Fantasy Baseball Today - Checking in on 2019's One Hit Wonders; Wed. Recap (08/27 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 27, 2020

Is Ian Anderson the answer to your pitching problems? Let's talk about Wednesday's standouts (3:00) and some key injuries (8:40) as Aaron Judge could be headed back to the IL. Then Adam and Scott talk about their Fantasy seasons as we are around the halfway point of the year (10:30). What went wrong with one of Adam's strategies? ... Bullpen notes (17:22) and we check in on last seasons' one hit wonders (22:55) like Marcus Semien, Josh Bell and Ketel Marte. What happened to these guys and how concerned are we? ... We discuss some streaking hitters (35:00) and the standout SPs (38:05) of Wednesday's games ... Your emails at [e-mail] Subscribe to our new YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! 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. One, one pitch, basketball pulled and fast. Alvarez and toward the corner. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris.

Time for the third best host of this podcast to step in and step up and talk some fantasy baseball on a Wednesday night, August, 26th, almost August 27th. I am rusty, but I am back. I am Adam Azer with Scott. What's up, Scott? Adam. Yeah. Where you've been, man?

Haven't heard from you in a while. I, you know, I have learned a lot about fantasy baseball, Scott. I have learned a lot. It is it. It is so hard if you're not following it every single day, like reading and, you know, fan graphs and, oh. All this stuff, it is so hard. Watching, you know how much I used to watch baseball?

I just, I miss it, and it's tough. It's tough to compete. So here I am. Like, recently, I'm usually like two or three days behind on box scores, but I knew I was hosting this show for like a week, so I've been kind of caught up recently. But this is not, you know, I credit the people who are super dedicated to fantasy baseball

because I am having a tough time doing it. You're feeling a little unplugged right now, a little detached. Have you missed? The Orioles, the Giants, where do all these good hitters come from? Out of nowhere. That's what happens on rebuilding teams. Are you aware of my new trick I've been doing?

I've been seeing emails about it. It haven't been very positive. I can give you a little demonstration. Yeah, let's hear. Who is this Adam Azer character polluting my sound waves? People don't like that. I love that. It's amazing.

He's a fine young lad, full of, wit and whimsy and a vaguely huggable quality that makes his very presence an uplifting adventure for everyone involved. That is so... Well, his voice sounds like hot garbage. I want to crush his soul. This is like Aquitaine Hunger Force. This is outstanding. Like, oh my gosh.

You think it's outstanding now. Just wait until your soul is crushed into a fine powder that I stir in. my coffee and sprinkle onto my coffee cake. Somebody said in an email to Frank like, I don't know what you did to get Scott White to like come out of his shell or something like that. I know exactly what Frank did. This happened last year too.

Scott White after dark. He is electric at night and it's wonderful. All right. So the one thing I've noticed about fantasy baseball is there are just no pitchers. I go to check the two-star pitchers every week. There are like five of them, and they're all terrible, and I don't even trust them that they're going to make two starts. But did we find something in Ian Anderson, Scott, 39% rostered,

and potentially could be facing the Red Sox and the Nationals next week. But Florida was a no-hitter in its Major League debut against a weekend Yankees' lineup, but still six innings, one run, two-walks, six strikeouts. Ian Anderson, is he a must-ad at it? Who would you drop for Anderson? I think he is must add. I mean, he was a top prospect. He was one I didn't speak very highly of leading up to his debut.

I will admit that. But you always have to give talent a chance. And the talent showed pretty strong here considering the opponent. And I mean, one hit in six innings in his debut. I just did not have that as even really a possible outcome for Ian Anderson. 12 swinging strikes on how many pitches? Like 90? 19, 12 swinging strikes on 90 pitches.

So not good, but not overwhelming. Eight of them came on the change-up, though, which he threw like 40% of the time. The secondary arsenal looked well-developed. He did walk two guys, and he had some walk issues last year, but I didn't see him not being in control. Like he, particularly early in the game, he was consistently ahead of hitters and just really,

really seemed like he did not seem like a guy making his major league debut. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do with each hitter. And I was very impressed, obviously, given the state of starting pitching, I can't imagine why you would pass over Mr. Anderson. I can't say for sure that he's a two-star pitcher. I don't even know that the Braves can, but he's got a chance to make two starts next week. And they need the help in the rotation. So, you know, you think that they would give him another shot. Tristan McKenzie, Sixto-Sanchez are the two most added starting pitchers.

Would you prefer Anderson over either Tristan McKenzie or Sixtho-Sanchez? I'll take them over Six-O. Like, I'm kind of ranking them in order by how strong their debut was. McKenzie, Anderson, Sixtho, Sanchez, being the three in that order. But, like, you know, maybe that's not a super-scientific

way of doing things, but they're all such high-end prospects that, you know, I do think, I do think maybe in terms strictly of, I don't know, that might be the right order. When speaking in terms of my expectations rest of season, though, you know, I can't help but wonder if I would rearrange that order if their debuts went a little differently. Well, look, Clevenger's back, right? And they might have a complete rotation soon. So it's Tristan McKenzie a lot to stay in the rotation. rotation.

I think if Tristan McKenzie sputters, then it's going to be very easy for them to call Zach Plesack back up. But what they last told Zach Plesack was that there's not a spot in the rotation for him. So I think if McKenzie continues to deliver, that that will remain so. Was that a spuds McKenzie pun? What did I say? If Tristan McKenzie sputters. No, it wasn't. It was unintentional humor.

