Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/05 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Dazzling D-Backs and SPs to Add

Episode Date: September 5, 2017

Hey real quick, J.D. Martinez or Robbie Ray in 2018 (2:00)? ... Scott White gives you a bunch of SPs to add! Lucas Giolito (10:20), Reynaldo Lopez (11:26), Mike Clevinger and Blake Snell (19:28) are among those discussed. For hitters, should you add Delino DeShields or Kevin Kiermaier (21:24)? And should you drop Matt Carpenter (31:20)? ... Which SPs from yesterday's games do we trust (41:30) and which waiver wire SPs from yesterday are we ready to add (47:40)? Plus a look at today's matchups (49:53) ... 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

How about them Diamondbacks? Not only are they streaking, they're giving us some good fantasy baseball content as we welcome you to fantasy baseball today. Welcome back. Welcome back from the long weekend. How was it, Scott White? It was something. A lot of last minute baby preparations were being made around the White household, a lengthy honey-do list that has been trended to basically nothing. So it was a busy weekend for me, even though it was, you know,

three days. What's a honey-do list? Like, honey-do this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't even like the term. It makes me think of like a breakfast bar, you know? Yeah, like, yeah, honey-dew. It's like, is anybody's favorite fruit honey-dew? I don't know one person. I want to meet the guy whose favorite fruit is honey-dew because it always just seems like it's there distracting from the cantaloupe, right? I prefer cantaloupe. It's pretty good. Yeah, I prefer, but they're good. They, they, they, they compliment each other very nicely, I'd say. Okay. We welcome me to the show.

I'm Adam Azer. That is Scott White, who always has such interesting food takes. Are you hiring with ZipRecruiter.com? You can post your job to 100 plus job sites, including social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, all with a single click. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com. Again, try it for, oh, ZipRecruiter.com slash strike, excuse me. Again, try it for free.

ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. More about ZipRecruiter in a little bit. So we're going to recap the last four days, focus a lot on yesterday, but also give you some highlights from over the weekend, who to add and who to drop. But let's do a hey real quick. Hey, real quick, for 2018, Scott, for next year. Who are you drafting first, J.D. Martinez or Robbie Ray? How you like that, yeah. Oh, I am trying to come to terms with Robbie Ray.

just what exactly Robbie Ray is now, because in his three starts since returning from the D.L., 33, no, is it three starts or is it four starts? Basically, it's 33 strikeouts to four walks in 19 and the third innings, which is insane. Yeah. Insane. And, you know, he seems to be throwing his fastball more.

I don't know how sustainable that is, but it might explain why the walks are down, and obviously he's still getting plenty of swings and misses on it. You know, yesterday, 7 to 2 thirds, shutout innings 14 strikeouts to no walks. So, I mean, if Robbie Ray is like Mr. Sy Young, Chris Sale, part 2.0, then I think we'll be drafting him ahead of J.D. Martinez, sure. And it's just going to depend how his last three, four starts go.

here. It could, he could very much be in that elite discussion if, if he continues to keep the walks down to close out the season. Yeah, I, I didn't even think about that because I don't, it's not enough for me. It's three starts since pitching just an inning in two-thirds against St. Louis. It's three starts since missing a month. And I don't know. I'm not looking at him as a control artist right now.

I didn't even think about that aspect of it. Just even with his horrible control, four walks, nine innings. Worse than last year. He's got a 280 ERA. But, I mean, before he went on the DEL, we still regarded him as the top 25 starting pitcher and fantasy. Absolutely.

So it's not that big of a leap from there to Ace Hood. No, no, which is why I'm asking the question to begin with, because even if you don't expect, even if he's walking a lot of guys, he's still got a 280 ERA this year. Now, the thing about both of these guys, J.D. Martinez, with four home runs yesterday, by the way. And Robbie Ray, who is the first pitcher in baseball history to have double-digit strikeouts against the Dodgers four times in one season. That's amazing.

I don't know that either of them is this good. I mean, Martinez is having his career year. He has 34 home runs in 97 games. He is slugging 654. And he's had a 553, 535, 535 slugging percentage each of the previous three years. So he's not – nobody's a 654 slugging guy. And then Ray, it's just weird. It's like the peripherals, it's the hits.

It's the hits and the Babbap, right? Because compare him to last year when Ray had a $490,000, this year it's $2.80. Strikeouts are up, but walks are up. Home runs are exactly the same. He's giving up three fewer hits per nine innings, and the Babbup is 270. So I'm not sure either of these guys is this good. But then again, like, Robbie Ray's stuff is nasty. He's a very talented pitcher.

So I don't know. So your answer right now would be Robby. Ray if you had a draft right now for next year? No, if I had to draft right now. I mean, I was kind of projecting what the rest of September might look like for Robbie Ray, as in it's not a crazy idea to think you might draft him ahead of J.D. Martinez let next year. But, you know, J.D. Martinez, the last few years, has been consistently like a fourth or

fifth round guy, right? And he's gotten even better each of the last few years. This is the best season of his career, like you said. So there's no doubt we're going to draft him like an elite outfielder next year. It's just it'll come down to A, how good does Robbie Ray close out the season, and B, how much do you value pitchers versus hitters? Because obviously, Outfield, a deep position for hitters starting pitching has been a pretty high-end starting pitchers, been a scarce commodity all year. All right, we've got a lot to tell you about, including somebody who played short. shortstop for the Rockies last night.

And Lucas Gialito, Doug Fister, man, Jose Ramirez has been killing it. Delano to Shields needs to be discussed. He's 28% owned. So over the last few days, Scott, any interesting ad drops you'd like to tell us about? Well, not ones that have gone particularly well. I did add

Mark Lighter in a couple leagues. And light him up. That's what the Mets did to him yesterday. Sure did. Yeah, still not a very trustworthy guy there, Mark Lider, it turns out. So I'm regretting that one. And obviously, I was only picking him up for a two-star week anyway.

Otherwise, you know, I was... Man, it was so long ago now. You added Blake Parker in a Roto League. I did, and you know what happened to him yesterday? I saw what happened to him, yeah. Park him up. Yeah, you got crushed. I don't know.

