Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Amazing Olson & Hitters to Add

Episode Date: September 20, 2017

Matt Olson has homered in five straight games! Where will he be ranked next year (2:30)? And which other hitters can you rely on to finish this Fantasy season (13:04)? ... Start or Sit Danny Salazar and Jake Arrieta on Thursday (9:25)? We also discuss all of the relevant SPs from the last two days and decide if we're starting them in their next scheduled starts (21:30-38:15) ... Looking at a couple of Scott White's bold predictions for 2018 (38:15) before previewing today's matchups (45:54) and Thursday's (54:25) as well ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mid-round breakout O M-G No Lasko Just say no Carasco sang want to After a Tuesday hiatus We are back with fantasy baseball Today on Wednesday

What up everybody Pitchers, hitters Isn't that what we do every show? I guess it's not quite that great of a tease Look at some of the... Wow, this is a September intro if I've ever heard one Pitchers, hitters, baseball, Fantasy baseball

Scott's Bowl predictions for 2018 Look at that article He wrote 30 of them going to pick a few of them. Yeah. Yeah, I did that like a month ago, though. So, way to keep up at them. I know, I know.

But I picked the ones that I think are still relevant and still apply. Okay. They should be still relevant, considering 2017 isn't over yet, and it's predicting 2018. I should hope they're relevant. Yeah, they certainly are. It's a good read. Google it. And, yeah, that's, you know how we do it here.

We'll preview tonight's matchups and also Thursday's matchups, since we will not be back until Friday. Then we will do a show on Monday, and that will be it for the 2017 season. However, we will be here once a week during the off season to give you fantasy baseball content. So after Friday, once a week, going forward. Scott, I've got Spirit.

Yes, I do. I've got Spirit. How about you rocking the CBS Sports T-shirt today? I am. I am. Do you want to know the whole thought process behind why I'm wearing it? Well, I very rarely see you in a t-shirt, so yeah, sure, at work. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I don't think anybody would care if I showed up with a t-shirt here. There would be a pretty lax dress code, but I don't feel right about wearing a t-shirt to work most days. But since it is CBS Sports company-issued t-shirt, I feel like it's acceptable. And the reason I did it is because I want to wear, I want to be wearing certain shoes when my wife goes into labor, because foot comfort I learned the first time around is very important. Oh, really? You're on your feet for hours at a time. And I don't think certain shirts look very good with my sneakers, but t-shirts always do.

So I'm going to keep the cash here this week, Adam, because I am on call. It could happen mid-podcast. We might not make it a full hour this time. Wait, are you telling me that if your wife goes into labor, you would actually leave the podcast early? Oh, yeah. I'm out of here. Wow. Oh, I don't like that.

but I do like Matt Olson, Scott White, 63% owned. This is the most amazing stat. Not to me that he's homered in five straight games. It's not that. It's that he has 23 home runs and two doubles in 55 games. The only hits that this man gets are home runs. Matt Olson, obviously he's...

I think Matt Christopher wrote a book about that. The kid who only hit home runs. I think that's what it's called. I don't know that book. Matt Christopher, you didn't, in your youthful days, you didn't frequent the Matt Christopher section of the school library. No, I did not. Okay. But I will check it out tonight.

Would you like me to read that book? I'm not going to read it. I'm never going to read it. Most of them aren't that great. Matt Olson, obviously you need to own him now. You need to start him now. Get them in your lineup some way somehow. What about next year?

How are you going to feel about Matt Olson? Olson. So somebody asked me where I draft him, and I haven't gone through the rankings enough to be sure, but I'm thinking the round to 12, round 12 to 15 range for Matt Olson. He's dual eligible right now at first base and outfield, but next year it'll be just first base. Obviously, that's a deep position. I have at least ranked 12 deep at first base, and he's outside of that group, but he will be in that 12 to 20 range at a deep position because, I mean, the power, there's no questioning the power. He's the first player other than Giancarlo Stanton in all of history to hit

20 homers in both the minors and the majors in the same season. So that's a cool stat. He's up to 45 now, I think, between the two. And we know he could hit for power. But I've been impressed by the way he's improved his strikeout rate. Right, yeah, exactly. That's what I was going to say. And the walk to strikeout rate's not bad for Olson. 21 walks, 55 strikeouts for a power here. He's not Joey Gallo with the strikeouts. He's not even Aaron Judge with the strikeouts. He does strike out, but it's more Cody Bellinger-like. And I think that's...

I think the ceiling him and Bellinger might be closer than a lot of people are giving a credit for. Now, I'm going to have Bellinger's my fifth at first basement, so I will be among those not giving it that much credit, but, you know, Olson's going to be the one who might show up on my

sleepers list next year. Well, Belinger's not going to qualify for that. No, but you do think, bold prediction. in your column that Bellinger is going to basically destroy Aaron Judge in fantasy baseball next year? That's a little strong. I think I worded it he's going to distance himself from from Aaron Judge when right now Aaron Judge has the better chance of being a league MVP. But yeah, I think kind of like Olson,

Bellinger has cut down on the strikeouts as the season has gone on while Judge certainly hasn't done that. And Bellinger's rate was better to begin with. think with Bellinger's his swing is just geared for power. He's among the top fly ball hitters in the majors, among the top hard hit percentage. I mean, you combine

those two. You're talking a ton of home runs for a guy who's only 22. So yeah, I think Bellinger Bellinger will be the one in the MVP discussion next year. Fine. All right, whatever. Any standouts from Tuesdays or Monday's game, Scott White?

