Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/13 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Jose Quintana trade and midseason top prospects

Episode Date: July 13, 2017

The guys react to the Jose Quintana trade, and then talk about the top prospects still getting work in the minors. Does Quintana get a boost in his cross-city move? Should you still be waiting on Amed Rosario? What's the ETA for Rafael Devers? 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

What day is it? Week 15. Week 15 of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. It's Thursday. And I'm Chris Towers. We got a full, not a full house. A fool house. We got a house.

We got a house full of fools. Heath coming, Scott White. Chris Towers here, Adam Azer, enjoy your Costa Rican vacation. That's where I'm sending him. Yeah, I don't think that's where he is. It's just good to be back on the podcast. I miss you. This is your, okay, you keep doing this.

Right. This is your fourth podcast of the week. Well, we've released three so far, right? Yeah, and you've been on two of them. It was the third of four. Scott, did you listen to the interviews with Jonah Carey and Ben Lindberg? I didn't listen to them. Sorry to say.

Yeah, Chris did a phenomenal job, I thought. There was a technical snafu, and Heath was not included for about 13 minutes of one episode. And drama queen that he is, he has to make a whole stink about it, the whole office knows. Can I just give my Jason Vargas quip on this podcast? He threw a chair. Because it was good. He threw a glass. Scott, here's the thing.

I provided a lot of information to that podcast. And Chris just wiped it from the face of the earth. As well I should have. We are going to be previewing the very brief week 15. We are going to have some news and notes. We're going to check in on the prospect scene, Scott's. Top 25. It's not prospects?

Because there are a pros. Yeah. But that's not the top 25 prospects. It is the top 25 prospects, depending how you define the prospect. Who have not made it to the majors yet? Yes. Check it out on CBSSports.com. We're going to talk a little bit about that.

But got to talk about the big news. Got to talk about the big news. Jose Cantana sent to the Chicago Cubs. Tightening up that rotation. We'll see. The White Sox get a prospect package, including four prospects, two real prospects. Cubs get Jose Cantana.

The White Sox get Eloy Jimenez, who you know of the natural. Would that be the movie? Yes, the natural. He did his best Roy Hobbs impersonation in the High A. Home Run Derby. Yeah, shattering the lights out there with a blast.

Also, Dylan Cease, a hard-throwing right-hander, also from the High A South Bend. to Cubs. The South Bend Cubs really losing a lot of talent here. They also, Matt Rose and Brian Fleet, Matt Rose, 22-year-old in High A, Brian Fleet, a 24-year-old in High A. That probably tells you all you need to know about those two. Yeah, they don't matter. Forget him. What does this mean for Jose Cantana's value? Well, I think it has to go up, right? I mean, he's going to the easier league. I think actually a more favorable park.

And the biggest thing is he has an actual supporting cast now when coming into this year, the biggest knock on Jose Cantana is that for as consistent as he is with the ERA and pitching 200 plus innings, he's gotten burned in terms of wins and losses because he didn't have much of a supporting cast. Well, despite how the Cubs performed in the first half,

you could still argue it's one of the best supporting casts in baseball. And at a time when Jose Cantana appears to be turning things around, his last seven starts, don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but it's like a 270 ERA, 1-2 whip, 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. The home run rate has normalized. And just the investment Theo Epstein was willing to make in him,

I think shows that the Cubs are every bit convinced. He's the pitcher we saw the four years prior to this one. I mean, that's a huge haul. Aloi Jimenez. The Cubs basically acquired Jose Cantana at the same cost that the Red Sox acquired Chris Sale prior to this season. Because Jimenez is like Yohan, in the conversation for Best Prospect in Baseball and Dylan Cese.

That was my thought, is very Michael Kopeck-ish. Yeah. Throws really hard, gets a lot of strikeouts. Some control issues there to sort out, but you definitely see an ace ceiling here for Dylan C's. Yeah, and like you said, Jose Cantana, last 40 innings over the last seven starts. He has a 270 ERA, 45 strikeouts, 16 walks in 40 innings. So he's been extremely good. Great trade for both teams.

increases the value for everyone involved. It's easier for these two prospects to get to the major leagues with the White Sox. Although given how patient they've been with Yohan Moncada this season, it makes a lot of sense to think that Elohimenez is probably still a year away. Oh, yeah. He's in high A right now.

