Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/03: Weekend Roundup - Fletcher, Pivetta, Reyes and More (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 3, 2019

A lot of players to consider adding this week and we start with hitters (3:00) like David Fletcher and Mallex Smith and pitchers (6:45) like Nick Pivetta and two-start streamers. And we've got even more SPs to consider (14:00)! Andrew Heaney needs to be owned in all leagues. What about Trevor Richards and Zach Plesac? ... Jay Bruce is on the move (22:00)! What's his value? And what other news items do you need to know about? We discuss bullpen happenings (28:00) and the Most Added list (33:00) ... More hitters to add (40:40), then some SP talk to end the show (47:30) ... 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. One, one pitch, basketball pulled, and cast, Alvarez, and toward the corner. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy! Now, here's Adam, Scott Heath, and Chris. Monday, June 3rd, what's going on?

Welcome, everybody. This is fantasy baseball today. I am Adam Azer. I am ready for another day, another week of awesome fantasy baseball. talk coverage, hopefully results. And I am ready for David Fletcher to carry me to victory this week. He's one of the players, one of the many, many players we're going to be talking about today. And welcome to your Monday show.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Hope you watch this on CBS Sports HQ. If you think I make some mistakes on my outroes on this show, you got to watch the video version. You'll have fun with it. So here's Scott White. What's going on, Scott? Happy Monday. Adam, how are you?

I'm great. Heath, good morning. Good morning. I was afraid that I was going to be late this morning. Thankfully, you guys had some issues that you had to deal with so I wasn't. I was looking through my closet, through all my dresser drawers. I could not find my team Kreeh shirt that I wanted to wear in today after our absolute drubbing of team scam last week in Fantasy Baseball. You know, Scott, I'm sure you're aware. Gambling is becoming more and more acceptable, legalized throughout the country. I don't know if we're ever going to get to the point where I can place a wager on what Heath is going to say at the beginning of a show. But if we had been able to for today, I would have made a lot of buddy. I knew that was coming. I knew it was going to be the first thing he said, too.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a relevant thing that happened in fantasy baseball last week, and that's what we're here to talk about. So I think it was 8 to 1 to 1. Last I saw it. Yeah. Yeah. I do find it, like, I'm willing to take an L in this league forever more and just didn't.

that I'm not good at Heath's goofy format if we can just never talk about it again because it feels like it's the only league we ever talk about and it's not even like the flagship podcast league those poor guys are getting the shaft oh yeah well I think it's I think it's become the flagship podcast league no I don't agree in fact Scott beat me pretty handily in the flagship podcast like this bad weekend for me in the in the podcast leagues all right let's uh oh listen by the way Sunday was wacky. Sunday was crazy. You had to be active on your waiver wire. You have to be active

right now. Alex Reyes looks like he's going to start this weekend, so I'm excited about him. Nick Povetta, I can't believe I dropped him. That could be the biggest mistake I made all year, or he could go back to being Nick Povetta next start, who knows. But Sunday was just wacky. Jay Bruce

going to Philadelphia. Jay Bruce on the road this year, it's batting 261 with a 630 slugging percentage. So let's start with one hitter to add and one pitcher to add and Scott, why don't you go first? Give me one hitter to add. It was a pretty, like it was the worst weekend for ad drops

for me. It's the exact opposite to what Adam just said. That's fantastic. Yeah, come on. Yeah. I mean, Nick Pavetta, if he's still out there and he was in 50% of leagues, I don't think any of mine, but he was in like 50% of leagues when I checked last night after

yesterday's start. I mean, it just seems like a no-risk pickup. I'm not saying you have to start them again. But there's a reason everybody was so enthusiastic. It was like the trendiest breakout pick coming into the season. And breakouts don't always happen on April 1st. Scott, you're not doing your assignment right. This is hitter time.

I need the hitter to add. Okay. You wrote the sleeper hitter. I added this. I added Hunter Pence, who's my number one sleeper hitter for this week. The ownership's getting pretty high for him to still qualify for that list. but he keeps delivering week after week and you know

completely reconstructed his swing this offseason so I think that's reason enough to at least have an open mind with him even though he's a 36 year old who couldn't hack it with the Giants last year All right Heath give me one hit or to add I was not able to add this guy because he's owned in the leagues that I'm in but Malick Smith is 52% owned We talked about him quite a bit late last week because he had a good two or three game stretch.

I think the Jay Bruce trade kind of helps everyone in Seattle to make sure they stay in the lineup. So, yeah, Malick Smith should be at least 70% owned. All right, my hitter that I added was David Fletcher, and he just doesn't strike out. So in a points league, he's very, very safe. So, yeah, I'm not sure how much I'm interested in Fletcher is now 61% owned, by the way, outside of a points league. but he does have five steals this year and 323 batting average. He has 730 OPS against lefties and 913 OPS against righties,

which is weird because he leads off against lefties because Tommy Lestella doesn't hit so well against lefties. Look, he had 35 fantasy points last week for Fletcher. Let's be realistic here. This was his first week of more than 21 fantasy points. 21 fantasy points is solid. It's not like, you know, going to win you your week. But that's what I'm hoping for.

I'm not going to start him this week. I believe in the podcast league. Like, to me, honestly, it's down to Fletcher or Shohei Otani. They both obviously have the same good matchups this week. But Otani hasn't really been that good, and Fletcher's safe. I think you're going to get 20 or more fantasy points from him. So he's my guy, and I can't believe he's 61% owned. Right.

In that same range, a guy that's 55% owned, I actually did add Renato Nunez in a league. He has been on fire. And if you look at him on baseball savant, his exit velocity, his hard hit rate, his expected slugging percentage. they're all in the top 10% of the league. So this isn't all just a hot streak from a bad player. He's got some things to be excited about. And especially against left-handed pitchers. Like a 1,000 OPS Nunez has against them.

Seven of his 15 home runs have come against them. All four of these hitters we've named, Pence, Smith, Nunez, and Fletcher are among my top 10 sleeper hitters for this week. So they are all, yeah, I mean, if you need a fill-in starter for this week, all of them are viable options. Nunez has three lefties this week out of six? Yeah, Smiley Minor and Wade Miley. And he will see Garrett Cole, but he will not see Justin Verlander.

