Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Shortstop Talk, "Are You Aware That ..."

Episode Date: July 18, 2017

Discussing Monday's best hitters - Tommy Pham (4:46), Steven Souza (8:40) - and worst pitchers - Lance McCullers (16:50), Jason Vargas (18:58) - plus another development in the STL bullpen (10:30) ... Adam makes sure that Scott and Chris are aware of some Fantasy trends like a few players who have homered in three straight games (39:40) and Ryan Zimmerman's extended slump (41:45) ... Shortstop talk (44:20), plus more from yesterday including good starts by Jon Lester and Marcus Stroman (49:03) and Eduardo Rodriguez's return ... Your emails a [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Tuesday show. Recapping a lot from yesterday, including Steven Sousa with another home run. You got to pick up Tommy Fam already. Who should you drop for Tommy Fam? We have a new game to play called, Are You Aware That? Dot, dot, dot. I'll have to explain that one a little bit later. And Scott, a trivia question for you and all the listeners. Who is the number one outfielder in points leagues, number two in Roto? you think about that for the next 15 seconds because I got to tell you about ZipRecruiter. With ZipRecruiter.com, if you are hiring, you can post your job to 100 plus job sites, including social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, and that's all with a single click. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash strike.

Scott, who's the number one outfielder in points, number two in Roto? Well, the fact you're asking me, and the fact that it's different leads me to believe the one who's number one in points leaks isn't Aaron Judge anymore? Correct. So I'm going to go with an outfielder who's been hot lately, Bryce Harper. Ooh, what a great guess, but you are two points wrong. Bryce Harper's number two. Judge is three.

Judge is still won in Roto. Okay. Okay, but Harper's not the right answer? No, it's wrong. Oh, okay. One more guess. Charlie Blackwood. Charlie Blackmun.

Yes, also been hot. Congratulations. Jesse Homer. yesterday. I think he has 22 home runs now on a career pace. How about this email? We have a lot to get to today. A lot of shortstop talk. We'll look at Zander Bogart. He's been cold lately. Chris Owings, guys like that. Also, Jose Reyes has been good. Orlando R.C. had a good game yesterday. More on shortstops later. But how about this question from Ash in England? Is Charlie Blackman the most underrated player in fantasy? I'm not saying he's Mike Trout, but I don't see why he isn't viewed as the number two outfielder.

compare Blackman to Bryce Harper. They have essentially the same slash line. The only thing Harper dominates Blackman in is walks, but Blackman is a better source of steals and already has 11 triples. So why is Blackman, you know, why isn't Blackman the number two outfielder in your rankings? That's the question from Ash in England. What's your stinking answer, Scott?

Okay, first of all, is he really the better source of steals? I don't know how many Harper has this year. That's an honest question. I think Harper had more steals than Blackman last year, so I don't know that's a safe assumption. This year, Blackman is eight and Harper has two. Okay. And walks are a big deal.

I mean, walks, there's some validity to the rest of a player's performance by how, well, he gauges the strike zone. So I don't think that's, you know, there's value beyond just what walks contribute in a points league. But I do think there is maybe a case to be made that we're underrating Blackman a little. And this is actually something Chris Towers brought up after Friday's podcast when we, Heath Chris and I took turns picking players to form a first two rounds for next year. I think Blackman was an early second round pick.

Right. And look, there's a cluster of hitters there, the Freddie Freeman, Joey Votto, a group where it's hard to choose between them. but maybe Blackman does belong at the front of the group. Part of the hesitation for me, you know, if we're talking about, you know, next year going forward is particularly with the outfield surplus the Rockies have, you know, there's still the possibility Blackman gets traded next year this offseason, whatever. It's not going to happen with the Rockies competing this year, of course. But I think Blackmun's owners are doing nothing but sitting on him.

right now and that's probably what they should do. Charlie Blackman at home has a 399 batting average and an 815 slugging percentage. On the road, he is batting 267 with a 438 slugging percentage. Last year he did very well on the road. He had like a 9. He had OPS over 900 on the road. But this year, much, much better at home. All right, that is your Charlie Blackman discussion.

He is right now as of today, and that could change. very easily, you know, Harper had a good game too, but could change, but right now Charlie Blackman is the number one outfielder in points league's number two in Roto. All right, Scott, who stood out to you in Monday's action? Well, Tommy Pham was a big one, and he's a big part of today's waiver wire column when I put it out after the podcast, reach base four times again. His ownership percentage is it's absurd how low it is. Like it's irresponsible of fantasy owners to continue to pass over Tommy Fam like they have because I mean his

the strikeout rate isn't prohibitive like we saw last year. The home run, the power potential is exceptional even by today's standards and he walks and he runs and I don't know what he doesn't do for you. Tommy Fam should be must own. He's practically must start at this point. People need to get with the program. He is 55% owned. So it's time for a new game, Scott.

You ready for the game? Yeah. Okay. The game is, who would you drop for Tommy Fam? And again, FAM is 55% owned, batting 311, slugging 530 with 12 steals in 63 games. Would you drop Mark Trumbo for Tommy Fam? I probably should do that. Yeah, my rankings probably need to be updated to reflect that.

I just want, this kind of caught me by surprise. He's won for 11 right now, Trumbo, in his last three games. Before that, he had an 11-game stretch with an OPS over 1100. He had five home runs and a 308 batting average. So I actually missed that little hot streak from Trumbo, but he's, you know, won for his last 11 since then. And Trumbo should probably not be the one being dropped in very many leagues. It's more you have to get Pham in your lineup. Okay.

So you drop, so, all right, Pam, you're going to move ahead of Trump. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Would you drop Kyle Schwerber for Tommy Fam? Yes, easily. What if he's catcher eligible? Probably still then. I mean, it would depend to my other...

Yeah, I mean, most of the catcher stinks, so maybe it wouldn't depend that much who my other catcher is. I think I'd do that, just regardless. Would you drop Carlos Gonzalez for Tommy Fam? Easily. Gregory Polanco. He might just be somebody I'm dropping. for whatever flavor of the week is emerging on waivers

because he's hardly playing cargo. Yeah. Gregory Polanco. Yes. You would? Yep. Let me go back to Cargo here because, you know, he's been terrible and he is sitting right now.

