Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/26: Snell, Choo, Trout, Grade the Trade and More (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 26, 2018

How good is Blake Snell (2:40)? How bad is Gio Gonzalez (7:30)? How worried are we about Mike Trout's injury (13:48)? ... Replacements for Gary Sanchez (18:30) and more news from around MLB before we get into some deep league options (22:30) like Randal Grichuk, Brad Keller and Stephen Piscotty. And we talk about Shin-Soo Choo (28:32) who has been a Top 20 OF. Also, is it time to drop Josh Hader in points leagues (31:53)? ... Double dongs (39:30) and a lot of SP talk after yesterday's games. We play "Are They Studs?" (41:18) with Kenta Maeda, Cole Hamels, Mike Foltynewicz, Mike Clevinger, Tyler Skaggs and more. Plus Team Name Tuesday (50:30), Grade the Trade (51:45) and today's matchups at the end of the show ... Your emails 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

All right, we should have a pretty fun Tuesday show for you. Welcome everybody to Fantasy Baseball today. It's June 26. It's Adam and Creeth, Adam Azer, Heath Cummings, and Chris Towers. Chris, with an important addition to his roster. Chris, who did you add recently? So when Heath and I were in Minneapolis last week for the Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference, I got a frantic phone call from my wife about noon on Wednesday,

saying that she found a kitten at work. And I was like, okay, we'll discuss whether we're going to keep this kitten. But we both knew. We were going to be keeping that kitten. And, yeah, we got a new kitten. Are you going to show us the cat on camera here? I know, because we're keeping her in the bathroom for now, because we don't want her and the other animals to, uh, to,

You know, they need time. Cats are very, uh... Yeah, yes, you think that the little girl who lost her kitten has stopped crying. These are, uh, feral kittens. We have them at the office at CBS as well. There are lots of cats around and, uh, this kitten was very much a homeless cat. It has not stopped eating in the six days that we got it. So, all right.

Well, congratulations, sir. Thank you. Be out of you. and that is very exciting. And also Blake Snell is very exciting. But Gio Gonzalez is not exciting, and neither is Gary Sanchez, who for the second straight year is going to miss about a month. And he still managed to finish, I think he was the number one catcher in Roto.

Not in points last year? We can go and confirm that. Gary Sanchez, that is. I guess we can talk some catcher replacements right now. Let's start with our email of the day. We do have a lot of emails later. And we also have teaching song. He says teacher

It counts Oh yeah No that's This is a weird song man Well he's a teacher So He's a very bad teacher He is

Not doing the right thing Should not be allowed To continue teaching Not doing the right thing This is a grade the trade day So Tuesday is a team name Tuesday And also grade the trade Uh email of the day is from Nick in New Jersey

Our email address Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com One Blake Snell is amazing. Thank you for highlighting him during the preseason. He has far and away lived up to the height. Two, where does Blake's rank with Bauer and Baries? And where would you rank those guys in a dynasty keeper setting? Probably an auto-correct on Barios, on Boreos, just a guess. Where does Snow rank with Bauer and Boreos? And three, I was thrilled that Snell got to

avoid the Yankees Sunday. The Yankees lineup is absolutely ridiculous against lefties. How many lefties do you start with confidence against the Yankees? Sale, then dot, dot, dot, dot, question mark. So, So one, Blake Smell's amazing. First of all, I wanted to give you guys credit. I think you deserve it every now and then. Blake Snell was probably the best call that we made on this podcast, so good job, guys. Two, where does Snell rank with Bauer and Beres or Berrios? I have Blake Snell currently at number 18 at starting pitcher.

I have Trevor Bauer at number 19, and I have Jose Barrios at number 22. 21, 21. That sounds about right. Okay, good. Can you repeat that one more time, Heath? I have Snell at 18, Bauer at 19, Burrios at 21. And as far as the lefties against the Yankees, like obviously, say, I would start with confidence. I don't know what that really means.

I'm starting him or I'm not. I'm starting James Paxton. I'm starting Clayton, Kershaw. I'd start Madison Bumgarner against them. I'd start Blake Snell against him. Now, you know what just happened to James Pax. Just had a very bad start at the Yankees. Right.

If they face the Yankees tomorrow, I would start it. Yeah, I do think that it's going to be a pretty interesting call with David Price on Sunday night at Yankee Stadium. Because, you know, he's been very good lately. He'll have a start probably today. And if that's a good start, you know, are you going to trust him Sunday night at the Yankees? A team that really destroys him typically. Well, with that being a Sunday night start, it's a pretty, like, anybody that has, had him for a two-start week this week, started him, obviously.

So if it's just a daily league, the nice thing is that's a Sunday night start. Everything else has happened. You can very easily look and see if you need to start MRI. Let's talk about something here. You say, Heath, you don't know what that means. Start with confidence. You know what that means. Come on.

We all know what that means. There are a lot of guys that I start and don't have that much confidence in, but I have to start them. And there are guys that I start and I feel very confident about it. Yeah, when I set my lineup, there's no confidenceometer. There should be. I am just setting my lineup. No, that's not true. It's a binary thing, you know.

He's a lot. You're a liar. You're a liar, because there are different levels of start. Why are you lying? The level is, is this guy better than... My leagues don't have that shutting at him. No. Is this player better than my other options?

Yes? Yeah, but you don't get nervous about some of the guys you start? I don't feel nervous, Adam. All right. You're a better man than I am. We do that. We do that. Hey, Chris, want to tell us about our awesome newsletters? Yeah, yeah, you should sign up for our newsletters.

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All right. Blake Snow was great. The guy he opposed was terrible. It's terriometer Tuesday. That means it's a worryometer on Tuesday for alliteration purposes. Gio Gonzalez at Philadelphia later this week. And his last four starts, he's given him 17. runs and 14 in a third.

He could not get out of the second inning. I think he pitched into the second inning yesterday, but I don't know if he recorded any out. So one inning, six runs for Gio at Tampa Bay. Heath, you're your Turyometer on Gio. I really thought when you said this first, it was Tertiometer, and we were saying how much the Tert is this guy? And I liked that version of this game better.

