Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/13: Fantasy Feud, Struggling Aces and More (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 13, 2018

It has been a bit of a slow week in the Fantasy Baseball world, but we've still made some interesting add/drops lately (1:30) that we'll tell you about, and we look at the Most Added list to see who Fantasy owners are adding. Then it's on to Thursday's standouts (5:25) as yet another Rockies SP is thriving, Jameson Taillon dazzled and Heath thinks there is a first baseman that is very underowned ... Last night's aces were terrible (14:43)! Any concerns with Kluber, Severino, Scherzer, Snell and Morton? What about the powerless Joey Votto (20:15)? ... "Hey, Real Quick" with Tyler Skaggs (28:26) and Jesus Aguilar (29:40). Plus yesterday's double dongs (31:20), good-to-possibly-great SPs (33:08), fringy SPs (36:45) and finally the Fantasy Feud (41:00)! ... 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

It's another beautiful Kokomo Friday here on the Fantasy Baseball today podcast. What's going on? I remember last week I was like, eh, this week's slightly less awkward. Adam, Chris, and Heath.

What? Well, what? Let's peel back the curtain a bit. Why? The recorded intro. Slightly less awkward. The four aborted attempts on an intro where you berated yourself.

Two aborted attempts. Quite a bit more. More awkward. Dreadful. Yeah, so we're off to a great start. We're going to tell you about Manny Bichato and the latest trade rumors. We had some Aces who were really pretty stinky last night. Kyle Freeland had another good start.

We got some minor league news. Remember, a lot of guys are going to be sent to the minors right now. It doesn't mean they're going to stay in the minors. The All-Star break is coming up, so there's some roster, flexibility, maneuverability for these teams. We had three double dongs last night. And let's start with this. because, you know, this wasn't the easiest show to produce. I didn't really...

Oh, we got the fantasy feud coming up, get excited. I didn't know what to start with, so let me ask you. Any interesting ad drops lately? Oh, I added Kyle Tucker in a couple leagues. Is that too long ago? Yeah, yeah. It sounds like someone who's been here who hasn't been on the show for a week. I added Jake Bowers on another league.

I just continue accumulating Jake Bowers because nobody else wants him. All right, so this week I had to make a ton of... of drops to my home league because I had a bunch of guys coming off the DL and I had to drop a lot of guys that I really, really like. I had to drop Michael Conforta. I had to drop Yon Mancada, Louise Gahara,

Jeff Samarja and Colin Moran. I don't feel great about that. But I guess it's a sign of how well that team's doing. That was not... He asked for interesting. There was nothing interesting about that at all. There was nothing interesting at all. I have a team to do.

I have a team to... That's really good. That's interesting, isn't it? I had to drop guys who I feel good about. I think Michael Conforto could still be a difference maker. It stinks that I had to drop him. Look, I think it's very interesting. It's a lot more interesting than Kyle Tucker.

I said Jake Foward. I had to Carl Tucker six weeks ago. No, I think it's a really... I'm glad to know you have a team that's so good you could drop Colin Moran. We're getting to a point... Calla Moran's good. Yeah. We're getting to a point in the season where you do have to make these tough choices.

maybe the drops are tougher than the ads. You know what we could do? We can take a look at the most added list. That's kind of an impromptu thing here. And this is something Scott talked about in his DL stashes piece earlier this week, that there are a lot of, a lot more guys coming back from the DL lately than are going on. And, you know, that's not counting, like the guys who are being sent down to AAA or the guys who are being put on the DL for things that they might have been able to play through,

but because of the All-Star break, it just gives teams a little more flexibility. But there's quite a few high-end guys coming back. We saw Chris Archer, Masahira Tanaka, and Chris Bryant already coming back this week. So it's creating some interesting roster decisions that people have to make. I find myself looking at matchups and splits and stuff like that more often. Because I'm usually in one daily league. I'm in two this year, but I think out of six teams, I think in daily leagues, daily lineup leagues, even if you have a weekly format, like, you know, you play an opponent every week, but it's daily, you know, lineups.

You know what I'm saying. You can look at splits specifically with pitchers. No, not specifically, with anyone. But so, for example, I picked up Vermont Marquez. I'm not going to pick him up in a weekly league. Because, you know, if he's got one road start, one home start or two home starts, he's just taking up space that you could be using on a streamer. But in a daily league, I'm going to start him in all road starts going forward pretty much. Yeah, you can look at splits like that.

I picked, I'm not going to pick up Jordan Zimmerman. He's second on the most added list. I think we talked about him yesterday. Bullpen guys, yeah, I picked up Will Smith lately. Not so sold on Victor Orano. I don't know if we've talked enough about Andrew Suarez, who is doing a lot of really interesting things since getting to the majors. Fourth most added player, Andrew Suarez.

Yeah, and he is, I think in the minors he was more of a strikeout guy than he has been in the majors, but he's had really good control. a lot of ground balls. 375 ERA, 356 FIP. And he plays in a great park. It's a park that we've seen, you know, ground ball pitchers especially play up in. So, you know, his peripherals,

I'm not saying he is this guy, but his peripherals don't look that different from, like, what Matt Kane was doing. Suarez, yeah, Swares Zimmerman, are owned in the same amount of leagues. Tyler Anderson, 77% owned. How would you rank Zimmerman Anderson-Swaras? Suarez Anderson Zimmerman.

Sure. Yeah, I have such trouble with Anderson, and that's going to lead us into Thursday standouts. Kyle Freeland, another Rockies pitcher, who's pitching well? And he has a better ERA at home than on the road for the second straight year. Kyle Freeland's the top 30 starting pitcher right now, guys. Eight and six, 311 ERA, but 92 strikeouts in 115 and two-thirds. He's a good ground ball pitcher, not quite as good as last year.

I mean, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Freeland, their own right around 80% of leagues. And I just have this thing that unless you're John Gray, I don't want you on the team that you're a Rockies pitcher, except the exception I'm making for Armand Marquez, who I think is just dominant on the road. What do you guys think about Freeland? I don't buy it, really.

Yeah, I like Tyler Anderson a lot more than I like Cal Freeland. I'm not particularly excited about Tyler Anderson, but he has now for two years been, or a year and a half, have been good at Coorsfield. But even this year, his FIPP is over four. His K-per-9 is still around seven. I just don't think he's going to be able to keep this up. Okay.

