Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/23: Yuli, Garver, RPs to Stash and Much More (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 23, 2019

Yuli Gurriel is the best hitter in Fantasy over the last month and it's not even close. How good will he be going forward? Better than Paul Goldschmidt? And how about Robbie Ray and Sonny Gray (7:50) as they continue their good stretches. Plus Mitch Garver homered twice (12:00)! ... Fun team names (16:00) and a good discussion about RPs (17:50). Who should you be stashing as we approach the trade deadline? Then we've got some news and notes (26:00) including some stats about HRs in 2019 ... "Hey, Real Quick" (29:40) featuring a bunch of Cleveland Indians, then emails about Yordan Alvarez's 2020 draft value (33:40), Cavan Biggio (38:00) and more. We also check in on the Home Run Derby participants (42:40) like the surging Matt Chapman and slumping Josh Bell and we review the leftovers from Monday (52:00). We finish the show with some Team Name Tuesday ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS sports. What a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. With fantasy! Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Well, I hope you didn't stream two-star pitchers this week. We warned you.

Didn't we warn you, Scott? Didn't we warn everybody? Yeah, it wasn't pretty, and it wasn't pretty. No, it was ugly. Why did you say that twice? Well, some options weren't in the election, and then it wasn't pretty the result.

Oh, okay. Chris Ballard. Thank you. Chris, thank you for being the smart one here. Oh, of course. That's my job on the podcast. I think we can all agree. I realize that as I look at the notes that I said,

I have a typo in the second word of the notes. I have Monday's standouts instead of standouts. So I guess it's going to be that kind of day, Adam, Scott, and Chris. We're the stouts. Yeah. Toutts. Tout Wars. That's what people call us, right?

Tout wars. Yeah, and Ulygeriel is the Colossus of Clout these days. He, since June 23rd, is the number one hitter in fantasy. He has a 1345 OPS since June 30rd. June 30rd. This is outstanding. June 23rd. Yeah.

He's batting 3994 with 14 home runs. Okay, let's talk about Yuleig Uli-Gri-Ele. Because Guriel also has 14 home runs to nine strikeouts since the 23rd of June. Mike Trout and E. E. E. E. E. E. Hainio Suarez are the only other hitters with double-digit homers in this month of baseball. This last basically 30 days, and they have 10. He has 14. So Jim Bowden on HQ, on fantasy baseball today, and we have one more episode left this Sunday at 3 o'clock, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern.

Jim came on and he said the Astros, he said they use their NASA stuff, basically, I think is what he said, to retool Yule Uly Guriel's swing and what he was doing in the batters box. He went to great detail. I don't remember everything he said. But you know, you heard it? You remember it?

I have some details, and I, you know, they weren't exactly the ones he gave, but I think it's all interrelated. Carlos Beltron convinced Yuli Gouriel than he needed to open his stance more so that he could have both eyes on the ball, which, you know, one of, it sounds similar to one of the most famous stance of adjustments of all time, which is Andres Gala Raga, though I doubt the openness of Gouriel's stance is quite that exaggerated. But it was very close before. It is true. It was very close before. Between that and the fact that his ground ball rate is down almost 10%. You know, even with this home run, bingy's been on, home run to fly ball rate is only 14%. It's not like it's crazy high or anything.

So I think it's getting to be pretty believable here for Gueriel. I mean, I'm pretty much viewing him as just a must-star guy right now and not one I'm particularly interested in selling on. Are you interested in buying? Like, people, oh, he's a sell high. And you're like, no, actually, he's a buy high. Like, where is your Gurriel in your first base and third base rankings? To the extent that, yeah, what kind of first baseman or third baseman am I buying in the first place?

You know, if I had an Ead, sure. I mean, he's probably an excess part for somebody, and they're probably looking to sell high on him. And maybe I could get a pretty good deal. but, you know, I don't actually need a quarter infielder anyway. Would you rather have Paul Goldsmith or Yuleiguriel? Goldschmidt, come on. Let's not do this. It's a good month. Let's not, like, let's not, it's literally a good month. Yeah, Goldsmith actually has been kind of, kind of hot.

In the month of July, he has an ex-wob of $3.96, which is really good. But it's not a $1,400 OPS, which is what he actually has. His average exit velocity is 90 miles per hour. Like, he's been good, but let's not overreact here. It's also about Goldschmidt. Let me see if I could change your perspective with this funny stat. You ready for a funny stat? Who doesn't like funny stats?

It's going to take me a few clicks to get in. Well, that's fine, Scott. June 33rd is reserved for funny stats. So, you know, let's hear. Funny stats, dad. Yes. So Yule Griel. is averaging 3.4 fantasy points per game this season,

which places him between Whitmerfield and Max Muncie in the first base. That's amazing. Yeah. So, wait, so Chris, make your case, why Paul Goldschman? He's overperforming his expected Wobah for the season. Like, even with the improvements that he's made. So tell me why you're taking Paul Goldschmidt, who's been a major bust over... Because is Paul Goldschmidt and Yuleiguriel.

It's one month of Yulele. It's one month of Yuley Gereal being better than him. It's July 33rd. In their entire lives. Okay. Yeah. Like literally a month ago is the date that we started this. You think if you own Uli Goli...

We're all ready to say, wow. Yule Gereal. We're not. We're not. Relax. Relax. Relax. If you own Yule Gerellis, someone offered you Goldschmidt.

You ready for this? All Gullschmidt. All Gullsman. That's that. 2.6 versus Gerell's 3.4. This is for the season now, right? That places him between

Michael Chavis and Ryan Healy. Worse than you thought, right? No, he hasn't been good. Also, also, that's points. Gouriel never strikes out, so obviously that's going to help him in points. He helps.

