Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: "Man or Muppet?" & Trade Talk

Episode Date: July 26, 2017

Eduardo Nunez is on the move! What does this mean for Rafael Devers (1:34)? Who is next to get traded and what anticipatory moves should Fantasy owners make (8:00)? ... We discuss the latest minor league call-ups (13:20) before breaking down a slew of SPs and figuring out which ones will be reliable going forward (20:30). Jon Gray? Carlos Rodon? Mike Foltynewicz? ... Worryometer Wednesday for Cole Hamels (43:44), Jacob Faria (44:54), Jose Berrios (47:16) and more. Plus more from Tuesday and a look at today's matchups (53:16) ... 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

rookie streakers number geekers bunch of podcasts wisdom seekers been in league 10 times a day welcome with the show this is the wednesday show usually we grade your trade on wednesday but boy we've got a lot of stuff to get to so put a pin in that we'll grade them on thursday and sports trades well sometimes they involve in wardo nunez sometimes they are scary one person can be replaced by another exchange for money or given away for a hypothetical future person and once they leave your team you can't like them anymore even if they have even if you have their jersey and you can't wear that anymore and you can't wear that anymore except at B-dubs, they won't judge, but others might. Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, Beer, Sports. All right, if I were going to use three words to describe today's show, I would say, trades, pitchers, sports. Hmm, yeah. Okay.

There we go. Trades, pitchers, and trades pitchers. Sounds like you were just continuing that Buffalo Wild Wings ad. Yeah, I mean, that was kind of the point. Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, we had Eduardo Nunez going to Boston. How does that affect Raphael Devers?

Remember when Anthony Swarzak was a closer? That was fun. That was a fun day. That was a good one day. And we have a reason to hang on to Jonathan Luchroy and maybe a reason to sell Sunny Gray. I'll ask you about that. What move should we make before the trade deadline? What's going on, guys?

How's Wednesday treating you? Pretty good. Pretty good. I don't like. this uneasy feeling I have about Raphael Devers in response to this Eduardo Nunez trade, because at last word, it sounded like Dave Dabrowski was saying they're not sure what they're going to do with Raphael Devers. They're going to have to talk about it. Okay.

Just got there. He just got there, Adam. And quite frankly, I don't really like it from an Eduardo Nunez owner's standpoint. Well, it's bad news for one of them, for sure. Yeah. And Nunez is pretty interesting, guys. like, he's kind of just an empty batting average. I mean, he's batting 308.

I'm hoping, like, his road, forget about his home ISO. His own ISO is 087. His road ISO is 135, which is still terrible. So I'm not sure, like, Nunez is on a hot streak right now, but he's not really that good. It is. Yeah, go ahead. Amazing how consistent he's been over the last three years, though.

Like, he's just put up the same exact line three years in a row now. Well, I dropped VR for Nunez, and I don't regret that. VR sat yesterday. I mean, if Nunez, and look, he's only been like a moderate base deal of this year. He hasn't been the 40 steel guy he was last year. But if he didn't do that or if he wasn't eligible at shortstop, either one of those, then I'd say he probably wouldn't be mixed league relevant. But there's a chance he's just a utility guy.

Right. Right. That's the problem. And I'm actually hoping that happens. I don't have any stock in Nunez for that, so that's easy for me to say. But just from a baseball fan. Well, shut up, Scott. Like, I have stock in him.

That's pretty selfish. Sorry. That's all right. I get you. It's not selfish. It's selfless for all the non-Nunia's owners who want to see Devers. Fine. So then I'm being selfish.

By the way, he is... This is a good to discuss after we had the Devers team name Tuesday. Is it actually Devers? Because that's what Chip Carey was calling him. Oh, no, you got to be kidding me. Devers just sounds better. Yeah, plus we have the winner of Team Name Tuesday, but we got after the show yesterday from Jeff.

The Devers wears Prado. That's good. Yeah. Oh, man. Well, then leave it to Devers would be perfect. All right, so let's keep an eye on what happens there. With the name. Also, yeah, with the name, and also with the third base situation.

Nunez has 18 steals and 76 games, so he is doing that pretty well. well, but, yeah, batting average and steals, I guess. Okay, that was kind of a lame intro to the show. We're going to have a lot of fun today. What we're going to do is look at a big, big group of pitchers. A lot of really relevant pitchers pitch yesterday. And we're going to separate the men from the boys. Who can you rely on?

Who's kind of waiver, wire, fodder, a two-start streaming option? Actually, I really, that all sounds great, but I really think we need to just nail down this Alex Breggman thing once and for all. Well, he heard himself yesterday, so wouldn't a D.L. It would be lovely. Yes. That would be a win for me. Well, seriously, like, Bregman or Nunes? Bregman. Breggman, if he's healthy.

Okay. I mean, we had a, he was one of a handful of injuries yesterday, so we'll see. It's kind of a bad spot to be in recording this at 9.30 in the morning when we don't know. Right. A bunch of these injuries. I will mention A.J. Hinge. kind of to paraphrase, he said

Astros depth allowed them to remove Regman from that game right away. So it doesn't sound serious, but who knows. All righty. So yeah, Fulte's been awesome. Jordan Montgomery spun a wonderful game yesterday. What else? Hey, real quick is coming up later.

We've got to talk about W-Hit-Merryfield. And let's get started. That would be an even better name. W-Hit-Maryfield? W-Hit-Maryfield would be such. a good name. So Milwaukee acquired Anthony Swarzak. Tyler Clipper with another bad outing yesterday.

Is there anyone you want to own in the White Sox bullpen? Like, if Clipper doesn't claim the role, I just have to think it's going to be a mishmash over the final two months. Colorado might be interested in Jonathan Luchroy, according to MLB.com. So there's that if you're a Luke Roy owner. The Yankees appear to be making progress on acquiring Sunny Gray and Yonder Ola. Alonzo, that's realistic. So I guess now.

Alonso is 77% owned. He has a 709 OPS in his last 43 games. He's actually been much better at home than on the road. It would clearly be a home park upgrade, though. But, you know, Alonzo, let's face it, he's had a very underwhelming career. You could argue he's had like two and a half good months of his career. And they happened this year. And he's been, you know, pretty lousy since then.

