Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/04: A Lot to Catch Up On (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 4, 2018

What did we miss over the weekend? Well, Josh Donaldson got traded! Jake Junis, Ryan O'Hearn and Brandon Lowe have been great, and of course bullpens are in flux. We'll catch you up on what you may have missed ... We look at the top performers over the weekend and the Most Added list, wonder if it's time to drop Evan Gattis, discuss if we are buying into Trevor Williams and Franmil Reyes and update you on some starting rotations that have changed ... Recapping yesterday's standout performers and looking ahead to today's matchups ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Welcome back to Fantasy Baseball today. Hope everybody had an amazing Labor Day holiday weekend.

I'm Adam Azer with Scott White. Scott, did you have an amazing Labor Day holiday weekend? Oh man, it was a big weekend for my family, Adam. Big weekend. It was. Why's that? Big weekend. Did you have another baby? Congratulations. Yeah, we got an agreement. You know, it's obviously has to pass inspection. Oh, a house. I thought it was a baby. I thought you had another baby. Or bought a baby. A bought a baby? No, a house. A house. We've got an agreement. You know, we still got to go through all the stages. It's not a done deal. But it's, uh, there's obviously a lot of steps that go into that. So that's kept me pretty busy.

Congratulations, Mr. Scott White. That's awesome news. Yeah, we got some September call-ups to talk about. One of them will not be Eloy Jimenez. I'm pretty much going to treat this as a normal Tuesday show and talk about the Monday standouts, but also we'll take a look at the last four days of fantasy baseball and who has been the best. So, Scott, tell me the September call-ups that matter to fantasy owners.

Well, the September call-ups have kind of gotten in the way, I feel like more than anything else because it's hard to tell who's going to be a two-star pitcher from this point forward. There were, it looked like there were a lot going into the weekend. And then by Sunday when I did the update, there were a lot fewer because so many of these pitchers had been inserted either over the weekend or we'll see them inserted this upcoming week. So, I mean, I think Austin Meadows could make an impact. I think You know, we saw Tuki Toussaint start yesterday I doubt that's the last time we'll see him start

We heard over the weekend It was confirmed by the White Sucks general manager Oloi Jimenez won't be up So that was big news Although it was kind of suspected at this point That sucked Let's be honest Stunk

But it's nice not to know you don't have to hold on to him You don't have to reserve that roster spot for him anymore So nothing huge Yeah, nothing huge I mean we saw Josh James Yeah, you called that Yeah, he's in our database Yeah, he's in our database is Joshua James

But Josh James Astros pitcher He, you know, he showed plenty of strikeout potential In that first start, it was cranking it up to 99 Will he take a regular turn for the Astros? I don't know I mean Frumber Valdez You know, he's made two starts already

and they've been fine. They don't need both of them in the rotation. Well, they do. Morton is coming back quickly, or no? Yeah, he should be back quickly. Gotcha. All right. So I guess, as Scott mentioned,

it's always a little overrated, the September call-ups. But the Monday standouts are never overrated. Let's talk about the Monday standouts. Scott, Stephen Piscotti has been on fire. He had two home runs yesterday. And, no, no, no, sorry. He had two for four.

We got to talk about Fram Mel Reyes, who did have two home runs yesterday. But Piscotti's still two for four with a double and a strikeout against the Yankees yesterday. His previous 14 games, he was batting 345 with six home runs. So he went through, you know what, he and Fram O Reyes are both kind of doing the same thing. They were hot, they got ice cold, now they're hot again. And Piscotti is 69% owned. Reyes is 18% own.

Do either of those ownership percentages strike you as too low? Yes. I think they both strike me as too low. Piscati is, you know, he's about to set a career high in home runs. He's already set a career high in doubles, and that was from a guy who a couple years ago, we were considering a top 30 outfielder. So he probably should be owned everywhere.

And then from O'Reis, he's been great since coming back for the miners. And with the strikeout rate down, what was the hashtag we're using for the leg kick? Oh, hashtag no leg kick. And then it was hashtag bring back the leg kick. but now it's hashtag still no leg kick. Yeah, I think Bring Back the Leg Kick was a little premature. Since returning from the Miners without the leg kick,

Fron Mill Reyes is batting 316 with nine homers and a 1084 OPS, only 19 strikeouts and 83 plate appearances. That's pretty good. Yeah, it's good stuff. And he is very available, 18% owned. You know who else is available? Ryan O'Hern. I was hanging out with Heath yesterday.

We were watching, well, we weren't really watching, but it was on. We were at Buffalo Wildlings. Ryan O'Hern just going nuts. Three for four with two home runs. He's 8% own. He has nine home runs and three doubles in 24 games. Who is?

