Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/03: Worryometer, Underowned Hitters, Regulators (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 3, 2019

Starting out with some standouts (2:00) including Danny Jansen, Rafael Devers and Aaron Nola. Are Devers and Nola as good as they've been lately? We also have some prospects you need to know about (10:40) and news and notes (16:25) ... Worryometer (20:30) for Jack Flaherty, Trevor Bauer and Jake Odorizzi. Is anyone on this list droppable? We then give you some underowned hitters (24:00) and we talk trade with "Buy Low or Heck No?" (33:40) and the Most Traded list (44:00). Players discussed include Jose Altuve, Jose Ramirez, Michael Conforto and Giancarlo Stanton ... Discussing what's been a crazy season at Coors Field (47:50) and recapping yesterday's pitching performances (50:30) as we rank aces and wonder what to do with Dallas Keuchel, Ross Stripling and German Marquez. And the "Heath Sigh" and Fantasy Regulators are back (55:00)! ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS sports. One, one pitch, basketball pulled and fast. Alvarez and toward the corner. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris.

Wednesday, July 3rd. I've got a very light worryometer on this wariometer Wednesday. We welcome you to fantasy baseball today. Atta Bazer and Heath Cummings here. I don't know, Heath, I guess I'm in a good mood. I feel like it's pretty much vacation day. We don't have to work on Thursday or Friday. We are busy today, making sure we have content for Thursday and Friday.

But I see you're wearing a red shirt. I'm wearing a blue shirt. We are very patriotic. We beat England yesterday, USA, and hello Heath Cummings. Were you mad at me when I tweeted yesterday about your terrible take about the tea sipping? I wasn't mad at you, but I think you're wrong. You're kind of mad at me. I think you're wrong.

I don't think that they should be mocking England in the World Cup. I think it was wrong. I didn't like it. I didn't like the whole T thing. I didn't like it. Twitter seemed to disagree with you. But yeah, no, I'm very happy. Today does not seem like vacation day to me because this is the first of four podcasts that we're going to be doing today.

That's true. But, you know, tomorrow is vacation day. Yeah. So, right, he and I are each recording four shows today. I'll give you the programming announcement a little bit. I want to get right into baseball here because we do have the Wuriometer. We got some players that are pretty, I think some of them are pretty under-owned. Like Jackie Bradley Jr., I'm starting to buy into a little bit, and he's only 35%-owned.

Mark Kana is 4%-owned. You might be able to do 4%. I'm not saying he needs to be even 20%-owned, but maybe 20. Anyway, I got some under-owned players, some emails, and we're getting a visit from the regulators a little bit. later and I didn't have the music queued up so there you go. All right, so Heath says

I can't guess his I can't guess his standout. And he's right, I have no idea who his standout's going to be but let me... I could give you some clues though if you want to turn into a little game. Okay. He homered yesterday. How many times? Over his last seven game. What was that? How many times?

He only homered once. Okay. Over his last seven games. He has 10 hits, including two doubles, three home runs, and zero strikeouts. Danny Jansen. Danny Jansen is my standout. Still has a batting average below 200 for the season. Still has an OPS below 600.

But this is a guy we were all pretty excited about coming into the year as a top 10, top 12 catcher. We have talked in the past about how it can take longer for catchers to adjust to hitting at the major league level because they have so much. much put on their plate with handling a pitching staff at the major league level. And so I'm willing to believe that maybe he's starting to come around as a hitter. At the very least, he's only 26% owned. I think that's too low. Yeah, but I'm sorry to say this. Carson Kelly should be added before Danny Jansen, and Kelly's like 30% owned.

And I did add him yesterday. I dropped Josh Feigley for Kelly. Jansen caught my eyes. I knew that this would turn into a Carson Kelly discussion. And I do agree that he should be owned in more leagues than Danny Jensen. He has 33% owned, so he is owned in more leagues than Danny Jensen. A little bit of a concern, though, with Carson Kelly, because exactly what I feared has happened. Alex Avila's come back and he started twice since coming back, and that's going to eat into Kelly's playing time a little bit.

Also notice that Jason Castro, who homered twice, is eating into Mitch Garver's playing time a little bit now. So catcher's pretty interesting at the moment. one guy that is on waivers in our podcast league that I didn't add and I probably would add Danny Jansen or Carson Kelly over and maybe I'll regret it Heath Buster Posey. Just don't really care for Buster Posey right now. I think it's a little too far to say we're going to add

Danny Jansen or Carson Kelly over Buster Posey. Well, not Kelly. Jansen, yes, but I agree on Jansen. I'm going to stick with my Kelly take. I'd take Kelly over Posey. I would still take Posey. over Kelly, especially in that that's a points league. Yep. And I would expect

over the rest of the season that Buster Posey's going to play considerably more than Carson Kelly. And Posey's been hitting a little bit lately. A little bit, like two games. But I don't, all right, enough with catchers. How about third base?

How about Raphael Devers? Two home runs yesterday. He got off to such a bad start that some people may have actually dropped Raphael Devers. And I wouldn't have necessarily blamed you after 2018 when he hit 240 with 21 homers and 121 games. Now, Rafael Devers is the number, he's the number two third baseman in Roto, third in points behind Bregman.

Aronado's won in both formats than Bregman, then Devers and points. It's just Aronado and Devers and Roto. But he's a top 13 hitter in either format, and he's really breaking out, do you buy it? Now, he's hitting lefties much better than he has in the past, but do you buy it

because it's not like he's hitting the ball harder this year I think the main thing Heath is that Devers is striking out a lot less Yeah I mean there's a couple of things here One I don't quite buy it to this level But we're talking about a guy that's still just 22 years old So when he was having even limited success in the major leagues at 20 years old You had to feel like this type of breakout was possible Maybe not just not quite to this extent

It's been a little bit of everything. The strikeouts are down. He's on pace to steal like 15 bases or something this year. The power numbers are up without a great explanation for why. I mean, there are more line drives. The hard contact looks about the same. The home run to fly ball ratios pretty much the same. I don't think he'll be a top five third baseman rest of season,

but I feel pretty confident he's going to be top 10. Do you feel confident that Aaron Nola is back? Last three starts, one run, 28 strikeouts in 23 innings. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what reason for concern. I mean, it's three starts in a row now of just absolute brilliance. So, yeah, I'm in.

