Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/28: Bieber Fever; Fantasy Overreactions; Regulators (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 28, 2018

Yeah we love Shane Bieber right now (3:00) but how does he compare to other available SPs (10:25) like Zach Eflin, Kyle Gibson, Danny Duffy and Zack Wheeler? ... Wednesday's standouts include Robbie Ray (17:00) and Alex Bregman (17:40). We also discuss Shohei Ohtani's value (26:00) and, yeah, Archie Bradley pooping his pants (29:40) ... Where is Joey Votto's power? Then it's time for some Fantasy overreactions (37:30) about Luis Castillo, Carlos Santana, Rougned Odor and others. We also discuss hot hitters (44:00), slumping hitters (46:06) and yesterday's pitching performances and then the Fantasy Regulators return (54:05) to settle league disputes ... 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

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. What a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Today is just going to be the greatest show ever, and we are starting the overreactions already. Fellas, it is Overreaction Day. I am just going to, you know, because I wasn't on the show.

yesterday. I think I'm making up for lost time. I'm just going to give stupid takes. I'm going to overreact to a lot of things, and you're going to have to keep me in check. Are you ready for this challenge? As long as you know they're stupid this time, that's the important thing. Right. Sounds a lot like Thursday. Yeah. And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Yes, there's a lot to talk about, including Shane Bieber. Alex Bregman is homered in three straight games. You might be surprised to find out where he ranks among short stops right now. In fact, I thought there were really a lot of interesting starting pitchers aside from Justin Shane Bieber that are worth adding. I'll get your takes on that. A lot of deep league guys, hitters that might be worth adding. And some sluggers who are in some slumps. We'll talk about that.

Heath, Scott, good to be back. How are you guys doing? Heath, how are you? Oh, I could not be better. Really? Just fantastic. Okay, good. Scott, you?

Wonderful. I'm great, too. Okay, good. I'm good. I'm really good. I'm also genuinely awesome. Thank you for asking. I have some fun MLB stats.

One of them is incorrect. One of them is incorrect. You tell me which one. Evan Gaddis set an Astros record for the month of June with 30 RBIs. That is a June record for the Astros. 30 RBIs for Evan Gattis. The Reds are even 531 and 31 under Jim Riggleman. So Zach Britton gave up a home run to a lefty, Kyle Seeger, yesterday.

From 2014 to 2017, he gave up just one home run to a lefty in four years. And your final stat, Shane Bieber, according to the AP, struck out seven to become the seventh pitcher in baseball's modern era to strike out six or more batters in each of his first major league starts. Bieber didn't strike out seven. Exactly. I know. They wrote that in the recap, and I put that in the notes.

And then I was like, what? No, that's not true. See, they overreacted. Baby, baby, baby. Oh. I know, right? And you know what? Here's my message.

Here's the question that the Associated Press writer who wrote that should be asking right now. Isn't that funny? Right? You're so proud of your stuff. All right. So, anyway, according to everything else I read, I didn't back check. But the other thing should be true. Gattis, June record for RBIs for the Astros.

Riggleman's 31 and 31. And somebody even emailed us was like, guys, the Reds are not a good matchup anymore. And he might be right. And Zach Britton did give up that home run to the lefty. That's a rare occurrence. But let's talk about the Bebes, guys. He's got to be your standout. Heath.

Shane Bieber's 69% own. He did strike out five in six innings, one run. He's got 222 ERA. Is he under-owned at 69%? Shane Bieber. Oh, absolutely. With what he's done over the last couple of starts, he should be close to 100% owned. Now, I think there's some questions still to be answered about whether he keeps this up over the rest of the season.

I'm not ready to say that he's like a top 30 starting pitcher now, but he don't have to be a top 30 starting pitcher to be more than 69% owned. Scotty, what do you think about Bieber? He has walked exactly one in each of his starts, four starts, I think, right? Exactly one. This was his first start with less than a strikeout per. He had 18 or 17 swinging strikes in it. And entering this start, he had allowed a BABIP.

He had a BABIP of over 400. So there were a lot of hits in his first two starts, but that seemed to be the aberration more than what he's done in the last two starts now. What he's done in the last two starts is very reminiscent of what he was doing in the minors. He's an elite control pitcher already, I think. And while I'm not ready to put him in the top 30 either, I agree. He's must don't. Shane Bieber or Domingo Erman? I think the upside is higher than for Hermon, but Beaver's clearly more usable right now.

I mean, Bieber's going to have an easier schedule than most pitchers because he pitches in the AL Central, but he has had a pretty cake star. to his major league career. We got the twins twice, the Tigers, and the Cardinals. Well, the Cardinals at St. Louis, so he gets the pitcher that he gets to pitch to. So I would say Beaver over one, but I think it's pretty close. Yeah. So I did like the fact that he was throwing a lot of curveballs yesterday. and I tried to look it up on Brooks Baseball,

it was not able to find. It's weird. Brooks Baseball doesn't want to let me look up some info for like Vince Velasquez. They never let me find his player page. Didn't get Chain Beavers. But I guess, you know, the one guy that comes to mind is Fernando Romero, who got off to really good start, but just I don't think he had the arsenal to really be consistent. So that's an important thing because you look at Bieber and Freddie Peralta,

who was the talk of yesterday's podcast. Beaver throws harder than Peralta. Neither of them is like a flame thrower. And that was surprising to me when I watched Peralta the other night. Like Chris said, he throws like 91, 92. Bieber's not exactly, you know, a hard thrower. But they're getting it done. And I just don't know what to do, guys.

Like Walker Bueller, I feel like, is kind of easy to buy into, right? Throw is hard. He's got a huge pedigree. I don't know what to do with some of these other rookie pitchers. Do you try to sell them? Do you just ride it, write it out and see what happens? because there is a lot of uncertainty as much as we're going to make predictions

there's a lot of uncertainty with these guys. I have a lot of faith in Hermann and Bieber both. I mean, Hermann, I don't think you could call a sell high just because of the ERA he has now. So that's definitely a hold. And I think it's too fresh to really consider trading Beaver either. I mean, I like Bieber. I don't know that I'd be motivated to get whatever

I could get for him anyway. I could see maybe Peralta being, a cell high because I think that's the most he has the two biggest red flags of both of these pitchers, limited arsenal and control issues throughout his

minor league career. And then if we want to throw a third red flag in there, it's not clear. There's an opening form in that rotation with Zach Davies working his way back from the DL. I think there will eventually be because I don't think you Elise Jassine or Junior

Gera, Scott. You could not remember his name. I forgot the other one's name on yesterday's show. I know. No, you forgot Gara's name on yesterday's show, which was very good, by the way. That's a hard name for me to remember. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think either of them are good enough to hold him off forever.