What is this? Who's this Ryan O'Hern character? And all he seems to have plenty of power. And he hit his share of home runs in the minors. There wasn't a lot of production to go with it. He's obviously hot right now. I'm skeptical he has a, future as an impact player in fantasy

just because the minor league track record apart from a couple 20 homer seasons pretty lackluster but he's hot and I have no problem starting the hot hands in fantasy this time of year where you know you don't have to be so protective of players that you know are good

and are going to come around eventually because there's really no value to eventually right now you know sure it's you need production you need a production immediately and O'Harn is providing it. Let me, well, I mean, lineups are set for this week, so it doesn't matter what the matchups are. But we'll see what he does this week and maybe next week.

If he's still hot, we can think about him. All right, so who stood out to you yesterday, Scott White? Who stood out to me on Monday? Obviously, Reyes with the two home runs did. Bumgarner had a really awful start. Madison Bumgarner. Yes, he did. At Colorado.

but I trusted him. I didn't start on our own any Madison Bungarner, but I would have told people if we did a show yesterday and we did today's matchups, oh, you know what? I don't know if I would have said start him in a one-start situation. He's a two-start pitcher, so that made a good start Bummy McGee. I mean, Colorado, I feel like it hasn't been quite as scary this year.

Maybe that's just a reaction to, you know, maybe that's a confirmation by sort of thing. But Jake Junis, who is on a nice run, only one home run, in his past six starts when obviously that was wrecking him in the middle of the season. Had his best start during that stretch yesterday. Seven innings, two hits, no walk, six strikeouts. Really good outing for him. And I think he's back to being a trustworthy fantasy option in line for two starts this week. So I don't know that we're going to get another two-star week from him.

But he's been good enough for a while now that you can at least think about him what he's making one start. So you don't think he's a two-star pitcher this week or you do? No, he is. Oh, okay, this week, this week. But I'm not sure he's going to have any more of those. You know, there's only three weeks after this week, so I'm not sure he's going to have any more of those. Yeah, Jake Junis, I did start him in the podcast league in the postseason,

in the semifinals, gave me a huge game, 53% owned, 232ERA in the five starts before yesterday, seven scoreless at the Indians. And I believe, is it him? Is it, no, who is it that hasn't given up a home run and maybe him? He only has one in his past six stars. Okay. I know that. Yeah, all right, there we go.

All right, so Jake June is someone you can pick up. Any add drops that you want to talk about? I read your sleeper hitters column and I picked up Hunter Renfro. He's been hitting well and has good matchups. I did pick up Josh James. I don't remember who I dropped. Someone useless. Yep.

I picked up Renfro in a league. I picked up Tyler White in every league. Where he was available. And he's still only about, maybe he's up to about 60% own now. So he's seen a big spike recently, and I've been a part of that. Yeah, I think he's somebody. I'm hopeful he's somebody you can lean on the rest of the season because I don't think it's just a hot hand situation.

Yeah, Tyler White. And on a related note, I dropped Evan Gattis. Just he doesn't play enough. He's not playing well. There's not enough time left. I dropped Evan Gattis. I stuck with Taylor Ward over Evan Gattis in a playoff matchup. You don't sound like I...

You don't sound convinced that I made a good decision, Scott White. Well, no, I'm... How dare you? I mean, Tyler Ward hasn't been doing much of anything either, but, you know, at least the playing time is there, so I understand it. He did Homer yesterday. Yeah, damn straight he did. What a great call I made.

Yeah. Well, I dropped them for Cerville in a league, and I'm not sure it was the right call. It wasn't the right call. It wasn't the right call. Sorvelli's a bum. No, Cervelli's a good guy, but he's not, you know. You're right. Ward was not doing anything, and currently he's batting 2-10.

But he did Homer yesterday, so I guess it paid off. Hey, he's got a five-game hitting streak with five hits. So, no walks. Okay. Not that impressive. Maybe he's coming around, one hit. One hit at a time. He's coming around.

Five hits in his last five games, but it's a streak. Let's take a look all the way back. back to Friday and see who has excelled the most, who has scored the most fantasy points since Friday. And I'm surprised the answer is not Christian Yelich. Apparently is Trevor Story, who is betting 500 with two home runs, seven RBIs and two steals in these last four days. Nomar Mazzara has four home runs in his last four games, Scott.

He homered on Friday, on Saturday, and twice on Sunday. No more than it's true, though. And no more is Sara. Yeah, who has really not had that great of a year. But 91% own 67% starting. Yeah, what's funny is he was saying Friday, that is his thumb, the sprained thumb that kept him on the DL for a while, still sore, still hurting.

Must not be hurting that much. Like, he's pretty good. I think he's in the Stephen Piscotti class of outfielders. Who would you rather have? I would rather have. I think I'd rather have Mazar, actually. But it's close. Trevor's story, no Mar Mazar.

Ryan O'Hern is three. Stephen Piscotti is four. Matt Davidson has scored the fifth most fantasy points over the last four games. Davidson, on the year, is batting 240. He has 20 home runs. But last four days, he's batting 5.30. with two of those home runs, I think we're not really paying much attention to this hot streak from Davidson, right? No, not really.