So who stood out to you guys yesterday if Kyle Freeland didn't really move the needle? Oh, you know what the answer is, Adam. Well, the bird, bird, bird, bird. No. We're not talking about that irrelevant guy. Yeah, who are we talking about? Oh, Jameson-Tayon. Jameson-Ti-Ote-Mas and Bayeus.

I mean Tyone. James and Tyone. Yeah. He was. He was great. Six innings. One run. Ten strikeouts. Two walks, four hits. He has a 329 ERA since May 27th. He's 10th in baseball with a 307 FIP. 9.1K per 9.2.2.2 walks per 9. 51.7% ground ball rate since May 27th.

So, only problem is... Would you like to know what happened on May 27? Only problem is he just had back-to-back quality starts for the first time. and seven starts. And that is with going nine straight starts allowing three or runs or fewer. So, yeah, the same discussion we had when we talked about Barrios versus Tione. He just doesn't give you the innings. And oftentimes that means he doesn't give you a quality start, but he's pitching well.

He's good. He's good. He's not Jose Barrios good. Very good. But he's not Jose Burrios good, right, Chris? Just say it. Heath, how about you? Stand out?

Well, since you didn't let me talk about Jake Bauer. during the who did you add segment because he's not interesting. He did have three hits yesterday, and I went and looked. We did this like two or three weeks ago, maybe a month ago. Since he was called up, in points leagues, he's the number 26 outfielder and the number 12 first baseman. And that's despite the fact that he has an 11% home run to fly ball rate with a 48% hard contact rate. he's going to be better in the second half than he's been so far, and he's been good enough so far to be a starting option in two positions in a points league.

And he's 38% owned. It's ridiculous. He's under-owned. Jake Bowers. Actually, you know what? We have an email about Jake Bowers and a bunch of first baseman. Let's fast forward to it. This email is from...

Where are you? It's sometimes hard to find these. All right, I got it. Weird name. From Dave in Ontario. Head-to-to-head cat. Categories League. He's got like five first basemen that he has to choose from. Gerell, Gallo, Desmond, Bird, Bowers.

Gareel, Gallo, Desmond, Bird, Bowers. It may depend on what the categories are. Runs, home runs, RBI, stolen base, walks, and average. That's a pretty comprehensive list of categories. Bowers is, Gallo has the most upside of this group. Give me all the names again. Yeah, Gurriel, Gallo, Desmond, Bird, Bowers. And this is a good question, because all these guys are, you know, Gallo is, I'm assuming the most owned.

Desmond's been the best. The other three are players that people may have at some point been using. So, Guriel, Gallo, Desmond, Bird, Bowers. Who are your two favorites? Bowers is my favorite. Gallo is my second favorite. I'll go Gallo and Bowers. Opposite order. I'm not so sure in that specific, like with doubles and one.

walks factoring in that Desmond has been better than Bowers on a per game basis. Oh, on a per game basis? I don't know. He's been surprisingly good in points leagues because he steals, which helps any format. Yeah, you could be right. So, all right, those are your standouts. Anyone else? Anyone else?

We good? We had a whole rundown. Probably cover everything. Yeah, we just go through the, let's do the show. We're going to be quick today so we can get to the feud. We're not going to preview next week because, you know, next week. is the All-Star break. Remember, you better combine the two weeks. If you don't, you're a bad commissioner, and I will regulate.

Too bad Scott White's not here. He's just so stubborn with that. You don't have to do it in a Roto League. Roto League, season-long Roto League, no big deal. But any type of head-to-head weekly format, categories, points, whatever, you've got to combine the weeks. Newsletters, CBSports.com.com slash FBT Daily. CBSports.com slash FBT Daily. Get your newsletter here.

It'll go right to your inbox and your email. We won't mail it to you. So that's good stuff. Really good content. Help you get a leg up. CBSports.com slash FBT Daily. Also FFT Daily, if you're a fantasy football player. And if you want to sign up for a fantasy football league,

go to CBSports.com slash FFT. That'll let them know that the podcast sent you there. And CBS Sports Leagues are the best. CBSports.com slash FFT. All right, some trade talk. The Dodgers, Brewers, And the Yankees are the leaders for Manny Machado, according to Bob Nightingale of USA Today. The Dodgers, Brewers, and Yankees.

Your reactions? Yeah, there's been a lot of talk about how the Yankees are not willing to include Justice Sheffield in a potential trade for Manny Machado. And I just, I kind of hate the modern, smart MLB. It's so much less fun. Yeah, they're not going to give up prospects for three months of baseball players. It's stupid. I, well, I think sports, look, it's smart for the team trying to acquire Mani Machado if they can get him without giving up good players.

Sports are supposed to be entertaining. And it's way more entertaining if teams are willing to go all out for guys like Mani Matrato. Who is a Hall of Fame caliber player? Right, we should say. Yes. But, you know, you get a, Justice Sheffield, somebody we should probably talk about, because he's probably going to pitch at some point this year. And it seems like we're out of pitching prospects.

They've all been called up. Sheffield's pitching much better lately. The walks have been a bit of an issue at time, but it looks like he's at times. It looks like he's getting that under control, L-O-L. And the Yankees could use him or they could trade them. So Justice Sheffield, J-U-S-T-U-S-Sheffield. I think he came over in the Andrew Miller deal from Cleveland. Is he a better or worse prospect than Greg?

He's a better prospect of Greg Bird, which is really saying something, because we all know about Greg Bird. No, but seriously, he's got to have some prospect stash ability. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'd rather stash Peralta or Romero, but he's up there.

Yeah, let's see if he made Scott White's mid-season top 25. He did not, but he was in the also considered. So he's a top 50-ish fantasy baseball prospect right now. Jerry Krasnick of ESPN says that Blake Chinon isn't going anywhere, which is, I don't why Lou Trevino got to save last night instead of Trinan. I feel like Trinan should have been available. I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe they were just trying in something new.

Well, Trevino's been great, but so is Trinan. And I don't know that Chavino is worth stashing, because if, according to this report, and these reports change, especially if the A's have been one of the hottest teams in baseball. If they start faltering, maybe they will trade Trinanin, but I guess he's got a good contract

and for what it's worth one report says he ain't going anywhere. The Phillies have shown interest in Zach Britton. If the Phillies have acquired Zach Britton. Do you think he'd be their closer? Maybe. I mean, they've been so hesitant to settle on one. Victor Orano in his most recent appearance pitched the eighth inning. So it's hard to say that they have a closer right now. He would be one of their closers. There's a chance that he could just be the closer and it gives

them the flexibility to use the rest of those guys where they see fit. man, next year's closer preview, when we do our position preview, is going to be very different, you know? They're just being used differently. It makes the true closers who have like 35 to 45 save potential more valuable, no? As long as we can figure out who those guys are. I'd kind of compare it to running backs in fantasy football. Like the true closers are the true workhorse backs and everybody else is going to a committee. There aren't quite as many committees yet at closer, but if this works, we'll see more of it.

