Fantasy Baseball Today - Corbin Burnes, Tim Anderson Struggles & Bounce-Back Hitters (5/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

Gavin Stone struggled again in his second start (1:25). Corbin Burnes has been underwhelming this season (5:02). ... Charlie Morton got hit hard on Monday (15:50). ... What's going on with Tim Anderson and Michael Harris (20:12)? ... Let's rank some deep-league outfielders (28:15). ... Do any of Luis Ortiz, Tommy Henry, Tanner Houck or Jaime Barria matter (32:40)? ... News (36:06: Tyler Glasnow should make his debut this weekend. ... Dane Dunning, Cristian Javier and Luis Castillo all pitched well Monday (45:33). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates, streamers and Team Name Tuesday (47:00). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ 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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What is going on with Corbyn Burns? Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, May 23rd.

I am Franks Hamphill, joined by Scott White. Here's how we're going to do this. the first half of the podcast is basically going to be all negativity. Just looking at pitchers who struggled, hitters who were struggling this season, and then we'll get into the good stuff. The hitters that have bounced back this year, some deep league outfielders, and much more.

Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it. Let's jump in, Scottie. Well, which struggling pitcher From Monday night, would you like to start with Scott?

Because you got a bunch. Well, you already claimed Corbyn Burns. So I will start with somebody else. I'll start with Gavin Stone, making his second career start here for the Dodgers. And as I pointed out, when we first got word that he was joining the rotation, rejoining the rotation. It's hard to get excited about him because... His major league debut, which incidentally came on the same day that Brandon fought made his major league debut, it was bad and not just bad in terms of result, but the change-up, which was supposed to be, his make-or-break pitch, it didn't, it was completely ineffective. I'd been saying it only got one whiff.

It actually got two, but on like 33 tosses, it got two. So it was, you know, it wasn't the world beter it was made out to be. And so I wasn't enthusiastic for Gavin Stone's return. And maybe my lack of enthusiasm was justified because here in his second start against the Braves, Gavin Stone allowed five runs in four innings. He walked five. He struck out only one. It was ugly, an ugly outing here for Stone.

But looking under the first. hood here. I see a few more reasons for optimism than in that first start. So four of the five runs came in the first inning. Two of the five walks came in the first inning. The next three innings were better. But even more than that, 14 whiffs on 79 pitches. That was a really good rate.

He got six on the fastball. He got six on the change-up. The stuff played up more. It was more as advertised. The walks are going to be an issue if that continues. And he was having problems with him at AAA too. It's worth pointing out. So I don't think this is, you know,

I don't think this is a situation, obviously given the results where it's like, oh, we got to pick up Gavin Stone here. Not at all. But rather than saying with this second bad start, okay, it's over and done, Stone is not going to be of any use to us ever, which is the reaction I could have.

following this start. My reaction is more. All right, let's keep an eye on it. Let's, let's keep monitoring Stone. There may be something to work with here. There may be a chance still he turns into a fantasy asset, but obviously that hasn't happened yet. Yeah, I had the same takeaway, Scott. It was, I think, mostly bad. I mean, a lot, lots of hard contact and the walks here were an issue, but you point out the 14 swinging strikes on 79 pitches for Gavin Stone. That is a 17.7% swinging strike rate. The Braves do swing and miss quite a bit, but they're also one of the best lineups in baseball. So it's, I think that part of it was pretty impressive for Stone. But yeah, it's still kind of a mixed bag, mostly bad here, through two starts for him. He's 53% rostered,

Scott. We spoke about a bunch of names yesterday, waiver wire pitchers. Let's say you have Stone on your team, but James Paxton or Michael Kopeck who had that great start over the weekend, those guys are available. Would you drop Stone to pick those two up? Yeah. Now, I don't think Stone is really even, like I wasn't prioritizing him on the same level of those guys before he made this start. And even though I'm finding silver linings to this start, it was still a bad start, as you point out. Like, there's no reason to raise, to elevate him in priority based on this start. All right.

Well, let's talk about Corbyn, Scottie, who had another rough outing against the Houston Astros. The Astros are getting healthy. Notable that Jose Al-Tuhei was not in the lineup actually on Monday. Five innings, seven hits, five runs allowed with five strikeouts for Corbyn Burns. Four homers allowed in the start. That is a career high. Only had eight swinging strikes on 91 pitches. Obviously gave up a decent amount of hard contact.

90.5 average exit velocity against. And now on the season, a 397 ERA, a 1-2-2-whip, less than a strikeout per inning, 8.1K per 9, with over 3.5. three walks per nine. And that's basically the issue right there, is that the strikeouts have come down quite a bit, and the walks have gone up. We're talking the walks per nine up exactly one walk year over year.

Last year, 2.3, this year, 3.3. The swinging strike rate is down nearly three percentage points from 15% last year to 12.3% this season for Corbyn Burns. The whiff rate is down. It's not down tremendously, but it's down just enough. on all four of his main pitches, where that's how you see the swinging strike rate and overall of the strikeouts drop.

The cutter velocity has also been down one mile per hour, year over year. So that's what's standing out to me so far, Scott. And I kind of wanted to transition this into another conversation about how ACEs in general have been a letdown this year. But before we get into that, your thoughts on Corbyn Burns and what's going wrong this year?

It's been really confounding because for the most part, he's pitched way. there have been these very concerning underlying elements that we've made reference to before. And at times I've thought about dropping him a lot more in my rankings than I have. I've dropped them from the top spot to, I think, third or fourth in my rankings prior to this start. And I was tempted to move him down more just because of, you know, he hasn't looked dominant. He hasn't overpowered hitters the way we're used to seeing Corbin Burns do. and would there eventually be a comeuppance for that?

And maybe that's what we saw here with this start. And you kind of alluded to this. You look at it at a more granular level rather than just the overall strike rate, the overall swing strike rate. And it doesn't look as concerning. You know, so his top two pitches are the cutter and curveball. He throws them combined about 70% of the time.