Goldsmith has batting average. Goldschman has, Guys, please. Terrible season up until a month ago. He's had one good month. All right. Let me just give a Goldschmidt stat for goodness sake. He does have a 902 OPS in July.

So it's been a better month so far. He had a Grand Slam yesterday. Wait, so Chris said definitively Goldschmidt. I'm not sure if we got a Scott answer. Gouriel or Goldschmidt. Yeah, I would struggle to place Gurriel ahead, but I don't think it's a ridiculous thought. It's the only point I was trying to make.

Okay, good. Thank you. All right, so that's my standout. We are going to talk a lot about relievers today. I think there are a lot that you need to pick up as the trade deadline approaches. We may have gotten an idea of who is the closer in San Francisco if Will Smith gets traded, which is no certainty anymore as they are in the thick of the things in the wild card race. But Dyson himself could get traded, but Dyson got a save yesterday.

Ryssel Glacius was terrible yesterday. Nate of Aldi was terrible yesterday. So I think Brandon Workman looking even better. More on that later. Any other major standouts that you guys want to talk about? We have emails about Garver, about Bigio, about Jordan Alvarez. So we'll get to those guys. Scott or no, Chris.

Ornery Chris, anybody that you want to hear talk about right now. Nobody's ornery. I don't know why we would say I'm ornery. Robbie Ray was good You could talk about that because he seems like a likely trade candidate had 10 strikeouts he's been more good than bad this season, right?

Okay, let's go to a segment called Robbie Ray and Sunny Gray hooray. They were both great yesterday and yes, well, I mean, six innings, three runs with a 150 with a big whip

Can't do it. Just forget it, Adam. Just give up. Robbie Ray. Do you get a Diet Coke? I don't know what I need. I need a brain transplant. He gave up nine walks plus hits in six innings. So that's 150, right? Yeah. I went. Yeah, that's Robbie Ray for you in a 450 ERA.

But look, overall, it's a good trend for him. His last four starts have been impressive. And he's at Miami this weekend, so that should continue. Sunny Gray, meanwhile, last five starts. 162 ERA, seven walks, 42 strikeouts, and 33 and a 30. Just been dominant. And those five starts for Gray. Cubs, Brewers, at the Rockies, at the Cubs, at the Brewers.

It hasn't slowed them down. So who would you guys rather have rest of season? Chris, would you rather have Ray or Gray? Oh, I'd rather have Gray. We got a good explanation for why he was going to have a bounce back season before the season, and it's happened. That seems like a pretty good reason to bite. He talked before the season about how the Yankees just wanted him to be a different pitcher than he is.

The Yankees have a very specific approach with their pitchers, and that's not who Sunny Gray is. And so, you know, now that he's relying on the slider more as a putaway pitch and not as a get-ahead pitch, we're seeing him come back to the levels that he was at before he was traded to the Yankees and when he was at his best with the athletics. Scott Gray-A. You're even better, actually. Pretty apparent from the beginning that Gray had improved skill-wise. We were kind of not giving it the credit it deserved because he was so often going five innings and change.

That's changed over the past five starts six innings plus and all of them. And three of the five were plus six innings. And that seems to be more of an approach than anything because you look at the pitch counts. I mean, the Reds are just letting him throw more pitches now than they were earlier in the season. So it doesn't seem like a fluky thing. seems like a conscious decision. Ray, his walks are down over his past 10 starts. Nine of those tens are six innings plus himself.

And, you know, he was having trouble going deep into games. Yet he has a 433 ERA during that stretch because he's giving up so many home runs. And as you say, Adam, the whip is a little on the high side, considering how many bats he misses. He's definitely useful, but I don't think he's of the same caliber as Gray, who's looking like, you know, a true, like, number two type starter in fantasy. Yeah, I think Robbie Ray maybe as a sell high. I just wonder if, like, if he's going to throw a lot of strikes, maybe he's just going to give up a lot of home runs,

and if the way to avoid that is walking more guys. But Ray, yeah, I mean, is he a top 50 pitcher, Robbie Ray? I think so. Yeah. Okay. Is Sonny Gray a top third? 30 pitcher at this point? He might be.

I can answer that more definitively when I update my rankings tonight, but he's going to be moving up quite a bit. He's probably ahead of like Mike Soroka at this point, so yeah, there's a good chance he's in the top 30. Gray or Darvish? I would rather have Darvish.

Yeah, I'd rather have Darvish. I think that's fair. Okay, guys. Scott, give me a standout. You don't have to. You don't have to. You don't have to. How about Mitch Garver? No, I already eliminated that.

We have an email. I'll just read the email. Okay, here's the email. It's from, it's from AD. Where would you guys rank Mitch Garver among catchers rest of season? I've been trying to sell for, I've been trying to sell high for the last few weeks, but he just keeps raking. Now I feel like I have a distinct advantage at the position.

Where would you rank Mitch Garver over the last? for the rest of the season. And currently he is actually seventh in points, fifth in Roto, and he has a 1059 OPS, like ridiculous season for Garber. It's actually, if you look month by month,

he has an 1161 OPS in April and March, 1166 in May, 724 in June and 1369 in July. I have no idea how this is happening. Scott? I think he's good. I think he's a really good hitter. He was in the miners.

Obviously, this is excessive. But in terms of per game production, he's barred away the number one catcher. The biggest issue for him has just been getting consistent playing time. And even now, it's less than ideal, though he is getting the clear majority over Jason Castro. You know, it's kind of a two-thirds to one-thirds situation. So he's not able to take full advantage of the way he's been producing here. I think that makes him, you know, probably on the lower end of the top 10 at the position. If that were to change, you know, probably move into the top six.

But right now I probably have him eighth or ninth among catchers. All right. So we have talked about Yuleiguriel, and I kept saying since June 23rd for Guriel, I just want everyone to know that I dropped Yulea Gouriel on June 21st. two days before he began to bench hitter in baseball. It is a really tough pill to swallow, June 20th, actually. So three days before. One day before, that's nothing.

