Fantasy Baseball Today - Two-Start Pitchers, Sleeper Hitters, and Opening Night Recap! (07/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 24, 2020

Good thing Frank was touting Giancarlo Stanton all offseason! We recap Stanton's big night against Max Scherzer. What are some other takeaways from the Yankees vs. Nationals (4:20)? Why is Victor Robles still batting ninth? Scherzer was up-and-down in his first start. ... News and notes (9:10)! Clayton Kershaw has been placed on the IL with a back injury. What is Dustin May's Fantasy outlook? ... What's the interest level in Johnny Cueto who looked pretty good against the Dodgers (17:13)? ... Should Juan Soto Fantasy owners consider selling low (19:48)? ... Does the expanded MLB postseason actually affect Fantasy (23:58)? ... Onto our pitching planner for the 11-day week (29:26)! We also have some two-start pitchers for week two. Josh James and Adrian Houser are must-start options. ... Next up is the hitting planner for the 11-day week (43:51). Which teams play the fewest games and should we avoid those hitters? Find out why Scott is a fan of the Padres plus Shogo Akiyama! ... 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

As John Carlo Stanton's Follucco a jay like Michael Waka Polanco and from As John Carlo Stanton's number one fan boy, it feels good to watch him crush baseballs again. Welcome to Fantasy baseball today on

this Kokomo Friday, July 24th, Frank Stanful, alongside Scott White, Chris Towers and Adam Azer. Guys, I tried to tell you about Stanton, but you just wouldn't listen. Sorry, Frank. You were right, man. Oh, he's not.

not even that good. Oh, 2017 was the only season he's been good. Oh, oh, his skills are diminishing. Oh, his strikeout rates moving in the wrong direction. He's not a standout and batting, batted ball. Yeah, yeah. John Carlos Stanton is the best hitter in fantasy baseball, number one hitter in fantasy baseball currently. That is not sure who said some of those things that you just pretended to hear. Those are pretty much direct quotes. I don't think so. I might have... You guys have been trying to run away from what you said all evening, and I will just

say, first of all, we record every single one of these. I don't know that. There's what we said, and there's what you may have heard. No. What are you talking about? There's only what you said. You've never heard of Rashomon or whatever it's called? It's one of those situations.

All right, Giancalo's staying for real, though. Two for three, two-run Homer. How many times did A-Rod say that he looked lean in the? the broadcast. Oh my gosh. That happened a million times. I didn't really think he looked all that lean. You know who looked lean? It looked like John Carlos Stanton. You know who looked lean? Luke Freaking Boyd. He looked like a different person. He looked like he shed a Luke Voight and turned into Will Myers. He looked like Luck Vot. Oh man. The home run for Stanton 459 feet and he also had an RBI single. But Chris, I'm about to rain on your Stanton parade. You know why?

This is where you say why. or not. Both of those came on fastballs. He still can't hit breaking pitches, Chris. Oh, geez. This is, see, like, that is a thing that you actually said, and you meant it. All right, well, see, look,

how did Scherzer not have the scouting report not to throw fastball to John Carlos Stann? Just going to tell you, I got, I'm taken tomorrow off. I'm going to go through the archives. I'm going to dig up each and every one of the times that you guys said John Carlos Stanton should retire. Here's a couple things I know I said about Stanton.

He's only once had a 40 homer season, which is factually true. It'll be 20s after this year. And 2018, his production was, his overall production, fantasy points per game was quite a bit worse than the majority of his career. And then when he follows that up with a lost season, you really wonder where it leaves him. Was he on the decline? What's going on?

No, Scott. You really wonder it. You said Jorge Saler was better. Jorge Saler has no hits this season. That is true. That is true. However, please stop.

I would still try. Let's stand for Solair today. We've talked enough about standing already today. And for the rest of time, today on the show, we are reacting to opening night, of course. We're going to help you with your decisions

for the long 11-day week. Plus, we will look at some two-star pitchers for those who are setting their lineups on Monday again, which is, assume most roto leagues. The game is official. The Yankees won,

4 to 1. They called it because of rain in the top of the 6th. Adam, you're here as well. Actually, I do have one last stand thing to do. Have you ever heard the call? John Sterling? So bad. The worst thing about John Carlo. No. Cepuo.

