Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/17: Weekend Roundup (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 17, 2019

Hitters (2:00) and Pitchers (4:00) to add, and it's an exciting list this week! Why haven't you picked up Mallex Smith yet? And if you need an SP, take a look at Pablo Lopez, Framber Valdez and a couple of prospects ... News and notes (12:45) including Edwin Encarnacion's impact on NYY and players we are welcoming back this week. Then we look at the Most Added list (21:00). Is Lourdes Gurriel worth adding? Which players don't belong on the list? Plus bullpen notes (31:00) as we could have some changes coming ... Revisiting the Brendan McKay controversy (35:40) and talking hitters (40:00) for a bit. Sell high on Yordan Alvarez? Any interest in Hunter Renfroe? Then we spend the rest of the show on SPs (44:00) as we wonder if Blake Snell, Trevor Bauer and Aaron Nola are worth worrying about ... 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. All right. One pitch. Basketball pulled and passed. Alborated. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league.

Well, fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. All right, welcome to your Monday edition. Hope you had a great father to everyone. We are back here on fantasy baseball today. I am Adam Azer. I take one day off, and Heath Cummings besmirches my good

by reading my text messages on the air in an inappropriate way. And Heath, I will be paying you back for that today. You literally asked me to read your text message on the air. I was doing exactly what you wanted. I'm sorry that the words that you said made you sound bad. You editorialized a little bit, and I didn't appreciate that. So there's that. Do you have a good Father's Day, Heath?

Yeah, I had a pretty good Father's Day. I had some steaks and some space camper. It was a good day. All right, good. Do you have anything to say to Scott White? Happy Father's Day, Scott. Not that. Same.

How about this? This is Adam's first Father's Day. There we go. It's been a week. Today we have Scott White. Hey, Scott. Welcome back. Yes.

Do not adjust your sets. This is what I've always sounded like, I assure you. It's just been a while since you've heard me. As you can tell, Scott was on a week-long booze cruise, apparently, with rock concerts. Scott's a little sick, but happy Father's Day to you, Scott, and welcome back. It's good to have you back, sir. Yeah, yeah, let's do this.

Okay, and happy Father's Day to me. All right, so, let's go to one hitter and one pitcher to add. Let's start it off here. Well, obviously, we'll give you some one-start streamers. Pretty crappy list. We will talk about Edward and Carnacion, going to the Yankees, and much, much more from around baseball, some prospects to keep an eye on,

catcher who got called up. So, yeah, let's do it. Heath, why don't you kick us off? We'll give Scott's voice a little bit longer of arrest. One hitter to add. Well, there's a guy we haven't talked about quite enough. Hit two home runs over the weekend. Three more hits has been absolutely on fire.

And how in the world is Malick Smith still less than seven? Oh, come on. Come on, add him. I will stop saying him when everyone adds to it. I do it. I should have said other than Malik's Smith. Quite obviously, they're like 50% of points leagues. He's just available on the waiver wire.

He has a seven-game week with the best schedule against the, Orioles and Royals pitchers, everyone should be starting him. I can't disagree. I can't disagree. Should be starting him this week. Okay, fine. Alex Smith. Scott, how about you?

Give me a hitter to add. I actually have names circled on my notes just in case you were to ask me such a question. And the name I circled for a hitter was Scott Kingery, who I added in a couple leagues. Nice versatility there, obviously playing every day now. And while he is playing over his head, you look at like X batting average, and that's right around 300.

Like he is supposed to be hitting for average. He's hitting the ball very hard, showing power that wasn't there last year, and I think he's pretty close to Must Own right now. All right, I'll give two more names that are less owned than Malick Smith and Kingery. How about Oscar Mercado showing some signs? He has stolen a base in two straight games.

which is really nice, but, you know, he's also been hitting the ball pretty well. He's 40% own. And Chance Cisco. I don't know. Is anybody else on Chance Cisco or Maya on Chance Island here? You just want one of us to say,

make some type of pun about the thong song, and then you're going to stop saying his name, I assume. No, Ramon Luriano, yes. Oscar Mercado was absolutely on the sleeper hitters this week. I did not put Cisco on there, but he is a catcher, and if you play in a two-catchery league, I suppose it's fine. Yeah, good call on Luriano.

He's another guy you can be looking to pick up right now. All right, how about pitchers to add? Scott, I'll go to you first. I hope you circled some names. Give me one pitcher to add. Oh, oh, I have so many pitchers circled. I wish you could. I wish I could give you three pictures to add.

You can. I can. Yeah, sure. Really? It's your day. Okay. Well, number one on my list of pictures to add is Bromber Valdez, who had two,

has two fantastic starts in a row now for the Astros. It makes you wonder why he wasn't in the rotation all along, two run runs in six innings on Saturday with eight strikeouts, gave up one run in seven innings the previous start. And like the thing about him is he is Dallas Kichel's levels of generating ground balls,

but with a better strikeout rate than Dallas Kichel ever had, except for maybe that one year. And I think he could be really good with Astros' offense backing him. So he's number one. Number two is if somebody doesn't already have Jesus Luzardo stashed away, and he's been among my top five prospects to stash since the start of the season, even though he was coming back from a strange rotator cuff, if he's available in your league, I think now is the time to make a play for him

because he is making his third rehab start. It'll be at AAA. And the first two have gone really good. I think there's a good chance he's up before the end of the month. And because he's been hurt for so long, he should have the ability, the innings available to last the rest of the season if he stays healthy. All right.

Framber Valdez, Hesel Sozardo, and? This isn't necessarily across the board, but Adbert Azaleigh, if I'm saying that right, of the Cubs is an interesting pickup with Kyle Hendricks going on the IEL. They haven't officially announced he's the replacement, but Theo Epstein says they've been looking for an opportunity to get him up. So I think that's going to happen. And he's been doing some impressive stuff in the minor leagues. His last few starts giving a few hits, getting a lot of strikeouts. Theo Epstein says the curveball is really coming through for him, getting a lot of swings and misses with it.

and could be interesting. Could be an interesting call-up for the Cubs. Adbert Al-Zalay. Yeah, I don't know if you're pronouncing that right, so I'm just going to say you are pronouncing that correctly. Good job, Scott. I'm probably not, but I'm pronouncing it phonetically so that you can look it up. There you go.

