Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/02: Fantasy Feud, 2020 Round 1, Mon. Recap (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 2, 2019

Josh Bell is ridiculous (2:28)! Could we have seen this breakout coming? Meanwhile, are Adbert Alzolay and Logan Allen worth keeping after their bad starts (6:42)? After yesterday's standouts we get into the news (11:15) as Nate Eovaldi could be the BOS closer going forward and Matt Boyd could be on the move ... Fantasy Feud (17:15)! It's been a while, but Scott and Heath are back to compete for game show bragging rights. Then it's on to players we don't talk about much (28:50) like Juan Soto, Kris Bryant and Yoan Moncada ... Recapping yesterday's highlights (35:00) including Double Dongs and fringy SPs. Then Scott takes you through his Top 12 for 2020 (45:30). Is Mike Trout still #1? ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. With fantasy! Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. It is Tuesday, July 2nd. What's going on?

Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. Adam Azer and Scott White here. We're going to have a special guest coming up later in the show. Scott, good morning to you. It's a sad day. question about it. I just want to start off the show, rest and peace to Tyler Skaggs. Scott had a very nice tweet about Tyler Skaggs last night. I think everybody knows how much I've been interested in Skag's career. And I just want to get it all at the top of the show. It was shocking. It was

shocking last night. And so sad. And rest and peace and thoughts and prayers. And of course, you know, just we're very sad by it. We really are. I know we don't know Tyler Skaggs, but just being, you know, playing fantasy baseball, you just, you follow the sport so closely, you follow the players so closely. And Tyler Skaggs is a guy that I watched more than almost any other pitcher. Obviously, everybody knows how much I liked him,

so it really shook me. It really did. And it's just sad, and we'll be distracted by, you know, Josh Bell and the other great stuff from yesterday, but really wanted to stay off the top of this show, just how sorry we are for the loss of Tyler Skacks. Didn't know if there's anything you wanted to add, Scott. we can we can move on no i mean you're right like when you know obviously we don't we don't know

these people but they become such a big part of our i mean the first time i tyler skaggs came across my radar was nine years ago um when he was involved in a trade center that diamond backs became a big prospect in their organization and we've been tracking them ever since and you get you know you get so invested in a guy's career and how he's developing and you know this is just really uh this really uh you know it it hits hard and you know you think about those who you know is such a small part of our world and you think about those that he's such a big part of and it just uh you know it's it's a really tough thing it is 27 years old gone too soon and uh we'll miss tyler skaggs all right monday standouts josh bell he was awesome four for six with three home runs

seven RBIs and three runs against the Cubs. He is now the number three hitter in fantasy. So Scott, one thing we're going to do today is get your top 24, your first two rounds for 2020 or is it for 2020 for the rest of 2019 or is it safe? For 2020 for 2020. Like next year. First round pick, Josh Bell? Not a first round pick, no.

But there's a chance we'll put his name out there. Three more home runs. This was written before the three whole. over Gabe, right? It was written as the three homers were happening. I had already committed to putting him in and I think he had hit two of the home runs. So, you know, maybe I should have moved him up a couple spots. I don't know. I don't know. One thing that really held him back his first two seasons is he was not good at PNC Park. He was not good at home. He is slugging. Slugging 729 at home this year after three home runs yesterday. And we talked about him as one of those, you know, big breakout hitters. Should you sell high on them?

and we said no, we bought it. Yeah, what do you have to say about Josh Bell other than the fact that he's great and he's going to be in your lineup rest of season? That's pretty much it. Yeah. I wonder, because obviously, two of the home runs came off Adbert Alzali,

and, you know, Al-Azalai gave up seven earned runs in two-and-two-thirds innings, and they start five of them off the bat of Bell, those two home runs, and, you know, how much of it was just making a couple of mistakes to a really hot hitter. Then again, Aalai also gave up, he gave up 10 hits total, and those were only

two of them. So it was a really bad start for Aalai. Which, you know, every pitcher at some point is going to have a start like this. You know, some of them eventually developed to a point

where they never really have starts quite this bad. And there was a lot to like about Aalai his first few starts. There was a lot to like about him. But we're already on Al-Sala. We are not done with Josh Bell yet. Scott White. Well, okay, this is what I want to know about Josh Bell.

What do you want to know? How shocking is this breakout to you? Were there seeds there that were planted? You know, like post-all-Star break last year, 823 OPS, seven home runs in 50 games. Nothing special, but a little bit more pal. Like five home runs in 96 games before the All-Star break, and then seven and 50 games after. 2017, he had 26 home runs in 159 games as a rookie. And he's obviously gigantic.

So you look at him and you're not surprised by the power. He's got, he's on pace. So thanks to the ESPN for this debt. He's on pace for the third most extra base hits in baseball history behind Babe Ruth and Lou Gehry. On pace for 112 extra base hits. So, you know, from a, yeah, from a dynasty perspective, you know, like was this surprising to you that he's able to break out, you know, to this degree? Well, you might remember, I was very excited when he first got called up. And I think he was among my breakouts or sleepers heading into last year.

But then, you know, it was such an unproductive season, even though he did finish better. And there was some talk that he was working on elevating the ball more. And, you know, it seemed like it took a while to manifest. But the numbers did improve in the second half. anything that led you to believe he's capable of this. So, you know, I was, I was kind of a downer on him coming into this season. I think it was Chris, actually, who we were one episode. And I think we pointed out our favorite sleeper or something for the upcoming season.

He chose Josh Bell. And I thought, wow, that's a weird choice. It felt like the, it felt like the hype had kind of died down justifiably. but clearly clearly not because this is I'm fully buying into it now as you said

we probably have since before the end of April yeah all right so now we're done with Josh Bell let's talk about Aouselai let's talk about Logan Allen because Logan Allen Allen's actually owned in more leagues

in Advert Aouselai and Aalai is 58% owned 10 hits seven runs in two and two thirds so I wanted to watch this start I did watch this start I own Albert Auberd Azzalai in my most important league.

