Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Wednesday's Standouts and a Mini Mailbag

Episode Date: August 24, 2017

Twenty percent of Rich Hill owners sat him this week. Oops! What should Hill owners do going forward (3:50)? Which "stud" players should you drop for Rhys Hoskins (7:00)? And is Luke Weaver a must-add (10:40)? ... A potential new closer in Baltimore, plus bullpen blues (13:46) in Colorado, San Francisco and St. Louis. We also talk about OFs to add (26:40) and the surprising strength of the Shortstop position (29:23) ... Concerns about Zack Godley (49:30)? A disagreement about Drew Pomeranz (50:30) and some Mike Fiers love (52:50). 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

I apologize to everybody. I jinxed Rich Hill. Intentionally. I really wanted to see what my jinxing powers were on Twitter and about, I think, one pitch later, goodbye, perfect game.

Then I jinxed a no-hitter. So my bad. Sorry, folks. What's up, Scott? It's not all about you, Adam. You don't have that much power. I'm pretty good at this. I don't remember who it was I jinged last time,

but I've been really good at this. I'm enjoying it. Yeah. Well, put it all on you. That's fine. It's a thing. That's fine. That's fine.

Today we'll talk Richel. I don't know how much there is to talk about, but we'll talk about him. We'll talk Reese's Pieces, Rees Hoskins, and how good he's been. Lou Guiva, crushed it. Yes, huge start from him, and he's lined up. Hopefully he'll make two starts next week. We got a lot to get to. How fun was the Al Malkyore hour last night, yesterday? It was the funnest hour of the season. It was great. I don't know about that. That's a little insulting. I think we've done some really good shows, but it was great. Today will be also great.

Okay, let me just preview what else is coming up on the show. Zach Britton News, Greg Holland News. Did I count out Kyle Schwerber too soon? Kevin Kiermeier double dong yesterday. Another save for Sam Dyson. And I do want to talk about shortstop because, my goodness, the position's actually looking pretty solid right now. And emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBS.com for short emails. Scott, you're going to talk in your waiver wire column or you already have about Brad.

Yeah, it's up. It's actually up. Brad Brock is one of the guys you wanted to talk about. What's going on with the Orioles? Well, what's going on is you may have heard about Zach Britton blowing a save the other day. It ended a pretty impressive streak of converted saves that he was on. But he actually hasn't been that impressive since his latest stint on the DL for a forearm injury. He's gone on twice this year with the same injury.

hasn't looked great either time since returning. Most recently, 20 appearances since his return. 496 ERA 171 whips, 6.6 strikeouts per nine inning. Something is wrong, clearly, with Zach Britton. And now he's going to have an MRI today, though not for the forearm elbow injury, for his knee, which has supposedly been bothering him for years, but it must really be bothering him now. I'm still not sure his arm is okay, frankly, but one way or another, I think it's probable he winds up on the DL. And we've already seen what Brad Brock can do in the closer role. He's pretty good.

Okay, yeah, Brad Brock's definitely somebody that you want to target. Would you rather have Brad Brock, Sam Dyson, or Mark Melanson right now? I would, man. You know, I think Brock, actually, because that giant situation appears to be pretty messy. I think last time we brought it up, I said any day now, Malanson would be in the role. He's been good in, what, six appearances now since returning. But Bruce Bochy says he's fine just leaving him in the setup roll for now. I would think that would have to change eventually as much money for paying Melanson,

but I don't know how soon it's going to be. Yeah, that's crazy. But Dyson got another save. He did give up a home run. He's been pretty good with the Giants. His strikeouts are terrible. Malanson's pitching well. All right.

So Brad, look, we don't know that Britain's out. We don't know he's going on the deal. But something seems amiss there. Seems like a good high-upside gamble. Sure. So what did you think of Rich Hill? This was pretty crazy because when I tweeted, I was alerted in the eighth inning that he had a perfect game,

and I tweeted, don't worry, guys, something like, Rich Hill is definitely going to throw a perfect game here. But he couldn't even do it because they were tied in the bottom of the ninth, and they would have had to go to extra innings anyway. So that was crazy. Then the error on Logan Forsyth ruins that, he keeps the no-hitter going through nine, and then first batter of the 10th inning, I tweeted something else. It definitely gets the no-hitter, don't worry. And Josh Harrison hits the walk-off

Homer. And only through 99 pitches in this start, Rich Hill, in nine-plus innings. His previous six starts, he had pitched less than six innings and four of them. So people were a little frustrated with Hill. I got, you know, I dropped Rich Hill, I sat Rich Hill. You know, what do you recommend to Rich Hill owners? Yeah, I was to the point, if I had the pitching depth, where in, one start in one start week certainly in a points league i was sitting him too i think i sat him in the podcast league this week so i understand that frustration because you're on a buy so lucky you yeah i still set a lineup even though it doesn't count for anything i love i love the commitment

uh but i was encouraged to see that he is still capable of extending himself part of that was on him, he was so efficient in this start as pitchers who were throwing perfect games normally are. But part of it's, you know, a willingness from Dave Roberts last year, Rich Hill had a no-hitter. I think it was through seven innings and Roberts removed him because of all the concerns over the blister. So he's willing to stick with him into the 10th inning this time. And I was reading this morning, he was open to the 11th inning, too, if Hill got through this one. So clearly there is a greater level of confidence from his manager now. And if you just look at the ratio stats, stop worrying about the innings so much.

238 ERA over his last 11 starts, 87 strikeouts and 68 innings. Great whip, too. I think we probably should stop playing around with Rich Hill and just start them because, I mean, innings are concerned for most pitchers these days. Yeah, he was 78% started. For a pitcher of Rich Hill's caliber, that's pretty low. And if you sat him, you lose. You shouldn't have done it.

But you know what? I get it. I understand. It was frustrating. Felix Hernandez, through the last perfect game, that was back in 2012. Since then, U. Darvish, Yuzmero Petit, and Max Scherzer have been within one out of a perfect game, and they have not gotten it. That's very strange.