I don't have that setting in my league, the Tert version. Turyometer. I am slightly concerned with Gio Gonzalez. There was a good portion of the season where you were asking us, why aren't you guys moving Gio Gonzalez higher? I know. And at the time, you looked like it was a valid question. Well, yeah, it wasn't necessarily my opinion,

but I did think it was a question that needed to be asked because he was a top 15. I wasn't saying you were wrong or anything. Right, no, he was a top 15 pitcher last year. and he was at that point, I believe, a top 15 pitcher this year, but it's almost like a year and a third of good luck has caught up to Joe Gonzalez and four starts, like hit him with the regression hammer or something. I have him 38th in my rankings right now. I think that's the highest he's gotten all year.

And I don't know, it's going to be more about somebody moving ahead of him than him necessarily moving down. I still think he's a guy that you're going to start more often than not. I don't know if it's with great confidence, but I'm going to be starting him. Yeah, and he was 143rd and 80P. He was the 39th starting pitcher drafted. Even with these recent struggles, he's still been good. He's still, like his ERA now mostly matches his peripherals. The whip's going to be a little high.

He's not an ace and nobody thinks he's an ace and nobody had to pay an ace price to get him. So, like, I, I don't. I don't really, there's a little bit of regression to the mean that's happened, but for the most part, I don't think there's anything noteworthy going on with Gio Gonzalez. Either before this run or now. I think what Chris is trying to say is he was due for some really terrible. Exactly, exactly. Well, the stat that really concerns me is a 1.42 whip. He does have a 4.1 walk rate, walks per nine, which is high, but 3.5 wouldn't be high.

And that's still pretty high. That's what he's had both in 2015. 15, 2017, but 1.42 whip is a little scary with Gio. And that's a guy, like, right now I don't start him with confidence, but I guess I start Gio Gonzalez. We'll see how he does this weekend at Philadelphia? I want to, how you guys doing in fantasy? How's fantasy going? There was something I was thinking about yesterday to how it's related to my fantasy season.

How is 2018 going for you guys? I was trying to wait to let Chris go first. It didn't seem like I was eager to tell you how well I'm doing. It's going pretty well. I've got some teams that are doing really well. I've got the Memorial Magazine Roto League. That's one of the worst teams that's ever been put together by any person. So, you know, these things happen.

But, you know, I'm competitive in most of my leagues. Let's see. The league where Chris put together the worst team ever, I believe I have a 24-point lead on second place. No, really? I have 104 standing points. What? When did you get 104 points? Well, I've been in first almost the entire year.

But you were at like 92 or something the other day. We've been a good week for, I think it was, uh, anyway. Yeah, no, I'm in, I'm in first place or second place in a variety of leagues. I've got a couple of bad teams as well, mostly AL or NL only. For the People Podcast League, Chris and I are leading our division, but fourth place. overall. So it's been a very good year. I'm fully expecting it's going to crash and burn in the second half.

No. All right. So here's what I'm having an average year. Average year. I don't have any Mike Trout, any mooky bets, any Jose Ramirez, any J.D. Martinez. And I think that's like, it's kind of what's my problem this year. I think it's been my first

and second round picks. They've been very disappointing. I've got a lot of Rizzo, Chris Bryant, two leagues with Charlie Blackman. You know, Adam. Yeah. You should have gotten the first pick before.

I do have one league with both Altuve and Aeronado and Chris Sale. So that league, I'm hopeful. It's a Roto League, so I have to win it. I can't just make the playoffs. You've got a league with Paul Goldschmidt now. I do have a league with Paul Goldschmidt. But, yeah, I mean, like, if you didn't get one of those, I don't know. I feel like...

See, I have a ton of Jose Barrios. and Blake Snell. Oh, that's great. Yeah, those breakouts, those mid-round breakouts can really win you a league for sure. One thing, you know, one thing that I was thinking about, and I was thinking about it with Garrett Cole and Paul Goldschmidt in particular. I feel like Paul Goldschmidt's numbers mostly look like what we hoped they would, and Garrett Cole's numbers mostly look like we hoped they would.

But the story of their season has been so. different that I feel like we're all much more positive about someone like Eric Cole than Paul Goldschman. I think that's just an interesting, like, I think most of the disappointing first-round picks that you're talking about are probably going to end up about where we think they would have been, you know, maybe a little low or maybe a little higher. Right. But they're not carrying your team like this really league guys are. And things could change. You know, the second half could be a lot different, you know. Like Charlie Blackman has been bad, but he's not winning me a league. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Like, moogie bets will probably have a month where he's not carrying your team. I hope not. So, why, you have a lot of bets? I have a lot of moogie bets. Yeah, that's what I wish I did. I did make a trade for Mike Trout yesterday, which brings me to stat of the day. Mike Trout in his last 10 games, he is batting 414, but no extra base hits. No extra base hits for Mike Trout in his last 10 games.

Why do I bring that up? Well, he's DH for six of those games. he's got that thumb issue, was it? It's finger issue. I think it's a thumb. You guys, maybe not, but it's a digit. And is that a little concerning? Would you avoid trading for Mike Trout,

which Scott and I did last night? Sounds like a really good time to give up a first and third round pick for him. Adam? Yes. I could not be less concerned about my name. Yeah, be either. But he did have a month two years ago. He had that month of August, I think, where he was bad because he was playing hurt.

In the three games prior to this stretch, he had five extra base hits, including four. But it's all about the injury. That's what I'm saying. I am not concerned about Mike Trout not being a good baseball player at all or not being the best baseball player. I think you could have a small level of concern that the finger is actually something he shouldn't be playing through. And it's going to hamper his performance until it heals. He's still your number one overall player right now? Yes

When did he injure his finger Well all I know is he is DH six straight games And he has no base hits 10 straight games So I don't know exactly when it happened But I know that's when they took him out of the field Because of the finger So So just something to chew on a little bit for Mike Trout

But we gave up Reese Hoskins and Corey Klooper For Mike Trout And now one more strategy talk I am tired in that category's league. I am sick and tired of losing to teams that punted starting pitcher. Did you guys punt starting pitcher? No. We planned on it, and then too many other teams did.

