Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/21: Who to Add; Week 14 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 21, 2019

Reviewing what we saw from (2:15) Julio Urias, Ross Stripling, Zac Gallen and Adbert Alzolay and ranking them going forward. Then Adam gets to brag about a celebrity sighting (10:30) before we get into the two-start pitchers (13:31) and weekend streamers (16:00) you need to know about ... News and notes (20:06), deep league dudes (25:10), quick thoughts (29:30) on players like Howie Kendrick, Joc Pederson, Caleb Smith and Carlos Santana and then a look at the Most Added list (37:50) ... Start, Sit or Drop (43:10) for Aaron Hicks, Ryan Braun, Jesse Winker and more. Then we talk SPs (47:30) like Andrew Heaney, Nick Pivetta, Jimmy Nelson, Madison Bumgarner, Mike Minor, etc. before looking at the full list of two-start pitchers (55:02) for next week ... Email us at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Domingo fantasy baseball today. It is Friday. It is Kokomo Friday. Hope you are having a beautiful day. I'm Adam Azer. Let's say hello to Scott White. Hey, Scott White. Hello, Adam Azer.

Hey, Chris, how we doing? Nice to see you. Chris Towers. You like the little hand flourish there. People just listening. They don't see it. They don't know what I'm talking about. We got to throw in these little nuggets to get them on, to get them watching the video.

I do love your. Nugs, Scott, but I didn't see what you're talking about. Yeah, I didn't either. I'm sure it was great. Hey, where's... I'm sure it was... Oh, yeah, my hands off camera. Oh, I got to have more camera awareness.

I'm sorry. It's like, is that better? Yeah, that's great. Thank you, Scott. Chris, where the heck is Heath? Oh, Heath is not going to be on Fridays anymore, guys. I have to break the news. I'm sorry to have to do it in such a public way.

Oh, but... He's just got too much on his plate. Yeah. All right. Well, that's a shame because I have... He's a busy guy. I have the best story that's ever been told on the show today, and Heath won't be a part of it. Really?

Is it better than Heath's first pitch? No, it's not better than that. But it's pretty cool. And I have a visual. I have a visual that if you're watching, you'll be able to see it. So let's start, though. Today we'll obviously look at the two-star pitchers for next week. We'll look at weekend streamers for today, tomorrow, and Sunday.

We got news and notes. I got some deep league guys that are pretty interesting, like Danny Santana and Eric Sogarde. They're barely owned. Wade LeBlanc, been pretty good when they're using an opener. He's barely owned. And, yeah, we'll just talk about a lot of players today. But let's start with the guys that we spent yesterday's show discussing

the Dodgers starting pitchers that could be replacing Rich Hill, Aureas, and Stripling, both owned in 40 to 50% of leagues. Zach Gallen, or as one of our team named Tuesday participants, said, a couple of weeks. Mexico, Zach Gallin Fannacus, 58% own, five innings one run at St. Louis, and Albert Alzale, who's only

14% owned. And that is criminally underowned. You got to go get that. Right? I mean, it's crazy. After seeing what he did yesterday, yeah, I would say so. Yeah, four innings, one run. He came in in the fifth. He struck out five Mets, but 14% owned, and he will start

next time around, right? Alzalai. I would assume so. I think this is kind of just an easing in scenario. I know on the Cubs official site, they were talking about how the way Al-Zal A had been going at AAA, Theo Epstein was trying to come up with ways to get him involved. Even before Kyle Hendricks went down, they were thinking about maybe doing a six-man rotation for a stretch of games where they don't have a day off. So, you know, now that Hendricks is out, that should make it easy. and the contrast between how he performed in his four innings and how Tyler Chattwood performed in his four innings was pretty stark.

Yeah, and if he does start next week, he might be a two-star pitcher. They are lined up. He would be lined up to face Atlanta and at Cincinnati, but obviously we have to see there. We're going to save Gowan for last. But let's start with the Dodgers. Rich Hill is not going to be back. If he comes back at all, it's not going to be until mid-August.

So we've got time for either Aureas or Stripling. to claim this job. And, you know, they both were, I guess, fine yesterday. Stripling gave up three unurned runs. He gave up a home run. But if you look at Stripling's history, he was great as a starter last year. Dave Roberts said he's more built up than Julio Arias, obviously. But Areas, three innings of one-hit ball, five strikeouts.

So who are you going for, Chris, I'll kick it off with you. Who are you going for in the Dodgers, in this situation between Julio Arias and Ross Stripling? Well, before Chris gives his answer, I just wanted to mention that there was a report from the OC Register prior to this game, a quote from Andrew Friedman saying stripling deserves it. Like, it's supposed to be stripling. I don't know if yesterday's game changed anything, but the plan is stripling. Oh, okay. I didn't see that. Well, that sucks.

But actually, it just means that I need to pick up stripling. So to answer your question, Adam, Ross Stripling would be the, one I would go for. That sucks. I picked up Arias in five freaking weeks. I think Aureas is more interesting at this point. Like, Stripling was really, really good last season. But part of that came with an increase in fastball velocity that he mostly has not been able to sustain.

Now, it's ticked up a little bit since he's gone back to the bullpen. But, you know, he's someone that. he's never going to throw hard, but he was getting closer to like average velocity, and it kind of helps everything else play up. So it's definitely something that I would have wanted to see from him if he was going back in the rotation is getting back to that 92, 93 mile per hour area with his fastball.

I think Arias is more interesting. He's less proven for sure and he's less of a sure thing. I think they'll both be good. They're Dodgers pitcher. They had nothing but good starter. It might be a situation where they piggyback kind of like Chatwood and Alzalade just did because Aureas has been throwing a lot of two and three inning outings more so than Stripling. Stripling pitched two innings yesterday versus Areas is three.

