Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/06: Weekend Roundup - SPs to Rely On (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 6, 2018

Let's start out with hitters (3:14) and SPs (7:18) to add. Are we ready to rely on Steven Souza, Aledmys Diaz, Matt Boyd and Trevor Cahill? Plus our thoughts on some weekend standouts (12:00) including Zack Wheeler and Ryan Borucki ... How to approach Mike Trout (16:00) and more news from around MLB. We'll also talk about some struggling studs (20:00) including Jon Lester and Luis Severino before reviewing the Most Added list (26:00) ... Top hitters from the weekend (32:23) and then a long discussion about SPs (36:50) including who to add, drop, buy or sell for your stretch run. We also preview today's matchups (56:30) ... 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

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS sports. Welcome to the last ball, and fast. Out of the race and toward the point. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott, Keith, and Chris.

Welcome to the show. It is Monday, August 6th, and we are beginning Fantasy Week 18, 19, or 20. I have Adam. Amazing. I'm here with Scott White. So Scott White Team Scam is on fire. Do we beat the best team in the league? We sure did.

Without Mike Trout, without the help of Mike Trout. We'll obviously talk about Trout and whether or not you should start him. Do you have a good weekend, Scott? I did. I had a fine weekend. It is week 20 officially, by the way. No. Maybe for you.

Maybe for you. Not the official one. There's only one official one, and it's 20. Who got to determine what was official, you? No. No, there's a whole product management side of things for that. Names and faces you don't know or see. Well, we are hoping to welcome Mike Trout back this week, but even if we don't, I know that we can give a big, hearty, hello, and a...

To Heath Cummings. Best use of that song ever. You get a... You get a walk-up song, he. That is outstanding. I really missed you guys. You know what? We missed you, too.

We needed you on the show. Football, too. We missed you. But we're glad you're back. How was your trip? It was phenomenal. Love the city of Charleston. It's been a couple days in St. Augustine, which is really close to here.

And it was an awesome, awesome place to hang out as well. Three quick shoutouts. I met some listeners of the Fantasy Baseball and Fantasy Football show. So first off, Mark has a food business. called We Flew South and made me the best Philly Cheese Steak I've ever had in my life. And before you say, you had the best Philly Cheese Steak in Charleston. He's from Jersey. So it was phenomenal.

Also, Fatty's Beer Works, outstanding time with those guys. Great tour, played great golf for the first time ever. Lots of fun. And then had a couple of drinks with Chris in Charleston and another good friend of the show. So wait, how did these people, how did you find out these people were fans of the show? Did they like recognize you? No, it was all through Twitter. I was tweeting through my trip and people were in my mentions.

I see. Like, hey, let's meet up here. Okay. Fair enough. While he was away, Heath secured the number two seed in one of our leagues and the playoffs are starting now in that league. And honestly, if you play in a bunch of leagues, I don't hate getting one done kind of early. We always finish that league first. We start the playoffs like early August and it's done basically early September right before football starts.

Not a terrible idea. Now, let's move on to fantasy baseball. Heath, how about sent you back? Give me a hitter to add. I'll go with Steven Susan. I've long been a Steven Susa supporter. He's been terrible so far this year. He's been hurt for a big part of the year.

But it looks like he's back. hit a home run on Sunday against the Giants, hitting 327 with a 971 OPS in 13 games since the All-Star break. He should be owned in all five outfielder leagues and maybe even some three outfielder category leagues. Stephen Sousa. Scott, how about you? Steve and Sousa is like 25% owner's up to him. He's very available. I would really like to say Tyler O'Neill because things played out perfectly the start of the weekend. Dexter Fowler fractures his foot. It seems like there's a place for both O'Neill.

Ealing Bader to play every day. But now Odeal has a groin issue of his own. He may end up going on the DL himself. So instead, I am going to say, I'm going to say Aviso Garcia, who's still widely available to Homer game yesterday. I don't love him in points leagues because he never walks, but five outfield release, he should probably be owned. And I will suggest Aledmus Diaz, 8% owned in his last 12 games.

A Ledmus Diaz is batting 372 with six home runs. Only one walk, but only two strikeouts. Also four doubles. A 12, 61 OPS. And all this with just a 278 Babbitt for Aledmus Diaz. And a lot of his hits are home runs, but not like it's completely lucky. So he's 8% owned. He was a fantasy darling a couple years ago.

Is the Ledmus Diaz under owned guys? I mean 11%. Yeah, I mean, he's... Oh, he's 11%. Okay, he was eight yesterday. Yeah, it's up to 11. Still very low. I don't think he needs to be even like 50% owned because he's another guy who never walks OBP under 300.

And I just don't think the all-around production is going to be high enough. But he has been hitting for power as a shortstop. And that counts for something. Yeah, you know what? I'll throw out another deep league guy. We talked about him on Friday show. Steve Pierce, he starts again. against Ritees, not all Ritees, but he's 15% owned.

And what we liked about Hanley Ramirez at the beginning of the season, batting third for the Red Sox. That's what Steve Pierce is doing right now. So 15% owned, he homered off of Severino, I believe, on Friday, and we're obviously going to talk about Severino. I don't know that they're mustads because he doesn't play every day. And Diaz, Scott just talked about, but 15%, 11%, might be a little low for these guys. Well, somebody who's in the same range of Bobby Saul Garcia, so I don't want to go without saying because he, you know, he should probably be over 90% owned at this point, but he's only 68, and that's Jake Bowers. What are you doing? What are you doing if Jake Bowers is available in your league?

I look at Bowers, 68%. I look at Cole, Houn, 69%. I look at the calendar, and I think, yeah, people just aren't really playing right now. That's part of it. that's part of it I don't think it's all of it I've got another one too all right

and this is not a guy I've been a long time fan of but Jonathan V.R. has just been on fire since getting to the Orioles I think the problem was Jonathan V.R. was good on the brewers when they weren't as good

they got too good and he just couldn't handle the pressure but now he's back on a bad team where he feels comfortable he's eight for 17 since joining the Orioles he could be a nice source of steals down the stretch.

