Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/04 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Fulmer injured, Marquez impresses, and Week 19 help

Episode Date: August 4, 2017

How should Fantasy owners approach Michael Fulmer's injury? Is German Marquez someone Fantasy players should look at as a replacement? Plus two-start options for Week 19! ... 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

It's August. So what happens? Adam Azer takes off. Guys taking a day off in August. I guess we can understand. No, unacceptable. No days off. This is the heat of the fantasy baseball playoff.

And this guy is just not playoff season. And this guy is just taken off. They're called the dog days for a reason. Because you're supposed to be like a dog and stay loyal. Or you're sick like a dog because it's gone on for so long. Towers and Scott White here for fantasy baseball today. And we got a lot to talk about. We got a lot of talk about short time to do it because the football guys want to come in here and talk about very important football things that time of year.

The jocks are going to push us out is what's going to happen. We're the nerds. They're the jocks. They're going to bully us out of our podcast room. Yeah, that may be what happens. But first, we have a word here from Buffalo Wild Wing. Sports trades are scary. One person can be replaced by another exchange. for money or given away for a hypothetical future person.

And once they leave your team, you can't like them anymore, even if you have their jersey, which you can't wear anymore, except a B-dubs. They won't judge, but others might. Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, beer, sports. So baseball actually happened yesterday, even though nobody wants to acknowledge baseball season is going on. A little bit.

We do have some big news. Michael Fulmer has a nerve issue in his elbow with numbness and tingling in his fingers. Sounds bad. What I want to ask you, Chris, is, is the big news really big news? I think so. I think you have to, I think you have to view Michael Fulmer as a risk moving forward. This is a guy who, you know, has been a model of consistency over the last two seasons was one of the few pitchers who hadn't gone on the DL yet this season. But, you know, they're saying it's a nerve issue in the elbow, something that he's dealt with over the last couple of years, but this is the first time that he's ever had that numbness during a start.

I don't know, it's so tough with pitcher injuries because everything gets downplayed. Unless it's like a disaster, every single injury is going to be, well, it doesn't seem that serious. Dallas Keikle's going to make his next start and all of a sudden he misses a month and a half. Yeah, so there are a lot of extenuating circumstances here. Fulmer says he hopes to throw in 10 to 12 days. you mentioned, this is something he's dealt with. He says for years, and the way Brad Osmus described it was normally after starts,

he gets that numb feeling in his pinky and his ring finger, and this time he got it in his middle finger as well. So, I mean, you hear about numbness in the pitching hand that affects how they throw pitches. So it sounds, I would normally think it's a big problem and not something you would expect him to return from in 10 to 12 days, but the history he has with this, I'm not sure. I'm not sure it is that big of a deal. It is worth pointing out two of his last three starts were his worst. So, you know, maybe it's been affecting him more than he's let on or even realized.

I just, I think there's almost never a really minor pitching issue injury. Like, even you look at like Steven Strasbourg, another guy who had, I believe, a similar issue, right? His was a nerve issue in his elbow. And that was one where I was like, ah, he's fine. He's going to make his next start. You're going to throw a bullpen session. He'll be fine. We're, you know, 10 days out and he still hasn't thrown, or he still hasn't thrown off a mound. So, you know, between the fact that it's a pitcher and the fact that there's, what, five weeks

left in the regular season, six weeks left in the fantasy season. You know, this could, I'm not saying there's anything actionable here. I'm not saying you should drop Michael Former, but you should prepare to be without him for the next two weeks. Okay. And, you know, obviously, if you're in a league without, playoffs, then it doesn't affect you as much. There's a little bit more time to work with. I do think maybe, you know, if he throws a couple bullpen sessions, kind of the concern goes down.

Do you think it might be a good time to try trading him then when it looks like he's on the verge of coming back? Trading for him? Trading him away because you're fearful that this could become. Sure. I think any optimistic report that you get could be an opportunity to sell him because you've got a situation where he might come back and he might come back great. We see guys come off the D.L. and pitch really well all the time. But let's say he misses the next two weeks. All of a sudden

you're up to week 21 when he's able to pitch for him. And then let's say he has a return like Dallas Keikle. I'm not worried about Dallas Keiko necessarily, but his first two starts, he hasn't provided much value. And I think that's typically a pretty fair thing to assume when a pitcher is coming off the DLs that they're going to need some time to get back. All of a sudden, you could be looking at a situation where Michael Form was not helping you until week 22. Yeah. And I don't think he's a pitcher on the level of Kichel or Kershaw anyway.

He's very good, but not that good. Okay, so I want to talk about a couple of studs here who did studly things on Thursday. The first one we'll talk about is Paul Goldschmidt, with a three-homer game, monster game. And obviously we know he's the top first baseman. We know he's in the discussion to go second overall next year. But three homer game, he was Jose Cantana's worst enemy in this game because he was pretty much individually responsible for Kentana having his worst start as a cup.