I'm tired. We punted belief pitcher. It's a good strategy. I hate to say it, but it's a good strategy to win three or five categories with all closers, basically, in relievers. Closers are set up men. And I hate it. I think it's, like, I don't think it's, and there's anything wrong with it. But if I were setting up a league, I would have required starting pitcher and relief pitcher

slots. I don't like the do whatever you want with all your pitching slots. But whatever, it's fine. You know, if that's the way you want to play, that's the way you want to play. It's not for me. But I think it's a good strategy. I'm tired of losing the teams like that, and I'm going to take that approach going forward. It just makes too much sense to spend your earlier picks on hitting and wait for relievers.

Heath, you know what the answer is? What's the answer? You need to put an innings max or innings minimum for this league now. Why? Now that Adam's pivoting. No, look, like I said, just because I have a problem with it doesn't mean you should change it. There's one thing I like more than trolling Adam and Scott, and that's freedom. Yeah, I don't know.

It's just not the way baseball. It's why I hate two catcher leagues. It's like nobody starts two catchers. But when you think about it, look at what the Rays are doing. The dogs are done a load of this year. The Rays are the worst team. Not the worst team. Rays are bad.

The Rays are doing that because they have no good starting pitching. Well, those teams that are doing that are doing that because they have no good starting pitch. There's only one team that's doing that. There's no good starting pitching in fantasy baseball. And the race have Blake Snell and Chris Archer. Yeah. They do have good starting pitching. And they don't do that when those guys pitch.

If they had a better team, they wouldn't take this ridiculous approach, which could never work for a good team. They probably should do it with Blake Snow and Chris Archer. Do what? Not start them? Do you both players? I mean, if the strategy is so smart. It's such a terrible strategy. Anyway, C-Geek is not terrible.

We got an email about C-Geek from Matt. I use Seekek to see Leonard Skinner this weekend, and I keep singing, Ooh, Blake Snell. That's right. The Fantasy Baseball Today podcast is completely inside Matt's head. But Seat Geek is the app that got him to the Leonard-Skinner concert. And if he used the code fantasy, he got $20 off his first purchase. So the code is Fantasy on Seekek for $20 off your first Seat-Geekek.

purchase. And look, Siki, great. I use it all the time. Definitely, you know, I wanted to go to the Yankees' Red Sox game. Tickets are they're starting at about $96 or something for the Yankees Red Sox. So I think I might pass. But Braves Yankees on July 4th, about $25 to get in so I can use Sikik. I've already used the code fantasy for 20 bucks off. That's okay. I'm still going to save time and money because Siki goes out and searches multiple ticket sites, brings in all the good deals, grades every ticket based on. value makes it really easy to see what your best bargain is. Make Seekkeek your go-to app for sports, concerts, comedy, and theater, and every purchase is fully guaranteed. And of course, you can get $20 off with the promo code, fantasy. $20 off, use that code, fantasy, on the Seekek app.

All right, we haven't talked much about yesterday, so let's get to it. First, a bunch of news and notes. Gary Sanchez is out three to four weeks, and I briefly mentioned it yesterday. but Austin Romine does have a nice slash line this year. Chris likes to say about players if they played more, the numbers wouldn't be as good. That's probably the case with Romine. But, you know, catcher's really bad.

Is Romine a worthwhile replacement? Maybe in a two-catcher league. He owns a bat, so he could be fantasy relevant. Right, right, he does. But we're still looking at who. We're looking at like John Hicks. Yeah, I'd prefer those. Him, yeah.

Okay. Tom Murphy is 32% owned. Absolutely, Tom Murphy over Austin Romine. John Hicks is 67%. Tom Hark is probably the top target. Jan Goem's 59% owned. Tucker Barnhart's not terrible.

He's 58% owned. I do think I'd probably go with Romine over Max Stassies. They don't think Stassie's playing all the much. No, he hasn't been playing. Yeah, so you might want to do that. And I might take Romine over McCann.

I just don't know. I think Robinson Sherinos, who has been wildly disappointing this year, maybe starting to heat back up and hit like we expected him to. He's only 29% owned. All righty. Mike Zanino's been bothered by a sore thumb, so he's been ice cold. J.T. Raamuto sat with a sore wrist. He's day-to-day.

Start or sit, Robbie Ray tomorrow at the Marlins. Sit. Start. A.J. Pollock has been cleared to resume baseball activity. Stephen Sousa, D.Hing on a rehab assignment. Clay Buckholz is on the deal, a lot of Diamondbacks news. Ronald Okunia should be back this week. When he does come back, he will be batting lower in the order.

I don't know exactly where, but they like Enciarte and Albi's one, two, in the order. And Ensiarte actually hadn't really realized. He has turned it around a little. He's starting to hit again, and he's leading off. Auto-correct, Mike Klinger, left with cramps. That would be Mike Clevenger. We'll talk about him. Auto-correct, Rangers outfielder, Nomad Mazarin.

Or Nomar Mazarer, left with hamstring. tightness, they say it was very precautionary. He should be fine, Nomad Mazarin. Carlos Carrasco nearing a return, Kitt Frazier was sent to AAA. Did you guys read the U-Darvish story? Because I found it confusing. It was like he had a rehab start.

He felt soreness in his triceps. And then they seemed to think like, ah, that's fine. But I was a little concerned when I saw that he had some soreness in the triceps, U-Darvish. Yeah, I mean, from what I understand, they're going to reevaluate him today. I think the Cubs are,

They're on the road. He's supposed to meet them in L.A. And it'll be re-evaluated. So we'll see it. It might just be normal soreness, and he might just be, you know, a really blunt person. I did read a very good Udarvish story that since he's been in the minor leagues. He's been buying expensive dinners for all of his teammates and the opposing team.

And the opposing team. Wow. That's very nice. Caleb Smith could be out for the season. he might have lat surgery. Brandon Morrow should be back tomorrow. Brandon tomorrow. Chris Bryant, expected to sit today but expected to avoid the D.L.

