Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/17: Worryometer Wednesday! (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 17, 2019

How worried should we be about Gary Sanchez, Jack Flaherty and Dee Gordon? Plus, why won't anyone add Garrett Cooper? Heath and Chris talk about Tuesday's standouts, bullpen news and more.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS sports. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. On the Worryometer Wednesday here on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast, get the Worryometer out for Adam Ager not being here.

Being me and Chris Towers handling this show. What's that on the Worryometer? Looks like a seven. Looks like a seven. Okay. It is going to be Worryometer. We're going to talk about a lot of things, including what happened on Tuesday night. First, it's going to be, what are you guys doing Wednesday?

And then we're going to talk about Garrett Cooper, just to start the show. Adam didn't even put him in Tuesday's standouts. We talked about him on the Sunday H.Q show and how incredible he had been so far this season, since he became a regular with the Marlins, essentially May 15th, before last night. He was a top 45 hitter overall, had scored exactly the same number of fantasy points in that stretch as Reese Hoskins. He has good pedigree. He was awesome in AAA. Now in his first chance at an everyday job, he's been awesome again.

On Tuesday night, he had another home run. He walked two more times. He looks a lot like a very good average hitter with decent power that's playing every day and hitting in the middle of a lineup. why is he still under 50% owned Chris Towers? Well, he's got a ground ball rate around 60%. So that doesn't help. And over the last 20 games, he's been hot again. I think four home runs in the last five games, you said?

I didn't say that, but it could be true. He still has a 20% ground or a 60% ground ball rate over the last 20 games. So that's one of those things where we've talked about with, you know, Ian Desmond before this season or Christian Yelich before last season in particular, it's really hard to hit for power. Like he's got a 40% home run to five ball ratio. So that's not going to continue. He's a 56% ground ball rate for the season. Now he is, I do agree, he's a good hitter.

He has a 26% line drive rate, makes good contact, doesn't strike out too much. But we're probably seeing something close to a best case scenario. I don't think he's going to hit 315 the rest of the season. He's hit 11 home runs in 55 games. I don't really think he's a 30 homer guy. But I do think he might be a 290 hitter. And I think he might be a 25 homer guy. And I think where he's hitting in the order,

he's probably a 90 run, 90 RBI guy. We'll see. If you play, and we've talked about this at the beginning of the year. It's the Marlins lineup. And so people might think, well, he's going to be bad. If somebody plays every day and hits second or third for the Marlins, and plays 155 games and gets on base at a 350 clip, let's say. He's at 390 on base right now, 389, gets on base at a 350 clip.

That's 180 runs in RBI, hitting second or third in any lineup. The Orioles, the Marlins, anybody. In a good lineup, that's 110 runs an RBI. Yeah, maybe. I'm not even convincing Chris Towers that we need to. But, okay, what should Gary Cooper's ownership be? I think closer to 70%. Okay.

And he's still 41%. And it really hasn't moved very much lately. It kind of jumped up from like 10% to 40% and then it's kind of stuck there. I do think he's someone who should be owned in more leagues than he is. That was my standout from Tuesday. Do you have a standout from Tuesday? Adam gave us three that I didn't want to talk about two of them, but we will. Yeah, I definitely think we have to talk about Keston here.

We have to talk about the amazing team name Tuesday. name that I came up with for him on a Wednesday. You want to hear it? Sure. Hira am, rock you like a hurricane. It's very good. It's not bad at all. It's not bad.

It would have been better if someone else would have come up with it. Yeah. But not bad. Tell me about Keston. Here are three home runs in his last six games since being called up. He's the number one for the second time. Number one second baseman in fantasy. He's not this good.

How good is he? He's not this good. I mean, his current 162 game pace would be 42 homers, 26 steals, and 300 average. That would be an MVP level of production. I don't think he's going to make a late run for the MVP, but it's pretty clear he's very good. You look at what he's done between the majors and the minors this season. You're talking about 28 homers, 12 stolen bases, an average over 300 now.

He has struck out too much in the majors. It's a little below 30. percent right now. But there's no arguing with the quality of contact that he's making. He is an elite prospect, not quite on the level of Fernando Tatis. But, you know, baseball prospectus, for one, had him as the number six prospect in baseball coming into this season. So he's probably more like a 260 hitter, though.

Sure, 260, 270. He does have good speed. So I think you could expect him to, you know, a little bit like. Fernando Tatez, where you might expect him to outperform that, even if he won't keep this up. But you just, you love the bat, you love the pop that he's developed. He seems to be one of those guys who's really benefiting from the new ball. It's just, it's a really good fantasy profile, especially for a second basement.

I think Kestanira, obviously a must-owned guy. And he's only 73% owned. Yeah, if he's out there, you have to go get him. I think there's a chance he could be a top five second basement for the rest of the season. I am hosting the show. I did not put the notes together, so don't blame me for one of Tuesday standouts being Glenn Sparkman. Complete game shutout, eight strikeouts, just one walk against the Chicago White Sox.

He has had some good starts this season. There was one time this year where he was a two-start pitcher after a couple of good starts. I decided I was going to use Glenn Sparkman as a two-start pitcher. that went poorly, but last night it started not. And, you know, good, good for him. I just don't think there's anything there. You know, these kind of starts will happen occasionally. And his, his happened last night.