But those are three issues for Peralta. And right now he's coming off a magnificent start that could maybe create a lot of buzz. And, you know, maybe you could get somebody like a John Gray for him. potentially. I think that's an upgrade. There are certainly pitchers that I would trade Beaver, struggling pitchers that I would trade Beaver or Peralta for, and I think maybe in other place you could look as injured pitchers.

Johnny Quedo making his way back from the disabled list, I'd rather have Quoedo than either of them. He's somebody like maybe still U. Darvish. Dallas Keikle in a points league, I'd still rather have than either of them. So there are some by-low candidates that you could trade either of these guys for. I'm going to overreact about Dallas Keikle in a bit, maybe. You know, I'll do it right now.

Overreaction number one of the day. Zach Eflin is better than Dallas Keikle. That's an overreaction. But I think it's time to give Eflin some credit. Give that man some Eflin credit. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he's still less than 60% owns. He's not better than Dallas Keikl, though?

He's not better than Keikl. He's not better than Keikl. Keikl is scary now. after two two very effective starts with the royals six shutout innings each time but both against the royals he he kind of had a come up and

here because it's not like he was back to retro keikle in those two starts against the royals the ground balls weren't one of the starts he allowed more fly balls than ground balls so he's not back to being the keikl of old and I'm not confident he will be yeah but I'd still rather have him than Eflin

Okay, well, Ethlyn is part of a big group of starting pitchers that I want to talk about. They are available in some to a lot of leagues, and they were very good. But, you know, Heath, earlier, you said you could not be better. I'm going to challenge that assertion, Heath. I think you could be better, and you will be better at the end of the show when the regulators return. Yes. Fantasy regulators are coming back. Fantasy baseball at CBSI.com.

That is our email address, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. And please put fantasy regulators in the subject line. If you put something like regulation or please regulate, I will regulate. I will yell at you. That would be the way I regulate it. Yeah. Don't do it. Wouldn't it be easier to include them rather than to reply to the email?

No, see, what I do, Scott, is I do a search in my inbox for fantasy regulators. So that's why I, you were saying you'd yell at them. I just yell at them. It seems like you found them anyway. In the email. It's a good point. Yel with them in my mind, I guess. All right.

Let's talk about those fringy starting pitchers and who we want to pick up. I'll throw Zach Eflin in there. He is 59% owned. Shane Bieber is 69% own. Definitely Bieber over Eflin. 100%. Yep. Kyle Freeland is actually the most owned of all the pitchers I'm going to talk about.

Kyle Freeland, a Rockies pitcher with a 329 ERA. He does all right at home. Bieber, Eflin, Kyle Freeland, who do we want? Not Kyle Freeland. I would rank them Bieber, Eflin, and Freeland. Freeland deserves to be the least owned of the three. But I think the correction needs to happen more with the other two. I think 76% for Freeland is fine.

I think he's fine for having a 329 ERA 122 whip. That was entering yesterday's game with the 284 Babbitt, which isn't. All that low, really. So a guy who's two years in a row been among the best at getting weak contact. It's a ground ball pitcher. I think he's fine. I think Beaver has the chance to be really good, and Ethlyn has the chance to be, like, top 60 good.

Ethlyn, just to let everyone know, has a 176 ERA and a 5-0 record in his last five starts. And those five starts have come against the Cubs, twice against the Brewers, the Nationals, the Yankees. So, of course, he's going to do what Kyle Gibson just did next week and face a really bad team. Next week, he's going to face a bad team and get crushed, just like Kyle Gibson did last night. After Gibson had a really nice streak of four starts against tough opponents. But Eflin, yeah, 58% out. All right, so you're going, you're going Bieber, Eflin, Freeland.

Now I'm going to give you a whole bunch of names. And Heath, you can jump in first. You tell me guys that you'd rather have over, let's say, Kyle Freeland or Zach Eflin, maybe not over Beaver. Marco Estrada, Danny Duffy, Brent Suter, Wade LeBlanc, Yvonne Nova, Zach Wheeler, Clayton Richard, Mike Minor, and Kyle Gibson. Did I say anyone that really jumps out at you, Heath? I would rather have Duffy than either of them.

I would rather have minor than either of them in a league where I need a sport. Either of who? I thought the only two we were talking about were Afflin and Freeland. He said maybe not Beaver. Okay, so Bieber's going to be ahead of the whole pack. Correct. Okay. And I think there were a couple other names.

Like I'd still rather have, I think, Marco Estrada, over Kyle Freeland. There were so many names. There were. I mean, Danny Duffy, he looks like he's back on track. Three of the last four starts, just more than a strike-up per inning. He's throwing harder over the last couple months than he did all of last year. I think he still has control issues and obviously a bad supporting cast, but 53% owned strikes me as the most underowned of any of these pitchers.

And I can't decide how I feel about the trade possibilities for Danny Duffy, because he could get traded to a better team, but that better team may also play in a much worse park for Danny Duffy. So I guess it's just a wash. There still are a lot of walks for Duffy. I think we should just point that out. I did. I mentioned it. Oh, you did, I'm sorry.

He gets Cleveland next week. You didn't point that out, that's okay. I think the main thing we need to point out, though, is there's still a lot of walks for Danny Duffy. And he gets Cleveland next week. So if you're playing week to week, you know, a lot of these guys are two-star pitchers. Duffy is not. Fland is not.

He's one star, but it's against Baltimore. Zach Wheeler did not get any love yet. Zach Wheeler's been, you know, better lately. More swinging strikes. I think his velocity's up, but I'm not 100% sure. He's at Toronto and home against Tampa Bay next week. that's not bad. He had like 20 swinging strikes last night, right?

