Fantasy Baseball Today - 🚨Josh Hader Traded to the Padres! - Emergency Podcast (8/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 1, 2022

Josh Hader was finally traded to... the San Diego Padres (1:00). Will he get back on track? ... Who will become the closer for the Milwaukee Brewers (3:35)? Where to rank Devin Williams? ... Will Esteury Ruiz get a chance to start in center field with the Brewers (8:45)? Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection 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

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. After years of hearing Josh Hader trade rumors, he was finally dealt to the San Diego Padres. Welcome in to an emergency edition of Fantasy Baseball today on Monday. August 1st, have a feeling. Got quite a few of these coming up here, Scotty. Frank Staple joined of course by Scott White, and let's jump into the trade, arguably the best reliever on the planet. Josh Hater traded to the Padres in exchange for Taylor Rogers, Denels. to Nelson Lament and two prospects,

left-handed pitcher Robert Gasser and outfielder Estuary Ruiz. Josh Hater currently leads baseball with 29 saves. Has struggled a bit as of late allowing runs in six of his last 10 appearances. Since the start of June, he has an 8.31 ERA, 1.62 whip.

Babbat and home runs have been through the roof. Underlying numbers still look pretty damn good. Scott, how are we feeling about Josh Hater in San Diego? No change for him. I mean, he's just going to continue to do his thing for a different team, team that's as much in the race as the Brewers are, so you don't expect his rate of saves to change in any way. And still, in my mind, even with, you know,

there were a couple of ugly outings just before the All-Star break that blew up his ERA, but even with that, I'd still consider Josh Hader to be the best closer in fantasy. And it's funny you said he might be the best reliever, right in baseball? Yeah. He might be, or it might be a guy who was his teammate in Milwaukee

and now may stand to inherit saves. Maybe, maybe. It's a little bit complicated. Yes, we will get into that in just a little bit, but to put a bow on Josh Hader, look, not much changes for his value, obviously. Any concern about these recent struggles or you're good?

No, I think it was just a fluke thing. He's been, he's already gotten, he's already kind of calm down, Right. Just. Yeah, I believe his past like two or three appearances have been okay. Yeah, let me pull up the game log just to be sure.

Yeah. Three or four scoreless since it was like there was one where he gave up six earn runs on three home runs to the Giants like right before the All-Star break. And that was really the. That was bad. Yeah. I think he's fine. He struck out three batters in an inning his last time out. I don't think there's much to worry about for Josh Hader.

Yeah, velocity, swinging strike rates. still look amazing for Josh Hader. He's got a 4.24 ERA, a 2.41 X-FIP. So I do think that he'll be fine and he's under team control through next season. So that's why, you know, we still do see quite a bit of a haul here for the San Diego, for the Milwaukee Brewers, rather. Let's talk about those brewers. Who is going to close out games? Ken Rosenthal mentioned all three of Taylor Rogers, Devin Williams, and Brad Boxberger as options to close games moving forward. And Rogers, much like Josh Hader, I mean, he has struggled mightily, really over the past month, month and a half, 8.14 ERA over his last 22 games. Devin Williams, Scott you mentioned earlier, might be one of the best relievers in baseball.

1.59 ERA 101 whip has not allowed an earn run since May 10th. And Boxburger has the experience. He's closed out games in the past. Numbers look fine for him. Underlying numbers, not nearly as good. But what do you think in here? How does this shake out? Dodgers, Devin Williams, Brad Boxburger.

Well, it would be really weird if it's Boxburger. That's what I'll say about that. And I suppose the Brewers could play the heavy leverage game and maybe Boxburger winds up working the 9th sometimes because of that. But yeah, I hadn't mentioned it by name yet, but Devin Williams is the one I'm looking at here. Long been thought to be the guy who would replace Josh Hater when he left for his career, 14.7K per 9.

His change-up is probably the best in baseball. Pitching Ninja on Twitter has taken to calling it the Airbender. And he's called it that for years now at this point. And, you know, a lot of times you get these relievers who spring up with the dominant year and then kind of recede quickly. But Devin Williams has kept to going now three years in a row. And I would have more concerns about taking. Taylor Rogers impacting that if he hadn't struggled so much

and just been removed from the closer role for the Padres. Well, I do think there's some chance maybe, you know, if they don't go the heavy leverage route that incorporates Boxburger, they go with more of a platoon situation, the lefty Rogers, the righty Williams. But I think before the Brewers do that, they'd want to make sure Rogers is right. And by that point, Williams may have taken the job and run with it. So I think Devin Williams is somebody who needs to be picked up everywhere. He has top three closer potential.

