Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/19 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Weekend Roundup

Episode Date: June 19, 2017

We start the show with the biggest hitting and pitching developments. Trey Mancini and Dexter Fowler are two of the seemingly dozens of hitters who are tearing it up right now. What's wrong with James... Paxton (5:16)? Is Jacob Faria a must-own player (7:08)? Is Andrew Miller the closer (10:58)? ... We look at the Most Added list (22:10) and discuss struggling SPs such as Rick Porcello, Michael Fulmer, Masahiro Tanaka and more (30:00) ... More from the weekend including pitchers to add and some good matchups for Week 12 ... Your emails at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:20 Hey, welcome to the Monday show. Welcome to Week 12. Hope the first 11 weeks have gone well for you. Adam Azer with Heath Cummings and Chris Towers. No Scott White. I don't even know where Scott White is. I know where Scott White is, but I'm not going to tell you. All right, fair enough.
Starting point is 00:00:34 Hey, Chris, welcome to the Monday show. Hi. You're all over the place. Yeah, I've just been having to fill in for everyone. Welcome back, Heath. Good to have you back. How was your vacation? It was phenomenal.
Starting point is 00:00:45 The Smoky Mountains are amazing. I saw two bears. I saw one idiot almost get killed by a bear. Oh, really? It was really great. I understand that you guys had some struggles on the podcast while I was gone, but raisins are terrible. What? You're not on T-Razin?
Starting point is 00:01:04 I could remember. They're the cottage cheese of fruit. Cottage cheese is it a fruit? That's like, what the heck did you just say? They're the cottage. It's an analogy. They are the cottage cheese of fruit. Oh, I see.
Starting point is 00:01:17 I see. My bad. Hey, I've got these grapes that nobody ate and they're really old. They've all shriveled up. Would you like some? On the other hand, can I just say one thing? Is it about grapes? Sun-dried tomatoes are fantastic.
Starting point is 00:01:30 Yeah, okay. That's a lukewarm take. So, we're going to go over all the action from the weekend. We're going to talk about who we added and dropped. How about Chris laying down 10 bones, 10 bucks on John Lackey? Yeah, I think I have three starting pitchers who are on DL in that league. So, yeah, I needed something. Did not get him with my $1 bid.
Starting point is 00:01:52 I wasn't expecting to. And, yeah, and a lot more. Basically, it was a hitter's weekend, man. Wow, did we see a lot of hitting? A lot of home runs. I'm going to ask you guys, most important hitting development, most important starting pitching development,
Starting point is 00:02:05 most important bullpen development. We'll talk about Tanaka, Paxton, all the struggling starting pitchers, and read some emails, hopefully, at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Heath, what was the most important hitting development from the weekend? I just wrote about this guy in the WaiverWire.
Starting point is 00:02:22 I feel like maybe it's a little bit under the radar, but I think it's really important because it's a little under the radar, and that's Trey Mancini. With Chris Davis going on the disabled list, it sounds like until at least after the All-Star Break, what I wrote in WaiverWire is a lot of times you see these guys that are not playing every day, but they're hitting really well,
Starting point is 00:02:42 but then when they get the opportunity to play every day, they get exposed a little bit. So far, that's not what's happened to Trey Mancini. He's actually hit better since he started playing every day. He has been awesome when he's been at the plate. He's going to play first base every day for at least the next month. Trey Mancini is batting 429 with three home runs in his last nine games. I thought he was playing fairly regularly.
Starting point is 00:03:06 But he still had a really good slash line, you know. Oh, he was awesome. He was playing fairly regular, I think is fair, just not quite enough to be mixed league relevant. Okay, so he's 38% home. Would you rather have Trey Mancini or a recently returning Mike Napoli? Hmm. If I... I think I'd rather have Mancini.
Starting point is 00:03:28 Okay. Yeah. I think Mike Napoli's probably pretty replaceable. So even if Trey Mancini's a mirage, I don't think you're going to miss Mike Napoli. Chris, most important hitting development from the weekend. Um, I mean, is any hitting development... meaningful in a world where everyone hits two home runs every single game. That's how it felt over the weekend.
Starting point is 00:03:53 It's amazing. Mancini was definitely one that jumped out. I went with Dexter Fowler since he's homewarded four straight games. But I don't even know what to say about that. Thames. James, yeah. People were starting to panic after the slow May. And even in May, he had a 791 OPS.
Starting point is 00:04:12 He's up to a 902 OPS in the month of June, despite having a 200. Babbitt. I think Eric Thames is pretty legit. Yeah, actually, we talked about it last week right before this extremely hot streak from Eric Thames. If you believed in him, it was a great time to buy low on Eric Thames, and you probably missed that opportunity now because he's red hot again. And that's good to see. Yeah, he had about a month-long stretch where he was, the OPS might have been okay. That was mostly walks. The hits weren't there. But I think that's a good sign. If you go ice cold and you still walk a bunch, that's...
Starting point is 00:04:46 That's probably a pretty good sign for your skill set and the fact that, you know, pitchers are still afraid to challenge him. Tell that to Michael Franco. Well, it is a good sign. All right, I said Dexter Fowler. At this point, yeah, I'm starting him. He's like 78% owned. Fowler's homered in four straight games. It's not what you expect from him, but he's still walking a ton, which is exactly what you expect from Dexter Fowler.
Starting point is 00:05:09 And, yeah, hitting was ridiculous this weekend. Most important starting pitching development of the weekend, Chris Towers. Uh, based on the, like, 10 tweets that I got on Friday night, frantically asking about James Paxton, I would say him. Okay. He has not looked good since coming back from the DL. I can buy the explanation. Let me tell you what the explanation is. The Seattle Times was reading said, the reporter said that he was just missing on Friday, getting squeezed a little bit, and then he was coming over the plate and getting hit hard.
Starting point is 00:05:40 But more importantly, both James Paxton and his manager, Scott Service, said that Paxton's mechanics are off. Paxton said his timing is off, he's not repeating his delivery, and I am at this point willing to buy that. How about you guys with Paxton? I'll buy that. They don't have any reason to lie to us about that. I'm sure that's what's happening. My question, I guess, with that is, like, nobody's dropping James Paxton.
Starting point is 00:06:05 But if he's telling me that currently his mechanics are off, he can't repeat his delivery, I don't think I'm going to start him until he can. I think I might have an easy match. Let me check the match. I have a hard time sitting him, though. Like, we've just seen how good he can be. And I saw that same explanation after Friday's game, and I looked at his release point on Brooks baseball. And it's pretty much where it's been.
Starting point is 00:06:30 So I don't think there's a ton of huge changes that he needs to make. You know, obviously, it's a relatively amateur scouting kind of thing. But I just, we've seen it's not like, because he had such a huge change in his mechanics, last year. It's not like he's reverted back to who he was. Yeah, it could just be he came off the DL. His timing is off. His mechanics are off. So starters sit this week. I guess you might disagree. Detroit at home. I'm probably sitting if I have anybody on the bench that is decent. What are the chances you do, though?
