Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/15: Acuna vs. Soto (Again); Tue. Standouts; Breakout SPs (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 15, 2018

Let's start the show with a couple of Rays that could be worth adding (2:06). Will Jalen Beeks throw enough innings to matter and is Willy Adames all of a sudden a stolen base threat? Also, are we buying Jhoulys Chacin (5:45)? We also talk about two catchers you can add (8:00) and a couple of SPs who might be really awesome (10:30)! ... MLB news (13:40), wondering if it's time to sit Joey Votto (19:31), if it's time to add Miguel Sano (26:26) and what to make of some crazy MLB stats (28:40). Plus Scott goes in-depth on the Juan Soto vs. Ronald Acuna debate (31:00) ... Bullpen notes (37:05), managing Milwaukee (38:03), ranking some interesting SPs (40:35), hot hitters like Ryan Braun (43:43) and more from yesterday, plus a look at today's matchups (48:15) ... 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

And pick your milk for breakfast cereal. Mount Rushmore, they'll be there for... Hey, welcome to the Wednesday show, everybody. What's going on? Adam Aiser here with Scott White on fantasy baseball today. Coming at you a little bit later than usual, we'll do apologize, but get this out as soon as we can. What's going on, Scott? That time of year, isn't it?

Baseball takes a backseat for football. It is sort of that time of year, yeah. So we're going to start doing these podcasts later. Hopefully not that much later. Hopefully only maybe like an hour and a half later in the day. So not like afternoon or anything like that. But that is going to happen. It's my least favorite thing every year.

And I always am very sorry. And I am very sorry. I hate it for the baseball listeners. Just cold hard facts. We have so many football listeners right now. It's the heart of fantasy football season. And we sort of have to prioritize that. But we're going to do our best to get these out as early as we can.

What we really need to do is clone you and build a new studio. And then we'd be in great shape. Have you seen multiplicity? Is that the one with forgetting the actor's name now? Michael Keaton. Yeah, Michael Keaton. Yeah. Multiplicity.

We can do that. We could. Now, we have a short and show today. It's going to be about 50 minutes. So let's talk about the standouts from Tuesday, the non-A-Cunia edition, because we will talk about Acuna in a little bit. Who's a Tuesday standout for you? So I don't know that I'm ready to add him because he's caught up in this whole, the opener situation that the rights have going on. But Jalen Beaks in his last three appearances, all in relief technically, but all five innings,

he's been really good. Two runs in five innings yesterday with eight strikeouts. It was third straight with only two hits in five innings and double-digit swinging strikes in all three. His swinging strike percentage in those three relief appearances is 16%, which is a lead. And it makes sense. I mean, he was one of the best strikeout pitchers in the minors when he got called up. It's why there was some enthusiasm when the Red Sox called him up a few months ago. but he was so bad early on, and I don't know, whatever magic the rays applied to Tyler Glass now,

they seem to have applied to Beeks as well. And if this leads to him transitioning back to a more traditional starting role, he could be an exciting pickup down the stretch. We're going to hope he doesn't pitch at Boston this weekend. We're going to hope he'd rather faces Kansas City on Monday. But yeah, Beeks with eight strikeouts of the Yankees. He doesn't have an 803RA on the season, but he's been much better since going to the Tampa Bay Rays. not sure that you have the right raise standout, Scott. Oh, really?

I'm going to give you a name, and then I'm going to tell you this. I'll tell you this before I even give you the name. I hope he fails. You might want to go pick him up, but I hope he's terrible. Why? Because I put in a fab bid for him last night in a very important league, and I didn't get him, and the guy in first place, I'm in second place, the first place guy, got this player, and I now hope that he does horribly and doesn't get to hit the rest of the season.

but I don't think that's going to happen for Willie Adamas, who homered yesterday and had four steals in his previous four games. Wow. Yeah, that was what really caught my eye with Adamas. He's batting 410 in August with three home runs, four steals, two doubles, three walks, and seven strikeouts. 31% owned Willie Adamus Adamus. We've seen the trick a few times now. Glaver Torres fits this description where the high-end prospect with modest home run totals in the minors comes to the majors and becomes a much better home run hitter immediately. And Adamus seems to be fitting into that.

But we don't see that with the stolen bases very often. He was not known as a base stealer in the minors. So I don't know. I mean, that's, I'm not going to count on those going forward, but it's, you know what I always say about stolen bases, Adam? I do. Just a matter of how much you want them. I want them on my team very badly, Scott. I haven't found this to you.

I haven't found this to be true. Yeah, so Adam is definitely a standout. I put in a bid for him and got outbid severely. I also put in a bid for Kevin Gosman, if not to keep at least just to stream for his start this weekend against Miami. So if you can't, I think it's this weekend, right? So if you can get him for just this week, you know, it might not be a bad idea. And maybe beyond that for Kevin Gosman.

Just that I throw that out there. He's certainly not a standout. Would you drop Tim Anderson for Willie Adomis? Tim Anderson won steals since the All-Star break. He's been streaky with steals. I'll say that. So it's not like he's done. But he's been hitting so poorly.

Would you drop Anderson for Adamas? I mean, Adamas still has a 30% strikeout rate. It's been better recently. I think in standard roto leagues where steals are the higher, there's the bigger scarcity there. I probably won it. Now, points leagues, yeah. Okay. And Yolice Chasin is definitely a standout.