And that's pretty much, like, I wish I had more to say to that than that, but the White Sox are reeling right now. They haven't been hitting particularly well. Elohimenez left that game early with an elbow. injury and I just yeah I think you can go ahead and just write this one off for the most part let's talk about the pitcher he was pitching against because that he's more interesting I don't know that I would call him a standout because the performance was pretty met uh six innings eight hits allowed six runs only four earned for Dylan cease he did strike out seven he only walked one

so that was better in terms of the control than we saw from cease and his last start against the tigers he's 67 percent own. I still think that should be higher, but this is not a start that helps me make that case. Um, yes and no. I mean, the seven strikeouts in one walk, I think it's great, especially coming off a start where he walked four. The control was a little all over the place. And, you know, to some extent he got babbiped a little bit. To some extent, he just got kind of let down by his defense. Um, what Maryfield had an inside the park home run that probably shouldn't have been one. And so, you know, I think it's probably a better start than the overall four-armed runs, six runs allowed and six innings indicates.

And, yeah, I'm still very optimistic about Dillon C's. Let's get to the Worryometer. Chris is not worried about Dillon Cis and giving up six runs to the Royals in six innings. Is he worried about Gary Sanchez? And I would think you're going to say no. He's the number four and number two catcher in fantasy. He's hitting 240 so far this year. going into last night, he was hitting 119 with 22 strikeouts in his last 15 games,

struck out three more times on Tuesday night, and just to give you a little something else to worry about, I moved him ahead of J.T. Real Motto for the first time about 15 games ago as my number one catcher. So if you want to worry about Gary Sanchez, that's probably the reason to do it. So what you're saying is Gary Sanchez's slump would have started earlier if you had done the logical thing. You're welcome Gary Sanchez owners. No, zero. He's like the number four catcher now in points instead of number one.

Yeah, zero. Like he's better in Roto than points, but you knew that coming in. He's still an elite option at the position. He's one of the few difference makers we're seeing. Would he be your number one catcher in points for the rest of season? Because it's not zero if the answer's not yes. I mean, he definitely would be in Roto. In points, he's certainly in the discussion.

I don't know if I would necessarily have him exactly number one, but we're seeing the kind of season we hope we would see from Gary Sanchez. He's still on pace for close to 40 home runs. There are zero other catchers who can do that in baseball. Yeah, I think that there was hope amongst the Gary Sanchez drafters that he would have better than an 850 OPS. Now, that's still awesome for a catcher, but if you strike out as much as he does,

that could be difficult in points. I have a little, if you're talking about, will Gary Sanchez be the number one catcher in points or Roto rest of season? Because he's neither right now. I would say the Worryometers are four, but he's going to be a top five catcher,

and he's awesome, so I don't really care. D. Gordon, this is another one we probably don't care about. Adam is the D. Gordon guy of the podcast. Gordon's 70% owned, hitting 264 this year, 16 steals in 8. in attempts. Since coming off the injured list on June 11th, he has hit 233 with four steals. He now

hits 9th regularly. How worried are we about D. Gordon? If you expected a full bounce back, yeah, you're definitely worried. But, I mean, the four steals since coming off the IL is definitely a concern. At this point in his career, he's probably, like I would expect more than a 264 average, but not too much more. The counting stats are going to be low as long as he hits fourth or ninth. He's averaging actually less than four played appearances per game. In this stretch, 92 played appearances and 26 games, 24 starts. It's not concerning.

He's not rosterable in points. No, no. There's basically no. I think I have him in a 24 team points league. But other than that, and I'm not sure. I'm even starting him. But he still has value in Roto. He's still going to steal bases.

So, yeah, I would say like a seven or eight. Seven or eight on the Wariometer. A guy you wrote about, I think, is a second half breakout or a second half sleeper after writing about him as a first half bust. Jack Flaherty, seven innings. Speaking of Jack Flaherty, I just wanted to tell you you were right about your consistency argument yesterday when talking to Scott and Adam and making sure you are consistent in the way we evaluate players.

seven innings, three hits allowed, just one run, struck out eight against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Is this a bounce back from Flaherty? Are we worried about him, or is he going to be okay? My expectations for Jack Flaherty were lower than pretty much anyone else, certainly on this podcast and probably among the industry coming into the season. So I haven't been that worried because I always thought this was possible. I also think it's entirely possible that he goes on a run where he's. he's one of the best pitchers in the national league for the rest of the season.

So, no, I'm like a one or a two. I think this is a pretty promising start, especially when you look at, you know, six strikeouts, one and run in his previous start as well. Yeah, like my expectation for Flaherty was a borderline top 20 starting pitcher. I've lowered that to a top 30 starting pitcher, and I'm probably a four on whether he'll be a top 30 starting pitcher the rest of the year in terms of worrying. And I don't know why me complimenting one of your takes yesterday would seem like me taking a shot.

You were taking a shot. Slend, six innings. Struck out six Diamondbacks, gave up five runs, though. Weird season for him. He started off the year and looked every bit as terrible as we expected him to be. About four starts in, he turned into a legitimate ace for two months of the season. Is he turning back into a pumpkin now? How concerned are you that he's going to turn back into a pumpkin?

