Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/08 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: 28 Days Later

Episode Date: August 8, 2017

A look at the best at each position over the last 28 days (36:45), but first we discuss Freddie Freeman vs. Kris Bryant (3:30), Dylan Bundy's awesome start (11:10), the returns of two versatile OFs (16:30) and more from Monday ... Scott tells us if some slumping players can be counted on going forward (20:24). Carlos Gonazlez? Eric Thames? Scooter Gennett? ... A fun round of Team Name Tuesday (31:53) and a look at today's matchups (51:51) ... 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

Tuesday, everybody. Welcome to fantasy baseball today. A very light day yesterday. We're going to scrape for some storyline, Scott. The bottom of the barrel. Trevor Williams, we're talking about today. I mean, not a very busy day in baseball. I think this has the potential to be a fun show. Good. When we're not bogged down in the day-to-day minutia, we can really spread our wings and fly. I agree. I agree. And we'll have plenty of time for emails.

We'll empty out the inbox a little bit at fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. And you might notice, you know, usually Tuesday is an Adam Scott and Chris day. But I got a text from Chris this morning. He said he wasn't going to be able to make the podcast. And this has to be Machado related, right? He doesn't want to face the music. Of course. The Manny Machado music.

The Grand Slam of Maticato music. Right, right. And that makes Machado now, oh, what is it? His last 27 games, 376 with five home runs. Like, exactly the kind of overcompensation we were hoping for. Now, his retort would be, well, if you knew this was going to happen, why didn't you trade for him at the beginning no matter the cost? Right, because we're not idiots. That's why we don't trade no matter the cost.

We didn't know it was going to happen. We just had a feeling it might happen. And look, it's happening. I don't know. I don't overpay based on hunches and feelings. Right. But I would have liked to have paid face value for Machado a month ago. Yeah, look, I paid, I thought face value for Machado. I actually lost the trade.

And when I made the trade, everybody pretty much on Twitter thought I won. I brought it up on the podcast and we thought I won. And if I remember it correctly, it's a head-to-head categories league. And obviously I needed a shortstop. I gave up Anthony Rizzo and Travis Shaw and Alex Kopp. and Alex Cobb Because I thought I have no use for Cobb

This was just before he went on his tear So I gave up Rizzo Shaw and Cobb It's a big haul And I got back Mani Machado And Matt Carpenter Yesterday was a good day for me But I've lost that trade so far But I think that was a fair trade

And I wasn't You know I thought it was a bylaw I thought it was a good sell high on Shaw To get Carpenter And Rizzo Machado I thought was basically the same I thought Cobb was a throw in, but you never know how these things go.

Hopefully, hopefully I'll still have time to make up some ground in that trade. I mean, I think Rizzo for Machado at the time was pretty gutsy. They were basically equivalent coming into the season, but just the way their seasons had gone to that point, you weren't really getting Machado at a discount. It still may work out fine. Based on the way Machado has performed recently, it looks like it will. Yeah.

It is the shortstop thing. Sure. Yeah. All right. So much more than Machado today, we are going to look at the last 28 days of data. Who is thriving in the last 28 days in different formats? And what does it mean should you pick up some of these players? And we'll start with this email.

Email of the day number one is from Joel, who says, after all the Manny Machado talk, is this year or last year an accurate representation of Chris Bryant's fantasy stats? Yeah, we haven't really talked about him. and he's not struggling quite like Machado had struggled, but you look at Chris Bryan, he's the number six third baseman in points leagues, number 10 in Roto. And it has been a disappointing year for the MVP.

So do you think this year, 277, 20 home runs in like 108 games or something, or six games, or last year where he was, you know, amazing, he had 39 home runs? I think it's maybe easy to, overstate the difference between this year and last year because it's the the environment's become even more offensive friendly and it's there's been other competition there's been more competition there at the top of third base rankings not that chris bryant was at the tip top last year either i think it's just hard to expect a guy who has an mvp caliber season to follow it up but i mean we're

talking about a drop from a 939 OPS to a 902 OPS. I still think Bryant, he probably should have been an All-Star. He's having a good year, not as good as last year, but no reason to think that he's anything less than a stud or, you know, maybe he won't quite be a first rounder next year, but early second round at the latest. Yeah, it's just, it's a little disappointing, especially with him being 10th in Categories leagues at third base. And a lot of his 902 OPS is his on-base percentage, which it's almost the same as it was last year, but the batting average is lower. So basically what I'm saying is the walk rate is up.

His plate discipline has been a lot better this year, but his power has just been a little bit lower. He's on pace for 30 home runs. And I think that's pretty... Everything's just a little bit lower. But that's nine fewer home runs, and that's not over 162 games. That's over the 155 that Bryant played last year.

He had 39 home runs. This year he'd be on pace for 30 and 155 games. I think that's a pretty big difference, especially because, like, I really think. thought Chris Bryant was going to be one of the truly elite hitters. I was banking on that. I'd be having a better fantasy season if you were. Sure. I mean, when you're talking about the difference between 30 and 40 home runs, basically, I just kind of see that as within the margin for error for a power hitter from one season to the next. I mean, nine home runs, it's a bigger difference. I feel like when it's

15 versus 6, you know? Like, I mean, Bryant's going to end up with a lot of home runs this year. Is it going to be as many as last year? No. I don't think it really changes his value going into next year. I think he's going to be in the MVP conversation for a long time, but he's not going to win it every year. But he's got to be a first round pick, right? I don't know.

I mean, is Joey Votto a first round pick? Is Freddie Freeman a first round pick? Is Rizzo still a first round pick? Charlie Blackman There's just And then of course you have the obvious ones Harper Trout Atouet

Aronado I mean I just I could see Chris Bryant getting pushed out just because there are you know maybe 16 hitters

that you could make a case to go in the first round and that's before you even get into Kirshan Scher who I think will have a very good case as well So you do have Freddie Freeman

ranked ahead of of Chris Bryant at third base Yes I do That's pretty gutsy. I mean, I guess it's really not, but it's interesting. It's interesting. This was actually a conversation Chris Towers and I were having yesterday in the office. The top hitters, I forget what metric he was using exactly.

