Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/06 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Rest of Season Rankings, One-Hit Wonders

Episode Date: June 6, 2017

Justin Smoak or Chris Davis (2:00)? Sean Manaea or Gerrit Cole (3:45)? Anthony Rizzo or Daniel Murphy (46:00)? These are some of today's player debates! Get excited! ... We talk Jacob deGrom's pitch count (6:20), a couple of catchers you need to add right now (16:30), Ryon Healy's potential and more hot hitters (38:08) ... We debate when to draft one-hit wonders like Jonathan Villar and Aledmys Diaz (8:40), and we go in-depth on trade strategies and roster construction ... 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

Brother Seeker, my estobbish you, Brandon Belt, I'll in me with you, baby, and Pierre. It's an Adam and Scotchow. I know you're pumped up, Scott White. Oh, yeah, I'm pumped. Partly because of how Team Cam is performing already this week with half a day's worth of action in the bag. Oh, and it's all because of Ryan Healy, isn't it? Oh, well, Healy and Samarja.

Yeah. Yeah, well, I got a new song. I got a new fantasy baseball song. Okay. When I get that feeling, I want Ryan Healey. I know you like it. Oh, look at that. We're up 8-0 and 2 ties so far, so good.

All right, so look, Chris is out this week. Heath is filling in for Chris a little bit on the writing side, so I think he's going to skip today's podcast, maybe Thursday's podcast. But anyway, it's going to be me and Scott running down Monday's action. Only seven games. When there are seven games on the schedule, that is like a national. holiday to a fantasy baseball analyst that frees up a little bit of time at night, a little bit of time in the morning. So you can tell I'm in a pretty good mood right now. We're going to talk about some random things that are on my mind, mostly fantasy baseball related.

Update you on Eduardo Rodriguez and Justin Verlander. And Scott, we got an email from the guy who dropped Ryan Zimmerman. Listen to yesterday's show. That would be Lance Brasdowski. And he's going to explain himself later. Okay. All right. So. Yeah, I was, we were going back and forth on Twitter, so I have a feeling where his thoughts are on that matter. All right, good.

Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com is the email address. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Hey, real quick, Scott, who do you like rest of season? Justin Smoke or Cirrus Davis? Ooh. I mean, man. Like, I do wonder if we need to keep holding C.Riz Davis in such. high esteem given how many home run hitters exist at first base. Justin Smoke appears to be among them.

Ryan Healy is also first base eligible and given the third base is deep as well. I think it's possible you could play in it either. So yeah, I still go, I'm still going to rank Chris Davis ahead. But it's, by the end of June, I may have to rethink that, I think. I don't even think Chris Davis is a top 30 first basin right now, as I'm just kind of scanning at least in points leagues. And I will say... He's not off to a very good start. No, not at all.

That kind of comes with the territory. Like, a week ago, George Springer owners were getting frustrated. It's like what I said about him on Monday's show. Like, a lot of times a player will do, in a two-week span, he'll do a quarter of his damage. And then if you give up on him too early, you're obviously regretting it. Sure, but with Chris Davis, I mean, he got hot.

And then remember, Heath said, well, you missed your chance to buy low on Chris Davis. I think this was on our Freddie Freeman show. And then I was like, well, you missed this chance, but you might get another because he's cold again. Yeah, particularly streaky with all the strikeouts. And last year he was the number 17 first basement and points, number 16 in Roto. So, yeah, it is a good question. How long do we hold Chris Davis, Cirrus Davis in such high esteem? All right.

Next, hey, real quick for you. Hey, real quick, who do you like rest of season? Sean Mania or Garrett Cole? Well, I still like Cole. But again, one is trending down, the other's trending up. I did move Sean Manaya into my top 40 recently. He has separated himself from the glut of starting pitchers, who are all kind of interesting, but don't...

Haven't been anything close to reliable in fantasy. I think he's becoming that with the strikeouts, and he had been showing good control. I know he walked three in this most recent... start, but his change-up is elite. His slider seems to be improving. Oh, it's nasty. It is nasty.

He commands the stuff. He looks like he's finally living up to that breakout potential that so many of us said he had coming into the year. All right. Hope so. That's Sean Minaya. So you'll take Cole over Mania. Would you go with Mania or Jayhap? I would go with Mania.

All right. Hey, real quick, Scott. Is Jabb droppable? I suppose in a shallower league he is. He's only about 60% owned, I think. No, he's 89% Jayhap. Okay. 69%.

I must have been looking at a different player this morning. But I'll double check. Yeah, I think in shallower leagues, you could get away with doing it. I don't think it's fair to judge him on these two starts since returning from the DL. Because he was kind of rushed back. The Blue Jays had such glaring need in the rotation. and he didn't rehabilitate. And the way he probably should, his commands off right now.

He's given up two home runs in each of these last two starts. I still think he's probably going to be a useful pitcher when all said and done. But I could see if you're facing a roster crunch. He might be one of the more expendable pitchers on your roster. Okay. I can't imagine in my 12 team leagues, but in a 10 team league, maybe Jayhap. But, you know, coming off a nice year, and he is 89% 0.69% started. So if you didn't start them in a two-star week, congratulations.

You made the right call. All right, let's talk a little fantasy baseball here. And later on in the show, we're going to talk about Ryan Healy. I'm thinking about the second half of the show. Ryan Healy, Oduble Herrera, has become the first Philly in baseball history, and baseball history, to have two doubles in three straight games. Tommy Fams hitting well. Jorge Bonafasio is only 17% own.

I'll get Scott's take on that. And look who's the top eight short-stop. stop. He had been really bad for about a month. Now he's been really good for about a month, and I'll tell you about that mystery player in in a little bit. Here are some sort of random things that have been on my mind, Scott. Okay. It's Jacob de Grom throwing too many pitches. I have a lot of Jacob de Grom, and if he gets injured, that's it for me. I'm done. We'll not host a show anymore. We'll not even want to play fantasy. That'd be it. So I'm wondering if I should trade him at least in one league.