That was, we haven't really had any kind of flirtations with him since April. Yeah, nice first day of the year. 17 home runs since homering three times on opening day for Matt Davidson. Although, he has been playing first base consistently with a brayout. So playing time was an issue during the middle portion of the season. I mean, if you need to catch him up in home runs, I could see how he might be useful. You know, I'd probably rather go up for like Frommel Reyes or somebody like that. I'm going to throw some more names out from the best players from the last four days.

Jake Cave, any interest? Only in deep leagues, though another report over the weekend was Byron Buxton isn't going to be back in September. So Cave should keep playing. Hunter Dozier. Deep leagues. Just don't think there's a lot of outside there. Marcus Simeon. He's a fine middle infield option.

How available is he? I'm going to guess he's owned in 40% of leagues. He's owned in 80% of leagues. Mark, what? Marcus Simeon has owned in 80% of leagues. What are you doing, people? Absolutely not. Dreadful decision.

No. It's been fine. He's been very good. No? No. 261 with 11. seven home runs, 14 steals. No. Scott, absolutely not.

At shortstop? If you... If you get beyond a certain depth in shortstop, you can't do much better than that. The number 19 shortstop in fantasy. Okay. Well, all leagues with middle infield spots. Probably needs to be owned.

Yeah, I don't think 80% of our leagues have a middle infield spot. Maybe not. Brandon Lowe. Brandon Lowe. He had a big weekend, yeah. I actually think, I was watching a Ray's broadcast recently. I think it's Brandon Lau.

Oh, yeah? I think that's how you say that. Lowe about that, Scott. He is 7% owned. He is Homer three times in his last six games. Brandon Lowe. He's like a 390 on base percentage. And he's a guy who had a breakout season in the minors this year,

a lot more power than anybody suspected. I've always had good plate discipline down there. But yeah, between double and triple A this year, he had 297 with 22 homers and 100 games, 949 OPS. It's been playing regularly lately for the race, sometimes in left field, sometimes second. I think he could be useful down the stretch. I don't know if he's going to be better than Marcus Simeon.

So Lowe is eligible at both. second base and outfield. Let's check. Yep. Second base and outfield eligible in CBS sports leagues. And it's pretty interesting. You know, look, this segment here, I'm not sure how many people you're going to be motivated to go out and get at this point in your season. But at least put these guys on your radar. You know, if you need someone, be the guy who adds Brandon Lau or the girl. Who adds Brandon Lau?

Don't let someone beat you to him. All right. I think Lowe could be like a Scooter Jeanette type. player in fantasy. So, yeah, definitely somebody who I'd be interested in owning in like a long-term keeper league, one of those leagues where you keep more than a dozen players from year to year, especially if it's of any depth. All right, let's get moving.

Injuries, news and notes. Aaron Judge swung a bat. Good stuff. He's making some progress. Josh Donaldson was taken off the DL, which really bothered me, because I had to take him off my DL. And now he's back on the DL. a good thing, but Donaldson's making some progress. And he's on the DL.

It's really just to, it's kind of procedural, I guess, but it's good for fantasy owners. But he's playing in some rehab games and could be with the Indian. We haven't even talked about the trades. Like Josh Donaldson's on the Indian, Scott. Yeah, I guess we haven't podcast since that, right?

Not only he's on the Cutchin. We didn't talk about Donald. But he's on the DL. Right, I just said that, which is good. Yeah, he came off the DL for them to acquire him and then went back on. So I don't know. I'm not counting on and making an impact.

I'm sure they're mostly just hoping he's available for the playoffs. Geo Gonzalez is on the Brewers. Yep, doesn't have a rotation spot right now. That could change, but for now he's pitching in relief. So I was thinking who's going to replace him. Is Joe Ross a possibility? Joe Ross is a possibility. In fact, he's expected back Tuesday.

He expected to rejoin the team Tuesday. I don't know if he's starting Tuesday, but he's been you know he's gotten past five innings on his rehab assignment obviously recovering from Tommy John surgery and let me see if I can pull up the probable pitchers who they have listed there for Tuesday. I have Eric Fetty on our website. Okay. For what that's worth.

So he may not, he may just be rejoining the team Tuesday, but I suspect we'll see him start a couple times in September at least. Joe Ross. Kenley Jansen may not pitch this weekend at Colorado. Kenley, if you're listening, please don't pitch at Colorado. Just take it easy. We care about you. Maybe don't even travel. Yeah, don't go.

Right. I agree. Stay home. Enjoy some home cooking. The angels are optimistic that Shohay Otani will make his next start. He's dealing with back tightness and he had a sore finger. Would you trust Shohayotani? I mean, he couldn't make it through three innings in his first start.

so he can't trust him until he shows he can provide some length. He did it. I mean, he ran out of gas. It was clear. He was, you know, the overall velocity was down a couple miles an hour. He's still peaked at 99, but it really faded in that third inning. So he's just not, I'm just not sure he's going to have a chance to build up to where he needs to be to make an impact. Well, the excuse they gave for the velocity fade was the back and the finger.