Staparlow. Apparently an Italian means John Carlo, you can't be stopped. It's actually pretty cool. Like, why not like, pick some words you can actually pronounce correctly. Adam, your biggest takeaway

from... Just spitballing. Yankees and Nationals. Yeah, all right, so my biggest takeaway is a few things. Well, first of all, I just want to say it's great to have baseball back. I don't really care about the fans. Like, I'm not... It doesn't change the viewing experience for me.

I think it's fine. I felt that way watching exhibition games over the weekend. I'm just glad to have baseball back. That's great. I also think it's funny that legitimately, I miss is the truth. As a fantasy baseball analyst or wherever the heck I am quasi-analyst, much more interested in Johnny Quato versus Dustin May than Garrett Cole versus Max Scherzer.

I think all of my fantasy baseball viewing is based on pitching matchups and I care more about the guys that are relevant for your waiver wire. And we're watching this game right now and we'll have a lot to say about May and Quato. For the Yankees, you mentioned Luke Voigt. I just want to say that they seem to like Mike Ford quite a bit. I don't know that he stays on the roster that long. I don't know. Like he's on the roster now.

They have 30 guys. Voits is streaky guy. If he gets off to a slow start, it would be a little alarming. Because I think he might not play as regularly as I anticipated because Ford, you know, has been hitting pretty well in summer camp and whatnot. So that's something to keep in mind. Aaron Hicks is not going to lead off. Typically, that's going to be DJ LeMayhew.

Brett Gardner's not going to draft that fifth. I have really no concerns at all about Max Scherzer. Wild tonight. Bad pitch to Stanton, 11 strikeouts and 5. and a third. I don't really have any major takeaways, but I will say that the Nationals lineup is awful without Soto and Rendon right now.

And if Victor Robles cannot move his way up this lineup, that's troubling. So he batted ninth tonight, but it's an opportunity for him to bat first. If he can just live up to his pedigree a little bit and start hitting, it's an opportunity for him to at least bat

bat toward the top of the order. It's big for him. He's got to go out and do it. Yeah, I agree. I thought it was quite sad that he's batting ninth. I guess they want that dual, you know, back-to-back lead-off guy, but why don't they just do that

at the top of the order then? Why don't they do Robles, Turner? I guess it would be weird if Eaton Bats third, but it's even weird when Starling Castro's batting third for your team anyway. So I think,

I think honestly it makes more sense for Robles to bat like fifth or sixth than first, just looking at the on-base skills of him versus others in the lineup. And, you know, you obviously want a high, I bet on-base percentage at the top.

So I'm not, I'm not, I don't know. I don't think it's as, I'm not as hopeful of that, I guess, as you guys are with Robles. So,

I wouldn't be counting on that. I wouldn't say I'm hopeful. I just think the Soto injury, I mean, their line-ups terrible. So if he could become one of their better hitters, he can move up in the order. Now,

if he bats fifth, that's probably not going to be good for his steals, but it's all speculation anyway. I guess I don't really have too many things to take away from five innings of baseball. One thing I took away, and, you know, we got a report that this might be the case in the last week before the season.

I'm not sure how much we talked about it, but Carter Keyboom wasn't in the lineup as Drew Bull Cabrera was at third base instead. It seems like the two are going to split time. Carter Key Boom was, we frequently talked about him as being undervalued given his prospect pedigree and the role we thought he was going to have. I still think if he takes advantage of the, if he takes advantage of the opportunities he gets, then it's no contest and he becomes the starting third baseman. Like you didn't, you probably didn't draft him at a point where you have to play him.

