Fantasy Baseball Today - 07/31: Trades, Regulators, Important Fantasy Questions (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 31, 2018

Closers are on the move! We react to the Giles/Osuna swap (2:40), Keone Kela's move to PIT (6:00) and more trades from around MLB like Ian Kinsler to BOS (9:50) ... How about those pitching performances in Boston and Seattle last night (15:33), they were much better than Robbie Ray's performance (19:40). What's the latest on Josh Donaldson (26:20) and do we feel compelled to keep Shane Bieber and Freddy Peralta (27:00)? ... Important Fantasy questions (31:00): Is Elvis Andrus back? Are we worried about Max Muncy's slump? Is Tommy Pham droppable? When do buy low candidates become busts? We also recap more from yesterday (42:20), grade your trades (49:30) and get the Fantasy Regulators out (52:10) to lay down the law ... 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

A deadline day. We're coming at you at 924 a.m. I don't know why I had to be so specific about the time. But 4 p.m. Eastern today is the trade deadline. So tomorrow's show is going to be pretty nuts. Today we definitely have some trades to talk about, some closer news, of course. Keone Kelly getting moved this morning. Roberto O'Suna and Ken Giles yesterday.

You assume tomorrow's show's going to be nuts. Oh, it will be. It should be. Yet last night may have been nutsier. Maybe. Really? Really? Maybe.

I mean, a lot already happens. Maybe more will happen. Maybe bigger things will happen. Maybe very little will happen. You just never know going into the trade deadline. But I can say with confidence that a lot has already happened a lot more than we normally see at a trade deadline. Okay, good. Well, hopefully we have some more fireworks for tomorrow's show.

That's Scott White. I'm Adam Azer, and we welcome back Christopher Towers. Yo. When was the last time someone called you? Christopher? I would say my wife calls me Christopher pretty regularly. You know, the, the, when you're in trouble

or, you know, you're being annoying. It's Christopher, not Chris. So that happens. I don't want to do like the, you know, the sitcom husbandy thing. But, you know, that happens. I'm annoying. No. So, Heath, by the way, is a, he's by the way is on vacation.

We'll get him back next week. All right, we'll start with the trades. We had some pitcher's duels last night at Fenway Park and in Seattle as well. Are they, that's not still Safeco, is it? Is it Safeco? I think so. Okay. In Seattle.

And Robbie Ray did not pitch. It's Safeco field. It's Safeco. Okay. So we had a pitcher's duel there. We've got Carlos Martinez news. We got Johnny Quedo news. I got so much music queued up later on today.

Guess who's coming back? The fantasy regulators are coming back. I got grade the trade as well. And a couple other categories that require some music. Let's start with the trades. The relief pitcher trades. Houston acquires Roberto Ozuna, who is now eligible to return on Sunday. And they give up Ken Giles and two minor league pitchers.

And Giles will get a chance to close for the Blue Jays. and he, as Scott pointed out in his article and as we pointed out on the podcast, Ken Giles has not blown a save. I don't, has he given up a run in a save situation all year? I don't think he has. I don't think he has either.

He also just, he hasn't been as bad. He hasn't been as bad as his numbers. Like, there's some weird stuff going on with Ken Giles. Obviously, he punched himself in the face. Yeah, he did. So that's weird. But there's also some.

weird stuff going on with his slider. It's not moving as much. And, you know, this is a bit of a reclamation project for the Astros, but also his peripherals are still really, really good. Yeah, his fit, I believe, is 220 something. But he's gone to the miners and had, he's been in the minors the last week and a half and has had the same issue. Like, he has an ERA over 8 at AAA right now, mostly just because of one awful outing that happened very recently. So it's not, like, you're not adding Kim Giles with confidence, but you're probably adding him if you need saves,

because we know the upside and it sounds, I mean, they've said he's going to get a chance. I don't know how soon that'll be. I don't know if he's on the Major League roster right away, but it'll happen because Clippert and Tepara, I mean, they haven't. Neither of them has emerged as the guy with Roberto Ozuna out. Yeah, yeah. about Ozuna. So this is it for Hector

Rondone. Ozuna's going to be the closer? I would assume so. Like, I don't know why... Maybe not immediately. You know, maybe a week. I don't know. Unless the, other than getting a more, a ninth inning option, they can feel more confident in, then Rondone,

then obviously Giles, I don't... I would imagine that's why the Astros are willing to make this trade and take on you know, some of the, take the PR, BR hit, I guess, for somebody who, you know, obviously is not in a, not. Not going to work here anymore. Well, no, you know what I'm saying. I do.

Look, it was obviously a controversial trade to acquire Ozuna. He's really good. We think he's going to be good, you know, he's going to be himself. Yeah. Yeah. I see no reason to think he wouldn't be. Yeah, so he's a must-ad player. I actually don't know what his ownership percentage is.

Anybody got that? I think he was owned in two-thirds of leagues when I looked last night. But I wanted to finish the thought, when the Astros gave up all they did for Ken Giles, back when Giles was at the Phillies, I thought, oh, it's obvious they're acquiring him to be the closer. Why else would they do that if not? And then he wasn't the closer for, like, his first half season there. So just the way that the Astros are non-traditional on their bullpen usage, like it, I'm 85% confident Ozuna's going to be their closer, but I can't say 100%.

Okay. And he is 68% on. The other move here, the pirates acquire Keone Kele from Texas. So that is the end of Keone Keller's value, right? Can we drop him? Yes. Yeah, I think they've already said that he's not, or our reporters have said that he's not going to be a closer. And I don't know if it's going to be Jose LeClerc, but it should be Jose LeClerc.

He's having a really good year. he's got 56 strikeouts in 39 and 2 thirds and a 227 ERA. It should be him. And I think it was him when Kella was unavailable a couple weekends ago or something like that. He doesn't have a save yet, Kelly. He blew the save. I think he blew the save, yeah. Deekman, obviously, Kella wasn't available to the Rangers last night.