Moving on, let's take a look at some more of last night's action. We had some really great pitchers on the mound last night. They were supposed to be aces, but I say aces more like... Fool you! Fool you! They were not aces at all. They were Corny Klooper, six earn runs and seven and a third. Luis Severino alert two troubling...

starts in a row. Oh, freak out. Max Scherzer. It's been struggling a bit lately. He was distracted yesterday. By? Yesterday was National What's the thing day?

Ptampi. Two different colored eyes thing. Yeah. And so he was just, he was too amped. Ah. He has two different color eyes. It's like a guy making his major league debut. You got to write it off.

Yeah. If you don't know, Max Scher has like one blue eye and one, something else. Blake Snell Blake Snell was bad And he now has Given up He's just walking guys lately And Charlie Morton

Charlie Morton has a 403 ERA In his last eight starts Actually what I noticed about Morton In his first 11 starts He had 1.3 ground balls To every fly ball And in his last eight starts 0.75

So It's a little concerning Yeah that's interesting Is there anything else Kluber, Severino, Scherzer, Snell, Morton. Do we have a segment here? Are we just saying five names? I think we're mostly saying five.

Look, Blake Snell has pitched over his head this year. As much as we all like him, he has, at least going into last night's start, he had the best ERA in the American League. He's not the best pitcher in the American League. So he's going to do for an outing like this. Exactly. No. He's going to be more like a three to three five ERA guy. moving forward, I think, and you should just

prepare yourself for the possibility that Blake Snell might be a little disappointing in the second half. Blake Smell. I was, I got to admit, I was avoiding Luis Severino in drafts. I was worried about the innings increase. He had a nearly 60-inning jump.

His innings pitched last three seasons, Severino, 161 and 2-thirds. This includes minors and post-season. 161 and two thirds, 151 in a third, 209 and a third. I think it's better that he had two comparable seasons in a row, 161 and two thirds, 151 or a third. He went from 100 to 150 to 209.

So that's better, but I was concerned. I am not even, I am 1% concerned right now, but he was terrible last night. His stuff was just, it was weird. He just didn't have it. How was his velocity? Yeah, he was still throwing. It was good, but I'm telling you, like,

It just, I mean, seven swinging strikes. It was very un-Severino, like he was extremely hitable. He had one strikeout. And this is two bad starts in a row. The previous start, he did have five strikeouts, but he's not given up four run runs in his last, or four home runs in his last ten innings. So again, I mean, it is very minimal. Yeah. Very minimal.

Concern. Furriometer is, like, point one for me on him. Yeah, I can't get worried about Scherzer or Kluber. Klover was actually pitching pretty well. He struggled early a little bit. Then he was cruising. he had given up four runs through seven. They brought him out for the eighth because the bullpen stinks,

and he gave up two more runs in seven in a third inning. I did notice with him that we're talking about how you threw Clayton Kershaw on the Woreometer. Yes, true. I know where you're going. Corey Klobvre's strikeout rate is way down. Lower than it's been, I think, in several years. So I'm not saying I'm worried about Corey Klooper. and I think, you know, we've seen stretches like this since his breakout as well,

but he's under a strikeout per inning right now, which he hasn't been since 2013. That is true. Corey Klobber, I think pretty sure he's still a top five pitcher. He has a sub one way. These guys have all been really, really great. I will say Chris Sale has passed him for me. And that's more about Chris Sale. I think Chris Sale should be in the conversation for best pitcher in baseball,

and I don't think he ever really has been before this. You compared him to Randy Johnson, right? He is Randy Johnson incarnate right now. Chris wrote an article on CBSports.com slash fantasy. Chris Sale is throwing, I mean, we talked about this yesterday. He's throwing harder than he ever has. He had never thrown a pitch over 100 miles an hour before this season. He's done it six times already.

Heath, what about Charlie Morton? Maybe he's the biggest eyebrow razor here. What do you think? Yeah, I think there's more reason to be consistent. concerned about him than there is anyone else on this list. I mean, Snell might be in a similar territory just because if he starts walking people at this time of rate, then he's in trouble again. But at the same time, I'm not going to sit Charlie Morton, probably in his next two starts for sure. So you're going to keep starting him.

You just could be a little bit more concerned. I wouldn't be like with the rest of these guys, I'd be happy to make an offer and just try to buy even a little bit low on them. With Charlie Morton, I'd have to buy a little bit lower. Would you rather have Morton or Snell? Snell. Really? Okay. Would you rather have Morton or Bumgarner?

Bumgarner. Yeah, well, I was expecting you to say Morton over Snell. That's why I said Bumgarner after that, but I know you'd rather have Bumgarner over Snell, right? So that makes sense. All right, we're moving on. Hey, remember when we thought that Joey Votto was good? For you. Just kidding.

He's good. But email of the day is from Blake. at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Joey Votto is not a top-tier Roto first baseman this year, despite your lack of worry. He has nine home runs. I've held on to him because of your advice,

but if Votto finishes in the top seven in first base in Roto, I will send you guys a six-pack from a wonderful Santa Barbara Brewery. If he doesn't, I want a spot in the podcast league next year. First of all, just one six-pack between the four of us?

And you know what? I have had probably a half-dozen people tell me they were sending me six packs to this location. I have never received one of them. Also, you remember, it's a six-pack between two of you because Scott and I do not partake in the six-packing. Still. Still.

Still. What do you mean by I've held on to him? Well, he's not going to drop him. He's not going to drop. Let's not get hung up on that. Let's not get hung up on that. Let's get hung up on the fact that Joey Votto is having a disappointing year. Over the last three seasons, Joey Votto has had a 21.6% home run to fly ball rate at 22%

and a 19.7%. He's done that with hard hit rates of 38%. 38%, 36%. He has a 41% hard contact rate. Now we've noticed that the hard contact rate can be a little weird this season, at least halfway through. Maybe it'll stabilize. But he also has the lowest soft contact percentage that he has ever had. He has yet to hit an infield fly ball pop up.

