Fantasy Baseball Today - Framber Valdez BREAKOUT! Would You Rather...? (6/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 3, 2021

Now THIS is the Framber Valdez we were drafting before he got hurt (1:52)! What happened to The Mountain Alek Manoah? ... News and notes (14:03)! Stephen Strasburg went to the IL, Mad Bum left his start, Mitch Garver had groin surgery and more. ... Prospect updates (17:35)! What is Wander Franco up to? Roansy Contreras keeps dominating. ... Let's play 'Would You Rather' (20:17). Francisco Lindor or Marcus Semien? Walker Buehler or Zack Wheeler? Tyler Mahle or Sean Manaea? ... How do we rank Dom Smith, Ryan Mountcastle, and Pavin Smith (42:07)? ... We had some interesting starting pitcher performances on Wednesday, starting with Nick Pivetta (44:08). ... We wrap up with Wednesday's leftovers, bullpen updates, streamers, and your questions (49:38). ... 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.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer 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. Centerfield 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.

What is up, everybody, and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, June 3rd. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Chris Towers with a loaded show. you today. Chris's week 10 trade chart is out so I made a bunch of would you rather for similarly ranked players that we will talk about. Some interesting pitching performances from Wednesday. Metz

hitters slowly but surely coming back to life. We'll answer some of your email questions and speaking of questions I have a burning question for Chris that I will save for the end of the podcast. It has absolutely nothing to do.

I know what the question is and the answer is it's Larry Johnson's fault. No, Chris, that has nothing to do with what I was going to ask you. Sure, it does. How's life, Chris? You are a busy man, as always, but you're balancing football and baseball right now. This is a busy time for you. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's still kind of quiet in the football world. We got another like month and a half that I can sneak in some vacation time. That's good. I like to hear that. Let's have baseball dominate your life for at least another month here, Chris. Well, like I said, I'm going to take a little vacation. my my niece coming into town the week after next. So, you know, taking the whole week off.

But, you know, it's, it's all right, man. Football is easy. You got to know, like, 12 players, you know. I feel like that's not true, but let's talk about some baseball. Oh, my goodness gracious. All right. So let's take a look at some of Wednesday's biggest standouts here. Chris, where would you like to start?

Let's start with Frambervaldaz, who had an exceptional start against Boston in his second start back from the IL. He had 10 strikeouts in seven innings. I believe he allowed one earned run on five hits, two walks. Pretty good. Pretty good start for Frambervaldez, not someone that, you know, even last season necessarily, we expected big strikeout numbers from.

But, you know, through his first two starts, now he's got 14 through 11 innings. That's pretty good. Good. Yeah, it was a fantastic showing from Framber Valdez, and I was surprised to see that they let him go this deep in only his second start where in the first one, he threw around 70, 75 pitches. This one, they just let him go against the Boston Red Sox, too. Seven innings, one run, 10 strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes on 102 pitches. Nine of those came on his curve ball, which is his best pitch. He has a 78% ground ball rate through two starts. And that's, what makes for Amber Valdez so enticing is the fact that he can average around a strikeout per inning. He has a really, really good ground ball rate. And if the control does not get out of whack, you know, he can be, I think somewhere between like two and a half and three walks per nine. I think if he does that, he's going to be really, really serviceable for fantasy purposes, which we saw

exactly last year. So the next question here, Chris, is how far is Valdez moving up your rankings? because before he got hurt, he was inside, I think Scott and my top 30 starting pitchers. I don't know if your rankings were available yet, but we were very bullish on him. And I think after this start, he kind of has to push back towards that level. I don't think I would put him that high,

but in just eyeballing it, I think 35 makes sense. So right, I'm updating as we speak, because there were a couple of things that I needed to change there as well. But right between Shohei Otani and Max Fried, I think Max Fried is actually a pretty reasonable comp for him. They're both guys who you expect to have really good results on balls and play.

Not elite strikeout pitchers, but should be good enough. Yeah, I think that's where I land with Valdez. That is, I think, a really good come. I think Max Fried versus Framber Valdez. Valdez is going to be more efficient. you're welcome Chris. He's going to be more efficient and he's going to go deeper into his starts just because that's what he did last year and Dusty Baker

seems to let his pitchers do that. Sometimes Max Fried is not the most efficient starting pitcher. I think I'm going to move him well I can move him ahead of Blake's now and Castillo and Dylan Bundy no problem there. Move him ahead of Steven Schrosberg who's back on the IL, we'll talk about that. I think right around the Kyle Hendrix Sunny Gray range like 31 through 33

that's probably where I'm going to settle here. for Framber Valdez. I think that's a good spot for him. And we actually received a question on Twitter right before we started came from Roger Williams. And he said, would you rather Framber Valdez or Ian Anderson rest of the season? I know you're a big Ian Anderson fan, Chris. Ian Anderson on the season, 3.27 ERA, 1.25 whip over a strikeout earning 9.7K per 9. Chris, who would you rather have? Framber Valdez or Ian Anderson? I haven't really seen any reason to have moved Ian Anderson. below for Ambraldez, which, you know, I had Anderson quite a bit higher than him coming into the season. So I'll stick with that, you know, Anderson started off, you know, he's never going to be, he's not going to be someone who goes super deep into games at this point in his career.

But, you know, he did go three straight with at least six innings before his most recent start. So, you know, I think he's about average, maybe a little above in terms of how deep you can. can expect him to throw and I just think he's really good I think he's a better pitcher than Valdez but you know it's a it's a promising start so far the one thing with Valdez he's gotten hit pretty hard early on which is a little uncharacteristic yet let's see six batted balls hit over 95 miles per hour on trying to do some quick math in my head that's 21 11 yeah so he had about a 40% hard hit rate tonight

Um, there's just something to keep an eye. And he has not allowed a fly ball yet according to, uh, baseball savant's definition of a fly ball. He's, you know, last, last season, it was 9.4% fly ball rate. Um, he does give up generally a lot of line drives, I guess, but, you know, he's pretty good. I, I don't think there's a path for him to be like a super ace, but, um, I think for Ambervaldez is quite good. Chris, it doesn't matter how hard you're allowing contact when it's all into the ground. That's why we have analytics departments, baby.