I have no idea how to spell it after your pronunciation. It's A-L-A-Y-L-A-Y. Yeah, that's probably, yeah, sure, Al-Z-L-L-A-L-L-L-A. Heath, do you have any pictures you'd like to add? this list? Yes, absolutely. I could give three, too, Adam. Whatever. Merrill Kelly is 69% owned. His last three starts, at least seven innings, no more than one run allowed. He's a two-start pitcher with a couple of home starts against the Giants and the Rockies.

He should be started in all points leagues and probably most categories leagues as well. I expect him to have a very good week. Pablo Lopez, Pablo Cito is continuing to pitch impressively when he was bad. We thought, you know, he should be better than this, and he has been lately. He's last night like just 50% owned. He should be close to 75% owned at the very least. And then I think we have to continue giving you credit, Adam. Annabal Sanchez looks a lot like just that sneaky good starting pitcher.

Yeah, boy, his swinging strike rate is so bad. So I am a little nervous about it, but he's getting results. You know, he had last year a 10.5% swinging strike rate, which isn't great, but he had a strikeout printing. His last four starts have been the good starts for Sanchez, and the swinging strike rate is like 7% or something like that. It was 8% before yesterday when he had a 4% swinging strike rate. So, yeah, look, I picked up Sanchez.

In one league a couple weeks ago, I picked them up yesterday, I think, in a second league. So I'm going to write it out. Although against Atlanta this week, the Braves, I think since they moved the Kuhna did the lead-off spot, I think that's the highest-scoring team. in the National League. So I don't know that I'd recommend Sanchez this week, but sure, let's see what we got.

Jesus Lazzardo, Adbert Al-Zalay, as prospects. Framber Valdez, Pablo Lopez, Merrill Kelly, and Annabal Sanchez, these are pictures that you should be adding right now. And in a shallower league, I will say that Andrew Heaney's ERA is bad, but everything else looks great. This walk-to-strikeout ratio is just outrageous right now. So if I had seen, if I saw Andrew Heaney available in any of my leagues, I'd pick him up, and I assume you guys would agree with that?

Yes. Yes, I think he's must-down. Yeah, I think he should be. We've talked about a lot of pitchers in this range, and I'm not 100% sure I'd rather have Andrew Heaney than all of them, but he should be close to 100% owned. All right, then. So I don't really have a ton of one-stared streamers.

I don't know if you guys have any off the top of your head, but how about these guys that pitched over the weekend? Chris Bassett against Baltimore. Bassett has three straight starts of five and two-thirds or six innings and three-run runs. He's been okay. He gets Baltimore, Chris Bassett. Marco Gonzalez gets the Royals this week at home. Brad Keller is at Seattle.

And I kind of like this one. Mike Leak against Baltimore. Mike Leak's been very good at home. He's given up 22 home runs this year, but only six of them or four of them at home. That's amazing. So, yeah, Chris Bassett against Baltimore. Mike Leake against Baltimore. Marco Gonzalez against Kansas City.

Brad Keller. Oh, no, Brad Keller is a... Yeah, he's at Seattle. He's at Seattle. Both the Mariners are interesting to me, but I think Marco would be my favorite, but Leaks right there. Okay.

All right, whatever. Those are your one-star streamers. We'll take a look at the most ad lists, and I'll see if I can find any more good one-star streamers. Like looking at this team I have now. How about Gialito at the Cubs? I'll start him.

That's not a one-start streamer, Adam. He would have been a month than a half ago, you know. He's going to start, he's one-start in the All-Star game for Lucas Gialito. Who do you think is going to start the All-Star game? Verlander Gialito, Otorizi. I would guess. Wait, who's the manager deciding? Dave Roberts, I assume.

Right? For the AL? Yeah. For the American League? I'm sorry I was thinking of Red Sox World Series heroes I'll go with Chris Sale Alex Cora is what I meant

Chris Cale maybe Chris Sale All right hey listen Today's sponsor is Seatgeek Use the promo code fantasy On Seatgeek and get $10 off your first purchase promo code's fantasy True story

Wednesday is my birthday I'm not telling you that so you can Send me presents You can Yes you are But I got a show in the morning And then I think I might go to the Yankees game. It's a day game, Blake Snell versus C.C. Sabathia, so probably going to lose.

See a little E5. See a little E5. That's exciting for Yankees fan, I'm sure. Sure, yeah. And I'm going to use Seatgeek when I go. So use the code fantasy. And we'll be right back after this word from Seatgeek. Well, during the commercial break, I was reading an email that subject line, Heath as a heel.

Heath is the perfect old-time wrestling heel, which is why he's great. He is completely right about the whole Brenda McKay-Yahu pitcher debate. Okay, so half of that email is true. Scott was gone for that debate, right? Yeah, we'll update him. We'll update them. But let's get into the news. The Yankees acquired Edwin Encarnacion.

John Carlos Stanton expected back tomorrow. Aaron Judge, maybe later this week. Clint Frazier to AAA. Got to figure Cameron Mabin's time is limited with the Yankees. So let's talk about Encarnacion. Value up down or the same for a guy who was the number seven, first baseman in fantasy going into yesterday's game and has well on his way to another 30 homer season. Scott,

value up down to the same for Ancarnazio. I got to think it's up. I mean, better park, better supporting cast. I suppose there's more competition for playing time, but it sounds like he's just going to be their dedicated DH, so I don't think that really changes that much. It hurts other parts of the Yankees lineup, such as Clint Brazier, who I was surprised to see sent down so soon, but he had had defensive

issues in the Yankees outfield and presumably they wanted to work on those. I assume in the long run it impacts Brett Gardner too who you know John Carlisle Stanton's going to be a fixture in the outfield when Aaron Judge comes back he's going to be a fixture there and Aaron

Hickson Center and that's that's what the Yankees lineups going to look like going forward assuming everybody stays healthy which hasn't happened hasn't been happening much this year. Well and there's two guys that I would much rather be DHS

than play in the outfield. And Hicks hasn't really been very good yet, so maybe it doesn't matter too much. But I don't have a lot of confidence that Aaron Hicks and John Carlos Stanton are going to play outfield every day and stay healthy. Yeah, it's a good point. I mean, I would like Stanton to be able to DH a little bit.

