Fantasy Baseball Today - Drop Chris Paddack? Fill In The Blank & Would You Rather! (7/8 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 8, 2021

Sonny Gray has looked pretty damn good since coming back from the IL (2:41)! Should you drop Chris Paddack after his mega dud!? ... News and notes (14:23)! Clayton Kershaw went to the IL. Does that mean it's time to add David Price? ... Let's play a little fill in the blank (21:31). What level hitter can you get for Corbin Burnes? How has Wander Franco been? Can you drop Casey Mize? ... Would you rather Andrew McCutchen or Michael Conforto (41:05)? Jonathan India or Jeff McNeil? Garrett Cooper or Jesus Sanchez? ... We wrap up with Wednesday's leftovers, bullpen updates, streamers, and your questions (49:07)! Should you add Chad Green after two consecutive saves!? ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  To nominate Fantasy Baseball Today for The People’s Choice podcast awards, go to podcastawards.com/app/signup/ and then toggle down the "Sports" category. 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. I drive. Center field. What is magnificent? 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, Chris, and Adam. Hey, hey, hey, welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, July 8. Frank Sample, joined by Chris Towers, who was apparently a big fan of joy. I saw you walk across the room there before we got started, Chris. I didn't know you're a big jorts guy. Yeah, over the last two summers, I've just decided, I need more shorts and I don't necessarily want to buy new shorts. And I live in Brooklyn, so might as well just take a pair of jeans that I don't really wear all that often

and slice the legs off. So, you know, I get real Brooklyn in them sometimes. I'll throw on like a tank top, wear my jorts around. So it's a good look. I love that you prefaced all that with I live in Brooklyn, so you kind of had to let everyone know like,

yeah, I'm a little hipster. Yeah, I'm an innoxious hipster. For sure. I live in Williamsburg. You don't really have a choice. You asked for it, Chris. I've done that quite a bit as well.

Turn some shorts into, turn some jeans into shorts. Why not? The problem is the winter comes and you got no less. on your jeans and then you're screwed you strike me as a guy who just wears shorts like all year round uh i have become one of the guys who like when it's 58 degrees outside there was definitely one day like in march where it got up to like 59 degrees and it was my day off i'm off on

fridays and i decided to just go for a long bike ride and was riding around went to a bar over in greenpoint everybody else like i still saw people with jackets and like a couple of scarves and i'm out like t-shirts and shorts and I was like, yeah, maybe I'm getting a little too overzealous, but like it was the first time I could conceivably wear shorts all year. And I was getting, I was getting awfully pale. So I looked at an old video, an old, an old one of our shows. And I was so pale. So I had to get, uh, get my tan on a little bit too. Well, at least you don't look like a dancing lobster like I do. Today on the podcast, we're going to do some fill in the blank. Would you rather have a buy high outfielder. Some of your.

Apple podcast review and email questions, and more. But let's start by recapping some of Wednesday's action. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right, Chris. Where would you like to start? Oh, my goodness gracious. A standout from Wednesday. Oh, boy.

You first. Yeah, I was going to say. I want to know where you go, because I was up to stuff before the show. I'm sorry. No, it's all good. I usually ask you beforehand. I didn't do it today. so bad host, Frank.

Actually, you know what? Sunny Gray. All right. How about that? There was interesting detail out of that start. He went seven innings, two iron runs, seven hits, seven strikeouts, two walks. Interesting detail that I saw from this game. It doesn't really matter.

But, you know, just to show that despite my surprise at the question you ask us every day, I did prepare for the show. Sunny Gray apparently in the middle of his start, went to the locker room, took off all his clothes, changed him, except for his cleats, went back and I believe retired every batter he faced over the final three innings of the outing, including striking out the side and the seventh. So there you go. Sunny Gray did not like his clothes. Explains why he wasn't great to start and came back and he's been really good. And two starts since coming back from the IL. 16 swing strikes today on 99 pitches. Velocity hasn't quite been what it was before the IL. And, you know,

there's been some swing great stuff with him as well, but at least three swinging strikes on every single one of his pitches except for the four-seem fastball. He was throwing the slider curve and change pretty regularly tonight. And I don't know, I know we've been skeptical about him, but he's been pretty good this season when he's been healthy. Yeah, he has. And you're right.

We kind of haven't given Sunny Gray the respect that he deserves. And if you span things back over his last five starts, he only has five walks during that span. And when Sunny Gray gets in trouble, it's with the control or lack of control. So the fact that he's been much better in that department, five walks over his last five starts for Sunny Gray, definitely a step in the right direction here.

This was a great start. He actually has his lowest walk rate now since 2017. So how about that? 8.9% last year was 11.1. He has his highest strike rate ever and his lowest walk rate of the last four years. He's got a 353. XERA to go with the 327 ERA.

So I don't know. It's been pretty good. You know, you'd like to see more innings, but as than that, pretty good. Yeah, I do.

I was done after that. I just, it sounded like I had more to say. I'm sorry. Admittedly, I'm awful at that. Like, knowing when you guys are done

with your sentence, I am very bad. I listen back to every podcast after I edit it, and I'm just like, why don't I just start talking after they stop talking? And half the time,

I just don't know if you guys are done talking, But yeah, Sunny Gray. He's been very good. I think we should probably... I got him at SP 42. I think I've got to move him up the ranks quite a bit there. I think I can get him up to SP 34, just behind Ryu,

Max Fried, Ian Anderson. That seems like a good range for Sunny Gray. Oh my goodness gracious for me, I want to talk about Chris Paddock. And specifically, I'll talk about Chris Paddock and Eduardo Rodriguez because they have great underlying numbers. And maybe you know more about this than I do, Chris, because I just can't figure it out.

for the life of me. The fact that they have ERAs over five, but their underlying numbers are much better. I mean, we're talking about like X-FIP, Sierra, in the mid-3, something like that, so we'll try and figure it out, but Chris Paddock, just an awful start. I was watching it, up against the nationals, two innings, nine hits,

nine runs, eight of those were earned, doesn't really matter anyway, seven hard hit balls. He's now failed to complete three in two of his last three starts. Chris Paddock has. 5.40 ERA. He had nothing, nothing in this start. No command. Any of his pitches. Fastball. Changeup. Curveball. His curveball, he's been throwing it more recently, which it seems like it's kind of been helping the underlying numbers. But overall, it's just, it's been a mess for Chris Paddock. And then Eduardo Rodriguez, if you want to throw him kind of in the same conversation, five endings, nine hits, four runs against the Angels, still had 15 swinging strikes. His ERA is at 5.52. His ex-fip is 3.38 for Eduardo Rodriguez. So,

Why? Why is this happening, Chris, where surface numbers for both of these guys are awful? The underlying numbers are still very good. Yeah, I mean, with Paddock, like the FIP is 378, the X-FIPP is 362. So, you know, like, that's certainly better than what his ERA is. But his expected ERA is now it's up to, sorry. It's over four. Yeah, it's over. Well, it was over four coming into this start, which is, you know, It's 412.

