Fantasy Baseball Today - Time to Bench/Drop These Stars? Tuesday Recap (09/09 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 9, 2020

We've been very patient with struggling players but now the playoffs are approaching. Is it time to drop some of the bigger names? ... For our OMGG standouts from Tuesday, Scott has been impressed by the power of Bobby Dalbe (2:52). How hyped will Sixto Sanchez be heading into 2021 drafts? ... On to news and notes, Max Fried randomly landed on the IL, Eric Hosmer may return this season, Jose Ramirez is day-to-day and Alex Bregman returned for the Astros (9:36). ... Is it time to bench or drop these "stars" (15:39)? Some of the names include Matt Olson, Mark Canha, Carlos Santana, Austin Meadows, JD Martinez, and the Cubs hitters. ... What is our interest level in these waiver-wire names (28:17)? Are Ryan Mountcastle, Tyler Mahle, and Joe Musgrove must-roster players? ... Let's hit the rest of Tuesday's action, starting with the players who are finally turning things around (35:07). Additionally, is Walker Buehler alright? Mike Clevinger actually took a step in the right direction. ... What is happening in the Royals and Giants bullpens (51:42)? ... To stream or not to stream for Wednesday's starting pitchers (54:44)? ... 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.

Winter is coming, but so are the fantasy baseball playoffs, which means we have some tough decisions to make. Welcome to Fantasy. baseball today on a Wednesday, September 9th, Frank Stanfo, alongside Scott White, and I know we've been really patient with some struggling stars to this point, but I have to ask, do you think we can be more aggressive with dropping some of those bigger names heading into the playoffs? What do you think, Scott? Well, well, well, it depends who you mean. It depends how deep the struggles are, how

tenuous the star label is I will admit that in one league I have finally dropped Josh Bell not all the leagues where I have him but at one cut them loose so that that's one Austin Meadows

is one who has recently who it's gone from bad to worse for Austin Meadows his last four games he's 0 for 16 with 10 strikeouts I believe and four strikeouts coming just today and he's been in and out of the lineup some too you know the Ray's really like to mix it up

and he's fallen victim to that as as he's struggled he's still bad at lead off today so they doesn't seem like they've lost that much confidence in him and you know I sure the stat cast data looks bad

but it makes sense when you've struggled this much over a small sample there's still that whole thing So I don't know. It's going to take a lot. It's going to take a big turnaround for me to trust starting Austin Meadows right now. So like in a three outfielder league, I think it's totally fair to drop him. I am happy you brought him up because he is one of the names that I did want to discuss.

And we'll have the drop O meter. We'll fire it up a little bit later on in the show some of the bigger names. And basically moving forward here on the podcast, we've got about, you know, a little over two weeks left in the regular season and the fantasy baseball season as well. So I'm going to focus more on next week scheduling. Of course, we'll still work in some 2021 talk as well, but really going to focus on, you know,

helping you guys set your best lineups for the fantasy baseball playoff. So that will be one of our main focuses moving forward. And we'll get to that a little bit later on. But let's start to show how we always do here, Scott. Oh my goodness gracious. All right. I'll let you go first,

only if you promise not to take my player. I promise not to take your player. Yes. I assume it's the one we talked about prior to the show. I actually have a few different directions I could go here, but I'm going to go with Bobby Dalbeck

who has homered in four straight games, including both games of a double header today for the Red Sox. He's been playing very regularly with them trading Mitch Morland, a lot of strikeouts, but it appears to be heating up right now. We know there's a lot of power potential, too. One of the ones he hit today was this opposite fields, you know, disappear from the side of the

camera kind of shot. Like, there's a ton of power here. A guy who's minor league profile looked a lot like Joey Gallows, who wasn't the same stature of prospect, but, you know, that three true outcomes type. and I'm excited about him as somebody who, in some of my Roto leagues, the one category I'm most trying to shore up is home runs, actually. And I'm glad players like him are available.

Yeah, he was the name that I was going to ask, like, should we be dropping some of the struggling stars for? And yeah, the power has been legitimate for Bobby Dalback of the Boston Red Sox. he now has five home runs in his first nine major league games. It's a 16% rostered on CBS. He has first and third base eligibility plays six games next week. Let me see if I can find a name here. One of our struggling stars.

Would you drop Carlos Santana for Bobby Dalbeggs, Scott? No, no, I haven't lost really any confidence in Santana at all. And you know what? It's probably going to be no to any struggling. stud. I see Bobby Dalbeck is strictly like a roto type of pickup. Okay. Just for the exact use that I presented. Need to catch up in home runs in those leagues where you're starting a ton of hitters. So, I don't know. Maybe you'll surprise me. But I don't think a stud,

no matter how much they're struggling, is the category of player I'd be dropping for him. Well, how about in a roto league, would you drop Chris Bryant? We've talked about it before. What if he's your corner infielder and you need power? I have a hard time believing in league with rosters that big. He's the worst player you have. He's been pretty bad. I can see starting Dahlbeck over Bryant right now. So I guess maybe that answers.

I mean, we're down to how many more lineup locks, too, right? In weekly leagues? Two lineup blocks. I'd rather not, but I guess it's on the table. I guess so. I guess I just take back everything they said. I'm a man of contradictions. That's why it's interesting to talk.

about some of these players. Because, like, at this point, it doesn't, like, what are we waiting for? It's, if you don't feel comfortable starting a player because they've been terrible all season long, then you might as well drop them for somebody who's hot. And my general cutoff, like in a full-length season for, okay, I need to start changing my stance on guys who I had every confidence in coming into this season. My general cutoff is six weeks. And we are basically, I think we're seven weeks, actually, six and a half, something

like that. We're basically right at that point. So it makes sense that starting to feel a little antsy. Definitely, definitely makes sense. My, oh my goodness gracious, standout on Tuesday, I'm going back to the well, 6-0 Sanchez. He was at the Braves, six shutout innings with six strikeouts, only one walk, 14 swinging strikes on 89 pitches.