He's 35% I hope he backs leadoff yesterday. He batted third, and he's one of their best hitters. But in four games with the Orioles, VR has batted first three times, and yesterday he batted third. So I said one hitter to add, but I don't know that any of us were so

super inspired by any of them. So we gave you like four or five for you to consider. Now, who wants to give me a pitcher to add? Well, if we go down that line, Adam, I do think the best pitcher to consider adding. It's one who pitched yesterday and pitched quite well.

In fact, Trevor Cahill is somebody I'm looking to add again, six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. And when he's been healthy this year, he's been pretty good. This is two starts in a row where the strikeouts have been high. Throughout his career, he's been an elite ground ball pitcher. So that combination bodes well if he can stay healthy. Obviously, the athletics have been surprisingly a good team this year, so there's win potential there.

and somebody you need to look into. Yeah, Trevor Cahill's 46% owned. Now, look at this weird split for Cahill. At home, he has a 0.99ER. On the road, 644 ERA. He is at the Angels this week. There are a lot of pretty interesting pitchers, but do you trust Cahill on the road

where he's a 644 ERA at the Angels, and we don't know if they're going to have Mike Trout in the lineup? going to be a weekend start. I mean, ideally the guy I'd pick up, you know, ideally I'm not trusting the guy I pick up when he has just a one-star week, right? Ideally, I have five pitchers or six, whatever the format is that I like more than that. But I don't think that's a bad matchup for him.

It's a good park, a good pitchers park, and, you know, especially with they're without trout. But it's not like they're a dominant lineup with trout. Heath, how about you? What do you think for a pitcher to add this week? What is Kelvin Herrera's ownership right now? I'm glad you mentioned him because, you know, he is getting saves, and I will tell you what his ownership is.

Do, do, do, do. Calvin Herrera is 61% owned, and he is stepping in as the Nationals closer. That's pretty high, but I don't think there are that many closers I'd rather have than Herrera right now. Like, he's got to be, for the short term at least, and at this point in the season, especially in points leads, you've pretty much got to be thinking about the short term. He's got to be a top 20 closer.

And the last thing I saw on Doolittle was they did another MRI and it looked just like the last MRI, which is not exactly encouraging. Not showing a lot of progress yet. He may just be their closer for the rest of the year. And if he is, we pretty much viewed him as a borderline top 15 guy on a bad team. Now he's on what I think will be a good team down the stretch. How about Armand Marquez, 44% owned?

Can we trust him at home this week? His last two home starts were both great. Marquez has the Pirates at home. He's 44% on. He, I mean, he might be breaking out right now. He's been so good lately. Thoughts on a 44% own Marquez? I'm not ready to trust him in a one-star week at home.

On the road, I'm fine with starting him every time, but not ready to do it at home. Okay. Would you stream Junior Gera against the Padres at home this week? Gera, by the way, has actually been terrible on the road, but he's got a 255. IVRA and Miller Park. He's got the Padres at home. I'd be fine with that. Okay. I mean, I cannot even explain how sick to my stomach I am of the pitchers that I had to pick up in our 12-team podcast league. Skag's on the DL. Carlos Martinez on the DL. I traded the Grom to Heath. So I got nothing.

I am relying on a two-start Matt Boyd and a one-start Derek Holland. and I'm just like, what has happened? I was the guy who prioritized pitching. And now I have to look for one-star streamers and the Matt Boyd's of the world. Stop the presses. I've got a great pitcher to add. Oh, okay. And I think he just said his name, but it's Matthew Boyd.

Yes, you added him too. You added him in our Roto League. Yeah, two-start pitcher, which is a bit of a surprise. I think he was originally supposed to pitch on Sunday. Now he's a two-start pitcher against the Angels who are really bad against lefties, especially if they don't have Mike Trout and the twins who haven't been very good against lefties themselves and I was poo-pooing Boyd for most of his early season success

but his last really five of his last six starts seven strikeouts eight strikeouts six seven seven he's been really good as of late okay cross our fingers weekend standouts I want to talk about Zach Wheeler and let me just preview what's coming up on today's I'll try to read some emails of fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Definitely got to talk about Severino. We got to wonder if Corey Kluber is fully back because he had a complete game shutout,

but he only struck out seven. He had eight swinging strikes. What do you do with John Lester? What do you do with Chris Archer? And guys like Kent and Maeda, stuff like that. We'll talk about Trevor Story. Justin Bores hit three home runs in his last four games. We'll get to it.

We'll get to everything we need to get to. But Zach Wheeler is 80% owned. He's got a 260. ERA and 17 walks to 61 strikeouts over 58 and two thirds in his last nine starts. If he's available in your league, Zach Wheeler is at Miami this week, so that's a great matchup. Scott, is Zach Wheeler legit? Yeah, I mean, I think for the most part, if you look at his last, what's a good range to use here? I think he's like legit in a mid-3s ERA sort of way.

The walks are always going to be a little high. the strikeouts he's not going to be a 10k per 9 guy but he'll be right around the strikeout per inning and lately he's been pitching seven innings at a time which I think is the biggest accomplishment for him you know you wish he played for a better team

but he's managed to win four straight outings so definitely when he has a good matchup against the Marlins you got to start him and I think he's worth keeping on your bench even when he doesn't up over 80% ownership now Yeah, so that's Zach Wheeler, and he needs to talk to Jacob de Grom and tell DeGrom how to get some wins. And Wheeler is just throwing really hard. His fastball is basically averaging 97 miles per hour.

He's always been a hard thrower, but not this hard. Any other standouts you guys want to talk about? Rugnet O'Dore, I think we need to talk about again. And we talked about him a little before I left. It looked like he was starting to get on a hot streak, and boy is he ever. He had, what, five hits, including two home runs over the week. and a double. He has just been absolutely on fire since July 15th.

He's got a 1282 OPS and eight walks and 16 games. I think five of those came in the same game. Five and one game. We freaked out about his five-walk game on Friday. It was pretty fun. He was the fourth guy since like 1906 to have five walks and a home run in the same game. And the other three were Hank Aaron, Edgar Martinez. and Mark McGuire.

