Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/07 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Best Rookie SPs, Week 24 Help

Episode Date: September 7, 2017

Al Melchior is back on the program to help us figure out if Doug Fister is legit (2:14) and which rookie SPs are the top priorities right now (12:14). Jake Junis? Lucas Giolito? Dillon Peters? ... A look at the Most Added list (20:00), a streaking Carlos Gonzalez (26:15), yesterday's SPs (30:10) and tough hitter matchups in Week 24 (38:01) ... Two-start pitchers for Week 24 (42:55). Who can you trust to make that second start? ... 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 everybody to the fantasy baseball today podcast. I don't know, special edition. It's special because of our guest. But also, this is going to be the Thursday slash Friday podcast. It's about 3.15 p.m. Eastern. I am Adam Azer, and I'm joined by, you know him. Yeah, you know him. That's all.

A little cliffhanger there. People know him. He's Al Melchior. Hello, Al Melchior. Hey, Adam. How are you doing? Yeah, I'm doing well. I am in New York, as everybody knows.

the Fort Lauderdale office is closed due to Hurricane Irma, so I am unable to podcast with anybody on the staff. So I will go with a former staff member, Al Malkiore, who is on Twitter at Al Malkiore BB, at Al Mielkeyer. Beanie Baby, it stands for Beanie Baby. Or baseball, whichever one you like better. I like Beanie Baby. And it's good to have you back, man.

Thank you. It hasn't been that long. Thanks for coming on, Al. Yeah, well, always great to be back at him. Al's stepping up in the absence of Scott and Chris and Heath, and we really appreciate it. So before we go any further, self-promote. All right. Well, I've got my own show.

It's for right now until after the Super Bowl, it's just on Saturdays, but it's on Fantasy Sports Radio Network, Fanrag Fantasy Baseball. And I'm also writing for Fanrag Sports and for FanGraphs. And then there's Almelkier.com and the weekly. matchup report. Awesome. Yes. So he's going to help us out. We're going to look at young starting pitchers.

Do you pick up Gielito or Junis or Lopez or Skaggs or Peters or Flaherty or all of them? We'll take a look at the most added list and go over some stuff that happened on Wednesday. There are only one Thursday game underway so far and the Yankees are winning. So Al's probably not that happy because Al like everybody else hates the Yankees. I like it more since I seem to own a lot of them. Okay, good, lovely. Let's go to a Red Sox. Let's start the show with a Boston Red Sox member.

I think you just say Boston Red Sox. Doug Fister, what the heck is going on here? Doug Fister's 39% owned. He's got a 150 ERA, nearly a strikeout per inning over his last four starts, with 8% swinging strikes, by the way. And, yeah, I don't really want to buy in, but he's got Oakland next week. So should we pick up Doug Fister, 39% owned? What do you think about this guy?

For one start, I probably wouldn't. But I do think that what we're seeing looks an awful lot like the classic Doug Fister, his best years with the Tigers, where, yeah, you mentioned not a lot of swinging strikes. And especially now compared to a few years ago, that's not a very impressive rate. But a lot of ground balls and not very many walks. And that was a formula that worked for him a few years back. So definitely a good two-star guy as long as he keeps going. I realize we're running out of weeks here. Yeah, and it's hard to get two-star pitchers these days with all the rotation changes.

So that's another challenge that we're going to have is we'll try to take a look at two-star pitchers. So you're going to avoid Fister who's been lights out with the A's. It could actually get some decent strikeout numbers. That's the thing. With a different pitcher, I'd be really excited about that. But the A's are sort of an upside-downside opponent because they do hit for some pretty good power. Okay. And Fister's been really good at avoiding that lately, but I think there's enough risk there that with the minimal upside that I think he's got for strikeouts, I just don't think it's worth it.

There is a potential new closer for players, for fantasy owners to get. I'll be taking a look in my Categories League at Tyler Lyons. I believe I already dropped Jake McGee, but if I didn't, I will drop him for Tyler Lyons. I actually have a tough decision to make, Al. I could easily drop Luis Castillo, but it's a keeper league, and I can keep Castillo. for like a 21st round pick next year or something. Yeah, you got to do that. I got to do that, right?

Yeah, that sucks. I'm trying to win right now, you know, and I can really use Tyler Lyons. I could use more saves, but, you know, this is my first year in a keeper league. It was my second year in the league, but this is the first year when we've done keepers. And they really make a big difference year to year.

Like, it's pretty important to have good keepers. So I don't want to give up on Castillo just yet. But Lions, Al, you think he's a, he's the, the best bet for saves for the Cardinals? I definitely think so. I've been thinking that probably going back at least two, three weeks. So now finally the usage pattern is starting to dovetail with what the skill stats would suggest is what should happen. So he's been, you know, he's got a second save.

Even when he hasn't gotten saves, he's been used a lot in the ninth inning with some four-run leads. And there was one time where Brubio was brought in, but it was after, Lions had pitched on three consecutive days. So everything to me points to Lions having, if not the job, definitely the clear upper hand on it. Oh, dude. You're missing out on such a great pun. Would you say he will get the lion's share? Oh, God.

Right? I stared out. I'm like, what am I missing? That's like right up Al's alley. I mean, come on now. All right. So Tyler Lyons 8% owned having a really good year and could get some saves down the stretch for the Cardinals. Any standouts for you that you want to discuss?

Mr. Melchior. I'm going to be really just painfully honest here that, you know, I spent last night at a rookie league game in Billings, Montana. Me too. You too? Yeah, everybody does it. But, you know, I mean, it's not that big of a park. I can't believe I didn't run into you. I was avoiding you.

I had something in my teeth. Man, you got to, in a park like that, you got to work very hard to avoid somebody. Yeah. I have to admit, I did not watch the Major League Slate real closely. I did watch a bit of the Braves Rangers before I headed out to Billings yesterday and to watch Louise Garhara, but he wasn't a standout in a good way. No, and maybe it's not a standout in a good way or even a standout from yesterday, but all the leagues that you've got going on right now, anybody that you've been picking up lately or roster moves, transactions players we should pick up? I think there's anybody who's a standout for me, it's Robert Stevenson.

Yeah? Because he's just been, you know, just went to another level from the, since the beginning of August. You know, he had been in that category of pitcher, and there seems to be a lot of them where he was getting strikeouts, but there were so many walks and so many homers that it wasn't really helpful. And actually, this is now priming me for a second breakout that I'm thinking of. But yeah, I mean, he's done a much better job, particularly of cutting back on the extra base hits.

