Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/27: Streaking Hitters, Worrysome Pitchers, All-RP Strategy (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 27, 2019

Wednesday's standouts include the good Wade LeBlanc (2:15) and the bad (3:45) Nick Pivetta and Framber Valdez. We also discuss a few other fringy SPs (8:00) like Zac Gallen and Matt Strahm to help you figure out who you need to own right now ... "Start, Sit or Drop" (13:45) Dallas Keuchel and Yu Darvish? What can Keuchel really bring to your team? Plus, can you win a Roto league with only RPs on your pitching staff (19:23)? Also: News and notes (25:25) as Craig Kimbrel makes his CHC debut and streaking hitters (30:50) like Yasiel Puig, Jeff McNeil and Lourdes Gurriel. Whose power surge is legit? ... Getting into even more hitters who may be earning more playing time (40:00), the Worryometer (44:00) for James Paxton, Eugenio Suarez, Jack Flaherty and more. Stick around for Fantasy Regulators to end the show ... Email us at [e-mail]'s episode is sponsored by NoBull. Visit NoBullProject.com\FBT To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Busy Wednesday in Major League Baseball, and here we are on Thursday, June 27th. Yeah, starting to get better at that. Starting to get better at knowing the date.

Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. It's a big step for me, Scott. You know, I'm very proud. Thank you for acknowledging. It's a rare talent. It's a rare talent, knowing what day it is just offhand. I mean, I don't. I wouldn't have said 27th, shoot.

Right. No, look, I knew it was Thursday, right? And I knew my birthday was on a Wednesday, and you had, you didn't wish me a happy birthday on my birthday last week. And so I just added seven plus one. Yeah. And I got to the 27th. So that's kind of how it works.

Listen, I'm a busy, busy show, Scott. Thank you. Thank you, I've been working on it, you know. You hone your craft. So 15 games and a lot of runs. A lot of runs means a lot to talk about in fantasy baseball. But if I know Scott, it's based on with the conversations we've had lately, he's going to come on.

He's going to tell you how extremely concerned he is about Chris Sale after this bad start. Like, I know it. Scott's just going to be really concerned about Chris Sale. Who else is Scott going to be super concerned about? Matt Boyd, he's going to be super concerned about Matt Boyd. right am i am i am i on the money scott uh yeah i don't know how well you know me now i don't like the thing is in this environment i don't even feel like five runs and six settings with ten strikeouts which is what sale had uh it's even that bad because it could get so much worse

no i was kidding i mean in the case of him ten strikeouts is nine of eleven starts now with double-digit strikeouts so no look i i i knew you wouldn't be concerned because remember the whole snell thing. If you weren't concerned about snell, I know you weren't going to be concerned about snail. A snail or sale. So, all right, let's talk about, let's talk about last night. Let's talk about Wednesday standouts. I want to know if you're buying in

to Wade LeBlanc. The opener has revived Wade LeBlanc. Four of his last five appearances have been really, really good. The other one was terrible. He is 10% owned. He is R.P. eligible, I'm sure. And are you buying it yet? I knew when I saw this performance he had yesterday that Adam was going to be making his Wave LeBlanc pitch again. I didn't expect you to open the show with it.

That's a new low for you. What? I don't own Wade Blanc. I'm not making a pitch for Wade Blanc. I am simply bringing him up because he needs to be brought up. Jerk. I don't see anything he's doing that's different. and what's a pretty extensive track record,

I'm 34 years old. There's nothing in the underlying numbers to make me think he's changed in some way and we should have this, have this faith in him all of a sudden. So no, I'm not even interested in picking him up in a hot handplay necessarily because, I mean, say you did that with Mike Leak,

how did that go? Yeah, it didn't go very well. All right, so if you are not impressed with my opening the show with Wade LeBlanc, you get to now open the show and talk about someone even more important, more awesome. What do you got?

Oh, not so easy. Oh, there's such a big selection here. I'll tell you one pitcher who has me worried and to the point that I'm probably going to drop him now. And it depends how, it depends what's out there. Can I guess? But Nick Pavetta. Oh, that's what I was going to guess.

That was really what you're going to go? Well, it was either going to be him or Frambervaldez. It was one of those. Well, the thing about France, yes, both, both of them were in, I wrote waiver wire winners and losers. It's going out this morning, both of them are among the losers. Fromber Valdez actually got opted to the miners after the game, but they don't need a fifth starter of the Astros until after the All-Star break. So he's not necessary, he didn't necessarily lose his job just because he got sent down. I do still think there is some interesting stuff.

underneath for Valdez that I'm not necessarily going to bury him but I don't necessarily think he's worth a roster spot either but Nick Povetta a third straight shaky start he allowed he allowed two home runs again that's seven in his past three starts and that's that's really the killer for him

is just way too vulnerable to the home run and not a good enough batman. Even when he's been good. He hasn't shown high end enough that missing ability to think he's going to be good enough to overcome this deficiency

he seems to have. So I'm pretty much over him. I think there's, you know, I'd rather hold on to him over somebody like Wade LeBlanc, but if I was looking to pick up like Edward Alzalai or even somebody like Julio Reyes,

I, you know, if there's another upside picture of available on waivers to you, or if there's a hitter you want more. I think dropping Povetta for him or Valdez for him at this point makes sense. Okay, and Povetta is 68% owned. Valdez is 62% owned. Povetta is a two-star pitcher next week. That makes it a little bit more complicated.

But one of those starts is at Atlanta. That's a brutal matchup. At Atlanta and at the Mets next week, and that's who he faced yesterday, the Mets. And he gave up four runs on nine hits and five and two-thirds. And I was watching that start, and he just did not seem to have it. Sometimes you watch Nick Povetta, and he's totally nasty. and yesterday was not one of those starts. In fact, Jason Vargas was better than Nick Povetta.

