Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/03: Odor's Amazing Night; Pearce's HRs; Week 20 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 3, 2018

We start the show by telling you just how incredible and unlikely Rougned Odor's Thursday night was and what it means going forward. Also, do we have a new closer for MIA (4:10)? And a quick peak at two-start pitchers for Week 20 (5:50) ... Big news on Mike Trout (10:00) and more, plus Thursday's standouts (13:30) including Maikel Franco, Brandon Nimmo and Ronald Acuna. We'll also talk about the multi-HR guys (19:40) like Steve Pearce and a couple of LAD sluggers, one of which is overowned ... Bullpen updates (23:52), Most Added players (25:30), Kershaw and Bumgarner thoughts (32:45), ranking more SPs (35:00), Addometer for Kendrys Morales and others (38:30), Dropometer for Mitch Haniger and others (42:00), a complete rundown of two-start pitchers (52:45), Fantasy Regulators (57:05) and today's matchups (1:03:00). Yeah, it's a busy show! ... 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

Domingo Santan... We're heading into week 20. How about that? And it's a beautiful Kokemo Friday here on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. Man, we had a lot of offense yesterday. We had a triple dong. We had several double dongs. We're going to talk about that.

And we had a five-walk game from a guy who doesn't walk. Chris and Scott, I would say that so far this year, we've had some three-homber game. We haven't had a four-homer game, have we? I don't think so. Okay. We've had three no-hitters. one of them combined, one from Mania, one from Paxon. I really think the most remarkable thing that we have seen all season was Ruegnet-Odoer drawing five walks yesterday.

Okay, so, before yesterday's game, before his career, Rugnett-Odor had averaged five walks every 25.5 games. Games. Games. Yeah, I mean, he had 19 walks two years ago when, you know, we got, yeah, in 150 games. 150 games, yeah, right? So, like, this is one of those things where you look and see that in the box score, and you're like, have I gone to a parallel universe where Rubnet-Odor is a different player than he was in my own? It's amazing.

To be clear, he was walking more before yesterday's game. But he had 22 walks in the entire season before yesterday's game also. Yeah, now, here were the two stats I saw on C.B. BBSports.com. A great site. Yeah, very good site. Stat News said Rue Nettador became, this is a big, think about this. He became the fourth player since 1906, I believe, with five walks and a home run in the same game.

The other three are Hank Aaron, Mark McGuire, and Edgar Martinez. Guys who all walked a lot. And they're all in the Hall of Fame. Well, neither is Edgar Martinez. Only one of them is in the Hall of Fame. It's not that impressive at him. Edgar will this year. I feel pretty confident saying he will make it this year. The other stat from stats by stats,

Routenetador had never had five plus unintentional walks in an entire August before last night. He had five unintentional walks last night. So he has been on fire in July. He hit 341 with six homers and six steals. He's 82% owned. He was on the sleepers hitters list. His ownership's gone up since then. Last week, that is.

Anything to say here about it? O'Dor? I mean, specifically with the walks, just just kind of like a crazy fluke day? Or is this a changed hitter? He's not that changed. He's not going to become a high walks guy. And I would also say, like, I don't think he's going to be an elite

second baseman, even though he's performed that way, really even going back before July, basically since the start of June. He's going to be good, but he's going to be like, he's walked. at a 10% clip since the start of June. That is why. That's good, bad average.

That's above average. Average is about 8.5%. So, I don't know. I don't know what's going on. Is that counting the five walks? Yeah, that's counting the five walks. But still, even if you take that out, it's well above his career.

Like, he's been an average walk guy if you take that out. I think he is going to be a guy who is always on the border of being a top 12 second basement. He's going to bounce in and out of the top 12 based on how hot he is. And that's, you know, he deserves to be 82% owned, maybe even a little more than that, if that's who he is. Okay. Scope or Odor rest of season. I actually like scope a little more.

Okay. That's your stat of the day, your stats of the day, all that stuff about Rugnett Odore. Here's your tweet of the day. Some Scott White. Very, very funny tweet. Somebody named Joe Ryder on Twitter said, Kyle Bearclaw, or he said, no, I got to get it right.

He said, Bearclaw is totally lost right now. And Scott said, look behind the Crullers. And I just thought it was brilliant. Well done, yeah, yuck, yuck, yuck. I did debate for the while which alternate pastry to use. I originally was going to go with fritter, but I think Cruller's much fun. Crullers did nail it. A Danish?

Danish. Well, it has to be something else you'd feel very confident. you find in a donut shop, but you don't think is quite as on the nose as fritter in terms of a sister pastry. By the way, second Danish reference this week, that's always interesting. But Kyle Bearclaw might have lost his closers job. Don Maddingly said he's considering removing Bearclaw from the Closers role, maybe just temporarily. And he did not commit to it by any means. But I'm going to guess Drew Steckenrider would be next man up there.

Yeah. Bearclaw has blown three of his last four saves. his ERA has risen from 128 to 328 in his last five appearances. Well, just since the start of July, he has an 1132 ERA and a 20% strikeout rate, which is well below. Not just his career norm, but that's below average as well. All right, let's look ahead to Fantasy Week 20. We'll go through this list, obviously, more in depth later on. But give me some two-star pitchers to pick up.

Oh, I got one. If he makes the start, it's Luke Weaver. We talked about yesterday. He's 70% owned, so he's just barely making what we could call the sleeper cutoff. And even with those tasty matchups, it's still concerning. There aren't a lot of great, scarcely owned options. I think not to reignite a debate, but I think the most interesting among those owned in like less than 50% of leagues might actually be Lance Langelland. Boom!

No, reignite it. Honestly, you deserve to talk about it. You wanted to talk about it. Lance Lynn is in the rotation, and he's got good matchups next week at the White Sox. Texas has really been a tough matchup, but at the White Sox. But it's not at Texas. Yeah, it's home. But he's a ground ball pitcher.

Like I said, he hasn't been giving up many home runs. And I think he has whatever starts. He's at 1.1. It's one per nine. Yeah. But, I mean, since he kind of turned his season around. basically like I said yesterday the only thing he's been doing wrong and he's been doing it very wrong

don't get me wrong but the only thing he's been doing wrong over the past couple months is walking a lot of hitters the strikeouts have been good the home runs have been low and like I said he's one of the better ground ball pitchers

in baseball so I'm not excited to pick him up for two starts it's a 13 appearance 12 start stretch that's the stretch I'm referring to I'm not excited to pick him up for these two starts

but if you're desperate to pick up somebody, he's of the widely available options. He's my favorite. So that's Lance Lynn. There have been a, you know, 13 appearance, 12 starts, 350 ERA. 413 FIP in that stretch. A 413 FIP is not that bad, right? It's pretty bad.

It is? I'm going to give you a list of pitchers, and I want you to tell me if they're good at pitching. Okay, but I don't want to get derailed too much. Andrew Cash. No. No. Cole Hamels.