So that's not particularly good. He is actually throwing the curveball a lot more lately. Like you said, it's been around 10% in a bunch of his recent starts. The problem is the changeup and the fastball have been pretty mediocre. The curveball's actually been great for him. He has a 174X Wobah, 164 Wobah, 50% whiff rate. Those are excellent numbers for a guy who didn't have that third pitch. And we always thought if he could get that third pitch,

he was going to take a huge step forward. And the change up, you know, it hasn't been a bad pitch, but like the whiff rate is 31.8%. That's fine. The ex-wobe allowed is 311. Again, that's fine, but they're not,

you know, that's not what we've come to expect from this pitch, especially when it comes to the contact suppression. And I don't know. I don't know where I'm at on Paddock right now. I think I'm still pretty pessimistic. just because, I don't know, he just feels like

kind of an average strikeout guy, an average quality of contact guy, it just, the whole package just kind of seems fine to me. Average.

Yeah, like, I mean, the control is very good, but, you know, overall, you look at,

you put it all together, and it's just like, I don't know what he does that's special anymore. And that's a difficult thing to, um, That's a difficult thing to get around.

What if I told you before this start for Chris Paddock, his last five starts, he had a 2.58 X-fif during that span, 11.3K per 9, 1.7 walks per 9, and a 14% swinging strike rate. You would think that's a pretty good pitcher, albeit a small sample size, five starts, but we're kind of grasping at anything here to figure out, you know, where is Chris Paddock, what is going on with him? So does this five-star stretch before this matter, these numbers? Yeah.

Gosh, it's hard to say. Like I said, at this point, I'm pretty pessimistic. Especially because the two starts before this one, the strikeout rate had been much lower, below 20% in both starts. So it just, he had like that flash where it was like two starts against the Mets where he struck out a bunch of guys, the one starting against Cincinnati. Maddie. But for the most part, the strikeouts just haven't been there all season.

I wish I had answers. I wish I could tell you with a strong degree of certainty one way or the other about Paddock. But, you know, if I'm being honest, it's mostly just if I had to guess, I think he's just going to be an average pitcher moving forward. Yeah, which is probably something in the high threes, low fours, ERA kind of range. I think for both of these guys, like, they're obviously not must our pitchers. anymore. Keep them on your bench, maybe play them in the right matchups. But we do have some fill in the blanks later on, Chris.

How about this one? Chris Paddock can be dropped in blank leagues. What size leagues? 10 team points leagues. 10 team points? I think he definitely can be. But not 12 teams you're going to hold on. It's Chris Paddock for now.

I probably would. And I'll be honest. You know, you're grouping Paddock and Rodriguez together and I get it. I still have a lot more confidence in Rodriguez. He actually has his best. X-R-A of his career. He has still very good quality of contact numbers. He's really not getting hit very hard. Lowest walk rate of his career, highest strikeout rate of his career. You put it all together and somehow the sum is less than the parts, but the parts are all individually so good

and there's nothing really alarming for Eduardo Rodriguez that, you know, I have to amount. I'm not looking at fan graphs, but I have to imagine his babbip is very high, given everything else. Yeah, 361. Like, that's, he's a 305 babbop guy for his career. He's not someone who has typically struggled in that regard. Home runs have been a little bit of an issue, but he should be much better than he has been. And I feel more confident that he will be than Paddock, partially because he's also just pitching more.

You know? Yeah, no, two, I think two of the more frustrating starting pitchers this season between Paddock. and Eduardo Rodriguez definitely don't mind keeping them on the bench for now. Before we hit news and notes, we are finalists for the sports category of the People's Choice Podcast Awards. We appreciate all you guys do for us and hope you enjoy our show. Enough to nominate us to advance to the final round to nominate fantasy baseball today.

Go to podcastawards.com slash app slash sign up and then toggle down the sports category. We've included the link in the episode description as well. and just a reminder that our live YouTube Q&A stream is back this Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. And Chris, you don't know this yet, but Scott is still on vacation. So I'm going to need you for the whole hour there, bud, from 7 to 8 p.m. We will act as your pre-game appetizer to the home run derby, which has officially been filled out. Shohei Otani, Pete Alonzo, Joey Gallo, Juan Soto, Trevor Story, Matt Olson, Trey Mancini, and Salvador Perez.

also within that live stream, we're going to have ourselves a little bit of a derby draft, Chris. So we'll draft four players each. We'll figure out who gets the first pick somehow. But yeah, four hitters each, whoever I guess we could do most home runs between the two of us or whoever has the winner. We'll figure it out.

We'll come up with like some kind of fun wager. Six-pack or a beer. You owe me a beer. I owe you a beer. Something like that. Anyway, drop a comment on this YouTube video with who you think is going to win. the Home Run Derby. I'm not talking to you, Chris. I'm talking to everyone else that's like

watching or listening. Drop a comment on this video. Who you think is going to win the Home Run Derby? And your Twitter handle, one person who picks the winner will receive a free one-year subscription to Sportsline. Our gambling and DFS service, Chris is wearing the Sportsline shirt. I didn't even tell him to do that. That is a $100 value. Don't miss out. Just leave a comment. You mentioned you have thoughts, Chris? I've got thoughts. Maybe we can save them for another time, but I've got thoughts on the home run derby and what kind of player is going to benefit from the thin air and course field. And I'm not going to go, I don't think I'm going to pick the favorites in this one. I'm not sure yet, but I think I want to go with like a wild card here.

Interesting. I'm going to have to do some course field research myself, but I am wearing a It's not based on any research, by the way. I am wearing a Texas Rangers hat myself. So that might give you a little bit of an inkling of where I'm leaning at this point. He's a pretty good pick. News and notes from Wednesday, Clayton Kershaw. Out of nowhere, huge blow here. Was placed on the I.O. with a left forearm, with left forearm inflammation.