I don't feel as bad. That has nothing to do it. Yeah, I don't feel bad anymore. But that was tough. I dropped him for Ryan McMahon. He had an OPS under 700. It was having a terrible season. He was.

It was. It's true. We talked about Robbie Ray and Sunny Gray. We talked about Mitch Garver. It's team named Tuesday today. We've got some wonderful Heath size for you. I think we need to share it with the baseball audience. We shared it with the football audience yesterday.

So let's take a quick break. Let's take a quick break here on fantasy baseball today. When we come back, some wonderful comedy. And also, since Chris is so ornery, I'm going to talk about the home run derby curse later. But RPs to pick up because there will be some trades happening. So we've got a lot of relievers for you to consider. And much more from yesterday.

and a hey real quick Cleveland Indians edition after this. Emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com, our email of the day is from Kevin. Here are some team names in honor of Scott White's recent BB versus Walk usage. Chris, you have to date on this one? Yeah, he says BB per nine. Yeah, it's really strange. Like a weirdo?

Yeah, right. BB Hard, the Scotty White story. Because you're mine, I BB the line. B.B. Like an Egyptian. B.B. or Texas Ranger? B.B. Empire. And the B.B. Empire. And the B. B. Being dead. Or fear the B being dead. Okay. There you go. Thank you. Good stuff. Oh, okay. I get it. B for walk. I get it. It took me a little while to get it. No, I got it. Email the day number two is from Brendan in Toronto, a team name for Heath. This one is so long and ridiculous, it might just be perfect. D.DU, Justice, you say, Waka, think you say?

Thank you. All right. So I thought that segment was funnier than it actually was. It was good. No, I liked it. Okay, good. The Heathside. Did you like the borrorous laughter?

The Heathside kind of is this. On the football podcast, I shared with everybody, the Heathside compilation that I've been working on for the past few weeks. Chris has heard it. Scott has not. So here we go, ladies and gentlemen, the Heathside compilation, Volume 1. I expect more later on in the offseason for football. Here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Do it. Do it, do it. Scott, what do you think? That was tremendous. I like the do-its thrown in there. Yeah.

Yeah, that was. That made it. Yeah. It gave it a nice touch. All right, stat of the day. Shane Green had 18 saves through the first two months of the season. He has four saves since May 29th and no saves in July. Shane Green, though, is having a really good year.

And do you think he's actually going to get traded to a place where he will remain the closer? And maybe Shane Green is like a sneaky by-low right now. This will open up our RP discussion. What do you think? I feel like more contenders don't need a closer than do need a closer. Like, he would be as good of years as he's had. He'd be a downgrade over what most contenders are looking for, or what most contenders already have for the ninth inning.

I mean, the Braves obviously need a closer. I imagine if the Brewers acquired somebody who could close, they'd rather than close than Josh Hater. The twins, that could go either way with Trevor May. but I think they'd, not Trevor May. Taylor Rogers. Taylor Rogers, yeah. I think they'd rather use him in more of a Josh Hader role.

But then, you know, of course, like the Dodgers, they certainly have a closer. The Cubs have a closer. The Nationals have a closer. Red Sox. Red Sox could use a closer, yeah. Though I don't know that I necessarily trust Alex Cordy, use whoever they get like a closer. All right, well, it's just a thought. Yeah, it's really hard to find one.

because he's also not the best closer on the market. So he not only has to find, he has to be traded to a team that needs a closer. He also needs that team to not be trading for Will Smith. Right. Or Ken Giles. Sure. Yeah.

Okay, so then let's talk about some other relief pitchers to add ahead of the trade deadline. Well, first of all, I think as the Red Sox bullpen stands right now, yesterday was a good day for Brandon Workman. Was it entirely surprising to see Nativaldi come off the IL for that long of a stretch and struggle? No, but he was absolutely terrible. So Brandon Workman is an RP to add. Sean Kelly, who you see in the graphic, if you're watching the video,

Sean Kelly is on the IL. The Rangers haven't won, I think they have like an eight or nine game losing streak. But Jose LeClerc, do you guys have any interest in picking up Jose LeClerc? He's more or less turned his season around. go back 28 appearances now, 307 ERA, 9 walks, 46 strikeouts, and 29 and a third. But Sean Kelly might not miss that much time. Anyway, in terms of Workman and The Clerk, really, do you guys have interest in picking those guys up? I'd rather pick up LeClerc because I just, I can't.

Like I said, Alex Corre, I don't trust to commit to a closer. That being said, Chris Martin is also a possibility to close for the Rangers, especially if trying to up his trade value. But LeClerc has signed long term. He's yellow. Yellow? Oh, Adam gets it. Oh, I get it now.

After Scott said, oh, I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, come on. Yeah, all right, I'm going to think of more cold play puns. The clocks are ticking here. He throws his fastball at the speed of sound. And I said, it's the obvious one. I said clocks.

I said clocks. So, all right, moving on then. Reds bullpen. Should we stash Michael Lorenzen or anybody? Because RISOGLius has a 460 ERA and a 140 whip. I don't know. I mean, I feel like Iglesias has been doing this all year. And, you know, it's not like Lorenzen is some lights out reliever.

He's fine. Yesterday, it was Jared Hughes who got the saves. And he was kind of the Iglesias fallback option last year, rather than Lorenzen. So I feel like it's pretty messy there, and I would guess Eglacius is still in the driver's seat. Should we pick up Hunter Strickland? He's a bit forgotten about,

but I don't see how he wouldn't be the closer. Well, Alias has been pretty good, although he's also a trade target. He really hasn't been that good for a while. I think he's ERAs over four, OENS Alias. I don't know. I feel like they acquired Strickland to be their closer. If that's the standard, if Gronis Aalias hasn't been good, is the standard.