When Stripling was in the rotation at the start of the year, he made six starts. I think he had about a 265 ERA. So he's interesting enough to pick up in his own right, but they were short starts. and I don't imagine he's going to come out throwing seven innings after being in the bullpen so long. If I was prioritizing the two, I would prioritize stripling. But I don't, you know, if it is kind of a piggyback situation and stripling goes like four innings,

Aureas is going to be the one coming in and getting in line for the win now. So what did you guys think of Zach Gallen? Gowan, 58% owned, 10 swinging strikes on 99 pitches. Nearly gave up two home runs in the first inning. Its first batter Matt Carpenter flew out to like between the warning track and the wall. Part of the warning track. And then Goldschmidt hit a home run distance but foul. But overall was a very good first start for Zach Gowan,

five innings of one run ball with six strikeouts at the Cardinals. He's at Washington next week. I don't know where that 97 mile per hour fastball was. I sure didn't see it. I mean, I watched the first and the fifth inning, so I didn't see all that much. Yeah, that was, his velocity was a little lower than I think a lot of the reports on him had been. He looked more like an average fastball velocity guy. He averaged 92.7.

That's, I think actually a little bit below the average starter fastball peaked at 94. So not exactly what we were hoping to see. But it's a really good sign that he was willing to throw. I mean, he only threw 29 fastballs out of 99 pitches. So he has a lot of confidence in all three of his secondary pitches and his cutter was actually his number one pitch yesterday. And that's considered his best pitch. So it was good to see good results from that.

He generated a pretty decent amount of weak contact and three swinging strikes with his cutter as well. Yeah, I don't see any reason why I would be disappointed. I mean, the guy making his major leg debut, he gave a one. Run in five innings. You know, I'm, I'd be pretty pleased with it as a gallon owner. I think certainly he deserves more looks based on this start. Yeah. I thought his arm angle was interesting.

I feel like his arm angle, and a lot has been made of his arm angle, him changing it. But I feel like it's, it's, it just because it's, it appears to be, you know, less than typical, that might be something that's added to his success too. Yeah. Yeah, I was fine with it. He's still available in like 40% of CBS leagues. I think he needs that number needs to shrink drastically. Yeah, I'd probably pick him up.

It was weird. I wasn't really blown away. But at the same time, he's got a lot of pitches that he throws for strikes. So I guess I was just expecting more velocity because of the reports. But good start and a different kind of pitcher. Yeah, that arm angle is funky. There's just so funkiness to Zach Allen. Would you drop Framber Valdez, who I think may have been affected by the weather. His first three innings were fine, and then it really started coming down in the fourth inning,

and he started struggling at the Yankees. But also keep in mind, Valdez's previous two starts were against Baltimore and Toronto. Would you drop Valdez to pick up Zach Allen? If it came to it, I would. I'm not especially interested in dropping Valdez. I hope I had someone else I could drop instead, but if that was my only choice, I would do that, yes. What did you say, Chris?

Same. I'd rather have Gallon, but I'm not like going out of my way to drop Valdez. So how would you rank Gallin, stripling, Arias, Alzale? Gallin, Alzalay, though I'd probably put Valdez behind Gallin if we were doing that. And then who are the other, the two Dodgers pitchers, stripling and Arias? Yeah. That's how I drank that. All right, beautiful.

Today's sponsor is Indochino. I love my Indochino suit. Please go ahead and get yourself one. Use the promo code FBT on Indochino.com. Get a suit for $359. Custom suit, amazing deal. $359 promo code FBT on Indochino. All right, here's my story.

So went out last night for my birthday. By the way, I don't think any of you wish me a happy birthday. Maybe Chris did? I'm thinking no, though. Happy birthday, Adam. Yeah, none of you did. You had to go. You did it.

You know why? I didn't see you, Adam. I didn't. Facebook? I didn't hear from you. I didn't get anything on my wall. You didn't wish him a happy birthday this morning either. Look, if you make yourself invisible on your birthday,

you only have yourself to blame. All right, fine. Right? You need to walk around on your birthday carrying a balloon, wearing a shirt with like your face on it. And then, you know. Then I'll get you to make it a little. I would wear a shirt with Adam's face on it.

Yeah. It's funny. mentioned that because one year for my birthday, I went to dinner with my friends and two of them were wearing a shirt with my face on it. It was very strange. Okay, so I'm out to dinner, and I don't usually care about celebrity sightings, but yesterday was the coolest celebrity sight. I met the most famous person I will ever meet, ever. He is, I'm going to let you try to guess. He is, like, internationally famous. He's an extremely important person who lives in New York with his very famous wife, who obviously lives in New York.

What else could I say? He's kind of an older guy. He's not in the sports world. Who do you think I met last night? Like mind-blowingly famous. Not in the sports world. Okay. What else?

What else could I say? His wife is equally, if not more famous? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Okay. and more relevant recently than him. Yo-yo Ma. Okay, let's bring up the picture and take a look at who I saw yesterday.

Oh. President Bill Clinton eating at the same restaurant. It was like, oh my God, that's Bill Clinton. And look, I'm not going to get into politics. You go to some fancy places, Adam. No, not at all. No, it was a Mexican restaurant that happened to be really good. I went for my birthday, which, again, you guys didn't wish me happy birthday.

but like people were like That's Bill Clinton Did he? No, he did go Oh, Bill Clinton eating it on the border? It was called Guadalajara If you live in Westchester, go to Guadalajara It's amazing

Even Bill Clinton dines there But I felt bad because I didn't want to bother him But I thought to myself like my son is here If I can get my son in a picture with Bill Clinton He is going to cherish that at some point He's going to bring that to show and tell in third grade So, I don't even look at the camera though I know, I know, he wasn't looking at the camera

Come on, kid. You're one chance. I just thought it was so cool. I was blown away. I was just starstruck by it. I've never met a president before. So thank you for indulging me on this story. Bill Clinton is making only one start next week.

So he's not in this next segment of two-star pitchers. Who are of the crappy, crappy list of two-star pitchers? It is a light week of games next week. Who less than 70% owned are we looking at? Chris, give me some crappy names. there's only two i think that are even worth considering i don't maybe maybe scott will disagree but actually man there might be one this is really stinky i i i've never richards against washington and philadelphia is probably the best option he's 50% owned and then

Adam Plutko has really good matchups. He's at he's versus Kansas City and then at Baltimore. That's probably Well, Brad Keller has really good matchups and apart from his most recent start has been on a nice run. Yeah, Bradbler at Cleveland at Toronto, fine. If I'm forcing a sleeper,

that's probably the one I'm going with. Unfortunately, I'm not going to to go through this until later today. so we can't have that uncomfortable moment where I tell you, oh, he's not really making two starts at him. And then it becomes even more uncomfortable when I'm actually wrong. So that's a part of the podcast we're all going to miss.

