Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/28: McKay/Hiura, Most Traded, Week 15 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 28, 2019

Brendan McKay and Keston Hiura are coming up! Who is a higher priority? What do we expect from McKay and who should you drop for him? And does ARI SP Alex Young matter? We also give you our favorite available two-start pitchers for Fantasy Week 15 (10:00) and discuss the miserable RPs from yesterday's games (11:48) including Edwin Diaz, Hector Neris and Wade Davis ... News and notes (17:40), Yandy Diaz's value (21:00), and a thorough look at the five biggest breakout hitters of 2019 (24:00) and if you should consider selling them ... The Most Traded (35:40) and Most Added (40:10) lists. Is Paul Goldschmidt still a buy low? Is Jose Ramirez really coming around? Should you add Chris Taylor? Then we recap so much from yesterday's games, answer a bunch of your questions (50:30), hear from Michael Caine (55:20) and take a longer look at the two-start pitchers (59:00) ... 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

Domingo Sanjay. It's Kokemo Friday. Welcome. Feel the Good Vibrations, everybody. Welcome to the show. Adam Azer and Scott White, another scam episode here. And hey, I hung out with Chris last night. He's on a little business trip up here in New York.

He misses everybody. And he's on vacation next week. So, Scott, like, we're just dominating this podcast lately. Yeah, I guess so. I guess so. I like it. Next week. week, there is a company holiday at the end of the week.

There is. Not just a company holiday, an American holiday. Yes. And thank you for reminding me. Programming note then. The plan, right, are you working Friday? Scott, let's have this conversation. You're not.

I'm not. Yeah, let's have a production meeting right now. Okay, so there will be no show on Thursday. I do think there will be a show on Friday, but apparently Scott won't be on it. But we'll cobble something together. So everybody, look forward to Fourth of July. I love Fourth of July. going to be great. So, that'll be

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday next week. All right, I've got to talk about two-star pitchers. Obviously, get you ready for I don't even know, week 15. Is it 15 coming up? I think so. I think so. Well, it's different ones in different leagues, of course.

The standard, I think it's yeah, I think it's 15. Okay, great. But more importantly, we got some prospects coming up. One's coming back and one's coming up. And yeah, you know I'm excited about Brendan Bicay, even though I did not get him on waivers of my Yahoo League, which is complete crap. But Brandon McKay is going to start throwing him into the fire against Texas on Saturday.

Now, two questions. One, is this just because they played 18 innings yesterday and they need someone, or is it more permanent? And two, are you willing to start Brendan Bakey, who just has great, great numbers in the minors as a pitcher? And actually starting to do better as a hitter. And then we'll talk about that. That'll be the third question. But one, is he up to stay? Two, will you start him this weekend against home against Texas?

Brandon McKay. I wouldn't be afraid to start him this weekend. The main way he stood out throughout his minor league careers, strike out to walk ratio. So the guy throws strikes and, you know, misses enough bats. But the other question is really one I can't give the answer to. It is the reason he got called up. Ryan Yarbrough, who, I don't know,

we call him Saturday's intended starter or Saturday, you know, the guy who was supposed to pitch the most innings, whether it was following an opener or not, but he had to pitch three Thursday in an 18 inning game. And that's why apparently they're summoning McKay. It doesn't mean that they couldn't keep him around if they want to. Jalen Beeks, who is one of three hybrid starter relievers who pitches a lot of innings every fifth day, doesn't pitch that many when he pitches, it's usually around three or four. So, you know, they could make him a more traditional reliever and have McKay take his spot. There's certainly places to put McKay if they want to put him there.

And maybe Saturday's performance will help determine that. But there are really a lot of questions surrounding McKay. He was taking a turn every sixth day at AAA. He was limited to five innings of start at AAA. Now, both of those from what I understand were to save things. some innings for a potential promotion down the line. So does that mean they're not going to bother saving innings now that he's here? I mean, he's only like 10 away from last year's total.

So it's not like he's making it to October either way. Maybe they'll just kind of let him go until he's done. I don't know. Are they going to want to continue to develop him as a hitter? Because it doesn't look like they're ready to force feed him at bats of the majors. That's going to hurt their playoff chances. So is that going to be a reason they send him back down since he is a, has been a two-way player throughout his minor league career? Or will they let the innings run out and then send him back down to only hit and solve the issue that way?

I don't know. These are all important questions and ones that I can only speculate about. But what I'm not going to speculate about is whether or not you should add him because in an environment where it's hard to put anything together that you trust. pitcher because so many home runs are being hit. This is a guy who has the potential to make an impact, whether it's five innings of time or not, with great ratios, and you always take a shot at upside in this environment. And then we'll go from there.

We'll make a determination from there. We'll see how things unfold, but you have to pick up McKay because the upside is too high, not to. Would you drop Zach Gallen for Brendan McKay? No. No, I draw the line there. I have McKay 58 in my starting pitch of rankings.

I think Gallin is like 54th, 53rd, something like that. I also want to drop Jesus Luzardo for McKay because he will be up soon. And I think it's much clearer the role he's going to have. And I think he dominated in ways that are a little more trustworthy are going to transition to the majors. How about like a sunny gray? I don't want to get, you know, down. I want to kind of compare to McKay.

Would you drop like Sunny Gray for Brennan McKay? I would. Yes, I would, though. Sunny Gray isn't too many spots behind him. So you're in the right range of pitchers that we're talking about here. All right. Joe Musgrove had a very good start yesterday. Musgrove or McKay?

I would go McKay. Really? Go McKay. All right. Then who is the more exciting pickup right now? Brennan McKay or Kestin-Hira, who is coming back and 281, 333, 531 slash line, three walks, a 233 strikeouts, only one steal in 17 games. But Travis Shaw is going back to the minors.

Kest and Hero is coming back up. Hero's 59%-owned. McKay is 48%-owned. Obviously, it depends on your team need hitting versus pitching, but just in general, who's a more attractive ad right now? Well, everybody needs a pitcher. I'm sure there's nobody who looks at their pitching staff and says, this is fine. Everyone may not need a second baseman.

