Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/04: McCutchen, Fill in the Blank, Dynasty Talk (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 4, 2019

With just four games yesterday, we can talk about whatever we want! Of course we'll begin with the Andrew McCutchen injury (2:30) and who might benefit from it. After more news, we recap yesterday's standouts (8:00) including the good Walker Buehler, Robbie Ray and Corey Seager and the bad Aaron Nola ... Fill in the Blank (18:30)! Talking Jose Altuve, top rookies, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and more. Plus weekend leftovers (25:30) including Lucas Giolito's dominance and Dynasty Talk (31:30) as Heath gives you six players moving up and six players moving down in his theoretical Dynasty rankings. We also touch on the MLB Draft (36:30) ... Something surprising at each position (40:30) including Yasmani Grandal's splits, Paul Goldschmidt's lack of doubles, Mitch Haniger's strikeouts and Chris Sale's record. We then read your emails (52:00) and preview today's games at the end of the show ... 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. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Welcome back from the All-Star break, sort of. Only four games last night kind of felt like the All-Star break. Not a lot going on around Major League Baseball.

I'm Adam Azer. Now, if you were listening to the yesterday's show, you know, it's a two-man. show today. The Scott White is not on the show. So I said to Chris last night, I said, hey man, only four games. What do you want to talk about tomorrow? And he said, oh, it's just being you? No thanks. I am out. I'm going to the doctor, the dentist, anything but an Adam and Chris show.

So Heath, thank you for stepping up, stepping in. The Heath is on. You make it sound like I chose to be here with you. And Chris was like wiser than me. No, I'm glad to be here. I think we'll have a lot of fun. We've got some room to just air things out a little bit. Yes, and talk a little dynasty.

With the MLB draft starting yesterday, I figured it's a good time to talk a little dynasty. Yeah, you act like there was nothing going on. It was compelling television last night watching the draft. You didn't watch the draft. Obviously. I got to tell you, I watched the NHS Stanley Cup finals. Better television than the NBA finals.

By a lot. there's like never any commercials I don't know the last time it's just it's just nonstop back and forth it's like no commercials it's great every time I turn on a basketball game isn't commercial

or they're reviewing something the blues tied it up tied the series up at two very very fun stuff did Patrick Mahomes chug any more beers I don't know but he was there he was there and you know

it's enjoyable okay so today we're going to recap the four games Aaron Nola with a terrible start Walker Bueller with a great start Robbie Ray with his deepest start all year of seven innings finally. First start of more than six innings. And I'm going to tell you where he ranks among starting pitchers.

Even I, someone who doesn't like Robbie Ray was surprised at where he ranks among starting pitchers so far. Corey Seeger's been hot. We'll talk about him. The Andrew McCutcheon injury. We've got some fill in the blank. We've got some weekend leftovers. Let's get to it, though.

News and notes. Andrew McCutcheon sprained his knee. We'll have an MRI. Philadelphia is calling up Adam Haisley, who I think, 2017 was the top 10 pick. Obviously they have Jay Bruce who sat against the left of yesterday, and Kingery can play some outfield. He played third base yesterday.

So Andrew McCutcheon tweeted, please pray for me. He doesn't think it's an ACL injury, but let's react to this McCutcheon knee injury, Heath. It's terrible. There's nothing good about it at all, and I hope that he's okay, but it didn't look good. I would guess, like, best case scenarios, we're not going to see him for a month. And I just want to, like, kudos to our video team here. If you don't watch our show, you can watch it.

I think the easiest way might be to go to our YouTube channel, just go to YouTube and go to CB and search for CBS Sports, and you'll see our show every day, our full show. We actually have the video of the play of McCutcheon getting stuck in a rundown and hurting his knee. So what's the fantasy impact? Who benefits, you know, who gets playing time? Who's important now?

I mean, it solidifies the opportunity for Scott Kingery, and I suppose Jay Bruce, so I still don't think the Phillies are going to play him against lefties. I don't know that there's like a big winner from this. Obviously, the major fantasy impact would be you have to find a way to replace Andrew McCutcheon. Thankfully, Malick Smith's still only owned in 55% of league, so that's not that difficult. And he homered yesterday. I don't know who's going to hit lead off for them.

I mean, I suppose they could just move people up in the order and put sugar. I would assume it's Cesar Hernandez. That, then you know what? That you could be right, and that to me is a huge winner in this situation. Would you agree? A winner, yes. Okay, because I think he, you know, he's going to need to be, like, really mixed league relevant in, like, a 12-team league, you know, he'll probably need to score those runs, get those plate appearances. He used to be a lead off hitter, you know, but when he's batting lower in the order, obviously not as valuable.

So I think that's fairly significant. Meanwhile, Oduble Herrera's administrative leave was extended to June 17th, and Travis Shaw is off the IL, and Keston Hira is back to AAA. Travis Shaw didn't really have a great rehab outing, and, you know, he's been terrible. 50 strikeouts in 40 games. Three for 33 with no extra base hits against lefties. All right, what's your take on the Brewer's situation, Heath?

I was a little surprised And it's kind of interesting Because if you had told me before the weekend That Keston Hero was going to be sent down When Travis Shaw came back That's kind of what I'd been saying for two weeks So it wouldn't have surprised me too much He did have a fantastic three or four days stretch

I kind of thought it might be enough to save him I don't think you should necessarily rush out To drop Hira It's his opportunity is going to depend solely On whether Travis Shaw remembers how to hit or not And I don't necessarily disagree with the Brewers making this decision to at least give Shaw an opportunity to keep his job because for the last two seasons he's been a very good hitter.

He got off to a terrible start, but I mean, really, it was a bad month and a half. Lots of good hitters have bad months and a half. I don't know that he gets more than a week or two. I've seen him picked up in a couple of leagues. I think that makes sense just because of his second base eligibility. If you're weak at that position, definitely makes sense anywhere you need to. a corner and a middle infielder because he has the possibility to be like a top six or seven second baseman rest of the season if he can just be what he was the last two years.