So should fantasy owners anticipate an Alonzo trade? Would you care if he got traded to a hitter's park? Yeah, I'd care. Yeah, it could help offset any naturally occurring regression that he might be looking at. Okay, Yonder Alonzo is 77% own. And do you think now is the time to trade Sunny Gray who gave up four runs? They were all unearned. He struck out nine Blue Jays.

He has the best strikeout rate of his career other than his rookie season. And he's pitching really well. I mean, six really good starts in a row for Sunny Gray. and he's got a 440 roadie r a however you look at gray when he was good in 2014 and 15 he was great on the road as well so i think the roadie r a is sort of inflated by one terrible start at cleveland he's he's one of the more extreme ground ball pitchers in baseball and that

and you don't worry so much about how the fences are positioned if that's the case it would be a park downgrade pretty much anywhere he goes but i think he's i think the tradeoff you're getting going to a better supporting cast outweighs it. And if you talk about the Yankee specifically, this is a guy who has a better career road ERA, 333 to 350. It's very close. The OPS split is almost identical. But he also doesn't, he's actually better against lefties. He has a very minor reverse split. That would be the concern if you're moving into Yankee Stadium is the lefty power, especially on the road. And I just, I don't, I don't have that much of a concern about it.

So what I want to know is what moves we should be making ahead of the trade deadline. But if we can just stay on Sunny Gray for a second, how much are you buying it? Should I just get, for some reason I don't trust Sunny Gray? Should I just get over it and put my trust in Sunny Gray and say that Sunny Gray is back? That's what I'm doing. The swinging strikes have been way up. Actually, the strikeout rate he currently has. I mean, it's more than one per inning this year.

And he hasn't done that since, I think, it's part. partial rookie season. So this is, this is, you could argue this is the best Sunny Gray ever. And this is, that's a guy who's, you know, come close to winning the Cy Young before. Yeah, I think there's a lot to like about him. I would not be afraid of getting a trade. Now, there are other players being mentioned in trade rumors who I do think it's worth making some action.

I think, I think this is a great time to try to buy low on Jonathan LeCroy. You do? To try what? try to bylaw on Jonathan LaCroar. The rumor that Colorado is looking at him. But it could go the other way because the Cubs are supposedly interested and you'd have to think he'd be a backup there. Yeah.

I don't know that it's 100% clear he'd completely push Tony Walters. Is it Tony Walters? Yes. I think he would have to. His numbers are about saying. I get that they really like Walters because of his pitch framing, but Jonathan LaCore has been one of the best pitchfremers in baseball over the course of his career.

He's actually weirdly been bad this year. It's been bad at everything this year, except he makes a lot of contact. It's weird that, like, okay, if he's physically declining and you look at, like, Andrew McCutcheon, who we mentioned yesterday, one of the things that made us believe that he was just declining as a batter

was the actual physical decline that you could see in his defense. That wouldn't, like, pitch framing's not an athletic thing. Like, it is, but it is. It's not primarily in essence. Here's the thing, though. You know, a lot of trade rumors right now. We don't know that Lou Croy's getting traded to the Rockies.

Sure. If you want to spy low on Luke Croy, you've got to do it whether he gets traded to the Rockies or not, Chris. Are you comfortable with him turning his season around? I feel like the asking price would be so low. That's my car. I mean, he's borderline dropable now, even as weak as catcher is. Basically, the only reason he's not getting dropped is because his name's Jonathan Bluecroy. So, yeah, I don't think it's a bad idea.

It's just, you know, it could go the other way and then you end up dropping them. So you have to keep that in mind with whatever you end up giving up for him. So Addison Reed. In fact, I got an interesting email. Somebody wants to trade Louis Severino and Addison Reed for you, Darvish. I said, I think you should do that. What would you guys do? Would you trade Severino and Reed for Darvish?

Sure. I don't think Addison Reed's going to be a closer for long. Yeah, I'm not sure how big of an upgrade Darvish is on Severino at this point. I really think Louis Severino is awesome. He is. But I guess if the loss is a non-closing reliever, as we assume, then it's not that big of a deal. And even if the talent level is similar between Severino and Darvish,

it removes that innings concern that you have for Severino. That may not end up being a big deal, but at least you don't have to worry about it. Do you think Justin Wilson will be a closer in a week? No. I'd bet against it. Anyone else that is going to significantly gain or significantly lose value very soon? Well, I wish we could have this conversation Friday because this is something I plan to write about Thursday. We will have this conversation Friday.

All right. Well, look out for that then. Off the top of my head, I am... I mean, any starting pitcher who gets traded is more likely they're not going to gain value because they're leaving a bad situation to go to a good situation. Yeah. So that would include, like Julio Tehran. Garrett Cole, not really. He remains kind of mentioned trade rumors, but the pirates are fine. Like, it's not like he's in a terrible situation. Yeah. Any reliever who gets traded is likely to lose value.

likely to lose value. And so it's more about the guys in that situation don't get traded. Like if Justin Wilson gets traded, maybe it becomes Shane Green in the back of the tiger's bullpen. So that'd be the guy to keep an eye on. That's a good one. Kyle Bearclaw. Yeah.

It's another. Could you see Pat Nyshech becoming a closer? No. No. And which contender gets to closer? Am I overlooking one? Maybe the nationals. You know, they might be content.

I just feel like. Like if the nationals trade for a closer, it would be like... It's going to be a closer. Yeah. The Pett Nishik isn't an improvement. It isn't more closer caliber than what they already have there. He's in the same category as Madsen or Doolow. Right.

Okay. So we'll have this conversation again on Friday. Now there's some minor leaguers being called up. Dexter Fowler's on the DL with a left forearm strain. Harrison Bader hit 403 with 10 home runs against lefties in AAA this season. He got called up and he started yesterday. But Stephen Piscotti could start a rehab assignment tomorrow. Anyone interested in picking up Harrison Bader?

No, not really. I mean, he's one of those prospects who's been on the fringes of the top 100 lists over the years, but the stats and the miners were just kind of so-so. They're better this year, but in the PCL, they weren't really like... Yeah, they don't really jump out of you. What was it, Chris? 871 OPS and the PCL is pretty good, but the league-wide OPS is pretty high.

782. And then the fact he's probably not going to stick around long anyway. I'd leave him for NL only. See you later, Harrison Bader. How about Lewis Brinson, 28% owned? He is called up by Milwaukee. He went three for 31 in his cameo, his 14-game cameo earlier this season.