That doesn't work the same way. It doesn't work. Park him up. Yeah, he got parked. Actually, Matt Olson parked one, his second of the day. But look, I don't know what's going to happen to Blake Parker. He's been the Angels best reliever all year. It looked like he finally secured that job that nobody else in the Angels bullpen could secure.

But Mike Sosha's changed at the drop of a hat lately. So I'm a little worried about Blake Parker after investing in him. He had 11 straight scoreless appearances before he. yesterday. No, I get it. I want to take Blake Mark. Yeah, it would be, in my opinion, foolish to do so. Yeah. Yeah. It looks like Greg Hollins, you know, the Rockies have been lacking in save opportunities for a week now. So we don't know for sure, but it looks like Great Collins back in the ninth inning role for them. He worked the ninth inning in a tie game yesterday. So I was fine dropping Jake McGee. Certainly Pat Nishak, if you ever picked him up in the first place. And Parker would be a good pitcher to add. It looks like Brandon Mauer is the Royals closer for now because Calvin Herrera is having armed problems. Mauer got a save over the weekend.

Obviously not as good at Parker. But let's update that situation because Herrera could pitch this week and Mauer got crushed yesterday. And that was in a non-save situation, but it was the ninth. And then Mauer, I'm not the least bit interested in. I mean, the way they used him Sunday and Monday, it did seem like Maurer was the interim closer for Herrera, but he got crushed yesterday and Scott Alexander came in and got the save. I, look, I own Kelvin Herrera in our podcast league. I've made it to the semifinals. I won the first round.

And I had Herrera, and I had a drop, I dropped Brad Peacock, who better be going to the bullpen. And I picked up Alex Claudio and started him over Kelvin Herrera. but I could go back to Herrera next week. We'll see. But the Royals haven't been so hot lately either. Tell me, please tell me, please tell me Brad Peacocks going back to the bullpen. Because if I dropped him for nothing, I'm going to be pissed. It sounds like he might, and I don't like the idea,

because I feel like he is one of the Astros' three or four most talented pitchers. But he has been a success in the bullpen already, and I don't know that there is confident Charlie Morton or Columnque is going to be that. I don't know that anybody even really has to. This week, obviously, there's a double header coming up over the weekend, so they're at least sticking six-man through that. Kind of wonder why they wouldn't just the rest of the season do that. But I would say Peacock's job is in jeopardy, as is both Morton's and McHugh's.

Well, Bacullors is coming back. Verlander joins the rotation tonight. Right. And that'll make it six-man when those two are. They've already announced Mike Fires is in the bullpen, so they're back down to six. Okay. So, yeah. I don't want it to be Peacock because I think he's the best of many of those options.

But I do want it to be him because I dropped him and don't want to lose to Brad Peacock at this point. So, yeah, there were a lot of guys too add and drop. They weren't necessarily available in my leagues. But here are some of the players that may have been or may still be available. Lucas Gialito has the Giants this week, and it's probably too late. But if you're playing a daily league, you can pick up Gialito. Should you pick them up anyway? Seven innings of three hit ball, one run, one walk, ten strikeouts against the raise.

Who strike out a lot? There you go. I don't know why. I wrote a waiver wire column Monday. I don't know why I wasn't just looking at that. Yes, Lucas Gialito, so disorganized this morning. Lucas Gialito has been great. And this start obviously was the most, it was most evident with the 10 strikeouts.

But in all three of his starts, he's got. double-digit swinging strikes. The control problems that plagued them the last two years in the miners haven't really showed up. So I think Lucas Gialito, at a time when pitchers are getting shut down or, you know, showing signs of where, like who knows if you can trust Cole Hamils right now, or Aaron Nola, he was bad again. I think Lucas Gialito is absolutely a priority pickup. Really, his teammate, Renaldo Lopez, who wasn't as dominant coming off the DL, but I had a quality start, and he has gotten double-digit swinging strikes in all three of his starts as well since coming up to the major.

So I like both of them. I like Brandon Woodruff, probably even more than Lopez. He had a gem of a start. I think it was against the Cubs, right? That was on Saturday. Yeah, but didn't he not go deep in the game? Oh, he went deep. He went seven innings.

Okay, I'm sorry. I must have confused him with... One-earned run. on two hits with eight strikeouts in one walk. And I like him a lot. He was great last year between high class A at AA, not as great at AAA this year, but it was Colorado Springs, basically, of course, field of minors. So you give him a pass for that.

And he has a lot of innings left because of the time he missed with a hamstring injury. They're probably looking to get him more innings, actually. So Woodruff is a big deal as well. And if you want to go even deeper, a guy who's... owned in less than 10% of leagues. I was impressed by Dylan Peterson's, or Dylan. Oh, for the Marlins? Yeah, is it Dylan Peterson?

Did I get that name right? Oh, boy. Peters? That sounds even better. He had to start Friday. Dylan Peters, yeah, seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts and three walks, a guy who had a one, an ERA south of two in the minors this year. And through his curveball, as often as his back.

basketball. Usually that's a good recipe for swings and misses, and he got a lot of them against the Phillies. Really good-looking curveball. So it's only one start for him. The others have spent enough time in the majors that we have a better idea of what they're going to do. But Peter's had good minor league numbers, and he's so widely available that he's worth bringing up as somebody who could help down the stretch. Yeah, I know. It's pretty interesting. I mean, at this point, you know, you're really looking at matchups. so you got to check and make sure the matchups are good. I'm so skeptical with Lucas Gialito because, I don't know, apparently I'm watching these highlights, though, against the raise, and the curveball looks really good.

But, you know, I guess the secret to his turnaround has been mental. He's figured out something mentally. And I don't know, like, I never thought he was that good when I saw him come up for the Nationals last year. It was like, this guy with this stuff is the number one pitching prospect. They gave up on him in a trade that. everyone paned, but I think they may have known something that we didn't about Lucas Gialito. Yeah, no, I was definitely there. I was definitely getting there with Gialito.