And I think we should be clear, based on the last two months of his peripheral. The worryometer would be a zero. He's awesome. But we've got 30 other years of Lance Lynn's life. Yeah, and he was for a while, a guy who tended to outperform his peripherals. His peripherals were never that impressive. I think the peak of that was probably that 2017 season where his peripheral suggested he was one of the worst pitchers in baseball, and he ended up with like a mid-3s or high-3s ERA.

Last time we talked about Lance Lynn on the podcast, and I was on, I said that I'm not going to talk about Lance Lynn anymore because I just don't understand it. So my expectation moving forward is still that he will be not very good. I know that flies in the face of, you know, it's not very consistent. It's very consistent because this season isn't the only season that's ever happened. And so it's not just, you know, one of the things that I, that I consistently say, Heath, is that these quote unquote skill-based indicators like, or Wobo or line drive rate or hard hit rate, these things that, you know, when you're removing the results

and you're just looking at the process and you would think that is a better indicator of skill rather than, you know, lock or outcome, those things can fluctuate too. Sometimes guys do just play better for a couple of months. I think, you know, my expectation is that's what we've seen from Mike Miner so far and then he'll turn back into a pumpkin. I think something similar for Lance Lynn,

but I can't exactly say, that I'm super confident in it. I just can't say that I believe he's going to be good moving. Who's going to be better rest of season, Lance Linner, Luis Castillo? Louis Castillo. We will talk about injuries, news, and notes, pictures on the mend,

and lots of bullpen notes right after this. Let's take a look at the injuries news and notes at Alberto Mondiacy left with a shoulder injury. This was one of the things I was concerned about coming into the season. He'd never been able to play a full season. It does not look like he was. will again. He's already been on the aisle once. Adam did put in the notes here if you

need speed. Gerard Dyson is 25% owned as 21 steals, but he's hitting 161 in the month of July. Yeah, I feel like that was a lot of early season production. Well, he was hitting home runs early in the year. He wasn't even on first base. Elohiminez left with an elbow injury. He's likely headed to the injury list.

Corey Klobber will throw a bullpen session today. Hopefully we get a little bit more information. There's not been much of a timetable on Kluber, and I I'm not certain if he's going to help fantasy owners before the playoffs. Yeah, I would assume we won't see him at least within the next month. Yeah, hopefully we'll get some more notes after that.

Kenley Jansen gave up three runs in a blown save. He was hit on the ankle by a comebacker to start the inning. You said he was limping badly in the locker room. He said he should have come out of the game. I do wonder if he'd just gotten lucky and gotten the outs if he'd have been limping quite as badly. But Jay Bruce left with an oblique strain. We had a little argument about Jay Bruce earlier this week.

This might be the reason that you need to drop him. Byron Buxton is on the seven-day concussion IL. Brendan Rogers had surgery for a torn labor. Out for the season. Done. Eddie Rosario is back. Zach Wheeler has no structural damage, according to the Mets, and his shoulder, according to Newsday.

Stephen Biscotti could begin a rehab assignment next week. Matt Carpenter is on the IL with a foot contusion. Good. I just put him back in my lineup. Hunter Pence is back. Texas sent Willie Calhoun to AAA. I'm sorry, Chris. It's disappointing.

Max Freed is on the aisle with the blister. Do we have any idea who will start in his stead? I don't. I know Bryce Wilson was bad again yesterday. I would hope Tuki Toussaint gets in. What's going on with Sean Nukum? Is he? That I don't know.

I don't know. I don't think he's starting. Yeah, I think he's back in the bullpen again. The Indians sent Bobby Bradley back to AAA, and he deserved to go. because he wasn't hitting at all. Speaking of the Indians, Danny Salazar made his second rehab start. How confident do we feel that Danny Salazar

is going to come back as a starting pitcher this season? Oh, not confident. No. I'm hopeful, but no. Confident simply cannot be the word that you use to describe anything with Danny Salazar, who has not pitched in the main. major league since 2017.

So you're putting him out as like a one on the confidences meter? Yeah, but that being said, I think he's worth adding in a road over category. Would you rather have him than Sean Mania who is making progress? I think Salazar certainly has more upside,

but Mania is probably a higher likelihood. If you're stashing someone though, I would go with the guy who has higher upside. Pablo Lopez through a bullpen session, he's probably still a month away as well, right? at least a few weeks, I would assume. Alex Wood is scheduled to make a rehab start tonight.

It'd be nice if he was pitching in the majors at some point this year. Yeah, I would expect at this point that probably takes Tyler Malley out of the rotation when Alex Wood comes back, so wouldn't be great for one of my second half sleeper calls. Nate Avaldi could begin a rehab assignment today, and we think he's got a good chance if he's not terrible of being the Boston Red Sox closer for the rest of the season. And speaking of bullpins, Will Smith does not want to be traded, apparently. He gave up three runs on four hits.