Yes. Julio Taran. He's kind of in Lynn where, like... Ricky Nalasco. No. James Shields. This year has been pretty good. John Lackey.

Well, he's not pitching anymore, so no. He's a good career. Good career. Okay, those are the only pitchers since the start of 2017 with a worse FIP than Lansling. But we're not talking about... No, since the start of 2017. Okay.

Well, yeah, I mean, he was not good last year. He hasn't been good this year. He hasn't been good this year either. But he's been pretty good over his last 13 appearances, 12 in the starts. There are a number of pitchers who are 70 to 78% own that maybe one of them will show up on your waiver wire that are interesting. Strowman, I don't know, got Boston and then Tampa Bay. That's the thing is the matchups are pretty rough. Yeah, Derek Rodriguez has Houston in Pittsburgh.

Yeah, I mean, he's still one of the better ones, Derek Rodriguez, but he's over 70% owned too. Kyle Gibson Cleveland and Detroit Detroit's good I definitely start Kyle Gibson What 76% own Gibson's been good all year Against Cleveland

In his last start Six sittings, three runs Yeah I'd definitely start him But you're probably not going To be able to pick him on Joe Mosgroves at Colorado Oh yeah That's not gonna go well

Yeah Maybe uh no But Antonio Sends Itel is a two-star pitcher We'll talk about him Another article on a great website at CBS Sports.com talking about how good the Rocky starting pitchers have been lately. It's pretty remarkable stuff. So that's a look at two-star pitchers for Fantasy Week 20.

And again, we'll dive into it a little bit deeper later on in the show. We'll try to get to some weekend streamers as well. CBS.com, I've been talking about it a lot. How about CBS Sports HQ? That is our 24-7 streaming platform. It's awesome. It's got fantasy coverage. It's got coverage of every sport.

Great analysis. this smart analysis, but it's basically going back to the basics. It scores, its news, highlights. It's what you grew up watching when you used to love the highlight shows. CBS Sports HQ, how do you watch it? It's free. You have to sign up or anything like that. Go to CBSportshq.com or better yet, on your over-the-top device, like a Roku or whatever you have.

Download the CBS Sports app. Everything is free and just start watching CBS Sports HQ. All right, the big news. Mike Trout, he sat with a jam. wrist that he sustained sliding into third base. And I meant to look this up, but I forgot. But you guys probably remember, because you are smarter than I am. Did he hurt his thumb or something sliding into second base last year or two years ago?

That happened in his past? I know he had a fingee injury recently. I'm just, like sometimes this happens and I, you know, sliding in head first into a base. I'm starting to, like if it gets hurt again, I don't know if he even got hurt the first time. But is that going to affect his steel numbers going forward? That's just where my head is at right now. He sprained his thumb on a steel attempt last May, it looks like. All right, Adam, you were right.

It took you a while to get there, but you were right. So that's two years in a row that Mike Trout has heard his hand, wrist, thumb, whatever, sliding into a base. Uh-oh, I mean. And any time you have a wrist injury, I think it's worth noting that that's the kind of issue that can sap power and lead to a slump. Yeah, I want to say, I'm guessing, just looking at the game log, it was 2014, where he had an August that was particularly bad because of a wrist injury.

That's exactly what it was, yeah. Yeah. And that kind of... Remember what happened after that? You guys took Bryce Harper ahead of Trout. The next year. The following year. Yeah.

Fooled you. He has 21 steals. That's an excellent number for him so far. Trout's got a jam wrist, and he's for now day-to-day, but it could be more significant. 2014 was one of his MVP seasons, Trouts. Oh, maybe it was 25th. But it was also his worst season statistically, which is interesting. So that's why I was guessing that was the season.

But it was one season at some point in the past. Dee Gordon left with an ankle injury. We don't know this a farity yet. We should know today. Zander Bogart's on track to return today. Stephen Mats could go on the deal with a mild pronator strain in his forearm. The Mets are also concerned about Mats's workload, so I don't know how much you're going to get from him rest of season. Oh my gosh, Strait Turner.

He's now number five shortstop in fantasy. He homered and he stole two bases. He has eight steals in his last four games. He's red-hot. Chris Dale expected back next week. Chris Bryant still has shoulder discomfort, has no timetable for a return. Yeah. And congratulations to Brayle.

Brad Ziegler, the first Diamondbacks relief pitcher to use the bullpen cart this year. Nobody else had used it yet? No diamondbacks had used it. What is wrong with these people? A couple of visitors. Oh, Ziegler had used it, I believe, as a visitor. Yeah, on Ziegler, okay. I think so.

And it had a horrible outings, so I doubt they're going to let him. And by them, I mean, his teammates. It was actually 2015 for Trout. He had four months that year where he hit over 300 with over a 1,000 OPS, and then in August he hit 218 with the 689 OPS. Oh, yeah. Well, I hope that doesn't happen. We'll stay tuned.

Hopefully not. All right, Thursday standouts. I'm going to ask you not to pick Steve Pierce or any of the Dodgers, or any of the Dodgers, we're going to talk about them at a second. Did anybody stand out to you on Thursday other than the multi-dongers?

Michael Franco continues to do it. I think we talked about him on Wednesday, but he hit a, was a walk-off? Grand Slam? Thursday, we talked about him. Chris, it was just yesterday, and it was off Kyle Bearclaw. It was on Bearclaw. Yeah.

I don't think I was on the podcast yesterday. You were definitely on the podcast. We were doing the best of July, and Michael Franco was one of them. That doesn't sound right. Yeah, Michael Franco and, I mean, both, him and Reese Hoskins, both continued to do it. And Reese Hoskins, I feel a lot more comfortable with, obviously. But Michael Franco, you know, maybe the breakout is. happening? I don't know. It's really hard to say. I want to talk about Brandon Nimmo for a minute.

See you. A guy who I've been, I bought into pretty hard and have been reluctant to buy out of. But it may be time. I say that knowing he homered yesterday. That was his second home run since June 18th. He had hit 194 and 36 games. during that stretch, and yet he hit 194 in those 36 games despite a 319 BABIP. And even though he's batting 240-something for the season, he has a 340 BABIP overall. And just seems like a guy who strikes out way too much for not having quite enough power to overcome that. So he's probably not three outfielder league material anymore. Brandon Nimmo, yeah, he's on the dropometer.

I think he's 60% owned, so we'll just skip him on the dropometer for later. I was going to nominate Ronald O'Cuna as a standout. Somebody that we can all get excited about. Two for three with a triple, two runs, and a steel, and a walk at the Mets. His OPS is like really good now. It's somewhere around 8.50 for the season, which is a little surprising. 837. 837.

