Fantasy Baseball Today - Monday Standouts; Marlins COVID Outbreak (07/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 28, 2020

It's Mark Canha Day! On a serious note, the Marlins are dealing with a COVID outbreak and it's a tough situation all the way around (1:50). How does it affect real baseball? How does it affect Fantasy? ... Onto Monday's standouts, Mike Foltynewicz was the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons (9:25). Also Tyler Glasnow is nasty and where has Josh Hader been? ... We've got news and notes and Corey Kluber is going to miss the next four weeks with a tear in his shoulder (15:35). The good news is Nate Pearson is set to debut Wednesday and Anthony Bass is officially the Blue Jays closer. ... In our email of the day, how worried should be about hitters struggling early on (21:42)? Many Fantasy owners are going to have a short leash this season. ... We had four players with double dongs on Monday, including Teoscar Hernandez, Hunter Renfroe, Maikel Franco, and Colin Moran (24:46). Do we have interest in any of them? ... In the newest segment, "He Gone?" should we be dropping Josh James and Luke Weaver (26:51)? Should we be interested in Jon Lester and/or Michael Wacha after his performance? ... We've got some live bullpen updates (37:20) where Josh Hader makes his debut, the Pirates fall apart, and Craig Kimbrel stinks! ... Some other hitter notes from Monday include Victor Robles continuing his hot start, Kyle Tucker stealing a base, and Dansby Swanson catching fire (43:37). ... 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. Hey there, everybody.

Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today on a Tuesday, July 28th. Frank Stamphel here with Scott White and Chris Towers. guys a roller coaster of a day. Let's start with the biggest story. Happy Marcana day, Scott. He hit his first home run. That's the big story. Can I get a what-what? That is what everybody's been talking about today. Yeah. Yeah, I just saw like breaking news stories all over every website. They're like Scott White's favorite hitter. Markana finally blasts off. The streets were on fire with Mark Kana News today. The streets were on fire. They were a blaze. Obviously, we're going to be reacting to the Marlins' outbreak situation with COVID.

We're going to recap a lot of what happened on Monday, although we wound up losing a couple of games there, and we'll answer your question. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. I don't want to put you on blast this early in the podcast, but while I appreciate that you want us to know what the score of the Braves and Ray's game was, you did not, in fact, send us notes for this podcast, so Scott and I have no idea what we're talking about.

Yeah, yeah, you sent us the box score. Is that true? That is true. I was about to privately message you. No, no, I'm... We're done, we're done handling these things behind scenes. All right, so let's kind of figure this out on the spot right now. But in the meantime, we will talk about the Marlins outbreak situation.

11 players have tested positive for COVID, as well as two other members of the team. The Marlins versus Orioles game on Monday was canceled, and it sounds like it will be canceled on Tuesday as well. The Yankees versus Phillies game was canceled because the Phillies obviously just hosted the Marlins for a three-game set. So the Yankees versus Philly game was canceled as well. I would say that this is probably one of the worst fears for baseball in general is a whole team, not a whole team, but a large majority of a team kind of catching the virus here. And I'm just wondering, you know, how are the Marlins going to? who field a competitive team.

I feel like this changes so many things. Scott, we'll start off with you. I mean, what was your biggest takeaway from this situation? How does it affect baseball in general? How does it affect fantasy baseball? It's, you know, again, it's a weird topic to talk about. Like, it's much bigger than fantasy baseball, but it is something that we need to address here on the show.

Yeah, sure, we do. I mean, we don't know who tested positive yet, and in some cases we won't know who tested positive. Right. Someone will go on the IL and maybe we'll be able to connect the dots there. I don't know. So I don't know in terms of like what players it affects. You know, obviously for the rest of this week things are up in the air. There was a lot of a lot of concern throughout baseball media that this was this marked to the end of the season. It doesn't sound like there's a lot of momentum for that internally though within the league. So I don't know that there's there's any reason to be fearful of that right now if it was several teams instead of one then maybe we'd see that more

and maybe it has the potential to become that. I don't know. The Phillies, obviously, they're getting tested again. It sounds like they're hoping to play on Tuesday still. And it sounds like the Marlins are hoping to, or at least the league is hoping the Marlins will be able to play on Wednesday. So, you know, but that's a flukewarm.

situation. That's a fluid situation. I imagine if if tests come back differently or if different advice comes in suggesting they they hold them out longer, then we may see that come to pass. But you know, a couple of things I saw from, you know, there was obviously the very large doomsday crowd within baseball media, but then there was also some who were pointing out different things like, for instance, you know, this wasn't so far off. the table in terms of expectations that, you know, there's a reason these teams had 60 player pools in reserve to draw from because we were anticipating that there might be a breakout at some point that a team would have to tap into it, a pretty deep reserve pool. So, you know,

it wasn't entirely unexpected. But of course, it's not a good thing. And hopefully, as other members of the media and other people within the league pointed out, hopefully it's a lesson for people in the game not to get complacent, given the lack of positive tests so far. There hasn't been that many since the initial intake. We don't know exactly how the Marlins were conducting themselves. There were reports from the Phillies observing them from across the field that they thought they were not being as careful in the dugout as the fill.

themselves were, but we don't, you know, that's obviously anecdotal. I don't really know. Yeah, I mean, this isn't the doomsday scenario. The doomsday scenario is if like multiple players on the Phillies catch, or multiple players on the Orioles or multiple players on the Yankees. That is when I think the league will start to really have to take a look at canceling, maybe not the whole season, probably not the whole season. I would imagine they're going to try to ride this thing out as best as it

they can, but that's when you start to see, when you'll start to see serious changes become considered as far as how the league is approaching this, the scheduling, et cetera. I think, you know, once you have multi-team transmissions from a single outbreak, that's the, that is the doomsday scenario. And I'm glad that they're taking this seriously. I'm glad that the Marlins aren't going to play today or tomorrow. It just, it seems like the weekends might be an issue here. you know, with the testing delays because these were, you know, we're getting tests back today that we're done on Thursday, it sounds like. Yeah, they can't play a whole series waiting for tests to come back.