And this is seven straight starts from a guy coming off of, I don't know, like, it's not minor. It wasn't major elbow surgery, but it was not a minor procedure this offseason. Seven straight starts have 105 or more pitches. And he's at nearly 17 pitches per inning. He hasn't been that efficient. He's around guys like Ricky Nalasko, Julio Taran, Hector Santiago, Gio Gonzalez, and pitches per inning. So Scott White, is Jacob de Grom throwing too many pitches?

Well, let me first point out that only twice this. year has he reached 110 in a start. So he's been consistently over 100, but it's not like, you know, he's throwing 125 or something like that every now and then. I don't know. I feel like, like this might be a simple way of looking at it, but the needs at starting pitching are too glaring for us to really comb through the finer details. to that degree. I mean, Jacob de Grom,

by all indications, is top 10 starting pitcher. A true ace, somebody you can rely on every turn he takes. And I don't think, like, unless you're getting another ace back in the deal, I don't know that this would be enough

to compel me to move him. Yeah. No, it would have to be, if I traded DeGrom, it would have to be for another ace. Absolutely. Like an even trade,

but just someone I feel was, less of a little safer. Yeah, yeah. I mean, DeGrom, it's fair to call him an injury risk after the way last season went down, and he hasn't been efficient. So, you know, you'd hate for your A's to go down in August, obviously. But it's better than having no A's at all. I agree.

All right, next thing on my mind, and I've been wanting to talk about this for a while, Scott, and we've not gotten to it. One-hit Wonders. Should one-hit wonders ever be anything more than a late round pick the following season. And the two guys that really come to mind are Jonathan V.R., who a lot of people are asking us, should I drop Jonathan V.R.?

Should I drop Jonathan V.R.? And Aled Ms. Diaz, I'm not sure why we're kind of like Chris Davis, were holding him in quite the regard. But others, there have been others in the past. One hit wonder, should we just make them late round pick, Scott White? I don't know why it needs to be an all or nothing kind of thing. I don't know why you can't analyze these players individually. and make a determination based on that.

I'm trying to make a crazy bold statement here that's going to drop people's jaw, Scott. Okay, so I'm kind of going off the top of my head here, which is going to make it difficult. But what one-hit wonders have come through for us this year? Who among last year's breakout players has kept it up to the point that we're very pleased? Well, I don't consider Gene Seguer a one-hit wonder, but I could see how some people would. Michael Fulmer? He was a rookie. I guess, okay, but he was a prospect, right?

Michael Fulmer. We have to define one-hit wonder, first of all. Sure. Okay, so a player who you think has an established value already and then far exceeds it, is that kind of what you're thinking for that? More like somebody who comes out of nowhere, like Jonathan V.R. and Aled Ms. Diaz, right? We weren't expecting anything from them. like Steve Pierce several years ago,

Lucas Duda, who I guess would be a fairly successful one-hit wonder. Rich Hill, Rich Hill, Scott, I would say. And he was a success story last year. Granted, he got the injuries, but he was amazing when he pitched. But he was a late-round pick. That was kind of my point. Right. Well, okay, you also have Adam Duvall.

I think it's fair to call him that. The Giants didn't seem much value in him. Okay. And I didn't see much value in him. He looked like a quadruple-I player. There was Jose Ramirez, who's been great. I'm just kind of going position by position here. I didn't put together notes before the show like you.

So you, it doesn't sound like you agree with this premise, and I don't even agree with this premise. No, I mean, I understand what you're saying. I used to have a rule back in my earlier days playing fantasy baseball where I made a conscious effort to avoid. a player until he had done it two years in a row. And I don't know why I stopped doing that. I think maybe I just felt like I was missing out on too much value because oftentimes the one-hit wonders are naturally downgraded from the previous year.

Rich Hell's a perfect example. I mean, it's not like he was being drafted as a, you know, based on the upside he showed last year. He was top 30 at most. Now, you could say he's even disappointed from that perspective, but we do still have a long way to go. I haven't seen him dropped in too many leagues. I think people are still holding out hope, and rightfully so. But if you do get a one-hit wonder that repeats at the following year, normally you're getting him at a discount.

So it is value you're passing up. Yeah, yeah. Well, then let's answer. First of all, when I mentioned Rich Hill, I was really counting 2015 as his one-hit wonder year, even though it was like five starts away. whatever. And then I think he really came through for you in 2016. He just kept getting hurt. But when he pitched, he was amazing. He was. Yeah. Arguably the second best pitcher in baseball in an inning per inning. Yeah. All right. So do you think Jonathan VR is dropable to answer many people's questions?

He is the number 16 shortstop in points leagues, number 14 in Roto. Keep in mind, he's been batting seventh for over a week now. He loses occasional playing time to Eric Sogar, who also takes playing time away from Orlando Arcia, and like yesterday, he went over with two strikeouts, so he's killing people. Jonathan V.R. dropable. I guess for some people, he probably is. Like, for instance, I would value Zach Cozart over him now. So if there's not a very active trade market in your league and you happen to grab Zach Cozart early, then I could understand why somebody might be compelled to drop VR, but I still think he's going to be one of the most prolific base dealers at the position.

He's going to give you some pop. Looking at some of the names listed ahead of him, Andrelton Simmons is ahead of him. There's no way. He is? Yeah. Wow. In points leagues.

There's no way. I have more confidence in Simmons than VR at this point. Jose Parraza is somehow ahead of him. A lot of the same shortcomings VR has. He's just been hotter lately, I guess. So I think you have to consider. the overall upside when you're dropping a player like this and how it relates to some of the players who may have technically outperformed them to this point, but when they have that two-week

stretch where they go off, is that still going to be the case? And I think VR's overall ceiling still makes them a top 10 shortstop. Okay, so then let me tell you a few short stops who are being added right now that might be, I'm not going to talk, like Cozart's 93% own. So you can't drop VR for Cozart, but Angleton Simmons, you just said you wouldn't take him. Tim Beckham. Nope. Shallower leagues, D.D.

