Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/13: Week 26 Help, Most Added (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 13, 2019

The final weeks are here, and we've got two-start pitchers to pick up and even some to potentially avoid. Kyle Lewis has hit three straight homers in his first three career games and Scott and Chris discuss if you should pick him up over Gavin Lux and Nico Hoerner. Most added players, Hey Real Quick emails and a prediction that Yu Darvish may be a highly owned player on fantasy championship rosters! 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 in. It is fantasy baseball today. I'm Chris Welsh. That is Scott White. You were vying for championships. And Scott, you know who one of the guys that is probably going to be on a very, very high percentage of fantasy championship rosters this year? You Darvish. Fourteen strikeouts after going six innings. He gave up two hits. He did walk two, which is the first time since he's done that since June 26. might be one of the highest own championship players on any roster. You Darvish doing the good stuff for all of us. Good stuff, yeah. He has emerged as an ace at the most perfect time of year. He and Jack Flaherty both.

You know, they had some rough times early. Jack Flaherty had an ERA approaching five, I think, as recently as June. And of course, Darvish, we're getting asked every start if we could drop him yet. back the way he began this season. But they both have figured it out. They both have electric stuff.

Darvish now. He, uh, in his past 12 starts as a 271 ERA, 0.81 whip 12.2Ks per 9. I'm in. He's something else. You know, we had a question. I'll just jump right to it real quick. We want to get into everything, by the way. Of course, we got to set you guys up for next week with all the two start pitchers,

lots and lots of ads. But you guys have also been sending in a ton of questions. So good on you. but just since we're talking about Darvish, the one thing I've been inundated is 2020 stuff. I told you, I took Darvish, the perception when I started the two early mocks had not jumped

quite yet, and I got Darvish I thought of it as a deal. Our buddy Mike in Newark says, I wasn't seriously considering keeping Darvish for next year because I have him at $24, he says. But with the second half, I'm starting to consider it because true aces go for 40 plus in his points league.

He says Darvish looks like vintage Darvish, who is a top seven pitcher. So his question is, how high can you envision ranking you if he keeps this up? Back to the top seven like the old days? Or how high do you think he can go if he keeps this up for next year? It won't be that high. I mean, as crappy as starting pitcher is. And of course, that's been, we've been talking about that all year.

We've been talking about that really for a few years now. It's pretty loaded at the top. I mean, you strikeouts obviously have gone up as home runs have. and the pitchers who can miss bats like a Udarvish can. I mean, they're not in short supply. They're probably, the number I've been using just kind of offhand was there's a couple dozen pitchers who are basically ace or near ace level. And I would consider him among them,

but he's, you know, one of the older ones among them and has one of the more precarious track records. So he would be on the lower end of that. Yeah, and he hasn't been going in the early mok. I've got one over it in this league right now we're doing, and I've been doing the Turaly mocks. Darvish hasn't gone inside. I don't believe the top 20 pitchers yet in either one of those. Now, how he's finishing the year, I do think there could be maybe an argument that he could sit in that 15-ish range,

especially if these last couple starts he finishes off and we see what happens with playoffs. But the thing I would say about him is though he is not going to sit in that top 10 tier like you're talking about the Bieber's, the Flaherty's, the Bueller, stuff like that. he will probably be the biggest target, he's the biggest bullseye in his back of that next globed tier, where the elite guys are gone, and then everyone's like, well,

I can get Darvish, you know, is my SB 2 in round, whatever it ends up being 7 or 8. That's where I feel like he's going to end up being, so he'll actually maybe get drafted higher than you would think. Well, that's what I was going to say that,

you know, let's say he's not even a top 20 pitcher. He's 24th, let's say. But all of those guys should probably be gone, particularly in a points league, I would say, within the first six rounds, because the drop-off that's coming thereafter, I mean, it's pretty big. Every starting pitcher sucks. He's one of the ones who doesn't, and that means a lot. So if pitchers of that caliber usually go for 40 plus in your league, then he's probably where to keep him for 24. Yeah, I think so too.

I think that easy answer for you there. And Darvish, love to hear, you know, if you guys are rocking into your championship, which could be next week. maybe the week after. You guys are rocking Darvish, love to hear it, especially with maybe what he's done. Because I could see a lot of stories out there of people being like, well, I was in sixth place, thought I was getting out. Then all of a sudden, Darvish came through the last two months. So you Darvish, 14 strikeouts.

Yeah, he does. It does. 14 strikeouts leading into what could be your championship next week, which is pretty, pretty good. But speaking of championships, we've got to get you guys prepared right at the top here. Two start pitchers. That is the flavor. That is the choice we're going to go to. I'm going to throw it to Scott here in a second to get your picks,

but without getting trampled over with potentially players you're going to pick, I'm going to throw four at you that are in the relative range. Call them fringy, call them the mid-tier two-start pitchers, because ironically, I don't believe, and maybe you'll be able to correct me when we get to your picks here. I'm not sure there's a lot of deep options because I went through them and they don't look great. So here are four mid-tier two-start pitchers for next week that I want to get your take on. Zach Plesack, who is 74% owned in CBS, but my counter argument here, I went to another site to take a look, only 32% owned, just to reference for a lot of people listening.

The percentages are always much higher on CBS, at least compared to the other big boys. Absolutely. And Pleysack is one I just wanted to be in this conversation. So that was my reference for all of you guys here. Detroit and Philly next week. Number two, John Means Business, 62% Detroit and Seattle. You've got Martin Perez, who's 54% owned. He's got the White Sox in Kansas City,

and Zach Davies, who's 59% own, has the Padres in Pittsburgh. Those are all pretty, pretty ideal matchups for the mid-tier players that might be sitting out there for you. Zach Plesak got used against me this week in one of my league. So, Plesac, Means, Perez, Davies, how do you deal with this group? Well, John Means is my favorite,

and I should preface that by saying, this time a week ago we were talking about him as a two-star pitcher. Obviously, it didn't happen. And that's something this time of year more than ever, you have to factor in. If you're going to go with a low-end pickup with the hope he's making two starts, or that's the only reason you're doing it, then you know, you might want to think about that twice. Yeah, you know, it's funny you say that too. As I had a couple questions really early in the week of people being like, hey, I've got my buy week coming up. I really want to get some preemptive moves for the next week. You know, who are some maybe two starts and stuff I should be looking at? And I said, well, here's my first piece of advice. Just wait here for a second because the amount of volatility that can happen here where a guy gets moved up, gets moved back, gets a start skipped.

