Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/10: Weekend Roundup - Yordan is Here! (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 10, 2019

Yordan Alvarez homered in his MLB debut and it's probably too late to pick him up, but there are plenty of players to add. We start with hitters (3:50) and pitchers (6:20) plus one-start streamers (10:50) to put on your roster. There might be a pitching prospect to add!... News and notes (16:34), the Most Added list (21:50) and a lot of hitters (36:15) to discuss including Joey Votto and Brian Dozier ... Talking SPs for the rest of the show (44:00) as we rank guys like Lucas Giolito, Jack Flaherty, Jake Odorizzi, Trevor Bauer and Mike Soroka, plus we give some deep league options ... Email us 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. Let's get going here on Monday. Jordan Alvarez. Welcome to the big leagues of home run in his major league debut.

You probably can't pick him up, but there are plenty of players to add. and we welcome you to fantasy baseball today. I'm Adam Azor. Scott White is on vacation all week, so Heath Cummings is, well, he's always here on Monday, but just be at Heath today. I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know. I'm just a fill-in. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for Scott taking a vacation. I'm sorry that you all have to listen to me talk. Well, I was going to say it's like it's be at Heath, it could be me and Chris,

be at Heath, me and Chris. I think Heath and Chris on Friday, so get excited for that. But we'll wish Scott. I'm sure Scott's upset to miss this opportunity to talk about Jordan Alvarez, right? You know he wants to talk about Jordan Alvarez. Yes, of course. And I was surprised. Like, I only had Alvarez in one league.

Thankfully, it was my AL-only league where he's going to make the biggest impact. He was owned in most of my leagues already. But our 14-team points league, he was not. And it's only a three-offielder league, and it's possible that Alvarez doesn't stick. I mean, they may get everyone healthy in a month, and maybe he goes through a little slump and gets them back down. but I just assumed it's not a Fab League and I was 14th in terms of waiver priority yesterday because I'd picked up Malick Smith the day before.

No, we put in a claim for him. There's no way. It reset. You must have put in a claim for someone else first. He must not have been your first priority. If Jamie didn't put in a claim for Alvarez, I'm going to kill him. I was 14th and I got him. No way.

You must have reset after you lost, after you went one in one. It must have reset the waivers. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. No, we can't do anything about it now. If you go in and change this. No, I'm not going to change it. I'm not going to change it. I just have to figure out if I'm going to have to kill Jamie, my partner in the league or not.

Because he said he was going to put in a claim. And if he didn't put in a claim and let you get Jordan Alvarez, instead of us getting where you're an Albert's like, I'm going to kill Jamie Eisenberg. and the football show is going to be over because we're going to be down one analyst. So we have to get to the bottom of that heat. But congratulations. I just figured you had a better waiver priority than we did because I thought we put in a claim for him. Okay, we'll figure that out.

Yes, pick him up. He's 83% on. But as you mentioned, there is a chance he's not here forever. But he's not to a pretty good start. Yeah, homering in his first played appearance after just a spectacular start to the season in the minor league. And it's not like this is the first year he's ever been good. In 2018, he had a 904 OPS and 379 plate appearances in the minor. So he has a very good profile in terms of plate discipline, in terms of power.

He could absolutely be a must-start option in all formats from this point forward. And like, if he hits well enough, I don't think it matters if everyone on the Astros gets healthy in the next month. If he hits well enough, he's just their DH. And the only thing you won't get from him are steals, but he's on base all the time. And yeah, it's exciting right now. I wonder what it means for Kyle Tucker. We'll talk about that. I got another prospect to talk about that I just picked up in that same league and got some maybe some intel on him.

And that will get to when we talk about the pitchers we want to add. Let's start with hitters we want to add. Jordan Alvarez would probably top the list. But who else, Jordan, by the way. We were supposed to pronounce it Jordan Alvarez. even though a spell with a Y. Who else, Heath, give me a hitter you'd want to add. I told you, I was going to give you a hitter that you were not going to agree with.

I hope that I pull it off, but I actually added, and I'm still looking to add in a couple leagues, David Bodie. He has started the last five games for the Cubs. He's got a seven-game week, and three of them are in Colorado. I think Addison Russell is a little banged up, but I think when Russell gets healthy, Bodie's not going to be starting five games in a row. Well, if he just hits better than Russell does, but this week is really all I cared about with Bodie. I think he's going to let you down. 15% owned.

He's probably, like, let's just say hypothetically that he doesn't play. He's probably going to play five games. I don't know. You never know what they want. There are a lot of teams on five game weeks this week. All right. Well, okay. He is hitting well.

He is hitting well. And the three games is hitting well. He's got three games at course. Well, Let me see who the most added hitter is, because I don't think most people have to go to David Bodie. But I'll tell you another guy that most people don't have to go to that's owned in maybe even fewer. He's 17% owned, Carson Kelly. He started four of the last six games.

He's homered in two straight games. He's a Diamondbacks catcher that maybe seems to be getting enough playing time. So if you say you're in deep leagues and we don't give you enough love on this show, well, we just gave you David Bodie and Carson Kelly as hitters to add. The most added hitter is... I guess he's going to be Jay Bruce. Garrett Cooper? Well, Jay Bruce isn't really available, is he?

Not anymore. Jay Bruce is now the most added. He's 82% owned. And then after that, it's a bunch of pitchers, Jordan Alvarez, and Garrett Cooper. Garrett Cooper is the most added hitter who's actually available. He's 27% owned. And, yeah, it's a pitcher-heavy list right now.

But Cooper is 10th on the most added list. I don't know. I'm not super moved to get him. that's why he's 27. I did add him in one league, but yeah, like, if I'm adding that level of hitter, I'm probably most concerned about what can they do for me this week. Fair enough. Okay, so I think we can probably get into that a little bit later.

I'll pull up the Sleeper Hitters article and see what's what. Okay, add pitchers. That's the bottom line. Give me one pitcher to add. I'm going to give you two because it's the two guys that are tied for the most added, and I actually agree with the people this time. Zach, please, Zach is still just 59% owned. I think that number should be closer to 70, 75%.

I'm starting him this week in a one-start week, and I'm starting him moving forward until he gives me a reason not to. And then Framber Valdez was very good in his first start. Yes, it was against the Orioles. But he's been good in the major leagues as a pitcher. And now he gets the Blue Jays this week, and he's still just 36% owned. I think that should probably be 55 to 60.