We have those shifts set up. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's given, I think it's a 70% pull rate as well so far this season. So, you know, with numbers like that, you can kind of see why he's had some pretty good results so far. Yep. I will take Ian Anderson as well ahead of Framber Valdez. I do think the control is a little bit worse for Ian Anderson. He has quality starts in five of his last seven starts.

as Ian Anderson does. And I just trust his arsenal a little bit more. Framber Valdez, very reliant, sinker, curveball, change up, not really a pitch he uses all that much. I think Ian Anderson's three pitch mix is a little bit better. So it's close, but I will take Ian Anderson myself as well. For me, oh my goodness gracious, the mountain. Or maybe he's not a mountain after all.

Alec Menoa up against those. Maybe you're making a mountain out of a molehill. That's right. I wish I had like a badump-ch sound effect. but I don't. Do I have something that can... No, no, nothing good enough there. But for Alec Manoa,

going up against your Marlins, rocking the Marlins jersey, Chris. Three and a third, four hits, four earned runs, three walks, five strikeouts. He got hit hard. He allowed a 96 mile per hour, average exit velocity against on Wednesday.

He gave up three home runs. One of them came against the Jazz Man. Man, that was... Jazz has some home. runs this season that just like almost don't make sense. I think he's got the two. I think he's going to be a star.

I think he's going to be a star. Yeah, he's giving me some like Javi Baez vibes. He's got the two home runs that were like at eye level, one of them 100 mile per hour fastball off Jacob de Grom. Today's was like a slider off the outside corner. It was actually a change up.

It was a change of. Oh, change up. Okay, that he poked over the, left field fence the opposite way. He's an interesting hitter. Yeah, but back to Minowa. What did you see in this start, Chris? I did notice that the three home runs he allowed all came off of his secondary pitches. Two of them came off of the change up. One came off of the slider. And I was watching that start and he got hit in the leg with a comebacker in the same inning that he allowed all of his home runs. So I don't know if that actually affected him. I'm not making excuses for the guy. But maybe it

did. It was just something I noticed. Yeah, I think the biggest thing. One, he got hit pretty hard. You know, 96 mile per hour, average eggs of velocity overall, six hard hit balls and only three and a third innings. And it was pretty much on all of his heart, on all of his pitches. The slider, he only, his average eggs of velocity was 87 on three balls in play, but everything else, it was a lot of loud contact that Alec Manoa gave up today. That's not necessarily, you know, that is the kind of thing that fluctuates a lot from start

to start and it's not necessarily worrisome because it wasn't necessarily an issue in his first start the strikeouts and swing strike rates have been very good. But one thing I did notice, he's throwing a lot of sliders right in the heart of the zone. If you look at his baseball savant page, they've got like a heat map for every pitch. And the slider, it's basically a little bit on that like outside corner to right-handed hitters and then right in the middle of the strike zone. Now, that could be because if you look at his fastball, he's also throwing most of his fastballs in the upper left corner. So inside up and into right-handed hitters, if you're doing that consistently, the, you know, middle to middle end slider isn't necessarily going to hurt you as bad. But,

um, you know, that there could be some location issues that he's dealing with early on that could lead to, you know, this kind of performance. But it's still two starts. The stuff still looks really good. There's, I think there's still a lot, a lot to be excited about here. We're holding on to Alec Manoa, right, Chris? Oh, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 90% rostered, so keep them on your team. I know it's not what we expected. We thought it was a really good match against the Marlins, but we got to remember he still is a rookie,

and these things are going to happen. Was his velocity down today? I did not check the... I have it up right here. Yeah, he averaged 93.2 with the four seamer last start. It was... I think it was 94.9?

94.9, yeah. So that is a little low. I do wonder. I wonder if that comeback hitting... him affected him at all. I'll have to read about it and I'll get back to everybody. But yeah, it was, he seemed to just shake it off really quickly, but maybe, maybe it was something. Definitely worth monitoring that fastball velocity for Alec Manoa. I was actually on the in this league podcast earlier on Wednesday with our buddy, the Welsh. And he had a player debate, Alec Manoa versus

Terrick Scouble. And I said Alec Manoa, but no, no, I'm still going to stick with Alec Manoa. but who would you rather have Chris? Manoa or Scoobel? I think there's a little bit of recency bias there. I would say this. If Tariq Scobel had never gotten called up and he was just getting called up this week, we'd probably be just as excited about him as we are about Alec Manoa.

And scubel's got a really deep repertoire. He throws a lot of pitches. He's got really good stuff. And lately especially, he's been starting to shrink together some really impressive starts. I like him more than Casey Mize at this point, for sure, his teammate, who's had better results so far this season. And I don't know.

I think that's really close. I wouldn't drop either for the other, but I would like both on my team. So that is my dodge. Yes, I agree with you. I would take scuba over Casey Mize as well. I will rank the Menoa Scuba Mize, but it is very close. An honorable mention to the Dodgers for the, oh my goodness, gracious players of the night as it had an 11 run first inning against Carlos Martinez

and the St. Louis Cardinals, the final line for Carlos Martinez. He recorded two outs, six hits, 10 runs, four walks. So, oh my, my God. Sorry there, Carlos Martinez. That is a, that is a tidy 134.93 ERA for the Stark. Ooy. Cody Bellinger had six of those in the first inning, which included a grand slam and a two-run single. So a welcome site for Cody Belanger, who is working his way back. Hey, FBT, listeners, you have probably seen it all over social media this week as Floyd Money Mayweather will be fighting viral star Logan Paul this Sunday on Showtime, and there is only one place to get all your coverage for this carnival boxing match.

The Morning Combat podcast, Brian Campbell and Luke Thomas will be on site in Miami all week to provide you with everything you need leading up to the, the fight, follow morning combat wherever you listen to podcasts to get all the preview content you need for this crazy event. News and notes from Wednesday, Stephen Strasbourg was placed on the aisle with a neck strain, which is what we will go with. His velocity was down below 90 miles per hour in his most recent start. And we're only a one-third into the season. I realize that, but Strasbourg has now been placed on the aisle twice. I'm kind of getting the feeling that this might be a loss season for him, which I realize it's a little bit premature, but I just, I don't have a

good feeling about Steven Shrosberg. How could you at this point? Madison Bumgarner was removed from Wednesday start after two innings due to left shoulder discomfort and will undergo an MRI. Mitch Garber was placed on the 10-day IL after undergoing groin surgery on Tuesday night. Ryan Jeffers rejoined the twins, and he does have some prospect pedigree. He homered Wednesday in his first game back against the Orioles 4% rostered for those of you in two catcher leagues. imagine Jeffers gets most of the playing time as the Twins catcher moving forward. Fernando Tatez could rejoin the Padres lineup on Thursday. He left earlier in the week with oblique discomfort. Yerdon Alvarez has been asking to play left field for quite some time apparently and he earned

his first start there on Wednesday. And one of the main reasons actually that I read was because Frambervaldez was on the mound and the fact that he is a ground ball pitcher and that they just didn't expect many balls to get into the outfield in this start. Here was a quote from manager Dusty Baker on Alvarez playing in the outfield. Quote, earlier, early in the year, I didn't want to take a chance because they told me whenever he would play in the outfield before, he would be sore prior to his operation. He's been working hard, getting his leg strong, he's an outstanding shape, and he's running good. A lot of it is mental.