Chris Bryant. Boy, Adam Eaton, my goodness. We got to monitor this. He batted ninth and DH yesterday at Tampa Bay. And since coming off the DL, Eaton is batting 286, but he has one extra base hit and only two walks to nine strikeouts and no steals. Brandon Nimmo pinched ran. Chris Taylor pinch hit.

Tommy Fam has flu-like symptoms. Jordan Lyles has shoulder inflammation. and George Springer was robbed of a home run. All right, been at a little unconventional show. Who is a Monday standout? We usually start with this. We're 22 minutes in. Who's a Monday standout?

Chris, why don't you kick it off? Let's talk about the guy who robbed George Springer of that home run. Randall Gritchick hit like a 470-foot bomb of his own. He's been awesome since coming off the, or since coming back from the miners, was he sent down or was he on the DL? I think he was not down. Oh, he was DL?

My bad. All right, go on. Whatever it was. He came back on June 1st, which is a nice round number for us, and he is hitting 279, with a 1,000 OPS in 21 games during the month of June.

He started 19 of those 21 games, and he has only struck out 13 times. This is the lowest 21st. one game stretch for a strikeout rate that Randall Gritchick has ever had in the majors. It's also probably like the third most productive stretch he's ever had in terms of Wobah. We liked him as a sleeper coming into the season. He was absolutely terrible in the month of April. But I'm not giving up on him.

The talent is still there. He's still shown flashes of it. And we're seeing how good he can be right now when he's right. Would you drop Adam Eaton for Randall Gritchick? No. I might trade Adam Eaton for Johnny Queda, though. Oh, well, you just shut up already. Would you rather have...

Um... Yeah, um... You took too long. No. Would you rather have... Yeah, I don't know on that one. Probably not. Juck Peterson or Randall Gritchick.

Peterson. Probably Peterson, but I don't know, Ryan or Gritchiech is probably going to play more. Yeah. I had a deep league segment, and Gritchick was the headliner. So of these deep league hitters, is Gritchick far and away the best? Gritchick, Enrique Hernandez, who might get some more playing time. He's kind of earning it. And Stephen Piscotti was actually having a very nice June himself.

Before homering yesterday, he had about a 900 OPS in June. Actually, so obviously we like Gritchick better than Enrique Herndan, as I'm going to assume. But what about Gritchick or Piscotti? Because they're both 22% owner. I think they're both pretty interesting. I liked both a lot as sleepers coming into the season. I think both are still very talented. I think Gritchick probably has more upside.

And when you're talking about someone in the kind of leagues that these two would be added in right now, I think I would go with the upside for Grichick. Heath, Gritchick, or Piscotti? I'll say Gritchie because of upside. Okay. Yeah, and Piscotti, I think, was like a top 30 outfielder a couple of years ago. We know that he dealt with an awful off-field situation with his mother having ALS, and you hope that he has some peace now.

But, yeah, he's had a very, very good June for Stephen Piscotti. So those are two guys you could look at in deeper leagues. Gritchick and Piscotti, 22 percent. O. Heath, Monday, stand out. Let's talk a little bit about Bad Brad Keller, starting pitcher for the Kansas. the city royals held the angels to zero runs over seven innings and he has slowly worked his way into the rotation made his first start almost a month ago against the twins and just went three innings but his last four starts he's faced the angels twice he's faced the astros once

to face the athletic ones he has not had a bad start yet he is 22 years old he is spark eligible the swinging strikes and the strikeouts are not there but they've been been a little better as of late. So he's just a deep league guy and somebody to watch to see if he develops a little bit more as far as swing and miss stuff. Brad Keller. He has seven strikeouts in his last 13 innings. Well, he had six yesterday.

Yeah, that tells you how many he had the previous game. Brad Keller's 5% owned. So is John Gantt. Who would you rather have Gantz or Keller? Is Gantz-Sparp eligible? Actually, that's a good question. He might be. But let's just take that out of the equation.

Gant had like a 30-home or 20 steel season in the 90s, right? Ron Gantz did. John Gant. I don't know that there's as much of a chance for John Gant to stay in the rotation. John Gant is only RP eligible. I would say on a start-by-start basis, I'd rather have John Gant, but in a deep league, you're looking for a guy that's going to stick, and I think Keller will. Okay. And can we just eliminate Edwin Jackson from consideration?

We don't care about him, right? Amazing that he's still there. He is throwing harder. He was throwing harder yesterday, I think, than he did last year, which is incredible. I had the most brilliant joke in my mind that I forgot to queue it up. So now I'm just going to tell you what it was. I was going to say, Edwin Jackson's start yesterday makes me less excited about just about Shane Bieber.

And then I was going to play a clip from the Bieber song of Bieber going, What do you mean? And then I was going to go, okay, I'll tell you what I mean. And then I'm going to say, everybody dominates against Detroit, which is what Edwin Jackson did yesterday. And that's what Shane Bieber did over the weekend. It was going to be so classic. It was going to be one of my best.

Oh, man. What a shame. But yeah. So I guess you could say you really love yourself. Yeah, I do. Yep, yep, thank you. Yeah, boy, I hate that song, by the way. That's a good song.

Love yourself? No. No, it's not. It's a good song. Sorry is an okay song. Love yourself is the most boring song. Guys, Bebbs has some bangers. Can we not do this?

All right, my standout is actually owned in a lot of leagues, and he's Shinsu Chu. He's got a 38 game on base streak. And in that 38 game on base streak, he's batting 336 with a 4-15 back. but also a 244 ISO. He's got eight doubles and nine homers in those 38 games. Shinsu Chu is the number 10 outfielder in points and number 17 in Roto. Heath, how do you rank Shinsu Chu and his 38 game on base streak? As it seems like we always do, I rank him lower than I should.

I'm trying to pull up where I actually have because I haven't moved him. And I've actually left him on the bench in a points league this week, which is very disappointing. but he is right around number 40 in points leagues in the Indir, NCRTA, Brandon Belt range in the outfield. And he was, in points leagues, he was 26 last year. He played 149 games. Chu was 26 and points 31st in Roto. Now, Roto, I say Roto, that's 5 by 5. That's batting average, not OBP.

