Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/22: Weekend Roundup - Who are these SPs? (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 22, 2019

Hitters (2:00) and SPs (4:40) to add as Asher Wojciechowski made himself known and Danny Santana is trending up. We've got some one-start streamers to consider (12:30) and a bunch of relatively unknown SPs (19:35) that might be worth adding ... Some prospect notes (22:40) as Luis Urias is up and Brendan McKay is down. More news and notes (25:30) and a look at the Most Added list (29:30) before we review some noteworthy hitters (38:30) like Miguel Sano and Alex Dickerson plus bullpen items (43:30) ... SPs for the rest of the show (46:00)! German Marquez, James Paxton, Jake Odorizzi, Jose Berrios, Dylan Cease and many more ... Email us at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. All right, if you're looking to make some lineup adjustments as we get ready for the upcoming week, it is time for fantasy baseball today. Hitters and pitchers to add as we recap the weekend.

What's going on? Monday, July 23rd, I believe. They're going to check? Oh, 22nd. Man, about... 20 seconds. Man, you're bad. I am so bad at that.

All I have to do is look like five seconds before, but I always forget to do it. I am a stupid Adamazer with Scott White and... Heath, it's like a guest appearance now. It's very nice to have you on today. I want to start this show off on the right foot. With an apology to you, because so many times,

Whenever you tell me about some piece of content or media that you are consuming that I have not yet consumed, if you like it, I just assume it's bad and don't watch it. And I did over the past week start watching Stranger Things, and season one was one of my favorite seasons of television. It was so happy to see that when you tweeted that. I'm happy for you. I just finished season three last night, actually. It's good. Season one's probably still the best, but yeah, it's a good show. You're going to enjoy it for sure. All right.

Well, I think I've already been through the best of it. Like, it's probably downhill from here. A little bit, but it's still good. I mean, it's a little downhill, but, you know, it's still worth watching. All right. So, so listen, let's talk fantasy baseball. Let's get some. This was not, okay, here's how I thought of it.

Wasn't like so obvious players to add. And then yesterday, I feel like there were some good pitching performances. Kevin Gosman. Very good. We'll talk about that. Let's start with hitters, though. Hitters to add. Stranger Things Heath.

Who's a hitter to add? Well, the nice thing about only being on once or twice a week, because I can just say the same guy because you guys haven't added him yet. Who am I going to say, Adam? It's not Malick Smith. It's not remote Oriano. He's up to 80% now. It worked.

Nate Lowe did not have a good week. Nate Lowe is not who I was going to say. Then I don't know. Who are you going to say? It's Garrett Cooper. Oh, okay. A top 40 hitter since he became a regular with the Marlins. He's still hitting and he's still owned fewer than 60% of leagues.

There's no reason for that. Eric Cooper is good. He's eligible at first base and in the outfield. I don't care what kind of league you play and you have somewhere where you can start him. I know Scott agrees. You like Garrett Cooper, right, based on HQ yesterday. Yeah, I do. He was, yeah, it was my hitter to add on yesterday's show.

But today, since he's taking Garrett Cooper, I'm going to go with Danny Santana, who's trying hard to look like Garrett Cooper with the batting average over the past month or so. They're about 360. A lot of power, a lot of speed during that time, too. And look, he's not as good as he's been the past month. I don't even think he's as good as the season line. But the point is the Rangers are playing him every day now. Chris Woodward has made that a priority to the point he's working out at third base.

which is like the one position he hasn't played yet, but as Drew Bull Cabreras had a terrible year, Danny Santana seems like a ready-made replacement there. And I think he could be like a 280 hitter with, you know, enough power and speed to matter the rest of the way, already quadruple eligible may gain third base. You know, the biggest threat is that he's traded

and just becomes a bench player somewhere before the deadline. But I don't think you worry about that right now. I think you just pick them up and figure out where to start him. All right. So Garrett Cooper and Danny Santana. And on CBS Sports HQ yesterday, we talked to Jim Bowden, who is giving great advice in terms of prospects. He's really got his finger on the pulse there.

He talked a lot about Lewis Robert, and that's how he said you pronounce it, Robert, who's 34% owned. So that's a guy you could be stashing. Kyle Tucker's 45% owned. People were maybe getting a little impatient. I saw him dropped in our podcast Points League, shallowish league. But Kyle Tucker and Lewis Robert are both owned in less than 50% of

leagues, and those are two guys you might want to add as well. I was mostly adding pitchers. I added two Astros pitchers and one brave. So the pitchers that I would highlight in terms of pitchers to add are Kevin Gosman. And I can't stand from a fantasy standpoint, Kevin Goswood, because he is such a tease. But he comes back up from the minors yesterday, seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts against the nationals, and he's 35 percent owned.

Meanwhile, Jose Urquidi is 8% own. Roelho Armenteros is 5% on. I will be honest, I didn't check the ownership percentages this morning, but this was as of last night. But Erkidi and Armenteros are both very available, both coming off really good starts, especially Erkidi against the Rangers. How would you rank them, Scott, Gosman, Erkiti, Armenteros? I think I'd go Erkiti one, and part because he hasn't failed us all the times Gossman has. And I know his first

two or three starts, forget how many he was, were terrible. But he made the adjustment so many pitchers are making and just started throwing his best pitch more than ever in this most recent start through his change up a ton. And it is his best pitch. And you see

the results. Nine strikeouts, two hits. 17 swinging strikes. Yeah, I'd rather gamble on the unknown there then take another flyer on. Gossman who I'd probably rank second. I mean, There is upside with Gosman. It's why we keep getting faked out by him,

but I'm a little reluctant to have it happen again. The splitter did look great last night. It's looked great before. And then it, you know, things tend to unravel for him very quickly. I'm not totally disinterested in Armenteros, but he's a guy who averages like 89 on his fastball. Had good strikeout rates in the minors,

but his last couple years there weren't the best. And I need to see a little more from him because he's kind of a weird pitiful. sure. Okay, Heath, how would you rank them? Scott went Erkiti, Gausman, and Armenteros. Erkiti, Armenteros, and there has to be someone else that we can talk about so that we don't have to add Kevin Gosman.

