Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Bruce Trade; Wednesday's Standouts

Episode Date: August 10, 2017

Jay Bruce is on the move! How does this trade affect his Fantasy value (1:00)? And what is next for the Mets and Indians? We tell you a couple of prospects to get excited about (4:00) ... Is Justin Verlander a legit ace again (10:50)? We also talk Alex Wood (18:00), Trevor Bauer (24:40) and more from yesterday. And are we worried about Starling Marte ... Bullpen updates (26:00), Doppelganger Thursday (30:50), "Hey Real Quick (32:00)" with two stud SPs, two slugging first basemen and two Red Sox infielders, a look at today's matchups (52:21) and a lot more ... 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

All right, Jay Bruce is on the move. Blake Parker might just be the closer after all. Starling Marte has been struggling since coming back from suspension. We're going to cover it all on fantasy baseball today. Isn't that right, Scott? We are going to cover it all. Everything that happened in the world, period. Not even the world of baseball, just the world.

Everything that happened, we're going to cover. What's your next step with North Korea, Scott? Let's start with that. Okay. start with that. This is a news-free zone. Just baseball news. And we welcome you to fantasy baseball today. Your emails, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. We do have a lot of them that I'd like to read today. We will talk about my unbelievably awesome bold prediction from yesterday. That kind of came true. But let's start with the big news with Cleveland acquiring Jay Bruce from the Mets for a guy with a great name,

writer Ryan, a 30th round pick. This is a salary dump. Is they're going to take over Jay Bruce's remaining salary. This is a top 20 outfielder and the number 13 first base been in points league number 11 in Roto. Bruce has been cold. He's been 016. He's got a minor neck issue. Only four hits in his last eight games. Three of those four hits were at Corr's field.

But value up, down, or the same for Jay Bruce. Basically the same. I think it is a better lineup. I think that's slightly better part, too. But I mean, he's the thing I like most about it,

As far as Bruce goes is what it means for the AL-only owners, because they were kind of left out at the trade deadline. All the AL-only owners that have been saving their fab dollars all year for a player to change leagues. Everybody went to the NL instead. So this is your, I wouldn't anticipate a bigger name than this switching from the NL to the AL before the end of August. So I would invest those dollars in Bruce. Jay Bruce has been much better on the road this year. 238 with 11 home runs at home. 275 with 18 home runs on the road.

So hopefully getting out of city field will help. And remember last year, maybe this is a coincidence. Bruce in his career has been a pretty streaky player. But he got traded to the Mets last year, and he played 50 games for the Mets, and he was awful. 685 OPS with the Mets last year. But having a nice year, and I guess, you're probably going to, you're not going to be upset about this if you're a Bruce owner,

unless you own have an NL only. But here it is. That's kind of a big, that's, kind of a big August trade. We don't get Jay Bruce's off. We don't. We don't usually get that that's why I'm saying, look, there's a possibility Lance Lynn, he's a free agent after the season, there's a possibility an AL team could acquire him, so if you need pitching more, you could hold out for that.

I just think I'd rather pick up Bruce and then trade whatever hitter I'm bumping out of my lineup for Bruce for a pitcher. I'd rather do that if I need the pitching need, because it doesn't seem like these trades happen very often. Now, I do think there is an impact on the Brewers, I mean, on the Indians lineup aside from Bruce. Obviously, Michael Brantley just went on the DL, so, you know, there was all red, there's a spot for Bruce to fill there right now,

but eventually Brantley's going to be healthy. I wonder what it means for Lonnie Chisunhall, who had become kind of a Daily League darling with how good he was against right-handed pitchers, but he's been dealing with a calf strain. He's already missed a month, still isn't ready to begin a rehab assignment. Either it's a bleak outlook for his health

or for his playing time, one or the other. So I don't think there's any reason to hold on to him anymore except in deep bail only leagues. Okay, so that's the Indians angle. I picked up Dominic Smith in a Roto League. Is it time for a little Dom Smith? I thought it already was. Like, come on now.

I can't imagine what excuse they could have not to call them up now. There's one more bat that they don't have to have in the lineup and Bruce that's one more opening in their lineup. And Bruce had been getting the majority of starts at first base since Lucas Duda was traded to the raise. So I would expect at some point this weekend, Dominic Smith,

maybe he and Reese Hoskins the same day. And I'd rather have Hoskins at the two, but they're both very disciplined hitters. Dominic Smith probably a safer bet for average. Hoskins has bigger power. I'm not sure if Smith will have enough power to compete at first base in this kind of environment, but he has 16 home runs at AAA, Las Vegas, and there's enough of a chance there that if I'm not rushing to pick up Smith, I'm at least keeping a very close eye on him.

Okay, yeah, we haven't really talked about those prospects in a little while, but Dominic Smith, Reese Hoskins. Reese Hoskins is spelled R-H-Y-S. He's with the Phillies, Dominic Smith and the Mets organization. These are guys that, I mean, I'm not picking them up outside of my, I guess I pick them up in my 12-team Roto League. We start a lot of players in that league. We have a middle infielder, five outfielders.

We have a corner infield and a DH. I would be trying to pick up Reese Hoskins everywhere. Everywhere? I may fail in some of those leagues with a standard head-to-head lineup where you can only start at most two first basemen, one at utility spot, of course. And so I may not be able to justify it, but I would at least try

because I feel very good about Hoskins' chances of making an immediate impact. So we didn't talk about your rankings overhaul from the other day. We'll try to get into that. But you have Posey as your number one catcher, Sanchez number two. Those guys look so valuable right now

because Wilson Contreras, it looks like he's about to go on the DL. He hurt his hamstring. He's going to have an MRI. And Evan Gattis, it's still experiencing concussion symptoms. Salvador Perez is on the DL right now. I mean, the catcher is – catcher was already bad. Now it's terrible.

