Fantasy Baseball Today - Pitcher/Hitter Planner For the Weekend; Juan Soto Has COVID (07/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 23, 2020

After a 118-day delay, OPENING DAY IS HERE! What are some of our favorite Opening Day traditions and memories (2:54)? ... Onto our Fantasy philosophy question, how should somebody weigh a great matchup from an okay pitcher vs. a bad matchup for a great pitcher (6:27)? Who are Scott's favorite sleepers for the weekend (10:28)? Are all of the Dodgers pitchers must-start options? Will Alex Verdugo play against left-handed pitching? ... We have news and notes (14:58)! Will the Blue Jays play in Camden Yards? Also, it sounds like Dustin May and Nate Pearson will be back rather quickly. ... After speculation that Zack Wheeler would miss time for the birth of his child, it turns out he will make his Phillies debut this Saturday (19:11). ... Chris needs something regulated (22:55)! ... For our pitching planner, we address Roto strategy for the weekend, sleepers, and discuss whether or not you should bench Matthew Boyd in Cincinnati (28:14). ... Aanndd Juan Soto has tested positive for COVID-19 (36:45). Who are some replacements? Is Howie Kendrick a must-own player? ... We have 30-man active roster updates (43:38)! ... Who are some of Scott's favorite hitter sleepers for this weekend (47:58)? ... 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.

118. Opening day was delayed 118 days, but we have finally made it. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball. on today. Thursday, July 23rd, Frank Stanfield here, alongside Scott White and the sighing. Well, that was, that was an exhale. That was me holding my breath, being worried that we weren't going to get here, but we got here. We did it. I thought it was more like the Heathcoming sigh. No, no, those are, those are, as we all know, those are a little more sensual. I'm not sure if that's by design or not, but they just do turn out that way. Thank you for joining us here

on fantasy baseball today. Chris pointed this out before we got started. We're all wearing jerseys of our favorite teams here on opening day. Scott did not get the memo that it's only batting practice jerseys today, Scott. Well, I actually, I'm going to go ahead and say Frank and Scott are that you both messed up here. Oh. Frank, your team is actually playing today. And you're wearing like some target knockoff Yankees jersey. Target knockoff. It's Bernie Williams. This is Mitchell and Ness.

Come on, man. And it's not an official jersey, is what I'm saying. The Yankees have never worn that in a game. You've got to, you've got to wear the real thing when your team's actually playing. So Scott's all wrong. Yeah. Save that for Friday's podcast, which will actually be happening on Thursday, but don't tell anyone. and tonight, I guess,

I will be wearing my official game Marlins jersey. So I'm the only one who makes any sense. Okay, that's fine. I don't have a closet full of Braves jerseys, believe it or not. This is my one and only. So, you know, I thought it was apropos to wear it on opening day. And maybe I'll just wear it tomorrow too. Who knows?

I might, no, nobody's saying he can't wear it. place in a row. Just sleep in it. Sleep in it while you're at it, Scott. I mean, why not? I mean, come on. It's kind of gross, Scott. Baseball's here. You could do whatever you want. Sleep in your jersey. Sleep. We're for a week for all I care. Speaking of the Yankees, they are supposed to play today.

There is some rain in the forecast. So boom, opening day is here. There's rain in the forecast. Cross your fingers. Come on, man. Like, we don't need this. That would be hilarious. Like, that is so 2020 that there's rain in the forecast for opening day. So if nothing else, we are guaranteed a West Coast game tonight, but cross your fingers that we get Garrett Cole versus Max Scherzer. Guys, do you have any opening day traditions or memories that stand out? Oh, yeah, my opening day tradition, which will be broken this year, sadly.

But for probably the last 15 years before this, I would always go to Publix, get a public sub, and that would be my pregame slash early inning meal while watching the Marlins opener. Unfortunately, the nearest publics is probably about. 600 miles away from New York City. And so I will not be able to do that. Yeah, you miss it, don't you? You miss it.

That is, I did not go when I was down in South Florida in January to get a sub. And it was a real big mistake because I just figured I'd be going back to South Florida regularly to visit family. Unfortunately, nope. New capital of the world and all you want is the publics. I know. It's, it's amazing. No, and my favorite opening day memory is when I spent the, entire 2009 off-season just killing the Marlins for their decision to trade for Emilio Bonifacio

and basically guarantee him a starting spot in the lineup. I said, this guy can't play. He's a scrub, barely belongs on a AAA roster. And he went out and had like an all-time great opening day performance. It was like two or three stolen bases and inside the park home run like three or four. It was just a massive day and my friends just would not let me hear the end of it for probably 36 hours afterwards it was amazing uh Scott how about you any public sandwiches any any memories that stand out to the opening day well I've got a little streak going on frank I don't know if you're aware of this but each of the past two seasons I have mid at bat called the players home run on opening day two years ago was the first batter of the season Ian Hap

And last year it was Luke Voight on Twitter. I said, you know, about to hit a home run. And he did twice in a row. So that's a streak, right? Two years in a row. Let's see if I can make it three. You know, I don't want to jinx myself here. But you got to pay attention to me on Twitter

because you might witness history here. Follow him on Twitter at CBS Scott White. Follow Chris Towers as well. C-Tower CBS. I'm at Roto underscore Frank. Let's see. Let's see who Scott has up his sleeve tonight for a home run on opening day. This one stands out to me.

I am not a Braves fan like Scott, but Jason Hayward's first game. I remember he had a grand slam off of who. That was off of Carlos Zambrano. Remember that guy? The hot head, Carlos Zambrano. I remember this very vividly because I had him in my lineup that day. His final line, 1.1 innings pitch, six hits, eight earned runs, two walks, one strikeout. He gave me like negative 15 fantasy points, so that's one.

I will never forget that. That was a first inning Grand Slam too, right? Oh, yeah. First career player appearance? It was. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was big.

Awesome moment for Hayward. Terrible for Zambrano owners. Chris hinted out a little bit. This is the last podcast that you'll be hearing in the afternoon, or that will be releasing in the afternoon, rather. A lot of you have asked, and moving forward, starting tomorrow, we will have the podcast ready for you every single morning. All right, guys, let's get into it.

Not Saturday and Sunday. Well, not Saturday, Sunday, yes. But Monday through Friday, of course. I want to start off with a fantasy philosophy question, Scott. How do you weigh a great matchup for a lower-ranked pitcher versus a tougher matchup for a higher-ranked pitcher? Obviously not like a top 20 guy. Okay, G-Lito's facing the twins.