You probably only drafted him in larger leagues. I wouldn't be so quick to drop him. I would give it a little time to see how much he plays and see how he performs when he does play because it's still, in his lineup, he could emerge as the best hitter, maybe not the best fantasy player because that would obviously be Trey Turner, but the best, like, pure hitter. Adam, you mentioned Max Schurz are kind of a mixed bag tonight,

five and a third, inning's pitch, four and runs, four walks, quite wild, 11 strikeouts, 16 of the outs, 11 of the 16 outs

that he recorded were via strikeout with 22 swinging strikes. The Yankees are going to swing and miss quite a bit. Garrett Cole, five innings pitched,

one hit, one and run. That was to Adam Eaton. He allowed a solo homer, five strikeouts with 11 swinging strikes. Chris, DJ LaMayhew, was active on the roster,

but was not in the starting lineup tonight. It's kind of curious. He hadn't played it all before this, right? He played in a summer camp team. He'll be back. He'll be back soon. Yeah, that would be my expectation that it's just a situation where he's, you know,

not quite all there needs to get up to speed a little bit more. You know, off day today. They're off tomorrow. You know, off day today for him, off tomorrow. I would expect we see him back in the lineup on Saturday. Some news and notes on a day when baseball returned, we lost one of the bright young stars. Juan Soto has tested positive for COVID.

We talked about that on yesterday's show. And then Clayton Kershaw, about four hours before first pitch for the Dodgers game, maybe even five hours, whatever it was. Middle of the day. Placed on the 10-day I.L. Retroactive to July 20th with back stiffness. Apparently he suffered the injury in the weight room. And this is not great because he has suffered injuries to his back before.

Dave Roberts did not provide a timetable for Kirschaw's return, but he will miss at least two turns through the rotation, given the minimum requirement for the IL stint. I saw a different report on that with Roberts. He seemed to suggest he could be back for the Diamondback series, which is the end of next week. I think it, I think it, you know, Roberts doesn't sound really concerned at all. They just interviewed him in the game.

So what would make turns, though? what would make technically technically two turn yeah I would technically be two turns because because it was the opening day start yeah and the Thursday game so what I think's going to happen is they called up Dustin May for this start it the fifth day would be Walker Bueller's first start which we expected May to piggyback with Bueller anyway so May sticks around to piggyback with Bueller and then the next time through

Kershaw would take that opening and there's an off day in there that that allows that to work out. So I suspect we'll see Kershaw back next Saturday. So if you're playing an 11 game week, you know, you might still want to start him. Depends what two start options you'd be passing up there. I think, I feel pretty comfortable recommending that. And as for Dustin May, who's, you know, in the fifth inning now. And looking really good.

I mean, he looked good down the stretch last year too. Looks unbelievably good. Yeah. I'm not sure. I'm not sure that they choose now to carve out a rotation opening for him when they have five options that they were already more comfortable with. But maybe he sticks around as like a bulk guy out of the bullpen. Yeah, I think I just want to point out with May because this is tough to do because we're recording in the middle of the start and everybody's going to hear it when the game is over. He's given up one run through four innings.

He throws like 100 miles per hour. His cutter is ridiculous and it looks like it's like 94 miles per hour. but he made four starts last year and really had trouble in the sixth inning a couple times. He also had an outing where he came in in the sixth inning and got roughed up. So like if you look at his sixth inning ERA, it's terrible.

But his ERA last year, a third time through the order was over 20. And opponents batted over 500. Okay. So let's see if he can navigate third time through the order. He's also facing arguably the worst lineup in the National League. but I certainly looked at every league I was in to see if Dustin May was available.