And, you know, nobody got challenged to a fight with reporters in the clubhouse after. That's always good. But, yeah, all right, so Povetta, I mean, I think, like, if you want to pivot maybe to Logan Allen, he's got two starts also next week, San Francisco at home at the Dodgers. But would you do that? Would you drop Povetta for Logan Allen? Yeah, I'd be more willing to roll the dice on Allen. Who hasn't shown anything that impressive in his first two starts,

but top 100 prospect coming into the season. And, you know, they were both fine. They were both fine. They were reason enough to want to give him a longer look, and we'll see where that one goes. Okay, we'll talk about Zach Allen in a little bit, as he had a pretty interesting start yesterday. It was cruising along, and then he got lit up a little bit.

Do I have a standout? Well, I think that was Keikl's a standout. We're going to play start, sit, or drop with Keiko and Darvish. who started yesterday. Do you want to talk about hitters like J.P. Crawford, Willie Adomis and his splits. Jeff McNeil is on fire. Fram O'Reyes, Double Dong.

Justin Bohr has been excellent. Like, Justin Boar is part of a group of guys who might be earning more playing time and might be becoming more interesting. So usually we talk a lot about pitchers on this show. I'm going to try to talk about hitters more today. We have the Thuriameter Thursday. James Paxton is on the Thurionmeter, and I am very thurried because of that knee.

Jack Flaherty is on the thuriameter. He pitched two nights ago. A E. E. E. E. Haneo Suarez, Paul DeYoung, and Matt Boyd, Matt Boyd has allowed 17 home runs this year. 10 in the month of June. He's at the White Sox at home against Boston next week. So we will discuss that. Let's move on.

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So if we can focus still on some of these fringy starting pitchers, we already talking about Paveta and Valdez, three others that went yesterday. Zach Allen gave up one hit and no runs through five innings. Then he came out for the sixth, and he got blasted. He gave up four runs without recording it out. So that's two starts now for Gowan where he's lasted five innings, five plus innings, giving up one run and three runs.

I said he gave up four runs. He gave up three. One run against St. Louis last week, three runs against Washington. Pivotta, Framber Valdez, Matt Strom, and Tanner Roark, who we don't talk about much. She has a 366 ERA, and a 131 whip-knock rate. How would you rank, well, how would you rank the rest of them, Gallen, Strom, and Roark? I am. Gallow, Strom.

definitely gallon one. I mean, if he hadn't come out for the sixth inning yesterday, he probably would have led the show. He was very impressive through those first five innings, and then gave up three hits and three runs before getting it out in the six. So, you know, that was the third time through the lineup. They talked, he talked some after the game about adjustments he feel like he needs to make when he faces the third time, the lineup for a third time again.

and the Marlins seem to come away mostly impressed. And I think we all should have come away mostly impressed by Zach Gallant's start yesterday. I think he definitely kept himself in the running with Caleb Smith looking to find his way back in. And he's somebody I'd absolutely pick up if he's still available and certainly hold on to him if I already got him. Yeah, enough of encouraging sense there. I don't really want any of these others. No? No, Strom with a nice start.

I just made a case for dropping Paveta and Valde. and yet I think I'd rank them second and third here. Strom has... His velocity was up a little yesterday, which is interesting. He had nine strikeouts, but the swinging strikes weren't there, and even more discouraging than that,

he gave up two home runs again, which this is now six straight starts with two home runs allowed, particularly if your bat missing skills aren't that high. You know, it's just like I was saying for Pivotta. I feel like Povetta would have to miss more bats to get away with that, and Povetta misses more than Strom does. So Strom seems like you're playing with fire there.

Roark is, he can be useful, I think. He's just kind of boring, and he gives up a lot of line drives. So the whip is high because he's giving up a lot of hits, and I think that's not a fluky thing. I think he's that hitable. You know, he pitches fairly deep into games. he's about at a strikeout burning for the season. I think he can be a useful streamer,

but there's not a lot of ceiling there. Okay. So that's Tanner Roark, 48% own. Four quality starts this season. Doesn't pitch deep into games often getting better with that next week. Oh, okay. I even have that part wrong. Well, Matt Strom is a two-star pitcher next week with San Francisco

and at the Dodgers. Roark, one start with Milwaukee next week. So you getting excited for London, baseball, Scott? It's going to be interesting. Yeah, I think so. When I was doing the hitting, the top 10 sleeper hitters

and looking at the hitting schedule and picking out which teams had the best matchups, worst matchups, all of that, I noticed two days off in a row for the Yankees and Red Sox, and I was like, what is this? I've never seen that before, except for the All-Star break, of course.

But yeah, yeah, now they've got extra travel day to go to London. No idea what that playing environment's going to be like. I do know what the dimensions are. What are the dimensions? I think it's 3.30 down the lines, but it's 385 to center field. 385. Now, they do have a high wall.

They have a 16-foot wall in center field. It's in a soccer stadium, and there is a ton of foul territory. So it's just going to be weird. Like it's very hitter-friendly in terms of the dimensions, the walls, you know, the distance of the walls, but the foul territory maybe equalizes it a little bit for the pitchers. I have a feeling it's going to be very high scoring. I know the Yankees are going with an opener on Sunday. The Red Sox, sale just pitch, Price isn't pitching.

I think they're going with Porcelo and maybe Eduardo Rodriguez. We're not going to see the best pitchers, although it might be Tanaka tomorrow or Saturday. But yeah, they're off Thursday. They're off Friday. I think it's cool. I think it's very cool. One thing I read on ESPN.com is that they're going to have, like, I think through the PA, they're going to have like in-game explanations for some things that happen.

You know, because some of the fans there just don't know baseball very well. So I don't know what that is. I don't know what they're going to explain. But I'm pretty interested to see where this goes. We'll see. The times of the games are kind of funky if I believe. They're going to be like, they're going to be like, you know, old school color commentary guy, like, you know, giving you tips on how to play if you're like a little league or something. Like, oh, this is exactly how you should do that, you know, you know what I'm talking about this?

No. I don't know. It sounded like a better idea in my head. Let's move on. Okay, okay, let's move on. Let's do start, start, sit, or drop. And I only have two players with this segment. They faced each other last night, and the lines weren't great.