This is just, hopefully this serves as a wake-up call to Major League Baseball that they still have work to do to iron these things out. And this is what we saw the first couple of weeks in summer, camp that the weekends caused delays. And ultimately, if there's any kind of doomsday scenario, I think it's something like that. So, you know, right now the season's still going. My assumption is it's going to take a lot for Major League Baseball to stop this season.

Yeah, I think that's an important takeaway because there have been a lot of meltdowns. Yeah. Whenever something has gone wrong, some things are going to go wrong. I don't think I think baseball counted on that and I think they set it up that teams can manage things going wrong as best as they're able to

it's not going to be perfect but they're like they're pretty far in it now to back out it would take an awful lot in things. This does just like really wish they had been able to come to an agreement 12 days earlier and added like a week and a half of off days

because that would make this a lot more viable when you've got six off days during the season and the Marlins and Orioles are going to have to use two of them in the first five days. That that's where it starts to get, like I don't think the Marlins and Orioles are going to play 60 games this year. Yeah, I mean, we're talking about... I would imagine that's just what we're facing now.

60 games and 66 days, you know, it was always going to be tough, especially with a normal amount of time. Right. In normal circumstances, you can account for like rain to late. and stuff, but yeah, it's not enough, given what we have here. There's going to be uneven schedules. Yeah, it's just there with so much going on. Look, the Phillies were tested today,

so hopefully they get the results back sooner than later. But yes, they have to tighten things up. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to. I remember when Juan Soto first tested positive for COVID, people were questioning whether or not they should play the first game against the Yankees because, you know, he had been with the team for multiple days after testing positive, and they didn't get those results back until what, I believe it's like 48 hours later.

So ultimately they just have to tighten this whole situation up, and this is why we had that conversation yesterday, where if you're a commissioner, just talk with your league mates and figure this out where if something happens throughout the course of the season, people get their money back and so be it. So that's why we had that conversation yesterday. But the show must go on, literally and figuratively. and Monday standouts, Scott. We'll jump into some of the action from Monday. Who is someone that stands out to you most

from this slate of action that we had? Good or bad? I mean, should we hit the bad news first? Because there was kind of a big... Sure. A bomb dropped after the rays hit three bombs off Mike Fultenevich, who was again throwing into low 90s like he was in his final summer camp start,

did not look good. It was like watching Matt Harvey At last year with the men That's what I was a career Matt Harvey Well the Braves The Braves certainly thought so Because they've decided

They've had enough of their game two starter In the playoffs last year Mike Fultenevich DFA'd And it's going to be on another team probably Presuming another team wants to give him another chance Maybe by way of trade Maybe just

He's let go and another team picks him up But you're not going to see him in a Braves uniform anymore Does not currently have a job obviously safe to drop him at this point, even though he was kind of a mid-round investment for you. The Brave seemed convinced it wasn't going to get better. So, yeah. Yeah, I mean, look, he's 93% owned,

so he's owned in a large majority of leagues. You go out and drop him even if he were to land in a situation that's positive, Scott? I mean, you're just dropping him no matter what. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was writing him up. You know, I'm writing an article 15 pitchers, concerning pitchers after their first start, and how worried should you be?

And he was in the highest category of concern. And I was talking about potentially dropping him before the Braves even made it obvious. So yeah, it really doesn't matter where he goes. I think in mixed leagues, you know, it's always possible. He regains velocity and turns things around, but you can react to it when it happens. I don't think you need to reserve him in the meantime. I don't think the Braves were the reason why he was throwing 90 miles. and that way.

Right. Yeah. You know, I don't think this is like, I mean, like maybe there will be some kind of change of circumstance and he lands with some team and they figure out a mechanical adjustment because he's talked about it. You know, he feels fine. He feels like the ball's coming out fine. He thought it was a cold gun in his last summer camp. He blamed a lot of things.

Cold gun, weather. Yeah. So it's possible he lands somewhere, but there's no reason to look at what we have. the evidence we have right now and think that he's going to land somewhere and be fine. He was throwing 91 miles per hour with the fastball on Monday, 80 miles per hour with the slider. Mind to you last year, that was at 95 miles per hour with the fastball, 85 miles per hour with the slider. So again, that is Mike Fultenevich. Chris, who stands out to you most from Monday's slate of action? Can a player stand out if they have not played yet? That's a philosophical question.

ask because it stands out to me that the brewers were forced to, well, they didn't have to use a bullpen game. I guess the Randaleigh, Adrian Houser, was able to go five innings, but yeah, it was a one-run game pretty much the entire game through the seventh. Josh Hader has yet to pitch this season. And Josh Hater has still yet to pitch this season. He did not pitch in a one-run game. I guess on the one hand, you could say, well, maybe that's a sign that they're saving him for the ninth inning. like we hope. It's just weird that we haven't seen him yet. I don't know what to make of that one way or the other.

I would imagine he's going to pitch no matter what the circumstances in tomorrow's, in Tuesday's game, just because if he doesn't, he'll have gone nearly a week without throwing, and that's not ideal. But that's just one of the things that stood out for me is we haven't seen Josh Hater yet. Yeah, and we have seen Corey Kinebel used in the seventh inning when they were down to Zip.

He was used to yes on Sunday when they were losing as well. I believe it was in the fourth inning as well. So we spoke about him as someone that you can drop on yesterday's show. So let's see. But, I mean, now it's kind of interesting to think that, like, they're going to be one and three. They are one-fifteenth of the way through the season. They're two games under 500 now,

and they've blown multiple games after the starters have come out before they've gotten to the ninth inning. So maybe that pushes Craig Counsel to be a little more aggressive with Josh Hader moving forward. Yeah. Like I said, I don't know. It's just, it seemed noteworthy to me.

If you're having to go deep enough into the saves category to draft Kenebel in the first place, I don't know that you have cause to drop him just yet, though. I mean, we just really don't know anything yet about that situation, except that Kenebel isn't considered option one in the bull.

in right now. I'm going to grab the low-hanging fruit with my standout for Monday, and Tyler Glass now was just... Best pitcher in baseball. I mean, I don't know if I'm going to go that far. But he was awesome. Four innings pitched, one hit, one-run. Of course, that was a home run to Danesby Swanson,

who looks like the breakout might be real there. Nine strikeouts, 69 of his 72 pitches. We're just on the fastball and the curveball, so we haven't really seen much of that splitter change-up pitch that he was working on in the all-season, but it didn't really matter because he did this against a great Braves lineup.