That being said, I feel like the chances are better that Hira's an impact fantasy performer rest of way than the McKay is. He was really starting to find himself at the majors that last week before he got sent back down because Travis Shaw came off the IL and he's just a natural with the bat. obviously his minor league numbers are terrific. I would add Giro over Kevin Vizio, who's a guy we've been hyping a lot recently or Jonathan V.R. somebody like that. I think I put him around 14th

in my second base rankings. I haven't had a chance to adjust those yet. Which, you know, 14th means in a shallow league, in a particular if you're devoting a lot of your bench to pitchers, maybe you can't add him, but probably somebody in your league can. And I'd be making him a pretty high priority right now

off the waiver wire. Okay, so those pretty exciting notes right now with Kestin Hira and Brendan McKay coming up. And if you want a little bit more confidence in Brendan McKay, or maybe I'm steering you down a horrible path, I don't know. The Rangers, they have a great offense, but they are fifth in OPS against righties. They're 17th in OPS against lefties. So McKay is a lefty. Maybe that helps him a little bit. Scott Alex Young, I just want to mention him.

Arizona starting pitcher made his major league debut yesterday, five innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts. at San Francisco. I imagine he could get skipped next week. Arizona has two off days, but if he did make a turn, he'd probably be at the Dodgers. Do you have any interest in Alex Young? This is not a guy who had good minor league numbers

when he came up. No. 609 ERA at AAA, and I believe he had a 5 ERA last year, so it wasn't just a juiced ball situation at AAA. What's weird about him is he threw 42 sliders. He threw 16 fast balls. I'm assuming that data is right.

I didn't watch him pitch, but that is weird. So not really feeling it? No. Okay. All right, good. So look, I haven't had a chance. I am in a food coma from last night. Chris Towers and Ben Gretch, who's on our fantasy staff, and I and a few other people from CBS,

we dominated some barbecue last night. It was amazing. A pound and a half of brisket, more than a pound of pulled pork. By yourself? No, no, no. This is what you eat? Four of us. Oh, okay.

What else did we get? It's a couple of spare ribs, some sausage, and then like a ton of sides. It was great. It was almost as great as meeting Bill Clinton and we got. I don't want to talk about Bill anymore, you know, whatever. But we had fun, and I'm in a food coma, and it was great. And I met a listener last night. I met Josh, who a year or two ago was responsible for the bet when I said,

that Fernando Rodney was going to lose his closer's job by like May 1st or June 1st, and I lost, so I had to eat peeps on the air. That was Josh's fault. But I met him, and it was great. I always love meeting our listeners, so hopefully we'll get to meet more of you at a later day. Let's talk about two-star pitchers here. This is my first glance at the list, and guys who are owned in 70% of leagues or fewer. And, oh, all right.

Actually, not that bad with Pivotta, Logan Allen, and Matt Strom. I've seen worse lists. Ariel Harado, certainly making an interesting case, I guess, in deeper leagues. So, I don't know, Scott. Is there one guy that you think is widely available that needs to be owned for next week? I think that it doesn't look like a huge standout here, but there are several guys who would be okay. I think Logan Allen versus San Francisco at the Dodgers,

he's 55% owned. So among those most widely available, I think he'd be my first choice. Okay. You know, Zach Gallen's 75% owned. Well, he also, it's also not totally clear how long he's going to have a spot. So, but, you know, if you haven't picked him yet up already, this week would make for a fine time to do so. Okay.

Logan Allen and Zach Gallen, I like that. And Matt Strom has the same matchups as Logan Allen. They both have San Francisco and at the Dodgers. One great matchup. terrible matchup, and it might be good enough for a two-start week. We'll do more of the two-start pitchers in a little bit. Let's go to the standout. So let me preview what's coming up on today's show.

We're going to talk a little trade. We'll look at the most traded list. We'll look at the most added list. And we've got a lot of your emails at Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com. We got some hay real quick. But my standouts from yesterday, Scott, are all in the bullpen. So let's talk about some closers. Edwin Diaz, five runs.

Recorded one out, blew the save, gave up five runs. A just miserable week for the Mets gets even worse. Fourth blown save and Diaz has a 494ERA. Hector Nerris, his second terrible appearance in his last six, he blew a save against the Mets. Craig Kimbril. Hey, Craig Kimbril, his strikeout of Brian McCann was one of the worst calls I've seen all year. So just keep that in mind. But he did have a clean inning and he says he's still ramping it up a little bit.

might. He had a scoreless inning. I don't know if I'm called a clean. Scorless, thank you. A walk, you give up a walk and a hit. Scoreless inning. It might be a little bit until I'm full bored with all I got, but right now it felt pretty good. And he walked out to sweet child of mine. Does he always walk out to sweet child of mine? I actually don't know. I don't know.

It's a pretty good. It's a good entrance song. It's great riff. And Wade Davis. Like, Kimbril, I think we can do separately. But when we look at Diaz, Hector Neris, and Wade Davis. Wade Davis Like, dude needs to lose his job To Scott Oberg, okay? Who are you most concerned about

Of those three kind of struggling closers right now? Diaz, Nerris and Davis. Well, Davis, I mean, yeah, like you said, dude needs to lose his job. I think the contrast to him between him and Scott Oberg yesterday was pretty clear. Davis has allowed 12 run runs

in his last eight appearances up to a 6-ERA, Oberg, was about a two ERA and struck out the side in the eighth. So I think if you play in a league where saves are hard to find, Oberg, you need to make sure he's on your roster. You know, Neres, I don't think it's enough for the Phillies to play around with that, but there are a team that doesn't seem to mind playing around with the ninth inning, so that's a little scary.

I'm actually not that worried about Edwin Diaz as awful as it's been lately. his Babbip is through the roof his ex-fib Sierra I'll suggest he should have more like a mid-2 ZRA and the Mets don't really have a great alternative obviously they paid a lot to make him their closer this off season

I think they're going to keep running him out there you know another outing or two like this maybe they pull back on him for a while as the Mariners had to do I think a couple years ago but I don't think it would it would be, you know, you're just, you're done being a closer. I think it would be, let's take a little time to get you right.