Kyko and Darvish. Keiko has more of an excuse. Keiko was pitching pretty well. Three scoreless innings. Then there was a 48-minute rain delay. And he came back out, and I think he gave up a run in one run and three straight innings. So, Keiko ends up five and two-thirds, eight hits, three runs, three walks, two strikeouts.

Darvish gave up a three-run home run to Nick Markechis. He gave up five runs on five hits with eight strikeouts, two home runs allowed against Atlanta. And he got the loss. And that ended a streak of ten straight no decisions for. you Darvish, which may have been a record. And by the way, he has not won at home since signing his

contract with the Cups. He has not won at Wrigley Field. But Kiko and Darvish, start, sit, or drop? How are you treating them going forward? Not drop. Probably more likely to sit than start, but a few people

listening, I think, have much pitching depth and may find themselves where they're forced to start them. The most concerning number for me for Kikil, is that he gave up two home runs yesterday. I think it was one in his first start. But he's going to have to thrive on home run prevention. Like that's going to have to be his whole thing.

Can I just interrupt? Extreme ground ball pitcher. Can I interrupt? I am so excited. I'm so excited for the day. I'm going to have to get like some celebration music or something. It balloons. The day when you say what I said on yesterday's show,

Dallas Keiko should not be owned in 12 team leagues, should not be owned in 10 teams, obviously, and should only be owned in 14 team leagues if it's a points league. Like, I can't wait for everybody to come around on how bad Dallas Kiko is going to be for fantasy. Wow. That's a bold take. It's a bold take, no question.

But he just doesn't do anything good. That's a weird thing to celebrate, too. Well, no, it's going to be celebrating. He's underwhelmed us in the past before because he set this Cy Young standard a few years ago, but I don't think, I don't think we've ever

since then considered him not must own so that's interesting No you know what Yeah You know what Scott I'm gonna go

So last year We had Kikel In our 16 team categories league 16 teams And I feel like we could never really Start him Or at least feel good about starting him Because he was a categories killer

And his strikeout rate This is another thing His strikeout rate Like Kind of live with it being in the 7.5 range But last year I think it was 6.7.

And so far this year, what does he have? He has five strikeouts in 10 and 2 thirds. So, like, I don't know that you can live with a strikeout rate at 6.5, 6.7. That's kind of dice. But you know what? Well, in a way. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

Go ahead. Like, our expectations from starting pitchers have had to be lowered this year. I mean, a high three's ERA is a good ERA. Even some of the high-end pitchers out there have ERAs close to four, if not exceeding four. And that's just the new reality. If you look at basically every pitcher's home run to fly ball rate is, if not a career worst, it's much higher than last year. And that's kind of introduced this random element to every pitcher starts. Like so many home runs are being hit, you just never know when an otherwise good pitcher is going to have a start sabotage.

by that. And if Kikele can be this elite home run preventer like he's always been, then he has a good chance of remaining about the same while the rest of the pitching pool gets worse. He hasn't shown that through two starts, but it is only two stars. Yeah. I think he's going to be fine. I think he's going to be useful. I don't know that he's going to be must start. I don't know that I would start him. I don't know what his matchups are next time, but after the way these first two starts,

but then I don't know that it started him in. Philadelphia and Miami. at home. Philadelphia, Miami at home. In a two-star week? Yep. I'd probably start him. So, look, if you believe in Kikell, certainly be patient.

I mean, you could certainly understand the guy getting off to a slow start. I just don't know that his skills are really good for fantasy. That's a problem. He needs to pitch a lot of innings, which he has been in the past. It's better in points than categories, yeah, I would say. But there just aren't, and I don't know the proper way to approach this. I don't know if it means in categories. categories leagues where obviously where in the ones where you don't have you know

pitcher slots to find SP and RP you just put a P in there and ones where you know there isn't a high minimum innings threshold to meet. Maybe it means not starting many starting pitchers and and leaning on relievers though I think you're playing with fire there too because I haven't explored it as much but I imagine the home run rates are up for relievers too and you know so. somebody gives you a four-run inning that's going to crush your ratios. I just, that's part of the reason I don't like that format. Like, just one over, if you're reducing it to a week's time,

just one crooked number can really mess you up in ERA and whip. So do you want a way that loses the whole week for you? When that doesn't really happen as often in points leave. All right. Got an email from Josh. He sent an email on March 25th. And he keeps emailing me almost weekly to update. me on his team because I asked him to do this.

And he said, Adam and Boys, I did it. I drafted no starting pitchers, and I plan not to start any starting pitchers this season. I play in a standard five-by-five 12-te-team Roto League. So it's not head-to-head categories. It's Roto season long. Typically 90 to 95 points wins the league. I haven't heard you talk much about the strategy, any thoughts. How do you like my team?

So again, he did not draft any starters. And here were the pitchers he started. Jose LeClerc. I'll give you the bad ones first. Jose LeClerc, Brandon Morrow, Pedro Strope, Keone, Kella. The other pitchers are Yates, Vasquez, and Craig Stammon. So he emails me every week. He's in first place.

Every week. So his hitting's very good. He has Grandal, Bellinger, Mondi, Turner, Lindor, Harper, Soto, Gallo, Pete Alonzo, among others, Senzel, Fram El Reyes, Jeff McNeil. And you can obviously draft good hitting when you take this strategy. But yeah, I'm sure he's juggled his pitching staff since then. But I just thought it was interesting.

I've been looking for a way to get this email into the show. And I guess, Scott, you gave me the perfect transition. But he did not draft one starting pitcher and he's in first place. despite some of those relief pitchers actually being total busts. Interesting. Yeah. But what works for one person? It doesn't work for everyone.

