Fantasy Baseball Today - 09/24: Weekend Roundup - Let's Win a Championship! (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 24, 2018

It's time to set your lineup for the final week of the season and bring home a championship! Throughout the show, we'll be telling you hitters and pitchers to add and we'll update you on two-start pitchers (2:40), help out with some tough calls (6:15) on guys like Trevor Bauer, Ross Stripling, Aaron Judge and Kris Bryant and much more ... Important news to know (12:00), plus Scott tells you his favorite hitters and SPs to add (18:30), one-start streamers to consider (23:23), a look at the bullpen (26:26) and a really a tough edition of the Fantasy Regulators (28:06) .... Most Added players (34:41) and a lot of SP talk (39:15). Can you trust Rick Porcello, Kyle Gibson, Ryan Borucki and so many more? ... Your emails at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome 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. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. The final week of the fantasy baseball season, it is championship time. And Scott White, I start with a question for you. and the question is why?

Why? Why are we playing this week? Why are we playing this week other than Roto League's people stop playing this week? This is week 17 of the NFL season. This is the same. This is much worse, much worse. Why are you playing? I don't know that it's much worse.

I think it's a little better. No. I am fine. I like counting the whole season. I like having the full stat line knowing I got credit. it for it. It's just the completionist in me maybe, but I like it. I think when it's a head-to-head league and you do the two-week playoff length instead of one week for a matchup, it helps it helps to, you know, it helps reduce some of the weirdness that you're going to encounter

in terms of the impact it's going to make in the final outcome. But, you know, I don't, I don't mind having to, you know, being put on my heels a little bit. And having to, you know, get a little more creative. Really, there's so much we just don't know. It really works. It works the fantasy baseball manager muscle a bit. I like it. Well, a little bit, but at the same time, you know, you might start a guy and he might get pulled after four innings.

And you have absolutely no control over that, you know, it could be... Particularly in modern MLB, that's true anyway. That is true. All right, so anyway, you all are playing, so instead of bitching about it, why don't we help you out? I want to wish everybody good luck this week. Let's get that win. And Bill from Palm Desert, California wrote us a very nice email. And I want to give a special shout out to him.

He's in the championship, Scott, for the first time in six years. So good luck to everybody, but great luck to Bill. Good luck contestant of the day is Bill from Palm Desert. You know, if it was an even distribution of people playing in championship games, and it was a 12-team league, first championship game in six years would be right on pace. But probably be ahead of pace if you're listening. to us. Yeah, that's right. So Bill must be a first time listener. That must be the case. Scott, do we have an update on two start pitchers?

Sure. Yeah, we have an update as of yesterday. And it's still, I can't recommend anybody with great confidence. The one I was most confident in is Derek Holland, because I figured, okay, the giants, they don't have any young arms. They're trying to work in. They're not resting up for the playoffs. Derek Holland should be going twice, but one of their beat riders seem to suggest there will be a pitcher making. There will be a sixth pitcher worked into the rotation for this week. So I'm not counting on Derek Holland.

His first matchup is against the Padres. So, you know, it's probably not the end of the world if you put him in your lineup and he doesn't make two starts. But like I said on Friday, you should not really be counting on any pitcher. to make two starts this week just because we have no idea what kind of curveballs are going to be thrown. And just start your best pitchers, all right? And if you've been relying on two-star sleepers to fill in the gaps in your pitching staff, believe it or not, Adam, despite my insistence that they don't actually exist,

this week might be a good week for one-start sleepers. Oh, yeah, we've got them. We've got some, actually not that many one-star streamers from over the weekend, but there are some that we can recommend. You know, I was just looking at, you know, a guy like Corey Klover, right? Kluber, scheduled to make two starts. What can we expect from him in the second one? Because they're headed to the postseason.

I looked at Clayton Kershaw last year. Kershaw pitched the second to last game of the season, and they did not play in the wildcar game last year. They won the division. He threw four innings. Now, he actually struggled a little bit. It was at Colorado. He threw four innings, gave up seven hits, three runs.

He threw 57 pitches. I feel like they would have left him in a little bit longer. I don't know the circumstances of the game. But you might get that from Kluber, a little tune-up start. I need a bonus. If you're assuming one start and he gives you a bonus four innings to end the week, right. It's not a bad thing.

That's the way you need to look at it. Right, sure. Okay, so we've got a lot of tough calls this week. We've got to send a big thank you to one of our sponsors. Seat Geek, been sponsoring the show for a few years now. I hope you all have been able to take advantage of it. And by the way, we're going to have off-season podcasts. So this won't be the last time I'll tell you about Seekek, luckily.

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different types of live events. I am going to be using it again shortly, hopefully for some Yankees' playoff tickets. It won't be at the wildcard game, but hopefully after that I'll get to see them lose to the Red Sox. Get on that app and use the promo code fantasy for $20 off your first Seekkeek purchase. All right, let's make some tough calls, Scott. Can we start Trevor Bauer this week, who apparently is going to make two starts, but he only threw 34 pitches last time? Can we start Trevor Bauer?

Is he going to make two starts? I don't have him on my two-star list. That's news to me. Well, yeah, I think so. I think he's pitching tomorrow. I would guess those two starts combined for a single starts worth of innings. I probably, I don't think I would. I don't think I'd start him.

Bauer, okay. Can you start Ross Stripling? He has thrown exactly three and a third innings in each of his last three appearances, one start this week, either at Arizona or at San Francisco. I would not. No stripling. Can you start Chris Sale? Now, they were going to let him throw five innings in his last start.