15 swinging strikes on 72 pitches. It was only four innings. That caveat applies, but boy, he looked good. He hit 100 a couple times. Yeah. And unlike some of the other race pitchers like Snell and Charlie Morton,

he seemed like he could have kept going if the race had let him. I think they were just being cautious the first time through. Yeah, against a team that just scored 14 runs against the Mets the night before. like he was basically unhittable. Other than that hard contact,

Dan Sampi Swanson made on that one pitch. Now, that was the only hard hit ball he gave up. Yeah, it seems like he's the only, you know, batted ball that he basically gave up in that game. Some news and notes to get to Corey Klobber. I mean, gosh, the hits keep on coming. He's out at least four weeks. We knew that he left his start yesterday.

We didn't know the severity of the injury, but he's dealing with a tear in his shoulder. He's going to be out at least out at least four weeks, Scott. would you consider, if you don't have an IL, would you consider dropping him? That's like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Because four weeks, is it re-evaluated after four weeks? Yeah. Yeah. So it's not even, he might be back. It could be longer than that. Shoulder tear. Yeah, I mean, that's, he might be back for a start at the end of the year, unlikely. Yeah. I could see dropping Glover, totally. Someone that you might be able to pick up, most likely not if you've been listening to this podcast and listening to Scott rave about him. Nate Pearson will start on Wednesday

against the Washington Nationals, which is the exact day that the report was. And Chris, you know, you were baffled by it at the time. It's just, it's so obvious. It's just so crazy. They will gain the extra year of service time, but Nate Pearson at least is going to start Wednesday, so it's something to be excited about.

Yeah, I mean, I guess they're testing the theory that there is no way to lose a service time arbitration case because it was, reported July 29th like three weeks ago. It's whatever. Cool. He's here. Let's see him pitch. I hope he's I hope he's good. He didn't look great in his last tune-up start in summer camp. The velocity wasn't quite what we hoped it would be. But yeah, it was isolated and they talked about a mechanical issue. He struck out the last three batters he faced. So it seemed like he may have figured it out. And like in terms of the caliber of prospect Nate Pearson is, I think most list,

had him ahead of even Jesus Lazzardo. They had him second to McKenzie Gore among all pitching prospects. Triple-digit fastball. Great slider. Was the talk of spring training before that got shut down.

So Nate Pearson should be, he should have already been rostered everywhere, but clearly now, even more so. And there might be a few leagues where he's out there. He's 57% owned on CBSSports.com. So maybe in a few 10-team leagues,

maybe some shallower 12-team points leagues, so just check to make sure that he's available. And Scott, it would not surprise me if this kind of opens up the floodgates for other prospects to start getting called up once we pass this service time. Again, just pure speculation. We haven't heard any of these other names

actually being called up, but it would not surprise me if we start to see Dylan Carlson in the next week or so, Nick Madrigal. Even McKenzie Gore. The Padres are off to a great start and it wouldn't surprise me if they called him up

and could use his services in the rotation. Yeah, and a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter has speculated on Spencer Howard, especially after Vince Velasquez's first start went poorly. I think Ryan Moutcastle. Seems like I always bring up his name. I bring up his name, I think, probably disproportionate to how good I actually think he's going to be. But in five outfielder league, since that's probably the position he'll be playing. I'm sorry.

Ryan Mout. deserves to be rostered ahead of time. Anthony Bass will fill in as the Blue Jays closer, and that was evident on Monday evening when he picked up the save Rafael Dolis pitched in the eighth inning. So Bass allowed a hit to Trey Turner, and he picked up the save,

so he'll be the closer for the foreseeable future for the Blue Jays. Boba Chet was scratched Monday due to a left hamstring tightness. So that's a situation to monitor. Juan Soto remains asymptomatic and has had negative tests on his. own. He still needs to clear one more MLB approved negative before returning. That came via

John Heyman earlier today. And then Anthony Rendon apparently is going to return, quote, sooner rather than later via Joe Madden. And Scott, you know, you were kind of interesting one. Scott, you were speculating on how this is going to affect the likes of Tommy Lestella and David Fletcher, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, I was. And maybe Chris was going here. Yeah, too. But yeah, the thing about Tommy Lestella started four straight games to open the season, including against one lefty, which is promising. I mean, if he's starting every day, then you need to take a chance on him in all leagues,

because just in case that power emerges last year was legit. But they also have David Fletcher, who's offered an eight for 15 starts. So I doubt he's coming out of the lineup anytime soon. So, you know, if Rendon is there, does Lestella still get the benefit of the doubt against lefty, get to stay in the lineup. I don't know yet. It remains to be seen. They could kick out Brian Goodwin instead and stick Fletcher in the outfield and keep Lestell end that way.

But we're just not promised anything yet. So keep an eye on that one. The one I wanted to focus on here, that was Anthony Bass, because I'm sure he's available everywhere. And the Blue Jays have actually declared he is going to fill in for Ken Giles. Rare intention being shown there in that role. So, you know, that's somebody you pick up over Corey Kinebel. Make that move if you have to. You pick them up over Greg Holland, who I was touting as a safe source yesterday.

Gosh, I let you talk me into Greg Holland, Scott. I was very aggressive on Greg Holland last night. I had a few bids on Anthony Bass, but I didn't wind up with him anywhere. Yeah. So I hope you're right. I hope Greg Holland's the guy for the Royals. Trevor Gott. I'd take Anthony Bass over him.

Anthony Bass is pretty uninspiring, though. Yeah, I mean, he did have a sub-weigh. one whip last year. Yeah. So there's that. But, you know, it's obviously not a slam dunk. He'll be able to stick in that role. But, like, no, yeah.

You can't wait around for the perfect safe source in this season, especially. Would you like to guess his ownership percentage, gentlemen? Six, four. 14. Oh. So, Pete, it looks like he's on the rise based on that report, and it should continue to rise, especially in rhodo leagues and head-to-head categories leagues. Email of the day.