Let me think about benching him for Alex Wood. No, we're not talking about that. but how about for example I mentioned a name Alex Wood going up against the Giants great match up this weekend Kenta Maeda is going up against the White Sox I mean how would you weigh something like that Hmm

Yeah they're pretty close together For me Kentimaida and Alex Wood in terms of what I'm expecting from them this year I don't I think I'd go Kintamayeda I usually I almost always go with the skills of the player

over the strength of the matchup, especially in baseball. And football, I think you can make the argument to weigh the matchup more heavily, but baseball outcomes are so random from day to day anyway that it's lower in the priority for me than just how good the players and not wanting to miss out on a great outcome from a great player, which is obviously what you paid up for. Chris, where do you stand on this? I see you nodding in agreement, mostly? Yes, I agree generally with the argument that the skill of the individual player is the maximal concern.

I will say, man, I would at least consider, I wouldn't have the courage to actually sit Lucas Gialito for Alex Wood. And you probably don't have to make that decision. You probably have someone who's worse than Alex Wood against the Giants because that's a pretty good match. That's a great matchup and a good pitcher. I would say it's pretty close to 50-50 on who will have the better performance, and I might lean would.

I mean, it might be the best match. But those are like a good pitcher against maybe the best matchup in baseball versus a very good pitcher against maybe the worst matchup in baseball. So, you know, you're looking at if it was, I don't know, Anthony Descliffeani going up against the Giants. Right. I mean, you might be able to find a spot in your starting lineup for him,

but you're not sitting Lucas Gialito to do it. Right. That's, well, we weren't even talking about Lucas G. Lita. We were talking about Kinta Maida. I guess you were just making the disparity. But he mentioned Lucas Golito. Right.

I got it. At the top. Yeah. I gotcha. Yeah. The matchup that I treat differently from all the other. there's is at Colorado. Yes.

Because there's just no telling, like, if the pitchers, pitches will be working like they're supposed to, you know, sometimes visiting pitchers go into Colorado and they dominate just like usual, but sometimes it goes all Colorado on them. And a crooked line happens. So I'm not saying every pitcher at Colorado is an automatic sit for me. You know, obviously the higher ends they are,

the less likely I am to sit them. but that's one where regardless of how good the pitcher is, I would at least consider sitting then. To wit, Max Scherzer has a 588 career ERA at course field, averaging less than six innings per start. So, you know, that's an example. It can happen to anybody in course field. Today on the show, by the way,

we're going to focus on the weekend, that four-game slate, and then on tomorrow's podcast, we'll focus more so on next week. If you're restarting the week, or if you're playing an 11-day week, Basically, the only players that will be locked in before tomorrow are the players that are playing tonight in those four games. Or at least that's what your lineup should be, your lineup settings.

It should be, you know, the only players that lock are the ones that are playing tonight. That's exactly how it should be. Scott, your pitching and hitting planners are live on CBSports.com. I mentioned Alex Wood. You have him in Ross Tripling atop your favorite pitching matchups this weekend. Would you consider those guys, I guess, kind of asked the question. already, but are they must start? Is Julio Arias in that mix as well? He's scheduled to go Sunday against the Giants. Yeah, I mean, unless you play in a shallow league with incredibly

deep pitching staff, I would have a hard time imagining you'll be able to keep any of those guys out of your lineup. So at 12 team points league, you just start five starting pitchers, you're getting all three of those guys in. Yeah, I mean, I could see how if you had all three on the same team and also you drafted starting pitching early, that might not work, but chances are you don't have all three on the same team. And even if you did have all three on the same team, you know, he could start Arias and stripling at relief pitcher and probably make it work that way. Yeah, why not? Again, this might be the best matchup for a pitcher this season. Chris, your Marlins are kind of in contention there with the Giants as a great matchup. I'm sorry. Hey. I'm sorry.

Look what they did to the Braves vaunted pitching staff the last two days. All right. Harold Ramirez, crank and don't know. Jonathan R had some hits. Oh, yeah. I don't think anything else happened. Nothing else happened.

But they beat them or they scored a lot of runs. I think the Braves might have actually won both games. Yeah, take that to Scott. There's a huge comeback in one, yeah. Scott, who's your favorite sleeper hitter for the four-day week here over the weekend? You know who it is. You know who it is.

We're just going to keep the theme going, right? Well, I guess reveal it to everybody. Actually, it's not J.D. Davis. He's number two for the weekend. If you go look at the planners, I have 10 sleeper hitters and 10 sleeper pitchers for both the four-day weekend, if that's your week one,

or the 11-day week, if you chose to fold the weekend in with the first full week. So for the four-day weekend, I actually have Alex Verdugo with three matchups against the Orioles ahead of J.D. Davis, who is second. And I'm not even sure that the J.D. Davis pick is kosher because we didn't have a single draft of the dozens we did where he didn't get taken.

But, you know, it's not really sure what to make of the ownership percentages on the site just yet. And hopefully we'll have more clarity moving forward. But I didn't want to presume that J.D. Davis wasn't actually available in the number of leagues it says he's available in. So he is on my sleeper hitters for this upcoming week.

Second with his three matchups against the Braves. Nobody plays four games, right? The Dodgers and Giants. Those are the only two teams that play four games over the weekend. Scott mentioned Alex Verdugo, obviously J.D. Davis, somebody likes.

Verdugo going up against two lefties this weekend, Tommy Malone and Wade LeBlanc, but you should not let that deter you. Hopefully he's actually in the line. If he's in the lineup, he should do great against those pitchers. He should. I mean, I don't see why he won't play every day. It remains to be seen what the Red Sox plans are for him ultimately.

But he was great against lefties last year. He was actually better against lefties than he was against righties. And I think that's been a theme for him throughout the minors. He's been really good against lefties. He's a rare young hit left-handed bat who doesn't have that issue. I guess the only question would be like this team does still have Jackie Brack. Jr. and Jonathan VR. And so Kevin Palau.

You have Jonathan VR on the mind. And so maybe they don't love Alex Verdugo's defense and they want someone else to get a DH day and maybe like that works out. You know, early in the season, you do tend to see a few more random days off. Maybe that won't happen this year. But that's one, that's the only consideration I would say is that he could get squeezed out, I guess. You see that contract extension that Moogie Betz just got?

I mean, it's quite a lengthy extension there. I think that the Red Sox are going to try and validate this trade by playing Verdugo as much as they possibly can. Look, it's not going to actually validate the trade, but I think that they're going to try. At least that's my take on it. So he should have success this weekend. And most Red Sox hitters should.