But, yeah, I would say if this group, Brad Keller, is probably my first choice. Yeah, you might be able to find Andrew Heaney. We're going to have to talk about him because I'm not sure you want Andrew Heaney right now, but he's got Cincinnati in Oakland. I don't think Chris Bassett is terrible at St. Louis and at the Angels. and then I don't want to start him with these matchups but Trevor Williams at Houston and at Milwaukee like heck no

and I know he hasn't been great since coming off the IL but basically like the year before that starting with the All-Star break last year and going through his IELs before his IELS then Trevor Richards was a must-start pitcher he only had one start since coming Trevor Williams you mean Trevor Williams sorry Pirates Trevor Williams

Bad starts, bad matchups at Houston and at Milwaukee, but maybe someone you want to own. There's no way I'm touching him. He was, he was Fools Gold for that entire year. But it's a long time to be Fools Gold. Right, but sometimes it's Fools Gold for a long time. Pyrite takes a long time to develop. Okay. Weekend streamers.

Actually, looking at the Marlins, Usually when I look at the Marlins, it's to find the guys facing the Marlins, but this weekend it might be Sandy Alcantara or Eliezer Hernandez or Jordan Yamamoto at Philadelphia. The Phillies are kind of struggling. Each one more magnificent than the last, though. Where have you been? How about that? So, the stallions?

Yeah, that's very funny. I sent you the names of the weekend streamers. I don't know who your favorites are. You can tell me. It's a secret. Zach, Zagp, why don't you tell your buddy Bill Clinton? I like Pleasac, but he's 76% owned.

And I like Paneda, Kansas City. I like what Dakota Hudson's done really for most of the season, but especially since the start of May, he's cut down the walks and is a really heavy ground ball pitcher. So, you know, the Angels aren't a great matchup, but I think Dakota Hudson's worth a look. that.

Yeah. He's a weird pitcher. But, like, I don't think what he's done recently is unsustainable, but that you can make an argument of how good it really is. And, yeah, it's just, he's just a weird, just like super ground ball guy who doesn't get many strikeouts. And to strikeout rate is not, is pretty terrible. But, um, let's see, you have, you have Spencer Turnbull. at Detroit.

Yeah, that's not right. So who's facing Detroit? So he's at Cleveland. Cleveland. Okay, that's that one I can do. He's been so bad lately, Spencer Turnbull. I think. He hasn't been great, yeah.

But I could do it. I could talk myself into it. Tyler's guys against the Cardinals is a pretty good one. Look, in Sunday. And Zach Plasek again. Do we say Bletsack Plac against the Tigers? Like, that's an easy yes. Jordan Yamamoto at Philadelphia.

Like, that's dangerous. but the way his first two starts went, I'd be fine sending him out there. Okay. So those are some of your weekend streamers. Was my Clinton story good, or was it just a waste of time? I feel like it was a waste of time. It was a little self-indulgent. Yeah, it was very cool for you, Adam.

I don't know that the audience is excited about your feeding Bill Clinton. But look, there was a photo, you and your kid. Like, I refused to show photos of my kids publicly. So that, you know, the fact that people can see your kid, That's a reason to watch the show. Adam, did you have any interesting dreams last night? No, that you'd like to share? What's the name of the guy on the Marlins, the pitcher?

I just mentioned, what, Hernandez? Eli Azer Hernandez. Oh, Eliezer. Okay. No, just because Scott keeps, his name is Azer. Gosh, what is wrong? No, because you keep telling me that I'm being like selfish and self-indulgent, and now I'm just going to play into it, Scott.

I'm just going to lean into it. Okay. Let's take a break here on fantasy baseball today, and you can hear me talk about my Indochino suit. When we come back, I'll tell you about the injuries that caught my eyes and more on fantasy baseball today. Selfish Adam Azer back here on fantasy baseball today. Just learned during the break that Scott White shook Jimmy Carter's hand once. So congratulations. And Chris... We're both from the same state. I know Jamie. He actually spoke at my high school graduation.

How cool is that? That is actually pretty cool. Okay, Richel's on the aisle. You know that. Mike Clevenger's expected to go on the IL, but it will probably be a minimum stay. Story is going to miss multiple weeks with a thumb injury and Brendan Rogers was called up. No one, I don't, did I get Brendan Rogers in the league when Heath told me I'd be able to get him because nobody wants him? I doubt it. Did Heath say that nobody should pick up, what is the context of that? Did he say nobody should pick up Brendan Rogers? Oh, I did.

No, I dropped him. He's still on way, no. Did I not claim for him? We had a semi-debat about how bad Brendan Rogers was the first time he was up and he was taking the very bad angle. He may be right. He didn't even slug 300. He was awful.

He was awful. A super talented prospect who's going to get to play probably the next two or three weeks at least in Corse Field. I'm pathetic because I didn't even put in a claim for him and I would have gotten him for $0. I am just losing it life, but I did meet Bill Clinton. No one Aronado has a toe injury, guys. No-Anon Aronado toe injury and he says he's going to have to play through it and deal with it.

Is this significant to you? It could be. It's hard to say right now. It doesn't... He fouled a pitch off his toe, right? Yeah. Yeah, like last week. Pretty sure.

I don't know if it's not broken. If it's not like sprained, it's probably just a pain tolerance thing and maybe it'll affect him for a couple of weeks, but I don't, there's nothing actionable there. All right, we're going to go quick here on the notes here. Jesse Chavez is going to be in the Rangers rotation. Any interest in Chavez?

No. Yep. The Mets fired pitching coach Dave Island and bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez and Phil Regan will be the new pitching coach for the Mets. 82 year old. Yeah, 82 years old. Pretty cool.

