Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Mon. Recap & 2018 Talk

Episode Date: August 29, 2017

Are we ready to buy in to Mike Montgomery (7:00) or Blake Parker (8:00) yet? Who should you be picking up? And is Rhys Hoskins a Top 5 1B next year (3:00)? ... We talk 2B who have benefited from a change of scenery (16:15), how much faith we have in Jose Ramirez and Logan Morrison (20:08) and why you should consider adding Andrew Heaney (38:05) ... "Hopeful or Hopeless" for 2018 with Maikel Franco, Mike Zunino, Jonathan Lucroy and a few more (28:46). Plus a look at today's matchups (43:00) ... 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

So how good is Mike Montgomery? Is Logan Morrison a thing again? And who leads the American League in triples? We'll answer those questions for you and more on today's episode of fantasy baseball today. I am Adam Azer. Hello, everyone. And hello, Scott White. Hello, Adam Azer.

Yes, that is me. Nice to talk to you again. It is always nice to talk to you. I thought we were going to get a little Chris Towers action on here, the fantasy wet blanket Chris Towers. And I have a song to sing for Chris, and he's not here. But I'll try to get him on. I said he has a nickname, the Fantasy Wet Blanket.

He was a wet blanket about Reese Hoskins. He said, you know, only five of his home runs have been 400 feet or something like that. Ah, yes, yes, yes. Yes, we did discuss that yesterday. Yeah, so I have a song. Only half of those home runs he's hit in 70 at Bats. I have a Reese Lightning parody that I was going to sing too Chris, but he's not here. Well, night you're going to have to sing it anyway.

Anyway, now that you brought it up. I'm going to try to get him on just for like 20 seconds so I can sing to him. Okay. But Scott, who leads the American League in Triples? Well, I believe Evan Gattis did last year, but I don't think it's him. It's triples. I don't often look at that. I will guess that Rick Gardner does.

It's Nick Castianos. Ah, Nick Castellanus. Isn't that weird? It's about as weird as Evan Gattis. Yeah, it's weird. I kind of topped it with an even weirder tidbit from last year, didn't I? Oh, the Evangattis thing? Yeah, the Evangattis thing.

That was so crazy. What's not crazy, though? It's not even true. In 2015, Gattis had 11 triples, but it wasn't a league leading total. So it was two years ago and didn't quite lead the league. So sorry. Fair enough. It was still crazy to hit 11 triples.

Now, what's not crazy, though, is using ZipRecruiter.com. If you're hiring, with ZipRecruiter.com, you can post your job to 100 plus job sites, including social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, all with a single click. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. Try it for free, everyone. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. If you're hiring, it's a really good website for you, and I'll tell you more about it a little bit later. All right, we've got to start with the standouts here, Scott.

And I think we've got to go to Mike Montgomery, who is 62%. owned and he threw another gem not certain that he will make a start this weekend but what do you think about mike montgomery right now if he does start this weekend it would be against the braves hey guess who just walked in the room oh he's on chris towers walked in fantasy wet blanket a head sight chris towers yeah there he comes fantasy wet blanket adam wrote a song just for you chris ah we got to get his mic on as all right all right all right All right, what's the song? What's my song?

Sing me your little sad song, Adam. If anybody wants to join in on the backup vocals for Reese Lightning, release Lightning, go for it, okay? Here we go. I got it, I got it. Three, two, one. Go Reslide in. You're homer in every day.

Reslide in, row, resliding, go reslidding. Chris Towers think you're just okay. Resliding, go, resliding. You cannot reach 400 feet. You're Reese Lightning. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. There it is. That's it.

You stayed up all night for that? It took me about two seconds. All right, all right. Look, look, I don't hate Reese Hoskins. I just, I think it's important to note when players are doing, look, we can get excited, we can be fans, and we can enjoy these incredible moments. The guys like Reese Hoskins and Junkarlow Stan and Aaron Judge have provided this season. but when it comes to young players specifically like Reese Hoskins or Aaron Judge we tend to get too excited and we tend to assume that the outlier performance represents

normal I don't think anybody's thinking he's going to hold over 10 times every 50 a bad 90 homer guy sure but people if Reese Hoskins finishes this season with 20 home runs that would be incredible. Yeah. And he's what, halfway there? I would guess he doesn't hit nine more home runs the rest of the season, but I don't think it matters. I think he's a stud regardless because the plate discipline is so good. If he hits 20 home runs the rest of the season, people are going to look at him and say, well, this guy needs to be a third round pick next year. This guy needs to be a fifth round pick. That's probably too much. It might be when we line all the players up, but I legitimately think, and it may be as soon as next

year, Rees Hoskins is going to be an elite first basement in fantasy. There's an obvious top four at the position heading into the next year. It's not as high as it used to be because Miguel Cabreras dropped a lot. Edwin and Carnacioszion's dropped a little. There's an obvious top five at the position. Daniel Murphy's not going to be eligible there next year. You know, if I had to pick a guy for that fifth spot, ranking players for next year, the most sensible pick would be