Okay, would you rather have Noah's Cindergarde or Aaron Nola? I will be moving Nola ahead of Cindergarde if I don't already have him ahead of Cindergarde. I think I, yeah, I had him one spot ahead of Center Guard before this starts. The one that's interesting for me, and I was, is the guy I had just ahead of Nola. It was Trevor Bauer. I think I've got to put Nola ahead of Bauer now, too. So that's going to make Nola 19th.

I don't know that I'm going to move him ahead of Woodruff yet. That's funny that you think that Aaron Nola is back, right? That's what you said? He's, yeah, he's Nola again. And he's only 19th in your rankings. There have been some guys, you know, I guess there's been guys move both directions. Yeah. I don't know that he has the same upside as like Lucas Gialito or Brandon Woodruff who have leapfrogged him.

Okay. Is he still an ace though? Does that mean there are close to, that there are 20 aces? Yeah, I think it does. I would take, I think there's one guy that you might want to move down behind Nola, and that's Paxton, who you have 16th. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not concerned.

I'm going to be concerned about it all year. It's just the knee. And yesterday was fine, but only three strikeouts. They're talking about getting his momentum going toward the plate more. I don't know. I've just worried about the knee. I'd rather have the healthy Aaron Nola than the guy who I'm pretty sure is pitching her. They say he isn't, but no, but Paxon himself said while he was on the aisle that he was going to have to deal with this knee injury all year long.

So I don't really believe Aaron Boone. I think that's fair. I could see Nola had a Paxon, which would make Nola 18th. All right. We're, yeah. Okay. All right then. Yeah, I mean, your top 18 is pretty good.

Those are good pitchers there. Today's sponsors are SeatGeek and Lightstream. You want to save $10 bucks on your first Seatgeek purchase when you're going to a baseball game or any type of game or concert, comedy, whatever. A lot of events on Seek geek. And this is a company that's really grown to become so legit and so popular. The code is Fantasy for $10 off your first purchase on Seatgeek. Fantasy. Download the app or go to Seatgeek.com.

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I'm actually recording it tonight. Got a guest coming on for that and maybe Scott. And it's going to be mostly mailbag plus a little bit of reaction to what's going on in today's games, including Dylan Cease, who's making his major league debut. But email us at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Maybe put mail. Whatever. You don't have to put anything in the subject line.

Just something Fantasy Baseball related. It's fine. And the State of Combat Podcast is hot this week. It is a big week in MMA. They've got big interviews, great coverage. Check out the State of Combat podcast. Anywhere you get your podcast. Go to CBSports.com slash podcast for a complete list of our shows.

Heath mentioned he's doing four shows today. I'm doing four shows today, so here's what they are. This one now. Fantasy football today, that's airing today. We're doing projections all week. We've had two episodes so far of Heath and Ben Gretsch giving their projections for each team. We're doing two divisions per show. So that's two shows.

Heath is going to be on the Pick Six podcast. That's his third. Heath is also going to be on the second, the projections FFT Fantasy Football Today podcast that will air tomorrow. That'll be his first. and my third and my fourth podcast will be tonight, FBT, that'll air on July 4th. Hope everybody has a great July 4th. Let me just get that out there now. Safe July 4th. And I love America.

We just don't think we have to taunt the British when we beat them in soccer or football. Heath, some prospects to talk about. I don't know how to pronounce his name. And I couldn't find a video yesterday. The guy on the Astros who pitched yesterday. Jose. Erkiti. Erkiti.

Is that what he's going by, though? That has, yes, that is his name. I think he changed his name in the offseason. In CBS, when I added him, his name was Jose Hernandez. Okay. I added him in a couple of leagues. Really interesting guy. He looked a lot coming into 2019, based on the numbers like a jag.

Good control, not enough strikeouts, good production in the minor leagues, but he wasn't really young for any of the levels he was picking. pitching at and then everything changed in 2019 he was dominant if unlucky in double a very very good peripherals 10.9 k per 9 still no walks gave up a lot of runs that he probably shouldn't have they bumped him up to triple a anyway completely dominant in triple a 13.2k per nine two walks per nine a two point eight nine er a in seven starts 43 innings they give him a chance in the major leagues and i was pretty encouraged by his first start at Coors Field, yeah,

he only went three and two-thirds innings, and he gave up a couple of runs. But the strikeouts were good. He only walked one, didn't give up a home run. I hope he gets a chance to stick in the rotation. Yeah, so that's the thing. I mean, I don't really care about what he did at Corse Field. We're going to talk about Corse Field later, and the stats right now on

Corse Field, it is almost pre-humidor level. Basically, since the humidor, I think, came around in 2002. Coors Field has not really been like this. This is going to be maybe the most offensive year since the Humidor. So whatever. The start, you know, three and two-thirds, six hits, two runs, but four strikeouts.

He might, I don't know if he'll pitch. I doubt he'll pitch again this weekend, but he could be lined up to face the Angels. We don't know if he's staying in the rotation. That's the big drawback right now. But for a guy who's 10% own, there's a lot of potential here for Jose Orkitty. Remember, it's URQ-U-I-D-Y if you're searching. Brad Peacock's on the I-L, but he's supposed to come back. back after the All-Star break.

Two other prospects. Franklin Barreto, I think he's about 10% own two. He's going to be the primary second baseman for Oakland now instead of Jurex and Profar. And did pretty well in the minors at the PCL this year. He's been pretty bad in the majors. How interested are you in A's infielder Franklin Burretto? I am interested in a deeper league that requires a middle infielder. He has, I mean, so far, you would say he looks a lot like a quad A player because he has mostly dominated AAA the past two seasons and just been absolutely terrible in the major leagues.

But he's got a little bit of speed. He's got a little bit of pop. It's an interesting profile if he can just strike out a little less in the major leagues. Yeah, he hasn't really run in the majors, but he has a 29 steel season in 73 games and a 30 steel season in 123 games in the minors. So, yeah, I don't know. I certainly don't think we're rushing to add Franklin Barreto, but he's a name to know. And then, of course, Dylan C. starts today, and he's 52% own. So they, you know, what I read today was he struggled his last like four starts or something in the minors.