And I think at some point, Gio Rochella is probably going to lose, because the D.H is gone now. So, LeMay, he was going to play more third base. Torres and Dede are going to play the little infield Urchella is going to play less. All these guys could be getting days off once every five, six days. They have a really deep team now. We'll see how it plays out.

But I imagine that Frazier, Gardner, and Urchella are going to lose the most playing time. And Frazier, is he worth stashing? Because obviously they could trade them for pitching. Is he worth stashing? Yeah. He did well. He did well.

Maybe in like a five outfielder league. He had done pretty well, like you said, which is why I was surprised they sent him down so soon. I know Yankees fans are already writing him off his trade bait and they have some needs there. He doesn't seem like a great fit in New York, just, you know, personality-wise. Yeah.

You know, obviously he's had the defensive issues that has the fan base riding him pretty hard. So we'll see what happens. But I think there's a good chance he spends most of the rest of the season and the majors. Okay, the big news, other than Yankee news. So Noah Cindergarde is on the IL with a hamstring injury. We don't know the severity yet.

We should know today. Kyle Hendrix is on the IL with shoulder inflammation. And Adbert Alzolay could get called up. And do we know how long Hendrix is going to be out? Do we have a timetable on this? Probably through the All-Star break is all I got, but they don't have a severity. They haven't given severity yet. It doesn't sound like it's that serious, but with the All-Star break being like three weeks away.

Gotcha. Just makes sense to hold them out that long. The Angels DFAed Cody Allen. So Robles continues to get saves there. Nomar Mazar is going to have an MRI on his hamstring. And they could bring back Willie Calhoun. Also, Hunter Pence has hurt more than that in a second. Yoamankata left with back tightness, and that scares me.

Because he came back on Sunday after missing a few games. Then he left because the situation flared up. So I'd be pretty nervous to start. Y'amankata. I don't know if they play today. If he's in the lineup, go for it. If he's not in the lineup, I'd say you probably want to avoid Moncada. I think you want to leave him on the bench.

Did you say Yohanna leave him? Is that what you said? Yes. The not as big news. Arizona catcher Alex Avila is on the IL. Why have you bring that up? Because that's more playing time for Carson Kelly, who's been awesome. Max Muncie wore a go-get-it-out-of-the-o-o-shirt, which was very cool.

Made by our friends at Rotoware. Is that right? Yeah. Nice. Hunter Strickland suffered a setback. Rowena Salyas has gotten the last two saves for the Mariners, but Hunter Strickland, he's not coming back anytime soon, I guess. San Diego and Colorado combined for 92 runs in a four-game series

that is the most ever in a four-game series since 1900. And Charlie Blackman, first player since at least 1900, with 15 hits in a four-game series. Charlie Blackman scored 70 fantasy points. I don't remember a 70-fancy point week, because that was amazing. I don't either. I don't either. It's possible it's happened.

I don't have a running high scores list, like Pac-Man or anything. But yeah, I don't remember one. It's top of my head. He was 21 for 37 with six home runs. He did not walk once. Four strikeouts, four doubles, a triple 12 runs scored. Charlie Blackman. And he was only started in 93% of leagues, those 7% of Blackmun owners.

Maybe fell asleep because he got activated on like Monday, I think. and they miss 70 fantasy points and a surefire win. No question. All right. More news. Minor league stuff. So Colorado sent Brendan Rogers to AAA.

The White Sox are calling up Zach Collins, a catcher in the organization from the University of Miami. Heath, other than the fact that he's from the University of Miami, does Zach Collins matter? Well, he's from the University of Miami,

so I would assume not. No, he's a catcher. If he gets to play regularly and shows a little bit of bat, then he might. Yeah, I don't think he's going to play regularly. Yeah, I don't really, like they have enough catchers, so I don't really understand it. James McCann's been playing well.

Yeah, James McCann has actually DHed in three of his last late. He's played 10 straight days, nine straight days and three times a DH. How about that? Plus, Zach Collins struck out 32% of the time at AAA this year, which is awful for that level. I can't imagine what it's going to be in the majors. My last minor league note, I was going to talk about Lazzardo, but Scott already did. Brendan McKay pitched against the Yankees' minor league club on Saturday, and he faced John Carlos Stanton and Aaron Judge, and he had a great start.

He also entered after an opener, which most of his appearances have been just normal starts, but they used an opener. I hope they don't do that when they call him up. David Sampson on yesterday's HQ show on our Fantasy Baseball today's Sunday afternoon show, David Sampton speculated it'll be within two weeks. He thinks about two weeks when they call up Brennan McKay. And I won't waste time on it now because we've got too much to get to. But hopefully I can tell Heath why I should own Brennan McKay in my Yahoo.

I would like for Scott to tell you why I'm right. Okay, fair enough. We have so many more news items, so I'm going to fly through it. Day to day, to day, I think you're going to be starting. Sean Newcomb, well, you're not going to be starting him, but he should be fine. Not expected to go on the IL. Byron Buxton sat, but he was available on Sunday. Jay Bruce is day to day with hamstring tightness.

It does seem minor, but you got to check it out. Hunter Pence left with groin tightness. That one worries me a little bit more. I don't know the severity, but Hunter Pence, check on him. Nick Senzel, I'm going to be starting. He's probably fine. He had his eyes stitched up. And Andrew Benintendi said it was no big deal when he sat with a sore quad.

Now we play the music one more time. And we welcome back the following players. Robinson Kanoe, welcome back. And Mike Clevenger, you're going to start today. Justin Upton. is expected to return today. Trevor Williams for the Pirates could start on Wednesday. He's still available in a lot of leagues.

Pick up Trevor Williams. Andrewton Simmons could be back this week. Joey Gallo could be back this week. And Dallas Keikle will likely start on Friday. Meanwhile, Shaw Mania is nearing a rehab assignment, and Scooter Jeanette will begin a rehab assignment today. And that's it for me. Are you guys ready for the most added players in CBS leagues?

Yes, so ready. Beyond ready. Okay. Welcome back. All right, here we go. Merrill Kelly is number one. We talked about him. Two starts.