It was a four-run lead. Keller worked the eighth, struck up a Suck. Sorry, not Kella. Leclerc worked the eighth struck out the side. Deekman pitched the ninth in a four-run game. And he's been the eighth inning guy more consistently. So that leads me to believe he's the early front runner. But there's a very good chance he gets traded.

He's been rumored as much. You know, the rumor for a long time was that him and Leclerc were a package deal. Okay. Yeah, sorry. Kella and. You just did the same thing I did. And I would say even if Dekeman isn't traded, I would still expect LeClerc to overtake him at some point

because Deekman allows a ton of base runners. Yeah, all right. So LeClerc is, I actually picked him up in a fairly deep league. I have like five closers on that team now, Categories League. LeClerc, that is. He's 5% owned. Deekman's another guy you can pick up, but let's see what happens today. So a couple of relief pitcher emails.

Jason and Michigan, should I drop A.J. Minter for Roberto Ozuna. I don't think so. Like I get the idea, but Ozuna might not be better than Menter, and he might not be the closer. Like Scott said, you know, we're pretty confident he will be, but, you know, I could see it going one of two ways with Houston. I could see them wanting to keep him out of high pressure situations, given the pushback that they're going to receive for this move. and, you know, Reverezina coming back from this, he dealt with anxiety issues last season. Maybe they want to ease him back in. So there's a chance he's not the closer, and there's a chance that AJ Minter is 95% as good as him.

Okay. And then next email from AB, rank these closers. Will Smith, A.J. Minter, Ken Giles, Sergio Romo, and Jose LeCler. Will Smith, A.J. Minter, both of them getting saves yesterday. Well, did Smith get a save or a win? I know he's had four strikeouts. He got a win. He got a win.

Mentor got a save. Giles Romo LeClerc. So there's five pitchers named here. Scott, I'm going to set the over under at 1.5 are still closing for their team in three weeks. What do you take? I will take the over. Over, over. But I get why you said it is that.

Mentor is the one I feel best about. And even he had, you know, there's the potential. Rodas Viscayito comes back and reclaims the job. Yep. But to rank them, I'll go Minter. I guess I'll go Giles. Mentor Giles. The rest.

Smith, the clerk, Romo. Yeah, I guess that's the way I'd go to. I'll have a much better answer tomorrow, because Romo could move up to the top of that list. He's the one who might just have a job for the rest of the season. More trades. the Red Sox acquired Ian Kinsler from the Angels for two minor league pitchers. Kinsler has been better lately.

He's been much better at home than on the road, but he's obviously getting a big parking increase or upgrade. July, he's hit 320 with two home runs, two steals, seven walks, ten strikeouts, say whatever. Value up down of the same for Ian Kinsler. I think the change of scenery, just that could do him some good because he has a 237 bab. this year, which is obviously very low, and it doesn't make a lot of sense if you look at the bad at ball profile. Although, time, 244 last year, so. Yeah, I know.

I know. He might just be, he might just be selling up a house. But that doesn't make sense if you look at the bad at ball profile either. He's Matt Carpenter. Yeah. Except he doesn't, he's old. He hits a lot of infield fly balls. Pop-ups.

He looks like someone who may be infield fly balls, maybe selling out for. power in a way that gets worrisome as he ages, but... But that's a good place for him to go. Right. My biggest... High-ball percentage of Finway for right-handed hitter. My biggest concern would not be performance with him. I think he'll play better there than he has so far.

Is he going to play every single day? That's my concern. Yeah, Brockholz, Eduardo Nunez. Devers is on the DL, so, I mean, that helps too. But once Devers is back, you got Nune. You got Brock Colts, you got Ian Kinsler. Kinsler or Moncada? Oh, Moncada.

Yep. Kinsler or Neil Walker? Kinsler. Oh, Kinsler. Okay, that's fine with me. Kinsler or Kirtel Marte? Marte. Yep.

All right, more trades. The Yankees got Lance Lynn for Tyler Austin and Luis Rojo. Lynn is going to be a swing man in the bullpen and make some spot. spot starts. Atlanta acquired Adam Duvall. This was interesting. They gave up pitchers Lucas Sims and Matt Whistler and outfielder Preston Tucker for Duval. I did notice Ender and Ciarte is batting 207 with a 234 slugging against lefties. Is that what's going on here? Is Adam Duval going to start against lefties? There was a lot of talk of that among Braves beat writers. So I would suspect that at least happens some of the time. Now,

replacing NCRte with Acuna and center field as his defensive downgrade on those days. And if you look at NCR day's track record, he's been just as good against lefties, his varieties for his career. This year's kind of an aberration as far as that goes. So I would actually rather see him keep playing against lefties and Duval just come off the bench.

But either way, even if Duval's the lesser half of a platoon, his values basically shot outside of deep in a lonely leagues. and NCR days definitely takes a hit. Yeah, NCRTA is 89% owned, and he just, it's been a weird season for him. We got off to that great start. He was stealing so many bases. It just hasn't been very good for a little while

and moved out of that leadoff spot. Now, there's one rationale for making this trade. Obviously, Nick Marquakis is a free agent after the season. DeVal has a few more years of team control left, so next year, there's a lot. there's a good chance he does have a job, but can't rule the Braves out bringing someone else in either. And, you know, a couple things have happened recently that have been good for Billy Hamilton if you were worried about him losing playing time. Obviously, Winker out for the season and now Duval on the Braves.