Cody Bellinger after the obvious top four. Our Goldschmidt, Votto, Rizzo, and Freeman. How about these? You're drafting next season. You need a first base. You need a corner in. You've got Justin Boar, Justin Smoke,

and Reese Hoskins. Who are you taking? Depends how Reese Hoskins closes out the season. Today, I would take Justin Smoke. But Reese Hoskins definitely had a bore. How about you, Chris? definitely? I have a hard time looking at Reese Hoskins

and not seeing similar numbers to Anthony Rizzo. I don't think the power potential should be in question at all. He's basically done it two years in a row now at three different levels. Yeah, but how many 400 for home runs? But you were pretty impressed with Justin Boris got earlier this year. You said stud turn. And showed no signs of slowing down before his injury. But I think there's a lot more evidence backing up Reese Hoskins than

than Justin Boar. Has Reese Hoskins ever stopped in the middle of a home run derby eat a donut? Not yet. Not yet. Bye, Chris. Sorry for the terrible song. You would like to know, though, that I got a text message from my wife who overheard me singing. Greece? Who are you? Who did I marry? Yeah. I don't even know you anymore. They say it all changes after marriage. I guess so. I guess so. Okay, so that was a nice imprompt. to Reese Lightening discussion. And back to Mike Montgomery, though. Mike Montgomery.

Oh, yeah. Him. Yes, Mike Montgomery. What do you think? I'd be very interested in him if I knew he was going to stay in the rotation. But I think the only way he does is if the Cups decide to go six-man for a while. This is three good starts in a row, though. Obviously, one was about a month earlier than the other two.

There were some relief appearances mixed in. But great supporting cast. And he's a solid pitcher. he gets the chance. Yeah. All right, we'll see what happens. I'm not rushing to Adam just because what Scott said. The Cubs might have to go six-man to get Montgomery another start next week or even this week.

Which they – Joe Madden has at least floated the idea out – I said idea. The idea out there. But I don't think it would be long-term, even if it does happen. Teams don't do that long-term, maybe just a turn. Any other standouts from yesterday? It was not the most action-packed day, but we, you know, we can always sing songs about stuff. Any other standouts? Blake Parker, right?

Yeah, yeah. You seem less than enthused. I'm tired of guessing who the closer's going to be, but if there's one right now, I'd pick Parker. Two turns in a row. It's been Parker, and he has been the Angels best reliever this year. In terms of FIP, he is top 15. He's 15th, basically, among all relievers, with at least 30 innings in fifth this year. year. So he has closer ability struck out the side yesterday in the night that he also walked

the guy, but that was the only the only base runner he allowed. Angels are right in the thick of the playoff race. They've had a ton of save opportunities recently, which is part of what makes it so frustrating that they keep going with different options. But based on what happened with Parker yesterday and what happened in the Rockies bullpen yesterday, which was also interesting, I would prioritize Parker over McGee right now. I'd prioritize him over anybody in the Cardinals' bullpen. That's fair. Yeah, so Bud Black said that he still believes in Derek Holland,

and he pitched him in the ninth. They were trailing. Yeah, Greg Holland. He doesn't believe so much in Derek Holland. They were trailing by one run. And McGee pitched the eighth, and Holland pitched the ninth, scoreless, both of them. Right.

And I don't know that Holland's back yet. I don't know that he would have used him if it was actually a save opportunity. rather than trailing by a run. But it is interesting that Holland was the one working the ninth in a game where McGee also pitched. How about Zach Britton, who got a save yesterday? Britain or Parker?

I mean, we know Britain is a closer, so I have to go Britain right now. If Mike Sosha came out this afternoon and said, Blake Parker is my closer, I would rather have Parker. Parker's only owned 10% of leagues, CBS leagues. So there you go. You need to pump him up a little. You know, I'd rather have Shane Green than Zach Britt.

He's been so good. And he's only 51% owned. Yeah. Yep, make it happen. Make it happen, Cap'n. All right, news and notes. Aaron Judge, getting a few days off. He has repeatedly received treatment on his shoulder lately, according to MLB.com.

I hope there's some type of physical explanation for his slump. It's pretty scary how bad he's been since the All-Star break. But Judge will get a few days to get refreshed. It worked for Andrew Benintendi. It worked for Andrew McCutcheon last year. Hopefully it will work for another guy whose name begins with A. I think that is the key there. The Royals have not scored in 43 innings.

They got shut out again. They are five shy of the NLB record, Scott White. Do they set the record tonight with six more shutout innings? They are facing Alex Cobb. I'm going to predict they don't, but it's certainly feasible. Alex Cobb could do that. I mean, any pitcher is capable of stringing together six innings. things. They are two, the royals right now are too close for comfort, especially since they're

fighting for a wild card spot. Yeah, so I'm glad I, as of now, I'm glad I started Alex Cobb. We'll see what happens, but love the matchup. Famous last words. Now, Danny Duffy was charged with DUI on Sunday, so we will have to keep an eye on that. Buster Posey has inflammation and a bone bruise in his thumb. He's day to day. Everybody's going to avoid the DL at this point, because September's right around the corner, and you're more or less not going on the DL unless you're out for the season. That might be a slight exaggeration, but it's very frustrating. You're not going on the 15-day DL because 15-day DL means you're not freeing up a 40-man roster spot if you just go on the 15-day deal.