But great at AAA. Lewis Brinson's up. Derek Fisher, we mentioned that he's up. 24% owned. So these guys are less than 30% owned. And Fisher started yesterday. Like Springer's banged up right now. Fisher started, went one for three with a walk and two RBIs.

Who would you rather own Lewis Brinson or Derek Fisher? I think I would rather own Fisher just because, you know, what we've seen from in the major so far has been pretty successful, and you mentioned Brinson was a disaster. But I'm glad Brinson's back. I was surprised they didn't call him up when they sent Keon Broxton down. But since Broxton is down, there's obviously an opening there. Since returning to the miners, Brinson hit 4-11 with four homers, four steals in 21 games,

struck out just 12 times in those 21 games. So it seemed like he was inspired to make it back quickly and learned some things from his short stay there and has a ton of upside himself. So Fisher for now, definitely keep an eye on Brinson. I don't consider either one of them a real priority. Well, if Springer goes on the DL, then I think that would change things for Fisher. I think he has the opening there anyway. I'm not sure it matters.

Opening, but does he have an everyday opening? It's going to depend on performance, like with Evers, I think. All right. Or Divers. Or Divers. One of those two. Ahmed Rosario will likely be called up after the trade deadline. And how about Tampa Bay starting pitcher Brent Honeywell? I'm seeing people pick him up.

Should Brent Honeywell be added to our rosters? He's someone that if he did get called up, I would have much more interest in than either Brinson or Derek Fisher. Who is – who – you know, there's Alex Reyes, who's obviously out for the year. But is there a – am I overlooking a pitching prospect? is Brent Honeywell the best pitching prospects right now? Might be.

If he's not number one, he's number two. He's really good. And got off to a slow start after early season called to AAA, but it's been much better lately. But they're in the race. Yeah, I guess the question is who, where does he go? Like, who's spot in the rotation does he take? Yeah

Blake's now Did just have his best start Brent Honeywell is baseball Perspect as his top Pitching prospect Not counting out, race Okay

All right so I'm just going to put that name out there Brent Honeywell I've seen him added in like two of my leagues I think I added him and put him in a minor league spot So I guess three of my leagues Screwball Ooh Well how about that

Yeah Yeah So Has the same birthday as me That's huge That's huge I like that that. Chris, who is the same birthday as you? I share a birthday with Jacob de Grom and Dirk Novitsky.

America. Oh, that's right. All right. Chris for the win. I've heard of it. I've heard of it. I have heard of it. So those are some minor leaguers to target if you want to get ahead of the game a little bit. We're going to separate the men from the boys after I talk about what I think is just a terrible way to play fantasy baseball. I need to know if you guys agree with this. So I'm not going to dump all over AL only and NL only leagues. I get it.

You have fun. Do your own thing. I am going to dump all over AL only and NL only leagues that don't allow you to keep a player if he gets traded to the other league. It is so dumb. Like one of the guys who works with us,

Darsed, good friend of mine, he has Jaime Garcia in his NL only league. And he just lost Jaime Garcia in his NL only league. And Jaime Garcia is not that good to begin with. So that's why I don't really like NL only league.

because, you know, he's a must-own guy and a must-start guy. But now he has to replace him. And, like, the best available pitcher is Rafael Montaro or something like that. No, this is a terrible way to play fantasy baseball. I know it's going to be controversial. I know you deep league guys out there are going to hate me, at least temporarily, for it. But you should stop doing that. Keep your player if he goes to the other league.

Big deal. It's not your fault. Yeah, I mean, I could go either way on this. in terms of the quality of the game like what what way results in the best gaming experience

then I think you're right I mean that's that's kind of a random reason to lose a player you're invested in something that you don't have a great deal of control over but that's supposed to be the point isn't that's the whole point of playing in the NL slash AL only up that's the other side of the argument Like, you have an allegiance to a certain league.

You don't want this outsider included in your player. You don't include your interloper. What allegiance to a league? Who cares that much about NL versus A. A lot of people do. Maybe less so. You know, that generation may be, you know, dying off. Some people really hate the D.H., man.

Get over it, John McGraw. Interleague play has been around, what, 10 years? 20. Oh, yeah, it's been a lot of times. Yeah, that's right. I was thinking 1997 was 10 years ago. Not true. Feels like it.

Feels like it. All right, well, I just wanted to vent. I mean, I understand the cool aspect of a deep league where, like, you have a scoop or have a hunch on some player that nobody really knows or cares about, and he's really good. And you were the guy who loved Chris Taylor, which there was none of you. But still, I get that appeal of playing in deep leagues. I just don't think you should be penalized when somebody gets traded. I think that's really silly. Okay, that's my vent of the day.

So, let's take a look at this big old group of pitchers. And I want you to tell me if he's a man, if you can rely on him for the rest of the season. Or a Muppet? I was going to say man or boy. A Muppet of a man. What's that? I don't get it.

Is that the Muppet movie? The Muppet movie. The Muppet movie. The Muppet movie. The Muppet. Different movies. Okay, so should we do Manner? or Muppet? It won an Oscar that song.

Really? Yeah. I would be down to do Man or Muppet only because Heath's not here. Okay, good. And Heath would crap all over it if he was here because he has no heart. So in this, in this, you know, analogy here, man means, you know, put him, he's, keep him. Start him, he's good. Muppet, he's a pretender. You can stream him in a two-star week, but you don't need him in this guy. Made out of felt. Made out of felt. Dan Strelie, Man or Muppet. he's a man I think he

I struggle with Dan Staley because what he's so good at he hasn't been good at lately which is just limiting hits he does such a good job of really generating a lot of weak contact and that has betrayed him lately yeah I think it's I think it's just the randomness

of the season though I mean he's a man at home well even like Adam mentioned he had a bad Rodey already yesterday when we were going through the matchups for the upcoming day. And I went back and looked at the game. Well, four of his previous five road starts were quality starts. And they were against teams like Milwaukee and the Cubs. It's not a Uly's Chasin home away split, you know?

I think his skill set. It's best at Marlins' part, but I don't think it's a problem really anywhere, except, you know, most hitter-friendly bar. We have one vote for Dan Sjali being a man. Chris? He's a man. Mike Clevenger, man or Muppet? I love this game, by the way.

