Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/27: Weekend Roundup - Sit Morales!? (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 27, 2018

Kendrys Morales will be in an NL park this week making him an iffy start, but you still have to pick this guy up. Which SPs are we recommending this week (5:00)? Can you trust a guy like Derek Holland with your season on the line? ... Big news including a bunch of bullpen updates (8:58) in NYY, LAD and CLE. And we talk about some SPs we are ready to sit (15:00), ready to buy (16:25), ready to add (17:35) and ready to drop (18:45). Are we adding Lucas Giolito? Sitting Jose Berrios? ... More bullpen updates (23:45), who we added and dropped, the Most Added list (28:40), streaking hitters like Tyler O'Neill, Billy McKinney and Luke Voit (32:30), your SP roundup from the weekend (39:04) and a look at today's matchups late in the show ... Your emails at [e-mail] This episode is sponsored by www.ZipRecruiter.com 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. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Fantasy playoffs? Probably getting started in your league, or if you're in a Roto League. We are in the stretch run.

We are just about into September. Welcome, everybody. This is yet another week of awesome fantasy. Fantasy Baseball coverage on fantasy baseball today. Team scam with you. I'm Adam Azer here with Scott White. And Team scam may have been eliminated from the playoffs in that league. That's all right. We're hard charging at the end. Yeah. It's okay. We finished like eighth or ninth. That's fine. Out of 16. So I'm proud of it.

I'm proud of us, Scott. Definitely have a new strategy for next year. Oh, yeah. Head-to-head categories leagues. Forget about stuff. starting pitching. Scott, I made an interesting trade yesterday that I think is a fun, relevant way to start the show. I trade. It's actually like after midnight. Technically it was Sunday morning, but it's basically Saturday night before yesterday's action. I traded Kendris Morales for Chris Archer. And I felt like I got to do this, right? I just picked up, picked up Kenshin Marales like four days earlier. This is a...

That's the kind of offer of people are offended when you make it to them, right? I know. This is a classic by-low sell high. And then Morales hits his home run in a seventh straight game. Archer gets crushed again. And grade the trade. Give up Morales, get Archer. I will give it a C-plus, maybe a B-minus.

I mean, obviously, if this was... Even if this was the start of next year, knowing how Archer's 2018 went, I would say you totally got the better end of that deal. But I just have so little faith in Archer, and I'm really not confident you're going to start him down the stretch. But I still think you win because Kendris Morales has always been a fringy roster guy, right? And this streak is going to end. he kind of needed this street to get back to where he normally is. His home run to fly ball rate is now normal after being low most of the year. So, you know, he's going to go back to being Kentress Morales.

He's a pretty good, useful hitter when the matchups are right, whatever. But there's still at least a chance, Archer. Whatever's wrong with Archer clicks for him. and he's back to being normal Chris Archer down the stretch. So I would rather want that guy on my bench than Kendris Morales. Well, Morales is the talk of the town. He's owned in about half of CBS Sports Leagues. He is now batting 264 with 21 home runs.

He's hit 28 and 30 home runs in his last two seasons. And last 41 games before yesterday, 41 games entering Sunday when he homered, he was batting 316 with 12 home runs. and his plate discipline Did you mention this, Scott? His plate discipline this year? Much better? He has walked more, yeah.

Strikeout rate. Yeah, that's true. Strikeout rate is pretty normal for him, actually. 19.6, it was 21.7 last year, 19.4 the year before. Well, then what am I missing here? Because he had... Oh, because there's the walk rate that's up?

The walk rate's up. Okay, so it's the walk rate that's up. All right, yeah. But the Babib's normal. Like I said, the home run to fly ball is now normal after this hot streak. It's a little higher, like it's a little higher than the past two years, but it's not like it's dramatically higher or anything. Okay, he's got to be the hitter to add, right?

I mean, you got to give Morales. Yeah, I mean, you can't leave him unroastered. Here's the problem. Like, even if you want to make the case getting back to your archer trade, you know, just, it's a stretch run. You got to go with the hot hand. And Morales is really, is clearly the hot hand. the Dodger, I mean the, what team does he play for? The Blue Jays traveled to the NL for three games this week.

They're visiting the Padres, I believe it is, for three games to end the week. So unless they're just going to outright sit just in smoke. And, you know, maybe they will for a game, but I doubt they're going to bench smoke for all three of those games. And Morales is just going to have a normal week here. I don't really think you can start Morales in a least not in a mix league this week. That's crazy. That is crazy.

He's going to try to tie the record of eight straight games with a home run. All right, so that's our hitter to add. It's Ken just Marales. Who's our pitcher to add, Scott? One pitcher that might be out there that you could add. Do you have any nominations, Adam? Sure. Awesome, right back to you.

Well, I'll go right into the... I don't know why this catches me by surprise every week. I have so many notes here. Go ahead. I'll go right to the... one-start streamers. C.C. Sabathia has a 16% swinging strike rate in his last three starts. That doesn't make any sense to me.

But one of those starts was against the White Sox, and that's who he's facing this week. So Sabathia is 78%-owned. That is a shallow league option. Sabathia against the White Sox. Another one, this guy is unbelievable. He should be 90% owned. Armand Marquez, he is at San Diego this week. He is an amazing option this week.