Playing at OBP league, he's going to be better. He walks a ton. Would you rather have, let's say, Teoska Hernandez or Shinsu Chu? Chew. Yeah. Chew. Brandon Nimmo or Shinsu Chu? Nimmo.

I've got Chu higher in points, Nimmo and Roto. Are we at all concerned about Nimmo and his rising strikeouts? Yes. A little bit, but I don't know. He looks pretty good. Okay. And I think it's also like a lack of, like lowering walk rate. I just feel like he was such a plate discipline guy.

He hasn't been that at all. Yeah. And in the month of June, I think he's got like a 30. strike out rate and an 8% walk rate. But like the whole total package tells us that he should walk more than that. He might strike out a lot just because he's patient and that happens to patient hitters. But I think the skill set is really good. All right.

We got a lot more from yesterday to get to. And we have Graved the Trade. And we have a bunch of emails that I want to read at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. I do apologize. I messed up yesterday. I was planning on playing the night slate on draft, and there wasn't one. I don't believe. I don't think there were enough games late enough.

So I got there too late to set up a draft, did not get to play on draft. I am still writing a two-day winning streak, and we are going to put that on the line tonight. So we want you to get on the draft app and use the promo code FB Today. FB today. Search draft in your app store or go to draft.com, and again, the promo code is FB today. What happens when you use that code? You get a free entry into a real money draft. and you'll automatically be following me.

I am big cane two, and I am the destroyer of you on draft. I will take your money, or you'll probably take mine. But anyway, you can play for as little as a buck. The drafts are really fun. You draft two infielders, two outfielders, and a pitcher. You can do expert mode and you can remove a lot of the players from the pool and make it a little bit more difficult. You can do a small draft one-on-one, like me and Heath and me and Chris.

You can do a three-person, four-person, five-person, and up draft. They're quick, they're fun, they're easy. It's just a really cool way to play more. fantasy baseball. So download the draft app or go to draft.com and use the code FB today. I promise you, the listeners who have gotten back to me about it have had great things to say. So if you haven't tried it, try it now with the code FB today. All right, eight emails in four minutes. Should I drop Josh Hader for Kyle Bearclaw or Ryan Tepera in a 12-team points league?

This is from Matt. You have to have a worse pitcher than Josh Hater. I'm going to say that Josh Hader right now is fairly useless in points leagues since Canabel got back. I wanted to point that out. He's not going two innings that often anymore. He has one save and one win in his last 12 appearances since Canabel came back. That save wasn't his very first of those 12 appearances. So he's basically, he's much more of a conventional middle reliever now.

Yeah, okay, yeah. In points league, you can probably drop him. In Roto, I think he's still too valuable, but he still has 34 strikeouts in that span. Yeah, yeah, and a 0.51 ERA. So that's Josh Hayter, 82% of it. All right, Robert Galvin from Flawton, California. Hey, Roto categories and points.

Would you guys prefer in a points league, Samarja or Stroman? And would you drop Gosman for either of them, Samarja or Stroman? I think I'd probably go Strowman. Yeah. that's that's tough because i think there's a lot of similarities between the two of them they're both i think they're actually like i think they're very different pitchers i think the end result is probably going to be about the same i just i feel a little more confident in stroman getting there yeah i'll agree they're similar in that we like them

for their innings what they do in those innings yeah yeah all right rome doesn't get many strikeout, Samarja gets a ton, but you expect a mid to hide 3 ZRA for both. Would you, so how would you rank Stromen Samarja-Gosman? Probably Stroman Samarja Gosman. Stromen-Gosman-Smarja. This is Nate from Philly. Dear Papa, Joki, Sloppy, and Chef. No idea.

Yep, no idea. Rest of season in a roto league, Aguilar or Sano? The guy who's in the majors. Yeah. Papa, joky, sloppy, and chef. I will look into that. This is from Kurt. Would you drop Vince Velasquez for Marcus Stroman?

It depends on what I'm looking for for my pitching staff. If I need a little bit of stability, I might do it. But I think Velasquez has more upside, especially with the strikeouts. Yeah, I think I'd do it. Pretty nice start from Velasquez yesterday with four walks, I believe, but pitched well against the Yankees. Adam from a small lake town west of Cleveland. By the way, I don't know what a sloppy They are smurf characters.

Oh, they are? They are various smirfs. Okay. From Adam, he says, hey, Gapper, Rosie, and Red. No idea. Yep, these are tough ones today. 12-team categories league. Who do I drop to make room for Fultenevich? Godly, Rodon, Bieber, Strowman, Maeda, or Ian Desmond? Godly, Rodon, Bieber, Stroman, Maeda, or Ian Desmond. Desmond.

Desmond. Yeah, I think he will be the worst moving forward. The problem with Desmond, he has a lot of regression coming. It doesn't always come in the same season. And Desmond, okay, if Desmond's answer, by the way, those are Reds' mascots, Gapper Rosie, and Red. All right, let's move on. Mark wants to know if he should drop Domingo Armand for Shane Bieber. or he could drop Freddie Peralta or Nick Povetta.

I think that's fine. I think Scott actually has an article going up very soon, talking about those two guys and Freddie Peralta and maybe one other pitcher, I'm not sure. But it sounded like when I was talking to him last night, he was highest on Beaver. So I'll just speak for Scott and avoid answering the question for myself.

I agree. Highest on Beaver. Okay, and just want to say with Armand, I really don't think the Yankees want him in their rotation after the trade deadline in July. So I don't know how – look, I don't think with these guys you care about that, you're going to take what you can get now. Right. Any of these guys might not be in your rotation by the All-Star Rake. Yeah.

Wyatt from San Francisco, but still go Dodgers. Hey, Wacko, Yaco, and Dot. That's the Warner Brothers and their Warner Sister Dot. Isn't that just the Animaniacs or no? Yes. Oh, okay. I was quoting the song, Adam. Really? My bad.

Is it wrong to punt catchers in a 12-team league or greater? If you're not rostering a top-five catcher, doesn't it make more sense to use the roster spot on a starter and leave catcher blank? No, probably not. I think in a two-catcher league, punting your second catcher could make sense. The thing is, there's only four, there's only one rate stat in hitter. So even if it's a bad hitter, they're still contributing something. And I think in a two-catchel league you should punt that league and join a one catcher league. And Tim from Albuquerque says, hey, Eaton, Kingery, Hembrien Davis.