Good for him. Bryce Harper and Reese Hoskins batted first and second for the Phillies, and it did not work. Mitch Hanigur could be out through the All-Star break. Angelton Simmons had a setback. Doesn't seem like a huge setback, but he could have come back this week.

That's not going to happen, Andrewton Simmons. Dallas Keikl expected to start at Washington today. Start or sit Keikle. Oh, I would start him. The fact he went seven innings in both of his minor league rehab starts, like clearly he's stretched out. Yeah, if I stashed him all this time, I'd want to get him active. Ken Giles is back.

Aaron Judge is coming back today. Mitch Garver left with heel soreness. Garrett Cooper still dealing with the sore triceps. He had to be removed from the game. Jorge Alfaro left concussion-like symptoms. Outfielder Cesar Poeo did start for the Marlins. So if you're in an NL-only league, maybe keep an eye on him. He was good with the Angels.

Adelberto Monasey's on the aisle with a groin injury, but that could be a 10-day stint. Johnny Quato could start in September, just throwing that out there. And Ryan Zimmerman will start a rehab assignment today, and we're going to talk about that because we're going to talk about Howie Kendrick in a little bit. Some baseball stuff. The Nationals are 17 and 7 in their last 24 games.

The Reds have won five straight. That's the second longest winning streak behind the Yankees. I, by the way, I'm a Yankees fan. And I met Bill Clinton last night. Houston has lost six straight games. They are struggling right now. They need Springer back. How about the race exploring, splitting their home games between Tampa Bay and Montreal? What? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. What, this Clinton thing? No.

Oh, the Tampa Bay. Oh. Like, who would ever, why would Tampa or Montreal ever go for this? Well, I guess they're towing the water to see how much Montreal really misses baseball. With an eye idea on a more permanent move. Yeah. If the results are there. That's my guess.

I would love to look up the attendance figures for the Nationals when they were, when they were the Expos. because I don't think they were like selling out every game. This whole thing about... No, they were pretty bad, but it was like... They were bad. But it was also pretty obvious they were leaving. All right. What's the point of going to a baseball game if you know the team's gone?

Yeah, like before the strike, when they looked like the best team in baseball, they were drawing well. Well, they were the best team in baseball at that point. Yeah, they were the best team in baseball. Yeah. Okay, Brandon Lowe is over 14 with nine strikeouts in his last four games. Charlie Morton, in six straight starts, has exactly 14 swinging strikes. He's really good.

Marcus Simeon has a 17-game hitting streak. Jago Dorisi has given up eight runs and two starts against the Royals, 15 runs, and his other 13 starts. That's weird. Thank you, AP, for that. And Charlie Blackman is 26 for 54 with six homers and five doubles since coming off the IL, and he has 25 hits in his past nine games. That is amazing. Guys, let me give you some deep league players real quick here,

and you tell me if you think any of them have mixed league relevance. Danny Santana is 22% owned. Eric Sogar, he is a Rangers utility man, Danny Santana eligible at first, second, outfield, and short. He's got nine steals this year, and he's batting 312. Eric Sogard has been pretty good lately for the Blue Jays. He leads off. He plays most days, but not every day.

Sogar is eligible at second and short. Jake Mariznick, Homer twice, for the Astros yesterday. He's 5% owned. And Mike Yistremski has been okay. And he doesn't play every day. He plays a lot, though, for the Giants. So Danny Santana, Eric Sogarde, Mariznick, and Yistremski. Scott, real quick, anyone mixed league relevant?

At one point in a 15-team league this year, I have owned and used all of Danny Santana, Eric Sogard, and Mike Yistremski. I probably used to them and lose to them. But like part of the problem for Santana and Sogard is they just don't play regularly enough. Like they're kind of fringy to begin with and then they don't play regular enough. Sogard might be kind of interested in it for sure played every day, but he doesn't. So it's deep leagues only for these guys. I like Danny Santana.

I think he's pretty good. Over the last couple of years, he's really taken a step forward with his exescent. of velocity and the stack has metrics are actually very good, his expected batting average. He does have like a 405 Babbap right now, but his expected average is actually still like 290. So it's not like he's way over his head. He's got some pop and he's got some speed. He doesn't play every day, but I do think he's a worthwhile ad in a Roto league with that kind of positional eligibility and his power speed pump. I think they could certainly get him in there more often.

Like Ronald Guzman at first base. I don't know how South Santana is defensively, but they could find spots for him, even though it will get a little more crowded soon with Gallo. And pitchers, Wade LeBlanc and Glenn Sparkman. Wade LeBlanc's been used with openers, and he's been pretty good three of the last four times. Glenn Sparkman is a Royals pitcher who is, you know,

Glenn Sparkman. He's a superhero. What about Wade LeBlanc and Sparkman? any interest there? Not really. Yeah. It'd have to be like a points league that's so deep you struggle to fill out your rotation

and just are looking to find innings. That's about the only scenario where I'd want to, I'd want to make a play for either of those two. This whole thing with Wade the Blanc for Seattle and Tommy Malone, it's like, is using an opener that much of an edge where it can turn a crap pitcher

into a really good pitcher, just not having to face the best hitters in the order one time? No, no, I don't think so. This is, there's a bit of the opener should help mediocre pitchers pitch a little better, but there's also just good luck involved with all of them. Like, I think what's interesting is the Rays who pioneered this last year, and the numbers probably overstated how effective it was, but nonetheless the numbers were really good doing it.

They've kind of shied away from it this year while other teams have made a more aggressive use of it. Yeah, and before the season, they said they were, they came into the season with Charlie Morton, Tyler Glassnow, and Blake Snowe, not being opener guys. They were just going to use those guys starters. And I think what they're doing is just with their good pitchers, they're willing to not go with a starter or with an opener.

And so, like, yeah, Trino's has been good enough this year. that they've mostly abandoned that for him. But I believe they're still doing it for Yard, bro, right? Yes. Okay. Sometimes, sometimes not. And they do it pretty much all the time for Jalen Beaks. Yeah.

