Fantasy Baseball Today - League Winners; Who's Hot and Who's Not? (09/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 17, 2020

Oh, did you hear? The Yankees are back and DJ LeMahieu is awesome. As for Wednesday's action, our OMGG standouts include Brady Singer and Tarik Skubal (3:25). Can you trust either in your championship week? Where do Cole Hamels and Keegan Akin rank among that group? ... On to news and notes, Jacob deGrom left with a hamstring injury while Teoscar Hernandez and Aaron Judge are back (13:02). ... There was a pitcher's duel in Houston (21:04)? Can Lance McCullers really be a league winner? Who is this Kyle Gibson and what did he do with Kyle Gibson? ... The Yankees did it again on Wednesday (24:46). Luke Voit, Clint Frazier Gerrit Cole and... Kyle Higashioka all went off. ... These studs are slowing down (29:15). Should you be worried? ... If you're desperate for some waiver wire hitters, can we interest you in Kole Calhoun, Chris Taylor, or Ryan Braun (34:35)? ... Who's hot and who's not (41:06)? Adam Wainwright is set up very nicely in the championship week while Dylan Bundy hit a bump in the road. ... Who will be some of the tougher hitters to rank in 2021 and why do people hate Jose Abreu (52:39)!? ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday '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: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday 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/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! 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, and swing. This 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.

Oh, hello. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. Frankie Stamps, alongside Scott White on a Thursday, September 17th. Another late night here for the boys. But Scott, did you hear? No? You didn't hear, Scott? No, I didn't hear.

Oh, oh. The Bronx Bombers are back, baby. I haven't been able to gloat all season and be that Yankee jerk that everyone's been missing. I know that Adam Azer usually holds the mantle on that. But we're back. We are back, Scott. It's, well, two nights in a row, yeah.

Two nights in a row. Their offense has been the headline. And the headliner. has been DJ LaMayhew, I would say. I dare say. I dare say DJ LaMayhew's been the head liner. That doesn't work. Anyway, yeah, two home runs today after one yesterday,

and he's now batting like 380, right? 373. 373 for this guy nobody believed could do it again. nine home runs now in an injury-shortened year. And clearly going to be the top first base. I don't even think it matters if he resigns with the Yankees, you know? Like obviously if he resigns with the Yankees. But, you know, unless he goes someplace like, I don't know,

I would say San Francisco, but their parks played a little differently this year, unless he goes to an obviously bad place for hitters. I don't see. And even then, like, who else is it going to be? DJ LeMay, he was awesome. He is awesome. Indeed, and you're right. He's betting 373 with an OPS over a thousand.

I think he is definitely in the conversation to be the first second baseman drafted in 2021. I might still lean towards Ozzy Albies. You know, I'm a little partial towards Ozzy myself. Homer. Yeah. Obviously not. All right, Scott.

Let's get things that, you know, actually, let me preview the show. Let me let everyone know what's going on. We have a jam-pack show, by the way. Let's get ahead of the two-star pitchers. I know we usually do that on Friday's podcast, but we had some very interesting performances on Wednesday night that are going to affect two-start pitchers for next week.

So we'll get into that. More waiver-wire hitters, if you are hurting for some help there. Some big names are slowing down. Does it matter at all? The rest of Wednesday's action, Scott wrote an interesting article about players who will be tough to rank in 2021.

So if we have any time, we will get some of those as well. But of course... Specifically hitters, 15-hundred. hitters that will be torture to rank. And there's a new one coming out, 12 pitchers that will be torture to rank. So look forward to that. And we've got to talk about Jose Abraeu again, because I don't usually get frustrated very easily, but this whole Jose Abraeu situation for next year is actually frustrating me. We'll get to that a little bit later on. Oh my goodness gracious. All right, Scott, a Wednesday standout, whether good or

bad. Maybe we start things off on a on a positive note after Jack Flaherty's crappy start on yesterday's podcast. Yeah. I'm going to go. I think I got to go with Brady Singer. Who, you know, last timeout, last time out, eight one hit innings. With a, I didn't write down the strikeout number, but it was a lot of strikeouts and a lot of whiffs and, you know, where did it come from?

It looked like the pitch selection was the same. The stuff was the same. He wasn't doing that kind of stuff before then. I was, I was kind of dismissing it as, okay, fluke, he had a great start, whatever. Comes out here on Wednesday night and does a lot of the same thing. Six innings, two hits instead of one. Okay, eight strikeouts, 13 whiffs on just 81 pitches. And he actually did make a change to his.

pitch selection in this one. He emphasized the slider more actually threw it more than the sinker. And like of the two pitches, that's the one that gets all the whiffs. It might be, you know, if he did that in his previous start, I'd be like, huh, instead of like, nah. And now he's done it in the second start, you know, and it's, I don't know. I'm, I'm, uh, I'm intrigued by it. And I, I presume he's a two-star pitcher next week, right? Yeah, he is one of the names that I definitely want to talk about. So, yeah, let's get things started here with Brady Singer. You're right. Two starts in a row now.

He has been fantastic. Six shutout on Wednesday, eight strikeouts against the Tigers. It's a good matchup. 13 swinging strikes on 81 pitches, legitimately only through his slider and his four-team fastball. 51% slider, 49% fastball for Singer. But his last two starts, 14 shutout innings with 16 strikeouts.

He is 40% rostered on CBS. and I have the matchups for next week, as of now, the Cardinals and the Tigers. Those are fantastic matchups. So I mentioned yesterday, Jose Orkidi was priority number one, and I still would put Erkiti ahead of Brady Singer. It has a little bit more of a track record here. But I think after Erkidi,

if you are looking for two starts for next week and two very good matchups, I am in. I am in here on Brady Singer-Scott. Yeah, it's been a good ground ball pitcher all along. something I was expecting from him coming up from the minors. Really, that was that and strike throwing were what seemed to me his two biggest strengths. I wasn't counting so much on strikeouts. And look, the strikeout radio after these last two starts, it's only so-so.