But this did happen with Andrew McCutcheon a couple months ago where he sat, like two years in a row would have with McCutcheon. They sat him for a few games. He came back and he played very well. Are you afraid to drop Carlos Gonzalez for, you know, a two-star pitcher next week? I've been afraid for a long time because obviously we've seen this tendency to have these half-season streaks from Carlos Gonzalez. But it's not just the fact that he has played only like half the time since returning from the DL.

It's that combined with the fact that Herardo Par is hitting 340, that Rhyme L Tapia has done great. That's overflow as it is, even before you get to cargo. and then the talk of the Rockies being interested in J.D. Martinez. I'm not counting on them acquiring J.D. Martinez, but the fact that they're interested in acquiring the outfield tells you a little about their mindset with cargo. And I'm just tired of waiting it out. I'm ready to move on. All right, fair enough. So the other guys that we're going to give you are all owned in fewer leagues than Schwerber and Cargo and Polanco. So I'm assuming you dropped them all for Tommy Fam. And I was going to say Mitch Hanager, Kendris Morales, Trey Mancini. Shinsu Chu. So the bottom line is, there are plenty of players you could drop for Tommy Fam.

What about Stephen Sousa, 80% owned, has a 965 OPS in his last 466 games with 14 home runs and a 291 batting average. Now remember, Susa got off to a great start. OPS over 1,000 in his first 22 games. Then he went ice cold. He was still striking out a lot, 24Ks in those 22 games. Then he went ice cold. He batted 119 in his next 20 games. He looked like the same old Stephen Sousa, and now he's homering like every day. I can't get him out of my lineup. 46 games now for Sousa with a 965 OPS, 2-91 batting average, but 52 strikeouts in those 46 games. So who do you like better, Sousa or FAM?

I like FAM more. I'm down with Sousa. I'm fine. Starting Sousa, owning Sousa, all of that. It's fine, but I just, FAM has been so good at so many things for so long. Like, I just think the all-around skill set is better than Sousas. Are you mostly buying Stephen Sousen? And you did, you know, I don't know, a few weeks ago.

And I thought you were crazy. But he's kept it going here. What do you think about Sousa? I think he has the kind of profile that could overcome a high strikeout rate. The, you know, 25%. I haven't looked up his line drive rate recently, but I imagine it's still hovering around 25%, which is very high.

It's part of the reason we're excited about Domingo Santana. It's part of the reason we came to buy Freddie Freeman as a ridiculously high Babbat guy. Hitting line drives is great for batting average. And so I think it's going to counteract the effect of Sousa's strikeouts. All right. Let's get to the bullpens here. Oh, boy, did we have a nasty Twitter interaction about bullpens yesterday, Scott White. Masky's a little strong.

Yeah, it was a little strong. a little. Guy was tired of hearing about bullpins. No, and I get that. Some people who play in like 10-team leagues, they don't care about some of those bullpen stuff. He drew a comparison of closers, relief pitchers to kickers in football, saying, you know, that'd be like us investing a lot of time talking about kickers. It's not because there are a few fantasy football leagues that require owners to roster two and three kickers. I imagine if there were more of them, kickers would be a much bigger deal in fantasy football.

So that's what you have to consider. If it is a shallow league and everybody owns just two relievers, okay, there's always options on the waiver wire, but there are many, many, the majority of leagues aren't like that. But, you know, the thing is, if Ryan Madsen is the closer, you don't often see, you know, a lot of times closer's changing teams, it doesn't always matter. Sometimes it's closers losing their role and going to a setup role

and, like, on a better team. But if Ryan Madsen is the closer, like, that's one of the best teams in baseball. That's a really good opportunity. a huge change in value if Madsen becomes the nationals closer. I mean, I was riding Cota Glover for a while when he was closing for the Nats. But we had Brett Cecil getting a save last night, and Kevin Seagris pitched the 8th, started the 9th, gave up a lead-off walk, and then Cecil came on and got the save. And we had Brad Brock getting a save for the Orioles, which is probably only significant if Britain gets traded. But Britain threw 18 pitches on Sunday.

He threw 18. Britain hasn't been lights out No. It's coming back. It's been like six appearances. And this is kind of what we saw from him. The first time he came back from this injury, which was the same injury that continually interfered with Wade Davis's 2016. So I want to be dropping Brad Brock.

I wouldn't be dropping Zach Britton either. Somebody asked me that on Twitter. But I want to be dropping Brock. All right. But now as far as Cecil goes. Yes. Ugh. Yeah.

Well, he's been... No, I know, but this is annoying. Aside from Sunday's blown safe, he's been good lately. 16 of 17 scoreless appearances for Brett Cecil. Rosenthal's also been really good. Like his last five appearances or so, Rosenthal's been lights out, and we thought there might be a chance that he would get the next save opportunity.

Yes, there was kind of a... I call it a half quote from Mike Mathini. It was a two-word quote that was kind of... worked into a narrative in a way that wasn't clear exactly the phrasing of the question, but a lot of sites ran with the idea that Rosenthal will get the next chance because of that. And it may have been an instance where, look, he had pitched in three straight games Rosenthal had. So he wasn't available. But at the same time, like, I'm not ruling out Rosenthal turning around and getting the next safe opportunity for the Cardinals.

but when a team i feel like when a manager struggles to find a reliable option for the ninth inning for as long as mike methini has he's more likely to stick with a guy until that guy fails him so like every conversion carries huge momentum in these situations i think brett cecil is a higher priority to own than Trevor rosenthal really yeah okay who is that who is the guy that is the highest priority right now that could be available. You're looking at Madsen, Brad Brock will put him in there because there could be a trade. Tommy Conley, you know, or Canley, excuse me, because there could be a trade. You know, Keone Keller, who could be back on Thursday, maybe a little bit later than that.

