Fantasy Baseball Today - 05/28: What's Happened Over the Last Four Days? (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 28, 2019

Did you miss anything during your holiday weekend? We'll take you through the Most Added list (1:40), revisit our bold predictions from the mailbag show (9:30) while discussing Joey Votto's recent streak and give you your news and notes (16:00). Pedro Strop is on his way back! ... Some emails (22:00) about Buster Posey, prospects, Jose Ramirez and more and then we look at some underowned hitters (26:00) who have been making noise lately like Oscar Mercado and Harold Ramirez ... Recapping the weekend with The Good (31:00), The Bad (36:10) and The Ugly (42:00). We touch on Brandon Woodruff, Carlos Carrasco, Yu Darvish, Trevor Bauer, Jake Odorizzi and so many more. Then it's Team Name Tuesday (43:30) and we get into Monday's games to finish the show (46:00) ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. With fantasy! Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Welcome back, everybody, to a more conventional show, a more conventional edition of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast.

What's up? I hope you had a great three-day weekend. I hope you enjoyed the mailbag yesterday. And I don't think I said this on the Monday show. Let's show that aired on Monday. Thank you to all of our veterans out there. It was Memorial Day, and I should have taken the time to have done that, and I did not.

So belated thank you, and always a thank you for all of your service and your dedication. I'm Adam Mazur with Scott White and Chris Towers. We don't have a ton of time today, so I'm just going to assume you guys had great weekends, and everything is beautiful. Yeah, right? It was fine. It was great. Okay, good.

I had a very nice weekend. I feel refreshed. I'm ready to rock and rock and roll. roll. So we're going to not just look at Monday's action, but we're also going to look at the weekend with the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yeah, four days of baseball. Some of the players that talk about, Mike Fultenevich, getting that velocity back, Brandon Woodruff's been great, Jake O'Darizzi, another great start. Meanwhile, Carlos Carrasco, U. Darvish, Trevor Bauer, Chris Archer, they struggled, and they didn't struggle as much as Yusay Kikuchi and

Caleb Smith and Domingo Oman. So we'll talk about all them. It's also team named two get excited for that. But guys, let's start with the most added list. I think that's a pretty good way to kind of catch up on the last four days. The most added list, and Nick Povetta is somewhere on this list. We'll talk about him and Andrew Heaney. But it's Kevin Bigio one, Lance Lynn, two, Ryan Yarbrough, Kevin Cron, and Scott Oberg. And I think we support all of them. Now, Bigio's only had one good game so far, but, you know, should be owned, right? 58% own for Bissio? Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Given the variety of things he can do in the position he plays, second face, somebody in your league could use him. Definitely the most interesting player among those listed here. What about Lance Lynn? What about Lance Lynn? Kevin Bizio is definitely the most interesting

player among those listed. Scott, you always defend Lance Lid. I always defend, I mean, Lance Lynn, I liked as a two-stared sleeper this week, so from that kind of It makes sense that he was added and so far one for one in delivering Promising results quality start with double-digit strikeouts But I don't really see what's making him different from the past two years

He has you know four five of his past six starts have been awesome I legitimately awesome four of them eight strikeouts or more four of them seven innings But I don't really try busted to continue, no. Okay, I shouldn't have said Scott always defends Lance Lynn. I should have said if anyone ever defends Lance Lynn, it's Scott, but it still doesn't happen that often. Scott's in the tank for Lance Lynn.

All right, so let me look, if you're watching the video, which I think the best way to do is go to our YouTube channel. Just look for CBS Sports on YouTube and you'll see our video show. It's a full-length thing. Also, you can see some VODs on the website, cbsports.com slash fantasy. I'm just going to pick some pictures out because, Ryan, you are He's 38% owned. He's currently only RP eligible.

I'll double check on that. Yep. I don't know, actually, because this league is only pitchers. No RP and SP. But I think he's RP eligible only. But anyway, Yarbrough, Nick Povetta, Andrew Heaney. Heaney's by far the most owned. Chris, if you were going to rank those three, Yarbrough, Povetta, Povetta starting today, and

Heaney, how would you rank them? And you know what? I'm going to make you rank four now. I'm going to throw Michael Panetta on that list. He's on the most added list, too. Heaney, Povetta, Yarbrough, Paneda. And I think there's a gap between two and three, and then a gap between three and four.

Yeah. Yeah, that's how I'd rank them also. Heaney, Povetta, Yarbrough, Pineda. How excited are you about Nick Povetta's start today? Moderately. As excited as anyone could be. about a Nick Povetta start. It's more like

what's her name from Saved by the Bell? You know, more like an I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so scared kind of situation. All right, I'll get to give you... I feel like that's any time Nick Povetta's on the mound. That's the only proper reaction to what's going to happen. I imagine there are people out there who are more excited than you are.

Agreed. So I wouldn't say you're as excited as anybody could be. as anybody should be let me give you some names let me give you some names and tell me if you would drop these guys for Nick Povetta Kyle Freeland

Yeah Spencer Turnbull Yeah I don't think so I don't think so Chris Archer No Yeah

Oh Why not You're more excited than I am apparently Well it's just For me it's more like What do you lose in Chris Archer? We'll see.