And that's another thing too. Like, at one point I, in some of my deeper roto leagues, I picked up like John Brebia for ERA and Whip Health, and that's completely imploded here over the past month. And, you know, I took a lot of the damage from that when I wasn't enjoying the successes earlier, because, you know, I hadn't picked them up yet. So the timing on that can get very tricky. I would imagine most roto leagues are set up, so you couldn't just completely abandon starting pitchers

because you have to meet a certain innings minimum. But I'm not convinced this isn't a more viable strategy than ever. You know, part of what makes it harder too is that, like I'm going to call it the Catel Marte syndrome, where, you know, loading up on hitters at the beginning does, doesn't necessarily give you that big of an advantage if, you know, if somebody else happens to hit on a lot of the hitters who end up being just as valuable later in drafts, which is, you know, looking like a higher number than ever. Like, there's, there's so little room to differentiate yourself at hitter anymore that it's hard to get a clear advantage there. So there's a lot. There's a lot to consider here.

It may be a more viable strategy than ever. It may be something I need to consider more strongly, but I'm not totally on board with it yet. Yeah, no, look, it's a good point because hitting the point of drafting all relievers is that you get to use early, there are several points. One of them is obviously you get to use early picks on hitters more so than the rest of your team or your rest of your league. But, okay, let's take a look at the best hitters in baseball.

so far. Best hitters in fantasy. And you'll see a mix of high-end guys who were drafted early and guys who were drafted late or picked up as free agents. Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Mike Trout, Freddie Freeman, Josh Bell, Nolan Aeronado, Alex Bregman. So that's, I think, six of the first seven or seven of the first eight are very high. And the others could have only realistically gotten one, right? Like you couldn't have drafted two of those players. Well, you could have He drafted in Bellinger, maybe, and somebody else. Yeah, but otherwise. Yeah, well, you could have, you could have drafted Yellich and Freeman.

Yeah, Freeman. In second round, yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, there would have been a lot of other hitters you would have considered at that same point. Bryce Harper, Mani Machado. Then we got Zander Bogartz, Pete Alonzo, Catell Mookie Betts, Carlos Santana, Eduardo Escobar, Ronald Acuna, Trevor, Trevor,

Rendon, Rizzo, Devers, LeMayhew, Whitmeryfield. So you see there's still a lot of higher. Yeah, it gets all over the play. Yeah. Okay, Scott, we're going to take a break here on fantasy baseball today. When we come back, we got news and notes. John Carlos Stanton's back on the IL.

Does that mean anything for Clint Frazier? Tim Anderson's on the aisle with a high ankle sprain. It's Craig Kimbril-Day. So we got news and notes plus the theriometer and a whole bunch of hitters you need to know about. We'll be right back on fantasy baseball today. John Carlo Stanton is cursed. It's very strange, but he's on the IL again with a sprained PCL.

He will miss more than the minimum 10 days. The Yankees called up Mike Talkman. I don't know that they won't call up Frazier when they get back from London, but for now, are you picking up Clint Frazier? Do you care? It would have to be a deeper league. There's not an opening for him is the thing. They had one too many hitters for spots before Stanton going down,

now that Incarnacion is on board and now that Aaron Judge is back. So, you know, if they're committed to Brett Gardner, and I imagine they are, which is why they sent Clint Frazier down in the first place, if they're committed to Aaron Hicks, then there's not a spot. Well, they sent Frazier down because of Stanton and Judge, and I guess Encarnazio. Like Gardner was a big, but Judge and Incarnacioner. I imagine Gardner's back in the lineup playing left field. Tim Anderson on the I.L. with a high ankle sprain.

Craig Kimbril is going to be activated today. Is he a top five closer rest of season? The high-end closers are all pretty good. I don't know exactly where he's going to fall there. He certainly could be top five. He could be number one rest of season, but I have him ranked lower just because there's no reason for me to move those others behind him yet.

Like somebody like Felipe Vasquez, who you mentioned, has been great. Well, Smith, if he gets traded somewhere where he's a closer, his ratios are dominant too. There's just, there isn't, there isn't, there's a lower number than ever of for sure closers out there, but the ones who are for sure, by and large, pretty awesome. Yeah, except I think, I think we talked about this last time we ranked Kimball. The only ones that I would certainly put Kimbril ahead of are the ones that I expect to get traded. Like, I'd have to take Kimbril over Will Smith because he's going to do. He's going to get traded and hopefully he stays, he's so good.

Hopefully he stays as a closer. Vasquez, I'm not sure about. certainly see him getting moved. Remember, Jared Crick is a name to pick up. Lorenzo Kane has been dealing with a thumb injury. Kyle Crick. Kyle Crick. Thank you. On the Pirates. Yeah, okay. Just search for Crick. Watson and Crick.

Lorenzo Kane's been dealing with a thumb injury, so that's been affecting him. Maybe that's an explanation for his struggles. I'm going to fire through the rest of these notes here. Alex Reyes has a pectoral strain. He's going to miss at least two to three starts in the minors. Corey Seeger could be back right after the All-Star break. The All-Star Games on July 9th this year, by the way. Corey Kluber could be cleared to resume throwing soon. Carlos Carrasco played catch on Monday, so those guys are making some progress.

Brendan Rogers is on the IL with a shoulder injury. Should we pick up Garrett Hampson, Scott? Nah, he hasn't really shown much of anything. Alex Wood has a sore back. Tommy Lestella hit a home run the other day. It was an inside-the-park home run. Tommy Listella, I'm not giving you credit for that. Yo-a-Mongata has a bruise knee.

Bryce Wilson is starting today for the Braves. Did you pick up Bryce Wilson in any of your league, Scott? I didn't, though there's a case to be made for it. He was a top 100 prospect for basically every publication coming into the year. ZRA is close to 4 at AAA, but it was like 250 over his past eight starts, and it really low walk rate. There's upside there, and you pursue anyone with upside in this pitching environment, but there's...

I would be surprised if he came up and dominated. There's some shortcomings, you know, not a very deep arsenal, etc. So we'll see how it goes, but you can make the case to pick them up, sure. Chris Sale lost yesterday. All right, no decision at Fenway. So Chris Mason on Twitter points out, Chris Sale's last win at Fenway Park was July 11, 2018. The Red Sox don't return home until July 12th. So that means Chris Sale is going to go at least one full calendar year without a win at home. That's amazing.

