Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/07: Surprisingly Good SP Performances (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 7, 2018

Lance Lynn, Dereck Rodriguez, Wei-Yin Chen and Jake Arrieta are just a few of the SPs who stood out last night. We'll dedicate today's show to figuring out who is legit. First, how about some buy low and sell high candidates (2:42) as trade deadlines approach? ... MLB news (8:40) on Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Eloy Jimenez and more. Then we get into Lynn (15:00) and Rodriguez (17:40) and some "Hey, Real Quick" (20:30) with a couple of stud SPs, Max Muncy and two other 1B, and Bryce Harper vs. Javier Baez ... Bullpen notes (26:40), discussing nearly every SP from last night (28:40) including Luke Weaver and Cole Hamels, what to do with slumping hitters (35:58), thoughts on Jeff McNeil (40:00), Team Name Tuesday (43:23), Fun with Fangraphs (44:48), Grade the Trade (53:08) and a look at today's matchups (57:40) ... 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

Over her milk for breakfast cereal. Mount Rushmore, they'll be there for a change. Over heard during the bite check, Heath said, Can we just make fun of Chris for hating on Lance Lynn all the time? Or something to that effect. So I think we can. I think we can do whatever the heck we want on fantasy baseball today. Heath, let's do it.

Chris, how does it feel? Yeah. How does it feel? Scott White was. dancing last night, dancing Scott White on Chris Towers stunting on you.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah? Oh, is that it? That's all you had to say? Oh, no, I wanted to hear your response. I think you're just like, like, you're so analytical that you don't understand what it means to be a true yankton.

To put the pinstripes on. It's inspiration. Look, I know you guys are joking, but we are actually trying to help people win their fantasy leagues. You didn't do a very good job in regards to Lance Lynn. I don't know if you guys realize what the point of this podcast is, but I am laser focused on that.

Oh yeah? You know what I heard you say the other day? What's that? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

It's exactly how it can't even tell which one. Gouple to Gouple meets Chris Towers. And I'm playing a drop and Chris actually doing it. But, you know, I actually really thought yesterday was awesome. because when we did the Monday show, the weekend recap, I noticed it was like a lot of studs. It was Klubor, Severino, Verlander, all these like high-end pitchers that pitched over the weekend. So I thought, all right, Monday and Tuesday probably got to be a lot of fringy starting pitchers. And yesterday it really was.

And not only that, a lot of them did incredibly well. So we're going to find out who's legit. We're going to talk about Lance Lynn. I do wish Scott were on the podcast today. But oh well. I guess I will, maybe I'll try to play the role of Scott White and defend Lance Lynn, because I have a feeling neither of you will. I am on board.

I will go to bat for Lance Lynn. I don't know if you'll do it sarcastically or legitimately, but okay, all right, we'll try. Here's a tough email of the day for you guys that I should have given you warning about, but I didn't because that's the kind of guy I am these days. Email of the day is from Anthony. I'm in five leagues, and every league I'm in is the trade deadline set for this upcoming Sunday. I was hoping you guys could suggest some final sell highs and buy lows for me.

I made a trade yesterday. If that helps anyone. Chris, you can't buy low on Lance Lynn anymore. Oh, no. He's already shown what he's going to be as a Yankees. He's actually 80% own. That's extremely high. Even for a guy in a two-star week, I thought. But it worked out. Amazing start. I traded Mitch Hanigar, finally.

I've been trying for months to trade Hanigur for Kenta Maeda. Who I consider a by-low, and we'll be even more of a by-low after he gets lit up at Colorado this weekend. Yeah, I think that's great. I do worry about him leaving the rotation because it's the Dodgers, but if he stays in the rotation, I think we all kind of think Kentomite is a pretty good pitcher. Yeah, I have no concerns about him pitching well, really. I think he's very good, and I think his career has pretty much showed that. It's going to be very frustrating when you get to the semifinals, and he goes on a mystery 10-day to Yelston.

Sure. That's fine, and I kind of have a rule. that I never really talk about. It's not a hard and fast rule, but I call it the ACL test. And trading Mitch Hanager yesterday, I said, if Mitch Hanager tears his ACL and he's out for the season, is it going to affect my team?

Maybe a little. I like trading those types of guys. Trade from your strengths. Trade from your depth. And ask yourself, all right, even if this trade's a total flop, I get nothing in return. Losing this guy, doesn't hurt my team. If the answer is no,

then be a little bit more aggressive, make those trades. How about you guys? Is anyone you want to buy low or sell high on? Well, it might be too late after he's finally starting to show something, especially the last, what, two starts, I guess, for Zach Godley. But he has, you know, one of the larger gaps between his ERA and his FIPP this season, he has the sixth largest in baseball. And we are seeing flashes over the last couple of starts of the guy we were so excited about coming back

into this season. 17 strikeouts, two walks over the last two starts. Last name. Zach Goddly. I didn't hear you the first time. I said it. And he has had, over his last seven starts actually, only more than one walk in only one of the last seven. I guess one was. I think, yeah, it was five of his last six starts, yeah, for Godley. But that's a really good sign for someone who struggled with their control early in the season. and then he gets a lot of swinging strikes. Not as much as he did last season so far,

but the curve ball was exceptional last night. And if that can be a weapon for him again, this is a guy we were talking about with top 20 pitching upside. There were three pitchers last night that I think I would be trying if my trade deadline was in the next couple of days to capitalize on their good start by seeing if I could deal them for someone that I thought was actually good. Lance Lynn is one of them, and that's going to be more difficult.

Jake Arieta and Cole Hamill's good start against the Royals, but two strikeouts over six innings, and it was the Royals. I know there was some hope that he gets away from Texas, and all of a sudden he's just good. I'm not sure he was that good outside of Texas in the first place. I'd try to trade him. You know who might be a really good sell high right now, and it's a little disappointing because I liked him a lot coming off to D.L.,

But Joe Musgrove has just been really good lately. What the heck? But he has stopped striking anyone out over his last three starts. He has six strikeouts total. He's getting a lot of ground balls, but it's almost like he decided three starts ago to completely reinvent the way he pitches. And that's not entirely unexpected.