Okay, a pitcher to add. I'm guessing Nick Povetta has to be on that list. I believe there are many more that are interesting here. Heath, I'll go to you first. give me a pitcher to add. You shouldn't go to me first because I'm going to say someone that you guys are going to get mad about and then I'm going to defend him and then he's going to be awful. Well, come on, let's go.

Would you like to go ahead and do that? Yeah, of course. I added Chase Anderson in a couple of leagues. I was thinking about it. You know, I'm just not sure how many innings you're going to get from him per start, but what does he have, the Marlins and the Pirates this week? Marlins and Pirates, and he has not been as good in terms of ERA as Zach Davies, but virtually every peripheral that we know of

Chase Anderson is a better starting pitcher than Zach Davies Well but yeah he just thinks Does that mean he's good because you don't think very highly of Zach Davies No I think that he just bad Right well I mean Chase Anderson goes like I'm looking at his game log here So his last five starts Five innings four innings four innings four and two thirds innings

Five innings like he's not even going the minimum to get a win much less a quality start most of the time. Right. I mean, most of the time he is. No, I just, the last five by list, five innings, four innings, four and two-thirds, and he's five innings. Yeah, yeah.

You got to go five innings to get a win. That was why I avoided him. That was why I avoided him. But I understand that you could get two wins from him. You could get to... If I could make a bet on something, it would be Chase Anderson scoring more points than Zach Davies, rest of season.

Rest of season. Okay, okay. Scott, pitcher to add? Take that bet. Oh, all right. Very uninterested. Yeah, Nick. I mean, Nick Povett is the most, you mentioned Alex Reyes, too, and sure.

And Jimmy Nelson, he's set to make his season debut this week. He's more on than those other two. But they all have the potential to be impact pitchers. And I would swap out anyone who doesn't have the potential to be an impact pitcher, like a Chase Anderson or Marco Gonzalez, you say Kukuchi. I would swap out any of them for any of these other three. Obviously, it's not necessarily a high probability play. I mean, Nick Povetta's start was as encouraging as anyone could ask for yesterday.

It came against the Dodgers. He didn't walk anybody, which was the one thing that didn't go so well for him on his stint in the minors. He had a ton of swinging strikes, including with his secondary pitches, and just looked everything like the breakout candidate people were hoping for at the start of the season. I don't think you should activate it right away when you do pick them up. Obviously, we want to see more, but it was absolutely what you needed to see to renew that excitement. Jimmy Nelson, his minorly rehab assignment has gone kind of like Pavetta's stint in the minors went where, oh, the strikeout rate's really high.

Oh, so is the walk rate. But obviously there's, he was an impact pitcher before hurting his shoulder. How many years ago was it now? Two years ago. So, you know, I think last reports I saw on the velocity had him around 92, 93, which was close to what he averaged when he was last healthy. His peak was higher. But he's also said he thinks the adrenaline of a major league game will boost it up more from there. And that was two weeks ago anyway where I saw that report.

I didn't see anything more recent than that. So sure, reason to be excited about him. Alex Reyes, you know, he can hit 100 with two great secondary pitches. So all of this is something to get excited about. None of them are ones I'm going to stick in my lineup right away. But again, you're looking for impact, and these pitchers have shown that kind of potential in the past. I don't know that I have a problem starting Nick Povetta this week against the Reds.

He had five innings, three runs, six strikeouts against St. Louis. then six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts at the Dodgers. Now it gets the Reds at home. I don't think it's a bad start. He's 54% owned. I wouldn't be able to do it. I wouldn't be able to it. I would have to be a 32-point start and a negative 15.

All right, the pitcher that I'd like to talk about, I'm not saying I prefer this guy to Povetta or Jimmy Nelson or Alex Reyes or like Andrew Heaney, we haven't talked about. We will in a second. Andrew Heaney was dominant again this weekend. He's 77% owned. But Zach, please, Zach is 22% owned. So for those of you,

who are in deeper leagues. I picked up Zach Plyzac in two leagues. I look for him, I think, in every league. And look at the strikeouts in his first start. It was against the Red Sox. They don't strike out. And he had two strikeouts in five and a third against the Red Sox. He was on the road and he seven strikeouts. And he was at a strikeout printing, I believe, this year in the minors. So, yeah, 56 and 57 in a third of only seven walks and a 141 ERA. So I don't know. I feel like Pleasac deserves to be owned in more than 22% of leagues, guys. What do you think? I agree 100%. Yeah, I actually picked him up in a couple of leagues before this most recent start.

And I think there's enough there. Like, track record's not real long in the minor leagues, but exceptional control. He's really had only one year. where he had an ERA for 4, and it was 4.04 in the minors. He's off to a good start so far in the majors. I think he probably needs to be owned in 40 to 50 percent of leagues. Okay, well, great. So is he now the second best Indians pitcher? Well, Shane Bieber's the second best Indians pitcher, but he could be, he might be the first.

Who's the best? Please ask the best. One of Carrasco, Warbauer will figure it out and be better than Bieber. I'm just messing around. Actually, Clevenger's on his way back. He's going to make a rehab star. He might be the best in a pitcher. He certainly might be the rest of season.

All right, more pitchers that you might want to consider adding in just a second. Two things I have to promote real quick. Heath, you like poker, right? A lot. Yeah, yeah, I do too. I wish I played more often, but it's probably good financially that I don't. Well, it's that time of year again. The World Series of Poker is here.

It's the 50th year of the most popular poker tournament in the world, and you can have a front row seat to the bracelet events with CBS All Access. Starting now until July 16th, you can live stream the final tables of 33 of the WSOP bracelet events. That includes 25 events that you cannot watch anywhere else. You have to go to CBS All Access for this. The bracelet events include the $100,000 high roller and the $100,000 six max. There's going to be a showdown of some of the biggest names in the game. The stakes are high. The tension is palpable. The winnings are huge. And you can watch all the events online or through the CBS app. So here's how you do it. Either go to CBS.com slash poker. CBS.com, not CBS Sports. CBS.com slash poker. Or

or download the CBS app on your phone or your streaming device. You can get a free trial, so start watching today and don't miss any of the action. And speaking of watching something for free, we really do have a lot of fun on Sundays on CBS Sports HQ on fantasy baseball today. 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern, subject to change, depending on other events going on. But 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern on Sundays, we read your tweets, we talk more fantasy. We kind of reacted what's going on on Sunday a little bit. It's good stuff. All right, some other starting pitchers that you might want to add, they are sorted by ownership percentage.