Armand Marquez threw seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts at home. against the Cardinals, and he's just really taken off. He's got a 257 ERA in his last 10 starts, and he's at the Padres. So that's a no brain. How old is he? 75%. That's crazy that he's available anywhere at this point. I think he's just must start right now.

I don't know if it'll be that way the rest of the season, but one start, two start, home away. He's been ace-like for two months now, right? All right, we're off to 78% for Amon Marquez, and yeah, it's been awesome. So those are shallow guys, shallow league guys. Sabathia and Marquez. I'm sure they have a lot to their personality. I didn't mean to insult them.

Derek Holland is facing the Mets this week. The Mets have the third worst OPS in baseball against lefties. And Holland has, you know, he's been fine. He has been fine. I wish you pitched deeper into games, but that's really the only knock on him right now. Andrew Suarez, also a lefty, also facing the Mets. I don't trust him. Do you?

No. No. Brad Keller gets Baltimore this week. Keller's been pretty solid lately. He's got 307 ERA in August. Brad Keller, 24% of us? Yes. Yep. Yeah, and then there's Wei and Chen.

Way and Chen has another home game. He's facing the Blue Jays. He has a 186 ERA at home. He just shut out the Braves over six innings with 10 strikeouts. That was weird, the strikeouts. That was weird. I think he was celebrating having one of the best players, weekend names on his jersey.

What was it? It was way in. Oh, cool. Like, you know, boxing way in? Uh-huh. Yeah. That is cool. Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, that's a 5% own guy, so if you're desperate, and Wei and Chen's just been great at home, and he's got the Blue Jays at home. I mean, there are other guys like Joe Musgrove's available, but in terms of they just want to play matchups or whatever. Michael Fulmers, no, we don't want to start Fulmer's at the Yankees. I'm not sure we talked about. this guy on Friday?

Maybe we did. Do we talk about Sam Gaviglio? Gavillo, we did not. What the Dillio. What the Dillio Gavillo? Maybe we did. You're only pronouncing that G, huh? No.

What's up G? Yeah, his matchups are really good this week. He has Baltimore and Miami. And his three of his last four starts have been good. I mean, he has an ERA in here five. So it's not like he's a must-ad, but if you, you know, it's a week where there are not a lot of two-star pitchers who are available and worth using. He might be near the top of that list. All right, so those are some pitchers options if you're just looking to stream this week.

The news and notes about, you know, speaking of Baltimore, I got to tell you, Severino wasn't so great last night. He got lucky he was playing Baltimore. He's still not 100% back. Slider not really working for him yesterday. Fastball was great. But I know you're going to start him. We've got the White Sox this week. But he's still not 100% there. Injuries, news and notes.

A roll of this Chapman's going to be re-evaluated in two weeks. The Dodgers are sticking with Kenley Jansen, and Cody Allen's role will not change. He has not lost his closers role. You can still see Brad Hand get a save here and there, but Allen's still the closer. Buster Posey's hip surgery. He's out six to eight months. And that's crazy. And Nick Hunley is going to be San Francisco's primary catcher.

Is he a mixed league guy? Nick Hundley? I wouldn't call him a mixed league guy. Two catcher leagues, sure. But he's not going to break into the top 12 or even the top 16. Okay. Calvin Herrera was carted off the field. So that stinks.

That's the Nationals closer. And I know we're not going to trust. Cota Glover. Yeah. Code of Blue. Danny Glover. Gary Sanchez could be back in about a week. We were both making dumb jokes at the same time.

It was a different joke. I don't know who Code of Blue is. It's just like Code Blue, you know. Coda. Oh, yours was terrible. Well, yours wasn't any better. I felt obligated to make a joke after you said Coda Blue. I just didn't know what is happening there.

I thought it was simultaneous. Rewind the tape. All right, Gary Sanchez could be back in about a week. Shaw Manaya on the D-L with a shoulder impingement. Something to keep in mind for Chase Anderson, he's been much better when he has six or more days of rest, and they're trying to stretch him out so he can be on more rest. But if you own Anderson, keep an eye on that.

Jeff Samarja had a setback. Malik Smith is recovering from a viral infection, so he's still out. Cannot start Smith this week. A Rhodos Viscite-Anil could be back soon for the brave, Scott. Do you think he reclaims the closers, Jeff? I do not. Okay, Minter.

He was back yesterday. Who, Viskaya was? No, Mentor was. Oh, yeah, yeah. He was dealing with a little something or other. Chris Bryant. Yeah, sorry, Chris Bryant. Are we starting Chris Bryant this week?

I don't think I would. It was an injury that was impacting his production. and yeah, I'd just rather play it safe. Obviously, the deeper the league, the worst your replacement option is, and you may have to. I mean, there's also, you know, it might only be half the week, you know, that he's back. So it would have to be a deep league.

And the thing with Brian, the good thing is with Chris Bryan, he had his shoulder injury. He says he's feeling a lot better. He says he's feeling more powerful now. So let's hope he finishes strong, but it would be risky. Yep. Lance McCuller is unlikely to do. join the Houston rotation this year, rejoin it, so you can drop him. What about Framber Valdez?