He was not a big strikeout guy as a starter. Last year, I was just hoping this season that his stuff would play up after his velocity boost in the bullpen. last year. It looked like it did early on, but then, I don't know, I'm concerned. All right, that's Joe Muskro over talking about. So I was planning on going through basically everybody who pitched last night, everyone relevant, and talking about who's legit. I mean, Wei and Chen is like a one-something ERA at home and a 10-something ERA on the road. It's pretty hilarious.

And he had a good home start yesterday. I also want to point out that there's a team that has an unbelievably easy schedule coming up, and that is the New York Yankees. And last week I talked about it with Sunny Gray, thinking, all right, actually I might be able to use Sunny Gray. Wrong. But Masiero Tanaka since coming off the DL has been a lot better. I don't know that it means anything. He still doesn't have much of a fastball, but his secondary pitch has been really good. And I don't know Tanaka's matchups, but I can tell you Severino's matchups coming up.

Either the Mets or the Rays. Then Toronto at Baltimore, White Sox at Oakland, at Seattle, Toronto. And then they'll see Boston a couple times late in the year. But really easy schedule for the Yankees. And I think Tanaka is much better than Sunny Gray. So I feel better recommending him as a by-low. If he is a by-low, I think he is. You could recommend someone that's not a Yankee.

Where's the fun? I already did. I already recommended Kent and Maeda. No, Lance Lynn is on the Yankees. I'm not a Lance Lynn guy. Lance Lynn, he's basically a two-pitch pitcher now, and they're both fastballs. It's like he's throwing a four-seamer and a two-seamer. I, no, no.

All right, so those are some by-low and some sell-high candidates. Forget it. Forget it. You flustered me with your Yankee thing. You're awesome. Ruthnet O'Dore. Root net O'Dore has been awesome. I talked about him yesterday. I might see if somebody thinks the last month is him figuring it out and turning into this,

because he's probably got a bad month left in him this year. Yeah. All right. The big news. So this is kind of a newsy show. Mike Trout, cortisone injection, sat again, and they're hoping to get Trout back this weekend. Meanwhile, Shohay Otani is making some progress.

He's approaching mound work. Do you guys think that Shohay Otani is going to be a usable pitcher down the stretch? I do not. No, I actually dropped him, and it was a keeper league, and I had been holding on to him, but the keeper price was $21, and there's just no way I was going to keep him for that price, and I didn't see him helping me this season, so I dropped him.

All right, Shohei Otani. George Springer on the D.L. with a thumb sprain, but they're optimistic that he could be back when first eligible or shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, Houston is happy with Jose Al-Tube's progress. We don't really know what that means, but they're happy with his progress. Lance McCullors has a forearm strain, and he might not – he's not pitching in August. He might not pitch at all the rest of season. Who's more dropable, McCullors or Carlos Martinez?

McCullors. Yeah, I think that's probably right. And at points a league with the playoffs coming up, either of them could be. Carlos Correa could be back this weekend. Eloi Jimenez, very close to joining the White Sox. And we should also mention Michael Kopeck at another great start over the weekend. So if you're looking to stash a pitcher.

But Eloy Jimenez is bat at 376 with eight home runs in 29 games in AAA. He doesn't walk that much, but he doesn't strike out much either. what are your expectations for Jimenez when he comes up, which will hopefully be within the coming days for the White Sox? I'm going to guess it's three and a half weeks away. Really? Why would you, like, why bring him up now, three and a half weeks before the September call-up,

which does not count against service time? Okay. I mean, if that's the, then why would they call him up at all this season? Because in September it doesn't count against service time. You get him free exposure to the major leagues, and it doesn't cost you anything. It still counts for, I don't think September call-ups count.

They don't count for options for sure. I'm not 100% sure on service time, but I don't believe they have the same impact. I mean, if they're worried about that, whatever. I don't, like, the way this is he's obviously major league ready. Right. And so whenever they call him up,

I expect him to be maybe the second best hitter in their lineup, probably the second best hitter in their lineup. But, you know, he's not, and steel bases, it's possible that he gets a little exposed by Major League pitching, and he's just kind of an all-or-nothing power hitter at first. That being said, he's going to be a must-ad guy when he gets called up, just because there's so few potential impact players who are available on waivers like that. Can I get a last name? Eloy Jimenez. Eloy Jimenez, yeah, and I thought that once you're no longer a Super 2, it didn't really matter.

But I guess I'm wrong. Well, it just depends on next year. They could just keep him down for the first two weeks. Like, why not? Why not just keep them down until the middle of April next year? They're going to compete next year. And gain an extra year of service time. Okay, that's Eloy Jimenez.

Keep an eye on him and Michael Kopeck as well. U. Darvish is going to throw a simulated game tomorrow. The A's acquired Mike Fires from Detroit. That will put Jacob Turner in the Detroit rotation, but fires in his last seven starts as a 196 ERA. Only 29 strikeouts at 41 and a third. Do you trust Mike Fires with the A's? Not at all.

Not even kind of. Let's see. David Dahl is up, as we know. He led off for the Rockies yesterday. Charlie Blackman sat, but Dahl did lead off and go two for four. Also, great pitching in Coros Field yesterday. It was rainy,

and apparently the conditions were pitcher-friendly. Ball was not carrying yesterday at Coros Field. Matt Davidson struck out John Carlos Stanton. That was fun. Joey Vado. He looked good. Did he look good? Yeah.

Storn in like low 90s, had a good breaking ball. If you have a good breaking ball, you can strike out John Carlos Stanton. Yeah. Joey Votto has general soreness. General Sorness. Anybody worried about Joe? He didn't mention him as a by-low. Is he still a by low, Joey Vado?

I believe he is, yes. And Kyle Bearclaw, another bad outing could lose the closer's role. This time it feels a little more serious. I just wonder if there's something wrong with him. Domatically said he's healthy, he thinks he's healthy, but... Yeah, I don't know. He's been really bad. So, Steckenrider?

What's that? Steckin Rider? He would be the guy, yeah. I want to circle back to David Dahl for just a minute because all he's done is hit, and he just needs a chance. And if they give it to him, he's hit this year, 284 with an 818 OPS, some stolen bases, some power. Just give him... Like, your offense stinks.