And you had a great stat on Goldschmidt before the show. Yeah, he raised his OPS 30 points yesterday. Yeah, in one day. In one day, in August. That's a hell of a game. So Corey Klobber threw a complete game against the Yankees, three hits, one run, one walk, 11 strikeouts. It was his ninth double-digit strikeout effort in 10 games.

Since coming back from the DL, right? I don't, does that cover the whole span? Like, did he have one start before that or anything? I don't know. I mean, he's been ridiculous. He's been nearly as good as his Siyang season, if not. Oh, I'm not sure this isn't the best Corey Klooper we've ever seen. I don't know that he can witness Ai Young with the way,

well, I mean, obviously we still have two months to sort that out, but Chris Sale is still the frontrunner, I would assume. But Corey Klooper's making up ground, and he did something historical in this start. He joins Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers with 12 straight eight strikeout games ever. And that span is since coming back from the D.I. That covers his very first start.

Since coming back from the DL, he has a 177 ERA, averaging 7.2 innings per start with 18% swinging the strike rate. You know what the craziest part for me is for the year, so not necessarily that's not that span where he has the 170 ERA, but for the year where his numbers are still great, a 291 Babbitt, it's pretty much within the norm for him. So it's not like, I mean, the way he's missing, bats right now, and it kind of coincides with the conversation he had with the Indians

pitching coach, where he needed to throw his curveball more, and he has leaned on his curveball a lot, and it's just, it's helped him find a new level here. I think it looks as sustainable as something like this can be. He's been, I did this exercise last night after the Michael Fulmer injury, where I looked at the top 48 pitchers in terms of ADP before the season, and I just tried to like put a little checkmark next to, everyone who's been, basically, who has provided value based on their ADP. And I put one next to Cory Kluber, and then I remembered, or people reminded me on Twitter, that he actually went on the DL for a month.

I had totally forgotten that because he's been so good that I don't feel like he's been disappointing even a little bit. Yeah, no, I don't either. So he's Kluber definitely a pitcher we like. Let's talk about a few other pitchers from Thursday. I've called this section Pitchers we like, question mark, because I'm not totally sure about some of them. We'll begin with Herman Marquez,

who I was making a big deal of after his last start. It was his third straight with nine strikeouts or more. And this one wasn't as good. Against the Mets, at home, six innings, three earned runs, three walks to five strikeouts. It was a step back for Marquez, but how do you assess him overall? He's an interesting pitcher because he's having success

as a Rockies pitcher without getting a lot of ground balls. And that's not usually what we would expect from a pitcher having success in Colorado. And he's got an above-average strikeout rate. His walk rate's about average, maybe a little bit better. His ground ball percentage is well below average, 42%. So I have trouble seeing him really being a helpful fantasy option in Cores.

Maybe on the road he can be a streaming option, but I can't see him continuing to succeed while pitching a course. Well, I don't know that because he's so early in his career, I mean, he's a rookie for goodness sakes. I don't know that it's totally fair to assess him based on his season line. It does seem like he's found another gear lately. And if I'm expressing disappointment over a quality start at Cores Field, that kind of shows you the strides he's made.

Still had 12 swinging strikes in this game. 68% owned. I mean, that's gone up some, but based on what's now this four-start stretch, I think it needs to go up from there. And you know, I'm always dismissive of the Rockies pitchers. I've given John Gray a chance because I feel like the talent level is so high.

And I kind of think Marquez, you know, 98-mile-per-hour fastball, hook. I kind of feel like it's the same way for him. I think he's such a talent that he may be able to overcome that horrible, horrible environment. He has a 366 ERA since the start of July. It's worth noting. 44 strikeouts and 39 in third inning. You know what that reminds me of? Carlos Carasco. Yeah. Yeah. But that's the thing I always come back to is Carlos Carasco doesn't pitch a course. And so it's just, yeah. He could be someone that I'm really interested. in if he pitched somewhere else.

Sunny Gray's first start as a Yankee was, you know, fine. It was fine. It was fine. Two runs in six innings, three walks, six strikeouts. You know, he was outpitched by Corey Klobber. It was first start with seven with more than two walks, but I don't think there's any reason his value changes because of this start. I am a little worried about Alex Wood and the direction he's headed here. It was a solid start, one-earned run in six innings,

rebounded from two shaky starts, but only two strikeouts in this start, and that gives him 5.7 strikeouts per nine, and he's in his last four starts compared to 10.8 per nine heading into that. So is he starting to lose it? I noticed the velocity's gone back to normal over the last few starts.