Once you get past that part of it, it makes it a lot easier to feel comfortable with changing of direction and stuff. So I don't know if this is going to be a regular occurrence for Yurdan Alvarez. but we're four starts away on CBS at least, Chris, from him earning outfield eligibility. If Yurdan Alvarez did earn that, where would you place him in your outfield ranks? Ooh, ooh.

My early return is probably right around Aaron Judge, outfielder 12, I think, right behind Tucker and Judge. I think that makes sense. That's the range I was thinking, because I've got Castianos at 12, Yelich at 13, Trout at 14, to the Oscar at 15.

I think I'd slide him right in behind Castianus. You could maybe make an argument for a head of Castianos, but... No, whoa, whoa, well, Cassianus has obviously been amazing, so I won't make that argument,

even though I think he's playing over his head right now, but that's fine. Oh, come. I think 13, yeah. All right. Well, let's make it happen. Your Donne-Alvarez. Justin Dunn was placed on the I.O.

with right-shoulder inflammation. Kyle Swarber left Wednesday's game with an apparent knee injury. Rob Refsneider was placed on the seven-day concussion I.L. A.J. Pollock is slated to return for the Dodgers on Friday. J.T. Brubaker is not starting this week for personal reasons. I saw he was placed on the bereavement list last weekend. Hacian Kim and Tommy Fan were both pulled after colliding with each other. It was a pretty nasty scene in that game against the Cubs earlier on Wednesday.

Jonathan V.R. left Wednesday's game with hamstring tightness. Kentimaieta completed a long toss. session on Tuesday and could throw a bullpen session this weekend. Michael Paneda experienced some discomfort in his right forearm during his start on Tuesday, and maybe that explains why he was pretty ineffective against the Baltimore Orioles. Some prospect updates. Wander Franco had a four-hit game on Tuesday. Chris, at this point, just a guess.

I'm not going to hold you to it. When do you think we see Wander Franco with the Tampa Bay Race? I think Jeff Zimmerman had some data on this. He had all the Super 2 data and he said that like the latest, the Super 2 deadline has been in any of the last, I think 10 years or maybe longer was like June 10th. So I wouldn't say before then. Do you think we see Wander Franco or Vidal Bruhan first?

My guess is Bruhan. Yep. Just because he's already on the 40-man roster. And so procedurally, it's easier to call him up. But why not both? And Bruhan has been playing outfield, I believe. So there may be some flexibility there,

although Franco, in theory, could also play presumably any of the infield positions. And I think he has played second and third this season as well for the first time. I think they want to make sure of Adele Bruhan's confident in center. field as a defender before they do something like this. Although, I guess they could throw them in right field and they could have Manuel Margo play center and a Rosarena and Meadows. One of those guys

could play left and DH. And once Wander Franco comes up, I would assume that's the end of playing time for Taylor Walls, but they just call them up. So they have some finagling. My initial thought when they called Taylor Walls up, because he's 24 years old, he does have some prospect pedigree, but he's not a high prospect, was let's give him three to four. four weeks, see if there's anything there. If he sparks, great. We can keep him in the lineup. If not, you know, he's probably a future utility infielder anyway.

Taylor Walls is currently batting 222 with a 679 OPS. So we shall see. Rangers' third base prospect, Josh Young, is recovering from a foot injury and has been running the bases. He's about 10 to 14 days from joining an affiliate, a name to remember, obviously, in Keeper and Dynasty leagues. And Pirates pitching prospect, this is not the first time I brought up his name, but Rowanzi Contreras, six shutout with eight strikeouts and his most

recent start at AA. He has a 1.63 ERA through, I wrote three starts, but I feel like he has more than three stars. He has a 1.63 ERA in AA at this point. He came over from the Yankees in the Jameson Tyone trade. The pirates are probably going to be very patient with him, I would imagine. But again, keep your dynasty leagues, make sure you have that guy on your radar. Roanze Contreras, would you Rather, let's pit a bunch of players up against each other. And the first one, Francisco Lindor or Marcus Semyon, are we at this point yet? Let's talk about it. Francisco Lindor went three for five on Wednesday, including a Bunt single, which I've got to say, I love.

I love the fact that Lindor is getting paid all this money. He's viewed as a superstar. He is a superstar. I shouldn't say viewed. And he gets a Bunt single. Like, why don't more players do that? Anyway, he now has eight hits over. his last four games. I think you said it was nine

over his last five as well. Lindor is batting 209 currently with four home runs and four steals. He is the number 364 player in Roto. Marcus Semyon is much better than that. He is batting 301, 13 homers, eight steals, 38 runs,

32 RBI. He is the 10th best player in Roto, the second best shortstop and head to head points. Chris, are we at that point yet? Would you rather, Lindor or Semyon? not even close for me still indoor I didn't know which way you were going to go for a second

no I mean Samian's been awesome but really he's been awesome in May he was pretty crappy in April he had a 658 OPS at the end of the month he did have five homers and seven stolen bases so he was still a pretty useful fantasy option especially in Roto leagues but you know

you look at his overall numbers and they kind of look like 2019 and so maybe it's like well maybe 2020 was the outlier he's struggling out almost twice as often as he did in 2019. I don't know. I think he's solid, especially in that lineup. There's going to be a ton of counting stats in that lineup. I think he's going to be a 2020 guy.

