Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/17: Weekend Roundup - SPs to Stream (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 17, 2018

Have you picked up Adalberto Mondesi yet!? It's time! Who else should you add? We start the show with hitters and SPs to add including one-start streamers like Luis Castillo, Ross Stripling and Matt Boyd. We got SPs with good matchups (10:00), bad matchups (15:08) and average matchups (19:05) for you to consider ... Any interest in players who are barely owned (22:22) like Adam Wainwright or Wei-Yin Chen this week? We also talk about whether or not teams are going to rest their stars (28:42), if you can start Mookie Betts, Chris Sale, James Paxton , Aaron Judge and some other studs ... Bullpen updates (39:00) with new names to add, a look at the Most Added list (41:55), studs being duds (45:45) and a look at today's matchups (48:00) ... Your emails at [e-mail] This episode is brought to you by www.ZipRecruiter.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy! Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. All right, it's winning time. If you're still listening, on September 17th,

they're obviously either a huge superfan of the show, which is great, or you're competing for a fantasy semifinal or championship and we are here to help. I am out of Baser with Scott White. Scott on a scale up 1 to 10 on the weekend o meter. How was your weekend? Ooh, I would give my weekends about a 5. Pretty average.

That's it, huh? What about you, Adam? What about you? Friday was a 10. Oh, boy. Saturday was an 8. Breaking it down day by day. Sunday was like a 2.

So. Is it working? Yeah, so that gives me like an average of, a little under seven for the weekend which is okay yeah it's a good weekend it's a busy Sunday busy high quality h2 oh yeah high quality h2 oh scott give me one

high quality hitter to add high quality hitter and he's becoming higher and higher quality by the day it seems because hardly a day goes by where he doesn't steal a base and that is at alberto mondesi who

is getting to be really exciting now I was wondering why with all the stolen bases he's been getting his weekly point total had been not so great until basically September. And it's because I realized that he wasn't starting every day for a long stretch of the season. He was starting like two of three, maybe every other day. But he started 13 straight games for the Royals, so they're finally all in. and five stolen bases in his past six games. If you project his numbers out to 162 games,

it's like a 70 steel pace. And with power, too. With power too. Yeah, he's got two home runs last week, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Second base is shortstop eligible, good matchups this week. Pretty good matchups. Seven games, anyway.

I think he's, regardless of whether you need steals or not. I think he's somebody worth adding and starting, which, I mean, they're only worth adding at this point if they're worth starting. Yeah, and Ad Alberto Mondesi is one of three second-based eligible players that really jump out as players to add, and we've talked about two of them a lot. The other one being Jonathan V.R. But the third is Jeff McNeil. He's 35% own. He's less exciting, but in points leagues, he's pretty reliable, doesn't strike out much. Batting 328 with three home runs, 17 strikeouts and 51 games.

And over the last 28 days, if you look at those three second basemen, they're all second base eligible. A couple of them have short-step eligibility, I think. Mondesee and VR are top three-second basement over the last 28 days. And McNeil is fifth and points, ninth in Roto. So obviously, people need more than just middle infielders, but those are some guys that you can keep an eye on right now. I can add a fourth to that list. Somebody I like even more than McNeil this week. Oh, hit me.

And that's Brandon Lowe. who began his career O for 19, which is kind of reminiscent of Alex Bregman beginning at O for 18 a couple years ago. Remember that? Oh, yeah. Since that O for 19 start, though, LOW is batting 314 with five homers

and a 1065 OPS, getting on base at a 422 clip. Similar to what he was doing in the miners. High OBP broke through as a power hitter this year. And the Rays have the very best matchups of any team this week. I think LOW, somebody highly available, you could use them right away. Lowe is 10% owned.

I think my only hesitation is he has one, two, three, he has not had a multi-hit game since September 2nd. He's got seven hits in like his last 12 games or something like that. So, but he is walking a little bit. He's got four walks in that stretch as well. It's got a little bit cold. However, Lowe's got some pop. He did hit two home runs.

And I hit one home run last week. So, you know, first two games of September, Scott, Brandon Lough had five hits and two home runs. He has cooled off since then. He's batting 2.46 since then. But since he is batting. It's a low batting average since then, but he does have an 887 OPS.

All right. Yeah, all right. So there's some middle infielers. Hunter Renfro is hitting well enough, Scott, I think, to warrant a look and he's 45% own something like that, Hunter Renfro? Every one of these players we've mentioned so far. Mondesi, V.R.

Lau, Renfro now, because they're facing four lefties, the Padres are. They're all of my top ten sleeper hitters. And Scott Shebler is. Is Chebler on your top ten sleeper hitters? Chevler is too, yep. Yeah, we talked about him. He's got good matchups this week.

All right, so there you go. There's some guys to add. and I still like Michael Conforto if he is available. How about a starting pitcher to add Scott White? Oh, you want me to do a starting pitcher? Well, got to focus on the two start guys for this upcoming week. And I'll give you three. There's really three that you need to key in on.

My favorite of them is Joe Musgrove. There's also Brad Keller, who has lower ceiling, but two really good matchups, and the second best ground ball pitcher in the majors this year. obviously he's been working for him lately and then the third is Tyler Glass now who's kind of the boomer bust pick of the three but he's really only had one bad start with the race

one really bad start so I feel pretty good about using him Mosgrove Keller Glassnow who's the best ground ball pitcher in baseball uh well I haven't been mentioning it because it doesn't really speak well to Clayton to uh to Brad Keller but it's Clayton Richard

third best is Dallas Kichel. Oh, so Keller is the best pitcher of the three now. Not quite, but Kikl, it hasn't really helped that much for Kikl. Kikl's been good this year. I mean, it hasn't been as good as we like Dallas Kikl to be, but he's been a good pitcher. I mean, I think that... Certainly if you're checking that off the waiver wire, you're pretty excited. Yeah, for sure.

