Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/17: Forsythe, Blackmon, Mazara and Week 22 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 17, 2018

A lot to talk about including Logan Forsythe's ridiculous run with MIN. Will there be any prospects that make an impact down the stretch (4:00)? Who are our favorite two-start pitchers for Week 22 (7:50)? Has Charlie Blackmon been a bust (11:40) and what do we think for next year? ... Welcome back Nomar Mazara (14:45)! Also yesterday's standouts (17:40) include Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Michael Conforto and more ... Available OFs (31:00), available Shortstops (34:10), struggling stud infielders (38:10), yesterday's noteworthy SPs (41:52), a thorough look at next week's two-start pitchers (45:25) and today's matchups (56:40) ... 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

Domingo Santana It's kind of Friday there is A Kokomo Friday A fantasy baseball Friday What's up everybody? Welcome to the show Just Adam and Scott See I'm you know

I was talking all that smack to Chris Towers Yesterday Scott I said you never on the show He said oh boy I'm on I'm on and he said he was going to come on today And where is Chris Towers Where is he? He has other important matters to attend to

Apparently I don't know what could be more important than this I'm sorry listeners. Chris Towers does not value your time. Tweet at C-Towers, CBS, whatever his weird Twitter name is now, and just yell at him for not being here. I have such a hard time finding him on Twitter. Oh, yeah, he changes it all the time. They have to type in the handle. Welcome, though. Welcome. Scott, I have to ask you a question. I sent you the notes, and I had a trivia question at the top, and when I sent you the updated notes, I included

the answer and the question. I don't know the answer. Okay, good. Here's the trivia question. since the Brian Dozier trade of the Dodgers, whose second baseman has a higher OPS, Minnesota? I'm going to guess Logan Forsyth because he was in the trade and because I know he's been awesome since joining the Twins. Well, he has no home runs and Dozier has three. Does that change your answer? Oh, so you're saying which of the two does?

Yeah, between Doger and Forsyth, who has a higher OPS since the trade? Well, look, Forsyth went five for five with two doubles yesterday. Yeah, I'm going to say Forsyth. You are correct, sir. Yeah. He's got an OPS over a thousand, 1031 OPS, Dozier, a measly 932 OPS in 14 games with the Dodgers. But Forsyth is obviously the guy to talk about here.

Five for five with two doubles and 14 games with the twins, he is batting 449. Quite sustainable, Scott. Forsyth is 5% owned. The twins had some serious foresight. included Forsyth in that deal. Am I right? He's not a bad player. I mean, he wasn't very good last year. He wasn't a bad player before he joined the Dodgers.

Right. And so it's, I mean, they gave up Jose de Leon, who, you know, I don't know that we think much of him now, but he was considered one of the best pitching prospects in baseball at the time. So it's crazy, you know, he leaves the Dodgers, goes back to the AL, and immediately he's racking up multi-hit games. I think skepticism is warranted, obviously. He says it's just a matter of him playing every day again. The Dodgers never did commit to him as quite an everyday player,

though obviously he played more in the beginning than he had done the last few weeks. So I don't know that I totally buy that explanation, but it didn't make sense the way he fell off either. It doesn't strike out much. His battle ball profile. certainly looks like a viable major league hitter. He's 5% owned. Probably should be more like 25% owned.

Yeah, not a great player, but his best season was 2015. Forsyth at 281, 17 homers, 9 steals. The next year he hit 264 with 20 homers and 6 steals. And I know those numbers don't sound great now, but that was pre-home run explosion. He was borderline top 12 at the position. Of course, he has two home runs and 242 at play. bats this year, but would you rather have

Yoan Moncada or Brian or Brian Dejure or Logan Forsyth? I know which one I'd rather start next week and it's Forsyth. I mean, obviously Moncada is deserves to be more rostered, but then again we're getting to the stretch of the season where

that doesn't matter. Hope and upside becomes less important. Would you rather have Logan Forsyth or Ian Kinsler Back today He's back today And I'll go Kinsler

Email of the day is from Jay Guys we're almost to September If Vladimir Guerrero is still available Should I pick him up now He has to come up with September call-ups Doesn't he? Oh I don't No I don't

I don't have to I don't think he will Frankly I don't know why they would wait until then I mean obviously rosters expand then But I don't think Finding a 25-man roster spot for him is the problem. I think they're doing what the Braves did with the CUNY last year.

They're doing what the Cubs did with Chris Bryant in 2014, I believe it was, where it's obvious to everybody that he's ready for the majors, but if they wait until the middle of next April, they can get a seventh year of control out of him. So I can't guarantee he won't be up. but my hunch is he won't be up. What about Eloy Jimenez? What about Michael Copac?

Same thing. What was the third name he said? Copac. Yeah, same thing. I'd been holding out hope saying, okay, well, Reese Hoskins, we haven't gotten to the point yet where Reese Hoskins was called up last year.

But now we have. Hoskins was called up August 10th. And it's also like, the Blue Jays know Vladimir Guerrero is the franchise. The White Sox Know probably that Alloy Jimenez is the franchise Michael Coppec probably the best pitching prospect in baseball Reese Hoskins had a very good season in the minors last year

But it wasn't so clear he was going to be this great major leaguer So the Phillies Weren't risking as much by calling him up I think this is totally intentional by the White Sox and Blue Jays Just to leave him down till next year We had a report like a week or two ago that Eloy Jimenez was very close. Yeah, that was from Chris Gets, the director of player development for the White Sox. And it filled me with some brief optimism.

But it wasn't, you know, saying he's very close isn't offering a concrete timetable. You know, very close could mean a couple months away. And obviously a couple months we're talking about the offseason at that point. And also he's not the one who makes that decision, whether he gets called up. So, yeah, I don't. I don't know that the fact we've heard no rumbling since then, I think is a bad sign. All right. So are there any prospects worth stashing at this point?