That would be Adam, Scott, Heath, and Chris. Eaton, Camry, Hembron, David. I'm looking at rankings. I'm seeing Alex Wood ranked below Luis Castillo. What's up with that? Keith, by the way, has Alex Wood one spot ahead of Luis Castillo. Scott has Because he has head of Wood

Yeah Scott has Disavowed Alex Wood and any Interest that he may have had at one point in Alex Wood Let me can I tell you I am so mad at Scott Because he in the scam league He started a two-start Frankie Montas

Over a one-star Alex Wood And I aimed him about it And then he started typing And then he just stopped typing And he never responded And he just let it die And the A's had the early game so the lineup's locked.

And he better be right about Montas over, two-star Montas over a one-stared Alex Wood. I think it was a big mistake. I'm actively rooting against our team now so I can shove it in Scott's face. I love the problems that you have on that team. I hate our team. But we have Trout now.

So back to the actual question. Luis Castillo has more upside than Alex Wood. Alex Wood is both a safe and a risky player because of his injury history. I think he's probably just had some bad luck this season. The peripherals suggest that he's pitched a lot better than Luis Castillo this season. I think they're both pretty close, though. It just depends on what you're going for. Okay, I don't really know what the beef is with Alex Wood.

I mean, he's had a couple of bad starts that have really skewed his ERA. I think he's not pitching deep into games. No, he's not. One of the starts was at Colorado. One of the starts was after food poisoning. And one start was a home start against San Diego, which was a terrible start. I get that. See, I have mostly confidence in Alex Wood.

Not like a ton of confidence, but I have some confidence. All right, let's get into the double dongers from yesterday. Wilson Ramos and Curtis Granderson. Ramos is the number six catcher in points, number three in Roto. And Granderson is crushing Ritees. He has an 890 OPS against Ritees, but only 17 at bats against lefties this season. Granderson's 8% owned. Heath, do you have anything interesting to say about Wilson Ramos and or Curtis Granderson?

Wilson Ramos might have been our second best call of the preseason. He said Blake Snell was our best call to preseason. He's been really good. And at a position where we're devoid of bats, he's been a very steady one. I've put in the notes that he's batting 2.93, but I think he's batting 2.30. Am I right about that? Which time? What is Wilson?

He's batting... Oh, no, he is batting 293. He has 239 at bats. How about that? Ramos has played the exact same amount of games as he played last year. His batting average is 33 points higher. His OBP has 50 points higher. He has the same amount of home ruds.

He's really good. He's a little bit skewed because last year he got off to such a bad start because he was coming off. was it ACL surgery? And then he got hot late. Granderson, Chris, any interest in Granderson? 8% owned in probably every single AL in the league. I think in a...

Probably as he should be. I think in a Category's league with daily lineups, he is somebody that you can have on your bench just to insert against right-handed pitchers. Yeah, it's not a bad idea. Now, I'm sure the OPS against Wrighties has gone up dramatically the last two days he has three home runs. But I also think he leads off a lot of.

lot, Curtis Granderson. Yes. Yeah. All right, this category is called, are they studs? I'm going to give you a starting pitcher, and you tell me if they're studs. Not at the sale level, not even at the Brrios-Bowers-Snell level, but not far back, I guess. Kenta Maeda. Is he a stud?

No. His inability to stay healthy and consistently pitch deep into games, it prevents him from being a stud. he's a very good starting pitcher that you should start regularly when he's available. And he has been going deep into games more often this season, but still not consistent. Jayhap, there's our next guy. Jayhap is he a stud? I've been barred from talking about Jayhap, so Chris will have to handle this one. No, Jayhap is not a stud. He is instead a good, useful pitcher who was, I think it's safe to say, wildly

undervalued coming into the season. Jay Hap, okay? And he's got Detroit this weekend, so that'll be a no-hitter. Mike Clevenger, is he a stud? Mike Clevenger? No, again, he's not a stud. He's a very good pitcher, and I think he's better than the first two guys mentioned here. He is a borderline stud.

He's right in that area of what do you consider, how far down in the rankings do you consider a stud? Like, he's not in the same category as Barrios, Corbyn, Bauer, Snell, but he's not too far behind him. Clevenger. Yeah, see, you want to talk about starting with confidence. I wish I owned Clevenger. I don't, but I would always feel confident that he's going to give me a good start.

Strikeouts are interesting for him because he's had only three starts in his last nine, in which he's averaged a K per inning or better, and all three were against the White Sox, and they have the third most strikeouts per game. However, most of the other opponents in that nine-game stretch, nine-game stretch are low K teams, like the Astros, the twins, the tigers. The only exception would be the team he faced last night,

which was the Cardinals. He struck out four and five innings. So I don't know what to expect with strikeouts for Clevenger. He's got 94 and 104 innings. But the rest is really good. Good whip, good ERA, should win some games. So whatevs? Cole Hamels.

Is he a stud? God, no. No. He has a 490 Sierra. He has a 5. 523 FIP. Part of that's a slightly inflated home run to fly ball rate, but...

Not slightly. That's a very... 21%. Yeah, 21%, but 1.85 per 9. But even X-FIP, which normalizes home run to fly ball rate to 10%, he still has a 414 X-FIP.

So, even the most generous of the of the defense, independent pitching stats says that he's still below average. Cole Hamels. All right. Heath, do you agree? Yeah, he's not a stud. I think Chris may have been a little bit hard on him, but I am not confident in him moving forward. I was hoping if he would have a really good start against the Padres, so he'd be an excellent sell high candidate.

But I don't have much confident. He should be a fine starting pitcher the rest of the year. Mike Fultenevich, is he a stud? I'm going to say no. No, I don't think so. I think innings are holding him back. Fultenevich, last night now withstanding, you know, first start off to D.L. Only two starts all year of more than six innings. Only five starts of six or more.

