Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/13 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Albies, Otani, Trustometer

Episode Date: September 13, 2017

Ozzie Albies is one of two surging hitters we recommend adding right now (1:50). We also discuss the potential impact that Shohei Otani could have on Fantasy leagues (12:30) and we compare Blake Snell, Robert Stephenson, Garrett Richards and other SPs who may be free agents in your leagues (17:40) ... How much do we trust Aaron Judge, Miguel Cabrera, Jake Lamb, Tommy Pham and a few others (24:00)? ... "Hey, Real Quick" 2018 edition (29:50) with a Corey Kluber vs. Mookie Betts debate, recapping yesterday's pitching performances (34:41) and previewing today's matchups (40:10) ... 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

I'm from Scott White's bedroom. This is fantasy baseball today. Welcome. We've got fringy starting pitchers to talk about. And hopefully a guest appearance from the Tiger Cat. What up, Scott. Welcome back, Adam. Welcome back to my humble abode. Thank you. That is especially humble right now because it's totally disheveled. Totally, totally gotten torn apart, not by the storm itself, but by like preparations for the storm, you know. Yeah, no, it's very much intact. Still not piece back together, so it's a work in progress. It sure is.

And work in progress, your fantasy team is not exactly a work in progress, but winning that fantasy championship, it is right there. It is in your grasp. We are so close. Let's bring it home. I'll tell you all about Carlos Gonzalez. All right. I feel good about that one. I hope you all picked them up.

71% owned, two homers yesterday. Dylan Peters, Kyle Gibson. Who should you be adding? Who should you be adding, Scott? Who should you be adding? Well, I guess Scott Alexander, we had some confirmation there. He is the frontrunner for saves for the Royals because he got a save. Not the cleanest inning, but he actually got it done,

which is more than we can say for others they've tried in that role recently. That's right. Better than Brandon Mauer. All right, Scott Alexander looks like could be the Royals closer to finish the season. Of course, that doesn't mean he'll get every save chance, but Scott appropriately called him the frontrunner. I am just going to say Carlos Gonzalez. I don't want to miss out on it.

Unfortunately, Gonzalez is at San Diego and at San Francisco next week. Not exactly parks that are conducive to cargo, but that said, not exactly. Pitching staffs that are. Exactly. And he has hit four home runs in September. They've all come on the road, two at the Dodgers, two at the Diamondbacks. He's batting 438 with four home runs and seven doubles in September. So I'm very happy to have Carlos Gonzalez in a lineup right now,

and I will be keeping him in the lineup until further notice. I swear one of these years Carlos Gonzalez will reach September 30th, batting 190 with six home runs, and then he'll have like a 15 homer day. Like he just keeps pushing it back further and further and further. And we want to ride him off. We think we can. And then he does something like this. Well, we were kind of right.

write him off. I mean, he, it was better to drop him and see what happened than to keep him, then waste a roster spot on a guy that was just so bad for so long for five months. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. What else you got for me, Scott? Ozzy Albies has been really good. Okay. So, has he now? Yes and no. So last 28 days, Albies, what a day for Albies yesterday.

39% own, 3 for 5, home run, 2 doubles, 3 runs, and a steal. So last 28 days, how's he doing at second base? Batting 337, but number 7 in points, that's pretty good, number 13 in Roto. And the reason why only that one home run. Now, in those 28 days, 6 doubles, 5 triples. That's why he's been so much better in points than Roto. 10 walks, 20 strikeouts, and like I said, 3 steals. So it's just like, yeah, he's done everything but Homer, basically.

Yesterday, Albies did Homer. What do you think? 39% own. I think there, he's heading for average, up for the season, for the season since he got called up at least, 39 games. He's now batting 23, and in a way that appears sustainable. The BABIP is not that high over 300. If he had the played appearances to qualify, he'd have a top 50.

strikeout rate, so it makes a lot of contact. I'm encouraged by the fact that A, as a 20-year-old, he's making contact at this rate in the majors, and while the home runs aren't there, he's getting a lot of extra base hits, and we know he can run. I'm a little disappointed he has only three steals so far in the near 40 games in the majors, but he's still more in the minors, and we know that's something he can do. This isn't the first time this comparison has been made anywhere, but it's kind of reminiscent of the way Jose Al-Tube started his career after coming up with the miners showing a lot of the same skills. Now, I feel like Jose Al-Tuve is on another planet. I mean, Hall of Fame track. It's not fair to compare any of encumberative that. But could

Ozzy Al-Bees be a poor man's Jose Al-Tube as soon as next year, age 21? It's, it's not fair to compare any of It's not far-fetched. He's definitely somebody who should at least get a lot of consideration on draft day in Mixley's. All right, Ozzy Albi's again, 39% owned. Would you at this point be starting him over Robinson Canoe? I won it. I understand why you're saying that, but now I want it. Would you start him over Ian Hap?

Yes. Hap doesn't even play every day, so that's an easy call. Okay. Good for you, Ozzy Alibis. You are officially relevant. All right, welcome to the show. Here we go. Let's get through the rest of yesterday. Do a little next year look ahead with some hay real quick. Get the trustometer out. News and notes for you, not too many. Lance McCullors scratched from today's start with an arm injury, with arm fatigue, arm fatigue. They say they're not concerned. I don't really know how you could not be concerned. Well, McCullors himself compared it to what a pitcher goes through in spring training. and he had a lot of simulated games.

