Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/26: Are Ramirez and Goldschmidt Back? Week 20 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 26, 2019

We've had an historic week in baseball with three straight days with a three-homer game. We talk Nelson Cruz to start the show and then tell you our favorite two-start pitchers for next week (6:26) and one-start streamers for this weekend (8:00). Plus, Jose Ramirez's OPS is over .700! Let's celebrate (10:50)! Is he elite again? ... News and notes (15:15) as we cover Blake Snell and Joey Gallo among others. And we say "Welcome Back" (19:30) to Travis Shaw, Ian Happ, Yasmany Tomas and Willie Calhoun. Do any of them matter? Plus some "Hey, Real Quick" with a couple of BOS sluggers ... Trade rumors (27:30), streaking hitters (31:00), Most Added (37:30), Most Traded (41:00), terrible SPs from yesterday (44:50) and a more thorough look at two-start pitchers (51:00) ... 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

Domingo, Santana, who I want to add you to my roster in Roto, replacing Gio Soto, Gio Lido and Brito, baby, where my Fabco? Near the Florida key, there's a place in my... That's where you want to be to get ahead of your lead at sea. He'll help in points or roll, because he's under... Happy Kokomo Friday here. This is fantasy baseball today. We have a historic show.

Chris and I are thinking about doing the entire show in NPR voice. I think we're probably not going to do it, Chris, but good morning to you, Chris Towers. You look lovely today. I think that would be a really fine idea. I think the audience would really appreciate it if we kept a level tone and just informed them of what's going on a majorly. baseball. I'll tell you what, Nelson Cruz, he's really, he's really cruising toward his horrific season. Nelson Cruz, 39-year-old Major League Baseball player, you wouldn't expect someone that age. Yeah, no, you wouldn't. You would, okay, enough with that. Okay, those are just some

Cocoa vibes for you here. So yes, Nelson Cruz had a three homer game the first time ever. We've had a three homer game in three straight days. Unbelievable, we had another MLB first that we're going to talk about. We'll give you our favorite two-star pitchers. We'll give you our favorite weekend streamers. We're going to celebrate a little bit today, so get excited for that. First, Chris, a new closer to pick up. What do you think about Stevie Wilkerson for the Orioles? In the 16th inning, he became the first position player ever to record a save. Really impressive stuff. You look at the stat cast feed for him. You know, really relied on that curveball 56 miles per hour average velocity. It's really tough to pick up coming out of the hand. You know, you know.

And this isn't exactly, this isn't just a, you know, a pushover Angels lineup. So, I mean, if you're looking for the closer to grab in Baltimore, the only issue is he's not relief eligible yet, but a few more appearances. Five more, a few more 16 inning games that may be Stevie Wilkerson. By the way, earlier when I said, look at this blank, I did say the word pitch. I know it didn't sound necessarily that way, but I promise you, I did not curse. All right, so history was made, though, with those three homer games. So it was Robinson Canoe, then Paul DeYoung, and then Nelson Cruz. Let's talk about Nelson Cruz here.

I mean, he's amazing. He did turn 39 years old on July 1st, but he hasn't slowed down. Three for five with three home runs and five RBIs at the White Sox. The Babbitt was so low last year, and now it's back up to 318. And the batting average is back up because he had been like a two. 285 hitter. Last year, he batted just 256, but he showed, Nelson Cruz showed some legitimate signs of concern last year. And it felt like this might not be such a good season for him. But here he is again with a 969 OPS and another great year.

Yeah, I mean, there were some signs of decline, but not, they weren't really that glaring in my eyes. Like, he was hitting the ball as hard as ever. It's not like his batted ball profile changed all that much. He hit a few more pop-ups, but not to an alarming rate, and the strikeout rate wasn't up. The strike-or rates actually up this season significantly, up to 27%.

But, I mean, look, his skill set has declined a little bit, but he's been helped a little bit by the live ball, or the juiced ball. And he's also helped by the fact that he just really hasn't declined. And everybody keeps waiting for it to happen, and it will at some point. But, you know, the best comp we can make for him is David Ortiz. And maybe like David Ortiz, the decline doesn't come until after he retires.

Maybe. Nelson Cruz now, like I said, 39 years old. But I think the decline that I saw last year was that he got hurt for the first time he played 144 games. Thank you. 44 games last year. And he's also been hurt this year. He's played only 75 games so far. And he basically was very streaky last year.

He had a terrible 40 game stretch to start the year, then a red hot 58 game stretch, then a bad 46 game stretch, a terrible 46 game stretch to end the year. So I really thought, all right, this guy's in some trouble. But nope, he's been really good. And it's so tough for me to draft D.H-only players. No, yeah, we're singing with Chris Davis.

If he's, if he has a season where he's, You know, if your DH-only player has a season where there's 70% of their normal expectations, you're probably not going to be able to start them, and it's a waste of pick. But, you know, Nelson Cruz has been so cheap over the last four or five years that he's probably been, maybe last three years, that he's probably been one of the best, consistent best values in fantasy drafts every single year. And it's continued to be true this year. I don't know, until we see him slow down, I'm not going to,

feel comfortable expecting him to drop up, especially as long as, you know, if we're looking at next year, as long as that ADP, you know, stays low. He was 91st this season. Like, yeah, wow. He's been a huge value. All right, let's talk about two star pitchers for the upcoming scoring period and who are your favorites. We're looking at guys who are owned in 70% of leagues or less. It's a better week than last week, I would say for sure. Um, yeah, what do you think? Anybody jump out? You're going to go to Ronaldo Lopez? Is that your fave?

