Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/23: Worryometer, Lucky SPs, Mailbag (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 23, 2018

Are Clay Buchholz (1:40) and Carlos Rodon (5:52) awesome or lucky? Or somewhere in between? And who else stood out on Thursday (10:40)? We've got plenty of good from Thursday but also some bad as we get the Worryometer (14:00) out for Stephen Strasburg, Kenley Jansen and Charlie Morton ... More bullpen frustration (20:00), rockin' rookie SPs (30:23), a segment for Thomas Pannone (32:48) and a renewed wager involving Chris Towers and a listener (36:15) ... Christian Yelich vs. Charlie Blackmon (39:15), underowned hitters (41:16) and SP talk from yesterday (43:14). Plus a look at today's matchups at the end of the show ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. What a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Playball Colts is an ace, apparently. Steven Strasbourg, not even close.

And are we worried, or, you know, it's Thursday, are we thuried, about Kenley Jansen. What's up, everybody? We welcome you to fantasy baseball today. Chris Towers is getting called out, and not one of those. I'm going to call him out behind his back. That's what I've been doing lately.

I'm going to call him out. I'm not going to go. One of our listeners is going to call him out, but he's on the show. We welcome him back. He's Chris Towers. That's Scott White making that noise. Chris Towers is also here.

Hey. I'm just... What have you been saying about me? I've been saying that you have no dedication. I'm right. I'm right here. You have no dedication to this thing. If you've got something to say, say it.

You have no dedication to the show. I'm so busy. What else have I been saying? There's so much going on. It's true. It's true. I get in the office at 830. I'm here until 7.30.

I've got so much to do. Is that true? Yeah, this is my job, Adam. It's a tough time. It's a tough time of year. But, alas. But I'm here. Baseball is also here.

and we have a mailbag. I keep saying we're going to have a mailbag. We actually have a mailbag today, fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Buckholtz or Luckholtz, guys. He's got a 225 VRA. He's been just outstanding. Buckholtz or Luckholtz? So my inclination is still to say luckholz, but it's obviously getting harder to say.

And as I talked about after his last start, which was a complete game effort, this one was seven shutout innings, right? Yeah, seven really good innings. Shut out. Yeah, his FIP is only 339, still much higher than the ERA, but a low FIP. His walk rate is one of the best in baseball. I don't think he's just going to crash and burn. Like, I think he's been pitching over his head, but I think he's also. like a Mike leakish type pitcher at this stage of his career where he can be useful.

I was going to go with another sort of backhanded compliment and say it's very reminiscent of what Anabel Sanchez has done this season when he's been healthy. Yeah, it's true. Like, he's been lucky. He's also been good. I don't necessarily have a good explanation for why. But it's happening. I was reading, you know, just searching for something that might explain it. He's healthy.

He's apparently gone really in depth on scouting reports in a way he never used to with the help of Dan Herron, who I guess is associated with the Diamondbacks organization in some way. But he's given a lot of credit to Dan Heron. So, I mean, maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe he's just super brainy pitcher now instead of, I mean, Clearly, he's not the flamethrower. He used to be anymore. Okay, so would you drop Marco Gonzalez for Clay Buckholtz? No. I'm worried about Marco Gonzalez, though.

He was one of the most worrisome pictures I featured in that article earlier this week about the 16 who have any of his concerns here down the stretch. He's at 145 and 2 thirds now. Obviously, a disaster start yesterday. It was three. awful starts in a row and that was after an extended rest. He was first start in nine days and he was still 11 hits, Ader and runs in three innings. He's up to 145 and two-thirds innings for the season now. That's after only 126, why do I keep saying 100-end? 126 in a third last year. 145. So he's like already at 20 more innings than he was at last year. And obviously he didn't pitch at all in 2016 because he was recovering from surgery. So that's a big jump in innings for a guy who hasn't pitched this deep into the season in a long time, with

Mariners falling out of the race. I'm not sure he's going to make it all the way through September. No, they're right. I think they're going to shut him down. And I dropped Marco Gonzalez for Mike Miner. Yeah, I think he's dropped. Yeah, and I like what Miner's been doing. I mean, I think it's probably a little fluky because he's not really getting any whiffs.

But Gonzalez, you know, the only thing that made me a little hesitant was he's got two starts next week, they're at San Diego and at Oakland. And, you know, maybe you get a good start in a San Diego start. But honestly, I just can't trust them at all right now. It would be scary. Every start could be terrible. Bad timing for those two starts. I still might do it in a points league.

But it would depend on my options. I made, like, this seemed like a pretty easy call. I made this mistake in one league. Two-star Chris Archer over one-star Jack Flaherty, even as awesome as Jack Flaherty had been lately. And obviously, that's blown at them. my face. So you can certainly overplay the two-start

the two-starred aspect. I did that in the Dynasty League against Scott. I started... Two-star Bartola Cologne, and he gave me a negative six and a half points, I think. That's the same league I was talking about where I started Archer over Flaherty. Well, thanks for doing that. We're out managing ourselves. Carlos or

Carluck Rodon? That is our next less clever second. Caryluck, Rodon? Car luck road luck. Oh, wow. He's got a 271 ERA, a 102 whip, a 206 babit, an 80% strand rate, a ton of fly balls. At the Yankees and home against Boston next week, that looks a little treacherous. But car luck, road luck, you're not buying it from Carlos Rodon, Chris?

I really wish I could. I've been a very big fan of Carlos Rodon's going back to his days in college. I actually watched him there. But no, I don't, this ain't it. He has a 231 ERA over his last 10 starts, and that's awesome. And we got an email about this, and I'm sure you'll bring it up. No, I was. Because I have this segment.