And if these acquisitions are really low between three and four ads in a week, you want to wait till you're a little bit closer. Just because you have the week off doesn't mean you need to go make those moves on Monday or Tuesday. Yeah. Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with making them, but with the understanding you may have to remake them before it's all over. And it still may be wrong. I mean, you know, the Orioles could just insert a spot starter in the middle of the next week and suddenly Means isn't making two-persony. They're the Orioles, sure. But hypothetically, John Means two incredible matchups, Detroit and Seattle, he's coming off four consecutive quality starts.

I've been pretty dismissive of him all year. And so I was trying to find reasons not to be. I mean, his fly ball rate is extreme. And I don't think your cat likes John Means. I just want to point that out here. I just want to make sure that might be an omen. So I'm just prefacing everybody. There might be an omen on John Means as Scott White's cat is very, very upset about it.

It's been a long time since he's made an appearance on the podcast. So people will appreciate that. But John means what I found is his ex-Woba, not just his Wobah, but his ex-W-W-B-B-A as well is below 300. And if you don't know about Wobah, it's weighted like OBP. So under 300, really bad. Really bad. So the quality of contact he's giving up supports what he's doing. Now, I still have my doubts.

But I think that's the strongest argument I could make for him actually being a quality pitcher is just is that is that and you know good run good matchups i think he's my first choice here what about a guy like martin prez who i mean his last uh i mean his last start against the washington nationals wasn't fantastic i mean he's had a couple duds in there but his last start against a white socks he went six gave up three struck out four and the royals wasn't a great one but the matchups look pretty solid with a good offense behind him yeah yeah i i could just in a points league because the matchups, White Sox Royals, so good.

The offense, like you said, it helps him get a win. He's, you know, he's pretty up and down. He's pretty up and down, and his good starts aren't even that good. But in a points league, you could take a hit more on the ERA and whip and in the hope of getting more innings, hopefully getting a win. I can justify it in a points league. I can justify PLEASC in a points league, too, and you know I don't like PLEASC. He at least has one good matchup against the Tigers this week.

I wouldn't risk it in a categories league, not unless I was really chasing and wins. Not against Detroit? Or you mean the two starts? For the two-star week. But Detroit-Dot-Torpe? I like the Detroit one, actually, a lot. But I'm not touching. That's why I can justify it at all.

If it was Philadelphia, Washington this week, I wouldn't be doing it. But, yeah, Detroit, Philadelphia, and a points league. I could see going with Zach Clesack. So who else do you got on your two starts for this coming week that you would like to monitor? I do have two that we might be worried about, technically three. three, but do you have any names that might be lower owned than these guys that you are recommending? Or are they all in the

thanks but no thanks? Because it's not pretty... Lower owned? I'm not sure about lower owned, but Kyle Gibson is less than 60% owned on CBS and his matchups are White Sox Royals just like Martine Perez. I think he's a better pitcher than Martin Perez. He just

returned from the IEL. Did not have a good start today against Washington. Obviously a tough matchup, but You know, Gibson's been pretty shaky. You know, he didn't miss that much time with injury, but he was shaky before going on the IEL. And it's risky, but all of these guys were talking about are risky. And I think, you know, he's at least has, he's at least a pretty good bat, Mr. Zer and has two great matchups.

So Kyle Gibson would be in the two-start sleeper discussion. The most interesting two-start pitcher of all we haven't mentioned yet, and that is Louis Severino. I was just looking and I saw him like wow they really listed him as the two starter I don't know how much those are like maybe both combined outings might be one actual start like do you think he actually gets two full quote starts I think so I think so his most recent rehab start I believe it was on on Wednesday he threw 64 pitches only went three and two thirds and it wasn't a great start but he threw 64 pitches so I'm thinking 75 next time out, you know, if it's a good start, he'll, 75 could carry him through five. I mean, he could be like Quedo, to your point. I mean, 47 strikes he threw in the game. He was solid. I mean, it was good Severino stuff.

So to your point, maybe he just pulls a Quedo where if he's efficient enough, he could go five. Yeah. And that first start is against the Angels. Okay. It's fine. He gets through that. 90 pitches maybe the next time out is possible. 85?

Maybe. That's against the Blue Jays. that second start. So, and he's Luis Severino. Like, you expect him, it's more likely he's going to be good than not. I saw some of the video. Look good. Look like vintage Louis Severino. He's still getting his bearings under him. I mean, do you view Luis Severino in a start as risky as, like when I put Johnny Quedo in both of the leagues I'm currently going in in Keeper Leagues this week, I started Johnny Quedo on that Tuesday start. And that, I think, was viewed a little bit risky, especially early on with ratios. Oh, it's definitely risky. I was scared to death of that recommendation. Yeah, yeah, you preface it. You're like, he's the best two starter, but that doesn't say a whole lot.

It's scary. But is Severino in that same camp, or is because his talent's so immense? Like, hey, listen, man, you just get him out there. Johnny Cueto is a pretty good pitcher. Luis Severino is an ace. That's what we know him to be. We haven't seen a pitch at all this year. And everybody, you know, it's risky just because he's coming back from a severe injury, you know.

and we don't know how close he is to quote unquote mid-season form. He kind of hurried back. I'm not saying it's not scary, but if we're just looking at this objectively, he's a better pitcher than Quedo, right? And on a better team. He doesn't have two great matchups like Quo did, but he has one.

One of the two matchups is a great one. So I think if you were willing to roll the dice on Quedo, you should be on Severino too. Would you put them out? Your championship... You have a championship. You are September 17th. It is championship week,

whether it goes for one or two weeks, are you putting Louis Severino in your lineup? I mean, I'm not giving a flat, yes. I mean, a lot of teams in their championship game have deep rotations with great pitchers throughout. It's not automatic. But if you're struggling to fill that spot rather than turn to the waiver wire,

Severino might be your best bet. I got to mention, too. could pull a Kuwaito and that he's in line for two starts now. You know, Quato's not going to end up getting those two starts this week. His second start was pushed back to Tuesday of next week. Oh, I didn't even see that. I thought he was still lined for a lot of sites still have him aligned for Monday. Yeah, a lot of sites have him.