It's just he was so inefficient through three and a third that he reached his 75 pitch max before he could get through five. I think I'd be inclined to start him. I think he's going to go long enough to get a win, potentially. Can you start James Paxton, who also is trying to make two starts this week? Yep. Yeah, I think the fact that he's, at least in theory, in line for two starts, and it's not going to be a situation where they're resting him for the playoffs. I think I would.

Yeah, I'm just a little nervous coming off a three-week layoff, coming back from pneumonia. Yeah, I'd feel worse if it was just one start, and I know I've been saying, treat everybody like they're making one start, but I'll make an exception for Paxton. Okay. Can you start a role as Chapman? No. All right, then. I don't know that you can start any Yankees closer.

I think they're going to want to use him in the ninth before the playoffs start. Yeah, he didn't pitch yesterday, did he? He didn't pitch yesterday, did he? He had an outing, I believe it was. Saturday he pitched like the seventh inning. It was terrible. And then Dylan, Delen Patensis got to save the next day. Okay, wait, no, I think he, I think Thursday was terrible, and he was okay last time out.

I missed the Saturday. Sorry. I think Chapman was throwing about 95 miles per hour. He threw a scoreless inning in a non-save situation on Saturday. He struck out too. But he says not worried about the velocity. It does seem too dicey to start him. I just wonder if you're going to start Patentis or anybody.

No, I mean, he's... It's going to be interesting. The end for Chapman is going to come fast because... because the lack of movement on his fastball, when it's not 99, 100, it's not good. Sliders gotten pretty good this year, though. That's good. Yeah, so let me keep in mind.

Can you start, let's go to the hitters. Can you start Jose Ramirez, who has been batting 174 in September? Yes. He's been playing pretty regularly. I mean, I even backed off of the, on Friday I was talking about sending Michael Brent, potentially, and then he had a huge weekend where he started every game.

So I would not treat my Red Sox, Indians, Braves. Who else? There are going to be other teams on the verge of clinching. The Astros. Yeah, I would not treat them any differently. You wouldn't, huh? No. Interesting. Okay.

Can you start Josh Donaldson? He has started five of the last six games for Cleveland. I would rather not But they're especially motivated to give him at bat's I would think Can you start Aaron Judge He sat on Sunday but he had been in the line up pretty regularly Regularly before that but just three for 20 so far with one double since coming back It'd probably just be a five outfielder league where I started him

Aaron Judge Can you start this one's easy can you start Chris Bryant who missed Sunday's game with shoulder fatigue Yeah, I don't feel good about that one. Hell no. Can you start Carlos Correa? He hasn't played in six days due to a back issue. And since coming back from the DL, he's batting like 175? He's been a mess.

I don't know that he's not right. I would not start him. Carlos Correa. Hope this pushes down his draft value next year. It's clearly playing hurt. This next category, Scott, is called No. way, Jose. And it's about Jose Barrios and Jose Cantana.

And they were both terrible this weekend. Would you start either one? And there's reason to start both. I mean, Berrios is going to have either Detroit or the White Sox. And Cantana had been really good in his previous six starts. Well, I mean, Berrios had turned things around pretty well, too. Not for as long as Cantana, not a six-start stretch like that. But, yeah, do you know who Cantana is facing?

Yeah, Pittsburgh. With Fitzberg. Good chance he'll be without Starling Marte. He left with a decent chance. He left with a calf injury on Sunday. I definitely start Burrios. I wouldn't automatically start Kentana, but I wouldn't steer clear of him based on his weekend outing.

By the way, we've got a lot of emails in the inbox. People need championship help. We do have a segment carved out at the end of the show for your emails. We've got to get you the news and notes. D.D. Gregorius, he tore cartilage in his. wrist and he may be out for the year. You definitely are not starting him if you're looking for a replacement. I mean, at any edge of Aria can't hit, but he might play more.

But Neil Walker might be someone in a deeper league that could get you some at bats this week. They've got seven games. Scott Service did not commit to another start for Marco Gonzalez, so you probably want to avoid him. Joe Musgrove will not pitch again this season. He has a stress reaction in his pelvic bone. Sounds painful.

Charlie Morton, all right, so let's look at the Astros rotation. Charlie Morton left with shoulder discomfort. Framber Valdez replaced him and pitched great in relief. It was the best outing of the year. Valdez was expected to start on Wednesday. What happens now in the Astros rotation? From what I understand, as we had been suspecting would be the case, even before this happened, Josh James is going to make a start the final week of the season.

And he is one of my top one-start sleepers, one-start streamers. for the final week, going against the Blue Jays. I believe it's on Tuesday, maybe on Wednesday. But rebuilding club, he's going against. He had seven strikeouts and under six innings. In his last start with 16 swinging strikes, at 13.5 strikeouts per nine of the minors, well more than a strikeout per inning during his time of majors.

And that seems like a matchup you'll want to take advantage of. Josh James. All right, yeah, that's going to be somebody that, I saw Scott added him in one of our Roto leagues. Definitely somebody you can look at. Josh James. James, I think it's Joshua, right? On our website?

On our website it's Joshua, yeah, but he goes by Josh. I'm sure by next year it'll be Josh. As mentioned, Starling Marte left Sunday's game with a calf injury. Zander Bogartz left Sunday's game with a sore shoulder. Bogart says he's fine. I think one win away from locking up the number one seed. So Bogart's is going to be a bit of a headache because they're going to rest their guy. Trevor's story is getting close to a return.

That's a tough call, Scott. What are you going to do about story? I would be inclined to sit both him and Bogarts unless it was a really deep league where it's just a total scrub. You'd be starting at shortstop. And by the way, is James going to make two starts this week? Just one, because they want Charlie Morton make another start and even if they didn't.

