Fantasy Baseball Today - 08/30: Week 24 Help (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 30, 2019

We make the case to drop this 90% owned player for this under 50% owned player, debates around the most added players of the week, two-start pitchers for Week 24 and more to prep for your playoff run! 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. We're fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. It's Fantasy Baseball today time right now. And that is not Kokomo that you're hearing.

It's not me. Hands up. It's not me, guys. Oh. Adam acknowledged it on Twitter. Mr. Azer acknowledged it on Twitter this week, that it was his fault. I didn't think about it until recently. I got nothing here.

So, what can I do? Can I sing it? That's where we want to go to get away from it all. It doesn't seem like you know the right vert. It goes, Domigo, Santana. Ooh, I want to add you to my roster in Roto, replacing Gio Soto. I don't even know if he uses that because Gio Soto's long ago.

What is the, that's where we want to go? Who is that? What lyric is there? To get away from it all. Well, there's, I love's Rick Porcelo. I think your rendition of it is better than whatever the open music is. It's not, though. No.

It's not. Doc Kroitzer does amazing work. Agreed and disagree. I will not have you blaspheme him in that way. I'm just saying you singing it is a treat for the audience. Maybe you're right. Maybe audibly it isn't better. Definitely what I did wasn't better. But getting to hear you sing the lyrics is probably a pretty big treat for everybody. See, he makes it seem like Kokomo is actually a good song. Like his, he elevates it. He makes it his own and elevates it. It goes from being like, oh, whatever, Beach Boys is this lame song they made to. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Domingo, Santana. I like it. That's pretty good. So I just, I wanted to upfront apologize. Don't everybody scream at me because I did get screamed at last week about it. it. If I had it, I would edit it in and we would have that beautiful song. Right.

Right. Okay. I was looking at your face. Scott, you look so concerned that moment. I was looking at you. I was like, did something happen that we need to talk about? But you were just getting ramped up for the show. I'm not. Yeah. I am not great at staying focused. Like, I'll get off on this thought tangent and just that's why sometimes I have to ask the host to repeat what they just said because I just like my mind's just totally gone off on this tangent where you know I just stop listening to I mean you're not the only one my wife my other listeners everybody it's all fine it's totally okay I live a life that I'm used to it but the camera is always they fool me because I can look at your face and you have this look and I'm like something's happening and it's just nope you're just

processing that's okay it's all part of the learning process let's get into the final day here and prep for next week because this is huge. I mean, the end of this week and the preparation into this weekend is a big deal because next week for many, many people, the playoffs are about to start. I don't know if Scott White is going to be enjoying them because we did say that Noah Sindegarde may have cost you. Is there any, do you feel any better? You think the possibility might have changed that you...

Yeah, I'm going to win in that league. I'm pretty confident now. Things took a turn for the better. And I was the highest scoring team in that league. by far so all right yeah I think I'm gonna pull through there I yeah my head to head well one of them actually the podcast league I think I'm gonna lose this week but I'm I'm still alive and plenty of leagues so yeah there's there's a lot to prep for and we hope everybody else is locked in and alive so we are going to be hitting two start pitchers some of the

most added and some of the relevant stuff that went down on Thursday but I cannot help myself because Frank Castle, no, Eratis Aristides Aquino, the Punisher was at it again, hit his 14th homer on Thursday. He was three for four with three RBIs. He officially broke Cody Bellinger's NL rookie record of 13 homers, which was set in June of 2017. It's ridiculous. I had pulled this. The achievement comes just one day after Aquino became the first player in MLB history to hit 13 home runs in his first 27 career games and 100 played appearances. They're just making stuff up now for Aristides Aquino. They're just like, what stats can we make up that this guy continues to break?

He's crazy. Yeah, like the Guinness Book of World Records, like why would anybody need to do any of the things, any of the records that are being set and broken? You know what's so great is they send a person out to verify? Someone's like, I'm going to chew the most gum in a 72 hour span. I'm going to keep it in my mouth. And they're like, okay, well, let's for the integrity of it. We're going to bring somebody to fly out.

I'm going to make a paperclip chain that goes all the way around the building eight times. I mean, that sounds kind of cool. I don't know. I might be into that. But they are doing this with Aquino. Like with Aquino, it's like, it's doing a lot of home runs in a short span of time. And like, you're surprised to hear that. every record is a record because these are not records that are on the, you know, this isn't

61, you know, these aren't things anybody commits to memory. They're not the core. Like I wasn't like, oh, has he beaten Cody Bellinger? It's 2007. I don't care about any of that. I mean, I'm the one that took Aristides and was like, is he Brandon Inch, you know, and everybody loved that type of comparison. But at this point, Aquina is going to go ahead of Eloy Jimenez in 2020.

That's where we're heading to. And Eloy actually had a couple hits after. Oh, yeah. I trashed him a little bit in the last episode. I mean, I was worried when Aquino was striking out 30% of the time that he was going to bottom out and maybe not be such a big deal next year. And look, we're still talking a teeny tiny sample of a bat. So the fact he has a 23% strikeout rate when there's only 100 plate appearances doesn't tell us that much. But it does make me feel a little better.

I mean, obviously he's must start right now and we'll see what it comes next. He's going to be the league winner. Change his name from the Punisher to the league winner because he is in line to carry a lot of people very, very far into their playoffs as long as it doesn't cool down. So the Punisher was at it again, taking you into your playoffs here. Let's get into the core, though, and the digging deep for next week. Let's kick it right off with some two start pitchers. We've got a couple things here. I've got a couple different lists I want to go through and then I obviously want to open it up to you.

I have got three guys that are owned relatively within 10% of each other, all under 60%. percent owned. No guarantee it's available for everybody, but those are numbers we can work with. Two starts next week, and I want to get your take on these guys. First up, Anthony Descliffeani, who's 57% owned in CBS. He's got Philly, and then he's got Arizona. You've got Alex Wood, who's 52% owned. He went 6, 6, 300 runs, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts. It was his first quality start since August 2nd. He did that tonight, or on Thursday, as we're recording this, everybody. It's about 11.30 Eastern. And he's got Philly in Arizona, potentially as his next two.