Yeah, I mean, he wasn't coming up this year regardless. But now I think it's clear he'll be up at some point next year. At least possible. I just, you know, this is kind of getting away from the fans. fantasy analysis, but it's kind of interesting what we're seeing with some of the trade. All three involving the White Sox, by the way, but Adam Eaton, Chris Sale, I mean, you know, the Cubs gave up a sale-like haul for Kentana, but that Chris Sale trade, that seemed like a huge price even for sale in this off season, based on to what we were used to seeing top prospects go for.

So between those three traits, Kentana, Sale, Eaton, all three benefiting the White Sox, it seems like GMs around the league are kind of loosening their grip on the elite prospect. Guys who for the last 10 years we've thought of as intouchable are now just the going rate for a proven player with a moderate salary like Kentana has. He's under team control for three years. Yeah, two and a half years, two years after this one, it's a big trade, but it's not a huge trade for fantasy purposes. Kintana universally owned. It's not like he can be more universally owned. He probably sees a nice improvement in his value,

but it doesn't move anything. And for this year, at least, Elohimenez's value doesn't change. He's probably not someone we're going to be drafting next season either, unless maybe the White Sox call him up to double A soon. He starts mashing there. Then once you get to double A, then you can start saying, well, I mean, it's quite possible that next year,

going into the season, we'll think of him much the same way we thought of Munkata going into this season. So I will think that you shouldn't draft him. Yeah, if you want to be that inside baseball about it, sure. We hadn't talked about Heath enough. I hadn't heard my name at all yet.

Intervening five minutes. Why am I even here? Okay, so just to clarify, Heath was not on board with drafting and stashing Yoan Moncada coming into this season. That's what that comment wasn't all about if it wasn't obvious from the context. A potentially more actionable trade also went down shortly after this, and obviously not as big a name as Jose Cantana,

but the Yankees acquired first baseman Garrett Cooper from the Milwaukee Brewers for lefty reliever Tyler Webb. Garrett Cooper will be with the Yankees Major League team, correct? You know, I did not know much about Garrett Cooper, but he has put up some crazy numbers at AAA this year, Your 26-year-old. Colorado Springs is... Sure.

Sure. 366 batting average, 17 homers, and 320 plate appearances. Yeah, I don't... I mean, obviously, it seems like this is... This is some... The Yankees are at least using this as a way, considering this a potential upgrade on the cheap at first base. They released Chris Carter in recent days.

Yeah, before they go all in on, like, a Justin Bore trade or a Tommy Joseph trade or something like that. So I would imagine Cooper will get a chance before that. Very good plate discipline, 322 strikeouts and 446 games. Not much power before this season. The power clearly getting an aid from the thin air in Colorado Springs. But a career 300 hitter, that juiced ball, you know, that we've seen a lot of guys with middling power come up.

And I think he's worth a look in AL-only leagues for sure. Yeah, no, I think so too. I agree. All right. Let's move on to the rest of the show. Week 50, well, let's go do the news and notes before we do the week 15 preview. David Dahl played in a real professional baseball game, made his rehab debut at high class A Wednesday going one for three. What's the path to playing time for David Dahl?

I assume he needs an entire spring training's worth of games. You get 20 games on a rehab assignment? I'm not, because that's changed in recent years. It's something like that. 20 or 30 days. I thought it was 30 days, but I could be wrong. Yeah, I'm still not counting on him helping this year because you have to figure Cargo will be back by about that point.

Rai Maltapi has done a great job in cargo's absence. Hararapara has been great. Yeah, he recently returned from the DL, so there's still an outfield crunch for the Rockies. But, you know, at the very least, I think Dahl is still, in the September call-up discussion, and who knows what changes between now and then. Nate Jones out for the season with elbow surgery. He hasn't pitched since late April.

The Phillies would be willing to take on additional salary to acquire Christian Yellich, according to reports. I'll take Sixto Sanchez for him. Let's do it right now. Call it in. I wonder if a rebuilding team like the Phillies is backing away from that idea, seeing what it costs the Cubs to get. get Jose Cantana because I think we'd all agree

Christian Yellich is a much better asset than Jose Cantana. There were also some rumors surrounding D. Gordon and the Kansas City Royals. Yeah. That's a very good fit because the Royals don't have any prospects and the Marlins don't really value prospects. There you go. So that could be out. Yeah, a couple of teams have been

sniffing around D. Gordon. The Yankees have been linked to Justin Boar. Highly recommend go to philly.com. Read the one night with Philly's pitching prospect 6thos Sanchez story. It's illuminating. He's been outstanding, arguably the best pitching prospect in the minors this season in terms of performance.