On the other hand, I think there's a decent chance that he's two bad weeks away from just not having a job. He's 56% owned, Travis Shaw. I'm surprised more people who didn't drop him, quite frankly, because yesterday he was 53% owned. So, all right, I guess we'll see what happens. I don't think he's going to play against lefties. I think that would be a mistake if he played against him.

lefties. So, all right, we'll see what happens there with Travis Shaw. And Heath says be a little patient with Kestin'Hira, who does have five home runs, three in his last five games, back in the minors. Dee Gordon and Ryan Healy could begin rehab assignments this week in D. Gordon's absence, Shed Long, doubled and stole two bases for Seattle last night. But yeah, it could be a shorter stint for him. And Ryan Presley got a save for Houston. Roberto Azuna had pitched Friday and Sunday.

I don't think. I didn't see it. I don't think that matters for a Zuna, but I don't understand why Ryan Presley is still only 32% owned. He should be owned in every single category's league. The scoreless streak is over, Heath. I don't care. He's been arguably the best reliever in baseball over the last calendar year.

Yeah, they are 100% right. Ryan Presley is amazing. Next news item, the Cubs called up Carlos Gonzalez. You don't need to worry about him in fantasy. David Peralta and Nelson Cruiser off the IL, and I want to defend my honor because on Friday I gave Heath a list of dropometer players. First of all, he

mispronounced it and called it the dropometer, the dropometer. And he said, I don't know why Dan Vogelbach is on the dropometer. I'm going to tell you why, Heath. He's got a 701 OPS in his last 36 games, and he's owned in like 84% of leaks. Okay. All right. There you go. That's why he was on the dropometer.

So his last 36 games now, or he had a 701 OPS in his last 36 games before Friday. now updated. Oh, well, that's what he's done over the last four days is irrelevant. Well, that's true. But he was still ice cold when I gave you the dropometer. Please learn how to pronounce it on Friday. So.

I do not believe he should be on the dropometer. Let's go to the Monday recap. Anybody stand out to you on Monday? There were a lot of very interesting performances. Probably none more exciting than Walker Bueller with 11 strikes. strikeouts over eight innings only gave up one run and i don't think that like fans of the dodgers or walker beeler will like my reaction but my take basically was now is the time i would try to sell walker be i think he's going to be very good most likely for the next couple of months i am still

i came into the year concerned about what he would look like in august and september because of the huge innings increase last year and he did not start the season off very good at all but four of his five starts now have been quality starts. This was a dominant start. I think now might be a time where I could see if I could get a top 15 starting pitch. I mean, there's some guys that have really, really struggled lately, including

a couple Indians pitchers, and I would trade Bueller for either of them. One thing I like about Walker Bueller right now is that they're really limiting his pitches. He hasn't thrown I think yesterday was a season high. It was 102 pitches. So he goes about 100 pitches every time out. Yeah, it is a question of

will he be Louis Severino, right, who had a big innings increase from 2016 to 17, and then in 2018 he fell apart in the second half. Probably won't be that drastic, but who would you sell Bueller for? Carlos Carrasco. Did you already say that?

Yeah. Trevor Bauer. You really? Noah Cindergarde? You really? All those guys? Yeah. Okay. I didn't say Noah Cindergarde before, but you wouldn't trade him for Noah Sindeguard? The thing about Noah's Sindigard is like,

how do you treat a guy like Noah Sindegarde who goes on the IL every year? I believe Noah's Sindeguard is going to be really good going forward. I don't believe he's going to stay healthy. Do you think he's more likely to go on the IL this year than Walker Bueller? Yes, and I do think that if they both go on the IL, I would take Cindergarde on the IL for longer. Okay.

I'm not that good at predicting injury. I'm great. obviously. You're very, very good at it. Okay, so my standout is a bad one, Aranola. Walker Bueller or Aranola the rest of the season. I would still take Nola. I am a little discouraged because it kind of seemed like he was getting things together, but now after a bad start, you go back and look, and he's still had three walks and four of his last five starts. And he's just not going to be as good

of pitcher if he's walking three guys plus. every single start. This wasn't ever a problem for him, but he's not figuring it out right now. So I still have Nola as a top 15 starting pitcher rest of season, but this was discouraging. Yeah, and I feel like walks are something that could be sort of easily fixed, especially for a guy with his track record. But he gives up six runs and five and a third on eight hits. Nola said his curveball, his fastball, and his changeup were missing.

So he just had absolutely nothing yesterday at San Diego, and it shows. You still have a top 15 pitcher. Okay, so would you take Ryu or Nola? I think I'd take Ryu now. I've got a rankings update to do tomorrow. Right now I have Nola ranked ahead, but I think I'd take Riu. All right, some more standouts from yesterday. I'll say a name, you tell me what you think.

Eric Lauer, 55% owned. Other than one horrible start at Colorado, he has seven straight starts. So it's really seven out of eight with two or fewer earn runs. Usually he doesn't go six innings, but keeps the runs off the board. Eric Lauer. I really don't know how he's doing it. Like, yes, this was a good start in terms of run prevented, and he's had a few of those.

But he's really a below-average starting pitcher, and every single peripheral says that. I really don't care. Lauer or Povetta? Povetta. Lauer or Chris Bassett? Those guys are closer, but I think I'd still take Bassett. Okay, next name is Robbie Ray.

Seven innings, three runs, nine strikeouts to one walk against the Dodgers, probably his best start of the year, at least one of his best starts of the year. Again, this was the first start of more than six innings for Robbie Ray. 96% owned, 85% started. And I really thought that with a 3602-ER, 91 strikeouts in 69 and 2-thirds, I thought he'd be a top 30 pitcher. He's 51st in points. He's 44th in Roto.

What does that mean for you with Robbie Ray? That is a little surprising that he doesn't rank a little bit. better. I suppose the whips holding him down in Rodo and the win or the innings are holding him down in points. I've got him ranked right around 40th. He's someone I'm pretty much just starting most times and not really like I know sometimes it's going to be bad. Sometimes it's going to be great and I'm just willing to ride those highs and lows with Ray. All right, John Lester. John Lester or Robbie Ray, they both pitched last night. Lester very good. Rebounding after three terrible starts in a row. Would you rather have Lester or Ray? Lester is another guy that I put in

there with Walker Bueller that I would be trying to sell after this. He started off the year, looking like he'd made some changes and was maybe going to be a better strikeout pitcher. You look at his peripherals now. They look pretty similar last year. I'm not completely convinced he's going to be a guy that's must start for the entire season. So after a good start, following giving up 19 runs across three starts, I'd be looking to see if I could get someone to buy.