That's why I did to bring up the email. Well, okay, so the guy said, well, you guys are, you keep dismissing Carlos Rodon, basically. Why don't we take him seriously? And here's why. He has been really, he has had really good. results over the last 10 starts. We don't care about what you've done except when it tells us what you're likely to do in the future. And Carlos Rodan, nothing that he's doing right now suggests that he's going to be able to be even a league average pitcher moving forward. Now,

there's the potential for him to just turn things around and pitch better than he has, but you're looking at 6.8k per 9, 3.2 walks per 9 during this 10-start stretch, is swinging strike rate as a career low, and it's never actually been that high, but now it's below average. This is a lot like the early season stretch from one Sean Mania. And both are guys who should get more strikeouts than they do, and it's hard to figure out exactly why they don't. But as we've seen with Manaya, he's settled in as a useful pitcher since

May, but certainly not must start, certainly not even must own. Oh, I don't know about that. I mean, I think that's a thing, like, Manaya keeps doing well, and every time we're like, well, how is he doing so well? I think he's got like a four ERA since May 1st. Okay. I mean, okay. He's got a 370 area on the year. He has a 474 ERA since May 1st. That's a span of 20 starts. But, okay, I believe that was like a one terrible month for Rodon. Yeah, he had a 718 ARA in May. He bounced back

284 ERA in June 377 in July and so far he had it. He just had a terrible start. It's 531. He's had one good month and then one month where he was usable-ish, but pretty low-end usable with 5K per 9. I bet you if I took

June 5th through August 13th, we've got about a 340 ERA. Maybe even better than that. Well, you could do that. You can look that up. I'm not going to it. That's a bet we can resolve right now. It went from 359 to 344 over that stretch.

So, yeah, it's probably about a 340. It doesn't matter. Well, I mean, do you think Rodan will be as useful as Shamaniah going forward? I do. I'm not quite as down as Chris on him. I understand what he's saying. This is not what I thought. This is not good Carlos Rodon what I was thinking that would look like.

He has a FIP over 4. I do think it's encouraging that he has become. more efficient, but... Right, but that's just a result of... That's just a result of getting good results, you know? It's not like he's pitching more efficiently. He's still throwing a lot of

balls. Well, the walks are interesting because it's kind of like he'll have one start with five walks, and then his control will be fine, you know? He has a 9.3% walk rate. He has a 9.6% walk rate for his career.

I mean, you could... It's kind of, you use the shamanai comparison. You could compare it to Kevin Gosman too, where he's doing things well, just not the best things well, the things we know he could do. We've seen him do in the past. And so, yeah, I think he's performed over his head. I also think he's going to be useful. What's he doing well?

And there's a chance like Kevin Gosman that he just suddenly gets better. Well, I disagree with that. Gosman hasn't gotten better. either. I know, but there's still the chance Gosman gets better. Yeah. Yeah, and Bosman had gotten better, but again, not in the right ways. I'm not optimistic about either one. Okay. All right, let's move on.

Let's move on. Who stood out to you on Thursday, Scott White? I always forget his first name. Trevor? The Marlins pitcher. Trevor Richards. That's his first name. Too many Trevor's and Travis's and tribulations. Okay, Trevor Richards had another big strikeout start, nine strikeouts against the Yankees, nine strikeouts and five in a third inning. That's his fourth start in five with seven or more strikeouts. And his change up is starting to get a lot of buzz.

Deservantly, I mean, it's like a 25% swinging strike rate on that pitch, which is elite, no matter what pitch you're talking about. And it seems to be the sort of pitch that can transform a player from, you know, kind of a fringy organizational depth type to, you know, kind of like we saw Zach Godley in the curveball last year. Not even fringy organizational depth guy. He was pitching an independent ball last year. He was not even a professional baseball player. Guys, this show is going to take three hours at this rate. So let's just talk about Trevor Richards.

I mean, here's the problem. One, he's at Boston next week. Two, force rate starts of Lexon's six innings. So I don't know. This maybe is a long-term player or something. I'm not sure how useful Trevor Richards is. I understand that he's doing good things

and fantasy owners need to know about him, especially in like a Dynasty League or something. I don't know, guys. Like for this year, do we think Trevor Richards is going to be somebody that helps us down the stretch? Possibly. Yeah, I want to start him next week. Possibly.

Yeah. All right. So keep that in mind. He's 16% 0. Chris, you have any standouts for Thursday? Yes. Yes. Freddie Peralta was really good yesterday.

And it's not hard to see why. He only walked to two batters. And when he doesn't walk people, he is really, really good. Because his pitches, even though he only throws fastballs, really, the fastball moves a ton. It's really deceptive. When he avoids walks, he's awesome. I just don't know if he's going to keep doing that.

He has three quality starts in his last four. The other start was three-inning seven runs at Atlanta. He also faced the Reds without Votto. Vado's so bad as a baseball player now that that's actually a good thing. I'm sure we'd all agree. And A. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hsuarez was also off. And I'm just trolling, Chris. So that's Freddie Peralta. He's 66% on.

Would you start him at Cincinnati? One start next week at Cincinnati, who he just faced. I could see him being the kind of pitcher who struggles when he faces a team two starts in a row. I don't know if the record backs that up yet, but I'd be a little wary of that. All righty. So that's Freddie Peralta. We've got a lot more to get to. What's not a great day for fringy starting pitchers? Efflin, Gibson, Lynn, they stunk. But Mike Meyer was good. Peralta was good. Trevor Williams was good. Talk about no strikeouts. Carlos Carrasco got beat up yesterday. We'll see if we have time to talk about him. How much are we trusting Julio Tehran? Noah Cinderguard. Maybe we We can talk about them tomorrow on the two-star pitchers show.

We do we have to read a lot of emails today. So let's do the thuriameter. It is Thursday. We are worried. We like alliteration. It's thuriameter Thursday. Steven Strasbourg, 0 to 10. Chris Towers, thuriameter.