Alex Claudio, got a few saves for the Rangers. Who is the highest priority relief pitcher right now? Madsen, of those ones you named, of the ones who would be highly available. I think both the fact that he's the right-hander of him in Doolittle. And I didn't find the actual clip from MLB Radio, but somebody mentioned on Twitter that Dusty Baker gave a clear indication that he would go with Madsen first. Still don't think it's clear that the Nationals won't acquire another option for the ninth inning.

But right now, of those options, Madsen is the clearest choice, and he's a good choice. Yeah, they're rumored to be in on Justin Wilson. But it's not to say that Madsen wouldn't close ahead of Justin Wilson, so we'll see. But the Nationals, like I said yesterday, they got two pretty darn good relievers. Guys were having good seasons and Doolittle and Madsen. And there are some freaking juggernauts in baseball right now. I mean, think about it.

The nationals are awesome. The Astros, I'm a little bit worried about them. We should talk about Lance McCullors, because he's. struggling, Kikels on the DL. I still believe very strongly in the Red Sox. The Dodgers, holy cow, are they killing it? We all expect the Cubs start playing better. They've won four in a row.

There are some juggernauts, Scott White. Yeah? Who's winning the World Series? Who's winning the World Series? The Marlins are clearly winning the World. Hey, Chris. Now, where have you been, Chris Towers? Oh, man.

All over the place, Saddam. All over the place. But I'm back. I'm here. car trouble from what I understand yeah I can take the car into the dealership now I'm having internet trouble I got a new computer and it's just not connecting the internet

it's been a fun morning so he's he's podcasting blind he seemed a little unsure whether he should do the podcast if he couldn't connect to the internet so we'll see oh come on believe in yourself believe in your smelf yeah what is that smelf I think this isn't like old stuff

or something? Yeah, I've never heard that before. Yeah, I don't know, Scott. I think you made that up. I doubt you made that up. You're usually pretty good with that, but since I don't know it, you probably made that up. The Astros are winning the World Series.

To answer your question. Once they get Sunny Gray on their team, it will help them. Well, hey, Chris, good morning. Morning. How's it going? Good, good. We're rolling along here. Let's get into a couple of struggling studs.

Lance McCullors. Last four starts, no more than five and a third in any of those starts. He gave up four and runs in four and two thirds against the Mariners yesterday. He's been struggling and only pitched 84 innings last year, and he's already up to 96 this year. That's McCullors. And Jason Vargas, two terrible starts in a row. Let's start with McCullors.

How worried are you guys? Chris, you haven't spoken much. They've been very quiet. Why don't you tell us how you're feeling about McCullors? Yeah, I wouldn't say I'm particularly concerned. I'm going to look up the velocity just to see if that's down, and if it is, then that would be a reason to be concerned. But just looking at the overall numbers, you know, 22 strikeouts and 19 and a third in this four-start stretch, it doesn't seem like a big concern to me. The concern for me isn't as much McCuller's performance as what the Astros are doing with them.

Because I think partly this limitation, it's less than six innings and four of his last five starts. And he's on like 170 inning pace now for the season. I have to think, especially since they look like a team that could go to the World Series and he didn't throw him innings last year, this is by design. And we're going to see even more of this in the second half. It's hard, you know, aside from helping in the whip and ERA categories, it's hard for even a really good pitch. to make a big fantasy impact if he's, it's a raw in less than six innings every time. So that's, like, I, earlier this year in Tau Wars,

I traded D. Gordon. I had a ton of steals. I traded D. Gordon straight up for McCullors because I needed pitching help. I would like to have that trade back now. That's the extent of my concern. Oh, all right. All right.

So would you rather have Lance McCullors or Marcus Stroman rest of season? I would still rather have McCullors. I think in a points league, I'd rather have Stroman. That's another adjustment I need to make to my rankings. Roto, I'll stick with the colors. All righty. And Jason Vargas, what's there to say about Jason Vargas?

Two dreadful starts in a row, but he's still got a 306 ERA, and he's 12 and 4, and 81% started, 91% owned. Yeah, I'm still okay with him. He's not somebody I'm thrilled to start in one-start weeks, but, you know, good at, good at, limiting base runners, not giving up walks, pitching deep into games. And I think

we're going to see that ERA continue to creep up kind of like we have with Irvin Santana. There will be some ugly starts mixed as part of that process mixed in. But I don't think Vargas is just like a lost cause going forward. Yeah, I kind of think he is.

I'd be fine dropping him. I know I got some pushback for saying that a couple weeks ago when he was still at the height of his strong production, but I just, there's no explanation for what he's been doing this season that makes any amount of sense. By all accounts, he should still be maybe a low 4s ERA starting You have the guts to drop him, though, a guy who was 12 and 4 with a 306 ERA? I dropped Taiwan Walker recently. I dropped, I dropped, I think I dropped Stephen Mattson

in it. Like, I just, yeah, at some point you have to go with not what's happened. You banked that production already. But if I don't think he's going to be any good, and I don't really see any reason to think he is. And, you know, there was a... He's been good as this kind of pitcher before. Like, I see it is different from Matt's. Matt's profile, he requires him to miss bats.

Vargas has been a solid, you know, particularly from... But someone who's... You're totally fine dropping in the past, too. Like, based on the... There's never been a point in his career where Jason Vargas was a must-own pitcher. before the first two and a half months of this season, why would we assume that he's just a different guy when he's not actually doing anything different?

Part of it's the pitching landscape, I think, is different from when Vargas was good before. But he's... But he's not different. I know for sure you'd drop him for Louise Castillo, who's highly available, and that's probably... If it came to that, I might too, but I have a hard time seeing Vargas

being the bottom pitcher to drop on any of my team. What is Jason Vargas doing right now that makes you think he's not replaceable. Pitching deep into games. Right, but that's only because he's... But that's only because he's... Well, he's limiting runs, though.

That's a thing. Right, but I don't think... But if I don't think that's sustainable and I see no reason to think it's sustainable. Right. To the... Like, I don't think he's going... What is his ERA now?

306? Yeah. His ERA is going up from here. But I don't think... I don't see him having like a five and a half ERA rest of season. No, but if he has a 4.5 ERA, he's not going to keep going deep into games.