I just found that out before the podcast. So I got to make some adjustments to my projected starters. But there was a report out yesterday or on Wednesday that Quato's next start was pushed back to Tuesday. So, you know, the Yankees. have Jordan Montgomery coming back Sunday to make a short start. They did just lose Jay Hap today.

It seems like Domingo Hermann is, they're kind of transitioning to him a relief role. He piggybacked off of Assisi Sabathia start today. So in theory... I wonder if those two are going to keep doing that, by the way. I don't know. I don't know. But in theory you can subtract Hermann and Hap

add Severino and Montgomery. Still a five-man rotation. Severino still still making two starts. But it's September, man. Things get crazy. Not like, it's September man, it's just, it is what it is. You're right about that. How about, before we stop here for a second, two potential starters, though I'm piggybacking two guys on the same team. Are you worried about these two starts next week?

Two St. Louis Cardinals pitchers, Dakota Hudson and Miles Mickelis, they both have the Cubs and the Reds next week. Michaelis did not, well, you know what, I should say it. He was actually fine in Colorado. I didn't start him. I had him in the league. I benched him, because he both. he was at Colorado. Do you have concerns about putting those guys out?

I mean, weekly, I guess you could talk in weekly, or is there a start that you're sitting them both? They're not automatics, but they're both recommended for this week, just because I think they're of a high enough caliber. Dakota Hudson for not being a big bat misser for being a guy who issues a lot of walks. I mean, he's such an extreme groundball pitcher. It's hard to assess him, but it continues to crank out just terrific start after terrific start.

and I'd have a hard time binging him right now. Michaelis, and it's Michaelis, by the way, not Michaelis. I'm just going to correct you whenever I hear it, because you appreciate that, right? I don't know. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I didn't even hear that I said, uh, Michaelis. You know what it is too?

If everybody remember, you remember Nick Schwarton, the old bit where he goes, Mick, Miclis, you're the strongest boy in the world. Fembertie men's that old comic bit. That's where I get that from. Michaelis, sorry. I didn't even realize I said it. It's all right. Only the deep comedy people are going to remember that old Nick Schwartson bit.

Yeah. Yeah, he's been kind of fringy all year, but Michaelis has. But he's kind of in that boring pitcher class where, you know, whenever he's making two starts, you're probably going to start him. What this chair, grandma? All right. What about Matthew Boyd, very highly owned? Cleveland and the White Sox went five, two earned runs, walked four and struck out three

on Thursday. Concern next week? Most importantly, he allowed two home runs. It was, again, not a great start for him. There hasn't been many good ones lately because he's so home run prone. It's less than automatic, but one of the starts being against the white socks, I think most people should run with them. All right. Here is maybe the most important thing I ask you in this episode.

Did you get your butcher box? Oh, did I? Did you get it? Yes. My freezer is full of meat, and I can't wait to dig into it. Let me tell you something. This thing is unreal. Butcherbox.com slash FBT or promo code FBT.

So I found out that we were getting a butcher box. I personally, I love subscription services. And this one blows my mind. So knock at the door. Wife is there. She goes to the door. I hear a, um, can you help me? I'm like, okay.

Just a package. Giant box. Butcher box. Open this bad boy up. There is everything. Steak, pork, bacon. And to my wife's excitement, organic chicken. to my excitement,

organic free-range chicken that I don't have to hunt down at a health food store, which is literally at the bottom of my favorite things to do, 1,000%. This is high-quality, everything, all hormone and antibiotic-free.

So, to the un-initiated, here's how it works. Each box contains around 9 to 11 pounds of meat, enough for 24 meals. Yeah, 24. Think about this. 24 high-quality meals that come out to like 6.000.

$6 a meal. It's packed fresh, frozen, and vacuum sealed. So you don't have to freak out if you don't answer the door like we did. I'm in Arizona. So I was kind of a little bit more, you know, like, how is this exactly going to work? No, that thing is on lockdown. You can customize your box or you can go with theirs. Options like 100% grass fed and finished beef, free range organic chicken, heritage pork, wild caught Alaskan salmon, and sugar nitrate free bacon. Right now, butcher box is offering new members, ground beef for life. That's two pounds of ground beef in every box for life of their subscription, plus $20 off their first box. Just go to butcherbox.com slash FBT or in a promo code FBT at checkout. Better for you, better for the animal, and better for the environment. That's butcherbox.com slash FBT or in a promo code FBT at checkout. Besides Butcher Box, who is your Thursday standout here, Scott White?

My Thursday standout is right on. the tip of my tongue, let me tell you. I'm going to go with, I'm going to mention Luke Voight here, because I was getting a little worried about Luke Void. He hadn't homered since he returned. Well, that changed. He had a three-hit game with the homer and a double. First game of the double-header got another hit in the second game of the double-heder.

And Edwin and Carnacian is, he left the first game with an injury. He's going to be sidelined for a few days. So even if the Yankees were tempted to get Mike Ford in the lineup more, you know, Void's getting hot the right time. He looks like he still has a nice firm hold on that job.

And like he could be a useful contributor down the stretch. Did anybody have a worse Thursday than the Yankees? I mean, I guess I got the positive Severino news. But E5, like you said, he left with an oblique strain. They lost Hap. Gary Sanchez was forced to leave the second game of the double header with left groin tightness. It was rough. But Voigt was, you know, he was one of the positive standouts there.

I think four hits between the two games. So you're in. Yep. You are in. How about a hey real quick on the emails? Hey, real quick, Lux or Canoe as my second baseman in point league's rest of season? I am going to say that you should go with Lux. Ooh.

Yeah, really. I have got some debates. Let me find them real quick because I have got. a couple that I want to throw at you then here because we've jumped to both of them. I just have to do it now. Do I need to be owned? Robinson Canoe is the lowest percent owned of these players, but he did hit his 13th homer on Thursday, two homers and eight hits coming into Thursday.