Right. Also, if you go on the 15-day DL, you are officially living time-traveling to 2016 earlier. You got me. Yeah, 10-day DL is what I mean. But players might still go on the 60-day DL to get another player on the 40-man roster, which would in September mean they're also eligible for the Major League roster. Trey Turner is going to be back today. Yay! Ian Desmond, he's back.

He was originally out of the lineup, but he did replace Carlos Gonzalez, who had a sore ankle. So they kept Trevor Story at shortstop. He had a decent game, and Desmond played in the outfield. Jason Worth is back, Scott. Is worth anything other than an L-only pick? Oh, yeah, I didn't even notice it. I don't think so. He did Homer yesterday, and I imagine there will be some week where the matchups are so good.

He winds up in my top-10 sleepers column, but I don't think he should be a big priority for anybody right now. Jackie Bradley Jr. should be back on Friday. Oduble Herrera could also be back on Friday. and Johnny Quato could return in about a week. I suppose there's a slight chance this weekend, but I think we're looking at next week for Quato. What do you expect from Quato? I do see people emailing randomly.

Johnny Quato is available in my league. Is he a must add for you? Yeah, he should absolutely be owned. I would want to see him actually have a good start before I activated him in a league because obviously he hasn't been pitching well all year. I feel like there are physical health-related reasons for that that are hopefully behind him now.

but has to prove it first. 1-800 prove it. The Astros are going to play their home games at Tropicana Field in Tampa. That's all week. They're going to play six games against the Rangers and then the Mets. At Tropicana Field, a much worse park. Does that change anything for you with a fringier Astro? I mean, it's, yeah, it's a more pitcher-friendly park than Houston has.

So, I don't know. I don't know that it changes that much. But, yeah, I'm just glad they're playing. Yeah, same here. And we'll see what the crowd is like. We'll probably, all right, cheap shot, probably going to resemble a raise game. Cheap shot. I bet.

I'm sorry. Justin Bore took swings in a batting cage. Mike Trout said he sat yesterday after he ran into the outfield wall on Sunday. He's 0 for 17. Trout's longest slump of his career is 0 for 18. So keep an eye on that. Noah Cinderguard through a bullpen session. Still worth a stash, Noah Cinderguard?

Absolutely it is. Okay. Miguel Cabrera left with back tightness. I hope he didn't start him. And David Wright paused his rehab assignment due to shoulder pain. Don't expect to see him. Not that we were that excited. But it would have been nice to see him back on the field, that's for sure.

But hopefully Wright can figure it out. All right. So, yeah, it's weird. It's like, I don't even know where else to go with today's show, right? It was that kind of day yesterday. So we're going to look ahead. I really thought you were going to go with hopefully right can get right. No, I already did the worst thing, and that was an accident. No, you need to start doing these on purpose. Okay. Well, you're right. They go. We're going to look ahead of 2018 today and talk about Logan Morrison, talk about Jose Ramirez, I was talking about a couple of middle infielers who have gone to new teams

and all of a sudden they're hitting for a ton of power. That's coming up in a second. But here's a segment called Still Better Than Polanco's sad face. Andrew McCutcheon is batting 228 with one home run in August. And he's still better than Polanco. Yeah, tale of two August, right, for McCutcheon? You mean like last year? Yeah.

Yeah, he's opposite or he's what's the call, what's it called? when you have like, you know, your alter ego? I don't know. Bizarro. Bizarro, Andrew Bucci. Okay, yeah. He's been bad. Comic book world. Do we have anything to say?

We still think it's just a slump? Yeah. All right, fine. Fine, Scott, whatever. Sorry. Change of scenery for a couple of middle infielers. Howie Kendrick is 39% own. 27 games with the Nationals.

He's batting 348. Now, he had a very good batting average with Philadelphia, But he's hit five home runs in 27 games. He's slugging 618. OPS over 1,000 for Howie Kendrick with the Nationals. This is a guy who in his previous three seasons, if you take all the games in three seasons, I think it was 420 games, give him 162 game pace.

Kendrick was on pace for eight home runs per year. He's already hit five in 27 games with the Nats. Is he just seeing better pitches? You know, he's batting lead off for a great lineup. Should we buy into Howie Kendrick? He's 39% owned. I really don't think we should buy into him beyond just a hot hand play. It's not like he has some absurdly high line drive rate to justify the Babbap he's putting up right now.

Having a little power helps, but it's not like he's ever really been a power hitter. So I don't really trust it. I don't think the need is that great outside of deeper leagues. All right. How about obviously you want to own, you want to start Eduardo Nune. but just what he's been doing. They both have played 27 games with their new teams, and Nunez is batting 317 with the Red Sox.

He's hit seven home runs. He has an 899 OPS. And it's not just taking advantage of Fenway. He's got four home runs in 17 games at Fenway. He homered last night at the Rogers Center. And now Nunez has three home runs in 10 games away from Fenway Park in those 27 games with Boston, mostly home games, because the Red Sox play 140 home games a year.