And then Jake Junis, 46% owned with a very favorable Detroit and then at Miami matchup for next week. So those three, two starts. What does Scott White want? I want, I think Desclavani most of all. I'll take another look at Junis, though. I actually had Mike Montgomery as the two-start beneficiary of that. But just before the show, I saw the note about Brad, Brad Keller being shut down already. So it may be that I figured out that rotation wrong.

I'm not sure exactly who's making too. Yeah, well, Brad Keller got officially shut down yesterday, but then they said Danny Duffy is going to go into Sunday. Right, he's going into Sunday. Yeah. So, which I think I saw. I would like to get to the bottom of that before the show is over. Okay. That's the mystery.

We'll see if we can get to the bottom of those pesky kids. Two amazing matchups. And yeah, if Mike Montgomery, I would feel a little better about Mike Montgomery the Junis personally, but either one becomes, I think, a pretty good sleeper against Miami and Detroit. But Descalcanti, I feel like he's just pretty safe. Alex Wood really had his first good start

since rejoining the rotation, 19 swinging strikes contributing to those eight strikeouts, which is a very impressive number. And yet he gave up three home runs. And that's been the issue throughout. Like one of his strengths, what strengths is supposed to be home run prevention, clearly that was not a part of what helped him today. And I'd still be very worried about him putting up a crooked number for me.

So what is probably out for me? Desclafani, if I want that extra start, I'm okay with him. The Royals pitcher. Junis. We'll figure out who it is. Yeah. I mean, currently on CBS under the two start, it shows Jake Junis. But, I mean, if not, Mike Montgomery is clearly the guy.

But it's a very, very favorable matchup. Detroit, Miami. I mean, that's exactly what the doctor ordered for the playoffs, right? Yeah. I mean, that's... Really, there are a bunch of two-star sleepers for this week. After weeks and weeks of weeks of maybe we can kind of get behind this one guy, I see several pitchers. To the point, I almost wonder if it's just because I'm lowered my standard because I'm grown accustomed to not seeing anybody worth using.

I think there's something in there. All right. Well, let's keep digging. Let's dig a little bit further. Here are two that I think are right around the same percentage area, right around Junis's percentage area. You're more than welcome to pair these two against guys like Wood and Descalifani if you would like.

But pairing number two, my guy, Sandy Alcantra, who had one of the biggest ownership jumps on CBS over the last week, went from 25 to 40 percent owned. He's set up for two starts. And I like this at Pittsburgh, then versus Kansas City. But we know your feelings on him. versus a guy that got shellacked on Thursday. Dylan Sees. You've talked about, I mean, boy, could you have a more timely conversation yesterday

when we talked about the rookie pitchers who have been getting rocked? Dylan Sees went two, gave up 10 hits, eight runs, eight earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts. He now has 16 earned runs in his last three starts. He's got at Cleveland and the Angels next week. So Alcantra or Cease for two starts. Alcantra, I'll see what I'd go with between those two. too, and I don't think CIS is

unstartable, but I do, I have four tiers when I do my two start pitcher rankings on the site. I've got must starts which obviously means across the board. I have sleepers and questionables. I have head-to-head points only, and then I have no thanks.

So I put CIS in the points league only. I think he's not that obviously you have to start him there if you have good options, but I think he's at least he's getting close to no thanks, though. Yeah, I mean, I'd say at Cleveland, no thanks. L.A.?

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. But Alcantara, you know what? Do it. I think I'm going to change it. Because I'm seeing now, I actually do have them in the same tier. I don't think I would start Alcantra in a categories league unless I was specifically looking.

You know what? I don't even think it matters. He's not going to win for the Marley. He has four wins all year. He's not a strikeout pitcher. So I don't even think of the counting stats I want him in the Categories League. But a points league, I mean, going seven innings against the Pirates and Royals, I think that could add up to a decent point total.

So I'm fine with that. Boy, we're not going to end this season without me getting you on Sandy Alcantra at all. It's just, it's, I don't know what he's going to have. If he gets these two starts, are you in with me just a little bit? Are we going to still fight about Sandy? Look, I've come a small way. A little bit. Before it was just a week ago.

It was like, get out of here with your Sandy Alcantar. I want nothing to do with them. And now I'm saying points league, you know. Okay. Yesterday I said he was, yesterday I made, I argued for him being boring in a good way. Yeah. So, you know. Okay.

I mean, I'll take that. I'll take my wins where I can get them. How about? By the way, on the Royals front, it's looking like Mike Montgomery to me. Okay. Well, let's get CBS to adjust that because they got Junus on there. I don't have it in front me. Do you have Mike Montgomery's percentage owned in CVS?

It's got to be... It's tiny. Oh, it's a tiny, tiny? It's tiny. I'll find the exact number. Okay, I'll be looking up too. Maybe we can compare him against this guy. Maybe this might be one that you can go.

I've got a deep two-start pitcher to potentially speculate on. In a week that you're saying there's a whole bunch, Patrick Sandoval, 3% owned, coming off of that really nice start the other night. He's got at Oakland, and then... and at the Chicago White Sox. So is he somebody you would speculate on? Personally, no. I can understand why somebody would.

He's actually the top pitcher in no thanks, in the no thanks tier for me. So, you know, but basically I just don't trust him to pitch deep enough into games. I think he's inefficient. I think he's too wild. I like the potential there, but it's, I'm just not optimistic enough that he's going to do anything worthwhile. how Mike Montgomery is 38% out.

So if we came back and we were talking about Desclophani, would, I mean, you've kind of already dismissed Cise and Alcantra. So Desclafani or Mike Montgomery for next week. I have Montgomery ahead with those two matchups, Tigers and Marlins. 20% almost about 20% less owned than Desclophani. But look, I have Desclophani as a sleeper too. So I'm not saying, I'm not saying you should definitely drop Desclophany for Montgomery. It's just we are giving people the opportunity right now to quickly get on the Mike Montgomery train for next week because he is one of those relatively ideal matchups that you probably have access to. So now I open it up to you. Mike Montgomery is going to be near the top of the list. You're talking about Desclofani. Give me a two start or two that everybody needs to get in on.