Yeah, I mean, it depends how much you want them to stand out by. But have we talked about Nicholas Castellanos enough? No, we have he's 71% own, and he is batting 385 with eight home runs in his last 26 games, a 750 slugging percentage. Yeah, yeah, and that was a long time coming, because he had a very high-lined rate, a very high-hard contact rate, according to Fangraphs.

And it just wasn't showing in the numbers until this surge here at the end of the season. I think he's in the top 12 third baseman in points league now for the season because he's been so hot and still widely available. He was in my top 10 sleeper hitters for this past week. Might wind up there. And again, if I'm the one around to ride it, for the final week of the season,

So he's among the standouts. Justin Boar, I think somebody who might give Matt Olson a run in the first base rankings next year, the way he's come back, four straight two-hit games, and 361 and 10 games since returning from the DL. And I even feel like Jose Reyes is back to being mixed league relevant, as hot as he's been. Last 24 games, 356 batting average, five home runs, nine steals. again in 24 games, a one-to-one strikeout to walk ratio.

That's Jose Reyes at his best. He's not a standout in anything, but he's good at everything. And some of the bad at ball data before he got hot here suggested he was due for a correction himself. All right, so Castellanos, again, 71% own. Reyes is another guy you can pick up. I'll give some more hitters to Scott. He'll tell us how he feels about them and whether or not he can rely on. on them, but, you know, Castellanos and Olson are guys that you could be utility ing right now.

Utilitying right now. Just get them in your lineup somehow. All right, news and notes for you. Corey Seeger is going to have to play through an elbow injury, Scott. They think that actually resting might be counterproductive. They want them to stay loose, stay warm. Are you concerned about starting Corey Seeger? Should the Corey Seeger owner be picking up Jose Reyes?

Hmm. It's not a wild idea. I mean, there really are no wild ideas this time of year, especially when you're talking about it. In a weekly league, one more lineup lock, assuming your league even counts the last week. And if there's any threat of a player potentially missing a game, I know they're saying he's not going to have another off day,

but it seems like the pain could get bad enough to kind of change that plan. So, yeah, I don't think it's crazy. I might do that, race instead of Seeger the final week. Well, obviously, we have time to figure that one out. Jose Ramirez back in the lineup. Adam Wainwright's back, but he's going to pitch out of the bullpen. Daniel Murphy was scratched on Tuesday. He's expected to play today.

Miguel Sino, unlikely to return in the regular season. Danny Salazar is going to start Thursday against the California Angels of Los Angeles and Anaheim. Do you know what that means, Adam? What? No two starts for Clevenger. Oh, no. Maybe next week? Maybe.

That sucks, actually. I'd prefer that. You got a good start from Clevenger last night, though, so at least you can be happy. Are you going to start Danny Salazar tomorrow against the Angels? No. He's 1-800-proof it all the way. How about Jake Areetta tomorrow? He's going to start.

Mm-hmm. Start or sit. They will be facing it. Maybe not 1-800-proof it, but, like, 1-8-88-prove it. At the Brewers. Big game. At the brew. Yeah, it's a big game, but I don't especially trust him to go deep. And I'm always a little hesitant with pitchers back from injury unless they're, you know, Clayton Kershaw or something. And Arietta hasn't been that this year. He didn't prove. He was really good, though, before.

He was good. Yeah, I mean, he was good. But for a while. Little, little outside of the ace class of pitchers. All right. Even though Sam Dyson has done well for the Giants this year. They are going to... Their goal is to have Mark Melanson be their closer next year. He'll be recovering from surgery. Not major surgery, but surgery nonetheless. Ender Anciarte's day-to-day with a sore thumb.

And a couple of baseball notes. We are now in... Oh, three baseball notes. We've already broken the home run record for a single season with about a week and a half to go. Oh, for all of baseball For all of baseball. Yeah, okay.

This season could become the third season in baseball history without a 20-game winner, excluding strike shortened seasons. It seems very unlikely that's going to happen. In fact, Kershaw is the only one who had a chance, and he may have had to win the game he pitched on Monday, and he didn't. Yeah, he only has two starts left, and he's at 17. We are not going to have a 20 game winner. Yep.

Third time in baseball history, but they've been more recent. Third time excluding strike short and seasons. I'm surprised it's that few. Maybe I was including the strike short in seasons. Yeah, then it's like six or something. Yeah, well, yeah. And how about this, Scott White? I forgot, completely forgot, did you,

that home field advantage is determined by best record now in the World Series? I hadn't given a much thought. Maybe I would have forgotten if somebody asked me. But probably not. I knew it wasn't an All-Star game anymore. Yeah, so because, like, the Indians are 94 and 57. The Dodgers are 96 and 55. So there are two games back of the Dodgers now,

the Indians for the best record in baseball. Wouldn't you know, they're a game and a half up on the Houston Astros and well ahead of the Red Sox. So fun races right now. I mean, a big, big series like we mentioned, in Milwaukee this weekend, Cubs up three and a half games. This is Milwaukee's only chance to win the division. But they are right behind Colorado.

I think they're a game out now of the wild card, the second wild card. Pretty awesome. And meanwhile, the angels are right behind the twins looking for the second wild card. And the Yankees still within striking distance, three games out of the Red Sox as we get play underway here on Wednesday. Those teams, by the way, the Red Sox and the Yankees are playing great lately. All right, let's talk about some hitters, Scott White. Your level of confidence in these guys for the last week and a half. Domingo Santana.

