Fantasy Baseball Today - Opening Weekend Recap! Add Yermin Mercedes? (4/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 5, 2021

I know we talk about Shohei Ohtani all the time but let's just start there (2:36). The guy is a freak! ... Let's hit our OMGG players from the weekend, starting with Chris Paddack who doesn't look right (7:55). Is Yermin Mercedes a must-add player? Is Jose Berrios finally taking that next step? ... We have news and notes (19:27), including an update on the Nats COVID situation, Ke'Bryan Hayes to the IL and the Dbacks closer situation. ... Believe it or not (27:51)! Julian Merryweather is the closer for the Blue Jays, John Means Business, and Zack Wheeler is a fantasy ace. ... Who are the top waiver wire hitters from the weekend (37:42)? ... How about waiver wire pitchers (47:37)? ... What's going on with the closer carousel (54:00)? ... We wrap up with 'To Stream or Not To Stream' and leftovers from the weekend (57:55). ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, 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.

So much to talk about where do we begin. Happy belated Easter. Hope everybody had a great weekend. And welcome in to fantasy baseball. Today, Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. How was your fantasy weekend, guys? How you doing? How you feeling? I went to a Major League Baseball game.

Actually, for the first time I was realizing the other day since 2018. I didn't go to any games in 2019 because I was living in West Palm Beach and it would have been like an hour and a half drive to get to a Marlins game. So that was my first baseball game in almost three years. You went to Yankee Stadium, right? I went to the Yankees Blue Jays game on. Sunday, Saturday. I watched

Cory Klover pitch me pretty poorly. Yeah. Honestly. I saw Vladimir Guerrera hit a ball hard. So, you know, he's been doing a lot of that.

He's been doing a lot of that. What do you think of the stadium in general, Chris? It's, it's fine. It's nice. It's nice. Sure.

I don't know, like, I don't think there's another word for it besides just nice. Like, it's just like, that's fine. It's like, if you go to like one of those like,

uh, You know, like one of those planned communities where they have the houses that they build in like two and a half months. And it's like a four bedroom house. It's like 1,400 square feet. They've got like stainless steel friend. And you just, you know, it's like, yeah, this is nice. This looks exactly like your neighbor's house. It's nice. I've never heard anyone describe Yankee Stadium that way, but I'll take it. It's better than it's just, it's a little boring. Better than you saying it sucked. So I'll, it actually reminded me of Marlins Park. I don't know if that's, uh, that's something that people will get mad at. I actually like without a roof. I actually really like Marlins Park. Like just the aesthetic of it.

I do too. It's a nice park. Yeah. You could have left that part out, Chris. I'm fine with not comparing Yankee Stadium to Marlins Park. Today on the show, by the way, we're going to lead off with Joey Otani because why not? We talk about him all the time. And he was pretty ridiculous.

And then his start kind of ended in a very weird way. So we'll lead off there. We've got obviously our players of the weekend, believe it or not, a ton to recap on some waiver wire players, bullpen. and stuff going on. It's already crazy. I mean, saves, chasing closers. The carousel goes round and round. Let's start off with Shohei Otani.

Of course, who started on the mound on Sunday night baseball against the Chicago White Sox. And he was hitting second in the lineup. At the same time, he threw nine pitches, a hundred miles per hour or a harder, which is just insane. And then he had two batted balls over

109 mile per hour exit velocity, including a 451 foot home run. Shoahe Otani meant the guy is just an absolute freak the final pitching line against the White Sox mind you I mean this is one of the best lineups in baseball I would say 4 and 2 thirds only two hits three runs one of those were earned five walks which continues to be the issue

for Otani seven strikeouts 12 whiffs on 92 pitches Joe Madden left him out there entirely too long it was very obvious that Madden wanted to get him through five so that he can earn the win but he left him out there and then he struck out the final batter he was supposed to face but the ball got away. They throw it to first base. Someone else is running home.

Otani jumps, tries to catch the ball, lands awkwardly. He actually was removed from the game. This came from Jeff Fletcher just before we go live here. He covers the Angels for the OC Register. He said that Otani has some general soreness after the collision

and that he was not removed because of an injury. He will be re-evaluated on Monday. So, Scott, we talk about Otani all the time, but he's just so awesome. And now we have this injury on top of everything. So Otani, everything, gift wrapped. What do you think? Well, I mean, so far so good, I guess, right?

Like, anybody who invested in Otani has to be feeling pretty good today, whether they invested in either version of him. I know on some providers, he's still split into two players, though that seems to be less the norm now. You know, he hit the hardest ball anybody has all year, right? That home run? Second hardest. Second hardest? Okay.

Yeah, he had the, like, I think he has the sixth or seventh hardest, highest throne velocity for a pitch this season, and the second highest batted exit velocity. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's silly. It's just ridiculous. You know, I was tweeting about this earlier too, and I think we have to find a way. I don't know who we have to talk to at CBS. I mean, we're not the only site that has just one Otani, but I think we have to find a way. We're getting to the point where you have to be able to get his fantasy production for, If he's doing both on the same day, there has to be a way to get both, right? Like, I don't know who we talk to or. I just, I don't know why. So here's, and we had this discussion when he debuted, but I don't know why you would do that for Otani and not every pitcher who bats. And I would not want that for every other pitcher.

Well, when universal DH happens, when Universal DH happens. Sure, maybe, yeah. Then it would be easier to justify because I do think you're kind of neutralizing the full value of Oh, Tani. I think that's fine. By committee to only have. That said, I don't know that I'm ready to start him as a pitcher yet. I wanted to see a couple of good outings.

This was kind of a mixed bag. I mean, certainly it looks like he has the stuff to be a great pitcher. But the walks were an issue. He didn't go to the minimum required for a win, even throwing 92 pitches. I'm not sure I'm ready to activate him as a pitcher. Love using him as a starter. But, you know, the biggest thing is that he obviously started as a hitter on the same day he pitched. and he started the day before he pitched.

He was in the lineup too. So the usage as a hitter going up is I think probably going to be the most significant thing for his fantasy value. I don't know if in the long run, it really makes sense to have him hit on the days he pitches because when he comes out of the game as a pitcher, they just have the pitcher spot in their lineup now.

And they don't have a very big bench. It kind of puts pressure on them to leave him in the game longer. so that they don't have that spot in the line. What if he's getting shellacked and it's the second inning? What are you going to do? You just have every relief pitcher bat. It really presents a logistical problem there. So I don't know that we should get used to it, but it was fun.