Of course, I was buying in before. And then he goes out and does this. I'll say man. I think he's a very manly Muppet. Because there was some regression coming. He's had some bad bit. luck there. But at the same time, more than a strikeout per inning. I think he's a serviceable option, but he had performed over his head lately, and this was some necessary correction.

So Dan Strelie is a man, and Mike Clevenger is a man for Chris and a very manly Muppet for Scott. John Gray, Man or Muppet? Man. He's a Muppet of a man. Really? 83% owed. You'll be okay dropping John Gray, Scott? I mean, look, he's got a near 6 ERA,

and four of his five starts since returning from the DL have not been very good, and two of them were on the road. The worst two were on the road, actually. So when do you trust him? I phrase it, a Muppet of a man, because, like, I still think he has a lot of talent. It wouldn't surprise me if he turned things around and struck out 11 next time out,

and oh man, why did I drop him? So I'd rather not drop him, but I don't have a lot of trust. I don't have a lot of faith in gray right now, and I could see if I needed a free spot. I could see letting him go. All right, this next guy, I think, is a total Muppet, and he's giving up one run and has a win in three straight starts, but Kenta Maeda, man or Muppet?

He's a Muppet. He's a man. What? Kenta Maida is a man? He is not a Muppet. No, because Muppets have very weak joints. They're made out of cloth. They have little sticks moving their joints around.

And Kenta Maeda has not thrown more than 92 pitches in a start since May 10th. He's done it twice all season. He has three quality starts. Okay, but they've been really good. I think he's a very good pitcher. Three consecutive, very good five-innings starts. Yeah, if you can't go more than five innings. This is bizarro, Scott.

This is bizarro, Scott. Listen, he can go. Well, that's just not, they just haven't let him because they've played this bouncing between the bullpen and the rotation for a while. But he's been in the rotation for a month. I bet next start he goes more than five. Wow. Because now, now they need to rely on him. He's done that.

Now Kirshaw's out for weeks. He's gone more than five innings once since May 10th. So that would be an extremely bold prediction. Yeah, some of those starts were bad. There's been a couple of DL stints. There's been bullpins. And there's been extenuating circumstances that hopefully now don't exist. So I like the skill set.

And look, I hope I'm not approaching this as every Muppet is behind every man, you know? It's not quite that clear-cut. There's a man behind every Muppet. I would rather own Clevenger than Maeda, even though, you know. It's usually they're under them. Yes. They have to have somewhere high. Sometimes they're inside of them.

I don't know. Is Big Bird a Muppet? Big Bird's a... Well... He's from Jim Henson's Creachian Workshop. Is everybody in Sesame Street also Muppets? I don't know. I don't know either.

Kermit had crossover for a while there, but I don't think they use them on Sesame Street anymore. I think that's why I got really confused when I was a kid because of the whole Kermit thing. All right, Jordan Montgomery, Man or Muppet? He's a man. Let me just like, the Reds... He's 40. The Reds are terrible right now. They can't hit.

Their best hitters are pretty much all slumping except Billy Hamilton. And he was great against the Reds, Jordan Montgomery yesterday. But his previous seven starts, 497 ERA and more than a hit per inning. A lot of swinging strikes, though. That's always been consistent. So is Montgomery a man or a Muppet? Chris says man. Scott says?

He's a man. Charlie Morton, Manor Muppet. He's a man as long as they let him pitch in the rotation. The Astros are going to have a very, difficult decision coming up soon because they really like Colin McHugh. Brad Peacock and Charlie Morton have been really good. I think Charlie Morton's skill sets a little more sustainable than Brad Peacock, but Brad Peacock's been better. Yeah, I listened to, and this was maybe two weeks ago now, and actually he doesn't always record them live, so I don't really know when exactly it was

recorded but I listened to Jeff Luno, the Matt, the Astros general manager podcast with Jonah Carey recently and he talked about Brad Peacock

in a way that suggested he fully anticipated Peacock adding to their bullpen depth later on. And then Brad Peacock's been unhinnable for the last couple of weeks. But he was great out of the bullpen even before he was in the rotation.

And they obviously rehab rehabilitated colin mccu to start i don't think he's going to be out fires has been lights out lately morton they seem to like a lot i think i i just i think peacock's out like i think it's better than a 50 50 chance peacocks the one out and so morton to me is a man okay by the way i'm glad you mentioned the jonah carey podcast we have awesome podcasts right now on cbsp sports I think you should really start considering us as your sports podcast hub. Okay, we've got a new college football podcast that is rocking 24-7 sports college football podcast.

We just launched the Pick Six podcast, which is our new NFL podcast. We've brought the Jonah Carey podcast over to our network. Jonah has Ozzy Smith today. Last week, Jeff Luneau, this week, Ozzie Smith heard of them. So, yeah. Jonah Carey's podcast is great, honestly. I listened to it before it was CBS's just very... The quality has gone up.

The quality has gone up. The sound quality has gone up. And I'm not even kidding about that either. Professional standard. Some of those older ones, the sound was kind of sketchy. The sound quality is actually going to get a lot better. You can bang on that. Yeah.

And we've got a wrestling podcast in this corner. So just, you know what? Go to CBSports.com slash podcast singular. Also, go to podcast awards.com. and please nominate, I'm going to ask you to nominate fantasy football today, but you can nominate fantasy baseball today. Podcastawards.com. All right, guys, let's go a little bit faster here.

Carlos Rodon, man or Muppet. He's a Muppet of a Man. Yeah, I think he's more Muppet than Man at this point. Does that mean he's dropable, Rodon? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I would want to hang on to him because I'm always chasing upside with starting pitcher. So, like, if I'm looking at him or Dan Straeli, Dan Streali is going to be more helpful in the near term,

but there's a chance Carlos Rodan goes on an incredible run to close out the season. The talent level is so high. I mean, the same thing I said about Gray, I could say about Rodon, just to an even higher power. I feel like it's been even worse, but the upside may be even higher. And I'd be less likely to drop him than Gray, but... I will say if Rodon pitched at half his game to Cores and John Gray pitched half his games at guaranteed rate.

I would like John Gray more. I think he's a more talented pitcher. Right. Redon has that going for him. Give me a Muppet on this guy. John Lacky. He's a jerk. He's a Muppet.