This one comes from John. With such a short season. should I just stream the, quote, hot hitters? Freddie Freeman and Josh Johnson are looking like boat anchor bookends for my team. I think this season is really short to wait too long for players to get hot. If they finally start hitting, I am out of the running for a playoff spot, big deal. Adam's not here. We don't have to do this.

There's no, look, unless there's an injury, and maybe in Freddie Freeman's case, the fact that he got off to a late star and actually dealt with COVID symptoms, maybe it is possible that he is just not up to full strength yet. But none of us are good enough at predicting the future or reading the tea leaves to actually know who is hot and who isn't. Like, if it's fine, if you want to pick up a guy who is hot

and maybe throw them in your lineup because a guy, you know, one of your lower end guys isn't fine. But not with Josh Donaldson, not with Freddie Freeman. After four games, we know nothing about any hitter. We can kind of make some assumptions about pitchers,

even that's being a little aggressive. We know Eric Cosmer hits fly balls now. We know what they do, but he's only started two of the first four games for the Padres. And it hasn't been a strict lefty, right, either. I don't know what's going on. No, he's got some kind of illness, but it's not COVID-related.

That's what they ruled that out. But it was weird that he was in and out and in-and-out. Anyway, one of the issues with Freddie, Freeman specifically since he got brought up is he's walked six times so far. So like he's just getting pitched around. Now it's led to four runs scored. Like that counts. Yeah.

Even in leagues that don't count walks, I mean, he's scoring. I don't see any reason for concern there. And really with any hitter at this point, four games is just there, there's nothing to detect. The one thing that I was going to say is that I can see people panicking sooner, right? It's because, you know, it's such a short season. You know, people don't want to get off to a slow start. You know, people are going to want to have a very short leash for this season. Other names that I was just going to highlight that have gotten off to slow starts.

I mean, look, there's nothing you could do. I mean, you're not going to bench Ron Lacunae, obviously, and you're not going to trade him away. He's batting 158. He does have 11 strikeouts over his first four games, so just something to pay attention to. But obviously, there's nothing to do there. Josh Donaldson, he has one for 10 to start the season, but he has four walks and just one strikeout. I mean, did you watch the Minnesota Twins over the weekend? I want any exposure to that lineup

that I can possibly get. Alberto Montesee, two for 15, has zero steals. Another one, pay attention to Josh Bell batting 167. Chris Davis with a K. Now, mind you, I am the biggest Chris Davis fan of all time.

He is now 0 for 11 with five strikeouts to start the season. And that one's a little bit more alarming, I will say. I mean, he's not in the echelon of the other names that I mentioned, but maybe it wasn't all injury-related last season. So something in the point,

pay attention to with Chris Davis. Guys, we had four players with double dongs on Monday. Teosker Hernandez, Hunter Renfro, Mikel Franco, and Colin Moran. Not really the most exciting group of all time. But Scott, of these double dong performances, are you interested in any of them? Well, they're all higher in priority than Phil Gosselin's do Homer games over the weekend. That is fair. at least say that for them.

I mean, to Oscar Hernandez had 26 home runs last year as, you know, slightly less than an everyday player. And I think, you know, he'll hit some home runs. And he's got power. Yeah.

It would still be like a 15-team-5 outfielder league that I'd be digging that deep into the outfield pool probably. And, you know, obviously Hunter Renfro has even more power. I'm sure he was drafted in every Roto League as a cheap source of homers. It's just what else is. he going to contribute.

It does seem like he's getting preferential treatment in that lineup, so that's good. Should play a lot. But, you know, you know exactly what you're getting with him. I guess some people might want to take a second look at really more like a fourth or fifth look at Mike El Franco, but pretty much over him at this point. He's been striking out a lot early in the season. Five strike has no walks. Yeah.

Like, no. Back to back last year. He had like a good week to start the season. Let's not do it again. So you're no one here for you, Chris. Colin Moran, I don't know if he's going to play against left-handed pitching. No, this was a pretty unexciting day of baseball. I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

We're four days into the season. I'm glad baseball is back. I'm happy to take it where I can get it. Not a lot exciting to talk about. We're already running out of stuff, guys. We're in the stretch run. There are some interesting pitcher performances to talk about. Don't worry.

We got some stuff to talk about here. There's like three. Oh, there's more than that. All right. There's more than that. Let's get it. Who are we going to start with here with the pitchers? Who are we going to start with?

Well, I was going to say, let's do a little bit of segment here called he gone, question mark. He gone, he gone, he gone, and he gone. You know, I got to work my Hawk Harrelson in as much as I possibly can. Josh James, three innings pitched, three hits, three earned runs, five walks, five strikeouts, nine swinging strikes on 75 pitches. and then Luke Weaver, where are you at, Adam? Three and a third innings pitched, seven hits, six earned runs, two walks, six strikeouts.

The velocity look good. His next start comes against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Scott, dare I say, would you look into dropping either of these two? I understand it's one start, but there are a lot of starting pitchers that we've hyped up over the past couple of days. All right. Well, first we need to establish who I'm talking to. in my leagues Chris and no

Frank and then all the people listening to us on the fantasy baseball today podcast in my leagues with the caliber of player that's still available on the waiver wire no I am sticking with them if you're playing a league where like Ross Stripling is available yeah I think you drop Josh

Josh James at least for Ross Stripling personally I mean Josh James was one of the sleepers I was most excited about we knew control might be an issue for him and like he dominated the first two innings of that game. He was getting a ton of swings and misses with his change up. And then he walked four in the third inning. You know what? That sounds like, Scott. What? That sounds like a reliever. It does sound like a reliever. And look, he's unproven.

We don't know exactly where this is going to go. But given the upside, given, you know, the pitchers, great pitchers have bad starts all the time too. I don't want to make this the final verdict on Josh James. I want to see him at least one more time, see if he gets those walkdowns, walks down if he pitches deeper into games, and then maybe make a different decision. Then weaver, of course, is a little more proven.

