Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Hot Hitters; Some 2018 Talk

Episode Date: August 22, 2017

Is it time to buy in to Curtis Granderson (2:00), Nicky Delmonico (5:00) and Byron Buxton (7:45)? We discuss these streaking hitters and a few more including a Catcher who keeps homering ... We look at four players having career years - Eric Hosmer (26:08) and Mike Moustakas (28:55) and two others - and debate what 2018 holds for these guys ... Adam Jones and Josh Harrison are hot (33:36), we're still not buying Zach Davies (38:33), and is it time to drop Eduardo Rodriguez (43:41)? Also, a look at today's matchups (46:20) ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to the fantasy baseball today podcast. It's Tuesday. We got nine games to recap from Monday. And, of course, we'll look at today's action. You've been missing Scott White? I've been missing Scott White. He's back, everybody. All right.

Here, yeah, back. Now, Rick. That's mildly exciting. Well, tomorrow, guess who's coming on the show? Who? Al Melchior. No way. That's old news.

Al Malkiore's. been on this show already this season. Yeah, but I was out of the country. It was All-Star Break Week. It didn't really count. This is a real Al-Balky or a spot. It is exciting. But I guess it's not real if Adam's not on the show. I guess that's what he's trying to say.

Scott, where were you? Where the hell were you? Where was I? I was at home with the kid. A little staycation, a little filling in for the nanny who needed some time off. So it was good. Now, I should be here for every podcast until the next time I miss a podcast will mean that new life is in the world. The day is getting close where child number two is on the way. And I should be here every day until then.

So get used to it. Good. We are hoping for right around October 1st would be wonderful. We could just get to the regular season. Come on, hold on, baby. Just hold up. Grab tight. You know, last week, Scott gave some great advice.

and he said, start Reese Hoskins. And people said, Scott, I love you. You're the best. Don't go on staycation. Yeah. I got a little bit of that last night because I told everybody to start Curtis Granderson. I felt good about it. And he hit a grand slam.

And I would say he only needs one more good game this week with six more Ritey's on tap. Yeah. I took over for Scott writing the hit of your planner column on Friday of last week. and I said to start Jock Peterson. Yeah, it turned out to be bad advice. That's why I started Grannerson, though. But same theory.

Curtis Granderson just replaced him. That's all it was. Yeah, it was great. So if you would, you know, if you would follow through the logic of that, oh, well, Jack Peterson isn't the center fielder for the Dodgers, Curtis Granderson is. Perfect. You know, it's really on you. You're welcome is what it comes down to.

I can't hold your hand through everything, guys. You know, it makes you feel any better. when I had Reese Hoskins among my top 10 sleeper hitters the Friday before, and it paid off so well, I had Matt Adams either a little before him or a little after him because of a four-game series coming up at Colorado. Braves decided they didn't want to play left fields in that big outfield, so he didn't start any of those. You know it really makes me feel better? What?

Because I know I get things wrong constantly, and that probably isn't the dumbest thing I'll say all week. Yeah, well, no. I was going to say. Well, first of all, with Granderson, that's not what I was going to say. Oh, thanks for the backup. I was going to say something about myself. But with Grannerson, he's 35% owned. And look, we know who he is.

He ain't that good. But, man, when he gets hot, he gets really hot. Do you guys have faith in Grannerson? And is he going to sit against lefties? Obviously, this is a good week for him. But what's your outlook for him going forward? I think he's definitely going to sit against most lefties. That's been how the Mets have been using him.

But it's not really a when he gets hot, he gets really hot thing for Curtis Granderson. at least not this season. It's mostly when he was cold, he was the worst player in baseball. He had a 395 OPS in the month of April. He's been outstanding since then. He has a 9.54 OPS since May 1st.

Now, he doesn't play every day. He barely sees lefties, and that helps. But he's been really good. Yeah, yeah. He'll be a guy who probably makes another appearance on the top 10 sleeper hitters to close out the season. Because I don't think his ownership percentage deserves to go above the,

80% threshold that I use as the cutoff for that column. He's got a long way to go to. He was 35. And he probably shouldn't be that much more owned unless you're playing matchups in a week like this. Right, right. Yeah, okay, so that's Granderson. And then the bad advice I gave was Sit Michael Conforto.

And it was looking fine. What? Why would you say that? Because he's facing three lefties this week and he's facing Strasbourg. He had tough matchups and it wasn't really playing that well. So I said sit him for Grander. I did sit him for Granderson. but he homered in extra innings.

Things were going great until extra innings. I started both of them. Okay. Fair enough. So, yeah, not everything was a hit for me. Monday standouts. I'm done talking about myself as a standout. How about you guys?

Who stood out to you on Monday other than me? I'll let Scott go first. It's been a while since Scott's been able to talk. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I did actually post a waiver wire column on the site just now, and one of the big standouts for me was somebody who's only about

30% owned Nicky Delmonico who hit his sixth home run Monday has had a couple of two homer games in his 19 since arriving with the White Sox and the minor league track record isn't that great. He had like a 750 OPS at AAA this year

but consistently did walk an above average at an above average rate and in addition to the six home runs in the majors so far, he has 11 walks to 13 strikeouts, good rates both individually and compared to each other. And I think that plate discipline, there's some pop there.