He's 83% own. He struck out 10 Cubs on 10 swinging strikes on 105 pitches, not a very good percentage. And he's got a 372 ERA, 12 wins. Two starts this year for Chasine with eight earn runs. that's inflated his ERA, but he's mostly been good. And we mostly don't buy it, I think. But what about now with Shasine? I mean, we're to a point in the season now where it's like, yes, I don't see how he's performing at this level,

given the underlying stats. But at the same time, why do I think the next start's going to be the start where it all falls apart? Which is it to say? I mean, even good Shasin hasn't been must. start level. But I'm fine with them as a streamer. Two starts next week, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Cincinnati, not hitting very well.

I think you got to stream them in the two-star week, especially pretty good matchups there. He's 83% owned, so we'll just say you got to start them. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's just when we seem stubborn on a player like this, kind of like what we were with Nick Povetta, where I think mostly Chris, but probably everybody, not necessarily necessarily me, but the three analysts saying, Pavetta's good, Pavetta's good, Pavetta's good, but Vett is good. Well, his last few starts, he's got 19 strikeouts at two walks,

three-year-n runs over 18 innings. He just pitched well against Boston yesterday. You know, ERA- I mean, Matt Carpenter is the biggest example, right? Because that was years, felt like years in the making. It was over a year. It was like, it should be a lot better than this. Sure.

And then he finally was. So we're in year two of Chasin basically performing this same track, but it's still I'm still not going to rank him at face value next year, going into next year, that's for sure. Well, the thing is last year he was only at home when he was with San Diego. It made sense. Now he's with Milwaukee. It made sense

to say, oh, he's going to be bad. He's having a good year, so good for your scene. Scott, here's a segment called Caught My Eye. Caught is in quotes. Caught my eye. Danny Jansen, Homer, and Taylor Ward went two for three with an RBI double on a walk. These two... I see what you did there. Catcher

eligible players caught my eye and did well yesterday. Now, we did talk about them yesterday when you weren't on. I would like for you to give your opinions on Blue Jays' cats or Danny Janssen and Angels infielder whose catcher eligible Taylor Ward. The one I wants Taylor Ward, because it seems like they've called him up to be their primary third baseman. I don't know if he'll play quite every day, but it should be pretty close. He hit like 350 between two minor league stops this year.

with an OPS near a thousand. And a lot of that was in the PCL, but the slash line was just as good at double A, too. So it's not, it wasn't, I don't think it was a hitter environment situation. He's interesting because he was regarded as a good defensive catcher, and yet they moved him off catcher to third base because they thought it would get more out of his back,

keep him fresher, take better advantage of the athletic, And it couldn't have worked out any better. It was kind of a head scratcher decision. But man, as it worked out, obviously a good debut for him. And if he's an everyday player as a catcher eligible player, he doesn't even have to be great with the bat to be top 12 at the position from this point forward, probably. And if he is great, it could be top five. Would you rather have John Hicks or Taylor Ward?

John Hicks isn't healthy. and I don't know how long it's going to be before he's healthy. But regardless, I'd rather have Ward. Would you rather have Taylor Ward or, well, I said hedges yesterday, so that's boring. I'll stop going to him. Yeah, no more hedging. Yeah, God, Catcher is so annoying. Robinson, Chorinos or Taylor Ward?

I do rank Chorinos ahead, but there's clearly more upside for Ward. Okay. Which isn't to say there's no upside for Jansen. I mean, he's pretty interesting himself. it's just you know he doesn't have the built-in advantage as ward has what is your gut feeling i know you have to say the other guy over taylor ward but your honest gut feeling who do you think is going to be better down the stretch buster posey or taylor ward my gut feelings posy okay yeah me too um all right so those guys

caught my eye l-o-l um now more standouts from yesterday scott i i think you got to be pretty confident starting them. Well, I'll get your opinion on that. But I'm wondering if we've got some studs on our hands, the next pitchers to break out, get into the next tier. And I've asked this before, but let's ask it again. Armand Marquez and Nick Povetta. Who do you like better?

Who's got a brighter future? What are you seeing Marquez and Povetta? Oh, man. Like asking me to choose between children. Oh. Well, I mean, no, no, no. Chris Towers has a stronger claim to them. You have two kids right now.

Who do you like better? It honestly depends on the day. Oh, okay, okay. It really does. There isn't, I don't know, maybe when their personalities develop a little more. Scott, you're giving way too real of an answer here. This is a fake question. You're not allowed to like one of them more?

I was knowing my audience here. You're the one who always says parents actually do. Oh, they did. That's true. Yeah, I'm third in my family. I have two siblings that my family definitely, my parents definitely like them. Just slightly better. Like, I'm still like a 99.9% on the LICO meter, but they're both hundreds. My brother's probably 101. All right, so Marquez and Povetta.

I, I, I, I, I, I think they're both really good. I'd want to own both. I think they're both definitely trending the right direction. There has been a clearer transformation, I guess, for Marquez, and the results have correlated to that in a clearer way. But obviously, he has the course field disadvantage, which is the biggest knock on either of them. They both have high-swinging strike rates,

at least Ramon does during this breakthrough. So I'm going to go with Paveta, but Harmon is... He was picked up in a lot of leagues for this two-star week. You obviously need to own him. I know his ownership's up now because of that, but obviously you're not dropping him after the two-star week. I don't care how his next start goes.