He wasn't. He's 50% owned. I got to think that was a tiny sample size third time. Yeah, I would guess that's like less than 20 plate appearances. But he is curious in a couple ways because like throws really hard, tons of movement on his pitches. As hard as they are,

he gets a ton of movement on them. Yeah, he was ranked high in every prospect rank list because the talent is obvious. but it's basically just sinker-cutter. There's not a lot of like speed, change of speed there. And so as good as his stuff is, he doesn't have a great strikeout rate in the minors. He gets a lot of weak contact,

a great ground ball pitcher, and it led to big numbers, obviously coming up the ladder, it led to big numbers in his stint in the majors last year. But is he ever going to develop that swing and miss arsenal that would allow him to be a true stud in fantasy, or is he going to be just, good. I have no doubt he'll be good. It's just the degree of good that Dustin May will be. And when does he get that opportunity to really become a fixture for fantasy players? Yeah, unfortunately,

there's a new tracking system that they're using for statcast and the numbers in game are all wonky. I think it looks like the Yankees and national stuff is correct now. It helps that there are only two pitchers in that game. You guys said there would be no complete games. in 2020. Well, look at that. Two in the very first game. So it's not quite clear. Like he's thrown, it looks like nine or 10 pitches, 90 miles per hour below, which is definitely not his cutter, the way it's moving tonight. And it's definitely not his fastball. So the question is, is he throwing his change up more? Last year he barely threw it, or is it his curve ball? And it looks like at least a couple of them are probably changeups.

And this is Dustin May you're talking about, Chris? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, what I'm looking at is he's thrown 56 pitches and 40 of them are sinkers and 10 of them are cutters. And that's basically who he was last year too. So temper expectations, yes, he throws very hard. The cutter is awesome, but this is basically who he was last year too.

He was 57% fastball, 31% cutter really needs to kind of develop that curveball or at least use it more to, I think, you know, kind of reach his potential. Well, Frank, I'll ask you, if you had, like, Griffin Canning or one of these, like, late rise of Garrett Richards, would you drop them for Dusted May? I wouldn't because I don't think he's going to be in the rotation long term. I think I do trust that Kershaw will actually be back rather quickly. And then, you know, maybe they find a way to keep him in the rotation. I mean, maybe if he's outperforming Ross Stripling or Alex Wood or something like that,

but I just don't think that's going to happen. And I think this is probably another year where Dustin May is mostly in long relief. Anything can happen, though. Yeah, I mean, you know, to quote Dr. Ian Malcolm, life finds a way. When it comes to pitchers, you know, if we talk about there's not a spot in the rotation, there will be a spot in the rotation eventually, probably not in the too distant future. That's the way pitching works. And so as we found out five hours before opening pitch today with Clayton Kershaw.

So for me, it's more just, like, I haven't really taken Dustin May seriously as, like, one of the high upside young pitchers this year. And it's because his minor league production has never matched what the profile suggests it should be. Like, you're talking about a mid-3 ZRA, 350 for his minor league career, less than a strikeout per inning. like he might be a guy that just figures it out when he gets to the major. You see that little punch out right there? He said a little curve ball. I think it was a slider actually. A little punch out with the breaking ball.

I'm watching him. But then I'm watching him pitch tonight. And I'm like, holy crap. Like, are we sure he's not the Dodgers best pitcher? Yeah, he needs a third pitch. The problem is. Sometimes the production does not match, you know, the eye test. Yeah.

Yeah, even. Yeah, it's like Jordan hits. So they're taking him out now after four and a third. He gave up seven hits to the. Giants in four to third. Like, that's not impressive, guys. As much as we're hyping him up, like, drop them. Yeah, and drop them, 53% own.

Come on now. What about Quaedo? Let's talk about Queda. Adam said that might be the worst lineup in the National League. I'm not sure that would have been the best lineup in the PCL last year. The one that the Giants are throwing out there right now. Yeah, what can you tell me about Joe McCarthy, right fielder, starting right fielder for the San Francisco Giants?

He's got a list of names right here. I heard that they've had a new left fielder like 13 years in a row, opening day left fielder. Well, this is a new old left fielder, though, right? Wasn't it how to Penn today? Well, Alex Dickerson's playing left today. Alex Dickerson. And I think one of them was Dave Roberts.

They were talking about them in the broadcast. You mentioned Johnny Quedo, Adam, and four, innings pitch so far, five hits, one and run, one walk, three strikeouts. It's just a delight to have Johnny Quito back. I mean, his quick pitching, his stuttering. Look, if he, if he, if he, delivers a quality start against the Dodgers. I'm not going to overreact, but I said this yesterday, Scott.