Give him a chance. You have, like, one good hitter. Maybe two. Two good hitters. Who are they? Nolan Aronano and Charlie Blackman. Yeah. I guess Trevor's story, too.

Yeah, let's talk Trevor's story. Carlos Gonzalez has actually been pretty good. I think their offense is... But really not, like, he's been good at home. But I think their offense is... Like, I would have a 700 OPS at course. Not true. I think their offense is a little better than it was at the beginning of the year.

Like, LeMay, who's back, and... No. Cargo's been all right. It's bad. It's not bad. It is bad It was bad I don't think it's that bad now

I mean you guys are right about that I saw in the show notes That we have a fun with Fancraft segment coming up Yeah I'd like to Alright let's move it then Monday standouts Who stood out to you guys Let's talk about Lance Lynn

Let's talk about Lance Lynn The Rockies are 22nd And Waited Runs Created Plus Over the course of the last 30 days That's not that bad Is that including home That's park a job Oh.

Okay, well, that's not like, they were worse than that. They were like... But they are in the bottom third of the league. Okay, but when we had this discussion earlier this year, they were like one of the worst away from home, right? They're bad. Okay, everybody's bad. It's always good and bad with you.

Yep. Yep. No gray area. Some teams are average. Mm-hmm. Like the Yankees right now. Mm-hmm. Okay.

Anyway, Lance Lynn, 80% owned. Why can't I find Lance Lynn in my notes? Did I, like, not put him in my notes? I don't think you put him in the notes. He threw, what, seven, eight scoreless innings at the White Sox? Seven scoreless innings at the White Sox? I think seven with nine strikeouts, no walks. Or one walk, no walks in his relief appearance.

Good for him. Is this a joke? I know I did notes on Lance Lynn. Here he is. Previous two appearances, six innings, two runs, three strikeouts at Boston. Four and a third, scoreless as a reliever against Baltimore. He's got Texas this weekend. he's got Toronto next weekend.

All right, 80% owned. What do we think, Lance Lynn? I just, I don't see any reason to think he's going to be even an average pitcher moving forward. If he is, I'll take that loss. You know, like that's my sense of it. It's just you have to believe in the things that you believe in.

And the things that I believe in point to Lantelin, just not being very good. And I don't see something that he's done. done differently in his two appearances with the New York Yankees to believe that he has become something different. So, yeah, I don't, like, he's throwing his curveball more, I guess. Is he? Because I think he's just throwing his fastball all the time.

Yeah. No, look, you don't have to make that impassion of a case. I mean, it's hard to buy. But his control has been better lately. And that's kind of Scott's theory. Well, it's been better the two appearances he's made with the Yankees. And maybe the Yankees just figured something out. And if that's the case, then I'll just be wrong.

They're the Yankees. But, no, I mean, Scott would say if he gets his control, kind of like Zach Godley. If he gets his control right, then Lance Lynn's actually been doing some good things. But Godley, like, is an elite ground ball guy. And he's shown stretches of being a really good bat misser. Lance Lynn, even in this, like, good 12-start stretch, has been an average strikeout pitcher. and he's been a little better. He's been a bad average in ground ball rate.

All right. Do you have no interest in owning him? Owning him is fine, but I have no interest in thinking he's going to be a difference maker. He's not someone I'm running out to add. I'm not dropping someone with potential for him. I'm not dropping Nick Povetta for him. Okay. Heath, anything to add? No.

I think he is pretty close to an average pitcher right now. That's good. He had a good start against a really bad team. He's had two good performances against really bad teams. I'll probably start him. He gets really bad teams. Yeah, that's a good point. It means Baltimore and the White Sox. All right, any other standouts you want to get to from Monday? Derek Rodriguez. Yes. Continues to be really good. And it's a little surprising. But the good sign is he's striking guys out now. Over the last four starts, he has 24 strikeouts. And that's about 26

six innings. That's really good. For a guy who, you know, has done a good job limiting hard contact, has great control. He's really interesting right now. All right. So that was a really interesting. Yeah, you're right. Interesting is a great word for it. Not a high swinging strike rate, very high strand rate. I actually looked at the peripherals and thought Derek Rodriguez cannot keep this up. He can't. But he has a 234-ERA. We're not asking him to keep that up. He's got a 314-5. 4-1-4-5. 3-1-4-5. Oh, I thought I saw it was like almost four.

Four is the X-Fit because he has a really low home run to flat ball rate. Okay. So maybe he's a high threes ERA pitcher. But even so, if he's a high three's ERA pitcher pitching in a good park for half of his starts, I'm going to have some interest in him. I'd rather have Derek Rodriguez than Lanslund. 100%. All right, yeah, nice start.

And he actually had a good matchup yesterday. No Altuvae, no Springer, no Gattis. and he took advantage of it pitched very, very well, and should have gotten the win. Will Smith blew it in the ninth inning, but I'm glad that we told people to start Rodriguez yesterday. And I'm always glad that we tell people about the Sikh app because I get a ton of tweets and a ton of emails about people telling us

really about the memories they get because of the Seekek app. Hey, I went on a spring training tour. I got my tickets on Seat Geek. Hey, I went to the United States. You know, a lot of people from Canada go to the United States, go to a bunch of different ballparks, and they use Seat Geek to get there. or just you typical Americans with your baseball.

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So you can shop for tickets on Seekekek with confidence. And I'll tell you what I'm doing now. October 6th-ish, something like that. Miami, Florida State, I never miss it. I go home for it every other year when it's a home game for Miami. And I'm talking to my friends and we're looking at tickets. And we got our eye on a few on Seekkeek, and we just keep monitoring it. And we're going to make that purchase.

We're going to use Seekkeek. We're going to save some money. It's going to give me a better price than all the other competitors because Seat Geek searches multiple ticket sites and gives a grade on every ticket base. on value. Use the code fantasy for 20 bucks off. Do what we do and use the Seeky Cap. All right. Hey, real quick, Luis Severino or Trevor Bauer rest of season. Trevor Bauer has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball this season. What's your answer? Severino or Bauer?

I'm moving Bauer ahead of Severino. Severino. I don't feel confident in it, but he's done it for longer. And I don't think this recent stretch is anything. But the remaining season is so short. There's so little time left. I think Louis Severino is going to have a very good career and be a very good pitcher. I do think there's something not right right now. And I don't know if it's going to be fixed in his next start.