So they could still be active today before the deadline, but Hamilton, I mean, looks like he's an everyday player. You'd think Seattle. Yeah, he's been hitting well. Has he? I mean, relatively speaking. He has a 647 OPS in the month of July, but he's running a lot over the last couple of months, and he's hitting like 270 in the month of July. What I'm really excited about is Scott Shebler, who's on a rehab assignment,

should be back from the DL soon. And in his final 36 games, I don't have the exact stat in front of me, but he had an OPS over 900 for like over a month before going on the DL. And somebody who has reverse platoon split so you don't have to worry about him against left-handers. I think he could be somebody who impacts even three outfielder leagues down the stretch. All right. Scott Shebler. Two more things. Seattle, got Adam Warren from the Yankees for international bonus pool money, not fantasy relevant.

And the nationals, oh, it would be fun if they traded Bryce Harper. That would be fun to talk about tomorrow. Let's see what happens. Pitchers duels yesterday. Fenway and it's Safeco, guys. there's that safe go. By the way, I forgot to mention we do have something coming up on the show. We've got Grade the Trade. He's about to say the word school. He said school. This is a good song, actually. I didn't know it. And then I got shamed for not knowing it by one of our loyal listeners, David.

Some listener recommended using this, and I was like, I don't know this song. And then David texted me. We're buddies. And he's like, what you don't know? This song is a great song. It's a very good song. Steely Dan. My Old School. Grade the trade's coming up later. And let's do this pitchers' dual segment here. Aaron Noah, David Price, James Paxton, Garrett Cole. They combine to allow four runs. Very impressive stuff. Garrett Cole is the number four starting pitcher in fantasy. Aaron Noah is the number five starting pitcher in fantasy. James Paxson is breaking out this year.

And David Price has been solid lately. Last three starts, four run runs and 21 innings with 18 strikeouts. It's the Yankees at home this weekend. Gasp. Chris, what do you think about these pitchers' duels last night? would you like to hear a hot take? Oh, yeah. Bring it. If I was voting for National League

Most Valuable Player, Aaron Nola would get my vote today. Hot take. Dumb. But I did tweet over the weekend. Who's your NLMBP? And I said, is it Javier Baez? That's a fairly hot take.

Get out of here with your RBI. No, I like... It's not 19-19. 92. I like the way he plays three positions in the infield. He plays them well. He runs. Does he don't pitch?

I mean, it does have a 4.1 war, two-thirds of the way this season. He's good. I don't think he's a bad candidate. Yeah, I think it's Aeronado, but I think a bias. Freddie Freeman's 4.4. Yeah. You look at Aronado. Lorenzo Kane is among the NL leaders in war somehow.

Heronados 4.3. I mean, Cane usually has a high war because it's so good defensively. 4.6. What do we think about... What do we think about Nola, Price, Paxson, and Cole, Chris? Give me some fantasy analysis.

I mean, the only one that is even worth analyzing is David Price, right? Like, the other three are studs. They're, I think, potentially all top 12 starters, moving forward. They're all young enough that if you're

a keeper league they should be valued about as much as anyone outside of the top two or three pitchers in baseball they're really really good um james paxton still has a little bit of injury risk but he's awesome aranola's really good there's there's not a lot to say about those guys um david price he's been better of late uh the peripherals have been solid he's still prone to some weird uh blowups like the four runs in four and two-thirds innings against the Royals, but the strike cuts have been there. He hasn't walked hardly anyone

over the last month and a half. I'm optimistic about him more so than I have been, but I still think he's probably a high three ZRA guy. Okay, David Price. Do we care going into next year? Do we care that Aranola has had a cake schedule? Really, it's been so easy. And that's why this start at Boston is very cool.

Eight innings, one run on four hits. Does that matter to anybody for Nola? A cake schedule. It's so easy. His division is pathetic. I haven't heard any rumors about division realignment. So no, that does not concern. Louis Brinson's going to hit like 180 next year.

I mean, there's a good chance to playoff. There's a good chance two playoff teams come out of that division, and one of them is not the nationals. Yeah, so I don't know. I don't know that I buy this kick division. I looked at the whole schedule. It's been pretty favorable. But also, you look at the schedule, and it's like eight innings,

one run against Boston, a quality start against the Cubs. Just say no. Just say no. That's fine. I'm just looking for talking points. Just say no. Yeah, one bad start against him a while. I'm not a chicken, you're a turkey.

Monday standout. Scott White, who stood out to you on Monday? Who stood out to my own self? Well, I would say Robert Ray stood out in an unfavorable way. Yeah, bad. That Robert Ray, four walks, six strikeouts, four and runs in five and a third innings. Yeah, I don't think you can have much. confidence in him as we entered the stretch run here. Still, a lot of upside, strikeout rate, swinging

strike rate that measures up to anybody. But those other two, other two fit measurements, the other two legs of the fifth triangle walks and home runs. He's just, he had some really good bad at ball look last year that he's not having again. Scott, is Robbie Ray dropable, or should we stash him? I don't think he's dropable. I just don't think you can count on him. I think he'll be on your bench pretty often. Oh, then why isn't he dropable? Why is it?

Come on, think about that. Well, because, Scott, he blows up. Take a page out of my book. You want to, what? Say he's dropable, and he'll almost throw no hitter in his next start. That's what I'm worried about. No, don't be worried about looking like an idiot. No, it's not that I'm worried about looking like an idiot.

It's that I'm worried about missing out on huge potential. Yeah, I don't think he's unusable in his current state. I just don't think he's must start. And obviously, there's a lot of people who have him who are holding out hope that he will become that. And I don't think you – I think it's less than 50-50 he will. All right. That's Robbie Ray. I get what you're saying.

