Fantasy Baseball Today - 06/29: Thu. Recap, Most Added, Week 15 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 29, 2018

Jesus Aguilar (2:00) and Javier Baez (5:12) look like true breakouts. Can they keep this up? And we give you a sneak peak at our favorite two-start pitchers for Week 15 (9:50) before expanding on it later in the show ... Welcome Back (14:30) to Jorge Polanco and Jorge Bonifacio, plus Chris Taylor as he returns to the lineup. How good are these guys? Then we talk about some of the most frustrating players in Fantasy: Jon Gray (20:55), Jose Quintana (24:20) and Brian Dozier (27:03) ... Hot hitters (37:50) including Rhys Hoskins and Kevin Kiermaier, Most Added players (40:40) including a number of Catchers and a HOU prospect, two-start pitchers (48:40) and weekend streamers (55::45) ... 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

It is our last podcast for the month of June. So we'll try to take a look at the June standouts on today's show. Welcome to the Friday show. Welcome to a beautiful Kokomo Friday. Scott White and Adam Azer, relaxing on a beach somewhere. Not just by ourselves. That'd be a little weird, but like with friends, playing volleyball, ATVing, just good days splashing around in the water.

Hey, Scott, good morning. I'd go to the beach with you. I'd go to the beach with you, too. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Scott. I'm squared that away. Everything good with you?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm doing wonderful. What about you? Thank you. It was a test. It was a test to see if you would ask. You know, I'm really in a good mood. I couldn't figure out why.

I think I figured out why. Because I found a new taco place yesterday five minutes from me, and it's very good and very affordable. and that is just so clutch. So really happy. Yep. Thank you. Tacos.

Yep. They're delicious. And also, I've got, you know, I got this one league where the guys are starting to come around. I have gone from 11th place to fourth place in like two weeks and in a Roto league. And it's, it's Altuvae's running, Billy Hamilton's running, Matt Carpenter's doing everything. It's just clicking right now, Scott. So let's send those good vibrations out to the first. rest of the fantasy listeners.

And that's kind of a Beach Boys reference, good vibrations. Give me your Thursday standouts. My Thursday standouts, I think I have to begin with Jesus Aguilar, who once again started, once again homered. That is, three straight games with a home run. He has homered eight times since June 12th. What's significant about June 12th? That's when Eric Thames returned from the DL.

And you may remember, Aguilar sat three of those first six games after Thames returned. Well, he sat just one time since. The Lorenzo-Cain injuries helped little with that. But regardless, he keeps producing. If he had the abats to qualify, he would have the fourth best OPS in baseball. Wow. Even not having the abats to qualify. He's on pace for 38 home runs and I believe 109 RBI.

Wow. His BABIP, his home run to fly ball ratio are both. I think they're higher than last year now, but they're both in the same range that they were last year. He's, uh, he looks studly and I just hope, I pray the Brewers are on board with that because this guy needs to play every day. and if he does I mean he might be he might be like Jose Abraeu good I mean obviously he's been better than Jose Abrae this season

but you know we were drafting Jose Abrae third fourth round he might be that good so right now would you rather have Eric Hosmer or Hesuz Aguilar rest of season that's an interesting predicament I actually wrote about this last night I used Hosmer as the main example I used was with Maryfield because that's a tweet I got

but I cited Eric Cosmer as another example the rational thing to do not knowing what the brewers are going to do with Aguilar is to make that deal. I mean, Eric Cosmer, obviously, someone you'd never find on waivers. Aguilar, somebody you picked up on waivers maybe two weeks ago, you know? So you're kind of cashing in and giving up the risk. But I just can't get over how much upside you're losing in that deal. I think four times out of five I wouldn't do that. I'd stick with Aguilar.

And from the other perspective, the guy owning Hosmer, I don't know that I'd necessarily trade for Aguilar. But I'd probably be more likely to do that than the other way around trading Aguilar for Hosmer. Is it really possible that Eric Hosmer is like the number 20 first baseman in Roto? Because I think he's pretty good. I'm going to double check this. I think he's pretty good in points leagues. I think he's top 10. Eric Hosmer is one of the most boring players in fantasy.

and I don't even mean that as an insult. And I think he's fallen actually quite a bit. Maybe he's in a slump Eric Hosmer. But Jesus Aguilar is the number two first baseman in Roto. He's somewhere around 10th in points because of the at-bats situation. But on a purgame basis, it's not even close between the two of them, but obviously we're also projecting to it in the future. All right, so I'm going to check on where Hosmer is in the first base standings.

That's really just my own curiosity. But I'm going to nominate Javier Baez as a Thursday, stand out. Javier Baez is the number four second baseman and the number four shortstop in fantasy. He is the number in points leagues. He's number four second and short. In Roto, he's number two in both categories. He has a very bad walk to strikeout ratio, which is a little bit worse in points. But that's nothing new. And he's a guy, Javier Baez, who has batted 273, 273, and 285 last year with a combined 57 walks to 326 strikeouts. Surprisingly, he's better against Righties and Lefties this year is usually a guy who makes all his hay against lefties,

but it just won't stop with Baez. I've sort of expected him to struggle because the plate discipline is so bad, but he's going to set a career high in steals. I think he's actually already tied it, so he's going to break that. Oh, no, he's already said it. I'm sorry. He had 12 last year, or 12, 2 years ago, and 13 this year. So he's running more.

He's just having an amazing year. Javier Baez and Hesu Zagler, they are having breakout years, and do you think it continues for Hobby Bias? Well, he said you expected him to slump. He did slump there for a while. In fact, I feel like it was a podcast recently where we were saying, did we jump the gun? Yeah, you're right. You're right. On a breakthrough for Javier Baez, and look how he's turned things around. And you were not, as Chris and I, I think were saying, definitely me, that we may have jumped the gun. And you were like, no, he's still worth, owning in a points league, which I disputed because I thought the plate discipline would really hold it back. Come on.

On pace for 3530 season. Yeah, it just sort of felt like a lot of the production was front-loaded, and I just didn't expect him to continue having a great year. And I thought, you know, I compared him to Rugnett Odore, who has to have his best case scenario to be relevant in a points league.