And Kershaw currently has a 3.39 ERA, 0.98 whip, career high, 16.3% swinging strike rate. There is no timetable for Clayton Kershaw's return at this time. And I think all but insured is David Price will be stretched out for the rotation, between this injury, obviously everything that's going on with Trevor Bauer. David Price is 21% rostered, Chris. Any league size that you're looking to add David Price if this actually happens? Yeah, I mean, before the season, you know, he was someone who I liked quite a bit before we knew he was going to be in the bullpen because his 42080 RA in 2019, it doesn't tell quite the whole story of how good he was because he had that wrist issue, you know, right at the end of his run.

before his last, you know, four starts, he had a 316 ERA with a bunch of strikeouts and he was pitching consistently deep into games. That was a really weird season for David Price because he like got thrown out of a couple of games for throwing at people. And I don't know, it was, it was strange. But he was pitching really well before then. And his numbers this season, albeit in a bullpen roll, have been quite good despite a very, very high Babbitt. So I do still think he can be effective. I don't know if he's going to be a must-start guy, but if you need a Kershaw replacement and that, you know,

Gilbert Thompson, Joe Ross Group, you know, I think he's right there with those guys, maybe a little more reliable. Yeah, I think I would still rank him behind those guys, but, you know, if he pitches the way that he's pitched this year, 3.58 ERA, all of the underlying numbers are basically right in line with that. The ERA indicators, a 1.66 whip for David Price, 4.02 Babib, 12 hits per 9.

The guy's just been super lucky in terms of batting average on balls and play this year. Getting a lot of football. Yeah, unlucky. That's what I'm looking for. But yeah, I'd be interested in David Price in any deeper leagues where those players, those pitchers we mentioned are already rostered. Vidal Bruhan's first career played appearance

resulted in an RBI single, a stolen base, and a run scored. So basically flashing everything that you should be excited. about for Vidal Bruhan in his first played appearance. He did just finish one for six across the double header against Cleveland. He started at second base in the first game, right field in the second game. He was sent down after the games, but don't be alarmed. Bruhan is expected back on Friday.

Chris, you were not on the podcast yesterday when we talked about Bruhan getting called up. Anything that you would like to add on him? He should be good when he gets the call. Obviously, we know this hasn't been a great season for rookies. And a lot of high-profile guys have struggled. maybe he'll be the next one. But if he is back up within the next couple of days, I think you kind of have to add him

because the skill set figures to be so valuable for fantasy purposes that, yeah, I would definitely hang on to him. Scott made the comp, the high-end comp of Whitmeryfield, which I actually think is pretty good. A little bit of pop, good batting average, a lot of speed, 80 grade speed. Vidal Bruhan, 50% rostered should be rostered, in all categories leagues at this point.

12 team head to head categories, Roto, head to head points. I don't think you have to rush out and get him, but definitely in any categories league where you need speed. Shoha Tani went two for four with this 32nd home run of the year. That's 32 before the All-Star break.

Now has the most home runs in a season by a Japanese-born player passing Hadeki Matsui, which Matsui had 31 in a full season. Show-Ho-Tani. Did you see the other stat about Shoaho-Hatani? He's the first player in major league history with 32 homers and 12 plus stolen bases

before the All-Star break, which, you know, a bit of arbitrary endpoints there, but that's still pretty impressive. Wow. No, I did not see that stat. Another one that I saw is this is the most home runs before the All-Star break since Chris Davis. Chris Davis would see.

I think he had 37 back in 2013 with the Baltimore Orioles. So nice, some awesome stats there for Shohei Otani. Ozzie Albi's exited as a precaution with neck tightness. Please be okay, I have you in a few leagues where you have been awesome. Chris Bryant left with hamstring tightness, and since the start of June, the guy has just been completely lost.

So hopefully the All-Star break can help get Chris Bryant back on track. Steven Schrozzberg took part in a heavy workout on Tuesday, one day after throwing 60 pitches in a bullpen session, and Nationals manager Dave Martinez said he was, quote, getting close to a rehab assignment, I would be pleasantly surprised to get anything from Steven Strassburg this season. But sounds like maybe the All-Star breaks soon thereafter could get him back in the Nationals rotation. The Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush said that Chris Sale won't be activated from the 60-day IL until he stretched out to throw five to six innings. So

sounds like he could go on a rehab assignment. You know, maybe he starts this weekend. Yeah, this weekend. He could be with the Woo Sox. The Woo Sox. But yeah, I would expect he's going to get something close to that. I think it's 30-day minimum, or 30-day maximum that pitchers can get on their rehab. I would guess it's going to be something close to that. Yeah, I think it's probably four to five starts, something like that for Criselle. I think that makes sense for him on his rehab assignment.

Eddie Rosario did indeed land on the IL with that abdominal strain. Daniel Johnson started in Cleveland's outfield. At AAA this season, he had nine homers and six deals, albeit with a 218 batting average. So some power and speed, very low batting average for Daniel Johnson. Jose I Arkiti said Wednesday he'll remain shut down from throwing for at least two weeks. He's on the IL with shoulder discomfort. Yasmani Grandal had successful surgery and is expected to return later this season for the White Sox.

Remember Julian Meriwether on the Blue Jays. Yeah, that guy, he got their first couple of saves. He actually looked awesome. Well, he had another setback. And with his left oblique strain, so we're not going to see him. anytime soon. It's been a long time anyway. Domingo Hermann was scratched from Wednesday's start after he underwent an emergency route canal. Ouch. Glaibre Torres was back in the lineup for the Yankees. Carlos Martinez went to the IL with a torn ligament in his right thumb. Jake Arieta to the

aisle with right hamstring tightness. Mikel Franco to the IL with right ankle sorens. Das Cameron to the IL with that right toe sprain. And Trevor Rosenthal will undergo surgery next week to report repair. But it would be nice if I know how to read. A torn labrum in his right hip and will miss the rest of the 2021 season. Lou Trevino's job is safe for now. A few players that were not in the lineup because of various injuries. Javier Baez, Tyler O'Neill, O'Double Herrera, and Josh Donaldson. Fill in the blank.

Let's have some fun. Corbyn Burns. He was at the Mets on Wednesday. Five and two thirds. One run, eight strikeouts. He only had 10 swinging strikes. So that now makes four straight starts where Corbyn Burns has had. had 12 swinging strikes or less.

He does have a 2.61 ERA during that stretch, but his first 11 starts, Corbyn's had an 18% swinging strike rate. So quite a bit of a disparity there. Chris, fill in the blank. I would trade Corbyn Burns for blank hitter. This is a propulsive, not very much, but I still found it very interesting.

Corbyn Burns has underperformed his expected ERA this season by nearly three quarters of a run. Isn't that amazing? Underperformed. Underper. So what is? He's a 169 expected ERA this season. Wow.

That's wild. 176 after today's start. Excuse me. That is wild. Yeah. I mean, the thing is he's still really, really doing a great job of limiting hard contact. He's still doing a really, really good job of, relatively speaking, especially to where he used to be, of not giving up walks.

So I still think he's a really, really valuable fantasy option. I've got him right behind Whitmerfield and Raphael Devers. I mean, if I could get those guys for him, I would do it. But otherwise, you know, he's in the J.D. Martinez, Francisco Lindor, Kyle Tucker range. And I think I'd rather have him than those guys. The first name that came to mind to me for some reason was Aaron Judge. And I think Judge is probably in a similar range as all of those hitters.