10. Ooh! That's a very heat response. So yesterday during the start, and it was his first start since coming back from a neck, a nerve issue in his neck. And that was his first start when he had that from coming back from shoulder injury. So, you know, the neck bones connected to the shoulder bone and all that. But yesterday, as he got deeper into the start and deeper to a relative term because he only pitched four innings,

the last inning, his velocity fell off the map. He was hitting 91, 92 with his fastball. This is a guy who routinely hits in the mid-to-high 90s. He's shaking his arm after every pitch. You know, after the start, they said, well, it's, he just, didn't have the strength in his arm, but it's August 23rd. There's 35 games left in the season. He might have six starts left. I don't know how much time I have to wait for Stephen Strausberg to build up arm strength. I'm worried. Scott, Chris is a 10. All valid points. I'm worried

to. I'm giving it a 7 though, rather than a 10. He did not have a rehab assignment, right? He did make a rehab start. Oh, he did? It went well. You know it's possible that was from a previous I don't think he did. I don't think he did. Let me check the date on it. I'm wondering if he just doesn't have the arm strength. Because he skipped it. You know, they were rushing him back.

And, right. Oh, it would totally make sense that he won it. Like, I don't think his arm is just ruined or anything. But I, and, you know, I think Chris's point was more, does he have time to build back the armstring? Or are they just going to shut him down? Yeah. Because this team's not playing for anything. And let me add this.

You got a tough call to make next week. Two starts for Strasbourg at Philadelphia and home against Milwaukee. Oh, my goodness. I'm going to have a really hard time trusting him after what we just saw. It's not just the results. It's the fact that the velocity was down, his arm strength wasn't there. I would envision myself starting him in a points league. And that seems like a situation.

certainly seems like a situation where it could turn into a one or zero start week very quickly. Yeah. He did not have a rehab start prior to this return. The rehab start I was thinking of was mid-July. Right. All right, Wariometer, thurriometer on Kenley Jansen, who has made two appearances since coming off the DL with the irregular heartbeat, and he has given up three home runs total. He's given up six hits and four runs, three homers in those two appearances.

is 0 to 10, Scott, on Kenley Jansen. I will give this a 4. It's reminiscent of what he was going through in April. That's what I was going to say, too, Scott. I was also going to go 4-1. Yeah, the April angle. No, the 4 on the Wariometer. That's what I was going to say.

Oh, I don't see why this particular issue, the hard issue, affect his stuff. I think it's just more he went a couple weeks without pitching. And the velocity's been down, but not as far. as it was in April. I think he's just a pitcher who needs repetition to keep the stuff up. Okay, I'm not going to let Chris answer. I'm going to instead let Chris give a Wuriometer, a thuriameter, on Charlie Morton,

who now is a 305 ERA and a ton of strikeouts but got crushed at Texas yesterday. And I had mentioned that, I'm sorry, this game was at Texas. I have to confirm because I had mentioned that Texas has the fourth or fifth best home OPS in baseball. So keep that in mind. They've just generally been crushing. This game was at Seattle. That's why it didn't sound right. I'm an idiot.

This game was at Seattle, so much different. Okay, so not Texas. Not Texas. Texas played Oakland. Anyway. Seattle has not been crushing. No, they haven't. Okay, so last 14 starts, 373 ERA.

More fly balls and ground balls. Worryometer on Charlie Morton. Two. Like even a 373RA. I'm not benching him. He's still awesome. So, you know, his fit for the season is like 345. Okay, maybe the first 10 starts of the season or so. We got a little carried away saying he's a top 10 pitcher or in that discussion.

Maybe he's just a top 20 pitcher. Okay. You know, but like I would still expect him to be better than Chris Archer for the rest of the season to name one example. All right, that is Charlie Morton. If you want to go see Charlie Morton pitch, I can tell you how to get there. It's on the Seekek app. And look, there's some exciting baseball coming up. It's also football coming up.

Concerts coming up. Comedy, theater, any type of live event. Get there on the Seat Geek app. And I use it all the time. I've actually been glued to Seat Geek every single day. Probably about three or four times a day. I am looking for tickets to the Miami, Florida State game, and seeing if they're going down on Seat Geek and just search it.

It is kind of hilarious. I have been all over that app because I know that is the best way to get tickets. In fact, I will share a story. I hope the Seeky people are cool with this. I recently reached out to a ticket broker because I am truly desperate for tickets here. And he gave me prices on seats. This is true. He gave me prices on seats for this game yesterday.

They're about $70 more expensive than the equivalent seats on Seekek. That is no joke. And that is including fees. So Seat Geek is the way to go. I know if I buy tickets to this game, it's going to be through the Seat Geek app. And honestly, typically, it's the only place I go. This was a rare circumstance. It is the only place I go to get my seats.

If you want 20 bucks off your first Seekkeek purchase, use the code fantasy. Fantasy is the code for 20 bucks off your first Seatkeek purchase. Download the Seek app and use the code Fantasy. Seek, life's an event. And we have the tickets. We've got a tweet of the day. It was actually two days ago. And I think Scott alluded to this yesterday.

A.J. Hinch, the Astros Man. manager. This tweet was from MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM. He told Power Alley that Roberto Ozuna is now his primary closer. Later that day, Roberto O'Suna was his primary setup man for Hector Rondone. But yesterday, Roberto Ozuna got the save. And he's been pretty good. And Ron Donne worked the eighth. Yeah. Yeah. So, Scott, yesterday you called Hinch a liar. Do you have to apologize to him now? Well, no. I don't.

Well, here's the question. Has he gotten a majority of the saves? No, he's gotten 50% of the same since Hitch said that. 50%. What had to? Round up. I mean, we'll see. We'll see.

I think it'll eventually be OZuna. But I just don't understand what the point of those comments was if that same day, he wasn't going to turn to OZuna and the same chance. And it was obviously not because Ozuna needed rest or anything because he still pitched in the game. So I don't know what's up. It was probably a situation where a tougher part of the lineup was coming up at the eighth inning. And that's just the way the Astros operate. So we'll see.