But less than I expected them to coming into the year, I would say. He's what's on dot, dot, dot. Guys, give me your quick thoughts on Howie Kendrick. He's 64% owned. I think he's good. I mean, that's a guy who, if he played every day, I think he'd be owned everywhere and probably started everywhere. Yeah.

But they just haven't been able to find a permanent spot for him. And the fact Ryan Zimmerman's coming back will make it harder. He deserves to play over Ryan Zimmerman, I think. But he hasn't been playing consistently over Mike Adam or Matt Adams. But I also think this is a situation. And it would be true of Ryan Zimmerman if he was playing where it's a guy who probably shouldn't play every day either. Just because Kendrick's old. He's.

did he rupture his Achilles two years ago? That's... I don't know, but let's wrap it up. Wrap it up on Kendrick. He's... Whoa. Well, we have the word quick.

People want to know about Harry Kendrick. They do, but I think they know. I think we said it. I think we said it. How about Jock Peterson? Jock Peterson. Give me your quick thought on Jock Peterson, the number 31 outfielder and points.

Number 32 in Roto. 20 home runs now for Juck Peterson. Yeah, but he'd slowed down a little bit. And I feel like it was coming back down to earth with more lefties on the schedule and not playing as consistently. It's hard to use them in a points league, I think, unless it's a daily lineup situation. You hit ball hard, ball go far. Yeah, I mean, if you're just looking for a lot of home runs, I'd go with Hunter Renfro or Jorge Saler over him because they play more often. Yeah, I start Peterson.

I haven't been a daily league. I start him against righties. I sit him against lefties. He leads off for the Dodgers. So there's going to be a lot of counting stats there. You just know you're getting bad batting average. Okay. Michael Brantley, he homered two days ago for the first time in 32 games.

Brantley is the number 13 outfieler in points, number 22 in Roto. Great batting average, not much else. Give me your quick thought on Michael Brantley. Start with Chris. He's like a superhero version of, Nick Marquit. Which is a must-own and must-start player. I have no...

I don't really have much else to say about him. I don't think he's going to steal 20 bases again or get close to it like he usually does, but he's a really good hitter. Okay. And he shows up pretty high in the rankings for both formats, right? Definitely in points leagues. 13th and points, 22nd, Roto, yeah.

Okay. Did you say that already? He just went through a stretch of 31 games where he was the number 62 outfielder in points and number 116 in Roto. So I had him in my lineup all the time. If you take the least productive 32-game stretch of this season. But the numbers he's on pace were about what you'd expect for Michael Brantley. Yeah, it was just interesting.

You know, I never took him out of my lineup because he still even was batting 285. You know, everybody needs batting average. But he was 116th in Roto. All right. Yeah, I'm sorry. I saw a stat yesterday, like something like 40 players are on pace for 35. plus home runs. So you stick a 20 homer guy in that environment.

It's harder to get excited about him. But Brantley still manages to pull it off, I feel like it. That's good point. Hunter Dozier coming back soon. Give me a quick thought on Hunter Dozier, Scott. Very excited to have him back. I feel like he's going to be must start just like he was before getting hurt. Would you rather have Hunter Dozier or Michael Brantley?

Brantley. Brantley. You're a little worried, Chris? Heath. Yeah, I mean, this was such an outlier. for him, and it was really only about a month and a half, that, yeah, anything that might knock him off balance is going to be concerning, given his track record, which is mostly pretty mediocre. Okay, next up, Caleb Smith, five straight starts of less than six innings currently on the IL with a hip injury,

but, you know, wasn't pitching great before going on the IL, mostly because of innings. Scott gave me a quick thought on Caleb Smith. I mean, that pretty much sums it up. I'm less enthusiastic about him probably than at any other point this season. That said, he's rarely going to be a guy sit still, just because it's hard to come up with five pitchers who you trust, regardless of matchups who are consistently giving you six plus innings. So I don't think we've seen the last six plus inning start from him this year,

but it's not the way the marlins are using him, it's not going to be the norm. Is Caleb Smith still the best pitcher to Owen on the Marlins? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Chris, give me a quick thought on Travis Shaw. Basically, is it time to get rid of Travis Shaw?

Yeah. For fantasy players or for the brewer? Yes. Yeah, he's been dreadful since coming back. He's still striking out. I think I saw yesterday, he's striking out 37% of the time since coming back from the IL. My goodness.

been walking so that's nice but yeah i just we're deep enough into the season and this slump is so deep and it started even in spring training that i just think you kind of have to write it off as a last season what's interesting is he has minor league options so it's not like the brewers just have to get rid of him they could send him down keep him in the organization and then whenever he figures it out in the miners call him back up. But Kestin Hira should be up. You know, this, the Brewer's offense has slowed down quite a bit with the exception of Christian Yelich, you just homers every day still. And they've got a total black hole in their lineup in the form of Travis Shaw. They need to call up Kestanhira. It doesn't make any sense

why they wouldn't. Okay. Yeah, it's a good, good player to stash right now. Would you rather have Brendan Rogers or Kestanhira? I'd rather have, I mean, I think you got to go with Rogers burn in the hand. But yeah, my last prospect report, Kestan Hira, made his first appearance among the top five prospects to stash. So he is a good guy to stash right now. The last two players I had on Give Me Your Quick Thoughts on were Carlos Santana and Elvis Andrews.

It's just worth pointing out they're both having great seasons. Andrews basically has the same exact slash line as he had in 2017 when he was the number two shortstop in fantasy. Now, those numbers wouldn't make him the number two shortstop in fantasy. This year, it's just a better position. But still, it was 297 with 20 home runs and 25 steals. But he's already stolen 14 bases in 64 games. Like, he's just having a great season.

And I think it's obvious the injury really held him back last year. Santana, meanwhile, we've talked about him. Batting ball profiles a little bit better. Batting average is high, not as fly ball dependent. So I'll just ask you guys real quick. Do you doubt what we're seeing from Santana or Andrews? Santana more than Andrews, I think. Because like you said, we have seen this kind of season from Andrews before.

We haven't really seen a $290 batting average from Carlos Santana, at least. He might have gotten close before. Never, never. And yet, and yet, like, his strikeout rate always suggested, why doesn't this guy hit for average? And the difference, the fact that he's hitting fewer fly balls, you know, fly balls if they don't go over the fence, usually translate to outs.