And Chris is talking about Sean Nukum. Chris, who's your standout from Monday? Let's go with Marcel Ozuna, who has been hot. Home ran a bunch. He's got a little six-game hitting street going. it's been a rough season for our guy Marcel but I still believe in the potential I still would want to start him

more often than not and I think he's someone who could have a big third third of the season not second half at this point no it's not second half it's getting late now at the home run in three straight games a six game hitting streak for Marcelo Zuna three home runs in his last three games

and here are his numbers in July 2-18 with three home runs. So I did start him because he had a seven-game week. I'm glad I did. But, yeah, you know, he hasn't walked much this year. It's been a really terrible year for him. And I'll throw out Rognito-Dor as another standout. He has just continued to be awesome

and probably approaching must-own territory at this point. Another home run for Ruehnedd-Dor. Scott talked about him on yesterday. show. And I'm going to throw out one more standout here. I'm going to throw out the Siki Gap. The Siki Gap is our Tuesday, our Monday standout. It's going to be the Tuesday standout, the Wednesday standout, et cetera. I've got the Siki Gap on my phone. And Chris talked about all these weird concerts of musicians that I've never heard of that he has seen thanks to the Siki Gap. I'm more likely to use it for a Yankees game. But whatever it is, if you want to go

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And then you find the best deals. And again, you pop in that promo code, fantasy. For 20 bucks off your first Seekkeek purchase. Seek, life's an event, and we have the tickets. News and notes. Carlos Martinez is probably going back on the D.L. He left with a mild shoulder strain. It is a frustrating year for Martinez.

Do you think Daniel Ponce de Leon steps into the rotation? One would assume he will, yeah. Are you interested in Daniel Ponce Dalyon? In deeper leagues. There's Austin Gomer, too, right? Yeah, Gomer Pyle. They both look good. So, I need to see, whoever it is, and whoever it is,

I need to see more from them before I actually make a move for them. I mean, there was not like their front line, top line. of the charts prospects. Johnny Quato may need Tommy John's surgery. So, like, where are we on my hot take on Quato after his first start of the year? Like, what do we think? Did I get this one right? I think you get it right if I get my three-year-old prediction that he'll need Tommy John

surgery right. If you give me that, then I'll give you your. All right, fine. Well, Quato, are you guys cool dropping Johnny Quedo, or do we want to wait for more news? Yeah, I think it's fine to drop them. All right. I heard on the Red Sox Phillies game last night, fun broadcast. They got to the 13th inning, and those guys got so loopy, and they started talking about the longest games they've ever called, and this and that was funny.

But earlier in the game, that was on ESPN, they mentioned that Reese Hoskins said that participating in the home run derby helped him. It helped him be aggressive plate side or something like that. and he's been able to carry it over into the season. That was really interesting. Carlos Correo could go on a rehab assignment soon. Scott, we talked about it yesterday, but let's talk about it again. Colby Allard is going to start for the Braves tonight. Interested?

I'm not interested in picking him up because it could be short-lived, first of all. And the strikeout rate in the minors is it was bad. It was a bad strikeout rate. He's a good prospect, but that doesn't always... End well. We've seen from Aaron Nola, he didn't have great strikeout numbers in the minors, and he figured it out in the majors. James and Tyone, to a certain extent, you could say the same. But Allard's was even worse than theirs. And I feel like, I feel like that's not something you should necessarily count on happening. So I hope he does well, but I'm not confident. Josh Donaldson has been moved to the 60-day D.L, which is not a big deal because he got hurt about 60 days ago. He's resumed baseball activity. Do we have? have a Josh Donaldson update. People want to know what's going on with Josh Donaldson. Yeah, I haven't seen anything actionable. I'm still holding on to him. I think, you know, a bylaw

opportunity is still there. Okay. All right, that's Josh Donaldson. Oakland scored four runs at Colorado over the weekend. They scored 10 runs against Toronto yesterday. That's baseball. Let's check in on those rookies. The guys who, you know, we sort of like live and die with every start. of theirs. Should we add them? Should we drop them? What should we do? Shane Bieber and Freddie Peralta. All right. Drop Freddie Peralta? Yes or no? Are we done? I don't know why we'd be more... I don't know why we'd be more likely to drop Freddie Peralta than Shane Bieber. Because of control. And Shane Bieber just had a good start.

Freddie Peralta, yeah, it was a quality start. It was a more than a strikeout per inning. Only two walks, which was, I think, equaled his season high. Freddie Peralta, meanwhile, four of his last five starts have not been very good. And in all five, three or more walks, I definitely think Shane Bieber is better than Freddie Peralta. Yeah, the way you described all that stuff sounds like recency bias. Like, Shane Bieber has been pretty awful his last five starts. Well, he had one terrible, terrible start.

He had one really bad start. But if you... I think he went six innings. I think he went six innings or more in the others. Yeah. Like six innings, four runs. Sixth of his last seven starts, he's gone six innings or more. That's so...

I feel like he's kind of another rinko. Because he's just... He's so efficient. He's going deep into games. He's five and two. And I don't see why that would change with the Indians... You didn't mind it back again. Take out the bad start.

The one bad start. And he has a 4.9 ERA over the last five starts. So, like, if we're going to say Freddie Peralta's been bad, four of his last five starts, well, Shane Bieber's been bad. Like, his best start is a quality start. But sometimes it's how you get there, right? And the thing is, I'm personally, I'm not sure either of them is going to lead me to fantasy glory. But if I had to drop one of them right now, it would be Peralta.

because he had control issues in the miners and right now he's all over the place. Yeah, I feel like Beaver. I think they're both worth owning. I think they both have some upside. They both have a mid-3s FIPP for their season so far. I'm fine with dropping either. I'm fine with hanging on either.

I just don't think there's a significant difference. I think Peralta probably has more upside. I think Beaver's 450 ERA is much more usable than if Peralta has a 450 ERA because his whip will be lower. and he'll have a lot more innings. His whip is crazy high. Whose?

Shane Beaver's. He gives up a lot of hits. I'm concerned he is such a strike thrower. I do see teams to sort of like tee off on him a little bit, but it hasn't really translated other than that one awful start. Although he has a 3-73 Babbitt, which is obviously not going to continue. Yeah, I don't know. If he's this good of a control pitcher, he's not going to have a high whip.