Ooh, do you want to add him? There you go. Are you doing a whole list? Yeah, no, we'll go one by one. Domingo Santana, seven game hitting streak. Not amazing, but 11 for 29, two homers, two doubles. I think of steel. Yeah, go ahead.

My level of confidence is, I don't know. I don't think he'd be a high priority in a three outfielder league, but I would be okay starting him there, too. I don't know if we're looking for an arbitrary number between one and ten, or... No, I decided not to do the faithometer. Okay, yeah. I mean, I'm not unconfident in... Is that a word, unconfident?

I don't... I am not confident. that that is a word. Yeah. No, I don't know. No. Yeah. You know what I'm saying.

It is a word. It is a word. You nailed it. All right. All right. So you're not that confident in Domingo Santana. But you're not unconfident. But I'm not unconfited.

In Deges. Okay. Aaron Altair, homered in two straight games, 41% own. Since coming off the DL, only batting 179. So that's since September 9th. But maybe coming out of it a little bit,

Aaron Altair? Yeah, this is pretty low because, first of all, he hit the first ever grand slam off Clayton Kershaw. That was on Monday, first ever in Kershaw's career. So that was cool. But Altaire's been the one who has suffered from the Phillies' refusal to outright remove Tommy Joseph from the lineup. Obviously, Reese Hoskins is playing every day, but he's still been bouncing between first and the outfield with Altaire, the one sitting out most often.

So my confidence is pretty low from the mid-Mick. mixed league perspective. Justin Boar, four straight, two-hit games for Justin Boar. 62% own, he has a home run and two doubles in that stretch. It's still not clear how likely the Marlins are to sit him against left-handers because they did sit him against one very soon after he came off the DL, but they faced nothing but righty since then. But considering he was an everyday player before going on the DL, I feel pretty good

about him. I'd be more likely to start Santana, but they're in about the same range of confidence for me. Justin Boran, Domingo Santana. All right. Ryan Braun, is he a must start again? Yeah, I think so. I think so. I've been ranking players for next year, and he's a tricky one to rank.

He is in my top 24 outfielders for next year, but not very high. Nick Castiano's, we talked about a lot of confidence in him, and then Jacoby Ellsbury, 33% owned. In his last 33 games, Ellsbury has a 337 batting average, 443 on base, 551 slugging percentage, not a ton of power, but six steals, including two on Monday, 370 Babbitt with the 337 batting average. Ellsbury's 33% owned. Yeah, my confidence in him is pretty low because I feel like it's basically a hot streak from a guy who doesn't have power in an era where everybody has power.

You're really counting on him, you know, continuing to pile up hits at this rate, a rate that's sustainable, and I just don't have a lot of confidence in that. That's Ellsbury. I'm going to add one more hitter here, but first, I forgot to give a note that Billy Hamilton is off the DL. It's not clear when he's going to get back in the lineup. They might use him as a pinch runner initially, but Billy Hamilton is off the DL. Kyle Schwerber is 77% owned. he's homered four times in his last seven games.

Two in a row. We have been lately very slow to buy into Schwabber, and it's been the right call because he'll hit a couple home runs and then he'll disappear for a while. You feel in the same way this time about the Schwabes? Still feeling that way about Schwabby. Schwabby McGee. All right.

Don't rush to pick up Kyle Schwerver. We'll talk pitchers in just one second. But if you were a major league pitcher and you had to wear a lot of suits, you'd want a very nice suit. And you'd have to go to Indochino because they'll give you the suit that you want. And you know what? The good thing is I just read the terms of service. You don't have to be a major league pitcher to get an Indochino suit. No, seriously, I love my Indochino suit.

And I'm telling you, you know, you're a grown man. You need yourself a grown man suit. It's really important. You got to look good. You got to feel good. You got to enjoy putting on clothes. You got to enjoy putting on a suit. You get this confidence when you put on an Indochino suit that fits you perfectly.

It's got your monogram on it. You've designed every detail of it. I actually wore my Indochino suit on Saturday to a baptism. We had lunch afterwards. And my wife's brothers, my brother-in-law's, they were like, wow, that's a really nice brothers-in-law. It's a really nice suit. They were complimenting it.

Let me see it. Let me take a look. And then one of them said, you know what? I'm going to go to Indochino. think all of you should. Indochino.com. Use the promo code FBT at checkout. You will get any premium suit for $379. Sounds like a lot. That's not a lot for a premium suit like this. FBT at checkout, 50% off, free shipping. Again, go to Indochino.com, free shipping and 50% off with the promo code FBT. Please use Indochino. I think you will really love it. You won't regret it.

You need a suit like this. Go ahead and get it at Indochino, promo code FBT. Scott, I bought something else recently. Oh, did you? Yeah, yeah. I want to know your thoughts. Okay. What would you be rooting for? So I'll phrase, nobody wants to hear about the Yankees.

Let's hear about the Braves. Let's say the Braves were basically a lock to play a home wild card game. Okay, they were basically. I'll keep dreaming. Well, let's say they were. They were the lock for the four-seed. They were going to host the wild card game. But, and you got tickets last night.

You got two tickets. You're fired up. Yeah. But there are three games out of the division. What are you rooting for? Are you rooting for being able to attend this winner take-all, awesome wildcard game, which, by the way, I did two years ago, which was a lot of fun.

Or get your money back. Don't go to the game. But hey, they're in the playoffs. They don't have to worry about this stinking wildcard game. I will say the latter. Yeah, me too. The latter. As I get older, the thrill of being in person for a game.

diminishes. Now, granted, a playoff scenario is very different, and those, my best memories of going to games. Fortunately, I have a lot of them since the Braves went to the playoffs so often in my younger years. But those are my favorite memories of going to games, man, some really exciting times. Oh, amazing. But it's, you know, still. Will you have a shot to go if they advance further into the playoffs?