And, you know, the results have been really good for him. So I picked him up in two leagues. A lot of walks, though. A lot of walks. Yeah, well, you know, we were just, you know, kind of joking right before the show that there's just, I mean, it's not really joking because it's reality. There's just not that many reliable stud pitchers. Yeah, totally true. So you go with the meatloaf rule, you know, two out of three ain't bad.

If they're missing bats and they're inducing soft contact when they are allowing contact, you can deal with the walks. Or, you know, if they're, you know, Doug Fister would be a two out of three ain't bad. He's just not getting the strikeouts. So at this point, you know, I'll settle for that for the meatloaf pitcher. Okay. Well, that's the very funny term. And now it makes you really wonder how he didn't come up with the lion. thing, but that's fine.

We'll come back to a bunch of young starting pitchers and sort out our favorites. The other standout is in the note, so we'll get to him when we get to him, I guess. All right, perfect. Luis Castillo is done for the season. They're shutting him down. He had a great finish. Billy Hamilton broke his thumb. Do we know if he's out for the year?

Might Billy Hamilton be able to return? I think he is expected back, which I found surprising. Yeah. He doesn't really use his thumb. much because he doesn't hit as long as he's got his little legs. All right. I think it's pretty clear you can drop Hamilton unless you just want steals for a week at the end of the year. But, you know, it's your call with fantasy owners.

Yeah. I mean, for me, actually, as long as there's some chance he's going to play this year more than, you know, a few games, I would be really hesitant to drop Hamilton. Okay. Or unless I was in a Rotal League where I have. had steals, you know, either sewn up or I was hopelessly behind. I say, I want to take a look at our auction Roto League that Heath is winning. And I know he has Billy Hamilton.

I want to see what kind of lead that Heath has in steals. So he has, oh, he's second in steals. Oh, ooh. Oh, Al Melguier, this is a game changer. Look at this. So one guy, the leader in steals has 144. I don't think anyone's catching him. Heath has 128.

The third place guy in steals has 127, then 126, then 125, then 123. He could lose four points. And he'd still be winning, but it would be very close. He's up by six points right now over the second place team. Wow. Oh, tough break for Heath Cummings. That is. And he can't get the liner to Shields because Scott already owns the Lionard of Shields.

But, all right, Washington called up outfielder Victor Robles. Does that matter, Al? I don't think it's going to. I just, I'm not sure where the playing time is going to come from. Okay. With Harper out, so. Albert Poohole is expected back tomorrow. Justin Boer could return this weekend.

What's your level of excitement for Justin Boar? Pretty fair, pretty fair, because I, you know, I think what he did was legit before. And, I mean, there's always the risk that he's just not going to be the same. coming back. In fact, I was watching a Marlins broadcast probably about a week ago when they were starting to clarify the timeline for his return. And I think it was Todd Honsworth who was saying, you know, don't be surprised if it's not the Justin Bore that you saw earlier in the year. So, you know, that's a point well taken. But, you know, just the possibility that he returns close to that level if he's out there. I think he's definitely worth picking up.

Sure. It's an oblique injury. And it derailed Matt Carpenter's season. After Carpenter got back, He changed the swing. Mitch Hanager hasn't been all that great since he came back, certainly not what he was before the injury. Oh, but no, but no, I'm got that wrong because Hanigur had the oblique injury before. He's had two separate injuries, right? Yeah. But he did not come back from the oblique injury nearly as good as what he was doing before, which was unrealistic. A couple of catchers could be back this weekend.

Wilson Contreras, that's very exciting. And Tyler Flowers. That's okay, it's whatever. Noah Sindeguard's going to make a rehab start today. Nomar Mazar has been dealing with some leg issues, and we are getting close to a record, Al. Pablo Sandoval, oh, for his last 38. That is a San Francisco Giants record.

And the baseball record is 46 consecutive hitless at bats for a non-pitcher. So Sandoval 0 for 38. If he goes 0 for 9, he's in history. I was going to ask if you have the name of the record holder, But since it's somebody who didn't hit very well, maybe it's somebody we've never heard of. It felt like it was Aaron Judge just after the All-Star break. It felt that way. Just seed that way.

Yeah. He did Homer today, though, so hurrah. All right, let's talk about the young starting pitchers. Important stuff here. A lot of them on the waiver wire, who should you buy into? Who should you pick up? It's not necessarily rest of season. It's matchups week to week for many of you at this point.

So I've got, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, if you include Robert Stevenson to get to. The first four are owned in 50% of leagues or more. Denelson Lemette, who is at the twins next week. Lucas Gialito, who will either face the Royals or the Tigers, both on the road next week. Blake Snell, who will face either the Yankees or the Red Sox next week and just got crushed yesterday. But 292 ERA in his previous eight starts, Blake Snell. And then there's Jake Junis, who you got to hope his start gets pushed back this weekend because he'd be facing Minnesota this weekend. I don't want to start Jake Junis next week in a one-star week at Cleveland.

But Lemette, let's start with Lamett, Gialito, Blake Snell, and Jake Dunes, Al. Tell me who you like. I definitely like LeMette. He is the second breakout that I was thinking of earlier in addition to Robert Stevenson. And it's the same story there. Early in the year, very consistent strikeouts, but very consistent home runs, not very good control or I would say at best erratic control. But over his last night starts, he's allowed three home runs. Ah, nice.

And the strikeouts have continued to be there, 61 over 53 innings. But, yeah, 26 walks, which is way too many. But, you know, you factor in the good home park. and everything else really going in the right direction. He's close to being a stud as far as I'm concerned. Lament is 66% home, but the problem is he's at the twins next week, and that really is a tough matchup right now. Yeah, yeah.

I think there was a really cool visualization that was on Twitter with all the teams in the second half their run differentials. I think the twins were third. Wow. They were way up there. Of course, nobody was even close to the Indians. It's funny, too, because they had been like a 500 or better team in the first half of the season with a terrible run differential. And now they're hitting the ball hard.

So the Mets at the Twins. Gialito should have a pretty good matchup at Kansas City or at Detroit. Blake Snell would have a bad matchup at home against the Yankees of the Red Sox. And Jake Junis at Cleveland. Okay, after Lament, who do you like? I would go Gialito and you know you mentioned that he hadn't been getting strikeouts other than against the raise. And I think that's relevant because I did a write-up on Gioito. I do a column.