Yeah, I think the question is for Hermann, who apparently you're on first-name basis with, is do you feel comfortable starting him at home? And I do right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because there was a home away. thing going on earlier and I don't know exactly how it relates to

kind of the mechanical adjustment. It's not even so much a mechanical adjustment just being more consistent with his delivery and getting better results with the curveball as a result to that. And yeah, that seems to have translated to home. His home starts as well. So it'll always be risky or home. But the kind of run he's on now, I don't think you worry too much about where he's pitching. All right, news and notes. I got a lot of them.

So sit tight, everybody. Take some notes. Get a pen and paper out. Trevor Bauer is on the DL with a small stress fracture in his right leg. Do we have a time table for Bauer? We don't, which is frustrating, because obviously he's been one of the best 10 pitchers in baseball this year.

So I would guess it measures in weeks, but is it two weeks? Is it four weeks? Is it six weeks? That makes a big difference at this stage of the season, especially. They're going to win the division, so they don't have to rush Bauer back. James Paxton's going to miss at least one start. He took a comebacker off the forearm.

He has a bruised forearm. Felix Hernandez will likely rejoin the Seattle rotation. Robinson Cano started at first base yesterday. I guess we didn't really talk about it, but with Canoe back, I mean, D. Gordon's still going to play. He'll play some center field to play second base. But Ryan Healy, Kyle Seeger, maybe he could lose some playing time, Scott, with Kanoe back? Healy, I would say for sure.

Yeah, and he hasn't had a very good year, so it would make sense. But, yeah, Kano's supposed to play every day. That's the stance. I'm sure he'll get a day off here and there just because he's old, and everybody gets days off, but he's, you don't have to worry about his playing time. Ryan Madsen's on the DL. Coda Glover is the temporary closer for the Nationals. What is your interest in Coda Glover?

He's 8% owned. my interest is at a higher level than his ownership percentage that suggests and Adam like I don't know if you've taken inventory of the closer landscape lately but it is dismal right now it's terrible so just the fact that we know who's in line for saves in Washington gives is like a leg up over half the bullpins in baseball literally I I I did a bullpen report Monday. And usually, you know, that's something I do every other week or so. And I just kind of look at the questionable closer situations. And usually there's like six to eight at any given time.

16. There was 16 guys where I can't say for sure who's going to get the next save or at least be getting saves a week or two from now for the team. That's more than half the league. And so, yeah, I mean, Koda Glover probably needs to be owned. in any league where teams are using three Closers, fantasy teams are, just for that reason. Yeah, it could be short term.

Hopefully it's short term for Washington. They could get Doolittle Herrera back, but Glover, 8% own, you know, he hasn't been very good in his career, really, and he's just allowed to walk off home run last time out. But yeah, closer's so bad that I wonder how much Kenley Janssen enrolled his Chapman and Craig Kimball are going to go for next year.

You know, we do not have the same depth that we used to have at closer, and those guys are just unbelievable. Edm Diaz is among them now, right? Oh, yeah, sure, sure. And Blake Trinan certainly has been this year. Now, part of me is hesitant to trust Trinand on that level again, but the numbers are what they are. I mean, Scott, who is the number four close? Who was the number four closer this year in ADP? Number four this year was it was it Ken Giles?

I believe it was Corey Canable. Okay, yeah, you're right. Five may have been Giles. Yeah, he was up there. Kenley Jansen has a chance to return next week. He might beat his estimated timetable by a lot. Brandon Crawford likely to avoid the DL. Tommy Fam could be back this weekend for the raise.

Tyler O'Neill is back. He sat yesterday against a lefty. Now, you look at his splits. He's been much better against him. righties and terrible against lefties, but he is righty. He is a righty. Harrison, Bader, meanwhile, I believe is better against lefties. I don't know if that's a platoon there, where Bader plays against lefties and O'Neill against righties. We will find out, but Jose Martinez has been starting every day in the outfield, Marcelo Zuna as well. Brian Dozier back in

the lineup a day after he left with an elevated heart rate. George Springer expected to return Friday. Yasil Puegan, Nick Huntley, got into a big fight. Brandon Morrow is making progress, but there's no timetable for his return. U. Darvish could go on a rehab assignment soon. Adam Jones is going on the bereavement list and could miss up to three games. Stephen Mats is expected to start at the Phillies tomorrow. I'll come off the D.L. and make that start. Are you going to start Stephen Mats?

No. Philadelphia called up Hector Neres. I'm assuming that doesn't matter. And Wilson Ramos could return today. George Springer should be back on Friday. There's still no timetable for Jose Altuva, but he's expected. to start hitting soon. Michael Fulmer made a rehab start.

I do believe Joe Evato was in the lineup yesterday. He was. Robinson, Chorinos. Okay, yeah, Chorinos D.H., this could be interesting. Beltre was out. We don't know if he's going on the D.L. But there's a chance, obviously. Chirinos D.Hed.

Kinerfalefa caught, and ProFar started at third base. So that could be good news for both Chirinos and Kiner Folefah if you need a catcher. Kiner Filetha is, I think, in the top 12. total fantasy points at the position this year, which says as much about the position as Kynar Folefa himself. But he's right behind Kurt Suzuki now. Chirino says an 895 OPS since the All-Star break has been very good. And Adelberto Monassi stole three bases yesterday.