So this was a big one for me. And he could not throw a strike. He was all over the place in the first inning. And I just said, oh, really? Yeah, he was falling behind. And then when he did throw strikes, they got crushed. So I thought he struck out the second batter of the game. I think it was a bad call, whatever.

But that was close. But so when Josh Bell came up, I was like very nervous. Bell hits this home run that was just rocketed. I didn't even see it land. I turned off the TV. said some just terrible things, Scott, and I was done with baseball for the rest of the night. So my question is, now I've gotten that off my chest, Al-Zalai and Logan Allen, who gave up six runs and four innings against the Giants, but his first two starts were good. Do you see a reason to keep them on your roster?

Well, Al-Zalai more than Allen, I was, yeah, the first two starts were good for Alan, but I was questioning the skills backing them when both in the minors leading up to his promoters. and in those first two starts, I guess we'll call them, although one was technically a relief appearance for Alzali. You know, he showed skills to get excited about. Yeah. But I feel like, first of all, his ownership percentage is pretty low heading into this start. Like, he wasn't a prospect of such a name that people were rushing

to grab him off the waiver wire, hadn't technically all five innings yet. I think you could probably get away with drop. them if you're looking for the free up a roster spot maybe for somebody like dylan c's when we talked about cis yesterday i put him behind alzali in terms of young recent or prospective call-ups that i'd want a roster now now i would move him ahead of alzalai uh because there's less heat on azzalai at this moment see how cis does in his major league debut wednesday allan i mean there's definitely pedigree there but he wasn't great at triple a and

And it hasn't shown great Matt bat missing ability in any of his first three starts. And yeah, bad start against the Giants especially is discouraging. He was a two-star pitcher. He was my favorite sleeper two-star pitcher in a not-so-great field for them. But the giant start was the one he was supposed to come through for you. Yeah, didn't work. Didn't not work. Okay.

No. All right. So disappointing night there for a one two-star pitcher in Logan Allen. I don't know if Al's Eli's getting a second start this week. If he does, it would be at the White Sox. Alan, it would be at the Dodgers. And that's pretty scary considering, you know, the Giants. Just rock them.

So we got a fun show today. We've got Scott's top 24. We've got Heath coming on in a little bit. Scott, you're not aware of that. But there's a reason. I'm going to tell you about it. Is he our guest? He's our special guest, yes, because we're playing a game today.

Oh, man. We play at the feud later out of the show. It's fine. It's all tickily hearing that music. Yes. All right, so that's coming up in just a little bit. Got some players we don't talk about much. Tommy Fam, Chris Bryant, Juan Soto, Yohan Moncada, Fernando Tatis. I have deemed them not talked about enough, and so we will talk about them.

Right now I want to talk about the biggest week in mixed martial arts this year. it has arrived. CBS Sports will be offering wall-to-wall coverage of UFC UFC-239. So Brian Campbell, Rashad Evans, and Brandon Wise are out at International Fight Week. Be sure to subscribe to the State of Combat podcast anywhere you find podcasts. It's called State of Combat for an exclusive interview with, I don't know how to pronounce this person's name, Amanda Nunes, and a full preview of UFC 239 with predictions and new interviews all week long. So even though I don't know how to pronounce that name, I guarantee you it's a big name in the world of UFC. They get huge guests on the State of Combat podcast.

It's awesome. Check it out. It's not just MMA either. It's boxing and wrestling, but this week I'm sure will be an MMA focus. News and notes, Houston is reportedly interested in Matt Boyd. Hypothetically, Scott, if Matt Boyd went to the Astros, and by the way, his ERA is 417 on the road, 336 at home, although not giving up as many home runs on the road, so I'm not sure I care about that. would that be good or bad?

Much worse park, but we know the Astros have their devil magic and they make everyone better. Right. They're not interested in a pitcher unless they feel like that pitcher has some untapped potential that they're going to maximize. Not by the way that Matthew Boyd needs to be any better.

I understand it'd be a tougher park for him and he is a little vulnerable to the home run, but most pitchers are these days And yeah, I think just from the perspective of improving his win potential, because as good as he's been this year's sub-500 record, it'd be a good thing. Okay. Brendan McKay DH last night, he went 0 for 4, did not strike out against Baltimore. Do you have any interest in Brendan McKay, the hitter this year?

Well, at least in CBS, you're not able to use Brendan McKay as a hitter yet, though there are apparently some things in the work. there. I am surprised that they're even using him as a hitter because he, his bat seemed way behind his arm in terms of developments and they're obviously competing for a playoff spot. So I don't know how regularly they're going to do this, but I was surprised to see it. Okay. Nate of Aldi, here's some big news.

Nate of Aldi, who's 58% owned. He will be the Red Sox closer when he returns from the IL. That's according to Nesson, their broadcast network. A true closer. Not part of the... Do you believe it? Do you believe that, though? What is this?

You think it's true? Well, there was nobody quoted in the report, so I have my doubts, but that's... I mean, it would be good news as opposed to guessing which of four arms is going to get the next save in the Red Sox bullpen. And I don't think anybody was too excited about the prospect of Avaldi as a starter again. I think he could be very good. I'm more interested in adding... he could have been no no no as a reliever

as a reliever I mean as a closer I think he could be very good he did he did he did relieve in the playoffs last year I think he made three or four one inning appearances he came in for like six innings against the Dodgers in that crazy extrading game

but just like one or one in a third and he pitched great I didn't give up any runs so we know he's going to be one of the hardest throwers it's pretty interesting 58% own and if he's available and you need saves to take a look meanwhile Jose Alvar Colorado is 43% own.

Diego Castillo is still on the IL, but should be back right after the All-Star break. Alvarado got a save for the raise yesterday, and he's 43% on, like I said. Who would you rather have, Alvarado or Ivaldi? Evaldi. Yeah, I mean, saves have been hard to pin down in the race bullpen this whole season.