And, okay, WIF rate on the cutter last year, 28%. This year it's 25%. WIF rate on the curveball last year, 48%. This year it's 42%. I mean, just those whiff rates on their own are still very impressive on those two pitches. And it's not like a dramatic drop

from one year to the next. Same thing if you're talking about batting average against last year on the cutter 213, this year 220, last year on the curveball 127, this year 130. the velocity is down on each pitch about a mile per hour, a little more than that on the curveball, actually. But the effects of that aren't showing up in the data

when you're looking at it just on a pitch by pitch basis. Like you said, overall, you know, there's like a cumulative effect that is making it appear much more concerning. But I don't know, I look at that and it seems more than likely to me that Corbyn Burns is going to pull out of this just because it's like nothing individually is that askew, you know? That's how I kind of see it.

So, I mean, should we treat him like a top five pitcher going forward? I don't know about that. But it would be hard for me to drop him out at the top 10 rest of season because there aren't, I don't think there are, there are 10 pitchers that are slam dunk aces in fantasy. And so maybe Corbyn Burns now isn't either, but he has a better chance of becoming one than a lot of them do. And it's not like Corbyn Burns has been this disaster. It's just relative to where he was drafted, you know, borderline first round pick, a second round pick as either the top or the second pitcher drafted. It's, you know, an ERA approaching four.

That's not going to get it done. And if you look at his last 20 starts dating back to last year as well, he struggled a little bit in the second half, a 4.12 ERA and a 1.15 whip over his last 20 starts with less than a strikeout per inning. Those are just not ace numbers. Those are not, you know, that's not even really a top 10 starting pitcher, let alone, you know, being drafted as a top three starting pitcher this season.

I wanted to point out, just coming into the year, the ADP for starting pitchers, right? So Corbyn Burns was the top pitcher drafted. Just going to kind of run through like the top 10. let's say. Corbin Burns, Garrett Cole, Sandy Alcantara, Aaron Nola, Jacob de Grom, Spencer Strider, Justin Verlander,

Max Scherzer, Shane McClanahan, Brandon Woodruff. Of that group, Shane McClan, Shrider, Cole, those guys have been great. Corbyn Burns has been okay. Like a 30 or a 40% hit rate on the top 10 starting pitchers drafted so far.

I mean, I would say if you put that up against years past, that that's probably pretty low. And even if you stretch it out a little bit further, Brandon Woodruff has been hurt, Dylan Sees has been a letdown. Shane Bieber, for as much as we're telling people to sell high, he mostly has been good so far this year. Julio Reyes is hurt and he was kind of a letdown before that. Zach Wheeler has been kind of up and down this year.

Alec Menoa, disaster. Max Fried is hurt. Christian Javier has been good. Darvish has been okay. Gawzman has been very good. Framber Valdez. That's the top 20. You're looking at less.

than a 50% hit rate right now on the top 20 starting pitchers drafted. And I know normally when we start up our analysis every year and we do our pitching preview, Chris will always point out that you're more likely to get a return on your investment on the early round starting pitchers yet that really hasn't been the case so far this year. Maybe that will change again. We're only whatever, a month a half, two months into the season. But it's, you know, for Aces, it's kind of been a rough go so far this season overall. So I just wanted to put things in perspective that it's not only Corbyn Burns, but he has been a bit of a letdown so far this year. I don't know if you have anything else on everything that I just ran through, Scott.

Well, you bring up some good points. I'll also point out that even though Garrett Cole has had more success than Corbyn Burns to this point, he's suffering from the same issues. Last year, Garrett Cole's K-per-9 was 11.5. This year, it's 9.8. Last year, Garrett-Cull's swinging strike rate was 14.3. This year it's 11.5. The drop in those measurements has been comparable to burns. And so I've kind of been waiting for the other shoe to drop on coal as well that might necessitate a move down the rankings. But also to your point, like who deserves to go ahead of them? You can make the case McClanahan and Strider do. And I have moved the head of burns already.

Yeah, same. You could make the case of Tani does, even though he doesn't start every fifth day reliably. That was one you didn't mention, and I know the way he was drafted is kind of weird, so it's, you know, it's hard to say. Oh, he's one of the top 20 starting pitchers drafted. Do you even count him as a starting pitcher drafted? But you can start him a pitcher, and he's really valuable in that role. You mentioned Christian Javier is one who's lived up to expectations. Yes, but also no.

I mean, if your expectations for Christian Javier was big breakout, you know, competing with Spencer Strider in his, in terms of, like, that hasn't happened. He's justified his draft spot. But, you know, he's, for what many were touting him to be, he's been a little underwhelming too. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, some people have asked me, okay, knowing what you know now where the ball doesn't seem to be

the ball seems to be livelier than last year and the shift ban may be having more of an impact on pitchers than we thought. Would you prioritize pitching early in drafts? I don't know that that's justified. I don't know if it's the high-end pitchers falling as much victim to that as anybody else or if it's more or if it has something to do

with the crackdown on the sticky substances, which has supposedly been ramped up this year, as they've said a few years in a row now. But every year they say, this is the time it's really going to happen. And, you know, when we saw the clearest effects of that when it was first implemented midway through 2021, right? Yes.

What we saw in the immediate aftermath of that where everybody was most cognizant of it, we did kind of see flattening at the top where the most dominant pitchers became a little less dominant. And so I'm wondering if this is a side effect of that again. It's just speculation on my part, obviously. It's always a little awkward to do because you're kind of casually accusing people of circumventing the rules.

But, you know, I don't think it's a big secret that a lot of pitchers use sticky substances as if they can get away with it. Hey, Scottie. If you're not cheating, you ain't trying. But, yeah, I just kind of wanted to put that all in perspective. It has been a, you know, a disappointing start to the season for Corbyn Burns, but it has been that way for many other starting pitchers drafted in the first three or four rounds as well. Want to give a shout out here.

