Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Struggling studs and Fantasy All-Stars

Episode Date: July 10, 2017

Chris Towers and Heath Cummings pick their first half Fantasy Baseball Today All-Star team. Votto or Goldschmidt? Ozuna or Blackmon? Scherzer or Kershaw? Plus, are we still worried about Masahiro Tanaka? Is Luis Castillo a stud? 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

Heath, you deserve a break, an All-Star break. You know, there's a reason Adam does these, and not me. Welcome to the first show of the All-Star Break. Heath, how was your weekend? My weekend was outstanding. You were telling me that I deserve a break. Yeah. But I'm here with you.

That's far from a break. That is far from a break. That's fair. Adam's actually the one on a break. Congratulations to Adam. Getting married on Saturday. There was a, if you follow James, Amy Eisenberg on Twitter, there were some pretty great tweets about the wedding.

There was a whole list of bets. Did you see this? Yes. That was pretty, uh, did you bet on any of them? I did not place any wagers. Nando put out a list of several wagers based on how many times Adam would cry. I did see something about where they threw the groom and Nando caught him. There was a lot made also on the responses to these tweets.

Like, I didn't get tagged in any of the tweets, obviously, because I wasn't invited. I got tagged in a lot of replies to the tweets. People thought it was very funny that I didn't get invited. That's mean. I don't know. It's mean on the people who thought it was funny. Right. It's fine to not invite someone to your wedding.

I would much rather him not invite me because I would have felt obligated to buy him something. That's true. I don't want to buy him anything. That's fair. We've got Fantasy All-Stars today. We're going to quickly go over the weekend's news. We'll have all week. It's just one weekend's worth of games.

But we're going to look ahead at the second half. We're going to look back all week. But first, sports trades are scary. We've got the trade deadline coming up, and one person can be replaced by another, exchange for money, or given away for a hypothetical future person. Once they leave your team, you can't like them anymore, even if you have their jersey, which you can't wear anymore.

Except to B-dubs, they won't judge, but others might. Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, Beer, Sports. Heath. Yes. Do you have any big news from the weekend? Big news from the weekend. Well, I was very sad about the Joe Ross injury. Yeah, that was one where I was actually watching that game.

I turned it on right when he left, because I saw on Twitter his velocity was way down. Yep. Maxed out at about 90 miles per hour. This is a guy whose velocity has really fluctuated this season. Average 94 with his fastball last year down to 92 this year. And he left Sunday's game with a triceps injury. Any news on that? I have not seen any good news on that yet.

It's not like they've cleared him. They've not said, oh, it's catastrophic. There's some speculation. I think we're probably going to end up dropping Joe Ross again. It's like the fourth time. He's either been added or dropped this season. But you've got too many guys on the disabled list to keep a borderline number four starter on your bench. Jason Kipnis was placed on the D.L.

with a hamstring injury. He suffered on Saturday. Yeah, I don't want Jason Kipis to be hurt. But this is probably the best thing it could have happened for his owners. You've been stuck with starting him and his terrible performance because his name was Jason Kipness and you didn't want to cut him. Now you can just cut him. He's been awful.

Now he's hurt. I mean, I guess the good news with any of these injuries, Joe Ross, Jason Kipness, Ryan Braun, Steven Strasbourg also left games this weekend is we do have the All-Star break. They get five days off, especially for the guys. I think none of those guys. Steven Strasberg's in the All-Star game, but his injury doesn't sound serious. He left Saturdays with a hip injury. He was hit by a comebacker.

when asked if it would affect his availability for the All-Star game, I believe he just said no. Yeah. As far as pitcher injuries go, getting hit by something are about the best? Like, if you have an injury that we know was caused by a baseball hitting you? Until you see the picture of, you ever see the pictures when the ball hits them and you can see the seam

imprinted in their skin? That doesn't look like fun. Well, no, it doesn't look like fun, but it's probably, like, these guys are a lot tougher than... You are, for sure. Okay, hold on. Hold on. Maybe tougher than me, too.

Definitely tougher than you. Probably tougher than me, most of them. And potentially bad news. Ryan Braun left Saturday's game with a calf injury. It was the same calf that he's gone on the DL twice for this season. So we'll see. They don't expect it to be a long-term issue, but we've already seen this one kind of linger.

The good news is, like we said, he gets the four days off for the All-Star break. So is he in the All-Star game? I don't, well, I don't believe he will be now. Okay. I don't believe he was selected either. Okay, so he hopes to be back for the start of the second half. Heath.

Yes. It's time to stop sleeping on some players. There are some guys that have been really good that we just haven't taken very seriously. Okay. I want you to tell me, should we call it the sleepometer? The sleepometer. Scale of one to ten, one is, no, I'm going to keep sleeping. I'm sleeping beauty.

is you've got an IV full of caffeine and you haven't slept for six weeks. Okay. Chase De Jong. Okay. More of this Cardinals Devil Magic. He's been up for about 35 games, hitting 306 with a 581 slugging percentage. Saturday he had four hits, three doubles, and a home run. I know you're really nervous wondering why I'm smiling so mischievously.

I'm nervous for a lot of reasons, Steve. I thought Chase DeJon was a starter for the mirrors. Okay. And so I think the most impressive part of this whole thing is that he switched over to the National League, switched over to become a hitter, and is succeeding like this because he kind of sucked as a pitcher, just to be honest. I believe this is Paul Dejong. It is Cardinals Devil Magic. This is my favorite part of the podcast. Just to tell you, I've been sleeping on Paul Dejong.