Zero to 10 on the onometer, zero being they should not be owned in any leagues, 10, 100% own. They should be 100% owned. Andrew Heaney is 77% owned. Where is he on the on-o meter? Nine. Okay. Yeah, that's where I was going to go to. He has been really impressive since coming back from the DL.

I think he had 22 swinging strikes in his start Saturday. And what's interesting is he hasn't even really worked in his third pitch yet. He'd change up. He threw a lot last year. It's basically just been fastball, curveball. But it has been impressive. Okay, Andrew Heaney will have Oakland this week. Still a chance to get him in Shilower League's.

Lance Lynn, now a 450 ERA, 22 walks, 77 strikeouts, and 74 and a third. Still a high whip. And he's kind of a high whip guy, 135 whip. But a great start against Kansas City. and he will also have Oakland this week. Lance Lynn, 71% own, zero to 10 on the ownometer. Six.

I'm going to go at least eight. I think there's reason to be skeptical of him, but how many pitchers are even capable of doing what he's done over his last seven starts. It's a very small number. 3.30 ERA during that stretch. And he made a change in his arsenal during that stretch.

went from throwing his two fastballs, both the four seamer and two seamer combined 75% of the time at the start of the season to 60% of the time in those seven starts. It has made both more effective. And, you know, you look over his track record. Lynn is a guy who has consistently outperformed his peripherals. Looking back to his years with the Cardinals before Tommy John surgery, when he was an unquestionable fantasy asset. The ERA was consistently lower than the Thip and X. FIP. So, you know, the variance between those two fastballs seems to be the sort of thing that generates weak contact, and that's how you can outperform those peripherals.

Okay, Scott's higher on Lance Lynn than Heath is. How about Tyler Skaggs, 63% owned? You know, starting to pitch a little bit better, Tyler Skaggs, zero to 10. I think he's eight probably as well. I'd rather have Lynn, but yeah, I mean, 80% seems like the way his last two starts have gone. And he's kind of doing the same thing. He needs ditch the change up in those two stars, just going fastball, curveball. I don't know if these guys don't know how to throw a change up or what, but it's working for them. Okay, guy.

I'd go six again, I think. I was definitely more excited about Skag's coming into the year than I was Lance Lynn, but even this most recent start, he gave up four runs. He's had one start in his last five where he didn't give up at least four runs. So I don't feel like he's done something lately that's made me think, yes, I need to go get him. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Brandon Woodruff at the beginning of the year, where the ERA was high and he was giving up four runs.

He was kind of flirting with quality starts and Skagit. Skaggs only had two of them this season, but I don't know. It seemed to be some positive indicators there, but, yeah, I mean, all right, he's 63% own. So Scott said an 8. What did you say, Heath, for Skaggs? A six. Okay.

Nick Pavetta, 49% owned, but now he's up to 55% on, I think. Nick Pavetta, 0 to 10? I'd go 7. I'd rather have Pavetta than I would those guys, because I do, like, I'd made the joke about how bad his next start could be, and I don't feel any certainty that Nick Pavetta has figured it out, but I do feel that if Nick Povetta does figure out, I could see him being a top 20 starting pitcher

for the rest of the year. Okay, but you'd rather have Hini. Yes. Hini, Povetta, Skaggs, Lynn. Okay. I'm going to go eight on Povetta. I'm going to drop Skaggs to seven just to help.

Okay. You know, help to differentiate here. Last guy, we already talked about Plex, so this would be the last guy. Trevor Richards, control is getting a little bit better. And he's got Atlanta at home this week. Richards is only 39% on. What do you think about Trevor Richards? Zero to

10. This was my favorite stallion coming into the year, and Caleb Smith made that look ridiculous, but I still think he could be the second best, and he's going to have to do it for longer than this before I feel confident in him. I think I'd give him a six. He's a little undrooned. Okay, Trevor Richards. I went...

Yeah. Go ahead. I was thinking between six and seven. All right. I went stallion hunting in our leagues specifically for Trevor Richards. And I'm looking at our Memorial Magazine League. It's our long-running 12-team Roto League.

Trevor Richards is owned. He's on the same fantasy team as Caleb Smith and Pablo Lopez and Sandy Okinsara. Yeah. All Chris Towers. All Chris Towers.

Four stallions. That league. by the way is i think scott is probably still in first place has been the most frustratingly no matter what i do i have between like 59 and 64 points constantly there's been like normally early in the year there are wild swings in your standings points and i just stay in the same exact place you have 59 points is yeah is chris the one who has zach gallons dashed away too oh let's i don't think so uh no uh scott has 83 points he's in second place heath has 59 points chris has 58 points and i have 58 points so how about

who's in first place we're doing a really bad job lathrop lathrop greg gregg lathrop yeah four and a half he's been he's been actually been in first place most of the year i've sometimes passed him but he's doing great go get him scott represent all right quick break here on fantasy baseball today when we come back this is a section called what i wasn't supposed to say it with that high of a pitch there, but it's supposed to be like, what? There you go. Some pitching performances that just makes you scratch your head. All right back on fantasy baseball today. Like I said, Sunday was weird. This section called, what? Adam Wainwright, eight scoreless innings with seven walks and eight strikeouts against the Cubs. Merrill Kelly, seven and two thirds, one run,

ten strikeouts against the Mets. Adrian Sampson, Adrian Sampson. Seven innings, one run, 11 strikeouts against Kansas City. You got Wainwright, Merrill Kelly, and Adrian Samson, where you particularly moved to add any of them based on their Sunday performances. No. Okay, great. Then let's move on.

To the big news. Philadelphia acquired Jay Bruce. He is only 33% owned. I mentioned his road numbers. They're outstanding. He's hitting for a lot of power this year. 14 home runs. Batting average is terrible at 212.

