Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/02: Weekend Roundup (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 2, 2019

The prospects are coming up! Let's see who you should be adding. Plus which OAK SPs can you rely on this week? Which hitters have the favorable matchups? And there's plenty more to get you ready to win a playoff matchup.  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. With fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. It's Fantasy Baseball today. It is playoff time.

It's Chris Welsh, not Chris Towers. Like Scott and Adam Azer tried to call me today. That is what happened. I was texting with Scott. and you replied to me because you were applying to Chris Towers, and then I literally got a call from A's or 45 minutes ago. I said, hello, and he said, you're not Chris Towers. And I said, no, I'm not in fact.

So this is Chris Welsh here on Monday edition, which I have not been joined, as always, by Scott White, whom is safe and sound currently on the East Coast over in Florida, right? Currently, yeah, it hasn't made its approach toward the coast of the U.S. right now, though. you know, doesn't sound like things are going very well in the Bahamas. Does not. So you're bracing, but you're optimistic.

Yeah, I mean, it's one of the, like, everybody's kind of relaxed over the weekend because you know, most of the models show it curving up kind of around the shape of Florida. But it's like, it's still like that, that small chance that it doesn't. And so it's like, all right, should we just behave like normally now? should I bring in the patio furniture? Like what's going to happen? And, you know, it sounds like maybe you should bring some stuff in.

Just, you know, that's just silly old me over here in Arizona. We had rain coming up and we're all like, ooh, but embrace ourselves. And I was telling everybody, I'm like, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Florida's dealing with a 200 mile an hour category five that's going through the Bahamas. Let's all gather up ourselves and we'll be okay. You guys, be safe and bring in the patio furniture.

That's the only advice I could possibly have for you. Yeah, that's the plan. That's the plan. It's like, you know, it's that small, and there's like this one model that shows it crossing the state of Florida twice. Like, nobody really knows, but there's like more certainty now, but still nobody really knows. So, I don't know. It's, it's been so slow moving, like we expected to be kind of into it now and we're not. And, yeah, I mean, just everything up in the air right now.

The only thing we know is it is fantasy playoff time, though. you guys are safe. That's what counts. And it is fantasy playoff time. Most playoffs, you know, it's all here or there. I know some start later. Some have already started, Roto, blah, blah, blah. But guess what? It is like major playoff runtime. We were talking about it last week where Scott was like,

Noah Senegarde might have cost me. But I think you might be okay. But let's get everybody set for this coming week. It's a huge, massive week, as you guys are trying to lock in to move forward, make some money, and we want to help you make all the right ads and drops that they are. So let's kick it, ride off on let's talk about some hitters. Who are we

adding this week, Scott? I know you got your pickup week ahead column. We can probably dig from that, but let's just get right into it and who does Scott White want to pick up for this coming playoff week? I mean, let's start with the biggest pickup of all, the biggest news of all,

that was kind of being reported by the most obscure sources, and then finally it came straight from the Dave Roberts 's mouth, and that's Gavin Lucks is coming up for the Dodgers to play, not just to take on an apprenticeship role.

He is going to be in the lineup Monday at second base. Obviously, Max Muncie. I don't remember where he left off on the podcast, but Max Muncie indeed has a fracture in his wrist. It's not a super significant fracture, but he's on the aisle right now. I think it was like he was going to get a second opinion. Everyone was optimistic.

And then literally the next day, you know, as people were listening, it was, nope, this is bad. There's a fracture in there. He's going to the IEL. And we, you know, you and I were kind of pushing like, well, maybe we'll get a day or too early. The Dodgers didn't wait at all. I mean, they're, you know, they didn't push it ahead one bit.

We, they didn't even call him up technically on September 1st. They're going to call him up on Monday, September 2nd. Yeah. As we'll talk about a few other September call-ups. But yeah, Muncie out. Lux in at second base. And Lux had just the most ridiculous minor league season, almost hit 350 between two levels, the doubles, the homers.

I mean, he is everything that you want to buy into as far as like a playoff run pickup that you could possibly have. Yeah, I mean, I can't promise he's going to be as good as Bo Bichette because Bo Bichet's been pretty ridiculous. But if you've been kicking yourself for missing out on Bo Bichet, I mean, there's a chance he's close to as impactful. And like, so like don't repeat the mistakes of last time. Who cares if you need a shortstop or you don't?

This is just potentially a great hitter. Second base, I figure he's going to pick up. up eligibility there in short order. Now that they're like going to break the seal on him, I don't know why they want to just start him every day. It's obviously encouraging to hear he'll be in the lineup the first day he's up. They face a bunch of right-handed pitchers this week. He bats left-handed.

So I imagine. Colorado, man. Yeah, yeah. Not in Colorado. No, I know, but I'm just saying like playing Colorado is like, I know it's not in Colorado, but it's still, to me, it's a dream type of scenario you want to get outside of being in Colorado, let me get Gavin Lucks up against those Colorado pitchers. Yep, yep.

So it's, and when Muncie comes back, assuming he comes back in a couple weeks, like, there's still a place to play him. Jack Peterson's falling out of favor. Billet Bellinger and Alfield Muncie to first. If Gavin Lucks is rolling, I think they'll just stick with him all the way to the World Series, where we all expect them to go. We had an interesting question pop up on Twitter before the show. Scott Wolf tweeted.

He said, Hey guys, to you and I, start Mark Kana or Lux as my utility this week, head-to-head categories with OBP. And here's what's interesting about this before you answer. Is the most added player over the last week is Mark Kana, who has a 33% change. He's jumped up to 58% owned.

But under most viewed, if you're looking over on CBS, Gavin Lux is the second most viewed player. So you kind of have, you know, Lux hasn't quite caught up to the full on change of ads that Mark Kana has, but everybody is in on Lux because of the call up right now. So, OBP, this coming week, I'd even be curious outside of like a points or head-to-head or OBP, just overall Lux or Kana for this coming week for you. Well, as you know, I write an article about the top 10 sleeper hitters for the upcoming week. Number one on that list is Mark Kana. And if Gavin Lux performs like Kana has over the past two months, it'll be a great success.