You got hit in the finger and sore back, back tightness rather. I mean, he obviously didn't go on a rehab assignment because he was on the Major League club deaching. So I don't know. Michael Fulmer took a comebacker off the leg. He left with a bruised shin. And he could still make his next start. St. Louis manager, Mike Schilt, did not commit to Bud Norris as his closer. Who would you be looking at in that bullpen, Scott, if it were not to Norris?

Yeah, rough weekend for Norris. Jordan Hicks has been the guy in waiting, right? He's not on... Yeah, he has been so wild. He's walking basically one batter every time he pitches. I think it's probably Jordan Hicks or Carlos Martinez maybe is a possibility. Carlos Martinez has been walking everybody too. Just yesterday, he actually has...

Now he has four walks in six and a third as a reliever, but going into yesterday it was two walks and five in a third, which didn't sound so bad. But he's only given up one run in six appearances as a reliever. Yeah. I don't know that they trust him, but yeah, Jordan Hicks, Carlos Martinez. Right, it could be Bud Norris, by the way. Yeah, it could be. And maybe the fact that there isn't anybody who's just begging to take the job would suggest it is Bud Norris.

My guess is if it's not Bud Norris, it's pulling him back for a while. and, you know, kind of going by committee, that would be my guess. Stick with the Cardinals. Marcelo Zuna has started two straight games, but he's probably not going to start regularly or certainly every day. I might just screw with Tyler O'Neill, unfortunately. But I actually dropped Marcelo Zuna. That was somebody that I dropped. I think I dropped him for Hunter Renfro.

And one more news item. Actually, a few more. Trevor May is going to start today, Scott, for the twins, who are going to a six-minute. man rotation. Any interest in Trevor May? He'll be at Houston tonight. Trevor may start. No, Trevor will start.

But it's supposed to be like an opener situation. He's not stretched out to go to, you know, to go a starters, to handle a starters workload. Some more news items real quick. D.D. Gugorius could be back maybe even tomorrow very soon. Jose Abrae, expected back mid-September. Explain this to me. Adam Wainwright is going to start. Monday for the Cardinals.

Adam Wainwright is starting next week. Get out of town. Out of here. Get that guy out of here. What was I saying about Adam Wainwright in April? I don't know. I don't remember. But it was something inflammatory, something disrespectful.

That's nice. To a guy who's been a perennial Syon contender for most of his career. But you know what? It's over. Get him out of there. Out with the old. In with the new. And Justin Upton recovering.

He's got a concussion. He is making progress in his recovery from the concussion. If we take a look at the latest roster trends and see the most added players in CBSSports.com leagues, might be similar to the list we just ran off. But Tyler White is number one at 66% own. John Gantt is 48% own. Adam Plutko was used as a two-star pitcher yesterday, and he actually, like, it wasn't that bad of a start. It was four runs in six innings, but no walks, eight strike.

out against the Royals. Is Adam Plutko anything more than just a streamer, a two-start streamer? If that. Yeah. I don't think he's great. Jake Junis, number four, Lucas Gialito, 63%-0. And if you've got time to pick him up, I am starting him this week. He's got Detroit today.

He's only a one-star pitcher, but it's a good enough matchup, and Gialito's pitching well enough. I'm throwing him out there against the Tigers. And if you can pick him up at a Daily League, I think you should. Hunter Renfro Trevor Williams 84% owned Trevor Williams has given up

like a combined three-earned runs in his last, what, nine starts or something like that? I mean, it's crazy. Four in his last nine, yeah. Four in his last nine? It is crazy. And so crazy, I don't even believe it.

I don't think he can sustain this. His ERA is barely over three now for the season, so he kind of has sustained it. But with some pretty dramatic hills and valleys during that stretch. He just doesn't miss enough bats to be this kind of pitcher. And, you know, isn't an extreme ground ball guy.

I can't, I can't, I can't explain it for you. This is Trevor Williams. Would you drop Williams for Gialito? Yeah, I think so. For Junis. The best thing Williams had going for him was that he was a two-star pitcher, and obviously that's locked in at this point. And like I said, for Junis,

probably not going to happen again, particularly if they insert someone else in the rotation at some point this September. I don't know that's going to happen for Williams, though. We don't know. By the time the season's over, I mean. We don't know. Maybe the last week.

I think if there's anybody who you think can help you win next week. Yeah. If there's somebody who can help you win next week, if there's somebody who can help you win tomorrow, you don't have to hold on to Williams and reserve that roster spot for him. Also, he is facing the Marlins this week, Trevor Williams, this weekend. So keep that in mind as well.