Any interest in Framber Valdez? I'm not completely disinterested. I wanted it to be Josh James, who ended up filling that rotation spot instead. But Valdez had 11.3 strikeouts per nine in the minors this year. An ERA over four, and it wasn't with like a high home run rate or walks. I don't know. That was kind of weird. But there does seem to be some strikeout potential here. obviously a good supporting cast. So I don't know exactly when his next turn is. I feel like the Astros will probably skip him whenever possible. But deep leagues, you might want to give him a look.

And do we, wait, do we know that he's in the rotation or just speculating? Well, I... I mean, it makes sense. We don't know. No, we don't know. They haven't had, they've had an opening for a few weeks since McCullors went down and they had a bullpen game. and they were that that turn was coming up again Tuesday I believe of this upcoming week but that since changed because they decided to take that turn on Sunday instead right that's

Framber Valdez for the Astros Yasmani Grandal's nickname last weekend was Yasmaniian devil which is great because remember he auto corrects to Tasmanian grandma in my phone so I like that and Gary Sanchez oh I already mentioned Gary Sanchez can be back next week I just love Gary Sanchez so much, so I wanted to tell you twice. I thought about, what would your nickname be, Scott, if we did nickname weekend? Something I'm called around the office a lot is Scotty Blanco. Okay. So it would probably be that.

Scotty Blanco. Or maybe just Blanco? No, I like Scotty Blanco. Put it all on there. Yeah. I had the thought that, I hope I haven't already said this before, like maybe last year this time, I don't remember ever thinking it, so I doubt I said it. Well, my nickname, everybody just calls me A's.

but I couldn't put that on the back of my jersey on nickname weekend, that'd be lame. So I thought, okay, I would probably have to go with AA. Sometimes people used to call me double A. But then if I were a major league baseball player and I had double A on the back of my jersey, I feel like that would be a really bad idea. Yeah.

That'd probably... Well, I don't know. It depends how bad. Wouldn't intimidate anyone, that's for sure. If you were good, it'd be fine. I guess. If you were bad, it might be a bad only... there.

We actually had, I don't know what the thinking was behind it, but they actually had like t-shirts or like jersey shirts kind of for the whole office where they had us pick a number and put a name on the back of it. And you picked Rowan Gardner. I did.

With the number one. Which was his number in Rookie of the Year? Yeah, it was. Of course it was. Because people tell me I look like that actor. Yeah, you kind of do. Yeah, I get that a lot. Yeah, that works.

I think you should do that again. Row and Gardner? Okay, I would do that. It only works if you have number one. Yeah, that's true. I like the contrast between the skinniest number and the really long name, you know. Yep, totally. All right, Scott, ready to sit, ready to buy, ready to add, ready to drop.

Are you ready to sit Zach Godley at San Francisco this week? I am not ready to sit him, no. The last two starts weren't very good. But he might be the reason that we're out of the playoff race now in the For the People League. But nonetheless, there's still a lot more good starts than bad recently. Just those walks keep popping up from time to time. Are you ready to sit Jose Barrios, tough matchup at Texas this week? Yeah, I'm not sure what's wrong with him.

Apparently he had a stomach issue yesterday. He did, yeah. But his velocity was way down. it was down like three miles per hour on average. And a lot of his fastballs were in the 80s. I got to think that's the stomach issue. Maybe, but as Chris pointed out, he's had some control issues for going to going back a few starts now,

which are unusual for him. So I don't know. I don't know that he's okay. What's the matchup? At Texas, I believe they have the fifth highest hold of OPS. Yes. That's been the worst part for pitchers this year. I'd play it safe and sit him.

Wow. All right. Sitting for Rios. Are you ready to buy? Ready to buy Mike Fires? I mean, yeah, I could use him. Sure. It's a bad time to buy coming off a two-star week.

And I don't think he's actually as good as he's shown. But he has had more than a strikeout per inning with the A's. It's just like How many times has Mike Fires faked us out in his career? I know, but it's 16 starts with a 230 ERA now. Yeah, he's had stretches that long where he's been that good And he's not really that good. It's true.

I think it's just He has stretches where his command is so pinpoint fine That it makes him look like an elite pitcher But it's just unsustainable. I'm fine using him right now. I just don't get too comfortable. Are you ready to buy? Derek Rodriguez.

Yeah. I mean, he's pitched over his head. He's not always going to be as good as he's been, but I'd have no real concerns about starting him right now. He's been so consistent. I definitely have no concerns about starting Derek Rodriguez at home, and his upcoming start this week is home against Arizona. Are you ready to add the following pitchers?

Austin Gomber. Austin Gomber will face the Reds this week. Six innings, two runs at Colorado yesterday. Are you ready to add Austin Gomber? It was just one walk, I believe, in that start, too. Which that's been the issue for him is just so many walks. Yeah. He's usable, sure.

I could add him. Would you rather start Austin Gomber against Cincinnati or Derek Holland against the Mets? I would rather start, I think Holland. Okay. It's close. How about Holland? Gombor or a two-start Gavillo. Points league, I'd go Gavillo.