Yeah. So, I mean, Yuron Alvarez is fun right now, but he's been awesome. So I don't know if you're going to be able to make that happen. But I think it's a fair trade. I think Burns for Yoron Alvarez makes a lot of sense there as well. And yeah, Burns remains in my top 10 starting pitchers. He's ninth for me. He's ninth for Scott.

One spot behind Garrett Cole. Who knows, maybe that changes a little bit soon. I've dropped Garrett Cole down quite a bit. Chris, you still have Corbyn Burns as your sixth ranked starting pitchers. So, yes, you should be asking for... I'm not really that worried about him. Yeah. I know the spin rate's down, but for the most part, he's still been excellent.

Yeah. The biggest thing is just that the swinging strike rate has taken a huge dip over his last four-star. So maybe it affects the strikeouts, and obviously that means more balls in play, and more balls in play just means things can happen, obviously. So keep that in mind, but yeah, Corbin-Burn is still a top-10 start. starting pitcher, despite the swinging strike rate being down. Casey Mize, he was at the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, four innings, two runs, two strikeouts, pretty mad game overall. Spin rates and velocity both way, way down in the star. I don't, I didn't see that he came away from this

with anything wrong with him, but no. Velocity was down. No, it was just a pitch limitation, I think. Yeah, the velocity was down between one and a half and three miles per hour on all of his pitches. And speaking of those pitches, Casey Mize has now averaged 53, pitches per start over his last two. So I think we're starting to see some of those limitations that the Tigers hinted at earlier in the season. He's still 82% rostered Chris. Casey Mize can be dropped in blank-sized leagues.

12-team Roto. Okay, so... I think he's... There are things to like about Casey Mize moving forward. There have been things to like about him this season, but the underlying numbers have not backed up his performance pretty much all season. He still doesn't get very many strikes.

I think you probably missed your opportunity to sell high on him. But if somebody still thinks he has value, I would be looking to get something for him because, yeah, I think he's dropable. Yeah, look, if people are not paying attention to what's happening right now and obviously what we've talked about all season with Casey Mize, he still has a 3.59 ERA. So if someone sees that and they're willing to give you some kind of value for him in a trade, then yeah, you don't have to drop him. you know, turn him around for something. But, yeah, I mean, this is obviously going to severely affect his fantasy value moving forward with these limitations. This one's more of a multiple choice question, Chris. But Jared Walsh had a double dong.

He's now up to 22 home runs. Both of those home runs came off of Lefties. One was Eduardo Rodriguez. And entering today, Jared Walsh had a 528 OPS against Lefties this season. So that was part of the reason that recently, I don't know if you've been on any of the podcasts where I brought it up, Chris. I've been talking Jared Walsh up as a sell-high candidate, and he just completely continues to make me look ridiculous because hits a grand slam off of a Roldish Chapman.

He's doing this. He's still hitting a time for him. Anyone can hit a grand slam off Roldish Chapman at this point. Yeah, that's true. Anyway, the ground balls and strikeouts have been up, so that's part of the reason why I viewed Jared Walsh as a sell-high candidate. So for you, the question is, Jared Walsh is a buy, sell, or hold candidate rest of season.

I think he's definitely sell. He had, at least coming into this start, I'm not sure about afterwards. He had the highest gap between his expected Wobah and his actual Wobah this season among qualified hitters. And that's not to say he's been bad. It's just that, you know, he has a 341 expected Wobah, and he's got like a 375 or something actual Wobah. and that's a gap that at some point I think is going to narrow. I think he's a good hitter,

but I don't think he's going to keep slugging 571. I think he's probably maybe 100 points over his head on that. I think he's probably more like a 260 hitter. And so, yeah, I think if you can sell high for him, you know, there's, I think he's still a top 12 starting first baseman, but if somebody views him as more than that, take advantage of that. So I was going to save this for later on, but let's talk about it now.

I guess we can compare these two. And someone I think is a by-high candidate is Teoska Hernandez. Because, and I brought this up, I think, a month or two ago that even then I thought he was a bi-high candidate. And he just kind of continues to perform. He went three-for-five on Wednesday. He's batting 297.

And that super-high line-drive approach that he had from last year has carried over. He's got a near-30-per-cent line drive rate. He would rank third among qualified hitters. Actually, he does. He is qualified. So he ranks third in that category. Line drive rate for Teasca Hernandez.

Strikeouts are down. Career best, 25% strikeout rate. Chris, if you can turn Jared Walsh into Teosker Hernandez, is that something you would do or would you try and shoot higher if you have Jared Walsh? I mean, the most impressive thing about it is the way he's, one, dramatically increased his swing rate on pitches inside of the strike zone without increasing his chase rate, which is, you know, pretty tough to do. That requires actually improving your plate discipline. That's not just

being more aggressive. And he's dramatically lowered his whiff rate. It's down from 35% to 31.5% this season. And he's done it without necessarily having to sacrifice some of the quality of contact skills that made were so standout last season. He's not quite where he was last season. but, you know, if you can cut your strikeout rate from 30 to 25%, you can get away with that. And so, yeah, his ex-wobe is actually a little higher than his woe. I think there could be some room for, you know, him to get even better moving forward, which is not saying something.

He's been pretty good. I think we're all taking an L on that one. Yeah, no, no doubt about it. I mean, a lot of the Blue Jays that I specifically talk down as bus, coming more so overvalued coming into the season. TASQ Hernandez, Boba Chet, ridiculous, Marcus Semyon, the same. They've all made me look completely foolish. So I will admit that.

That team's got a lot of guys hitting like their 90th percentile right now. So, you know, if you're playing, if you're into futures bets, you know, taking the under on second half wins may not be a bad idea. I don't know what it is. Yeah. I think it all starts and ends with Vlad Jr., right? So like the fact that Vlad is performing at this kind of historic page, It's helped everybody in that lineup because, you know, just keep things chugging along.

And obviously, Marcus Semiant, too, it's just, he's been ridiculous as well. But, you know, honestly, looking at the overall numbers right now for Teasca Hernandez, they still don't look that impressive. 291 batting average, 11 home runs. You might be able to sell Jared Walsh for Teasca Hernandez plus another piece. So, Teasker is someone that I do like as a buy-high candidate right now. I would love to do that, yeah. Yeah.

Let's move on from Jared Walsh. sell high candidate. Thank you for confirming that, Chris. Let's check in on Wanderfranco. 231 batting average at this point in the season, 9% walk rate, 16% strikeout rate. He is hitting a good amount of line drives. He has a 7% swinging strike rate. Mind you, he's, what, 20 years old? That 7% swinging strike rate would rank 19th among qualified hitters this season. So we don't normally see prospects like this, and that's part of the allure for Wanda Franco. So I feel blank about Wanda Franco. Pretty good. Pretty good.