If he was eligible anywhere other than first base in the outfield, I'd be recommending him across the board. But as it is, I do think he needs to be more owned, more than 29% of leagues and may end up exceeding his minor league production in the majors. That's Nicky Delmonico. Who is left-handed? And I just sort of feel like Nicky Delmonico is such a lefty name. And a second baseman. Like, he should be a second baseman with that name. It's a shame that he isn't. He did play some second base in the minor. He actually started out as a third basement. Of course he did. So it wouldn't be the most shocking

thing ever if he played 73 games at third base at AAA if he picked up eligibility at other positions. All right. So that's Nicky Delmonico 29%-0 now. And Chris, stand out for you? Oh, we've got to talk about Carlos Rodon, who may be making the leap that we've been hoping for. This is five straight starts with two earned runs or fewer. He's actually pitched into the seventh inning or

more in each start. The control has been very good overall, a little more shaky over the last couple of starts, but only nine walks over his last five, three games with at least nine strikeouts, and gained steam as the start went on yesterday. His two hardest thrown pitches were actually his final two fastballs. He had 97 and 97. Nice. That's really interesting. Carlos Rodon, still mostly a two-pitch pitcher. He is throwing his change up a little more than he did last season, and that really just needs to be a show-me pitch against right-handed batters. Um, but

what we're seeing right now is the Carlos Rodon upside that we've been hoping. Yeah, Rodon seems like a total must start right now. I think he's 89% own. He's got Detroit this weekend. He's a two-star pitcher this weekend and this week, and he's off to a great start. So good for him. I'll go ahead and throw Byron Buxton out there. Buxton is hot again. Three for eight with a home run and a double yesterday, but also four strikeouts. That was in two games. They played a double header. And in August, Buxton is batting 333. with 367 on base and a 597 slugging percentage. Now, I think yesterday he and I talked about it and I said, you know, five walks to, oh, how many strikeouts to 17 strikeouts isn't that bad for Buxton.

But now it's five walks to 21 strikeouts because he strike out four times yesterday. So that's making me less enthused that this is actually a sustainable hot streak. But he does have like 22 steals and 23 attempts. So that's awesome. It is worth noting with him. If you look at, FanGraphs has this tool. If you go to a player's page, you can go to the graphs tab, and you can do rolling averages. And over the course of the season, his 30-game rolling average strikeout rate has gone all the way down, basically.

He started out, we all remember. He was the worst hitter in the history of professional baseball for about the first month of the season, and wasn't all that much better for the next couple of months. But his strikeout rate has gone down. It's 24% over the last 30 days. and pretty much over the last month or so, it's been in that 20 to 25% range, which isn't good. But given that we've seen he can hit the ball very well,

I think it's super promising. This is Byron Buxton we're talking about. Would you rather have Buxton or Granderson? Buxton. Yeah. I mean, if it was somebody who I was forced to start every week because of the potential for Granderson to sit, I would say, Granderson.

But, like, this reminds me of what Buxton did last September, and obviously not a lot came from that. Maybe this is finally clicking him breaking through. I'm going to bet against it right now. It's also, like, the third time that I personally have gotten excited about, A, Byron Buckson Hot Streak this season alone. So, all right, we'll see. However, I will say that if you were available in Categories leagues,

I'd get them for the steals without a match. Yeah, I could understand that. It just... Yeah, I added and started both him and Curtis Granderson this week. Like, if he, you know, hit 100 over the next two weeks, then the steals aren't going to be worth it. It's hot hand time. It's hot hand time, though, so... No, I hear you.

He is definitely the hot hand. I'd look at what the matchups are for the twins next week, and obviously how he closes out this week. All right, well, that'll take care of the standouts for today. We'll get into some more a little bit later. Here's an email of the day. It's from Mike from Philly. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Hey, John, Gendry, and Ramsey.

I believe that is the Game of the Thrones. That is. And I'm going to say a word. That's not a curse word. They say it all the time in Game of Thrones. Not to say they don't curse. But these are bastards. First round of the playoffs for Mike from Philly.

I'm worried about Miguel Cabrera. Is it crazy to drop Miguel Cabrera for a young guy on a hot streak like Reese Hoskins or Josh Bell? Head-to-head points league. Oh, crazy? I don't know that much of anything's crazy in late August, especially if it's playoff time in your league, kind of have to play one week at a time. But I want to do it.

I'm going to keep Miguel Cabrera ahead of those two in my head-to-head rankings. I may have started Hoskins over Miguel Cabrera if I had both on my roster this week. You have to have a worse player than Miguel Cabrera. I don't know about that. I mean, Miguel Cabrera got dropped in our points league last week. And I didn't put in a claim for him, in part because I had nowhere to play him, but I also had better options than Hoskins or Bell that were blocking him. So it's not crazy.

John Bell is someone that I don't know if we've talked enough about, but early on in the season, he was sort of a surprisingly weird player. He wasn't hitting for batting average, was hitting for power. That wasn't at all we expected Josh Bell to be. And since the All-Star break, he's hitting like 330. His Babbup has completely corrected. And he's been really good. I have his numbers from his last 40 games here. 331 batting average six home runs at 973 OPS.

Yep. And it coincides with a change in approach he made. He went from guessing at the plate. just guessing what the pitcher is going to throw, where he's going to throw it, and swinging based on that, to just protecting the zones, looking for the right pitch in the zone.

And this has been something that started, it's been going on basically during that time. I mentioned that 40-game stretch. His swinging strike rate's gone down, his chase rate's gone down, his contact rate has gone up, both on pitches inside and outside of the zone. It seems like it's,

it seems like it's, It's contributed to this mid-season breakthrough he seems to be having. And I do think he's under-owned. I do think he's somebody can consider starting in a head-to-head league without that extra corner infield spot even. But I'm not willing to drop Miguel Cabrera for him. This is Josh Bell. I will say with Miguel Cabrera, my optimism for him throughout the entire season

has been based on the fact that he still had elite-added ball data. That has not been the case. But I was talking about those 30-game rolling averages. for him, it peaked at 54% hard contact rate on July 16th, and it has absolutely plummeted since then. Down to over the last 30 games, 35% hard contact rate, which isn't bad, but it doesn't give me nearly as much hope that this guy is just still an elite hitter who's going to figure things out. There are absolutely red flags there. All right. And, yeah, Josh Bell is now 78% on, by the way.