He is 31% owned. That gives him 15 this season in 38 games. Would you rather own Malik Smith or Adelberto Montesie? Malik Smith, pretty easily. Yeah. So obviously, this is the best we've seen from Ad Alberto in the majors so far. Scott, it's time for a very tough question. And that's what we do on fantasy baseball.

Today we ask Scott the tough questions. Is it time to sit Joe Evato? No. No, it's not time to sit Joey Votto. He's actually, you know, it's a stretch of what, four games? where he's done, he's, you know, batting averages back up a little. Well, he's playing hurt. Yeah.

He's sort of in and out of the lineup. So that's going to be a factor. But Joey Botto is now the number seven first baseman in points, which is wonderful. Number 22 in Roto. He has been bad against lefties all year. Over his last 28 days, he is the number 51 first baseman in points leagues. So part of that is missed time. Part of that is also a 274 batting average with a 323 slugging percentage.

Over what stretch of time? 28 days. 4.39 on base. At first base, he's 50-something? First. 51st. Yeah, okay. And that stretch I was referring to wasn't as good as I was thinking. He walked in five straight games.

That's probably what I was remembering. Yeah. Yeah, he still walks. In this stretch where he's the 51st best first baseman over 28 days, Votto has 17 walks to 17 strikeouts, but he has two or three extra base hits and their doubles. It's a bad year for Joey Votto. And with the injury, I'm less confident that he's just going to get crazy hot. It's a bad year, and he's about to turn 35. Right, but his OBP is unbelievable.

His walk rate is incredible. Sure. if the power isn't there though and he may be he may be in that stage of his career where he's losing power oh yeah um you know obp o bp alone does not a fantasy stud make

so I'm trying to think off the top of my head where we would draft joie vato if the season ended today and I feel like it might not be in the first five rounds. Wow. So I'd have to disagree with you in a points league because he's still the number seven first basement of points leagues. Right.

I don't think I could go earlier than four, even in that format. I mean, you've got to figure at least a dozen pitchers are going before him, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's interesting because the stat that concerns me the most with Vado is, batting average against lefties. Now he struggled against lefties. But I really may, just rewind a few months,

and saying the same thing about Matt Carpenter. Because he was struggling against lefties. Sure. I thought that was a sign of aging. You know, I haven't really bothered to look at Joey Vado's batted ball profile this year. Go for it. Because he's Joey Votto and you don't really waste a lot of time thinking about him. Scott, why don't you, what's up with the no vibrate on the cell phone?

You don't like the vibrate function It's very useful I mean I could just silence it right That would be the considerate thing to do Either way Now that you've called me out on it Yeah Oh man Joey Votto's line drive rate

Is like the best I've ever seen Yeah he's Matt Carpenter But no the fly ball Matt Carpenter had a great fly ball rate too And Votto Votos is one of the worst he's ever had But hardly any soft contact Yeah I don't know

I mean, I guess I'm not ready to write them off completely, but what I was saying about fourth round next year may still apply. Okay. All right. Well, also, the Seek app. That's a very natural transition. The SeekyGap is better than Joe, more reliable than Joey Votto. I will tell you that much.

And when you want to get a discount on tickets, download the Seek app, buy some tickets, and use the code F, oh, use the code fantasy. The code is fantasy for $20 off your first. a Seekkech purchase. Now you know me. I tell the truth when I do these reads and I use the SeekeeK app all the time. Whenever I need tickets, I'm not going to say I'm constantly looking for tickets, but when I'm going to an event, first place I go to is Seekek. It's often the only place I go to because I get great deals. I do remember last year, I went to a Knicks game with my friend.

And we found basically very, very similar tickets, but row or two apart on Seekkeek and on a different website. The Seekek tickets were about $10 cheaper per seat. And then I gave him the code, fantasy, and he got $20 off. Cheaper tickets to begin with, and then the $20 discount. That's why we love Seekkeek. It searches multiple sites. It finds the best deals. It shows you very clearly where the best value is, and you get the discount. Fantasy is the code. You get 20 bucks off, and every ticket is fully guaranteed. So download the Seekek app and enter the code fantasy for $20 off your first Seeking purchase. Scott, the most frustrating starting pitcher is at it again.

Rick Porcelo. His last six starts. Two innings, eight runs. Six innings, no runs. Five and two-thirds, four runs. Nine innings, one run. Four innings, seven runs. Seven innings one run.

Nick Porcello. Oh, Nick Porcello. Wow, that's his alter ego. But Rick Porcelo, will he have one good and one bad start next week, or will he have two good ones? I mean, you start him and you don't stress about it that much. I'm glad I didn't bench him after that awful start against the Blue Jays, who, you know, they're responsible for the two really bad starts. Four earned runs in five and two-thirds innings.

I mean, yeah, it's not a good start, but it's not the kind of start that would question what direction Rick Porcelo is taking, you know. So it's really just those two Blue Js starts that may have given. given you some cause for concern. And, yeah, I mean, like I said last time, maybe the Blue Jays just have his number. They're seeing something. I don't know. And where do you think he ranks among starting pitchers this year?

Like, is this quizzing me? You're quizzing me where he is? Yeah. Rick Porcelo is 24th. No. Wrong. He's 13th in points. He's 16th in Roto.