And that's sort of how I felt about Baez, but obviously I was wrong. I mean, the batted ball data, supports that bias is having like there's not there's not really any red flags being raised there with his performance yeah plate discipline's awful play discipline's always going to be awful but sometimes awful plate discipline guys can still be good in fantasy and I think with the uh improved line drive rate and just the fact like he just seems to be tapping

into his power a lot more 25 years old kind of makes sense I think this is a breakthrough, and he'll have these hot and cold stretches. He'll continue to have them. But he's must start. Okay. By the way, Eric Hosmer is the number 17 first basement in points now, and number 22 in Roto. Yeah, I was taking a look at his numbers here while you were talking about Hopier-Bai, as he is well off-paced from last year, striking out a lot more, too.

The BABIP's actually similar, but because he's striking out a lot more, the batting average isn't that great. He's ice cold right now. We're catching Hosmer at a bad time. I still say he's the sort of player. You'd never find a waiver. And I do think better times your head. But yeah, it makes it easier.

Like, I feel like maybe in an NL-only league where you couldn't afford, I don't know. It just seems crazy that the Brewers would ever take Aguilar out of their lineup for... Sure. you know, more than 20% of the time now, right? They got to realize this is the best idea they have. And now we have a Christian Yelich injury. We don't know how serious it is, but they need that bat in the lineup for sure.

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Favorite two-star pitcher for the upcoming fantasy scoring week, which is what? Fifteen? Fifteen. Ooh. Favorite two-star pitcher that might be available on the waiver wire. Well, what are we going to use is the cutoff? If we use 80% it's Domingo Hermann. If you want to go a little lower than that, Kyle Gibson is, I think, 61% owned.

And I like his matchups. I mean, even this last start, he gave up some runs, but the strikeouts were high. Oh, boy, do I see someone with some sexy matchups? Who you got? Nate of all. At the Miami Marlins and at the New York Mets. 50% owned. Miami Marlins and the New York Mets.

Nate Aivaldi. I'm not saying I like him better than Domingo or Maen or Kyle Gibson, but that's... If you want to go super sleeper, that seems fine. Zach Wheeler is at... This is not a bad week. Zach Wheeler at Toronto, home against Tampa Bay. I don't think he's actually making two stars because it's a five-game week. for the Mets. It's possible they skip somebody and he does, but I wouldn't pick up Wheeler with

that expectation. Okay. I'm going to probably, you're definitely avoiding Jake Junis, Cleveland and Boston. I will get more into this later, but Luis Castillo is also available. He has the White Sox, and he's at the Cubs, and we will talk more. So your favorite is Domingo Armand. I think Domingo Raman, Kyle Gibson, Nate Aivaldi, those will probably be the three free agents that we are focusing on for two-star pitchers. this week. The big news. Christian Yewitch left with back tightness. U. Darvish had a setback and no timetable right now for the return, but that stinks because it looked like he might be able to pitch this weekend, but not going to happen. U.

Darvich with a setback. Shohei Otani has been cleared to hit. He does not need surgery as of right now, but we'll be re-evaluated in a few weeks. Do we have any idea when Otani might return as a hitter? No. I haven't seen a clear timetable for that. Okay. Carlos Correa on the D.L. with a back issue, not expected to be a long D. Elston for Correa. J.T. Ray Almuto expects to play today. The Marlins' backup catcher, Brian Holliday, had set a record. He threw out nine straight would-be bass dealers. That streak ended yesterday, Scott. Do you know who stole a base off of Brian Holiday? The first in ten attempts off of the last ten attempts off of Holiday. Remind me who the Marlins were playing? He played the Diamondbacks yesterday.

They lost, I believe, 4-0-0. I don't remember who stole the base for them. Drod Dyson. Stole a base. Drod Dyson. But it wasn't him. It was Zach Granky. Oh, come on.

Yep. Yep, he stole base. I think he has seven career steals now. Zach Granky. Don Mattingly said some really interesting things about Zach Granky, which, to me, we're sort of fantasy relevant because it just makes you appreciate it. how good he is with sort of diminished stuff. Don Maddenly said he's a baseball player.

I don't say that about a lot of pitchers. He probably has a better swing than 70% of the guys in the big leagues, and I'm serious about that. And the guy's just an amazing athlete. There was an article on ESPN.com talking about how hard it is to bunt on Zach Granke because he feels bunt so well. So he's lost so much velocity, and he's been so good for so long. What else we got?

Bueller. Walker Bueller pitched out of the bullpen yesterday and got crushed. He had a crazy travel schedule. It was a really tough spot for him. But does this change anything for his outlook? A 91% own Walker Bueller gave up five runs in an inning. Well, it's interesting because we were talking the podcast Chris and I did together Wednesday, I guess it was. We were talking about what happens when Bueller returns because now everybody's healthy. and obviously Ross Stripling's been a revelation so at the time he didn't look like he'd be a fixture but he does now I guess I'm a little worried like it's been presented

as this is Walker Buehler rehabbing at the major league level him pitching out of the bullpen but unless they're going to give somebody a mini vacation via DL stint I'm not sure who he replaced once he has rehabilitated. I'm a little concerned. But we got to hold on to Bueller for now, right?

Just see what happens. I'd still hold on to him. Okay. And Travis Shaw returned. And a few other players have returned, Scott. So we're going to open our open welcoming arms. That was a little loud. Sorry.

Welcome back. Jorge Polanco's back. Jorge Bonifacio's back. They're both barely owned. Do you want Polanco or Bonifacio? You know what's going to be interesting is what happens when Miguel Sino comes back? Because you know who was playing because Jorge Polanco was suspended is Eduardo Escobar. Can't imagine they're taking him out of the lineup.

So I don't know that Polanco has a clear path. I mean, as long as they hope to bring Suno back at some point, I don't know that Polanco is clear back to a bat. He's not really that good, is he? I mean, Bonifacio is a more exciting hitter now? In terms of potential? I actually had Polanco as a top 20 shortstop before the suspension. And Bonafacio was maybe a top 80 outfielder.