It's less than one per inning. But if he is developing into something more here, that that creates a very interesting profile. And obviously the two good matchups coming off two great starts. I think that makes him an obvious sleeper for the final week. And even if you don't need him yourself, you should pick him up anyway, because you don't want him to be used against you. I love it. I agree wholeheartedly as someone who has put in a bunch of waiver-wire claims

in all of my leagues that I am still alive in. I put in a bunch of claims tonight so that I can make sure that other people do not pick these guys up and use them against me. But speaking of which, I'm going to go with for my Wednesday standout. How about the person on the other side in this start of Brady Singer? And I actually was watching the Detroit broadcast. And they pronounce his name Terrick Scubal. Terrick Scubal.

So we're going to go with that. Six innings here, four hits, two earned runs, zero walks, eight strikeouts, 17 swinging strikes on 90 pitches. Also a good matchup going up against the Royals here. two earned runs or less in three of Scoobel's last four starts. He did have that clunker of a start against the Cardinals where he allowed six earned runs. That was his last time out and just two innings pitched.

But 26% rostered for Scoobel and looks like he's in line for two starts next week as well. At the twins and at the Royals, I know on paper the twins look rough, but hear me out. They are 27th in baseball in weighted on base average versus left-handed pitching. So I don't know how daunting of a match but it actually is for a lefty in Scoobel.

But, Scott, if you can only choose one, would you go with Singer or would you go with Scoobel? Are you even interested in Scoobel? I'm interested in not letting Scoobel be used against me. I'd be unlikely to start him myself unless I was just such an obvious underdog that I needed to cross my fingers that somebody would deliver to great starts.

You know, every one of my pitchers would or something like that. but the reason I say definitely singer over scuba is because this is the first start where scubel to me

has looked like really talented I know two starts ago you know he had a strong outing where he went he went I think he went six strong and had six strikeouts or something like that

but this was, I mean, 17 wits was the most he's had. Recently, his change-up, you know, in that start, two starts ago, it was mostly fastballs. That was the only pitch he had real success with. But recently, since then, the change-up has been playing up, and he really leaned into it in this start. It was responsible, I think, for the majority of his swinging strikes. No, he got nine on the fastball, but six on the change-up. And if he has a quality secondary pitch, if he has something he's confident pairing with that fast-past-

ball, then we could see him really begin to make some headway. It's just, you know, not enough evidence yet for me to throw him out there at the most critical point in the season, if I can help it. Yeah, I understand why you might be a little scared. I think if you just watch him pitch, like, he has been inconsistent. There's no doubt about it thus far. But he looks like he has the stuff if you just watch him pitch. I think if he can, you know, keep those walks down and have just,

Solid control again, this is Terrick Scoobel. I think that his upside long term is pretty enticing. Some other names that I wanted to throw in this mix of two-start pitchers heading into championship week. We mentioned Cole Hamels was making his debut on Wednesday, and he was at the Orioles. He allowed three earned runs over three and a third with two strikeouts. Only 52 pitches.

Next week, the matchups are at home against the Marlins, at home against the Red Sox. and then Scott, we got to bring up your boy. Your favorite, Keegan Aiken, who went up against... Yep. I hesitated giving my, oh, my goodness gracious, because I kind of wanted it to be him since I've been so dismissive of him up to this point.

Yeah, it was a very impressive start for Kegan Aiken, against the Braves, Megan, especially impressive. He had nine strikeouts in five shutout innings, only one walk. and 19 swinging strikes, most of them coming on the fastball, but that's kind of his profile. Like for the season,

his fastball has a high swinging strike rate. And, you know, I was reading up on him in the old baseball America handbook and they were talking about how it's, they called it an invisible fastball

because he gets so much deception on it, it really sneaks up on hitters. So it's kind of the key to his success. And the second, arsenal is a work in progress. The control is, you know, that's a work

in progress too. But if, with that fastball, it seems like there's a base of talent to work with here for Aiken. And he two turns ago, he had eight strike gets in five in a third inning. So this isn't even the first time he's flashed it. This was just the most

impressive start so far. I can't imagine using him in the final week. But I do think he might be one of those sneaky sneaky pickups in deeper dynasty leagues if you're positioning if you want to have some cheap keepers for next year.

Keegan Aiken is 8% roster on CBS and his matchups next week at Boston and at Toronto. So I don't really love those matchups. Scott, how would you rank Singer, Scobel, Hamils, Aiken? I think that's the order I'd

rank them in. Singer, scubal, Hamils, Aiken. I don't, I wouldn't feel confident using any of them except maybe Singer. Hamels, two really good matchups for Hamill. So that might be another situation where I just don't want to get burned by this guy, somebody else using him against me in case he really goes off. I don't expect him to. His fastball was down three miles per hour in this first start.

And so he threw his cutter a lot more because of it. And maybe that's the formula that can work for. Maybe he'll pick up a lot of velocity right away. but I obviously needed to see something from him to get him in my lineup for the last week of the season, and I didn't really. Some news and notes from Wednesday night. The big news, Jacob DeGrom was pulled from his start against the Phillies

due to a right hamstring spasm. So this comes at a terrible time, monitor the news, see what happens for the final week of the season. The last thing you want to do is leave him in your lineup. He winds up not starting, so just pay attention to see what's happening with Jacob de Grom. Garrett Richards will pitch out of the bullpen for the rest of the season.

He is 48% rostered. He can be dropped, especially for any of those names that we just mentioned. Not that you even have to start those guys, but again, to prevent your opponent from picking those two-star pitchers up. And Mitch Garver,

ouch, this doesn't sound too fun. Apparently he took one off the cup while rehabbing, and that will delay his return. So, yikes. You hate to see it. Sorry, Mitch Garver. Speaking of the twins, Randy Dobnack was option to their alternate site.

He is 69% rostered. So another name that can be dropped if you're figuring out what to do with him. Although, Jake Oter-Rizzi, who was back in the rotation for the first time in three weeks, he left with a blister. So maybe Dobnack will be right back up. I don't know that we'd want to use them. Exactly. Three of his last four starts have been awful, but just worth pointing out.