Okay, then tell me who? Who else? You want Heath's crappy two-start pitcher that he's starting in a Mustang week this week? Yeah. That's probably going to blow up on Monday and make him look stupid? Yes. I'm going with Martin Perez. He is a two-start pitcher, one of those matchups against the White Sox.

The first matchups against the Yankees, which is not a very good one, but it's at least at home. He's been better again as of late. I think he's going to get at least one that win this week, hopefully, too. Okay, Martin Perez. Scott, did you have a pitcher that was not one of the three I mentioned that you wanted to talk about? Yeah, yeah, and it's, I imagine this is one of the bigger talking points today. But, you know, when we were heading in the studio to do the show yesterday afternoon, we were informed that Asher Wojahowski,

Wojuttowski. Yeah. Am I saying that right? I think it's Wojikowski. Yeah. Yeah, I was throwing a no hitter. He was through six innings. And I was like, ah, whatever, it won't last.

They're not going to let that guy throw, have nine no-hit innings, either the Red Sox who were facing him or the Orioles manager. It didn't end up with the no-hitter, but he ended up with a great line that included 10 strikeouts on 23-s swinging strikes. And then I looked at what he had done in his first few starts in the majors, which hadn't really caught my attention. They weren't very long. I looked what he'd done in his last few starts in the minors. And between his past eight starts between the majors and the minors,

11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. I saw the highlights. I saw the wicked shape on that breaking ball he was throwing. I feel like there might be something there. I feel like there might be something there with Asher Woghowsky, a 30-year-old minor league journeyman for the most part. We have seen him in the majors before, but he hasn't done well. But I think, like, getting ahead in the count is going to be key for him, and he may not be able to do that. But, like, if he does, it looks like he has the stuff to put away hitters. So, you know, and leagues where I'm desperate for pitching, I might take a flyer on him. Isn't Asher Wogikowski like 30 years old? Yep.

Yeah. He's had. Look, maybe he's Rich Hill or something. Listen, if we're going to say that Kevin Gosman still has upside, then this guy has upside, too. No, false. Kevin Gosman has had at least like two extended stretches that I can think of, where it was actually very good. And he's just let us down so many times. This keeps happening. I would be picking a Wojahowski over him.

I would put a Rikini first and then I'd go Wojahowski second if we're ranking him with that group. Are you serious? I mean... Yeah. All right. Okay. I mean, it may be an old takes exposed moment, but I... You know, you don't have that much to lose, but your worst player, obviously.

I mean, I'd rather have... To see where this goes. We haven't talked about Zach Plyzac yet. I'd rather start him or add him than I would Kevin Gawkins as well. Okay, so let me get to one-star tremors and I'll tell you why you might not want to add Zach, please, Zach. Well, why you might want to add him just for one week, I guess is a better way to put it. I do want to promote...

a couple things here. CPS Sports H.Q. We have one more Sunday show. It's going to be a fun trade deadline edition on this upcoming Sunday. Hopefully we'll have a lot of trades to break down at that point. But we get Jim Bowden, former GM, David Sampson, former president of the Miami Marlins. Oh, Will Middlebrooks just made my life yesterday on the show. I'll tell you about that in a second. He comes on. Scott, Chris, Heath, some other fantasy analysts. We talk regular baseball. We talk fantasy baseball. It's a great show. Sunday afternoons. watch it on HQ. You can put HQ on your living room TV. You just need a connected device. You just smart TV or a Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, whatever. Download the CBS Sports app.

And the argument that Will Middlebrook settled. This got like heated in the office yesterday before the show. Our producer, Wyatt and I were going back and forth. Is Fenway, Heath, I know Scott's answer because Scott was asked. Heath, is Fenway Park a left-handed hitters park or a right-handed hitters park? It's a right-handed hitters park. Right, that's what I said. It's a terrible park for left-handed power. That's what Chris said to. Yeah.

That's what the data shows. Right. So here's what happened. So Wyatt and I were really, like, really, like, I felt kind of bad. Like, we were getting kind of heated about it. And he's like, he's like, everybody knows that in Fenway Park is a left-hand hitters park. And his argument was like the best Red Sox hitters are almost all lefties, like, in history. because they can go opposite field and, you know, hit the monster or whatever.

I'm like, look, most hitters pull the ball. That's the point. Like, you want to be a righty in play. Anyway, so we asked Scott and Chris before the show. They both agree with me. Then we ask Jim Bowden, and he agrees with Wyatt. And he says Fenway Park. With the same reasoning.

Yeah, with the same. Oh, you heard, you were able to hear that? They point to historic examples of left-handed hitters who've taken advantage of the monster, which I'm sure obviously they do exist because you can point them out. But, yeah, I mean, if you're just talking about general player. Exactly. I was like, drop down in the bar. We're not talking about Wade Boggs, okay, here.

We're not talking about the best hitters ever. We're talking about the average hitter. So then I actually asked Will Middlebrooks on the air, a righty who used to play in Fenway Park. And he confirmed it is, I think you said like 100% of right-handed hitters park. And it was a sweet, sweet victory for me. Because everyone, because like 90% of the office in. Stanford at where the studio is was agreeing with Wyatt and disagreeing with me.

And I was like, am I wrong about this? Like, I'm going to feel really stupid. But I didn't feel stupid at all until I screwed up the date to start today's show. So anyway, back to the pitchers. One-start streamers. Anaballs, nobody wants to pick up Annabal Sanchez. He's 62% owned. What do you mean?

You and I have been starting him for like two months. Yeah, nobody else is. I think, let's look up his matchup because I wasn't 100% sure, but I think it's Colorado at home this week. And if it is, then Annabal Sanchez is definitely a start. If it's the Dodgers at home, he's an okay start, I guess. But he's the first guy ahead. You don't want to start him.

Why? I mean, I don't know if it's the Rockies at home, you do want to start him. His past three starts, eight strikeouts to eight walks. Like, he's not getting any strike. He didn't have a decent number for a stretch there, but the stretch is continued without the strikeouts. It's looking like Mike Fires level, hinging on disaster right now.

I don't know. It's the Rockies at home. I mean, I get that, but I feel like on my teams I can afford to have one guy who's not striking people out if he's going to keep winning games. And the opposing pitcher is Antonio Sinsentella, so he just has to go five innings.