Going up against that vaunted Baltimore Orioles pitching staff. Some news and notes. It's opening day, and we still don't know where the Blue Jays are going to play their home games this season, but it seems like they're moving closer to Camden Yards. I don't want to commit to anything. Yesterday we started talking about PNC Park and comparing park factors and all this stuff, and then that fell apart. So this is still up to the state of Maryland as to whether or not they will allow the Blue Jays to play their home games in Camden

Yards, but it seems like that's where it's trending, guys. And if it is, that's really good news. You saw that Vlad Homer yesterday, Chris. That would be... Oh my gosh. That would mean that they're playing, what, 55% of their games, maybe more at Camden Yards, depending on how many times they're supposed to face the Orioles on the road. That's really good news, especially for right-handed hitters. You know, Roger Center is a fine place to hit, but I think Roger Center's reputation as a hitter's park was kind of inflated for a couple of years

because of the likes of Jose Bautista and Edward and Carnacio and breaking out there. and I think there was some like, oh, well, maybe it's the park. No, those guys were just awesome. It's a good hitters park, but it's not an outlier hitters park. Camden Yards, especially for home runs, is, you know, not course field, but is an outlier park. Roberto Osuna is on the Astros' opening day roster, so it seems like he's going to be good to go, Scott? Yeah, I mean, that would be my assumption. They may want to ease him in.

but if I drafted him as a closer, I'd be starting him this week. Dustin May, Dodgers pitching prospect, has been optioned to their alternate site. Most figured that he would be used as a piggyback reliever, a long reliever for someone like Walker Bueller. But that won't be the case, at least not for the start of the season.

Well, he still could be, couldn't he? They'd just wait to call him up on that fifth turn to piggyback with Walker Bueller, kind of make it a dual starter situation, kind of like the Yankees did with Jordan Montgomery. Jordan Montgomery got sent down, but he's starting the sixth game of the season still. I guess that's a possibility unless they can gain time by, you know, gain service time by leaving him down a few more days. I think it's like a week or something. I don't know if it.

No, because he's already been on the active roster, so they'd have to leave him up a lot long, leave him down a lot longer. Okay, so he might actually be around for Walker. Really good point there. Scott, speaking of prospects, Jamie Campbell of Sportsnet reports that Blue Jays, the Blue Jays plan to activate Nate Pearson on July 29th. So of course, continue to stash him. Chris, you're shaking your head. You're right. You must have a really good source. I hate this. Like, this is, this is so, like, it's so bad for baseball for a, for a team to basically have it, for a team to have it reported that they're just leaving him down for six days when he's not going to compete in games. Like, that is just, it makes it look like a clown league. Well, he's got to work. He's got to

work on a few things after getting MLB's a clown league. He's got to work on a few things after getting rocked yesterday, Chris. I guess that's still. They'll come up on July 30 and be like, ah, that report was wrong. He was working on stuff. We needed that one last bullpen session. Hey.

As for the fantasy angle, though. Yeah, that must be rostered. Must be rostered. He's my rookie of the year pick for the AO. He's going to make virtually every turn it sounds like. And, you know, as he was the storyline of spring training, like the storyline for how much he was dominating back then. He did have a shaky start to end summer camp,

but he was apparently dealing with a mechanical issue that he actually corrected mid-game and struck out like the last three hitters he faced or something. So there's a ton of potential here for Nate Pearson, and you're going to be glad you picked him up. We mentioned yesterday that Marcus Stroman had some calf tightness. It turned out to be a tear in his calf. He's going to start the year on the IL.

he's quote week to week, which is obviously not great. If you don't have any IL spots on your team, I would consider dropping Marcus Stroman at this point, but you should play with IL spots. So just a reminder there. Zach Wheeler is slated to make his Phillies debut Saturday versus the Marlins, and apparently will not miss any starts after his wife gave birth Monday. So for anybody who got Zach Wheeler at a discount, you know,

in this week's drafts or last week's drafts, he's good to go, Scott. I was presuming two-star. I mean, that's what he basically said. Two starts he would probably miss. And so to find out at zero, congratulations to him and his wife, first of all. But congratulations to everybody else who drafted him too, because that is a nice discount.

And frankly, if they had the baby on Monday and he's going to be good for Saturday, like they're already saying he's going to be good for Saturday, it has me rethinking if Mike Trout's return is going to be. be quite as long as I feared it was too. I mean, that could come down to personal choice, like he might choose to take longer. But yeah, the minimum amount of time is probably like five days. The Reds placed Anthony DiGlophani on the 10-day injured list. Apparently Tyler Malley is expected to join the rotation. Jake Oterese will also start the year on the IL with a back injury. More

IL news. John Means and Hunter Harvey have both been placed on the IL for the Baltimore Orioles. The first save of the season for Baltimore will go to blank, Chris. Michael Gibbons. In like September. Right, yeah. Yeah, so don't get too excited about Michael Givens, everyone out there. Tom Murphy, placed on the aisle with a broken bone in his foot. I mean, this is more so for deeper leagues for roto leagues, where you start two catchers.

Austin Nola likely to start in his absence. 79 games last year for Austin Nola, a 269 batting average. 796 OPS, 10 homers. A decent walk rate, 8.6%. There for Ossinola. He's got any interest in Roto Leagues. He's kind of interesting in two catcher leagues, but he's not catcher eligible yet,

which is kind of a problem. He's only first base. Austenola is, so it's not going to be an option until at least week two, maybe week three. You don't want to start him as a first baseman. No. No, you do not. Alec Mills was named the Cubs' fifth starter.

I would say just pay attention for now. Deeper leagues, of course. Last season, nine games, four starts, a 275 ERA 117 whip, a 49% ground ball rate for Alec Mills. Apparently has a 67-mile-per-hour curveball something I noticed on Fangraphs today. So is that in lieu of Tyler Chatwood?