Wow. I would have never come up with Usmero Petit. If I had 300 guesses, I would not have come up with them as one of the three names for that list. Yeah, very strange. All right, let's talk about Reese's Pieces. Now, for Rich Hill, my headline was King of the Hill. For Reese Hoskins, it's Reese's Pieces. These are terrible names for segments.

So I can't really think of anything better for Reese Hoskins, though. But Reese's Pieces just doesn't make any sense. It's not like he's injured. Did you see my team name for Reese Hoskins? It was kind of a two-player team name, a double-dip the other night. No, what was it? Well, I announced when he hit another home run, since that's what he does. of course.

I called it a husk dong. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which then got me thinking, Hosk Dongs and Hanigers. It's such a stretch that it's like almost Yasbati, buddy, Tomas problems, but it's fine. What do you say? What else does it? Like, it's clear what you're referring to when you say it.

I guess it looks weird written out, but. I guess. But shouldn't it be Hanigers and Host dogs? I always called the hot dogs and hamptogs. I don't know. I don't know how you folks up north referred to it during your barbecues and rather than cookouts. I don't know what that's about either. Cookouts. Barbecue has sauce, okay? Cookouts, it's going out and grilling.

Cookouts implies like 40 to 50 people. Oh, really? It's a matter of, it's the size of the shindig in your world. I'm having a cookout. That means like the whole block is invited. Let me ask you. Who you. No, that's a barbecue. Who would you drop for Reese Hoskins?

Would you drop Ryan Braun, who is not even a top 50 outfielder over the last 28 days, despite hitting 318, by the way, but only one homer and seven RBIs in a month? Would you drop Braun for Hoskins? Part of me feels like Hoskins will outscore Ryan Braun the rest of the way. I am fully on board with this. I mean, look, he's hit six home runs in the space. of a week and a half and obviously he can't hit six home runs every week and a half going forward but Hoskins is really good and needs to be owned probably started I don't know that I could justify dropping brawn there's got to be somebody worse on your team right well

thames let's drop thames for Hoskins I could do that yeah I might need to move I was actually working on those two in my rankings yesterday decided to keep Thames ahead but I think with this latest game another home run double five RBI. Yeah, it's time to go ahead and move Hoskins ahead. And Thames did something interesting yesterday. He sat. That's not interesting at all.

No, it's interesting in the rankings and that he's going to sit against lefties from time to time. I mean, it's not even an everyday player. I guess if you put it that way. Yeah. I spend most of my life sitting, so it's not interesting to me. Yeah, I don't appreciate this whole, like, standing phase that you got to stand now, apparently. It's healthy. I don't know, whatever.

Logan Morrison, drop him for Reese Hoskins? Yes, I would do that. How about Ryan Zimmerman? Man, I don't think so. Okay. I might regret it, but I don't think so. Give you one more. Let me go to an outfielder.

I'm looking at first baseman. An outfielder to drop for Reese Hoskins. How about How about Cory Dickerson? Yeah, I think I'd be willing to do that. He's been... I had the numbers written down yesterday, but he's been ice cold for like a month now.

Batting averages down to like 280. So that seems fair. A couple two-hit games in a row for him, but only one extra base hit for Dickerson in that stretch. But boy, yeah, before that terrible. All right, Scott. So look, Hoskins, 67% own. Try to get him on your team.

Plate discipline's been outstanding. and he's doing great. Wednesday standouts. Let me start with Luke Weaver, 47% owned. In three starts, he now is a 295 VRA with 23 strikeouts to five walks and 18 at a third. Now, a lot of that was yesterday. Seven scoreless against the Padres with 10 strikeouts. One walk, three hits.

Luke Weaver was great. And is he a must-own at 47% owned? Luke Weaver. Pretty close. Pretty close. No. You wrote down 12 swinging strikes. the notes. I saw 10. It looks like baseball reference has 10 for that. I don't know.

Baseball reference and ESPN need to get on. They need to call each other and define a swinging strike. It seems like an easy thing to keep track of, right? They're almost never. Like anybody watching a game can just keep tally marks of how many swings a miss is a pitcher gets. It's ridiculous. And ESPN, I feel like, is always like one or two more than baseball reference. And I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong. Just get on the same page. It should not be hard. Well, I normally go with baseball reference, so for consistency's sake, I'm going to cite it's 10 number. And for a 10 strikeout performance, 10 swinging strikes isn't that great, plus it was against the Padres. But I do think it'd be unfair to call it a fluky performance because his last start in the major is August 2nd.

He had 14 swinging strikes, which resulted in eight strikeouts in six in a third innings at Milwaukee. So I think between that and the fact he has a sub-2 ERA and the minors over the last two years, Yeah, Luke Weaver looks like a really good pitcher, and I think if his next outing Tuesday is anything like these last two have been, there was obviously a minor league stint in between, but his last two major leagues starts were both great, I think the Cardinals are going to be making excuses to keep Adam Wayn right on the DL. Sure.

So I don't worry. I think it's basically in Weaver's hands. He performs, he's in. Yeah, I want to take flyer on him everywhere. I don't know that you can count on him making two starts next week. He's right now scheduled for Milwaukee and the Giants both on the road. Scott just told you what Weaver did against Milwaukee in his previous start, which is very good. The Giants obviously is a great matchup.

I mean, even if he's a one-star guy, Weaver's interesting, and if he pitches well on Tuesday, you think he would make a second start. But he's 40, now he's up to 49% owned. Luke Weaver, I'm excited about it. Are you excited about adding Mark Leiter? Finally, hey, there you go, Mark Lider, with a nice start, seven-score. scoreless against the Marlins, only one hit? Yeah, it was definitely encouraging to see, but mostly in contrast to that last outing,

when we had some excitement, there was some excitement going in because of the great long-relief appearances he had leading up to it, and he mustered just one strikeout in more than five innings. The swinging strikes in this start weren't good. I mean, even the strikeouts just five in seven innings. It was a fine start, but it wasn't a start that's making. me rush out to pick him up. All right.

