Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/15: Bauer, Hamels, Peters and More! (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 15, 2019

What do we do with Trevor Bauer and Cole Hamels at this point? Is Dillon Peters worth adding? How about Cal Quantrill or Homer Bailey? We recap all of the big stuff, discuss Double Dongs from Yuli Gurriel, Matt Chapman and Edwin Rios, give you a lot of bullpen updates and provide some injury replacements for a couple of valuable infielders. We also discuss Luis Urias, Danny Santana, Elvis Andrus and plenty more plus 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

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS sports. One, one pitch, basketball, pulled, and fast, Albury, and toward him. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. We're fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Fantasy baseball today.

I am Chris Welsh. Adam Azer, Scott White. We're in the house, and the dark night rises. Yes, Matt Harvey's signing in Oakland. just like the end of the Batman series. Who cares? Gentlemen, how are you today? Have you both seen the entire Christopher Nolan Batman series?

Of course. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I just have to gauge. I don't fully know the pop culture, like, where it all reaches on this show. I throw out something that I think is a gimmy, and it's a complete flop. No, I am. I celebrate Christopher Nolan's entire catalog.

He is. Yeah. He's the mic. What were those guys on office space? What were their names? They both had the same name. Michael Bolton? No, no, the consultants.

That's how they felt about Michael. Oh, Bob and Bob. Yeah, the Bobbs. The Christopher Nolan is the Michael Bolton for me. Well, you're Scott White. I'm the Chris here. You're the Scott, and I'll get to play the Christopher Nolan. Hey, guys, Fernando Tate's Jr.

He's going to be placed on the 10-day IL on Thursday. We thought we were going to get away. I kind of thought we were going to get away. but now he's going to go on the 10-day IEL with Fernando Tatez Jr. Replacements, what do we think? Luis Jorius, the guy who's probably going to replace him an option, or are we going deeper? Oh, yeah. No, there are two Luises.

Lerisa Reyes, who you mentioned, who is hitting very well. Well, he's walking a lot and showing some good signs after really an abysmal start to his major league career. But Luis Eryas, 35% owned. Is he even shortstop eligible right now, Scott? I don't believe so. Okay. I don't believe so. So, you know, maybe as a middle infield option.

Though that might, like, the thing is we keep talking about how much depth there is at shortstop, especially, and we keep having to turn away these good hitters. But it's funny, like, between 75% owned in CBS leagues and 50% owned. There's three players. Ahmed Rosario, David Fletcher, and Juerksson Profar. ProFar is obviously not going to cut it. As Drubel Cabrera has been hot since joining the Nationals, he's been their primary second baseman, so he might not be such a bad choice.

I didn't get to say my other Luis, though, Scott. Oh, your other Luis, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you out. Luis Arias of the Minnesota Twins, particularly in a points league. He entered today. I don't think he started today. Luis Arrias has 20. 23 walks to 14 strikeouts. Not hitting a ton.

Only two homers in 180 bats. But he's been pretty good lately. But yeah, I mean, I think these are lower-end guys for sure. I think Josh Van Meter's still pretty interesting at 26%. You've got to check their lefties on the schedule. Yeah, playing the matchups with him. Yeah. So I don't know.

I like it. Is there one guy, Scott? For me, it's... Not anybody I'm in love with. I mean, I think Nick Ahmed, kind of underrated. I think Eric Sogarde's good when he plays, but that's only like two thirds of the time.

I think a lot of people are in a situation where they have two good short stops because of the depth of that position and they could probably just go that route and find some other generic hitter to fill in. Hopefully that's the case. Gentlemen, I was informed that on Thursdays, we do not do a wariometer.

That is not what we do. We do a thuriometer. That's right. When you're worried on Thursday, you're thuried. We are going to thurie it real quick because a couple pitchers, they got lit up. Trevor Bauer being one of them, lit up for nine runs in four and one third inning. Bauer's one and one with a 737 ERA and three starts for his brand new Reds team. His season ERA has now climbed over four.

It's at four one three for the first time all year. Cole Hamels also lit up for eight earned runs and two innings. He had two walks and two strikeouts. Steven Strasbourg, not necessarily lit up. Five and two thirds, seven hits, walk three, struck out four, but gave up four earned runs. Thoreometer on Trevor Bauer. Let's start with you, Mr. Azer.

Hmm. Hoof. Uh, says seven. Seven were a thoreometer on back. Look, man, like how long? How long before I'm just going to be like, yeah, he's not going to be the pitcher I want him to be. Just said for the first time all year is ERA is over four.

So what? I want him to be ERA around three. You feel like I've been thurrying about him all year for no good reason. No, there's very good reason. He has a 125 whip. He can't throw strikes. He's all over the place. He walks too many batters and he gives up too many home runs.

I mean, I pretty much come to accept now that Trevor Bauer is not going to be the guy that I want him to be. You've got to lower your standards. It's 2019. Not for Bauer. Not for a guy that I took. Not for a guy that I took with hopes that he'd win the Sall Young. I mean, he hasn't been. He's been bad.

He's not a top 20 pitcher anymore. Easily not a top 20. What? He entered the game 16th in points, 18th in Roto. He's probably just dropped a little outside of that. I can almost guarantee you that by the next time he makes his turn five days from now, he won't be the top 20 pitcher. What's the number, Scott?

Like, I don't know. Two? Not high. I mean, his last start was just one. run and three hit, seven three hit innings with 11 strikeout. Yeah. The one before that wasn't good. And I'll admit, on the frustration o meter, it's probably about a 10, but like, am I actually

worried? No. Okay. Well, you both are incorrect with your seven and two. For Trevor Bauer, it's a 6.9. That would be the only correct answer on the thoreometer for Mr. Trevor Bauer. That's true. We're doing it right here.

Cole Hamels. Cole Hamill, Scott White, uh, thoreometer. Oh, for Cole. Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole Hamels. I will say a five for Cole Hamels. Better ERA than Bauer, by the way. Yeah. Not as good the skill indicators, but they've been pretty good.