Yeah, that's the thing is, like, I haven't found anything that's wrong besides the results. And if I'm going to do it with Lance Lynn the opposite way, I have to do it with Louis Severino. This has just been bad luck. I think so. Or something, something small. I don't think there's something like fundamentally wrong with Louis Severino. He's still throwing hard. He's still getting strikeouts.

He's still. No, he's not really getting strikeouts. I mean, he got two against, well, let's see. He has 21 strikeouts in 25 innings in his last five starts. He has an 8-2080RA. He's given up eight home runs in those five starts. Only two strikeouts at Boston. Look, I don't know why it's happening,

but his slider is just not that good right now. You know, that's the thing. His secondary stuff hasn't really been that good lately, and I don't know why. Bauer is just so damn good, and they both have good schedules, but I think Bowers is basically as good as it gets. He does have one start at Boston,

but other than that, it's at the White Sox this weekend, Baltimore at Boston, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Bay, at Toronto, at Tampa Bay, White Sox, at the White Sox at Kansas City. I mean, we talked about it a few weeks ago. The Indians are just set up for such, an amazing finish. And he's awesome.

And he's great. Yeah, he's got 206 strikeouts. Like, he's finally starting to get Straitals in a way that he's never done. It's amazing. This is his first 200 strikeout season. He got there last night. You would love him too because you know what he said?

Somebody said, you lead the AL in strikeouts, I think. You already said? And war. And war. Which is not true. It's not true? Mike Troutho's here. Like, he leads among pitchers.

But like, you know, if you're going to, if you're going to well, actually, people. Get your facts straight, Trevor. I actually... I... I thought he was going to say, what's my strikeout percentage? That would have been a very Chris Tower's thing to say. Well, no, but in 156 innings, that's a negligible

difference. So, all right, it's two to one in favor of Bauer. We'll leave it at that. Hey, real quick, rest of season, Edwin-Eccarnacion, or Cody Bellinger, or Max Muncie. I would go with Cody Ballinger.

Wow. I thought he'd be last on list. I'll take incarcion. Max Muncie's very distant last. I'm not even sure he's going to be an everyday player moving forward. He hasn't been over the last week. Oh, my goodness. I'm surprised to hear this. He's two for 31 in his last 11 games, Max Muncie. But I thought, you know, we were all in on Muncie. You know how Chris is? Just a bad week, and he's ready to change his mind about somebody. He's not consistent at all. I thought we were just judging him based on hard hit rate and stuff like that. But apparently,

a bad, bad, bad-bib week, and we're out. It's not a bad-bab-up week. Don't be ridiculous. He's striking out like 50% of the time. Over a week. No, it's been like 40 plate appearances that his strikeout rate has been really elevated. And this is a 27-year-old

who had never done anything of note at any level before this. Yes, the first half of the season was incredible. And yes, I was buying in because everything pointed to, what he was doing being pretty sustainable. He's striking out 44% of the time over his last 15 games. His strike rate has been going up consistently for about the last 10 games, like that stretch. Maybe it's nothing, but it's not like we have,

it's like Justin Smoke in the first half last year. Yes, all these indicators suggested that he had taken this big leap forward, but sometimes, sometimes you, just get on a lucky run, and sometimes you actually do get hot, and those skill-based indicators can be fluctuating as well. Well, nobody ever gets hot. They just do who they are. That's right.

That's okay. This is the best show ever. It is. No, it's a good point. I mean, I wanted to know where you guys were on Muncie because, you know, he's been funky Muncie. This second, the last 11 games, last 15 games, it's been really bad. I mostly stuck with him this week in my lineups,

except for the People League where I share with Chris, where he wanted to bench him for Ryan Healy. But I'm mostly giving him one more week to break out of this. Okay. Last one. So, by the way, he said Encarnacion, Chris said Ballinger. Last one. Hey, real quick, Bryce Harper or Hobby Baez?

This is so great. This is so great. Harper in points. Baez and Roto. I'll say Bryce Harder. Javier Baez, the only top 10 hitter in points leagues with fewer than 44 walks. He has 17 walks. Two hundred five strikeouts, but my gosh, what a year.

Another home run. 25 homers, 19 steals, 31 doubles, seven triples. Amazing year for Baez. True MVP candidate. Harper, meanwhile, has an 1157 OPS since the All-Star break. So it looks like he's... Homer and Derby fixed him. Right in the ship.

So Chris says, Bias in Roto, Harper Points, and Heath says Harper. Bullpen stuff. Well, it's still been about a month since we've seen a save for the Angels, but they got close last night. They had a four-run lead in the ninth, and Justin

Anderson pitched the ninth. I don't know if Blake Parker was available. He had pitched three of the previous four days, so that would have been four out of five. Parker, Parker, Parker hasn't been that good lately anyway. So Justin Anderson, maybe, I don't know, whatever. Ser Anthony de Dominguez struggling a bit lately.

Gabe Kapler says they're still confident in Dominguez, but he's struggling. But he got a save chance, and he blew it yesterday. Jerry Blevins got the save for the Mets, and I actually forgot to look it up. I don't know if you saw that he have a bunch of lefties up in the ninth inning. Zellman pitched the seventh and the eighth, and they use Blevins in the ninth. I did not see. All right. I will know before this bullpen report is over.

All right, that's Blevins for the Mets. Pedro Strope got a save. He's got eight saves. He's 37 percent own. appears to be the closer while Brandon Morrow is out. Will Smith, 58% own, blew his second save. Still having a great year, but he gave up three runs, two earned against the Astros yesterday. And Wade Davis, back in the closers role yesterday after Adamadovino blew it on Sunday.

Davis got a clean save with two strikeouts against Pittsburgh, his 32nd of the season. Jerry Blevins faced Billy Hamilton, Jose Parraza, and Joey Votto. but I don't think that was the reason that he came into the game because Robert Gisleman had already pitched the 8th. And did he pitch the 7th, too? He had four outs. Four outs. So I think that was probably more the reason.