And, you know, Tucker Barnhart and Joey Wendell are the next two guys. They're both in the top 10 on the most added list. Barnhart hitting well lately. And Joey Wendell, I think he got... A lot of multi-hit games. Yeah, I think he hits like nothing but singles. Nothing but singles. Yeah.

He's got a 130 ISO. They have good matchups this week. He was actually in my top 10 sleeper hitters, but, you know, there's not, there's, unless you have an opening you're trying to fill, that that's not somebody who I think has a lot of upside, who I think, you know, it's kind of a high floor sleeper, I guess, in that you could do a lot worse off the waiver wire,

but this isn't somebody who's going to become a fixture on your lineup ever. Good thing about Wendell. second base, third base, outfield, and shortstop eligible. And he has been stealing. He's got 12 steals so far this year, running a little bit lately. I'm not sure that we really expect him to be a steals guy, right? Wendell? Yeah, it's been a recent thing, and I wouldn't expect it to continue.

But yeah, he's had a bunch of steals there at the very end of August. Okay, that's the most added list. Other bullpen items that might help you. Who do you think the closer is in Washington? My guess, I don't have a great guess. I mean, Greg Holland has pitched much better for them. He did get the most recent save, right? He did, and he also pitched in the 9th and 10th inning at home yesterday in a tie game.

Yeah, that would seem to... Justin Miller actually may have gotten the most recent save. Miller has two saves in his last four appearances. You're right. Justin Miller did get one on September 1st. Holland got his on August 28th. I don't think either. Whatever. Whatever. Yeah, whatever.

Look, there are two names that if you're desperate for saves, Greg Holland, Justin Miller. I almost picked them out. I almost did. I actually decided to pick up Colin McHugh instead because I think McHugh is going to be just better for ratios. I know he's not going to get me a save. And nobody picked up the Nationals guys yet. So if they get another save, then I'll drop McHugh for whoever gets one. But right now, for me, it's wait and see. Blake Parker, I think he's pretty much the Angels Closer.

They don't get a ton of saves, but he's 41% owned. And Brad Peacock got a save yesterday. It was a one-out save, but Roberta Bozuna had pitched each of the previous two days. More from Monday. Gregory Polanco, I just want to bring this up. Polanco is confusing to me. He's two-for-four with a home run and strike-out against the Reds. Before this game, since the All-Star break, he was batting 261.

with six homers and seven steals and nine doubles and eight 17 and four triples, eight 17 OPS for Polanco since the All-Star break. And over the last 10 weeks, going into this current week, these were his fantasy points. And I would say like, from a starter, I'd love to get 20. It's not great, but it's good. 18's pretty solid, you know. But if you don't play in points leagues. But here were his fantasy points.

31, 10, 36, 14, 31, 14, 14, 14, 15. That is four weeks of 31 or more fantasy points. And six weeks of 16 or fewer, five of those weeks, 14 or fewer. So he has been such a hit or miss player on a week-to-week basis for Gregory Polanco. I don't know what to make of that. Well, weeks are kind of an arbitrary. construct in terms of player performance, right? Yes. So it's conceivable to me that

if you're weak happened to start on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday or however else you set it up you know, that might be a much, it might look a lot more even, you know? I don't know that you take anything from it. It probably sounds like you need to start them because the combined point total is pretty high. That's what I would, yeah, that's a good takeaway. from Polanco. Start him. I started him in our podcast league, so I'm with you there.

Scott's got it going about seven minutes or so. I will continue the show in his absence. I will lose my voice for you all. Rotation time. Zach Godley was a little disappointing yesterday against San Diego, and he's been a little disappointing lately. Previous three starts, two of them were bad. One of them was really good.

But two of those bad starts, if you count yesterday, were against San Diego. and Renfro is hitting well, Hedges is hitting well, Fram O'Reyes is hitting well. We look at Zach Godley start and wonder, is San Diego a matchup that we should be targeting now? Or should we stay away from it? I don't think you should stay away from it. Should you be targeting it? It still seems more promising than most of what you'll find. I guess the Marlins are worse in NL.

The Reds are probably worse at this state. although they had stretches where they didn't seem like such a bad matchup, the Mets, of course. And then you go to the A.L. White Sox, Royals. But, you know, the Padres are still in the bottom 10, I would guess. Okay. So, Godly, Atlanta this weekend, and we'll see how he does and see if we want to start him next week. I don't understand, like, Cole Hamill's, okay, whatever, it was Ridley Field. He goes to Milwaukee yesterday. Two runs, five strikeouts, and six innings. He's just been so good.

ERA under one with the Cubs And not just You know Now he does it in a pitchers In a hitter's park Hamill's man I'm just saying Scott It seems like there's more to it than just the home road splits

Well Maybe Maybe I mean Texas has been the worst park for pitchers this year So I think it had a lot to do with it Is he have I don't know he's pitching well He's back to being

a top 30 pitcher. I'm not benching him pretty much anywhere he pitches. His ERA is exactly one. One. Yeah. With the Cubs. Vince Velasquez. How much you trust Vince Velasquez? Five straight non-quality starts. Yeah, not a lot.