But I think if Ozuna is the primary closer, it'll probably be in like a Sir Anthony Dominguez sort of way, where he frustratingly loses saves from time to time. You want to hear a name? that is really not in the mix for saves, but I'm going to say his name anyway. Hector Naris has been light out since being recalled. Saranthi Dominguez is struggling a little bit. I think they stick with him,

but if they don't, it's probably more likely to be Pat Nyshek, but if they don't go with him, maybe it's Hector Nairis. What the heck? I just want people to know I'm still paying attention to baseball. That's what that was. I'm still paying attention to baseball. And here are your news and notes. I roll this Chapman's on the deal with knee tendonitis.

There's no timetable for his return. Aaron Boone said he's optimistic that Chapman will contribute down the stretch. And the Yankees are apparently going to go closer by committee. And just so you know, I'm still paying attention to baseball. Here's what Dellen Patanzas has done in his last 32 appearances. He has a 0.57 ERA. He has given up 10 hits in 31 and a third with 14 walks and 53 strikeouts. and four walks since July 2nd.

So he's been amazing. But is he even the guy to own in the Yankees bullpen? Yes, because I think he's the best pitcher in the Yankees bullpen. But I don't think that means he's going to get the majority of the saves for however long-a-rollers-out-maybe-the-plurality, but probably not the majority. This is a really frustrating situation because they're unlikely to give any one person the job.

and they have at least two guys I would be very excited to see get the job. I'm not including Zach Britton in that. I think he might be lying. I think it might be Robertson, who I believe was available yesterday. I'd love to see that. He's awesome. Yeah. I think if they went with any one guy, it would be Robertson.

It's just because he's been dealing with the shoulder thing himself. And you said he was available yesterday. I think so. Yeah, I mean, but Chapman's been available. off and on since the All-Star break. So you just don't know how, you know, shoulders always, that's always a little shaky. Chapman is knee, though. I know.

I'm just saying. Yeah, all right. Gotcha. It's a situation where a guy's dealing with this kind of vague injury that keeps him from pitching sometimes. And that's, you know, that might be what prevents the attorney to Robertson full time. Addison Russell's on the D.L. And Daniel Murphy is going to probably that lead off, but he's going to hit at the top of the order. close to lead off. Often, he'll be replaced late in the game for defensive purposes.

And we didn't get a great idea of what their lineup's going to look like yesterday because they had the DH and Ben Zobris DH. Murphy was at second. Bias was it short. And David Bodie was at third base. Bodie's been great, but his time could be up. Chris Bryant is nearing a rehab assignment. Will Myers was fielding some ground balls at third base during batting practice. He got hit in the face, got hit in the nose, he got a cut, and he was scratched from the game. Opening day is going to be the early. opening day in MLB history, March 28th next year. I love this new schedule.

I love it. I don't. Well, I do. Because the season is like a week and a half longer, and that's really great for the players, because it's really nice for them to get the extra days off and stuff. Look, speaking selfishly, I think it makes the fantasy season worse, actually. I'll say that. I won't bore anyone with concerns about my mental health.

No, but it's better this way. No. For our mental health, because, oh, God, those Thursday games. Yeah, go ahead. Well, I mean, the fact that I don't like that the season's starting on Thursday because we're going to have this constant debate. And we're always going to have to be like, is it week 22? Is it week 21?

Is it week 23? And the season's going to be 28 weeks. The season's going to be 28 weeks long now. Like it is this year. That's a lot of weeks. That is most of the year. But it's like 26 scoring periods. It should be if you're smart, if you're cool.

If you do it right, right, Adam. Yeah. Yeah, you got to pick up Ryan Zimmer. Ryan Zimmer's crushing it. He had his 11th career walk-off homer, two away from the record held by Jim Tomey, 13 walk-off home runs. Marcelo Zune is on the deal with shoulder inflammation, so does that mean Tyler O'Neill, Harrison Bader, Jose Martinez are going to be regularly playing? Well, Jose Martinez was out of the lineup yesterday with a hip injury, I think.

Tyler O'Neill also pinch hit, so I'm not exactly sure what the mechanics were of how they got everyone who was in the lineup. I could, that's my understanding. No, Martinez was in right field yesterday. Okay. But O'Neill did not play. Peter was in Senator, as he always is. They had Yaro Munez playing left field. Sure, which is...

I would hope Tyler O'Neill plays every day. I think he's the most exciting player of this group in terms of the potential that he brings. Whether he actually ends up living up to that potential, he might just be the next Randall Gritchick, but I want to see him get a chance. And I'm interested in all of the Cardinals outfielder guys with the exception of Yairone. Munoz. Did you see Colton Wong's defensive gem from Tuesday night? It was very nice. Yeah.

Now, I love Dane Perry. Dane Perry is one of the funniest sports writers of all time. He is intentionally strange, and he's a CBS guy. He's less strange now than he used to be, at least in his writing. I'm sure he's still strange in real life intentionally. And he would laugh, I believe, if he heard me say this, because we had some great times together when we used to do video at CBS. He wrote an article about Colton Wong's Defensive Jam, breaking it down. And Dane, you overrated this play so much because it was a

great play. But the fact is the only reason he got the out was Justin Turner has a piano permanently on his back. He is the slowest man I've ever seen run. This play never should have been made. It was a good play. It was a very good play. It was not a, it was not an exceptional play. And there you go, everybody. That is my two cents. Chris Archer expected to start on Sunday. Andrew McCutcheon cleared waivers and can be traded.

Gene Seguer left with rib soreness. George Springer sat again. That's getting frustrating. They're hoping Springer's back tomorrow. Robinson Canoe played third base for the first time in his career. How about this? Michael Paneda could join the twins rotation next month. Would anybody stash Panetta?