Okay. Prefer the true closer. Kansas City released Brad Boxburger. Adam Frazier tied an MLB record yesterday with four doubles in one game. He did that against the Cubs. Jameson Tyome was supposed to throw over the weekend, but he did not. Meanwhile, Denelson Lamet could start this week for the Padres.

Your interest level in Denelson-Lamette, would you drop Al-Zalai or Logan Allen for Lament? I might drop Allen. Yeah, I kind of, I went back and looked at the numbers for Denelson Lament from his one season in the majors. I feel like the last time we talked about him, I kind of downplayed it. I mean, the strikeout rate was huge. he was, and he really got things going leading up to the injury. So, you know, let's not lose sight of the upside there for Denels and Lemette just because it's been a long time since we heard his name.

And frankly, it was kind of a Flash in the Pan, but definitely interesting. Yeah, he's not really very owned. I think 25% own to Nelson Lemette. And, yeah, could start this week. Like I said, I'm trying to look up his cable. Flash in the Pan was a bad phrase to use. But you get what I mean. Like he wasn't some like highly regarded prospect

that we were counting down the weeks until his rival. He got here though and pitched great. 25% on. He had 10.9 strikeouts per nine as a rookie. Okay. And what else we got in the news and notes? Adelberto Mondosey is on a rehab assignment. And since obviously I'm going to wish you all happy 4th of July in two days,

happy belated Canada Day, everybody. I forgot to say that yesterday. But happy Canada Day. We love Canada. I've been to Canada two or three times. Enjoyed it thoroughly. It was great. I saw an American football game, a preseason game up in Canada at the Skydome.

That must have been like 20 years ago or more than that. All right. Great story, Adam. All right, let's take a break here on Fantasy Baseball today. When we come back, we're playing the feud with Heath Cummings. We're right back. All right, welcome back. It's Fantasy Baseball today, and we're feuding.

Hey, what's up, Heath? Like, does anything sound more fun than getting Heath to play a game and look ridiculous after a week of vacation? That sounds like a blast to me. Ah, you should be fine. The categories I picked are pretty... They have nothing to do with last week. Don't even worry about it. All right, so who's the defending champ?

We think it's probably Heath, right? Probably the defending family fantasy booth. Yes, I did win on a technicality last game. Oh, great. All right. I'm sure that'll probably happen again. Got one, and then an emailer sent in a correction, and I won. You're taking a fantasy.

That was Jeopardy Heath. Which, Kabat. Yes, which I thoroughly dominated. But I tried to get rid in any way. It's like soccer. Oh, that's right.

I screwed that up so bad. Well, I will not screw up fantasy feud. Here we go. Give me Scott. Give me Heath. Top five answers are on the board. Give me your top five leaders in stolen bases. Heath.

Heath. Alberto Mondesie. The next. number one answer, sir. All right. Pass or play? I'll play. Okay. We need four more of the top base Steelers. Malick Smith. The number two answer. I can't believe you didn't say Malich Smith first. Man, I am so good at this game. What else he got? Oh, that's about it. Okay. Hey, that's the thing. Yeah. He run out pretty quickly. So I will go with Billy Hamilton. I didn't turn the volume up. Hold on.

There you go. Wrong. One strike. That was wrong. That was wrong, yeah. So I have one strike against me. Correct. Stop buying time.

You have 10 seconds. Trey Turner. Trey Turner is. Incorrect. Two strikes. So far we have Adelberto Mondesie and Malik Smith off the board, the top two base Steelers in MLB. Who else?

I have a right answer. Well, I'm really happy. for you, Scott. Pressure's odd, Heath. What's that? Pressure's odd. Yeah, I did not expect to win. Oh, you want an answer?

Yeah, I need an answer. I need an answer. I don't have a good choice. I'll say Christian Yellich. Hey, that's correct. He's on there. That was my answer. Oh, huge.

I encourage Scott and Heath to always have a list of the teams up. That's all. There's a list of teams to take a look so you don't forget people. We got to be a little faster here, Heath. What you got? Five seconds.

Give me an answer. Steels leaders. Cody Bellinger? I believe he only, I don't know how many. He think he has like eight steals. I think he has eight. Yeah. All right.

So Scott, we've got the number one answer at Alberto Monasee. Number two, Malik Smith. Number four, Christian Yellich. We are missing two names here. Can the Scott White family steal the category? I think so. Jose Ramirez. Way to go, Scott.

You get the point. The other answer, third on the list, he's only 25% owned. You believe that? Gerard Dyson. Gerard. I said Billy Hamilton. All right, here we go. Our next category, Scott White is up 1-0.

Give me the top five answers are on the board. Give me the leaders in hard contact rate. Scott. Scott. Yes, I am going to go with Joey Gallo. Joey Gallo. Oh, he doesn't qualify. Doesn't qualify.

What do we do about that? I will go with Cody Bellinger. Cody Bellinger is the number two answer, Heath. Would you pass or play? All right. I'll play. Okay, hard contact great with Bellinger off the board. Qualifying.

I got to ask, is this band graphs? or is this baseball Savonk? Okay, they're a little different. They've got to be qualified hitters.

Yes, obviously, yes. All right, who you got? Christian Yelich. Christian Yelich is the number one answer.

Good job. This is where it gets more difficult. Mike Trout. Mike Trout is incorrect. One strike. Oh.

Freddie Free Freddie Freeman is correct, Heath. Way to go. What number was he? He was number five. So we have Yelich 1, Bellinger 2, and Freeman 5. Two more in the hard contact leaderboard. Nolan Aeronato.

Nolan Aeronado is. Incorrect. Two strikes. Good guess. How are you feeling there, Scott? You feel like you got this? No. Oh, Pete Alonzo.

Wrong. All right, Scott, you got a chance to steal it again. Well, every time I talk about this guy, I bring this up, though. I know he's fallen off some of late, and he may not qualify anymore, but I am going to go with Christian Walker. Wow, Christian Walker! Wrong. And Heath takes round two, and we are tied. All right, Heath was very surprised that somebody wasn't on, so let's just make sure I'm right about this.