Okay. Good year for Rick Porcelo. Even more reason. I mean, 15 and 5 record. 15 to 5 helps. 15 to 5 helps. All right. As you've noticed, it's a bit of a, I don't know,

scatterbrain show, just kind of a lot of different things. So we've talked about Votto, Porcelo, those rookie catchers. We talked about all those news and notes items, a little bit of bullpen, Willie Adamas, Jalen Beaks. Now let's talk about Miguel Sineau. Here's your quote of the day. Quote, I think he's been real close to clicking on some balls. My observation is that the swings and misses are a lot less frequent.

His chases out of the zone are a lot more rare. That is Twins manager Paul Molitor on Miguel Sineau. Are you seeing enough from Sineau, who's batting 282, 364, 487 in August? Are you seeing enough to justify a 65% ownership? No, I'm not. And I think definitely in a points league, I would rather have Johann Camargo. Oh. Which, you know, it seems like I'm pulling that out of the blue.

That was something I made reference to in a Waverware column earlier this week. Guys like Johan Camargo, talking specifically for a points league, guys like Johann Camargo, Wilmer Flores, they're boring, low-ceiling players, but they're also very high floor when they're getting the playing time they are now. And I think that's how you want to pad your lineup this time of year. Camargo 49% owned. Last 28 days, he's the number 8 third basement of points, number 9 in Rodo. He's batting 315. Now, I am noticing, though, Scott, with Camargo in these 28-day stretch where he's been very good. Three walks, 18 strikeouts.

That's kind of unusual for him, right? Well. Or no. It certainly wasn't last year. I mean, last year, he had poor-played discipline. So he walked a lot at the start of this year. Yeah, I'm not sure if that's going to stick. So why is he a high-fler player?

Why is he high-fro? Because he makes a lot of contact. Both he and Flores. And they, you know, they're not slap hitters. They're not power hitters, but they have extra base pop. And, you know, if they got six hundred or bats, I'm sure they probably would hit 20 homers in this environment. All right.

So you're not buying it with Sano. He's 65% own. You'd rather have Camargo who has nine doubles and four home runs in his last 28 days. Here are some crazy stats, baseball fans. Oakland is one game out of first place in the A.L. West. And the Astros have lost nine straight home games. That's crazy. I'm going to ask you, Scott, what's the craziest stat when I give all of them?

Patrick Corbyn has made 10 starts without allowing a home run. That ties him with Chris Sale for the longest active street. in baseball. Yadier Malina has played in 22 straight games, the most by a catcher 35 years or older in Major League history. The Red Sox have already tied the amount of home runs they hit last year. They were last in the American League with 168. They have 168 this year.

And Ronald Ocuna has hit a lead-off homer in his third straight game. He has become the youngest player ever to Homer in five straight games. And he has eight home runs in his last eight straight games. What's the craziest stat? Well, you made it easy with the last one. Acuna is clearly the craziest. I think Melina is the craziest. I mean, I was leaning that way.

I also think it's crazy that, you know, obviously the Astros have a lot of injuries right now, but there isn't much doubt in my mind. I know they don't have the best record, but there isn't much doubt in mind. They're the best team in the majors. Are you kidding me right now? I'm not kidding you. The Red Sox could set the wins record. I understand.

I don't have a problem with you calling the Astros the best, but you're not even considering the Red Sox? There's little doubt in my mind that the Astros, when healthy, are the best team in the majors. Their pitching staff is ridiculous, and obviously they have plenty of offense too. So, yeah. I would say, let me think about it.

about this for a second. They have a better bullpen than the Red Sucks, too, right? Red Sucks bullpen's nothing special. Is it? I think it's better than we might think. Like, guys, I think, like, Matt Barnes is okay. Matt Barnes is having a really good year. Yeah, Kimbril, Joe Kelly, maybe?

I don't know. I don't know either. They have a bit of a... Probably shouldn't say it if I don't know it. Well, they have a bit of a non-distip bullpen. But, yeah, let's talk about a cunea. Okay. Do you want me to lead you into Acuna?

I was pausing for dramatic effects. Oh, I mean, I don't really know exactly what to say about Acuna. Obviously, this is historic. In this seven-day stretch where he's omered eight times, he's, he may have emerged as the rookie of the year front-runner, which is amazing to think because Juan Soto is having this historic year. and ultimately, like, I believe what Soto's been doing more. He has basically been the same guy since he's set foot in the majors, and that's arguably a top 15 hitter in all the majors.

But Acuna has the higher war now. He's nearly caught up to him in OPS. Much better defender, not that it matters for fantasy purposes. I guess what I'd caution about Acunia, and this is understanding, you know, he was one of the most high prospects we've seen in a long time coming into the year. We don't really know where the ceiling goes for him. But his production this year is mostly built on the home runs. And the way it looks now, because he's coming off to some unprecedented stretch,

kind of everything's inflated, including the fact he's hitting 288. I mean, he doesn't profile as a 288 hitter if he continues to strike out. like he has. If he has the modest line drive rate he has, that's not who he's going to be. And while he's been better at stealing bases since moving to the lead off spot, he's not a guy who's

profiling for a 30 season. You know, he's going to be a pretty good base dealer. I don't think a great one. So, when the home run rate inevitably slows, I think Juan Soto is going to distance himself

again. But We're probably talking a top 20 outfielder, at least for Acuna. Well, we got an email from James and Tallahassee. It's our email other day. And I wanted to get to a lot of emails today. I don't think we will. But tomorrow, we'll do the Thuriometer Thursday. We'll get the Wuriometer out.