I think if he performs well, he should be on your radar after a start like this against a lineup like the Dodgers. Yeah, I agree, and I thought it was crazy talking yesterday that anybody would consider starting him in this first start back after a long layoff, bad injury against the Dodgers. And so far, so good. But obviously he has a track record of success. And everybody could use an extra pitcher.

So if he finishes the start strong in this matchup, then yeah, he's absolutely back on the mixed league radar. Yeah, his schedule is going to get pretty awful. Like it's Dodgers now. Then it's the Padres, which is fine. Then the Rangers. And then I think it's going to be, oh, no, he's missing Colorado. Okay.

So that's good. He's missing the Rockies. but it's at the Dodgers than at Houston. But he's owned in fewer leagues in Dustin May. Quato's 43% own. You know the strikeouts are almost certainly not going to be that good. And the wins probably aren't going to be that good either. So he's got to basically pitch to the best of his abilities

to be, I think, mixed league relevant. I'm not really that interesting. I would surprise anybody if he performed like a Kyle Hendrix, seven, eight Ks per nine, solid ratio. Johnny Quato is a guy who, for a long time, a lot of people would say, well, he's a regression candidate this year. He can't keep, he can't put up a babbit that low. And he's been pretty consistently that kind of guy.

He, he's never had much differentiation between the velocity of his pitches, which, you know, makes him pretty hard to pick up when he throws five different ones. And he's actually throwing a little harder than I expected to today. You know, again, this stack has to seem to be having a little issue, a couple of issues. And it seems like they've kind of classified. some of his fastballs, the sliders and some of his sliders of fastballs. But pretty much everything with the fastball's been 90 miles an hour

are up with several in the 93 range. His last start in summer camp, I saw a reporter was talking about. He was starting more like 88, 89. So Johnny Quaid is actually not that far off from, you know, where he was when he was pretty good. Adam,

do you want to weigh in on Wonsoto at all? Because we talked about it yesterday and you weren't on. I don't know that there's anything to add. You know, I thought it was really interesting in our podcast for the People League. Someone said, I think I actually don't know which league it was. It was one of our two podcast leagues. Someone said, would it be an insult if I offer Ramon Luriano for Juan Soto? And I don't think it is.

I mean, I wouldn't take that, but. The offer would be to Frank in this particular league. Yes, Frank has Juan Soto. I like Ramon Luriano. I like Ramon Luriano. I wouldn't take what you can get. I don't know. I wouldn't take it.

I mean, it basically comes down to like, if one soda misses two and a half weeks, that's a quarter of the season. And he was someone in a points league, we're probably expecting right around four points per game from. That would kind of mean if you could get someone who averages 3.2 points per game, that's probably a net win. I understand that's how the math works out, but in a three outfielder league like a points league,

I mean, there's a good chance you have somebody like that already. bench, you're already on the waiver wire. Right. Like if you're comfortable, there's no reason to sell low on Soto if you have an adequate if all you're aiming for is adequacy, you probably can find that in a three outfield or late. But it might be half the season. It's more likely you'll do it in a Roto league, I think, because five outfielders, I mean,

the replacement value there is a little bit tougher to come by. And he's better in points than Roto. It's true. Yeah. But also, like, he had a. basically didn't have much of a summer camp. So I didn't know that he was like late to report, right? And now he's got COVID.

So it's hard to, hard to know what to expect from him when he comes back. He could get off to a slow start. But this is the most important question of the night, Frank. You have him in the four of the people league. It's a 16 team league of three outfielders. Somebody offers you John Carlos Stanton for Juan Soto. And that's, I mean, I think,

I think that is a legitimate trade offer. That's fair. Tough call. What would you do? I would probably take it. I probably would do. You probably have Laureano ranked higher, though. I think in Roto I did.