So I don't know why you want to just start Kana, if that's the case. He has, you know, Lux's matchups are good. Canna's may even be better. So, yeah, if it came down to a choice of who to start, I would go Kana over Lux. Lux is third on that list. I have J.D. Davis second. So those are three potential pickups right there. But if you're talking about I can only afford to roster one of these guys,

I'm picking up Lux. There's the highest ceiling there in terms of potential impact. Wait, wait, wait a minute. You're starting Kana, but if you were to own the three, you're owning Lux over J.D. and Kana. I am most concerned, particularly, okay, so let's think this through. If you're in a league where Kana is unroasted, your competition has had plenty of chances to pick him up by now. They're clearly not paying attention or not interested.

Okay. Gavin Lux, it's now you have to pick him up for fear of him falling into the wrong hands and destroying you. That's a good narrative. I'm sorry. It's a really good narrative. I like it. It's like a superhero thing.

Like, sure. Like don't let him fall into the wrong hands. Okay, I follow your logic. When you first said that, I was like, I'm not with you because we're starting Canada, but we're picking up Lux. To your point, though, if the league and Kanah's actually sitting out there, it's probably a hot hand league.

And Lux is the hottest hand. And, you know, like you've mentioned with multiple guys, even take an Aristides, you know, you don't want to miss out on the hot hand. And Kan is probably not, you know, he's obviously not into everybody's mind where Lux is the most viewed, the most talked about tomorrow or as Monday as you guys are listening to this. You're all going to be talking about Gavin Lux and him starting. So, okay, so now I'm with the science that you were breaking.

down there. Thank you. Who else? Who else do you got as far as excitement? You listed the top three. J.D. Davis is on there. Kana and Lux. Does anybody else jump out? And I got a few that I'm going to do some Hoogirrattors, but do you got any other guys that are important to let everybody know about? Well, I'm looking at the ones who are actually trending, and it's not an inspiring group beyond those. I actually, fourth on that list for me, in terms of hitters, I

like this week is Nick Solac, who continues to start for the Rangers. He's only 18% owned. Good on base skills, been getting multi-hit games left and right, it seems. So he's another guy if you need middle-in field help. But obviously, if you miss out on Lux, then Solek, I think, is a good fallback option. Okay. How about a couple of these guys? We talked about some of these names last week, and let's just like re-engage back on them.

We've got Kevin Newman, who's been hitting very well. and he jumped up. He was the fourth most viewed player over on CBS. People were locked into him, and I believe I'm trying to find him. He was up pretty high on the ad. Oh, yes, number two on the Adlas, up to 52% from 35,

which is a 17% differential, the second highest hitter of the second highest overall guy, versus, how about a couple of these guys? And, you know, the numbers are low enough that even if they're 20% or 30% own difference, I think you can pair them out. Harrison Bader, who's hitting 333, 133, 12 for 36, with nine RBIs and 12 games since being recalled from AAA.

And how about Seth Brown, who you were dropping some claims on, hitting pretty good, has not been going up against lefties. Three of his next six games are against lefties. So I don't know if you have to pair them against each other, but on the pickupometer, how excited are you on Newman, Bader, or Brown? So Brown is, he's one for three starting against him. lefties, including sitting out to the last three games.

So, yeah, that's a problem. That's a problem. And it was only really deeper leagues that I was going after him. Especially a weekly league format. Like, this would be a bad week to get down with that way, three of the six being lefties. Yeah. So Brown versus, you know, my favorite is probably Kevin Newman. I don't think there's, he had an incredible week.

So you can understand why people are picking him up. He scored like 40 points. And, you know, obviously his roto impact was significant if you're scoring 40 points as well. But I just don't, like, he makes weak contact, very little power. It's going to hit for average. This stolen base contribution is hard to predict and kind of moderate. So I just don't think there's enough upside. Like, considering his ownership is up to 53% now, which isn't terribly high, but Cannes 58.

You know, Gavin Lux is 48. Like, it seems out of sorts there that Newman would be in that same range. Do you think it's just about the hot week that sparked? I mean, 17% differential in pickup. That's pretty dramatic. I mean, Cannes was over 30%. But, like, why would new? I mean, I feel like we've kind of talked about this before.

Just a big week. Just simply the big week. Just a big week. That's what I would assume, yeah. Do you think it could be at all, maybe a testament to people really trying to find replace? Even though we talk so much about middle infield and shorts up and second base, you think it's maybe people desperately trying to find replacements in that position?

Or do you think the position is still deep enough that this is purely just, it's a big week. Everyone's picking them up. I'm just shocked they're picking them up over Kana or even Lux, frankly, knowing that Lux was about to come up. Yeah, no, I agree. I think as by and large people who play fantasy baseball are very reactive. That's really, that's what I think it is.

Because if you were looking to fill the middle-infield need, there are plenty of guys we've been suggesting. And who have we lost recently up the middle at shortstop? That's pretty minimal. I mean, when you say recent, that's minimal. We lost Tatis a few weeks ago, Carlos Correa, a couple weeks ago. I was thinking Correa. I'm trying to think of anybody else.

Not that springs to mind for me. Yeah, I mean, even lack of performance. In fact, we just got Alberto Mondesi back. Yeah, even lack of performance. I'm trying to think of anybody. I just think it's, you know, what does it fully tell us at the end of the day? Probably nothing. But to your point, Kevin Newman being owned in the same range as Canada and Lux, it's not in the same ballpark.

Did you mention on Harrison Bader? Does Harrison Bader have any interest for you if you're trying to fill the, even a five outfield? No. I just think most people can do better. I'm not saying he's terrible. But like I'd rather have Jake Cave, I think. with the twins going up against a bunch of Ritey's this week, then Bader,

and Cave is less than 10% owned. Yeah, I picked up Cave actually in a Keeper League over options of guys like Bader and Seth Brown. That was a pickup that I did. What about a couple more here? This is on the lower end, ish. Dexter Fowler, Kevin Bigio, Anthony Santander. What do you think?

Where's the interest? Santander has been pretty good of recent. Yeah, I mean, Santander had an awesome week, too, really. with a five-hit game and he had a bunch of home runs after that. And I think he's solid. I think he's solid. It was weird because he basically did nothing at AAA this year. And it's, you know, obviously everybody's killing it at a AAA.