Okay. So, here's a lot of. first questions from Ken in Los Angeles. I'm in an NL-only five outfielder Roto League. When Jay Bruce is available on FAB, what's the most I should be willing to pay for him?

Ooh, 20%. What format did he say it was? I missed it. NL only. NL only five outfielder Roto League. Yeah. No, that sounds pretty good. I imagine there are going to be more impactful players that switch leagues between now and the trade deadline.

So, yeah, I am somebody who in those league-specific formats tends to save almost all of his fab for the big splash later, but, you know, sometimes I think that proves unnecessary, and I regret not spending more. Bruce should at least provide you good power numbers, especially playing half his games in that park. Is he going to play every day or is he going to sit against lefties? He might sit against lefties. I would not expect him to play every day. Okay.

Now remember, this is Oduble Herrera, likely going to be suspended here. So that's part of the reason why they're making this move for Bruce. He's not a good fielder. He obviously can't be. Probably bad news for Kingery. Well, it could be bad news for Kingery or it could be bad news for Michael Franco. If they stick Kingery at third, which I think fantasy owners would want to see. But maybe there's a little bit of a rotation between Bruce.

and Kingery in the outfield, Kingery and Franco at third base, we'll see. Okay, so it doesn't seem like you guys are too motivated to get Jay Bruce. Next piece of news, Joey Gallo is on the IL with an oblique injury. It's apparently not that bad. He said he spoke to Aaron Judge, and Aaron Judge had a worse injury in a different location within the oblique area.

Joey Gallo is not quite as bad. He could miss just two weeks. Fingers crossed. Yolisha Seen is on the IL, and Jimmy Nelson is expected to start on Wednesday. I don't know his ownership percentage, actually. Does anybody know Jimmy Nelson's ownership percentage? I think it's over 70.

Okay. So would you rather own Andrew Heaney or Jimmy Nelson? I'd rather own Heaney. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I hope Jimmy Nelson's first two starts go like Heaney's have. Alex Reyes could start for St. Louis this weekend. We talked about him.

So how owned do you think he should be? He's, I think, 55, 57% on something like to Alex Reyes. Well, I would rather have Skaggs. So, you know, I called Skag's 70%. Maybe 69 for Alex Reyes. Okay. I like that. Very good.

Thank you, Scott. Colorado called up Garrett Hampson. He started in center field. Heath, does that matter, Garrett Hampson? I would like for it to matter, but they didn't cut Ian Desmond yet, right? I don't think so. Sorry. Like, retire him from baseball?

If they would, then I'd be very excited about, Gary, you're at Amson. And Tampa Bay called up Nate Lowe. Does that matter? It could. They called him back up? Yeah, he's back. He's back?

Pretty sure. They called him up for a day and sent him back down. Oh, did he go back down already? Yeah, I think with YANDDES coming off the aisle, they sent Lowe back down. You are correct, you are correct, sir. Thank you. All right, Nate Lowe. Goodbye, Nate Lowe.

Javier Baez, he did play yesterday. He's dealing with a heel injury. Matt Snyder on our website in CBSports.com kind of detailed how much his numbers have hurt since has been hurt since the heel injury, batting 227 with a 717 OPS going into Sunday's game. Before that, he was batting 319 with a... 954 OPS.

Mitch Garver is back. Mitch Garver should be 100% owned. He is 71% owned. Right? Mitch Garver? 100? I mean, he's the twins' primary leadoff hitter, and he was having, his power production was incredible before he got hurt. So there is, you know, obviously a bit of a logjam there because Jason Castro has also had a good year, and Williams Estudio factors in from time to time.

But before he got hurt, Garver was earning a bigger and bigger share behind the plate deservedly. I don't think his production is entirely sustainable, but a catcher, I mean, he'll take what you can get. I think he's definitely a top 10 option right now. Let's name the catchers we'd rather have over Mitch Garver. Sanchez, Rayamuto, Grandal, and who else? Wilson Ramos. I'd rather have Ramos.

Yep. Well, now Yadio Molina's hurt. Is Buster Posey hurt, too? Buster Posey has a good chance of going. going on the IEL. I would say good. He has a chance to go on the IL. I would rather have Garver. Yeah. Must or Posi stanks. Omar Narvaez. Yeah. Yeah. Over Garver?

But that might be it. Yeah, that looks like it. I'm pulling on my rankings now. Mitch Garver's my highest rank beyond those we've just named. There you go. It should be a Hyundai. 100%. He's available in nearly 30% of leagues. And May was the most prolific month, a home run month in MLB history. We are on pace for a record there. I'd love to talk about that, but instead we've got to talk about the bullpen. All right, guys, do you see any roles being changed here in bullpens? Jordan Hicks has been struggling.

John Gant is actually pretty good player, and he got a save yesterday in relief of Jordan Hicks. Taylor Roger. And Carmar got to save Saturday, right? He did. I believe Hicks was unavailable for that game. Yes, Hicks pitched three innings over the previous two games. But yes, Carlos Martinez got to save Saturday. Gant relieved Hicks on Sunday.

Taylor Rogers, possibly preferred over Blake Parker. That's a little unclear. I'm so happy we found him in the Four the People League. Who? Taylor Rogers. We were able to pick him up a couple weeks ago. I mean,

he dropped him. He got a save yesterday. The last save either he or Parker got was on May 20th. And it went to Parker. So, you know, we're talking like a two-week gap. and no consistency in who they go to it. So yeah,

this is looking as messy as the race situation. Just the pitchers aren't as good. Yeah, Rogers got his first save since May 7th on Sunday. I think they just bludgeon people. They don't really get a lot of saves.