He's been largely as advertised. He's not chasing hardly at all, 21% chase rate, 74% zone swing rate. He's making a lot of contact. Has just an 18% whiff rate. League average is 25%. So, you know, I think there's a lot of good going on. And he's got a 44% hard hit rate, which is pretty good as well. It's, you know, a little above league average.

And so, you know, I think you look at all the components. parts and it's it's largely what we expected I do wonder um you know I want to take a look at his splits and see if he's been yeah he's been really bad against right-handed pitching 346 OPS heading into today compared to an 1144 versus lefties and if you look at his spray chart it's a lot of stuff to the left of the field you know I'm not sure necessarily what to make of that it you know we've seen like Ozzie Albee's I don't want to say struggle, but maybe be a little bit disappointing at times because he was much better against lefties than righties. I don't know if it's the same thing for Wander Franco.

It certainly wasn't in 2019 when he had a 921 OPS against Ritees. So we're still so early on that a lot can change. But I think generally speaking, the early returns on Wander Franco are much more promising than they were for Jared Kalanick, let's say. Wander Franco, this season in the minors as well, was batting over 300 against both-handed pitching, had a 900 OPS or better against both-handed pitching. So I'm with you. I feel fine about Wander-Franco right now.

And if someone in your league is like, oh, man, just another rookie who stinks, go out and try and acquire him in redraft leagues. Junjin Ryu, someone who has, you know, we had some concerns heading into the start because he had just a 7% swinging strike rate over his previous 6.

starts entering Wednesday, goes out against the Orioles, five innings, one run, seven strikeouts. It's actually pretty impressive because the Orioles are awesome against left-handed pitching this year. 14 swinging strikes in this one on 86 pitches. That's a 16% swinging strike rate for Ryu. So nice little bounce back here. Chris, Junjin Ryu is a top blank starting pitcher rest of season. Gosh, I think I still have him in like the 30-ish range. You know, one thing that he did a lot in this start, he threw his fastball.

a lot, 49% of the time. He's throwing his fastball more than he has at any point since, gosh, 2017. And that's still only 33%. So he was very fastball heavy tonight. I don't know if maybe that made the change up and cutter play up a little better because hitters were seeing it less often.

His velocity was up in this start. So I don't know exactly what to make of it, but I still, I mean, he'd been sub two, ERA over the previous three seasons that I'm willing to give him that benefit of the doubt. All right. So top 30-ish starting pitcher there for Junjin Ryu. I haven't met 33 just behind. Max Friede, Ian Anderson, Sonny Gray probably deserves to be in that range again, which I mentioned. I can't get him inside my top 30 right now just because I feel like Robbie Ray still has more upside. Luis Castillo pitching much better. Kyle Hendrix is a lot like Ryu. I'll say top 35.

Top 35 starting pitcher for Ryu rest of season. Last one here, Chris. My favorite chocolate bar is blank. Do you have a favorite? Put you on the spot. So I guess it depends. How are we defining chocolate bar?

Is this any bar with a base of chocolate or like a Hirsch cheese or a crunch? Yeah, I think. It's like if it's the former, Reese's fast break is my favorite. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. If it's the latter, there's this,

brand called Tony's Chocolonely that I always find at Whole Foods and they've got a milk, milk caramel sea salt, milk chocolate, caramel and sea salt bar that is out of this world. So good. So those are my two picks. Well, you know I'm all about the sweet and savory.

So I've got to, oh yeah, I love sweet and savory. Got to jump on that. For me, Reese is nutrageous, man. It's just like, it's not very popular, kind of just flies under the radar, but it is a, amazing.

A whole bunch of peanuts covered in chocolate. I don't even know what it's loaded up with but man, it is... Is it a nugget or peanut butter in the middle? I think it's...

Let's see here. Wow, you can buy... That's an important distinction for me. You could buy a whole case of these things on Amazon. I might get myself in trouble here. All right, it's made with milk chocolate loaded with crunchy, roasted peanuts.

Peanut butter. Smooth rich caramel. That's what it is. It's caramel. That's pretty good. And the famous taste of Reese's peanut butter. I might have to check that out. That looks pretty good. I'm not like super into peanut butter. I like it here and there. But man, that thing is ridiculous. The Reese is not

rages. Make sure to go check it out. Before we get to some more of Wednesday's action, we have to tell you about the awesome clothing from Express. Express Confidence. Express You. Express is all new and all about you with a fresh mix of casual, versatile, and super comfortable styles. We've talked about a bunch of their different styles this week, but maybe you just need something to wear for the summer. Maybe you need some george. Heading out to the park, a cookout, a baseball game, whatever it is, head to express.

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I've got a few myself. It's a good look. They're super unique because they kind of just feel like you're wearing a t-shirt. You know, some polos, they come with like this rougher material. They're like super heavy, hard to wear in the summertime. That's not the case for the express polos. They're like, it's just very comfortable. The softest fabrics actually you'll ever feel the shirts fit just right.

Make sure to head on over to express. We encourage all of our listeners to be on the lookout for great summer deals in stores and again at their website, express.com. Express Confidence, Express You. We are going to take a quick break, but when we return, would you rather? You've got some scenarios we'd like to talk about next on Fantasy Baseball today. Frank, hold on before we start. What's up? Did you see John Sterling's home run call today? Oh, no. No, I didn't. I did not see it. I did not hear it. Do you want to play it for the people? Is that possible? I don't even know if we can do that. I might be able to play it. Let's see. I can already, I feel, I feel the email is just ringing in. People complaining about

No, people, people who don't like the Yankees will enjoy it. All right, what do we got here? You got a, you got a, I'm going to add it to the stream. Let's see if this works. All right, here we go. If you press play, let's see if it, if it actually comes through here, does it? I'm not getting any audio. Ah, all right. So is this the Aaron, is this the Aaron Judge Homerun? Throw it in the private chat. I can play it off my computer. Yeah, it's great. And Chris is gone.

So we're going to figure that out. Play the John Sterling call for the Aaron Judge. His home run on Wednesday was an absolute moon rocket. 434 feet off the bat for Aaron Judge. There he is. He's back. What's up, Chris? I was trying to figure out how to stop sharing my screen.