Sixtho Sanchez now has 25 strikeouts to just two walks over his first four Major League starts, which came against the Nationals, the Rays, the Blue Jays, and the Braves. So some pretty good lineups in there as well. He's looked great. Averages 98.8 miles per hour on the four-team fastball. He has a sinker which generates ground balls at an 80% clip this season. The change-up is filthy.

This is a nasty pitch, 22.5% swinging strike rate and a 49% chase rate for the change-up. He throws a slider very hard. it's like 88 to 90 miles per hour, but I think that's still kind of a work-in-progress pitch. I don't think that there's anything really to add for this season, Scott. I think if you have 6'0-Centges, I think he's a must-start now. I think that's just who he is.

He doesn't walk anyone. He gets strikeouts, and he generates ground balls, which are three areas that you really want to see a starting pitcher Excel, especially a young starting pitcher. I think heading into next season, I think the hype is going to get out of control. It's kind of similar to how we talked about Luis Robert. I'm not saying 6'0. Sanchez,

like a second round pick. But I think he's going to climb into a top 30, top 25 starting pitchers drafted in 2021. Hmm. Maybe. Like, I am really impressed by him too.

I mean, two walks and four starts. He needed 79 pitches to go seven innings last time. You know, that's... Today's six innings on just... How many pitches was it? 89 pitches to go six today. was impressive enough, but 79 to go 7 last time. That's just amazing.

And, you know, the strikeouts are pretty much gravy with him, and yet they've been there more than I expected so far. Well, like right at one per inning, right? Certainly a competent bat misser. So top 25, I mean, that's, that is a high threshold. I'm trying to consult my rankings to see where that would put him, just looking at rest of this season. in.

So that's like right where I have Denelson Lament, Hyun Jun, Ryu, Dylan Bundy's in that range. Look, I mean, if he has, gives us three, maybe even four more starts

that are like the four he's had so far, I think that's, I think that's reasonable. I might be ranking him that high. Yeah, you're talking me into it now too because I think it makes a ton of sense.

Other games that are just in that range like Paddock has struggled. Jose Burrios has been up and down. Hazardo has been a little bit more inconsistent than we probably hoped. Same thing with Carlos Carrasco. So you might be able to make the argument it's going to be interesting to see

how Sixtho Sanchez finishes out this year and how we're talking him up heading into next season as well. Some news and notes, the Braves placed Max Fried on the 10-day IEL retroactive 2, September 6th, with a left side muscle spasm in his lumbar spine. He's expected to return when first eligible September 16th, or soon thereafter, according to David O'Brien.

This kind of came out of nowhere, right, Scott? Yeah, I did read his velocity was down a little in his last start. I didn't check that. It wasn't a very good start. But, you know, back spasms, a lot of times it doesn't result in an aisle stint, so I'm not, I feel pretty good that the report is accurate. that'll spend the minimum 10 days on there.

Obviously not great after the lineup block, though, for that news to come down for what I presume has been your best pitcher or second best pitcher so far. Yeah, I found out because I was refreshing my live scoring pages and I'm just like, injury sign, doesn't have a start next to his name, what's going on with Max Fried? And then boom, that's how I found out. So not really the greatest way to find out that he landed on the IL.

Eric Hosmer suffered a fractured left index finger while trying to lay down a bunt with two strikes on Monday night against the Colorado Rockies. He was officially placed on the 10-day IL Tuesday, but Kevin ASE of the San Diego Union Tribune believes Hosmer will be able to return before the end of the regular season, I don't think he's going to be able to help you much

for fantasy baseball purposes much anymore. I think he might be able to help the Padres a little bit and get ready for the playoffs, but I don't think Eric Hosmer will be contributing much in fantasy baseball anymore this season. Jose Ramirez. Well, hang on.

He's hoping for the minimum 10 days. That's a report that's out there. Okay, so that might allow him to be ready for the final week of the season, week nine. We've seen players play with broken fingers before. We've seen them not even go on the IEL with broken fingers before, you know, Index fingers, obviously a major finger.

But I don't know. I wouldn't be so quick to draw POSMER, especially if there's somebody else in an IL spot, you could drop easily enough. Jose Ramirez was not in the lineup Tuesday, and MRI revealed a left hand bruise. The team will reassess his status on Wednesday. David Fletcher is progressing well with his ankle injury

and could come off the IL when first eligible this Thursday. Juan Soto, dealing with. with an elbow injury was back in the lineup on Tuesday as the designated hitter for the Nationals. Marcus Semyon returned to the lineup for the Oakland A's in the first game of their doubleheader on Tuesday. He had missed seven consecutive games before that. Matt Chapman is dealing with right-hip tendonitis, but he'll test things out on Wednesday. He didn't rule out a return by Thursday, but his timetable likely depends on how he feels after participating in baseball activities. Stephen Piscotti is dealing with left wrist-sorness that kept him out of the line.

lineup for Tuesday's games against the Houston Astros. Bobauchette will play the field at the Blue Jays' alternate site. Tuesday, a return this weekend has not been ruled out, so that would be a fantastic get for the fantasy playoffs. Ken Giles threw a live batting practice session that went well on Tuesday. He can return as early as Thursday, and I wanted to ask, should we be paying any attention to Raphael Dolis, Scott, who has now turned in the last two saves for the Blue Jays?

My hunch is probably not because it sounds like Ken Giles is on the verge of returning. Yeah, that's my hunch, too. It would probably have to be a deep league that I'm making a run at Dolos in. You know, because there's always a possibility Giles suffers the last minute setback or doesn't look right when he comes back. And I guess Dolis is establishing himself as the clear backup now. Sticking with the Blue Jays, Rowdy Tellez left Tuesday's game and is set to undergo an MRI on his right knee on West.