He has a 34.7% line drive rate. The only thing Joey Votto is not doing right now is hitting for power. Well, and all of the indicators. that we trust to tell us when a guy will hit for better power moving forward, suggests that Joey Votto should be hitting for more power than he is. So, yes, he's 34 years old or 35 years old, and maybe it's just slipping. But the quote-unquote talent-based indicators that we have and that we generally trust to tell us what will happen in the future, or at least to paint a picture,

tell us that Joey Votto has not slipped. Here's what I'll say. First off, this is where you guys being so flippant about the Worryometer, and you've got to put some nuance into it. Okay. If you drafted Joey Votto in the second round of a Roto League, I can understand why you would be worried that he will not deliver that value. That's fine.

But taking all of what I just said into account, why would you be worried? Like, I understand being... I don't know when he's going to decide to hit for power again. It's not about decide. It is. He is hitting the ball to the opposite field. he's not hitting as many fly balls. I mean, he's hitting the ball to the opposite field

2.5% of the time. And up to a bit of a rounding error. A little bit more as well. But that, like, that's 3.5%. And his fly ball rate's 29%. No. His line drive rate is 35%.

That's correct. His ground ball rate is lower than it has been ever before. But his fly ball rate is lower. He's hitting the ball in the air more. That's true, but not fly balls. Line drives. Yeah. So that's an amazing line drive rate.

He's also batting 2902. which would be pretty low for him, but I think he's just kind of in a slump. Okay, so here's a question for Vado. We've seen him have like monster second halves, basically year after year. And can he have a post-all-Star break 17 home runs over under? I'll say over.

I'm going to assume that he decides to hit him again soon. Look, here's the thing. What Chris has been saying sounds very similar. to what he said about Matt Carpenter about two months ago. Well, we all said. Yes. Yeah, but Chris was the one who went on the rant. Specifically.

No, I think I was the biggest Matt Carpenter support. If anyone deserves credit. It's Chris, 100%. He probably wrote an article about CBS is our worst podcast ever. No, but seriously, all of you guys believed in Matt Carpenter, and he's come around. I still believe in him less than you guys do. Strictly, strictly in a five-by-five rotos sense. If Joey Vado comes around, then he is, I would say, officially, along with George Springer, maybe, the best by low candidate in fantasy.

Because he could be the best hitter in baseball in the second half. He's done that, you know, if not best, top three. You know what I mean? And like the bad version of Joey Votto has, what, an 870 OPS? Yeah, but OPS, when it's very OBP heavy in a 5x5 Roto League. Sure, in a Roto League, that's less, but it's still, the point is he's still been very good. Like the floor for Joey Votto is he's the number 12 first base. Yeah, I think.

And that's including like J.T. Raul Muto and Ian Desmond and guys that you might be playing in other positions. I think it makes sense to by low on Joey Votto. I just, you know, just, yeah, don't freak out. He's had bad second half before. But kind of like Brian Dozier and kind of like Carlos Santana, this one's going on longer than what we've seen in the past with the home runs. It's going on longer. So I get the, I get the concern. All right, some news from around the league.

Minor thing. You ever heard the song Minor Thing by the Chili Peppers, guys? I'm sure I have. One of their more underrated tracks, Minor Thing. Look it up. Pittsburgh may send Austin Meadows to the miners. You really probably should not be holding on to him. Last I checked, 53% own Austin Meadows.

Freddie Peralta sent to the miners, but he'll be back. Yeah, he was sent to their A-Ball affiliate, which is in Wisconsin. So I think that's a key sign that he's coming back soon. Tampa Bay sent Wildly Adamas, auto-correct, to the miners. Willie Adamas for the mine. I don't think that he's coming back necessarily. He's just struggling. Speaking of interesting ad drops, in a deeper league,

now this is easier now since he's in the miners, but two days ago I did drop Willie Adamas for Derek Dietrich. Why? Because of that trade rumor, and because of Dietrich's home road splits, he is a better player on the road. Now, deep leagues, I'm talking here. But I think it's safe to drop Adamas.

But if he gets traded, he's not going to be an everyday player. But he's not an everyday player. Now, but that's that's a good point. Daily League. When he sits, I'll put someone else in for him. When he starts, I might start him. That's, you know, I think those types of players have no value in weekly points leagues. And he has a lot of extra value in a daily league because Derek Dietrich is eligible at, I think, four positions.

Okay. Yeah, good point again. Joey Lucchese was sent to AAA, but he will be back. Now, no minor league news here. Just major league news. Garrett Richards was going to have Tommy John search. That sucks. James Paxson left with back stiffness.

He does not think it's serious. But yeah, he should have gotten a Coorsfield start out of him because he didn't get Coorsfield, but he got crushed in like a third of an inning yesterday. Zach Granky is replacing John Lester in the All-Star game. Granky said, you know, he had doubts about how well he'd be able to pitch this year because his velocity was so low in spring training. And now he's an All-Star. Good job, Zach Granky.

Yueness Cespittus is willing to play first base. Logan Morrison's on the DL. Oste D-H'd for the twins yesterday. Rafael Devers is on the DL with shoulder inflammation, which apparently has been lingering for about a month, so maybe that explains some of the struggles for Devers, but he's on the DL. I don't think they expect a long-term stay for him.

Shelby Miller's on the DL. Shohay Otani continues to sit against lefties. Felix Hernandez is going to come off the DL next week, and I couldn't really fit him in a category, guys. I wanted to put Mitch Hanigur somewhere in the show notes. Mitch Hanigar, what do you make of this? First 27 games, about an 11. 800 OPS since May 1st, 758 OPS.

I have tried so hard to sell Mitch Hanager. The only player I was able to trade him for was Josh Donaldson. Good job, Adam. Yeah, do you think Hanigar is just kind of like, okay? Or do you think he's better than what we've seen since May 1st? I think he's probably okay. I think he's somewhere in the middle. And Keyes had, he had an 843 OPS last season.

He has an 853 OPS this season. That seems pretty telling. That's good It's not bad Yeah Hey real quick Dallas Kikel or Tyler Skaggs Tyler Skaggs

Tyler Skaggs What Yeah I know That's why I asked it Because I think it's debatable At this point I think I'd still go Kikle In a points league

But in Roto I do think I'd go Skaggs So I was looking up Since May 27th I was looking up Jamison Tyone's numbers And I discovered That the best pitch He's in baseball, according to FIPP, since May 27th, have been Chris Sale, Trevor Bauer, and Tyler Skaggs. It's kind of interesting.