He's not going to be, are you kidding? He's not going to make another start. They're lying. He's hurt. He is hurt. Even if they, even if he wasn't, I think they would give Bromber Valdez

another start. Yeah. So I would not, I would not be expecting two starts for James. Okay. Yeah, look, I mean, maybe Morton. Maybe, but I, I mean, look, he already, well, you know,

I was stupid reaction, but he already went on the DL with a shoulder issue. He left with shoulder discomfort. Like, that seems very scary. Well, to be clear, I'm not starting Charlie Morton. Yeah, yeah. Personally. But Deastra is at least saying they want to give him another start. Francisco Cerville is expected to return today.

Andrewton Simmons Day to Day to Day with a knee issue. Kyle Schwerber was able to DH this weekend, but I would not start him because he may not be able to play the outfield this week. Cody Allen being rested is expected to pitch today. Josh Hader set a record for most strikeouts by a left-handed reliever. And what was so interesting was like, I figured Josh Hader must have broken a record that was like five years old, you know,

because so many strikeouts. No, he broke a record that was set in 1974 by John Hiller, most strikeouts by a left-handed reliever in a season. I'm going to guess John Hiller had a lot more innings. I would assume. Who is going to be resting starters this week? The Phillies are going to be resting

as Drewball Cabrera and Wilson Ramos. and the Diamondbacks could rest their veterans. And that's all I've seen. It doesn't mean that's it. That's the only situation. Oh, gosh. Yeah. I don't know what that means.

I looked up John Hiller. I looked up John Hiller. Oh, yeah. You want this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He made 59 relief appearances in 1974. He had a 17 and 14 record. What?

Out of the bullpen, 17 and 14. He threw 150 innings. Wow. You make 59. appearances or whatever you said this year, you're pitching like 64 innings. But Scott, Arizona could rest their veterans. You know. Yeah. Goldschmidt? What do we do?

Well, how much are they going to rest them? I mean, are they going to... Scott's cell phone makes an appearance. This is my wife, too. She should know better. Well, you could always just put it on a vibrate, you know? I could. I could. But it's a little late for that. Yeah, it's a little late.

Yeah, he's a guest on the show at this point. The guest on, yeah. Yeah, we like that. All right. It's muted now. Yeah, Dinback. Well, I don't know. I want to say Goldschmidt.

That's too high end. If you want to sit like Pollock, who has been, you've probably been looking for excuses to sit anyway. Who else is there who might be of some. I don't know. David Peralta. Yeah. Coutte. No, Ctele-Marté would not.

about sitting in qualify as a veteran that they'd sit i don't know i don't know what their roster depth is like where they can sit these guys but yeah i mean plus like are they are they just giving up they haven't been mathematically eliminated yet uh they haven't all right i thought they were done well maybe maybe i'm wrong let me let me check the standings here you know they were in first place i believe on september 1st they've had a terrible month okay you know what they are yeah they're There's six games back of the second wild card spot. Eight out of the division. They're done.

Okay, fair enough. They probably haven't been eliminated yet, but one winner lost by them or you, you know what I mean. Magic number. Oh, no, they are eliminated. They have a little E next to their name. He gone. He gone, just like Hawk Harrelson, who's retiring. Just a fun stat.

Wei and Chen has a 162 ERA at home. and a 929 ERA on the road. I can't remember seeing anything like that. And he'll be on the road this week, so nope. And sit Tyler Skaggs, because the guy is throwing like three innings and he's not pitching well. Scott, do you have one hitter or one pitcher to add?

Is your pitcher Josh James? My pitcher, sure, Josh James. I also have another one-star, sleeper who I like a lot, and it's one I've been hesitant to advise people adding for over a month now. That's Rinaldo Lopez, who's final had another great start over the weekend against the Cubs. Seven innings for the fourth time in five starts.

He's been a strikeout per inning during that stretch. And the final week, he gets the twins, who've not been a great hitting team. Great. Yeah, no, he was one of my one-star streamers as well, Ronaldo Lopez, and he is plenty available, 58% owned, and starting to get some more strikeouts, more swinging strikes, 12% swinging strike rate in his last five starts, seven innings in four of his last five stars.

I'm not sure if Scott said all of those things. No, I didn't. Mondesie, Adelberto Mondesie. I actually don't love the matchups, but he just keeps homering or stealing. Like every day, it seems like he has one or the other and a lot of times both. So it's been too productive to pass up, I think.

I also like Mattlick Smith and Jeff. We can't say these guys anymore. We've said that in every show. I'm going to give a new name. Okay. I had a new name coming, too. But go ahead.

Victor Robles. He has led off six of the last seven games for the Nationals. He is barely owned. He's hitting okay. Sitting okay. Victor Robles. And they have pretty good matches. They actually closed the season at Coorsfield.

It's fun. But he's been playing a lot because Adam Eaton's knee is banged up. And I don't know if that's going to last all week. Maybe it does, but that's contributed to it. The name I was going to say is Williams Estudio. Ah, yes, yes. I actually did add in a couple leagues, one where I had struggled to find a worthwhile Evan Gaddis replacement.

Obviously, Gaddis not playing much anymore. And another where I don't want to take the chance on Francisco Cervilli's health. Astido has started six of the twins' past nine games behind the plate. He has struck out twice his entire. entire time in the majors. His career high across nine minor league seasons for strikeouts was 20. And that gives him an awfully high floor at a position where there's not a lot you can feel good about. Batting average, you know, he's well over 300. And he's playing a lot. So, yeah, a studio I think is worth starting in any kind of format. Scott, I'm going to tell you something really exciting. This is going to be,

A huge day for me. For the first time ever, I think I'm going to cook two Blue Apron meals in the same day. Whoa. And I'm really excited for that because I get three meals every week from Blue Apron. And they come on Mondays. So the package might be here already. I'll tell you what I'm getting. But I still have one leftover from last week.