I'm going to do a little more self-promotion here. Cool. A column for fan rag every Saturday called Sunday Streamers, which pitcher could, you know, push you over the top in a categories league. And I included Gialito and I said, you know, expect him to have a season high in strikeouts and whiffs because he's facing the raise. and it had been his best matchup by far, and that was exactly what happened there. So I think he'll regress, but the Tigers right now are such a good matchup.

And I don't know that Gialito will necessarily be great for strikeouts. But unless you're a lefty, I think the Tigers are a really, really good matchup right now. All right. And do you think Snell and Junis are worth rostering, even if you don't want to start them next week? I would say Junis is. I'm not that.

I'm not that big on Snell. Why? Come on. He's got the control figured out. But he made kind of a Faustian bargain there because he's got the control. But the last start aside, he's really not been getting that many strikeouts. So I would say I'd rather have this version of Blake Snell than the one who was getting a strikeout per inning but walked everybody. But in terms of, you know, looking at the whole landscape and who I could be starting. And, you know, there's probably somebody out there.

You know, I probably would rather start. Well, Junis against the Indians, maybe not. Yeah, no way. But I would certainly rather start Gioledo. I had to look up Thausie and bargain. That's why I wasn't really. I'm sorry. Fouse sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge.

So that is a Faustian bargain. Yeah, well, Snell sold his for better control. And now the devil's just striking everybody out. All right. So let's go a little deeper here. Guys who were owned in less than 40% of leagues. Rinaldo Lopez, Robert Stevenson. Lopez with a good start, but only two Ks against Cleveland yesterday.

But, I mean, come on, one run against Cleveland, hooray. Lopez Stevenson, I'm just going to get them all here. Skaggs, Woodruff, Dylan Peters, two starts potentially next week at Philadelphia, home against Milwaukee. Jack Flaherty, potentially two starts. next week against the Reds and Cubs, and I don't think anybody wants Louise Gohara. Gohoma. Yeah, so we got Lopez, Stevenson, Skaggs, Woodruff, Peters, Flaherty.

Well, I really like Stevenson. I don't even worry about matchups with him at this point. And I love those matchups for Dylan Peters. I like those a lot. And especially getting the Brewers at home because there's... Yeah, I got to get Dylan Peters on my team. Sorry, yeah. Okay, no problem.

I'm going to, you keep talking. I'm going to get Bill Peters on my fantasy team at the moment. Okay. Yeah, go ahead. I was like, well, this is a different reason for taking the time, man. Yeah, no, because I would put the Brewers in a similar category with the A's that there's a big strikeout potential there. But if you are allowing contact, you could be in trouble. But at Marlins Park, you know, I think that defraised that risk a lot.

And then, you know, he's got the Phillies. So, and he had that great debut against them already. So Peters is definitely a priority, and you're making a priority right now. So, yeah, Peters and Stevenson definitely stand out amongst that group, and I agree. You know, Renaldo Lopez looking good. That Indians matchup, that's kind of the inverse of what I was saying about the race, that they don't strike out much at all. So if your other numbers look good and you're not getting strikeouts against the Indians,

you can kind of just dismiss that. Right, so you're talking about Ronaldo Lopez? That is correct. Yeah, I mean, this is really interesting. I didn't expect a flood of young talented pitchers to influence the playoff races like this, but I think they really could. Also, Al, I can't figure out who to drop for Dylan. Oh, I already have Dylan Peters. That's right.

I dropped Jake McGee for him this morning. Wonderful. And I just picked up Tyler Lyons. This is a really helpful show. I dropped Curtis Grandington for Tyler Lyons. I think I need to open up some tabs here and make some moves. moves. Yeah. Yeah, I really want to win this league. I really want to win it. It's my best chance for a winner. So look, yeah, there's some really good players or some good opportunities. Now, what about

Brandon Woodruff? 152 ERA, nine walks, 20 strikeouts, and 23 and two-thirds. He is Pittsburgh or at Miami next week. Not sure where his start will fall, but it'll be a one-star week for Woodruff. Yeah, that looks pretty good to me. I mean, just for perspective, when I was trying to think about who I'd rather start than Blake Snell, definitely Brandon Woodruff. And those matchups look good. Pirates, you know, certainly would be a good matchup. Marlins just aren't hitting right now. I think that they could snap out of that at any time. So that matchup would worry me a little bit more.

But I'd certainly be willing to take a chance, especially if the alternative was, let's just say, Blake Snow. All righty. So let's take a look out at the most added list. And I know a lot of these pitchers will be on it. In fact, Jake Junis is the most added player in CBSports.com leagues. And it's possible that he's going to make two starts next week? I don't think so.

I think he's one start because he's two starts this week, Junis. So it'll be one start at Cleveland. So beware. Robert Stevenson's number two. Jorge Polanco is number three. 57% owned. You know, you got Jorge Polanco, then you got a guy like, say, Trevor Story, who has seven games next week, three at home, four at Arizona.

Would you start Polanco overstory? Absolutely not. No way. And I understand there's something to be said for playing the hot hand. And if he stays hot through the weekend, maybe that makes that a tougher choice. But those are good parks for story. That's mattered a lot for him this year. I don't recall offhand how many lefties the Rockies are facing.

I don't think they're maybe two and seven. Yeah, two. got two. Clayton Richard, Corbyn. So, all right. So that helps him a little bit. It's a tough schedule, though, otherwise, for the most part. It is.

But I was still, I'm digressing here. I would still go story over Polanco. I just, I can't, Palanco is kind of like the second half version for me of Zach Cozart. Like, I just, I don't really understand where the power and, and the overall good numbers are coming from for him. And he's actually more puzzling than Cozart, because Cozart, because Cozart, had shown some power before.

Polanco, he's got a bad combination historically of hitting a lot of fly balls, but not having a lot of flyball power. He had been more of a line drive type hitter. So I wouldn't be skeptical of him if he were putting up just a high average, but I really am skeptical of the power for Polanco. So I'd just rather go with Trevor's story with good venues all week long. Garrett Richards is on the most added list, and he's got two starts next week. Garrett Richards facing the Astros and the Rangers.

Little dicey. Both are at home. Do you trust Garrett Richards? He's 51% owned. Yeah. I would definitely trust Garrett Richards. Just hopefully he stays healthy for both of those stars. That would be my biggest concern.