Okay, those are good calls. Framber Valdez for the Astros, Zach. Plezac for the Indians. And both have good matchups this week with Pleasak at Detroit. And as you mentioned, Valdez against the Blue Jays. The sleeper hitters, by the way, Clint Frazier, just guys you could pick up. Avi Garcia, Christian Walker, Yandy Diaz, Clint Frazier. Check out the article on the website on CBSports.com slash fantasy.

Here's a pitcher. Doing the Sunday show yesterday, the video show, Fantasy Baseball today on CBS Sports HQ. We have some really great insight. Heath comes on for an hour. But also Jim Bowden, former GM, who's now got a show on Sirius, and he's a CBS contributor, and he knows his stuff. He's very plugged in. He thinks Brendan McKay is coming up soon for the Tampa Bay raise.

McKay is a two-way player, hit her in a pitcher, but he's been much better as a pitcher, and he's been amazing as a pitcher in the minors. I think he was the fourth overall pick in the draft a couple years ago. So Brendan McKay, I just added in two leagues. In Yahoo, he's only a first baseman. So I'm guessing, I don't know what's up with that. But yeah, Brennan McKay, you might want to speculate on him. And then you didn't.

That's why you didn't get Jordan Alvarez, because you picked up Brennan McKay instead. No, I picked him up when waivers were off, though. Heath, what was I going to say? Nick Povetta, sorry, Nick Povetta, 69% owned at Atlanta this weekend. I'm surprised that he's not like 80-something-owned Povetta. I mean, there were obviously a lot of us that were telling people at the beginning of the season that he was going to be better than he was last. But if you were just someone going to look at the waiver wire

and you see that Nick Pavetta had a very good start and you look and see that he has a 493 ERA this year and he's thrown 335 innings and has a 529 ERA, you might be skeptical as whether that one or two good starts really matters. Well, this is what was said after his great start over the weekend, a complete game allowing one run against the Reds on Saturday, only six strikeouts. he's going to give you strikeouts.

Gabe Kapler said he pounded the zone, forced the opposition to put the ball in play. His curve is sharper. He's more aggressive, assertive with his fastball. He's more determined and more focused. Reese Hoskin said there's an uptick in his tempo that helps him, helps us behind him. There's less thought, less second-guessing. He's not getting in his head in his own way. His stuff is electric.

So he's assertive, not getting in his own way. Maybe there's a mental block for Nick Povetta. Either way, I'm willing to gamble on it. And if he were available in any of my leagues, I 100% would pick him up. My question for you is, would you pick up Pivotta over Framber Valdez, Zach Pleasac, guys, you mentioned? I would pick him up over Framber. I don't think I'd pick him up over Pleasac. They're both right in the same range, and it's kind of a borderline top 50 right now.

But there's, I mean, there are 50 starting pitchers that are definitely worth owning. So they're right on that age. All right. One start streamers, get to that in a second. to promote a couple of things. Haven't read a lot of emails lately on the show. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com going to do a mailbag show on Tuesday. So I think we have nine games on the schedule. Today we should have some time to read your emails. Like we have a great email in our inbox. Is Whitmerfield ever going to steal another base? So we'll read that email.

You probably will, yeah. And CBS Sports HQ, I really hope you've been watching this show. We're having a lot of fun. It's a really great show. It's Sundays from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern. It's not just fantasy baseball. It's really good baseball insight from Jim Bowden, as I mentioned, David Samson, the former president of the Marlins. He said some interesting things about Derek Dietrich yesterday and about his mental fortitude. I was kind of shocked. And David Samson's always got great stuff like that. Will Middlebrook's former World Series champion for the Red Sox. It's good stuff, and it's a lot of fantasy talk as well. So download the CBS app and watch HQ. It is totally free. All right, so one-star streamers

kind of stole my thunder a little bit because Nick Povetta and Zach Pley-Zak are among them. Pablo Lopez, Heath, would you trust him? He's pitching really well. Three of his last four starts have been awesome. And he's 43% owned. He doesn't even have to be just a one-star streamer, but he's got the pirates this week, Pablo Lopez.

Yeah, I mean, he is definitely under-owned at 43%. And even when he was pitching bad, we talked a lot about how there were signs there with the strikeout to walk ratio and with the stuff where we thought he was actually a better pitcher. He started to show that a little bit lately. I think he should be owned in at least two-thirds of leagues, and I'd have no problem starting him in one start against Pittsburgh. One thing I'm struggling with, I've got him in a league, maybe two leagues, where I have you, Darvish, and Darvish is a two-star pitcher, but one of those is at Colorado. And I'm actually

considering starting Lopez, but I'll probably stick with Darvich. Yeah, Darvish is a two-star pitcher. The other one is at the Dodgers. So, I really don't want to start him. I'm 100% sitting Darvish in my Roto League. In my points league, I just this morning put John Duplanteer in, a two-star pitcher at Philadelphia and at Washington, presumably a two-star pitcher. I'm putting him in over you, Darvish.

I don't want to start Darvish. I understand that. I don't have the option to put DuPontier in. I'm not certain if I would or not. But I don't think that's necessarily a bad idea. Here's another guy that I might start over you, Darvish. Michael Paneda. One start against Seattle.

Michael Paneda's given up. I know, but this is a lot about Darvish, but also if you just give me a second, I'll find my Panetta note. He's giving up like two or three runs and like six straight starts. He was very good before he went on the injured list. There's no doubt about it. about that.

He's been back for one start against the Tigers, and he went five innings, gave up three runs, and struck out three battered. I would like, I'd like to see a little more. I guess he's, no,

he's been back. No, that's right. That's it. Just one. I'm pretty sure. He's, maybe two.

He's allowed exactly three run runs and six straight starts going five, six. That's something. Going five, six, seven, six, six, and five innings in those starts. So you're probably going to get like a four,

four to five. IVRA, but he doesn't walk anyone, so the whip could be good. And he plays for the twins. So he might get some wins. He might get a win against Seattle. I could not do that in a points league. Agreed. Agreed. No, this is a roto. This is a roto lineup. All right. So you got some names there that you might want to consider. Panetta would probably be at the bottom of the list. But Pablo Lopez, better than that would be Zach Plex, Framber Valdez, Nick Povetta. And then how about these guys? Danny Duffy, 31% owned at Detroit.

And Ryan Yarbrough, 20% owned, and he gets the Angels this week. I would put both those guys right in the Michael Panetta range. They are, for me, at least, more desperation starts than guys that I want to start. I would not start them over Udarvish, because all three of them, I would not be surprised if they went three and a third and gave up four runs. Even Yarbrough? What's that? Even Yarbrough. Even Yarbrough.