Well, that's a high ERA. If he's, I think he's efficient enough to give up three or four runs a start and still go six and seven innings consistently. He averaged six point two innings per start in 2014 with a 371 ERA. Like, that's fine. That's useful, but I'm totally fine dropping him if I see somebody that I think can make a difference because I just, I don't see any reason to believe I'm going to miss him. Okay.

Jason Vargas, thank you for this lovely debate. News and notes, Carlos Correa. He jammed his thumb. He's been playing through pain for the last couple days. Seems like he's going to miss some time. And this would help Marvin Gonzalez, who's 89% on it. Marvin Gonzalez is already the number eight shortstop in points league's number four in Roto with a 973 OPS this year, a 726 OPS in his career.

but killing it this year. Marvin Gonzalez batting 311 with 17 home runs, figures to play a little bit more. But let's hope it's only for a couple days because I have to beat Chris in the podcast league. And I need Carlos Correa to help me do that. Now, if he goes on the DL, you could look at Orlando Arcia, you could look at Jose Reyes. I think we'll talk about shortstop. We will talk about shortstop a little bit later. You know who you could look at maybe more locally?

Who's that? Alex Bregman's been sitting on one game shy of shortstop eligibility. for like two and a half months. Good point. Yeah, that could happen. That could definitely happen. All right, J.D. Martinez, left with back tightness. The move was precautionary.

San Francisco's sellout streak ended at 530 games. It was the longest streak in NL history. And they're bad. Stephen Vote left after a collision at home plate. It's actually a knee injury right now that's got Stephen Vote. Chad Cool, the Pirates pitcher, collided with him at home plate. You don't see that very often. He was trying to slide.

but, you know, it didn't work. We mentioned the Nationals still looking for relievers, including Justin Wilson. That's according to MLB.com. The Braves activated Sean Rodriguez, who started yesterday. He had an 859 OPS last year. Sean Rodriguez, somebody that deep league owners should be looking at. Because we presumed up until very recently he was out for the year.

So I was able to pick him up in a deep in a L-only league and his versatility could come in handy there. but it would just be a deep league situation. I don't think that bats are going to be regular enough for any other format. Did you guys talk about Dansby already? Did they vote him? Yeah, there was a lot of talk yesterday about how he's basically not the everyday shortstop now with Rodriguez back. They're not sending him down to AAA yet, but they're not going to be playing him every single day now.

Yeah, I mean, Johann Carmargo's had a... impact on that too. And Ozzy Albies has been playing a lot more shortstop recently at AAA, so I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility. We could just see the Braves swap out Swanson for Albies, which, you know, I think anybody would be welcome to that. Any fantasy owner would be welcome to that idea now, because Swanson's done nothing all year.

Martine Prado on the deal with a knee sprain that's going to hurt the Marlins' World Series chances. The Royal sent Jorge Solair to the minors and called up Billy Burns. Second baseman, Cesar Hernandez, is back and leading off for the Phillies. He's 38% owned. He's not hitting very well, but he has scored 41 runs in 59 games this year as a lead-off hitter for the Phillies. So Cesar Hernandez, I don't know. He's back, 38% owned.

He went a Cespitz return to the lineup. That had Curtis Granderson sitting again and Michael Conforto homering again. Edwin Diaz has recorded a save in four days in a row. He needs a break. Bird likely out for the year after ankle surgery. Keone Kele could be back Thursday. He might need a little rehab assignment, though. Randall Gritchett could be back Thursday.

Jake Oteresey pitched out of the stretch almost the entire game yesterday, and he turned in a great performance against Oakland at Oakland, and he had been struggling a little bit. So, I don't know, something to keep in mind. Jason Hamill tried it earlier. I guess he's been better, but not very good. Oteresey pitching out of the stretch.

Mitch Hanigur could be back today. What's that? Strasberg's been doing it all year. Yeah, that's true. Sad. Yes. Yep. Mitch Hanigur could be back today.

Colin McHugh could come off the DL this weekend. Anyone interested in Colin McHugh? Not yet. No. I mean, last couple years have been pretty rough for him. I still think there's potential there, but I need to see some results before I invest in him. I am going to give you some players that are available in a lot of leagues, deep league targets. You tell me if they're underowned.

Harardo Parra is 23% owned. He's batting 464 in seven games with 11 RBIs since coming. Coming off the DL, Herrardo Parra, 23% owned. Nick Williams is seven for his last 20 with two homers and two doubles. He's 13% owned. Steve Pierce is 6% owned. He's been playing a lot of left field for the Blue Jays. And Jabari Blash has six hits, two homers and two doubles in his last four games for the Padres.

He's very unowned, not under owned, just available. Harardo Parra, 23%, Nick Williams, 13%. Steve Pierce and Jabari Blash barely owned. I think Harardo Parra is one of the more under-owned players in fantasy baseball right now. His batting average is up to 341 with all the multi-hit games he's been putting together. And that's with the 361 BAPIP. So, you know, there's some regression coming, but not like he's still profiles as a guy who's going to hit over 300 in that environment. And it's kind of what I hoped for him going into last year.

Remember, Farah was... He had the high ankle sprain that just killed his scene. and he just couldn't get healthy last year. Yeah, but he stunk before that. And he wasn't very good earlier. And I'm not disagreeing, but he hasn't really been that good with the Rockies. I feel like his profile in that environment should make him kind of like a poor man's AJ Pollock. And that's what he's looked like recently.