But still, it's a frustrating and disappointing development for what was probably the first closer drafted in your league. Yeah, yeah, it's been a bad stretch. I mean, he, first of all, Diaz has already allowed more home runs this year than last year, which isn't a huge surprise given the home run, home run rates, but still, already more than last year. But his first 24 appearances, he had a 164 ERA, he had 30,000. 45 walks, 35 strikeouts to six walks and 22 innings. So, you know, it's just been kind of a

rough stretch for Diaz. And I think the stuff still looks, seems pretty good. Neres, with Robertson on the IL, with Sir Anthony Dominguez on the IL, like, I don't know that there's a clear guy that they would replace him with. So I think, I don't want to see him blow another save, but I think he's probably safe for now. And every time Kapler that I've seen him talk about Naris, it's been pretty positive. And we've made our stance clear on Wade Davis. I wouldn't be surprised if they put him back on the IL with shoulder inflammation, you know, something like that.

Craig Kimbril, any thoughts? We can move on from this pretty quickly, I'd say, Scott. But any thoughts on Craig Kimbril? I mean, his velocity was down after already being down last year. It was down like a mile per hour from last year. It's still good. Hard to make too much of the first outing. Still through pretty hard, right?

Of course. Yeah. It was average 96 and a half on his basketball hit 97, 98, something like that. All right, we got a couple of sponsors today. We got Indochino and we've got ZipRecruiter. Indochino, you know how it is. Beautiful suits, custom suits. Go to Indochino.com and use the promo code FBT at checkout.

And you'll hear about that offer in a little bit. ZipRecruiter, if you're looking for a job, if you're looking to hire someone, please go to ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. That's our URL. And yeah, you can try it for free. So speaking of which, let's hear from one of those sponsors right now. When we come back, we got some news and notes, an update on John Carlos Stanton,

an update on Kyle Hendricks, very relevant, perhaps for you, Adbert Azalei owners. We'll be right back on fantasy baseball today. So John Carlos Stanton is going to miss at least a month and a week, I guess. He's not going to be back until August at the earliest. Do you think they call up Clint Fraser, Scott? I don't want to have this conversation every day, but now that we know it's a very pretty long-term injury, do you think Frazier is someone that we had?

At some point during that time, they'll probably have occasion to call up Clint Frazier, yes. And, you know, I think I own him in a 15-team road a league. I never dropped him in that format. Obviously, I'm not going to now. Okay. But I don't know exactly when it'll be and how much it'll play when it does happen.

Kyle Hendricks could be back before the All-Star break. what do you think this means for Al-Zalai? I mean, it could mean it's a short stay in the majors. It could mean they find another way to keep them around. Somebody else goes on the aisle between now and then. Maybe Hendrik suffers a setback. I'm not, if I was the one who grabbed Al-Zalai, I'm not dropping them now,

except for maybe like Brendan McKay, something like that. But yeah, it could be a short stay. It always could have been a short stay. Sure. They're using a six-man rotation now. Tyler Chattwood's not very good. So maybe they remove Chattwood and go six-man, but teams don't typically do that. So just be wary if you own Al-Zalai. You shouldn't be counting on him, right?

You've got to be cautious with that. Chris Davis's day-to-day, he was hit by a pitch on the elbow. Jordan Alvarez, and we are saying Jordan. And I'm, no, Jordan. We are saying Jordan. And I'm sticking to that. He left with a knee issue. Are we?

Yes. Why do you think it's Jordan? Because the front office. I've never heard any. Anybody else call him George? Because I think Jeff Luno said that he wants to be called Jordan. So. Okay.

And that has circulated. That has made its way around. That's what Jim Bowden told us. And I've seen some confirmation on that. So Jordan Alvarez, he left with a knee issue. It's precautionary, but there's going to be an MRI. So you should be stashing Kyle Tucker anyway. But Alvarez actually played the outfield yesterday.

So if he's hurt, just another reason for them to think about bringing up Kyle Tucker. Spencer Turnbull left with a shoulder All-Star break coming up Yeah It doesn't even have to be that bad of an injury For them to put Alvarez on the IL It's like you read the waiver wire column this morning Did you add him?

No. Come up with that? I didn't look at the two-star pitchers So no, I didn't read the word of right. But Spencer Turnbull has left shoulder fatigue And MRI was negative Eddie Rosario sat with a sprained ankle And he did not appear in an 18 inning game

So it must be fairly serious Kevin Keirrower, who knows, maybe he'll be back today But I thought it was a little bit of a red flag that Rosario didn't play in an 18- inning game. Kevin Kiermire left with leg tightness. They're calling it day-to-day. Angelton Simmons is back.

Williams Ostadillo is on the IL with an oblique strain. Kyle Seeger remains day-to-day with a hand injury. Lorenzo Kane returned to the lineup after cryogenic thumb treatment, and he batted sixth, and he's still not 100%, but Craig Counsel said that he will be back to the lead-off spot when he's at full strength. Alex Avila could come off the IL this weekend. Why is that relevant? Because if we don't want it to eat into Carson Kelly's,

playing time. Kelly homered again yesterday. This catcher is a must-stone. There's a CBS Sports com article about Lordus Gorell and why he might be hitting better. I encourage you to read it. The gist of it is, he switched positions, and he's been better against breaking balls. And Hunter Pence made the All-Star team. And ordinarily, I'd love to talk about the All-Star team, but I'd rather talk fantasy today, Scott. So let me play some fun music that everybody loves. And let's say to a third baseman, who's 66% owned. Hey, Yandi Diaz, we say, Welcome back, Yandy Diaz.

So before going on the IL, you know, decent numbers, but was not a top 20, was not a top 15 third baseman. It's not a top 20 first baseman. And a lot of people were like, hey, Yandy Diaz is coming back. Should I drop him or this other guy? I don't know. How much of a must-owned do you think Andy Diaz is?

I don't think he should be owned in much more than 66% of leagues, maybe closer to like 75. But yeah, I mean, the way, particularly at the two positions where he's eligible, first base and third base, the way things have gone there this year, I just don't think he has the upside to really force his way up

the rankings really. You know, like the 20th player at each of those positions is a really good player. And so does Yandi Diaz deserve to overtake them? I don't know.