Has something changed here for Alex Wood? Are you concerned that he's losing value? Sure, I mean, in, I'm pulling up his monthly splits. He averaged 91.7 with his fastball, according to Brooks baseball yesterday. And that is continuing a trend where he was in, you know, the 93 to 94 range in May. And since coming back from the DL, his velocity has been back down to the 90, 91, 92 range. You know, if you're talking about what made Alex would take that big step forward, I think partially

he's just a good pitcher who does a good job of hiding the ball he's deceptive batters have always had trouble picking him up but

I think he's always been very good when he's been healthy and when he's gotten the chance but what pushed him to that next level I thought

was the fact that he was deceptive and his stuff seemed to take a big step forward and that's for me you know if he's back in the 91

mile per hour range it probably lowers his ceiling just a bit. Now, I did say a couple of interesting things after this start. First, he admitted he's a little tired, which is probably not something you want to admit with the way the Dodgers have handled their rotation this year, swapping guys out at the drop of the hat.

But secondly, he talked about, he felt like his mechanics were a little off and there was a small change he needed to make, which may be partially responsible. Either one of those may be partially responsible for the slight drop in velocity that we've seen. I think it's I'm not ready to say he's a lesser pitcher than he was before.

I see the discouraging signs. I'm willing to give him a little longer to write the ship than just these last four starts. I am also very excited about Colin McHugh, who second straight start that was a really good, one and run in six in six innings with six strikeouts, just two walks. He's 66% owned.

I actually hyped him and Hermann Marquez together in Waver Wire column recently. And I like the trend we've seen from McHugh since coming off the DL. First of all, he learned a slider that he didn't really throw previously. He learned it from Brad Peacock, who himself learned it from his latest stint in the Astros Minor League system. We've seen when it's done for Peacock. It's made him an elite batmissor after being just a journeyman before that. Colin McHugh swinging strikes in his three starts since coming off the DL. He had eight in the first start, but I think more than half of them were on the slider,

and it was a short start, an 11 in the last start. That was the first good one, and 13 in this one. A guy who was already thought to have a dominant curveball. I think he's must-add, only 66% out. I think that's fair. I guess the slider is being classified on baseball savon as a cutter for Colin McKeown. He threw 15 of them yesterday. I only had three swinging strikes with that pitch, according to this.

Ten swinging strikes with his fastball. He doesn't have the type of fastball that you necessarily expect to be blowing by hitters. Average is 91, peaks at around 92. But, yeah, what we've seen from him, I think he's definitely someone that needs to be added more than he is. Am I an idiot for liking Trevor Cahill? Four and two-thirds innings, six hits, two runs, two walks, three-strikes. breakouts, two bad starts with the Royals and two home runs in each. So it's not like that ground ball rate is really worked in his favor there.

And his last start at San Diego was terrible. Was I wrong to think something had actually changed for Trevor Cahe? I don't think so. This is something that, you know, he's allowed 10 home runs on the season. Two in each of his last two starts. Three on July 9th to the Phillies. He's been a lot less sharp over his last handful of starts. But this is something that I talked about with Masa Hira Tanaka earlier on this season,

is that if your biggest issue is that you're giving up home runs and bunches, that's a concern. But it depends on how you're going about letting those home runs up. If you are Denelson-Lamette and 65% of the batted balls that you allow are in the air, you're going to give up a lot of home runs. but Trevor Cahill is a groundball pitcher. He always has been, and so I'm not necessarily worried about home runs. I don't think that's going to be an issue for him if he continues.

The bigger thing is that he hasn't been missing bats lately. Right, right. That's mainly what concerns me. And look, the breaking ball, he started throwing a curve ball a lot more this year. That seemed to coincide with that, and he's still been throwing it a lot. So I don't know, I don't know that all hope is lost there. but my excitement over Cahill was more theoretical than actual to begin with. Now for the season, he has a 413 ERA and a 144 whip.

And there was some buzz, some talk, I guess, back around the trade deadline when the Royals were still looking to acquire another starting pitcher that Cahill might get bumped to the bullpen. So I don't know that we can completely rule out that possibility if he has another starter to like this one. I think, I don't know that I'm that enthusiastic. own him in a in a in a in a um a mixed league anymore i'd certainly drop him for either mckee or marquez Zach rancke that's okay Zach ranky had a bad start at the cubs five earned runs on nine hits and

six innings a couple home runs he's been so great i don't think we're worried about him jose kentana we mentioned paulgoltschmidt got the better of them all three of goldsmith's home runs were the three home runs kentana allowed it was his first bad start as a cub he's been on a good trend i don't think we're really worried about him either If you have a bad start but all of the hits are by one hitter, all the runs are off one hitter to bat, does that really mean it was a bad start? Or does that mean you just, that one hitter was awesome that day?

Ran into a good hitter. That's a good point, because that was half of the hits. Yeah. And Paul Goldschmidt is, you know, one of the four or five best hitters in baseball. So it's not exactly an embarrassment to struggle against him. So we talked about was I wrong to think Cahill was a different pitcher? Was I wrong to think Sean Newcomb was a different pitcher? We saw him struggle with control throughout his minorly career high walks rates.