He's only 6% old Mark Lider. Any other standouts for you yesterday, Mr. White? Yes, there were more standouts for me yesterday. I want to talk about the Cardinals bullpen, if I may. Sure, yeah. The Cardinals, we don't know who their closer is. I had assumed it was Sone 1-0. We know now Trevor Rosenthal is out for the season.

He's having Tommy John's surgery. O had been better since moving to his setup. and obviously was the intended closer coming in. But with a... It wasn't quite a save situation. It was either four or five run lead. Yesterday. He came in...

Five-nothing game in the eighth inning. Okay, so he came in to Relief Weaver in the Eight. Yeah, he hadn't pitched in five days. So it's possible they were just trying to get him work. Maybe. Maybe. But it's also worth noting he was terrible. Didn't record a single out. It was worth noting.

Tyler Lotton. Lions had to bail him out. And Tyler Lyons seemed like maybe he was the fallback option to O, and he was pitching the eighth inning, too. Maybe just a high leverage situation, we don't know. But what we do know is John Brabia, I don't know if I'm saying that right, but it's B-R-E-B-B-I-A. John Brebeah, Brabia, he was held out until the ninth inning. And even allowing a solo home run in the ninth, he has a 223 ERA and 36 and a third. a 0.77 whip, which at its face seems unsustainable, but in the minors this year, he had a 0.79 whip.

Guy throws a ton of strikes, he throws hard. I think if they don't want to mess with O and put themselves in the position they were in when they had to turn to Rosenthal in the first place, they might go with this guy. It would be better than the left-hander lions, in theory. You want to keep the left-hander more flexible. So, at least in deeper leagues, leagues where saves are scared. I'm going for Brock first, but John Brabia is definitely on my radar. I'm going to guess it's Brebia, but we should try to figure that out.

Okay, fair enough. Now, staying in the bullpen, Greg Holland, last six appearances, 10 hits and 12 runs, and six walks, four strikeouts, three homers allowed. So Holland's been a mess. His first 42 appearances, he had a 156 ERA. He cut his index finger on August 2nd or 3rd, and his next two appearances, were scoreless, but then since then he has struggled. I haven't read anything to indicate that that's part of it, but it seems a little bit

coincidental to me, or maybe it isn't a coincidence. I'm not quite sure how to use that word. No, I don't know that it is a coincidence. Yeah, but Bud Black is saying that he's going to keep Holland in the closer's role, but if there's a change there, who would you go for? I'd go for Jake McGee, even though I just finished saying it's better to keep the left-hand or flexible. They also have Pat Neeshek, of course. They have Adam

Avino, who hasn't had a very good year. But there are a few different options they could go with. McGee, though, I think has the longer track record as a closer. I think he has the closer caliber stuff of that group. And he's had a pretty good year. But I'm

I feel pretty good about Holland's chances of bouncing back still. I hate this for him. His ERA is 377 now. Six appearances. It's gone from 157. 56 to 377. So even if he does turn things around, it's not going to be a great ERA for a closer come the end of the season. But his velocity seems fine. It's just he's not getting the same break on the slider.

And I think it's interesting that on the same night, he has this continued meltdown. Edwin Diaz strikes out three and a four out save for the Mariners when he looked like he was going the same way as Greg Holland. And we've already seen Diaz bounce back from a similar rough patch this year. So I think it's partly a matter of the environment we're in this year where, you know, the juiced ball era or whatever, the line between dominating and just getting crushed is so thin. You have to be so fine with your pitches. And something is just a little off mechanically, maybe because of the cut on his finger. But I think he's going to be able to figure it out sooner than later. You know, Scott, I talked to Max Scherzer two days ago, actually airing the interview today in the fantasy football today podcast.

I asked him about the ball as being juiced. I said, are the balls juiced? And he said, you know what? I don't care. He said, I've given up a lot of home runs in the past is actually making me focus more. I was hoping for a yes or no. He sort of laughed it off and said it doesn't really matter. Well, that's the answer he should give because he can't care about it.

He has to just go out and perform. But as analysts, we can care about it. change our views on things. By the way, it does look like it's Brebeah. Rebia, according to baseball reference pronunciation guide. So, John Brebia. I also asked him about Gio Gonzalez. I asked not Brebia, but Scherzer about Gio and what he's doing.

And he said that being able to throw his curveball and his change up for strikes more so this year, better this year has been the difference for him. It's made his fastball play a lot better. And, yeah, Gio's pitching great. But that's been, according to Scherzer, that's been. the big difference. It's actually a pretty interesting interview. I asked him, Heath asked him about advanced stats and what he uses and whatnot. That was an interesting answer as well. So if you listen to the Fantasy Football Today podcast, about 55 minutes into the episode today.

It's the last 13 or 14 minutes of the show. Check out Max Scherzer. All right, one more standout from yesterday, man. Adrian Beltray. Since he came off the DL on May 29th, he's the number three third baseman in points, number five in Roto. So Beltre is 38 years old. He's batting 311 with 16 home runs in only 72 games. He had 32 home runs in 153 games last year. After combining for 37 home runs in his previous two seasons combined. So he's once again on like a 33-ish-homer pace. Beltrae's been amazing.

And I'm a little surprised that he's been this good. Top five third basements since coming off the DL. Yeah, he's on the David Ortiz aging plan. I would love to see what Adrian Beltray's career numbers would look like if he hadn't spent five years of the prime of his career in the enormous safe go field before they move in the fences because he signed that big contract there after a monster year with the Dodgers. Age 26 through 30, Adrian Beltrane hit 266 with a 759 OPS.

And he's still going to the Hall of Fame. Yeah. It's crazy. He might have 600 home runs if he didn't go there. The only reason to me that he's an automatic Hall of Fame or is the defense. I think he's a little... No, he has 3,000 hits. Yeah, he's a little...

I get it. It doesn't mean they should. He's a little Raphael Palmero to me. More of a... Oh, you're right. Not everybody who has 3,000 hits is in the Hall of Fame because Raphael Palmero isn't. He's not? I thought he is.