You have been. Because I didn't realize he was a person. Yes, that's correct. Yeah, I always find these things more believable when they happen to the Cardinals because these types of positive things always happen for the Cardinals. We did get burned on Aladdin Mz Diaz, the previous version of Paul DeGon. Well, and maybe Stephen Piscotti even. Randall Gritchick.

But you buy into it while it's happening. It's just not going to carry over to the next year. You look at what he did in the minor leagues. This was his second year in a row with an ISO of 200 or higher, so the pop is there. He's also struck out 25% of the time in AA and AAA and AAA, not a great sign.

Yes, we were definitely sleeping on Paul De Jong. We thought his first name was Chase. This might be the first time he's been mentioned on the podcast. Absolutely. Absolutely. I would say Chase DeJong is a zero on the sleepometer.

Paul is a 5.5. Thanks for that. No problem. What about Mike Clevenger? I've, and I'm pretty sure you've been in the same boat, just kind of disregarding him entirely. Yep. He's got a 3-ERA.

He's striking out almost 10 batters per nine innings. He's made 11 starts in the majors. Are we sleeping on Mike Clevenger, who had another good start this weekend? Well, he has both a FIPP, all three, FIP, X-FIP, and Wox per 9 are all above four this season. Yeah, none of those are good. Although, I mean, a FIP around 4 is average.

Yes. I have probably slept on him as a streamable against good matchups and two-start pitcher. I don't think we're, like, I probably think if you go to my rankings and your rankings, maybe even Scott's rankings, Mike Clevenger is not in the top 100. I think he's in my top 100.

I don't think he's in mine, so I'm sleeping on him to that extent. But I'm not, like, even now that I've realized this error, I'm not going to move him into my top. You're not jolting out of a deep sleep to wake to pick him up? No, I'll give him a six. Six on the sleepometer. Herodopara is seven for 13 in three games since coming off the DL.

He's now hitting 335 on the season. He was really disappointing in 2016, just never got over an ankle injury that lingered pretty much all season. He hit 253. But this was a guy two years ago who had 291. we expected pretty big things from him playing in Corse Field, and now we're seeing it. What do you think of Herardo Parra?

Well, I guess the big thing for Parra is that he played in, he started all three games. Ian Desmond being on the DL. He's in the middle of the order. Desmond's going to be on the DL for a little while. David Dahl's going to be on the DL for the rest of the maternity. So, yeah, I think we're probably sleeping on Parra as somebody that could be a top 60 outfielder.

He could be a number five in Roto. In a standard. The thing is he's not stealing base. He has no steals. He used to be like a 15 to 20 steel guy. But if he hits 300 with an 850 OPS, it doesn't really matter if he steals faces. Are we sleeping on Max Kepler? What did he do?

Had a double and a triple on Sunday against Baltimore. He's got 10 home runs, 43 runs, 39 RBI. And it just feels like we never really talk about him. He's just been solid all season. Well, I don't think the twins like Max Kepler very much. I don't really like Max Kepler very much. I don't have a lot of room for an outfielder with a 730, 750 OPS on any of my fantasy teams. 790.

788 this season. Career 752. I mean, he's got 10 home runs. Just asking the question. Right. No, I'm zero. Okay. He might finish the season with like 20, 25 home runs, 80 to 90 runs, and RBI.

He'd have to pick up his run in RBI. A little bit. Yeah, I would guess he's going to finish right around 75 of each with 20 home runs, and he's going to be a top 75 outfielder. Have we been sleeping on Andrew Moore, who has three quality starts to open his major league career? Andrew Moore's starting pitcher, this one is with the Mariners. I don't think I've been sleeping on him because I was trying to put together a song, a parody song for the podcast, and he was definitely a part of it.

It was a Weezer song. He's going to replace the Mary Tyler Moore part. Okay. Listen, he's striking out like four batters per nine innings. He's got a FIPP of 5-7-2 in those three starts. Fip over that small of a sample size doesn't mean everything, but neither does a 386 ERA when you have like five strikeouts. Okay.

So I will give Andrew Moore a three. Ian Kennedy. Yes. Royals legend. Of course we're sleeping on him. We always sleep on the Royals. Has a 267 ERA over his last five, getting a bunch of strikeouts, not walking many players, but I think he did give up two home runs in his last start,

but only three runs. Are we sleeping on Ian Kennedy? Last I looked, and I'm doing this right now, yes. He has given up nine runs in his last five starts. He has given up six home runs. Yeah. So you could say he's been lucky because those home runs, should have turned in more than nine runs.

Yep. Or he's been unlucky because nobody should give up that many home runs in five starts. I mean, he pretty consistently gives up about 30 home runs a year, right? I think that's probably not far off. He's someone who's going to give up a lot of home runs, even playing in Coffman Stadium. Yeah, he had a stretch 26, 19, 28, 27, 16, 31, 33, 17. so he's right on pace. Yeah, he was due for a couple of home runs.

That's not the way that it works, Chris. Have we been sleeping on Ian Kennedy? Yes. Is he someone who deserves to be owned in the 12-team league? Yes. Okay. He's a back end of the rotation guy, top 60 starting pitcher. What about Nick Povetta?

