Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/19: Worry-O-Meter Wednesday and Standout Youngsters (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 19, 2019

Tuesday was a packed day around major-league baseball and we catch you up on everything, including the impressive young pitchers. Plus, we run Justin Verlander, Paul Goldschmidt, and Adalberto Mondesi through the Worry-O-Meter to see if Fantasy players need to hit the panic button.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Welcome to Worry Ometer Wednesday. And some people might be worrying, oh, no, Adam's not there.

How are things going to go? I've got other things to worry about. Like we're not going to get to all of the things that happened in baseball last night because it was a crazy night. Five different teams scored at least eight runs. In a 17 inning game. 17 inning game. Three rookie pitchers looked like absolute studs,

including one of them making their debut. Another one that we thought it was going to be his last start. We need to stop the intro and just get to the show. I'm Heath Cummings. He's Chris Towers. Let's just jump right into Tuesday's standout to be a Homer, Chris. I wish I didn't have it. have to be a homer, but the Marlins, they have good pitching. Jordan Yamamoto again looked really

good. And what was really impressive about this one was it was the second start in a row against a pretty good Cardinals team. They've been kind of hit or missed the season. But generally, you'll see a guy the first time he faces a team. Maybe you can catch them by surprise. The second time in a row, go out there in your second major league start, seven shutout innings, two hits, seven strikeouts, two walks. Jordan Yamamoto looks pretty good. There's not ace potential here, and who knows how long he'll be in the rotation, but based on what we've seen for the first two starts, he's a solid pitcher. Everyone's been clamoring for Zach Gallen.

I think you're going to have to wait for Zach Gallen, because first we've got to sort out who wins Urania's job in the rotation. It's going to be Yamamoto or Elisier Hernandez. And I think both of them made back-to-back starts against the Cardinals. I think so. I think maybe the Cardinals are just terrible right now. The Cardinals should be on the Wuri-Aama. We all know about the Marlins' devil magic.

Yes, Marlins Devil Magic. So do you think Yamamoto has a leg up on Hernandez right now? I think, yeah, I think he's the better pitcher. The one thing that may work out in L.A.A. Hernandez's favor is he was in AAA, Yamamoto was in AA. So it might be a situation where Yamamoto goes back down. Maybe they sent him back down to AAA, and he's the next, next guy up. Jose Arrano was added to the 60-day IL.

So there is a chance here long term. Right, one of them, one of the two. Logan Allen making his debut against the Milwaukee Brewers. Now, it was not in Milwaukee, so it wasn't quite all of the Brewers' magic. But still, against the Brewers, seven shutout innings, only five strikeouts, only three hits allowed, just two walks. I went looking. He'd really been pretty terrible at AAA so far this season, but he was good the two previous years in the major leagues. You can see there, big lefty, nice hook, if you're watching there on the video.

I wasn't particularly excited about him. I don't think he throws very hard. Well, he did average 93 miles per hour with his fastball yesterday. And early on in the start, if you look at the stack has data, he was throwing like 95, 96. The problem was you get to his last like eight or nine fastballs and they were all 90 to 91. So he wasn't able to sustain the velocity and he only threw 90 pitches.

So that does have. to make you worry a little bit about his chances to sustain deep into start. He did make it through seven innings, but if you can't sustain your velocity, it's hard to be a full-time starting pitcher. He does have a deep arsenal, four pitches that he was willing to throw yesterday. And he did get a lot of ground balls, 10 ground ball outs to just three fly balls last night. Got three double playgrounders, probably not going to be able to count on that. And then there was a third rookie, Zach, please, Zach, he's more owned than these two.

he had kind of a weird start because I do think he had five walks in this game. But I was kind of wondering, I was expecting actually, you to say, Zach Pleasax overowned at 76%. You haven't seemed like you were a very big fan. This at Texas, six strikeouts, one run allowed in seven innings. I think Pleasax good. He's not great, but I think he's in that Marcus Stroman, Dallas Keikle, when he's actually pitching in the major leagues range of starting pitchers.

Yeah, and the five walks, it's worth noting. I think he got to the eighth inning, walked the first two batters he faced in the eighth, and then was pulled. So, you know, in the box score, it was three walks or five walks and seven innings. I don't know if I believe you. It doesn't sound like the Indians to send a pitcher back out there

when he doesn't have anything else in the thing. Yeah, so in the box score, it's five walks and seven innings. In our hearts, it was three walks and seven innings, which sounds a lot better. It's still not great. I like this thing you do where you're just not going to count the last inning a pitcher pitches if he shouldn't have been out there? Well, no, it counts.

This is a new Chris Stets. It does count. But in this specific instance, I do think when you can point to he walked his last two batters didn't get an out in that inning, he probably just shouldn't have been out there. He only threw 102 pitches, but, you know, just take him out. Did you have any others? I mean, we talked about it. There was a team that scored 16 runs.

There were five teams that scored eight runs. And we're talking about pitcher stands out. Did you have any hitter standouts from Tuesday night? Max Kepler had an interesting game. I believe he came into the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning, went three for five with a game-tying home run in the 13th inning and a walk-off single in the 17th. So he's been really good this season,

and most of the bad of ball metrics back it up. Last year, he started to make gains against left-handed pitching, and he was really bad against righties. Now he's kept a lot of those gains against lefties and gone back to hitting righties well. So I think we're seeing a legitimate breakout here for Max Kepler. and Piedelonzo reached base four times, had a home run, two doubles, four for four. I'm going to go with Ramon Loriano.

He had four hits and hit a home run and has just been awesome. Would you rather have, you'd rather have Kepler than Luriano? Yeah. Malick Smith than Luriano. Yes. Oscar Mercado, who I believe stole two bases last night or Ramon Luriano. That's where it gets interesting. I think I would rather have Luriano than Mercado, but I think it's close and both should

be owned in five outfield of Roto Leagues. Stat of the day, Josh Bell has 50 extra base hits. It's the fastest any player has gotten 50 extra base hits since Barry Bonds and Todd Helton in 2001. That's from MLB's stats.

That's wild because Barry Bonds in 2001 was not playing the same sport as everyone else. He was in a different world. And Todd Hilton was playing at Hors Field. Right. And Todd Horton was at

course field. which is not playing the same sport as everyone else. I liked Josh Bell as a breakout this season. I did not see anything like this coming. He's been incredible, probably a cell high. Am I the only one that forgets regularly that Josh Bell is right-handed? I think he's a switch hitter. Anytime I see him hitting the right side, it seems weird.