Since becoming the leadoff hitter, Ronald LeCunia, batting 372, 460 on base, 767 slugging in 12 games. 11 runs, four homers, four steals, six walks, 11 strikeouts. I mean, everything is clicking right now for Ronald Ocuna. Thoughts. It seems to have allowed him to tap into that stolen base potential that we knew he had, but there's always a question, will the current MLB environment, where steals are generally frowned upon, will the player get a chance to make the most of it? And then the lead-off spot said he had four steals.

He has six all season. So that's added to that. And it's, you know, he just seems more comfortable in that spot. It's one he batted in in the miners a lot. And I think it may be happening. I think it may be starting the Acuna greatness that will hopefully last for the next decade plus. So let's revisit the fun dynasty topic and even seasonal. Juan Soto.

I mean, at this point, you cannot take Acuna over Soto in seasonal. It does. Soto's a monster. But what about in Dynasty? Soto. Soto? Like, is... His command of the strike zone is

Preeter Natural. He's 19. Yeah. We think. I think Akuna just turned 20. Well, yeah, but I mean... And it's worth noting. Has a 19-year-old done this before?

Yeah. Yeah. Frank Robinson was good as a 19-year-old. This is good? Rodriguez was good as a 19-year-old. This good? Yeah, I don't think Alex Rodriguez is this good at 19. But yeah, it is worth noting. Since Ronald, I was just like, since Ronald Okunia came off the DL on June 29th,

he has a like 970 OPS, which is awesome. Juan Soto, it has not been the best stretch of his season, and he still has a 946 OPS in that stretch. He's got seven home runs and 29 games. He doesn't run. So Ocunia does have that, but if you're talking about the other four fantasy category, I might give the edge to Soto in all four of them. Right.

Just because he's such an on-base monster. He's such a good hitter. Everything points to that. It's, he is so impressive. The plate discipline alone is, it's just unheard of for a 19-year-old. So Alex Rodriguez, his big breakout season was his age 20 season, 1996. And he began the year 20 that year. 21 mid-season.

So that was a monster's year, hit 358, 1045 OPS. But it was a year older than so do is. Okay. How would you rank these players in a dynasty league? Let me think. I have four. I have three. I need a fourth.

Okay. Hold on. No teenager has ever had an on-base percentage over 400 while qualifying for the batting title. Now, Juan Soto does not currently qualify for the batting title. Oh, well, then it was deceiving. All right, rank these four. Acuna, Soto, Jose Altuve, Chris Bryant.

Dynasty. Yeah, I'll go Altuvae, and I have a hard time not saying Bryant number two, and Soto and Okina. Okay, I'm sorry. I need to update that, Adam. Okay. Among teenagers who have played at least, who have had at least 200 played appearances in a season, none have had an on-base percentage over 400, except for Juan Soto. None have had an on-base percentage over 380 since Mel ought in 1928 when he had a 397 on-base percentage. Okay. This might be the greatest offensive season for a teenager in Major League history.

You ought to know. You know what I'm saying? Multi-Dongs. I was just thinking, does his name qualify as a complete sentence? I know it's not spelled right, but that's the first time I've ever heard it in my head that way. Can anyone do that? Let me get the show on the road. Multi-dongs from yesterday.

You goofballs on this Kokomo Friday. Steve Pierce, actually having a pretty good year against Ritees, and two of his home runs came against Ritees yesterday. Maybe he starts getting more playing time. He's 7% own. He had three home runs yesterday. Nelson Cruz, Dede Gagorius, they both hit two home runs. Cruz is hot, six home runs in his last seven games. He was cold before that.

Dedi is now the number six shortstop and points, number seven in Roto, with another 20 homer season for Didi. And then a couple of Dodgers. Juck Peterson, 46% owned, two homers yesterday, and Yaseel Pueg, 84% owned on pace for basically what he did last year. He had 28 home runs and 15 steals last year, and he has 14 home runs and seven steals and 82 games this year. That's Puege.

But let's talk about Steve Pierce, guys. And this three-homer game, is it fantasy relevant? Not really. It's just a question of playing time for him. And maybe he can earn some more, but Mitch Morland's really good defensively, so they're probably not going to just replace him in the lineup. And I just don't think Steve Pierce is going to play every day. Yeah, it's been less playing time for Morland since they acquired.

Pierce doesn't just play against lefties. He always plays against lefties, but he plays against some righties, too. And Mitch Morland's all-star candidacy is flimsier and flimsier by the week. Yeah, Pierce has started eight of the last 13 games for the Red Sox, so he's playing a little more than... Yeah, I guess I gave him credit for there. Still not enough, though. Yeah. Well, it's not, but if you're in a daily league, I mean, is he a good enough hitter to put on your roster and start when he's in the lineup?

He's got a 9-73 OPS, Steve Pierce. And he had an 867 OPS last year in a 9-30 in 2014. The outlier at this point, you know, he is an 834 OPS over the last five seasons, so he's pretty good. All right, yeah, Steve Pierce is 7% on. I think Daily League is where you're looking. I'm starting him in a 24-team league pretty consistently. How about the Dodgers guys, Peterson and Pueeg?

Peterson's 46% owned. Pueg is 84%. Boy, one of these guys is going to have to stop playing well, or this is going to be a real nightmare. Yeah, so Justin Turner was back in the line of yesterday, earlier than we expected. Everybody homered. Chris Taylor sat. Chris Taylor sat, okay, that was, because I knew Muncie played, and obviously both these two played. Peterson's not going to play against lefties, so that, you know, he's certainly a better daily league option, also a five outfielder league option.

probably. But Pueg is somebody who's playing time, I would have guessed, isn't. Like, I don't think he's going to be a lineup fixture. I think he's going to be part of the group who sits occasionally. I feel like Pueggs over-owned at 84%. I think I agree, yeah. Anything to say about Cruz or D.D. Gagorius? I mean, D.D. we were talking yesterday.

he's obviously he had a huge April but it's not like he's been bad since then he's his last couple months have been pretty good he's been a top 100 hitter since the start of May even with the really really bad May like I think he had like a 370 on OPS yeah in the month of May so but he's kind of settled in as D.D. Gervarious since June 1st 29 9 homers six deals 840 OPS I mean that's very good Yeah. What you were hoping to get. Two home runs on the road yesterday, which was nice because it's not usually what he does.

He hit a home run off a lefty yesterday. Might hit two off a lefty. I'm not sure who his second one was off. But yeah, so that was, you know, for me, like in a DFS kind of look at it, I like him at home against Ritey's. He's unbelievable. But yesterday was on the road against a lefty, and Gregorius had a two home or day. Bullpen, we already know Bearclaw might lose his job. Do you think Wade Davis could be in any trouble?

Because Adavito has just clearly been so much better than him. Davis has five blown saves. Now, 11 of his last 13 appearances have been scoreless, but in the other two, he's allowed seven runs. Do you think Wade Davis could be on the closer hot seat? I feel like the same thing happened to Greg Holland at this point last season, right? Yeah, he had a horrible August. Holland did when he just lost the feel for a slider and got it back before the end of the season.