I think his rehab assignment is up in like five or six days. I think he started on July 28th, and you only have 30 days. So he's going to be up pretty soon. I don't want to see. I definitely am not going to add him, but he'll get a mention in the first waiver-wire column when he's about to make his start, I would guess. All right, Michael Paneda. Cece Sabathia is going to start on Friday.

Jose Altuve stole the base, which I thought was important since he's coming back from the knee injury. It was good to see him running. I don't know what the circumstances were, but he had got to steal. Justin Boar started and home Isn't this Justin Boar started in place of Santana Who by the way is slugging 391 against Ritees

Justin Boar and Santana Now have identical 759 OPSs If that's a word OPSs And OPI Boar has barely played But Santana Has been straight up stank

And I'm wondering what Might happen here guys I think they're going to stick with Santana That's what they've shown Since acquiring Boar He's just taking occasional Starts even less than I thought he would frankly And this was his first

The first time he did anything In a Philly's uniform really Santana Still getting off base a lot I mean that's the main thing they paid him to do He has been disappointing In his last 10 games Okay

If that's If they're going to use those 10 games the hill reason to bench him. Nah, you're right, you're right. He's still a great OVP. Yeah, that'll probably stick with Santana. Jay Bruce expected to return tomorrow. We are so close to Chris getting called out by Ryan and St. Louis.

So close. It's going to be fun. Let's talk about those rocking rookies from last night. Jack Flarety and Walker Bueller. Man, these guys were nasty. They combined for 13 innings of four-hit, one-run ball with four walks and 19 strikeouts. Flaherty. Flaherty had 25 swinging strikes last night, I believe.

Yeah. Yeah. Like his numbers are insane. 144 strikeouts and 115 and a third, a 105 whip. These two guys are having sensational rookie years. Scott, who do you like better going forward? Flaherty or Bueller? Well, it's tough to pick between them because I think they both have bright futures.

These are both pitchers who I expect to see in the top 20 routine. in the fantasy rankings, if not higher. Flaherty's my favorite. I mean, the swinging strikes to this point in their career, it's really no comparison. Bueller's managed to get strikeouts with fewer swings and misses, but Flaherty has been an elite swing in this guy. And looking near term, as in just next year, Flaherty is already equipped to throw 180 innings in this season. And Bueller, his career high coming into this season was 98. So he's already about 20 more.

He set a career high by 20 already this year. I wonder, first of all, if he's going to be able to go much beyond 150, 160 innings next year, especially given the way the Dodgers manage their staff. And second of all, how much does he have left in the tank this year? I don't know that they're going to let him make more than two or three more stars. and then probably move him to the bullpen so that his innings don't pile up.

And that's presumably the role he'd fill in the postseason as well if they make it there. So Flaherty is definitely the one I prefer this year and next year. And we'll see after that. I think even giving them the same innings, I think I might take Flaherty. He's really good. Yeah, it's exciting to have these two guys. And then how would you, in a Dynasty League, where would you put? Reyes with them.

Oh, well below, I think at this point. He's really, really intriguing, but there's just no guarantee he's a starter. All right. And then here's a category called, a segment called Who? And it's about Toronto starting pitcher Thomas Pinole. Thomas Unknown is 2% owned, and he went seven scoreless innings with one hit, two walks, three strikeouts against Baltimore. his first major league start. Who?

That was my reaction when I saw him in the box score. So this is a fitting name for this part of the notes. But yeah, not very good in the minors this year. Last year, he was pretty good. More than a strikeout per inning. But the thing about him is he averaged like 88 on his fastball. So even though he got strikeouts in the minors a couple years ago, he just, like, I feel like he was kind of the mic fires of double A two years ago in that.

That is the meanest thing I've ever heard you say about. Scott. Geez. Well, it obviously didn't work out for the AAA this year. And although it was a great debut against the Orioles, A, it was against the Orioles, who are, I think now 52 games back. And B, I'm not even exaggerating. No, yeah, there's something like that.

It's a jaw-dropping number, considering it's not even September yet. And B, only three strikeouts and seven innings. That doesn't bode well. Moving forward. All right. I'm just going to tell you that Thomas Pinoe, we can stop talking about him. He is the fifth player in baseball history since 1900 to have this in his first MLB start, seven shutout innings, one or fewer hits, two or fewer walks.

And yet we have no interest in him. and that was from Elias Sports Bureau and M.L.B. Pipeline tweeted that. I'm just going to assume that his name is Tom Pannoni. It's Pannoni. And that he is a, no, I don't care what his name is. Oh, okay, okay, okay. I'm going to assume that he is like a, like a 70s, like, blue-eyed soul singer, like a Jim Crocey type. You know, that's where I am at with Tom Pannoni.

absolutely 100% zero idea what you're talking about, but it was probably pretty clever and pretty funny, so I applaud you for it. And you know what? You know Chris, reward yourself. Get yourself a grown-up suit. Get yourself something sharp. Your suits probably suck, dude.

Get an Indochino suit because these are the best. They are measured exactly to your measurements. They are made to measure. They fit you perfectly. They will look better than any suit you've ever. They will last a super long time. I freaking love my Indochino suit. I haven't had a chance to wear it in a while, but I'm doing an event.

Chris, I don't know how Dressy, our fantasy football event is going to be in Florida. But if it's even somewhat dressy, I'll be rocking the Indochino suit. Might not wear a tie, but that's okay. It'll just look pretty sharp because I love it. And you can get this premium Indochino suit for just $379. If that sounds like a lot, it really isn't. Not for a product like this. If you go to Indochino.com, I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O-O-C-H-I-N-O-O-com, enter F-B-T at checkout.

That will get you 50% off the regular price for a made-to-measure premium suit. Customize every detail and absolutely love the suit you buy. Indochino.com, promo code F-B-T, you submit your measurements, they ship it to you for free, any premium suit for $3.79 with F-B-T as your promo code. All right, this is the moment we've all been waiting for. an email from Ryan and St. Louis. Dear American Girl, Walls, and you got lucky.