So I'll go with the two shallower league ones first. They're both just slightly over 70% ownership, but maybe out there in some leagues, particularly if you don't play on CBN. BS. You play him like Yahoo or something. Come on. Aaron Savale, whose first start was against the White Sox. Second start against the twins. Okay. But, you know, he hasn't given up a barreled ball all season. So I wanted to bring him up, but I thought he might be a little too own to even talk about. 72% and, I mean, five of six quality starts. He's awesome. So I'm with you. I just want everyone to know. I didn't pick him because I was like, over 70%. I wasn't sure. Yeah, Adam uses 70% as a cutoff. I think it's a little too restrictive. you know, there are some, there are a lot of people who play in shallow leagues.

The other one is Tanner Roark. One of his two matchups is against the Tigers, and he has been, I think he also fits to the description of a nice, stable, boring pitcher who you don't really have to worry about sabotaging you in a given week. And with two starts, one an especially favorable matchup, I think you run them out there. So those are the two shallower league choices. going a little deeper. One who isn't showing up on the CBS list

because whoever provides that data, I don't think is totally sold that he's in the rotation, but Trevor Richards for the Rays is going against the Orioles and the Blue Jays. And just had a very good first start with his new team. One in which he didn't get a lot of swinging strikes with the change-up, but I know he has the potential with it. that pitch. I'm sure the raise acquired him knowing he has the potential with that pitch, and they're very good at getting the most out of their pitchers. So I'm excited to gamble,

obviously, having seen little of him in this uniform. But with those two matchups, I think it's worthwhile. And he also moved up a pretty good percentage on, I mean, 8% swing from last week to this week, went from 18% to 26% owned, which was, you know, is in an upper tier of percentage changes for people. So kind of to your point, people are slowly starting to get on it. It wasn't at the very, I mean, it's the same percentage change as Savali, but Savali went from 64 to 72% own. So those are, those are pretty solid. So is there any matchup in the two starts? Maybe along the lines of like the bigger names that you're really concerned about. You're concerned about a blow up. Now, I caution people about getting too cute. We've talked about that. I think you

should always proceed with caution about trying to overthink some things. But do you look at any matchups and go, I'll tell you what, I don't particularly love Masahiro Tanaka against Texas and Boston or little concerned about Barrios against Cleveland and Boston. Is there anybody that gives you pause? How about 65% or higher owned? Yeah. So as a general rule, I would say, I do not sit great pitchers, part of that group of 40. that we talked about, we've been talking about all week,

I don't sit them because of their matchups. Unless I just happen to have, you know, let's say it's a league where you start five pitchers. I happen to own six of the top 40. Good for me. I have to make a decision somehow. Okay, matchups might factor in. But beyond that, I don't. I don't consider, though, Tanaka to be in that top 40 anymore, though.

He's not a reliable pitcher. He's not an especially... 95% owned in CVS, 72% start. Right. Right. So 72% is lower than you expect for somebody with Tanaka's history. But he doesn't have that swing and miss stuff anymore. I don't think his ceiling's particularly high anymore. And two shaky matchups, I'm still probably starting him, but I don't think it's automatic.

So that's a good call there. How about Porcelo, who's 76% own? He's got Minnesota and he's got New York, though they're both home games. Yeah, so I'm pulling up the list with the ownership percentages so I could go with your 65% rule. here. But yeah, Porcelo is is not somebody I'm considering starting basically ever anymore. He's in the no thanks tier

and my two-star pitcher rankings. So forget about him. Forget about him. Let me see who else here. Who's highly owned? That's probably the main one. 65 and up. Yeah.

It's a good week. I mean, let's just come back to what you said before. It's a pretty good week. with a bunch of matchups that are out there, not enough stuff that you have to get too cute. You get to set your lineups, you get to go out there, make a few pickups before, and you get to see what happens

with this playoff run if you were doing that. Let me put one out there because he's only 64% started, which should probably be higher, just because of how, well, he's pitched. But Ryan Yarbrough, two starts, and the same two matchups that Trevor Richards has, obviously, Orioles and Blue Jays,

obviously, obviously have to start. Ryan Yarbrough. All right. I like it. All right, there you go. Some good two starts for you to get your playoff week, if that is what you're doing, or if you continue your run through Roto.

We got you covered there. All right, sponsor time. We're going to hear a message. We're going to come back. We're going to take a little live look into the games. We've got a few games that are going on, and boy, there are some runs being tallied up here. And then we are going to be talking about some of the news of the day

and a bunch of ads. So sponsor break, then we're back. So the two, three games, we have going on right now. We've got Padres, Giants going on, and Chris Paddock is actually pitching. Let's,

I'm going to take a look here because Chris Paddock, I've got under a little section of gyms, seven innings, five hits, eight strikeouts, one walk.

Does it hurt to know that when it's the most important time, you're probably going to be lost to an innings cap with Chris Paddock? Does that just, does it hurt your soul? Or do you feel confident

they're going to find a way to keep making this work? Oh, no, I don't think they're going to keep making this work. In fact, I was just saying on CBS Sports H.Q Sunday that I think it's probably okay to go ahead and drop Paddock. Obviously, I wasn't counting on a bad. His previous four starts were awful.

It seemed like his changeup wasn't working anymore. He was running out of gas. Even so, I suspect he has maybe one start left. I got one for you. Would you drop Chris Paddock from Mike Montgomery? Playoff run. They start next week. If I needed an extra pitcher, like I didn't have a staff full of aces, obvious must start guys and, you know, was having to stream.