That's been one of the big narratives this year. But, I mean, the strikeout rate is low. The quality of contact seems to more or less support what he's doing. you know, when he's at as hot as the numbers are maybe a little inflated like right now. But I think he's fine. I think you could do a lot worse than him. And I would be okay if he had to be a fixture in my lineup. What about this?

What about this? And these are high percentage differences here. But take Santander and put him up against a guy like Casey Golden. Or Sam Hilliard, I'm sorry. It was another Colorado market guy. Sam Hilliard, who if you want to talk about AAA performances lifting up, In his last five games, Hilliard has two homers,

hits in four of those five. I mean, there's five RBIs in there, very, very short stint, but you're going to get games in Colorado. Would you consider Hilliard a guy that you would want over Santander, or is the consistency of what you known better than the risk of what you could have? I got to be careful to kind of bottle my enthusiasm for Hilliard here for the audience.

Because I, look, I was, I play in some deep dynasty leagues, and I was picking up Hilliard and all of them. Like, I'm excited about his dynasty potential. Colorado, there's power speed there. And he was available because he wasn't like some, you know, like high-end prospect coming into the season. But at the same time, I mean, if you're thinking week to week trying to lock up a championship,

I'd rather take the stability of Sandhander when, There's questions about Hilliard's playing time, his contact ability. Yeah, I mean, he's going to need more than just four games to win me over given the potential downsides therein. But you're excited. Yeah, I mean, it's in the right context. Like, Dynasty League, I got nothing to lose. I'm just looking for upside. I'm picking up Sam Hilliard

But you pick up Hilliard Or a guy like Dexter Fowler Or even maybe Biggio? Oh yeah Okay Well Biggio I still think Biggio could have a bright future So I'm not

And I think he's a safer Long-term investment than somebody like Hilliard But like Hilliard I just You know Because I play in these deep leagues I get excited about like that out of nowhere guy That I can get for very easily And you know a lot of times

a lot of times it works out and he becomes something great. A lot of times it doesn't too, but you know, he's a big old, he's a big old physical presence, big old close to six foot five, 220 plus pounds. He was out here in the fall league recently. Physically, um, he's very, very impressive.

Swing is always a bit of a wrench, but power speed combo. That's why he's fun, but you always want to temper your expectations when you're trying to have too much fun when it's playoff time. Let's take a little quick break here. When we come back, it's time to talk pitchers to add.

By the way, there was a pitcher. that did something amazing. We haven't even talked about it because it's playoff time. And we've got to talk about the pitchers and hitters to add. But we will talk about that September call-ups and all the rest. Break time right here on Fantasy Baseball today. All right, Scott, let's talk about some pitchers to add here.

I got a couple names for you and then you please throw any pictures that we're looking at ad. We did talk in the last episode about two starts. Feel free if we want to rehash any of those. But here's three for you. We got Homer Bailey who went five and two-third, gave up tour and run, struck out nine. Did have two homers allowed at New York on Saturday. He's got not good starts.

It looks like it's coming. He's got Detroit this week. So that actually might not be too bad. We got Sean Manaya who came back. We had been talking about Manaya. I'm excited about this one because this was kind of one of those examples of a pitcher that I would tell people to take a little break on, take a step back. Don't start them in the first start.

Yet Manaya comes out under 50% owned, goes five, one hit, strikes out five at New York on Sunday. He's also got Detroit next week. And then how about Danny Duffy? Danny Duffy has got Miami this coming week. He went six and one third, three earned runs, three strikeouts against Baltimore on Sunday. So are we adding Bailey? Are we adding Mania?

Are we adding Danny Duffy? I think Mania is worth adding. Now, he did run out of gas. His average fastball velocity ended up being like a mile per hour lower since the last time we saw him, which, you know, based on some of the reports we were hearing out of the mind, It could have been worse. And it started out good. I mean, he even said he was gassed by the end of five.

As you would expect. Yeah, sure. I mean, coming back from long absence surgery, you know, he got plenty of rehab starts, but still, not quite the same. But, you know, between that and the way he was dominating on that rehab is, I mean, I think it's time to take a flyer on him. Now, it's not totally clear how the athletics rotation plays out from here. So that's, you know, you're going to have to kind of, it's going to be touch and go for a while there in terms of when you can actually use Manaya. But I think there's a chance he's a pretty good option for you in September.

Something to maybe speculate on that. Maybe I can pin you down to which direction are you going. One of the points of where does, where do they fully go with their rotation? How about Jesus Lazzardo, who on August 30th, he had his last start in AAA, went six, struck out 10, gave up one earned run, walked, no batters, which was great because his last, his previous three, he had kind of risen in the walks from one to two to three. Lazzardo is somebody that I have not heard news on a September call up. He could throw a wrench into the, into the A's rotation.

Would you feel safer with Mania, even though you know the gas went down and you don't know where they sit with him? Or speculating on Lazzardo, who very well in my eyes could be up this week for, I mean, if they want to keep the rotation, he could be starting this week. He could be. I have not seen, and I think we'd know by now. I mean, I don't think this is something terribly secretive, whether or not he was added to the 40-man roster, Lozardo, by September 1st, which there's, like, to be eligible for postseason play, they have to be added by that date.

But it doesn't mean they wouldn't bring him up, just, I mean, just pointing out. If you're unwilling to use him in the postseason, why? Why bring them up at all? I mean, you're already saying, okay. Well, because he can help you win games to get there now. I mean, I think that would be part of it. What I'm saying, like, if you're not so invested in winning that you're willing to keep them around for the postseason, why are you? But you know what?

There's a loophole anyway that's, you know, if they lose somebody to injury that, you know, I don't know the exact terms of it. But there's a way where somebody could get hurt and make it out a guy that way. My logic has been he's missed so many innings. and I know this is, I keep harping on this stuff, but the A's still have those two roster spots in the Arizona Fall League. I've kind of thought they could bring him up. And I'm looking right now on the 40-man roster.

He is not on the 40-man roster, as I'm seeing it right now. So that tells you that. But you come in, you have him, you know, get two or three starts out of him. He helps you win games now. But you also know that he's going to be capped, so you don't want to put postseason arms on him,

and they send him out to the Fall League, and he can play, you know, he can pitch two or three innings. in the Arizona Fall League during that time because they know they don't want to press him. That's just like me trying to create maybe a narrative around why they didn't do it. Clearly he's got to come up.