Well, it doesn't want to be traded to Colorado. No, no, no. No, he's seen what's happened to Wade Davis. Two home runs against the Rockies, his second blown save. Riesel O'Clesias gave up a run against the Cubs in a tie game in the 10th inning. He was pitching for the third straight day. Wade Davis, speaking of the Rockies, was awful. Four runs in a third of an inning.

It's amazing that he's still. still has this job. Like it's only because he was so good for so long. Yeah, I think at some point and we're probably getting really close to that point. I mean, when he was on the IL, there were, it was Scott Oberg who was getting some opportunities. I would expect that to be the first guy. Maybe they could just use him as the closer on the road and use Oberg as the closer in Colorado. Maybe. Because Wade Davis has been awesome outside of course field, but that place is in his head. Hector Nerris gave up three runs in a third of an inning. He's now given up six earned runs in his last six innings, nine earned runs in his last 10 innings.

Is there anyone that you're interested in speculating on in that Philly's bullpen? Is David Robertson coming back at any point? David Robertson could be back soon. But no, I don't think there's anybody in that bullpen that I'm actively looking to add because we know they're not going to go with one guy. They'd kind of gone with, like I was, I'd said that a lot about Narris and I was wrong for about a six-week period. Nairus was getting most of the saves,

but he's just been awful lately. I can't imagine he's the closer for sure. Blake Trinen gave up a home run in a non-save situation against the Seattle Mariners. Seems like Liam Hendricks is just going to be their closer for the rest of the year. Jalen Beeks, three and a third, struck out five Yankees.

He's back. He's been, like, why can't we just make Jalen Beaks a starting pitcher? He's been very good. I think the issue is a somewhat limited repertoire, and they want to use him with an opener. He hasn't, kind of like Yanni Chorinos last year, they want to have him earn the right to be a starter, I guess. And, you know, I certainly would like to see it. I think he's pretty good. He's got a 2780RA over 64 innings.

Now his peripherals are not nearly that good. So if I was being consistent, I would say he's not quite this good. he's not. Let's talk about some closers who could get traded and who their replacements would be. I only agree with two of the names on this list that Adam gave us. The first is Ian Kennedy. He's been shockingly good as a reliever.

And it's a good reminder that bad starting pitchers can be great relievers. A guy we talked about earlier that's struggling in Colorado now, Wade Davis was a disaster as a starting pitcher. And one of the best closers in baseball for like a four years. stretch. So it's not that surprising, I suppose, that Kennedy's been this successful. I don't really know that there's somebody else in Kansas City that I would be interested in adding. No, no, there was a point where Scott Barlow looked like he might be that guy and now he's in AAA. I think they just called him back up. There you go. He's back. But I would not want to add

him. Carlos Martinez for the Cardinals did take the loss, not very good in his most recent performance. I don't think the Cardinals, though, will be looking to trade Carlos Martinez. I'd be pretty shocked if they did. He's still under a very reasonable contract for a while. So, you know, even if he is a reliever moving forward, I think they'd be fine keeping him around. Felipe Vasquez is someone I would definitely expect to get traded. They've got Richard Rodriguez, they've got Francisco Leriano, Kyle Crick's been terrible lately. Is there one guy that you'd speculate? I think it'd probably be Rich Rudd for me. Yeah, I think it's unlikely to be Francisco Lear. I think there's a

just as good a chance he gets traded as Felipe Vasquez. But, you know, Rodriguez is right-handed, so that typically helps. Doesn't have a ton of strikeout potential. So, you know, he's not somebody that I'd be running out to add right now. Cal Creek is really interesting. He's really

struggled with his control, but he does have very good stuff. Former top prospect could be the kind of guy who takes a step forward in a bullpen roll. Like we saw last season when he had 2.39 a yard. 65 strikeouts and 60 and a third and much better control than he's had so far this season. We're going to take another short break when we come back. We'll talk hitters.

We may get to a few of your emails. Be back in a few. There was just one double dong on Tuesday night. Omar Narvae is three for four, two home runs. He's the number five catcher in fantasy, hitting 297 with 16 home runs on the season. Second double dong in his last five games. He's still sitting against lefties, but he's still good to get. against Rides, it doesn't matter.

Well, and it's worth noting he was probably the number 10 catcher about, he said last five games, his second double down? Yeah, I think he's been top eight this whole time. There's a pretty good gap between him and everyone else. Yeah, he had really fallen off for probably the last, the previous two months before this little stretch. You go back to the middle of May before the last five games. He had like a 726 OPS.

He kind of just looked like another guy catcher. But overall, yeah, you have to be thrilled with the production. And you have to consider him a top 10 catcher. I don't think a top five moving forward. That's one mini streak. We've got more mini streaks that aren't catchers. A. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. U. H.S. for this year.

He has four hits in his last four games. Three of them are home runs. He's the number 15, third baseman. fantasy hitting 246 this season? Is there any reason to think Sauras will be a top 12 third basement over the rest of the season? I think you can look at him and say

he's been a little bit unlucky. His Babbat the previous three seasons, 304, 309, 322. It's 281 right now. So I think you would expect a better average moving forward, but there are definitely signs that he's earned this

slump or whatever you want to call it. He's still hitting for power. still hitting the ball hard, but infield fly ball rate up to 11.7%. It was 2.8% last season during his breakout. So that can play a pretty big part in deflating a babb. I've got four, five. This is an excellent group of five third basemen. None of them in my top 12 third baseman for rest of season.