I would still rather have Lindor. I think Lindor is a better player. If somebody offered me Francisco Lindor for my Marcus Simeon right now, I would trip over myself to take that trade. Okay. I'm not as confident. I would still take Francisco Lindor, but Semyon has closed the gap quite a bit

and Lindor has done the same by playing the way he has played so far this season and it's not like there's anything in the underlying numbers that say Lindor is going to get better but I think you just hang your hat on track record and that Lindor has been an elite player for as long as he is. Chris, what if I made this Lindor versus Javier Baez

specifically in Roto? Javier Baez went one for four on Wednesday with his 14th home run. He's batting 255. He also has eight steals. Baez or Lindor in Roto. That's a much tougher one. I'm looking at my trade values chart.

Now, my guess would be that I still have Lendor higher in Roto, and I do. So yeah, still Lendor, but that would be tougher to do. The next one that I have here, Adbert Aalai, or you say Kikuchi, Aalai, another fine start against the Padres on Wednesday, five innings, one run, one walk, seven strikeouts.

He has allowed three earned runs or less in nine straight starts. I don't know that people realize Azalei has been this good. His ERA is down to 3.62. His whip, 0.91. That is a phenomenal number for a guy that has had as many control issues

as he has in the past. Adbra Alzali is 71% rostered. You say Kikuchi, his last six starts have just been phenomenal. 2.77 ERA, 0.85 whip with a 56% ground ball rate. Chris, would you rather Alzalai or Kikuchi? I would rather Kikuchi. one thing I was looking up and this is just for my own edification

Alzala has a 381 ERA or hadn't 3801 ERA coming into this start that was a 101 ERA plus that is wild that means an a league average ERA right now is right around 3 8 given park factors in Colorado or usually that's like well over four right? Yeah usually it's around there so that it's just still the landscape we're in even with offense up in May. I would still rather have Kikuchi just because there does seem to be kind of a

pretty hard limit on how much Al-Zalai is going to pitch in any given game, no matter how well he's pitching. He's averaging under five and a half innings per start. There have not been a ton of opportunities for him to go deeper than that, whereas Kikuchi, he hasn't been quite as good overall, but he's averaging six innings per start. So I think that's enough to shift the balance in his favor. I could see Aalai being a little better on a perning basis, though.

You say Kikuchi has thrown six plus innings in nine of ten starts a season. He has thrown six plus in six straight. All of those have been quality starts. Kikuchi is awesome right now. Both of these pitchers are awesome, but I would take you say Kikuchi over Adbert Aalai. One thing I do want to check. You know, someone asked me today, Chris, would I drop Luis Castillo for Adbert Alzali?

And I hesitated for a second. I couldn't. I understand it. But, yeah, I couldn't do it. I agree with you. I think one thing that really does help Kikuchi in this area is he has, they are sticking with that six-man rotation. He hasn't pitched on less than five days rest at all this season, which makes it a little, little easier to go deep into games. No DH in the AL especially also helps. I think that's going to

be a consistent edge for him over someone like Aalai. All right. The next one up here is Adolese Garcia or Starling Marte, which before the season, if I said this, you would say who? I mean, had you ever heard of Adolese Garcia? Adolese Garcia. Who is this guy? In Roto entering Wednesday, Adolice Garcia was the 13th best player in fantasy baseball in Roto Leaks. In 5 by 5, the traditional 5 by 5 with batting average, Adolias Garcia was the 13th best player. He went 1 for 4 with his seventh steal of the season. He also has 16 home runs. Stalling Marte recently returned from the IL.

He went 1 for 3 on Wednesday with his third home run. It was his first home run since returning from the IL. This is kind of the steady veteran versus the mystery bag upside. of Adoles Garcia, which one would you rather have, Chris? Yeah, I think that that's probably underselling Starling Marte. A little bit. If you gave him the same amount of plate appearance as Adoles Garcia,

he would be hitting 324 with seven home runs and nine or, yeah, seven home runs and nine stolen bases. Looks like it'd be about 38 runs scored and 22 RBI. So I think it's still Starling Marte. I think he's did I move him into my top 10 at outfield?

If I didn't, it's close. Yeah, I didn't move him up quite that much, but I do need to. And he was a top 20-ish outfielder for me coming into the season, Starling Marte. You're still going to probably get something like a 20-steel pace. You're still probably going to get something like a 20-homeer pace. I think that's more valuable.

Okay. And there are just, there are reasons to believe that Adolice Garcia is playing over his head. His play discipline is quite bad. He swings at a lot of pitches. He swings about 55% of the time, which is pretty high, but not all that high. I believe he's got the fourth highest out-of-zone swing rate in baseball and the seventh highest, seventh lowest contact rate, I believe is what the numbers were when I was looking earlier today.

It's really, really hard. Even with, like, he's got a 29% strikeout rate. I think that's going to catch up to him at some point. Let's talk about Walker Bueller, who's having an interesting season, and we haven't really talked about him all that much. He pitched on Wednesday against the Cardinals, six innings, seven hits, three runs, two walks to eight strikeouts. He's got a 2.82 ERA that comes with a 3.50 X-FIP,

and a career low 8.96K per 9 for Walker Bueller. And we're going to pit him up against Zach Wheeler here, who is currently a top 12 starting pitcher in fantasy baseball. Chris, which one would you rather have? I think it's Wheeler I'm looking at my rankings and I have I think Bueller is SP 16 I'm looking at that

and that's kind of the end of a 15 sorry I move Jack Flaherty behind him after his injury he's 15 wheeler's 14 and I think that's kind of the end of like maybe a second or third tier at starting pitcher and I feel like there's a pretty big drop off to him, from him to the Junjun Ryu, Joe Musgrove,

Hulior Reyes is the next three that I've got. But I do think Wheeler is a little better of a pitcher right now than, than Walker Bueller. Walker Bueller's had some weird trends early on this season. He is, um, he's getting hit quite hard.

He had, I believe, nine batted balls over 95 miles per hour today. It's against the Cardinals lineup. That's good, but not exactly great. and for the season, I believe he had a 41% hard hit rate coming into the game. That's likely higher today. He is coming in today again. He had a 395 expected Wobon contact.

That is 40 points higher than his career high, 30 points higher than the league average. And he's not getting as many strikeouts as he has. His 25.3% strikeout rate is the lowest of his career. So I just, I think you add it all up. And besides the ERA and the whip, which look exactly like what you'd expect from Walker Bueller, everything's kind of moving in the wrong direction for him. And he's lost a little bit of velocity on his fastball.