I don't think so. You know, he's improved the power this year, but everybody's power is up this year and I don't think it's you know, he's probably going to top out around 2025 home runs and yeah I don't know he's just kind of fringy I feel like all right so would you rather have how about rank these three guys Tommy Lestella Michael Chavis and Yandy Diaz

well I'd put Chavez third Tommy Lestella first but yeah yonti Diaz is the only one of the three who doesn't have second base eligibility okay and so that obviously has to fit factor into the discussion but but yeah Chavis's strikeout rate is up to like It's like one of the very worst in baseball now. He's really, he's really falling on hard times for the Red Sox. Yeah, yeah. I think when Mitch Moreland comes back and I wouldn't be surprised if they sent him down. So, all right, Scott, this is the most important segment of the show.

Are you ready for it? Are you excited? Convince me. Convince me that you, fake it till you make it, Scott. Okay. All right. Yeah, this is going to be great. So look, we're about halfway through the season.

and I looked at what I would call the five best breakouts so far, five guys who have just been amazing hitters, and we didn't see it coming at least with four of them. Josh Bell, top five hitter. He was kind of cold in 22 games. He had a 742 OPS, and then he homered him back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday. Joey Gallo has an OPS over 11.

a 383 Babbip, but just he's having a great year. Catele Marte is a top 10 hitter. Scott's been talking about him a lot lately, and already 20 home runs. His career high, I think, was 14 last year. And Eduardo Escobar, same team, top 15 hitter. He's been really good. Pete Alonzo, top 10 hitter. So Josh Bell, Joey Gallo, Catea, Eduardo Escobar, Pete Alonzo.

I would say there's a case that they're the five best breakouts of the season, at least in terms of hitters. What do you think about them going forward? And since I want to talk a little trade today, if you were going to sell high on any of them or all of them, who would you sell high on? And last time I'll give the names in case people a little behind. Josh Bell, Joey Gallo, Cotell Marte, Eduardo Escobar, Pete Alonzo. What do you think about these big breakout, Scott? I'm pretty much buying into all of them with the exception of maybe Eduardo Escobar, who I think is, this is roughly the right profile for him in terms of, okay, he's a not so great on base guy who has power.

But it's just been too much. It's just been too much power. The expected stats don't back up what he's doing. and really none of the other data suggests he should be hitting quite this many home runs. And so I expect there's going to be, there's going to be some regression there for Eduardo Escobar. But the others I feel pretty good about, even Cattel Marte, who I never would have imagined would be this caliber of power hitter. Yeah, but how can he's not? You know, like he, but how could he be?

And let's, okay, let's say he, there is a power spike. Ketel Marte hit 259 or 260, three straight seasons. And now he's batting 320. So this is where it's hard, right? Like, I understand the batted ball data backs it up. It's not like a crazy high home run to fly ball rate. It's not a crazy high babit. I'm actually not 100% sure, but no, it's not.

I don't think. No, you're right. Actually, 37% fly ball rate is high for him, but not the home run to fly ball rate. So I get it that the batted ball. that it backs it up, but the history doesn't, because even if you give him the 2019 environment boost, he is hitting

way over his head. So my guess is in the second half, Catelle Marte's numbers, his batted ball data, and his actual numbers regress. Because it just hasn't been anything close. I do think he's, I do think he's legitimately

broken out as a power hitter. Now, maybe he doesn't quite reach 40 home runs. And so there's some, you know, maybe he hits 12 the rest of what and it ends up with 32 I mean um right but 12 home runs nobody's considering him anything less than a stud even if that happened no I don't agree with that I think if he hits 12 home runs rest of season then you got to talk to me what's the batting average because I think we know he's he's a he has his K rate I mean is he makes a lot of contact but he's always been a 260 hitter you know I do you think he just should have been a

better hitter I that's a difficult question to answer. I think this environment has, and it hasn't been just the year. Obviously this year has been the most extreme example of it, but the past few years, guys hitting for more power than we ever thought was possible for them. I mean, he's only 25 years old. So he wasn't a fully formed player coming into this year. And then you get him elevating the ball more. You get him hitting the ball much harder when the, you know, the whole environment seems to allow for the possibility of playing hitting the ball harder. Yeah.

You know? So, if you want to say it's juiced ball, if you want to say there are other factors to play there, there are probably, it's probably more than just the ball, although the ball's probably the biggest factor. But I think, considering the pace hasn't slowed for this whole half of the season, And, yeah, I mean, you could dismiss the data if you want. No, I don't want to dismiss it. It does back it up.

I just don't know, other than just, I don't believe, Kutel Marte could do this because I never thought he could before this year. There's really not a case to make against it. He's a top 10 hitter in fantasy. I don't believe he's a top 10 hitter. And I can understand that a guy could have a half season where he just hits the ball great. I don't expect it to continue. I don't think Atel Marte is going to be one of the best players in baseball.

baseball. I do think he's going to be must start, but I guess put it this way. Like, I'm struggling because I'm trying to get Blake Snell in a league. And the centerpiece of my deal would be Joey Gallo. And like, Joey Gallo is incredible. But we're talking about a, like, low 200s batting average guy who's got a 383 bab. He's not striking out less. He's walking more this year. So OBP League, I'd feel safer. This happens to be a batting average league. But I guess when you look at this list of Bell, Gallo, Marte, Eduardo Escobar, Pete Alonzo, I agree with you. When I did the research this morning and I looked at all the numbers, I'm glad you said what you said about Escobar because he was the one that seemed the least

legit. But the other guys, Bell, Gallo, Marte, and Alonzo, would you trade any of them for surefire studs, you know, like a Jose Al Tuve, who I think it's fair to have questions about him because of the health and because he's not running. Who would you trade from this list for Jose Altuve? Because I don't think I'd give up Josh Bell for him, and I'm not sure I'd give up Joey Gallo for Jose Altuve. And that seems crazy to me.