Yeah, it is. Keikl, I had, I feel like I had, you know, I've always been the Keiko guy. I feel like I had given up hope on him. But the last start, 17 ground balls, I really want to see that trend continue. Like, I don't care that he gave up one run in seven innings against the White Sox. They're the White Sox. He only had two strikeouts, but 17 ground balls are very encouraging. But, yeah, he needs, like,

he's always going to have a good ground ball rate. He needs to have a super elite one, and he doesn't have it this year. So he's going to stick with Keikl. Chris is going to take Skaggs. Bottom line, Skaggs is really good. Is he a top 30 pitcher? I think he should be. I moved him way up a couple of...

I have him 31st. Oh, wow. Controversy. Skaggs or Tyone? Oh, you're jerk. Skeggs. I'll go Tyone. Hey, real quick.

Hesus Aguilar or Aguilar, I always screw his name up. Or Reese Hoskins. Hesus Aguilar or Reese Hoskins. Reese Heskins for me, but Hesus Aguilar is extremely good. Yeah, I'll stick with Reese Hoskins. Oh, okay. Hoskins over Aguilar for both of you. Yeah, Aguilar over the last 28 days is the number four overall hitter in fantasy.

He's batting 349 with 13 home runs. He's an incredible hitter. And, you know, he was very good last year. so it's not necessarily coming out of nowhere with him. I think a really interesting one is Jesus Aguilar or Max Muncie. I think I give Muncie the edge there, and it's less for production and more for versatility. Muncie is eligible at three positions. Four, I think four, yeah, yeah.

First, second, third, and outfield. Yeah, that, that, like I think they're probably pretty similar players. A lot of the peripherals suggest that they're pretty similar players. and so I'll give the gap to the guy who can play at four positions. Well, and Muncie's got just a little bit better play at this one. He walks a little more, strikes out a little less. Speaking of guys that are eligible everywhere, I did notice something.

I don't know if this was covered while I was gone, but Jerks and ProFar is now eligible everywhere except for catcher. Wow. That's... He's... Must own in a Daily League. Yeah, I do own in a Daily League. Double Dongs yesterday.

We had three double dongs. We had Anthony Rendon. Anthony Rendon, more like, you know? Yes, yeah. Albert Pujols. Who tied Ken Griffey Jr. He did. Yep.

And Brett Gardner. Home Rounds. Yep. Gardner is actually more owned than Poole Holes. It should be. Yeah. He's in, I don't know. I mean, he should be more own than Poole Holes.

I don't know that Gardner should be 78% owned, though. He's not having a very good year. He's 35th in points. He's 40th in Roto at Outfield. that's very low for him. He doesn't exactly play every day, although I think since Sanchez and Torres have been on the DL, maybe he has been,

but when they're healthy, I don't know that he will. And he's probably the worst Yankees outfielder for fantasy. I would take Stanton over him, yeah. No, I would take Hicks over Gardner. Heath would you? I think I would still take Gardner. I think Hicks is better at everything than Brett Gardner at this point.

That's not a knock on Breck Gardner. That's just Sharon Hicks is really good. Except for one thing. Brett Gardner has scored 53 runs in 78 games. That has saved his fantasy value. That's a lot. Albert Pujols or Ian Desmond. Ian Desmond.

Albert Pujolos or Yule Gereal. I'd take just about everyone over Pooholtz. Like, Poulos is a two-category guy, and it's the easiest two categories to fill. That's the thing. He hits home runs. He gets RBI, but not really a ton of RBI. He's going to end up with like 85, 90. No, he's got to be on a better pace.

Yeah, 90's good. It's good, but when that's all you do, when that comes with 27 homers and a 250 average, that is utterly replaceable at first base, even with how bad the position has been. More pitchers from yesterday. J. Hap. So, all right, I don't need,

there are many ways to look at J.Hap. Got off to this amazing start, ton of swinging strikes. Those days are done. he's back to 9% swinging strike rate over his last 13 starts during which time he has a 46080 RA. 9% swinging strikes is not good. However, it's basically what Hap has done each of the previous two seasons, and he's been good both those years. So, you know, what do you think about J.Hap right now?

Mid to high 3 ZRA guy. Yeah, I think there are a couple of guys who had encouraging performances yesterday, and I'm probably going to drop him back into the same tier with someone like Tyson. and Ross. And Hap gave up five runs. They were all unearned. He had like a 40 pitch inning and on the 41st pitch, something like that. I think it was the 41st pitch of the inning.

He gave up a grand slam to Mookie Betz, who had fouled off like seven straight pitches. Must have been pretty exciting, unless you hate the Red Sox. So, okay, Hap, he's in the different group than the rest of these guys. How would you rank David Price, Robbie Ray, Ross Stripling? David Price, Robbie Ray, Ross Stripling. Man, Ross Tripling is far and away the best of this group right now. I don't know how sustainable that is, but it hasn't even been close. He's been arguably the best pitcher in fantasy since he came up and since he joined the rotation.

That's a tough one. Yeah, because I have him ranked third of the group. And Chris said, I don't know how sustainable it is. That's kind of what you're supposed to tell us, Chris. It doesn't he look like Max Muncie? I mean, everything looks legit. His FIPP's really good. Stripling has a 2080, all right?

14 walks, 108 strikeouts, and 95 in a third. And he's been a good pitcher, not a great pitcher, but a good pitcher in the past. Right. We know that the floor is pretty high. The question is how high is the ceiling? And we should give Adam Azer credit. He was first on Ross Stripling. I'll take partial credit because I mostly picked him up because he had a start against the Padres.

And then I traded him. Yeah, it's kind of weird that his strikeout rate is so much higher than it has been in the past when he's not really getting more swinging strikes than he has in the past. Yeah. So I would, like, I'm skeptical of that, but I do think he's right in the same tier with Ray and Price for me right now. Is Skaggs ahead of all those guys? Is who? Skaggs. He's in that same tier for me.

Yeah. The one that scares me the most is Price just because of the elbow. Actually, no, I can't say that because the one that scares me the most is Ray, because he's been so bad. But Price's elbow is something I will never be able to shake. He's just, you never know, right? It's like owning Tanaka two years ago. Tanaka is the upside, and Garrett Richards is the downside.

I think the better question is if Chris likes Ross Stripling or James and Tyone more. I mean, that depends. You know, I might like Ross Tripling more, but I love Jameson. Well, it seems like Tyone, Skaggs, Price, Ray, and Stripling are all very similarly thought of in your minds. Yes, they are all between starting pitcher 24 and 36. There you go. All right, fringy starting pitchers, who do you want to pick up? Stephen Mats, Nick Povetta, Kevin Gosman, yeah.