But he's probably not going to be shortstop eligible. next year, Nunez. He's only made 12 appearances. I don't know. It's amazing. It's amazing what he's done. He's been so good with Boston. He hardly ever strikes out, too. So I think it's more or less sustainable. He actually has a lower Babbat as a Red Sock than he does as a giant. And the home runs, they've been kind of high, but I think it's kind of making up for the very few he had with the Giants. The guy had 16 home runs last year. He has a little bit of pop. I think, you know, home run pays. might slow a little, but more or less, this is who Nunez is.

You can trust him in your lineup at a weak position. And he's a steals guy. Now, Nunez has no steals since August 3rd, but at that time, he had played about 80 games, and he had 20 steals, or 21. And he was right on pace for another 40 steel season, which is what Nunez had last year. It's weird that he hasn't stolen a base in almost a month, but that, you know, those come and go. And he missed some time, it was a little banged up, I think.

He's homering. So Nunez, hooray for Nunez, would you rather have Nunez or Gregorius? I would rather have... I forget how I rank them. I think I'd rather have Gregorius unless I specifically needed stolen bases.

They're pretty close. Is Eduardo Nunez the best shortstop eligible player on the Red Sox? So who else is shortstop eligible on the Red Sox? Bogarts. Yeah, Bogartz. Zander Nogarts. You know, I am actually doing a 30 bold predictions for 2018 column. It's obviously 30 of them.

It's pretty long, been working on it for a while now. One of those bold predictions is that Zander Bogartz doesn't bounce back next year. His batted ball data is basically all the same as last year, except for the home run to fly ball rate. And that was an outlier for his career. So I kind of think Xander Bogarts, he may not be much better than this. And as for the rest of this year, I don't know. I'm not particularly motivated to start Bogart's.

I think right now I'd have to say I'd rather have Nunez. All right. Go to the Faithometer with the Double Dongers from yesterday. How much faith do you have in these guys in your lineup rest of season? They have been slumping. But Jose Ramirez went two for three with two home runs, a walk and a steel. Have a game, Jose Ramirez. He still started in 96% of leagues, but previous 32 games, a 583 OPS for Jose Ramirez.

And then Logan Morrison, three home runs in his last two games. Let's start with Ramirez, zero to 10 on the faithometer. 10 being more faith. 10 is complete faith. Oh, yeah. Lock in my lineup. This is the number three second baseman in fantasy this year, by the way. Yeah.

So you know what I'm going to say, right? 10. Yes. Okay. Yeah, this is not the first sloth. lump that Ramirez has had. He had a 23 game stretch in May with a 573 OPS. He came out of that. He's got a 32 game stretch with a 583 OPS, and hopefully coming out of that, he had two home runs yesterday. What about Lomo? I wrote Lomo off. I thought he was back to being just a non-fantasy asset.

And since the All-Star break, he is batting 223 with eight home runs, but three home runs in his last two games. Your faith in Lomo. My favorite in Lomo is about a six. I was on the verge of dropping him in a 12-team points league. Smaller roster size, only 21 spots. Oh, you were? Well, you dropped him. Why didn't I drop him?

You did drop him. Oh, I actually did. Yesterday for Sean Minna. He was who I dropped for Sean Minaya? Yeah, but it didn't come in until this morning. Okay. All right, I forgot. Yep.

I thought I had a feeling you forgot. Well, when you drop Sean Mania, you have to make, when somebody dropped Sean Mania in your league, you have to make some tough calls. But I'd rather not drop Logan Morrison. Would you call the person who dropped Sean Mania an idiot? I wouldn't because I wouldn't want to do that to his face. It was me. I did drop Sean Mania. Yeah, you know, I didn't know that I wanted to drop Sean Minaya, but I'm in the playoffs. Scott has a buy.

I'm in the first round of the playoffs, which is two weeks. And right now you got to get guys in your lineup that you trust. So I had to drop Shaw Manaya. I think I dropped them for like Eddie Rosario or something who's actually on my bench. But still, Manaya hasn't really been that good. He's not striking anybody out lately. No, he's struggled. But I've been encouraged enough by his last two starts that if he had a two-star week coming up,

unless it was just two dreadful matchups, I'd absolutely start him in a points league like that. So I think I recently. had to drop Mike Fultenevich in that league. That's the kind of caliber of pitcher I was looking at. I think Minai is still a higher caliber than Fulte. Okay. Anyway, what were you saying about Logan Morrison?

You were, you know, six you put him on the phaithometer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just, well, just that I don't want to drop him. I think, you know, he hasn't gotten as much credit for the adjustments he's made in terms of elevating the ball, of being a fly ball revolution guy. But he has absolutely been that this year. So I believe the power's legit.

The plate discipline has been pretty good all year. And I think it was just a slump. All right. So you wouldn't consider dropping Lomo for Justin Bore or Greg Bird? I wouldn't. Now, I would consider dropping him for Eugenio Suarez, who I recently picked up in that same league and obviously opted to drop Lomo instead.

can't start both of them because there's only one utility spot. First base is already occupied by Hosmer, third base by Anthony Rendon. But just for that utility spot, I do trust Suarez a little more than Morrison. I trust ZipRecruiter to find talent. Now, I'm sure it's not easy to run a business. The people you hire can make or break your company. So you need the best people. How do you find the best talent?

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That's right. For free, just go to ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. One more time, everybody, try it for free. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. All right, Scott, here's an email for you. Email of the day is we're going to start looking ahead to 2018 a little bit. it. This is from Ryan.