Okay. What the Dillio. Are you ready to add Lucas Gialito? Seven quality starts in his last nine. Lucas Gialito. He has been much better. I'm not ready to add him. It's still, the walks to strikeouts is still closer.

Too close for a comfort for me. And he has Boston at home this week, so I don't think we want to start. Lucas Gialito Are you ready to drop the following players Chris Archer No My concern with Chris Archer I mean obviously it depends on who's out there

In none of my leagues is anybody that interesting On the Waver Wire So it's really not a thought to it Because my concern is that you drop him Somebody else picks him up And that's when he becomes The ace level pitcher You thought you were drafting

because it's still in there. Like there's nothing is... The velocity's fine. The swinging strike rate's fine. He's definitely not far off. I have a very different take on Chris Archer. It could come back to bite you in a big way. I'm done with Chris Archer.

I'm not done with Chris Archer. I'm still starting him. I just traded for God's sake. But I just don't think... He's only ace level because of innings. You know, if he is ace level at all. Just innings and strikeout. Yeah, but his strikeout... rate is way down this year.

I know. That's one of the weird things. It doesn't make sense. He's a two-pitch pitcher. His change-up that he throws 10% of the time is it, I don't think it's very good. He pretty much, I think, throws it against lefties. Now, look, I watched yesterday's start because I traded for him. I was invested.

I turned it off in the middle of that six-run inning. It could have been a much better inning. There were a few defensive plays that were not made behind it, but they were not easy plays, and the balls were getting hit hard. But ordinarily, like Starling Marte makes that catch in center field and ends the inning. And I think there were four more runs that scored after that. But, you know, it could have been better. And then he recovered.

He threw a scoreless inning after that, I believe. I just see a guy like, it's three years in a row with a four ERA or worse, right? Or around that? Actually. Yeah. I mean, if you're only assessing him on the ERA, he's not the best choice. But he was obviously a productive fantasy pitch of the previous two years. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm not even saying you need to start him. I think you should be done with him in terms of, I don't anticipate starting Archer again this year, but it's kind of the same argument I've been making for, look, if you've committed this much time to Vladimir Guerrero, you might as well keep him on your roster because in the off chance, he does get called up.

You don't want him benefiting somebody else's team. It's the same sort of deal. You're just planting Archer on your bench so that he doesn't become like a booby trap, you know? Are you ready to drop Luis Castillo? I mean, it's kind of the same thing. I'd be more likely to drop him than Archer. Are you ready to drop Joe Gonzalez,

even though he had a good start against the Mets on Friday? Yeah, he sucks. Are you ready to drop Tyler Anderson? It has fallen apart for Tyler Anderson. Six or more runs allowed in three of his last five starts, but he's at San Diego this week. Yeah, it's not like he's anywhere close to eighth level, even when he's going, right? So that's not going to hurt you so much.

You can drop him. Are you ready to drop Andrew Heaney? Andrew Heaney, five runs against the Astros on Friday, and last five starts. He has a 660-E-R-A, and he's at the Astros this week, Andrew Heaney. I'd be okay dropping him. He's really in a scary area in terms of innings. Yeah, I'm not sure how much he has left. All right, Andrew Heaney.

See you later. Now, you know, would you be happy if 80% of the roster moves you made were a good move, Scott, 80%? Four out of five? You'd be happy with that, right? It's a great rate. Yeah, that's awesome, yeah. 80% of employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site within the first day. Within one day, that's how long it took me to regret the Kendris Morales, Chris Archer.

trade. But within one day, 80% of employers who post on ZipRecruiter, get a quality candidate. If you want to try it for free, go to ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. ZipRecruiter.com slash S-T-R-I-K-E. You can try it for free. ZipRecruiter, you know, makes what used to be very hard, hiring, really easy. Used that to go through multiple job sites, stacks of resumes, a confusing review process. Today, hiring can be easy and you only have to go to one place to get it done, ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. So you post your job. ZipRecruiter sends your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards. They find the right matches for you.

They scan thousands of resumes and they bring good candidates to your attention so you never miss a great match. And that's why ZipRecruiter is the highest rated hiring site in America. Our listeners can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. One more time, people, type it in right now, ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. That ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. A lot of bullpen stuff yesterday. Or all weekend. I don't know what the most significant was.

Adam Conley got a save for the Marlins. I think three lefties were due up, so that's probably why. Drew Steckenrider came back, got the save on Saturday. Pedro Strope blew a save, whatever, he's the closer. Jeremy Jeffers blew a save on Friday, but got a save on Sunday, Scott. Thoughts there? Yeah, he had three saves this past week. So, sounds like that.

like it's finally playing out like we hoped. All right, Jeremy Jeffers, wonderful. What else we got? What else we got? Cody Allen, we mentioned. He's going to keep that role. Zach Britton got a save on Friday. I think Potanis got a one-out save on Saturday.

And then David Robertson... Yeah, that sounds right. And Britain's save wasn't clean. No, it wasn't. I think he gave up a run. He gave up a Homer on Friday. Yeah. And then they used Britain in the 7th and the 8th yesterday,

and David Robertson got the save on Sunday. I still expect Robertson to get the majority of the saves while Chapman's out, do you? Yeah. Robert Giselman got a save on Friday. We don't talk about him a lot, but if you're tired of all this uncertainty, Willie Peralta is the Royals closer, right? I mean, he's going to get the saves for them. Whatever saves are available and however capable he is of converting them, yes.