I think that Lance McCullors may have had a higher ground ball rate than Kikl when he was He may have, and I'm kind of, it's kind of, I'm kind of manipulating the stat there, too, because I'm comparing Keller only to the qualifiers when he himself isn't a qualifier. Ah, classic Scott White. Just classic Scott White. All right, well, you need some one-starred streamers. We got your back. Musgrove Keller and Glass now if you need two start guys.

We talked about those fellas on Friday. Quick programming note, so we are Monday, Wednesday, Friday this week. We will have a Monday show. next week, which will be similar to today's show. And then we will be on a one per week schedule. So, uh, you're sort of on your own for the final

week of the season, but we'll help you out at least setting your lineups on Monday. We've, we have faith in you guys. You can always feel free to tweet or email. I'm at Adam Azer, A-I-Z-E-R. Scott is at CBS Scott White. And we are at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com, and I do answer a lot of emails

that come in the inbox. It's probably the best way. If you just make sure in your subject line that you something that's obviously fantasy baseball. It's probably the best way for us to get back to you at this point. Now, if you email us this week, there's a good chance I'll read your question on the show. And also feel free to ask us questions about 2019 or beyond because we are going to have a show every single week throughout the off season, give or take, maybe like Thanksgiving, Christmas. But we are going to be once a week until like January, then we'll be twice a week, and then we'll ramp it up. Also, I am planning on missing the entire month of January when I finally take my paternity leave.

But, Scott, we worry about that then. I'm crossed that bridge when we come to it. One of my mom's favorite expressions. That's good expression. Email of the day from Drew in Chicago, Dear Steve and Bucky. That is the friendship that may be the most unconditional ever depicted on the screen. She's Captain America and his friend, Bucky Dent.

It would be heartwarming if, you know, I felt like we had more reason to understand why it was so unconditional. I'm not really sure I care about Bucky. It's one of my least favorite parts of the best. Scott, his name is not Bucky Dent. Oh, yeah, right. It's not Bucky Dent. That's a base. Bucky.

What is his name? Bucky Barnes. Bucky Barnes. I was making such a good point, too. Yeah, yeah, you killed it. Why do I care about Bucky? I don't know. Captain America does.

I've never seen it. I've never seen it. Well, Drew is in the finals in two of his head-to-head leagues. He's in competition for the top spot in his roto league, so he's expecting to make a decent amount of money this year. I owe a lot of my success to you all at the podcast, and I thought it would be a good idea to carry over an idea from the football podcast. Last football season, you guys identified some charities people could donate to

if they wanted to give away some of their earning. What are some charities you guys are passionate about? And I responded to Drew, and I said, you should donate to the American Red Cross, given, you know, what's going on right now in the Carolinas. And Drew said that was a great idea. So I want everybody to be inspired by Drew. You don't have to donate to the Red Cross, but that would be great. Donate to some charity if you want. If you got some extra money from your fantasy winnings, do it for us.

And thank you very much, Drew. Great email. Email of the day. Now, Scott, one-star streamers. Usually I have like five. But this is a special show It's week 26 or something For you

And we just want to know start or sit And so I've identified one-start streamers And this could be a long segment This is basically replacing like the pitcher segment That we do at the end of the show One-star streamers with good matchups, bad matchups And sort of whatever matchups So right from the top

I think my favorite guy is probably Luis Castillo one start at Miami this week. Yeah, he should be your favorite guy with that matchup. What he did against the Cubs on Sunday, it was a quality start. It continued a good run for him, except for the fact that it was only two strikeouts. He didn't.

That changeup comes and goes. And lately it's been really good. He's been racking up the swinging strikes. Didn't it in this start, and he got away with it anyway. I still feel good about him, given the matchup. So Luis Castillo is 73% of, You might not be able to get them. Don't worry.

We have plenty of options for you, including some deep league options that actually have good matchups. Ross Stripling. Can we trust Ross Stripling? He has thrown 51 and 72 pitches in his last two starts. He's got San Diego at home.

So, I mean, if he throws 90 pitches against San Diego, I know he had a bad start at St. Louis on Sunday. I get that. But I still would feel fairly confident in Ross Stripling. Start or sit? Yeah. I mean, I wanted to see better Sunday. Only, there was three run runs and three in a third innings.

But I think given the matchup and the way the pitches have been, the pitch count has been trending up, I think you're right. I think you need to start him. Okay, how about Joey Lucasey against San Francisco? That would be more of a desperation play, I feel like. He's kind of tops out at six innings. And that's not giving him a lot of wiggle room to, you know, not giving them a lot of wiggle room. I just cannot believe how bad the San Francisco Giants are.

Hey, I am in a league where during playoff time, if you have a two-start pitcher, you have to choose which start to count. I had Hermann Marquez. I chose to start his Giants. How? How did he not throw a complete game? How did he not throw a perfect game? Yeah, it backfired. Not that it was a terrible start, but that first start against the Diamondbacks, it was so dominant.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Did you win? Yeah, I won anyway. Oh, right, good job. All right, so Castillo, stripling, Lucchese. Remember, these are all pitchers with good matchups. Here's a guy who's been terrible lately.

Last three starts, 11 earn runs on 21 hits in 10 and 2 thirds. But C.C. Sabathia has the Orioles this weekend. Yeah, I want to start him. What about Lance Lynn against the Orioles? I don't think so. I mean, look, neither is terrible if you're really hurting to fill your final starter spot. I would definitely pursue someone starting to Orioles or the Royals or the Padres or Tigers, one of those awful teams. But, you know, I'm probably not benching somebody already on my roster for them.

By the way, just I want to have fun with this. the Giants have scored more than three runs in a game one time the entire month, and it was at Corse Field. They scored eight runs and lost. What else we got? So Lynn, Sabathia, okay, a little hesitant there. Matt Boyd, 52% owned. He will either face Minnesota or Kansas City this week.