Okay. Sorry. I'm not that good at him. All right, all right. So Ian Anderson has to be one of the prime standouts. All the games are, I think, in the books except for one right now, Colorado, Arizona. Of course, I had to be on the show when Robbie Ray was pitching. But who's a standout to you, Scott? Okay.

Stand out to me other than Mr. Anderson. was I didn't pick this out because Frank wasn't doing it Oh my goodness gracious player Yeah Yeah exactly Let's talk about

Let's talk about Eliezer Hernandez Who Elie had Hernandez Eli Azer Hernandez Adam Azer Who'd been having a great season

Up to this point This was I think his worst start In terms of You know He only went four innings seven hits, three earned runs, but he did have seven strikeouts. He did still have 17 whiffs. Obviously, they're not, all the starts aren't going to go flawlessly, but he still demonstrated that he might have the stuff to be a standout at starting pitcher.

You probably picked him up not expecting much just because he's Eleazar Hernandez, but I wouldn't let this start scare me away from him. I'd stick with him. you know, if he was clearly my low guy that I had to drop for Ian Anderson, fine. I'd rather have Anderson, but it's not a big gap between the two. Yeah, he just doesn't, I mean, he hasn't thrown, today he threw like 95 pitches or something. That was a season high for Hernandez. He has not gone six innings yet, usually about five innings. But he caught my eye as well, and there's just nobody available, really.

So I would drop, I mean, I try to drop Robbie Ray for him. I'm not sure if, let's see if Hernandez is available in the podcast. League. Hernandez, Ellie, is not available in the podcast league. How about that?

So I guess I won't be dropping Robbie Ray just yet. I'm trying, everybody. I promise I'm trying. Big news. There were four games postponed tonight.

One was Astros and the Angels. That was for the hurricane and three others. Padres, Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, and Brewers, brewers Reds

because of the unfortunate situation with the shooting. So four games postponed. And Aaron Judge, first game back might be going back on the aisle. Again, it's tightness in his calf. And it's unbelievable with Aaron Judge. So Clint Frazier is 47% rostered.

Mike Talkman is 43% rostered. Who would you pick up? They both have been pretty solid. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Clint Frazier was playing every day, before Judge came back, and Talkman wasn't. So, I don't know.

I mean, Outfield, there have been so many emerging options at that position specifically that I can't imagine the need right now is too pressing for most people. Talkman's been running a lot, but I think if you were just looking for the bat, ultimately it's going to be who ends up playing the most, but I would guess Frazier. Can you believe this with Aaron, Judge?

Yes, I can. I can believe it. It makes me sad, but I can believe it. I'm going to give you a name that's maybe heating up a little. Well, it's really a stretch to say that. But Miguel Ann Duhar, I guess he had some good at bats today and they need some hitting. So he's DH today. Maybe he gets more at bats. That's deeper leagues. Could think about him. Ronald Ocuna return. He homered off Garrett Cole. That's the big news. Got more news later. Yeah, what's up? Also stole base. Oh, yes. Hopefully, Roto players got him back in your line.

lineup. Yes, I did in our 16 team categories league for sure, so I was happy about that. So how's fantasy baseball going, Scott, through the halfway point of the season, one month. I don't know how legitimately to treat any of it, you know, because I think back to, I was in second place in Tout Wars by like, at like mid-May last year and I ended up finishing sixth. You know, mid-May is even further into that season and we're into this season. But I am basically every draft we did before the shutdown. I'm in first or second place, including Tout Wars, where I'm in first by like 25 points.

The ones we did after the shutdown, I kind of backed off my stance a little on starting pitching. I kind of chickened out. I don't even think it was so much that I chickened out is I expected everyone else to chicken out because the narrative was pitching's going to suffer. So I kept waiting for people to back off pitching and they didn't. So I ended up having to settle for a less extreme version

of what I was doing before the shutdown. And those teams, you know, I don't have one that's just completely uncompetitive, but they're not doing as well by and large. I wanted to talk a little bit about Tapp Hap A&MC, which has been, been pretty bad. But I talked about it a lot and what has gone wrong. So I used it in one league, an auction, Roto League that Scott is in first place in.

And I did this way back when. And this is two aces plus Hader and Paxton and more closers. And the goal was to have high strikeout elite starting pitchers, but not that many of them. And then fill out the rest of my starting lineup, basically, with relievers and closers and win whip and win ERA and win saves. repeat in strikeouts and wins because the two aces I had were Scherzer and Bueller. And that's the problem. The two aases I, Paxton, like, Paxton's obviously been horrible.

But even, he's not even the big part of it. It's been Scherzer and Bueller. They're killing me. They're just, like, if you're going to do a strategy, this is what I've learned, Scott. If you're going to do any type of strategy that is so dependent on two players, basically, and Hader, I guess, or three players, you really need all of them to be great. and it's just not happening. I'm in eighth place in this league.