Mark Malanson got a save on save. Saturday. Will Smith has been struggling a bit lately, and then Melanson got a save on Sunday. There's no way Smith was available to pitch on Sunday. He had pitched three straight days. Who's the closer in San Francisco? I got to believe it's still Will Smith, even though Melanson got saved two days in a row, like you said. Even if they were thinking of putting him in the role, it wouldn't last long. But I don't think they are. I think it's just Will Smith got in trouble. Will Smith needed a day off.

And I said I expect Robertson to get the most saves for the Yankees. Just to go back, like Patensis got the save on Saturday because Canley was in a 5-0-0-0 game struggling in the 9th. Patentz's got a one-out save. I don't know if Patensis was available yesterday. So I'm not taking back what I said about Robertson, but it's possible Patensis could have been used in that situation. All right.

And Kenley, oh, Jace Fry. Jace Fry got to save for the White Sox. Okay, whatever. He's their best reliever. Yeah. I've been wishing he was the guy, but they've shown no commitment to anyone. Kenley Jansen has been struggling, but would you start him this week, Kenley Jansen? I mean, maybe if I needed saves.

And, you know, if it was a head-to-head leg where you have two relief spots, maybe you have a third guy you could use instead, but otherwise I'd start it. And this is an interesting one, the Phillies bullpen. Sir Anthony Dominguez has been really struggling. On Sunday he pitched in a non-save situation. On Friday or on Saturday he pitched in the 7th and the 8th and he gave up three runs. Has he lost a job, Sir Anthony?

There's reason to wonder if he's going to get another save chance any time soon. Yes, he's been pretty unreliable of late. And, you know, they haven't hesitated to mix in Pat Neshik, Victor Arano Yeah I don't know

He's still the one I want to own right now But I'm not doing it with much confidence Any interesting ad drops for you Scott Not so much I feel like it's been A lame few weeks For ad drops Other than obviously the Kopec call-up

Was exciting Yeah you added You did add Kendris Morales And drop Teosca Hernan That's a good call. You added Clay Buckelts in a Roto League. Two-star pitcher, yep. And, you know, not widely available.

Yeah. That was the one league where I think I could have picked them out. I made a lot of drops. Not so many, actually. Well, in one league, I made a lot, daily league. But in a weekly league, I added Ken Giles, excuse me, and I dropped Carlos Martinez. Obviously, could drop him. And I also added Kendris Morales, and I dropped.

Stephen Gonzalez, and I'm trying to think... I added Cole Calhoun. I can't believe he was still available in my Categories League. Did you say Stephen Gonzalez? Gonzalez, sorry. Okay. Yeah. The Twins pitcher who does not need to be owned.

I'm trying to think any other interesting transactions. Yeah, I'm kind of with you. It's been slow. They weren't interesting. I made some, but they weren't interesting. Yeah. All right. Well, I see Luke Voigt.

was picked up in one of my leagues, so we have to talk about him. He might be the... Yeah, we do need to talk about him, actually. Let's see if he's on the most added list, Scott. Let's take a look. Most added list, number one, is Kendris Morales. He's now 58% owned. It's gone up 12% since last night.

Sam Gavillo's number two. Well done. Dellen Batances, number three. Maybe. Maybe smart move, maybe not. Marwin Gonzalez is 82% owned. Are you buying this hot streak from him over the last 28 days? He's the number four.

four shortstop in points, number two in Roto, batting 315 with eight home runs over the last 28 days, Marvin Gonzalez. Yeah, he's actually number one on the top 10 sleeper hitters for this week. Astros have good matchups. He's hit more than half of his season total just in August in home runs. And that's mainly what was lacking from his breakout year last year. The power just wasn't the same. So I don't know what's behind it exactly, but he suddenly seems highly usable again.

Okay, so put Marvin Gonzalez in your line of. Brett Anderson is on the most out of list. He's number five, and you just really got to be careful with Brett Anderson. He's up to 57% owned, I think, and Anderson is at Houston and home against Seattle. I think we said avoid him, right? I mean, there's a chance he's decent because he is an elite ground ball pitcher. And as we've seen from, um, uh, Dallas Kichel and Marcus Stroman over the years,

that can be enough to make a guy useful in fantasy. But both of them are better strikeout pitchers than Anderson, so it's a long shot. Roberto Ozuna got a save over the weekend as he continues to try to claim that role. Greg Allen, I think it's only a Roto League. He steals a ton of bases. He's 19% owned. I forgot to pick up Greg Allen.

I wanted to, and I forgot. He's Cleveland outfielder, and, yeah, he steals all the time. Brian Johnson. Brian Johnson this week, Miami and at the White Sox? I get why people are picking them up, but if they would read my two-star pitcher rankings column, they would see that's a bad idea because probably Eduardo Rodriguez is going to come back this weekend and cancel that second start, or at least push it back.

It's not clear Brian Johnson would be the one he's replacing. Yeah, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you picking up, Brian? Read Scott's column. Read it. Exactly. Always. Melkei Cabrera, Tyler White, both 20% own.