Gagorius? No, I'd still rather have VR. You would? Yeah, I mean, he's still going to be, I think I said top 10, at the very least, he's still going to be top 12 for me. So I would imagine any shortstop, 90%, any of the shortstubs

I have ahead of them will be 90% owned or more. Okay. And then finally, if you needed a middle infielder, would you drop VR for Chris Taylor? No. All right. A few more things on my mind, Scott. Is Matt Kemp a good sell high candidate?

He's batting 328, the terrible plate discipline as usual. But really, it's the lack of Freeman that I think could really hurt him. And it's been a little while, and he still had been hitting well. But do you think Matt Kemp is a good sell high candidate? I do I feel like the very least we can trust that the batting average is unsustainable for him and he's

I think he's a fine player I think he's going to remain a must-start option but he's kind of still just a hulking slugger and the hulking slugger is not the most valuable phenotype in the game today you know what though I think as I asked you the question I kind of just talked myself out of selling Matt Camp because I forgot he plays at Corse Field in the south.

He plays at SunTrust Stadium. Or Park? What is it? SunTrust Park. SunTrust Park where we can trust that the ball is going to hit the sun. He does. He does play there, yes. He's like, but there are still health concerns, and his Bavit right now is 379. So in the long run, he's probably not a 300 hitter.

He's, it's a good comparison he's a more valuable version of Adam Duvall I think yeah but if I can make the Adam Duval comparison always about Adam Duval with this guy yeah no I have another one actually I'm going to work in later oh good looking forward to it okay let's finish up with something on my mind

Wilson Ramos needs to be added right now 37% owned Wilson Ramos yeah he and Tom Murphy both actually I mean I'd rather have Ramos. He was pushing Buster Posey and Jonathan Lucroy for Best Catcher in Fantasy honors last year. But they're both about 33% or less owned. And they're both on rehab assignments now.

They both look like they're going to be back within a week or two. So, I mean, catcher is, even compared to like shortstop, catcher is the position where position scarcity is, is still a thing. And I would imagine all but the owners of Posey, Sanchez, Luke Roy, and I guess Salvador Perez should be interested in adding Wilson Ramos. Yeah, I hope that as far as Murphy goes, you know, Walters is batting 301, which isn't bad. I mean, it's good batting average. He has zero home runs.

But he's not embarrassing himself. So I hope that Murphy gets enough playing time when he comes back. He might be limited to being a two-catcher pickup. Or, you know, if you've just been struggling all year to find anybody you can trust at that spot, you've, you know, gone with like Stephen Vogue. I have Tom Murphy in a two-catcher league. I'm going to have to either drop him or drop Francisco Cervelli when he comes off the D.EVos. and I think I'll just drop Sorvelli. Yeah, I think you've got to give, I mean, knowing Sorvelli is just,

is very limited in terms of what he provides for you in a categories league. I think you have to take the chance on Murphy, hopefully, playing, even if he's playing three days a week with his power potential in a category's format, I think he'll be, he'll produce like a top 20 option. All righty. And, you know, if he's starting five or six days a week, then a lot more than that. But Ramos is definitely a big get right now, 37. He's up to 37% own and on a rehab assignment.

I'm surprised it's not higher. Yeah, definitely people need to get on that, Wilson Ramos. All right, two last things that are on my mind. They have nothing to do with fantasy baseball. I don't think you're going to be able to comment on one of them. Oh, no. You will be able to comment on the other. No, it's a sports thing.

But I've been watching hockey. I've been watching the Stanley Cup. You want to watch the real finals? You watch the Stanley Cup. I love broadcasters. Like, I kind of, my enjoyment of a game is so dependent on the broadcasters. I think Doc Amric is the greatest broadcaster in the history of sports. He is the great.

He is the best ever. He makes hockey so fun. And I don't really like hockey that much. He is the man. And I was thinking about, like, I don't know who my favorite broadcaster ever is, like a Big Marvell I like all the big names, but Doc Emmerich is the absolute goat greatest of all time. There you go. And this is a slightly different one based on the dinner I had last night.

I think Scott, and people are going to really hate me for this, I think raisins are good with any dish. They go with everything. I could eat raisins with anything. That is a wildly unpopular opinion. Raisins are among the most detested. dudes, at least that we commonly find here in the States. But I mean, I think they're probably unfairly maligned. Like, I think of raisins kind of like I think of mayonnaise.

Like, yeah, you're not going to enjoy it if you eat it on its own. But I could eat an entire... You cannot give me a box of raisins because I will eat the entire thing. I think raisins best, like where raisins really shine. as like when there's this burst of sweetness within a baked good oh terrific that's really when they stand out but like no i don't want to eat a box of raisins myself i do i do absolutely no it's not it's not a great experience you get they get kind of that like crunchy you know kind of

they're stale you know when they get like that kind of that little tip on it where that's a little too crunchy and it just throws off the whole texture oh gosh no no i can't yeah like i i i i I like most of what you've said so far, supporting me mostly in the raisins thing, but this, no, I don't appreciate. I don't agree with. All right. So, we're going to move on with the show here. Unless anybody wants to email us with thoughts about raisins. We can try to read those on the next one.

But I want to tell you about sportsline.com. Sportsline, look, I actually am a sportsline subscriber, and I do use it. And if I need some, want to make some picks, it's a great source for it. Now, you pay a lot of money on these types of websites, but Sportsline is running a special through the NBA finals. You need to act now. You get half off a one-year subscription. So you get it for 49-99 instead of 99-99. You're going to get the Belmont Stakes leaderboard from horse racing guru Jody Demling, who's just amazing. He's at nine straight, Kentucky Derby Oaks doubles, and the race is this Saturday. So again, you really want to get on this. Go to Sportsline.com

and get 50% off the annual subscription. The basketball picks have been red hot as well. Eduardo Rodriguez is going to be shut down for three to four weeks. He could be out for a lot longer. than that. So, I mean, there's a chance he's going to have surgery, right, on the knee? Yeah, there's not enough improvement after that three or four week period. It's a little scary

if you're in Rodriguez's owner. He would still be pretty low on my list of DL players to drop. Like, I'd still want to continue stashing him because he had been, he had emerged as reliable, big strikeout guy.