And we're rooting for him to claim that job outright. Because it is something of a question, I'd try not to drop Taylor Rogers. But if you had to, if that was your only way of getting Devin Williams, I'd do it. Yeah, I think that makes sense. Devin Williams is 54% rostered, so pretty widely available. I would say regardless of format, even in a points league, if you know, you want to take a shot on the upside, as Scott mentioned, has the chance to be a top three closer here in Devin Williams. Scott, I don't know, you probably haven't updated the rankings yet. I'm sure we'll do it over the next couple of hours. Where do you kind of see Devin Williams fitting into the relief pitcher

ranks here? Someone on Twitter asked me if they should drop David Bednar for Devin Williams. and my initial reaction was no, but based on your upside case, I don't know, maybe. Yeah, I mean, I think you have to know the type of league you're playing in. If it's shallow enough that there's always some source for saves out there, maybe a David Robertson is out there, Robertson, sorry, or a Sir Anthony Dominguez, somebody like that. You know, somebody you can fall back on if the Devin Williams thing. doesn't work out, then maybe you do take the shot on upside. Bednar's pretty good, but of course he closes for the pirates,

so the safe chances can be inconsistent. And hopefully, if Williams does claim this job outright, they'll be more consistent for him. So, you know, if we're doing rankings, let's see. I would probably, because I got Bednar 17th rest of season. So Devin Williams, you know, until we know what the role is, I think I'm going to have to be a little conservative in the rankings and put him inside the top 20.

Kind of ahead of that Bard-Robertson, Gregory Soto group. But obviously, there's room for him to rise as high as fifth, probably. Hater, Liam Hendricks, Edwin Diaz, and Emanuel Classics. it looked like a clear top four, but Williams could quickly join that group. If it does appear, he's for sure the closer. Well, it appears, Scott, that I made a snafu in our YouTube title. It says, Josh Hader traded to the Brewers. That doesn't make sense.

But Josh Hater has been traded to the Padres. Thank you, YouTube chat, for pointing that out. I'll get it fixed right after this. A lot of stuff going on right now. But, yes, thank you for the heads up. Josh Hater, indeed, traded to the Padres. and those are some of Scott's thoughts on Devin Williams and how high he could potentially move

up in the relief pitcher ranks. Let's just quickly talk about some of the prospects in this deal, Scott. Robert Gasser was a top 10 prospect in the Padres organization. 2022 in the minors of season, 23-year-old starter, lots of strikeouts. ERA whip hasn't necessarily been there yet,

but I'm sure, you know, based on that strikeout potential, that's what they're looking at with Robert Gasser. Obviously, we've talked a lot about Estéuri Ruiz when he got called up recently for the Padres. Now on the Brewers, he was betting 333, 13 homers, 60 steals in the minors this season. Didn't really get the opportunity to play every day. But do you think that could change with the Brewers? They were kind of running out a combination of Tyrone Taylor and Jonathan Davis in center field. Do you think Ruiz can maybe step in there?

Yeah, I think there's a chance of that. I mean, I thought he would have plenty of opportunity with the Padres who have a lot of outfield needs more than the Brewers, frankly. But the brewers do have that clear hole in centerfield. Tyrone Taylor's really more of a fourth outfielder type. I don't think Estuary Ruiz would just immediately become their everyday centerfielder. I think he'll have to earn it, but I think he'll get chances. And obviously there's some hope that he does. I mean, the kind of production he put up between AA and AAA this year was incredible,

particularly the 60, 61 stolen bases in 77 games, something like that, just ridiculous steals pace. Now, he hasn't really done anything since getting called up to the Padres, which happened just a little before the All-Star break, but the chances have been inconsistent. And generally, when a team trades for you, they have a use for you, right? And so hopefully we'll get to see more of Ruiz now that he's with the Brewers. Estuary Ruiz is 32% rostered on CBS.

He has second base and outfield eligibility. So if you need speed, any kind of categories league, specifically Roto-style lineups, middle infielder, five outfielders, I think it's worth maybe re-adding him and see what his playing time is now with the Milwaukee Brewers. There was another trade. The Yankees acquired reliever, Scott F. from the Chicago Cubs, so we know that he won't be closing for the Cubs,

but if both David Robertson and Michael Givens are moved, which is a real possibility, I think there's a chance we could see Rowan Wick closing once again for the Chicago Cubs. If anything else happens, we'll fire it up, we'll be back on here, but for now, that is Scott. I am Frank, thank you all for listening and watching this emergency edition of Fantasy Baseball today.

We'll be back again. Later on. Bye-bye!