They've kind of ruined his numbers. And they think, like, maybe he got bored and needs to step up in competition. So I shouldn't say the word bored, but maybe he just needs a step up in competition. So 52% owned, does that sound right to you for Dylan Cs? Because let me just, last thing. I put in a fairly aggressive bit on him, and I got him yesterday. And I just feel like I talked about this with Scott. This might be your last chance to get a real stud pitching prospect this year.

Yeah, I mean, I think 52% is a little bit low. I don't think, like, I think that there will probably be a couple of more guys that come up that we will get excited about that are not necessarily on the radar right now because of a really good stretch in the minor leagues. but he is the best pedicreed guy that we're probably going to see. Okay, so we'll see what he does today. It's an afternoon start, and you might be hearing this podcast after Dylan Sees makes his major league debut. But don't be deceived by the numbers.

He's better than what his AAA numbers are this year. Speaking of which, I dropped Adbert Al-Azzalai for Dylan Sees, and we'll talk about him when we look at the news and notes and the Wariometer, the double dongs, some more players who are worth adding. and oh trade talk today. Buy low or heck no. It's all coming up after this break on fantasy baseball today. News and notes starts with Luke Voigt.

He's on the IL, but he could be back right after the All-Star break. He should have made the All-Star team, whatever. Albert Al-Zalai is in AAA. You know, Heath, I wasn't sure if this is permanent or not. You know, they could obviously just be sending him down until the break's over and then bring him back up. But the start on Monday was so bad that I guess I just don't feel like. you have to own Albert Aalzalai right now.

Well, and like we were giving him a lot of credit for things that we thought looked good about him, but he hasn't gone five innings in a start yet. Well, the first time was... He has seven walks and 11 innings. The first time was just, I think it was a relief appearance. So, yeah, but he gave up two hits in the first two, his first two appearances over like eight and two thirds or something, right?

Yeah, and seven walks, or six walks over eight and two thirds. Yeah, the walk. for somewhat like one inning. I think he walked two or three. You're right. But that's the thing. You don't have to own them right now. I'd much rather have Dillen's these right now. Yeah. Anthony Rendon, he's been playing great, but he's been dealing with some nagging injuries so much so that he might skip the All-Star game. Alex Avila started again, which I mentioned, that affects the best player in the world, Carson Kelly. Hunter Pence aggravated his groin injury, so don't know when he'll be back. He still might be back right after the break. Cole Hamill's oblique injury is not too bad.

Trevor's story is back. Okay, so yesterday we talked about how Nate Avaldi, according to a report, would be the closer. Dave Dombrovsky, all I saw him say was that Nade Avaldi's going to pitch out of the bullpen, which, by the way, could be as soon as next week. So I don't know that for a fact that he's going to be the closer, unless Heath, you saw something different. It was just a report that might be a little unsubstantiated for Avaldi. Yes. Yes.

Adelberto Mondesies back. He homered. Brandon Lau homered yesterday, but he did foul ball off his leg like several times, and he left the game. X-rays are negative on Lau. Matt Carpenter's on the IEL. He's got a back issue. He should be back right after the break.

Tommy Lestella left with a leg injury. Elvis Andrews stole home for the third time this season. Wow. And Kyle Hendrix, there was not a straight steal, by the way. Kyle Hendrix and Joe Musgrove and Zach Gallen. They all pitched either two or three innings because of rain. What do you think about Zach Gallen right now? How would you compare him to Dylan Cese?

I'm a little bit concerned. I feel kind of similar about Gallin like I do about Yamamoto. That one of those two guys after the All-Star break is not going to be on the Marlins rotation anymore. I don't know which one it is. Eric Thames homered off Arrides. Hopefully this one pays off. I was excited about starting him in a deeper league. Eric Thames has just been great against Ritey's,

and he's got a, he's got good matchups this week. I was dead wrong about Ryan Yarbrough. That was a terrible call. He's stuck in my lineup with three fantasy points, and he got sent down, so he's not going to be making his second appearance this week. Mitch Hanigar had a setback. Hunter Strickland is progressing toward a bullpen session,

as Rowena Silius got another save yesterday. Christian Walker is losing playing time to Jake Lamb. Corey Seeger and A.J. Pollock both expected back right after the break, Justin Turner sat with sore elbow and Heath. Danny Salazar is on our rehab assignment right now. Do you have any interest in Cleveland pitcher Danny Salazar? Remember all the fights we had about Danny Salazar and the fans? This was the best.

The original guy who made us fight on this show, I think, was Danny Salazar. Yes. I have some interest in watching what Danny Salazar does in the minor leagues. How's that? that's not enough to make me get into a fight with you. I am not completely disinterested. All right. Danny Salazar.

His first rehab appearance went very well. Yeah, I mean, I'm much more interested in Denelson Lamet, by the way, who's probably going to start tomorrow, so I think everybody is. But just wanted to throw out Lamet's name again. All right, Heath, Worryometer. You feeling worried today? Like, how you feeling? It's going to depend on what the names are,

but there are some people that are worrying me, yes. I'm not sure Jack Flaherty should be on the Wuriometer. He might be on the dropometer. Jack Flaherty, Wariometer, 0 to 10. I moved Jack Flaherty out of my top 35, I think, at starting pitcher, just a couple of days ago, and I may not have moved him quite far enough. I'll put him at a 5 on the Worryometer.

I don't believe he should be on the dropometer. He's still got a 404 ex-pip, a 411 Sierra. He's still striking out better than 10 batters per nine innings. I expect he's going to be a lot better than this, but I'm a little worried. Oh, I just saw a headline, sorry, clickbait. British analyst Rips Morgan for distasteful celebration. I'm going to have to read this article now.

Yeah, it was a distasteful. You're siding with the Brits. I don't like show voting. By the way, I don't care about gender, not being sexist. I don't like show money. Benedict Adam. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.

Trevor Bauer, back on the Worryometer. Very good start last timeout, six and two-thirds, one run, 12 strikeouts against Kansas City. This time, six innings, 11 hits, five runs, six strikeouts, two homers at Kansas City, same matchup. And that's 17 home runs in 125 innings. on Trevor Bauer. Four. Four. Yeah.

I think he's a good number two starting pitcher that's going to be good for most of the time the rest of the year. I would expect him to give us a very good outing. I wish they'd just give him a little more rest and not make him throw quite so much. Is football, European football, famous for its banter?