I think I would trade Marte and Alonzo for him. But let's do that with Al-Tuvae. Like, where are you with those four versus Jose? Oh, yeah. Tuve is a tricky. case. Yeah, right, yeah. Because he hasn't, he hasn't looked right all season. He hasn't played much this season, though. So

should we do a different player? I moved him down. The only one I think of the last trade chart, which was a couple weeks ago at this point. The only one I had ahead of him was, I think it was Josh Bell. But they're all right in the same range, except for not Escobar, of course. And, yeah,

I mean, it's, it's, when they're close enough in value, I usually just prefer to stick with the guy. I have. Yeah, I wouldn't want to disrupt it too much. Though Gallo is, I think, apart from Escobar, the one who I still have some doubts about just because it's so unprecedented for a guy who strikes out like he does to be as good as he is. And he wasn't before this year. It's a high bat bat, but the quality of contact he makes, it makes sense for him to have a high bat. You could certainly, you don't have to squint too hard to buy into what Joey

Gallo is doing. But it's just such a, it feels like kind of a tight rope walk, because it's relying on him doing some, being an outlier in a number of ways that isn't totally fair to expect. And yet, I mean, you watch a play and it's obvious that the guy makes, just crushes the ball. Yeah. Oh, it's got like a 58% hard contact, right?

57%. So how many between Bell, Gallo, Marte and Alonzo, how many of them would you trade straight up for Blake Snell? You know, it's so much harder to find a good pitcher than a good hitter. You should be buying low on Blake Snell. I'm not sure any of it. We're eliminating Escobar from this conversation, right? Yeah, we would definitely trade Escobar for Snell.

What about the other four? I think it's all fair. Because I think basically you and I still value Snell as an ace. So I think it's fair to give up any of them. But, yeah, it's, it's fair. It doesn't feel like buying low. Maybe Pete Alonzo would be the easiest to justify, just because there are, he has some shortcomings.

But, and you know, is he going to hit 50 home runs really this year, 55 home runs like he's on pace to do? That seems a little far fetch. But he is obviously a great power hitter and I think he's going to be a must start all season. But I'd probably do Pete Alonso for him. I'm not sure about the other three. So it sounds like you like Marte better than Alonzo rest of season?

Yeah. I mean, second base, the fact he's eligible at second base in the outfield, which apart from catcher are maybe the two positions where you might be falling short. You know, that's that plays into this as well. Like we need him to be good to be good in a way We don't need some of these others to be good.

All right, Scott. Well, that was a helpful conversation. I think we're buying into a lot of these guys. I'm going to be a little bit hesitant with Marte compared to Scott. Like I said, I still buy that. Marte is going to be really good. A breakout player, a must-start player. I don't think that he's this good.

So, yeah. And look, if you happen to get a lot of depth at the positions where he's eligible and could survive his loss, You know, pitcher is the one position, as I've said, many times where everybody has a need. So if that's your chance to get Blake Snell, I don't think the average could tell Marte owners should do it. But I think it's a justifiable trade, certainly. Okay. All right.

So let's take another break here on fantasy baseball today. We'll look at some of the roster trends, the most traded players, the most added players. Steven Strasbourg swinging strike rigs has been way down lately. So we'll talk about that. Right back after this on FBT. Scott, let's talk a little bit more trade. Look at the most traded players. Blake Snell is number one.

I am finding it hard to buy Blake Snell low, and I get it, but I'd still buy Blake Snell. Paul Goldschmidt's number two, and do I want to buy Paul Goldsmith low, Scott? It's getting to be a pretty extended slump. It is. No, I am definitely... I didn't end up finishing it. I'm going to probably do it next week. But I was working on a dynasty update

where I give the five players who've improved their dynasty value the most, meaning I feel like obviously it's going to stick. Five players who've lost the most dynasty value. Five prospects who've gained the most dynasty value. Goldschmidt was among the five who've lost the most value. The fact he's 31, it doesn't play into the... Just the redraft league argument, obviously.

But, yeah, it's getting to be pretty concerning, especially given how many other good options have emerged at first base. Yeah, and I still think that there's obviously, I mean, he's 79 games into the season. This is a longer slump than last year. Obviously, there's a chance he turns it around and has a great second half. We are not counting Paul Goldschmidt out. but I think that the asking price should be lower now. I just think that if we're like, if we're drafting him today,

if we're drafting again today, I'm still taking Blake Snell maybe, like in the same vicinity. I'm definitely waiting longer on Paul Goldschmidt. Yeah, definitely. I mean, Josh Bell has passed him. I think that's been clear for a while now. I think I'd rank Pete Alonzo ahead of him too. Joey Gallo. I think I'd rank both of them ahead of him.

Okay, Jose Ramirez. How are we feeling about? him, do we think he's turning his season around? Personally, I need to see some home runs before I'm convinced. Well, if... I don't know that a complete turnaround is possible. Like, I don't know that he can get hits and get home runs. The way...

The changes he made to start hitting home runs in the first place and the way the league has adjusted back to him, and I'm borrowing heavily from others who've written about this subject. But, yeah, it relied on him being pitched on the inside portion of the plate and turning on that. And he's just not getting pitched that way anymore. So he kind of has to make a choice of whether he's going to be 35 home run guy or whether he's going to be somebody who hits for a high average. I think he can regress to the guy he was maybe two years ago, certainly three years ago,

which would still be a great fantasy player. But I don't think he's going to be who he was last year. All right, that's Jose Ramirez. his last 13 games, he's batting 306 with a 386 OBP and a 510 slugging percentage. He has, that's an 896 OPS, two steals, only one home run, three doubles, two triples. So Lisa's giving you something, and it's hard for me to like trade him. I get offers on Jose Ramirez because actually like the 18, I think he's 18 steals on the year. They're very valuable.

So, all right. Yep. I want to move to the most added list here, but I see Aaron Nola is number four on the most traded list. another good start yesterday. That's two excellent starts in a row for Nola. They came again. This is seven scoreless endings with one hit and ten strikeouts. And the Marlins were his previous start.

This one was against the Mets, and his previous one was a 10 strikeout performance at the Marlins. Do you think he's back? I hesitate to say he's all the way back because the swinging strike rate is still way down from a year ago. But at the same time, in terms of actually getting strikeouts, He is 78 and 64 in a third innings in his past 10 starts. He's mentioned that he's getting ahead of hitters better the last two starts.

I'm not really sure how to verify that claim, but I can say that his first pitch strike rate is way, way down from a year ago for the entire season. So I do buy the idea that that was maybe contributing to the problem, not getting ahead of hitters. Interesting. You know, not being able to employ your arsenal in the most effective way. So I'm encouraged, definitely. I feel like I jumped the gun moving them down 20 spots prior to these two starts and have since moved him back into my top 25. Okay.