22, yeah. That was like the kinds of numbers that used to drive us wild for Shoahe Otani. Like, that's an insane number of swinging strikes. I'm not, like, I kind of feel like it's an aberration, but he has been better. I think good enough that he deserves to be more than 41% owned. I'd rather have him than Estrada. I'd rather have him than Freeland or, Suter. Who else did you mention in there?

Well, Kyle Gibson and Mike Minor and Clayton Richard, we haven't really talked about that. I know there's a lot of guys. So at the end of this segment, I'll sum it all up and tell everybody what we really think. But, you know, Mike Minor took advantage of a matchup. We thought he could take advantage of. Now he gets Houston in his next start. It's at home. Kyle Gibson, yeah, he had a bad start. He was pitching pretty well before that, although we said the peripherals said there should be some regression with Kyle Gibson. Brent Suter, they're letting him go deeper into games. Up until the last three. starts, Brent Suter had not pitched six innings.

And he's done that three straight starts. He gave up four runs against the Royals, but they all came in the seventh. He had six scoreless innings before that. He's got Minnesota and Atlanta at home next week, Brent Suter. So it seems like Bieber's number one, Duffy's number two, F-1's number three. That's sort of how I'm feeling right now. Does that sound right? Yes, I'd put minor number three in a points league.

I'd put Kyle Gibson potentially ahead of Duffy as number three. I think Kyle Gibson's in that mix, and I don't think Wheeler's too far behind. So who's number two for you, Scott Eflin? Ahead of Duffy? So I think there's a clear top five. I think it's

I think it's Beaver, not necessarily in this order, but I think it's Beaver, Duffy, Eflin, Wheeler and who's the other one I was excited about. Gibson, Gibson, yes. I think those are the clear standouts they need to be owned in most every mixed league, I feel like. Okay.

And Clayton, there's actually some good matchups next week. Clayton Richard at Oakland could be okay. Oakland struggles at home. Richard gave you seven more innings. We know he's not going to give you strikeouts, though. And unfortunately, Mike Miner does have Houston next week, but he is that SPARP eligible guy. All right, who did I miss?

Which Wednesday standouts did I miss, Heath? You told me already that Shane Bieber had to be my standout. Well, it had to be like the show standout. So I just totally disregarded anyone else that played. Scott, Heath, anyone? Let's talk about Robbie Ray. First start back from the D.O. Are you Robbie Ray?

Yep. It was definitely a good result. Six shutout innings, two hits, six strikeouts, 12 swinging strikeouts. 12 swinging strikes, which is not a great number for him, but it's certainly fine. His velocity, 92.6 is what he averaged on his fastball. The velocity was low early in the year, but it got up to 95 is what he averaged in his final start. Only 92.6 in this one. Diamondback's manager actually addressed it after the game and said he's not concerned.

I mean, the secondary stuff looked good. Most of his swinging strikes came on the slider. and he feels like he'll build up the velocity, as we saw him doing before he went on the DL. So I take it as pretty much all positives for Ray, but the velocity is something to keep an eye on. Okay, yeah, good start for him against the Marlins, but what, six shutout innings, so good stuff for Robert Ray.

And then I'll just go, I'll say Alex Spregman is a standout. He's homered in three straight games, and he is now the number two shortstop in points leagues. You look at what he's doing, though, he's pretty poinsy. He's number six currently at shortstop in Roto, which is really good. Three days ago, or four days ago, before this three-game stretch, Alex Bregman was the number four short-stopping points and number 10 in Roto.

So why is he so good in points leagues? Well, he has more walks than strikeouts, more walk than strikeouts. He has one more walk than strikeouts. He has 27 doubles, which is tied for second most in baseball. So plate discipline and doubles equals equals. points value, and he's got it. But right now, 14 home runs and 79 games were basically at the point where you can just multiply everything by two, basically at the halfway point.

I mean, if he had 28 home runs, that would be huge for him. Again, four days ago, you'd say, well, he's on pace for like 22 home runs. That's not great. I guess my point with Bregman is I was wondering if he was going to be a real standout in categories formats or just kind of like good across the board but not great in anything in a maybe Andrew Benintendi type way, a Benintendi of last season type way. I would say that the home run and double issue is probably a situation where we should expect more of those doubles to be home runs and it started to happen in the last three days.

Anytime you've got a guy who has a 41% hard contact rate and a 12% home run to fly ball rate, if the hard contact stays at that level, the home run to fly ball rate, ratio is going up. I think the range of possible outcomes, there's probably a worst case scenario that I'm not considering, but in terms of likely scenarios, I think Bregman is going to be somewhere between Anthony Rendon last year and Jose Ramirez last year. The BABIP is still on the low side for him, so I could see him getting that batting average up around 300. Obviously, great play discipline, a lot of doubles, but also a fine number of home runs, too. If he corrects the batting average to the point that he's Jose Ramirez, he probably

climbs those roto rankings as well. Either way, he's a stud in points leagues. I actually have moved him ahead in my third base ranking since he's also eligible there. I've moved him ahead of Chris Bryant. Yeah, okay, you know what? I like that. Go ahead, Heath. I'll jump in after. That's an interesting point that I think brings up something I tweeted about this a couple of days ago, and I don't know that I can necessarily disagree with that. Regman's not just the number two shortstopping points leagues. He's also the number two third baseman.

There's not really been much difference between the two positions this year. There's not really been much difference between any of the positions this year in the infield. Right. Yeah, Chris and Scott talked about that yesterday. And by the way, I'm very much looking forward to Chris coming back on the show tomorrow because I have three things that I am just going to berate him for for his hosting yesterday and none of it is like he did a bad job hosting is just oh come on he was so proud of himself no i texted him telling me i texted him and i told him he did a great

job yesterday and he did but there were three things that he did boy i wanted to jump through the car radio and and strangle him um all in good fun but you did a great job crud no i had nothing to do with with baseball it was just it was just some fun stuff we'll have fun with it tomorrow um All right, so Chris Bryant, improved plate discipline last year. And it's like Mookie Betts, improved plate discipline last year, and we see the results this year. Alex Bregman, improved plate discipline. I think last year he also improved this plate discipline, even better this year. And we're seeing now results at the plate.