It's a great pasta dish. I'm going to make that for lunch. Then I'm going to make some dinner. I love Blue Apron. Please go to Blue Apron.com slash Fantasy Baseball and get your first three meals free. I'm going to tell you what some of the recipes are. You can have dinner in as little as 20 minutes. They have made the recipes quicker, easier to make, and still just as incredible, just as delicious, just as much variety.

You can choose chef design recipes. They deliver fresh, seasonally inspired ingredients. And again, you can cook incredible meals in as little as 20 minutes. There was a Bob's Burger meal last week was the Absentee Shalette burger. It was really, really good. A really fun burger to make. So here's what I'm getting this week on Blue Apron. Cheesy beef baguettes with roasted carrots and spicy ranch,

and I'm going to make it without the spice. You can always customize like that. You don't have to put the spicy ingredients in. Looks like there are some mushrooms in there, too. That one's going to be great. Summer vegetable nochi with creamy chili sauce and feta and olive pizza. I can't express you how good the pizzas are. They are my favorite thing there is some of the best pizza I've ever had.

Feta and Olive Pizza, that's going to be one of our meals as well. Next week we've got burgers, chicken and brown rice bowls, spicy beef and yokey, so great stuff. There's a lot of different things you can choose from, a lot of variety. You can do meats, you can do vegetarian options, you can do fish. I don't do the fish. And I think you're going to love it. Go to blueapron.com slash fantasy baseball. Blueapron.com slash fantasy baseball.

Get your first three meals free. Please give it a shot. You'll be hooked. Blue Apron.com slash fantasy baseball. Blue Apron, a better way to cook. One-start streamers. Scott mentioned Rinaldo Lopez. I got a few more names to throw out.

How about Luis Castillo? He will get either Kansas City or Pittsburgh this week, depending on if they are five-man or six-man this week. Scott Luis Castillo. I would start him. Yeah, he's been pitching pretty well lately. Tyler Glass now, could get the Yankees this week. That would be a home start or Toronto.

Well, he'd rather be Toronto. But either way, that's... I don't think it's an automatic start, you know, just because of the chances the Yankees. But I think in most leagues, he'll be worse starting. Yeah, and ironically, the Blue Jays have actually kind of roughed him up a little bit, but he had six-innings three runs over the weekend at Toronto. You'll take that with a strikeout for inning. Yep.

And then there's Brad Keller, who has a tough matchup. He has Cleveland this weekend. But how many Indians are going to be... starting in that game. How many of their regulars? You know, something to keep in mind. Would you go with Brad Keller's now 51% O in pitching well? No, I don't think I would with that matchup. We got a lot of use out of him, even though he hasn't been much of a bat misser. Obviously,

ground balls have had a great deal to do with it, and he'd been more of a batmissor recently. It kind of changed with this tiger start. But, you know, if if you can't get Castillo, if you can't get Rinaldo Lopez or Josh James, there are a couple

interesting options from the weekend. They're kind of scary. I'd rather not do them. But if you're in a bind, it's not the craziest idea. One of them is Trevor Richards of the Marlins. No way. I understand.

They bounce back from a rough stretch. A rough stretch. The roughest stretch of ever. seven three-hit innings, nine strikeouts, 19 swinging strikes, 15 on the change-up. The change-up is a world-beater when it's on, and he gets the Mets this week. Who are good, by the way?

That's not an easy matchup anymore. Fair enough. I hope I've talked everybody out of Trevor Richards. Which might be the right thing. Like I said, I'd rather not start him, but I think it's worth putting out there. The other is Cody Reed, who is facing the Royal

Royals, and he has 16 strikeouts over his past two starts with a really good slider. Again, I'd rather not do it, but if you're hard up for pitching, and some of these more obvious options aren't available, it might be the best you can do. Yeah, we'll have more names, too, because those are good options. But I went through, obviously, everybody who pitched over the weekend, I think, like Ryan Burrucky you can make a case for. I think he's facing the raise this weekend He's pitched against them twice lately And he's been pretty solid Andrew Suarez

I think he has the Dodgers though But yeah we'll go through it Scott I got a whole bunch of names on the list You know how we do it here on Monday mornings Let's talk about bullpins And the most interesting one to me is the Braves Who's getting the saves for the Braves? Good question

I don't trust anybody I think it's probably Minter still he got Viscayino came in and got the save on the day they clenched actually He was on the mound where they clenched Six His first safe since coming off the DL

But that's because Mentor threw a lot of pitches the day before Had thrown a lot of pitches the day before And he's He's been kind of shaky lately I don't know that he deserves to be the closer anymore But I don't know that there's a clear alternative I mean I guess Viscayino is the best bet

The bullpen is a real issue for the Braves going into the playoffs because a lot of the guys they've relied on all season are fading here. Yeah, and then Shane Carl got a save for them on Sunday. I don't think that's like a thing,

but it did happen. Other than that, Scott Jinks Ty Butchery a little bit. He had a terrible outing in the eighth inning at Houston on Saturday. He gave up four runs. It did not record an out. Yeah.

Ken Giles syndrome. I guess so. Trevor May got a four-out save. That was his first of the season. Trevor Hildenberger threw 23 pitches the day before. I don't know how many people that really matters for, but I would guess Hildenberger is still the closer there. And Robert Gazzelman got a save on Friday.