I mean, I should have just bought tickets to other games, but I didn't. Yeah. I don't know why. Because there was a pre-sale yesterday, so I was able to get them for, like, face value, basically. Mm-hmm. You know, it's a Tuesday night, which is perfect for me because, you know, it doesn't interfere with football season at all. It's convenient. Okay.

Yeah. You're one of those fans who... Well, I can't go on Sunday. You're a fan when it's convenient. I can't go on Thursday. I can't go on Thursday because I got a radio show on Saturday night. I can't go on Sunday because of football. I can't go on Monday.

So that leaves me Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, happens to be a Tuesday. Look, I'll tell you, I went to the wildcard game two years ago where they faced Dallas Kiko lost 3-0, and it was buzzing. You know, and it's like Yankee Stadium crowds, they're kind of lame. I think that's kind of spoiled. They're better now, teams more fun, but that was really cool. And I'm excited, and I got a ticket for my wife. I'm excited to take her to the game.

So, yeah, I'd like for them to not have to worry about this stinking one game thing, but it'll be fun to go. Hooray for baseball. All right. Pitchers. Pitchers, Scott. The good, the meh, the bad, and the ugly. Just like the good, the bad, and the ugly, but we have the meh.

Here are the good from the last two days. You tell me if you trust them in their next start. Chris Archer, six innings, two runs, six Ks against the Cubs. He'll either be at Baltimore this weekend or he could get two starts next week. Didn't it so much trust him going into this start. I trust him, Coming out of it looked more like himself after that three-start stretch where he was affected by the forearm injury. 14 swinging strikes in this game, which is a very good sign.

So, yes, I trust Archer going forward. U. Darvish, U. Darvish, seven scoreless innings at San Francisco, two starts ago. Five and a third, one under run, seven strikeouts at Philadelphia. And he's a must start now, right, U. Darvish? Yeah, yeah, two starts of looking more like himself. and unlike Archer, I'd never really gotten to the point where I was binging Darvish anyway. I'll give you one scenario, though. If he makes two starts this week, if he makes a second start, which you don't think he will?

No, I don't think he will. All right, that would actually be a good thing, because that would mean that he would face the Rockies on the road next week in a one-start week. Whereas if he doesn't start this week, if they push Darvish back, he'll face the Giants at home. No, no, no. San Diego at home next week. And then maybe at Colorado is a second start. I don't know what San Diego keeps doing to these Diamondback pitchers. Every good Diamondback pitcher saves his worst for the Padres.

Yeah, that's kind of a shame. But Darvish, you should probably root for him not to pitch this weekend, so he won't get a one-start week at Cores next week. Kevin Gossman. You know, look, he's got some clunkers in there, but his last 12 starts, he's got a 226 ERA, and he shut out the Red Sox over eight innings, so is he a must start, Kevin Gosman? I mean, who doesn't have some clunkers during a 12-start span if the end result is a 226 ERA? Yeah, this was against the Red Sox.

I think Gosman has cemented himself as a must-star pitcher down the stretch. How about Mike Leak? He's got a 213-ERA and four starts for the main. Mariners. And I think he'll either have Cleveland this weekend, Mike Leak, or he'll be at Oakland and at the Angels next week. Yeah, I think he's, he was supposed to get two starts. He was actually the cover boy. Oh, yeah. Two-start pitcher rankings this week. So I don't, I want to hold on to him for one-star week, assuming he does make the start this weekend. Was the, was the headline take a leak?

No, it wasn't? I wanted to be. Every time Mike, every time Mike, every time Mike leak is the coverboard boy, man, can't get that sentence out. I want that to be the headline, yes. Of course. I don't know that you have to drop Leak,

like, at the Angels next week. Pitching noise pitching? See, I still don't have a lot of trust in Mike Leak is the thing. I was willing to extend that trust for the two-star week, but if it's just one, no, it's too dangerous. All right. C.C. Sabathia has been pitching pretty well lately.

He'll either have Kansas City or Tampa Bay next week. Can you start him? Might even have a two-star week. I mean, if it's two-star, he'll be a two-star sleeper next week. But, I mean, one start, he's not really mixed league material with one start. Even though he's pitched well lately, I know it's, again, a matter of trust. and Sabathia's case specifically, not always pitching deep into games.

Yeah, I think he will be a two-star pitcher next week. It would be probably Kansas City on Monday. That's a makeup game. And then I don't remember who... Well, they have a six-man rotation right now, right? I don't know. It depends if Jordan Montgomery is going to start again. But they could go say...

But I think they have seven games next week, and he'd be lined up for Monday. Okay. Also, yeah, there's a lot that goes into it because they might have to... Like, Severino right now is pitching today. Severino is lined up to make two starts next week, with one of them being the final game of this. The season ends on Sunday, right? Well, wait, if it's a six-man rotation, then...

I don't know that it is a six-man rotation. Basically, the reason they pitched Severino today, Scott, was so he could make three starts rest of season. Okay. Just in case they have a chance to catch the Red Sox. Okay. But if they don't have a chance to catch the Red Sox, it is basically a certainty.

Severino will not make that second start next week, that third start overall, and he will be saved for Tuesday for the wild card game. Right, right. And there's a chance they're playing for nothing next Sunday. Right. You know, division aside, they're not playing for anything at all.