Trevor Cahill, Kyle Gibson, and Tyson Ross. Stephen Matt's, Nick Povetta, Trevor Cahill, Kyle Gibson, Tyson, Ross. Definitely, Nick Povetta is the first list. Absolutely. But I do think, and I know, Adam, you were really concerned about Tyson Ross, and he did have two terrible starts. I think both he and Matt should be higher-owned than they are. They're both about 60% owned.

I think, I think Kyle Gibson's better than Tyson Ross. also 60% own. Seven innings or more in six of his last nine starts for Kyle Gibson. Yeah. So Scott really, I mean, I'm not going to, this is something Scott brought up, but I share the concern for Tyson Ross. It's just like he's getting so few swinging strikes. He doesn't have good velocity.

His slider was apparently better yesterday, but he only got eight swinging strikes on 101 pitches. There are some pitchers who can get away with not getting swinging strikes, and Tyson Ross is not one of them. You have to have better command, control than Tyson Ross does. And it's not just swinging strikes, it's also strikeouts. Like in his... Yeah.

So forget about the two dreadful starts before yesterday. The six starts before that, he had 26 strikeouts and 34 and two-thirds. So I guess I would just want to know, like, why do you think Tyson Ross should be more than 60% of him? I think it's been a bad stretch, but he was really good before that. He's been really good in the past. I'd like to see him after the All-Star break. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to necessarily start Tyson Ross in his next start, but I definitely... one of them on my roster. Yeah, I think I might like Trevor Cahill more than I like Tyson Ross. We should talk about Cahill because he's 38% owned. His first seven starts, 225 ERA, nine

walks, 41 strikeouts in 44 innings. Then he had one terrible start before going on the DL. It came back last night and was terrible, three runs in three and two thirds. But he's the lowest owned by far of this group, which is Matt's Pavetta, Gossman. Gosman's the worst. Cahill, Gibson, and Ross. And there's just no need to own Gosman right now. He's not pitching well and he's on a bad team. Cahill's 38% owned. Everyone else is 60% owned or more? Yeah, I think

like, I think Povetta, Gibson, and Matt are a tier above Trevor Cahill. Matt specifically, he's starting his slider again and that's always been the thing for him. Early on this season when he was having success, it would look totally

unsustainable. He wasn't getting any strikeouts. He's been better of late. in that regard, and he's also throwing his slider more. I don't think those things are unrelated. So, you know, that's the thing for me. But Trevor Hale, you know, we saw this last year with San Diego, and then he fell up, it was absolutely disastrous once he got traded to Kansas City. But we've now seen two stretches over the last two seasons where he can get a lot of strikeouts

and he can be a good pitcher. And, you know, I don't, we could see a stretch like that from Tyson Ross, but given how he's pitched lately and with the utter lack of strikeouts that he's getting and the diminished velocity and the lack of swinging strikes, I'd rather take a chance on Trevor Cahill. Okay. I just want you guys to know, I think you're doing a wonderful job today. I'm very much enjoying today's show.

Are you guys feeling that? I feel like today's a great Kokomo Friday. Yeah. I'd also like to let you know that I did not win on the draft app yesterday because I didn't have Mookie Betts and I started Corey Kluber, but I actually am getting pretty good. So don't forget about the draft app, everybody. Sign up on the draft app. Draft app, use the code FB today, get a free entry.

You'll be following me. Draft app is really awesome. Actually, a lot of people are asking me about best ball leagues. Where can I play a best ball fantasy football league? You can do that on the draft app, so do it. In the bullpen, Ryan Madsen got a save. I thought Calvin Herrera was going to get the saves while Doolittle was out, but Herrera pitched the eighth.

He actually was pitching to the top of the order. That may have been why. He gave up a home run in two walks. Deep Leaks Kendris Morales is 12% owned. Look at this. Kendris Morales in his last 35 games. is a 925 OPS. He does not play every day, but are we sleeping on Kendris Morales, 12% owned?

Maybe in a daily lineup league. Right, again, could be useful there. All right, you know what, I think it's time for the feud. Oh, boy. I think it's time to play the feud. Who's ready? Yeah. By the way, I just want to read this quote.

That's terrible, Chris. From Mickey Calloway about Stephen Matts. He says he's just maturing as an overall major league pitch. and his stuff has gotten better. He's been fantastic for us. That's Mickey Calloway on Stephen Matt. All right, let's play the feud. The top five answers are on the board.

Give me, in rotissary leagues, the top five first basement. Oh, hey. Hazers Aguilar. Okay, I guess that counts as a ding. And you have the number two answer. He's right. You can get number one. In a roto league.

First Basement. Paul Goldschman. He's number two. Number three, Chris, pass or play? Pass. All right. Everybody always plays. That's the smart move.

Heath, you've got number two, Aguilar, number three, Goldschmidt. We need one, four, and five. The top five, rhoda first basement. Freddie Freeman. Freddie Freeman is your number one answer. Oof. It does get a little bit more difficult after that. Sure does.

I think Matt Carpenter is sixth. And so I won't guess. You don't get the game. What's that? You don't get the game. Five. That's not the right way to play the game. Three, two, one.

Matt Carpenter. Matt Carpenter is incorrect. That's one strike. Is he sixth? No, he's not. He's 10th. All right, we got Freeman Aguilar and Goldschmidt. Going to need an answer soon.

You got the teams pulled up. You're looking at teams? I am looking at teams. Three. Two, Wow. One. Carlos Santana.

Incorrect. Well, obviously he's not. Ridiculous. Yeah, obviously he's not. Jose Ibrahim. Jose Abraio is. Incorrect. All right.

The Towers family has a chance to steal. Ian Desmond. Ian Desmond is number four. Max Muncie's number five? No. Number five is stupid. Number five is... Number four is stupid.

Yeah, number four is stupid. But he does lead all... Ian Desmond. does lead all first baseman, except with Merrifield's first base eligible, with 10 steals. Number five is Edwin Encarnacion. He's actually one I kind of wanted to talk about.

He has 21 homers, but 228, I don't know that we're seeing the signs that Encarnacion's going to light it up, like he's done you know, after slow starts each of the last two years. You know, he's just, he might be old. His strikeout rate's a little up.

His walk rate is way. down, but it's still healthy. And the biggest difference between last year and this year, he's got a 235 Babbup instead of a 271. Yeah, I think he's pretty much the same guy. You know, maybe slightly diminished, but not enough that I'm concerned, especially if slightly diminished, it's still number five

at an admittedly weak position. The good news is, while the batting average has been pretty low in June and July, in those two months, he has 19 walks to 23 strikeouts. So that is what we like to see from. Yeah, Encarna. Maybe I'll have a big second half. He's top five after all.