Wednesday, Renato Nunez was back in the lineup for the Orioles Tuesday. He had missed the previous two games with a hamstring injury. Alex Bregman returned for the first game of the Astros doubleheader on Tuesday, went 0 for 3 with a walk and two strikeouts, and the Cardinals finally optioned their top prospect, Dylan Carlson, back to their alternate training site, which sucks. But you know what else sucks? Credit card debt.

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Subject to credit approval rate includes 0.50% auto-pay discount. Terms and conditions apply and offers are subject to change without notice. Visit lightstream.com slash strike for more information. Is it time to drop these players heading into the fantasy baseball playoffs? We're about to find out. Scott, what do you think about Matt Olson? He went one for six and two games on Tuesday. He did hit a three-run home run, but he is batting under 200,

and he has seven games next week, two of which are in Colorado. How would you feel about dropping Matt Olson for... I'll throw a few names your way. Bobby Dalback is one that we mentioned. I feel terrible about it. You shouldn't do it. Oh, that's it.

Just a blank statement. Before you want to play the name game. Okay. He's been, it's been one of the weirdest slumps for any hitter this season. The strikeout rate is normal. The walk rate is actually very high, getting on base a ton. His XBA is 250 versus the batting, you know, batting average below 200 most of the year.

Like, he looks like Matt Olson, the under the hood. He looks like Matt Olson. So, and he's at least been providing home runs. I'd want to, I'd ride it out with him to the, bitter end. I agree. I agree, actually. Looking at his padded ball data on statcast, 92.5 mile per hour, average exit velocity. That is in the 95th percentile of the league, still hitting the ball extremely hard. He's barreling it up. The strikeouts are a little bit higher this year, but he is walking. It helps that. The only league I wound up with Matt Olson is

in the For the People League, which is a head-to-head categories league with OBP. I shouldn't have said he's getting on base a ton. He's getting on base for free a ton. It's still low OBP because the batting average is so low. Right. You know, if he goes on a tear, then he'll be getting on BASAT on. Yeah, I mean, just compared to his batting. I mean, 315 OBP is not, you know, I would say it's a little more impressive than a 190 batting average.

So, all right, we're going to hold on to Matt Olson. What about his teammate? Your boy, Mark Kana has zero hits in his last five games. Just three home runs on the season. Mention the seven games that they play next week. two of which are in Colorado, so it's kind of enticing. But there are some names out there, Scott. Like Ryan Mountcastle is still less than 50% rostered in CBS.

Garrett Cooper is getting hot. He's turning it on. He had his third home run in the season on Tuesday. He has nine games next week. He is just 15% rostered. He is dual position eligibility. Would you consider dropping Markana for either of those names, Mount Castle or Garrett Cooper?

I could see doing it in a Categories league for Mountcastle specifically. I still have a lot of faith in Cana, and he legitimately is getting on base a ton, 391 OBP. So in a points league, you know, he's, I won't say he's been great,

but he's certainly been usable. And I think the skill set lends itself to that format than more than Mount Castles does. But Mountcastle's off to a very nice start. I'm not saying he's someone I wouldn't bother with in a points league. And like I said,

in a traditional 5-5 categories league, I could absolutely see going with Mount Castle over Kana. I mentioned a name Carlos Santana a little bit earlier. Is he in that same boat as Matt Olson where you're just going to continue to ride it out with him? You trust Carl Santana? He's a little lower than that. Points league, yes.

I mean, he's always been a points league stud. 363 OBP. He hasn't always been a must start in Roto leagues because the batting average, for most of his career, it's been, you know, he's been kind of a low batting average guy, not Joey Gallo-like, but, you know, not somebody who always hits even 250. So I couldn't see myself dropping Santana anywhere, but benching him again in a five-by-five league where you have a lot of corner infield options. I could see that. So in a context like that, in a 5x5 roto, Mount Castle, Garrett Cooper, Dahlbeck, does that make sense? The only one name you're mentioning that even, that even gets me thinking is Mount Castle.

And look, I guess I could see it if it really came down to it swapping. out Santana for Mount Castle just in a five-by-five league traditional standard five-by-five categories. Batting average and not OPP. If push came to shove, I could see that. It's really hard for me to believe Santana's the only player you could drop.

But maybe he is. Maybe in some weird scenario I'm not thinking about he is. Yeah, looking at the numbers, Santana not to the same level as Matt Olson, but he's hitting 207. with a 331 slug. His expected batting average is 263,

so he's severely underperforming that, and his ex-slug is 446. So, you know, he's about 115 points lower in his actual slugging percentage. So he's another guy, based on his quality of contact, he has been unlucky to this point. Yeah, I don't really feel like anything's wrong with him. I just understand he's not...

Other than... Last year was kind of a departure. Last year, he was a stud everywhere, but he's never been a great five-by-five player. So that's why I'm, that's even more than like the expected numbers. That's why I'm taking the stance with him than I am. All right, we spoke about awesome metals a little bit earlier on. Sounds like you're pretty much ready to get him out of the lineup and rightfully so. Seven games next week, five of which are in Baltimore, which is a great place to hit, obviously in Camden Yards.

So, I mean, a lot of the same names, drop them from Mountcastle, Cooper. I mean, these are the guys that are hot now, and if you want volume, at least for Cooper, nine games and looking at a few others here. Dylan Moore. Dylan Moore is another one, who has three steals in five games since returning for the Mariners, consistently batting second in their lineup. He's 53% rostered. He's got seven games next week.