Great stuff, but could he overcome the walks? First four starts, it looked like, oh, look, he doesn't walk guys. Three per nine innings, that wasn't so bad. Last six starts, 7.6 per nine innings, including seven walks, and four and two-thirds innings and Thursday start. Yeah, and for the key thing here, I think, is that for his first few starts, Sean Newcomb was getting about 53% swing rate.

That means he was getting swings on more than half the pitches he was throwing. That's a sign that you are fooling batters. If you've got great stuff and you can't necessarily control it, but guys are still swinging in it anyway, this is like Francisco Liriano stuff. over the last few starts it's gone all the way down over the last three it's below 45% all of a sudden that can be the explanation for the increased walk rate guys are just saying well if he's not going to throw it in the strike zone i'm not going to swing at it and that could be what we're seeing right now you know i actually i'm just going off memory here so i may have this

wrong but i think i remember seeing a tweet from one of the braves beat writers really before this stretch started. And it was more about to point out how good of a pitch framer Tyler Flowers was. Tyler Flowers did catch Newcomb Thursday. But it was pitchers who had strikes, pitches outside the zone get called for strikes. And I think I remember Newcomb was not at the very top of that list near it.

So yeah, that may be running out too. Still a lot of upside, but I don't think there's much reason to hold on to them in mixed leagues. they'll kind of run he's been on. Do you agree? Yeah, I've got him in a 10-team league. I'll still hang on to him. I think the upside's there, and there's just, there's not always enough pitchers with upside that I'm willing to get rid of one who has it. Marquez, McHugh, you swap him for them? Maybe. He's much less own. Nukes's down to 41% now.

I'll take a look. Okay. All right, guys, have you ever worn a custom suit, a made-to-measure suit that fits you perfectly? You can customize every detail. You'll look amazing. You'll feel confident. And with Indochino and our promo code FBT, you can get this kind of suit for 50% off with free shipping. Go to Indochino.com and use the code FBT at checkout.

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That's disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. Yeah, I don't understand what the Brewers are doing there. Lewis Brinson got a pinch hit appearance. I think he's got one in two of the last three games, so that's great. but I don't understand how he's helping them. I don't understand how this is helping his development. I don't think there's any value to what they're doing right now. I guess, I mean, obviously they're trying to win, but I don't know.

I don't think it was clear Lewis Brinson wasn't helping them with that. And I also just don't think it helps to have a 21-year-old or 22-year-old coming off the bench. Like, that's just, that's a difficult thing for a young player to do. Ian Desmond, who's been out with a calf injury, won't return win-eligible Saturday. I don't know that we'll see him for a while. frankly, Greg Holland, who cut his finger in a kitchen mishap, pitched an inning Thursday, allowing a hit with two strikeouts, so he seems to be fine.

Jonathan Lucroy had a stomach illness, but he was back Thursday, went two for three in his Rocky's debut, both singles, but, you know, first start at Corse Field. That's okay. Yeah, it was a good sign. Brad Peacock returns to the rotation Friday with Lance McCullors out with a back injury, so good for you for holding on to Peacock. He's 85% own stead.

doesn't seem like many people dropped him. Anthony Descliffeani making his third rehab start after missing the entire season with an elbow injury left with forearm discomfort. So not expecting to see him this year personally. Cole Calhoun out since Sunday with a strained hamstring should return Friday. He hasn't been very good this year. Cameron Maybin out with a knee injury will begin a minorly rehab assignment Friday and probably should be owned in all Roto leagues. He's still among, I think, the top five in stolen bases.

even having missed the last few weeks. George Springer has a quad injury, as we know, and he won't be ready to return off the DL when he's first eligible Friday. Jason Kipnis out with a hamstring injury is expected to come back Sunday after missing a month. Does Jason Kipnis, is he, like, is he going to be must-owned when he's healthy again?

Do you still view him in that light? He certainly wasn't before this. Yeah, it was bad. And like the best of the best of the best. Babbitt was low. It seemed like, you know, similar strikeout rate. It seemed like there was some bad luck there, but he just wasn't hitting the ball with the same authority either.

Line drive rate was down. Yeah, but I would, he's 81% owned. That's probably low. If he's available in your league, this is a guy who can be a difference maker. But I'd rather have Whitmerfield now. I'd rather have, I'd rather have Scooter Jeanette now. I'd rather start Whitmerichield, but I want Jason Kipness on my team. Adam Wainwright, who's missed a couple starts with a back injury.