It was fun today. It's a logistical issue that 15 teams have to deal with 162 times a year. But they carry bigger benches in the NL. Yeah, I would think maybe they'll start, like, in the roster, but, you know, it might be worth, you know, the, the juice may not be worth the squeeze or whatever the, that saying is. Chris, if you have Otani in a weekly league, where are you using him this week as a hitter? He has six games or as a pitcher he will be facing the Toronto Blue Jays. I think it's got to be as a hitter. I would expect, and they haven't said anything about

this, I don't think, but I would expect he gets a day off tomorrow. Yeah, I was especially after the collision. I think the default, my assumption is that the default will be he gets the day off after he pitches, um, but especially with that collision. Uh, but, you know, given that, you know, there's no specific injury, but general soreness, like, I might be inclined to just sit him across the board just because, you know, if he gets two days off, all of a sudden, you're starting him for four days as a hitter. Yep. Again, that is, uh, Shohei Otani. We'll wait to see the status on Monday, but the guy is just so fun. Let's get into our top players of the weekend.

Oh, my goodness gracious. And I see, hold on, Frank. What's up? You did it wrong. What? Because I'm not going with one of my top players from the weekend. Okay. Is it a bad player from the weekend?

Yeah, we always, we've done this. We talked about this last week. Yeah, that's fine. The oh my goodness gracious player can be a bad player. For a good player who pour forward. I was going to start to call it the top player the weekend because I knew the oh my goodness gracious drop was very polarizing, but oh,

my gosh, people were crushing it on Facebook this weekend. So I was thinking about like, don't listen to the haters. I know, look, you can't please everybody, right? I didn't realize some people hated it that much, but I find it hilarious. The next positive comment I get about everything I do will be the first one. All right, Chris, so why don't you kick us off with your, oh my goodness gracious player of the weekend, whether it was a great performance or a terrible performance? Chris Paddock.

I at least through his first start, he does not appear to have fixed any of the issues that he had last season. His fastball spin rate was still super low. He did not throw a single pitch that wasn't a fastball or a change. If he did have 13 swinging strikes on 89 pitches, that's not bad. But I just, I didn't find this to be a particularly encouraging start.

And I was, you know, I do have him on a couple of teams. And, you know, I'm definitely rooting for him. But, you know, four innings, four hits, struggled with control, three walks, three strikeouts. I just, I didn't see what I wanted to see in the first start from Chris Paddock. I agree with you wholeheartedly.

And I was the Paddock guy. So I feel like I need to, you know, take a stance on this one way or another. And the way that he finished spring as well, I don't feel good about Chris Paddock right now. He's not throwing his pitches with conviction. I watch post-game interviews today. He just, he doesn't have confidence. It's like a complete 180 from the pitcher we saw in 2019

where he was just overly confident. And he was just, like every time he went on the mound, it just, you felt like he was going to dominate. He was cocky. Yeah, like two, you know, almost to a fault, right, at times? But I just, I don't see that pitcher right now. I will say he's at Texas this week, so I'm inclined to leave him in the lineup.

Although, I'll still start him. They just had a crazy weekend with the Royals where they just scored a ton of runs. I still don't think their lineup is going to be that great, the Rangers. But I'm going to leave Paddock in for that start. But that's really one where, okay, if he doesn't show me something against the Rangers, then after that one, we might be talking about, you know, he's more of a matchup play. So I agree with you. I agree with you wholeheartedly.

I'm a little worried about Chris Paddock right now. Scott, your oh my goodness gracious player from the weekend. Well, 10 minutes in, I should probably bring. bring up Yermine Mercedes. Yeah, that was the other one. Yeah, the unexpected D.H. for the White Sox, we never mentioned his name once in spring training. I don't think he had a single home run in spring training.

Numbers weren't particularly impressive. I had never heard of him. I'll be perfectly honest. I had never heard of Yermine Mercedes. But he went five for five in his first start on Friday, and then he went three for four the next day with two doubles in a home run during. that stretch on Sunday 0 for 3 with two

strikeouts but whatever he started three games in a row at DH lefties rightes and you look at his minor league numbers considering he's 28 years old very impressive the minor league track record is very impressive for your mean Mercedes at 2019 obviously the last minor league season

he had 317 with 23 homers and 968 OPS in 334 bats 23 homers and 334 bats and all showed good play discipline. He's naturally a catcher. I'm guessing he's not a very good catcher, and so he was a tough defensive fit,

and just never got his chance, but he's getting it now. He's getting it now. They have four lefties on the schedule this upcoming week, him being a right-handed hitter. You know, even if they were thinking about mixing it up

with him and Zach Collins, it seems like Mercedes would get more of a chance this upcoming week. Is utility only on most sites? And, you know, obviously there are a lot of utility-only players this year. so you might just not even bother with him. But if there's room, I'd take a flyer, see where it goes.

If I don't have to give up anybody that I'm really invested in in any way, let's take a shot on him. I think any SPN leagues, by the way, he's catcher eligible, so that makes it easier to justify. Yeah, yeah, we actually received a question from Jeff and Cedar Rapids regarding your mean Mercedes, and he said he's catcher eligible in both leagues that he plays in, and he was curious, where would you rank him among catchers?

I think his lineup and at bats make him quite a pickup, but I'm willing to listen as to why I might be wrong about that. Look, it's easy for me to stick him in the top 12 at catcher right away. And next week, I may take him out. You know, next week he may be out of my top 20. But, like, the back end of the top 12 at catcher is so replaceable that, like, just... I got a question, like, should I drop James McCann for him? I wouldn't.

I wouldn't do that either. James McCann's value has not changed. Yes. I'm thinking more like Sean Murphy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Danny Jansen, those guys, yeah. I do want to stress. Like, I don't think Mercedes is must add.

There were some leagues where I just didn't have anybody I could justify dropping for them, or I already had that utility spot full, and, like, I didn't want to carry a second utility-only guy with playing time questions on my bench, you know? Some examples. Somebody was asking, should I drop Andrew Vaughn for Mercedes? And of course not. Of course not. I don't care that Vaughn sat out two of the first three games, or is it two of the first four? Two of the first four.

Yeah, two of four. Two of the first four. Yeah, I mean, I was going to say, when, you know, Frank said this is one of the best lines in baseball. And it's like, uh, Billy Hamilton's starting tonight. It should be. I think this is actually not that good of a lineup right now. Weird decisions by the one managing the lineup. But, you know, it's a long season.

I think he'll, yeah, I think Laruso will settle into some routines that make sense. All right. So don't believe it. your mean Mercedes is not a must-add player, but if you wanted to take a flyer and you have someone expendable, you can add him, but you don't have to do it.

My oh my goodness gracious player of the weekend, Jose Barrios, I don't want to overreact because I am a little notorious for doing this, but Barrios at the Brewers in Miller Park, six no-hit innings, 12 strikeouts, zero walks, 18 whiffs on 84 pitches,

including nine on that curve, slurve pitch that he has, fastball velocity was on the rise again. So, this is now two years in a row, the fastball ball vlo is rising. In 2019, it was 93.1 miles per hour on the fastball. Last year, 94.5, and in his first start, it was 95.3.