No, Chowood's in two. That's Jose Cantana. That's Phil Jose Cantana's spot. Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said Wednesday that Michael Fulmer will be in the rotation as an opener type role for, I don't know, it sounds like the entire season. I guess we'll see if they build up his pitch count or anything or his arm strength. He's coming back from Tommy John's surgery. I don't think that Michael Fulmer should be owned. And then a quick mention on three pitching performances from yesterday. Both Aaron Savale and

Adrian Houser each had 16 swinging strikes on less than 80 pitches. So, of course, I like to see that. How about that? How's about that, Houser. Yeah, I didn't even know he added in him. I love the ground balls for him, and he had more than a strikeout per inning as a starter last year, but that's an impressive whiff rate there. Especially Savale, too. I mean, someone that I've been touting,

I didn't think that he had that in him as well. It was against the Pirates, so you take it with a grain of salt. Sure. One start. A four-pitch arsenal yesterday for Aaron Savale. Pay attention to that. Quang Hun Kim,

who we've talked a lot about this week, was the closer for the Cardinals last night. He picked up the save against the Royals while striking out the same. side. Chris, you have a little segment you want to do right now. If somebody want to get off your chest? Yeah, can you play the music please? I am actually not allowed to play the music anymore for copyright purposes. Can someone hum the regulator's music please? I have to share what this clown show group of people who I do this podcast pulled on me last night.

So we had our Four of the People Podcast League draft at 8 o'clock. And it slipped my mind that the draft had started because I was making dinner for my lovely wife who cannot cook. And so she relies on me. And I get a text from Adam and then a text from Scott at around 808 saying, hey, the draft is starting. Are you in the draft? And so I jump in the draft and, oh, oh, I. was picking 16th and I got auto on 16 and 17.

No big deal. Only two picks have gone on since once I got in the room. Nobody even mentions the possibility of pushing them back. And you know what? That's fine if that's the policy we want to go with. You mess up. You missed your pick. You got to live with the consequences.

That's fine. Except the very next turn in the draft, the guy picking 15th on the way back runs out of time. And what do they do? What does Scott White right there? Me? Trying to look innocent. I had nothing to do with this.

What does he do? I was not commissioner in this league. Pause draft. No, this was Adam. Suspend or Adam. This was a coward who wouldn't even show up to face the music. Hits that suspend draft button. Or not music as it is.

Hits that suspend draft button. back out last pick and lets him make his pick. Yeah. Unbelievable. Well, if you are going to enforce that rule, enforce the damn rule. But I get screwed over and I get stuck with scrubs like Freddie Freeman and

Nolan Aronado in the first round, even though you guys know that I spent that entire podcast just that day, talking about how Jose Ramirez should be a first round pick. And you leave Jose Ramirez on the board. Well, Jose Ramirez went, you said you came in after two picks were made. Jose Ramirez was the very next pick. So you couldn't have gotten Jose Ramirez at that point. Sure I could have.

No, you couldn't. No, you couldn't. That guy only got to make that pick because you and Adam are shady and you waited to text me until after I got out of the. Not one of the 15 picks before. There was a technology, first of all, first of all. Unbelievable stuff. We were, we were.

You guys should be embarrassed to text you when you didn't show up to remind you that you weren't, you know, that, hey, you need to get here. Your entire team's going to be auto-drafted. There was some technology failure. My phone doesn't always get great service, though you wouldn't believe it from as often as I'm receiving text during the podcast, but it doesn't always get great service. And the text didn't send and I had to restart my phone. and when I looked up again, I think those two picks were already off the board, including Jose Ramirez.

I didn't have commissioner access anyway, so I couldn't pause it even if I wanted to. How about text me at pick eight? Yeah. I'm just saying there is going to come. Obviously, we were trying, there are a bunch of podcast listeners who are waiting to jump into this league

and we were trying to keep them entertained in the chat room and not really noticing that Chris wasn't there until the clock was ticking down. There is going to be a point in like 20, 70 when you know earth is a irradiated shell and there are but

hundreds of clans on the wilderness and there will be a blood feud between the white clan and the Azur clan and the Towers clan and nobody will know why it will be lost to history. This is why and I'm just going to stay out of it

I had nothing to do with this. Frank you are a coward and I was drafting on my phone you are blood feud all the way around if if you know just you know etiquette point if i was the commissioner even if i was the commissioner if i had commissioner access i i would have paused it but i didn't and so that didn't happen and things things happened very quickly after that and it was it it it got to a point where by the time it was clear we probably should have backed it up it was too late to back it

You know what? It's okay because I killed that draft anyway. I think we should... Now I'm going to win the league. We should officially make being auto-drafted your first two picks

because you were too busy and not actually in the draft room is now called the towers. That is called the towers. I mean, like, people got lives. People are busy, all right? This is your life, Chris.

Fantasy baseball is your life. Apparently so. All right, pitching planner. Let's look at some of these names some sleepers that we like and some other things to discuss some tough matchups, how are we handling the brave starting pitchers

getting into all of that. Scott, I want to ask you first and foremost, if you play in a Roto League and your lineup only sets for the weekend in a Roto league, that should be fine, four-game week, just set your lineup for the weekend. Pay attention to rotations

because your pitcher might not be scheduled to pitch for the weekend, most notably. Walker Bueller, Luke Weaver, Mike Fulton Nevich, Josh James, Griffin Canning, Those are all pitchers that are expected to pitch Monday or Tuesday next week. Scott, I would suggest going with a reliever-heavy approach if any of those starters are not ready to go over the weekend.

Yeah, I would not pick up in a Rotter League or a Categories, at a Categories League for that matter, if you're going with the short week there. I would not pick up a scrub starter who happens to be starting, you know, Tommy Malone or whatever else. Oh, gosh. Sensor Turnbull, somebody like that. I would not do that and risk wrecking your ratios just to get a start.

I would rather go with a reliever who'll probably deliver good ratios. Yeah, I agree. All right, so we mentioned Alex Wood and Ross tripling at the top. Of course, Julio O'Reas, but he's not someone that you can pick up. You might have a better chance of picking up someone like Wood or stripling. They're going up against the Giants. Those are two of your favorite matchups this weekend. Scott, who are some other matchups that you really like at starting pitcher for this little four-game weekend that we have?

So, so some pitchers, pitcher matchups I like, are the pitchers specifically? Pitchers specifically. Yeah, that's probably more helpful, right? Well, Nathan Avaldi has Baltimore. And I'm not super high on Avaldi personally, but he did show some ability with break. He was experimenting with breaking balls in spring training in in summer camp, something he hasn't emphasized so much, certainly in recent seasons,

and it might help flesh out his arsenal there. He had some good starts. And obviously that's a great matchup. Vince Velasquez, as we talked about him, experimenting with new pitches to a cutter, specifically he's gotten some hype. He goes against the Marlins.

So that's a good pickup there. There are some widely available pitchers who I like, even though their matchups are nothing special. Like Corbett Burns, of course, he's still wide. widely available. Oh, yeah.