He seems like he should be a left. Yes. Injuries, news and notes. Max Scher broke his nose. What are you laughing for? Because he broke his nose on like. the laziest bunt attempt in batting practice I've ever seen. Look, if you broke your nose and I laughed at you.

Yes, you would absolutely laugh. There's no question that if I went to the batting cage and broke my nose, you would laugh at me. It looks like it hurt. Well, yes, it looks like it hurt it hit him right in the face. Can we stop pitchers hitting, please? Yeah, we probably should. We need DHS. Look, I'm sorry for laughing.

Do we think he's going to pitch today? Because he's scheduled to pitch today. He is. such a wildly over-competitive person that I would bet he has a better chance than most. Yes. Either way, I don't think he'll be out for a while. And maybe we'll get to see someone pitch with a mask, which would be awesome. One guy who should be back today, Jose Alvtuve, Joey Gallo could be back on...

Next Tuesday. Next Tuesday. Byron Buxton on the injured list with a bruised wrist. Buxton, one of those guys that, like, every time he starts it to put together, he either turns terrible again, or he gets hurt. This time he's gotten hurt. Hopefully it doesn't last long. Kyle Hendricks was diagnosed with a shoulder impingement.

I think that's probably one of the best case scenarios. It certainly could be worse. Yeah. But any time you're dealing with... And the shoulders connected to the elbow. Exactly. Yeah. But the shoulder might actually be worse than the elbow

when you're talking about pitching injuries. So it's certainly something to be concerned about. Craig Kimball pitched at AAA. I would guess we'll see him in the majors soon. Hunter Pins. Hence says his injury is very minor. Jock Peterson could play first base when A.J. Pollock returned. And A.J. Pollock could be playing in rehab games during the All-Star break.

I'm just not sure that either Jack Peterson or A.J. Pollock are very good right now. Pollock was bad before the surgery. The fact that it was like a lingering issue from a prior surgery does make me wonder if maybe that's why he was struggling. Who knows? I had really high hopes for him coming into the season. Last season he took a lot of really positive steps as far as his swing change. I'll still be interested in AJ Pollock when he comes back. Peterson, it's just he's not going to play every day.

Mike Clevenger hurt his ankle, but still may be able to make his next start. I said after that start and before I knew that he hurt his ankle that I think it's a pretty good time to buy low because I don't really have concerns about him being okay. You agree with that? Justin Smoke is on the injured. list. Justin Smoke, one of those guys we just kind of forget exist. I would, I will say if you have Justin Smoke, I would hang on

to him. If he gets dropped, I might consider putting in a stash if you have an open IL spot because his stackass data has been better than it ever has this season, and there's a chance that he could be really good when he comes back. J.T. Raimuto sat again with a groin injury.

J. Bruce sat again with a hamstring injury. Mike Mastakis left after being hit by the pitch, but X-rays were negative. Yondi D. has sat with a hamstring. He's been battling that for a while. I feel like it. Yohan Mancada is expected to play today, but another guy who's maybe just needs to go on the injured list for a week and a half. Really concerning thing with that with Yawamankata is they said that it's really been bothering him when he tries to hit left-handed and he can't hit right-hand.

He technically can, but his numbers right-handed are really bad. So if it limits him as a left-handed hitter, that could be a really bad sign. And then at Alberto Mondesie left with groin tightness and we'll sit today and he's a guy who's been hurt basically every year of professional baseball in his career so hopefully he's kind of struggled lately we'll talk about him more lately we're going to do the worryometer we're going to do hitting notes we've got streaking hitters we've got pitcher notes all right after this break before we get to the worryometer let's go over some quick hitting notes jd martinez 048 with five strikeouts Miguel snowe oh four seven with five strikeouts sometimes 17 and eight

games aren't good for guys. Jose Ramirez Homeward for the first time in 29 games. The same week that I made the prediction he was going to have his best week of the season, and I'm very excited about that. Tom Murphy DH'd for Seattle. And I saw a note yesterday, Omar R. Weez, who had been one of the best catchers in fantasy this season. I'd only started nine games in June going into yesterday.

Tom Murphy has been on fire, the best catcher in fantasy over the last week period. I'm okay with one of these guys deaching, but normally that means you have to carry three catchers if you're going to do that. Yeah, I think in the case of Narvae's only playing nine games in the month of June, I think it's 10 now after yesterday. They had faced a bunch of lefties. And Murphy has been, I think we talked about this on yesterday's podcast, Murphy's really good against lefties.

So that might explain why Narvias has been sacrificing playing time a little bit. And it's Worryometer Wednesday. So let's get to the Worryometer, Justin Verlander. the best pitcher in baseball, according to fantasy stats. Last night gave up four runs, struck out eight over seven innings, did allow three home runs. He's given up a lot of home runs so far this season, 20, I think. He has a 259 ERA, but if you look at the peripherals,

specifically ex-FIP and Sierra, it doesn't necessarily look like Justin Verlander is quite as good as he has been. Do you have any concern that he's not going to be a top five starting pitcher the rest of the season? Not really. To make an analogy, there's been a big discussion in the NBA community over the last couple of days since the Anthony Davis trade, where everybody refers to him as a top five player. And then you start doing the math, and it's like, well, we've got this guy, we got that guy, and you get to like seven players.

It's like, we can't all be top five pitchers. It's possible Justin Verlander won't be a top five pitcher rest of season. he'll be in that range. He'll be in the, if he's not in the top five, he'll be in the fuzzy cloud right outside the top five. And the interesting thing is, like his Sierra is still 3.13. Yeah.

So that's really, really good. And he throws a ton of innings and he strikes a bunch of guys out. His FIP is 3.78. And you wonder, how can they be that far apart? Well, he's got a 93% strand rate, which is probably not going to last. He's given up a 172 babib. That's probably not going to last.

But he's given up. up a 17% home run to fly ball ratio. That's probably not going to last. That's double his career mark. It's double his career mark, but the last couple of seasons has been more than the 11% range. And this season, we have seen a pretty big boost in league-wide, home run to fly ball rate.

I think it's like 14.7%. So he's been a little bit worse than league average, whereas the last couple of years he's been right around league average, maybe a little better. So you would expect a little bit of regression there, but, you know, I would still rather... He's on pace for 50 home runs allowed.