And I backed out the studio entirely. Oh, man. All right. So if you throw the link in the first, private chat, I'll figure out a way to play it. It's excellent. The people who hate the Yankees will appreciate this. This is not, you know,

Frank being indulgent. All right, so let's see what we got here. Man, the breaking ball is hit in the air to deep left. That ball is high. It is far. It is gone. Unfortunately, that was a replay of the home run. I thought it was a good replay. So they're in New York

watching the game in the studio, announcing it. Oh, man. And so he didn't realize that it was, uh, yeah. That's fine. Oh my gosh. There was another one recently where someone, I forgot who it was there, when they were playing against the Mets, I think it was like Jose Paraza. He like a would be grand slam, but a fan reached over and caught it. I was listening to it on the radio while I was on vacation. And he's just like, where'd the ball go? He's like, it's high, it's deep. Where'd the ball go? So it's just classic John Sterling. I'm not going to lie. I kind of got duped too while I was watching the game. I was like, wait, did Aaron Judge just hit another home run? So it's very easy to fall for it.

Would you rather? That's what I have in common with. I believe he's 80 years old. 80 years old, John Sterling, still getting it done there. Would you rather Andrew McCutcheon or Michael Conforto? Cutch just hit another home run. 79% rostered. So it might be out there in some 10 team leagues. Last 30 games for McCutcheon, 295 batting average, seven homers, 25 RBI. Michael Conforto, just three for 38 since coming off of the IL. Would you rather, McCutcheon or Conforto? I still think I would have to go Conforto. I still think he's a good by-low candidate.

And I think the underlying numbers, while they're not quite as good as they were last season, they're still much better than what he's done. And actually, that is true of McCutcheon as well. His underlying numbers, you know, especially, you know, ex-Wobus 366, Wobus 3-366. Wobas 344. The problem is he

really isn't very good against Ritey's anymore. He has been much better. Scott has pointed this out. I don't know how to look at splits within months, but he figured out a way to do it. And since June, where McCutcheon has really taken off,

he's also been much better against right-handed pitching. I think it's like a near 900 OPS since the start of June. That would be worthwhile if he could keep doing that. And, you know, like his babb up against Rides

is really low for the season, but it's still 670 OPS, still like a 160 slug. So it's like a very OBP heavy success against Ritey's at least, you know, when he has had it overall. So I would still go with Conforto, but I know that probably doesn't feel well, feel good right now, knowing how much Conforto struggled. Yeah, I like buying Conforto on the super cheap. I think you can get him for next to nothing right now and just stash him on your bench until he figures it out. I believe Conforto is in a contract year two.

I can't imagine he's going to continue to be this bad. He's too talented to be this bad, Michael Conforto. But I would take McCutcheon over him right now. The way that Cutch is playing, the home run that he hit in this game was off of a right-handed pitcher, Alec Mill. So, all right, does it even count? But anyway, I would take McCutcheon the way that he's playing. He's red-hot.

Last 30 games, what I mentioned, that 150 game pace, 35 homers, 125 RBI, 15 steals. The guy is just on fire. Jonathan India or Jeff McNeil. Let's stick with the Mets here. Jeff McNeil has multiple hits in three of his last five games. He's coming around a little bit. 79% rostered. So some people have been dropping him.

Jonathan India, another great game. Three for four, walk, double, 2 RBI, 76% rostered. Chris, would you rather India or McNeil? Man, I would still rather have McNeil, but it's getting really close. India, the fact that he steals a decent, out does help him in that regard. Like he could be a 15th steel guy this season,

whereas, you know, McNeil, you're, it's a batting average play. But I think that skill is stronger than anything that Jonathan India has shown, you know, the underlying statistics. Don't quite back up what India has done as far as his batting average so far. And so, you know, if he was hitting more like 250,

like his XBA suggests, then you're looking at a sort of, sort of middling all around profile, whereas at least McNeil does have still that, that standout skill. I do like the OBP for Jonathan India. He walks quite a bit, leading off for a solid lineup with the Cincinnati Reds. He's got a lot of run producers behind him in that lineup. Could run a little bit. I think it's close. Basically, you're banking on Jeff McNeil going on this super hot stretch like he always does in the second half of seasons. He's a very slow starter. Obviously, it has come back from the IL recently. It is close. I think I would lean with Jonathan.

India, but it is very close. Another one... Yeah, I think that makes sense. With Jeff McNeil, a lot like Conforto, if you can buy him on the super cheap, some people are dropping him, it's something I would look into doing. This is actually a question that I got asked on Twitter today, and I thought it was interesting. Brendan Rogers or Willie Adomis

in Dynasty, with a caveat there. So Willie Adomis went one for four with his 14th home run, and if we update those numbers since joining the Brewers, that's 44 games, 289 batting average, nine homers, 30 RBI, that is a 30 home run pace over 150 games for Willie Adomas.

Still 67% rostered if you need a shortstop in shallower leagues. We were talking up Brendan Rogers a ton yesterday, Chris. If you play in Dynasty, would you rather Rogers or Adomas? Rogers is younger than Willie Adamas, but it's not like a dramatic difference, right? Rogers is 24, Adomis is 25. I think it's, I certainly find it pretty surprising that Willie Adamas is only 25.

He'll turn 26 and a couple of. a month. I think I would still go Rogers, but Adamas has certainly made it closer, and I really do buy what he's doing. I think, you know, looking ahead, I think he could be a top 12 shortstop, you know, for dynasty purposes. I really do think that. I'll give Rogers the edge because, one, I don't think we've seen the impact of course field on his numbers yet. You know, you look at his expected numbers. they actually mostly mesh with what he's done, which usually you would expect to see much, much better numbers at course field than their expected numbers.

So, yeah, 736 OPS at home. I think that's probably going to be more like 900 moving forward. So I'll go with Rogers, but it's much closer than I would have thought of. All right, let's quickly hit two more of these. Would you rather is the first one I have a pair of Marlins, Hesu Sanchez or Garrett Cooper, in a five outfielder league. They both had solid games.

Actually, pretty good games on Wednesday. Garrett Cooper 3 for 3 with a double dung and Hazu Sanchez went 2 for 4 with his third home run of the season. 434 feet, was that home run for him? They are both available in over 60% of CBS leagues, Chris. So Sanchez or Cooper in a 5 outfielder league? I think it's got to be Sanchez. Just a much more exciting skill set,

a much more interesting profile. And just like, he is so talented. We're so, so physically gifted. I don't know what the right way to put it is, because he's one of those guys who doesn't quite put it all into action in games.

But man, when he gets a hold of one, he crushes it. He's got a lightning quick bat. And so I just think Cooper in a five outfield, 12 team league, it's like you're hoping you can get a couple good weeks out of him before you have to find someone

else, whereas Sanchez, if he figures it out, could be really good. Yeah, if he finds that level of consistency, because you're right, Chris, you see it. And just watching him play, I watch him a lot. I've mentioned this before. I have him in Scott White's Dynasty League. So I'm obviously rooting for Hazu Sanchez. I watch a lot of his at-bats. The kid has swag.