Had an not very impressive start to his Major League career. He's only 24% owned, but over his last five starts, he has four quality starts in that stretch. 35 strikeouts, 12 walks. He had nine strikeouts in seven innings in his most recent start. Is Nick Povetta being overlooked? What's his ownership? 24%.

24%. I think that's a little bit too low. I don't know if I would go as high as 50%. But he's probably in the same range as like your buddy DeNelson Lamet. Okay. Or Luis Pardomo. Those guys are 40 to 50% owned, I think. Maybe, yeah.

So to that extent, If you're in anything deeper than a 12-team league, yes, he should be owned. Other than that, it's going to be dependent for me on his match-up that week. Yeah, over the last five starts, he has these strikeout numbers. Nine, four, three, ten, and nine. So that gives you an idea of how inconsistent he's been. Well, in fairness, the three was only in two-and-two-thirds innings. That's true, because he gave up, what, seven runs?

Yes. Yeah. Let's move on to some stud pitchers, or guys we thought might be stud pitchers who have not been, for the most part, some of them have been pretty good this season, some of them have just been disastrous. Let's talk about studs being duds. Masahiro Tanaka looked like he was starting to turn things around, and then he gives up two more home runs to the Brewers on Sunday, five earned runs in four and a third innings. What do we make of Masahir Tanaka at this point? We're not allowed to worry about Mazahiroznock.

Every time that he has a start like this, you guys tell me that he's going to be fine. He's the guy you're least worried about. So he's a top 25 starting pitcher, and it does not matter how long as the RA stays ahead of five. Why are you worried about him? Because he has a ERA of 547. He is a FIP of 503. What's his ex-fip? It's 3-88.

So if you want to go that far, then you would say he looks like a slightly above average pitcher. Okay. but we're consistently ranking him as a number two fantasy starter. Yeah. And I don't think a 38888-8-88-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-E-RA would get him into the top 25. And that's giving him credit for saying all of these home runs are bad luck. Some of them probably are. Some of the fact that he has a 71% strand rate probably is.

But I'm not ready to say all of it. He's always been a high home run. I guess he was in 2015, he really wasn't last year. The walk rate's higher, but not too bad. I think he's probably still fine as a number three, maybe a number four. Okay. But you're not worried about it at a middle. There are just, there are other pitchers in the same preseason range that I'm more worried about.

I just, because his only issue is the home runs. Like the walk rate's a little higher, but for the most part, the home runs are the issue. If he gets the home runs under control, he's going to be fine. Fine. And that's... Not necessarily good, fine. Like, if he's a plus, a strikeout per inning plus guy, which he has been this season. In fit...

Just to be clear, he's been a strikeout per inning guy because the endings have gone a little longer. His strikeout percentage is 23.2. Yep, that's above average. In 2015, it was 22.8. Yep. I just, you know, I look, I can look at some, like, he looks a lot like a slightly worse Chris Archer right now. And Chris Archer's still borderline number one for you, right? I think Archer is a top 15 starting pitcher for me, yeah.

And so that's where it comes for me is that it's just like, it just seems to be a couple of pitches every start that are going out of the park. And we saw over the previous, I think, three starts that he had gotten that under control, hadn't allowed a home run. and all of a sudden he looked great. I will say that Archer's three years in a row now been at 10.4Ks per hour better. And he has a 395 ERA, which is worse than Tanaka's ex-fip. But he also has a 316 FIP and a 344XFIP. Listen, like I said, I'm not worried enough to where I'm talking about. Who are you more worried about?

Masahiro Tanaka or John Lester, who was struck for four earned runs, I think 10 runs total in two-thirds of an inning? Yeah, that was a weird start. There was some defensive miscues. The Cubs are just so weird. I just keep expecting they're going to go on a stretch where they just win all of their games for a month or something. But it's not like this is the first time that he's struggled. He gave up five earned runs in the start before this.

But before that, it was four really good starts in a row. I'm not that worried about Lester. I like him as a, like, I don't think. there are 12 number ones, but if I had to list 12 number ones, he'd probably be one of them. Who do you like more? Jimmy Nelson or Taiwan Walker? I've got Jimmy Nelson higher in my rankings now. He gave up three runs and five innings against the Yankees, cruised through the first three innings, and then really ran into trouble.

I think he gave up three home runs, so. Well, and I think he also had, like, he had a three-run homer that was originally called a home run, and then it turned out it was just foul. Okay. I think he might have gotten lucky. Maybe. Okay. But he's been...

He's been so good for such a long time. And like, he's been really good, but... I made a point to watch him yesterday, and even he was struggling, the stuff looks really good. Yeah, it's just like, this start was five innings, three runs. He had an amazing stretch. But now his last six, he has another with... He's got three of his last six or less than six innings with at least three runs. So the shine makes.

be coming off just a little bit. I still like Nelson in the number three, number four range. I think instead of asking him or Taiwan Walker, the more interesting one is do you like him or Masahiro Tanaka more? Okay, who do you like more? That one is tough. I think they're both top 30 pitchers for me. I believe I'm going to have to go with Nelson.

Okay. Nelson over Tanaka. Jeff Hoffman struggled a little bit, gave up four runs, only had two strikeouts, but on the season, and that was a start at course, he went seven innings. That's a good start at course field. Oh, yeah. He's got a 415 ERA, a 129 whip, 50 strikeouts, 16 walks, and 56 and a third. How much worse is he than John Gray at this point?