And those two guys really stand out at the top, Posey and Sanchez. With the Cub situation, I mean, Alex Avila is not a bad pickup, but he really has – he was so good for a while, and he's really come back down to Earth. Since my birthday, Scott, that's 35 games for Alex Avila. Yep, since my birthday. 178 batting average with two home runs. It's not even a starter anymore. Well, okay, I guess you're saying he's about to be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, he's 43% on. You could do worse, I suppose, just because it's catcher. But what do you think? Do you think any chance Swarber starts catching? I'd be surprised. I'm not going to say no, but look, this is the

If he's going to gain eligibility at that position in standard CBS sports leagues this is the sort of thing I think he needed for that to happen and that may I'll be, that may be all what that matters for his fantasy value if he's eligible at the position or not.

So it may be good news along those lines but I don't even know, I mean, because he hasn't been hitting either. I don't even know if he is catcher eligible that I wouldn't prefer like Martine Maldonado who just plays every day and isn't horrible with the bat

so he kind of ends up being halfway decent in fantasy because of that you know one catcher who we haven't been mentioning among the really high end types at the position who is having a great year a bounceback year Yadi or Malina up to 14 home runs

And now he's got the rally cat. Ties the second most of his career. Yeah, he's got the rally cat. Now, you saw the cat yesterday? I didn't. Okay, so they get this, so Yadi's up with the base is loaded, and a cat is loose in the outfield. We've seen rally monkeys, we've seen rally squirrels. This is our first rally cat. So this guy grounds crew member, I don't know, whoever, he picks up the cat all the way at the outfield wall, and he has to bring the cat across the field to the other side of the outfield, basically, like from right

field to the left field line where you would see like, you know, whatever, it doesn't matter. You can get the picture. The cat is biting him and scratching him as he's free. You can't just pick up a random cat expected to be totally fired. I hope he gets a rabies shot. Geez. Yeah. And anyway, he ends up leaving.

He actually does a very nice hurdle of the outfield, the low outfield wall along the third base left field line. And next pitch, Yadir Marlina Grand Slam home run. So you now live in the rally. cat era. And yeah, Yadena is having a really good year. What a time to be alive. Well, cats are my favorite of all the I mean, I prefer them to monkeys, squirrels,

whatever else we've rallied around. So, I'm into it. Go Cardinals. Schwaburber, by the way, has three catcher appearances. Still needs two more. It's been stuck on three for a long time. Yeah, Malina, I mean, are you buying this? Because he's older. He's been just like a guy who's finished high in fantasy just because he plays all the time,

this year he legitimately is having a very good season. Yeah, so I don't even know what the point is of buying it or not. Like you said, he always finishes very high even when he doesn't hit very well. We've seen him hit like this in the past. Every other decent catcher is heard. So, I mean, Malina is probably the third best healthy catcher, even if he doesn't hit another home run this year, he probably is. Well, he's always been, you know, he's been better in points leagues,

but in categories he hasn't really... I guess Real Muto gives them a run for money. Yeah. But otherwise. Oh, what a bad position this year. Ugh. All right, so Contreras hurt. Clint Fraser scratched with oblique sorens.

Aaron Hicks should be back on Friday. Daniel Murphy could be back today. The Dodgers are the first, the sixth team, six team since 1913 to reach 90 wins in their first 113 games. And we'll talk about their starting pitcher from yesterday, Alex Wood. And very excited for August 25th through the 27. seventh two weekends from now. That will be nickname weekend. And did you see Kyle Seeger's nickname? I did. Yeah, that was probably the best one. Definitely the best one. He is going to have Corey's brother on the back of his jersey, which is awesome.

I like it, a little self-deprecation. Yeah, this should be fun, actually. I'm looking forward to nickname weekend. I made my bold prediction yesterday when we were doing today's matchups. I predicted Justin Verlander would throw eight innings of one-run ball with 11 strikeouts. I'm pretty sure that was my prediction. I will claim a partial victory. It was eight innings of one hit ball, no runs. Only six strikeouts to the three walks. But hey, Justin Verlander was throwing 97 miles per hour in the eighth inning,

and opponents were hitting 179 against him since the All-Star break, during which time Verlander has a 201 ERA. Oh, my goodness. Justin Verlander is back by herself. I'm more or less by this. He had three walks in this game. I think he had another three-walk game two turns ago. So the walks are still a little high by his standard, normal standard, when he's at his best.

But clearly the results have been much better. The strikeouts have been better. I have him at 10 per 9 in his last five starts. So he's back to being must start for sure and probably a top 20 option the rest of the way. Would you rather have Verlander or Dallas Keikle? That's a tough one. That is a tough one. Yeah, I mean, I'd certainly rather be starting Verlander now.

I think if the Kikel owner offered me Kikl straight up for Verlander, I'd have to turn it down. Would you take Verlander and Zach Godley or Luis Severino? I'd take Verlander and Godley. Even though Severino's the best of the three, I think it's not by a big enough margin

over either of those other two for me to pass up the two. Finally, how about Justin Verlander or Jimmy Nelson? I have Jimmy Nelson, I think, one spot ahead of Verlander, and I will stick with that. Okay, dokey. Your stat of the day, it's about Joey Gallo, G-A-L-O, among players with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Joey Gallo is on pace to become the fourth player in history to finish a season with more home runs than singles. He would join Barry Bonds in 2001 when he had 73 homers in four.

49 singles. And basically he would join the steroids group of Barry Bonds in 2001 and Mark McGuire in 1998 and 1999. Joey Gallo has 32 home runs and 20 singles so far this year. But he homered again yesterday. We talked about him at length yesterday. And he homered? What are you flying?

That he's not on steroids. Are we just free to say that about Bons and McGuire now? You so casually did that. I don't know. Oh, well, I mean, if you want to, the truth is Barry Bonds admitted to taking steroids. He just claimed he didn't know it was steroids. And everybody knows Mark McGuire is on steroids. So yes, yes, I am willing to say that.

Right enough, I just, you know, just want to cover our bases here. All right. So Gallo, it's a lot of home runs. I don't think that's in dispute. And while he's hot, I'm happy to star him. I just, he's just going to be such a frustrated. player already has been a very frustrating player this year and I think we're going to see very bad version of Joey Gallo again before the season's done.