I think it was runs created per 27 outs plus or something. I don't know. Some kind of rate stat that measures all around production. And over the last calendar year, the last 3.00. 165 days. Trout was number one, of course. Freeman was number two, and those two were so far ahead of everyone else. They were a tier of their own.

Really? That far ahead of Joey Vado, huh? Yeah. Yeah, I think Joey Votto was third, but there was some distance there. Okay, so there's your Chris Bryant discussion. On this Tuesday morning, let's go to our next topic. Going back to something we talked about yesterday. Another email email of the day number two is from John. Easy solution with multiple options to your argument about tanking or quitting early.

Simply make a punishment for finishing poorly. The worst you finish, the worse the punishment. You can do embarrassing things to the losers like making them do karaoke in a two-two or make them host the draft next year. Or impact their draft order or keepers for next year or make it about money. Have payouts for every finishing spot in the regular season. last place gets $0.00, next to last gets $20, et cetera. If you have no punishment, then everyone will be like Adam and Heath and simply quit once they are eliminated from the playoffs, which is not fair, John. I am not just quitting. I'm letting Scott run the team.

Well, you seem to make the case that it was acceptable. No, it's never acceptable to field an incomplete lineup with injured players. That is never acceptable. If you don't want to be so active on the waiver wire and stuff like that, then to me that is acceptable. What I don't understand, and I mean, this is, you know, if you want to do some kind of fun punishment, that's fine. Those aren't always practical. Guys don't live in the same area, whatever. But in my dynasty league, I don't understand why there's come to be this idea that the next year's draft order has to be a reverse order of the standings. I have a championship bracket. It's a 2014 league. Obviously, most leagues that aren't that big, but you can, adjust it based on the size of the league. I have a championship bracket that's eight teams, top eight teams are competing for the championship. And then the other 16 teams are in the consolation bracket. And next year's draft order is determined by finish in the consolation

bracket. So the winner of the consolation bracket gets the first pick, runner up gets second pick, and so on. So that gives incentive to continue competing. It's not so much incentive that people, you know, in a dynasty format, aren't still going to try and make trades positioning themselves for next year. That's fine. I mean, that's what you want people to do in a dynasty league. But there is that added incentive to keep winning on top of it. You can't just completely tank or you're going to end up with a worst draft pick.

I think the best thing, obviously that's relevant for keepers in dynasty leagues. If you're not in one of those leagues, the best thing that I've been a part of is a league that did have financial stake. all the way through the end of the season. So there was a losers bracket. It was a 16-team league, I think, and the top eight teams made the playoffs, and the bottom eight teams made the losers' bracket playoffs.

And whoever won that won something. So, you know, you're still giving people incentive to improve their team throughout the year. I think usually a league like that, that was the highest stake. I mean, it wasn't like super high stakes, but it was the highest I'd ever played in in fantasy, and that's why I'm not playing it anymore.

But, yeah, if you're going to set up financial, incentives for almost everyone. Obviously, there needs to be more money in the pot. So that is a bit of a drawback. But you don't mind, that's actually a really good way to do it. You have a playoffs for everyone. That's kind of cool. And the only thing that gets tricky is do you allow those teams in the losers' bracket to make transactions during the playoffs? I don't know. I'll let you commissioners figure that out. Scott White, let's talk about Monday standouts. Machado with the home run, the Grand Slam. The power's coming back lately. He's got three home runs in his last four games. But his pitch, his pitch,

Pitcher last night, Dylan Bundy, seven innings, two runs on five hits, no walks, and 10 strikeouts. One of the best starts we've seen in a long time from Dylan Bundy. But three of his last four have actually been really good. How much faith do you have in a guy who had a 593 ERA in June and an 841 ERA in July doing a little bit better lately? How much faith do you have in Dylan Bundy? I don't have a ton of faith, but this start takes me, this starts specifically because the strikeouts were so high. And because the swinging strikes were so high, it was the second highest swinging strike effort of the season

after his very first start was number one. And that was a great start. Through his slider, more comparable to the way he was throwing in in April when he looked like a big-time breakout than we've seen recently. Sliders, of course, is best pitch. So there was a lot to like about this start from Bundy. And it was much needed the way his value was sliding.

I mean, I was to the point with him where, I wasn't even sure I cared to own him in mixed leagues. But now you just look at the season-long numbers. I mean, 1-19 whip. 415 ERA isn't so terrible in today's environment. I'd like to see him continue to throw this slider the way he did and hopefully continue to get swings and misses on it. But I feel like there's the potential for him to still be an impact pitcher and fantasy,

even if I'm not at a place where I'm trusting him every time out. Yeah, I mean, this season-long numbers are a little deceiving for Bundy because we had been calling him a sell-high candidate and couldn't figure out how he was doing it earlier in the year. And then he'd been pretty terrible for the last two months. I will say this, though, the Angels don't strike out much. This was really impressive. Ten strikeouts and seven innings against the team that has the sixth fewest Ks in baseball. And this weekend, he's going to face the A's.

They're bad. And they have the third-most strikeouts in baseball. So this could be a huge week for Dylan Bundy. And then we'll see what happens after that. Like you said, it's hard to really trust him. But yeah, good start yesterday. Jake Arrieta, in his last seven starts, Jake Arrieta has a 218 ERA.

Still not a lot of strikeouts, not a lot of swinging strikes. He's at 8% swinging strikeout rate in that seven-start stretch with a 218 ERA. That's not good. 202 bad, but, yeah. I don't know what to make him. He's pitching well. Every time out, he's pitching well. he's pitching well with Arenda, but it's kind of like Dylan Bundy.