I'm getting better. I don't think I can win it, but I do think if Hader and Scherzer, I'm sorry, if Bueller and Scherzer are Bueller and Scherzer for the last month of the season, I think I could probably finish third, fourth, something like that. Because I have a pretty good team. But, you know, look, I knew this going in,

but it's worth saying. If you're going to do some type of strategy where it's basically all dependent on like two players, carrying your pitching staff, they'd both need to hit. And it's different than being like, well, what if your first two picks were just too bad,

were just bad, you know? And it wasn't necessarily Scherzer and Bueller. Like, it's a little bit different because you don't have a backup plan at the position, you know? They are your pitching staff, basically. So, you know, they had to go right in there.

They just had to be. Yeah. Yeah, and that's especially true when it is at such a volatile position. I mean, you know attrition hit starting pitcher hard, which is why I was looking to overkill it, kind of anticipating some of that happening. Now, those two specifically, Bueller and Scherzer, I think they're going to be fine.

I think they're going to dominate over this next month, and hopefully you'll, I mean, it's a league with playoffs, right? So you might be in trouble because of that. It's not. It's not. Oh, okay. It's our road. And you're probably going to rise in the standings, given those expectations.

I wonder how much did you actually spend on the relievers, the high-end relievers, non-closer relievers that you were drafting? Were they, did you address much capital, draft capital in them at all? Or were they just basically late rounders? No, like I had Nerris and I think I had do little, but I quickly picked up. All those were closers, yeah. I quickly, I quickly picked, all right, let me tell you right now. So Walker Bueller was $36.

This was a $260 budget. Scherzer was 41. Hayter was 18. Paxton was eight. I had Neres for four, Colomé for three, which has been a good one for me. I think I thought I had to... I'm missing a few here. I didn't spend that much other than Hader, and I'm winning.

I'm leading in saves, by the way. Yeah, no, and that's fine. I mean, I wasn't interpreting it necessarily as you going after closers to get... You need save sources. If you don't spend much on them, you know, you can't complain too much when they go wrong. but I was thinking, like, one thing that I've been doing in my Roto or Categories leagues, you know, I have my high-end pitchers I can count on. But basically, it's a group of like 40 to 50 pitchers that are worth starting,

and everyone else isn't. So that's only enough for every team to have like four or five, you know, and you have a lot of other pitcher spots to fill. They can all be filled by closers. So I've been finding, impact metal relievers off the waiverware. I feel like the four stars, and forgive me if I'm missing somebody,

but the four star non-closer relievers right now that have been just great to plug into those categories, lineups to help with ratios without really pulling you down in strikeouts. It's been Matt Foster of the White Sox, Jonathan Hernandez of the Rangers, Devin Williams recently here, of the Brewers, who has a crazy strikeout rate,

and Tanner Rainey of the National. I guess James Corinchak. Yeah, I have Karen. That's a little more obvious. But those four, excluding Corinchak, weren't on anybody's radar coming into these seasons. I hadn't heard of any of them prior to this season. And now they're like the standouts at what they do.

And they're valuable. Yeah. They're valuable. And obviously Seth Lugo, what he did the other day. I mean, it's really valuable. So yes, I was trying to fill out my roster with players like that as well. So let's see. You know, if Scherzer and Bueller can pull it together,

then maybe I'll, Like I said, maybe like I'll finish fourth, but I've pretty much missed my chance to win the league because they've started off. Basically, imagine if they had three horrible months, right, in a regular season. Not horrible, but, you know, underwhelming. So anyway, I thought maybe I give an update on that strategy and what went wrong. And pitching is just, it's just my best teams have great pitching. I think that's probably the case with everybody right now. Let's take a look at some bullpen notes from around MLB.

Brandon Workman got his second save with the Phillies. He did give up two hits, but he's the closer, right? Yeah, until he's not. I don't think he's very good. He's going to issue a lot of free passes. He hasn't made it look easy in any of those three saves. And I think where this ultimately goes with the Red Sex bullpen and it's a very undesirable committee situation like we saw.

Oh, sorry. I was talking about it. the wrong guy. I was talking about who workmen left behind in Matt Barnes, which is Matt Barnes. But it could have worked for work for work for work for workman. Workman has had some struggles,

but not as severe as Barnes. I think he is the closer. Not as severe as Hector Nerris by the way. So I have a, you know, I'm not, I don't think workman is going to be as good as last year. He had a historic batting average against last year that just isn't going to be repeatable.

But I think he should be able to hold down the role for the Phillies. Yeah, if he doesn't, keep an eye on Blake Parker. He has not given up a run in six and a third. Two walks, nine strikeouts so far for the Phillies.

Other bullpen news, Anthony Bass pitched in the eighth inning in a nine one game. He had not pitched in four days, so they were probably just trying to shake off the rest, but it seems like

they may not have a set closer. Yeah, I think I give Jordan Romano. I just want to say Romero. It's Romano. You know, he's gotten the last two saves. He has better numbers than Bass, actually, not that basses are bad. The thing is, though, Ken Giles is throwing bullpen sessions.

So it may be short-lived either way. Edwin Diaz pitched the eighth inning, and he gave up, he one hit, two walks. He struggled in the eighth inning. His previous eight appearances, Edwin Diaz, eight and a third, one run, two walks, 19 strikeouts, 25 percent swinging strikes, but no saves. but this is a little bit of a hiccup for him. Yeah.

Yeah. And apparently he was dealing with leg cramps. I would have rather than say he was dealing with brain cramps because it's just so frustrating. He dominates. And then he gets a chance to be reinserted as the closer with Seth Lugo going to the rotation. And then he allows three inherited runners to score.