I mean, they've been two really bad starts in a row is the only reason it's a five as opposed to like a two or a three. I mean, he's given up 17 hits in like five innings his last two starts. That's a problem. But, I mean, other than just the result, I don't feel like I have a lot to react through. And, you know, results, as we've seen are not reliable, especially in the year of the offensive explosion like we've seen this year. Triple A analyst Adam Azer. What do you think?

Hmm AAA analyst Oh Adam Azer analyst Analyst Adam Azer Triple A That's actually Sounds like such an insult

I would like Triple A analyst I would like to see the velocity I think it might be down A little bit for Cole Hamels Maybe Scott can check on that I was watching a little bit of his start He was more like 9091 it seemed

Where he should be more like 91 92 So I don't know He's coming off the IAL His first start off the aisle was good His second two now have been, your second and third have been bad. Yeah, I'd say a five on Hamels, I guess,

but I mostly trust him the rebound. There have been times, too many times we've counted him out, and he's been able to rebound. The Stephen Strasbourg one's a little odd. He's just a little bit of an oddity. Adam, I mean, is there enough, is there enough for him to be a bigger worry than Cole Hamels? Are you more worried about Strasbourg?

No. It's been, I don't know, it's been a solid season. No, I'm not worried. I just think it's a little interesting that his, that his, ER, oh my gosh, Seth Lugo just destroyed my ratios as this game is in progress. He's giving up five run runs in a third of an inning. Scott must be happy.

It's a Braves game. No, I'm not worried about Straussberg. I just think it's interesting. He's had such a good year, and yet he has like a 380 or something ERA. Q Scott saying if the adjuster's standards, the RAs are higher, I get it. Yeah. Other than Justin Verlander, there has been a stretch

where we have worried about every single pitcher. He's flirted with a 4ERA at some point. Yeah, but you're forgetting we did worry about Justin Verlader. He had that home run stretch, right? Yeah, it was never enough to really mess up his season line. I wasn't that word. Was anybody really that worried? No, no, no.

I don't think so. Did we give numbers? Do we have any numbers? Zero for Strasbourg. Yeah, zero's fine with me. I tend not to worry about these things. Let me throw it to you guys as far as standouts. Scott White, do you have any standouts that you would like to point out

before we move forward from this beautiful Wednesday night slate of games. Well, while I stalled to pick out a name, I will point out that Cole Hamill's velocity was down a little in this start, his third start back from the IL, and looking at the previous start. No, it kind of, there wasn't an issue last time out, really just this start. I'm not sure that really means anything. I want to give you credit, though. That was a professional stall job, though.

That was very professional. Well, other than the fact that I announced it was happening, that wasn't great. Transparency. So, stand out. I am going to say Homer Bailey stood out with seven two-hit innings, seven strikeouts. That's four of six quality starts now with the A's, which, you know, maybe it maybe has to do with their home venue as much as anything. But they've kind of had a tendency to take these kind of like, nothing veterans and

turn them into something halfway useful over the past several years, it seems like. I'm not sure that's really going on here. The two non-quality starts Homer Bailey's had with them, 16 earn runs in six and two-thirds innings. So it's very, very hit or miss. And given his recent track record,

you know, the misses stand out more than the hits. But it was a good start. Mr. Adam Azer, I know you have a standout. out possibly to, but who are we brought to by today? Oh, we have two sponsors today. We have Seekek, and I've been all over the Seek app looking for football tickets. I keep mentioning that, but it is true. Promocodes Fantasy, 10 bucks off your first purchase.

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ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. You're going to hear about those two later on. What about standouts for you? Yeah, so Kyle Gibson is not a huge standout. He gave up three runs, three walks, three strikeouts. But you might be sitting there going, what do I do with Kyle Gibson? 42080 already now. His previous start was terrible.

This start was at Milwaukee. His previous start was against Cleveland. And what I've more or less realized about Kyle Gibson is, I think he's pretty much a matchups guy. and he's got two awesome matchups next week with the White Sox and the Tigers. Maybe the White Sox get Moncada back. Eloy, maybe he's heating up a little bit. I don't know. But if you're wondering what you do with Kyle Gibson, do you drop him, do you sit him?

He's got two starts next week and you're starting him. I just think down the stretch, if he faces the Indians again, I don't think he's going to face the Yankees or the Red Sox again. But just keep an eye on like really tough matchups. you might want to sit Gibson, otherwise you start him. Some big notable stuff going on. Clayton Kirshaw dominated against the Marlins on Wednesday night. Seven innings, two hits, 10 strikeouts, vintage Clayton Kirschall.

We're either one of you, I was a big Kirschaw guy coming into this year, always been a defender of, you know, his stuff was, even though the velocity and whatnot was going down, his stuff has always been dominant when he was out there. It was just injuries that was holding him back. I was a big Clayton Kirschaw pusher this year, Were either of you in on Clayton Kirshaw for this season? I was actually pushing pretty hard for him as a bust, calling him a bust.

And I was kind of trying to reconfigure my approach to the bust where, you know, I was trying to highlight guys who were really at risk of bottoming out as opposed to just kind of underachieving. And I thought Kershaw was a good candidate for that. But I ended up with a pretty good number of shares in him just because he got hurt and his, His value, his draft stock plummeted to a point where it's like, all right, seventh round, I'll take a chance on Clayton Kershall being good again when he comes back. So it's kind of, you know, even like I don't deserve the success I've had with Clayton Kershaw, but nonetheless, I've reached the benefits. But you get it. Adam, were you a Clayton Kershaw guy?

No, not really. And even when I had him, well, when I had him in one league and he started off good, he's gone six innings in every start this year. That's incredible. And he's just gotten better as the years gone on. I had been sort of a cell high on Clayton Kirshaw guy. He's giving up too many home runs. His velocity isn't good enough.

Yeah, it's just, I've been wrong about him. Lately I've been right about him because I stopped worrying. I just accepted the fact that he's awesome. This was a terrific start. Max Scher is ready to return, but it's going to have a pitch count initially, which I think that's actually what I was hoping is they weren't going to send him out on any rehab stints and just put them on a pitch count to start early. Aaron Boone said not yet when asked when New York Yankees would limit Domingo Hermann's

innings. Shamania struck out 10 in a rehab start. That's positive. This one's a brutal blow. I know we want to focus on the season still at hand, but Jameson Tyon is going to have Tommy John surgery. He's going to miss all of next year, probably going to have some serious limits into 2021.