When Yorbrose has been really good And they're like He's had some great stretches When he's been really good It's almost always looked lucky Oh yeah Yes Okay

All right He's 20% on Actually this is a pretty Interesting time right now There are a lot of guys That I want to pick up Pizzak being 42% own Povetta being 69% own

Lopez being 43% own Lopez scares me a little bit Because he's had so many horrible starts And he pitches for the Marley but I mean, it's so hard to find pitching, and I actually feel like there might be some pitching out there, especially if Brendan McKay comes up. He's on nobody's radar right now.

Maybe we gave you a scoop. Do you feel the same way? Yeah, we might have. One more hitter we missed that I think you should pick up is Ramon Luriano. Oh, yeah, you're all about him. He does have the longest on base streak in baseball right now. Active. Not in history, but active.

I'm pretty sure about that. All right, Ramon Luriano, get you some steals. We're going to take a break here. Let's talk about Kyle Tucker when we come back. Does this Alvarez call up mean anything for Tucker? We've got some injury notes on D. Gordon, on Buster Posey, on Scooter Janette. So we'll come back right after this on Fantasy Baseball today. Your news and notes on this Monday morning.

All right, Heath. So Alvarez is up. Do you think that means Kyle Tucker is not coming up? Alvarez is going to play a little bit of outfield, but I imagine he'll mostly DH. What do you think it means for Tucker? Yeah, I mean, Tucker's in a weird spot. He got off to a slow start. The only time we've seen in the major leagues, he was pretty dreadful.

And they, even with the injuries, still have enough outfielders right now. So I still think he's a fine stash, but I feel less certain than I did that we are going to see him in the majors anytime soon. Miles Michaelis left after being hit by a pitch on the arm. I haven't seen anything to indicate that Michael is not going to do. He threw a bullpen and said he expects to make his next start. that hit him was at 99.8 miles per hour and hit him in the arm and he said it would take at least 100 miles to knock me out.

That's pretty good. Caleb Smith is on the IL but not expected to miss much time. Dee Gordon could be back. I think he's actually going to be back on Tuesday. Yeah, D. Gordon back on Tuesday. Buster Posey could be back on Wednesday. Dwight Smith Jr. is on the concussion aisle. Baltimore called up Anthony Santander.

Scooter Jeanette could begin a rehab assignment this week. Scooter Jeanette is 79% own if you need a second base. baseman. He could be your knight in shining armor. Yankees news. Masahiro Tanaka will start today. He had his start push back from Sunday to Monday due to the birth of his child. C.C. Zabathia tweaked his knee. I think he's going to make his next start. And Domingo Armand is on the I.L. with a hip injury. Probably still going to go with bullpen days to replace him while he's out. But the Yankees have been talking to the Blue Jays about Marcus Stroman. They're interested in Madison Bumgarner. This is according to the New York Post. As far as this Armand injury goes, Armand said Heath,

The hip had been bothering him since the Kansas City start. That was three starts ago. Those have been his three bad starts. So I actually was encouraged, you know, I hope it's not a long thing, but encouraged by this news because it gives us a little bit of an explanation. Yeah, and I never really moved him down because of the bad starts. I'd not gotten him, like when I moved him up, I didn't move him up quite as high as I moved up, Caleb Smith, Chris Paddock, guys like that.

He was in my 30s instead of the borderline ace territory. I think he's going to be a fine number three starter once he's back in healthy. Hopefully it's soon. That's Domingo Armand. Mitch Morland's on the IL with a quad strain. He can't catch a break right now, and it's probably going to keep Michael Chavis in the lineup. Chavez has been really bad, but he'll probably play some first base.

Justin Turner playing through a hamstring injury. Just keep that in mind. Robinson Kanoe is back on the IL with quad tightness. That helps Dominic Smith, who we'll talk about later. And J.D. Martinez remained out with a back issue. under sit Jady Martinez. I'm going to say start Heath. I think he should be back. They're talking like he's going to be back soon. But then again, he wasn't supposed to miss this much time to begin with with the back. And they are a seven game team this week, I think. So even if he misses a game or two,

you would start J.D. Martinez with five games. I think I'd start him. Okay, yeah, seven, four against Texas. Three at Baltimore, Texas playing some good baseball. Adam Wainwright left with hamstring tightness and Mike Schilt said it was likely that Wainwright could miss one start. judging by the quotes, I wouldn't be surprised if he missed more starts. And I don't even know what this matters with Wainwright, but it can't hurt Alex Reyes's chances of making a start soon. Just if he can get back on track. Yeah, it's just whether Alex Reyes can throw more than 25 pitches

without injuring some part of his buddy. Yeah, and Reyes was bad last time out in the minors. But that's another got to keep it out. And like hurt a finger or something, right? Oh, I didn't know that. Probably. Chris Bryant hurt his ankle but stayed in the game, and Nick Ahmed is day to day.

And a few teams are making history or players. The Nationals hit a home run in four consecutive at bats yesterday in the eighth inning at San Diego. They are the first team in baseball history to accomplish that feat twice. Edwin and Carnacios had 400 career home runs. Heath, who are the only other active players hit 400 career home runs?

Let's see. Old guys, Albert Pujols. Do you know the answer? Are you? and Miguel Cabrura. Did you know that because I put it in the day? Did I get it right?

You got it right. Yes. Yeah, he cheated. Thanks. Craig Counsel might be called for jury duty. That's got to be historic. I don't know if that's ever happened. Mike Mustakis hit a home run and won a car for a fan.

That's got to be historic. I don't know if that's ever happened. And yesterday was the day that Madison Bumgarner officially became the oldest grouches player in baseball. Congratulations, Madison Bumgarner for getting mad. A very mild bat flip and slow trot to first base by Max Muncie. I loved. I loved Muncie's response.

Go get it out of the ocean then. Yes. And I kind of like Bob Garder's response, too. He's like, we want to let all these kids be themselves. He's got to let me be myself too. And Chris made a good point. Chris was like, I'm all right with him saying that as long as he's not throwing baseballs at people. Which is true.

Yeah, he can yell all he wants. Yeah, he could be grouchy, but he's grouchy. But I love him. I love him. All right, let's take a look at the most added list now. We looked at some of the most added list, but we'll dive a little deeper in here. We didn't really talk about any of the pitchers on it.

Okay, so I know Jay Bruce is the number one hitter. There we. Thank you, video team, for pulling out the most added list for me. For Amber Valdez and Zach, please, Zach, are two and three. That means we did a good job with our hitters and pitchers to add. Peter Lambert, no. Heath, no. Nope.