By the way, I wanted to go back to something that we argued about last week because I've been mad about it all weekend. So, congratulations. We were talking about Robbie Ray, and I said, you know, I was talking about his ERA, and you said, let me pull up the stat, so I know what you said. You said, he has a three, you said like, okay, okay, I know what it was. It's like a three-two ERA over the last three years or something. Okay, right. You said something like that. I've been mad about it all weekend. I think it was a very deceiving and mean thing to say.

Because he's only had one year in his entire career with an ERA under 352. That 289 ERA in 2017 obviously drags that average down. But that is not the pitcher he is. He's not going to have a 330 ERA. He did that one season. So for you to say over his last three years, he said this ERA, would you know he cannot have that ERA? I think you owe me an apology.

Well, he has a 3-2 FIP right now, so I think he absolutely could have that ERA. I'm not really worried about what Robbie Ray's ERA was before three years ago. Just looking at the last three years, I think it's a 28, then a 3-9, now a 36. He's a mid-3s. 330 is not mid-thre guy. That's like low to mid-threes. 330's really good. 350's not as good.

There is a difference between 330 and 350 and 350 and 33. 330 is better. Thank you for a bit. But I don't think there is some hard line in between them that changes the distinction. All right. The last thing I want to talk about is Corey Seeger. Corey Seeger. Okay, so he's been a good batting average, like a 300 hitter with 20, I don't know,

23-ish home runs. Is that kind of Corey Seeger that we had grown to know and love? But change in the batted ball profile this year. Big increase in fly ball rate. So that could obviously lead to a lower bat have been a lower batting. average. We hadn't seen the power. But over his last 19 games, we're talking about a 990 OPS, a 290 batting average, six home runs, five doubles, seven walks a 13 strikeout, so that's

good to see. Corey Seeger currently 14th in points, 17th in Roto. He said he was rusty coming back from the injury. He's red-hot right now. What do you think about Corey Seeger? I don't know. Corey Seeger is a good hitter. He's a good shortstop. With the way the landscape has changed at shortstop. I'm not 100% sold that unless he gets all the way back to 2016, Corey Seeger, he's going to be a must-start shortstop.

Okay. Well, he's been really good. Can he hit lately? Do you worry about the batting average? Because that's why I drafted him, you know, for batting average. Considering he's more of a flyball hitter now. I didn't. Yeah.

he's probably going to be a 270, 275 guy the rest of the year. I think he's probably going to hit 25-ish home runs this season. Okay. And he never runs. So that hurts Corey Seeker's value. I mean, he runs like when he hits a ball off the wall.

He usually runs from second to try to score on a single. I didn't mean to make him Robinson Kanoe. He does run sometimes without getting an IL stint after. All right. We got some fill in the blank from the listeners coming up. We got some MLB draft talk, some dynasty talk.

Fun show today. We'll be right back on fantasy baseball today. I needed some content. I'm a terrible producer. There were only four games. So I asked you people on Twitter for fill in the blank. And here we go. From Roland in Pittsburgh, Jose Altuvae's performance will be blank upon returning from injury.

This is difficult. I mean, if you told me he was going to come back and just be himself immediately. I would say the best second baseman in fantasy. I don't know for sure that'll be the case. So I'm willing to say his performance will be top four at second base rest of season. I am concerned he won't steal more than like, I know it's a little drastic, but more than like five to seven bases all year when he comes back.

I think that's a possibility. It wasn't running before. There's a lot of things we don't know when he comes back if he's going to be 100%. There's a lot of unknowns there. So I think top four is safer than number one. Are you thinking that you want to be buying Al-Tube right now? I'm pretty afraid. I mean, let's think about it.

He had a chronic knee injury last year that he played through. He played 137 games. He had, by his standards, a pretty bad year. He goes on the IEL with another leg injury, but it happens to be this leg from last year that's bothering him. And when he went on the IL this year, he only had one steal in three attempts. And now he's dealing with the same injury he dealt with last year, or at least the same area.

So I just don't think you can rely on him for steals. I'm only buying Altuve if I'm well. I need to be in first place. Okay. Next up, fill in the blank from John. The best rookie or rookies at the end of the season will be blank. I would, I guess I would probably go with Fernando Tatis. Really?

Okay. Chris Paddock? All the Padres? Chris Paddock will be the best rookie starting pitcher yet. I'm certain I'm forgetting someone now. I know. I'm trying to think of who we're missing. Austin Riley.

Bigio Vlad. How about Vlad? I mean, no, I thought of Vlad. I think that Tatis, I mean, he has an advantage right now in the numbers he's produced. Ah, yeah, assuming there's no injury, the best rookie hitter in fantasy is probably going to be Pete Alonzo. Oh, there you go. Thank you. So would you rather have right now rest of season? Fernando Tatis,

who's on a rehab assignment, or Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? I think I'd take Tatis. Ooh. All right. Hot take. From Justin, Travis Shaw will hit blank home runs rest of season. This is an impossible question to answer, but I'll say 13.

Okay. Ryan Martin, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will hit blank home runs rest of season. I'm thinking at least We got about 100 games left. I'm thinking 20. So he's hit 6? That would, yeah, that would make sense.

I'll go with 18. This is from Jamie. DJ James Kennedy will have blank more hits in 2019 than Jose Ramirez. Now, Heath, you're very lucky man. You don't know who DJ James Kennedy is. Your wife does not make you watch

Vanderpump rules. But mine does. Oh, no. So I get this joke. And it's pretty, funny. I'm at my wits end with Jose Ramirez. I thought last week he was having a pretty good week. He was kind of turning it around over the weekend.

He was like total crap. DJ James Kennedy will have five more hits than Jose Ramirez. Jose Ramirez will have a blank round value for the rest of the season from Austin Scott. Rest of season.

Fourth. You draft him in the fourth round. I think we said third last No, I think we said fifth last time. we talked. Okay, then I'll go six. I was trying to go one round worse than whatever I said last time. Okay, 206 with four home runs right now for Jose Ramirez.