Starting point is 00:07:07 Well, I guess that would be a good place to go with my biggest pitching development. And it's Jacob Freya. Yeah. Three straight starts of at least six and a third, only giving up one or one or run. The strikeouts are not that surprising. You've got 22 and 19 to two-thirds innings. He's an elite strikeout pitcher. What's kind of surprising is the fact that he's only walked four batters in three starts and has yet to give up a home run. I think he probably has a little bit of regression coming in both areas, but he's got, he's still just 71% owned. He needs to
Starting point is 00:07:37 be close to 100. Right. Faria, 71% own that I was going to ask, should we give him, look, a lot of pitchers trick us, right? But some don't. Like, Jose Burrese, Rios didn't. And I'm not saying that we're going to say that Berrios is as valuable as Jose Barrios, but Brillo should be owned in every league. Should Jacob Ferria be owned in every league? Yes. I think there's probably 5% maybe of our leagues that are eight teams or smaller, and maybe not in those leagues. But anything, 10 teams are more, yes. I think a more interesting question is a guy that we were really excited about after his last start or his previous to last start. And that's Sean Nuk.
Starting point is 00:08:16 who struggled a little bit against the Marlins, three strikeouts, four walks, still had a quality start. Would you rather start Paxton or Newcomb? I think that's a more interesting question. Newcomb, I don't know who, it would depend for me on Newcomb's matchup. He's starting on Thursday against, I don't know. I'll tell you. But it's going to take me a second. A great team name I just came up with.
Starting point is 00:08:43 Duke Newcomb. Oh, come on. How many? You're like the 10th person. Home versus San Francisco. You're a 10th person. Oh, home against San Francisco. That is a good matchup.
Starting point is 00:08:52 Oh, I actually have him in the good matchup section, Sean Newcomb. I'm starting Nukem overpection. I don't know. I do. The control thing really is scary with Sean Newcomb because that, you know, he's like, why should I treat Sean Newcomb differently than Blake Snell? I mean, terrible control on the minors, and that's something that takes a little while to iron out. Well, Newcomb's gone six innings in his first two major league starts,
Starting point is 00:09:15 and Snell did that like once every month. I know, but I mean, the way I treated Blake Snell preseason, I guess. Well, yeah, it's kind of like we were talking with Francis Martes last week, where sometimes these issues that you have in the minor leagues are partially a result of trying to develop your weaknesses. And then once you get to the majors, maybe you start focusing on the things you already do well. I hope. I mean, I'm not dropping this. So there's a chance for that, but.
Starting point is 00:09:44 Sean Nukam is really impressive when you watch him pitch. He's a big lefty. I think he dialed it up to 98 to strike out during Carlos Stanton on one of those played appearances on Saturday. He's really impressive when he's on. I think he's about 53% on. Now, my biggest pitching development is Alex Wood. Have you guys noticed his ground ball rate?
Starting point is 00:10:07 That was Keiko-like. He's getting more ground balls now than Keiko was getting when Keiko won the Sai-Young. and Alex Wood is 7-0 with a 190 ERA, 72 strikeouts in 61 and 2 thirds, 0.92 whip. I mean, this is incredible what he's doing. Is he this good? I don't think he's this good, but he's must start. Yeah, I'll say I'm not feeling great about my Hanley Ramirez and Justin Verlander for Ryan Zimmerman and Alex Wood trade.
Starting point is 00:10:39 Who would you rather own Verlander or Wood? I would still rather have Verlander, but I'm definitely not feeling as strong about it as I did three weeks ago when I pulled the trade off. I'm Mr. Anti-Virlander, I think, and I would still rather have him than would. Yeah, but it's impressive. They're going to be within 10 spots in my rankings. All right, most important bullpen development. I'll start. I'll go with Andrew Miller, guys.
Starting point is 00:11:02 Andrew Miller. So what happened? Cody Allen asked Terry Francona to make Miller the closer to ease Miller's workload. That is what I saw. I did not think, and maybe I'm going to, Chris is doing the searching, and he's a millennial, so he's probably faster at finding it than I am. But I thought this was like a one-time thing. I didn't think it was like, please make it.
Starting point is 00:11:27 It's temporary. Okay, this is what I saw online. I don't remember where I'm sorry. Apparently the Indians play-by-play announcer said that Cody Allen asked Terry Francona to make Andrew Miller the closer, or to give him the ninth-in-ding duties temporarily to ease Miller's workload. This is some game of telephone. You're telling us what the Internet told you that the broadcaster said about what Cody Allen told the manager. Yes. Yeah, and I see that, and I haven't seen much else regarding that.
Starting point is 00:11:58 So I, maybe. Like, I guess if you've got a roster spot to spare, go out Andrew Miller just on the off chance. I thought you were good at like Twitter searching and Google searching. Come on, Chris. I am good at it. That's what I'm telling you is that I'm not seeing anything else. I'm seeing the one report. Anything else out of the bullpen then?
Starting point is 00:12:19 Look, if Miller's available, yeah, I don't know. I'm not saying drop Cody Allen for him, but it's worth monitoring. Anything else out of the bullpen guys? Sean Doolittle. Yes. Got his third save on Sunday. Team Kreeh, maybe now the worst team in the Four of the People League. No, you're still slightly better than us.
Starting point is 00:12:36 but I wouldn't, but we're trending in the right direction. Yeah, we're turning in the wrong direction for sure. I don't know once Casilla comes back if there's much chance that Doolittle is just the closer, but he's getting saves right now, and I think he'll be in the mix. He's been really good this year. Oh, he's been great. He's one walk to 18 strikeouts for Sean Doolittle, and that's an 11 and 2 thirds. And personally, I think if he's not closing now for the A's.
Starting point is 00:13:01 Oh, if he's not closing. Happy birthday, buddy. Thank you. Thank you. I know you need it. That was Jamie Eisenberg, coming in to yell. Happy birthday to you. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:13:10 I was going to say that I even got an email from NBA.com telling me happy birthday, and you guys... Wow, the NBA loves you, and you don't love the NBA. Well, anyway, what I was saying was if Sean Doolittle's not closing for the A's, he could be closing for someone else later. Like, he could go to the Nationals or San Diego Casilla could get shipped somewhere. Because I picked up Doolittle for a dollar in a Roto League. I think there's reason to stash this guy. Agreed?
Starting point is 00:13:35 Yeah. All right, cool. Chris, you want to talk about maybe Mark Moulanson? Yeah. God, they're so bad. Just no. I don't understand anything with the Giants, really. I don't understand how they're this bad.
Starting point is 00:13:53 I don't understand. I mean, Melanson's had two bad outings, but he hadn't pitched in nine days before the last one. What a week? It's just like, I don't, that's just, Just like, that's ridiculous for a reliever to go nine days without throwing. I feel like that explains why he might have been bad. What was that Sunday more than anything else?
Starting point is 00:14:15 Yeah. All right. Let's get a move on it. Talk about the news. Talk about some pitchers who are returning soon. Ads and drops. Try to get an update on two-star pitchers because I'm very disappointed of one of my guys is no longer listed as a two-star pitcher. But quick editorial league update.