So, like, becoming less of a fly ball guy in an environment where you can just make up for it by hitting the ball harder, which he's doing. Yes, he is. I think this might be, this might be the season where, you know, you've talked Chris sometimes about a guy's best case scenario, worst case, and we may finally be getting

the best case scenario from Santana here. Okay, well, the Marlins, you know that the most added list is exciting when the first two players are Miami Marlins. They are Jordan Yamamoto and Zach Gallen. Chris Towers is pumped right now, but he didn't. Woo! The president last night. Jordan Yamamoto, Zach Galland,

Adam Plutgo, and Merrill Kelly are the four most added players. Who are your favorite, like, who are you looking to add right now? Yamamoto, Gallant, Plutko, and Merrill Kelly. Scott, give me your thoughts on the top four most added players in CBS leagues. I'm looking to add Gallin and Yamamoto, and I'm not looking to add the other two. Okay. Plucko and Merrill Kelly. Chris, Ian Desmond continues to be hot.

He's 53% owned. Now laugh at all the 53% of our owners who own Ian Desmond. No. No, Ian Desmond has actually made the kind of changes that he needed to make. Whoa. Yeah, and I noticed this early in the season, even when things were going really poorly for him still, he was hitting a lot more balls in the air. His ground ball rate is down from 62% in 2017 and 2018 to 45%.

And so that has translated to a 31% fly ball rate, 24% line drive rate. Those are really good. And he's still hitting the ball reasonably hard. He still plays half his games and cores. The fact that he's not running is, I think, disappointing. But, you know, you look at a 271 average and an 8. 46 OPS, based on how he's hitting the ball right now,

that seems perfectly sustainable in a way that, you know, the 20 homers that he hit in 2018 did not. Man, but he's just having such a bad season. Like, it is one and a half. Does he though? He's up to like a 270 batting average on pace for more than 20 homers. On pace for more than 20 homers, that's nothing.

Now, like, as you said, just look at his fantasy points by a week. He had 45 fantasy. points last week. So he's been, okay, yeah, you're going to make a good point that he's worse than points because it's plate discipline. Well, yeah, I mean, a three outfielder points league is probably not the format where you use them.

It's more like a five outfielder roto league. And 53% ownership that's, you know, you factor in the NL only leagues and the five outfielder leagues. That's probably about right. All right. I mean, it just feels like if we had this conversation two weeks ago, we would have been like, no, he's over owned because basically it had one good week at that point. 40, but he crushed, I mean, that series, that four-game series against the Padres, where they set the record, those two teams set the record for most runs scored in a four-game series.

He had 12 RBIs, two home runs. Right, but the changes to his profile started a lot. All right, but there was no production. Right, but that's, but production is a trailing indicator of, uh. Is it? Yeah. This is where, this is what I was saying yesterday. I'm getting so sick of all this X-statement.

But I understand. Well, I haven't mentioned X-Stats. Yeah, but you're basically saying... You're just talking about the fact he's hitting the ball in the air. You're basically saying. You know what Desmond's XBA is? No. It's just exactly the same as B.A.

Okay. All right, so Desmond, Mercado, and Kingery. Adam thinks that's XBS. Desmond, Mercado, and Kingery are on the most added list. How would you rank them? They're all outfield eligible. I would go... I think I'd go Kingery over Mercado and then Desmond.

I was thinking Mercado. over Kingery, but I'm fine with King River Mercado as well. I think Desmond is third. We got to talk about Lordus Gurriel. He's not in the top 10, but he's not far behind. He homered again yesterday. Lordus Gariel is 61% owned. My oh my, he is playing great for Toronto, batting 280 with nine home runs and 25 RBIs,

and since being recalled is even better than that. Who's excited about Lordis Gurriel, 61% owned? Lordis, Lordis. Yeah, I'm excited. He's not like a, he's performing it like a, a 40 homer pace and that's with a home run to fly ball rate that's not drastically higher than he had last year.

His babbips around 300. Like, that stats are unfavorable to him. But by more, I guess, what have become traditional measures, uh, it looks like this is something close to

what he can, something he can sustain. And yeah, I think maybe even in points leagues it's time to look into him. He's over the course of his two major league seasons or partial seasons. He's on a 31 homer 94 RBI, 82 run pace overall with a 281 batting at. I'm going to give you a four second baseman to rank.

Okay, Gouriel, Bigio, McMann, and Kendrick. Gereal, Biggio, McMahon, Kendrick. Chris, go. Woo. Uh, I guess I'd go Kendrick. Benric Bizzio, McMan, Gurriel. Okay. Kendrick, Bizzio, McMahon, Gouriel.

Scott? I think either I'm higher on Guriel or I'm not as interested in the part-timer. I would go, I would go Bizio, Gouriel, McMahon, and then Kendrick 4. Okay. That's a look at the most added list. Let's do start, sit, or drop.

All right. So here we go, guys. We got like 10 minutes to get a lot of notes in before we look at the, well, I don't know how much time we'd spend on the two-star pitchers. But let's see what we can do here. Start, sit or drop? Aaron Hicks. Drop.

I have not dropped him in any of the several leagues where I staff. Lyer! You dropped them in the podcast league. You liar, Scott White. Oh, okay. Sorry, I just forgot. It's not the same as a lie. Yeah, no, I would have liked to not drop him.

What makes it, like, obviously the five outfielder league, you know, it makes it easier to hold on to him there. But then the three outfielder league, we're normally talking about a points league, and that's going to be where he's most valuable. So it makes it easier to hold on to him there. It's pretty difficult to start him at both right now, though. Yeah, I'm not sure he's going to play every day unless he starts hitting. In fact, I'm going to tell you he's not going to play every day. So they kept Cameron David on the roster. I mean, they just signed a big extension this offseason.

I don't know that anybody's going to play every day. Small extension. Seven years, 70 million or something like that? That's not... Yeah. That's a bent. Like, the Yankees could pay a bench player that. They'll play like five out of six days.