I don't think it's related to his issues this year. But, no, I don't really feel like his job's in jeopardy. Okay. Wade Davis is. Well, Ata Vito's been good. I mean, it's kind of like Jeremy Jeffers. Like, Atevito's been even better than Jeffers. He's been good enough to own regardless if you just need ratios.

And he's got a chance of being a closer. So put him on your radar if he isn't already Adam Ottavino. And he probably is. So let's take a look at him. of the most added list here and coming up later on the show we're going to check in on those aces clayton kershaw and madison bumgarner how'd they do last night we're going to rank nick pavetta and mike fultenevich and others we are going to give you some deeply guys we got the addometer the droplet meter and of course week 20 help oh and we'll do some regulation a little bit

later the fantasy regulators are coming back so i think everybody's very enthused about that and i didn't have the music queued up so i didn't get to play it Something like that, right? Yeah, something along those lines. We'll see if we can make that. There's a 15-second ad. I don't feel like sitting through it before that plays on YouTube. Okay, most added players in CBS Sports Leagues.

Number one is Cole Calhoun, 62% owned. Yep, makes sense. Number two is Jose LeClerc. Number three is Lordus Gurriel, who's up to 33%, and now you're stashing them on the DL. Number four, Matt Chapman. Chris, you spoke briefly about Chapman yesterday. Might legitimately be breaking out?

Yeah, he might be really good. All right. He has, in terms of real baseball context, you mentioned his defense yesterday, he has a war approaching six. He might be an MVP candidate. In a non-Mike Trout, Mookie Betts season, he might turn into an MVP. I was going to say, all the NL MVP candidates were talking about had wars around four. Yeah.

And here Chapman's is approaching six. But what am I missing here? I mean, he's batting 268 with 13 home runs in 94 games. He walks a lot. He's cut his strikeout rate. He has plus raw power. He's striking out at a battle league average right now after striking out 28% of the time last year. And he hit 14 homers in 84 games last year.

Yeah, you know who I think he could be in fantasy, you know, forget real world. world context, because obviously defense won't matter in fantasy, but I think he could be like good Kyle Seeger. Yeah. Okay. Who else we got on the most out of this? We've talked about a lot of these guys, but Matt Boyd is on the most out of this,

and he is an available two-star pitcher next week. Matt Boyd, 41% owned. Any interest? I think his fastball velocity has been up, and he's striking guys out lately. And I, let me check that but I'm pretty sure that's what I saw.

Okay, let us know on that, Boyd. How about Derek Holland? He's on the most out of list. Derek Holland. Unless there is a dramatic change in terms of Boyd's velocity and the impact it's making, I would prefer Holland.

Boyd has the issue of a low Babbup and a fewer home runs than you'd expect for a guy who's a fly ball pitcher. There's reason to think he hasn't, he's not nearly as good as he's been. Who? Derek Holland? Oh boy.

Boyd. Okay, sorry. So, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, his velocity in the month of July was actually two miles per hour up over where it was in April, about a mile per hour up over where it was in May. So he's been steadily increasing. And he's on a nice stretch right now. Five starts with a 290 fifth.

And he's getting a decent. number of strikeouts in that stretch. He's interesting. I don't know if it's meaningful, but he looks like a slightly different pitcher and a slightly better one. And that's pretty much all I care about on the most out of this is we have talked about most of those guys. Anthony Swarzak is there, 17% owned.

Is he the Mets closer? It looks like it. And, you know, his ERA is still over seven, I guess, on the year. but he's been fine in the little bit since entering that role. And he was awesome last year. I mean, he was a closer caliber reliever for the White Sox and Brewer's last year. So it's possible. Give the man some credit.

His ERA is 630, Scott. Oh, my bad. Anthony Swarzak. And also, we got a 72% Roberto Ozuna. We've talked about that. We don't know for a fact that he's going to be the closer right away or anything. But there's a good chance. So obviously, Ozuna could be a good ad for your team.

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So download it and use the promo code Fantasy for $20 off your first Seatkeek purchase. News and notes, Jay Haps on the D.L. He may only miss one start. Sunny Gray out, Lance Lynn in, and Chance Adams could start at Boston on Saturday. And if he does, he will give up at least six runs. Pablo Sandoval is out for the season. Chance Adams was a big prospect last year, but not so much this year. Pablo Sandoval out for the season with a hamstring tear. Tommy Pham left with a bruised foot.

Jake Lamb out for the season with a shoulder injury. He should be ready for spring training. Jonathan V.R. V.R. came off the D.L. He said a couple of lineup notes for you. VR off the DL. He led off for Baltimore. He went two for five with a run. VR is 31% owned, underowned, overowned, or is the partage just right for VR? If he plays every day, it's definitely under-owned. And I don't know why he wouldn't play every day, given what's left in Baltimore. He's definitely somebody who will run. That might be all he does.

But yeah. Chris Taylor sat, Brian Dozier-Homer again. Ender Enciarte sat against a lefty, as we feared he might, with Duval in the lineup. And David Peralta returned from a shoulder injury. Marcel Ozuna is day-to-day. He expects the play today. He is a toe injury. Mike Mustakis sat against a lot of the line up.

the lefty. Clayton Kirshaw was on the mound, so Shaw was in. Mustakas was out, which is the reverse of what happened on Wednesday. Tyler O'Neill batted third and played right field for St. Louis. Two walks, 22 strikeouts so far for Tyler O'Neill. He's 25% owned. Over-owned, under-owned, just right. Under-owned. Yeah, I would agree. Now, it has been a 50-50 split, as the Cardinals said it would be, but I just, I think he's a much better

hitter than Bader, Harrison Bader. And he's certainly just much more interesting for our purposes. Like Harrison Bader, over the course of a full season, might develop into a 2020 guy with like a 275-ish average. And that's not nothing. But Tyler O'Neill has 40 homer upside. He could steal 20 bases. He might hit 2.30 while doing it, but there's a lot to like in his fantasy profile.

And Elvis Andrews has a 13 game. hitting streak. So let's check in on those aces. Just a couple of them. I didn't put Granky on here, but feel free to talk about Granky. Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner. Did you see encouraging signs, discouraging signs? I watched a lot of the Giants game, and it wasn't a very good start for him.

And he admitted, I think he said he didn't have his best stuff. Got out of two early bases loaded one-out jams, gave up just one run in each of the first, in the first two innings. He had bases loaded one out. So Bumgarner, it really was not that encouraging, but just one start. Kershaw had 15 swinging strikes. That's a pretty good number for him, but he is not going deep into games. Only one start of more than six innings and eight starts since coming off the D.L.