Guy has known for walking. Well, the thing is, like, he was, it's kind of like a poor man's version of Matt Carpenter. He was so bad for so long this year. But you look at his season line now. He's got, what, an 824 OPS? Mm-hmm. Yep. He's, he looks a lot like Ruemeadow Door.

And it's not really worth looking up where he ranks is he had a DL stint, so he's a little bit lower in the, well, he's the number, probably the number, number 20 first basement in points, probably top 15 or so in Roto. All right. And Scott, any standouts for you? Man, Adam, I got three pages worth of standouts. Let's just focus on how you prioritize them in the notes. Okay. Ryan Baraki is 14% owned.

Underowned? 14%. Yeah, that's underowned. I don't think, like, the strikeouts haven't been good. that's kind of a deal breaker in 2018, I think, for standard mixed league use. But if you're in a situation where you really have to scrape for pitching, I mean, I think he's pitched six innings in every major league start he's made so far, which is also something, well, which is something you don't see very often in 2018.

So, you know, I don't think he's bad in a real baseball sense. I just think it's going to have a hard time cracking the mixed league threshold. So I guess we can talk about more standouts on Scott's three pages of notes throughout the day. Let's talk about the news and notes. What do we do with Mike Trout? Start or sit? Well, what are we going to do in our 16-team league, Adam? Well, I think we're probably going to start them.

Are they playing that tonight? And I think that's the key answer is. It really depends how deep your league is and what your other options are. I don't really want to start them in a standard 12-team league. with three outfielders, because there should be somebody that I feel like I'm going to get adequate production out of.

But in a five outfielder league or a 16-team league, like the Four the People League, I think you probably almost have to start him. Yeah, I mean, our alternatives, Harrison Bader, so that's what we're looking at there. But, you know, like I picked up somebody like Carlos Gonzalez,

who's now over 80% owned, but you look at what he's done for the past couple months, OPS over 900 And I mean, like, I'd start him over Trout with seven home games. Hugh Darvish, finally some encouragement. He had an encouraging bullpen sessions. That was nice.

Jose Altovae is not going to be back on Tuesday when he's first eligible. And Chris Sale is not going to start on Wednesday as previously planned. Are we planning to start Altuve and sale this week? I'd rather not. No. Nope. Not going to do that. Tommy Fam is out about a month with a broken foot.

Roberto Ozuna will eventually be the Houston closer. If you had to start one Astros reliever this week, Scott, who would it be? It would be Rodon. Rondo. Rondone. Yeah. It would be him. But I'd rather start neither if I had alternatives.

Tyler Skaggs is on the deal with a left adductor strain. Lance McCullors is on the deal with an elbow injury. Mike Sosha is stepping down after the season, according to the report to a report. But he said that is, quote, poppycock. but it's probably true. Jay Hap could start against the Rangers this week. George Springer left yesterday's game with a thumb injury. It could be bad.

Let's hope for the best, but dude's injury prone. The Padres lost two pitchers, Tyson Ross and Jordan Liles. Ross to the Cardinals, Liles to the Brewers. Meanwhile, Brett Kennedy is going to start for the Padres this week. Pretty good minor league numbers for Kennedy. Heath, what's the most interesting fantasy angle from this? The Cardinals claiming Ross, the Brewers claiming Liles. and Brett Kennedy getting called up for a start.

I think it's probably Ross, but I have been more interested in him throughout the year than anyone else has. I'll be curious to see what he looks like in St. Louis. It's another good park. It's a better team, so a better chance to get wins. Okay, it works for me. Alex Woods on the D.L. with an inductor injury. And the Mets.

Oh, Anthony Swarzax on the DL with shoulder inflammation. So that means Gazellman. It's probably the closer here. to save over the weekend. He did. Yasil Puy could go on the DL with oblique soreness. The Rockies called up David Dahl. Does that matter?

Not yet. Not yet. I mean, he wasn't hitting very well at AAA. I don't think this is in response to an injury, right, that would create an opening, although it would seem easy enough for him to start over Herodopara if he showed signs that he deserved to. I'm just not confident that's going to happen quick enough for at all. And Dee Gordon remains out.

San Diego called up Fran Milraeus, who homered yesterday. Scott, does Fran Milraeis matter? I mean, I'm keeping an eye on, I'm sure. He definitely has a lot of power potential. It hasn't gone well in previous stints in the majors, so I'm not interested in picking him up yet. But, I mean, it's kind of the same situation for David Dahl. He seems like somebody who could get hot enough to matter in mixed leagues.

And Philip Irvin is playing some out. outfield for Cincinnati, and Jose Martinez started in the outfield twice now for St. Louis, Saturday and Sunday. All right, let's get into the action from over the weekend. The studs being studs are being duds. Studs being duds part one. Okay, bear with me because I put Cory Klooper in here, even though he wasn't a dud. Louis Severino. All right, let's start with this, Heath. You're going to start Severino at the White Sox this week? I am. I don't feel great about it, but the White Sox are not good. and there could certainly be a situation where I have a stacked pitching staff and someone to put in over him. But there's not anybody I think that's available on waivers that is anywhere close to the upside.

Two-start Matt Boyd or one-start Luis Severino? I'd probably start two-start Matt Boyd. Oh, okay. So Severino has an 8, 20-A, and his last five starts, 40 hits, eight home runs allowed, and 25 innings. Got a little bit better at Boston. I mean, he gave up four runs. Two of them were kind of stupid and sort of found a groove after a three-run first inning. But still, only five swinging strikes, only two strikeouts on 115 pitches.

Scott, what do you think about Severino? I mean, I'd be okay sitting him just until he gets right. And I think he will eventually get right. I don't doubt there's something wrong with him. I just doubt that it's something big that's going to. ruin him forever and ever. I get probably just something's a little off mechanically, or maybe there's a pitch tipping

thing, or maybe he's nursing a minor injury that affects his delivery somehow, something like that. I don't think it's really like if you own him in a dynasty, we get something to worry about. I would prefer to sit up, but this matchup is so tempting. I don't know that it's something I would flatly

recommend. Would you be willing to trade for Severino right now? Or do you think this could be a season long thing. I mean, if I'm getting the discount, sure. I trade for Ceverino. Okay.