So we need to wait this out. But, It's discouraging news. That's Eduardo Rodriguez. Justin Verlander has no structural damage in his groin, but his next start, we don't know when it will be. Oh, Justin Boer. Shame, shame, shame.

May go on the D.L. With a bone bruise in his ankle. We'll check on that. Quit Maryfield was moved up to the leadoff spot, and his 19-game hitting streak ended. They moved Mustakis down to, I think, sixth in the order, because he'd been hitting so well, but had so few RBIs.

So they want to give Mustakis more RBI opportunities. Matt Wheaters is batting 455 with runners in scoring position So that's not gonna last I've been trying to trade Matt Weeders unsuccessfully He's just been so bad for a while But his overall numbers aren't bad Yeah When I was trying to think of catcher examples

He may have tried to move on from He actually came to mind But like the position's so bad That I feel like he's probably just top 10 by default Like I think I would drop him And actually I do have Wilson Ramos in my Weeders league so I think I will be dropping weeders at some point for Ramos, but I wouldn't do it for Murphy. Yeah, that makes sense.

Okay. Oliver Perez got a one-out save for the Nationals. Matt Albers started the ninth inning. By the way, it's team name Tuesday. We have a Matt Albers team name. Believe it or not. And I'm just going to chalk this up to Coda Glover being unavailable. Yeah, that's how I interpreted it to.

It seemed like both he and Kelly could probably use a night off after the way Sunday's game. win. Yeah. Chris Taylor may not lose playing time when Juck Peterson comes back. That could be soon. Yonder Alonzo started against the lefty, which he just very, very rarely does, but he was in the lineup against the lefty yesterday, Jay Hap. Had a good game, too.

Two for four. Double. Team scam. Cody Bellinger and Adrian Gonzalez sat against a lefty yesterday. Bellinger, I think, had a pinch hit double later in the game. Zach Cozart has reached base safely in 27 straight games. And how about this nerdy stat for you on CBSports.com? We have an article about is it a slump or is it bad luck.

So you know what ex-WOBA is? Expected Woba. Expected Woba. Yeah. Kind of, you know, I get the concept behind it. I couldn't. I guess Wobah you kind of measure kind of like on-base percentage and whether it's good or not. Yeah, Wobba is weighted on base average.

We're calling it Wobah. I'm not backing down on this one. And, you know, it's basically like OPS, kind of. But it's a, I guess people who think they're, you know, really staty, cooler than people like me. They use Woba instead of OPS. X-WO-B is what you're expected. Woba should be.

And basically it measures how lucky or unlucky you've been. And Miguel Cabrera has the highest ex-Woba in baseball, saying that he is probably one of the least lucky hitters in baseball. The top five in X-Woba are Miguel Cabrera. Nick Castiano's, Chris Davis, Todd Frazier, and Kyle Schwerber. What do you think? Yeah, I don't know everything Ex-Woba measures. I know Chris Towers has remained high on Nick Castellanos partially for this reason.

And I mean, I think it makes – like, he's the one I'd be most skeptical of of these five. Let me read the five again. Miguel Cabrera, Castellanos, Caris Davis, Todd Frazier, Kyle Schwerber. I know Frazier isn't hitting the ball especially hard, but his walk rate is way up, his strikeout rate is way down. And I agree he's going to get hot here at some point

and remind us all that he's a must-start player. And Schwarber, I mean, we've talked about him enough. I don't think anybody's particularly worried about Cabrera Davis. I haven't gotten that impression yet. I mean, Davis' home run total is still very high. Keras Davis of the A's. This is what Dane Perry wrote about ex-WOBA.

Statcast and baseball savant have cooked up an expected Wobah statistic that takes into account how hard a hitter strikes the ball and at what angle the ball leaves the bat. By accounting for those two very basic ingredients of hitting, you can come up with what a player's Wobah should be given the typical outcomes of his exit velocity and launch angle patterns.

Okay. All right. Time for the email of the day. at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. We still have a lot of show left, so we'll talk about what was really a great start for Carlos Martinez last night. Also, Jeff Samarja with another gem.

Gio Gonzalez is pitching better than I thought he would. Junior Gera pitching worse than I thought he would. I think Jans Rew's got a chance to stay in the rotation, Scott. I think so too, actually. I'm featuring him in Waver Wire today. It probably won't be up until this afternoon. But he's going to be in that... His velocity's back.

I've been harping on that basically since spring training, how it was down a couple miles per hour from his prime. And look, even at his best, he averages only 91 on it, but last two starts, he's back to averaging 91. I know he gave up four runs in this one, but no walks. And seems like the Dodgers are excited about him. So Kinta Maeda and maybe even Rich Hill need to be looking out for him.

And McCarthy could end up on the DL. He left his last... Yeah, that's true, too. So this is Junjun Ru is 31% owned. We'll try to talk about him a little bit later, but I've been watched his last two starts, and he looks like Ryu, changes speeds, hits his spots, kind of a precision pitcher. God, I don't know, maybe a little unlucky yesterday. Like, remember that stat I gave about Matt Wheaters hitting like 450 with runners in

scoring position. Hey, the ground ball, kind of a seeing-eye single to score two runs. And earlier that inning, Ryan Zimmerman had, like, yeah, Ryan Zimmerman had, like, like a seeing-eye single. So anyway, I thought he looked pretty good and good for Jun Ryu. All righty. From Lance Brasdowski, subject, I dropped Ryan Zimmerman. And he says, first, I agree it was a bad drop for me to throw away Zimmerman, but most important question and when I asked myself, after pulling the trigger, after seeing three consecutive sub-10-week points, or 10-point weeks, how confident are you that Zimmerman is a top 14 points

league first baseman rest of season. The Babbib's crazy high, the home run to fly ball is unstable. He's hitting the ball hard, sure, but I don't think this is a completely reinvented Zimmerman. I liked Justin Smoke's matchup, and Zim only outscored him by six points. Scott said he'd spend 25 to 30 percent of his fab on Zim on Ryan Zimmerman. I think that's crazy. So, yeah, I mean, this is a guy who dropped him, and we talked about it all show yesterday,

and Lance is saying, hey, I don't know that he's top 14. first basement in this environment? I don't know either, but anybody you're going to add off the waiver wire, you're not going to be especially confident about it. I can't imagine a guy who's been arguably the best hitter in baseball for the first third of the season. I can't imagine you're going to find a player on waiver wire who instills you with a higher degree of confidence than that, you know?