I mean, Hunter Strickland. Oh, Elias's ERA is much worse than I thought. You're right. Yeah, I think Hunter Strickland's sneaky. I mean, the Mariners aren't very good, but Strickland was a, you know, he had, what he had two saves. He had two saves. I mean, look, he's got a chance.

Sure. Right. It's not, he's not someone that I'd be beating down the door to add before he gets back into that role. But yeah, if you're speculating and you have a roster spot to spare at this point in the season, sure.

I think the most interesting speculative pickup you've brought up so far is LeClerc. What about Sam Dyson who got to say for the Giants yesterday? See, Sam Dyson can get traded himself. If he doesn't, I would imagine he is the one to replace Will Smith,

who I think is almost certainly on. Yeah, I would be shocked if he's not traded. But, yeah, there's some rumblings that the Giants, because they've been hot lately, might try to make a push for it. I doubt given that GM's history and, you know, I think he'd be able to size up their roster until it's not very good. So they probably won't do that. And Will Smith's a free agent at season's in.

You know, everybody's interested in. It might be shocked if he's not traded. And Sam Dyson might follow him out the door. Okay, so any other, I'm working on a cold play pun, any other relievers that you want to pick up right now in anticipation of the trade deadline. I mean, Joe Jimenez has been terrible, but could step into a closer's role in Detroit, which again, four saves for Shane Green in two months, a couple of blown saves in there, but still. What do you guys think? Are there any names that come to mind that we're going to be seeing on the most added lists in a week? No. Like maybe Nick Anderson gets the opportunity if the Marlins find someone to take on Sergio Romo,

but that's not even clear that he'd be the guy. And it's not exactly a good opportunity either. So it's pretty hard. You know, we've got eight days left until the deadline. We just, there's so many teams that are kind of in between out and in that I think the next five or six days will start to clear out a lot. the Marlins are clearly in the playoff rates, but a lot of other teams, we don't know. Yeah, Marlins far and away the worst team in the National League. But basically every other NL team but the Marlins is in it to a degree, right?

Yeah. No, I mean, every other team in the National League, every team in the National League right now has at least 45 wins except for the Marlins. And the wild card spot has 53 wins. So, yeah, it could be really fun because there are no August trades allowed anymore, right? So teams have to decide if they're in or they're out and just a little over a week here. And that could make for a much more active trade deadline or it could make for a, you know, we can't quite get a good enough offer to give up on this season. So we're not going to do anything.

It'll be fun to watch play out. Okay, so if you're a relief pitcher who was about to get traded and screw your fantasy team could talk. to you. He might say, in a compilation of Coldplay songs, he might say, don't panic. Closers will be moving at the speed of sound, and there will be good players available. It's like a sky full of stars. You can find someone to put in my place, and that guy will fix you. You'll be the scientist of your fantasy roster. Pitching updates. Max Scher seems on track to start this weekend. Cole Hamils will begin a rehab assignment today. Zach Wheeler expected to start on Friday. It would be so many.

like to rush him back just so they could up his trade value and like harm his career. I'm just don't that, I hope that doesn't happen. Brandon Woodruff expected to miss about six weeks and Garrett Cole is now your major league leader with 205 strikeouts. Second fastest in history to 200 strikeouts. What do you think, who do you think we'll have, what will be higher, sorry? Garrett Cole's strikeouts or the Minnesota Twins home runs. They are on pace for 306.

Garrett Cole has 205 strikeouts right now. So he's probably got about 12 starts left, I would guess. Maybe a little more. I'm going to say cold strikeout. Yeah, I think so. Just because you get more people who have to continue the pace for the twins, and that makes it tougher. It's just one guy who has to do reach the Cole number.

Look at that. There's your graphic. Fast, a few ascending to reach 200 strikeouts. Randy Johnson in 2001, with 130 and two-thirds, and Garrett Cole in 2019, just beating Chris Sale last year by two-and-two-thirds innings. Okay, more news. Jordan Alvarez, we're going to talk about in a bit. He became the first player since RBIs became an official stat in 1920

to drive in 35 runs in his first 30 games. Albert Pujols had 34 RBIs and his first 30 career games. Michael Chavis could go on the IL with back spasms, I did not mention this, but San Diego pitcher Adrian Mory Hohn, 8% Own, did make his major league debut. He only pitched two in a third. But any interest in Adrian Morehoun, excuse me. He's a pretty big prospect, but they're planning to you. He technically did start in his first game, but he was used like an opener.

I understand the plan is to treat him more like a bullpen arm than a starter. So, you know, long term, he probably is a starter, but this year I don't have much interest. Brandon Lowe is still a ways away from returning. Yandy Diaz left after fouling a ball off his foot and he will have x-rays. Brad Peacock may not return as a starting pitcher as he recovers from a shoulder injury. So Erkidi is in the rotation. Armenteros was sent down, right? Yep.

So Erkidi, big audition for him coming up this week. You might want to pick him up now just in case he has another big. start. Kestanhira sat with quad tightness, but he did pinch run. D. Gordon left with quad soreness. Bad year. Matt Carpenter expected back on Friday. Tyler Malley is on the IL with a hamstring injury. Ryan Zimmerman is on the IL with planter fasciitis and Howie Kendrick, by the way, has only started three of the last 14 games since Zimmerman came off the IL. So there were no lefties in that stretch. It was all right-handed pitchers. But you got Matt Adams, you got Brian Dozier, you got Howie Kendrick. This should help Kendrick.

but, boy, three of 14 starts, that's bad. Three or 14 games started. Nationals hate him. Apparently. C.J. Crone is on the I.O. with thumb inflammation. Miguel Sino has first base eligibility now. Tim Beckham is nearing a rehab assignment. Carlos Correa should be back on Friday.