Chris Bryant, I thought it was going to happen with him. I thought he just probably was unlucky last year. He became a better hitter. It's going to translate. He's going to start crushing it. And it hasn't happened. do you think the shoulder has held him back? Do you think that's the reason why Chris Bryant's not producing?

Has that been something that's been going on all year? No. I hadn't heard anything along those lines. It's weird with Chris Bryant because his fly ball rate is still that of a power hitter. It's over 40. And it's kind of surprising that it hasn't translated to more home runs. But this is obviously going a year and a half. now where that's been the case.

So I think if we were, I think if we were redrafting today, certainly in a Roto League, I don't think he'd go in the first two rounds. Point of the league maybe, because the plate discipline's still so good. But we need to see a power search from him in the second half to get him back to that borderline first round status. And he's another guy that just doesn't make any sense. His home run to fly ball ratio, even last year, it was 16%. It's down to 10.3% this year, even though he's hitting more line drives and he's hitting the ball harder.

So I have a hard time blaming it on the shoulder when he's hitting the ball harder. Also coming up on today's show. Yeah, but everybody's hitting the ball harder. Aren't we still a little skeptical of that stat? I like he is basically he was at 32.8 last year he's at 36.5 that's bigger than the jump from last year or this year. Okay. So I'm not really no. That was brought up in terms of like a data keeping, are we skeptical?

But I think it's fair to point out it's skeptical to be of that stat to be, it's right to be skeptical of that stat anyway. There isn't a strong correlation particularly for pitchers but also for hitters. hard, soft contact versus how good they are, you know? It's something we cite. I do know. I agree that if there's not a strong correlation between pitchers, I don't agree that there's no correlation between hitters. Well, it's less strong than other things.

Like, I care more about line drive rate and fly ball rate than I do about hard contact rate. I prefer a hard contact rate to soft contact rate. But ultimately, I think it's the how it comes off the bat. Well, he has an elite line drive rate and fly ball rate as well. So maybe he's going to come around. Maybe Chris Bryant's going to have a big second half. I would expect it.

All right, good. All right. So we have a lot, a lot to get to on today's show. First, I want to tell you about one of our sponsors. We can really help you out, gentlemen. I want you to take your hand, put it on top of your head. How's it feeling up there? 66% of men lose their hair by age 35.

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But on Hymns, how about five bucks for your first month? A trial month for five bucks right now while supply. Last, go to F-B-T, or go to, excuse me, forhems.com slash F-B-T, F-O-R-H-I-M-S-com slash F-B-T. This is something that is really important for a lot of guys out there, and this can be really, really helpful, forehems.com slash F-B-T. So, Shohei Otani is going to return as a hitter this year. Scott, what is your reaction to that? I think it's obviously good news for Otani owners provided their O'Ton. Otani owners who play on our website.

And I think it's kind of funny because we've been saying all along, well, it's nice that he has this dual eligibility, but you're probably going to spend, end up starting him at pitcher every time in mixed leagues because that's where he's going to have the greatest impact since he obviously can't bat full time. But now that's changed. If it happens, I mean, they're still going to evaluate his arm. There's still a chance he could come back as a pitcher this year. but obviously you don't want to drop him with this news. Yeah, I'm thinking in like a, I don't know how ESPN does it, but Yahoo, I think ESPN too. They have him as a separate hitter, you know? If you saw the Otani hitter out there, is he a must add?

He's a great stash. Pretty close to must add. And I could be wrong, but I think Yahoo's the only site that has him split up like that. The problem is that a lot higher percentage of Yahoo! are eight and ten team leagues. I'm not sure he's much of a stash in an eight-team league. In a ten-team league, he's kind of borderline. All right, rank these three guys to stash.

Vladimir Guerrero, Eloi Jimenez, Shohay Otani. I would rank them, Shohayotani, Vladimir Guerrero, and Aloi Jimenez. Agreed. Okay. Brandon Maro's back. Zach Kozart is going to have surgery for a torn labrum. He has no timetable for his return.

Is anyone interested in picking up Sandy Alcantara for the Marlins? He will start for the Marlins against the Mets on Friday. Sandy Alcantara, might be Alcantara, but Sandy is his first name. That I know. He's an interesting prospect because he's one that the scouts love, and he was considered the prize of the Marcelo Zuna deal. But if you look at the minor league numbers, you're like, great, he throws hard, but where are the strikeouts?

So I'm not wild about picking him up. But if he starts performing well, then we'll have to have a different conversation. I think he's a good test case, and not definitively, but just for this idea, we've already kind of accepted that guys in the minor leagues that hit a bunch of doubles that don't necessarily have the power numbers, may have better power numbers when they get to the major leagues because of this environment. And I've kind of been wondering if we're going to see that more with pitchers where they strike out more hitters once they get up to the major leagues. he's going to have to. If he doesn't, then he's really kind of like a native Aldi.

And there would be a lot of reasons for that, apart from just hit or strike out a lot in the majors. You know, a lot of times they have these pitching prospects aren't unveiling their full arsenals. They're not sequencing batters the way they would in the majors because their emphasis is on development and not performance. Aaron Nola's a great example recently of a pitcher who didn't strike out many batters in the minors, but the pedigree was thought to be great and look what he's become. I still think it's pretty rare, though, for a guy who's 6.8 per 9 in the minors to become strikeout per inning guy, you know. Sandy Alcantara, Alcantara. Mike Soroka is on the waiver wire now because he is on the 60-day D.L.

The Dodgers, according to Bob Nightingale of USA Today, are the favorites to acquire Manny Machado. So beware, AL-only owners. Walker Bueller could return to the rotation next week. Did you see the story about Archie Bradley and what happened to him before he entered a game? Of course. Okay, yeah, he pooped his pants. Hasn't everybody? Everybody's pooped their pants.

What? I don't think I've done that since diapers or, I don't know, shortly after that. Yeah, Archie Bradley, you can read about it. Just Google Archie Bradley pooped his pants and you'll see it. I like the straightforward headline. Granted, we're in the era of the straightforward headline, but, yeah, I mean, pooped his pants. Hasn't everybody? I can't, no, no, hasn't everybody?

No, the answer is no, Heath. That is just no. I think you should run a Twitter poll. Okay, I'll do it right now. What should the poop? I mean, the Twitter poll says. I'm kind of close sometimes, probably, but I don't know. I'm going to say no.