But Brandon Workman, it's obvious that they're going to use Matt Barnes in different types of situations. Workman got his second save on Sunday. Richard Blyer got a save. I'm not even good at, no. I guess if you're in a super, deeply a goblire maybe you'll get some saves for the orio's corbin burns got a save for milwaukee that

was after that crazy like 14 inning game the day before uh luke jackson appears to have solidified his role there anthony bass got a save on uh on friday unless you know you know what's uh free to happen now yeah kimbril i mean it was always free to happen but yeah now it's really free as of midnight last night, Craig Kimbril and Dallas Keikel also can sign with any team without that team having to forfeit a draft pick. So that's what everybody was assuming these

teams were waiting on. It wouldn't surprise me without paying any money. They'll be set. Yeah, I mean, I would not be surprised if Kimbril has a team before the end of the day, and the Braves are very much in that mix.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Anthony Bass gets the next save for the Mariners. I don't know how exciting that is for anybody, but it wouldn't surprise me. He's off to a good start this year with one run in six and a third innings, no walk, six strikeouts. Not a great track record, but he did have a solid 15 and a third innings last year for the Cubs. But they have a bad bullpen, so they don't have that many options. Yeah, all right, I think the Cardinal situation is very interesting.

So let's just sum up what we think about the Cardinals closer situation. Hicks is still the most likely to get, say, he is on increasingly thinner ice. You think Gant or you think Martinez would be the second in line? I think you'd have to go Gant right now. Okay. All right, keep an eye on it, everybody. We're going to take a look at the most. Yeah, go ahead, Scott.

I'm also thinking we need to keep an eye on the Angels bullpen because Hansel Roplas has blown two of his past four saves. Yeah, Scott's just. begging to do the impression. He's just begging for some more tie battery. I never know when we have enough time to. Probably not today. But you know, we only

have four games today. So Scott, are the angels playing today? That would really be wonderful. If Ty Butchery gets a save. They are. Okay. Ty Butchery gets a save tonight. Or even if somebody else gets a save tonight, if we get some clarity on the situation, you... I'm not

going to be on tomorrow. Why not? Where are? You always on Tuesday. I'm not. Yeah, not this Tuesday. All right, well, I'll do it for me. We'll take a look at the most added list. We'll come back right after this. Take a look at the most added.

Some more news and notes, some more hitters to take a look at, and all the pitching performances you need to know about from over the weekend. Be right back. Any guesses as to who the most added player in CBS Sports Leagues is? Nick Povetta? It's not even close. It's not him. I don't understand why more people aren't adding Nick Pavetta.

I'm surprised. you're not going to like it. I bet he's most cute. I think if you go to his player page and you see the 6-5 ERA that might make you wait just a little bit. Well, most added list tends to like date back, go back several days, right?

Cover several days' worth of ad drops. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I would guess it's probably a two-star pitcher. It is a two-star pitcher. Devin Smelzer and Deltser. Whoever smeltser, I don't know. He's at Cleveland. I was trying to work in the Brewers had a smeltsing accident last time.

Well, he had a great start. Not that good. So this is Twins pitcher Devin Smelter. He had a great start against the Brewers, six innings, three hits, no runs, no walks, seven strikeouts. He's at Cleveland and at Detroit this week. I can't argue with those matchups. And Smelzer is 49% on, I think I said. I don't know if I said it.

49% own. All right, what do you think? A minor smeltsing accident. That's the right wording. Man, I even messed it up. Gosh. Yeah, I mean, he's weird.

He's weird. Soft tossing lefty, but he dominated at AAA and then had a great first start. So just not a lot of comps for Devin Smelzer, and that makes me highly skeptical. You know, maybe Alex Wood is a good comp. just a deceptive lefty whose stuff isn't that overpowering, but he ends up being pretty useful.

Maybe Smelzer could be that. Yeah, but you can't smelt wood. I don't know. There's something there. You think about it. So, okay, Devin Smelzer. Would you rather have Smelzer or Plizac? Plezac.

Yeah, I think there's, I mean, it's just a more traditional profile, and that makes it, makes it something that I'm more confident will play in today's game. Eric Lauer is also on the most out of list. Philadelphia and Washington at home. He's 52% owned. So, Smelzer, Lauer?

I will go Smelzer. I don't see much upside in Lauer. I never have. Okay. Heath, Renato Nunez, Lord of Scoriel, and Brian Reynolds are on the most added list. How would you rank them if you were... Obviously, position matters,

but Renato Nunez, Lord of Scoriel, Brian Reynolds. I think I have a team that might have all three of those starting on it this week, which is kind of a problem. Definitely two of them. I will go with the two that I'm sure in my lineup. Nunez, Reynolds, Greil. I think it's fair to say that Brian Reynolds is going to help with batting average, right? He hit for average in the minors.

He doesn't hit a lot of fly balls. He's hitting the ball pretty hard. It looks like he's a very high babbitt, but he's had high babbitt before. I think he profiles to be that. And I think I don't think Brian Reynolds is going to do much else, but if you need some batting average, I believe he can give that to you. Yeah, he's not going to help near this much.

Okay. Alex Reyes, we've talked about him, David Fletcher, Griffin Canning, up to 82% owned. We like that. Howie Kendrick, 41% owned. So would you rather pick up Howie Kendrick or Renato Nunez? Nunez.

Nunez, but they are back-to-back in my top 10 sleeper hitters for this week. The time we know Hendricks starts is against left-handed pitchers. He starts some against righties too. Howie Kendrick? I said Hendrix. I mean, Kendrick. Yeah.

And yeah, I mean, they got three on the schedule this week. So I suspect he's probably going to start at least four games, maybe more. And, you know, every time he plays, he does something big, it seems like. Okay, so more players that are being added right now. Josh Feigley, I actually added him in our podcast Points League to replace Buster Posey and quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if Feigley's better than Posey rest of season, particularly in Roto,

but Posey, you know, still could be good in points. He just has to turn it around. But Feigley plays like all the time. He's actually been pretty solid for a catcher. Addison Russell's only 19% owned. Malick Smith, Nick Pavetta, you need to get them. Jorge Alfaro is 52% owned. Who do you like better, Alfaro or Fegli?

Alfaro. And Roto, definitely, Alvaro. Probably in both. This guy strikes out a ton, but that's always been true for him, and he's batting average is not so bad. Okay, Fegley is the number 10 catcher in points leagues. Alfaro is number 14. It is quite possible that Alfaro has been better than Feigley and Roto.