Dear Walter, Walter, and Walt. Another one. You know that one? It's got to be breaking bad, right? I mean, he's Walter, and his son is Walter Jr. I don't know the third Walter. Walt Whitman? Yeah, that's probably it. How do you gentlemen value Danny Sauer,

Zach Godley, Alex Wood, and Luis Castillo for 2018 and beyond? I can only keep one of them. But the cost would be $3. So I'd like to get some feedback. Salazar, Godley, Alex Wood, and Luis Castillo. Oh, man. Oh, you got to keep wood, right? For three bucks?

See the one? I could make an argument for any of them. And personally, I'm leaning Zach Godley. How, he's one of... These bold predictions are kind of comically bold, that bold predictions column I told you about 30 bold predictions for 2018. One of the bold predictions is that Zach Godley is a top three Cy Young finisher in the NL next year. That is common. It wasn't so bold just to put him over

Kershawd Scher, but, you know, I think he's an ace. His swinging strike rate is third in all of baseball, and his ground ball rate is still top 10. So I think, I mean, he's basically been an ace this year, just some, you know, he's falling a little short on the innings at times, and the win-loss record, he's gotten burned in that area, so it's not as obvious to people that Godley's become that good. I like Castillo's upside a lot, certainly like Salazar's a lot. Wood seems to have real durability concerns, so I'd put Godly even over him. That's interesting.

I am not – look, all four of them are worth keeping for $3. I wish Godley threw a little harder. he's kind of like Dylan Bundy-esque with his fastball. I wish he threw a little harder, but look, I wish Kluber threw a little harder. You don't have to have a blazing fastball. I want to see how Godly finishes, because it hasn't been great lately for him. It hasn't, in terms of the control's been a little off, and that's kind of limited his inning some.

But this swinging strike rate has actually gone up during that time. So, you know, it's not like he's just suddenly become not good anymore. Just struggle with control a little. I still have every confidence in him. All righty. So that's a really good question and good options. Do you think any of them seem like – So again, the former Salazar, godly, Alex Wood, and Luis Castile.

Any four that you think might get overdrafted next year? Wood would be the best bet to. But I think Alex Wood is good. When he's healthy, he must start. So I don't know. I could just see a situation where if he, particularly if he comes back, brings that BRA back down closer to two, he might get overdrafted as like a top 20 guy

when I think there are reasons to think he'll fall short of that. Okay, fair enough. Let's play hopeful or hopeless in 2018. I give you a player. You tell me if you're hopeful or hopeless in 2018. Michael Franco. Well, can I only choose the extremes here? If I can only choose the extremes,

which is probably what makes the exercise fun. I'm going to say hopeless. All right, so what would you like to say about Michael Franco? I still like how little he strikes out for a player with the power he has, but it's been confounding here now two years in a row that it just hasn't translated to very good numbers, particularly you think it helped with batting average and it hasn't. I'd be interested in looking at the batted ball data because I haven't in a while for him.

I'm only a 231 BABIP, and without it, with not a particularly high fly ball rate. So it's possible he's just had bad luck two years in a row, but it gets harder to buy with every year that it happens. Yeah, and I think I'm going to look up for Michael Franco right now. His rookie season, he came up, he played half a season, and let's just get the stats up. I mean, the bat at ball data, that rookie season and the two years since,

it's virtually identical year to year. So, yeah. Some small changes, but. Nothing that notable. He played 80 games in 2015, batted 280 with 14 home runs, 26 walks and 52 strikeouts, or something like that. But I think most of it was confined to like one month. That's what I'm going to look up right now. So let's see, in those 80 games, in the month of May, he played only 16 games.

We'll ignore that. Yeah, the month of June, 352 batting average in eight home runs. Half his home runs came in June. And he was good, yeah, no, he was good in October. That was three games. How many did he hit? He had 14? Yeah.

He hit eight home runs in 27 games. And then, you know, July, he had, he only played 24 games. He had one home run. And in August, he only played 10 games. He hit two home runs. He bet it was playing so few games. Yeah, actually, I didn't realize I only played 10 games in August. But it was one big hot streak in June for Franco.

Still, I mean, the peripheral seemed to support the final numbers. In fact, maybe even undersell them, because even that year he had a 297 BABIP. And again, it's not like his fly ball rate suggests he should be a low BABIP guy. So, I don't know. It's been a little weird, but it's been weird for long enough that it's hard to argue against it. All right. Hopeful or hopeless in 2018, Robinson Canoe as an elite player? Elite?

So he hasn't been elite this year, right? Oh, hell no. Canoe is the number nine for second baseman in points, number 13 in Roto. I just wanted to clarify what we meant by Ali. Just be as good as he was in 2016. It's damn good. I will call that hopeless, though I don't think it's literally hopeless. I don't have much hope for it. But I didn't have much hope for him last year.

In fact, I called him a bust going into last year. I know. That's how I remember it. Well, then let's go to this guy. Jonathan Luchroy, hopeful or hopeless in 2018? This is the most hopeless of all. You think so? Yeah.