Yeah, I think he probably has to be. You could make an argument for Merrill Kelly, who doesn't have quite the upside of Ronaldo Lopez, but does get the Marlins in Miami, then versus the nationals at home. Yeah, I think him and Lopez, Lopez versus the Mets and at Philadelphia are probably the two most interesting options

who might be available. I would agree. Those are the ones that stood out. Merrill Kelly at Miami and home against Washington and Rinaldo Lopez the Mets and at the Phillies I don't hate Tanner Roar

No he seems like a nice guy I don't hate I don't hate the Nelson the Met but I don't trust Don't love the matchup against the Dodgers That's the one that's going to be really tough He could have a huge game against the Orioles If you're looking

If you're in a daily league He streaming him against the Orioles I think could be a really good idea And we're going to do one-start streamers For the weekend I do need to make a quick announcement that I was supposed to make about five minutes ago at the top of the show, but I forgot. I am using

a different microphone today. It sounds a little bit different. We're getting a little bit experimental here, so I hope it sounds good. So just please bear with us. We have to see how this sounds, so we know what's due going forward. But it's a better microphone. It should be a better audio experience for you. Just got to make some tweaks, perhaps.

But yeah, so just just keep it in mind. All right, so one-start streamers for the weekend. Very upset about Anabal Sanchez. I thought he was a great one-star streamer this week at home against the Colorado Rockies. They are terrible offense when they're on the road. So he got bumped to the Dodgers this weekend tonight because Max Scherzer came

off the IL and pitched yesterday. It was a double header. So it just screwed everything up. But Annabal Sanchez is less appealing now that he's facing the Dodgers at home. Yeah. I think my favorite might be Pineda is 75% on. Yep. So, you know, but he's not that available.

But Zach Pleasak at Kansas City is very interesting to me. In fact, almost all of the streamers that I like are tonight. You've got Anibal Sanchez. You've got Zach Plizak. I don't really like Anibal Sanchez. You've got Michael Paneda. Jose Orkidhi is interesting. Yep.

And Asher Wojahowski is interesting. He's 13% owned. Who's your fave? I think my favorite is probably Orkidi. who I, that's how you pronounce it, right? Yes. Okay, I've been having trouble with that one in the conversations around the office. I like what we've seen so far.

His minor league numbers this year were really good, tons of strikeouts. And St. Louis has been inconsistent as an offensive group this year. They're not lacking in talent, but he's probably my favorite one to roll out there. I'm really interested in Asher Wojikowski. Wojikowski? So I believe it's Wojahowski. We had been saying Kowski, but somebody emailed and said, no, it's Houski. I think the guy went to college with him or something.

And then I went back and watched the video. Asher Wojahowski is, I'm pretty sure that's what it is 13% owned. Wohihajowski, 13% owned. Scott wrote about him earlier this week on CBSSports.com. You should go check it out. And his thesis, it was actually about him and Arkidi. And it was basically, these guys might be good. we're not sure, but there are definitely interesting signs.

Wojahowski. Going back to the minors has seen a strikeout rate jump this season. He's done a really good job. Getting strikeouts in his brief time in the majors, getting a lot of swinging strikes. Breaking the ball looks really good. So, you know, I know the track record's really bad, but he's interesting to me at least.

All right. So look, we got a very, very busy show today. Joey Gallo, Blake Snell, We'll obviously talk about those injuries. Travis Shaw, Yasmani Tomas. They're coming back up. Willie Calhoun was recalled. So we'll talk about that.

We have a bunch of trade rumors to get to. The most added list. Going to try to take a look at the most traded list. And more importantly, Chris, are you in a good mood today? Are you ready to celebrate Chris Towers? Yes. You're hearing the music? I am hearing the music.

Okay, good. I need to make sure you're hearing it. Because we have to celebrate Jose Ramirez. He has a 718 OPS. His OPS is over 700 for the first time this season. And if you're watching our video on YouTube, you are seeing this beautiful blast by Jose Ramirez, a game winner in extra innings.

He also had two doubles. And over his last 26 games, Jose Ramirez is the number six hitter in points leagues, number seven in Roto. It just occurred to me that you may have heard absolutely nothing, I said, because the music may have been too loud. So I'll say it again. Over his last 26 games, the number six hitter and points, the number seven in Roto.

Full disclosure, I can't hear the music today. 3.43 batting average, six home runs, eight walks the nine strikeouts, 11 doubles and a triple, and five steals. That's a 1031 OPS. Is Jose Ramirez back? Yeah. Yeah, I think we probably have to consider him back at this point. Wow. And it was, I mean,

Maybe not back as like a top three hitter. I definitely, if we were redrafting right now, I definitely wouldn't take him that high, but back as in he's good again. And, you know, I, the thing that was so tough about him being so bad for such a long time was that there wasn't really a good explanation for it. It wasn't like his strikeout rate had jumped up to a huge degree. He was still making relatively hard contact, a pretty good contact.

a pretty good contact at least. You know, he was getting too pull happy. He was hitting the ball, you know, hitting too many infield fly balls. But it really always seemed like there was just a tweak that needed to be made and then he would be okay. And the hard thing was we didn't know if or when that tweak was going to be made. So that was what was tough. But yeah, I think at this point, you have to view him as one of the, you know, at the very least, like a top 10 third basement again.