Not a lot. This is a two-star week for him. I'm not sure you're going to have occasion to use him beyond this week. But he does have pretty good strikeout potential. Just, you know, he struggles with efficiency, struggles with walks. I just, it's hard for him to get quality starts, as you're saying. So it just doesn't seem like the kind of guy who you're ever really looking to start in a one-star week,

unless it's a really deep league. And we got Ceci Sabathia, yeah, this stinks. He's a two-star pitcher. He's at Seattle this weekend. He was terrible at Oakland. Four run runs in three and a third with four strikeouts. Previous four starts, 220-80RA, and 33. and 33 strikeouts in 23 and 2 thirds.

Not much to say about Sabathia, but, well, can you drop Sabathia? Is he, like, would you drop him for Gialito? Would you drop him for the guys we talked about? Jake, oh, Junis, sure. I want to, I wouldn't be anxious to drop him based on this start, but I think all of those guys are similar

in terms of how rosterable they are. And, you know, I know, obviously, like you said, Gialito has a good start today. If you want to take advantage of that, and Sabathie's how you do it. I'm fine with that. All right, let's look at the fringy starting pitchers. Nate Avaldi, Rinaldo Lopez, Jake Junis, Kyle Gibson, Trevor Cahill, Marcus Stroman, and Tyler Anderson.

A lot of names there. Tell me who you like. Nate Avaldi. Well, like or dislike, or no feelings. Nate Avaldi. Don't like. Rinaldo Lopez. Those last two starts have been really good.

I don't trust it. so I'll still say dislike. Jake Junis. Like. Kyle Gibson. I'm beginning to dislike him. Just hasn't had the strikeouts recently. Although this was a decent start.

Yeah, seven innings, two runs, five strikeouts at Houston. He did give up two home runs, Kyle Gibson. And Gibson, no, I don't know his next matchup. I apologize for that. Trevor Cahill. Trevor Cahillay, dislike. Marcus Stroman. Yeah, you probably should avoid him.

He's definitely hampered by that blister. Yep, Gibbons, John Gibbons said still seem to be bothering him. Tyler Anderson. Dislike. I can't trust him right now. Last start was okay, but there's been a lot of rough outings recently. Deep Leagues, Matt Shoemaker, Erasmilramer, Arasmo Ramirez, Zach Davies, any interest?

I would rank those Ramirez, Davies, and then who is the other one? Shoemaker. Yeah, and in terms of how interested I am, it'd have to be a deep league. Relative to them and the other guys we've talked about it, rather have Vince Velasquez, I'd rather have Kyle Gibson. But I could see how Ramirez and Davies, there might be a matchup down the stretch that makes them worth using. And Luke Void is 18% owned, Scott. He has zero doubles, but he has seven home runs in 26 games.

303 with seven home runs, 18% owned. How's that for Luke Voight, Yankees' first baseman. I think there's no chance. He's the Yankees starting first baseman next year. Oh, yeah. They're enjoying him now. But, yeah, I mean, they're the Yankees. Come on.

They're going to fill that hole with somebody higher profile. Yeah, like Greg Bird, obviously. Any parting words of wisdom for people Who they need to pick up of whatnot? No, not really. Not really. I think we covered that part pretty well. It's just

Like we're only basically talking to contenders, right? And I feel like their rosters are Don't have a lot of maneuverability. Yeah, I know. Like who at this point is who is picking up Luke Voic? I could see like in a Roto League or something, you know, but I agree. Really deep. Yeah.

And I play in a lot of really deep leagues. So, you know, there was a league where I was excited to get Luke Voight a week ago. But the thing is, you get to that depth of league, it already happened. You already picked them up a week ago, you know? All right, Scott White. Get the heck out of here, sir. Thank you for having on. All right.

I will talk to you again tomorrow. It might be tomorrow. It might be Thursday. But we will have three shows this week for sure, including Friday. All right, that is Scott White. Stick around. More to come on Fantasy Baseball today. How about right now?

I'm going to read your emails, ladies and gentlemen. Our email address is Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Fantasy Baseball at Cbsi.com, after emails, we'll take a look at today's matchups. All right, this one is from Jake. Jake says, who would be better to keep around for a playoff run, Ahmed Rosario or Willie Adamas? Looking to add either Voigt or Piscotti. All right, first of all, I would add Piscotti over Voigt.

And I would rather keep Ahmed Rizario. He's been hitting well, and he steals. And he plays more. Adamus, I actually think if they both played the same, I'd prefer Adamas. But I don't think Adamas is playing every day, and Rosario is. So there's my answer. I would drop Adamas to add Piscotti. Josiah is in a 12-team categories league.