So I don't think either a really mixed league rosterable right now. mixed leagues. Okay. Well, Chris Taylor is also back. He returned to the lineup, and I want to know, do you think Chris Taylor should be owned in 96% of leagues? Do you think he is a waiver-wire type of player? Chris Taylor. I don't think he's a waiver-wire type of player. He's been a guy this year, who's the whole's been greater than the sum of the parts. Batting average has obviously been down from a year ago. Everything's been down a little from a year ago, but there's still enough pop there that it he had like he was still verging on top 12 status up the middle

all right chris taylor is currently the number 18 shortstop in points leagues number 20 in rhodo he's number 35 at outfield in points leagues number 51 in rhodo it's hard to drop a guy who hits lead off which he's done 55 times this year so but and the thing with the taylor is like he got off to a pretty slow start he had a 695 OPS in April. And then he had a 944 OPS over his last 31 games, and it looked like, okay, he's good. And now he's slumping again, but

yeah, be patient, I guess, with Chris Taylor. All right, moving on to the rest of yesterday and looking ahead to week 15. Here's a segment called players we are not going to talk about today unless you think they need to be talked about. And those players are Aaron Nola, Clayton, Kershaw, and Zach Granky. Aaron Nola, Clayton, Kershaw, Zach Granky. I don't think any of them

need to be talked about. Good. Then let's move to our next segment. Hey, Scott, I think you should move Lance McCullors up five spots in your rankings to 20th overall. That will be ahead of Chris Archer, Carlos Martinez, and Patrick Corbin. The segment again is titled, Hey, Scott, I think you should move Lance McCullors up five spots in your rankings to 20th overall. That would be ahead of Chris Archer, Carlos Martinez, and Patrick Corbyn. I don't.

I mean, I maybe could understand your argument for Archer if you don't think he's going. to improve on who he was before going on the DL. But the other two, what's wrong with them? I mean, Corbyn just had one of his best starts of the year. Yeah, but Corbyn, you look at the last like nine starts or ten starts since the velocity dropped. His ERA's over four. His strikeout rate still through the roof now. Yeah, but his ERA is over four, and McCullors is...

McCullors has had four starts in a row where he looks like the curveball's back. And he's pitched seven innings six times this year. He's not going super deep into games, but it's not a problem anymore. He's allowed 40 earn runs this year, and 15 of them have come in two starts. So aside from those two starts, Lance McCullors has been automatic. He's got a 115 whip. He's not really walking guys like we've seen in the past. Lance McCullors is a guy that I have complete confidence in every time he pitches,

and I don't feel that way about Patrick Corbyn. Okay. Do you? Yeah, I do. There has not been an occasion this year where I thought to myself, maybe I should sit Patrick Corbyn. Okay. I mean, if you're making the argument, Lance McCullochers is good. Yeah, of course he's good.

But all those pitchers are good. Yeah, there's also the injury history with Lance McCullors. Yeah. We cannot discount that. Okay. So let's see what we got here. Oh, we've got a segment called I've had it up to here with you, with John Gray and Jose Cantana and a few.

few others. We're going to read some emails at Fantasy Football, a Fantasy Baseball, pardon me at CBSI.com. We're going streaking later. That's part of the Beach Day, I guess. It's kind of a gross image. But Reese Hoskins is red hot. Raphael Devers is hot. Jose Parraza. Kevin Kiermeyer. We're going to talk about these guys. They are streaking right now. I am sort of red hot on the draft app, people. I am catching fire. Now, I did not win yesterday. I think I came third out of five, but I have won three of my last five contests. Now I heard Chris say the other day that he has to look at pitching. And yes, it's true.

What you have to do is look at the slate. You have to understand how many good pitchers there are. But once you identify how many good pitchers there are, you really have to realize that hitters are the way you typically win on draft. But you don't want to be left with a garbage pitcher. So last night it was a four-game slate, and I did take a pitcher with my first pick, and that was Lance McCullors. And I lost because my hitters didn't do well,

and that was a little bit of bad luck. I thought I had good hitters. I had a couple of Astros, and they scored one run against the raise. But, you know, it is what it is. But once you figure out how many pitchers are good and worth starting, that's when you start your draft strategy. And it's super easy on the draft app, and you can get a free entry if you use the code FB Today

when you make your first deposit. That's a free entry into a real money baseball draft. The code is FB Today. I am absolutely loving the draft app. It's super, super fun. It's a great way to get a little bit. bit of a fantasy baseball fix. They have a ton of other sports on there as well.

You can do a best ball draft for football. But sign up on the draft app or on draft.com and use the code FB today, and I will crush you on the draft app. Okay, I've had it up to here with you, Scott White. With me? Well, not so much with you. But people are getting a little mad at us for pumping up John Gray, and all he does is stink time after time.

577 ERA. 391 Babbip. Tana strikeouts. But yeah, I mean, he's bad almost every time. 3.91 Babbat. Tell you a lot. You say that like it's something to be scared of. That should be encouraging.

Right. Now, he usually has a pretty high Babbup, you know, Coorsfield. Like it's 330 last year, I think. But 391 is high. He's been. he has been one of the most overpowering pitchers in baseball this year in terms of can you hit this no you can't I don't know why there's been so much success on the rare occasions they have made contact

but I mean I don't know what to tell you I he's out he's out of the circle of trust if we want to frame it that way yeah look but I'm still very excited about the potential he's showing you know it's tough every year there are going to be players that just have huge second-haves. And we can't just give up on people. So if we did, you know, then fantasy would be easy. Guys pitching poorly, drop them, get rid of them. We're trying to identify a 29 to 119 walk-to-strikeout ratio is exceptional.

Only 11 home runs allowed in 92-innings. It's not like he's not like that's an enormous problem for him. And that's not a great number, but this day and age, it's not that bad. He's not a guy John Gray that's in his history been really bad at home. He can pitch at Corse Field. His last start was seven innings, one run, 12 strikeouts at Corsefield. Granted, it was against the Marlins. Are you going to start John Gray next week against San Francisco?