And we'll do a mailback because we're getting a ton of emails. It's a stretch run. I want to help a lot of people. That'll be tomorrow. But right now, James and Tallahassee is calling us out for agreeing that Akunia was better than Soto yesterday. I don't remember exactly what we said. I think maybe in a dynasty perspective, we were saying Acuna in Roto. I don't remember it being that one-sided.

Man, this is a hot button issue right now because I'm being eaten by my own kind on Twitter. Braves fans have totally turned on me because I had the nerve to say three home runs ago for Acuna. by the way, I had the nerve to say, while he's not Soto, Ronald Acuna is clearly living up to the height now. And that became a referendum on Acuna somehow because I said, while he's not Soto. I mean, I thought I was just stating the obvious. Soto, like I said, you know,

was having this historic season for a rookie. I mean, in recent memory, there's Poo-Hulls, there's Trout, there's Aaron Judge just last year. And then I feel like there's Soto in terms of, and Soto's doing it at 19, you know? I just did a Twitter poll just now in a Dynasty League who would you rather have Juan Soto or Ronald O'Cuna. We'll monitor the votes.

Oh, I'm sure Acuna will win. There have been several polls online that I've seen who's rookie of the year today, which isn't even, you know, as long-term, which you would think Soto would have even a bigger advantage for, and Acuna's run away with all this polls. So clearly, I mean, Acuna being in the headlines, much right now. Yeah, let me just say, let me just, I want to really get to what James said is, uh, it was a great email.

Okay. Go ahead. I mean, it was a very long email, but to sum it up, you look at the batted ball data, Juan Soto's hard contact rate is 35%. Acuna's is 44.6%. Juan Soto, his, he's got a 53% ground ball rate and a 29.8% fly ball rate. Acuna is basically one to one, you have 42% ground ball, 41% fly ball. Home run to fly ball ratio for Soto and Kuna is almost exactly the same, about 25%.

But so many more ground, so many more fly balls for Akunya. Line drive rate 17.2% for Soto, 17.4% for Akunia. But there are, I think, James laid it out, there are underlying statistics that would say Acuna is actually a better hitter. And ex-Wobicon, I guess, is a stat. 499 for Acuna 423 for Soda. Here's how I'd sum it up, because if I was on yesterday's podcast, I would have said Soto easily. And it's no knock on Acuna. My gosh, how many times have I hyped Acuna this year?

There are basically no concerns for me about Soto as a hitter. With a one-to-one strikeout to Walker ratio as a 19-year-old in his first look at the majors, that is jaw-dropping. And the fact that he's a left-handed hitter who's been even better against lefties and righties. Like, how is this going to go wrong for Soto? Right? I can certainly envision a scenario where it ends up going writer for Ocunia, but I think if you stick with Soto, there's no way you can mess that up. The ground ball rate is very high, though. Fifty-three percent. Eh. Okay. He's not condemned to being that the rest of his career, but I didn't, I didn't notice it.

Obviously, how much has it hurt him really? Yeah, I didn't notice it until this email, so All right, in the bullpen, Michael Givens got, this is a really crappy segment. Michael Givens got another save for Baltimore. Trevor Hildenberger got another save for Minnesota. I'm talking about the bullpen segment, not the Acuna segment. Xavier Sedanio got a save for the White Sox. Jordan Hicks got a save for the Cardinals, which is interesting, but Bud Norris had pitched each of the previous two days. Ken Giles remains perfect and save chances.

He's 43% owned, and he got his 14th save. Would you rather have Giles or a coat of Glover? I would rather have Giles. Kenta Maeda pitched in a tie game in the ninth inning at home. That's what closers do. And he gave up three hits in a run and he took the loss. And Scott, I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Will Smith's going to keep the job when Hunter Strickland's back.

I hope you're right. I think you'll be right. But I'm not as confident as you sound. Scott, have ever been an MLB manager? I never have, no. Now you get the chance. New segment called Managing Milwaukee. Let's take a look at Jonathan Scope, Mike Mustakis, and Travis Shaw.

Basically, yeah, recently. Jonathan Scope has sat three of the last six games, and in his last 14 days he is batting 150 with one extra base hit, one walk, and 17 strikeouts. Scope has been terrible. Mike Mustakis has started seven of the last eight games, including the last two against lefties. Before that, he did sit three of four times against lefties.

And Travis Shaw has sat two in a row against lefties. But when he's been in the lineup, Travis Shaw has hit very well. You are now Craig Counsel. How is this going to play out rest of season? So I don't actually get to think for myself. I have to think like Craig Counsel. Yeah. I lowered both Shaw and Mustakis in my rankings.

I lowered scope, too, that that was as much performance-related. as playing time-related. I think it's going to continue to play out exactly like it has. They all robin bats from each other, and they're all pretty fringy in mixed leagues. Scope may be a little less than fringy as a result. I would like what I would do if I was counseled is just say forget defense, just because I don't like defense.

And I'd put scope in shortstop and shot second. But you can certainly understand why he wouldn't want to do that full-time. Yeah, hey, Skip, all your pitchers are very angry at you. You owe them an explanation. Would you rather have Yohan Camargo ahead of Mustakis or Travis Shaw? Yonan Camargo. No, no, I want to go that far. Yeah, you can't quite do that.