They've already clenched the number one wild card. They can't win the division. then I don't know if Sabathia starts Sunday either. If he does, it might be like two innings or whatever. Right, you're right. A lot of goes in there. All right. Lucas Gialito was in The Good.

Two runs at Houston, only three strikeouts. Apparently fastball velocity was down. He threw his change up a lot and did well. Do you trust Gialito next time out? I think trust is putting it too strong for Gialito. And I think this was supposed to be a two-start week for him. So we're talking one start next week. And even if it's a daily league, I don't know that I'm ready to go with him on a start-by-start basis.

He's been better than I thought he'd be coming up from the minors. But only one of his six starts has he had even a strikeout per inning. The rest have all been less than that. Only three strikeouts than this one. So I think there's still a lot of questions to answer. Colin McHugh. He seems very distracted at him. The Yankees are on.

I'm paying attention. I'm just watching baseball. That's what we do. You're just proving my you're only a fan when it's convenient theory because this is not at all convenient. In fact, it's kind of rude. No, I'm sorry. Don't you need to know what's going on? I haven't missed it being.

All right, Colin McHugh. I came back from the fingernail thing and five innings one run against the White Sox gets the Angels this weekend. or two starts next week at Texas and at Boston. Yeah, it was a good start for McHugh. And he got, for pitching only five innings, he had 15 swinging strikes, one of his best starts like that this year. I'm still interested in seeing over the long haul with the addition of this slider. It's the Brad Peacock slider, the pitch that took Peacock over the top,

what it means for McHugh in the long run. but I think with those matchups it's going to depend if he's two starts next week great if he only ends up making one you know probably not all right it's Colin McHugh Mike Montgomery not even certain that he'll make another start but he had a great I feel by the way

if you're the listener who emailed me and asked if you should start Mike Montgomery I said no I'm very sorry I felt really bad he dominated the raise he had been pitching very poorly And he'll either be at Milwaukee this weekend Or maybe he pitches at St. Louis next week Maybe he gets two starts But how much trust...

It's not clear he'll make even one start, right? Because he had been out of the rotation. Absolutely. Yeah. Actually, and now Areietta's coming back. So, yeah. I would bank on Montgomery not even making another story. This is why some leagues just don't even count that last week

Because there's a lot of guessing. And it's guessing, you know, a guy might not appear at all or he might, you know, that that level of guessing, which is very dangerous. I still like to include the last week, but I understand why some leagues don't. So, bottom line, Montgomery, not someone you should go rush out and get. Jaime Garcia. Jaime Garcia, any trust in him? No.

Martine Perez. No, that's going to come crashing down in an Andrew Cashner kind of way. Brent Suter. I like him, but I don't. trust him. I mean, he's still building up his pitch count after being sidelined by an injury for a while. Souter is facing the Cubs this weekend. Yeah. In theory. Not doing that. I don't know that he is actually, because I think they're going bullpen today,

so he might be pushed to next week. And when I say I like Suter, it's more of a heart thing than a head thing to begin with. I like him because he's a guy who's like throwing it in the 80s in an era where nobody does that anymore and he's been pretty good with it. So I want him to do well. I'm working on a really bad joke right now with his last name. It's something like, will you be a suitor, suitor? Why did the girl drop Brent from her fantasy lineup?

He just didn't suit her. You know, I really. Thank you. Scott saves the day with Nick Servannis. Nick Povetta. Nick Povetta was very good against the Dodgers on Monday. Looks like he's lined up to face the Braves, whether you can trust the ball at the sun this weekend. Nick Povetta.

Don't trust him. Don't trust him at all. All right. That was the good. There was a lot of good. How about the meh? Johnny Quato, four walks. But two runs against the Padres, six strikeouts.

He was me. You trust Quato? He was met by his own standards. Eleven base runners and six and two-thirds. All right. Against the Padres. You know, meh is a word that's basically credited to the Simpsons. Really?

Which is interesting because I had always associated it with the Simpsons, and I found a little searching online that I'm not the only one he does. They popularized it. Good for them. We just, my friends and I, we just named our group text, Bring Back Sheriff Lobo. Ah. Yeah. I don't remember Sheriff Lobo.

Sorry. Oh, wait, you don't remember the Bring Back Sheriff Lobo moment from The Simpsons? No. Oh, my God. You remember the Bobo episode where Mr. Burns needs his bear, Bobo? Yes. The episode basically begins with him having a, like a nightmare. And he wakes up, he goes, Bobo, Bobo, Bobo.

And Smithers goes, sir, who's Bobo? And he says, oh, I was saying Lobo. bring back Sheriff Lobo And then they cut to the next scene And Homer's having a nightmare And he's going Lobo, Lobo, bring back Sheriff Lobo Like he's legitimately having that nightmare

This is very funny Great scene, great episode How much you trust Quato right now Because I don't think we trusted him that much Going into the week By the way, he was coming off A dreadful start by any state Can you all tell that it's week 25 right now

Like boy am I goofy today Quato, go ahead You don't even have a mixer next to you. Quato, you know, three of his four starts since returning from the Dio have been pretty good. I'm going to count this among that. So I'm not saying he's a must start,

but I trust him more than a lot of these pitchers we've named in either of the last two groups that take him over Sabathia, Leak, G. Leto, et cetera. Okay. So Quato pitched Tuesday. So it looks like he could be a two-star guy next week with the Diamondbacks on the wrist. road and San Diego at home.