Well, obviously, I would have to say I'm concerned with the Astros. But Richards is pretty much somebody I don't sweat the matchups with. By the way, Robert Stevenson is lined up to be a two-star pitcher. But here's the thing. If you are going to pick up a two-start pitcher, you need to look at both matchups and ask yourself, are you okay with him making just one of them? And if you are, then pick the guy up. If you're not, if he's only a two-start pitcher, then it's a little dicey because you just don't know these days.

They spot starts here and six-man's there. And I was just going to say, I would expect the Reds to go six-man next week. So I wouldn't expect Stevenson to make that second start gets the Pirates, which is unfortunate because that's the much better of the two matchups. All right. Also on the most added list, we have. What's his name? Blake Parker.

There he is. Blake Parker, Dylan Peters. Woodruff. Matt Olson, 22% owned. We've talked a lot about him. Rafael Montero, 21% owned. He's RP eligible. Are you seeing anything from Raphael Montero?

that suggests he's breaking out a little bit? I'm a little bit reluctant now because I thought I saw that about a month and a half, two months ago. You had a little five or six game stretch where he looked really good. So I'm just not trusting the consistency. All right. Yeah, it's kind of a boring list. Wellington Castillo, 83% owned, definitely needs to be owned. Do you buy Andrew Cashner?

45% owned? You do. I do. Finally, someone. I'm trying to remember who it was that I, I think if I've been Nando, Nando Defino. Who? Had him on my show. We were talking about Kashner. And actually, like right before that, I'd had Mike Podhorzer from Fangraphs.

And with both guests, both segments, we talked about Kashner. And I've been liking Kachner since probably about May or June. And Anno's been liking Cashner since May or June of like 2012. Well, he was very anti-Cashner. He was saying, and this was like in maybe late June, maybe it was July even. And he said, well, now we're getting to the dog days. And you're going to see Cachener do a lot worse. And then I had my Pothorzer on like two or three days before that.

He said like the same thing, almost work for word. And it made a lot of sense to me. But really he's remained consistent throughout June, July, August. So I'm totally bought in on Cashner. I don't know exactly how he's doing it, but because the strikeout walk ratios have been pretty bad all year. But he's been consistently all year one of the leaders in terms of lowest average flyball distance. And it's showing up in the stats. So again, I'm not exactly sure if it's just a matter of location for him.

But after five months, five plus months, I'm buying it. Who would you rather own Fister or Cashner? Oh, boy. Just if I could get Cashner's matchup. Yeah, Cashner's got the Angels. Oh, I like that. So at least for this week, I'm definitely going Cashner. I've got him with Seattle.

Oh, okay. You know what? Almost as good. Okay. Fair enough. Oh, you know what, though? I'm sorry, that's at home, though. Yeah, home against Seattle.

Fister has the A's. I'll still go with Cashner here. All right. Let's take a look at some other players that are streaking that are trending right now. Three up. Carlos Gonzalez. Carlos Gonzalez, I remember him? Cargo.

68% owned. Here's what he's done in his last six games. He hasn't homered. But he's seven for 15 with five RBIs, seven walks, three strikeouts, and oh, I think five doubles. You know why I think it's five doubles? I'm looking at my notes and it just says blank doubles. And the five key on my laptop is kind of messed up.

So I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be a five. I feel good about that. That's like invisible ink sort of. Yes. So if you ever see that, it means that probably was supposed to be a five there. So Carlos Gonzalez, here he is, getting hot, not scorching hot, but got to love seven walks, three strikeouts, five doubles. in six games.

They've all been at home, and he will hit the road for four games with three home games next week. What do you think? It definitely puts him in the discussion, but I think probably I would find somebody else I trusted more because it's just been a whole lot of yuck this year, and I'm not sure that the six games is enough for me to feel that he's trustworthy.

Okay. At least I'm not outright, you know, dismissing starting them at this point. I wish I had just like a completely useless roster space right now and I would stash them, but I don't in any of the leagues that I'm currently. Would you rather have Buxton or Cargo? I'd rather a Buxton. Jose Martinez or Carlos Gonzalez? I'll go Cargo. All right.

And Lucas Duda is three up number two. He's 30% O and he's homered three times in his last four games. It's pretty cold before that. Thoughts on Duda? Yeah, he's got six home games next week. I don't think he's hit very well at the Trap. I don't have those numbers right in front of me. But, you know, regardless of what the actual numbers are, that just doesn't really bode well.

Oh, they have the worst match. I should have mentioned this. As of right now, the race, I try to look at this. This is Scott's thing. really, you need to check the website over the weekend for the best start sit advice. But these are the pitchers that the raise, and keep in mind for the lefties, too, for Kiermire, for Dickerson, and for Duda, and for Lomo. This is who they're facing.

Ceci Sabathia, Sonny Gray, Tanaka, Chris Sale, Porcelo, and Eduardo Rodriguez. It's pretty hard. And not only like, there might only be three really tough pitchers there. but that's a lot these days. If you just look at hitter matchups every week, there's so many bad pitchers. This is brutal. Yeah.

Now, your breakdown gave me time to look up the splits for Duda. Nice. And he does have four homers in 66 plate appearances at the Trap, but he's only hitting 161. Okay. Joe Panic. Joe Panic, last three games, they were at Colorado. He went 12 for 15.

12 for 15 with a home. Home run and three doubles. He batted 305 in August with like nine walks two strikeouts. He did miss a chunk of times. That was like half a month. I don't know. Panics 24% owned. What do you think?

Like good batting average source maybe? I even doubt that. He's got six games at home. And I know his home splits are terrible. Okay. Okay. Good to know. No panic.

None down. So that's three up. None down. Rotation. Oh, no. There were like five pictures I wanted to talk about in their rotation. And I have the worst laptop of the world, Al. You couldn't even believe.

But here, let me see if I can remember. Julio Taram was one of them. Yep. Johnny Quato, Lance McCullors, Cole Hamels. Come on, one more. Let's start with them. Okay.

What did you think about the two guys who came off to D.L. last night? Lance McCullors and Johnny Quato. Quato, I mean, it was a promising start. promising. It was at Corse Field, and he gave up one run. That's different point. Only lasted five, though, right? I think that was McCullors. I thought Quato went deeper. I thought they both did, but...