Danny Salazar made another rehab start. Was great. Seven strikeouts, two walks and five two hit innings at short season Class A. Yeah. When do you think we'll be back? Next week is a possibility. And the rehab assignment had gone very poorly until this one, and it was at short season class A, so against players who were just drafted by and large.

So I don't know if he's really back or not. 77% owned. We know what kind of talent he is. Yeah, tons of upside, sure. Frustration he can bring to your fantasy team, but I still think he's probably a must-own player. Just the upside's too high, and I'm looking for upside at starting pitcher.

He's pretty close. I don't think 70% needs to drop any. Probably does need to go up a little. Cesar Hernandez, beginning a rehab assignment as he recovers from an oblique injury, so hopefully he'll be back soon. Ronald Acuna. Acuna.

Acuna. Was promoted to AAA Gwinnett, so we could see him. What's the story on Akuna? Acuna has been one of the... Matata. Well, you know, actually, Suspitas Family Barbecue. Oh. Yes.

That's the Twitter handle. It's a funny baseball-related Twitter account. It got a photo of Acuna standing directly in front of Moncata at the future. game, Acuna Moncada. Fantastic. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, one of the fastest rising prospects this year, Akunia, just 19 years old.

And moved up to AA about midseason and just completely dominated that league, which is usually, you know, kind of the weed out course. Yeah. For minor leaguers, double A. 326, 895 OPS, 19 steals, nine home runs in 57 games at AA. AA Mississippi. Actually seemed to improve there too. He cut way down on his strikeouts. There's developing power,

ton of speed and athleticism. He's been earning comparisons to Andrew Jones down there. And Andrew Jones made the majors as a teenager famously. I don't think it's crazy. I don't think the Braves are going to make the World Series, though.

No, no. He's not going to hit two home runs in the World Series like Andrew Jones did. But that they're already promoting him to AAA, I think, suggests. It's not outside the Rumble a possibility he could come up in the second half. Like I said about Elohimenez.

Once you get to AA, you could be a good month away from the majors. And that's even more true of the AAA. At this point, it's more about whether they want to call them up. We're going to talk about prospects a little later. Sixto Sanchez actually did not make my midseason top 25, but Okunia did. And actually made the top 10. Well, Sixtho doesn't pitch for the bruce. I mean, we could get into the reasons why Sixto Sanchez didn't make it.

But I did have 25 honorable mentions after the top 25, and he was among those. So obviously, very good prospect. The miscongeniality of Scott's top 25 prospects. All right, let's look ahead at week 15 very briefly. If you're playing a three-day week, there's probably something wrong. Yeah. But I was actually happy Heath wasn't going to be on this podcast at first because I had a feeling he would take the conversation in the gutter.

Yeah, although he said something probably went wrong. I was just going to say if you're playing in a three-day week, Scott's probably your commissioner. No, the standard CBS sports rules are the weekend after the All-Star break counts as a week unto itself. Now, there are ways around that if you don't want to do it. I think there's an actual option you can click just to combine that with week 16, make it an extra long week 15. I don't know why that's necessarily better.

One compromise I've come up with one league is start one scoring period on Friday and take it through Tuesday start the next one on Wednesday, take it through Sunday so it's two five-day scoring periods instead of a 10-day or a three-day. And then there's also, you know, one way around it is just to eliminate

these three games altogether. It's probably a little late to have that discussion in your league. You're probably locked into whatever the settings were already at this point, but those are options maybe to consider next year. So some things to know, Yankees Red Hawks, Yankees Red Sox play a double header on Sunday. So they actually have a four-game week, which is nice for those of you who have some Red Sox and Yankees. You get an extra 33%.

Yeah, I don't know how much it helps really, because you have to figure some of their pitters will sit during one of those doubleheader games. And the matchups for both teams in terms of the pitchers they're facing are pretty tough. But it's something to keep in mind. Because the difference between four and three is obviously even bigger. than the difference between seven and six. All right, Scott, I'm putting a timer on. I'm going to give you a minute for sleeper-hitters for week 15. One minute.