He's been fantastic. I guess the question is you seem to have a bigger question because he's not on the 40 man that he even comes up and pitches games for them because why? Well, yeah, I mean, that's, you say capped with the innings. Like if I wouldn't assume there is no cap on the innings because of all the time he's missed.

Like they want to get as many in, give him as many innings as he can so that it's not an issue. as much of an issue next year, what kind of increase he's looking at. So that would be my assumption. But, I mean, I'm just guessing. We're both just guessing. Yeah, we're both just guessing.

So, I mean, I think... I'm discouraged. I'm discouraged by the lack of addition to the 40-man roster, but it's not over yet. I would not be dropping Luzardo based on that. I still think he could be a big help down the stretch. If I'm... If it's between him and Mania, I'm probably taking the bird in the hand at that point. But my pitching needs are so great across.

the board that I feel like I can afford to roster both and there's somebody there's some junkie pitcher on my roster I get drop instead like a Danny Duffy you drop Danny Duffy to hold Lazzardo yeah absolutely what about Homer Bailey did I mean we kind of do we even hit on him no we haven't and he's been he's been really good of late he's uh we find the exact stat here he's got just while you're doing that five and two uh with a five two six ERA 47 strikeouts in 49 and two-thirds inning. That's his, I believe, his last two. He had two really bad ones in Houston and Chicago,

but his last seven have been pretty solid. Yeah, and seven-plus strikeouts in three of four. The splitter's really been working for him. And just the success the A's have had with these retread pitchers. You know, he's kind of flashed potential with the splitter off and on all year with the Royals too. So I don't know. Maybe he's on to something. But, yeah, if it came down to it, I'd rather own Luzardo or Mania.

The A's are like that uncle that you have that's just like, bring over that old dishwasher that doesn't work. And then all of a sudden he's turned it into just like, you know, some jet engine motor with wheels and he's driving around. Like what the A's do with the garbage that's around the league is nothing short of incredible. And they really should be acknowledged for it. Well, the garbage around the league and their garbage in their own system. Yeah, and their stadium too.

Seth Brown wasn't a top 30 prospect for them. And now he's winning games for them as their left fielder. They're pretty wild. What about, do you have any other pitchers that jump to mind that you want people to know about? Again, I mean, we talked, you know, the two starts last week. I don't know if there's relevance for you to want to hit, but who are you adding as far as pitchers go for this playoff week? So, yeah, we talked about some of the two start sleepers,

and that list has shrunk. Twindled. Shrank has shrunk. Yeah, with, with some of the rotation tweaks that happened around the league over the weekend. But I still think, you know, Mike Montgomery still looks like a good option. I was right about it being Montgomery. Yeah, you were.

Jake Junice, so go me. One for Scott, zero for Wells. I like it. And who was the other guy? So it was Mike Montgomery and Trevor Richards. Not official for Tuesday, but that's when he lines up. to go and I don't see why they'd skip him after the way that last start went. So I think he's still a decent option.

If you're looking for two start guys, I'm not big on the one-start streamer thing because I feel like like if you're just settling for one start anyway, the pitchers you already have, because obviously you've been trying to keep your rotation strong anyway, are better than any, any, like, streamer off the waiver wire.

So that's kind of my general philosophy with that. But in terms of pitchers who you may have upside down the stretch Well, Adrian Hauser's still going to be a two-start guy And A couple of... By the way, sorry, I mean to pitch out The top three most added pitchers

are Anthony Descliffeani Who's up to 66%. Sean Mania is up to 50 And then Sandy Alcantra Up to 44. And Desclafani and Alcantara are two-star pitchers as well. Desclafani would be my preference there. I don't think Alcantara is a bad choice for points leagues,

but the fact he's the Marlins never win games for him is a problem. Adrian Howser. I mean, none of these are super, like I'm really that excited about their upside, which is why it makes it so easy to pick up Mania and Luzardo. But, you know, you may not have that option, and you may just have to try and make the most of a bad situation. And I think all three of those guys are usable in a two-start week. And there was the everyone take a shot for the drinking game.

I said Alconra instead of Alcantara for whatever reason. For whatever reason I decided to do that, that's what happened. Oh, I think it's Alcantra. I always thought it was Alcantra. I feel it wasn't the, remember the Cubs infielder? First, I can't remember the Erasmendi. That sounds right, yeah. I think he was Alcantara, Alcantara.

Like he had a different emphasis. Yeah, it's like spelled the same, but literally can be said two different ways. That's what's so fun about it. Hey, one of those one-start pitchers that can do you good, a guy named Justin Verlander, had his third no hitter. His third no hitter, you heard me right, on Sunday. His second no hitter against the Blue Jays.

Boy, do the Blue Jays want him to go away? Went nine, walked one, struck out 14. So you didn't have one of those little cheap ones. He had one of those pretty ones through 79 strikes, 120 total pitches. He has been incredible. And I was looking, because as soon as I saw it, I was like, who's number one? And the number one pitcher with the most no hitters in baseball, as you would probably guess, Nolan Ryan, Nolan Ryan, which I was talking about this on in this league.

Fascinating to me, Nolan Ryan spanned 18 years between all seven of them. He had, I believe it was in 1974, if I want, if, uh, 1973, no, 1973 was his first. His last was 1991. Like, he's crazy. Number two, Sandy Kofax and number three, Justin Verlander, who's tied with a couple other people. It's kind of harder to have that. Justin Verlander is going to be SP5 in 2020 after you see games like that, right? Uh, not really.

Relent. I don't know. I mean, it just, it feels like a bigger roll of the dice on him. Like, you know, obviously he's been better than that this year. Roll of the dice over who, though? Outside of Scherzer, where is the roll of the dice? Let's say Cole goes to Anaheim, Sale is whatever sale is, and to Grom. I think it's hard to make the case of Erlander isn't number two at this point.

I mean, unless you just love Garrett Cole's skills and you don't, nothing concerns you with him moving out of Houston, and you think Chris Sale returns to form. And, I mean, DeGrom is, I guess I could give you DeGrom as well. I mean, where do you go? Like, I think it's hard to make the case that he isn't too. Outside of age. Well, it's all age. That's all age.