Probably not. Like I said, he's out of the circle of trust. I wouldn't criticize anybody who does start him. But I think this is probably the best way to sum up John Gray. 577 ERA, right? Terrible. 307 fit. Yeah.

Yeah. Better times are ahead. It should be. So it's a good by-low. We think. If not, then no. But I think it's a good by-low. By the way, I want to talk to trade just real quick.

I've committed my Cardinal sin like three times this year. My big rule is don't trade for injured players. And I've been doing it. And it keeps biting me. And it's just like these guys have setbacks. Josh Donaldson, he's not even close to returning now. Noah Cindergarde. I was supposed to get Noah Cindergard back like three weeks ago.

So that's always been a big rule for me. Don't trade for injured players, and I keep doing it, and it's stupid. Adam Eaton. Adam Eaton's back. He's barely playing. So it's risky. It's like naming my whole Dynasty League team here. It's crazy, Adam.

My dynasty, 24-team dynasty league. I look like a juggernaut coming into the season. I am miraculously seven and five, but I have 11 players on the D.L. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That's a lot of players. Scott, I have had it up to here.

You can't see my hand is really high, people, with Jose Cantana. The guy is just not delivering, sir. Scott, Jose Cantana. No, he's not. And what's interesting is if you look at his... My initial reaction when people started complaining about him, because I don't actually own him in any leagues. I can't share in these complaints. My initial reaction when I saw some of the negative responses on Twitter is, oh, look at his ERA over his last dozen starts.

It's really good. And it is, but in those 12 starts, seven, more than half, less than six innings. Yeah. That's, I mean, you're not high end if you're doing that. It doesn't matter. Well, I guess if the ERA was sub two, you'd still be high-end. But, you know, he's obviously not that. He's definitely not pitching like a high-end pitcher right now,

and I'm not sure, like, 327 ERA over to those last 12 starts, but it doesn't matter because he's not getting quality starts. Do you think he could go on a big run, Jose Cantana? I think he could. I mean, the strikeout rate's still good. The swinging strike rate is comparable to what it's always been. it's obviously the last two starts have just not been very good but you know if he was pitching innings before that I don't think we'd hold that against him I just think I don't know if it's

a Joe Madden thing looking at the pitch counts my gosh five no four of his last seven starts he hasn't even gotten to 90 pitches so I don't know I don't know what it is look at the strikeout right the last four starts by the way it's terrible yeah probably just a blip in the radar I mean that happened to Lance McCullors a few stories ago. I feel like that's a blip. And you look at the strikeout rates before that, it was fine. Like, I think inning for inning, he's more or less the same pitcher. The ERA's a little bloated right now.

I'll give you a stat. Three of his first four stars were terrible this year. So inning for inning, I feel like he's more or less the same pitcher. I just, I don't know why the Cubs aren't leaning on him as heavily as the White Sox did. Well, I do. Why? Right now, Jose Cantana has a 375. batting average against and a 1321 ERA third time through the order.

I wonder if that I'd have to go look through, oh, guess what, baseball references failing me at the moment. I'd have to go back and look through the year-by-year splits, but I wonder how typical that's been for them. And if it has been typical, I guess you can kind of understand it, but at the same time, you just traded two huge prospects for a pitcher who you're not even willing to let pitch six innings that seems like a bad choice. And finally, Scott, I have had it up to here with Brian Dozier.

By the way, I don't know any John Gray, any Jose Cantana, or any Brian Dozier. But for my fantasy listeners out there, I am going to share, I'm going to give you some empathy, I've had it up to here with Brian Dozier. This is actually a bad version of bad Brian Dozier. This has gone on a really long time, and he has a 218 batting average. I can see Scott must not have his glasses today because he is looking at the computer screen as like an 80-year-old would. He's like,

Jose Cantana, looking at the splits over there. He's always this bad third time through. But, no, Scott, I've had it up to here with Brian Dozier. He just keeps getting worse. It did steal a base yesterday, though.

Whippy. So he's never, okay. I mean, we've been sticking to the same refrain on Dozier, right? Yeah. And I still feel that way, but I just want to point out,

Like it is a 28 team batting average. I feel fortunate when I lost Elvis Andrews in our podcast league, which is the original podcast league, 12-team points league. When I lost Elvis Andrews, I picked up both Andrelton Simmons and Janherva Salarte to replace him. And now that he's back, I feel fortunate that I have Janherva's Salardee, because I've been starting him over Brian Dozier in that league. obviously still holding on to Brian Dozier because I'm hopeful

he does that Brian Dozier thing in the second half but I can understand if you have a really good secondary second baseman you're doing the same, you're potentially binging Dozier. Yeah. I had some others but we'll skip around.

Garrett Richard wanted to give some news and notes. Garrett Richard is going to make a rehab start today. Kyle Seeger's day to day. John Heyman says Detroit is unlikely to trade Michael Fulmer. Cole Hamill's could be traded before the All-Star break, according to John Marosi, and Morosi also reporting that the twins are prepared to sell. Matt Chapman could be back in a few days.

The Red Sox acquired Steve Pierce, which might actually put, well, maybe it would put Mitch Morland on the bench, maybe Jackie Bradley on the bench against lefties. Eric Thames homer off a lefty yesterday, Amir Garrett. Here's a fun stat. Eric Thames is three-for-three in his career against Amir-Garrett, and all three are home runs. Three-for-three with three homers. Maybe don't bring an Amir Gareth. That is a fun stat. Wow.