He's probably not going to do that. I would still rather have Scherzer. Yes. Paul Goldschmidt on the Worryometer 0 for 4. Now hitting 255. Believe he struck out two more times. And you didn't give me a number on Verlander. I guess that was a zero.

Yeah. Okay. Maybe one. He won't be a 257 ERA pitcher. Give me a number on Paul Goldschmidt, who's just not been very good. Three? Like...

Okay, how is that low? He hasn't been... Remember, he was drafted as a second round player. Right, and he hasn't been as bad as he was early on last year. But he had started to turn around, I guess, a little earlier. And I feel like before whatever his most recent stretches, he had been starting to show signs, but, you know, he's still hitting the ball really hard. His batted ball profile really doesn't look that much different.

slightly fewer line drives than last year, but it's in the range of where he'd been prior, actually cut his infield fly ball rate a little bit from last year. So I think you look at a lot of it. The strikeout rate hasn't improved from last year much. Okay, fine, but it's not worse. So I just, you look at most of it, and he still looks like roughly the same guy.

And so I think moving forward, you're more likely to get a 900 OPS out of him than an 800 OPS. I'm going to go with a five. Okay. And it's for a couple of reasons. One, he was drafted as a second round pick. I don't think you could make that argument for him right now. And part of that's because of the guys that have passed him.

But, like, even last year, he stole seven bases. He has, I don't believe, he has attempted one and got caught. Sure. I don't think you can count on any stolen bases. And he is a guy who was right around a 300 hitter for most of his career with a 350 babbitt. I don't know that I can count on him maintaining a 350 Babbip throughout his 30s. That's fair.

Mid 30s. So if it drops to 310, 320 and all of a sudden he's a 270 hitter without any stolen bases and just low 30s in terms of home runs, that's just that's not worth what it used to be. It's probably a fourth or fifth round pitch. Sure. Sure. That's fair. Okay. So I'll go five.

We're not that worried. Nick Castellanos, I'll say 10. But some of that's stubbornness because everyone has all. always said Nick Castiano is actually a star. He's just never been as good as his bad profile looks like. And then this year he's just been terrible. Right. That's the thing is that when you look at the last, the previous three years, his expected Wobo was between 377 and 386. It was pretty much. And with he ever as high as his expected Wobah? Last year he was close, but no. Right. Last year he had a 363 Wobo with a 377 expected Wobah. That's within the

normal range of outcomes. This year, he's also within the normal range of outcomes. He's actually closer to his expected Wobah than he's ever been. The problem is that his expected Wobah is 334, which would make him a slightly above average hitter, which is just about what he's been. A 764 OPS is fine. It's not terrible, but for fantasy, in a bad lineup,

for a guy who probably isn't going to hit for great average. And doesn't run. And doesn't run. And probably isn't going to hit 30 home runs. That's just a guy. Yeah. It's not dissimilar from what I would expect from like no Mar Mazar moving forward, but no more Mazar

hits in a much better lineup. And a much better park. Yes. So are you at a 10 as well? Yeah, I would say he's probably worth owning in a five outfielder league, but he's worth owning in a five outfielder league. Not a three outfieler league. But he's not a must own in a five outfielder league, I would say. There's a chance that if you need Steelers and Oscar Mercado is out there,

or Malick Smith, who's still pretty widely available, I would have no problem dropping him. Alberto Mondesi is on the Woriometer, and let's just at first forget about the groin injury and just talk about the performance because he has struggled as of late. He's got an OPS depending on which dates you want to start from. Over the last three or four weeks,

he's in the 550 to 650 range. He's been not a very good hitter. The nice thing has been that he's continued to run. Stole another base on Tuesday night. It has 27 steals for the season. But he may not be worth a... I don't know. I think he's still going to...

Like, if he just runs like this, he's probably still going to be worth a fifth-round pick in Roto. I'm sorry. So. So what is happening here? Since the first five games of the season. Oh, my God. He has a sub-700 OPS. Okay.

What does that mean anything to you? Yes. That's not very good. What would you expect from him moving forward? It's a 260 batting average, 300 on base, 400 slugging. He has a 7. of 4 OPS for his career. He has a 743 OPS for the season.

I would probably expect a somewhere between 725 and 750. Yeah, I mean, that's not necessarily, he's not hitting the upside. No. Is the thing to say. And it looked like he was for a little while early in the season. Really, I think through the first month, maybe more, we were probably thinking, well, yeah,

Outer-Botomon-a-Mondisi is basically being what we had hoped he was. A star. And he's not been that. He's been, you know, that pace overall is like 60 steals, probably 15 homers. That's really awesome. But it's probably not the guy that, you know, say Scott White was hoping for. Now, that doesn't mean he's been a bad value where you drafted him. Right.

Okay, so first off, you haven't given a number yet. Six. Six. I will go four, but I'm basing mine. more on where he was drafted and not what we thought his theoretical upside could be. Right, but he was drafted in a lot of roto leagues, especially in the third round. Yeah. Third or fourth.

Third or fourth. I don't know. Is he that much, like, Starling Marte has been drafted in the third or fourth round most of the last four or five years. He's probably going to be more valuable this year than Starling Marte has been any of those years. Maybe one of those. Yeah, I'm not sure.

I would have to look. But it's close. Is he more valuable than Malik Smith moving forward? I think they're pretty similar. I think Malik Smith was wildly underdrafted. But he's going to steal a lot more bases still, I would think. Probably. Okay.

So I'll go with a four, you go with a six. Here's a guy that's going to be higher. Victor Robles. And I wrote yesterday kind of a ranking the rookie hitters the rest of the season and tiering the rookie hitters the rest of the season. And I just like, I like Victor Robles. And I like what his potential upside is. And I was a big Victor Robles guy before the season.

He was definitely being drafted before Malick Smith. You look at the rate that he has attempted stolen bases in the major leagues. And you look at the way that he has hit in the major leagues. And he's just not that valuable. And those things are. They could change. Related. Yes.

You get fewer hits. You're going to get fewer stolen base opportunities. What's really worrisome about him was he was someone who did profile as having at least some pop, you know, not a power hitter. He has, he ranks 358th

in baseball and average exit velocity. And he's still just 22 years old. I would not necessarily give up on him. No. Or the future. But he hasn't run enough to make up for the fact that he can't really hit right now. I'm at like an eight. Sure.

I don't, yeah, I think eight or nine. I would want to hold on to him in a five outfeiter league for categories and the hopes that he figures it out and starts running more. I'm still holding on to him in a three outfielder league for categories. I would drop him in any points league. I don't really care how deep it is. I don't know that he's top 50 in points. Rest of season.