Starting point is 00:14:33 22 and Sen Juan O, baby. 22 and O, still rolling. Heath, you had your chance to knock me off, but... This is dumb. Sorry, guys. We crushed it this week. At this point, we're all cheering for them to go into the playoffs undefeated and losing the first round, right? Well, I'll have a buy, so, you know. Well, the first round you're eligible for, Adam.
Starting point is 00:14:58 It's going to happen, I'm sure. But you know what? Would you rather have, like, a normal season? and a championship or an undefeated regular season and then losing the playoffs. Normal season in the championship every time. Well, it depends. In some of our leagues, there are quite most, in fact, almost all of our fantasy baseball leagues, there is no reward for winning the championship at all.
Starting point is 00:15:22 True. There isn't that one. And this is one of the only ones where there is. So the championship absolutely. There's no reward for finishing the regular season undefeated, right? No, but I mean, if I go undefeated, If we go, sorry, Jamie, if we go undefeated and beat two teams a week, like, if it's a shorter regular season, it's like 18 weeks. So, like, 36 and 0, that's incredible.
Starting point is 00:15:45 It would be. But then if you lose in your first playoff game, it doesn't really bad. I guess we'd be like the Warriors last year, right? 73 wins and nothing to show for it. Yeah, sure. You would have to blow a 3-1 series lead. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:16:00 Now, Victor Martinez is on the DL within a regular heartbeat. which is, you know, very scary, but at least he's out of the hospital, hopefully making his way back. In the meantime, that is getting Alex Avila more at bats in the two-hole. Miguel Cabrera has been dealing with back, groin, oblique, and hip issues. Yeah, he's hitting very well right now, but let me just ask you, you see all these injuries that Miguel Cabrera is dealing with. Would you not, would you be hesitant to make a trade for Miguel Cabrera?
Starting point is 00:16:28 Yes. I don't know. Because he's hitting too well to buy him cheap. that's true like it is I don't know how you could trade for him you're going to give up a top 25 player
Starting point is 00:16:42 for a guy that hurts basically everywhere yeah I feel I mean I feel like Miguel Cabrera's at that point in his career though where he probably just hurts everywhere Miguel Cabrera's dad Heath you're probably soaring all those same places right I hiked like 14 miles over the last week and I am not sore anywhere
Starting point is 00:16:58 well that's impressive Kyle Hendricks could be out until after the all-star break with a strain tendon in his finger. Mike Montgomery is going to stay in the rotation. And Montgomery has pretty decent matchups this week, if I recall. Let's take a look. He's got the Padres and the Marlins on the road. Now the Marlins are hitting, but the Padres at home and the Marlins on the road. Maybe Mike Montgomery, not so bad this week, 34% owned. Yeah, the Marlins do hit lefties pretty well. So that'd be a concern. But, you know, we see every week. There's one
Starting point is 00:17:32 season best start against the Padres every week, it seems like. He's not a bad two-start option. All right, that's Mike Montgomery. Matt Shoemaker won't make his next start. The Rays traded cash for Trevor Plouf. Andrew Castor is on the deal with an oblique strain. Aaron Hicks
Starting point is 00:17:48 has missed three straight games and they are off today so you won't know if he's back in the lineup. Glaver Torres is on the minor league deal with a hyper-extended elbow. Dustin Padroy is day-to-day after being hit by a pitch in the rib cage. It just not seem serious. The Tigers sent Buck Farmer to AAA, and
Starting point is 00:18:04 here's your auto-correct of the day. Animal Sanchez will be called up. I think we've had that one before, but Anabel Sanchez joining the rotation again. AJ Pollock's going to be, oh, he began a rehab assignment yesterday, and Ubaldo Jimenez auto-corrected to I-Also-Hemenez, and I also Jimenez will likely
Starting point is 00:18:20 stay in the Orioles rotation after a good start yesterday. Also, just no other options. The rotation is a disaster. Some pitchers who are returning guys returning soon. Lance McCullors could pitch this week. It's a little risky to start him, but he'd be at Seattle if he does start this week.
Starting point is 00:18:39 Hopefully you're in a daily league with McCullors. Carlos Rodon could be back in a couple of weeks. Felix Hernandez and Hasashi Iwakuma are going to start this weekend against the Astros. Would you consider starting either Felix or Iwakuma? Nope. All righty. Cole Hamels could be back next week. Brandon Finnegan made a rehab start, and we're looking at maybe the next two to three weeks.
Starting point is 00:19:00 for Trevor Cahill to come back. Any interesting ad drops for you fellas over the weekend? I added Wilmer Flores in a couple of leagues, hoping that he'll play pretty regularly. He's mostly known as a lefty masher, but I think he's just a pretty good hitter all around. Doesn't strike out much, hits for decent power, and he's going to be in the lineup every day.
Starting point is 00:19:23 He's eligible at three different positions. I added Francis Martis in the Head-to-Head Auction League, where I have the best lineup ever assembled, but really, really bad pitching. So hoping that he can maybe throw strikes a little bit. Hey, Chris, you want to get excited about Wilmer Flores? Sure. Five lefties on the schedule this week.
Starting point is 00:19:45 Five. That's fantastic. You want to get less excited? Sure. Their names are Clayton Kershaw. Yeah. Alex Wood. That gets a little better.
Starting point is 00:19:54 Rich Hill, Ty Blach, and Matt Moore. Oh, yeah. He's got Rich Hill on the schedule. He's going to hit at least three home runs this week. Guys, are we sitting Michael Conforto with five lefties on the schedule? Is his back okay? Yes, he's back. Yeah, I'm still starting him.
Starting point is 00:20:16 Okay. Yeah, I've been starting Conforto, but I'm getting a lot of emails, a lot of tweets about Conforto. He's been cold for a while. I think he's still, you know, getting on base doing enough to be okay. But, yeah, I understand. And there's five lefties, one of them, Kershaw. It's a little scary. I'd probably try to sit him.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Heath, anything else? Chris, anything else? I dropped Josh Bell for Mike Napoli. I added Sean Doolittle. I added Cameron Mabin in a three outfield of Roto League. Now, the Reyes have some of the Angels, rather, have some of the worst matchups this week. So I'm not sure if I'm starting him. You can look at Scott's column for the best sleeper hitters.
Starting point is 00:20:53 You'll see the best and worst matchups. They have, I don't know that they're so bad. I don't think they're so bad. Okay, so I was out of town, and I tried to catch up on as much as possible. But what happened to Josh Bill? Nothing. He'd rather have Napoli. He's a jag.
Starting point is 00:21:10 He's bad at like 238. I'd rather have Josh Bill. Okay. Yeah, I guess it's not really a big difference for me. Because he's been really good in June, right? I don't think so. Am I crazy? Chris, you want to look that up?
Starting point is 00:21:25 I got you. Thank you. I've got it right here. And, yeah, I mean, he's been better than what I would expect from Napoli. 377 on base, 56, slug, walking 13% of the time. Okay. I feel like it was mostly like one week. I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:21:45 Oh, we're only two weeks into June, so. Well, maybe I made a mistake. I don't think I did, but fair enough. I don't think you're going to miss either of those guys. you'll probably drop Napoli before long, too. It's possible. What I'm actually hoping for is that Napoli's good and I can trade like Jake Lamb
Starting point is 00:22:05 for a frontline starting pitcher, but I don't want to lose too much at corner infield. Now, most out of this, Jacob Faria, 71, 72% owned. Derek Fisher, he's been playing regularly, and he's now 41% owned, Derek Fisher. Okay, if you saw Napoli out there and you saw Fisher out there, who would you pick up?
