Fantasy Baseball Today - Stink-O-Meter! McKenzie vs. Sixto Sanchez (09/03 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 3, 2020

Wednesday's action slowed down a bit but we still have a ton to talk about, including our favorite chocolate! For our OMGG Wednesday standouts, Adam Duvall had a triple dong (3:45). Is he worth adding...? Triston McKenzie and Sixto Sanchez continued to dazzle. Where does Ian Anderson rank with those other two rookie pitchers? ... On to news and notes, Josh Donaldson is back and Madison Bumgarner is set to return this weekend (10:44). Are the Yankees rushing Gleyber Torres back plus Wil Myers was placed on the IL. ... Now our debut of the Stink-O-Meter where we highlight some of 2020's biggest duds in Fantasy Baseball (16:53). What is up with JD Martinez, Gary Sanchez, Pete Alonso, Javier Baez, and Jose Altuve this season? What might their outlook be in 2021 drafts? ... Is it time to drop Kyle Freeland, Adrian Houser, and Jordan Montgomery (39:07)? Would Scott rather have Tyler Mahle than those guys? ... On Wednesday we saw the returns of Joe Musgrove, Charlie Morton and Walker Buehler (42:57). Who were we missed impressed by? ... We have some waiver wire names (50:06), including Brad Miller, Devin Williams, Randy Arozarena, and Tyler Naquin. We wrap up with some bullpen notes and your questions! ... Email us at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com. 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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.
Starting point is 00:00:24 After a bunch of wild days in baseball, we finally calm down a little bit. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today on a Thursday, September 3rd. I am Frank Stamphill. He is Scott White. Scott, I'm a little tired, man. Honestly, today I played some wiffle ball earlier. I was hit some dangers, smacking some shots. You're going to have to carry this one, which is not really different than every other podcast.
Starting point is 00:00:47 Whiffle ball, huh? That's not how I expected this show to start. I would love to go out and play wiffle ball, sir. So good for you. Well, why don't you? My, the people I have to play with are quite small, and they, they whiff a lot. They're like, they're like facing, it's like they're facing Ian Anderson out there. It's just whiff after whiff.
Starting point is 00:01:16 Nice. I like it. I like it. Well, you know, just have them pitch to you. Have them throw some underhand. You just hit some bombs running around the backyard. Yeah. We're working on the throwing thing, too.
Starting point is 00:01:28 We're working on it, Frank. It's, you know, that's their P.E. I'm their PE coach and we go out there and I reward them with M&Ms for every time they connect on a pitch. They get an M&M and they're actually not even full-sized M&M's. They're the mini M&M's, you know? And so they'll get like four. But they're happy because they get M&Ms and they don't know that they should actually be eating more than that. That is a solid reward.
Starting point is 00:01:54 What's your favorite chocolate, Scott? Oh. Oh, wow. There's too many. To start the podcast. prepared for this. Huh. You go first.
Starting point is 00:02:06 I'll tell you mine. It's, I don't know how many people know about this, but it's a little candy bar called the Nutrageus and is made by Reese's. And it is fantastic.
Starting point is 00:02:17 I'm also a fan of peanut M&Ms. Those are great. But the Nutraceus is just chocolate covered peanuts. There's like, I don't know, some kind caramel, bunch of stuff inside of it.
Starting point is 00:02:30 And it's great. I love it. I've had the Nuts outrageous. I'm not I'm not that big on the peanut butter ones if I'm being totally honest. Have you had the caramel M&Ms? Because those kind of elevate the whole
Starting point is 00:02:42 M&M franchise. They take it from here and they take it up to here. I have to understand what here means. Yeah, that's why you have to watch us on our YouTube channel. YouTube.com slash fantasy, I was about say fantasy football. Fantasy baseball today. I have not had the caramel M&M, Scott. Well, you should. They're good. They're good. I'm more into the mint ones that come out, you know, around Christmas time. That's my favorite M&M. But I think the caramel or second and then third is probably just the original M&Ms. Those are my M&M's rankings, the top three. Mint chocolate M&Ms. Never had those either. I like what are they? Pepperman patties, the York York patties. Those are good. All right. I derailed it. I derailed it enough already. Today on the show, we have the stink o-meter, some of 2020's big. Letdowns yesterday. We looked at some of 2020's biggest surprises, positive surprises. We have
Starting point is 00:03:35 some drops. We have a few returns to the mound. We'll get into the rest of Wednesday's action. We'll answer some of your questions a little bit later on. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Let's start with some of our favorite standouts from Wednesday. Take it away, Susan. Oh my goodness gracious. All right, Scott, I'll let you get us started here. One of your standouts, whether positive or negative. I don't know that there's much fantasy application for this, but Adam Duval Homer three times on Wednesday, and I feel like that's the sort of performance
Starting point is 00:04:11 that, oh, my goodness, gracious, was invented for. And I can at least share a not-so-fun anecdote related to that. My big dynasty league that I'm talking about all the time, the 24-teamer for which I'm the two-time defending champion, entered the playoffs, the number two seed, facing the number seven seed here in the first. first round, the number seven seed being Heath Cummings, really want to beat him for many different reasons. I'd been starting Adam Duval as my third outfielder in this 24-team dynasty
Starting point is 00:04:42 league. Until this week, when he had a little minor injury going into the lineup block, I thought not worth it. It's the playoffs. Can't risk it. I'm going to bench him, and I'm going to pick up Ender Enciarte to start in his place. I'm losing to Heath. I probably, no, I would be winning if I had started Adam Duvall, but instead I'm losing. And that sucks. That sucks. Look, Adam Duvall hits power. He has power.
Starting point is 00:05:12 He hits home runs sometimes. It doesn't do much else. And it's hard to predict exactly when he hits, when he's going to hit those home runs, as I can personally attest. But he plays virtually every day for the Braves. And if you're desperate for power, you know, you probably miss the one and only three homer game. he's going to have this season, but he has twice at 30 home runs in a season, and we shouldn't we shouldn't completely dismiss him.
Starting point is 00:05:37 Adam Duval, of course, three home runs, a triple dong, back-to-back days with a triple dong in baseball, both by the Atlanta Braves. Of course, there was a three-home run game from Alex Dickerson in yesterday as well. Adam Duval is 8% rostered. It's gotten, I guess only 15 team leagues are probably where you're looking at Duval. A few of the names we mentioned yesterday in deeper leagues, Josh Naylor, Victor Reyes. Who would you rather have?