You might not see a right Jameson tie on until 2020, which is devastating for any keeper league players. I mean, at this point, you know, are you willing to even sit on two years of James and Tyon, even though we like his stuff? Scott, is he still even a long-term keeper option if you're in a deep keeper and, you know, you're keeping a majority of the players. You're going to hold on for two more years? Yeah.

I mean, in that setup. And, you know, a lot of times we get just the general, I'm in a keeper league. Should I keep this guy? And it's like, well, I mean, it depends. Does everybody keep five players in your league or does everybody keep 15, you know? Yeah. In a scenario where there's little roster turnover, he has a potential to be high in starting pitcher, and those guys are hard to find. And you don't, I mean, part of the, part of the deal of playing in a dynasty league is that you're supposed to behave more like a big league club would.

And, you know, the pirates aren't letting Tyone go because of this injury. They're waiting a year and then getting them back, and you should do the same. Blake Snell's going to play catch on Wednesday, maybe an early September return for people getting excited about that. Jeff McNeils is going on the IA with a left hamstring injury for the second time this season. That one's pretty brutal. I've got this one for you guys. I'm just immensely infatuated right now. Raphael Devers is hot.

Six for six on Tuesday. He actually had eight straight hits going between Tuesday and Wednesday. Five game hitting streak, four of the last five have been multi hits. Now, I preface one last time. I know we want to really hit the rest of 2019, but I just had to ask you guys this one for 2020. Rafael Devers, who is a 325 average. He's got 24 homers, 97 runs, 93 RBIs, and eight stolen bases, by the way, versus Javier Baez, 288 average, 82 runs, 81 RBIs, 28 homers, and 10 stolen bases.

Adam, how about to kick it to you real quick? Devers or Baez? I will take Devers in a points league, and I will take Baez in a Roto League. Baez is pretty much backed it up. He had a slump at some point this year where he was playing hurt, but he's having a really good year again. Devers is amazing. I don't know if he's this good.

So I will just say the plate discipline will come into play, and I will cop out and go Devers in a points league, Bias and Roto. I'm actually going to take Devers in both. I feel like the gap in expected batting average. I'm not talking about the official stat XBA. I'm talking about what I expect from them in batting average. The gap is bigger there now than the gap in

expected power production. And, yeah, and advantage Devers. Alex Spear had an interesting tweet, by the way. He said, Rafael Devers just homered because he did Homer in this. He said, this is ridiculous. He's on pace for 94 extra base hits. Only one player has ever had more in his age 22 season. Joe DiMaggio in 1937.

He had 96. That is quite a stat there. But that's not the only stat. Mr. Adam Azer, you had a stat of the day. Oh, the stat of the day. Yeah, this is great. This is from the Associated Press. When Sean Reed Foley

threw to Rangers' infielder Isaiah Kiner Folefa in the second, it marked the first time in baseball history that a pitcher with a hyphenated surname had faced a batter with a hyphenated surname. Ha ha. How cool. That's a pretty fun one.

I'm surprised by that. I've always wondered, like, what happens when the hyphenated name marry and then they have a kid and they want to continue the tradition of hyphenating the names and that we get these these four hyphenated names that are four names long. So what if they got married? What if Sean Reed Foley and Isaiah Kinaferleifa got married? What would their last name be?

I don't even know. How do you even organize that? Do you just pick your favorite of two names and hyphenate those names? I think you'd go read Kiner Filetheleffa Foley. I think you'd sandwich one of the names. One of the hyphenated last day. Earlier this year we had John Gray versus Sunny Gray, and it was like the first time in years, like decades or something,

that we had two colors spelled the same way. Something crazy like that. So I do love this kind of stuff. Let me go back to the news and notes real quick. I just want to update on Sean Mania because he did strike out 10 in a rehab start. I think he's making one more rehab start, and then he will rejoin the A's.

And I did think it was interesting that Aaron Boone is not committing to shutting down Domingo Raman yet. So hopefully you can ride him out through your fantasy postseason. I don't know what they're going to do. But he's just, he's their best pitcher. They cannot afford to shut him down right now. Also interesting if the A's were to bring back Sean Mania before Jesus Lazzardo got his opportunity to come up.

I wouldn't have guessed that if I was penned down. Quote of the day, the game was televised exclusively on YouTube. Quote, I understand, counsel said, if you have kids, they don't watch TV. They watch YouTube. It makes sense. Dinosaurs watch TV. was Craig Counsel on the Minnesota Milwaukee game being only on YouTube.

And that gentleman is a fact because I don't know if my child knows how to change the channel, but he absolutely knows how to subscribe and hit that ding as all the YouTubers will tell you on YouTube. Hit that ding. Yeah, hit the ding. They're like, subscribe and hit the ding. So you get notified. Hit the notifications. It's a hit thing, Scott.

I'm a dinosaur. How old is your, how old is you have two kids? One does not do that. but one is a seven years old. Okay. And we're on the, what is it? Like the sharer family and the child, a Chad Wildclay for anybody that knows any of those people and is now judging me,

potentially, which you shouldn't. I shouldn't know these things. I've brought up Paw Patrol and now I'm bringing up children's YouTube. God help me, please. Let's go to break real quick. Let's see what we got. We'll come back. We've got double dongs, more stuff in progress, news and notes,

and a bunch of your e-mails. So let's hit that break. Fringy starting pitchers. Let's get a group and see where we're at. Jay Hap, 78% owned. He was five innings, struck out six against Baltimore. We've got Chris Archer, 78% owned. That's still actually a shocking number to me for whatever reason.

Struck out 10 against the Angels. We've got Calquant Trill, 44% owned. He had a pretty good start. Five in one, third, walked one. Struck out four. Homer Bailey, three quality starts in his last five. but, you know, he can get bad. And Kobe Allard,

Kobe Allard went five and two-thirds, struck out five against Toronto. So fringy starting pitchers. Scott White, what do you think? Where is your fringiness going? Look, I know people are tired of me defending Chris Archer, but coming off what was maybe his best two-start stretch of the season.