And Boyd is kind of tearing it up. He's got a 309 ERA since the All-Star break. he's had a lot of strikeouts lately and a ton of fly balls but he'll be in a good park this week he'll be at home either against Minnesota or Kansas City Matt Boyd, 52% own. Yeah, I'm still not a big Boyd fan

but I have to admit it's been he's been pitching better not just getting better results he's actually been pitching better. The swinging strikes are up he's been a very good control pitcher like he typically is but it's been even better during this good run.

I think he's startable. I would start him over Sabathia or Lynn. What about Boyd or Lucasey? I would start him over Lucchasey, too. All righty. One-start streamers with bad matchups. Very disappointed in Shane Bieber's performance on Sunday. Five runs on nine hits.

He just continues to give up a ton of hits. against the Tigers. And he's got Boston this week. So I think we can get away from Bieber. I think we can get away. All right. Get away, get away. Rinaldo Lopez.

Last four starts, he's got a strikeout per inning and a 0.67 ERA. He will have the Cubs, though, this week. Tough matchup. Yeah. Yeah, so this is kind of, I wrote up the lead of Waver Wire this morning. kind of around the idea of Lopez and a couple of other big weekend performers who normally, like if this was June, July,

earlier than that, whatever, we'd get excited about it, we'd pick them up in the hope that there would be some eventual payoff. But since there's no immediate payoff, since most likely you're not willing to trust them for one start against the Cubs, is it against the Cubs or it's against the end?

Indians. Oh, I have the Cubs, but I'll double check for you. Okay. Yeah, probably not picking them up at all. All right, that's Rinaldo Lopez. And honestly, it doesn't really matter if it's the Cubs of the Indians. I got them against the Cubs. They're both good. Yeah, get facing Lester. Matt Harvey. Matt Harvey has had 288 ERA and 43 strikeouts to seven walks in 40 and two-thirds over his last seven starts. He's been great. in that stretch, Matt Harvey's had only one bad start. It was against Milwaukee, and guess what? That's who he's lined up to face. If they have a six-man rotation, I don't know what their deal is, the Reds.

And he'll actually be at Miami, and Matt Harvey would be a very interesting one-star streamer. But right now, it looks like he is scheduled to be at Milwaukee on Wednesday. So I'm not using him. And it's probably a similar situation to Lopez where there's not going to come a point where I use him this year. but there may be something to this. It's too early to say for sure, but particularly the last two starts. He had 13 in this most recent one,

21 the time before that, which was obviously a major outlier. But both of these are among his best swinging strike performance of the seasons, got a good number of strikeouts in each of them, pitched well, obviously. His curveball was his best pitch in both of those starts, and that's a pitch he had hardly thrown, either of the last two seasons, really since having the thoracic outlet surgery.

It's still not a pitch. He's throwing a ton, but he's obviously getting a lot of whiffs with it. So that's an interesting development, especially given the way its usage had kind of gone down and now appears to be going back up. And you could maybe take a look at Matt Harvey, not this week, but, I mean, if you're at Miami, I'd be interested. But the following week, it looks like he'll be lined up to face the Royals. at home.

So maybe you can't take it. Yeah, if he pitches well against the Cubs, it's something to think about. Brewers. Brewers, yeah. Marco Gonzalez, I'm just going to go ahead and say no. They're not going to overextend him. They're going to kind of limit his innings, Marco Gonzalez. He's 69% own.

He's at Texas, which Scott has mentioned has been the toughest park to pitch in this year at Texas. Marco Gonzalez, let's avoid. And Yvonne Nova just had a good start against the Brewers on the road. Now he gets the Brewers at home. Ivan Nova has five quality starts in his last. last six starts, start or sit, Nova. I bought into Ivan Nova early, in the early portion of last season, and I've resolved never to buy into him again.

I mean, you know you're not getting strikeouts for him, so. All right, so here are some pitchers with whatever matchups. And just kind of whatever. Mike Miner, he's been really good. Last 15 starts now for Minor. He's got a 3-ERA and 72 strikeouts in 87 innings. The strikeouts going up a little bit lately. Mike Minor against Seattle.

Any interest in minor against Seattle? Seattle actually has the seventh worst offense in baseball. At least when I checked last night, I don't know if the Sunday stats were updated. A lot of that was without Canoe. But you're right. It's not a... Dee Gordon's been so bad. Yeah.

Yeah. Miner's kind of like Matt Boyd in that I don't think the performance. I don't think the peripherals totally back up the performance, but they are getting better. And it's to a point where they're good enough that I can at least consider using him. I think that's, you know, I'd start him over like Sabathia and Lynn and Luke Casey. How about Nick Povetta at Atlanta? Just not pitching deep enough. No, I mean, he's, yeah, six straight non-quality starts.

I mean, he was against Miami this week, and he had five innings three runs. No on Nick Povetta. Tyler Anderson will be either at the Dodgers or at Arizona this week. Yeah, he's had some horrendous starts lately. I think you're better off avoiding him. You are, but like, you are, but this is my point. Like Tyler Anderson just came off a six-inning two-run, six-strike outperformance. Where?

At San Francisco, because they're the worst. James Shields just had a great start at Baltimore, because they're also the worst. So that's why Sabathia. and Lynn are a little interesting, but yeah, I mean, the names that jump out, Luis Castillo and Ross Stripling, and they're the most owned. Matt Boyd and Mike Minor this week, perhaps good bets for you. They're fine. They're fine. They are not really up to Seat Geek caliber, because Seat Geek is much more than just fine. Seekek is the best ticket app out there. In fact, looking at all the apps on my phone, Seekig is definitely one of my favorites.