Anthony Swarzak got a five-out save on Sunday. The Mets are kind of annoying like that. But it's probably Giselman if you want one guy in that bullpen. All right. So before we get into more starts and sits, I do want to take one quick little detour. for a little bit of regulation. Let's do this.

Fantasy regulators time. An email from a very sad commissioner. Let's cheer him up. I'm really hoping you can help me out. I'm the commissioner of a league that has a potential cheater in a semi-final matchup. Dot, dot, dot, dot. It is a weekly scoring league that limits you to 14 starting pitchers per week.

For that reason, many people stream pitchers throughout the week and get to that limit. Sunday is usually a mess because everyone is scraping for any starting pitchers that are left. This past week, in a semi-final matchup, one player started 17 pitchers, even though the rule of 14 pitchers was still intact. Turns out, he was aware of a rule. As long as you were only at 13 or 14 starting pitchers going into Sunday, you could add as many as you wanted for the last day. What I need you guys to decide is, is it unfair that this player exceeded the limit when no one else was aware you could do this?

Or is it okay because he knew something that no one else did and the system allowed it. The league is in jeopardy and everyone is getting a refund because no one can decide. Oh, so the rule was legitimately supposed to be 14, but you were kind of depending on your service provider to police that for you. And he found like a loophole. Am I understanding that? which website this is because I have played on that website and I've experienced that. It was the first time I played there. Yeah.

So it's like you could go into this final. You can go into Sunday. There's a 14 start limit. But it basically just means that you just have to be at that limit entering Sunday and then you can exceed it by as much as you want. By the way. There's a difference between what the rule is and what the provider allows you to do because those aren't necessarily the same. I mean, ultimately, it's the commissioner's job to enforce the rules. And if your fantasy service provider isn't doing it for you, then you need to, you know, that's something you have to monitor.

And it's the commissioner's job, ultimately. If that's the rule and everybody understands that to be the rule and this guy just found a loophole, then I think you need to, you're going to have to do more work as the commissioner going forward. What do you do it right now? This is a tough one. I personally would allow it. And what I would do is, gosh. Well, part of the problem is if you just discovered this issue,

you have no idea how many matchups previously this season were impacted by it. That's true. So it's one thing to just say, oh, it doesn't count this time. But, I mean, maybe other people in the league benefited from it. accidentally in the past. I don't know. This is a really tough call. Yeah.

You know, everybody's getting a refund. I don't know that that's fair to anybody who wins the league. Maybe you split the difference and you refund half the money and you play out the rest for half the money. So I would say that this guy didn't really break any rules unless you feel in your mind is the commissioner that everybody knows the rule. You cannot start more than 14 people. If you think that he just exploited a loophole, then I guess I would... I guess I would punish him.

Well, not... Gosh, I mean... I'm really... This is the hardest one we've had. Like, I don't know, because a lot of times, if you're a commissioner, you can just set up the league and kind of let it run itself. And if you're never really reiterating

or bringing attention to these rules, You can't really, I don't think you can expect people to just, to police themselves because they just don't know. You know, oh, it lets me do this, so I guess it's legal. Like, I think that happens a lot in leagues. But if this is something that you've been harping on for years and, you know, reiterating over and over again and you feel like this guy just consciously violated it, then I think you have to step in and do something. But otherwise, I think you have to allow it and just make this a. a point of emphasis going forward. Yeah, maybe.

I know it's so weak, but if you're refunding all the money, maybe refund half the money, because I'm not sure he cheated. He just kind of... This is a really tough one. Very tough one, and I'm sorry, we did a terrible job. I shouldn't even play the music,

but that's the only reason why people listen to the show. So consider that one very, very poorly regulated. And good luck to you and the rest of your league. All right. The best we could. Scott picked up Joey Wendell. Joey Wendell, yeah. You did pick up, do you think he had a big week?

He had like 38 fantasy points. Are you starting Joey Wendell? This was in a Roto League. I am because my shortstop all season has been Scott Kingery because 12-team Roto League, there have just been no short-stops available all season long. And he's the best I could do. Good matchups for the race.

I don't love him this week, but he's the best I could do. I haven't even seen, oh, Heath is crushing that league. He is. Wow, Heath with a big year for Heath Cummings. Congrats Heath. Other hitters, we talked about Robles, we talked about Mondesie. Yuleiguriel has 10 hits in his last four games. He scored 40 fantasy points last week.

He's been hot. I don't really trust. I don't think he's that good of a hitter, Scott. Euliguriel, so I don't know that I want to chase it, but he's 70% of him. What do you think? Astros have great matchups this week. And yeah, it was a huge weekend, 10 for 18 with three home runs. I would consider him a sleeper for the final week.

He makes a lot of contact, if nothing else. He's been playing every day. Actually, I've been playing a little more regularly than White, Tyler White, though it's not like White's suddenly reserve again. He's just, whenever they've given Gaddis's start, it's been White who sat instead of Gueriel lately. And Hunter Renfro, you know, Hunter Renfro just like, it's been solid.

So if you're desperate, you need it out. You don't have to be desperate. If you lost Starling Marte, if you are worried about your guy sitting or something like that, you need someone. Hunter Renfro has been really good. He homered twice over the weekend. He's 46% owned. Take a look at the most added list here. Mike Montgomery is currently scheduled to face Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

He is the most added player, and Mike Montgomery is now 42% owned. And it seems like a terrible idea to me. His last start was great. Six innings, one run, eight strikeouts. That was his first quality start since August 7th. Yeah, I don't know. Seems like a bad idea. Yeah.