Hey, real quick, Trevor Story or Zander Bogarts? Trevor Story. Trevor Story is now hitting 267 with a 445 slugging percentage on the road. Very respectable. Hey, real quick, Hesus Aguilar or Anthony Rizzo? Rizzo. Though it's comforting to see that Aguilar hasn't gotten mixed up in this playing time crunch as much as maybe people feared.

He seems to be the safest of the infielders in terms of how much he plays. That was a real quick edition of Hey, Real Quick. Who are you going to draft ahead next year? Story or Bogart's? Story. Yeah, okay. Rank them. Let's talk about these starting pitchers. Rank them. This guy's going to be last. Gio Gonzalez.

Maybe we can just take him off the list. Geo Gonzalez is 91% Owen Scott. Past 12 starts, 35 walks to 41 strikeouts. So do you trust him against Miami? Because he's had very few good starts, but one of them was against Miami. Just a few starts ago, seven innings one run. He will be against the Marlins this weekend, Gio. I mean, you can make a case to start anybody against Miami.

Is that something I'm eager to do? No. All right. Then rank these guys. Jamison Tyone, Alex Wood, Annabal Sanchez, Jose Kentana, and J.Hap. Tyone Wood, Annabal Sanchez, Kentana, and Hap. I will go J-Hap, number one. followed by

Tyone Kintana Wood Onitball Pretty surprised to Wait Wait a second Hap 1

Tyone 2 Then Kintana I think so Yeah I'm trying to remember I'm very surprised by this list What surprise is he I thought Tyone would be one

I thought Hap would be three or four. I knew Sanchez would be last. I mean, half is clearly a better strikeout pitcher than Tionne, clearly a lot more win potential than Tion. And I think a safer bet to go seven innings. Well, that I'd have to agree with for sure. And yeah, I have to agree with all three of those points. So why would you rank him behind Tiont? Well, I think Tyone's going to be better at keeping runs off the board.

He has been slightly better than HAP at that this year. I would expect the gap to be bigger going forward. Okay, we'll see. But not much. And I really like Alex Wood. They don't let him go more than six minutes, ever. Which they don't like Cantonham much either. Oh, I'm not sure how much we can trust Kintana.

I mean, he's got a 138 whip. He's got the home run problem again, 20 homers and 125 innings. Right. Yeah. I could be talked into Wood ahead of Kintana. That's the one thing I could be talked into changing. I do think Wood is a safer start at this point in the season than Kintana. I just don't know that he's as reliable a part of his team's rotation.

Yeah, that's a good point. point they could always move people around in the Dodgers rotation. Would, though, like, you're basically getting six-innings two runs. Yeah. He's steady. Unspectacular, but very, like, he's, you don't really worry about him crushing your ratios. A couple hitters who are trending up recently, Justin Turner, three doubles yesterday. He's batting 436 in August with three walks, five strikeouts, six doubles, a triple, and two homers.

Justin Turner looks like a must start right now. And Ryan Braun. Ryan Braun is 76% owned Scotty Homer twice yesterday. He usually sits once every three or four games. But do you trust Braun when he's in the lineup? Because I really think before this hot stretch, he wasn't even that good of a hitter. It wasn't even like, well, he's not playing that much. He just wasn't doing anything.

No. It's true. And his, he's always managed to make good on a low-fly ball rate. Obviously, he's been a home run hitter throughout his career. but that's begun to write itself in recent seasons. I guess he loses a little bit of that strength as he gets older. And it's seeming to have the biggest effect this year. Ryan Braun.

So 76% owned. Is he someone you'd want on your team? No, that seems drastically overowned, quite frankly. Definitely feel like the name value is carrying him there. I mean, just by virtue of them sitting every third game. Right, right. Would you rather have Avi Garcia or Braun? I would rather have Garcia.

Would you rather have Malik Smith or Braun? Smith. Okay. A few players who are trending down right now, Gregory Polanco is batting 119 with no homers, no steals in August. Four walk, 17 strikeouts. Very disappointing. Come on, Greg.

I know. Keep the breakout going, dude. And then, I don't think you're dropping Polanco, but I do wonder about dropping Oduble Herrera. Not saying he's a must drop, but I think Oduble Herrera is a can drop. In mid-June, he homered in four straight games. I think five straight games. Since then, he's batting 206 with a 611 OPS. Yeah. He's about a 30th overall outfielder without missing time, really.

He has played 112 games. He seems like extremely fringy to me, Odubo Herrera. I mean, in a three outfielder league, you almost have to play the hot hand to an extent there's just so many usable, so many players who are cycling in and out of usability. I think in the long run, Odubel Herrera is still a top 30 outfielder.

But, you know, let's just say if you dropped him, it's not the last time he'll be off. owned in your league this year. And we talked about Tim Anderson. He's been trending down. Jake Bowers is also trending down. Jake Bowers is batting 11 games, Scott, with a 426 OPS, thanks to a good OBP, seven walks in those 11 games.

Did we overhyped Jake Bowers, or is he still, you know, still worth owning in 65% of leagues, which is where he's at right now? I still think he's worth owning in that number of leagues. Yeah, the strikeouts have been kind of disappointing, I got to say. That's helped drag down that batting average, and in the long run he's going to need to do that less. But I've been encouraged by the power he's shown, and he's a guy who walks a lot. And he runs, too. Last 11 games, batting 118, he's got only one steal, but in four attempts.