Let's see if we got a few more here. This one is from Josh. Josh's tweet. I can't find it. Video guy. Oh, here we go. Daniel Murphy is blank second baseman rest of the way. Bad.

Wow. Really? Why so low? 13. Why? Like he's such a good player And he's hot Yeah, he's not been

He's getting there He had a good Homestand Which I think keeps him on people's rosters All right But I don't I don't like I don't know

I don't know for sure that he's going to play against lefties I don't know for sure that he's going to be good away from course and he's got a 720 OPS right now. And he's like 114 years old. You know, we always talk about like Joe Madden and his wacky rosters and we can't rely on this from Madden. Like Bud Black is worse.

With all the topies. Bud Black is good. Joe Madden is good. They're just bad for us. Yes, bad. That's what I meant, obviously. All right, one more, fill in the blank, from Brighton Overton.

The Twins will win blank games this year. Let's check the standings. They have the best record in baseball, pretty sure. They are 40 and 18. They are 40 and 18. There you go. I picked the Twins to win the Central, I'd like for everyone to know. It was a very good call.

Thank you. So they've got 104 games left. I'm going to say they win 98 games. Do they have the best record in the American League at the end of the season? No. I'll give you four reasons why they might. White Sox, Indians, Tigers, Royals. That's possibility.

I would still bet on one of the East teams or the Astros team or the Astros winning a hundred game. Yeah, and to their credit, the Twins, I mean, it was a great weekend beating the, what do they take, like, three out of four from the raise, I think. They're 14 and 6 against the AAL East. They're 11 and 3 against the Central. and they're 12 and 5 against the West. And they're pitching really well. They're very good. They won three out of four, yeah, from the race.

It's normally a pretty me move to say, oh, this team we didn't expect to be this good is going to be much worse rest of the year. They're going to be a little worse. They're not going to win like 115 games, but I still think they're going to win the Central. Heath, yesterday I did not get to everything I wanted to get to on the Monday show. So let's do some Monday leftovers, weekend leftovers.

We did studs being studs. part one. I want to do Studs being Studs Part 2. So some guys who were pretty good over the weekend. I want to know what you think going forward. Who's your favorite? Who's your least favorite? U. Darvish, six innings, one run with three walks and six strikeouts at St. Louis. Miles Michaelis, seven innings of one run ball against the Cubs. Cole Hamels. I'm just picking everybody from this series, apparently. Seven innings of one unearned run, only four strikeouts at St. Louis.

John Gray had a good start against Toronto. Lucas Gialito was dominant again. seven and a third, no runs, nine strikeouts, and Jake Oteresey was dominant again. I think Oterese is your American League ERA leader with a 196 ERA. He's eight and two. He has more than a strikeout per inning. He has a .96 whip, and he has Detroit this week. So what a group here.

Darvish and Hamels, Michaelis, John Gray, Gialito, and Oterese. Are any of these guys not must-starts? I think Oterreasy, like I've been skipping. of him. I will say he is must start rest of the year, or at least must start right now. And he's going to be moving way up in my rankings once again.

Gialito, there's no reason to question him. Right now, he's been the best pitcher in the American League for like six weeks now. I feel pretty good about John Gray. Most of the, but he's going to, it's kind of like Robbie Ray. He's going to have those outings that are just disastrous. So I understand if you don't

want to call him must start any pitches for the Rockies. I'm less sold on the other three. Like Miles Michaelis, this was a good start. He's been better lately. The strikeouts are even worse than they were last year. He's not done what I expected. Darvish and Hamils both make me extremely nervous. Darvish makes me very nervous, yeah.

Because even in this start, three walks in six innings, and that's 41 walks and 61 innings for the season. It's an outrageous number. Robbie Ray is blushing at that, you Darvish walk rate. Actually, who's this higher? It's got to be Darvish. Yeah.

Yeah, Gialito. I said on the video show on Sunday that I'd take Gialito over Matt Boye, that Giolyto is my favorite breakout pitcher this year. Scott was sort of cringing when I said that. I might take Gio Lido over Boyd, but I don't think that Gialito is your favorite breakout pitcher this year. Okay, who am I forgetting? I'm going to actually fact-check you on your own favorite.

Who am I forgetting my favorite Luis Castillo Yeah I guess yeah I like Castillo better I was thinking more of like Undrafted or total late round guys Which would be Boyd Gioledo

Oterese that group But yeah I like Castillo better Sure And I would still take And it won't be this way much longer possibly But I would still take Caleb Smith over Gialito Oh yeah I would take Gioledo over Caleb Smith because of innings.

Smith is not going very deep into games. Gialito, seven or more innings in five of his last six starts without throwing more than 107 pitches in any of them. Like that's insane. All right, one more group of studs here. I'm going to call them studs because they're owned in more than 80% of leagues. And they've got good ERAs. Julio Tehran is a stud.

He's got a 328 ERA. Marcus Stroman has a 284 ERA. Zach Davies is six and six. with a 220 ERA and Jordan Liles is 5 and 3 338 ERA. How many of them do you think are even worth owning Tehran, Strowman, Davies,

and Liles? This is the section that you put together that I just don't participate in, and Scott or Chris or you can talk about these pitchers. Huyo Tehran is still terrible. He has had a good stretch that has made his

ERA look good. He's still a very bad pitcher. I don't really think Zach Davies is good, but I could understand starting him now just because he's going so well. He's slightly better than Julio Turon. Jordan Liles does at least have the SPARP appeal, and he's had some starts this year

where it started to look like maybe there's something more there than I thought at the beginning of the year. The only one that I own on any teams or consider rostering Marcus Stroman. Yeah, five straight quality starts for Stroman. I think he's pretty much a points league. specialist. The strikeout rate is down again. I mean, earlier the year he was striking out some guys.