The underlying stats are a little concerning. Yeah, and what's weird is early in the year when he was struggling with ERA, part of the reason we were holding on, even though the velocity was down, was that he was still getting well more than a strikeout per inning, and he's kind of flipped the script there in terms of run prevention and missing bats. I think he's just, I don't know, I think he's kind of reinventing himself, to survive with the reduced stuff. And with the supporting cast he has,

I mean, he's still going to end up being a plus fantasy pitcher, a lot of run support, a lot of wind potential. But I'm pretty much past the point where I think of Jake Garrietta as an ace. It's been more than a year since we've seen him pitch like an ace. Obviously, his second half last year was not ace caliber. So I'm kind of past that point with him. You know, another thing that just sort of occurred to me. I'm going to look it up now just to make sure.

But I'm pretty sure this seven-starred stretch has coincided with having a new catcher, releasing Miguel Montero and having Wilson Contreras behind the plate. Yeah, I do seem to remember reading something about that. Yeah, but you know what? I'm looking now at his last three starts. Contreras caught him yesterday. It was a villa before that, and it was Caratini before that. But it's not Miguel Montero.

He said two-st-st-st-old. And Miguel Montero got released for something he said about Jake Areeta. Right, right. That was the game where they stole all the bases off Areeta. Montero goes off, and then he gets cut. And Arieta, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Yes, that has been the turning point in the season. Is it a coincidence?

I'm not sure. But he's had keratini twice. He's had a Vila once. He's had four starts with Contreras behind the dish since that point. All right. Interesting. You know what else is interesting? Our fantasy baseball app.

No, not our fantasy baseball app. Our CBS Sports app. It's a really awesome app, and we just launched a new version of it. That's great for fantasy owners. It's the only sports app with box scores that show stats like OPS, OBP, Whip, Fantasy Points, right there in the app.

Just swipe right on the box score. Swipe right. Download the CBS Sports app at CBS. Sports.com slash baseball. CBSports.com slash baseball. It's a cool app. I use it every single morning. I lie in bed, read the box scores.

Read the recaps. Take a look. And make my notes, and I get funny autocorrects like Dexterity Fowler, who is back. News and Notes. Actually, were there any other standouts who wanted to talk about, Scott, from yesterday? Maybe. But I'm not going to be able to pull them out this moment. You can go ahead and move on to News & Notes.

I'll bring somebody up if I spot them here. All right. Two outfielders returning for your fantasy teams. They're somewhat versatile. They can swipe a bag every now and then. One of them swipes a bag a lot more than that. Cameron Mabin is 40% owned. Dexter Fowler is 63% owned.

Cameron Mabin, in his last 19 games before going on the DL, was dreadful. He batted 127 with six walks of 22 strikeouts. That was a 19-game stretch before going on the DL with a wrist injury. Before that, though, he had a 24-game stretch with an 1156 OPS, 13 steals, or 30 runs in 24 games. Maven was one of the best hitters in baseball, basically, for 24 games. It was out of character. I'm going to guess true Cameron Mabin is somewhere in between.

Yeah, probably. Somewhere in between those two extremes. I do think true Cameron Mabin should be a help in batting average, not the current 238 mark he's boasting now. So I would say better times are ahead for him. But obviously the biggest reason, the main incentive to own him, the reason why I think he needs to be owned in all rotisserie leagues, maybe not three outfielder leagues, but standard rotisserie with five outfield spots is stolen bases.

The fact that he is, even with the time he has missed, he is one of just a handful of players with 25 or more. Internet's not working so great, so I can't tell you exactly how many are up there. But it's only like four or five or 25 more steals, and there are hardly any with even 20. Yeah, he has 25 steals and 30 attempts, and he missed a big chunk of time. So Cameron Maven 40 percent own. Would you rather own Maven or Fowler? I would rather own... I mean, Roto, I'd rather own Maven.

Fowler probably gets the nod and head-to-head with all the walks. He's on a nice little walk streak, actually, Fowler is. Well, he just came back yesterday. But before that. Well, dating back to before them. Right, right. Still count. Yeah, he still walks.

He batted sixth yesterday, and he tripled that Kansas City. And Fowler, again, 63% owned him. What was so interesting is they sent Stephen Piscotti down. Yeah. Just a bust for Piscotti. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, what else we got? So in this little mess here, I, you know, could you see for NL-only owners Jose Martinez? in the Cardinals outfield playing more than Randall Gritchick, who's just been awful lately has five hits in his last 11 games. Martinez actually has, let's say, 864 OPS. He's having a nice year and limited time. He's 3%-0.

This is really for NL only, or NL only, but Jose Martinez, are you interested? Yeah, in those deeper leagues. He might be kind of the NL version of Jorge Bonifacio, who was starting to get some attention as a power hitter for the Royals before they went out and acquired Milky Cabrera, ending his playing time. I think

Martinez is similar to that. So I don't know that it'll be every day. I don't think they're just going to banish Gritchick, but it'll be more often than it has been. Mark Trumbo could return any day now from his oblique strain. Miguel Sinoe sat with a sore hand, and MRI showed no damage, but he's quite sore, Miguel Sino.

Another save for Sean Doolittle, and Matt Belial got another save. His second in as many days. is 8% owned. Belial Love it. Today is team named Tuesday. We have a note about Belial Love it. And actually, Lyle love it,

just so you're not confused. And the Padreys called up Carter Caps, but he is not going to close for them. So let's play a game, Scott. I'm going to give you a struggling hitter. You tell me what's more likely. More likely. And remember, Scott's not saying that the outcome is going to happen.

He's just saying it's more likely. A big finish? Or he's finished? I understand? Okay. Got it? I understand. Big finish or he's finished?

