt. he's currently outside the top 40 in home runs. If he had 11, he'd be in the top 30 or right around 30th, but it is what it is. Okay, Scott, we've got to kind of blow through the rest of the show.

So, because we got a late start. I apologize. We're going to do a shorter episode today. No, you shouldn't apologize. It's my fault. We're going through growing pains trying to work new equipment. It's my fault, and everybody's mad at me. No, that's okay.

And no. So we'll save the performance. and afters for tomorrow, like Josh Harris and Bader and Christian Walker Bueller. And I'll give you the rest of what we need to know from yesterday. The Angels had a game postponed for the third time since 1995 in their home ballpark. The White Sox had a grand slam and turned a triple play in the same game for the first time in franchise history. The Marlins of one five straight.

The Indians DFAed Carlos Gonzalez. Jeff McNeil sat with hamstring tightness. Yandy Diaz sat with a hand injury. Devers is homered in three straight games, as we mentioned. Jesus Aguilar has sat three straight games for. Eric Thames. Kirby Yates has 20 saves, as a writer for the Athletic pointed out, 20 saves for Kirby Yates is more than the amount of wins for five teams in baseball. Baltimore acquired Keon Broxton from the Mets, and the Mets again, they called up Raja Davis as they put Brandon Nimmo on

the IL. C.C. Sabathia is probably going on the I.L. to deal with his knee, which has been bothering him for like four years. Vince Velasquez is close to returning, but he's not guaranteed a rotation spot when he comes back. Vince Velasquez. Strope through a successful bullpen session, Daniel Stumpf beat Sandy Alcantara in a national anthem standoff. They stayed out on the field until long after the anthem was over in the Marlins' Tigers game. And Daniel Stump won because Alcantara was being threatened to be ejected from the game and he had to go in the game. I was hoping it was the singing competition.

No, just standing out there. It was pretty funny, actually. Okay, I got some deep league stuff for you. Tell me if you're interested in these two. I've got two hitters and five pitchers. Dexter Fowler's 9% owned, and he has a 413 on base percentage, and he plays every day for the Cardinals, Dexter Fowler.

And Rowdy Teles is 16% owned, and he has three home runs in his last two games. Doesn't play every day, but plays a lot. Fowler and Tuller. In a deeper league scenario, I think Fowler could emerges more. He has, you know, other than the home run pace, which is a little low,

all his other numbers look great. high, high line drive rate. So I don't know that the batting average he's putting up is entirely fluky. Teles has playing time issues and really just does the one thing, hits home runs. So that's a tougher fit. But obviously

in a Deep Aduff League, it's you know, home runs are obviously a good thing. Let's go to the rotation. Do you have anything to say about Scherzer or DeGrom? No. They're both great. Shurzer especially. If you can buy low on him, then you're probably playing with a bunch of opposites.

But it's worth a try because a win-loss record and ERA both don't make any sense. Two wins. The reason why it makes a little bit of sense is because the Nationals' bullpen is awful. And they blew it again from yesterday. So keep that in mind. But Scherzer and DeGrom are obviously elite. All right. So then how about, do you have anything to say about Luis Castillo who said he just didn't have any trust in his change up yesterday and he got hammered for it? Anything to say about Castillo? He No, I mean the whole

The walks are higher than ideal But Like he he gave up two home runs yesterday And that shouldn't be something that happens very often Because his ground ball rate is through the roof Like 60% It's huge Okay

He's good All right Castillo So then how about ranking These next three in the rotation Frankie Montas Rich Hill and Max Fried All very good starts yesterday Frankie Montas, Rich Hill, Max Fried.

I would go Montas. I think freed ahead of Hill. But that's a close call. Montas is the one, like my most regrettable statement, I think, of this season is that I'm not buying into Frankie Montas. I don't really see it because since then he has just, he has gone crazy. Five of his past six starts, double-digitist swinging strikes, his best swinging strike games of the year. And it just seems to keep getting better. I think it was 18 yesterday.

including 11 on 24 splitters. Wow. I'm just going off memory here, but that splitter's been a game changer for him, and he's a great ground ball pitcher. So he's kind of doing the same things that make Luis Castillo great. Buy high of Frankie Montas, huh? Yeah, yeah, I would.