See, Oscar Hernandez was activated off the IL. He's had a very sneaky breakout season. and he actually wasn't in the lineup for the Blue Jays on Wednesday, but I imagine he will be back in there soon enough. Sneaky breakout. He looked like Nelson Cruz. He's been incredible. Nelson Cruz with some steals, by the way.

I think he has five steals. And, yeah, I mean... He's on your list, right? He's on your list, right, Scott? He is on the list of 15 hitters that will be tortured to rank next year, because he's to Oscar Hernandez. And although the data backs up everything he's done so far,

it just feels like we should be a little skeptical of that. And how that actually plays out in the rankings, I have no idea. I have no idea. You know, if he really is this good, then he's, somebody who should go on the top two rounds. And obviously, I don't think he should. But I don't really know who he is, just because he's had an awesome two months.

So I know he had a strong second half in 2019 as well, I believe, where, okay, pulling it up here. He had a, he hit 259 in the second half in 2019 with a 939 OPS, including 18 home runs and 60 games. So he is someone that can get hot in a hurry. There's no doubt about it. And I don't doubt he has power. Yeah, but a lot of players have power.

He has the physical tools. Like, you know, 14 homers, five, like, we've seen him have a little power speed combination in the past. Sure. I feel like if this were a full season, Scott, like, and I don't want to take anything away from him because he also has a near 30% line drive rate. So, you know, again, the underlying numbers have backed up what he's done to this point. But for Tiaska Hernandez, I just feel like if this were a full season, I would imagine that,

okay, the first two months were great for him, you know, over these next three or four, he's probably going to slow down a little bit. That's, you know, again, if we were playing in a full season. So you're right. He is going to be interesting to rank for the offseason. Again, that is Tosker Hernandez. Speaking with the Blue Jays, Ken Giles was placed back on the IEL with that elbow issue he's been dealing with.

So it looks like Raphael DeLis will remain the closer for the Blue Jays if you picked them up. Looks like you have a safe source on your hand. Carlos Correa was back in the lineup for the Astros. Aaron Judge was back for. the Yankees. He went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. No surprise. John Carlos Stanton got a day off

one day after returning from the injured list. Claibor Torres was still out with that quad issue he is dealing with. Starling Marte was out on Wednesday because he's quote, a little beat up. J.C. Realmuto also still out. He's dealing with

that hip issue. And the Phillies promoted one of their top prospects outfielder Mickey Moniac. He's a Moniak. Moniac on the floor. I love it. In the lineup? He wasn't in the lineup.

On the field. I was going to say on the field. On the field. Yeah. Mickey Moniac, former first round pick in 2016. He hit 252 with 11 home runs. 15 steals at AAA last season. Scott, any interest?

No. I mean, he quickly fell out of favor as a prospect after being the first overall pick and no idea how much he's going to play here. He definitely has to show something before I have any interest in Mr. Moniac. I wonder how this will sound. He's a moniac, moniac on the floor.

You probably have to use a squeaky voice, Scott. Oh, yeah. Or is there an autotune voice maybe? He's a moniac, moniac on the floor. I love it. Anyone who doesn't like the voice changer? Take it. Take that. They can buzz off as far as I'm concerned.

Buzz off. Scott, I don't know if you saw it, but here are the players who hit a home run and had a stolen base in the same game on Wednesday night or Wednesday day. Brandon Lowe.

They were straight-laced there. Brandon Lowe had went three, for four with his 13th home run and his third steel. I like this, Frank. This isn't you. This isn't you. I know. I'm just being spiteful for everyone who doesn't like sweet and savory.

It's fine. Yeah. Well, what's interesting, Brandon Louse somebody I put on the, and that list of 15 hitters too, impossible to rank because, you know, I was all in when he was blown up early in the season.

The strikeout rate was way down. The expected stats all backed it up. And then he just went, nice cold. Well, now in his last seven games, 10 for 27, this is a, you know, like a 400 batting average almost, with three home runs and three stolen bases in his last seven games. So if he finishes the year on a high note, like the issue that was going to come up with LOW is, was he just incredibly hot early in the season? And if we had a chance for it to play out over six months, we could say definitively, okay, that was just, you know,

that was just him getting really hot and he leveled off and became closer to the guy we thought he was coming into the year. Or did he just get really cold there? And it was going to bounce back. And early evidence here that he's bouncing back, which would help with the situation at second base. Of course, it's hard to trust the rays always with. with the playing time,

but the strikeout rate for the season is still much improved from last year, even with that recent cold stretch for Lough. So I'm back to feeling pretty good, as of right now, about LOW. The old cliche goes,

baseball is a game of adjustments. So it could just be that pitchers were pitching him differently, and he had to adjust, and he took a little time. He might just be a streaky player. He might be someone who, you know, goes on these hot streaks, gets a little cold, bounces back a little bit.

That would make him a better player for Roto, if that's the case, because obviously in head-to-head points leagues, we prefer a little more consistency in our weekly lineups. But yeah, let's see how he ends the season. But yeah, another fantastic game for Brandon Lau. Speaking of fantastic games,

we had a pitcher's duel in Houston, question mark. This was a really odd one. Lance McCullors, first game back from injury. Seven shutout with eight strikeouts. 12 swinging strikes on 86 pitches. Right back to the bread and butter, Scott. I know that this is something that you were requesting earlier in the season. We need more curveballs. We need more. More curveball. And four, McCullors, 47% knuckle curve in the start against the Rangers. Nine of his 12 swinging strikes came on that pitch. And I am ready to say that along with his teammate,

Jose Orkitti, I think Lance McCullors can be a league winner in championship week because he is at the Mariners and at the Rangers. Yeah. Look, I mean, that's... That was the weirdest thing about McCullors is, okay, why did he go from throwing that pitch like half the time to only a third of the time? That was the... Obviously, it's...

You could attribute the struggles he's had this year to just working his way back from Tommy John surgery and maybe the command being off or whatever. But from the stuff we can easily see, that pitch selection was notable. And it was notable that he got back to it fresh off the IAL and was awesome in those two great matchups. It would be really hard to sit him looking ahead to the last week.