Because he hit four batters yesterday? He had three in a row. He's a Muppet. He's a Muppet. Seventy-3-0. Mike Fulton-Nevich, 2-95 ERA in his last seven starts. 46 strikeouts in 42 and two-thirds. It's a pretty high whip, though, in that stretch.

Fulton-Evich is 73% own. Maybe getting a little bit better, though. Manor Muppet, Fulte. He's a very manly Muppet. I mean, it's hard for me to just call him a straight Muppet when he throws a 99. And I will also point out, like, I've been criticizing him all year for not many swinging strikes, despite the velocity, despite the occasional high strikeouts. start and this was obviously one of those nine strikeouts in six innings. I think he only had

12 swinging strikes so you know the same same deal like you'd expect more than that in a nine strikeout effort especially because he threw 119 pitches for some reason but this makes it now like if if these high strikeout efforts are fluky there have been an awful lot of flukes this was his um fifth start with eight strikeouts or more I think there was only one that had only eight the rest were like nine 10 11 five of them this year and he's nearly a strikeout per inning now

well that's probably overstating I think he's around eight per nine now so the strikeout rate seems to be going up I feel like I feel like his he's I feel like his ERA still may be a little lower than it should but

I'm starting to come around very slowly on Fultenevich would you drop John Gray or Carlos Rodon for Mike Fultenevich No. Not me. I wouldn't either. Really? I mean... Here's the thing. If you need to win now, you could chase upside all you want, but it's week 17. I can't start Carlos Rodon. He's been an absolute disaster.

So I'm definitely prioritizing... If I'm in first place, I'll prioritize Rodon. I get that. If I'm in fifth place, I need to win, I got to put Fulte in there. A big thing for me, and he's kind of turning it around a little bit, but I just... He feels very like 2013 Andrew Cashner to me, where it's like, man, he throws so hard. Shouldn't he be getting a ton of strikeouts? And he has been lately, but it's not backed up by a great swinging strike rate. And so I just, at some point you have to look at the results and not the radar gun.

And I think he, he's just, I am looking at the results. All right. Well, I am looking at the results. I mean, he's getting better. I was kind of making the, look at the results instead of the peripherals with the five starts with eight strikeouts or more. Yeah, and for what it's worth, his manager, Brian Snitger, I think that's the first time I've said that guy's name on the show, says he's gaining confidence, and he left him in there. That's why I threw 119 pitches. He left him in there to finish that inning. He threw a 99-mile-per-hour fastball on his 119 pitch. All right, that's Fultenevich.

Who's a man? Luis Castillo, Zach Davies, Seth Lugo. Luis Castillo is a man. Definitely. This wasn't his, this was probably his worst start. Yeah. Only two swinging strikes, only two strikeouts. That's a big change for him. But he's been, he's just been so impressive. He's a man. I mean, this was probably his easiest matchup at the Yankees. So what does that tell you?

Things get much easier moving forward. He's really only got one tough matchup in his next five. You can't take credit for that. You know, that took me a lot of research, Chris. Oh, yeah, no. I looked up the schedule. I found this all on my own. He's at Miami, St. Louis, San Diego, at Chicago, at Atlanta.

Please give me all the credit for this information. That's all me. Yeah, so the next five starts. If they stay, look, things could change. But if he pitches every fifth game, it's at Miami, Cardinals at home, Padres at home, at the Cubs, at Atlanta for Castillo. I'm starting him in four of those five starts for sure. But at some point, like he really does have to put together a good start because there

haven't been too many of them. It's like we like what he's doing, but let's get a little reward for it. Only two quality starts and seven starts for Castillo. But I hear what you guys are saying. Davies and Lugo are Muppets? Davies is the Muppet is Muppet of all. And Seth Lugo is a Muppety Man. And Buffalo Wild Wings is really an awesome place to go, especially during sports season,

because whoever invented Summer was obviously a sports fan. They didn't even try to hide it. They gave it playoff hockey, playoff basketball, the opening of both soccer and baseball. It's a clear display of favoritism. And the other seasons didn't stand a chance. With three months of clutch playoff drama and the awakening of new seasons, it's clearly the work of a sports fan. They might as well have called it sports season.

In fact, at Buffalo Wild Wings, they do call it sports season. Don't ever call it summer. It's sports season. They're just waiting on the legal change. Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, Beer Sports. 35 minutes into the show, here's some news for you. Steven Strasbourg may be able to start this week. Adam Wainwright's on the deal with back tightness.

Yueness Cespittist left with quad tightness. It doesn't seem serious, but, you know, that's a lingering thing. Ian Desbin left with a calf injury. Mark Reynolds replaced him. So if Desmond goes on the deal, that helps Reynolds. That helps Parra, big time. And I keep talking about Rajay Davis because I think people need steals and he had been stealing. So it looked like he was only going to play against lefties, but Jacob Brugman was scratched yesterday and Rajay Davis was in the lineup.

We'll keep an eye on that. Most important thing, though, is Rajay Davis, auto-corrected in my phone to Raisins Davis. It knows. It knows. Roger Davis is bad now. Okay. out of here with that crap. Oduble Herrera was benched for lolly

gagging. That's my word. Not Pete McCannons. Bench the sun for being too bright. He bat flipped on a flyout. It was a flyout to the wall, but it was... He bat flips everything. There was a moment in last week's Marlins, Phillies game

where he walked and bat flipped, but bat flipped towards the wrong dugout. And you can see as soon as he lets it go, he's like, oh, crap, the Marlins are going to be mad at this. He bad flipped on a walk? Yeah. But he also didn't run a play out.

So, you know, they get frustrated with Oduble Herrera. Alex Bregman left with hamstring discomfort. We talked about that. All right, let's finish up the rest of the show by talking about a lot more from yesterday. This is actually an action-packed show. I hope you have some time left, people, because we are going to rock your world. Hey, real quick, Gary Sanchez or Wilson Contreras? Gary Sanchez.