Starting point is 00:22:24 Fisher. Fisher, Fisher. Francis Martez. is two starts this week. Keith mentioned he picked him up. He's number three on the most at list, Francis Martez, at Oakland and at Seattle. By the way, Oakland's very good at home. Are you guys aware of this?
Starting point is 00:22:39 Very good offensively at home? I don't know. They put it on the Yankees this weekend, that's for sure. Well, everybody's done that, haven't they? When was the last time the Yankees won? I think I was on the podcast that day. Monday. Okay.
Starting point is 00:22:52 Oakland is 22 and 13 at home. That's one of the worst teams in baseball. They've won like four games on the road all year. Nine and 25 on the road. We've got also on the most added list, we have Jordan Zimmerman. Now, this is a guy that I thought was a two-star pitcher, but I'm not sure anymore. We had heat to play. Well, it sucks because I was going to start Jordan Zimmerman over Tanaka with two starts
Starting point is 00:23:13 because one of them was going to be against San Diego, but I'm not sure he has a San Diego start. You have to look into that. I don't know definitively. And Martez, he might only make one start. If McCullors is ready to come back, you would. expect Martez would be the first guy out. Unless his first start just goes really well. They have...
Starting point is 00:23:32 Right. Yeah, they've got multiple guys that they can get rid of, if not him. I think they also have the best starter ERA in baseball. That wouldn't surprise me. What's that? Well, because of Kikell and the colors is... I mean, their worst, I think their worst starting pitcher has like a 4-5 ERA, so it's not... Well, let's talk about Mike Fires then.
Starting point is 00:23:53 I'm sure... I doubt you guys are going to be buying a... to Mike Fires, but he's 44% own. And in his last four starts, Fires is 3-0 with a 170-80 RA. Eight walks, 24 strikeouts, and 25 in a third. Opponents are slugging. Slugging 245 in this three-start stretch, a four-start stretch. He had some good stretches last year, a couple of good four-start stretches, but they
Starting point is 00:24:16 were not this good. Can you buy anything here with Mike Fires? I saw some kind of explanation recently that his curveball has been especially good lately and that explains it i we have such a long track record of mike fires not being any good that it's just it's hard to buy in a stretches like this okay yeah i agree jason hamill francisco liriano jordan zimmerman mike montgomery zimmerman laryano hamill montgomery they're all in the most added list do these guys strike you as anything more than just matchups guys nope learano could be but he For him, matchups don't matter.
Starting point is 00:24:58 It's just whether he's on that day or not. Yeah, Luriano's at Texas and at Kansas City. And Jason Hamill. See, this is a risky week for Jason Hamill. Boston at home and Toronto at home. Yeah, I wouldn't touch him. Okay. Back to the most added list.
Starting point is 00:25:13 Matt Adams? Matt Adams or Mike Napoli? Why not? Adams. Yeah, Adams pretty easily for me. I'll probably just keep whoever's on my roster already. Mike Adams or Tray Mancini
Starting point is 00:25:28 Is Tray Mancini eligible anywhere but first base? And outfield. That might be enough to tip it his way. How about Mike Zanino, guys? 44% owned. Who would you drop for Mike Zanino?
Starting point is 00:25:45 Would you drop Russell Martin? Would you drop Evan Gaddis? Would you drop Yadda or Molina? Malina and Martin I would. Gattis, I don't think so. I also don't expect. And you guys know, I love me some Mike Zanino, but I wouldn't expect this to continue. Okay, I mean, it is possible that there's a little stint of the minors change things.
Starting point is 00:26:09 They keep talking about all the adjustments Zanino's made with his swing. Yeah, he's got a 486 Babbat since coming back from the miners, though. He's still striking out, I think, 40%. I thought it was right at 33%. 40% of the time since coming back from the minors. Wow. Okay, and there's one other very interesting player on the, there are many, We'll talk about a lot of these guys.
Starting point is 00:26:29 I'll talk about two. Zach Davies. No, not Zach Godley, that guy. 66% owned. He pitched this weekend. He pitched pretty well. Bad news, Zach Godley owners. Because Patrick Corbyn is being moved around in the rotation,
Starting point is 00:26:43 Zach Godley gets the Rockies at Corse Field instead of the Phillies at home. So you can own Zach Godley. He'll probably be a two-star pitcher in week 13. But this week, you probably want to sit a 66% own Zach Godley at Colorado. How about Tyson Ross guys, 41% owned? He needs to be much higher on the now. What do you mean, no? I know Tyson Ross has been very good in the past.
Starting point is 00:27:08 Right. And his results on Friday were pretty good. It was his first start in like a year and a half. Yeah. And he is coming back from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. His fastball velocity was down more than two miles per hour. He had five swing strikes. I just don't think we saw anything first.
Starting point is 00:27:27 him in that outing that makes me think he needs to be more highly owned than that, especially maybe it's not fair to put Matt Harvey's sins on Tyson Ross. But that's the prime example. We held on to Matt Harvey for three months thinking one day, one day, you wouldn't even dropping him. But let's learn our lesson then. But I think Ross had a lot more time off than Harvey, right? A lot more.
Starting point is 00:27:51 Yeah. So the Mets are stupid. And Ross, he did walk three and five and two thirds. He's got walk issues. Like, 2000, here's what Tyson Ross was for three years with San Diego. 307 ERA, 3 and a half walks per nine, 9.2Ks per 9, 1.23 whip. But still, really good ERA. And I do wonder, the ballpark change is obviously going to hurt him.
Starting point is 00:28:14 But I don't know. I can see both sides. He's a ground ball pitcher too, right? But still, I mean, I feel like he was better at Petco. All right. It's fair point. Groundball pitcher. I just think Tyson Ross at 92 miles an hour is a lot different than Tyson Ross at 89.
Starting point is 00:28:29 Sometimes guys need a little time to build their arm strength, though. We've seen that. Which Ross brother would you rather own? Tyson or Joe? Joe. Well, that's the most added list. All right, it's time to tell you about Seat Geek now. You know, buying tickets to sports and concerts can be complicated.
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Starting point is 00:29:38 Download the Seekek app and use that promo code Fantasy. That's promo code fantasy for $20 off your first Seekkekekeek purchase. Studs being duds. Let's talk about these starting pitchers. We've talked about James Paxton. I'm going to give you some other studs. You tell me who you're worried about. Jake Arietta.
Starting point is 00:29:55 Jake Arias had a lot of excuses. It cut on his finger. He was sweating too much over the weekend because it was really hot, and he couldn't grip the baseball. So he's been struggling. David Price does not have his command. He was watching a little bit of the game yesterday, and Aaron Boone said that Price just doesn't have the pinpoint command we're used to seeing.