Well, but he had to drop somewhat, I guess, you know. Yeah, but, and I know, I know he also said, he, I, you know, I believe he probably did. He put out an on-the-block update with Ryan Zimmerman on it. But, you know, if I see a player like that who, you know, is probably maxed out his upside, he's probably going to regress from here to what point I don't know. But obviously, for the cost of my worst player, I'd be willing to take a chance on it. But, you know, if I see somebody put out on-the-block update like that,

I presume they're trying to sell high, and I presume, I'm not going to be able to meet the asking price. If I knew he was on the verge of dropping him, I would have given him, you know, my best starting pitcher or whatever. So, yeah, I don't think, I don't think there's any justification to drop Ryan Zimmerman.

And look, then he would have had to drop Justin Smoke, which you would have done? Well, yeah, I'd rather have Ryan Zimmerman than Justin Smoke. Okay. I mean, is that really something people are debating? No, I don't know.

Ryan Zimmerman was in an 18-game stretch where he had a 590 OPS. He was hitting very poorly. It was, yeah, I mean, basically what, two and a half weeks where he did that? And that happens. Yeah, I don't think that was enough for me to hit the panic button on a player whose percentages still were off the charts good, you know? and dropping a player like it's one thing to say I don't totally buy this player

I'm going to try and trade him and and you know really and so I don't realize my losses on it so I actually get the most out of him if you trade him for his going rate you never have to worry that you that you gave him up because

you know you never have to worry about realizing those losses. So it's one thing to try and trade a player you don't believe in, but it's another thing to just outright drop them. I mean, that doesn't. Bottom line, shame on you, Lance, but he said... No, no. I mean, I don't want this to be a pile on Lance situation either. I was mostly upset at myself yesterday for not

seeing it. Actually, another owner chimed in and said he knew Zimmerman was available, but he just didn't have a place to start him because it could only be first base or utility, and obviously first base is deep. I'd have trouble starting him myself because I have Jose Abraeu and, well, before he got hurt, Justin Boar, it would have been a challenge to get Zimmerman in. But I would start

Zimmerman over Boar. It just means Boer would waste away on my bench and I didn't it would be unfortunate. Why wouldn't you start him over Abraeu? I wouldn't you just play the hot hand. I think Abrae is better than Boer. Yeah, but Boers, the bottom line is Zimmerman's the best of three. Yeah.

No, I mean, I think Abraeu is better than Boer, but Boer over the last Month's been the best first baseman in fantasy, he and Justin Smoker about even. So would you have the guts? It doesn't matter if you're going on the T.L. Yeah, I guess. But I guess we're... All right, fine.

Just do readily. The second part of this email was I'll be tracking what first base streaming performance is versus Zimmerman rest of season and let you know the results. And third part was, you're welcome, Heath. So thank you, Lance, for our email of the day. I mean, the second part of that, though, like, even if it turns out into your benefit, like the first basements you start and instead of Zimmerman, outperform Zimmerman the rest of the way. It doesn't erase the fact that you didn't capitalize on the value he had already accumulated for you. Like, this is one of the biggest...

By not trading him. Yeah. Right. This is one of the biggest waiver-wire fines of the year. Probably, number one, am I forgetting somebody who's... Thames? Zimmerman... Well, I mean, Zimmerman's more valuable than Thames at this point, you'd have to think, right?

Thames, Zimmerman, and Judge have been the three... big-time hitters. Zach Cozart, maybe, since he's a shortstop. Luis Severino, I don't think, was widely drafted. No, those have been the best of the best, I guess. All right, Scott, let's move on. The tweet of the day is from Joe Kelly. I think CBS Scott White deserves an on-air apology from Adam and Heath. Hashtagfringy.

And you were right. Fringy is a word, F-R-I-N-G-Y. But not the way I spell it. I just been making it. But you know what? Maybe that's what I wanted to do. Maybe that's what I wanted to make up a word for our podcast. No.

I don't have a problem with that. I didn't take what you and Heath were doing as some kind of a tag. I don't think I need an apology. And being a writer, I know that fringy with the E is an acceptable spelling according to some dictionaries. It's one of those words that could go either way. Oh, okay. But F-R-I-N-G-Y is the more accepted one. Well, I will tell you that you're not getting an apology, so I'm glad you don't want one.

It is team name Tuesday. And Andy on Long Island has one that I can sing, which is always great. Meet Lament, meet Lament. I think it's like step right up and greet the Mets? Beet. Whatever it is. What is it? Hopefully not.

I have a lot of shares of Lament. I don't want anybody beating him. Step right up and beat the Mets? That can't be what the line is. No, it's not. Yeah, that would be a terrible... I think that's like the joke version of the song because, you know, everybody likes to pick on the Mets. I see.

That's the only one I know. I don't know the real version. This is from Brian. All Terrier Motives. Okay. It's good. Okay. Joe in New Orleans.

Hey, hey, hey. It's Matt Albers. Yeah. That's good. Yeah, that works. Yeah, sure. Oh, the vegan pagan, one of our most loyal listeners from Twin Peaks, Washington. He's got a prospect team name for you.

Uncuna Moncada. I actually think it's Acuna. Acuna, is it? I don't, I believe so. I heard them call him that on the Braves broadcast the other day. And him, he would be Ronald Acuna, an outfield prospect for the Braves. And the vegan pagan says, which hot prospect has the best chance of helping fantasy owners this season?