Coming up on the show, bullpen stuff to update you on, Cody Allen, trying to figure out the Rangers bullpen, Angels bullpen. I've got some hay real quick for you. We'll compare Ryan Zerman and Edwin Incarnacion and some others. I've got a segment called Should I Stay or Should I go, which is just another way of doing the dropometer basically. A couple of underachieve. second baseman and much more, but give me a Wednesday standout, Scott White. Wednesday standout, I will give you, I'll give you a Melky Cabrera, who I think, yeah, I think he's becoming more than just like a streamer type off the waiver wire. I feel like his skill set is highly dependent on his supporting cast because he doesn't have enough home run power, doesn't

have enough base-doing ability to sustain himself. And leaving the White Sox for the Royals, particularly where the Royals are batting him, which I'm going to double-check. I think it's consistently been either second or third. So they've made Melki Cabrera basically a table-setter for the Hosmer-Mustakis Lorenzo-Cain trio. Pretty good trio. Yeah. And he has, he's having a good week. He was in my top 10 sleeper hitters for this week.

He's about 75% owned. And, you know, what he lacks in the home runs in the steals, he makes a lot of contact, he hits a lot of doubles. I think in points leagues with this new, his position in his new lineup, he probably needs to be a fixture in three outfielder points leagues. And then any five outfielder category league, probably as well. The three outfielder category leagues, maybe you really need a home run hitter base dealer. but even in those, I think he's going to be a good source of batting average and probably a decent source of runs in RBI as well. Wow, interesting.

Cabrera, Melki Cabrera is 75% owned. He's batting since the All-Star break, 344, with just a 366 on base. But a lot of times when a guy is in a hot streak and he's hitting a lot, he's not walking that much. So he's now out for the season. He has outscored Corey Dickerson, Andrew Benintendi, Michael Conforto, Domingo Santana, A lot of hitters we've been genuinely excited about and who've played, you know, but haven't had a lot of, haven't lost a lot of games in there to affect their point total. Can you look if he's outscored them in Roto?

Because points would be the better format for Malkie. Yeah. Well, you know what I say about Roto rankings anyway. Yeah, but I, but this guy is really, I mean, you basically laid it out in a categories league. He's not going to help you like he is in a points league. It's an interesting take. one another thing, this year has been a year where outfielders have been really good. There's always seems to be someone on the waiver wire that you want to pick up and you just

can't. Right now, I've just been looking in a couple of leagues. Right now, the free agent outfielders, maybe it's just like a lot of cold outfielders, I don't know, or maybe we've figured out who the good ones are and they're now owned. I'm just not really feeling it right. And I can't think of like an underowned outfielder. You know, there's, Tommy Fam is not available anymore. Bradley Zimmer has cooled off and he sits against lefties. I'm sorry, I can't do this off the top of my head necessarily. But Aaron Altair, you know, hurt. Yeah.

Right. So maybe Oduble Herrera is that guy. He's O'D triple Herrera, now he hit two triples yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. But there's not that many outfellers. I like, so sure, Melchie Cabrera, the consistency you get from him right now, it seems pretty valuable.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Melchie Cabrera is 36 among outfielders and point, and Roto. leagues for the entire season. And I think with the royals, he will outperform that. Okay. Melki Cabrera is your standout. How about Alex Wood?

You feel comfortable? 13 swinging strikes. Only four strikeouts, but 13 swinging strikes. Six innings, two runs at Arizona. And I don't think he did not get the win. I believe he just got a no decision. But, yeah, it was a good start. Velocity was pretty good.

Yeah, that's what he says. He says it was back the Dodd. Rogers, B-Writer for MLB.com said the velocity was back. And this is after a report from the OEC Register yesterday that it looked like it was back in a bullpen session as well. I haven't been able to find the data for this start to confirm what everybody's saying. Yeah. I think we can take their word for it. This was his best start in the last four.

I saw a 93 mile per hour fastball. I watched like five pitches. I witness account. Yeah. That one pitch is representative of the entire start. The AP Recap even referenced the mechanical adjustment that he made to get the velocity back. So at this point, I think we're pretty comfortable with Alex Wood and the adjustment he made. Andrew Benintendi just talked about him, having scored fewer fantasy points than Melki Cabrera.

And I would say he's had a disappointing year, but he took two days off early this month. and in his last six games, Beninti is 11 for 22 with a home run. Great, whatever. Five steals and five attempts in his last six games. Now, this is a guy who stole four bases in four games back in May, and then he stole one in his next 26 games. So stolen bases can be a little fickle, a little unpredictable. But five steals and five attempts in his last six games and a 500 batting average,

Andrew Benatendi is on fire! If we could trust him to run consistently, then, and it wouldn't even really matter if he could develop more power or not. He would basically be Melchie Cabrera with steals. He's up to 14 steals for the year, so it's not a relevant number, as it is. But it's not enough for me to buy into what's been going on lately or really to affect my rest of season outlook for Benintendi. So who would you rather have Benintendi or Melki?

I'd rather have Benintendi. But it's close. Well, another guy who's just sort of stealing his way, well, he's not really stealing his way to being relevant because he's been bad. Even with all the steals, Starling Marte, since being reinstated, is batting 244 with no home runs, five RBIs. He does have 14 runs, which is not, it's 21 games. He scored 14 runs.

It's a very good pace. But in that 21 game stretch, a lot of outfielders have actually scored a lot more runs than Marte. but he has six steals and six attempts. Bottom line, he's just not hitting right now, but you're getting the runs, you're getting the steals. Marte, since coming back from suspension, is the number 37 outfielder in points leagues, number 52 in Roto.

Why so much better in points leagues? Probably because he leads off, and he gets played appearances. But, yeah, what do you think? Are you concerned about Starling Marte? Or do you think he'll just go back to being Starly Marte? I think if I remember the, the drug he was suspended for was something called magic potion.

He was taking a magic potion that made him superior to what he is now, that he's off of it. He is a wuss, a wimp, a weakling. We saw this with D. Gordon, though. He's been out of this year, but D. Gordon was pretty bad when he came back from the suspension. And look at D. Gordon now. Yeah, I know. He is. I don't know. I've seen very little evidence from any of the play. who've been suspended for one PED or another,

that it makes a difference as to what kind of player they are. So I think it's just a slump for Marte. He's actually raised his batting average since coming back because he wasn't doing much of anything before the suspension either. And six stolen bases since his return, he'll get better. All right, so let's do this. Starling, Marte, or Ryan Braun? I would prefer Braun.