Chris, what are those? Yeah, those are Tom Penny songs. Yeah. I would rank them, I would rank them just going to shock people. Walls, American Girl, you got lucky. I love the song, Walls.

One of my favorites. American Girls is the best song there. For sure. One of the best songs in the American rock canon. I mean, it is, but I just prefer Walls. I really like Tom Petty. I don't know any of these songs.

Oh, you know American Girl. These aren't the greatest. You know American Girl. American Girl is like the... So I saw him three times, and I think he opened with it once and closed it with it with it the other two times. It's like the iconic. Right. Probably one of those songs I'd recognize it.

Absolutely. It's Free Fallen and American Girl. That's like the two to know. I've been quiet this year with you boys, says Ryan. But I still listen every day, and of course you have me contending. Adam has personally responded to me back to me twice saying, quote, this is great, I'm going to read this on the show, end quote, but he never did. It's okay, I'm not bitter.

Yeah, this sounds like you're being called out. Now you. Back in the beginning of April, my friend Mr. Towers and I placed the wager that was discussed and agreed to on the air. The wager was if Joey Gallo hits over 40 home runs, I will send 24 beers to Chris from any microbrewery of his choice. And no, Anheuser-Busch is not a microbrewery. If he, Joey Gallo hits under 40, Chris has to sing with no backing track, a Tom Petty song of Ryan's choice. 40 was a push. I want to make sure everyone is still aware of this.

And what would your prediction be on who will win this wager? Joey Gallo 40 overs. It hit his 30th, 33rd. 33rd, yeah. So that puts him right on pace, I believe, for 41. Oh, so it's going to be close, but I'm feeling good about it. Hail Biter. What's your song going to be if you have to sing?

Well, Ryan chooses. Oh, right, right. I mean, look, I'm a Tom Petty fan, but I'm still going to hope that he sticks to, like, the more well-known stuff. I'm not, I'm not, I'll learn a B-side if I have to, but, you know, let's stick to something off damn the torpedoes or full-moon fever. You know, I don't want, like, track six on the last DJ or something. Don't make him sing, Refugee. way too hard of the song. It's impossible to sing.

And another musical email. Email of the day number two is from Paul. Adam, Adam, Adam. How could you not instantly come up with a better Michael Kopeck song? Hello, McFly at the Kopeck. Cobrana. That's good. Somewhere Barry Manilow weeps.

Yeah, it is good. That is good. Hey, real quick, Charlie Blackmun or Christian Yelich? Rest of season. It's been a weird season. for Charlie Blackman. It's been a great season for Christian Yelich.

And I could understand why he'd choose Yelich. He's been better this year than Blackman. So, you know, that would seem like the easy call. I just don't understand enough why Blackman has disappointed because

other than, other than the, you know, the base stats, the fact that the Babbup is in its usual mid- 300's level. He looks like the same player. So I'm keeping the faith on Blackman. Obviously, it doesn't hurt you to start him. He's still been must start.

Just not quite as good as Yellich or not as good as we expected him to be. Scott takes Blackman. Chris, Blackmun or Yelich, rest of the season. Yeah, I think I have to go with it. With Blackman? Blackman. Two cool stats on Yelich. You know, we were hoping that the Park Switch, which, would lead to a breakout.

He's got an OPS just over a thousand at home. But he's also been great against lefties. That is weird. But yeah, Yelich has just been great, and he's been great at home, and it's helped the power numbers. 366 with 10 homers in his past 40 games. So, yeah, there's been some, some Babbitt help against lefties for sure.

I think he had 400 in the month of July, or something. I know he had like a 500 Babbip in the month of July. He's really good. He hasn't changed his game entirely. Like maybe there was some hope he would, but he is hitting fewer ground balls than he ever has, which is continuing a trend. He's awesome.

I don't think I'm telling any tales out of school there. He had exactly 400 with exactly a 500 babbip in July. All right, next category. These guys keep hitting. Tyler White, Kendris Morales, and Miami outfielder Austin Dean and Gaddis sat yesterday and White D.H. White, Morales, Austin, Dean. How would you rank them? Sky White. I would rank them. Okay. In terms of how much I like them, I would rank them White, Dean, and Morales. In terms of how much I think they're going to impact your fantasy team, I would probably go Morales, White, and Dean. So, so there you go. Yeah, I'm torn on what to make of Tyler White's playing time because. I like him. I think he could be good. I wanted to see him get more of an opportunity.

Don't know that I want to see it at expense of one of the few catcher-eligible players who is worth a darn in fantasy. That would be unfortunate. But now, I know, I think he probably deserves to be more than 8% owned. We are not giving Kendris Morales enough love, I think. Love him. As a world. Love him. Since May 1st, he is hitting 278 with an 855 OPS, 500 slugging percentage, 17 homers. Not a lot of RBI. He doesn't play every day.

I think he does. I think he does play just about every day now. Am I wrong about that? He started 75 games since May 1st. I feel like that, yeah, they've played like 98 games since then. So he, and I don't think he's had like a DL stint. Yeah, it's definitely, he's had stretches this season where he wasn't an everyday player, but he's pretty close to that right now. Okay.

We got to let Scott White go. Chris and I are going to hang around and talk mostly emails. We'll read some emails. Scott, get out of here. All right. See you later. All right. Let's talk you later.

Chris, a lot of the fringy starting pitchers from yesterday are two-star pitchers next week, so we'll cover them tomorrow. But do you think you will start Trevor Williams at St. Louis or Mike Miner against the Dodgers next week? No. Minor has a 323 ERA in his last 12 starts. 52 strikeouts, though, in 69 and 2 thirds. Yeah, that's the big thing with him

is that he hasn't been getting strikeouts all year. And when he's good, that's what he does. And so it's hard for me to buy in. I'll say this, though, about minor. Like 323 R.A. in those 12 starts, he has faced Houston three times, Oakland twice. Remember, Oakland's been great. He's been at Boston. He's been at the Yankees.