What is it, Colorado and who for Merrill Kelly? The Giants. Ah, perfect. Now, the Rockies just went crazy in four games at home. Do you really think they're going to go on the road to Arizona and just turn into pumpkins? Like they have every year, like for the history of their organization? Okay, so that's yes. I believe they are the second worst road offense in baseball once again.

this season. Wow. Scott Kingery add him. Jordan Yamamoto. I don't add him, right? He's not going to be around that long, right? I think he might because Urania got switched to the 60-day

I-I-L, so I think there is a chance that he's a two-start pitcher. I added him in one league where I was really desperate at pitcher. I would say it's probably 60-40 that he's not a two-star pitcher, but it's certainly possible. I think with Jordan Yamamoto, if

that first start was so good that they have to give him a second one. But if the second starts bad, especially now that Irania's on the 60-day IL, it's all the excuse they need to go to Zach Gallen. Yep, yep, it's another good name to stash. And Yalamoto, I mean, look, he gave up, he shut out the Cardinals over seven innings. But he, like, apparently he got hit pretty hard. He was pretty lucky.

He had five strikeouts and seven innings. So I'd be kind of nervous to start him. He's at St. Louis, again, it's the same team. They're going to see him twice. And then the second start would be at Philadelphia. No thanks. Yeah. Like I said, he's 28% owned.

I don't think that's too high. I don't think it's a lot too low. But it's a desperation play. Okay. Ian Kennedy is starting to get some more saves for the Royals. He's 32% owned. Adrian Samson, two-star pitcher this week. That's one that makes me

really nervous. Right. Cleveland and the white socks, though. Those are good. But you're nervous. So, so like, Frambervaldez is 61% or I just don't get it. That's way too low. Get Framber Valdez. We agree. Yeah. Mike Fires, Hansel Robles, Garrett Cooper. Scott, what do you think about Gary Cooper?

I don't think looking at his peripherals that he's actually outperforming expectant. Like, he's not overachieving. I guess is the better word. I think this is basically who he is. So that's probably, it probably deserves to be more than 40% owned. Gary Cooper is batting 306 with six home runs in 34 games.

Not bad. He's another guy that was on the sleeper hitters call on this week. Not so much because of matchups, but just because he needs to be more owned. He should be probably started in all leagues where you have a corner infielder or a fifth outfielder. Heath, you should write the sleeper hitters column more often. You seem to really be enjoying it. I just, that's a way for me to reference things. that I did.

I just want you like Scott, I think, give it the column to Heath. Scott does it. No, do not do that. But like Scott says the same things every Monday. Whenever we talk about someone that's on the list, he mentions that they're on the list. He does. Yeah, I know, I know.

Pretty much. You seem to be enjoying it. I didn't want to deprive you of that. How about two guys on this list that are owned in less than 20% of leagues, starting pitchers? One of them actually makes starts. The other one gets used after an opener. The opener guy is Tommy Malone for Seattle.

The guy who starts is Adam Plutgo for Cleveland. Do you see any mixed league relevance here with Malone and Plutco? Is Plutco still in the rotation now? Oh, with Clevenger back? I think so. We've got enough injuries. But that's a good question. Yeah, I'm trying to open the roster to see if anyone else could be out.

Because I don't remember off the top of the head. Jeffrey Rodriguez or something like that? He's not good, though, Plutco. Three quality starts in four, but nothing in his minor league track record to suggest he'd be good. It looks like they have room for him still, but don't fall for it. Tommy Malone? No, I mean, come on. How many times has Tommy Malone done this?

Opener. They've changed it. Does that the face the top of the owner? Maybe not that specifically, but no, he's not. he's forever going to be that guy who fills a spot on the roster for a while and then gets sent back down. I'm still waiting for Rob Manfred to officially approve the quality appearance stat. So these guys who pitch six innings after an opener can still get credit for something.

And last guy I want to talk about, what's that? Is that a stat you made up? Yeah, yeah, sure. It's probably not going to happen. Well, I also made up earned. whip, e-whip. If your earn-run-run average doesn't go up after an error, why should you whip? So, two guys, actually.

Okay. Your whip? It's walks plus hits divided by innings pitched. There's no errors included in there. No, no, no. I mean, an error is not a walk or not. No, no. If an inning should have ended due to an error, your earn run and you give up more

earn runs, they don't count toward your ERA. Oh, I see what you're saying. If you give up more hits or walks, that's unerringed. I got a whip. Nobody, yeah, bad. But you could argue, I'm not sure that the earned, like, when a pitcher doesn't get that third out and then like seven runs scored, it always feels kind of cheap that the pitcher gets no. Right. Is it penalized statistically for that?

He hasn't been since the beginning of time. Two more names on the most added list. Zach Plyzac, 75% owned. Would you be dropping Plizac for the pitchers that we talked about? Framber Valdez, Pablo Lopez, the prospects. Heath, what do you think about? Please, Zach? Yes, on Pablo. Yes, on Framber. I don't think I would drop him for anyone else.

Maybe I would drop him for Merrill Kelly in a two-start week this week, but probably not. I drop him for Loosardo. I would not drop him for Al-Zalay, which I'm sure is wrong, but I'm just going to keep saying it. Because I want you to think about how it's spelled. You just go all the way with it. There you go. Howie, Kendra. his first, second, and third base eligible.

He's playing pretty regularly. He's 64%-0 and Howie Kendrick. That seems perfect. Okay. Yeah, give me a shot. Would you rather have Howie Kendrick or Brian Dozier? I'd rather have Kendrick. I think Dozier still. Okay.

And all right, now last guy. Lorda Scuriel. Lord of Scuriel is actually, you know, he had a good day yesterday. And before that, I have his numbers since being called up. He went two for four with a home run yesterday. at Houston. The 20 games before that, he had a 1024 OPS. So he slowed down a little bit, but he's picked it back up. Three home runs in his last seven games for Lordus Goreal, who is second base, outfield, and shortstop eligible. What do you think about him?

53% owned? It should probably be a little higher than that. I don't know if he's quite as good as his numbers show so far, but there's some nice versatility there. And I think any time you're talking about a roto lineup with 14 hitter spots to fill. He comes in pretty handy. He's just got more pop than I realized. Like he did last year, and I didn't necessarily believe it, but I mean, we're sitting on 393 plate appearances now with basically a 200 ISO and about an 800 OPS.