Starting point is 00:06:05 Duval, Victor Reyes, Josh Naylor. I actually think Victor Reyes is my favorite of that group. And for now, I'm inclined to go with Duval over Naylor, who Naylor went 0 for 4 today in a second start for the Indians. So that would be my ranking. Victor Reyes is, you know, I'd be pretty enthusiastic about picking him, up in a five outfielder league, I think. It's kind of across-the-board production there. Power
Starting point is 00:06:34 numbers kind of limited, but some steals, good batting average. I'm kind of interested in him. All right, I'm going to look at two rookie starting pitchers because we gave Ian Anderson a lot of love, and I think we have to do the same, obviously, for Tristan McKenzie and for Sixtho Sanchez. So for the second day in a row, I am expanding the, oh my goodness gracious players of the night. Tristan McKenzie, six shutout innings, six strikeouts. Two of his three starts, he has been fantastic. The other start, he went four innings and allowed two runs. So it's not like he was bad.
Starting point is 00:07:04 He just didn't really go deep into that second start. 14 swinging strikes on 81 pitches. His next two starts are against the Kansas City Royals again. Then at the Minnesota Twins, 6-0 Sanchez of the Miami Marlins was going up against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Seven innings of two-run ball. Extremely efficient. Only needed 79 pitches to get through seven.
Starting point is 00:07:26 Eight swinging strikes. Not great, but nine goals. ground ballouts, zero walks, just doing what we've seen Sixtho Sanchez do to this point. McKenzie and Sixtho, what do you think, Scott? Yeah, that was impressive for both of them. McKinsey wanted to see a bounce back from him after a really short start, second timeout. And what was most impressive about this start for McKinsey is that, you know, the first start, when he dominated the first time out with the 10th strikeouts, it was mostly on the fastball,
Starting point is 00:07:59 ball basically carried him. But of his 14 swinging strikes in this one, six came on the slider, three on the curveball. So it was really the most effective. We've seen the secondary arsenal. And he needed only 81 pitches to get through those six innings. And at that point, the efficiency could apply even more so to Sixthos Sanchez, who has issued one walk between his three starts so far between them.
Starting point is 00:08:24 And to go the seven innings he went today, he needed just 79 pitches. His ground ball rate through his first two starts was close to like 70%. It was ridiculous. You know, only one of the three starts did he have many whiffs, but it was a lot of whiffs and it was against the race, not a team we think of as whiffing a lot. So, yeah, I mean, they're both must have.
Starting point is 00:08:50 I mean, I think the roster ship percentage shows that. And I would have trouble sitting either going. forward too. So rank Ian Anderson, 6tho Sanchez, and Tristan McKenzie the rest of the season, Scott.
Starting point is 00:09:05 It's so hard when there is eight starts between them. Ian Anderson is the only one who hasn't had a... Well, that's not true. Sixtho Sanchez hasn't had a bad one yet either.
Starting point is 00:09:17 Okay, I'm going to go, I'm actually going to go Sixtho Sanchez number one, I think. Ian Anderson, two, Tristan McKenzie 3, but they're separated
Starting point is 00:09:27 probably by like six spots in my rank. They are close for sure. I think I still go Ian Anderson first of the group. I just think his strikeout potential. The swinging strikes a little bit higher than 6-0. 6-0, the ground balls are great, great ballpark to pitch in. And I could see being excited about all these guys heading into next year as well. I don't want to get ahead of myself. Again, they really have not made too many starts combined, as you mentioned, Scott. Yeah, I do know. I mean, I do think Ian Anderson and McKenzie,
Starting point is 00:10:00 Tristan McKenzie for that matter. I am more confident the strikeout potential for them. I just think Sixthos Sanchez is the least likely to collapse down the stretch of the three.
Starting point is 00:10:12 So that's why I'm giving him the priority among them. The highest floor. Who would you rather have in a Keeper League or a dynasty context? Gosh, it's like splitting hairs. It really is.
Starting point is 00:10:24 I think I'd go Sixthos Sanchez for the same reason. Yeah. Look, this was a premier prospect and the Marlins received him in the JT Real Muto trade. So obviously very high expectations. And to this point, he has lived up to it. So it's really hard to argue between any of those names. Ian Anderson, Sixo Sanchez, and Tristan McKenzie. Some news and notes. Josh Donaldson was finally back from his calf injury Wednesday and was batting second in the twins lineup. He finished
Starting point is 00:10:49 two for five with a double and two RBI. Madison Bumgarner will return off the IL this Saturday in a familiar venue in San Francisco. Any excitement over to this, Scott? That's taking it too far. If he comes back and he's throwing harder, he's throwing more like he did last year, then I think that's going to create a mad dash to the waiver wire, but certainly not counting on that.
Starting point is 00:11:16 I mean, pretty much written him off by the time he went on the I.L. So, you know, just let's just wait and see. Let's just wait and see. But I'm not optimistic. If I asked you what his roster percentages got, you would say, blank. 56. 81% for Madison Bumgarner. Ew.
Starting point is 00:11:38 Yeah. So people, whoever has those unlimited IL spots in their leagues, they are using them on Madison Bumgarner. So I don't, I don't, you might not be available anywhere, but see what happens. You know, first our back, see if the velocity is up. I agree. You know what I just did there that, e, you know, that was an earnest P. Worrell. You know, Ernest? Of course you don't know Ernest. Who am I talking to? Is this something else where I'm going to get crushed by everyone for? I don't know. He made silly, you know, what is this? Ernest goes
Starting point is 00:12:12 to camp or Ernest goes to jail. He made silly movies. Oh, I know. Yeah. The Halloween one was great. Ernest scared stupid. Yes. I watched that a bunch growing up. I just, I didn't know like what his full name was. Oh yeah. I watched. P. Worrell. Yeah. I did. I watched. I watched. Ernest scared stupid. That was a terrible impression, by the way. Sorry. Yes, see, this is just another reminder of where I'm at, haven't seen some classics,
Starting point is 00:12:37 but I've seen Ernest Scared Stupid, so there you go. Gleber Torres hopes to return this Friday, which seems entirely optimistic and knowing the Yankees, the way that they have handled injuries in the past, and the way that they have rushed Aaron Judge back, re-injured himself.
Starting point is 00:12:55 Last year, they rushed Miguel Anduhar back, what happened? He needed season-ending shoulder surgery. I'm not saying that that's going to happen, but I really don't think that this is a good idea. Glaver Torres is reporting to the team's alternate site on Thursday. So apparently he only needs one day of swings to hopefully return on Friday. We shall see. Mike Clevenger will make his Padres debut Thursday against the Angels. Sticking with the Padres, Will Myers has been placed on the I.L.