And we shouldn't say that those guys aren't worth stashing. It's like we don't know for a fact that they're not coming up. I actually wrote an article about this very thing. It was published yesterday. It was mostly centered around Guerrero and Jimenez. and my feeling was if you're in a league where more than 300 players are rostered and you've stashed them all this time, that's probably a deep enough league where you know,

you have other bench options that are expendable and you should probably just stick with them because even more frustrating than them not getting called up is them getting called up and rewarding somebody else when you do. Yeah, that'd be annoying. Yeah, so I would probably just stick with them, but I am not holding my breath. All righty, Scott, and you can read that prospects column on the website.

Scott, who's your favorite two-star pitcher that might be available for fantasy owners in the upcoming scoring period, which will be week 22? One? 22. 22. Who are we looking at? Some interesting choices out there. No slam dunks.

No Armand Marquez, I'd say. But some interesting choices. What are thinking? Wait a second. No, it's 22. I was thinking I'm getting confused about I've been confused all year Don't worry about it

It is week 22 Okay so two star pitchers It's uh I mean if we're going to use the 80% cutoff Then I would say Shane Bieber and Tyler Anderson Are the best two start options available on waivers But they barely make that cutoff And it's not like either of them Is looking at a great situation in this upcoming week

Beaver's first matchup is at Boston. The second's at Kansas City, so I still think I'd go for it in a points league. But in a roto league, I don't know that I'd flatly recommend him. Tyler Anderson, both of his starts are at home, where he's been better than on the road this year, but still, it's course feels and he's coming off an awful start. So, you know, I don't know.

Most people listening, those two probably aren't available anyway. So if we look a little deeper, There's nobody I love, but if I'm going to endorse anybody, I'm going to endorse Mike Fires, who himself is about 65 percent. I'm not exactly widely available. He gets Texas in Oakland, so that's not so bad. And then the twins. And he's just been, you know, he's on a nice run of quality or near quality starts.

And then the widely available option, who I might consider is Derek Holland. who is at the Mets, just a good matchup any way you look at it. Oh, it used to be. Well, I mean... They are hitting better. I mean, Conforto's hitting... Oh, Conforto, geez, did I screw that up?

Confortos hitting better. Nimmo, Ahmed Rosario. Not Nimmo. Flores, Ahmed Rosario. They're hitting better. Yeah. But it's still a good matchup. I mean, 24 runs

doesn't look as impressive when you consider 10 came off position play. players. 14 months is pretty good. Yeah, I know, but any team is capable of that any given night, whatever. Yeah, so that's a good matchup for Holland. And then the other one's Texas, but it's in San Francisco, where he has a higher ERA, but a strikeout, all his other numbers are better at home, as you'd expect them to be. So I worry that Derek Holland won't get the six innings required for a quality start, but I think the overall results will be decent in those two starts.

So Bieber and Tyler Anderson are shallower leagues. Mike Fires, you can take a shot on. Derek Holland, you can take a shot on. And I feel confident in Tyler Anderson because in his career, I mean, you mentioned that he's better at home than on the road this year. His ERA at home in his career is 342. On the road, it's 523. It doesn't make sense, but he pitches a lot better at Corres Field.

Two home starts, one of them is against the Padres. And even in this recent stretch for Anderson where he's been pretty bad in his last three road starts, but really good in the home starts around them, although three of his last four have been on the road. So I don't know. I would be more hesitant to start Bieber than Anderson. Yeah, I did. The Red Sox start could go very, very wrong.

I'd probably start both in a points league. I would at least consider starting Anderson in a Roto League. I don't think I'd consider starting Bieber in a Roto League. All right, here's a new segment called I need you to admit that Charlie Blackman has been a bust. I phrase it that way because I'm not sure if you're going to admit it, but I know that Chris wouldn't admit it. I just, I want, this was for Chris. In fact, I'm going to I am him and I'm going to ask him, do you think Charlie Blackman has been a bus? Oh, he's not a computer.

No. Okay. Scott, I need you to admit that Charlie Blackman has been a bus this year. No. I mean, it depends what you mean by bust. He's been good. been a must-start high-end outfielder. How high-end?

He's 15. He hasn't been first-round caliber. He hasn't been third-round caliber. He's the number 15 outfielder, and thank goodness he leads off because he scored 86 26 runs. 22 home-runs, 6 deals at this point, not great. 273 batting average, not great. 17 doubles?

What the heck is that? Nothing. In the last 16 games, he's batting 156, so he's killing you in the stretch run. Charlie Blackman has been a bust this year. Dude. Here's the thing. You look at the batta ball profile. It's the same as last year.

Like, it totally seems within the realm of possibility, and halfway expected, I think, that there will be a hot stretch at some point over the next six weeks that will make his ending numbers better than they are right now. So it may well be that when we're talking about where to draft Charlie Blackman next year over the course of this offseason and next March,

we're still talking about first or second round. Oh, yeah, maybe. My thought is probably... He just won't have it. He just won't put his phone on vibrate, folks. He just won't... I feel like my text tone is like... The fun little side character in this podcast.

You never know when he's going to pop in. Maybe. It always puts a smile on your face. Maybe, maybe. I had the last two days, but new habits or old habits are hard to break. I guess so. Charlie Blackman's 32. So, and is he, I don't, he's not a free agent.

No, they extended him, right? Didn't they give him a new contract? Okay, so we don't have to worry about that. But yeah, he's 32. So he's getting up there. and if he doesn't finish this season red hot and get that batting average close to 300, then he's probably not going to go earlier than round three next year. Okay, I got a Twitter poll up, and I always forget to update them at the end of the episode.

But do you think Charlie Blackman has been a bust this year? So far, 68% yes, 32% no. We only have 31 votes in, so we'll see what happens over the next 45 minutes or so. All right, that is the Charlie Blackman segment. So there was a transaction yesterday involving a minor league prospect, and it didn't go well for the minor league prospect. Willie Calhoun was sent down. Why was Willie Calhoun sent down?