I will point out that on opening day, I mentioned it was a little bit higher for Kentimaida and Brandon Woodruff as well. So I don't know if there's something going on in Miller Park, but the velocity, as of now, for Jose Burrios is up, and he just looked absolutely phenomenal. I always thought there was a chance that he can take that next step and put everything together. He hasn't ever really showed it. He's been like a high three ZRA kind of guy,

1.20 whip, a strike up or ending, which is fine. It's just, it was never like an ace type standout pitcher for Burrios. So, believe it or not, what do you think, Chris? Jose Burrios is an ace, a top 12 starting pitcher. I don't want to be boring, but I'll just say across the board that my answer to all of these is probably going to be I don't believe it. That's boring.

Because it is one start. I had Barrios as my number 17 starting pitcher in points leagues and... No, you didn't. You just changed that right now. No, I had that in 24 in Roto. Points, he's a really good points league.

He's among the league leaders in quality starts over the past. three seasons. But no, I don't think there's any reason to significantly change your view of Jose Barrios right now. Like it was, it was good to see. You know, the velocity being up is very good to see. The spin rate was up. Um, those are all good signs, but it's, it's one start. If Jose Barrio's career has been defined by one thing, it has been an inability to string together enough of these starts to overcome, to make the leap that I think we all see as possible. I will say if he, if the velocity is up and he's averaging 95 miles per hour, I think that

makes it much more likely for him to enter ace territory than ever before. An extra, an extra tick on the fastball. And of course, the command. I mean, last year he struggled with walks, which we're not used to seeing from Burrios, but no walks in his first start and obviously 12 strikeouts is is a pretty good, is a pretty good start there for Berrios. How about on the other side, Scott mentioned, I mean, Corbin Burns nearly went. You know, toe to toe with burrios in the start. The one hit, the one-earned run he allowed, of course, was a home run to Byron Bucson. Shout out to Chris.

But Corbyn, 6 in the 3rd, one hit, one earned, zero walks. Also key for Corbyn's. 11 strikeouts, 17 whiffs on 87 pitches. He threw 42 cutters that apparently averaged 96 miles per hour. His cutter, averaged 96 miles per hour. Corbin Burns. Yeah, definitely the pitch selection for Burns was interesting. His cutter becoming big.

basically his primary pitch and gaining three miles per hour. It may have been a hot gun situation, Frank. It may have. I think that one's more likely to have been just like maybe a classification error, maybe some four-seemers. Maybe. I didn't wonder that too, since the cutter usage went up and the velocity. Yeah, that'll happen.

Just the fact that Rios and Burns both saw a jump in velocity. I don't know. Some people were trying to claim that. I don't know that I believe it, especially since it's not. I mean, it is stat-cast data, right? But, you know, good start for Burns. Nice to see him go more than six innings right away. It was only 87 pitches.

But nice to see. And I think he's going to be a good one for you for as long as he lasts. He's filthy, man. I mean, his stuff is just, it's nasty. It's just how many innings is Corbyn Burns going to throw this year? They said before the season, they're hoping to increase all the Brewers starting pitchers by 100 innings pitch from last year.

that would put Burns for somewhere around 160. I don't know if the brewers are in the thick of the NL Central race, are they really going to shut them down? I don't know. I guess we'll find out because I do think Corbyn Burns is very key for that team and their success. Before we get to some news and notes, a week unlike any other is finally here. The Masters returns to Augusta National,

where Dustin Johnson will defend his green jacket. Go join the first cut golf podcast where the entire crew is previewing this year's tournament from storylines to picks and even daily fantasy advice. The first cut has you covered. The first cut golf podcast is available wherever you are listening to this podcast.

So please go check it out. They do fantastic work over there. News and notes, the nationals are, seems like they're finally getting this COVID situation contained and under control. Their weekend series with the New York Mets

was postponed. Monday's game against the Atlanta Braves has been postponed. Ken Rosenthal reported just earlier that they are scheduled, however, to begin their season on Tuesday. So if you have any concerns over Nationals and Braves, they will lose their game on Monday, but it seems like they're going to be good to go on Tuesday, assuming we get no more positives. As of now, that is the case. They will be without

Kyle Swarber, Josh Harrison, John Lester, and Alex Avila. So if you have Kyle Schwerber in any leagues, plan on not having him for this week. So make sure. And I think it might be more than that because of contact tracing. There's a certain number of positive cases and there's a certain, there's like seven more persons. I don't know that it's necessarily players who will. I think from what I've seen,

it's like four players, one coach. Well, those were the positive test, but there's seven more. So, you know, you got to back up all your nationals, bottom line.

Yeah, I mean, if you just want to play it safe, obviously it's hard to bench someone like Juan Soto, but, right. I think Soto, and Turner are the only ones that I would not sit.

Yep. And I assume Max Scherz will be good to go because while all this was going on, they said he was still going to start on Thursday. So, right, right. I was just thinking hitters. But yeah, Scherzer, I'd start too. Cabrion Hayes, uh, wamp, wamp, placed on the 10-day IL with a left wrist injury. Scott, if you play in a league with an 11-day week, and we're locked into the middle of the fantasy week right now, should you be allowed to sub-Cabrian, Hayes out of your lineup? Man, if you have commissioner of the year and he wants to do that, more power to him,

you make so many exceptions for this weird week. And it's just, you know, you're going to be caving to everybody's demand all season long. If you set that precedent, I think you live in. I mean, you got to say that it's just for the one long week. Yeah. And if you do a long week for the All-Star break, that's it. Sure. I'm kind of of the mind, though.

You live by the 11-day week. You die by the 11-day week. Yeah, if it wasn't discussed beforehand, I have no problem just sticking with whatever you had before. If your lineup locks, then your lineup locks. So, Scott, I'll just stick with you here because Cabrion Hayes is your guy, obviously. So how do you see this affecting his season-long, you know, output? Well, overall, overall was good news. There was no fracture.

X-rays were negative. There's inflammation. I think it's, you know, I think it's probably smart. They're shutting him down. I expected to be a short stay on the I-L. So, you know, this week, probably next, you'll need a replacement third baseman. But I suspect you'll be happy with Hayes from that point forward. Chris, speaking of replacement third baseman, which of these names excite you the most to help you out in his absence?

Eduardo Escobar, Jonathan India, Evan Longoria, Michael Franco, Isaiah Kinerfalefa, all rostered in under 50% of CBS leagues. I think I would go with Jonathan India. That might just be a, you know, the devil, you know, versus the devil. don't, but, you know, he's kind of like Taylor Tremel in that, you know, he's been a top prospect who's failed to live up to expectations, but, you know, we don't know if, you know, he made a leap last season. It's entirely possible that he did. And, you know, they're playing a Eugenio Swares at shortstop to get him in the lineup. So the Reds certainly seem to believe in him as well.