And that was obviously bailing out a guy in the eighth, but I assume the plan was for him to pitch the ninth also, if it had gone better than it did. Yeah. So, you know, I still think he gets the next chance, but, like, he's making it hard on the Mets to just go with their best reliever. Joe Jimenez for the Tigers,

pitched the sixth inning, gave up a run. He's had a terrible year. Do we know who their closer is? It's not Joe Jimenez. Ron Garden higher has said as much. So, yeah, I mean, it doesn't deserve to be. He's been awful. And he's never really had closed.

closer caliber numbers. So it makes sense that they try out somebody else. Buck Farmer, which is a difficult name to say. Slowly. Just say it slowly. Yeah, say it slowly. Buck Farmer. He seemed to be in line for the save. Their best reliever, I think, has been there more like a seventh inning guy this year. And I wrote down the name. He pitched the eighth to set up for Farmer. And, uh, Farmer, it ended up not being a safe situation, but Farmer allowed three runs. So I don't know if he's going to get another shot. I mean, he didn't. The name I'm looking for is Soto.

It is Gregory Soto. He pitched the 8th. He had been pitching the 7th with Farmer pitching the 8th. So they just kind of moved everybody back one spot. But maybe Soto, Gregory Soto, gets the chance next time. Looks like I'm trying to follow what's going on live in the Royals Cardinals. I think maybe Trevor Rosenthal, who came in in the eighth inning, has run into a little bit of trouble with two walks in the ninth inning, and he may have been relieved.

Not great, Bob. Not great. But I do think he was, they're winning five to two. And this is happening, I think, like right now. So I'm sorry about that. Finally, Diego Castillo got a save for the raise. They had literally four. different guys get their previous four saves.

I can tell you two of them were Jalen Beaks and Chas Rowe. I can't tell you who the other two were because I'd never heard of them before. And so now five different guys were their last five saves. Diego Castillo is at least good. But Nick Anderson is supposed to be back this weekend. Oliver Drake, I think, is coming back soon too. There's really nobody to target here. Except Anderson, I mean, Anderson is going to give you good ratios.

So you might as well hold on to him and, you know, take whatever saves he gives you. He is the team leader and saves at this point. It's worth noting. But, yeah, it's going to be all over the place. All right, we're going to check in on some of the one hit wonders from last year. This is going to be one of the main topics today. We're also going to look at Jose Barrios. We're going to talk about Mike Clevenger and his return tonight.

Masahiro Tanaka, Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keiko with a good start. Mike Fires had a good start. Dakota Hudson. had a good start. He's got a 332 ERA and he's a rostered only 53% of leagues. And we've got some emails of Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. But let's take a look at some of the guys who were surprisingly amazing last year. And what has happened this year? Marcus Simeon, Yoan Moncada, Cotel Marte, Josh Bell, Tommy Edmund.

Marcus Simeon, Yoan Moncada, Cotel Marte, Josh Bell, Tommy Edmund. Scott, of those five, they're all struggling in their own right. I mean, Marte just like the funniest home run to fly ball rate you'll ever see. It's 2.9%. And he's, you know, he's got a high batting average. Bell has been horrible. Edmund has been horrible, but he did steal his first base tonight.

Simeon's been pretty bad yet he's leading off, scoring a ton of runs. He's actually entering today the number 10 shortstop in points leagues, number 15 in Roto. Mokata's been like, okay, been dealing with some leg so who are you not worried about Simeon, Moncada, Cotel Marte,

Bell, and Edmund? Moncada is the one I'm least worried about. I don't you know, there was obviously a lot of pedigree backing up the breakthrough last year and you could

see how the breakthrough would happen if he got a strikeout rate down like he did Strikeout rate is up a little this year, but it's such a small sample that it could change within a couple days. So I think he's probably still the player you drafted him to be. No steals, though.

No attempts. Yeah, I mean, he only had 10 steals last year, which I get isn't nothing, but that should not... You should have always thought of that more as like gravy than... Yeah, right, right. than what he was going to provide. The ones I'm most invested in are Josh Bell and Marcus Simeon.

And neither have shown much. They've both struck out a lot. It's most curious for Bell because even prior to the breakout, he was a guy who didn't strike out much. The breakout was more about making higher quality contact than making more contact. So I don't know why he started making less. contact. It's really weird.

I've been inclined to just stick with both of them. I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned at all, but you know, the first month of the season is very easy to throw away in a full length season. Yeah. It's true. It's very different when it's half the season. You kind of, you, you're liable to panic sooner when, like, a player's not going to come

around any sooner than he'd normally come around. And it could still be, I'm not to the point where I'm ready to give upon the talent for those two. Like if I had a, if I had a decent alternative to start instead, I would do that. I have sat, I know I've sat

Bell in a couple leagues for like Jake Croninworth, who I'm really excited about. But I'm not ready to drop them or to sell them for pennies on the dollar if trading is still an option. I would rather just stash them

away and be the one who reaps the benefits if they do come around. Yeah, for Josh Bell, I benched him for Yandy Diaz, who doesn't even play every day. This is in a points league, but he's got an 18% walk rate, which is like, I mean,

I wonder who's leading baseball. I'm going to look at that right now. Carlos Santana. Yandy Diaz is sixth in walk rate right now, so he's been a real asset in points leagues. And of all the players in the top, Man, I don't even know.