I would guess that you might argue three of them should be. So I want you to rank these five third basemen that are not top 12 third baseman right now. Josh Donaldson, okay. A. E. E. E. E. Hanyos Juarez. Vladdy. Vladimir Guerrero. Justin Turner and Matt Carpenter. Who do you want rest of season?

Turner, Carpenter, then probably Suarez, Vlad Donaldson. Okay. That's almost the exact opposite order that I have them in. So that's super fun. Congratulations. I mean, you should have Justin. I think Justin Turner is clearly the number one.

A.J. Pollock, another Dodger, who you really really. like since coming off the injured list eight for 18 with three home runs he has struck out six times which is a lot in 18 at fats he's not walked yet but there's been power he has zero steals in 32 games this year it looks like the uh the running is just done for pollock but should a j paulk be 100% owned yeah i think he should be close maybe you could argue in a 10 team three outfielder league it'll be hard to get him in your lineup but any 12 team league any five outfield or league. I think he should be owned. Scott Kingery, four hits, two home runs in his last two games. He's

hitting 288 on the season still with 13 home runs, 35 runs, six steals and seven attempts. He had been really bad before this stretch, a 184 stretch in his last 21 games. But on that, we knew there was some regression coming. I think most of that regression has happened. Is Scott Kingery with all of his eligibility at nearly every position a must-own player. No, again, probably not someone you're going to be able to find room for in your 10 or 12-team points leagues. But any other format, anything deeper than that,

because he has so much eligibility, especially in a categories league where you're filling out that corner infield, that middle-infield utility and five outfielders, you'll have somewhere in your lineup for him in most weeks. Would you rather have Scott Kingery, or another multi-eligible player, Yandi Diaz, who is 9 for 26 with two home runs and three doubles in his last six games for the year. He's hitting 280, just like Kingery. He has 13 home runs.

He's only still on two bases, though. They had a weird year, if you look at his OPS by month. In April and May, March and April, right around 1,000, May 597, June 886, and so far in July 811. hard to see who is yondi dyes yeah but you also look at it and for the most part he's been good may was terrible but it was a small sample size he was dealing with an injury um so no i think yondy daz is pretty good i think he deserves to be in the scott kingery range in terms of uh ownership you're talking 80% to 68% it's not a huge gap but someone that you probably want again in your deeper uh deeper formats. A guy who I think should probably be owned in more leagues than both of those guys and

isn't right now. Oscar Mercado, 52% owned. He is catching back on fire three home runs and two steals in his last two games. He has an 8-10 OPS with 7 home runs and 8 steals in 48 games. I don't really buy the power. The fact that he's hit three home runs in the last two games, most times I'm going to assume that would be two doubles in a home run. or two doubles in a flyout. He's not an extremely powerful guy, but he is a fast guy who does not strike out very much at all. And the thing that I love about him,

because he did go through a cold stretch. Right before the All-Star break, he was really struggling. But you look at where he's hit in the lineup. There has not been a day. Now, he's had some off days, but there's not been a day since June 6th, where he's hit lower than 4th,

and he's hit 2nd every day, we hit 4th once. He is, they view him as one of their best four hitters. And as long as, kind of like Garrett Cooper, that Indian's offense is much better than it was at the beginning of the year. Partially because of Mercado. Partially because Jose Ramirez is actually looking like Jose Ramirez. Yeah, pretty good for about 35 games.

If you're hitting second every day and you're at least an average hitter, you're going to have good run production. I think he's going to have good stolen base production. And I expect he's going to hit for an above average average. I would expect he runs more moving football. forward especially. That's the one thing that I think has been a little bit disappointing about him so far. And obviously, this is not a guy for whom expectations were particularly high at any point, but, you know, the one thing we did expect, he's been consistently a high 30s, at least stolen

base guy, had 14 and 30 games before getting called up. So I would expect he'll run more. He just, you know, with seven home runs and 42 games, he hasn't had a lot of opportunities. Right. And he's like, right now if you look at his 150 game paces on pace for about 25 steals so it wouldn't take much of an uptick in running for him to be valuable the question will come is can he work his way into 12 team three outfield or consideration i think as long as he's hitting second he should be because he's going to have a lot of plate appearances yeah but he is he is borderline in that format any categories league he should absolutely be owned we've got time for some emails Adam's going to be very happy with this

because we don't get to emails enough on this show. From Kyle, how much patience should I have with Chris Davis? Should I be dropping him for Hunter Dozier or Jeff McNeil in a points league? Points League is definitely his worst format because it's a shallower roster and he's DH only. Although I think there is a chance he could get close to, if not have outfield eligibility pretty soon on that. I feel like the last time they played,

him in the outfield he got hurt and they're like no we're never doing that again um but i don't know yeah let's see he has made four appearances in the outfield they are currently in an n l park or they're going to be in an l park soon um almost got to play him then i mean he's not he played in the outfield last on june 26th in st louis yeah i think he'll get outfield eligibility soon it makes it a little easier to hang on to him um but in a points league yeah it's tough I'm not sure Hunter Dozier or Jeff McNeil are the answer, although Jeff McNeil has been... I think he's been a lot better than a fair game basis points.