So it's an interesting discussion, interesting decisions. I think you've got to do what's best for your team in the playoffs right now. If Cabrera is just a bench guy for you, you might want to stick it out. But I understand if you don't want to start them. I certainly understand that right now. I'm in a group text with a couple of buddies, and they're talking about how the new Justin Bieber song is good. Do I need to, A, listen to the Bieber song, or B, get new friends? I liked that one song

Not the current one But the one before it Sorry No the one where he's like talking to the girl's mom or something Oh love yourself That's a really good song Yeah That is a stupid

lame song I'm not I'm not terribly proud of it He's kind of a It shouldn't be It's kind of a jerk Yeah right Like I don't want to like Justin Bieber

But you know I love me some pop music And that's that's a good pop song Yeah you can go love yourself Chris, for all I care. All right, so that's our Bieber discussion. Let's do some news and notes. Alex Wood could be headed to the D.L.

with shoulder inflammation. Uh-oh. His velocity was way down. Yeah, bad. He needs to head to the DL with shoulder inflammation. And this was the same injury that cost him some time at the end of May, beginning of June. It wasn't a long absence, and obviously he came back great. So it doesn't sound like you need to worry about him being shut down for the same.

season anything like that, but I do suspect he'll miss his next couple turns. We're at the time in the season where if he goes on DL now, it costs him next week. That's not necessarily a case where you hold on to him. If you can't DL him, then, yeah, I mean, I'm going to try to DL him. I have Alex Wood in one league, and I can't imagine dropping him, but... Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's easier to hold on to a pitcher on your bench who's injured, than just like an extra hitter because I don't know. I don't know about you, but I change, I swap out pitchers in and out of my line.

I'm more often than I do hitters. And Wood, I mean, he's a proven successful one, unlike. Yeah. Cabrera, who hasn't done much of anything for you all year. All right, so Wood probably going to the DL. Clayton Curshaw rehab start scheduled for this weekend for Saturday. Trey Turner began a rehab assignment. Andrew Miller likely headed back to the DL with the recurrence of his knee injury.

Cody Bellinger is going to sit tonight with an ankle sprain. So, yeah, I did start him, and hopefully he'll get back in there on Wednesday. Felix Hernandez and James Paxton will begin throwing in the next few days. J. Rees Familia could be back this weekend, and we have more bullpen stuff to talk about. Stephen Matt is out for the season. He's going to have surgery on his UCL. It will be similar to what Jacob de Grom had. Maybe it's an explanation, though, and it worked out well for DeGrom.

Maybe it's an explanation. Yeah, I hate the Mets because, you know, I was talking to Scott earlier today. They have had, I believe, Cindergarde, Mats, Harvey, and Dagram pitch through known injuries just in the last year. How dumb can you be? Like, I get it. Like, there's an element of, like, pitching through discomfort and pitching. through pain and but be a man chris at some point like this isn't working what you're doing is not working well their season is lost i mean if they knew mats was something something was going on with

matt's health wise but yeah i mean the thing with cinderguard early in the year well even last year he had well the elbow issue yeah he had he had bones spurs but you know pitchers pitched through that all the time and it didn't seem to have an adverse effect on him but the fact that he injured himself and then went out the very next turn and pitched again and injured himself and what's looking like. It's just recurring. It just seems to be a recurring pattern of not knowing how to handle these young pitchers. And it's just Matt Harvey throwing on a day the day before he's set to pitch.

That was so crazy. Much that this team just seems to be woefully incompetent with. and it makes me have to view all of their pitchers as even bigger risks than your typical pitchers because there's just a recurring pattern of incompetence. I'm going to think that that will end after this year. I don't know why, but it's just not something that as a fantasy owner I'm going to just bank on. Like, oh, the Mets are going to screw us. Can you bank on any of those pitchers?

Any of those four pitchers? I guess DeGrom feels pretty safe. Yeah, I can bank on the wrong. We'll see how Cindergarde closes out the season. Maybe he'll reassure us going into the offseason, but right now, feel like he's a big health downgrade. I hope he doesn't. I hope he struggles coming back because I want a discount on Cindergarde next year. If a guy has such a long layoff, I think of Tanaka in his rookie season, comes back.

I don't really care what he does in a couple of starts. Let's say Cindergarde makes two starts. I don't really care what he does in those starts. I'll forgive him if he struggles. If he does great, then people are going to buy in. I don't want that. It might be more than two, too. It might be.

All right. Moving on. Aaron Judge was icing his shoulder after Sunday's game. He says it's not a big deal. He's an issue right now, batting 169 since the All-Star break. Yeah. Did you guys see the, like, random report from, like, two weeks ago from some guy that I've never heard of that Aaron Judge has been receiving cortisone shots in his shoulder since the All-Star break?

No. A guy from New Jersey Advanced Media No, I don't I did not see that But that, I don't know That's weird Sounds like Might have been a home run derby injury

You missed this note You missed this news item Chris But their hitting coach Said he's not sure If the home run derby affected Aaron Judge Said only Judge knows Nobody's sure of anything

The Apparently the Marlins hitting coach needs to start working with Aaron Judge. Why? Because Stan's been the best hitter of the last decade since the all-star. You only played one round. It doesn't matter. He only hit 20 home runs.

But just because it didn't affect one guy, it doesn't mean it didn't affect Judge. Where's Justin Borman since the home run derby? Yeah, right. Exactly. All right, moving on. Nelson Cruz sat at Atlanta. We told you that was a risk with no DH. Carlos Gomez should be back this weekend.

I still hate Scott for picking up the liner to Shields in the Roto League, and he stole another base last night. But... Yeah, I'll just shift over to Gallow Spott. It's fine. Oh, crap. You're right. Damn you. Hate you, Scott.

Jose Abraeu or Jose Aubrey, as my phone, my lot of autocorrects. Jose Aubrey is the first White Sox playwright with 25 homers in each of his first four seasons. Why would have changed player? You must have a mistyped player. Yeah, it was really early. Marcus Simeon left with a wrist injury. I had no idea what I was doing. Carlos Sabrina of the Indians, their first baseman, left with back tightness.