And he seems to be getting the nod over Carlos Gonzalez right now. They're starting to talk about David Dahl just not getting to the majors this season. Yeah. I mean, he's been tearing it up on rehab assignment, but it seems like they're just not going to need him with the way Parra. And it could change suddenly, fine. But, I mean, he's available in three quarters of CBS Sports Leagues. Yeah, I think he should be owned in five categories leagues,

especially because at the very least, he should be a very useful player in batting average. Yeah. And in your five outfielder categories leagues, that should be very valuable. He's up to eight home runs in 189. plate appearances too. So I mean, it's not like he's a zero with the power. I'm sure Corsefield helps a lot with that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at home, he's got a 1046 OPS PARA. So, all right,

that's the one. How about Chris, Nick Williams, Steve Pierce, Jabari Blash, any interest? Steve Pierce is always intermittently useful. There are always three or four weeks stretches every season where he's worth using, but he's only first base and outfield eligible now. Yeah. Because he's had second base eligibility in the past, and that's when he really gets interesting, but I don't think he's gotten there this season. No. So it's hard to get excited about that.

And the pitchers for deep leaguers, Luis Perdomo, has been pretty bad lately. He's 19% owned. Adelberto Mejia had a pretty good start against the Yankees, 25% owned, Andrew Cashner's 12% owned. Anything jump out of you guys there with Pardomo, Mejia, or Cashner? I believe Andrew Cashner has not allowed a home run at home yet, which seems pretty wild. He's incredibly lucky to have a 358A right now. Yeah, I could not be less interested in these three.

Okay. All right, it's time for a new game. This game is called, hey, are you aware of that? And before I tell you about this, are you aware of that ZipRecruiter? is extremely useful, extremely important for all of you employers out there. You need to try ZipRecruiter when you're looking for top talent, and you can do that for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. If you want to find the best people when you're hiring, you need to expand your search,

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You've done a good job of making me aware of that. Good, yeah. That whole thing was a question. Okay, oh, all right. So far you're doing well with this new game. Now, back to baseball. Hey, are you aware that Steven Strasbourg and John Carlos Stanton have not gotten injured yet this season?

You're going to screw it up. And they're both thriving. Strasbourg, top six starting pitcher, although you look at the top five guys ahead of him. Much better ERAs, much better whips. But Strasberg's still having a really good year. And Stanton, number seven outfielder and points, number eight in Roto, career low strikeout percentage.

Three multi-homer games in his last nine to raise his OPS from 870 to 9-43. Forget 40-homer season. He's on a 50-homer pace now. Well, look, these are two of the most injury-prone players. He missed one by about three feet yesterday, too. Really? Yeah, it wasn't robbed, but it was at the wall in Deep Left Center. Well, that doesn't count, Chris.

I don't know what they tell you. Oh, I'm just saying. He's been even better. He should have like a 9-46 OPS. He should be on a 60, Helmer pace. What do you do with these two guys? They are two of the most injury-prone players in baseball, Strasbourg and Stanton? Nobody's going to give you a fair value for them.

if you can get it fine if you're worried but there's no reason to trade them they're awesome like they're both really good players and specifically in stanton's in stanton's case you're looking at a guy who has just had a bunch of freak injuries last year i think it was the groin or the year before i think it was the groin the year before that he got hit by a pitch it's just like he's had a hand injury but like he's never had i don't think he's ever had like a serious twice. And you can look at it and say, okay, he's just injury prone. Then he just has maybe a low tolerance for pain or the fact that he's 6 foot 5, 250 pounds, just makes it harder for him to play through minor aches and pains. But you could just look at it and say he's just had some

bad luck. And he's managed to just avoid the bad luck so far. And I mentioned, Stephen Strasberg pitched out of the stretch all year. You know what stretching does for preventing injuries. That's, I guess that's a decent point. I had a long time to think of that joke, and it wasn't very good. I'm sorry. Adam even was aware of it. Well, no, I mean, I get it. But also, you know, pitching out of the wind-up, there's more motion, right?

More things that could go wrong. It wasn't a serious point. Well, it was a great point, Scott. Okay. And Stan has changed his approach at the plate. The strikeout rate going down is not necessarily an accident. And so, you know, he's managed to still hit for power while hitting for a bit more contact and I think that's a good thing.

Yeah, you know, I don't know if this counts. I'm going to say it does. Now, you're just going to take my word for it. Honor system. I was going to make one of my bold predictions at the beginning of the year. I was going to make one of my bold predictions. John Carlos Stanton stays healthy for a full season. Oh, you're so full of it.

I was going to do it. But now I'm going to make a different bullet prediction, one that's actually, you know, on the air being broadcast. He's getting hurt tomorrow? No, he's going to play more than 150 games. He's going to stay healthy, but John Carlos Stanton is going to play the last month of the season with a nagging hand injury that is going to affect his performance. Wow, that is a very specific bold injury. Bold prediction. There you go.

That's what we do on this show. All right. Next up. Hey, are you aware that Brandon Kinsler is the number five closer in points leagues? Not just relief pitcher. I'm taking all the sparse out. Number five closer in points, number eight in Roto. and Kinsler has the second most saves in the American League behind Alex Colomé?

This is why I don't prioritize closers much on draft day. My two closers in Tout Wars, I think I drafted them both beyond round 20 in a 15-te-te-team league. Jim Johnson and Brandon Kinsler. Both of them have kept their jobs all year. They've given me like 50 saves combined. All right. what does Brandon Kinsler have more of? Saves or strikeouts?

I'm going to get saves. Strikeouts. Scott is correct. He has 26 saves and 25 strikeouts in 41 in the third innings. But that's kind of my point. You just have to be just have to be just good enough not to lose your job. He's been lucky to have a 218 ERA. Sure.

He's probably a pretty accurate. average pitcher, but average can get the job done as a closer if you keep your job. Tom Petty would say, Scott, you got lucky. I was going to sing it by the side of now. By design. I really, I just never, I just, I struggle so much with closer approach. I usually prioritize it. Like, I get two relief pitcher points league where you can start Sparps.

You know, it's not as important. But in those leagues, like Tat Wars, look, if one of those guys was bust for you, in Tau Wars. It's so hard to find them. That's a 15-te-team league. It's hard to find them because everybody needs closers. Anybody that comes available becomes available gets picked up pretty quickly. So my main priority when I'm drafting closers is job security.