That's impressive. Yeah. Dodgers scare me. But, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't consider him a must start for sure. I don't really like Lance Lynn that much, but. I don't think you should drop him after last night.

They had a short bullpen, so they really kind of abused Lynn and left him in too long. He had five scoreless innings, and then he gave up five runs in the sixth, and the pitch count was up. And the other reason is currently Lance Lynn is scheduled to face the White Sox and the Tigers at home next week. I don't know. I think he'll make those two stars, but if not, I mean, Sabathia is coming off the deal that maybe he'll push Lynn back a day. but just keep that in mind. He's got two great matchups. You'll probably drop him after that.

In the bullpen, we talked about the Phillies bullpen. Sir Anthony Dinda Dominguez has been struggling. He's a 7-11 ERA in August. Jeremy Jeffers got another save. Jeremy Jeffers got another save. That's two in a row for him. Johnny Venters got a save. Dan Winkler had to be unavailable.

He had pitched in three straight days. I'm not even going to get into the Mets bullpen. It's just annoying. The rotation. What did you make a Carlos Carrasco getting roughed up at Boston? I think it's Boston. They'll just do that sometimes. They have lost three games in a row, so watch out.

Still time to break it up, Dave Dombrowski. They won yesterday. They had lost three games in a row. Okay. All right, then they're fine. They are the only team that has not lost four in a row this year. Yeah, they're good. And they do this.

It's a really good pitcher sometimes. Yeah. Or also to pitchers that don't have a fastball. Boo! Lester. John Lester had another, I guess, good results. Three strikeouts in five and two-thirds, and he'll be interesting.

Two starts next week. Scott and I'll talk about it with Lester. Edwin and Carnaccio came off to D.L. and Homer twice. That was great. And Zander Bogart's Homer twice. And he continues to have a huge year. He's really good.

All right. Let's read those emails. Let's help the people out. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. First, a tweet from, I think, a brilliant Twitter handle. Gorolami. One of, that whole scene is one of my favorite in movie history. Gorlami.

Gorlami. Gorlam is how he says? Yeah, that would be glorious bastards. It's so good. Goralami says, I continue to be less confident in Chris Archer. I'm currently in first place, but I'm scared to throw Archer in the mix during the playoffs. Would you drop Archer and let another team start him? Can't help but think about it.

I really want to drop Archer, but is it smart? I... Do we have to answer questions about Chris Archer anymore? Do we have anything new to say? We don't know. Nobody knows. Wow. He should be better than he is.

I don't know. Wow, you sound so defeated. I am a little bit. I'm not dropping Chris Archer. No, you can't drop Chris Archer. It's more of an existential malaise that I'm experiencing. Coming hard with the vocab today. From Kevin, my league, we're allowed two closers.

I have Minter, Jansen, and Stroke. Who should I drop? Strope, right? There was something with Brandon Morrow, but I don't know what the exact, like he was going to get evaluated yesterday, but I don't know if that was good or bad news. But I just think the other guys are better.

Well, Minter is injured right now. He's not on the DL, but he's like day to day. Brennamore will get a test on his bicep on Friday. So maybe you drop Minter. I don't know. I think you drop Minter. Unfortunately, I fear the, answer should be Jansen, but there's no way

I'm dropping him? Yeah, I don't have that kind of confidence in myself. Yeah, like no way. I hope the answer, I hope Jansen doesn't end up being the worst, but you have to keep him. I think I would keep stroked because, yeah, I believe he hangs on to that job. He pitched yesterday in a non-safe situation. I think they were just trying to get him some work.

This is from A.B. Hey, real quick, rank for the month of September. Flaherty, Bueller, Clevenger Wheeler, John Gray and Kopeck. Flaherty, Buehler, Clevenger, Wheeler, John Gray, and Copac. There are only two easy ones here for me.

Okay. I would put Clevenger one and Bueller last. I think that's probably fair. I thought about putting Flaherty one. Yeah, I think that's very debatable. I think you'd probably go Wheeler over Kopeck, although that could look really stupid. And then John Gray after Flaherty.

Okay, so you'd go Clevenger, Flaherty, Gray, Wheeler, Copac, Beuler. I think so. Oh, I know what I called you out on yesterday, Chris. Trenton, Tennessee reminds me. He says, Dear Greg, Tom, John, and Steve, those are Braves pitchers. Old Braves pitchers. I'm with Adam.

Trust the process is taken. I called you out first. You can't say trust the process. You're stealing it. How does that work? We can't say things that other people have said. We have a finite number of words available, and we, that's ridiculous. You also can't say three-peat.

That's not how it works. I'm not monetizing it. It's not going on a shirt or a trinket. Trent reminds us that trust the process is taken, but not by the 76ers. It's actually trademarked by Marcus Limonis, I don't know who that is, chairman and CEO of Camping World, Good Sam, Gander Outdoors, and Star of the Show, The Profit. In fact, M. B'd had to trademark the process as Trust the Process. was taken. Anyways, just wanted to share

because every time Chris says this, it makes me think of this, and then Adam actually brought it up. So yeah, how about that? There we go. Adam, you know what my response is? What? Trust the process.

We're going to get sued, Chris. You need to take this more seriously. Trust the process. Trust the process. Trust the process. Oh, great. Well, now the CEO of Camping World just appeared in a mirror. Josh in Kentucky.

Oh, wait, here's the email about Carlos Rodd. I did have it in here. Okay, thanks, Josh. We already answered that. This is from Matthew and D.C. Dear Mario and Luigi, Posey just got dropped in my points league. The playoffs end next week. Gaddis or Posey? Oh, I wish it was a different catcher than Gattis.