Like a lot of strikeouts, but that's pretty much it. He hasn't been commanding his fastball, but mostly everything else seems to be there. Okay. You know, I'm discouraged with him too, but you don't really know what you're getting from Nick Povetta. You're probably getting not something terribly useful with Nick Povetta, but there's a chance,

just like there is with Chris Archer, that things go better than expected. Remember what I said about Scott. Lance Lynn, I think I meant Scott and Chris Archer. That was the mistake I made. But you know what, Scott? I picked up Chris Archer in a league. Oh, boo. You don't have the courage of your convictions. You're a coward. No, look, I mean, I'm in 10th place. So I obviously need some help. I need some pitching. I just, it's been bad. So who did I drop? I dropped Alex Verdugo for Chris Archer. It's one of those leagues like Chris Archer was by far the most accomplished pitcher on waivers. It's just an overall statement about pitchers, you know? Are, our, Archer, I have low expectations now. I think he's waiver wire. I think it's okay if you put him on the waiver wire. I think there's a crappy team in your league that needs Chris Archer.

In that particular league, I'm the crappy team, and I accept Chris Archer. Yeah. He's kind of, you know, like a lottery ticket play at this point. I understand anyone dropping him. But just like with Pavetta, when we learned he was being called up, there were leagues where I was in enough need of pitching that he even, Even after he got sent down and somebody dropped him, I was picking up Pavetta. You know there's upside there.

And while you can't start him yet until he turns things around, you know, there's more upside there than just, you know, Joe pitcher off the waiver wire. Okay. So Heaney is certainly someone that if he's available, you should take a look at a great start in his season debut. Last year, it was a home start for Heaney. Last year he was great at home and pretty much not. worth using on the road. We'll see if that continues. One more name I want to throw out here, because I have a section later about hitters who are more or less available in almost every league except the really deep ones. One guy I didn't put on that list, though, was Lordus Gurriel.

So when the Blue Jays called up Bigio, they also called up Lordus Gurriel, who was eligible at second base and shortstop, and he's been really good. So he is 30% owned. Scott, he has three home runs in his last four games in four games since being called up any interest in lordis goryel i don't think most standard mixed leaguers have much use for him like there there's there's a limit to his ceiling because he doesn't walk much and i think the power upside is only so high um you know i could see him being like a poor man's edwardo escobar but i'm in you know there's there's some leagues of mine where he's been, Ascabar himself has been on and off the waiver wire. So, you know, those deeper rotisserie leagues, you know, maybe a 12th teamer with that,

if you really need help in the middle infield spot, but certainly like a 15 team where I can see adding them. Beyond that, I'm not that interested. And the Crohn family would be very happy this week. There are two Crohn's in the top 10 on the most added list. Kevin is fourth. He's 31% own. C.J. is ninth. He is still 79% owned.

Still chance to pick up C.J. C.J. C.J. making us eat Cron. Very good. Very good. Much better than your bold predictions. Let's go back in time. Let's do the rewind to Monday's mailbag, which we recorded on Friday. We got an email that's...

Was it good or bad? It would sound like a cat being attack. Maybe it was my cat Maybe. No, he's good. All right, so Lost my train. I thought. Now I'm thinking about cats. Okay, we had an email that said, Give me two bold predictions

That will happen over the weekend. And the show aired on Monday, so we were giving predictions about things that we were obviously clearly right or wrong about When people heard them. So Heath actually did pretty well. I did not. And Chris did worse.

Oh, come on. You did worse. Oh, come on. Okay, he said two things. He said, I dropped Joey Vado, so here's my bold prediction. Joey Votto has seven hits, including three home runs over the weekend. He did not have seven hits. You have a lot of hits.

He did not have three home runs, but he did have a lot of hits, yes. He's batting well over 400. He's probably batting about 500 in his last six games now. But it's mostly singles, a couple of doubles in there. But of these bold predictions, Joey Votto is the one guy that's like really relevant. of it talk about right now. Are you guys in current?

Let me get the exact stats up of what he's been doing lately. I think his last six games. He only played one of the two games of the double header yesterday. I mean, I love that the batting average has been great, but still very little power. So, you know, what do you make of that with Votto? I think you take what you can at this point from him. You know, okay, maybe he's not hitting for power right now, but getting, you know, a good amount of hits over the course of the weekend and starting to make more contact.

I think you take that. You've got to be happy that you're seeing some signs of progress from a guy who really hasn't showed very much. The walk rate is starting to get back to the levels that we always assume it will be. So for me, it's more, he's been so strikeout prone this season and it's been really out of character. So seeing him move away from that is a sign to me that he's starting to figure things out. All right.

Scott, so yeah, it's three straight games without a strikeout. That's good. Yeah, I see it as like a battle between two superpowers. You have Joey Votto, legendary Hall of Fame caliber hitter, maybe the most cerebral hitter of our time versus Father Time. And who's going to win? Right now Father Time has the advantage, but Joey Votto might still have some life in him. It's another situation, I think a clearer situation than Chris Archer,

because Archer, you know, he's never... Hasn't been good in four years. Oh, Chris! Really? Are you abandoning that Chris Archer was actually good in, you know, 2017, 2016, he hasn't been good at run prevention in four years? That was the one thing he wasn't good at, yes. That's pretty important.