Oh, because it's steroids he isn't? Yeah. Yeah. Palmero is kind of an accumulator. Just, he was never one of the best players in baseball, and I sort of feel that way about Beltray. Like, he's got a better case than Palmero, in my opinion, especially now that he's doing this at 38. I mean, this all counts. But I don't know how many.

I feel like there's only been like one top five MVP season for Beltray. Maybe two. He doesn't scream Paul. I mean, I hear what you're saying, but if that's what we were making. the standard for Hall of Fame entry, it would be a very small Hall of Fame. I'm glad you said that because I would have a lot of fewer Hall of Famers than the Adam Azer Hall of Fame. And yeah, he has two seasons in his career with top five MVP finishes. Career war?

And I know that factors in defense and you're saying, you know, that's a big... That's huge. Yeah. Yeah, but career war, I'm not going to be able to find it fast. I'm sorry, but it's very high. All right. Chipper Jones is an obvious. Hall of Famer, right? He has an 85 career war. Beltrane's, Belchre is 93.6.

Yeah. You play a long time. You're going to get more war. Yeah, so listen, you all trust me. I know this is a bad segue saying something so controversial about Beltray, but you should trust me at this point. I'm cool. I know what I'm talking about. If you trust me, friends. 28th all time in war. Sorry, go ahead. No problem. You should go to blue apron.com slash fantasy baseball right now to get three free meals with free shipping. Blue Apron.com slash fantasy baseball. I had some steak last night with mashed potatoes with green beans, a great sauce, shallot. It was, of course, really good. I made it with my wife.

And if you ever have a Blue Apron pizza, by the way, those are my absolute favorite. You were going to love them. So much variety on Blue Aprons. Seared chicken and creamy pasta salad with summer squash and sweet peppers. Creamy shrimp rolls with quick pickles and sweet potato wedges. Vegetarian options, steaks, pastas. It's all less than $10 per person per meal. All easy to make, all delicious.

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All right, this is from Gary. Email of the day is from Gary. Is it possible that Gary Sanchez's participation in the whole? home run derby affected Logan Morris in swing. I love it. I thought that was such a clever email. Very funny stuff. And that will be it for the email.

For the big news today, Max Scherzer is not going to start tomorrow, but he's not far away, just a few days away from returning. U. Darvich is going to start Sunday. Clayton Kershaw could be back next week. Jackie Bradley Jr. is on the D.L. And the Red Sox acquired Rajay Davis. What do you think of that, Scott? Bad news for Roger.

Davis. I don't think he's going to play as much in the long run. May get a chance to fill in here some for Bradley, but that doesn't sound like a long-term injury for Bradley anyway. Carlos Correa is set to begin a rehab assignment today. Same with Ian Desmond. Travis Shaw fouled the ball off his foot. X-rays were negative. Robinson Cano is going to have an MRI on his hamstring.

Kelvin Herrera will avoid the DL and could be back soon, and Evan Gattah should be back today. And I'm going to take this moment as the host of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast to complain about my podcast league team, which has Chris Bryant, Carlos Santana, Robinson Canoe, and Calvin Herrera. All those guys on one stinking team in the playoffs right now. Active, right, in your lineup? Active in my lineup.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. All got hurt during the week, not going into the week. Absolutely sucks. It's a good thing we do two-week playoffs. in this league. No, it doesn't matter.

Oh, it matters. Sure. It matters. Sure, it matters. You have a chance to catch up still, even if those guys don't return. Well, get well soon. Here's some weird stats. The Cardinals batters were hit by a pitch five times yesterday, most in team history.

Jordan Zimmerman is the first Detroit pitcher to give up seven or more earned runs in three straight starts since 1935. That's according to Jason Beck, Tigers beatwriter for MLB.com. and the Jays and Rays game in Tampa Bay at 2,864 fans. Scott White's had more than that at cookouts. That is the lowest attendance figure for the race since 2006. And please listen to me, Tampa Bay, City of Tampa. Do not build another stadium.

Do not waste taxpayer money on it. They don't care about baseball there. We've seen it in Miami. The new stadium will help for one season. And then nobody's going to care. Don't do it. It's not a baseball town. Move the team. It's 8,000 people, and they're still in the wildcard race?

That's pathetic. Do you know how many race fans are listening right now? That's the point. That's the point. They hate you. I don't care. Move the team. Like, they don't support the team.

Go to the games. It's ridiculous. Okay. Let's go to the addometer. They are in a playoff race and drawing less than 10,000 fans. It's pretty sad. It's a year after year. Year after year.

We said the same thing with the Marlins. Bad years you can kind of understand. But it's not a great place to go to a game. Oh, yeah, it doesn't seem like it. No, I mean, not just the venue itself, but getting there is... Yeah, I'm sorry. Things are not going to change with a new stadium. They might get better, but they're not going to be great.

All right, here's the addometer, zero to ten. Kyle Schwerber, he's already 80% owned, but now he's batting 321 with a 441 on base, two homers in his last... eight games. Did I give up on Schwerber too early? If you were out there on your waiver wire, where would Schwerber be on the addometer? I'm not interested in adding him, really.

Not yet. I think I'd go for Rosario over him. It's just not enough to make up for all the terrible we've seen from Schwerber so far. And there's also the threat of him not playing every day. I just don't think it's enough. It's too little and potentially too late. Kevin Kiermeier, 37% owned since coming off the DL.

He's 10 for 21 in five games with three home runs. Yeah, that's cool. And I mean, look, he runs a bit too, which is especially valuable in today's landscape. So, you know, a little bit of power, a little speed. I think he might be somebody to get active again in a Roto League at least. Keirmeier or Delano to Shields. I mean, if you strictly need speed, I think DeShields could deliver you a lot more stolen bases in a short period of time.

But I think Kiermeier's the better all-around player. Kiermire or Cameron Mabin. I'm going to go Kiermire there. How about Mitch Hanigar, 45% own five games since coming off the DL, just like Kevin Kiermire. Hanneger's only battinger 263, not 500 like Kiermire, but he does have two doubles, a home run, two walks, three strikeouts. He's been all right. 45% on Mitch Haniguer. Yeah, he's been all right.