Starting point is 00:13:24 with an undisclosed injury. That sucks because Will Myers has been really, really good this season. The Angels activated Franklin Barreto from the COVID-injured list. Apparently Joe Madden plans to play Barreto, quote, literally everywhere down the stretch, and then he wasn't in the lineup Wednesday. He's 5% rostered, three straight seasons of at least 15 home runs in the minors, has some speed as well.
Starting point is 00:13:50 Franklin Barreto, any interest got in deeper leagues. No, no. Let's let him do something in the majors because it's been a lot of nothing so far in his career. Gosh, I have so much Franklin Barreto fatigue. It feels like 10 years now that he's been a prospect, and we've been waiting for him to do something, and it has not happened yet. Cody Bellinger was out of the lineup again Wednesday with that lat injury. David Fletcher also remained out with his ankle injury. Dylan Carlson has been out of the lineup for the Cardinals past two games. he is one for 12 with four strikeouts in his previous four games. What are your thoughts on Dylan Carlson to this point, Scott? Not great, Bob. Not great.
Starting point is 00:14:34 You know, obviously it hasn't been enough time to say for sure how this is going to play out for him. But the strikeout rate, it started out pretty good. It's pretty high now. He's not been hitting the ball hard. He's earned the numbers he's put up so far. is really all I can say about him. Still a big prospect. Still very early in his career.
Starting point is 00:14:59 Can't really take anything away from it, except he's not somebody that you need to be particularly invested in in a redraft league. Would you rather have Dylan Carlson or Ryan Mountcastle? Mountcastle. I agreed.
Starting point is 00:15:15 Ryan Mountcastle is only 38% rostered on CBS. Renato Nunez exited Wednesday's game against the Mets with a hamstring injury. He is day-to-day. Jose Cantano was placed on the aisle with a left lat injury. Lots of lat injuries recently,
Starting point is 00:15:27 and that could mean the return of Adbert Alzillet to the Cubs' rotation. A Rolla's Chapman was suspended three games for throwing a 101 mile-per-hour pitch at Mike Brasso's head on Tuesday night. And then on Wednesday night, Brasso got the last left. He had a double dong in Yankee Stadium.
Starting point is 00:15:48 So do it with your chest. and that's exactly what Brasso did. Any interest in deeper leagues got? In Brasso? Brasso. Bra. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. I think he just matches against lefties.
Starting point is 00:16:04 Yeah, he doesn't play regularly enough. That's a bra no to Brasot. I'll pull it up the splits for Brasot. He is batting 344 against lefties and 267 against righties. he has an OPS of 1,100 over lefties and an OPS of 656 against righties. For the second straight day, I played DFS baseball, Scott,
Starting point is 00:16:30 and I probably should have had Brasso in my lineup, like, based on these splits and Yankee Stadium, and I didn't. He's not the reason I lost. It was probably Max Scherzer, but we could talk about that a little bit later on. I mean, he is overperforming his bat at ball profile quite drastically, but nonetheless,
Starting point is 00:16:50 the numbers have been very good so far, especially against lefties. The Stinkometer, 2020 edition, some of the biggest duds so far in this fantasy baseball season. And again, like, this is a very unique season and we talk about it a lot and probably any baseball broadcast you listen to, they also talk about how unique of a season this is. And the example I always bring up is Jose Ramirez last year was terrible, basically until mid-June. That would have been all of this season. And then we would have never got to see how he closed out the season. And that's kind of what makes baseball what it is in fantasy baseball, particularly in a normal season, is the grind and the ebbs and flows of a fantasy
Starting point is 00:17:33 baseball season. So it's hard to put too much stock into this, but we will try our best to figure out what's going on with these players, whether or not they're going to be better, and you know, how we'll feel about them heading into next season as a result of what has happened. Entering Wednesday's action, he was betting 208 with three home runs. He was averaging 2.3 fantasy points per game, which is less than Yoshi-Sutsugo, Aaron Hicks, Kevin Kiermire, and Dexter Fowler. Quality of contact for J.D. Martinez, way down. Expected batting average 234.
Starting point is 00:18:09 580 OPS against right-handed pitching. This is now a two-year trend where he has not been as good against right-handed pitching as he has been against lefties. Let's fire up the stinko meter the first time we have ever done this, Scott. On J.D. Martinez. Where does he rank? Once 10. So this meter isn't calibrated at all yet.
Starting point is 00:18:34 And it's not about... I've never done it before. So if there are some internal inconsistencies, just bear with me. But I'm going to go with a... So what does 10 mean on the stinko meter in your eyes? I mean? Like, at this point, you would consider dropping the player.
Starting point is 00:18:53 An early round player that has been just so bad, you might drop them. Because all of these are really good players that you would, you know, it would seem like heresy to drop them. Okay. I will go then with like a five for J.D. Martinez, a five. Let me tell you what I'm encouraged about, first of all, the plate discipline numbers. pretty much in line with his good years. He is, however, 33 years old.
Starting point is 00:19:27 Oftentimes, declining numbers against same-handed pitchers is a sign of aging happening, that that tends to happen with older hitters. And specifically for J.D. Martinez, maybe the thing that worries me most of all is I keep seeing this storyline. It started way back in spring terrain, before the shutdown back when we thought it was going to be a full-length season,
Starting point is 00:19:52 he was complaining about the restrictions put on video use in games because of the Astro scandal. MLB was really limiting video use in games. He was complaining about it way back then. And because of the COVID restrictions, MLB put even more restrictions on it. So it keeps coming up. Like it's a common topic of discussion in the Red Sox beat writing world. Like it just seems like a guy who really relied on that to make in-game adjustments, video use,
Starting point is 00:20:27 and he doesn't have that available to him. So, you know, that's kind of searching for an explanation. But I do think at this point it's worth mentioning. And my latest round of updating the rankings, I dropped him the most I have so far. I think he's still technically, I think he's still barely in my top 20 outfielder, so nothing crazy. nothing to the point of dropping them, but it was a significant drop. Yeah, and Scott's head-to-head ranks, he has J.D. Martinez at number 20, so nice call there. Just ahead of J.D. Martinez. You have Marcel O'Zuna, Eloi Jimenez, Luis Robert,
Starting point is 00:21:01 Kevin Bizio, Mike Yistremski, who had another home run on Wednesday as well. And I found the same thing when I was researching J.D. Martinez trying to figure out what is going wrong with him. This quote came from the Boston Globe a couple of weeks ago. It's definitely been an adjustment for me. It's something that's a big part of my routine. and it's a big part of who I am, the studying everything. It's kind of one of those things where you kind of have to have a new routine. So asking him to do that, of course, in a shortened season where, honestly, for the Red Sox, I don't know how inspired they are right now, like the fact that they're terrible and, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:37 they just sold off of, you know, some players. So, you know, I just, I don't know where their heads are at. So this is going to be a storyline in the offseason and, you know, what those were restrictions look like heading into next year because if we're dealing with this again, Scott, then I think that, you know, we legitimately do have to drop J.D. Martinez, a decent bit heading into the 2021 draft season. And, you know, I don't think it would be crazy at all if he goes outside the top 20 outfielders, at least based on the way that he has performed thus far this season.