He's looking pretty similar. I guess we've seen Gray do it for longer, so I trust more in Gray. But almost a comparable prospect pedigree from Hoffman. Right, right. Yeah, I need to move Hoffman up in my rankings just a little bit. I don't trust him as much as I trust Gray, but he should be higher than... We talked about Limet. earlier. He's probably in that same range.

Oh, I think he's higher than Lament. So, Lemette, I'm still projecting. Like, I guess if Jeff Hoffman pitched at Petco, it'd be a no-brainer. Right. But the course thing, I feel like, is the same type of explosive, explosibility. Okay. He's going to get exposed. Yeah.

As Lament has, just anywhere. Jacob de Grom and Carlos Martinez both gave, I think they gave up six home runs combined between them in a start against each other on Friday. Right. That was disappointing, but I don't. There's nothing there, right? No, I don't really care. It's just a juice ball.

They're fine. Yes, it's not juiced. It's manipulated in other ways, right? Well, we'll find out on Tuesday when we talked to the ringers Ben Lindberg. Sounds good. What do you do with Stephen Matt's at this point? He has 23 strikeouts in 38 and a third inning. Before yesterday started, I actually been fine.

His numbers had been great. He's still got a 305 ERA. But his swinging strike rate is like 5%. Yeah, you should have. to sold him before yesterday's start. It feels a lot like Dylan Bundy, who just can't get anybody out now. I would still

be looking to sell based on the 305 ERA. And I still like him as a top 40 starting pitcher. Yeah, I think he's a borderline guy for me there, and I might move him down. You'd rather have Tanaka than Mats? Yeah, for sure. I think I would too, but they're in the same range for me.

And how good is Luis Castillo? Is he in the Jeff Hoffman to Nelson Lemette range? He had eight strikeouts, only one walk. He is not in these studs being duds. He's a stud being a stud if you think he's a stud. Well, it might be, yeah. The funny thing is I had somebody, because he pitched yesterday. Yeah.

And I had somebody asked me, should I start Luis Castillo at Arizona? And I said no. He put together two really good starts against the Rockies and Diamondbacks on the road just now. Yes, I said no. And so later in the evening, I got a, a tweet saying thanks for the call on Luis Castilla and I thought it was the same guy being snarky

but it was actually somebody else saying thanks for telling me to pick him up on the waiver wire call him. No, he's had at least eight strikeouts and three of his last and three of his four starts all three of his last three starts. His stuff is really impressive. Right.

I would, uh, I'd put him above the Lamet category. I would keep him outside of the top 40. I might go all in. I might put him in the top 36. Well, you got James and Tyone like 18th, so you might get it. He's like 26th. Calm down.

Okay. I just really like Luis Castillo. A pitcher that young who can throw almost 100 who also has a devastating change-up. It just seems like he could be a guy who just really outperforms his minor league numbers. He could be. Heath. Yes. Keep an eye on Victor Keratini just because he's a catcher.

That's pretty much it. He had three hits. Came into the game yesterday. I think in like the second inning after the Cubs got blown out, they just took all the starters out. They brought him the B squad. But he had three hits, including two doubles, had his first RBI. Hasn't been playing much, but if he gets two or three starts a week, he could be relevant. He had a high 700s OPS in the upper minors, so just keep an eye on him.

I'll keep an eye on him in my NL only league. Okay, news and notes. Dallas Kichel threw off a mound for the first time on Sunday. He'll likely need one to two rehab of starts before coming back. back, so I would guess not right after the All-Star break, but maybe another week or two. Mike Trout will be back after the All-Star break. His rehab assignment ended today on Monday. The Yankees option, Jordan Montgomery to AAA.

Don't worry, he'll be back at the All-Star break. Michael Conforter returned from the DL. To sit on the bench against a terrible right-handed pitcher. I don't know what the problem is with the Mets, but... Terry Collins doesn't seem to believe in him. No. He never has, and it's really frustrating. I think he's not their best hitter,

but he might be their best hitter. Yeah, it doesn't really matter. The Yankees are pursuing a trade for Justin Boar. That would be super fun, a pool-heavy left-hander playing at Yankee Stadium. Be even better if he went to a stadium that had a pool. He's heavy everywhere, Heath, is the joke you should have gone with, whether he's in a pool or not.

Jameson was scratched from Sunday start with flu-like symptoms. Daniel Norris will not throw during the old. All-Star break, so he's still weighs away. Tommy Fam left Sunday's game with tightness in his left hip. The Padres are open to trading pretty much anyone. Brandt Hand, Brandon Maurer, and Trevor Cahill, notably mentioned in an ESPN report. And Clayne Kerchall will not pitch in the first series after the All-Star break in Miami. He made, I think, 18 starts before the break. So they're just trying to limit his innings. I think he pitched, I think he pitched more innings in the first half than he ever had before the All-Star break.

So just, I guess you, if your week starts, if you're just doing the three-game week, which you shouldn't. Right. You're a monster if you do. Some people might be, though. They don't have choices. Do we have any leaks like that? I would, I think what Scott has done is made two, five game weeks.

That's weird. Yeah, five-day weeks. It's really weird. But if you're- I believe the rest of them are 10 days. If you're playing in a three-game week, just know you probably can't start Clayton Kershaw. That's why you don't play in a three-game week. All right, we're going to move on to Fantasy All-Stars soon.