No more Amir Gareth versus Eric Thames. Brayda McCarthy is on the DL, and Mike Soroka is on the DL. Oh, is Louise Gohara going to make his way back into the Braves Rotatee? Let's see how he's been doing in the minors, because it hasn't been going well. And while I'm looking him up, I'll get back to Jose Cantana. So just looking at the last couple years, yeah, he hadn't been nearly that bad. the third time through. I don't know

like if they're never giving them a chance the third time through he's not going to have a chance he's not going to be able to correct that number but like you said so far it's been awful. So in the miners recently, Gohara for the season has an ERA over six which obviously not good. In terms of recently

like obviously the Braves have a lot of other options they could use Max Freed. They could put Matt Whistler in the rotation Yeah, okay. So the last time Goharah pitched was June 15th. But I have to look into this. Sorry, I don't have an answer. Don't worry about it. I got more important things to talk about, like ways to save our listeners money. And we can do that with lightstream.com. I am actually on lightstream.com right now. And you want to go to lightstream.com slash strike. So how is this going to save you money?

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All right. Always saving you money here on fantasy baseball today. So it looks like the data wasn't really up to date on baseball reference. I don't know what's going on there, but I looked elsewhere. And Gohara has not had a start in the minors this year of even five innings. We probably need to stop hanging on to that thread. He really needs to turn things around before he becomes a viable pickup in fantasy. Let's see what we're going to do for the rest of the show.

Let's talk. Let's read a few emails. their fantasy relevant emails for everybody. Paul and Carlsbad wants to trade a hitter in a keeper league for Blake Snell. So he is deciding between two guys who would be 12th round picks next year. Would you trade Ozzy Albies or Juan Soto for Blake Snell? I guess the question is, who would you rather have next year in a keeper league and this year? Albies or Soto?

And they'd both be 12th round picks? Yeah. I think I'd rather have Ozzie Albies. All right. So trade Soto for Snell. Yeah. This is from Justin. Please stop debating whether to start pitchers against the Yankees.

The lineup is overrated, start everyone against them. And the Yankees don't hit guys they've never seen before. They were just shut down and swept by the crappy rays. You know, every – this is one of my theories about baseball fandom. Every team feels like its team – every fan feels like its team struggles against pitchers they don't see often. I no longer feel that way about the Yankees. That used to be a thing I no longer feel that way. I feel like that's a total confirmation bias thing.

It happens sometimes to every team. I feel like it happens all the time to yours. Don't get the sense that Justin is a Yankees fan. I feel like the Yankees hater. But I will say this. I looked into the numbers. He's got a point about the Yankees on the road. On the road, the Yankees are like 10th or 12th or something and runs scored.

So do keep that in mind. At home, they are unbelievable. And you can ask James Paxton about that, who gave up two sort of Yankee Stadium home runs, one for sure, and gave up four runs. It's just a tough place to pitch. But, yeah, I mean, if you want to be a little more liberal against the Yankees when they're on the road, I can buy it.

You know, sometimes I get annoyed when we talk about sitting high-end pitchers because they have a bad matcher. Yeah, no, not high-end pitchers. I would never sit James Paxton. Right. But when you're talking about those fringes, I mean, the Yankees have a good offense. I don't know what to tell you.

Yeah, but do you regret? Do I regret, I mean, I don't have Vince Velasquez, but I would not have started him against the Yankees at home, and he had a pretty good start. He had a very good start. I think he had four walks, but he had a good start. No, I don't think you can live with that regret. Velazquez has been, he's been very hit or miss this year.

I think he's absolutely the kind of pitcher you have to play matchups with. Sometimes he's going to do well with bad matchups. Sometimes he's going to do poorly with good matchups. but it's the best approach you can take with them. Okay, Jameson Bader from Holland, Michigan. Is in a 10-team Roto League? He needs a catcher. Pick a catcher for him, Scott White.

Kurt Suzuki, Mike Zanino, Jan Goams, or Tucker Barnhart? Kurt Suzuki, Mike Zanino, Jan Goams, Tucker Barnhart. In a Roto League, you said? I think I'd still go Suzuki, even though he only plays half the time. Okay, we've got Andrew, who says, Dear Stephen, Beebe, Don, and Billy Jean. Tennis players, maybe? Yeah, all right.

Can you please rank these pitchers rest of season? Skaggs, Buehler, Newcomb, Bieber, Roark. Scabs, Scabs, Buehler, Newcomb, Bieber, Rowark. I would rank them. I would rank them, Newcomb, Skaggs, Bueller, Rowark, Beaver. Newcomb, Skaggs, Bueller, Roark, Beaver. Okay. Yeah, I think so.

Last one, Dylan from Philly. Greetings, non-zero chance. I haven't heard a lot of discussion lately about Joey Gallo. He's been batting eighth and hasn't had a home run in almost two weeks. What do we do with Joey Gallo moving forward? Yeah, that's a fair question, and I don't have a great answer for it. He's such an oddball player because, you know, he's going to be horrible at batting average. in theory he should be

40 plus homers pretty easily. I feel like the playing time has dropped tier two for him with him kind of in a slump right now. Their rangers are having to find at bats for jerks and pro far now that Elvis Andrews is healthy again and Ruegno Dodor is at least

looking competent at the plate again and Gallo's been one of the ones to suffer. I don't think that's a long-term thing. I think he gets hot. it'll go okay, but like in a points league Rotally, obviously you're holding on to him for the power. You're probably starting them because the lineup's deeper.

But points league, I don't know that he's necessarily must own. Scott has moved Max Muncie ahead of Joey Gallo. And I think what you have to realize is with high strikeout guys, they are streaky, you know, and this will happen. Joey Gallo could have a five-home or week, you know, to make up for it. So you just, you need him to hit better than 200. He's batting 191 right now. But he's going to be a tricky guy.

He still has 18 home runs. That's pretty good. But he's on pace for about 36 home runs, which I think would be a little bit disappointing. Yeah, it wouldn't be good enough. Yeah, he has his batting average limitations, given how much he strikes out. Yeah. Okay, some hitters who are doing better than Joey Gallo lately. Reese Hoskins, since coming off the D.L.

He's batting 329 with an 1100 OPS, seven home runs. Ru, Reese Hoskins. Break your jaw, save your season. There you go. Yes. Well, he fooled us a little. No, I would say he got off to a good start, but not this good. This is encouraging stuff for Reese Hoskins.