Who was it that you said that you thought I'm wrong about? I don't think I said, Pete Alonzo. I don't think I said I thought you were wrong. Let's see where Pita Lanzo ranks. Let's just see here. Pita Lanzo is third. No, just kidding. Pete Alonzo is 30th.

Wow. Yeah. Barely even hits the ball hard. All right. So who do we got? Who are we missing? It's Christian Yellich, Cody Bellinger, and Freddie Freeman.

Who is number three? This one might surprise you. Justin Turner. Oh, Justin Turner. And number four. Anthony Rendon. We underrated. Yeah, we're supposed to say it at the same time, right?

Yeah, but that's not going to happen. All right, Heath, good job. Justin Turner. I didn't know the answers. I couldn't say at the same time. Justin Turner being on that list was interesting there. So. Yeah.

All right, last category here. We're tied at one. And this is the Scott White specialty. The top five answers are on the board. Who are our leaders in swinging strike rate? Heath. Heath. Blake Snell.

Blake Snell is correct. Pass or play. Is he number one? He's number one, yeah. Wow, I am so good at this game. Um, you know, what the heck? I'll play. All right, play it up.

We got Snell off the board, swinging strike rate leaders, obviously qualified. So, um, what else? Who else you got? Um, I will go with, uh, Max Scherzerzer's number two. Good job. Thank you. Way to go. I'll go with Justin Verlander?

Justin Verlander's number three. Wow. Yeah, he's crushing it, folks. Snell, Scherzer Verlander, off the board, swinging strike rate leaders. No strikes yet. What do you got? This is going to get more difficult.

I don't know. I'll just, I'll go stick. Garrett Cole. Garrett Cole is. Correct. He's number four. Is he got to sweep the board, folks? I don't think so.

So far, I've just said Blake Snell and then I've gone down my pitcher rankings one through three. That's awesome. That's worked so far. I think it's going to get more difficult now. How about... I'm just going to cue up...

We just grew up the wrong sound. Woodruff is wrong. That's one strike. Sorry, I'd get the Eatsyye in there. Okay, what strike? What about Jacob de Grom? Jacob DeGromb! Two strikes.

Scott knows who it is. I got this. I could have swept this one, but my internet connection was messing up when Adam gave the topic. Oh, wow. DeGrom is seventh, by the way,

so you didn't miss by much. I don't think Scott's going to get this. All right, Heath. I think I'm going to get it. I think so. What do you got? It's been probably a week since I've checked, but.

Oh, I've used. Snell, Scherzer, Verlander, and Cole are off the board. Who's number five in swinging strike rate? You have five seconds. Lucas Gialito. Gellito's ninth. So DeGrom and Gielito were good guesses. All right.

Scott, a lot on the line right here. Ladies and gentlemen, fantasy feud is up for grabs. Scott won the first category. Heath won the second category. We have one answer remaining on the board. Who is fifth in baseball in swinging strike rate? Scott White. I've got a fever because the answer should.

Shane Bieber. And he is number six. I was going to be so mad if I lost because I have thoroughly dominated this competition. He is number six. You played everyone. He even gives Scott a chance to dominate

this competition. I couldn't get there. I got the quick hand. I got the right answer. That's what you're supposed to do. I guess so. Number five is just ahead of Shane Bieber. Luis Castillo. Luis Castillo.

I would have been really, really mad if it was Shane Bieber, and I didn't get it, too. Good for you guys. By the way, guessing 6-7 and 9. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, or 9? Number 8 is Chris Sale, by the way. Well, I'm really glad I came on. Yeah, you ought to stick around, or are you done? No, I'm done.

All right. Yeah. All right, that's fine. That works. Plugged in on the vacation. You said all you did was watch baseball. I did, and I just, I won. I'm now the feud and the Jeopardy returning champion.

Just in case you're interested, Heath. If you want to stick around, Scott is going to tell us who his first two rounds of 2020 are. Well, that sounds exciting, but I will just listen later. Okay. Thanks, guys. Then I think for the sake of our video team, as they have to juggle things around, let's take one more quick break here on fantasy baseball today. When we come back, we are redrafting the first two rounds,

but there's also a lot more to talk about from yesterday's games. So we'll be right back on fantasy baseball today. Well, that was fun. Thank you to Heath for coming on. Scott, more from yesterday. All right, players, we don't talk about much. Not all of them played yesterday, but Tommy Fam. Tommy Fam's team played, but he didn't.

Just give me a quick thought, you know, what he is so far, what do you think he is for the rest of the season? I'll tell you what Tommy Fam is. He is the number 26 outfielder and points, number 34 in Roto, 852 OPS, very solid season, 13 homers, seven steals. I don't know. He just sort of exists out there, Tommy Fam. Give me your thought. Yeah, for staying healthy, I think it's a little underwhelming. it's a little less than I thought he'd be in a healthy season,

in part because he doesn't elevate the ball very well. So, you know, actually has a high home run to fly ball rate, but he's running less often than I thought he would. Good play discipline, which helps. Now, must start probably, but, you know, not quite the category specialist. I thought he could be. Yeah, I think you more or less just leave him in your lineup, right? I mean, I guess in a three-out fielder league, you might be a little disappointed.

But he's also a streaky player, so maybe he'll get hot, but, you know, fam's been good, not great. Chris Bryant. Chris Bryant has been much better in points leagues than he has in Roto because Bryant's plate discipline is terrific. 44-walk, 67 strikeouts in 81 games. He has a 933 OPS. But you look at Bryant overall.

He's the number 20 hitter in points leagues, number 36 in Roto. Still fine. First 16 games, 668 OPS. Next 35 games, he just went down. nuts. He had 12 home runs. He had a 13. He hit 1132 OPS. Last 30 games, he's batting 300, but only three home runs in his last 30 games. So I don't know. I'm also a little underwhelmed by Chris Bryant. I suppose where you got him, he's been fine. But he's not back to, if you look at the batted ball data, it's not what it was in 2016, which still is his best year yet.