He will return Sunday, which means... That's frustrating. That's disappointing. Yeah. This is even worse than the Lewis Brinsett thing. Luke Weaver was great last time. He hasn't been any good. Adam Wainwright, just since the start of last season, he's had like month-long stretches where he's been pretty good,

but we're talking about a 36-year-old who suffered an Achilles injury. He's just not... He's not anything more than an average pitcher at best right now, and Luke Weaver has the upside to be more. much more than that. So it's disappointing that Luke Weaver is probably going to lose his job. And he certainly made an impression. I think we'll see him again soon as I told somebody on Twitter.

Rosters are about to start looking weird. And I would also point out that in the Brad Peacock, mold spots tend to open up in rotations. Yes. Yes. So don't, you know, if roster space is limited, it is one good start that we're really hanging our hat on with Weaver. So it's not quite the same as Peacock,

but certainly in deeper leagues I'd be holding on. And a very good minor league track record. Yes, absolutely. Mike Clevenger is temporarily in the bullpen because of a rainout. He's not losing his job. Mike Tomlin's out. Sorry, Josh Tomlin. I think Adam did that too.

Josh Tomlin's out for a while still. So Clevenger's spot is safe, but you may see him make a relief appearance soon. Brandon Woodruff, Brewer's pitcher, is coming up to start on Friday. Was supposed to debut in mid-June, but suffered a hamstring injury, went on the DL. His numbers. at AAA this year.

Not very good. 446 ERA 135-WIP, 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings. But that's Colorado Springs. It's almost like the Coors Field of the Miners. Last year in the Miners, Woodruff emerged as a pretty good prospect. 268 ERA 102-102-Wip 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Are you keeping an eye on Woodruff? Well, to put his, I'm going to try to put his numbers into context if the page will load.

His 446 ERA among starters on that team, it's pretty good. You look at Brent Sutter, who's had some success in the majors. He had a 4-42 ERA, and his eight starts at Colorado Springs. So that's kind of to be expected. Woodruff, I'm probably excited about him on the level I am, the Lucas Sims. It's not like Luke Weaver's getting called up,

but there's reason to be interested and at least keep an eye on the performance. And while we're on the subject of prospects, Let's talk about the ones that are worth stashing who haven't been called up yet. I, of course, write prospects report every week. I wrote it on Tuesday this week, but none of these players have been called up yet.

My top five to stash, Dominic Smith. We've obviously been hearing about how he should be not far behind Ahmed Rosario. They've cleared a spot form by trading Lucas Duda already. Rinaldo Lopez, been on a great run at AAA. And based on the way Miguel Gonzalez performed Thursday, he was one of the White Sox good pitchers, and he allowed 700 runs in one and two-thirds inning.

So Reynaldo Lopez can't get here fast enough as far as I'm concerned. And I think Rick Hahn recently said he's forcing the issue. Would be definitely be someone to be excited about it. Yes. Even more so than Woodrow. Probably more on the Luke Weaver level. Ronald de Cunia, don't know that he'll get called up. He's 19 years old.

He began the year at High A, but has just stormed through the system getting better at every level, power, speed. This looks like a transcendent talent who is going to be a big part of the Braves rebuild. And the Braves are an organization, I know that believes in letting the prospect

to take the timetable. They don't play a lot of those service time games. So I could see him getting called up. I'm not saying he will, but I think the upside, it's kind of what I said about Raphael Devers final couple weeks before he got called up. I don't know that he's going to come up this young,

but the upside is so high, and I think the chances are good enough that it might be worth stashing him in leagues where you stash prospect. A September call-up might make more sense, but yeah. Tyler Glass now has been on a great run at AAA. I'm not sure if he's made a start since I wrote this column, but he was 6-0 with a 146 ERA, 0.99 whip, 85 strikeouts in 55 and 2-thirds innings.

Still the walks, though. Pirates think he's made strides in other areas, mixing pitches and such. So we could see him soon, but it's going to be, like with Blake Snell when he returned, I don't think you can just assume everything's going to be different. But I like what I've seen. And then Reese Hoskins, he hit two home runs Thursday. Twitter was going crazy over it.

Seems like the world has started to get on board with the idea that Reese Hoskins is more interesting to Tommy Joseph, so maybe the Phillies will get there soon. 24 years old, so they kind of need to call him up. It is worth noting going back to Glass now. He's only got 16 walks in his last seven starts. He walked eight in his first two at AAA, but his last seven, he's got 16 total. Only one start with more than three walks. So that'd be a good sign.

But like you said, Blake Snow also had promising numbers in AAA before getting recalled. And he's been just kind of the same frustrating guy since. We have about 15 minutes left. Again, we have to vacate for the football guys. They're very important football things. So I am going to transition us to two-star pitchers for now, and then we'll go back to Thursday performances as time allows. Obviously, a lot of must-star pitchers in week...