Starting point is 00:30:12 The velocity's still great, but he's been struggling a little bit. Rick Porcelo, I mean, people are really, they've had enough of Porcelo. He's got a 505 ERA. John Farrell says Porcelo is pitching way up, too much up in the zone, throwing way too much up in the zone. Michael Fomer has just been kind of bleh. And Masahiro Tanaka. Yeah, he's, wow, 21 home runs allowed.
Starting point is 00:30:36 And let me tell you something. Porcelo's been up in the zone too much. Tanaka's never up in the zone. Everything is low. It's ridiculous. You can't pitch like that. Even I know that. I know that.
Starting point is 00:30:46 You've got to change the eye level, Masahiro Tanaka. I can fix Masahiro Tanaka. All you got to do is throw up in the zone just a little bit. And he won't do it. Can I just to me? Can I tell you that Tanaka has been the worst of these? He might have the worst ERA in baseball now.
Starting point is 00:31:03 And I think I'm probably least worried about him out of this group. Because you expect him to be, but you're not saying you expect him to be better than Arieta or price. No. Okay. But in terms of getting to his baseline again, when it comes to an issue like he's just giving up too many home runs, but it's not like he's giving up too many fly balls overall. That, to me, it's just a couple of pitches every start. Like, this most reason when he struck out 10 in four innings.
Starting point is 00:31:34 Yeah, but they're the A's. I mean, he struck out 13 A's a few weeks ago, and he certainly was not back. But his only issue, when you look at his numbers, is 25% home run to fly ball ratio, 2.5 home runs per 9. Now that's a really big issue. Home runs are a very, very, very bad thing to give up.
Starting point is 00:31:55 Yeah. But it looks like it's just like three or four bad pitches per start. And if he just can get rid of the handful of mistakes, you know, the swing strike rate is still there. The strikeouts are still there. The walk rate's a little up, but it's not, it's still very good. Yeah, that's, I guess, the only area I would kind of disagree is that his walks are not a problem for most pitchers. When you talk about getting back to his baseline, he's a career 1.6 walk per nine guy. That's a 2.4, 2.5.
Starting point is 00:32:27 So that's something else. The command is just not quite there. And one of the reasons he's giving up a lot of home runs is he's given up 35% hard contact. Yeah, he's getting close. Batters are hitting the ball hard. This is Tanaka we're talking about. Tanaka has Texas at home this week. There's no way.
Starting point is 00:32:44 I can't start him. No way. No, probably not against Texas. And Porcelo is an interesting case because, if he's pitching too much up in the zone, that's a concern. But he needs to just find the right balance because a part of what made him take a big step forward as a strikeout pitcher over the last couple of years in which, you know, really did let him find that Cy Young form was throwing more high four-seem fastballs to up that whiff rate.
Starting point is 00:33:11 And maybe he's going too far in that end, but, you know, he can't abandon it entirely because it is what helped him be successful last season. I just, I don't, I don't know that Rick Porcelo is that far from what his baseline is. He's got a career 396-fif. He's got a 4-1-6-fif this year. He's not walking anybody. He's had some bad batted ball luck for sure. But, like, I never expected him to be a 3-1 ERA guy anyway.
Starting point is 00:33:43 Yeah. He's a mid-to-high three-ezy-R-A pitcher. All right, so let me just do this quick. We'll do starter sit for this week, and we'll do would you buy low on. So let's start with starter sit. Jake Arrieta at Miami. I would start him. Start.
Starting point is 00:33:59 David Price against the Angels at home. Start. Rick Porcelo against the Angels at home. Start. I think we're sitting, I think scam sitting them. If that one, he's on the borderline, it would depend on it. If I had, if I just picked up Faria, I would start Freya over him. Porcelo?
Starting point is 00:34:17 Yeah. All right. Michael Fulmer at San Diego. Yeah. Start for sure. And Tanaka sit against Texas at home? I'm sitting at, yes. All right.
Starting point is 00:34:27 Who from this list would you want to buy low? Or who from this list would you not want to buy low on? Areietta, Price, Porcelo, Fulmer, Tanaka? Probably not Porcelo. I don't know that Fulmer's struggles have been enough to where somebody's willing to sell low on them. So not full. I wouldn't buy it. Yeah, I think part of it's the shoulder issue that he's.
Starting point is 00:34:47 had last week. I would buy low on Rick Porcelo in the, like, I'm assuming that the guy who has him on his team might be close to dropping him. And I think he's going to be a perfectly useful pitcher for the rest of the season. Now, Team Scam has Rick Porcelo. Let's do it right now. We picked up Sean Newcomb. I would rather have Porcelo.
Starting point is 00:35:12 Half of Team Scam is the biggest Braves fan in South Florida. Adam. Sean Newcomb for Roeckham for a lot of time. Rick Porcelo right now. No, can't do it. Pull the trigger. Nah. No, I really think there's a chance Nukem is dropped very quickly. We need to get a Scott on the phone.
Starting point is 00:35:30 We will get Scott on the line and work this deal out. Now, Arietta, I do think, is someone I'm not willing to pay as much as I would have, you know, three weeks ago. Because I, look, the velocity's been an issue at points this year. He's had a cut on his finger, like I said. He's had enough excuses that seem like, okay, maybe it's just bad luck, gripping the baseball because of sweat cut on the finger. Like, maybe you can just chalk it up.
Starting point is 00:35:54 But I don't know. He just really hasn't pitched that well. And right now, Aria has got a 464 ERA. Like, I just, I'm worried about maybe this is the World Series thing where this happens. A lot of pitchers struggle the year after they go into the Go to the World Series. And what you're saying right now, the whole, you know, oh, he's got all these excuses. I feel like what we're going to see next is like the, oh, he looked, the manager is going to say, oh, he looked like himself. He's just not executing.
Starting point is 00:36:24 He's just the results are there, but that's the best he's looked all season. We're going to get one of those next. To be honest with you, I think that there is no less reliable quote from a manager than Joe Madden's quotes. He is an eternal optimist. I'm serious. Everything's always great with him. And, you know, you're not going to get honesty, which is fine. It's not a criticism.
Starting point is 00:36:43 But for fantasy purposes, I don't really care what Joe Madden has. say. But I also, I still can't bring myself to drop Ariette outside of my top 10. Like, I've got him 10th in both head-to-head-to-head and roto. Yeah, he's top 10. All right, fine. Maybe that's more of a statement about the top 10. Right. Number 11's James Paxton. I can't really justify moving James Paxton above him right now, can I? I guess not. Why don't you put Panetta ahead of him? All right. More from the weekend. I have so many hitters here that excelled this weekend. Here are the double-dongers. Lorenzo Cain, he's been on a tear. Mike Napoli.
Starting point is 00:37:19 The thing of that I want to talk about with Mike Napoli is that Delano, Shields is a big loser here because, look, De Shields, he does one thing that you really like. He steals bases, and I need him to steal bases in one league. He's not playing right now. He's losing playing time because they're fully healthy. Carlos Gomez is back. Joey Gallo's still in the lineup, Beltray, Napoli,
Starting point is 00:37:39 that's tying up their DH. It's time to give up this Delano to Shields. No, look, it's just for steals. I need the steals. He steals bases. He's got like 16 or something. You need to make a trade. I guess so.