Yeah. Always go for the upside when you have a shit at it, especially this time. Number five overall pick in 2018, 2017. Good play discipline, potential for 15 homers, 15 steals. I think India is the way to go. Yeah. Jonathan, India, he has five hits in his first three games of the season and looks like he will be playing every day for the Cincinnati Reds.

Eliezer Hernandez left Saturday start with biceps inflammation. And it's bad news for the Marlins because Six-O Sanchez has the show. shoulder injury he's dealing with, so it seems like they're going to be really cautious with 6-0, and now they have this Hernandez injury as well. Josh Donaldson landed on the IL with a right hamstring strain. Remember, he hurt himself on opening day. We didn't know exactly the extent of it. Now he lands on the IL. Not really surprised there. Luis Arise was leading off on Sunday. He reached base five times. He went three for three with two walks. He is still just 27% rostered on CBS. As of now, only second base eligible, but he could gain that third base.

eligibility. He's probably two games away from third base for eligibility, right? I think he started one of them at left in left field. Yeah, but he moved to third base on opening day. Okay.

That was, they brought in Jake Cave at left field, so. They caved and brought in Cave. I think Arias is probably two games. I'll look it up that we should have a tracker that I'll track down. Fair enough.

Tony Gonsolin with the Dodgers went to the aisle with shoulder inflammation. He was in the bullpen for them anyway, so, I mean, it's unfortunate, but it would have been worse if he was actually in their rotation. Tim Anderson exited the game on Sunday night with a tight left hamstring. He was replaced by Lauri Garcia. Chad Pinder was diagnosed with a left knee sprain and will undergo an MRI on Monday.

And this one's really interesting. I want to know your thoughts on the situation because I had Joachim Soria in a few of my leagues. And they said right before the season started, they weren't claiming a closer. They weren't naming one, whatever. Soria came in to pitch on Sunday in the eighth inning. The debacks were up three to one at the time. He was facing the heart of the lineup. He recorded two quick outs,

and then he heard his calf on a play where he was covering first base. He went on to walk the next two batters. He was then relieved by Kevin Ginkle, who recorded a strikeout on three pitches, and he looked pretty good. And then Chris Devensky came in in the ninth inning. He did allow a home run to Fernando Tatis, but ultimately picked up the save.

Scott, how are you feeling about the Diamondback situation? not great Bob I kind of think that if they wanted to leave Ginkle out there they could have because he only had three pitches in the eighth so this Devinsky appearance kind of seems like it was premeditated in my opinion well yeah and they used

Crichton earlier in the game to Stefan Crichton and then still brought Soria in for the eighth maybe it was just because it faced the heart of the order but now that he's heard it's kind of a moot point anyway I think it's possible he wanted Davensky in there all along

the diamondbacks I don't know that he has really staying power in the role his velocity was actually down in the appearance he served up a long home run to Fernando Tatis

I put in a modest bid for Davensky in leagues where I'm desperate for saves but I was putting I was prioritizing him behind like Cesar Valdez of the Orioles who got their first two saves

I was prioritizing him Probably, Davensky probably on equal terms to Wade Davis. I remember got that two out save on opening day because Greg Holland was having troubles. We haven't really seen any indication who the Royal Scloser is since then. But that's about the level I was valuing Davensky. Yeah, I put him in that same tier as like a Brian Garcia who picked up a save over the weekend. Gregory Soto got the save on opening day. And then Garcia got the save on.

It was either Friday or Saturday. So I was kind of viewing Davensky in that same light. and I will just point out 15 team Roto League that I play in the NFBC main event closers go for a lot of money in this so don't go out and spend like 10 or 11%

insane bidding in mine. Oh my God. Chris Devensky went for $113 out of $1,000 fab budget. I think it went more than that in mine. It was insane. These people blow in their budgets do not spend 11% of your budget on Chris Devensky.

I actually got, Kevin Ginkle for $7, so less than 1%. I am speculating there. Wow. What's up? Julian Maryweather went for 420 in my KGFBI. So we got to bring it. Can we talk about him now because I feel like him in Mercedes. Yeah, that's what I was going to.

But let's do it. I got Cesar Fowler Fadez for 81. Well, let's jump right into these, believe it or not. And believe it or not, Julian Meriweather is the Blue Jays closer. You mentioned how much he just went for Chris in Yoles. It's a 15-team Roto League, so people are a little bit more desperate for saves there. He went for 33% of someone's fad budget in my main event. So, Chris, what do you think?

Is he the Blue Jays closer? No. No, I don't think so. You're not believing. I don't know if they have a closer, but he got the first save in extra innings. Jordan Romano was being used as the closer. He came in in the top of the ninth of a tie game. the second one, Jordan Romano came in to face

one, two, three in the Yankees lineup in the eighth inning. And then Marriweather got the save in the ninth. And like, I saw people on Twitter like, well, Merriweather looks better. And like, dude, it's two outings. I don't care who looks better. Like that doesn't mean anything to me. He could come out and walk three guys in his next outing.

So no, I would say it is more likely that Romano gets the next save. than Maryweather. But I'm not going to say it's not possible that Merriweather gets the next save. I think that's a fair read on the situation. It makes sense, and it may be right. I have a different read on the situation. And it's just a matter of interpretation at this point,

because we don't really know. I think Meriwether has come in with so much sizzle and has looked so overpowering. It is two outings, but, you know, managers are often, particularly for this role, they often make snap judgments like that. And I just think all the momentum is with Maryweather right now.

I give it a, I think it's a 60-40 situation. 60%, I would say Maryweather's the closer right now, 40% not. You know, I think if you have Romano, you pick up Maryweather and, you know,

just let it play out, see where it goes. I think if you need, like I was prioritizing Maryweather over Seazar for Valdez. I was prioritizing him. You know, in the shallower leagues. I was given Melanson,

I was taking Malanson, Mark Malanson over Maryweather, but I was even putting Maryweather over somebody like Hector Neris in those shallower leagues, just because I like the upside so much. But if push came to shove, I think I would drop Romano for Barryweather. If I was forced to do that, that's literally the only guy I could drop for it.

You're forcing me to make that judgment call. I have to go one way or the other. I think I'm doing it because somebody else is going to pick up Meriwether. I'm not totally sure somebody else. would pick up Romano. Yeah. I mean, it's not like Romano's been bad.

He hasn't. He hasn't. Like, Maryweather. I just, I just have to, you know, it's. No,

I get that. I just, yeah, like, I think Romano should be picked up if he gets dropped immediately is what I said. I agree.

I agree he should. I just think it's less likely he will be than that Maryweather will be picked up right now. And, you know, you know, I legitimately do think it's a 60% chance. We're just going to run with Maryweather.

He's done it great twice so far. Let's not. mess with it, you know? Yep. And Romano was using the eighth inning to face the top of the order on Sunday in a three to one game. And then Meriwether had a perfect ninth inning. He had two strikeouts and picked up his second save.