Ronald Acuna, Reese Hoskins, Lewis Brinson, or Nationals outfielder Juan Soto? Hoskins does this season, followed closely by Brindon. I mean, Acuna is 19 years old, but he's a 19-year-old who is hitting about 400 at AA, is just rapidly rising the ranks in the brave system. And I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility. He could get a late-season look in the majors this year if he keeps it up. I just don't think he's, at that age, he's going to be able to break through as a regular contributor for your fantasy team.

Still a long-shot, he gets a look at all. Okay, who's the best long-term keeper? Acuna, Hoskins, Brinson, or Juan Soto? I would say, well, Brinson is probably still considered the best pure prospect, but I have a hard time removing proximity from this consideration because obviously the further away a prospect is from debuting in the majors,

the more potential stumbling blocks he's going to come. come across as he moves up that ladder. But, you know, Brinson's considered a top flight prospect. Acuna is considered a top flight prospect. Hoskins has at least entered baseball America's mid-season top 100. So he's starting to get more prospect attention. He's been had the most encouraging performance of any minor leager this year. So I would probably rank them in terms of how much I want them in a dynasty league.

I would probably go Brinson, Akunya, Hoskins, and then Soto, who's also a teenager, very low in the minor league, so has a long way to go. But I like the upside. Really, it's between those top three probably, and they're close to neck and neck, neck, neck, neck, neck, a neck, neck, a neck.

All right, there we go. All right, Scott. So it's time to talk about yesterday's performances, and Ryan Healy leads the way. So, you know, I already sang sexual healing. I don't want to do it again. Although Ben Harper does a terrific cover of sexual healing. I recommend it.

Very good song. Ryan Healy is 70% own. So he is now homered four times in his last three games. He mentioned that a lot of players have trouble deaching. He's sort of figured out a way to adjust to it. Maybe that is helping. Or maybe he's just a really streaky player because I will remind people that in early May, Ryan Healy homered in three straight games.

And then his next 23 games, he had a, he hit, Not terrible, but 275 with three home runs, which just isn't going to cut it at his positions first and third. And two walks to 25 strikeouts in that stretch. Anyway, that 23-game stretch was followed by this amazing stretch of four home runs in his last three games, and he's homering off lefties. Batting 408 against lefties right now, by the way. He hit two off half yesterday.

How legit do you think Ryan Helius? Yeah, I look at what he's doing peripherally. in terms of fly ball percentage, home run to fly ball percentage, which isn't ridiculously higher than it was last year when he got that half season, that impressive half season, you know, in terms of how hard he's hitting the ball, whatever. I don't see a lot here that's unsustainable. I think he is probably going to remain a reliable power source all year.

It's just the walk-to-strikeout ratio for him is absurd. Nine walks, 56 strikeouts. Yeah, yeah. And that really holds back as appeal in formats where walks count for anything. And like it's not a good time to have that glaring of a flaw

as a corner infielder. Like, when there's clear overflow at a position, a player's shortcomings are going to you're going to count for more than the strengths. So even though Healy is on this 35 homer pace, and I think it's more or less legit, in points leagues, which is the format we most discuss that rewards walks, he's only 15th at third base,

so he's a little less than must-own. Now, if you're playing a Categories league and you really just care about getting as many home runs as you can, he's probably must-own in that format. But the fact that he's owned in two-thirds of CBS sports leagues already tells me he's probably owned everywhere he needs to be. Well, and Ryan Healy in Roto or categories is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10th at 3rd base, right behind Joey Gallo. Who would you rather own? Joey Gallo or Ryan Healy?

I know I've been slow to come around on Joey Gallo, and I'm going to stay that way. I'd rather have Healy. All right. And Scott and I traded in the Categories League, in the Scam League. We traded Edwin Encarnacion and Sunny Gray for Cory Klober and Jeff Samarja. Yes. And we just had a much easier time replacing first base than starting pitcher. Yeah, we have Yonder Alonzo there.

And actually, somebody recently dropped Ryan Healy. Oh, we didn't have them at the time. In that league. About two weeks ago, I think somebody dropped. Tilly we picked him up as our third baseman. And that's a 16-team categories league. So, yeah, I doubt he's getting dropped in too many formats like that. But he got dropped in this one.

I guess somebody had access. And it's made a huge difference. Even though we just traded Edwin Incarnacion, and we struggled with offense all year, I think replacing Edwin Incarnacion and, I don't know, we were starting like Jose Reyes, Ulyeschi, Gueriel, We were starting guys like that at third base. So, you know, the combined output of Alonzo and Gereel, I mean, Alonzo and Healy amounts to more than even what we were hoping to get from Incarnacion and a complete scrub at third base.

I feel like that's kind of, I think there's a clear market inefficiency here in Categories leagues with home runs. I mean, people, the home run hitters who do other things and who are traditionally considered fantasy assets, are they really that much more valuable in that format that doesn't reward peripherals? It's just basically the five standard categories. Are they really that much more valuable than these Justin smokes, Justin Boers, Ryan Healy types? I think the gap's narrower than we're used to seeing. So who are you talking about? like Chris Davis, Edwin Encarnacion. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, Edwin Incarnation falls into that category of, traditionally we think of him as being better because, and he's been good for a long time, but a lot of that was based on plate discipline, which doesn't matter in this format. And there's, you know, a 30-homer season I don't think is going to have the value

this year that it has in the past. So I think it's a way to maximize, particularly if you do what we did in trade for pitching. I think it makes sense. I think it makes sense in terms of properly evaluating individual statistics relative to their scarcity in this marketplace. That's what I was going to say. Trading for pitching, I think, is what I'd encourage.

If you own Ryan Zimmerman and you really wanted to trade them, then I think you should look for pitching. But it's an interesting question. Right now, Chris Davis, no, he's not that much more valuable than a guy like Ryan Healy. for all we know. Like I said, Chris Davis, Severs Davis wasn't even a top 15 first baseman last year. But if he hits 50 home runs, he'll be much more valuable, and he can't hit 50 home runs. And you say a 30 homer season is not going to stand out. I agree. But Encarnacion is a 40 home run

hitter at his best. And 100 RBIs and, I don't know, 100 runs like every year. At his best. But there's no, there's no, he has what, a couple of 40 homer seasons in his career. Usually he's been in that 35 homer range, Incarnacion. And I don't. I do think he's going to be much better over the final four months than he was over the first two, but I don't see any reason to believe that this is going to be among his better seasons. He's been a 40 homer hitter each of the last two years. He had 39 in 2015 and 146 games. He had 42 last year, so I guess that's plus a ton of RBIs and 94 and 99 runs.

So I do think at the end of the day he's more valuable. I agree. He is. But it's the point is it's a replaceable position. Right. Is the gap really so big that we should be passing up positions where there is a clearer gap? If we can cash in on him by trading for a position with more clearly defined tiers, that might be a smart approach.

Yeah, I agree. And that's why if we drafted again today, I imagine, I don't know about what Heath and Chris would do. I know this is a scam show. Probably just the opposite of what we do. Exactly. But if we were drafting today, I, I imagine we'd take starting pitchers earlier than we did 10 weeks ago. I certainly would.

I would probably still draft a hitter in the first round, but then second, third, and fourth might all be pitchers. Wow. Yeah. Would you take Daniel Murphy in the first round? Like, he's so good. And he was a late second round pick? Yeah, he's so good.

I don't think I would take him in the first round, no. Just because of his age, I think there's too many injury risks attached to there. And I'll probably miss out on him if I'm drafting pitchers instead. Who would you rather have rest of season? I'm sorry, I keep cutting you off. Who would you rather have rest of season, Scott? Daniel Murphy or Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo.

I don't necessarily disagree, but why? I think he's better. Is he? Because he hasn't been? Well, I might be viewing this a little through a points lens. But he wasn't better last year. I think Murphy was top three hitter. If I had to guess, you would know in points per game.

But if I had a guess, I would say it was probably Trout, Murphy, and Trey Turner last year. I'll be my guess at points per game. Let me open them up, and I can confirm or deny this. But obviously, we're using points per game. Rizzo's one of the most durable players in the league. Yeah. And Murphy, not so much. So it's not the fairest measure.

That's true. Yes, Murphy last year. So here were, well, at least, okay, I just have first base open, but either way, yes. Murphy was 3.73 points per game last year, and Rizzo was 3.59. And it's not even close this year, and you get more eligibility out of, you get second base, too. Well, okay. Oh, wait, I forgot. I say it's not even close this year.

You get that with Rizzo, too. I forgot you got second base. Oh, that's true. Murphy has only outscored Rizzo by five and a half points this year. What? His batting average is 100 points higher. So Rizzo's batting 232. We know he's not going to be a 232 hitter, right? Right.

I don't know that we can expect Murphy to outperform the rate he's currently on right now, batting 333. So Rizzo is the one with a lot of regression coming. Good regression. If Murphy regresses at all, it'll be the wrong way. So in the end, I do think Murphy's going to be the higher scoring player in fantasy. Rizzo, you mean, will be the higher scoring player. Did I say Murphy?

Yes, but that's only in points leagues, okay? Like, if we're talking categories... It does change things a little because you don't care as much about Rizzo's walk rate in that format, only to the extent that it helps them score runs. And batting average is one-fifth of a hitter's production. Murphy will probably bat 30 to 40 points. higher than Rizzo this year. And that makes a difference.

But I do think Rizzo is going to have the higher home run total. I think RBI and runs, even though Murphy has a head start there, I think it'll be similar. So it just becomes a question of how much you need batting average specifically and how risk-averse you are, because I do think Murphy still, just to drive home the point, is the bigger injury risk of the two. Sure. Okay. And if you play in an OBP league instead of a batting average league, that would tip the scale. towards Rizzo.

All right, Scott. So that was a fun conversation, but let's speed up the rest of it because these other hot hitters that we have to talk about. I want you to tell me who you think is under-owned here. Oduble Herrera, 60%. He's the hottest hitter in baseball over the last three games. 60% owned Oduble Herrera. Tommy Fam, 32%.

Yuleiguriel, 29%. He's got a six-game hitting streak, batting 3-48 with two homers and three doubles. Jorge Bonafacio, 17% owned. Oduble Herrera, 60%. Tommy Fam, 32%. Guerrille, 29%. Bonifacio, 17%. You know, other than Bonifacio,

I think these percentages are just about where they should be. Herrera is the best player of them, but even though he seems to be heating up, I just don't think with the way Outfield has kind of transformed this year and become one of the deepest positions, I don't know that Herrera has the power potential

to really measure up. But he's a solid player worth using in five outfielder leagues at the very least. Bonifacio, I do think, is being overlooked at 17% ownership. And again, he's not even in the same class as Herrera. But he does look like he is going to be a productive power hitter. He was in the minor leagues. I worried his lack of plate discipline would do him in in the majors. And so far, it hasn't really been a.

issue. I don't think he provides much when he's not homering. I think he'll be frustrating if you try incorporating him into a standard-sized leagues, try mixing him in your outfield by playing hot hands, playing matchups, whatever. He might turn out to be a frustrating option. But he's already up to eight home runs, having not even played a full season. I think that's a guy who needs to be owned in most five outfielder leagues, even if it's just depth on your bench. Yeah, I do own Jorge Bonifacio, who is 17% owned in a five outfielder league. I have been starting him, and I think I dropped Guriel for him. I'm not sure.

I might still own Gurriel. He might be on my bench. You still have hope for Gurriel, 29% owned? He's, no, no, I don't really. He makes a lot of contact, but it's just, he's picking a bad time to break into the league, I think, because just players who don't hit home runs. And while he's not an absolute zero in that category, he's not a standout, and he's just going to get buried.

Yeah, if you don't hit home runs or steel bases, then yeah, you're not going to be... Particularly as a corner infielder. Maybe as a shortstop you can get by, but no, it's... Gurriel doesn't measure up. And I talked about a shortstop that's the top eight shortstop. That's Eduardo Nunez.

number eight in points, number seven, and Rhoda. But we don't have that much time, so we'll save Nunez for a different show. Three-man rotation from yesterday. Carlos Martinez, he held the red scoreless through six innings, then gave up four runs in the seventh. I think a ball glanced off Dexter Fowler's glove, you know, cost him a couple runs. So I believe this was a – they said he pitched great and then just kind of fell apart. Carlos Martinez has a 1.10 whip very low for him, but the Babbip is also very low.

and only 6.7 hits per 9. Well, 256 Babb, I don't know. Jeff Samarja, another great start. No walks, 10 strikeouts at Milwaukee. And Geo Gonzalez, only two walks. That was good. This is one of his better starts in a long time. He had a 437 ERA in May.

Geo had a good start of the Dodgers last night. Anything on Carlos Martinez, Jeff Samarja, and Geo? Well, yeah, it was nice to see Geo break that string of nine straight walks with three, nice straight starts with three or more walks, but I still am concerned about his efficiency and what his whip looks like. Sell, sell, sell. Yeah, he is clearly the low man of these three for me. No worries about Martinez Samarja.

Yeah, I've been saying for a while now that he was on the verge of breaking out 59 strikeouts to one walk now in his last seven starts. Wow. And, you know, in addition to the coming. which he's not emphasizing as much, and it seemed to be a bad pitch for him. It seems like he and the giant staff has kind of smoothed out his mechanics. Specifically, he said... And he's very excitable, and Dave Righetti has calmed him down, right?

Well, he did say that. He's not pushing off to the side when he delivers his pitch, which, you know, I don't know exactly what that means, but I think a lot of times when you hear a pitcher say, oh, I'm much better but mechanically, you just kind of write it off as, okay, he's just giving reporters an answer and he doesn't even know what he's saying. But when they get into

more specifics, I feel like we can take it more as you know, we can believe the we can believe what they're saying a little more. Yeah, well, we know everything apparently that Jeff Samarja said about his mechanics, so that's good. All right, would you rather have Samarja or Tanaka?

I would rather have Tanaka, but I may change my answer tonight. Oh, yeah, you're pumped for a Yankees, Red So am I. All right, Fringy starting pitchers. Dan Straeli, not bad, not bad against Cubs at all. Junior Gera, not good. He only gave up one earn run in five innings, but a lot of base runners, 10 base runners, walks plus hits. Ian Kennedy, dreadful, 57-0.

And then Jun Jinn Ryu, 31-0, and Eddie Butler had a good start. Who are your favorite three here? Strayley, Gera, Ian Kennedy, Ryu, Butler. Strayley, Kennedy, Gera, and Ryu is catching up. Mostly, I just have questions about whether he'll stay in the rotation. Strelie is the only one who I think I would be particularly excited to own at this point. Gera Kennedy, you know, I could drop them for anyone who, like if you just happen to really like Riu and you wanted to drop Gara Kennedy for him, I wouldn't have a problem with that, even though I ranked those two ahead of him.

All righty. So let's see if we can get some emails read. Let's try to do this quickly here, Scott, from Bubba at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Hanley Ramirez was just dropped in my league. How much Fab is worth spending on Hanley Ramirez? It's a 10-te-to-head league. 10-team league had a really deep position. You know, I can't say for sure I'd.

want to add him so in a fab situation probably zero or one whatever the minimum is if you if you felt like you really needed him interesting okay that's uh hanley ramirez this is from cori in baker's field california do you this is not really a question that we're going to have a great answer for but we'll try do you consider umpires when picking a pitcher in dfs if so where do you look up info on pitcher friendly umps uh no i never did um i never have either i i heath is the most experienced daily fantasy player of all of us. And I know he is common to the Don umpires before. Normally it's not something like for traditional fantasy.

Like it's so far down. Yeah. The order of things to consider when setting your lineup that it never even comes up. But when you have the choice of every pitcher who's starting that night and can pick any one of them or two depending on what site you're playing on, it would seem like it'd be helpful information to know. I wish Heath was here because he could give us a good answer probably. Yeah. This is from Jesse.

Do you think Aaron Hicks will get regular playing time when Ellsbury returns? And what do you think Greg Bird will do after his return from the DL? Greg Bird's going to get hot at some point. I don't know if it'll be soon enough for us to really push to put him on our roster's in fantasy. He could just come off the DL and start raking. That's within the realm of possibility. but considering that we're having trouble rostering Ryan Healy at this point,

I'm not particularly motivated to add him in a standard-sized league. Deeper Leagues is, of course, a different story. And then as far as Hicks goes, we don't really know when Ellsbury's going to return. These concussion symptoms are lingering, which could

makes for a potentially scary outcome. I don't think it would be a regular player though when Ellsbury's back. In theory, like if it happened, if Ellsbury was coming back today, I would say he wouldn't. But by the time Ellsbury's ready to come back, who knows what's the situation?

I don't know that I'd worry about that right now if I was looking to add Hicks what is playing time situations going to be. Chris wants to know if you think Adam Lind will have any value. May he play some outfield against Ritees with Jason Worth on the D.L. Lynn, I mean,

Lind has been very good, but it's been exclusively against righties. I think he has four bats against lefties. And they just called up Ryan Rayburn because they were facing three consecutive lefties against the Dodgers to play outfield for worth. So I'm going to guess there's no way Adam Lynn's going to play against lefties. And even still, like, he just hasn't been a very good hitter for a long time now, Scott.

So I'm going to say, no. I mean, it would be a huge defensive. He'd be a major defensive liability out there. He does have some experience in left field from earlier in his. career. But, and actually he has started two games there this year. I'd just be surprised if it was a situation where he's playing with enough regularity. Yeah, okay.

That is Scott White. We are team scam. Thank you for listening to Fantasy Baseball today. We'll come back to, whoa. I don't know what the hell that way. You hear that? I did. That was weird.

It was. We'll come back to Walt and talk more Fantasy Baseball with Heath Cummings. Thanks for listening, everybody. See you.