He has just lost his power. And at an age where it's not terribly surprising for a catcher to do that. I'm just hoping he signs somewhere to be an everyday catcher next year or a primary catcher. Okay, so first of all, if he goes to Colorado, I think if he stays in Colorado, I think I'd be okay with him. But let me give you. And I think there's a pretty good chance of that. If he stays in Colorado, I think I'll still rank him as the top 10 catcher next year. He's been really good, of course.

All right, let me give you a couple of slashlines. Slash line number one, 265, 310, 395. Everybody got that out there? 265, 310, 395. Slash line number two, 264, 326, 391. They are nearly identical. Very close, yes. One is Jonathan Lucroy in 2017.

One is Jonathan Lucroy in 2015. So he's already had this terrible year. He bounced back in 2016 and he batted 294 or 292 with 24 home runs. Just say it. I think there was an injury that had something to do with that performance. I don't remember exactly what it was, but his at-bats were lower that year, weren't they? I do think you're right. I do think you're right about that.

And also it was a different offensive environment. That was before the big home run explosion, the second half of 2015. So the standard wasn't as high for any position. And he's two years older. So I agree. I just thought that was interesting. He's had the same slash line. All right.

How about Mike Zanino as a post-hype breakout next year? Hopeful or hopeless? Hopeless. He strikes out too much. Okay. Would you believe that he's the number 12 catcher in points, the number 10 in Roto this year? Catcher so bad that I'd believe it. I mean, he does hit home runs. And he's got a career high batting average here, 232. Oh, okay. Well, I guess he's already had his breakout then.

Hopeful or hopeless, Ian Hap, everyday player for the Cubs. Next year. I am hopeful. Good. And I'm not sure how exactly that comes about. Um, but, because I don't, I don't think anybody notable, like, Zobrist is going to be a year older, and, um, I presume there will be less incentive to play him. Mm-hmm.

Um, it's possible they trade somebody, like, Bayez or Schwaberts, it's, it's possible. I'm not saying they will, but it's possible. So, yeah, I have hope for that. All right. And that has been today's edition of Hopeful or Hopeless in 2018. Back to yesterday's action. Two up. Christian Vasquez. Christian Vasquez, Red Sox catcher, is 17% owned. He is a top six catcher over the last 28 days, batting 400 with three home runs.

So he's sixth in points. He's third in rodeo. That's with the 30th most at bats in that stretch of 28 days. So what does that mean to you with Christian Vasquez, who's 17% owned? Not a whole lot. If it meant more playing time for him, maybe we could talk about it, but he's still starting less often than Sandy Leone. Yeah. Yeah.

Come on. Let's get Vasquez in there. Now, Scott, a rookie that we haven't talked about enough is Nick Williams. Overshadowed by Reese Lightning. I wrote a song for Nick Williams. Let's get Chris in here. I will sing it to – no, I'm just kidding. I did not write a song for Nick Williams, but Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick.

is the number 32 outfielder in points leagues and number 33 in Roto since being called up. That was on June 30th. He's batting 286 with eight home runs, 30 RBIs, 30 runs, 10 doubles in 51 games, no steals and two attempts. But, you know, it's surprising. He's only had two weeks with more than 15 fantasy points in that stretch, yet he's top 33 outfielder. I don't know.

I think Nick Williams, I know he strikes out a ton, but he's been pretty good. He's 40% own. He has been pretty good, and he's been in a couple of the staple columns, the waiver wire column, which comes out a few times a week, and in the top 10 sleeper hitters for the upcoming scoring period. He's had regular appearances in both. He's been much better than I expected him to be. A lot of extra base hits.

Doesn't walk a lot, which puts a ceiling on what he can do for you, certainly in a points league, really in any format. because it's going to limit his run scoring opportunities in a deep lineup. And a lot of the hits have been of the extra base variety. It's not like he's had a ton of home runs. Home run at a decent rate. But I think he's probably about on the level of like an Eddie Rosario, who's gotten a lot more attention, especially recently.

So who would you rather have, Rosario or Nick Williams? I think probably. Rosario? I think Nick Williams' peak will be higher if it's like a keeper context. But right now, I would say Rosario. He feels a little more

just a little more trustworthy, I guess. Okay. I don't want to miss anything. I just, yesterday wasn't the most exciting day and Monday is usually our ad drop show. How often do you say that, Adam? I feel like every day you're telling me it wasn't an exciting day. No, BS.

It wasn't. It was only. There were 10 games yesterday and there was nobody that like Mike Montgomery emerged Blake Parker emerged. We haven't even talked about maybe the biggest. Okay, yeah, so what am I missing? The most notable performance was Andrew Heaney. Andrew Heaney is in the notes. He is in the notes, sir. Okay, let's get to Andrew Heaney then. Andrew Heaney is 21% owned. Lucas Sims is 26% owned. Austin Pruitt is 12% owned. Is Heaney head and shoulders above Pruitt and Sims? Yes, he is. All right.

He is the one in a standard mixed league that I would be looking to add today because he comes from the best pedigree, first of all. He was one of the top five to ten pitching prospects in baseball back when he first came up with the Marlins. His only extensive major league action was in 2015. By that point, he had been traded to the Angels. And he had a respectable ERA. It was 3.49, 6.6 strikeouts per nine innings. So there was still reason for skepticism.