That's what I'm seeing here on Twitter. This is commonplace. By the way, the person who called... Oh, yes. I think so for sure. All right. Well, that might make me, you know, recalibrate. I just don't like it.

But the person who called it distasteful is a former British, English national team member, Leanne Sanderson. So she's probably a little biased. Jake Odarezi. Jake Odorezi is now on the I.L. with a blister. But this start was bad. Three innings, five run runs, two homers at Oakland. That means his last three starts.

Oterese has given up 12 run runs in 12. 12 and a third. Two straight starts allowing two home runs. We knew the home run to fly ball rate was way too low. Wuriometer on Jake Oteresey. Here's a guy that belongs on the dropometer. I'll put a 10 on the worryometer. I'm not even sure if he's going to be good.

Oh, look, like, I wouldn't be surprised if you're right, but you cannot drop Jake Oterese. He has a 310 ERA. 315. He's on the I.L. He could be back right after the break. He could be back right after the break. He's like 45 runs over his last four starts.

Three starts at 12 run runs. It's too soon to drop it. I said four. That fourth one was really bad. It was, I think, it's four runs at six innings. Yeah. Yeah, I think that would be an overreaction to drop Jake Oteresee, but I think anybody should be a little worried.

I mean, it's kind of like Lance Lynn. He's a 10 on the Worryometer for me. Okay. Just because, like, if Lance Lynn has a couple of these, his peripherals now look a lot better than Oterese's when Oteresee was good. So I was expecting Oterreizie to be bad. So when things start to go south, I'm just like, aha, there it is. He's still bad.

There you go. Confirmation bias. All right. So let's be more positive then and look at a list of players that might be worth adding. This section is called Worth Adding, question mark. That's creative. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

They can't all be as creative as Worryabiner. Why not Adam or not? Adam or not? But how did we spell it? Like your name. A-D-A-M or not? All right. Graphics Department.

Can we make an Adam or not graphic on the fly here? Let's see. I think they can do it. They're pretty good. Miguel Sineau, his last four games, he's six for 12 with four home runs. He's been pretty bad for fantasy because he doesn't play every day. That's pretty important for Sineau. But he's batting 23 with 13 home runs.

He's homerring a ton. 13 home runs and 35 games, but that batting average is dreadful. Anyway, Miguel Sino, should we Adam or not? It's not just that he's... like struggled with this not playing every day. He's got a 39.5% strikeout rate. I like Miguel Snowe

quite a bit, but if he's 51% owned, I assume that means he's owned in all leagues that are AOL only. He's owned in all leagues where you need a corner infielder. I don't think even in a category's league, he's going to be startable as a third baseman. So no,

I don't think he's underowned. I would not add him. What do you think about the lower third here? I think maybe we should just change it to my first name. So right now it says Adam or not. I think it should just be Adam, your name or not. Yeah. Right now it says ADD-A-M or not. Yeah. All right. That's okay. All right, let's go graphics department. Get on it now. They hate your guts right now. You know what? Well, not just right now, always, but. Welcome to the club. It didn't take Heath this long to hate my guts. Jackie Bradley Jr., 35% owned. First 38 games. Let's split his season in half. First 38 games.

a 421 OPS. Maybe the worst hitter in baseball. I mean, that's Danny Jansen level. Last 38 games for Jackie Bradley, a 1057 OPS. Yeah, it's a 376 Babbitt, but 328 with nine home runs and three steals and 12 doubles and a triple

in those 38 games. 35% owned. I did add him. I dropped to Luis Severino. Didn't have an I L. spot in a 13-team Roto League yesterday. So I'm thinking maybe Bradley should be more owned. Adam or not?

Yeah, his playing time has been a little weird as of late, right? Has it? I thought a little... Maybe. I think he's probably... I will add him in a five outfielder league, but that's probably only like 10% of leagues where he's not owned. Adam or not. You know, the great part of the lower third is fixed.

The great part about this segment is that we actually have a guy named Adam coming up. Jose Martinez, 36% owned. Double Dongs yesterday. Not a home run hit. but career 304 hitter, so that batting average maybe has some positive regression coming. Jose Martinez for the Cardinals, Adam or not? And who would you add first, Jackie Bradley or Jose Martinez? I think I'd rather add Jose Martinez.

With the Marcel Ozuna injury, I'm not sure how long he's going to be out. I don't have really a lot of concerns about Martinez's playing time. I expect him to hit for a good average and just enough power. Who texted you? I don't know. I heard that. You did. That's bad. That's like a Scott White mistake. You're going to learn from your mistake. That's the difference.

Danny Jansen was on the list. Let's move on past him. Okay, Adam or not, Adam Frazier. 15% owned. He has nine hits and ten at bats, including five doubles in his last two games. That's fantastic. Yeah, it's pretty good. He is someone that I was pretty interested in at the start of the year and was just terrible in like a Jackie Bradley type way. I am interested in him in enough leagues to where like he's two, I'll add him up to like 30%.

I think he's behind Bradley, he's behind Jose Martinez, but he should be owned in more leagues than he is. Okay, how about Wade LeBlanc, 13% owned? His last six appearances, none of them were starts, a three, 331 ERA, 25 strikeouts and 32 and a third, with an 11% swinging strike rate, which is pretty good. LeBlanc had another good appearance yesterday, and he had, in this six appearance stretch, LeBlanc had one terrible start at Oakland, or terrible appearance, two and two-thirds, six earn runs. The rest of them have been pretty good.

13% owned Wade LeBlanc, Adam, or not? Or not. If you're not going six innings regularly, regardless of whether you start or not, not and you don't really strike anyone out and you have the history of Wade LeBlanc, I am not particularly interested. All right. He does have three wins in these six appearances, though. Okay.

Okay. And finally, Mark Kanna. Can I get an addition on my roster? Mark Kana, add him or not? 4% on. That's low enough that I will add him in any HAL-only league. I don't think Like his

I don't think he's going to play Very much once Chris Davis is back Right? Chris Davis is back It's Stephen Piscotti Since Piscotti has gone on the IL Cana started just about every day How long do we think Piscotti's out?

He's out, I think at least another month Which of course is going to be interrupted Maybe up to, like still behind Adam Fraser Okay Cana's got some pop Yeah, he's got some pop He's got 12 home runs. Well, he's batting 238, but slugging 531.