But he did face Hamilton, Paraza, and blah. All right, so look, Swarzac's on the DL. Right, one lefty and a switch hitter. Swarzac's on the DL, and I thought Gisleman would get to save, but, you know, that didn't happen last night. All right, let's talk about those pitchers. Now, we've mentioned some of them. We go through them again.

We can repeat what we've said. Who's legit? Part one and part two. Part one is 80% owned or more? Part two is Luke Weaver and on down to Wei and Chen. 78% owned Weaver to 6% Chen. Zach Godley, is he legit? I don't understand the question.

Yeah, he's legit. Totally legit. Too legit to quit. Jake Areeta, is he legit? Nope, not legit. at all. Yes. Nothing legitimate. No. Don't say yes. Heath just said he's a great sell high candidate. So why would you say yes, he's legit?

I'm just going to leave. I don't know what the question is. Is he legit, Chris? I mean, how can it get more simple than is he legit? Yeah, I don't actually, I don't think this is confusing at all. Like, sometimes I know my segments are a little confusing. I really feel like this one's pretty straightforward. All right. Is he legit? Kyle Freeland. No. Why not? Okay, he's not. Kyle Freeland is not legit.

304 ERA. Another great start yesterday. What do you guys expect from Kyle Freeland? An ERA right around four. Moving forward. Yeah, something similar. Like, I don't know that there would be a huge difference between Kyle Freeland and Jake Areietta the rest of season. I think there will be just. because Jake Harriet doesn't pitch a course.

Okay, next up, Cole Hamels. No, not legit. Derek Rodriguez. Yes. Fairly legit. Not this good, not two, what does he have, 234 ERA good? He is not a legit 24 ERA picture. He may be a 380 ERA pitcher.

Let's not get too hung up on the numbers. He's good. I think he's good. Chris, do you know what legit means? I think he's good. Okay. Kyle Gibson. I think he's.

his ERA is going to wind up in roughly the same range. Legit. Yeah. All right. So, Godly, Rodriguez, Gibson, legit. Areeta, Freeland, Hamels, not legit. Godly's got to be the best, right? I think Godly or Arieta.

I think Godly is the best. So who's second best? Arietta. It's probably Arieta. but I don't I don't know it might it might be Derek Rodriguez so yeah all right so I guess this did get a little confusing because if we're saying Arieta is not legit we just mean Chris said Arieta was legit okay he believes that he is a true talent 311 ERA pitcher I hate you guys no no okay it is honestly getting a little confusing because

we're calling some people legit some not legit yet we like the not legit guy more than the legit guy and that's kind of weird so maybe we need to redo this segment Right, I think that is what they're doing right now, legit, I think is the better answer. Like, Cole Hamels has a 438 ERA on the season. I think that's probably legit. I think he's not good. But I don't think he's legitimately good.

He just had a good start, though. So was that legit? You're being intentionally unhelpful. All right, we're going to rank them godly one, and then either Arietta or Derek Rodriguez, too. Because here's the thing. I really, I want no part. part of Arietta.

Maybe I should open my mind a little bit, but his last six starts, he's a 211 ERA. His six starts before that, he had a 616 ERA, and he looked completely dropable. I wouldn't say I want no part of Arieta, but in a Roto League, I kind of feel like he's Stroman, you know? In a points league, okay, fine, Arieta, but in a Roto league, you're not going to get strikeouts. The whip is okay. And we're selling Kyle Gibson a little short, too.

He belongs in that same category as Rodriguez and Arieta. So Freeland and Hamels are the two worst in this group. I believe so. All right. Let's rephrase this to who's startable. What about the legitometer? No, who's startable? Next group.

Luke Weaver. Three. Come. I still do not trust Luke Weaver. It was good to see him succeeding yesterday after he's been so miserable. And we were hoping he would be good in this two-star week. It looks like that'll work out. I still don't trust him.

All right, that's Luke Weaver. But he does face the Royals this weekend. Yes, right. Joe Musgrove. I think he's startable as a spark. He's sparkable. For sure. And he's at San Francisco, so he's probably startable as a starter of this in his next start.

Matt Boyd. What do you want me to say? Every time I say that Matt Boyd actually sucks, then he pitches over his head. And every time I say, you know, I'm starting to believe maybe Matt Boyd is legit, he faces a team that's terrible against lefties and is off. So, he is throwing harder. I've mentioned that every time he's come up. And I think the velocity in this, in his last two starts is the highest that it's ever been.

He's averaged 92.4 miles per hour with his fastball. So he could be a little different. He's getting a lot more swinging strikes. Do you still like him more than John Newcomb? Maybe. This is Matt Boyd we're talking about. He's 62% own. It wasn't that bad of a start, four runs in five and a third.

But they are bad against lefties, and they didn't have Mike. trout. So it was really pretty disappointing start for Boyd. His next two starts are both against Minnesota at home this weekend and at Minnesota on the road next week. So, would you rather have Boyd or Musgrove? Musgrove. Musgrove. Wade LeBlanc. Not legit. Not worth starting. Yeah, I think he's usable against the right matchup. Wei and Chen at home. He may be useful at home. And aren't the Mets awful against lefties, his next matchup? Yeah, I think you can start him in that one.

194 ERA at home, 10-2070 R.A. on the road. More news and notes. Jayhap on track to start against Texas on Thursday. A Daney Etchevaria traded to the Pirates. Corey Seeger is going to have arthroscopic hip surgery. He's obviously out for the year, but he's going to have hip surgery. Jan Gohams could be back today. Tyler O'Neill on the deal with a groin injury.

Twin starting pitcher Michael Paneda pitched two in the minors as he's working his way back from Tommy John. Jeff McNeil. We've got to talk about Jeff McNeil. Ten percent owned. Have you seen his bat? Jeff McNeil's bat. The notes say Jeff McNeil has a weird bat.

Can you provide more details? I read about it yesterday, and then I had a Google image. It doesn't have a knob at the end. Okay, I see it. Oh, I'm looking at it. That's interesting. Yeah, Jeff McNeil is strange bat. We're going to talk about him in a little bit.

D. Gordon returned from an ankle injury. Marizaro could begin a rehab assignment this week. A.J. Pollock sat with fatigued legs. Nick Troppiano left with shoulder tightness, and Brandon Belt should be back soon. Troppiano might not miss a start, by the way. All right, here's a category. So we talk about hitters called, what do we do with these guys? Or we can go with the Empire Records reference.