I think he had one rehab start, so it wasn't a lot of game environments building back up. And it was a thing where he could pitch through it, but they have so many other pitchers. Remember, we've been worrying about who they're going to remove from the rotation, that they're just like, whatever, we'll skip you. Well, yeah, and Fires is going to replace McCullors in today's start, but Peacock is pitching for McHugh this week, right?

Like Peacock is at the moment in the rotation Oh yeah Peacock, I haven't seen anything about Peacock being removed Yeah, he's pitched too well He was supposed to make that start over the weekend In the double header and then go to the bullpen But it looks like Peacock is staying in the rotation Did they ever say he was going to the bullpen?

I thought we were just concerned he would I didn't see I don't remember I read in the Houston Chronicle It will likely be his last start Before going to the bullpen That was the double header start But I think it went so well, and at the same time, I believe McHugh had a bad start. Yeah.

So I think Peacock... They're not putting fires back in the rotation and taking Peacock out. That wouldn't make sense. They're putting fires in the rotation for the start for McCullors today. Right. Right. So we thought it was going to be Verlander, Keikle, McCullers, and then McHugh, and then someone between Morton, Fires, and Peacock.

It might be Peacock at this point. Or it might be six-man. I mean, the reason we suspect Peacock is because he was already in the bullpen earlier this year and was great. That's why I got the opportunity to start again. So would Morton be great in the bullpen? Would McHugh be great? We don't know. Obviously, they're going to have to narrow the rotation down even more by the time the playoffs starts.

So whatever of those pitchers are successful in the bullpen Give themselves a better chance of making the postseason roster Let me tell you something that's been great for the Red Sox right now Great for the Red Sox The Indians have won 20 games in a row And they are I think a half game back of the Astros Who would you rather play in the first round if you're the Red Sox?

The two seed, which right now would be Cleveland Or the one seed which would be the Astros? Who would I write? rather play, I guess, the Astros. Of course. Who wants to play Cleveland? I don't want to play the Astros. But who wants to play Cleveland? You know what's weird about Cleveland?

Because there was a lot of hype coming in. Obviously, they nearly won the World Series last year. And then they got Edwin and Carnaccio and added him to the lineup. They got Carlos Carrasco back that he wasn't available for their playoff runs. So they were going to have a full year of Andrew Miller. So we really liked the Indians coming in. We thought they were arguably. at least in the conversation for best team in baseball.

And it's taken them a while to get there. Obviously, this 20-game winning streak kind of validates that thinking. But it's interesting that even after going 20-0, their last 20 games, I think there's still kind of a long shot to win 100 for the season. That kind of shows you how slow they were out of the gate. They'd have to go 11 and 6 to win 100 games, which is certainly possible. It's pretty possible. But I'd bet against it.

I mean, that's a better winning percentage than they have for the season. I was wrong, by the way. They are in first place. They are now, I think, a game and a half up on Houston with this 20-game winning streak. So right now it would be Houston instead of Cleveland of Boston. And why is that so significant? Because there's one team in baseball that Chris Sale can't pitch against, and it's Cleveland. He sucks against Cleveland.

I had this thought too with Kluber throwing a shutout Like is Chris Sayle the Sayyong in A. No, Cluber is now the Salyong in my opinion I mean Sale still leads the majors in strikeouts He still leads the AL and wins Or he's tied with Klooper He obviously has more innings

Because Kluber missed all of May basically So I mean if tomorrow you have to make me choose between Kluber and Sale, I'm going to choose Kluber. Like, Kluber is the better pitcher right now, but is that early season work? I think it still tips the scale in sales favor for now. It's just how are the last three turns going to go for these two, probably? If I could Sail has a bad start or two, that might change it.

And see, this is where, you know, maybe I disagree with the stat heads. I don't know, but they have a pretty similar amount of innings. Sale has pitched 11 more innings this year. Sale has 35 more strikeouts. But Kluber has a 244 ERA and a 276 ERA for sale, and Kluber has a better whip. So if we're going to take either strikeouts or ERA as the deciding factor in the Tsai Young Award voting, it's definitely ERA, definitely ERA for me. So that's why Kluber with a 244 ERA compared to 276 for Seward.

sale would get my vote. It's definitely a race now. We can agree to that much. And I'll add, you know, because I said tomorrow, which would I take? Next year I'm going to take Klubor over sale because there is a specific change Kluber made to go off on this tear that he's had the last four months emphasizing his curb more at the suggestion of his pitching coach. It came up when he was on the DL and he started doing it as soon as he came back and he

has just been unconscious since then. So I have a greater, I have more trust in Kluber being a Sy Young level next year than I do sail, even though, you know, they're obviously both great pretty much every year. By the way, the 2018 MLB season is going to start on March 29th.

That is early. So get, you know, as soon as the season's over, we'll just do position previews. Got to get, get started. Yeah, make some. Mark Balanson had forearm surgery. He should be ready in about two months. Chris Russon got a save for Colorado, but Greg Holland was unavailable.

Japanese starting pitcher Shohei, I hope that's how you pronounce it. Otani is expected to play in the major leagues next season. He throws like 100. He's a hitter as well. He's a big time, big time, I guess, prospect. Interesting, you chose to call him pitcher as opposed to outfielder, because he could have gone either way. Yeah, we don't know. I thought it was more likely he's a pitcher at the Biggs.