It hasn't really been... I got excited that first game when he homered and I think doubled. Had two hits anyway. And I was thinking, okay, some time off, got a swing right. Because after that first E L stint, he just was horrible.

He hit about 150. But I don't know. It hasn't been hot enough to convince me that he's over those issues. Strikeouts have been an issue, even when he was going well in April. So I'm not rushing to add Hanager yet either, though he's probably must own in a five outfielder league. Hanager or Matt Adams?

Hanager. Hanager or Granderson? Hanager. Ooh. And you're looking at part-time players, those other two. Granderson? You think he sits against lefties? I think he's going to sit against lefties when the Dodgers get around to playing one.

All right. Yeah, at some point. All right, that's the Adam eater. we've talked about the bullpen. I want to talk about short stops, all right? Because, you know, I think that you probably owe D.D. Gorgorius an apology for not having him in your top 12. Oh, he's in my top 12 now.

I saw him as 13th. Close enough. Probably depends what format you're looking in. I have 13th in points. So, but then I saw the list and I said, you know what? Like, who are we going to put ahead? Who are we going to put Deidiorgiorius ahead of? Now, Chris Taylor is recently shortstop eligible.

Yep. Zander Bogarts is 12th. I personally would take D.D. over Bogarts at this point. I think there's something wrong with Bogarts. I think he's hurt. That's fair. That's fair. I just, I already moved him down about four spots to get him to 12th,

and I wasn't ready to completely yank him down in one swift motion. But maybe next time. If Dini Rigorius, who's having a really good year, and since beginning his season, April 28th, he started on the DL. He's the number six shortstop and points number four in Roto. If he's not a no doubt about a top 10 guy, it means that shortstop is actually not that bad right now, and it's only going to get better when Josh Donaldson makes his appearance and becomes shortstop eligible. He didn't do it yesterday. But, like, Eduardo Nunez is 14 for you.

Paul D. Young is 17. Marwin Gonzalez is 15. We're going to get Correa and Trey Turner back imminently. It's a good position right now. It's weird. At least if you're a 12-team league. Shortstop isn't so bad compared to usual shortstop standards. It's still, I mean, every position is deep, basically, in this hitter landscape.

Shortstop may be closer to second base than we've given it credit for. Sagar, I have 10th at second base in points leagues. and I have him 11th at shortstop in points leagues, which doesn't tell the whole story, but there aren't a lot of standouts at second base. They're probably more at shortstop. Second base may be a little deeper when you get to the fringe players, but yeah, shortstop is good.

I don't think in a standard-sized league anybody, there should be anybody who's just resorting to Brandon Crawford or somebody like that. Unfortunately, I'm resorting to Trevor Story. in the podcast lead, but I am the Correa owner. You know, story. He's not so good. But yeah, it's not terrible. And we will get two of the best back.

And then we will add Josh Donaldson. So in like a week and a half, we're going to have potentially Machado, Turner, Correa, and Josh Donaldson as short stops. And that will be a really, really good top four. That's crazy. And then, of course, you've got Lindor and Andrews and blah, blah, blah. Alex Bregman. Alex Begman's been great. Angelton Simmons keeping it up at least.

Simmons snapped an 0-4-17 skid recently, but he also steals bases. One thing that D.D. doesn't do is steal bases. A lot of the guys that are shortstop eligible are good base dealers. Some are great base dealers. D.D. has two steals, I think, this year. That does hold him back a little bit. But I haven't even mentioned Corey Seeger. You know, so.

Yeah, that guy. Yeah. Mani Machado. Have you seen how much ground Mandy Machado's made up? Yeah. It's insane. But, okay, let's think about this. Machado, Seeger, Donaldson, Turner, Correa.

That's five shortstop and possibly the top 10 to 15 hitters. Is there any position that claims that many? First base. First base, definitely. Third base. I mean, two of those guys are third basemen also. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And probably outfield.

Well, I mean, they can't all be tough. They can't all have five top 15 hitters, I guess. These guys might be top 10. It's probably a stretch to say Donaldson's top 15 hitter at this point. Yeah, maybe. And look, Seeger isn't either if you don't give them credit for playing shortstop. Okay, okay. All right, I got carried away.

Let's read some emails here, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. These are mostly rankings emails. The first one comes from Christian and St. Louis. He says, hey, what's up? Morty, Rick, and Summer. So I'm told that Rick and Morty is the funniest show on TV. Seems to be popular, yes. I don't like it.

I've seen 10 minutes and didn't like it. I need to give it another try. I've never tried, so. Couldn't even tell you what it airs on. Christian, I think it's Cartoon Network. Christian's question is I'm making my playoff push, 10 team points league. Pick two to keep. Carlos Rodon, John Gray, J.Hap, and Chase.

Anderson. To keep his in... This year. Just this year. Okay, for down the stretch. Rodon, Gray, Hap, Anderson. Yeah, I'm going Rodon and Anderson. Okay.

Pick a spark. Danny Duffy or Luis Castillo. Duffy. Okay. Marco and San Burdue. Never heard of that. Dear Shane, Boyd Crowder, and Venus Van Dam. Hmm.

That's got to be wrestling, right? Nothing could feel more wrestling than that. Venus Van Dam sounds... familiar, but I don't know. The question is, 16-te-head-to-head points league that does not penalize for strikeouts. I need a guy for the playoffs which starts in two weeks. Who you like in this group? Trevor Story, Mickey Delmonico, Cesar Hernandez, Michael Franco, Matt Davidson,

Yohan Moncada, and he put Cesar Hernandez again. Story, Delmonico, Cesar Hernandez, Franco, Matt Davidson, Moncada. Who's your favorite? Doesn't penalize for strikeouts in a points league. Hmm. It's not something I think about often. I think I'm going to go story here. Eh, maybe Franco.

None of them are great. No. Not Munkata? No. Okay, I'm an idiot, by the way. He might be my last choice. I might go Matt David. and over him.