Any interest in Melchie or Tyler White? Yeah. Passing interest in both. Tyler White's actually on the top 10 sleepers hitters for this week. He has been starting, I think he started every game at DH since Altuve got back. I don't think he started yesterday. Okay. Well, there's one.

Everyone but yesterday. And he's done pretty much every time he's played, he's done something big. Huge numbers of AAA this year. I'm not confident he's going to start all seven of the Astros games this week, but if he starts five, it's a good chance he'll be useful in a number of leagues. All right, a few other players that are widely available, Jeff McNeil, who is dealing with injury right now. and Daniel Ponce Dalyone.

Do you have interest in them? McNeil had a nice week. Yeah. He's batting three, four. I have some interest in both of them. They're not, like, it's deeper league interest. I definitely see a path for McNeil being a quality fantasy option, really good play discipline.

Just, it's a bad supporting cast, and I'm not confident the power. Like, without a good supporting cast, I'm not sure he has enough power to carry himself kind of thing. All right. And then De Leon is getting start skipped, and it just doesn't seem like he's a high priority for the Cardinals. He's also getting half of his last name skipped by Scott, because he is Ponce, Deleone. What I say, Dalyon.

Yeah, just Dalyone. Love it, love it. Dalyone. Pons is his first name, because Dalyone is, you know, a last name in and of itself. Yeah, I agree. I mean, there's Jose de Leon. Okay.

I guess that's... This is really... There actually was a first name, Ponce, last name, De Leon. Yeah, that's right. There was. This has gone off the rails. Scott, who do the Georgia Bulldogs open with? And are you excited?

I am excited. I am excited for the Georgia Bulldogs. I don't know who they opened. Oh, yeah. You must be real fired up then. You must be real. I can't wait. I can't wait.

I don't have bandwidth to like to have these like anticipation research parties. Research parties? That's what it requires to find out who George is playing? No. I just kind of think of a good term for it. A research party? We've got a team of scientists. In my less busy days, I could just.

sit at a computer and read a bunch of stuff and, you know, look forward to things. But now it's just like it's here, and I got to carve out the time to enjoy it once it's actually here, much less. They open with Austin P. this weekend. So you can take the weekend off. Yeah, I'm not as excited now. They will be at South Carolina on September 8th. This is such a great time of year.

Great time of year. College football. I get more excited for the start of college football season than NFL. Don't tell anybody that. NFL's kicking off. We got baseball. I'm not doing a read right now. I'm just telling you how genuinely excited I am for sports at this moment.

Well, basketball pretty soon, too. You were going into your read, boys. I thought it wasn't. Scott, let me tell you something. Get there with Cicke. Now. All right, hitters, hitters, hitters, double dongs.

Matt Chapman has just been unbelievable since the All-Star break. He doubledonged on Sunday. Tyler Austin's actually been pretty good since getting traded to, traded or signed whatever to Minnesota. Tyler Austin, nobody seems to care about him, Scott. Do you care about him? He hasn't played every day with the twins, which makes it a little harder to get behind him.

But yeah, he's shown a lot of power. You know, still the lefty, righty splits are so skewed toward lefties that, I don't know. I mean, between him and, like, Luke Voight, it's a toss-up, probably. I might actually prefer Voight. Yeah, I don't think Voight's going to be the everyday first baseman, but they'll ride him while he's hot.

He held Homer three times over the weekend. I'm going to give up on the Gregor game. Yep, two homer game. Yep, two homers Friday. In the minors this year, he was on basically a, well, he was on what would be close to like a 25 homer pace with an OPS near 900. Have you ever seen him?

second year in a row of doing that. He could rip your arms right out of your socket. He is in, I believe it. Absolutely ripped. Yeah. All right. So those are guys, there's deeper leagues for sure. Luke Voight and Tyler Austin.

Yonder Alonzo Homer twice. Good for him. Other hitters. What do you think about? Freddie Galvis, top six shortstop over the last 21 days. He's hot. That's the most I can say for him. He's not very good.

Jet Lowry's hot. You can use him. How are his matchups this week, Jed Lowry? Oakland's matchups are kind of middle of the road. No reason to bench him because of it. 903 OPS in August. We should probably spend more time on Miguel and Duhar, maybe tomorrow. But he's got a 641 slugging percentage in August.

He's been great. David Bodie has homered in three of his last five games. He has an 884 OPS. David Bodie is 6% owned. Is David Bodie about to become irrelevant when Chris Bryant returns? Yeah, I'd have to figure the playing time is going to be reduced. And I don't have a lot of confidence in him sustaining this performance, even if he doesn't. He's a ground ball hitter with a 333 BAP.