Austin Meadows, it turns out he is not one of the best hitters in the game, which is disappointing because he looked like it for like 30 days. And almost everybody that looks like it for 30 days just keeps being that forever. I don't know how you're supposed to calibrate this, this Wuriometer. Like, he still, I believe, looks like he's better than what he was drafted as. Oh, for sure. But I guess what's your level of, where's Austin Meadows on the Wuriometer? So it's interesting because his hot streak sort of overlapped with his cold streak.

He had a hitting streak at the start of June that was seven games long, multiple hits and three of them. But he also has a 12-game streak where he's struck a. out at least once in every game. He has 19 strikeouts in that stretch with no home runs. I was wrong about Austin Meadows because I didn't think he was a good hitter. I don't think he's a great hitter. So I'll say two based on preseason projections, but probably like a six based on where the industry might have gone on him three or four weeks ago. He has not hit a home run since May 28th.

Over that stretch, he's hitting 240 with a 3.46 Babbip. He is striking out a lot, 27% strikeout rate, an OPS below 700. I'm going to go with like a 3.5 on Austin Meadows.

I don't think he's, I never thought he was in that same class as like, oh wow, this guy might be a second round pick next year. What about like Max Kepler? I would still rather have Meadows than Kepler. I think maybe because Meadows has speed. I think that's probably the differentiator between the two of them. A guy who was kind of looking like a second round pick,

and maybe would have been if he'd done what he did last year for a little bit longer, Patrick Corbin has mostly been awful in his last three or four starts. He's our last player on the Wuriometer. He has given up 20 runs over his last three starts against the White Sox, Padres, and Reds. Yeah. And this is one where you could say, well, he had a 350 ERA before that or something, right? Oh, yeah. Probably better.

But his peripherals all point to him being like a four ERA guy. You know, he has a four, four point O2 Sierra, four point OXFIP, 3.88 FIP to go along with a 412 ERA. So, okay, yes, it's been three starts, but then you look at the overall track record, and it does all kind of coalesce around him not being the ace he was. and you see the strikeout rates down to 12.2% or swinging strike rate down to 12.2%. Strikeout rates down pretty significantly. It's interesting because before these three starts,

he had a 2.85 ERA. Okay. A 3.36 FIP and a 3.79 X FIP. Okay. I think he's still a top 25 starting pitcher without a doubt. I don't know that he's a top 15 starting pitcher. Yeah, and here's the big thing with him. He does not throw the strike.

the ball in the strike zone at all. That's been, you know, especially ever since the start of last season when he became basically a slider first pitcher, and he's moved away a little bit from that this season. But he throws the ball in the strike zone about 36% of the time. It was 34% of the time last year. Last year he garnered a swing on 38% of pitches outside the strike zone. This year it's down to 33%. His career rate is 34%. So I kind of think what we've seen, seen happen so far this season for Corbyn is batters made an adjustment to what he was doing last year. And my concern for him coming in this season was because he really only has one good pitch, what kind of adjustment does he have if hitters adjust? And I think that's going to be the really

interesting thing to watch the next couple of starts is. And he pitches tonight, Wednesday, today, I think, at the 1 o'clock start. So it'll be really interesting to see, you know, maybe does he try to bring the changeup back. Does he start to throw the curveball more, which he introduced last year? I don't think throwing his fastball more is ever going to be a good thing for Patrick Corbyn. So it's going, or does he just go, does he just go out and throw 60 sliders today? What is this section of the podcast called, Chris? I'm going to say he's a seven on the Worryometer. I'm going to put him at a five. And I, like, you may be listening to this podcast as this start is happening. And my number on the Worryometer may be going up or

down. But this morning, before the start on Wednesday, I'm going to put him in a five. We've got a dynasty question. I don't know who it's from. Adam didn't tell us, put the notes together. It's from Adam. It's from Adam. He posted this on Twitter last night. How many young players have the potential to the best player in baseball? And no, I didn't skip a word. Adam did. Adams gave a nomination. And I think the question asks for a number of players. But I think what we're actually looking for is who are the young players that have the potential to be the best player in baseball, correct? Sure.

He nominated Fernando Tatis, and in the article I referenced that I wrote yesterday, Fernando Tatis was actually my number one rookie in fantasy for the rest of the season. He's been awesome. He's on a 30-30 pace. He's got a 3.30 average. He's not going to do that with the way he's striking out so far, but he is leading off for the Padres as well. I mostly believe the power and speed numbers.

I think he's the best rookie for this year. I do think he has the upside to be the best player in baseball. I think I don't know. Like, Vlad has the upside to be the best hitter in baseball. I mean, Albert Pujols was the best player in baseball for like a decade. That's true. Like seven years. Baseball was a little different than.

Sure. But if he becomes that, which was the comp, he can be the best player in baseball. But he has to be, you should never expect someone to be one of the eight. eight best right-handed hitters ever right so he has a longer shot and this is true of both fantasy and real baseball i think probably less so in a points league but tatez probably does have a better chance of being the best player in rhodo than vladimir does right acunia has a chance to be the best player in baseball i would say how are we defining young mike trout's only 27 we're going under 25 Okay.

I would say Eloy has a chance to be the best player in baseball. In the same way that, like, I would say Juan Soto has a better chance than Iloi. Maybe. I mean, Eloi Jimenez could be anything. He is left-handed. Juan Soto is Juan Soto. Elon Hamanis could be anything. Juan Soto is very good, but he kind of has the same problem.

Like, I don't think he's going to run. But neither's Eloy. Right, that's what I'm saying. So the advantage that he has over Elo is that he's left-handed. and he hits lefties well. Yeah. So, yeah, I think I, Eloi deserves to be in the group,

or Soto deserves to be on the group. I don't know if there's anybody else that we're leaving out. Someone's going to criticize us for not saying Javier Baez. I assume he's 26, so he doesn't count. He's not been very good lately. Yeah, like,

Pete Alonso's been awesome as a rookie, but I don't think he falls into this conversation, especially for fantasy, because you're probably looking at too many strikeouts to really be, you know, a top five hitter in either Roto in points and probably more like a three category contributor in Roto. You know who's under 25? Who's under 25 and has been the best hitter in baseball this season?