Carlos Gonzalez, what's more likely? A big finish or he's finished? He's finished. Yeah, he's not doing anything. Trevor Story, what's more likely? A big finish or he's finished? I have a little more hope for a big finish for Trevor's story, but if you're asking me to pick one or the other,

I'm going to say he's finished. I would not feel totally comfortable if he was my only shortstop. option. Yep. I agree. He's my only shortstop option and I don't feel comfortable in the podcast points league. So, so far a couple of Rockies, more likely to be finished. Remember, this is not mean you need to drop these guys everywhere. We're just having a little bit of fun right now. I don't take it too literally. Jackie Bradley Jr. Ew. 198 with one home run. Four walks, 32 strikeouts for Jackie Bradley Jr. since the All-Star break. He's been terrible. What's more likely a big finish or Jackie Bradley Jr.

is finished. He's kind of been a roller coaster ride all year. He had a pretty nice stretch before that, so I will predict a big finish for Jackie Bradley. Hooray. How about Eric Thames? 76 games since May 1st. He's batting 213 with 14 home runs in 76 games.

I mean, it's been everything but April. Yep, really has been. I still like a lot of the underlying numbers, but it's just been so long, I've kind of lost hope, at least from the perspective of he has to be rostered in a mixed league. I'll say he's finished. Eric Thames, more likely that he's finished than to have a big finish. Domingo Santana has been struggling.

218 batting average with three home runs in 22 games since the All-Star break. What's more likely for an 85% owned Domingo Santana, a big finish, or he's finished? Big finish. I love the quality of the contact he makes. This is just a slump. All right. How about Scooter Jeanette? Last 13 games batting 184.

And the previous 36 games, not including the Four-Homer game, after the Four-Homer game. He batted 323 with 11 home runs. Like, he was incredible, even after the Four-Homer game for 36 games. But Scooter Jeanette, what's more likely? Big finish, or he's finished? Yeah, I really don't know what to make a Scooter Jeanette. But this cold streak coincides with me finally buying into him in every league where he was still available. I made a play for Scooter Jeanette.

I'm starting him, I think, in the podcast league, the 12-toin points league this week. So I'm not totally ready to write him off. But considering I didn't really understand the power breakthrough in the first place, I'm leaning he's finished here. How about Mark Trumbo? Trumbo was showing some signs. June 30th through July 23rd, Trumbo hit 237 with seven home runs. I mean, the average was bad, but seven homers in 20 games. Then he had one hit in five games before going on the DL.

He's coming back any day. What's more likely for Trumbo? A big finish or he's finished? I'm going to say a big finish for Trumbo. I had hope for that before he went on the DL, so I'll give him a chance afterward, too. So to conclude, Scott has the most faith in Jackie Bradley, Jr., Domingo Santana, and Mark Chumbo, less faith in Carlos Gonzalez, Trevor's story, Eric Thames, and Scooter Jeanette. See?

That's right. See. All right, it's time for you to make a couple of rankings adjustments, Scott White. Uh-oh. Plan to do that today, actually. So you're catching me at the worst possible time. I'm going to help you out. No problem.

Okay. You're going to have to move W-hit Mary. and Chris Taylor over Ian Kinsler. I don't know if I want to do that. If we were playing Big Finish or he's finished with Ian Kinsler, I would take Big Finish. Just because of the good plate discipline, he's doing nothing else.

I know. I know, but he's Ian Kinsler. And the reason, you could have told me at the beginning of the year. In fact, I think I had Ian Kinsler in my bus column at the start of the year. You're a wise man. I guess yay for me. Yeah, good for you.

It was because the strikeout rate jumped last year, significantly. The swinging strike rate. It looked like he was having trouble catching up. If you see the swinging strike rate spike for a player who normally has a low one, I take that as an indicator of age, Kinsler and his mid-30s, it made sense.

But for him to correct it so dramatically this year, look I think the 28 home runs he hit last year was unsustainable even if this even apart from the strikeout rate so we couldn't have expected him to do that again but he's so far behind pace now that I think I think he's going to have that kind of surge we were hoping for for manny machado okay so I guess here's my counter to the to your kinsler love so last year I'm kind of throwing out, 28 home runs, 288 batting average.

He just had this awesome year out of nowhere. The four years before that, you know, he was good for fantasy with Detroit especially because he played a lot of games. He scored 100 runs and 94 runs in 2014 and 2015. He stole some bases. He drove in enough runs. But he slugged less than 4.30 all four years. And I don't, I feel like in this environment, he just wouldn't be all that valuable.

He'd be more or less a jag, you know, because he doesn't stand out in any category. This year is just his plate discipline. You know what I'm trying to say? Like, if you take away the odd power surge from Kinsler in 2016, I just don't, I don't think he measures up anymore. And he's old, and the tigers are not good. That's the other thing. So, well, he's at least, yeah, I mean, the home run production has been similar, I guess. The ISO for Kinsler has been similar to the three years prior to last year.

So I get what you're saying. And again, I wasn't counting on him repeating last year's Homer total anyway. But he's 30 points behind and batting average. And you've got to figure doubles are going to come with that. Everything's going to come with that. RBI, some runs scored. So I do anticipate some batting average correction for him And I think it'll be enough to keep him ahead of Taylor

And Whitmeryfield, who I think are both fine usable options in mixed leagues But particularly Taylor, I think there's going to be some regression coming for them So, you know, if we're using the rankings We're being forward thinking with the rankings Rest of season, that's what they're meant to represent A guy who I expect a decline versus a guy who I expect to make up ground to batting average.

Yeah, I really would rather have Kinsler than Taylor. I'm very... I'll look at a little more closely. I'm doing a quick exercise here. So if... Ian Kinsler... Points would be his better format right now. 2015...

Always. 2.94 fantasy points per game. 2015. I gave him his 2015 points per game, and he's missed some time this year. He's only played 93 games. So I gave him 2.9 4 times 106 games. Let's just say he played a full season at his 2015 rates, which was like an okay year, like a 423 slugging percentage.