I felt like both. I felt like both had nobody who could really replace them. All right. Well, that's important. I felt like they had job security. Because Jim Johnson, Jim Johnson's been fine. but if he were on like a real contender I think that at this point

he's probably done enough like if there had been an obvious replacement behind him that maybe he would have lost his job maybe maybe but because he does have he does have a pretty high number of blown saves but his FIP is only two like he's had bad luck probably

all right so he's he's actually a good pitcher Kinsler maybe not And look, both of them are outside my top 20 relievers going forward. There are sparps mixed in there. I couldn't give you the answer quickly if I took the spars out. But it's not like I rate them both highly as closers, but they're fine. But the point to not invest all that heavily in closer, I think, is a good one.

Because you look at a lot of the guys that we had as that second tier of the first tier, you know, I think we all agreed there were like 14 really, really good closers. I mean, Sung 1-0 has been really really. bad. Edwin Diaz lost his job for a little while. Ken Giles has had his up and downs. Herrera's been bad. Gersfamilia, obviously got hurt and, you know, going through,

it looks like about 12 or 13 teams have already changed their closure either through injury or performance. And like, that feels, that might be low for a normal year, you know? There's a lot of turn. It's not over yet. Right, right.

But just, yeah, we're about to see a lot more closing changes I think in the next two weeks. I agree and I disagree because I'd really love to have Kenley Jansen on one of my teams right now. Right. If you can get Kenley Jansen, but you have to pay a lot for it. But what if you drafted Zach Britton instead? Well, look, injuries and busts happen at every position.

We do this with the starting pitcher debate too, but you want the guys who are elite and stay elite. And if you can predict who is going to stay elite, that's great. But at a position where there's so much turnover naturally. The turnover is the thing. Because like the thing about relief pitchers is if they fill one of those 30 rolls across baseball, they have high value. If they don't, they have almost no value. So like it can it can go from like priceless to worthless so quickly. So yeah, it's like, and it's easy to overreact to one really good year like Sanguano or Edwin Diaz.

And the track record's not necessarily there. But you're being a little hard on Diaz. I mean, yeah, he's been fine. He's been, no, but like he did lose his job. He did for a week. There are people who invested in him and dropped him in June. Well, they shouldn't have dropped him. We said that like a million times don't drop him.

I didn't drop him. Right, but it's hard to hold on to a closer when they lose their job. I guess. He really lost it for about a week and four straight saves in four straight days. Bradwin-D-S. Hey, are you aware that there are three players who currently have homered in three straight games? At least three, three that I can think of. Do you know who they are?

Hint, two of them are teammates. Three players who have homered in three straight games. Has Conforto done it? No. Two games in a row? I think two out of three. Kyle Seeger's done it. Kyle Seeger has done it.

Congratulations. Yeah, we've been waiting for that. Nelson Cruz has also done it. Those are the teammates. Those are the teammates. And? The third player to Homer in three straight games is none other. Steven Susan?

He is from Corridor. Charles Springs, Florida, my hometown. Anthony Rizzo? Anthony Rizzo is home at three straight games. Yeah, he's on like a 40 homer pace. He's only nine away from setting a career high in home runs. Yeah, how about this? So Rizzo's career high is 32.

He is on a 40 homer pace. If he plays 155 games, which is what he played last year, he'd get 39.6 is what he'd be on pace for. And with that, in Categories leagues, Rizzo is the number seven first baseman in points leagues, number five in Roto. It's so surprising that he's only batting 260, and he has nine more walks than strikeouts. Yeah, I think that's, if he was hitting 290 or 285 with those four or five extra hits and whatever else comes with it, he's probably top five. He's really, really good.

That's surprising to me that he's lower in points leagues, considering he has more walks than strikeouts. He's not. He's higher in points leagues. Oh, okay. I miss her. I miss her. I miss her. I mean, we took him, what, fourth at first base in our draft last week, so. Yeah, I mean, none of us. None of us are down on Rizzo. We may, if we redid it, we were talking about Blackman, potentially us undervaluing Blackman. We may take Blackmun over Rizzo if we could redo it now.

I mean, his last 365 game numbers are redonculus. Charlie Blackman? Yeah, I said Redoculous. Yeah, you sure did. All right, last, hey, are you aware of that? Hey, are you aware that Ryan Zimmerman is now the all-time leader in home runs for the Exposed Franchise? Exposed slash Nationals franchise? That surprises me, actually, because he passed Vladimir Guerrero, who I feel like was so good for so long.

I mean, I'm sure he had more, what, four-plus war seasons for the franchise than Zimmerman has had. Zimmerman's been there for, what, 11 years? Yeah, it's just, I think part of that is just how much faster time moves in adulthood than in childhood. Because it seemed like Vladimir Garo was there forever, but I guess Zimmerman has too, and it's just gone faster. All right, so here's the thing about Zimmerman. He is currently the number seven point, first baseman of points, number five in Roto. Remember when he got dropped? He picked him up for $5 or something like that in a weekly Fab League, $4.

Ryan Zimmerman has actually been kind of cold. 54 games now. He has a 741 OPS and only seven home runs. So, do you remember who dropped them in that league? I know he listens to the show. I can't remember who the heck was. Yes, it was, oh, man, I'm not going to. Lance?

Lance. Lance, yes, it was Lance. Brzowski. Roskowski? I'm sorry, Lance. I'm sorry. Lance Goscowski. He plays for the.

the Patriots. He was like, look, I'm going to have a better first baseman as I stream than Ryan Zimmerman rest of the year. And I don't know, he might be right. What do you think of this Zimmerman, 54 games with a 741 OPS? That just does not cut it at first base. He runs the site, big three sports.com. Just want to throw that out there while we're mentioning him. I think, well, first of all, I mean, I don't know if we want to revisit that, point, but considering where Zimmerman's value was at the time, there was no reason to drop him, right? Yes, but let's not revisit that.

You had to get something for the value he had built up to that point. But looking forward, I think this regression was partially expected, and there may be even a little more to come. Babbip is still on the high side, but I still see him as a must-start player. I'm not, I don't think he's going to fall that much unless he gets hurt. Okay, okay. That's Ryan Zimmerman. And we got to talk about short stops here, actually.