I love the Seekek app. I tell people about the Seekek app all the time because I want to save you money and I want to save you time. And if you want to save $20 off your first purchase, you go to Seekgeek.com or you download the app. You search for an event. You get your tickets and then you type in Fantasy.

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Sooner it'll be basketball. It's concerts. It's comedy. It's theater. And every purchase is fully guaranteed. So do what I do and use the Seekek app. I have used it for so many different types of events. And even though I can no longer use that promo code fantasy, I still use Seekek because

it saves me money because it's just that good. But you use the code fantasy and get fantasy, that is, and get $20 off your first Seekkeek purchase. Seat Geek, Life's an event. And we have the tickets. All right, Scotty Boy, I got some deep league pitchers for you. They are owned in less than 30% of leagues, and a lot of them have good matchups. So let's go.

How about this one? Adam Wainwright. I said you deserve to lose if you start Adam Wainwright, and he threw six scoreless. Now, he was bad in his first start of the week. But six scoreless endings with nine strikeouts against the Dodgers. And he does have a bit of a history recently in recent years of being a bad pitcher, but good at home. And guess who's coming to town?

The San Francisco Giants against... I can't do it. No? I mean, that curveball looked really good last night. But it's been so bad for years now, years. I can't. After one good start, I can't do that. Too much on the line.

And what was I going to say? Oh, yeah, Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager said that the Dodgers are a fastball-hitting team. and Wayne Wright had a great curveball last night, so perhaps it was just the stars aligning. All right. Chris Stratton at San Diego. No. James Shields at Cleveland or Chicago this week. Well, definitely not. Wei Yin Chen and his 177 Home ERA against Cincinnati at home.

I'm going to take a pass on that one, too. How about Cody Reed? Cody Reed, not, yeah, he stinks, but he had 10 strikeouts at the Cubs, and he's at Miami this week, Cody Reed. I'm not sure he stinks,

but I'm not confident enough to use him. All right, we got a couple, a few more here. Two more. Thomas Pannon. Actually, no, three more, sorry. Thomas Pinole of the Blue Jays, pretty good lately, and he's got the raise this week.

No. Francisco Liriano has the Royals this week. Coming off a couple pretty good starts, but no. And Ian Kennedy has Detroit this week? No. I mean, look, if these are the best pitchers you could find on the waiver wire, you're picking the right matchups.

Well, we're in deep leagues. Right, yeah. But my, my, yeah, I'd rather not. Even in deep leagues, like a lot of times, if it's a deep leagues, if it's a deep leagues, categories league. You're struggling to fill a pitcher spot rather than go with a pitcher who's very likely to crush you in ERAs. It's better to go with the middle reliever. Now, if it's a points league, a deep points league, maybe that's when you have to turn to this group.

All right. Here's a new category called, hey, guys, thanks for losing me a fantasy league. And I want to sincerely thank these four pitchers for just being complete garbage on Sunday. and losing me the podcast league and my categories league, which I thought I was ticketed for the finals in both of them. I am now without a baseball team, fantasy baseball team. Oh, no wonder we're quitting after next Monday. And my real baseball team also stinks lately, so, you know.

Mike Fires, thank you for your dreadful performance at Tampa Bay on Sunday. Jake Junis, thank you for giving up three home runs in 46 innings going into Sunday and giving up three home runs in three innings on Sunday and a dreadful start against the twins. Kyle Gibson, thank you for giving up 11 hits and five runs in six and two thirds at Kansas City on Sunday. And Lucas Gialito, saving you for last. Thank you, Lucas Gialito, for giving up six runs for earned with only one strikeout at

the Baltimore Orioles, who just won to secure the fact that they will not finish with the worst record in Major League Baseball history. So wonderful news there for fires, for Junis, for Gibson, and for Gialito. And the only one I regret, maybe, is Gibson. But it was Kansas City. He had come off two good starts at Houston and against the Yankees. And before that, he was really bad.

Good, relatively speaking. He definitely hasn't been the same pitcher for, like, a month and a half now. I will say Gialito with what was supposed to be about as good a match-ups as you'll ever find this week, a two-start week against the Orioles and the Royals. he pretty much assured with his performance in those two matchups that he will not be on somebody I'm targeting as a sleeper next season. Yeah, really disappointing. Really did.

I think he had four strikeouts between those two starts. Heath and I both lost in our two-week semifinals matchups. So the podcaster, the CBS guys are out of it. And I'll probably, let me give a shout out to the teams that are still in it right now in the podcast league. Which is not the Four of the People League. This is the 12-team points league. The one that's been around longer. The OG of podcast leagues.

We have the Shaw-Shimp Redemption and Breakfast of Champions, who actually both lost in week 25, but since it was a two-week playoff, it ended up being pretty close in the two matchups. Will this be the third or fourth time that a listener won the league? I'm not sure. It hasn't happened. as often as I would have guessed when we were first starting it, to be honest.

Jason. We've represented well over the years. Yeah, you in particular. Jason, I think I make the playoffs. Have we done the league for like eight or nine years? I'm trying to pull up the history now. I've been a long time. It's been all but one year.

It's predated Al Malkior, so it's been a long time. I feel good about that. I'm always competitive, but I got to start winning more if I only want to one. Fourth year that a listener's won, it'll be the third straight year the listeners won. So we are slacking. Yeah, all right, so Jason owns Shawsham Predemption. His last name is B-U-C-H. I don't know how to pronounce that.

And John Snedeker owns Breakfast of Champions. So good luck to you guys. Good luck to you guys, you jerks. All right, I think we should finally get to some news. Well, first of all, Scott, are you concerned about anybody resting this week? Well, Cleveland's clinched, right? Yeah, Boston's going to clinch this week. Boston.