Corey Klobber, I know he wasn't a dud over the weekend, but he fits because we were talking about Kluber similarly to how we're talking about Severino, except Kluber had knee injury, and he got, I think, an injection in his knee, and he throws a complete game shutout against the Angels, seven strikeouts, three hits, eight swinging strikes. Is he back, Scott? Is Klober back? Well, I mean, he's an ace, and I don't think anybody was concerned he wouldn't be. Is he back to who he was last year?

No. I mean, the fact that he was able to get through a complete game on fewer than 100 pitches means he wasn't getting the strikeouts he was last year, still wasn't getting the swinging strikes he was last year. He's more like Kluber from 2016-2017, more of the innings-eating. ERA between 325 and 350 guy, I think, which is still an ace, but it's not, he's not, he's not distinguishing himself the way Scherzer and Sale are, it should say were, or Verlander, I guess, you could lump him into that group, too. He's not distinguishing himself the way those are. Heath, John Lester and Chris Archer were bad this weekend. Archer, I think, I mean, I'm sitting

him at Colorado this week, but that's kind of beside the point. Lester and Archer, do you think that you'll be able to rely on them rest of season? I expect they're both going to be guys that should be in your lineup more often than they're not. Now, I'm sitting Lester this week because I have a two-star, Sean Nucum in one league. But I'm not, like in this matchup at home against Washington, I'm not saying you have to sit him. I expect they're going to be top 40 starting pitchers. rest of the way. Yeah, Lester's been terrible.

He had a 646 ERA in July. He gave up five runs against the Padres on Sunday. All that peripheral stuff kind of catching up to him. Yep. And I actually did try to buy low on Archer yesterday with Hanager, which Hanigar were hitting a little bit better. I got denied. Yeah, that's kind of a double buy low situation.

Or, yeah, I got countered. I got countered an interesting one, though. Kent of Maeda. And I don't think Maeda is at Colorado this week, too. So I'm not starting him. Wait, he offered you Archer for Maeda? No, he offered me Maida for Hanager. You know what my only concern?

Like, I like Maeda. I think he's better than some of the recent results. I would call him a by-low, but I don't, I'm just concerned about, here comes the Kenta Maida, D. Elstint. You know? Like, Kershaw and Hill are the, and maybe stripling me against back. are the guys that I think are entrenched. I don't know that Maida is.

Well, you expect the DL stem from Hill, too. I guess so. I do. I mean, somebody else is about to go on the DL, right? Ross Stripling's supposed to replace him. Alex Wood. Yeah, Alex Wood. He already went on the Dio.

There you go. So it's not Naita's turn yet. I mean, it's also with the Dodd You know, they're going to have rotation excess, and you don't know how legitimate any of these injuries are because of that. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, off of my teams. Do you guys want to – why don't we take a look at the most added players?

And there's just one other guy that I added that I think is disgusting, that I am down to this point. But I added Wei and Chen for two home starts. He has a 220 ERA at home. I'm starting Wei and Chen and Matt Boy this week. In a huge week, by the way. Huge week. They were both beyond the threshold of recommended starting pitchers and the two-start pitcher rankings, although I will say Chen was only one spot out of it.

I feel much better. I don't hate that one as much. I take a look at the most out of this. Jose LeClerc is on the most out of list. He is up to 40% owned, and he is the Rangers closer. Would you start Jose LeClerc over an Astros closer, Heath? Yeah, I would. I feel much more confident.

Now, it may be that the Astros have twice as many save opportunities, so one of the Astros closers is actually better, but I feel much more confident on a night-to-night basis that he's the guy if they're ahead in the night. By the way, let me see if I can dig up this stat. The Angels have not had a save chance since July 8th. Yeah, I saw that too, because Blake Parker was working the 7th yesterday. I was like, what's been happening?

there. Yeah, not a save in a month. Almost a month. Crazy. Yeah. That is crazy. Maybe they have a blown save. Maybe they have a blown save there, but they don't have a save.

You're right. Okay, back to the most out of list. And Scott was saying he still thinks it's Parker. Lance Lynn is number two, Scott. Lance Lynn, he's got two starts this week, the White Sox on the road, the Rangers at home. I would prefer him to either of your too scrubby. two-star pitcher options.

I mean, not that he's beyond scrubby himself, but... Was Lance Lynn the player who inspired the argument last week? Yes, he was. How'd you know? I got tweets about that argument. Heath, hurry back. It went off the rails.

I didn't think so. Yeah. I mean, I didn't think it went off the rails. No, I don't think... We weren't at each other's throats or anything. No. These two, both Chris and Adam. I just thought they were a little too dismissive about Lance Lynn's like he wasn't even worth talking about when he was

replacing Sunny Gray. No, no Scott, that's not true. He wasn't worth talking about when we didn't know if he was replacing Sunny Gray and we already spent like, no, we spent like two minutes arguing about him and I said, you know what, he's not even the rotation yet. Can we save this to what he's in the rotation? And so we did. Yeah, I will, I could understand starting Lance Lynn this week. I don't ever feel comfortable starting him. He hasn't been a good pitcher since 2015.

Matthew Boyd is number three. Tyler O'Neill's number four, but Scott already told you why that's a little bit risky. Derek Rodriguez has two starts this week. He's number five on the most out of this. He's got Houston at home. And it has become more interesting because I was planning on sitting Derek Rodriguez against Houston at home. But no Al Tuvei, and I'd be shocked if George Springer's in the lineup. If those two guys are out, Derek Rodriguez at home against the Astros, start or sit, I think it's easier to make the case him in a two-star week, but how about just in a daily league tonight, Rodriguez? Okay, in a daily league, if he's on my roster

against the Astros, I would probably start him. I'm doing it. If you're setting a lineup for a weekly league, I would hope I had five better pitchers, but in a daily league I would probably start him. But he has two starts, right? In a weekly league? Yes.