Like, it's just not going to happen. Unless he gets hit really hard. Unless he gets hit really hard. He would have to be an outlier in terms of how hitable he is among all major league pitchers, though. You don't see somebody have a 373 bad bit for the whole season very often. Would you guys drop Bieber or Peralta? I'm trying to think of some of the guys we talked about yesterday. For Armand Marquez.

I think it's six and one, half dozen the other for all three of those guys. How about for Joe Musgrove? I would rather have Musgrove than any of them. I would take Musgrove over Peralta, but there's just not, there doesn't seem to be much swing and miss in his game. All right. How about Drew Pomerant's? No.

He hasn't shown anything since getting called up or since returning. His velocity's been down all year. I don't see anything there. All right, let's move on. I've got some important questions for you guys. I was going to ask, is Marcel O'Zuna back? But Chris is a segment stealer. So I will go to our next question.

Is Elvis Andrews back? Elvis Andrews has a 976 OPS and four steals in his last 14 games. Is Elvis Andrews back? I think he is. Yeah, I think he's just good. Yeah, I mean, maybe he's going to have a season more like 2016 when he hit eight home runs rather than 2017, but he was the number six shortstop at fantasy. that year. So Andrews looks good. Next question. Are we worried about this little Max Muncie slump?

He is two for 26 with 12 strikeouts in his last seven games. Are we worried at all about this little it's the home run derby? It's got to be the derby. Good call. He needs to be more aggressive like Reese Hoskins. It's a great call though. I forgot about that. Well, are you worried at all? If I'm going to abandon my convictions over a 25 at bat stretch for Max Munzi, what are my convictions worth, Adam? They're worthless. Okay. I agree. Is Tommy Fam dropable?

That's our next important question. Is Tommy Fam dropable? Maybe like in a 10-team-outfielder league. And I think he's still like 96% owned. Yeah, 98. It could probably be 98. Yeah, it could probably be lower than that. I don't know that it should be lower than like 88.

I still think there's a good chance he busts out of this slump in a big way over the final two months, and he's getting out of it everywhere again. But you get to a shallow enough league, you can wait for that to play out. You don't need to devote a roster spot to him, given what I assume is the other high-quality players on waiver. All right. That's Tommy Pham. He has sat, I think, two of his last six games, something to keep an eye on. But his hard contact rate is through the roof. 47.5% hard contact rate for FAM, 12.9% soft contact rate. That's outstanding. He keeps referring, because we talk about his vision issues every time we talk about him, and maybe that's affecting him.

I read recently that there's a mechanical issue that he keeps bringing up whenever reporters talk to him. and he just can't quite seem to get it right. He goes and watches videos after every game, and he's like, nope, it's still there. So he seems to know something that needs fixing. He's struggling to fix it right now. Next important question. Who are the relief pitchers to Stash now? Well, Jose LeClerc was the biggest one for me.

So that ship is sailed. Maybe like Drew Steck and Wright. though it's possible he gets traded himself. I think I've got an eye on Jeremy Jeffers. Canabel was bad again last night. It's not going to be a trade. Right. But Jeffers is so good this year,

and they're going for it. I think Ken Abel is like one blown save away from being on the hot seat and two blown saves away from being removed. That's a hot take for you. I don't hate that take. Seems plausible to me. And I don't know that the twins would care enough to remove Fernando Rodney, but he got a save last night. I think he walked too.

But he was terrible in Fenway Park last week, which is no surprise. He's like a 550 a RA in his life against the Red Sox. But I don't know, Trevor Hildenberger, is that the guy? I guess. I kind of liked Ryan Presley, but then he got traded to the Astros. I don't know why Rodney himself wouldn't get traded. Not doing much to help his value right now. I guess somebody has to want him.

I just feel like, I mean, obviously he's not going to be a qualifying offer guy in the offseason, so they'd take whatever for him. All right, next question. Next important question. I'm going to give this one to Chris. When do Buy Low candidates become busts? Still waiting on Brian Dozier and Carlos Santana in Roto to break out of it. But we are about 110 games into the season.

when do by low candidates become busts. It all depends on what the underlying stuff is. People were giving up on Matt Carpenter. That's the go-to, and it was, you know, people in the emails very confidently saying, you guys are idiots. Matt Carpenter is worthless. The shift has ruined him. He's not good.

Well, okay. So that's what you say, man. And so... A little exaggeration there. No, it's not. It's a little jerry. You take like a few emails, you apply it to everybody. That's not what everybody was saying.

Everybody was saying that, but there were people and the chorus was growing louder. And it was, well, all the peripherals are good, but the shift. And it's like, maybe, but you still, you have to have a process with these things. And you have to have, you have to look at it scientifically. And you have to have hypotheses that you can test and then change when, when new information comes in. And you have to be consistent. And that's my thing is that if new information comes in and we're going to talk about a guy who has done the opposite,

has just continued to be really good, he's next up on the notes, and nothing about it looks sustainable. I'm going to keep telling you to sell Ian Desmond. Right, right. So it just depends on the individual player and what they're doing. So do you still think Brian Dozier is going to bust out? Is he going to have a Dozier second half? I'm sorry, I'm losing a little faith.

I would expect, no, I don't think he's going to have a thousand no PS. I don't, we've had this discussion before. I don't believe he's due. I think he'll be Brian Dozier moving forward. And what that means is, I think he'll be pretty good with hot streaks and cold streaks. Yeah, all right. And yeah, do you realize that Ian Desmond is the number six first

basement in fantasy since June 1st? That is two months. He's six in points and roto. It's one thing roto, but points, that's crazy for Ian Desmond. He's usually so bad in that format. But 24 walks of 47 strikeouts since June 1st. That's amazing for him.

Only Whitmerfield has more steals among first base eligible players in those two months. And I don't know what to say. I can't get Ian Desmond off my points league team. And he just keeps on producing. Scott? Yeah. He's actually been walking. Yeah, a little bit, right?