And you could use him as a relief pitcher. You have to use him as relief pitcher, in fact, if it's a league that separates starting pitchers and relief pitchers. Garrett Richards going against the diamond backs, you know, I'm not, I'm not saying he has to be in your lineup, but if you,

you know, if you have a hole there that you need to fill Garrett Richards, I have, I'm pretty confident in him. Matt Shoemaker against the race, you know, that's a tough matchup. But no Austin Meadows,

though. No Austin Meadows should help, Scott. Yeah, that's true. though they have so many redundancies. I mean, Rays are always going to put out a good lineup. But I think Matt Shoemaker with his splitter and he looked great in spring and summer camp

and obviously for the five starts he made last year was dominant. I think I'd be okay starting him if you had an opening. You know, some other good matchups. The Dodgers are going against San Francisco. We talked about that at the top of the show. You want to start all of them. The Cardinals are going against the pirates. It's Flaherty followed by,

Adam Wainwright and Dakota Hudson, so it's hard to get excited about Wainwright and Hudson. Flaherty, of course, you're starting anyway. The Astros have Seattle, Lance McCullors. You'd probably be starting them anyway, but if you're on the fence about that, it's a good start.

It's another bad hitting team here. The Tigers are terrible, but of course, like all those guys are in your lineup because they're going up against Sunny Gray, Luis Castillo, and Trevor Bauer, so you don't need us to tell you to get those guys in, but that is typically one of the teams

I would look at every single week in terms of streaming pitchers, against. Yeah, and royals. I mean, kind of the same thing, but they're going against the Indians trio, Shane Bieber, Mike Clevenger, Carlos Carrasco.

Chris, let me ask you this. One of the tougher matchups that stood out to me was Our Boy, our Boyd, Matthew Boyd, who was at Cincinnati in Great American Small Park.

A little bit home run prone last year, second half of the season, I would say, not a little bit, a lot of it. Historically so. Yeah, so in that ballpark against that lineup,

It is not great. Would you bench him for any of these streamers that we're talking about? Would you bench him for all of the Dodgers pitchers? Would you bench him for, would you go as far as to bench him for Vince Velasquez? Have you seen enough from Vince Velasquez? No, looking at this group, I would,

definitely would. I'm less sure about stripling. And the only other one I would consider among this group is Avaldi. That great matchup against Baltimore is, you know, certainly has some potential for a really good start. He looked pretty good in his last tune-up. But no, like, it's the first start of the season

and you get like 13 of them. You didn't draft Matt Boyd. You know, you didn't, like me, reach for Matt Boyd, you know, in the 10th round, or ninth round sometimes or I think maybe seventh round by the end of this because ADP goes out the window in the last few days. You didn't do that to sit him for 6% of his season. You know, like that's just, that just doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, and I have a lot of Boyd, too, and I typically agree with you. I know the Velasquez start looks nice. It would have been better if it was in Miami. Of course, he's facing the Marlins in Citizens Bank. So obviously a better ballpark to hit in there. I can't go as far as to Bench Boyd for Velasquez. I'm starting Velasquez in one league. actually in that league we drafted last night.

Well, that's a 16-te league. I am interested in Vince Velasquez. Vince Velasquez has done really poorly against a lot of good matchups in his career. His career has mostly been defined by not being particularly good. Yeah. And so, like, if Vince Velasquez has a season

as good as Matthew Boyd's 2019, I think we'd all be pretty satisfied with that. So, no, I couldn't make that move. This is something that bugs me about the concept of having 10 sleeper hitters, 10 sleeper pitchers every week. It's good content. It's necessary content. It shouldn't be relevant content for most people. Most people should know who they're starting every week, certainly the first week.

It's the players you paid the most for. It's your best players. It's just the way baseball is. It's sort of serves as it's like a waiver wire. Like here are some guys that you can pick up this week if you need. Start your studs. It's a short-minded waiver wire. It's not football.

You shouldn't be like juggling your starting lineup every single week. Maybe it's starting pitcher with two-start pitchers, but in a four-game week especially, just go with your best guys. Scott, you're wearing the Braves jersey. How are we handling Brave starting pitchers? Most notably over the weekend, Mike Soroka and Max Fried will be making starts

as well as Sean Newcomb, but I don't think Sean Newcomb is on many people's radar right now. And, you know, we heard that report. It feels like forever ago now where their starting pitchers would be limited earlier on in the season. Does that have you shying away from starting names like Soroka or Max Fried over this weekend? Not those two, no. And actually, Brian Snitker reiterated that idea like halfway through summer camp. So it didn't seem like they were backing down from that stance even after Felix Hernandez opted out.

Cole Hamels got hurt again. but they don't they really they don't have enough choices to piggyback everybody they they had a lot of pitching depth at one point but between that and and you know fultenevich were a little worried about him uh his arm the way he was throwing in his last tune-up start uh shan nukem and kyle wright are having to fill rotation spots what do you got to test a positive for covid-19 who won soda oh no it was just an out Didn't that? Jeff Passan, Jeff Patton, just reported it. Oh, gosh. Well, didn't he missed time earlier?

He did. He was late to report. I think it was for a contact tracing situation for him. Yeah, and then Lemayhew was activated. Guess who drafted Juan Soto with the 13th pick last night in our draft? This guy! So I will, it's unfortunate, right? And this is what we're going to have to face for a lot of the season. So obviously, look, good thing it comes out now.

So, you know, at least he didn't get locked into your lineup. And then it announced like later on today or even tomorrow rather. So yes, get Juan Soto out of your lineup. Who is going to replace him for the Washington? Michael Taylor. Yeah. Right. Okay.

Well, Adam, if you were wondering, if you're listening, you know, you had that, you were wondering if Adam Eaton was going to be benched for for Michael Taylor if he was going to play against left-handed pitching. Seems like they don't really have a choice now, so. Well, if it is Michael Taylor every day, that would mean how he,

Kendrick wouldn't be fit into that DH spot anymore, right? Sure it would. It'd be eaten. He'd play first base. Oh, thanks. It'd be eaten Robles and, yeah. No, I think this actually probably makes the playing time more secure for Kendrick.

and things. Now, they might be guys who don't play every day anyway, but I don't know if this is a team now that can afford to take two guys who might be, I mean, Howie Kendrick might, is probably their best hitter at this point. And Eric Thames might be like their fifth best hitter, and that's probably going to be your three and four hitters now. And the top of the lineup's still pretty good with Turner and Eaton there. you know, Kendrick is a second baseman in CBS Sports Fantasy Leagues,

which embarrassingly I did not realize until like the 16th round in our 16 team league last night. But I think Howard Kendrick's got to be a top 12 first second baseman right now. Chris, your boy, Emilio Bonifacio, is on the Nationals 30-man roster. So shouts to Emilio. Oh, Emilio! Right. All right, let's just wrap things up here with the pitching planner. Rocky's starting pitchers.