Christian Yelich. No. Cody Belliger. Sure. Cody, I mean, that was sure. Absolutely. Cody Bellinger. In the minors, you know, Wander Franco has become, I think the top, the pretty much the consensus

top prospect left in the minors. He does have the kind of profile, really strong contact profile. good power, developing power. He's really young. And Joe Adele for the Los Angeles Angeles. What about Kyle Tucker? Sure. I don't understand the Kyle Tucker thing very much.

It sounds like from what Jim Bowden was saying, there may be some problems within the clubhouse in Kyle Tucker or the manager in Kyle Tucker and his attitude towards baseball. But we're talking about a guy who has like a 900 OPS and 160 games in AAA with 47 home runs and 37 steals. Yeah. If ever there was like he is probably if you play in a dynasty league right now, Kyle Tucker's a really good buy low option,

not because his stock has actually gone down. It's not because his prospect profile has gone down. I think we're just, this is something that happens where when prospects have been around for a while and they don't either get the chance or don't succeed right away, people tend to just kind of naturally sour on them because they've been around. And in Kyle Tucker's case, the fact that the Astros haven't felt compelled to give him an opportunity yet, despite those numbers, does tell us something. I think it does tell us that maybe the numbers aren't showing everything. Maybe he doesn't have, I don't know, the work ethic or whatever that soft skill is that you would want.

They certainly don't seem to believe so. We've ruled out the possibility of Adel Bertramandis being the best player in baseball in the future, right? I still 23. I think probably. Okay. Okay. I think that was a good question. Good question, Adam.

Thank you. Streaking hitters, Josh Donaldson, who I was kind of starting to think might be done, has awoken. That's happened to a lot of old hitters recently. Two for four with a home run against the Mets, has four home runs in his last five games. Does only have one walk in his last 14 games,

but some of the power has come back. Do we have any hope that Josh Donaldson could be like I want to set the bar low enough to where it's at least possible. Top eight catcher over the rest of the season? No. Top 0% chance it becomes a top 8 catcher. Third baseman. The thing I don't know is where he ranks right now

because you look at the batted ball profile and it pretty much looks like he's caught up to where the expected stats were. So it's not like he's underperforming. It's not like he's, you know, that there's some sign of, huge breakout. He is hitting the ball really hard still and that's a good sign. But the play discipline's gotten worse. He's not walking as much. He's striking out more than he ever has, especially when he was in his prime. Top eight might be a little lofty. Looks like he is currently 14th. Okay. He's 13 points behind Mani Machado, who is in 12th.

Matt Chapman, I believe, is the number eight third baseman right now in fantasy baseball. but he's still ahead of guys like Matt Carpenter, Justin Turner, Jose Ramirez, all guys who I think we expect to be better moving forward than you have been so far. I think top 12 was possible. I don't think top eight. Right. Top eight's probably pushing it. Eloi Jimenez is two for three with the go-ahead home run against the Cubs last night.

That was fun. That was a fun game. I caught a little bit of at the end. That was a fun atmosphere. His sixth home run in the month of June. When his OPS is over 1,000 for the month, his Eloy finally figured out. Turns out his batting stance wasn't keeping. I think he's tweaked it a little bit.

I don't think he's tweaked it. It doesn't look quite. Look, look, it looks a little bit more comfortable now. It looks completely awkward. He's crushing the ball. Look, he's a big dude who's really young and Major League Baseball is really hard. So it's not totally shocking that he did not immediately. become an elite hitter right away.

It was possible, and maybe we're seeing it now. But yeah, he looks like someone moving forward that hopefully you don't have to worry about. He'll go through cold stretches like any player will, but it seems like the adjustment period has finally worked itself out for him. I'm looking at my rankings here. Rest of season, would you rather have Eloi Jimenez or in Roto, Lorenzo Cane. Boy, Kane's been awful. Yeah.

I would still rather have Kane. Eloi Jimenez or Catele Marte? Martin. Austin Meadows. Jimenez. Okay. Austin Riley. Jimenez.

Okay. All right. Oscar Mercado, another outfielder, probably a little lower in the rankings. Has it 308 average, four home runs, six steals, and 28 games this season. Over his last five games, though, 10 for 24 with a home run and four steals and four attempts. You talked about how you were a little concerned he hadn't run at the season. the same rate we were hoping he would he's a guy like robles who ran a lot in the minors he has shown us more power than we expected where do we put like oscar marcardo we talked about

him in that malloc smith romone loriano class i think malics is ahead of both those guys but marcato is probably a top 50 outfield the rest of season right yeah i think especially in points now he he's probably better in points than rhodo you think sorry rhodo okay um the other thing that i didn't mention he's been hitting second for like the last three weeks yeah and he has cut his strikeout rate in the majors from where it was at AAA. So that's a good sign. Overall, you look at what he's done between AAA. He's got eight home runs, 20 stolen base. He's hitting right around 300, strikeout rate right around eyeballing at 21 to 22%. So not great, but not terrible. Yeah, I think top 50 outfield are moving forward makes a lot of sense.

I have him in the article yesterday about rookies one spot ahead of Victor Robles. Would you rather have Oscar Mercado or Victor Robles rest of season. Probably Mercado. Yeah, I think because Robles is two years younger than Mercado. And I think long term in Dynasty, I'd still rather have Robles. I think he'll figure it out. But I'll take Mercado right now.

A couple other guys, Oscar Mercado or Max Kepler and Rodo. Kepler. Mercado or Fran Mill Reyes. Reyes. I've got Mercado three or four spots ahead of Reyes.

Jorge Soler, three home runs in his last four games. He's on pace for 115 RBI. Does he really have 20 home runs? 20 home runs. Man, hit another one. It took a long time, but we finally figured out Solair power. Yeah, yeah.

I'm just going to lean back and enjoy that. I mean, come on. Adam would giggle right now. You're supposed to giggle. Yeah, that was fine. Yeah, yeah. Part of the issue for him in the past hasn't just been, performance. He's shown stretches.

last year he actually hit the ball pretty well. The issue has been staying healthy. It helps when you DH all the time. Yeah, and hopefully that can keep him healthy, but he's definitely a power source. He's not a ton more than that, but he can be a poor man's Chris Davis with a K. Jorge Solair or Garrett Cooper?

Soler. Jorge Soler or Jackie Bradley Solair One more Jorge Soler or Jesse Winker Soler Wow we are moving Jorge Soler up in the rankings Cole Calhoun

I almost asked or Cole Calhoun He hit a home run against the Blue Jays Homer come on I'd rather have This is going streaking and Adam He's hit a home run in two straight games That's not a streak Two is not a streak

Three is a streak Four homers in his last 10 games What's the quote for from a thing is Major League 2. Yeah. We won yesterday. We win today. We went tomorrow.

