Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Addometer, #1 Catcher, Week 21 Help

Episode Date: August 18, 2017

As the Fantasy playoffs approach, who should you pick up now to help you win a title? Edwin Jackson (2:00)? Patrick Corbin (3:05)? How about Greg Bird (15:33), Byron Buxton (18:35) and Curtis Granderson (19:22)? ... Who is the #1 Catcher rest of season and in 2018 (14:20)? Are we seeing a changing of the guard? Also, Adam proposes a new baseball statistic (28:05) ... Two-start pitchers for Week 21 (38:50), plus a look at today's matchups (42:35) and much more from yesterday's games ... 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

I did not expect to be talking about Edwin Action Jackson on August 18th. But here we are. Stretch run. Got to make the playoffs. Maybe you're in the playoffs. Maybe you're trying to get first place in a Roto League. Are you going to rely on big old Edwin Jackson in the fantasy playoffs? Welcome to the show.

You've got two starts next week, by the way. Welcome to fantasy baseball today. Adam and Heath. Adam, what up? Yeah, I was trying to combine it with. your name first and it just doesn't work. Does not work. But I don't know why we would only use one letter of mine and then your whole name.

Heed them? Is that better? Heat them. Heat them up. Yeah. But here's the cool thing about Heedom. If you spell it H-E-A-D-A-M, it has my entire name. It's just He-A-A-A-M.

No, it's not how we're spelling it. Oh, we're going to drop the A? H-E-A-T-A-M. Oh, He-A-A-M. Okay, well, that doesn't seem fair. So welcome to fantasy baseball today. We will rock and roll here. Gary Sanchez or Buster Posey, I'll ask Keith that a little bit later.

I've got the addometer, most added. Two star pitchers for next week. Real quick, everyone, sports trades are scary. One person can be replaced by another exchange for money, given away for a hypothetical future person. Once they leave your team, you can't like them anymore, even if you have their jersey, which, of course, you can't wear anymore. Except at B-dubs, they won't judge, but others might.

Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, Beer, Sports. Let's get started. Edwin Jackson, 34% owned. I'll just cut to the chase. Do you trust him at Houston and home against the Mets next week? I don't want to at all. I could understand a situation in a points league where I don't have a lot of great options where I might just have to risk it.

But listen, he's got a 5-3-1 FIP. He struck out 31 batters and 42 innings. he's got a whip of 133, this is not real. Yep. He's been one of the worst starting pitchers in baseball for a while, so I don't know if that's true. That might be an exaggeration, but he hasn't been good. It can't be that far off. No, his peripherals look remarkably similar to his peripherals last season when he was awful.

Last year, he had a 536-fip. This year it's 5-3-1. And Jackson... He threw exactly twice as many innings last year, and had twice as many strikeouts. Okay, there you go. He just keeps bouncing around. There's a reason for that.

But two starts, like if it weren't Houston, if it were like the Giants and the Mets, okay, I'd be interested. But at Houston home against the Mets could be bad. However, this is a guy that you need to go pick up right now if he's available for a few reasons. Patrick Corbyn, 70% owned. It's time to get him. In his last 12 starts, Patrick Corbyn has a 313 ERA and 78 strikeouts and 72 innings. The whip might be a little high because he's giving up a lot of hits.

Actually, it's a 343 babbitt with 14% swinging strikes in his last 12 starts. So he's probably been unlucky. Corbyn's pitching great. He had a beautiful start at Houston yesterday. And look at these matchups next week at the Mets. Home Against the Giants. Get Patrick Corbyn, 70% owned. Get Patrick Corbyn everywhere, yes.

I totally, I don't buy into him being the ace that he's been here recently, He's a very good pitcher that's also SPARP eligible that should get you strikeouts. All right. What about you, Heath? How are we doing today? And what do you think of Thursday night? I didn't think a lot about Thursday night. I'm right now I'm so much into next week mode.

Okay. Because next week is a huge, huge week. I've got one league where I'm trying to make the playoffs, another where I'm trying to lock up the one seat. And then in our head-to-head auction league, it's the first week of the playoffs. Yeah, in our podcast league, it's the first week of the playoffs next week, too. I'm not participating in that league anymore. Yeah, I am. I am having a dreadful week, but luckily, that's not that bad.

My opponent is having an even worse week. This is fun. I mean, look at my pitchers this week. My freaking pitchers. Yvonne Nova is leading the way with nine fantasy points. Jacob de Grom has three. Brad Peacock, six and a half. Marco Estrada, negative 10.5.

That's a bad week. Jacob Ferria. Half a fantasy point. It's not my fault. They were all terrible. I bench James and Tionne. He was awful. I mean, my team is dreadful right now.

They're the worst. But I think we're going to make the playoffs. So that's good. Now, Aaron Sleggers made his major league debut yesterday for the twins. He faced the Indians. He's 1% owned. And he may have already been sent down. He got called up for the second game of a double header.

But look, if you pitch well, you could easily get called back up, especially with September just around the corner. Sleggers, six and a third, two runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts. In the minors this year at AAA, he had a 318 ERA, 97Ks in 130 and a third, but only 27 walks. However, he did give up more than a hit per inning. What do you think about Aaron Sleggers? He does not look like, well, first off. What he looks like is fantastic. He has a 6'5-10.

Very good-looking guy. 6'10. 245 pounds. That's what I want my starting pitcher to look like when he takes the mound. But if you're 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds, you're supposed to be intimidating somebody. Not striking out, 201 batters in his last 275 minor league innings. That's over AA and AAA. That doesn't sound like somebody I'm going to get real excited about, even if they do get another call-up.

Okay, fair enough. He's a six strikeouts per nine in the minors. Six foot ten. Is that possible? Yes. He is one of the only pictures I've ever seen. Well, okay, Chris Young probably, who has a higher height in inches than his K per nine. That's really funny.