They wouldn't... I don't think they'd be wise, do. Start sit or drop Ryan Braun? Start. Like, he's just five outfielder material, so that's... I'd be fine dropping, I'm sure. He's so over-owned, 80%. Gene Seguera.

Gene Seguerra is the number 19 short-stores. stop in points, 23rd in Roto. He did miss a little bit of time. He has played 64 games, but he doesn't really stand out. The batting average is very low for him at 269. Starts it or drop Gene Seguera? Yeah, he's going to get better, but it's

just what's happened at the shortstop position, I feel like, has pretty much crushed his value. I don't think I rank him inside the top 20 at the position, so if you get in a shallow enough format, you may have no choice but to drop him. Yeah, and he only has four steals, Gene Seguer. Yeah, the steals are really disappointing, but he's probably got 40 points of batting average regression coming positive,

and his run pace is excellent. Now, he's not hitting at the top of the lineup right now, but I would assume when he's hitting 300 like he should, he'll get back up there. So I would still want to hang on to him. I'll sit him. Okay, Jean Seguerra. How about Matt Carpenter, start, sit or drop?

Sit? Yes, set. I've moved him down, but as we always say, as we've been saying for Carpenter for three or four years now, his quality of contact numbers or paint a pretty rosy picture. Jesse Winker, start, sit or drop? I think he's back to playing more now, right? Nonetheless, it'd have to be a five outfielder league. Yep. Okay.

Entering, I haven't checked the last couple days, but entering Wednesday, he did not have an extra base hit against lefties all season, Jesse Winker. Last guy, this one's really tough. I mean, he's playing well, he's just not playing enough. Fran Mill Reyes, 75% own, start, sit or drop. This Josh Naylor thing's going to end. Crazy. Yeah.

Prime Rish is really good. At some point, it's going to, they're going to have to get him in the line. He was dealing with a neck issue recently, so that could explain why he missed. four of the six games before the last two. I hope that's the equivalent. I hope so, too.

It was weird for him to sit three straight games that had to be neck-related. All right, so don't drop. You could make the decision based on your league start or sit. Maybe it's shallow versus deep, whatever. But hang on to Fram-El Reyes because better times could be ahead. I didn't get to Wednesday's starting pitchers, fringy starting pitchers, and I didn't get to Thursdays, obviously, because that was yesterday.

So let's do Wednesday's Fringy starting pitchers. And I guess tell me, I'm going to go one. by one and just tell me if you want to own them or if you're okay cutting them loose. Andrew Heaney. He's now 79% owned. He has two starts next week. We like, you know, the walk-to-strikeout ratio, but he's got a 560-80-R-A. What do you think about Andrew Heaney?

Definitely hold on to him. This was obviously the most discouraging start. I had a column at the start of the week, the next wave of breakout pitchers, and it was, I think it was six or eight. names. He was among them. Pretty much they were all bad in their start immediately afterward. Thanks, Scott. Yeah.

But yeah, his stuff has looked really good and he's been throwing his breaking ball more, which is normally a key to success in today's environment. The walks have been a little high. The home runs have been a little high. But I still think there's a lot of good signs and good pitching is hard to find, so I'd stick with him.

Trevor Williams, Stephen Matt's, Matt Strom. Oh, man. Steve Matt's just so inconsistent. He goes through these stretches where he looked really good and then he just gets bombed. He's my favorite among this group. I think Trevor Williams

is probably over on 70%. Okay. Matt Strom was actually pitching pretty well before going on the IL, coming off the IEL and getting crushed at Colorado and then he got crushed against Milwaukee. So I'm still somewhat interested in him. And he's at Baltimore next week. I was pretty suspicious of what

of how he was succeeding. That's fair, yeah. Like his XERA was probably not great. Marco Gonzalez, Chris Bassett, and Trevor Richards. Marco Gonzalez, Chris Bassett, Trevor Richards. Marco Gonzalez is a hard guy to pin down. I think the things we liked about him coming into the year, the things that made him successful last year have kind of gone by the way.

the strikeout rate, which wasn't good last year, is even worse this year. He's not that much of a ground ball pitcher anymore, and yet he can turn out these seven inning two-run starts that are still pretty valuable. So, you know, he's fringy, but

in most formats, I'd probably own him. All right, Chris said Trevor Richards was his favorite. Marco Gonzalez, I brought it up many times. Marco Gonzalez has had, I think, one of the toughest schedules was in baseball. He's had some easier matchups lately, and he's been better. But next week, he's at, Milwaukee and at Houston. So good luck, Marco Gonzalez.

Thursday's fringy starting pitchers. All right, so Andrew Heaney and Nick Povetta are kind of similar. Povetta has been much better than Hini since coming back from the minors. But it's now two starts in a row now that the previous start was four runs and six and two thirds at Atlanta. Atlanta, the hottest team in baseball arguably. And in that start, he went six innings, he gave up two runs. He came out for the seventh and gave up two more. But now this was just a truly bad start at Washington, six earn runs in five and a third. So there's Povetta, there's Jimmy Nelson, and Framber Valdez. Those three guys, would you cut them loose or would you hang on to Jimmy Nelson, Nick Povetta,

and Framber Valdez? I think you can cut Jimmy Nelson. His velocity is, three of the lowest velocity starts, I believe, in his major league career have come so far this season, including the lowest on Thursday. I think it was the lowest he's ever had an average fastball velocity by about half a mile per hour. So he doesn't look right.

Now, it could still be a situation like Mike Fultenevich where the velocity wasn't there and then suddenly it was and we could argue about whether or not we should be excited about Fultenevich because of it. But I'd be fine dropping Nelson. I put in two claims last night in the podcast points league. I was dropping him for Alzalei.

I was dropping him for Stripling. But if it's a deeper league where you're just looking to find upside wherever, I don't feel like you have to give up on Nelson yet, as a bench option, obviously. It's such a shame I didn't make any waiver claims yesterday for Ross Stripling. I probably would be able to get them, but I just like I was kind of hanging out with Bill Clinton, so I just didn't get a chance.