That's called a winning streak. Yep. If he homers tomorrow. It has happened before. If he homers today, it will be a home run streak. But it was not after yesterday. Yeah.

I mean, I actually just saw he's, I think a year exactly removed from when he changed his batting stance last year. He got off to that absolutely horrendous start at the start of 2019 or 2018, where a year removed and I think it's like he's hit 240 with, 25 home runs or something like that with like an 813 OPS so he's been good but I would rather have Horace Salair than Cole Coul Cahoo. I've got them both in the 60 to 65 range amongst outfielders I'm probably going to have to move some guys behind them like no more Mazzara and Nicholas Castellanos because they've just been a lot better than those guys yeah I'd rather have Saler than both of those guys

man you are all in on Saler as much as I am all out on Castianos and Mazar at least this one's interesting. Lorda Scuriel hit another home run on Tuesday. He's still just 58% own. I believe he's eligible at second base shortstop and in the outfield. Three homers in his last six games, hitting 276 with eight home runs this year. And he's another one of the guys, kind of like we talked about with Ramon Luriano, where he's, if you just look at what he's done in the major leagues, he's played 101 games. He's got 19 home runs and a 280 average. You got for a very a guy that's eligible at three different positions. If he's going to play every single day,

he should be owning probably 80% of leagues. Yeah, must own in Roto, for sure, with that kind of eligibility, because you're going to find a spot for him every week. And you look at the expected stats, and they mostly back up what he's done through his major league career. He hasn't been, you know,

these home runs haven't really been cheap ones either. So, you know, maybe he's on a 40-homer pace right now. I think he's played in 30-something games, maybe 30, and he has eight home runs. not going to hit 40 home runs, but yeah, based on what he's done in his major league career, I think he can be a 25 homer guy with good enough batting average that he should be owned much more than he is. Kyle Schwabber won for four with a home run. As a leadoff hitter, he's hitting 243 with 10 home runs in 29 games. He's been better this season against lefties

than he has against right-handed pitchers, which is a little bit weird. Someone sent us also a rankings dispute email and I'm not going to find their name or the email but I will just reference that they reference I had Schwaber ranked I think 51st amongst outfielders Scott had him in the 90s I assume that's like we've seen Schwaber go on stretches over one month where he looks like a top 20 hitter and then he's just an absolute disaster he's mostly been terrible against lefties his entire life he's still striking out about 35% of the time it's probably not real but he is leading off and getting to play against them more regularly. That makes a lot of difference.

I'm kind of buying the, like you've always been the Kyle Swarber guy. He's a big, beefy baseball boy. He is a big beefy baseball boy. I think I would probably rather have Jorge Saler than him. Wow. Yeah. Because I think they're both going to hit for power, and I think Saler's probably going to be a higher babb guy because he's not a lefty.

And just, Schwerber's kind of been a low babb-up guy throughout his career. So I would think it'll be similar power production between Solair and Schwerver. Saler's actually been better and better run production. Okay, six-man rotation. Clayton Kershaw, seven shutout innings against the Giants. Only struck out six.

Who cares? He's awesome. He's gone six innings, 26 of his last 27 starts. The only one he didn't go to six innings, that's not counting the playoffs. Right. because he can't pitch in the playoffs we all know right um i hate that uh the only one he didn't go six

innings in his last 27 regular season starts was his final start of last season when he went five innings in the last game of the season so yeah we don't have to talk we don't have to talk about all these guys i don't think you pick the one that you think is the one you really want to talk about david price only struck out two over five innings of one run ball against the twins jacob de grom ten k's eight innings gave up two earned runs but five runs, right, against the Braves? Yeah. Jack Flaherty, kind of another weird start for him.

Three earned runs, though, eight strikeouts did take the loss, only gave up four hits. Cole Hamils, another very good performance. He may get into my top 20 starting pitchers. Eight strikeouts against the White Sox, just one run allowed. And then Brandon Woodruff gave up four over six innings against the Padres. Adam did have a note about Woodruff. His swinging strike rate in his first 11 starts was, 12% and his last four starts

it's 9.5% and if your last four starts includes at least one start against the Padres, your swinging strike rate should be good because the Padres swing and miss a lot. That's interesting and it's something I want to look into. He's been he has an elite fastball when it

comes to swinging strike rate, 14% for the season. His secondary pitches haven't been quite that good. Change up 16% that's pretty good. The slider is only 12.3%. So what I would want to see over the last four games, something that I want to look into moving forward,

is whether that's been a result of one pitch or the other. His fastball velocity in the month of June is actually up to 97.4 miles per hour, so I would guess it's not the fastball. I think Brandon Woodruff really good. I'm not that concerned. I think he's in the 20 to 25 range moving forward at starting pitcher. Yeah, I've got him right around 25. I'm not sure if he's quite that high, but yeah, I think he's very good as well.

Are these guys overowned? Julio Tehran, 90% owned. This is shocking to me because he's been so good this year. I can't believe it. I can't believe he gave up six runs against the Mets and walked three and struck out three and four innings. There are nine pitchers that have a worse Sierra. Oh, we did this already, didn't we? They're all terrible, and so is Julio Tehran.

He should be owned in like 9% of leagues. Marcus Stroman, 84% owned another typical Marcus Stroman outing against the Angels. Struck out three, gave up three runs over seven innings. The thing that I don't like is, like, Adam doesn't like Marcus Strowman. I wish he was here so I could just tell him. He doesn't like it, Marcus Strowman, because he doesn't get enough strikeouts. He doesn't like Robbie Ray because he doesn't get enough quality starts. Basically, all Marcus Strowman does is give you quality starts.

Yeah, he's not an ace. No, but... 84% owned for a top 40, 45 starting pitcher? Yeah, I think he's pretty good. Yeah, I don't think. 84% is over at any means. I'm not saying that if he's out there, you have to go get him in those 16% of leagues.

There's probably a reason. Right. He hasn't been added. There's limited upside. You're in a shallower league. 10 team categories league, I understand. Jay Hap, 92% owned. Probably one of his best starts of the season.

I only gave up two runs against the race. Struck out three in five innings, didn't walk anyone. I would rather have Stroman than Hap. Yeah, this is a killer stretch that he's going through. He was good against the raise, but he's got the Astros this weekend. And then at Boston. Or, well, no. At London versus Bob.