He's got to win. I would start Scott against the Rockies on the road. Okay. Man. Road Rockies. I won't. Not in course. All right, Zach Plyzak.

Heath at Kansas City this week. He just dominated Kansas City. Six innings, two runs, six strikeouts. He just pitched very well against Kansas City. His next four matchups, if Pleasac sticks on every five days, every five games, his next four matchups after the Royals would be Houston, Texas, at Minnesota, and at the Yankees. So I don't think he's a long-term solution, but this week at Kansas City, you'd go with him? Oh, he's the definition of a one-star streamer.

I think he's the exact type of pitcher that I feel pretty confident against bad teams, and he just doesn't miss enough bats to go against good teams, but a great matchup against the Royals, and then we'll just ditch him for all those bad matchups. Griffin Canning has been a little annoying. Terrible? No, no, I wouldn't say that. Well, before this start, he'd been terrible.

Yes, his previous two starts before that were awful. He's another guy I don't trust against good opponents, but he moved over on the rubber midway through his start Saturday. It seemed to work for him. He said it may have been just mental. But Griffin Canning gets Baltimore this week and he is 69% owned, so I think he's a decent one-star streamer, Griffin Canning. Is he at home? Sure.

Yes, home against Baltimore. Yep, I like it. Alex Young coming off a bad start. Would you trust Alex Young at Miami? No. No. Anthony DiCloffani. Sorry, Scott.

Disclofani is also home against Colorado and he's 35% owned, just like Kevin Gosman. Heath said last week that he would trust DeSclofani and he would trust Disclifani and he's. in certain matchups, and I was like, oh, really? And he had 11 strikeouts on Sunday. He's actually got a ton of strikeouts this year. So he's pitching well, Desclofani, 35% own. Is he more than just the one-star streamer? He might be.

I mean, I think you pick him up if you have a spot to fill, if you need a one-star streamer, and you pick him up for the hat, and if he has another good start, maybe you keep him around because three of his past four have been strong, Not with a lot of swinging strikes, but you know, you're asking, when you're looking for a waiver wire pitcher, you're not going to find a perfect package this late in this season. And how about, oh, sorry. I definitely put him ahead of Gosman. I think every pitcher on this list except for Alex Young, I would add over Kevin Gosling.

How about Ryan Yarbrough? He started on Saturday for the raise, six-innings, scoreless five strikeouts against the White Sox. He now is a 393-E-R-A and two. very good appearances in a row. He's actually, Ryan Yarbrose turned his season around for sure. Yeah, he might be the most under-owned pitcher in fantasy. He doesn't have a great strikeout rate, but he has really good control, has done a good job of keeping the ball in the park, low home run rate.

Probably too low to believe, which is why his, I believe, his ex-fip and Sierra are both over four, but they're not over four by much, and a four-ERA in this environment really isn't that bad. And what we've seen from Yarborough both this year and last is because he typically follows an opener. For a good, raised team, he's leaving the game in the seventh, eighth inning, and usually gets a win because of that. His win rate is very high. It actually seems to help him. Now, he's never going to get a quality start, but even so, relief pitcher eligible.

I think there's a lot to like here. Yeah, and he did start on Saturday, so I mean, sometimes he starts. Rare start. And he's at Toronto this week. I didn't mention that matchup, but Ryan, you are. So look, actually, guys, there are a lot of pitchers. And I haven't even gotten to the Who Are These Guys Section, which is guys who are, like, barely owned that you may not have even heard of.

There are a lot of pitchers right now that seem interesting. I have a feeling most of them are going to stink because that's just what happens when we get excited about some of these, like, surprising pitchers. But let's review. And tell me who's got, like, the most potential to really help your team rest of it. of season. Some of the names we mentioned, Kevin Gosman, Jose Orquite, Roelio Armenteros, Annabal Sanchez, Zach Plyzac, Griffin Canning, Anthony DiSclofani, and Ryan Yarbrough. Scott, and Martin Perez is a two-star streamer, but Scott, recap, your favorites.

I probably put Erkidi at the top of the list, just, you know, shooting for the moon there with some upside. And then I'd probably go Yarbrose second because I think he's going to be valuable, if not, you know, obviously doesn't have huge upsides, but I think he's going to be valuable enough. Uh, I think, I think Wojahowski, or is Canning in this group? Did you conclude Canning? Yeah. Yeah. I might put Canning first or second. Okay. Uh, then Wojahowski next, uh, you know, that, that could be something that ends quickly, but I want to see where it Adam? Yes.

Can we do a team name Tuesday on a Monday? Sure. Urquitty-Kitty. That's pretty good. He's your favorite here? Yes. I just wanted to get the team name in there. Okay, so Scott's got Erkiti slash Canning, Yarbrough, and Wojikowski is his favorite four.

I would add for this week, very interested in Plizac. Yes. I think Please, Akisikofani and Sanchez are all additions to this list, at least for just this week. Scott does not agree on Sanchez. And Heath, who I think Arcadia and Yarbrough, Rikida and Yarbrough are my two favorites, kind of separated from the pack in terms of rest of season value. But a lot of those other guys close the gap just for this week. Okay.

All righty. Well, who are these guys? Let's talk about some pitchers that are owned than even fewer leagues. You may not have heard of them. Well, Tyler Beattie, we had Frank Stanfalon H.Q. Yesterday, he came on our podcast a couple weeks ago, and he mentioned an adjustment, a slider that Tyler Bidi's now been using in his last three starts, and they've been very good.