Yeah. He's definitely avoided the worst case in there. I mean, he's reestablished himself as a stud when after last season, I mean, I didn't really know what he was going to be. But he was, when we do the, when we do look at the top two rounds for next year, he is outside of it. Better in points of leagues than Roto probably because he walks so much. But still, he's just gotten outclassed in a crowded hitter field. Right, which is why I was surprised you used the word stud for him for Chris Bryant. You know, a stud in like the third or fourth round sense. Okay.

How about Juan Soto? Juan Soto, this is what you need to know about Wonsoto. His slash line, nearly identical year over a year. Slugging a little bit better this year, a little bit more power, but he's been a very similar hitter. And with an I-Elston, he's played 73 games. Most teams have played about 81, 82, maybe up to like 84. Top 15 outfield, they're 15th and point.

12th in Rodo. Give me your thoughts on Juan Soto. Yeah, I think he's rebounded nicely after a slow start, and I'm pretty pleased with what he's done. It's not like the power for a high-end hitter is kind of low in this environment.

I think that's the first time I said that this show. But, yeah, I mean, his strikeout rate was high early, and that was kind of frustrating because it was hurting the batting average, but it's gotten better every month. I think he's good. Okay, yeah, it's very good. So who do you like better, Juan Soto or Chris Bryant?

Bryant. Really? Interesting. Mm-hmm, yeah. All right. Yo on Moncada. You know, my take on Moncada is that after his hot start, I'm talking like his first six games,

he had about a 1,400 OPS. He's been good, not great. And that's 68 games with an 8. 38 OPS, which is very good. But in this environment, it's not amazing. You're still very happy with it. He's been a steal in drafts. But yeah.

Has he taken the step we were kind of thinking that he, I don't know that I ever was. I don't know if you ever were, but I think Chris and Heath, I don't want to speak for them. Has he taken that step, though, that it looked like he might be taking early in the year? I think this is like if you were imagining you on Moncada's ceiling it's a little less I mean it's a little more than this so he hasn't quite played up to what I thought his ceiling was but he's he's cut down on his strikeouts enough that I feel like this is legitimate and and like he's he's basically must start

right at second base position that's the position that's probably most lacking in high end to players. And I wouldn't call him a high-end players, but he's, you know, among the top 12 pretty much deserves to be starting. I guess he's probably just going to be third base next year, right? Has he played any second this year? I don't think so. That's an interesting factor in his future evaluation. Yoamon Mokada, yes. And Fernando Tatis, we maybe are taking him for granted how awesome he's been. I know we have doubts about the batting average because he strikes out so much.

But Fernando Tatis is averaging 4.06 fantasy points per game, and that's his worst format. He's better in Rodo than he is in points. But four fantasy points per game is really good. It's better than Trevor's story, for example. What do you think about Tatis? I mean, showing 30-30 potential as a 20-year-old. I don't know how you don't get excited about that.

Yes, I mean, he has a 443 BAPE, which is crazy high, and his XBA is startlingly low. I wouldn't be surprised if he hit 260 the rest of the way, but I also wouldn't be surprised if nobody was really minding that he hit 260 the rest of the way because he provides so much else. So exciting player this young, you know, he's a future first rounder. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, he certainly appears to be very excited about Fernando Tatis.

Double Dongs from yesterday, other than Josh Bell, who went yard three times. We had A. E. E. E. E. E. Hainio Suarez, still not a top 12 third baseman. He's 14th in points, 15th in Roto. And Galvis, over the last 28 days, has an 866 OPS, which actually makes him number 19 in points, number 13 in Roto at shortstop. But it's still, I mean, the raw numbers were good. 299 with six home runs and four doubles.

866 OPS for Galvis in his last 28 days. Scott, a thought on Suarez and or Galvis? I think Galvis is not really worth the trouble especially with as many options just a deep league option for sure Yeah, Eohenio Suarez

I think he's pretty good still And I don't know if he will meet last year's batting average That was the most questionable part Of last year's line and obviously he's fallen short of it But I don't really I hesitate to call him a disappointment

because the power has certainly been there, and I can't imagine anybody's given much thought to sitting him if they own him. Would you rather have Ahio Hes Juanao Suarez or Josh Donaldson? Suarez. Justin Turner. Suarez. Seeing Justin Turner, by the way, top five in hard contact rate, I just got to feel like there's some more power coming.

I don't know why there wouldn't be. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's been something I've been feeling from the beginning, and it hasn't really come through yet. True. I do, too, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at, like, he's, he is hitting not necessarily more ground balls, but fewer fly balls.

And he seems to have replaced them with line drives this year, which would explain his awesome batting average. But he's just crushing the ball. Yeah, and line drives are. of course hit hard. Yeah, that's what it is. I mean, the home run to fly ball rate is pretty consistent with the previous two seasons.

It's very, very similar for Justin Turner. So really, if he's going to hit more home runs, he's got to hit more fly balls, and he's got a pretty low fly ball rate. So, but, you know, one way or the other. I think you're going to get something. You're going to get batting average or, well, I wonder where Justin Turner ranks at third base.

Let's find out. 6, 7, 8, 90s, when last night, like 18th, at least in points league. Is he behind Donaldson? He is behind Donaldson. He is behind Donaldson? He's behind Suarez.

Now, is that a games played issue? He's played 77 games. Nine home runs doesn't really help. All right, moving on. Fringy starting pitchers. Trevor Williams did not pitch well, but he got a win. Three starts since coming off the I.L. Williams has been terrible. He's 70% own.

He does have Milwaukee at home this weekend. Tyler Malley. So pretty interesting. Tyler Malley had been lobbying his manager, David Bell, to let him pitch deeper into games. So Malley goes, six innings gives up one run. They bring him out for the seventh,

and he does not record an out. It gives up two runs, two runs charged to him. So I'm not sure he's pitching into the seventh ever again. His opponents are crushing him third time through the order. But Malley was good, and his walk to strikeout rate is exceptional. 22 walks and 92 strikeouts.