He would score 312 fantasy points. W. Hit Maryfield has 310.5 fantasy points. Chris Taylor has 307 fantasy points. But how many games have they played? They haven't played full seasons, have they? At least not full seasons of like full-time at bats. No. Yeah, Merrifield's only 94 games.

Chris Taylor's only 93 games. So actually, I guess I didn't even have to do the per game thing because they've played it right around the same amount of games. So the point is they'd be close, but you're saying if we're just talking about starts versus total games, you know, maybe Taylor and Merrifield move a little ahead of, what, 2015, Kinsler? Yeah, 2015 Kinsler would not be as good as Taylor and Maryfield have been so far. Mm-hmm.

That's, okay. But I do expect Taylor to get worse, and again, I'll look at Maryfield because I'm not totally 100% sure I want Kinsler ahead of him. All righty. Rankings adjustment number two, I think let's move Travis Shaw ahead of Miguel Cabrera. How do you feel about that? Shaw's been slumping, but Cabrera's... Cabrera is 38th in points and 43rd in Roto at first base. It is unbelievable.

I've been tempted to move Cabrera down for a long time. It's just when the line drive rate, when the hard contact rate are, you know, among the best in baseball, and he's Miguel Cabrera, for goodness sakes. You just feel like good things are going to start to happen, but... They consistently haven't been happening. And obviously there's no, doesn't seem to be any real downside to Shaw. So I might be on the verge of doing that. I might be.

It's just, it's hard to know. Because once you, once you make that leap for Shaw, how far do you go at first base? Because then, you know, there's Jose Bray, who not too far behind. There's, um, like, uh, Justin Smoke. even Logan Morrison I mean there there have come to be so many first baseman

who we don't even question the startability of that if you drop Miguel Cabrera behind one of them Miguel Cabrera who hasn't really performed like a starting caliber first baseman this year like how far do you go suddenly he's going to wind up my outside my top 20 at first base

and it's just hard to know where to slot him in that group Shaw is the number six first baseman in points in Roto And, I mean, you could make an argument for Cabrera like we've made for Machado. He's hitting the ball really hard, and he's going to come around eventually. And honestly, I'm looking at it now. You can make the same argument for Kinsler. He is the highest hard contact rate of his career.

Higher than even last year, which at the time was the hardest hard contact rate of his career, Ian Kinsler. Just a home run-to-fly ball ratios way down. The pop-ups are way up for Ian Kinsler as well. Sorry to go back to Kinsler. Sorry to pick on the Tigers today. But all right, Scott. you'll make your rankings adjustments and we'll figure out what you do. We'll talk about it later in the week.

And I think now it's time for team name Tuesday. I don't know if we've had this one already, but I like it. And a lot of these are going to get me to sing. So here's one from RJ. Only the good DeYoung. It's not De Jong. I'm pretty sure it's DeYoung. Not DeYoung.

Which would ruin the team name, of course. I think you can get away with it. It's close enough. It's a funny team name. Only the good De Jong. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Isaac in Minneapolis says,

Lyle Lovett is a musical genius with dozens of great songs, and he was married to Julia Roberts, not Cindy Crawford. And I knew that. Stupid Heath put Cindy Crawford in my head, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. All right, here's a couple of singable team names. Lovin, McCutcheon, squeezing. I don't really know.

that Journey song that well, so I don't know the two that well, but love and touch and squeeze in, love in McCutche and squeezing. And all we are is Justin Padroia. That's pretty good. All we are is Dustin Padroia. From Ryan, Chris the toolman Taylor.

Chris the toolman Taylor? That works with anybody named Taylor, right? It does. Yeah. Chris Taylor's kind of toolsy, though. You're not big on the home improvement references, though. We've discovered earlier. dreadful show just dreadful this is from jack

green eggs and fam i like that it's good simple exactly simple and everybody knows what it means buy or sell from jack we'll give him some buy ourselves with his clever team name Shane green gets more saves than cody allen rest of season yeah i don't think that's a terribly bold prediction um

i don't like it it would be a coin flip to me who would get more, but I think Green's going to get a lot for a Tiger's team that isn't dreadful, even though they were sellers. And I think he's good enough to keep the job. So I think he'll get a lot of saves. And by our sell, Mike Fultenevich ends up being ranked ahead of Drew Pomerans to end this season.

Fulte over Pomerans. Like he finishes with more points than Pomeran's? I don't know how they are, how they place relatively right. I would still much rather have pomarin. Yeah, I guess I'm going to sell that. There's nothing, there's nothing wrong with what Pomeran's been doing. It's been very good. All right, Scott, it's time for 28 days later.

We're going to take a look at really 28 days earlier, but, you know, that's not the name of the movie. No. A movie that I've never seen still, and every time I do this segment, I always say I need to see 28 days later. Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, it was all right. I don't know. I've never, I think it's a Danny Boyle movie and those have never grabbed me the way they do some people. Like Slumdog Millionaire. I didn't really like Slumdog.

They're never bad, but I don't know. They're just not like, oh man, that movie was awesome. Yeah, I didn't. I thought Slumdog was overrated. Did you see Dunkirk? I know you're a big Christopher Nolan fan. I am a big Christopher Nolan fan. I hope to see Dunkirk. had an opportunity to... It's rare my wife and I get to go out of... To see a movie because, you know, finding a whole babysitter thing.

That's a challenge. But we went to see Baby Driver instead. And I kind of regretted that decision. Okay. It was another movie like, yeah, it was fine. I don't really totally get the hype. It was... I don't know.

But Dunkirk, I've heard great things about Dunkirk. I expect great things from Dunkirk because to me, Christopher Nolan can do no wrong when he's making a movie. And every single one of them has been a masterpiece. Yeah, I don't know. I think the prestige ending is so overrated. The prestige is my favorite. I know, I know.

I'm sorry, Scott. I know. I love the ending of the prestige. I watch it because of you. It's such an out-of-nowhere ending. What do you mean out-of-nowhere ending? There's so many hints dropped throughout the movie. You need to watch it again.