Yeah, I don't hate the idea of dropping him for McNeil, who has multiple eligibility and can be a little more helpful to your points league roster. Dear Canning, Cease, and McKay, how do you rank those rookie pitchers for the rest of the season? Andy from Macau. McKay sees Canning. Yeah, I think, I'd not, I wouldn't be that surprise. Well, okay.

Brennan McKay is currently in the minor leagues. Sure. I would think he's going to be back on Saturday to make another start. We don't know what they'll do with him after that, the way they've treated him recently. None of these guys have certainty to be in the major leagues two weeks from now. No, but I would bet on all of them being there. If there's one guy that I'm not sure about in terms of performance deserves to be,

it's canning. He's just been all. awful in his last two starts and his good starts he was he looked better peripherally than the results he was getting yeah and and he's a guy who does have good stuff but also has a bit of a funky delivery and you know can catch people off guard but not great command right great control and and I don't know he he's someone that the the fantasy community seems to like a lot more

than say the angels do yeah he's got He's got one quality start in his last five, two in his last eight. He's given up nine runs in his last five and two-thirds innings. And for the season, he's got a four-seven-five ERA with a four-eight-nine X-Fib. He's definitely interesting. Oh, yes, I would say that for sure. But I'd have to put him last of this group just because he's been so bad lately. I'm not sure how many more starts the angels allow him to make.

Yeah. I would go with McKay overseas, I believe. But they're both very, very guys I want to have. From Ethan, Dedee Grigorous is on the waiver wire. And he hit a Grand Slam last night, right? Yes, he did. Yeah, we'll call him a standout. Should I drop Eduardo Escobar or Corey Seeger for D.D. Gregorius?

How would you rank them rest of season? Eduardo Escobar or Corey Seeger? Definitely no for Corey Seeger. I think he's going to be better than D.D. Gregorius. Is he hurt again right now? I don't think so. I think he's back. I think he's healthy, playing.

Maybe. he's gotten a couple of days off I think he's coming back I don't think I would in this offensive environment I'm not sure how much Dedy Rigorius is going to stand out as a

kind of just a power guy he doesn't really bring all that much to the table besides home runs now he should hit a fair amount of them in Yankee Stadium but Yeah, I don't know I have these guys ranked

Rest of season Escobar, Seeger, Gregorius. Part of that, a lot of that is because Escobar is eligible almost everywhere. Seeger and Dedi are just eligible at shortstop and shortstop is so incredibly deep that it's hard to find a place to play those guys at that

position. But I would not drop either of them 40. Gorgorees hit a real home run yesterday. It was a real one. Yeah, it went 406 feet. Wow. Strong. Dear Muriel. Merkel, Buckner, Snodgrass, and Joyce. Those are umpires, right?

I don't know, but maybe. What do you expect from Justin Upton, now that he's back from his various injuries, for a team that needs outfield depth that has an abundance of both speed and middle infielders? Would you trade Jonathan V.R. to get him? That's from Ryan. I think that's fine.

It's not a huge win, but it's not. I don't think you're looking at a loss either, especially if you have speed because V.R. really doesn't bring all that much to the table. I think what you're going to get from Justin Upton is a lot of what you've gotten the last few years, minus that one really, really big season with the Tigers and Angels in 27.

Somewhere between 245 and 265 average. Yep. A 30 homer pace with probably 100 RBI pace, even though he's not going to obviously get 100 RBI because he's only played 19 games all season. But yeah, I think he's, He's a top 30 outfielder rest of the way, and I would make that trade only if I had an abundance of speed and middle endfielders.

Ten team dynasty roto league. Would you keep Josh Bell or Fernando Tatis Jr.? Andrew from Jacksonville, Florida? I think it's got to be Tatis. In a Roto League, he's got such an intriguing skill set for me. These guys were both in your second half bus, correct? Yes. And I'm more confident in Tatis busting in the second half than I am in Bell.

the bell's hitting like 2.20 since the start of June. You don't get to count that period. You only get to count it. No, I know. I'm just pointing out that that has happened. But I just think guys with 30, 30 potential, how many are there in baseball? Five to ten. Yeah, like you're looking at Yelich Trout, Tatis, Akunia story.

It's a pretty short list. Yes. Tatis has the potential to stand out even in a crowded shortstop field. Josh Bell is awesome. I think he will be very good. But on the whole, given that it's a roto format, I would rather have Tatis. This is from Jesse in Atlanta. I don't know who these guys are yet.