I like that. Okay, Heath, let's go to some bullpents here. and we'll read your emails later. If he might have to go early, if he does, I will read your emails by myself. But I hope to have Heath with me. In the bullpen, Sam Dyson is 31% owned, and he got to save yesterday. Mark Melanson is 64% owned, and he pitched in the seventh. Now, here's what happens, Heath, when you make a roster move before you check last night's box scores, which is what I did.

I dropped Sam Dyson, and I picked up Senwano. And, of course, Sam Dyson gets saved, and San Juan O gets lit up for two runs in the ninth inning. So should I have done that? Would you make that move right now? Would you drop Sam Dyson for San Juan O? Like, I get it for, I still think I'm always going to believe in Sun Juano, I think, until next year comes around. And I do believe that Mark Mlanson will eventually start getting saves. But at this time of year, I can't think about eventually.

Well, I think my thinking was, first of all, before yesterday, figured, okay, it's time. Mark Melanson's had two appearances. They were scoreless. Now he's up to three scoreless. Like, it's time. I still feel that way. But I also thought Semawno is going to get a lot more same chances than either Giants reliever at this point. And he had been pitching really, really well in a setup role.

Yeah, they have not. The other thing is, like, Melanson still doesn't feel great, right? I'm not sure I didn't see that. I saw last night. I saw something on, he's contributing at less than 100%. So I still believe, like, if you're asking me who's going to be saving games for the Giants in September, I believe it will be Melanson. But next week, I don't, I call it 50-50 between him and Dyson. Okay.

And it's pretty clear, Alex. Claudio is the guy to own in Texas. They use him in very strange ways, but he got to save. A two-in-in-save yesterday, his sixth of the season. So, Noel Aronado, as a guy who does not own No-Anon-Arenado, I will tell you, fantasy is making me a horrible person, and I am hoping that No-An-A-Ranato goes on the DL, because I don't want to run into him in the postseason, in the fantasy post-season. He's not expected.

In fact, he might play today, but he hurt his hand again yesterday. He re-injured his hand. He's not 100%, but he might play today. John Lester became the first pitcher in the last 30 years to allow nine or more runs in an inning twice in a season. And I guess we can give him an excuse yesterday. He had light tightness. Lester could go on the DL and miss a lot of time.

Let's be honest here. Heath, I know I would be preparing myself for the fact that I may not have John Lester again this year. I know I'm glad Chris isn't here because he'd probably yell at me for something. saying this, but I'm just going to tell you, I'm going to avoid World Series pitchers if I can. I'm going to avoid them the following year. I gave a lot of evidence at the beginning of the season about over like the last five years.

Pitchers who pitched in the World Series, almost all of them were worse the next year. It's kind of like running backs that get, you know, 400 touches or whatever, a 350. Right. Yeah, every single Cubs pitcher worse this year. But there were two teams that played in the World Series. Cluber, I think, is really the only one because Salazar and Carrasco got hurt. Bauer, I guess I'd have to look at. But Bauer's ERA is almost five.

Now, he's lowering and he's having a great second-half surge. But he has not had a... It gets a career heires around five, so he's been himself. Yeah, but Cluber's been an exception. Bumgarner, an exception. But World Series pitchers, they don't do well the next year. I don't think that's a coincidence. I really don't.

The Mets two years ago and the Cubs. this year, post-in-child. I think Danny Duffy had his best year the year after the World Series. I don't know. Okay, there's got to be like an innings. There's got to be an innings, uh, asterisks in there. Maybe if you throw 200 innings in the regular season and pitch in the World Series. Yeah, exactly.

And Adam Wainwright had a year where he threw like 270 innings. I think that was a World Series year. Those are the types of things I really look for. But I think it matters. And the Cubs have been pretty bad for fantasy, although it's good. to see Jake Garrietta turning things around. Rinaldo Lopez left with side tightness after struggling yesterday against Texas. Glenn Perkins is back.

He pitched in a non-save situation and wouldn't expect him to be the closer, at least not immediately. Perkins struggled yesterday, and Matt Belial did get a save in the second game of a doubleheader. Trevor Rosenthal's on the deal. Jose Ramirez is hit by a pitch on the wrist, but he's fine. So Miami, the Marlins are not allowed to get rid of the home run sculpture in center field. It is designated as art. I don't understand this. It was purchased in such a way that, like, I don't know.

I read the article. Okay. My only, the only way I could truly understand it is if the city of Miami or the county owns the stadium. And if that's the case, then sure. They don't. Then if you buy a piece of art and give it to me to put in my house and I say, that is an ugly-ass piece of art. I'm going to throw the trash. But it's like a one of the, it's like a historic landmark.

You know, you can't. It's not a historic landmark. It's like five years old. It isn't, but it's the same concepts. You can't just destroy those things. So you can just, I have the ability to make something and just designate it undestroyable. Yeah. No.

No. You don't apply here. This isn't about you. This is not about. Who can? Who is on the list of people that can make things and say they're not destroyable? The city of Miami. But Miami didn't make this report.

I don't. Okay. So Avi Garcia sat with Risciortis. That home run sculpture. needs to go, and it's not going anywhere. The Yankees tweeted at the Mets, quote, bend the knee after a four-game sweep, which you don't get, but it's a funny Game of Thrones reference.

Delano Shield's been starting for Texas, but that's because Carlos Gomez is out with an illness. If he starts, I know you ain't going to be much of a hitter, but he is going to be much of a base dealer, so keep an eye on to Shields. Luke Weaver's back. He pitched out of the bullpen yesterday. Do you know what their plans are for Luke Weaver? I would say it will depend on how Adam Wainwright's consultation goes.

Yeah, that's a good point. So Wainwright left with the sore arm. He's going to be evaluated. Actually, it's a very good point. Maybe Luke Weaver is someone that we should be picking up right now in case there's an opening in that rotation. He pitched pretty well as a starter just recently for the Cardinals. I would be more excited about adding Luke Weaver than I would, Edwin Jackson.