I don't think it's risk-free. I think if you have a pitching staff stacked with studs, I don't know that you sit one of them for, I don't know that you sit a Tyler Glass now, who I'm not even sure if he's making two stars, but let's say Tyler Glass Now is making one start. I don't know that you sit him for a two-star McCullors, unless it's a situation where you're the obvious underdog

and just need to give yourself the highest ceiling possible. But I imagine if you're debating whether or not to sit glass now, you're not an obvious underdog. So that's kind of a moot point. Even with this performance from McCullors, the Astros wound up losing this game. How, you ask? That would be Kyle Gibson on the other side,

through a complete game shutout, a real complete game shutout, not a seven-enning double-header. We're talking nine innings of shutout baseball for Kyle Gibson, nine strikeouts, and even with this game, his ERA still stands at 5.18. Also has two starts next week.

He is at the Angels and going up against the, Astros once again a matchup against Lance McCullors. Does this matter, Scott? I think this was a total fluke. I've liked Kyle Gibson at times in the past because he would get a ton of whiffs with his slider. And like he and Dylan Bundy were the two who really stood when you looked at the swinging

strike leaders at the end of the year. It was like stud stud stud stud stud stud stud stud. And then there would be Dylan Bundy and Kyle Gibson there. It's like, okay, maybe there's more than meets the eye here with Bundy. I mean, with Gibson. but that he's lost that. That hasn't been there this year. And so it wasn't really there in this game either.

He had 11 whiffs on 119 pitches, it's just not so great. So, yeah, I'm not interested in Kyle Gibson. We are out on Kyle Gibson, not buying in on this complete game shutout. We mentioned at least E.J. LeMayhew, what he did in the Yankees' most recent onslaught. Let's hit Susan twice and once.

one podcast. Of all the dramatic things I've ever seen. Yeah. So the Yankees had seven home runs on Wednesday night. This is the first time in franchise history that they had at least six home runs in back-to-back games. I thought that was an interesting stat. Luke Voight hit another home run.

19 homers up to 45 RBI. Clint Frazier. The guy is just red hot. No pun intended. But two more hits, two more walks. His walk rate is like 16, 17%. It's crazy this year. The plate discipline for Clint Frazier.

He hit his seventh home run. Gary Sanchez, who? It doesn't matter. We're getting Higgy with it. Kyle Higashioca. What? Really? He had a triple dong,

which helped absolutely nobody. Look, if you start Kyle Hagashioka somewhere, please send us a screenshot of your team. Maybe, I don't know, a deep AO only, somewhere, too, I don't know. That might be the only place you're starting, Kyle Hagashioka,

but he did have a triple don't. So, give credit words do. He had a random double dong game last year. I remember having a similar situation there, but obviously triple dong has taken it to another level. Yeah, he doesn't matter. Clint Frazier, though, I mean, that walk rate was something that was showing up,

even way back in spring training back in March, when there was all the talk of his new timing mechanism, that foot turned way inside. That is awkward to look at. but it's a very weird batting stance for sure yeah yeah that's that that was the change she made and uh i remember boy this is going way back to a different world pre-pandemic i remember he was quoted as saying like like he was always as a prospect he was always highly regarded for his bat speed but he always felt like it wasn't there and now he feels like it's there

and obviously we've seen the way that's played out for him. It looks like he's positioned himself to be a starter for the Yankees next year. It's interesting. I'm looking at the stat cast data for Clint Frazier, and his XBA XLug is basically what it was last year, even though the hard hit rate is way higher. So I wonder how that's, I wonder what that's all about. I have to look into that more.

But I'm feeling good about Clint Frazier. Yeah, it's something that caught my eye. yesterday as well when I was looking into Clint Frazier that his expected stats are not great. He still strikes out a decent amount, you know, almost 27%. But, I mean, still, he's hitting the ball harder this year. He is very solid launch angle, so I don't know. I don't know what's going on there with the expected stats, but look, the real stats are great. And he's still just 51% rostered.

The Yankees play seven games in the final week of the season. So if he's somehow sitting out there in three outfielder leagues, even in three outfielder leagues, even in three outfielder leagues. I think you got to get him because three outfielder leagues more often than not are head-to-head points leagues given the way that he is walking

the lineup that he is playing in right now. I think Clint Fraser is a must-own outfielder. The big dog, Garrett Cole. Were we ever really worried? No. The answer is no. No, it was the stupidest thing.

Seven innings of one-run ball, eight strikeouts, 14 swinging strikes on 95 pitches. Garrett Cole's last two starts. That would be 14 innings pitched two earned runs, 17 strikeouts to just one walk. The ERA is down to 3.00. Anything to add here, Scott, or just Garretel is Garry Cole.

He good. He good. Speaking of regression, he's going to save this for a little bit later on, but it seems relevant while we're talking about Garrett Cole. Trust the numbers, my friends. Trust the numbers.

Luis Castillo, regression times two. This is two fantastic starts in a row. Good matchup. came against the Pirates, but seven shutout, 10 strikeouts, only one walk, eight ground ball outs for Luis Castillo on Wednesday night. His last two starts, 16 innings, one earned run, 16 strikeouts.

The ERA is down to 3.03. Scott, Louise Castillo. We can breathe a sigh of relief because that, if he did not bounce back, that was not going to be a good look for us. But he did, and all is well in the world. Can we breathe a sigh of relief? eye of relief for these players, or should we be worried?

These studs have been slowing down. And I'm looking at you, Fernando Tatis. What is going on, Scott? Another offer for Tatis on Wednesday. In 14 September games, he is batting 183. Still just a 19% strikeout rate for the month. his fly ball rate by month has gone down in each of the three. 40%, 36.5%, 30.6%.

His ground ball rate has gone up in every month. 40, it's a 47% and then 55% in September. Any concern here, Scott? Uh, no. No, I mean, I, no. I is does he deserve to be the number one pick in fantasy next year? It's just that that's the only remaining question. I was I was already on the no side before this happened because, you know,

I expected there to be some amount of cooling off. And that's all I see this as the overall, like the way he's improved his strikeout rate this year. And I mean, the expected numbers across the board are just amazing. They are so ridiculous. Hopefully, hopefully this reminds people why they shouldn't take Tatis and they should take Ronald Acuna first overall instead.