He has outfield and shortstop eligibility. Dylan Moore, Cooper, Mountcastle. Drop medals for any of those? Mountcastle, yes. I'm taking another look at Dylan Moore here. Gosh, it's just, you know, with the time he missed, it doesn't even have 100 at bats on the year. So, boy, he's up to nine steals.

Wow, that is, yeah. I don't know what to make it, this 28-year-old, it was a big bunch of nothing prior to this year. And Austin Meadows, like, I don't think you can start Austin Meadows right now. It'd have to be like a 15 team league or deeper to start him. So that is, that's, if, if this is the only way you can get another bat in your lineup, I guess it makes sense. But like the only one I'm willing to move ahead of him in my rest of season rankings of the names you're mentioning is, is Mountcastle.

Well, I mean, not even, not even, it's like rest of season is literally two weeks, Scott. So, you know, it's, we're literally, we're looking. at this at a week-by-week basis at this point. So looking at some of the matchups and stuff, that's why... Well, that's also why, like, I don't know that picking up a Dylan Moore just to stick him on your bench. No, I mean starting him. Like, if you don't want to start Meadows, like, just picking Dylan Moore up and starting

him instead. I don't mean to overcomplicate the discussion, but my point is, maybe it'll take a lot for you to get Meadows back in your lineup and so you're thinking I'm not going to miss them no matter what happens from this point forward but maybe the guy you're about to play picks up Meadows and he starts doing Austin Meadows things again and it's like wow I should have just held on to him

that would worry me more than Dylan Moore falling into the wrong hands you know. And I'm not even saying Austin Meadows is undropable, but with two lineup blocks left in a weekly league, you don't need to drop Meadows just to drop him. If dropping him is the only way you can get a more productive bat in your lineup, fine. But you don't need to drop them just to drop them. All right, let's run through the rest of these names. More so, I guess if you just want to bench them instead of dropping them so that, you know, other people don't pick them up. J.D. Martinez looked like he was coming around and then fell flat on his face once again. He is 0 for 12 in his last three games. He has six games next week, three of which are in Miami. Scott, would you be okay benching J.D. Martinez heading into next week.

Assuming he doesn't really do much else this week. Three outfielder league, yes, five outfielder league I think you stick with. I can't see myself dropping him anywhere. Kestan Hiro was a name that someone asked us about on Twitter. It's like, please talk about Kestan Hira again. All right. He has eight home games next week. And what do you think about him?

I think you're probably sticking with him, unless you just happen to get really lucky picking up a good second basement off the waiver wire. But he's been a little better lately, right? Hira has. I know the strikeouts. Yeah, he homered in three straight games. Yeah.

Strikeouts are still a huge issue. Before these last two. Yeah, strikeouts are. how he knew they were going to be high. He's up to 11 home runs. All right. I think you'd just stick with him. How about Gary Sanchez, man. O for four on Tuesday.

He was out the previous two games before that because he needed a mental break, a mental rest. He's betting 125 with a 565 OPS. I know it might sound crazy. Gary Sanchez has been so bad. A name that

popped up for me was Dalton Varsho, who homered again on Tuesday. He's homered in two of his last four games, and he started eight of the last nine for Arizona. He plays in the outfield for them. So you get a little bit more volume. He's 13% rostered. I don't think it's crazy to consider dropping Gary Sanchez

in a one-catcher league for Dalton Varsho. But if we're complaining about how bad Gary Sanchez has been, Dalton Varsho, even with that home run today, is hitting 154. Like, you're around. I'm just saying he's showing more signs of life than Gary Sanchez, I guess. But it's not really hard to do right now. I would, I would, like, I get it.

I get where you're coming from. And Gary Sanchez has been truly awful. And if he played any other position, I would say this is easy. But catcher's just so bad. I'd rather just, you know, throw the Hail Mary. That has become Gary Sanchez. Sanchez. I'd rather throw that up than turn to a waiver wire option at that position. All right, the Cubs played just five games next week, and they have a slew of struggling stars.

Javier Baez, Chris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwaber. How would you rank those names, Scott, in most benchable to least benchable? Baez, Bryant, Rizzo, Schwerber. I would go Bryant Schwarber Most Benchable to least Benchable Bryant Schwerber

Baez Rizzo And would you realistically Want to bench any of them I could see in a Points League Benching all of them except for Rizzo Yeah Rizzo's Rizzo's walk to strikeout ratio

So good that in I mean Points Leagues this year Rizzo's been a top 10 first baseman So yeah you're not benching him in a points league I don't think you're benching him anywhere

Bryant, I think you bench him everywhere. Schwarber, probably just a points league, maybe a three outfielder league. That's categories-based. Baez. I could see benching him anywhere else. You have a worthy starter at shortstop, but I don't think it's a must bench situation. And that's where I am with those for. All right, some of these waiver names I've already brought up a few of them.

Mount Castle, Garrett Cooper. I'll ask you about a few more. You tell me your interest in, on a scale of 1 to 10, this is the waiver wire interest level 0 meter. A lot of words, O meter, basically. Ryan Moucestle, is he number one?

He's the top hitter that, I just feel like his roster percentage should be higher than 48%. Yeah, it's pretty dumb, it's not. It's up to, what, four homers and three doubles in a very short period of time. batting 339 not striking out much looks like

he's transitioning to the majors seamlessly and he had really good numbers in the minors last year 1 to 10 how much you like him 10 Garrett Cooper you sound a little dismissive of Garrett Cooper Scotty two hits hit his third home run on Tuesday and they have nine games next week dual position eligibility

interest level 1 to 10 Yeah, I got pretty hot and heavy for Cooper at one point last year. Hot and heavy for somebody or hot and heavy together. I don't know. He probably wasn't hot and heavy for me. But anyway, it didn't end well. It didn't end well. There's still some hurt feelings there.

And I'll give him a seven. How about, we already spoke about Bobby Dalbeck. You like him a lot. More so in a roto. Probably. probably a six. I think the conditions, your league has to meet certain conditions.