He's been carrying their lineup the last few days. Rafael Devers. Well, I'll tell you what. Raphael Devers, Jose Paraza, Kiermeier, Jackie Bradley, Jesse Winker, and even Siris Davis are doing some good stuff lately. Does anything mean much to you? Hoskins, Devers, Paraza, Keirmeier, Bradley,

not Hoskins, sorry, Devers, Paraza, Keirmeier, Bradley, Winker, and Chris Davis with a C. I think the fact that Keirmeier is 27% owned is the most interesting thing here. Yeah. Because he was on, you know, he missed, what, a third, 40% of last season. But if you project out those numbers,

you're talking about close to a 25-25 season. So five outfielder Roto leagues Got to be owned It probably started Kevin Kiermeyer, yep Jesse Winker I think there's been a clear shift here

Performance-wise for Winker Four of his six home runs This season have come in June He has more walks than strikeouts At 385 on base percentage Really all that was lacking was the power And it's showing up again The Bada ball profile

says it should have never disappeared like it did. So I am excited about his potential, but of course there's the overcrowded outfield in Cincinnati, and lately he's been the one suffering the most from that, losing playing time. So I don't think he's really rosterable in three outfielder leagues yet, but if I had a lot of lineup space, a lot of bench spots, he'd be somebody I'd be interested in stashing in the hopes

that Billy Hamilton gets to. or whatever, an opening develops somehow for him to play every day. Yeah, we don't talk about this enough, but in daily leagues, you know, because we often say guys who sit a lot are not really mixed league relevant. And that's true if you have weekly lineups. It's frustrating, you know, especially in a points league. But in daily leagues, you know, a guy like Jack Peterson becomes a lot more valuable. Guy like Jesse Winker becomes a lot more valuable.

So, you know, keep that in mind. Chris Davis, do you think he can be? could go berserk. He's three home runs in his last seven games since not playing for 10 days. I guess it's possible. I'm not counting on it. There's no league I'm looking to add him right now, but I mean,

we know there's a lot of power potential in there, so it's possible. Time to take a look at the most added players in CBS Sports.com leagues. If we've done our job right this week, we should have most of these guys covered. Shane Bieber, Freddie Peralta, yes. Brent Souter. I believe he's a two-star pitcher he is.

He has the twins and Braves next week. So how does he rank with Domingo Aramon and Kyle Gibson and Nate Avaldi? Brent Suter. He is closer to Avaldi than the other two. I don't think he's a bad play necessarily. He's been pretty good lately. I think the last three starts are among the deepest he's pitched.

They are the deepest. They're the only starts in which he's gone six or more innings. but it's obviously a positive trend there. The swinging strikes have been up too. He's one of these soft tossers who succeeds in spite of that, and those guys are always a little scary. But I think he's, I think he's pretty good. Would rather have the Bebs or suitor?

Beeps. Austin Roe Mine is on the most added list, one from 4% owned, it's 28% owned. Would you rather have Austin Role Mine or say Kurt Suzuki? Suzuki. Okay. Zach Eflin is on the most added list. We talked about him.

He's below Shane Bieber, but we talked about Eflin a lot yesterday. Derek Dietrich is 59% owned. We haven't really talked much about him. He had a great week last week. It's cooled off this week. He homeered him three straight games. They were at Colorado. Yeah.

He's having a good year. I mean, let me just look at the overall production for Derek Dittrick. you'd look at his numbers from the last six weeks or so. He's been on fire. But there have been some playing time issues in there. They don't always start him against left-handers. And it's been a little too good to be true. I mean, his Babbat's 366.

He doesn't walk much, so he really needs to be hot to be startable. Yeah. I think if he was playing every day, it'd be fair to say he belongs on mixed leagues raw. But since he's not, he's somebody who you only use when the matchups are right. I mean, Derek Dietrich has 13 walks of 75 strikeouts. And he ain't Javi Baez. So I just don't think he can have a 294 batting average.

He doesn't steal bases. So, yeah, it's going to, like Scott says, is going to take a hot streak. Tucker Barnhart and Jan Goams are both 60% own. Scott would take Suzuki over both of them based on the email we had earlier. Shelby Miller is 40% own. Yeah, go ahead. I think it might be getting pretty close between Suzuki and Barnhart in a points league. Barnhart plays more often.

He's not as good game for game, but he plays more often, has good play discipline. So I could see using him over Suzuki in that format. All right, yeah, I still think that Shelby Miller might be a little overowned. I mean, 40%. I'm not sure I get that. But let me bring up Enrique Hernandez again, 20% owned and Riqui Hernandez. and he did play yesterday with where it was he he was in left field yesterday with Chris Taylor back in the lineup and Riga Hernandez is scorching hot right now he is he is

it won't be a long-term thing him playing this regularly it's obviously because Chris Taylor's heard and and before then he was in the lineup a lot because they had a stretch of a lot of lefties that's still his role primarily is his platoon option. So unless you're talking about a daily league where you really want to keep a guy who's going to be a lefty masher, I don't think Enrique Hernandez is that valuable.

You need a lot of roster spots for that. But if you are in a daily league and you can make an ad right now, Marcus Stroman is facing the Tigers tonight, and he is 71% owned. And I think, you know, that seems like a must-start situation. Marcus Stromen against the Tigers.

AJ Minter is on the most added list. I dropped A. Jim Inter. I expect Viscayana to be back this weekend maybe. And Kyle Tucker, Scott. Kyle Tucker is on the most added list, at 41% owned. He's an Astros minor leaguer. Well, well. I don't know why he isn't already in the majors, to be honest. Over his last 16 games, this may not include the numbers from yesterday, but where his last 16 games, he's batting like 475. He's raised his batting average 40 points during that stretch. and their most obvious deed is left field.

I don't know what they're doing. I feel like the Super 2 concerns are past us. I feel like it's inevitable that it's going to happen. So he is, like I'd still rather have Vladimir Guerrero or Aloi Jimenez, but I would expect to see Kyle Tucker in the majors before either of them. How good of a prospect is he compared to those guys? Those two are top five. He's probably top 10.