Adam Wainwright, sore arm. Andrew Miller should be back today. Arollis Chapman, hopefully back today. Delham Bichan's got to save yesterday, but he's unlikely to be available today. Odubo Herrera looks like he could end up on the deal with a hamstring injury, and I'm just going to say it's time to drop Stephen Matts. He's 72% owned. Yep.

You know what? Good team name. Matt's for bats. Keep bats warm. Yeah, that's a team name. But you get it, right? Oh. Boo!

Boo! For not getting this. This is Pedro Serrano. I thought it was. I don't remember what the original thing. was what for bats hats for bats he takes the golf club covers from dorn and he puts them on his hats hats for bats for bats keep bats warm that's all state stand uh so bat bats for bats because bats is keeping a lot of bats warm all right hey real quick keith gary sanchise or buster posey i'm going to

stick with buster posey for the remainder of this season and next year wrong changing of the guard it could not The more evidence, Gary Sanchez, is the best catcher in fantasy for the next five years at least. Ooh, Wilson Contraiser. Yeah, yeah, I'll say it. Next five years. He's the new Posey. He's the new Posey. Well, what about next year when he doesn't get enough games to be catcher eligible because they play him at D.H because he's so bad defensively.

He's been playing her, and I think that's contributed to his struggles. He's just going to be playing D.H because he can't play defense. Don't get his 20. He's hard for him to be the best catcher. Yeah, he's better than Pose. First, he's been a lot better than Posey on a per game basis this year. And that's even in point. leagues where Posey has more

walks and strikeouts are very close one to one pretty much so he's got much better plate discipline in roto leagues it can't even be close come on come around come around I'll be sticking with Posey okay I guess you like 12 home runs I do I like 12 home runs a lot

that's what I would prefer all of my hitters have let's go to the addometer I'm gonna give you a guy you tell me zero to 10 how much do you want to add him keep in mind ownership percentage It's all relative. A 29% Greg Byrd. Could be back next week.

Should be back next week. Right. Zero. Really? Is Greg Bird shortstop eligible? He, yes. Because he hits like one. Unfair.

Unfair. What do you mean? Unfair. He's played hurt all year. He's got 250 career plate appearances with the 754 OPS. Let's look at, first of all. He's a league average hitter, and it's a, career.

You know what I was annoyed by yesterday? What? You're doing the same thing now what you did to be yesterday. I'm arguing Devante Adams in a good offense versus... No, no, no. I'm arguing DeAndre Hopkins in a bad offense versus Terrell Pryor in a good offense. And you say, quote, Terrell Pryor caught four touchdowns last year. And obviously, you're leaving out, intentionally leaving out the most important information,

which is that he played on Cleveland last year, as opposed to Washington this year. You're leaving out the most important information with Greg Birdheath. Okay. He was very good when he was healthy. In 2015, he batted 261. He slugged 529, and he had a 3-43 on base. And he had a great spring training, and then he had a bone bruise in his ankle just at the very end of spring training. He hasn't been healthy.

Yeah, but he hasn't, like, he's not been good in AAA. He just started. Well, he's got 34 plate appearances this year with a 6-12. OPS. That was before he had surgery. How was he done since? I think he's been good. Check the game log. He's had like two or three games. It doesn't really matter. Okay. I know. He's a first baseman. Like, are you... You know what, though? First base is... Maybe he's Justin Smoke?

No, he's not going to be that good. But Lomo's struggling. Kendris Morales, who's not even first base eligible for us, but he's been dreadful. He's got 750 OPS. A lot of guys have been struggling. We were just talking about this yesterday. Yonder Alonzo is not relevant anymore. You asked me for a number. All right, zero. Zero. I think, I think, all right, fine.

Byron. What's your number? There's only one analyst today, so you should give a number two. Three. Three? Yeah, but if he gets off to a hot start, I'll jump on Greg Bird. Because all the things we liked about Greg Bird still exist. He's still in a great park.

He was the Yankees's probably best prospect. They said he was a better prospect than Gary Sanchez. Brian Cash said that. He's played two games, and he is two for six with a pair of singles. Yeah, so whatever. It's going to take time to get the timing back. I don't expect him to come back slugging, but Bird's not completely uninteresting to me. That's a ringing endorsement.

Well, that's shocking, seeing as he's a Yankee. I wonder how interesting he would be if he played for the Philadelphia Phillies. I wonder how interesting he'd be if he played for the Royals. I would take Reese Hoskins over Greg Bird. I'm not going to go that far. I would also take Eric Cosper over Greg Bird. Yeah, I would too. Okay.

I would take Bird, hmm. I would take Bird over Kendris Morales, put it that way. Former Royal. Byron Buxton, 0 to 10. What's his ownership percentage now? Oh, 38%. Yeah, I think probably like 7. Yeah, you're into it, Byron Buston?

He's, to be totally clear, this is at least the third time that he's looked like he was starting to figure things out. Yeah. But I feel like he should be owned in all five outfielder leagues with the way he's going right now. Just to find out. Because steals are so scarce. He has 21 steals and 22 attempts. So any Categories League, I'd own Bucksston. Maybe not a 10-team Categories League.

But seven-game hitting streak for Buxden, 10 for 24, two homers, two steals. Still two walks of six strikeouts. But this would be a tough call. Byron Bucson are the next guy on the list, Curtis Granderson. I would probably still go with Buxon. All right. Especially in a Categories league, because I'm not really sure what Granderson's going to do for you in a Categories league. It's just that he gets so hot, and right now he is so hot.

256 batting average, but six homers in August Grand Slam yesterday. Granderson's 26 percent owned, zero to ten. I'll give him a 26 percent owned. Yeah. I'll give him a five. Okay. How about our next guy? Tim Anderson, 29 percent owned.

Oh, it's too bad we don't have Dave on the show. Dave Richard just absolutely loves Tim Anderson. Yeah, well. I like Tim Anderson, and I think he's kind of a Cattel Marte type that eventually could figure it out. He's been pretty good lately. He is shortstop eligible. I'll give him a six. Ooh, really?