So he's had three starts of six innings. He's had two starts of more than six innings. Do you trust Fultonevich to be at least pretty darn good rest of season? I expect him to be the worst of the pitchers that we've talked about so far this year. And his peripherals do look a little bit better. than some of the guys we've talked about, but I don't buy it. I think Cole Hamill will be significantly worse than Fultonavich. But I think he's probably more like Kenta Maeda than what he's been so far.

To refresh your memory, we've talked about Maeda, Hap, Clevenger, Hamill's Fulte. And now, Jameson, is he a stud? No. You should have mixed in a stud or two, so we could have said yes to one of these guys. Well, you said yes to Clevenger, basically. No, he's not a stunt. But I mean, there's a little bit of confirmation bias at play because I liked him coming into the season. But also, he introduced that slider on May 27th against the Cardinals.

He had thrown it like four times in his previous two starts combined. He threw it 30 times on May 27th. Since then, he's made six starts. He's averaged more than six innings per start. He's gone at least six and four of those six. He has a 313 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 9 walks and 37 in the third innings. His swinging strike rate is up a couple of ticks. Not that good, though.

Not that good. It's not great, but it's like 10.5% as opposed to 9% what it was before. Yeah. I think he's a borderline number three. I think he's probably better than Fultenevich moving forward based on what we've seen since he introduced the slider. He is my second. I rank him second amongst all the guys we've talked about behind all. Clevenger, but he's still closer for me to Maida and Hap than he is to Clevenger.

Okay, last one's fun. This guy might be a stud. I'm going to tie the Skaggs. 269 ERA, 94 strikeouts in 87 innings. A somewhat elevated whip. He gets a lot of ground balls, 1.23 whip. He's been on fire lately, and he's got a 313 Babbitt. A pretty high strand rate, though, 82.4%.

Tyler Skaggs, is he a stud? I would have said without looking that he's not a stud because he's still not going to pitch more than once a week. But if he's gone seven in each of his last three starts, if he's going seven innings per start, then he can be a stud once per week. He's got seven innings in three straight starts. Yes.

That's amazing because he's still averaging below six innings per start. Yeah, that's not going to keep up. I think he's right in that range. I don't think he's a stud. I don't think he's probably as good as Mike Clevenger. But I feel confident starting Maeda, Hap, Fultenevich, Tyone, and Skacks. The best sell high on this list would be Cole Hamels? Yes.

Okay. Fringy starting pitchers, who do you want? Shelby Miller, Joey Lucchasey, Tyler Malley, Seth Lugo, Felix Hernandez, Vince Velasquez, Jonathan Loisigga. Again, we got Shelby Miller, Joey Lucasey, Tyler Malley, Seth Lugo, Felix Hernandez, Vince Velazquez, Jonathan Loisaga. Vince Velasquez is in a class of his own in this group, I think. I think he's, I don't know if he's legitimately good, but there is much more skill here with him than there is with anybody else. We've seen legitimate flashes of greatness from him.

I think his peripheral suggests that he should be more like a mid-3 ZRA guy. Yeah, 356, Sierra, 387, FIPP. He's definitely the one of this group that needs to be owned more than he is. This is three good starts in a row for Felix. Four of his last five have been good starts, and they've come two of those against at New York and against the Boston Red Sox. Felix is a guy that I'm going to be moved. I'd still much rather have Vince Velasquez than Felix,

but he has a guy that's going to be moving up in my rankings this week. And he looks like he's having a little bit of a resurgence. I mean, this wasn't that good of a start, though. I thought it'd be a lot better than this at Baltimore. It was a quality start. It was. It was. Kansas City this weekend, so that's another good matchup for Felix.

And Shelby Miller, I think 46% is a little ambitious. We got to see more. from Shelby Miller. You got to see something. Yeah. Loisaga, very good stuff. I mean, he was excellent yesterday. Curb ball was just terrific.

Lined up to face Boston this weekend, I still suspect that they might skip him to Monday. But Tanaka's making progress, so I don't think Loisaga's in the rotation for much longer. In the bullpen, we got Zach Britton, Senwano. Okay, Britain has pitched three of the last four days. It appears like he's the closer.

Senwano got a save, but Clippered into Purs. Pera were probably unavailable. They had both pitched on Saturday and Sunday. Shane Green was bad again. I don't see him losing that job. Willie Peralta got a save, and A.J. Minter was used in a tie game in the ninth inning at home, so used as a closer for the second straight game without getting a save. But Willie Peralta, does anyone care about the Royals bullpen?

No. No. All right. It's time for Team Name Tuesday. Then we'll grade trades, and then we'll get out of here. Team name Tuesday Quick one The Vottoman Empire

I like it sure I think it'll be a good one in a keeper league or dynasty Andy has a whole bunch of Shane Bieber team names They're all about the name Shane

In Shane in the membrane The old ball in Shane Shane and a haircut Unshamed Melody Very good Ain't that a Shane the in-shane clown posse very good

and Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane in the membrane is my favorite. The in-shane clown posse is my second. In-Shane clown posse is very good. I like unshained melody. I also would nominate Shane of Fools. Shane of Fools would be good. And finally, a Domingo ate my baby. Yes.

I think we've had that before, but it's a good one. I wanted to talk about Ozzy Albies. I wanted to talk about Didi.D. I wanted to talk about Whitmerfield. Maybe that will be saved till tomorrow. I'm actually off tomorrow. So that's up to Chris. Let's talk about Sting.

Or the police, I guess. He said teacher. It counts. Grade the trade from Jordan. 12 team head-to-head categories league. Give you Darvish. Get Joey Gallo. Give Darvish, get Gallo.

Probably like a C-minus. Yeah, I don't like it. From Jeff. Categories League, 10 teams. Give Trey Turner and Scooter Jeanette. Ooh. Turner and Jeanette get Correa and Cinderguard

in a Categories league. Probably depends on what your team looks like, but I think that's C plus. It seems fair to me. I'll go B minus. I already traded for Cindergard about a month ago when I thought he was coming back. So

never mind. It was a D. Because Adams injured players stay injured. I'm just saying that, yeah, they do. It's actually a good point. I'm just saying that, like, I don't trust Cindergarde to come back. I think he's going to be back fairly soon, like in a week or two. But I have, it's tough to trust it. That's all I'm saying. All right. From Chris's emails. This grade the trade is from a different Chris. Give up Anthony Rizzo and Sean Newcomb. Get Jose Ramirez in an eight team. five by five head-to-head league.