You Darvish 0.15 at Wrigley Field. Eddie Rosario day-to-day with a sprained ankle. Noah Cindergarde's going to start against the Braves on Sunday. Andrew Benintendi sat. He has heavy legs. John Means is going to start at Cleveland on Friday for Baltimore. Some Dodgers news. They are reportedly interested in Felipe Vasquez, according to MLB.com.

They are also using a six-man rotation with Tony Gonsolin pitching yesterday, and it did not go well for him. So, yeah, go ahead. What does that mean? To bring up your point from earlier, I mean, if the Dodgers got Vasquez. presumably it'd be to set up for Jansen. So that's another reason to put Kimberl ahead of him. Yes. So what about the six-man rotation, though?

Like they went six-man. Is it just temporary? Are they going to... Do we have any more information about stripling in Ereus? I haven't seen anything. Neither seem stretched out enough. Like, the piggyback situation seems like a good idea for them until they get more stretched out.

if they are looking to stretch them out even. So I haven't seen anything more about that. Okay. But, yeah, it's just something we're going to have to watch for. Geo Gonzalez had a setback with his shoulder. Jordan Lyles could start at Milwaukee this weekend, and Mike Soroka will start on Friday for the Braves. He will make that start.

All right, Scott. Let's talk about some hitters. We're going streaking with some hitters who are hot right now. Give me a quick thought on all these guys. Yasil Pueig. plate discipline's still bad. It's a little concerning. Three walks, 20 strikeouts. Buddy has a 970 OPS with seven home runs and four steals in the month of June.

And Yasio Pui, quick thought. Remember we got traded to the Reds. We were excited and like, this is a potential 30-20 guy in this environment. And he's been on a 30-20 homer pace. And yet I still think most people are underwhelmed. That kind of speaks to the environment. But now, he's trending the right direction. I think he's, I think he's, in points leagues maybe a little less than must own,

but everywhere else definitely must own. All right, that's Yasuo Pweek. Domingo Santana, just going to steal this right from the AP from the Associated Press. Domingo Santana has a hit in 19 of his last 21 games. He's batting 337 with five doubles, seven home runs and 18 RBIs in that stretch, a 1048 OPS for Domingo Santana in his last 21 games. Yeah, he's good. the high strikeout player always makes me nervous.

He's on pace for like 200. But the quality of contact is so high that all the expected stats are any much lined up with the real stats. And it's harder to justify him as anything less than a must start. Jeff McNeil, 82% owned, homered and doubled yesterday. Been on a little bit of a home run binge. He's got four in June. He has six on the season.

but Jeff McNeil is batting 351, only 29 strikeouts. Last year he batted 329. Thought on Jeff McNeil. He is for sure a 300 hitter, I think, as little as he strikes out. Is he a 350 hitter? That's going to be hard, a difficult standard for him to meet. But I suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility if he continues the recent uptick at home runs.

He has three in his last nine games. And he was definitely a home run hitter in the minors last year. It's kind of surprising he hasn't show much power in the majors, with the juiced ball and all that. So, yeah, my guess is the numbers get worse from here, not better, but if there is a power surge, that obviously changes the equation. All right, look, he's a guy who doesn't strike out. He's leading off for the Mets.

I think in points leagues, Jeff McNeil might be sneaky valuable. You know, he might be a top 10 second baseman, and people wouldn't really value him that way. I'd rather have him in any format, Scott. I'd rather have him than Robinson Canoe. How about you? Yeah, definitely. How about McNeil or Cabin Bigio?

I prefer Bigio there because there is clearer power potential. There's some speed. I would expect McNeil to hit for a higher average, definitely. But Bigio is an outlier in lieball rate, hard hit rate, walk rate. And this is the makings here of an OPS monster.

You know, he might not be better than a 260 hitter, but I think we're going to see the home run pace improve for Begio in a meaningful way. Yeah, and maybe some steals as well. Lordus Gouriel Jr. Homer twice against the Yankees yesterday, and since being recalled on May 24th, he was already the number five

shortstopping points, number two in Roto, before yesterday. I didn't run the numbers again this morning. But that was before his two homer game. I mean, he has been outstanding. Lordus Gareil Jr., he's 76% own. If you look at the best shortstop since he's been called up, though,

he has by far the worst plate discipline. But what do you think about Lourdes here? Is this a legit breakout? I think it's mostly legit. Yeah, you know, he might be a little ahead of what's a realistic pace now, but, you know, I think he'll be able to sustain around a 30 homer pace, if not better.

And the bat skills are good enough that he should help in batting average, too. I don't know if shortstop's going to be the most likely place you play him because that's become such a deep position, but he's multi-eligible. I think he's eligible at both second base and outfield as well. So at one of those spots, you could find a spot to start him. And if it's a shallow lineup league where you happen to have great hitting and can't find a spot to play him, it's still a nice option for your bench. Somebody who could fill in at any of those spots if somebody gets hurt.

Why are we buying it? Because he has a 715 career OPS in the minors. He wasn't even that good in the minors this year when he got sent down. He was 787 OPS. Did have a lot of doubles. And now he's coming up and he's... I don't remember getting excited about Loris Goreal Jr. last year when he debuted for the Blue Jays. He did nothing at the beginning of the season.

He didn't do much in the minors. Now he comes back and he's on fire. Five straight multi-hit games just been amazing. but, you know, like, why is it not just a hot streak for a guy that we really didn't have on our radar at all? Well, I think the, I mean, he's a 25-year-old who has, is good at elevating the ball. I don't feel like the home run to play. It's a little high now, but like I said, I feel like he's performing a little ahead of pace now. But when he first entered the radar, and I think he was on like a 40-homer pace at that time,

what would translate to 40 homers if it was a full-timer. The home run to fly ball rate wasn't drastically better than it was a year ago. It is much higher now, but again, I think there's going to be some regression. Let's forget about these metrics right now because it's a small sample size, and Chris talks about it. Like even the batted ball indicators can be deceiving because those go in streaks, you know? I'm talking about the whole picture of Gueriel. I'm asking, was their pedigree?