They're going into Texas this weekend in Glob Life Field, who apparently, you know, it's played up more as a pitchers park. That remains to be seen. Chris, what do you think about, you know, specifically Hermann Marquez and John Gray over this weekend. Would you be interested in starting either one of those guys? I think it's worth clarifying that when Joey Gallo says, it felt like a pitchers park.

Eno Seris tweeted yesterday or the day before that they were using the non-juiced baseballs. They were not using the same baseballs that they were using in 2019 and presumably 2020 because there have certainly been a lot of pretty cheap home runs so far in summer camp that we've seen.

So if they were using the non-juiced baseballs, it might appear like a pitchers park relative to the Rangers. When they were, when they did that batting practice in the new. You know, you know Sarah's tweeted today about that batting practice from week ago. Yesterday or two days ago, yeah. I'm not sure where he got that information,

but I saw him tweet that. And it didn't really make sense that it would play like a pitcher's park. Like the only reason it might is because of the closed roof and air conditioning, but the dimensions were not dramatically different. If anything, there were parts in the power alleys where it was a little closer. Globe Life Park, whichever one they played in last year,

Field or park, yeah. Was a pretty big park. It was just the ball flew out because it was so hot and so dry. There wasn't any humidity there. And so that's a significant part of it. I don't expect that to play like a pitchers park. It may not be the extreme hitters park it was. But I would be surprised if it leaned pitcher park.

Chris, if you need any help remembering Park versus Field, someone emailed us maybe a couple of months ago and said, think of Park as past and Field as Future, although I guess now it's present. But that's how I've actually managed to remember it. So pretty helpful stuff there. Tricky. What's the mnemonic device for the coral snake?

Because I can't, is black next to yellow will kill a fellow? Is it red next to yellow will kill a fellow? You could put yellow next to either black or red, the pneumonic device doesn't work. I don't know if it's a coral snake and I'm going to die. Every good boy deserves fudge. That is something music related. It does fine.

Every good boy does fine. Deserves fuzz is much better. Scott, I had no idea what you were talking about just now. Does anybody want to start Hermann Marquez or John Gray this weekend? I want to start Hermann Marquez every time he is pitching on the road. He is a must-start pitcher on the road. And I don't want to start. on gray if I can help it.

A 367 ERA 0.94 whip on the road last season for Hermann Marquez. Quickly remind you to subscribe to our Fantasy Baseball today YouTube channel. That's where you could see all these awesome jerseys, batting practice jerseys, real jerseys, whatever kind of jerseys they are. You could see it on our Fantasy Baseball today, YouTube channel. We're actually closing in on 1,000 subscribers. So thank you all who have already subscribed. Let's continue to build that number up.

We'll take a quick break here. When we come back, we will get into the hitting planner, some sleepers we like, some matchups to pay attention to the best matchups, the worst matchups. We'll do that here on Fantasy Baseball today. We're back here on Fantasy Baseball today, and we have a ton of news coming in. Of course, we mentioned the Juan Soto COVID news item. He will not be in the lineup, obviously, for the Nationals, and we do not have a timetable for him.

But Chris, you have a bunch of other roster news. Why do you hit us with some of that? Yeah, so the teams are basically announcing their 30-man rosters as we're doing this podcast, some of the important things to note. Nick Madrigal is not on the White Sox roster. Dylan Carlson is not on the St. Louis Cardinals roster. Brendan McKay and Nate Lowe are not on the Ray's rosters. Magigal and Carson, Carlson are probably the most disappointing.

I think I drafted both of them in that 16-team league last night. I mean, it still may work out well for you for where you got that. I don't think we were expecting them to make the opening day roster. We were hopeful. but, you know, we had already heard for Carlson specifically that it's likely he's up after a week. So there's a good chance Magical is too. Some lower-end names to keep in mind that have some fantasy intrigue. Kevin Crone on the Diamondbacks roster might just be Christian Walker was dealing with an injury in the last couple of days of camp.

So maybe he gets a chance, huge power hit, had like a 1,200 OPS in AAA last year. Edward Olivares, who we've talked about the last couple of days a little bit, made the San Diego Padres roster. I think there's a decent chance he plays every day. Josh Naylor had a really disappointing summer camp. Olivares. It's a really disappointing debut last year too. Yeah, Olivares might just be the everyday right fielder with Will Smith playing DH.

That's at least a possibility. Like I mentioned Juan Soto on the IL with COVID-19 positive test. I mean, probably not going to miss less. than two weeks, you'd imagine, right? He might miss like half the season. I mean, it's entirely possible he misses up to a month. It's entirely possible he misses the whole season. You know, like we've talked about all throughout this, you know, ongoing situation,

when these kind of things happen, it's just unknowable what the impact is going to be. And unfortunately, we found out, you know, after everybody drafted, but, you know, Juan Soto, maybe your first, maybe, you know, your second round pick, you know, you got to make alternate plans for at least the next month. Outfield is the one place where there is depth. But yeah, I would, yeah, we don't know. Aroldus Chapman, frankly, I've been surprised at how quickly positive diagnoses have turned around with two negative diagnoses.

like Freddie Freeman had symptoms and we know when he contracted it because he tested negative one day. He tested positive to next. And he made it back even with symptoms in two weeks about. So, you know, let it's it's bad. You know, hopefully he's he's feeling well. And, you know, it's bad either way in a season so short to miss a couple weeks. But if it is only a couple weeks, it's something you can bounce back from. So let's not lose all hope if you invested heavily in Juan Soto.

Yeah, I mean, look, Hazer Slessardo tested positive at the start. You know, he probably is going to pitch one of the first two games of the season in some capacity, probably as a reliever. So, you know, that one ended up being about three weeks, but we don't know when he contracted it. So it's, it really is, it's just a significant unknown as far as what the timetable is. it could be two weeks, but you're going to have to make alternate plans. I would say Austin Riley's probably the best guy who's widely available, who you could consider picking up. Aaron Hicks and 12 teamers.