I wish Gattis was playing every day. I wish I had an answer. I'm going Posey. I think you probably have to. Especially in a point league. His season might end on Tuesday. This is from Dylan. Who's a better picture to keep for the next of season?

Who's a better pitcher to keep for next season? Shane Bieber or Kyle Freeland? You're okay? I am okay, yeah, yeah. Kyle Freeland. Kyle Freeland, okay. This is Jake from Arietta. Hey, Nakahama, Robert Parrish, and Jay Strongbow.

I'm drawing a blank. I feel like, I mean, I know Robert Parrish. I don't, I, these have to, these are chiefs. Oh, yeah. It makes sense. I need a judge replacement. I have Odubo Herrera and Malik Smith. Should I drop either of them for David Dahl in a point-s?

I think you can drop Oduble Herrera. He's been awful for like a month and a half. He has like a 270 on-base percentage, I think, since the start of July. And this is from Victor. Hey, Wilmer, Wilmer, Wilmer, and Wilmer. Flores, Volderama, and I don't know the third one. Defo. Oh, there you go.

I have already clinched first place And a first round by in my points league I can essentially take the next three weeks off Are there any injured or slumping players currently available That are worth stashing for the playoff run Oh, that's a really hard question to spring on someone Without any warning It's true

Maybe injured, you know, injured might be obvious Slumping Slumping Slumping Still maybe, I think I think Carlos Gonzalez. Yeah, I'm thinking like Kyle Schwerber could get hot in the last month. And I know his ownership's been dipping.

I don't know. Scott Sheppler's coming back from the DL soon. Today, actually. Yeah. What's that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I'd expect him to play every day now that Duval's not there and now that he's healthy. So that could be one.

I think you could go out and add Carlos Santana, maybe see if Jose Abraeu can be had for cheap after his injury. All right. I think you did pretty well. I think you did pretty well right there. This is from Mason. With the Nationals trading Daniel Murphy to the Cubs, could that open the door for Carter Key Boom to be moved to second base?

Is there really another key boom or is that Spencer Key Boom that he meant? No, that is Carter Key Boom. top 100 prospect for the Washington Nationals who has been playing at AA with a 747 OPS. They have both of the key booms? I assume that they're, I mean, I would assume they're related. I would hope so. It's possible, yeah.

You know, we know Trey Turner can also play the outfield, so maybe he gets moved there eventually, but I'm not worried about a top prospect getting blocked if there's a need. That's amazing. Carter Key Boom and Spencer Key Boom are brothers there on the nationals. I bet a lot of people already knew that, but I didn't. I apologize. Well, they have both Harper's, or they had. Okay, but that, Bryce and Brian.

Last name is Harper. This is Key Boom. Well, yeah, but they're with their brothers. It doesn't matter. It's the name. That's what matters. This is from Josiah. Josiah

You know Josiah Pestered me into putting this email on the show I hope you're happy Which of these injured sluggers

will be the most impactful in September Judge Sanchez Abreou Bryant Vado

Donaldson It sounds like Bryant is the closest to returning So that is my answer I think he's I think Votto I think Votto

might come back Sunday Okay. So, yeah, then Votto or Bryant, whichever one comes back first. Yeah, I think Votto, Bryant, and Sanchez have the best chance to be ready for September 1st. Sanchez, I don't know, that might be pushing it a little. I would take Brian, I think. I think, yeah, Sanchez is starting a rehab assignment in the next couple of days, too, right? I'm not sure, but I know he's, like, getting there. Yeah, I think they're all back by September 1.

Not all. No, just those three. Yeah. Brian Vado Sanchez. Okay, here we go. From Mr. Michael in Long Island. Hey, Tony, Bruce, Stephen Peter. You always struggle with this one?

I know who they are. Whenever I hear it, and it always just drives me crazy. They're to the Avengers, right? Yes. I need a closer. I still have Canable. Is he worth owning for the rest of season?

No, he's not. Drop him. And he says he can drop Canabel for Herrera, and you should definitely do that. Yeah, I think you should definitely do that. I think Canabel just had one really good season, and I think we downplayed that potential before the year. I don't know that we downplayed it. We definitely brought it up a lot. It was surprising he was this bad.

Scott in Portland. Scott in Portland. Should I drop Evan Gaddis for Wieders, Survelli, Lucreux, Taylor Ward, or Danny Jansen? It's a Categories League. The only one I would do it is Ward. Ward, okay. And MK from Houston. Dear Deshawn, JJ, and DeAndre.

Houston, Texans. 12-team Roto League. Who would you rather have at Corner Infield the rest of season? Fames or Tyler White? Thames. Let's look at today's matchups. Oh, by the way, Scott and I are going to probably do a podcast like super late tonight. I have it for you tomorrow morning.

That'll be fun. Adam Plutko at David Price I'll start Price Aaron Nola He's doing some different stuff Aaron Noah and Max Scherzer yes Bumgarner's de Grom Yes

Matt Boyd hosting James Shields I'll start Matt Boyd Joey Lucasey at Kyle Freeland I will start Freeland Braves at Marlins Sean Nucum at Eleazar at Adam Eliezer Hernandez.

Newcomb has not been good since the near no hitter, right? No, you are all over this. His last two starts have been terrible, I think. And yeah, and he hasn't been striking anyone out since, like, May, I think. But you'll still start him. And what's next?

Royals at Rays, the game everybody's been talking about. Danny Duffy at Tyler Glass now. Definitely dial the glass now. Anthony DiSclofani at Cole Hamels. Cole Hamels. Trevor Cahill. Deisclofani's been really good lately. Yeah, he has.

He really is. Trevor Cahill at Cole Stewart, A's at Twins. Trevor Cahill. We are done. It's great to have Chris back. It's great to have you listening. Get ready for some Tom Petty at the end of the year. We'll talk to you on Friday.

See you, everybody.