1-66 ERA, one walk to 16 strikeouts. That's a low K rate, 21 and 2 thirds innings, but 12% swinging strikes is good in those three swing strike rate in those three starts. So Tyler Beattie, Dario Agraza. I'm very sorry. I forgot to look up pronunciation of his name. Dario Agrazo, Agrazzal for the Pirates, Dylan Peters for the Angels,

Tyler Alexander for Detroit, Asher Wojikowski, which apparently is going to be the headliner here, and Connor Menez for San Diego, made his major league debut yesterday, or San Francisco, rather. So, yeah, did I say any names that excite you there? Beattie, I can't even pronounce some of them,

Agrazzal, Dylan Peters, Alexander, Wojikowski and Menz. I think the two giants are the most interesting for me. BD, what we have seen from him in his past three starts is much, much, much better control. And it does seem like

he's doing the trick of emphasizing his best pitches and ditching the worst. I would like to see that strikeout rig it up there. It was good at AAA this year. But Menez was great in the minors this year in terms of strikeouts. He has

control issues, and I'm not sure it's going to work out for them in the long run, but obviously pitching half their games in San Francisco is a big help for both of these two. They would be pretty low on the list, ranking them with all the other pitchers we've talked about, but they're of some interest to me, BD and Manez. Okay, and obviously Wojikowski for Scott would be the winner. Okay, all right, then we'll move on here. Luis Arise was called up. We're going to talk about that.

Brandon McKay being sent down. That will be mentioned as well. come back on fantasy baseball today. To the minor leagues, and really to the major leagues. Luis Arias was called up. 44% owned. And second baseman for the Padres started Saturday and Sunday. Everything we've seen from him so far in the majors has been bad.

Miner's much better. Should hit for a good average, but is the power legit? He had a surge this year in the PCL like everyone else. Heath, how interested are you in adding Luis Arrhus? I'm interested in any league where I need a middle infield. but I don't think he's going to get crack my top 20 at the position and so that makes it tough to find a spot for him in a points league. I feel like Scott would probably agree with you, but Chris made the case that he's, you know, a little under, that he should be added because he hits the ball. He makes contact and if you make contact this day and age in Major League Baseball,

the ball will leave the yard. Yeah, no, I don't, I think that's a fine argument. And, you know, in past years, I probably would have been more excited about Louis Sirius. Even this year, I mean, every week when I write the prospects report, I do the top five prospects to stash. And he was number two on that list most recently. So, I mean, I definitely like him in kind of, you know, in a vacuum. But there's just so much depth everywhere, even second base, like he's saying. I can't get him in the top 20.

So it's great to take a flyer on where you have a need, but where do you have a need? I don't have a need most anywhere. Mitch Keller is someone that we've actually seen before, but he was mentioned by Jim Bowden yesterday as someone who could be called up soon by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Scott, is Mitch Keller someone that maybe could surprise us? Yeah, he was fifth on that list and has looked better recently at AAA. I mean, he's been a top prospect for a long time. I think of the three starts we saw him in the majors earlier this year.

Only one of them was good. But yeah, there's definitely upside there at a position that everybody needs. Okay, starting pitcher Mitch Keller for the Pirates. And Brendan McKay was sent down to AAA. Drop or hold, Brendan McKay, Heath. Hold. I expect he'll be back in a couple of weeks. Yeah, is he pitching well enough to really warrant the roster spot?

He had one bad start. Yeah. No. It was really bad, but he had been fine before that. Yeah, he'd been fine. That's the thing. Like, he'd been fine. Well, fine.

The main reason I say fine as opposed to good is because, you know, they're, uh, I think he'd gone six innings twice and the rest were all under that. No. In terms of ratios. He'd gone six innings once. I'm sorry. He had gone six inning once and he had a perfect game going in that game. So it's like I was the most excited about Brandon McKay, but he's just, he,

If it's going to be five innings every time, I think he should be owned, but he's 82% owned. So, you know, that's a little high when there are other guys that might be a little bit more exciting. I don't know. I just think he could be like a poor man's Chris Paddock. Okay. All right. Then we'll hang on to him. News and notes, Max Scherzer, he's on the IL.

He could pitch this week. Does anybody have the guts to start Max Scherzer? Yeah. I think I do. Yeah. All right. I probably would have this past week, too, and obviously that wouldn't have worked out, but I, you know, I think it's going to work out this week. Scott is climbing the agro crag.

Brandon Woodruff left with an oblique strain. He's going on the IL. That's a tough break. I mean, I guess it's good for his innings, but tough break to lose Brandon Woodruff right now. You may have noticed Kenta Maeda was used out of the bullpen. You know he's going to be moved to the bullpen at some point, but that was just temporary. he's expected to return of the rotation, Kenta Maeda, on Tuesday.

Max Freed could start this weekend. I don't have the guts to start him. Kevin Kiermeier is on the IL with a sprained thumb. Michael Chavis dealing with back spasms, we'll call him day-to-day. Brett Gardner could miss a couple of games with knee inflammation. Tyler Malley may not make his next start due to hamstring tightness.

Ender NCRte is back, guys. Austin Riley has been bad for a while. Do you get amazing how awful NCRte played early? this season. He's been a pretty consistent hitter. Do you think he might be able to contribute for fantasy owners down the stretch? It might be if things continue to unravel here for Austin Riley. I kind of feel like Austin Riley has regressed to a point where now I can believe his season-long numbers, and I still think they're good enough to keep him in the Braves lineup.

But, you know, it's been a while since we've seen anything that positive from Riley. And so if he continues to sink beyond where I think he's... should, then maybe NCRT gets a chance. And he can contribute in batting average in steals, which are, you know, particularly in five outfielder leagues, gets tough to fill all five of those spots. And those are two categories that are difficult to fill as well. Josh Van Meter, I just thought this was funny. He hit his first MLB home run over the weekend.

And I just remember when he got called up, it was like, who's this Josh Van Meter guy? Should we pick him up? We had a nice little debate about it. The answer was no, he should not have picked them up. Andrew Heaney is on the IL with shoulder inflammation. Wilson Contrero's could be back on Wednesday. Nick Senzel was supposed to start on Sunday, but he was held out because of the heat. So if you have been starting Nick Senzel, he probably plays today.

I think I have six games this week and good matchups. Byron Buxton is eligible to come off the IL. And, hey, Heath, would you sit Charlie Blackman with six or seven road games this week when he had entering yesterday? we had a good game. Blackman had a 6-11 OPS on the road. I really just can't sit Charlie Blackman, so no. I probably have a team, like a points league team, where I don't have Charlie Blackman on the roster

where I might actually have to consider it. But for the most part, even in three outfield leagues, you just start him. Yeah, Chris actually said something very interesting on HQ yesterday on our show that it's been proving that it's hard to go from Coorsfield to another stadium. It's an adjustment and could hurt your numbers,

but the fact that the Rockies just had a road series, and now they're out of that course field environment for three games, it should be an easier adjustment for these upcoming six road games. I hope so. Yeah. Some trade stuff. Atlanta's interested in Marcus Stroman, Philadelphia acquired relief pitcher Mike Morin.