Your needs have to be of a certain variety to go after Dahlbeck. How about Miguel Andohar? Quietly has started five games in a row now for the Yankees. He has eight hits during that span. He has 31% rostered. He has third base and outfield eligibility on CBS. Just six games next week. Interest level, one to ten.

on Anduhar. I feel like that playing time could go away just as quickly as it's come around. So I'm only going to go like a five there. But obviously an interesting hitter. So I don't know. I want to see a little more.

The Tigers spoke about them on Monday's podcast, but let's bring him up again, Jamer Candelario. I'm going to keep bringing up the name because he's 28% rostered, which is just, he's available everywhere. and Willie Castro both were hot on Tuesday.

Jamer went two for four with a home run and four RBI. He has an 11-game hitting streak, nearly a 30-per-cent line drive rate, solid 290 XBA for Jamer Candelario. And Willie Castro has dual position eligibility, just continues to hit. What would be your interest level on both of those names, Scott? Candelaria is really high.

He's probably like an eight for me at this point. with that line drive rate he's going to hit for average and there's some power there too pretty excited about him Castro less so less so

I need to look into him a little more to be honest but I there hasn't been much power right to this point and it's not like he was a top flight prospect. So, like, if it's a comparison between him and the guy who's been replacing Ahmed Rosario for the Mets, what's his name? Andres Jimenez?

Andres Jimenez, thank you. Yeah, Andres Jimenez has started, has been playing for Ahmed Rosario a lot more lately, and we know he steals bases. So that's an interesting, like, dirt cheap, middle-in field pickup. More interesting to me than Willie Castro. Yeah, I'm a little more interested in Castro. Three homers to this point, 12 RBI and 18 games, betting 3.49 entering Tuesday. Last year in the minor's 11 home run, 17 steals. So he's got a little bit of pop, a little bit of speed.

Doesn't really walk all that much, so probably not interested in him in a points league. but I'm kind of interested. 5% rostered, look, especially in a deeper league, should be higher than that. Sure, I mean, depending how deep the league is. He's not a nothing. Tyler Malley was at the Cubs on Tuesday, seven innings, three earned runs, 10 strikeouts,

22 swinging strikes on 109 pitches. Oh my goodness gracious. How interested are you in Malley? 56% roster, would you be okay dropping Randy, Dobnack for Tyler Malley. Yeah. Now, Malley needs to be picked up

everywhere at this point. That's, it just, it's just been getting better and better for him lately. It's, it's clear now three, I think three straight starts of over six innings,

uh, for him. And that was always the problem for him in the past, had a great fastball, but not enough to go with it. And he'd start, he'd go that second or third time through the lineup and would just get crushed.

But the way he's been pitching deeper and deeper into games this year, and now it looks like he is entrenched in the rotation after kind of moving in and out earlier in the year. I think he's a must. It's a 10. Tyler Malley must have. Speaking of must-having players, how about Joe must-growth?

Is he a must-owned player? Four shutout innings on Tuesday with five strikeouts, nine swinging strikes on 64 pitches. Looks like he has a two-start week next week. 53% Ross. and I believe those starts will come against the Reds and the Cardinals. Is it Joe Musgrove, Scott?

Well, I'm not going to go 10 on him, but I'll go like at 8. 46 pitches last time, 64 this time. He's building himself back up. The swinging strike rate has been great in both. Nine on 46 and then nine on 64. Both of those are good rates. Will he be ready to throw? 85, 90 pitches next time out.

Maybe. Maybe. The fact that it's a two-star week I think makes it worth the gamble. If it's not the first start that he goes that deep, maybe it'll be the second start. All right, the rest of Tuesday's action,

I got a bunch of different categories here. First up, we have the better late than never category. Some of these hitters are finally coming around. Raphael Devers. Three hits with a double Dong on Tuesday, three RBI, hitting more fly balls this season. His first 16 games was hitting 167 with a 564 OPS, just two home runs and a 34% strikeout rate. Devers' next 25 games

has batted 320 with seven home runs. The strikeouts are down, so you really like to see that. Got off to a bit of a slow start last year. I brought that up, I believe it was like his first 30 or 35 games. He didn't hit a single home run last season. in 2019. So maybe just a slow starter is Raphael Devers. Since we called out Victor Robles last week,

he has nine hits in his last eight games, which isn't a great ratio. But two steals, and he was batting leadoff on Tuesday, even with Juan Soto back in the lineup. I was waiting to see what they would do with Soto back. They had Trey Turner batting third.

They had Adam Eaton, batting second, and Juan Soto batting cleanup, and with Victor Robles at the top of the lineup. So that's pretty interesting. Jeff McNeil, Red Hot, home runs in three straight games, multiple hits in seven of his last 10 games, and then Yasmani Grandal, another catcher that we've been waiting for all season long,

multiple hits in three of his last four games, home runs in two of those. He is now batting 257 with an 832 OPS, which is probably where we expected Grandal to be. So Devers, Robles, McNeil, Granddahl. What do you think, Scott? Well, certainly if Victor Robles was dropped anywhere where steals are a major need, he needs to be picked back. up because like I feel like the nationals have have gone from contention mode to development mode. They recently brought back Carter Keyboom and basically said they're going to play him every day at third base because they need to see what they have there.

And so I think Victor Robles in the leadoff spot is part of that too. Does it make their lineup worse? Probably. But ultimately they want him to become their leadoff hitter, I think. And particularly if it's going to improve his output batting high in the lineup like that, I think that's something that may end up carrying over to next year. McNeil's interesting, McNeil got off to just power-wise because he was hitting for average from the get-go last year.