Well, you know what? Maybe not Braun and maybe not Bronning categories. Do you want a tough email here real quick from James from Little Rock, Arkansas? That was a tough question you just asked. Yeah, this one's tough too. Okay. Twelve team categories league. I've been offered Tommy Fam for my Ryan Braun.

What would you guys do? Would you give up Braun to get Tommy Fam? I know my rankings don't reflect this. I think I would. You'd rather have Fam? Look, there's obviously concerns. about Ryan Braun. They're right there in it.

They're right there in it. But if they fall out of the race, he's one of the most likely players, I would say, along with the O'Nus' desperate is to get shut down, Braun. And he's going to sit more often than you like from an everyday player. I looked at his game log today. I don't think he's stealing bases lately.

He's been okay. He's still a great player. That's a tough one. So you would take fan over Braun. All right. All right. I think so. I think FAM's really good. I think Braun's really good, too. But FAM seems lower risks of me right now. And I think I'd be more likely kicking myself for passing up that trade than the other way around. Braun is actually batting 406 in August. Yeah, he's had a good week. But it's a lot of singles. Not hitting for a lot of power. He hasn't home run since July 22nd. Braun has two home runs since the All-Star break.

All right. So moving on. Oh, wait, wait, wait, bonus question. So I mentioned Starling Marte since coming back, 21 games for him. He's the number 37 outfielder in points, number 52 in Roto. In that same stretch, which is just after the All-Star break. Who's the number one outfielder in Roto leagues? Number one outfielder since just a little after the All-Star break.

Mm-hmm. Charlie Blackman? No. In Points Leagues, I think it's Stanton. In Roto Leagues, it is W-hit Merrifield. Isn't that crazy? Of course it is. Would you rather have Merrifield or Fam?

Fam. All right. And are you interested at all in Trevor Bauer, who has had three really good starts in a row, 22 innings, three-earned runs, 22 strikeouts against the Angels, Yankees, and Rockies. all at home. I don't. I'm not. Because I don't really understand what's different for him. He is throwing his curveball a lot. But that started like at the end of May and wasn't really making a big

difference until now. I think he should throw the curveball more. He and Corey Kluber both started doing at the same time at the suggestion of their pitching coach and look what it's meant for Kluber. but since we didn't really see strong evidence of a turnaround for Bauer until now, I don't know that I can, there's a correlation between the two, and I just, I don't trust what he's doing right now. Bauer's own in 74% of leagues. He's two starts next week at Boston and at Kansas City, which is interesting. And a good chance for wins.

He's facing Doug Fister and Jason Vargas. Okay. I don't know that he actually will face those. Yeah, exactly, exactly. But, all right, I don't know. It's hard to drop Trevor Bauer going into a two-star week. He's been very good lately. Scott, let's take a look at the bullpens.

Blake Parker. So thank you to our listener, Isaac. Isaac is a big baseball fan, and he's the emailer that I often reference. Not sure if he loves us or hates us. I think he loves us. But he said that Parker, Parker pitched in a four-run game in the ninth, and Middleton, who got to save two days ago, pitched the eighth.

But Isaac told me that Parker was one. warming up when it was a three-run game, Angels get a tack-on run in the eighth inning, and he still came in, he pitched the ninth. But buy or sell, Blake Parker is the Angels Closer. I buy it, and I think it's an exciting development. He's been their best reliever. And I think it's kind of like, you know, among the pitchers who became firmly entrenched as closers at the trade deadline, and there were a lot of them.

my two favorites were Brad Hand because of the ability and Shane Green because of the save opportunities I thought he'd get. And I feel like Blake Parker is kind of the best of both worlds. Trevor Rosenthal, who's also a newcomer to the closer role, I'd prioritize him over Parker. And I don't know that I'd try anything drastic until we get a little more clarity from the Angels on this. But I suspect Parker is probably the closer going forward.

and I think he's has had a good enough year, big enough swing and miss potential, that he could be very good at it. Cody Allen, are you concerned about him? I think the Cody Allen concerns have been a little overblown this year. He's still having a good year, but now maybe it's a little more alarming. He's struggled in two of his last three appearances. I guess the good news is there's no way they're going to Andrew Miller. He's still on the DL. But, look, Alan's blown three saves.

He only has 19 saves. just destined to get like 30 saves every year he's never ever gonna right it's so weird he never gets a lot of saves it's really weird you're right yeah it's so weird but this guy has been a great pitcher for a while and he still has a low three zr i don't know are you concerned about cody allen not concerned just consistently underwhelmed by him like he's he's pretty annoying really in points leagues especially because he never has like the big week pretty much every closer has at some point. Yeah, or the huge year.

Yeah. He just doesn't get like 40 saves. Matt Belial came in in a four-run game and struck out the side in the ninth at Milwaukee. Buy or sell. Matt Belial is the Twins closer. I buy it. Sam Dyson with the Giants has a 222 IRA and eight saves. He does have 11 walks, the 19 strikeouts, and 24 and a third.

Do you think there's any closer controversy in Sam Fran when Willanson comes back? No, I don't. Do we have, what's the latest on when Melanson is coming back? I think it's going to be pretty soon. Yeah, I feel like that's been the case for a couple weeks, though. I promise this time. You promise? It's my heart.

Okay. Well, if you promise. Yeah. I don't think there's a closer controversy. Malanson may have to prove his health before regaining the role, but they're paying him too much money, not to let him close. Tyler, Chadwood got to save for Colorado. You got to figure this was because. Greg Holland through 31 pitches on Tuesday.

And I can't figure out who the Rangers closer is because they keep using Alex Claudio in non-save situations, but they also use him in save situations, which they just haven't had too many of lately. But who's the Rangers closer? I think it's Claudio. Jose LeClerc. There could be a bit of a match-up situation going on where the number of lefties coming up in the 8th versus the 9th could influence Jeff Bannister's decision. but, I mean, it's five to one. Claudio saves versus Leclerc saves since this arrangement began.