What am I going to do with this guy? Right, Chris? That is a movie. Are you too young for Empire Records? I have seen it. We've talked about Empire Records. I don't think he's seen. Very good movie.

I've seen it like seven times. Maybe Scott's never seen it. I've seen it. Okay. It's fine. Well, what are we going to do with this guy? What am I going to do with this guy? Michael Brantley, since June 1st, he is the number 32 outfielder in points leagues.

Well, that's fine for a slump, you know? But number 56 in Roto with a 696 OPS, 260, three homers, five steals since June 1st. This is Michael Brantley. What am I going to do? with this guy. Start him. You are going to consider sitting him in Roto.

He's not a difference maker. I have found myself sitting him in my Categories League. It's a daily Categories League. Yeah. It's like, okay. With three outfielders?

Four outfielders. Yeah, I can't imagine that I would do that. Plus, you know, we've talked about the Indians' great schedule coming up. You're going to have a hot finish to the year. Good. Yeah. All right. That's

Brantley. How about Brett Gardner, 82% own? What am I going to do with this guy? I think he's probably over-owned. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think we've had enough. 718 OPS, 15.6% line drive rate for Gardner. That's not very good. Miguel Seno, 66% own. He has not homered since coming back up, but I don't know, maybe some encouraging signs. 382 on base. 276 batting average, 382 on base, 379 slugging. Miguel is 10. 66%-0. What do we do? He didn't hit for much power in the miners either. An ISO right around 150.

So I wonder if that's just something they're working on. He's been so power-focused in his career. Maybe they're just, let's make some contact, Miguel, and kind of work your way up. But I'd add him if he was available. And I want to circle back around to Michael Brantley real quick. Since June 1st, he has an 8% strikeout rate. he has a 41% hard contact rate, I'm not worried about Michael Brantley.

Adrian Belchray, 65% owned. What am I going to do with this guy? Yeah, I don't know. Drop him like it's hot. Maybe if they're like... I nailed that. Well, no, but I don't really know. I don't have as much interest in him as I do in Brantley for sure,

but I'd rather own him, I think. than I would Gardner. Sure. Yeah, well, yeah, that's fine. Gardner's very over-owned. But Beltray, Strange Peripherals, career-high, hard contact rate, career-high line drive rate by a lot,

28.6%. But he's just not hitting any fly-balls. But that kind of explains it, right? Well, the fact that he has five home runs in 79 games? No, no. The fact that his line-drive rate is so high kind of explains at least some of why his fly ball rate is so. Like his ground ball rate is actually lower than it was last year.

He's hitting more balls in the air, just not necessarily what has been categorized as a fly ball versus a line drive. I think maybe with Beltray Categories League perspective, if you see a guy who has a really high line drive rate and really high hard contact rate, he's batting 281, which is good, but maybe he should be batting over 300. Maybe he can help you with batting average? I would expect more power. I don't know. I think he probably, if he starts hitting for more power, we'll hit around 300, yeah. All right, fine.

That's Adrian Belcher. What are we going to do with Ryan Healy, 61% owed? I think he's a drag. Yeah. Yeah, we can, you can drop him, you can stream him. I think he's an okay corner infielder. Like this year he's just turned into an all-or-nothing power hitter,

and he doesn't hit. He's not that different from, like, Matt Davidson right now. Is he striking out that high rate? Not that much, but he has a 273 on base percentage. It's basically a home runner bust. That is Ryan Healy, 61% own. And then there's these three hitters. Marwin Gonzalez, 62% owned.

He is 7 for 19 with four homers in his last five games, including a big one last night. Marwin Gonzalez. David Peralta, 12 for 24 with three homers, a 1520 OPS for Peralta. in August. He hit two home runs yesterday. And Jeff McNeil with his weird bat. I think he sits against lefties,

considering he's one for three with a walk against them. But McNeil has been very good. 10% own. 326 batting average, four walks, six strikeouts, two homers, two doubles, and 12 games. Let's go one by one. Let's talk about Marvin Gonzalez. 62% own. Is this something just a little streak in a bad season? I think it's probably just a little streak.

Yeah, I think 62% owns fine. maybe a little high. Yeah. Who's going to be better rest of season? Beltray or Marwin? I'll take Beltra. All right, let's talk about David Peralta. Is he a must-start guy?

You know what? I don't think so. Let me ask, let me rephrase that. It's probably not a must-start guy, you know, for playoff teams. Is he a must-owned guy? Sure. Yeah, and he's 90% owned, so he's pretty much there. And you should start him in a five-out-fielder league.

Yeah. All right, that's David Peralta. Jeff McNeil. Talk to me, fellas. So the logic behind his weird bat is actually really interesting. So it kind of, I'm struggling to even explain it. But basically, the way he says it is that it's a standard 32-ounce bat, but the bat weight is distributed more evenly.

So there's more weight in the handle of the bat than a typical bat, which I would assume helps him with his bat control. You know, he's not whipping the ball through the strike zone the way hitters typically are. And he never strikes out. And he's hit for power at AAA this season. It's in Las Vegas, so, you know, who knows? And actually, he was hitting for power in Binghamton, too. You know what's good about his power?

Like, what happened in Vegas did not stay at Vegas. Well, well done. Yeah, come on, that was not so bad. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. If the power's real, and I don't necessarily have any reason to believe it is, but he's an interesting player and should be owned in all NL-only formats, and I think deeper categories and points leagues as well. So that is Jeff McNeil. Would you rather have Derek Dietrich or Jeff McNeil? Probably Dietrich. Yeah. Ben Zobrist or McNeil?

I'll take McNeil. I'll take Zobrist. All righty. It is team name Tuesday. We have a pretty mediocre crop today. Let's see what we got. Jed Jerko store. We know that one.

Here's a Will Ferrell reference. I was like, Gavileo! Yeah, that's very good. Heaney, Minter, Minor, Mo. Sure. Now, if you make Moe, Mariano Rivera, you've got four RP eligible. Oh, no, not Heaney. Never mind.

Heaney, Miner, Minor, sorry. Heaney, screwed me up. All right, I don't know if you're going to get this one. I shot LeClerc. I shot LeClerc. Uh-huh. That is my cousin Vinny. I shot the clerk.