Starting point is 00:22:06 Oh, if he doesn't recover at all over the final three and a half weeks here, I think regardless of the video narrative, he's not going to be somebody we're drafting in the first five rounds. next year. We got an email from Omar earlier today, said he's in a six-by-six categories league with OBP and quality starts. I have a very solid pitching staff. Shane Bieber, Patrick Corbin, Lance Lynn, Max Fried, Kentimaida, Hazis Lazardo, Dane Dunning, and Ian Anderson. My offense is really hurting, and I think I need to make a trade to upgrade by Friday's deadline. I'm considering offering Patrick Corbin to get J.D. Martinez. Would you do it, Scott? I think you could do better than that for Patrick Corbyn,
Starting point is 00:22:51 considering starting pitching is the one thing I can definitively say everybody could use more of. I don't think you need to make it a combo. Well, I guess you're not selling high on Corbin. You're kind of selling a little low on him, but he's been okay. I think you can do better than J.D. Martinez. I don't think you should have to cross your fingers that he's going to bounce back if you're trading Corbin away for offense.
Starting point is 00:23:15 You know, the two names that you have just ahead of J.D. Martinez, I think I would do it for. Marcel Ozuna and Elo Jimenez. I think if you get either one for Corbyn, I'm cool with it. I'd want to aim higher than that still. Okay, so you're thinking maybe George Springer and Nick Castianos? I don't, I don't know if you'll get Castellanos for him. I think you look to see who is the worst off for pitching among those in contention. and you see what kind of excess he has among hitters. And it might be, like, if you're really that bad off for hitting, you might be able to get two really good hitters for Corbyn
Starting point is 00:23:54 from that player specifically, from that person specifically. All right, let's fire up the stinkometer once again, this time for Gary Sanchez. The 16th catcher in head-to-head points league. He's averaging 1.6 fantasy points per game. That is less than Danny Jansen, Jacob Stallings. Chance Cisco, Austin Romine. He is the catcher 22 in Roto.
Starting point is 00:24:18 He is batting 130. His average, if it finishes under 200 for the season, he would have finished with a sub-200 batting average in two of the last three seasons. Again, this is Gary Sanchez. The strikeouts are up to 38%, lots of fly balls, lots of pop-ups. He has just an 8% line drive rate. This guy is...
Starting point is 00:24:39 He's a mess right now, Scott. Talk to me. Gary Sanchez, 1 to 10. on the stinkometer. Well, the good news for Gary Sanchez is he's still hitting the ball as hard as ever. He's just not hitting it very much at all. So on the stinko meter, I'm going to go, okay, so if Martina, what I put Martinez is, five or six?
Starting point is 00:25:00 Five. Five. Oh, five? Okay. Then I'll go seven for Sanchez. I just put together my do not drop list. As of right now, I, you know, every position. all the players I would not drop in a 12-team league,
Starting point is 00:25:17 pretty much no matter what. Gary Sanchez is still on it for catchers, but there's only seven catchers total, and he's the sixth on that list. And I actually have him, I could see dropping him in a points league. I make a distinction there between roto leagues and points leagues. I could actually see doing it in a points league
Starting point is 00:25:34 if, you know, there's something crazy out there who could be a lot more useful to you. I, like, I still think, Gary Sanchez is, we're going to rank him as a top five catcher heading into next year because it's like, who else are we going to put up there? But he just seems totally lost right now. And I could totally understand, you know, not wanting to carry around a second catcher that you have no intention of playing, given that, you know,
Starting point is 00:26:05 usually no one would ever carry around the second catcher. If someone got upset with Joey Bart, who wasn't producing really heading into this week and has performed a little bit better in Corr's Field, would you drop Gary Sanchez for Joey Bart? See, that's the thing is I don't really know what kind of catcher would be out there that would motivate me to do this. If you're in a league where Austin Nola
Starting point is 00:26:24 still hasn't gotten picked up, or Travis Darno, or maybe Pedro Severino, though I'm not, I don't really feel that confident in his production. I could see doing it, but at least based on CBS, roster ship data.
Starting point is 00:26:43 It's very unlikely any of those guys are still available. What a bad year for catcher, man. Honestly, JT. Real Muto is far in a way the best. The fact that we were even considering Sanchez being in the same category as him was a mistake. And hindsight is 20-20 now, but Real Muto is awesome. Austin Nola, top five catcher, Pedro Severino, Wilson Contreras, Isaiah Kinearifah.
Starting point is 00:27:05 Martine Maldonado is in the top 10. I think Wilson Contreras, he was in the top five. even though he entered today with a sub-200 batting average. Yeah, which says a lot. Like, he's been awful, Grandal's been awful. Sanchez obviously been awful.
Starting point is 00:27:19 Mitch Garver was awful and then got hurt. Will Smith hasn't been playing that much. He's actually been a lot. Will Smith's been making a lot of contact this year. Just hasn't been playing that much. So it's, it's, uh, yeah,
Starting point is 00:27:32 I mean, the athletics guy, Sean Murphy. Terrible. Danny Jansen, terrible. Everybody's terrible. terrible.
Starting point is 00:27:40 Yes. That's Austinola and Travis Darnow. For Sanchez, the last thing that'll add, a 572 OPS at this point, you know, a little over a month into the season, I guess this was in his range of outcomes because he's had months where he's just completely plummeted. Like he's one of the most streaky players that I've,
Starting point is 00:28:01 I don't want to say, maybe ever. I mean, he's very shrieky. He's had some OPSs I looked at in his career for a month, 358. July last year. 4-74, June 2018. 286, July, 2018. 490 in March and April of 2017. You know, this isn't, this isn't new for Gary Sanchez. He has month stretches where he just looks completely lost at the plate. So I guess we probably should have factored that in a little bit more in just a two-month season. Pete Alonzo! Let's stick in New York. Just hit his seventh home run on Tuesday,
Starting point is 00:28:32 entering, on Wednesday, rather, entering Wednesday's action. He was the 32nd first baseman in Roto, averaging 2.4 fantasy points per game in points leagues. That is behind Yandi Diaz and Miguel Cabrera, to put that in perspective. What are we thinking about Pete Alonzo, Scott, on the stinkometer? Okay, so compared to J.D. Martinez, who it seems like there may be external factors contributing to his struggles. And compared to Gary Sanchez, who has been epically bad, Pete Alonzo has just been normal bad.