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For the Fantasy All-Stars? Yeah. Well, I have selected the correct team. I hope that you will just agree to all of it and we can move on. I mean, we want the section to last a little long. We've got like 20 minutes left. So you're just going to make bad arguments so that we don't agree. Sure. I have the right team. I'm skeptical.

That's all I'll say. Okay. So what we're going to do is we're going to build a head-to-head points type lineup, catcher, first base, et cetera. Okay. Four starting pitchers, two relief pitchers. We'll start with the catcher. I think there's an obvious call here.

Yeah. But I guess you have to get into the philosophies. debate, right? Okay. Do you just pick the best player? Whoever the best player was, you don't care about anything else, just the best player. Okay. Or do you pick the best value? I think you can do either one. The good thing about catcher is. It's the same person. It's the same person. Yes, it is. Unfortunately, he plays for your favorite team. I really try not to have favorite teams. I try to be an objective journalist when it comes to evaluating fantasy. And it's quite, clear that Salvador Perez with 18 Salvadorans which I think leads the position 57 RBI which also leads the position and 235 fantasy points which He's number one in head to head and Roto

Yeah it's much closer in head to head because he doesn't walk In Roto it's not that close He's number one Now the obvious question with Salvador Perez is now the perfect time to trade him. I think it probably is. Yes, if you could trade him for Gary Sanchez, I would love to do that in either format.

Do you have, is Perez in your top three a catcher now? I believe he is because I dropped LaCroix behind him. Yeah, that's the same move that I made. I believe Perez is number three in both. Posey Sanchez-Prez. Now for his career, he has a 784 OPS in the first half of the season, 7.03 in the second half.

So if it's only an 80 point drop, and he's got an 851 for the first half this year, you'd expect a 770 in the second half, which is still a top five catcher. The question is it a percent drop? I think it's a percent. Percent drops fine, too.

Because that's more like 85 points. If he's over 750 OPS in the second half, you're starting him and happy. But yeah, he's the obvious choice in the first half as the fantasy all-star catcher. Lock him in. Yes. There's a much more interesting debate to be had at first base.

I'll give you my choice. Okay. I'm going to go with Ryan Zimmerman. You're going to go with Ryan Zimmerman. There have been better players at first base, but only two of them. This is really the worst choice. Why? There have been multiple better players at first base.

There have been two better players at first base. In Roto. By what measurement? In Roto. Okay. I'm not sure in head-to-head. Yeah, in head-to-head he ranks... Because I thought we were in a head-to-head lineup.

Yeah, but I'm still... In head-to-head, he ranks seventh. Okay. In Roto that counts OBP instead of average, he's fifth. Okay. There is a guy that was basically the same cost or probably cheaper that is ahead of him in both of those formats. Who's that?

Travis Shaw. Okay. So, like, if you were going with the best player, you'd have a really tough argument. Because Votto's been better in points. Goldschmidt's been better in Roto. Votto was a round and a half cheaper. I mean, Votto's just... And you love Joey Votto.

He's outstanding. Yes. He's an incredible player. The only thing, all right, here's the thing. Travis Shaw's the only one of those players that's eligible at two positions. Right. Do you want to make the argument for him here? Or do you want to make the argument for him at third base?

I think Travis Shaw should probably play both positions. That's not going to work. He can't be first and third place. I don't think he moves that fast. I don't know. He has seven stolen bases. Okay. So I, my thought would be, if we're not going with the best value of the position, we should go with the best player.

Okay. So it comes down to Goldschmidt-Drivato. Yeah. Like, Paul Goldschmidt has probably. he's been the best first rounder, right? The best first round. I guess Jose Altuve is probably right up there with him, but Trout being injured,

Bryant being a little bit disappointing. Mookie's been pretty much what you expect, I guess. Yeah, I mean, in a points league, Goldschmidt is the highest scoring player that had a first round 80. So that would make him the best first rounder, I believe. So what do you want to go with? I'm going to go with the guy that scored 10 more points,

but it was taking him the second round. Okay. Like he was a round cheaper. I'm fine with that. What about it's second base? You love Joey Votto. Second base is a really interesting one. Because this is another one.

Do you go with the best player? Or do you go with the best value? And we've got another player that's eligible at two positions. Yep. Three positions. Yes. Jose Ramirez, who's scored 14 less fantasy points than Jose Altuve

and was taken eight rounds later. And this is where it really gets into the best player or the best value. I mean, Jose Ramirez has clearly, like if you drafted Jose Ramirez or you drafted Jose Aldeuvre, right, you're in a much better spot if you drafted Ramirez. Just all other things being equal on your team? Yes. I really wanted to make the case for Anthony Rizzo just to make you mad. Yeah, we're not going to do that because he hasn't been the best second baseman.

He's been in the third base. He's in the third best. Not a great value. No. I would go with Jose Ramirez over Altuva. Okay. What do you think? I'm fine with it.

It's just, we have two other opportunities to get Jose Ramirez in the lineup. Well, we've already chosen our third basement. I don't think we have. I have an obvious one at shortstop as well. This is one where Carl's Correa... Oh, this Adam Azer. And Azer doesn't like this, but it goes first, second, third short. You come back to the short stuff.

Because it's five? Because it's six. The five is third. So who's your third base? My third base, well, we chose Jose Ramirez for second base. Yes. So my third base one would be Travis Shaw. Okay.