Yeah, five innings, five hits, one run, one walk, seven strikeouts. Well, okay. First start off at D.L. You're right. Given the venue, that's a bit of a soft sell to just say it's merely encouraging, but I don't trust the health or consistency with Quato. He's 88% owned. Quato's got, let me just see the matchup. Sorry, Al. So, oh, it's the Dodgers next week at home.

Well, it could be a slump buster for the Dodgers, maybe. They're terrible right now. All right. That's interesting that you aren't more encouraged by that. I mean, it's just, you know, it's one, you're right. Very, you know, good start considering the venue, you know, after our. a really disappointing season. Okay, then let's go to McCullors.

What did you think of McCullors, who was really good early, ran into some trouble in the middle innings? Yeah, I've been slightly more encouraged there, and again, that probably has as much to do with what he did before the DL, that clearly when he was hurt, I mean, he wasn't pitching well,

but before that he was pitching like a number one starter. So I'm willing to look into that, you know, good beginning of the start, and be somewhat encouraged. But that also seemed to be a pattern, too, in those starts right before he went on the DL, or he'd be okay for a couple of innings, and then sort of unravel.

So, I mean, with both Quedo and McCullors, I'd consider them, but neither one's a must start for me at this point. He's at the Angels next week. McCullors. I don't know how to make, what to make of the Angels is a matchup now. Yeah.

You know, with them having upgraded two spots in their lineup really significantly. Yeah. It was easy before, especially when they were at home to pick on them. Crone's hitting better. Yeah. Okay. So McCullors and Quator are one-star pitchers next week.

Are you ready to drop Cole Hamels? Cole Hamels is... Yeah. Yeah? He's terrible. What's that? He's got the bariters at home and the Angels on the road next week. He's terrible.

Yeah, he's been really bad. 822 ERA in his last three starts. I can't trust him. Nope. Not happening. And then Julio Tehran. Julio Tehran at Washington, home against the Mets next week. You know, speaking about not knowing how to make up or what to make of a certain matchup,

I keep picking on the Mets lately because it just seems like they should be bad offensively. They should be. And they haven't been as bad as I thought. And the nationals are a tough matchup. And I don't trust Tehran's consistency. And also that Mets game is in Atlanta, and he's been terrible in Atlanta. Yeah. So he may actually do better against Nationals and Nationals Park than at home.

I'm not convinced he will have two starts next week either. And then there's that, yeah. So that's Julio Taran. So we're not too jazzed about it. Seems like any of them, Quato, McCullors, Tehran, and Hamels. Fringy starting pitchers. Now look, you can go out and you can pick up some of those young guns, or maybe you can pick up Sean Manaya, who's 73% own.

He had 14 swinging strikes. That was very encouraging because Manias turned it around a bit. He is a 304 ERA in his last four starts, but not a lot of swinging strikes. Last night we saw it. Not a lot of strikeouts. Last night we saw it from Mania. He will either be at Boston and at Philly or just at Boston next week. What do you think?

Yeah, too risky if he's just going to get the one start because he has struggled to get strikeouts facing a team that doesn't strike out very much. Yeah. I would probably avoid him. All right, but I haven't dropped Sean Minaya, and I'm thinking there's still some hope. So hopefully he's coming out. It seems what I was reading today was that it seemed that Mania got tired.

And he hasn't gone this deep into his season, pitch this many innings. So they think that he just got tired, got a little bit of rest. No, he didn't get rest, actually. They didn't yank him from the rotation. I thought they should have. They did at some point recently, right? Did they skip a start maybe? Maybe it was one turn before I thought they did.

Okay. maybe. I think so. And then there's Jason Hamill who, like, if you don't want your pitcher to just get crushed, Jason Hamill might be all right for you. As of now, he's lined up to face the White Sox and then at Cleveland, where he might get crushed. What do you think about Hamill, 35% owned? Well, I feel like I have to kind of go out on a limb for somebody here because, you know, it seems like all these pitchers, I'm not trusting them, and there's too much inconsistency.

You can make the same case for Hamill, but I will agree that, you know, especially if he just gets the White Sox start, that's pretty nice, especially since that's a home start for Hamill. And I think that an Indian start on top of that might not be a disaster. May not get a whole lot of strikeouts,

but I'm not convinced he would necessarily get crushed there. So of all the pitchers we've been talking about, I probably have just a little more faith in Hamill. Oh, we do have it with two. starts. Yeah, so White Sox and at Cleveland, but, and the Cleveland one would be Saturday. So that means there's a better chance that Hamill actually is going to make two starts next week. Well, plus I'm trying to think, I don't think the Royals have a sixth guy that they've been,

because I'll think Duffy's due back next week. Not next week, no. Yeah. Unlikely. So that, you know, that sort of makes that mood anyway. In the bullpen, we talked about Tyler Lyons. Do you see the A's who had Chris Hatcher were going to save yesterday? Clearly a rest day for Trinen or are the Mariners making any changes before the season's over?

I don't think the Mariners will. Diaz has certainly had his ups and downs and he had a very brief hiatus. And that's the whole thing. I mean, I think that that particular situation showed that Scott Service has a lot of trust in Edwin Diaz. and he's had on a couple of occasions some mechanical issues. So it might just be an issue where maybe for one or two games, they would let him work things out. I think that's the worst case scenario for Edwin Diaz. And for the A's, I don't know.

I haven't seen any reports on it, so I can't really say this authoritatively. But I don't know if that was just a day off for training. I mean, I know he probably would have needed the day off. But he just hasn't pitched a while lately. He has not at all. And Hatcher's been the eighth inning guy. But Hatcher's not good. No, I want to just avoid that situation because there's nobody there that I really like.

But it's funny. I talk about them all the time. It seems like they get saved chances so often now. Or at least I see Trinan in there a lot. And Trinan had thrown 59 pitches over the previous two games. So I would say there's no way he was going to pitch. That doesn't mean they would not have gone to Hatcher even if he had been available. But I'm thinking there's no way trying to.

and was available. But yeah, not a great situation there. All right, now, let's do some tough calls for next week. Travis Shaw, he's been pretty bad lately. He's got three games home against Pittsburgh, three games at Miami, and two lefties on the schedule. Start or sit Travis Shaw next week. And disclaimer for everyone, what happens Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

will absolutely influence your decisions on these hitters. But it's Thursday afternoon now. What do you think about Travis Shaw next week? Yeah, well, that really is the, that disclaimer is important because, I have to think that the poor performance lately is related to him getting nailed on the foot a couple of times. So I'm not trusting him at all until I see a few games of good production. So if he has a good series this week, I would start Travis Shaw. But as of right now, if I had to lock in a lineup right now, Travis Shaw wouldn't be on it.