But his home run split first half, second half. McNeil was ridiculous last year. He hit, trying to look it up. But he hit one home run in April. I think he had just two home runs for the entire first half. It looks like it was a little more than that. But yeah, I mean, it took him a while to get going with the power last year, and then suddenly he went from zero to three home runs in the last three days.

So it's just reminiscent of that. I'm not saying that's the pattern he's going to follow every season. But the batted ball profile looked very similar even before. he started powering up this year. It looked like he was very much the same player, even though the production was down. So I have a lot of confidence in him going forward. Jeff McNeil, you mentioned the splits from last year.

It was seven home runs in the first half in just in 75 games, and then in the second half, 16 home runs in 57. So it was two home runs in the first two months. Not so much a first second half thing. two home runs in the first two months, and then 21 in the final four. Next up, do any of these things matter from Tuesday? Carlos Martinez's return against the Twins, three and two-thirds innings pitch, seven hits, four-earned run.

Scott, does that matter? Well, remember the first time he went out, the velocity was way down, and he got hit pretty hard too. It was better this time. It was still down like a mile per hour, more than a mile per hour, lower than what we're used to seeing from him. And, I mean, if that's the case,

I need to see a good outing from him or two before I consider using him. And, you know, we might be, we might be running out of season at that point. It was encouraging that he threw 80 pitches in this start, though. The other three names on this list, Frankie Montas, at the Houston Astros

in the first game of their doubleheader, allowed two runs over five innings with four strikeouts, excuse me. Jay Hap was at Toronto slash Buffalo, and he had 10 strikeouts over six and a third allowed only two runs against the Blue Jays, and then Walker Bueller, what the, what happened here at Arizona? That's supposed to be a good matchup. Two and two thirds, innings, five runs. Only two were earned. Avers a season high 98.9 miles per hour on his four team. Still had a high swinging strike rate

in this game, but was not great. Montas, solid, J. Hap, pretty damn good. Walker Bueller, pretty damn bad. Do any of these things matter, Scott? I think because Montas' splitter is still lacking, he threw only eight of them in the start. It doesn't really change anything for me. He does not look the same. The one, I mean, Buehler or whatever,

it's been frustrating the way the Dodgers have used him. Yeah, I just wish they'd treat him like a conventional starter because they haven't. We've missed out on a lot of, of potential this year. I don't think you bench him based on this start. His last start was great, but he obviously has not delivered on his ADP. J.Hap's the interesting one, because J-Hap really changed his pitch selection recently. You know, he had the 10 strikeouts in this game. Only 12 swinging strikes, considering he threw

113 pitches. That's not great. But his past four, he upped his sinker usage, tremendous. and I think three of the four have been really good. And what's weird about him is the sinker is his best swing and miss pitch, which is weird. That's normally not a swing and miss pitch, but it happens to be Jhab's best one. So I think that, I think it might make him somebody who's worth looking into if the matchups are right. I think he's back to being kind of a streamer type in fantasy. So it looks like the 13th is still this week, right? So, yeah, he's not going to have a two-star week next week,

which would have been a little bit more interesting. It looks like he's going to fade. He's at Boston next week. That's a pretty good match, job. All right. So he has a second start. He has a second start this week. We can see how that goes, and then maybe he ends up being a one-start.

sleeper. I don't think he's going to be a stud, but I do think we've seen him be competent in the past off and on over the years. And because there's an obvious arsenal change that coincides with improved production, I think it's something to take seriously. Some of the leftovers from Tuesday, the Bamba Squad, the Minnesota Twins, they are getting healthy. Nelson Cruz had two home runs across their doubleheader, his 14th and 15th home runs of the season. which I believe leads baseball now. 15 home runs, unless I'm forgetting someone else. Nelson Cruz just continues to mash.

Miguel Snowe hit his 10th. Josh Johnson hit his third. Alec Bohm went three for six across two games with four RBI, including a two-run walk-off single off of Matt Barnes. We'll get to that in a little bit when we look at the bullpen. Tristan McKenzie, seven strikeouts over five innings pitched against the Royals. Lance Lynn had a big bounce back, seven innings pitched with a loud one-earned run with six strikeouts, Andrew Heaney on the other side.

Not so great. Five runs, only three were earned over five innings pitched. And I know the line looks bad for Mike Clevenger, but I was watching this start, and he actually looked pretty good. Like, I feel like he looked the best that I've seen him in a while. He allowed four earned runs over five innings. Most of that came on a three-run home run to Nolan Aronado in the first.

But he had eight strikeouts, 13 swinging strikes on 84 pitches, eight of those whiffs on the slider, and his fastball average 95.8 miles per hour, that's now three starts in a row that Clevenger's average fastball velocity has been over 95 miles per hour. So I'm actually taking this start

as a step in the right direction. The twins, Boem, McKenzie, Lynn, Heaney, Clevenger. Anything you wanted to add on those names, Scott? My takeaway is for Clevenger were the same as you. It wasn't exactly the result you wanted to see, but some encouraging signs there. Meanwhile, Lance Lynn, I'm... Look, he's must start.

I'm not going to go down that path, especially with two weeks to go. But we've kind of been talking about him, like he just picked up where he left off last season. And that really isn't true. His strikeout rate is down. His whiff rate is down. His fly ball.

rate is up. Like the things we normally care about in the pitcher, he's been worse than last season. And remember last season, the first quarter of the season, he basically, he was terrible. So, you know, there was hope that he was even better than his full season numbers last year. You know, it all adds up to him having

Lance Lynn a 436 X-FIP, which is obviously not good. Yeah. Throws a ton of itting. still has more than a strikeout per inning, and it only has the one bad start, right? I think just the one. So I'm not going to say bench Lance Lynn, but I guess this is more of evaluating him for next season consideration. I think maybe his success has been a little overstated. Yeah, I think that makes sense. Something that we should pay attention to heading into next year

for Lance Lynn. Let's see how he finishes up the season, but yeah, his bat is like super low, too. It's 216. Last year it was up over 300, so he's been lucky in that regard as well. Let's see what happens regarding Lance Landis, just a few things that I will add. May Machado and Will Myers are just awesome. And we talked about this before the podcast, actually, Scott. Like the Padres basically got fantastic outcomes, like ideal outcomes from all of their hitters this season. And Machado batting over 300 with 37 RBI. It's like a 136 RBI pace over a full season.

