Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Must-Add Waiver Wire Options! AJ Smith-Shawver or Gunnar Hoglund? (5/6 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Let's take a look at some of the most added players on CBS. Up next on Fantasy Baseball today, Express. The Express on Tuesday, May 6th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White, taking a look at the most added hitters on CBS from this weekend. The top two, Kyle Stowers and Andy Pahas. They're right around 75% rostered at this point, Scott. Who do you like more between the two, Stowers or Pahas?

Starting point is 00:00:26 I like Pahas a little bit more, just a little bit more. Mostly because the lineup context is better. And I mean, I guess that's really the main thing. It's kind of the Marlins lineup has been okay. It's kind of been middle of the pack so far. But I don't think it's going to stay there with the Dodgers, obviously, are the Dodgers. So there are reasons for skepticism with both, I would say, in terms of actual performance. But Pahas, I think, is just going to be bolstered by the lineup that month.

Starting point is 00:01:01 All right, the Orioles promoted one of their top prospects, Kobe Mayo this weekend. Scott, did you have any interest in adding Kobe Mayo? In the right context as a lark, you know, as just, I'm going to take a flyer on this guy and see if that pedigree, those minor league numbers, break through in this second stint in the majors. But it's not clear how much he's going to play. It's not clear if he's going to be consumed by strikeouts, this happened when we saw him last year. So I wouldn't be giving up anything of real value to pick up Kobe Mayo. All right.

Starting point is 00:01:42 What about Javier Baez? We've got this a little bit of renaissance going on right now. Him and J.P. Crawford, among the most added short stops. Who do you like more between the two, Baez or J.P. Crawford? You know, I like Crawford more. Baez you know the exit velocities

Starting point is 00:02:02 are still pretty weak and there's not much there for him otherwise he is really bad at getting on base and it's not like he's much of a base dealer anymore so he

Starting point is 00:02:14 if he's not hitting the ball hard enough that I feel confident in the power production I don't see a lot to get excited about there with Javier Baez J.P. Crawford on the other hand

Starting point is 00:02:25 He was really useful in fantasy two years ago. He hit a career high 19 home runs. It never hit even double digits before. And he was especially good in the second half. Great on-base guy. Really good walk rate. That's always been true for Crawford. But really, it was that power that took him to another level two years ago.

Starting point is 00:02:42 So what happened last year? Well, it seems like his mechanics got out of whack. What led to that breakthrough in 2023 was he worked with Drive Line on improving his swing. did better at pulling the ball and it helped his power play up. He figured out this spring that he had gotten away from driving with his legs from incorporating those into his swing properly.

Starting point is 00:03:13 And he feel like everything clicked back in place for him and he was going to do what he did in 2023 again. And so far, so good. So far he's living up to that because he has that recent history of success, because he has that explanation, because shortstop is so weak in terms of players available on the Waverwire. I think Crawford's worth a look.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Just about everywhere. All right. And then some names in five outfielder leagues. Ryan O'Hern, Max Kepler. We learned that Evan Carter is returning to the Rangers and Miguel Vargas, who's kind of heated up over the past couple weeks, Scott. So in some of those five outfieler leagues, how would you rank those four? O'Hern, Kepler, Evan Carter, Miguel Vargas.

Starting point is 00:03:51 I'd go Kepler 1 and then O'Hern 2 he does he's been doing great but he's obviously going to keep sitting against lefties so that's a drawback for him and then what were the other two again? I'm sorry. Evan Carter and Miguel Vargas.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Yeah, I'd probably take the flyer on Evan Carter. Again, it's a lark just like Kobe Mayo. He wasn't doing anything to convince me that he's past the back troubles, or at least the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, triple A wasn't hitting the ball especially hard. The production was lagging, too. But he has a former top prospect. He's still very young. And the Rangers thought he deserved a promotion. So, um, it's speculative. But if you have the room to speculate, I think Carter would, would be more interesting than Miguel Vardis. All right. All right. Let's take a break. And we'll be back right after this.

Starting point is 00:04:50 Welcome back in FBT Express. Let's slide over to the most added pitchers now. Tony Gonslin and Lucas Chelito, most added on CBS, but they're gone already. You can't add those guys anymore. Gunner Hoagland had a strong debut this past weekend, and then A.J. Smith-Schawvert here on Monday, Scott, had a great start. Eight innings, just one hit allowed, five strikeouts, four walks, obviously a little bit high there. But who do you like more between Gunner Hoagland and Smith Schaver? They both seem, you know, widely available right now.

Starting point is 00:05:19 Yeah, and it's close enough that one start could change things. You know, if Houghlin goes out and strikes at 11 next time, okay, it's probably Hougland. But Smith Schaver has had three pretty good starts in a row. Each one has been his best start of the season to that point. Obviously, this one against the Reds. He took a no-hitter into the eighth, so he was really doing well. He wasn't missing bats at a great rate, and the walks were high.

Starting point is 00:05:47 he had four of them, I believe it was, in those eight innings. But if you look at his season-long swing straight rate, it entered the start at 13%. It was pretty good. The splitter that Smith Schaver has really emphasized this year is, is a great pitch, genuinely. And I think part of the reason why he didn't have as many whiffs in this near no-hitter is because he was throwing the fastball more close to 60% of the time.

Starting point is 00:06:12 I don't know that that should be the plan going forward for Smith-Shaver. I don't think it's clear enough that he's breaking out that you absolutely have to add him. But there's a little more to go on for Smith Schafer, and I think the raw skills are a little bit better than for Hoagland, who don't get me wrong, he looked good in his debut, 20 inches of induced vertical break on his fastball, which he doesn't throw very hard,

Starting point is 00:06:39 but you can understand why he got so many whiffs with it in his debut. But at AAA, he only had a 10% swinging strike rate, which is not very good. So good debut for Hoagland, but I think, based on what he's shown us in the miners, it's going to, I need more convincing that it's going to be a longstanding thing for him. If you are looking for saves, Scott, the names that have popped up recently on the wire, Shelby Miller and Kevin Ginkle from the debacks, and then Zach Agnos from the Rockies. How would you rank those three if you're just in need of saves right now? Shelby Miller, Zach Agnos, and then Kevin Ginkl.

Starting point is 00:07:19 Who may overtake Shelby Miller? Shelby Miller appears to have the leg up for saves with Justin Martinez sidelined. But he definitely had a bad outing last time. It's just that Ginkl hasn't looked particularly strong either. And I'm not sure there's enough time, frankly, because Justin Martinez, he's already scheduled to start throwing again before the end of this week. It doesn't seem like a particularly serious injury that landed him on the IL. And he may be back too soon for anyone, Miller or Ginkled, to gain a foothold.

Starting point is 00:07:54 The reason I put Miller ahead of Agnos, though, is because, well, Agnos is a closer for arguably the worst team at baseball. And it is not even clear that he is the closer. And it's not clear that he's capable of busy bats at the major league level. So there's just that one feels like bottom of. the barrel for save, scraping the bottom of the barrel for saves, desperation play. All right. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-length podcast, Fantasy

Starting point is 00:08:21 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 tomorrow. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Must-Add Waiver Wire Options! AJ Smith-Shawver or Gunnar Hoglund? (5/6 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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