Yeah, you can't, you can't put your season in jeopardy holding out hope that Paddock both sticks around longer than just one more start and pitch as well, which is something apart from tonight that he hadn't done that much lately. Yeah. Well, I mean, sometimes it's quality versus quantity there, but that one makes sense. Also, the Diamondbacks and Dodgers are putting up some runs. Merrill Kelly was getting lit up early on. Four walks, four strikeouts. Only made it four innings. But Ryu, well, four and two, third, P.U.

10 hits, well, it's like a one. Seven earn runs, four strikeouts. He is out of the game. Absolutely got lit up, 93 pitches in. And the Diamondbacks were, they were teeing off on him. As a matter of fact, everybody except for Tim LaCastro and Cattel Marte have a hit in that game. right now for the Diamondback. Seven to four, they're up. And the last one, the Pirates and Rockies, not like we're trying to go and review the games crazily here, but Trevor Williams had a good

game going. And then it started to go away. And it's like 11 to 8. Sam Hilliard hit a homer. That's kind of good to see. And I've got a little, a few more little rocky anecdotes to talk about. But those are the live games that we have got going on. Speaking of which, stand out, You got to stand out for Thursday that you want to drop? This is always my favorite part of the program. Yes, my standout for Thursday is going to be Abraham Toro. There I pulled out. There he is.

Yeah. First career home run, walked three times. And now in six games, all of them starts, third base. Five walks versus three strikeouts. So he's making lots of contact. Now, he hadn't been making particularly hard contact, but obviously a tiny sample as far as that goes, first home run tonight. Maybe it'll be a case where he starts picking it up. I like the Astros matchups this upcoming week.

They're going against the Brewers and the Mariners. So, you know, as much as anyone out there might, as little as anyone out there might need a third baseman, Abraham Toro, is somebody you could turn to, I think, right now. widely, widely available. I am going to pit Abraham Toro up against a few other players here in just a tiny bit. So that is a very good pickup. Hey, mine is, hey, look at these guys that nobody benefited from. Nobody benefited from these two players who are good on Thursday. Like Seth Brown, who is 3% owned.

I mean, I suppose there's a little small percentage, but truly no one started him. Four for five, three runs, two RBIs. He now has seven hits in his last 14 at Bats for the A's. not bring not you know sheldon noise is not moving him off of anything right now he's going to get more starts and victor carotini hit his uh it was a double dong night eight and ninth home run four rbis he was three for four off of mr jacob de grom so 11 percent between the two of them there were also seven hits and nobody benefited from them not one single bit i'm intrigued by brown and as i brought up a couple times this podcast 37 home runs second most of the minors this year 27 year old without a prospect

pedigree okay but the aes are giving him an honest shot here he started every game since coming up including one against a left-hander he's a left-handed batterer uh of his four hits today only one was for extra bases i know his first major league hit was one of those weak flares to the opposite field not a deserving hit so i don't know i don't know if he's i would i would suspect that there has been a fair amount of luck. I mean, seven for 14, that goes without saying, I guess. But, uh, but, uh, but you know there's definitely power in there. And if they keep playing him, I think sooner or later, we'll see it.

So I don't know about him being standard mixed league material, but Seth Brown and leagues get like 15 teams or deeper. I think maybe he's somebody who needs to be on your radar. And, uh, you know, we, we've learned lessons from guy. I'm not saying he's Aristides or anything like that. but we've learned the lessons of these guys that come up. If opportunity is given and stats are following, follow the breadcrumbs and see where it takes you, as long as it doesn't cost too much.

Injuries, news and notes around baseball, this is a really interesting one. Edwin Diaz starting to fix his slider thanks to Jacob DeGrom. It's an article over in the NY Post that you guys could check out. Just a couple nuggets in it. It says that Edwin Diaz has started using DeGrom's grip on the slider pitch. It's accounted for two of the three strikeouts he had in the eighth inning recently. The other came on a 99 mile an hour fastball, including three straight strikes to Chris Brant to finish the frame. Mickey Calloway said Diaz was the best I've ever seen him.

The slider was real. Quote, I think going forward, if I can throw, this is Diaz, by the way, if I can throw my slider the way that I was throwing it tonight, which is via de Grom, I think I can have a lot of success, he said, through an interpreter. the last five, six or seven outings I've had, my slider has been there. So Jacob de Grom doing it for himself and for everybody else. Edwin Diaz, Scott, might be back. Yeah, he might be. Or maybe new and improved Edwin Diaz if he's using a different grip on the slider, which the slider is the key pitch to all of his success.

And, you know, last year he was getting tons of wifts with it. Obviously, he was the best closer in baseball. So it's interesting that he's going to kind of move away from something that gave him so much success. You know, try this new thing instead of figuring out the old thing. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but overall the results have been encouraging. It wasn't just this most recent outing. It's been, you know, pretty much since they moved him off the closer roll, he's looked better. He'll get the closer rule back before season's end, I think.

and, you know, boat prediction will be a top five closer next year, I think. I'm not saying he should be drafted as such, but that's what I think he'll be. I think I'll probably own a lot more shares of Edwin Diaz next year because you talk about these fixes, you know, small underrated thing to,

and credit to anybody, you know, that's still out here listening. Obviously, it becomes the dog days you're in the fantasy playoffs. You know, you're listening to your favorite shows. But, you know, people fall off during the season. There's a lot of people that are not going to really fully understand.

or have been able to catch themselves up with Edwin Diaz. So this is a guy, if these improvements, and we get to monitor these improvements over the next month, and it reaps results, people are still going to be looking at the overall stat lines and not get themselves caught up. You might be looking at a guy that's being drafted as the 12th closer, the 15th closer,

that has top five upside. These are the guys that you pay for in the following years instead of the high guys. I bold prediction for myself. I bet I will have a ton of Edwin Diaz shares, especially if we continue seeing these results. Love to see it. Love to see it.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, a couple Dodger notes here, gave struggling closer Kinley Jansen a vote of confidence on Thursday. He had blown three of his last four save chances, and his ERA is now up almost at 4, 373, saying, quote, I don't think we're going to back off the workload. We're going to keep running him out there, if anyone was even really concerned about Kenley Jansen. But this is a bigger one.