Is he in points? Because I know in Roto, Jake Lamb's high ranked. He has, Jake Lamb has scored five more points than Travis Shaw. But probably had a much lower ADP. Yes. Travis Shaw went undrafted in any of our drafts where I didn't draft him. Because I got made fun of on the podcast because I guarantee Tito was going to draft Travis Shaw.

Yeah, Travis Shaw was drafted 200 spots later, according to Fantasy Pro's ADP. So we'll go with the number four guy at the position. Nolan Aronado, it's worth noting. Just having another Nolan Aronado season. He's number two at the position. Jose Ramirez is the number two second baseman, the number one, third baseman in Roto. Probably a top five outfielder. He's just having a special season.

Is he really this good, though? I don't think he's quite this good. I don't necessarily buy the power explosion. I think he might be a guy that hits 60 doubles one year, because I do think he has the... He's on pace for about 52. Right. And I think some of those home runs probably should have been doubles.

Okay. So I... Now, here's the difficult question. Yes. Jose Ramirez or Francisco Lindor. Well, if you're doing... Where do you have them ranked right now? Do you have Lindor higher than Ramirez still?

They are not eligible at the same position. Ramirez is a shortstop eligible. No. Yeah, but you do your trade chart. Who's on? I think in the trade chart, Lindorra is still ranked higher because he's shortstop eligible. Okay. But Ramirez has been much, much, much better.

Is I think 332 with just a 339 Babbup? Right. That's outstanding. I just realized how inconsistent I'm going to be with this best player. Well, because you wanted to get Travis Shaw in your lineup. Well, no, we started with the... I guess is he the one that we've chosen that was not the best player at his position?

No, we chose Ramirez as at second. Ramirez and Votto. Yeah, Votto's the best of his position. In points. Yes, this is a points lineup. I think there's an obvious call-it shortstop. Let's see if you agree. Carlos Correa and Corey Seeger have both been fantastic.

They're both top fourth of position in Roto, probably in head-to-head too. Carl's Correa having the breakout season that everybody hoped for. Yeah. But he's not the number one player at the position. He is in points by 30 fantasy points. That's a lot. Which is a lot.

It's a big difference in points because Elvis Andrews has 20 stolen bases and we know what our roto formula says about stolen bases. Well, let's be clear. It's not just that. If he has a 2040 season while hitting 300, that's first round value. Yeah. I think it is, but if Carlos Correa scores 120 runs, drives in 130, and hits 40 home runs while hitting 325. Yeah, that's pretty good.

At shortstop, that's probably the second overall pick next year. Yeah, I mean, that's basically Mani Machado. Yeah. In a better lineup. Right. I would be very happy with either Correa or Elvis Andrews. I don't have a problem with either selection that you want to make. I'm going with Elvis Anders.

You're going with Elvis Andrews, okay. So the infield, Salvador Perez, Joey Votto, Jose Ramirez, Travis Shaw, and Elvis Andrews. Yep. I think that's a great infield. That is not the infield we would have picked before the season, and none of those players. And I don't think at outfield either.

I don't think it's going to be anyone obvious at outfield preseason. Well, it's going to depend. Okay. Like I think when you... Let's lock in the first spot. When you look at points, Aaron Judge is... He's the best player in fantasy right now. Yes.

And he's... By a mile. I don't know about by a mile, but... What's his leading points over the outfield? 20. So not as big as Karea's lead at shortstop. Yeah, but shortstop stinks. And, like, the lead that Votto and Goldschmidt have over everyone else at first base is 50.

So... Okay. But, yes, he's been exceptional, and he's done it in less than, like, not quite a full season. Yeah. So he's in no matter what. After that... I think there's an obvious number two. You think there's an obvious number two,

and I assume that it's a Marlin. No. Okay. Is it Charlie Blackman? No. Is it George Springer? It is George Springer. He was taken...

And I'm probably going to need some help with his ADP. 34. I had him ranked as a second round pick. He was number 34 in Fantasy Prison. Not to bring up the fact that I was right of. about George Springer. Okay. But 34, Blackman was basically first round, so the nine points don't really matter.

I'll put Springer in the outfield with Judge. I still think I'd probably go Blackman third. He's the number two outfielder. I had two choices for the third spot. Blackman's number three in Rhodo. Marcelo Zuna's number five. Marcelo Zuna was drafted. 164th.

Yeah, he scored 47 less fantasy points in a points format. but if you need to get a little homer out well no I guess my thing is just that we're going with the best player for the first two let's get a little value in there we can do that and then we can just make Charlie Blackmun our utility

well that's the interesting one because we left off Paul Goulchman that's true we left off Ryan Zimmerman who's been a great value you know Ryan Zimmerman was being drafted in... His value is really not as great in points. Okay.

He was drafted two spots higher than Travis Shaw. On average. Yeah, yeah. He's basically, he scored one more fantasy point than Logan Morrison. Okay. Logan Morrison was being drafted pretty late too. Right. Let's go with...

All right, Blackman or Goldschmidt? I would choose Blackmun if I was building a fantasy lineup, because I'd rather my utility be an outfielder because he can cover me at three different spots. Okay. And Goldschmidt can only cover you at first base. Okay. That's kind of not the best logic.

I'm building a fantasy all-star lineup. Okay, so our hitters, Salvador Perez, Joe Evato, Jose Ramirez, Travis Shaw. Travis Shaw. Elvis Andrews, Aaron Judge, George Springer, Marcel Ozuna, and Charlie Blackman. We've got four outfielders in there. Travis Shaw, okay, it was a surprise.