And Gavin Lux, by the way, who's 63% owned, since September 2nd only has his third game with a hit, one for four, but he did get his first stolen base. These guys are in different territory. But guys like Colton Wong, who hit his 11th homer, had two stolen bases, which is his 22nd. You've got J.D. Davis, who was two for three. Next week, he has no game on Thursday, but Colorado and Cincinnati. And Kevin Bigio, who went three for four with a triple on a three-game hit streak. So, Cano, Biggio, Davis, Wong, Lux. You took Lux, who is the highest owned of all of those guys. Yeah. Wong.

No, I'm rethinking things here. I rethink of things. You know, obviously, if this was like June 1st and we were playing the long game, I think you'd pursue the upside of Lux. But it's not. It's two weeks to go. And Kano has been hot. And they definitely have, the Mets definitely have better matchups than the Dodgers next week. They're in line to face six Ritees.

Dodgers have only five games and, you know, three of them are against quality pitchers. So Lux does not look like a good start next week. Canoe at least looks like a decent one. if your league plays the last week, we'll worry about it then. Okay, so we're going to go with Canoe. Jumping back into the other things. I thought it was interesting when I was going through these, do they need to be own guys?

I mean, your guy, J.D. Davis, you know, he doesn't have that game on Thursday, but just incredible at Colorado and at Cincinnati. And Colton Wong has really been studly, you know, 11 homers, 22 stolen bases, but he's got Washington and Chicago next week. If you were Canoeing versus Davis and Wong, does Canoe go to the bottom of the list? I am not so sure about that. I don't like the Cardinals matchups next week, so I would take Canoe over Wong then. And Davis has kind of fallen into a bit of a platoon role here with Canoe returning, actually. That's kind of what started it.

Jeff McNeil playing a lot of left field and Davis goes to the bench those days. the fact the Mets don't have any lefties on the schedule next week, I think really hurts Davis's chances of making worthwhile contribution. Sad as it makes me. It is kind of sad. I 1,000% associate J.D. Davis with Scott White. Every time I see him, I think about you. So should be proud.

You should be very happy. I think that's an honor, to be honest with you. I like, yeah, I like being associated with players as long as they're good. Yeah, as long as they're not garbage, you know. Like, you know, my buddy, Scott Bogman with Billy Burns. Like, that's not the best thing. Billy Burns. I haven't had a...

Billy Burns. Oh, we talk about Billy every time we can. Josh from Brussels, he had a long email that I had to condense here, but he has a dilemma regarding my closers because, hey, this is a, hey, real quick email. He feels he should go and pick up Seth Lugo, but he's trying to decide should he drop Will Smith, Craig Kimberl, or should he just sit tight? You have a pain look on your face. Scott White is in pain.

Painful question because Kimberl and Smith are both in pain right now, right? Like literal pain. But someone help. Indefinite time tables. And, you know, all things being equal, I'd rather have them. So that's, I think Will Smith, he, I think, is closer to being ready and obviously has been a lot more stable than Kimbril this year.

But I can see dropping Kimbril for Lugo right now if you can't afford to wait it out. Rosinda Zach Wheeler and Zach Gallen Who do we trust more For the rest of the playoff They meant the fantasy playoffs But said playoff fantasy

For the fantasy playoffs Wheeler or Gallen I That's pretty close I trust both to be honest But if you're forcing me to pick one Looking ahead at the matchups Let me see here

Wheeler misses a series At Colorado next week So that's good Meanwhile Gallin is facing Looks like the Padres So for next week I would prefer Gallin And that's about

I mean Then you got one more week after this So I mean that's that's 50% of it I agree I'm going Zach Gallin And finally on some hey real quicks Mason says is Wade Miley broken What's he doing differently

That's caused the wheels to fall off He's broken Scott Yeah Something is broken there I think it's fair to say He was He'd been a major overachiever all year

But you know The two starts that bad in a row. He's doing something wrong. He doesn't think he's tipping his pitches. But, you know, if he hasn't figured out what it is, I don't have an answer for it yet. But I need to see some much better results before I think about using him again. And obviously... And that means 2020.

Probably. I mean, if he goes six strong... If you throw six-one hit innings next time out, I'm not going to say no to him for the final week necessarily. but yeah, he needs a really strong start next time out. All right, quick break right here on Fantasy Baseball today when we come back. It is hitters. We're adding all the players. We've got the news and notes.

We'll see if we can get to some 2020 talk and lots of email. So quick break on Fantasy Baseball today. Most added hitters over the last week. I've got three for you. Really interesting names. I mean, there's one that's obvious. So if you've got any specific takes on them, just throw them at me here. Here are your three hitters that were at.

added the most this week. Tommy Edmund went from 30 to 46% owned. He was at the very top of hitters. Will Myers, who we spent a lot of time talking about, 48 to 64% own and Starlin Castro, 34 to 48% own. Those were your three highest CBS moved hitters as far as trajectory of percent owned. So, I mean, I feel like Will Myers has gotten into a space where we were just talking about guys like Lux and Robbie Canoe. I think Will Myers sits at near the top. of that list of players, so I feel like that's a pretty easy thing to tackle. But what about Edmund or Castro? Any thoughts here?

I would not be that invested in them. If Starlink Castro, the Marlins, had good matches going into this week, so he was among my top sleeper hitters for the week. But he doesn't have, he doesn't have a lot of upside. I don't love their matchups next week. Edmund say the same thing for him. Myers is the one to take here. The other two seem like no more than desperation.

plays, I would take a Robbie Canoe over either or Nick Solac still widely available. Somebody like that. Actually, the Rangers have the very worst matches of any team next week, so forget the Solac pick. Well, speaking of Nick Solek, though, how about some

prospects who rake here? I have got four names for you and I would like an order in a trust rest of season. Nick Solac is one of them, 23% owned, as we are going. We've got two games that are in progress, so that game is ended. Last updated. I'll look here in a second. Solek was two for three, but did hit his fourth homer.