Will Myers hit two home runs, including a grand slam, his 11 home runs and 30 RBI. The Padres, you want to become a bandwagon fan? Now is the perfect time to do so. Something that I might be considering myself here. They've gotten their best case outcome from basically all their hitters, right? It's crazy. It's crazy.

In addition to Lamat, I would say. And, yeah, I mean, they've gotten, I guess catcher. I guess Francisco Mejia didn't make the leap a catcher. And they just went out and traded for Austin Nola. And like Machado, Tattice, Hosmer, Will Myers. Like, I know we were expecting Will Myers to be kind of sneaky good, but he's been better than he's ever been before.

It's Jake Croninworth coming out of nowhere. It's been really impressive. Yeah, slam Diego. I think it was like their seventh Grand Slam that they've hit this season. That was Will Myers. It's awesome. They are awesome. You know what else is awesome?

Football being back. Will Brinson and the crew from the Pick Six NFL podcast brought you an episode every single weekday of the offseason. Now with football finally here, they are ramping up the frequency with a minimum of eight weekly episodes. Pick Six will be there for gambling and fantasy picks leading up to games and also there for recaps as soon as the games end. For the most comprehensive NFL audio experience,

download and subscribe to Pick Six on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and wherever else podcasts are found. We'll take a quick break when we come back. I got some bullpen notes that I want to get to stream or not to stream for Wednesday. We'll look at some of the starting pitchers that are going. And a few more emails, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. We'll do that here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back.

And before we get to the Bullpen notes, Scott and I were talking throughout the break. And there were four very fringy names that pitched. on Tuesday that you wanted to get a few words in here, Scott. So, you know, rank what you saw from these guys. And if you want to roster any of them moving forward, please feel free to let us know. Spencer Turnbull, John Means, Adrian Houser, and Alec Mills from Tuesday. Well, the fact Turnbull threw six shutout innings, we've seen some of that from him before.

I wasn't really impressed by it. He's still pretty fringy to me. It's more the other three that call my attention. Like, John Means has a long way to go to win my trust. I'm not sure there's any time for him to do it this year. But in allowing just throwing, allowing one run and six innings with three hits allowed, five strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes was really out of character for him. And I don't know, I'm going to keep an eye on him going forward,

see if that leads to something new for him. Houser and Mills are both pitchers who've really, really leaned into their ground ball tendencies this year, but have shown more strikeout potential in the past. Mills line was good today, six shutout innings with six strikeouts. Hauser's not so much. He allowed five earn runs and four and two-thirds innings, but he did have six strikeouts,

and he had 13 swinging strikes, which was his best of the year so far, Hauser's was. More change-ups he threw in the, his start. He really hadn't used them that much this year, but made use of them in this one, and it seemed to help his stuff

play up better. Even though it was a bad result, I think it was a step in the right direction for Hauser, and if he can get those whiffs up with his ground ball ways, I still think there's an enticing package there. Same thing with Mills, 13 whiffs,

first game with double digit whiffs this year, but like I said, he showed a pretty good whiff rate last year. four of his previous five have been bad, so he needed to do something different, and maybe you did. I'm not ready to start Alec Mills based on this start, but, you know, another one like it,

and maybe we're talking about him as a streamer for the, you know, at the end of the season. There you go, some fringy pitcher names, maybe names you could look at in deeper leagues as well. Some bullpen notes. Greg Holland was working the seventh inning with the Royals tied five to five on Tuesday. He actually worked the seventh and the eighth.

Scott Barlow came in for the save in the ninth up eight to five, and he did allow a run. The Royals have had three save opportunities since Trevor Rosenthal was traded away, and those three saves went to Jesse Han, Greg Holland, and Scott Barlow. Mathidi! He was doing that same thing he did.

Earlier in the year, Barlow was the one we were rooting for to get the job. So I'm glad he got a save, but one or run two hits loud after Holland through two flawless innings before that. Not sure Barlow made a great case to get the job, even though he was able to close out Cleveland to get the save.

Would you want to own any of those rosters, royals players in, you know, head to head categories, leagues or roto leagues where you need saves? Not really. I mean, depends how desperate I was. I think Holland is still the top of the pecking order for me. But it could change tomorrow, you know?

Maybe Barlow comes back in, throws a perfect ninth for the save, and Barlow's at the top of the pecking order, for sure. Matt Barnes recorded two outs in game one of the double header on Tuesday. He allowed two earned runs. Took the blown save and the loss, but actually he's been pretty solid so far in the closers role.

So I probably wouldn't look too much into this. There was another save for Jeremy Jeffress now has the Cubs last four saves. He is 50% rostered, so he's a name that I trust more than any of the Royals if you're just looking for saves. That should probably be higher than 50% roster percentage on CBS. Tyler Rogers

pitching the seventh inning for the Giants with Tony Watson pitching in the ninth. Tony Watson picked up the save and it seems like those two have really been flip-flopping. I think it's matchup dependent

and it's like if there's lefties coming up in the ninth then we'll see Tony Watson. If there are a lot of righties coming up then we'll probably see Tyler Rogers in the ninth or and vice versa based on where they're at in the lineup and how the matchups shake out for the...