Because I don't remember us being excited about him. If he's on a hot streak, then his indicators are going to look good. There's not enough. Like, okay, sometimes a guy gets on a hot streak has a crazy high habit. Not always, right. But a lot of times, the guy's just hitting really well. You know, so, like, I just don't know that there's enough for me to buy into yet. Well, he's less than 80% owned in CBS leagues, which means he's obviously less than Yahoo and ESPN.

So I think the main question, we're looking to answer now is how rosterable he is, is he? And I would say very. If you're talking about that, I guess that. I'm a scenario, trading him from the context that he's a stud for a more proven stud. I can get behind that. I don't know how realistic that is.

Yeah. But sure, if you want to shop guerriel for something safer, you should aim very high. But I can get behind that. Scott, let me get your quick thoughts here before we take a break and then we'll finish up. We've got a lot more to get to here. A lot more. Wow.

J.P. Crawford, he's on fire. And Willie Adamas, he has homered two straight games, three of his last five. Willie Adamas, 197 with no home runs at home, 2.99 with nine home runs on the road, although those splits were sort of reversed last year. Do you have interest in these guys? Crawford's barely owned. Crawford's only 14% owned. That surprises me.

Adamas is 26% owned. Do you have interest in them? Not really. It would have to be a deeper league. Like I said, short stuff is really deep. And J.P. Crawford, I don't think there's enough power there. You know, he may be a high Babbat type and can hit for a decent average, but I don't think there's enough power there.

And I'm skeptical of the power for Adamas, too. Okay. They're more deeper league material. And the good news for Crawford, he has started 11 straight games batting second for the Mariners. We always like plate appearances. The bad news is he has a 227 slugging percentage against lefties. So if there are lefties on the schedule, you might not want to be considering J.P. Crawford, even in those deeper leagues.

When we come back, more hitters, thuriameter, regulators, emails. There's no way we're getting to all of it. But we'll try. We'll be right back on fantasy baseball today. And the remainder of the show is brought to you by Micro Machu Machine. Scott, double dongs yesterday, Fran Mill Reyes, and Justin Bore. We already talked about Lordus Coriel. Yeah, well, we know what the deal was with Reyes.

He's been streaky. He also doesn't play enough. But what do you think? 71% owned. Is that justifiable for Reyes? 22 home runs this year. Wow. There was kind of a mass exodus from Reyes when he had that stretch where he started one game at six.

But he started five at six again. I think there's definitely a ton of power there. You know, I'd prefer somebody like Gueriel to him. But I think that ownership percentage is appropriate. I don't think it should go down from there. And I'm just going to say, like, keep Justin Boar on your deep league radar. He's only 4% own. He doesn't need to be more than that.

But he went down to the minors. He fixed his swing. And Justin Boer has a 9-13 slugging percentage, slugging since coming back. And if they're really serious about winning, I've got to think that he's a better player than Albert Pooleholds at this point. So, you know, we'll see. Do you think any of these guys are earning more playing time? Dominic Smith, homered again. Danny Santana, five home runs in his last seven games.

Willie Calhoun, 45% owned. He's actually started all but one game since coming off the IEL, but Hunter Pence should be back maybe early next week. And he obviously, you know, Danny Santana's in that mix too. Jake Lamb just came off the IL and started. He's more of a thorn in the side of Christian Walker, if anything. And Jose Martinez has started six straight games. So these guys who are hopefully going to get more playing time,

Dominic Smith, Danny Santana, Willie Calhoun, Jose Martinez, and then hopefully not Jake Lamb, but he might. What do you make of this group here? I think, yeah, the Calhoun situation is interesting. I'm trying to figure out who would play center field other than Delano DeShields when Pence is healthy. I think Gallo plays sometimes in centerfield. Yeah, that's true.

Gallo could play. And he just returned to the lineup yesterday. or two days ago, so that's why he's not showing up here. But yeah, okay. So even so, that one may Calhoun, Mazara, Chu, and Calh. Yeah, there might not be a spot for Calhoun. Which is sad, because I think he's showing by far the most he's ever shown in the majors before two doubles in a home run yesterday. A power hitter who doesn't strike out much is very interesting.

But, yeah, the Pence return may mess him up. Who else were we talking about here? Dominic Smith. Would you rather pick up Dominique Smith or Jose Martinez? If you were to take a flyer on someone who's first base and outfield eligible? I would rather say, Smith, I think, has a lot more outside at this point. And he started three straight home run in all three games. Really high walk rate.

Definitely the skills to be a good batting average source. If he is, if he's a power hitter on top of it, then he could be super valuable in fantasy. We just haven't gotten much indication in the Mets. are willing to play him regularly enough. Three games in a row. Okay, that's a good start, but we'll see how long it continues. Yeah, I think they need them, so get him in there. All right, let's do the thuriameter, Scott.

Let's see how concerned you are on this Thursday. James Paxton, six runs in four and a third. And not sure if he's going to be a two-star pitcher next week, the Yankees, because they have the two days off today and tomorrow, I don't know what their rotation is going to look like, and plus Domingo Armand is on his way back. But, yeah, another bad start. He's got a 4-70-4 ERA.

Looked pretty good. The two previous stars, but the two stars before that were terrible. Zero to 10 on James Paxton. So he got ambushed by the Hammer yesterday. The Super Smash Brothers Hammer gave him three home runs, which is going to be something that happens to most every pitcher from time to time. Paxton was actually behind last year's home run pace, despite pitching in a more homer-friendly environment.

So what's concerning for him is that the good starts, since coming back, haven't quite been good enough. He's been limited to about five innings. And there's been some talk that maybe the knee's still bothering him. Aaron Boone said after this start, he doesn't think it is anymore. But if we can't trust to go Paxton to go six or seven innings when he's on, then when these starts come up, they're going to hurt a lot more. So I'm a little concerned about Paxton. I'm concerned because of the knee. I don't care what Boone says.

I'm concerned because of the knee. And, you know, he did pitch six innings at the White Sox. Then he pitched five innings against the Astros, but he threw a ton of pitches. It just wasn't efficient. He was an efficient then start. So he may be okay. Boone may be right. But I think it's reasonable to wonder how many innings he's going to give you start to start because of that knee.