I'll throw it over to you guys, Bumgarner and Kershaw. But consistently going six for Kershaw, which is still pretty impressive in today's pitching environment. I don't think there's anything really to worry about with Kershaw. Clayton Kirshall, but, like, I don't think he's going to be Clayton Kirschall. I think he's going to be an ace caliber pitcher. Yeah, it depends how you calibrate it. Is he in the discussion for best pitcher in baseball now? Probably not.

But the decline phase of Clayton Kirschall, he still led the National League in ERA last season. I think he's third this season. So, like, regard, yeah, he's not the same guy he was before. He's still awesome. Now, is Bumgarner awesome? I'm not sure about that. I don't think it's the concerns we're seeing with Bum Garner. I don't think it's like Matt Harvey a couple years ago where he managed to keep the ERA low,

but you feared it was going to get a lot worse than it did. I don't think it's going to get worse for Bum Garner. And he's fine now as he is. But it's dating back to last year when he returned from the shoulder injury. It just doesn't look like the same guy. Yeah. Yep. Their strikeouts are just way down, 56 and 66 and 2 thirds.

And Scott, you have Bumgarner 21st behind Carasco, Burrios, McCullors, just ahead of Clevenger, Chris Archer. So that's a, you know, and Heath has Bumgarner 21st as well in a very similar range of pitchers. So that's how they're feeling about Bumgarner right now, just outside the top 20. All right, some more pitchers, rank them. Andrew Heaney, Mike Fultenevich, Yolisha Seine, and Nick Povetta. Andrew Heaney, Mike Fultenevich, Yolish, Shacina, Nick Povetta. I will go Hini, and then I'm still going to go Fultenevich over Povetta, but I could be talked into Povetta instead. Shecine's a distant fourth.

We were waiting for that start he had yesterday. It finally happened. We did get a pretty good email about him that I, I don't know if you. So is it from Justin, I believe? Yes. But then did you get the follow-up email? Because he wrote this email about how we're not in respect. Yolisha Sassine and then he was like, oh, last night didn't help.

Relative to Carlos Rodan, who has a 188 Babbup in the month of July to go with his 1.88 ERA. That wasn't a bad point, though. He said you can't disrespect Yolish Sassine and respect Carlos Rodan, who also has a really low Babbat. I think there's context there that needs to be added, which is that Carlos Rodon is coming back from a shoulder. Carlos Rodon is really young. Carlos Rodon has shown in his career that he pitches better as the season goes on. it's a little more comfortable throwing that change up. So there are reasons to believe Carlos Rodon has better days ahead of him,

not necessarily the same for Julius Chasin. And this was a good example. Chasine does have San Diego next week. It's at home. So keep that in mind. But, yeah, number one was easy, Andrew Heaney. And then Scott goes Fulte, Povetta, and Chasine Povetta had a great matchup, and he has stunk this year a lot of times.

I know the peripherals are good, but. In terms of run prevention, he has stuck. Stunk. The peripherals are really good. In the last three starts, which includes yesterday's good start, 28 strikeouts to two walks in three starts. And I think if you go take it four starts, it's 35 strikeouts to four walks. So that's a really good ratio.

His FIP is around 350, so more than a run lower than his ERA. But you know what we never talk about is hits? Because he gives up, Nick Povetta gives up a lot of hits. And sometimes we just chalk it up to Babbitt, but maybe you guys are just hitable. I don't know. Okay, so this is, all right. I tweeted this three days ago before this most recent star. Nick Povetta, he may just be one of those outliers who gives up way too many hits

and he's just too hitable and doesn't show up in the numbers. But he ranks 80, in the 83rd percentile in DRA, which is baseball prospectus, pitching peripheral stat, he ranks 69th percent on FIPP, 84th percent on X-FIPs, 67th percent on Sierra, 67th percent on expected Wobah. Basically, every tool that we have to evaluate a pitcher's talent level, he is at least above average and sometimes well, well, well, above average. I feel it.

So they could all be wrong, but when they all agree, yeah, I don't know. I still believe. He has much more upside than anyone in this group. Whoa. Oh, then Heaney? Yes. I think Heaney's good, but I don't think Heaney has, like, 11 strikeouts per nine upside.

I think Paveeta does. All right, let's move on. Deep Leagues, you want any of these guys? Antonio Sensitella, Brad Keller, Robbie Erland. No? Okay, great. Let's move on then. Hadometer.

These three hitters are hitting pretty damn well lately. Austin Hedges. Padres catcher. He is 30% owned top five catcher in the last 28 days. Now, that is my favorite name that's a complete sentence, Austin Hedger. Once you hear it, that way you can't unhear it. I don't think Oat really works because I'm not really sure in modern English. You can have Ought without another verb following it, or at least the word two, I guess. But anyway, I don't think Austin Hedges is really a great offensive.

catcher. Let me give the other two real quick, Scott. Sorry. Austin Hedges, Trey Mancini, Kendris Morales. Hedges, Mancini, Morales. Do you think any of them are, you know, worth adding? Um, no. Austin Hedges plays Ketron has a pulse, so. But he also has Francisco, Mejia, breathing down his neck now. I think Trey Mancini is actually overowned at 34%. I don't know what's going on there. Yeah. Well, I mean, he overachieved in a lot of ways last year. A lot of home runs for the eyeball rate and a high babb. I didn't expect the fall to be this hard, but I didn't expect him to do what he did last year either. I'm actually more interested in some of the pitchers you've lost over than these hitters. Sensitawa Keller and Erlin? Yeah. Okay, go ahead. I apologize. Well, I think Keller and Erlin, they're not there yet, but they have the potential to be mixed league relevant. Keller's such a good ground ball pitcher and two of his last three starts. He's had a lot of strikeouts. The one in between, only one strikeout. So, There's that.

And then Erlen has a 0.94 whip on the year. He's such a good control pitcher. If he stays in the rotation, I think there's a path for him to be relevant. Yeah, I shouldn't have skipped over them. Erlin 1% owned for the Padres. He has made almost nothing but relief appearances. He's made three starts.

Had a good start at the Cubs last night. And like I said, 1% owned, so maybe he can help some people out. Nothing on Ken Gensperales, though. He's got a 974 OPS in his last 40. five games. What happened? He, like, ditched his glasses and he got better? I want to say, I want to say he doesn't play every day. I think he plays pretty much every day now, but yes, we should check on that. I know there was a bit of a lot. He has been, you know, basically since the All-Star Break, he started every game.

15% owned. I mean, that's really low. Is he still only DH eligible? No, I think he's first base eligible now. Yeah, he's probably underowned at 15%. The problem is we've talked a lot about how the top of the first base rankings are not great this year, but there's a great big middle. And like the 12 through 28 guys at first base are all kind of interchangeable. I think I have C.J. Cron about 30th in my first base. Right. And he's on close to a 35 homer pace. I think I'd rather start Kendris Morales right now than C.