But in terms of Pivotta and Valdez, they're more important than Jimmy Nelson. Are you hanging on to Povetta and Valdez? Yes. Okay. It's a little harder to do Povetta at this point, but I'd hold on to him more than I would, Nelson. Yeah, I'm not super enthused about what we've seen from Povetta since coming off the Y. What? That sounds like, that sounds like a reversal.

But we were never. the version of Nick Povetta that we were supposed to be excited about wasn't a guy striking out 23 batters and 27 in I mean he did have he did have the six the nine strikeouts in six innings and then he followed it up with a one run complete game jam but yeah the last two starts have been pretty awful five home runs combined and that's been a big issue for him all years is the long ball so yeah I just I don't believe Nick Povetta is going to be a guy who can

lead to enough soft contact to get away with being a even just an above average strikeout pitcher. I think he still is going to need to be an elite strikeout pitcher to make this work and he hasn't been. Okay, but he was a strikeout printing since coming back from the miners before last night, two strikeouts in five and a third. All right, rank these starting pitchers. Charlie Morton, Shane Bieber, Mike Minor, Frankie Montas.

He set him too fast. Oh, cool. We get a graphic where I can look at that. Morton, Beber, Montas, Minor. I'd flip Bieber and Morton, but it's, you know, I could be talked into the other way. Now rank these starting pitchers. Odarezi, Bumgarner, Robbie Ray. I'd go Bumgarner, in spite of his awful start yesterday.

And then Odarezi and then Robbie Ray. Yeah, I would flip Ray and Odorese, but other than that, yeah. Okay, in the bullpen. I do think you need to be paying attention to Scott Oberg because Wade Davis has been crap since coming back from the IL. Oberg's having a really good year. Just all. So keep an eye on that.

Rowena's Aaliyas got another save for the Mariners. Diego Castillo blew his first save of the season, but he's been struggling a bit. Ader runs in his last six appearances, and Jose Alvarado should be back pretty soon. And Blake Trinens just having a bad year, guys. He has already walked to the same amount of batters that he walked last year.

He threw 80 in a third last year. year with 21 walks. He's thrown 35 and a third this year with 21 walks. And just not the same guy. 408 ERA. Terrible yesterday. Didn't record it now. It gave up three runs. You know what? Listen, we have, we don't have that many games next week. So I think we'll have have more time to talk about a guy like Blake Trinan. Just so we get it in before the end of the show, I think we should go through the two-star pitcher list. I'm sorry to cut you off, Scott. But next week we'll have a little bit more liberty. This was a really busy week of games. I always like when we have fewer games

gives us more time to expand on players and whatnot and talk about I think more interesting topics. But here we are. All right, so the two-star pitchers and I don't... Clayton Kirschaw at Arizona at Colorado. You're starting him.

Okay. Gialito at Boston and Minnesota. Like I said, big week to see what kind of pitcher he really is, but of course we're starting Lucas Gialito. Blake Snell at Minnesota and Texas. Yep. Jake Arenda, Mets, and at the Marlins. Yep.

I mean, look, the thing about this week is there is about half as many two-star pitchers as there were last week. I think last week when I did the rankings and ended up being 50 or just about 50, and this week it looks like there's 27 two-star pitch. Yeah, well, why do you think Scott took last week off and he's back this week? Right, I know. So we're going to say yes to a lot of guys who in other weeks we may not. Okay. Robbie Ray, Dodgers and at the Giants.

Yep. I do think Robbie Ray is the most unique pitcher in fantasy. He is in a category all by himself. You just have to weigh how much each category of pitching stats matters to you. Strikeouts, whip, ERA, quality starts. You know what he's good at. You know what he's bad at. John Lester, Atlanta and at Cincinnati.

In a points league for sure. Yeah. Points league you could justify it. He has been awful lately, though. So there's no chance I'd do it in a categories league. How about Kyle Gibson, Tampa Bay and at the White Sox? Yeah. Yeah.

In spite of an awful start last time, I'm still pretty excited about him. Tehran at the Cubs and at the Mets. No. It's ludicrous that he's 89% owned. It's offensive. I know we don't like Julio Tehran, but he's made a career of outperforming his peripherals in a pretty drastic way. And I don't think he's bad.

I think in a points league two-star week, he could always consider using him. He's definitely not bad. He might be a bad fantasy pitcher. He's definitively bad. No, he's actually definitively pretty solid. He's not great for fantasy because he doesn't excel in any categories. His walk to strikeout rate stinks, but he's 30 starts every year with usually a sub 4ERA. He's a very valuable pitcher.

That is why I hate X stats. Zach Davies, Seattle and Pittsburgh. Yes, yes. In fact, I was considering putting in a claim, dropping Nelson for Azzale and then dropping Davies for Stripling. But I thought better of it seeing those two matchups coming up for Davies. Now, he might be bad. That scares me, even with the matchups. But okay. Chris, what about you? Davies?

I mean, he's outperformed his peripherals just like Julio Turan has, so I don't see why we would be thinking he's bad. Well, you do. You do. Yes. Yeah, I do think he's bad. Would you start him next week, Zach Davies? In a points league. How about Max Fried at the Cubs and at the Mets? Yeah. Yeah, I'd start him.

How about Stephen Mats at Philadelphia and home against Atlanta, who just roughed him up? If I already owned him in a points league, I'd probably stick him in my lineup. I would not drop somebody I cared about for him, though. If I didn't own him in a point, I don't know what his ownership is. Matt's 74%. Yeah. Definitely not in category.

Goodbye, everybody. Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for letting... Yeah, well, look, I got stuff to do. Today's all about me, Scott. So as you have... He's got to go get both. Clinton on the phone. Yeah.

Follow up on last night's dinner. That was so cool. Yeah, I'm sure. It was so cool. Yeah, so, thanks for listening everybody. Not, you know, busy week, didn't get to a lot of emails. Next week we're going to make up for that, I promise. Read your questions and have some more fun on the show through some regulate and stuff

like that. Have a great weekend. Make sure you watch CBS Sports HQ on Sunday to watch Fantasy Baseball today, the video show 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern. And for Scott and Chris, I'm Adam. See you later.