He's fifth in Roto. He's 10th in points. All right. The Towers family is up. One-nothing. Let's go to our second category. Top five answers are on the board. Most stolen bases in baseball.

Heath. Ender Enciarte. Ender Nciarte is your number three answer. Chris? Who leads the majors? stolen bases. You have five seconds, four. You have five seconds.

Two. There's a really obvious one that I can't. Is it Michael Taylor? Hey, you got it. He's the number one answer. Well done. And NCRT is actually tied for second with 23. Michael Taylor has 24.

Pass or play, Chris? I'll play this time. Oh, everybody passes. Okay, Chris, play it up. Top five base dealers. Trey Turner. Trey Turner is incorrect, loser. Billy Hamilton.

Wait a second. I screwed up. Trey Turner is absolutely correct. So we should have the top six answers on the board. So you do not have a strike. Top six base dealers and Trey Turner is in there. Billy Hamilton. Billy Hamilton is also in there.

Just two more left. All of these guys have 22 to 24 steals. This is great. D. Gordon. D. Gordon is correct. You've gotten Taylor, N.C.R. Day, Gordon. Hamilton and Turner. One more guy in the top six.

And how many did he have? He has 23. I shouldn't be telling you that. No, I think you should. I mean, he's looking at the stolen base leaderboard on his laptop right now. Exactly. Three, two, one. Delano de Shields.

Yeah, right. Okay. I'll give you three minutes for this one. Think about it. This is... Three minutes? This is rough. Just kidding.

Whitmeryfield. Whitmeryfield is! Heath, how you feel in there? I feel like you're going to steal it? Nope. Really? All right. Francisco Lindoors.

Top six base dealers. I'm sorry, was that a guess? Yes. Francisco Lendor is. All right, Heath can steal. Well, this guy stole like 17 in one month, and he's been terrible the rest of the year. I'll hope he found six stolen bases somewhere else. Tim Anderson.

Timit, that's a great guess. But, dude, he's your boy, Starling Marte. Tide for second. Starling, Warrie. How about a guy that's just blown under the radar in every aspect. He's doing pretty much exactly what we hoped. He's on page for like a 20-40 season. He had a brief D.L stints, and then he was cold, and now he is.

He got like three days off in a row, I think. He did one of those tricks. And now NCRT, or Marte has been hitting very well. So yeah, great. It's giving you a batting average, giving you the steals. So who gets the points for that one? You get the points. So you're up to nothing with one category left, but this is a triple category.

So winner gets it. This is a tough one, guys. Top six answers are on the board. Give me your doubles leaders. Oh, Ozzy Albies. All right, that is incorrect. What? I was surprised to...

Edwardo Escobar. Wait, what happened here? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, we're doing it over. Ozzy Albies is second. Eduardo Escobar is first. No, Ozzy Albies is actually third.

Ozi... Ossie... O'Av. O'O'O'Eyeskabar is first. All right, so how many of the top... One, two, three, four, five, six... Top seven answers are on the board. So...

Pass or play. And Ozzy Albi's was one of them. Yeah, he's third. Escobar's one. Pass or play. Who's passing or playing? It's Heath, right? Right.

But if I pass, I still have to get one to steal. Correct. I don't know that Chris is going to get any. I'm going to play. Okay, let's play. your doubles leaders. Escobar 1, Ozzie Albiz is 3.

Jose Ramirez. Jose Ramirez is not correct. Francisco Lindor. Francisco Lindor is, correct. We were talking about one of these yesterday. Like someone who doesn't have a lot of home runs but has hit a ton of doubles and I cannot remember who it was.

How about Joey Votto? Joy Votto is. Incorrect. Two strikes. How are you feeling, Chris? Feel like you're going to steal? Triple the points. No.

How about? Doubles leaders. Doubles leaders. And we have three names left on the board or four? We have one, two, three, four names. Hmm. Five. How about Jose Al-Tube?

All right, Towers. Win the feud. I just need to get one. That's it. You need one of the four remaining base. They are doubles leaders. Oh, man. That's asking a lot.

Scooter Jeanette. Scooter Jeanette is a dreadful guess. That is incorrect. And Heath wins the feud. That's one correct answer. None. Zero. I got nothing right.

I got the number one doubles leader. No. Have you guys ever watch Fantasy Feud? It's so unfair how they do it. They put like, they do basically what I just did. It's just not right. Here are your doubles leaders. Eduardo Escobar with 35.

Alex Bregman with 30 Quit Maryfield Nick Castellanos Ozzie Albiz Nick Marcaicus and Francisco Lindor all have 29 doubles

What was I looking at earlier? Oh, I was probably looking at outfielders and not all batters when I originally made the list Yeah, that must have been what it was. Wow. Yeah, I apologize. Really sounds like this game was rigged.

That was fun. Let's read some emails from Landon Trey Turner isn't running at all lately. Have you noticed? He has no steals in two attempts in July. I would say guys that... What's that? He's not doing anything lately.

Yeah, I would say that Trey Turner is approaching bust status. He is the eighth best shortstop in 0.7th in Roto. I still have total faith in him, but he really just hasn't been that good. Yep. Also, shortstop's been great. It's kind of like Joey Votto, where like, I guess technically he hasn't returned value on what he's done, but it's not hurting. It's not killing your team. Yeah. He is the number of what shortstop rest of season?

Trey Turner. Three. So who's ahead of him? Lindor for sure. Machado. Okay. Yeah. That's right. Bregman? That's an interesting one. I think... I think that's what Scott said for his 2019 first two rounds.

Yeah. From John. Eric Thames or Brett Gardner, rest of season? Brett Gardner Probably Gardner John also says that we have half checked out Because it's the All-Star break I disagree we all agreed This was a great podcast Well I said I don't know if you guys agreed

I thought it's a great show From Scott who would you rather have Brandon Nimmo Adam Jones or Gregory Polanco Nimmo Jones or Polanco Nimmo And then Polanco and then Jones Sure

From Brian should I trade Carlos Correa For Corey Klober In a Keeper League where we keep five players. I'd be keeping Trout, Arenado, Altuve, J.D. Martinez, and Jose Ramirez. Holy cow.