He was hitting 347 with two homers coming into Thursday through the month of September. We've already talked about Gavin Lux, who, you know, one for four tonight, had his first stolen base, kind of struggled a little bit. Two others, though. Nico Horner, one for four, but he's got hits in three of his first four games. He is 12% owned. And oh my, Mr. Kyle Lewis, who as we record this, has hit his third homer, which is three straight major league games with a home run. And he's hitting fifth. He was hitting fifth here on Thursday. So Kyle Lewis, who is the lowest percent of all of them, three straight games with a home run,

hitting in a very good spot in the lineup versus Gavin Lux versus Solac versus Horner. What do you think? I think that this conversation would be very different if we were having it in June than right now, as I keep reiterating. Can I take a guess real quick? If this was June, this would be Lux, Horner,

Solac, Lewis, for you? No, not quite. I would go Luxeolak, Horner, Lewis. Okay, so Solac over. I just had those mixed. I'm seeing is going to be believing

for me with Horner and the power, considering he only had three home runs in the minors this year in about half the seasons worth of a bat's I mean that that raises some concerns but and the fact that

you know I does he have just the triple as an extra base hit so far and it was kind of a ground ball down the left field line you said he hits safely in three straight games to begin the season three of four three of four three of four okay

uh you know Lewis I wasn't counting on much of an impact from him. The power numbers were lacking, and he even got some time. Actually, I don't think he got some time at AAA, just a double A. So that helps.

But he had 11 home runs and 457 at bats there with 152 strikeouts. 398 slugging percentage. I wasn't expecting him to begin his career with the home run in three straight games. Now, I mean, there have been a lot of players over the years who underwhelmed with the power numbers in the minors.

They get in the major league environment. they're seeing a lot more strikes. Suddenly their skills begin to play up. That's happened a lot. And maybe Lewis is one of those guys. I like the Mariners matchups next week. I don't like the Rangers and Solek, you know, otherwise he would be a good choice. I mentioned I don't like the Dodgers either, so that's not good for Lux.

And I just don't have a lot of faith in Horner being a significant contributor at this stage of his career. So I think Lewis is the only one I'm looking at right now. I haven't put together my top 10 sleeper hitters for the upcoming week yet, but he'll be under consideration there. Yeah, by the way, he is three for three tonight with two runs. He's got a double shy of the cycle, actually as we're recording this in the bottom of the six. Single double, and he hit his third home run. So he's going to appear at the top of the list.

What I think is interesting, by the way, and I know these guys are all lowly owned here, but there is a sense of desperation that sits in. And there's also, you know, there's a, there's a stage that's been set this season with guys like Aquino, you know, with come on the scene, absolutely rake and carry a team. And at this stage in the season, I do believe a lot of people are looking and banking on their teams being carried. So, yes, I know these guys are highly, you know, they're not highly owned. Yes, it's hard to get into crazy sample sizes at this time. But I think it's important to talk about, and very succinctly you did all of that. that people are going to be tempted to pick up these guys when they see, you know,

Solac hit his fourth homer and they're going to cut some really good players that might be on a, you know, two or three game hitless streak because people are not sitting around and having any of it right now. So it's about weeding through who's the guy that you truly could make, take that chance on. You and I, you know, you and I are a little bit different than that, Scott. Your eyes you just gave me were kind of like, well, but like, it is what people do. Oh, it is what people do. Yes. I am generally speaking a trust the guys who got you there thing.

Trust the guys who got you there kind of guy. Because, you know, a couple hitless games wanted it all sway us in June. And it shouldn't now either. I mean, that's baseball. That's what you signed up for. And it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. guy could have four hits and two home runs tomorrow. So you're talking a true stud,

unless he's in like a multi-week-long slump, which off the top of my head, I can't think of somebody who's in that bad of a spot. Josh Bell's kind of bounced back from his slump, so I'm not worried about him. I don't know, do you think of anybody top of mind? Yeah, I'm trying to see if I can, what did you say over the last week or two weeks?

Well, I said six weeks, but it doesn't necessarily have to be quite that long. But, you know, basically that caliber of hitter, a Josh Bell caliber, the guys who, the studs, you know what it's stud. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking right here. I'm not binging my studs if they're healthy and they're not doing anything epically terrible over an extended period of time. I'm not replacing them. I'm just trusting them. Here's a crazy example for you, but just for argument's sake here. Like a guy like Andrew Benintendi right now, who in the last two weeks is one for 19, with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI, and went 0 for 4 here. He's had one hit from essentially since September 4th to now.

He has had one hit. He is on a cooler, if you will. Yeah. I think there is a set of people that will look at that and say, I'm done. I got a week left. I got two weeks left. Kyle Lewis just hit his third homer in three days and is three for three right now. Andrew Benintendi, see ya.

Is that something you could stomach? Well, it's an interesting example you picked because I think Andrew Benintendi has fallen below that stud level this year. It's been a very disappointing season overall. Both the power and speed production have been well below expectations. He's kind of been a glorified Nick Marcagis, really. Oh, man, that stinks. I think that's perfectly fine.

In a three outfielder league, it's probably not the first time you've benched Ben-intendi. Five outfielder league. I don't know. It might be tougher. There's a good chance. Kyle Lewis isn't even available to you then. I just got Benintendi in the sixth round of our ITL 12 team mock draft. And I got Blackman in the fifth.

So, I mean, if you want to talk about, like, where the sentiment is on Andrew Benetendi at this point, whether it's for the next two weeks where you just said there might be a scenario where you cut him for Kyle Lewis. Also into next year, values are going to be plummeted, especially if you stick Nick Markekechist stuff. on him for the rest of the way. People are going to, we're going to cool on Ben Attendee, which, you know, might be deserved so. All right, let's keep going here. Jesus Lazzardo, we got a couple of people that really want us to talk about him. I'm not sure there's too much crazy to go with because I believe it's more of a 2020 thing. He didn't get a start. You want to talk about things being flipped on their head, by the way.