Starting point is 00:37:52 I probably do. Who's got Billy Hamilton in the Roto League in the auction league? All right. Longest steal a streak of his career, I believe. Yes. He stole one yesterday. Okay, so he had 13 before that without a steal. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:03 By the way, who is the longest hitting streak in baseball, active hitting streak? Oh. It's someone with like 15 games, right? Yeah, D.D's just ended. So now it is Is it Ryan Healy or something like that? Tommy Joseph.
Starting point is 00:38:19 Oh, okay. Who's not even good enough to make the notes because Lorenzo Cain, Mike Napoli, Ryan Healy, Jose Ramirez, Yasio Pueig, Jonathan Scope, Lonnie Chisunhall, yet Hervis Salarte, Stephen Piscotti,
Starting point is 00:38:30 Logan Morrison, and Zander Bogarts, all went Double Dong over the weekend. Good explanation for the Lorenzo Kane, Double Dong, and the Royals Hot streak. Apparently, Peter Moylan, sidearm reliever for the royals now is a espresso aficionado
Starting point is 00:38:48 and he owns a cafe in his home country are they on the Matthew Delvedova Workout plan and he bought an espresso espresso machine and right before Whitmerfield run his 19 game hitting streak he decided to try it Alice Gordon had been awful all year
Starting point is 00:39:04 he finally drank it because Gordon doesn't drink coffee because he's a health nut he drank it he started hitting Lorenzo Kane tried it for the first time and double-donged. Wow. The team liked it so much. They now have one
Starting point is 00:39:15 that they take with them on the road to opposing clubhouses, so Moyland can make everyone an espresso before the game. So, Joe Madden-esque. There are performance-enhancing drugs in Kansas City. Coursing through the Kansas City Royals clubhouse.
Starting point is 00:39:29 And it's working. They've been on fire. Well, I'll tell you one that actually does have an interesting explanation, and I think given the hitting landscape. What do you mean? Actually does have an interesting thing. That was a pretty damn interesting.
Starting point is 00:39:41 That was interesting. That's me. Useful. Sorry, useful explanation. And I think, you know, at this point, he's a deeply guy because it's just the way hitters are. But Jan Herva Solarte. So this is actually sad, tough to talk about. But, you know, his wife died of cancer last year.
Starting point is 00:39:59 And his three daughters just finished school. And now they are out with him. I'm not quite sure where they were before. But this was his manager talking about how Solarte, he said, it's not a surprise that his daughters just finished school. They're with Solarte now, and he is hitting a little bit better. So it's been a pretty bad year for Salarte, and maybe this sort of good news in his personal life is helping him out. Again, deep league guy, but it was nice to see. It was a good father's day for him. He had a good day. He had a good weekend. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:32 Yeah, I don't want to bring up, uh, Ryan Healy needs more respect. I think we're 140 games into his major league career. He's a 2.95 hitter with 30 home runs. It's hard to move him into the top 15 at third base, but he is a must start in corner infield leagues at the very least. Do you have him ahead of Travis Shaw? I have him a couple of spots behind Travis Shaw. All right. That's Ryan Healy, who they're lobbying to get Ryan Healy on the All-Star team. There's just, there's so many third basements. Yeah. Third and first base, it's hard to really stand out there. What?
Starting point is 00:41:16 Who are the good first baseman in the American League? In the American League? Well, Eric Cosmer. Who's your starting first baseman on the All-Star team in the American League? I would assume it will be Miguel Cabrero. I think it will be, but I'm saying who should it be? Jose O'Brien is having a very good season, right? Yeah, sure.
Starting point is 00:41:37 He's probably like maybe a top 10. He's having a Jose Abraeus. First baseman, like they're all in the NL. Another month of this and it'll be Edward and Caroncio. Well, yeah, Edwin and Carnaccio is absolutely killing it. We saw it last weekend. He started to come out of it. He's kept it going.
Starting point is 00:41:52 Edwin and Carnacian is destroying it right now. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at my first base rankings. And, yeah, most of it's NL, which is really weird because you would think with the DH, you would have more opportunities for bad hitting or good hitting, bad fielding first baseman to make an impact. All right, Justin Boar came back and homered off a lefty on Friday. He sat against the lefty on Saturday. I don't know that that's going to be a normal thing, but Tyler Moore has been hitting pretty well. But I think it was just day off after coming off the DL. Cody Bellinger.
Starting point is 00:42:24 Cody Bellinger hit 19 home runs in his first 49 games. That ties Gary Sanchez's MLB record. First 49 games, 19 home runs. They both did it. Sanchez last year, Bellinger this year. Trey Turner stole four bases in one game. That was yesterday. He's getting close to Billy Hamilton.
Starting point is 00:42:41 Angelton Simmons stole two bases against the Royals on Sunday. That's pretty cool. Kendris Morales is homered three times in his last four games. Eric Young Jr. has sat two of the last three games. The Eric Young Jr. watch could be off. What is it with these guys? That's more of a joke. But if you need steals, there aren't that many guys who are doing it.
Starting point is 00:43:01 I'm sorry. It's sorry to say. It's okay. Look at who's hitting home runs. Who's stealing? It just doesn't happen. Apollogy accepted. Ian Hap is 55% owned. He's Homer three times in his last five games,
Starting point is 00:43:11 and encouraging only one strikeout in his last four games. Of course, that was after a four strikeout game, but we'll see how that trends for Ian Hap. And Nolan Aronado hit for the cycle. Here are some pitchers with easy matchups this week. Michael Fulmer against San Diego, Sean Nucum against San Francisco. Seth Lugo is at San Francisco.
Starting point is 00:43:32 Michael Waka has been terrible, but he's got the Phillies. I'm still not sure I'm starting Michael Woff. Waka, what do you guys think? Is it at home? Yeah. I probably will. And Jordan Montgomery has the Angels. I'm not sure if Montgomery is a two-star pitcher.
Starting point is 00:43:46 He definitely, you're going to start him if he is, but if not, you could start Jordan Montgomery in a one-star league. I think I'd start all of those guys. Yeah, the only one I would consider sitting is Waka. Jordan Montgomery is not a two-star pitcher. Mike Montgomery is. Okay. Jordan Montgomery, home against the Angels.
Starting point is 00:44:03 That might work for the terrible Yankees. there's something brewing guys in that pitching staff. Talk to me about Jimmy Nelson and Chase Anderson. These guys have been awesome. They have been studs, no doubt. Yeah, Jimmy Nelson has added a little bit to his velocity. Not much. It's within a mile per hour on his average fastball,
Starting point is 00:44:25 but given that most pitchers lose velocity as they age, I think it's a pretty good sign. He's throwing his change up a little bit more, but he's just, he's pitching really well. Swinging strike rates up to career high 10.5%. I like what Jimmy Nelson's doing right now a lot. I moved him up in my rankings, and I might have to do it again.
Starting point is 00:44:48 Do you feel that way about Chase Anderson? I've definitely moved Chase Anderson up in my rankings, just not as far as I've moved Jimmy Nelson up. Yeah. And, like, I don't think there's any much chance that he's going to end up in the top 30, 35 starting pitchers, but I like Nelson in that 40 to 50 range. This was a phenomenal start against the Padres.