Starting point is 00:29:08 like within the range of outcomes bad. So I don't really have many concerns for him. I did lower him in my first base rankings from like, I don't know, top five to maybe like 10th because there are other guys that you could justify ranking ahead of him. But he's still, like I could,
Starting point is 00:29:26 like from today forward, I can absolutely envision a scenario where Pete Alonzo leads the majors and home runs. So I'm actually, in terms of stinkometer, he's going to be pretty low for me. I'll put him as like, three.
Starting point is 00:29:40 I actually agree with you, and I was not a Pete Alonzo fan entering this season. I thought that his ADP was too high based on someone who really contributes to power and not much else. And I agree. I'm not as well. Like, the biggest thing for me that I've seen is that his ground ball rate is up about 6%. So he's got to lift the ball a little bit more. But, you know, I think that that's something that can kind of even its way out over the next month or so, the final month of the season.
Starting point is 00:30:05 and the fact that he has struggled against fastballs mightily. He is slugging just 3.43 against fastballs this year, whereas last year that was 6.69. That is a huge difference. And we're talking over 300 points of slugging percentage for Pete Alonzo on fastballs. And he is someone who, you know, typically as a slugger, I mean, he hits fastballs well. And I would expect that to get better. And heading into next year, if people want to downgrade Pete Alonzo, I will be right. ready to buy the dip. I do think that this has been a little bit fluky based on what we've seen
Starting point is 00:30:40 thus far. So I agree. I agree on Pete Alonzo. Not as worried about him. Javier Baez, someone I know who you were worried about and I was buying in on this season and so far has not really worked out well. On Wednesday, hit a sixth homer of the season, which sure, that's nice, but entering that game, he's batting 200 with a 612 OPS career high, 34% strikeout rate. His exit velocity on fastballs and fast balls. Fly balls and line drives is actually higher this year than it was last year. He's just getting killed on breaking balls.
Starting point is 00:31:14 He was up over a 280 batting average. Javier Baez was each of the past two seasons on breaking balls this year. That number is 115, Scott. Stinkometer, Javier Baez. Are you able to look up quickly if you're seeing more breaking balls than in past years? While you give out your number,
Starting point is 00:31:31 I can definitely pull that up for you. So I'm going to go for for bias not super worried a little more worried than Alonzo I I it's it's a high volatility profile
Starting point is 00:31:45 a guy who doesn't make a lot of contact and doesn't get on base much apart from contact he's going to be doing nothing during the stretches where he's not killing it so I I think that's mainly the problem that that's mainly been
Starting point is 00:32:04 Javier Baez's problem so far. And it could turn around from one day to the next. And so I'd be reluctant to sit him or really do anything with him other than just write it out.
Starting point is 00:32:19 But, you know, there is the risk of he just doesn't have enough time to really get going. And the season ends before he before he rewards you for sticking with him. There is the risk of that. There's just no way of predicting when things are going to change for him. So Javier Baez saw breaking pitches 37% of the time in 2018, saw it
Starting point is 00:32:42 right around 35% last year, and this year it's up a little bit to 39%. So seeing breaking pitches 4% more doesn't seem like enough to actually make that big of a difference, but again, I don't have a frame of reference for that, come to think of it. Again, the batting average last year for Javier Bias on breaking pitches 294 in 2018. That was 281. So he normally his breaking pitches very, very well. This year that is down at 115 and the expected batting average is not much better. It could just be a timing issue from not having a full spring training. Yeah, definitely. And the reasons why you were off Javier Bias this year were the reasons that I have been off him in years past. But this was the season where I just kind of, I gave in. I said,
Starting point is 00:33:28 you know what, I'm done doubting Javier Bias. And every year he makes me look silly and then this is a year that he made me look silly. So a rocky relationship for Javier Baez and me thus far. He doesn't know you, Frank. Yeah, and he never will. He doesn't care for you. He, no, he will. This is a one-sided relationship. Yes. You're 100% correct. The last player I wanted to talk about was Jose Al-Tuve batting 225 with three home runs entering Wednesday's action, a career high, 52.8% ground ball rate. I don't know if it's the track. cash cans, if it's buzzer related, but career low,
Starting point is 00:34:07 179 batting average on breaking pitches, Scott. Just saying. Just saying. Jose Altovae, stinkometer. What do you have? There's some research has been done by sources that... Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:27 I'm not even going to go there. There was some reason to believe Altuve didn't see that, didn't hear many trash can bangs during his abats, at least in 2017. So just put that out there. He showed signs of decline last year,
Starting point is 00:34:43 even though he had a career high in home runs. You know, the skills that Jose Altuve normally excelled at showed signs of decline. So my worry here is probably about a five, the same as J.D. Martinez. That said, I still look at the track record
Starting point is 00:35:05 and think he's more likely than not to turn around. I have lowered him in my second base rankings behind guys like Brandon Lau and Kevin Biggio. But he's still in a range where I'd probably be starting him if I had him.
Starting point is 00:35:22 So I'll go five for Jose Altufe. Yeah, he is getting up there in age. He's not super old or anything. He's 30 years old at this point. But yeah, the second base position has, we knew it wasn't going to be a great one coming in, so I tend to agree, like, unless you picked up Brandon Lau for some reason, of course, yes, you can start him over Jose Altuve, but I mean, how far are we going to drop him? Like, are you going to start Jake Croninworth over
Starting point is 00:35:48 Jose Altuvee, Scott, if you had both? I might. I might. I'm very high on Jake Croninworth. I might start Robinson Canoe over him. That was the next name I was looking at? Yeah, I could see doing, For somebody who's red hot like that And there's reason to buy into the skill Backing up the production I could see benching Jose Altuve While he's this cold But it would take somebody really good like that
Starting point is 00:36:15 I'm not You know I'm not picking up Garrett Hampson Because he has three home runs in the last two days And starting him over Altuvei Yes Quickly promote a few things For more than a decade
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Starting point is 00:37:15 We appreciate everybody who has already given us a five-star rating and review on Apple. We currently have a four-and-a-half-star average. I think that that needs to get it. I don't know what happened before I was here. Actually, I do because I listened to you guys for probably the past decade or so, but let's get that average up. We're at four and a half stars.
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Starting point is 00:37:57 We have some potential drop. as well. Heungen Ryu has been awesome this season. Zach Wheeler has been great as well. We'll talk about those names. Do it here. Fantasy baseball today. We've already fired up the Stinko meter today. Let's get the drop o meter going. Got a few names for you here. Not really great names. Kyle Freeland, if you ask God, he probably should have never been owned in the first place. But against the Giants on Wednesday, he allowed eight hits and four earned over two innings. 74% rostered. What is the dropometer on Kyle Freeland's got?