He's added spin rate on his pitches. I think there's, you know, it's probably getting some tips from a teammate on that trick because that's the same one Trevor Bauer did last year. And God bless him. But I don't think it has necessarily made Walker Bueller a better pitcher. That being said, he's incredibly talented. and it's entirely possible.

He comes out in his next start and averages 96 and 96.5 with his fastball and, you know, erases some of those concerns. But I do think he's a lower end ace rather than the, you know, higher end ace you were, you were hoping he would be. Yeah, I think you talked me into this one. I'm going to move Zach Wheeler ahead of Walker Bueller. I think it's very close. And no one really talks about this because Walker Bueller is great.

Look, there's no doubt about that. But he's not someone that gets a ton of swinging. In Walker Bueller's career, 11.7% swinging strike rate. It's fine. It's like just above league average. And he gets the best, the most out of that in his overall numbers. But Zach Wheeler this year, 13% swinging strike rate with a ground ball rate that's approaching 50%. He's not walking anybody. He's going deep into his starts. Obviously, he has to keep those things up. And, you know, we've never really seen Wheeler do that over the course of 30 starts, 30 plus starts in a full season. but yeah, the way he's pitching right now, let's do it.

Let's take Zach Wheeler over Walker Bueller. This next one, Dansby Swanson or Glaber Torres. Danesby Swanson went one for four with his ninth home run on Wednesday. His last 15 games, he's batting 310 with four home runs and one steal. Glaver Torres also had two hits on Wednesday. He's got the batting average up to 266. OPS is still at 697. Over his last 15 games, Glaver Torres is batting 327.

just not doing it with much power. So who would you rather have, Chris? Danesby Swanson or Glaber Torres? Yeah, Glabors having a weird season too. There are reasons to be optimistic, but mostly there are not reasons to be optimistic. When did he turn into David Fletcher? I mean, he's kind of, like last year seemed like the outlier fluke for him.

And now it's kind of looking like maybe the start of something resembling a new normal. He has five home runs over his last 89 games, stretching back to the end of last season. Yeah. I think I would still rather have Torres. I think he's the more talented player. I think there's more upside with him than there is with Dan v. Swanson, but it's a lot harder to say that with the last couple of weeks in mind, because Swanson was struggling just as badly before that. Yeah, it is, hmm, it's very close. And I think in Roto, I might take Danesby-Swanson. He's more likely to run. Though

Glabert-Torias does have three steals this year. Better line up with the Braves. It's pretty close. I'll still take Labor Torres, but we're getting closer there. Danesby-Swanson, a very welcome sight, the fact that he's coming around because his first two months of the season were very slow. I guess it's six weeks now that he's come around a little bit. The next one I wanted to talk about Tyler Malley or Sean Mania. Tyler Malley on the season has a 3.4.4. 2 ERA with a 1.16 whip, 10.4K per 9. Great numbers for Malley. And some people have actually emailed in. I saw an Apple podcast review question about Tyler Malley. Oddly enough, he only has two quality starts of his 11 starts. So he doesn't go all that deep into his starts. And

Sean Manaya, I was trying to look up his final line, but it's not final. He's still pitching in the ninth any. He is going for a shutout right now against the Seattle Marin. So, Sean Mania has been a little bit inconsistent this year, but mostly good. The ERA right now at 3.39 in the ninth inning. He has eight strikeouts in this start. Who would you rather have, Chris? Tyler Malley or Sean Menaia. I would rather have Malley.

I think there are limitations to both of their games. But all in all, I think Malley's pretty close. It's pretty close between the two of them in terms of the quality of contact. They allow. They actually have both been pretty good as far as. that goes this season. And historically over the course of their careers, but Malley is more like a 28% strikeout rate guy

going back to the start of last season. Manaya is more like a 24% strikeout rate guy. So I'll go with the guy who gets more strikeouts there. Yeah, I'll take Tyler Malley as well. It's extremely close, especially coming off a phenomenal performance that Sean Minaya just put together here. But his whip, oddly enough for Mania,

was pretty high coming into this start. I could find out the final whip now. after this one has been completed. It's down to 1.25, but he's allowing over a hit per inning, which is very surprising for Sean Minaya, considering, you know, the quality of contact that he does induce there.

I like both them. I think they're both top 50 starting pitchers. I think Malley's actually closer to top 40, but yeah, give us a little bit more length. That's what we'd like to see from Tyler Malley there. Another met that slowly coming around here, James McCann went three for four with a home run and four RBI on Wednesday.

He is 57% rostered his last 15 games. 295 batting average with three home runs up against Mike Zanino, Chris, who has just been mashing all season long. I think he has 12 home runs in the season. I'll look that up for certain, but James McCann or Mike Zanino. Yeah, McCann or Zanino. He's also still striking out at a Zanino in 39.8%.

So I take James McCann fairly easily. we know what Zunino is and at his best he's a cheap source of power and basically nothing else and that can make him a top 25 or top 20 catcher but no I'd rather have McCann the reason to ask is I think Mike Sino

despite his strikeouts he ranks very highly in points leagues this year yeah he does he is I mean 12 homers and you know 45 combined runs an RBI will do that at the catcher position. I would guess those rank pretty high, but you're just kind of every week

you're hoping he runs into a couple. And the weeks that he doesn't hit any home runs, he's got 12 non-home run hits this season. He had seven and 28 games last year. He had 33, 35 in 90 games in 2019. So he is about as all or nothing a hitter. as you get in baseball. All right.

Yes, I will take James McCann as well. I think he's better than the player he has shown for most of this season. But that whole Mets lineup has been underperforming so far. First place Mets though somehow. Yeah, no, they're in first place. Yeah, I got to stop dogging the Mets because they are performing, even with as many injuries and underperformance as they've had. So shout out to the New York Mets this season.

One of the last ones that we have here for you, Chris. I mean, this is one for the ages. It's a tough one. John Gant or Gary Cole. Yeah, I mean, you know, you look at, you know, you look at ERA and Garrett Cole, uh, I mean, he's having a very good season, but, you know,

178 ERA, that's a far cry from John Gant's 160. ERA. And, um, uh, the, the John Gant thing is going to stop happening at some point. Is it though? Probably.

I love that we just, but it's real fun how frustrating it. how frustrated it makes people and how completely, I don't want to say completely inexplicable, because like, he's doing something right. The guy's thrown, you know,

186 innings as a starter in the major leagues with a 334 ERA, and he's got 127 additional innings as a reliever with a 360 ERA. He's doing something right. I don't know what it is. Garrett Cole has a 33.4. 5% K minus walk percentage. John Gant has a 2.2% K minus walk percentage.