He has only 21% rostered on CBS leagues. And yeah, I'm closer to you, Scott. I mean, if you have to make the call, Romano or Meriwether, I am leaning Merriweather right now as well. I would just, if you play in a roto or headset categories league, I would try my best to hold both. I know

it's tough. Try to add Maryweather and keep Romano on your team, but if push comes to shove, I would actually drop Romano as well. For Julian Meriwether, believe it or not, we mentioned his name, Chris. Do you actually think Buster Posey is back? No.

No, he's not going to win the National League MVP. So no, Buster Posey's not back. Or do you mean back as a top 15, top 12 catcher? If that's what you mean, yeah, I think he totally could be. Yeah, I mean, back to being a viable fantasy option at the position?

Absolutely 100%. He is halfway to his 2019 homer total. He is less just about a third of the way to his 2018 homer total. And I mean, we're talking about a guy who has never seen the plate discipline slip. That's never not been there for him. What hasn't been there has been the ability

to drive the ball over the last couple of seasons. He was dealing with a hip injury. He got hip surgery after the 2019 season, took the 2020 season off. I think that could only be good for him. So, yeah, I was drafting Buster Posey. And sure, there's definitely some, what's the term? Confirmation bias there because I'd like Buster Posey coming in. But he's done everything you would have wanted to see so far.

He had two hits over the weekend. both of them were home runs, and it reminds me a little bit of the Salvador Perez situation from two years ago, Chris, where Perez was out the entire year and then he came back last year, and he was also,

I'm not saying Buster Posey's going to be that good, but, I mean, for these older catchers, you take a whole year off, I think that can help, and you can come back a little bit more rejuvenated. So I'm with you on Buster POSTER POSA. I think he's not top 12 yet, but probably like just outside of it.

And, you know, I think he doesn't, have some, he does definitely have fantasy viability. So I am, I am believing this one. Scott, believe it or not, John means business, whatever that means.

Did I come up with that? Was I the originator of that? Because now you see it everywhere. I think you were, because the first time you said it, I almost fell off my chair. I thought it was later. It was like in December, right? When we had a guest on, it was. It was Alex Fast, actually.

I thought it was Jennifer I can't remember her last name anyway Yeah that's it Yeah Anyway Does John mean business I don't

I'm not ready to say that Obviously I was very high on him coming in A lot of it had to do with his velocity His velocity was actually down in this start Now it was a 37 degree temperature start Most of the pitchers we saw pitching those conditions over the weekend saw comparable

two mile per hour plus drop in velocity so maybe that entirely explains it some pitchers by the way were fine a couple of them Avaldi Nathan Avaldi had their normal and I think another guy had their normal velocity but I mean he looked really good his change up John means change up look better than ever he got 14 swinging strikes

he threw his change up more and it was more effective than I think it's as effective as it's ever been anyway and we know he has great control. I think he only had one start where he walked more than one batter last year. I think he certainly is must roster.

His matchup this upcoming week is against the Yankees, I believe. So I'd be reluctant to use him still. But I'm encouraged if I drafted him. I encourage this is a good first start. Last, believe it or not, Zach Wheeler is a top 12 starting pitcher. He's an ace, much like Jose Barreto. over the weekend at home against the Braves,

seven shutout, just one hit allowed, 10 strikeouts, 16 whiffs on 90 pitches. Chris, believe it or not, Zach Wheeler is an ace. No, I don't believe it. Boo.

I think he's roughly, you know, one of the 20 or so best pitchers in fantasy. But that was a really promising start. Tons of whiffs, which was, actually he got whiffs last season. It was, you know,

he wasn't getting K's last season. But, you know, the four-scene fastball was working as a put-away pitch. He was getting whiffs with it. I don't know how sustainable that is because it didn't really, he didn't have like a spike in spin rate the way we would hope to see if we were going to see a big spike in whiff rate. So, you know, I think it's probably just a one-start thing,

but Zach Wheeler was really good. And so, you know, he'll have starts like this. Yes, he certainly will. And the fastball velocity and slider velocity were both up between half a tick and a full tick. So you like to see that. I mean, guys start on like 90, 91 mile per hour sliders. It's just awesome.

Awesome to see from Zach Wheeler. If you were watching on the video side, don't go anywhere if you are listening to the podcast on audio. We're going to take a quick break. But when we return, we will hit the waiver wire here on fantasy baseball today. So we spoke about Michael Taylor after opening day. He had a big game. And he continued to have a big weekend, as did his teammate,

Kyle Isbell. Scott, the roster percentage for Michael Taylor right now is 24% on CBS. What should that number be? It should be 64%. Does he need to be owned in

three outfielder leagues? He doesn't need to be owned in three outfielder leagues, no. I think he needs to be owned in five outfielder leagues. But three outfielder, you know,

it just depends on your need. I would guess in three outfielder leagues I can find somebody on waivers I'm more interested in at that position, then Taylor, who obviously has a long track record of being a poor plate discipline guy, you know, three outfielder leagues,

those tend to be at points leagues. So keep that in mind. Would you rather have Taylor or Michael, or, sorry, Taylor or Taylor or Taylor? I would rather have Michael Taylor. I would rather have Michael Taylor. I mean, they're both, you know, I think the, I think the expectation of failure

is high for both of them, but so far Taylor's succeeding after a very strong spring where he made some changes that might improve his overall profile. So, yeah, I'd go with Michael Taylor over Taylor Tremel. I agree with that take too. And I like Tremel quite a bit, but, man, I'm really liking what I'm seeing from Michael Taylor, who moved up in the lineup on Sunday.

He was batting sixth for the team. Hunter Dozier continued to be out with a thumb injury that he's suffering from. Chris, which one of these Texas Rangers hitters? Are you more interested in Nate Lowe, who went two for four with a three-run home run off of, unfortunately, my guy Brady Singer, on Sunday. It was 113.9 miles per hour off the bat for Nate Lo. He has five hits and nine RBI early on.

He's just 26% rostered. And his teammate, Isaiah Kinear Folefa, went three for four with the home run on Sunday as well. 23% rostered. Which one do you like more? Well, in Yahoo, Kiner Folefa for sure. He's a must roster catcher. That is true.

I would rather have him than Yermin. your mean Mercedes in leagues where they're both catcher eligible. But otherwise, Nate Lowe, Nate Lowe. Nate Lowe. I think this was a new career Max Exavilo for Nate Lowe. And he's always had power.

He got caught up in the race, just kind of not wanting to play him every day. The Rangers, you know, they don't exactly have a lot of guys. So they'll probably give him, a lot more leash. And I think he D-Hed on Sunday as well, right? I can look that up for you while you're talking.