And the Yankees set a record last year with 267 homers as a team. Five teams are on pace to top that, including the twins, who are on pace, as mentioned, for 306 home runs. There have already been more homes. runs this season than the entire 2014 season. Whoa. Jeez. All right, guys.

Let's do some hey real quick. The Cleveland Show edition. So a lot of Cleveland Indians in this. Mike Clevenger. Oh, okay. Different Cleveland show. Right. Quagmire or Mike Clevenger or Shane Bieber or Trevor Bauer.

Hey real quick. Ebes. That quick enough for you. I didn't even say the full name. The Cleve. Beber? How about Rankum? Clevenger, Beber, Bauer.

Rankum. Yeah, I'm going to go Bauer in between Beaver and Clevenger, though mostly because I am worried about a recurrence of the injury for Clevenger. I mean, in terms of actual production, Clevenger might be better than Bauer. Okay. Hey, real quick. Andrew Benintendi or Oscar Mercado? I mean, the answer is probably Benintendi, but there's not much reason for.

it. Yeah, it's just an allegiance to the history, the track record. Right. Which, you know, counts for something. Andrew Benintendi hit his first home run since June 10th

yesterday. His second home run since May 29th. He's been pretty bad for about a year now. Like, he fell off in the second half last year. Yeah. Yeah, he did. Yeah. And basically hasn't recovered.

It's true. I'm looking up the exact numbers right now. Last 365 days, 266 Batching average 744 OPS, 10 home runs, 13 steals, 80 runs, 69 RBI, and 139 games. Yeah, it's not very good. That's like Adam Eaton.

If only Fenway Park were a left-handed hitter's park, you know, it would be so much better. Eugenio Suarez or, Jose Ramirez. Hey, real quick. Jose Ramirez. Yeah. Got to go with Jose. Yeah, he's definitely turned it around.

He looks like, certainly seems that way. He certainly, I wish it was a little bit louder. I wish he were a baller. Yeah, I was trying to make that continuation too. He might wish he was a little bit taller. He might. Yeah. Yeah, I did want to bring up Suarez, though, because he's double-donged

yesterday. He's been on a pretty nice run, but he's still just the 15th best third basement in fantasy this season. 253 with 26. Crazy what's happened. Yeah, well, all he does is Homer. Baseball's ruined. Well, this guy's one-dimensional. He doesn't run. He doesn't,

you know, he's not like he's a great walks guy, played this. He's got 16 doubles this year. So it's just homers. That has not really that's not going to make you stand out. Right. You know, he doesn't stand out anymore in this environment.

Yeah, and he seems to have given back some of the gains that he had last year, and he's turning more into the 2017 version, which is not a bad thing. He was a good player in 2017, but given the offensive environment, he's actually falling behind. I think he has an 852 Ops, A. Oh, Hennio-Swar. He's, like, that's good. He's useful.

15th best third baseman is not bad. Of course. But we like Ramirez better. He's, yeah. I imagine there's probably a 12-te-to-head points league out there somewhere where somebody can't fit him in their lineup. You know, third base utility, they're both filled with better players, which is crazy to think about. But it's possible. Somebody right now is either wishing they could drop Suarez or trying to trade him and not able to.

It's crazy. Let's read some important emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBS. The GSI.com. First one is from Chris, not Towers. Different Chris. I would be curious to hear your assessment of where Jordan Alvarez ranks for next year. He has been unconscious since being called up. And yes, that is true.

Jordan Alvarez has an 1130 OPS with a 37.9% home run to fly ball rate. But where is he? I think Chris is making the case he should be a first round pick. What do you guys think about Jordan Alvarez? Different Chris. Yes, Chris, the e-bailer. I do not think he should be a first-round pick. I don't think he has the skill set to justify that.

Because I don't think he's going to be a huge help in batting. He's hitting, what, 340 right now? That's with a very high babbip. And you would think he might be a guy who can sustain a high babbitt, but even that is unsustainable. You add in the unsustainable home run to fly ball rate. Yes, at this point, I do think you would have. have to take him over Eloy Jimenez and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.

In a dynasty big, those guys do have the stronger pedigone. That was the question. That was the question. In a Dynasty League, how would you rank Alvarez, Eloy, and Vlad? That was the second part of this email. Yeah, I go glad. Vlad Alvarez Jimenez. Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Okay, so is he a second round pick in drafts next year? When would you take Jordan Alvarez? No. Well, I mean, let's try and pick. pin down the batting average here because Chris is right between bad bit progression home run to fly ball regression which both seem highly likely um that he's going to lose a lot on the batting average so does that peg him as like a 265 to 280 hitter Chris or are you thinking even lower than that um yeah i i think that's probably right like 265 to 280 seems like a good range i'm trying to look up

trying to do a little quick math right now actually. Okay. So someone else talking. He's hitting the crap out of the ball, but, you know, he is. There's a degree to which that's unscest-you could. Well, but even lots of guys hit the ball hard. Nobody sustains a 4-14 Babbup or a 38% home run to fly ball rate. Even Christian Yalich, who has been the outlier of all outliers two years in a row has been a 35%.

Okay. Okay, so he's not going to go as high as Ronald Acuna went in this year's draft, which was late first, early second. But I do think he could be in the Juan Soto territory, who was 30th in ADP. I think mid-third round is, I'm guessing, where Alvarez will fall somewhere around there. I mean, he has to sustain this for, you know, or something close to this for another month and a half, I feel like right now, my guess would be he'd be more like a...

Like a fifth or sixth rounder. For us. But, you know, we were the one saying Ronald Cooney is going to. You think people are going to overpay for him next year? I do. Okay. We'll see how the next two months go. Right.