Because somebody's coming off to the L. Nomar Mazarra, we would like to say. Oh, I went too long. I didn't time it right. Damn it. I was pretty good. It was close. It was close.

It was close enough. But not good enough. Welcome back, Nobar Mazar. And he homered. How about that? I don't know. what to think of Omar Mazar. He's 93% own, but he's

272 batting average with 16 home runs and only one steal in 92 games. He had a nine game stretch with seven home runs and a 1425 OPS. His next 52 games, Mazara had a 691 OPS.

He was useless. However, he has been very respectable against lefties this year. 254 with a 459 slugging percentage. That's a big improvement. Do you Noamar Mazar deserves to be owned in 93% of leagues? Probably. If I was going to say it's too much of anything, I would say it's too high.

I am not the Nomar Mazarra guy. I feel like the fly ball rate is so low that the fact he's not getting a bunch of home runs. I'm not just going to assume that'll suddenly change. I know a lot of people love the upside, but there has to be something else that changes for him to tap into it. That's being said, I mean, he's still fine. He's still, you know, he's not a stud for your team. He would probably be no better than your third outfielder if you rostered him. But I don't think it's a problem to roster him either. I don't think he's going to be what brings you down.

Would you rather have Jose Martinez or Omar Mazzara? Oh, definitely Mazarra. I don't know that we're going to see Martina. I know we said this before, and he's found a way to get playing time still, but Tyler O'Neill was in the lineup and right field over him yesterday. Tyler O'Neill, having recently come off the DL himself, and Martinez is a bad defender out there. O'Neill's somebody who the Cardinals have every reason to want to see more from down the stretch,

so we'll see. By the way, Matt Carpenter has made 10 errors this year. It feels like a lot. Well, how many are first base? I don't know, but can't win MVP. You came with an MVP if you're making 10 errors. What? You probably can.

I am on team Hobby Baez for MVP. Okay. Fortunately, we have another six weeks to figure it out. Yeah. There's a good chance one will distinguish himself still. And no one are in Otto. Let's not forget him. Chris Towers says that Charlie Blackman, has he been a bus this year?

Quote, eh, maybe. Come on Chris Towers. Thursday standouts. Clay Buckholt's Complete game, one run, six strikeouts at San Diego. He's got a 247 ERA. Are you buying it with Clay Buckholtz? I'm not buying it.

And where a dozen starts in, I haven't bought it this whole time, I'm not starting to buy it now. But I will say that when he does fall, the fall may not be as big as we were suspecting. It'll be looking at the surrounding data now that there's more of it. The BABIP is low, but it's not crazy low.

The FIPP is mid-3s, you know? The swinging strike rate isn't great, but it's not worse than it's ever been at any other point in his career. I think he's at least entered the, you know, stream them with good matchups and two-starts discussion. I feel like when things go wrong for him, his numbers will look a lot like Mike leaks, you know?

I mean, Clay Buckholtz, he didn't have his change-up last night. That's apparently his best pitch. And he still threw a complete game, allowed one run on five hits at the Padres. And, you know, he's got a 9% swinging strikeout rate. Two starts with double-digit swinging strikes. That's not good. Did I say swinging strike out? I meant 9% swinging strike rate.

One start against the Angels next week. Are you going to start Buckholz there? No, I don't think that passes the stream threshold. And I just, he's throwing like 90 miles per hour. He better have a really good change up. I haven't really seen him pitch that much. I mean, the cutter's been good for him too. The cutter's actually been, and it's a pitch he's thrown like a quarter of the time throughout his career.

And he has by far the best swinging strike rate he's ever had on that pitch. All right, Buckholz. Two-star Bieber or one-star Buckels? Beber. Two-star fires or a one-star buck-holtz? Fires. John Lester, Scott, I said I was adamant. Sit him yesterday.

Sit him. And he gave you six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts at Pittsburgh. And he's at Detroit next week, which looks like a great matchup. But the matchups haven't mattered in the previous like eight starts or whatever for Lester. He's been really bad against Cincinnati, against San Diego. Diego twice. Do you feel comfortable starting John Lester at Detroit next week? I don't feel comfortable starting Lester anymore.

That being said, I imagine nine of the ten instances where I owned Lester. I'd probably give in and start him after the start he just had, and yes, given the opponent he's facing. What did you make of yesterday's start? Would you have started him? No. No, he'd been horrible. Okay.

No, he had been horrible, and I don't feel bad. I don't think he's a great pitcher anymore, but I don't think he's as bad as he showed during that. How long was it where he was horrible? He was at least eight starts. Yeah. I don't think he's that bad either. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what, Scott.

John Lester, you know, he might not be such a great pitcher anymore, but I'm an idiot. I'm much worse than Lester at life. I just, God, I picked the wrong time to trade Mitch Hanigar. I picked the wrong time to drop Michael Conforto. And Conforto is 72% owned. He tried to stop you. Well, I was too late. He went six for 12.

He really was struggling before that, I swear. He had a 33 slugging percentage of the 13 games before I dropped him. And now in his last... What is that? But it was a whole season. Mike Trout slumps for 13. The whole season, I mean, to be honest, he's still, like, his numbers are still bad.

Yeah. 243 with 17 homers. But now, six for 12 yesterday. Last six games, he is 345, 387, 724. One walk, 10 strikeouts. I don't know what to make of it, but...

His home run came off Roman Quinn, who gave up seven earned runs in that debacle. Right. Which, I mean, I don't know that, like, Gabe Kapler invites a lot of criticism. I don't know that I necessarily agree with his handling of that.

I think maybe leaving Roman Quinn in for that many pitches and that many runs was bad. But I get that, especially on a day with the double header, I get the concept of this is a lost cause. Let's save our bullets for the next one. Yeah, I get that. But anyway, beginning back to Conforto. Yeah, what do you think? Is Conforto going to win people their fantasy leagues?