Maybe, Scott, you know, plug your ears. If you got to go use the bathroom, get up and leave. I wanted to give a shout out to Freddie Freeman, who went three or five with his ninth home run. he added three RBI and two runs scored against his former team in Atlanta. I don't care what anyone says. I tweeted something out about it on Twitter and people are like, does he really care? I think he cares.

I think, you know, Freddie Freeman does something against the Braves in Atlanta. I think it probably matters a little bit more for him. He's betting now 328 with nine homers and six deals with a 968 OPS. And entering Monday's action, he was the fifth best player overall in Roto this season. So obviously it has been a great start to the year for Freddie Freeman. A few other pitchers who got off to who had some rough outings here on Monday.

I don't know that there's anything too worrisome with any of them, Scott. But Charlie Morton in that same game, he gave up six runs over five innings pitch. He gave up two homers. Lots of hard contact in this one. Still has a 361 ERA. A 141 whip, obviously that's very high for Charlie Morton here. Chris Bassett, not at his best. Did have some bad defense behind him.

two errors, gave up six runs, only two of them were earned, three homers allowed at the Tampa Bay Rays, and Bailey Ober, as much as we love him, he is human. He had a rough first inning against the Giants and then settled in. He gave up five, gave up four runs over five innings pitched, only two strikeouts of three walks. Anything you'd like to add on the struggles of Bailey Ober, Chris Bassett, or Charlie Morton? I mean Bassett, it still wasn't, from a fantasy perspective, I know we gave up some unearned runs, but it still was a solid statline. He It was a quality start. Two worm runs he allowed

where the first he's allowed in all of May. So there's really nothing to get too frustrated about there. Charlie Morton, he was trending the right way. He had actually gotten his ERA below three prior to this start.

It was down to 2.85, with a high whip, as you point out. And it may be that in this new environment with the shifts gone, him being a ground ball pitcher, he's going to trend toward a higher whip that just may be part of his profile now. Gotta keep the home runs down.

Of course, that was an issue for him last year as well. This was the fifth and sixth home runs he's allowed in nine starts. So that's better. I mean, the ground ball rate has been up, so it would make sense. It's better, but I'm not sure it's quite where we want it to be for Charlie Morton. And we may just be done with the idea, that Charlie Morton can be a high-end must-star pitcher for you. It doesn't mean he can't be a quality streaming option.

Maybe on the level of, I was going to say Merrill Kelly, but I might prefer Merrill Kelly and Charlie Morton at this point. But at that level, maybe like the way we were regarding Merrill Kelly last year, I think that's fine if you're kind of recounting, your expectations for him in that way. And based on where he was drafted, that's kind of how everybody was viewing Charlie Morton anyway. I was encouraged, by the way, Bailey Oprah bounced back from a very rough first inning.

I was worried this was going to be a total disaster start for him. And everybody was going to be mad at me for making him my top sleeper pitcher for this week. But he ended up with an okay stat line. His whip for the game wasn't even one. And even though he walked three, I'm sorry, it wasn't. and even won six base runners in five innings. Even though he walked three, he threw 64.4% of his pitches for strikes,

which is a pretty good strike rate. He was still pretty efficient, 76 pitches to get through five innings. I think there's still a lot to like with Bailey Ober, I'm not abandoning him because of the start. Well, I would like to apologize to anyone out there, Scott, who started either or both of Michael Lorenzen or Brady Singer, because pitching against each other in the same game, both were pretty, pretty bad.

So, look. Hey, streaming pitcher sucks. I say it every time. I did not. I did not see fit to start singer myself, though I had to include him among the 10 sleeper pitchers. I did start Michael Lorenzen in a league or two. So that was disappointing.

Yep. He had been pitching really well, but, you know, I guess eventually, you know, things come back down to earth. And that's what happened here with Michael Lorenzen. Let's take our first break when we return. I've got two hitters I want to talk about that have struggled big time since coming back from injury. We'll do that right after this.

Welcome back and a quick reminder to download and follow fantasy baseball today in five. Wherever you listen to this podcast, that's our five-minute podcast that we do Monday through Saturday, and we basically pick the highlights of the night, the biggest news, and we go over it. So listen to that in addition to this podcast.

If you're watching us live on YouTube, you can scan the QR code in the top right corner that will take you right to the podcast. Two hitters, Scott, that have struggled big time since coming back from injury. Tim Anderson went 0 for 3 with a walk on Monday. Over his last 19 games, he is batting 2.13 with zero,

zero. Extra base hits. Only one steal, a caught stealing during that time, a 69% ground ball rate, and an 89.3 average exit velocity. Let's talk about him first before we get into Michael Harris, who, gosh, I mean, people are just, they've had enough with Michael Harris.

I don't really know what we could say to do with Tim Anderson. I guess, you know, in a shallower league, you can throw them on your bench. If you're playing like a 10-teen points league, you might even be able to drop somebody like Tim Anderson. It wouldn't surprise me if he gets back on track. But, you know, I mean, even going back to last year, he was alright last year. But when he came back from injury, once again, he really wasn't himself. So, I don't know. Latest thoughts on Tim Anderson.

Well, shortstop is kind of a weird position because in a certain league context, it's very deep. in another league context, it's very scarce. If you're talking a 12-team roto lineup where everybody starts a middle infielder, then you kind of have to hoard short stops because there's just not a lot of new ones emerging. But if you're talking like the scenario you presented a 10-te-to-head league where there's just a one shortstop spot,

and I've made this case for Carlos Correa too. Like I generally believe in Carlos Correa and think he's going to bounce back and have a nice season, but there are enough short stops to go around in that sort of format. That it's not unthinkable you could drop him. I mean, you certainly don't want to be starting him right now. And I would put Tim Anderson in that same category. His expected batting average is 285, which is actually higher than it was two years ago.

So it's a high expected batting average. And, you know, obviously the production hasn't been there, given that he, oh, he's only 29. So it would be surprising if this was the beginning of, of the end before him. I don't think we could dismiss the rust factor. You know, he kind of had to start his season all over with the time he missed and is competing against a bunch of players who didn't it.