Top like 20, at least in walk rate, Yandy Diaz has the lowest strikeout rate. I mean, I think top 30. I don't even know how far it goes. So great play discipline for him. So if you're looking for a first base option, but I'm not going to drop Josh Bell, but I certainly did bench him.

What do you make of Catelle Marte? Going into Wednesday, 32 batting average, only one home run, one steal. He does have 10 doubles. He hit 32 home runs last year. Again, the home run to fly ball rate went from 19% in 2019 for Cotel Marte, 3% this year. And the other thing that has dropped is the walk rate. He's not walking at all.

What do you make of Cotel Marte? Yeah, he's an interesting case because he's been good. Batting 315, expected batting average 302. That's basically the same as last year. You know, not striking out much. It's just been good in a different sort of way. And obviously not as good because last year he was like MVP caliber. and you know he's he's not like you look at the expected stats for like slugging you know he's he's more like

where he was in 2018 it's it's like last year was an aberration as far as that goes I still think it's too early to say okay that's the answer catel Marte the power 2019 was a total fluke but it it remains an open question I think if you are inclined to be skeptical of it obviously your confirmation bias is kicking in and saying, yeah, that power was a fluke. And then there's also the possibility that, you know, because it was isolated to 2019 where it seems like the ball was a new level of juiced,

and now there's indications that it's performing more like the 2017 ball, which was still juiced, but, you know, to a lesser extent, you know, maybe he's suffering from that. But it could just be the random noise that comes from a one-man, month sample too. And that's like that is that's what's going to loom over all forms of analysis because there's just no way around it. It's not a big enough sample to say with any real confidence. Second base has been horrible, huh? Like, well, when you look at the rankings compared to what's actually happened, yeah, you could

say Brandon Lau is having a great year. Kevin Vigio is a breakout. David Fletcher is number three in points, but Glaibre Torres, DJ LeMayhew, Ozzie Albiz, Catele-Marte, Jose Al-Tuve, it has not been what we have expected. Yeah, that's fair. And that's been, that's been true for most positions, actually. I'm sure it's one month, yeah, it's one month. Which, yeah, it goes to that. But they've been really bad.

I mean, those guys have been such disappointments for your fantasy teams. Yeah, they have. DeJ. LeMayhew's been great. DJ LaMahue, he was performing well. he's just going to hurt. But the others, yeah, they've all underwhelmed. So by comparison, Ketel Marte is looking pretty good. So, yeah, he's not even a top 15 second basement, believe it or not.

But so at what point is he no longer your number one second baseman in your rankings? Because he is right now. Well, I mean, part of it goes to what you're saying that the guys that I could justify moving ahead of Ketalmarte at this point aren't Ozzy Albiz and Jose Al-Tuvei. it would have to be guys like Brandon Lau and Kevin Bizio who I've both moved up I've moved both up a lot

I think Lows up to four for me Bizio might be up to six or seven I'll give it probably two more weeks at which point there will be three weeks left in the season I get that but you know I don't want to change my process

for evaluating hitters because it just or players in general because it would just be guessing when they're going to turn it on or not turn it on. And I feel like a good six weeks is really the point when I would start changing my mind about players I believed in initially. The season doesn't even feel real.

I'm watching the games and it just feels like an exhibition. I don't know. There's just something very obvious. I guess maybe it's the lack of fans. Yeah. I think just we don't have so much in our minds. I don't know. It's weird.

I haven't actually noticed it much myself. I mean, the crowd noise, honestly, the cardboard cutouts of fans. Like, it was it was weirder when all the, you know, some of the stadiums at the start, they had like just empty seats all the way around. And you didn't see that like the scattered colors, you know, behind the players and all around the infield. I think, I think the presentation, it's been really strong in terms of making it feel like a normal game. Yeah, I agree with that.

Yep. So, no, that really hasn't been my impression. I just have to be reminded in certain moments. Like, I have this thought sometimes. Oh, man, I wonder if, you know, Mike Yistremski can keep it going. He can be voted into the All-Star game. And it's like, no, he's not going to be voted into the All-Star game. I think I've just had a strain.

It's just been a weird year for me, and I'm sure for like almost everybody in the country. I have so much on my mind that sports is just, way on the back burner, which is so weird for me. It's been my whole life for so long. But I just can't, I don't know, I can't lock in on it. It's very strange. Last week, I didn't even know the Yankees and the Mets were playing. How do I not know that?

It's just so weird. I don't know. I will admit, you know, obviously baseball is one thing, because I have to follow baseball intensely for my job. And so there's no escaping it. I'm subjected to it. I haven't given one thought to fantasy football yet, and the season starts in, what, like two weeks?

Yeah, no. It hasn't been on my mind at all. A lot of people, like my brother canceled his fantasy. They canceled his league this year. They just don't think the season's going to finish. Sports is just not quite on the front burner, at least for me. It's just a weird year. It's a weird year.

This is a really good pitch for CBS fantasy cast. No, look, I mean, if you're listening, then you're into it. I don't have to convince you. Right? People are definitely into fantasy football. It's just different. Tommy Edmund, we didn't talk about though. Entering today, like I said, he stole his first base, but slugging 359. This was after he had an 850 OPS last year. What do you think about Tommy Edmund? He's still playing every day and he's batting second most days. So that's good. Do you think he turns it around? Let's see. How small is the sample now? Because obviously they missed like two weeks. 18, 19 games now.