So let's go to the most added list then. Most added players, Liam Hendrix is number one. He's your closer for the A is he's 59% own. Do we have a timetable on Blake Chinan? Well, he threw, I think, flat ground, he threw like 20 pitches of bullpen sessions coming up this weekend. So, yeah, it doesn't sound like it's going to be a long-term

absence for Trinan. Okay. So that might be someone on the most drop list soon, but I get it. Liam Hendricks right now. Logan Allen is number two. We talked about him. He's a two-star pitcher. Ross Stripling is 84% owned. And I think if you're the Julio Arreus owner, I'd really like to have both of them, if possible.

If you're the Ross Stripling owner, I would just, I could see Arias getting dropped, but I would make a super by-low offer, like the last player on your roster or something. I don't know. You feel that way, Scott? I'd love to get whoever joins the Dodgers rotation. Now, if they're just going to be piggybacking off each other

for the next month and a half or whatever, that's bad. But I don't think that's going to happen. Stripling looks like the front runner. And if he does join the Dodgers rotation, he could be great. He was last year. So I would like to have that spot in the Dodgers rotation. or if I could get both of them on my team,

it wouldn't be a bad idea. Yeah, I would like to too, but that's, you know, it's easier to find one roster spot than two. And stripling, I don't think, has a huge advantage over Aureas, especially if they keep piggybacking. I mean, you're going to want the guy who goes second

if they keep piggybacking. So that's the guy who's going to be more likely to get wins. Yeah. The other one wouldn't stand a chance of getting wins, frankly. So I would go with, Al-Zalai, I would go with who are we just talking about at the top? But McKay, I would go with both of them over

Stripling or Arias, but Stripling and Arias are players I want. Interesting, interesting. Okay, Al-Zalai is fourth on the most out of list. Bobby Bradley's fifth. I think if you own Bradley, first base eligible only, Roto would probably be his format because he's going to strike out a ton.

He already has seven strikeouts in like 15 plate appearances. Jordan Yamamoto, 80% owned. Yeah, would you drop Yamamoto for Brendan McKay? I would. Yes, I hope I wouldn't have to, but if push came to shove, I think McKay's skills are on a different level than Yamamoto's. Carlos Martinez, 66% owned and makes sense.

He's got a chance to be the closer for the Cardinals. Chris Taylor, definitely something we should talk about, 49% owned. And Chris Taylor, he's in my notes today. last 10 games batting 514 with three home runs, including one at Corse Field yesterday, and two steals. So he might only have another week and a half before he's a bench player again, but what do you think about Chris Taylor, 49% owned? Yeah, he has just been on fire since taking over him. Maybe I'm not sure exactly where.

Maybe it's here and there. Maybe it opens the door for more playing time for him going forward. but yeah, I haven't actually added him anywhere because it does seem like the window might be small for him. Okay. A lot of guys in the most added list, the window might be small for them, including Alzali and McKay, but you have to take chances on those types of players.

And we've talked about so many more of these guys, so I am content to move on, I think. Okay, Scott, I'm trying to plan the show here, because I got a lot to get to, including the two-star pitchers. I do apologize. I will not have weekend streamers.

I just forgot. And then it was like five minutes before the show and I was like crap. So I apologize for that. That's my bad. Emails, let's do this.

Let's finish up yesterday's stuff. Hey, real quick. Show Hey, Otani or Justin Upton. Show-hay. Otani. Hey, real quick from Benjamin from Benjamin, from Benjamin.

you see the Otani versus Upton comparison. Both have been very good, but yeah, I'd take Otani too. By the way, O'Tani is crushing lefties this year. Holy cow. If he starts hitting lefties, he might be one of the best hitters of baseball. Benjamin wants to know Scott Kingery or Nick Senzel rest of season.

Senzel. All right, who are you moved to add amongst these hot hitters? Mike El Franco, Chris Taylor, mentioned him again. Ryan McMahon actually was one for 23 on the road, and then he came home yesterday, went two for five of the home run. Kevin Newman,

has been very good leading off for the pirates. Corey Dickerson, off to a nice little start and his return from the IL. Eric Thames and Todd Frazier are only 13% owned, and they've been doing some good things. Now, Thames has at least six Riteys

on the schedule next week. So if you're in a deep league and you need someone, Thames might start six or seven games next week and has an 866 OPS against Rides. Todd Frazier's been absolutely on fire. He's got like a nine, 30-ish OPS in his last 39 games.

So Taylor, we talked about, but Michael Franco, Ryan McMahon, Corey Dickerson, Kevin Newman, Eric Thames, Todd Frazier. Are we missing the boat by not picking up any of these guys? I don't think any of them I'm super eager to add. The only one who I might slot ahead of Taylor in priority, and obviously I just talked about how I hadn't added Taylor anywhere, is McMahon, just because of the upside and then environment, which we'd been saying. all season and apart from brief stretches it hasn't really amounted to much. So that's kind of my level of interest for this group. Okay, I just got to tell you that we got called out that there's a new drinking game apparently and it's whenever the word environment is used on this show.

Really? One of our listeners is going to take a drink and he's wasted right now. So we have said it so many times. That's Matt from Dublin. Matt, I'm sorry that it's so early in the morning. You're having so many. Don't just single out Scott because I've been saying it a lot too. Environment is the word of the show.

And we have just... Well, what's a better way to say? What's a different way? I don't know, but we're going to have to try to vary it up. We're going to have to try. Are you done talking about those hitters? Yes. Okay.

Four-man rotation. Your quick thought on Zach Wheeler. We talked about Nola, the very bad Brad Peacock and the very average Stephen Strasbourg lately. Zach Wheeler's like my favorite player this year because he might be the most... Say it. Say it. Environment. Demonstrative of the changing landscape at starting pitcher.

Yes. No, I've always... We've been saying, buy low, buy low, by low on Wheeler, and we're sticking to it. And he's good. He's good. He goes deep into games. He's better than his... I don't expect the CRA to get much better than $4.50.

Maybe it can drop just a little below 4. Maybe, hopefully. But he pitches deep into games and usually gets more than a strikeout per inning. And that's just such an unusual combination to find. Like if... You know, unless you're going a reliever heavy route, I don't know how he's not one of the top 30, 35, 40, at least. starting pitchers in fantasy.