And it might just take him longer to come around, I think. I think in those very shallow leagues, okay, there are enough options to work with that you can move on, but if anything deeper, Tim Anderson deserves your patience. All right, let's talk about Michael Harris, who went over for four with two strikeouts and since returning from the IL, he is batting 143 with one homer, two steals, a 20% strikeout rate. The strikeout rate actually isn't bad, but not really impacting the ball very hard. 87.2 average exit velocity.

The line drive rate is very low. The ground ball rate is a little bit higher than you'd like it to be at 49%. And looking at his breakdown against certain pitches, Michael Harris is hitting just 135 against fastballs this year and 0.067 against off speed pitches. Oddly enough, he's doing very well against breaking pitches. But I don't know how to explain that or, you know, what that means in the grand scheme of things for Michael Harris. But I don't know, Scott, is it kind of the same thing as Tim Anderson

where, you know, he just kind of had to get his season restarted here. It's people have a bunch of questions. You know, we all had Michael Harris as a bus this year. So, like, I don't know that we're overly surprised. that he's struggling, but it was more so for where he was being drafted, not that he was going to completely implode like he is right now. Yeah, and I'm skeptical that that's what's happening. Like, I view Michael Harris more as a buy.

Well, it would be funny to call him a sell at this point, I guess, when he's batting about 160. But I would be willing to buy him for 60 cents on the dollar, let's say. Because a lot of the things we are worried about coming in, the bad plate discipline, the extremely high ground ball rate, they've actually gotten better. His quality of contact this year, comparable to last year. He may be having some trouble with fastballs.

I remember last year when he first came up, he had like a bad first week, and then he made some kind of mechanical adjustment, and that's what allowed him to take off. So he's shown the ability to tweak things and find himself again when he's struggling. This is obviously gone on longer than that did. but I think in the long run

you're going to be happy you held on to him if you do so you said 60 cents on a dollar I'm trying to find the appropriate range here but I don't know like one of these hot starts Sharon Duran, Brent Rooker would you try and sell one of those for Michael Harris if you could? I mean Rooker slowed down

right so I don't even know if you could do that but if you could that'd be great absolutely so has Durand too I mean as as much as I look at it's When I consider, it's funny, I was actually writing earlier today about Christopher Morel, a good, a good 1400 words on whether or not you should sell high on Christopher Morel. And in there I talked about, I wanted to write about other potential sell high hitters, but I didn't find enough good candidates because a lot of them are in the same boat that I think Christopher Morel was just in where. people have been slow to buy in, and when they have, it's kind of been begrudgingly, and you look at Jared Duran for as hot as he started, he's only 75% rostered.

So we're still kind of more in the do you add him conversation as opposed to do you trade him. But if you can trade him, I would consider him a sell high candidate. And like I just said, Michael Harris is a buy low candidate. So that would be a swap that would work for me. Sure. How about this one, Scott? Would you give up James Outman to get Michael Harris just based on the overall numbers? Yeah.

Because I know Outman has really slowed down in May as well. Well, how far have you moved Harris down in your rankings? Because I haven't moved. Like, I probably need to move him down a little more. I agree. I've been reluctant to move him down some. I know with my last update. And it just, you know, the longer this continues, obviously, the more I'm going to move him down.

But I'm probably, let me check here. I have him at 18. So I have dropped him a little bit from more. where we started the year. But if you look at this range in the outfield, it's guys that are, look, Harris is not proven, but I think we can all agree

he still has massive upside. But guys like Kyle Schwerber, George Springer, Byron Buckson, Teoscar Hernandez, Stalling Marte, and those guys are pretty proven and they're all off to slow start.

So that whole group is just kind of hard to rank right now. And I have more confidence in Harris than any of them. I do wonder when we're going to get to a point where we have to move like the Masatake Yoshida, Cody Belliger's hurt now, but Alex Verdugo,

Jared Kelnick, when we have to move them all ahead of that Tay Oscar Hernandez, Starling Marti, maybe even Michael Harris group. We're probably getting close to doing that. Yeah. But I haven't done it yet. Hey, the cutoff is usually Memorial Day, right?

Scott, so right around the corner. I mean, with the way, Jared Kelnick, he had another huge game today. He homered off a lefty. It was the second straight game that he's homered off a lefty. He's up to 10 home runs. He's still batting over 290. As of right now,

and my rankings, I guess tomorrow when I update them, we'll need to reflect this. I can't say I'd trade Jared Kelnick for Michael Harris. I'd have to draw the line there. Yeah. But the point is there aren't a lot of great outfielders. I'd still be willing to trade most of them for Harris. All right.

Well, let's get into the good performances here, Scott. This is the shift change in the podcast. And these are mostly names for deep leagues, but I brought up Marcelo Zuna recently. I wanted to talk about both him and Eddie Rosario, who had big games here on Monday. And Eddie Rosario in the month of May is hitting 270 with two homers, 12 RBI, and a 721 OPS. Marcelo Zuna in the month of May hitting 351 with six homers, 16, RBI in 15 games. More than an RBI per game for OZuna in the month with an 1133 OPS.

Seeing a lot of questions in the chat about Mickey Moniac, is he for real? He went two for four with his third home run in just nine games played, a former first overall pick, not just a first round pick. First overall pick in the MLB draft a long, long time ago. Still striking out a lot, though, 39% strikeout rate. And Lioti Tavares, very quietly, has hit very well in the month of May. two for three with a run scored and so far this month

hitting 399 with one homer four doubles 11 run scored 12 RBI and 4 steals so not a ton of power but outside of that producing our cross the board

right now for Leoti Tavares Scott more so for five outfielder leagues what are your thoughts on the Braves guys Moniac and Leotie Tavaris I haven't

been particularly motivated to add any of them I see the ups and all of them, but they do seem like low probability plays. I mean, my favorite is probably Ozuna, and we talked about him on yesterday's show, kind of how I'm approaching him right now

where it's impossible to trust him. I haven't wanted to get him in my lineup anywhere, but we have seen him produce like an elite outfield or multiple times in the past, and we've seen him recover from down stretches we're pretty much riding them off and get back to being that before as well. So that seems like enough upside to stash him.