But I don't think he has a skill set that's quite as conducive to fantasy as Juan Soto does. All right. Next email. And Chris, if you find what you were looking for. Chris still hasn't found what he's looking for. 280 seems like a deal. If he had a 25% home run to fly ball rate and a 350 Babbup right now, he'd be hitting 280.

So I think that still puts him on the 95th percentile in Babbup and home run to fly ball rate outcomes. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, there's also the possibility that him versus strikeout rate, but I think, you know, 270, 280, 280 is probably a more realistic batting average expectation. And just one of the thing to throw in there real quick. probably going to be DH only next year.

And you remember how, or maybe not, but when David or T's was in the fantasy player pool, that DH-only status always seemed to make him drop, you know, three or four rounds lower than his actual production suggested he should go. So I think it might be more like eight-round for Alvarez. That's a great point. The DH, Jordan Alvarez, DH-only,

I completely reset. He will not be a top 30 pick. No way. And yeah, that's a good point. All right. The next email is about Cabin Bigio, who is now 18th in points leeks for Scott, 15th for Heath. And the question from Dane is, why do we keep ranking Cabin Bigeo as a top 16 second baseman? He stinks.

To the point. That's a good question. Because he walks a lot. He has batted ball tendencies that would seem to lend themselves to being a big power hitter. He can run, steal bases. Like, there's an exciting package there. but it's been pretty lackluster lately, and there have been enough interesting second basement to pop up that it probably deserves to be outside of the top 20 now.

He also, right now at least, based on the skill set that he currently has, might be like a 220 to 230 hitter. There's not a ton of bad luck going into his 212 bat bat batting average. And, you know, this was something that some of the scouting reports were, about coming up for him was he's always walked a ton he's always had a good I guess plate discipline he doesn't swing at a lot of bad pitches the problem is he doesn't swing a lot of good pitches either he's got you know he only swings at 15% of pitches outside of the strike zone which is awesome but he only swings at 55% of pitches inside of the strike zone as well he doesn't swing

and yeah, that'll lead to a lot of walks. It'll also lead to a lot of two strike counts, a lot of strikeouts. And also, you just, hitters tend to do better when they swing earlier in the count. And I think there's a difference between plate discipline and passivity, and I think he falls more on the passivity end than the elite plate discipline. It's not a Joey Votto situation.

All right, here's Shimmy and Northbrook. Subject line, how good is it? is a 125 whip, 1.25 whip. We talked about this yesterday. In our 36-year-old 12-team NL-only Keeper League, it's a Roto League, that's a very good whip, 125. All of the teams in our league are active with FAB or making pickups for this year or the future, though mostly through mostly dump trades.

Right now, a 125 whip gets third place. Our first three teams are 11, 122, and then 125. So that's an NL only. Only league. What did you say, Scott? It's an NL only league, he said. Right. So do you think that means...

It would be in the lower third of our 12-team mixed roto league. It would be in the lower third. I looked at it yesterday when we were talking about it. Interesting. Okay, well, Shimmy, thanks for... Thank you for the email. But, yeah, NL-only, obviously, the standards are different than they are in mixed leagues. So lower third

125 whip, which was Marcus Stroman's whip. And he was a top, he was like the 45th best starting pitcher entering Monday. And the final email is from David. Did John Carlos Stanton have more different injuries this year than games played? I don't think so.

I think he had four injuries and eight games played or something like that. Did he get to eight games played? Seven or eight. Seven or eight. Okay, yeah. You're talking in the past tense? Is he out for the year? Did I miss something?

No, but so far. Well, just to date. Yeah. How many games? Eight games, Chris? I'm not looking it up. Okay. I'll look it up.

John Carlos Stanton has played eight, nine games. Yeah, this has been a really bad season for my John Carlos Stanton just had bad luck, but it's still just bad luck. That's what I'm going to say. He played, I think he was like fourth in baseball in games played the last two years combined. All right. When we come back, we will try to get rid of the John Carlos Danton voodoo doll that somebody has. When we come back, home run derby curse, and more from yesterday, and more team name Tuesday after this quick break on fantasy baseball today. Oh, home run derby.

Man. Pete Alonzo is still in the home run derby. All he does is hit home runs, but usually makes outs. Since the All-Star break, he's batting 1-18 with three home runs. no doubles or triples. He has three hits in his last seven games overall. They're all home runs. So he's been bad.

Vlad has, I guess, been bad. He only has one extra base hit, but he's been bad most of the year. One extra base hit since the All-Star break. And Josh Bell has 156 batting average, a 219 slugging percentage. No home runs since the home run derby. It doesn't matter what Jack Peterson and Ronald Acuna have done.

They don't fit the narrative or the storyline here, or Alex Breggman or Matt Chapman. But yeah, it's real. No, really, this is just an excuse to talk about all these guys. So let's look at the eight home run derby participants, and you tell me what you expect going forward because some of them are ice cold. Pete Alonzo won the home run.

You know what, we'll start with Josh Bell. What are we going with? Graphics Department. We're going with Pete Alonzo. Okay. I'm sorry, guys. Pete Alonzo won the Home Run Derby since the also breakbatting 1-18 with five walks, 14 strikeouts, three homers, no doubles. Triples.

Scott, expectations for Alonzo. I think he'll be a top six or seven first baseman and contend for the home run title. Okay, great. He's going to hit 250 and strike out a lot and hit a bunch of dongs. That's how we're doing this segment, guys. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., finalist for the Home Run Derby. second half expectations for Vlad. I'm not ready to change my opinion that he could have

like the sort of second half Ronald de Kuna had last year. I'm not saying that's the most likely outcome, but I'm still excited to roster him in the hopes of that happening. I mean, the skills are clearly, as he showed in the home run derby as much as ever, they're off the charts. Josh Bell. Chris, why don't you talk about Josh Bell,

what you expect? since the all-star break batting 156 with no home runs? I expect a hitter more in the 7 to 10 range at first base. I expect a good hitter, but probably not someone who's going to flirt with 350 homers, which hasn't changed since the home run derby. Now, he's had a really bad about a month, especially when it comes to batting average. There has been some bad luck there, though. It's not like his strikeout rate has spiked.