It's Carlos Santana. U. Darvus, at Y-O-U-Darvis, is expected to pitch on Monday, and Garrett Richards is going to pitch again this season. I wrote this weekend in the notes. That's not true. It's this season. Garrett Richards will come back, it seems, and start. I doubt we're all that interested. I had a section called At Him Now, and Byron Buxton and Nicky Delmonica.

or in there. So now there's only one player, and his name is Kurt Suzuki, and he's 8% owned. And in the last 28 days, Suzuki is batting 306 with six homers, top seven catcher and fantasy barely ever plays. Is Kurt Suzuki an add him now kind of guy? I mean, must start in two catcher leagues. The bar for catcher is so low that, yeah, he can get over it even with a start every three days. You know, he's not really starting any less than Wellington Castillo does. and I would guess Willington Castillo is significantly more owned than Suzuki. Suzuki's about caught up to him in home runs, too.

It's weird. Suzuki, no, he's not a good hitter, and yet he's got like an eight-something OPS. Yeah, catcher usage is just weird, because Jorge Alfaro goes through these stretches where he plays like three games in a row and then doesn't play it for four days. It's very odd. I'm going to make a prediction for next year. I think I may have already made this, so I may make it again. I think they're going to fix the baseballs and the home runs are going to go way down next year.

I kind of have that feeling, too, because, you know, there's just been enough discussion around the issue and there's been enough research done to seemingly get to the bottom of it. And Rob Manfred has talked about wanting to improve the pace of play, which would mean more balls in play as opposed to home runs, which are obviously out of play. So it does seem like they have every incentive to do that. It'll be interesting. I feel like it'll be difficult to predict which hitters will suffer from that, though, at this point. Like which hitters have legitimately become power hitters in the two and a half years

where we've seen this spike in home runs in which were just kind of a result of that change. That'll be tough to pinpoint. So I'm not looking forward to it if it happens from that perspective, but I think there's a good chance it does. All righty. Where are we? Oh, the bullpen. Let's go to the bullpen. Sam Dyson, another save.

Melanson pitched the eighth. Since Mark Melanson's injury, Sam Dyson, who's 34% owned, has 11 saves and 12 chances. This was June 28th. Melanson got injured on the 27th, so on the 28th till now of June of now, 20th of June till now, excuse me. Sam Dyson is the number 16 reliever in points leagues. If you take out all the RP eligible starting pitchers, he's been the number 10 closer in points leagues since Malanson's injury.

And he's 34% own. He's doing this with a bad whip, 1-200 whip, which is bad for reliever. 12 strikeouts and 20 innings, but a sub-1 ERA, and he's only blown one. save. There was also some talk about Melanson possibly having elbow surgery. I don't know. If Malance is healthy now, I don't understand why he's not closing at this point. Like they've given him enough

warm-up games and he's done fine. So give me your take on the Giants. I expect it to change any day, frankly. You do? Well, I've been expecting that, though. Got to keep expecting it. All right. It's been five appearances now. All of them have been scoreless for Melanson. Five

strikeouts and five innings. No walks yet. he looks okay. I mean, Sam Dyson, I don't think he's, you know, he can pass as a closer, but I don't think he's going to unseat Dyson, I mean, the Lansin on Merritt. So, yeah, I expect that change to happen sooner than later. Fair enough. I could have saved a lot of breath by not giving out those Dyson stats. If I just asked you that first, Alex Claudio, 36% owned, another save for the Rangers. and he's got seven now. He's 36% own,

and Juan Manaya is 10% owned, and he just got his third save, so he's the White Sox Closer. I don't think Juan Manai is very good. He does have more than 11 strikeouts per 9, but with a lot of walks, high ERA. The numbers weren't so great in the minors either. But I do trust him more for saves right now

than I trust anyone in the Angels bullpen. Fair enough. I want to talk about some guys who are having career years, And then we'll get into more of yesterday's action with Adam Jones double-donging, Josh Harrison's been hot, Mike Fultenevich Garbage. Let's talk about four players who have had career years, and I want you to tell me if you think they can repeat their success next season. Starting with a couple of Royals, Eric Hosmer, number seven first baseman in points, number 10 in Rodo, 315 with 20 home runs. He's hidden for the same kind of power as last year, but the batting average is way up. Can Eric Hosmer have another awesome year in 2018?

Literally nothing about this makes any kind of sense. Except the balls are just. I know I've been dismissive of Eric Hosmer probably to my own detriment in the past. But he's hitting for more power. He's got 20 home runs. Likely will get to or surpass his career high of 25. He's up to his batting average 50 points, but he still has a 23% fly ball rate.

This is not a guy who should be able to hit for power. He's relying on a 22% home run to fly ball rate, which I believe to be unsustainable, but he had a 21.4% rate last season. Two years in a row now. He may be one of those hitters who we can pinpoint a home run drop for if they do change the ball. Yeah.

I mean, his hard hit rate is 30%. His average exit velocity is like 90 miles per hour, which is okay, but not great. Hosmer sounds to me like Christian Yellich, except Yelich predicted, like you guys had predicted for him, had a power drop, and Hosmer didn't. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Delich is someone that I would expect to sustain a batting average a lot higher than Hosmer just because he's the more athletic player. Doesn't sound like you guys are too enthused about Hosmer.

year. Well, I mean, he's one of those players who you're never, like, I just feel like he's a very high floor player. And it's a high enough floor that even in a 12-team league at a deep position, he's going to be starting for somebody at season's end. But he's, at this stage of his career, he's not somebody I'm ever excited to draft. No. And if he's going in like the eighth or ninth round last year, next year, I mean, I'll probably be on my bus list again. We'll see where he lands too. The deeper... Agent. Oh, yeah, that's right.