Yeah, I'm probably starting him in both. Yes. All right, yeah, that makes sense. The second one is Pittsburgh at home. Cole Calhoun, Will Smith. Will Smith only 51% own. So he's still available. And, you know, yeah, he's been very good.

Good for Will Smith. He leads all relievers and fit. Wow. Will Smith. Nice that. Yep. Tyler Glass now, 24% owned. Is he a two-start pitcher?

No. Okay. He does have Baltimore this week, so that's a good matchup for Glass now. And I don't know even when he is a two-start pitcher, you're going to get seven innings out of them. They're hoping to stretch him out, but yeah, I don't think you can, I don't know, can you start last night on a one-start week against the Orioles? No, I can't.

Glass-no. I probably wouldn't. I've picked them up in a couple leagues in pursuit of upside, but I'm not, even with that match-up, I'm not ready to put it to the test yet. And Nick Ahmed, last guy we'll talk about on the most out of this, had a two-homer game against San Francisco on Saturday. Scott Nick Omette's 28% owned. Yeah, I'm not really...

I'm not really sure. He needs to be much more owned than that. He is on a nice homer pace, but that is it. It kind of reminds me of Freddie Galvis, those last couple years with the Phillies, where it's a decent number of home runs, but not enough to go with it. All right, well, in case you couldn't tell,

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Double dongs over the weekend. Otani. Ahmed, Story, Seeger. Kyle Seeger. Yeah, not Corey Seeger. He hasn't home for it in a while. Mark Trumbo.

Avi Garcia. Anything there, Scott? Anything? Kyle Seeger. I'm still not confident at turnaround's coming. just because the strikeout rate is so much higher than it's ever been, which isn't to say it's a bad strikeout rate on its own. He's just normally been a really low strikeout guy.

They've been better recently, but I'm still not that enthusiastic about him, even with the two-homer game. All right, some other guys to talk about Jose O'Brien, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Justin Boar has three hits in his last four games. They're all home runs. He's 55-owned. Talked about Odore.

Joey Gallo, kind of equally hot. Thursday, Friday, well, no, in very recent memory, he's equally hot as O'Dore. They both homered Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Heath, Leonis Martine homered Friday and Saturday for his new team. Are you interested in Leonis Martine? I would assume that his ownership is microscopic. And so, yes, in that type of situation, I would be. He's not somebody that I'm adding in a standard three outfielder league, but he could have some appeal

and a five outfielder league. Okay, let me check Leonis Martins. Ownership. He is owned in... 16%. Damn it, that's my guess. 20...

Oh, you were guessing, 24%. And he's a Cleveland Indian now and he's off to a good start. That's not quite microscopic, but I still think at 24% there are probably leagues where he should be owned. Some other hitters that have sort of jumped out.

How about Max Kepler? He's got a 944 OPS in his last 30 games. and he's gotten a lot better against lefties this season. Can Kepler help you down the stretch, Scott? I do remember he's somebody I liked back in April and May, and it just didn't work out. There's still a lot to like about him.

It's a high fly ball rate higher than ever, a high hard contact rate higher than ever, could walk to strikeout rate. That's always been true, but even more so this year. He has a 258 Babbat. Now, he's always been kind of a low Babbat guy, so I don't know that it tells the whole story there. But if those fly balls he's hitting sail over the fence like they have recently,

I do think you're talking about a mixed league caliber outfielder. I'm just I'm not sure I'm ready to take the plunge just yet. Max Kepler, okay, he's about 35% own. You need some power in a deep league. Daniel Polka gives you that. He is slugging over 500 this year, despite a 236 batting average. and he's got five home runs in his last 10 games. And Malick Smith has stolen five bases in his last five games.

Tommy Fam has hurt, so maybe that helps Malik Smith stay in the lineup. He's in the top 10 sleeper hitters for this week. Good matches for the race, a lot of righties. Top 10 sleeper apps for your phone for anywhere that you put apps. Specifically in this case, you're over-the-top device like a Roku, like an Amazon fire. Any of those over-the-top devices. How about CBS Sports HQ? Well, the app is actually the CBS Sports app.

Everything I'm about to tell you about is free, by the way. Download the free CBS Sports app and start watching CBS Sports HQ. It's got fantasy content. It's got non-fantasy content. It is scores, news, highlights. It is your best way to catch up on what's going on in the sports world. Without all that annoying banter, without the way that the sports coverage has just been ruined over the last decade or so, we're a throwback network.

We're CBS Sports HQ. please check it out, download the free CBS Sports app, and watch HQ. And we got a lot of other podcasts if you're a podcast, officiant out if you love podcasts. CBSports.com slash podcast for a complete listing. Kind of a great hub for sports, you know, college football, wrestling, NFL, pick six podcasts. It's great. Off the bench with Connell and Bell.

It's kind of our generic all-sports podcast with Danny Canell and Roger Bell. Great insight there. There's nothing generic about it, Adam. It is magnificent. It is a great podcast. CBSports.com slash podcast for a listing and for how to subscribe. All right, let's get into the studs. Justin Verlander, 14 strikeouts at the Dodgers on Friday.

David Price had a very good start. He was scoreless through six, came out in the seventh, gave up two runs. I think the bullpen gave them up. But good start against the Yankees, which is really encouraging. And now he's got a nice four-start stretch, David Price. Patrick Corbyn, last eight starts, he's got a 290-80. and 17% swinging strike rate. And John Gray, 91% owned.