What week are we going into? 19. I believe we're going into week 19. Yeah, I think so. Among those who are owned in less than 80% of CBS Sports Leagues, that's usually the cutoff I use for whether or not a pitcher is a sleeper. the highest owned among those less than 80% is Mike Clevenger. But I'm not sure how this bullpen move is going to affect

how the Indians lay out the rotation for the upcoming week. I don't know that we can guarantee Clevenger's going to be a two-star pitcher versus Colorado at Tampa Bay. He's kind of struggled recently anyway. I'm not terribly excited about using him, even though he is highly owned. Ulyse Chasine, 69% owned at Cincinnati at the Dodgers. He's been good, very good, very consistent lately, but he does have extreme home-away splits,

and these are both on the road. Yeah, I don't know if I would trust him, especially. The Dodgers matchup. The Reds are an okay matchup, but I wouldn't say they're a great matchup. That's a team that can definitely put the ball out of the yard. They've got some pretty good hitters. Small yard, too. Yeah, so I don't think I'd feel comfortable starting Ulys Chessin,

at least in Roto or category. and head-to-head, you know, he can't hurt you. What about Ariel Miranda? I feel like he is never that bad. He's rarely that good. But he's usually fine. At Oakland, very good matchup, versus the Angels, a decent matchup.

I think Ariel Miranda, at least for points leagues, is looking like a pretty good sleeper this week. All right, here's the thing. Can you trust him to keep the ball in the yard? Well, at Oakland is big. Yeah, he allows, he's a lot. allowed 27 home runs in 22 starts. He has 1.9 home runs

per 9, so that's going to be, because he actually hasn't been bad other than that. You think about a 1.9 home runs per 9, you've got a 441 ERA. You're doing something well. Oakland's not a bad spot, and the Angels obviously aren't a terrible matchup either, but it's I don't know, it's hard to

it's hard for me to get excited about him, I guess, as someone who's widely available. Do you like him better than Clevenger and Chasene this week? because he's looking like my favorite so far. I like him better than Chasine. And with Clevenger, it just depends on if they use him out of the bullpen tonight, are they going to give him two starts next week? Right.

Parker Bridwell is 65% owned and has been among the most viewed players, I feel like, all week. I'm glad he was awful on Thursday because that needed to. He wasn't even awful. That's probably overstating it. Four run runs in five innings, three walks, four strikeouts. He was more what I expect Parker Bridwell to be, though. He was coming off four straight quality starts,

including one run on three hits and seven and third innings last time. But only one of those four starts had a respectable strikeout total. I think he can stop being most viewed even with the two starts coming up. I don't. Yeah, I think people are going to add him, and I think that's going to be a mistake. He's a fly ball pitcher who doesn't get strikeouts. He's got decent control, but that's a bad combination. Trevor Cahill versus St. Louis at the White Sox.

pretty good matchups on an awful run, like we said earlier. I would start him. I would trust him. I think the Cardinals are a middling matchup, but the White Sox are one of the best, maybe the best one in baseball, even at Chicago. This might be the last hurrah for Trevor Cahill for me. If he can't capitalize on these two starts, I think I'm cutting them loose.

And I don't blame you. Yeah, yeah. And I don't even know that I'd start him in a Categories league, even with these two starts. Can I ask you a question? Sure. Are you starting the God with matchups

against the Dodgers and Cubs? Zach Godley. You're referring to Zach Godley, yes, yes, who is basically just God at this point with the swinging strike rate, the block rate, both top 10, and his ERA's south of two now. I don't know how he's still 88%

seems low to me, but Dodgers and Cubs, yeah. trust godly against anybody. Even in a one-start week, I'd start Godley. This last matchup, six shutout innings at the Cubs. So, you know, two starts before that was Washington.

Four and runs in five and two-third innings, but he struck out ten. I feel like Zach Godley is just an awesome pitcher, and more people need to get on board with that. Brent Souter at Minnesota versus Cincinnati. He's 57% owned. Really interesting pitcher, really unconventional pitcher throws in the 80s, but has been, his last start wasn't great Wednesday,

but it's been good overall, and at Minnesota versus Cincinnati, pretty good matchups. I don't have a problem starting suitor. Yeah, that's okay. I probably like him more than I like Chasine. And then we get into the guys owned in less than 50% of leagues, J.C. Ramirez versus Baltimore at Seattle, and never really interested in him.

Jordan Zimmerman. Pretty good matchups at Pittsburgh versus Minnesota, but he was good last time. Yeah, he was good against the Yankees. I just, I don't. I'm not ready to put faith in him again. Neither of us like Matt Moore anymore. Yeah, it's, I don't really see.

It's not a great week for two-star pitching options. Last week, there are a lot of guys that you could go out and add to your team who had two starts. This week, you know, Luke Weaver is currently listed it as a two-star pitcher, but we don't expect that to be the case. I would expect who would get the two-starts in that case?