Starting point is 00:45:12 It's also the Padres. And his last two starts have been a little bit more Jimmy Nelsonish. All right, rank these four pitchers. Jimmy Nelson, Chase Anderson, Jacob Faria, and Lance Lin. So Faria, Anderson, Nelson, and Lynn is the group? Yeah. I'll go Faria Nelson Anderson, Lynn
Starting point is 00:45:39 Yeah, I think We're going to be way off on this I'll go Faria Nelson Lynn Anderson It's not that far I don't know if I can put Nelson over Lynn Guess who the most owned player in that group is Lynn?
Starting point is 00:45:54 Oh yeah I'd probably put Lynn second Five straight starts Pitching less than six innings for Lance Lynn So he's in a bit of a funk All right. He's got a 530 FIP. So I'm trying to skip around here and see what to get to.
Starting point is 00:46:13 Because there's a lot. I'm glad we're saving some time. Tyler Chatwood has a 241 ERA on the road. Would you start him at the Dodgers this week? Yep. Sure. Even the Dodgers? I mean, the Dodgers are good.
Starting point is 00:46:28 Yep, I would. What do you think about Mike Fultenevich, 55% owned? I think he's still Mike Fultenevich. He has some damn good starts, but also some dreadful ones. He does. And then as soon as you start him, he goes three and two thirds and he gets up seven runs. Yep. It's true. So he's one of those borderline guys that I will probably start against a good matchup,
Starting point is 00:46:50 but I'm not, he's not going to occupy a spot on a roster if his matchup sucks. His strikeout game log is phenomenal. 4041045-14-4-6. This is the guy who throws 100 miles an hour. But a lot of those starts might be like four innings. Yeah. He's adding some volkos. How about Alex Meyer?
Starting point is 00:47:12 Alex Meyer had a great start. Now, I watched Meyer earlier in the week. He was bad against the Yankees, but he was great against the Royals. Six scoreless innings, two hits, one walk, nine strikeouts. It's just a matter of command with him. Yeah, I like his upside a lot. I think there's a better chance that Meyer turns into somebody you're rostering the rest of the year than Fultenevich. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:32 Yeah, he does have a lot of ups and. Meyer's 34% own. He's like 6'9. So it takes those guys a while to get their mechanics right and to get their control right. I just hope it can happen this year for Meyer. But if you're looking for someone to stash, even start maybe. Alex Meyer is the name we've been telling you about. I still think Luis Perdomo is very underowned at 14%. I just feel like pitchers who are owned in 14% of leagues are bad.
Starting point is 00:47:56 And he's got a quality start in eight of his last 10 starts. I think he's not bad. He's not going to strike that many batters out, but he's about average. His walk rate's about average, and he's an elite ground ball pitcher. I think Luis Perdomo has a chance to run a sub-4 ERA for the rest of the season. Anything else, guys, are these starting pitchers? Anybody that you look at you see is maybe under-owned, over-owned needs to be discussed? The big news from when I was gone, we had our first starting pitcher get to double-digit victories very early in the
Starting point is 00:48:32 year. I don't even know who. And of course, you think about starting pitchers, getting double-digit victories, you think someone on a really good team, a really good pitcher with a strong track record. Let's think Max Scherzer, Clayton Kirschaw. Oh, it's Jason Vargas. Oh, of course. Did he drink the espresso, Heath? Of course. Oh, okay. Jason Vargas in his 466 X-FIP. All right, how does Jason Vargas rate with Jimmy Nelson and Chase Andrews? Faria, those guys. Right in the same range as Nelson for me.
Starting point is 00:49:05 Well below Nelson for me. What about Chase Anderson, Chris? Below Chase Anderson as well. Below Chase Anderson. There's an explanation for Chase Anderson. His fastball velocity is up two miles per hour. We've been looking at Jason Vargas throughout this entire season saying he's not doing anything at all differently. His strikeout rate is seven per nine.
Starting point is 00:49:30 his walk rate, two per nine. Walk rate's pretty good. It's very good. Ground ball rate, 36%. Pitch is at Kaufman Stadium. So we're supposed to believe that... You don't believe this either. I don't believe that...
Starting point is 00:49:43 I don't believe Jason Vargas is a top 30 starting pitcher. I don't believe he should be leading baseball and wins. It's fun. But I don't have to rank him in the top 45 or 50 starting pitchers to put him ahead of Chase Anderson. We're not comparing the guy to Zach Grinky. Yeah, I see no, I would, if I could trade him and get anything of value back, I would do it right now. Okay, Annie Romero got a save for the Nationals this weekend. It was a five-out save.
Starting point is 00:50:15 Who the heck knows what they're going to do? Well said. Hopefully, Cota Glover will come back soon. And I think I'm going to read some emails here at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. This is from Brian, grade the trade. Give up David Price and Michael Conforto. Ooh, David Price and Michael Conforto for J.D. Martinez. I think that's a D.
Starting point is 00:50:42 C-minus. I really like J.D. Martinez. I have him in my top 10 outfielders, but I don't have Michael Conforto that far behind him. I definitely don't have him David Price behind him. No, it's a loss. I don't know if it's quite as much of a loss, or if I agree, it's quite as much of a loss as Chris does, but it's a C-minus for me. Here's Reggie and Charlotte, our good buddy Reggie. Rank these five starting pitchers rest of season in a points league.
Starting point is 00:51:04 Nola Hendrix says Gray. I don't know which one. Liriano and Lackie. Why don't we just rank both Sunny and John Gray? Fine. Renegade. I would go John Gray, Sunny Gray,
Starting point is 00:51:23 Aaron Nola, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks, Francisco, Liriana. Yeah, I don't know. I'm just going, see, I actually have ranked all of these starting pitchers rest of season and all the other starting pitchers. So I'm just going to go to my rankings on CVSports.com. And then Control F, each player's name. Why don't you just answer the question, Heath? And, well, I was just trying to offer some help because it's possible that Reggie will have some other questions about how we rank players rest of season.
Starting point is 00:51:48 And he can go to CBSports.com and go to fantasy baseball and ranking. Nobody promotes. Nobody promotes the website like Heath Cubbigs. I think I would still put Hendricks number one And then I would go Lackey, Nola, Gray, Laryano Hmm, okay Here's an email from What's your name, sir?
Starting point is 00:52:10 From Brandon. Brandon. Thank you. Dear Pablo, Salvador and Vincent. I have no idea. Those are painters. Oh. Right?
Starting point is 00:52:22 Dolly, Van Gogh, and Picasso? Yeah. Someone dropped Conforto in my 10-te-to-head Categories League. It's an OPP League. Should I drop Malik Smith, Scott Shebler, or Carlos Gonzalez? I have Pollock coming back. Should I drop Malik Smith, Shebler, or Cargo for Conforto? Malix. Yeah, you want the steals from Malik-Smith, but the gap between those three guys is just too big. Here's one from Matt. 14-team Head-Head Categories League. He has Faria, Ariel Miranda, Sean Newcomb, Porcelo, Vargas, Chatwood, J.C. Ramirez, not loving his pitching.