Well, here's the thing. I think he could be both. And, you know, it's going to take an organization, a forward-thinking organization buying into that. But by coming out next year instead of the year after the way the international signing rules worked, he's costing himself, he's costing himself tens of millions of dollars. If he just waited another year, he could get a lot more money. But by coming out now, basically every team's going to have a lot of dollars. chance to buy him at the same price. So it's on an even playing field as far as money goes.

I'm thinking he's doing it to ensure he does go to an organization that's open. See, right now the listeners are being treated to the way Scott White thumps his hand and his fingers when he makes points. Oh, is it? Because the microphones attached to my laptop. Yep, yep, yep. So we're getting that. Were you trying to figure out what that sounds like?

No, I do what it was. I knew what it was. but that was what would we do in fantasy if he's an everyday outfielder who pitches once every five days? Well, believe me, this is something that's already come up

and there's not, ultimately it's not going to be my call. I'm not, you know, I'm an editorial. I'm not in the product side of things, but I am thankful that they do give me some input on it at least. And I don't know. I've gone back and forth on this myself.

And because obviously, if he is basically playing every day when he's not pitching and is a full-time hitter, you want credit for his hitting stats. But if you just make him a singular entity pitcher and hitter combined, like you can't just count his hitting stats as a pitcher and not count every pitcher's hitting stats. And if you count every pitcher's hitting stats, suddenly AL pitchers become a lot more valuable relative to NL pitchers because pitchers as hitters stink. They're going to break down your batting average

and not in an insignificant way if you have a staff full of NL pitchers. If Otani is good and we somehow were able to count both his hitting and his pitching stats and he hit almost every day, he's a first round pick. He's the most valuable player in fantasy. Right, right. So you can't do it. Here's what I would do. You can tell the bosses, this is Adam.

This is good old Adam Azers suggestion. This is Adam's idea. Okay. You can draft him as a hitter and a pitcher. Every week you have to declare if you're starting him as a hitter or a pitcher. And you get the points or the stats for one or the other, which you can't do both. I mean, if he'd probably be the most valuable player in real life, too, if he's a full-time hitter who's good and a pitcher who's good. I don't know that it's, like, maybe he should be the obvious first overall thing.

Well, what do you think about my idea? You only get his hitting or his pitching stats every week, but you get to choose. I mean, it's, I haven't. Brilliant. I haven't, I don't love it, but I haven't heard a clearly better idea either. I mean, there's been the idea floated that we had two Otanis out there. Somebody can draft him as a pitcher. Somebody can draft him as a hitter.

I like that. That was actually my idea. I think that's even. better. But it's I think that's better. It's kind of ridiculous. It's the same time because you're dividing the same person into two players. It's so funny that you could go head to head against the same player. That is so funny. I love it though. I love it.

But I mean, this may just be a start of a new trend because like Otani has to do this. He's been too overwhelmingly good in both areas in Japan. But, you know, the first two two of the first five picks in this year's draft. Hunter Green for the Reds and Brendan McKay, I may have gotten that first name wrong, but of the Reyes, they were drafted, Green was drafted,

they called him a pitcher when he was drafted. They called McKay a first baseman when he was drafted, but so far they've been doing both in the minors. Green's fared better as a hitter, McKay's fared better as a pitcher. So, like, there's a chance, if this continues long enough in the minors, that maybe those two guys get called up as two-way players,

as well, and this starts a whole new trend in baseball, which we're going to have to figure out the right way to do it in fantasy because it's a game changer. That would be really fun. It would be very fun. All right, Gio Gonzalez's $12 million option with the Nationals was vested yesterday. That's good news for the Nationals based on what we've seen from Geo this year. Fringy starting pitchers, let's see who we want from this group. Eduardo Rodriguez, last two starts have been good, four before that were not good.

He had a good matchup yesterday against the A's, and he did walk four, but he only gave up one hit and one run in six innings with nine strikeouts. Either at Tampa Bay this weekend, or if they bump him, it'd be at Cincinnati next week. Actually, no. At Tampa Bay this weekend, I don't think they're not going to go six, man. So then he'll also have Cincinnati on the road next week. Eduardo Rodriguez. Sean Mania, I don't see how you can trust him at this point.

Robert Stevenson was bad yesterday. Good call, Scott. Garrett Richards was good. I was surprised. Five innings, one run, four strikeouts against Houston. He will be at Houston next week. Blake Snell bounced back with a good start against the Yankees. He's been mostly good lately.

And Dylan Peters, pretty good against Philly. Kyle Gibson dominated the Padres. Dominated, and he's 32% owed. And Joe B. Ageny was very good. Last night against the Orients. But he only struck out two. Be Ageny's got the twins this weekend. That's the one start that Blake Snell got crushed lately.

It was against the twins. We saw they hit seven home runs yesterday. I don't want to start fringe guys against the twins, especially if it's at Minnesota, which would be Be Ageny this weekend. But we got Eduardo Rodriguez, Sean Baniah, Stevenson, Richard, Snell, Peters, Gibson, Beijini. Who are your favorites there? Who's worth owning? There's some reactive thinking.

no fringy pitchers against the twins. How good have they been for a while now? It's a tough matchup. Let's see. My favorite is Blake Snell, followed closely by Richards and Rodriguez. And those are really the only three I like right now. Tired of playing the Mania game.