And I think Ozuna of these four is the only one. Let's see, who did you say? Laoti Tavares, Eddie Rosario, Mickey Moniac. Yeah, I think Ozone is the only one with that kind of upside that makes him a potential stash. These others, I don't think, have it. At least not for 12th team, five outfielder leagues. It doesn't mean you can't use them as a hot hand play.

I worry about Moniac's strikeouts as productive as he's been so far. I mean, it's just striking out way too much. And obviously, every time he plays, that eats into Taylor Ward's playing time. Not that Ward has had a good start to this season, but if we're betting on who's the better going forward, I'm still going to take Ward. Eddie Rosario, they don't play him much against lefties. How much power does he have, really? I think there are some pretty clear limits to his ceiling.

And same thing with Tavares. Speaking of Taylor Ward, by the way, still 84% rostered. And he was out of the lineup on Monday. He's batting 227 on the season with a 622 OPS. The expected number is not great either. 238XBA 372 XLug. What are we doing with Taylor Ward? Is he a drop at this point?

In three outfielder league, like I just dropped him. in the podcast listeners league, the 12 team points league with only three outfield spots. I just dropped him. Lorda Scurrio was still out there. Christopher Morel is actually still out there. I picked him both up. So that was the caliber of outfielder I was dropping it for.

I mean, pretty high-end guys. But, yeah, I mean, if you see somebody who your heart desires, I wouldn't let I wouldn't let your preconceptions about Taylor Ward stand in the way. Five outfielder leagues you probably need to hold on to him. I doubt you're going to do.

I doubt there's enough available at that position to make him the one to drop. Yeah, like I would be okay dropping Taylor Ward for the top sleeper hitters, right? That we talked about leading into this week like Jorge Salere or even a Brian Dela Cruz, right? And he went out and had a four-hit game on Monday as well. So I think at this point,

can go with kind of some, like you mentioned, the hot hand approaches over a Taylor Ward at this right. Exactly. Yeah. Let's get into some, I think also mostly deep league pitchers. Do any of these names matter? Luis Ortiz had a great start up against the Rangers. Seven and two thirds, two runs, two runs, two runs, two runs, two runs, two runs, two 131 whip. He's got a 359 ERA and a 131 whip, well below a strikeout writing for him. Tommy Henry has allowed exactly two earned runs in three of his last four starts, and he had 18 swinging strikes on Monday.

That was a career high at the Philadelphia Phillies. Tanner Hauke actually looked really good at the Angels. Six innings, one run, eight strikeouts with 17 swinging strikes, and Jaime Berea, his first start of the season back in the Angels rotation, up against the Red Sox, very tough matchup. He went five shutout innings with six strikeouts, zero walks,

12 swinging strikes on 64 pitches. That is an 18.7% swinging strike rate. Again, Scott, mostly deep league names here, but any thoughts on Berea, Tanner Halk, Tommy Henry, Josh Fleming, and Luis Ortiz. Yeah, there's nobody here that I'm especially moved to pick up yet. But Tanner Houtk is starting to look awfully interesting. The ERA is still $499.

but the expected ERA is run lower than that, the X-FIP even lower. He has been getting a ton of swinging strikes lately. Let's see, what was it exactly in this start? It was 17 on 83 pitches in this start. It was 15 on 75 pitches in his last start. So he hasn't needed a lot of pitches to get through these innings that he's throwing. and he's getting a lot of whiffs. He threw his cutter,

I'm sorry, his splitter more in this start. He threw it 20% of the time it was responsible for six of the 17 whiffs. It's a pitch he hasn't used a lot this year, but it has a 50% whiff rate. So if he continues with what he started here, featuring it more, then I think the upside only improves for Hauk.

He puts the ball on the ground a lot. I think he's, and I made a stronger case for picking up Michael Kopeck after his last start, but I think they're in a similar spot right now. where a lot of the underlying metrics, certainly like in terms of missed bats, which is the most valuable thing a pitcher can do,

they're looking pretty encouraging at this point, and the forward-facing numbers just don't really back it up yet, but they could. And actually, in Hout's case, the control problems aren't as pronounced as Kopex. So I don't know, maybe if I was making a case to pick up Kopeck, I probably should for Halk 2. I just don't feel like there's as much,

competition for him yet, I guess. And with Tanner Howe, he's only 26% roster, does have RP eligibility, so you can use him as a SPARP on CBS, a little bit of a cheat code there in head-to-head points leagues. And you mentioned the underlying numbers being good for him. He has to say 62% strand rate, so he has been unlucky in that regard. Again, that's Tanner Howe. I wanted to mention with Tommy Henry, I don't think we're there yet with him.

I think he's a name to watch, but his velocity was up over a mile per hour on each of his fastball and his curveball. in this start. And again, a career high, 18 swinging strikes. So don't think there's anything actionable yet, but let's just see where it goes. Some news and notes. Tyler Glass now is expected to make his season debut Saturday against the Dodgers. Let's say you play in a daily lineup league, Scott. Would you start Tyler, Tyler Glass now against the Dodgers in his season debut? Probably not. Not with that matchup. And just as a general rule, I'd like to give pitchers a start to prove their health to make sure they're not rusty after.

a long layoff like he's had. So I'd probably shy away with it. But hey, if it goes great, hopefully we're starting him every start the rest of the season thereafter. All right, Max Fried is close to resuming throwing. The latest hope is for Freed to return sometime around the All-Star break.