So it seems like both the average and the power production are inflated. Okay, David Bodie. And then there's Tyler O'Neill, who has homered three times in his last five. four games, Scott. Cardinals outfield or Tyler O'Neill. A little bit of course field in there, but not all of it. Yeah, struck out seven times during that same stretch, so that's a little concerning. But, yeah, he has a lot of power. And with Ozuna on the DL, seems like he's going to play every day. So I would pick him up over Void or Austin, maybe even like Tyler White, depending on what you need. What about David Dahl versus Tyler O'Neill? David Dahl has started 10 of the last 11 games. Yeah, I expect more diverse production from Dahl, but if you're mostly looking at a guy's going to help you catch up in home runs,

I definitely go O'Neill. We've got Billy McKinney, 6% owned. He has Homer three times in his last five games. This is the Blue Jays outfielder. I think he sits against lefties. He's only 0 for 2 against lefties, so I'm guessing he sits. Billy McKinney, 6% owned, Scott. Have you considered him?

Not really. The minor league production. is pretty uninspiring. He gets on base a good amount, but only to the extent that his batting average has allowed, because that has been low pretty often. And then let's talk about pitchers from yesterday. I'm going to save all the studs,

the ones who were studs, the ones who were duds, the ones who are somewhere in between. I'll save that for tomorrow. I think there's only seven games on the schedule today. Let's talk about just players that people can add. Okay, Armand Marquez, obviously. This is Fringy Starting Pitchers Part 1, 65 to 79% own.

So we love Marquez. Vince Velasquez and Nick Povetta. They both get the Cubs this week at home. How much do you trust Velazquez and Povetta? They're about 80% owned, just under. I like Paveta more. I don't think either's must-own. So I don't have a lot of trust in them,

I guess if that's the word we're going to use. But they have more upside than probably most of what you'll find out of the waiver wire. Okay, and Annabal Sanchez, he's dealing with a hamstring injury, I believe, or a calf or something. It might be a cramp, but would you start Anabal Sanchez against Pittsburgh this week? Not automatically, but if that was one of my best options, sure. Fringy starting pitchers part two. That was wonderful. Fringy starting pitchers part two.

Joe Musgrove is at St. Louis. Michael Fulmer is at the Yankees. Mike Leak is at Oakland. Musgrove, Fulmer, and Leak. What do you think? I think Musgrove is fine. I'd like

Fulmer if he didn't have that matchup. I don't know. It's kind of the same thing as Anapal Sanchez. I'm not excited to start any of them. I'm not afraid to start any of them. They're just kind of whatever. If you have a spot to fill, whatever. Fringy starting pitchers part three,

30 to 50% owned. Stephen Mats will be at San Francisco, had a great start against the nationals over the weekend. Matt Harvey will get Milwaukee this week at home. Alex Cobb, last eight starts. He has a 224 ERA. He gets Toronto this week. Wade LeBlanc is at Oakland and Derek Holland is against the Mets.

Matt's Harvey, Cobb, LeBlanc, and Derek Holland. So now we get to the area where I just, I don't want anything to do with them. You know, Holland, I feel like, has the highest floor. so he'd be the one I'm most likely look into, but I don't know that Stephen Mats is even a good pitcher anymore because he hasn't had his best pitch in a couple years now. He's gotten by better than I thought he would this year,

but the negatives still outweigh the positives. And, yeah, I mean, Harvey Cobb, they've been better than their ratios say they should be. And I would just say, you know, Holland, we talked about at the top of the show. He does have a good matchup if you're desperate for a streamer. Home against the Mets. Third worst OPS against Lefties is not the worst thing. Deep Leagues, Andrew Swar, as we said, we're not really that interested.

Brad Keller, though, against Baltimore, maybe. That could work. Yeah, he's, I like him more than everybody in the last group. Brad Keller. So 24% owns seems like he's being overlooked. He's such a low strikeout guy, though. Yeah. I mean, none of them are good strikeout guys.

Greg, I mean, Derek Holland. I guess Holland has more than one per inning, but that's it. Yeah. It's just amazing to look at Derek Holland's numbers. Like, he is 365 ERA and a strikeout per inning? Crazy. It's been good. Dan Strayley, John Gant, Ryan Baruchie,

Pablo Lopez, Felix Pena, Framber Valdez, Alec Mills, Erasmo Ramirez. You know what? Felix Panyo was a guy added in a couple of leagues, and I think one of them for sure was a head-to-head points league. He's really pitcher eligible and has a really good slider that has led to some big strikeout games at times. It's not efficient, isn't somebody you count on for a quality start very often, but the right matchups is a two-star pitcher. This is a two-star pitcher. This is a two-star pitcher. This is a, you know, week, or I guess he's not because he started yesterday. So, yeah, it's not a two-star pitcher. But he's worth rostering as a spark, I think. Felix Pena, and he's at Houston this week. So he just faced Houston, six innings, three runs, two walks, five strikeouts.

That was at home with the Angels and now he'll be at Houston. I think people will be a little hesitant to start him. But, hey, Felix Pena, not so bad. All right, let's take a look at today's matchups. Steven Strasberg at Zach Eflin. I would start Eflin. and who's the other one, Felix? No, Strasbourg.

Strasbourg, okay, it starts Strasbourg too. Are you sure? Yeah. I mean, I'm not super confident either because they were terrible last time, but yeah, I probably would. All right, that's your prerogative. We got the Blue Jays at the Orioles.

Sam Gavillo at David Hess. When Gavillo has two starts, it's a little easier to get behind them if you're, you know, if you have the ability to move player and out of your lineup every day. So I would say no to Gavillo and no to Hess. Carlos Rodon at Masahiro Tanaka. I would start both.