Yeah, I think I would agree. All right. We got Astudio on the most Adelis. He's number two. Luke Voigt is number three. He's 47% owned. Brett Anderson. I mean, Brett Anderson is just not a very good pitcher.

And he's on the most ad of us. And I don't know. Oh, there he is. At Seattle and at. at the Angels. He's most added, but he's most added up to 34%. I mean, it's true. A lot of leagues, I guess, are not even playing at this point.

So maybe people are reaching too much for the second start. It's a bad idea. Yeah, especially when, as Scott keeps saying, it's no guarantee these guys are going to make their second starts. No, you're going to feel really bad if he doesn't. Yeah. Okay, so who else was on the most added list? Tide Butchery.

16% own. Derek Holland, Josh James, 18% own. Okay, we've covered it. Cody Reed, 7% own. Oh, look, James' name has already been changed to Josh. Oh, beautiful. On CBS Sports.

So you can look him up by his, the name he goes by. Scott, are you... And not the name his mother calls it. Are you excited by the... Are you excited about the Braves or what? Of course I am. Yeah.

This is, I mean, there was three years. of being purposely bad. That's pretty good for a rebuild. That is one of the faster rebuild jobs I can remember. And I was not expecting them to be in the playoffs going into this year. I thought this was the year that they'd flirt with a wild card spot, probably finished right around 500. So this is exciting.

Now that being said, I don't think they're going to do anything in the playoffs. I'd be surprised if they made it past the first round. But still, it's going to be fun to watch my team in the playoffs again. And for me, I have to make the decision, you know, do I want the Yankees to win the wild card game and then have to experience the shame of losing to the Red Sox? Or just lose the wild card game and not have to deal with all the Boston bragging rights. So I'll be rooting for them to win. But I won't be as upset if they lose because I just know it'll save me from having to get really pissed.

off when they lose the Red Sox. See, I'm becoming a much more sunny side-up kind of guy, Scott, later in life. Sunny-side-up. Probably that blue apron. There you go. Hey, also, if we were in the 1940s and we were going to play off baseball games, we would wear suits, because that's what people used to do, and it's really weird. And we would want to wear an Indochino suit.

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You choose every single detail, including the fabric, the color, the lapel, the lining, the monogram. like I said. And it's really easy to do. You go to Indochino.com and you browse, pick your fabric, your customizations, your measurements, submit your measurements, and you wait for your suit to arrive in just a few weeks. They also have showrooms in North America so you can look online for those, Indochino.com, and we've got a great deal for you. Now, suits like this, they're usually 800 bucks or more.

How about $3.79 for an Indochino suit? Go to Indochino.com, get your suit, and type in FB. at checkout. FBT is our promo code. That is 50% off for a made-to-measure premium suit. Free shipping. Go to Indochino.com and enter the promo code. FBT, get any premium suit for 379 with free shipping. And one more time, that promo code is FBT on Indochino.com. All right, it is time to look at pitchers. And tell me, are you going to start, I'm just, let's, like, not even get cute. Let's just go through it. Are you going to start any of these guys?

Zach Godley at San Diego. Probably not. Yeah, he's been terrible, and he's actually faced San Diego twice recently, and they both starts were bad. So I would not start Godley. Derek Rodriguez against the Dodgers? Probably not. Jake Areeta, either at Colorado or home against Atlanta. No.

Rick Porcelo, six straight starts of less than six innings, and hasn't pitched very well in them either. He gets the Yankees at home this week. Rick Porcelo. Nope. So no on Godly, no on Arieta, no on Porcelo. And maybe on Derek Rodriguez. Just don't expect a lot of strikeouts. And it may be on Godley, too.

Okay. Rather not. How about Julio Tehran? He'll be either at the Mets or at the Phillies. He actually pitched better in this game than the line would indicate, I believe, Ronald Ocuna lost the ball in the lights or something, and it led to two runs. But he ended up giving up four runs and six in a third.

It's been a pretty strong finish for Tehran. but um well i walks lately i'd still rather not he's probably third on this list though and likely how likely i'd be to start them all right i got to look up uh madison bumgarner's matchup this week but really hasn't been pitching all that well uh that's the one matchup i don't have so we can come back it looks like the podres oh okay if not the podres it'd be the diamond backs i'd start bum garner Okay, start Bum Garner. Fringy starting pitchers, they're owned in less than 80% of leagues. C.C. Sabathia, good against Tampa Bay, or Baltimore, rather, bad against everyone else lately.

He'll be at Tampa Bay this week, Sabathia. No. Okay, yeah. Don't start Nick Pavetta. Seven straight non-quality starts, and he's at Colorado this week. How about Kyle Gibson against the White Sox? Last time he faced the White Sox was about a month ago. He gave up four runs and four and two-thirds.

Kyle Gibson. Yeah. I'd rather start him than Godly, I think. Probably second on – well, third on this list behind the two giants, Boom Garner and Rodriguez. Okay. Mike Minor, bad start against Seattle over the weekend. It looks like he will be at Seattle again. He's actually been pretty bad against them this year. So if you have any questions about Minor, I think it's your excuse to sit him.

Jake Junis. Jake Junis will face Cleveland this weekend. Had a decent start at Detroit. Yeah, I wouldn't. The previous two starts, there were a bunch of home runs. Yeah, I'd rather not. Andrew Heaney, home against Texas this week. No.

No. Okay. More fringy starting pitchers, a little bit less owned. Wade LeBlanc, Wade Miley, and Lucas Gialito. Wade LeBlanc will be home against Texas. Wade Miley coming off a bad start. We'll get Detroit this week. And Lucas Gialito will get Minnesota.