Do we trust John Gray at home at this point? I do. He's always been somebody who's been as good or better there. Like the Rockies have really figured out. The pitchers they bring up in their own organization, they come up ready to pitch at Corse Field. I don't know what exactly they figured out, but Freeland Anderson, I guess,

except for Marquez, right? They've all had good success at home, at least as much as on the road historically. Okay. Heath, you want to talk about Price or Verlander or Corbyn? Yeah, I think, like you mentioned the stretch coming up for David Price, and he's not been anywhere close to what he was before. I think we just need to kind of get that image out of our head. He's not probably ever going to be that guy again. But he's still a good starting pitcher,

and he's still somebody that I plan on starting down the stretch. Okay. All right, that works. Studs being Studs Part 2. How about Rick Porcelo? Complete game, one run on one hit and nine strikeouts against the Yankees. 86 pitches for Rick Porcelo, and he still managed nine strikeouts and nine innings. Jose Katana had a nice start against San Diego. Now six or seven innings and two or fewer earn runs in four of his last five starts.

And he's at Kansas City this weekend or this week. That's Kentana. Jack Flarrity finally had a quality start. Dylan Bundy had a good start Nate Avaldi had a great start against the Yankees Heightes Tanner Roark had a good start but only 2Ks Freddie Peralta had a good start with 8Ks

Vince Velasquez dominated the Marlins A lot of names there Let's go to Heath Who stands out to you Heath? Well I think we can just fairly say that Freddie Peralta owns the Rockies I'd like to see him have a great start against someone other than the Rockies

And maybe he will I definitely think he should be rostered. I understand if you don't feel comfortable starting him with one start at Atlanta this week. I don't know what to make of Dylan Bundy other than we may just have to accept that Dylan Bundy

is the pitcher version of Ruebnet Odour. At the end of the year, his numbers are going to look up, yeah, okay, pretty good. He's going to have stretches where he looks like a top 15 starting pitcher, and he's going to have stretches where it looks like you shouldn't even roster him. Okay. All right. I don't know who's mad. Oh, Boston this week.

I'm going to sit him against him. Nope. Yeah, I wonder how you guys feel about Flaherty. I got to like him this week at Kansas City, but this is a great star for him. He's capable of it. But also, they don't let him go deep into games. I mean, he's got one start in his last six of more than five and a third. Yeah, like I said before this start, the last time we talked about him,

I feel like it's something, like a home run. He'll give up a home run that kind of ruins his day. And so that, I mean, you know, he's giving up three runs and it's the fifth inning. Yeah, they pull him at that point because he's just had like the line at that point doesn't look good. So they pull him. But he pitch as well. It's not like he should be a home run, a pitcher who allows a lot of home runs. Like I don't think that, like I think it's, I think it's been kind of a fluky thing is what I'm trying to say.

How much you trust them, though? I do worry about the length. Yeah. Well, I mean, what he's going well, like you did in this start, they let him pitch six innings. Yeah. And I think against Kansas City he will too. I think even...

He's kind of frustrating, but I don't think he'll ever, like, ruin you, you know? Yeah, he's a chance he could turn in a great start like this. He is a good pitcher with a short leash. And there are just, for me, at least, Like looking at starting pitcher right now, there are too many starters hurt that I don't feel like I'm in very many situations where I'm going to binge Jack Flaherty. And when he's pitching against the Royals. I think he's pretty close to a must start this week.

He's a must start when he has two starts. I might sit him against a really good offense just because I'm worried about the short leash. All right. And then the last three guys, how about ranking Tanner Roark, Nativaldi, Vince Velasquez? So the one I'm not really sure what to make of is row arc Because this is three really good starts in a row The war the walks have gone away Which has been a big problem for him

He only got strikeouts in the first two of those three stars He's not historically a good strikeout pitcher And he's just been so unreliable from year to year too I'll put him second in this group I'll go Velazquez then row arc then a baldy I think they all should be owned Yeah I'd put him in the exact same order Velasquez is really the only one that I'm super excited about.

I mean, the way the Yankees were talking about his cutter was very interesting. It appears to be a very effective pitch for him. I know we don't love the low strikeout totals, but... Well, that's the thing. Two great starts with the Red Sox, but the strikeouts were down in both. Early on with the raise, he was introducing this cutter and getting strikeouts. so that made me a little more hopeful it was going to be a big deal for him. I mean, if the Yankees are saying it's that impressive, then maybe it's still well.

And it's only two starts where he hasn't gotten a lot of strikeouts. Maybe they'll bounce back next time. I don't know. But he has the most downside, I would say, of these three. And let's go to some studs who were duds. We talked about some of them earlier today, like Severino and Lester. But how about Julio Taran, 86% own? Kent and Maeda, 94% owned.

Danny Duffy, 80% own. Tyler Anderson, 84% owned. And Gio Gonzalez, my goodness, 90% owned. It's been dreadful. Taran Maeda, Duffy, Tyler Anderson, and Gio Gonzalez. How many of those five are must-own players you could not consider dropping them? Myida. Yeah, I'd agree with that.

I would probably own Duffy. I would probably own Anderson. Ron and Gonzalez seem totally expendable to me. Even when Gonzalez bounced back with a quote-unquote good start last time, it was four walks to four strikeouts, you know? At Miami. Not really Gonzales at his best. I kind of feel the same about Gonzales.

I do about Roort. Okay. Studs being something in between Studs and Duds. Masahiro Tanaka only made it through four and two-thirds, but he struck out nine Red Sox. and he has been kind of a strikeout machine. No, he's been a swinging strike machine, I'd say, since coming off the D.L. Kyle Hendricks had an okay start.

Robbie Ray, been very frustrating. Blake Snell had kind of a bad start, but he was on a pitch count. He's fine. Walker Bueller, good start. Carlos Rodon. Carlos Rodon walked five, gave up nowhere runs, one unurn run. That means I went back, I looked, I think, all but one of his starts in his career with five or more walks,

he's given up two or fewer earn runs. So it doesn't matter for him. Effectively wild. I guess so. And Marco Gonzalez. Four runs and seven things isn't great, but seven strikeouts. And he has actually,

Marco Gonzalez is picking up his strikeout game lately, about a strikeout printing in his last five starts. Again, I know I said a lot of names. Tanaka, Hendrix, Ray, Blake Snell, Walker Bueller, Carlos Rodon, Marco Gonzalez. Anyone jump out at you? Robby Ray, I think, is totally untrustworthy.