That's kind of surprising that Cleveland clinch before Boston. But, yeah, I mean, Boston's the one that's most concerning because there's no seating to be figured out there. Like, they're the one seed. Well, you know what? I think Cleveland's pretty definitively the third seed, too. Cleveland rested. Cleveland rested Ramirez, Brantley, and Lindorahe yesterday. Here's the thing.

Here's the thing. Yeah. Like, you can't just sit a hitter for two weeks and expect it to be fine when the playoffs start. It doesn't work that way. They're going to – they're probably going to play a lot of half games, the stars. But I still suspect they're going to be in the lineup more often than not. The studs, like Ramirez, Lendor, not sitting in. Okay, so not a huge concern right now.

There's definitely going to be some resting going on for the Red Sox and the Indians. The Astros are approaching that territory. They're four and a half games up on Oakland, but that's probably a concern for next week. Yeah, very little drama when it comes to playoff positioning in the AL. Right. It's really just a matter of who's hosting the wildcard game. The Yankees are a game and a half up on Oakland. The NL, on the other hand, is really exciting.

The Brewers are two and a half games back of the Cubs in the Central. The Dodgers are a half game behind the Rockies in the West, and the National League wild card is really fun. Milwaukee has it. The Dodgers have it. The Dodgers and Cardinals are actually tied, and then Arizona is four games back, Philadelphia is five games back,

and the nationals are six. All right, anyway, Scott, let's talk about news items about the only two teams that matter in baseball, and that would be the Red Sox and Yankees. Here's a player that I think maybe I am a little worried about resting, but I don't see how you sit him, but this really stinks for Muki Betz owners. Mookiee Betz left with a side injury.

Everybody says he's fine. He's going to play on Tuesday. He's fine. He's already been on the DL once with a side injury. They are one win away, and they're facing the Yankees on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. They're one win away from clinching the division. They've already clinched the playoffs. You got to start bets, right?

I think so. But I share your concerns. I feel like this is, I could totally see this becoming a situation where, oh, he's fine, he's fine. Well, let's just rest him all week just to be sure, you know? And for me, I have him in a league where I'm playing for the championship game. And not just any league, the 24-team Dynasty League, which is probably the one nearest and dearest to my heart. And I'm in the championship game. I think for the first time, I've certainly never won the championship before.

I think this is the first time I've played for it. I'm, you know, pretty much always in the playoffs, but haven't gotten this far. So, you know, it's 24 teams. My best alternative is probably like obviously Al Garcia, maybe Jay Bruce. So clearly a major downgrade. If it's a shallower league and you have somebody better than that, it might be better to play it's safe. Oh, boy. Oh man

I get I hate it They say he's going to play But yeah It's such bad timing for bets Is Chris Saleworth starting Probably at this point Yes he went three innings in his last start

Yeah 42 pitches I mean they said he would increase it by an inning each time So if you If you follow that to the letter He's going to pitch four innings next time and that won't be enough for a win. They've already lied about that, Scott, because he went from one inning to three innings.

Well, but he was supposed to go two in that first start, and he just didn't have an efficient enough inning. Well, somebody's got a case of the supposed to. Yeah, if you really need a win and aren't just looking for good ratios, then maybe you should sit sail. And Gregory, oh, wait, no, I'm in the wrong section. I'm talking about players on team.

that don't matter. Sticking with Red Sox and Yankees, Rick Porcelo's workload is being managed to prepare him for the postseason. He has thrown fewer than six innings and five straight starts. Porcelo is at Cleveland this week. Yeah, I didn't realize the workload was being managed, but I hadn't noticed that because the best thing he brings to the table. Eduardo Nunez is likely going to start on Tuesday,

and that may affect Devers, who wasn't really playing that much until Nunez got this little injury. the other team that matters, really the only team that matters, Aaron Judge is off the DL, but he's not ready to hit. Got to sit him, right? Because he's getting closer, but there's no way you can start Aaron Judge. Yeah, you don't start him yet. And I want to go back to the teams that have clenched are about to clench Cleveland and Red Sox in particular,

because we really only touched on the position players, which I think if, unless you have four dollars that they're going to sit for an extended period, you have to start at least the best ones. But pitchers, those are who I'm concerned about losing the most playing time. I think, you know, Sail's going to go only four innings in all likelihood, but I think we'll see like three or four innings starts from a lot of these other guys. Maybe that's more next week when they're really trying to line up the rotation for the playoffs. But you already mentioned it's having an impact on Porcelo.

Yeah. And a role as Chapman could be back this week. So keep that in mind. News about other teams Cares about them James Paxton could make a start this week as he gets over pneumonia And I don't know that they know

When James Paxton's going to pitch But would you start Paxton Probably not He's either going to be at Houston or at Texas So it's not going to be an easy stadium Or matchup really So if you want to avoid Paxton that helps Madison Bumgarner

What do you have one strikeout Against the Rockies something like that. His last time out, Bumgarner was at the Dodgers. And he had four-strike, what the hell is it with me? Oh, no, no, no, I was right.

He had two strikeouts. Two strikeouts against the Rockies. Anywho, he left with an injury. He should be fine, but he's at St. Louis this week. You're going to start Bumgarner? I will probably not start Bumgarner because he hasn't been particularly reliable anyway.

Do we know if Walker Bueller or Jack Flaherty will be shut down this year? I have not seen anything to indicate that. Walker Bueller is already about 30 innings over what he threw last year. Seems like the Dodgers are willing to ride it out, though. He's kind of their best pitcher. I mean, I know Clayton Kershaw has certainly been good lately, but I think Bueller's been a little bit better. Clay Buckholtz is out for the season.

Gregory Polanco is out seven to nine months due to a dislocation. shoulder and a torn labrum. And there goes my favorite sleeper for 2019. Gregory Polanco. Michael Fulmer threw five pitches and gave up two home runs before leaving with knee inflammation. I hope he didn't start Michael Fulmer. The Marlins-Filly's game on Sunday was the first game since 1900 in which no pitchers had a plate appearance.