Shane Boyd Crowder and Venus Van Dam are all the same, Walton Goggins. The Shield, I don't know what Boyd Crowder's from, but Sons of Anarchy is Venus Van Dam. Is Shane from the Shield? Oh. Oh, maybe. Justified, I think, is Boyd Crowder. Okay. Yeah.

Walton Goggins. Good actor. Yep. Next question is from Charles in Chicago. Dear, oh, this one I get. Dear Brittany, Christina, Jessica, and Mandy. I don't get the Walt and Goggins. But the teen pop stars of the 90s, I got those.

Some hitters are streakier than others. Is it worth holding onto Kendris Morales or Lomo as bench options as they have a history of getting hot? I think Lomo is worth holding on to, sure. He's had a much better year than Morales, and this has really been the only time he's been cold all year. I would think Lomo is pretty close to Muson. I did say earlier in the show I'd drop him for Hoskins, but hopefully. you're not faced with quite that dilemma. From Chris, 10-te-to-head auction Keeper League.

Currently in first place, I'm looking at a great shot of winning our playoffs. Would you drop any of the following me to pick up a Johnny Quedo, who is now available? Would you drop Charlie Morton, Denelson Lemette, Patrick Corbin, or Kyle Freeland? Yes. I would drop any of them. Freeland would be my first choice, lament, my second choice. Yeah, and Quato is working his way back. Don't know how good he'll be, but it's worth the risk.

Johnny T's in a 12-team head-to-head league. Should I drop Tim Beckham for DJ LaMayhew, Colton Wong, Wilmer Defoe, or Ahmed Rosario? Drop Beckham for LaMayhew, Colton Wong, Defoe, and Rosario. Yeah, LeMayhew. Not sure why Beckham was owned over LeMayhew in the first place. Because LeMayhew hasn't been good this year. Oh, he's hitting like 315 now. If you need batting average, that's...

All he gives you. Well, is it all he gives you? Yeah, because the last two years he had a good power year. He had a good steals year. He's also on a 96 run pace. Well, that helps. Six steals, four home runs. Four home run, six steals this year.

Yeah. Yack. He did say it was a head-to-head league. I don't know if that means categories or points. He's going to be... Yeah, I don't know either. If it's points, then he's getting enough points to be better than Beckham. even before you factor in what he's doing categorically.

Yeah, he's actually the 13th best second baseman of points leagues, DJ the Mayhew. So it makes sense. Okay, next up, 14-te-head Categories League. Luke Roy or Gattis. Gattis coming back today, by the way. Gattis. I think since it's a Categor's league, yeah, you go Gattis for the power. He's not going to play nearly as much as Luke Roy.

Well, are you sure? Because we haven't seen him with McCann on the D.L. Well, Bacan's coming back soon, too. Ah, lame, fine. All right. But still, Gattas for category purposes. Here's an email from Chris. Am I crazy to drop Rafael Devers for Jorge Polanco?

Four homers in a row. Four games in a row with Homer. That is crazy. Stop being crazy. Okay. Don't drop Devers for Polanco, Chris. Doug from Queens, head-to-head categories league. I have a buy next week.

I have an extra spot for a pitcher. Any thoughts on picking up Julio Taran? hoping for a strong finish from Tehran. Looks like he lines up at Philly, home against Texas, home against Miami, at the Mets, home against Washington, and at the Mets. Tehran, or I can pick up Estrada, Clevenger,

Gialito, or Snell. I'd rather roll the dice on Snell after his last start. It's a great one. He's six straight, two walks or fewer, so seems to have cleared that hurdle, hopefully. You'd rather have a lot more upside than Tehran, I think it's fair. say you'd rather have snell than estrata yeah though i probably would rather have estrata than to ron

yeah don't take now most of all i guess one thing to keep in mind with a l east pitchers specifically ones on the raise is that they are going to face the yankees and the red socks and the blue jays and the orioles down the stretch i don't know how hard the blue jays and the aureole's are i don't know how bad the yankees are away from yankee stadium and quite that matters it matters but you know i how i feel matchups relative to some of the other analysts out there. Sure, but I mean, some of these guys, like maybe Snell won't be, but I feel like all of the guys, Snell, Estrada, Clevenger, Gialito, Tehran, they're all at right now matchup pitchers.

I think Snell could be more than that. Yeah. But yes, the others, I would agree. Alfredo found Michael Brantley on the waiver wire. Who do I drop for Brantley? Luis Castillo, Colin McHugh, Kyle Hendricks, or John Gray? I don't know that you need to drop anybody for Brantley because it doesn't look like he's close to a return.

I think last I saw he wasn't running yet. And he wasn't, it's not like he was a must-start player even before he got hurt. His skills weren't really measuring up in this offensive environment. So, okay, so he's resumed some baseball activities, but is still spending most of his time in a walking boot. Yeah, I don't think he's particularly close. And I'd rather not have to decide between these pitchers. Another couple weeks, Luis Castillo may be shut down and he'd be the guy to drop, but I'd rather not drop anyone in the meantime.

Josiah from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. What's going on with Jose Ramirez? His second half has been dreadful. Would you drop Jose Ramirez for Simmons, Fowler, Granderson, Jorge Polanco, or Delano de Shields? No, I wouldn't do that. I don't think there's anything especially wrong with Ramirez. It's been a bad month, yes. But show me a hitter who hasn't had a bad month, you know?

Mike Trout. He missed a whole month. Yeah, that was a bad month. That was a bad month. You know, it's easy to just say, look at the splits page and say, okay, he's having a really bad second half. But the first 18 games, he hit 284. It's really just been a bad three-week stretch.

Yeah, and the plate discipline's been pretty good still. Yeah. So it's just an interesting question. Who hasn't had a bad month? I feel like Goldschmidt has not had a bad month. There are probably a handful of first-round caliber hitters that haven't. Yeah. But then there are some that have.

Anthony Rizzo got off to a really slow start. Mani Machado had several bad months. Absolutely. Yeah, no, Goldschmidt's been so good, man. All year long. 522 slugging, 602, 6.0, 6. 32, 513, and now 6.59 in August. All right, let's see what else we got here.