Yeah, a little bit. Go ahead, guys. My bad. If somebody, like Chris was saying, if somebody makes you an offer for him, like he actually is a top 10 first baseman, then I think you take it. because there's a lot not to like about his bad at ball profile, just an extremely high ground ball percentage. You wonder how he hits home runs at all.

Well, here's how he has a 40% home run to fly ball rate over his last 48 games, which is going back to June 1st. That's not. Even course field, half of that would be generous. At half of that, I would still be like, well, Ian Desmond's been a little lucky. Yeah, it's insane. Yeah. I don't imagine he has that much trade value.

It doesn't hurt to shop him. Probably, most likely, you're just going to ride this for however long it lasts and expect it not to last forever. All right, let's get moving here and read six emails in three minutes. This is from Jason. I'm in a head-to-head categories league, and I'm trying to figure out who's the odd man out at second base. Scope, Daniel Murphy, Jose Paraza.

Who's the odd man out? Scope, Daniel Murphy, Jose Parraza. Probably Murphy. I don't know that he would drop Murphy, but he seems the least startable in a categories league right now. You got to drop one? You have to drop one? In this game, yes, you do.

We have to make tough decisions. I think if I have to drop one, it's probably Paraza, unless I have stolen-based sources coming from somewhere else. All right, this is from no name. Explain your Yolisha Senehate. He's the best. He's been the best free agent pitcher signing of the offseason, and every week you give him no love, and the peripherals are great for Yolisha Sassine. That's what no name says. They're not great. What peripherals are you looking at?

That's the thing. They're fine. They look like an average pitcher. Like, the main thing is the reason he's been so successful is 259 Babbitt. And, like, last year he had a 272 Bappet, and that seemed too good to be true. It's only gotten more. outlandish because it's not like he it's a lot of weak contact it's not like he prevents line drives gets a ton of fly balls um he he shouldn't have that low of a babb and if that corrects then we're going to see the era rise significantly i think yolees chasin that we're talking about would rather have chasin or freddie peralta peralta there's more

upside there is more upside but that cannot be the answer always, you know? I agree. It can't be the answer always. It is for me. If I was setting my lineup for next week, I would put Jacine in over for Alta. This is for Adam.

Not with a lot of faith long term. Adam is a first-time fantasy baseball player. He needs some playoff advice. What's valued more in the playoffs? Good pitching lineup or more solid hitting lineup? I don't think there is an answer to that. I don't think I don't think changes.

If you could figure out a way to match up your starting pitchers so that your two-start pitchers are heavily weighted in the playoffs, I guess that, but that's not really realistic. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it too much, Adam. Whatever your strength is. Yeah. From Lance, 12-te-to-head, Chapman or Escobar. Matt Chapman or Eduardo Escobar.

I'm worried about Escobar's playing time at Arizona. Well, it doesn't seem to have been an issue so far. I know Jake Lamb's on the DL, but I don't know that it's going to be just a short stay for Lamb either. I think I'd rather have Escobar. I was thinking Chapman. He's been really hot Chapman has. So I think he's closed the gap significantly over the past few weeks.

And hey, real quick from Jason. Moncie or Rendon rest of season? I would still go with Rendon. Don't. Okay. Scott, Scott, you get number two. You get number two.

Rank these four rest of season in a points league. Clevenger, Rich Hill, Rodon, Kintana. Clevenger Hill. Clevenger. I think I might move Rodon up to number two. Whoa, over Rich Hill? Yeah, I mean, I think I have Rich Hill fourth. Whoa, behind Kintana?

Yeah. Oh, no. Well. No, Rich Hill healthy. For now. For how long? For now! For how long?

I don't think rest of way. All right, that's it. Thank you very much to all of our emailers. Back to the notes. Double Dongs from yesterday. Jose Ramirez, two home runs. He's the number one overall hitter in fantasy. He has 32 home runs.

He also stole a base yesterday, and he has 24 steals, and he's amazing. Shinsu Chu also double dong yesterday. Shinchu is the number 11 outfielder in points, and he's number 19 in Roto. And he has never hit more than 22. two home runs and he has 20 home runs. Chris, what do you think about Shin, Sue, chew, chew, choose you. He's good.

He's not this good. He's good. It's been a nice season. I worry about a trade. That's my biggest concern that he gets traded somewhere where he's not an everyday player. Okay. Well, that's going to do it for the double dong segment. And now a little more music for you.

Got a couple of pitchers who are just surprisingly good. So I ask you, Dave Matthews, Is this real? Or am I dreaming? Edwin Jackson and Derek Holland. And am I dreaming to think that I'm going to start Edwin Jackson against the Tigers this weekend, who he already crushed with six scoreless innings

and seven strikeouts in his first start of the season? What do we think? Is this real? I don't think either is good, but I do think Derek Holland is better than he's gotten credit for. He has more than a strikeout per inning this year. and it's with by far the best swinging strike rate of his career. Obviously, he has a home venue that really,

it kind of smooths out the rough edges for him. He has job security with Guido down. I think he's a streamable option now. I don't think there's really that much separating him from somebody like Ulyshasine, let's say. So to some degree, it's real. Adam, can I ask you a question? Yes, you can.

Do you actually like Dave? Matthews? Yeah, Dave. People just call him Dave? Dave fans call him Dave. Is there a person named Dave Matthews, or is that just a band's name? No, that's him. He's Dave Matthews.

Do you want to hear the hottest, the hottest take that Adam Azers's hottest take, and I give a lot of crazy pop culture takes? Okay. So I love 90s music, love 90s music. And everybody, when you rank the top 10 or whatever, top however many 90s rock songs, what's number one, Chris? It's always the same. It's always smells like teen spirit. Now, I've already said I think Jeremy's better than smells like teen spirit, but that's fine.

I don't care. Ridiculous. Number two on the list behind smells like teen spirit is Ants Marching by Dave Matthews. I think that is... That's your pick? Yeah. And I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why.