And that does not include games, obviously, with a DH. First game since 1900 in which no pitchers had a plate appearance. Why? Because we are in September. the Phillies have 39 players on their roster. It's not a joke. 39. And these two teams just made a ton of pitching changes.

Edwin-Ecanacio and hurt his ankle. It is not believed to be serious. Josh Donaldson has not played back-to-back games yet. Can you start Donaldson in a weekly format? No. Johann Camargo expected back today. Shohei Otani hurt his ankle on Sunday, but he should be fine to play on Tuesday.

Trevor Cahill will miss his next start. Jason Hayward. off the DL, but he sat on Sunday, and Kyle Schwerber was supposed to be back at the beginning of this week. It doesn't look like that's going to happen for Schwerber. If you need a catcher, Mitch Garber has a concussion,

and Williams Osteudio. I've heard it as both Osteadillo and Ostudio. I think it's Osteoio, and both he and Chris Jimenez are going to get more playing time, but Osteo has actually been hitting pretty well lately. You want it to be a studio. I would like for it to be Stu, Stu, Stu, Studio. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. But doing that just wouldn't be smart, Scott. You know, you know, it's not smart making the lottery, the centerpiece of your retirement plan. Don't do that, Scott White. You know what else is not smart? And this is something that actually has happened to me before. Letting your friends pick your karaoke song. I was on a cruise and my stupid friend picked Live in LaVita Loka, and I was very mad and I had to sing it.

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Bullpen. Any closers you think are worth picking up right now that might be available? Well, as a matter of fact, Michael Cain's favorite player is looking more and more like the true ninth inning man for the angels. And that, of course, is Thai Buttery. Butry. Butry.

But I tried to confirm the pronunciation. I hope that's true. It's true. I've heard it. I'm just running with this microphone. I saw you tweeted about it. Like, you love this gag. Butry.

You know what, Scott? Someone sent us an email this morning and said, thank you guys so much. I won my league and I won my league partially because of Ty Butchery. And I never would have heard of him, if not for you guys. Yeah. This stuff matters. The stuff matters. Heronoh, pick him up.

Butchrey pick him up. Nishik and Hunter appear to be splitting saves. Oh, Sergio Romo's back. Sergio Romo pitched one time between August 25th and this weekend. And he pitched in all three freaking games, and he got two saves. Did you mention Hirano? I did. Yeah, they went right back to Friday after that blown save Wednesday.

Yeah. So he looks like the closer, too. And Jeremy Jeffers looks like the closer. Corey Canabel pitched the seventh inning on Friday. Jeffers got the save. But Scott still maybe has some concerns about Canabel getting a save here or there. Maybe. And Brandon Morrow could be back this week,

but he may not be used in a save situation immediately. And Morrow won't pitch on back-to-back days. So it's really a mess in that Cubs book. open. They're just running out of time for him to contribute. It's just, I mean, the way it is this time of year. I think every time, like, I got to write

three waiver wire columns this week, and then a fourth on Monday, and it's like, I'm just going to keep writing about the same players, because who's going to, what's going to change enough that you're going to suddenly trust them in your lineup. And Morrow, so anyway, for the Cubs,

Jorge de Lerosa got the same on Friday, and then three pitchers, Each got an out in the ninth inning on Saturday, and Cyshek ended up getting the save. One situation to monitor, Scott, Erotus Viscayano is back. What do you think of the Braves? I mean, I think it's Mentor. He hasn't been as reliable lately, but I don't see him losing save chances unless, you know, he's pretty much never called a pitch three days in a row, so occasionally someone else might get in the mix,

and maybe that someone will be Viscayino, but I think it's, I think it's mentor's job. So that's the bullpen for you. We can take a look at the most out of this. I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of the guys we talked about. If we're doing our job, right? Brad Keller, Adelberto Mondece, numbers 1 and 2. Jimon Choi is number three. He is 14% owned.

He is first base eligible. He's playing for the race, and he has been pretty good. I've been pretty good lately. Any interest in Jemon Choi? If he played every day, but he pretty much sits... against every left-hand of the race face. And they're supposed to face three this week, I think, even though they have really good matchups.

I wasn't motivated to put Joy in the top 10 sleeper hitters. Byer beware. Aaron Sanchez is the fourth most added player at Baltimore, home against Tampa Bay. Two-star pitcher. I think he could go all Gialito on you this week. He could. He could.

But I don't think it's a terrible pickup. up, you know, there are probably a lot of one-star pitchers I'd use instead of two-star Sanchez. But you could do worse. Aaron Sanchez, because Anibal Sanchez is also two-star pitcher, who we'd rather have. All right, so if you're going to pick up any of these guys on the most added list, who would they be? Aaron Sanchez, Wade Miley, Felix Pena, Eric Fetti, Framber Valdez, Jordan Zimmerman, Jake Oterese. So, Pena is not making two-starts.

I mentioned at the end of last week. I think Jeff Fletcher was the Angels Beatrider, who said he was skeptical he would when I brought it up on Twitter. And now it looks like Tyler Skaggs is going to start Tuesday, which is the Angels' first game of the week, which whoever did, that would be paying his only chance to make two starts if he started twice. So he's out.

The others I would rank Miley, Sanchez. Who else did you say? Eric Fetty, Frammer Valdez, Jordan Zimmerman, and Jake Oterese. Yeah, I don't even care about those guys at all. Just Miley and Sanchez would be the only, Aaron Sanchez was, though Annibal too, would be the only ones that I'd look to this week. Okay.

And one other thing I wanted to mention, Scott, and I forgot it. Oh, if you had told me that Jeff Fletcher had been playing second base regularly for the Angels, I would totally believe you. Like, I just have, there are so many players that are playing every day, and I look at the box scores every day, and I skip over them because they just don't matter. and I, sure. I don't know. I can't name...