Starting point is 00:38:29 I think that's a big fat 10. Yeah, Kyle Freeland has now allowed 19 hits over six and a third innings in his last two starts. E! A lot of regression all at once there for that guy. Forget about it. Forget about him. How about Jordan Montgomery could not escape the first inning against Tampa Bay?
Starting point is 00:38:53 Five hits four earned. He is 74% rostered as well. Yeah, certainly not as good as I hoped he'd be this year. but probably still better than a lot of what's out there on waivers. There's no reason to cling to him if you have to free up a roster spot. But on the dropometer, I'm going to give Jordan Montgomery a seven. Yes, that's exactly the number I was thinking as well. Adrian Houser, five earned runs or five innings pitched against the Tigers.
Starting point is 00:39:26 He is 61% rostered. The dropometer. Adrian Houser. He's just completely abandoned the missing of bats in favor of ground balls this year, which, you know, ground balls are good. Strikeouts are better. It's probably not his choice, though, for being honest, Scott. Okay, fair enough. But that's, that is what the, that is what the underlying data shows.
Starting point is 00:39:53 There's a lot more ground balls. Basically, he has eight total strikeouts between his last three starts, and he's allowed nine hits, and he's allowed nine hits. each. Groundballs, they do have a high hit rate. It's not a home running rate, obviously, which is why they're preferable to fly balls. But yeah. Okay. So, look, I don't think Hauser's ever going to be somebody who is just a horrible start for you, but it's pretty clear at this point that he's not a real asset either. So on the drop-a-meter, I'll give him like a six. Would you drop any or all three of Kyle Freeland, Jordan Montgomery, Adrian Howser, For Tyler Malley, who on Wednesday against the Cardinals,
Starting point is 00:40:33 seven endings of three-run ball, only three strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes on 97 pitches. He is 46% rostered, and it looks like he might be a two-start pitcher next week at Chicago and at the Pirates. Freeland Montgomery Hauser. Do you drop any or all? I'm just encouraged he was able to pitch so deep in the game.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Yes. Didn't get many strikeouts, but the whiff rate was fine. And I think, I'm hopeful he's in the rotation for good now. would drop any and all of Freeland, Montgomery, and Houser for Tyler Malley. Would you drop those names for Pineda? Yes. Would you drop them for Dane Dunning? Yes.
Starting point is 00:41:14 Dane Dunning is only 36% rostered. I know. Get with the program, people. Like, I like Davy Garcia, but he should not be higher, like, rostered than Dane Dunning. Would you drop those names for Davey Garcia while we're talking about it? Yeah, maybe not how's there. It depends how much you need the guy to be in your actual lineup as opposed to just stashed away on your bench.
Starting point is 00:41:40 I'd rather stash Davey Garcia on the upside there. It looks like he's going to get another turn for the Yankees in a doubleheader Friday, I believe. And if he's good enough, I imagine they'll be able to keep him around. We had some return. Anything else we want to add there? No, that's fine. Go ahead. We had some returns, and specifically, Scott, I'm trying.
Starting point is 00:42:02 I'm trying not to be sucked in again. I don't know what it is about his presence, but it's just like, there's a magnetism. There is a magnetism that draws me to Joe Musgrove. And I just, it was the return of the must. Yeah. On Wednesday. Three plus endings, four strikeouts, nine swinging strikes on 46 pitches. Nine swinging strikes on 46 pitches.
Starting point is 00:42:28 Like that is a great rate. The fastball velocity was up a bit. 92.7 miles per hour on the fastball. 91.9 earlier in the season. Your interest level in Joe Musgrove. Frank. Frank. It's Franklin.
Starting point is 00:42:45 And it's me, Musgrove, your favorite. Back to deliver for you again. Are you not transfixed by my incredible swinging strike rate on those 46 pitches? Franklin. Oh, I am. I am. I'm not.
Starting point is 00:43:01 You are not. I'm not. He is 54% rostered. Yeah. Should that be higher? Look, if you're hurting for pitching, take a flyer on him, there's some upside there.
Starting point is 00:43:18 Frank's not the only one who's been saying it. I've not been his loudest supporter, Musgrove, that is, over the past couple years. I'm definitely Frank's biggest supporter, but not Musgroves. So I'm not going to get, as enthusiastic about this. I'll never get as enthusiastic about it as Frank is.
Starting point is 00:43:37 But like I dropped Kyle Freeland for Musgrove. I dropped Jordan Montgomery for Musgrove. He's probably like a top 60 pitcher immediately coming back from entry just because he hasn't disqualified himself from being a top 60 pitcher yet. So, you know, it's noteworthy that he's back. Musgrove or Tyler Malley? Malley. Musgrove or Davy Garcia?
Starting point is 00:44:04 I think I go Davey there. I agree. I would have Musgrove behind both of those names as well. But pay attention, let's see what happens. Two other names, bigger names that returned on Wednesday. Charlie Morton, just two innings pitched. The velocity was way up. I don't know if it was only because he pitched those two innings.
Starting point is 00:44:23 It was right around 35 pitches. 94.6 miles per hour on the fastball in this start, the return. that was 92.5 miles power earlier in the season and that is something that we were really worried about Charlie Morton so that was great to see. And then Walker Bueller back against the Arizona Diamondbacks returning from a blister issue. Five shutout with six strikeouts.
Starting point is 00:44:43 I think it's this kind of status quo here with Walker Bueller. But Charlie Morton, much more interested in him now seeing this velocity. Yes, very encouraging from Charlie Morton. I'd hope to see this coming back from the injury. The only problem is, is they let him throw, what, 36 pitches in this first start back? It is Tampa Bay, Scott.
Starting point is 00:45:07 You know, it's Tampa Bay. They do this. They bring new meaning to abundance of caution. And by the time he's stretched out for a full workload, the season's going to be over. So, you know, maybe he could give you a couple five-inning outings between now and then just if he's really efficient. But it's, that's, you know, that's a little disappointing.
Starting point is 00:45:29 Yeah, probably going to be better in Roto as a result of that than head-to-head points. I don't think he's going to really give you much volume in terms of those endings pitched, as Scott alluded to. The rest of Wednesday, we saw some studs on the mound and basically just do what they've done all season. Junjin Ryu at the Marlins, six innings of one-run ball, eight strikeouts. That is now six straight starts, allowing one run or less for Hyun-in-Riu. His ERA is down to 2.72. Zach Wheeler going up against the nationals. Six and two thirds.