I'm so disappointed. I can't be disappointed. But you've gone into the basement now. Why? Because this is why. I think he inspired so much acoustic rock with that song. And we have to give him credit for just how influential Dave Matthews band is that that song is good because it inspired Jason Mraz. Well, sure.

And Guster and Dispatch and all these other bands. But wait, you don't think Ants Marching is good? Look, man. You're an idiot. No. You're crazy. I've seen Dave and his band live for. All right.

But no. That song's amazing, dude. That's an amazing song. What would you say? That song's okay. Hans Barging is amazing. Next up, I'm not going to play the music. I'm fine.

I'll play the music. Here we go. Canna get a witness. We're talking about Mark Cana right now. He's 11% owned. He has a 661 slugging percentage against lefties. Do you think Marcana should be owned in daily leagues? Hmm.

Yeah. I think he's definitely useful in those leagues. So it's just a matter of what kind of full-time player you'd be dropping for him. Okay, yeah. I like him against lefties, and he plays against every lefty. So that's, there's some utility there. Okay, that was fun. Can I get a witness?

What else we got from yesterday? We got Tyler Anderson. He was good enough. Whatever, he was fine. four runs in six innings. That's one of his worst starts recently. Kenta Maeda was dreadful. A little blip in the radar here for Kenta Maeda.

Yeah, he'd been so good. Might get another blip this weekend, though. What about Julio Taran? Dropper or hold Julio Taran, 88% own, two straight starts against the Marlins. And nine and a third innings and a combined 10 runs in those two starts. Drop.

Like he's had stretches where he's looked interesting this season. but it's in that old pitcher. I'm going to throw my breaking balls a bunch and hope that I can succeed that way because my stuff's not good anymore way, and that can go one way or the other. All righty. And not so motivated to own Irvin Santana,

I'm assuming, after last night's start with only one strikeout. Well, he does have the Royals coming up this weekend. Could you use him as a streamer? Santana? Weekend weekend streamer. Irvin Santana? Yeah.

His velocity is down like four miles. per hour. Yeah. There's nothing there. I don't think I trust him even against the Royals. Yeah. How about these guys? They can't hit.

Do you think they are over owned? Justin Bore, 58% owned. Brandon Crawford, 76% owned. Teoscar Hernandez, 60% owned. All of them are having extended cold streaks. Very extended. Justin Bore, Brandon Crawford, Teoscar Hernandez.

They're all owned in 58% of leagues or more. What do we think? Worth stashing? or can we get rid of Boer, Crawford, and Tay Oscar? I think it's fine to drop Boer. Disappointing as that is. I think he's better than this, but it's fine. I would not drop any of them in a league with the standard roto lineup,

so corner infield spot, five outfielders. I think they're all still plenty rosterable in that format. But the standard head-to-head lineup, I think they're all dropable. All right, well, we're winding down the show. here. We still have to do some regulation. We still have team name Tuesday. If I'm going to do team name Tuesday right now. Shaw me the Muncie. Winker for Devers, no chance.

That's pretty cool. Yeah. Hand solo, a Starling Bowers story. Chris choked up there? No. No, you don't look at that one? I mean, I get it. I get what you're going for. Charlie Morton's War?

Charlie Morton's War. Yeah, we did these. We did that? Yeah. Oh, you did these last week? Yep. Did you do the Beatles ones? Yes.

Okay, good. We have a whole segment. You're saving me time. You're saving me time. Thank you. All right, grade the trade from Will. Six by six categories, OBP. Give up Corey Klooper, get Muncie and Jesus Aguilar.

Kluber from Muncie and Aguilar. Bold trade. Bold trade. I am going to give it a... I'm going to give it a C. Even. Even swap. Okay.

This is from Tom and Tatawa. Dear Wojo, Harris, Dietrich and Fish. Chris, no? I have no idea. Derricks? I don't know. Vince Velasquez. Oh, yeah.

They're Derricks? I don't know. No, I don't know. Derek Fisher. Maybe it's typo. Vince Velasquez and Eduardo. Escobar for Tyone and Sino. Velazquez

and Escobar for Tyone and Sinoe. E. I think that is a B plus. Really like it. Yep. Well, Tyone's better than Velasquez, so he wins that half of the deal.

I'll give it a C-minus. I don't like it, but it's not terrible. This is from Scott, from the home of the Gravity Railroad, wherever that is. Dear Boots, Scoot, and Boost What? If the third one was boogie, I was expecting you to say that.

Ten team Roto Keeper League with OBP, I am looking to maintain first place after the judge injury. I give up a $39, Aaron Judge, for a $5 Max Muncie and a $29 Carlos Carrasco. The salaries are pretty close. $39 for Judge,

$5.5. bucks for Muncie, 29 for Carrasco. He's giving up judge. He's getting the other two. That's probably C plus. I think it's a pretty good deal. B. All right. Last one from Alex. Oh, is a tough one.

No, we're going to... Alex, you get a... You get a B. Anthony, you gave up Chris Sale for Snell and Arietta. What does he get? Gave up sale for Snell and Arieta. I hate this trade. Yeah, it's a...

D minus. Yeah. Sorry, Anthony. Making those trades give you a hard attack, Gack, Gack, Gack, Gack, Gack. And also, thank you for

grading trades, giving us trades to grade, whatever. Say the word school already, Steely Dan. All right, all right. There you go. School.

Yeah. And, more importantly, let's regulate. This is from Tony. Dear Egon, Peter, Ray and Winston. Finally, something we know.

We are in our inaugural season of a baseball keeper league, and our trade deadline was yesterday. The league had a gentleman's agreement that the trade deadline was at midnight. Uh-oh. Groove it now. All right. Trade deadline was at midnight. A trade was accepted at 1233 a.m. involving the number one team acquiring Jose Ramirez.