Yeah, 29%. Well, then what would you give Citele Marte? If Tim Anderson's a six, what's Marte? I don't know what Marte's ownership is right now. Like 15%. Nobody's on it. He's not as hot as Anderson right now. So maybe a five.

You'd rather have who? I'd rather have Anderson. Two walks, 19 strikeouts in his hot streak? It's not going to last. He's not going to walk. But it's so bad. All right. All right, fair enough.

29% Tim Anderson, 5%, or 15%, 14%, can tell Marte. Colton Wong. I don't really think. think we've talked much about him. He's batting 310 on the year. He's got pretty much, he's got an everyday job now. It doesn't really do much, but I guess batting average for Colton Wong, 23% owned. Yeah, I mean, I feel like he gives you a little bit of pop for second base. Not like for an average hitter, but for second base, there's some pop there. He has two home runs in 80 games. So it's all doubles pop. I guess so, and some triples as well.

Yeah, 23 doubles in 80 games. That's a 46 double. That's very good. Three triples. Hmm, but devils don't really help you in Roto. It seems like this is a good points league guy. He's 29 walks to 42 strikeouts. 3.98 on base for Colton Wong and a lot of doubles and triples.

But he's two home runs, four steals. That's just, that's not good in categories. I'm going to give him a five. If he was shortstop eligible, it would be like a nine. If you were going to pick up a middle infielder, would you pick up Tim Anderson or Colton Wong? Won. Would you pick up? Okay.

So you go Wong over Marte, too. Yeah. All right, two guys who are actually pretty owned, 77% owned, but do they actually need to be more owned? Javier Baez, batting 300 with a 9-60 OPS, nine homers since the All-Star break. Jason Kipnis, two home runs in his last three games. Not having a good year, though.

Javier Baez, Jason Kipness, 77% owned? I don't, like, I'm trying... I don't think there's guys that are owned. in more leagues than that that I would drop for them. Both of them should be owned in all roto leagues where you have a middle infield, but if they're 77%, they're already owned in all roto leagues. So I don't think either of them need to be owned any more than this. In fact, Bayez might still be a little bit too much.

Would you drop Trevor's story for Hobby Baez? I can't. All right. And then Dexter Fowler, especially if you're in a points league or an OBP League, get yourself some Dexter Fowler, 69% owned. coming off the DL, he's red-hot, batting 452, but 11 walks, 7 strikeouts, doing what

he does. He scored 11 runs in 10 games, five doubles, two triples, and he has been really bad against lefties. You do have to keep that in mind with Fowler, and they face two left-handed starters out of six games next week, but they're not good starters. So maybe

they might have Rodon, I don't remember, but overall the Cardinals have pretty good matchups next week. Yeah, I think Dexter Fowler, I mean, injuries have cost him a lot of ownership this year. But when he's healthy and going good, he needs to be owned everywhere. Yes, he does. And you need to own yourself an Indochino suit, Heath.

I mean, you look really good at an Indochino suit. Thank you. And I know you would because I don't look good in suits, except my Indochino suit. I'm not the kind of guy that can buy a suit off the rack and feel good about it. In fact, I don't think most people are. Most people can do that. You need yourself a custom suit. This is something that I didn't really understand how much I would like it until I got it.

and I will be getting another one just as soon as the season ends, I think, and I have some time. I'm going to go on Indochino.com, going to look at all their colors, all the fabrics. They're number one in their industry, okay? They're the leading made-to-measure menswear brand in the world. And there's a reason for it. Go on Indochino.com and just kind of peruse, just browse, and all the customizations you can do, submit your measurement, place your order, and get your suit in just a few weeks. It's the best suit I've ever owned by far.

It's the only suit I want to wear. And these are usually $800 suits. but with our offer code, you're getting it for $3.79 with free shipping. So go on Indochino.com and use the promo code FBT as in fantasy baseball today. FBT for a suit for $3.79, 50% off, made to measure, premium suit, shipping's free. Again, use FBT at checkout on Indochino.com, any premium suit for just $3.79 and free shipping. All right. The most added list.

Let's take a look at who the fantasy owners are adding. right now in CBS Sports.com leagues. This is the time of this show where I think everybody who's familiar with me now knows that, well, I just forgot

to pull up the most added list before we started, so I'm killing time, and now I'm ready. So the number one most added player is Eddie Rosario, who is now 52% owned. Eddie Rosario,

he's been very good since the break and he's keeping it up. He's got five multi-hit games in his last six games with two home runs. What do you think about this? Twins Outfield. How would you compare him to Dexter Fowler? He's been good since, like, June 1st.

Oh, yeah? It's that long, huh? He had an 860 OPS in June, 860 basically in July, and then he just get red hot in August. I'd probably rather own Fowler, but I do think Rosario, I wrote a badman waiver wire a week ago, and he's not slowing down. Okay, 52% own. Other outfielers on the list would be, not that many, actually. You have to go all the way down to find a... Aaron Hicks.

Aaron Hicks, 70% owned. Hicks. Hicks, Fowler, Rosario, Rang them. For start, I'm not looking at things right now on a rest of season basis. I'm looking on it as next week. So I'd probably go Rosario Fowler Hicks. Okay. Also on this list, we got a lot of catchers.

Alex Avila, James McCann, Tucker Barnhart, now with Mesoaco on the D.L. Robinson Chorinos. Are you inspired by them? The reveal is the only one I'm really excited about adding. The rest of them I'm just trying to get at bats. Okay, fair enough. Edwin Jackson's number three. He's got the two starts next week.

We discussed him. Jared Eikoff is number four on the list and kind of flopped in his first star. We'll see what he does on Sunday, Saturday or Sunday, in another good start. I've got it. I think it's the Giants. He had the Padres and the Giants, right? Yes. Ikev.