I was giving him a pass for last year because he finished strong and whatever. It was an aberration based on his minor league track record, but when he did it again this year, when he had those kinds of struggles of AAA, I wasn't even that excited when he got called up. Right. But he has looked really good in three starts. There's no denying that. He didn't really have a lot of strikeouts until he faced the raise. Yes, but the swing strikes made me think he should have had more.

And he got him against the raise and gets the Giants this week. So, again, Daily League's Gialito, someone. I would start him in a second against the Giants. I don't think we want Chad Kuhl, though. He had a great start against the Cubs. But we don't care, right? Nope. He's at St. Louis this week.

And I don't think you should pick up Yolisha Sine who had a great start against the Dodgers. on Sunday because his next two starts are at Arizona this week and then at Colorado next week. So stay away from Chasine. What about Douglas Fister? Five quality starts in his last six starts. 157 ERA in his last three starts. Vister's been really good. I mean, 23-innings, 10 hits, 18 strikeouts.

And that was at Cleveland, home against Baltimore and at the Yankees. And Fistre will have Toronto this week and then Oakland next week, 35% only. for Fister. Yeah, and I think it's easy to forget just because of how hard he's been hit the last couple years and the fact he's not a big bad misser, not a hard thrower. It's easy to forget that he

had a three-year stretch there, four-year stretch, really, where he was pretty much indispensable in fantasy, must-own. And his velocity now is back to the point it was then, which is still low by Major League standards, but it's a good thing.

if he had lost some and gained it back, obviously. He also talks about moving to the first base side of the rubber and how that's improved his stride direction. I don't know what to make of that, but it seems to coincide with this turnaround for him. It's just when you have these September call-ups with a bunch of innings left, and they're missing bats like they did this weekend. You have Denelson Lemette, who's still available in a third of leagues himself,

and he's been on a nice two-month run, also has plenty of innings left, it's hard for me to take that leap on Doug Fister, though in deeper leagues I was certainly putting in a claim for him this weekend. Yeah, I mean, I watched Fister in that very good start against the Yankees, and he's a gimmick pitcher. He'll throw like a 70-something mile per hour curve ball, and he throws strikes and he works fast, but I don't want to see him against teams that are facing him for a second time.

But next week against Oakland, I don't know, maybe you could do worse. Then Fister. And then, of course, there's Luke Weaver, who is awesome and seems to be a must start now. He's 83% owned. Mike Clevenger's at the White Sox this week. So it would have been a great week to pick him up. Clevenger's 71% owned. He might get two starts next week. We don't have him listed that way now, but it might happen. Oh, man. I would... Clevenger, this is. I would not put much faith in two-start projections from this point forward. basically half the teams when I went through and updated the two-star ranking Sunday it looked like about half the teams in baseball were going with the six-man rotation and it's

not like they said we are going with a six-man rotation it's just they've inserted other pitchers that bumped the total number from five to six and never said it was a spot start never said we're removing them after this turn so you just kind of have to assume they're getting regular turns now and that's going to be the case all through September Louise Gohara another Braves pitching prospect, guy they got from the Mariners and the Malick Smith trade this offseason, offseason, and then the Mariners swung Malik Smith to the raise. But Gohara's had a great year.

It's not like he's replacing somebody. He's just coming up to start for the Braves. So that might take them from six men to seven men, at least for now. And you don't know who's getting skipped. If anybody is, it's really, like, you should not count on more than one start from pretty much anybody. Some of the most high-end pitchers maybe, but it's still, they're not the kind of pitchers you're going to be starting because they're making two starts anyway. Interesting.

So do you want to add Gohara, by the way? Is he worth a look? I mean, he's, he had a really good year, and he's a big prospect. And I don't know that he'd be a big priority for me outside of in all only leagues. I just, guy making his major league debut now, it just seems like a long shot he's going to be somebody I can, rely on over these last, well, now we have three weeks left to set our lineup, right? Yeah, yeah, three. Okay, so let's sum up the last 10 minutes of the show.

Give me like two, other than Luke Weaver, 83% on, you've got to get him. Give me two or three pitchers that you feel are the highest priorities for you. You know, I think I would actually go. Wait a second, let me see, Clevengers. Okay, so Clevenger's in there. Did you mention Snell? Oh, no, I didn't get to him. He's next.

59% own 191 ERA and his last five starts for Snell. And there's a lot of good ones. I think if I was limiting it to two, the two would be Lament and Snell, actually, for all the good things I said about the rookie call-ups. But, you know, I'm high on Gilito and Woodruff and Lopez and basically Fister and well, I don't know, Chad Cool's... Chad Cool, I guess, would be at the very bottom because he hasn't shown great swing and miss stuff all year.

Sha Seen's kind of low, too. But I don't really care that much for Fister and Goharah with all those other big bat missers out there. All right, let me give you a little negative with Snell. He's either going to make two starts next week against the Yankees and the Red Sox, or he's going to make one start next week against the Yankees. Yeah, yeah.

But then what about the week after that? Yeah, I don't know. But I don't know that, like, one start against the Yankees is so bad outside of Yankee Stadium. It'll be in Tampa Bay. You know, they have, like, one of the worst cleanup hitters in baseball right now and Aaron Judge. Yeah. It's true. Well, he keeps moving around in the order.

But it is true. It's hurting them big time. I think they're on fire right now. They've scored, like, five runs and four straight games. It's something crazy. But I don't know. I don't know that I would sit snow in a one-star week against just the Giants. I probably would start him in a two-star week then.

Because the Red Sox lineup is good, but it's not unbeatable. They don't hit home runs. All right, fair enough. Let's talk about some hitters. Well, first of all, Jose Ramirez is 13 for 26, with three home runs, six doubles, and a triple in his last seven games. So he's extra base hitting like crazy, Jose Ramirez. But in terms of guys you could add, Delano to Shields,

a regular player now that Adrian Beltray is likely out for the season. He has a six-game hitting streak. He walks a lot, and he steals a ton of bases, and Delano Shields is 28% owned. I was going to add him in a Categories League, except I win steals just about every week. But at this point, I might, like, Granderson has cooled off. I'm a few days away from dropping Granderson for DeShields because he's not just stealing bases. He's hitting at the top of the order. He's going to score runs.