He then had a 10-strikeout performance. I understand it wasn't a great start, but he did something, he was able to redeem something with that not-so-great-starch. And since he, he seems to be getting better results overall since tweaking his arsenal, kind of going back to just emphasizing the four seamer and the slider. This was his 13, sorry, his third straight start with 15 swinging strikes. He only had three of those all season prior. Yeah, I mean, I think the 78% ownership is justified.

I'm not saying he's a stud again, but he's, he's perfectly fine. He's the best of these choices, I think, pretty clearly. Yeah. Well, Archer, 78% owned. He has two starts next week, Washington and Cincinnati at home. Washington is just bludgeoning people. They have a really good lineup. So I'm nervous, but I will say this. There is no reason why J.Hap should be 78% owned. Yeah. I mean, he is and has been one of the most overrated players in fantasy for months now. So I definitely prefer Archer. But then, Scott, you look at Cal Quantrell, who, has been great since the All-Star break. He is like a one-something ERA in five-star, six appearances

since the All-Star break. You talked about Homer Bailey. Allard didn't really do enough, I don't think. But Dylan Peters, another, you know, very good performance for him. But unfortunately, he's at Texas and at Houston next week. Yeah. You know, I really don't know what to make of Dylan Peters. Because it's been three, I'm not sure if all of them were technically starts

or if there was a bulk relief. appearance in there, but three really good outings in a row. And that's pretty much across the board really good. Solid strikeout rate, getting some swinging strikes, like not just, you know, having good luck on bad at balls, but they look like he genuinely pitched well. He had a 650 ERA, AAA, AAA, granted PCL, granted juice ball, all of that, but still, 650 ERA. He's never really been a standout pitcher in the minor leagues, had some low ERAs at sometimes, but at, at, at, at, some points, but not really, you know, not impressive stat lines overall. You got to adjust your standards.

A 650 ERA is great, Scott. At the end of PC. It's great. You guys said, Adam, you said HAP should not be owned. Would you drop HAP for Quantrell? I swear I would drop J. Hap for just about, no, this is an overreaction. I would drop him for Cal Quantrel, though. Yeah, Cal Quantrell's, well, the strikeouts aren't really there for Quantrell, but they're

not there for Hap either. Quantrol is just better, I would say. I would do that. But I would rather have Peters than... I say, of all the guys we talked about, I would go Archer 1, probably Peters 2. Scott agree on that? I mean, I don't...

I can't really endorse Peters because apart from these three starts, I don't feel like there's anything to endorse. But that's kind of... He probably would be second on my list, too, just because there's not even... that for these other pitchers. I mean,

Quantrell's been okay, I guess, but not in a way that's especially believable. What about Brad Keller? I'd take a chance on Peters over him. What about Brad Keller at Baltimore and at Cleveland next week? Yeah, Brad Keller. Brad Keller's pretty close to Archer for me. Great ground ball pitcher.

And the walk issues he was having early in the year have gone away. Pitches deep into games consistently. He's pretty good, I think. Brad Keller. Not great, but pretty good. Okay. You got some double dongs on, Wednesday.

Bryce Harper hit his 23rd and 24th. You've got Yuleiguriel. By the way, I was looking. Yulee Guriel, seeing that 99% owned is, I love seeing that. It just, it actually wasn't something I was expecting when I went to go take a look just for whatever reason. You see his start percentage? What's that?

Start percentage. Is he, Yule's star percentage? Was it like, was it 91%? I think it's like 96. He's basically owned and started everywhere. I don't know why that came as like a shock. He's been phenomenal. But for whatever reason, it was just stunning when I was.

looking at that, especially comparative to some of these others. Another thing I like about when you look at the player pages on CBS. But Yuleiguriel hit his 24th and 25th. He had a 314 average coming into the night. And it was his second double dong of the month, by the way. Matt Chapman hit his 26 and 27th. He's on a five game hitting streak, but he was hitless the five games before that. And Edwin Rios, prospect Edwin Rios with the Dodgers, they just churn out these mediocre guys that can hit Homer's, at least my opinion,

hit two bombs on there. What do you guys got? Scott, you got any opinions? Matt Chapman maybe on the turnaround. Yulea Gereal is an absolute beast. Maybe Edwin Rios. Maybe he's turning around in someone you want to own. Well, I just, I'm not sure the playing time's going to be there for Rios. He's, he's been up.

He's been up at times this year and made very few starts. And obviously, obviously the Dodgers have a lot of different pieces. They can move there. I just don't know that there's an opportunity for him. not sure there's much skills beyond he'll hit some home runs to justify it. I do want to mention since I took the time to look it up. Yuley Gurriel, he first kind of burst onto the scene, I guess, as more than just this fringe guy with a stretch of five games with six home runs,

six home runs and five games, since that point. So not including that point, the day after that five game stretch where he hit six home runs, runs to now. He has hit 388 with 11 home runs. It's 29 games. 388 with 11 home runs, not counting the six home runs in five games. Oh, but Scott,

one of those was inside the park. Oh. I can't get him out of my lineup. And I know Chris would be flipping his lid right now, Chris Towers, because he doesn't believe in Yule, but I will file this under, I'll be able to analyze.

it after the season ends right now. I'm just going to enjoy the ride. I don't think Yulele believes in Chris Towers. Yeah, I don't think he does. Hey, Matt... Breaking news. Matt Chapman has a five-game hitting streak. Two home runs and a double in this five-game streak. He'd the

19 games before that. 0.95 batting average. Nine walks, 25 strikeouts. And if you just look at this year to last year, the batted ball data is very similar. Hard hit rates. Soft, medium, all that.

Groundball, fly ball. Difference, though, more pop-ups this year, fewer line drives, and that has probably contributed to a Babbitt that's about 60 points lower, and a batting average that's like 25 points lower. But, you know, Chapman, it's not a bad year.