I don't remember which one he faced. Mike Clevenger is interesting. 66% own Mike Clevenger. That's probably of the pitchers that I see on this list, the guy that I take a look at. He does have two starts. They're both at home. They're against the Red Sox and the Royals.

Not the easiest week for Clevenger, but somebody to take a look at maybe. I'd much rather have him in a two-star week than I would Edwin Jackson if they had the same matchups. And he doesn't have great matchups, but he has better matchups than Jackson does. So, yeah, his strike. Checkout numbers are a little bit alarming to me this year.

I don't really know where it's come from, but we'll take it. Camberjoshan is on this list. That makes sense. Ronaldo Lopez is 54% owned, but that's going to really depend on his injury. De Nelson Lemette, Patrick Corbyn, all of these makes sense. Jake Junis is 14% owned. What do you think about that ownership? Jake Junis.

I think it really depends. I believe they're skipping him this weekend because they had the off day on Thursday. So he is, I guess, technically in the rotation, but I don't know if by the time it's his turn again, they think they have Cahill figured out. I would not feel comfortable starting him next week right now. All right, Heath, let's transition and look at the rookie watch. But actually, I do, I wanted to bring up something here. I have an idea for a new statistic for baseball. New stat.

It's called EWIP. Okay. E-whip. What does the E stand for? It stands for Earned. Okay. I don't think... Shouldn't we pronounce that U-HIP?

U-Hip, sure. We could rather than U-Hip. I don't think that you should be penalized on your whip for any hits or walks that take place after an error that otherwise would have ended the inning had the play been made. Same way you're not punished in your E-R-A, you shouldn't be punished in your whip. So you should have an E-WIP. I have decided, you told me about this this morning. Yeah. And I've decided to foil you.

Because this is not a bad idea. I don't hate it. But what I would like better is U-HIP, that is expected whip, where instead of giving them credit or not credit for hits that actually happened. We'll take a look at the type of contact they're giving up what the babup should be on those balls and stop penalizing them for bad defense. Stop rewarding them for good defense and tell you what their whip should be. Why don't we just play baseball? Why don't we just play Sim leagues? Like, who needs Major League Baseball?

Who needs actual defenders? No, this stuff happens. It happens. I enjoy baseball games and going to them, and so I don't agree with you. But I'm just saying I like U-HIP more than E-WIP. So I want everybody to think about that. E-WIP. Let's get a revolution going here.

Let's do a rookie watch. Tell me if these ownership seem right for these rookies. Reese Hoskins, 55%. Seems a little bit light. I have a confession to make about Reese Hoskins, and I'm going to do it on the podcast. I don't know if this person listens to the podcast. I kind of hope not because I'm enjoying the fruits of something that was not really my doing. Okay.

Hit me with it. Last week on Friday, our good friend and producer, Maron Berkson, you know Maron. I love Marone. Great guy. One of the nicest guys in South Florida. Would you agree with that? Game of Rones. He's great.

Yes. Super nice guy. He's in the playoffs in our editorial league this week. And he needed a hitter badly. And so he brings his laptop over to me. And Scott's sitting right there. And I'm thinking in my head, why don't you just ask Scott? But he's asking me.

And so I'm looking at the list of hitters available. And Scott, I just heard talking about how Reese Hoskins was going to be his sleeper hitter of the week because he had good matchups. And I, and so, and I naturally say. Reese Hoskins has really good You should pick him up Every day that Marron has seen me in the office this week He's told me how much he's winning by And how it's all because of Reese Hoskins

And how thankful he is Nice, good job I really just stole Scott's thunder That's fine, that's fine It's imitation is the best form of flattery All right, 55% Reese Hoskins Four walks, four strikeouts in eight games That's really a good sign

Nick Williams A little light. Yeah. Nick Williams is 38% owned. He's having a nice year. 291, six home runs and 40 games, but he does have a terrible walk to strikeout ratio. 10 walks, 42 strikeouts for 38% own Nick Williams. That seems about right to me.

Like he should maybe not owned in all five outfielder leagues, but pretty close. Okay, it's time to lower the ownership percentage of Bradley Zimmer. He's 53% owned. He's, I couldn't believe this. He's one for 37 in August. One for 37, Bradley Zimmer. That's really bad. I do believe that he is too high-owned.

Drop him. Yoham Munkata, 76% owned. He had a good game yesterday. He had a good game six games ago. The five in between, he went two for 20 with no walks and 12 strikeouts. And Munkata's batting 190 right now. It does not look like he's ready to hit Major League pitching still, just like he wasn't last year. 76% owned.

Drop him? Okay. Here's what I would say is I think that's too high I don't think he should be owned in 76% of the leagues If I saw him on the waiver wire, I would not add him But if he was on my team And especially these guys that have held on to him for four months Or longer, ready for this to happen

I'd probably just leave him on my bench and hope Okay Well how about Ahmed Rosario batting 222 With two homers, two steals in 16 games But one walk, 19 strikeouts He's shortstop eligible. There's potential there. I'm benching him, but I'm not dropping him.

Dominic Smith, 38% owned. So it's same as Nick Williams, less than Reese Hoskins. Dominic Smith is batting 160. No walks 4Ks in only seven games. You don't have to drop Dominic Smith, but you don't have to hold him either. Okay. I'm looking at Rosario's minor league numbers. Like 23 walks, 67 strikeouts is very respectable in 94 games.

I don't know why he's striking out so much. It's obviously an adjustment here. I think it's because the pitchers are better in the major league. And everybody needs to remember Alex Bregman from last year. Breggman was just awful in every sense for like a month. And Springer a few years ago, too. Give these guys a little bit of time. Give these guys some time.

Derek Fisher. This guy, I think you might want to start sitting. He's really bad against lefties, maybe dropping. He's only 33% owned, but he's now sitting two of the last three games, Derek Fisher. Yeah, I'm not interested. Ian Hap, 60% owned. I like Ian Happy. He's second base eligible.