Jack Flaherty. Jack Flaherty is a 475 ERA, 18 home runs in 80. and a third yowsers. Zero to ten on Flaherty. Worryometer, I'll go four, I guess. I think this is just, this is just the reality now. Like I was saying for Paxton,

there are going to be these starts where there's just so many home runs hit, no matter how good the pitcher is, it may not even really be his fault. We usually, we historically have attached home runs to skill for pitchers that's the basis behind stats like fifth. But it's just a really, it's a really scary world they're living in right now.

And ERAs can get crooked very quickly. It's more a matter of, you know, how many strikeouts is he getting, how good is his supporting cast, how good do his good starts look. Like, Zach Wheeler's kind of the poster child for that. ERA approaching five, and yet he has so many good starts that it still feels like he's one of the, he's among the best options. you know, most fantasy owners who own him, he's probably like their third or fourth starter. So that's, you know, Flaherty's probably a little behind that, but it's kind of a similar situation.

Who'd rather have Paxton or Flaherty? Paxton. Hey, O'Haneo Suarez on the Worryometer. Suarez is only the number 17 third basement in fantasy. He entered the month of June with a 901 OPS. He now has a, in the month of June, a 483 OPS. He's been terrible. So 0 to 10 on,

A E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hainio Suarez. Probably like a three. I don't think he's... I don't think his skills are a real issue. I just think it becomes harder to play him in shallower leagues, given the surplus of third base options out there. Right. And for someone who's basically almost all of his value is home runs. Considering that everybody's hitting home runs this year, I mean, he doesn't steal. batting average might be fine. Last year he hit what? He had 283.

Okay, that's fine. You know, he doesn't really feel as valuable anymore. Yeah. He's going to be worse than last year, probably. It's just a slump, though. So, you know, it's like he was hitting really well. So I'm not going to freak out on him, Suarez. Paul DeYoung.

Paul DeYoung, so look, it's the last 42 games now for DeYoung. He has a 670 OPS. First 35 games, he had a 10-11 OPS. So within this stretch of bad games, he did have a really good week. It looked like he was back, and now DeYoung is struggling again. I do like the fact that he's still walking. He's stolen six bases this year, in his first two seasons. He stole away combined two bases, first two seasons.

So what do you think? Where are you on the Wuriometer here on Thursday, the Thuriameter for Paul DeYoung? I guess if I went three for Suarez, I'll go four for Young. But kind of like, kind of like your set. the young, yeah. Kind of like you're saying, I feel like I feel like while he probably was performing over his head earlier, it's

been an overcorrection now. I mean, his strike rate is still much better. His plate discipline is a whole much better. You know, he actually has a worse home run to fly ball rate now than he did last year, which doesn't make a lot of sense in this environment. I think he's probably going to get hot soon. But

kind of like I was saying, for Suarez, shortstop, there's so much depth there that it's, you know, doesn't take much to move a guy out of the top 12 at a position. I think DeYoung, even with kind of a more optimistic outlook, is outside of that group for me. Yeah, but... So obviously, at this point, like, fantasy teams are going to be starting more than one shortstop in a lot of cases. Like, you have Glaber Torres as your number 14 shortstop.

Totally understandable, given all the guys in front of him, but he's going to be starting in every lineup. Do you think Paul DeYoung is the same way? Do you still think that fantasy owners are going to be able to start him rest of season? and get good production? Well, advantage Claver Torres has is he's dual eligible and the second position he's eligible at second base is deeper.

I'm just saying in general. I'm just saying in general, like, DeYoung may not be a top 12 shortstop. That doesn't mean he shouldn't be a starting fantasy option as a utility, you know. He's started, he should be starting in the majority of leagues where he's out. He's not, his starting percentage

should probably be a little lower than Torres's because there are leagues so shallow. that there's just no room for him, but he should be started in the vast majority of leagues where he's out. Matt Boyd, Matt Boyd, seven innings, 11 strikeouts. Beautiful, but three home runs against Texas. And now that's 10 home runs in the month of June in 29 innings. It's 17 home runs on the year.

And obviously hasn't been as good in June as he was through the first two months of the season. He's got two starts next week at the White Sox and home against Boston. Wuriometer on Matt Boyd. It's only like a three. I mean, he still has 11.4 Ks per 9, still 1.8 BBs per 9. If you remember back when he was at his best and just emerging, how legit is it? I said it's pretty legit. The one thing that we need to watch out for is there's going to be some home run regression.

I think that's fully been realized now. His home run to fly ball rate, like most pitchers, is now a little higher than it was last year, which I think is, it's fallen into the range where we should expect it to be. So he has a 372 ERA now. It's probably going to finish about there. But in this environment, I don't think that's bad for a pitcher who gives you the kind of ratios he does. Would you rather have Matt Boyd or Armand Marquez? Boyd, I think.

I think. Because Marquez has that weird home issue where it's not totally sure how much you should be starting him when he's at home. and that obviously hampers his appeal. But of course, Boyd has a very poor supporting cast and has a five and six record as a result. Sure, yeah. Well, let's see. Armacquez is eight and three,

even though he has a 429 ERA. Only two strikeouts at San Francisco yesterday, so that was strange. Mike Miner had a great star yesterday, complete game, one run, seven strikeouts at Detroit. Would you rather have Mike Miner or Matt Boyd? I think Boyd, but minor. Like, I feel like I've been the high guy on Minor on this podcast.

You have. Good for you. I still wonder if I still wonder if I'm underestimating him. Maybe. I mean, it's weird for him to be this good. It's weird for him. Like Cole Hamill struggled so much in Texas. Mike Miner is having a great year. He's gone eight or more innings in three of his last four starts. I've watched him several times.