Max Muncie is going to be examined by hand specialists, Dr. Dan Sheraton. And that's in addition to the X-ray that he underwent on Thursday at Chase Field out here in Phoenix. This was after they said, positive signs. They're going for some second looks. Dave Roberts is optimistic. Muncie won't be out for long. He is not playing.

I got the Diamondbacks game on right now. He is not in the lineup. But they also have not called up Gavin Luck. So Dr. Dan Sheridan doesn't sound like something I want to hear for a guy. I like Muncie. And it doesn't look like the Dodgers are preemptively adding Lux to September 1st. But how do you read these key leaves? But you may not have finished the quote there for Roberts,

or maybe it was a different quote. I don't know. But what he said was if Muncie does end up missing time, the Dodgers might be more aggressive with their September call-ups. I believe the way he put it, which is a... indirect way of saying we're calling up a lot. You're 100% right. And by the way, some of the best hand specialists out in Phoenix, weirdly, my wife actually had a horrible dog incident one time where he should got an artery and a fractured finger from a dog bite.

And like one of the best hand surgeons in the world was out here. And they fixed her up within two hours of the bite and her fingers like knew. Not that anybody cared about that. But it's not a surprise, I guess I'm saying is that some of the best, some of the best of those type of people already out here in Phoenix. Don't be surprised as you're listening to this podcast on Friday if there is some type of result. And what I mean is Muncie on the IL or Gavin Lux call up or maybe those coincide with each other. That was just an odd. That was an odd thought tangent by you.

You're basically like I guess it was regional pride. You were touting the hand doctors. I think I was. I was very happy. I was like, oh, yeah, my wife had her artery severed in her finger. but this really great doctor helps. So Max Muncie's in great, he's in great hands. That sounded like what you were saying. Yeah. I'm taking a payment for all of those endorsements there. So, yeah, I thought that it meant anything. Well, thank you for making me feel bad about it, at least. Thank you for making me feel inadequate.

I'm glad your wife's okay. Thanks. Sounds unpleasant. I appreciate that. It totally was. Just like that last two minutes of me talking unpleasant. The Rangers manager, Chris Woodward hinted, I don't know, this. Is this like every two days I have to read this? hinted that Rognet Odor could be in danger of losing his starting job. Guess what? It's done. He said, you can struggle, but this is the big leagues man. It isn't working, especially when Nick Solac is rocking. I got to go look at the box score, but last I saw Odor was 0 for 2.

So that is, that's about done. Well, I mean, it's a lot of big talk, but he hasn't, he's played every day since this first came up. It's got to be done. They've got to be done with this. I'm bold prediction. Odor is done. He is not going to start the next couple games. He should not be out there.

But to your point, they're loyal to a fault. Some of these. Well, here's how done I am with Rognit Odor. If I may take a moment of self-indulgence here. Please. That same league where I thought I was going to lose because of Noah's Sendergarten. I won't. It looks like.

My starting second basement is Rugnett Odor. How's your team so good? Well, it's a 24-Team Dynasty League, where Ruehnezzar. Ruegnaudor is my starting second basement. There's somebody out there I want from a long-term perspective on the waiver wire. I don't really have anyone else I feel like I can drop. Except Rognette O'Dore, who I know I'm not keeping and who I'm so confident will do, will not be a difference maker for me down the stretch.

Then I'm willing to drop him install a hardly playing Thai France as my second baseman, even with a championship on the line. Because that's how done I am with Rugnetto Dore. I don't think he's going to help. I mean, I hear you. The exact quote, by the way, was we are willing to withstand some lack of production, but this is the big leagues.

I hate to say it, but you've got to be good to play every day, and he knows it. I don't, but I don't think you know it, Woodward, because he's not good any day, and he keeps going out there. He was 0 for 3 with a walk on Thursday.

It's got to be done. And by the way, cut Rugnettador for Thai France. Just free yourself. Do it right now on the pocket. You will feel so much better. Well, I already have France. I'm not going to say. Oh, I can say.

The claim will have already gone through. Oh, you know who it is? You know who it is that I'm cutting Rognette Odor for? Unless somebody beats me to it. Who? It's Seth Brown. Oh, I mean, that's great. I love the Seth Brown idea because it also, it completely reiterates what garbage

Odor is at this point. Not that Seth Brown isn't, but we just talk 7 to 14. hits so far. That's what speculation is all about. Even in Dynasty, I don't get it. I don't get it with Ruegner-Dor, and I don't think it's needed. Final one, by the way, I should have put this with the rest of the Dodgers. Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times confirms that Ross Stripling is going to be activated when the rosters expand on Sunday. But I don't know. They don't even seem to have a clarity if it's going to be in a starting role, if it's going to be in relief, most likely in some version of a relief or maybe a multi-pitcher inning type of thing. Any interest in Ross

stripling at this point. Dodgers are so annoying with this. It's like, it's like pitchers don't even have roles to them anymore. Yeah, we'll throw someone out there in the first inning and see how long he goes and then we'll go with somebody else

and whatever. They just don't even care. It's California, man. It's a relaxed attitude. It's a little too relaxed for me. But, yeah, I'm not, I'm not counting on Ross stripling being more than like a two or three inning pitcher in whatever innings, whatever form that takes.

So thanks, but no thanks. Yeah, okay. Good enough for me. All right, one more sponsor break. Let's hit it and let's get back and talk about the most added. We got a lot of hitter stuff in there. And there's some pitcher stuff. So break right here on fantasy baseball today.

We do have some finals here on the games that were going down. So we've only got the Padres and Giants and the Diamondbacks and Dodgers going on. But the Pirates beat the Rockies. And, you know, I'm going to jump right to this because I just keep looking at his line. I have got for you hitters to add 50% or under. And the reason I'm bringing it up because I was just looking at Pittsburgh is Kevin Newman had quite a night in Colorado. 42% owned double dong. 4 for 4, 2 runs, 4 RBIs, 2 homers.