Okay, so you can't take as big a chance as you might normally with players who are injured. So, you know, Matt Holiday coming off the DL, Starlin Castro, Chris Davis of the Orioles, Eduardo Nunez. They're all coming back from the DL, but you can't afford to take a risk with them losing of them playing only two games instead of three. So my favorite, my favorite sleepers for this week, Ian Haps, number one,

I think the Cubs have the best matchups against the Royals' Orioles rotation. Tommy Fam is still very high on my list. Obviously, he's had a productive stretch. Add Tommy Fam. Jack Peterson facing all righties. And he's been great since coming off the deal. Max Kepler facing all righties.

He's been great against them. Malik's, Myth Facing, all righties, he's been great against them. I don't want to spoil all 10 of the sleeper hitters for you. Go to CBSSports.com and check them out. Scott, is that it for the sleeper hitters? Yes. You've got nine seconds left on the clock.

I'm going to give you nine more, or one more minute, 60 seconds. Four sleeper pitchers. Obviously, no two-star pitchers in a three-game week, but you need to be extra, like some pitchers aren't even going to start at all. That's kind of the biggest downside of the three-game weeks. 40% of them. Yeah. So you're going to have to be very aggressive with your roster spots.

Not saying you could just drop anybody for an extra start this week, but you may have to make some tougher decisions than normal. Trevor Cahill, I think, is far and away. The best sleeper pitcher this week probably deserves to be owned anyway, and he's going against the Giants with that elite ground ball rate, elite whiff rate. You need to get him active now and maybe forever. Ian Kennedy's been on a nice run. Mike Fires has been on a pretty nice run.

I know the walks have been kind of high the last two starts, but that secondary arsenal has been playing up lately. He gets the twins this week. I think Jeff Hoffman, because he's on the road at the Mets, he's a good option. All four of his road starts have been quality starts. And I guess that's time. Ten sleeper pitchers out there.

So if you want to find out all of them. Go to cdesparts.com slash fantasy. look up Scott's stuff for week 15 and might as well just go back tomorrow look up as stuff for week 16. Yeah, quick turn around. You can also find Scott's top 25 prospects piece on there. Scott, let's talk about these guys.

Top prospects who haven't debuted in the majors yet, so know you on Moncada. Who else would be eligible that didn't? That wasn't. So, yeah, it's a pretty long list, actually. Franklin Barreto, we'll see him again. Lewis Brensen's actually been a monster since returning to AAA,

hit about 430 with a 1250 OPS, something like that. The Brewers don't have a great need for him, but I imagine he'll be back. Tyler Glassnow has done kind of a Blake Snell thing at AAA, back to getting tons of strikeouts. Walk's still kind of high. Obviously, Snell's return hasn't gone well. I don't know that Glass Now's will either.

Derek Fisher, Tom Murphy, Luke Weaver. Luke Weaver. Yeah, yeah. It'll be interesting to see whether if the Cardinals start trading off some pitchers, Luke Weaver, I would guess, would get the first shot. Is there a spot for Jack Flair, T2, who just missed my midseason top 25? He's been one of the biggest breakout pitchers in the minors this year. And Raynold de Lopez didn't make my top 25 because he debuted last year, of course,

had an 11 strikeout game against the Braves in August. But it seems like this trade, removing Kintana from the White Sox, may be the opening Lopez needs. Is Ronaldo Lopez a better fantasy prospect today, July 13th, then Lucas Geolito? I think he is. He's been... Lucas Geolito's been bad.

He has been very bad, and Lopez hasn't had a great year at AAA, but his last three starts have all been very good. Gilito's last start was great. Two hits, I think, 10 strikeouts in seven innings. So I don't know that the White Sucks will need a fifth starter to late July. They have some time to figure this out. I would guess, though, as of today, though, Lopez would be the next one up.

They'll probably find a spot for both of them by the trade deadline. Can I just say I love Micro Machines' voice, Scott White, that he's just stuck in now since we gave him the one-minute timeline. But you know many times people have checked their podcast to see if they clicked the little thing to make it one and a half times in the last few minutes? It's fantastic. Lucas Gielito, worth noting, 498 ERA, 9.7 strikeouts is really good, but 4.1 walks per nine. Rinaldo Lopez, on the other hand, 397 ERA,

not quite as many strikeouts, not quite as many walks either. But neither has been as good as you might have hoped. They're 22 and 23, respectively, for the Charlotte Knights of the International League. Yes.