He is, I think he'll be good. You know, 270, probably 15 home runs for the rest of the season, a first baseman that you never have to think about benching. It sounds like you would prefer Alonzo rest of season then. I think so. Yeah, I mean, it's probably close. I would just, I would still take Bell in the top five at first. So, you know, right now there's a three at the top there, Bellinger, Freeman, and Bell, at least in points leagues that are outliers.

You know, they're way ahead of everybody else at the position. And Bell probably falls more into the second group now. How about Junk Peterson? He's been very good since the All-Star break. And he's 84% own. 241 batting average, which is what you can expect, but a 586 slugging percentage, three home runs and a double since the break. Definitely somebody I dropped. that same league I dropped Gouriel.

I dropped John Peterson, and now he's making me pay, but I don't regret it, because I don't think he's worth owning an 84% of leagues. Hmm. That's, you know, it's, I generally don't use platoon players in weekly leagues, you know, at least weekly mixed leagues,

um, of normal size. And he's kind of been an exception to that rule this year because he's been so good. But obviously, he's still much more valuable in a daily lineup league, where you can only start him when he's in the lineup. Yeah, I think he's fringy in a weekly league.

Okay, that's Jack Peterson. Ronald O'Cuna, since becoming the leadoff hitter, he's been on fire since the All-Star break, by the way. It seems Jack Peterson and Ronald Acuna are showing that losing in the second round is the sweet spot. That's what you want to do with the hold on Derby. But since becoming the leadoff hitter on May 10th, he is the number five hitter in points leagues, number three in Roto.

The steals have gone way up. He has 19 steals since May 10th. He basically didn't run before that, except on opening day. So Acuna, yeah, he's a stud. He is a top five pick in drafts next year, buyer sell. Acuna. Oh, without question, I think. I would sell it, but not by much.

When I last looked at, you know, projected the first two rounds for next year, I had him in, I think, 11th. And yeah, I mean, he's trending up from there. It's positive. He's on a 30-30 pace now. Do you know the last Brave who had a 30-30 season? Any guesses? It was Ron Gantt nearly 30 years ago. You can't say any guesses and wait half a second.

Not even. Like, you didn't even breathe. Any guesses? It was Ron Gant. Come on, Scott White. I thought you wouldn't have jumped in there faster. I waited a beat. Did I not wait a beat?

It was a half beat at best. Yeah, come on. Oh, man, you got to take the... I meant the clock isn't the best, and I usually feel like I'd take too long to say that. Scott, it's... Do you want to guess? Pregnant pause.

Then you say it. Right. Yeah. Okay. Well, I thought you'd at least jump in with a yeah. Well, I was thinking. You didn't give him a... You didn't give me a chance to take a little BB in my mind

and think about it. Okay, Ron Gain. All right, so if they say, though, you know, they say, well, you know what, Ronald Acuna is actually going to back cleanup for us in 2020. He drops a round. He comes to second round pick? I mean, it lasts long, right? I mean, batting orders are constantly changing. I guess, yeah. All right. He should, like, there's no good reason why he doesn't run from the cleanup spot. They just don't do it, and they never have. Yeah. You're on top of this.

Snicker said at the start of the year, he's free to run as much as he wants, basically. So I don't know if it's as much a team policy as a mental block for a Coon. Yeah, I don't know. Matt Chapman. Matt Chapman, man, 444 batting average since the All-Star break. Losing in the first round is really the best thing to do at the home run derby. Matt Chapman is 10th and points, 14th in Roto for the season at third base, but he's hot right now. Thoughts?

He's awesome. He is awesome. Really good. Okay. Carlos Santana, he's the other guy who's been struggling since the derby, but he lost in the first round. 175 batting average, two home runs since the break. Seven walks, nine strikeouts. Just seems like a little bit of a slump.

Still believe in him as a stud as an improved version of the old Carlos Santana. Yeah, I think he's improved. I don't think he's going to be quite as good as the first. half, but he's made the necessary adjustments to start hitting for average, which it always seemed like he should because he didn't strike out much, but he just sold out for fly balls so much. He's not doing that this year. Finally, Alex Bregman lost in the first round of the home run derby, and he's been himself since the All-Star break, batting 286, though, which is nice, because for the year, he's still

batting 269, and powers there, plate discipline is amazing. 246 Babbip this season for Bregman, but the last time we talked about him, it was like, well, he's been a little disappointing in Roto. It's the number six third baseman in Roto, because the batting average isn't great. But of course, it's going to come up, and it really hasn't.

So where are we now with Alex Breggman? He's going to hit closer to $300 than $250. I feel very confident saying that. It might be $2.85, and so he finishes the year with like a $270-something batting average, But, you know, still probably a fringe first rounder next year. I think probably a first rounder in points leagues, but, you know, maybe drops to the second rounding, five by five.

Easy first rounder. Well, much easier in points league. It's not running as much. Much easier in points leagues, though, because he has more walks than strikeouts, a lot more. Yeah. Okay, so we've got about five to ten minutes left. Let's take a look at yesterday's action a little bit more.

One hitter I wanted to talk about, guys. Renato Nunez, 48% owned. In his last 18 games, he is slugging 712, and 11.04 OPS for Renato Nunez. And only five left-handed starters in that stretch. He's better against lefties. Renato Nunez homered off Robbie Ray yesterday. But yeah, 48% owned for Nunez. Thoughts, Chris? I think he could probably be owned a little more than that, but not too much more. someone that if he's on the wire, I'm rushing out to grab him because he's really just going

to be a source of power and not much else. And we all know it's 2019. It's not that hard to find power. Nope. Two-man rotation. Eduardo Rodriguez dominates the raise and he's 96% and 85% started, gets the Yankees this weekend and then at the Yankees next week for Eduardo Rodriguez. And Marco Gonzalez actually has been better lately. Marco Gonzalez last eight starts. He's six and two with a 350 ADRA, a 117 whip. You know you're not going to get a lot of strikeouts from Marco Gonzalez.