What about Dylan Peters? I mean, he gave up 10 base runners. and six innings at the Phillies. He hasn't been bad yet. He's had three starts. The first one was really good. The other two have been so-so. I guess he's fourth of this group, but he's not,

I'm not as motivated to own him as those other three, as Snell, Richards, and Rodriguez. So, Richards has Houston on the road next week, and Snell has the Cubs next week. week and maybe at Baltimore. I'm not sure if he's, I think he's going to be a two-star pitcher, but I'm not sure. Peters, I might start this weekend against Milwaukee, but I don't think I'll be comfortable. He'd have to dominate Milwaukee for me to start him at Arizona, Dylan Peters next week.

Yeah. What do you think about Gibson, though? Gibson, last five starts, 34 and two-thirds, five runs, three walks, 26 strikeouts. That included a start with no strikeouts, but other than that start, he's had good K-numbers. and he's set to face the Tigers next weekend and the Blue Jays this weekend. Yeah, other than that start, he's had good K numbers. It's still weird that you have a zero strikeout start

during that stretch. And the hit rate has been high. I'm still not on board, Gibson. It's been, it's too quick of a turnaround. And not one of these overwhelming, you know, suddenly he's striking at it. everybody in sight. Like, I feel like I'd buy that more.

That would be a clear transformation for where Gibson was than what we're seeing now. Let's go to the bullpen. Zach Britton. Buasave. He had been scoreless in nine of his previous ten appearances. He came in and got the final out of the eighth inning, and then he got beat up in the ninth at Toronto, his second blown saves, Zach Britton. We already talked about Scott Alexander.

And we did mention that Kyle Bearclaw would be someone to pick up if he needed saves, but we didn't mention that he'd be even better to pick up if you needed blown saves, a terrible whip and a bad ERA. That's really what Bearclaw was meant to be used for. And Brad Ziegler trying to work his way back. So it's a mess in my... I don't know that there's much here.

Britain's not losing his job, and it's kind of a mess in Miami. Yeah. They're going to go with Pritter next time. Oh, that was an awful joke. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I said that. Bearclaw, Fritter.

That's all. Awesome. That's a great joke. No, it was terrible. I mean, it was terrible, but that was part of the fun of the joke. I hated it as it came out of my mouth. We'll do the trustometer in just a second, but let's face it, people. Everybody's judging you. Okay, people are looking at you.

They're making judgment. Scott looks at someone, looks at how they're dressed, and decides everything he needs to know about that person just by the way they're dressed. So you better dress well. Did you talk to me? Is this a conversation we had before or something? I'm just making you out to be a jerk when that's just not the case at all. Thank you. But you do need to dress well.

It's important. You need to look good, you know, whether you're going to a job interview or you're going to work or you're going to a wedding or whatever. I'm going to my first baptism this weekend. I'll be wearing my Indochino suit to my first baptism this weekend. Not me. I'm not getting baptized, but I'll be wearing the suit. And look, I love my Indochino suit.

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Pick your fabric, customize it, submit your measurements. And in just a few weeks, you've got an awesome suit. So our listeners get any premium suit on Indochino.com for $3-79. That's 50% off and free shipping when you enter the code FFT at checkout. 50% off a regular price for a made-to-measure premium suit. Shipping's free. Indochino.com promo code is FFT. Tell me how much you trust these guys going forward, zero to ten.

Aaron Judge. I will give Aaron Judge about a seven. I will give him a two. He had a good week last week. Yeah, he had a good weekend, right? He had a very good weekend. He had three home runs and eight walks last week. Most of the production came on Sunday in a two-homer game,

and he went 0 for three with three strikeouts yesterday. He does have the rookie record for walks, so that's cool. All right, I'll drop it to a six. Okay, fine. I'll increase it to a 2.1. Miguel Cabrera is a 1 for me, Scott. Sure, I guess. I mean, I don't know what the real difference is between a 1 and like a 2,

but he's on the wrong side at five. That's for sure. I don't want to start him. Miguel Cabrera. If I can help it. Andrew McCutcheon, 0 to 10. We'll give him a 7. Okay.

Hopefully coming out of it a little bit. Three multi-hit games in his last 8, but only one home run for McCutcheon since August 8th. That came on Sunday. Jake Lamb, 0 to 10. Let's give him. How much has he been sitting against lefties? I know you said,

I see here you have him I see here you pointed out he sat on Sunday against a left-hander Type type type type type I was hoping I was doing it quietly I wanted to find it Let's see how you do it

Let's give him a seven also That's my favorite number today Seven I mean Not only is he sitting Occasionally against lefties I'll look it up for you So the for the listening pleasure Now is he sitting against

lefties, but Lamb is not hitting well. Entering yesterday, he had a 203 batting average since the All-Star break. Entering yesterday, he was batting 206 with one extra base hit in 10 September games. And yesterday, he went over three with two strikeouts. So it's really hitting fantasy owners hard right now. I understand. But even with all that terrible production, Jake Lamb is the number 6 third baseman on the season. That's true.

I mean, are we just going to forget about all he did before? Good player slum. I know, but with two weeks left in the season when you have to win, like it's kind of easier to forget about it. I mean, you pick up the high hand. You're going to pick up Mikel Franco, I guess, is the other end of the spectrum. No. And he has sat against the last two

and three of the last five lefties. So if you have Lamb, and he has a lot of lefties next week, beware. Tim Beckham. Tim Beckham is 71% owned. He's only batting 200 in September. He does have two home runs in his last four games, though. Trustometer for Beckham, zero to ten. He'll be like a two.