Jeff Samarja was good. I doubt we care. Ryan Yarbrough. was disappointing, mostly because he didn't get a win. But he went three innings. He gave up one run. Whip was high, three strikeouts, but only three and a half fantasy points for Yarbrough. So Williams is 70% owned, Trevor Williams, and then Malley, Samarja and Yarbrough are

less than 40% owned, Scott. What do you think about that group? Yarbrough and Mali are the ones I have some interest in, but they're pretty fringy in mixed leagues and I certainly wouldn't be rostering them over any of the young pitchers we've been talking about the last couple days. Williams and Samarja, especially Samarja. I just have no interest in whatsoever. Okay.

Hitters from yesterday flying through this so we can save some time for the next, the first two rounds of 2020. All right, Brandon Lau, how concerned are you getting about Brandon Lau? he is batting 136 with no home runs in his last 13 games 12 games we were a little concerned because his babit was crazy high his strikeout rate extremely high so extremely high i mean are we looking at should fernando tatis owners be paying attention to what's happening to brayden low right now no no because fernando tatis his strikeout rate isn't you know it's not good but it's not like this this is joey gallo level of striking out for Brandon Lowe and there's a reason Joey Gallo

prior to this year has basically been a 200 hitter. Nobody should be able to be able to survive this kind of strikeout rate unless they have really, really, really good power. Brandon Lough has really good power,

but I had hoped because there wasn't a history of this level of striking out in in Lowe's past that the strikeout rate itself would improve, and that hasn't happened. It looks like, you know, even now batting 268, the Bavits 3.73, so there could be more regression to come. Is he dropable?

He's been so good. It's hard to say that, but he also sits against lefties, Brandon Lough, not always, but often. Yeah. Like, would you drop Brandon Lough for Cabin Bigeo or Kestin Hira? I would drop him for Kestin-Low. and Hira and Cabin Vizio, yes. All right.

And then let me get your take on two outfielders who played yesterday and did, I guess, noteworthy stuff. Randall Gritchick, 48% owned, for some reason, and Corey Dickerson, 39% owned. And Dickerson has a 908 OPS, by the way, and 11 doubles in 24 games. Holy cow. Yeah. He does sit against lefties. They're both part-timers. and I mean, I guess Gritchick plays pretty often,

but there just isn't enough there. I mean, five outfielder leagues, maybe you get desperate and you have to use one of them, but I'm not really hopeful that they're going to, you know, ascend to a higher tier of fantasy interest here. In the bullpen, Jeremy Jeffress got a save, but Josh Hader pitched the eighth because he was facing the top of the order. I have to imagine that's what that was all about.

And in deep leagues, Scott will probably give a quick no on these guys. Austin Slater, Giants outfielder. I believe he did have some good minor league numbers. And he homered. He went two for five with a home run at San Diego. And then Baltimore starting pitcher Tom Eschelman gave up two runs in five innings with zero strikeouts in his major league debut. But neither Slater nor Eschleman is owned.

They're both 0% owned. They're probably owned in some leagues, but not enough to register as even 1% own. What do you think about Austin Slater and Tom Eschleman? That is so low end. One thing I say pretty often when somebody points out that a bad player had good minor league numbers is, yeah, you wouldn't have gotten this chance if he didn't get minor league numbers. Well, Eschelman is an example of a player who got a chance in spite of not having good minor league numbers. So, yeah, we can move on. Look at those highlights.

Those might be his parents. I know, and his parents. And then here I am trashed in the guy. I feel bad now. Yeah, well, let's look at this pitch. Slow ground ball to short. Did they turn it? Wow.

I don't know. Yeah, that's going to need a review. Generous call there. You know, when I watch, so what we were watching is a highlight of a ground ball to short and a flip to second base that just barely beat the runner who was going on the pitch, it seems. When I watched those plays, a close play at second base,

they always look safe to me. They always look safe. Yeah. And they're always always called out. And I'm like, what? And then I'm like, oh, I'd probably out. I know exactly what you mean. I don't know what it is.

Yeah, always say. All right. They're usually right when they make the call. Exactly. But they're better than I am. All right. So listen, we got a bunch of emails to get to at fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Scott's first two rounds for next year.

First, this prospect email from Morgan Foist. The pronunciation, I don't know. Subject is Gavin Lux. Gavin Luxe. Gavin Lux is absolutely crushing AAA. Should I pick up Gavin Luxx now? in Keeper slash Dynasty Leagues? I don't know how deep your prospect roster is in your particular dynasty league.

I imagine not deep if he's not already owned because Gavin Lux was Baseball America's number 40 prospect entering the season. So yeah, definitely has dynasty appeal. I don't think he's going to be a big contributor this year. That's what you want to know, but definitely a prospect. First round pick for the Dodgers. He's got a 935 OPS this year in the minors. Last year, it was 913. So he also steals some bases.

He had a 27 steel season in 2017. All right, pretty good prospect. But they're going to be pretty good at shortstop once the All-Star breaks up and we get Corey Seeger back. Is he playing shortstop? It just lists him as a shortstop. I don't even know. Some second base too. And yeah, it seems like he'd have to move to, you know,

when the time comes for him to break in. And he's only played four games at AAA. It's been mostly at AA. But in those four games, he has a 1494 OPS. He's batting 500. That's Gavin Lux. All right, this guy's Gavin Luxe in your first two rounds next year? No.

No. No, no. Not even Corey Seeger. Let's see who's made it. Let's see what I disagree with. I can get all angry about. What do you got? First two rounds for next year.

All right. Number one. Mike Trout. Disagree. Really? If Christian Yelich keeps it up, I think he should be the first pick in fantasy. He's got ten more steals than Trout.

Some made the case for Mookie bets over Trout this year. I know. And I'm the guy who's always, and I'm always like, No, you got to take Trout. I'm never this guy. But, look, Trout in the past has looked like he wasn't going to run. And then he came back and he became like a 25-30 steel guy again.