Oh, okay. Kyle Tucker, 41% own. All right, that's really somebody who hasn't been on my radar and is now. So thank you, Scott White. He runs, too, which is not something those other two do. At least as the aster's will allow, he should steal some bases. So yesterday, the cruel, cruel irony, Scott. What did we argue about on Monday?

What did we get into, remember? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember. A guy that... whether or not it makes sense to stream one-start pitchers, right? Well, yes. Specifically, Mike Leak, who I thought was going to have a home start against the Royals and looked like a great start. Then I found out somebody tweeted me and said, hey, did you see they bumped Mike Leak up in the rotation?

He's going to be at Baltimore instead of home against the Royals. And I said, no, I didn't see that, but thank you because now I'm not going to pick him up. And I'm not going to use Mike Leak. seven innings, two runs, six strikeouts at the Orioles. And I know the Orioles are bad, but I was obviously concerned about the ballpark. And I feel justified because both runs scored on home runs. He gave up two home runs. They were both solo homers.

So I think I got a little lucky. But I should have streamed this one-star pitcher. My big. Well, I mean, he's been good lately. Seven of last eight starts, six innings plus, two run runs minus. He's got 222 a a a lot of his last eight starts. But Mike Leak does this. He's a streaky pitcher.

I will never buy in long term to Mike League. Yeah. No, I agree. And I still think... I'm not sure if I framed... Was streaming one-star pitchers? Is that... Yeah.

Is that the right way of framing that? Yeah. Because obviously, that makes some sense in daily leagues. But yeah, weekly leagues, not so much. I mean, it's a weird situation, because, like, I think Mike Leak is good enough that if you have... If you have a shortage of starting pitchers, he's somebody you could certainly think about starting right now.

But I just know, in none of my leagues, am I in a situation that I'm adding leak for a singular good matchup? And I still think that process is correct, even though obviously he pitched well yesterday. Yeah, it's got to be a deeper league, you'd think. And in my case, it was. But I didn't do it. So, oops. By the way, Hector Rondone got a save. Sir Anthony Dominguez got a two-out save.

I'm thinking they didn't want him to pitch because he had a two-inning save the day before. But Tommy Hunter was awful in a 4-1 game in the 9th. He came in. He gave up two runs, got one out. And then Dominguez came in and finished the job. Fernando Rodney finally blew his save. It's been a long time. He blew his fourth save.

And Sam Dyson's been bad. So Mark Malanson is 45% owned and maybe he jumps into the closer's role. Sam Dyson has not done well in his audition since Hunter Strickland's injury. All right, so we're going to end the show with two-star pitchers for week 15 and some streamers for the weekend. First of all, any issues starting Bumgarner at Colorado and home against St. Louis? At Bum. No, I have no issues. I do. Gosh. Dallas Kiko at Texas and home against the White Sox. I would certainly start him in a points league.

Roto, I'd have to think twice about it. He's, he's, I. Out of the circle of trust, Adam. Sean Nukem at the Yankees and at the Brewers. Yep, start him. How about Michael Fulmer at the Cubs and home against Texas? I feel like Texas has been a pretty tough matchup lately, but I don't feel like I have the energy to look that up. Definitely start Fulmer in points leagues,

and I probably start in Roto, too. Okay, I've mustered up the energy to look up Texas and what they've done lately. Well, I know the Cubs have not been a very, or have been a good matchup for pitchers lately. And they won't have Chris Bryant for that game for Fulmer. They have, yeah, they've been pretty good lately. Not, yeah. You know what?

The Rangers. The Rangers. Since June 16th, they've scored 5. 13, 6, 4389, 0, 7, 2, and 5 runs. That's pretty good. They're swinging the bat. Okay. What else we got?

We got Tanner Roar. Yeah, Tanner Rock, Boston at home, and Miami on the road. You got to start them, right? Yes. Kyle Freeland, San Francisco at home, Seattle on the road. Kyle Freeland. I think I'd do that. Andrew Heaney at Seattle and home against the Dodgers.

Yeah, let's do that too. All right, so that brings us to Brent Suter, Junior Guerra, Domingo Armand, Kyle Gibson, Luis Campes, SDO, nativealdi. Let's go through one by one. You're going to start Armand against the Braves and at Toronto. You're going to start Gibson at Milwaukee and home against Baltimore. Those are your two favorites, Armand and Gibson.

Yeah, those are the ones I'm excited to start. Now, I don't think I would have any problems starting Souter Garra. Or Garra. I'm not necessarily forcing them onto my roster if they're not already, but they seem like if I like them enough to own them when they're making one starts, they seem like fine options in a two-star week. I, based on what he has done,

I should trust Nativaldi at the Marlins and at the Mets. You look at the game log, you see seven and the third innings, five run runs at the Yankees. I believe he gave up one or two earn runs heading into the eighth inning. And then the bullpen let the inherited runner score. that was a pretty good start at the Yankees.

Six innings four runs at the Astros, that's a pretty good start. Six innings scoreless against the Nationals, the Nationals have actually been terrible lately, but nine strikeouts, that's a really good start. So he has faced the Yankees, Astros, and Nationals lately. Now he gets the Mets and the Marlins. But, Scott, I just, I haven't noticed anything different with Nativaldi. So, you know, I feel like it's still not that great,

and I am not fully on board, but, man, is that tempting. No, you shouldn't be. His last start was the first time he had a strikeout per inning. Right, right. But those matchups are good, and I think among pitchers owned in less than 80% of leagues, I mean, you could definitely call him a sleeper. I'd probably rank him behind both Souter and Gera still when I do my two-star pitcher ranking. He'll probably rank behind them.

But I have no problem with you calling him a sleeper or anybody calling him a sleeper. All right, Nate Avaldi. And then Luis Castillo. The White Sox at home, the Cubs on the road, I'd be very, very nervous in a Roto league to have him destroy my ratios twice. Yeah, no, he's another pitcher who we like the potential, thinks he needs to be rostered,

but not in the circle of trust. And I mean, I could gamble on it in a points league because he has had few disaster starts. As uninspiring as it's been, it's usually been like three or four earn runs in five innings, you know? So you're not looking at him hanging up. big negative on you, especially with two favorable matchups.