It's still a great line drive rate and a fairly low fly ball rate. So he should be a high bad-bip guy right now is bad-bibs 270. All right, Scott, Fringy starting pitchers. I'll let you go after this, and then I'll finish up, and I'll talk about today's matchups. All right, who do you want here, if anyone? Mike Fires, it's been really good lately. Jaime Berea, Barrake, Lucas Gilito. Fires, Berea, Baraki, Gilito.

I think fires I want the most, and I don't want them that much. Right. Texas and at Minnesota next week for fires. Oh, two starts? Yeah. And it's in Oakland, that Texas start. Yeah, he's going to be among the two-star sleepers. Okay, 55%-0.

Maybe get ahead of your league and go ahead and pick up Mike Fires. Scott has to run. I don't. I will walk, jog, back to you, and talk about today's matchups. Scott, thank you very much. All right, Adam. See you. So let's take a look at today's matchups.

And by the way, we should probably just mention Freddie Galvis's name. He is Red Hot. in three straight games five times in August. Personally, I'm not really interested. He's 10% owned. But if he does something today, I will ask God about Freddie Galvis tomorrow. All right, we got some early games. You might be hearing this after they start.

But I think everybody's going to start both Chris Archer and Jose Burrios. Going to start Carlos Rodon at Detroit. And do we trust Jordan Zimmerman against the White Sox? The White Sox strike out so much. I'm going to see, I'm going to check his game log right now to see Well, the last two starts have been fine for Zimmerman, but specifically how he's done against Chicago. Pretty bad this year in two starts.

So I'm going to just go ahead and play it safe and not start Jordan Zimmerman. I don't really trust him regardless of the matchups. This is a really interesting one. Junior Gera at Kyle Hendricks. I think that Hendricks should be started. I think he's been, for the most part, not destroying you lately. And the Cubs lineup has been kind of cold. You know, they were getting shut out before Bodie's Grand Slam.

Of course, that was against Max Scherzer. They got shut down by Chasin yesterday. I'm having trouble committing to this. I'm going to start Junior Gera. There is one split that I want to look into, though. $4.97 ERA on the road. Let's sit, Junior Gera. All right, we'll start Hendricks and we'll sit Gera.

Mariner's at the A's. Mike Leak at Brett Anderson. Yeah, I'm nervous about Leak. I know he's been pitching well lately. The park is good for him, but the A's have been so good. They're the hottest team in baseball, them in the Red Sox. Leak is coming off five straight quality starts, including one at Colorado, including one at Houston.

So how do you not start Mike Leak? I think that's fair. I think you can start him. I will not call him a must start, but he's fine. But, yeah, I'm always a little nervous because Leak is just so. Strieky. Jake Ferrea at Louis Sessa. I will start neither of them. Red Sox at Phillies. Evaldi at Velazquez. I'm going to start Avaldi. I think I'm going to give Velasquez a try. I wouldn't do it in Fenway Park, but has he warranted it?

It's again borderline. He's right up there with Mike Leak. I don't think Velazquez is a must start, but I would say, I would say start. Going to start Zach Wheeler at Baltimore, and yeah, I'll start Dylan Bundy. There are some tough calls today. I wish the guys were on. It's a tough day for me to be giving this advice. You know what? I just don't really trust Dylan Bundy when it's all said and done. It gave up seven runs in his last outing.

He's giving up five or more runs in four of his last six. I know it's the Mets, but yeah, I'm going to sit Bundy. I'm going to start Wheeler. Indians at Reds. I'm going to start Bieber, sit Stevenson. I'm going to sit Jose Orania, and Kevin Gosman is actually starting tonight. So that's the start against the Marlins, and I will be starting him. Tyler Anderson and Garrett Cole, and I will start both of them.

Marco Estrada is at, let's see, Jorge Lopez, and I will sit both of them. Nationals of Cardinals, Jeremy Hellixon, you're probably not going to get a quality start. He doesn't go deep into games. And Austin Gomber, yeah, he's tough. I'm going to put him behind Mike Leak. I'm going to say sit, Gomber. I don't think he's really earned it. He was good last time out.

We've got Felix Pena and Robbie Erlin. I'm going to sit both of them. And Derek Holland at Hyunjin Ryu. So Ryu first start off to DL, always dicey. Otherwise, I'd say start him. Yeah, I would say I'm about 60% confident in Ryu. And you might want to pick him up because Ryu is pitching really well. You know, 212 ERA and a 0.88 whip.

So it might be too late, but if it's not 62% own. You know what? I'm confident enough to start him. I have a feeling he'll be on a pitch count, so I don't think he's a great start, but I think Ryu will do well while he pitches. And Holland, coming off a bad start, I have lost some faith because nobody really bought it when he was pitching very well. Gave up 10 hits and four runs against Pittsburgh. I'm going to approach it cautiously and say sit him.

We know Machado and Dojers should make the Dodgers better against lefties. So I think you sit there, Eric Holland. You nervously start Hingenor you knowing you might only get five innings. That's it for today's show. Big mailbag show yesterday. Thanks a lot for listening, everybody. For Scott White, I am Adam Azer. We'll talk to you on Wednesday.

Oh, this is Wednesday. We'll talk to you on Thursday.