Eddie Rosario, 71% owned. He has six home games. They're against San Diego and Toronto. Not exactly facing great pitchers here, but he is facing three. lefties in six games as of now. This is Eddie Rosario. His batting average is fine against lefties. His power is non-existent, basically.

His OBP is much lower against lefties than it is against righties. So would you put Rosario in your lineup right now? And I do encourage everyone to check the matchups beforehand just in case anything changes and maybe another righty sneaks in there. Yeah. Yeah, I would start Rosario. And for me, the home road splits Trump, the righty lefty splits. and he's great at home.

He's not very good on the road. But Target Park, or Target Park, where did that come from? I don't know. It's pretty good for left-handed power. So I totally buy those splits for Rosario. And the other thing, too, not only check the matchups beforehand, but even with a bunch of lefties, I've seen situations this year where I wanted to shy away from somebody because there were two or three lefties in the lineup, but they did so much damage against the righties.

that it made it worthwhile. So I think it could be that kind of week for Rosario. Okay. And that brings me to, well, we'll get to the raise in a second. Let's go to the Pirates first. Starly Marte just has not been good. And Andrew McCutcheon had a three-homer game at the Padres. In the 34 games since, 34 games, McCutcheon's batting 226 with one home run, 12 walks, and 31 strikeouts.

I mean, the matchups aren't bad. He's got Garza, Nelson, two-be-eathing. announced, Homer Bailey, Sal Romano, and Robert Stevenson, would you start Starling Marte or Andrew McCutcheon as of right now as of Thursday? Definitely not Marte, because like I say, he's just not been good and I just don't foresee the situation where he's, you know, where he's going to produce enough for me. I would lean towards McCutcheon, but that Cold Street that you just mentioned coincides with him missing a game, with what was supposed to be a minor knee injure. And given what we saw last year with McCutcheon with the thumb,

I just really suspect that maybe he's more banged up than what we're reading about. But at least he's away from PNC Park. So he's got much better power splits on the road, as you would expect. So I would lean towards starting McCutcheon next week. And then we got the raise who I talked about earlier, and the left-handed raise in particular, because they do have Sabathia, Salle, and Eduardo Rodriguez on the schedule.

They have Tanaka, Sunny Gray, as well, and Rick Porcelo for what that's worth. Not sure it's a great week for Ray's, Al, six home games, too. Yeah, I seem to remember in my research for the matchable report, there might have been something I liked about Kiermire, but honestly at this point, I don't want to go on a limb since I don't remember exactly what the deal was there. But he's playing very well. I mean, it's a good guy to bring up. He's about 53% owned Kiermire, and he's filling up the box score.

you know? Yep, yep. I'm just taking a quick look here to see if I can jog my memory. Sure. Well, here's the thing. I mean, the Red Sox, I mean, they are stacked with fly ball pitchers. Kiermire's hit really well against flyball pitchers this year. Granted, one of them is Chris Sale.

So you don't want to put too much stock in that. But it might be a case where he does enough damage in two or three games to make it worthwhile. Finally, let's look at Ryan Zimmerman. Kind of just keeps teasing fantasy owners with the occasional. original home run. Six home games for Zimmerman against the Braves and the Dodgers. Not the easiest matchups. I mean, he could do well against the Braves. Gohara, Tehran, and Sean Newcomb. Then is Darvish. Maybe it's not so bad. Alex Wood and Rich Hill. What do you think about Zimmerman? How would you lean with him?

I would lean start. I don't really worry too much about matchups and venues with him. So it is definitely leans toward being a rough week for him. But yeah, he could certainly do some damage against the Braves. That brings us to the two-star pitchers. I'm almost hesitant to do this segment. Yeah. But we'll do it. Okay, so take a look at anybody.

Like Garrett Cole had a great start yesterday. You're cool starting him. He's at Milwaukee and at Cincinnati, and both of those teams have roughed up Cole lately. Yeah, but I'm good with starting them. All right, but not Hamels. No. John Gray, at Arizona, home against San Diego.

Yeah, I think I'm all right with that. Are they six-man? Because if they are, he's not making two starts. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. It seems like they've been sort of going in and out of six-man. Yeah. But let's see.

They had like a bullpen game the other day. That's tough. That's tough because when I said, yeah, I'm okay with Gray. That was basically thinking that the Padre start ought to be enough. But given that there's a decent chance he doesn't make that. that he goes to being a borderline guy, you know, get to the key with all the other pitchers I've said are borderline and, you know, kind of weigh them against each other.

So John Gray at Arizona in a one-star week, you would not start him there? I'd make a borderline. Borderline, okay. Carlos Rodon, at Kansas City at Detroit. Do you like him enough at Kansas City to start Rodon if he loses the Detroit start? Totally. Okay.

Taiwan Walker. Colorado at home, San Francisco on the road. I think Walker was the other guy who was in the five-man rotation this week. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, I like those starts. Rockies are, I mean, Chase Field's a good park, but overall, Rockies, I think, are the worst offensive team on the road. Wow.

And then he gets the Giants in ATT Park, which is the best matchup ever in history. Could you imagine if the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks in the Wild Card game, if the Rockies even make it? The Diamondbacks right now are so superior I mean look they're on a what a 13 game winning streak Right But they just look like such a better team And yeah it could happen

I mean the pitching The Rocky's pitching has been a big part of the story And it's much improved But it's not what the Diamondbacks have And what if the twins beat the Yankees If the twins I mean or the Angels Beat the Yankees in the wild card game That would be pretty crazy

And I mean like I said before, I mean, it's not as strange now that the Angels have upgraded offensively, but a couple weeks ago, I really didn't understand how they were staying in the race. They just did not, on paper, look like a good team to me. This is going to happen every year now. There's just so much parody in baseball.

It's fun. I love it. It's outstanding. Back to the two-star pitchers. Kevin Gossman got crushed today by the Yankees. He is scheduled to face Toronto on the road and the Yankees on the road. He might not get to. that Yankee start, but I feel like he will.