In points, I had Stanton higher. But listen, do you guys also think like, well, Ron Luriano or John Carlos said, they could get COVID tomorrow. So it's like, I don't know how to approach this whole situation. You know, do you? They could.

The number of players who have gotten it relative to the entire player pool is very low. So I don't think you should go around. I don't think you should play it that way. Yes, it's of course possible anyone could get it. But it just seems self-defeating to approach it that way. It's also possible that Juan Soto and John Carlos Stanton both end up having it. And stay with me now. John Carlos Stanton recovers quicker.

So like there's just this whole thing is it's just we're dealing with total unknowns. We're not even dealing with like we're dealing with unknown unknowns. Like we don't know what we don't know when it comes to this kind of thing. It's not it just isn't anything like what we're used to dealing with. It could be two weeks and Juan Soto's back in the lineup. It could be a month. He could miss the whole season. Like every single one of those things is in play in a way that wouldn't be true if he rolled

his ankle or pulled his hamstring. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say to just answer Adam's question. Yeah, I'm not going to compare the severity of COVID because obviously, you know, it could wind up being very severe for different people. But I think that, you know, the chance of someone catching it is probably just as likely as someone getting hurt randomly on the field. So it's just, look, these things are going to happen.

And it's just really unfortunate that it happened to Juan Soto, who was one of the best young players, a first second round pick for fantasy on the day of opening days. So it sucks. Oh, it sucked. Yeah, it was tough. Yeah. And it's sad for him. And I'm happy that he's asymptomatic. And it'll be officially announced that an expanded postseason format will be,

will take place for the 2020 season this season. So more than half the teams in baseball, there are 30 teams of baseball. 16 of those will be in the postseason this year. So it doesn't, it doesn't affect fantasy. It does. Oh, I guess it does, I think. Yeah. It makes a team like the Blue Jays even more.

willing to put in a Nate Pearson and stick with him. It's going to create more contending teams. It's going to create these situations where he think like the pirates are going to trade Keone Keller. Well, what if the pirates pitching staff actually is good and they're hanging around 500 come end of August? They might not trade those guys. They still should trade. They probably should. There's no actual benefit to making the playoffs in terms of the monetary aspect,

which we know is the only thing that truly matters. But yeah, it's just, it's going to create more opportunities for teams to go for it. And it is always good when teams are actively trying to win. That is good for fantasy because that means they're going to be incentivized to put their best players on the field, hopefully. And there was one player last year that basically quit. And that was Whitmeryfield, who just decided he didn't. want to run anymore because the Royals were so bad. So the longer they can hang around and just be within shouting distance of being the eighth

best team. I know that they're probably not going to be, but it's not in a month in 30 games. They could be. But you know, so that helps. You also look at someone like Nick Madrigal. Like the White Sox were kind of fringe playoff contenders in a in a five team playoff all of a sudden, you know, this could be a team that really is going for it. And that could mean that Nick Madrigal is up in six days.

Yeah, I think all but seven teams have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs now. And those seven, like I would include the Royals in the seven. But like you said, Adam, they could think they have a shot until pretty late. And so, yeah, it's almost like every team is in it now, especially given how short the schedule is. You know, it's going to take it's, it's, it's, I'm not sure we're going to have enough time for some team to be so clearly out of it. you know, maybe like the tigers or Orioles or something, I guess it's possible. Oh, yeah. But it's possible that they are at least within shouting distance.

All I can think of when you refer to them as the seven is like bathe in the light of the seven or whatever it's called. I saw someone else was speculating, was going down the same path of thought, not bathing the light of seven. But he included the Rockies as an eighth team. And that's just like, that's sad for Rockies fans because they're, the seven are all rebuilding. The Rockies are not. Well, see, but did you see the Rockies had their analytics guys put together some numbers

and the last time they won 73 games they won 92 the next year. They must have the same analytics guys as Dave Gettelman, the GM of the New York Giants. That's a real thing their owner or computer president said. All right, the last news item I want to hit on, Scott, you can address this one.