Dan Strayley. So look, he was really good. He delivered for you against the MET. He was MET because he had four walks and five innings. But the runs, the strikeouts were good. 318 ERA at home, 519 ERA on the road. Start or sit, Dan Strelie at Arizona this weekend. This weekend, yeah, no.

No, not at Arizona, not with those splits, not in that park. No. Tyler Skaggs was meh. He looked, two runs. against Cleveland, that's good, but eight hits in five and a third and only one strikeout. Yeah, after 14 strikeouts in the previous two, which he credited to finding his two-seam grip. It seems like something that maybe could allow him to take off. He was highly available going into this week, so I had him as a two-start sleeper.

And it wasn't a disaster. It was mad. Yeah, it was mad. But it doesn't have me excited about the next start in the Daily League at Houston. Yeah, it could be at Houston, or he might get at Chicago at the White Sox next week. These matchups, it's like, it's like Rocky and Bullwinkle. Remember how they'd give like two potential episode titles for the next one? Never really saw Rocky and Bullwinkle. Yeah, I'm sorry. You thought your, you thought your early 90s Simpsons reference was Musty, pulling out Rocky and

Bullwinkle. I can't believe you don't remember. I got to send you that clip. Bring back Sheriff Lobo. Luis Gohara is 13% owned, and he was meh. I mean, he actually was probably closer to bad. Six and a third inning, four runs on 11 hits, no walks, four strikeouts. It's two straight starts against the nationals without allowing a walk. And his next start will either be against Philadelphia this weekend or at the Mets next week. So with that said, go hard. Would you trust them against the Phillies or the Mets? No. like the upside, but as I said, when he first got called up, just isn't going to have a chance to prove himself. And I don't think this start helped with that, although it was nice to see

no walks for a second straight. Yeah. All right, Louise Gohara, avoid. The bad from the last two days, Patrick Corbyn. We're fine with him, right? Just one bad, a little rough start against the Padres, but yeah, yeah, yep. Okay. How many other ways can you say? Godley was bad against the He was a Padres yesterday, too. So, and you know how I feel about Zach Godley. You know, I must be wrong about something here. What's the matter with me? Johnny Quato, who was his start against?

Oh, did you say his was against the Padres? I did. It was against the Rockies. Yeah. You were wrong about that. All right, I'm sorry. Sorry about that. The Ugly, Dylan Bundy.

So his last three starts have been four innings, five runs on five days' rest. then six innings one run on seven days rest, then four and a third, six runs on five days rest. So Dylan Bundy will either face Tampa Bay on regular rest this weekend or Pittsburgh next week. It's a fine theory. It might be coincidence. He's 60 innings over last year's total,

which I believe was also his career high. And yet for some reason the Orioles aren't shutting them down. It's, I would, you know, I understand Bundy owner, in 2017. Well, with the way he's pitching lately, maybe they don't care either. I think you need to shut Bundy down. I think the Orioles front office

needs to have a long talk with Mr. Showalter. Show him what's up. Yeah, Dylan Dundee, more like, right? Yeah. Jose Burrios, another bad road start. Four walks, three runs at the Yankees on Tuesday,

and now he's at Detroit this week. This is another one. This is even more, if you just case. And I understand the twins are likely headed for the playoffs at least one game of the playoffs and um i wouldn't say that i wouldn't say they're likely they may be very reluctant to shut barrios down but rios admitted before this start that he's getting tired wow paul moleter said after this start that it looked like he was putting extra effort into his pitches that seems like a recipe for an injury right yeah come on sit him down

sit him sit him sit him twins and sit him fantasy owners Doug Fister, two dreadful starts in a row at Cincinnati this weekend. Doug Fister. No, done with him. It was fun. There was a flirtation there, but didn't go beyond that. It was totes adorbs. All right, let me get a couple of Scott White bold predictions out of the 30 that he wrote last month.

Number one, Joey Gallo spends half the season retooling his swing in the minors. Yeah. Yeah. Joey Gallo is as all or nothing as we've maybe ever seen in the majors. And what I mean by that is he is an outlier in terms of flyball percentage and an outlier in terms of contact. His babbip is in the 220 range. And yet as often as he puts the ball in the air, it's not like it's a sign of bad luck. Like he is legitimately a 220 babbib guy.

and with as much as he strikes out you know you take a 220 badbib batting average on balls in play and then all those balls he's not putting in play the floor is very very very very low for Joey Gallo now if he homers like he did this year you know those are those are babbip independent hits

and he ends up being okay but I'm saying if he gets off to a slow start with the power or if he's just not able to sustain that for whatever reason, then there's no reason for him to be in the Rangers' lineup or even in the majors because it'll be ugly. And Gallo seems like the kind of guy is going to be streaky like he was this year. When he got hot, he was incredible, but he got dropped before that, you know? People were fed up with Joey Galli.

He got off to a great start. Scott, you kept calling it, you weren't buying it, you weren't buying it, he slumped for a long time. And then I think people dropped him, not everybody. but people got fed up. And Gallo came back, got hot again. So it's a frustrating type of player to own. He's like an exaggerated Chris Davis. I buy that he's what he's been.

It's just, I feel like the worst case scenario is very bad. And with all the streakiness, like you said, it could, he could just be a victim of timing. As we saw Chris Carter was. I think he's basically the second coming of Chris Carter, except the batted ball data. makes it even less likely that he's going to break out of that and become something more. And the second bowl prediction I wanted to talk about was Luis Castillo is the next Luis Severino.

I don't know. Heidelio Severino. But Luis Castillo is the next Luis Severino and Castillo's been shut down. But it's great this year. Had a really good year. Yeah. So, yeah. Take it away.