Because it won't be Wayne Wright. He's pitching on Saturday. Well, I will be ranking all two-star pitchers for next week this afternoon. Unfortunately, since it's this afternoon, I don't have it ready for this morning. But obviously, check it out on CBSports.com, two-star pitcher rankings. I rank them every week and update them on Sunday as well. So any changes that happen over the week and get up.

updated. It's very helpful, I hope, because I invest a lot of time. It is very helpful. Yes. I don't have to say hope. Okay, so a couple interesting ones who are scarcely owned here. One who actually pitched yesterday, and I wanted to talk about him in pitchers we don't like, question mark, is Matt Boyd, who was coming off three quality starts, but Thursday was not very good. Three earned runs on five hits and four and a third innings. Four walks and six strikeouts, again, and four in a third innings. I think he's interesting, A, because he was coming off three quality starts, and B, it's minor league numbers, 282 ERA.94-Wib, 9.4 strikeouts per 9, 2.3 walks per 9.

Normally a good control pitcher, even though he walked four yesterday. His matchups are at Pittsburgh versus Minnesota, pretty good, only 15% owned. What do you think about Matt Boyd? At Minnesota. I guess I might like him more than Uly Shasin, but. Well, that's like a 50%. difference in ownership. So that's...

But the thing is, we're looking at a guy who's going to turn 27 in the offseason. He's got 233 major league. Innings under his belt, 45 starts. And he's got a 555 ERA and a 508 FIP. And so, you know, at what point do the minor league number stop mattering? And we start acknowledging that this might just be a quad A pitcher. Yeah, and he does... He's a fly ball pitcher, too.

So, you know, the three quality starts, they were barely quality starts. home runs are a concern. Unless he has a big strikeout rate, I don't know that he's going to be a big impact player in fantasy. I do think he might be a reasonable sleeper for this week, though, with the two starts. I also wanted to mention Matt Garza, same ownership, 15% at Minnesota versus Cincinnati. He returned from a D. Elstant for a lower leg strain Thursday,

and one runs in five and two-thirds innings four strikeouts. A fine, not great start, and that's kind of been what he's done all year, has a 368 ERA 1-25 whip for the year, less than six innings, though, in four of his last five starts. Understanding that he's unlikely to give you a quality start, but, you know, the ERA and WIP are okay.

He can be fine. Do you think he's fine for this week with those matches? I probably prefer him to Matt Boyd. You prefer him to Matt Boyd? I think so. I don't know that I do, but in a week where there's so few interesting two-start options, you may not be able to do much better than him.

Austin Pruitt, I assume you guys talked about him yesterday. I don't think we did. Okay. Well, he had a very good start. He was the one who was chosen by the race to fill in for Jake Oter-Izzy when we all wanted it to be Brent Honeywell. Instead, Austin Pruitt, six-and-a-third shutout innings at Houston in his return to the rotation Wednesday. And he gets two starts versus Boston versus Cleveland. Bad matchups.

Yeah. But he's only 1% owned. And look at what he did at AAA. in between his last two majorly extends, obviously, the second one beginning Wednesday. It was very, very good. Yeah, but even in 2016, he had a 22.7% strikeout rate at AAA. That's really good.

But for the rest of his minor league career, he's pretty much been between 17 and 19%. Those are both, those are mediocre strikeout numbers. And he strikes me as a guy who can get by in the money, minors with kind of middling stuff, but is going to get rocked in the majors, and that's what we've seen so far. He's got a 565 BRA. Yeah. In A.L-only leagues, you can use him, but I don't think there's any way I use him in a mixed league. If the matchups were better, I'd maybe go for him. He is 27 years old, so it's not

like he's exactly a prospect. But I am intrigued just because of the way his last minor league stint went. So just leave him for deeper leagues for now, but keep an eye on him. Got a few minutes left here. Let's talk about a few more of the hitter performances from Thursday. Ozzie Albies hit his first Major League home run, a three-run shot in the ninth inning. He's one for eight so far. You still feel the same way about him as when he got called up? Yeah, but I liked him when he got called up.

I know. Just making sure that one-for-eight hasn't changed anything. Raphael Devers hit another home run. And by the way, go search it out on Twitter. There's a picture. I don't know which out. outlet took it, but there's a picture of the people in the stands trying to catch this ball. And just the faces that they're all making, the expressions, it's like the last supper.

Like, it's so emotive. It's beautiful. Like, there's something to pick out with every single person there. There's one guy looking the wrong way, who is by far my favorite. Yeah, I saw that one on MLB.com. I don't know if they were the, that was the origin of the photo. Rafael Devers hit another home run, his third and only eight games batting four. 406 with five walks, seven strikeouts. I actually want to talk about him,

Eduardo Nunez and Mitch Morland together, because Nunez has been great too, two for five with a stolen base in this game, fifth multi-hick game in six. Mitch Morland went two for five with two doubles. He's now six for 16 with a home run and four doubles in his last four games. They're all hitting great,

which raises some concern when Dustin Bidroia comes back because somebody has to leave. I assumed it'd be Mourland. It would probably still be Mourland. I mean, Devers is certainly. made his place now. I would assume Morland loses his everyday job. He'll still be around, but I think just as a big right-handed bat off the bench.