So, getting back to my Joey Votto take. Yeah, he's... I need another month of Joey Votto. Probably. I mean, given his track record and given his tendency to have prolonged slumps and then catch fire, I'm giving him another month before I'm to the point of dropping him. All right. Heath's other prediction was that Kansas City sweeps the Yankees and Domingo Oman gives up six runs. So the Yankees won two out of three, nearly all three. But Domingo Ramon gave up seven runs on Sundays.

either part of this right. No, but he did the best. My stupid predictions were, well, one of them was okay. Tyler Malley is the most added player after seven innings, two runs and seven strikeouts against the Cubs. Not even close. I'm going to blame the wind, though. Windy day, wind was blowing out.

He gave up three home runs. And my other prediction was David Dahl hits three home runs over the weekend against the Orioles. Heath said, quote, is that even bold? And then he bullied me into making it four home runs for David Dahl over the weekend. He actually did not hit any home runs on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, but Dahl had a good weekend, and then he homered yesterday. Charlie Blackman's on the IL.

Dahl should get more regular playing time, I would think. And he is right now on a nice little run, and that is good to see. Chris's bold predictions. The Marlins win their ninth in a row, and Dave Martinez loses his job. So Chris actually said that on a Friday, even though you heard it on a Monday. And later that day, I believe, the nationals were like, We're sticking with Dave Martinez. I mean, everyone knows the vote of confidence is a kiss of death.

It's true. Everyone knows that. It can be true. And his other prediction was that Vladimir Guerrero would have two homer games and hit four home runs over the weekend. It did work. He had three hits. That's the same thing.

Good job. That's four days. It records the way to one home run. Yeah, not bad. Pretty good. All right. Yeah, Tyler Malley, I do think. the wind was an issue, but I also think the Cubs are just brutal. That's a tough matchup.

Unfortunately, I looked at his upcoming schedule. It looks like he's got a lot of tough matchups, which is life in the NL Central, I guess. All right, let's take a quick break here on fantasy baseball today. When we come back, we got news and notes, we got some emails. We got those hitters I talked about that are 15, 16% on that are doing pretty well right now. And more from the weekend and from Monday. We'll be right back. Your news and notes, Michael Givens has been removed from the closers role for Baltimore.

Sean Armstrong got a save yesterday, I believe. He has a 552 ERA. I am not going to pick up, I am not going to pick up Sean Armstrong. No. The Orioles bullpen, like Michael Givens is their only hope of any fantasy value

there. You know, if they're going committee route with a bunch of bad pitchers, there's not enough save chances there to sustain more than one, and there's nobody who deserves to be the one. How do you not even stumble into one good reliever? I don't care if you're not

trying to win games. Like, relievers are so easy to find. You can get one guy. Yeah, you think so. Tell that to the Nationals. Well, they do have one guy. Chris Bryant and Jason Hayward sat yesterday after colliding on Sunday. I don't know what the deal is there with Brian,

but we hope he can obviously get back soon. Luke Weaver, It's forearm strain. Not necessarily Tommy John or anything like that, which used to be here forearm strain. It was Tommy John. We're going to see what happens with Luke Weaver. They're going to do some tests and we'll get more information.

I imagine Charlie Blackman should have a fairly short stay on the IL. Colorado called up Yonathan D.Gordon has a deep bone bruise in his wrist. His teammate, Malick Smith, though, is only 42% owned. You don't have to own Malick Smith in Points Leagues. You should own him in any league that counts steals. He's been bad all year, basically, and he was bad going into yesterday. He was on my bench in a daily league. I don't regret it, but he did steal four bases yesterday.

So, you know, there's that. Yeah, and there was some, there seemed to be some excitement, I guess, that the wrist wasn't broken, that it was only a deep bone bruise, but a deep bone bruise sounds like a pretty big deal in its own right. Like, I'm not expecting a quick return for Dee Gordon. Right, that's Gordon. So, yeah, you can stash him if you want, but you don't have to stash Gordon in a points league. But Malick Smith in a Roto League, Categories League, you want to get him. Okay, we have three pitchers to talk about.

We talked about Nick Povetta. Genesis Cabrera. Yes, great name. He's going to start tomorrow for the Cardinals, I believe, against the Phillies. Povetta is starting against the Cardinals today. Any interest in Genesis Cabrera? I think he might get one start before we close the book. on Genesis.

I thought you were going to go with a musical reference there. You went religious. That's cool, too. Yeah, I know. You got to get, it's the oldest story ever told. You got to go with it. It's a classic. He has an ERA over six of AAA this year. And that's the PCL, partially at least. Yeah. Like, that might be an average ERA.

I kind of liked it. He was part of the Tommy fam deal, but yeah, not, not, not looking good for him this year. But Alex Reyes is maybe somebody that we should be picking up, right? Yep. Okay. Yeah, I mean, he's only made like one start of more than four innings so far, I think. But, yeah, we should probably be expecting him to be called up in the next couple of weeks if he continues to advance well as he gets stretched out.

I think you could probably get rid of Mitch Keller. I'm not sure if they're sending him down, but he was called up for the for the double-header yesterday, Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller. Look, actually, four innings, six runs is bad, but he gave up all six runs in the first inning in his major league debut. We've seen that kind of stuff before. And then he settled in and threw three scoreless innings.

He struck out seven batters at Cincinnati. But, yeah, I don't think, I don't know that he's making another start. I don't see a need to own him right now. Yeah. I would be surprised. They didn't really want to call him up, but they had no other choices. It looks like C.C. Sabathia could start on Sunday.