The deeper the league, the more I like Eric Cosmer. Yes. That's true for all high floor players. Yeah, because he's very replaceable on a game-by-game basis. It will be interesting because I think Heath is convinced that Eric Cosmer is going to be a Yankee. And that's someone that you would think, well, he's going to benefit from his home park. This is not a guy who pulls the ball in the air. So he might not benefit from.

from Yankee Stadium. It's going to be really interesting. We'll see where Eric Hosmer lands. Okay. How about Mike Mastakis then? Number eight, first base, third baseman and points. Number three in Roto, Mastakis is batting 284, 35 homers. Why is he so much better in Roto? Well, the plate discipline's not good. 24 walks, 75 strikeouts. 75 strikeouts in 113 games for a guy with 35 home runs is actually damn good. No, he doesn't, he's never been a big strikeout guy, but he's been a low walk. guy as well. That's right.

He doesn't walk. That's a better way to say it. And only 20 doubles. But obviously having a great year. So Mustakis, can he do it again next year? So he's kind of the polar opposite from Hosmer. He hits like twice as many fly balls as Hosmer does. That rate's gone up for him this year to almost a career high.

And the funny thing is, as good of a year he's having, he's 268 Babbip, which kind of goes hand in with the high fly ball rate. But if he's hitting a ton of fly balls and he's hitting them hard enough to go out of the park, particularly with that park is his home park, I feel pretty good about the kind of player he's settled into being. And I'm going to, I think it's going to be an upgrade wherever he winds up. Okay. I'd rather have him than Eric Osmer.

Yes. Okay, moving on to Jonathan's scope, who homered again yesterday. He's been a little bit cold lately, but we'll forgive Jonathan's scope. Number five in points, number two in Roto at second base. He's batting 302 with 27 home runs, 30 doubles, and an 889 OPS. He had 25 home runs and 38 doubles in a full season last year, 162 games. Big difference, though. His batting average has gone up from 267 to 302, and he's already not a big walk guy scope,

but he's already drawn eight more walks this year than he did last year, and he's done it in 39 fewer games. Jonathan Scope, can he do it again next year? I think he can. I think it's... The biggest difference for him has just been power games, which comes with player maturing.

He's only now 25 years old. He's always had pretty good pop. And I think he's just grown into more. And, you know, I wish he walked more, but he's kind of become the player we hoped and assumed Rugnet O'Dore was coming into this year. But the batting average,

batting 300, Jonathan's scope, without a lot of walks, is that possible? I mean, Babib's 338. I think he's probably more like a 280 batting average guy. But that's still, you're still looking at a very good middle headfielder. It's not wildly unsustainable. And part of the batting average increase is because of a home run increase. Those are free hits, if you understand.

what I mean by that. They're not BABUP dependent. Yeah. Free space. Free batting average padding. And finally, the number one shortstop in fantasy. Elvis Andrews batting 294 with 16 home runs, 23 steals. He's going to have most likely his most steals in the season since 2013.

And the batting average last year, I mean, last year Andrews hit 320. This year he's hitting 294. Before that he was like a 260 hitter for three straight seasons. It's 258 to 271 somewhere in there. So, yeah, I mean, I guess you can explain the power and just saying that everybody's power is up, although this is a big, drastic increase. 16 homers, his previous career high was 8. All around, though.

Just a great year for Elvis Andrews. Can you do it again next year? I'm not going to say no. I would expect him to take a step back, especially with the power. Yeah, I would expect him to be more like a 16 homer guy for the full season. Yeah, that's still a huge, I mean, for a guy who hit me. Right, if he's a 290 hitter with 30 plus steals, then I think he's still very valuable and probably, yeah, that's basically what we were hoping Xander Bogart would be this season, right? 20 steals.

Yeah, more steals, maybe a little less power, but a very similar player. He's someone who's probably been underrated in fantasy for a while just in a little bit of an Eric Cosmer way where he just. I was about to say, yeah. He shows up as a top 10 shortstop every year because he plays every day. But over the last 365 days, going back to last season, he's got an 834 OPS. He's hitting 300. He has 20 homers and 30 steals and 153 games. Like, I think he's good.

I'm going to have to consider him a top 5 or 6 shortstop next season. Elvis Andrews, you to Manjrews. Three up, one down. That's bad. Adam Jones, two home runs yesterday. the All-Star break, Adam Jones is destroying everything. 3-11 batting average, nine homers, 10 doubles. 10 doubles in 36 games.

He had nine doubles in 81 games before the All-Star break. Wowzers. So is this just a hot streak for Adam Jones? What do you think? It's a hot streak. I mean, which isn't to say he wasn't due for a hot streak. He's going to hit around 30 home runs with an OPS probably south of 800. that's just who he is.

And in today's landscape, that's not that big of a deal. But at the same time, it's good enough that you're probably not sitting him anywhere, especially right now. He's a starting jag. Yeah, Jones is hot, but also, don't forget, he has one steal this year. So he gives you nothing there. I don't think we talk about that enough. Outfielders who give you, like, literally two or fewer steals, it's not like, you know, If they hit a lot of home runs, you're willing to overlook it.

But it is significant. I mean, it is somewhat significant. It will drive their fantasy value down a little bit. That's it for me. Josh Harrison, 73% owned. He's hot. He has some more three times in his last five games. Harrison was a real fantasy surprise for a couple months earlier this year.

And then he had a 51 game stretch where he batted 230, had a 637 OPS. Josh Harrison was terrible. But he has turned it around recently. Do you buy it? What kind of player is Harrison? Is he a useful middle infielder or waiver wire fodder? I think in leagues where you have that middle infield spot to fill, then yes, he's a useful player there. And the standard head-to-head lineup with just a second base, shortstop, there is no corner infielder in middle-infield.

I don't, you know, maybe if I needed an injury fill in one week and he happened to have good matchups, I'd turn to him. But that's the extent of it for him. He's someone who definitely gets the boost from being eligible in five different spots in Roto. Three different spots. Second base, third base and outfield. Five. Yeah, middle infield, corner infield. Oh, I got you.