Two starts at cores. Like, everybody's got Peter Lambert. It's a mistake. right this reminds me a little bit of the Devon smelzer thing except that Lambert also pitches for the Rockies which is even worse I would not do this and it's possible that it'll work for one week but I would not do this right he does have two starts this week right they're both at home let's I am not sure about that come on Heath he does they are against the Cubs and the Padres so no

no thank you Peter Lambert we're going to pass on Dakota Hudson actually pitching pretty well and I do think he has two starts this week he is a two start pitcher he's probably one of my least favorite in terms of guys that are owned in that percentage of leagues I

I don't actually think he's good he has gotten some good results recently I think he was mostly lucky at Miami and at the Mets for Dakota Hudson that helps but the Marlins aren't quite as bad as they used to be it's kind of mad I saw Heath pick up Annabal Sanchez in a league because now I feel like

well, I'm not going to root against Anabal Sanchez because I have a middle league. But it bothers me because I should have done it. I was the one talking about Anabal Sanchez. I was the one hyping him up. You don't want me to criticize the things that you say about when you actually give fantasy baseball takes. Right.

And you don't want me to follow what you say and go pick up the person. How do you want me to respond to things when you contribute? If I talk about a player, just don't do anything with that player. Or say anything about them. No, if you want to agree, then yeah, sure, say whatever you want. Agree, but don't add. I think so.

I think, yeah, that's a good agree, but don't add. There's got to be like an acronym there. We'll figure that out. Thank you. Yeah, but Adam L. Sanchez is at the White Sox and home against Arizona and doing some interesting things. And he's 49% owned. It's a two-star week. But if he has a good start, like I wouldn't necessarily.

just drop him. I wouldn't pitch and ditch him. Be a little patient, maybe. He threw to you like best between these three. Dakota Hudson, Annabal Sanchez, Sandy Alcantara. Oh, definitely, Anabal Sanchez. He was so good last year. And the whole year, he just kept being good. And now they've been talking about how he's pitching like he did last year.

So I think he might be good again. Wow, you do listen. But if you were giving a real answer, Hudson, Sanchez, or Alcantara. I think Alcantara. still has the most upside, but I'll say Sanchez for now. All right, let's talk about the next guy on this list, Adrian Sampson. He's now 30% owned. He's up from 16% owned.

Complete game, one run, seven strikeouts against Oakland on Saturday, with 13 swinging strikes on 109 pitches, which is all right. His previous start was seven innings of one-run ball and 11 strikeouts against the Royals. Last five appearances for Adrian Sampson, two of them are starts. but unbelievable numbers. This is a Rangers pitcher. 5-0-19-E-R-A, 3 walks, 30 strikeouts and 31-2-thirds,

12% swinging strike rates, a lot of fly balls. What scares me a little bit about Adrian Sampson is that he's at Boston this week. But are we seeing something big here with Adrian Sampson? Yeah, I mean, he really looks like the type of pitcher that should be bad in his home park and might be okay on the road because it is a lot of fly balls.

He throws a ton of strikes, really miss very many bats. You would think that would be a bad thing in a ballpark like his or in Finway, but so far he's been like his last four really good starts have all been at home. I'm skeptical. I would not

want to start him against the Red Sox at Finway. But I do, like he's a fine guy to add if you're in a deeper league and just want to see what happens. Samson has been missing more bats lately though, 12% swinging strike rate in his last five appearances.

For what that's worth. But overall, 53 strikeouts and 67 and 2 thirds. Yeah, he's a name that kept popping up, and I'm glad we got to Adrian Sampson. So you'd rather have Alcantara? I'd still rather have Alcantara, yes. All right? I mean, talk about a guy who doesn't miss a lot of bats, right?

Right. But one thing we can agree on is we definitely want Peter Lambert. We definitely want any of these guys over Peter Lambert. Samson, oh, I think. I think I might even take Samson over Hudson. Oh, okay. And then there's Garrett Cooper and John DuPontier. Do you see staying power with these guys or these short-term plays?

Garrett Cooper, the outfielder for the Marlins, I think first base eligible, and John DuPontier. With the fact that Cooper has first base and outfield eligibility, I do think there's probably a place for him in most leagues that have a corner infielder and five outfielders in a utility. I think that's the type of league where you're adding him and he's not owned in all of those by any stretch of the imagination. So there's probably still a few leagues that needs to be added. I would just want to see more from Duplontea.

I don't really know yet. Elias Diaz is on the most out of list. He's a Pittsburgh catcher. Actually, there are some pretty interesting catcher developments. Diaz, Roberto Perez is on fire for the Indians. I see Pedro Severino for Baltimore is on the most added list. I was not aware that he had been doing anything. Oh, well, he had that three homer game.

Three dong night, yeah. Three dong night, nice. I mentioned Carson Kelly. Tom Murphy, I think I'm going to avoid. I don't think there's enough playing time there. But do any of these like 20% owned catchers do anything for you? I think Diaz is the most interesting. Even over Kelly?

Even over Kelly? Even over Kelly. But Kelly's right there. I think those two. I don't know that we're, like, I haven't seen any updates recently on Francisco Sorvelli, but I'm not sure we're going to see him again. He's had a history of these types of injuries.

He's in the concussion protocol. They said they're going to take it very, very slow with him. And we saw last year, Diaz was an above average hitter for a catcher. So far this year, he's not been quite as good, but he's had a little bit of what looks like it might be bad luck. He does not strike out. I'd go Diaz, then Kelly. I think I'll just mention two more players on the most out of list.

One guy that I feel like we didn't do a, I don't know, maybe he wasn't a two-star pitcher. I don't remember talking about him on Friday. I think we did briefly. John Means. John Means has been pretty decent lately, and he's got the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. It's not great matchups, but he's 55% own.

He's RP eligible. I was going to pick him up. John Means is having a good year. You know what I mean? I tried to talk about John Means, and Scott shut me down. Oh, really? Is that what happened? Scott is not a John Means believer. Yeah, I think, what did you say his ownership was?

He's now 55%. That's probably, like, he definitely needs to be owned in all points leagues, because he's a SPARP, he's a two-start pitcher that has had some success so far this year. Again, he's another guy that doesn't miss a lot of bats, and he's definitely not a sub-3-ERA guy. I don't think he's probably a sub-4 ERA guy, but he could be a low-4 ERA guy with a decent number of innings and spark eligibility.