That does not matter. So let's go to the most added players in CBS Sports Leagues. Who wants to guess? Who's number one? What do you think? Tyler O'Neill. Oh, you cheaters. Tyler O'Neill is number one as the graphic comes up.

He's 44% own right now. And Danny Santana's number two at 66% own. And Travis Darno, who had a grand slam yesterday, I believe. He is number three. 37% on. Darno was hitless since the three-homer game until yesterday. He had a big week. Anything else you want to say about O'Neill, Santana, and Darno,

who we've talked about throughout the week last week. Not so much Darno. But yeah, thoughts, Heath. I've been a Tyler O'Neill believer in the past. I'm glad he's playing well enough to keep his spot in the lineup. He's having some pretty good fortune.

He's not a 300 hitter. He's probably like a 240 hitter. He's still striking out way too much. I would want to own him in any categories league, certainly in a five outfielder league, I don't think he's going to be points league relevant. Scott, Daniel Ponce de Leon is the most added pitcher. He's a two-star guy coming off a bad start at Pittsburgh and home against Houston this week.

I was very excited about him when they moved him into the rotation. He did not reward my faith. What do you recommend for Daniel Ponce de Leon owners this week? He wasn't in my two-star pitcher rankings. He wasn't really in the list of advisable. options. I think I had like even like Jason Vargas ranked ahead of him. So I'm not particularly keen on adding him. There are three hitters though that I feel like in the typical year I would be surprised that they're so available. And that's Danny Santana, Oscar Mercado, and Garrett Cooper.

And there probably is somebody in your league who should be able to add them. Certainly when you're talking about a roto lineup with five outfield spots, you know, the bigger lineup than everybody in your league should be able to add them. But I understand why you may just have to ignore them because I'm in the situation a lot too where there's just nobody on those smaller rosters I could drop, particularly for another hitter when I feel pretty good about who I have in all of those spots.

Well, who do you like most long-term, Santana, Garrett Cooper, Mercado? Um, hmm. I think, I think Mercado, is the safest, and he's one of the two here who can provide you steals. I think maybe Santana is the riskiest, but the highest upside. That's tough to answer. It's tough to answer.

I guess I'd probably rank the Mercado, Cooper, and Santana, but I, you know, I could go either way. I'll go Mercado in Categories, leagues, Cooper, and points leagues. All right. More on the most added list here. By the way, we have a fun fantasy standings update coming up. Oh, yes. It is fun, right? It's fantastic and awful at the same time.

Chase Anderson is a two-star pitcher. Is Homer Bailey a two-star pitcher? Yes. This is the week of crappy two-star pitchers. And they have tough matchups. Like every two-star pitcher is tough matchups. It's at least the free agents. So I don't think we're recommending them, right?

Chase Anderson and Homer Bailey? I'd rather start Martin Prys. Okay. Yeah, I would too. And then here comes some of the one-star guys, Tyler Beattie, Alex Young, Ryan Yarbrough. Alex Young is someone that we never were really... Like, remember Peter Lambert, everybody was picking him up? We were like, no, don't do it.

We sort of were backing off on Alex Young, too. And he really hurt you over the weekend. All right, here's an interesting one. Brandon Workman is 43% owned. Native Valde is off the IL. Who would you guys... If there's one Red Sox reliever to own, it's probably between those two guys, workman and avaldi who would you

take i i think i'd i think i'd take workman and i you know i i felt like it was too good to be true when weeks in advance they were talking about the red socks are going to make nathan avaldi a closer and then when time comes from

to come off the d l alice cora's like well workman's been doing a pretty good job back there i think it's going to remain a mess but you know workman obviously has a great ERA. Well, and it's, it's not just that. He's been legitimately awesome so far this season, 62 strikeouts and 44 innings. He walks too many hitters, but he's missing a ton of bats. I might take,

I'll take workman this week for sure. His hit rate is insanely low, which I'm sure is a testament to the stuff, but it's also like nobody has a hit rate this low. His hit rate is 3.1 per 9. He's giving up 15 hits all year. So that makes me a little nervous. But, you know, I don't think anybody's just going to seize the roll all to themselves. All right. Well, just don't overlook Workman if you're thinking about picking up a Red Sox reliever because Avaldi, I was going to pick up Avaldi when the news broke that he was going to be the closer.

But it turns out like most people were just stashing him in an IL spot. So it's just unclear. And yeah, I never fully bought into that report that Avaldi was the closer because the Red Sox weren't confirming. And I read just too many times that he was going to come back as a reliever. It's just not enough closer. But Evaldi is 73% own and Workman is 43% own, and there shouldn't be that much of a gap. All right, we're going to take a break here when we come back. More hitters to talk about, and of course tons of pitchers to talk about and some bullpen updates.

Is this the last week you're going to be able to use Luke Jackson? We'll talk about that after this break on Fantasy Baseball today. Well, I'm sure you're all curious what's going on in the podcast for the people. League, the 16 teams, right? Yeah. 16 teams head-to-head categories where Scott and I share a team. Chris and Heath share a team. And we're fighting for a playoff spot.

So what's it looking like right now? We are tied for eighth in a league where seven teams make the playoffs. I believe we are both like 69, 67, and 9 or something. 72, 69 and 9. 72, 69 and 9. So we're above 500. Yeah. I don't believe you guys have ever made the playoffs in this league.

And I don't believe that Chris and I have ever advanced out of the first round in this league. So somebody's excited to play one of us in the playoffs. I really like our team. And we just punt saves because our closers are Ryssela Glacius and Wade Davis, and they kill our ratios. So when we drafted, Scott and I thought we would dominate saves. We had like four closers. One of them was Jeremy Jeffress. One of them was Matt Barnes.

And these two scrubs, Wade Davis and Rice and O'Glases. Now we punt saves. So super fun. I was disappointed to see we do not play at each other again this season. So this battle is going to come down to how we do against everyone else. And we might both miss the playoffs. Yeah, let's be optimistic. I still hate that this is the only league we talk about.