Yes, sir. Wilson Contreras or anyone not named Posey or Sanchez Salvador Perez is certainly in the discussion He at least going into yesterday was the number one catcher At least in points leagues I happen to look at that yesterday So I'm going to keep Salvador ahead of him for now But that's a close call between those two Okay

Who is averaging more head head points per game? Gary Sanchez or Buster Posey I think Sanchez by Yeah At least at the All-Star break, it was Sanchez by a considerable margin. I don't know how Sanchez has done lately. Terribly. It's changed that. Very poorly.

Yeah. And Posey. It is still Sanchez, but it's very close. Sanchez. How did you get that out that quickly? What did you say? Oh, you just... I had it.

I had it. Okay. In the bank, ready to go. Chris was going to take credit for it. But it was... Yeah, Gary Sanchez has more fantasy... I did all this math just now. All right.

Hey, real quick. Quit Merrifield or W-Hit Maryfield. or Ian Kinsler or Chris Taylor. I'm going to go with Whitmerfield. I was talking about this before the show. I was talking about this with Heath. No. I think Wineryfield's just a better player than Chris Taylor.

I know, like, we've had this, like, huge Chris Taylor moment. And, like, I think Wineryfield's just been better. No, he hasn't. He has not been. Sorry, Sky. He has not been better, technically. He has. So since June 2nd, May 2nd,

Whitmerifield became the everyday second baseman for the Royals. Heath gave me this stat. He's the number 7 second baseman in points in Roto. I am almost 100% positive that Chris Taylor has been better, and I think Chris Taylor is like number two. So I'm not saying he isn't better. I'm just saying he hasn't been better than Chris Taylor. What Merrifield's done appears to be far more sustainable than what Taylor's done.

And I don't think Taylor's worthless. I've moved beyond that with him. It's just Whitmeryfield. You know, his babbip is... It just comes down to this. Whitmerfield has a 308 babb. Chris Taylor has a 426 babb. Yeah, exactly.

And, like, Whitmeryfield is... There's, like, just enough power and just enough speed. He wouldn't be... If he just had one of those, he wouldn't matter in fantasy. But he has just enough of both.

You know, I think it's a 27-steal 18-homer base now. That's good. 18-holmers, even for a second baseman, is just okay these days. Yeah. But the steals. The steals. And those are harder to come by anyway.

But even in points leagues, you know, two points each. It's just Kinsler. I don't know. I still have a lot of faith in Kinsler. What concerned me about Kinsler coming into the year, the escalating strikeout rate, the increased number of swings and misses has actually normalized this year. So it doesn't appear to me that it's an age thing. And I feel like he's going to come around.

I still rank him ahead of Maryfield. Obviously, Maryfield's the more attractive start right now. Okay. And ahead of Taylor, for that matter, Kinsler? Yes. Now, last 10 games for Kinsler, he is batting 298. He has not homered, but five walks, four strikeouts, four doubles, and two triples in 10 games. So he's hot.

They're all hot. But for Kinsler, it's been, yeah, it's been hot-ish, and it's been much shorter. And we have actually a hey, real quick email, if I could find out. find it. Justin, upton or Ryan Braun, rest of season. This is from Ben.

Upton or Braun. It would be a lot easier to say Braun if he wasn't going to sit out long stretches, but yeah, I would go with Braun still. All right, some quick hitting notes.

Chris Owings snapped an 0-4-23 skid. Nomar Mazar has snapped an 0-4-26 skid. And not only are fantasy owners incorrect for owning No-Mar Mizarra in so many leagues, but Jeff Bannister is incorrect for consistently hitting No-Mar Mazar a third against Ritey's.

It is bad. It is not smart. Don't do it. Chris Taylor is 23 for 44 since the All-Star break. 6.56, Babib. Jonathan V.R. sat as Eric Sogarde led off. Corey Dickerson and Logan Morrison sat against the lefty. Both are slumping.

I don't think we can expect that every time, but they're slumping. And Matt Kemp homered, hashtag reverse jinx from yesterday. So since we reverse jinxed, Matt Kemp, let's see if we can reverse jinks. These suckers, are these players dropable? Evan Longoria is 96% owned, and somehow he is the number 10 third baseman in points leagues and number 13 in Roto. Much worse over his last 28 days when he actually has a 32-batting average, but almost nothing to go with it, but he's not even in the top 20 in the last 28 days.

Longoria, to me, I don't get how he's been 10th in points and 13th in Roto. 96% owned. Feels replaceable to me. Is he dribable in your mind, Longoria? Yeah, he's probably one of those cases that Chris has been talking about a lot lately where he ends up that high just because he hasn't missed time.

Yeah. And he's not really on a day-to-day basis, a top 12th, third baseman. Like, I don't have a problem, particularly in a corner outfield league. I don't have a problem starting him either. But I think he's probably like 17th or 18th like their base ranking. He's on pace for like

170 combined RBI and runs which is just who cares 25 home runs he's very replaceable Obisovia Garcia 88% owned

yep yeah even more so Scott Shebler 71% owned I like Scott Shebler more than I like Avicso Garcia I do too but I I think he is also replaceable. And Ryan Healy, 75%

O and he has been brutal in his last 28 days, 203 batting average one homer. Yeah, they're like, I think he had Longoria are much more similar than the name recognition would have you believe. I prefer Longoria,

but I'll, you know, what I said about Longoria applies for Healy, too. Like, you could do a lot worse, but you could do better, too, in mixed leagues. Gotcha. Worryometer. Wednesday. Finally. All right, I've got five pitchers on the Wariometer.

They are Hamels, Ferrea, Pomerans, Berrios, and Tyone. Zero to ten, how worried are you about Cole Hamels? More like whole camels. Right? So many camels. I don't even start him in a one-star week against the Marlins. I'm there with Hamils. I mean, this wasn't a bad start, though. Right? No, it wasn't. I mean, it was bad whip, bad ERA.

Five strikeouts? Actually wasn't that good. Yeah, I mean, there are some underlying concerns there for Hamels, but the walk issue has been corrected since coming off the DL, and every start but one has been good, right? The one was terrible, but... He's had two bad starts since coming off the DL. He came up to the L, June 26th.

His first start was bad. He's had three good starts, two bad starts, one blast start. Should we expect it to be the Hamils we remember? Probably not, but he's probably top 40. Start him more often than not. But not top 30. Why is Jacob Ferreya on the Wariometer?