Anthony Rizzo and Sean Nukum for Jose Ramirez. A. Yeah, I think there's a chance Sean Nukum won't be useful in that league. Yeah, eight teams. Yeah. I think he'll be useful, but replaceable. Right.

And, wow, Ramirez is like genuinely way ahead of Rizzo, right? Way ahead. Yeah. Yeah, I think he is. Yeah. This is from, oh, no name. Dear Sam Jackson, Jonathan Banks,

and Holly Hunter. No idea. Grade the trade. Yeah, we should know this, I feel. 12-team Roto OBP. Give Gattis and Baez get Vado. Those are the Incredibles, I believe. Oh, okay.

Gaddis and Baez for Vado. He already has Gondal. It's an OBP league as well. I think that an A. I'll give a name. From J.T. Adir Juan, Ross, and Travis. Are those The Incredibles, too? Juan, Ross, and Travis.

I don't know who they are. Those are not the Incredibles. Give up. Tim Anderson and Evan Gaddis get Johann Camargo and DJ LeMayhew. I already have J.T. Reamuto. So he has Rayamuto. He gives up Gaddis and Anderson. Tim Anderson. He gets LeMayhew and Camargo.

And it is a points league. Yeah, 14T. Yeah, like, I don't think Tim Anderson's a starter in a 14-team points league. Evan Gaddis isn't a starter for you. Yeah, I think that's fine. I think that's a B-minus. I will say it's a C-plus. Okay, and Kenny is in a dynasty league.

Give up Jose Cantano. Kentano? Give up Cantana, get Beltray. Give up Kentana, get Beltray. And to sum it up, he has good pitching depth. He has terrible third baseman. So this is the Dynasty League, but he's giving up Kintana for Beltray. I don't think he has terrible third baseman.

I think all four of his third basemen have been better than Adrian Belcher. Yeah, and I don't think. They're not terrible. Eduardo Escobar, Brian Anderson, Kyle Seeger, and Ryan Healy. I don't think all of those guys will be better than Adrian and Beltray. That's my bad. But they're not bad. I think there's a chance, Kyle, I think there's a pretty good chance Kyle will be better than Adrian Beltray.

So I don't think you needed that upgrade. and I'm not sure it's an upgrade. So I think that's a D. D minus. All right. We have one more trade to grade. Okay. It's the For the People Podcast League trade for Mike Trout.

Yeah, go ahead. Well, you've got to present it. It's your trade. I traded Cory Klooper and Reese Hoskins for Michael Trout. Seems fine. I think this is a C minus slash D plus only because of the league specifics. In a 12-team league, I'd probably give you a C-plus or a B-minus, but in this league, a 16-team league with our roster construction,

extra bench spots, I think you gave up a little bit too much. Yeah, but I have Greg Byrd on the bench, so now I get to start him. F. Oh, well, in that case. Yeah, it's an F. By the way, a deep sleeper for you, AL-only, Brandon Jury, Brandon Jury, could take that job from Greg Bird. Tyler Austin

No, he's not good Ronald Torres Torres? Do you have any other Clint Frazier could be back soon No, I'm telling you Austin Robynchard All right, today's matchups

Max Scherzer By the way, who are Monday standouts guys Let's go with a 5% Owen Royals pitcher as the standout Don't get out of you I apologize for trying to serve us our team

Get out of here No, no no no A 5% Royals pitcher who has like nine strikeouts in his life. I apologize to the Deep League customers for trying to serve. I gave it A.L. Only Sleeper. I gave it A.L. Only Sleeper. Braden Jury. Max Scherzer, yes. How about Nate Avaldi against the Nationals? I'll say no. Luis Severino, yes. How about Jake Arenda against the Yankees?

I wouldn't feel great about it. I'm probably starting him. James Paxton, yes. Kevin Gawson against the Mariners. Yes Pirates at Metz Chad, cool, Stephen Matt's. I could see Matt's having a good start, but I think the wheels are going to fall off at some point for him.

I think I'd rather start cool. Frankie Montas at Blaine Hardy. Well, you're starting Frankie Motas. I would probably prefer, I mean, Montas could have a good start, the Tigers are terrible. Yeah, it could be good here. Zach Godley at Eliezer Hernandez. Start Godley.

John Lamb at David Price. David Price. Matt Harvey at Aaron's Anibal Sanchez. Matt Harvey at Annabal Sanchez. I would rather start Anabal Sanchez than Matt Harvey. But I would rather start either. Tyson Ross at Austin Beavins-Durks. Start Ross.

Jake Junis at Freddie Peralta. start Peralta. Yeah. I have no idea who Ryan Baroque is. I actually am really interested in Ryan Baroque. I don't know if that's how you pronounce his name, but he has been very good in the minors. I think the scouting report on him is kind of a Joey Lucasey type,

or maybe an Alex Wood type, but in 83 career innings at AAA, he has a 304. ERA. He had a big strikeout rate last year at double A, so I'm interested in watching. And this is what I was saying about the For the People League. Chris said he was very interested. We have plenty of players we could drop on our bench. I went to add him. He's already owned in that league. And by the way, want to be clear, not starting him against the Houston Astros. Yeah. But I want to watch him pitch. I'll probably tune into that game. Twins at White Sox, Lance Linna, Ronaldo Lopez.

No. Maybe, I mean, Lance Lynn could be good. I'll start Lynn. Yeah. Corey Klober at Carlos Martinez. I know everyone's freaking out about Carlos Martinez, but I'm starting him. Oh, I sat him this week. Ah, I would start him for, like, I think I'd start him.

John Lester and Ross Stripling. Yep, we'll start him. Chad Bettis at Derek Holland. Nope. Nope. All right, goodbye, everybody. Chris is taking over tomorrow. It's a Chris show.

Chris and Scott. It's a Crock show. See you later.