Okay. You can put him everywhere but first base in shortstop, Josh Harrison. So, you know, that, not necessarily someone that you want to pencil into your starting lineup every week, but in Roto, someone you might end up starting every week. And in daily leagues, somebody who I found that those multi-eligible guys are especially useful in daily leagues just for those Mondays and Thursdays when you're trying to get, we're trying to fill a hole in your lineup. Right, absolutely. All right, then that brings us to, oh, three-up number three is Cameron Maven, who's 33% owned. If you need steals, Cameron Maven can do it for you. He stole a base yesterday.

He led off against the Rangers. One down. Jose Ramirez, since the All-Star break, he's batting 2.28. Ew, with one home run. Two steals, nine walks, 18 strikeouts, and 34 games. Jose Ramirez, just the slump? The club. The club?

Was he in the home run derby? No, he was. Oh, okay. Can I just point out? Just, there are two Jose Ramirez's, Ramirez, Ramirez, in baseball reference, and they both are active. And one started in 2013. It's impossible.

It's impossible. I get wrong every time. The better one started earlier. Yes, he's the 2013 if you're searching. Yes. The other is a brave setup man who's had a pretty good year, but not particularly fantasy relevant. So are we worried about Indians Jose Ramirez?

If we're talking about the difficulty searching for him in baseball reference, no. I am worried about him getting lost on baseball reference. Yeah, that's my biggest concern with him. No, he's just very good. If he's not quite as good as he was in the first half of the season, okay, he's not a top five third base. Do you know who loved Jose Ramirez coming into the year? Who loved him?

Yeah. His mom. Call him a breakout. His wife. Was it me? Was it you? No. It was Al Malcolm.

I was going to guess him next. I certainly didn't think it was Adam. No, it definitely wasn't me. No. I mean, I was a big fan of the reliever, but not the third basement. Actually, I did want Jose Ramirez in a lot of leagues, but I don't think I ended up with him. I liked him in like round 10. I got a lot of Jose Ramirez shares, just because it seemed like nobody wanted him.

I get a lot of those types of players, I feel like. Let's talk about the fringy starting pitchers. How many of these guys are you buying long term, if any? Zach Davies, another good start. Two or fewer earn runs in seven. Seven of his last 11 starts for Zach Davies. He's got the Dodgers this weekend. Mike Fultenevich, another bad one, and Tyler Skaggs.

He's been okay. Not a good star yesterday, but Davies, Fulte, and Skaggs, they are owned an 80%, 69% and 41% of leagues, respectively. I don't buy any of these fellas. Mike Fultenevich had that nice stretch. It was about 10 starts in a row, really, where eight starts in a row where he had two earn runs or fewer, but he's just, for all that velocity,

he's what Andrew Cashner used to be. He's someone that we think should be better because he throws so hard, but he just, I was consistently dismissive of Mike Fultenevich until he had that string of five starts and six with double-digit swinging strikes, and that was right before this, his ERA has gotten completely demolished here over his last four starts. It's over five now for the year. He's given up 26 earned runs in his last 22 innings of work. Fulty, Fulte. I still like him best of these three.

I mean, Zach Davies has the great win-loss record, and yeah, he's done a good job at preventing runs. One-neigh-one ERA in his last seven, but only 5.6 strikeouts per nine during that stretch, so what does it mean, really? Sure. And it doesn't just mean he hasn't helped his strikeouts. It means it's probably not going to last. Yeah. We see it over and over. And then Tyler Skaggs, just 41%

own. What do you think? Heath and I picked up Nick Povetta instead of Tyler Skaggs. I'm hoping Nick Povetta works out better in his two-star. Wow. So that's 16-team league? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's where you should be picking up Nick Povetta.

Rotation from yesterday. Garak Cole was pitching really well. And then he went out there for the seventh inning, and he gave up a grand slam. That's on Clint Hurdle. Well, he said he's our... He gave up a grand slam to Curtis Granderson on his 111th pitch.

You should not have a starter in 111 pitches in after he walks, after he loads the bases. Like, that's just... That's actually a good point, and they had to have had a lefty that they could have brought into face Grannerson, right? Yeah, that's just bad managing. Unless they're only lefties, Felipe Rivera.

I don't know the Pirates bullpen that well. But that is bad. You don't hear how many earned runs a pitcher gave up in a start. and I just tell you he had seven strikeouts, two walks, one home run, and six in a third innings. You're thinking that's a good start, right? Yeah, I just, look, he made the pitch, and he gets those runs, and he hasn't been very good

this season, but I think this is specifically a situation where the manager let him down. He set him up to fail. Garrett Cole, so we're not that worried about Cole, even though it's been two bad starts in a row. Now, if it's going to turn around in a bad way for Zach Davies, is it going to turn around in a bad way for Cole Hamels, who has 65 strikeouts in 105 and a third, and only struck out three angels yesterday. He did have 12 swinging strikes.

That was nice. But he had a good start, just only 3Ks at the Angels. What's your level of confidence in Cole Hamels? I mean, it's more than Davies, largely because of name value. And the fact, I mean, you look at the season-long numbers for Hamils, versus Davies, they're much better. But at the same time, and the whip.

The strikeout rate is. And the whip. Sure. Yeah, the whip is really good for Hamels. But I worry that he is a lesser pitcher now. Yeah, and I do worry it'll catch up to him. Let's say he ends this season with this exact ERA, this exact whip, but the strikeouts don't get any better. 5.6 per 9 for the season.

That's a crazy. 2.30 Babbup. I don't think I'm going to be drafting him in too many leagues next year unless there's not a drastic turnaround in the skill stats. And he's 33, so we probably shouldn't expect it. This is probably closer to who Cole Hamels is than what he was last season. I just think he's probably a low to mid-4s-ZRA guy. All right, I'm looking at the Pirates roster.

According to roster resource, they only have one lefty in the bullpen. It's Felipe Rivera. So that was the seventh inning with the bases loaded. Do you bring in Rivera there? Get the out, let them pitch the eighth, and turn it over to DeCosio. You should? Yeah.