I know my stuff. You're nailing it, really. I would sound like a chipmunk if I was on one point. Five speed, right? I think chipmunk speed is like two, maybe three times. But there's a little chipmunk quality. There's a higher pitch, right?

You sound like Adam. It sound like Adam. Wow. Heath is just, he's in a mood. He just comes up. He didn't want to be on today's show full disclosure. The only reason Heath is on is because we needed to use his computer. Thanks, Scott.

I bring no value in the podcast except for my computer. I mean, you're just coming in here with the insults. That's really all you're doing. The computer belongs to the company. So are you really bringing any value? None. All right, let's talk about the actual top prospects. Adam Rosario, Amad Rosario, number one.

Yeah. Are they ever going to call him up? Are they ever going to call him up? Yes, they will call him up, I think, sooner than later. My guess is the reason they haven't, despite whatever excuses they make, is they just want to showcase as Drewbel Cabrera and Jose Reyes before the trade deadline.

Trade deadline's coming up. It's going to basically be here by the time the White Sox need a fifth starter again. So yeah, Ahmed Rosario, I guess he'll be up before the end of the month. And he's really the only one from my mid-season top 10, let's say, who I feel confident will be up. Do we want to run through those names real quick? My mid-season top 10 prospect. Again, these are ones who haven't debuted in the majors yet. Yes.

The top 10, and what you should do is go to cibusports.com slash fantasy. Look up this. I think it's still the lead story up there. And Scott, what you did is you basically give a write-up, you give the number so far, and you also give basically not a prediction of when they're going to get called up, but their chances of getting called up this season. The top 10, Ahmed Rosario, shortstop in the Matspur system.

Rafael Devers, third baseman for the Red Sox. Is he at AA yet? He is in AA. He has in AA most of the year. and has done really well there. Francisco Mejia of the Indians, Elohimenez, obviously not of the Cubs of the White Sox, Glaver Torres of the Yankees.

I feel very confident in saying Glauber Torres will not be called up this season, guys. I think that's a good call, yeah, Tommy John. Tommy John surgery, obviously, in the last couple of weeks. Kyle Tucker for the Astros. Oh, you skipped one. Brendan Rogers for the Rockies, who is still at High A, right? Or she did get called up to AAA.

He got called up to AA recently. has been dreadful there so far after just destroying the California League, hitter-friendly league. Kyle Tucker outfielder for the Astros. Brent Honeywell on that screwball for the raise. Victor Robles. Robles. Robles. Robles.

Robles for the Nationals. And Ronald Acuna, who among this group will we see this season? Again, Rosario, I think definitely. There's a chance for Okunia, like I said earlier. I think there's some glimmer of hope for Brent Honeywell, although AAA has been kind of the first time he's struggled in the minor so far. So that may hold him back. That's pretty much it.

Most of these players are very, very high upside, but not particularly. They don't earn high marks for proximity. Okay. Different P word I was looking for. But further down on the list, Among my top 25, and even beyond that. It's basically a top 50.

I just don't bother to order the second half of the 25. They're just kind of listed there at the end and alphabetically. Which, you know, that range of prospects is really hard to pick favorites anyway. Ozzie Albies, I think it's almost certainly going to be up in the second half. Another Braves prospect. Brandon Phillips is an impending free agent, very likely trade candidate. Yes, and Albies, we've heard about him for a long time in prospect circles. Didn't it seem clear what he brought to the table other than a high batting average,

but he has been prolific base stealer in the minors this season, and very recently over the last month or so, has started to provide some surprising power. Now, I don't think he's profiles as a 20-homer guy in the majors all of a sudden, but we're kind of in an era where, you know, if you have any measure of hitting a bill, a 20 homer season is within the realm of possibility. And this is one thing that he talked about, that Ben Lindberg talked about during, and I think Jonah Carey actually did too,

is that we've seen both of them, or we've seen over the last year and a half, two years, guys come up to the majors and hit for better power. And it's not just like, we can look at Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, guys who always had raw power, but who didn't have the end-game power yet in the minors. but we're seeing pretty across the board kind of guys posting better power numbers in the majors

and the ball's a pretty good explanation. Are you more excited about Albies than you were Danesby-Swanson? No, I'm more excited about Danesby-Swanson. Albies didn't have the quite as much pedigree. I mean, Swanson was the number one overall pick. I mean, that's the analysis can kind of end there. And he's hitting 292 with a 787 OPS and AAA. Those numbers don't blow you away.