And, like, you know, I like to watch guys that I'm, you know, unsure about just to give me a little bit more perspective and I think he's pretty good so he doesn't he doesn't throw like super hard or anything but I think he's a pretty good pitcher I'm confident in Mike Minor you call him a buy high a few weeks ago and it was a great call

and yeah I think I think he's gonna have a good year I don't think he's gonna have a 240 ERA but you know he's clearly like in terms of ratios like clearly better than he was last year I mean it's similar swinging strike rate to two years ago

in the bullpen in Kansas City, where you take that to a starter. Yeah, it's going to be good. You know, three of his past four starts now, eight innings or more. And that, like, I'm not totally sure how much, how realistic that is from him, but obviously if that continues and he has several starts this year where, you know, seven innings plus, he has some short starts too. So that's really what could be the differentiator for him is if he's, if he takes on that huge workload with consistency.

All right, that's Mike Minor. I'm just going to try to finish up the notes here, and then we're going to do regulators, and then we're going to read emails. Trevor Bauer, six and two-thirds, one run, 12 strikeouts. Patrick Corbyn, seven innings, one run, nine strikeouts. Both these guys bounce back.

It's been two good starts in a row for Corbyn. Of course, Corbyn faced Miami, and Bauer faced Kansas City. But Bauer threw 127 pitches. Give me a break. It's a thing, man. I get it.

There's one pitcher in baseball. who probably can do this, it is him. But like, come on Terry Francona. You're scaring the hell out of me. It's 117 pitches almost every time out or more. 127 yesterday? That's sad. It only six and two thirds.

But it was a nice start. So good job, Trevor Bauer. Well, he seems, he was talking about how he's a little concerned about it too and that, you know, Bauer's driving a lot of that. You know, Bowers, now we talked about it last time, But he's been since coming into the leagues, and this is a good reason why he's with Cleveland now and not Arizona.

He has his own preparation routine that supposedly allows a pitcher to do this more, and he's been very hard-headed about it. And so far he's been right, but yeah, it's a little worrisome. And in the bullpen, A.J. Minter got a save yesterday, a four-out save. Both Luke Jackson and Anthony Swarrowzak had pitched three of the previous four days. Taylor Rogers got a save. He's clearly the best reliever to own in Minnesota, and he's 53% own, and he's really good. Rowanus Elias got a two-winning save. Rowanus Alias for the Mariners is five

saved since June 12th. He has eight straight hitless appearances, hitless. So Rowanus Alias is pitching very well. And he was a 202 ERA as a reliever last year. So, and the ratio is much better this year. So it might be something there with Alia. Yeah, he's the uncontested closer. And the only one who I think could contest him now is Hunter Strickland if and when he returns. If Elise is still pitching like this, that's not going to happen. Reisel Oglacius, I think they just stopped throwing him in non-save situations. He gave up four runs in the eighth inning yesterday. And Matt Barnes blew a save.

Brandon Workman had pitched two straight days. I do wonder if maybe we're trending in the direction of Workman getting most of the saves. But I don't think we're there yet. But it's just a name to know. Yeah, that's... All right. He's gotten one in a row, so... Let's regulate.

It's a Blake Snell question. All right, here we go. From Aaron, from Murderer's Row. Says, hey, Aaron, Ned, Brian, and Don. I don't know who those are. All right, please regulate this situation to set the level straight for, uh, waiver wire protocol.

Blake Snell was spite-dropped in our 12-team redraft points league. It's wrong with you, people. Our waiver order starts at reverse draft order, and whenever someone makes a claim, you go to the back of the line. The team with the number one waiver claim is non-competitive. He did the league of solid and filled the vacancy from a late dropout. He regularly goes days or weeks without looking at the league, and it's very plausible to think that this guy might not add Blake Snow.

The team with the number two waiver wire priority is competitive, and adding Snell would increase their level. likelihood to win the league. Another competitive team, lower-in waivers, saw this and alerted the non-competitive team with the number one waiver claim that Snell is now on the waiver wire and advised that this owner add Blake Snell. This was done publicly in front of the whole league. The benefit to the whistleblower is to ensure the competitive team with the number two

waiver claim doesn't get Snell, bettering his odds at a title. Is this collusion or is this an example of a strategic maneuver done out in the open that should be considered fair game. Scott White? I mean collusion. Obviously, the guy who's alerting the non-competitive owner is doing it for his own say. But the non-competitive owner is, you know, you could certainly justify that he would want to pick up Blake's now, just like anyone else would. So I don't think that a non-competitive owner is doing it.

I'm going to interrupt you. I'm going to be direct then, you can react. I don't like, it's not collusion, but I don't like when other people tell other owners how to run their team. And I think this crosses a line, and I don't think you should have done it. I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it at this point,

but I think it's foul. I don't think it's fair. I think it's foul. And the only problem is he could have done this sneakily, but by privately messaging the guy, and nobody would have known about it, maybe. but my general rule is, and I'd never do this, never. You should not tell other people how to run their team.

That, to me, is crossing a line selfishly, and I'm going to say, was bad etiquette, however, I don't think there's actually anything you do as a commissioner. Ultimately, the other guy doesn't have to do it, though. I think it's underhanded. I think it's cutthroat in a way that probably doesn't reflect well on the guy doing it, but I don't, I think it would understandably,

frustrate everyone else in the league, but I don't see any, like, illegality here, you know? Agreed. I think it's, right, like, it's kind of lame. I don't think you should do it. It's a demerit. And I think maybe you start a rule, put a rule in, do not tell anybody what to do. Do not tell anybody about players or want waivers? Do not tell, like, just stay out of it and manage your own team. Yeah.

But it's hard to. I think that's over-legislating. Oh, you see hands-off, Commissioner Scott White. You won't even let people put players on the IL before the season starts. You are an under-commission. In some leagues I do. In some leagues I do. It's just adds a lot of extra work for a commissioner,

and I commission like a dozen leagues. I don't let them do it in every league. Well, prioritize mine going forward. Okay, well, we'll read some emails tomorrow. I'm going to the city tonight to get some dinner with Chris Towers. We're going to get some awesome barbecue. Give us a shout out if you're in the city. New York City, that is.

And yeah, for Scott. Thank you, Scott. Good show. Sure, Adam. It was great. Okay. That's it for fantasy baseball today. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

See you later.