He's getting hot again. I think that's about right. Maybe a little low. I don't know. Is he getting hot again? Well, three home runs in his last five games. I guess that's pretty hot. He does this.

He pulls you in right when you think you're ready to drop Ian Happy. He has a good little run. But since the All-Star break, he's batting 227 with four homers. I don't know. That's not great, but, you know, that's what, a sixth of a season and he's got four home runs and four steals? Yeah, it's all recent, though. Yeah, the four steals are nice. The four steals are.

All right. Okay, fine. You wouldn't drop Ian Hap for Colton Wong. No, I would not. No. Jason Kipness or Ian Hap? I'm sticking with Hap. Ozzie Albies is 35% owned.

I have no interest at all. I did not really think he was going to hit this year anyway. I thought they brought him up too soon. I'm not sure he's ever going to be a great offensive player, and he's just been dreadful. All right, let me get you a little hungry right now if I could and also give you a great place to watch some games for the rest of the summer and on into the fall. Look, whoever invented summer was obviously a sports fan.

We got playoff hockey, playoff basketball, the opening of both soccer and baseball. Of course, we have football coming up and pennant races. A clear display of favoritism and the other seasons didn't stand a chance. Why don't we just call it sports season? That's what they're calling it at Buffalo Wild Wings. They do call it sports season. Don't ever call it summer. That's not what it is.

It's sports season. They're just waiting on the legal change. Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, Wings, Beer, Sports. All right, Heath, so moving on here. Tell me if you'd consider sitting any of the following three players. They all have good matchups next week. Matt Carpenter, who has one home run since the All-Star break. He does have 11 doubles.

Miguel Sineau, Aaron Judge. Carpenter Sineau Judge, would you consider sitting any of them next week? No chance I'm sitting, Carpenter, at all. I wouldn't even consider it. because he's still been pretty good in points leagues And in points leagues And in Roto there's too many roster spots to drop them Not but if you're in a head-to-head categories league there aren't

If I was in a head-to-head categories league And it was only 12 teams And I had a second baseman that was really good And a third basement and a first baseman And a utility Then maybe But that's really unlikely All right keep an eye on Carpenter

He's been really bad against lefties this year What about Sino and Judge I could see because both those guys are worse in points leagues that maybe I might, but I'm probably writing them both. They got me here. Double dongs yesterday, Ender and Ciarte, and Josh Donaldson, I think that's why Chris didn't come on the show. Because he said that his skills had diminished, and you were right? Because he's batting 400 in August with 11 home runs in his last 19 games. Well, Chris has already acknowledged that this was his big mistake.

this year, counting out Josh Donaldson. Anything to say about Ender and Ciarte? Coorsfield is a really good place to hit. He is batting 300 this year. No, he's been a good... The home run part is what I meant. The double-dong. Like, I don't think Indyre and Ciarte is double-donging in very many parks.

Yeah, we're pretty much done with yesterday. But, yeah. He is somebody, and I've had people call me out, because he's been very similar in a lot of ways to what I think Oduble Herrera is. And I rank Oduo much better Higher than I do under NCRTA And that's probably not fair Well NCRte is as big of a

He's as much of a jag as you're going to find But he plays all the time and he leads off So he's good in the points leagues especially Jeff Samarja Against Milwaukee next week Are you going to start him? Is it at home? Yes

Yes And another bad start for James and Tyone And I'm trying to see his matchup next week. Remember everybody got mad at me for calling him Jagerson, Tyone? He's got the Dodgers next week. I'm going to avoid that. No chance.

Oh, damn it, Tyone. I really need you to start pitching better. How about Yolish Jasein? Yolish Jasein's 68% owned? I had a feeling he would have a good start against the Nationals at home. It wasn't that good. It was five innings, one run. He walked four.

I don't think I'm going to start him next week at St. Louis. But if you're thinking about dropping Chasin, who's 68% owned, He could be a two-star pitcher with two-stop-starts the following week against the Giants and the Dodgers. He's good against everyone at home. 68% own, Shazin. Yes. If he's a two-start pitcher next week, then he will be close to must-start. Week 22, he'll be a two-star pitcher.

It's not somebody, though, that, like, most of my teams, I feel like I've got a bench spot where I could just keep him. but I'm not giving up anything this week to make it happen. So if we take a look at two-star pitchers for Fantasy Week 21, let's see who we like. There really aren't that many guys on waivers that are available. Are you going to trust Charlie Morton, home against the nationals and at the Angels? Yes.

Are you going to start Rick Porcelo at Cleveland and home against Baltimore? Yes. John Gray with two road starts. You've got to go with John Gray. Yep. I think, I said he, I'd call him a game time decision. I said that yesterday.

Jacob Ferrea, home against Toronto and at St. Louis. In a points league for sure, I am. And Roto, it's really going to depend on where I'm at in categories. Man, all the guys that I have, I feel like are going to be game time decisions. Because Faria, Tyone is actually a two-star pitcher. Dodgers at home and Reds on the road. I don't know, man. I can't trust Tyone right now.

Yeah, I can't, I don't think I can trust. Faria either, but we'll see. We'll see who my one-star options are. Tanner Roark at Houston and Home Against the Mets, another guy we talked about yesterday. Not in Roto for me. What's that? Not in Roto for me, not in categories.

No, I wouldn't point so. All right. I'll probably start Eduardo Rodriguez at Cleveland and home against Baltimore. But I would do. I trust him more than most people. I think I'll start John Lackey at Cincinnati and at Philadelphia. Yeah.

Dan Straeli at Philadelphia home against San Diego Yeah I think with those two matchups you do Taiwan Walker is a 563 ERA in his last three starts With not a lot of strikeouts But he's at the Mets and home against the Giants I'm starting him Taiwan Walker start him

We like Carlos Rodan Jose Urana at Philadelphia Home Against San Diego Can he keep it going for two more starts For one more week Jose Urana at Philadelphia home against the Padres I mean How are you going to feel for the long, cold winter if you realize that you lost the first round of your fantasy playoffs because you trusted Jose Urania.