James Paxton could start tomorrow for the Yankees. Really interested to see what Paxton does because he's going to be pitching through knee pain, it seems. He can't get it 100% right. Dustin Padrella is not sure he's going to play again. That was obviously a disappointing press conference. Yule Guerrille, one appearance away from second base eligibility, and Jose Altuve is knocking on the door, so it's going to have to happen soon for Guriel. Aaron Sanchez left with a torn fingernail.

This guy cannot catch a break with his fingernails, his blisters. Aaron Sanchez. the White Sox and Royals suspended yesterday. They will resume today in the fifth inning. Tim Anderson's been out a few days. He's dealing with a sore wrist. Austin Barnes is on the IL for the Dodgers, and they called up Will Smith, Scott.

Does this matter? Will Smith? Well, there's two Will Smiths in the majors now. But beyond that, he's a catcher who can hit. I mean, he had a batting average over 290, OVP over 400, has always been a power hitter in the minors. strikeouts have held it back in the past but it's been pretty good rate this year

even his star yesterday Russell Martin did and so it makes me wonder is he going to get enough playing time to matter in fantasy but to catcher leagues I'd probably go ahead and take a flyer on him because why not okay it could be a short stint though

for Austin Barnes to just keep that in mind but Will Smith has some potential for sure Mitch Garver could be back this weekend Jose Ramirez got a day off yesterday and I had one of my better days in fantasy, so I don't think that's a big surprise. Pedro Strope, I picked him up. He's going to begin a rehab assignment today,

and Strope might need only one appearance before he's called back to the Biggs. What I think would be ideal is you pick up Pedro Strope now, you keep him on your IL, and we get some sort of indication this week about whether or not he's actually the closer, and then you can ride with him, but I don't think you want to activate him

if he's not getting saves. Pedro Strope. And I don't get it, Yankees fans. I'm one of you, but I wouldn't have been in this group. Why did you boo Mani Machado yesterday? Mani Machado was interested in being a Yankee. Hold on, Chris. The Yankees didn't want Danny Machado, and you booed him a lot.

What was that all about? That was dumb. It's because the passion of the New York fan base. They're the greatest fans in the world. There's just something in the water about when you live in New York that just makes you so much more passionate than everyone else. and that passion comes with downsides. Like holding it against every player in the world

who doesn't end up on your team. Okay, I guess I get that. The water is great up here. I thought the Cardinals were the greatest fan base in the world. The bagels are great. No, no, no. It's the New York Knicks. They are, that's true. I had a bagel yesterday, Chris.

I don't know bagels very often anymore, unfortunately, but it was New York bagel was delicious. All right, let me read some emails here that are fantasy relevant. Let's go through these quickly, guys. Dave from Ontario. Is Buster Posey's catcher ranking based solely on him playing more often than others? He's done nothing this year, zero power, and diminishing plate discipline. That's a big part of it.

Yeah, it doesn't take much. Plus, obviously, you know, the history. And the fact that is bad at ball profile is similar to what it was in those good years. So, you know, worst case scenario, he's a guy who plays a lot. But there's possibility he's more than this. Yeah, but it's starting to feel real Jonathan McCroy. Like a Jonathan LeCroar. He's come roaring back here.

It eventually happened for him, too. Yeah, I mean, the slugging percentage last year for Posey was 382. It's 388 right now with more power, though, because the batting average is way down. But, you know, before he went on the IL, Posey actually had been playing pretty well for about three weeks, at least in terms of catchers. So I hope he could bounce back. Next email from Joel Dacken. Will Casey Mize reach the bigs this year? Is Mize at 10 this year and next better than Alex Reyes for six this year at next?

I don't know if that's a round or a dollar value. I'm guessing it's a dollar value. Yeah, he says Keeper Auction League. I think it depends on whether you plan on competing this season. If you do, I think you'd probably rather have Reyes, who at this point is probably more of a long shot to hit his potential than Mize, but I'm not sure he has less potential than him. Okay. From Chris, The Chronicles of Tatic.

Which struggling baseman should I, second baseman, should I stash? Travis Shaw or Brian Dozier? I would say Shaw, but I don't have a lot of confidence in either. Shaw's obviously much younger. I don't know what's wrong with him. Dozier, I think, is probably just gotten too old for this. and the fact that Kestin Hira hasn't exactly seized the day with Shaw on the aisle, gives Shaw a chance of reclaiming the role.

Kestin Hira has one walk. One walk to 19 strikeouts for Kestin Hira. Yeah, he has not really been that great. That's almost as bad as Travis Scho. I would rather stash Shaw, I guess. Gosh, they stick. Phil from Chicago. He's only three years younger than Brian Dozier.

That's actually kind of stunning. Phil from Chicago, should I accept this trade offer in my dynasty points league, 10-team Dynasty Points League? I would give up Reese Hoskins for Jose Ramirez. It's getting close to that being a no. I think my most recent trade chart had Jose Ramirez a few spots ahead, but I actually wrote about him in the lead, and I think we're to the point where,

every week where he doesn't show signs of turning around. I'm dropping him another 10 spots in the rankings. And that would probably put him behind Hoskins at this point. So I think I'd stand Pat. For the purposes of the dynasty, it is worth knowing that Ramirez is only six months older than Hoskins. I know there's probably a perception that Ramirez is older. Oh, yeah, he's very.