Then he had Tommy John's surgery, is only now coming back from the third start back. And it was against the A's, granted, but 10 strikeouts, and more notably 19 swinging strikes. That's only one shy of Carlos Carrasco's season high. And it coincides with some work he did in between starts on his curveball, helping shore up. the command of that it was a pitch he wasn't really able to rely on his first two starts back for the DL.

I think if he has all three of his pitch is working. We're not going to see double-digit strikeout efforts every time, but I think there's a clear enough talent base here that this time of year he's worth a roll of the dice. I'd take him over somebody like Fultenevich or well certainly Pruitt and it was the third one you mentioned there. Sims? Sims, yeah. All right, so this is Andrew Heaney we're talking about. 21% own starting pitcher for the Angels.

He will face the Rangers this weekend in the second of two starts. And then I think he's at Seattle next week. So it might be worth a look. And I will just say that the A's are really bad and they strike out a lot. So that is actually why I was okay starting Parker Bridwell this week. It worked for Andrew Heaney. Let's hope it works for Parker Bridwell. we shall see.

All right. Well, thank you for pointing that out. I felt like I was missing something, some major storyline from yesterday, so Heaney was a very good performance. Let me talk about Yolice Chasin. Chasine, five innings, two hits, one run, four walks, three strikeouts

against the Giants. He has a 185 ERA at home. He's home this weekend against the Dodgers. Next week, Shasine is home against the Cardinals. Then he's at Minnesota. Then he's home against Arizona. And he's home against Colorado. So let's see, including this weekend, four of his next five starts are currently, if he goes every five games, currently would be home starts.

Not to say that they're so great, but the ERA is low. What do you think about just seeing 66% owned? I don't know. I've never been that excited about him even amid all this talk about his home away splits this year. never been a big strikeout guy and recently his last what four starts were less than six innings so it's not like

even when he's pitching quote unquote well I mean he's had control issues during that time it's uh I'm just not excited I think he in the two start weeks like he's currently in particularly Napoleon points league where you don't have to worry so much about maybe the whip being up there for him

with the walks, then he's, yeah, a fine option in a two-star week. But I don't really care to start him in a one-star week. You'll at least see him we're talking about now. Scott, you just said to me, Adam, how many times do you say it wasn't a very eventful day yesterday? And to you, Scott White, I will say, Scott, how many times do you say he doesn't pitch six innings? I feel like we have to stop caring about that with some of the fringy starting pitchers, like the last pitcher that you're going to consider starting. You don't want to have multiple guys like that, but I don't really care that much.

No, it's, it's becoming less common. Honestly, the quality stats start is starting to mean more than it ever has because it's, uh, it's becoming less common for pitchers to go the minimum required for that. But in a way, in a way, I think it means we have to pay even more attention to how deep pitchers are pitching into games. Because for the longest time, the assumption was if the ratios were good, you could trust that the innings would follow. And that's not true anymore. Some pitchers just don't get the innings. Sure. Yeah, no, I mean, innings eaters are a hot commodity these days.

Scott, you feel good about Aaron Nola and Jeff Samarja going forward? I do. And I don't even think some of it. Marja had any kind of rough patch really. He's six of seven quality starts for him. Noel obviously had gotten hit hard at the last two starts, but everything we liked about him before that is still true with the velocity being out the improved secondary arsenal. I think it was just a rough patch.

He's good. Let's look at today's matchups then and start with the Indians and the Yankees. Trevor Bauer at Jaime Garcia. I don't think I'm going to start either. Learn my lesson with Bauer after that start against the Red Sox last time. Mariners at Orioles. Erasmil Ramirez, Dillard. Bundy.

I'll start Bundy. Okay. He's pitching well. Yeah, actually, this is interesting. Let's see how much rest he's on. I think he's on regular rest. And I do think you should start him. He's earned it.

But if he doesn't do well in this start, then I think we can probably look at the... Yeah, so he pitched the 23rd. He's on a little bit extended rest. He'll have... That'll be a five-day rest. Four or five, six, and eight. Yeah.

Okay. R.A. Dickey at Mark Lighter. Ooh, tough calls here. They're both kind of interesting. Yeah, yeah. It would depend how much I needed another start. Like, I'm not going to recommend everybody who owns them, start them. But if I was looking to squeeze in another start somewhere,

either of these pitchers would be a fine option for that this week. Marlins at Nationals, Vance Worley at Edwin Jackson. Nope. Chris Sale, yes, Brett Anderson. Nope. I didn't even know where we really. Really? I'm on the Blue Jays. Wow.

Me too. What? Brett Anderson is starting for the Blue Jays tonight? Hell, about that. When did he wind up there? Okay. There's no way the Red Sox are losing this game. Chris Sale against Brett Anderson?

Lock. Lock of the century. We got the Mets and the Reds. Chris Flex and Sal Romano. I mean, I like Dickie and Lighter both more than Romano. So for consistency, say, I'll say sit, but Mata's been a couple good seven innings starts in a row, and this matchup against the Mets is obviously a very good one.