I'm not very good at this league. I think history has shown. I don't really see a point in talking about the podcast points league, considering I'm having my worst year ever there. So, you know, this is a show about me after all. This is your one moment of optimism. I think I'm in the same position in the podcast Points League that I am in the For the People League, like one game out of the playoffs.

And I've never made the playoffs in that league. No, no, Heath, you're, no. You have the second best record in the league. I do. You're Yamani Money Tomaz Problems, right? Have both the force, obviously. Yeah, you're 9 and 6 now. I'm 6 and 9.

There are three teams. Oh, you have the third best record. Scott is the second best record, 10, 4, and 1. Good job, guys. What is Chris's team name? I don't know. I would guess it's terrible. I think it's something with you say, or is that yours?

That's me. I'm you say dot, dot, dot, dot, stay. Is he the new pornographers? I don't think. Yes, he is. He is seven and eight. Chris and I need some help, but I need more help than he does. All right.

Hitters, I'm going to make this segment kind of quick here. Jose Ramirez is a 993 OPS in his last 22 games. He looks really good. We'll probably talk about him later in the week. So I'm going to say a name, and you tell me if you're interested in this recent hot streak. Ryan Braun, last nine games, 10 for 31 with two home runs, two steals, four doubles and a triple. Ryan Braun, big week. Yeah, I mean, if Oscar Mercado's out there, there's no way.

Ryan Braun deserves my attention or Danny Santana or Gary Cooper you know. Okay. Nope. Miguel Sino, apparently they made some type of adjustment with Miguel Sinoe. They worked on his swing. And in his last 18 games,

he has an 11-11 OPS, make a wish, with a 394 Babbup and five home runs, four doubles and a triple, 18 games for Sineau, Red High. I do think there's a chance that he's just a high Babbip guy. He was when he was good earlier in his career.

I'm more willing to buy into this than I am to Ryan Braun. If we're doing the biometer, I put this one about a five. Okay, and he's owned in fewer leagues than Braun, a lot fewer. Francisco Morhia, Homer twice last week, but he only played two of the last five games, started two of the last five games. Catcher for the Padres, Francisco Mejia. Yeah, I mean, there's upside there that might cause me to gravitate toward him in a two-catcher league. but, you know, still there's not,

there's not a lot of evidence that he's going to be an asset. Albert Pujols, last seven games, he's 11 for 25 with two home runs and three doubles. Albert Poolehol is 20% owned. I mean, come on. That's probably appropriate how owned he is. So, deep league option, that's it. I had heard that he was hitting the crap out of the ball. Is that true?

Let's find out. Going to fan graphs. Let's guess his hard contact rate. I'm going to guess 42%. 49%. 37. 43.1%. Almost the same as last year.

And he wasn't good. Okay, forget Pujolos. Dominic Smith. So he really hasn't been that good lately. He'd been cold, but he did have two games with one home run and four RBIs in his last five. In between that, terrible. But those two games were good. And five righties on the schedule for Dominic Smith, 20% own.

Yeah, he could have a good week. In a 15-team-5 out-fielder league, I was not able to justify dropping him. So that's how quickly things can change, depending on the depth of your league. He has been playing a lot lately, and it doesn't seem like the Mets have been scared away from him, even with his recent struggles. So, you know, it's not high in my priority to own on my priority list of players to own, but he's still. still interesting. I actually start Dominic Smith in a five out for the league,

so good for me. Alex Dickerson, 13% owned, seems to play every other day, but he's played four weeks in the majors, and Alex Dickerson is, his hard contact rate is through the roof. His Babbup is also super high.

But he scored 21 or more fantasy points in all four weeks that he's been up by barely playing. Like, this guy's just been amazing, Alex Dickerson for the Giants. I mean, he might be the new Dominic Smith, where let's see him get more regular playing time

because there's just not much use for him right now. I mean, I understand, like you said, he's still been productive even playing half the time, but nobody can sustain that level of production. Heath Bubba Starling, 4% own. He has a 7-game hitting streak with 8 hits. And he's actually, you know, he's doing fine, doing fine, but he's 4% own Bubba Starling.

He should be owning more than 4% of leagues. I think we have enough leagues that are like 15-team-5 outfields. and AL only, where he should be a roster. Get Bubba Starling's ownership up to at least 11%. And Scott, Mike Yistremski, and honestly, we can talk about a lot of giants right now because they're just a hot team. Yostremski's 8% owned.

Last 10 games, he's got a 1282 OPS with four homers, three doubles, and a triple in 12 games. Okay, Alex Smith, Bubba Starling, Mike Yershemsky, guys, how would you rank them? Alex Dickerson. I was looking at Dominic Smith. Alex Dickerson, Bubba Starling, Mike Yistremski.

I would go, I mean, I think just for the roto possibility, as it goes Starling 1, and then Dickerson, 2, Yistrimski 3. But Dickerson probably has the most upside. Yeah, I'd go Yistrimski, Starling, Dickerson. Bullpen. Yeah, Luke Jackson, he's just, you know, you know who else is like we should put in the Luke Jackson category? like Jackson has not really had a very good career.

Liam Hendricks has not had a very good career. So it wouldn't shock me if he starts faltering. But I think the difference is like Blake Trinan has been terrible. I don't know who's taken Liam Hendrix's job. Luke Jackson, on the other hand, I think we are a little bit worried about his job security. They could easily trade for someone. And Scott, we think Anthony Swarzak might be a good stash? Yeah, it might be.

He's the most logical in-house candidate to replace Jackson. I do think they end up trading for somebody. The really interesting thing with Jackson is, like, we mostly just talk about him when he's terrible, and he's given us plenty of occasions to do that. But for the, like, he's having by far the best year of his career. He's got a 319 ERA. Well, yeah, that's 12.4 batters per nine.

That's my point, though. It's like he hasn't had a good career. No, but he's been, like, awesome for two weeks, and we don't talk about him at all, and then he blows three saves in a row, and we sing I'm sorry Luke Jackson. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, no, he's been a decent reliever this year.