Aaron Hicks, the first waiver wire column of the season last night, in fact, with 17 names on them. They won't all have nearly that many names. But 17 names on this first one, including some guys who it's just stupid that they're still so widely available. They have to pick up. You have to pick up.

them up. If these players are still available and you're like, I have to take it. Yeah, that would include guys like J.D. Davis, but also Austin Ryan. Sorry, the next rung down. Not necessarily, you have to add them, but it would be nice to add them includes guys like Austin Riley, who Chris mentioned, Yohanna Cespitus, Aaron Hicks, as you guys were saying. If you just need a hitter, Chris talked about Howie Kendrick. I think he's a great pickup. Yeah, a lot of guys we've already covered already.

Those are the most exciting ones. If you play in a really deep league, you could take a flyer on somebody like Edward Olivares or Bradley Zimmer, who may end up getting a surprising amount of playing time in the Indians outfield. Those would be the first places I would look, depending on your league depth there. Yeah, and in NL only, we mentioned, you know,

Michael Taylor, if you just want to look, within the team, but probably, you know, nothing shallower than that when it comes to him. Scott, let's talk about some of these hitters you have in the hitting planar, some matchups that you like, specific players. We already mentioned Verdugo and J.D. Davis at the top. Of course, Verdugo is going up against the Orioles pitching staff, which features two lefties. So let's see if he's in the lineup for all of those games. He should be. He's very good against lefties, but remains to be seen. And, of course, J.D. Davis is someone that you like. Who are a few other names that you like for this?

short slate the four-day weekend for the four-day weekend i like paul de young who hit i believe he had a lot of home runs he had a lot of home runs between spring trading and summer camp i think it was like six or something it was a lot and uh he gets the pirates rotation for three hey that's big joe musgrove and mitch keller scott yeah compared to most teams top three, it's attractive matchups for the hitter facing them. I'm sorry to say. Maybe it won't turn out that way in the long run. We like the upside of Musgrove and Keller, but, you know, it's, it's a relative thing. I like Nick Solac going against that Rockies trio and presumably he'll be in the lineup. You know, it's still iffy Willie Calhoun status, but there are ways to get

Solac in the lineup even if Calhoun is back. Shogo Akiyama Akiyama facing the Tigers for three lead off hitter for the Reds, a lineup that I think is going to score a lot of runs this year. And he had a good camp. Isaiah Kiner Folefa, especially if you need a catcher.

But if his breakthrough is legit, the kind of power he was showing in spring training and he's always made contact at a good rate, like, kinderfalefa could be this year's Gio-Hercella. In fact, the adjustment he made in his stance is similar to what Urchella did, learning to incorporate the lower body more. And it's possible, Kiner Folefa couldn't be of use to you

as the Rangers' everyday third baseman at third base once he becomes eligible there. Of course, you'd rather play him a catcher, but if you drafted a stead catcher or something, I don't think that necessarily means you have to ignore Kiner Folefa. I also have Matt Carpenter here, Renato Nunez, Cesar Hernandez, and Jose Parraza. They round out my top 10 for this week.

sleeper hitters. As we said for the pitchers, you know, these are if you have a hole that you need to fill. These are not high priority plays, but there are some options there if you lost a Juan Soto

or if you lost somebody else. Some of the best hitter matchups you like over the weekend, Scott, you have the Dodgers, the Red Sox, of course, Cleveland, the Phillies, the Ashrows. I'll throw the Reds in there, obviously going up against the Tigers.

I mean, Matt Boyd and then, blah. Whoever else is involved with the Tigers, so that's not great. Some of the worst hitter matchups you have, Scott, the Yankees, the Royals, the Tigers, the Mariners, the Rockies. Yeah, I would say, look, you're not benching any of your Yankees, obviously, you know, maybe some of the lower end guys, like if you're playing a 12-team league, Points League,

Geoarshello might not be in your lineup, that's fine. But you know who you're starting for the Yankees. But most of these teams, like Tigers, Mariners, we're not starting really many of those guys. All right, guys, I want to answer as many questions as we possibly can. And apologies to those out there who've been sending them in. It's been hard to get to them recently, but we will try our best right now. We've got a few questions from our Apple podcast reviews.

This one's from Luca in New York. I wish Luca was in New York. Donchage, that is. Which four pitchers would you keep in a points league? Marco Gonzalez, Danny Duffy, Johnny Quedo, Pablo Lopez, Matt Shoemaker, Rinaldo López, Rick Porcelo, Zach Pletack, Austin Voth, you, these are not the best names ever. Johnny Quato, I think is at the top of the list.

Matt Shoemaker. Back from time of John's surgery, we don't know what he's going to look like, but he is potentially in line for 14 starts this season. I would put Shoemaker out of him personally. I just think the circumstances for Quoedo are a little better. You really think teams are going to skip their starters that much? Even the Giants with Quato as their ace. I mean, it would only be like two or three times that you're skipping, you know, your fifth starter for the most part.

You can build in an extra two starts just by skipping the starter twice. Well, no, the top three pitchers in each rotation are pretty much set to pitch. I guess it would be 12 normally. So, yeah, it would be an extra start. I just, I don't feel like I can, I don't doubt there will be a couple, maybe even a handful of pitchers that make more than a dozen. doesn't starts. But I don't, I don't feel confident saying that for every team or like,

rotations, as somebody who has to put together the pitching planner every week and then update, has to update it on Sunday because teams rearrange their rotations so much. Like, they don't, they don't hold to a rotation that strictly. Most teams don't. Right.

That was my assumption. Okay. They'll juggle to try to get the most out of their best starters. Right. But, you know, with the Giants not being competitive and Johnny Quato, potentially not being a. true ace. It may be less of a...

I'm just saying it's difficult to predict even three days out as opposed to two months out. Either way, Shoemaker and Quedo would both make my top four. Two more names. Two more names. I would be the other one. And I would probably lean towards Pablo Lopez. Maybe in a points league, Marco Gonzalez, just because there's more potential for innings there. And I like him more than you guys do.

but I think it would be Quedo, Lopez, Shoemaker, and Pleasack. I would go Quedo, Shoemaker, and both Lopez's. I would go Pablo and Ronaldo and pray that Yasmani Grandal helps Ronaldo Lopez figured. I am just, I am, I'm doing the Chris Archer. I can never trust Rinaldo Lopez thing. I have been burned way too many times on that one. This next is from Diesel 3-4-9-5, just did a 10-team-N-O-only all. Only spent 27% of my budget on pitching.