But he's found the found of youth. How many, like, ace caliber pitchers have there been at age 37? I mean, but how many Nolan Ryan's and Sandy Kofaxes have there been? Justin Furlander, you got to think about in that territory. Yeah, no, I have to apply the age discount when you get, really when you get beyond like 32. I start applying it. So you're getting all the way up to 37.

I know. Still five for you, though? You going to do that? I don't know. I'm not ready to commit to anything just yet. Okay, what can we commit to? Let's make some type of a commitment. Scher'ser 1.

Is that a commitment? No. Okay. We'll make no commitment. Okay, what's our clump then? Let's just, we'll move on, but I need the clump. Who is the clump? So, Cole Scherzer, Verlander, de Grom.

Okay. And I'm good with that. And I think you're right. I think Sale is out of that right now. I don't think you can make a case. I think Beaver might be in the five. Maybe he's a clear fifth, but. Really?

Yeah, you don't like that? How I view that clump is I have to be able to make the case that they could be the number one pitcher. And I can't make the case that I would take Bieber over Scherzer or Verlander or especially DeGrom, where I think, I mean, I suppose you could start to make cases or you're going to really take DeGrom over Scherzer. But I think the four that you set have the biggest case for ones and twos more than Bieber would. Like, Bieber seems like he's number five.

He's easily number five. I'm with you, but he doesn't make the case to be the number three or two. I mean, what makes it difficult is they're just not making Verlanders and Scherzer's anymore. They've kind of gotten grandfathered into this old style of pitching, which is great for now, but that just means we have to keep relying on them to defy father time, and it gets riskier with each passing year. I'm not saying it's necessarily wrong. It's just you have to you have to decide what you're most afraid of. Father time is pretty high on the list for me. That's very well said. All right, quick break. When we come back, let's talk September

call-ups. Injuries and news and notes. There's a lot of that. And then we're going to get through some more added and more stuff. So, Fantasy Baseball today. Quick break right here. September call-ups are in. We've talked about a few of them. You've got Gavin Lux with the Max Muncie stuff. Made a few notes on a few of these others. Nate Lowe, we're very excited. He's back. Homered against Cleveland on Sunday. Those are things we want to see. But something I personally didn't want to see, though I can easily step away from it, was Bruce Dar Gratterol with the Minnesota of twins, who I love, was brought up, but he's brought up in a bullpen role. I always have this slight little fear with pictures like him, the same pitcher like AJ Puck, when they say, ah, we're

just going to bring them up, you know, for them to provide some production in the bullpen, but I'm afraid you start to get them in there. They see how good they are, and it becomes the Josh haters of the world. And he's just a guy I don't want to see in that role. But there's little to no fantasy value for the people that are speculating on Brewster because he's going to be in the bullpen, right? Yes. And I'm not that worried about this being a long-term development for him. I could be wrong. I just feel like that, you know, it's just clearly meant to be somebody to help with the

playoff push in this capacity. And the plan is still for him to become a starter and hopefully a very good one. Clint Fraser was brought a backup. But he was really an interesting role, Scott, where he played a couple of innings. And then the Yankees, like, purposely, I read this thing where it was like, if a hard throwing pitcher was in and the six, they were bringing Mike Ford in. And Mike Ford came in.

So really all I'm asking you, though, is do you have interest? I know, it was like a weird just play on. We're going to get Frazier for six innings, bring him out, and we're going to start pinch hitting. Are you interested in Clint Frazier for the rest of the season, for any type of a run? No, I'm not. I think the fact they went with Tockeman, Cameron,

may been Mike Ford. I think I'm even forgetting somebody that was ahead of him in the packing order when they were losing good players. I don't have much hope in Clint Frazier having a big role. Hashtag free Clint Frazier. Please just trade him next year. Your boy, this isn't necessarily a September call-up,

but your boy, Ty France, who hasn't particularly, I think, been great, was good on Sunday. Hit a pair of homers, four RBIs against the Giants. And make you feel a little bit better? A little bit better? Or we move away from Ty? In that 24-team Dynasty League, I'm still open to dropping Rugnett-O-Dor and installing France as my starter at second base

as I compete for the title. You're still interested or you have done? It didn't go through. I lost my bid. What? Yep. How? You didn't bid all the monies?

Well, it's this interesting dichotomy where you... The amount you bid on the player becomes his salary that then it factors into keeper decision. So you don't want to bid too much if it's somebody you're trying to keep for the long haul. It's not just about winning him. So you've got to balance that.

How much do I want him on my roster? How long do I want him on my roster, you know? That's an interesting take. So yeah, you wanted to keep him at two bucks. You didn't want him too much higher than that. Right. All right. Now, here's one that as we are recording this, this is Sunday night for everybody.

Here is one that is planned that I've read, but did not happen. And there was definitely a little bit of fervor about it, Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker did not officially get the call. And I do believe that after their game, they had mentioned that on Monday they have a few more call-ups they plan to make. They didn't mention anybody by name. But the presumption is Kyle Tucker is coming up on Monday. So talk to me about whatever excitement there could be. I've speculated you and I did this last week where I'm so discouraged with Kyle Tucker because I felt,

like, you know, if they were going to make room for this guy to play every day, they would have already done it with the first base stuff. I feel like they've got enough guys out there. Abraham Toro has been pretty solid as of recent. He's getting better. I just don't see a path where the Astros, even calling him up, are going to play him every day. So even though he's an exciting talent to pick up that could help fantasy teams, I just don't know if he's, I think he's going to be fools gold essentially at this point. I, there's not really, I don't think they're comfortable with him playing first base yet. He's gotten a little exposure there. And, Jeff Luno, the Astros GM already said that both he and Alvarez would get a lot of time working at first base this offseason because they're hoping that one of them gets comfortable enough there to be an option.