I think he d-hed one of the games so far, which is a good sign because... He was the D-H on Sunday, batting clean-up. Yeah, so, you know, that's a good sign for someone who, you know, that he's going to stay in the lineup. So I think Nate Lowe, he was someone I liked as a sleeper. I know, Frank, you liked him a lot as a sleeper. Yeah, definitely worth adding.

I did back off a little bit as spring training went on because he was striking out a lot, and it seemed like maybe there was a log jam in terms of playing time, but a few guys got hurt for the Rangers, and so that I think that kind of forced Nate Lowe's into some playing time here early, and he's performing. So, I mean, yeah, I have no problem picking him up

in leagues where you need a corner infielder or you want to pick up a Utiltabat who has some power. I do think Nate Lowe can be that guy for you. Scott, Uliq or yell? Is he back? Is this a thing? Is this real seven hits with two home runs? over the weekend for the Astros in their first four games,

he is 65% rostered. That's already pretty high. Yeah, I mean, I think it's fair when somebody is going back to what they were doing in 2019 rather than what they were doing in 2020, I think it's fair to give them the benefit of the doubt and presume that they're getting back to what we knew them to be. I don't know that he's ever going to be a 31 homer guy

like he did back then, but I view Yuleiguriel as a high batting average source who, with a shot at like 20 homers, and he's not going to strike out much, so that makes him especially valuable in points leagues. Points leagues are where you have the smaller rosters. It might be difficult to add him at this point. But I think it's more likely than not Yuli Gurriel

has a strong season, much stronger than 2020. Would you rather have Guriel or Nate Lowe? I'd rather have Guriel. I think that is the way that I would lean as well. But I was to say about the Astros, there is a chance that their lineup is just back, and it's amazing because that's what it looked like over the weekend. I had this thought the other day.

I don't know why it didn't come up. We were so focused on like trash can lids and whatever. But remember they had a COVID outbreak before the season even started. They like when the spring training 2.0, where it was a bunch of intra-squad games, like they weren't doing any of that. They didn't have a chance to get ready for the season again. I don't know why that hasn't come. up more, but it might explain all of it.

Chris, let's wrap up the waiver wire hitters with give me your favorite deep league ad of these names. They're all rostered in less than 20% of CBS leagues. Sam Hilliard, he had a home run off of David Price on Friday, lefty on lefty. Robbie Grossman is the 7% rostered. He has let off all three games

for the Detroit Tigers. Donovan Solano picking up right where he left off last season, seven hits over his first three games. Only 14% rostered. Cedric Mullins has led off each game for the Baltimore He went five for five on Sunday. He has nine hits in three games.

It does have a little bit of speed as well. So between Mullins, Donovan Solano, Sam Hilliard, and Robbie Grossman, which one do you like most? Yeah, I do want to check something on Cedric Mullins. So he apparently, I believe, gave up switch hitting. I believe he's just batting. Is he just batting lefty? I think he is. because he has 796 OPS against lefties last season.

5.02 against righties. Or, sorry. 796 hitting left-handed last season, 502 hitting right-handed. So I believe Cedric Mullins is just hitting lefty full-time. And this is something that I've long thought that there are a lot of hitters who probably just screwed themselves up by trying to be switch hiters when they can't actually hit switch.

And so that probably puts him over the edge, just because it's a tangible change that he's making and the fact that he could steal some bases. If we're talking about deep leagues, we kind of skipped over the most interesting guy in this waiver wire segment. That's fine. Who would that be?

Chisarotto. Jazz, baby. Jazz Chisholm. Yeah. He's 37. He's 37. He's 37. Real hard.

Yeah. Stole second and third. Consecutive plays. He's fun. Marlins are winning the Zach Allen trade in 2021, baby. Oh. so far. You're not wrong.

You're not wrong. He's incredibly talented and it's kind of like what we said with Jonathan India and Taylor Tremel. We did see Jazz last season and he was overmatched, but he's young enough and, you know, obviously scouts have always raved about the tools that, you know, if he's, if he made a little leap this offseason and his plate discipline,

especially, he could be a fantasy stud. You know, he could be a 2520 guy. I want to throw a shallow league name out there because I think he's about 70% rostered and that's Gavin Lux. I think that needs to go up to 100. Not only is he off to a good start, he's one of the few Dodgers who started every game.

He started at shortstop in place of Corey Seeger on Sunday. Yeah, I mean, just a day off. You see a lot of guys get days off this time of year. But, you know, Gavin Lux came up as a shortstop and hadn't moved to second base because he was blocked by Seeger, obviously. but he's hit great and it seems like the Dodgers are more committed to him than ever before this time last year consensus top five prospect has got to be rostered in all leagues. Yeah and I saw Dave Roberts said that this was premeditated that he was going to give Corey Seeger,

both Corey Seeger and Cody Bellinger the day off on Sunday, which is exactly what he did. And I thought it was interesting that above all else, Scott, Gavin Lucks started against a lefty. on Sunday too. So I did like to see that as well. A few other lineup notes, Nick Senzel was back in the lineup on Sunday for the Cincinnati Reds. He was dealing with a shoulder thing and he's had shoulder surgery. So we're paying close attention there. Andres Jimenez was out of the lineup on Sunday for Cleveland. Amade Rosario started in his place. And Andrew Vaughn, we mentioned it already. He only started two of four games this weekend and one was against a lefty and one was against a righty. Chris, if you have,

have Andrew Vaughn in a 12-team league or shallower, would you be looking to bench him this week until we know more about his playing time? Yeah, I think benching him's fine. It's not like he's,

you know, it'd be one thing if he had hit two home runs in those other two games, but there are still reasons to think he may struggle. So, yeah, I would hope that he starts, you know, five of the next six, but I can't feel super confident in it right now. I, you know, generally speaking, you don't want to assume you're smarter than a manager,

but Tony Lewis is doing things right now. You're going to kick them out of the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, we can't change it. You know, giving Billy Hamilton nearly as much playing the time as Andrew Vaughn would definitely be a decision that a major league manager could make in 2021. It just wouldn't be the one that I would make.

Let's do a little, just rapid fire with these waiver wire starting pitchers. I'll just say a name. We'll go back and forth here. And you guys let me know your interest level. Chris, I'll go right back to you because I know you say Kukuchi was someone that you were excited about. Sixth innings pitch,

three earned 10 strikeouts on Friday against the San Francisco Giants. He is 50% rostered. He's at the twins this week. Your interest level? 100 out of 10. I think Yusay Kikuchi is awesome. He is, he's got great stuff.

Um, didn't get a ton of whiffs in his first start. I think it was like 10 or 10 or 11. 11 on 89 pitches. But a ton of called strikes. I think he had like a 36% CSW rate, cop plus swinging strike. Um, yeah, I think he's awesome. He's got, uh, a bunch of really good pitches. And, um, the peripherals were excellent last season, despite the underlying number.