No, I don't think he's going to. I don't think he needs to be owned in three outfielder leagues. I think there's encouraging signs with the battenball profile and everything else. And he was on the top 10 sleeper hitters for this past week. He probably will be again. But I don't think he's somebody who you pick up and plan on keeping him near lineup to close out the season. Any other standouts for you from yesterday? I kind of hogged the segment.

I apologize. No, that's fine. Tommy Fam looked good in his first game back. A couple singles and a walk. We were a little concerned about how that would go. David Dahl, Homer and a steal. He has started eight of ten games since returning from the minors. So that's, I mean, I'm not ready to trust him in my lineup,

but that's a good sign for him at least having a chance to show what he can do. And I think Harrison, well, first of all, First of all, Malick Smith. Enough already. Just pick this guy out. Since the beginning of July, he's the 12th best outfielder in points leagues. Yeah, he's been really good. Yeah.

And I'll throw some support Harrison Bader's way, too. He had a home run yesterday. If you project his numbers over 160 games, it comes out to 22 homers and 29 steals. He batting average is higher than it should be because you bat is really high, but he looks kind of like we thought Kevin, we were getting from Kevin Kiermeier at the start of the year. Right down to the A plus defense. How are we doing in the Scam League this week? Oh my God, we're getting destroyed. Well, this will end our hopes.

I thought we're, what, what do we have? What's the score? There are 10 categories. We are tied in two of them. we are losing the other eight Okay But that changes At one point I checked yesterday

Oh wait Yeah These are not Do we have an illegal lineup or something? No None of our stats are counting What do you mean? I don't know

There's got to be some issue I think we might have to I think we may have had an illegal lineup or something like that Scott we'll have to check it out Right now we have no home runs No RBIs no runs No steel is that because you did that thing

With branded belt that I warned you about No. I don't think so. I got to look into this. Uh-oh. I hope not. Because I keep checking in the middle of the night, and it's like, oh, look, we're tied again. Like, I just thought we were so close in the category. It's probably...

Yeah, then it's probably fine. It's probably just a little bit of a glitch. But we have Harrison Bader. That's my point. We decided to start Harrison Bader. Because, you know, he had some weak lefties on the schedule, and he had been very good against lefties. Yesterday, he homered against the righty. So that was nice to see. I don't know much about Harrison Bader apparently or how to evaluate our podcast league team. But I do know plenty about Seatgeek. Adam, it has our lineup as illegal for this week.

But you said that it was fine. You said you were checking throughout the week. So there's got to be some type of glitch. We're good here. We're good. It would have notified me immediately when I made that move. No, we're not getting credit for our points. Right. Look at it.

But you said... We got zeros all the way through and they don't. But you said that it was fine. You said you were checking. You just said that. Well... That doesn't just change overnight. No, it doesn't.

We were... So annoying. What did I do that made it illegal? I activated Brandon Bell. Yes. After rosters that already locked. Okay, so there's a thing where there's a distinction between rosters locking and lineups locking, right?

Yeah. When the first game of the week locks rosters. You can't add or drop anybody. You can't have a trade in it be applied for that week. The rosters are locked. You can change your lineup still based on when that individual player's first game of the week is. But the rosters of lock. So I was saying, okay, if you activate Brandon Bell,

it won't apply that you dropped a player and it'll make your lineup illegal. And you're like, I don't think it will. And then you said after the fact it didn't, and I took your word for it. But apparently it has. So now we've got to go crawling on our hands and knees to Heath. But I'm so confused because yesterday it seemed fine. Well, it apparently in the moment it is accumulating those stats. But then overnight, when it crunches the numbers, it eliminates them.

I mean, I went to the league warnings page, and it says we have an elite. Eagle lineup from 812 through 819. So this one might be on me. This one might be on me. Now, we'll figure it out. We'll be fine. Don't worry about it. I'm calm.

You're the one who's going to grovel to Heath, not me. That is no problem there. Okay, so anyway, Seat Geek. You know what I'll do? I will say, Heath, I will give you $20. You fix my liner for me. I will give you $20. I will not give you that.

Well, I'm not going to give him a $20 bill, Scott. But what I'm going to tell him is download the Seatgeek app and use the promo code fantasy on your first purchase, and you will get 20 bucks off your first C-Keekeek ticket purchase. And C-Geek, actually, no joke, yesterday was on the C-Keekeek app looking for tickets for a college football game coming up in October, and I was going to talk with my friends. Here's what we're looking at. Here's what we got.

Let's buy some tickets. We haven't bought them yet, but we will. And when we buy those tickets, we're going to use C-Geekek. Because I actually did a little bit of digging. I did look at another website, and C-Kkeek was cheaper. Not only is C-Kkeek cheaper, and the reason C-Keekeek is cheaper because it has multiple sources. It pulls in from multiple sources, and it finds the best deals for you. But additionally, you get the additional 20, additionally, you get the additional, a little redundant.

You get the $20 off your first purchase. When you use the code fantasy, I love the C geek app. I tell people about it all the time. It is really the best way to go to comedy, concerts, sports, theater, any type of live event you need to get to. And every purchase is fully guaranteed. Download the CIGG app, use the promo code fantasy when you make your first purchase. All right, that's $20 off for you. Yasio Puig suspended two games, Jose Erainia, six games.

Brandon Nimmo was hit by a pitch on the finger. X-rays were negative. U. Darvish is going to make a rehab start on Sunday. Hooray. Steven Strasbourg, we'll be back on Tuesday. Hooray. The Mets scored a franchise record, 24 runs against Philly's. Hoaree.

Kenley Jansen, there's a chance he could be back next week. There's a chance. We'll see. Jeremy Helllinson having an MRI on his wrist. Meanwhile, Scott, Joe Ross could return for the nationals in September. Is there any chance he returns as a starter? I think there's a chance. Sure. He's building up his innings in the minors now.