At London. Next week. Yeah, I don't think you're trusting him against any of those matchups. So why do you have him on your roster at this point? Maybe, like, if he's a matchup dependent guy, that probably means he's a two-start streamer. He's a good matchups streamer, but not someone that you need to own. I think if he played for a different team and didn't have the run

that he had last year with the Yankees, he probably isn't close to 75% out. Fringy's starting pitchers, I think maybe all four of these guys we need to spend a little bit more time on than we have the pitchers before because they all have something a little, maybe not Merrill Kelly,

but Zach Ply Zach, seven innings, two hits, six strikeouts against the Rangers, gave up one earned run, and five walks, but as Chris has told us, really only three, which is not that bad at all.

I think Zach Plyzac, I'm going to have to move him up a little bit, but when we've talked about Plizac in regards to some of the other younger starting pitchers, you've kind of indicated you didn't really believe in it. Looking at his peripherals, it's easy to see why he has a 494 FIP, a 473 X FIP, and a 466 Cierra. Looking at what he did in the minor leagues, he was an extremely good control pitcher with close to but often not quite a strikeout per inning.

He never really had problems with home runs in the minor leagues. He has had a big time problem with home runs so far, but he's also stranded almost every runner that's reached base, and he's only given up a 192 bad hit. So I don't think he's anywhere close to a 256 ERA. I don't think that he is necessarily a must-start starting pitcher. I do think he should pretty much be owned everywhere. I would just expect him to be more like a low fours, ERA guy,

probably with not a strikeout per inning. And I'm just not sure how much value that has. You know, if we're talking about J.Hap being over-owned, that kind of sounds like J-Hap to me. Yeah, I mean, the difference, one difference, so far he's made five starts now, and he's gone seven innings in three of those five starts. Sure, but that's...

A 190 Babbat has as much as much as anything else. I think he's... And a 90% of... Somewhere in between Stroman and Hap. Sure. And I think Stromen should be more owned than 84% owned, and Hap should be less than 92, and Plex should be more than 76.

Okay. Okay. So we've found a spot for Zach, please, Zach. Merrill Kelly. One of our, my at least, favorite two-start pitchers this week, against the Rockies who are absolutely terrible on the road, gives up five earn runs. I'll still run them out there in those next two starts. He's got the Giants and then at San Francisco next the next two starts.

I'll still go out there with him. He's been pretty good at getting, and even in this game, and you give up six runs and you still go six innings, he's pretty good at getting deep into games. And you don't really have to worry about the control. Yeah, I think I agree. I would expect he's going to be good in one of the next two starts and hopefully in both of the next two starts.

Adrian Samson, I think, was you might have liked a little more than Marikelli. Start option this week. He was really terrible. And he, I just, I don't, I don't know what he's good at. I mean, his peripherals don't look that different from Zach Pleas, X. This season across seven relief appearances and nine starts, that's correct. His strikeout rate is worse. Okay.

And he's been worse than the minors. So I don't think that's totally fair. Look, I mostly liked him because of the matchups against Cleveland and the White Sox. The fact that he was bad against Cleveland, well, it's probably not going to go well for you if you started him in a two-star week. I'm sorry. Okay. You don't think he's as good as Zach Pleazek? No.

Okay. Tyler Skag is probably the more interesting one. Yes. I know it's hard to talk about him with Adam here. I know Adam wants to, I'm going to Tyler Skaggs. We're going to Tyler Skag. He has been a pretty big disappointment for most of this year, but seven and a third against the Blue Jays. it's the Blue Jays, only gave up three hits,

did not walk anyone, six strikeouts in this outing. It only brings his ERA down to 4.61. He does have more than a strikeout per inning this year. I thought he was going to be better than he's been so far. How are you, like, where are you at on Tyler Skicks? I think he remains interesting.

I think that's mostly the best that you can say about him, but, like, comparing him to Zach Pleasick, I think he'll be better than Zach Plyzac moving forward. I think he's going to be more of a strikeout pitcher, probably similar in terms of ERA, and I'll take the guy who can get more strikeouts. Okay. If he can keep the walks down and he can stay healthy,

well, he'll be doing that for the first time in his career. But if he could do those things, then yeah, I think he's probably going to be slightly better than Plesaq. Brett Anderson, seven innings against Baltimore, two strikeouts. He's actually been better than anyone else on this list, 3.68 ERA this season. I don't believe it at all. It's not quite Julio Turon,

but it's not far off in terms of overperformance. I think this is one of those ones where, yeah, 449 FIP, 49X FIP, 530 Sierra. So he's been worse than Julio Tijuana in terms of Sierra, but better in terms of the other two. If you've started Brett Anderson during this, congratulations, you've gotten really good results.

I would not want to start him against the race. That's a really tough lineup. I don't think I would want to start him against the Angels at this point. They've got Upton and Otani back. I'm going to change one player because Michael Paneda is listed in the deep league pitchers, which we're going to do next. I think he belongs in this section of fringy starting pitchers, 53% owned.

Paneda, a pretty good outing against the Boston Red Sox, only gave up one run, five strikeouts, over six innings. he got off to just a terrible, not quite a terrible start. If I remember correctly, like his very first start was pretty good, but he had like a 6ERA at one point, I believe. He's been slowly improving that. Do you have interest in Michael Panetta in like being owned more than half of leagues? How interesting is a Michael Paneda who doesn't get strikeouts?

Like he has a 386 ERA since the start of May in, in eight starts, but he's got 40 strikeouts in 46 and two-thirds innings. He's not walking anyone, which is nice. Still giving up home runs. He's got a 244 Babb up in that stretch. I'd rather have Skaggs. I would rather have Plizac.

I would rather have Kelly, depending on the matchups. The control has always been awesome for Panetta. It's just that maybe the command is not. And even over this stretch since May, he's got a 450 X-5. He's giving up a 244 Babbip, and he's still giving up a ton of home runs.

I think he's someone you just start in a week where he has two starts or in a week where he has good matchups. And he's got at KC and at the White Sox in his next two starts. So it might be worth using it. I would start him this weekend against the Royals in a league where I had daily starts.

I would next week with just one start at the White Sox. It's a little tougher. I'm probably not, but I could understand if you have to. Before we get to the deep league guys, Whitmerfield had a double dong, three for four, two home runs. six RBI. Rear high six RBI.