But Elvis Andrews, too. It's not like he was some fantasy star before the season. Travis Shaw. Travis Shaw is amazing. Let's move on to the starting pitching staff. We've got four starting pitcher spots, and it might make sense to bump it up to five

just because there are three such obvious choices. Like, as much as I harp on the unpredictability of pitching, the top three have been exactly what we thought, in pretty much the order we thought. And they've outscored everyone else by 70 fantasy points. So, yes, Kershaw, Scherzer, and, sale are all in the rotation. Locked in. Is Scherzer number one in points? No. Shurzer is 42 points behind Clayton Kershaw. Really? Is there a big gap in wins there? Because

Scherzer's number one in Roto. Yes. Kershaw is 14 and 2. Shurzer is 10 and 5. Shurzer's been better in basically every other way. Yep. Except Kershaw made one more start. Yeah, that'll do it. So he went four more innings. But yes. And that, again... Kershaw is the number one pitcher in Rotar now, too. Goes to show you that wins and losses are dumb. The worst. I mean, it's really just the extra start.

No, because he's thrown four more ratings. Scherzer has 14 more strikeouts. Yeah. He has an ERA that's better, a whip that's better, and he's 40 fantasy points behind Kershaw. That's ridiculous. Yeah, I mean, that's probably close to one start, though, right? They're probably averaging 35 fantasy points per start or something, right?

I don't think it's quite that high. Okay. Scherzer is averaging 23.4 fantasy points per start. Okay. Kershaw is averaging 24.4 fantasy points per start. Okay. But the, like, Scherzer should be 20 to 30 points ahead of Kershaw. All right.

They've both been. phenomenal. Now, do we want to make an executive decision and go with another starting pitching spot? So we're going to do five now? I mean. And then Scott's going to come in with his All-Star team later and be mad because he doesn't have an extra pitcher? Probably. Scott never gets mad. Scott keeps cool. So this is going to be tough. Yeah, that's why there's some really good value options. I think there's three really good value options. And the number four starting pitcher in Roto is also a great value. Zach Ranky. Yeah, he's number four in points as well.

And was probably a fifth round pick? The thing is Grinky has outscored Irvin Santana and Jason Vargas who are basically tied by 40 fantasy points. So basically by one point, two points per start. Okay. Those guys were drafted. I mean, Vargas was even after Santana.

I don't think Vargas was drafted. No. So he's not in the fantasy pros ADP, which is 415 players deep. If we're going to go with five, then I personally would go Kershaw-Shir-Zer sale. Let me say this correctly. Shursor-Kers-R-Sail, to give him credit. Alex Wood and Jason Vargas.

That's the one we didn't mention Alex Wood. Another guy who was basically not drafted, 378. Grinke is the only one of that group who was drafted in your typical head-to-head league. Santana has about a 280-80-p, so does Alex Wood, or 380 for Alex Wood, Jason Vargas not drafted. So which one did you go with? I was going with Wood and Vargas. Yeah, Vargas is the best value.

Irvin Santana has half a fantasy point more than Jason Vargas, but he also made one more start. And Grinke's 40 points clear? Grinke is 40 points clear. He was an eighth round pick. Okay. That's a pretty stellar value at this starting pitcher position. That's been a guy that we had a lot of question marks coming into the season with.

And is he in your top 10 now? He's a bit, yeah, yeah, I think he is. I mean, there's an argument to me made for him top five with Dallas Kikele on the DL. Dallas Kikele obviously would have been on there if not for the injury. Yeah, I've got Grinky 8th. He has his highest K per 9 since 2011. He has his lowest walks per 9. Well, 2015 was when he had a lower one, so not that long ago.

But 286 ERA, 316, 5. 313 X-FIP. There's no reason to doubt it with Zach Ranky, right? No, I don't have any reason to doubt it at all. I just, the value difference is so great between those other guys. We already went with the top three starting pitchers, so I feel like four and five should be values. Tech Rankie is a value. Okay, well, go with Jason Vargas.

Managed to get two Royals on there. Do you choose Alex Wood or Irvin Santana? It's Alex Wood. I'm going with Alex Wood. Okay. He's been arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball on a per inning basis. If not for that, DL stint in May, he would be a number one pitcher. He's number five in Roto despite a DLJ10.

And not opening the season in the rotation, right? Correct. So, yeah. He's only made 13 starts. Yeah, he's been. And the fact that he's top five in Roto and what, seven in head-to-head? Would? Yeah.

No, he's like 15th. Okay. What about relief pitcher? I think there's, this is one where there's an obvious value call. Greg Hollins. Yep. Lock him in the first spot. And then Kimberl and Jansen, I don't know how you would choose between the two of them?

They're both having historic seasons. Yes. Kenley Jant... Did he walk someone finally? Yes. He has one walk? Yes, he has two. Which Kimberl only has five. Yeah, 57 strikeouts to two walks for Kenley Jansen.

He has a .96 ERA. He's got a 143 back. batting average against, he's been just absolutely unhittable. The best version, he's been, do I go with the sacrilege? He's been Mario Rivera? He's been a better Mario Ana Rivera this season. Marioira Rivera never had a season this good. Well, and, like, Kimball has a better strikeout rate and a lower whip.