But I still think Tucker has a path in right field with Josh Redick. I mean, Josh Reddick's been a zero war player this year and that's according to baseball reference. Fan graphs might be different, but it's been a zero for them. And it's been especially bad in the sense. second half. So see what they have in, like they're not losing the division. I guess they technically could, but it's, it's probably not going to happen. So see what they have in Tucker. I mean, he might be a better option for them in the playoffs. That's my hope. It seems like that's what the Dodgers are doing with Lux. Who knows if that's the route they would have gone if Muncie hadn't gotten hurt. But regardless, that is what they're doing. And hopefully, you know, the 40-man situation, Tucker's already on the 40-man because we saw them in the majors last year. So

That's not even factoring into this. They could call him up any time they want in September, and he'll still be eligible for the postseason. What's your excitement, though, on picking him up? Like, what if you were pairing him against a guy like CJ Crone, who's 53% owned? You know, I mean, are you going to speculate on a guy like Tucker in respect of Crone?

Or, you know, are you with me? It depends if it's a guy I need to start right away or not. If it's just for a bench spot, then Tucker. Obviously, if you need an outfielder. more than Tucker than Tucker. Then Tucker. Wait, either way, it's then. What I said, it's not confusing. Sorry. Yeah. Tucker, if you need an outfielder more, then obviously he's the guy to pick up. I know like five outfielder leagues, outfield gets pretty, pretty stretched, stretch pretty thin. Tucker's up to 49% owned on CBS right now where we were talking about

Crone who's 53%. So I think legitimately might be something that people are staring at. But you seem to have interest in making the speculative ads. So anybody that happens to be catching the pod nice and early, you might have an opportunity to pick up Tucker before the news even drops

if he's still sitting out there. If you believe, which again, it makes sense. By the way, it should be like a roto wear t-shirt should be like Josh Reddick, a zero, and just put like a little war next to it. If all of that makes sense, I just don't know that the Astros want or are looking to make total sense with Kyle Tucker because this has been stalled so much.

So that's where my question is. But he's going to be the big hot topic that people are going to be concerned about because we're going to be in a post-lux world. And this is the pre-Kyle Tucker world that everybody is going to be staring at. Injuries, news and notes. Blake Snell is hoping to return in a couple of weeks. I'm going to probably do little for most people in their fantasy teams. Now, this one is interesting.

I want to get your take on how you would pair these guys out. Luis Urias is going to rejoin the Dodgers on Tuesday. Arias. Arias. I did the pronunciation thing online. I was talking to Azer about it because this one between Julio, Luis, and Arise has been a crutch. And I went and I did the pronunciation thing online and it was Urius. But I'll go with what you say.

I'll go with what you say. It's the drinking game of the Welsh and the mispronunciation. They have to disagree with your detective work there. Okay. What say you? Arias. Arias. That's what baseball references.

Perfect. Perfect. Arias is going to rejoin the Dodgers on Tuesday. His role is not certain. Ross Stripling started in Arizona on Sunday. And then Dustin May left after being hit in the head, which was like a scary moment, hitting ahead by a comebacker. So who do you want to own in this messy Dodgers?

non-committed starting rotation, if any. I see you wrote out a little pronunciation thing there too. Yeah, I mean, I'm a dummy, so don't listen to me. I don't know. I don't know. You can make me second-guess myself. Don't second-guess. I'm not the person to second-guess yourself.

I'm the guy to talk to you about the thing, so. I think the Dodgers have a bunch of forwarding pitchers, and we're going to spend all of September guessing who's going to do what. And Arias is one, stripling is one, May is one. I don't know, that any of them are worth pursuing. Okay, so at the end of the day, it's one of those, whatever decision you make will probably end up being the wrong one, so maybe avoid it where you can.

Ross Striply is always interesting to me, but it just doesn't seem like he's going to be in a spot that's going to be trustworthy, and I'm not sure Dustin May gets that many starts moving forward. I mean, I don't know what the plan is for Tony Gonsolin, who had another good start over the weekend, but I feel like, yeah, I feel like he's the most, he's a more reliable choice than,

are more trustworthy choice than any of these three. Oh, I like that. I like that. All right. So Tony Gonsland over all of those guys. Luke Weaver is expected to rejoin the Diamondbacks, but it looks like as a reliever. They've got some other options they're going with. That makes a lot of sense. We didn't talk about this when Cleveland called up Jake Bowers.

Bowers interest? Eh? Neh. Nah. Okay. Easy enough for me. Keston here is going on the IL. Milwaukee were called Travis Shaw.

Craig Counsel said that here will play again this season, but he's going to miss some time. That says to me, he will not be relevant for any of you guys the rest of this year. I mean, maybe it's going to be a 10-day, but I worry the comeback is going to be a few and far between. So it's not a drop situation unless you're dealt with a bunch of ILs. Would you treat it any differently?

You think he's a must-keep even if you're in an I-L situation? It's hard to make a blanket statement on that, but I don't think he's beyond dropping if that's your best route to freeing up a roster spot. I'd rather not drop him. but it's justifiable. I mean, pretty much anything is justifiable these days. Sure.

We're just trying to survive at this point. It says the man with a hurricane bearing down on him. That makes sense. Edwin, E5 is like to call him. You can be back later this week. Robinson Canoe should be back on Tuesday. Johnny Quedo's going to return to the Giants rotation within a week. Ooh, level of trust on Quato.

That one's a... A trust? I can't, yeah, I mean, I can't start him without seeing him more. Yeah, I don't think all they trust is the right word to use. Maybe interest. I mean,

pitching being what it is, I could get interested in anybody who has shown upside in the past. Okay. Behind Mani and Luzardo, but, you know, ahead of probably like Alcadra, Sandy, that is.

And who else do we talk about? Hauser? Bailey? Probably on equal footing with Hauser. What about Manai? You said Manai. What about Bailey? That's a good one.

Probably equal footing there too. I know equal footing. That's not helpful at all. Do not start in his first step. If I was looking for impact from my bench, I would go Quedo over Bailey. If I was looking for help in my lineup right now, Bailey. Yeah, I don't trust Quato in that start. I want to see more about it.