I never trusted him in the first place. Jay Bruce. We talked about him a little bit yesterday, but Jay Bruce. Let's stick with seven for Jay Bruce. Seven. You're going to go play craps after this, Scott? And finally, Tommy Fam, who went one for four with a triple, two RBIs, and a walk yesterday against the Reds.

Four runs. He did score four runs, right? I thought that was a typo. Don't need to see well. You don't really need to see home played on the way there. Well, right. Fam is now being affected by his vision issue, which we know is a chronic thing for him. It may affect it more in day games than night games.

but what do you think about fam? What's your trustometer on fam? Yeah, that's probably like a three. Ooh, really? He's been in and out of the lineup. It's not clear that it's resolved. He can't play like that. I mean, hardest thing to do is hit a baseball, right?

And if you're not seeing it as well as you can, then it's virtually impossible. Yeah, I think that it's harder for me to dunk a basketball than hit a baseball. I'm just saying Yeah You know What about throwing a baseball Throwing a baseball

At the velocity You have to throw it To be a major league pitcher It is impossible Right I can't do it Right I mean

The kind of training That must go into making that even Possible You know Because they get those radar guns Set up at the game Whatever Like you put your whole body

into it And you can't hit 70, you know? Do you think you can hit 60? Oh, I definitely can hit 60. I've hit 69 before out of. Really? Yeah. I don't know if I can hit 60.

I mean, I feel like you can't possibly be 10 miles per hour stronger than I am. So maybe I can't hit 60. I mean, I got a lot more, like, leverage on my arms, you know, a lot more length to them. Plus, you have that, you're a baby strong from holding babies all the time. Yeah, I guess so. I guess that probably helps. I need to have a baby. It's possible that these little, like, vendor radar guns aren't entirely accurate, too.

It's also possible. It's possible, but still, let's say we could hit 70. We're still 20 miles shy of being the worst major league pitcher. How are we going to pick up 20 extra miles per hour? It's impossible. No, it's not happening. But maybe better chance of that happening than me dunking. Okay, moving on.

So there's your trustometer. Hey, real quick for 2018. Mookie Betz or Cory Klooper? Good question. I'm going to say Betz. I still feel like Betts is, you know, he doesn't really profile as a high Babbat guy. He doesn't hit a ton of line drives, but still a 267 Babbitt this year, one-to-one strikeout-out-to-walk ratio, almost on the dot. And still has the power speed combo.

I feel like he's underachieved in a way that you'd expect to correct next year. So, you know, he's still been a top five outfielder. Maybe top 10 in Roto may not be quite top five in that format. But yeah, I'm still going to go with him over Klober. Okay, Betz is the number three outfielder in points league's number nine in Roto after homering twice last night. He is now, he'd have to end the season today for the stat to hold up. But three straight years with exactly 42 doubles that he will break that. That's a ton of doubles, my goodness.

He'll beat that this year. Double trouble. Hey, real quick for 2018, Double Donger, Reese Hoskins, the fastest player ever to hit 15 home runs, or Jose Ibrahim. I think he's now the fastest to hit 16 home runs, too, Hoskins is. Oh, he had 16?

He had two yesterday. Okay, no, he has 16. So he's the fastest to 16? Yes. And who was the other option? Jose Abraeu. In 2018, which, of those two.

Conalini Hoskins. Is that ridiculous? I don't know. I believe in the sophomore slump. It happens. It didn't really happen to like Gary Sanchez. Yeah, I do think you have to safeguard against it. I do.

And I think there's a clear top five at third base going into next season. It's going to be Goldschmidt, Rizzo, Votto, Freeman, and Bellinger. I'm pretty much settled on that. After that it gets murky. Abraeu, Hoskins, I guess Justin Smoke would be in that conversation. Edwin and Carnaccio is still in that conversation. I don't know.

How is Bellinger, like, clearly ahead of Abraeu? And Encarnacion, for that matter. Because what he has done at age 21, first taste of the majors, and the way his contact, his various contact percentages, fly ball rate, hard hit rate, they're just,

like he is, he is the quintessential power hitter, and I think the sky's the limit for the kind of home run hitter he's going to be. Sure does strike out a lot. And I think the downside isn't so low that you don't, you know, you might as well gamble on the upside at that point.

Sure does strike out a lot, though. He does, but it had been better since coming off the DL. And I think he's clearly distinguished himself from Aaron Judge in that respect. Yeah, but Judge has a hundred, Judge has like 108 walks. Bellinger is 54. He has fewer games, though. He has fewer games. But the walk range is not.

I mean, Judge has played a lot more. But in terms of how it impacts batting average, like, strikeouts are a bigger deal than walks. Yeah. So I just think I think the floor is high enough for Bellinger and I know the ceiling is top five. You know, Jose Brave, this is as good as he'll ever be right now. And, you know, if he falls a little short of this,

he'll be borderline top 10 of the deep position. So I'd just rather shoot for the upside of Bellinger. Hoskins, I can understand there's not as much backing into as many of bats backing it. But that plate discipline is so good, and it was good in the miners too. It just feels like another

Anthony Rizzo. Hey, real quick. Scott, Marcel O'Zuna or Nelson Cruz next year? They have almost, they're like practically identical numbers, but Ozuna 19 points better batting average. Yeah. I've had a hard time

trusting Ozuna all year, and he's never really slowed down. He's kept that batting average over 300. But it feels like there's going to be some correction coming there. Nelson Cruz is much older and that's scary in its own right. But he's been so

reliable since joining the Mariners and really the year before with the Orioles. I'm going to go with Cruz. All right. Now we move on to some pitchers and discuss this category. How is he doing it? Lance Lynn is the only player in this category. This whole segment

is devoted to Lance Lynn. Since the All-Star break, Lance Lynn is a 2-18 ERA. Friends, Lance Lynn is a 218 ERA since the All-Star break with 30 walks to 49 strikeouts in 74 and a third. How is he doing it, Scott White? Well, he can't keep doing that.