I definitely should. We're going to feel stupid if we don't get this. No, I 100% know who it is. Will Mike, Lucas, and Dustin? So you haven't watched Stranger Things. Oh, no. Yeah. I don't feel stupid.

at all. You Darvish. Strange thing is good. Team Dustin forever. You Darvish and Chris Archer have both been dropped in my league. Both of these guys have been outspoken about recent changes they've made to their game. In his most recent start where he dominated the Dodgers, Archer completely abandoned his ineffective sinker, which had been throwing a lot this year. Darvish has drastically cut down on his walks lately and says he's finally breaking some habits that he picked up as a result of his elbow injury last year. do you buy either of these guys changes do you think either is a good chance

of putting contributions down the stretch? I like Archer's chances a little more actually. I have Darvish ranked ahead and I think the consensus has Darvish ranked ahead so why? It was really interesting watching Archer's most recent start

either Saturday. Friday. He pitched during the day and what you saw was a lot of four-seem fastballs but also, I mean, a lot of forcing fastballs, a lot of sliders. It's Chris Archer. That's what you're going to get. But he actually looked confident throwing both his change-up and his curveball. I think he threw six curve balls, which is, you know, it's no guarantee of success, but it was very interesting to see him trusting more than just the fastball slider,

which are his best pitches and which you want to throw them most of the time. But you need to be able to keep guys honest, and I think that's something he hasn't been able to do recently. Did you see the Darvish quote? Because I thought that was pretty interesting. Last year, I had the elbow issue and I was doing rehab for eight weeks. Most of the time, I'd feel the pain with the fast bowl. I'd try to feel less pain with a different arm slut. That's why this year, the first eight weeks, I had a weird feeling for the fastball.

I don't have any pain in the elbow, but I think my brain remembered that. I mean, yeah, that's interesting. I don't... I guess to answer the question is I have hope that both of these guys are going to be contributors down the stretch, and I would be. happy to pick up either off the waiver wire if they were dropped in my league i think i would be more likely to pick up dervish but i would not i don't want to shy away from either one they they both like we get excited about picking up the dylan ceases and the griffin cannings and the brinan mackay's

and i get it these guys have as much potentials these guys have more potential than those guys have i think well over the next two or chris arch is chris archer over the next two to three months Brenna McKay could be anything. I think that there is more upside in Darvich and Archer over the next two, not over the next five years, over the next two to three months than there is any of these younger pitchers. So I'd be happy to pick them up and see what they do. We're going to do a section now called Where Are You on These Guys? Okay.

A very creatively named section. Bryce Harper is the number 12 outfielder in points, number 19 in Roto leagues, hitting 257, 17 home runs. he has been better the last 28 days. He's number 8 and number 16. The strikeouts have gone down. He actually has more walks than strikeouts, which is a very, very good sign.

What do you expect from Bryce Harper the rest of the way? Yeah, the strikeout rate has been falling as the season has gone along, and that's a really good sign for him because it was getting really worrisome. His contact rate was way down. He was looking kind of Joey Gallo-esque when it came to his contact early in the season. Now, the fact that he's starting to turn that around,

you don't worry about what's going to happen when Bryce Harper makes contact. Good things are going to happen. And so the fact that he's starting to make those adjustments is a very good sign for him. I don't think I view him as a first round player at this point. But, yeah, second or third, a very good hitter. Danesby Swanson, the number eight shortstop in points, number 10 in Roto, which was a little bit surprising to me. He does hit second for the Braves.

A lot of Danesby Swanson's ranking, I feel like, has to do with how often he plays and having good help. And 1118 runs in RBI combined. Yes, he came into the season on fire with an 1183 OPS in his first 1111 games, slumped for about a month with a 638 OPS over his next 37 games. In his last 445 games, 884 OPS, 10 home runs, three steals. Who is Danesby Swanson? more like a top 15 shortstop than a top 10 one, I think. But, you know, a good player, someone who has definitely turned things around,

I think he's been helped, like a lot of guys, buy this new baseball that's flying out of the park, but also, you know, he has adjusted his approach in ways that I think are helpful. The, you know, the comp on him coming into his career as a, as a prospect was like a Derek Jeter type, not, you know, one of the best short stops of all time. That would be unfair. But someone who was like, he's one of the best shortstop of all time.

Don't be silly. Someone who could hit the ball to all field, someone who didn't stand out in any specific place, but was average or better in every skill. And I think that's who he is. And that's not a fantasy standout, but it's someone you can put in your lineup. Let's talk solely points leagues,

because I won't make this argument in a category league. But I was a little unfair. talking about his number of plate appearances because he has 393 played appearances for the season. Javier Baez has 398 played appearances, so five more than Dansby Swanson. Danzby Swanson has scored five more fantasy points

than Javier Baez. There are more things in Javier Baez's profile for this season that look unsustainable to me than Danesby Swanson's profile for this season. Who is a better shortstop in a points league? Javier bias, but that might be as much about him being eligible at other positions. No, forget about that. Well, you can't forget about that.

Now, I want you to forget about that. I want you to just tell me. No, I think Javier Bias, because he has more standout skills, I think there's a better chance of him. You know, first of all, the weird thing about Javier Bias and a big part of why he's been disappointing in a way that I don't. You and I both expected him to be disappointed. Yes. And he has been. Yes.

But not in the way he has been. No one, no one, yeah, no one thinks he's disappointed. Been disappointing because he hasn't stolen any bases. And because his strikeout rate's actually gotten worse. Right, but his overall numbers don't look that much different other than the strikeout rate from last year. So, you know, or the stolen base rate, I mean, if he steals three bases in the next week, things start to look a lot better. We're going to talk about a guy next who has scored more fantasy. points than Javier Baez and Danes B. Swanson over the last month.