Those matchups are as good as it gets. Yeah, yeah, you can write that on your fantasy baseball tennis. Okay, don't start Jose Urana. Patrick Corbyn. Patrick Corbyn is the jewel here, the gem. The fact that Urania and Corbin are owned the same amount of leagues, I mean, get Urania. Clevengers, Boston and Kansas City, so not a bad ad. No on Stephen Matt.

Mike Fultenevich, Seattle and Colorado at home. I don't really want to, no. But in a points league, I could consider it. Edwin Jackson at Houston and home against the Mets or Mike Fultenevich. Mike Fultenevich. Hyme Garsia at Detroit, home against Seattle. I'm not a high guy. No, I'm not a high guy either.

All right, so we got Tyler Skaggs against Texas and Houston. No. I don't think there's anyone else you're going to like. No, I just don't think so. Anybody else would just be a... We don't have a random Yankees pitcher that we can throw in here? Jaime Garcia, that's the only one. Yeah, I don't think so.

I don't see any, like, amazing matchups for low-end guys. James Shields has Minnesota and Detroit at home. Yeah, I am not going to do that either. No. Nope, nor should you. Let's just roll the dice with some one-start pitchers. Hope we get a good start. Well, that's what we're going to have to do tonight, Heath.

We'll take a look at today's matchups. August 18th, Friday. Hope you all have some nice plans tonight. I'll be watching preseason football and Yankees Red Sox. I'm going to the beach after work. Nice. Jayhap at the Cubs. Probably not.

Would you start Andrew Heaney or Jeremy Hose? Hellickson as the Angels are at the Orioles? I don't mind Helixen. Really? Okay. Cardinals at Pirates, Carlos Martinez, and Trevor Williams. Definitely, Carmar. By the way, I do mind Helixen. He stinks.

I don't start bad pitchers, regardless of match-up. I do sometimes. Put that on your tombstone. Erasmil Ramirez at Austin Pruitt. No, thank you. Thank you. Rich Hill and Jordan Zimmerman. Definitely, Rich Hill, yes.

Jordan Montgomery at Drew Pomeran's. I don't recommend starting Jordan Montgomery. I'm going to start Pomerantz. Yeah, definitely. His line against the Red Sox was good last Sunday. He had a lot of luck, a lot of hard hit balls that were caught. Marlins at Mets, Nicolino, and Chris Flexen. No.

Nope. No. Sal Romano, R.A. Dickey. I like Dickey. I like Dickey, come on. You can have Dickey. He's been good for a while now. I think the Reds are kind of bad on the road.

Yeah. All right, so you're not starting already, Dickey, I would. White Sox at Rangers, James Shields at Andrew Cashner. No. I kind of want to start Cash. I know, I guess, I guess. I kind of do. If you start Sean Minia at Houston tonight, you deserve to lose, but you should start Dallas.

Kichel. you should definitely start Zach Godley at the Twins. Are you going to start Irvin Santana against the D-backs? Irvin Santana against the D-backs. Where is that game? In Minnesota. Yes. Okay.

Corey Klobber's on the mound tonight. He's a start. He is facing Ian Kennedy in Kansas City. I'm starting Kluber for sure, and Kennedy, only if I'm chasing wins and strikeouts. All right, we got a game in course field. Matt Garza at Armand Marquez. No, thank you. Nationals are at the Padres, and we'll start Scherzer and Sit Perdomo,

and the Phillies are at the Giants. Will you be starting Zach Eflin, Zach Efron, or Matt Moore, or Mandy Moore? No. None of the four. None of the four. All right. Fair enough. I would have started Mandy Moore.

Emails. Let's read some emails here. This is from Phil. Next week in a head-to-head points league, Lou Croy or Cherino. Ooh, the Battle of Former and Current Rangers catchers in. No home games for Lucroi. Lucroir or Torinos?

I'm going to stick with Lucroix. All right, this is from Trevor. Hey, Giancarlo, Aaron, Mike, and Joey. All right. Top four home run hitters, maybe? Could be. I'm Ron Burgundy. Who's Mike?

Trout. He's not a top four home run hitter. Mastakis. Ah. About that. Former or future Yankee, Mike Muzdoch. I'm gearing up for the playoffs and I have some questionable utility players. I have in a head-to-head categories league.

Trey Mancini and Reese Hoskins. Should I own Mancini and Hoskins over guys like Schwarber, Ian Hap, Dexter Fowler, Corey Spangenberg, or Trevor Story? If it's just for utility and position doesn't matter, I'm definitely holding Mancini I think I'd go fowler over Hoskins Yeah especially in an OBP league Yeah

That's one of your six categories six by six Email from Ryan Simple question Thames or Hoskins I need to drop one Who am I dropping? Thames or Hoskins Hmm

I still have Thames ranked higher than Hoskins I don't want to overreact on Hoskins Because he took advantage of good matchups earlier this week Right. And again, it's not overreacting to drop FAMS at this point. That's true. That's probably for me going to come down to who their matchups are next week.

Okay. Because, I mean, Thames is... He's done some things this week. If he's got lefties on the schedule, you don't want them. He's got five hits and two home runs. Four RBI. That's good. A stolen base.

Oh. all in this week. Hey, I have a question for you, by the way. If Musacus... You're just not going to answer the question. Play the matchups. If Mastakis goes to the Yankees, are you going to like Mike Mastakis anymore?

Well, he's already guaranteed himself a spot in the Royal's Hall of Fame. So I would say yes. All right, that's good. Go Yankees. It depends. It depends. If he tears his ACL tomorrow and doesn't break Steve Balboni's record, and I have to deal with that stupid record for another 20 years, then maybe not.

Okay, Doug from Illinois. Hey, Adam and the Gang. I like that. I think we should call us Adam and the Gang from now on. There's only one of us. It's kind of dumb. Well, I mean, it's, okay, fair enough. It's back to school time in my part of the country.