I think you're waiting into dangerous. waters here, Adam. And I would also say no to Gialito. All right, no for LeBlanc, no for Miley, no for Gialito. Let's go a little bit deeper. How about Adam Wainwright, who I think he gave it one run. Yeah, I gave it one run through six innings against the Giants. I know. Then he gave up three in the seventh. I know.

That was somebody we were tweeting with this weekend, too. You had already said start Adam Wainwright. And I made a point to come in afterward and say you'd be crazy to start Adam Wainwright. And I was sweating that one for those first few endings. It ended up not being such a great start. But the curveball has been a lot better. Would you say the matchup was against? I didn't, but it's at the Cubs this week.

No, I don't trust them on the road. Yeah. Andrew Suarez against the Dodgers. No. Let's go a little bit deeper. Ryan Burrucky at Tampa Bay. We're going deeper, and I keep saying no. At Tampa Bay for Burrucky.

Yeah, this one's not. It's so bad. He's got a 190-80-R-A in his last four starts. He's faced Tampa Bay twice this week and he's pitched this month and he's pitched well against them. Ryan Buraki, 23% owned. Ray's can be sneaky. They can be sneaky. If they were in the NL, they'd probably be making the playoffs, right?

I don't know. They're like six-back of the A's. I don't know. Yeah, I don't think it would. I don't think it would. No, I'm Baroque. Joe Ross, 10% owned. He'll either get, though.

Marlins at home or Colorado on the road this week? Well, that makes a big difference, doesn't it? I would say no. No, Anjo Ross. Trevor Richards at the Mets this week. I mean, I like it better than a lot of these pitchers I've been saying no to. Not compared to like Baumgartner or Derek Rodriguez, but I think he's up there with everybody else.

Tommy Pinone, 4% owned at Tampa Bay this week. No. Ian Kennedy, home against Cleveland. It's been good since coming off the DL, but it would have to be a really favorable matchup for me to even think about it, and it's not. So then let's just take a look at the worst hitters, the worst lineups in baseball and who they're facing.

So the Giants have Brian Mitchell, Robbie Erlin, Eric Lauer, Rich Hill, Junjun Rieu, and Clayton Kirshaw, You're not getting any streamers there. Yeah, Scott, I don't know if you have an easier way to do this, but I'm going to look at the... Yeah, go ahead. I kind of went through it last night in picking out those sleepers, Richards. I mean, I included the Mets. I see you didn't.

That's fine. I understand why you win it. And I had Cody Reed going against the Royals. But otherwise, I didn't see a lot of great options. I could see Tanner Roark being available in some leagues. He is not pitched well, but he is facing the Marlins. Stephen Mats is also facing the Marlins. Yeah, Matt's, yep.

I think Yvonne Nova is going to face the Marlins potentially. I think they have a makeup game. They probably won't even end up playing that game since it'll be useless. I don't know how that's going to work. As far as the Royals go, let's take a look at their. So what do we? We got Roarck, we got Mats. I don't know that I trust them, though.

Maybe. I think I probably trust Matt's against the Marlins. Matt Harvey is facing the Royals. And Cody Reed is facing the Royals. Yeah, between those two, I'd prefer Reed. I would not have a lot of faith in Harvey. All right, let's see who's facing the Tigers this week. And I apologize if we're sort of doing this on the fly, better than nothing. The Tigers are facing, they've got some TBDs, maybe some bullpen games against Minnesota.

Jake O'Darise, Zach Davies, Wade Miley, Chase Anderson. Yeah, not feeling it. And we don't even know that Chase Anderson's going to start. He was scratched from his Monday start for reasons unknown. So I had to remove him from the two-star pitcher list. The Orioles are basically a tonic for every struggling pitcher. So Nate Avaldi tonight is pretty interesting. got.

Can't do it. Okay. But like Sabathia and Lance Lynn turned in good starts against the Orioles. And they were pitching to James Shields. I'm not willing to gamble on that magic with the kind of starts of Aldi has turned in lately. Okay. The White Sox have Kyle Gibson. And then the twins are going like bullpen, right?

Like they're opening. They're doing a lot of openers? They're doing some, yeah. Because when I see the twins on the schedules, nobody seems to know who they're actually playing. And then finally, the Padres. Let's take a look at the Padres matchups. I know they've got the Giants this week.

The Padres are facing Derek Holland, who we've talked about, not a bad option, even if he only gets one start. Chris Stratton, I doubt you're starting him, and then Zach Godley, Robbie Ray. I mean, they're not available, but there'll be tough calls for you. Okay, let's read some emails. Matt from Ottawa needs to win, Scott.

Baraki, ranked these guys. Baraki at Tampa Bay, Keller against Cleveland, Glassnow against Tampa Bay, and Junis against Cleveland. Rank them. I would go, Glassnow, Keller, Barucky, Junis. And are you going to start George Springer this week? I feel like he's been hitting pretty poorly.

Well, he was pretty, he was hot going. I said, no, he had a good weekend. He had five RBIs and a home run. Okay, big weekend. I think so, yeah. Okay. He also mentions Rafael Devers. One thing to note with Devers is Eduardo Nunez and his health.

If Nunez is back, that might put Devers on the bench. This is from Caleb. He's over it a couple times this weekend Devers did. Yeah, Devers is, yeah, maybe picking it up, but I don't know. They don't seem to love him. Caleb, in a Michael Cain voice has, but one last, I can't do Michael Cain. Scott Ken. Hang on.