So you say Kukuchi is, uh, should be rostered in all leagues. You don't say. All leagues. Mike Meyer. I would rather have him than Dylan Seas. I don't know if that's a hot take. Well, Dylan Seas was pretty awful going against Shohei Otani tonight, and he did not see his fastball spin increase the way I was promised.

So, yeah. I mean, it was kind of like he had one good start in spring, you know. Pretty much. Yeah. I think Seas was just like, like, let's just. Like, he'll be going to pick up a guy. I think Cease is somebody you can drop. Mike Miner went up against his former team, the Texas Rangers.

He is now with the Kansas Rangers. and city royals, and six endings pitch, four earned, six strikeouts, 13 whiffs on 93 pitches. The velocity was back up. He is 49% rostered. Scott, your interest level in Mike Minor. A pretty low. You know, it's one of those names where, okay, if you play in a 15 team league,

he obviously needs to be rostered. If you're playing a 12 team league, I can probably do better. I would rather pick up Kikuchi. I would rather pick up two guys who haven't started yet, but are available widely, Carlos Rodon and Taylor, Trevor Rogers, the Marlins one. They're both in line for two starts this week. I'd rather pick them up than Mike Minor.

But it is encouraging to see his velocity back up near 2019 levels because maybe it'll go somewhere. All these other names are pretty deep, so I think we can get through this pretty quickly here. Johnny Quato, five and two-thirds, three earned, seven strikeouts on, I believe it was Friday. 17 whiffs, though, 19% rostered. He is at home against...

the Rockies this week. Chris, Johnny Quedo. Not the most interesting name on this list, but it was, it was nice to see. He looked decent in that game, but I'm not rushing out to add him. I would rather have him than Arieta or Tehran or Tyler Anderson. I'd probably rather have Tanner Huck or Alex Cobb, maybe Hauk. Yeah, Hauk. Speaking of which, he had eight strikeouts to just one walk, and that's the biggest issue for Howk is his command. Usually he's all over the place. But 14 whiffs on 85 pitches

and all of his pitches were up two miles per hour. So 24% rostered. I don't think he's going to stick around forever. Because he's kind of just filling in for Eduardo Rodriguez right now. But I guess if he performs well, then he will stick around, Scott, because the Red Sox rotation is bad. I think there needs to be more time for somebody like

Garrett Richards who performed poorly on Sunday. There's not somebody who there's not somebody who, they're not, the Red Sox aren't invested in in some way. There's Nick Povetta, maybe he'll be good, maybe he won't. I think somebody has to actually lose the job before they can get Halk in full time. So I wasn't, I wasn't investing much in Halk this weekend. Though I do like, I do like the skills. Jake Garrietta went up against the Pirates this weekend, six innings pitch, one earned

five strikeouts. He only had six whiffs on 84 pitches. He is 67% rostered. His next start comes this week at the Pirates. So I think he's, you see that roster. rate that high because people are looking to stream him against the pirates, which I think makes sense, but doesn't have a ton of upside outside. Yeah.

A guy who clearly doesn't have much left. I think his velocity was, I can't, was down a little, it was right around where it's been. So it wasn't like, there was anything super impressive with, with what he did. Only six whiffs. I know it's the pirates, but this feels like one where the team tease off on him, seeing him the second time in a row. know the pirates might only have like three guys who have T's, but still, I would think it's going to be worse for him the second time around.

It might. I mean, no Cobrienne Hayes. They're going to, look, they're going to score runs at some point. This is even really, really bad. I think it's kind of a moot point because roster space is so precious right now. Like, you don't need to be streaming Arieta for his start against the pirates. He's just not that valuable. That's a better way to put it.

Scott, between all these other names that are left, Julio Tehran is up against Cleveland this week. Tyler Anderson had 22 whiffs on 91 pitches. That was kind of interesting. He's 3% rostered. John Gray, he was pretty good against the Dodgers at home and course field, 16% rostered. Alex Cobb had seven strikeouts.

He's 5% rostered. Bruce Zimmerman had a quality start on Sunday. And Taylor Whidener also had a quality start. Six shot out against the Padres with five strikeouts. So Widener, Bruce Zimmerman, Alex Cobb, John Gray, Tyler Anderson, Julio Taran. Does anyone excite you there? Well, I mean, Tyler Anderson with those 22 swinging strikes,

certainly caught my attention. Him and one you don't have on here, Jeff Hoffman, now with the Reds, but he spent his time in the majors with the Rockies. You know, both of those guys, Tyler Anderson and Jeff Hoffman, are out of Coors Field now. And like that's, it's such a disadvantage pitching there. Like, it just, it just messes you up so completely that I don't think we can fairly assess anybody until they're out of there. I mean, they were both big prospects.

Hoffman was one of the key pieces of the Troy To Lewitsky deal. And they both look great this weekend. They both look great. Not so great that I'm rushing to pick them up. But, you know, if they turn in another start like the one they just had, then we might be to that point. Let's take a look at some bullpen situations here. God, it's like, where'd an hour go? This is insane.

There's so much stuff left to talk about. There's way too much to talk about. We could do like a two-hour podcast. It's crazy. Just some bullpen stuff. We mentioned the name. Cesar Valdez. He picked up two saves this weekend for the Orioles.

A raise reliever, Diego Castillo, was the first reliever in baseball to two saves this year, which I just found hilarious because they usually mix and match quite a bit. Pagan in 2019. Was it 2019? He got 20 saves for them and was pretty much just the closer in the second half of the season.

Yeah, pretty much. So it's not unthinkable. And like Peter Fairbanks has been being used really early in games. It got changed at the drop of a hat. But, you know, Castillo is, I don't know, I'd probably value him on the same level

of Cesar Valdez if I'm looking to pick up saves. Yeah, I like Diego Castillo. more than Sazir about that, just because the ratios are probably... He's better. Yeah. He's 87% rostered, so I think most people on CBS would agree with that as well. Mark Melanson picked up his second save on Friday night for the Padres. Emilio Paghan was used in the eighth inning.

Two wins. Two wins for Emilio Paghan. It's been excellent for me in the Scott White Dynasty League. It's like, God. Why am I dropping Paghan? They got me 20 points this week. I think I'm going to beat Scott in the Dynasty League. I think we go up against each other in that one to start the Cesar League.

It's an 11-day scoring period. Yeah, but I got a nice, big limit. We are paying close attention to the Oakland A situation. They did say Jake Deekman was going to be the closer in Trevor Rosenthal's absence, but Sergio Romo did have a scoreless outing on Friday. Jake Deekman allowed three hits, a walk, and three runs. So we'll see what happens there. For the Giants, Tyler Rogers pitched in the eighth inning on Friday.

Jake McGee picked up a save in the ninth. He had a clean inning with two strong. He is 54% roster on CBS. That number should be higher for Jake McGee. Brian Garcia mentioned he picked up the save for the Tigers on Saturday. Gregory Soto was not used in that game. For the twins on Saturday, Taylor Rogers once again used in the seventh inning. Tyler Duffy in the eighth, Alex Colomay in for the ninth.