He's going to get on base. Yeah, I don't know I don't know how if I trust him to hit well over the next three plus weeks but I do trust him to run a lot when he gets on base.

I'm really not looking to add to shields in like a points league or anything other than where I need steals but I mean he still has plenty of value with that role now that it looks like he's going to be getting regular playing time again and there's just not

there's just not that many big-time base dealers who also play every day available in categories leagues at this stage of the season. What about his teammate, Carlos Gomez? He's batting 400 since Friday with two home runs, one walk, four strikeouts. He had three hits yesterday. And Gomez actually 17 homers, 13 steals in 95 games. So, you know, he plays a full season.

If he had not gotten hurt, he's a 2020 guy, at least. Yeah, you know who I like more than him? Who? And their ownership's about the same. Kiermire. Yeah, I knew you were going. there, Kevin Kiermire. Yeah, I would much rather have

Kiermire than Gomez and probably more than DeShields too. I mean, if you just combine if you combine Kiermire's numbers from the last two seasons, which is about 183 games. So, you know, a little beyond what a full season would be, it is

183 games. It's not about 1983 games. It's a little beyond what a full season would be. He has like more than 20 homers, more than 30 steals. Well, basically looking a lot like what Whitmeryfield's been this year, and I don't think it's at all a stretch to say Whitmerfield must start. So Kevin Keirmeyer available in half of CBS Sports Leagues.

Just for the steals, I think that needs to change. Yeah, but if you need steals, the Shields is going to crush him in steals. Well, I don't know. Like a grape, Scott. But I'm saying, yeah, I mean, De Shield is a better base dealer than Kevin Keirmeyer, but Keirmeier himself is like a 30 steel guy over a full season. Well, DeShields is like a 90,000 steel guy. Probably like a 40-45 steel guy.

I'll give you that. Fair enough. All right, so look, those are some options for you. Keirmeyer, since coming off the DLs, batting 3.79 with three homers and three steals. And 15 runs, by the way, in 16 games. So, yeah, Keirmeyer underowned. And DeShield's an option for you there. Don't really love Gomez so much.

Byron Buckson, 86% owned, so you've missed your chance there, but he's still hitting. How about Eduardo Escobar, Twins infield? There's everybody on the Twins just crushing it right now, three homers over the weekend. And that, by the way, I think Blake Snell is facing the twins this week, so we'll see what happens there. Eduardo Escobar is 19% owned. He's eligible at second, third, and short. Any interest there? No, not really.

Not really. I would rather pick up J.P. Crawford, if I needed. middle end field help. He's getting the call for the Phillies today. Ooh, fun. And, yeah, big time shortstop prospect. He'd been pretty awful at AAA the last two years, but had maintained an impressive strikeout to walk ratio,

made a lot of contact, and really seemed to turn things around over the last two months. J.P. Crawford has hit over the last two months. he's hit about 280 with an OPS over 900 and a lot of home runs in there too. So for a guy that the scouts never really wavered on, great athlete, who has very advanced approach to the plate, if he's actually performing at AAA,

I'm excited about what he can do in the majors at that position. Cool. So would you drop Ahmed Rosario for him? I think I would. Just I'd rather go with the unknown, while Ahmed Rosario has been mostly overwhelming. And if you want to go

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And get $10 off your first purchase All right I know all you all are just You can't wait to find out you need to know what's going on in the podcast league. Podcasts, we won't talk about the Rejects League, the team scam, we won't talk about that. That league sucks. Nobody cares. They're rejects for a reed.

But in the Points League, four teams left, two of them are on this podcast right now. Apollo Kreeh, me and White Noise, Scott. We are not facing each other. So I know you all are out there thinking, let's get a podcast head-to-head. championship and keep the crown in the league, you know, in the CBS company, although we didn't win last year, right? No, actually a listener won last year. I've won three years, you've won one, and a listener's won twice.

Okay. Not the same listener. Okay, so we're in the playoffs. Bad news for Scott White. First of all, his opponent has guaranteed victory. I saw his opponent, Harry, face-to-face last week, and he said, I don't see how anyone is beating me in a two-week playoff. That's what he said, because his team is that good.

Yep. That was some bold talk. Bad news is Harry's got J.D. Martinez. Good news is he's got Paul Goldschmidt. That's good news for Scott. Goldschmidt getting an MRI on his elbow. Wait, are we getting excited about the fact Paul Goldschmidt has an elbow injury?

For you. It's good for you. Because you're placing him. It's good for me? Well, yeah, because you're facing Paul Goldschman, and he's in a line. Well, yeah, no. It's good for me, but I mean... No, it's bad.

Bad news for the world as a whole, right? Yeah, it might not be serious. Yeah, it might not be serious. He's been playing through it for a while. I had a great homestand playing through it. He's going to be away for probably the first couple days this week, getting it checked out. But he's confident he's going to be able to play through it,

no matter what the problem is. Now, it may be something that requires intervention in the offseason. Corey Seeger's elbow injury sounds like something that's going to need a surgery in the... offseason, but he thinks he's going to be back this weekend and playing for the Dodgers again. So Goldschmidt, I don't think his owner should panic. I would still rather have Paul Goldschmidt than be facing Paul Goldschmidt. But I'm off to a nice start here.

I got a 15.5 point advantage over Mr. Confidence this week to start out. By the way, what did you say my team name was? White noise. Yeah, white noise. Oh, there it is. Echo. It's going to be your new team name, Echo. It's time for your bad idea of the day. It just doesn't require much explanation. Matt Harvey is going to start on short rest on Wednesday.