Let's confirm. No, Feigley is sixth in Roto, and Alfaro is ninth. So they both are... Fegley has been better Alpharo, but I think that in the future of Alpharo is going to be better. I didn't realize Feigli has such terrible plate discipline. six walks to 30 strikeouts. Okay, so that'll hold them back in that format. Back to the most added list.

We'll finish up here. D.D. Regorius, 77% own, could come off the aisle of this weekend. And we'll see the rotation there with the Yankees. I don't know really who's going to be hurt there. Or shella, right? No. It's their DH, basically, is going to get hurt. And I think you might see a little less of Gary Sanchez at DH.

you'll see a little less of Vershele of he's going to play most of the time I mean could Clint Frazier be hurt Oh Clint Frazier's kind of Yes He was kind of a laughing stock of baseball yesterday Which made me sad But

He needs to trade him He needs to DH forever He is a really bad fielder It's really bad He's young For now I know I'm sorry I'm better

He's athletic he should be better I'm just It wasn't a good night It wasn't a good sports night. All right, to the news and notice. Byron Bucks then basically threw to first base from the center field wall on a double play yesterday. If you haven't seen it, look it up. Zach Eflin's on the I-L.

Cole Irvin pitched yesterday or Saturday. He was used after an opener. I don't think we have much interest in Cole Irvin. Nelson Cruz could be back on Tuesday. Kyle Freeland to AAA, Colorado calling up Peter Lambert. Bad numbers in the minors and going to Colorado. Mike Clevenger could begin a rehab assignment this week. That's great.

David Peralta could be back today. That's also great. Justin Turner is expected back today. Fernando Tatis will begin a rehab assignment today. Usa Kikuchi will have his next start skipped. Muki Betz is going to bat lead off rest of season. Ben Intendi should be batting second now. Scooter Jeanette could begin a rehab assignment in two to three weeks, so he's still a little ways away. Charlie Blackman is eligible to come off the IL on Tuesday, but he will not be back on Tuesday. Yoamon Kata is dealing with some leg soreness. I think it's just day to day. I believe he's expected to play. I believe tomorrow. I don't think they're playing today.

Moncada. But please check on that. Buster Posey, yeah, hamstring injury could go on the IL. Tommy Pham and Avi Garcia have both been a little dinged up for the raise. They are both expected to play in Tampa Bay's next game with YANDD.S, who is off the IL. And Miguel Cabrera is awaiting test results on his knee. And is this a little drastic?

I don't know that Miguel Cabrera is going to be good ever again. Fair. Yeah, I don't know either. I don't know either. He's hitting the ball well. He's just not elevating, right? That's... So there's no power behind it.

Yeah. Maybe he needs to visit Doug Lata this off-season. Maybe. Take a page from Hunter Pence's book. Doug Lata has knee replacement for him. Hitters. David Fletcher is 61% owned. Hunter Renfro is also 61% own.

Hunter Renfro is the number 40 out. field are in points leagues, which is really very surprising. I'm surprised it's that low. But he's number 23 in Roto, where the walk-to-strike-out ratio doesn't hurt him. Let's give Renfro some credit here. I mean, this guy's got 17-home runs. He's also not an everyday player, which hurts more in points-leagues. So how often does he sit?

I mean, 17 home runs for Renfro. He's got real power. How often does he sit? He's playing pretty much every day. When he plays, it forces Will Myers to center, which is not great. And, you know, Will Myers sometimes himself sits. But they haven't sent down Josh Naylor yet, and that's cut into Renfro's playing time some here recently.

Renfro has started a lot, 14 of the last 16 games. Yeah. Wait, yes? Yes. So 14 to the last 16 games for Renfro. Yeah, okay. But are they starting to play him more? You know, he's earning it.

Yeah. It should. Yeah. It looks like it's come at the expense of Frond Mill Reyes more recently, too. Well, that's... Well, that's with Maylor, or two. Had a pretty good year, but Frindfro has just been better, right? Yeah, I'd say so.

I mean, 17 home runs. You can't really ignore that. I know. Look, here's the thing with, We know he has power. I don't know about this much power, but everybody's hitting for a lot of power. It's the batting average. He's batting 261, and you can live with that with Renfro.

Because he had 231 as a rookie, 248 the year after that. So can he hit 261? Otherwise, you know, he's probably just a five outfielder league guy if he's a 240 hitter. You know, I don't know. What do you guys think? Well, he's a five outfielder guy if he's playing five days a week, too. he's really making a bid for more playing time though you know he is

I think part of the when you were saying 14 to the last 16 that was played in not started right that was started yeah now keep in mind they had a DH for six of those games yeah all right so you know let's keep an eye on Hunter Renfro

it's 61% owned Josh Reddick is 35% owned he has been starting you know they have obviously a lot of infield injuries. He's having a decent year and 35%? I don't know. Thoughts on Reddick at that ownership? That's a little low. Probably be owned anywhere

you need five outfielders. Okay, and then here's a group of guys who are barely owned. Orlando Arcia is actually 18% owned. He's the only guy in this group that's owned in more than 5% of leagues. Tell me if you're interested in adding any of them. Arcia, Mike Yistremski

of the Giants, Mets, Outfielder, Dominic Smith. Astros outfielders, Derek Fisher and Matt Straw, Garrett Cooper for Miami, and Josh Naylor for the... Nailor's actually 8% Owen, I lied. Nailer for the Padres. Arcia, Yistremski, Dominic Smith,

Derek Fisher, Matt Straw, Garrett Cooper, Josh Nailer. I actually did put in a bid for Mike Yistremski in both of my 15-team league, so five outfielder, 15-team leagues. It's hard to fill all five outfield spots, in a league that deep. And Yostrinsky has some good on base skills. So particularly if it's like an OBP league as Tau Wars is,

15-team, five outfielders, OBP instead of batting average. I may actually be starting him this week in that format. Also interested in, I think it's Miles Straw of Astros. You call the Matt here. Why do I keep doing that with all the Astros? I don't know They're all mats No I called

What did I call Caleb Martin Instead of Corbyn Martin Strang I don't know I hope I'm right about this You know Miles Strauss

Millennials This is what they name their kids Um My These aren't they No Not at all I guess they are millennials

Right I don't think the millennials They're parents They're millennials They're parents Gen Xers Gen Xers What do they name

their kids Um Yeah Uh, straw had three stolen bases in yesterday's game and was a big base dealer in the miners. Like that's the main thing he does. He started back to back games for the Astros. Um, yeah. I don't know.