He's 26, I think. Yeah, in that regard, you're still, you're not gaining a, lot in terms of potential youth upside for in keeping Hoskins over Ramirez, even though it might appear that way. Yeah, I think I'd probably stick with Ramirez. Well, you know what? In a points league, I think I might go with Hoskins. He walks so much.

But in a roto league, maybe, gosh, it's a really tough one. Yeah. You get steals from Jose. Hoskins is never going to have a great batting average. Obviously, he's never going to have the steals. That's the one thing Ramirez is delivered on this year. The question comes entirely down to whether we think Jose Ramirez can get back to even 2017. If he can, I think it's pretty easy to go with Ramirez.

All right, it's a tough one. This is from Morgan. Is J.D. Davis, a player to consider. He seems to have very quietly built up a good season for the Mets. And I'm surprised the push for Oscar Mercado hasn't been more popular. He stole two bags yesterday. High OBP. Final.

Yeah. So you know what? But this actually is a perfect transition into my underowned hitters, question mark category. And J.D. Davis leads the way. And Oscar Mercado and Albert Almora. I wouldn't say Davis leads the way. I would actually say Brian Reynolds probably leads the way. He's only 16% owned.

And he's hitting 320, 369, 573 for the Pirates. But, all right, so let me give you guys some names of hitters who are widely available. J.D. Davis, most of his damage was it. the April. He's been pretty bad in May, although he did Homeward yesterday. Albert Almore for the Cubs, been really good lately. Homered yesterday had an 891 OPS in his previous 21

games. Oscar Mercado he actually, okay, he's batted second, two straight games for the Indians. Mercado is hitting 323, 417 on base, 516 slugging. A home run, two steals, his first two steals,

as Scott mentioned, three doubles and 10 games. Brian Reynolds Renato Nunez, who's been tearing it up for the Orioles, Logan Forsyth having a really good game. He's actually started three straight games since Elvis Andrews return. And then the 5% owned Harold Ramirez. I know I gave a lot of names there. I'll repeat some of them.

But Chris, why don't you kick it off? If there are any hitters in this list, they're all owned in 32% of leagues or fewer that you feel like we need to be getting right now. Who would they be? I would say Mercado and Reynolds probably lead the list. Reynolds, I don't think I buy anything close to what he's doing so far. I think he's probably a significantly worse hitter,

but when you look into the bad at ball metrics, there is some stuff that backs up him being at least an above average hitter, and so that's probably worth owning in more than 16% of leagues. And then Mercado, it really comes down to the stolen basis. He only has two, both came in the most recent game, I think. So if he starts running and he ran a ton in the minors, then he's going to be well worth owning in 32% or more than 32% of CBSSports.com league.

So those are the two who stand out for me. Scott, anyone else? Yeah, I think they have the most upside. I have had occasion to use Logan Forsyth in a 15-team Roeatelieu where I had Anselton Simmons as my shortstop. Logan Forsyth is now, obviously a shortage of options there. and then Renato

Lopez is probably the one hitter on this list who plays truly every day Nunez Renato Nunez yeah I don't know what I said but Renato Nunez and he's he's killed it against lefties this year

he was actually in my top ten sleeper hitters for this week because a lot of lefties on the schedule and obviously he's been hot you said Renardo Archer I think you said Just, you know, it just flows from you, Scott. Okay. Yes.

No love for a 5% own Harold Ramirez for those mighty Miami Marlins. I mean, there's a non-zero chance. He's the best Marlins hitter. Non-zero chance. That's the word of the day. Woo! All right. Weekends.

He does play every day. I said Nunez was the only one Ramirez does too. And he looks like a good time. Yeah, PCL this year. but it's a very small sample size still. Okay. All right then. Also with J.D. Davis, I'm not sure how his playing time will be affected if and when

Kanoe and McNeil come back. I feel like he might lose some playing time there. Weekend standouts. So we go back to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. With the fighting cat sound. And look at some standouts. The good, the bad, and the ugly. All right, here's a list of pitchers who were really good.

Over the weekend. Brandon Woodruff, this guy is on fire lately, 10 strikeouts and 8 innings with one run against the Phillies. Kyle Gibson, really good start, nine strikeouts and seven innings of one run ball against the White Sox. Jay Hap struck out 10 Royals. They'd give up three runs and six innings, but had one of his better starts. Mike Fultenevich, two good starts in row one, very good. Jake Oterese, he's got a 2-16 ERA right now and more than a strikeout per inning. He's been awesome. Joey Lucchasey, Scott and I dropped him in the scam league, and he's had his two first quality starts of the season since then. And that's all I got.

Woodruff, Gibson, Hap, Fultenevich, Odarezi, and Lucchasey. Scott, when you look at that list, who's moving on up? I mean, Woodruff has to be, right? Like, he looks like it was kind of a delayed breakout because there wasn't, we weren't seeing many signs of this in April, except that he did show the potential to be an efficient pitcher. But now the Brewers are letting him go deeper into games, and partially because he's pitching so well.

He has a great fastball. He has several pitches that can get swinging strikes. And I think his stock is going way up here. Bryce Harper, who faced him in this game, actually compared him to Matt Harvey when he was first coming up, which was mint as high praise. a lot of people on Twitter when I tweeted that out had the same joke. Oh, I hope his career doesn't go the same way Harvey's did.