I'm still unsure how good he actually is. He was great for the two months. He was healthy last year, but not in a way that made it obvious he had turned the corner. You could see it going either way with him. It's not like he was, piling up whiffs and had some kind of new pitch or something like a Frankie Montas situation.

It was just kind of Luke Weaver continuing to pitch like he normally had and getting better results this time. And like he continued to pitch like he normally had in this start. The fastball velocity, as you mentioned, Frank was fine. It was still basically the same fastball change at mix he had last year. And, you know, it just didn't yield the same results. So I'm going to have a relatively quick hook with Luke Weaver, I think. But again, in an ideal scenario, he deserves at least one more start. I do want to say one name from that Astros game, and that's Brandon Bialek.

He looked pretty good in his Major League debut, I believe, pitching in relief of Josh James, came in. Three and a third inning, four strikeouts, four hits, got a decent number of swinging strikes, nine on 53 pitches, five on his chance. change up. You know, he is a prospect of some note, not a top 100 guy, but, you know, kind of like a top 12 guy in the Astros rotation. And, you know, we know with Justin Verlander on the IL that there could be a possibility that Bialik gets put in the rotation or, you know, if they decide to pull the plug on Josh James, he's a name to watch.

You guys hear that? You hear that? Oh, is that the sound of Forrest Whitley entering the Astros rotation? I don't know if it actually is or not, but I'm just going to keep banging this drum until it eventually happens. Scott, one day you will be right. One day, eventually.

And that'll probably be the first time and the last time that I am right on this show. Scott, I'm assuming that you wouldn't, you know, I was going to say, would you drop him for John Lester, who just had five no-hit innings? But the thing is, John Lester is 79% owned.

How is John Lester's 79% owned, Scott? I'm going to say, I'm going to say, name value there. Right. Like he wasn't quite bad enough last year to completely write him off, but he wasn't good either. And for throwing five no hit innings, he had one strikeout. I'm not, I'm not really moved by John Lester. However, if I may, if I may segue us myself, I may be interested in Griffin Canning if he's still available. I thought that was a pretty impressive showing. Now, he didn't quite get to the five innings necessary for a win against the A's. I'm not sure he would

been in a position to win anyway. I think they got shut out the angels, right? Yeah, they lost. But seven strikeouts in four and two-thirds innings, 15 swinging strikes. From last year, the fastball velocity was down like a mile per hour,

but that's not anything to really raise alarm for start of the season. He had the same impressive sort of whiff rate he had going with the slider as last year, but the curveball was just as effective.

I'm not sure about that. Because he threw 20, Stadcast hasn't thrown 24 curveballs. He never used that pitch nearly as often last year. Well, if they weren't curveballs, they were slow sliders because the velocity was definitely lower. His curveball averaged right around 80, I want to say 82 miles per hour.

Yeah, 82 miles per hour on the dot. and today it was at 86. It could be a new pitch. My guess would be that at least some of those were sliders. Maybe. Now, it's obviously not uncommon for a player to come up throwing just two pitches and then develop the third in the second year. You know, I'm not even sure it matters.

The point was he- It's a good slider. Look, that's- He got a ton of wifts again. And his stuff didn't seem diminished after that scare with the elbow early. So as we were saying toward the end of summer camp, enthusiasm should be renewed for canning. Don't know that I'm dropping Josh James for him. Definitely not dropping Luke Weaver for him.

But, you know, anybody below that threshold, I might consider it. Another name that I just wanted to bring up, and I don't think we're there yet. It's, again, it's only one start. Don't want to overreact. But he looked pretty good today. And that was Michael Waka, five innings pitch, five hits, one run, one walk, four strikeouts.

The fastball velocity was up around 94. 4.4 miles per hour. That's what he averaged with the fastball against the Red Sox on Monday night. And it was just slightly over 93 miles per hour each of the past two seasons. I watched a little bit of this game. The broadcast was talking up his change-up in this game as well. He is rostered in just 16% of CBS Sports Leagues. I don't know that I'm rushing to go pick up Michael Waka. His next start is at Atlanta. But Scott, if he performs well in that start, I think that will be enough for me. If he performs well against the Red Sox and the Braves in his first two starts and the velocity remains up, then I'm going to be a little bit more interested in Michael Waka.

It's something to keep an eye on. I mean, it's been a while since he's been a relevant fantasy option, so I'm not particularly moved by this. It seemed like he was leading with his cutter instead of his four seamer. I'm not sure that means anything. It could have been a category error here early in the season, as Chris likes to point out. But it did catch my attention. I'll put WACA on my on my scout team,

but I'm not counting on much developing there. He did have a 363 FIP the last time he pitched in this velocity range. So, you know, if he is closer to 95 miles per hour, and that's where he was in 2017, when he had a 363 FIP, it'll be worth watching. But not someone I'm going out to add outside of a, you know, maybe a 15 teamer. If we're going to talk about blast from the past,

I'm not sure you got this in your notes, Frank, so I want to bring it up. Zach Godley? Remember the godly fervor? Oh, I remember it. Very well. Zach Godley, yeah. He was basically like my Zach Gallen this year.

Me too. Right. Me too. He pitched. He didn't start the game for the Red Sox, but he pitched four innings, struck out seven. No walks, which is important for him, because control kind of ruined him after that breakthrough,

2017, and 15 swinging strikes on just 53 pitches. I mean, that's an insane whiff rate. His curveball has always been a good pitch for him. And it was piling up whiffs today against the Mets. So, you know, he's not, he's still not throwing his hard. He's a couple miles per hour lower than he was in 2017 when he had so much success. But the key for him has always been the breaking ball and getting the pitch over the play. And obviously the Red Sox have a lot of starting pitcher issues, shortage in the rotation there.

Godly could easily shift into that spot. Again, it's not a move I'm looking to make right now, but Godley belongs on the scout team because if he moves into the rotation, he dominates just one time. I think we're probably picking them up. Yeah, I think it's a similar situation to Michael Waka. The only difference is that Waka's velocity was up. Zach Adlees was not. 51 of his 53 pitches either came from the cutter or the knuckle curve.