Oh, starting Rodon at Yankee Stadium. Yeah, I would. I would. I'm not as down on them as Chris's. Mets at Cubs, Cindergarde at Lester. I'd be okay with both. Lester's. Not great, but the maths are not great either.

Brett Anderson is at Garrett Cole. Yeah, just Cole in that one. John Gray at Odrysa Merdespaniere. Just Gray. Patrick Corbin at Chris Stratton. Just Corbin. All right, we've got a lot of emails to get to here. Let's see what we can do.

This is from Casey. I need to start two in a 12-team Roto League. Archer, minor. Really, this is so. tough. You can't do this without the matchups. Archer, Minor, Riu, fires Tyler Anderson. Archer, minor, Riu, fires

Tyler Anderson. Pick two. All right, definitely not Anderson. I think I'd go Fires and Riu. Fires and Riu. Yeah, that's what I was making as well. All right, I'm going to have to go through the inbox here. Ben wants to know, what are the chances that Walker Bueller makes two starts this week?

I think pretty good. Okay. I just wonder what's going to happen after this week because he'll start to enter. He's already over his previous career high innings, and I suspect they want him contributing to the playoffs in the playoffs if they advance that far. So I could see him transitioning to the bullpen and maybe Ross Stripling transitioning back to the rotation. Andy wants to know which three closers you would start.

ERA and WIP are not important, saves are important. Ryssela Iglesias, Will Smith, Trevor Hildenberger, Roberto O'S. Osuna, Betancis, and Robertson. Oglacius, Will Smith, Hildenberg, Er, Osuna, Batances, and Robertson. Pick three. Osuna. Oh, man. Who is the guy who sent this email again?

I need to see this. I just sent it to you. Okay, thanks. You sent it to me. Okay, so I would go, Iglesias, Osuna, and Will Smith, I think, the Robertson's very close. This is from Kevin in Kalamazoo. Gosman against Pittsburgh or Newcomb against Tampa Bay?

I would go Gosman. Yeah, it was disappointing that the Braves removed him so early yesterday because he was throwing another gym. It was just a pin-shed-shirt. His lineup spot came up in a big spot, and they decided to pinch hit for him. But only 80 innings, only 80 pitches through five innings.

Also, in a D.H slot, Otani or Tyler White? I would go. I definitely like White's matchups more this week. So I think I'd go him unless, you know, there's a roster crunch. Obviously, he's the less rosterable of the two. He'd have to drop Sean Doolittle to add Tyler White. Or Otani. I don't think it's a must.

I think you could just go with Otani. Greg and Michigan, sit one of these guys this week. Nelson Cruz, Juan Soto, and Peralta. Who's Peralta? David Peralta? Oh, must be. I was thinking the same thing. Who is Peralta? So Soto, David Peralta, and the other one was... Nelson Cruz.

Sit one. Oh, you know what? This is actually easy because the Mariners are in the NL for two games. Beautiful. So, Sit Cruz. Paul wants us to mention that Trevor Cahill has a 0.85 ERA at home and a 692 ERA on the road, Trevor Cahill. Yeah, I think you've mentioned that before when we've talked about him. Okay, good, I'm glad. Good home away splits.

Okay, perfect. If he's at home, it's good. Jesse needs some starting help here. 14-team Roto League, trying to get in sixth place, K's and wins will really help. but I can't kill my ERA Whip. Okay. So he plans on starting Rodon and Gavillo and Ponce de Leon and Marco Gonzalez. He wants to know.

Oh my God. This is a really funny email. I forgot to read the greeting. But anyway, would you start a one-start Castillo, a one-start archer, or a one-start glass now, over any of the guys he mentioned? Two-start Rodan, two-star Gavillo, two-star or one-star Ponce-Delio? Leone, one-star, Marco Gonzalez. Yes.

I would not start Gonzalez or Ponce de Leon. Instead, I would start... I would start Glass Now, and I would start Castillo. And he said, dear Greg, Sonny, and Dellen, those are Yankees owned in less than 50% of leagues that Adam will talk about today. That's hilarious, because I did talk about Greg Bird and Delham Batanzas. I talk about Greg Bird in a I'm such a loser way. And Patensis needed to be talked about.

I haven't mentioned Sunny Gray. He had a great start against the Orioles. He's going back to the bullpen. Don't pick up Sunny Gray. This is from John. I have a D.L. spot open. Should I stash Donaldson or a Breu? You should stash a Breu.

More confident he'll be back in contributing. And finally from Bill. Would you start a one start, Armand Marquez? over any of these two-star pitchers. Clay Buckholz, Kyle Gibson, Walker Bueller. I would start him over all of them. If you're asking me to sit one,

I would sit Buckholz. What are Gibson's matchups this week? Gibson is at Cleveland and at Texas. Yeah, I think I do have Buckholz ranked higher in my two-star pitcher rankings. So I would sit Gibson. All right, Marquez over Gibson. Thanks for listening, everybody.

Hope this was helpful. We'll come back tomorrow, Talk about yesterday's games and do some regulating. Email us at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. For Scott White, I'm Adam Azer. Adios.