19 games and counting. Yeah. I mean, obviously I'm frustrated, and I can't imagine too many people are starting him at this point, but if you need him for steals, if you need steals, and you were counting on him to contribute to that, I feel like you keep him around and hope he heats up

because it's just, it is a really small sample. All right, that's Tommy Edmund. News and notes. And he did get his first steal today for what it's worth. He did, yes. Max Kepler left after fouling a ball off his leg, his day to day. Merrill Kelly likely out for the season due to a blood clot in his shoulder. The Nationals optioned Carter Keyboom to their alternate training site as they activated Sean Doolittle off the IL.

Carter Keybune did not have an extra base hit in 50 at bats. That's wild. Womp-womp. Meanwhile, Daniel Hudson pitched a scoreless in a, in a non-save situation today. I think that was just to get him some work he hadn't pitched in four days. That's my guess. Trey Turner stole his third base.

How about that? And he's hitting so well, it hasn't really mattered. But nice to see him steal a base. Rai Mel Tapia was out for the Rockies. He's dinged up. Garrett Hampson led off at Arizona. And Jose Abraeu has now homered eight times in his last seven games. Which leads us to the hitting machines.

Here's some guys who are. We're crushing it right now. Dansby Swanson. First eight games, he batted 387 with two home runs. Next 13 games, he batted 204 with two walks and 16 strikeouts. I was like, all right, that was fun

for Danesby Swanson. Remember those eight games? Well, now how about this eight game stretch? He's got three home runs. He's, I think he's a nine game stretch because he had a double header today. But he's been great. Batting over 400, I believe, or around 400. I don't have the updated stats.

But Swanson Todd again. Mitch Morland. is the number three first baseman in Roto leagues, but he sits against lefties. Randall Gritchick, another big day. I know you guys have spoken about him. He homered today. Routy Tellez, Homer twice.

He sits against lefties. He's on the Toronto Blue Jays, FYI. And hopefully, Ebonyer Carnacion is coming around. We know he's a slow starter. He's been bad, but he's got an extra base hit in three straight games. He homered today against the pirates. And Carnacian had a two-homer game a week ago. Dansby Swanson, 84% rostered.

Mitch Morland, 47%, Randallin, 76%, Rowdy Tellez, and 9%. Edwin Encarnacion, 67%. Scott, anybody here who's roster percentage should be much higher, much lower. What do you think? I don't think so. I think they all seem right. I mean, certainly there's a chance this could kick off a hot streak for Edwin and Carnacion, who has historically been a slow starter.

He's one of the few players I feel comfortable saying that about. But, you know, this year it's like a 35% strikeout rate when usually he's around 20. It's 37 years old. I'm not necessarily counting on it for Incarnazion, but I can certainly see it. So that's the one I'm keeping an eye on here. Gritchick's roster percentage is up to 76%. So it's getting pretty high now. And there are some underlying numbers, a strikeout rate, the line drive rate to suggest maybe he is a different player this year.

but, you know, the small sample thing goes the other way, too, and he has a long trek record of being, you know, a pretty, a pretty fringy hitter who gets really hot sometimes. Yeah, he does. He does. Grychick, that's the first thing that comes to mind for me with Grychik. He is a streaky guy, and hopefully things are different this time, but it's worth riding it out for sure. Right, right. I don't have a problem with the 76% of people who are leagues where he got picked up. I just, you know, you can't, you can't feel too comfortable with him,

and you've got to be ready to drop him for something else if he demands to be. Like the wacky one is Moreland. Like his numbers are insane. He seems to Homer every time he plays. But like if he's not going to play against left-handed pitchers, the pace has to slow and there won't there won't be enough left. Like I feel like you've already missed the boat on Moreland. You've missed the extent of what he's going to provide for you this year.

and you'd just be chasing the stats if you went after him now. All right, the rotation today. Burrios and Clevenger faced off. I think like I had a homework assignment today. I had to watch some baseball, so this was the game I watched. Clevenger didn't start off great, but he really picked it up, and you could understand he could be a little bit rusty. He ends up going six innings gives up eight hits,

but two runs with six strikeouts. Burrios, just another frustrating start. Four walks, three runs in five and two-thirds. He wasn't that bad. He gave up a three-run homer to, Jose Ramirez, but he has a 147 whip. He's walking, he's 18 walks and 37 innings. Coming off a great start, but the two starts before that were terrible for Burrios.

And then we got Tanaka, Corbin. Corbin's having, disappointing, I guess, 130 whip so far, 382 ERA, nothing too outlandish, giving up a lot of hits, nine and a half hits per nine. So that'll probably come down for Corbin. And Kiko was very good. And Tanaka is so annoying to me. I never know when to start or sit him.

And, of course, I sat him and he had a good start. He is not among the 40 or 50 pitchers that I would choose to bother with if, like at a Roto League. I can't imagine using Masahiro Tanaka in a Roto League right now. Yeah, no, I didn't. I sat him. Right, right, right. You know, points leagues, you have to start a certain number of pitchers, whether they're good or not. But a Roto League, you don't.