Should they? Should they? Because Ronald Acuna's on this list as well. He's won for his last 21 with 13 strikeouts. His first 30 games, 284, 10 home runs, four steals, a 19% walk rate, 26% strikeout rate for Ronald de Cunia. but you have no problem.

No, not really. I was trying to set that up, but we were too awkward to make it good. That's basically the story of our podcasting life together, right? Scott, too awkward to make it good? Yeah. Yeah, basically. I will say, I wonder if we're in the minority. You think we are?

Do you think most people are going to say that Fernando Tatis should be the number one pick? I don't know. I don't know Chris Towers was saying that. I saw a tweet about it. Now it was a couple weeks ago. Like he was just saying matter of factly, Fernando Tatis will be the number one pick next year. Because I don't think he should be either. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. He'll be in the discussion. I really, I really don't know. Yeah. Look, for Tatees, you mentioned the stuff. Sadcast numbers there, I mean, they are fantastic. He's 95th percentile or better in exit velocity, hard hit rate, ex-woba, XBA, X-Sug,

barrel rate, sprint speed. He's still a top five pick. It's, I would take Acuna ahead of him. I would take bets ahead of him. I'd take drought ahead of him. I mean, that's what we did. I think in a roto league, I might take Tate's ahead of Trout just because of the steals.

I don't know how much Trout's going to run anymore, but I think, they're close. I think Tate's still slam dunk like top four, top five pick. Yeah, for a standard Roto league, I think those are the top four, the standard five by five league anyway, not necessarily Roto. Those

are the top four we're going to be talking about. In a points league, Acuna moves out of that group. And Tatees may move out of that group too. I mean, I guess he'd have to if I'm taking a Kuna out when I take Akunia ahead of him and Roto. Probably get

some pitchers higher. But bats and trout would definitely stay up there because of their plate discipline. Charlie Blackman, another offer as well. His first 28 games, he was batting 405, a 34% line drive rate, with a 14% strikeout rate. His last 19, he is batting 176 with a 20% line drive rate and a 26% strikeout rate. Scott, Charlie Blackman?

I haven't taken a look at Charlie Blackman in a while, if I'm being perfectly honest. He's not a player expert. to commit. But, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I still think, like, I don't really make anything of this stretch for him, especially after he began the year so hot.

I mean, obviously he was due for a downturn. And it looks like the batted ball profile is about what it usually is. So this is, this looks like just the general ups and downs of the season. But, you know, given that he's 34 years old right now, Blackman, he's more likely to get worse than better from here. You're probably at a stage of his career where he's going to drop a little bit every year in the rankings until inevitably cratering or retiring, whichever comes first. Fair enough for Charlie Blackman.

I wanted to get to, we'll talk about Gavin Bissue at another time. There's just so much to get to. Some more waiver wire hitters, if you are desperate. Cole Calhoun has three home runs over his last two games. He is 59% rostered on CBS. He has just six games next week. Jerkson ProFar went two for three with his seventh home run of the season on Wednesday. He's batting 369 in September.

Chris Taylor is a name that is hot right now. He went one for four with his sixth home run. He is 43% rostered and has started nine straight games. for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has four home runs during that time. Ryan Braun hit another home run on Wednesday. He now has four home runs in his last seven games. The Brewers play eight games next week

in the final week of the season, championship week. Jorge Alfaro had a double dong, 34% rostered. He has seven games next week as well, including three in Yankee Stadium. And then sometimes I don't know if we should just keep bringing names up. This is kind of how I felt with Ryan Mellon.

Mountcastle last week because we just kept talking about him, but he kept performing. Same thing could be said for Jared Walsh, who when he had at least two hits, I'll look and see if he had any more because that game is still going on. But he just hit his seventh home run on Wednesday in his 22nd game. He is just 23% rostered. So Jared Walsh is in there. Walsh, Alpharo, Ryan Braun, Chris Taylor, Pro Far, Col Calhoun, Scott. If you can only add, well, Offerall is kind of a different It's only if you need a catcher. But for these other hitters,

if you can only add one of these guys for the final week, Scott, who would you be looking at? I actually think, even though he's, we haven't talked about him that much, I actually think it's Chris Taylor, who I believe Dave Roberts has said

he plans to keep him in the lineup on an everyday basis. And we've seen him be good in the past, certainly swinging a hot bat now, eligible, multiple positions. And the Dodgers matchups, they,

let me double check here. Yeah, they look pretty good for the final week, which is not something I can say for Walsh. Or Braun, let me see,

bronze. Well, Braun's playing the most games. Bronze is pretty good, too, but you know he's not going to play every day. So,

yeah, that's probably how I'd rank them for next week, Taylor, Braun, and then Walsh. I do think, think if you need specifically power, specifically home runs, then maybe Walsh is the one you roll the dice on.

Six of those seven home runs have come in his last seven games. So obviously, there's going to be a cooling off period here at some point, but I do think Walsh is capable of hitting a lot of home runs in a short period of time. And maybe he can, you know, maybe he can give you two or three next week. Scott, if you were desperate, a catcher in a one-catcher league, which most people probably are. I would, maybe not most.

But anyway, would you have any interest in Jorge Alfaro? In a two-catcher league or one-catcher league? One-catcher league. I mean, it would depend what's out there on waivers, but I would imagine in most leagues there's something better. Okay. In deeper leagues, these are some names that stood out to me. If you play in an AL-only,

let me make sure I get that right. yesterday. I still thought that Dan Vogelbach was on the Mariners. But if you play an A-L-only league, Jake Lamb had two more hits on Wednesday. He has five hits in his first three games with the Oakland A's, and I would assume figures to play every day with Matt Chapman on the shelf. And also, Yairo Munoz, formerly of the St. Louis Cardinals, had two hits on Wednesday with a stolen base. He has started four straight. He's running a little bit for the Boston Red Sox, so another name. just deeper leaks, 3% rostered on CBS, Jake Lamb and Yiro Munoz.