All right. So, TMI. Yeah, it is. Day to day to day injuries, hopefully. J.T. Rao Muto, still out. Nelson Cruz out again with back tightness. Carlos Correa's missed two straight with a back issue. Salvador Perez left after being hit by a foul ball. Ozzy Albies and Ender Ensi Arte.

They are hopefully going to be back tomorrow. For Enciarte, it's an oblique injury, but sometimes that really is no big deal. And Travis Shaw sat again with a wrist issue. So fingers crossed for Travis Shaw. And then other notes from around baseball. Mike Trout has now gone 12 straight games without an extra base hit. Gas. Ronald Lucuna will likely be back tomorrow.

Domingo Armand pitched the eighth inning yesterday for the Yankees just to get some work. He will be back in the rotation. But Luis Severino is going to make that Sunday start instead of Loisiga. Carlos Carrasco will make a rehab start on Saturday. Jeff Samarja is going to require another rehab start before he returns. The Red Sox signed Brandon Phillips to a minor league deal. Justin Smoke appears to be sitting about once every five games or so. I thought that was interesting.

Smoke not playing every day. Yeah, he's burned up. Kind of looks like his 2017 was all smoke and mirrors. Yeah, up in smoke. Hunter Renfro and Matt Olson were robbed of home runs. Isaiah Kiner for Leffa has made three starts at catcher, but this is not a John Hicks situation where a guy who plays a lot is going to have catch eligibility. Kineer for Leffa barely ever plays.

He's just like a backup catcher now. And with Lorenzo Kane on the DL, this might happen against left-handed pitching. for the Brewers. If you're in a Daily League, Jonathan V.R. led off and stole his 11th base. Actually, if you're playing DFS, that might be helpful

against a lefty. Eric Thames sat. Jonathan V.R. led off. So that always helps. What should the Twitter poll say? Have you pooped your pants since you were...

What are we going to say? 13? Can we say like 20? Why would you be pooping your pants between the ages 7 and 10? 12. Well, I don't know. It might happen.

Yeah, I think it happens in grade school, like, probably one out of every 20 or 30 kids. Okay. Here's what the Twitter poll says. Archie Bradley admitted to pooping his pants before going in a game this year. Have you pooped your pants since turning 20 years old? I think it should be 13, but I will expect these results to be a little lower than what I was into. Like, why would you be pooping your pants when you're 16? This is like, that's just a weird cutoff.

Since you're out of diapers, why not that? The two options, it's going to be like 90%. The two options are, yes, I pooped them. And no, of course not. Email of the day comes from Blake and Santa Barbara. Oh, here's something that really pissed me off from yesterday's show. He says, I know, I know. Joey Votto is great and no one is worried.

And look at that OBP. Most owners, however, took this guy in the second or, second. round and he has eight home runs and 42 RBIs on the year. Is he really that good due to I trade Joey Votto for the likes of Joey Gallo because of the home run potential? And yes, what really bothered me was that you can't look at a guy's OPS and not mention the lack of power. If he's one of the best walkers, walk drawers in baseball, yeah, he's going to have a high

OPS, but if he's not hitting for power, it's a little bit deceiving. And I do understand the frustration among Joey Votto owners. The guy does have eight home runs right now. So I thought that I agree that he's fine, but I thought we can at least address it, that he is not just normal Joe Evato, even with the high OPS. It's mostly OVP. Joe Votto will decide eight home runs soon enough, and he will start doing it. In traditional five-by-five leagues that offer nothing for the walks apart from higher run scoring potential, it is a concern. If it's an OBP instead of batting average league, if it's a points league, he's a stud anyway.

So I'm not, yeah, and traditional five-by-five leagues where he was also drafted high, you need him to hit for more power. But like every time throughout his career when we've been like, it's time to worry about Joe Evato, the answer soon afterward has proven to be no. He is the number two first baseman in points leagues, which is amazing. And he's number 10 in Roto, the standard five-by-five, the batting average. format. But here's what in his last three seasons, he's played 79 games. Here's what Joey Votto's done through 79 games in his last three seasons.

2015, he had 273 with 14 home runs. 2016, he had 255 with 14 home runs. 2017, he had 311 with 23 home runs. He did not have a first half slump. So even, you know, you look at 2015-16 where it was bad first half, OPS over 1100 in the second half. He still had 14 home runs and 13 or 14 doubles at that point. This year he has eight home runs. He does have 16 doubles.

But he does also have a much higher batting average this year. Okay, I think to sum it up, we're not worried. And this is a guy that really could carry your team in the second half. Because he has had an OPS over 1,000 in the second half three straight years, or in his last 80 games, or after game 79, okay? From this point forward, last three years. He could really carry your team. All right, it's time for overreaction day.

I do want to tell you about Roku, though. What did I do yesterday? Well, I watched a comedy show, a comedy hour, like a stand-up comedy special on my Roku. I watch a whole bunch of stuff of my Roku. Watch The Simpsons on my Roku. I watch live sports on my Roku. I watch CBS Sports H-Q on my Roku. If you don't know what a Roku is, Roku is, go to Roku.com.

Roku.com. They start at 2999. they are really easy to use. You plug them into your TV, you put apps on there, you stream whatever you want. You want to watch live sports? You can do that. You want to watch movies and TV shows? There are more than 500,000 of them. There's free content. There's pay content if you pay for Netflix or Amazon Prime or Showtime or HBO, whatever. You can get all of that on the Roku. But really, you should be using it for CBS Sports HQ, baby, on the CBS Sports app and to stream your live sporting events. You can do that on Roku. It is awesome. Start streaming right now. Go to Roku.com.

Roku.com. I've got two of them, and I bought my parents one as a gift, so you can at least get one of them. Go to Roku.com. You will not regret it. Overreaction day begins right now. Adam, yes.

Early results from your poll, more than 100 votes in. A third of respondents have pooped them since turning 20. Yeah. I'm not one of them, by the way. I guess you had to pick an age that late. I would vote no on that, I promise. The secrets people hide.

I may have been standing to a guy with pooped pants once and had no idea. I know. I'm like, what's that smell? It's scary thought. Now I know. Yeah. Okay, here we go. Overreaction time.