So he basically was just two pitches, but he was very good in relief. So just another name to throw on the scout team. Guys, just give me a yay or nay for these. Would you drop either of Josh James or Luke Weaver for, these are the most added starting pitchers on CBS Sports.com. Austin Voth, the most added starting pitcher. He's a two-star pitcher, but no.

No. Brady Singer. Yep. You would do it. Both? James. I would drop neither for Singer. But Singer was somebody I prioritized in the waiver wire

in leagues where I had worse players to drop than Josh James. How about Tyler Chapman? We have our first Josh Hater appearance of the season because the Brewers, just rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth. Asking, you shall receive, Chris. Not sure what to make of that from the Pirates bullpen perspective. Michael Fulies was pitching the ninth with the four-run lead and did not do well.

And then Kyle Crick came out, came in and gave up a hit before finishing off the inning. So, you know, that's very much an open-ended situation with County Callas still away from the team. so I seem like Nick Birdie was getting... I think Birdie is going to wind up being the guy. Yeah. He was really dominant on. I wonder if he wasn't available today then, because he did pitch yesterday.

He pitched on Sunday and he struck out the side. He struck out all three batters that he faced. So based on what we saw tonight, I would say that Nick Birdie probably gets the next opportunity, but something to pay attention to Josh Haderwatch. he is in the game. Josh Hader is pitching the bottom of the ninth in a tie game.

Meanwhile, Craig Kimbrel is having a very difficult time closing out the Reds. Put a couple men on via the walk. Three. You don't like to see that. No. It's not what you want to see. Oh, God, yeah.

He has walked all three. The bases are loaded. One out against Freddie Galvis. All right, so we'll update you in that situation as it plays out. The rest of the names here, Tyler Chatwood, Johnny Quedo, Garrett Richards. Would you drop either of Josh James or Luke Weaver for those guys? Sam again?

Tyler Chatwood, Johnny Quedo, Garrett Richards. I think Richards and James or Weaver, I think is fine. Look, you're reacting to one start either way, so I'm not exactly sure I can say one way or the other. It's a good move. I think Garrett Richards is a little safer than Josh James, and he does have plenty of upside. Yeah. No, I mean, I think James has more upside,

but the upside for Richards is good enough. Ah, I might do that one. I might do that. It's always the, like, with these early season ad drops, something I always argue is that dropping a player who you didn't make a big investment in, what's not like he was this super attractive draft commodity,

if you drop him because he was bad, who's going to pick him up? Now, occasionally someone will pick him up because, you know, they were high on him as a sleeper too, but oftentimes they don't. And so you're not actually giving up on him. You're just expanding your roster to kind of casting a wide net and bringing in all the potential sleepers based on how they performed most recently. So, yeah, I could see doing James for Richards. I'd do it with some trepidation, though. Some transactions that we made both Sunday and Monday, if you guys have any of those readily available or anything that comes to your mind. I added Tyler Chatwood in both of the podcast leagues that we are in together.

I dropped Archie Bradley. That was a points league. So I have Kentimaeata as a relief picture. I have Craig Kimbril. That might not work out. Let's see how that goes. I added Dylan Carlson for a dollar in my home league. Head to Head-to-Points League.

I dropped Kyle Tucker. Scott, would you make that move? Dropping Tucker for Carlson? in a head-to-head points league. Kyle Tucker did start today against a right-handed pitcher. He went, believe it was 0 for three or over two. He did steal a base. He stole a base.

I think he walked twice. He did steal his first base. I'm not sure how much I want either in a points league because playing time is going to be an issue for both and playing time is so important in that format. It's not a person's that much better of a prospect. if he is at all. Right.

I mean, Tucker is, if he's still qualified, he'd be a top 10 prospect everywhere. I would think, I mean, I don't know. I would probably, I wouldn't be afraid to drop Tucker in a points league.

So if you want to invest in Carlson, I'm okay with that. I would just imagine if Carlson gets called up, he probably plays every day, but there's no way of knowing for sure. It's true. I added Greg Holland in a 15 team Rotel League for $11, 11% of my budget. I dropped Corey Kinebel there, and I also added Brady Singer

for 11% in a 15-team Rotel League. Trevor got for $3. Did you guys make any transactions that stood out over the past couple days? Well, the biggest, like I said on Monday show, I picked up Greg Holland in every Roto league I was in, and in also the head-to-head categories league I was in. Didn't care as much about the points, leagues, because there's always closers available there. But in leagues where saves are scarce and in demand, I put in pretty big bids for Greg Holland. So I'm really invested in him now, being the Royals closer.

I'd rather have invested that in Anthony Bass now. So I'll put that out there. But, you know, hopefully it works out with Holland. Some hitter notes from Monday, Victor Robles had two more hits while batting eighth once again. He is hitting 4.55 early on. So I have to imagine he starts to move up the lineup. Something has to give here.

Victor Robles is off to a very good start. Kyle Tucker mentioned bad at eighth. He scored two runs. He stole a base. Danesby Swanson homered off of a 99 mile per hour. Tyler Glassnow fastball. He went three for five on Sunday as well with a home run and five RBI. So back-to-back games with a home run.

He is just rostered in 47% of CBS leagues. and Scott, I saw that this was something that you pointed out on Twitter. It was hard to invest in Swanson because it was such a deep position at shortstop. Would you drop, it's early, but some of the names that were maybe ranked a couple spots ahead of him, like the Gene Segueras, the Elvis Angels. Yeah, Dance Be Swanson was in that same tier for me. Okay. And whichever players I ranked ahead of him, if it was Seguera, if it was like D.D.

Gregorius. It was just out of them being more proven. Swanson has the most upside there. So him being off to a good start, I would drop Gregorius for him. I would probably drop Segaro for him unless I was in a desperate steel spot. You know, Swanson's another zero for steel. So yeah, I'd probably

drop him for Segara. Kevin Newman, that's an easy call. Paul DeYoung might be trickier. Yeah. DeYoung is off to a good start too. Yeah. And he had a good camp and you know obviously got off to a terrific start early last season we thought he was breaking out so i don't think de young we know the full extent of his upside yet i might draw the line there swanson's on the same level as him uh-oh shrimp alert guys what happened

Craig kebler just walked hit a batter to bring in a run walked another batter to bring in another run it's eight seven i believe he is coming out of the game His velocity was good. Class half full, Chris. So, you know, he averaged 96.2 miles per hour with his fastball. You know, that's good to see. Oh, my gosh. Who would be the next man up for the Chicago Cubs?