Justin Dunn, he ended up getting a start, you know, quote, start, which was going to be relatively low with the Mariners. Jesus Lazzardo not. done got absolutely shellacked with five runs five earned runs but a guy like Lizarro walks oh you're five walks yeah yeah only two earned runs but five that's what it was five walks two earned runs but Lazzardo looked great in his uh in his outing three innings gave up one earned run two strikeouts you got to see all the stuff that he was working with that two seamers sliding in low he's just a super smart pitcher so we had a couple people asking just about our thoughts on him I'm all in for next year but do you have anything to take away maybe

for the rest of this year or into next for Lozardo? Yeah, I don't think you can count on him making anything any kind of worthwhile impact this year. It's possible he gets a spot start down the stretch when they're trying to space out there rotation for a playoff scenario. It was definitely, like, his stuff is jiff-worthy.

It was, you know, everybody was raving about how good he looked. And, yeah, I think he'll be somebody who, you know, he's not going to be among those, couple dozen pitchers who we think of his aces are close to it but he'll be among the earliest to go after they're off the board and you know potentially with a rotation spot from the get-go at the latest you know by the end of april so yeah he's going to be jesus luzardo i think his debut you know obviously just a drop in the bucket but it it was validated everything we've been saying about him so far.

Well, if he's not a value for you, maybe through the rest of this year, maybe some of these guys will be the most added pitchers over the last week. Here are your three. Johnny Quedo, who we talked about, who's up to 44% from 21, and we got the news that you said that he's been moved apparently to Tuesday, not that Miami Sunday start, which would have been great. Alex Young, who 43% to 57%, though he didn't have, he had a really weird. start. He only went two and two thirds, which is not good. Six hits, gave up six runs, but only

one was earned. So it probably saved a lot of people. Three strikeouts. He's got Miami next week. And Reinaldo Lopez, who is actually a two-starter next week, 47 to 56 percent owned. And what I thought was interesting about that, Scott, is it looked like Raynaldo Lopez, I assume those numbers of why he was the third most added pitcher were just simply about two starts. So that was the pitcher that people were jumping on at high volumes as one of their top two starters for next week because he's got Minnesota and Detroit. Well, he was also coming off that brilliant start where he threw a complete game. I believe he gave up only two hits, right?

That sounds right. Yeah, it was a dominant outing. And we spoke pretty highly of him on the podcast after it. So I'm not surprised people rushed out to add. him. Then in typical Reynaldo Lopez fashion he follows it up with a stinker and how much can you trust him really. I mean

we're looking at polar opposites as far as the matchups goes this upcoming week, Minnesota and Detroit. I'd rather not have to rely on him, but a lot of people are though. Certainly in a point league context, I think it makes sense to. Did you lose any trust in Alex Young?

Matchup is good next week. Yeah. Yeah, the runs, thank God they weren't earned. But this was one of those matchups where you looked at and we were just like yeah i think i even looked at i was like man dynbacks are getting shalacked i kind of like this is the bounce back game uh for alex young and it was a stinker so level of trust next week uh i mean it's a great matchup miami yeah ma'am and i i don't think you'd be wrong to play him but i don't know it's it doesn't feel great because i i really endorsed him for the first time after his last start a two-hit effort where he's

struck out 12 in eight innings and his swinging strike rate had risen to higher than Clayton Kershaw's for the season and yeah it just looked like it was getting to be too much to ignore but I don't know

I I think it's a more likely chance than not he's not a great pitcher and things could go bad for him even against Miami Alex Young against

Miami or Reinaldo Lopez against Detroit. If you could only pick one of those starts next week. It'd be Lopez against Detroit. Okay. That says I think a lot about Alex Young at this point. Because, I mean, I guess they're both really great matchups, but Alex Young had been on a heater. This one start, it sounds like it's confirmation bias to your concerns. Is that a safe way to say that?

Yeah, it's a safe way to... I mean, part of it, too, is... I have to come up with interesting things to say every day for six months. You know, you kind of look for reasons to believe in a guy you may not necessarily believe. And like I was saying with John Means, by the way. And I just wonder if, you know, I didn't personally pick up Alex Young anywhere. I just wonder if I really believed everything I was saying about him after his last start.

It's like a bad relationship. You're just like, nah, I knew all those things were wrong. Now I see it. He showed your true color. It's convenient to say that now, right? Yeah, exactly. How about the fringe pitchers? Maybe a little bit higher than fringe.

Joe Musgrove versus Den Ellison, Lamette. Musgrove went five, four hits, no-earned runs, struck out seven. Two straight quality starts he had before that. He's got Seattle next week. And Lamet, not quite as good. Went five, three earned runs, but had seven strikeouts as well. Seven of his last eight starts, he's had three earned runs or less. But he's only got two wins in that time, and he is at Milwaukee.

Musgrove or Lamette? I'd be more likely to start Musgrove, who looks... I hesitate to say stable, but he has been lately. Four of his last five starts, very solid. Seattle, great matchup, obviously. Lamet is going to be one of my big breakout candidates for next year. His swinging strike rate is off the charts. It was again in this start.

He had, I think, 14 swinging strikes on like 74 pitches, but the fact the Padres only let him throw 74 pitches, that's kind of been the ongoing issue with him. 12 starts since coming off the DL, only three of them of six plus innings, and it's just hard to make use of him, all things considered. So instead of using him, tough matchup at Milwaukee, I'm just going to start dreaming

of what Denelson Lemette could be next year. Fringy-er pitching. Homer Bailey was 55% owned, went five, one-earned-run, three strikeouts. The last that I saw, was that the final line? I will have to look. I believe that is a final line. And versus Brent, and he's got Kansas City next week, versus Brandon McKay, who only went three and one-third, gave up three-earned runs, two strikeouts, 64 pitches. He ended up going in this game, and he's got what looks like some horrendous matchups in this coming week. So dump McKay to play Bailey or move along? Oh, yeah. I mean, McKay,

I wasn't interested in picking him up after that last time out. I mean, it's like a three-inning start, right? He looked good, but there have been so much, so many red flags leading up to that. And already had a career high innings. It's just the rays have been totally, totally non-traditional in the way they've used the rotation anyway. So I don't even know what a Brendan McKay start looks like. I don't know if he's making one.

I don't expect him to be good. Bailey's been pretty good with the A's. Royals are good matchup. I mean, as... I'm not normally into the one-start streamer thing, but if you are, then it certainly seems like a good case. I would start Bailey... I would not start him over Rinaldo Lopez.