Oh, okay, but not like a top 20 player? I would still, the cold streak was so long. I mean, basically almost a year. Yeah. That I still am skeptical, but like he's making so much contact and has been pretty much all season. Yeah, I mean, it's really tough to say what, where he stands right now.

I think the best... Josh Bell or Jose Ramirez? I think I would still take Bell. But yeah, that's an interesting one. All right, we're going to take a break. We got a lot more to talk about. Masoira Tanaka got Tanaka it around. Lucas Gialito, I've got an interesting stat

on Lucas Gialito against tough competition versus the rest of the league. And all those injuries and all those call-ups and all those trade rumors. That's all next on. fantasy baseball today. All right, news and notes for you here. Blake Snell out at least a month after arthroscopic surgery on his elbow,

and Joey Gallo is out at least four weeks after wrist surgery, the handmate bone it was. So Chris, Blake Snow and Joey Gallo stash, drop, what do you do? I mean, if you have an IL crunch, what do you do? You'd prefer to stash them, but at this point in the season, especially in a head-to-head points league where playoffs are going to be starting in the next three weeks in a lot of leagues, I think you probably, you can't definitely stash them, is what I would say. You also can't definitely drop them. It's going to depend on your situation. If you're in first place,

you've earned a buy in the playoffs and you've got a little extra time, you might be able to hold on. But if you're fighting for your playoff life right now and you need that roster spot, yeah, I think you can drop both of them. It's really tough to have to do that or to even have to think about it. at this point in the season, this is the tough thing about getting into late July and in August is that a four-week injury in April is nothing.

You'll be back before you know it, but your season might be over before Blake Snell gets back. Yeah, and I think, you know, Joey Gallo with the handmade bone injury, you have to remember, Matt Olson has come back and he's been great,

so that gives you a little bit of hope. Four weeks just seems like really optimistic, but maybe it's just, you know, there are different severity sometimes. I don't know. Not a doctor, but I was surprised that it was only, you know, a four-week timetable for Gallo. I'm a little skeptical, to be honest. But that should mean there's a lot of time left if he comes back in only four or four and a half weeks. Yeah, I'm a little skeptical of Blake Snell out at least a month.

I would guess that's more like six weeks, you know. Nathan Ovaldi had a similar procedure in, I think, spring of 2018. Just to arthroscopic surgery, minimally invasive to remove some loose bodies in his elbow. That was on March 28th. He returned on like June 5th. So you're probably looking at a situation where he's out until at least September, Snell. It is my assumption. All right. Other news items here, Edwin Diaz took a line drive off his foot. X-rays were negative.

Actually, three more, three Mets notes. That one. Plus the Mets scored four runs in the first inning for Jacob de Grom. That's the most he's ever gotten as a Mets in a Mets. 160 starts in the first inning. Oh, I thought he just meant in general. I would have believed that, too. No, that's the second most he's ever got it in general.

Dominic Smith is working out in the outfield as they try to get his bat in the lineup along with Pete Alonzo's. Here's a quote from Josh Bell, who continues to struggle, had an okay game yesterday. Quote, I feel like I just have to focus on, I guess, being more selective for the time being. Seeing the last series or so, how guys are attacking me, I'm just going to try to go from there and hunt my pitch

and try not to miss it. see if that helps me get back on the right track. It's Josh Bell. Meanwhile, Domingo Santana's out at least a few days with an elbow strain. That crazy 16-inning game, the Orioles and the Angels yesterday, we actually saw Griffin Canning pitch two innings and get lit up. He was supposed to start tonight. That is obviously not going to happen.

So do not start Griffin Canning tonight. Hopefully you didn't have him in your lineup, like, you know, well, no, you probably did have him in your lineup. If you had Griffin Canning in your lineup, that was bad. Tough friend. And gosh, man, speaking of bad. Chris Towers is wearing a pair of socks right now with his cat

You said bad? Well I would make fun of you except that have the same exact thing Right, you have the same exact thing Look, it's a great, it's a great sock And I've, both of my cats are on mine I were a gag Christmas gift for my wife Oh mine were, mine were a very sincere Christmas gift For my sister

My wife also has one with our dog on it Uh yeah, those are fun, they're fun socks My friend got a pair of shoes with her husband's face on them and didn't tell him about it and then like wore them out one night. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. That's pretty great. Okay, Chris, we have some call-ups to talk about here. So, you know, different levels of excitement.

I just need one second to cue up music. And I'm going to say to these call-ups, I have no idea when the welcome. but I can't hear it. What did you say it? Welcome back. Welcome back, Travis Shaw. Welcome back, Yasmati, Tomas.

Welcome back, Willie Calhoun. All three called up. Brew was calling up Shaw. Yasmani Tomaz, amazing. Oh, Ian Hap. I forgot about Ian Hap. He's supposed to be the notes, too. It's a big day for Heath Cummings.

It is. He quips the podcast in a huff, just walks out, all of a sudden, Travis Shaw, Yismani Tomas, and he and Hap are back. That's like the Heathcoming's Mount Rushmore. And Willie Calhoun. So of those four, how would you rank those four in terms of the addometer? I'd probably go Calhoun, Shaw, Hap, Tomas.