So, all right. You know, just a name that maybe you need to know. There were some other dudes who homered yesterday, and then we got some trade talk and, of course, field talk. And probably going to talk about Matt Strom at some point. Plus, Zach Wheeler, Patrick Corbyn, Charlie Morton, who's a top five pitcher, Mike Miner's Bad Start. What do you do with Dallas Keikel right now?

Busy show. I'll be right back. Fantasy baseball today coming race. back after this. A lot of home runs yesterday, no surprise. Several double-dong days yesterday. Here's a segment called Other Dudes Who Homered. Framl Reyes homered again, Heath.

He's 75% owned. He has started eight straight games. Should Fram El Reyes be at least 90% owned? If he's going to play every day from this point forward, I think he probably, the thing is, I don't think in a 10-team points league with three outfielders, you're using Fran Mill Reyes. Okay.

So maybe 85%. All right, 85. Get up a little bit higher. Jason Castro, twins catcher, double dongs yesterday. Playing a little bit too much for my liking as a Mitch Garver owner. So that's something why I keep an eye on. I agree 100%. Evan Longoria hit two home runs.

We don't care, right, about Longoria? I don't. Let me give you some fun Longoria notes. He has a 738 OPS after hitting three home runs in his last two games. He has scored 31 fantasy points this week. That's more than his previous four weeks combined. So, yeah, we don't care about Longoria. However, Yulei Guriel is on quite a hot streak right now.

Like the day after I dropped him, he is at five home runs in his last seven games, including two yesterday at Colorado. Do you buy anything, like, do you buy Yuleiguriel? He's like, I'm, Lourdes isn't the only Guriel who can, you know, be great. 66% own Yulee, Guriel. It seems like he may be a little bit motivated by the arrival of Jordan Alvarez and keeping Alvarez on the bench right now, at least for this series without a designated hitter.

So yeah, I buy it a little bit. I think he's underowned. He's going to be in the waiver wire column as someone that should be owned in more leagues. All right. Uli's 66% owned. So now it's time to talk trade on Wednesday here, as we typically do. I ask you guys, who do you want to buy low on in a segment called buy low or heck no

and here we go from the mooch I want to buy low on Scott White he is being undervalued as an analyst and I think he has a big second half well I think that's very true Scott's going to have an enormous second half

carrying most of the load of this podcast yes at some point Heath's going to be like I'm out and uh yeah Scott and I will basically be doing all the shows. But yeah, he's not undervalued.

I sell that premise. Buy low or heck no from Christopher on Jose Ramirez. Yeah, he's turning things around a little bit as of late. No power, but he's hitting more often, more regularly. He's got 18 stolen bases. I think he'll be better in the second half for sure. I like it. Buy low.

I think a lot of these guys are by lows, but it's a question of like, can you realistically buy low on them? You know, if you can turn, would you turn Nick Senzel into Jose Ramirez? Nick Senzel, since he has debuted, is the number seven second baseman in points, number eight in Roto. I think he's like a top 30 outfielder. I could tell you in a second. But I'm just thinking of a guy that was fairly low on your roster at the beginning of the season, or maybe even picked up on waivers.

Would you trade Nick Senzel, number 21 outfielder in points, number 25 in Roto since debuting, into Jose Ramirez. Yes. I would. I would do that. I expect Jose Ramirez to be better rest of the season. All right, this is from Taylor. Buy low or heck no on Michael Conforto,

who is currently in a two-for-25 slump. He is the number 26 outfielder in points, number 32 in Roto. Michael Conforto, buy-lower, heck no. I think he's probably valued pretty appropriately. his season long numbers look very similar to his numbers from last year with a little more power. They look very, very similar to his career numbers. I am not buying low.

I think this is pretty much who Michael Conforto is. He's struggling against lefties this year. Conforto is annoying because he's so streaky. Throughout his career, he's so streaky. He'll probably get hot and he'll probably get cold again. All right, here's a tough one. From Hispanic at the Disco, great name. Hispanic at the Disco, by the way, has tweeted into the fantasy baseball today video show on CBS Sports H.Q.

Sunday, 3 p.m. Eastern. Check it out. 3 to 6 p.m. Fun show. Okay, Jose Altuve. Jose Altuve. Buy low or heck no? This is going to depend on how low you can buy, I think. He did run, and I believe last night and stole his second base.

which would help with the profile. Because Jose Altuve without the power that he showed in 2017 and without the stolen bases is not a buy low. But I think if I can buy low on him, I will. It's just not, like I'd trade DJ Lemayu for him. Yeah. DJ LeMayu's been a lot better. I would too.

I'd trade Nixon's L for. him. I have to be confident that Altuva is going to hit. I'm not confident that he's going to run at all. So if I trade how I feel. Yeah, if I traded for Altuve and he did start running, it'd be just a nice added bonus. Don't trade for him thinking I need steals. I think that's pretty obvious at this point. Like you said, his second steal yesterday. He has seven hits in his last two games. Some of them came yesterday at Cors. But I am worried long term about Altuve. I'm worried about his legs. He's not young. He's not old yet, but compared to the other elite hitters in baseball, most of them are younger than him. Right. Yeah, I'm just, I'm hoping that he's not like breaking down. It's too soon to say that, but it's two years in a row with like the same injury, right?

I mean, that knee is giving him some trouble. So I guess to sum it up, if you were drafting today, what round do you think you'd take out Tube in a 12-team league? Third? Oh, really? That high? All right. Then he's a by-low.

From Dave, bi-low or heck no on Chris Davis. This is a tough one because he does look like a decent by-low candidate just based on recent struggles. But at the same time, he's been really beaten up this year, had multiple little minor nagging injuries. And his pace isn't really that much different from what it's been in the past.

Oh, I'm going to say heck no. It's not? Well, okay, the batting average obviously isn't, but his ISO, like his ISO is last four seasons for Chris Davis, including this season. 277, 281, 302, and 210. I think that last year he had his best year, and I don't know, like the counting stats were great, the A's lineup was great. I think you should really be buying Chris Davis more. 2016 and 17. But I agree with you, Heath, like the injuries are what concerns me.