This is absolutely ridiculous, but you know what? We are officially the John Gant podcast. I don't know how it's happened, but it has happened. Obviously, I am completely being egregious, but continue to stream John Gant for as long as he continues with this charade act.

So just to actually like make a somewhat cogent point for his career has a 344 expected Wobon contact. That's a measure of basically quality of contact allowed. Lee average over the course of his career is 363. This season he's at 364. He's had 299, 319, 306 in various seasons. So he is really good at limiting hard contact. Not exactly sure why.

Not exactly sure how. But it does seem to be a legitimate skill for John Gantt. and he's going to keep frustrating people, I think. He has SPARP eligibility in points leagues. I'll just throw it out there. Just another one of these guys that has emerged. All right, now it's the last one, Chris. June 3rd is actually National Egg Day.

So, would you rather an omelet or an egg sandwich? Egg sandwich, easily. I mean... Which kind? The perfect one for me is a potato roll, scrambled eggs, American cheese, sausage. That's that to me. That's just like the perfect combination of all those things.

I will say if you're throwing an egg sandwich on a bagel, get out of here. You're a monster. And give me the omelet. Because the bagel, it's too hard to chew through the bagel without pushing everything out the back. That's the problem. Yep.

100%. Give me a Kaiser roll, maybe some poppy seeds on top, bacon, and cheese. I'll go with bacon. Chris will go with sausage, but 100%. We're taking egg sandwich over egg omelet.

Before we hit the break, our Facebook group just had its best month ever. With over 1,100 posts, we want to not only thank all of our members for making it such an engaging place, but also want to give a shout out to two of our new moderators, Kyle Belbeck and Cole Douglas Claiborne

for helping out. They've done a great job getting your posts approved in a timely fashion. You can join the fun at Facebook. Facebook.com slash groups slash fantasy baseball today. We're going to take a quick break. But when we return, we're going to talk about another Mets hitter that's slowly coming around. We'll do it next here, fantasy baseball today.

All right, Chris, how would you rank these first basemen slash outfielders? They are kind of available. I think, you know, if you're playing a 12 team points league, you might see all three of these players available. Dom Smith went three for four with a walk on Wednesday. He has seven hits over his last four games. he's 62% rostered. Pavin Smith with the Arizona Diamondbacks,

one for two, with two walks, two runs scored, quietly batting 290. He's got an 803 OPS, 53% rostered. Ryan Moutcastle, 2 for 4 with his sixth home run, his last 15 games. I was supposed to write in here, but I didn't. So I'll look it up. He's 52% rostered.

Chris, Dom Smith, Paveen Smith, Ryan Moundcastle, how would you rank those three? I kind of wish Paveen Smith was fast because it feels like his profile would be so much more. Obviously, you could say that about basically any slow player. He looks, he looks like he should be fast, though. If you watch him play, he's pretty athletic.

Yeah, it kind of feels like he should be fast the way he plays. And he's just, he's not. I think I would take Dominic Smith over Pavin Smith. I think Mountcastle would probably be third, although I'm not necessarily sure my rankings reflect that. So I do probably need to give more respect to Pave and Smith. Ryan Mountcastle's last 15 games. He is betting 288 with three home runs, 13 RBIs.

So slowly coming around. He had a really good last year, 2020, with the Baltimore Orioles. He does have 20 strikeouts in those 15 games. The strikeouts have been a real, real tough issue for Ryan Mountcastle this year. But I think Dom Smith and Mountcastle in particular have not league winning upside. I think that's too much of a state. but I think they can be like significant contributors the rest of the way. I don't feel that way about Pavin Smith.

So I think I would go Smith, Mount Castle, and then Pave and Smith. But, you know, Pave and Smith has been rock solid. So Dom Smith, if he was dropped in your league, I think I would go out there and pick him back up. Some interesting starting pitcher performances from Wednesday. Nick Povetta at the Houston Astros, six innings, three hits, two runs, two walks, and nine strikeouts. The ERA is down to 3.77. The whip is 1.2. two. The strikeouts have been great this year, Chris, for Povetta, 10.3K per 9, but that also comes

with a 4.2 walks per 9. So where are you at on Nick Povetta? Feeling pretty vindicated about my pre-2018 Nick Povetta is better than Luis Castillo takes. I'll tell you that much. You know, I think it was before that season where people were basically deciding between drafting Pavetta or Shane Bieber. Like, those were the two like fun. Oh, they were like the same guy. Yeah. Yeah. Spider-Man. It was pre-2019, maybe. And it was like high strikeouts, good control, gets hit really hard, and they kind of went in opposite directions there.

I think Povetta can be a league average pitcher with a decent amount of strikeouts moving forward, but I don't expect much more than that. Yep, I think that's fair to say. He also has SPARP eligibility. I would rather have Povetta over a John Gant if I was given that option. To Nelson Lemette.

This one also interesting, Chris, at the Cubs, four innings, one run, one walk, six strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes on a season high, 72 pitches. Velocity did remain down from last year, but he's slowly building up now. I wouldn't be surprised if, all right, next time we're pushing 80, maybe we get the five innings for Denelson Lamet. The thing is, people have kept the faith. He is still 84% rostered, so you're not going to find him on waiver wires, but you might still be able to buy low on Denelson Lamet if you think he comes anywhere close to the pitcher he was last year. Yeah, it would have to be really, really low.

It would have to be probably not for a Nick Povetta type, but, you know, a low, like, if I could swap, I don't even know if I would do Cacucci. Would you trade Alec Manoa for Denelson Lamat? I think I'd rather have Manoa. Would you trade? I would trade Alzalae for, for Lamat. I mean, you want to talk about a Spider-Man meme. It's those two right there. I would trade Mania for him.

No, no. Yeah. Sean Mania for Denelson Lamet? I think I would do that, yeah. I think you're wrong. That's fine. I'm wrong about lots of things. I'm pretty dumb.