So I would give the edge to Claudio. Look at that. That's a good stat. Five to one. Hooray for Alex Claudio. Would you rather have Claudio or Blake Parker? Parker, by significant margin. The Rangers Closer situation because it's so unsettled

and really because I don't love either of the choices. It's probably my third least favorite right now. Would you rather have Belial than Claudio? No, that's my second least favorite. My least favorite is the Yankee Clippard. Now wearing the White Sox. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. All right, hey, look, today's a special kind of Thursday, Scott.

Today is doppelganger Thursday. Oddly enough, I get a tweet that I look like a baseball player and an email that Heath looks like a baseball player. And both are pretty legit. And I'm, well, I mean, I guess I shouldn't say that because the guy, my doppelganger is a lot better looking than I am. But I do see the resemblance. I usually get Ryan Braun. Yeah.

But today on doppelganger Thursday, apparently I look like Oakland A. Matt Olson. Go ahead and pull up a picture and let me know what you think about that. Matt Olson, that's S-E-N, right? Yeah. No, it's S-O-N. You're wrong. Oh, damn, sorry. I can't even spell his name, and he's my doppelganger. Right?

It's decent. Yeah. Yeah. But he's... Yeah, I can see that. He's a better-looking version of Adam Azer. And then this one's funny. Brent Suter.

He's 6'5, so he's like a foot taller. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. Brent Suter, apparently, is a Heath Cummings doppelganger. Brent Suter. Now, I do feel like I know what Suter looks like, but... Hmm. A little bit. Not as much. Not as much. But a little bit.

I think it's pretty good, actually. Look at this picture here on the Google. Yeah, I can see it. Just need to get a little chest hair going. All right. Love it. Thank you for the doppelgangers. So let's save Scott's ranking adjustments for tomorrow. Maybe we'll get to it a little bit later. But a couple players that we talked about yesterday kept it going. Brian Goodwin doubled again. He now has seven doubles in 24 games since the All-Star break. and O triple Herrera, tripled twice at Atlanta. He's usually O. Double Herrera, but two triples yesterday.

Yeah, I don't know. I guess I can't keep crapping on O. Triple Herrera. Got to look at the hot streak eventually. Hey, real quick, Scott. Jacob de Grom or Madison Bumgarner? Hmm. I'll stick with DeGrom. Yeah.

But I think they're right next to each other. I think DeGrom's fifth, Bumgarner's sixth for me. Bumgarner. A lot of it has to do with the Giants. They're just terrible. Yeah. But three starts and a row. row now of seven innings and seven strikeouts with a combined three run runs for Bumgarner

at the Dodgers, home against Arizona, and home against the Cubs. So it's not like he's beat up on, you know, like his team, the Giants. Oh, yeah, he got his second win in this game. He's two and five now. He's been great. He's been great. Hey, real quick. You know what?

I finally figured out why we have so many listeners, so many tweeters complaining about you Darvish this year. He actually has a sub-500 record. surely that's going to write itself with the Dodgers but yeah win-loss record we usually don't pay a lot of attention to it but it probably does influence the way his owners feel about him hey real quick uh Ryan Zimmerman or Edwin Encarnazion oh Ed Carnacian I guess but uh not by much look incarnation okay he right now is the number 11 first baseman in points leagues,

but he's number 18 in Roto. His plate discipline has been very good. Ancarnacione has 71 walks to 104 strikeouts, but he's really not having a good year. 22 home runs in 109 games is totally fine. But you consider he had 10 of those 22 home runs, and he batted 370 in a 26-game stretch. He was bad before that.

He's got a 740 OPS in 42 games since that. I could really make the case. It was four weeks where Encarnaissance's been. good for your fantasy team. It's frustrating. Zimmerman, meanwhile, has heated up again. Another two-homer game. Well, he had a big game.

He had been cold before that. The number of home runs, Ryan Zimmerman, hit yesterday, equaled the number of hits he had in his previous eight games. That's true. But right before that, he had four homers in three games. But you're right, he wasn't a two-for-27 slump. Yeah. So that's part of the reason why I'm keeping it.

Incarnacion ahead. I do think we've seen Incarnazion's stock drop more definitively this year. There was a big strikeout. There was a big spike in strikeouts last year. That rate has only increased this year. He's 34 years old. I think this is the beginning of the end for Incarnation. Now, fortunately, he has the kind of skill set that it

should be kind of a gradual decline as opposed to just dropping off a cliff one year. But he's not... I don't even think he's going to be a top four rounder next year. And that's after consistently being a first or second rounder for like six straight years. You know who looks kind of smart right now, the Blue Jays? The Blue Jays didn't – Encanacion signed a pretty reasonable deal. And they didn't bring him back.

And Jose Bautista, they re-signed him, but they got him for super cheap on a one-year deal. Both those guys have – I think are definitely showing signs. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Batista may already be done, more or less. I mean, I know that they re-signed him, but it was a no-brainer for one year. I'd still rather have Incarnazio for the money he got than Kendris Morales for the money he got, but fair enough. Yeah, okay. And finally, hey, real quick, Eduardo Nunez or Zander Bogarts?

And well, Bogartz, but I see where you're going. I mean, Bogartz has six home runs this year. Yeah. And he's been cold for a long time. I'm pretty sure he's playing through a minor. I'm not sure how minor injury, but he's playing a little banged up. Nunez has been leading off. I mean, they seem pretty committed to Nunez.

I know you have concerns about some concerns about the playing time when Padrae is fully healthy with Devers there. But Nunez appears to be their guy right now. Yeah, I mean, they'd be crazy to take him out now because he's just been hitting well over 400 since joining the Red Sox. He's been a multi-hit machine. But, I mean, it's not going to last forever. He's going to cool off at some point, and there's not going to be much power there, and they're not a big base-stealing team. So I don't know.

He's going to play, I think, enough to remain relevant because he can play anywhere, so even if he doesn't have a job to himself, he'll play. But you'd rather have both. I'm not moving him ahead of Bogartz. I did recently move, I believe, Andrewton Simmons, ahead of Bogart's. Yeah, saw that. Is that Justin Points or in Roto 2? Both.

All righty. Time for a segment called Should I Stay or Should I Go? What should fantasy owners do with Yvonne Nova? Get him out of there. Avon Nova since April 30. Has a 462 ERA 136 whip 5.7 strikeouts per nine innings. Yeah. Not mixed league material.

Okay, the last I just want to check is I bet he's a two-star pitch. next week, which does change things a bit. Let's take a look. He's got at Milwaukee and home against St. Louis. I mean, even so, I think it's only in points leagues where I do that. He's going to hurt your ERA whip and he'll do it twice over in a category league. Yeah, Nova is 92% owned and he should go. Eugenio Suarez is, he has an 895 OPS since the All-Star break.

but if you want to look farther since May 1st, he has a 763 OPS hasn't been very good. A E. E. E. Hanyoswara, is 73% own. Should I stay or should I go? You could stay for now. I think he's a good high hand play. Even when he was bad

and it was a few months there where he was just really bad. But the walk rate remained high. It looked like there was still some legitimate growth happening. I don't trust him to be consistent enough particularly at a deep position, but I think he's usable right now.

Ehuhenio Suarez should stay. And these two guys, I'm going to guess, are stays, but they struggled yesterday. Kevin Gosman and Colin McHugh. Yeah, I'm going to stick with them both. I don't know what's up with the white socks right now, picking up on Dallas Keikle and Colin McHugh two days in a row. That's got to be, like you feel like that's a slam dunk matchup with two good pitchers, and it's just the worst.

Both those guys have two starts next week. Apparently McHugh's new pitch to the slider, which has been so good. good for him since coming back from the DL and 083 batting average on it entering the game. It just didn't get a single swing and miss on. It wasn't locating it right. Give him a pass for that. And Gossaman, it was bad, but it wasn't a disaster. And he had been so good lately.

I'll stick with him too. All right. Let's play a game here. We knew the Astros were running away with the American League. The Red Sox, though, have won eight in a row. The Astros are slumping. How many games up do you think the Astros are in the Red Sox? I don't know.

I will guess four and a half games. I will say, I don't really know either. Win loss record is not something I'm paying. Very close attention to. I'll go with six games. Okay, I think, okay, yeah, this is the dumbest call I've ever made.

So the Astros are 71 and 42. Oh, no, it's six. and a half games. All right, I wasn't that far off. Red Sox are 65 and 49, so I think that's six and a half games. All right, good job, Scott. You win. Clososos without going over. Congratulations. Let's talk about a couple of underachieving second baseman. Robinson, Canoe and Brian Dozier. Canoe is still the number six second baseman in points leagues, but he has a 793 OPS. He's got 40 walks to 52 strikeouts, which is wonderful, but just really not, like, he's been frustrating to own. and Brian Dozier.

Brian Dozier has a 799 OPS, but he's killing it right now. 308 with six home runs in his last nine games. What do you think about Canoe and Dozier? They've been a little disappointing. Kenno's sixth in points, Dozier's seventh in points, but Kenno's 12th in Roto. And Dozier's ninth in Roto. We were hoping for better from both of these guys. Their OPS is right around just under 800.

What do you think about Canoe and Dozier? So who are some of the second baseman ahead of them in Roto that? aren't in points. Give me a moment. You know what? I think I can pull it up myself. So, well,

Dee Gordon, I guess, would probably be one. Probably Chris Taylor. Chris Taylor, yeah, Whitmeryfield. Marvin Gonzalez. So mostly because of steals, I guess in Gonzalez case, batting average.

All of them, batting average is higher. I mean, it's nice to see Dozier heat up like this because I wasn't sure he could, like, I still don't know what to make of Brian Dozier. I don't know what to make of last year. I didn't think he could repeat it. He was on my preseason bus list.

I feel like that's more or less played out, but I don't know if he's, you know, if he's Brian Dozier of two years ago, he's not really that big of a deal in this environment, but he's starting to look like he may be a little more than that. Who do you have more confidence in going forward, Canoe or Dozier? Canoe, but it wouldn't surprise me if Dozier passed him. And like, I don't think either is somebody really ever think about sitting.

Second Base has been kind of passed over this year in terms of, you know, the big gainers that we see around the rest of the infield. So in a Roto League, I mean, I think this is a legit question because of the steep. Would you take Whitmerfield over either Canoe or Dozier? I wouldn't. I wouldn't, no. I would take D. Gordon, but not Merrifield. I don't even know that I take D. Gordon, to be honest.

These guys can get so hot, you know, go on a tear and hit a bunch of home runs. Nelson Cruz, two for four with two homers, three RBIs and a strikeout. So he's a double dunger. He's the number 10 outfielder in points league's number 13 in Roto. Not sure he's going to get his fourths. straight year with 40 home runs. He is 26 right now in 109 games. That would be quite a finish. But Cruz has been really good. Zimmerman double-donged. And it's time for a little bit more from yesterday. Two up. All right. Dexter Fowler is 62% owned. Do you want to own Dexter Fowler in anything other than a points league or an OBP League? Do you think he does enough other than just walk?

No, I'd be going after Odu Bell Herrera first. He's only 65% owned, similar. to Fowler, so no. What about Tim Anderson? 24% owned in August. Tim Anderson is batting 314 with two home runs and three doubles and a triple and 943 OPS for Anderson. Shortstop eligible, obviously. But of course, no walks and 13 strikeouts in August. What do you think about Tim Anderson at 24% owned?

I think he is bad. But the plate discipline is just horrid and there's not, There's not enough power to overcome it. That's two up. None down today. Injuries, news and notes. C.C. Sabathia may be able to make us next start, but don't bank on it. It'll probably be Jordan Montgomery.

Jake Oterese left after taking a comeback or off his foot. Joey Rickard left after being hit by a pitch on the hand. The Royals benched Alex Gordon could be for a while. So Jorge Bonifacio, you figure, would benefit. Carter Caps is not as much of a cheater as he used to be. He slightly modified his delivery. He had to. He drags the foot a little bit more, rather than,

than hopping. Meanwhile, caps his velocity is way down coming back from Tommy John, and he's just not fantasy relevant. Avi Garcia is going to be playing through some thumby rotation. Matt Harvey could be nearing a return. That should be fun to talk about. Stephen Vote is making progress, and Troy Toulowiczki is on the 60-day DL and cannot return before the final week of the season. So Tulo is basically out for the season. Let's see what we got here. I think we'll have time to finish to fit in the emails at the end of the show. after we look at today's matchups. But how about the four-man rotation from yesterday?