And, you know, it's not like what's his name, Jeremy Hellixon. It's not like Jeremy Hellixon's anything special. Right, and Helllxon may go on the DL. Well, yeah, there you go. And how about this? Kansas City third baseman Hunter Dozier is 4 for 46 with runners in scoring position. That's just a fun little baseball note for you. Very fun. Max Fried could start for Atlanta next week.

It might be at Pittsburgh. It might be at Miami. But Max Fried might be making a start. Very up in the air. In the My Roto team continues to fall apart category, Derek Rodriguez is now on the DL with a hamstring strain. Wonderful. And Tommy Fam, as Scott mentioned, he's back. He batted cleanup.

He went two for three with a walk and a double and an RBI at the Yankees. So we've got great newsletters for you. If you don't have time to make it to the website, you just want a quick fix in your inbox. Go to CBSports.com slash FBT Daily. And really now is the time to get the fantasy football newsletter. CBSports.com slash FFT Daily. That will get you the newsletters. We also want you to go to sportsline.com.

And again, this is at this point in the time, it's great for fantasy football. We have Brandon Bowers, an injury expert. We have all these new writers on Sportsline.com. It's a pay site that's got fantasy news, that's got basically a gambling site, all these picks and predictions. And it's really inexpensive. It's $10 a month. But if you use the code breakout, you get your first month for a dollar. So if you just want to give Sportsline a try, go to Sportsline and use the code breakout when you sign up.

More from yesterday. Here are some available outfielder, Scott. And tell me if you think they should be owned in more than about 30% of leagues where they are at. Nick Williams, Randall Gritchick, who is 4-4-29 with no extra-base hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts in his last seven games, Randall Gritchick. Harrison Bader, we talked about. Fran Mill Reyes, he is 0-4-21 in his last seven games. Hashtag bring back the leg kick.

And Hunter Renfro, who hit a pinch-hit home run yesterday. Nick Williams, Randall Gritchick, Harrison Bader, Franmell-Reyes, Hunter Renfro. And let's throw in David Dahl just for fun. What do you think about this group? Is anyone worthy of being owned in like 50% of leagues? 50%? I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Gritchick or Bader owned in that many. It's hard for me to say they deserve to be without knowing what the outfielders who are owned if 50% of leagues are.

I guess I could look that out. Yeah, I'll do it for you. And we're also going to look at the most added list. The most added outfielder is Harrison Bader, followed by Malik Smith, Hunter Renfro, all the guys we're talking about. All right, but let's, okay, let's take some, let's look at the most own list. Uh-huh. Check out some outfielders. 50%-ish-owned outfielders include Avisel Garcia, Teasker Hernandez,

Stephen Piscotti, which are all, I think, in the same range as Gritchick and Bader in terms of how rosterable they are. Adam Duvall is 48% owned. Get him out of there. But, yeah, I think 50% sounds about right for those guys. They need to be picked up in more leagues. And ride the hot hand at this point. And I feel like last time we talked about Randall Gritchick, he was on his hot streak, and I said, I feel like I said this. I hope I said this. We've had this conversation about Randall Gritchick so many times in the last few years.

He goes on hot streaks and he just can't sustain them. And he has been in my lineup in the podcast league and he is destroying me. Randall Gritchick, what did I say? Was like 0 for 21 or something like that? Four for 29, sorry. Four for 29 with no extra base hits, no walks, 10 strikeouts. Framo Reyes is 0 for 21. Yeah.

So that sucks. But ride the hot hand, try to win some leagues. Great advice. Available short stops. To a degree, ride the hot hand, right? Well, I mean, when you're talking about guys like... If your stud goes in a slump, you're... When you're talking about guys like Avi Garcia, Stephen Piscotti,

drop them for... When you're talking about that group of players, ride the hot hand. Sure. Available short stops. Ahmed Rosario and Jorge Polanco are both 27% owned. Ahmed Rosario has a nice little street. going here. Last seven games, he's batting 406 with two home runs and three steals. He also had a nice little streak in the middle of July. He batted 361 with four steals and a 1034

OPS. And then his next 13 games were terrible. 127 batting average. Jorge Polanco, meanwhile, since returning from suspension, he is the number 12 shortstop in points, number 17 in Roto. Who would you rather have, Ahmed Rosario or Jorge Polanco? I would rather have Jorge Polanco, especially this upcoming week, because the twins have some of the best matchups. So that's who I'd rather have. Would you rather have Rosario in a category as league if you need steals? He's running. Is he running enough to justify all the downside he's going to bring to your lineup?

It's kind of like Chris was saying about Ian Desmond yesterday. I think Rosario is like a steals guy now. Because he has 17 on the year. He's 14 on the year. I think nine of them have come in a month or so. I'll check on that. It's worth knowing. I mean, if you're looking for every steel, you can possibly get your hands on.

But otherwise, I don't think he's a very good fantasy option. Okay. Meanwhile, let's take a look at the most added list here. and we're going to go through two-star pitchers a little bit later, but the most added players in CBS Sports.com leagues, number one is Taylor Ward, 29% owned, third baseman catcher eligible for the Angels. Ryan Zimmerman is number two.

Ryan Zimmerman is 67% owned, Scott White. Okay, yeah. He obviously had that hot streak last week. I mean, it wasn't long enough to be called the streak, but there was a lot of damage done, in a short period of time. And he started seven of the last eight games. I still think Matt Adams is going to have his say there.

I'm not ready to add Zimmerman in standard mixed leagues. We got Junjun Riu. We got Mike Fires. Pedro Strope, Tyler Glassnow. He's got to be pitching soon, right? He's pitching tomorrow at Boston. So my question is, if it goes horribly for him, Do you hang on to Tyler Glass now?