Luis Castillo, you tell me if they are overreactions. Luis Castillo should be dropped in all 10 or 12 team leagues. Overreaction. Clearly not in the circle of trust. And at this point, I don't think it. It would be crazy to see him get a couple starts in the minors, but the upside is just too high, and in a way that's been tangible. Okay.

How about this one? You are a stupid idiot if you don't pick up Root Net Odora in a Roto League. That is mean, first of all, also an overreaction. Why would you pick him up? He's been getting a case, like he's actually gotten a few hits recently. Well, he is a low standard. Two homers and two steals in his last seven games for Rognette-Odure. Okay.

Heath, I'm not impressed. Like, the problem I have with this exercise is the way that you're framing it. Because I do think you could say, Luique Castillo is dropable in a 10 or 12 team league. And that is true. I don't want to. I'm not trying to. Shane Beaver is out there, I'll drop him, I'll drop Castillo for Bieber. And the Odor thing, I would say, you should consider adding Rognette Odor in a Roto League,

although he's 53% owned and points is his worst format. So I'm going to guess he's already owned in almost all Roto leagues. Or categories league. But you're not a stupid idiot if you don't pick him up. So, okay, look, I could do the same old segments all the time to talk about these players. But I got to mix it up sometimes, guys. I agree. I appreciate that.

Well, here's something fun about a Ruegnet-Odoor. Today I have what I'm calling a dynasty update for that midway point. The five players who've gained the most value in Dynasty League, the five who've lost it, and the five prospects who've gained the most value. Rugnettador is number one for the five players who've lost the most dynasty value in the last quarter season. So even though he's 25, even though just two years ago he was doing unheard of things for a 22-year-old second baseman power-wise. He is just a total mess. And I don't think people value him, even in a long-term context.

All right. Next one. Next overreaction. You're a huge moron if you don't pick up Kansas City shortstop at Alberto Mondesi in a roto league. And he's 9% of Mondesie. I mean, why you keep calling us moron? Because you're pooping your pants. No, I am not.

I am not doing that. I didn't do it even before I was 20. Well, I kind of feel like Heath did. But anyway, I'm just having fun with it. Does Adamato Mondesie need to be picked up in a Roto League? He's running. He's got three steals in nine games in four attempts. Well, our biggest fan is sitting on a student.

Oh, yeah, I'm right here ready to pounce. I was just going to let Scott say something before I did. I mean, I need to see a lot more. I understand there's some steals potential there. But, like, I just rank my top 250 for Roto Leagues, and much higher-end middle infielder's than Mondecy didn't crack that list. Here's the thing I will say about your proposition, Adam. Our standard Roto leagues are pretty deep leagues with the middle-in field,

the corner-in field, the two catchers. I am having a spectacular year, probably the best. first three months of a season I've ever had in a Roto League in our staff Roto League. And I have some very unexciting players on my bench. I do think it makes sense. The Royal said when he was called up, he was going to play three or four days a week, and I was not that excited about him at that point. But now he started each of the last four games.

He has started five of the last six games. He hit a home run and a double two games ago. He does have the three steals. he's the type of player that could be on your bench and all of a sudden it clicks and he must be in your starting lineup. So who would you drop for him just to kind of when the road of rubber meets the road?

Jared Dyson. I'm looking at my rhodo team. My worst hitter in that same league, my worst hitter is Justin Bore. There's no way I'm going to drop Justin Bore for him. I guess I'll look at my pitchers. I have both Dyson and Moulanson trying to obviously corner the giant situation. I'm sorry, let's just move on because

I just, the point is, Adelbechamon is he stole on three bases. So if you need him in a Roto league, he's 9% on. You got underage. Jesus Aguilar is better than Carlos Santana, guys. It's overreaction day. Hesus Aguilar is better than Carlos Santana. Is that an overreaction?

That's ridiculous. Ridiculous. Absurd notion. I'm in a traditional five-by-five, I could see it being the case, because obviously Santana's low-batting. batting average and low batting average upside gives him, you know, kind of makes him definitively mid-tier there.

And points leagues is crazy because it's how much Santana walks. But Akeler, I mean, he's not slowing down. Like, since fame's return to the lineup, I think he has like seven home runs in 10 game. All right, Scott. He's making it clear that the Brewers can't forget about it. Yes. Who do you want? Rest the season in a Roto League. Santana. Today, Santana. But if it becomes clear he's the everyday first baseman, that's a real conversation to happen.

All right. Overreaction. Edwin Diaz is going to break Francisco Rodriguez's single season record of 62 saves. Because Diaz has 30 right now. No, he won't. Okay, fine. Wrong. All right, fine. All right, let's do the action. Atometer. If overreaction day was too complicated, we'll just get back to 0 to 10. Although I like the addometer calibration where the number you give corresponds to what percentage ownership you think this man should be. Like a 5 is 50%, a 7 is 70%. So we'll do it with that.

These guys are all owned in less than 25% of leagues. Randall Gritchick. Adometer on Randall Gritchick. I'll give him a 5. I was going to say four, five, it's fine. I'll just agree with Scott. I don't want to be down on Randalli Gritchick. Atometer on Kendris Morales, 14% owned. That's probably like a three.

Two. Gritchick is cutting into his playing time. Jesse Winker, 21% Own, has sat two of the last four games. Both of them are against lefties. Jesse Winker. So done. Five. It's not done.

He can't hit lefties. He's what? He can't hit lefties. He's not Is he that bad? Yeah, he's pretty bad I don't think he's like Jake Lamb can't hit lefties, right?

Well, Jake Lamb is a special Can't hit lefties going to be that. Well, I mean, if a left-handed hitter is like a 230 hitter against lefties, that's good enough. Just keep him in the lineup. Yeah, I guess with the playing time concerns he's only like a five,

but I want to say higher. All right, it's Winker. Enrique Hernandez, 15% own. Three. Yeah. Sounds good to me. I'll go to. Gritchick and Winker were fives.

Morales and Hernandez were two or threes. And I had to pick up one of them. I was pretty interested in picking up one of them. I had kind of a roster spot to play with. I chose Winker. Who would you guys have chosen? Winker. I'd certainly choose Winker if it was a points league or an OPP league.