Also Sam Coonrod has gotten a couple saves during that time even though he has an 8-10 ERA. Ew. So it's, I think he just had one yesterday. So yeah, it's still, it's still very messy there. If I had to, if I had to pick up one,

it would probably be Rogers. But, like, that's even worse than the Royal situation, as far as I'm concerned. Kevin Ginkle entered in the top of the eighth with the game tied for the Diamondbacks. That game is actually still going on as we're recording. So we'll see.

comes back out for the ninth, but either way, the game is tied. Wednesday, to stream or not to stream, the must-arts that I have, U. Darvish, Trevor Bauer, Clayton Kershaw, Corbyn, Corbyn, Corbyn, Carlos Carrasco, and Jesus Lazzardo. Is Jesus Lazzardo a must-start against the Astros? Scott? That was the one I was hesitating on, which is interesting since Burns is also on the list. But, uh, yeah, I,

I couldn't imagine a league where I'd sit Luzer, Okay, would you start Matthew Boyd at home against the Brewers? I would. It's actually a good matchup, and he's been a lot better since ramping up his change-up use. How about Danny Duffy at Cleveland? Pretty good matchup for a guy who's been pretty steady this year. I think I lean yes on that. Davy Garcia at Toronto slash Buffalo. I'd avoid it. I'd avoid it. Need to see more from him. Tanner Roark on the other side going up against the Yankees.

No. Rick Porcelo versus the Orioles. No. Pablo Lopez at the Braves. I don't love it. I don't love it. He's a good enough pitcher that I think you could justify starting him against anyone, but I'd prefer not to. The Braves currently have the highest.

Wobah in the league against right-handed pitching. So, you know, if you're trying to catch up in strikeouts and wins specifically, then I think you just throw them out there. But it could go poorly for him. Tommy Malone on the other side against the Marlins. Nah. Julio Taran at the Texas Rangers.

No, no, no. Antonio Senzatella at the Padres. I don't think so. Zach Davies on the other side against the Rockies in San Diego. I could see it. I could see it in a points league or another league where you're looking to add some volume for whatever reason. I could see it. And the last one, Nick Margavicious at the Giants.

Marga, no. He's been decent, but I agree. I would not use him. Some emails, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. This one's from Brian. Just curious, Justin Verlander wasn't mentioned at all. our 2021 first mock draft that we did. We only did two rounds,

so that means we did not have Verlander going in that range. Does that mean we should be pushing him down to the third or fourth round next year? What do you think, Scott? As thanks, Stan now, yeah. Yeah, probably more likely the fourth, I think, than the third, actually. But look, if he comes back for the playoffs, assuming the Astros are in them,

and is Justin Verlander again, then I do think he's re-exam. enters the discussion to go in the first two rounds. I just, you know, I'm not, I'm not going to anticipate that happening. Let's, let's wait and see. Fortunately, we don't really have to draft for 2021 today. I'm a little more willing to say,

I think he's going to go in the third round, and I think that would be a pretty good value. Some of the hitters we talked about, like, if you could start off with two elite hitters and then Justin Verlander the third, it's kind of enticing, so. Let's see what happens down the stretch and in the playoffs, assuming that the Houston Astros make it.

This one's from Bill. Hi, dudes. How are you feeling about Randy Arosa Rana? He's on fire and hitting third today, which was on Tuesday. Do you think he's worth a flyer? And I will just add this. I thought this was hilarious. Juan Taribio, who covers the raise for MLB.com,

said that Randy Arosurana added 15 pounds, and all he did was eat rice and chicken and doing 300 pushups a day. Oh, that's all he did, huh? That's all he did. I've got the rice and the chicken part down, Scott. There's no doubt about it. How do you prepare your chicken, Frank?

Or your rice for that matter. Is this cheesy rice? Eating some cheesy rice there, Frank? A little fried chicken. I love a chicken cullet. I love grilled chicken as well. I can go either way on that. All right.

16% rostered is Randy Rose Arena. He has seven games next week five in Baltimore. What do you think, Scott? I like that the word rice is in his name. Aros Arenas. He's only started four of their

past what is this eight games. So I don't know. Maybe that increases, but as of now, I don't see a lot of use for him in fantasy. he's my guy.

I'm excited about him. We've talked about him a little bit. All right. Yeah, let's see what happens if he continues to play or not. He's batting third. I think the Cardinals like him.

I mentioned, like they gave up a third today. He was off Monday. Late Sunday was off Saturday and Friday. They gave up a pretty good prospect to get him in Matthew Liberator. We're stretching the meaning of prospect. Okay.

To include anyone who was good enough to reach the majors by calling him a prospect, I think. He wasn't on anybody's top 100 list, though he did have some impressive numbers in the minors last year. All right. We'll play the wait and see.

Let's see what happens over the next. I'm not dismissing him, but like the rays need to show confidence in him before I have confidence in him. I think that's fair. The rays need to show confidence in anybody, for that matter. This last one's from Benjamin, grade the trade.

Give Jacob de Grom and Corey Seeger, get Mookie Betts, Anthony Rizzo, and Catell Marte. I'm first or second. in ERA, strikeouts, wins, and whip. I'm going to exceed the innings cap before the year ends. I still have you, Darvish, Max Freed, Zach Granky, Kyle Hendricks for my main pitchers.

I'm hurting for OBP. Well, I wonder if the freed injury changes anything for you with regard to exceeding the innings cap. But if you're telling me you're not going to be able to enjoy everything to Grom brings to the table, then I think this is a great return for him. I mean, I rank Mookie bets ahead of him, just straight up. And so, I mean, if you

take both of those names out of the off the table, Mookie and DeGrom, and you're left with Seeger for Rizzo and Marte, I think that's fair. So, I'll give it a C plus. It's slightly better than an even swap, I think. I agree. I like it a little bit more.

I'll go B-minus. That'll do it. He is Scott. I am Frank Sample. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today on our YouTube channel. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.