And I don't think I'd start him even over Alex Young against Miami, but he's in that same... discussion. Some news and notes that we don't want to leave the podcast without you knowing, but maybe you already know. Shohayotani season, Donzo, Patella surgery in his left knee. He did that on Thursday. He is out for the season.

It looks like it's going to be an eight to 12 week timetable. That's a long time. That's a long time. A lot of stuff following Shoheotani. I wonder when we're going to have a season where there's not a bunch of stuff. I don't know if it's going to be this coming year. Well, he's only been around two seasons. I don't know if that's hard to believe or not.

100%. There's been stuff. If he becomes injury-prone guy, that's going to be harder for them to justify the two-way situation, right? Yeah, absolutely. But people are paying for it next year already. A couple others, Nick Senzel, also out for the season, diagnosed with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

I mean, you can move along. It's not good either. No, it's not good. MRI revealed that Justin Turner is dealing. with a minor left ankle sprain. He was out of the lineup. He had an MRI on Thursday. Dodgers say that they are hoping he's going to be able to return this weekend in the Mets series. But if you were hoping or banking on Justin Turner this weekend, maybe don't. This one is, boy, if there's something you, if you can write a headline at the beginning

of the year and know you're going to see it at least five times in the season, it would be Rich Hill was forced to leave start. He was forced to leave his start against the Orioles after two-thirds of an inning after experiencing an issue with his left knee. It's officially been diagnosed as a sprained MCL. Yeah. So I think, forget about him. And he hadn't even, he hadn't gone on like an official rehab assignment either. So they were only going to let him go two or three innings, I believe, in this game. He didn't even make it out of one.

Right. So it didn't look like he was going to be any sort of contributor in fantasy. Really anyway. this does open the door for Tony Gonsolin who was the best of a few rotation candidates who followed who followed Richel in this game. It was like a bullpen game, but with former starters like Kenta Maeda and

Julio Arias and Tony Gonsolin, who strong three innings. It's like a runway model. They're just like, hey, here comes down to the line. Tony Gonslin, three innings, four strikeouts, one earned run in this one. and he ended up picking up the win as well. And then last one, Craig Kimbril, he threw a bullpen session on Thursday. He told reporters after that things went fine, but there's no elaboration.

The thought process was that maybe he would return this weekend. I don't know. Everything is a little coy right now. I don't feel fantastic. It kind of comes back to that thing we were talking about earlier where it was like, would you drop Kimbril or would you drop Will Smith to pick up Lugo? I'm not sure what we see from Kimball from the rest of this year, even though he said this bullpen went fine.

Fine. But yeah, that's all he's. That's the way it was reported. He didn't elaborate. It was like, you know, a teenager being asked how school went. Fine. Like Ben Ralthusberger being asked about Antonio Brown. Whatever.

Just whatever. Fine. Doesn't matter. Yeah. Meanwhile, Will Smith sounds like he could return this weekend. So that's, yeah, it's not, I'm not feeling comfortable with Craig Kimball right now. I'm not feeling any better about someone else in that Cubs bullpen either, though. Maybe any of them.

In a not so great, but we'll take it. Lucas Gialito, six innings, 12 strikeouts, one walk, but five earned runs. Gialito cooling off a little bit as we step into 2020. Yeah. Oh, I don't know. I think there's a cool. He's still being drafted very high, and that's fine. He's going to deserve it, but, you know, this is an important time.

Four of seven with double-digit Ks. He had 12 strikeouts. That's why I said. That's why I said it's a, oh, this is good, but eh. Like, it's the, you know, the girl with the meme where she takes a sip of the soda, she's like, well, well, no, that's what Gialita was in this game. Can I be trusted? Sorry, sorry. That has been going around lately.

It has. I threw you for a loop there. Can I be trusted? Caleb Smith, who went five and two-thirds of an inning, three earned runs, four strikeouts, but he's given up 14 earn runs and his last four starts, and he has Arizona up next. That's number one. Number two, we've got our boy Miles, who Michaelis, who had five innings,

three earned runs, five strikeouts. He's got the Cubs next. And you've been waiting for this one. Julio Tehran, four innings, five earned runs, three walks, one strikeout with Philly next. Can any of us be trusted? I think the least trustworthy right now is actually the best pitcher of the three, I believe, in Caleb Smith, who,

you know, looked like he may have gotten back on track last time out. It's just a really bumpy finish for him. And I think the innings has something to do with it. You know, he's had injury issues last year. He missed a lot of the season with an injury. And just isn't, you know, isn't particularly sharp at this point in the year. And pitches for Miami, so that doesn't help either.

To Ron, I don't think I would necessarily bench him based on this, but unlike John Means, his ex-Woba Tehran's, is like in the 320 range. So, you know, still not high, but it's not great for a pitcher who you expect to hold down a rotation

spot. And he's also fly ball prone, got burned by the home runs finally in this one. I think maybe Tehran had been having good home run luck up to this point. It's a little scary. Miles Michaelis, I think, is just become a boring pitcher.

And as I keep saying, I mean that in the most positive way in this pitching environment. Totally comes out. It comes out as a positive when you say it's sky. It's boring, but it's, I mean it positively. Totally comes out that way. It's just because I'm not positive about pitching in general. That's what it is. Yeah.

No, you, I mean, you definitely made that clear. Thursday was a saved, filled night. A lot of the big names were out. there. We had Josh Hader getting his 31st save of the season. We had Chapman in there. We, I believe he got his 37th save. We had Kinley Jansen. Felipe Vasquez, though, fresh off of Breaking Crick's hand, got his 28th save. Maybe the most interesting one to me, though, was Brandon Workman, who got his 12th save, third in September. It's just the piecemailing that Boston has done and tried to work through in what they've been this year. Whenever I see

workman's name out there. That one always jumps out to me. We also had LeClerc at his 13th and Ian Kennedy and Kennedy still dropping all of those saves. Any bullpen notes that you want to drop on us? Yeah, I'm surprised Workman hasn't gotten a little more love because the piecemeal approach has pretty much ended. He has gotten trying to review it real quick here. Yeah, like, I don't know. He's basically been there full-time closer since the All-Star. Great. So, yeah, he deserves to be rostered in more leagues if, you know, rather, if you don't want to turn to, what was that guy at the beginning? We were comparing Smith and Kimbrel. Oh, and Seth Lugo.