David Fletcher, by the way. I had to look it up. Okay. I think of Darren Fletcher, but no. He hasn't played in a while. I'm not sure I can name two players on the Tigers at this point. I'm sure you could. I can, but I don't know that I can name 20.

We talked a lot about... Oh, dude, Yassio Puig. Yassio Puig has a 1939 OPS in his last five games with five home runs and a 500 batting average. He had a 775 OPS in his first 109 games. Are you going to start Yasil Pug this week? Yeah, definitely. I don't think he's a bad start normally, but certainly after a weekend where he hit five home

runs. And he mentioned that the coaches have been telling him, have been on him, they've been telling him they need to hit the ball in the air more. So he's looking for pitches that he can hit in the air. and he's having his best fly ball month after August was his worst fly ball month of the season. So that's interesting. That's interesting. Fly ball revolution has worked for a lot of players.

Quig is obviously a physical specimen. It looks like, I don't even know. He looks more athletic than a lot of football players, frankly. And yeah, yeah, obviously paying a big dividends here recently. I want to look at some studs who have been duds lately and tell me if you're confident in them this week. Zach Godley, Colorado at home this week. No. Zach Granke, Colorado at home this week.

Yes. Chris Archer, either Kansas City at home or Milwaukee at home this week. That's kind of a big difference. Yeah, I think, unless they're on a six-man rotation or they add someone in, it'll be Kansas City. I'm going to have to make a decision between Archer and Porcelo in that same 24 team league where I have bets. And based on the information shared in this podcast, I think I'm going to go Archer over Porcelo,

which, you know, means a lot of standard Riggs league owners probably have room with their line for Archer too. Julio Taran against Philadelphia. Nah. Rich Hill against San Diego. No quality starts in his last four starts. Yeah, but... They're pretty good starts, even if they're a little short of the quality threshold.

And it's San Diego, so yeah, I'd start Richel. Kevin Gosman against either St. Louis or Philadelphia this week. Nah. All right. So let's look at today's matchups, and then we will read a bunch of emails. Also, are you aware that the Mets have actually – Mets are pretty good now. They're playing well. They're not the layup that they used to be.

Except when de Grom starts. It's so true. It's crazy. It's like compare how many wins Noah Cindergarde has, considering all the time he missed to how many wins DeGrom has. And it's just, it's not right. I actually don't know. 12.

So Cindergarde has 12 wins in 22 starts. And he hasn't even had a very Cindergarde-like season, you know. but 12 wins and 22 starts, and DeGrom has 8 and 30 stars. I was happy to see DeGrom Pitchwell, or excuse me, Cindergarde pitch well at the Red Sox. People were nervous about that start. I hope he stuck with him. We've been saying it really seems like a Babbat issue for him.

All right, here we go Monday. We're up all night to Baruchy at Sean Gilmartin. Blue Jays and Orioles. Barucky at the O's. Not bad. I think I might do it. Are you starting both Brad Keller and Joe? Musgrove.

Yes. Zach Wheeler at Jake Garietta. I would start both. Cole Stewart at Jordan Zimmerman. I actually think the twins are using an opener in that game, Gabriel Moia. Not that you start Stewart anyway. And I wouldn't start Zimmerman. Eric Fetty at Trevor Richards.

I would start neither. Fettie's not bad. He's kind of in that Baroquey range. I'd rather not, but you could do worse. Miles Michaelis at Mike Fultenevich. Yeah, both. DeSclophani at Wade Miley. Miley?

I'll give him a shot. Tyler Glassnow at Adrian Sampson. Only Glass Now. Mike Leak at Framber Valdez. Ah, neither. Kyle Hendrix and Patrick Corbyn. Corbyn, yes. and Hendrix, yeah, sure.

Oh, Slugfest tonight, Giants at Padres, Andrew Suarez at Brian Mitchell. Suarez isn't terrible. Suarez, I might like them better than both Baroquee and who was the other one, I said? Fetti. Fetti, yeah. I would say, like, you look at the Padres.

Austin Hedges, whoever they started catcher. between Hedges and Bahaia, which they really are alternating every game. Not bad lately. Renfro's hitting well. What's his name? Reyes is... Ron Neal.

Yeah, Fred. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Reyes. He's been all right. They're not as bad. They're not like Giants' Marlins level bad. Yeah, fine. They're pretty bad.

John Gray at Hyunjin Ryu. Both. Start both. Let's read to me a mess. to finish the show. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Brian from Indianapolis. Clevenger versus the Red Sox or Kintana versus the White Sox in a points league? Clevenger. All right. Tom from Chicago.

14 team points league. Pick two out of three to start. Albies Donaldson Malick Smith. I would start Albiz and Malik Smith. And then pick two of these pitchers. Shane Bieber against Boston, Jake Oteresey at Detroit, Sean Nukem against Philadelphia. I know. Man, start over. I guess the other pitchers, Beaver and Newcomb.

I would tell you to play the Waver Wire, but it's a 14-team league, so I don't know how much success you'd have. Would you take a shot on Wei and Chen at home against Cincinnati over these guys? Or Adam Wainwright against the Giants? No, not at Wayne Wright. Chen might be tempting. You know, I just think I'd hope for the best version of Beaver and Newcomb to show up. From Scott, Springer or Gallo this week,

Categories, OVP League, Springer or Gallo? Springer. He's been hot. Head to Head Points League. Question from Phil. Would you bench Jose Ramirez for Willie Adelaide or Malick Smith, for Willie Adamas, concern that Ramirez would sit this week. He will sit some. He has also been the best hitter in fantasy this year.

And he just sat on Sunday, so maybe he won't sit that much this week. Okay, here's a, no name here, but... And I'm basing that total points, by the way. There's a few ways you can measure best hitter and fantasy. Pick one for a... relief pitcher spot. Willie Peralta or Joe Musgrove? I would pick Musgrove.