255 with 27 homers. Not a lot of RBIs, 67 and 160 games, but comes into the game, he comes into today before the two-homer game, outside the top 15 at third base, which to me says, more about third base and just, you know, a lot of guys are eligible, multiple positions. You don't think about just third baseman. I've been mostly satisfied with Chapman,

but I understand it's been a little frustrating for fantasy. What's weird about Chapman is for, like, you look at his batting average compared to his strikeout rate and the home run production being good. And you're like, oh man, he's having bad luck. But expect a batting average is actually lower than that because he sold out so much for fly balls. And, you know, with a big home park that doesn't. help either. So I'm not, I'm not sure, I don't know, I've been all over the place with my Matt Chapman takes, because his performance has been kind of all over the place.

Yeah. And to what you guys said, too, only 84% start rate on CVS compared to 99% owned. And we look at Yulee Guriel, about at least 10% more starts for Yulee Gareel right now than Matt Chapman. Maybe this small stint here of picking it up over the last five games is going to be the start of something through the end of the year. but the track record as of recent has been pretty porish. More news and notes.

Robbie Ray with the Diamondbacks. He exited Wednesday due to a lower back spasm that was from the Diamondbacks. He was lifted after one run and two innings against Iraqis. He's considered day to day for right now. Worryometer with Robbie Ray and back spasm injuries. For me, I hear back spasm. I hear Robbie Ray and I get like an eight. But Scott White, are you as or not as concerned about Robbie Ray?

injury? I feel like that could go so many different directions. So I'll just take the middle ground of a five. Like back spasms sometimes lead to IEL stents. Sometimes they lead to nothing. John Duplante, someone you'd be interested in to pick up if he were to get the call? I'm not sure where he is in terms of rehabbing his injury and building back up innings. I mean, yeah, it was interesting when he was up before. What about you, the Welsh?

You're the Diamondbacks fan? First of all, I'm into John DuPlanthea. I did not know that Robbie Ray has a history of backspasms. Is that a fact? No, he just has a history of not being healthy and also not pitching well, especially if you have something like a back spasm and control. That's what I'm worrying about. He's not going to be able to stay long into games and he's not, and if this is going to affect his control at all, this could be a massive problem. John DuPlanthier is a, I think he's a, I think he's a,

super underrated prospect. He was out here in the AZL about a month ago, maybe a little bit less as he was starting his rehab. I believe he's in AAA right now. I'd have to look here in a second to see if that's correct. But, you know, he is a solid multi-pitch, three to four pitch pitcher on command. He's a smart guy. I interviewed him on Prospect 1 before.

I think he's a future stud, probably a number three long term. So if he came up, he would be someone I would be interested in for people. If you lost Robbie Ray, I don't know if he can complete. fill out the stats, but the dimebacks have done good with some of their young pitchers like Alex Young and whatnot. I just thought, Scott, I wasn't sure if you were a Deplontea fan or not. No, I mean, I was more two years ago when he had the lowest ERA, I think, for any minor league pitchers since the Justin Verlander season way back when. And it's been, you know, his stocks kind of fallen since then. It looks like the most he's thrown since recovering from his injuries four innings in a game.

And they had to bump somebody, right? after adding Zach Gallin and Mike leaked to the rotation. I think it wasn't Alex Young. It was the other guy, Clark. Oh, Taylor Clark, yeah. Yeah. So I would go to him first. Yeah, and it's definitely a possibility.

A couple others here, Logan Morrison, he was called up by Philly. In AAA, he was hitting 308 with a 369 OBP, 640 OPS, between stops with the Yankees and the Phillies. Are we taking flyers on Logan Morrison? I had a mazer? No. Thank you for like I appreciate you giving me that layup. Makes me look like a good analyst.

We are definitely not taking a lobo flyer now. I'm just checking. I just got to check the waters here. All right. So then we can move on from that one. Avon Nova said he's been locating better by the way, Adam. I mean, you were so dismissive. I am.

And I'm still dismissive because he even said like it's the same pitch sequence. He basically said like everything's the same. He's just locating better, which to me is just confirmation that you do not have to pay any attention to, uh, to, to, to, Ivanova.

I'm sure he is locating better. But he won't keep locating better. That's, that's not, right, exactly. Pit pitchers don't have their peak accuracy.

Um, you know, they don't sustain it for that long. And, and when he loses it, it's going to be, it's going to get a pounding. Yeah.

It's going to be awful. It feels very Ubaldo Jimenez, like, like he's running, he's running through and then it's just going to get absolutely brutal. Just a couple last ones here. Brad Bacock is going to turn as a relief pitcher. Jake Garietta season likely is over, probably going to be having elbow surgery. Zach Eflin is going to start on Saturday. Yohan Moncada, or as I say, Yomankata now, was set to begin a rehab assignment

on Wednesday. Pablo Sandoval is on the IL. Alec Dickerson is off the IL, and Dickerson has hit in 32 games. Pretty solid there. David Peralta did not start due to a stiff neck. Keep that in mind there. That's a good Josh Rojas, even though Josh Rojas actually didn't play on Wednesday, they keep monitoring him. And San Francisco is considering moving their outfield walls in to make more room for the bullpen. Let's do it.

Let's move it in for more homers. Yeah, that's not the reason. I mean, are they going to move the giant brick wall? Because that seems expensive. Yeah, they would probably just build like a wall in front of it, right? Yeah. Well, let's

not talk about building walls. Let's just give them to move the, we'll move the things in and we'll be good to go. All right. Let's go to break. I want to hit a bunch of emails. We got a bunch of good emails coming in. And then we still got hitters. We got bullpen.

And there are some red hots. So let's hit that break. We'll be right back. Emails. Fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. That's where you can send some beautiful emails into us. Here we go. What do you guys think about this strategy of drafting hitters for the first 12 to 14 rounds?

And then drafting young starting pitchers with upside the rest of the draft. I also want to go with no closers. This will allow me to have two to three more starting pitchers than everyone else. What do you think of this strategy? This is from Greg. Scott, what do you think? Why don't you go to Adam first? That's a terrible.