That'll play. Howie Kendrick or Lordus Gareil? Kendrick. Yeah, I agree Kendrick. Okay, that's a look at the most added list. If you want to look at us at our beautiful faces, every Sunday, 3 to 6 p.m. on CBS Sports H.Q. We do a strictly video version of fantasy baseball today,

and it's fun because, you know, we get to react a little bit to what's going on on Sunday. We also get to talk to Jim Bowden and David Sampson, a former GM and a former president. So that's pretty cool. Will Middlebrooks, a World Series champion, joins us every week as well. We get to just some prospect scoops. And it's fun. It's fun. So if you're not doing anything on Sunday afternoon, 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern. You download the CBS Sports app. You watch CBS Sports HQ. It's all free. And right now,

if you watch HQ, you'll get like U.S. Open coverage, World Cup coverage. I mean, this is like no fake arguments, no politics, just sports coverage, the way you grew up watching it, the way used to be awesome sports coverage on HQ. Meanwhile, poker fans, it is that time of year again. It is the World Series of Poker, the 50th year of the most popular poker tournament in the world. You can have a front row seat to the bracelet events with CBS All Access. Starting now until July 16th, you can live stream the final tables of 33 of the World Series of Poker bracelet events, including 25 events that you can't watch anywhere else. The bracelet events include the $100,000 high roller and $100,000 six max.

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so start watching today and don't miss any of the action. To the bullpen. I'm going to let you guys talk because I need to take a drink of water. Anybody in the bullpen do anything good or bad

that is making you be like hmm right now. Scott. Well, you mentioned earlier, and this isn't the most exciting name. It's just the first one that came to mind that Ian Kennedy has started to get more saves for the, like it's pretty clear now he's their closer. The opportunities had been so sparse that even in like some of my, like in my tout wars league, 15 team roto, he was available on waivers because nobody knew for sure if he was the guy and didn't want to eat the ratios in the meantime. But he had three save week. and I think if it's a league where saves are important, he has to be owned now. Okay. You? No, I agree with that completely.

I was going to go the opposite direction and say, I'm sorry, Luke Jackson, you're not for real. He's been absolutely terrible, as of late, and was absolutely terrible at the beginning of the year and just had this middle stretch where he was kind of okay, but I just don't think he's a very good pitcher. Well, he was more than kind of okay during that middle stretch.

He was, okay, he was very good for a short period of time. Yeah. He's now been in the majors for five years, thrown 144 innings and has a 4-680 RA. Yeah, right. And he's blown six saves, and this is a very good team right now. They've got to find an answer quick, and it should not be. And they do have some alter. I mean, Anthony Swarzak's been great since coming over.

So I would imagine if they did decide. make a change he would be first a j mentors back up but obviously it's going to take a while for him to regain that ninth any trust again jacob webb's been pretty good in terms of e r a but i don't think the ratios really support a closer shot uh though he has sometimes been labeled a closer a potential closer so maybe he gets a shot those would be the top three names i would be looking into if I was trying to corner saves in that bullpen going forward. But Luke Jackson hasn't actually lost the job yet either. So I wouldn't necessarily drop him for any of those guys.

Well, I made a bold prediction on our show yesterday. I think that it's going to be Will Smith closing for the Braves. So take that. But I, Scott, am going to pick up Anthony Swarzak right now in a league in which I own Luke Jackson, because that does make a lot of sense. I like that. I think that Wade Davis' owner's got to be on alert right now. he has allowed five run runs in his last three appearances.

His ERA has gone from 216 to 521. We'll cut the guy some slack. Before he went on the IL, Davis hadn't blown a save. He now he's blown two. He blew two over the weekend. But Scott Oberg was really good in his stead. So I think, you know, it's not out of the question. It's not going to happen right now, but it's not out of the question.

I don't know why Jordan Hicks was not used for his save for a save on Sunday. Carlos Martinez pitched two innings who got his second save. I know what the heck that was about. It's clear that Taylor Rogers is the best option, and he got two saves over the weekend for the twins, and he's 35% only. If they start using him to get most of their saves, and they have the best record in baseball, I believe,

obviously you need to pick up Taylor Rogers. And Diego Castillo got a save on Sunday. Jose Alvarado has been out for two weeks, tending to a personal matter. He's back with the team. I don't think he's quite ready to pitch in the majors yet, but he should be back soon, but the Rays got a save on June 16th. That was their first save since May 28th.

So I don't know that we have a lot of clarity there. And Rowanus Alias has gotten the last two saves. Now, two saves ago, Elias didn't pitch the ninth. Anthony Bass blew the save, and then Aaliyos got the save, and then he got the save for Realzies with a scoreless inning on Sunday. So there's a little bit of an update for you. Also, Sean Kelly is still in the closer's role for Texas. but Swarzac and

Swarzac and Oberg might be two guys I'm looking at what do you think about the Cardinal situation and it's Carlos Martinez two-inning save So it was a second save Hicks had gotten three saves in between the two I think it was just a matter of You know there was no need to pinch hit for him In between the eighth and ninth innings

And you know kind of kind of the way the Brewers used Josh Hater last year where he was never really the closer but sometimes he'd just stay in to finish the ninth in a safe situation. I don't think Hicks is really at risk. Okay, good. Good to know. By the way, you'll be happy to know that right now, I am adding Swarzac.

I am putting Clint Frazier in my minor league slot, and I am dropping first baseman Brendan McKay to free up the roster spot. Tell Scott the story. Okay, Scott. So here's what happened. So two Sundays ago, Jim Bowden said on our show that Brandon McKay is going to get called up soon. You look at his minor league numbers. The guy is freaking great as a pitcher, not a hitter.

So I picked up McKay. I now own him in five out of six leagues. But I picked him up pretty much everywhere. And I didn't realize at the time, but on Yahoo, he was only first base eligible. So I picked him up really before everybody else was on Brandon McKay. Like a week ago, honestly, nobody was really talking about Brennan McKay. But by like Wednesday or Thursday, for some reason, there's so much more buzz. And people started complaining to Yahoo about not having him eligible at starting pitcher.

And they said, we're going to make a new player. He's coming out, a new player, the pitcher version of Brendan McKay, and you'll be able to pick him up. Well, I think that I should get that player. He's going to be on waivers and I'm not going to get him. Somebody else is going to claim them. But I think I should have him because this is a deep league and it's a keeper league. If people wanted Brendan McKay, they would have owned Brendan McKay. So they didn't.