He's got, like, basically the five best hitters in baseball he's keeping. And then he would trade Correa for Kluber. I guess it makes sense, but then he wouldn't be able to keep Kluver. Yeah, I would probably rather have Karea in a Keeper League, but in that specific instance, I like it. Yeah, wow. Dave from Ontario is in a head-to-head categories. Oh, I read this one.

This was the first base one. From Andrew, would you rather have Eduardo Rodriguez or Kenta Maida? It's a point league, he says, in that instance. No, you can't do the innings thing, because neither... Yeah, E-Raw doesn't pitch C-B either, so I think Maeda is a better pitcher, so yeah. Yeah.

This is from Ben. Dear Mike, Gus, Saul, and Kim. That's the Breaking Bads. Who's Kim? I don't remember Kim. Isn't that his wife? Skyler is his wife. I've never watched this show.

What? Kim Wexler, one of the key litigators at Hamlin, Hamlin, and McGill. This is Better Call Saul. This is not Breaking Bad. This is the spinoff. Both are great. And, yeah, you need to watch Breaking Bad. I've watched neither.

Watch Breaking Bad. What's wrong with you? Breaking Bad was fantastic. Better Call Saul got on my nerves pretty quick. Yeah, you know, I was looking at the Emmy nominations yesterday. I've watched pretty much everything that's nominated for comedy and, like, one thing for drama. I saw Game of Thrones got a lot of Emmys. So Game of Thrones Season 7 was

Craptastic. Game of Thrones season 7 was That bad. Maybe like Game of Yons. No, like Game of Stupid. That was a good one. Here's the question. Game of Crohn's.

Ben. Lame of Thrones. How would you rank these pitchers? Bundy. Tyone. Flaherty. Kentana. Bueller.

Bundy, Tynne. I own Flaherty, Kentana, Walker, Bueller. Um, I think I feel more comfortable going, uh, backwards. I think Bundy is at the bottom for me. Bueller's at the bottom for me. I think it's Bundy going from worst to first. I'm going, this is not helpful. Bundy, Bueller, Cantana, Tyone, Flaherty.

I will go from first to worst. I can restate it that way. And go Flaherty, Tyone, Kintana, Bundy, Bueller. Yeah, it's the same answer as mine, except Bueller and Bundy Switch. Yeah, so Flaherty 1, Tyone 2, Kintana 3. This is from Sam in Roxborough. Dear Brett, Vicente, Robert, and Randy. That is Philly's Legends.

A pitcher. Randy Wolf, Brett Myers, Vicente Padilla. Yeah. And... I don't know Robert. Yeah, wow. That's the one I can't. Robert Persson, it seems.

Sure. Rank these Phillies. Vince Velasquez, Zach Eflin, Nick Povetta. Povetta, Velasca, Zaflin. Are you guys? I think that's probably it. Overlooking Povetta's bad starts? Yep.

Why? Well, okay, so my answer to that question is to answer with another question. Oh, I know what it is. Why are overlooking Jose Burrubes? Rios as bad starts? No. Oh, okay. Although, yes.

Aren't you overlooking Vince Velasquez's bad starts by saying it? Evelyn's been the best pitcher. There's a case for Eclipse. And he's taken a big step forward. His velocity is way up. And from what I was reading, he had, I think he had a leg injury last year that just he was able to pitch through, but he wasn't able to pitch with power. His velocity, he's averaging 95 miles per hour with his fastball.

All of a sudden, this is a power pitcher. And one who's getting a decent amount of swinging strikes way more than we've ever seen. He's a much more interesting pitcher than I think we've given him credit for. I still think I'm more inclined to put Eflin above Velasquez than I am to put Eflin above Povetta just because Povetta has shown much more upside than either. I know Povetta's had some disastrous starts, but he's got an ex-fip and a Sierra under 3.5. He's got a 27% strikeout rate and just a 7% walk rate. And as hard as Eflin throws, I think he's the softest thrower of these three.

I think he might be above Vince Velasquez now, actually. Really? Because I see him usually throwing like 94. I thought Velazquez is more like 96 or 7. So Eflin's averaging 95 miles an hour at his fastball this season. Pivotta is 90, or Vince Velasquez is 94.8, so. Oh, all right. They got a really pretty good pitching staff, except for that. Yeah, that's, I mean, yeah, that's real good.

The interesting question is, where do you put Jake Garrietta in that list? Last, honestly. It might be. I don't expect him to finish last, but in terms of who I want, just, you know, factoring in upside, I think he's last. Yeah, I think if I had Velasquez or Eflin, I would trade them for Areeta. You would? And while we're on the topic, it is a credit to how good Aaron Nola is

and how good he's made himself that we never really talk about him. Yep, I know. Because there's just nothing, he's just awesome. He's so good. I know. Unless he goes out and strikes out 15 guys next time out, and probably not even going to talk about him, but he's the sixth best pitcher in fantasy.

And it looks totally sustainable. he's had like elite peripherals for three years in a row now. And he's a guy, we'll end it with this and then we'll take you, I'll hedge it into the All-Star break. We're going to do shows next week. We're not sure how many, but we'll do some shows. He's a guy in Aaron Noah, and something I like to look at is players who have had stretches of greatness, but haven't been able to put it together for a full season.

And he had done it two years in a row, and, you know, maybe Nick Povetta is the next guy, right? It's the guys who have shown they can be dominant. I like that. maybe more than I should. Maybe I, you know, maybe I value it too much, but I like it in terms of you show it. That means maybe you can put it together and do it for a longer stretch. Yeah, and we, and, you know, we talk about, well, you know, we always try, I think, when guys have really high ERAs and are inconsistent, but the peripherals say they should be good. And Nick Pavetta is a perfect example of this of, well, here's the explanation for why that is.

You know, we do this with John Gray, and John Gray might be one of those guys who just never puts it together and always underperforms his periphery. But Aaron Nola in 2016, 478 ERA, 3.08 FIP. And I was very skeptical of him coming off that season. But everything that he's done since then has totally backed up. The peripherals, and he's also added a lot of velocities, velocities two miles an hour up from 2016, his stringing strike rate way up. And it's just he has turned himself into a sustainably great pitcher.

provided he stays healthy, which has been an issue. Cool. Happy All-Star break, guys. Great first half. Really good stuff. Proud of you. Refresh. Take a breather. We're going to kick ass in the second half. Woo! Yeah.

And thank you all for listening. Don't go anywhere because we'll have shows next week. We'll be with you the entire season. We'll help you win your leagues. Tell your friends, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Send us your emails. We'll have plenty of time to read them over the All-Star break. Enjoy your weekend, everybody.

And we'll be back most likely on my life. Way.