Yeah, I think he's going to be in my top 36 next year, even though obviously he isn't proven in terms of durability and innings. I thought it was incredible what he did, just at face value, against some really good teams, too. Piling up the swinging strikes, the strikeouts. And the thing is, we didn't see the best of Luis Castillo because he was an incredible control pitcher at double. A before getting called up, yeah, I skipped AAA on top of everything else. And he had issues with walks, especially early on. And then by the time those started to dwindle, you know, he was facing some fatigue issues. So you look at Castillo's numbers at face value and you say, okay, this guy looks like a breakout candidate, somebody who, you know, I'm going to target in the first third of my draft.

But I'm saying there's upside even beyond those numbers because basically because the walks were high early on. All right, but you know what's interesting is that Luis Castillo is the next Luis Severino. Well, let's not forget. Luis Severino as a rookie, 62 in a third innings. Castillo's thrown 89 in a third this year. And Severino had a 289 ERA, 3.2 walks, 8.1, 3.1, 3.1. strikeouts compared to 3.2 walks, 9.9 strikeouts and a slightly higher ERA. Castile was better than Severino, but both were really good and really promising.

And then 2016 happened for Severino. He had a 583 R.A. And as a starter, I think he had an ERA like over eight as a starter. It was awful. I think, you know, the big difference for Severino this year is the third pitch. The change-ups been good. and the command has been a lot better and the change-up has been really good.

I do like Scott that Castillo seems to have a three-pitch arsenal already. I don't know how good it is. Well, the change-up is phenomenal. He's farther along than Severino was in terms of Arsenal at that stage. And obviously I was playing off the fact that they had the same last name.

But I think the ultimate profile is very similar. Severino's out-pitch is more of the slider than the change-up, and Castillo's is more of the change-up than the slider. But they had similar strong-year-old. I got to walk ratios into minors. And they throw similar velocity. Similar upside.

And Severino, I mean, I feel like we almost haven't given his 2017. It's due because the Syung winners for each league, or at least the two or three in that conversation, are so obvious. But I just started ranking, starting pitchers for 2018, before we started this podcast. Right now I'm looking at Luis Severino 6th. I don't think I'm going to have him on any fantasy teams. Yeah, I'm terrified about the innings, terrified.

Especially if they make a postseason run. I've said this before. If I were an owner of Luis Severino in a Keeper League, I'd be rooting like hell for them to lose that first wildcard game. No, that's fair. I mean, obviously I don't have the luxury of knowing how far the game. Yankees are going to advance at this point. If they do make a lengthy run and he puts another, I don't know, 30, 40 innings.

Yeah, 40 innings probably be more than is reasonable to expect. But yeah, that would be an issue. That would be something that might drop him out of the top 10. It's not really. I mean, he's got potentially three regular season starts left. I think it'll be more. I think it'll be two. and then if they get to, let's say, the ALCS,

five starts, six starts? Yeah, I wasn't counting the regular season starts to left. I was just adding up how many playoff innings he might give. I think 30 to 36 innings is pretty, I would say, you know, not realistic because I don't think the Yankees are going to the ALCS, but it could definitely happen. And it's a little scary to me. But he's good.

He's really good. I would love to see him get a fourth pitch. I know you don't really need it, but... I wonder how many true right-handed aces have only three pitches. That's something I would like to explore. Yeah, right now he's not so bad in turn. He's 23 over his previous career high innings. So I think, you know, if it's really just three starts, two regular season and the wild card game, let's say,

I don't think innings are going to be a major concern for him going into next year. If it's, right, if it just ends at the wild card game, I probably would back off a bit. Yeah. But the body type scares me a little bit, too. He's kind of tall and slender. So is Castillo. I think Severino probably is a little bit more girth on him than I'm giving him credit for. All right, Scott.

Let's take a look at today's games. Start Severino against the twins 50 minutes ago? What's the score? Zero, zero. All right, yes. All right, it's zero-zero through two innings. Would you, would you, if I have said, you can retroactively start Bartolo Cologne.

He's to pitch two scoreless innings. I still wouldn't do it. I still want to do it. Okay. It's an interesting hypothetical, though. Yeah, it's fun. Let's go to the night games. Alex Wood at Jake Thompson.

Uh-huh. Yeah, I'd start Alex Wood. Yeah, sure. Not Thompson. I don't know who Aaron Wilkerson is, but he's pitching for the Brewers. Again, Stephen Brault. Good minor league numbers the last two years. I actually came over from the Red Sox in the Air Force.

in the Aaron Hill trade last season, 28-year-old who pitched in the Independent League. Very interesting, but I wouldn't expect him to pitch particularly deep. So sit Wilkerson and... And Bralt. Sit Brault as well. Jake Junis, Brett Anderson, Royals at Blue Jays. I'm okay going Junis there.

Chris Sale, Wade Miley. I don't have to answer that one. John Lester at Blake Snell. Yeah, Lester I'm okay with. Snell... Seems kind of risky. I'd lean against that, but if you're dying for another start, you could do worse. The Cubs have won blank games in a row.

Let's see how your current events are. Oh, gosh. I don't know. I tuned out after winning, winning streaks don't matter after what the Indians did. They've won four in a row? They've won seven in a row of the Cubs. Oh, okay, much better. Yeah.