He has confidence at the plate, which is really interesting for a young player who got demoted last year, who was, like, absolutely awful, right? So when he connects, he still hits a lot of ground balls, when he comes. connects. The ball can go a long way. Strikes out quite a bit. I want to see him walk more, but definitely an interesting profile there for Hazer Sanchez. Last one here, if you're in a deeper league and you need a middle infielder, Elvis Andrus, his last 32 games, kind of under the radar here. 278 batting average, two homers, five steals. He has a 33% line drive rate during that stretch.

And then Jace Peterson, who hit a home run off of Jacob de Grum on Wednesday. His last 15 games, Jase Peterson, 410 batting average, two homers. to steals. Deeper leagues, Elvis Andrus, or Jace Peterson? I think it's probably got to be Andrus,

which is, it's been a long time since somebody said that. Neither of them has a ton of potential, but Andres, I think, is a better bet for stolen bases,

at least. All right. We had a bunch of dingers on Wednesday. Let's just quickly go over some of these. Joey Gallo, man.

Oh my gosh. Double dong. He hit 900 plus feet worth of home. in this game. He now has 23 home runs total, 10 home runs over his last 10 games. How many swings at a batting cage?

I'm not even talking off a major league pitcher. Just someone tossing. Like, we go out to City Field next week. I'm just tossing you a BP. How many swings do you think you need to get 900 feet worth of batted balls? At least 10. I'm thinking that, yeah,

because there's going to be some that you just just want you miss at. Oh yeah. Yeah, there's going to be some that you just foul off. Yeah. Joey Gallo, better at hitting baseballs than Frank Stample.

Yeah, who would have thought, man? It's crazy. Ronald McCune went three for five with his 24th home run. Boba Chet, three for five with his 16th home run of the season. Batting average,

now up to 295 for Boba Shett. His last 32 games since the start of June, a 346 batting average for Boba Chet during that stretch. Juan Soto was a home run in back-to-back games. He's now up to 11. He had a three-run shot off of Chris Paddock.

Seems like anyone can do that nowadays. Aaron Judge hit his 20th home run, which we played for you earlier. Poor John Sterling. His last 15 games for Judge, 3-10 batting average with five homers. So he is heating back up. Matt Olson hit his 21st. Jose Al-Tuva hit his 19th. Kyle Tucker hit his 14th.

Fran Mill Reyes hit his 13th. Lastly, two players that are bouncing back. Justin Turner hit his 14th home run. He's batting 396 over his. his last 15 games. Jesus Aguilar went two for four with a double and his 14th home run of the season. Nice to see Jesus Aguilar. Walkoff.

Yeah. Three run walkoff, Dinga for Jesus Aguilar. There was a bunch of other stuff here, some leftovers, anything else that is imperative to get to. Michael Waka was really good. Six innings, one run, six strikeouts, 17 swinging strikes. So he's not a must add.

Maybe if you're playing a deeper league, you want to take a shot on him. but throw him on the scout team. Let's see what happens with Michael Waka. Anything else? Lanselin, great again, six innings, one runs, six strikeouts. Luisa Rias hit two home runs across the double header. He's only 48% rostered. One of those came off of Jacob de Grom.

We've talked a lot about the Brewers guys recently, so he's still floating around there in a ton of leagues. Luis Rias. Yeah, that was off like a 99 mile per hour elevated fastball, too. That was an impressive swing. For sure. Zach Wheeler had a pretty rough start against the Cubs, five and two thirds, eight hits, seven runs.

Four of those were earned. The dreaded Philly's defense behind him continued to let him down. He allowed four hard hit balls in this game, and he had a 400 babup against. Not worried, not worried at all. You sometimes just run into one like that. Like, that just happens.

The call to the pen, some bullpen updates for the Reds. Heath Hembray got his fourth save of the season. I mentioned yesterday I don't want to mess with the Cincinnati Reds bullpen, but if you do, Heath Hembray, I guess. For the Tigers, Gregory Soto pitched two innings for his seventh save.

Jose Cisnero was used in the seventh inning. For the Royals, the last two saves have gone to Scott Barlow, spoke about that over the weekend, starting to gain some confidence in him. Then he's used in the seventh inning

on Wednesday with a two-run lead. He promptly allows three runs to score. So there you go. Ken City Royals, it's been a mess all season. A lot like the Cincinnati Reds. For the Brewers,

Josh Hader had his first blown save of the season. He allowed a solo shot to Jose Parraza. Ryssali Glacius got his 18 save for the Marlins. Yemi Garcia was used in three of the last four days. So Anthony Bender, who's been really, really good this season. If Garcia continues to struggle or if he's traded away, whatever, I think Bender probably gets a shot to be the closer for the Marlins.

He gave up a game tying home run to Zach McIntry, so do with that, what you will. And then for the Astros, Ryan Presley got his 16th save. And I just saw in the Giants game, Jake McGee got his set. 17th save of the season. Tyler Rogers was used in the 8th. Hold on a second.

The Yankees game just went final, Chris. They won in a one-run game. Who do you think got the save for the Yankees? I haven't pulled up the box score yet. Who do you think it was? Was it Chapman? I'm going to say it was Chapman. No.

I don't think it was. It was Chad Green. Chad Green for the New York Yankees. A roll his Chapman. Domingo Raman pitched in the bullpen today. Yeah, so he had the procedure done, the root canal. I was watching the game, obviously. And then, so he arrived late to the stadium after getting root canal,

and then he came in in relief, which is like, why would you pitch the same day that you have a root canal? Like, I don't know, just take a couple of days off, man, figure it out. So he tried to tough it out, but whatever. Yeah, he pitched in relief. No, Aroldus Chapman in this game, given all of his struggles recently. I think it's a 15 ERA since the start of June.

Not used at all. in this game. Chad Green picks up his third save of the season. Someone you probably should look into adding if you play in Categories leagues. Chris, what do you think about handcuffing or oldest Chapman with Chad Green? I think it's worth, you know, taking a flyer on Chad Green. He's a very good reliever. And, you know, I don't expect the Yankees to move away from Earl's Chapman if he can figure it out. I think their strong preference would be to keep him there. But, you know, if he can't figure it out,

then it's not really going to come down to choice. So, you know, Chad Green certainly got an opportunity. Chad Green is 22% rostered on CBS right now. To stream or not to stream for Thursday, J.T. Brewbaker at the Mets, Adbert Alislau versus the Phillies, Adrian Hauser versus the Reds, Jhab versus the Tigers, Chi Chi Gonzalez at the Diamondbacks,

and Jake Ferrea, former Tampa Bay Ray. That's right, he's back. Versus the Rockies. You only have to choose one, Chris, because they're bad. Al-Slai. He's the only one. I think Scott said J.T. Brewbaker yesterday. Yeah, I could see Brubaker,

but Al-Zalai is the only one I would have any confidence in. All right, so between Scott and Chris, you get two. Brubaker and Albert O'S-Lai. For Friday, Alex Cobbman, what a guy. He's at the Seattle Mariners, Jordan Lyles versus the A's. Cole Irvin at the Rangers, Zach Thompson versus the Braves.