Hang on. I haven't been practicing this morning, but no, that's not good. Nosa. I don't think I'm going to be able to find it quickly enough. It's tough. It needs one starting pitcher. Annabal Sanchez, Cody Reed, Josh James, Jose Orania, Rinaldo Lopez, or Ian Kennedy? I will go with Lopez.

Rinaldo over Anabel Sanchez, over Josh James. Okay, let me think. Yeah, you know what, I would. That's a close call between those three, Lopez, Sanchez, and James, but I'll say Lopez. Caleb also wants to know that Richard Rodriguez has been pitching lights out in the Pittsburgh bullpen. Yeah, I actually added him in an in a lonely roto league this weekend. Yeah, he's 2% owned. In the month of September, he has not.

Not allowed an earn run. He has two walks, 17 strikeouts, and nine and two thirds. Richard Rodriguez. All right, need a little ERA and whip help. There you go. This is from Peter. I need six of the following eight, so sit two. All right, we're not sitting Clevenger.

We're not sitting, oh, we might sit Carasco. Did you get an update on Carasco and if he's pitching? I, no, I didn't. I didn't get any clarity there. Yeah, you might sit him. You're not sitting Granky. You're not sitting Marquez. You're not sitting Buell.

you're not sitting Castillo. So you have to sit two out of three. Carasco, Peña, or Evaldi? Pena and Evaldi. You're going to start Carasco? Yeah, over those two, yeah. But I don't know that he's starting. Well, he's definitely pitching.

He's going to pitch, yeah. Okay. From Luke. Dear Max, Herman and Mr. Little Jeans. That sounds like something fun. Like, sounds like Mr. Little Jeans. Oh, it's from Rushmore. It's from what?

Rushmore. Oh, okay. Gosh. Is that a Wes Anderson movie? I believe so. I just hate, hate Wes Anderson? You know where I'm going with it. I just can't.

You're going to go on a Wes Anderson ran now? Who do I sit out of these players in the head-to-head categories league? Juan Soto, Rees Hoskins, Miguel And Du Har, Quit, Maryfield, Adelbertoe, or Jose Altovae. Who do I sit? I think you should sit Miguel Anduhar From Josh

Pick two of these closers Gazelman Givens Peralta Romo Steckenrider Butchery, Hirano I will pick Butchry is like my favorite And maybe Romo

But they're about to get eliminated But Romo's been getting a ton of saves lately Yeah I would go Romo and Toronto. Okay. Yeah, I worry a little bit about what the Diamondbacks are going to do this week and if they're just going to be terrible,

but it's hard to chase wins when you're... It's hard to chase like teams that are going to win games when you're looking for saves. From Carter, do you know of any bullpen games other than Tampa and long relievers scheduled for this week? Carasco. I mean, I... Yeah.

That's the one. There are some. There are probably... There are too many for me to name off the top of my head. All right. we got an email from somebody who was typing this while he drove. I didn't like that. I'm going to

answer it anyway. Wow. Standard scoring, but no negative points for K's. I need help. Who do I start at utility? Amad Rosario, Edwin and Carnacioner, Hunter Renfro. Way to encourage him, madam. Yeah, don't do that. I would start. Who was it White or Incarnacioner?

Now, you made that up. Rosario Encarnacioner, Renfro. Rosario, Incarnassian, or Renfro? Well, Rosario is not planning. Ahmed Rosario. Oh, okay. Incarnazian. Just start Incarnazian. All right, this is from Brian in California.

Dear Grody, Chris, Teddy, and Vern. And that's a typo. It's supposed to be Gordy, Chris, Teddy, and Vern. Do you know what that's from, Scott? No. No. Do do, do, do, do, do, do do do do do do. Can't by me?

There it is. I want to gamble on David Dahl this week with seven home games all against Ritees. But I need to bench Mondesiecki, Merrifield, Castellanos, Cruz, or Hanager. What should I do? That's a big gamble because he has not been playing close to every day. I would not bench any of those five for him personally. But you're going to force me to pick the least start-able of them? No, you could bench Dahl.

Yeah. I think there's an obvious guy to bench if you do, and it's Castellanos. I mean... He is coming off a huge week, but before that he was struggling. Yeah, I couldn't justify any sitting any of those for Dahl. Sorry. And Peter in New York City says, Dear, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I'm Steve Martin and Scott is Michael Cain.

Please help me win my league by ranking the following five closers for saves. Giles, Horano. Minter, Smith, and Buttery. I don't know. Thank you for saying that because I had no idea who Smith was. Well. He's last. Yeah.

I kind of want to look it up now, but I don't want to slow the showdown. So I'm going to say that the rankings for these are none other than Giles, Hirano. Giles Minter, Hirano, Buttery Smith. Smith, who are you? We're pretty much done, Scott, so we can, you know, he's not. I know a man with a wooden leg name, Smith. Is that a thing? You ever heard that one before?

No. It was like a joke, they kept telling him Mary Poppins. Come on. I never seen Mary Poppins. The punchline is, what's the name? What? What? Maybe when I was a kid.

What? What? Smith? Who the hell is Smith? Dodgers. I've gone through every team. The only thing I can think of is maybe the white socks have a guy named Smith. What's the name of his other like?

Wait, what? I know a man with the wooden leg named Smith. Oh, what's the name of his other leg? It's buttry. All right. Thanks, everybody. Good luck. Get yourself a win.

Get yourself a championship. Split your winnings with us. Or keep your yourself, probably what you're going to do. And for Scott, Scott, great season. We'll be back once a week in the off season. Talking fantasy baseball, looking ahead of 2019. Who's going to win the World Series, Scott?

The Astros. I will take the Red Sox to win the World Series. Thank you so much for listening, everybody. And good luck.