Jason Kipnis, Joey Boy, is dealing with wrist discomfort, so monitor that. U. Darvish was scratched with forearm tightness, but he's expected to make his next start at Milwaukee on Saturday, so, you know, playing accordingly. Sean Doolittle is going to be eased back into the closers role, which I wish wasn't the case because I could use those saves right now. Let's see, Ryan Zimmerman's back started and homered against Miami on Sunday. This was a good one. You mentioned it. Alberto Mondesi, not only back, but went four for five with three steals against Baltimore on Sunday. and help push me into a playoff spot with those three steals,

because I think I walked in with three total steals, and he doubled me down. So good to see Mondesi back. Yeah, good to see. Carlos. This is my preseason obsession, you know, at O'Doperto Mondesie. Even in points? I feel like he's that, I mean, was it a points conversation

or just an overall, like, I'm excited about him. I mean, obviously, you paid a much higher premium for him in Roto, and that's usually how the argument was centered. But, like, the discount. was over-applied in points leagues, I felt like. So I was happy to get him there too. Did we mention Nate Lowe? We did.

I see he was in the notes. Okay. Yeah, we did. I mean, if you have any other notes on him, he hit a Homer. It's fantastic to have him back. Yes. I think there's a chance he could find decent playing time. I mean, the race have so many quarter of field options.

Lowell or Tucker? Who? Lowell or Tucker? Nate Lowe or Kyle Tucker. I mean, it depends. I'm going low. But all things being equal, I think low. Yeah, that's the best way to say it.

All things being equal for me, it is definitely Nate low. Carrasco's back, but not fully in the rotation. Kepler is day to day, so monitor that. Tyler Glass now could be back later this week. Very dicey. We'll talk about that when we get later in the week. I'm dicey about that one. Javier Baez is day to day with a thumb injury.

X-rays were negative. That's good. Yuleigariel, also day to day after being hit on the elbow. Saturday, which could have Kyle Tucker implications. Mike Mustakis pitch hit on Sunday as everybody was monitoring that.

Mr. Scott White, do I have to start these guys? I have three names for you. These are highly owned players. Number one, Matt Boyd, who gave up five but did strike out 11 against Minnesota.

He has got Kansas City or Oakland next week. Trevor Bauer, oh, man, I really want to hear your take on Bauer, gave up six. Struck out five. He's got Philly or Arizona this coming week, or Zach Wheeler, who went six,

struck out four at Philly on Friday, but he's got to start these guys. Do I got to start these guys? The one I'd be least likely to start is Wheeler, because whatever's going on with him seems to be actually skills-related. He has now had, I believe it's five straight starts

with 10 swinging strikes or fewer, which is just very, uncharacteristic. Only 16 strikeouts in the last 30 innings. Yeah. So that may be surprised people that I pick him as the most worrisome because he hasn't been getting hit as hard as Bauer and Boyd. I was about to

say because his name isn't Trevor Bauer, so that's what's surprising about it. Yeah. Boyd, I mean, four home runs again in this. He's giving up a ton of home runs lately. It's blowing up his ERA. And, you know, he's so dominant when he does

a give up home runs that I feel like, I mean, to the degree I could say this about Boyd, but really it applies most to Bauer. Like, given that pitching and finding competent, well, finding good pitching much less, finding competent pitching much less good pitching this year has really been the story of the whole season. And obviously Bauer and Boyd, and their better stretches have played a big role in getting you where they are, where you are. It's not like you're going to find some miraculous Bob Bichette, the pitching form

off the waiver wire unless Luzardo suddenly gets called up and we know when he's going to start. I think that's your only hope of that. Yeah, that's good point. So, like, I just feel like you don't have great alternatives. Yeah, you could stream somebody who's pretty scrubby and hope he gets lucky, but if you're hoping, like, I'd still rather hope on the, I'd still rather gamble on the pitcher who I know when he's right is going to actually like single-handedly win it for me. I mean, we've seen this with Bauer all year.

Like, he's a smart guy. He's good at assessing himself. And he could go out and strike out 11 and seven innings next time. And like I put my, I put my trust in him to this point. If I do it again and it falls apart on me. At least I lost starting my best player. That's how I feel about it, you know? Like, I would feel more upset the other way. I bench power, he's great. And whatever scrub I picked up off waivers lost it for me.

That would feel worse to me. Every single time. I have 1,000% agree with that. I can't sleep at night with that, the latter there than the former, for sure. Some studs being studs, Max Fried, three earned runs, but struck out 11 going six against Chicago on Friday, but he's had no more than six innings pitch since May 1st. He's got Washington this week. Jose Quintana, he was five and two-thirds inning, struck out three against Milwaukee on Friday.

Four starts before, his previous start, by the way, he went four, gave up four, only struck out three, but the four starts before that. Three and O with a one-three-eight ERA, 33 strikeouts in 26 innings, but he's at Milwaukee and his last two in Milwaukee have been bad. Just a couple others. Dakota Hudson, who we talked about, seven and two-thirds. struck out eight, gave up four earned runs against Cincinnati on Saturday. He's got San Francisco this week and Julio Tehran. Six innings, two earned runs, four strikeouts against the White Sox on Sunday, and he has got Washington this week. Is there a stud you want to avoid?

Well, Freed, I think, is the only one who I would consider anything close to a stud. Maybe Kentana, but he's been really hard for me to figure out. Freed, I think, is just good, and he's had some bad luck this year. He had some bad luck in this start. But, you know, he's good. He's ground balls. He's missed bats. I think I'd pretty much roll with him.

And Kintana has been reliable enough lately that even with a bad matchup, I think he'd be okay to use too. Tehran is the weirdest starter in baseball. So I never consider him an automatic start. It's a tough matchup. I'd hope I could do better. but I wouldn't, I'm not going to say he's a sit because he's been very reliable of late. Hudson is, oh man.

He's given up, they gave him four-horn runs in this start, he's given up four total earn runs in his last four starts. And he's grouped the best ground ball pitcher in baseball. His whip is through the route. Like, he's just such a weird, it's just a weird phenotype of pitcher here that we're dealing with. And I feel like,

I feel like he's not, good for preserving ratios in a categories league, but in any other context, he's probably usable because the groundball tendency is so strong. How about some fringy starting pitching? We'll go part one. Stephen Matt's who 78% owned five innings, two earned runs, six strikeouts against Philly on Saturday, and he's got Philly this coming week. Zach Plyzak, five gave up four earned runs, struck out four against Tampa on Saturday.