The full season line is a little more plausible to me. He's always been, as we discussed, last time Al Malkyor was on with the two of us, not just you. We talked about how Lance Lynn's always been good at Stranding Runners, and he's always been kind of a statistical anomaly, where the whips high compared to the ERA and the strikeouts are just kind of so-so, but the ERA's low, and I think that'll continue.

So you think you're just going to start Lance Lynn no matter what? Yep. Okay. Four-man rotation from yesterday. Let's talk about whether or not Scott's starting these guys. Julio Tehran. He's actually only 80% owned. He gets the Mets this weekend, unless they're six men, in which case he will have the Nationals and Phillies in a two-start week next week.

But I believe Tehran, who just shut out the Nationals in seven innings, gets the Mets this weekend. Are you feeling more comfortable with Tehran? A little, but I don't think comfortable enough. Yeah, I mean, the two starts happened this week. and for a one start week, you know, whether it's against the nationals again or the Phillies. I just don't know there's a one start week I'm willing to do it. It'll be the Phillies. It'll be the Phillies.

Okay. That's kind of interesting, but it is a home game, and that's where we can trust the ball. I mean, even during this good stretch, the walks have been inconsistent, the strikeouts have been inconsistent, very home run prone. It just seems too dangerous. All right, so Julio Taran good yesterday. Johnny Quedo bad. Johnny Quato had a good start at Colorado. and then he follows it up with a bad one against the Dodgers,

four runs on six hits in three and two thirds, with four walks and eight strikeouts against the Dodgers. So Quato gets Colorado next week, Scott. Start or sit, Quato? At Colorado or against Colorado? Home against Colorado. I mean, I'd probably sit it if I can help it. Just hasn't been good enough since coming back for the deal.

I'm not as good as I hoped for. Jay Bruce is Homer today, so. Ooh, 21? Moving up on the trust of meter. 21 in a row? What's the score here? Well, it's going to be different by the time people are listening. I will determine based on the score right now if they will win.

Go ahead. Three to one Indians, top of the second. Yes, it's over. It's over. Garrett Cole. Garrett Cole roughed up. We did strike out 10. Who the heck did they play last night?

The Brewers? Because I have them facing Pittsburgh in the notes. and I know that's not true. It's not true. Yes, they were facing the Brewers. So he gave up five runs to the Brewers. And he's annoying. Three of his last five starts,

Garakol's giving up five runs. Only two home runs in that stretch. And right now he's lined up for two starts. Cole has Milwaukee and St. Louis. Start or six? Yeah, three of his last five run runs, and the other two were zero orange runs. And he's alternated five and zero,

the last five starts. But one of the five starts, this most recent one, he had 10 strikeouts. So, you know, it was still a pretty good start overall because of that. With potentially two starts next week, that's definitely a start. Yeah, actually, I'm not sure that he has two starts. You never can be his time of year. And Dylan Bundy, do you need him to be on extended rest?

He was brilliant yesterday at Toronto. Do you need him to be on extended rest to trust Dylan Bundy? I mean, I feel like the previous start, the one that inspired this eight days of rest or whatever it was. That was kind of the aberration of late. He had been on a really good run before then. And excuse the typing. Yeah, I mean, he was his five starts before his previous start,

he had a two ERA with 45 strikeouts and 36 innings. So no, I don't think he's required to have extended rest. I think the bad start was the aberration, not the good. and that's Dylan Bundy we're talking about I don't know that I trust him at the Yankees if he starts this weekend that is the one team that just roughed him up that's going to be a tough call

and it might just depend on how I'm looking do I need, you know, if it's close in the R&N whip I'm not sure that I'd go with Bundy at the Yankees. We'll see. I guess we won't see. Call your shot right now. If Dylan Bundy starts at the Yankees, Yankees this weekend. Start or sit?

I will say start. Oh, okay. You're forcing me to pick one. Like, I like your, you know, if I need to safeguard ERA and WIP, maybe not. But if you're forcing me to pick one or the other, I'm going to say start. How about a look at today's matchups, just the night games? We've got the Marlins and the Phillies. Dan Straeli. Oh, do I need, I need Aeronola to get crushed tonight.

If Aeronola gets crushed tonight, I feel good about this week in my semifinals. Dan, Australia and Aaronola. I'm not sure I want to start Australia. He hasn't been that great against the Phillies. I actually looked into picking him up in a daily league to start tonight, and I decided not to. And he's not home. So what do you think?

Australia and Nola. I'm going to start them both. I'm not as concerned about the – if it's a known bad matchup like that and a pitcher just happened to have a few bad starts against them, it's too small of a sample for me to care. Let's consider, though, the Phillies might not be a good matchup anymore. Let's consider that for a moment.

Okay, so Hoskins has made them better. Odubles got a hit in like 21 of 22 games. Well, yeah, with the DL stand in the middle. He just got back. But Nick Williams is big good. He has a hitting street going. Franco's been better lately. Yeah.