That wasn't the point Bryce Harper was trying to make. That was awesome, Scott. Come on, have a little perspective, people. Yeah, I agree. No, Woodruff, man. Woodruff, I really had a lot of hope for at the beginning of the year. Even when he was not doing so great, he had these starts that were like very close to good starts, you know. The stuff is really good.

He throws hard. He just had to put it together. And, boy, as he put it together. 17 walks to 75 strikeouts and 64 and a third. Is he number one on this list with Gibson, J.Hap, Fultenevich, Oterese, and Lucasey behind him? Definitely. Yeah, he's clear number one. I would still put Fultenevich second now that the fastball's picked up

and he's starting to get results similar to last year. But there is that question of how legit was last year. It's probably more of a high three ZRA pitcher than high twos, Fultenevich is. But yeah, Woodruff looks like he has high-end top-20 type potential. So if Fultenevich is two, Chris, do you agree with that? Yeah, yeah, I think so. Who's three? Hap, probably.

Over Gibson, O'Reisy and Lucchesee. I just called him O'Reasy. He's not eggs. Gibson, Odarezi, and Lucasi. Yeah, Jay Hap, the Yankees broadcasters were talking about a mechanical adjustment that he had to make. They didn't say that he made it. they were saying it was John Flaherty, a former catcher. He's like, I'm looking at J-Hap.

He cannot pitch. He cannot get his fastball inside to right-handed hitters. And that's a big problem. And this is exactly what he needs to do. And this is why I like watching games. I like hearing that type of perspective. So maybe it's just a mechanical adjustment or something about his front shoulder. It's, you know.

Well, it's definitely something tied to pitch selection. And maybe the mechanics are affecting his pitch selection. But his four, he's one of the best, he has one of the best swing and miss four seamers in the game. and for a portion of this year, as has happened at times throughout his career, he shied away from the four seamer in favor of a two seamer. The only way he's a strikeout pitcher is when he leans heavily on that four seamer, and he did in this most recent start. So hopefully it's a sign of him being on the right track.

In terms of who I rank third, though, of this list, I don't have a lot of confidence in Jake Oteresey, but it's getting to the point now where if, you know, I'm willing to unsyed a lot of, start if I'm not willing to use him based on that lack of confidence like I'm just I'm just hurting myself because like he was sick for this start and he was sick you know it was his best swinging strike start of the year his fastball has been even better than jay haps has ever been I don't know what's the cause of it I do think at the very least Oterese's had good home run luck so far this year, but start after start, he is dealing.

I think that there are four reasons for it with Oterese. Cleveland, the White Sox, the Royals, and the Tigers. In all seriousness, I mean, there's going to be an easy schedule, but he's done it. It hasn't just been beating up on the division. But that's why I'm a little hesitant to say he's a sell high. Like, I do think you look at the numbers for Oteresee. If you can get Noah Cinderguard for Jake Oterese, you do it. Trevor Bauer.

like if you can make an obvious sell high. But it's possible that... Yeah, but it's possible that he's just going to have a good year because the AL Central is so beatable. And he's going to win games. I mean, the twins are bludgeoning people. So that's possible. Okay, how about the bad from over the weekend?

How about this? Would any of these first four guys be behind Jake Odarezi at this point? Okay, two of them are an obvious nose, but I'll say them anyway. Bad starts over the weekend. Carlos Carrasco, U. Darvish, Trevor Bauer, and Chris Archer. Obviously, Carrasco and Bauer are going to be ahead of Oteresee. But would you move Oteresey ahead of Darvish or Archer? No.

I would. I think I would. I would move ahead of both, which is getting odd to calibrate because I was the higher guy on Archer. I guess maybe I'm... Like, it's one thing... I halfway expect Odarezi to plummet in my rankings a month from now. But it's a range of rankings where volatility is to be expected anyway. And I'd rather go with the guy who's at least giving me something right now.

Where are you guys on Darvish? 12 hits, 6 runs, and 7 innings against the Reds. Coming off his best start of the season, probably. His best start of the season wasn't that good. I'm not starting him right now I'm not opposed to dropping him it just depends on whether the right guy is there I don't think Jake Oteresey

would be that guy for me but I would rather start O'Darezzi over Darvish right now and where are you on the struggling Indians pitchers Carrasco and Bauer? Man Bauer said this was the best he's pitched all year year. So he has that going for him.

It ended up being it ended up being a pretty decent start. He was it was poor at the beginning but he was a run shy of it being a quality start with a low walk rate and you know more than a strikeout per inning.

So I'm not sure if they changed the scoring or something but I've got it as six innings four runs, three earn runs for Bauer. So I do think he had a quality start. Yeah, that would make it a quality start. And I double-checked. Like, I think it was a quality start for him with one-walk, eight strikeouts.