You can go with those high impact relievers instead. And, you know, I don't know. I guess everybody has to be able to have like three or four pitchers. they can slot into their roto rotation and I happen to have good ones in most of my leagues but if you don't, maybe you're desperate enough that you have to play him. But yeah, he's not Tanaka's not going to be reliable.

Keikl's looking pretty reliable. He's having, he's changed his pitch mix slightly. He's actually having one of his best swinging strike seasons and he actually got the strikeouts to go along with it. But you know, he hasn't turned in a bad start yet. So I would be happy riding him anywhere. Clevenger.

This was actually his best velocity start of the season interestingly enough. Only walked one. Things are looking good for him. Yeah, the walks are weird with Barrios. That's really the only thing I can see that's an issue for him. And that was his main strength,

presumably coming into the season, was efficiency, thrown strikes. His ex-PIP is actually lower this year than it was last year. I'm going to throw the bi-low tag on there. When you talk about the incredible consistency of Barrios. I am too.

I am too. I think the control will come around. I'm sure the abnormal buildup might be contributing to it. Okay, so I've basically talked about every single one of these pitchers. I'm going to talk about one more. Patrick Corp. Yeah, no, that was the point. Go for it.

Okay. His velocity is down a couple miles per hour this year. His swinging strike rate, while still good, is not as good. It's down a couple percentage points from last year. he looks like he looks like he he looks like he he might be losing some stuff here so it's it's a little concerning I still think he's must start I still think he's high end but he's not a young guy's 30 may have turned 31 by now

you know and maybe it's something that'll come around too maybe it's something you can attribute to the the abnormal buildup as well but it's it's something to monitor especially when we're evaluating him for 2021. Yeah, would you rather have Clevenger or Corbyn? I think after this start, I think I'll still say Corbyn.

I'll still say Corbyn. Okay. It's close though. Would you rather have Max Freed, who had another good start today, or Corbyn? Corbyn. I mean, Freed looks really good. I wish he got more strikeouts.

He doesn't get the strikeouts. strikeouts, I feel like he should. That's a little frustrating. As much as I can be frustrated in somebody like Max Fried, which everybody out there who doesn't have a Max Fried to slot in their rotation is probably annoyed with me for even suggesting there could be anything wrong with them. Wow, the Cardinals with four runs in the ninth inning,

beat the Royals. Three of those runs charged to Trevor Rosenthal, and then Rosario came in. He must have given up some inherited runners. that is a seemingly wild ending there. Alex Reyes gets the win, two innings, two runs. It doesn't really deserve the win, but he got the... Wow, okay, so...

And then we're going to talk about some fringy starting pitchers. Eliezer Hernandez, John Lester, who's actually rostered in 88% of leagues, but I still think he's Frenchy. His ERA's still over five, John Lester. Mike Fires had a great start at Texas, and he's been pretty good lately. Dakota Hudson, 53% rostered.

Kobe Allard is deep, deep league guy and he hasn't been very good. John Gray, 68% rostered. Good outing tonight at Arizona, six innings, one run. And then there's Robbie Ray. I think it's time to say goodbye to Robbie Ray. 75% rostered, four innings, two runs, six walks, eight strikeouts. Goodbye. Yuck.

His walk rate's got to be a career high, right? Not only did Robbie Ray not make the third. the adjustments that he had seemed like he had made. He's the worst version of Robbie Ray ever. He 8.3 walks per nine going into today's start. It's probably over nine now. He's walking a batter an inning. What the hell?

How could I? I'm sorry. I'm very sorry, everybody. I said he was going to finish top three in the Sayong. Yeah, you made that prediction and then ran stopped coming on. You were scared. It's like, just be Robbie Ray. If you can't even be like as new and improved version, just be Robbie.

Ray. He's the worst Robbie Ray ever. Can't turn it on and off like that, Adam. Once you make the change, there's no going back. I don't know what that means. I don't know either. Just filling the silence.

That's how things work around here. I don't have a lot of belief in any of these pitchers, except for Aliazor Hernandez, who we talked about at the top of the show. What's wrong with Dakota Hudson? He had a 335 ERA last year. I know the strikeouts aren't that good, but anyone who can give you like a quality outing this day and age,

should he be rostered to more than 53% of leagues? Among qualifiers, he was the best ground ball pitcher in the majors last year, and that is an important skill in today's game where home runs to hitters are so common. So I think he's a fine streaming option, but I'd limit it to points leagues because always a lot of base runners. with him. Couldn't bring down your whip.

He's probably the most useful pitcher of this bunch. It's possible John Gray could become more consistent. I mean, he's been a useful fantasy option in the past, but there's been a lot more bad than good so far this year. This bunch was Eliezer Hernandez, John Lester, Mike

Fires, Dakota Hudson, Kobe Aller, John Gray, and Robbie Ray. All right, we're going to finish the show with some emails at FantasyBasball at cbsi.com from David, 10-team Dynasty Points League. I own Victor Robles. He has been bad. I don't see anything as underlying stats

to indicate he is going to turn it around. Also, the steals are much less valuable in a points league. Should I move Victor Robles for pennies on the dollar, if I even can, or can you give me a reason to use a bench spot to hold Robles? The dynasty aspect makes this a little more interesting because he's such a high-end prospect, and I think it's still too early in his career

to definitively say what he's going to be. but it's a 10-team league. If you can get pennies for him, I'd probably take it. A 10-team points league, yeah, I mean, Victor Robles is pretty useless right now. It's just the hope he becomes something more in the long run. From Brian, Gray, the Trade, I just traded Christian Javier for Edwin Diaz.