He's, you know, not a strikeout guy and a 130 whip, and he's 3 and 7. So, okay, that's Marcus Stroman. Another quick break here on fantasy baseball today. When we come back, yeah, we'll do some Dynasty Talk and some MLB draft talk when we come back. Then I have something surprising at every position, plus your emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com, and we will be right back. All right, welcome back to Fantasy Baseball today.

dynasty talk. Who's moving up? Who's moving down? Let me just go through the text message exchange from last night with Heath. Hey, Heath, anything you'd like to talk about on FBT tomorrow, just me and you in only four games. How about some dynasty talk? Players moving up and down in your theoretical dynasty rankings. Heath says, I could do that. I said, cool, if you could send me some names, that would be good. I have to give some names to graphics. And he threw it, ugh. And then I said, ha, it doesn't have to be now, but Heath came through right then and there, and he gave me six pitchers, six players moving up and six players moving down in his theoretical dynasty rankings. Why the, you missed one of the texts.

It was you saying, Heath, I couldn't find enough tweets to produce the whole show for me. Could you produce a segment or two as well? Just one segment. That's it. All right, moving up in your rankings, these pitchers. Caleb Smith, Matt Boyd, and Luis Castillo. Caleb Smith, Matthew Boyd, and Luis Castillo. Yeah, and Boyd and Smith are basically coming from, like,

in my theoretical dynasty rankings, towards the very bottom. I didn't have any faith at all in Matthew Boyd coming into this year, and they've moved up into the borderline top 20 range. Castillo was a guy that was pretty high coming into the year, but I think you look at his combination of age and the upside he's shown this year, may just be a top 15 starting pitcher in Dynasty.

Okay, three hitters moving up. Joey Gallo, Adelberto Mondesie, and Cody Bellinger. Bellinger's a little bit obvious. He may have just jumped into the top five from outside of the top 25, but I don't know how you could doubt it. Mondesie and Gallo, a little bit different. Mondesie, we saw a half a season last year that looked like, man, this guy could be a fantasy star, and he's like 23 years old.

He's done enough in the first half of this season to where I kind of think that's probably what he is. It's hard to think of a lot of middle infielers I'd rather have than him in Dynasty. And then Gallo's done what I had hoped would happen. He's been a little lucky this year. He's not going to be quite this good. But he's been improved on defense, and he's been at a little bit better batted ball luck.

He looks like someone who could be, if he'd stay healthy for a full year, a legit MVP contender. Moving down to the Dynasty rankings, these three hitters, Ozzie Albys, Travis Shaw, and Joey Votto. and by the way, he's very good job, three hitters and three pitchers in each section down and up. But Albies, Shaw, and Vado. Let's talk about Albies. He's obviously still young.

Yeah, I don't know what Ozzy Albies is, but he's moving down in your theoretical dynasty rankings. Yeah, the part of it is I feel like we're starting to get a better idea what Ozzy Albies is. And it starts with a J and ends with a G. It's just a guy. He's played now 274 games with an OPS around 750. Most every year in the minor leagues, his OPS was around 750 to 800. He doesn't steal a ton of bases. He doesn't have a ton of power.

He's a second baseman that you're probably going to start most years, but I don't know that he's going to be a difference maker in any area. It's starting to look that way. And then moving down in Heath's theoretical dynasty rankings, you Darvish, Vince Velasquez, and I'm just going to smile as I say, Chris Archer. Yeah, I mean, Chris, listen, I think it's undeniable that Chris Archer had a five-year stretch

as a very good starting pitcher in fantasy. But he's away from Tampa now, and one of the things you could count on him was a lot of innings with a lot of strikeouts. We've not even gotten that so far this year. If it's a high-ish ERA, a high-ish whip, and the innings and strikeouts are just okay moving forward, that's not a very good fantasy pitcher. Okay, five seasons. I will give you three seasons.

Yeah, no, I'll give you a... I said it was undeniable, Adam, so it doesn't really matter what you give me. That's the way it work. Yeah, Archer. I think Archer also, you know, if there's a lesson to be learned maybe, it's that, you know, his arsenal, it's just very limited,

basically a two-pitch pitcher, and he's lost velocity. So I think... Yeah, I mean, and you have to know that you may only get five good years out of a pitcher when that happens. But, right, well, but that's the thing. Like his fastball and his slider were just supreme.

They were just so good, so hard to hit. And if a guy doesn't, It doesn't expand his arsenal when he loses the velocity. He's going to struggle. Okay. MLB draft was yesterday and continues today and tomorrow. I think it's up to 250 rounds now. At least it feels that way.

I'd love to know from someone inside baseball. Maybe next time we do HQ and I'm talking to David Samson or Jim Bowden, I will ask them, why do we need so many levels of baseball? Why do we need so many farm systems? Why do we need so many minor leaguers? This is a like a terrible job. I feel bad for these players that play minor league baseball. They make absolutely no money.

I don't think they're living conditions or good. I think it's a sham. And I just think we should have like one minor league team for every team. And we don't need 50 rounds of drafts or whatever we have right now. But I'd have never gotten Albert Pooholz in the major leagues if that was the case. We would have gotten him. First draft ever without a pitcher selected in the top six. And I honestly, I just don't know what to say about the draft.

Do you have any thoughts on? Adley Rushman, his numbers are unbelievable. Andrew Vaughn. Okay, go ahead, go ahead. I think Adley Rushman is the closest thing to a surefire star, fantasy star, that we've had in several years in the draft. I don't really think you can bet on anything else from this draft. But if, like, I think he may be just a star.

and soon. And I think is Andrew Vaughn the short first baseman? He's like six feet. So there's an interesting write-up on him. I'm pretty sure it's him. I'll double check. On CBSports.com. Great numbers for Andrew Vaughn.

I want to say he's the guy who had more home runs than strikeouts in his sophomore season. But his profile is weird because he is very short and right-handed, and that is not good for first baseman. We want left-handed first baseman because it's easier for pickoffs, you know, easier to apply a tag. I think he was the first right-handed, hitting, right-handed throwing college first baseman ever drafted in the top five picks. Okay, so here it is.

Why White Sox drafty Andrew Vaughn is the most intriguing prospect in this year's class. And, yeah, I think it was all the six-foot-tall collegiate first baseman who bats and throws right and required a top pick to acquire. History is not kind to many of those. descriptions. I can't remember if he's the guy who had more home runs than strikeouts, but the five collegiate first baseman who have been drafted in the top 10 since 1998, Mark Tashara not included, he was drafted as a third baseman.