But managers don't manage that way. But I'd still rather have a reliever in there who's fresh than a pitcher who's 111 pitches in. I'm sure they would have pinch hit. I don't know they would have pinch hit for Granderson. They didn't have Bellinger. He's a lefty anyway. I don't know. Anyway.

But Kiki. Yeah, they could have, yeah, they could have put in Kike Hernandez. The last guy in the rotation is Eduardo Rodriguez. He is 88% owned. Is Eduardo Rodriguez overowned, folks? Maybe a little. Maybe a little. I think he's had two quality starts since returning from the DL.

And the last four starts just in terms of the IRA, strikeout rate. They're decent. But fallen short of six in each of the last two and just not somebody you're really missing if he's not in your lineup. Has he gone six innings like half of his starts? Adam, wasn't that something that you pointed out? Yeah, he's so inefficient. Eduardo Rodriguez, it's not just that he doesn't pitch six innings.

It's not like the Dodgers guys who throw 85 pitches, 90 pitches. He throws 105 pitches and he can't get through, he can't get more than six innings in. Yeah, he did it seven starts in a row from April to May, and he's only done it nine times and 17 starts over. Oh, wow. Yeah, I mean, I'd still like to own him. He gets wins.

I mean, he's only four and three, but I think he should get wins. Yeah, Baltimore this weekend for Eduardo Rodriguez, start or sit. See, that's the issue with, you know, we talk about how endings are mostly random, and they are mostly random. Wins, you mean? Wins, yes. Wins are mostly random. But you don't go deep in the games. You need to have a minimum number of innings to set yourself up for a win, which is why...

You literally have to go five innings to get a win. You literally have to go five. You probably realistically have to go between six and seven to... So you're not putting so much on a bullpen. But the Red Sox aren't blowing people out. They have one of the best bullpens in baseball, though. They have the third best bullpen er-a. Sure, but if you're giving up three runs and six innings of work...

Yeah, you've got to be better. He got to be better. There's no doubt. Okay, deep leagues, tell me if you're interested in any of these fine players. Minnesota shortstop Jorge Polanco, 10% owned. Doubleheader yesterday, he had a three-run homer in both games. Last 21 days, he is the number eight shortstop in fantasy in both formats. However, he has only two home runs in those 21 days, and they both came yesterday.

Yeah, what was he before yesterday when he scored 17 points? He still had a very good batting average. He's batting 385 in that stretch. Yeah, I'm batting 240-something for the year. No, I'm not interested in Jorge Polanco. Minnesota's starting pitcher, Dylan G. Less interested in him than I am in Jorge Polanco. Seattle's starting pitcher, Andrew Albers.

More interested in him than I am in Dylan G. Less interested in him than I am in Jorge Polanco. San Francisco's starting pitcher, Chris Stratton. Get out of here. Get out of town. Today's scoreboard. We got a 405 game. We have a double-headed today?

Yes, the Marlins and Phillies. or a doubleheader. Oh, great. Okay, so 405. Nick Povetta is starting the second game. That's why he's a two-star pitcher this week. There's a lot of eyeballs on these two games. Dan's Australia in a bad park against Aaron Nola. Starters hit Straeli at the Phillies. I'll start him. Yeah, bad park, but good, favorable lineup for Straitly. I'll start him. Brock Stewart, Jameson-Tayone. Can you trust Tyone against the Dodgies? I would rather not. Not with the way he's pitching right now.

I feel like my standard in this exercise that we do, and my standard is all over the place from one day to the next. There are probably days where I would have said, yeah, you can start Tyone, but not feeling it today. It's just, I don't know who I'm talking to. That's part of the problem. Adam Azer and Christop. Yeah, yeah.

It's good to meet you. If you're looking to protect DRA and Whip, it's probably a bad idea to start Tyone. Brock Stewart, though. What about Brock Stewart? I'm not starting him. I mean, I'm not going to recommend him over Tyone, so I guess no. I do think he's kind of interesting.

Paul Blackburn at Ubaldo Jimenez, A's at Orioles, Paul Blackburn? No things. No way. Cubs at Reds, John Lackey, Homer Bailey. I don't hate starting lackey. Yeah. Absolutely starting lackey. But I hate starting Bailey. Yeah.

Well, he's got an 844 ERA. And somehow four wins. Masahiro Tanaka off the DL. I would prefer to wait and see. I just generally speaking, I prefer to wait on starting pitchers, but it wouldn't shock me at all if he was good. I'll go ahead and start him. He's at Detroit facing Matt Boyd.

Wouldn't recommend Boyd. Boyd, man, he'll have some good performances, and then he's just so bad. Yep. Yeah, I think that's another guy that Heath and I opted to not pick up for the two-star week. Arizona at the Mets, Patrick Corbyn. And Tommy Malone.

Just Corbyn here? Yeah, I will start Corbyn. So Povetta is getting two starts and Nola isn't? Is that how it works? I'm not sure. Because only one of them can, right? I'm not sure. I'm just...

I'm a fairly certain Nick Povetta is considered a two-star pitchers. Okay. Corbett. I will take Corbin. Yeah. All right. Chris Raleigh, Chris Archer. Start Archer. What about Rowley for the Blue Jays at the raise? No. Are you starting? Doug Fister. It's a good matchup, but no.

Doug Fister at the Indians. No. Doug Fister's pretty much a flat, no. In this context, when you're not considering two starts that he may have. Jose Urena and Nick Povetta. Jose Urena and Nick Povetta. I can do Aurena. Yeah. I mean... Well, apparently, Chris is doing Povetta. I don't know. Would you do Povetta with one start? In a 16-2 league, I only start.

He started him with two starts because I think there's a lot of strikeout potential there, and Heath and I need an upside. Yeah. And I just, I'm interested in Nick Povetta, despite his horrible 625 ERA. All right, let's go faster here. Nick, I'm bored talking about these garbage pitchers. Mariners at Braves, Marco Gonzalez, and Lucas Sims. I don't hate starting Gonzalez, but it has to be a deeper league.