That has been your bad idea of the day here on fantasy baseball today. I kind of believe that. Nobody can. Why did they hate their pitchers so much? They thought it was a good idea. He wanted to get out there as soon as possible, and he only threw 70 pitches in one of the worst starts. ever see. So get him out there again on short rest. Makes so much sense. Matt Harvey. Okay. All right. No, it's ridiculous. Ridiculous. A lot more news and notes, though. Chris Archer left

Saturday start with forearm tightness. No structural damage. He can play catch. Should you drop or hold Chris Archer? I would hold him. It sounds like he's probably going to miss Friday's start, but I suspect that'll be the only start he misses, and he's obviously a high-end pitcher when healthy. So hopefully that's all he misses. It sounds like it's going to be all he misses, and you'll be happy to start him next week. Jake Areietta left with a hamstring injury, but he doesn't think it's serious. He might not miss any starts.

I'm just going to guess he misses one, but that's a total guess. But, you know, why push it? Corey Seeger, like Scott said, is playing through an elbow injury that may require off-season surgery, but Seeger expects and hopes to be back this weekend. Tommy Pham left with shoulder soreness. Matt Carpenter left with shoulder tendinitis Drop or hold Matt Carpenter You know, it's interesting

He said this shoulder injuries basically bothered him all year I'm glad I'm this sounds mean but I'm glad to hear that Yeah, no I mean I am too Because we've had a hard time figuring out what was going on for Matt Carpenter A lot of the batted ball data still looks really good Which you know you think that would be affected by the injury itself But maybe not.

Maybe there is maybe the injury is at least another additional explanation that might explain the weirdness of the data. And if he's been able to play through it to this point, I imagine he'd keep playing through it.

The Cardinals still have plenty to play for. They're very much in the playoff race. But he says it's a sharp pain when he throws and also when he bats. We may see him move back to first base to close out the season, but I think we'll see him keep playing. Whether or not you drop him,

you could make the argument even before this news to drop him in like a shallow 10-team league with small lineups. I don't know that I'm dropping him in anything deeper than that. All right, that's Matt Carpenter. Garrett Richards is going to start tonight. Do you care? I care, yeah.

I mean, I don't want to use him. It's going to be a very limited start. But if it's a good start, he's somebody who could make an impact down the stretch. Zander Bogartz, maybe... I don't want to call him a bench. player. But Bogart's, he's had a bit of an injury lately. He's back. He started yesterday. Padroia sat. But Nunez ain't going anywhere. Nunez is hitting really well. He's at the top of the

order. I suppose Devers, between Devers, Bogarts, and Padroia, I don't know that you're going to get an everyday player there, Scott. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, well, close enough. I think the person who suffers the most is Mitch Morland. You would think so. But, but Boeh, but Boer's, well, you would think so. Bogarts has been really, like, I'm most worried about Bogarts. He's been really bad. That's fair. That's fair. You know, I actually, when Padraea came off the DL, I had a moment of hesitance.

I had to drop somebody. And I'm talking in a roto league, so big line of 30-man rosters, 12 teams, 360 players rostered. Petroia comes off the DL, and I had a moment where I considered dropping Bogart. instead of Padroia. Whoever I kept would have to be in my starting lineup. I ultimately decided Padraea was the way to go. But if I'm to the point where thinking it's realistic, not only to bench Bogarts,

but to drop him in a league of that depth, and, you know, in this case it turns out benching and dropping would be one in the same. But, you know, that kind of shows you my level of confidence in Bogart's going forward. Yeah, I don't blame you. Meanwhile, Ian Desmond played shorts. stop yesterday. Trevor Story sat. And Desmond, yeah, I mean, I guess this is an exciting development potentially. Let's see four more of them. You know, Josh Donaldson got to four and that was it.

Oh, right. What the heck? We are so close. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, Desmond, one start. Gary Sanchez suspended three games. He's serving it that began yesterday. Aaron Hicks is on the deal with an oblique strain. Jacoby Ellsbury may play every day for you, A. L. Only people. Pablo Sandoval is O for his last 33. That's pretty bad. That's the panda I know. And the Mets signed Noreaoki for you and L only people. And I think he's going to play every day, right? Norie Aoki or close? I don't see why not. Somebody has to. Two percent owned Norie Aoki. Well, look, your fantasy team is a lot like a business. It's not going to be successful unless you get the word out and get the best talent. How do you do that? Now in fantasy, you've got the waiver wire. We tell you who to pick up. We help you with that.

course. In business, you've got ZipRecruiter. You need to try ZipRecruiter if you're going to make some hires. This is an amazing website and a very simple process. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike is your URL. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike if you want to try it for free. You can post your job to 100 plus job sites with one click, and then ZipRecruiter efficiently matches the right people to your job better than any other site. And that's why ZipRecruiter is the best because candidates don't have to find you. ZipRecruiter goes out and finds them. 80% of employers who post a job on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site within just one day. That is tough to beat.

You're going to love ZipRecruiter. Our listeners can post jobs there for free. That's right. For free, go to ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike one more time. Try it for free. ZipRecruiter.com slash strike. Next segment, chasing slash making history.

John Carlos Stanton, 53 home runs. Will he hit 62? Why do we care, Adam? That's not the record. It is a record. It is a substantial milestone. Will he hit 62 this year? He's at 53.

Yeah. So will he hit 62? I am going to still say no, but I mean, it certainly has a chance, big chance. It may happen. I'm going to say yes, but only because you are saying no, my real answer would be no. However, if he does get to 62,

I will gloat about how I said yes. And if he doesn't get the 62, I will say something like, I didn't think he was going to do it all along. Oh, got your bases covered there. I like it. Love it. Josh Bell set a National League record for most home runs by a switch-hitting rookie. You got that?

National League, switch-hitting rookie. Josh Bell has 24 home runs. That's a new record for the NL. Whose record did he break, Scott White? Chipper Jones. Chipper Jones. Bell's the number 15 first base. basement in fantasy and points leagues number 20 in roto anything to say about

Josh bell record holder I think he's going to be somebody we like a lot going into next year and not just me this time but everybody because I feel like he's going to be pretty a pretty safe contributor even if MLB changes the balls home runs go down everywhere bell has enough other ways of contributing that I think he's going to be uh and just the fact that he seems to have gotten better over the course of this year. I think he's going to be somebody that's basically must start next year. Yeah, I don't know that it would have made any difference on my Roto team, but dropping Josh Bell for Mike Napoli probably like a couple of months ago was the worst decision

I made in that league all year. Not a good idea. You know, Bell in a Roto league where you don't get points, any credit for walks and OOPP, he at the time just seemed like extremely replaceable. And Napoli was getting hot for a very, very brief period. And I wish that had been like on a Wednesday instead of a Sunday. So I could have seen the crappy stuff from Napoli and not made the call. But yeah, that was a big mistake.