Would you drop Wilson Contreras for Taylor Ward? Or is it worth rostering both of them to maximize at bats? Well, Ward is a third baseman. He's catcher eligible, so I don't know that you need to maximize the bats with him. He's going to play more than most catchers. Look, I get the frustration with Contreras. At this point in the year, I am more or less willing to say yes to any add-drop questions that might seem a little bit outlandish because you cannot sit there and start a guy like Wilson Contreras

and have him stink and not hit any home runs and lose. But I don't know that Ward has done enough to warrant the ad drop. So I would say no. I would say if you want to add Ward, do not drop Contreras. Because I think Contreras has a better chance to get hot than Ward. I wouldn't mind having both. Andrew and North Carolina. Dear Les, Larry, and Tim.

I am now going to type that into Google. Les Larry and Tim This might be Primus Primus? I don't really know their work. You may or may not remember, but I sent you an email at the beginning of the season. I don't remember. Regarding two random leagues that I joined. In one league I went with ten hitters with my first ten picks

and the other ten pitchers with my first ten picks. The hitting heavy team has Altuve, Goldsmith, Ramirez, Bregman, Dojure, Abrae, Kane, and Pham. Pitching heavy team has curses, Khrusha, Kluber, Sindergarde, Granky, Diaz, and Ray. Playoffs start today. The regular season results are in. This was sent yesterday. Tasmanian Grandma, the hitting team, is in first place.

Ace is Wild. The pitching team is in first place. So that's pretty interesting. And actually, the pitching team sounds like it kind of stunk with Kershaw, Kluber, Cindergarde, Granky, Diaz, Robbie, Ray. Like, I didn't, that does not sound like a first place team to me. But that's great. He said winning records are fairly similar.

They are the percentages are similar. This shows that loading up on either hitting or pitching early in your draft is a viable strategy to have a competitive team. And, yeah, like, I agree. Especially if you're a dedicated fantasy player and you play the waiver wire and, you know, you listen to a podcast, you read articles, whatever. If you are better than your competition at playing the waiver wire, then you can probably do whatever you want on draft day. We'll make a big fuss about take this many in this many of this. and this many picks or whatever. But the truth is you can probably do what you want

as long as you are dedicated to your team and committed to keeping up with the roster. And I think it's a little bit different in fantasy football. There's not as much waiver-wire activity that's going to have an impact on a week-to-week or seasonal basis. You know, you can stream and whatnot, but you just pick up so many guys in baseball. So it's an interesting email.

And I'm sure next year I'm still going to tell you I want two starting pitchers in my first whatever rounds, whatever it ends up being. But if you get away from it, it could still work. Let's see. This is no name here. We're going to call him Peter. And he's from Williamsburg.

Hey, Lorenzo, Christian, Javi, and Jacob. Brewers? Can you rank these fringy hitters for 2019? Renfro, Framil Reyes, Joey Wendell, and Malick Smith. Easy one is Malick Smith at the top. I'm going to put Reyes, then Renfro, then Wendell. And maybe if there is a big month for Renfro, we change our mind. But I've seen a lot from Renfro and haven't seen quite as much from Reyes.

So I would kind of like to go with the unknown a little bit there. So Malik Smith won, Reyes, Renfro, Joey Wendell. This is from Christian. My playoffs started this week in a 12-te-to-head league. I won my division, so I have a buy-this week. Another team dropped Wheeler and Kopeck to stream two-star pitchers. I'm tempted to pick both of them up to add to my pitching depth. What do you think?

I could drop Giles and Newcomb if need be. Oh, yeah, you have to do this. You have to drop Giles and Newcomb to pick up Wheeler and Kopeck, especially Newcomb. Giles can help somebody. Newcomb could really hurt somebody. And I'd rather have Wheeler than Kopeck. I'd like to have both of them. By the way, I'm not feeling that I'm right about Lorenzo, Christian, Javi, and Jacob.

But, like, what else could it be? Come on, is it Javi Baez? Okay. Hobby Baez is MVP. Jacob de Grom is Cy Young. And that's, no, forget it. Let's just stick with the Brewers. All right, we got Marcos and San Bernardino.

Dear, Traffic. Grateful Dead and Tesla. Hint, these bands have a link to something you do. Fantasy? I don't know. I don't know anything about traffic and Tesla. You guys are tough today. You are stumping me. I'm in a saves and holds league.

Just came to the realization that the new strategy of using relievers in best situation may alleviate the need for me to target holds-only guys. I have Gazellman, for example, and he's used in both holds and saves situation. Seems too late, but are there any fringy guys handling dual duty? that might be available heading into the playoffs. Yeah, well, I think that David Robertson, I think Patensis, the Chapman may not come back this year. I mean, I think he will, but it's going to be a little while.

So either Patensis or Robertson, I'd rather have Batanzas, but I think he's going to get more saves. Robertson might get a few, maybe even Zach Britton. I think you look at the national situation, and Madsen and Justin Miller, that's a good one. The Indians, I expect Brad Hand to get the most saves going forward, but I still think Cody Allen could get some. Blake Parker definitely.