And he'd said, yeah, he'd been fighting his mechanics. He finally felt like himself. So are we encouraged? I can't really just take him at his word. No, and this is, if you watch this start, he was really struggling with the mound. He was having trouble getting his footing. He had the grounds crew come out and work on it a couple times during the start. So, you know, maybe he, he,

bounced a couple of curve balls. He threw a curve ball like six feet over the batter's head at one point. So that can explain some of it, but the thing I'm struggling with is he just looks like who he had been before last season. And maybe, look, I believe in him as in him as much as anybody coming into the season, but, you know, maybe last season was the outlier. Maybe he's more of a mid-to-high 3 ZRA guy. We have to account for that possibility. Scott, I will say there was a start. It was, you know, back when before this rough patch started, he had a great start at some point in April, I think it was. And after that game, he said, I pitched terrible, you know,

I'm not, I'm not feeling great right now, something along those lines. And then started this awful stretch. So, you know, he's like Joey Votto is one of the most cerebral hitters in the game. Trevor Bauer is one of the most cerebral pitchers and they have a better read on his stuff than, you know, then a lot of pitchers would, that comment coming from them. That's interesting. I thought it was interesting that he basically ditched

the change up in this start and went very heavy on the curveball. So that's another change we can point to is maybe him, you know, coming around. And that curveball is his best pit. So that's probably not a bad thing. No, and it's interesting because I, I can specifically remember Justin Verlander being someone who would sort of say, I felt good, results weren't there, I'm about to go on a hot streak again, he'd be right.

So maybe Bauer will also. And just give me a quick thoughts on Carlos Carrasco, guys. Scott, you have Carasco 12th. Heath has him nine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, his good starts have definitely, he's looked like Carlos Carrasco. And his bad starts, he's given up a lot of home runs.

And it's hard to say, both for him and Noah Cindergo. Like, is he just somebody who's bearing the brunt of what's looking like a record-setting home run season? Is this going to be a problem for him all year? Or is it just a stretch where he's giving up a lot of home runs? And I don't know how to answer that question. He is giving up more fly balls, which is, Anna has a higher home run of fly ball rate. Yeah, that's the thing. He is giving him more balls in the air, but 20.3% home run to fly ball rate is still too high.

So Carasco or Burrios? Carasco. People are really freaking out about Carasco, and you've listened to me on this podcast before. You know that I kind of criticized Carasco, but I definitely would buy low on Carasco. I mean, he's been so consistent. Like a 320, 3.30 ERA every year,

ton of strikeouts. Yeah. Pitches a lot of air. Strikeout and walk rates are still phenomenal. Yeah. I mean, he might have a bit of a down year, but I still think you get a guy who's must start. And finally, the ugly, let's just go quickly on this guy, Anyone here that you think is really concerning?

You say Kikuchi, Caleb Smith, Joe Musgrove, Zach Eflin, Domingo Omband. Ugly stuff over the weekend. Kikuchi, Caleb Smith, Musgrove, Eflin, and Domingo Arman. Eflin regression is inevitable. Musgrove I'm really starting to worry about because he hasn't, you know, since that stretch at the start of the season where he looked dominant,

he's not missing bats anymore. and he's probably in the zone too much because he's starting to get pounded too. I'm just not sure if there's enough stuff there to get him back to the level we saw at the start of the season. I'm not ready to drop him, but it's getting close to that. Chris, final thought? There's a chance Kukuchi is just like a high, three, low four, ERA guy,

and that's not the worst thing in the world, but it would be a disappointing outcome, I think, based on preseason expectations, especially as his ADP started to climb later in draft season. If he's high, three, low 4ERA with a bad strikeout rate on a bad team, that's not going to be good. Kikuchi apparently reviewing film to see if he was tipping his pitches. He gave up four runs and 10 hits and 3 third at Oakland on Saturday. I started him and Tyler Malley on the same day.

Good for me. We'll take one quick break when we come back. Team name Tuesday. I got a very funny Cabin Bigio. Team name. It is better than Cabin in the Woods, believe it or not. And we'll go over Monday's action, including Jacob de Grom and Clayton Curshaw,

having kind of meh starts. We'll be right back. Happy Team Name Tuesday, everyone. Here we go. Deuce Bigio, Male Gavillo. Yes. Yeah, it's very good. Is that the one that was better?

Yeah, better than Cabin in the Woods. And Cabin in the Woods? Yeah. I've come around on Cabin in the Woods. a nice visual, just imagining him lost in words. Nobody better lay a finger on my butchery finger. Yep. Yep.

Okay. It's good. Maybe Chris can stop being in denial about how bad Butterfinger is. Would they say we have an improved recipe? It means the old recipe sucks. The little, the little, but then the new recipe is the one that's available now. And it's not a different flavor. It's a different texture.

They've made it a little, a little less sticky. A little more frumbly. That's good. It's so good when it's stupid. Oh, God. You both are crazy. I've been wanting Butterfinger all weekend. You don't understand.

I've had a craving for Butterfinger specifically. I've been digging through my son's Halloween candy, which isn't close to completion yet, and there's no butterfinger. No, there's no way Butterfinger would be good that long after. Yeah, it's true. Not even the new recipe. Those are going to be rock hard. Scott likes Peeps and Butterfinger. Why do we listen to any of his advice?

The little Junjin that could. The little That's good All right Canna get a What? Canna Mark Canna

Oh, yep, yep Yep Straw Merry Fields Forever Straw Oh, yeah I didn't like Yeah

Strawemary fields forever What about Strawemary Fields forever? Don't push it Chris Inglorious Bassets Okay Game of Thrones

There's nothing glorious Oh no He's been bad He's in the notes Dracar Reese Hoskins Sure That's pretty good On fire

Braun Swanson Parks and Rec reference there Yeah Yeah And then this one You know that sauce Worchestester sauce Whatever

Whistre? Yeah but it's like It's got so many syllables Warchester Worcesters sauce You put Scher's name in there But it's just

pronounce Worcester. I don't think so. It's got more syllables than Worcester. I think it's... I don't... Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe you are.