I didn't follow that very well. It's a terrible strategy. All right, drafting hitters for the first 12 to 14 rounds and then drafting young starting pitchers with upside the rest of the draft. This is like a foolish thing to do. Chris tried this. I told him it was a bad idea two years ago. And he tried it and it failed miserably.

Because what you need is like most, if not all of those guys with upside to hit. And when they don't, you're going to realize you have the worst pitching staff in your league. So this is a terrible idea. And think about this year, too, by the way. Like that guy's like, all right, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get Nick Pavetta. Then I'm going to get Hazers-Lissardo, Force Whitley, own win, championship. Yeah, that didn't work out.

I've said this a few times before. Like, regardless of how heavily I pursued starting pitch in my draft, the one thing I've been consistently trying to acquire all season long is useful starting pitching. And by the way, nobody's been giving it up. It's been very difficult to do this. And because everybody's in the same boat. Meanwhile, I mean, think of all the hitters who, like, Talmarty, recently Bo Bichette. Like, it's such a long list.

I don't even know where to begin of hitters who, we didn't have an especially high opinion of coming in, and then they've been just absolute studs. Like, it's just... Don't do it, Greg. You should take the... Like, if anything, I might try the opposite approach. Yeah.

Nothing but pitchers for seven or eight rounds, and then, I mean, I probably wouldn't really do that, but I think it's a more viable strategy than this. Long-time listener, and I just wanted to showcase my appreciation for Adam on the baseball podcast. I'm sure Chris will do an excellent job, but he might have takes like chocolate bars taste good, or movies well regarded by 99% of the public are also good. And I guess I don't know how I'll get by.

That being said, I look forward to listening, blah, blah, blah to me. We don't need to hear nice things about me. And continue to hear Adam say things like, I think T-shirts are dumb on the football podcast. I don't remember saying that. T-shirts are dumb? I love T-shirts. I'm wearing a T-shirt. right now. It's a Lambda Lambda Lambda T-shirt.

Lambda Tri-Lams. Oh, that's pretty solid. That's a pretty good one. Was it like T-shirt giveaways are dumb? No, I don't think so. I love T-R. Oh, maybe you hate when they shoot the shirts into the stands. I love when they shoot shirts into the stands. It's like the best part of the game. I do think it's a little strange how excited people get about free T-shirts, because it's not like a great T-shirt

if you're ever getting in a T-shirt giveaway. It's got like eight advertisements on the back, and you never really want to wear it outside of the context in which you receive it. It becomes like a nighttime shirt for you. It's about being special. You were the one. All the other people around you, you get to look at them and be like,

you don't have this. I got this. You don't get this. And then you throw it away in the garbage when you're done, because it doesn't matter. That was sincerely a guy who is in 10th place in his 10 team baseball league, but still truly loves listening to you guys,

Wes. Very good. What's up, Sam, Norm, Cliff, and Woody. Oh, that's cheers. I know that one. I actually knew one. Good job. Yeah, look at me.

15. Keeper Dynasty Roto. I get Blake Snell and Oscar Mercado. I give up Javier Baez. What do you think? That is from Blaine in Charlotte, North Carolina. Scott, what do you think? Give up Javier Baez for a pitcher and a young hitter.

I mean, I'm at the point right now where I would, if you can, if I can make a trade that gets my hands on one of the 15 to 20 pitchers, I think has a reasonable chance of putting up ace numbers, I do it. I mean, there might be like, maybe like for a first round caliber hitter, I don't do that.

I don't think Baez is a first-round caliber hitter. I think he's more like a fourth-round caliber hitter. So, yeah, I would make this trade. You'd give up Hobby Baez for Snell and Mercado. Yeah, I mean, Pras just a throw-in, but I'd probably do it just for Snell. Oh, you wouldn't do it, the Welsh? No, I mean, I'm more likely than anything, especially in a dynasty. I'm going hitter over pitcher.

I love Blake Snell, but Javier Baez, regardless of any downturn we want to look at him, He's not a road. I don't think he's a rhodo liability. You know, he's still hitting, I think, 288 right now. So I don't see him as a roto liability. I still see his production up. I'm always going to go hit her over pitcher, unless this was a points league, which he did. I mean, he said it's roto.

I just feel like that used to be the standard. But like, and I, Chris Towers and I, we've been having this fight for, I think, three years now. Because I was so adamantly hit her over pitcher for, you know, when I first started in this industry and it worked out great. But it's become like back then. you can make the argument, oh, how much safer are hitters, how much more reliable are hitters. And that's still true. But it's become a major scarcity issue in terms of having a really good starting pitcher. They're just so hard to come by when, you know, back, you know, back just a few years ago,

they weren't so much. They would emerge, you know, kind of the volatility kind of worked in favor of pitchers as well as working against them in the early rounds. Yeah, but in a dynasty league, are you willing to give up a good young hitter for a guy like Blake Snell who has now... He's now been hurt right now. Yeah, he's now been hurt two years in a row.

No, I... I would rather have Snell, too. I would do it for the record. Okay. Well, like I said, not just for any hitter. Like, I'm not doing this for Bregman or, you know, Nolan Aeronado. But for Bias, yeah.

I think he's a lower... You know, there's a... He's... At a lower, what am I trying to say? He's not as good as those guys. He's a lower tier. He's out of the tier of those type of players you're talking about. That makes sense.

And I mean, I do think that's a pretty tough one. If Blake'snell wasn't hurt, I think it makes a little bit more difficult. But you throw in multiple years of that. You also throw in look at the volatility of pitching. I mean, you know, if you keep a whole bunch, it's a little bit different here. But I'm going to go by us. But we got two for the pitcher. Hey, scam, skrisk, shardom, and ghost of Keith.

You got me. You guys know that one? Wait a secam is Scott and Adam. Chris is Scott and Chris. Kratum, which you pronounce shardom, which is very different. If you ever seen a long came poly. Cradam is Chris and Adam. And then the ghost of Keith, because Heath is never on the show.

People like to call him Keith. I like that one. This is from Ewan. What's going on with Aaron Judge? He's batting 273. He's got an over 400 OBP since the All-Star break with six doubles and three homers. What's his value for 2020, Adam? What's going on with Aaron Judge?