Does he have a lower whip? Does he have, like, a negative whip? 0.50. Kenley Jansen's 0.56. That's... So you could make an argument that Kimberl has been better than Jansen. Kenley Jansen has been the number one

reliever in Roto. Kimbril's number two. Roberto Zunas number three. Greg Holland's number four in Roto. Yeah. Well, in points, Holland is third behind Kimbril and Jansen. And Roberto Azuna is having himself

an outstanding season two. He's got three walks to 47 strikeouts. Can we just talk about Wade Davis for a second? Sure. Because it's kind of funny that I was so far wrong about Wade Davis and having him as an elite closer, but it's because his team sucks. Yeah. Well, you said he was going to get 50 saves. I did.

It needs 34 in the second half. He does. But he's also thrown 30 innings with a 1.80 ERA. He's been very good. He's. He's been phenomenal. 43 strikeouts and 30 innings. But he can't make the team.

I'm going to go Kimberl and Holland. This is another one where I'd love to have that extra spot, just because Holland's been great. But like, does it really make that? Yeah, I mean, Holland was probably one of the last closers taken in your leagues. He was going after Jim Johnson. Yeah, he was 226. So he was after Ryan Madsen, Brandon Mauer.

Ryan Madden, Blake Traynan, and Brandon Mauer were the three closers taken ahead of him. Brandon Mauer has been fine. Yeah. The other guy's not so much. Yeah, he's been an outstanding value. All right, so the pitching staff, Scherzarton Kershaw, Chris Sale, Alex Wood, Jason Vargas, Greg Holland, and Craig Kimbril. Who on this All-Star team do you think, in that pitching staff, won't keep it up in the second half? Who's the most likely to be a sell-high candidate?

Jason Vargas. Jason Vargas, yeah. Clearly. Greg Holland, I would say. and I still, like I like Alex Wood a lot, he's been phenomenal. I don't want to doubt him keeping this up. I still doubt him staying healthy. Okay.

So I would say in that order, Vargas, Holland, Kim, no, Vargas, Holland, Wood. And in the hitters, Perez, Votto, Jose Ramirez, Travis Shaw, Elvis Andrews, Aaron, Judge, George Springer, Marcelo Zuna, and Charlie Blackman, who are the three best sell high candidates in that group? I don't, I don't know. I mean, Shaw, I don't feel like anybody's going to give you much for him. Yeah. Like, nobody seems to really be buying that much into Travis Shaw. I think Scott and I just barely moved him into the top 12 recently. Yeah.

I mean, I would say that Shaw, maybe Ramirez, actually. Okay. Because I buy Shaw's power more than I buy Ramirez's power. And I feel like more people are buying. into what Ramirez is doing. Yep. And he's actually been slightly better than Shaw. Speed doesn't slump he.

I'll say Ramirez, then Shaw, then O'Suna. I don't, I still, I just, I don't know what to make of Marcelo Zuna. Right. Just as a Marlins fan, I don't think he's this good. It's two first halves in a row where he's been one of the best outfielders in baseball. He's been even better this year. And I just don't know how to balance the fact that he hurt his wrist last year, and that coincided with the slump versus he was going to have some natural regression anyway.

Yeah, he's not got a 362 grab-up guy. No. Career is probably like 320. Yep. So you've probably got to project him to be a 280 hitter. But the plate discipline has really improved. I just don't know. Is he a top 15 outfielder for you?

No. Okay. And like the plate discipline, the walk rate has improved this year. The strikeout. rate's gone back to where it was two years ago. Okay. He's just hitting the crap out of the ball. Well, and that's something that you see sometimes is that you trade contact for power.

That's not necessarily a bad thing to do. See, I don't know. I can't get a sense for him, and I don't want to buy in too hard because then I'll be a homer. I don't want to be too critical because then I'll be one of those awful homers who hates their team. You are both from time to time. Yeah, I just, I don't know what to make of him, and I think that makes him a sell high candidate for me.

But he is, I think, top of 10 in hard hit rate this season. He's been exceptional. Yeah, I would, I'd say that was it, because I feel like too many people know that Salvador Perez, the second half thing. But like I said, if you could get Gary Sanchez for him, I'd do it. Heath. Yeah. That's going to be doing it for the show. All right.

Who wins the home run derby tonight? Mike Pistuckus. You just had to go with the Homer pick. Mike Mastagas and Justin Bore, I love them both. I love Husky fellas doing athletic things. There's no way that win the home run there. Can we mark that and just save it for the highlight show? No, I feel kinship to them.

To them both. I like any player who basically looks like me if I worked out for three months. But they're going to run out of steam. They don't get the stamina. I think you're underestimating Mike Mastokis of stamina. I don't know how you go against either Giancarlo Stann or Aaron Judge. I don't know how you pick between them. I expect the Marlins guys to choke under the pressure of playing in front of more than 10,000 fans.

It's going to be too loud in there for them. There's going to be all these people. I'm not used to these people looking at me. I don't appreciate it. Jankarles Stanton won the Home Red Derby last year in a packed house. So I don't want to hear it, Heath. Okay. Unfair.

I'm going with Stanton. I'll make the Homer pick since you made your homer pick. That's going to do it for us on Monday. We will be back every day this week with podcasts. We've got all kinds of stuff going on. Scott will be back on Wednesday. We've got all kinds of guests. So stick with us through the All-Star break, and we'll see you later.

Bye.