Because he has 15 strikeouts to 12 walks in his last 25 innings. Jacob Ferreya, zero to 10. Two. Swinging strike rate is still pretty healthy. I'm not that concerned about it. Yeah, this stretch, his swinging strike, totals start by start have been like Mike Fultenevich's best swinging strike starts of the season. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, do we care all about strikes looking? Do you guys ever look at that metric? Yes. Yeah, there are some players who are really good at getting looking strikes, called strikes. Rick Porcelo over the last couple of years has been a great example, Aaron Nola. And that's its own version of deception. that's getting guys to not swing at pitches that they should swing at.

That's its own version of deception. It's not as viscerally interesting or exciting as a big swinging strike. It has the potential to be more misleading, too. Yeah, and I think it's harder to put at bats away when you don't get swinging strikes. I think that's where it comes in. It's like a swing strike and a called strike are the same on the first two, but it's that third strike where you can get, You can get a little too hitable if you rely on called strikes.

Okay, dokey. Next up on the Worryometer, Drew Pomerant, who has about a 3 ERA over his last two months. Why is Drew Pomerantz on the Worryometer? Three of his last four starts, four or more walks issued by Drew Pomeranz, and only one start of seven innings this year. So Worryometer on Drew Pomerantz. You know what I think, Adam? I think you're a worrywart.

You're concocting reasons to worry about pitchers. I dropped Drew Pomerans in a 10-team league, where I already had Jacob Furiya and Luis Castillo. I dropped Drew Pomerant. He was picked up immediately, and that makes perfect sense, and I didn't love dropping him. But I think he's good, but not great. I like Furea more. I like Castillo less, but I can understand dropping Pomeran's for Castillo. I don't really have major concerns about Pomerans, but I do think there's a limit to his upside.

there's walk issues, there's innings issues. So, you know, in a shallower league, I could understand him being kind of fringy. Jose Burrios. In July, he has a 579 ERA, eight walks, 18 strikeouts, and 23 and a third. And another bad start yesterday. Predictably, I think, at the Dodgers, they crush everyone. They have Chris Taylor. Jose Burrios, Wariometer.

The swinging strike rate has gone way down for him. only 8% in the month of July, only one start with more than 10. And that was only 11, so that's not exactly great. I'm a little worried, but he's shown so much this season that I think it's probably just a natural rough stretch that he'll get through. Were we supposed to be assigning numbers to these? Yes. Yes. I said two for one of them.

I'll say a three for Burrios. I'm a little more worried about him than I am about Jacob Faria, but I'm not dropping either one. I'll go four. How do you like that? There you go. I don't like it that much. Feels disrespectful. Would you rather have Berrios or Hamels the rest of season?

Burios. Hamels. And finally on the Wariometer, Jameson Tyone. So, by the way, my bold prediction yesterday was that Yolisha's scene would be a top five starting pitcher yesterday. And he had one of the best ERAs and whips because he didn't pitch, got pushed back to today. But he certainly was better than James and Ther. Tyone, who was awful at the Giants. And, yeah, worst starter of the day for sure, Jameson, I think, anyway.

Worryometer. He has only gone more than six. He's only gone more than five. Moriometer. Five. Four. Five. Now you can.

We each one up one from Barrios. Now you can discuss. He has a really high Babbitt. I feel like he's had some bad luck this year. He's got a 350, he had a 350 bad bit before last night. Yeah. and he has a 362 overall. Strikeout rate's been actually better than I expected.

Yeah. I still think there's a lot to like about Tyone. The innings are an issue. Yeah, he's only pitched past the sixth inning. He's only finished the sixth inning twice since coming back from the DL. Yeah. Now, who are your two favorites from that list? Hamils, Faria, Pomeranz, Burrios, Tyone.

Hamils and Burrios with Ferrea closing in. Tyone and Burrios. Oh. Chris loves him. I'm the Tyone guy. You are. I didn't know this. How many leagues?

Something new every day. Oh, you know that. You knew that. How many leagues do you tie own him in? Not that many. I think only one. Well, then you and I are in a tie and how many things we own him in? Just killing it right now.

I should call this the Tyone podcast when it's just you two. Yeah, exactly. Okay, we have a lot to get to and not that much time. so light speeds too slow. Prepare the ship for ludicrous speed. Joey Gallo and Kurt Suzuki double dong. Do you care? I do not. Maybe in two catcher leagues, Suzuki has six home runs this month. Yeah.

Joe Gallo, the only player in Major League history with an OPS over 850 and a batting average under 200. Four-man rotation. Do you have anything insightful to say about Madison Bumgarner, Lance Lynn, Taiwan Walker, or Felix Hernandez? I still want so badly to trade Taiwan Walker. Yep. It had four swinging strikes last night. Look what happened to Felix Hernandez.

Are we still all aboard the Felix Hernandez's back train? Yes. Are you fun? Well, not back. No, that's what Heath was saying. He's not King Felix anymore. He's like the... Bishop Felix?

The Duke of the Principality of Felix or something. This wasn't that bad of a start until the fifth inning. It all came on... Sixth. It all came unraveled. He'd only give it up one run through five. And actually, I mean, the final line is almost exactly the same as Cole Hamels. So, like, it's not that bad.

Four and runs in five? Four and no hamils? Four and one extra. Four and runs in five and two-thirds, whereas Hamils had four and runs in six innings. Like, Felix has a 367 ERA since coming back from the D.L. In late June. I think that's probably who he is. And that's...

That's a useful player. What was the ERA? What was the ERA? That's Trevor Cahill's ERA for the season. Questionable strikeouts and questionable endings. Strikeout per inning. I don't think he's a strikeout per inning. No, he is.

He literally, actually more. Okay. Not on the year. I don't think he will be. Yeah, on the year he's just under a strikeout per inning. Um, hmm. Don't worry about Bradley Zimmer. since being called up, he is not even a top 40 outfielder.

Actually, that's, yeah, since he started playing a little bit more on June 1st, so about two full months, not a top 40 outfielder. Todd Frazier's first at bat as a Yankee and Yankee Stadium was a run-scoring triple play. That was crazy. That was Dede's fault. But Dede's the best, he homered. Zach Cozart has a sore quad. If Cozart's out, that will free up some playing time for Jose Paraza.