He's just in a slump. He's going to come out of it. He's still hitting the ball really hard, has the highest exit velocity in baseball. He'll be fine. When he comes out of it, it will be epic. His value for 2020 to me, he's a borderline first round pick in an OBP league.

He's a second round pick. Otherwise, I can understand downgrading him because of his injuries each of the last two years. But OBP, I expect to be over 400, and he should lead the league. or he should come close to leading the league in home runs, RBIs, and runs. Do you concur, Mr. Scott White?

Yeah, I mean, pretty much. I will probably be the guy who downgrades him because of injury history and just because I don't. I feel like there are enough great hitters that there's no reason not to downgrade him for that. Like, you're not getting a huge advantage by taking the relative risk of judge over,

I don't know, somebody like Charlie Blackman, let's say. So I probably will downgraded based on that But in terms of are the skills still there I think they are All right Tom says what should I do with Joey Lucasey 10 team head to head points league wins not quality starts I know he's not a keeper and barely pitches to earn a win

But starting pitching is scarce on the waiver wire Should I stay the course with with Joey Or roll with one of these guys Best available are Sergio Romo Ryan Presley Mitch Keller Will Harris or Joe Kelly So do we stick with Joey or do we go with a guy like a Mitch Keller and Sergio Romo

seem like the likely options there. What do you think, Scott? Yeah, I would go with, like if we're just going starting pitcher to starting pitcher, I would take the chance on Mitch Keller over the decidedly underwhelming but not terrible Joey Lucasey. And then just in the hope that Mitch Keller emerges as something more than that. But if I was, if I wanted to go another route, I think Presley is a good

ratio option. You know, Sergio Romo, if he, becomes a viable save source again, then maybe he enters that discussion. But I think Presley would be my second choice after Keller. Adam, you pick up anybody not Keller here for Lucasey or keep Lucasey? No, there's no point in owning non-closers in points leagues.

Oh, is a points league? Yeah, it's a points league. Romo, rather, he got a save two nights ago, and then tonight or Wednesday night, he struggled, I think, at the eighth inning. So I don't think he's the closer there. But no, I agree with Scott. I'd go with the Keller. This last one, this is an inside job.

I know who this person is. This is an ITL CBS crossover from some guy, Kevin. And that's an ITL joke because we had three people email us straight in a row that were Kevin. So we're like, hey, everybody's Kevin. And now all we get is every single person emailing us saying they are Kevin. So that's what this is. Dear former Cincinnati Reds pitcher, Teen Wolf, and Scott with two T's. and yes, I have been confused for Chris Welsh,

the Cincinnati Reds pitcher before. I have stories about it. It's ridiculous. I look nothing like him. He's handsome and has money. Can we introduce Chris to Heath's best fantasy baseball team name, Yasmani Money Tomas Problems? I'd like to know his opinion and why does he want to get it tattooed across his chest.

What is happening here? Yeah, that's Heath's money. He's his team name, rather, in the podcast Points League. Yamani Money Tomas Problems. It's like more buddy, Robra. It's the worst. I mean,

it's the best with the worst player. It's an incredible name, but just a horrific player to pick. It's a terrible name. Yeah, body, buddy, Tobas problems.

It's forcing a name that clearly doesn't work into, I mean, it just doesn't work. It's true. It's so bad. I got to admit, guys, I think it's doing its job right now.

You guys are both very heated up. I think he's doing his job very, very well. All right, those were... He was an expert troll. Yeah, he really is. He is. It's like an inception.

Yeah, he left a little something all in our brains. Heath and the ghost of Keith. All right, that was good stuff there. Email and fantasy baseball at cbsi.com, and we can answer all of those fun questions, but I am not the Reds, Chris Welsh. Just remember that. A few hitters get your takes on.

Luis Arias was one for two with a double three RBIs and a walk against Tampa Bay. Danny Santana, two for five with a homer, a double three RBIs, three runs and a strikeout at Toronto after doubling twice on Tuesday. You've got Elvis Andrus, who was four for five with two RBIs. I thought this was really interesting. 91% owned, but only 76% start was on CBS. Only three hits in his previous six games. You've got Ristrims.

Oh, whoa. Yeah, Strimski. Yeah, that was my center hit percentage moment right there. One for three with a homer and three RBIs against Oakland. And Renato Renuarez, 61% owned five for five on Wednesday. He had a homer on Tuesday, which makes six hits in his last two, but he's only had four total hits in the rest of August. But he's had a very, very quiet, massive power campaign.

So of those hitters, Orias, Danny Santana, Andris, Yostribsky, and Nunez. Adam, where is your excitement going? if there's excitement. I mean, I guess it'd be Santana, but you can't pick him up anymore. So in terms of the ownership and start percentage, at this point in the year, you'd never know how many people are starting Andrews,

but their seasons over and they're not checking their lineup anymore. I benched Elvis Andrews, though, in a 14-team points league. He's just not very good in points leagues. He did have a huge game today, but I benched him for Boba Chet, which was obviously an easy call. Still worth using in a Roto League because he's running. But, yeah, I'm in terms of,

by Luis Erius, because the plate discipline has been so good, before going one for two with a double and three RBIs today and a walk. He had been batting 300 in his last 14 games, but with eight walks. And like, there's not much other than the walks. It's a little bit reminiscent of Kevin Bigio, but at least there's something there for Luis Arrhus. So, on my radar. And again, if you lost Tatis, if you lost Jeff McNeil, especially if you're in a points league in the walks count, he might, Luis Arias might not be the worst guy to look at. Scott, what do you think?

Someone like Andrus, who did just have a nice night, but, you know, has been a little off and on. Would you drop him for a guy like Arias who's in a good situation? I wouldn't do that, by the way. I'm just saying, it's kind of separate thoughts. Like Andrews is on the way down a little bit. Arias is on the way up, but they haven't quite met. I'd still like Andrews better.