Oh, okay. Here's a, we get a lot of these, a one-hour photo reference. Cy the Roto guy. Sure. Cool hand, Lucroy. We may have had that before, but that's very good. That's three baseball players. Cool, hand, Lucroy.

Jed Blash and Beyonder. I don't know. Let's see. Meta World Reese? Sure. Very good. Fulte Towers. Yeah. That's a Fortnite reference? No. I think it's a British television program.

I thought he was saying that Chris's analysis was Faulty. What's the Towers thing in Fortnite? Twisted Tilted Towers. Tilted Towers. Faulty Towers is a British television show starring John Cleese. Let's have fun with fan graphs, Heath. Was there a particular category that you wanted to look at? Oh, I was just going to use that as a segue way to talk about how the Rockies are still bad on the road. Oh, I see. We can do whatever segment.

You pick the segment, and I will find the names of players you don't know. Well, let's look at Wobah. We never really look at Wobo, weighted on base average. And it's got to be Woba, not Waba, right? It's Wobah for sure. Waba would be, you would sound silly if you were saying Waba instead of Wobah. You know, Woba might be a bust because everybody on the top of the Woba list is just awesome, and we know they're awesome. Ehuhanio Suarez and Matt Carpenter are six and seven on the list.

Carpenter is actually six. Suarez is seven. Christian Yelich is nine on the top 10 at Wobba. It's Betts, Trout, Martinez, Ramirez, Aeronado, Carpenter, Suarez, Judge Yelich, Lindor. So seeing Carpenter, Suarez, and Yelich in a top 10 list with those amazing players, does that mean anything to you? Suarez is really good, and he has been good for more than a year now. It's going to be really interesting to see where we draft him next year. Yeah, Ahio Hano, Suarez, is he a top 50 player?

He probably should be. I don't know if he will buy in. I don't know if anybody has him ranked as a top 50 player right now, but I'll probably. should be. That's a Eugenio Swaros. Okay, let's take a look at the Babi. Actually, Scott does have him with 41. Sorry.

Who is leading qualified hitters in Babbib? Batting average on balls and play. Christian Yelich. Chris. Yeah, all right, you ruined it. Yeah, 500 Babbib in the month of July. It's 397 right now. And he's a high Babbitt hitter. He's having a great year.

Yeah. Yeah. If there was enough season left, I would say sell high. Yeah, because what, I mean, isn't he, so right now, Christian Yewitch is a top seven outfielder. He's batting 327 with 17 home runs and 14 steals. I mean, isn't he just at least like a top 15 outfielder, Yelich? Sure. Yeah, it's not that he's bad.

It's just that he's probably playing over his head. He's probably more like a 290 hitter. Okay. Malik Smith is number two, Aaron Judge 3. J.D. Martinez, 4. Freddie Freeman, 5, Altuve 6, Witt-Mariefield, 7. Scooter Jeanette 8 on Babbip, Joey Wendell, Matt Duffy. They both have a 357 Babbip. And Scooter Jeanette was like a 380, 390 Babbub guy in the first half of the season,

so I think he's already started to regress. And Derek Dietrich's actually 11th with 354, and that worries me a little bit. because he doesn't walk, really. I own Dietrich in a deeper league, and I feel like I get lucky every time he does something good. I don't know. How do you guys feel about Derek Dietrich? If you play in a league with hit by pitch as a category,

he's a stud. Give me another category you'd like to look up. Who do they play for? Oh, no, I don't want to play that game. Come on. Let's do one more actual fantasy content. We should do a pitcher game, then. Let's do swinging strike rate over the last 30 days.

Do you have that pulled up? I can pull it up right now. All right. In the meantime, I'm going to tell you that Oduble Herrera leads baseball in soft contact rate. He does every year. 29.1% followed by Billy Hamilton, Eduardo Nunez, Michael Franco, and Jonathan's Scope. Okay. Are you ready?

Yes. I am ready for this jelly. It's a fascinating list. Carlos Carrasco. What is this again? swinging strike rate over the last 30 days. Carlos Carrasco. Who's awesome?

17.4%. Justin Verlander, obviously. Patrick Corbyn, makes sense. Derek Holland. Ooh. Zach Godley. Garrett Cole, Max Scherzer, Trevor Cahill, Masahiro Tanaka,

and leading, or second on the Indians, I guess. Mike Clevenger. Hey. Ten. He's really good, too. I tried to trade for Clevenger. It was rejected.

but I do think he has a big finish. That schedule, amazing. Some more interesting ones. John Gray's 11th. Wait a second. There's two very interesting ones in the top ten. There's Derek Holland and Trevor Cahill. We should talk about them.

The last 30 days, they're among the best in swinging strike rate. Holland and Cahill. And Cahill actually, it's not that surprising. The Royals broke him last year. But before the trade to the Royals, he was... really, really good. I don't know what exactly happened once he got to Kansas City, maybe too much barbecue.

But he was awesome last year with the, was it with the Padres or the Athletics last year? He was with the Padres. With the Padres, he was really good. A lot of swinging strights, a lot of ground balls. And he's doing the same thing this year. So I think he's interesting. Yeah, I think he's pretty good.

Probably underowned. Okay, that is. Trevor Cahill coming off a really good start. And Holland, I'm actually starting in a one-star week against Pittsburgh this weekend. That one's harder to make sense of. I know. It's desperation. Well, no, I'm not criticizing your decision to start him.

I'm saying the fact that he's getting a lot of swinging strikes doesn't really make sense. He's still a heavy fastball guy, 65%. He's, I don't know. I don't understand what Derek Holland's doing. That is my analysis of Derek Holland. All right, Heath, you want to play your game? What's your game, Adam? It is.

Name who they play for. Okay, name that team. All of these players have hit at least two home runs this year. David Boat, BOT. Oh, David Boaty is on the Cubs. Yeah. David Boaty is on the Cubs. I am amazing.

I think that's the first one you've gotten right all year. I think you're right. You saw how fast he was. It was a boat race. race. Jose, I'm going to butcher this last name. Bracino, B-R-I-C-E-N-O. He's on the Tigers.