Miles seems like a hip name, right? We have a- It's totally legit name. It's a very, I mean, like Miles Davis. My kids, my kids names are not exactly Chris and Matt. So I guess I can't say too much. I can't remember your youngest son. Everett and...

Marshall. Marshall. Those are way more hip than Miles. You are the millennial. Do you guys know my son's name? I can't remember anything. What of Scott's kids is very upset in the background. I'm going to give you multiple choice and we'll see if you can guess my son's name.

Heath, did you have anything to say about these barely own hitters? I think with the Astro's schedule this week, that all of those outfielders are, all the Astros are interesting in any type of deeper league, because even if they only play four games, they might be good. Okay.

Yeah. I think in a Miles Teller. He just looks like the face of what it means to be a millennial. All right. Option A for Baby Azer. Yeah. Is it A, Andrew, B, Matt, C, Hunter, or D, Evan? It's A. I think it's Andrew.

It is. Yeah. We have a bunch of A's of the family. Okay, Studs being studs. Let's talk about some pitchers. A lot of pitching performances to break down. I think this is a busier day of notes than almost any Monday, I think, so far this year. I just thought so many compelling pitching performances over the weekend.

Scott, of course, wasn't moved to add anybody over the weekend. He thought this weekend was super boring, and we disagree. But no. Studs being Studs Part 1. Max Scher struck out 15 Reds, and he actually got a win. And now he is 3 and 5. Clayton Kershaw. Let me tell you something weird about

Clayton Kershaw. I've been noticing this. I've been following his starts pretty closely. Through the first few innings, he always has like five strikeouts. And then after seven innings, he has like six. So third time through the order, his only 14 strikeouts and 17 innings. First time through the order, he has 26 strikeouts and 21 innings.

Now his ERA is batting average against. They're all still pretty good. It's just weird. He's getting all his K's early. Armand Marquez had a good start at home. Two runs and seven innings. And David Price slayed the giant. He beat the Yankees,

thanks to good pitching and terrible umpiring, a very generous strike zone. I was going to punch that umpire in the face via my TV yesterday. Yeah, you would never punch anyone in the face in person. No, David Price, I think we told everyone to start him. I did. I said starting. It was nice to see him be good and this silly, not good versus the Yankees

not be true. It's not silly. I've never... It's silly. You've never seen a team dominate someone the way they dominate. This started five years ago?

I went back the last three years and it's like unbelievable. Three years ago, how many of the Yankees that were in the lineup yesterday were on the Yankees? That's why I said to start them. That's why I said start them. And the answer to that question

is probably just Gardner and Hicks. They're two worst hitters right now? Pretty much. All right, no, but sorry, so Scherzer, Kershaw, Marquez, anything to say about those guys? You're just dying to write off Clayton Kershaw. I feel every time he pitches. Yeah, pretty much.

Can't stand it. Yeah. It's a little bit like Zach Grinky, which has worked out well for both those guys. Not this weekend for Granky. No, I, look, I've come to terms with Kershaw as his control is so good, his team is so good. They win pretty much every time he plays. I like Kershaw a lot.

I just, I just, I think he's going to go on the IL. He's not as good as he used to be. He's going to go on the IL again. That's my, that's my issue. He's still a top 10 starting pitcher. He's a weird pitcher. I've actually got him sixth now. I'd still take Bauer.

That's higher than I have. I'd take Bauer over him, and I'd take Nola over him, and that might be very controversial. Yeah, it is. I don't think Bauer is, but Nola, maybe. Like, Bauer, it's pretty clear now that last year was just the, blip on the radar, right? You can look at his career and he is the same pitcher that he was for three years before last year. Isn't his strikeout rate huge? And his last two starts, he stopped walking hitters. He just started hitting them. I don't agree. No, I don't, I don't

think, I think he was not a good pitcher. And he's like at least good this year. You know, two years ago, he kind of had the semi-breakout. And then last year was the big step forward. That's exactly right. But before that, he was just a bad pitcher. I think you look at Trevor Bauer, I'll get you the numbers in 2017, just after the All-Star break, his last 13 appearances, 12 starts, 242 ERA, 85 strikeouts, and 78 innings, and he changed his arsenal at that point. So I don't think that's when this version of Trevor Bauer started, and I don't think that it was a fluke. I think he backed it up last year, and I think he's really good. I just think he's struggling. I would just say this.

He has, if we're not counting 2012 and 2013, because he threw 33 innings in those two combined. He has the second highest FIPP of his career. He has the highest ex-FIP of his career. He has the highest Sierra of his career. He has the highest walk rate of the last five years. If he gets that down, then all of the peripherals are going to look better. That is true.

He's still hard to hit. Yeah. 6.7 hits per 9. It was 6.9 last year. I still believe he's going to be hard to hit. You know, it's the strikeouts. Well, but the thing is, what Kershaw lacks in strikeouts, he does make up for and wins. And I know we don't like to chase wins or anything like that,

but a guy who pitches deep into games for arguably the best team in baseball is going to win a lot of games. Yeah, and Bauer pitches deep into games too. Yeah, but for a bad team. If he stays healthy, I have very little doubt Bauer is going to finish the year with 200 endings and 200 strikeouts, which is good even before you dig into ratios. You're not a bad pitcher if you do that. Unless you're Chris Archer. So, bold prediction on Trevor Bauer.

The Indians will go one in five this week against the twins and the Yankees, and Trevor Bauer will be traded within two weeks. They should trade him to the Padres for some of their outfielder. Yeah. Great. Hunter Renfro for. for Trevor Bower. That's fair. Studs being studs, part two.

You know what? Let me see if I want to call an audible here. Because listen, we got four games tomorrow today. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to save all the studs, all the guys who are like very own for tomorrow's show. Because we're going to need some topics, especially since Scott's not on, apparently. Let's go to the fringies. Guys, you might actually be able to pick up.