Miguel Seno day to day with a hand issue. He pinched hit yesterday. Jason Kipnis could begin a rehab assignment this weekend. Adrian Gonzalez could be back in two weeks. So, yeah, who gets hurt here? Do they just move Chris Taylor to second base? You know who I think gets hurt? Adrian Gonzalez.

Yeah. I mean, like, you literally think he gets hurt again? No. I think he's a big player. I think he comes off the bench unless somebody else. Somebody else gets hurt between now and then. Kevin Kiermeier could be back. August 9th.

That's what he's eligible. And I think a lot of people have been relying on Malix Smith. So see what happens there. Salvador Perez left with rib discomfort, but he expects to play today. Looking at today's matchups? All right, here we go. Real quick. Abaldo Homenes, Alex Cobb.

Cobb. Yeah, I'll start Cobb, but I don't love it. Homer Bailey, Luis Severino. That's easy. Yep. Ever. Aaron Blair is pitching today. I didn't know that.

Yeah, he's, at least for this turn, he's the one replacing Jaime Garcia. I will start Patrick Corbin in that game. Yes, me too. Red Sox Mariners, Chris Sale, Andrew Moore. I will not start Andrew Moore. Trevor Williams and Jeff Samarja. Jeff Samarja, man. I'll do it.

I'll do it. Yeah, I'll do it because it's at home, but it's annoying. Just like figure it out. We will start Mike Fires at the Phillies. This is a tough one, I think. No, it's not. Aeronola. He's been too good to sit.

It's just the Astros, that's all. Jimmy Nelson and Gio Gonzalez. I'll start both. Start both. Paul Blackburn and Marco Estrada. Neither. Yep. Neither, right?

That was you said? Correct. Okay. Right. Ricky Nalasco, Carlos. Oh, Asco. Nick Regan Alasco versus cookie Carlos Carrasco Cookie

Cookie Ian Kennedy Edel Sanchez I will start Neither I'll start Kennedy Jose Urana You Darvish

Well obviously you Not Arania Jake Arieta Jake Arieta start James Shields sit Jeff Hoffman Carlos Martinez I'll start Jeff Hoffman Start Jeff Hoffman.

He hasn't been so great even on the road lately, but I'll give him another chance, and obviously, Carmart starts. Do you trust Stephen Mats or Yolishasine tonight? I will trust both of them. Yeah. Petco. I don't feel super great about Stephen Mats, but yeah, I'll start him. Sure.

Irvin Santana and Brock Stewart. Brock Stewart, what the heck? Why does there always have to be... Why can't the Dodgers just be straightforward with their pitching? It should be so easy now that Kershaw's hurt. It's so true. I will start Santana. I mean, Brock Stewart's kind of cool, but...

I mean, his name's a name's a good name. I'm interested in seeing what he does, but you can't start him. All right. Jeff Hoffman, by the way, has a 245 ERA on the road, so at St. Louis. That should be a fun one. I don't know why I said fun. Probably not that fun. This is from...

By the way, it's kind of interesting. So last night, the Cardinals and Rockies played a three-two game. The score was 3 to 2. They experimented with cutting down the commercial breaks by, I believe, 30 full seconds. That is a ton of time off the clock. The game was like 3 hours and 11 minutes. It was 6 minutes longer than the average baseball game this year. A 3 to 2 game with shortened commercials was 3 hours and 11 minutes.

This is a problem. I don't think there were a ton of pitching changes either because Rosenthal worked two innings. Yeah, the issue, the commercial breaks are an issue. But I really think the biggest issue is just the time between pitches. Yeah. Like, it's gone up like three seconds league-wide this year. Wow. Wow.

Yeah. It's crazy. That really adds up. Yeah. Talking about hundreds of thousands of pitches. All right. L-dubs has an email. And this is a very complimentary email.

You guys rock. I'm in first place, up 26.5 points in a roto league. Your advice at banter is a vital part of my success. Adam, raisins are not that great. Dried apricots are the best dried fruit. Scott, Twitter is stupid. Do not pay attention to that-ish. You are a great analyst.

Heath and Chris, your stat analysis is insanely good. Hashtag wings beer sports stats. On to football. That was nice. Yeah. Thanks. I love dried apricots. The league-wide pace has gone up one second between pitches, but that's still a lot.

Dried apricots are good at him. They're great. Why are we eating dried fruits? I love it. Are we 90 years old? Do we not have teeth? Come on, guys. Get out of town, Chris.

Get out of town. on worst take ever. It's disgusting. Lou in Connecticut. Oh, one of the chances Honeywell gets called up soon. Yeah, we talked about that. But if he does, yes, you can drop Jared Eichoff. Yeah, sure.

This is Jason from Massachusetts. Hey, Carl, Jim and the Gator. I have no idea. It sounds like a morning show. Yeah, right? Carl Jim and the Gator. Yeah. It could be like a drive-time talk show thing.

Yeah, does sound like that. I have been holding on to Jonathan Loo-Croyd. Do I drop him for Gattis? Yeah. Let's see what happens at the trade deadline. Let's hold that a little longer. You got to make that decision now. Your best friend just called you and said,

in five minutes, I'm going to pick up Evan Gaddis in our league. What are you going to do? Can't you drop someone else? If I had that kind of forewarning, I guess I'd probably do it, but that's a weird scenario. Who would you rather have? This is from Dan in Massachusetts.

Kennedy or Velasquez, rest of season. I would rather have. Muppets. Kennedy? I don't think this is a rest of season question. Rest of time? I don't think necessarily either one of them is going to be worth owning rest of season. So I'll gamble on Vince Velasca is figuring something out.

And if he doesn't in the next couple of starts, I'll drop him. I think both of them can be replaced. All right, Josh has a trade. It's kind of interesting. I didn't realize this coincidence. We earlier said that you could trade Severino and Addison Reed for Darvish. Would you trade Severino and Tommy Fam for Darvish? No.

Ooh. That's, I think, the difference between Severino and Darvish is not Addison Reed. I think it is Tommy Pham. I think I'd do it in most cases. Consolidate for the better player. General rule is, yes, you want to do that. It would depend on what outfielders. Like, if I already had a great outfield and just picked up Fam a couple weeks ago,

like, he's some spare part for me. He doesn't deserve to be a spare part. any league. And this would be a good way to take advantage of that. I just, I am not sure you, Darvich is the better player. All right, we got to go. Bye, everyone.