Because, I mean, I don't know. I don't know. That's kind of true of all of his movies, I feel like, like, the first time, like, you don't even really notice all the hints that were being dropped throughout the movie until you go back and watch it again and be like, oh, man, that's awesome. It, like, gets more awesome every time. All right. There's a movie like that. What the heck's it called? It's about, oh, man, I never remember the name of the movie.

Nando recommended it to me. It's a good one. It's about like an alternate world. All right. Well, anyway, I'll think of it. So, 28 days later, best catchers in fantasy baseball. Do you think Gary Sanchez is a top five catcher in Roto over the last 28 days? Do I think he is?

Yeah. So, no. It's been cold. You're right. He's sixth. So here are your top five catchers over the last 28 days. Wilson Contreras, no surprise. fourth overall in Rota, this is Roto, by the way.

Fourth overall hitter, or fourth overall player in Roto over the last 28 days. The next best catcher has been J.T. Reaumuto, who's the 111st best player. So 107 spots different overall player. Contreras, Rayamuto, Buster Posey, Yadier Molina, and Wellington Castillo, who I believe spent part of that on the DL. He only has 53 at bats in that stretch. and then Gary Sanchez, Hector Sanchez, Cameron Rupp, Kurt Suzuki, James McCann, Christian Vasquez, Caleb Joseph. I don't know that there's much to be taken away from this list, Scott.

The last 28 days of Roto for catchers, anything you care about? No, I'm just going to say no. Let's go to the first base. I mean, we've talked about Wilson Contreras a lot and how he's, you know, taken the leap to elite them. otherwise, I feel like catchers, you take any 28-day sample from the season, and it's just going to be pretty random what the outcome is because there's so little distinction between all but the four league catchers. All right, last 28 days, let's go to points leagues now, and we'll look at first base.

Who do you think the number one first baseman is in the last 28 days? The number one first baseman in the last 28 days Yes, a little timey, Scott I will go with I guess Paul Goldschmidt You are one fantasy point off Justin Smoke has eight home runs Goldschmidt has five in that stretch

And Smoke has 17 walks at 23 strikeouts He's been Like I think he had a bit of a cold stretch and now Smoke number one over the last 28 days. He's been great. Goldsmith, Hosmer, Rizzo, Cody Bellinger. Cody Bellinger, with a more respectable nine walks to 17 strikeouts over the last 28 days, just ahead of Joey Votto.

So pretty cool. Smoke, Goldschmidt, Hosmer, Rizzo, Bellinger. Like, it blows my mind that Smoke already has more than 30 home runs. I mean, I never thought we'd see a 30-home or season from him. seven years into his career. This was a player who was the top prospect. I liked him a lot when the Rangers first called him back up way back in the day. But he just hadn't shown that kind of power.

And he may be the biggest, he may be the number one biggest surprise hitter this year. You know, Yonder Alonzo's kind of falling off. Aaron Judge at least had the fact that he was a recent promotion, top prospect. Justin Smoke has been an absolute stud. I don't know that I would have any reservations about moving him ahead of Miguel Cabrera. I was talking about not really being sure how far down to move Cabrera. I think smoke probably needs to be ahead of him.

All right, let's go back to Roto now and look at the last 28 days at second base. Your number one second basement over the last 28 days is... Number one second basement I'm going to go with... This is probably wrong, but Jonathan's scope. Holy crap. Yes, you are correct. Oh, really? How on earth, this has he been better than a guy who's hitting 427 in the last 28 days, Jose Altuve.

But he is. Scopes batting 3.30 with seven home runs, a 608 slugging percentage. I really should have thought of Jose Latufe. Crazy. He's kind of taken over the ALMVP lead during that time. Yeah, it's crazy. I just knew Scope had a lot of home runs, so he's been on the mind, on the brain for me a lot recently. Let's see who's the best in points leagues.

Scope is one in Roto Al Tuve is two In points leagues It is scope Wow it's scope Then it's Maryfield Chris Taylor Jose Altuve

What happened How is this happening Home runs rule the day man Altuve with only three home runs in that stretch Yeah How many extra base How many doubles Eight

They all have You know Scope has six Maryfield Taylor and Altuve And then Eduardo Nunez Who's number five Also has eight

So a lot of What Altuve's done lately, I guess, has been singles. I mean, not that there hasn't been the X-Vos as well. He also only has three walks. Well, it's hard to walk when you're getting a hit every time up. But, yes, Scope, Altuve, Chris Taylor, Merrifield, and Nunez. That's your top five second baseman over the last 28 days in Roto. Anything else to say about that, I guess?

I mean, that's part of the reason I feel like I need to consider moving Beryfield up at least if not Taylor. I mean, Taylor still has the otherworldly Babbitt, but Merrifield is right around 300, and, you know, there's also the stolen bases he delivers, even more of those than the home runs. So plenty more to fall back on for Maryfield. How about Nunez?

How about Eduardo Nunez? He's been amazing since going to Boston. You know, he's not this good of a hitter, but he is on like a 40-steal pace, and he's going to score more runs. now than he did at the beginning of the year, that's for sure. Can you feel confident starting Nunez as a short stop rest of season? I do worry about a little about what happens when Dustin Padraea gets back.

Is Mitch Morland just completely done? Doesn't look like Rafael Devers is going anywhere, but if, so if they still have, if the Red Sox still have some reason to use Moreland, I think it would cut into Nunez's playing time. So I can't say comfortable rest of season, but, you know, there's a pretty good chance you'll be fine with them rest of season. Last 28 days shortstop in Points League. Who's number one? Number one is shortstop last 28 days. I'm going to say Corey Seeger is number one.