So we'll see if that changes, but as of now, it looks like it's Alex Columet's job to lose. Does this matter? Matt Barnes pitching the eighth inning on Sunday with the Red Sox down 10 to 3. Adam Ottavino actually pitched in the ninth and he gave up a run. Does that matter? Barnes looked a lot better than Ottavino. I think that might count for more than who pitched which inning. But, you know, they needed to get work in. Right. They were trailing by so much. And may not matter. They hadn't had a chance to use them the first two games. So it's like you, you don't want to let those guys go the first four days of the season without using them. We mentioned last week that we are going to do to stream or not to stream, usually for the next day.

If you play in a daily league and you want to pick up a starting pitcher, all of these pitchers are available in less than, they're rostered in less than 60% of CBS leagues. So we'll just run through the list. Trevor Rogers. Can I drop another bullpen though real quick? I know there's probably a million things we've missed. But Nick Whitgren on Saturday,

pitch the seventh inning and allowed three earned runs. We'll see. But don't, don't toss out James Karen check just yet. I mean, class has looked, class has looked dominant. Yeah. Class A pitched in the ninth inning on Sunday with Cleveland up nine to three. I think Class A might have had today the six hardest throwing balls in the majors this season.

All six of them. Yeah, it's pretty impressive. Any other bullpen notes, Scott, do you want to hit? That one just happened to catch my eye. All righty. To stream or not to stream for Monday, Trevor Rogers versus the Cardinals. Yay or nay. To not stream, to add in all leagues.

So you would just add him, but not? So yes, to stream. Okay, fair enough. Carlos Rodon, is that a yes at the Mariners? I mean, look, I'd rather not have to start him, particularly if you're talking to a daily league versus a weekly league where you're considering, oh, he's got two starts this week.

But, you know, you could do worse. Matt Shoemaker at the Tigers. You know, he's closer to a yes than a lot of the guys you're probably going to name, but probably, you know. Stephen Matt's at the Rangers. same thing for him Logan Allen versus the Royals

probably about shoemakers level Justice Sheffield versus the White Sox That's all right I guess I don't know I'm very interested to see what Justice Sheffield does

I've gotten him in a handful of leagues and I don't like relative to streamers I think he's fine Jose Cantona versus the Astros Nah. Michael Waka at the Red Sox? Nah.

Trevor Williams, no. Adrian Motei Hone versus the Giants? Nah. Brett Anderson at the Cubs, no. All these other guys are pretty bad. Is anyone on this list to excite you guys? It's a bad week for two-star pitchers, so I would guess that most of the pitchers

go in tomorrow are pretty bad. So a couple. I do want to point out a couple. Two Sparps, Luis Garcia and Jose de Leon. I'm starting them both in the podcast points league. So, you know, if you're in a head-to-head points league. Yeah, that was basically just, I saw that they were in the rotation and might get two starts in that week.

So, okay. Yeah, they're RP eligible. And I want to see what Mike Fultenevich looks like. The velocity wasn't all the way back in spring. He was topping out like 95, 96 instead of 97, 98. But he was a very effective pitcher for a couple of one year. but I want to see if he can get back to that level. He's another guy who I've got cheap in a couple of deeper leagues.

The enthusiasm over him this spring was a little odd, considering. There was a million other things that happened this weekend, but if there's just one or two things that you guys would like to highlight or that we haven't mentioned, because we didn't really talk about any of the higher-end players today. We really focused on waiver-wire stuff, but if there's anything that you guys would like to highlight that you notice from the weekend,

now is the time to do so. I just pulled this information. I was wondering, we talked about the report, about the juice ball and the effect, or the new ball and the effects that that might have based on spring. And at least for the first weekend, it has been consistent with the results of the,

the ringer study from spring training. The exit velocity does appear to be up. Over the, I compared the first weekend of the 2021 season of the first weekend of the previous five seasons, not including 2020, because that was in July, and it's just,

you know, throw that out. The rate of batted balls to hit over 100 miles per hour with a launch angle between 24 and 32 degrees is higher than it ever has been in this sample. So more balls with that exit velocity and launch angle. And they are traveling less distance than they ever have before. In 2019, batted balls between 24 and 32,

degrees of launch angle with 100 miles per hour of exit velocity in the first week in the season traveled an average of 405 feet this year they traveled 393 feet and so that is consistent with what um you know the ringers study suggested which was that average exit velocity would be up uh but balls would not travel as far as they would have given the same lot uh average of velocity the The net effect was that home runs should be up. I don't think that's been the case so far, but the strikeout rate this weekend was 25.6%,

at least heading into Sunday. I don't know what it is after Sunday, but that is a small sample sizes all around, but that's another thing that they expected with, you know, a ball that had more drag is that it would increase movement and increase strikeouts. So the early returns look like what, what was hypothesized at least,

which could lead to lower batting averages and more home runs again. Nice. Yeah, though, it's definitely interesting stuff and something I think we should continue to track. Scott? All right, I'm going to be real quick with this. I promise. Corey Klobber, 89.4 on his fastball Saturday, down two and a half miles per hour, was throwing a lot more breaking balls,

was taking an old man approach, not feeling great about him right now. Zach Eflin, four hit the Braves, eight strikeouts, was very efficient over seven innings. Seems to have a curveball now that is going to go with a round out his arsenal really nicely. I'm excited to see what Zach Eflin can do. Terrick Scoobel still through 60% fastballs, through only four of that split change he had supposedly been working on. And, yeah, not feeling as good about him anymore. Domingo Hermann, I don't see anything to worry about there.

I gave up a couple homers early, but his stuff looked fine. And then I'm going to say that Sean Manaya, his average fastball velocity, was the highest it's been since 2017. The results weren't good, but that is an encouraging sign for him. And I think that's it. Speaking of velocity, I just wanted to highlight Charlie Morton, 94.8 miles per hour with his fastball on Saturday, which is the same as it was back in 2019 when he was a top 10 fantasy starting pitcher.

Joe Musgrove, more like Joe must start. Six shutout with eight strikeouts, 14 lifts on 78 pitches on Saturday, and his fastball velocity was up a tick to 93.4 miles per hour. He also threw six different pitches at least eight times in his first start. So Joe Muskrove, a little confirmation bias there. Something else, Nick Cassiano's. Keep flexing on people.

You are awesome. I love you. Six for 11 early on with two home runs and a very entertaining weekend for Nick Cassiano's. Last but not least, Julio Arias was at the Rockies on Sunday. Seven innings pitch, one earned run, six strikeouts to just one walk, 13 whiffs on 79 pitches. I honestly thought this was one of the best starts I've ever seen from Julio Arias. For Scott and Chris, I am Frank, thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball.

Today, we'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye!