Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/11 Fantasy BasebalL Podcast: Innings Limits, Shortstop Adds, Week 20 Help

Episode Date: August 11, 2017

Tim Beckham or Ketel Marte? Rhys Hoskins or Dominic Smith? And which SP could fill in for Vince Velasquez? We tell you what you need to know after Thursday's action ... Are Carlos Rodon and Marco Estrada back? Who is the Angels closer? We also talk about SPs with innings limits ... Two-start pitchers for Week 20, plus a lot more from Thursday including Danny Salazar, Jose Bautista and Wil Myers ... 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

Let's get you ready for the weekend and ready for Fantasy Week 20. Welcome to the show. This is Fantasy Baseball today. I'm Adam Azor. You know me. You know Scott White, right? Everybody knows you, Scott. Yeah, I guess.

And then there's this Heath Cummings guy who's joining the show today. Woo-hoo! Yes, Scott White hears that I'm going to be on the show today and says, so are you just coming on to, like, drop grenades? Because, you know, I'm obviously not coming on to offer any type of quality of fantasy baseball. Baseball analysis. So why are you here then? To lob grenades. For entertainment purposes only.

Yeah. Actually, the truth of the matter is this time of year, my fantasy baseball team start to go in the tank. I just wanted to come on here and pick Scott's brain because Scott's kind of lazy with his waiver wire pickups and he doesn't do anything until all at once on Saturday or Sunday. I'm going to go pick up all the guys that he says to pick up today. Yeah, well, hey, look, I picked up Blake Parker yesterday without realizing Blake Parker. didn't get a save yesterday.

That was pretty weird. We'll talk about that. Yeah, I actually picked up Blake Parker the night before last. So the time I don't wait until the weekend to make my claims, it blows up in my face. Kind of like a grenade lobbed at me. Yeah, so we're already, Heath is in, wait, unintentionally inadvertently lobbying grenades. Oh, that was completely advertent. Oh, I see, I see.

So, okay, Tim Beckham will talk about. he's batting 500 with the Orioles. Dominic Smith is up today. Reese Hoskins made his majorly debut yesterday. We'll talk about those guys again. Look at the most added list. Are Carlos Rodon and Marco Estrada back officially? Anything to be concerned about?

Danny Salazar sort of regressed too old Danny Salazar last night. A lot, really. And two-star pitchers for next week? What stood out to you yesterday? Scott White. What stood out to me yesterday, Adam Azer, was a number of things. You know what really stood out to me,

and I know this is probably not a great name to lead the show with. Uh-oh. Mark a lighter, for the second time in like a week, bailed out a Philly starting pitcher with a long relief appearance, four innings last time,

it was five innings this time, and a ton of strikeouts, both times. It was four innings. It was four and a third inning with nine strikeouts last time. It was five innings last time. It was five innings last time.

with seven strikeouts, one run aloud this time, and considering Vince Velasquez's left because of numbness in his middle finger, that to this point is unexplained. Which finger, Scott? Show me. The one right in between these two. Love it. It, uh, it, uh, it, uh, we could see lighter in the rotation. Interesting. All right. Five innings, one runs, seven strikeouts, no walks against the Mets. yesterday. Well, I like it. You know, we talk about the same old guys all the time. Mark Lider,

we have, I don't think he ever said his name. Mark Lider or Al Leiter. Well, this is Mark Lider, actually, so he's related to the other Lider. Well, I guess he's related to both, right? Because Al and the original Mark were our brothers. Is that right? I did not know that. I think they are. He's from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Go talk to Mark Lider. Yeah. Cool. All right. Mark Lider is 2% owned. Heath, what's that out to you yesterday other than Somaget Pirine? Remember two years ago when Catelle Marte was one of my favorite breakout candidates, and then he was terrible, and then he got traded,

and then he couldn't even make the opening day roster. He's back! He's on fire! 444 in five starts since coming back from the – was it the bereavement list? Yeah, yeah. And a 10-game hitting streak for Ctele-Marté, during which Marte is. is batting 412 with two home runs, four doubles, five walks to three strikeouts. So Marte is 10% owned.

He's doing everything except for the one thing I was pretty sure he would do, which is steel bases. Well, I will ask you this. So their ownership percentages are very different. Tim Beckham is 53-owned. He's batting 500 with the Orioles with three homers in, oh, I don't know. He's 20 for 40. I don't know how many games it's been. Tim Beckham's 53-owned.

Tell Marteis 10-owned. Who would you rather have at shortstop? I'd rather have Marte. I think I would too. Yeah, I would. But, you know, I really, really have a hard time forcing myself to turn to a player with just the kind of abysmal plate discipline that Tim Beckham has. Because it rarely works out in the long run. I feel like Adam Jones is kind of on an island as far as that.

I mean, we've even seen Rudnet-O-Dore fall off considerably. this year. Expectations were just too high. Well, maybe they should. Yeah, I mean, he's the guy who walked 16 times last year. Tim Beckham's like that, except he strikes out even more than Rudedad O'Dore. Well, more than him, I think. So, uh, nice hot streak for Beckham.

I think last time you were on Heath, you said he was a hot handplay at a weak position, and I don't disagree with that, but I don't have much faith in him in the long run. So we've given you Mark Lider, who's 2% owned. Catele, who's 10% owned. CJ Cron is 8% owned. Since the All-Star break, he's batting 357 with six home runs. In August, Cron is batting 4-14 with three home runs. He's been a guy who can get hot for a little while.

Any interest in an 8%-owned C.J. Cron. The problem with C.J. Cron is that he doesn't play shortstop. No, he doesn't. So if C.J. Crone played shortstop, I'd be very interested. Right. But, I mean, how about this? Would you drop, and we're going to put this guy in the dropometer later, would you drop Albert Pooleholz for C.J. Crone?

Sure. I wouldn't. I don't know why Pooholes is still on your roster. Yeah, I have the drop-o-meater later. I still hit home runs at least. Yeah, he's so bad. So the drop-o-meter has Albert Poo-Holes and 74% own, and I usually put everybody's stats next to them in the drop-a-meter. And for Poo-Holes, I just put, please drop him. 74-4-0 Albert Pujols is one of the most overall players in fantasy baseball. But this doesn't mean it's a drop for C. I can't disagree with that statement. Yeah.

All right, we got some call-ups to get to, a James Paxson injury. Let's start with this news item, though. Trey Turner, this should have been bigger news, hopes to return with 30 to 40 games remaining in the season, which is coming up pretty soon. Yeah. He hasn't swung a bat yet. That sounds a little bit optimistic to me. I think he was cleared to, though, just yesterday. I don't know, it might be closer to 30 than 40.

Yes. Because that would be, well, that's three weeks away. That seems like more time than necessary. I mean, we can't imagine he's going to start a rehab assignment in the next 10 days. Maybe two weeks from now he starts a rehab assignment? I don't know. I don't know, maybe, but maybe not. It's not like he's a pitcher.

It's not like there needs to be this slow buildup. And then you've got concerns when he comes back. I mean, we've guys come back from those hand slash wrist injuries. Sometimes it takes a little while to get the pop back. He'll still steal bases, but sure. 98% owned still and nobody is dropping Trey Turner. Right. Yeah, nobody should have.

And he'll still have plenty of time to contribute for you unless you play in a league with playoffs and you're eliminated before they start. Okay, so Trey Turner hopefully back soon. James Paxton left with a pictorial strain. That sound I just made was, it sucks. You know, he's already been on the DL. They don't know the severity. We won't speculate, but Paxton is definitely a guy that people are going to look at

next year and say, can he stay healthy? The answer is probably no. You never know, but it's been a tough, been an uphill battle for James Paxton. So we talked about Reese Hoskins and Dominic Smith yesterday. They're owned in a similar amount of leagues. Hoskins, 41 percent owned Dominic Smith, 37. percent owned. Now, if Dominic Smith is the better prospect, which he is, right, Scott, why is it that you like Reese Hoskins more? I feel like Reese Hoskins is considered the lesser

prospect because he was the lesser prospect to begin with. So he hasn't quite, he didn't really even enter the prospect conversation until this year. And Dominic Smith has been since he was drafted as an 18-year-old. So, That's, in my eyes, Reese Hoskins is actually the better prospect because I have no concerns about the kind of power he's going to hit for. I do about Dominic Smith. And I feel like, like, I'm kind of bummed that I keep having to sound like a downer about Dominic Smith because I like the profile. I like high floor hitter prospects like he is. Like, we know he's a good hitter.

It's just, is the power going to develop enough at first base for him to be a good fantasy hitter? You know, you play in a deep enough league, it probably will. But in the standard 12-team format, I don't know, and I especially don't know this year where, you know, there are at least 20 starting caliber first baseman in that format already. I like Smith. I don't know. I just don't know if it's in the cards for him to make a worthwhile contribution this year.

Would you guys drop Chris Davis with a C for either Dominic Smith or Reese Hoskins? I would drop him for Hoskins in a points league. And that was kind of, when I was moving Hoskins up in my rankings yesterday, like Chris Smith was the point where I moved Hoskins just ahead in a points league and just behind in a Rotter League. I did see an interesting tweet the other day about Dominic Smith because he is playing in Las Vegas, which is one of the best hitting environments in the minor leagues. And he's hitting 333, which was the same average as Kevin Polwar. in the same lineup, and Plewecki's ISO was like 30 points higher.

So you've got to take what he's done this year, at least. I think he's a good, like what Scott said, he's going to hit for a decent average, but I don't know how much pops are. Okay, and he's also just 22 years old, so we'll keep that in mind for Dominic Smith. All right, so we talked about them yesterday. We talked about them today. Check out the rankings on CBS.com slash fantasy. if you want some more advice on who to drop for Reese Hoskins or Dominic Smith.

Trevor Cahill is on the D.L. with a shoulder impingement syndrome. And Kansas City called up Kevin McCarthy. Jacob Dagram may not be able to make his next start. Maybe it'll get pushed back. But he was hit on the arm by a comebacker. He should be fine long term, but I guess we could say DeGrom's next start is up in the air. Clint Frazier's on the DL.

Aaron Hicks is back. Jordan Montgomery probably going to start Sunday for C.C. Sabathia against Chris Sale on the Red Sox. Vince Velasquez, as Scott mentioned, left with numbness in his finger. His status for his next start is unclear. Jason Kipnis, they're calling him day to day. They're calling Kipness day to day with a hamstring injury, but this hamstring already put him on the DL. So we'll see.

Terry Francona says it was more precautionary to remove Kipness. Brian Goodwin, can talk about him every day. Brian Goodwin homered. Yeah. So what is he now? 10% owned, maybe? Anybody want a piece of Brian Goodwin? National's leadoff hitter.

He deserves to be more owned than that. Well, 10 was a guess. He can't play shortstop, and he is 9% owned. All right, keep on climbing. I kind of see him as like, there's some Jackie Bradley qualities to Brian Goodwin, but the biggest difference is you're pretty confident. Goodwin's not going to be any kind of help at all on batting average. And Michael Fulmer should be back next week.

That's a relief. And Lonnie Chisunhall could be back on Sunday, which is a big, surprise because they were just talking about Chisunhall not really being close. Now I see this note that he could be back Sunday. We'll see about Lonnie Chisandhall. And of course, bad news. Rally Cat is missing. Probably the work of some deranged Kansas City Royals fan who did not want the Cardinals to have their rally cat.

Rally Cat is missing, ladies and gentlemen. Isn't it possible like animal control picked them up? No, so the story is some lady, like they took the cat out of the stadium and some lady took the cat. and was planning on adopting it. And at some point in her journey home with Rally Cat, Rally Cat jumped away from the lady and is no longer, we don't know, his whereabouts are unknown. Or her whereabouts are unknown.

I don't know what the cat is. Say he's a guy. And we'll control it, Adam. Rally cat's missing. All cats are girls. You're not a cat guy, are you? All dogs are boys. All cats are girls.

Everybody knows that. In the bullpen. So Blake Parker, looking like the closer, and then he comes in in the seventh inning yesterday. Then Bud Norris crapped the bed in the eighth inning. But then the Angels took the lead again in the top of the ninth, and Cam Brojan got the save. And Bedrosian now, in his last six appearances,

five and two-thirds scoreless, four walks, nine strikeouts. He had been pretty bumpy before that. All right, what do you think? Who's getting the next save? I don't know what to think anymore. My world is turned completely upside down because all signs pointed to Blake Parker yesterday and looked like Bedrosian wasn't even in the discussion because of recent struggles and just the role, the way the way the angels were using him.

I'm pretty sure it's not Bud Norris, pretty sure. I can't even say that with 100% certainty. But I don't know. I don't feel confident in Parker anymore and I don't feel confident in Bedrojan necessarily either. Great. Wonderful. Any concerns about Edwin Diaz or Brad Hans job security after rough outings yesterday? No. Okay. Let's play a game called Are They Back? Although it was interesting that Hans came in the seventh inning. Yes. So they brought Hand in to face Joey Votto, actually in the middle of a Votto at bat, with some runners on. And he ended up walking Votto, and then I think he got a strikeout, and then he gave up a grand slam to Scooter Jeanette.

Yeah, they brought him in with a two-two count, I think. Yeah, weird. Really weird. Very strange. But he's their guy. So, Brad Hand. All right. I think it's just, I think that was just Andy Green, you know, trying a new age approach to the bullpen.

And it backfired in this case. So I still think he'll mostly reserve Hand for the Ninth. And Hand has had 23 straight scoreless appearances before this. Don't worry about it. Just hold your hand. All right. There you go. I like it.

Are Carlos Rodan and Marco Estrada back? They are both about 75% owned, so it might be available in some leagues. Are Carlos Rodan and Marco Estrada back? Carlos Rodon is everything I'd ever hoped that he would be. That's good. Certainly has been last three starts. I'm all in. I'm Carlos Rodon.

And I feel like Estrada's looking like he's back too. The Recap on the Blue Jays team site did make reference to some mechanical changes he has made. They didn't specify what exactly the. those were, but three strong seven-inning starts now after just getting pummeled for two months before that. I think what Chris and I had been saying about Estrada is kind of playing out here. He's got his command back, and so he's back to being effective. He did pitch very, very well yesterday, and I think Estrada is a two-start pitcher,

and I'm guessing Rodan is two. Sorry I should have had that pulled up. Here we go. Estrada has Tampa Bay at home and the Cubs on the road, and Rodan is a one-start pitcher next week. But how do you feel about a two-start Estrada, Cubs on the road, Tampa Bay at home? I could see doing that. I'd be more likely to do it in a points league, of course. Yep. Okay. Carlos Rodan is a one-star pitcher, and he is facing the Dodgers on the road next week.

Actually, yeah, the Dodgers on the road. I don't like that. Yeah, that sounds dangerous. Yeah, but again, look at these three starts for Rodon. Cleveland at the Red Sox and home against Houston. And he's giving up five run runs in 22 and a third. Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be a flat note for me, just thinking through practically speaking my different pitching staffs.

I feel like normally the one-start options I go with are ones I wouldn't even have to think about. what is their matchup because they're just that good. And I don't know that Rodon's quite reached that level yet. Scott wrote a very terrifying article yesterday. We're going to talk about it in just a second. But fellas, you may be running at a time. This offer will not last forever. Get yourself an Indochino suit.

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Scott, thanks for scaring everybody with your innings limit story. Listen, my very first sentence of this column was, everybody just relaxed, okay? My goal here wasn't to scare anybody. In fact, it was halfway to eliminate concerns that people had been giving me over. Basically, the concept is innings limits,

which pitchers are nearing what may well be an inning ceiling for them, ones may either be shut down completely or have their innings pulled back over the next few weeks. And I was trying to identify the 10 pitchers that that's most likely to happen for. And who do you think is most likely to be shut down with an innings limit? I think it's Luis Castillo. He and Jeff Hoffman and Dylan Bundy are the three who have already exceeded their previews. high in innings. I feel like teams generally allow for a 30 to 40 inning increase from one season

to the next. In fact, for young pitchers that you're developing, that's ideal because it obviously allows them to go even deeper the next season. But if they're already here in mid-August past their previous high, that means they probably have four to five starts left. Okay, Luis Castillo. Severino is kind of the headliner of this story. What did you take away on Severino? So Severino is fifth on this list of 10. And the way I worded it was these are the 10 who I think are most likely to have innings issues going forward. But I don't know that all 10 are likely. They're the most likely, but not all 10 are likely.

Severino at 5 is the last of them who I feel like is likely. Because he's at 139 and a third. his previous high is 161 and 2 thirds, so he's about 22 innings away from his previous high. You know, you add 60 to his current total because there's probably about 10 turns left for most pitchers. Average, average 6 a start that's pretty generous. But let's say you add 60 to it. That would probably be fine. But the issue, of course, is that the Yankees intend to keep playing beyond the regular season.

Now, it's a weird situation because they're going to have to fight to get to the postseason. and Severino's been their best pitcher this year. I don't know how much they can pull back on him without seriously jeopardizing their October status, especially since, assuming they win a wild card, it may be all of one game that they play in October. But it may not be. I mean, they may go to the World Series, who knows?

So at some point, if they care at all about their future, they're going to have to be careful with Severino. I think they're going to try to kind of straddle the fence here, play for right now while also preserving him, and maybe we see him make some four-plus inning starts in September. Now, they have the bullpen to help him out with that. Dylan Bundy is someone you have to be really concerned about. You can see it in Scott's story.

You know, Buck Showalter says we've got Bundy mapped out through the start of September. We'll be easing the throttle a little bit so we can push it again if we need to. So he's up there. Lance McCullors is another guy. And the longer he stays on the DL, you know, that would help him down the stretch, right, McCullors? Yeah, well, I think the DL stint, the fact that he has a sore back, you know, kind of a vague injury to begin with, and he's already missed two turns and there's still no timetable for him. I think the Astros are basically just preserving him for the postseason already. And I don't know what that means for him in September. Maybe he'll make two or three more starts. I think you have to try to get him back on track before you get to the playoffs. I would expect he may still have some value late in Roto leagues and points leagues.

It's you got to get there. Yeah, exactly. Jeff Hoffman is another one. You mentioned Bundy. Bundy Castillo and Jeff Hoffman are the three who already have more than their previous high innings and their numbers, one, two, three on the list. Number five, and this kind of begins the group I'm less concerned with, but Zach Godley, who had nothing but good things to say about,

he is now looks like 27 innings from his previous high which again they're looking to exceed their previous high by 30 or 40 innings so he may be fine but the Diamondbacks of course also have

designs on the postseason and he has been their second best pitcher this year if not their best so you would think they'd want him to be a big part of their postseason plans but like the Yankees it may just be one game for the Diamondbacks too so how careful there's a chance they could overdo it being careful with him.

Right. They're not going to win the division. I think he'll probably be okay, but like with Severino, we may see some shorter starts in September. So, Godly, they're going to have the Zach attack if they advance past the wild card game. Granky Godly. Grinky and Godly.

ZG, ZG. I like it. Yeah. Crazy. All right, so if you want more, just read the story, some interesting stuff in there. Jacob Ferreia has mentioned, Jose Barrios. Is Scott concerned about any of the game?

limits for these guys, Aaron Nola as well. Don't freak out. Let's just mention all the names. Garrett Cole might be the most surprising one, but read what I have to say about that. Yeah, okay, very surprising and very interesting. And Garrett Cole pitched pretty well yesterday. Having said that, I would think we should take a look at the most added players in CBSports.com leagues. You can find this on our website if you look at the roster trends.

And it's another thing you can find in your league on CBS Sports. James McCann is the number one catcher and the number one most added player, number one most added catcher and most added player. Tim Beckham, Reese Hoskins, Christian Vasquez, Junjin Ryu. There's your top five. Two catchers, McCann and Vasquez, Beckham, Reese Hoskins, and Junjun Ryu. Well, not the most exciting top five I've ever seen on the most added list. Ryu is the most exciting to me, but what do you guys? think.

Yeah. I would agree with that. I just don't trust James McCann. I don't know that anybody picking him up does trust James McCann, but people would guess. Yeah, it's just making the best of a bad situation. Two high-profile catchers just went down, and, I mean, what else are you going to do? I was going to pick up Alex Avila in my Wilson Contreras league, but he was taken. So I picked up, instead of McCann, I went with Tyler Flowers.

Yeah, those. that makes sense I would take a Vila or Flowers over McCann but I think Flowers has ranked high enough for long enough that even in one catcher leagues there's a good chance he's owned already

I don't know what his percentage is exactly but 46 46 so exactly the same as McCann yeah I'd go with Flowers over McCann although McCann gets more regular playing time right now he does yeah I know but

maybe it's a points categories thing because playing time matters more in points leagues or i guess sitting matters less in categories leagues is probably the better way to say it chad cool brandon woodruff denelson lemette lemette's he's fun i mean he's got a lot of talent he's pretty much a two pitch pitcher so that sucks but he he and louis castillo both showed off a little bit yesterday they're good pitchers um cool woodruff lemmette is lemmette your favorite in that group Yes. I might actually like Woodruff a little more just because of the team he has around him. Lemette's two-starred this week, right?

Yeah. Both of them at home? Oh, I don't. Let's see. Lament. I know one of them at home. I think both of them. Philadelphia and Washington.

Yeah, both at home. Yeah. Yeah, I'd rather have Lvette. All right, we'd probably get into that more when we talk about the two-star pitchers. The most ad-in-list, boris me. Russell Martin is also on the most added list. I did go with Tyler Flowers over Russell Martin, which I stared at the two names for about 20 seconds, and finally was like, Russell Martin stinks.

But gosh, Tyler Flowers, I don't know. Who would you rather have Martin, Flowers, McCann? Who's your favorite? Martin. In a points league, definitely Martin. In a roto league, I could see how the difference in batting average might scare you away from him. But he plays more regularly than Flowers. He walks a lot.

Decent points league guy still. Yeah, it was a Categories League for me. All right, that's a quick look at the most added list. I got a couple of emails yesterday. Both of them had the same subject line, and I'm pretty sure they were from different people. We are to get two emails that say, is this collusion in the subject line? Right. One of them capitalized is this and collusion, like I, T, and C.

The other one was lowercase on the T and this and the C and collusion, but I'm going to say these are the same subject line. Okay. Is this collusion from Joe in Turkmenistan? I want to drop Angleton Simmons to pick up Jerry's Familia. I don't want my main division rival to pick up Angleton Simmons. My rival has Marcus Simeon in a high waiver priority. Therefore, I am speaking to other members of the league and will literally accept their worst player in a trade for Simmons

to stop my rival from getting him. Is this collusion or is this in the spirit of fantasy baseball? So you are going to trade Simmons, drop whoever you trade him for, and pick up familiar. It seems that way, yeah. I think that's genius. What ruins it for me is the fact you're going to immediately drop the one and only player you trade for. It's going to look bad. It's going to look bad.

But you're not doing this to make another team better. You're doing this for your own strategy. So it's not collusion. Quite clearly not collusion. It must be like a team in baseball, Major League Baseball, taking a lesser trade from a, like, an AL East team taking a lesser trade from a National League team rather than trading for better value.

Didn't the Mets just do that with J.Bird? The Mets just did that. Maybe. It depends who you ask. But no, but the thing is the Mets did that with the Yankees. I don't think it's in the spirit of fantasy baseball. I think you have to at least for the next lineup, lock, hold on to the player you traded for.

You do not, Joe. There's nothing in your. rules that says you have to do that. I like it. Go win your league. Okay, so two to one say not collusion. How about this one from... It's not collusion.

It just don't think it's kosher. Okay. I'm not going to read the name here. It seems like a fake, dirty name take on a movie. I apologize to the person that sent this email that Adam just said your name seems like a fake dirty name. Look at the name. There's no way that's a real name. I read it.

I read it. It seems like a fine name to me. It does it. It's been traumatized throughout middle and high school and thought he was finally an adult and safe from this type of ridicule. Then he sends us an email and you say, I'm not going to read your name because it seems like a fake, dirty name. I'll let Heath read it, but it's a Lord of the Rings play on a Lord of the Rings name. It's from Mr. Sagan's, Dilbo Sagan's. Dilbo Sagan's. Okay.

Dear Cooper, Hawk, and Truman. I don't know that. I always say that he team when I hear names like that, but I don't know. I'm in a 12-team points league. The last-place team just made a trade with the second-place team. Last-place cannot mathematically make the playoffs. It's not a keeper league. Last-place team traded Harper to the second-place team for Adam Duval, Kyle Schwerber,

Eduardo Nunez, and Jacob Faria. This is collusion. He gave up Harper for Duval, Schwerber, Nunez, and Faria. Yep, it's collusion. Kick him out of the league. I don't... Would it be collusion if he were still... It's not...

The trade itself is not that bad. I mean, the Harper side probably wins, but it's not a terrible haul for Harper. Duval, Schwerber, Nunez, and Friya. No, it's not. I mean, Fria and Duval Nunez are probably started in every 12-team points league. I think it's collusion. Yeah, I don't like it. I mean, that's why I put that...

It's only collusion... I mean, collusion is a matter of intent, right? Right. What would his intent be other than to help the second-place team? try and make himself better. But he's already been eliminated. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try. You wish he had a commissioner like Adam Azer that said,

do not make any trades if you've been mathematically eliminated. So, Scott, if you were the commissioner of this league and you saw last place team gives Bryce Harper a second place team. No, I would not assume the last place team is just trying to help the second place team win. So you'd let the trade stand? Yes, absolutely. All right. I do think it's interesting to make, I know, Scott.

would disagree with it, but to make just a blanket rule, once you're eliminated from the postseason, you are no longer allowed to make trades. I think that's interesting. The Keeper League obviously would be different. Much different. I wonder what people think about that. Let's do a Twitter poll. I mean, granted, it's hard to prove collusion unless it's admitted to. We got about 25 minutes left. I'm going to do his Twitter poll here. Totally a judgment call. No. The thing is, if you suspect somebody colluded, like you always say, Heath, you have to. You have to kick him out of the league. Yep.

So unless you're willing to go that far, you can't deny this trade. Okay. Moving on. Rookie watch. Let's catch up on some of the rookies. I want you to tell me if you like their ownership percentages or if it's too high or too low. Ian Hap, 62% owned.

I think it's too high because he's not an everyday player anymore, and he's been very streaky on the wrong side of it lately. I think it's about right. I don't know that there's that much difference between Ian Hap. And Routon at Odor. One of them plays every day. One of them does not. Yeah, Hap's got a 663 OPS in his last 34 games, and he sits like half the time.

Odor has had many 30-game stretches with Opses lower than that. It's really the playing time's the main thing. I wouldn't have a problem with the if he played every day. A lot of city. It could maybe even stand to be higher if he played every day, but he doesn't. Bradley Zimmer, 61% owned. I think that's maybe a little low, actually. But he sits, though.

Yeah, that's fine with me. He's back to sitting. He'd been starting against more left-handers recently. Yeah, he's back to sitting. And they just added Jay Bruce. They're getting Chisunhall back. Yeah, you're right. Okay, fair enough.

It probably does need to be owned in like five outfielder roto leagues just because of what he can do for you in steals without really hurting you in other things. But otherwise, looks like a format specialist now. Okay. Bradley Zimmer and Ian Hap are 62 and 61% owned. Ahmed Rosario is 67% owned, and he is batting 161 with no walks and 11 strikeouts in nine games. Ahmed Rosario is 67% owned.

I think it's fine. You need to keep a hold of him on the bench in case he starts hitting because he's a shortstop. And 11 strikeouts to no walks. This is because they're close in my rankings. Ahmed Rosario or Ketel Marte. Ownership percentage difference is huge. I mean, I'd rather be starting Marte right now, right? Yeah, I think so

I think so But I don't think I can drop Rosario For him Just I probably It's stashed Rosario for months already And every time you're having One of these epiphanies I think you should play that little

Rinktone off your phone It was like Scott You think I picked it up I hope so Doot doot doot What did it go That's uh That's from

That's from Death Note The The I don't know Check it out on Netflix death note it's good and uh wow zekeo elliott suspended six games just saw that come across the wire you can't think of anything else now can you i cannot all right uh yoan munkata 77 percent own had his best night and in august montata is batting 391 but you got to love the eight walks eight strikeouts

as well not a lot of power before last night um but what do you think about montata 77 percent owned i mean now that he's starting to heat up it would seem like a silly time to drop him right? Well, I mean, do you think he should be more owned than 77%? He's always been this owned since the start of the season. So, I guess so. I would say that this is, much like Rosario, this is about right. Makata's starting to hit. I'm still not starting him. We've got Derek Fisher, 39% owned. He has sat against the last two lefties that the Astros have faced, and Fisher has been bad against lefties this year.

39% owned for Derek Fisher. Cut him. Springer's back. Um, but he's still the primary. I guess, I don't know. I don't know. That's probably fine. He looks like a platoon player like Zimmer, but Zimmer's owned in a lot more leagues.

So 39? It seems fine for Fisher. Raphael Devere's 79% own in a mini slump, two for his last 15 with no extra base hits in his last four games. Raphael Devere, 79% own. I'm fine with that. Yep. Yeah, how could you be disappointed? You've got to love what you've gotten from Devers so far, 319 with three home runs, six walks, 11 strikeouts.

Jesse Winker, 16% owned? Nah. Cooled off after a really hot start, but Shebler, I don't know that Scott Shebler's coming back. No, no. Not anytime soon. So, I mean, it's fine. 16's fine. It's just a question to me of should it be even higher.

Ozzie Albies is 34% owned. He is batting 167, but has four walks to three strikeouts in eight games. Ozzy Albi is 34% owned. Man, this is depressing. I know, these minor leagues have been terrible lately. I don't think. He doesn't need to be owned in more leagues. 34% for Albies?

Yeah, probably not. I mean, even when he got called up, I only moved him up to like 25th in my second base. rankings just because it's not a position with a lot of standouts, but there are a lot of, he's fine. Has he still on a base yet? I don't think so. Maybe one. I don't know what he's going to give you.

Well, he's not getting on base, you know. He needs to get on base before Ozzy Albee steals any bases. Okay, that's your rookie watch. Do we need to talk about any prospects, Scott? We can. Obviously, two of my five to stash when I wrote this on Wednesday were Hoskins. and Dominic Smith. So that goes without saying.

The next three are Luke Weaver, Ronald Acuna, Tyler Glassnow. And, you know, I don't really think Acuna is going to come up. I'd put the chances at less than 50-50. But if he does, there was a nice piece written on fan rag sports about how you could make a case of Cooney

is the best prospect in baseball now. For the Braves. Yes. 18 year old outfielder who's gone from high Class A to AAA this year and has hit better at every stop. So, you know, just the upside might make them worth stashing if you're in a league where you care about that at this point of the season. I think Luke Weaver will get more starts eventually and we like him. Tyler Glass now has been 161, ERA, 92 strikeouts and 61 and two-thirds innings since getting sit back to AAA. Still a lot of walks.

but he's making strides with pitch selection and other things. So if he comes back, it'll be like when Blake Snell came back. Reason to give him a look again, considering the upside at a position, everybody needs more of, but, you know, who really knows? At this point, it's glass now or glass never, am I right? No, I wouldn't go that for it. I know. I just wanted to make the point. You just wanted to work.

All right, you can check out the prospects also on CBS Sports.com. We got to talk more about yesterday, but first, the dropometer has Yueness Cespitas on it. I'm just going to put, I'm going to put guys on here that you're probably going to give a zero. You might give a zero or a one on the dropleter. But Cespitas since returning from his injury, 49 games since coming off the DL. He has a 756 OPS. He's hitting for a little more power in August, 257 ISO, but only a 229 batting average. Would you give any thought to dropping Yueness Cespitus?

Any thought to it? Probably not. Well, I mean, the fact that I say probably not means, yes, I would give thought to it, but I probably wouldn't do it. Maybe in like a 10-team three outfielder league, I could see just totally going hot hand with that third outfield spot, and Cessbit isn't make the cut. But he's been too good for too long for...

It hasn't been bad enough this year. I mean, a lot of injuries, yeah, but he's been decent when he's played. I cannot let go of your anus. Since coming back, he has been pretty bad. He's got six home runs in 49 games and a 756 OPS and he's playing hurt. Yeah, no, I understand. I understand. Okay.

Hey, I forgot to mention that all of you all out there need to go to CBSports.com slash baseball to download our awesome app. So it's our new version of the CBS Sports app. It's got OPS, OBP, whip and fantasy points right there in the box scores. Swipe right on the box score. And if you want to download the app, go to CBSports.com slash baseball. So Cespitas, we're not dropping. Stephen Sousa is batting 192 with two walks on 11 strikeouts in August. Stephen Sousa is 91% owned.

Where is Sousa on the dropometer? Oh, you want, okay, you want a more definitive take than what I gave for CESPEDA's? Because I'm sensing you're not liking my answer for CESPetis. I liked it. I liked it. You do not, in August, drop a top 20 outfielder who is healthy and playing every day. Boom. There you go.

I knew that. I knew he'd be a zero, Stephen Sousa. How about Domingo Santana, though? Since the All-Star break, he's batting 220 with three homers, one steel, eight walks, 35 strikeouts and 25 games. Domingo Santana is 84% on dropometer for Domingo Santana. Three. I honestly don't know that he and Souser are all that different. Just Santana's been cold for longer.

Okay, so not dropping him. I'll give him a two. Gregory Polanco, 78% owned. He's batting 154 since coming off the DL. Gregory Polanco, drop a meter. Adam, would you drop Gregory Polanco to pick up Oduble Herrera? Yes. Okay.

Six. Ten. Get him out of there. Tired of this. Albert Puhol's, 74% own. Please drop him. 473,3,3,316,000. 525,600. Albert Poulth.

What is that from? That's how old he is. That's that song. 525,600 minutes. What show is that from? Rent? No one knows. It's a big one.

I know that song, yeah. But I don't. Maybe Vanity Fair, I'll write an article about it. They did it in the... They did it in the Seasons of Love? Oh, yeah, it's Rent. It's called Seasons of Love is from Rent. They did it in the office.

They sang that song to Michael Scott. Remember when he left? But their own little version of it? Good times, everybody. Finally, Josh Reddick is 75% owned. He has cooled off a bit. Josh Reddick's 75% owned. No.

No, because the problem with dropping Josh Reddick is his best format is points leagues. And that's also the more shallow format. You couldn't drop. I don't think you can drop them in a five outfielder league. I don't know. Where does he actually rank in terms of... I don't know. It's always higher than I expected to be, considering he's not an everyday player. He is sandwiched between Eric Thames and Joey Gallo, who have both been healthy all year,

well, have both played regularly all year. And I don't think you'd be dropping either right now, certainly not what the ground gallows made up lately. Okay. Actually, let's go ahead and put Eric Thames on the drop-on meter. It's not zero. One. Really? He hasn't done anything in three months.

That's not true. It's pretty true. I'll give it a five. It's not true. You said he hasn't done anything in three months. That's obviously not true. He had like two hot streaks and three cold streaks in that time, Graham. He's being a literalist right now.

he didn't like when I was a literalist to him yesterday. He was not impressed. What was it? Do you remember that exchange? I didn't even bother me, so obviously not. Okay. He had a... I don't...

I don't remember at all. Okay. Fair enough. I was given Heath a taste of his own medicine. Being a little smart aleck right back to him. He didn't like it. I'm not a smart aleck. Oh, come on.

I don't know what you're talking about. We'll let the listeners decide that. So Joe Public has weighed in on how do you feel about this commission rule? Once a team is eliminated from playoff contention, that team can't make trades anymore. We haven't been talking about that for a week. I just want to know what Joe Public thought about it. So I put the poll up on Twitter. So far, 367 votes in about 15 minutes, I'm impressed.

69% like it. 31% say no way. It's a very nice rule. And you know what? I'm going to retweet it and see if that changes things. All right. All right, let's see. Double Dongs yesterday, only one player was Trey Mancini, who is 62% owned.

Would you drop Domingo Santana, Gregory Polanco, or Josh Reddick for Trey Mancini? Trey Mancini has been on the top 10 sleeper hitters list for like weeks because his ownership never rises beyond the critical point. And because, you know, he's been productive all year. I guess they've had good matchups a lot. But he's just such a weird player because his ground ball rate is insanely high. He still has a 350 Babbib to go with like a 290 batting average. And, you know, doesn't make the kind of contact that backs it up.

But his numbers have been so good for so long. No, to answer your question, I like Santana Moore. But I would drop Polanco for him. Mancini is somebody I keep recommending for people who need a one-week replacement. He's an 873 OPS. He's having a really good year. 296 with 20 home runs. Bad walk to strikeout ratio, but

Manzini-16. Normally you feel like that mid-300 is bad, but you need a high line-drive percentage. His line-drive percentage is way low. And his fly-ball percentage is also way low. So how's he hitting the home runs? It doesn't make sense. Three up from yesterday. Will

Myers is homered in two straight games. Jose-Bautista has a six-game hitting streak and three homers in his last four games. And I'll get to Josh Bell in a second. But with Myers and Batista, do you think these are just little hot streaks? Or could it be the start of something really good for Myers

and Batista? There's so little time left in the season now that a little hot streak could carry you through the rest of the season. So I would not seven weeks left. Yeah, there is a lot. Not a lot left in the regular season. I guess it depends.

Fantasy regular season. Right. If your league uses playoffs or not, you kind of have to view things with a more short-term perspective. I would have both in my lineup this week. Yeah, Myers, he's homered in two straight games, as I mentioned, but he had a stretch in July where he homered in three straight games, and then he was terrible after that. But hopefully picking it up again.

I don't think either would, it depends how big the lineup is. Standard roto lineup starts, what? seven more hitters than a standard head-to-head lineup. So probably yes to that, but head-to-head, no, I don't. I have better options than this at those two positions if I've been halfway decent this year. Yeah, I've been stuck starting Walthista kind of stinks. Six-man rotate. Oh, Josh Bell.

Josh Bell, 72% owned. He's having a nice year. He's batting 255 with 20 home runs, 3.30 on base, 4-82 slugging. And 44 walks, 84 strikeouts for Josh Bell. number 20 first basement in points, number 25 in Roto. I don't know what to say about Josh Bell. He just sort of was like, I don't know, corner infield, D.H. type that you just deal with.

Yeah. Yeah, I have a feeling. He's just kind of in no man's land because in some ways he's exceeded expectations this year, but so many first basemen have. And it's the only position he's eligible. lot. That's kind of how I feel like Dominic Smith's stint's going to go. I think he'll be good in a vacuum, but you're just not going to be able to find a spot for him.

That's three up, none down, rotation from yesterday, six-man rotation, anything to say about Sunny Gray, Danny Salazar, Brad Peacock, Garrett Cole, Dan Straitan, Tanner Roark. Gray, Salazar, Peacock, Cole, Stralian, Rowark. Like you said at the beginning that Danny Salazar was back to his old self, but he said, he was back to like his old self before the beginning of this year. That's what I meant. Beginning of this year was just terrible. This is the type of start you can live with if he doesn't quite have it all together

one day, but strikes out eight gives up one run. Yeah. Walk four. I think he's back. I don't really question his startability right now. And I mean, Peacock may be getting to that point too, since there's still no timetables for McCullors. He looks like he's a fixture for the Astros for the foreseeable future.

his return to the rotation after one relief appearance was a disaster, but he's the one Astros pitcher who's been able to shut down that White Sox lineup. You know, that return to the rotation that was a disaster was sort of a difficult circumstance for Peacock. You know, he ends up like making a spot start basically not on regular rest. It was a four-inning relief appearance, I think, before that, and then a surprise return to rotation. Right. So, I don't know. Like, he's actually done pretty well with the walks lately.

He'll have a start here and there where he gives up five walks, but most starts, he's not, Brad Peacock is not plagued by control problems. So he's, I mean, as an RP for sure, you're starting him all the time. But I like, Peacock is pretty damn good. He's like unhittable. All right. Fringe's starting pitchers. Luis Castillo, 72% owned.

De Nelsso Lament, 56% owned. And Blake Snell, 22% owned. Jason Hamill, 32% owned. He's got a 370 ERA over his last 12 starts. He's been pretty consistent. And Hamill's at Oakland next week. If you need a one-start fill-in, Hamill's not a bad idea at 32%.

Tyler Skaggs had a good start too. I don't know. Like, I feel like we've fallen for this with a lot of similar pitchers this year. Matt Garza. Mike Leak. You know, just that, you know they're not a big bat misser,

but they've been pretty reliable lately, so maybe you'll roll the dice on them and then it just all falls apart. At Oakland, though, Oakland strikes out so much. I actually think he could get a strikeout per inning in that start. What were Garza's matchups this week? I think they were pretty good. I mean, Garza's things.

We never thought Garza was as good as Jason Hamill coming into this year. I had a moment where I was intrigued by Garza because he changed his arsenal, but no, I never, no, I never really bought into Garza. Look, Hamill has 370 URA in his last 12 starts. It's kind of, you know, reasonable. Start at your own risk. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying you can't do it. but I would be afraid if I was you.

Do you think Blake Snell has a promising outlook going forward? 22% owned? Rest of season? Yeah. No. I'd bet against it. In his career, yes. Control is getting better.

Yeah, I mean, it has to start somewhere, right? I just, I feel like the starts where his control is good and he actually goes six innings, which I think this was the third time all year he's gone six innings. His strikeouts really suffer as well. That's obviously what you want from him is a lot of strikeouts. So I don't know. I'm not. He's probably my third favorite of this list behind Castillo and Lamet, which, by the way, I was, it was kind of disappointing.

Castillo yesterday finally got the great matchup after so many bad ones. And it's just kind of a, eh, it's technically a quality start, but not many strikeouts. It looks a lot like most of the other starts. Yeah, exactly. Well, he was, Castillo was pitching very well, and they got ripped apart in the sixth inning. So I went to look if he has an issue with that, pitching deep into games. Does he get beat up the third time around? No, he doesn't.

Again, I'm only expecting four more turns for him, so it can't be too much of an investment anyway. Let's take a look at two-star pitchers for Fantasy Week 20. And Kyle Hendrix has Cincinnati and Toronto at home. Start or sit? Start. Cincinnati and Toronto, Kyle Hendricks. I mean, if you're fine with him pitching five-and-two-thirds innings, then yeah

okay you're getting 10 then so it's better than most one-start pitchers sure you may not win you either start but I think he'll get at least one win

Cincinnati and Toronto so he just went seven innings in his last start didn't he no I don't think so I think his start before last he went seven but that was his only start with even six in like

I don't know a long time yeah his last start was four and two-thirds the one before that was seven and back to the, oh, come on, stupid computer. Get back to the two-star pitching list. John Gray, two starts. They're both at home.

Nope. Both at home, yeah, I'd rather not. Atlanta and Milwaukee. Yeah, that's... I mean, if you really just feel like you need that extra start in a points league. Okay. Not the craziest idea. Kevin Gosman at Seattle, home against the Angels.

Yeah. Yep. Yeah, I'll go with him. Even though his last start wasn't his best. I like the bigger trend he's been on. Yvonne Nova at Milwaukee, home against St. Louis. Pretty much done with him. Maybe you could justify it in a points league, but...

I don't really want to. A lot of base runners, and you just hope he pitches deep in the game. Colin McHugh at Arizona, home against Oakland. I'll give him a pass for his last start, too, and go with him. I would rather not, but I'd rather start him than Nova. That's Colin McHugh. How about Luis Castillo, at the Cubs, at the Braves? Sure. Yep.

Trevor Bauer at Boston at Kansas City. Nope. Yeah, I won it either, even though three really good starts in a row. I just don't know where it came from and I don't trust it. Mike Leak at Boston at Pittsburgh. Nope. Nope. We said start Marco Estrada next week, Tampa Bay and at the Cubs.

Denelsa Lament, Philadelphia, and Washington at home. Yep. Yeah, yeah. Because of the Philly start, I'll roll the dice on that. Not starting Julio Toron at Colorado and home against Cincinnati. Hopefully, Alex Cobb will come off the DL. We'll see. He's not going to be eligible for Monday's start.

Oh, okay. It won't have been enough time. He may make a start later in the week, but it won't be that soon. Odarezi might be a two-star pitcher instead. And that would be against Toronto and against Seattle. Seattle. Oh, this is the one we really like. You know, we told you to pick up Vince Velas.

But don't anymore because of the injury. But Jared Eichoff at San Diego at San Francisco. Yeah, really neat trick that Adam uses in leagues that he's a commissioner of. This is your fault. He turns off waivers and then people make claims. And then he says, oh, I have to reverse that just so we can see who people are trying to get. Let's tell everybody. And then he picks him up.

I didn't pick him up. I didn't pick him up. It's a really good. That is not in the spirit of fantasy baseball. Let's discuss what actually happens. So in this league, I always turn waivers off on Mondays before lineups lock, and then I put waivers back on. But in CBSports.com, in our leagues, you have to check a box that says free agent player is always on waivers. That way, you can set it up where only players that get dropped are on waivers, and all other players are just regular free agents.

I forgot to check that box. So Heath picked up Jared Eichoff a couple of days ago, and he told me, hey, you didn't put waivers back on. I just picked him up, you know, without having to wait. Being honest. Yes. I made an illegal acquisition. I wanted to make him let him know that because he wouldn't have noticed. I would have.

I would have seen the email. And then I put Ikoff back on as a free agent and back on waivers. And I checked the box. And now anybody who wanted Eikoff had to make a claim for him. And he didn't. What happened? You didn't put in a claim. In the time between when that happened and the next, this is the last week.

of the regular season in that league. Yeah? I've been eliminated from the playoffs. All right, okay. Because of your team. And I didn't, oh, because I'm not going to win? I might win. I needed you to go 2-0 and you are just completely pooping all over the bit.

False. Check the scores. We're back in it. We had a big day yesterday. But, no, Heath, you didn't, I didn't pick him up. I wouldn't have done that. I would have done that, I guess, but I didn't do it. All right, so Jared Eikoff, pick him up.

He is 44% owned at San Diego. Diego at San Francisco. Ty Block. Tie Block we don't like, right? I don't hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I don't hate him at all.

I hate his guts. He's a poor man's Jared Eichoff. Is there anyone else? Adam Conley has decent matchups, but no. I don't think there's anyone else. Asher Wojikowski at the Cubs at Atlanta? Nope. Take a braver man than me.

Bartolo Colon, Cleveland, and Arizona. Nope. You got out of that. terrible situation in Atlanta and he's a good pitcher again. I might give him a shot. With those matchups, come on. You just wanted to get that Atlanta dig in there. You can't fool me.

Some turbo speed emails. Stephen is in a 16-team Dynasty League. Oh, this is not Turbo Speed. He gives up Jimmy Nelson, Stephen Sousa, Forrest Whitman. No, I can't read it. It's too much. I'm sorry.

Sike. For you. Is, okay, this is from Josiah in Elizabethtown. Is Colin McHugh the Tyler Duffy of 2017? Gets continuously hyped to the point that I add him in all my leagues, but ultimately becomes a non-factor in fantasy. Yep. Wait, who are we?

Is Colin McHugh? I don't think you want to say, yep. Is Colin McHugh this year's Tyler Duffy? Oh. I feel like I was mostly responsible for the Tyler Duffy hype, right? And you're mostly responsible for the Colum McHugh? He singled you out. Come on, one bad start. Give him a break.

Let's not jump to that conclusion yet. He's always had a great curveball and has added Brad Peacock slider to it. So, call him McPew. He stinks. By the way, this emailer, Josiah had singled you out, Scott, about Duffy, but I removed it from the email. That was kind of you. Jesse and Fullerton, would you drop Cody Allen for Trevor Rosenthal? Cody Allen for Trevor.

I actually did just move Trevor Rosenthal ahead of Cody Allen because of Cody Allen's weird tendency to not get many saves for a great team. And Rob wants to know who he should drop Zach Davies for. Fultenevich, Ryu or Charlie Morton? Rew. Any of them? Morton would be my top choice. Yeah, I think so.

Heath, good have you back. It was great to be here. I look forward to talking to you on Monday after another great week of fantasy baseball. That's right. Damn straight. And that's Heath coming. Scott White. I'm Adam Azers.

Sky was also good to have you back. I'm always here. We're old friends. Team scamp. See you later, everybody. Have a great weekend.