Starting point is 00:52:58 Do I take a look at a two-start Mike Montgomery this week? Yeah, I'd be fine with dropping J.C. Ramirez for Montgomery. This is from Andrew. In a points league, would you drop Sen Juan O. For Roberto O'una and Brandon Belt for Trey Mancini? Definitely dropping O'Una. Yep. And Belt for Mancini, yeah, that's probably okay. Belts not having a very good season.
Starting point is 00:53:24 I still like his peripherals, but AT&T Park sucks. Yeah, I'd rather start Mancini this week. And with players of that level, I think Bell's is better than Mike Napoli, but he's still in that same category that you're probably not going to miss him. And this final email is from Henry. After this email, we'll go through today's matchups quickly, tell you who to start and sit. Listening to Friday's pod right now, Adam just complained
Starting point is 00:53:48 that the three true outcomes, that three true outcome hitters were making baseball boring. I kind of agree. But I then realized that Adam in the past few months has said NBA isn't fun anymore, poor competitive balance and too many threes, and MLB has too many guys striking out or hitting home runs, and baseball is boring. I didn't say baseball is boring. Well, I kind of said baseball is boring. I don't listen to the NFL podcast, but I can't imagine Adam is a huge fan of the sloppy
Starting point is 00:54:14 play and poor quarterbacking the NFL at the moment. There's been a lot of coverage of how the NFL is CB. incentivize playing rookies, and it leads to poor on the field product. I don't know that I agree with that either, but this leads me to my questions. Does Adam like where the NFL is right now? If he thinks the NFL is getting crappier like I do, then he has put himself in a place where he is unhappy with all major sports. Two, is Adam too cantankerous about sports? Is he becoming an old man who dislikes new developments?
Starting point is 00:54:39 100%. Or are his criticism valid? And three, which of the major American sports has the brightest future? All right, this hit me. This got me right to the core. Am I becoming an old man? I think I might be. No question.
Starting point is 00:54:54 Am I out of touch? I still love. No, it's the kids who are wrong. I still love sports. Don't get me wrong. And I still watch more sports than most people. And especially baseball. And I watch every, you know, football game that I can.
Starting point is 00:55:08 I have, I really, my only problem with football, I think, is that it's getting a little bit too long, which is my issue with every sport right now. Well, yeah, because you've got to go to bed at 7.30. You know what, man? It's tough being an East Coast sports fan sometimes. Monday night football. Oh, for sure. Oh, my God. If I could take everything about my life and just move it to, like, Seattle.
Starting point is 00:55:32 Oh, I would do that in a heartbeat. I'm serious, though. Like, being an East Coast sports fan, you're up really late for any big game every time. Wake up at 10 a.m. for football? Basketball games started at 4. I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not. No, I'm 100% on your side. West Coast sports fan is absolutely the perfect spot to be.
Starting point is 00:55:50 I think, like, Mountain Time Zone is the best, but sure. East Coast is late. I think the games are getting too long, and I just think there's too much. I think it's oversaturated a little bit, but I got no beef with the NFL. So I was telling you guys off the air, I watched an 1980-1982 Celtics Lakers game, 1984 Celtics Lakers game, and a 1993 Knicks Bulls game over the weekend. significant The 80s basketball was not nearly as good as what we have today.
Starting point is 00:56:19 Not even close. Well, yeah, because you weren't growing up then. No, but 90s basketball was a lot better as a product. When you were growing up. Well, I think the big thing is like... Based on the games I saw. I think like 1991 is when players realize they could dribble with their left hand, which was a big development for the NBA.
Starting point is 00:56:39 You watched those 80s basketball games, and it's just like, It's kind of true. It's just dribbling with the Cowning the ball with their right hand. It's incredible. It's kind of true. It's like a video game. Like an old video game.
Starting point is 00:56:50 But no, I mean, they started shooting more threes. It opened up the court a little bit more. Michael Jordan was pretty amazing. The game I watched last night, he scored like 53 points. And it just made me think, like, anybody who thinks that LeBron James is definitely better than Michael Jordan, you probably should go back and watch Michael Jordan. It's a good debate. I think that sports has gotten a little bit worse because I think that
Starting point is 00:57:11 it's it's all it's it's it's a money thing you know like they're cramming more ads in the games are longer it's just that's it's gonna keep going in that direction i think so for that reason thursday night football this gimmick i for that reason i think that it's that it's getting a little worse if you uh i think thursdayno football on cbs is one of the best products going right i mean look yeah i i know i shouldn't go against the company but it's not like i'm going to change anything i i just i think if they do everything for money i Go ahead. I really appreciate the fact that we have all these sports fans and sports and jobs.
Starting point is 00:57:48 Me too. Me too. I wonder if there are like really diehard track and field fans who are like, you know, these athletes today just aren't as good as the guys in the 1960s. Maybe. No, the argument, I never made the argument that the athletes aren't as good. That obviously would be a silly argument. If they could trim down the game time for every sport, I would really appreciate it, especially college football. College football is insane.
Starting point is 00:58:17 Yeah, I don't watch college football. Three and a half hour ordeal. And the big time games, like the Saturday night, 8 p.m. game, is done it after midnight. Oh, the college football national champions is like a seven-hour thing. It's insane. All right. Tonight, we've got Kluber and Dylan Bundy. We're going to start them both?
Starting point is 00:58:34 Yeah. Yep. We got Scott Feldman and we got Jake Odorezi. Would you start either of the... them in Tampa where in Tampa Oterese I'll start to Oteresee Tanner Roark and Justin Nicolino I will start Tanner Roark yep Quato and Ari Dickey Start Quito Quito Quoido no sleeper appeal for Dickie no Garrett Cole and Matt Garza I will start Cole yep Clayton Richard and John Lester we'll start Lester yep
Starting point is 00:59:02 Oh come on Lester deliver um Marco Estrada and the guy who's named I never wanted to have to pronounce Austin Bebens, Dirk's, I don't know, I have no idea the guy on the Rangers. I just like to imagine that he's like some kind of amalgamation of Justin Bieber and Dirk Novitsky.
Starting point is 00:59:22 I think I just made him that. Start Estrada or no. I would be a fan of that, but I would not start him in fantasy even if he was that. I will start Marco Estrada and hope that he doesn't give up too many home runs. All right, we have Hector Velasquez and Jason Hamill tonight. Pass on both. Brad Peacock and Daniel Gossett
Starting point is 00:59:41 Brad Peacock is going to get nine strikeouts in four in a third inning I will start him Zach Wheeler and Clayton Kirshaw Start Wheeler Start a book And would you start either Annibal Sanchez or Sam Gavillo I would really rather not All right, what the dealio
Starting point is 00:59:58 Gavio That's it for the showio Good to have Heath back. He has a goatee It's pretty awesome It's not a goate, it's a beard Oh, he has a beard. Are you joining the football podcast today, live draft? Live draft on the football podcast.
Starting point is 01:00:10 I'll be there. What time? Two o'clock. Two o'clock. Can't wait. And happy birthday to me. Bye.

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