Shane McClanahan. How is he still under 70% rostered? I don't understand. He's going up against the Blue Jays and Brad Keller at Cleveland. I mean, you don't love the matchup against the Blue Jays. And I wouldn't blame people if they didn't want to stream McClanahan. No, no, just add him. Pick him up anyway.

Don't start him in the start against the Blue Jays. Yes. Thompson, kind of the same thing, not nearly to the same level. But, you know, I'd be a little wary of starting him against the Braves. But given what he's shown, you know, if you do need a starting pitcher, for Friday. You know, I like him, and then, yeah, Alex Cobb against the Mariners.

Must start. Superstar. I like Cole Irvin at Texas. You know, Chris, the last time you did this with one of these streamers, it was John Gant, and we all saw how that ended. So I'll just throw it out there. Alex Cobb's going to be great. All right, I hope so.

Some Apple podcast review questions. We do appreciate everyone who leaves a five-star review on Apple. You drop a question in a review. We will answer it on a future podcast. This one is from T. Mar. In a points league, I have had the Yerminator. This must have been a while ago. I'm sorry, buddy.

You're me Mercedes as my catcher. Who do you prefer to replace him with? Omar Narvaez. Omar Narvias. Okay. Just keep going. Yeah, yeah. Just Omar Narvias.

Nevias ahead of McCann, Zanino, and Tyler Stevenson. This next one's from Zopilo. Grade the Trade. Received Shane Bieber, traded away Chris Bassett and Giovanni Gallegos. Am I missing something? Well, we don't, we still don't have a timetable for Shane. Yeah, but, you know, like Bassett's fine.

I think he's pretty good. But yeah, you take the chance that Bieber fit, you know, gets healthy and pitches like himself because Bassett can be a good pitcher, but Shane Bieber can be the kind of guy who leads you to a championship if you can get him for that cheap. All right. So take that advice, something you should be looking into doing in your leagues. Some emails, fantasy baseball at CBS.

i.com. That's the letter I from Zachary was hoping you could grade the trade for me in this keeper league. Chris, this is a loaded trade. So get ready. Eloy Jimenez, Kyle Tucker, and Lucas G. Alito for Corbin Burns, Carlos Rodon, Alex Bregman. I think it's like a C-minus. I don't love it for your side. Just because as much as I do like Burns and Rodon in redraft, I mean, Burns is a top six pitcher for me. Rodon is a top 20. And Breggman's awesome. You're talking about two pitchers who have had, you know, Corbyn Burns has had about 120 really good innings and Rodon's had about 80 right now. So not a lot of track record there. Whereas you're giving up what I think is a better pitcher long term and two young stud hitters. So I don't love it. In a,

Dynasty, I would always, Dynasty or Keeper League, I would always rather be the team getting two young stud hitters rather than two young stud pitchers. Yeah,

I think this is close to a fair trade. It's fair. Yeah, I think G. Alito versus Burns is actually really close in a Keeper League,

I think, moving forward. But yeah, for the reason you may, I think I would probably prefer to have kept that side. So C,

maybe C minus. I think you're, I think you're right on there, Chris. From Justin, Michael Conforto was just dropped in my league. Would you drop Alex Kirolov, J.T. Brubaker, or Nick Povetta, or leave him on free agency. I have a really good pitching staff

but need outfielders. I'd be fine dropping any of the three, but my preference would probably be to drop Brewbaker. I'm all right dropping him or Povetta. Yeah, either one. But, yeah, I mean, you're going to get more wins with Povetta, so yeah, yeah, drop

J.C. Brubaker. Last question here. This one's from Patrick. Was wanting to see what you guys think long-term. The long-term value of Trevor Rogers is in a keeper or dynasty league. So with a potential endings limit starting sooner rather than later, wanting to see what that outlook is. Should we look to trade him soon if you are a contender, or is he a long-term building block?

So this is interesting because we talk about it a lot from redraft, where Rogers and Rodon, maybe Julio Arias, Freddie Peralta, these are all names that we keep bringing up that might have an ending's limit at some point. But this is asking about a keeper or dynasty league, Chris. So it's a little bit tougher. If you are playing for this year,

would you look into trying to maximize Trevor Rogers' value? However, he could be a building block for years to come in that format, in a keeper or dynasty league. We don't have to play hypotheticals with that one. I have created Trevor Rogers. To me!

A caper league, and you have acquired Trevor Rogers in a keeper league. And look, he's a young pitcher who's never shown he can pitch at this level for a full season. And so, you know, I have questions about how the velocity holds up because, you know, he's been clearly much better since he had that velocity spike at the start of this season. Does that hold up? I don't know yet. I hope so.

I'd like to think it will. He's top 10, I believe, in ERA and FIPP this season. He's been really good. But as far as Dynasty, I'd like to. like I think he's a sell high candidate because he's a pitcher and he's a young pitcher and he's a young pitcher who's never done it for a full season. And even in the minors, I don't know if he's ever thrown more than like 140 innings, I want to say it's his career high. Yeah, 136.

So like, I have real questions about what the long term is going to look like for Trevor, or Trevor Rogers. And I mean, just as general rule, there is no long term for young pitchers, you know? Like, you can't think, like, you can't look at Trevor Rogers and say, I feel confident that I'm going to get something from him in 2024. You just can't. There's too much that can go wrong. You hope he does it, but right now, I think he's a sell high candidate as much as I do like him. Look, he's awesome.

There's no doubt about that. He's allowed three runs or less than every start this season for Trevor Rogers. And I think if you are competing this season, much like Chris is in the Scott White Dynasty League, where he traded him to me. You should look to sell high. Try to get a nice return for him. And I gave Chris Jose Berrios and Lourdes Guerriel, like, especially in a 24-team league,

that's a pretty damn good return. I think I also gave you Drew Smiley, but it's just super hard to find pitching in that league. And, you know, there are salary cap values in play here as well. But, like, yeah, if you can turn Trevor Rogers into another time. top 25 starting pitcher like Jose Burrios, who you don't have concerns about with the innings rest of season,

and a top 35-ish outfielder, then I think that that's a pretty good return. Maybe you can even try for a little bit higher than that. But yeah, especially given his age and what he's done this season, I think you should ask for a good amount in return for Trevor Rogers. We're going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.