He was awesome. 8th and 9th homer of the year. He's on a current 6-game hitting streak. Let's compare him to 2 others. C.J. C.C. C. C.C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. 5, 50, 5 on, on. went three for five on Thursday, hit his 22nd homer, and Jerks and ProFar, whose 49% own, hit his 17th of the year,

which is a shocking number to me thinking about ProFar. Three for four with three RBIs, second homer in four games, but only a 208 average in August. So Kevin Newman, one of the players of Thursday versus ProFar versus Crone, 50% are underowned. Who do you pick?

The one I pick is Cron. I mean, he's the one who I think has, has the kind of bat skills that we look for in fantasy. We know he can hit for power. And I actually love the Twins matchups this week. He's going to be in my top 10 sleeper hitters for the upcoming scoring period. I don't think Newman is useless. It's just a very particular skill set.

Like he's not going to have another two homer game this year. It's like Liam Mason. He makes, yeah, a particular set of skills. he makes some weak, weak contact. Kevin Newman does. He makes a lot of contact and then makes him a good source of batting efforts, but that's that and the occasional stolen basis

about all he's good for. So I'm not, he's not going to be an impact player, more of a role player in maybe deeper rotisserie leagues for him. All right. Most added, I was going through there. The most added player is probably not a shocker to anybody over the last week.

It is Mark Kana, who we spent a decent amount talking about went from 17% to 49% owned, a 32% swing, which I think is one of the highest. I feel like since I've been doing this. But let me ask you this, Daniel Murphy, Mr. Daniel Murphy. Tonight, on Thursday, he went two for four. He did have three RBIs. When I went to go click on him, I was shocked that he's 92% owned in leagues right now.

I was shocked, let me tell you. So should he be more owned than Mark Kana? He was hitting 253 with zero homers in August. That's Daniel Murphy. Kana or Murphy, and they have a 40% value swing between them. I'd rather have Kana right now. I don't think Murphy is going to, like he kind of got hot in the middle portion of the season. And we were like, well, maybe he's is finally going to live up.

to the hype of him going to Coors Field. There's a lot of hype this preseason, but it's just, he just doesn't seem to have, to hit the ball hard enough anymore at age 34 to be an impact player. He can pile up some hits when they're at home in Coors Field, but it's not, the overall impact just isn't there.

And I don't think the potential for it is there. Well, Ken has been doing it for close to two months now. Okay. That was so abrupt. I wasn't ready for it. But Kana firmly over Murphy. Thank you very much. That's a confirmation bias for myself.

A couple other pieces of confirmation bias that just needed to be said. J.D. Davis, aka Scott White's favorite, 61% own, hit his 18th homer of the year. Three straight games with a homer and Willie Calhoun, who is up to 78% own now. Good on you guys. He hit his 16th homer of the year, which is the ninth homer of August.

Those are just very two beautiful. be shocking that they're way under owned than Daniel Murphy. I just, it's the name value that keeps Daniel Murphy up. But the confirmation bias to J.D. Davis and Willie Calhoun, they're still rocking for us. Yeah, they are easier calls than, than Cana even. In fact, I don't think if I owned either Davis or Calhoun, I would be sitting them right now. Well, I say that knowing that they're on the bench in a couple of my leagues, but my teams are really good, you know. I have good teams. I can't fit good players in my lineup.

Yeah, you can't fit those Ruggies, right? Those Ruggies got to get the Thai Francis in. How about the deep speaking of? Let's talk about some deep hitters. Now, you talked about Abraham Toro earlier, hit his first career homer, 8% owned in CBS. Obviously, you're talking about him as a pickup. Let's compare him against a couple other guys here and see where you're at. Jake Cave, double dong, six and seventh homers, five homers in his last six games.

John Birdie, who went, by the way, from 10 to 21% owned. He hit his six homer of the year. And coming into Thursday, he was hitting 2.92 with three homers and seven stolen bases. Some good numbers. Nick Solac, who's only 15% owned. He went two for three and got his first stolen base. He's already got four multi-hit games in his first 10 career ones. Why do we need Rugi?

And Adam Frazier, who's 21% owned, the most owned player here, but still very low number. Four for four, two RBI's hits in eight of his last games. He's only got a homer and a stolen base in that time frame. So Cave, Toro, Bertie, Solac, Frazier. How do you like these as deep, deep pickups? Four of these five hitters are in my top ten sleeper hitters for this upcoming week. So, and I already mentioned CJ Crone earlier. So you got half the list now.

Nobody even needs to bother to read it. But, yeah, the four are Cave, Toro, Bertie, and Solac, not in that order. I talked about Toro earlier and where things stand with him. Solac's just been, you know, he's been piling up hits and walking a ton since getting called up, Rangers of good matchups. He's probably of these four, the one I have the most trust in that maybe he could be a rest of season option for you, Nick Solac. Over Toro?

Yeah, I mean, Toro still has, he got his first extra base head, so he still has a lot to prove. But there are some encouraging signs there. I also wonder what they're going to do with them when Carlos Correa comes back. I presume. Well, if he comes back. If he comes back, that's fair. Now, I think the most interesting is Jake Cave because, like, strikeout rate is terrible.

Babip is crazy high. It's a good start. Expected stats say that he's doing exactly what he should be doing in terms of batting average in Woba. He impacts the ball really well. And we saw this from him last year, too, and over 300 plate appearances. He struck out a third of the time,

which is crazy high, 363 bad bit, yet the overall production was pretty strong. And he's doing it again. And at some point, maybe we should buy into it. Now, I don't think he's a stud. I mean, there are limitations on the batting average, but if he hits for enough power in like a five outfielder league, Five outfielder league context, Jake Cave is going to matter.

By the way, Eduardo Escobar just hit his 30th Homer, just an absolute crush. Diamondbacks are killing the Dodgers, Eduardo Escobar. Very, very impressive. Just some good deep hitters to talk about. How about some pitchers here? Better pitching ads 50% or less owned. Three guys, these were near the top of the list of the most added over on CBS. Adam Plutko, 29 to 48% owned.