You're still wearing the Braves jersey from yesterday, so I appreciate that. Kyle Wright is scheduled to start Tuesday's game against the Rays. Former first round pick last year in AAA, a 417 ERA, a 126 whip for Kyle Wright. This is one of the pitchers for the Braves

that I could see them not letting go very deep into the game. Scott. Yeah, I agree. I agree. The plan wasn't for him to be in the rotation and for early on in summer camp, they were kind of treating him like a non-option for the rotation because he didn't have as much chance to build up.

during the shutdown. So, you know, he had a, I know he had a bad start against the Marlins last time in summer camp. And I think there's potential here. He finished the AAA season strong last year. Obviously, it was the fifth overall pick a couple years ago. But he really, he really has to show something before I consider him a potential pickup in fantasy. And as you said, I'm not really counting on that happening early in the year.

A quickly update you guys on what's going on in this game. Johnny Quato is out after four innings pitched 63 pitches. So this is probably what we're going to see a lot of. The first couple of weeks, first couple of times through the rotation, Drew Smiley is in. Johnny Quato is out. Drew Smiley's thrown like 94 miles per hour. Don't sleep about Drew Smiley, man.

No, he's someone I've always been interested in. And he's throwing 94 miles an hour and may get to, be a starter with half his games and I almost called it Pack Bell. It's late at night, guys. I'm going to keep an eye on Drew Smiley

as Mookie Betts beats out an infield single to start a five-run rally. Give up move getting Quato out of the game. That is ridiculous. I thought I thought Smiley was in the rotation. It could be just an off-day thing where they don't need a fifth starter

for X number of days. I thought it was the fourth starter, though. They might not need a fourth starter. That is what roster resource has him as, the fourth starter. So we shall see what happens. They have Jeff Samarjus second and Kevin Gousman, third. Let's see what happens with the San Francisco Giants. The pitching planner.

We spoke about the four-day week for the weekend on yesterday's podcast. So today we want to hit the 11-day week. If you're playing that extended week in a head-to-head league, we are also going to touch on some of those two-star pitchers if you set your lineup on Monday. Sleepers for the 11-day week. This list doesn't really change much from any of the guys we mentioned earlier.

Scott, you have Alex Wood and Ross Tripling. They're going up against the Giants and the Diamondbacks. Corbin Burns against the Cubs and the Cardinals. Adrian Houser, who we mentioned was really great in his final summer camp start. He is at the Pirates and against the Cardinals. And then Matt Shoemaker against Tampa Bay Rays and the Nationals. The Nationals are quickly going to become

one of the teams you want to stream your pitcher against, because without Wonsoto, that lineup is dreadful. Nate Avaldi against the Orioles and the Marlins, those are two primetime starts. And then Velasquez against the Marlins and the Toronto Blue Jays. Scott, who are you looking at for two-star pitchers if people are setting their lineups on Monday?

So it's a bad list of two-star pitchers for week two, if your week one was very short. It makes sense. I mean, obviously teams are opening weekend here. They're probably stacking up their best pitchers. And so you're looking at the back end of most rotations for the start of next week. So, I mean, the only studs that are making two starts next week are Garrett, Cole, Tyler, Glass Now, Walker Bueller.

Usually we get as many as a dozen studs starting in a given week. And Bueller, you know, we talked about how he's probably going to be limited his first. turn, if not his first two, and yet he's third in my two-star pitcher rankings that are going up on the site, because given the dearth of two-star options, I don't know how you don't start him. Josh James, Adrian Howser, they are both supposedly available in a lot of fantasy leagues. I have them fourth and fifth. James has a match up against Seattle. Hauser has a matchup against Pittsburgh. So those are pretty, I see them as pretty much must starts, given the lack of two-start pitchers next week. I don't know if every week I'd call them must-start two-start pitchers. It depends how, I guess, how they perform here at the start of the year.