Now pick two starting pitchers. James Paxton, Miles Michaelis, John Gray, and Joe Musgrove. Or you can put Musgrove at RP and start two. Well, John Gray is making two starts. So I think he'd have to be one of the two. Michaelis has to be also. He's pitching today.

Okay. Yep, leave Paxton out. Yeah, I think even if Michaelis is only making one start, which he isn't. You do that. And Paxton's sort of pitcher I never bench, but there's obviously the health question there. Sure, yeah. From Bill Byron in Palm Desert, California. Ten team head-ded points league that counts batting average.

I don't know how that works. Justin Upton, who has four home runs his last four games, and or Michael Conforto over Nelson Cruz, and or Michael Brantley. So I guess he needs two out of four Justin Upton, Michael Conforto, Nelson Cruz, he's got an illness, and Michael Brantley. Two of the four in a points league. Okay, so that makes... Okay, Upton for sure.

I don't really like the Mets matchups this week, so no to Conforto, which means either the sick Cruz or the Brantley on the already clenched Indians. I will go... Well, let me say this. If Cruz is in the lineup tonight, I'm starting Cruz. Yeah.

The Indians do not play tonight. So if Cruz is not in the lineup tonight and we don't get an indication that he'll definitely be back on Tuesday, then you go with Brantley, who's very safe in a points league. Yeah, that makes sense. I can go with that. Adam from San Diego. Dear, two tired dads. Oh, gosh.

You got that right. Confirmed. Two tired dads. You got it worse because you're like Because you still got football season September is the worst For me I can take a little time off maybe

Yeah Yeah Yeah This is the tough month for me Yeah Because Monday is my off day But there's baseball So

Yeah But honestly I'm more tired Because of work Not because I got My wife is just the freaking best She's been a real trooper And she's helped me out a lot So

I'm fine We're good Pick one of these guys. Confordo, Renfro, Luriano, Pueeg. It got to be Pueg after the weekend he had. Does it? I mean, it's just five games. Yeah, it does. Come on.

He's having a good year, too. He is only having a good year because of the five games. I swear. He had a 775 OPS before that. Yeah. I mean, good matchups for the Dodgers this week. Not so good for the Mets. Who's the other one?

Renfro. Lurio at Lurio. Renfro. I mean, they're fine for Renfro, but I think Pueg's better than Renfro to begin with. So, yeah, let's start Pueek. And it's a points league in Renfro, such bad play discipline. One of these guys, LeClerc or Minter? I would go...

Six games for Texas, seven for Atlanta. Mentor. Doug from Astoria, pick two of three. Luis Castillo, Joey Lucchasee. Joey Lucchasey, two-start, Wade Miley. Easy, sit Lucchase. Yes. Right?

Yep. All right. From Hugh. Shebler for seven games. Piscotti for six. Jose Abraeu for six. Eddie Rosario for six. I think pick one.

Just one? Yeah. It's hard to trust Abraeu right now. Hard to trust Rosario. Yeah, it is. but even though they're obviously the highest end hitters there I'm just checking to make sure

Brady's been playing regularly and he has I think I'd start a Brady Has he been hitting regularly though Well no For my memory he's been really bad In theory he's the kind of player You trust through the ups and downs

And if this was July That would certainly be the case So I'm going to stick to that abroad. Well, I mean, I would also think that way, except he's coming off the DL after surgery. Yeah. So he had abdomen surgery. He's got three hits in his first game back, but then, like, no hits in five games since. It's weird, right?

Yeah. Did he have any extra base hits in his first game back? In that game there. All right. All right. No, first he didn't have any extra base hits. They were three singles. I don't necessarily think you're wrong.

It's tempting to start at Brayu, but the only only, the only thing. reason why I'm thinking no is because he's coming back from surgery. A bray is the rewarding option. If you want to play it safe, Piscotti. Chris wants to know which three outfielers are you benching in a categories league. I'm just going to make this easy and say we're benching Pollock because he's been crap.

So now we need to bench two of these guys. Starling Marte, Marcelo Zuna, Michael Brantley, Stephen Piscotti, Mitch Hanager, and Nick Markechis. We are also benching Nick Markechis because he's been crap. Starling Marte, Ozuna, Brantley, Piscotti, Hanager, sit one. Do you hear the kid's toy in the background? No, I didn't. Okay, good.

That's good. Now that I've pulled back the curtain. Okay, so we are starting four of them, right? Okay, we're starting Markechis. No, we're not starting Markechis. No. In a head-to-head category. We are sitting Marcaiccas.

No, I'm starting Marquakis. He's the North Pole right now. He's so cold, right? I think. He's not that cold. He has seven games in the North Pole, Scott. All right, he's actually snapping out of it a little bit with two, three, three, two-hit games in his last six games. But this is a Categories League.

He's not even good categories leagues. Well, I mean, he has one steal in 14 home runs. He drives in a lot of runs. All right. So who are you? Who? Okay. We're sitting, can we at least agree on Pollock?

We're sitting Pollock. I think we're sitting Brantley. I was picking the four to start. Okay, so we're starting Markechis, Marte, Hanigur, and Piscotti. I like Ozuna the way he's been hitting right now over Marquins. You could do Ozuna instead of Piscotti, I think. Or Marquist. But Piscotti has the better matches.

Yeah. Fine. Last one, Jack in L.A. Anabal Sanchez or Aaron Sanchez? Anabal. Okay. And that's it. Good luck.

I'm a little more confident. No, you know what? That's not true. Anibal. Sorry. Sorry to mess up your outro because they're usually so good. Yeah, they're so great. That's the best one we've done all year.

For Scott White, I'm Adamazer. We'll talk to you Wednesday, everybody. Let's win some titles.