I'm still okay with Gosman. I mean, for all the pitchers that we've both been hedging on, he's been largely consistent in the second half. So, you know, compared with what your other options are likely to be, I'd feel better about Gosman. All right. Then we'll go to Eduardo Rodriguez, 78% own, just like Gosman. Rodriguez, Oakland at home, Tampa Bay on the road.

and that Tampa Bay game is a Sunday scheduled game. Yeah, I can't think of a sixth starter for the Red So I'd feel pretty confident About him making both of those. He's interesting, though. He had a good start last time out, but Eduardo Rodriguez had not been pitching well before that. No. But I do like these matchups for him a lot. So I feel a little bit better about Rodriguez than I do.

do about Gosman. And I feel pretty safe about starting Gosman. So I'm definitely good with Edrod. Is it Edrod or E. Ron? I go Erod. But Edrod's fun. Yeah, because it's, in my mind, it's Edrod, and then I always see E.rod, but I stubbornly stick with Edrod.

Start or sit. C.C. Sabathia. Two starts. Do you have the matchups or do you need me to read them to you? Okay. Well, what I'm looking at must be different than yours, but if it's two, it would be at Tampa Bay versus Baltimore, right? Yeah.

Geez. He's borderline for me. It's not the matchups at all. It's just a matter of consistency. Danny Salazar, Detroit and Kansas City. Boy, oh, boy. I wish we could see one more start from him before that. Tigers are a great matchup.

I'd probably start him. You're going to go out and pick up Estrada, Mania, Mike Leak, or Jake Oterreason. I'd probably be most inclined to pick up Estrada. Over Mania? Yeah. Then you got Stevenson, who I know you like. I don't think you should start Kyle Freeland.

No. Ariel Miranda? No. Those are bad matchups for him. At Texas, at Houston. Miguel Gonzalez, no. I mean, he gives you a lot of quality stars. We got killed yesterday.

No, thanks. And I wasn't buying the quality starts even. It didn't make sense. Jason Hamill, 35% own White Sox and Indians. Might not be terrible. Right. Well, like I was saying, you know, I don't like him as much as Gossmann or Rodriguez, but compared to the long list of pitchers that we were kind of naysaying.

He might make the cut, Hamel. Jason Hamill. No, don't pick up Jeremy Hellickson. No. Rinaldo Lopez at Kansas City at Detroit. Yeah, I like it. I like it a lot. I like it better than Hamel.

You know what? I do, too. I mean, I think you might even want to pick up Lopez ahead of Stevenson, because Stevenson's second start is on Sunday, and Lopez's is on Saturday. I don't know. I mean, let's not go overboard on Lopez, I guess. I'm very excited about Robert Stevenson.

I would have trouble sitting him even with one start. But Lopez, that would be a tough decision. Then you got Garrett Richards, Houston, and Texas. You've got Dylan Peters at Philadelphia and Milwaukee. That's a good one. Pick up Dylan Peters. Jack Flaherty. I forgot to talk about him.

Jack Flaherty, Cincinnati and at the Cubs. Yeah, I thought I'd be more excited at this point, but I can't really trust him with what he's done so far. So I'd pass. Do you know my nickname for Joe Be Ageny? Or like the song I sing for him? Be Agini in a bottle. be a genie tonight. That's much better than

be a genie in the bottom. Absolutely. I don't see anybody else would pick it up here. I just don't. You briefly mentioned Tyler Skaggs for a show, but you did not sing your Tyler Skag song. I'm going to tell us skaggs.

I sang it yesterday, actually. Okay. Don't want to wear it out, you know. Joe Be a Genie tonight is probably my favorite. And you know what we do for Luke Weaver. I could, I'm sure I know you do for Luke Weaver. You know, we don't even have to sing it. But it doesn't work as well as Jared Weaver.

Even though Dream is one word. Of course it does. Louiever. I find that it flows much better as Jared Weaver. No, Al. Don't make me hang up on you right now before emails. That's a terrible call. All right, Al.

Let's read emails to finish the show. Fantasy Baseball at Cbsi.com. This is from Gary. Subject Red Sox. Dear Michael, Jason, and Freddie, the Red Sox stealing signs now. Will they try to deflate the balls next? No, they will not because the Red Sox are all about being unique and finding new ways to cheat.

This is from Paul Old Man Robinson. Dear Bruce, Steve and Tony. I wasn't good on this when I was on the show regularly, and I'm worse out now. You aren't. These feel comic bookie to me? Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, or Bruce Banner. Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark. Sounds like a good call to me.

Yeah, yeah. I don't know exactly what they are. Bruce Banner is the Hulk, right? Tony Stark is Iron Man. I don't know who Steve Rogers is. Yeah, other than a pitcher for the Expos. Okay, question is, currently in first place in a head-to-head categories league. I'm going to drop Fulmer.

Who should I pick up for Fulmer? Gialito, Aaron Sanchez, Junis, Tion, Strali, Rodan, Cahill, Garrett Richards, Quality Starts League. Just based on the players, independent of the schedules, I would go Dan Strayley. So I know next week the schedule is good for Strouda. He's at Philadelphia, so he's not at home. but I like the Phillies as a matchup. And then let's just take a second and kill the show here and look a week ahead. Sure, I'll tell you that in the meantime.

Home versus Mets. Okay, there you go. So the next two starts at least are good. For Straeli? For Strali. So I'll stick with that. So you put him over a lot of those high upside rookies. Steve Rogers is Captain America.

I have not seen Captain America. And I'm not going to. Charles from Chicago says, Dear Non-Zero Chance. And now that's what we decided. If me, Scott, Heath and Chris had a band. It would be called non-zero chance. That's a Heathism, right?

Yeah. Well, Heath and Chris, Kreeh, we call him. There's a non-zero chance. Like, okay, thanks. That is exactly what a blending of Heath and Chris would sound like. Yeah. Yeah, I would. Dreamweaver, excuse me, Dreamweaver has done everything an owner could have asked for in 2017.

What do you think about him in 2018? Luke Weaver. I think he's going to be a... A must-start pitcher. Somebody you're going to want to start every single week. Louis Castillo or Luke Weaver? Boy, oh, boy. I'll give Weaver a slight edge, but I asked me again in an hour.

I probably changed my mind. Here's one from Will. He says, Dear Ron, Keith, and Brent. I think you might be able to get this, Al. Well, it's two Rolling Stones and a guy from dog rates. No, it is Ron, Keith, and Brent are three Grateful Dead Keys players. according to Will. Man, I'm having a bad day because I can't even think of who one of them is.