I was just wondering that myself, because this was kind of the issue they had as Kimberl was melting down last year, is they didn't really have a next in line. Rowan Wick, maybe. That would be my guess. I mean, Jeremy Jeffers is there and he has closing experience, but he's not really good. Yeah, I think Kimberl's going to get a pretty long leash. Obviously, there's financial incentive there that he's on the hook for a couple more years, making lots of money.

So I don't think he's losing his job today, but, you know, if you asked me a few hours ago, I wouldn't have told you Mike Fultenevich was getting DFAID either. So things can escalate quickly as. Ron Burgundy would point out. Did not, yeah, not a good start for Steve Sechick. Not a good sign for the Cubs who, I believe, let Steve, or not a good sign for Craig Kimbril. I believe they let Steve Sechek and C.J. Edwards walk for nothing this offseason.

Jeremy Jeffers is replacing Kimbril now for what it's worth. All right. So that's probably the guy. What is worth? They've used a lot of bullpen. options up to this point. Yeah, which is also worth noting. The gentleman that he walked for the base with the bases loaded was Tyler Stevenson, which kind of like flew

under the radar. He is a prospect for the Cincinnati Reds. And he got recalled as a result of Mike Musaka's going on the IL yesterday. Scott, I mean, just throw the name out there. I mean, I feel like any catcher that has a pulse in a roto league because you start two of them is kind of interesting. He's a prospect. He hit 285 last year in the the minors. On base three times today in his debut, Homer scored a couple runs,

driven in a couple. I mean, it's a big, big game. I don't know. It's kind of the same as, as William Contreras, Wilson Contreras's brother for the Braves.

Rush to the majors because he had to fill in for, for players on the IL, but got off to a good start and is a prospect, just, you know, is arriving ahead of time. And we're never sure how that, going to go. I'm keeping an open mind, particularly in two catcher leagues on both of these guys

upside at catcher. It's always in demand. But, you know, they're not priority pickups as of yet. Speaking of other bullpens, we've updated you on the Pirates throughout the show. Josh Hader just got some of his first action and Craig Kimbril imploded. Wachim Soria had picked up the save for the Oakland A's today as Liam Hendricks pitched in two of the first three. games for them. Roberto Osuna picked up a save for the Houston Astros. Anthony Bass, we mentioned, picked up the save. Seth Lugo pitched in ending in a third for the save.

Scott, that's basically because Edwin Diaz pitched Friday and Saturday. So I assume that they didn't want to pitch him three of the first four games. I guess. I'm a little surprised since he got Sunday off, but you know, you bring Lugo in. You're not expecting to bring him in for one out. So maybe it was just that. Like, he's already in there. We've already used them.

Let's just let him close it out with a three-run lead. Yeah, three-run lead. I think that was the key thing with both him and Joaquin Soria getting the save. It was a three-run lead. We know, you know, you probably want to save your bullets when you can, I guess is the way I would look at it. Diego Castillo returned for the Tampa Bay race today, and he followed Tyler Glassnow.

So he pitched in the fifth inning. So look, your guess is as good as mine when it comes to Tampa Bay. I believe Jose Alvarado pitched the ninth inning in a game that they wound up winning very big against the Atlanta Braves. So again, the Tampa Bay Rays, your guess is as good as mine. Guys, is there anything else that you wanted to hit on, mention focus here from Monday's slate of action? Yeah. I'm sure there is. I'm just trying to find what it would be.

I was, here's something. we didn't mention it yesterday, I don't think, but G-Man Choy is a switch hitter now. He hit a home run right-handed. He hit a home run from the right side of the plate yesterday. Not Monday, but Sunday. We didn't mention that one. You know, it's worth keeping an eye on

because if that can make him something more than a platoon bat, that, you know, he's a pretty interesting hitter. You know, not a must-start guy, but a corner infield option. And he let off for the Tampa Bay raise on Monday night against Mike Fultenevich. So the lineup context is interesting. I mean, just like their bullpen,

it's like their lineup, you don't really know on a day-to-day basis how consistent it's going to be what the playing time is going to look like. But definitely worth mentioning, more so for deeper leagues, G. Manchoe, now a switch hitter. Some quick, a few quick observations, if you don't mind.

Frank, things I would like to point out just to keep an eye on right now. But J.P. Crawford, Mariner's shortstop, who was formerly a big prospect, he has five walks to one strikeout so far, also two triples and a double. Maybe he could still develop into something.

Evan White, meanwhile, has struck out nine times in his first 17 at bats. He had his first home run today, but I'm not encouraged so far by him. Ryan O'Hern is back for the Royals. he had a big spring training, and there was some excitement building for him back then

in like 15 team leagues as a deeper first base option. He was out for COVID, but he's back. He went two for four today. Dominic Smith was in the lineup for the first time for the Mets and homered. He was replacing Jonas Cespitus at DH. Still not sure exactly how that playing time is going to shake out. And another sleeper of mine, Adrian Howser, that's one picture we didn't mention.

He one hit the pirates over five innings, did issue three walks, but was efficient through 68 pitches in those five innings. And, you know, deserves to be rostered still based on that performance. And Fernandez, hitting 333, 33.3.33.33.3.3.3.5.5.5. It is officially baseball season now. Maybe this is just who Fernando Tatis is. I did want to highlight, and I feel like every year there's like a week out of the season where I wind up picking this guy up in deeper leagues.

Jacoby Jones went two for four, hit his second home run of the season, three RBI on Monday night for the Detroit Tigers. If nothing else, I think he's going to play, Scott. So just five outfielder leagues. If you need someone to pick up in stream, I'll just throw the name out there. Sure, sure. He hasn't been striking out at the crazy high rate he normally does for the tenant bats. he has so far or 12 or whatever it is.