Okay. All right, so here's what we're going to do. Scott and I are going to step aside on the video portion of fantasy baseball today, and we'll stick around for a few more minutes on the audio portion to take you through Rick Porcelo and Marco Gonzalez and Zach Davies and some fringy starting pitchers and some second baseman that I'd like to get some thoughts on if we have time for that and maybe some emails, but it would be about five minutes. All right, so thank you to our video audience.

We will talk to you tomorrow on fantasy baseball today. Hello again, audio friends. Okay, Scott, I've got four pitchers who are owned in 86% of leagues or more. Should they be? Rick Porcelo, John Gray, Marco Gonzalez, and Zach Davies. Porcelo, Gray, Marco Gonzalez, Zach Davies. I think the ones I'm most skeptical of are Gonzalez and Davies. And obviously, Davies had sort of a coming down to earth yesterday.

He's entered with a 154 ERA that he obviously couldn't sustain. But it doesn't necessarily mean he's bad. it's just really hard for the non-strikeout pitcher to be effective in today's game. You know, he's throwing his change up a lot more. That's his best pitch. Obviously not a best pitch in a swing and miss sense. But I don't know. I think he's been so good that it's hard to say he's not worth owning,

but I don't really have, like, that's a sell high. I mean, it's harder to do today than it was yesterday, obviously. But that's a cell high guy. I actually did drop Marco Gonzalez. in the podcast league, the 12-team points league yesterday and kind of regretting it now, but the things that made him so good last year, when I say so good, you know, it still was kind of, you know, top good in like a top 40 cents. Yeah, they haven't been there.

The ground balls, the control, it's, well, the control's been fine, but the ground balls and the strikeouts have been worse. Yeah, Marco Gonzalez has just had a brutal schedule. So, you know, it seems like every night, because I think Texas is pretty good. So I think his last five starts are the Cubs at the Yankees, at Boston, Minnesota, and at Texas. That's a really tough run. Next week is a two-star week for Gonzalez, Texas at home and the Angels on the road. No, both at home.

I just, I owned him last year. I owned him in a league this year. I feel the same way. I don't trust Marco Gonzalez against good teams. I think he'll be fine against, you know, average to below average teams. I don't know that a guy like that who doesn't strike out anybody or enough people is really a must-owned. So I don't think you'll regret dropping him in the podcast league.

I mean, he'll have his moments. Yeah, you need a lot of pitchers in that league to win. And people seem to know that because there's nothing on the way for it. Or that's just the way pitching is right now. There's nothing on the way of wire. Now there's Marco Gonzalez. There you go. Two-star, Marco Gonzalez.

Don't rub it in. And would you pick up any of these guys if you're saw them available. Brad Keller, Aaron Sanchez, Jeff Samarja. So what I think doing the most interesting things is Aaron Sanchez, who stopped me if you've heard this before. But he's getting a ton of swinging strikes. 16 and three of his past four starts. He's also walking too many hitters. But he's kind of maximizing the effectiveness. That hasn't been his game in the past, getting swings and misses.

Groundball is okay, but that's new for him. And, you know, I'm at least keeping an eye on it. You know, the strikeout to walk rate still is pretty poor, but it's something to keep an eye on. The other two, Keller and Samarj, they do nothing for me. Scott, we're going to read four emails in 30 seconds. Are you ready? Yep.

Okay, beginning in three. Two, one. Now, we need to know. Adam wants to know if you're getting closer to dropping Joey Votto in a 10-team league. Yes, but I'm not there yet. Bill wants to know if he should drop Jesse Winker, Christian Walker, or Hunter Dozier to pick up Yorden Alvarez in a 10-team points league. Winker, Walker, or Doger?

Yeah, shallow league like that. It makes pretty easy to drop Winker, who has not been playing that consistently of late. Would you drop from Heidi? Would you drop Greg Holland for Hector Nairus? No. And from Dylan in the Detroit rebuild, would you drop, or how worried are you about Nelson Cruz? Wrist injury?

It seemed like a borderline case you'd even go on to I.L. So I'm not worried much at all. Okay, that was 50 seconds. Totally good job there. Not your fault. Way to go. I slowed it down on the craziest. We were already over by the time I started reading it.

Thank you for listening, everybody. We'll have a full cast of characters on tomorrow. I think there are 10 games today. So we should have some downtime to talk about, you know, read some emails and talk about regression candidates and enjoy fantasy baseball chatter. For Scott White, I'm Adam Azer. Thanks for listening. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.