Gritchick, if you're specifically looking for power. Yeah, Winker, I mean, really good plate discipline. and 14 walks, 10 strikeouts in his last 20 games with a 980 OPS. All right, guys, we're going to look at four hitters who are struggling, five hitters who are struggling right now. Tell me if it's just a slump or if it's something more. George Springer is batting under 100 in his last 13 games. Eight walks, nine strikeouts.

Just a slump for Springer? Just a slump. Okay. Quit Merrifield. This is unbelievable. He has scored two runs as a lead-off hitter in his last 19 games. And he's batting 250. He's not batting like 130.

Two runs, but no power. He's one home run since April 22nd for Whitmeryfield. Yeah, he's been a difficult player to rank because he's one of the few true stolen-based standouts in fantasy, which obviously you have to – like, that's obviously super valuable in Roto leagues. But there hasn't been the home runs. Meanwhile, he's hit a lot of doubles, so his points league value is also pretty high. He's a top 10 second basement, I think,

without debating it too much. I will say I don't think the lack of power is just a slump, because now if you look at his minor league career and you look at this year, it looks like last year's power was the outlier. Okay, that's Whitmerfield. Mani Machado, just a slump? Last 34 games, he has a 700 OPS.

Yeah. John Jay, you jerk. I finally got you in my lineup. You've got over 12 with 5Ks, John Jay. Oh, John. You were in my top 10 sleeper hitters for this week. Oh, gosh. What are you doing?

He's not that good. Yeah, but it is just a slump. Three bad games. His BAPIP was normal by his standards prior to this. All right. Yeah, I mean, I didn't mean to call you a jerk. you are one of my favorite people in baseball. Every time somebody says John Jay,

I think they're breaking into song. John Jangle, Jingleheimer, Smith. No, John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith. Oh my gosh. Come on. That was, that was. Wow. Sorry, I poop my pants when we were seeing that song.

You sure did. You're part of the... I used to do 38%. I used to do the same thing with John J-So, whenever somebody said his name. John J. So, jingle. I'm Mershmidt. Yep, of course.

Yeah. So, Jamer Candelario, is this just a slump he's 60% owned? Batting 169 in June. Three homers, three doubles. 14 walks, 29 strikeouts. That's a 613 OPS for Candelario in June. I still really like him. I keep putting him on the top 10 sleepers hitters for the upcoming week,

and he keeps disappointing me. but I like the plate discipline and I think there's enough power there for him to be top 20 at a deep position. With John Jay and Jamer Candelario on the sleepers hitters, is this just a slump? Well, I've been arguing

that Candelaria's been under own now since coming off the DL, but he keeps not proving me right. Thanks for nothing, Jamer. All right, the last 10 minutes of the show going to look like this. Good bullpen, bad bullpen, good rotation, bad rotation. You're going to tell me what's real and what's just, I guess, a slump. And then we're going to do regulators.

Good bullpen. Sir Anthony Dominguez got his fifth save. It was a two-inning save, hitless, scoreless, three strikeouts against the Yankees. And Willie Peralta got his second save. Do you think Dominguez and Peralta will lead their teams in saves going forward? I do think that, yes. Willie Peralta. obviously not somebody we considered when the Royals opening developed because I don't think he was on the team, right? So that's been an interesting development. Yeah, he is four walks.

But yeah, Dominguez is a more exciting one. Peralto's four walks in four and two-thirds. Dominguez has a 0.66 whip this year. He has four walks in 25 and two-thirds. And he's obviously better. Yeah. There's just no challenger in Casey. That was the problem in the first place.

Yoshi-Hisisorano, excuse me, has gone 24-3. straight appearances without allowing a run. It really doesn't have great numbers behind it, I don't think. So that's just, they're fine. And then Ken Giles was using the 8th, so Astros' bullpen's adjoining. Bad bullpen. Heath, do you think these guys are going to lose their jobs? Jayre's Familiar, Ryan Tepera, Brad Boxburger, Zach Britton.

I think Tepera is by far the most likely of that group to lose their job. I don't really have a lot of concern about Familia or Boxburger. In Britain? I have no idea with Baltimore. They might get like five save chances the rest of the year. All right. I am worried about Familia and Boxburger both. Familia has just been awful.

And eventually that something's got to give there. But Boxburger has a couple good. Like he's at best, the third best reliever in that bullpen. And that's always scary when they're showing signs of weakness. Good rotation. Bumgarner. Is he back? He's back.

Yep. Are we sure? Pretty sure this time. Yeah. Back to back shutout efforts of seven innings or more with eight strikeouts. Robbie Ray, we talked about Alex Wood, Scott, I hate you. Why? Because you benched Alex Wood for Frankie Montas and you ignored me when I brought it up.

You intentionally ignored me so we didn't have to have a discussion about it. What? Oh, yeah. I didn't ignore you. You typed. Scott White is typing. You stopped typing. You never hit send.

We never continued the conversation. Oh, I think I forgot about it. Sorry. I think I got distracted. And then, man, you were paying close attention to that. Is Alex Wood a must start? Because I know I wasn't sitting at the computer when they sent those messages. I saw them when I walked by. Alex Wood is not a must start.

He's very close to a must start. The problem is he's in the NL West, so you're not going to start him, of course. But he's the weird sort of picture. who I think is easier to start in Roto than points, because he's had issues going deep into games, so he's falling short in points that way. One of the runs is a very safe whip guy. One of the runs he gave up was just garbage, by the way. It was a slow roller up the first base line that scored a run from second base.

It was stupid. Sean Newcomb, are you going to start him next week at the Yankees and at Milwaukee? I have a lot of Sean Newcomb. I'm going to make this decision in a lot of different leagues, and mostly the answer is going to be. Yes. It's got to be yes. I mean, you love Newcomb.

Are you that scared of the Yankees? This is a terrible strike. You know how I feel about Miller Park? And the Yankees? Yeah, but I hope one of them goes well. I don't expect two big stars. Your boy, Danny Duffy, just dominated the brewers. That's true.