In fact, he's scored more fantasy points than any shortstop other than Xander Bogarts. Who in the world is Lordus Gurriel, 2.95 this season, 16 home runs, five steals. Since being called back up on May 24th, he's hitting 314 with an OPS over a thousand. I don't get it. Like, this, I think it's worth saying because he was not highly regarded coming into this. year but he was a very highly regarded prospect when he was acquired along with his brother um like we thought that he could be very good he's still very young is he just having a breakout is he someone i'm going to have to find a spot for in my top 10 second basement or shortstop next

year yeah i mean you look at his career now 123 games he's hitting 288 with an 842 ops 27 home runs six stolen bases 72 rbi 68 runs that's pretty good. Well, it's awesome for a second baseman. And you look at a lot of the underlying stats and a lot of them back it up. Now, he doesn't have great plate discipline. You wish he struck out less or you wish you walked more. But, yeah, his power does look shockingly legitimate.

You know, probably not a 20% home run to five-ball ratio. No, but another guy who, this is going to be really interesting to discuss in the offseason is what happens if they do. you change the ball because they're not going to tell us. Rob Manfred's not going to call a press conference and be like, whoops, guys. Well, he never did change the ball. We messed up the baseball. We're going to bring, like, they're not going to do that.

Okay. We're going to move on from, we're running out of time. And so there's two more guys on this, who are they list that I think are really interesting. One, because I don't know why Adam put him on the list because we know exactly who he is because he's always been the same guy and we've always thought he was something more. No more Mazarra, 258 with 12 home runs on the season. he is exactly who he's always been right yeah but he's young is he still he's 24 he's young and he's he's young and he looks he's the air he's the erikosmer of outfielders that's who normal

rumors are um you know there are reasons to believe that he could be better than he has been his expected wobus 345 that is a career high as wobus 319 so you know there there could be some bad luck, his average launch angle, which has always been the biggest issue for me. There's no doubt that when Nomar Mazar, like Eric Cosmer, hits a ball the right way, it goes far. I believe he's hit the furthest home run in baseball so far this season. I think he had the furthest one last year or the year before. Okay.

This last one's more interesting to me. Hunter Dozier. I don't know why he would be more interesting to him. 505 feet for Nomar Mazar as long as home run. Who was awesome at the beginning of the year? year. Dozier was one of the best hitters in baseball before he got hurt. He was terrible

coming back from the injured list until the last couple of days and it seems like maybe he's found it again. He does have six, seven hits in his last four games, including four extra base hits. Who is Hunter Dozier?

We don't know yet, do we? No, I mean, it's still he's seen fewer pitches this year. I'm looking at the baseball savant page for him. He has seen fewer pitches this year than he had last year, which tells you that we're still dealing with, even in this very good season that he's having,

a very, very small sample size. So it really is too early. This makes up about 40% of his total major league play appearances. And for the most part before this season, he had been awful, worthless. Yeah, just completely worth. And he's, what, 27? so he is actually old.

I would still hang on to him, but I don't think he's a must-own in a points league based on the fact that he has not exactly sustained that toward pace from early on. Right. The only thing is it kind of looks like points could be as better format if he maintains a 10% walk rate and a 20% strikeout rate. So it's going to be interesting, but I think he's the one guy on the list that we just don't really know yet.

Real quick, some fringy starting pitchers from this week. I think only three of these guys are relevant. I'm not sure how relevant they are. Jordan Yamamoto gave up three runs and five innings against the Padres. Wasn't great. Michael Paneda only gave up one earned run, but the strikeouts disappeared against the Mets. Andrew Cashner got lit up. We told you that was going to happen.

Andrew Heaney only gave up two runs against the Astros, but he only pitched four and two thirds. I know you have no interest in Cashner. Rank Paneda Heaney and Yamamoto rest of the season. Probably Yamamoto. So I think I goheny over Panetta. I think he has more upside. Okay. Fringing starting pitchers, part two, C.C. Sabathia.

Another quality start. Go figure. Alex Young was really terrible. No, he's not terrible. Alex Young, I think, is terrible. He gave up one run and five in a third at Texas. I don't believe he's any good. We'll see if he proves me wrong.

Yeah, I mean, he had, what, a 6-8 ERA and AAA this season? He's got a 0-9-6 ERA in the major leagues. Daniel Mangdon gave up one run, struck out three, earners in seven innings. Zach Plezac didn't give up a run. Only pitched three innings. There was a rain delay.

Good. Helped to ZRA a little bit. And Anthony Desclofani, any interest in any of these pitchers rest of the season, are there two or three that, like, Sabathia, you'll just use whenever he has good matchups? Yeah, Sabathia is worth using when he has good matchups or when he has two starts in a points league.

Useful guy to have around, not a must own. Outside of that, I mean, Plizac is, I think worth owning but not a must own and Descalfani I think there might be a race between him and Tyler Mallet to see who can lose their rotation spot before yeah I'd put Descalfani in the Sabathia range I'm going to use Descalfani with good matchups I think he's okay I have hope for Pleizac he's the one I would most want to

that's going to do it for the Worryometer Wednesday edition of fantasy baseball today we'll talk to you again on Thursday