Give me one sentence to tell me how you feel about the following players. One sentence per player. Geo Gonzalez. It can be a compound sentence. It could be a compound complex sentence. Oh, man. Yeah. Geo Gonzalez.

Geo Gonzalez is, he continues to prove that, continues to demonstrate. demonstrate that he is a must-start pitcher in fantasy. Verlander or Gio? Verlander. Kintana or Gio? Kintana. Hmm, okay. Geo, I think I moved Gio into my top 40.

Okay. Recently. Rick Porcelo. Rick Porcello is next. He had a bad start against the White Sox two starts ago, but a good start yesterday at Tampa Bay, although he did give up two home runs. But this comes right after July when Porcelo had a 306 ERA, five walks, 27 strikeouts, and 35 and a 30,

still giving up a lot of home runs. Give me a sentence about Rick Porcelo. It's like I don't normally talk in sentences or something. Yeah, I know. Rick Porcelo has given up fewer hits lately, but there are still enough troubling signs that I will leave him for just favorable matchups. That was a compound complex sentence.

Fair enough. It works for me. Kyle Hendricks, you know, bad start yesterday at the Giants. He's had one quality start, one start of more than five innings since coming off the D.L. Give me a sentence about a 95% owned Kyle Hendricks. He's two owned. Really? That's my sentence, yep.

How old do you think Kyle Hendricks should be? 80. would you drop Kyle Hendricks? He's exceeded five innings once and four starts since returning and this has been an ongoing problem for him all year and there's not a lot of strikeouts it's not like the Cubs are going to help him win many games

if he's not pitching I mean he's barely even going the minimum he four a win much less a quality start I don't I'm over him I feel like he hasn't gotten enough attention for how bad he's become, for how, maybe not bad, but how irrelevant he's become. It's Kyle Hendrix. Would you drop Hendricks for Luis Castillo?

Yes. Trevor Bauer. No. De Nelson Lemette. No. How about this amazing two-start sleeper for next week, Vince Velasquez? I'm guessing he pitches tonight, but Velasquez is at San Diego and at San Francisco next week. I might if that's If that's the

If Hendricks was clearly the low guy for me And that's what I needed to do to take advantage of those matchups I might do it Well Hendricks himself has two starts Cincinnati at home and Toronto at home next week Yeah I like the last guess is more Okay and how about A sentence about Masahiro Tanaka

I can give you a sentence about Tanaka Did not have anything yesterday That's a sentence fragment there was no subject. Masa-Hara Tanaka did not have anything yesterday, comma, but I think he should be fine because in his previous eight starts, he had a 289 ERA.

Compound Complex. Agree or disagree with my compound complex sentence. I agree. All right. Don't worry about Tanaka. Two starts next week for Tanaka, Mets, and at Boston against Chris Sale. Season will be on the line.

Fringy starting pitchers. All these guys are two-star pitchers, so I guess we could talk about them tomorrow. they're all two-star pitchers. But, you know, should I stay or should I go? Mike Leak. Should I stay or should... He should go.

Bye. He'll be back when he has favorable matchups, but he can go. At Boston and at Pittsburgh next week. Yeah, I don't know. Last 13 starts. I might keep him in a points league for those two. I mean, last 13 starts, Mike Leak has a 2-and-7 record, 467 ERA, a terrible whip, 47 strikeouts and 71 at a third.

He and Jason Vargas are very similar. And Ivanova, too? Yeah. Trevor Cahill, stay or go. Go. Go as far away as you can possibly go and don't look back. Bye, Cahill. Scott blew it.

Jared Eichoff has been pitching better lately, and his two stars next week are also at San Diego and at San Francisco. Ooh, 40% owned, Jared Eichoff. Yeah, I like the matchups. I like Velasquez with those matchups more, but Eichoff is probably the higher floor pitcher of the two. And he'll be easy to ditch after your lineup locks for the two-star week, because I don't think there's enough upside to keep him around beyond that.

All right now, though, with two really good matchups next week, and two starts for Jared. Icoff. Sean Nukem had a good start yesterday, but we need to see more consistency with the walks. He only walked one Philly. He's at Colorado and home against Cincinnati, so you're not going to start Newcomb next week. And then there's Brandon Woodruff, who's 20% owned, and I don't think he's a two-star pitcher, but he was not good yesterday. So you were right in saying don't start Woodruff against the twins. Yeah, it wasn't a bad start. Two run runs on three hits, but he had three walks to two strikeouts. It was just a boring start. Like, I'm not compelled to drop him after.

this one if I already picked him up. Do you care about any of these players in deep leagues? Asher Wojikowski, actually pretty solid numbers this year. 110 whip, more than a strikeout per inning. Asher Wojikowski. Troy Squibner, Jared Parker, who's batting 417 in his last six games. Interesting guy to me, Jose Martinez for the Cardinals, and Bartolo Colon with three straight quality stars.

These guys are widely available. Wojikovsky, Skribner, Jared Parker, Jose Martinez, Bartolo Colon. I don't care the least about Wojer Scrib. But the other three, you know, relative to their ownership percentage, they're all at 5%. They're 2, 3, and 6% owned. So we're talking deep leagues here. I think Parker and Martinez and Cologne all three. I mean, Cologne, just from the fact that, you know, he was mixed league relevant as recently as last year.

And it's on a nice three-start stretch for the twins. So when he's going well, he'll give you some innings, probably some one. wins. Parker, I think, has good power, and Martinez is pretty good power, too, and they're both playing a lot. So I think they're in, like, league-specific formats in a lonely, I guess, for both of them. They're worth owning in more leagues than they're owned in. Quick look at today's matchups. This one's worth watching. 12.35 p.m. Eastern, Denelson Lemette, Luis Castillo. Yeah, that should be a fun pitching matchup, a couple young flame throwers. I'll start Castillo. I'd have to be pretty desperate to start LaMette,

even though he was good LaMette last time, last couple times. Garrett Cole and Drew Verhagen. Verhagen. Yep. Yes, just start Cole. Yes to Cole. Yeah. Dan Strali and Tanner Roark. I'll start Strali, but not Roark.