I wish Brad Peacock were a little more valuable because he's good. I mean, he got crushed yesterday, but he doesn't pitch deep into games. He's one quality start in his last five starts. It was an amazing start at the Yankees. I'm going to be sitting him next week at Colorado. I think I'm just going to hang on to Brad Peacock and start him when he's not at Colorado. But I wish he pitched deeper into games. He usually throws about 90 pitches.

And any concerns about Steven Strasbourg? Not a lot of strikeouts, a 10% swinging strike rate in his last three starts. Yeah, I don't think three starts is as long. enough stretch to raise concerns for me. But his ERA, his ERA is approaching forward now, too. That's just kind of that's just kind of what you expect for every ace pitcher.

You know, the good starts are good enough. I don't know. It's, I don't know, it's strange. We talked about it a lot yesterday, obviously. I don't really know how to adjust for this yet because obviously you say a guy pitches a lot of innings and that's why we like them anyway.

It means more strikeouts. It means better. chance of wins. But it also means that ERA counts for even more. It hurts your team ERA even more. In a points league, you don't care about that at all, obviously. But in a categories league, you do. I just don't know what the alternate approach is other than to go reliever heavy,

in which case you're giving up on strikeouts and wins, which may be worth it. I don't know. We obviously got into this a lot yesterday. We don't need to rehash it. Scott, would you rather have Strasbourg or Snell? I'd rather have, like, Strasbourg is sixth in my starting pitcher ranking. You already approaching four and he's six. I think the top five probably stands out from the rest now.

But that's, you know, I move Snell down to like ninth, I think, or something like that. So I do have Strasbourg. I think Snell has more upside, but there's also some concerns there that he's not. healthy or whatever else. Scott, Strassburg is the number eight starting pitcher and fantasy, even with that high ERA. The top eight are Verlander, Rieu, Scherzer, Granky, Minor,

Minor, Morton, Cole, and Strasbourg. So, there we go. All right, let's do this. Segment, new segment, 10 emails in five minutes. Scott, you're on the clock. Here we go. From David, with Craig Kimbril coming back,

who should I drop or trade? Or Aricell Iglesias? I would trade or... I would drop Iglesias, actually. It's been pretty shaky and they've taken to using them in unconventional ways.

I don't know why Greg Holland's save total is so low because the Diamondbacks have not been a bad team this year. He has... He has... He has... Three saves since May 3rd

in five chances. And I went through their entire schedule. They just haven't had that many chances. They've... They cooled all... All right, we got to... Back to the... emails. This is from Justin and Waco. Dear Buzz, Neil, and Michael, those would be moonwalkers.

Rank these starting pitchers going forward in Roto. Domingo Erman, could be back next week. Mike Soroka, starting tonight, Zach Gallen, Brendan McKay, Caleb Smith, and Ross Stripling. Why don't you give me your top four, Scott, Erman, Soroka, Gallin, McKay, Caleb Smith, Stripling. Michael didn't walk on the moon, but my top four here would be Hermon, Caleb Smith, Soroka, and Gallow. Okay, by the way, it's Michael Jackson, you know. Oh. Yeah.

Okay, here's an email. I don't know a name. Can you rank these pitchers the order of who you're excited about? He wants you to rank all seven. I'm going to ask you for your top four. Gallin, Flaherty, McKay, Carlos Martinez, Povetta, Alzali, Arias.

Who's your top four between Gallen, Flaherty, McKay, Martinez, Carlos Martinez, Pivetta, Aalai, and Arias. I would go Flaherty, Gallin, McKay, and Alzalai. All right, Jonathan says, Fernando Tatis has been carrying my team in a 10-team points league, but I know he's hitting over his head. How high should we sell Fernando Tatis? If he regresses, he still. It's an interesting question.

It's an interesting question because that has been the biggest challenge for me as I kind of immersed myself in the XBA step for the first time because his XBA is like around 220, 2.30. I mean, you could just look at his Babbitt. He was about mid-400s and recognize the batting average is probably not something he can sustain.

But I would have a hard time believing he's not at least a 260 hitter the rest of the way. And with his power speed combo, that's going to be plenty good enough. Do you put Tati? in the Pete Alonzo, Catele-Marte, I have both of them over him.

Okay. So there probably is a sell-high opportunity there. Okay. Assuming it's not a dynasty league, of course, because you're not giving up Todd T's in a dynasty. All right, Scott, we got to keep going. We got to keep going. From Jeff F. Dear Nye, Paxton, Pullman, and Buffalo, those are bills. I have Kirshaw

and Ryu as the anchors to my rotation. They're both at cores this weekend. Are they must starts given what happened to Walker Bueller last night. I'm not starting. I don't think I'm starting Kershah. I am not starting Kershaw. All right. I would. Okay. But I, that's fine. Zach H from Houston, Texas. What's up with Edwin D.

We answer this. We answer this. What's up with Edwin Diaz? We're cool with him. All right, we can, how about, would you drop Edwin Diaz to pick up Corey Klooper or Luke Weaver? I would not. No, no, I wouldn't either. Ryan C from Big Bear Lake, California, is in a 12-te-to-head categories league. He's 20 games up in first place, so grade the trade. Austin Riley and Ross Stripling to get Blake Snell.

I'm thinking A-minus, he says. Love it. Yeah. Love it. Yes, yes. I mean, even if Riley is this good, it still feels like a by-low for Snell, and there's reason to believe Riley's not this good,

so it might have been a combo sell-high by-low. from Andrew 12 team head to head Matt Carpenter was just dropped I have Joey Votto I have hardly played him Dozier and Vlad are my first and third basement Votto has been better lately I also have Luriano uh geez

would you be okay to drop Luriano or Vado this is a confusing question to add Matt Carpenter yeah I'd be okay with that I don't know if he said categories or points it's much more justifiable in points But even so, I mean, Luriano, you know, he may be a 2020 guy, but not a particularly exciting 2020 guy,

and I'd rather pursue the upside of Carpenter. Those were eight emails in five minutes, not 10. But let's see how Scott can do with this one, from Brian in Springfield, Missouri. Any chance you could convince Michael Cain to give us an example of what the baseball tips from the London PA announcer will sound like. Now, remember, I said that they're going to sort of help the,

the baseball fans in the stadium with some, I don't know what they're going to say, but they're going to try to, like, you know, fill them in on what's going on a little bit, educational, I'm not sure. So how, like Michael Kane, if he were the PA announcer, Scott, what do you think he'd say? I once knew a man named Lorenzo, last name Kane, like mine only spelled differently, no E.