That segment went a little long. But you know what? That's okay. Short stops. The good. I was going to do the good, the bad, and the ugly. It just didn't work. So the good and the slumping.

The good short stops, Jose Reyes, who's been just very consistent for a while now. Last 28 days, he is the number 11 shortstop and points, number 13 in Roto. Reyes is batting 329. In that stretch, he is 33%. percent own and Paul de young whenever he plays the Mets he homers four games against the Mets he's 10 for 17 with four home runs and four doubles um otherwise i don't know he's been fine but

paul de young is 55 percent own do you have anything to say about Reyes or de Young i have uh uh let Jose race is only what 33 percent owned yes i think that's too high by half too high i Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, like, if his last 28 days are by far the best of his season and he's the number 11 shortstop, I don't care. That's, I, yeah, I feel that. He had below a 700 OPS each of the first three months. He's been good in the month of July, but he's not stealing base. Like, I just, I don't see any reason to buy into Jose Reyes at this point in his career. Okay, what about Paul DeYoung? Are you, are you? Would much rather have Paul DeYoung. Yeah, would you rather have Paul the Young or Orlando Arcia? Arcia. DeYoung, I would. I feel like I sold him short when we talked about yesterday.

I think it was because you look at his last two years in the minor specifically. Big uptick and power. And the plate discipline's horrible, so he really needs the power to factor. But at shortstop, he doesn't need both. That might be the one position where he can get by with one or the other. and I think the power is mostly legit. I think if you combine his AAA numbers and his major league numbers this year, he might be the most home run hitting shortstop in baseball this year.

Well, that sounds a lot like Aledmus Diaz, right? He had some power in the miners, came up and it translated. Well, it was a longer trend than Diaz was. 23 home runs combined DeYoung has this year. It's Cardinals Devil Magic. Card on Devil Magic, sure. All right. So let's look at these three slumping short stops.

And one of them is Xander Bogarts. And boy, he's been ice cold. He's batting 167 with one extra base hit in his last 16 games, five walks and 20 strikeouts. And that batting average is under 300 and only six home runs this year for Bogarts, who still is the number seven shortstop in points and number nine in Roto. 51 runs scored probably helps. Zach Cozart, number 12 shortstop. in fantasy. Last 18 games, he's batting

172 with a 493 OPS. This was after 51 games with an OPS over a thousand, 1,059. So that's, last 18 games for Cozart batting 172. And Chris Owings, number 10 in points, number 6 in Roto.

He, yeah, I mean, last 39 games for Oings, basically like half his season, a little less than that. He's got a 731 OPS and three steals. he's just been whatever. So, you know, Cozart and Owings were very pleasant surprises. Bogart's had a weird year.

All three of those guys are slumping. Do you guys see anything here? You know, nobody's dropping Bogarts, but would you consider dropping Cozard or Owings? Sure. I mean, it just depends on what I have and what's available. Now, the shortstop position is such a disaster that there's a good chance there's still the best options. But I don't see any reason to believe that Zach Cozart is just undropable. I mean, the fact he's 90% owned tells me somebody values him, even if I don't.

And personally, I do. But should they? Should they value in Cozart? I think he has pretty good power for a shortstop. I like the plate discipline. I still think Zach Cozart's a top ten shortstop. Okay. Owings, I've been on the fence about all year, but he's, you know, he's had his ups and downs,

and I don't think this is like the nail in his coffin. So I don't think there's reason to. drop either of them personally. All righty. Well, that was fun. Four-man rotation. John Lester, with a nice start at Atlanta, seven innings, three hits, one run,

one walk and six strikeouts. His previous two starts were terrible. Five and two-thirds, nine earn runs, and a lot more unearned runs. So Lester bounces back. It's not the first time he's done this. Like, let's see a little consistency. Marcus Stroman.

Marcus Stroman is the number 19 pitcher in points, starting pitcher. Number 24 in Roto. He's got a 1-26 whip. He's got 98 strikeouts in 119 innings. I love Stroman because he's so consistent. He's had actually a few really bad starts. But for the most part, he goes out there and gives you a good start time and time again.

But low strikeouts, high whip. Is he overrated? Marcus Stroman. Actually, Marcus Stroman's fifth. which I hate, but his FIP is higher this year than it was last year, and his ERA is over a run better. Yeah, I think there's just been some, it's weird trying to figure out what the luck is, and I think it's just his strand rate is 10% higher. So he's doing, he's having better success leaving runners on base. I don't want to say he's doing something different, but he is the kind of pitch. you would think could have a good strand rate because he gets so many ground balls.

He's going to get a higher than average number double plays. Yeah, he leads. I think he leads baseball and double plays. At the very least, Stroman leads the American League. And that, that'll do it. He's good. I don't know. Who's over rating?

I don't, I'm just saying, is he, I'm thinking about selling Stroman in my Roto League. Points League, no, because you love the consistency. but he hurts you in two categories. He hurts you in strikeouts, I'd say, and he certainly doesn't help in whip. And I buy that because he gives up a lot of hits because he gets so many ground balls. But doesn't he throw a lot of innings, which helps the strikeout total play up, even if the rates? Yeah, yeah, he has 119. Well, he has 98 strikeouts right now.

Is that a lot? No. I mean, I don't know that he's necessarily hurting you in strikeouts. He's not helping. He's a little bit below average for a starting pitcher. He's a 20.3% 7.4K per 9. I do think he's more valuable in points league than Roto, as most pitchers are. So, yeah, I'd be okay with trading him for an elite bat in Roto.

Well, elite, that might be more than you could get. But I don't know. Like, what would be a good return? What would be enough of a return to compel you to move Stroman in that league at him? Harper? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

If I can get a first rounder for him, like that's... That's a good question. Maybe like... Yeah, I have trouble with this game sometime. I have to really have to look at the rosters. But I think that's a salient point is that, you know, when I asked who's overrating him, is anybody in your league overrating him? Because that would be the person to sell him to, but I feel like the perception on him at the beginning of last year was big breakout.