That means where do you have Sean Mania in your rankings then? Pretty low. You're going to, all right, well, I'm not sure. I think I might be the, I have. He's 53. So you're going to move Denelson Lamet inside your top 60 starting pitchers? Nah. Fine.

he talked to me into it. Shane McClanahan, Chris, was at the Yankees on Wednesday, and he did not have a good start. He allowed four runs over three in a third. He had 17 swinging strikes on 79 pitches. The 79 pitches were the second most that he threw in a start all season, so I think that was pretty interesting for McClanahan. I'm going to continue to say this every time out.

I don't know that anyone that you're going to be able to acquire him on the cheap in a keeper or dynasty league, but I think you should because I think Shane McClainahan is really good. And his swinging strike rate, if he qualified, would be top five among starting pitchers. So is this enough, Chris, just in a redraft league, to drop McLean,

or would you continue to hold? There are so many pitchers right now. Like, I think I'd rather have Lamet than him, but they're similar. How about Terrick Scoobel? I'd rather have Scoobled than him. But the thing with McLean is,

I'm not sure if the raise are right that he can't throw deep into games. Like they seem pretty insistent. And maybe it's just like a physical thing. Like maybe they just, they just don't believe he can throw 100 pitches. But I don't see any reason to think his arsenal can't work a third time through the order. I mean, he's throwing four pitches now.

He's got, you know, this amazing slider and this amazing fastball as well. But he's throwing a curve ball 7% of the time and a change up 70% of the time. And it's a little higher in some starts than others. I think there is room for him. It was 22% on the changeup today. I think there's a chance he gets...

I think there's a chance he could do more than the race might let him. And that's my concern. I mean, you can insert any Tampa Bay raise starting pitch your name at the beginning of that sentence, right? I mean, we saw it with Blake Snell in the postseason, right? And for the past couple of years. And there's usually a method behind the madness with the Tampa Bay raise. I agree with you. I think the stuff is absolutely electric.

I think in redraft leagues, if there is a starting pitcher that you are dying to add, you probably can drop McLeanahan just because I don't think he's going to go deep enough to qualify for wins all that often. And in a points league, you obviously need that volume, though he does have SPARP eligibility. But again, in Keeper Dynasty,

if you can acquire him anywhere on the cheap, it's a no-brainer for me. Antonio sends a tell of Chris, is there anything here? He was up against the Rangers, seven and two thirds. Three runs, only one of those were earned. Three strikeouts. Pretty good performance here.

Anything, Antonio Sentatel? Yeah, the Rangers got seven hits. That's a pretty good game for them. No, he does this occasionally. And I don't think there's any reason to think Antonio Sensatela is anything more than just a guy. Yeah, I would agree with that. Some leftovers from Wednesday.

Anthony Rizzo went three for four with a double and two RBI, his second game back after dealing with a bad. injury. Ketel Marte 1 for 4 with his fourth home run. Clint Frazier, one for two with a walk and 2 RBI. He's slowly coming around, Chris. Clint Frazier yesterday we spoke about him. He's 40% rostered on CBS. Would you be looking at him in five outfielder leagues? He can get hot. Five out for the leagues, sure. I think that's about it. Frankly, I don't think he's all that good is my issue. But in a five outfielder league, you know, he could, he could hit 20 homers and steal, you know, six bases the rest of the season. You know, that wouldn't shock me.

Clint Fraser's last 15 games, he's betting 271 with two homers and two steals. So kind of interesting. Randall Gritchick had a double dong. He is now betting 289 with 11 home runs. Juan Soto, the guy just loves the month of June. This is what he was waiting for. Two games in June now has two home runs. since getting four hits back on May 19th. Yulee Gouriel is just four for 32. His average has dropped from 338 to 301. Gio O'Shello went two for four with his sixth home run of the season. On Wednesday, he's betting 261.

Jazz Chisholm, we already told you about. He went one for four with his sixth home run of the season. The call to the pen and some bullpen updates. You're Miami Marlins, Chris. They got to Alec Manoa, but then unfortunately, Yimi Garcia had a meltdown in the ninth inning. He allowed three hits. and three runs, he took the blown save and the loss

for the Baltimore Orioles. Paul Fry recorded the final five outs of that game. He allowed an inherited runner to score on a sack fly to make the game six to three. That's why he did not qualify for the save. And we spoke a lot about Cole Solcer yesterday, Chris. And I think it's between those two. I think it's Paul Fry versus Cole Solcer

and people are, why are you talking about the Baltimore Orioles bullpen? Look, man, you play in 12-team, Roto Category Leagues are deeper, anybody who can sniff a save is worth rostering at this point. So I think they're going to play at the matchups, but my Twitter mentions are very confident in Paul Fry.

I'm never particularly confident in lefties being named full-time closers. I think they probably just play matchups. If there's lefties coming up and the 9th, they'll go with Fry. If there's righties, it's ulcer.

Yeah, that seems to make the most sense to me. For the Rockies, Daniel Bard got his sixth save, and he's actually been pretty good recently. The Astros Ryan Presley got his eighth. The Yankees are old as Chapman, his 12th. The Mets, Edwin Diaz got his 10th save, and the Nationals Brad Hand got his ninth save of the season.

To stream or not to stream for Thursday, Jake O'Dorizzi versus the Red Sox, John Gray versus the Rangers at home where he's very good. Tyler Anderson versus the Marlins. Chris Bubich versus the Twins, Griffin Canning versus the Mariners, and Justice Schia. Sheffield at the Angels.

John Gray, Tyler Anderson, and Griffin Canning. On Friday, Quanghan Kim versus the Reds. Spencer Turnbull at the White Sox. Matt Shoemaker at the Royals. Cody Potete at the Pirates. Anybody else here? Kegan Aiken for the Orioles is going up against Cleveland.

I'm kind of doing this on the fly right now, so I don't know. Those are the only one. ones that I see. Oh, Jake Harriet at the Giants. I'll throw them in there. It's a very, very bad group.

I might actually go Josh Fleming with the... I like that. I could get behind that. He's got the Rangers. Where do you look for your probabilities, Chris?

I was looking at ESPN.com. Okay. Because I have MLB and there's a bunch of TBDs on here. Yeah, and yeah, there's a bunch of TBDs here as well. Cody Petit has been pretty interesting.

I agree. I frankly can't say I know all that much. about him, but the early results have been pretty promising. Like, he doesn't throw super hard. He's got about average velocity, but he gets a ton of spin on his pitches, and that's led to pretty good results so far. So sure, him.