Okay, part one, these guys are 65 to 79% on. Pretty big group here. Actually, it's not that big of a group. I just have some typos, and I put guys in the wrong section. Matt Strom was awful against the Marlins for some reason. He had been very good. His previous nine starts, he had a 253RA. So Matt Strom, Sunny Gray, Stephen Matt's,

Yanni Chorinos, Kyle Gibson. Okay, so I screwed, let me just tell you right now. I screwed up with the video team. I gave them the wrong name. that's totally my bad. The names that we should be talking about, if I had done this properly, are Strom, Gray, Stephen Mats,

Yanni Torinos, and Kyle Gibson. All of these guys are owned in 68% of leagues or more. Who do you like from that group? Sunny Gray, I think, is my favorite of the group. Strom's start was frustrating, but I'm willing to give him a pass on one of them. Mats was a guy I was just kind of starting to maybe believe in again, and then he was bad.

I'm going to not. And Samaraja, I feel like we just took advantage of good matchups this week. He's not actually good. Another guy is Joey Lucasey, Scott. So he has, what, two or three quality starts in a row, finally? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he's faced Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Miami in his last three starts. He's been really good.

Yeah, yeah, it's been a good four-star stretch for him. And he has two really good pitches. I just still wonder if he's going, given that there are known limitations in terms of how he can DP can pitch into games if he's going to be consistent enough with the ratios to be an asset. Like I would rank him behind Matt Strom now

if we're pursuing Padres pitchers even with the way Lucchese's performed recently. Okay, here are the Fringy starting pitchers part two that I should have properly given to the video crew. I apologize, guys. We've got Chris Bassett, actually this one I think is correct. Chris Bassett, Spencer Turnbull, and Brad Keller. Who do you like in that group?

Turnbull. He's the only one I like. I'm surprised he's only 58% owned. Me too. Nobody seems to be buying it. It's 284 ERA, about a strikeout per inning, 123 whip. Only one quality start in his last five starts for Turnbull. He gets Tampa Bay this week.

And that doesn't help. neither of those helps but he's been pretty reliable and with at least a decent strikeout pitcher so yeah i'm i'm i don't think he's available in any of my leagues or else i would have been picking him up yeah in a vacuum turnbull is definitely the one i like the most over the rest of the season i might be more willing to start brad keller just because of the spark eligibility and the match up against the White Sox this week. Part 3, He, fringey starting pitchers, Danny Duffy, Tyler Malley, C.C. Sabathia. And then I actually will throw in Jeff Samarja and Ryan Yarbrough to this group.

But Samarja, Yarbrough, and Duffy, Malley, and Sabathia. Yeah, we know what C.C. Sabathia is. And there are times that you can use him and it's fine. Mally is the only one that gets me kind of excited. And this is a step backwards for Duffy. And Sabathia, this might be. might be a week you can use him at Cleveland. The problem is he just barely ever pitches six innings.

He did last night only the second time this season. In deep leagues, can we talk a little bit more about Tyler Malley, eight strikeouts? It was a good and bad start. 16 swinging strikes, eight strikeouts against the nationals, but three runs and five innings. Yeah, I don't know. What do you do with that? Yeah, I think Malley is in kind of the same boat as Joey Lucasey, where they're you know he's he's he kind of peaks at six innings and doesn't even get to go that deep

because the arsenal's limited and the pitches are pretty effective but are they effective enough that he's going to have dominant ratios because I think when you have that kind of workload limitation that's what you need to be to be a true asset I think he's just a matchups type right now kind of like sabathia frankly let's finish the show with some emails at fantasy baseball at cbsi.com this is from joe what's the word on Angels outfielder, Cesar Puello. It doesn't look like he's going to have a chance at every day at Bats. He's had three really good games when he started.

But it's going to be a match-up situation there. He's 28-year-old rookie who had like a 65% ground ball rate at AAA. So I'm skeptical there's going to be enough power production, even when he does play in the long run. From Cesar Pollo. Okay, Heath, this is from Dylan. Gene Seguer or Eduardo Escobar in a 12-team six-by-six categories league. I've been, and I feel like Gene Seguerra's gotten a raw deal this year

because he's actually been very good for most of the year, or at least especially lately, and there's just too many short-stops playing well to really acknowledge him, but I do have Escobar two spots ahead of Seguer. From Nick, 12-team Categories League. The Boston Bruins are two wins away from Stanley Cup. Get excited. I am no less excited than I've ever been for a Stanley Cup final.

No more excited either. You know, Scott, I wish you had lived in South Florida when the Panthers went to the Stanley Cup. It was actually really, really exciting. Scott, do you know who the Bruins are playing in the Stanley Cup finals? Who are the Bruins playing? Goldschmidt. The Minnesota Wild. The Young.

Carpenter. Reyes. Wainwright. Patrick Mahomes was there cheering and chugging beers Okay, so Kansas City doesn't have a team There's a big arch The St. Louis Blues Blues?

You got it! Good job! We only needed six years. AJ in Jersey, subject line, Jacoby Jones, any interest in him in a Roto League? He's been playing every day and hitting the ball well. Looks like he could steal double-digit bases. Any interest in Jacoby Jones of the Tigers? Nope. Hey, L-O-L-A-L-A.

And from Brendan in a points league, should I hold on to Brendan Rogers? Well, I dropped Brendan Rogers yesterday. I needed to, but you can hold on to him. But I don't think you have to. He hasn't been playing well. Well, here's the contact. Would you drop him for any of the following? Travis Schall, Robinson, Cano, Lordas Guriel are the three-Z lists here.

Oh, Canoe. And I would drop him for Canoe. Yeah. Canocia will be back pretty soon. I dropped him for Josh Feigley because I needed a catcher. Thank you, everybody. Good show today. We'll have another one tomorrow.

Maybe we'll do a first round draft tomorrow. That could be fun. Send us your emails. I'm not here either on Tuesday. You and Chris. Meet me and Chris drafting the first round. No, we got to do that with three people. We've got to do that with three people.

I'm sorry. Fantasy Baseball on CBSI.com. We'll talk to you on Tuesday on Fantasy Baseball today. Thank you.