So since 98, five first baseman drafted in the top 10. Brendan McKay, Pav and Smith, both in 2017, Yonder Alonzo, Matt LaPorta, and Carlos Pena. So interesting stuff there. And that's a look at your MLB draft for today. All right, I promise, last break of the show. When we come back, I've got something surprising at each position. I'm actually pretty excited about this segment.

Some fun stuff here. Wait till you hear how many doubles Paul Goldschmidt has hit this year. And wait to hear what Yonder or what Yasmani Grondal's splits look like. It's absolutely bonkers. We'll be right back. After these messages, we'll be right back. Heath's too old to get that reference. I was wrong.

Heath remembers after these messages. we'll be right back. Sorry, Heath. Okay. Okay. Something surprising at each position. Catcher. Yasmani Grandal's splits. I originally had his home road splits, but also his lefty-righty splits. At home, Yasmani-Grundal, who's the number one catcher in points, number three in Roto. Oh, he's Miller Park. That's got to be the reason, right?

729 OPS. On the road, 1034 OPS. Also crushing lefties this year, which is very unusual. So you've got Yasmani Grandal Heath, who has done pretty much nothing at Miller Park, and yet he is the number one catcher in points number three in Roto. Yeah, I would guess he's going to be better at Miller Park and worse on the road. Is he your number three catcher? He is currently my number four catcher.

Oh, Concherris? Yes. Yeah. By the way, when we were naming catchers we'd rather have over Garver, we skipped Wilson Contreras, but we would rather have him. Who's number one? Still Reaumuto? Yes.

I don't know what's happened that would change that. I don't know. I mean, Gary Sanchez, going into Sunday at least, led the American League in home runs, with an IL stint included. I think he hits more fly balls than anyone in baseball now. I think that's true. Real Muto still outscored him in fantasy points.

Like, please don't even say that. It's factually true. Yeah, but you obviously, like, you can't say that. 56 games. I just did. 56 games for Rayamuto and 40 games for Gary Sanchez, and they're separated by four fantasy points. Like, give me a point.

Gary Sanchez should play more games. You should, right? All right, Paul Goldsmith, something surprising at first base. Paul Goldschmidt has four doubles. That's huge. Because you look at like 12 home runs, that's not so bad. Four doubles? that's terrible. He's hit 33 or more doubles in seven straight seasons.

Now, we are at the point, if you look at last year, his first 48 games, Goldschmidt batted 198 with a 355 slugging percentage. 49 games. This year, his first 49 games, not as bad, but still bad. 253 with a 432 slugging percentage. Last 10 games, Goldsmith's batting 406. Only two home runs. Mostly singles here and no doubles. Where are you on Goldsmith right now? I'm mostly not concerned.

I mean, there's one thing that I don't think is going to change necessarily, but we kind of expected that I think. These stolen bases, zero. Like, not even one. He's just not a runner at all anymore. But I think mostly he's going to be fine from a performance base. All right. How about at second base?

What surprised me at second base? Cattel Marte's Ascension, he has already matched last year's home run total. He had 14 and 153 games. In his first three seasons, Marte had eight home runs in 249 games. So now he has 14 home runs through 59 games. You look at the numbers, and it's hard to believe that Marte is number one in points, number two in Roto at second base.

Like three steals, 276, batting average, 14 homers. He does have 12 doubles and three triples. I don't know. Plate discipline is worse than last year. It's a good year But it's surprising to me That he's a top two second baseman Ketel Marte

Well second base is really terrible, Adam I don't know if you've ever heard us talk about that But Whitmerryfield Like he's been better than Whitmeryfield And he's on pace for what 36 37 home runs Right But it's just

That doesn't really Totally stand out right now Because a lot of guys have 14 or more home runs Even second base At second base I think only Mike Mastakus, right? Five, no.

Five second base eligible players have 14 or more home runs. Dietrich, Moose, Baez, Torres, Marte. Okay. It's not nothing. It's just like,

I don't know, his numbers don't jump off the page to me. He's been very good. He's the top five second baseman rest of the season, probably. You're buying Ketal Marte? I'm not buying that he's going to be number one. I've still got him behind Mustakis,

but I think he's top. five. Third base, Austin Riley's power surge. It has to be surprising. He's got eight home runs in 17 games. I took a look at the two other players who got off to this type of historic start as rookies. Trevor Story and Carlos Delgado. Trevor Story, his first eight games, he had 3.43

with seven homers. Rest of season, he was really good. He had an 857 OPS, but only 746 on the road, nearly 1,100 at home. So you could say Trevor Story got off to an amazing start and then was pretty much only good at Corr's Field. The other guy who got off to this type of start was Carlos Delgado. 1994, his first 13 games, eight home runs, 271 batting average, and he played only, he played like 30 or 40 more games, I think,

and he batted 183 with one homer, a 596 OPS. So, Riley, 328, eight homers, but three walks at 25 strikeouts. Could you see him falling off a cliff going forward? Oh, 100%. I do think the powers, like it's not going to stay up to this level. I don't have much doubt about the power. He does hit the ball very hard. But his batting average is at least 70 points higher than I would expect it to be the rest of the way.

I think 250, 260 is probably the ceiling when you strike out as much as he has so far. And he did not strike out this much in the minors. He was more of a 25 to 30 percent guy for most of his time in the minors. So it's possible that just improves and he's very good. but I'm certainly skeptical. At Outfield, what's the problem? Oh, no, it's shortstop. Javier Baez has only two steals.

Only two steals for Hobby Baez. Does that matter? Well, it's kind of funny because of all the things that we said that Hobby Baez did last year that was not sustainable, that's the thing that doesn't hold up. Like the BABIP's still 400,

the home run to fly ball rate is still outlandish. He's now striking out 30. 2% of the time, but he's not running. I'm a little bit, I still think he's a cell high. He's been slumping since the hip injury, or the heel injury. He did have a good game yesterday. Baez right now, at second base, he's second and points, first in roto. At shortstop, he's 9th and points, 7th in Roto.

At third base, he's 10th in points, fourth in Roto. What has surprised me in the outfield, Mitch Hanager's strikeouts. Mitch Hanninger is still started in 94% of leagues, and for the year he's 28th and points, 22nd, and Roto, but five of the last six weeks, Mitch Hanigar has been bad, 14 or fewer fantasy points, 76 strikeouts and 60 games, batting average down to 224. Should we be worried about Mitch Hanigur?