So I'd probably roll the dice on him in a points league. Not quite sure. I'm ready to call the Cubs a favorable matchup? They have been lately. And like you said, no, Chris Bryan. Well, he might be back. He might be back for that one. That's Sunday.

All right, and then after that, so we're looking at a group of Erman, maybe even Heaney's available for you, Suter, Kyle Freeland, Gera, Gibson, Evald. Maybe Castillo. Not a bad group to choose from. And then after that, we've got Junis, who's got terrible matchups. Chris Stratton, he's got to start at Colorado, and then home against St. Louis. I don't think we want to start him. I don't know why Chris Stratton's 50% own.

Jake Oteresey coming off a finally good start yesterday at Milwaukee and home against Baltimore. Probably not, right? Yeah, that's too risky. It was good last time, but that was his first good start in like eight. Oh, this was just yesterday. He had eight strikeouts and six shutout innings. It was his first good start in seven. Zach Wheeler, we don't think we'll be a two-star pitcher.

I'm not sure I don't want him for one-start at Toronto. He's been very good lately. You're going to make him a one-star streamer at him? Streamer. I mean, I own him, so maybe. I'm not afraid of Zach Wheeler necessarily. I think I'm on Wheeler Island. Do you hear that?

I'm not afraid of him. I don't think there's one other pitcher on this two-star pitcher list that I'm interested in. Marco Estrada, maybe. But he's the guy Yankees and tigers at home. It's like polar opposite matchups. Actually, yeah, you might be able to pull that off with Marco Estrada, 46% own. That's it, though. I made the mistake of starting, as you know, Adam, because it's on the team we share.

I made the mistake of starting Frankie Montas for a two-start week. where one of the matchups was bad, Cleveland, and the other was Detroit, which looked like the best matchup going. And the Detroit matchups in the bag, he was awful. So I'm a little, like, I have more faith in Estrada than Montas, especially the way the changes have been working lately,

but it still seems like a scary proposition. All right, so then we'll finish the show. I'm going to go through all the games this weekend, and we're going to find some streamers. Mike Montgomery against the twins. I'd be okay with that. Eric Fetty against the... You know, this Fetty, wasn't he a prospect?

Wasn't he a first round pick or something? Or am I crazy? You are correct on both counts, but he was one of those prospects who you look at the numbers, and you're like, I'm not sure why we should like this guy, and obviously hasn't gone well in the major so far. I know, but the stuff, I'm just saying specifically from like a dynasty perspective, I wonder if Eric Fetty is a long shot that could pay off,

because he's got good stuff. I don't know. We don't have to talk about that. C.C. Sabathia against the Red Sox. No. Stroman against the Tigers we like. I'm just going to keep looking here. Chase Anderson at the Reds.

No. Sandy Alcantara against the Mets. No. Dylan Covey at the Rangers. I don't want none of these guys. Let's see. How about Julio? Taran at the Cardinals?

No. Andrew Suarez at the Diamondbacks. No. Paul Blackburn against the Indians. No. How about Tyler Anderson at the Dodgers? Dang it, Adam, no. Ian Kennedy at the Mariners. Marco Gonzalez against the Royals.

Okay. Yeah, finally. I don't know what his ownership percentages, but I'm going to start Marklegan. I'm starting Gonzalez today in one of my daily leagues. Matt Boyd or Sam Gavillo, Tigers, the Blue Jays No Adelberto Mejia at Tyler

Chatwood Edwin Jackson against the Indian Andrew Cashner against the Angels No Yolisha Sine at the Reds or Tyler Malley against the Brewers Neither of those is terrible

But probably no Seth Lugo at Harlan Garcia Hmm Probably Not, but I could see calling that a sleeper matchup. Jeremy Hellickson and Vince Velasquez. Velasquez. Man, is Helixen still at the National?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's back. He's off the DL. Oh, that sounds like another... I could see doing Velasquez more than most of the guys we've named, yeah. Max Fried at the Cardinals. There you go, Max Fried making a start. No. Weaver against the Braves.

Just compared to all the ones you've listed, I feel like I should say yes, but in a vacuum. I don't know that I do that. Carlos Rodon at Bartolo Colon. No. No. How about Trevor Williams at the Padres? Nope. Really?

All right. It's been too unreliable. Shelby Miller or Derek Rodriguez at Shelby Miller? I'm not ready to start Rodriguez. against a matchup like that. He had that good week against what was it, the Marlins and the Padres. But I'm not ready to do that against the Diamondbacks.

How about Stephen Mats at the Marlins or Dan Strelin in that game as well? Stephen Mats at Dan Strelie. Stephen Mats... Yeah, I think Stephen Mats is good enough to start with that matchup. Matt Harvey against the Brewers. No. How about John Gant against the Braves?

What day are we? Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, no. Lance Lynn at the Cubs. Yeah, that's a maybe. Lance Lynn apparently slipped on the mound or something like that, and it completely derailed his start last time out. Mike Clevenger, Frankie Montas, rather. Frankie Montas against the Indians.

No. Chad Bettis at the Dodgers. No. Brad Keller at the Mariners. No. Derek Holland at the Giants. Derek Collins has been oddly good lately. He has.

Derek Colin is at the Diamondbacks part of it. Nope. That's it. Those are our weekend streamers. Thanks for listening, everybody. Have a great weekend for Scott White. I'm Adam Azer. I am going to berate Chris on Monday or Tuesday next time I get him on the podcast.

He's ducking me. Still have to bring up some beefs with him. So lots of beef. Get pumped for that. I got a, I got. This is a great three-year-old quip here. You ready? Yeah.

So I'm talking to my son. He's eating beef, and he's like, he doesn't seem to understand what beef is. So I'm explaining to him that beef is cows, pork is pigs. And I'm like, and I bet you can guess what chicken is. Horses! Awesome. That's great. That's a great way to end the show.

This is Cocoa Friday. All right, everybody. We'll talk to you on Monday.