Cody Petit. Fleming, I'm with you on Fleming, Potete, and if you want a third one, I don't really like any of these, but I'll say Spencer Turnbull at the White Sox. But just remember, I don't really like it. Some emails. This one's from Scott Wolf. My offense has been decimated by injuries. Bryce Harper, Corey Seeger, Luke Voit, Kevin Vigio, Mike Mustakis,

and I was offered Bo Bichette and Tiosker Hernandez for my Shane Bieber. Is that enough to give up my ace for more context? I'd still be looking at John Means. I assume this is Ian Anderson, Zach Rankie, Aaron Savali, Robbie Ray, Framber Valdez, and Dylan Bundy in my rotation. I think if this is a Roto or Categories League, that is a fine return for Shane Bieber. I don't have an issue with it.

I do think it kind of leaves your pitching staff a little vulnerable without Shane Bieber here because then you have a bunch of SP2s, SP3s, you don't have another SP1 outside of Bieber. And like I could see things going sideways for Savale, Ray,

they already have for Bundy. Honestly, even John Means, there are some red flags in his profile. So it is definitely it's dealing from a relative strength, but I don't know if it's such a strength that I would

want to do that. I would rather be looking to trade. I think I would rather try to trade means and see what I can get for him. I think that's a good call. Maybe just counter means for Teoska Hernandez. Is that enough? Probably no.

I would try Bachev or Teosk for means. Yeah, try it. Yeah. Try it. Yeah. Throw in a hitter. See if the means and a hitter gets it done for Bobauchette. But we would not take Bichet and T. Oscar for Shane Bieber. Yeah, it's close in roto, but I just, within the context of your team, I don't think you have quite enough pitching that I feel good about.

Grade these trades from Colin. C.J. Cron and Emmanuel Class A for Paul Goldschmidt does not say what format. I like the Goldschmidt side quite a bit more. so I would say it's a B for that side. Trade number two, Hector Nerris, Sandy Alcansara, and Jesse Winker for Mookie Betts, Jock Peterson, and Keenan Middleton.

I like the Naris Winker Alcantara side more, so a B for that one. Yeah. If you gave up Nairis, I think it's probably a C-minus. You are getting the best player in the deal with Mookie Bets.

But I think you're getting the next. three best players. Yeah, you're giving up the next three best players. Yeah, I would agree with that. C-minus. This one's from Alfredo. He has a few questions here. First question, my pitching staff is strong,

but maybe I can upgrade. Both Kent and Maida and Luis Castillo are on waivers. Should I pick up either? Who do I drop Robbie Ray or Alex Wood? Would you drop Robbie Ray or Alex Wood for Castillo or Maeda, Chris? Oh, that's so tough because Wood is... I would rather have Maida and Castillo than Ray and Wood rest of season, but

I'm not sure I would want to drop them. I would hope you have a worst player that you could drop. If these are your worst pitchers, you're saying you would do it. Yeah, I think you could drop Castillo first. No, no, no. Castillo's on waivers. Oh, sorry, sorry. Sorry.

I have Robbie Ray ranked ahead of Kentimaeata, so I would not make that swap. It's tough the way that he's pitching, but I think I would drop Alex Wood for Louise Castillo. I think I would too. The next one is I had Jake McGee

and I cut him for Tyler Rogers. Should I cut Tyler Rogers now for Jordan Romano? Let's assume that this person needs saves, Chris. See, I think this is the same email and I would rather, if it came down to it, I'd rather cut one of the closers for one of those starters and see if I can catch lightning in a bottle with Castillo. and if not, you know, continue to try to stream closers.

If this is the same email, that's what I would try to do. If not, I think cutting Rogers for Romano is fine. I don't feel strongly about it one way or the other. Yeah, I would make that swap. I would drop Rogers for Jordan Romano. All right, we made it. The end of the podcast, the burning question. What does Frank have on his mind that he needs to ask Chris about?

Chris, why are you such a hater, dude? are you such a hater on my New York Knicks? Just think about this. You work with two hosts, Fantasy football today, Adam Azor, fantasy baseball today, myself. Frank Stamble. We are both die-hard Knicks fans.

And you just, Knicks losing the playoffs, and Chris is just there to stick the knife in and turn it and then turn it again and pull it out and stick it again. you're referring to when I pointed out that

tickets for Nets games will be more expensive than tickets for NICS games in the second round of the play. Ha, ha, ha, yeah. I'm just simply pointing out that that was a big topic of discussion among New York basketball fans over the last couple of weeks, and it seems as

if things have turned in the Nets favor in that regard. They were always in the Nets favor, Chris, come on. Nobody thought the NICS were winning the NBA championship. Why are you such a hater? Just answer the question. Why are you such a

hater? One. I'm not a hater. You're a hater. Two, I still hold, I don't really feel emotions about sports anymore, but I do still feel lingering resentment

over the Knicks Heat Series in the 90s. Larry Johnson was probably my first sports villain. And uh, It's so much fun to troll you guys.

Hey, because there is just like, there is no fan base that is more irrationally confident. Hate than Knicks fans who have had two good seasons in the last 20 years. And every time there's one rookie who scores like nine points in a quarter, they're like, this guy, the steal of the draft. Like, oh, God, what was that guy? Who was that guy? You're talking. You're talking to Harvard or whatever.

You're talking about the team. Talking smack about the team. You don't even know anything about them, Chris. What was the guy last year? Who? There was some guy last year that they were like, oh, this guy's awesome. He stinks.

I can't remember. They drafted this year, Obie Tappen and Emmanuel quickly. I don't know if you're referring to either of those guys. No, no, it was a guy the year before. And everyone was like, oh, this guy's awesome. All right, well, all right, you're a troll. Whatever, Chris.

It's fine. Oh, it was R.J. Barrett. I think you should be, he went to Duke. What do you? Thank God. It was a lot of trier. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, he stinks.

Be more supportive of your co-host. That's the lesson. That's the moral of this story. Be more supportive. Trolling's a lot more fun. It's not nice, man. You hurt my feelings. You know, I scrolled through your Twitter

before we start. I like to do that to kind of get a feel of what I do that with Scott as well, to get a feel of what you guys are talking about that day. And maybe I could spark some conversation within the podcast. And I saw that. And I'm just like, why? Why are you the way that you are?

Michael Scott Giff. All right, so that was my burning question. Stop being a hater, Chris. We're going to wrap there for Chris. Hi, I'm Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today. We'll be back to get tomorrow. Bye-bye.