So he could do that next year. But if he's a mid-teen steals guy and Yelich is a mid-30 steals guy, I'm going to be pretty tempted to take Yelich first. Trout, one, it can't backfire. And when people have tried going a different direction, it has backfired every time. So, yeah, there's just no doubting Trout at the top for me. number two however is Christian

Yellich okay number two what's crazy to think is that like you know the conversation was he'll never be that good again last year

he'll never hit that many homerats again maybe he can be really good but not that good and now he's on pace to at least challenge what many still consider to be the single season homeride record so you know good for him

all right number three number three is Cody Bellinger number three who you know he might be challenging Yellich for the number two spot if as we mentioned earlier he hadn't slowed down on the base paths

and he's only he's only 8 for 13 so it hasn't been a good success rate it makes sense that he slowed down Yelich meanwhile is running wild he's going to set a career high and steals this year too so that's enough to decide that gap right there number four

you want to guess is bets it's best it's Yeah. Who hasn't been, you know, really in this group in terms of production this year. But this is the downside for him, right? And he's still a stud. And we know the upside is trout level.

So, yeah, let me weigh in on bets. Because when I was watching the Yankees game, Yankees Red Sox game on Sunday, yeah, Sunday, they had a pretty revealing what's wrong with Mookie Betts talk. It's basically come down to this. He's being too passive. he's not swinging enough and his plate discipline's been great but they need him to be more aggressive

it's that simple probably not just that simple but that was the simplest explanation and another thing that the pitching coach said was that like he's the reigning MVP and I don't know how big of a deal this is but pitchers like sometimes he gets an extra mile per hour or two pitchers want to bring their best

they get geeked up to face mooky bets like teams going to Golden State that was the comparison made They always get their best. So, you know, it seems fixable. It hasn't really been a strikeout thing for him. Just putting that out there. Not that you were necessarily saying it has been,

but there may have been an implication there. He's not pulling the ball. He's not pulling the last three years now, where he's basically performed at his floor. Right. But he needs to pull the ball more, he needs to be more aggressive. All right, so Trout, Yelich, Bellinger, Betts.

Number five? Another familiar name here. Nolan Aronado. That's right. Yeah. Hits 300 with 40 homers every year, challenges for the RBI total. And yet,

some people don't like drafting of this high. I don't get it. I guess he doesn't steal bases. Number six, old guy, Max Scherzer. Yep. Yes. He's going to turn 35 next year.

Certainly getting to be a scary age, but the way like nobody's allowed to put up the stats he does anymore. So you have to roll the dice to fill starting pitcher with a stud. Along those lines, number seven, this might be the first controversial choice really, is Chris Sale. Yeah, no way. Chris Sale. No way.

Well, we'll see. I think that the second half is going to determine that. Because I think that he's pitching that well. But I don't know that I take him seventh. For sacrificing so much velocity, his K-per-9 is over 13. It's, you know, last year was a career best season in terms of ratios. And he's basically matched those since that bumpy April when, you know, which basically served as his spring training.

So, you know, there's no doubt in my mind. He is, it's probably better equipped to pick a big word workload by not throwing as hard. And he can handle it. That could be. All right. Number eight is Francisco Lindor. Makes sense.

Francisco Lin. Yeah. Actually, he's well behind pace last year, but he's kind of like mooky bets, where particularly since he's kind of reinstilled the stolen bases this year, shown that that's really a part of the skill set. There's just the floor is so high. It must be hard at this point to differentiate the hitters.

You know? It is. It is. There are so many. and it really gets to be tough in the second round, especially. But number nine, because it is so hard to differentiate the hitters, another pitcher. You want to guess which pitcher it is?

We've already had Scherzer and sale. I'm going to say it's Garrett Cole. It is Garrett Cole. Very good. Garrett Cole, number nine. The Astros have kind of made him this, though, and there's a good chance he's with a different team next offseason, next season, free agent that's off season.

So that's just something to keep in mind. Number 10 Number 10 is Freddie Freeman Hey, there you go Righty Freeman Not controversial to you? No, I think

He will 100% give you a good batting average He's one of the best hitters in baseball He's one of the best hitters in baseball I mean he's on pace for 40 homers this year Which is a mark he hasn't achieved before But there were some injuries Like basically three of the past four years he's been this kind of power hitter.

It wasn't last year the year he stayed healthy. But I'm happy to count on that kind of power from him. Number 11. And you could maybe justify moving this guy up three or four spots. In fact, depending on how the second half goes, I can see him being top five next year. Number 11 is Ronald Acuna. Yeah, you know what? I know you saw the tweet I had on Saturday morning.

Since they moved Acuna to the lead-off spot, it has been a fantasy changer. He has been, I believe, a top five hitter because he's running, he's running wild. So Trout, Yelich, Bellinger, Betts, Aeronado, Scherzer,

Sale, Lindor, Cole, Freeman, Acuna, and finish out, that's number 11, right? Yep. All right, finish out, with Trevor Story. Yeah, I was going to say,

He should be a first rounder. Yeah. He barely made it. But yeah, I agree. He was a first round producer last year, too. We just obviously had doubts that he could repeat that lower strikeout rate and that he keeps stealing bases. But he's done both. And so he deserves to be valued like that now.

All right, quick programming notes, Scott. We've got like eight minutes left. So I want to read emails. But Scott and I are going to do a mailbag show that's going to air on July 4th. We're going to record it on Wednesday. in that mailbag show will reveal the second round, which is going to be a much bigger guessing game than the first round. Trout, Yelich, Bellinger, Betts, Aeronado, Scherzer, Sale, Lindor,

Garrett Cole, Freddie Freeman, Ronald O'Cunia, and Trevor Story. That's your round one. And I don't, the only one that stands out to me is risky is Chris Sale, but that's because I feel like he's risky right now, just because of the shoulder issue, and the fact that he's always seemed to sort of struggle by his, senses, at least in August and September. But I think this is a great first round.