Yeah. What's this Yosomani Tomas thing? What's that? What is this Yosomani Tomas thing? He's been crushing it in AAA. He's having a. really good year. Yeah, and 305, 944 OPS, 29 home runs in 98 games.

He is, I mean, he's never been this good at AAA now. That being said, it's the juiced ball in AAA, so that that probably explains some of it. But this is the highest level we've ever seen him perform at since signing. You know, we're five years into his professional career in a, America and he's never hit this well. So I guess that's a good sign. He's still kind of the same contact. If he contact, no walks swinging for the fences guy. So he might get exposed if he does get everyday playing time. But in a deeper league, I'll keep an eye on him. Okay. So what about Ian Hap? You know, they sent down Addison Russell. We talked about how we, we are interested in

Robelle Garcia. I'm not sure, and Hap, I think, is actually going to play the outfield. I'm not sure that any of these guys, well, certainly not Shaw, but Tomas, Willie Calhoun, and Ian Hap, I don't think any of them are everyday players. The reason I had Calhoun first is I think he probably comes closest to being an everyday player. I'm not sure, like, Shaw maybe gets a start or two at second base or third base every week, and then I know he's been working out at first base as well, so maybe they'll try to get him in there,

but it's not like he's a better platoon option with Hazus Aguilar than Eric Thames. So, you know, I'm skeptical that he's just going to become an everyday player. There have been rumors that they might trade Hazer's Aguilar. So that's the one thing to keep an eye on. If that happens, maybe Travis Shaw could get an everyday job at first base. All right, two others that we could be welcoming back. Well, Byron Buxton, we are welcoming back.

Two others, though, Matt Carpenter and Carlos Correa could both be back today. Quick note on the Carda. Correa, by the way, just remind you, had a 907 OPS in 50 games before getting hurt. He was batting 295 and 11 home runs. Wasn't really a standout at shortstop, but I have a feeling if he has a 907 OPS going forward, he probably will be, although the lack of steals could hold him back a bit. But Matt Carpenter, the question for me is Tommy Edmund. from an NL only standpoint or a deep league standpoint,

he's been certainly good enough. I think Edmund's been helped by the fact that he's been leading off, but he's played some third base, he's played some second base. The fact that they have him batting lead off, does that suggest to you that he might just stick as the second baseman and maybe move Colton Wong to the bench? You know, does Tommy Edmund lose all his value

when Matt Carpenter comes back, or is there's still something there? I think we'll have to see. I honestly can't make an informed guess on that one because this is a team that does have a lot of overlapping parts and maybe it gives an opportunity

to give Carpenter an extra day off every week but you know I can't exactly say I would be surprised if Colon Wong was just benched so I would think Tommy Edmund's not going to play every day but I can't we don't know yet

Hey Chris Hey hey Hey Chris Hi From NPR's Boston Bureau, wanted to let you know that in head-to-head points leagues, the Boston Red Sox, currently out of the playoff picture,

but looking at, have three of the eight best hitters in points leagues. Can you name them, Chris? Rafael Devers. Zander Bogart's. I guess it's got to be mokey. It's mokey bets in points leagues. But I've got a hey real quick for you as Zander Bogart's double-dong yesterday.

drove in four has a 975 OPS. Hey, real quick, Xander Bogarts or J.D. Martinez. Woof. There's definitely, I'm not going to worry about positional scarcity here. Martinez is an outfielder. I don't think that's going to make a difference. Bogart's has definitely been better this season.

A lot better. 90 points higher OPS. I think I would still take Martinez, but I don't feel super confident about that. I just, I don't see much reason to think that Jani Martinez has lost a significant amount of what makes him so good. So I would still expect him moving forward to be, you know, a 950 plus OPS bat. I'm not sure I would expect that from Bogart's. And, you know, it's not like Bogart steals bases at this point anymore.

So I think I would still take Martinez, but it's really close. Zander Bogartz. You know, I don't know. I guess we probably didn't get properly excited about what he did last season. You know, maybe that was because it was so heavily weighted towards doubles instead of home runs. And we didn't quite acknowledge that he had a big breakout. And he was a swing change guy.

So, you know, that's not necessarily coming out of nowhere. He's really good. Zander Bogartz is incredibly good. What I was excited about with Bogart's was that his plate discipline really improved late in the year. And this year, 57 walks, 83 strikeouts. He has a 400 on base percentage with a 315 batting average. But that's a good walk rate.

And he has scored, he's played seven more games than J.D. Martinez. And he has scored 82 runs to 59 runs for Martinez. So that is 23 more runs and seven more games for Bogart's instead ahead of J.D. Martinez. That's pretty awesome. All right. We've got to take another break here. When we come back, we got some juicy trade rumors and actually some. non-trade rumors. That's coming up next on fantasy baseball today.

Chris, the Giants, are they going to be buyers? There are reports. They are so bad. They have, they have one good player. And apparently they're not trading. No, they have Will Smith. They have good relievers. But they're not apparently looking to trade Madison Bumgarner right now. I mean, as a Bumgarner owner, that's actually good. That's wonderful. But, well, Scott might disagree and say, hurts his win potential. And I would agree with that, but I don't mind him sticking in that ballpark. But it's amazing.