And then he has a disappointing season. Some people liked him as a breakout, but I think a lot of people view him as just a decent starting picture. Steady number three. Yeah, no, he's a good fantasy. He is for sure, very steady. And he's been closer to number two. He's been 19th and points 24th in Roto. I guess this is what I would say.

So this particular Roto League, I'm in fifth, I think. And I don't know. It doesn't seem like I have a great chance to win. I could see myself in this scenario going for it, trying to trade him for Justin Verlander. Sure. I'd be fine with that. Yeah. But I have some concerns about Verlander because his control's been so mediocre this year and he's complained so vocally about the baseball that I wonder if,

even if it's not the reason, if there's like a mental block there. Because it's the same baseball as the second half, right? And the second half last year was the best Verlander we've ever seen. He's been, and Justin Verlander's always vocal. He's not the kind of guy who complains silently. He likes to make a big scene and get all the reporters around him. But we've heard him complain about it a number of times. Yeah.

And I just, I do wonder if there's something there. Okay, okay. So, sorry to move things along here. But Julio Taran had a good start yesterday. Six quality starts in his last seven. I want to talk briefly about Eduardo Rodriguez. Eduardo Rodriguez is 88% owned. And he struggled early and settled down in his first start off the DL against Toronto,

three runs in five and a third and eight strikeouts, four walks. Would you rather have Eduardo Rodriguez or Sunny Gray? sunny Sonny Sonny Grey Eduardo Rodriguez or

Verlander Verlander Verlander Alex Cobb Errod Erad Luis Castillo That was the hot take

I had yesterday on Twitter Somebody asked me that I went with Castillo but I'm maybe going a little overboard in my love of Luis Castillo

I will admit that Yeah I'll take I feel like Castillo's trying to catch up to what Rodriguez already is. Okay.

So I'll take it. Rodriguez wishes he had the highest fastball velocity in baseball. Would you rather have Eduardo Rodriguez or Mike Fires? Roder Rodriguez. Okay. And Fringy starting pitchers, first of all, Adam Wainwright is 86%. Oh, and that blows my mind. But would you pick up any of these guys if you saw them on waivers?

Wainwright, Ariel Miranda, Zatch Wheeler, Brent Souter, Jared Eichoff, Jordan Zimmerman and Armand Marquez. Zatcha. Not really looking to pick any of them up. Miranda would probably be tops on my list, but his last two starts been bad. Icoff would be at the top of my list. Here's the bottom line. We had some pretty garbage pitchers going yesterday.

Garbage. Icoff's at the top of your list. He's been terrible. But his last two starts are pretty good before last night. Garbage. Emails, fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. This is from Max. I'm in a 10-team head-to-head points keeper league, tied for first with a points advantage.

I have four short-stops on my 10-te-to-head points keeper league. Who should I drop? VR, Cozart, Simmons, Gregorius. Should drop VR if it's a points league. Yeah. No. The only reason you're holding on to him is steals. I feel like.

Maybe Gregorius, maybe, but... Yeah, I think Gregorius is the one I like the most out of that group, actually. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. But I think they're all in that kind of... Meh range. Yeah.

All right, next time we have Steve. Hey, George, George Jr., and George the 3rd. Oh. Okay. Are those, like, kings? I don't think kings usually go by junior. right? Probably not.

For whatever reason, I'm still holding on to Alex Bregman. Should I jump ship and pick up Nick Castellanos? I need home runs. I would bet on Nick Castellanos having more home runs

than Alex Bregman. I think they're probably in the same range. Castianos has shown more skill this season. And since the numbers are pretty much the same, I'll go with Castianos.

Yeah, wait, wait a day or two and see if Bregman picks up shortstop eligibility, though. Yeah. I like Bregman more regardless. This is from Johnny Hopkins in Peoria, Illinois. Adam, I hear you were in Costa Rica last week on your honeymoon. While you were out there, there was a two-round mock draft for 2018. Okay, no, first of all, I was not in Costa Rica.

I was in Bermuda. I was just, I thought you had mentioned it, and that was just where I went. It's a cliche honeymoon spot, right? It's a good place to go. Costa Rica. We went to Bermuda. horses? I've been to Costa Rica.

Bermuda's a lot nicer, but Costa Rica was very nice, too. They're just different. Did you ride any horses? In Bermuda? No, I did not. But I snorkeled with them. That's basically the same thing. Yeah, pretty much.

I rode fish. Why wasn't Anthony Rendon, or is Anthony Rendon even close to approaching the second round next year? I mean, he's been close to a second rounder in the past. I would say coming into the 2015 season he was probably being drafted right around there Yeah he probably should be Probably should be in the discussion He's too homer shy of a

Of a career high He has four more walks than strikeouts Which is just amazing He's been the best hitter in the universe I mean you can be really good in fantasy And not be a top two rounder Right I think he's currently in

consideration for the third. I don't know. I wouldn't disagree with that. He's got a thousand OPS right now. This past year, Robinson Kanoe went in like the middle of the third round. You know, kind of how I feel about Rendon, right? If he's, yeah, middle of the third. Like over the last 365 days, Rendon has 42 doubles, 29 home runs,

113 RBI, and a 945 OPS. So? He might just be really good. Very good numbers, but there are probably 16 other hitters with numbers as good or better. That's probably the ones we came up with. Last email. Last email. From Cody, who should I be looking to sell Elvis Andrews or Gene Seguer?

I would be looking to sell Seguera. I actually think there's more regression coming for him than Andrews. His success this year is almost entirely built on batting average. He hasn't run that much, hasn't hit for the power he did last year. I would I already have traded him in one league actually our league at him we traded it Do you think

Andrus is better than Seguer or do you just think he has more trade value? No I think Andrews is better than Segar now I'm not I'm not ruling out that he's a pretty you know a respectable power hitter now Andrews and I think he's clearly a better base dealer

Batting average potential is probably similar All right Andrews is better Time to go Time to go. Chris, thank you for joining us. Hope your car is okay and your internet. And, Scott, thank you for being here since the start of the show. It means a lot to me.

I know. Trooper. Grade the trade tomorrow. Oh, yeah. See you later.