Adrian Houser went from 32 to 50 and Sean Mania, who we talked about, 33 to 40, and there is talk that Manaya might be able to get into a game next week. So what do you think? Who's the 50% or less own guy that you want? Plucko's the one I want the least. The other two, I mean, we've got to see if Manaya can find a starting spot and see if the reduced velocity translates as well in the majors

as it did in the minors. He's not throwing very hard, but he's getting tons. of strikeouts, even in the PCL where nobody pitches well anymore. And I'm definitely intrigued by the possibility, especially if you can stash him in an IL spot. And then Adrian Hauser, we talked about him earlier this week. He at least shows good ground ball tendencies. He is a two-star pitcher this upcoming week, too. And I would probably leave him for points leagues, but, you know, assuming he's okay

after leaving his last start with a hip issue, he says he is. He says he's planning to make those two starts, or at least the next start. I don't think most major league pitchers actually think in terms of two start weeks, but I could be wrong. Yeah, Hauser. Howler looks like somebody you could use to. A couple gyms, obvious players, but just of note, Mike Clevenger, he went eight, four hits, no one runs, no walks, ten strikeouts on Thursday, just continuously making his case for the high valuation for 2020. We talked about Paddock. Paddock ended up finishing seven innings, five hits, one.

one-earned-run, eight strikeouts. A couple gyms. Not quite in the same territory, but, you know, the guys that you expect. Burrios went six, gave up three, eight strikeouts on Thursday. Lance Lynn went six, gave up one with five strikeouts. DeGrom, didn't have the best. He went seven, gave up four earned runs, but seven strikeouts in there. And then John Lester, six with one-earned-run, three walks and four strikeouts.

But it's not all great, Bob. It's not great, Bob. Zach Granke, five and two-thirds, six hits, five earned runs. did have eight strikeouts and Derek Rodriguez, though he is very underowned. Five innings, eight hits, five earned runs, and three strikeouts. Not great, Bob. Well, that's an interesting take you just gave there. Derek Rodriguez very underowned.

Do you think, do you think Derek Rodriguez is good? Is somebody we should be touting? I don't. I don't. I mean, five earned. I don't. I think it wasn't a great star, giving a five earned runs, a low strikeout guy. I've never been a big believer in Derek Rodriguez.

Okay. All right. Well, no, just the fact you said he's underowned. Yeah, I mean, he's incredibly underowned, but I mean, it might be for all the right reasons, though. Yeah. Okay. Bullpen. Matt McGill was one of the bullpen guys that was one of the most viewed and added, went from 6 to 21% owned.

And just so happens on Thursday, he was able to go two innings and pick up the win. Any interest in the speculation of Matt McGill? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's, I would say he's definitely still under-owned. I mean, he's their closer. I think they've made that pretty clear. Only 21% owned. No, I mean, is he a good closer?

I don't have much evidence of that. He does have a good strikeout rate. So, you know, maybe he could have a nice run that brings that ERA whip down to a level of war. more comfortable with, but I'm not optimistic about it. It's the Mariners closer, so save opportunities figure to be few and far between. I'm not saying he needs to be owned in every league, but in league where saves are always something you're... In leagues where saves are something everybody's fighting over, like, he's a closer.

And he went to, went two, struck out two, got the win tonight. we'll take his fourth win and put into a close roll. How many of those guys are actually out there? 21% owned where you can get saves at this stage of the season unless it's pure rotational speculation. It's pretty good. Other bullpen guys, Brad Hand got his 30 third save. Liam Hendricks locked down his 17th save of the year,

one and two thirds, gave up an earn run, but five strikeouts in there. I still can't get over Liam Hendricks when I look at it. It's one of those things when I'm decompressing from the end of the season. When I look at what happened to Trinan and a guy like Liam Hendrix jumping into that role, it just still hasn't sat with me well. Which part of it, the fact that Liam Hendricks is good enough to do that? That's the great, I think that's the great debate.

Is it that he was good enough to do it or is, is it that Trinan is so bad? I think the easy answer is Trinan being so utterly bad. Well, I mean, Hendricks was a all-star on merit. I mean, his numbers are phenomenal. It's just kind of like Blake Trinan and that it feels. pretty out of nowhere. And so, I'm seeing if he's still with,

yeah, he's going to be with the A's next year, Hendricks. It would be, it would be something that I think will be a little more cautious of than we were with Trinan.

Do you think the A's potentially try to go down the road of giving it back to Trinen for next year? I can't imagine why they would if Hendricks continues to pitch like he has so far. I mean, it's not just,

it's not just the low one ERA. He has a sub two fifth, as well. I mean, you hardly ever see a pitcher with a fit below two. The ratios have just been phenomenal. Okay. Randy Dobnack, Dobnack, three-inning save. Nobody got it. Nobody needed it, but he was out there. Emilio Pagan, 75% owned at this point, two and one-thirds, and he got three strikeouts in here. I wanted to talk about it, though, or just mention it as he's been rocking. Jose de Leon made an appearance and got a win. I think his first win since 2017 or something like that. Just kind of a blast from the past, but he was in a bullpen role. And he actually

followed Nick Anderson. I'm not sure there's anything to really read. There's really not much to read out of anything as far as Pagan is just the guy there, and you can keep running. And Craig Kimbril locked down his 13th save of the year. So I think your calls on Emilio Paghan have been really solid as of late, and it's paying off. Yes. Yes. About time, I made some calls that were correct in the raised bullpen. Look at that. It's just been an ongoing frustration all season long. Yeah, well, they got something and we'll see what frustration they bring to us next year. Two guys that I put like never have I ever started either one of these two guys,

at least in the last couple years. Just curious your thoughts. Felix Hernandez, 8% owned. Okay, Knight, went five hits, three earned runs, three strikeouts. That was on Thursday. His last start, he went five and two thirds, gave up two, struck out four, but he's got the Cubs next. And Robert Dugger.