I'm hopeful that the long All-Star break will help him. I don't see a reason why he shouldn't be the same guy. He's hitting more ground balls this year. But you're talking about the most consistent player in baseball. So I feel like I should expect Chris Davis to be Chris Davis. Yeah, I worry about the injuries. Yeah, that's the only thing for me. Yeah.

Okay. Next up, Mike Clevenger from Chris Britain. Buy low or heck no on Mike Clevenger. Great, great option. By low. All right. We'll move on to Trevor Jackson. This one, a little more controversial.

A lot of questions about this next guy. Paul Goldschmidt, buy low or heck no on Goldschmidt? Again, I think this comes back more to what you could buy low for. I don't expect him to be as valuable as he has been in the past. I think he's just flat out been past. by some of these young first baseman that are just better fantasy options than him now. And so I have a hard time keeping him in my top five at first base.

If I could buy really low, I would. But I'm not, I couldn't trade Pete Alonzo for him. Jose Altuve or Paul Goldschmidt rest of the season? I'll take Altuva because he plays second base. Okay, so Goldschmidt is hitting the ball really hard. That's the incur— Altube, by the way, is a career high-hard contact rate, but it's not like Goldschmidt's. Who also has a career high-hard contact rate.

But you should have a career high-hard contact rate, you know, the way in this environment. But 49.5 percent, that's really good. Obviously, we saw him last year look like he might be, like, trending totally in the wrong direction. He turned it around, and he was a complete stud for, like, five months. it's much later this year and it hasn't happened yet so it's certainly more concerning okay Danny Perez wants to know

would you buy low or heck no on Andrew Benintendi before you answer Benintendi has sat against four of the last five left-handed starters they've faced yeah I don't think I could do that I don't think that that's going to that that's going to stay like I don't think

they want him sitting against lefties for Sam Travis? In fact, it may just be as soon as after the All-Star break. He's not doing that anymore, but he's really just not quite been the same guy. I was hoping he would take a step forward, and he's actually been worse. Strikeout rate is way up over the last two years. Yeah, and the Red Sox lineup isn't as good, and he batted fifth yesterday. So if he doesn't have a ton of power, so I want him betting second. You know, I want him taking advantage of.

Yeah, and he just doesn't. deserved a bat second right now. No, he doesn't. Devers batted second yesterday and Homer twice. By the way, he got an email just now in the inbox from Nick. Jesus Lazzardo pulled. I did not see this. So thank you to Nick. Yeah, he left with lat tightness yesterday after four innings. That's really disappointing. Yeah. So, look, could be nothing, but Jesus Lazzardo left yesterday to start with lat tightness. All right, so those are some of the players you're interested in buying low on. We are interested in Mike Clevenger for sure. Goldschmidt and Benintendi were a little

hesitant. Al Tuvei, Heath Sezi values with like a third round value. Michael Conforto is basically who he is. Yeah, you can go ahead and buy low on Jose Ramirez and Scott White. Buy low on Scott White for sure. So then if we look at the roster trends in CBS Sports Leagues and the most traded players and see who our fantasy owners are actually trading, I'm sure Jose Ramirez is going to be high on this list. Who do you think the most traded player is, Heath? Jose Ramirez. Okay, let's see. I will make a guess.

I will say it's got to be someone who's been struggling. Blake Snell. It is, no, this can't be right. This can't be right. Do you have it set on free agents? No, you can't set the most traded list of free agents. Oh. I think this is.

Who is it? It says Frankie Montas, but there's just no. away. That is so, you guys are so rude. Why? Because that tells me that people are dumping Frankie Montas after the news to unsuspecting owners. I'm just telling you that this list that I'm looking at is wrong. So I'm going to see if I can. We did get a message from someone who did that and wanted to know how wrong it was. Number two is Jordan Yamamoto. Number three is Jayhap, Clint Frazier, Chris Archer. These are probably free age. But I don't have the opportunity to sort by...

I bet that's exactly what it is. These are probably free agents. I can't find the... All right, here we go. I think I'm going to get the right list now. Welcome to the best segment in FBT history. This is fantastic. Okay, click Most Traded.

Yeah. Oh, this is Blake Snell. Bam! I win. Blake Snell is the most traded player. And here we go. 486 trades for Snell. Paul Goldschmidt is two.

Chris Sale is three, Altuve is four. Craig Kimbril is five. And Frankie Montas is six, by the way. So what do you think about that top five? Snell, Goldschmidt, Sale, Altuve, and Kimbril. Yeah, I think that makes perfect sense. The Kimbril owner is probably just trying to get something for him now just in case it takes him a long time and he's not really much of a help.

I think that makes a lot of sense. Would you be looking to trade Craig Kimbril or do you, you know, you waited this long? I'm probably like it depends if it's a points league I'd absolutely deal them quickly you've no trouble finding two rps to fill those spots on a week to week basis in a categories league I'm holding on to him Blake Snell your thoughts I you know it's funny because I got a lot of messages about you know he talks about FIP and X FIP but then ignores them when it comes to Blake Snell I was never acting as if I thought Blake Snell was bad now I just didn't agree with the 10th that we had no reason to show any concern for him. As of right now, he had a good start. I feel pretty comfortable about him. I'm not sure he's figured everything out.

He's not a top five starting pitcher rest of season for me anymore, but he's still in my top 10. I think he's going to have to be so good, so like other world, like last year good, to be a top five pitcher just because they pretty much never let him pitch past six innings. Which, you know, isn't bad. It's going to probably keep him healthy. they're doing the same thing with Charlie Morton.

Charlie Morton, though, is actually pitching deep into games while throwing like 100 pitches every time out. So, you know, Snell not quite as efficient. But just be aware. But, yeah, I mean, I was trying to trade for Snell. I missed my chance. I wasn't aggressive enough. Nobody's giving them up for cheap now after his last start.

I did trade away Snell in one league. What did you get? Christian Yelich. Oh, nice. Christian Yelich, what was he, the first player to hit, like, 32 home runs before the break since Albert Pooholz or something like that. One more guy on this list I want to talk about.

John Carlos Stanton, who's probably going to miss the rest of this month and he's like the eighth most traded player. Do you think John Carlos Stanton can carry your team for the last two months of the season? I would take whatever I could get for him.

Okay. Would you take Michael Conforto for Stanton? Yes. Really? Oh, yeah. Would you take? Take Kyle Gibson for Stanton? Okay, maybe not that.