I picked up Brandon McKay. He was only eligible as a first baseman. And now I'm going to get screwed. So I texted my commissioner. I told him exactly what happened. He said, sorry, you can't get Brandon McKay. I then, he doesn't know this part. I did send a note to the league, and I told them how I felt about the situation.

I've received three responses, and they seem somewhat open to me getting Brendan McKay, somewhat. You kind of blew your cover there, you know, by text, by, like somebody's going to pick him up just to be grateful now. It would have happened. It would have happened anyway. There's no way. This is a savvy league. So, so what do you think, Scott? Heath does not think that I should have gotten McKay.

What do you think? I think if you want to assure yourself that you get the one and only version of a player and at the right position, I think you should play somewhere other than Yahoo. Yes, well, that's not an option, unfortunately, in this league. But if you were the commissioner, would you give me the Brandon McKay pitcher or would you put him on waivers? I Remember that your league has dealt with this already, Scott, because you dealt with Shohei Otani

hitter and pitcher last year if you were in this league with Adam. Different though, because O'Tani was draft eligible. But there were two players, a hitter and a pitcher. The guy that had the hitter didn't have the picture. This is not like, oh, there's all this president. This is one guy. This is a second player who's a hitter and a pitcher.

So I reject that argument. And Otani, we drafted him knowing what to do. This didn't come out of a surprise to anyone. Yeah, but you know the Yahoo! Like, you're kind of, unless these are things arranged ahead of time, then I think you're at the mercy of your provider, in this case, Yahoo. But what was I supposed to do? Like, am I supposed to say, hey, everybody, I want the Brendan McKay pitcher?

No, I, I, you can't have them until he's created. Well, it's stupid. You're at the mercy. I'm, like, I play in, I, I play, I think it's, uh, uh, what, what, what, what? What is it? NFBC, where we play the TGFBI, if I can throw a bunch of acronyms of people.

Like they don't, you can't pick up prospects ahead of time at that lake. There's plenty I would have liked to because it's a deep format where it would be very helpful to do that. But, you know, they don't allow it. So I think it's kind of the same thing. I wish Scott.

Unless you have an arrangement ahead of time, your commissioner has a place. land in place for this. If not, then you're just riding the wave. I liked you better when you were on vacation, Scott. All right, let's do some more fantasy baseball talk. Hitters. So I talked about the guys to pick up, but Jordan Alvarez, my goodness, this guy is amazing. 3-81, four home runs, six walk, seven strikeouts in six games. It's slugging 952. Buy sell holds, Jordan Alvarez. Man, I'm holding that.

I've stashed it for this long. I'm just going to reap the benefits. I don't think it ever hurts to put it out there and see what you could get, but I imagine people are going to try and shortchange you if you do that, and you're probably better off holding on to him, because I do think he's legitimately a great hitter. Treasure. Would you trade Jordan Alvarez for Jose Ramirez?

Yes. I would not. I would not. There's principle, and then there's when rubber meets the road. And when rubber meets the road, I probably won it. Eloy Jimenez has had a big month. He's got a 1075 OPS in June. He homered twice on Friday, so good stuff for there for Jimenez.

How about a couple of outfielders who might be available? Ian Desmond, who had a monster week. Nobody likes Ian Desmond. And Hunter Renfro. Hunter Renfro homeward five times over the weekend. Like, it's time to play. What are they even coming? Yeah, but still, Renfro's got like 24 home runs or something like that.

And yes, they played a course field this weekend. Yeah. He's on pace for more than 50. Hunter Renfro. Right. So I know he doesn't play all the time. He's 73% owned. Is that going to change by any chance?

Could he become an everyday player? Could he become more valuable in fantasy? He's not far off from being an everyday player, right? I mean, he sits occasionally. but I think he's pretty close. He's terrible in terms of plate discipline, and he's not 50 homer's good. So I'm not sure in like a three outfielder points league

if in the long run he's going to be somebody who deserves to be starting for someone, but anything deeper in certainly five outfielded leagues, category leagues, I think he's a lineup fixture, basically. So that's kind of where, that's kind of where I stand with him right now. Yeah, Renfro went through a stretch where he played almost every day for about 18 games, but his last 12 games, he's only started eight of them.

So they went away from that, and Josh Naylor is just stealing at bats. Will Myers has been really bad, but I understand why he's going to play. He's playing center field. But, I mean, Nailer is putting, and it's bad for Fram O'Reis, too. It's just, it's kind of an annoying situation. They've got like two, too many guys. Yeah, they do. Yeah, make a trade.

But they also have, like, if they play Renfro, Reyes, and Will Myers in the outfield, they have the worst defensive outfield in baseball. Kevin Newman is 14% owned. He has three steals in his last six games. He's a shortstop who leads off for the pirates. He's batting 315, has very, very little power. Do you see any appeal for Kevin Newman? Deep leagues, just because he is capable of running.

I know it's only happened recently, but I think it's not. his minor league track record shows more. So it'd have to be a deep league. It should probably be 20 to 25% owned. He's a little underowned. Okay, guys, we're going to talk about a bunch of pitchers. Also, Jake Bowers hit for the cycle on Friday, a day after Chohay Otani hit for the cycle.

That's really weird. But pitchers, James Paxson had a good start. Complete game shutout for Trevor Bauer. Who else? Steven Strasberg was a dud. Aaron Nola was a dud. We'll talk about it right after this quick break on fantasy baseball today. And we're back.

That's an S&L reference. Studs being Studs Part 1. You remember that, Scott? And we're back. Jimmy Fallon, maybe? No? I don't remember it. I haven't been the most regular viewer of Saturday Night Live over the years.

Well, all right. But I'll take your word for it. I'm going to double check. Jimmy Fallon. And we're back. Yes, I was right. Take that, Heath. Studs being Studs Part 1.

James Paxton. I was relieved that he had a good start. at the White Sox. Six innings, eight hits, two runs. There he is. Video. Seven strikeouts at the White Sox. I'm just really nervous about the knee, and it was good to see. Also, Ryu was amazing again. Bauer, complete game shutout. Swinging strikes have been a little bit down lately for Bauer, and this was the Tigers. Lucas G. G. Alito is just the best.