Because his next start is supposed to be at home against KC. Yes. For both of those reasons. It's at Boston. You give him a pass there. It's at KC. Home against you, but either way. Well, yeah.

Kevin Gosman or Tyler Glass Now? Glass Now. Jaime Baria or Kevin Gosman, both on the most added list. The Gosman. Tuki Toussaint. Should he be owned in 20% of leagues? He's on the most added list. Tuki, um...

Tuki Crisp. T is for Tuki. That's good enough for me. But he's not good enough because he's the minors right now. But is he a prospect worth stashing? 20% owned Tuki Tucson? I wonder... So, is Max Fried getting priority over him?

That was my interpretation. Yeah. Yeah. So probably not. in redraft leagues. Right. Boy, the Braves can be pretty good for a while, huh? You'll be feeling good about that.

Yeah, I feel great about that. They're going to have money to spend this off season two. Some contracts going off the books. But you know who stinks? Who stinks? Ozzy Alby stinks. Let's talk about struggling studs. He doesn't stink, but he has been struggling.

Not as badly as Glaber Torres. Glaver Torres, 20 games since coming off the DL, is batting 151 with a 538 OPS. Boy, what do you do with if you're the Glaver Torres owner? Do you look for someone else? I mean, do you start Jorge Polanco over Glaver Torres next week? No, I don't do that. I worried about this to some degree because the strikeout rate was high for Torres, and he was getting, he was homering at a pace that you wouldn't expect anybody to sustain.

So what would it look like when he stopped homering at that pace? It's been awful. But it's been unbelievably awful, too. He still has an elite line drive rate and yet a sub-300 Bappet. That doesn't add up. He's going to get hot again, and we don't know when it's going to happen. I suspect it'll be sooner than later. Ozzie Albys.

Obviously you start him. He's the number four second baseman in both points and Roto. But, you know, he had a 988 OPS through the end of April. Since then, Ozzy Albee's has a 737 OPS. 12 home runs, 9 steals, and 89 games since May 1st. And that really includes a 16-game hot streak with a 1,200 OPS just about. Other than that, like pretty disappointing. Now, I will say this.

Albi's 737 OPS since May 1st. He's the number 9 second baseman in points and Roto in that stretch. The other thing I'll say is he has the most that bats at the position. So in that stretch. And probably like the second most played appearances. Anyway, what do you think about Albi? Because, you know, the overall numbers, the OPS is under 800 now. He's not a great steals guy.

Your thoughts? Yeah, he could be a great steals guy. I wish he'd run more. But nonetheless. I had hoped, I suspected he would rebound when he was going through that rough patch in May and June. and he did to a degree, but like you said, it didn't last long. And yeah, I'm a little disappointed. I'll be honest.

I still imagine we'll be drafting him as a top five second basement next year. I think there's room for him to improve basically across the board, right down to walks. He's been more aggressive than I feel like he's shown in the past. So it's like first full season for a, 21-year-old, I still think you have to view it in a positive light, but in terms of rest of season, how do we value him? You could stand to upgrade it.

You may be able to upgrade a second base if your trade deadline's still ongoing, but you may not. Like, I still think he's probably top 10, you know? Would you have Rendon or Albis? Anthony Rendon, the third baseman? What the hell is the matter? I always give him second-based eligibility. I don't know why. It's been like four years.

He used to be second-based eligible, right, Rendon? Of course, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he used to be, when he first came up, that was mainly what he was playing. Yeah, okay. So would you rather, if Robinson can know, he is actually second-based eligible, or are all the obbies? I think I'll be still.

Okay. Three-man rotation from yesterday, Julio Tehran, back in. fourth. Great, terrible, great, terrible. So annoying. Do you trust Julio Tarama, two starts at Pittsburgh and at Miami next week? I think I'm going to. Certainly in a points league. Yeah, good. Like, when he looks good, he looks really good. And it's not like Clay Buckholt sort of way. Like, he's actually missing bats with the slider that has looked like a breakout pitch

for him this year. So I've been reluctant to completely ride him off And when he puts together back-to-back starts like he did With two good matchups coming up It's awfully tempting Who would you rather have rest of season? Tehran or another guy in the rotation, Tanna Roark Tanner Roark

And he's got a one-start week next week against Philadelphia Roark one strikeout yesterday What was that all about, dude? Two of his last three starts Either one or two strikeouts weird for Roark It is Yeah

It is It is weird I don't know what to ask Beyond that It's weird John Gray Is 91% Own 62% started

Is John Gray A top 30 starting pitcher for you He is getting awfully close I know he's in my top 40th Last update He looks like he fixed Whatever what was wrong In the minors

And I suspected he will Because so much was right Would you rather have John Gray or Masahiro Tanaka? I suspected he would. I would rather have John Gray. Yep.

Okay, by the way, Charlie Blackman, is he a bust? Yes, has 69% of the votes, no, has 31% of the votes. Fringy starting pitchers, do you feel like any of these guys are must-own? Luke Weaver, Zach Eflin, Yvonne Nova, Stephen Mats. I feel like... Chicken tonight. Wheeler. Very good.

Thank you. Old, old reference. Wheeler and Ethlyn. Did you say Wheeler? We're to that age when like old commercials just sound totally ancient. Yeah. You know? Did you say Wheeler?

I said Wheeler, yeah. Did you say Wheeler? No, I said Weaver. Ah. Eflin's the most rostrable of these. I think he's a little less than must own. So I have Matt's as a two-start pitcher, but I don't know that our website does. and that's because doubleheaders sometimes screw things up.