I would have rather started CJ Crone when he was hot. But I think that explains why Kendra's Morales is so low is that just nobody really needs that guy. Sure. And the dropometer. All right, so we already talked about one guy on the

dropometer, Brandon Nimmo. Let's talk about some other guys. Are you ready to drop any of them? Zero to ten. Zero is no way I'm not dropping them. Why would you ask? Ten is, of course I'm dropping them. I already did. Mitch Hanager. 99% own Mitch Hanager. zero to ten. Three, but he's at like a ten on the we probably overreacted to his April

low meter. Yeah, that is a fun meter. I haven't really broken that one out. All right, so just a three for Mitch Hanigar, excuse me. How about Angleton Simmons? Since coming off the DL on June 16th, so a month and a half now, he is the number 18 shortstop in points, number 26 in Roto. Angleton Simmons. Now that's a prize. me because and I know this gets tricky because some of our

in-house leagues we manipulated how that short week after the All-Star break work but I actually have him in the podcast league, the original podcast league, 12-team points league and he has

clearly been the highest point score lately over Janhervis Salarte and Eduardo Escobar. I think he's coming off back-to-back 20 point weeks in that format which is always a good thing, a 20-point week from a hitter. I'm fine with him. He's more valuable in points than Roto because the strikeouts,

the lack of strikeouts are such a big part of his contribution in that format. My question is with Simmons, because the dropometer has got to be calibrated differently for league format. But you say he's more valuable in points. Is he only valuable in points? Because he's not running. Only six steals this year. Yeah, that's the thing. Last year he was running.

Like 19 steals last year for Simmons. But that gets into an issue of, You know, maybe not in a head-to-head categories league if you just have the shortstop spot, but in the standard Roto League when you have the middle infield spot, that also needs filling. I imagine he started in most in most Roto leagues, but much less owned. All right, so we're going to put him pretty low on the drop-a-meter. How about Sazar Hernandez, who is a top 13 second baseman? Since June 1st, he has a 6.63 OPS, and a low batting average this year for Hernandez,

it kind of makes sense because he's hitting a lot more fly balls and the Babbup is down. But Cesar Hernandez on the drop-a-meter 0 to 10. I went with some pretty high-end guys, three guys that are owned in more than 90% of leagues. So I'm interested in seeing, let's see, most of the time, for at least part of the time

as Drewbilt Cabrera has been at Philly. They've had the DH spot and he's filled it. He started one game for Cesar Hernandez before they went to Boston for two games. So basically what I'm trying to say is I don't think Cesar Hernandez is immune from Cabrera's interference, and if he ends up being

one of the guys who suffers from it the most, I think Kingery will be most, but Kingery's still going to play, they say. And Michael Franco hasn't suffered from it yet. So if Cesar Hernandez is sitting a couple times a week for Cabrera, that pretty much ruins his points league appeal And Points League's that's his best format.

So I think he's probably like a five on the drop of meter. Okay. Finally, Eric Hosmer, 89% own. He does have a nine-game hitting streak. He has one extra base hit in that nine-game hitting streak. It's a double. Hosmer, with his 706 OPS. He's probably like an eight.

Unbelievable. Scott, any prospects we need to know about? New ones other than the Loy Jimenez and Vladimir Guerrero, who are going to keep talking about until they get called up or not. Yeah. I mean, they're still the top of the list just because the impact they could make is so big.

Beyond them, the main ones I'd be looking to stash are ones we've already seen before, Kyle Tucker and Austin Meadows, who I think will both be back sooner than later. I'm going to add Michael Kopec to the list of prospects to watch. It's possible, like Aloi Jimenez, they white sucks just decide to keep them down all year,

though I will remind people, Reese Hoskins didn't come up until August 11th last year. And of course, he was the story of the last two months of the season. So it's not too late. But Kopeck, after struggling with walks all season, over 6B per 9 for most of the season, his last four starts, he has four walks to 32 strikeouts.

And it coincides with, according to MLB.com, his AAA pitching coach kind of laid into him one day when he was complaining about bad umpire calls on full counts, and he's like, look, don't get the full counts. And he's kind of taken his velocity down just a little, and it seemed to have helped a lot. Copac? Copac, yeah, Michael Copac, who a lot of people thought was the best pitching prospect in baseball coming into the year. He is far from a lost cause.

We may see him yet. Sorry to be a Homer, but you think we're going to see Justice Sheffield? I think we'll see him in some capacity at some point. It may not be until September, and it may be in relief. Okay. Let's do some rapid-fire emails and hear from the people. The first one is not rapid fire. The rest we can do pretty quickly.

This is from Mike. Listening to you guys talk about Luke Weaver yesterday reminded me of how we talked about Aaron Nola a year and a half or two years ago. performed as an ace light for a stretch, and it's backed up by big K rates in the minors, particularly a strong double A rate. Some performance related to getting ahead in the count and wish stuff was a bit better.

Then Nola had a velocity gain as the top eight starting pitcher. Any chance Weaver is a sneaky buy in a dynasty league with this Nola comparison in mind. The thing to keep in mind is that comparisons aren't the future. And so, yes, Aaron Nola turned into a very good pitcher. There are lots of guys who didn't stretch. anybody out in the minors who didn't. Oh, but Luke Weaver,

he had decent strikeouts. Yeah, he wasn't even Aaron Nola in terms of strikeouts in the miners. Well, no, Aaron Nola had a worse strikeout rate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what, yeah, he was, like, I didn't, when Luke Weaver was getting called up, I didn't think strikeouts are a problem for this guy.

So I would be more likely to buy than sell on him in a dynasty lead, given where he is right now. The one thing to keep in mind, though, is the really bad Aaron Nola season in 2016, when he had a 478 ERA, he had a 308 FIP. Luke Weaver has a 475 ERA and a 419 fit this season. Yeah.

What was his FIP? 308, Air Nola. No, no, no. Weaver. Did you just give it? 419. I still like Weaver. I actually do think he has good stuff.

I don't know if he has great stuff, but... He needs to be a strike thrower on the level of Nola, and he can be, and he hasn't been this year, and this is what happens. I feel like that basically sums it up. Yeah, I think he's more like a mid-rotation guy. From Sean. Hey, real quick, Hanager or Conforto? I think Conforto has a lot more upside.

I think Hanager's probably more useful right now. Okay. I would definitely take Hanigur. From Colin, Dynasty League, which walks count. I was offered Altuve for my Juan Soto. I rejected it. Am I crazy? No.

I mean, Scott just, took Altuvae ahead of Minnesota, but... I mean, you're not crazy. That's always like, how I would not do it, does it have to be for you to be crazy? I would not do it, unless it was a dynasty league where you're keeping them on uneven terms. But since he didn't say that, we can't assume that. You know, you just keep however many players and it doesn't, it costs you the same thing to keep each of them. In that case, I would definitely rather have Al-Tupe.