He's got the White Sox or Minnesota this week. Denelson Lamette went five, struck out 10 with only two earned runs, but did have two homers allowed at San Francisco on Friday. He has got the Diamondbacks or Colorado this week. Then Annable Sanchez, who went five, gave up two, struck out six against Miami on Friday. He has got the Mets. So Sanchez versus the Mets, Lemaet versus, let's say, Arizona, please act versus Chicago or Mats versus Philly.

Pick one of your fave. Probably Lament. I think he's the most skilled of these pitchers, which is, you know, that's getting to be a harder just, late in the year for starting a guy. But I don't think this is particularly tough competition. Matt's would be my second choice. All right.

Some more fringes. We have got, let's see, we've already taught, well, we compare these. I'd be curious at where you're out with this. We've got Sean Manai who we talked about. He went five, struck out five against the Yankees on Sunday. Ronaldo Lopez, oh, went two-thirds of an inning, gave up six, zero strikeouts against Atlanta on Saturday. He's got Cleveland this week.

Zach Eflin went seven, struck out three with one earned run against the, I guess he's got the Mets. That's coming up next. You got Pablo Lopez, who's got Kansas City this week, Brett Anderson, who has got the Angels. And how about Alex Young, who went four and one third, gave up two, struck out five against the Dodgers on Sunday. And he's got Cincinnati this week. So Young, Anderson, Lopez, Eflin, Lopez, Mania, pick your top two. Manaya.

And... probably Lopez it's a distant number two i don't like any i don't like any of these other pictures don't trust efflin don't trust means you're probably rooting for alex young right i'm kind of homer that you are yeah i mean definitely a homer i don't know i think efflin's been solid pop i might i might go with the other lopez i might rather go with pablo lopez and renaldo lopez pablo's got kansas city this week did i say rinaldo i thought i said pablo oh you know what then i'm just hearing things i thought you said lopez i thought you said lopez Lopez and then I just laughed because I realized there were two of them.

Okay, no, then I'm with you. I thought you said Rinaldo. That's why I was so grossed out. I may have just said Lopez. You're right. But yeah, Pablo is who I meant. Okay, I'm with you on that one. Deep Leaks.

We talked about Tony Gonselin, who went five, struck out five at Arizona on Friday. He's got Colorado or San Francisco this week. We'll have to see. What if you paired him up against Colby Allard, who went five and two thirds, gave up two and runs, struck out four against Seattle on Friday. And he's got either the Yankees or Baltimore, very two different matchups. that you would battle with. And then you got Logan Webb, who went 5 and 2, 3rd,

struck out 7 against San Diego on Saturday, and he's got the Cardinals or the Dodgers. So Allard, Gonslyn Webb, does Gonsland beat the other two still? Yeah, he does. I mean, if we're hedging on the matchups to the degree that we are, and maybe that makes sense in September, certainly for the Dodgers rotation, it makes sense.

Gonsolene seems like the safest play there. Although I like what Logan Webb's been doing. I think if nothing else, he's convinced me that there's serious up. There's serious upsides, probably over an overstatement, but there's definite upside. Adequate upside. Yeah. Webb against the Cardinals or Allard against Baltimore, where would you go? I'd go with Allard against Baltimore if we knew he was starting against Baltimore.

Yeah, I just created a scenario. He might be going up against the Yankees. I think versus the, boy, versus the Yankees or the Cardinals, where you go Webb or Allard? I probably go Webb if Alex forced to face the Yankees. Okay, that's, we're in agreement here.

A couple more. You got Brock Burke, who went six, gave up two, struck out two against Seattle on Saturday. He's got Baltimore this week. Stephen Brought, who we talked about, six and one-third, gave up one-and-run, struck out five at Colorado on Sunday.

He has got St. Louis. And how about Danny Duffy, who went six and one-third, struck out three against Baltimore on Sunday. He has got Miami this week. So we've got matchups of Baltimore, St. Louis, or Miami with some very, very deep, deep, fringy pitchers. Burke, Bralt, or Duffy? I am not particularly interested in any of these. If you're forcing me to choose. You're desperate, Scott. You're desperate for Hail Mary. I choose Danny Duffy. Can you imagine saying that in the real world? Your Hail Mary is

Danny Duffy. But you got to do it. That's what you had to do. right? It's it's blasphemous but yes Danny Duffy All right Final up bullpen here Seth Lugo went two innings struck out four Against Philly on Saturday for his fourth save All of that fun Edwin Diaz conversation we had during the week

You've got Josh Hader went one and two third Struck out two at Chicago on Saturday for his 27th save Three straight scoreless appearances Seattle's Matt McGill we talked about went one third of and gave up two against Texas on Saturday for his second blown save. So there's all that. And Ricea Oglacias had an interesting day. He gave up two at Seattle on Saturday for his fifth blown save.

So I guess it's over the weekend. Has allowed six earned runs in his last five appearances entering Sunday, had allowed one earned run in 11 appearances before his stretch. And then he went and got a save on Sunday. So he got the save for Rysa Liglasis. Do you have anything else? Bullpen notes, any speculation on the bullpen for this. coming week. So it's looking more like Matt McGill isn't good, which we had evidence of that

before, but, you know, at least he had a good K rate and seemed to have a tight hold on the job. Like any science, though, you got confirmation. We had evidence we were looking for confirmation received. Yes. Austin Adams has a ridiculous strike at like rate, like 15 per 9, an over a reasonable sample of innings, I think about 30. He just got activated from the the aisle 24 and a third innings he has 15.9 k's per nine just got activated from the i.o with the expanding of the rosters has already pitched in a game um if you're speculating on saves he would probably be my first choice among those who don't already have a claim to a closer role somewhere and those will be your saves actually he pitched an inning again today so he's pitched

two innings okay no no just one i'm sorry just one just today from scott white's mouth to your fingertips with the click in the ad. There you go. It's a beautiful thing. That is what we have for you guys. I hope you guys, I wish you guys all the best luck. This is a big playoff run, lots of moves. I know you guys are going to be dialed in. You can follow us on Twitter at Is It the Welsh and at CBS Scott White for any info you're looking for. We will be back with you again on Wednesday on the Wednesday episode. It'll be Scott and myself and we will be helping you guys make all the right moves to win some championships. So until then, have a good one. Scott White, Chris Welsh. We're out of here. I don't know.