Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Emmanuel Clase Replacements & Interesting Corner-Infield Options! (7/29 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Emmanuel Clause is out for the foreseeable future. Let's discuss on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome in to FBT Express on Tuesday, July 29th. I am Frankstamble joined by Scott White. There has been no shortage of huge headlines lately. Over the weekend, we lost Aaron Judge to a forearm injury. Now, a manual clause A placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB's sports betting investigation. It sounds like he will be on that leave at least through August 31st,

Starting point is 00:00:33 and he's the second Guardians pitcher to be investigated for gambling. Remember, the same thing happened for his teammate Luis Ortiz about a month ago. So obviously, terrible news because, you know, Claisse, one of the top three, top five best closers in fantasy here. Scott, it does look like we do have a pretty obvious replacement. Kate Smith, does he become a must-ad player in fantasy baseball? Yeah, I would say for the most part, I think he's going to be really good in the role, 13K per 9. Now, he did have a rough outing, replacing filling in for Class A on Monday for a safe chance didn't go so well.

Starting point is 00:01:11 But we saw him fill in for Class A earlier in the year when he was, when Class A was struggling. And he did fine. He's been a great reliever for a couple years now. And I think Cade Smith, maybe in some shallower points leagues, you just don't get around to adding him. because there are other quality relievers who just never get picked up either. There's just more than enough to go around. But any league where saves are at all scarce, Kate Smith, I would say is a must. The other side of the coin is do we drop a manual class A?

Starting point is 00:01:45 I have no idea how this is going to play out. I mean, we know he's not going to be available through August. Maybe he'll be available all of September back in his normal role. I guess it kind of depends what the investigation. Gaysian turns up, right? So, can't stash them in an IL spot. I know Yahoo has something called an N-A spot

Starting point is 00:02:07 where maybe you can stash him in that and that wouldn't be a bad idea. But you're just going to have to make the judgment, like how harder saves to get in this league? How much can I afford to forfeit this? How long can I afford to forfeit a bench spot? Play shorthanded, basically. And whether or not the potential upside for September is worth it to you.

Starting point is 00:02:33 I can't answer that for you. You can only answer it for yourself. A couple other replacements here, potential replacements for Emmanuel Class A in shallower leagues, maybe some hedge-to-head points formats, someone like Camila Duval, Kenley Jansson, Adrian Houser, who is a SPARP, he does have that RP eligibility. If you're looking for other saves options on the wire, Robert Garcia with the Rangers, Matt Strom with the Phillies, The Dodgers options are available.

Starting point is 00:03:00 Blake Trinen, Alex Vessia, Sir Anthony Dominges, looks like he's stepping into the closer role for the Orioles as well. And I'm sure other names will become available over the next couple days with the trade deadline looming, Scott. Were there any names there that stood out to you as potential saves options in lieu of Clossey? I mean, obviously, the options you mentioned there, the Sir Anthony Dominguez types, like,

Starting point is 00:03:26 that's where Cade Smith is. is clearly preferable to those. Yeah. I did say on the full-length podcast that maybe if you were asking me to bet on which of these guys would get the most saves rest of the season, Robert Garcia, even though I'm not excited about him,

Starting point is 00:03:44 but now that the Rangers are back in the playoff hunt, they're very hot lately, there's a good chance they acquire somebody to overtake Robert Garcia for the ninth inning role. So, yeah, I mean, it's pretty slim here. Blake Trinit is interesting. Maybe it could be him. But not excited with this group.

Starting point is 00:04:07 Yeah. And it's just very weird timing too because, again, with the trade deadline on Thursday, there's so many relievers that are going to change teams in the next couple days. And my guess is likely, you know, big name relievers too. Maybe guys like Ryan Helsley and David Bednar. And so we have to wait for kind of all the dust to settle here to find more saves options. but I'm sure a couple names are going to pop up over the next couple days. Cade Smith, obviously, the top of the list if you are looking for an manual class A replacement.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Let's take a quick break, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in FBT Express. Let's take a look at some other most added players here on CBS from the weekend, Scott. And we do have some somewhat interesting corner infielders that have popped up recently. Matt Shaw with the Cubs. Josh Young is hitting well with the Rangers since returning. Colson Montgomery, making some noise with the White Sox. Kobe Mayo, same thing, hopefully getting some playing time here down the stretch.

Starting point is 00:05:03 And Andrew Vaughn has been tearing the cover off the ball for the Brewer. So five different names here, Scott. How are you ranking those interesting corner infielders? Matt Shaw, Josh Young, Montgomery, Mayo, and Andrew Vaughn. Well, I am interested in all five. I see a group of three here that I could actually potentially pick up at this point. and that's Matt Shaw, Josh Young, and Colson Montgomery in that order. Shaw still has an issue with not making enough hard contact,

Starting point is 00:05:38 but during this recent run where he's hit four home runs, average ice velocity, 88 miles per hour. That's nothing impressive, but it's an improvement for him. He's been down at 84 most of the year, and you could actually see it working for Shaw, though there's a chance the Cubs acquire somebody like Ehio Henio Suarez, and then Shaw's just out of luck. But still, I find it to be the most interesting.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Josh Young, it's a small sample, but since returning from the minors, he seems more like himself. I don't think there's huge upside there, like must start in all formats type of upside, but he's a guy who's been useful in the past in fantasy. So Josh Young, number two. And then Colson Montgomery's just really surprised me

Starting point is 00:06:21 with how quickly he's taken to the majors, because he does have a top prospect pedigree, had been a fixture near the top of the prospect rankings in recent years, but got to AAA last year, and it was just a disaster. It was even worse this year, so many strikeouts. And so how a guy goes from not mastering AAA to suddenly thriving in the majors at a time when the difficulty curve seems so high. We've seen high-end hitting prospects who are killing it in the minors come up

Starting point is 00:06:54 and struggle for months. So it's crazy what Colson Montgomery's been doing. I don't fully trust it, but the pedigree makes me open to the possibility. He's just figured it out. And then there's Mayo and Vaughon who haven't quite reached the same level of success. But Mayo in particular, I mean, he's a former top prospect himself, one of those who has huge numbers of AAA and hasn't figured out how to do it in the majors yet. But the last 22 games, 300 batting average, three homers, six doubles at a 14.9% strikeout rate.

Starting point is 00:07:31 If Mayo gets the strikeouts under control, then he may really be on to something. Vaughns look great since joining the Brewers. And, you know, he's been around a while, but never really lived up to his potential with the White Sox. It's possible the Brewers who were quick to acquire him, saw a fix there and fixed them. It's a leap to just conclude that at this point, which is why I don't think Vaughn's quite in the roster ball range, but I'm definitely monitoring his progress with Milwaukee. All right.

Starting point is 00:08:06 For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-lane podcast, Fantasy Baseball Today, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again on Thursday. Bye-bye. Sound podcasts. Thank you.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Emmanuel Clase Replacements & Interesting Corner-Infield Options! (7/29 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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