Big mistake. And I think Heath picked him up. So he's winning that league. So even bigger mistake. Other records chasing or making history. Aaron Judge has 103 walks this season. He is approaching Les Fleming. rookie record of 106 walks set in 1942.

Wow. Yeah. I did not know either of those marks. I didn't know Judge had that many, and I didn't know what the record was for a rookie. Yeah. So very interesting. I don't know who Les Fleming is, but I do now.

Less Fleming. That's... That's what you take like an antihistamine for it. Yeah. You know he's getting... How do you know you're getting over a cold? Les Fleming is in the building. Arizona's won 11 straight games.

the Dodgers have lost 9 of 10, and as I mentioned, Robbie Ray, first pitcher in baseball history, with four double-digit strikeout games against the Dodgers in one season. And the Angels set an American League record yesterday by using 12 pitchers last night in a win against Oakland, hashtag September baseball. All right, double-dongs from yesterday. Catcher Martine Maldonado of the Angels hit two home runs yesterday. He's 16% owned. I think I put Cole Calhoun in the wrong section

because he did not hit two home runs, but he's been hot. So more on him in a second. But Matt Olson, Matt Olson did hit six home runs. He's got six in his last seven games. Matt Olson is only 16% owned, Scott. What do you think about Olson? Yeah, he's up to 14 and 41 games, which is also impressive.

He's been striking out too much in the majors, and so I've been hesitant to really buy into him. But, you know, it's not like he was Joey Gallo in the minors, particularly this year. It was a reasonable strikeout rate, given the level of power Olson has. So I have hope that he becomes somebody we can rely on in fantasy. I think maybe for trailing in that category in particular, in like a roto league, Matt Olson should be somebody who's in your lineup. I just don't know that I trust him to be a consistent hitter here to close out the season. All right, so that's Matt Olson, again, 16% owned.

And Cole Calhoun, just on a decide. In his last 29 games, Calhoun's batting 320, 429 on base, 5.05 slugging, so not a lot of power, four home runs. But how about this? 29 games, 19 walks and 19 strikeouts for Cole Calhoun, who's 52% owned. Is he sort of like an Inderanceiarte, if you just need a safe guy in a points league or an OBP league or something, you throw in Calhoun? I mean, he's getting back to that. He hadn't been nearly as good as NCRTA until very recently. He had kind of fallen off the mixed league radar, but he's back on it with this hot streak.

It's just, you know, we know the upside's limited, too, particularly in this kind of environment. Scott, are you ready to intro a couple of segments? Oh. I'm ready. Okay. You see the name of the first one? Do you need me to help you with that? To trust or not to trust.

To trust or not to trust Dylan Bundy after he got rocked by the Yankees yesterday. And he's supposed to be at Cleveland this weekend and then at the Yankees next week. So it's tough for Bundy to trust or not to trust. I think Dylan Bundy is somebody who I'm going to trust with a caveat. Well, we're talking next week at the Yankees or this weekend they're kind of the same, right? I mean, Cleveland's worse. Well, Cleveland's just every one of their hitters is on fire. Yeah, you don't want to face them.

But at the same time, Dylan Bundy himself was on fire prior to this start. He had that five-start stretch where he was just awesome, a ton of strikeouts. And so, like, if we buy that he turned a corner then was throwing the slider, cutter hybrid more, and that's his best pitch. You know, he probably deserves a pass for this weekend start. But I just know the innings are escalating for him, too. and I wonder if the Orioles slip too much more, do they just shut them down at some point?

So I guess I've worked my way back to not trusting, but just from a short-term perspective, I could go either way on that. It's a really tough matchup for Bundy. So, you know, if it's a daily league and we're setting our lineups just for this weekend at Cleveland, it might depend how I'm already doing an ERA with, strikeouts. Fair enough. That's Dylan Bundy. Let's go to Trevor Bauer. To trust or not to trust

Trevor Bauer. Dominated the White Sox yesterday. And he's got a 305 ERA and he's 8 and 1 since the All-Star break. To trust or not to trust Trevor Bauer, I guess he'd be lined up to face Baltimore this weekend. I never trust Trevor Bauer. Until you do. And then. But I think we have to trust Trevor Bauer right now just because we got to trust somebody, right? And he has been really good. His last... Man, I don't even know how many starts it was. I'll pull it up here in a second,

but it'll surprise you what the numbers are. I thought I had them jotted down here. Oh, here it is. Last nine appearances, eight of them starts, a 219 ERA. 122 whip, which is a little on the high side. He's giving up some hits. But 219 ERA, 128 whip,

10 strikeouts per nine innings. And basically two months' time. I don't know how, given the strikeouts and everything else, you could say you don't trust that guy right now. Rick Porcelo, to trust or not to trust, I believe his next two starts will be against Tampa Bay, but like we said, like Scott said, it's hard to look into the future. To trust or not to trust Rick Porcelo.

So here's maybe the argument against Bauer is that I had been sitting Rick Porcelo for the longest time in the many leagues where I owned him, saw him put together a 355 ERA and 11 starts. get him back in my lineup this week. Seven run runs in five and a third innings on Monday. So now, obviously, that stretch for Porcelo wasn't as dominant as Bauer's been during his stretch, but it was a pitcher who I thought we were beyond trusting, who regained my trust, and then burned me the moment I turned back to him. I think the big difference is Bauer has given up 21 home runs this year,

and Porcelo's given up 35. And Purcellus pitched like 30 more innings. But even when Porcelo was going well with that 350-ish ERA, he was still giving up home runs. And he gave up three yesterday. And look, I don't even know that I'd go as far as to say Porcelo's unstartable if he's going against Tampa Bay, as you're saying. But I'd rather not have to start him.