It sounds like you're saying Jay Glam. Jay Glam? Yeah. Jake Lamb. Yeah. It's probably just another one of those things where, again, as a podcast host, just, you know, not being able to speak the English language.

All the A's beatwriters were tweeting out. Like at the same time, they were all tweeting. apparently the pitchers in the bullpen for the A's whenever Jake Lamb gets a hit, they bleat like lambs. They go back. I don't know why that was worth of...

I guess it was worth of a part because it made Frank laugh. So there we go. That's pretty good. I appreciate that. All right, let's take a quick break here. I will just remind everyone that this is a big golf week. The U.S. Open is here, and the first cut golf podcast

has you covered this week for the second major of the year. The First Cut crew is coming at you with two preview episodes and round by round recaps after every day of action at Winged Foot. That's the First Cut Golf Podcast and is available wherever you like to listen to podcasts. So go download and subscribe today. All right. When we come back, I have Who's Hot and Who's Not from Wednesday's Action. Some bullpen notes.

Maybe we'll get to a few of these tough hitters to rank for 20. 2021, and to stream or not to stream. We'll do that here. Fantasy baseball today. Who's hot and who's not in Wednesday's action? Mookie Betts went two for five with three steals. He now has nine steals on the season, 15 home runs. He's betting 306, 37 runs, and 35 RBI.

A legit five category contributor. No-brainer, top three pick for me heading into next season. Regardless of format. Mookie Betz, he's pretty good. Mike fires, is he good? Probably not, but he was at Corse Field, and he delivered a quality start, six innings, one run, four strikeouts. Scott does this matter?

I don't think so. I agree. No trust in Mike fires. Two words. Adam Wainwright. Scott, we were hesitant over whether or not to start him to stream or not to stream yesterday. And he was fantastic. Once again, he was at the Brewers.

Maybe he can give some pointers to Jack Flarrity on how to pitch in Miller Park because this is how you do it. Seven innings of two-run ball with nine strikeouts. Adam Wainwright has allowed three runs or less in seven of eight starts this season and sets up very well for a two-start week and the final week of the season at the Royals and versus the Brewers.

I think we have another potential league winner on our hands. Scott, I love those matchups. I'm still undecided about whether Wainwright is actually good. I can't call him a sleeper for next week because he's rostered in too many leagues. He's definitely given volume. Four of his eight starts have been seven plus innings and seven of the eight have been six plus innings. The swinging strike rate I've pointed out before is the highest of his career.

It was never that high. It's not especially good this year. But it's certainly respectable. And, you know, the results have been there, especially recently. I feel like he stepped things up on his last four or four or so starts especially. So I mean, I guess he's fine. I guess he's fine. And two-star week, it would be pretty hard to sit him.

But I'm hesitant to give a full-throated endorsement for a guy who, you know, like the ex-phip is still high. How much do I really believe in Wayne Wright? Not that much. But there comes a point where you can't only recommend pitchers you completely believe in. And I think we're at that point with Adam Wainwright. I feel you, Scott, on the underlying numbers. And if the matchups were not as good, then I would probably be closer to where you're at. But just, again, these are two teams that we've picked on all season, the Royals and the Brewers. So I'm going to trot Adam Wainwright out in championship week,

and I'm going to do it with a decent amount of confidence. J.D. Davis, getting hot at the right time, went three for four with his sixth home run of the season, including three RBI. He has multiple hits in three of his last five games. Scott, it's been kind of an underwhelming season for J.D. Davis. What went wrong, if anything? Well, and he was just a little worse,

especially in the ways that power manifests. the exit velocity was down a little, the fly ball rate was down. It was actually down a pretty decent amount, and it wasn't great to begin with, the fly ball rate. It's the sort of things that you can point to why his numbers are, how they are, which, by the way, they're not bad.

They just obviously weren't. He didn't take that, he hasn't taken that stud turn, I was hoping he would. You can point to those stats as reason why the numbers, are what they are, but over time, like those numbers themselves can improve and then hopefully the production would. Like, we just don't know. It's another situation where the season's going to end before I feel like I have a great grasp who J.D. Davis is, whether he's more the guy he's showed for two months this year or for the entirety of 2019. And I'm not going to be giving up on him

next year. Hopefully I can get him even later. I'd be happy to do that. I think the biggest issue for him this year, you mentioned the fly balls are down. His ground ball rate is up to 55% this season. So I think that's been one of the biggest issues, if not the biggest issue for J.D. Davis in 2020. Zach Wheeler made his return. Seven and a third, seven hits, three earned, zero walks, two strikeouts. The ERA is down to 2.62. It's been kind of a weird season for Zach Wheeler. It seems like some games he's almost trying to pitch to contact, but the good news about that is when hitters are making contact, he, Zach Wheeler has a 54% ground ball rate

this year, which is by far a career high. His K-per-9, however, is just 5.9. So, it's just like a weird season, Scott. It has been a weird season. I don't, I'm not really that concerned. I feel like I'm always bringing it back to the swinging strikes, but he was never a big swinging strike guy, even at his best. His rate this year is about in line with where it normally is.

I know the K-per-9 is lower than we're used to seeing it, but I feel like that would correct over time. And if he is getting more ground balls, that's a positive on its own. I don't know how exactly it's affecting the strikeout rate, but I'd rather see more ground balls than fewer ground balls. and obviously the overall results have been good. So I'm not going to complain about anything Zach Wheeler's doing, really.

And if you're wondering if the ground ball rate is legit, I'm kind of buying it because he is using his sinker, 22% this season, and that was a pitch that he had not used the past two seasons. In 2018 and 2019, he did not use the sinker, and that pitch alone is inducing a 63% ground ball rate. So I think that is something that has actually kind of legitimized him as a groundball pitcher this season. Few other names, some middle infielder's.