Never want to lead. When you hit lead off for the royals, it's going to be hard to ever get more than two RBI. There's not generally that many people on base for you. Anthony Desclophani was good against the Astros. He's 22% owned. Homer Bailey was fantastic against the Mariners, seven and two-thirds shutout innings.

Antonio Sinsatella, six and two-thirds, one earned run at Arizona, is nine percent owned. Are any of these three pitchers underowned? Maybe Desclophon. at 42%, I think he can probably, I mean, you look at the overall numbers, it's almost a strikeout per inning, 422 R.A. That's the kind of profile that probably should be owned more than 22%.

It's not a lot more. It's probably 40%, but there are probably some leagues out there where Anthony DiClafani should be owned. Now, having said that, he has to go to Miller Park to face the Brewers in his next start, and then the one after that is scheduled to be against the Cubs. You're probably not starting him in either of those two games. So how owned should he actually be? Probably 22%.

Yeah, and I hate to do this, but I think the one, like if you were adding one of these three guys for next week, it would unfortunately be Homer Bailey. Because he's only 12% owned. And he has not been as good. He's been mostly bad. But he gets to go face the Blue Jays next week. Antonio Sinsettella's next two starts are against the Dodgers.

I do think Bailey, he went through a stretch where he looked like an average starting pitcher at the beginning of the year. I recommended him for a two-start week, and he was one of the worst two-start pitchers of the season. And then since then, he's really been okay. And so I just won't recommend him ever again. Good. And he'll probably be a mid-fours, ZRA pitcher that's not bad against good matchups.

Good, good. We've got just a couple of minutes for some emails. Okay. And so let's just go to Brian. Ola Mucados, Brian from New York. Sure. I'm concerned about Will Smith's future. He's been very productive as a closer for the Giants so far,

but we all know he will likely be traded. What do you think the likelihood of him being traded to a team that will use him in the closer role like the Braves? Would it be better to trade him now for a closer that has a secure job or just wait and see what happens? Yeah. If you could trade him for, he's an elite reliever, I think. Would you trade him for Kimberl?

I think that's the, because Kimbril hasn't done anything. Yeah. Somebody might be worried about whether he's going to be himself again. Yeah. If I could get Craig Kimbril for him, I think I would do that. Because I think Craig Kimber will step on him out and it be a top eight closer. Are there any other, because I know you guys talked a week ago about guys who could become closers. But did you talk about the guys who are closers that you're worried about and would like to try to deal?

Ken Giles was one of them He is expected back I think in the next few days From that elbow issue They do think he's going to just be on the IL for the minimum So he's one of them Whoever the Red Sox closer

Like that's the thing is Will Smith could get traded to the Red Sox That wouldn't shock me What about Alex Colomay? Sure Alex Colomé And in that White Sox bullpen I'm not sure

Calvin Herrera's been so bad That I don't think he's the guy that you want there But he does have experience But you might want to get rid of Colome, because Colom A, I would doubt, is going to a team that's going to close. Yes. It's just, this is always a really, like the Giants, they have been, by all accounts, trying to trade him since spring training. And so that's one where it really does seem like he's going to get traded. But it doesn't necessarily, the tough thing with any of these situations is you don't know that they're going to get traded.

And so you could make one of these moves and then end up just trading a guy. for no reason. You know, like last year, I would have assumed that Drew Steckenrider when he was the Marlins closer definitely would have been traded from a team

who had no intentions of competing. He got traded in the off season, ended up staying with the team. So there's just, there's no guarantee that this is a winning strategy. You might want to hold on to them. Zach has a catcher question,

which is good, because I do not think we talked about catchers once in the entirety of this episode. The Mariners guys. Tom Murphy. We did. Yes.

Tom Murphy, Omar Narvaez. I am in a standard points league. I'm wondering if I should ride the hot hand at the position. Robinson Sherinos, Mike Zanino, Josh Feigley, or pick up Buster Posey, who is currently on waivers? I would pick up Posey and just hope he figures it out. The only one of those guys that's close to Sharinos. Yeah, yeah. But for me, I mean, Posey has had both concussion and now hamstring issues recently, and it seems like his body

failing him both in terms of it falling apart and also in terms of it not being good at baseball anymore. It feels a lot like Jonathan LaCroix. Although Jonathan Croy has, he's had a decent, yeah, he's a top 12 catcher this year. Yeah. So could Buster Posey. This from Josh, hey Adam. He's not here. Why haven't you guys talked about the upcoming return of Scooter Jeanette? Could he be a difference maker in leagues? I picked him up, but I don't have room for him. Who would you drop? First off, could Scooter Jeanette be a difference maker in L. 100%. Yeah, he's a second basement. Without question.

And he's a very good one. Right. I had concerns about D.D. being a difference maker just because of the position he plays. Scooter could absolutely be a different. Yeah, no, he's someone that I expect to be starting as soon as he gets back wherever I have him. And I have him in a couple of spots. So I'm going to give you the easiest question you've ever been asked.

Who do I drop for Scooter Chinette? Jordan Alvarez, Michael Conforto, Elohimenez, Jorge Polanco, or Gregory Polanco? I mean, it's got to be Gregory Polanco. Yes. I would still hope that there's potential for him to turn it around, but he hasn't hit and he's not playing every day. I think we have time for one more question. And you don't have one.

No, I do. Don't disrespect Adam on his birthday is the subject. Okay. Is today Adam's birthday? That is, I believe. He said that he has a doctor's appointment today. I think that I don't think. But Adam seems like the guy who.

Dear Jacob de Grom, He's a doctor's appointment, guys. I don't want to. Dirk Novitsky and Adam Azer. Oh, people who have the same birthday. I guess. In a move that can only be described as a deliberate affront to Adam on his birthday, a fantasy manager in my 10-team points league dropped Chris Paddock for Lance Lynn.

While I'm sure it might be tempting to throw something in anger right now, a blatant disrespect this move shows I need help figuring out who to drop to pick up Paddock. Max Fried, Edwin Diaz, Craig Kimbril, Frankie Montau, or Caleb Smith. That's an easy one, right? Dropped Freed. Yeah, drop Freed. Drop Max Freed, pick up Chris Paddock,

and I can't say anything about how disrespectful it is to drop anyone for Lance Lynn right now because he has been phenomenal and it looks real. I don't think it is real, but he looks incredible. He looks like a top 30 starting pitcher. I have no idea. Can you tell us the reason that he is not?

He hasn't been. ever before. That's going to do it for Worryometer Wednesday. We'll talk to you tomorrow.