I probably, like I own him on a lot of teams. Unless something changes in the next five days, I won't be starting him next week. Would you consider dropping Mitch Hanigar? No. No, I think he's too talented to do that. But he is going bad and things have gone so bad for the Mariners lately. That's got to be disheartening. I think he's probably pressing just a little bit. I'm hoping he comes out of it. There's too much talent for me to drop him. Okay, starting pitcher, what surprised me there? How about this? Chris Sale of the Red Sox and David Hess of the Orioles have the same record. Chris Sale and David Hess are both one and seven, even though, Sales, ERA is three runs lower than David Hess's. One in seven, Chris Sale.

Yeah, I think he's going to win more games. I'm not sure David Hess is. He is awful. He is. Chris Sale's pretty awesome. That is a fantastic graphic, though. Yeah, it says Hess Trucks for Sale. That's very, very good.

Good job. Kudos to the graphics department. Great video show today. I don't love the shirt I'm wearing. It's not one of my favorites. But it looks good with the background, I think. All right, Chris Sayles, he's a top five pitcher for you? Just outside of the top five.

And what surprises me... Yeah, I don't care, we're done. What surprises me at Relief pitcher? Relief pitcher, it's Kirby Yates. He's totally legit. He has 22 saves, and he's amazing. Yeah, I don't... I think Scott just moved Yates to his number one closer,

and I understand that. I would anticipate he's still going to be very, very good. He's been good for, like, three years. now, but the save total is absurd right now, and he's not going to save 60 games. You know, I think, I'm going to look it up. I think Brad Hand had a ridiculous amount of saves before he got traded last year. Let's check it out. I think, like, like it's going to blow, are you ready, are you sitting down?

I think he had 31 at the All-Star game. Are you looking it up? Stealing my thunder? Oh, okay. No. With San Diego. he had How do I not have the saves?

Are you kidding? You're doing a really good job on this segment. I don't care anymore. I don't care. All right, I've lost interest. All right, it's Team Name Tuesday. I didn't put him in the notes.

So we're going to search my inbox. Team Name Tuesday. This is why I have you put Team Name Tuesday in the subject line. So I can just do a little search for Team Name Tuesday. Did you do anything for this show? I watched hockey. Okay.

I can't read that one. Okay. Equality start, Meltzer, Delta. Brad Hand had 31 saves for the Padres last year. When did he get traded? In the middle of the season. Okay.

Cash money, Fran Millionaires. Enola virus. Like, even when you go through the trouble of sorting through these and trying to find good ones, they're mostly terrible. Now you're just going to read random emails you found. Enola virus, because he makes me sick. Enola virus. You have emails and tweets? Rumor Basset.

Rumor Bassett. Diamond in the Woodruff. I like that one. Oh, another Adele. Gallo from the other side. Okay, that's good. I don't... You say goodbye, I say Nate Lowe.

That's pretty good. Chicks dig Diyong ball. You don't like that one. It's about Paul D. Young. Glaber and delivery. Glaber and delivery. Congratulations to Brent. He just had his third child.

Glaber and delivery. And this one time at Handcamp for Brad Hand. Very good. Emails and tweets to finish the show. And we'll try to preview today's matchups. From James, dear Wheeler, Connor, Little, and Ellers. Dear Google, Google, Google and Google, I'll have to check that.

How much is too much to give up for Christian Yewitch? The Yelich owner is asking for three really good players. I've offered Freeman, Rendon, and Hanager for Yelich and Mazara. But he wants Mondesie instead of Rendon. I feel like that's too much, even though I have Gregorius coming. off the IL. Would you give up either Freeman, Rendon, and Hanegger, or Freeman and Mondesie and Hanigur for Yelich and Mazzara? I would not. And I know Hanigur's been bad lately, so it might feel like that's just not even a good player that you're adding in there, but I still think

he's probably a top 25 outfield of the rest of the year. Freeman's a top three first baseman. Rendon's a top three or fourth baseman. No thank you. Yeah, that's too much. Even if it's Mondesie or Mendon, no. Quick quiz from Matt is Luke Weaver, worth stashing in a 12-team Roto League? He was very good early this year, and yes, he absolutely is. If we find out, like we might find out it's more serious and he may be worth nothing, but the possibility of him coming back makes him worthy of a stash. From, no name here, I need to drop one in a mixed league, and I think he needs saves.

Leclerc, Cich, or Anthony Bass? Yes. Seishik? Okay. Yeah, I had trouble with this one, so I put it in the show to make you the answer. You're throwing shooting craps here a little bit. These guys are all going to get some more saves this year.

Who's going to get the most is a real tough question. I wouldn't drop LeClerc. That's the guy. That'd be my favorite, I think. Even though he's opening lately. From Jonathan, I traded Madison Bumgarner and Byron for John Carlos Stanton. I'm loaded with starting pitchers.

How did I do giving a bumgarner and Buxton for Stanton? Do the players actually have to play baseball for you to? I think it's probably okay. This whole John Carlos Stanton thing has been very frustrating, but I would expect at the end of the year you'll look back at this trade and be very happy. B. You talk about a guy that's hard to predict.

I don't know what to expect from Stanton going forward. I think he could be back pretty soon, but I don't know what kind of performance to explain. expect and how long he'll be healthy. No name on this one. Ten teams category league. Would you drop Yusay Kikuchi for Nick Povetta? Yeah, but I'm not sure I'd be rostering either.

I think Connor, Ellers, Wheeler, and Little were hockey players, by the way. From Jeff and Cedar Rapids. I have two open roster spots. Who should I add? Chase Anderson, Andrew Heaney, Nick Senzel, Caleb Smith, and Nick Penzell. Caleb Smith and Nick Senzel. Would you pick up from KB, by the way? Would you pick up Jimmy Nelson and drop Rick Porcelo or Josh Donaldson or Hunter Dozier?

Can't you put Dojure on IL? I guess not. I don't think I'd rather have Nelson than any of those guys. Even Porcelo, huh? They're right in the same range. Like, we've only seen Jimmy Nelson be a good pitcher for like three months of his whole life. Yeah. Okay.