He's been pretty consistently a high 700s OPS in the minors. But he's also been very young. He was 18 when he posted a 771 OPS at Class A Rome. Last season between both AA and AAA, he was 19 years old and hit 292, hit 321 as a 19-year-old at AA Mississippi. Now he's hitting 292 at AAA Gwinnett. So a lot to like there. I think, and you know these things better than I do,

you've got your ear closer to the ground. I think you might be underselling the chances that Rafael Devers gets the call. Red Sox have had some of the worst third base production in the majors, 625 OPS from them. They could really use Trevor Shaw. They're a catcher, their combined catcher OPS, and not exactly the best catching situation in the majors is a 40 point OPS points higher. then their third base.

Yeah. There's been a lot of smoke around Martine Prado to the Red Sox, and I think that would end any chances of Devers getting called up in the second half. But until that happens, until the Red Sox acquire Prado or some other veteran third base, then Devers to the majors is very much implied. This is a team that called up Yon Moncotta last season

to play third base, even though he had very little experience there. Yeah. But, yeah, I would say Albies is a higher priority at Reese Hoski. I mentioned Tommy Joseph earlier as a first-based possibility for the Yankees or some other club. It seems like the Phillies are willing to move him to get Hoskins bet in the majors finally. J.P. Crawford of the Phillies also. Man.

Guy who's been a top 10 prospect for a long time and is just... The numbers stink. Yeah, I mean, he's hit AAA with a thud, basically, two years in a row. You hope it's something like a Francisco Lindor situation, except Francisco Linder hit in the minors. he just didn't hit like this. Right. And it's worth noting J.P. Crawford still had exceptional plate discipline, even when he hasn't hit so well.

He started to get hot toward the end of the first half. 9-12 OPS in his last 21 games. So it's going to take a sustained hot streak, I think, for Crawford to get the call in the second half, but he's a shortstop with good plate discipline and obviously a top prospect pedigree. I'm surprised we haven't heard more about Willie, Calhoun getting called up for the Dodgers potentially because he's been at AAA all year

has hit for a ton of power each of the last two years and with a good strikeout rate like there there's not a clear hole there for pitcher for major league pitchers to exploit he's only five foot eight so there's not big holes to begin with 27 homers at double a Tulsa last season as a 21 year old hit 254 so yeah not a great batting average but he only struck out 65 times and 560 plate appearances. Now this season, 19 homers in 82 games, 44 strikeouts and 344 played appearances with a 302 batting average. A lot of contact.

So you look at last season, you said a batting average isn't great. Maybe he's got the wrong kind of profile, even with the batted ball. Maybe he's Nolan Aeronado without the benefit of course field kind of guy where he's just never going to hit for average, but he's a 284 career hit or hit 316 in 2015. I think last year was just some bad luck. Yes. Yeah, that seemed to be the consensus coming into the year.

And they're not even playing Logan Forsyth every day anymore at the Dodgers. He's been terrible this year. I don't think Chase Utley is a starting second baseman for a first division ball club. I don't buy the Chris Taylor thing continuing. Why do you hate Chris Taylor? Why do you like Chris Taylor? I don't think he does. What's that?

I don't think he does. No, we just, we get like once a week, at least, maybe more often. When are you guys going to start giving Chris Taylor credit? Chris Taylor has been pretty phenomenal this year. Like, I don't think that's overstating it. He had a very nice run. And he's been good lately. Has he?

We had this discussion actually, I think three days ago, and there haven't been any games since then. Last 18 games, 239 with a 669 OPS. Chris Taylor is not a prospect, my friend. No. He's not, but... You know who is a prospect. Who? There we go again.

What? Pooh-poo and Chris Taylor immediately. Like, don't even discuss it. He's literally not a prospect. Okay. He's lost his rookie eligibility. His service clock has started. A guy we very likely will see, I would say.

Dominic Smith, right? Yes. Hitting 3.30 at AAA, Las Vegas. very favorable hitting environment there in the PCL, one of the best hitters park within the PCL. But hitting 330, this is a career 300 hitter, pretty good plate discipline, 327 strikeouts and 514 games. The power in the past has not been there,

but he's starting to develop it. 14 home runs last season, 12 already in 90 games this season, PCL, but the majors are kind of like the PCL right now. Yeah, this guy could be a 20-homer, 300 hitter in the major. Well, just look what happened to Josh Bell. I think it's a very similar profile. Josh Bell's actually struggled with batting average, which was unexpected.