He's on the aisle with a strained left forearm. Jazz Chisholm is taking part in upper body workouts but remains in a walking boot because of the turf toe. Logan Webb will make his next scheduled start on Thursday at the Brewers despite dealing with lower backsornness. Julio Arreus is slated to throw a bullpen session this weekend and is hopeful to return in early June when first eligible. And I said yesterday, I didn't think he was going to be out very long

and when he returns, that means one of Gavin Stone or Bobby Miller will likely be sent back to the miners. Byron Bucksin was back in the lineup Monday after setting out Sunday with knee tightness. Eloy Jimenez is getting close to going out on a rehab assignment. He underwent an appendectomy on May 6th. Liam Hendricks looked, quote, really good in a live batting practice session Monday and is getting really close to returning to the White Sox. CJ Crone has yet to resume baseball activities.

He's on the IL with lower back spasms. Clayton Kirshaw was placed on the bereavement list Monday, but is expected to make his next start later this week. Justin Turner was back in the lineup Monday after missing the previous two. Seth Brown was activated by the A's. Jordan Diaz was optioned back to AAA. This guy we spoke about some deeper league outfielders earlier. Where does Seth Brown kind of fit in that mix with Leoti Tavaris, Mickey Moniac, and the Braves guys?

I probably put him behind Ozuna. I think, you know, obviously he had a nice, he delivered a nice power speed outcome last year. I'll be with a low batting average. and I don't necessarily trust him to follow through on that, but he's going to get plenty of opportunities with A's because who else do they have? He hit a ball 109 miles per hour in his return tonight. So I think he's more likely to emerge as a starter

in a five outfielder league than, say, Eddie Rosario is. All right. Again, that is Seth Brown with the A's. Luis Arias will begin a rehab. assignment at AAA either Tuesday or Wednesday, and he's 42% rostered for those looking for versatility in deeper leagues. Arias has second base, third base, and shortstop eligibility. Nick Prado was elevated to the leadoff spot for the Royals while Bobby Witt Jr. was dropped to sixth in the lineup, which that's obviously not a great spot to be in in a lineup that bad,

so hopefully Bobby Witt Jr. gets going. Eric Lauer was placed on the aisle with a right shoulder impingement. That's his non-throwing shoulder. Colin Ray will start on Tuesday against the Astros. Brendan Rogers is ahead of schedule and has a chance to return later this season. He underwent shoulder surgery back in March. And this was very interesting, Scott. In the Twins Giants game, Edward Julian was batting cleanup against the right-handed opener for the Giants. Sean Mania entered in the second inning, and Julian was pinch hit four without ever seeing a single pitch. in the game. Mustangs.

Nothing says development, like the Minnesota Twins. I mean, he has bad numbers against lefties and the minors. I get it. But at the same time, the twins had to know

that A, John Brebby is a reliever, probably only going to open the game, and Sean Mania was likely to be the bulk reliever in this start. So, just very weird. And then Alex Kirolov actually let off the game, and he was pinch hit for

in the second inning. He only got one at bat. I don't know. It's weird. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's, at least you're guaranteeing Kirill often at bat. It was, by batting Julian cleanup, there was no guaranteed. Be up in the first inning to face the right-hander.

So, yeah, that's hard to, that's hard to justify. It seems like the twins were trying to out-giant the Giants within a game against the Giants. Let's take our final break. And when we return, talk about a few. bounce back seasons here on fantasy baseball today. Big thanks to those watching us live. It's well past 1 a.m. Eastern time here. 570 people watching us so hit that like button.

We do appreciate you. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. A few bounce back seasons here, Scott. I wanted to focus on bounce back hitters at that. Whitmerry Field continues to, once again, bounce back 4 for 4 with his second home run of the season. Obviously there's not much power at this point, but a 287 batting average, 21 runs,

scored 19 RBI and 13 steals. Whitmeryfield was ranked the 110th overall player in Roto entering Monday. Does have that second base in outfield eligibility. Lordes-Guriel, you mentioned the name earlier. He went 4-4-hit his eighth home run of the season. He is now batting 321 with 28 runs, 27 RBI, a 938 OPS, a career-best strikeout rate, 14.6%. And his home run to flyball ratio is back up to the rest of his career. Last year looks like a clear outlier, likely because of that injury that he was playing with.

He was the second 72nd overall player in Roto entering Monday. And J.D. Martinez had a huge game. He had four hits, including a double dong, three batted balls over 106 miles per hour. And in 10 games since returning from the IL, J.D. Martinez is betting 293 with four homers and a 952 OPS. Scott, any thoughts on this group of bounceback candidates? It's Shady Martinez, Lord Escorial, and Whitmerfield. You know, Frank, you were asking me the other day, last week, the start of last week, in the Memorial Magazine, like Standard Rotel League, you needed a catcher in a pinch,

and you were asking for Blake Sable. Who could you offer for Blake Sable? I almost said J.D. Martinez, but I shied away because I didn't want to, I didn't want to clog up my DH spot like that. I had a lot of corner infielers. Do you think a week ago you would have traded J.D. Martinez to meet that catcher need? Blake Sable. Waivers had already run, so that wasn't that option.

You just needed a catcher as quickly as you could get one and I had an extra one at the time. What I have done it. It's so hard to say coming off like this good game, right? It's like my immediate thought is probably not. But I don't know. It's hard to say back in that moment. Yeah. I might have.

I might have done it. I think I had Grandaul as my second catcher, and he was like day to day, and so I just needed a catcher. And he ended up coming back the next day. Exactly, yeah. Didn't really lose anything. What a loser, by the way. I wound up benching J.D. Martinez this week in that league. So I didn't even get this big game that he had on Monday.

Oh, gosh. Yeah. I mean, look, now he's got his expected batting average is 293. That's 92nd percentile. This was before the two homer game, actually, right? I don't think those numbers have been factored in yet. I don't think expected batting average 293. That's 92nd percentile.

Expected slug 576. That's 96th percentile. He was like hardly walking. And he still doesn't have a good walk rate, but it's gotten a little better. He plays literally every day for the Dodgers. So, Primo lineup spot. And suddenly I'm feeling really good about J.D. Martinez. Yes, I would have to say.