Maybe I've got to dig in a little bit more on Lindor. But what you want, the guys who can steal bases and hit for power, and, you know, Lindor is obviously one of them. So I love it. I love the first round. It's great. Yeah. We'll get the second round on Wednesday, which will air on Thursday.

Right now, let's read some emails of Fantasy Baseball at CBCI.com. This is from Tim. Hey, guys, is it me or do the new baseball's bum scot out huge? Yeah. I mean, is it new again this year? I know, I know AAA has adopted the major league ball, so it's a new ball for them. I don't know. I mean, obviously, this is...

The cork in the center of the ball, the pill in the center of the ball is off center or something like that, creating less drag. So that's, you know, that's all I know. But this isn't the same thing we were talking about three years ago. This is brand new. I don't know, because last year the home run rate went down. But Scott does not like this, here it is, environment. No, no, I mean, it's, like, it's made it such a three true outcomes game that, I mean, home runs have become not the exciting thing they used to be, and there's not much action in between the home runs. I think it should bum everybody out, frankly.

Right. I thought the games in London were awful. Like, like, almost five hours of that crap. Just terrible pitching. Okay, from Rob. Hey, Tom, Greg, and John. We know them. They're Braves.

Should I drop? Yes, the big three. Should I drop? Braves could do no wrong with pitching. Carlos Carrasco for Dylan Seas. Should I drop Carasco for Seas? You there? Scott?

No. What happened? I wouldn't do that. Where did you go? I don't know. My connection has been kind of messed up this whole show. Oh, yeah? All right. Interesting. I'm surprised this is the first time you've noticed. I'm thankful this is the first time you

noticed. But yeah, no, I wouldn't do that. Okay. From Austin, Bieber or Cinderguard rest of season? I will go with Bieber. I will go with Bieber. And that's, that's going to be an interesting name in the mailbag show when we talk about the second round. So stay tuned. Wow. Okay. Not really a spoiler, but we'll get into it then. All right, all right. From Luke. Who do we do. I drop when I activate Trevor's story. Jason Kipness or Kevin Newman? Newman. No, actually, I would drop Kippis. I mean, you could go either way. I would drop

Newman because I feel like there's just not a ceiling to get excited about there, but Kipness obviously hasn't been good for a long time, and that'd be fine, too. This is from Jeff. Hey, I'm hanging on to first in the standings now. I was offered Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for my Jonathan VR in an eight-team, A.L. Only league, but I'm middle in the pack in steals, average, in RBIs. I'm on top in homers and runs. So, you know, he kind of needs the steals. Would you give up VR to get Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? Did he say if it was keeper or not? Did not say. I don't think he'd get that trade if it were

there. But I probably not even a question. I still think I wouldn't redraft. As hard as Vladimir your guru is hitting the ball. I think there are better days ahead. Yeah, V.R. has actually been a top 12 second basement. He has 16 steals. I don't know that it's been worth it, but look, 10 home runs is also isn't that bad. He stinks, but it's been fine, whatever.

From Brian. What's up, guys? I'm looking to trade a couple of pitchers for a bat. I've been trying to figure out who I should sell. So how would you rank these guys rest of season? Hermann Marquez, Mike Minor, and Lance Lynn. I would rank them

minor Marquez and Lynn, but they're very close. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I think shopping Lynn makes sense. I've been skeptical you could get full value for Lynn just because he's Lance Lynn and his reputation isn't great. But maybe he's, and he still has a four-year area, so I'm still skeptical. But maybe I'm wrong. From Casey, who would you rather have, Cabin Bigio or Kestin-Hira?

Yes, I feel like this was something we've talked about the past couple days. Yeah. I'm saying Hira, but I'm willing to acknowledge, like, it could be wrong. I mean, Kevin Vizio's look great. I think Hira has a higher ceiling. I think his skill set is a little better, but Vigio's, Bizio's is more, like, well-rounded. Like, he's good on base skills. He can run in Hira can't, so it's almost a coin flip.

It's just amazing, like how much things have changed that Scott would get, would take a guy who has like three walks to 30 strikeouts or something over this amazing on-base guy. His plate discipline, I just don't think means as much as we thought it did or maybe what it used to. Because Heroes plate discipline is terrible, and Bigio has an amazing walk rate. I don't think Heroes is going to be terrible. It might this year. too. It might. He had, he got a, it was better that final week. Like, he was just bad before that final week, uh, leading up to Travis Schall returning here, getting sent down. And then he got, he had a great week. And basically his AAA season followed that same pattern. Tone of strikeouts, no walks early on,

and then became much better. So I, I think it's just an adjustment period he goes through. I don't think it's going to be the norm. If I did think it was going to be a norm, then I definitely say, All right, Scott, real quick on these last two from Connor. Would you drop any of these guys? Oh, he needs to drop one. Who should he drop? Carpenter, Chris Taylor, Lordus Gurriel, or Vado? Points League, 10 teams.

Carpenter, Chris Taylor, Lordus Guriel, or Votto. I think Taylor's a pretty easy answer. Yep, I agree. Though Guriel might be the least likely I drop from this list, which is notable. From David, in a shallow league, I'm looking to pick up Brendan McKay. Should I drop Scooter Jeanette or Gene Sagregg? They are my worst hitters right now. It's a Categories league.

Yeah, I don't see much reason to hold on to Cigura if you have shortstop build. He's, he just doesn't compare to really the top 15 at that position in terms of outside. Maybe, I think I have him outside my top 20. Yeah, he doesn't really run much. And just, just you better be talking about McKay the pitcher. It's not worth doing this for McKay the hitter, but for the pitcher, yeah, you can do it. All righty. That's Scott. Thanks to Heath for coming on. Thanks for sitting with us while we played the feud today. I'm Adam Azer. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Wednesday with a real show. And then we'll have a pre-recorded one for you on Thursday's show. Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Baseball video.