Now, Dominic Smith, the Mets took him 11th overall back in 2013. They expected him to hit all along. It was just a question of, would he develop enough power for our first basement? And that's still a question worth asking. But because every other aspect of the hitter profile has manifested, I think from a long-term perspective, I'd still give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't know with first base being in the state it's in. I'm going to be excited when Dominic Smith gets called up, which will presumably happen.

Presumably they'll trade Lucas Duda and then they'll just turn it over to Smith. But it's definitely in the mix. Is there anyone else you would like to mention before we take off? Yes. I would like to mention Scott Kingery, a couple players. Scott Kingery and Kristen Stewart. Scott Kingery was a Pokemon and Kristen Stewart was the star of...

Twilight. Yeah. Yeah. She's very... Adventureland. She's very good at emoting. Adventureland. She's an actress known for emoting.

You know, I will say this for Kristen Stewart, okay? She gets a bad rap for those movies. She's actually a half-decent actress. I will... We don't have time for Chris Taylor. We've got plenty of time for Kristen Stewart. We're talking about prospects. Kristen Stewart, spelled C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N, is a Tigers' prospect, an outfielder,

who this year between AA and AAA has hit 312 with 22 home runs. Wait, no, I'm sorry, I'm not Scott Kingery's page. I didn't think Kristen Stewart hit for that kind of badding average. Well, let's talk about Scott Kingery. Scott Kingery is a Philadelphia Phyllis. Is that Mike Kingery's kid? I don't believe so. Second baseman, Scott Kingery, hitting 312 with 64 strikeouts and 81 games,

22 homers in those 81 games between AA and AAA as a 23-year-old. However, it is worth noting, he had eight home runs in 197 games in the two prior seasons. That's what's crazy about Scott Kingery. He looked like coming into this year just kind of a fringe prospect, slap hitting table setter type, guy who could run and hit his work. way on base, but power explosion. And it seemed like, you know, kind of what we said about Reese Hoskins coming into this year. He was among the minor league leaders in home runs, but it was like, oh, AA reading.

I mean, Redding? Double A. Redding. Like the railroad. Or the town in Pennsylvania. I always thought it was Reading Railroad. It's Reading Railroad in Monopoly? Pretty sure it's Reading Railroad. So it has nothing to do with the town in Pennsylvania.

Like the rainbow-based children's. book show. That was the Reading Rainbow. That's not the Redding Rainbow. Redding Rainbow. That's the Reading Rainbow. The Reading Rainbow. AA Redding is a notoriously hitter-friendly venue.

But Kingery had decent numbers on the road there, and since being promoted to AAA, four home runs and 49 at Bats. It doesn't seem like he slowed down at all. He's figured something out. A 2020 season already from a guy with pretty good contact skills. Cesar Hernandez is just coming off the DL. I don't know if the Phillies will be able to trade him. so I'm not counting on Kingery coming up,

but there's a chance, and he's arguably the biggest gainer among prospects this year. Getting back to Stewart for the Tigers, a lot of power, a guy who walks a fair amount. It looks like a Carlos Santana-type profile to me, and J.D. Martinez, I think,

is a very good bet to get traded, so Stewart has a really good chance of getting called up. All right. That's it. Is that all? I think that's all of it. Chris Taylor has an 895 OPS in the month of July. He's slowed down.

How many home runs? One. Okay. That's one more than I have. It is. Chris Towers is basically Chris Taylor. One more than all these guys we just talked about. What's his Babbitt for July?

That's around 400. Okay. I mean, look, you want to, you want to, ultimately what I think about Chris Taylor doesn't matter. I think he's bad. I think he'll bring you down. I can't. Free to disagree.

I can't wait to put the description of this podcast episode together and put reluctant trolley Chris Taylor discussion. You know, I'm just saying the guy has an 844 OPS for the year. There's no what do you like about him. It's what do you not like about him. Why is he not going to be good? I like Willie Calhoun more. He's not even the majors.

He will be. Because Chris Taylor will stink. Yeah. Thanks for listening, guys. We'll be back on Friday with a full week, team preview Adam will be back to save us in four days time

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