But I don't know that he'll make two starts. If he did, it would be San Francisco and Washington at home. Yeah, they don't have a double header this upcoming week. They had one yesterday, so I don't know if that messed with our system. To me, it doesn't matter. You're not starting him? Yeah, he's been... Even when he's been good, it wasn't in a way that inspired a lot of...

of confidence. Okay. Yeah, like he had a 10-star stretch, Stephen Matz, with a 273RA, but 49 strikeouts in 59 and a 3rd and 8% swinging strike rate, which is pretty low. Really? I just want to give a shout out to Nico Goodrum. He's 19% own. He always seems to have a good game here or there that makes me put him in the notes. He's Homer three times in his last seven games, but he's only batting 196 in August. Nico Goodrum, a little bit of a shout out to you. And now let's take a look at those two start pitchers. And you're going to go with Jose Barrios against the White Sox and the A's? Of course.

Of course. Chris Archer against Atlanta and out Milwaukee. Yep. How about... Yeah, no, I think I wouldn't regardless of format. Yeah. How about Kyle Hendrix at Detroit and home against Cincinnati? I think that's a go. Okay. Carlos Rodon, I'm sure he's...

worth starting out. Kevin Gosman at Pittsburgh and at Miami. Yes. Yes, I would. Julio Taran, same matchups. And we already said, yeah, we're going with him. Yeah, I might hesitate in a Roto League if ERA and WIP were the priorities. But I think even in some of those formats, I'd be starting them. How about Nate Avaldi?

Cleveland at home, Tampa Bay on the road. Definitely in a points league. Alicia Zine, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh at home. Definitely in a points league. How about Shane Bieber? I already said yes in points, no in room. Alex Wood, we're going to start Vince Velasquez at Washington at Toronto. He has been pitching like Garbarre lately.

Yeah. I guess three of his last four starts been pretty bad. One of them was against Boston. Right. I think it probably has some points league. And in Roto, if I was trying to catch up in strikeouts, I'd probably start him there too. I have Vince Alaska. I can't do it. Scott, I can't start Dylan Bundy at Toronto and home against the Yankees.

I don't blame you. I couldn't either. Tyler Anderson, we already talked about. Not a bad option. Mike fires, Texas at home, Minnesota on the road. Not a bad option. He will have to get Logan Forsyth out somehow. but he might be able to do it.

Ervin Santana, no way. Can't trust him. 56% own. I just don't see a reason to own Irvin Santana, Scott. I don't either. No, the stuff isn't there. He does not look right. His ERA is 803.

He has 16 strikeouts in 24 and 2 thirds. Drop Irvin Santana, pick up someone else. Marco Estrada, Baltimore and Philadelphia at home. Nope. Derek Holland, Scott mentioned, not a terrible flyer. at the Mets and home against Texas. And then, you know, no, can't do Austin Gomber. One of his stars is at Colorado.

Right. Trevor Richards has, prior to this most recent start, he was on a nice run, but it's Yankees and Braves. Either of them are terrible matchups, but neither of them are good either. I think I'd pass on it. I'm not going to say the other names. They're just not good enough.

Yeah. Unless you want to go with Glenn Sparkman or Birch Smith. I don't think you do. You know, I'm reconsidering on Richards because they're both in Miami. Big Park. And there is a chance. Scott White, hear me out. I would say a better than 50% chance.

No, a 50% chance. Giancarlo Stanton does not play at Miami. Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with a leg injury. He has only DHed for like nine or ten straight games. They will not play him in the field. And there is some thought that he will not play at Miami. Just when you thought the Marlins might sell some tickets. They'll say that game will be very well attended.

Don't worry. Oh, because the Yankees fans. Yeah, all the Yankees fans there. Yeah. All right, Trevor Richards. Maybe. There's a chance. I'm adding Trevor Richards to the Derek Holland class of sleepers for this upcoming week.

Not saying you have to add them, but if you really want somebody, not a bad choice. By the way, I mean, this is kind of a. underrated thing, but this is such a great aspect of John Carlos Stanton being in the American League. Being able to DH. It's terrific. Yeah. It is.

That is. I'm going to read some emails here. This one's from Nate. Dear Scredith, which would be all of us combined, although it does say Scredef, which I don't like. Head-to-Hodotopeeeper League. Keeper League. Drop 1. Odor Suarez.

Is that Euhayneos Suarez? because that can't be real, unless that's Andrew Suarez. Yeah, it's got to be. Let's assume it's Andrew Suarez. Moncada, Mazara, Andrew Heaney. You're dropping Andrew Swarres. It begins up being such an obvious answer that,

I mean, I guess you could think about dropping Maccada, but no, I drop Swaras. Andrew Swar. What if it's Ehuyahini Oswars? Obviously, we're not dropping him. Then it's Moncada. Then it's Moncada. Okay.

Yeah. Even in a Keeper League. Well, it depends on how many you're keeping. If you're keeping 15, no. If you're keeping four. Yeah. Sure. This is Josiah from Elizabethtown, PA.

Dear, Big Al's Dingers. I don't know what that is. I'm going to Google it. I'm going to do it on my personal computer just in case something. Oh, Big Al Dingers. Open up incognito mode. This appears to be like a Little League World Series thing. Okay.

12-team Categories League with saves plus one. and K per 9 as categories. So there's a premium on relief pitchers, especially ones with starting pitcher eligibility. I got excited when I heard Carlos Martinez was moving to the bullpen. I want to trade for him. Do you think Carlos Martinez, what kind of relief pitcher do you think he'll be? Will he be better than Dominguez, McHugh, or Peacock?

I would not assume that. No, because that's, I mean, maybe Peacock. It's hard to say somebody's going to be better than McHugh And I mean, Dominguez is getting saved So I also don't think he's going to get enough My guess is he won't get the 10 appearances necessary To be RP eligible heading into next season So don't get your hopes up for that

Wow, that would be enormous It would be But it takes a while to get 10 of relief appearances And I don't think there's going to be enough time But when do the Astros need a fifth starting pitcher? It's still a mystery who it's going to be. Yeah, it is still a mystery. They have five games this current week we're in,

so they haven't needed to commit to that yet. I did happen to see Brad Peacock working a multi-inning appearance recently. All right, we've got on our website. And this is not set in stone. Tuesday, the 21st, Colin McHugh to start at Seattle. That could change, but that's what we have right now. Okay. So keep that in mind.