I don't know. Maybe he's lying. Which two players do you project highest rest of season? Didn't Bruce Hornsby play keys for the dead at some point? I could not like the Grateful Dead any less unless they were the Who or Pink Floyd. Then I would like them less. No, I'd say... I might have to hang up on you now.

I think... I'm not a big Dead fan, but you just insulted some good bands there. Pink Floyd would be the best of those. three horrible bands, then the Who, then... No, the Who, then Pink Floyd, then the Grateful Dead. Yeah. Gene Seguer, Brandon Phillips, Zach Cozart. Who would I drop?

Gene Segar, Brandon Phillips, or Zach Cozart? Who's the drop? Who's one to drop? Oh, boy. I suppose Phillips. It was between Phillips and Cozard. I'll go Phillips. And the next email, I don't have a name here.

Picked up Roark today. Want to grab Gialito for tomorrow. Do I drop one of these guys? or just not grab Gialito. Roark, Devers, Jorge Polanco, Lomo, Trinen. Okay, so drop one of them for Roark. No, so drop one for Gialito. Yeah, you'd be dropping Roark, Devers, Jorge Polanco, Lomo, or Trinanin.

It kind of depends on roster construction, but in proverbial vacuum, I would drop Trinon. Next email is from Jason. Dear, Spark, Babip, Whip, and War. You know what those are? Yeah, starting pitcher as relief pitcher, batting average balls in play, walks and hits, per innings pitched, and wins above replacement. There you go. By the way, did I suggest you? I know I said it on the podcast.

I don't think you were on it since you've only been on three now. EWIP. EWIP is my new proposed stat. Earned WIP. Well, how's that different from WIP? Because the errors don't count. The errors don't count, but everything after the error. counts.

I think what that does is it shows the ridiculousness of ERA more than anything else. Why? I like ERA. If you were supposed to get the third out and four-run score after that, they shouldn't count your ERA. I mean, it's more, it's definitely more fair than if we just used, you know, run average as a stat. But it's imperfect. It's pretty perfect. I have Lance McCullors coming off the D.L.

Should I drop Cole Hamels to make room? or I could drop Peacock, Godly, Corbyn, or Davies? Yeah, dropping Cole Hamels is the answer to everything. But golly, gee, I wish I knew what was going to happen with Brad Peacock. Yeah, I mean, I would just assume he's going to the pen. He's going to start on Saturday. Yeah. But that's a double header.

Double header, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I would rather take the chance of being able to use Peacock, even if it was a spot start, than using up a roster spot for. for Cole Hamels. Reading the Chronicle right now of Narnia, also the Houston Chronicle. Saturday's start will likely be Peacock's final start before he moves back to the bullpen. Okay. I would still, well, especially if I had to make a decision right now, I drop Hamels.

I think I would just do it no matter what. Works for me? You just get rid of Hamils. A couple more here. I feel bad because one of my favorite things that ever happened to me as a fantasy baseball analyst involved Cole Hamill. I had a phone interview with him, and he called me, and I answer my phone, and he just says, hello, Al, this is Cole Hamels. And for some reason, that just cracked me up. That's cool.

Because how many times in your life are you going to answer your phone and, you know, hear, hello, Adam, this is Cole Hamels. Well, if you call me, I'm going to say, hi, Al, this is Cole Hamels. I won't be him, but I will say that. I'm looking forward to that. Question from Blake in Crestline, California. Dear Bud, Cam, Blake, and Keenan. Yeah, Angel's closers, kind of sort of. Will any of these guys be coming back this year?

David Price, Miguel Sineau, Billy Hamilton. Like I said earlier, I read that Hamilton is expected to. I would rank them because I'm not really certain about any of three. But in terms of certainty, I would rank Hamilton first and no, second, price, third. And finally from Andrew. He says, next week is round two of the playoffs, one week long. And I'm trying to figure out which pitchers to start in a points league. So pick two here.

Roark against Atlanta. Two start Dylan Peters. Two start Jack Flaherty. Colin McHugh. Two start Garrett Richards. You against San Francisco. Lighter against Oakland. This is tough.

Let's get rid of lighter. Get rid of lighter, get rid of Flaherty. All right. And it's still pretty tough. Let me read what we have left. We have Roark against Atlanta. Dylan Peters, two starts. Kyle McHugh, one start.

Garrett Richards, two starts. Ryu against San Francisco. All right. It looks like McHugh might be facing the Angels in L.A., or Anaheim. All right. So that keeps him in the discussion because matchups are – matchups of venues are critically important for him. Got a ground ball rate around 30%, which is ridiculous.

Let's see. So, Richards, I'll go with the two-star guys here. Yeah. I like Roarach, Gamma Q, but I don't want to pass upon Peters and Richards. I'm going to go Peters. If it's a points league, I might go Ryu against the Giants. It feels like an easy win. That's great.

I think I would. Because it's a points league, I'm willing to. kind of take a bit of a gamble with Richards. I just feel like the Astros are going to light him up. I'm a little hesitant. I guess I got a little more faith. Okay. And then finally, two pick two relievers.

Dylan Bundy against the Yankees, Dan Strelie against the Phillies, Patrick Corby against Colorado, lighter against Oakland or Sean Doolittle? Corbin is the easy one for me. I mean, he's easy, but Strelie feels pretty easy and, you know, and do little will probably give you a pretty good total as well. So get rid of somebody. I guess I probably would drop Strelie to do Corbyn and do Little.

Al Malky, ladies and gentlemen, you know him. Thanks, Al. You're assuming that. Well, thanks for having me out of out. This is really fun. It was so nice of you to come on. means a lot to me that you're helping our listeners right now. It's crunch time and we needed it and we got Al Malkior.

So follow him at Al Malk, Beanie Babies, at Al Malkior, B, B, B, B, on Twitter, at Al Malkyore, B, B. And, yeah, check him out on fan rag sports and Al Malkyior.com. And I just want to add, I hope that your colleagues, my former colleagues, are all safe and well and everybody in the path of Irma is safe and well. Amen. Well, thanks, everybody. That's our last show of the week. Hopefully we'll be back on Monday.

If Irma doesn't cooperate, it'll be Tuesday. And we'll talk to you then. Bye.