Shane Bieber had 12 strikeouts at the Tigers in seven and two-thirds. And Frankie Motas is, I mean, like, he's just clearly a must-star guy, but he never, he doesn't pitch deep into games. They don't let him go through the third time in the order, even though he's actually been pretty good third time through the order. Okay. So, Scott, why don't you give me your take on this list? Paxton, Rew, Bauer, Gialito, Bieber, Montas, who stood out to you? I mean, for all the worry and fulmination concerning Trevor Bauer, he now has a 341-ERA and a 112 whip for a guy. who gives you great number of innings, a great number of strikeouts.

I just wonder what we're doing. Are we over-complicating things here? I mean, Trevor Bauer, pretty good pitcher. And, like, the thing is, like, the talent is so evident. And, you know, he's such, you know, I know we've used the tinker or argument in a bad way before. Like, he's going to tinker himself out of success. But, like, he knows when something's off and he knows how to fix it. And he's going to be fine.

Yeah, I just, by saying that, you're asking us to just not pay attention to the things that with other pitchers we say are more indicative of what the future is going to look like. Yep, I am. Like what, though? Like what? He's got a 434 Sierra. He's got a 445 X-FIP. He's got a 413 FIP. He's walking more batters than he did last year.

He's striking out fewer batters than he did last year. and he has a 341 ERA largely because of a 238 Babbip. That's a good point. He gets Detroit again this week, so he should have another good start. I think he'll be good against the tiger. I have never sat Trevor Bauer.

No, no, no. This is, I understand that. Right. Like, I think Paxton's interesting in terms of the start or sit thing because he has the Astros at home this week. Yeah. And I'd be very nervous with the way he's pitched

since he came back from the knee injury was starting him. I'm not saying we shouldn't start Bauer, but I also don't think we can act like there's just no reason to worry about him because all 341 ERAs are not created the same. He has a 341 ERA that looks like he's been lucky, and that is concerning. I'm not saying you should sit him.

Yeah. Yeah, well, I understand why people have been concerned. I'm just saying I don't think you should be. All right, I'll tell you what concerns me more than anything is just his usage. And it's now three starts in a row with 117 to 119 pitches. And it's every start, it's like 110 or more. It's insane or 108 or more almost every time out. So look, he's probably on the very short list of pitchers who can do that and be okay.

But it just, it's annoying. It's like just stop, especially when he's not pitching well. They're a game that he's not pitching well, and they're down four runs, and Francona leaves him in for seven innings. It's like, what are you doing? I'm not going to complain about that. Well, that's what Bauer wants to do. I think it goes, like, this is an argument that Dave and I have in terms of running backs in football,

and there is an argument to be made that being the guy that throws 110 pitches every start and doesn't get hurt means that you're just probably okay throwing 110 pitches. 110 is fine, but it's more than that. It's 117, you know? I don't particularly. like it, but I think we're getting close to the point to where that concern, at least, just doesn't bother me that much anymore because he's just shown ability to hold up to this type of workload.

And this is, wasn't this the whole crux of the argument when he first came into the league and he was doing all kinds of warm up methods that were atypical and, you know, clashing with management. He's a super long talk guy, right? Yep. Yep. He used to throw the ball as super far. Yeah.

And I get it, but also he's not superhuman. So just like, come on. If you're listening, Terry, just Tito. Right, but it won't have to be superhuman. There was a tweet that came out yesterday or the day before something. He said it was like the 20th anniversary of Nolan Ryan throwing 235 pitches in a 13 inning game. Like guys used to throw 140, 150 pitches all the time. I'm not saying that's smart.

It's not good for most pitchers. But I think some guys are just fine. Okay, Studs being Studs Part 2. How about you, Darvish? Kyle Gibson and Eduardo Rodriguez all had very good starts over the weekend. You Darvish, Kyle Gibson, and Eduardo Rodriguez. Now, this is

one walk in his last two starts for Darvish. That is, I'm pretty sure, the best two-start stretch in terms of walks of the season. He may finally be figuring it out. Yeah, I'm starting him. He's back in the lineup. Mets this week for Darvish. He's back in the lineup. We'll see what happens, but I can't

leave him on my bench anymore. And then Scott Gibson and Rodriguez, do you consider either of them worthy of 80% ownership or more? Yeah, 80% is kind of the threshold where you see a lot of players owned above it, and then the ownership rate drops precipitously thereafter. So it's kind of the defining line between owned in a basic league and not owned. And I think they're both above that line. Of these three pitchers, I think Kyle Gibson's my favorite.

actually. I think he's shown a good swinging strike rate the past two years and kind of underwhelmed with it last year, but he seems to have really figured it out this year, and I'd have a hard time taking him out of my lineup, much less not owning him. I think it's

fair to say Gibson doesn't have the upside of Darvish, but also he doesn't have the downside of Darvish. Now... Yeah, I... Yeah, go ahead. I think only like 25 pitchers have the upside of Darvish. Right, right. Gipson has Boston this week and Eduardo Rodriguez is

at Minnesota this week. Are you going to start either one of them? I hope not. I mean, if I had to start Gibson, I wouldn't I wouldn't be too afraid of starting Gibson. Yeah. That's a big series. That's a big series. That's a big series. We have some big series in the American League this week. All right, Studs being Duds part one. Any concerns about Strasbourg,

Nola, Snell, or got to be some concerns about Armand Marquez. Strasbourg, Nola, Snell, Armand, Marquez, Heath, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, Marquez, the concern is he pitches for the Rockies, and you should not start him at home. Snell, I'm getting a, and Nola, I think there's definitely reason for concern. He's just not as good as he was last year. Snell, I'm actually starting to feel a little bit more concerned about him as well.

Strasbourg, I'm pretty much fine with. Okay, well, let's talk about Nola and Snell then. I'm not concerned about Snell because the K and B, B, rates are both better than they were last year. The FIP is about the same, which is to say it's right around three. He's a distant first in swinging strike rate, like distant,

way ahead of everybody else. So I think he's great and this was just a bad start. At the Yankees this week for Snell. So Heath, what are you concerned about with Snell? Those things are true, but he also, like, the reason he was a top, one of the reasons, he was a top,

five pitcher last year was because he had a little bit of good luck in terms of strand rate. He had an 88% strand rate and a 241 babbip against. Those things have not only not been that. They've actually been worse. If you are asking me, do I think he's going to be a top 12 starting pitch of the rest of the year? Yes. But I had him as a top four or five at the beginning of the year.