So he could be a sneaky play if you really need another arm. That's your like fandual sleeper. Texas and Houston in Tampa Bay, Martine Perez, and Mike Fires. I'll do fires. I did start my fire. Oh, I'm singing a Luke Weaver song, Scott. Luke Weaver, Matt Garza. By the way, I can't really say Luke Weaver anymore.

It has to be sung. Has to be sung. Has to be songs. At least once per show. You've, those neural pathways have been etched into my brain. Braveheart, braveheart, brave heart, brave heart. Yeah, I'm going to star Luke Weaver. I believe he can get me through the night.

Yeah, probably. Not through the ninth, but through the night. Pirates had come. Chad Coole and Jake Areeta. Well, obviously Arieta and obviously not cool. James Shields, Irvin Santana. Not cool. Irvin Santana is a good play, but not so much Shields.

Alex Cobb, Jake Junis. I'll go with Cobb to kind of run the Royals are on right now. This is his first start back from the DL, right? Yeah. So it's a little risky. Actually, no, I think he went like four innings last week. Yeah, he did. He did. An effective but inefficient four and a third.

for Cobb last time. And yeah, I'll start him. I'm not totally opposed to starting Junis either, though I would take Dickie and lighter over him. I might slot him in between them and Romano. Gotcha. Tigers is at Rockies. All right, Michael Fulmer at Coors against Genmore-Marquez.

That was fine starting Fulmer when he had in weekly leagues with the two starts. one of them not at Corse Field, but just for tonight, if it's a daily league situation, no. And no to Marquez, do. Get your tuners on whatever channel that Dodgers and Diamondbacks are on. Rich Hill at Zach Godley, start them both. Both sees. Chris Smith for the A's, Troy Scribner, excuse me, for the Angels. Nope.

Giants and Padres, Matt Moore, Luis Perdomo. Maybe more. I will go Yeah Yeah, you know what? I'll go more ahead of both Leiter and Dickie So I'll give him a probably I'm starting him

Nervously, but I'm starting him Let's read some emails at Fantasy Baseball At Cbsi.com This is from Philip Pick 2 to start Barrios, Morton, and Peacock All one start guys Morton and Peacock

Oh, man. I think they faced the Rangers. Okay. Is that right? Okay, Morton has... You know what? Peacock has the Mets, and Morton has the Rangers, I think. Well, okay, that makes it even easier.

I was going to say Peacock. But if it's against the Mets on top of it, absolutely Peacock. So are you going Berrios? Is Brillo facing the White Sox? Oh, I need to pick two. Yeah. Sorry. Hang on.

I can pull that up pretty quickly here. Yeah, Barrios has the white socks. Okay, yeah, let's make Barrios the second choice then. Okay. Burrios and Peacock. Charlie Morton just want to confirm. Oh, no, he also has the Mets. I thought he got the Rangers.

He gets the Mets. Ooh, three good matches. Okay, all right. Start the Astros then, Peacock and Morton. Sorry, Boreos. Okay, no problem. And they're both in a better park than they normally would be, pitching against the Mets in Tampa.

This is from Hopeful Repeat Champ. A fringe team just dropped Miguel Cabrera. I'm in first place locked in for a buy for next week as well. Should I put in a claim for Miggy? I currently have Edwin, Votto, and Zimmerman at first base, corner infield, then utility. Should I put in a claim for Miggy just in case he gets hot? It would depend on who you're dropping. In the league where somebody dropped Miggy, our 12-team points league,

where we don't even have a corner infield spot, I wasn't able to justify dropping anybody for Miggy. so it's not an obvious yes but if you have just kind of a player you could live without on your bench sure yeah I mean there's a chance Cabrera blows up over the final four weeks David and Chicago

what do you think about Dansby Samsonite Dansby Swanson rest of season I don't think he's going to quite break into break the mixed league threshold even at that position he's been much better since returning but still not enough power, not enough speed to measure up.

He's just a deep league option. All right, this is from Scott. Do I drop Ian Desmond or Eddie Rosario? Depends how much you need steals. Depends how much you need a shortstop, which Desmond could gain eligibility at some point. Who knows how soon it'll be. All things being equal, I'd take Rosario.

And Johnny Canuck, if that's your real name, that's amazing. He says, Dear Bob, Doug, and Hosehead. I have no idea. Hosehead. Bob Doug. Yeah, clearly we're going to be Googling here. Okay. Hosehead the dog saves the day.

Strange brew. I don't know. Okay. What that is. It's a movie. Canadian stuff. Our playoffs started in two weeks. I've got a first round by pretty much locked up.

Should I still be holding on to Bryce Harper? Or should I drop him for some pitching depth? Like I could drop Bryce Harper for Johnny Quato. I think you should absolutely hold on to Bryce Harper. He will, I'm fairly confident, get a week or two of action for the end of the season. I would like to get Quato on your roster, but Harper is not the way to do it. Thank you, Scott White. Wonderful job today.

Same to you, Adam. Same to you. He cannot reach 400 feet. He's Rees Lightning. It's not bad, right? Yeah. It's pretty good. No, thanks.

I'm for anything that hipes up Reese Hoskin before. Works for me. All right, so for Scott White and a little bit of Chris Towers, I'm Adam Azer. We'll come back tomorrow on the Wednesday show. We kept a Tuesday action to get you set for Wednesdays game. See you later.