Can we diagram and discuss the overratedness of Francisco Lindor? I grabbed him in the third round this year, and his numbers are not worth that. Where do we rank Francisco Lindor next year? I'm so glad Scott's not here. Scott would not be happy. When you talk bad about a guy with good plate discipline, Scott White does not like it. I don't really like besmirching the good name of Francisco Lendor. He's still, what, 24 years old next year and easily a top five shortstop next year.

So fourth round? Is he easily a top? I mean, he probably is. But would you rather have Dede Gagorius or Francisco Lindor going forward? I'll stick with Lindor. So he's only got eight steals this year, and that's a major disappointment. One of the reasons why, you know what, let me look up the actual numbers. I'm just doing this.

I don't think he has as many singles. That's exactly what I was going to say. He's got 19 home runs, and last year, Lindor hit 15 home runs in 41 more games than he has. And he already has more doubles than he hit last year. So if you look at, oh, they don't have singles listed, so I can't do the math. Well, I can do the math. All right, do the math. He just hasn't singled that much.

He's got 74 singles. What's kind of interesting is his OPS is almost identical to last year, 794 last year, 780 this year. But he's not helping him batting average, and he's not helping in steals. And I think at this point, because power's easier to find, I think maybe you would prefer Lindel. to have a better batting average hit 300 and steal 20 bases, then hit 263 and hit 25 home runs. Maybe you'd prefer it the other way. Yeah, I think he's still going to end up with more RBI, too,

and probably the same number of runs. So I don't know. What's his run pace? I can't do that math, but I can tell you that he has three more doubles, four more home runs and 65 or 61 less singles than he had last year. Okay, there you go. 65. Everybody do this math with me in your head.

65 divided by 117. That's a piece of cake. Right. He's on pace for 90 runs. He scored 99 last year. And moving on to another email. We're talking about Francisco Lindor, by the way. We're now not talking about him.

We're talking about Matt in York, Pennsylvania. Trade deadline is at the end of August. I am top in several pitching categories in our Roto League, including wins and quality starts, with some people right behind me. So I need some offensive help. I've got innings concerns with Garrett Cole and Luis Castillo and Dallas Keikle.

Would you trade... Okay, so this was a long-winded thing. Would you trade Kuber for Mookie Betz straight up? Yep. All right. From Craig, Devers or Fam as utility, rest of see. season. Devers or Fam? Oh, that's so easy. I'd probably go Devers.

Nope. Nope. Wrong! It's fair. I like the flexibility that Devers gives me. But it's utility. I know, but what if my third baseman gets hurt? Fine. Trade fan for one. Listen, actually, I want to go back to Matt's email.

Just be careful. If you trade Kluber for bets and you've got pitching categories, you know, you're on top in pitching categories, you can easily drop. two, three spots, you know? Like, if you've got people right behind you, it's not, you should maybe only trade your strength if you have a lot of that strength, you know. He's got Dallas Keikel, Garrett Cole, and Luis Castillo.

That's not that good. I mean, Keikel, yes, but Cole and Castillo. Castillo could be shut down soon. Cole's kind of, look, Cole's been pretty good. I know he got roughed up in his last start, but he's been pretty good for like 13 starts now. So that's fine. But, uh...

And Dallas Keikles is a saw young, right? He would have been if he didn't get hurt. Absolutely. It's pretty much a guarantee. Question from Justin in Texas. Dear Johnny, Ron, and Jeff. I don't know. Too generic.

I have Wilson, Concheris, Michael Brantley, and Johnny Quato on the D.L. Who do I drop in a points league? Contreras, Brantley, and Quato. Has there been an update on Quedo lately? Because the Giants were saying they really expected him to come back this year, and everything I was reading was making me think he's not going to come back this year. but I have not seen there's one more bullpen

and then he's got a rehab assignment I'm not dropping Brantley I know that I'd either drop I'm not dropping Brantley I'd either drop Contreras because his time table was four to six weeks you might get two weeks out of him at most or Quato and why aren't you dropping Brantley for sure

I feel like he'll be back sooner but he's the least valuable of the three if they're all there I don't know how much I trust Johnny Quato this He's definitely less valuable than Contreras. Ten-team standard points league. I'd probably drop Rantley. All right. Honestly, I'm fine with any of them.

Right. You probably are, too. From Sean, probably making the playoffs in a shallow but active mixed league, looking to shore up my rotation. So here's some of the fringy guys that Sean has. Cole Hamels, Jameson, Tion, Edwardo Rodriguez, Ferrea, and Cantana. Out of Hamils, Tyone, Eduardo Rodriguez, Ferria, and Katana,

who's the most dropable? I'd say Ferreia. Who's the second most dropable? I'd say Tyone. Would you drop Foria or Tyone for any of the following? Chase Anderson, Luis Castillo, Brent Honeywell, Lou Geweaver, Colin McHugh, Corbyn, or Eichoff? I would drop Tyone.

and Faria for Castillo and Corbyn. You are forgetting someone better. Who? Who? Chase Anderson. I don't know that I believe that Chase Anderson's better, and I don't know that I want to bet on Chase Anderson automatically being better as soon as he returns from the disabled list. His first starts at Colorado this weekend, so he won't be.

Yeah. Luis Castillo, Scott is concerned that Castillo gets shut down after two or three more starts. So just keep that out of mind. You know what? Your season might be over by then if you started Chase Anderson. Luke Weaver is also very interesting. There's no way I'm dropping Hamels or Kintana. The other three in a shallow league, Tyone, Eduardo Rodriguez, Faria.

I think you can do some streaming. Do stream matchups. There you go. Okay, Heath, thank you. Thank you for pinch hitting. I appreciate it. What do you mean? This is my regularly scheduled day.

I mean I'm not a part of this podcast. All right. No, no, no. Thank you for being on this podcast. You know what? Thank you for being my co-worker. Have a great weekend, everybody. Thank you for being our listeners. See ya.