So I don't trust him. Chase Anderson, bad start yesterday at Cincinnati, at the Cubs this weekend if they are on a five-man rotation. If not, I think it'll be two starts the next week. Yeah, so I wondered if he had lost anything stuff-wise since returning from the DL. But that doesn't appear to be the case. The velocity seems fine for Chase Anderson. Not the highest it's been this year, but not the lowest either.

And three of his – really, I mean, the bigger issue prior to this start was just that he wasn't pitching deep into games. So he had been fine before the start. I hope eventually he gets to where he's going six, seven, then he's consistently. I trust him. All right, Chase Anderson, we trust. And finally, Jose Barrios, can't figure out this guy. Burrios started in 78% of leagues, gets crushed by the raise yesterday.

And maybe we can figure it out. Maybe it's this simple. 254 ERA at home, 543 ERA on the road. Three runs higher ERA on the road at Kansas City this weekend for Jose Barrio. So another road start. So I'll play it by the matchups for him And say at Kansas City I'll trust Jose Barrios

Even on the road where he's got this 543-year-old I mean because it's a big park and So is Tampa And was that Was the home and road thing that's for the season? Yeah, yeah Yeah And you look at his last four starts

Two great ones both at home Two bad ones both on the road And I think one was at the White Sox Yeah, I just Burrios we're talking about here the home away split when it's not an obvious park effects thing yeah i i always have a hard time trusting that

because it seems like a couple of really bad starts or really good starts one way or another can make a huge difference with that number and it could just be happenstance all right and then brrios and the thing is like the twins playing a big ballpark but from what i understand the ball kind of carries there so it's not necessarily a pitcher's park um i don't know i don't know what baseball reference would have to say about that You ready for our next segment, Scott? You ready to intro it?

To add or not to add. To add or not to add Jake Junis, who has the twins on the schedule this weekend, got a win yesterday, pitched OK against Detroit. Jake Junis, 53% owned. Yeah, I mean, this was a two-star week for him, and it looked like a fairly safe one for him because seven-game week he was going Monday and Saturday. So even if they inserted another pitcher, whatever, it looked like he'd make a two-star week. two starts.

For next week, assuming it's only going to be one start, that would be a big question mark, because he hasn't been consistently pitching deep into games. The strikeouts were back down in this start. I want to see how he does against Minnesota this weekend. I'd probably be fine using him in that start. Jake Junice. R.A. Dickey, 48% owned.

No way. We don't want it, right? Yeah, I wasn't even trusting him prior to this, even though he had a lengthy run there with a lot of quality starts. but he's just, he's the definition of untrustworthy. By the way, Jake Junis does face Minnesota this weekend unless it gets pushed back like twice, and then he'll face the White Sox next week, which would be great.

But that doesn't happen, which is unlikely. It looks like Jake Junice is lined up to be at Cleveland next week. Not so good. No, I don't think I trust him for that. All right, Andrew Cashner. I mean, he's either going to face the Yankees this week if they stay five-man this weekend, or he'll have two starts next week.

Nope. Nope. But I mean, how long can we say nope on Cashner? Forever, Adam. Forever. Nice. That was required. All right, fine. No, Andrew Cashner.

And Erasmus 17% own, five straight quality starts. He will either face the Angels this weekend if they stay five men or Arasmo Ramirez. We'll go at Texas and at Houston next week. I don't particularly trust him either. But, I mean, those matchups are not very good even in the two-start week, even considering that and the fact that it might not be a two-start week. I could see doing it in the deeper league. I'd rather do that than Cashner. But ultimately, I'm not looking to add Erasmus Romero.

Are you looking to talk about tonight's matchups? Let's do it. Good. So am I. All right. We have the Yankees at the Orioles. Sabathia and Helixson. I don't think either

I'd give some thought to Sabathia I guess just because he's been good since returning from the DL but it's a risky play I want to check one thing here I see his numbers against Baltimore I think he has a good history against them oh not this year 694 ERA and two starts only two starts last year versus Baltimore

Samathia, 230 ERA and five starts, yeah. Okay. All right, well, no helixen. Sabathia is questionable. Kyle Hendrix at Stephen Bralt. Good with Hendricks. All right, that's Cubs of Pirates.

Brewers at Red, Zach Davies and Robert Stevenson. I'm going to go neither on this, even though both have pitched well of late. It just seems like there's a low floor for both of them. Jason Vargas, Annabal Sanchez. Nope. Nope. Ben lively, Jacob de Grom.

Well, DeGromm, obviously, and lively, obviously not. Well, maybe it's not obvious, but I wouldn't. Steven Strasbourg at Odrisa Mertespani. That's a pretty obvious one. What was the last time Strasbourg started at Miami? He has this weird history of being terrible at Miami. I wonder if that's happened this year. He's seen, no, he's faced them twice this year, 16 innings, two run runs, both on the road.

Look, you're starting Strasbourg anyway. I just think this is fun. I'll laugh if he has a bad start, though. I'll laugh. I'll laugh at everyone who started him. Last year, Strasbourg made one start at Miami. It didn't go well. It went incredible.

Eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. Did you want the effect for that? No, that's all right. I think it only works on your end. It does? I think so. It's the mixer. Let's do a more dramatic one and talk.

All right. Give it a test. Right a test. All right, check, check, yes. See, it's only on your side. All right. Don't kill it, Scott. Don't kill it.

People love it right now. All right. Sorry. People love it. Don't change that. Twins and Rays. Cologne Odoree. Oh.

Cologne odor! Oh my gosh. What a great matchup. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Cologne. As for whether or not you'd start them, I'm going to go no on this after the way the way some of the raised top hitters have been hitting

They had a big weekend, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. The Lomo's been on five. Dickerson's hitting well, Kiermeyer, Lomo, yeah. And I'm not starting either of these guys. I'm not starting Oterese against the twins. Nope.

Blue Jays at Red Sox. Estrada, Eduardo Rodriguez. No, no. It seems too risky. I'm almost done. We gotta start somebody, right? I'll tell you what, if Eduardo Rodriguez, well, that's the thing.