I did want to make this a mailbag show, so we're getting through a lot. Here's one last email, and then we'll hop back to yesterday's action. This one is from Shane and Dallas. Dear Jesse, Danny, and Joey. That sounds like full house. Playing in a 10-team fantasy football league for the first time. Compare fantasy football to fantasy baseball. wide receiver equals outfield, running back equals infield.

Compare the positions. Position-wise, you want to compare the two. Okay. The easy one, and he actually wrote this in the email, Shane, tight end is catcher. Yes, that makes sense. There are only a couple who really stand out, and everyone else kind of stinks on the same level.

Right. I would compare relief pitchers to kickers, because they're only valuable because of the role they fill. That's what he said, actually. Relief pitcher and a kicker. Yeah. Good call. It isn't a totally fair comparison because in fantasy leagues you only start one kicker.

If you played in a fantasy league where you started two kickers, though, you would be really, or two or three kickers, like you do relief pitchers. You'd be really on top of who was filling that job for which respect to team. Sure. Quarterback, I think he wrote his quarterback starting pitcher. I think quarterback is outfield. A lead at the top, but still like very deep. Shouldn't have trouble filling out a starting, like a start, getting a starter at outfield. Yeah, I'll even say first base.

Okay. Because there's so many high score. Like it's the high scoring position, but there are so many of them that you don't give it the priority you think you'd give those high scoring players. What about running backs? Running back. Shortstop. What was that? Shortstop, second base. Yeah. Now that makes sense.

A scarce infield position like shortstop. So, you know, you're going to pay more of a premium for the best ones at the position. And then you're out of positions. That's really the biggest difference between fantasy football and fantasy baseball is a heck of a lot more positions to fill in baseball. I think position scarcity is a bigger part of it. the game than in football. So unfortunately, we have to leave some positions out. Well, that was a pretty interesting email.

I encourage you to listen to the Fantasy Football Today podcast. We're having a lot of fun. And we have a lot of podcasts, actually. If you go to CBSports.com slash podcast, the 24-7 sports college football podcast is crushing it right now. The Pick Six podcast is a lot of fun if you just want to talk some NFL. We've got In This Corner, which is very relevant right now. It's a boxing, MMA wrestling podcast hosted by Britsch,

Brian Campbell, one of the best in the business. Nick Costas is on that. Adam Silverstein is on that. A lot of guests. Connor McGregor and Mayweather this weekend. They're going to be talking about that. SummerSlam, like, just very good podcast. CBSports.com slash podcast.

Another thing to do is get our app. The CBS Sports app, the new version, is the only sports app with box scores that show stats like OPS and OBP and WIP and even fantasy points. So swipe right on the box score. I use the app every single day. Download the CBS. sports app at CBSports.com slash baseball. CBSports.com slash baseball.

Here are your news and notes. Greg Bird and Starlin Castro are nearing returns. Not imminent, but probably next week. What are your expectations and interest, if any, in Greg Bird? Pretty much non-existent. Leave him for the AL-only leagues. He needs to prove himself after the way he started the season, and there's just so many good first baseman out there.

Yeah, but, you know, I thought about that, though. I was talking about this with Heath. I think we were also talking about Greg Bird. Are there that many good first baseman? Because a lot of the ones that were really carrying that conversation aren't good anymore. Justin Boar is on the D.L. Yonder Alonzo is useless. Logan Morrison is useless right now.

I'm serious. I want to call him useless. I want to call Mark Reynolds useless. But meanwhile, I have Reese Hawkins coming in. you have Josh Bell joining the fray. Like I would even say Jan Harva Salarte, who recently gained – no, actually, he's been first base eligible for a while, but I'd rather have him than Greg Bird. Oh, really? Yeah.

Yeah, he's had a lot of injuries, but he's had a pretty good year when he's healthy. He's very whatever. Bird, you can't fairly judge him. He was playing hurt. He had surgery. I mean, I'm fine saying that he's got to prove it. I just don't think – I just don't see a good thing. enough reason to take the gamble at this point.

You know, if he homers twice in his first four games or whatever, fine. I'll pick them up. I don't think there's going to be a lot of competition for him. Okay, that's fair. I'm not convinced he going to play against lefties either. Starlin Castro is 81% own. Sometimes these guys who got injured, they get dropped. If you need a second baseman, 81% own, Castro should be back pretty soon. I'm surprised it's that high, actually, given the number of equivalent second baseman in the player pool. Jason Kibniss is back on the DL.

Stephen Vote hit a pinch hit home run yesterday. But since Vought came off the DL, Manny Pena has made more starts than Vote. I think that might be because they've seen two lefties and vote is left-handed. But he does have 1,100 OPS with Milwaukee, Stephen Vote, and he's 16% owned. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be a strict lefty-righty thing. I don't suspect vote will play much more. I see it kind of like the Tyler Flowers, Kurt Suzuki situation in Atlanta.

Frankly, with the way he's performed this year, I'd rather have Suzuki. Then who? Then vote. Francisco Cerelli could be back today. Matt Carpenter sat with an illness. Carlos Santana could be back today. Salvador Perez is back, but you might not get as many at bats as you once did. He's not going to be able to DH this year due to the intercostal strain.

You might think that sounds weird, but apparently... But he's going to catch. Yeah, so it's the whole like sitting idly during the game and then going up and hitting. They're concerned that that would hurt. So they need to work them harder? Yes, exactly. Okay, that makes sense. I feel that.

Alex Cobb is going to start today. We'll go through today's matchups. Lance McCullors is going to make a rehab start tomorrow. All right. Let's talk about a couple of starting pitchers from yesterday who are owned in 93 and 96% of leagues, respectively. Zach Godley, are you starting to get concerned about Godley? Last three starts have been little. Not terrible, but kind of whole.

Kind of a Jimmy Nelson thing going on here. And Drew Pomerans, man. Drew Pomerans, 318 ERA, despite a 134 whip. I mentioned yesterday his strand rate consistently great, around 80%. Godly or Pomeran's, who would you rather own? I'd rather own Godly. I'm not terribly concerned. I'm a little disappointed.