Last guy on the most added list that I want to talk about right now is Colin Moran. Colin Moran is a Pirate's third baseman who kind of ran away with the job when Jung Ho Gong was back. Gong returned from the I.O. yesterday. He started at shortstop, and he homered. But I think Moran was still in the lineup. Is this a platoon or is Moran? an everyday player to you?

I think Moran has to keep hitting. The interesting thing will be against lefties, because I think against righties, there's no question he should be in, which will make him worthwhile in more leagues than we thought it was going to be the start of the year. But I do think he's going to have to keep hitting. Okay.

So Moran, let me just check the matchups this week. He's 20% on. I don't have him in any leagues. I think maybe our 16 team league is the only one I consider him in, but again, we want to help the deep leaguers out. Oh, he's got seven right. Ritees this week. Because I remember, remember I gave that bold prediction about Gregory Polanco on the video show yesterday.

Yeah. That was not a prediction or bold. Yes, I do remember. It was about the seven Ritees on the schedule. Gosman, Fultenevich, Soroka, Tehran, Richards, Lopez, and Alcantara. Not the easiest, but not hard. There is definitely a good starting pitcher in that group. There might be two.

But how many bad starting pitchers? pitchers are in that group. So far this season? We're going to say Taran's not bad because he's... Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Gosman and Fultenevich are obviously bad. What's up with Tarad? How you feel about Tarad?

It makes me so mad. I get lots of tweets about it. He's terrible. Like, I know he's having a good stretch. And Jason Vargas had a year, one year where he won a lot of games and had a low ERA and nobody thought he was good. Julio Toron's still not good. Yeah, but Julio Taran, I was,

because I was looking at his numbers. Like, he's basically a sub 4ERA just about every year and makes 30 starts. He's good. At least say he's good in real life and not in fantasy. Well, okay. 2017, he had a 449ERA. That was his worst year. Last year he had a 394 ERA.

Yeah. So like the last few years. And go behind, go before that. Okay, we got a 404 and a 321. 2017 was his only. was his only season with an ERA that was like well above four. You are moving the goalpost.

Julio Tehran is a very useful real-life pitcher. He throws 30 starts a year with a four-ish ERA. Good for him. He's very, very good for him. Yeah, my point was that Julio Toronto was not the same pitcher that he was five years ago. The environment was not the same. And he was not going to be useful this year for fantasy.

So far, he's been very, very good in terms of results. He has an 80% strand rate, a 238 babbip against, and maybe he will never have an ERA that matches his 483 Sierra, which is one of the worst in baseball. In all seriousness, you should sell high on Julio Taran because his ownership has always been high. So people do buy in,

and you should definitely listen to what Heath says and sell high on Julio Taran. All right, when we come back, I'm going to tell Heath why hockey is better than basketball. That's after this break. plus hitters and Brian Dozier and Joey Vado and so much other stuff to talk about here. Bullpen updates after this break on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back to fantasy baseball today.

Heath, I have a homework assignment for you. You have to, have to watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. What do you mean? I am having the best time watching hockey. It is amazing. It is the best sport in America. I feel crazy for not knowing this. You know what's funny.

My neighbor knows that we're from Kansas City. And he always, and he knows we're Celtics fans. So he always has something to say about the Royals or the chiefs or the Celtics whenever I see, pass him walking through. And he says to me as I'm walking, get out of my car a couple days ago, just need one more. And I look at him and I have no idea what he's talking about. And we hold this like five to ten minute conversation where I don't ever admit that I don't know what he's talking about.

and just try to play it off so I can get inside and not talk to him anymore. Why? You don't like him? No, I like him a lot, but it was an uncomfortable situation because I didn't know what he was talking about, and I didn't want to extend the situation by explaining it. And it finally hit me when I got inside that he thought because we were from Kansas City,

we would be cheering for the Blues, who I presume only need to win one more game to win their playoffs. Well, yeah, but now the Bruins also just need to win one more game because they just forced game seven, which is going to be back in Boston. Maybe, okay, maybe he thought, I was a Bruins fan. No. No, because the game,

the game was last night. So it was three, two, when did he say this to you? A couple days ago. Yeah, it was three to St. Louis. But that is interesting. Based on your stupid affiliations of everything Kansas City

except your bandwagon Celtics fandom, he could have thought you were either a Bruins or Blues fan. But the point is... But the blues are not anywhere close to Kansas City. Well, I don't know. It's in the Midwest.

There aren't that many Midwestern hockey teams. like represent, you know? Plus, you love St. Louis sports, right? Cardinals, go Cardinals. The point is hockey is amazing. It is super fun. Everybody has to watch Game 7.

Everybody get on board. And next year, I am going to get back into the Panthers, the Florida Panthers, because I need hockey in my life. I might even have to get the hockey package on TV. Like, that's how great hockey is. Okay. Catchers. So, yeah, I think we kind of cover this.

Well, let's talk about other hitters. Just to let you know, Tom Murphy has started three of the last five games. He has four homers in his last three games. Five homers in his last six games. Seven homers this year are a career high for Tom Murphy. Tom Murphy is on Seattle. This is mostly relevant for Omar Narvaez owners. Because Narvaez, you look at his splits, he's much better against Ritees.

And if Murphy cuts into his playing time, it's going to be very annoying. Carson Kelly, I've mentioned 17 times today. Roberto Perez, homered in four straight games going into Sunday. He had a pretty decent May. I don't know. These are, yeah. Personally, I think Kelly is the only one, and Heath said, Elie's Diaz, too.

That could really be big impact guys. But they're catchers. Okay. Next segment of hitters, Heath, deep league dudes. Dominic Smith and Todd Frazier for the Mets. Jacoby Jones for the Tigers, widely available players. Jacoby Jones entering Sunday, his last 22 games,

he had a 366 batting average with six home runs and forced deals. That's an 1127 OPS with forced deals in 22 games. It's really good. He was terrible before that. Dominic Smith is the one I like the most. Todd Frazier's been red-hot batting 333 with four homers and 978 OPS in his last 20 games. Anything to say about these deep league dudes?

I don't like Dominic Smith as much as you do, but he is definitely, to me, the most appealing of this group. And as long as Mets keep getting injured, which is generally a good thing to bet on, as long as Dominic Smith's not the one that get injured, then. then I think he'll be somewhat productive, especially in NL only. Yeah, he has enough righties on the schedule this week where I'm probably going to start him in a five outfielder league and he's 8% owned.