I mean... I mean, I guess it's Boaches last year, right? Yes, that's exactly. They don't want... They want to go out competitive with him. It seems dumb to me. Like, I'm not going to complain about teams trying to win games. Like that, as a person who doesn't root for any specific team,

I'd rather there be just more competitive teams in Major League Baseball. but in their specific circumstances this seems really just a bad idea. There's a couple of teams that are just they're doing dumb things at the trade deadline. I don't understand or like it.

Well, it could all be a bluff. I guess we'll find out. I made a bet with a listener that the Giants, I think the Giants are going to finish seven games below 500 or worse. That's probably a stupid bet to make because they're only two months left of the season. Their Prithagorean win loss is nine games under 500.

They've been one of the more lucky teams in baseball. Having a good bullpen can help you outperform your Pythagorean win-loss record, which is based on run differential and whatever. But, yeah, they've been very lucky so far. And just a standings note here, the Dodgers are 14 and a half games up on the Giants who are in second place in the division tied with the Diamondbacks. But the Dodgers also are six games up five.

six and a half, I think, up on the Braves for the best record in the National League. And that's just very significant because I just, I cannot see Clayton Kirshaw in particular going through the entire season without at least getting a starter to skip. And I don't know if that's a huge deal, but the Dodgers are basically going to have nothing to play for.

Now, how much better are they than the Yankees and the Astros? They're only like a game better. So maybe you look at that and say they want a home field advantage for the World Series. But I just think it's very possible that these Dodgers pitchers are going to be rested down the stretch. All of them, I could see the case

for. You know what the Dodgers do. Tampa Bay is not going to trade Charlie Morton, according to John Morosi of MLB Network. The Blue Jays may extend Marcus Stroman, according to SNY's Andy Martino. I just don't believe that. The key is getting traded. He's getting traded, Chris. The Blue Jays are trading

Stroman. It seems really likely. And that would be a smart move. It would be a bad decision for them not to trade him at the peak of his value. And the Mets seem motivated to trade Noah Cinderguard. There was the report yesterday that they may extend Zach Wheeler and trade Noah Cinderguard. And if they actually did that, that would be not one of the dumbest things the Mets have done because Mets, but incredible. Just that would be mind blowing. Well, why?

I mean, they could trade Cindergarde. They get a haul for Cindergarde. Sure, but you should also try to trade Zinceregarde. Wheeler. You're extending a guy who's had one good season and a ton of injuries? That doesn't make any sense. Yeah, can't argue with that. All right, let's get back to baseball here

on the field stuff. Some streaking hitters. Paul Goldschmidt has homered in four straight games. And he now in July has a 1025 OPS. Danny Santana since the All-Star break. He's basically been an everyday player since the All-Star break.

He is batting 417, slugging 8-54. Since the All-Star break, Danny Santana has five home runs, four doubles, and a triple. I think that there is a steep drop-off coming with Danny Santana. More on that in a second. The other guy who's streaking right now is Miguel Sineau. Last 21 games, he's batting 2-0, 402 on base, 6-81 slugging, 13 walks, 25 strikeouts. Not a bad ratio.

1084 OPS for Sano, who's only 55% owned. That 1084 OPS is in his last 21 games. All right, so I'll ask you questions about all of them. Paul Goldsmith back to being a stud hitter. Yeah, yeah, I would expect him to be a stud hitter moving forward. He's no Yuleiguriel, but he's pretty good. Is Danny Santana legit, or is he about to just, like, have a crazy funk?

He's not this good, but he's been a guy who, if you look at the stack cast metrics, has been very impressive for most of the season, even going back to before he really started hitting well. And there was something changed in the off season between 2017 and 2018 because he went from a slap hitter with a 32% hard contact rate and an average ex-velocity of 85 miles an hour to right around 91 miles per hour average X velocity

and a 40 to 44% hard hit rate over the last two seasons. So he appears to have reworked his swing and it's made him into a legitimately, decent hitter with some pop and speed. And I think there's value in that in fantasy for sure. Like I'm not sure how much difference there will be moving forward between him and Ramon Luriano. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, right, but we're not talking super high end here with Santana. But I'm just worried because he's got a 401 Babbitt and not exactly a fly ball hitter. He hits more ground balls than fly balls, which is good for Babbitt. But bad for home runs. So, yeah, I mean, it's a good hard contact rate. 44%. It's not like, that's good, it's good.

But I don't know, man. I just, like Elvis Andrews had a batting average, Babbip over 400, and he's been terrible at the plate. At least he's stealing some bases. Yeah, you're not. He's not going to see a big slump coming. Yeah, but I can see him hitting like 210, you know, for three weeks or something. Maybe, but Santana does have a career 340, Babbip.

So even if he regresses, like I said, he's hitting the ball a lot harder now. So you might be able to say, you know, maybe he's a 350, Babib guy, in which case, you could probably see him hitting 275. And with, you know, the ability to hit 20 plus homers and steal 20 plus bases over a full season, that's a really valuable fantasy player if he can be that. Yeah, it is, it is. Plus all the eligibility and batting second in the order is good. Miguel Sineau. Is Miguel Sinoe underowned? Are we missing a big...

The guy was an all-star before. The guy, you know, was really good early in his career and also really bad early in his career. It's been a streaky guy. But Miguel Sinole, swing change, on a streak, 55-owned. Are we missing the boat here on Sinell? Yeah, he's a little underowned of 55%. I think it's fair to say that. He's someone I want, you know, in my lineup, especially when he's hot. The one thing is, is the strikeout rate this season is still very, very bad. It's been better in this streak, but still that's the one thing that's potentially holding him back. And it has been his whole career. We will get to Tanaka and Gialito, Gialito in particular, and I promise. But I just give a quick shout out here to Jonathan V.R. Home run and three steals yesterday. I don't think he's a very good hitter, but the stolen base has helped. He's batting 248 with 12 home runs and 20 steals. He is the number 11 second baseman.