What are the Marlins keep doing? 0% he went 7 no earn runs a walk and 7 strikeouts are you yeah i don't know i don't think there's much to see there with uh with i is it dougar i honestly don't know duger it's d u g g a r robert i mean i'm clearly not the person to ask that question so you yeah i'm yeah i'm not normally either nobody owns him so nobody nobody actually really knows I think it's a... He had... He like throws...

His average fastball velocity is like 90s, so he's not a hard thrower. Or he's a soft tosser by today's context. His K rates were okay in the miners, but nothing to get excited about. I feel like this isn't anything worth pursuing here as good as this one start was. Okay.

People are going to be asking, they're going to look at the strikeouts. They're going to look at the, you know, absolutely no-owned percentage. I think it might even be more exciting for people than Melville just because of the strikeouts. All right. Let's send this bad boy with a couple emails.

You guys can send those in to Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Here is what we got. Who is this from? I don't know who this is from. But Dear Zach, Stefan, Tim, and Howard. Okay? Help me with this keeper conundrum. Choose four of the following options,

losing 2020 draft pick in the round specified. We have Devers in the ninth, Beber in the seventh, Snell in the ninth, Alonzo in the 16th, Adaberto, Mondesi, in the 18th, Bichette in the 22nd, Akinio in the 22nd, and Jordan

Alvarez in the 22nd. He says it's a 12-team 6x 5-0-6, OPS and quality starts. He also said that Alvarez, of all the guys he labeled, Alvarez was his absolute no-brainer keeper. So pick four with those rounds.

Devers, Beaver, Snell, Alonso. It's a lot of good options. They're all no-brainers. This is stressful just because you can only get it wrong, I feel like. So Alvarez in the 22nd, yes, I agree that's a no-brainer. All right.

Devere's in the 9th is a no-brainer. I think so, yeah. I mean, Alonzo in the 16th is also a no-brainer. Right. So then it comes down to Bieber, Snell, or Bichette, or Mondesie. Or Mondesie. I think Aquino in the 22nd, like we're not. I mean, I'd be happy to keep him in the 22nd round.

Don't give me wrong. I'll pass. He's the least trustworthy of the least confident. am that this player's just going to be great forevermore. I'm tempted to want a pitcher here, and I feel like it's Snell, but I'm assuming because you have two nines, Devers and Snell are both nines, that one would cost an eight. So you'd have to consider Snell as an eight.

So would you keep Devers? If I'm keeping a pitcher, it's Bieber, right? He's going to be in my top five next year, seventh round. You know, a lot of times when there's any doubt, I'd like keeping. If it's a discount at all, I like keeping the better player, even if it's not as significant of a discount. So I think I'm going to go with that standard here and make Bieber the fourth. So we have Devers, Beber, Alonzo, and Alvarez.

Those are the four. Yeah, but I fully admit you could be kicking yourself for years to come for not keeping Bo Bichet at that price. And I don't, I'm trying to look, Zach, Stefan, Tim. I'm looking, I don't have, I don't even know how you guys. guys do this game that you do and you uncover them so quickly. And Stefan is spelled all weird. So I feel like that's kind of the key. All I found is there was a is a soccer player. Oh, maybe that's what it is. Zach Stephan, isn't Tim Howard a soccer player or is that a hockey player?

It sounds familiar. Tim Howard goal. Yep, he's a soccer player. Okay. So soccer. Did I get it? Zach, Stefan, Tim, and Howard? Zach Stephan is a two soccer players split their names up into four names. I'm pretty proud of myself. That's pretty good. Yeah, you did it. Look at me. I did something this show. Cookie for me. All right. Last one here.

Dave from Ontario. Hi Morgan, McCluster and Laboratory. Head-to-head categories. And second, holding a buy. Who do I want as a bench hitter? Eloy Jimenez. Danny Santana or Dustin or Dexter Fowler leading off for the cards. Danny Santana.

Easily. Easy. Easy. Do you have any... Those are Dexter, by the way. That was that obvious? Oh, you know, okay, Morgan McCle... It's Dexter?

Dexter's, yeah. Who's McCluster? Dexter McCluster? Oh, it is Dexter's. Dexter's Laboratory. You are very good. Dexter Morgan, Dexter McCluster. Okay, I'm getting how the game plays. That is very, very slick. I like that one a lot. All really bad endings, by the way. I would throw out as well. Dexter and Dexter McCluster did not end well.

So, all right. That is the show. There's we go. They're an abruptly ended here. We are out of here. We'll be back with you next week. Good playoff runs, Roto ends, all that stuff. We got the crew.

I know Adam and you are going to be back here on Monday for everybody. And then I will be back with Scott White. And maybe we'll get a little Adam in here. Well, I think there's, I know you guys don't deal with these things out there in the desert. But there's a little hurricane coming this way. And by Sunday. We'll see. Are you going to get hit with this?

The direction it goes. What? Are you going to get hit? Maybe. We're in the cone of the cone of uncertainty here. I'm battening down the hatches this weekend. What do you do? Putting up on provisions.

Oh, geez. You go hit like a store, get like the water and all the extra food. I mean, I have just no concept of it as a West Coast person. The worst we get are we get hubobs. That's what I get. And those last for 30 minutes. Yeah, no, this is. I've only been through one, Irma, last year.

And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I'm sure it could be scary if you're in an evacuation zone and don't evacuate. That's probably a bad idea. But for most people who endure it, I think it's mainly just a major nuisance and it's annoying. Okay. Well, like many things, but I would say this, if you're on the East Coast and you're in the path, stay safe. I would say this to you, all you guys stay safe. And we'll have to see who's all going to be available next week. We don't know what internet and everything will be like. So, uh, sky. Scott White, you stay safe. Everybody listening. You do the same if you're in that path. Have a great weekend. Go lock up your playoffs. Go win some championships. We'll be back with you next week. Follow me on Twitter at Is It the Welsh. Follow Scott at CBS Scott White. Otherwise, we'll talk to you guys next week. CBS fantasy baseball today. We're out of here.