So, I'm sorry, you said Sitznell? Most cases, yes, but he's not, if you need an extra start, he's not bad. Okay, we got Luke Weaver and Rookie Davis. Luke Weaver and sit-divus and sit-davis. Absolutely no to Rookie Davis. Start Gio Gonzalez, sit Lucas Sims, sit James Shield, start Brad Peacock, who needs Scott white. Start Robbie Ray and I'll ask Scott, start or sit to Nelson Lament. Well, what were you thinking? Start. You don't name me.

Josh Tomlin at Ricky Nalasco. Yes. Start Tomlin, sit in Alaska. No, you don't start either of those knuckleheads. Okay. Um, this is interesting. Andrew Cashner at Felix Hernandez. Felix was okay in his return from the DL, but I think it was like, what, three and two thirds innings? So not able to tell much from that. Oh, just off memory, three and two thirds. Look at that. I'm going to say no to both of them, both Cashner and Felix.

I love how Cashner had one bad start in like the last two months, and you're like, see, came crashing down, cashing down. It was the most recent, though. More to go. More to come. Let me read emails first, and if we have time, we'll look at Thursday's games. But I think more important to answer our listener questions. Beginning with David Hartman, should I drop Gallo for Olson?

Yes. Yeah. Right. Olson's superior to Gallo. This is from Matt. I need a hitter for the rest of the week. which of these four would you go with? Jorge Polanco at Detroit,

Delano DeShields at Seattle, Manuel Margot against the Rockies, Jamer, Candelario against the Twins, and all five offensive categories are of equal importance. Jorge Polanco, Deshields, Margot, or Candelario? Oh, man. I'm going to say Candelario. All right.

Jamer. Haramer. From Scott. Cashner, Chatwood, Mangdon, Brought, Anabal, Sanchez. Would you pick any of them up? No.

Yeah, I wouldn't do it. Don't like any of them. And how about on Thursday? Clayton Richard or Tyler Anderson, I think those teams are facing each other. Man, he is scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I think they're all negative plays. So I'm going to say no.

Gary in New York. Hey, real quick, Weaver or Paxton for 2018? Yeah, I need to look at this more closely because I have a feeling it's going to be closer than my initial gut reaction tells me. But I'm going to say Paxton. Weaver's been awesome, though. Wouldn't surprise me if he, like Castillo, ends up in my top 36 for next year. This is from Justin and Illinois, 16-team Categories League with... Quality starts.

Pick one to keep, Scott. Darvish, Archer, or Godley? For next year? Yeah. Darvish. Yeah, still got to go with him. And, yeah, mostly keeper questions. Rob Campbell, Hoskins or Cespitus next year?

Who to keep? Hoskins. Yeah, Hoskins. Fantasy baseball, pick three outfielders. Hoskins, by the way, I've ranked these two. positions now up to a point. I have him seventh at first base and ninth in outfield. So we're going to be drafted in pretty early.

All right. Pick three outfielders from this, Scott. Five by five with walks. Bellinger, fam. I think, I don't know if this is keeper or this is right now. It says start three. Oh, start three. Okay.

Bellinger. Yeah, it starts a question. Bellinger, fam. W hit Maryfield, Hoskins, and Rosario. Good grief. Man. These are all must starts in most cases. Even Rosario, who I know is still quite a bit available.

Hoskins is like... You're forcing me to pick only three. Bellinger, Hoskins, and probably fam. I'm still a little worried about the vision issue, but he's been good lately. So we'll say fam. And last one. In a modified head-to-head points league

where strikeouts do not count against you. Would you drop Christian Yelich for Nick Kestine? I don't think so. Yelich has been awfully good in the second half as well. Might depend on what the matchups ahead look like. I know the Tigers had good matchups this week. I think I'd lean toward keeping Yelich. Also, keep an eye on if Yelich is playing every day

because I think Don Maddingly said that he rode those three outfielders like a lot this year and wanted to give them some rests. And I've been sort of noticing I'm going to look up their They're a lineup. He has given Yelich a couple days off in the last week. Yeah. Yeah. So it's interesting.

Yeah. And maybe Ozuna too. And even Stanton. Stanton's chasing history-ish. He's got 55 home run. History-ish. So they should play him. He's sort of chasing history.

Yeah. Non-tainting history. Because everybody knows it's not actually a record anymore. Yeah. All three of them have sat twice in the last week. Yeah. So that's something to keep an eye on over the weekend. All right.

Let me see. what we can do about Thursday's games real quick. Michael Waka, Ivanova. Neither. Alex Cobb, Jeremy Hellickson. Let's start Cobb. Tanaka at Estrada.

Definitely Tanaka. I'm going to lead no on Estrada with that match. Kyle Gibson at Daniel Norris. Gibson. This is Thursday's games we're talking about? Yeah. Oh, no, these are Friday's games. Yeah.

Crap. Sorry. I pulled him open here. Sorry, sorry. We really want to look ahead. All right, let me find the if he wants. Jay Hap against the Royals on Friday. Hap is good, yeah.

Hap is good. Is it go. Not necessarily good, but he's a go. Roark at the Braves. Must start, right? Yep. Zach Davies against the Cubs. I don't think so.

Dowell is Kikl. You're all right with him against the, White Sox. Mm-hmm. Cole Hamill's at James Paxton. Bothsies. Really? Yep.

And Tim Anderson at, or Tyler Anderson at Clayton Richard. No thanks. I'm rethinking Paxton. I may not do Paxton. That last start. It's first off the DL without a real rehab assignment was pretty rocky. I might need to see it a little bit better before I trust him again. Thanks for everybody.

Thanks for listening. We're done here. We're back on Friday. Talk to you then. You know,