Starting point is 00:46:01 Shutout. Six strikeouts, at least three earned runs in or less in every start this season. And then Zach Gallen, my boy, seven plus innings. He allowed a walk in the eighth, and then they pulled him. But seven shutout, one hit, two walks, seven strikeouts. Now two earned runs or less in all eight starts. The ERA is down to 1.80 for Zach Gallen. So between Galen, Wheeler,
Starting point is 00:46:29 you anything that you wanted to add on these three gentlemen scott oh it's been a very weird year for wheeler who has had the like the worst swing he's never been a great swinging strike rate guy a good you know decent enough strike out guy but never a big whiffs guy and but it's been worse than ever this year he got 18 whiffs in this game so that was nice to see from him and he has allowed two earn runs or fewer in every start but one. I think you mentioned that already. And then Christian Javier, either this is a total mirage
Starting point is 00:47:07 or he's the weirdest pitcher we've ever seen because tons of fly balls, very few swinging strikes, not great control. And yet, he's great every time out. So, and you look at his minor league track record
Starting point is 00:47:26 and it's like, okay, he wasn't getting a lot of whiffs there either, but at least he was getting a lot of strikeouts, and that's itself has been, you know what, his whiff rate in the minors is better than I give him credit for. I take back that last sentence. Christian Javier was a weird profile coming in to the majors, and he's become an even weirder one with his success so far. I don't trust it because it would be so, you know, such a departure from everything we know about these analytics. But I'm not entirely ruling out that he is this good, just because it's such a weird, like the pitch selection for him is so weird.
Starting point is 00:48:09 The fact that he has a fastball on a slider, basically, but manipulates the fastball so much. It's just, it's really hard to evaluate Christian Javier. I'm just, I'm skeptical, but I'm keeping an open mind. Yeah, and I'm holding up a big old L on my head because I had him as sell high candidate. For the reasons you mentioned, it's just his statistical profile just doesn't really add up. The underlying numbers don't really add up, but I don't think it's an hell yet. Sometimes these things just happen where, you know, for a stretch, we can see a player,
Starting point is 00:48:43 a pitcher specifically overperform his peripheral numbers. It looks like his next four starts are at Oakland, at the Dodgers versus Arizona and at Texas. So at Oakland, at the Dodgers, don't really love those. I know one of his worst starts. the season came against Oakland, but then against Arizona and Texas to finish up the season. That's not bad for Christian Javier. Some waiver wire names, Big Brad, Brad Miller, two for three, another homer. So just going to keep mentioning his name until his roster percentage climbs. A name that you brought up when we first joined this little soire together, Scott.
Starting point is 00:49:20 Devin Williams. One inning pitched, two more strikeouts. He's kind of like the National League version of James Carinjack right now. for the Milwaukee Brewers, 22% rostered. If you're in a Roto League and you want to pick up some strikeouts, some ERA and whip help.
Starting point is 00:49:38 He gets multiple strikeouts every time he pitches. He's up to, I think these are updated 31 strikeouts and 15 innings. Yeah. So yeah, like he's... Pretty damn good.
Starting point is 00:49:49 He is a 5 by 5 stud for ratios. I mean, He gets strikeouts with such frequency that he's competing with a lot of these starting pitchers, particularly the guys who are struggling to go more than five innings. And I'd rather start him than a lot of them. And it's hard to argue with that. I know some people have talked about picking up relievers in head-to-head points daily leagues,
Starting point is 00:50:17 where they can just kind of pick up points consistently with having those relievers in there. Again, Devin Williams, I think, is one of those who has been awesome this year. Randy Arosa Rano hit his first home run with the Tampa Bay Rays. He has started two of the last three games for Tampa Bay. And reminder that the raise gave up a pretty big prospect in Matthew Liberator. Liberator, Liberatore? I think it's Liberator. I've always said Liberator. I think it is.
Starting point is 00:50:46 I think it's Liberator. But the raise gave him up to the Cardinals, and Arosa Rano was one of the names that they got in return. I've just learned not to doubt the Tampa Bay Rays. I just feel like they always know what they're doing. Last year in the minors between AA and AAA, a Rosa Rana, a 344 batting average, an OPS over 1,000, 15 home runs, 17 steals. What league size and format, if any,
Starting point is 00:51:10 does Randy Rona, should be added in. Yeah, those numbers in the miners last year were incredible. Worth noting that they mostly came into PCL, which was just a completely boned, Dunker's League with the introduction of the juiced MLB baseball. It was always one of the most hitter-friendly leagues in the minors, but it went to a new level last year. It depends how much he's going to play.
Starting point is 00:51:37 Two out of three. I mean, it doesn't suggest he's an everyday player yet. So I would probably leave him for like the 15 teamers and pretty fringy even there. Like I might, I'd probably pick up Adam Duval over Arosarena at this point. Yeah, I would pick a Rosarena up in Roto leagues, where, you know, if you just have a spot to speculate on your bench, see how the rest of this week plays out.
Starting point is 00:52:01 I think there's some upside there, so I wouldn't really want to miss that. I'd be willing to stash him if I have a bench spot available. Okay, that's fine. The last name I wanted to mention, Tyler Naquin, seven straight starts for Cleveland, three hits, including a double dong. He has four home runs in his last six games. Does this matter, Scott? It might.
Starting point is 00:52:23 The data looks good on him. He'd gotten some hype in the past, but it seemed like the Indians quickly moved away from him. So worth keeping an eye on. Pretty low end right now, though. Some bullpen notes, Michael Givens pitched in the seventh inning with the Rockies down. Six to four at the time.
Starting point is 00:52:41 Daniel Bard pitched in the ninth... Come on, Rockies. After they took a lead, took a three-run lead, picking up his fourth save of the season. Again, that is Daniel Bard. He is 15% rostered if you need saves. Yeah, and it looked, I mean, that it must mean he's the guy still, right? He was the guy before the Givens trade.
Starting point is 00:53:01 I thought it was pretty clear that he was the guy only because he was forced into being the guy and that Givens would be a better guy. But Givens is apparently the seventh inning guy, Bart's still the ninth inning guy. So, yeah, freaking Rockies. I am not the closer whisperer today because I was touting Michael Givens as the Rockies closer. I was touting Diego Castillo after converting. We were both on Castillo, by the way, so we both whiffed on this one. But it's Tampa Bay. After converting the last three saves for the race, he came in in the fifth inning of today's game.