Would you deal a hitter for a top starting pitcher? If your pitchers were, Sunny Gray, Robbie Ray, John Gray, lots of Greys and Rays, Adrian Hauser, Stephen Mats, Corbyn Burns, Craig Kimbrel, Mark Malanson, Corey Kinebel. I don't think this is so bad for NETA only. I think they're fine. It depends what the hitter and what the pitcher are that you could acquire, but it doesn't look like a glaring need in an NL only league. Scott, agreed?

Yeah, I mean, I would like to have one more pitcher because I don't think you have, in my mind, a trustworthy number two. Robbie Ray, I mean, could hurt your whip, could hurt your ERA. He could be great. Or he could win the same. I'd like to have one more, but it, of course, depends what you're giving up

and what kind of hole you're creating with your hitting by doing that. All right, let's try and get through as many of these as possible. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Continue to send this in your emails. From Travis, I have Walker Bueller in a 10-team points, league. I drafted him to be my top pitcher, but with the news of him not being stretched out, I offered up some trades, and someone offered me. Clayton Kershaw for Walker Bueller straight up.

This is a redraft league, so I'm thinking of taking the deal. What do you think, Scott? I did not move Bueller behind Kershaw. So to be consistent with my rankings, I would just flatly say, no, I would stick with Bueller. And I think that's probably the right move. It's I agree it's tempting, but, you know, it might just be one start where Bueller is limited, really. So let's not go overboard. It wouldn't surprise me if Kershaw threw like 10 more innings than Bueller over the course of the season, too, even if both stayed healthy and made every start. Yeah, I'm not doing it either. I'm keeping Walt Kuhler.

It can. This next one's from Justin, dear Gray, Means, Lester, and Loisiga. Those are Johns Without the H. That is correct. tomorrow is the first day of a six-week season to I risk starting Johnny Quato versus the Dodgers and Clayton and Kershow. Would you start Johnny Quo?

No one should start Johnny Quoeto, right? 12 team headshead categories league. For people who are streaming him. If you play a daily league. I want to see how he does first too. If it was at home, maybe. He was an old guy who appeared to be losing stuff before having Tommy Johnson.

And look, maybe he was pitching her, but I got to see it from Johnny Quato before I throw him in my lineup unless I was in a desperate situation. Yeah, so for anyone playing in a daily league, do not, let's just see it first. He's going up against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. This next one from Garrett...

By the way, John Means has an H, so I think it's just Johns. Oh, what a loser. How dare you, John Means? This next one from Garrett. I'm in a shallow Daily Points League. I have one benchpot to fill out. Would you rather have Marcana or Willie Calhoun provided he's healthy

to be the last bench spot to start the season. Neither of you can be trusted to answer this question. That's fair. Honestly, you're too biased, you're too deep, you're too emotionally connected. So I will say Mark Kana. Boom. Would you still take Calhoun over Kana in a points league?

I would, yeah. Okay. Okay. I obviously won it, especially Points League with all the ones. I mean, Willie Kowhun does not strike out. She has that going for him in a points league, but the walk rate, I think, is where the gap will be. From Steve, I am the commissioner of a 5x5 Roto League that has money prizes. I've been asked the entire, if the entire season must be completed for the results to count.

I have a league that has addressed this and said once we get past August 31st, the season counts. Yeah, I mean, I think you've got to make a call either way now. I would say if you get two-thirds of the way through it has to count. I mean, look, 40 games. That's more than enough. We always say 40 games is enough to know

who the best team is. This one's from Drew, with all of your guys' love for Nate Pearson and Corbyn Burns. Do I drop Carlos Martinez or Matthew Boyd for either one of them? Nope. Looking at upside plays.

here as the front of my rotation is Max Scherzer, Jack Flarity, James Paxson, Shane Beaver, Sonny Gray. Carlos Martinez and Matthew Boyd are upside plays too. Agreed. Yeah, I can't, I feel like if Burns had starting pitcher eligibility, I'd probably haven't ranked close to Carlos Martinez, but I think that I would still stick with Martinez. All right, the last one will get to here from Scott. I wonder if Scott White sent this one in.

Pick two of the four to start over the weekend in a head-to-categories league. Max Fried at the Mets. Kent and Maeda Rich Hill at the White Sox Alex Wood versus San Fran This is basically

what we talked about at the top of the show Right I'm taking the two twins I'm taking Maida and Hill I'm saying Hell and Wood I

And you are saying Freed and Mayeda No No Rich Hill is definitely one of them And then I love Max Fried But

I'm kind of kind of worried about the ending situation, even though Scott addressed it. I'll go Alex Wood, just because I love the matchup against the Giants. So Rich Hill and Alex Wood for me. I think they're all fine starts, but yeah, you force me to choose. Something to keep in mind, the Giants, three of the Giants' four best hitters are not going to be playing, at least for the first week of the season. Buster Posey, Evan Longoria, and Brandon Belt are all not playing.

And obviously Posey's out for the season. that is yeah but I mean that was gonna remember what is no with them what is no sure thing like we we like the velocity increase we're hopeful he he is better than ever because of it but he was terrible last year yeah but like the the giants are like worse than a bad lineup right now I understand Scott I think I would consider starting you against this giant's lineup

I'll just read it out and we'll end the show here Brandon Crawford, Donovan Solano, Mike Yistremski, Hunter Pence, Alex Dickerson, Wilmer Flores, Maricio Dubon, Rob Brantley, Austin Slater. Like, how many of those guys even belong on a roster if you're just talking about hitting count? Salon I had like 3.30 last year. There's three best hitters. Had like a 900 OPS.

Right, okay. Dubon has upside. You ran out real quick. And also Donovan Solano hit. you know, like 250 the previous two years. I understand. But, you know. No, I mean, look,

like Hunter Pence, Wilmer Flores, Mike Estremsky. Oh, Hunter Pence was great last year too. Let's, I guess let's throw Donovan Solano in there as one of the five, four guys who would be long on a roster

if they're just talking about their bat. That's real bad. Oh, it's quite bad. It's not a good lineup. I agree. But like when you have proven good pitchers versus one who we're hoping it's going to be good. I'd just rather not tempt fate there.

Don't do it or do it. You decide who to listen to. For Scott and Chris, it's opening day. Please let the Yankees and Nationals play. Rain, rain, go away. We'll be back again tomorrow to talk about next week as well, the 11 day, 11 game week. It's probably not 11 games.

11 day week as well as just next week in general. 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.