I think Nunez would be the second most likely to lose some of the bats, but he's helped by the fact that he can play everywhere. Yeah, and I think when you have that kind of talent and that ability, I think it's kind of like I said with pitchers earlier. We tend to worry about playing time for a guy like that, but if he's talented enough and can play in enough spots, they tend to find him some playing time. Tim Beckham has been ridiculous

since the Orioles acquired him to be their starting shortstop from the raise. Three for four with a home run and a double Thursday. All three of his games with the Orioles are multiple hits. Three doubles, a triple, a home run during that stretch. But with those three doubles in three games as an Oriole, he's up to eight doubles overall for the year. He has 24 walks to 114 strikeouts. a 374 Babbip.

There's talent here, actually. Like, you know, looking at his overall, you know, three years in the majors at this point, he's got a 182 ISO, a 341 Babbup. Like, there is enough talent here for him to play in the majors. He just has to get that strikeout rate down. And if he can't get it down, you know, you can strike out 31% of the time if you're Joey Gallo, if you're Miguel Snow, if you're Aaron Judge. He's not those guys.

If he could get a strikeout rate down to 26%. I think there'd be, you know, some Tommy fan potential. Alex Claudio recorded the save for the Rangers on Thursday. After a couple of appearances where he entered in the seventh inning, entered the eighth inning, we weren't sure what was going on. We're still not sure what's going on because two left-handed hitters were due up in the ninth.

Jose LeClerc, who got the one save. I think Claudio has four of the Rangers' last five saves, and LeClerc was the one, has the one other one. He didn't pitch in this game, so I kind of wonder if the Rangers were just seeing how the matchups lined up in the ninth and then choosing either Claudio or LeClerc based on that. I'm not sure they have a closer. Yeah, still not sure.

Shane recorded his third save in his many days. Justin Wilson had 13 during his entire time with the Tigers. Well, as the Tigers closer this year. Green, I feel like the Tigers didn't purge their roster at the trade deadline, you know? I feel like among the newcomers to the closer role, he's one of the more valuable ones, even though he may not be quite good enough to close. I think he's good enough to keep the job,

and the Tigers will win some. So I think you probably need to pick them up if you need saves. Before we go, I want to make sure we get to Kendall Grave. Okay. Who, you know, looked to be potentially making a step forward early in the season, has added some velocity to his fastball, missed two months with the shoulder, injury, but got rocked yesterday, absolutely rocked. Seven earned runs, eight hits, and two

innings of work, but the fastball velocity was there. He was hitting in the high 90s, average 94. This is a guy with a big sinker, throws it really hard. That can be a really good combination. You know, like we talked about earlier, you get a mulligan in your first start off the DL. We'll see how he looks moving forward, but I think Kendall Graven is an interesting picture. But the strikeouts were falling, right? But even before he went on the DL, I kind of felt like, we were over him that makes leagues. That's fine. You're not over him yet?

It just, you know, it's, I don't think he's ever going to be a strikeout pitcher, even with the big fastball, just because he's a groundball guy. But, you know, it's weird which pitchers we look at and say, well, the injuries, why they were struggling versus, well, they were struggling and they got hurt. Like, sometimes we do a correlation thing, and sometimes we don't. And I just, you know, if he had a shoulder injury, that could explain why he wasn't pitching all that well. He's not going to be a big strikeout guy, but I think if you can, you know, throw 97, you know, average 94, 95 with your fastball, get those kind of ground balls. You're going to

induce a lot of weak contact. I think he can be a good pitcher. You're hoping he can be like kind of a poor man's Marcus Stroman, I guess. I don't know. The ground ball rate's not even nearly as good as that. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I like that he throws hard. I feel like Graveman should be a better pitcher in theory than he is in reality, but we'll see where he goes his second start back DL. And anything else, Chris, anything else I may have missed? You want to get in here

at the last minute? Are we going to... No, I just hope everyone has a good weekend. Yeah, that's all. Yeah, that's a fine sentiment to have. Thanks, everybody for listening. Even though Adam wasn't here, I enjoyed my stint in the host chair.

I thought you did a great job. Oh, thank you, Chris. We will be undergoing a little bit of a scheduling change next year with football. Next week. Very important football guys and the very important football things. They're going to kind of take the morning slot, so it may come out later in the day, except on Mondays. Yes, Mondays will still be out by 10.30.

Yes. Probably more like noon the other days. Yep. We hope you guys stay tuned for the final two months and beyond. For Chris Towers, I'm Scott White. We'll talk to you again soon.