Seth Lugo, yeah, I would go with Workman before somebody like Seth Lugo, who, you know, tends to throw like the two-winning saves and isn't always available for the next chance. and sometimes they mix in Edwin Diaz. It doesn't appear, it's not as clear that it's Edwin. That's Seth Lugo's job. I'm going to end us on this one email. I think this is a good one here. Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com. That's where you can send in your emails.

Apologies. We have tons. We can't get to all of them. I will try to continue to circulate through them because we've got some good 20-20 ones, which I want to hit. Though, Mr. Scott White, you are not here with us on Monday, correct?

Yeah, that's right. That's right. I'm going to a wedding this weekend. I am flying on Friday the 13th, so it's a good thing. I am not a superstitious person. I was just about to say, Scott, you're going on Friday the 13th, huh? Yeah. You're not worried at all?

I just noticed that today. It's Friday the 13th tomorrow. I don't fly that often. Maybe people who fly a lot. Friday at 13, I'd do that all the time. At least your cat isn't like a black cat also that was yelling at you earlier in the episode. And then you're also flying. He's orange.

He's orange. All right. So you will not be here. But were you not? I have got a guest for you. A very good guest. A buddy of mine, Nick Pollock, picture list. If you guys have followed him. He's going to be joining me on the episode. So we will, we'll talk plenty of stuff. But I want to save the 2020 stuff for you and I. So when you are back for the Wednesday episode, I'm going to hit some of these 2020 things. Because I think there's a lot of good stuff you've been hitting on it. But this is the final email real quick. this is Nathan from New Jersey. And it was a really long email, but it's paired down to this. He goes, my opponent proceeds to say that he told an eliminated team that he liked Horner. The accusation here was that an eliminated team told, or I'm sorry, a playoff team told an eliminated team to pick up Nico Horner. That was where, that's the crux of this. So a team that's vying for a spot told a non-vied team to go pick up a player.

Okay. So the playoff opponent says he just said he liked Horner and that the individual picked up on his own accord. What else is he going to say? They then proceed to say that I should have gone through my opponent and discussed it with him first rather than to throw out the accusations. I keep someone to say acquisition. I don't know why. So there's an infight happening here between the playoff teams having. the non-playoff teams do some nasty stuff here.

So they're all yelling at each other. So he's got three things he would like to know that he should do here. One, should eliminated teams with no keeper or trade ramifications be allowed to make ads or drops? That's the first one real quick. Let's just do quick answers on this. Do you think non- Yes. Yeah, my position has always been yes.

People have made an investment in these teams. and they should be allowed to keep fighting right until the end. That's the way it's done in the actual game, you know, the actual sport. And, you know, for seating purposes, you want teams to do that. You want them to fight right to the very end. You want your opponents to have a tough challenge as they're trying to position themselves for playoff seating or whatever else. Yeah, they should be allowed to make add drops. Now, reiterating again, because I don't think I did the best job here because I cut this really long email, it's the team out of it says that the playoff team told him to pick up Horner.

So that's where the accusations are. Do you believe this was any type of collusion? I mean, it's almost impossible for you to guess, but does this sound collusion-y where the team who picked up Horner says, yeah, they told me to pick him up. And the other team's like, no, I didn't. How would you do this as a commissioner yourself? I would probably ignore it as a commissioner myself. I mean, if the good team was telling the bad team

pick up this guy so that my opponents can't get them, I don't have a spot for him. If they were connecting the dots to that level, I could understand how that would not be good. I don't even know that there was much you could do about it in that case, but if it was that overt, okay. But, you know, there's no reason to believe it wasn't just a conversation.

Yeah, I really like this guy. And so then the bad team looks at him and like, you know what? I think I might like him too. I'll pick him up. It's unfortunately the guy that happens all the time. It's just the guy who picked up Horner is telling people, yeah, this guy told me to pick him up. But I am firmly, by the way, can you imagine? Yeah, but what does that even mean?

Like, yeah, he's really good. You should pick him up. Or is it you need to pick him up. Yeah, well, my team can do better. I think that's all part of it. I am firmly, team never canceled trades. I'm not a veto trader, and it's got to be real collusion. Can you imagine, like, you're fighting about Nico Horner being collusion?

His last one was, how much of a jerk is he for making this call out publicly? I don't think it's very jerkish. Yeah, I'm kind of over fantasy league drama in general. You know, I went through that phase, you know, in my late teens, early 20s, where I thought it was the most important thing in my life. and, you know, would burn bridges and friendships and risk blowing up the league making a big deal over something

that really isn't a big deal. So I don't know that it makes you a jerk necessarily and just, you know, get over it. Put yourself in the other person's shoes and consider what's really at stake here. I couldn't agree more. The drama is maybe the biggest thing that needs to be eliminated from fantasy leagues,

not wins, you know, not saves. none of that. It's the drama. Drop the drama because fantasy is supposed to be fun. We're supposed to be having a ton of fun when we're doing this. When the fun is taken out, I think so should the fantasy. When you stop having fun, maybe you need to chill out on it. We like to have so much fun here. I'm going to try to have fun when you're gone, but I don't really know what I'm going to do.

It's weird. You guys are, like, I feel like the teenager where my parents are all leaving town and I get the house to myself. There's no Adam. There's no Chris. there's no Scott, I'm all alone and I invited one of my friends over. Monday show too, that's important. That's important stuff. Well, Nick Pollock is a very, very...

He's a very smart guy if you guys follow him. Trust me when I tell you, you're in good hands. You're in very good hands here, and we will be wishing you all the best and your fun travels there, no superstitions. But that is it. That's all we got for you. Good luck for everybody. It's championship time.

Let's get it going. He is Scott White. Follow him on Twitter at CBS Scott White. myself on Twitter at Isit the Welsh. Have a fantastic weekend and we will talk to you again on Monday. Later.