I, the commissioner, am currently in second place. how do I handle this situation without becoming known as the commissioner who only makes rulings and decisions that benefit him? I don't know what you need by the deadline. Yeah. The deadline's a deadline. I don't know why, I don't know what kind of what site you're playing on that still allows trades to be processed after what you designate the deadline to be. That's, that's weird. But if everybody knew it was midlight, that's the deadline and trades can't happen after then.

I think I think you're justified. I agree. Did you specify time zone? I don't think that's an issue here, or he would have said. I'm going to say cancel the trade, and you tell them that you have the permission of the fantasy regulators. Next up, we have James from Scotland. Can you regulate this situation in the Scottish baseball league? I am currently in first place looking over my shoulder, and today one of the chasing pack made a big trade with the 11th place team.

They got Trevor Bauer and J.D. Martinez. Yikes. And gave up Mark Kana, Mike Fultenevich, and Jay Hap. They gave up Kana, Fulte, and Hap, and got Trevor Bauer and J.D. Martinez. And that's the second place team trading with the 11th place team. This is clearly a one-sided trade aimed at helping only one team. The league has been running for many years and no one has ever vetoed a trade. Am I right to veto this or can you make the case for this being a legit?

trade in a 14-team roto league. It's obviously not a legit trade, and there's no argument to be made that it is. So the question is, do you want to keep playing a league with these guys? We cannot always go there. We always kick people out and end friendships when the easy thing to do is just veto the damn trade. Well, is it easy? Like when he says veto it, is he the commissioner? Does he have authority to just say no?

I'm independent of what anybody else thinks, I'm invalidating this trade, because obviously that's a bad look, given A, the team, the league's history with vetoing trades, which is non-existent, and B, the fact you're in first place. What would you do? Because I think you're right. I think it's important to get an international coalition behind you here. I would reach out to the rest of the league. I would put a message up, and I'd say, guys, I got a major problem with this trade and see what people say. So Adam, I've been reading the Harry Potter books lately. Okay. And one of the things that, one of the lessons that you take away from that book is that friendship is very important. And one of the qualities that makes Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley such good friends is their, their trustworthiness under fire and their bravery and their honesty.

One of the things I don't, I don't know if I want to be friends with people. who can't be the Ron Weasley of their fantasy baseball league. So you're kicking these people out of the league or you're leaving the league or what? I just want to make it clear that these kind of shenanigans wouldn't happen in the Gryffindor House baseball league. But I'm going to be more diplomatic about it and get a coalition behind me to tell everybody how ridiculous this trade is. This should not happen. And it's going to impact the league. It's going to impact the league for sure.

It could decide the league. It's not fair. I think there definitely needs to be a sit-down talk. And depending on the results of that, you do that with the aim of getting this canceled. But if you can't get everybody on board with it, then obviously in your position, you can't cancel it. All right.

Last one of my leagues, the commissioner was on vacation. During that period, one of the teams in the league rostered an illegal lineup. Halfway through the period, some league banter ensued to shame the lazy owner who started the illegal. Oh, I can't believe I didn't figure out what this was. Because I know it's Dave from our podcast league.

All right, all right. Let me read the rest of it. Halfway through the period, some league banter ensued to shame the lazy owner who started the illegal lineup. He copped to the error admirably and was prepared to take his well-deserved goose egg for the week. But wait, there's more. Just then, the co-commissioner of the league, unprompted, stepped into the error. and fix the illegal lineup for the lazy owner. So the questions are, why would the co-commission do such a thing?

The rules and settings of the league are clear that an illegal lineup should yield zero points. Should the co-commission have done this? If so, why? And how many days after starting an illegal lineup should this be allowed? I just want to, there are some factual errors in this. You're the guy who set the illegal lineup. I'm the commission who was on vacation. You were not on vacation.

Yeah, I was not paternity leave. We need to clear that up for HR purposes. Right. Turn and you leave, not vacation. And Scott, was the co-commish? Scott reversed this? I don't know that I'm officially the co-commish, but I did reverse it, yes. Wow, so it was an unsanctioned?

Yeah, I had no idea. You're no, wow. Well, you would have done that. I just assumed you were the commissioner. I absolutely, I absolutely would have done it. This changes everything. I would have done it, but I don't know if I would have done it on like Wednesday or something, but yes. The league, the league results have been invalidated.

I'm with Scott. I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it. I would have done it. I think illegal lineups are stupid. I would have penalized you, like made you start someone crappy or something like that in one of your spots. Oh, rest assured. Here's my, I put the crappiest player he had in this lineup.

And it was just a situation where, like, he didn't put a guy in a DL spot who was DL eligible. It wasn't like he was stashing somebody extra or something like that. I've always viewed the you have a zero here because your line up's illegal as a cue to the commissioner that something is wrong and needs to be addressed. I don't think it's fair to the rest of the league to allow someone who is fighting for a playoff spot to get a free win just because of the negligence of another owner. Like that's just, that doesn't seem fair to everybody else who actually has to have a legitimate. victory. So it's less about helping the guy who had the illegal lineup and more about keeping

the league competitors. I will say, I want you guys to regulate this, something that I've proposed in my home fantasy football league. You got to make it quick, though. Everybody in the league gets one mulligan per year, where you can make one lineup change at a certain point in the

day or in baseball week. And that's the one you get, and you have to use it wisely. What do you think? Don't like it Stuff happens Don't like it I don't

I don't I don't expect everybody in my fantasy baseball leagues to make going to the computer The final 10 minutes Before Linus lock a priority I think that's an unreasonable expectation

I think if they're You can keep talking It depends what kind of league You want to have You know if you want to be that cut throat Then the league's probably not going last long, you know? That groove is.

It's so good, right? It's the best. So good. That bounce, bono. That's, it's like, it's the ants marching of this genre, you know? And we are out of here, everybody. Thanks for listening. We'll regulate tomorrow.