I don't think you can drop them, but you really shouldn't start him. This was a two-star week, right, that he was just getting off of it. Yeah. It went poorly. Crossed your ratios. Just don't see any real reason to start him right now. Okay. Snell is still my favorite out of this group. Oh, yeah.

By a pretty good margin. But most of these guys, unless they have a bad matchup, the upcoming week, I'm starting. Carlos Rodan is a 212 Babbat. Does that matter to you guys? That's too low. He's been lucky so far. Okay. He's got Cleveland this week.

Starter Sid Rodon. I'd rather not start him. I don't think it's crazy to start him. Yeah, I'm probably starting him, but I would start a two-start Matt Boyd over him. Let's do the Fringies. 65 to 79% own, part 1, fringy starting pitchers. Zach Eflin, Shane Bieber, great start from him. Anabal Sanchez, I don't know how, but, yep, he just keeps doing it.

Luis Castillo and Kevin Gosman. Eflin Bieber, Sanchez, Anabal Sanchez, Castillo, and Gosman. So, nice, bounce back star for Eflin. Did he give him three run runs, but over eight innings? and that was after a couple shaky outings. I think he's proven he's still somebody who needs to be owned. Castillo kind of discouraging after a couple of really good starts with the strikeouts being good. I think they're both quality starts too.

So he's not quite back to being must start, but I would own him too. The other is Bieber Sanchez-Gausman. I would rank them in terms of how much I'd want to roster them. I mean, I'm still putting Sanchez last of that group. Beaver, Gosman, Sanchez. Though I don't think Sanchez is 76% is too high. You like Gosman better than Sanchez? Yeah, I do.

Heath, how are you feeling about this group? Eflin, Bieber, Sanchez, Castillo, Gosman? I don't even feel like I want to comment on Sanchez because I don't understand anything that's happening with him. And I keep thinking it's going to end and it keeps not ending. and I don't have faith in him the rest of the year. There's not, like, he deserves more credit than he's getting, though. As far as Castillo, I'm almost starting to look at him more like Flaherty,

because I do think he's shown enough since the start of July that he's kind of over whatever was ailing him early in the year, but the Reds are going to yank him, I think, at the first sign of trouble. Yeah, I mean, Castillo had a 225 ERA in July, four walks, 25 strikeouts, but he had five starts with that 225 ERA. He had only two quality starts. Fringy starting pitchers part two, 50 to 64 percent own. I have two guys in this group.

Junior Gera and Clay Buckelts. Gara's got San Diego this week, and Clay Buckelts is at Cincinnati. Buckle's been really good. I view Buckels very similarly to how you view Annabal Sanchez. Right, exactly. Like, I don't understand it in the slide. This was a great start. I mean, he got 18 swinging strikes at this start.

But it was, that's an outlier, that specific stat. So you understand why the line was good this timeout, but why it's been good consistently. I just, I don't get it. To a degree, I could say the same about Gera, but I think, you know, he's been, unlike Sanchez, he's been healthy basically all season, right? And we're two-thirds of the way through the season.

And it's not like the strike-out rate's bad. I think of those three, Gera, Sanchez, and Buckley, called Gera's the one I'd trust the most. Okay. And he does have the Padres this week, as mentioned earlier. Gera's 61% own. Fringianci starting pitchers part three. I'm going to say a name.

You guys tell me yes or no. Do you want to own them? Joey, in a standard mix league. Joey Lucchasey. No. No. Marco Estrada. No.

Trevor Cahill. Sure. Yes. Hermann Marquez. Yes. Yes, but I don't want to start him this week. Joey Lucchasee, I said him already, sorry. How about Marco Estrada?

Andrew Suarez. A couple of doubles in the notes here. No. I am so, I am Ron Burgundy. I will read everything that's put in front of me. And I put names in the notes twice. Marquez is in here a second time, too. I guess I just copied and pasted it again.

Mike Minor. Yes. Certainly in points leagues where you can start him at, relief pitcher. I don't trust the kind of run he's been on recently. Not enough strikeouts there for me, but you know, you can start him at relief pitcher. That's awfully handy. And unfortunately for Mike Minor, he does have one start at the Yankees this week. Not a good park for him. Deep leagues. Derek Holland, 28% owned. I mean, give the guys some credit. He's pitching pretty well this year. He's got a strikeout running. He's got the pirates at home this week, Derek Holland.

I'm assuming we don't have any interest in Lucas Gialito? No. What about Edwin Jackson? No. What about Austin Gomer? Or is he out of the rotation now? I think he's probably out with Tyson Ross joining. Okay.

Derek Colle. Oh, my God, I did it again. How about Edwin Jackson? I kept copying and pasting. I know what happened. I know what happened. How about Trevor Richards? Now, he's interesting.

He is. He has been pitching quite well of late in terms of strikeouts, swinging strikes, everything. Last four, he's allowed two earned runs between them with 25 strikeouts to seven walks and 23 and two-thirds innings, double-digit swinging strikes in all four of them. That's a good four-star stretch. He pitches for the Marlins, and he doesn't have an exciting pedigree, so I'm not ready to pick him up yet, but he's definitely on the list of players I'm watching. All right, Trevor Richards.

Ryan Baruchie, we talked about him earlier, and that's all I don't. I don't even want to say. Blaine Hardy. Blaine Hardy. No, we don't care. He's 3% owned. A. That was the weirdest pitcher's duel of the season, right?

Blaine Hardy versus Brett Anderson, a nothing, nothing game into extra innings. That was weird. Pretty strange. In the bullpen, Brad Hand got another save. Who's the Cleveland Closer? I think it's probably Brad Hans who's going to get the most. Now that Andrew Miller's back, Cody Allen, faltered a couple times after the trade. So they got two great lefties and one theoretically great righty.

It kind of makes sense to save one of the lefties for the ninth, right? I don't think it'll be in every, like I think sometimes the matchups will align in a way that makes them turn to Allen instead. But I'd prioritize handover him right now. Adam Adavino got a save chance, Heath, and he blew it. He gave him three runs, two earned, at Milwaukee on Sunday. He finally got his chance because Wade Davis had been bad. But what do you think about the Rockies bullpen? They are sure talking like they're not taking the job away from Wade Davis yet.