But of Eduardo Rodriguez and Marco Gonzalez, are either of them, are both of them must-start guys in your mind? I don't know that I'd put either in that. I mean, I definitely wouldn't put Gonzalez in that class. I'm not even sure I'd want to dedicate a roster spot to him. Eduardo Rodriguez, I think, is a little less than must start, though these past four starts have been more befitting of his skill set, I feel like,

except the strikeouts have dropped. He's pitched a lot better, but the strikeouts have been low. And that's actually not too surprising when you look at the profile of how he's choosing his pitches. He's gone down to basically not using his slider at all, and his cutter rate is down to 12%. He's pretty much been a fastball changeup guy. over the last, you know, in the month of July. Interesting.

Well, next two starts are against the Yankees, so I'll just ask for this weekend. Would you start at Eduardo Rodriguez at home against the Yankees? And if you're curious, he has faced them once, and the numbers weren't great, but it was in London. So he actually had the best start of the three actual starters who pitched that weekend. The Yankees was an opener.

But would you start Eduardo Rodriguez against the Yankees this weekend at home? I'd be wary. Yeah. I mean, it would depend how I'm doing an ERA and whip if it's a Categories league. If it's a points league, I think, obviously, yes. Okay. So, do you realize the Yankees are making their first trip to Fenway Park

all season this week? How strange is that? Weird. Yeah, the London games were home games for the Red Sox, but even still. All right, fringy starting pitchers. Who do you want? Martine Ponce de Leon. Trevor Williams, C.C. Sabathia,

Chase Anderson, who was actually good yesterday, and Trevor Richards, a craptastic group of fringy starting pitchers. Martine Ponce de Leon, and Trevor Williams, C.C. Sabathia, Chase Anderson, and Trevor Richards. I guess Ponce de Leon is my favorite among this group. It's not a great group. No, all of these guys, you can cut loose. Yeah.

I guess I'd make a case for Trevor Williams, but I don't really want to. He's not very good. He might be. He's been terrible since coming off the IL, except yesterday. He was good yesterday. I didn't mention him.

He and Chase Anderson were good yesterday. It's just, it's one of these situations where we like try to like 12-dimensional chess our way into explaining why a guy with, mediocre peripherals can pitch well. And it's just, he's not that good. Except he did it for a year. And then he went on the I.O. and he was bad after that.

Yeah. Well, I mean, Ulyshas Chasin did it for like two years, right? And it finally caught up to him. Yeah, it will catch up eventually, and you cannot know when it's going to catch up. So at some point, and here's the problem. When you're looking at like a Trevor Williams guy or Ulys Chasin and you're riding this hot street, one bad start, you're probably like, well, I'll give him another chance. He's been so good. He's earned it.

And then two bad starts, all of a sudden, your ERA starting to inflate. You're not going to cut him, so you're going to hang on. It's just, I don't like that strategy. Deeply. No, that exact approach burned me with Zach Eflin and Tout Wars this year. Somebody dropped him when he was still pitching well. I needed pitching. It's 15-team league.

and the bad starts begin coming for affluent in a way that was predictable. And it's like, well, you know, I don't want to remove him when he bounces back. And then it just kept getting worse. Finally had to cut him loose. But yeah, he did a lot more harm than good to my team. All right, deep leagues. G.O. Orchella is really having a nice year. He has an 839 OPS.

He doesn't play nearly enough. But Urchella's 26% own. And I think that's about right. I don't think it should be much higher than that. But Matt Wheaters, if you need a catcher and you're in a social. super deeply. He's hitting well right now for what it's worth, and he's filling in for Yadi Malina. Yvonne Nova threw a complete game, gave up one run against the Marlins. We're not interested. And Jalen Beeks is 9% owned. I had to make a tough call because I picked him up

Jalen Beeks in a Roto League. I like him after an opener. I don't like him starting against the Red Sox, and he was awful yesterday. But I do think that maybe 9% is a little low for Jalen Beaks. What do you think? I don't want him in a mixed league. All right. Team name Tuesday to finish off today's show. Mad bum odor. Like mad bum odor. Oh, okay, yeah. Mercado about nothing.

Juvenile. Yeah, Mercado about nothing. Which has now replaced machado about nothing. Okay. Yeah, I get it. That's a stretch. Hit Matt Beattie one more time or hit me Beattie one more ten. Tim?

Morton. Charlie Borton. Yeah. The second one's worse. I get it. Second one's worse. Yeah, it is worse. Too many, don't try and cramp too many names in there.

Persona Moncada. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I think we may have had that before, but it's good. Do I stay or where do I go? Like verdugo. You're trying too hard. That's a Heath one. Walking on Sunshine.

Okay. for Shane Green. Shane Green. Come on. Like, that's, come on. You're using Shane.

Right. Yeah. I would have thought Shane Bieber. Shane. He put Shane Green. Las Vargas, Nirvana and Nerris France. That's good.

Yeah, that's solid. Two different team names, but yeah, they're good. Las Vargas, Nevada is good. You've just, Viva Las Vargas. Yes.

That's great. Ronald McRendonald. Like, it's got Rendon in there. Ronald McRendon. I like that one. I don't know. TDU Justice, you say, Waka, think you say.

It is a very good team team. That's really good. All right, we're out of here. Thanks for listening, everybody. For Chris, for Scott, I'm Adam. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Baseball today.