I think he's the closer, but I don't know that he's going to get every save chance. I'm sure there are some that I'm missing. But nationals are the ones that have the guys that are widely available, and I would really take a look at that bullpen. From Jake, playoffs in a categories league, can I please drop D. Gordon?

Yeah, so, boy, he's been really bad, huh? Yeah, I don't know. Look, put it this way. If I were in a playoff league, and I am, and somebody dropped D. Gordon, I would pick up D. Gordon. He could still steal some bases for you. I would pick him up. Yes, you can drop him. I give you permission, but I'd add him. Hopefully I'd beat you. Eric from Baltimore, our last email, and then we'll go through the matchups.

I have clinched a playoff spot. There are two players I have my eye on on the waiver wire. Renfro and Tyler White. Should I drop AJ Pollock for either Renfro or Tyler White? Yeah, I mean, like, first of all, I'd go with Tyler White. I think I would. I think I'd drop Pollock because at this point, you just can't roster a guy that's crushing you. I'd like to roster him, put it that way.

But if you can't start the guy and you can't. I mean, let's see, AJ Pollock has been incredibly bad. one hit in his last like eight games nine games one hit in his last nine games so yeah drop him I don't want to do it he batted 189 in August I don't want to drop him but you got it at this point if that's the situation if you can pick up Tyler White you do it you make that move email addresses fantasy baseball at cbsi.com you guys hate me yet am I annoying you yet I'm kind of annoying myself cardinals and nationals start michael sit fetti.

Reds and Pirates. Ooh, man. Tough call here. I'm going to sit Cody Reed, but Joe Musgrove. Do we start Joe Musgrove against the Reds? Ah. Yeah.

Yeah, I'll start them. I mean, Vado's in the middle of that order, so it's like an automatic out, you know it is. Or at least an automatic walk. Tampa Bay at the Blue Jays. Nobody here. Jake Areeta at Trevor Richards. I will start Arieta.

Danny Duffy is at Mike Clevenger. I will start Clevenger. I do not trust Duffy. Red Sox are at the Braves. Rick Porcelo is at Sean Newcomb. All right, no way am I starting Nukem. I think I got to sit Porcelo. He's just not pitching well enough lately.

It's a, you know, it's a kind of normal matchup. Braves have some good hitters. But Porcelo, three straight bad starts, four out of five. Five out of seven. Yeah, I'm going to sit Porcelo. Sineau. Andrew Hini at Mike Minor. Another really interesting one. Heaney had a good...

No, you know what? No. I'm going to probably be in the minority. I bet Scott would say start Hini. I bet everybody would. I'm going to sit Andrew Heney, even though he's coming off a really good start. Because before that, he was pitching pretty poorly. The Rangers are really good at home. I'm going to sit Hini. Minor, I'm actually going to start Mike Miner.

Again, I might be in the minority here. I know Scott said... I think it was Scott. Or maybe it was Chris. They were saying, like, I don't say... see how he's been so successful lately. But I'll write it one more time. Let's go with Mike Minor. Going to sit Trevor May, going to start Justin Verlander, going to sit Laryano,

going to start Gialito, going to sit Mike Montgomery. And you know what? I'm going to sit Wade Miley, despite his 218 ERA. He has a 125 whip. No way should he have a 218 ERA. He's facing the Cubs. I'm going to sit Miley. Derek Rodriguez at Erman Marquez.

No way on Rodriguez. And heck yes, Marquez, even at home. Joey Lucchase is at the diner. I think this might be the start that if Joey Lucase goes out, throws six innings or more, gets a ton of strikeouts, he's always pretty good with strikeouts and does well. This might be the start where I start buying in. Three of his last four starts have been really good. Walks can be a little high at times for Lou Casey. I'm going to avoid him, is what I'm saying.

And like, honestly, I said sit Robbie Ray last time we did this exercise and he turned in a pretty good start, so I was wrong. But I'm going to sit him again. And a good start for him is five and a third. He has not gone more than five and a third in any of his last six starts. So even though he's facing the Padres, I'm sitting Lucchese and I'm sitting Ray, but I could see a case to start both of those guys. I will start J.Hap and sit Liam Hendrix. I will sit Alex Cobb.

Wade LeBlanc. Wade LeBlanc against the Orioles. You know what? I'm not willing to do it. I think there's too much terrible start potential for a guy who's given up one run in 13 innings over his last two starts. I can't do it. Come on. Really? Are you guys going to start Wade LeBlanc? 53% own?

39% started. Baltimore is the worst. But I'm going to sit them. And I'm sitting Jason Vargas, and I'm starting Rich Hill. And I'm starting to lose my voice. So I'm going to get some water. And I'm going to talk to you all tomorrow. I think we're coming back on Thursday. We'll have three shows this week, three shows a week going forward. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. I'm at a mazer for Scott White. We'll see you.

on Westair Thursday. Surprise.