I've got four starters in my daily league going tonight. And I'm starting three of them. DeGrom was an easy call. instead of guessing, I'll look it up. But I know I'm sitting Eduardo Rodriguez. And if he struggles, I'm going to pick him up. I'm going to drop Eduardo Rodriguez if he struggles again.

And there were so many guys that you just mentioned in the beginning of the show that I could look at or I could just take the line out of shields and drop Eduardo Rodriguez. With the three guys I'm starting tonight are DeGrom, Verlander, and Michael Waka. Verlander is the obvious one. Waka at San Diego.

I'm pretty much only starting them because of that San Diego. Yeah. And I'm sitting at Eduardo Rodriguez. I mean, and that's still pretty scary, even. How many middling pitchers like Waka have we recommended because they were facing San Diego lately, and it's blown up in our faces? Yeah, totally. It's happened a lot.

Didn't happen to Carlos Martinez last night. Complete game shutout. Rangers and Braves, Miguel Gonzalez, and Gohara. I mean, Miguel Gonzalez, I guess I could. recommend in a Bartolo Colon, not Bartolo Colone, in a C.C. Sabathia sort of way where if you just need another start, you could do worse. He's pitched well of late. This will be his first start in a Rangers uniform, though. I don't know whether that's good news or bad news. It might have some kind of emotional impact on him, though.

But Gohara, gohara, no. Too risky? Yeah, guy in his Major League debut. That's pretty much always a no. Danny Salazar, David Holmberg. Well, Salazar I feel good about. Sure, coming back from the DL, the way he was pitching before that, and it's against the White Sox. Let's do it. Giants, Rockies, no.

Nope. Unless you would you start Tyler Chatwood at home against the Giants? Nope. Angels at A's, Garrett Richards, Kendall Graveman. I don't think so. All right, Michael Waka at Travis Wood, Cardinals at Padres. I'd lean no on Waka, but, you know, if you really need that extra start, it's possible to do it.

Astros and Mariner is Verlander and Miranda, and if we changed their letters, you would be Merlander and Veranda, which is relevant. Start or sit Ariel Miranda. Isn't it relevant, though? I would Sid Berlander and sorry. I would start Verlander and sit Miranda. And Zach Granky and Junjin Ryu. Granky, we're going to start against the Dodgers, right? You know, if you switch the letters in Zach Granky's name, it'd be Gak Zrenki.

No, I didn't switch the letters in his name. I put Verlander and Miranda. I made it Veranda. Well, that's even more point with... And Merlander. Yeah, I think both of these are okay. Definitely Granky at the Dodgers. And Ryu, even going against the Diamondbacks, I feel okay about him.

He's been... Wasn't good last time, but he'd been very reliable before that. All right. Yeah, Granky has pitched three times against the... Dodgers this year. He had one terrible start. The other two were quality starts. So six and two-thirds, three runs, six innings, one run.

And that was just last week. So he's making back-to-back starts against the Dodgers. Okay, let me see if we have some time for emails here at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. And will earn the number one seed and a buy. Should I drop Raphael Devers for Eddie Rosario? I think anything goes this time of year. If the matchups are right, if you just want to go with the hot hand, within reason, you don't want to drop Paul Goldschmidt

and have your competitor pick him up. But at Devers has been lackluster for long enough and isn't the most proven option to begin with. So if you really feel like Rosari is going to be better for you going forward, I'm okay with that. I don't know that it's something that every Devers owner wants to do, though. Okay, and this is a very rude email from Gary in Africa. He says, Dear Teddy, Kinnish, and Worm.

Okay. Teddy, Kinnish, and Worm. That would be, oh, from Rounders. It's a good movie. I love the podcast. One thing I cannot understand this year is your undying love for Matt Carpenter. I can only assume you guys have Tiger Beat photos of the guy hanging in your cubicles. OBP has been good, but I see Carpenter falling off a cliff this year.

Looks like he has a shoulder issue now, maybe off-season surgery. He's 31, for goodness sake. Stop carrying the torch, downgrade Matt Carpenter. 31's not that old. He's baseball, right? No, but actually it's an appropriate email because if the shoulder has been bothering him all year, then it does change things. And there you go. Yeah, but like we were saying earlier, it kind of explains things.

Yes. And last year in the second half, it was an oblique injury that he played through and crushed his numbers. So, you know, he may be going through a Ryan Zimmerman kind of stretch here where just so many injuries are accumulating for such a long period of time that he's kind of reshaping our opinion in a way that's unfair. And he could have the same kind of resurgence as soon as next year. But I still love the play discipline. I mean, the home run power has been fine this year. And a lot of the contact that data points to a much better player than he has been. So he'll be drafted later next year than he was this year.

That's appropriate. But he'll still definitely be in that early to mid-round range. Here's an email at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com from Aaron. First week of the playoffs, Points League does not deduct hitter strikeouts. I have Mike Zanino, but Salvador Perez just became available. Who should I go with? No problem with hitter strikouts, no deduction. Salvador Perez, and boy, has he been terrible, except he homered yesterday, or Mike Zanino.

Yeah, I still think I'd go with Salvi. Obviously, it closes the gap a good bit, but I just think he's a better player. And unless I have reason to think he's not healthy, I mean, he actually got a nice long rest there recently with the DL stent, which is unusual for him at this stage of the year. And we think he's healthy now. I think he'll come out of this, and I still trust him more than Zunino, even in that format. Okay. Yeah, Perez's struggle in 11 games since coming off the DL. And let me see if we have time, Scott, for one more email.

Choose one starter. This is from Bradley. I have a max of seven starters per week in a head-to-head points league. Blake Snell at home against Minnesota or Jake Junis at home against Minnesota. Who do you go with? Hmm. Ooh, Blake, Snell. Snell's a better pitcher than Junus.

You've got to go with Snell, no? I think so. I don't think it's... Yes, I mean, Snell has more talent than Junis, but Junis has a lot, too, and they've both pitched similarly well recently. I think I'd go with Snell, though. There you go.

That's Scott White. I'm Adam Azer. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow, everybody.