But I think that's what it is. All right, so here's the rotation from yesterday and the fringy starting pitchers. We've got five minutes left, guys. Zach Granky at Colorado. One run in six innings.

Cannot believe how good he's been. 0.88 whip 278 ERA. Not much to say. He's been great. He's great, yeah. Can any, like, sell high thoughts on Granky? None. Not a one. Yeah, he's got a 2-680-R-A, right?

That's probably not. They're 27-8. That's probably well within the range of possibility. Cole Hamel's bad. It's been, I would say, like, his previous six starts, 386 ERA, but really not pitching that well, not getting deep into games, and he got roughed up at. Houston, which we can forgive, although they didn't have Springer or Altovae. Yeah, I don't know.

A little worrisome with Cole Hamels, right? His control has gone sideways here past six starts. Oh, that's a good pun. Right? Yeah, like going sideways, you know, like balls and strikes. Oh, yeah. I guess. I guess that were.

Sure. But yeah, I mean, that's such a big part of his game. If he's not keeping runners off base, be a walk. What the hell? Chris. It's going to be a problem. That was nothing. It was nothing at all.

His controls got sideways. Yes, of course that's something. That's good. That's perfect. No. It was nothing. So the good rotation was Granky. The bad was Hamels.

Then we got a lot of guys who were, meh yesterday. M.E.H. Jacob de Grom, five innings, two runs, two strikeouts at the Dodgers. Clayton Kershaw, six innings, 10 hits, three runs, five strikeouts against the Mets.

He is basically like six innings, three runs, and a win. every time he steps on the mound. Luis Castillo, five and a third, six hits, three runs, two earned, four walks, four strikeouts. You're now up to 32 walks and 69 and two thirds. That's Castillo. Rick Porcelo was meh, five runs, three earned, three walks, four strikeouts, and six and two thirds against Cleveland without Jose Ramirez, which is actually a better lineup.

And John Gray was meh, five and a third, two runs, two strikeouts against Arizona. Who of these meh dudes? want to talk about Chris, DeGrom, Kershaw, Castillo, Porcelo, and John Gray. I don't think there's a ton to say about this group, because on the one hand, you've got DeGrom, Kershon, Castillo, who have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to starts like this. Maybe Castillo a little less than the other two because of the control so far this season, but we like him enough that I don't think anybody's panicking over three.

Just kind of mess starts. And then Porcelo and Gray are me. So I don't know what you take out of them being who they are. Like, we're going to continue chasing John Gray and at some point we're just going to have to give it up. He pitches half his games in Corse Field. Which doesn't matter, though. That's what I wanted to talk about. Home Road doesn't matter for John Gray.

This year he's been better at home. Throughout his career, I think he's better at home. Like, it is frustrating. But I don't think Corse Field is to blame. Yeah, maybe not. still do have to account for even if he, maybe it's the opposite of Hermann Marquez, but you still do have to account for the fact that

Corsefield is going to make his numbers worse at home, even if he does pitch better. So he does have, I mean, he's got a 457 ERA at home and a 469 ERA on the road. He's just kind of mediocre everywhere, he pitch it. All right, Scott, I'm going to give you the fringy starting pitchers to end the show. We got a minute left here. I apologize for the shortened show, everybody. I really do. rank them for me.

Matt Strom, Lance Lynn, Sunny Gray, Michael Paneda, Chris Bassett, Yanni Chorinos. Matt Strom, Lance Lynn,

Sunny Gray. Paneda, Bassett, Chorinos. I'll go, I'll go, Sunny Gray, Matt Strom, Lance Lynn,

Yanni Chorinos. Maybe Chorinos ahead of Lynn when you can take advantage of his RP eligibility. And then Paneta. Yeah, Basset bringing up the rear.

Basset is last? Wow. Yeah, I mean, he stopped missing bats a few starts ago, and I think it's caught up to him over the last two. I don't see much to like there. All right, all right. That's wild. He's 73% own.

Gray and Strom, the best two on this list, 73 and 80% own. Any love for Jose Orania or Tommy Malone, fellas? We should probably just acknowledge that Josea Urania is going to be like a four ERA guy moving forward rather than a high fours or five ERA guy because that's what he's done since the start of last season. And that probably deserves to be owned in more than 22% leagues. He's not going to keep up anything like the pace he's been on over his last seven starts or so. But he's probably more useful than given credit for in, you know, deeper mixed leagues. Seven quality starts.

Especially quality start leagues. Yeah. Yeah. Jose Eurani is last eight. Right. Seven, quality stars in his last eight, only two wins on the year. So for Arainia,

wins and quality stars going to be a big difference there. All right, I do apologize for cutting the show short. I do think we got to a lot of stuff, though, and I appreciate that from Scott and from Chris. Thank you. I hope you all enjoyed the mailbag yesterday,

and obviously had a great weekend. You're ready to rock and roll with another big week of fantasy baseball. All right, hopefully on a little bit of a hot streak, okay? What the hell am I saying right now? I'm just going to have this show. I'm just going to have this show.

Just wrap it up. We're out of here. Goodbye. I'm all the time around. The absolute worst. We're out of here. Thank you. Terrible.

Control. Going sideways. Goodbye, everybody. We'll talk to your wedgium.