He's number six, good sir. Alex Bregman is number one with a nice little lead over Manny Machado, Eduardo Nunez, Didi Gregorius and Angleton Simmons Breggman, Machado, Nunez, Didi, and Simmons That's a pretty interesting list right there Well, well, well, Adam Well, well, I knew you were going to do this Is exactly what you did with Carlos Santana

You have forgotten what the argument was It had nothing to do with going forward It had everything to do with what had happened up to this point Uh-huh You understand that, right? No, I understand. Okay, good. I understand.

But I am surprised to see this streak from Breggen's. because he had been so bad. 338 batting average, three more walks and strikeouts, four steals. He's been good with steals this year, five home runs. This is all over the last 28 days. And actually, I'm going to read this email at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. It's about Alex Bregman. It's from Jeremy.

Dear Roger, Rob, Gary, and Adam, I don't know who those are. We can look it up. What's the 2018 outlook for Alex Breggman? Does he have a breakout year? I think so. I mean, I feel like he's going to go the Correa route. Yeah, maybe. Maybe.

You know who I think Breggman is... He may take a similar developmental path that Anthony Rendon is taking. I feel like the ceiling is going to be similar. And Rendon has emerged as like a second round caliber header this year. So I think eventually Breggman will get to that kind of status and fantasy. It's just it's hard to predict how quickly it's going to happen. But I love that at such a young age, he has good plate discipline. We know he has pop.

He showed even more in the minors than he has in the majors. And I just think it's a very safe, projectable skill set for him. So, you know, if we're talking about maybe like, maybe we get to round six or seven next year, kind of like where we're drafting him this year. I think it would be appropriate to draft him again, factoring in the upside. Yeah, all right. So the rest of the list after Bregman was Machado, Nunez, D.D. Gugorious, and Anselton Simmons. I was always the D.D. guy is, like, I think the only person who believed in him. I have watched so much D.D. Gorgias, and I feel like he's having the luckiest year I've ever seen. I do think he's good. I do. And I do think, you know, he plays in Yankee Stadium. But there have just been some wall scrapers. I want to look up as Babbip. His D.D. Gagorius is Babb.

is 318? That's not as high as I thought. No, it's not very high at all. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. He doesn't strike out much. No, but he doesn't walk either, right? No, he doesn't.

Let's see, the hard contact rate. So he needs the power, even at a weak position. His hard contact rate is so low. Yeah. And he's been good on the road, too. Like, I can understand if he was doing all this at home, but D.D.'s been good on the road. Home run to fly ball ratio?

is exactly what it was last year. You could argue, no, it's better than it was last year. It's up to 14.2%. I don't know. I feel like he's a sell-high candidate, but still solid. I mean, there's not much selling to happen. There is not anymore. Trade deadlines, pretty much passed.

I may still be open in some leagues, but not many. And, I mean, the fact that it's shortstop, I don't think you really have any reason not to just write it out with Gregorius at this point. I'd rather have Bragman. I'd rather have Andrewton Simmons. who you mentioned is in the top five still in the last 28 days. But Gregorius is right behind them. Somebody who might show up on next season's bus list if he's getting too much.

Yeah, that's what I think. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And I think we're going to take a pause from this little game, and we'll play a little bit more tomorrow. We'll do third base outfield and starting pitcher over the last 28 days. Let's talk about Monday's action, though.

Okay. Jose Porella double-donged and Javier Bollinger. Baez hit an inside-the-park home run. That probably would have been a home run in most parks, a conventional home run. And he's got an 804 OPS. Yeah, he was in San Fran. Baez has three home runs in his last five games. And Addison Russell's on the DL.

So Jose Porella, 10% owned. Javier Baez, 75% owned. Anything to say about these two fellers? Well, they're probably more alike that people are giving them credit for in terms of overall fantasy production. Porella, there was a... nice story on the Padres team site this morning about how he

worked to change his launch angle at AAA this year because they felt he had more power potential in him and it's still below average the launch angle but it's much higher than it used to be and we're seeing some pop from him Javier Bayez is thought to have

even more power potential than that it's been kind of for this landscape it's been kind of middling power and he doesn't walk a lot so he's probably a little over-owned at 75%, but they're both, I think, usable. I guess Bayez has more versatility. He's shortstop eligible, so that's reason for him to be more owned than Porella. He's maybe been the most overall player in baseball since draft day.

We were talking about him all preseason Javier Baez is being overdrafted, and nobody wants to drop this guy. And now is not necessarily the time to do it just because Russell's out. Yep, but he's just... And he's hot. I mean, 333, 6 home runs in his last 18 games. Yeah. He's not having that bad of a year. I mean, he's definitely improving, but the plate discipline's still terrible.

I think the biggest reason, like, in leagues with daily lineups, you have a guy who's eligible at that many positions and one of them's shortstop. It's just so nice to be able to plug him in wherever you need him on a Monday or Thursday where some of your other hitters are going to have days off. I've found that those multi-eligible players, they're much more valuable in those daily formats than they are in weekly formats. Yeah. Okay. And what else we got?

Let's go to the fringy starting pitchers. And tell me if any of these guys you think are really, like, must-owns. Because these are two start streamers. Ian Kennedy, Brent Souter, J.C. Ramirez, Jordan Zimmerman, and Trevor Williams. No. In fact, I think it's time to move on for me and Kennedy. He had a nice little run there, but now three of his last four starts have been just plain bad. But the reason we wanted him is because he's at the White Sox this weekend. Now, his last start against the White Sox was only a few weeks ago when he got blistered. But there were since then. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a different story when you're talking about a two-star week in a weekly lineup versus, you know, either if your weekly lineups are done, the lineups are set. So now the only reason, the only people who could potentially gain or lose that white sox start are the daily line of boners.

And I'm just not sure, even with a good matchup, it's worth the risk. Okay. So having said that, we're saying Ian Kennedy, Brent Suter, J.C. Ramirez, Jordan Zimmerman, Trevor Williams, are not must-owned players by any stretch. Would you start any of them this weekend? Kennedy at the White Sox, Souter against the Reds, J.C. Ramirez at Seattle, Jordan Zimmerman against. against Minnesota. And Zimmerman, like, he only gave up three runs and seven innings. It's a pretty good start.