Let's see. Who else did you mention here? Gurriel, yeah, I feel good about him. I mean, he might be performing a little beyond what he can sustain at this point. But I think he's a good hitter. He showed it in Toronto prior to last year. Hit for average, hit for above average power, not huge power. But I think there's definitely a chance, even in three outfielder leagues,

he could be somebody you'd just keep in your lineup rest of season. And, you know, Merrifield's probably just a steel specialist at this point, but at least he's doing that again because he had kind of stopped doing that last year. Yeah, I mean, with Lordis Gariel, he is in a contract year, so obviously looking to get paid

and wouldn't surprise me if, you know, he could stay on the field, hit over 300, 20 homers with great counting stats. That would be a really strong season for Guriel. And Whitmeryfield, man, he looks like he really enjoys these new, these new stolen base rules because, yeah, 13 steals already this season

off the top of my head, doing some quick math. He's on pace for 40 plus steals this year. So that's, yeah, that's definitely a contributor in that category for Whitmeryfield. Let's get into some pitching standouts from Monday's action. Dane Dunning was solid at the Pirates.

I didn't include him in Waverwire because he's up to 78% rostered, so likely not available in your leagues. He went five and two thirds, one run allowed. Three strikeouts. Christian Javier makes it four straight quality starts. He was at the Brewers. Six innings, one run, five strikeouts with 14 swinging strikes.

And Luis Castillo needed a strong start. And that's exactly what he got. Up against the Oakland A's, six shutout with eight strikeouts, 22 swinging strikes on 101 pitches. And he was saving his best for these poor Oakland A's. Why would you do that? So mean, so inconsiderate. Fastball and changeup

were both up two miles per hour each for Luis Castillo in the start Scott any thoughts on him Javier and Dane Dunning I had hoped for more from Dunning but I guess

you know he's already he's already given us so much right how much longer can we expect him to be of any use at all 100 run and 5 in 2000s innings I guess we can't complain about that

so much he has another start coming up later in the week presumably he was in line for two starts last week and didn't end up happening. Did not end up happening. So his two-star week got pushed to this week. Hopefully he comes through.

And yeah, Javier and Castillo, not much to add there. All right. Some hitting leftovers, Yerdon Alvarez, went three for four with a double dong, added five RBI, and had two batted balls that were at least 110 miles per hour off the bat. Julio Rodriguez went three for four with two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI.

Jared Kellnick, two for three with a walk and his 10th home run came off of a lefty that's back-to-back games with a homer and he is waking back up after a slow start to the month of May. Rowdy Tellez is quietly having a Rowdy-Tales type season. The batting average is up a little bit this year. 255 with 12 homers and an 897 OPS. We mentioned earlier Brian Dale Cruz had a four-hit game, went 4-4 with two-run scored in Corse Field,

and Scotty, sneaky sneakie. I saw you in the Scott White Dynasty League. You picked Paul DeYoung back up, and he went two for five with his eighth home run and added four RBI in that game. I'm a genius. Against Brandon Williamson, who I started in multiple leagues because I was desperate.

Gosh. Yeah. Well, it occurred to me because Paul DeYoung was coming off this 33-point week. And I was saying on yesterday's show, I dropped him even in this 2014 league because I didn't ultimately believe in it. But I have a lot of it.

had somebody else I could have dropped instead. Zach Jackson, who just got hurt. Why didn't I drop him? Why didn't I drop him? Why did I do that with DeYoung? And you mentioned that you noticed DeYoung was out there, so I assumed you put it in a pretty healthy bid for him. No.

I had DeYoung. I didn't. You didn't? I don't know why I did it. I mean, I had him for $1 previously. Now I have him for $13. But at least I have them. and he's still in my utility spot in that 24 team league

where I am 6 and 1 currently and you know I'll write it for however long it lasts but I'm still highly skeptical of Paul DeYoung as is everybody else given that he's rostered in 20% of leagues I'll tell you what Scottie you know what would be fun not just for the sake of this league but for the podcast

if we can get a little Scott White Frank Stanfell's showdown in the championship of the Scott White Dynasty League that would be something that would be something you're 6 and 1

I'm 5 and 2 in this league so far so this is the first year I feel semi-competitive and lots of ammo in the tank I've got to figure out what to do so should be a pretty fun season let's see where it goes few bullpen updates for the Guardians

Emmanuel Class A got back on track with a clean inning for his 16th save for Tampa Bay P. Fairbanks allowed a hit and a walk but got the final two outs for his fifth save of the season. For the Diamondbacks, one day after hyping up Miguel Castro, he entered in the seventh inning with a runner on first and a two-run lead. He did allow two hits and one of those runs to come in.

Andrew Chaffin later pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his seventh save. I don't know that there's much rhyme or reason with the Diamondbacks because if you asked me heading into Monday, I would have said Chafin was kind of that fireman reliever and he would come in in a situation like that. But for whatever reason, they went with it. Castro earlier and chafin later on for the Cardinals Ryan Hellsley pitched a clean ninth and then stayed out there for the 10th that ghost runner do we call it a

ghost runner Scott what's the official verbiage for that I don't even know I don't know I've seen people call it Ghost Runner I think that I think that just started as a cutesy thing because obviously that that harkens back to the days on the wiffle ball field but that was a very different thing like a ghost runner was not a person. There was nobody standing there. It was an invisible runner that I guess ran at the same speed as you.

That's what made it a ghost. And this is not a ghost. This is an actual person who could be thrown out, unlike a ghost runner. Well, guess what? This ghost runner was not thrown out against Ryan Helsley because he did score on a sacrifice fly. Helsley took the loss in that game.

For the Giants, Camillo-Dovall has been used a ton recently, so he was unavailable in this one. Scott Alexander picked up his first save of the season. For Kansas City, Scott Barlow pitched a clean ninth inning with the game tied and then came out for the 10th. He gave up a walk, a single, and then a bases clearing double to Javier Baez. Barlow took his third loss.