From Jose, should I drop Tommy fan for Jake Bowers in a 10-team Roto League? Ten-team Roto League. I don't think I would do that in Roto. In Points Leagues, I would. In Roto, I feel like the potential for steals and the fact that Bauer's walks aren't really going to count for anything. Of course, fan's a pretty good walk guy himself. I would stick with fan. From Kevin, dear Posey, Douglas, and Rhymes.

Busters. Yeah. I forgot. Busters slash Bustas. Yeah. Going forward, if I have to play one, which Red Sox first basement is the best option? Morland or Pierce?

I think it's Pierce. Yeah, I think so. Neither are great, but prefer Pierce. I think you guys are about to lose your man card. Rick in San Diego says, Dear Dylan, Mac, and Dutch. No, I know this. This is a shield.

Is it? Oh, no. No, it's not. No. Oh, my God. I was thinking Vic Mackey. It's Predator. Predator.

There is a Dutchman predator. The new one looks really good. The new one? There's a new one? They're remaking Predator. Shut up. And it looks really good. Oh, terrific.

All right. Much like Manny Machado last year, do you think we're going to see Super Bryce Harper for the rest of the season? I'm not going to answer it. I've said it a million times. Scott, I'll ask you, do you think we're going to see Super Bryce Harper? He's heating up a little bit. I think we're going to see

He's definitely heating up Yeah I mean he's going to be He's going to be the first round caliber player You drafted him to be I would say that at any point in the season From this point forward he's going to be a first round caliber player So that's what I'll say now too All right I'm only going to read one more here

Nick from Chicago would you rather trade Mania and Minter for stripling Or just Mania straight up for Darvish Manaya and mentor for stripling or just Mania straight up for Darvish. Nick Miller? Nick Miller, yeah, from Chicago. Same guy.

He's from Chicago? Nick Miller, yeah. It's a whole thing. He lives in L.A., but he moved. It's the whole thing. They go to Chicago multiple times. He's like a Bears postman? Yeah, okay.

No, I'm sorry. I got confused. So we are talking about the fictional character from Dubel and not the guy who plays in our podcast. Because there's a guy in one of our podcast, name Nick Miller. And I laugh every time he makes a transaction because just... Because he's Nick Miller? Yeah.

I would rather trade Mania and Minter for stripling. I think there's a pretty good chance you get nothing out of Darvish the rest of the season. Oh, please don't say that. All right, let's go to the two-star pitchers. We've got Sean Minaya, Dodgers and at the Angels. Cool with it? Yeah. Yeah, the Angels are pretty bad against lefties.

We got Sean Newcomb at Washington and home against Milwaukee. I think I'd do it after the... Yeah, I think I'd do it. Not with great confidence, but I'd do it. 134 pitches last time out, I think. It could get really nervous. He was awesome last time out.

He made me look like a big old dummy. Say that in your Ranch Wilder voice. He's got to be tired. He's thrown 134 pitches. What is that? Who's that? That's Angels and Alpheed. Remember, no Clark? He's got to be tired.

He's thrown 156 pitches. Sean Newcomb, by the way, I'm not sure he's going to make the two starts if they have a six-man rotation. Because he's starting Tuesday. I'm not sure. Worth looking into. Cole Hamels, at Kansas City, home against Washington. This is when our podcast is at the best. Well, they don't have their six-man rotation yet, you know, so they're going to.

No, the Gossman acquisition and the rainout has really, we don't know who's starting when. All right. How about Cole Hamils, guys? Start or sit at KC and home against Washington? Yeah, I think you probably have to. Rich Hill at Oakland and at Colorado. Start. All right, you're going to say start for all these guys.

What about Tyone? Tijuana at San Francisco. I think you probably have to start him. If you're starting Rich Hill, Rich Hill's better than Jameson, Tion. but at San Francisco is a better matchup than at Oakland. Yeah. If you're starting Richel, I think you're starting. I might not in a Roto League, but I probably would.

Even there. Kyle Freeland, two starts at home for Frilyn, Pittsburgh and the Dodgers. I mean, he's fine at home, but he just hasn't been good recently, so. Yeah, I wouldn't. Just in points. Marcus Stroman, Boston and Tampa Bay at home. I don't think I could in Roto. Definitely not in Roto.

Yeah. Or categories. But points is fine. I'd do it in points. Strowman. Derek Rodriguez, Houston and Pittsburgh at home. Points. Yep.

C.C. Sabathia, at the White Sox home against Texas. Yeah. I mean, maybe in points. He hasn't been very good recently either. Kyle Gibson at Cleveland and at Detroit. Yes. Yeah, points. Yeah.

I do it in everything. All right. Luke Weaver at Miami at KC. We talked about that a lot. Those matchups are so good So good I know I do it

I would only do it in points I would only do it in points You know there actually have been some pretty good starts for Luke like three of his last five starts have been very good The other two were terrible they were at the Cubs and home against Colorado Yeah All right No way we're starting Joe Musgrove he's got to start at Colorado and then at San Francisco And he never gets strikeouts

Or at least he hasn't very much lately Wade LeBlanc at Texas and at Houston. 53% owned? No. Stop. I know he's R.P. eligible, but... Oh, he's coming off an amazing start. Like, you had like a nine-strikeout start or something.

I think you're thinking of Wade Miley. Yeah, Wade LeBlanc has been... No, Wade LeBlanc had a really good start last time out. It might have been a 10th streetout. Three times out. Three times ago, it was great. Last time I had to give up seven runs in four and a third. Anyway, starter sit LeBlanc at Texas and at Houston.

Okay. It's a two weeks ago. Sometime of 2018. How about Matthew Boyd, Felix Hernandez, Dan Straeli, Lance Lynn, Drew Pomeranz. I would probably put Boyd at the top of that very not great list. Yeah. Yeah. Scott, just say Lance Lynn, Scott.

It's okay. Yeah, I've already said Lance Lynn, so I will say Lancelan again. And then we got Jake Junis, Clayton Richard, Alex Cobb, Nick Tropiano, Casner, Senzatella, Cologne, Gallardo, Covi, Mahia, Tommy Malone. All right. That was gross.

That was gross. I feel like I have to go change a diaper now, but instead, how about? We do some regulation. All right, listen, we're going long today. We're going long. Yeah. Sorry for the long show.

I hope it's okay with everybody. This is from Ryan. Dear Mani, Chris, Tommy, and Brian. Those are players dealt near the deadline this year. I had there are Machadoes. I received a message... I was out there from the shield. I received a message from an owner that he had a special request.

Can you please re-add Michael Waka to my team? I must have pocket dropped him while I was at work. After looking into the situation, it took him almost 24 hours to bring his pocket drop to my attention. First of all, have you ever heard of such a ridiculous request? And second, what were the regulators do in this situation? P.S., a few days later, he sent out a message to the whole league. Somehow Smoke accidentally got dropped off my phone. Didn't mean to.

Please leave him for me to re-ad. What are you doing, my guy? What is going on? What is this? Oh, that's, um... I think he picks... I think you get one. Yeah.