McHugh could be worth adding. I wish it were Peacock, but McHugh could be worth adding. They will need a fifth starter on Tuesday. I have more emails. From Rosendo, out of these four pitchers, who should I drop? Mike Clevenger, John Gray, Clay Buckholz, or Nate Avaldi? I would drop, well, geez, you're honestly considering Clevenger? Gray?

I would drop buckles. This is from Rob. Hey, Walker, Votto, Martin, and Moreno. Canadians. With many thanks for your help throughout the season, I'm in first place. With three weeks to go until the playoffs, I'm looking to make a couple of final moves. Would love to hear your rankings rest of season. Gregory Polanco, Anthony Rendon,

Conforto, Will Myers, Mitch Hanager. It's a Categories League. Polanco, Rendon, Conforto, Myers, Hanigur. Rendon, Hanniger, Myers, Polanco, Conforto. And Eflin, Glassnow, Lucch, Junis, Rodon. Eflin, Glass Now, Lucch, Junis, Rodon. Rodon, Eflin, Glassnow with an asterisk, because he could jump to the front of this group, I think.

So Rodon Eflin, Glassnow, Lucchase, Junis. Big gap between Glassnow and Lucchasey. Email from Doug and Queens. Hey, Fathers of Summer, I'm prepping for the playoffs. Would you drop Nate Avaldi for Gosman, Ryu, or Boyd? No. Well... Maybe Ryu.

I mean, he and Gosman are in the same class, I feel like. Gosman has the better matchup, so I could see doing that. Oh, okay. I thought you were thinking about Ryu. I guess not. No. And would you drop Ryan Healy for Adelberto Mondesie, Wilmer Flores, or Jorge Polanco? I would drop him.

Did he say what kind of format this was? No, but I don't think Healy is an everyday player. I don't think so either. I think I would drop him for Flores unless it's a situation. Like if it's a point, like definitely Flores. If it's categories and you could use more steals than Mondesi. Keep it up, says Doug, and congratulations on becoming a father, Adam. It's amazing, but the first 90 days suck.

Get your sleep while you can. Sometimes it lasts longer than 90 days. I was hoping you were going to say shorter than 90 days. Well, sometimes maybe too. It's not, every kid's different. I can't speak for your kid. I don't even know how you're handling him. You may be creating a worse problem for yourself with your habits.

I guess we're not just kind of letting him do his thing. My current schedule is like up at about 637, on the air at 9 until about noon, and then a little bit of chillage, and then a lot of work at night. And the last two nights I've fallen asleep around 10, woken up around 1230 or 1, and then I've been working until like 3 or 4 a.m. It sucks. Then I go back to sleep for three hours. It's not fun.

It sounds like are you working more than usual? Yeah, because it's football and baseball season. Oh, so I got to prep for two shows that are right first thing in the morning. So it's tough time. You're a team player. Yeah, you know, you got to do what you got to do. Which team do you play for, Adam? Team football mostly, but, you know, actually that's not true because I know that with team football,

we have at least two, if not three analysts on every show. With team baseball, I feel like. I have to have to contribute a little bit more just to like keep it kind of interesting so we can have back and forth discussions. We could just talk about how you screw up our lineup. Yeah, we could do that. We could do that. We could also talk about tonight's matchups. We are going to do that.

Let's see who's pitching tonight on the 17th of August. Here we go. Cindergarde and Nola, yes. Dan Straeli, no, Max Scher, yes. Cole Hamels at Trevor Williams. No, yes, yes. Cole Hamill is or Trevor Williams. Hamels, yes

And You could do worse than Williams But I'd probably lean now Marcus Stroman at Lance Lynn He's allowed two earned runs in his last five appearances total I sit Stroman, don't I? Yeah I don't know about that

No No, you don't necessarily say Stroman I kind of like both of them today Lynn and Stroman Let's do it Okay We've got Casey Kelly at Anthony D. Slyfani,

Giants at Reds. Casey, Kelly. Yeah. Anthony Desclavani's kind of in that Williams category, Trevor Williams category, where he's been good lately, but I don't necessarily trust him, so I'd lean no personally.

David Hess, no, Carlos Carrasco, yes. Brian Johnson for the Red Sox against the Rays? No. Kyle Freeland at Sean Newcomb. I would start both. Odrisse Mertis-Espanier at Drew Hutchinson, no.

Matt Boyd at Kyle Gibson. Gibson is a go. Matt Boydney sees there with Williams and Deslafani. I can know. Boyd! Crazier ideas have come across my mind. Jake Junis at James Shields.

It's a really good matchup for both. And they've both been okay recently. I'd rather not. But it's not crazy. It's not crazy. Junis has been okay lately. He's given up 26 home runs this year. He just was at the White Sox three starts ago, and he gave up four runs and five and two-thirds, if that means anything to you.

Brewers and Cardinals, Freddie Peralta, at Jack Flaherty. Well, obviously Flaherty. You're starting. You're not starting Peralta. Charlie Morton at Edward Jackson. Obviously, Morton. No Jackson. Wow, big series.

Big series in Oakland. I hope they draw. Oh, I just set Siri off by saying the word series. Shut up, phone. Robbie Ray at Joey Lucchasey. What would you like me to draw? I think I'd roll the dice on Ray. Walker Bueller at Wade LeBlanc.

Sure, Bueller. Sure not LeBlanc. So no thanks on Wade LeBlanc. Thank you, Scott White. Have a wonderful weekend, Scott White. Same to you, Adam. Get some rest. I will try.

I will, as Ben Stein would say, when he's not saying, Beuler, Beuler, I shall do my best. That's from Win Ben Stein's Money. Great TV show. See you later, everybody. Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you. I'm on.