For the Dodgers, Evan Phillips entered in the fifth inning with runners on first and third, no outs, and a two-run lead. He only allowed one run across. Bruce Star Gratterol later recorded the final four outs for his third save of the season. And I kind of feel like the Dodgers. Dodgers bullpen is kind of like the debacks and that it's kind of unpredictable right now.

I think most nights will be, or most days nights, it will be Evan Phillips, but Graderol will probably get a few saves as well this year. And then for the Rockies, Pierce Johnson gave up a hit, but picked up his ninth save of the season. Let's get into streamer, not to stream, Scotty for Tuesday. And I did eliminate Matthew Liberto.

because he's not going to start. I like Logan Allen up against the White Sox. I like, I think Brian Beyo at the Angels is okay. Angels are a toughish matchup, but Bayo is pitching well right now. Those are the main two that I like. I don't know that there's anybody else I really trust. Yeah, I mean, Kyle Braddish could deliver a quality start at the Yankees. So it's kind of a tough matchup.

I get that. But, you know, he's looked good at his last two hours. outings. I think it's between him and Logan Allen, who's actually the best pitcher of this group. So I'll add him as a third name. All right. On Wednesday, I think we both agree that James Paxton and Michael Kopeck are more than streamers, but they are less than 70% rostered. So Paxton at the Angels and Kopeck at Cleveland, I think both are fine. And in deeper leagues, Zach Ranky against the Tigers and Matthew Boyd at the Royals

I think are okay Yeah I guess I'm not like Kopec's the one I want as bad as the Guardian's offense has been And as well as he's pitched lately But you know

It's obviously not a must It's worth reiterating That these streamer pitchers We're always making the best Of a bad situation here If you can't go Copac, my second and third choice would be, I think, the ones you said. Well, Paxton. Did you say Paxton? Yep.

Yeah, Paxton and between Boyd and Ryan Weathers, who's at Washington. Okay. Let's wrap up with to stream or not to stream, and this one came from Dan on an Apple podcast review, Wizard of Ozzy. Sure. From Doug, putting out fire with Gonsolin. Hmm. Okay. Going, making, stretching to make Gonsolins sound like gasoline. Correct. And he brought up, in the email, he said he brought up a spirited debate that you had with Al Melchior years ago about Michael Waka.

Does this bring any bells? That's always, it's always the association I make with Michael Waka. Yes, it does. At the time, I was arguing. So this was, this was back during that, uh, run. at the start of Michael Waka's career the first three years where he had like a 325 ERA between them seemed to be a fantasy mainstay that fourth year he was struggling Al was saying you know Waka's not such hot stuff after all I was like no just look at his

track record turns out Al was right or was he mm will I get the last laugh I don't know I don't even think Waka's that great now but who knows Yeah. Such an interesting rollercoaster career for Waka. As you mentioned, first three years were really good. And then a 509 ERA, 413, back down to 320 ERA. And then the last two years now, he has an ERA in the threes. So I don't know. It's kind of like a career renaissance.

That's our analysis on Michael Waka. I don't know. I don't know. That sounds about right to me. These are from Matt, a Paxton, both your housers. A Paxton, both your houses. A pox on both your houses That works

That's clever Bybee or not Bybee That is the question Bybee or not by B Yeah I think that's probably Probably how you'd have to say that Yeah Frambers Romano's Contrarisman

Lend me your ears That's It's going a little far for me I looked this up I think it was from Some kind of Julius Caesar I think. It's stretching the names

to make them the words. Gotcha. You know, it's going a little too far as far as that goes. Yeah, countrymen, contraris men. It's a little,

a little stretchy. Kiroloff, Kiroloff, my wayward son. It's a solid song. You know that song's got Carry on my wayward son. Sure. I don't think Kiroloff works there.

This Matt has a very liberal ear in terms of the way he hears words. The last one is a penny for your faults. Okay, that one's okay. From Eric, he is a Mariners fan who was hoping for a big year from Robbie Ray and Chris Flexen,

so initially the team name was Ray B. Flexen. Now it's Ray not be flexen. Okay. There you go. From Neil, the webbing singer. I mean, is that really the best?

use of the name web? Probably not. Next one is Bednar Time Stories. Okay. I see what he's going for here. It's got a whole Adam Sandler theme just for you, Frank.

I don't know. Time Stories, it's a pretty cute movie, I have to say. I haven't seen it, so. One of my, I wouldn't put him in my top five Adam Sandler movies, but it wouldn't be far outside of it.

I'm trying to think of the last Adam Sandler comedy. that I've seen in his filmography. And it would probably be, like, grown-ups, or I now pronounce you, Chuck and Larry. I haven't seen any of these, like, Netflix things or, yeah. I saw, what was the one where it's super serious movie? Uncut Jim, but whatever.

That's not a comedy. But that doesn't count as an Adam Sandler movie. Correct. He just happened to act in it. It was a pretty good movie, though. Very anxiety-provoking. This one is in Adavino Veritas. I don't know that I get that one.

Yeah. If you don't, you know I don't get it. Webcom to the jungle, to the yungle. Oh my gosh. Yeah, if you didn't like the webbing singers guy, I don't know that you're going to like Webcom to the jungle. Well, he's abandoned the Adam Sandler theme. I thought I knew what he was doing, but now he's just kind of.

You have no idea. Yeah, it's not good. I stop the sheriff. All right, sure. Why not? To Oscar Meyer Weemer. Ooh. A lot of bad suggestions, but this might be the suggestion of the night.

Although, that might be mayor, right? Is it Marcelo Mayer? Or is it Marcelo Meyer? I don't know. With prospects, I usually write the name. I don't say it. So when the time comes to say it, I'm a little lost. My Bibi lies over the ocean.

Okay. The Granddall Bednarpest Hotel. Okay. Bednarpest. I'll allow it. Six to a percent of the time, it works every time. All right. And we're going to wrap there.

For Scott, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again. tomorrow. Bye-bye!