And he had been, you know, guys shuttling from AAA to the majors constantly in years prior. So, I mean, he deserves credit if that's what you want to give him. But does he deserve to be a major league closer? No, he doesn't. Okay. So we shall see what happens. What was the, oh, Ken Giles. That was Chris's bold prediction that Ken Giles would become the Braves closer.

Emilio Pagan pitched the eighth inning on Sunday, but he faced the heart of the order. He blew a save on Saturday. Emilio Paghan still appears to be the best reliever for the raise. Yeah, but they're throwing anybody, anybody out there in the ninth inning now. Who got the save yesterday? Adam Kalari. It was, yeah.

Who's, you know, he's nobody. He's nobody. He's been in the bullpen. a while, but he's not a closer candidate. You can ignore Calaric save. You can ignore Michael Lorenzen's save on Saturday. Raiso Glacius was not available. And it looks like the Cardinals right now are committed to Carlos Martinez.

He had been struggling, but he got the save on Sunday. You know, I brought up Carlos Martinez as a trade candidate in the notes I gave to Creef on Wednesday, and they crapped all over it. They're like, I don't agree with this. Well, there was a report that they were thinking about trading Carlos Martinez, buddy. So that's why he was in there. what you should have put in the notes. There's a report that the Cardinals are trading

Carlos Martinez. Sorry, I thought my fantasy analysts would have seen the report that I saw. Okay. Starting pitchers. Remember those guys? All right, let's talk about the studs here for the last 15 minutes or so of the show. Armand Marquez, start him on the road,

sit him at home. Like, just don't over complicate it. Marcus Stroman. Great year. 306. R.A. Just start him. Period. Yeah. I'm curious to know where he ranks. I'm going to look up where he ranks. Lucas Gialito was awesome at the raise and gets Minnesota

this week, another tough matchup. We'll see how he does. He hasn't been very good in tough matchups. And then Joe Musgrove, like, try to figure this guy out. He gets St. Louis this week. So how would you rank him? Marquez, Stromen, Gialito, Musgrove, I'm sure, Gialito's first, so who's second, third, and fourth on that list?

Gialito Tier, Marquez Tier, Stroman Tier, Musgrove. Yeah, that's how. I would rank them. Strowman really depends on getting traded because that 6 and 10 record has made him a lot less

useful than the way he's actually pitched. But Musgrove, I get that he's frustrating and, you know, I can share in those frustrations. But if you just, like, leave him in your lineup and not worry about it so much, you're probably going to be okay.

His past nine starts. is a 338 ERA, and that's with a Babbitt right around 300, right around league average, not like he's having good luck. So last nine starts 338 ERA, more than a strikeout per inning. You know, he seems like a perfectly viable option,

even if there are times when you think, man, this guy's killing me. I'm halfway through my Marcus Stroman research, figuring out where he ranks. I will tell you officially where he ranks after Studs being duds, part one. Shane Bieber was a dud. David Price was a dud, and only two starts of more than six innings pitched this season for Price.

He was having a pretty good year overall, but yeah, a dud over the weekend at Baltimore. James Paxton. Paxton, his previous three starts, he had a 250 ERA and 21 strikeouts and 18 innings, but roughed up by Colorado may be affected by the heat. In fact, a lot of pitchers may have been affected by the heat this weekend. And Masahiro Tanaka, another... Good thing I wasn't starting in that game, huh? Colorado.

It was so hot. I mean, I hope everybody was able to stay hydrated and indoors. Masira Tanaka fell apart in the sixth inning because he was super hot. It was freaking hot out there, so he struggled too. Your thoughts on the studs being Duds part one, Bieber, Price, Paxton, Tanaka. I don't know that I'm worried about any of these. The two Yankees are probably the most work. I mean, Tanaka, I feel like it's just regressed to where his number should have been all along.

ERA around four, but whatever. He gives you decent strikeout totals, gets wins for the Yankees. He's not somebody you're removing from your lineup. Paxton's been very hit or miss since coming back from the injury. But I think the hits are enough to keep me on board with him, even though I worry a little about whether or not he's at full health. Okay. By the way, Marcus Stroman is the number 46 pitcher in points leagues,

number 43 in Roto. Very surprised that he is better in Roto than points. That ERA really helps 306, but a 125 whip, that's not good. 93 strikeouts. I mean, the rate isn't that good, but I wonder if the strikeout total is okay. The win loss, obviously, the wins aren't good. So, what?

It's surprising to me. I don't, like, how bad is a 125 whip, though, in a standard categories like this year? I would have been It's not good I'm looking at the pitchers who It's hard to say That would take me a while out of calculation

I guess what I'm saying is if I can look this up relatively easily But I don't think Like a pitcher with a 125 whip Is hurting your team in a categories league I'll tell you what It's probably not helping them Let's go on to Studs being Duds part two

And tell me if any of these these guys are dropable. They're all owned them more than 80% of leagues. And while you do that, I would look up the top 45 starting pitchers and points leagues. Just I know you were talking about categories. And just see how many of them have a whip of 1-2-5 or worse. Okay, so Studs being Duds part two. Oteresey said he felt like he was pitching in a rainforest due to the heat.

John Lester, Brendan McKay, Joey Lucasey, Zach Eflin, Jose Cantana, Jordan Yamamoto. A lot of names there. Who's dropable? Lester, McKay, Lucchasey, Eflin, Kintana, Yamamoto. Eflin, easily, dropable. I feel like Lucchesey's pretty dropable, too. He's back to never going six innings, only one in, once in his past five starts as he done that.

And the two Cubs, I don't really, they're useful enough to keep around, but like if they were, like, I wouldn't just want them occupying bench spots. If I wasn't making regular use of Lester and Kintana, I could justify dropping them. I think Yamamoto's right on the fringes, but I'm not ready to drop him. The thing is, I don't think, like I understand he has a 3.180RA, so we're not going to drop him, but I don't think Jake Oterese is good. And I don't think he's going to be good rest of the year.