And Trevor Williams actually been very good lately at Toronto. So Trevor Williams at Toronto, Jordan Zimmerman against Minnesota, J.C. Ramirez at Seattle. Brent Souter against Cincinnati. Ian Kennedy at the White Sox. Anything strike you as a, oh, yeah, Adam, yeah. Look, I'd rather not. I mean, my, I feel like Trevor Williams, last nine stars, 321 ERA, 122 whips, 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings. I feel like pretty good ground ball pitcher.

He's reached the level where you don't feel like he's going to kill you if you start him. Like, you're never that motivated to start Trevor Williams, but he seems like a high floor pitcher. So if I just really needed an extra start, I think he'd be the most likely. of this group to do the least damage. Today's matchups. Who we start and who we sit. Tigers at Pirates, Matt Boyd, Chad Cool. Hmm.

I think, I could see doing Matt Boyd. Yeah, I could see doing that. I don't love it, but I could do it. Vance Worley at A.J. Cole. Marlins at Nationals. Worley at Cole. No thanks. Sabthia at J. Hap.

Hap. I'd be willing to run with Hap after. slash adding. Andrew Caster, Chris Flexen. No. Luis Pardomo, Sal Romano. No. Gosh, pitchers are so bad.

Hermann Marquez and Corey Klober. It's in Cleveland. It's got to start both. I think Herman Marquez is, well, it's too early to say he's Carlos Carrasco, but he's done some very Carlos Carasco-type things lately, enough that he's away from Coorsfield, must start. Chris Sale at Austin Pruitt.

Definitely sale. Pruitt's an interesting gamble. He was good upon being recalled last week. It was great at AAA. Before then, really good strikeout rate, low whip. I don't think there's a lot of ability here. But against the White Sox, I might roll the dice on that. Zach Eflin and Julio Tehran.

I will go with So that's what, Philly's and Braves? Man, at SunTrust I'd be afraid to start to Ron. I'd be afraid. Dallas, Kiko and Derek Holland. Definitely Kikl, definitely not Holland. Brewers at Twins, Matt Garza at Alberto Mejia.

Thinking neither. Michael Waka, Jason Vargas. Thinking both. Kentimae Ada, Zach Godley. Thinking both. Ariel Miranda, Kendall Graveman. Thinking neither. Maybe Miranda.

Okay. It's a good matchup for Miranda because his biggest problem is home runs, Big Park in Oakland. He can sometimes rack up strikeouts, so interesting sleeper, Miranda. Jeremy Hellickson, Parker Bridwell. Neither. Jose Cantana Tie Block.

Kentana. All right, let's see if we can empty out the inbox real quick. Subject line from Scott and Chicago. I love race. Oh, by the way, going back to previous email, Dear Roger, Rob, Gary, and Adam, those are commissioners of major sports. Oh. Dear Tiny Goodbite, Justin X, and Grape. Not a clue.

Not a clue. What level of- You either know it or you don't, you know, those names? Yeah. What level of hitter do you think I could get in return for Jacob de Grom and Craig Kimbrel? For both of them together? Any hitter you want. Yeah.

Yeah. with trout and work down from there. Oh, these are the California raisins. Tiny Goodbite, Justin X, and Grape. Ah, that would make sense. I didn't, like, grape seems like a really bad name for California raisin, right? Yes. Yes.

And also, the movie that I was thinking, that I couldn't think of, was coherence. Coherence. It's cool movie. I have to check that one out. Yeah, it's a cool movie. Nando pulls out these, like, obscure sci-fi movies that end up being really good. turn me on to primer, which, you know, was kind of confusing, but it was really interesting, too. Okay.

I might have to check that out. Grade the trade from T.J. Give up Ryan Zimmerman, get Zach Godley. Give up Zimmerman, get Godley. I would absolutely do that, because I think Godly is more or less an ace, and more people need to buy into that idea. Well, I didn't ask if you'd do it. I asked you for a grade. Oh.

B plus. Okay. Dear Funny, mayonnaise, Valentine, and Studebaker. Those are last names from Doug. Oh, wow. Yeah. Doug Funny, Patty, mayonnaise, Skeeter Valentine. I'm not sure about Studebaker. How about that? I'm not sure about that one. This is an email from Aaron. That's very good. Good for you. Doing a 30-team Dynasty Roto draft this week, and we're playing out this year and doing prospect-only drafts moving forward. I've never done a lot. league this large, I was looking for advice in the draft room. Wow. 30 team dynasty roto draft.

Yeah. What's your advice? Yeah, so the prospect only draft. Hmm. We, you know, that may be, that may be something we should consider working into a draft room. Because in my dynasty leagues, I've kind of just provided, like, a very, like, I've gone through all the different prospect guides and just. provided, you know, just listed in alphabetical order, a bunch of prospects, like in case

somebody's just totally lost, they can at least pick out somebody at random. But that doesn't seem like the most elegant solution. There may be a way we figure out how to incorporate those into the draft room it's going for, because I know Dynasty play is like something we're going to start. You know, it's growing. It's growing. And so it's something we're going to to be focused on a little more. Okay, we didn't really give advice, but we don't really have time to do it. So Gary in New York, should I drop Jed Jerko for Citelle Marte in a category league? I wouldn't do that.

Though I think Marte is not a bad flyer. Okay. Just don't think it's worth dropping Jerko. Thank you, Scott. We're done. All right. Wonderful. Wonderful show.

Back tomorrow with like real baseball talk, because yesterday was just kind of. fake. Just pretend. Yeah. Yesterday was superhuman. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll talk to you on Tuesday. On Wednesday. And if you want,

great the trade, we can still do that. If not, approve the move, let us know.