Gene Seguro went four for four on Wednesday, hit his sixth home run, two runs scored. He has an 11% walk rate this season that's never been higher than 6% at any point in his career. He also has a career high 34% fly ball rate. So, hey, if he's on someone's team because he's 77% rostered. So if you were starting him, congrats. He's been really good over his last 24 games here. That is Gene Scura. And then Adelberto Monise, he had two more hits on Wednesday,

including his 17th stolen base. That is a 56th steel pace over the course of a full season. He is batting 269 in September. His fly ball rate is right around 50% this month. That was well below 40% both July and August. So I think that is something that has helped, Adelberto Monashy. Who is not hot?

Lucas G. Alito hates the twins. He wasn't bad. He gave you a quality start, but six innings pitched, three hits, three earned, three walks, four strikeouts. Gileto is at 3.53 for the ERA on the season, 3.44 X-FIP. So very solid. But Scott, specifically the twins have given Gilito a ton of issues this season in three starts against them. 14 earned runs in 14 and 2 thirds innings pitched. His other eight starts, which have all been very good matchups, by the way.

Tigers, Royals, I was about to say Steelers, Pirates, Cardinals, and the Cleveland Indians. 14 earned runs over 51 and two-thirds innings pitched. I think a talking point in the off-season that I will bring up for Gialito is is he someone that just feasts on really good matchups?

Or is he just really good? I don't know. That would have to be something I looked into more. you know, he hasn't, this wasn't that bad of a start. Obviously, we're hoping for more. It was a quality start. We were hoping for more for Lucas Gioledo, but it's not like this was a bad start.

It's not like, oh, man, I can't believe I started him, kind of start. The walks have been, like his last two starts have been, you know, not what we were hoping for. But the walks were high in both, three in this one, four in the previous one. That's out of character for him. I don't think it's really a concern. I'd be totally comfortable and, confident rolling him out next week.

Whoa, buddy. Or should we say, whoa, Bundy, what happened here? Good match up against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Two and two thirds allowed six runs. Five of those were earned. Two walks, two strikeouts. All six of the hits that he allowed were singles. Are you worried about Dylan Bundy, Scott?

That's a good point. I'm glad you brought that up. That makes me feel a lot better. I was already going to hold myself to the standard I set after Bundy dominated last time out where I was starting. I said I was starting to worry about him, you know, maybe, maybe him kind of reverting to some of his old issues. But, you know, last start was a reminder that he's definitely changed. I'm not going to freak out every time he has a bad start.

So I'm sticking with that. I'm not going to freak out because he had a bad start, especially since, as you say, It's not like he was getting knocked around, hit out of the park, that sort of thing. Some bullpen notes from Wednesday, Ricely Iglesias picked up the save for Luis Castillo, who pitched that gem that we mentioned. It was a clean inning for Iglesias, one strikeout. And someone tweeted at us today and said, hey, can you talk about Amir Garrett, who got the save on Tuesday night?

We missed that. Garrett has been great this season, but it seems like they were just giving Iglesias a night off on Tuesday because he pitched Sunday. and Monday, and then he was back in there on Wednesday. So I don't really think there's anything to see with Garrett outside of... In a holds league, if you need good ratios, he also gets a ton of strikeouts. Hector Nerris spoke about him potentially being the closer now for the Phillies,

and they just, they cannot find anyone back there. This wasn't a save opportunity, but he pitched in the top of the ninth in a tie game, and he allowed to go ahead run to the Mets. The Phillies lose five to four. It's been dreadful in the back end this season for Hector Neris and Brandon Workman. For the Dodgers, Pedro Baez picked up the save. They announced earlier that Kenley Jansen would get the day off even before that game even started. So I don't think there's much to see there.

Kenley Jansen's been a little shaky recently. And then Sefan Crichton picked up another safe for the Diamond Bag. So look, still widely available if you need save, Scott. Yes, he is. And... Yes, he is. I don't know that he's... What I said yesterday,

I don't know that he's actually a good pitcher, but they really have no one else. So I suspect there's a good chance he could give you. I said two or three more saves yesterday, or I'm sorry, on Tuesday night when he got the save, and now he's got one. So I'll still say two or three more saves from here. It's possible.

All right, Scott, you wrote a fantastic article on CBSports.com, as usual. Tough hitters to rank in two, I want to find out which way are you leaning on a few of these players. I guess I kind of already know which way you're leaning on Jose Ibrahim. I was conveniently leaving that out, Frank, of the article. I know that's all anybody actually wants to know. They don't want to just, you know, hear me, hear me waiver on players, but I have no idea yet.

I'll have to dig into it to really know. But that's fine. We can do a top of mind sort of segment here. An early feel. In early feel. What is Scott White's gut saying about these guys for 2021? The Jose Abraeu thing, I just, I can't wrap my head around this. He's going to be 34 years old when next season starts.

I get it. But there's nothing in the numbers that say he's slowing down. I just don't even know who you can make the argument for that should go ahead of him as the third first basement off the board outside of Bellinger and Freddie Freeman. I put up a poll today on our fantasy baseball Twitter account at FBT. make sure you follow us there. And I asked, will you draft Jose Abraeo

as a top three first baseman? 63% said no. 37% said yes. Who is going ahead of Jose Abrae? I just don't know. I don't know, Scott. I hear you, and that's why he's going to be difficult to rank,

because I don't think he's going to finish next year as a top three first baseman. I don't think if this season got a chance to play out, he would. There's just too much. of a track record of him. I mean, look at his numbers of the last two seasons.

He was like a 280 hitter with an 815 OPS over the last two seasons. Three of his last four seasons, he's had an OPS under 850. Now, he's, he's a very stable, reliable hitter, somebody who, like,

you're never going to draft to be on your bench. And, and so, you know, I'm not trying to make the case that Jose Bray is bad, but we haven't seen him perform, you know, like a top three,

first baseman since his rookie season, which was way back in 2014, I believe, is a long time ago at this point. And he's 33 years old now. So I don't know, maybe he's going to have a Nelson Cruz-like late career, but I'm not willing to bet on that based on the way the last two months have gone. The only argument I could see for it, and you make it, is who else? Who else? Do we have that much more confidence in Matt Olson, who I brought up yesterday, or Anthony Rizzo? Pete Alonzo, are we going to bank on him bouncing back beyond what the typical Jose Abraeu season would be? I guess it's difficult to make a case for any one player. And so maybe Josea Bray just slots in there because it's easy, you know?