I think you get one pocket drop. That's never happened to me. Yeah, seriously. Like, you got to... You know the people who you're playing with for the most part. And I, you know... Like, you let him. Yeah, usually, I mean, things happen.

I'm usually pretty forgiving, but if it happens twice in the pan of a week, it's hard to come up with a, like, a nefarious reason why he would have dropped Michael Waka and Justin Smoke, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but like, what are you doing? What are you? Come on. What is your life? Lock your phone. All right, next up, let's see, we can regulate here. Doc Richard and William.

Your Doc, Richard, and William. Those are Browns. they are i like just saying something ridiculous and then like waiting for you to respond good job uh will you please pre-regulate an issue before it becomes a problem i'm in a 16 team head-to-head long running league where six teams make the playoffs i'm turn it up but it's so fun um my best friend in the league and i have a very similar record and currently sit in the final playoff spots we also play each other in the second to last week. I'm not asking if it's okay to throw a game to help a friend.

I consider that cheating. But if a tie for each of us would clinch both teams a spot, is it fair that we both bench our entire lineup so that we tie and both make the playoffs? You should both be kicked out of league. Yeah, this is terrible. This is Andrew, by the way. Yes, you cannot do that. Are you kidding, Andrew?

Awful. Like, unbelievable. Unbelievable that you would even consider sending that. I'm offended. Yeah. Chris coming strong during the regulators segment today. Good for you, Chris. Those are Browns.

All right. Next up, we've got Kara Stewart. Dear Soto, Ocuna, and Allard. Those are Colby's? They're from the Shield. Okay, it's kind of a long one, so pay attention. Names below have been changed to protect the innocent. I play in a 10-te-to-head categories league made up of friends that seems to chronically

have a hard time finding enough owners to keep things interesting. A few months ago at our book club lunch, I was chatting with Kimberly, one of the owner's wives, teasing her that I was crushing her husband that week in our fantasy matchup. She confided, you know what's funny? He doesn't even do anything with that team anymore. It's all Mason, our 11-year-old son. Mason did the draft and makes all the moves. This was news to me, but explains a lot of why the owner only sporadically manages his team.

It's gotten to the point where other league members, thinking it's the dad who's managing, have started to complain about his neglect and all the categories being forfeited. Come to think of it, these problems have been going on for several seasons with being ultra-motivated in brief stretches and then totally disinterested. So the kid probably took over a while ago. It's gotten worse with each passing week. I finally told the commissioner what I had learned. He seems hesitant to boot this owner for next year because, frankly, we have a lot of flaky

owners for various reasons. I feel like our league wasn't designed for 11-year-olds, and we wouldn't allow an 11-year-old to join if they asked outright. How should this be handled? What does Mason have going on that he can't handle a fantasy? Like what? You got a job, Mason? You're busy, you're going into the office with your little 11-year-old briefies?

You're talking about the 11-year-old? Come on. Step up and manage your team. What is happening to Chris Towers today? I mean, I don't have anything, and I know this email, unless she tweets me a lot. I don't have anything against an 11-year-olds managing a team on principle. That's fine. Scott coming in strong with the pro 11-year-old take.

Well, I mean, why can't an 11-year-old play fantasy baseball? I don't think that's reason to boot him. Now, activity, a lack of activity, you know, owners, that's always subject to a replacement. But, you know, I think the commissioner has to be motivated to do it. I don't, you know, you can obviously influence the commissioner on that along those lines, but there has to be a replacement. Maybe if you have somebody in mind who this person's really interested and I think would do a great job, it would help to push the commissioner that direction. I think we need punitive measures for the 11-year-old.

No more Paw Patrol until you set your line up, Mason. 11-year-old, don't watch ball patrol. All right, I'm going to say this, Kara. I don't think there's anything you can do here other than approach the dad and ask him to take it a little bit more seriously. I wouldn't kick him out of the league because you don't have enough of a league. It's a problem. This is an issue in a lot of leagues where owners just don't take it seriously.

So if you can't find anyone, I think you're stuck with him. I would have a nice, mature chat with him. Nothing like what Chris Towers is saying. Start taking money out of Mason's college fuck. Okay, you could also do that. And good luck to you. All right, let's look about the Friday matchups. Tyson Ross and Jose Cantana.

Kentana. Yes. I wouldn't start Ross. Yes. Correct. John Gant at Chris Archer. Archer. Yep.

Feel good about Archer, not about Gantt. Trevor Richards and Vince Velasquez. Vince Velasquez. Yes. Richards is coming off a pretty. good start. He's been interesting, but not interesting. Not yet. Anthony DiSquafani at Gio Gonzalez.

Geo? I'd rather not start Gio. Even though he was okay last time, it was four walks to four strike. Yeah, probably going to pass on both. All right, tough one here. Louis Severino at Rick Porcelo. You can't sit Lurice Severino. I know. I know. And I actually may have in the league where I have him.

I don't think it's crazy to Louis Severino. And just, you know, feel good. Like, if you sit Luis Severino and he has a great start, feel good about it. Okay, no, yeah. I breathe a sigh of relief. He's okay. I started Louis Severino. You start him.

I have no problem starting Porcelo, for what it's worth. Yeah, same. Anibal Sanchez at Jacob de Grom. I feel good about both. Yep. Lucas Gialito at Rust. Well, at Lucas Gialito at the raise. No.

Jaime Berea at Mike Clevenger. Clevenger, yes. Burriah, no. David Hesett Ariel Horado Yeah, I think I think he answered that one Hunter Philmire

Heath Philmire, Heath Fillmire, he Philmire As in now No And Jake O'Reasy I think he answered that one Armand Marquez at Junior Gera At Junior Gera

Yeah I think I'd probably I know Junior Gera's been good And we've been doubting him all season But I still don't buy it I'd start both Oh okay Oatsies And Milwaukee as opposed to Colorado

Not that Milwaukee's a pitcher-friendly place, but nothing compares to Colorado. Chris Stratton at Patrick Corbin. Okay, Shanae. Yes, Corby, no Stratton. Blaine Hardy at Brett Anderson. No. Yep. Ryan Baruchy at Marco Gonzalez.

It's confusing the way you're answering these friends. I mean, look. If the host doesn't know the name of the guy, I'm not going to start him. I know what is that. I think that's a pretty good rule. I know Brett Anderson. I don't know why I said Brian Anderson. Brian Barracki, Marco Gonzalez.

Marco Gonzalez, yes. Ryan Baraki. Yes. The Mariners have been pretty bad lately. If he has a bad star. Their closure had more wins above replacement in the month of July than their entire offense. If they has a bad start, I'm going to call him Yucky Baraki.

Justin Verlander and Alex Wood start them both. Have a great weekend, everybody. Have a blessed Kokomo Friday. And we'll talk you on Monday with a weekend recap as we get into. Week 20. See you later.