Yeah, and you agree, Scott? Are you in that same realm? Yeah, I mean, based on how productive Andrews was for, what the first three months of the year I would be reluctant to drop him I think it is more of a sit situation which is why you see that gap between

star percentage and ownership percentage and I don't think EREAS I mean he's getting he's gotten more hits lately three of them have been for extra bases and I mean I think he still has a long way to go to being a viable

option of fantasy not saying he can't get there Obviously, there's a good pedigree. He did some positive things in the miners, especially this year. I kind of feel like Arias really needs to kick it into gear here if he's going to hold off Thai France, who's been basically Thai Cobb in terms of, you know, like batting 400 at AAA this year, but with tons of power. And has been playing second base all of a sudden down there.

So I think the Padres have, Other guys they can explore there if Arias doesn't sustain this hot hitting. Well, and it also could be Orias going to shortstop, which he did in spring training. I was out at the camps and he was doing that. Ian Kinsler was exclusively at second. Maybe Typh, maybe they actually just want to replace the production of the Orias at second and have Typh France going to second, and Orias is still a shortstop. Something just to be on the lookout for.

Padres like to mess with that stuff. Over to the bullpen. This one is not necessarily a closer one, but I want to mention it since we talked about Nathan Ivaldi potentially going back in the rotation. on Wednesday he came in the 6th. He went two and he got the win. He struck out to one hit. Workman ended up coming in the 9th, but it was not a saved situation.

I know we weren't excited about Nathan Eovaldi, and I don't really imagine this change necessarily too much, but it is nice to see a couple clean innings. He was able to walk away with a win at him, but Eovaldi is still just pure speculation or deep league stuff. He's going to join the rotation. And yeah, exactly. Speculation deeply is I'm not picking up a ball.

Waldie anywhere. Some other closers, Matt Albers. He got a two-out saved. Josh Haderhead threw just six pitches on Tuesday. Albers went two-thirds and he walked three and struck out none, which is awesome. He has the last three days. Yeah, it's getting interesting, Scott. He's a 1% owned Albers. Well, and Jeremy Jeffress, he also was the first to come in to replace Joe Gonzalez, which I thought was kind of interesting. I always kind of thought there would be someone he might want to, they might want to go back on, but he was the first replacement. This was like in the, I think it was in the third somewhere in there. So monitor that.

Other notes, Sergio Romo blew a save from Minnesota. He struggled in the eighth. Archie Bradley blew a save, giving up a two-run homer to Nolan Aeronado. Shout out to you, Acer. I know you need Aeronado to be doing some work. That was big. The Bauer crushed me in that league. So Aeronado had had his back.

Emilio Pagan got a save at San Diego on Tuesday. Jose, Jose, Alvarado. why don't you close any games? Because he struggles. In the eighth, he struggles, Scott. He's desperado. He struggled.

Jose Leclerc, non-safe, one inning, three strikeouts, four straight games without giving up a run, by the way, two saves in that time. Scott Oberg, he did the old binary code of 1-1-1-1-1-1 in a tie game in the ninth against Arizona. He had not pitched in five days,

but previous he had been, I think, won four earned runs two strikeouts at San Diego. So any save or closer notes that I just mentioned that you guys want to jump on? If we think Pagan versus Alvarado might be a committee, like I said yesterday, Alvarado is going to have to prove it, and he didn't. So Paghan right now is the frontrunner for saves. Not saying that's going to stay that way, but he's the front runner for saves for a team that's playing great.

Yeah, Oberg, I don't think they can replace him. It's too bad outings in a row, but he's the best guy in their bullpen. Matt Albers is, I don't think he's like good of a pitcher, but I still kind of feel Scott like the Brewers want someone to be there closer and Hader than Hater. And Hater to get like an occasional save, but not necessarily. And haters hasn't been amazing this year. He's give him a ton of homers.

So Albers is interesting. I mean, mostly recently. But yeah, it's, it's, like, I think it's just a coincidence that they're phasing him out of the closer role while he's struggling, rather than that being the impetus for it because it's not like it's not like they have reliable choices otherwise Albers included I mean Albers is scraping the bottom of the barrel for saves I feel like if you're taking a flyer on him

and most people don't have to go quite deep I mean quite that deep Mark Malanson with the save yesterday I'd go for him over Albers Would you rather have would you rather have Joe Jimenez or Matt Albers I'd go with Jimenez but Jimenez is like a terrible pitcher. He's been so bad this year. Yeah, I mean, the ERA is bad. He's been much better recently, and he's had a good strikeout rate. There's really nothing I look at with Albers and say this guy's going to be, this guy deserves to be getting

safe chances. So, yeah, I would definitely take him in as there. Albers, I think, if we're calling him the Brewers closer, which is probably premature, but if we are, he might be the very last ranked close. closer for me. No, no, because there's got to be, unless you consider the Orioles. I mean, I think he and Kennedy over on. Unless you consider the Orioles to not have a closer, then you could make that case.

Otherwise, yeah, yeah, they don't have. Do they need one? Do they even need one at this point? Can I tell you so. They are so bad that I have not, like the Yankees just played them three games. The Yankees, I think, won 16 in a row this year against the Orioles. I have not been even a little bit excited to watch these Yankees games, and that's a shame. Like, these games are huge.

It's August. The Orioles are so bad that I don't even want to watch the games. And what's even worse about the Orioles is that the Tigers are somehow worse than the Orioles. Like, that's amazing. People think the Orioles are the worst team in baseball. I am pretty sure it's still the Detroit Tigers. By the way, as we get out of here, Aristides Aquino hit his ninth home run. I tried to call an offer again.

I did it over on ITL. And I was all happy about it. I'm like, oh, hey, look, Aristides, he's finally coming down. I was texting with my buddy James Anderson and wrote away. I'm like, hey, look, Aristides, he's going to start failing. We're like, yeah, yeah. He's just the best thing ever. He's just a prospect.

We don't know how to handle, but guess what? All he does is mash balls. He's red hot ninth home run to keep that eye on him. Find this wonderful crew on Twitter at CBS Scott White and Adam Azer. You can find me on Twitter at Is It the Welsh. That is the show. Love y'all. We are out of here.

Fantasy baseball today. We'll see you tomorrow.