So this Lorenzo fellow, he played a certain game called Baseball. Baseball just so happens to be coming to my homeland this weekend. We're going to see a match between two prestigious organizations, the Red Sox of Boston, the Yankees of New York. Baseball, of course, is a lot like cricket. There are some similarities there. Although in cricket, of course, we're talking about the maiden, the Yorker, the dolly, the golden duck, the mid-wicket, the city point. These terms we know well, of course, but baseball has its own terminology that I do believe is worth exploring right now. For instance, in baseball, there is such a thing as a professional hitter, I've heard. I assume all of the hitters we're going to see are professional.

I don't think they're planning on bringing any amateurs over. There's an expression in baseball. He plays the game the right way. Well, I assume the right way is the winning way, right? that would be the way that wins you the game would be the right way to play. I assume one can only assume the unwritten rules is something that's brought up in baseball often. I don't know why they want to just take the extra step of writing it down. It would help with the uninitiated like us.

There's a can of corn in baseball, which I've actually heard about this one. It refers to the stockboys in the grocery. They put the can of corn on the top shelf. They might need to take a stick. One of them would take a stick, knock it down. The other would stand underneath and catch it. So it's like catching a pop-ploc, fly, so I've heard. So I've had.

There is a lot of references to fire in baseball. There's a flamethrower. There's a blazing fastball. There's the high heat. There's the scorching line drive. Which all serve to indicate that for all the athletic feats, the displays of skill, some men just want to watch the ball burn.

This brings us to, of course, the refreshment at a baseball game. Now, you won't find pies at a baseball game, be it minced meat, blueberry. They have other refreshments. They have the hot dog, which we've all heard about, the peanuts, the cracker jacks. But what you'll find at every venue, the concession you'll find at every venue, is the popcorn. And if there's anything you know about me, Michael Kane. It's that I prefer my popcorn.

Butchery. I think that was your best yet. That was your best. I mean, you got the, want to watch the World Bird. What does he say? Yeah, some men just want to watch the World Burn. Yeah, that's outstanding.

Good for you, Scott. Oh, wow. Well done. Scott White. Love it. All right, two star pitchers for Fantasy Week 28 or whatever we're at next week, 15. Okay, any question marks?

Jake O'Darizzi coming off kind of a rough start at Oakland and home against Texas. Yeah, I'd still start. Yeah, I mean, things have been regressing here recently, but. Yeah. I got to get out of Canaan. Okay. Fantasy baseball analyst, we can do this. First name, Lorenzo, only spelled differently.

Yeah, that's a good one to kind of calibrate. Jack Flaherty at Seattle, at San Francisco. Who was it again? I'm sorry. Jack Flaherty. That was terrible. At Seattle and San Francisco. I think those matchups are easy, but I probably would any two-star week for Flaherty, even coming off an awful start. How about Matt Boyd at the White Sox in home against Boston? Matt Boyd is an easy call, too, yes.

Ross Stripling, like listed as a two-star pitcher, is he going to actually make two starts that are long enough to justify starting him against Arizona and San Diego. That's a good question. I don't think in many cases I'd be willing to roll the dice on him. U. Darvich is at Pittsburgh. Oh, sorry. U. Darvich is at Pittsburgh and at the White Sox. Points League, I'd probably do it.

Rot a league. I'd probably won it. Dallas Keikle, Philadelphia and Miami at home. Probably also just a points league thing. though I think he's easier to justify than Darvish in categories. That's Kichael. How about this one's really tough?

Griffin Canning. Very good start yesterday. At Texas and at Houston. Yikes. Now, he has faced good opponents before, great opponents. Five innings, one run against Texas, six innings three runs against the Dodgers.

But how do you feel about at Texas and at Houston? Both those games were a whole thing. I think he's good enough. and I know the fact he's not 80% owned yet, it amazes me, but I think he's good enough that I'm willing to run him out there with any matchup. Now, the one shortcoming he has shown is a vulnerability to fly ball, and these wouldn't be, I mean, vulnerability at the home run because of the fly balls.

And this wouldn't be, uh, this, these could be matchups that burn him, certainly, but. Burn him. Fire. I think the skills are good. Like, he has a sub one whip. I know. He has what would be. The fourth best swinging strike rate in baseball, if he qualified.

I think he's really good. Griffin Canning. Joe Musgrove, Cubs and Milwaukee. Another tough one, but pitching well lately. Yeah, less than must start. I'd put him... I would start him definitely in points leagues, but... I guess I'd be more likely to start in than either Kikel and Darvish and Roto.

Zach Allen, at Washington, at Atlanta. Yeah. Yeah, maybe not in a Roto. Definitely in points. Not for sure he's going to make the two starts, obviously, because Caleb Smith has to bump somebody at some point. All right. Then we talked about Pivotta, Logan Allen, Matt Strom.

Logan Allen is Scott's favorite there. Then we have deeper leagues. Dylan Bundy, Tyler Malley, Chase Anderson, Ariel Harado, Jeff Samarja, Trent Thornton, Jake Junice, Rinaldo Lopez, Jason Vargas, who's been pitching better lately. Wade LeBlanc, who's been pitching very well. I'm surprised we have a list as a two-start pitcher when he's been using,

uses with an opener. Daniel Megden, Adrian Houser, Glenn Sparkman, Clayton, Richard. Anybody, Scott? Anybody at all? No. Okay. No, I'm not seeing,

I'm not seeing a lot. I'm willing to roll the dice on there. Mengden was good in his last star, but Minnesota, and I don't think he's good. So, um, no. I'd rather not roll the dice on any of that.

That's it for us. Thank you so much for listening, everybody. I hope you enjoyed Michael, Okay. Thanks for emails. I had like 60 emails this morning just from last night. So I try my best to respond to some and put some on the show. But just be aware we get a lot. Can't answer all of them. And I am sorry about that. Have a great weekend and we'll talk to you on Monday on fantasy baseball today.