He is a Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim. Francisco Arcia. Oh, he's on the Angels. He's the catcher. He is two out of three. Come on, man. He set like a major league record for O-Starbee in the first two games. You are going to set a new record with this.

performance. Dwight Smith. That's a fake name. He is on the... That's an MLB, the show, creative player. He's on the Mets. He's on the Mets. He is on the Blue Jays. And I gave you that one because I actually gave you

Dwight Smith earlier in the year. What team he played for. We got two names left. We will go with... Oh, which one, which one, which one? Carlos Eswage. Oh, the way you used to go, a suage.

A-S-U-A-J-E. Oh, come on. He doesn't play the San Francisco Giants. No, no, he's in the American League. He's on the White Sox. Chris was very close. He had the right division, but he is on the Padres. Oh, yeah, that's right.

And then we'll finish, just try to make it a little bit easier with a guy that's actually hit three home runs this year. Well, then, no, we got this. Yeah. Jose Rondone. Jose Rondone? Yes. Is he on the Tigers? They're all on the Tigers.

That's my default. Where's Jose Rondone? He is on the White Sox. Damn it. Hey, don't say, damn it. That was your best performance of the year, inspiring effort. All right, well, I'm going to take a suggestion from the listeners here. We've got a new great.

Trade the trade song. Here it is. Chris Towers' favorite. I knew I shouldn't have come into the podcast today. I don't get that. That's a little magic S-Bus reference for you. Oh, Magic S-Bus. That's what the millennials call it.

That's what the kids call it. Zach in California is giving away three players and getting three players. It's a blockbuster trade. He gives away Mookie Betts, Wilson Contreras, and Robbie Ray. Betz, Contreras, and Ray, gone. In return, Jacob de Grom, Zach Granky, and Michael Brantley. Betz, Contreras, and Ray for DeGrom, Granky, and Brantley. Unless you really need to make up a lot of time in pitching, I don't think I like it.

I think it's a C-minus. I think I'll give it a B-minus. Yeah? You give him away the best player, but you might get the next three. I'm going to assume that his hitting is. is better than his pitching. I can't imagine someone making that trade if it wasn't the case.

Next up from Matt, dear Paul, Rogers, Sorkin, and Hank. Aaron's? Aaron's. Aaron, yeah. Who's Aaron Hank? I don't know that we were right about that. What?

Are you, you're serious right now? Oh, Hank Aaron. Oh, my God. I blame my baby. No sleep. That's incredible. All right, give up. Another blockbuster.

Give up. Jacob de Grom. Freddie Freeman and Zach Granky. DeGrom, Freeman, and Granky. Get Sale, Scherzer, and Muncie. So the pitching element is DeGrom and Granky for sale and Scherzer. That's awesome. The hitting element, though, is you drop from Freeman to Muncie.

I think that's like a D. What? C-minus. I think the drop from Freeman to Muncie could be like, you might be getting a not useful player. Well, and Chris Sale is not currently... And Chris Sale's coming back from a shoulder injury. He could be just Chris Sale.

But we've seen a velocity spike of multiple miles per hour this year, and all of a sudden he's on the DL. Maybe it's nothing, but... Yeah, that's too much. All right. Okay. Next up from another guy named Zach. Ten team six by six categories. Give up.

A. E. E. E. E. Haneo Suarez. David Price and Fernando Rodney. Suarez, Price, and Rodney. Get Trey Turner and Travis Shaw. I like this trade. It's a solid B. I think it's like a C-plus. B minus.

I love it. All right, from Cody. Give Severino, get Judge. No, I can't do it. I don't think you can trade for Judge right now. We don't know his timetable. He's not making a ton of progress. Man, he's coming back from a wrist injury.

Yeah. And this is a guy who relies, I mean, he's a great. an awesome hitter, but if he's just a good power hitter, that's a huge drop. From Braden, 14-te-to-head categories league. Give up Edwin Diaz. He loses saves every week. He's punting Stapes. Give up Edwin Diaz for Max Muncie.

Oh, no. F. Yeah, I don't know if I'd call it an F. I haven't decided that Max Muncie just is terrible again. But I think you can aim higher. All right. So I think that's the big takeaway from today's show. A lot of Lance Lynn talk, but also we're not, uh, we're worried about Max Bunsey.

It's more than just a slump. All right, let's look at today's matchups on this Tuesday. By the way, Miss Frizzle on Magic School Bus was voiced by Lily Tomlin. That is incredible. I had no idea. The goddess, Lily Tomlin. I feel like she kind of looks like Lily Tomlin, too. And Kate McKinnon is on the new series.

That's incredible. I love Kate McKinnon. What voice casting. Okay, the Braves of the Nationals. Max Freed at Jeffrey Rodriguez. I think Freed's okay. Definitely not a must start. Kiko at Bumgarner will start them both.

Nukum at Scherzer. Double-headed today. Start him. Yep. Okay, Red Sox of Blue Jays. Pomerans at Stroman. I wouldn't start either. No.

Cob at Glass now. No. No, I'm okay starting Glass. now against the Orioles. I don't know that he, like, I don't even know that the plan is for him to pitch long enough to get a win. Maybe not. Sal Romano at Jason Vargas. No.

No. Miles Michaelis and Pablo Lopez. Start Michaelis. Yep. At Alberto Mejia and Carlos Carrasco. Start Carrasco. Felix Hernandez at Bartolo Colone. Don't start either.

Don't start either. Clayton Richard at CJ at Chase Anderson. Clayton Richard at Chase Anderson. Chase Anderson. It's fine. Yeah. Sabathia at Rinaldo Lopez. No.

Maybe Sabathia. Yeah, Sabathia. Mike Montgomery of Brad Keller. No. Montgomery. Tyone at Chad Bettis. Oh, is that at Corsefield. I'm starting Tyone at two start week, but I wouldn't start him for just one.

Nick Povetta at Zankrenki. You start both. Start of both. Rich Hill at Shaw Mania. Start both. Jacob Turner at Andrew Heaney. Andrew Heaney. Okay.

Well, I'm a weird show. Weird show today. Hope you all enjoyed it. What the hell was he doing? What the hell's wrong with him? I got the line wrong. That's it for today.

Thanks, everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Baseball today.