But it's mostly because, too, the last three walks, he's two of the last three starts, he's given up four walks. If he had been more of the one or two that he's been giving up most of the season, those starts would look a lot better. Even his bad starts have typically, he's made up for it partially by having a ton of strikeouts. You know, he only had five strikeouts in this one, but the start before 10 strikeouts in five in a third, the start before eight strikeouts in five and two thirds. There's still a lot to like about Godly. I think if his record was seven and five instead of five and it wouldn't even be a question.

He's kind of gotten burned with the win-loss record there this year. Pomeranz is fine, but I think we have a clearer idea what he is by now, and it's really not any more than fine. Really? Well, last year was an All-Star, and I guess you could argue that when he's healthy, Pomeranz is really good, and 13 starts. Now his last 13 starts, he's 7 and 0 with a 214 ERA. The whip's going to be high.

The whip is going to be high. The innings have been an issue all season. You know, pitching for the Red Sox, he's not getting burned by win-loss record, but I don't feel like there's any rhyme or reason why he's, what is his record? 13 and 4. Yeah, why he's 13 and 4 versus Godley's 5 and 7. The Diamondbacks are really good also. So I don't even, I don't give Pomeran's credit for that over Godly.

Okay. but the Red Sox have the third best bullpenny in baseball. I don't know. I just, in today's pitching landscape, I'm not sure that Drew Pomeranzas is, to me, he's more than just fine. I don't even hesitate to start him. Even in one-star week? I suppose if I had like a bunch of two-star pitchers that I really liked, but no, I think that Pomeranz has earned must-start status at this point.

And you don't because of the innings and the whip? Yeah. Okay. I mean, I'm never, like, afraid to start him. I just never excited to start him either. Fringy starting pitchers, are these guys owned in too many, too few leagues? Mike Fires is 70% owned. Good start last night. Matt Moore, three good starts in a row.

R.A. Dickey, more is 48% owned. R.A. Dickey is 35% owned. Edwin Jackson, 57% own. We already talked about Luke Weaver. He needs to be more owned. He's 49% owned. And Mike Montgomery, good start yesterday for the Cubbies, and he's 28% owned. Anyone under-owned fires more R.A. Dickey, Edwin Jackson, Mike Montgomery, under-owned or over-owned?

Under-owned or over-owned? Well, Jackson probably won't be 57% owned for long, just because I don't think he's very good. Weaver's my favorite of this group, so he needs to be much more owned, of course. you know, Dickie of 35 maybe a little underowned but I don't really think he's mixed league material I think Moore is about where he needs to be 48 Montgomery

if he was going to stay in the rotation I'd want him to be picking him up now but Lester might be back after just another term I think fires at 70% he is the one who's actually most owned of this group so it's hard to call him underowned but I do

think I was a little too quick to write him off when he had that four-star rough patch because his last two starts have been good and he was great for like the dozen starts before that. Strikeouts have remained high. Obviously a great supporting cast. So at the very least, I'll say he shouldn't be less owned than 70%. Yeah, he's now 71% on and fires. All of these guys, I think, are going to be two-star pitchers next week. Fires has Texas. and the Mets next week, both at home. The Mets really should be a great matchup at this point. Unless Dominic Smith and Ahmed Rosario start hitting,

and they've been, you know, Smith homered yesterday, Rosario's been getting a little bit better. But, yeah, their lineup stinks. Scott, in deeper leagues, you like any of these guys? Chase Headley, since the All-Star break, he's got, let's see, 893 OPS, Chase Headley. Luis Val Buena has five homers in his last seven games. Trevor Williams is almost matched Rich Hill yesterday.

Erasmil Ramirez four runs in his last three starts. James Shields has been better lately since changing his arm angle, and we talked about Mark Leiter. Anyone that needs more love? Not really. I am keeping an eye on James Shields since, yeah, it coincides with a mechanical adjustment he made, and they've basically been barely quality starts,

but four in a row have been pretty good with high strikeout totals. And, you know, James Shields is only a couple years removed from being a must-star pitcher and fantasy. So I'm keeping an eye on that. Not rushing to pick him up, but it's unexpected development. And then lighter at 6% keeping an eye on him too, though, as I said earlier, not in a hurry to pick him up either. We've got, I think, 12 games today.

And we are underway, actually, in New York, where the Diamondbacks face. the Mets. There are four games at one or one ten will skip them. So let's do the others. Rockies at Royals, Scott's favorite player, Armand Marquez at Jake Junis. Is he my favorite player? Because I don't think that's true. No, it's an exaggeration. But I do like Marquez, and especially when he's away from Colorado. And I'm going to say the Royals are a pretty good matchup. Some might scoff at that, but I'm going to say they are. So I would start Marquez, not Junis. That was an octave I had never heard before, not starting Junis.

Okay, this is a game worth watching, I think, if you want to do some scouting. The Dodgers are at the Pirates, Junjin Ryu and Chad Kuhl. I'll take Ryu. Jake Arrieta, Sal Romano. I'll take Garietta. Chris Sale, Trevor Bauer. Take Garietta. I'll take Jake.

Sail and Bauer. Bauer's been so good. lately, but it's the Red Sox. You know what? Yolo. I'm rolling the dice. Let's do it. Bauer. Nice. Padres and Cardinals, Pardomo, Carlos Martinez. Yes, to Carmart, obviously.

Are you going to start Jose Barrios tonight at the White Sox against Derek Holland? Worked great for Irvin last night. Let's do it for Burrios. Stephen Strassburg at Dallas Keikle, the matchup of the day. Both C's. Both C's. Both C's. Rangers and Angels. This is actually the matchup of the day. Martin Perez, Troy Scribner. No thanks?

I don't have anything to add to that. I think the guttural reaction say it all. Troy Scribner made Sideshow Bob step on a rake. That's what I heard. Really? No, that's the sound you made. You did the side show Bob steps on a rake noise. All right.

I got to get out of here before I get laryngitis. I am struggling right now. So for Scott White, I'm just going to whisper on Adamazer. See you later.