From Dave and St. Louis grade the trade. Give up Trout and Gialito. get Rizzo and sail. Let's go blues. Give up Trout and Gialito, get Rizzo and Sale. It's a good one. Tough one here. Wow, I don't think I like it.

C-minus. I believe that much in Gialito. I think he's good enough. Yeah, all right. From John, in honor of the MLB draft, I would like to submit Bobby Witt-Merryfield to the before and after game. All Royals.

Yeah, there you go. Dwight, I picked up a low percentage-owned player, Brandon Dixon of Detroit, in a 12-te-to-head-head categories league. Might Brandon Dixon be a possible 15-20 homer and 15-20 steel guys? What do you think his underlying stats look like? This is about Brandon Dixon.

I don't think there's a very good chance that Brandon Dixon is relevant in that format rest of season. Okay. From Jim, pitching has been really scared, this year and I don't know what to do. Would you try to trade for pitching or do you think more pitchers will emerge on the waiver wire like Marquez and Wheeler did last year?

I would prefer to hope for the waiver wire, but it has been difficult. Yeah, I think you've got to make trades because, yeah, pitchers will emerge, but who knows when. And maybe other, like, I know that other people have an easier time. I'm a little sour on trades right now because it just seems like nobody wants to make a trade unless they feel like they're winning the trade by a huge margin. Yeah, I agree. What's the point of making trades? I got proposed the trade that I won by a huge margin.

It was very nice. I gave up Blake Parker for, I really did it in a first baseman, for Tray Mancini. I know it's not like a knock-your-socks-off deal, but I definitely won that trade. I was happy about that. But yeah, you know what bothers me? I'm in this league where people know what I do for a living. So they won't trade with me unless they rip me off. They gave me the most ridiculous trade offers.

and then they trade with other fantasy owners and they get robbed. And I'm just like, you jerk. It's so annoying. All right, listen, I want to read one more email, Heath, and it's a very serious one. Totally not joking here. It's a somber email from Kyle and Denver. He wanted me to read this, and I'll read it for him. Fantasy baseball and sports in general is a very special thing.

It has the power to keep groups of people connected over years and years, even if they don't see each other for years on end. Connections are retained through this common interest and passion for in this case, baseball. This weekend, our league experienced a great loss. The majority of the members of our league have been together for over 15 years, and Sunday morning one of those members passed away in his sleep. We're all in our mid-30s.

I personally never met Ronnie. Ronnie was brought into the league by the commission who got to know him after many of the original members all dispersed across the country for college. Ronnie and I got to know each other by creating trades, exchanging nasty barbs over message boards, competing in close weekly battles, and in the end, sharing a pastime that honestly feels more like a passion.

Maybe you guys can relate to this in some way, but I feel incredible loss. What is it about the human experience that even though he and I never met face to face, I can still experience the void he is leaving? Several of us listen to the podcast and keep it from the rest of the members because of how awesome a resource you four are,

and it would mean a lot to us if you guys at least read this email. You don't have to read it on the podcast, but I wanted to share this story of connection and loss with four men I admire who might be able to empathize with the sentiment. This is from Kyle in Denver, and David and Phoenix, where Robbie's family is, along with most of the league.

I've never experienced a loss like this in a fantasy league, but I certainly can relate just in terms of the closeness that fantasy sports brings people. And I love that about fantasy sports. And you're right, sports in general. So Kyle, David, everybody else in the league, I would like to extend our condolences. RIP, Ronnie, and I'm glad that you guys were able to bond over fantasy baseball. Heath, if you have anything to say, feel free. Yeah. All right. We'll just leave it at that.

And we will preview the matchups for today to end the show. We'll leave it on that note. We'll talk baseball here. That's what we're here for. All right. White Sox and Nationals, Rinaldo Lopez at Steven Strasbourg. Would you start Lopez? No. Max Freed at Stephen Bralt. Start Freed.

Masahiro Tanaka, Clayton Richard. Start Tanaka, I guess. What do you mean? What was so bad about starting? Tanaka at the Blue Jays. Well, I mean, I made the statement that he's been really frustrating this year. You pointed out that he'd been really good over four starts. I said, okay, you're right.

Maybe Tehaka's fine now. And he was awful. Yeah, that was bad. Bad start last time out. But not that bad. Six innings, four runs on nine hits, two-walk, seven strikeouts. He was able to recover and give a decent outy. You're starting him at Toronto.

You're starting Bungarner and Cindergarde in that matchup at City Field. Devin Smelzer at Shane Bieber. I'm starting Bieber for sure. I'd probably roll a smelzer again. I feel like he's going to turn back into a pumpkin soon, but it's the Indians. Start Blake Snell, sit Ryan Carpenter. How about Pablo Lopez at Chase Anderson?

Marlins and Brewers. You're starting Chase Anderson. Pablo Lopez, it's probably, these are always those weekly categories leagues, it's probably too early in the week for me to start Lopez. Jeff Hoffman at Kyle Hendricks, Rockies of Cubs. Start Hendricks.

Orioles at Rangers, Dylan Bundy at Drew Smiley. Nope. No. Luis Castillo at Genesis Cabrera. Reds of Cardinals. I'm going to start Castillo. Eduardo Rodriguez at Glenn Sparkman, Red Sox at Royals. Rodriguez is another one of those high variance plays.

It's probably too early in the week for me to do it. Junjin Ryu at Taylor Clark, Dodgers at Diamondbacks. Start Ryu. A's at Angels. Frankie Montas at Griffin Canning. I am starting on both. Jared Eichoff at Chris Paddock. Start Paddock.

And Wade Miley at Jonathan Nees as the Astros are at Seattle. Jonathan Nees, really? Jonathan Who? Jonathan Nees. Really? Yeah. Former Met. I had no idea.

Yeah, same here. Didn't know until just now. Play the music. What's the music? Welcome back. Oh, now I'll just play. And the Heath is. off. Start Wade Miley, sit Jonathan Meese.

We are out of here. Thank you for listening, everybody. Appreciate the emails. Appreciate the tweets. Thanks for helping me produce the show. Feel free to do it again tomorrow. We'll talk to you then on Fantasy Baseball Day.