Not doing it. Yeah, Gonzalez and Homer Bailey have the same ERA, 844. Washington at Houston, Tanner Roark and Charlie Morton. Interesting. Ooh, what a fun matchup. I am starting to start Charlie Morton. Are you starting one star? I will start Martin with just the one start.

He's been that good since returning from the D.L. Not going to start Roarck. All righty. Twins at White Sox. Kyle Gibson. I don't even know who's pitching for the... Lucas Gilito. Oh, okay, there we go.

Making his season debut. Twins are weirdly good. I don't understand it. Not on offense. They don't have Miguel Snow. Golito is weirdly bad, so. Not starting Gialito. Yeah.

All right, the Rockies are at the Royals, John Gray and Danny Duffy. Starting both. Yep. Padres at Cardinals, Clayton Richard, Lance Lynn. Start Lance Lynn. The magic's continuing. Yep. Tyson Ross at Risky in Alaska.

Risky in Alaska. The audience slipped there for you. Oh, wow. That works. All right, we're not starting either of these guys. Heist and risking Alaska. Yes. Jimmy Nelson, Jeff Samarja.

Start both in San Francisco. Yes. And I hope Jeff Samarja actually pitches well. It's time for your emails. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Adam from the Hoosier State. Dear Wild Bill, Billy the Kid, and Jesse James. I'm in a 12-team categories, Dynasty League with deep rosters.

I drafted Kevin Kiermire. What should I expect from him going forward? Is Kiermire worth holding on to for next? year, I could replace him with Mikey Mattock, Aaron Altair, Gerard Dyson, Cameron Maiden. Definitely Altair of that group. I'd be okay with that. If I need stolen bases, Keirmeier's probably the guy.

The Shields. The Shields is available, too, he said. Yeah, I think Altair has proven to have the most upside of that group by a substantial margin. So if it's a keeper scenario, that's who I want. This is from David. Playoff spot is locked up. One win in the next two weeks locks up the number one seed, 10 team head-to-head points.

Who would you rather have rest of season? Zach Britton or Camber Drosion? Britain? Because he's the first choice for saves. I mean, I guess technically Bedrosion is too, but he's the first choice of many when Britain's just a closer. I don't totally trust Britain still. I think he has three strikeouts since returning from the DL. Something ridiculous.

But he's getting saves. Britain. Yep. Three player keeper league from Tim. Which three should I keep out of? Ahmed Rosario, Raphael Devers, Rees Hoskins, geez, Dominic Smith, and, oh, what's his first name, Akuna? Ronald Akuna.

Ronald Akunya. Ahmed Rosario, Devers, Hoskins, Dominic Smith, and Akunia. Pick three. I'm going to be boring. I'm going to rank them exactly how they are ranked as prospects. and go with Rosario Devers and Acuna. I'm assuming Acuna will get his chance in the majors in September. He continues to rake at AAA. He's 20.

He is a monster prospect. He is. He is. And that's what makes this. I mean, Devers is obvious. I think Devers and Rosario. I don't know. I kind of. I think Rosario, but he's a shortstop. He's a short stop. He's kind of tempted to be the first odd man out. I mean, I just may have an unnatural favoritism for Reese Hoskins, but, I mean, he's walked more than he struck out the first,

his first two weeks in the majors, and he's hit five home runs. It's like going as well as I imagined it could go, and I really believe in him. And although I believe in Rosario's talent, too, if he played any position other than shortstop, I don't think I could justify Rosario. I will say Devers and Okunia are the two at the top of my list. Acuna is, he's looking like, and this isn't a great comp based on what he's done in the majors,

so don't yell at me, but he's looking like a Yoan Moncata type. Oh, come on, Chris. He's got 20 homers, 30-7 steals. He's hitting 325 as a, he's not even 20 yet. He's 19, and he's made his way to AAA, and he's been better at every step. He has a thousand OPS at triple. I think you're selling them short with that Moncada comparison, frankly. I mean, Moncada has been the consensus top hitting cards.

I'm ready. I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to move on. Wait, what was the format again? There is none. There's a keeper. I don't have an answer yet, though. Well, I'm sorry, Scott.

That's been like two minutes. I don't want to steer this guy wrong. Well, who do we agree on, Devers and Acuna? Or just Devers? Just Devers. I know for sure Devers would be one of my four, but one of my three, but those other three Hoskins, Acuna, and... Rosario.

What a wonder. I'd have to consider everything. Don't keep Dominic Smith. From Jared, dear Peter Stewie and Chris, can you make the case to drop Andrew Miller with another D. L. Stint in the make, yes? I mean, it's a Dynasty League, so that changes things a bit, but he's an RP who doesn't get saves as good as he is. Yeah, I think that's fine.

From Dave, Dear Adam Scott and Chris, here are some players who were just dropped in my eight-team league. Should I pick them up and drop Trevor Story? Greg Holland, Miguel Cabrera, Zach Britton, Jose Parraza. I would rather have Holland or Cabrera

than the guy he's dropping. Story. Yeah, Trevor Story. Yeah. I mean, if Story, obviously, he's not the starter for you, if you're considering dropping him, then I'd rather have Cabreira or Holland.

It just depended what I need him more. I still think Holland's the top five closers by these recent struggles. And Cabrera, who knows? I don't know who Adam Scott and Chris are, by the way. Adam Scott and Chris. So those... Let me see what happens if I Google that.

There's got to be like an Adam Scott. I know Adam Scott is an actor. Yeah. Maybe that's it. Adam Scott and Chris... Adam Scott and Chris Pratt. It's only two people. They were both...

Oh, well, Adam Scott. and Chris Fred. That's who it is. Yeah, from Parks and Parks. All right. All right. All right. We are Parks and Rec. We'll talk to you tomorrow. See you later, everybody.