He is the number 15 shortstop in fantasy. And I don't have much else to say about Jonathan VR. He's going to end up being like 86% of Alberto Mondisey. So that's pretty good. Because of the injury. Yeah. Yeah, like Mondesie would blow him away and steals. Sure.

If he had stayed healthy. All right, one more break. I do need to thank our sponsors because they have, you know, they make this show possible. I know we have a lot of breaks today. But it's all about the sponsors. So thank you so much for supporting our show. We appreciate it. One more sponsored word here on fantasy baseball today.

And when we come back, most added list and some more from yesterday. And we'll help you out with two-star pitchers for the upcoming week. We'll be right back. Hey, no surprise. Danny Santana is the most added player in CBS Sports lists. We don't have to talk about him anymore. CBS Sports Leagues is what I meant to say. But also CBS Sports lists, it works.

He's 76% owned. Travis Darno, 56% owned, Rinaldo Lopez, 46% owned, Jose Urquitti is 30% owned. Erkitti was brilliant last time out. He was terrible the two times before that, but now he gets the Cardinals. I just think that, you know, at 30% owned, you might want to take a shot on Jose Orquite because you never know. You never know. This could be your last chance to get him. I'd rather take a shot on him or Tyler Beattie than.

And either Chase Anderson or Kevin Gosman, who are the ninth and tenth most added point. Why, why Beattie over Gosman? I mean, even during this good streak when Beattie was getting that slider in there, and then his last start was terrible, but it was three good starts for Beattie, but the strikeout rate was still very low.

It's the mystery box versus the boat with a bunch of holes in it. As the guy that... Kevin Gosman is Kevin Gosman. I don't know that he is. though. I think that there may have been some adjustments. May they were sort of alluding to it on ESPN when he came back and made this very good start. It's like Gosman's got the ingredients to be a good pitcher. He's just never been able to

put it together and make a nice dinner, Chris. Right. And why would we think that all change now? I don't necessarily think so, but I'd rather take a shot on him than Tyler Beattie. Yeah, I'm just kind of done with that with Gosman. I just, I think, you know, You know, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and water slides off his back very easily like a duck, it's probably that. Okay.

I like Brandon Workman on this list at 51% owned. I think he would get the next save for the Red Sox. And he's ahead of Nadevaldi who pitched mop-up duty. Well, I mean, it's not mop-up duty when you're winning. Is it? Well, and there would be no opportunity for any. anything but mop-up duty with the way the Red Sox spanked the Yankees last night. But is it mop-up duty when you're winning?

It's mop-up duty when you're losing. He was mopping up the withered corpse of the Yankees pitching staff. He was mopping up the Yankees duty, that's for sure. So, yeah, anyway, Brandon, Evaldi pitched last night in the ninth inning in a 15-run win. Brandon Workman 51% owned. Anthony Santander, we're not really excited about. out at 17%, but Asher

Wojahowski at 14% we are. Manuel Margoe, certainly if you need steals, 24%. All right, Jake Junice, Brad Keller. Showing some better signs. Yeah, that's right. That's how I feel.

Yeah. Maybe Alex would. He's kind of interesting if he can recapture some of the magic that he had a couple years ago with the Dodgers. It's a tough place to pitch. He's had a lot of back issues, but I would rather take a chance on him than Junis or Keller or Gosman.

Oh, I got a good one for you. If you need a first baseman, second baseman or a third baseman, Ryan McMahon. Good day yesterday, but he's got six, I think six, maybe seven, but I think six home games next week. They are completely at home next week. Ryan McMahon is 48% owned. That is a guy I think that you might want to take a little bit of a gamble.

Yeah, you'll probably want to add him for next week, but God, he's been so. mediocre this season. All right, let's look at the most... He does have an 879 OPS at home, so kudos to do. Yeah, yeah, come on, come on, come on. Let's take a look at the most traded players in CBS Sports Leagues, Chris.

Chris Sale is a number... Oh, wait, can I tell you the guy that I think you should trade? Yes. Domingo Ramon. Just like I said, he's a good chance he's out of the rotation. At least for a portion of the rest of the season. I don't think that Mingo Ramon is going to be a starter from here to the end of the regular season. They have to manage his innings.

It's a good call. All right. Here are the other most traded players. Chris Sale, Noah Cindergarde, Madison Bumgarner, Austin Riley. Gosh, who would trade for Austin Riley right now? Zach Rankie. I guess it's a buy low opportunity for him and Andrew Benintendi and J.D. Martinez. Yeah, but I mean, I think Riley is in a much different category.

than Ben Intendi and J.D. Martinez. Yeah, it's a bad category. No, it's not. Not for J.D. Martinez. No, it is for Austin Riley. He's in a different... Oh, for Riley. Yeah, yeah. His cat, yeah.

What do you think about James Paxton being on the most traded list? Would you be looking to acquire Paxton? I don't think he's right. I just think that he's pitching through... He's been pitching through this knee injury and he just hasn't looked like himself. Ironically, he is pitching

a lot better at home than on the road, which is the exact opposite of what we thought would happen moving to Yankee Stadium. His ERA is a full run lower at home. So that's a good sign. If I could buy really, really low and trade like Mike Minor for him, let's say I would do that.