My RPs are Rosenthal, Montero, and Gallegos. My starting pitchers are Cole, Beaver, Clevenger, Gallen, freed, Rich Hill, Burns, and Lugo. So he doesn't really need Javier, I guess. Was that second pitcher? Cole Beaver. Okay. Christian Javier for Edwin Diaz.

Grade the trade. I think, I don't think this is what a sell high of Christian Javier looks like. Frank was talking about Javier as a sell high candidate. I agreed with them. I think somebody, I feel like the demand for starting pitching

should be higher, given what Javier has done so far, that a guy who's teetering on maybe having a closer role for the Mets, like I feel like it should be a better return for that. So I grade this trade. I grade this trade a D plus. Ouch. All right, from Christian, grade the trade.

I didn't fail him. 12 team Roto. I trade, Zach, please, Zach. I get Junjin Rio. I think that's a, an A. Yeah, why wouldn't it be? Yeah, I mean, if they were both on the roster, I'd rank Ryu higher. We don't really know when Pliasek is coming back.

So, yeah, definitely take Ryu. This is from Jeremy. What's up, Frank, Scott, and perhaps Chris or even Adam, although they obviously care about football more than baseball. Oh, what? Take that, Jeremy. Shuck. I have an amazing pitching staff, Flaherty, Castillo, Gialito, Woodruff,

Glass Now, and Wheeler, Grade the Trade, I give up Wheeler and David Fletcher for Raphael Devers. I need home runs and RBIs. How'd I do? I think he did well. I'd rather this be for somebody like Aeronado, who's also off to a terrible start than Devers. But, you know, beggars can't be choosers, as they say.

So I think this is fine in terms of just how the value matches up, and I would give it a B-plus. Devers can't be choosers. team named Tuesday, you're welcome. From Jake, after Seth Lugo's performance Tuesday night, would you drop Tyler Chatwood, Dakota Hudson, or Kwongyung Kim for Lugo? Yes, is the answer. I would drop any of them.

The one I would drop first is probably Kim. Okay, good. That's what I was thinking, too. Glad you said that. From Matt, Gray, the Trade. Blockbuster here. I give up Mooky Betts, Sunny Gray, and Dansby Swanson. I get Christian Yelich, Zach Granky, and John Carlos Stanton.

So you go from Betz to Yelich, you go from Gray to Granky, you go from Swanson to Stanton. Scott's face is anguished. I don't like it. I don't like it either. I do think Yelich is going to be fine. But fine. might be what fine for Yelich might mean

he's mooky bets. So like bird in the hand, you know, you got it in bets. Gray to Granky, I think that's definitely a downgrade, not a huge downgrade, but a downgrade. And then, so it really comes down to Swanson versus Stanton. If Stanton was here and playing, okay, he'd have the edge over Swanson,

but it's going to be a couple more weeks. Yeah, now you can't do this. How many weeks left after that? And who knows what kind of setback he's going to have along the way. A little surprised by how good Mookie Betz has been. I thought he'd be really, really good. But I did think Fenway Park had a lot to do with his eliteness. I thought he was like clearly not a top three pick this year.

I don't think anybody thought he was top three necessarily, but he just, he's been, I thought he'd be great, but he's been super great. And he's helping me out in a league. So thank you, Mookie Bets. From Joe, would you give up Pete Alonzo? And a 14-team Roto Keeper League, I can keep him in the 15th round next year, then 14th the year after, et cetera, for Christian Yellich,

who's a first-round pick next year. I'm currently in third place right now. I could use a Yelich hot streak, which I think is coming. So obviously, you'd give up Alonzo for Yelich, Scott, in a typical league. But this is a keeper league where you're giving up a guy who could be a 14th round pick next year for a first-round pick next year, for Christian Yelich, who's going to be a first-round pick. Yeah, potentially huge. power hitter at a maybe thin position who in the 14th round next year, I think I'd do it.

Okay, go for it down. Not easily, but, you know, I have every confidence yell it's just still going to be a first round pick next year. And if you have an obvious first round pick, you hold on to them for the first round with the first round spot. That's one of my rules for these kinds of keeper leagues. Last email is from Samuel. grade the trade. I gave up Yaz, cease and burns

in a points league. Yershremski cease and burns for mooky bets. I grade this trade a yay. And hey.

Yay. A. Do you want to hear my triumphant music? Nobody seems to like it that much on the on the football show. Okay.

Let's hear it. It's, uh, I got to hold on one second. Let's get this going here. I think this is the fader for it. Is this the one? Here we go. No, that's not it. Is this it?

Where the heck is the media? I can't imagine why they don't like this. I just think this is really nice. I win. Hey, now you're not feeling it. Do you want to hear our new regulators music? Yeah, let's hear the new regulators music. You can only go up from here.

You like this. I do kind of like this. I'm trying to think of what it reminds me. Dave Richard thinks it's an 80s cop show theme. Okay. I can see that. That works. Yeah.

And that's it. That's all I got for. I'm going to end the show with this music. That's Scott White. I'm out of base. They're filling in for Frank Stamphill. Don't worry. Your good host is back tomorrow.

Thanks a lot, everybody. Talk to you that.