I'm starting to think he deserves to be in the second half of that top 10, not the first half. Maybe a low 3ZRA at the end of the year, but he's not going to repeat what he did last year. Would you guys rather have Lucas Gialito or Blake Snell? Oh, Snell easily. Yes. It's not that easy. Would you rather have Lucas Gialito or Aaronola?

Snell pretty easily. No, Nola, I said. Lucas Gialito or Nol. I'm ready to move Nola behind Gialito. Heath, what about you? I think I may have done that last week, but if I didn't, that will happen this week. Yes. So, Gialito should be ahead of Nola.

Lucas Gialito is an ace. By herself. I'm not quite ready to go there yet, but he's certainly showing the signs of it, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's where he ended up at season's end. I just need to see a longer stretch of it. This is a fun one for Gialito. First three starts, 11 earn runs.

Last 10 starts, nine earn runs. That's amazing. Okay. So, Studs being Duds Part 2. These guys not quite on the same level is Strasbourg, Nola Snell. Maybe they are with Marquez. But they were not good over the weekend.

Brad Peacock, been struggling a bit lately. Has not thrown 100 pitches yet. Usually throws around 90 pitches. And Peacock's at the Yankees this week. Robbie Ray got lit up. Six innings, five runs. Two home runs at Washington. Max Freed, Max Fried struggling.

752 ERA in his last four starts. It's hard to justify starting him right now. Zach Davies, I don't think anyone's surprised. He's been struggling a bit. Two starts in a row not so good. And Chris Archer at Miami? Four runs and five innings at Miami? Come on.

Ridiculous. It eight strikeouts. Oh, hooray. Okay. Peacock, Ray, Freed, Davies, Archer. How about how many of these guys would you be starting, not necessarily this week, but just like in general? Peacock.

And the relief pitcher eligibility helps with that. Robbie Ray would probably be second on the list, but he probably wouldn't be a fixture in my lineup. I think the other three freed, Davies, and Archer, they're borderline rosterable at this point. Yep. Yeah. All the guys we talked about earlier in the show, feel free to drop Max Fried, Zach Davies, or Chris Archer for them. Okay, let's go to all of them. I wouldn't go quite to all of them.

So who not? Yeah, maybe not for Annabal Sanchez. I was talking about the group of Lazzardo, Valdez, Pablo Lopez. Right there, stop. Okay, what about... And I'm not sure, I'm not even sure. Like, I think I'd drop Davies for all of them. Yeah.

But it would be a tough call with Freed and Archer. Okay, fair enough. So, Fringy starting pitchers part one. Andrew Heaney, we like. He's at Toronto this week. Jimmy Nelson, 70% owned. brutal start to his season. Any reason to continue owning Jimmy Nelson? I wish the velocity was higher. That's the most concerning part to me is that he's not throwing

as hard as he did before the injury. And considering it was a shoulder injury, a tear in the shoulder. I think there's reason to wonder if he'll, if he ever will. But I'm not, you know, if I've stashed him this long, I probably not dropping him. I'd be more likely to drop him than Breeder Archer, but I haven't dropped any of them yet. So I guess he's, I guess he's, it's a reasonable question to ask, should you drop him or not? It just depends on what else is

out there. I would drop him for most the guys we talked about earlier. Yeah, I mean, I guess that's the thing. Like, in most of my leagues, I have somebody worse, I can drop for a Frumber Valdez or Pablo Lopez or Jesus Luzardo. Those are probably the big three for me. And most leagues, I could

probably come up with a bench hitter or something to drop instead. I'd rather I'd rather cast a wide net at starting pitcher and the hope that something pays off in the long run. But if that was genuinely my worst player, Jimmy Nelson, I'd probably drop him. Okay. I think Nick Povetta, you know, he gave up four runs on eight hits, three home runs at Atlanta.

Look, Atlanta's a brutal matchup right now, and he had only given up two runs through six innings. They brought him out for the seventh, and he gave up two more. So it was a pretty good start. Povetta's got a 270 ERA since being recalled with four walks, 27 strikeouts and 26 and 2 thirds. So I think if anybody's freaking out about Pivotta because of this last start, you might want to take advantage of that.

Marco Gonzalez, you know, whatever. Stephen Mats, he's fine. I guess I don't get it, but at Atlanta this week, I don't know. I'm not sure I'm starting Stephen Mats at Atlanta this week. No, no. He's pretty boring. Matchups play at best. Is Griffin Canning deserving of a 79% ownership?

I think so. I think if Eduardo Rodriguez is over 80, then sure. He's had, like, one area where Canning seems to be vulnerable is home runs, he's given up nine and nine starts, which isn't great. But if he qualified, if he had the innings to qualify, he'd be top five in swinging strike rate behind Snell, Garrett Cole, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander. Okay.

And, uh, sunny, yeah, it's good. Sunny Gray, Martin Perez, Dakota Hudson. what do you think about these guys? Gray, Perez, Hudson. Yeah, go ahead. I really think Stony Gray is significantly underowned at 71%. I think he should be owned more than Eduardo Rodriguez.

He should be owned more than Mike Fultenevich. He should be owned more than Jimmy Nelson. Well, he has owned more than Jimmy Nelson, I guess, now. But, yeah, I think he should be closer to 90% owned. He's been pretty good. Okay, so Gray just never pitches. Six innings. And his ERA and his batting average against third time through the order are abysmal.

Opponents trading 350 against him. 964 ERA entering Sunday start third time through the order. Those numbers entering Sunday. So it's weird. It's like things look good. You look at his numbers. He probably should be more than 71% home. But then you just look at the game log and it's not that good.

Yeah. Still he... Right. There's a reason he's three and five. That's... I mean, I know I stress innings a lot and how deep pitchers pitch into games, but as much as we don't focus on wins historically

because they're not especially predictive and it matters more how good a pitcher is. That's the most rewarding stat a pitcher can get in fantasy is a win. And if you're never going six innings, you're just not going to win many games. All right, we got to get out of here, guys. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

Thank you so much for listening. to have Scott White back. It's going to be great to have Mike Clevenger back tonight. We're going to talk about that and everything else you need to know on fantasy baseball today tomorrow.