He's not really pitched like he deserves it. But is the only person to get a save recently for the Rockies' Sunwaters? one oh. No, wait. Is that who got the save? I believe he got a save for him on Saturday. So I'm looking through, yeah, O got one on Sunday. Okay.

But that was their only save in August. That's their only save in August so far. Davis got three saves prior to that. Was that the same day? I'm confused. Was that the same day that Adavino blew the save or no? I believe so. Okay, so Atovino got the initial chance in the ninth.

He blew it, and then O got the save in the extras? Yes. Okay. And he got to save while Corey Canable faltered, by the way. Jace Frye does not appear to be the closer for the White Sox. Ken Giles appears to be the ninth-fitting guy for the Blue Jays. Sir Anthony Dominguez worked the – got a save on Friday, and then he worked like the seventh inning on Sunday, so that was annoying.

and that's basically all I got in the bullpen. So let's read some emails, I'd say. And then we'll do today's matchups. Jason from New York. Dear Altuve, Alvarado, Cantana, Burios, Baez, Ramirez, Reis, Batista, Rias, and Erez, and Erena. Everybody got it? Jose's. Jose's.

Oh, you know what? I don't know that we need to read this because we already addressed it. But does Steven Souza Jr. deserve to be owned in more than 20% of leagues? Yes, 45. There you go. Jesse, D.L. Stints are starting to pile up. I'm wondering where the dropometer is on Carlos Martinez. I don't think he's undropable.

It's going to be an extended absence, and obviously we're looking at about two months of the season remaining a little less. So, I mean, obviously I'd rather not drop him, but if your DL stashes are piling up, he's one of the ones who's going to be back later in the year. entirely dependent on your league and how they finish the season. If your playoffs are starting in the next couple of weeks, I think he's drovable. If you're in a roto league that goes into the last day of the season, there's no way to drop them.

No name on this one, but he says, Dear Gomez, Fester, Lurch, and Thing. I only know the easy ones. It's Adam's family. It's my family. I have... He wants us to rank some pitchers. Give me your top three here. John Gray, Vince Velasquez,

Zach Wheeler, Carlos Rodan, Kyle Gibson, and Zach Godley. Who are your top three? That's a good question. That's a good question. They've all shown nice signs recently. I think Gibson's my favorite just in terms of reliability.

John Gray is probably my second favorite. And I'll go Godley third. I'll go Gibson Gray Godley, the G team. Wow. Okay. Yeah, I will go gray first. I'll go godly Gray Gibson. Okay, geez.

From Tyler, Hanager or McCutcheon rest of season. Andrew McCutcheon. Oh, split. I actually picked Andrew McCutcheon up. He was dropped in a 10-team league that I was in. The Matt Carpenter Hot Street is coming. Maybe. They have already started.

It may have. Yeah, it had a nice weekend. Russ says, I need someone to replace McCullors. Robbie Ray or John Gray? John Gray. Yep. Okay. We have about 10 games on the schedule tonight, so let's take a look at the matchups.

Homer Bailey at Noah Cindergarde. Are we going to start Homer Bailey? No, no. Nope. Luke Weaver at Way and Chen. You can tell how exhausted I am. I didn't have the strength to sing Dreamweaver. Luke Weaver at Way and Chen.

You know what? I'm in a one-and-done scenario like this. I am going to sit Weaver. I know he's among the recommended two start options because two great matchups and you just hope he comes through for one of them but I'd rather not start him on a night-to-night basis. Not starting either one.

Wait, what? We're not starting Luke Weaver at the Marlins? He's been so unreliable. He has. The three of his last five starts have been excellent. This is exactly the type of place where if it's the end of the week it's totally dependent on where you are

in each category. I don't want to start my week with Luke Weaver. I'm starting both of them in the podcast league. Weaver and Chad. Gosh. That's weekly. Yeah. That's fine.

Yeah. Kyle Gibson at Trevor Bauer. We're starting them both. Mariners at Rangers. This is Wade LeBlanc at Martine Perez. No, thank you. No. Yankees at White Sox. Lance Lynn and Dylan Covey.

I'm going to say the same. Well, you know what? since it's the White Sox game, I'll start Lanselin. How do you like that? I probably... Man, he's so bad. I could see a situation where I started Lanslain. Cole Hamels at Jake Junis.

Start Hamels. Not Junis. Joe Musgrove at Kyle Freeland, Pirates at Rockies. Nope. I can maybe start Freeland, but I'd rather not. Okay, and Arenda at Godly? Are we going to start Areietta or Godley tonight? I'd be start both.

Yep. How about Tigers and Angels, Matt Boyd and Nick Troppiano? I'll start, Boyd. I'm not going to start either. Angels are bad against Lefty's really, really bad. Charlie Morton and Derek Rodrigginz. By the way, Scott, you're not going to start Boyd of Trout's out? I think Boyd is one of those pictures.

Flirting with disaster. The Babbup is so low. the home run rate is so low for a guy who gives up as many fly balls as he does. Like if the Angels, even without Trout, scored eight runs off him, it wouldn't surprise me. Okay. Charlie Morton at Derek Rodriguez? Start him. Yes, to Morton.

Are we going to do Rodriguez in just the one start? I know we want him for the two-star week. I'm going to start him if Springer's out. I'm assuming there's no Springer or Al-Tubei. Yeah. I'm going to start him. I mean, I'd rather start him. the Weaver, that's for sure. And I guess I'd rather

start him to land. You know who else isn't in the lineup? Gattis. Because it's in a National League Park. He didn't play all weekend. Oh, there you go. There you go. So, just get Alex Bregman out, and it should be okay. All right, guys. Thanks a lot for listening. Heath, great to have you back.

You'll hear Heath on the Fantasy Football Today podcast later today. And Scott and Heath on, I don't know who's on tomorrow. I don't care. See you later, everybody. We'll talk to you on Tuesday.