I still think that starts really. Braves and Nationals. Luis, go bigger, go hara. And Max Scherzer. Sherser, yes. Yes. And no gohara. No hara.

Kevin Gosman and Marcus Stromen. I really need Gosman to get lit up tonight, people. He and Nola just get crushed and will be in good shape. You're actively rooting against these pitchers their owners are depending on. I want to win. I'm a fantasy owner. Gosman and Strzman. There's a lot of Gosman owners out there, and I recommend those Gosman owners.

Well, he has a blister on his finger. Let me think about this first. Good, good, good. Blister on his right index finger, and he wasn't very good. I think I'll play it safe and sick, Gossmann, but starting Stroman. Jarrell Cotton at Doug Fister. Yeah, I think I'll go with Fister. Definitely not Cotton.

Matt Harvey at John Lester. Lester, yes, Harvey, no. Mike Leek for the Mariners, Martin Perez for the Rangers. Okay. The Nelson Lament at Irvin Santana. I really need the Nelson Lemaet to get whipped tonight, Scott. My opponent has three pitchers going tonight, so it's a big night.

Well, unfortunately, I'm going to recommend people start Lament. This is the tough matchup here. This is at the Twins. You know, the Twins should be worried about the tough matchup coming their way, Nelson Lament. They hit seven home runs yesterday, Scott White. They hit seven. I don't care.

All right, what about Arvin, Santana? I'm going with Lament and Santana. Both of them. Okay, start a both. Tyler Glass now. And Chase Anderson. Definitely Anderson. Really excited about what Glass Now is going to do.

I think we're about to witness the start of greatness here. After Glassnow had an ERA over seven earlier this year, mechanical changes, walks way down at AAA. But I want to see it first. I'm going to say Sinai. Okay. Reds and Cardinals, this would be Tyler Mail. mailie male

I don't know yeah I couldn't get consensus on that when I tried researching it a couple weeks ago well the male is here and he's facing Jack Flaherty they're both interesting but I'm going to say no to both Rockies at Diamondbacks Erman

Marquez Patrick Corbyn I don't hate either I wish their matchups were different Corbin ended a lengthy string of great starts with terrible one last time but I think I'd be more likely to start him than Marquez. Astros and Angels.

I'm okay with you. I'm okay with either. Okay, Astros and Angels. McCullors and Skaggs. Fires and Skaggs, yes, thank you. Right. Neither. And Darvish at Matt Moore. Wow, Darvish has been a bad movie. Terrible.

And I've read something about how they're trying to remake his mechanics. Yeah, yeah. I don't know that it's going so well. Like, from the beginning, when he joined the Dodgers, they've started to do that. But I'm going to start him against the Giants. Well, I mean, at least he didn't have like a good track record or anything. Why would they do that? Yeah.

I don't know. You know, they're going back to something he had previously in his career. It's not like they're just reinventing him. You know, he wasn't having his greatest year ever with the Rangers. but, you know, certainly a solid, trustworthy fantasy pitcher. So I kind of wish they'd just leave it for the offseason, but we'll see. Hopefully it's better this time. Finally, we'll finish the show with some of your emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com.

And here's one from Mike. Mike in Minnesota. I can keep nine in a 10-team categories league. Okay, who? He needs five. Wow. So Wilson Contreras. Reese Haskins.

Albies. Benintendi. Buxton. Bregman. Moncada. Rosario. Pollock. Tell me when we have an absolute must-keep.

Carlos Martinez, Burrios, Keikel, Peacock, Weaver, Castillo, Raynaldo Lopez. I'll read the names again when we figure out who the must-must-must-keep. Okay, so definitely Martinez.

I'll send you the email. Carlos Martinez. Yeah, I think Kichel. I don't know. What do you think? So only five total. Well, he's keeping Aeronado, Cory Seeger, Chris Bryant, and Miguel Seno. So he's keeping four hitters.

Okay. So now we need Carlos Martinez is one. Other pitchers are Burrios, Keikel, Peacock, Weaver, Castillo, and Lopez. Okay, so. I think I'm going to keep more hitters than pitchers here, because I'm going to keep Carlos Martinez,

Wilson Contreras, Alex Bregman, Ben Intendi, Dallas Kichel. And Benintendi. Or Hoskins. It's between those two for the final spot for me. I think I'd lean Hoskins today,

but we'll see how the final two and a half weeks go. All right, here's one from Jake and KC, who is beating the crap out of me in the podcast league. Jake says, hey, guys, let's say I'm going to have a two-week finals starting next week in a points league. I'm wondering if Scott could reveal his strategy that he might deploy in this situation. Every last detail, please, I'd like to win. You will be facing Jake and KC next week of the finals. Yeah. Jake and KC.

Do we track the amount of transactions that teams have made? Oh, he's got to be up there Up there He's lapping the field He picks people up every day I think I was the number two seat Right? And he was number one

Yeah So he comes in with an advantage He's giving me a hard time On Twitter because like every time I make a pickup He has picked up He picks up every crappy pitcher And they always work out

Jake and KC You are a lepricon You are so damn lucky Pitch Pitch streamer extraordinaire He just picked up Fultenevich, Brent Suter, and Jack Flaherty. All of this more, well, two yesterday, won today. That's really not that complicated what I'm going to do.