Yeah, he's coming off a really bad start against the Rockies. Before that, 18-innings, five run runs with 21 strikeouts in his previous three starts. but yeah, like I don't think you're going to get the length that you were hoping for from him. That knee could always be an issue. And we'll see his next two starts are against the Red Sox tonight and next week.

So we'll see how it comes out of that. A little scary. Bryce Harper's on the most traded list. He's quietly been pretty good, I think. For like over a month, I'd say. Oh, he's fixed the problems that he had early in the season. Remember when he was striated? striking out a ton and couldn't make any contact and was starting to look like the pre-2019 version

of Joey Gallo. He has, I think, very quietly. He needed to strike out three times in his most recent game. So, you know, only so much that you can say there. But over his last 44 games dating back to June 1st, he struck out 43% of the time. That may not sound great, but it's actually like 23%, which is pretty good. Okay. So Bryce Harper looks like a pretty good option for you there. And that would be, that's what I want to highlight on the most traded list. Are there any other players that you think should be traded or acquired? I mean, when you're looking at, I guess right now at this point in the season,

I would start thinking about guys who might be traded, like Marcus Stroman. You will see it with pitchers, especially if he changes leagues, changing leagues can have an impact that that isn't so great for pitchers. So Strowman seems like, yeah. I mean, going from the AL to the NL helps, but yeah, there can be an adjustment period. In Stroman's case, though, I just think he's an obvious sell high candidate because I don't think he's going to be a 3-ERA pitcher. And when he reverts back to being a pretty good 3-7 to 3-9 ERA pitcher,

I think you're going to lose a lot of value because he doesn't have those strikeouts. All right. Let's talk about three terrible pitchers from yesterday. Masahiro Tanaka gave up seven runs in the first inning, gave up 12 runs in three and a third at Boston. Tanaka is the first Yankee starting pitcher to give up 12 runs, earn runs in a start since 1923. We almost made it a century.

You know, they have a sign in the Yankees office that says, It's been blank days since one of our starting pitchers has given up 12 earn runs. And they just had to reset it. Yeah, they just had to reset it. What a shame. Lucas Gialito was also terrible. He gave up four home runs, three of them in Nelson Cruz, seven earn runs and five innings. Now, here are two stats.

One for Tanaka, one for Gialito. The third guy is Musgrove, by the way. Tanaka, you take out two starts against Boston, one in London, and then yesterday, and he has a 356 ERA. Gialito Gialito against the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs,

twins and Astros 551 ERA Against everyone else, 210 ERA And really I did pick up on this weeks ago where it seemed like he had this stretch of tough matchups

and he just was rarely doing well and I was nervous about Gialito and it's He just right now, he seems to be the kind of guy that can dominate weaker lineups and cannot pitch well against the better lineups. I think it's a big enough sample. And here's his upcoming schedule. Now, there's no way this is going to stay.

But if he were to make a start every five days, this is what Gilead, every five games, this is what he would face. Mets. Tigers, A's, Astros, Twins, Rangers, Braves, Yikes. Cleveland. the Angels, the Mariners, the Tigers, and then the Indians again. And when you consider what the Indians are now, you're looking at a stretch where Lucas Gialito might face Oakland, Houston, Minnesota, Texas, Atlanta, and Cleveland.

As you're like either in the playoffs or trying to get in the playoffs, that's terrifying to me. Yeah, I'm not sure that's enough for me to try to trade him. But, you know, one thing that I do think we're seeing with Lucas Gialito is that that incredible run that he went on. in, what was it, May and a lot of June. You know, that wasn't the real Lucas Gileo. He's not one of the 10 best pitchers in baseball like he looked like, but overall, I still think we're seeing a very good breakout version of Lucas Gilito. And I don't think that's changed.

Well, what do you think about Tanaka now? He's got now a 479 ERA. I think it was four yesterday before this start. And a 125 whip, which, which is not terrible, but it's very high for him. Yeah, I think he's, I think he's a by-low. I think he's better than this. You look at his previous start, Tanaka made it through, I think, five or six innings.

And then in the sixth, yeah, so he must have been five scoreless. In the sixth inning, he gave up five runs to the Rockies. But there was a heat wave. Like, he legitimately tired out. So I think he's a 385-ish ERA guy who should have a pretty good whip. and good wins. And that's a valuable pitcher. If people are not valuing Tanaka's a valuable pitcher,

I think an opportunity to go out and get him. Do you agree? I think right now is a great bylaw opportunity for him. Yeah, I don't think he's going to be an a ace or anything close to it, but I would expect an NERA, at least a full run lower moving forward. Got to get that splitter working on an ugly outing yesterday. All right, not much else from yesterday, but Musgrove, the most confusing. Like, what is he?

What is Joe Musgrove? He's so annoying. He is decent, inconsistent, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. You know, especially since the velocity gains haven't quite held up from when he looked like his most interesting self. I think 84% own is probably a little too high at this point. Scott and I started Musgrove and Tanaka in Team Scam yesterday. So we had a, we had an 1830. ERA and a 276 whip.