Starting point is 00:53:38 So still not much clear. I mean, look, he could go out and get their next save still, and who knows. And then the other one was for the Royals, who I was backing Scott Barlow. he gave up three runs in the eighth inning of today's game. And even earlier in the day, MLB.com beatwriter for the Royals, whose name is Jeffrey Flanagan, was indicating that it looks like it's Greg Holland's job
Starting point is 00:54:06 and was actually saying Jesse Hahn could get his sneak in and get a few save chances himself. So he was limiting it to the two old guys there, Holland and Jesse Han, and leaving out Barlow, and Josh Stalmont. So, you know, it's looking like all my predictions there were wrong so far, but it's always day-to-day whenever a team makes a closer change. A team that might be making a closer change, they don't really have a choice.
Starting point is 00:54:36 They traded their closure away. It's the Arizona Diamondbacks, and we saw Stefan Kreiton came in the eighth inning. He quickly got out of it, pitched one inning on seven pitches. Kevin Ginkle came in in the ninth in a one-run game, allowed a game-tying home run to Mookie Betts, and then Junior Gera came in in extras, and the Dodgers walked it off, Junior Gera.
Starting point is 00:55:04 So I'm leaning towards Stefan Crichton, at least he didn't stink tonight like the other two guys did. So if you want to speculate in deeper leagues and you are really hurting for saves, Crichton is the name that I would be looking at. All right, Scott, let's quickly answer a few questions. I have five here. Let's try and get through these as quickly as we possibly can.
Starting point is 00:55:23 Some APR questions. Apple Podcast Review. This one's from Cups. 1, 2, 3, 4. Mike Trout only attempted 13 steals last season. Even though his sprint speed remained elite, this year he has only attempted two steals come next season. Is there any fear Trout will be a 5 to 10 steel guy?
Starting point is 00:55:41 In that, I think, in that case, I think he probably shouldn't be considered a top 10 pick. at what point at that point he feels like Freddie Freeman it would be great if I knew how to read at that point he feels like Freddie Freeman except playing a deeper position
Starting point is 00:55:57 and we'll chip in extra homers and a few steals what is your opinion of this test stretch I mean there's very consistently Mike Trout has been the best hitter in baseball apart from any base stealing prowess
Starting point is 00:56:15 I mean that's always the fear That's, what do I always say about stolen bases? They're mostly a matter of intention. And for a guy who primarily, the main thing he brings to the table is his bat, there comes a point where the team just doesn't want him running much anymore, or he decides himself that it's not worth running anymore. With Trout specifically,
Starting point is 00:56:40 his first two years he stole 49 and 33 bases. his next two years it went to 16 and 11. But then he bounced right back with 30, 22, 24 the next three years. So it's been kind of this up and down thing with him that makes it even more difficult to predict where the steals are going to go for him next. But I do think if he doesn't, unless it goes on some kind of stolen base binge here to close out the season,
Starting point is 00:57:06 I think it's fair to go into next year not really counting on any steals production from him and just taking it as a bonus. I think that's fair. But to say he won't be a top 10 pick, that seems ridiculous. Yes, I agree. I think that's kind of crazy. This one's from Dr. Spaceman 25 with Michael Brantley off the IL.
Starting point is 00:57:25 I need to drop a player. My lowest roster percentage players are Robinson Kanoe, Jeff McNeil, J.D. Davis, Mark Kana, and Trent Grisham. At this point, I'm not sure Brantley is better than any of these guys. He did Homer on Wednesday night. Should I just drop him? Seven-by-seven head-to-head categories with walks and strikeouts for hitters. It's a Keeper League. I can keep them all except Brantley and Davis for a buck.
Starting point is 00:57:50 Brantley and Davis are basically market rate, so it won't be keeping them. I'm in first place. So Canoe, McNeil, Davis, Kana, Grisham. Would you drop any of those names to get Brantley in? I know I have Brantley ranked the highest of this group, but it's really a lot of the same thing. I feel like. Honestly, I think the one I drop, as much as it hurts to say, is Mark Kanna. Really? I was thinking McNeil.
Starting point is 00:58:22 McNeil's been very underwhelming this year. I know, I know, but there isn't enough in the underlying stats to lead me to believe that something's really wrong with him. So I just think it, because the hat production hasn't come yet, I think it's, I think it's, I think it would be wrong to assume it won't.
Starting point is 00:58:39 And, you know, Mark Kana hasn't really provided the power, I thought he would. Obviously, I'm not in favor of dropping Marcana in a vacuum, but you're putting me in a real tight spot here, Dr. Spaceman. And I don't know. I think Canna might be the low guy for me. You know, he's older, so you're not going to miss keeping him that much. I think he might be him.
Starting point is 00:59:05 Fair enough. Some emails, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. This one's from Sean, dear Thomas, and Roland. Scott Rowland? Scott Thomas? I don't know. Great trade. I give up Acuna,
Starting point is 00:59:21 Miguel Sinoe, and Rich Hill. I get Max Fried, Starling, Marte, Andrew McCutcheon, and Drew Pomeranz. I know I'm giving up the best player in the deal, but I still win, right?
Starting point is 00:59:35 No, you lose. That's Akunia, Sano, and Rich Hill for Freed, Marte, McCutcheon, Pomerant. So what's the goal? Great. It's a D-plus.
Starting point is 00:59:50 All right, so he put Carpenter and Wainwright in parentheses after Thomas and Rollin. So it's some kind of... In case there was more than just the two of us on. Cardinals thing. Yeah, so it's some kind of... Who was Thomas on the Cardinal? Who had a player whose first name was something, and his last name was Thomas from like the mid-2000s, early 2000s,
Starting point is 01:00:11 Thomas. Lane Thomas is on a team now, right? That would be lame. Lame, Thomas, am I right? This was from Joey Head to Head Categories League. Give up Patrick Corbyn to get Luis Castillo. Yes, I rank Castillo higher. From Aaron, would trading Marcel O'Zuna
Starting point is 01:00:30 and either Lance McCullors or Andrew Heaney for Charlie Blackman be a win? If so, which pitcher would the other guy be more likely to accept? I would trade Heaney and Osuna. for Blackmen. I would not trade McCullors in Osuna for Blackmen. I agree. You're asking which one is he more likely to accept it would be McCullors, but at that point I wouldn't, I wouldn't advise doing that. Because McCullors' numbers are
Starting point is 01:01:05 probably worse so far. Maybe not. I mean, he needs to know. He needs numbers are pretty bad, too. Right? What's that? I think overall Heaney's numbers are pretty bad too. Yeah, I think ERA is over four. But I think up for me, McCullors, it's over five, right? This would be a very easy thing to figure out. Yeah, McCullors is over five, and Heaney's is in the low fours
Starting point is 01:01:29 with a lot of strikeouts, so, you know, whatever. Only offer Ozuna and Heaney. Don't offer Ozuna and McCullors, and if he takes it for Blackman, great. All righty, that'll do it. He is Scott. I'm Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today on our YouTube channel. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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