How about this segment called Old Guys on the Rise with a question mark? Brian Dozier, in his last 28 days, he is a top 12 second baseman, 12th and points, 10th and roto, 288 batting average with five home runs, six doubles in those 28 days, six walks to 16 strikeouts, no steals,

he doesn't run. anymore, but some encouraging signs for Dozier. Joey Vado's reached base safely in 23 of his last 24 games, 23 of his last 24 games. You're welcome, Joey Votto owners. But he's not hitting for Eddie Power. He's batting 4 at his last 10 games. Jay Bruce is 81% own.

He's batted sixth in all five games for the Phillies, and he has six games this week, only one against the lefty. He'll probably sit, we shall see. And Nelson Cruz is not necessarily on the rise, but he is just staying what he's been the last like five years. Nelson Cruz is homeward in four straight games. But do you have anything to say about Dozier or Votto in particular? I'm more interested in Votto still than I am in Dozier.

I mean, Dozier's position eligibility definitely makes it, especially at the middle infielder, you probably need him. But I don't know that I buy into what has really been just an okay last 28 days. Would you rather have Dozier or Scooter Jeanette? Scooter. Dozier or Didi? Dozier. Why?

I have more concerns about Dedi than I do Scooter. Dozier or Biggio? Vigio. Dozier or Nikki Lopez? Dozier. Okay. And then two other guys who didn't fit into previous hitting categories. Tommy Lestella

Toma Estella had a stretch of 18 games with three extra base hits and now he has homered three times in his last five games I'm starting to get really annoyed

and Kyle Schwaburber is 64% on he had another big week and he has started 23 games as a leadoff hitter and over his last 28 days Kyle Schwaburber is sixth in points and 11th in Roto at Outfield

and he's still available in 36% of CBS leagues one other hitters thing that we need to touch on that doesn't have to with what happened last week, but it has to do with the decision that owners have to make this week? What do you do with your left-handed

Rockies? Because they have seven games at home, which is normally like, hooray, I get to start all my Rockies, and I'm going to crush my opponents because I have Rockies. They face at least four lefties. I think they're facing five lefties. I think you

Darvish and Chris Paddock may be the only right-handed pitchers the Rockies see this week. And David Dawes, from what I remember, I'll look up now, has either better numbers or just as good against lefties. And he's been so hot that I think I'm going to ride with him. I don't think you can sit David Dull. You can't sit Charlie Blackman.

So I think you definitely sit Daniel Murphy. And McMahon. And McMahon. Which means if you're in a deep league, Brendan Rogers might be sneaky this week. He better get something going this week. Yeah, I don't know that Brennan Rogers can hit anyone. Yeah, it's a shame. I'm going to start DoTER over Rogers.

In a really deep league, Mark Reynolds might be sneaky. David Dahl does have very comparable numbers against lefties and righties. Not a lot of power against lefties, but he's batting 352 with a 519 slugging this year. In 54 at bats. So the other guy is Shohei Otani. I'm going to sit Shohei Otani.

I think he has three lefties on the schedule this week. And he homered off a lefty this weekend, but as you say Kikuchi, who everybody homers off of late. So Otani has three lefties this week, plus Kentomayeta and Charlie Morton, as two of the righties he'll be facing. I will be sitting, Shohei Otani. And there you go. And it could be a tough week, actually, for Tommy Lestella, because he kind of beats up on Ritees, I think.

But he's just been so good. It's annoying. Heath bullpen stuff. Blake Parker got a save on Friday, but you still like Taylor Rogers in that bullpen, right? Correct. Pedro Strope got two saves over the weekend. And it's just a reminder. that Craig Kimbril's not there yet.

So short term, there's no reason you shouldn't be thinking about using Pedro Strope. Luke Jackson blew a save. I don't know that anyone's taking that job from him. What do you think? It would be, I wouldn't think so. But he's got to be getting close to the league lead and blown saves, doesn't he? He's got five. So yes.

That's considering that he wasn't even the closer for the first month of the season, that's quite a lot. The overall numbers are still decent. 309 ERA is not great for a lever, but it's not terrible. 122 whip is really not that good for a reliever. But nine walks to 48 strikeouts and 32 innings are encouraging. I think if Luke Jackson loses his closer's role, it's probably to somebody who's not on the team right now. Yeah, yeah.

The thing is, like, I don't know what the Braves will be willing to give up for a closer. They wouldn't give up a normal salary for a great one. So, yeah. Jose LeClerc had a rough weekend. Chris Woodward said that he was close to getting the job back, but I don't know if that's still true after these last two appearances. And then Ian Kennedy, the Royals don't win often, but Ian Kennedy has four walks, the 32 strikeouts and 25 and two-thirds,

and he has the last three saves for Kansas City, which spans like nearly six weeks. May 1st, May 30th, and June 7th. The last three saves for Kansas City, but Ian Kennedy is 8% of it. All right, that brings us to the starting pitchers from over the weekend. All right. I never know if we should talk about the studs being studs, because they are studs, after all.

We know they're studs. But let's talk about them briefly, and then we'll get into the guys that our owners might actually be able to pick up. Jacob de Grom! Yeah, he's been really good. And he had another great start with 10 strikeouts and six innings against the Rockies. Walker Bueller's on fire. He has a 0.98 whip this year and 0.1 earn run and 5 of his last six starts for Walker Bueller.

Noah Cindergarde had a really good start against Colorado on Sunday. David Price continues to be great. Doesn't pitch that deep into games. Only one start all year of more than 6 and a 3rd, but he's got an ERA of 270 right now and 69 strikeouts and 60 innings for Price. And I think I might try to sell Kyle Hendricks as. as a guy who is going to be good, but not this good. And I think I would, I mean, I understand it's a risk, but I would do Hendricks for Bauer.

I would absolutely do Hendricks for Bauer, and I would even, I would accept a little bit lower than that. I mean, somebody that had a bad start over the weekend was Shane Bieber yesterday. You have five runs, like the first two innings against the Yankees. I'd rather have Bieber than Hendricks still. Bieber's ERA is over four. Are we missing something here? because I still think he's struggling against lefties. What's that?

I still think he's struggling against lefties. I have not looked at what his numbers are against lefties. Why don't you talk about your overall thoughts on Bieber and I will pull up his splits? He's had a little bit of trouble with home runs. He has, for the most part, done a better job of staying out of the middle of the strike zone, but that's still a problem for him sometimes.

He's just a guy that was so used to pounding the strike zone at a high rate. And I think it's taken a little bit of time to transition, but for the most part, yes, he has a 407 ERA now. He's got a 340 Sierra. I think he's going to be closer to the 340 than the 407. Lefties are hitting 248 with a 512 slugging percentage. That's an 824 OPS against Beaver,

and righties have a 651 OPS against Bieber. What was his ERA and Sierra last year? It was definitely similar. His ERA was higher. His Sierra was similar. His Sierra was similar to his ERA or is similar to this year? Similar to what it is now. Right.

So that's what I'm saying? Are these struggles against lefties? Because he had, what did I say, 841 OPS lefties have? And last year was 909. Could that be something? But he has been a better pitcher. I mean, he's striking out 30% this year. He struck out 24% last year.

But could that be something that would make an ERA higher than a Sierra? That's a question. I don't think the lefties thing could. what really has been so far has been the fact that last year he had a 12% home run to fly ball rate which is just a little bit high. This year it's 21% of the fly balls that he's allowed

have turned into home runs. Okay. Whereas for Oda Rezi, it's probably like 5%. The reason that his ERA and Sierra were so different last year compared to this year are just almost entirely different. Last year he had a bad bad bit luck and was really not very good

with runners on base. This year he's been good with runners on base for the most part and his bad bit luck's been pretty much normal, but he's given up a ton of home runs. All right, well, I just mentioned Odarezi. We're going to talk about him in a second. Do you have anything else you want to say about DeGrom or Bueller or Cindergarde or Price? I'm encouraged by DeGrom and Cindergarde starts, obviously.

I do think it's probably a good time to remind people that the Rockies on the road are one of the worst offenses in baseball and even worse than the Marlins. So you should consider starting pitchers against the Rockies when they're not at home. And I was very happy that Cindergarde de Grom and Matt started over the weekend because now they won't be starting in the Subway series beginning tonight. Jake Oteresey

headlines the Studs being Studs Part 2 Your All-Star Game starter I think he has to be at this point. Jake Oteresee, we'll see what happens from now and then. But he is a 192 ERA, a 0.97 whip, and more than a strikeout printing. It's unbelievable. They don't really let him go deep into games.

Opponents are hitting 279 and he is a 506 ERA third time through the order. 279 is very high. But it hasn't mattered. How much you buying Oderesey? I've gone from not buying him at all to, okay, use him now, but he'll be useless later to. He's probably going to be useful for most of the season, but I don't think he's going to be anywhere close to this good. And most the peripherals agree with that. He is certainly pitching better than he has over the last couple of years.

I'll tell you who I'd rather have than Nourneresee. Lucas G. Alito. Seven and two-thirds scoreless with 11 strikeouts, 22 swinging strikes at Kansas City. Wowsers. He seems to have just found, like, that one place that he needs to be an absolute ace. He struggled with consistency in his mechanics. He struggled with consistency in his release.

point in the past. And right now he's just absolutely locked in. If he continues that, then he's one of the best pitchers in baseball the rest of the year. I think there's still a chance that he has some struggles coming up, but you have to view him as a top 20 starting pitcher. Would you rather have Oteresee or Gialito? Oh, Gialito, easily. Yeah. I mean, Oteresee is nine and two. Gialito, though, is nine and one. So pitching out the White Sox has a really... One of the questions I got that I struggled to answer, and I think you know what I'm going to say. Bauer? Is Gialito or Bauer? It is tough because I buy it with Gialito. What's changed for Gialito? First of all, he moved over on the mound closer to first base.

He has basically stopped throwing a two seamer and he replaced it with a four seamer. His velocity is up. He changed his delivery, his mechanics, as Heath mentioned. Ned Yost, who just got dominated by Gialito, said he shortened up his armstroke, his change up is dynamic. So this is a guy who made adjustments, lived up to his pedigree, which is why I pretty much fully buy it. I guess I... They keep track of, like, release point and how far away,

like, how consistent it is. And it was all over the place in the past. And this year, it's just like a dot. Oh. Like, he is just repeating things so well. Gosh, do we really want Gialito over Bauer? I still have Bauer one spot higher. Okay, it's tough.

Max Freed was... I'm going to call him a stud. Six innings, three runs, one walk, seven strikeouts. I'm starting to get a little worried about Max Fried. I think probably everyone is. And it was against the Marlins. Start or sit against the Phillies this week.

I'd prefer to sit, but he is above the U. Darvish line. Yeah, that's exactly. I have Darvish and Freed on two teams, and that's exactly what I'm thinking. Soroka, though, was great again. I don't think I can stress how easy Mike Soroka's schedule has been, and he gets Pittsburgh this week.

So that continues. But how about these guys, how would you rank Soroka, Brandon Woodruff, and Cole Hamels? I've currently got it, and this was from last week. I haven't made too many changes since then. Woodruff has my 26th starting pitcher,

Soroka at 29, and Hamels at 37. Boy, Woodruff's good. Oh, yeah, he's very good. Studs being Studs Part 3. I got to give Heath credit on Robbie Ray since we had a heated argument about Robbie Ray. Robbie Ray has thrown two of his three quality starts of the season. He's been really good the last two times out, and he's at Washington this week. Are you going to start Robbie Ray?

He's above the Udarvish line. He's above the Max Fried line. I'm not saying I consider him quite must-start, but unless you have a very good pitching staff, yeah, you're starting him. We already talked about Julio Taran sell high on him. Do you still think Zach Eflin is a sell high candidate? Yes, but only if you can sell very high. I would accept things for Julio Tehran, just about all things, that I would not accept for Zach Eflin.

Yeah, 57 strikeouts and 72 innings, an 85.6% strand rate for Eflin. I feel like he's a great sell high, but I've been saying that too long, and he keeps turning in good performances. Yeah, like I would rather have him than guys like Trevor Richards. I think I'd still rather have him than Griffin Canning. But there are a lot of starting pitchers that I would take over him as well.

I would take Zach, please sack over him. We will save, I'd say, the fringy starting pitchers, because we've talked about the ones I really wanted to talk about for tomorrow. So let's do two things to end the show. Let's do deep leagues, guys owned in less than 30% of leagues, and let's do studs being duds. Let's start with the deep league, guys. And we're going to go to Merrill Kelly, who has been pretty good lately and has Philadelphia this week. Rinaldo Lopez, who finally had a good start, said he made some adjustments.