Okay. Hey, Gibson's worth owning. He's a must-own player. He's fine. All right, let me find one more. Would you take Nick Senzel for Stanton? Yes. That's interesting.

I mean, in an era where, like, everybody's got hitters. It's not hard to find hitters. Stanton might be someone that actually could stand out from the rest. He's an MVP winner. So you know, wouldn't you trade like a fairly replaceable guy for Stanton?

I don't know that we're going to see John Carlos Stanton make a difference in fantasy baseball the rest of the season. All right. Yeah, I don't either. Heath, well, let me talk about Corse Field. It's been absurd this year. Matt Snyder has an article on Coorsfields on CBSports.com

slash MLB. I'm just going to read from it. Heading into Tuesday, hitters are collectively slashing 307, 370, 526 in Coorsfield this season. The league average is 252, 322, 431. So we're looking at a difference of 95 points of slugging at Coorsfield compared to everywhere else. 4.8 runs per game per team is being scored at Coorsfield this season. 4.8, that's the average. At Coorsfield, it's 6.94 runs per game.

There are more stats. You know, it's staggering. And Charlie Blackman has a 654 OPS on the road and a 1481 OPS at home. Trevor's story pretty drastic as well. Nolan Aeronato, 1082 at home, 863 on the road. David Dahl 1066 at home, 768 OPS on the road. The one guy who doesn't seem to care about course field is John Gray. He's been better at home, and that's actually true in his career, slightly better at home.

But when you see the way Corse Field is playing, it's not just Corse Field. It's like Corse Field on steroids, basically. Does that have any meaning for you in fantasy in terms of how you value these players? Makes me really glad I don't have any Hermann Marquez. But other than that, the thing is, like the one guy in terms of pitchers that I drafted on this team was John Gray, and it's not really affected him so much. It's kind of weird to me that it's not that affected him, and it makes me uncomfortable, but I'm pretty much just starting John Gray.

Yeah, but I think it makes me happier to have any Rockies hitter. Like Ryan McMahon. Except, I mean, it's great. Except those guys, like, if they've got a six-game week of all road games, it's hard to know which of them to start. Okay, so Aeronado, obviously you're starting. And Blackmun you're starting to, even though he's been terrible on the road this year. I'm still starting Blackmun.

And I think you're starting story, too, because he steals bases. You probably should, although I don't know that his career numbers away from Core is justified. No But his career numbers never Included all these stolen bases By the way I think they have the worst I think they're the worst offense

In baseball on the road Yeah They have been for like a half a decade I think David Dahl With a six game road week is interesting I think you said him Unless it's all righties 768 OPS

I just don't really believe it Right 768 road OPA like 760s The 8 is not that good, but it's not terrible. You're starting them in a five outfielder league for sure. Yeah. In a three outfielder points league, I'm probably not. And let's just hope Charlie Blackman doesn't get traded.

All right, more baseball from yesterday. Then we got some regulators. Six-man rotation. How you rank in these guys? Corbyn, Morton, Paxton, Price, Minor, Wheeler. Let me just say one thing I forgot to say earlier today. There were three pitchers who happened to pitch yesterday. And we're very close with Tyler Skaggs.

What does that mean in terms of their performance? Obviously, I don't know, but you can understand them going out and struggling. Two of them were on the Wariometer, Jack Flaherty and Trevor Bauer. The other one was Patrick Corbin, who threw seven innings, gave up one run, struck out seven Marlins. So maybe if you want to internally factor that in, go for it. Corbin, Morton, Paxton. Price, Mike Minor, Zach Wheeler.

How would you rank those six pitchers who pitched yesterday? You came really close to doing it for me. Almost in that order. I've got it, Corbyn, Morton, Paxton, Wheeler, Price, Minor. Corbyn, Morgan, Morgan, and I do think there is a tier. The first three are in one tier of either aces or almost aces. And then the next three are very good number two starting pitchers. The next three being David Price, Zach Wheeler, Mike Minor.

Wheeler, Price, and Minor. Yeah, in that order. And the first three being Corbyn, Morton, Paxton. Why Corbyn over Morton? Morton has been considerably better. Morton, a top five pitcher. Corbin's 16th and points, 20th and roto. Yeah, I think it's just a situation where Corbyn was better last year.

I thought Corbyn was better coming into the year, and he hasn't been, if it wasn't for this recent three-star stretch from Corbyn where he's right at the ship, I might view it differently. but I don't think Morton's going to keep this up all year. All right, next category. What to do with these guys? As you take a look at the pictures that we just talked about, but we'll transition to three more pitchers who are highly owned.

What to do with these guys? Dallas Keiko, Ross Stripling, and Armand Marquez. What do you do with Dallas, Keikle, Ross Stripling, and Armand Marquez? Marquez is the easiest one. You start him on the road and you sit him at home, under most circumstances. Yes. I'm probably going to run stripling out there again next time that he starts.

I think he's pretty good, and he's building up his pitch count, and I don't think we'll see Rich Hill for quite a while. And this was the best we've seen from Dallas Keikle yet, right? Yeah, but the strikeouts are so low. Seven innings, two runs, three strikeouts. He is Dallas Keikle. No, this is much worse.

This is eight strikeouts in 17 and 2 thirds. This is a 5.7% swinging strike rate so far, which would be the lowest since his 2012 rookie season when he had an ERA over five. His strikeout rate was down last year. It's down even more right now. And if he's going to strike out that few guys, I don't know if you heard my take, Heath,

but I don't think Dallas Keikl should be owned in anything shallower than 14-team leagues. I am anti-Kichel completely. And I think he's a category's killer. So it's only three. restarts and you have to be patient unless you're me. But if the strikeout rate is this low, yeah, I'm just, I'd drop them now. If I knew it was going to be this low rest of season, I'd get rid of them now.

Okay, yes. If you told me for sure that it was going to be 4.08k per 9 over the rest of the season, that I would agree with you and I would anticipate that he is going to be a category's killer. That's not what I expect. It's only been three starts. He's like three months behind the rest of the league. I think he should definitely be owned in points leagues. He should probably be owned in Categories, leagues, too.

I expect him to be similar to Marcus Stroman the rest of the year. What did you say about stripling? I'm probably going to run him out there for his next start. Yeah, I mean, he gave up four runs, but he struck out seven and four and two-thirds. They're stretching him out. He threw 81 pitches. He might have a start against San Diego this weekend, I'm not sure. But 89% own, there's still a lot to like, just his numbers as a starting pitcher.