Yeah, I mean, I'm open to the idea of there being some untapped potential for Jacoby Jones, but it's going to take a lot for me to buy into it, I guess. And one more note I'll throw out there that we haven't mentioned. Andrelton Simmons did sprain his ankle. I believe it was the same ankle that he missed a significant amount of time with last season. I think it was kind of the same situation where he overran the back. and slipped on it.

Oh, that could help Lestella. Yeah, that I don't, Tommy Lestella has never played shortstop. I don't know. Fletcher. Yeah, I don't know if Fletcher has, yeah. He's played a little bit of shortstop. Yeah, he started 30 games of shortstop in his career. So it is, yeah, it's possible that Andrewton Simmons,

I'm not sure how long he's going to be out, but given that it was the same ankle as last year, it wouldn't surprise me if it was not a short absence, so we'll keep an eye on that. I haven't seen any update there. Your questions, fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Continue to send those in, whether you have trades, line-up decisions, anything regarding fantasy baseball or life, whatever.

Send it in. Fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. This one's from Luke in Philly, grade the trade in a points league. I get Bryce Harper, Kevin Newman, and Frankie Montas. I give Raphael Devers, Spencer Howard, Zach Britton, and Tommy Lestella. Harper, Newman, and Montas, in return, gives up Devers, Howard, Britain, Lestella.

What do you think, Scott? So he's giving up the best player in Devers. He's getting back the second and third best players in Harper and Montas. I don't think anyone else he's giving up and Devers is like, Somebody I'd be especially attached to in a points league, Howard, Britain, and Lestella. Certainly there's some upside there, but they don't have a lot of tangible value right now.

So I actually think it's fine, even though he's giving up the best player. I would give it a B. Yep. Yeah, and look, getting Montas back in the deal in a points league, I mean, he's the best pitcher in this deal. We don't know how Spencer Howard's going to pitch yet, but I would assume Frankie Montas is going to be better. so I like it a little bit more. I'm a Bryce Harper guy too.

I'll give it a B plus. This one's from David. Oh, he's got a bit of a rant here. This is in regards to Kyle Tucker's value this season. Taylor Jones? Taylor Jones. He had 265 in the minors. Just because he bats right-handed was in the lineup Sunday

against the left-handed pitcher? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I actually have a question for you. Let me collect my thoughts. Taylor Jones! Is Dusty trying to lose? Did Kyle Tucker

insult one of Dusty's family members. Does he owe him money? What is it? I obviously can't do this. I'm going to go see if Dylan Carlson is still available. For what it's worth, Taylor Jones has hit pretty well over the last couple of seasons in the minors, in the high minors, triple A and double A. He's not a nothing prospect. He's six foot seven, two hundred thirty pounds.

He's a big boy. He's a top 30 prospect. He got sent back down too. So maybe the front office took the decision out of Dusty Baker's hands there. Here's the thing specifically with Dylan Carlson. We talked about it a little bit earlier, but it's okay, dropped Kyle Tucker for Dylan Carlson, who definitely isn't going to be in the lineup tomorrow,

probably isn't going to be in the lineup the day after, and there's no guarantee he plays every day, even if he does get called up on Wednesday when they gain that extra year of eligibility. The Cardinals have a glut of outfield. and I'm there's no guarantee you're not just creating the same problem for yourself for a player who may not be better and I would argue probably isn't better. Dylan Carlson's had one good year in the minors where he's played at the level of the top

prospect and you know from what I understand there's some some concern about the quality of contact there. I've seen some reports that some of the track man data in some of the minor league parks. I think it was Eric Langenhagen from Fangraphs pointed out that some of it was a little run of the mill, not quite as impressive as the overall numbers suggest. So I'm just a little worried that Dylan Carlson was a one-year flash in the pan

and may not be a superstar type of prospect. Fair enough. I mean, you're not making me feel great because I actually made that same exact move. But we'll see what happened. Look, the lineup context, too. It's hard to know when to totally cut bait on Tucker because obviously the playing time hasn't been encouraging

and in this season you can't count on the cream rising to the top. So that like I don't fault anybody for dumping Tucker for Carlson. I do think if I'm betting on who's better given equal playing time, I would give the slight edge to Tucker. And we don't know when Carlson's coming up. So yeah, that's that's not just the mystery box versus a boat. It's like the mystery box versus a boat of playing time. Getting crazy with it there, Chris.

This was from Jonathan. He's got some team name Tuesdays. Hey, Wade, Ozzy, Steve, and Don. Those were all... That was the infield on the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns put together the softball team of superstars, Wade Boggs, Ozzy Smith, Steve Sachs,

and Don Mattingly. That is correct. Team names were always fun and thought I'd take a shot. We haven't had these in a few in a while, so continue to send them in some team name Tuesday. Take a shot at some based on my... deep keeper league, crochet me a sweater? Sure.

I don't... Garrett Crochet? Oh, the White Sox's first round pick. For the White Sox? Going scubaul diving. Yep. Yep. A birdie on nine.

Future closer of the pirates, potentially. B-U-R-D-I, yep. Like swallows from Camp Usano. Yep. Yeah, that's one. Oh, man. the responses are resounding. I mean, look, they're good.

Yep. They're good. Yep. I've got one. What do you got? In honor of Taylor Swift's brilliant new album, Mark Folk Loretta. I saw that's what you made your Twitter name,

and I had no idea what it was. I'm like, what is Chris doing? It's funny because like. That I do. I don't know if you know this, Frank. I was going to congratulate you, actually. I saw that Taylor Swift has a new studio album, so congrats. Well, it's not just a new studio.

album from Taylor Swift. It's a new studio album from Taylor Swift, co-written and co-produced by Bryce Desner of the National. This is a big deal for a hipster in his 30s who lives in Brooklyn. You are, you know, Chris, I live in New York too, and I have had much exposure to hipsters. You're not like other hipsters, man. No, there's, look, like, I've got some shorts that are, like, a few inches above my knees, but, like, I'm not like the rest of these guys. Not yet. I've got some short shorts, too. I mean, I'm not a... I'm not afraid to show off some leg. Look, who is?

All right, that seems like a great place to end the show for today. For Scott and Chris, I am Frank, thank you all for listening and watching on the Fantasy Baseball today. YouTube channel. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.