Mental adjustments, I think, is what he talked about. Ryan Yarbrough, we already discussed. Framber Valdez would be the headliner here. I actually think he's above the 30% threshold now. Adrian Samson is above the 30% threshold. Wade LeBlanc. Wade LeBlanc, I actually am somewhat interested in a strictly deep league perspective

because they've used LeBlanc with an opener two times in a row and both have been very good. Not a lot of strikeouts, but we're talking, actually, no, Sunday he had a lot of strikeouts. Six innings, two runs, eight strikeouts at the Angels. Previously, eight innings, one run, two strikeouts against the Astros. And actually, like, was pretty good last year, 364 ERA. Wade LeBlanc is at Oakland this week. I don't think we like Antonio Sinsettella.

Eric Fetty, he's been okay lately. Glenn Sparkman, Adam Plutko, Homer Bailey. Again, I want to help the deep league people out here, Heath. Did I say any names that, other than Samson and Framber Valdez? Any names that you like? You certainly said a lot of names, and I was shocked you said the name of Homer Bailey because you had banned him from the show at one point, but it's glad to see that he's back. Randola Lopez is just hilarious.

This was his fifth or sixth start this season of at least six innings with one run or fewer allowed, and he still has an ERA over six. One good start against the Royals is not going to make me change my opinion on him. Yarbara would be the guy that I would be most interested in on this list, I think. LeBlanc in a deep league, sure. And then maybe Meryl Kelly. Okay, by the way, I said LeBlanc had a 364 ERA last year. year it wasn't quite that good. It was 372, but as a starter, it was 364. He did make some relief

appearances as well. So then let's go to the fringie, the studs being duds. Well, it's nice to see Walker Bueller turning a season around. Why isn't it happening for Jack Flaherty? He still has a 408 ERA. It just hasn't been very good. But, you know, he did have a good four-start stretch with a 274 ERA, more than a strikeout per inning. But the last two have been shaky. And then Shane Bieber, you obviously have no concerns about. But what about Flaherty? Are you concerned about Jack Flaherty? I don't have too much concern about Flaherty.

And I don't think the last two have been shaky, have they? It wasn't his last start, eight strikeouts and five innings against this same team? Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. It just was a short outing. But, yeah, it wasn't bad. Yeah, it was a short outing. But I kind of felt like before this start, he had turned things around.

This is one of those situations where it's the second time that he saw the Cubs this week, or in an eight-day stretch, third time he's seen him in like a month. and they are a very, very good offense. I'm just not that concerned about him. He had an ERA below four before this start. It was a bad start, but it's going to take more than that for me to be worried. He's still a top 30 guy for me. But is Flaherty behind Gialito and Bauer?

Yes. Is he behind Brandon Woodruff? I think I still have him just above Brandon Woodruff, and again, that's from last week. That could change this week. That they are right in that same range. I've got a three-pitcher range there, four-pitcher even. Hermann Marquez, Jack Flaherty, Zach Wheeler,

Brayn Woodruff. Okay, I never sit those guys. I mean, I guess you could make a case to sit Marquez at home, but pretty much never sit those guys. Studs being Duds part two. Actually, what were the names again? Marquez, Flaherty, Wheelerty, Wheeler. Woodruff.

I own zero. Zero of all four. But I would never sit those guys. That's fantastic. Yeah. Studs being Duds part two. All of these guys are owned in more than 80% of leagues, and my question is, should they be? John Gray, Marcus Strowman.

Why is it the one? Every time I start Marcus Stroman, he sucks. And every time I sit him, he's good. I can't stand it anymore. It sounds like you have sat him a lot more than you started him. Yeah, I have. He's really only had like four bad starts. But he never wins and it doesn't strike anybody out.

And his whip is bad. So it's like, what are you getting? You're getting ERA, maybe, from Stroman. Kyle Gibson, Eduardo Rodriguez, Gray, Stroman, Gibson, and Rodriguez. Yeah, I don't know that my opinion's really changed too much. It's always disappointing when John Gray has a road start that doesn't go great. But even this wasn't like a terrible start. He didn't quite make it six innings, but he still struck out eight.

It was disappointing, but I'll live with it. Strowman has mostly been a good starting pitcher has mostly given you good innings and yeah he's on a bad team that doesn't win enough games and he doesn't strike enough guys out but he's still someone I'm just going to start most of the time and just not think about it and that's worked out with him this year

if you've tried to pick and choose when to start him you might have gotten burned I don't know what to make of Eduardo Rodriguez every time I change my opinion on him he goes the other direction Yeah, his strikeout rate is very encouraging. Just can't keep runs off the board. He's giving up a lot of homers.

And that's like, this is not like a new thing for Rodriguez. Right, right. Yeah, that's disappointing. He's been a very encouraging, exciting, actually bad pitcher for some time. So let's put, let's put in Warderriga. Let's put all these guys on the Plexachometer, which is would you drop them for Plexac? John Gray, Strowman, Gibson, and Eduardo Rodriguez.

Plesaq fits right in the middle of this group for me, and I think you've ranked them in the same way that I do. Except maybe I have Rodriguez ahead of Gibson, but I would drop Rodriguez or Gibson for Pleezac. I would not drop Strowman or Gray. I just want to see where Strowman ranks in categories leagues. I would guess really bad. So then why are you saying you start?

him all the time. You shouldn't. Well, most of my leagues are points leagues, and I did not draft him in any categories leagues because he's not as good in that format. We have to make that distinction, though, because I don't think he is a must-start guy. I don't even think he's worth owning in a lot of categories of leagues. Maybe there's a team that needs Stroman, but he's a one-category guy. It's ERA. He is overall the 110th pitcher, but that's not, that's all. SP and RP.

But everybody starts nine pitchers, right? Yeah. So he's right at the edge of a start pitcher. He should definitely be rostered. The guys who are in the same range as him are pretty funny names. Sunny Gray, Eduardo Rodriguez, Aaron Nola, Liam Hendrix, Marcus Stroman, Jeff Samarja, Mike Fires, Nick Widgren, Tanner Roark, Mike Leak, Joe Musgrove.

So a mix of disappointing players and, complete trash and some relievers. It's not a great place to be. All right, Heath, thank you very much. Hopefully the Warriors win tonight. We get more basketball. That'd be fun. We can talk about basketball too. Yeah. I don't care who wins the series. I just would like to see game seven.

First, we need a game six. I had a theory that I expressed on Twitter and made a lot of people mad. And I'll just say it real quick, that if the Raptors ever got to three wins, Kevin Durant would heal and come back and lead the Warriors to victory. And Kevin Durant practiced yesterday and is now considered questionable for tonight's game. So we'll see. What a perfect way for him to leave the Warriors and go to the Knicks heroically. All right.

Thanks to Heath. Thanks to Scott for just giving his wisdom even on vacation. And thanks to you for listening. I'm Adam. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Baseball play.