Very, very good. still a lot to like there for stripling. All right, Matt Strom had a terrible start. He is not going to start this weekend. He will lose his two starts. He will go to the bullpen briefly. He might stay there. He might.

So Strom is not a must-owned right now. Greg Holland had a weird day yesterday with four walks and his third blown save. But they, he's, I mean, I don't think he's going to lose his job. And let's read a couple of emails, Heath. But there's certain emails, there's certain types of emails. they're special emails. They are fantasy regulators' emails. Oh, wait.

Before we do that, I have something. I figured out you can do a remix. Remember when we got those parody songs at the beginning of the year? Yeah. Yeah. And there was like the John Gray one. Okay, so listen to this remix of the John Gray song

plus the Heathside. John Gray. Oh, you can draft him if you want. That is fantastic. I don't know how I figure that out, but let's do it one more time. Ready? A high ERA. Oh, the good K-per-n-nines.

I apologize for waiting so long in the show to do that. That is fantastic. I did get a message from someone that I believe you shared that with, and they are using it as their ringtone. Yes. It is a fantastic ringtone. If you want the Heath size, the ringtoe, just email me and put that in the subject line. I'll get you the MP3. All right, now, let's regulate.

Okay, so where's the, I sent an email to Heath with the first email that we're regulating, and I can't find it. But it's about Brendan McKay on Yahoo. You ready? Okay, here we go. It's from Morgan. And Morgan says, I need to bring this up because, uh, Even as an experienced commissioner, I'm really struggling with the whole McKay situation. On Yahoo, McKay the batter was always on free agent status while McKay the pitcher was introduced on waivers.

In our Keeper League, we set up a gentleman's agreement for Otani after he was signed that whomever drafted the Otani's, one of the Otanis, had the draft rights to the other Otani. As commissioner, I was happy with this, as everyone knew going into the draft that Otani would be utilized as both a hitter and a pitcher. With McKay, unless I'm wrong, he's being brought up almost solely as a pitcher. All right, well, that's actually not true because he did hit two days ago, but probably mostly as a pitcher. In my league, someone picked up McKay, the batter, under his stated assumption that using our Otani agreement, he now had the rights to McKay, the pitcher, on waivers. I realize I've partly created this mess as commissioner, but I also feel like I can't, in good conscience, let him use this rule for McKay since I feel the two situations and utilization of the player as two-way players,

are very different. So we've come to an agreement in our league that whoever wins McKay, the pitcher in our league, will have rights to both, as long as both are on that manager's roster at the end of the year. This is important because normally we only keep a maximum of two batterers

as part of our three-keeper setup. The two McKays would count as one keeper for us. I know Heath would yell at me for being a bad commissioner, but what is the best way to handle this situation? Morgan, I really appreciate you listening to the show. I appreciate you sending in your message. I appreciate the care that you've put in to being a commissioner.

And I'm sorry that you're a bad commissioner. But this is the problem that Adam Azer runs into as a commissioner as well. You try to do something that is above and beyond, and then you fall short in fulfilling what you have agreed to do. And I think that when you set this precedent up, for Otani that was different than what the site was allowing people to do, that it should apply to Brendan McKay, who has pitched and hit in his first week in the major leagues.

I don't think he's a good hitter. I don't think he's going to be a major league hitter for most of... I don't even know if he is a major league hitter next year. You're saying what then? You're saying what, that the guy who picked up McKay, the hitter should also get the pitcher? Yep. That's...

Yeah, I mean, that's what I would have liked. but I just, what I've always needed about this argument. Your league did not have this rule at him, but his league does. What I've always hated about this argument is the comparison to Otani. I get that Yahoo created

two Otanis and created two McKay's. But Yahoo didn't create two Otanis at two different times. This is a different situation. So I don't buy the comparison. I really don't. And also, using one player as precedent for like the rest of eternity is stupid.

I, like, don't throw this Otani thing in my face. It's the only. precedent there is. There is no precedent. It's unprecedented. No, there is. Show you What happened? No, because Otani, you had options to pick up both of them at the same time. There is no precedent. This is an

unprecedented situation. And I guess you're... This guy should get both Brennan McKays. And thanks for listening to Morgan. All right. This is from Chris from Long Island. A long time listener. Okay, he says, dear Frank, Dennis Mac and Charlie, that's what's always sunny in Philadelphia.

I'm the commissioner of a league with former slash current D2 college baseball players. During the college baseball season, uh, of one of the former players, um, made a bet with a current player that if the current player through a complete game shutout,

that the former player would forfeit their next matchup. Of course, the current player proceeded to throw a complete game shutout. At this point in time, the forfeiting, at this point in time, the forfeiting team is currently in contention. while the dude who threw the complete game shutout is not.

The team in contention is now refusing to uphold their part of the bet. Their bet was made in our group chat for everybody to see. As commissioner, is it my duty to step in and make a decision on this? Or does this have to be settled between the two parties? Thank you for your regulating. Do you mean to repeat it? No. This is maybe the most difficult question we've ever received.

No, this is the easiest question. on fantasy regulators. I don't really believe. Forfeit the matchup. You lost the bet. I don't believe as the commissioner, you are responsible

for enforcing bets or deals made outside of the structure of the league. So I would leave this alone. This is on a group chat for everybody in the league. How is this outside the structure of the league? It's not on the website.

You can't, I don't think legally You can even bet away your fantasy baseball thing No, I'm not going to touch this. I am going to regular. No, no. I am going to, you can't do that. I am regular. Okay, fine.

Heath is wrong. Chris, you should regulate and say, you made a bet. You said if you go out and throw a complete game shutout, I'm going to forfeit the matchup. The guy goes out. and throw us a complete game shutout. It's like he had a quality start.

He had a complete game shutout. That's amazing. You forfeit the matchup. You pay up the bet. And I say, uh, I would mock the other guy relentlessly. I might go in and change his team name to something that was not complimentary

that he didn't like. But I don't think I can enforce a bet to change the outcome of a game. Mailbag coming up tomorrow. Have a great, happy and happy 4th of July and a safe one as well. Thanks for listening. Talk to you tomorrow.