Ooh, I'm not sure I'm starting Strelie. I hate the matchup. I hate the matchup, you know. Yep. I understand. But I have enough faith in Strayley to start him. All right. He's also on the road.

But all right. He's starting Strali, folks. Mets at Phillies, DeGrom, yes. Start or Sid Velasquez? Probably not. Sonny Gray and Marco Estrada. I will start Gray. Now ready to trust Estrada yet,

even though there have been good signs lately. Start Danny Sousar. What about Blake Snell against the Indians? Notice now. Jason Hamill at Lance Lynn. Only Lynn for me. Hamble's been okay lately, but not quite good enough for me to justify the risk.

Could be a lot of walks, could be a lot of strikeouts in this one. Brad Peacock, Carlos Rodon. And I think I'm going to start them both. Okay. Even though Rodon against Astros, a little scary, he's been hit or miss, of course. Just so many strikeouts lately. I have to take advantage.

I don't know who Dietrich ends is, but he will start tonight for the twins at Zach Davies. He was one of your team's farmans. Oh, yeah? Just a couple weeks ago. Oh, for Hayme Garcia? He got for Jaime Garcia. All right, well, he's starting tonight.

Dietrich ends has... So these numbers are interesting. At AAA this year, 210 ERA. 0.99 whip 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings. And last year, he had a 173 ERA, 117 whip, 8.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Never gets a lot of men. among prospects. I don't think the raw stuff is particularly impressive for ends, but he has figured out how to make the most of it in the miners. So I'm interested in seeing how this goes.

Definitely not starting him, though. What about Zach Davies? I really don't trust what he's been doing. He's 13 and 5 on the year. So, man, I'm going to sit him. You, Darvish, Anthony Banda. We'll start Darvish. Start or Sit Banda against the Dodgers. Sit. Wade Miley and Chris Smith. Oh, is it a's.

Tyler Skaggs. I'm going to Tyler Skaggs. And James Paxton. You're not really going to Tyler Skaggs. You're not really going to do that. No, I am not. All right, let's read some emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. This is from Brian.

Brian says, Leonis Martine always makes me think of Nando. Can you say his name in a Nando voice, please? Leonis Martin. Leonis Martin. Tony in a suburb west of Chicago. In my eight-team league, I have Story and Kinsler. Tim Beckham is available. Do I shoot for someone like Beckham or Cesar Hernandez to upgrade my middle infield

or Stan Pat with Story and Kinsler? Oh, I don't know that either of those as an upgrade. Maybe if Whitmerfield was still available, and this is an eight-team league, so it doesn't seem far-fetched. if Whitmerfield was still available or like, I don't know, Marwin Gonzalez. Well, I'm just going to assume they are. This is not a clear enough upgrade for me to pass up on the upside. Okay.

From David, I have Lance McCullors and Price on the DL. Julio Taran has been horrible. Would you drop Julio Taran for any of the following? Cahill, Ikoff, Pov, Poveta, or Nalasco? Yeah, you know what? I think I would drop Taran for Icoff just for next week for those two starts. Yeah, just for next week. I don't think you're going to miss Tehran, so even though Icoff isn't a permanent solution,

I'd be willing to do that. Yeah. Danny from Danvers, Massachusetts says, Dear Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, and Plankton. I assume those are a SpongeBob. Those are definitely SpongeBob. Never seen SpongeBob. What? Really?

Never. It's a really clever show. It's very funny. Oh, really? You would like it. Yeah. Really good. Like Rocko's Modern Life?

That was a pretty clever show. I don't know. I don't ever saw that. Really? Yeah. Weird, right? Very weird. Rank these three-

That's four age-appropriate. I know. Rank these three starting pitchers rest of season. Kentana, Jimmy Nelson, Zach Godley. I will rank them Nelson, Godley, Kintana, which may come as a shock to some people. Maybe. But not anybody who's been listening to this show, because Godly is Godly. In fact, he may just be God.

And Nelson is, uh, Nelson. But you like Nelson better than Godley, you said? Yeah. Okay. Strikeouts are a little higher, but they're both among the biggest breakouts at starting pitcher this year. Brian and Albany, 12-team Categories League, Daily lineups, OPS instead of batting average. I was thinking of adding either Keon Broxton, Tim Beckham, or Cameron Maibon to replace an injured Aaron Altair. How would you rate those three? Brockston, Beckham, and Maven. Maibon. And then I really don't even care about the other two. Ryan and St. Louis, back in the spring, someone emailed and told you guys to join a league.

It would be the best league you've ever played in, and I remember Scott took him up on it. Can we get an update on that league? I got off to a really good start. I was in first place by a pretty big margin for the first two or three weeks. And, you know, this is the league where, like, every category you win, it counts as a win. and there are so many categories. So it was a relevant sample after even three weeks of wins and losses. But I'm like right and smack dab in the middle now.

Is it the best league you ever play it? No. It's not bad. It's not bad. But it's, you know, to be honest, it doesn't feel that different from a traditional 5x5. league. What is it again? What was the gimmick? It's like 11 by 11 or something. I don't even know. I don't even know how many categories are there. Which I don't love in theory because it weighs stats equally that are nowhere close to equal in real life.

So, you know, I kind of avoided the home run hitters during the draft, but it's a daily lineup league and I've just, I don't, even that aspect of it is. you know, not super familiar to me. So I think that's kind of where I went wrong. I just needed more hitters to mix in during off days and to play matchups with. And, you know, they got gobbled up so quickly the breakout hitters that I just haven't had enough hitter.

So that's why I'm in the middle of the pack, winning pitching categories a lot. But not so much the hitter categories. All right, Scott, that's going to do it for today's show. We'll be back tomorrow to preview our next fantasy week. I don't even know at 19, I think. Week 19. And is it 19?

I think it's 20. 20? Oh, wow. I think we're at 20. That's the last regular season week in the podcast league, right? I guess so. Yeah. We do two week playoffs.

Two week playoffs. Two week rounds for, yeah, every playoff. I would have to. Okay. It's crunch time. We'll help everybody out tomorrow. Thanks a lot for listening. I'm Adam.

Peace God. See you.