We are losing 5 to 4 to 1 right now. Yeah, no, you're definitely losing ERA. Well, we have a 7.27 ERA, and our opponent, Lauren, has a 1.80 R.A, so we are probably going to lose ERA. Still some time to make up ground. I would say so. I would say so. All right. So, Chris, let's make sure we get to the two-start pitchers. Max Scherzer came off the IL, five innings, three runs, eight strikeouts.

Typically, you know, shaking off the rust. Miles Michael has been pretty good lately. Last seven starts, he has a three ERA, but only 30 strikeouts and 42 innings. So he needs to be really, really good to make up for that K rate. And we never bought Brett Anderson. We still don't. And Wade LeBlanc is really interesting if you're in a league that has starts limit. and you can use a guy like Wade the Blanc,

because as a reliever, he's got a 286 ERA, and he's 4 and 0 and 9 relief appearances in 50 and a third, with very low strikeout rate. But I don't know, man, seeing these guys, like, I have a league with a starts limit. It's the only type of league I'm using Wade LaBlanc. Seeing these guys just thrive with openers, it's weird, but there might be something to it.

It's not weird. The logic behind it makes perfect sense. Well, it's weird how good. like Wade LeBlanc has been. It's weird how good Tommy Malone was, but Tommy Malone's last two relief appearances or two of his last three have been really bad. Yeah, they're not going to be,

Wade LeBlanc's not going to be a sub three ERA guy moving forward, but the logic behind the opener makes perfect sense. You're avoiding the best hitters in the lineup at least once. And when you're a guy who doesn't have great stuff and isn't a great pitcher, you know, if you can avoid, you know, who were they playing last night? the Tigers? Yes.

I mean, there's not a ton of guys you want to avoid, but Nicholas Castionis and Miguel Cabrera can still hit the ball hard. Yeah, I think that helps. All right, the next guy that might be in this category, if you have a starts limit, you need a guy who's views with an opener.

I think could be Calquantral. We'll see, that might be tonight. We'll see if he used again after an opener, and he did very well last time out. All right, let's look at the two-star pitchers now. So there's got to be some at Colorado. Colorado's in here, because they've got six home games. So, just real quick, would you start David Price against the Rays and at the Yankees?

Yes. Would you start U. Darvish at St. Louis and home against Milwaukee? Yes. All right, John Gray, two home starts, Dodgers and Giants. John Gray, never affected by Home Road. It's not what bothers him. It's just, you know, not necessarily so great. I don't think I would, but I've mostly given up on chasing John Gray.

So that might just be my own personal issue that I can't get over. Okay. Kenta Maeda at Colorado and home against the Padres. Yeah, him and Ross Stripling both have the same two-start matchups at Colorado versus San Diego. I would prefer not to an erode league just because things can go so bad in Colorado, especially even more so this year even than in the past. So I would rather avoid those two unless it's a points league where I can use them as relief pitchers.

I think that Marcus Stroman, you know, you're probably going to start him anyway, but there's a chance he's not making a second start. Sure. August 1st is Thursday. So he's got to be traded by Wednesday. Just a chance. It's second start.

No, because if he's traded by Wednesday, that would be, you know, just two or three days after he's traded. I would think that would be enough time to get him in the rotation. But what if he's traded on Monday before his start at Kansas City? You know, then he might get started on. Okay, fine. That's the one. Fine, Adam. If I were trading Marcus Stroman, I would not want him to go out and risk an injury.

Sure. So I think, you know, that's possible he doesn't make it. Okay. Jake Oteresee at Miami home against Kansas City. You know, we were criticizing Jake O'Reilly on yesterday's podcast But yeah, the matchups against Miami and Kansas City I think you probably want to start him And then I would drop him after that

Or trade him Julio Tehran at Washington and home against Cincinnati No I'm not going to do it Jhab Jhab two homes start no I'm not starting Jhab no way Yeah I'd really prefer not to

John Means at San Diego Home Against Toronto Is he RP eligible? Yes Okay then I would in a points league Not a Rotto League Merrill Kelly we like And Ronaldo Lopez

Other than that Brad Keller Rick Porcelo De Nelson Lemette Mike Leake Mike Leake at Texas And at Houston seems like a bad idea Tanner Roark Tyler Beatt, Tiberty, etc

Anything there? Yeah, I would probably go ahead and start Keller and Lamet. LeMette, I would prefer to only start in the one matchup against the Orioles, but if you have to, if you need a two-star pitcher, he's worth looking at. I'll also throw out Vince Velasquez. We looked really good in his return to the rotation.

He's in there in Nick Pavetta's place, and I would imagine they might just, saw back and forth between the rotation in the bullpen because they're the exact same guy. But maybe Vince Velasquez can do something versus the Giants versus the White Sox. Those are pretty good matchups. We just saw Zach Allen have the best start of his career

against the White Sox. I think Vince Velasquez is worth looking at a two-start sleeper. All right. Cool. Thank you to Chris Towers. Thank you to our listeners. What a fun week it's been. Remember, our show is going to be at a different time

beginning next week. I don't know if that means we're going to do it the night before and get it out super early or get it out maybe like an hour and a half later

but hopefully early enough for you guys to enjoy it before lineups lock and whatnot. We appreciate it. We're very excited for the trade deadline. Make sure you stay too.

Make sure you watch CBS Sports H.Q for all your trade deadline updates and for a video edition of fantasy baseball today on Sunday. And for Chris, I'm Adam. We'll talk to you Monday.