He's your boy, not mine. Well, Sean Newcomb's your boy. Even Carlos Carrasco has done well against the brewers this year, L.O.L. I mean, Sean Nukem might be an all-star this year, and we can't start a minute. two-start week? Come on. Well, maybe I can explain some of my hesitance. One of my choices for next week, as I was looking at it, is Sean Newcomb with two starts

at the Yankees and the Brewers, or I can start Verlander against the White Sox or Lester against the Reds. Well, I can only start two of those. Obviously, when it's in Verlander, how many pitchers are you starting that you would even think about it? Just please answer the question with the two of the three. Okay, so Lester against the Reds or Newcomb and those two starts? Nukum.

Okay. I mean, the reds aren't that good of a match. Newcomb, it is. Let's read some emails at Fantasy Football at CBSI.com. Not just any emails. Let's regulate. All right, it's time. It's been a few days.

Let's get back to it. This is Jake from Southern Ontario. We need regulating. Longtime debate argument between Leaguemates. Long story short, Commiss changed the points after the draft won the league and everyone else says foul play. Info, in our leagues, inaugural season a few years ago, our commish who listens to the podcast, set up a points league that was batter friendly. He drafted aces early and everyone else prioritized batters. After the draft, he doubled pitching points and reduced assists from 1 to 0.01.

Players were furious, but he refused to change it. This is our commissioner's only title and often finishes fantasy debates with, well, I'm a champion. Should his title be taken away everyone in the league? This guy sounds like a real piece of work. Yes, his title should be taken away. Of course, right? He changed the rules.

This email is from Southern Ontario. The only way that this makes sense is if he's the only American in the league. And he's just a total, total jerk. And everybody else is too nice to kick him out. Because you should have just taken the league away from him. Or start your own league. Get rid of this guy. No, well, he's a podcast listener.

So give him another chance. But yes, it should be taken away. I don't mind. I don't care if we lose him as a listener. No. The question, though, is the problem. Should his title be taken away? No.

We're not taking titles away. Yes. We are vacating it. We are vacating it. We're vacating all the wins that league is stricken from the record. Like, who won the XFL? Who cares? No, I'm going NCAA.

I'm vacating the winds and removing the banner from the rafters. By the way, just in case you don't tune until the end, 63% say, no, of course not. 37% say, yes, I pooped them after turning 20 years old. There are a couple of people saying everyone who votes no is a liar. I can't be true. Yeah, man. All right, here we go, here we go. Next up.

A recovering teacher in Oregon. When is excessive trading, colluding, or just bad for the league? I play in a 10-team Dynasty League. A couple of our league members have become trade addicts. At this point in the season, the two teams have completed 28 and 23 trades. 14 of those trades have been between these two teams. One of them is in first place, and is the co-commish. The other is currently in last place.

This has started frustrating some league members, especially other teams, competing for first. Both are good guys have been in the league for a number of years. The issue has not come up before because we had trade limits up until this year.

Is it time to propose trade limits again? Am I overreacting? Is this a form of collusion? Your thoughts would be appreciated. So I'm willing to admit that in my earlier days playing fantasy,

I was kind of a serial trader. Only played in one league, so it was easier to do. And there was one owner and I who were kind of in this same situation. And, you know, I continually traded with him, and I got better and he got worse. And eventually the rest of the league ran him off.

And I didn't feel great about it at the time, but looking back, I know I was taking advantage of him. I know he didn't know as much as me, and I was a good salesman, and I was taking advantage of him. So I think it's very likely that's happening here, too. Not everybody's at the same knowledge level. not everybody's at the same skill level, and that's what makes it hard to find a really good league. I think if, like, depending on how, like, it's tricky, because if he's not that into it,

then there may be a way to ease him out of the league. But if he is, then that's where it gets tough. Okay, Heath. No trade limits. Hashtag team freedom. Okay. Last one from Jason, dear Warren, Nate and Snoop. I joined a keeper league this year.

You keep up the three players and must keep two. A trade has recently been posted as Team A gives Kyle Gibson, Castiano, and a 2019 fourth and sixth round pick, fourth and sixth round picks to Team B. So Kyle Gibson, Castiano, and a fourth and sixth round pick to Team B. Team B gives up Nolan Aeronado and Corey Klooper. I would have paid more for two elite players in this format. So I asked my friend who got me in this league and is the owner giving up the players why he did it. He said, he tells me they have agreed to an off-season trade, sending Aeronado back to the original owner,

along with Ben and Tendi for 9th and 10th round picks. The rent-a-player thing drives me crazy, but from what I can tell, no rules prevent this. But not disclosing the second trade is collusion, right? Let me sum it up. Team A gives up, you know, an okay package, nothing great, and gets Aeronado and Kluber back. Team B agrees to receive Aeronado back from Team A during the offseason along with some other stuff. You guys okay with that? No.

Well, certainly if there's a veto system in place, you can't do that because people are passing a trade without knowing there's actually more to it. If there is a veto system in place, I mean, it doesn't, it feels, it feels kind of icky, but I'm, I'm not sure what is wrong with it. I mean, obviously, there's nothing in writing here, so either of these owners could back out. You're taking a risk by making this agreement that the other guy's going to follow through on it.

But it doesn't seem illegal to me. Why do you give a flat note, Heath? This would fall under my definition of collusion. I would kick both owners out of the league. I don't have to kick them out of the league. There is no trade vetoing without removing someone for the league. This is a fireable offense. It is overreaction day for sure.

Well, is there a veto system? He doesn't say there's a veto system in place, right? If there's not, if other people, if other owners aren't grading trade. I think it's pretty sketchy to say to do that. I think it's sketchy. But then again, like, if those two trade. It's a handshake agreement. Those happen in real life all the time too.

I do think it should have been disclosed. Should have been disclosed. Kick them out of the league. You don't have to kick him out of the league. It's not as bad as the guy from Ontario. It should be disclosed if it's actually going to be enforced. But if these two owners are understanding that nobody's going to enforce this second part of the agreement, then it's not really, there's not really anything to it.

I don't know. I think you've got to let people know that you're going to be trading Aronado back. Because then it's just like. If they're voting on it, sure. Yeah. I mean, I guess, but I still think honesty is important and disclosure is important. The league needs to know, even if they're not voting on it, they need to know who's doing what, who's being shady, who's being underhanded, that kind of stuff. And this has been regulated.

We out.