He's come back down to earth quite a bit, particularly in terms of, you know, he's not giving you an ace workload anymore. But it hasn't been such a complete collapse, like in the case of Zach Eflin, that I'd be willing to consider dropping him. Six starts in a row have been kind of shaky. The ERA's gone from 192 to 318 during that stretch. Okay, so I looked at the top 45 pitchers and points leagues. Nine of them have an ERA of 1-25 or higher. Remember, Stroman's 46th. So the guy, the 45 guys in front of him right now, only nine of them have a higher or equal whip.

So I think a 125 ERAs, a 125 whip is probably bad. If not bad, it's negative. You know, you want better than that. I was just looking at Jake Oterese's last six starts. He has a 6.28 ERA, a 6.60 FIP, and a 5.66 X-FIP. And he gets the Yankees this week. Okay. Studs being something in between Stubbs.

Duds and Duds. Jack Flaherty, I don't know if it was heat-related, but he struggled in the fifth inning, and he did not make it. Like, it looked like Flaherty was about to have another brilliant start. He's been on fire, but only got through four and a third.

Did not give up a run, seven strikeouts. Trending in the right direction, though. Flaherty gets Houston this week. Yeah. Other than it being short, it was not a bad start. Yeah, Scott, those strikeouts for Jose Burrios, man, they keep going down. And his first 15 starts,

he was basically a strikeout per year. winning 94 and 97 and 2 thirds. Since then, very low, and I know that was something that concerned you with Rios. Yeah, the strikeout rate is not very good for a pitcher of the caliber we tend to think of him being at. But what's really been weird is I expected him to regress more in terms of getting hit harder,

and lately he's just been inefficient, walking too many guys, which is another, concerning factor to throw onto the pile if he's going to be doing that because control is supposed to be probably his biggest asset. So are you confident in Jose Burrio? How would you rank these guys who were between studs and duds? Jack Flaherty, Berrios, Mike Miner, Soroka, Lynn, Michaelis. I still have Berrios at the top of that group. Miner and Lynn are pretty close.

But yeah, I'd still put Berrios at the top. I just think he's less than ace caliber. He's more like a number two starter for a fantasy team than a number one. Heath, how about Lance Lynn? He gave up a couple runs early. Coming off a really bad start, he ends up going seven innings, gives up four runs, two homers, but 12 strikeouts, and it was at Houston.

So I think it's still a positive start for Lance Lynn. Yeah, it's not a negative at all. I do think that like every time things start to go sideways for Lance Lynn. over the next couple of months, we're going to wonder, okay, is he turning back into a pumpkin now because we fully expect at some point he's going to. But as of right now,

you just roll him out there as a starter. He's over a two-and-a-half-month stretch, he's been one of the best pitchers in baseball. This segment's really for Heath. Why are you so owned? Julio Taran is 80% owned. Jay Hap is 84% owned. But Taran, at least last three starts,

he has a 153 ERA and a strikeout per inning. I did, I did, didn't have the Sierra list pulled up. I'm sorry. Is his Sierra below five yet? Got it out according to Scott. But at least his ERA is 361. Jayhap's ERA is 486, and he never, almost never pitches six innings. So why do you still own Jayhap? Is it because he's a Yankee? Like, get over it. Get over it. He's a name, right? Jayhap. Yeah.

Guy's a name. I have a name. I have a name. I do. He has a name. There's a chance Jayhap's out of it. He's a name. There's a name. There's a chance Jay Haps out of the rotation next week. He's their worst starter. So if they add someone, it could be him. We've got three minutes left. Fringy starting pitchers part one. These guys are 65 to 79% own.

Rick Porcelo, Michael Paneda, Dylan Seas, Andrew Cashner and Griffin Canning. I still want to hold on to Seas. I'd like to see something a little better. The walks in this start, something we were concerned about, were bad. Canning, it's nice that he, like, those, canning and seats are the two I'm most interested in. Paneda looks like maybe turning back into a pumpkin. No, I mean, he had a good start with the strikeouts.

The walks were uncharacteristic for Paneda, so it wasn't a great start overall. But I'm still encouraged by the way, you know, the velocity being up and his secondary pitches have both been more effective of late. So I would actually put Panetta ahead of both cease and canning. Porcelo and Cashner are probably among the most over-owned pitchers in baseball. Probably because they're wearing Red Sox Univ. Right. But nonetheless. Paneda at the White Sox this week, it's going to be a tough call for me to start him.

I don't mind starting him, but for me, it's going to come down to Michael Paneda or like a really good relief pitcher. I think I'd probably just take the relief pitcher. But Paneda has got a good chance to get a win. Dylan Cease is like one bad inning just seems to derail him. So he recovered from a four-run inning in the second, and he went three more scoreless. There are some encouraging signs, but certainly he needs to pick it up. And I don't think I'm starting him against Minnesota this week. French starting pitchers part two, Annabal Sanchez, John Means, Zach Gallen, Alex Young Bassett.

Anabal Means Gallen Young Bassett. I'm okay dropping Gallen at this point. I think he has the most upside of this group, and if you just need another upside pitcher, Okay, you can roster him. But he hasn't gone six innings yet. The walks have been strangely high, considering that he was known for having really good control. And then he pitches for the Marlins. I mean, you have to be pitching, you have to be dominant to win games for the Marlins.

And he has been far from that during his time in the majors. Okay. I should probably just, just to be consistent, John Means is A.L. Hulio to Ron. I have no idea how he has a sub 3 ERA. His ex-fip is 5.34. He's terrible. Fringy starting pitchers part 3. Mats, Plizac, Desclafani, Junis, Yarbrough.

Mike Lee, we've talked about so many of these guys. Mike Leak, Brett Anderson, Jordan Liles. I am sorry to rush you guys. We have 30 seconds left. Any names that we have not mentioned yet that you think need to be owned? Not that need to be owned, no. All right.

I agree. I am curious what Jake Junis changed because his last three starts have been outstanding 23 strikeouts over 20 innings. He's only given up three runs. So I think that's one to watch, but he doesn't need to be owned yet. He's about to face Cleveland for the fourth time

in six starts, Jake Junis. Mike Leak almost threw a no-hitter. So there's that. Well, after two-thirds of an inning disaster, the previous timeout, Leaks so stu-faced. We are out of here. Thank you for listening. We're coming back tomorrow with another edition of Fantasy Baseball today.

We'll talk to you then.