Paul Goldschmidt, I think maybe like Paul Goldschmidt's had a really nice bounce back season. and it's come to look more legitimate as the season's gone on. At the beginning, it was just like, okay, I can see how this line drive profile is leading to high batting. It was where's the power going to come from. And he's kind of corrected that since then. So Paul Goldschmidt's looking really good. Paul Goldschmidt is a good name.

That was someone I thought of as well. Someone left a comment on our YouTube. Feel free to interact on our YouTube. YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. but I brought up Paul Goldschman. I said, well, you know, he's up there in age. He's going to be 34 years old when the season starts as well. Stackass numbers look very good.

It's been a bounce back season for Goldschmidt. I'll admit I was 100. I was completely way off on Goldschmidt. I thought he was trending down. I thought we were starting to see the nose dive here for Goldman. But he has had a bounce back season. I think for Olson and Alonzo, you know, 250 to 260 hitters, lots of power.

I don't want to knock that. They're interesting players. but I think Abraeu just, I love what I've seen in the stat cast numbers too, so I don't know. I'm going to have him third. We'll see what happens. I did look into this. In Roto, he has finished as a top three first baseman in three out of seven seasons, assuming that he finishes this year, he's currently second in Roto in 2020.

But that will be three out of seven that he's finished as a top three first baseman, and a top six first baseman, he's finished four out of seven. And I know 2018, like, he had an injury. It was a graphic injury, too, that I don't. I don't want to get into, but... I mean, that's better than I thought, and I could see how... I've made this argument for Brayor before, that he's kind of a player who's geared for Roto.

And so maybe that's a little bit of points league bias showing for me. You know, if you're just reducing a player to his OPS, you know, OPS as, like, is not a stat that's used in the typical Roto League. Batting averages, RBI are, and those are two. areas where Abraeu has excelled beyond what his OPS would suggest. So maybe he just has that right skill set for Roto. And I don't know. It's definitely something I'm going to give a lot of thought to.

All right. We don't really have much time left to get to these other players. Just give me a quick indication here. J.D. Martinez guy. Which way are you leaning for 2021? I'm leaning toward being very cautious. I can. with J.D. Martinez is getting older.

And I don't know that if it is a video issue, I don't know that it's going to be completely resolved heading into next year because of fallout from the Astros scandal. Gary Sanchez, this is yikes. And after you give your answer on this, I think I found the number two catcher for next season. I'm not going to want to draft Gary Sanchez next year,

but I don't see how I can rank them low. than I haven't lined up the names yet, but I don't, I can't imagine I can come up with like five or six catchers that I'd rather have than Gary Sanchez, you know? And for the people that have been burned by him many times, I've never owned Gary Sanchez myself. So if he's going to start to slip down draft boards because everyone else has been burned by him, I will buy the dip there. Although I realize how much risk comes with Gary Sanchez. The number two catcher, I think, will be in contention to be drafted in 2021 behind J.T. Real Muto.

will be Will Smith of the Dodgers, who we have not talked about recently. He is batting. When I saw this today, I had to check like three different websites to make sure that it was legit. He's batting 310 with an OPS over a thousand.

In a great Dodger lineup, he's young, he's ascending, he's cut his strikeout rate in half, he's walking 18% of the time, he's hitting both righties and lefties. Small sample caveat, but... I just, like, he plays... He has stretches where he plays every other day.

You know, maybe he'll play two out of three sometimes. Like, that's the frustrating part with them. And, I mean, the Dodgers did that kind of stuff with Yasmani Grandal when he used to be there too. So I guess it shouldn't be that surprising. But that's obviously going to limit his upside if that continues. That's a fair point. I guess what I would be hoping for is, like, third year in the majors,

they kind of just unleash him and let him go. we'll see. Fantastic season for Will Smith. Let's end with this, Scott. Thursday to stream or not to stream. The must-arts that I have here, Kento Maeda, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, and Shane Bieber. Framber Valdez versus the Texas Rangers. You getting them in there? Of course. Masehara Hannajanax versus the Blue Jays. Probably. Yeah. Yeah, I think I would. It's always risky with Tanaka, but the Yankees have shut them down the past couple days.

Nathan Avaldi at the Marlins. I don't think so. That one feels risky. Second start back from the I.O. The revenge game for Nathan Avaldi. Jose Urania versus the Red Sox. No. Alex Young at the Angels.

No. Griffin Canning versus the Diamondbacks. Yeah, I'm not ready to trust Canning again. Not yet. Tyler Anderson at the Mariners. Don't think so. Dakota Hudson at the Pirates. Yeah, I'll probably do that.

Yeah. Let's fire him up. Stephen Brault versus the Cardinals. Nah. Seth Lugo at the Phillies. Yes. I have a lot of confidence in Seth Lugo. Casey Mize versus the Cleveland Indians.

No. Oh, man. I will say if you're desperate and you're trying to catch up and you're trying to make something happen, I kind of like Mize. His last start out was pretty good, and I like this matchup. Julio, you're Arias at...

The Rockies. Not going to do that, and by the way, he's on that list of 12 pitchers who are going to be tortured to rank next year, because Mike Gut tells me Julio Aureas is really good, but you look at the stats, the kinds of ways I would normally evaluate whether or not a pitcher is good. Doesn't look good for Julio Aureas.

Last but not least, Kyle Freeland against the Dodgers. not going to do it. Sorry. He's not going to do it. Freeland fans. Yeah, we've been fading Freeland and Sinsettella basically all season long

and they've kind of thrown it in our faces a little bit here, Scott, if we're being honest. Are we going to wrap? Stick to the guns. Stick to your guns. That is correct.

He is Scott White. I am Frank Stanfield. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today on our YouTube channel. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.