I'm going to start my best player. Like, I only have the number of hitters that fill out a starting line at. And none of my pitchers I'm looking to drop. So, you know, I'll start the pitchers that are making two starts. I'll definitely start Corey Kluber. And beyond that, I'll play matchups. with my pitchers. You're not going to be as aggressive as he is in picking up

that's for sure. Sounds like. Yeah. I mean, I've been, like, I'm normally among the most aggressive, right?

I make, yeah, a lot of them. Yeah. But I feel like there's nobody dropable on my roster right now. So it would take this late in the year. Like, I mean,

if Tyler Glass now strikes at 11 tonight or something, I'm not, he may already be owned, I don't know. He's not, I don't think. It would take something like that for me to make a move. All right, Dave from Eagle Rock.

I don't know where that is, but it sounds nice. Please rank these five pitchers rest of season. Faria McCullors, Quato, Peters, Woodruff. Faria McCullors, Quato, Peters, Woodruff. And this was Dan from... What the hell is that? Oh, that was by... That was a text.

Sorry. So who did you say this was from? I amned it to you, Scott White. Oh, you did? Yeah, see, I have the email. Scott doesn't. So this is really... We're roughing it.

All right. Ranking the five, we're roughing it here. Okay, ranking the five for the rest of the season. Okay. Perea McCullors, Quedo, Peters, Woodruff. Quedo, and we don't know how many starts, Paria and McCullors are making. That's what makes it tough. I'll go Quato, Woodruff, McCullors, Faria, Peters.

But Peters is a distant fifth, I think. I'm not sure about the rest. Steve from Boston. Dear Kimberly, Arnold, Willis, and Phil. That is... No, that's not right. I was going to say, hey, Arnold, but that's not true. Yeah, I don't know who this is.

Usually, when Scott knows and I don't, it's lost. It's not lost. Different strokes. Okay. What's you talking about, Willis? There you go. With 19 days left, some of us are going to want to go into protection mode for our... ERA and Whip?

Who are some good deep league middle relievers that you can recommend down the stretch that will... This is a tough one. The only name I can think of is a guy who's on the Yankees. And I'm not sure if you're aware, but Chad Green is the new Delham Patansus. Yeah, no, the Yankees. I'm telling you, man, people are sleeping on the Yankees. The Indians and Astros are awfully good. The Red Sox are awfully good.

But the Yankees are built for a deep October run if they could get past that wildcard game. No, no. No. They're not. You're just, you're in denial. They have zero great players right now. I've thought about this. The Yankees are a collection of good to very good players.

They do not have a star. That's too much of an insider perspective. Well, Gary Sanchez is the closest thing, but he does lead baseball and pass balls. And he's only a star because he's doing what he's doing as a catcher. Like, I don't, they're, no. They are not, no. No. Well, Adam, get back to the answer.

I mean, Chuck Green's a good one. I feel like every time I take this tact, like the regression happens the moment I pick up the pitcher. And, you know, guys who are dominating an ERA whip, generally speaking, they're due for some correction. So I think Tommy Hunter's probably available. He's had a good year since joining the raise bullpen. A guy who got a save yesterday, Dominic Leone. I'm thinking of deep league options. One's who, you know, like I could say Blake Parker,

but he's probably owned in a deep league already just for the saves chance, the prospect of getting saves. I mean, John Brevy has had a great, not a great strikeout rate. No. Yeah, I can't really help with this, though. So just listen to what's got it. Well, there's just, there's too many names.

Like, once you get past the obvious, lead setup, man. It's like an unending list. It would just depend what's available in your league. John in Boston, you need to pick up to Lionel to Shields. Just answer your question. I already did. George wants to know, Ozzy Albies or Andrews and Simmons.

Simmons. And Daniel from Danvers Mass. Keep one next year. Reese Hoskins or Raphael Devers. Oh. Oh my gosh. I love them both. I'm going to say Hoskins.

And Nick has just an impossible question, but we'll try. Nick in Chicago. I need to make up extra innings pitched from non-starters in the last five days of my playoff matchup. Who are some RPs who qualify as SPs that have the best chance to pick up innings without hurting my ratios over the next few days? Who are the best sparps? Actually, if you give me a second, I'll try to. look up guys.

The best are already owned, right? I mean, like, I'm assuming Patrick Corbin, obviously Zach Godley. Yeah,

I mean, Corbett's too owned for this. Um, okay, so Erasmae Ramirez has been pitching pretty well.

Yeah, that's a good one. Raphael Montero has been... No. No? No. I mean,

Erasmo Ramirez, I don't have a lot of faith in, but I have none in Montero. Trevor Williams, no Jose Arena Yeah, I mean Williams and Irania both are

They're not very exciting They're not very trustworthy But they've been steady Yolisha Seen if he's at home Robert Stevenson got roughed up yesterday And he's not going to help your whip So don't do that Brad Peacock might be available

And I just don't know Well he's owned in I didn't realize He's owned an 84% of leagues. But I dropped them in the podcast league. You can go pick him up, Scott. Oh, yeah. Now I feel bad. I feel like that wasn't right. Well, Jake and Casey, you're listening to this. So both of you need to go out there and pick up Brad Peacock. It's a race. I dropped him if anybody else did because they thought he was going to the bullpen,

keep an eye on him. Do you feel confident at all in Mark Leiter? I kind of like him, but I'm not terribly confident. There have been some ugly starts in there. So there are some names for you. Thank you for listening, and we're done for the day. I can't guarantee a Thursday podcast. We will definitely have at least one going forward this week, hopefully two. For Scott White, I'm Adam Azer. Peace.