But for this upcoming week, I'd consider them must-starts. I have J-Hap, Luke Weaver, kind of on the fence about Mike Fultenevich, because he was so bad with his velocity down in that last summer camp start. Again, there's so few two-start options that if you made the investment in Fultenevich on Draft Day, I'm not sure how many people are saying, okay, I'm going to sit them when I have so few two-start options, but it's risky there at Tampa Bay

and versus the Mets. Some sleepers, if you're looking to go that route, Dylan Cis, Griffin Canning, and Aaron Savale are all probably, probably pretty well-owned. They might be available.

No, look, I'm surprised, Scott, Cease is 43% Canning is 47%. And I think that even if you don't want to start them, it is worth stashing them if you can. I mean, obviously you have to make some tough decisions about who to drop, but a lot of people, a lot of fantasy

managers are able to move players into their IR spots right now from their drafts where they weren't able to do that. And if you have an open roster spot, Canning and Cease are like popping out to me, Scott, right now. They would be on my team immediately. Yeah. No, I just don't

trust the ownership percentages right now because a lot of a lot of things don't make sense with that dad and you wonder how many leagues were abandoned in March and what kind of impact that's having so yes oh i hope that's not true yes i hear what you're saying i just i'm just not sure how much i believe it because did we have a single draft where dylan sees went undrafted now one of his matchups is at kansas city so that's that's not lately but i don't think we had i don't know i don't think i would be owned in a 10 team league i don't I would say two or three weeks ago he wasn't necessarily getting drafted. And Griffin Canning certainly wasn't.

Griffin Canning was not getting drafted. But I'm pretty sure Cs was. Anyway, some that I'm more confident will be more widely available. Chris Bassett, one of his two matchups is at Seattle. He took Casus Lazardo's spot in the athletics rotation. And his ratios were actually pretty good last year, though he had some short starts. And then Anthony Descliffeani, one of his two matchups is at Detroit. this is getting a little more desperate.

These are the kind of pickups I only consider like in a points league because the failure, the threshold for failure is lower or higher? There's less disaster potential for pitchers and points league because you don't have to guard the ratio stats. So Anibal Sanchez, one of his matchups is at Miami. Kyle Gibson, one is at San Francisco. Austin Voth, who won the fifth starter job for the Nationals. One of his starts is at Miami.

And Pablo Lopez, yes, one of his starts is Baltimore. And the other is Washington. Okay, I'm on board. At first when you said Pablo Lopez at it, I was like, what is he talking about? You know, Pablo Lopez is kind of the forgotten man because he was hyped up last year in spring training and obviously was not great in 2019.

But Baltimore and the Nationals, sign me up. I can get behind that. He's only 15% owned on CBS. He was averaging like 94 miles per hour with his fastball, the last start of camp against the Braves. And he's got a new cutter. And I think a new change up, his curveball's always been a pretty good pitch.

So yeah, there are, I mean, look, he's a stallion. A lot of changes. He's a stallion. He was, he had stretches last year where he was pretty good. especially early on in the year. He really had like one or two disastrous starts that really inflated his ERA. I started him for this game.

Three innings pitched, 10 hits, 10 earned runs. Two walks, three strike cuts. If you take that one out, he had like a three, four ERA through his first 14 starts, I'm pretty sure. Oh, these are Azer stats. I've heard about this in fantasy football. I'm just pointing out a fact.

No, I remember Pablo Lopes. being pretty popular on our show. He was always like, should we at him? Should we drop him? Should we add him? He was always... 3-13-E-R-A through his first 14 starts

if you take out that one against the Mets. That's pretty good, reliable. The one thing that I'm wondering, Scott, is yesterday I mentioned Discofani was placed on the 10-day I-L. So I think that that moves Wade Miley up. And I think my...

Is going to have a double start against the Cubs and the Tigers? They both are in line to make two starts. Okay. No question Scott on the two-star bid. He's got everything covered. Wade Miley, any interest? I mean, he's facing the Tigers. I am wrong sometimes.

And I'll have to look into this, I'll have to look into this injury for Descliffeani more, because I don't know. Have they given a timetable for him returning? I may have presumed too much there. I'm not as interested in Miley. I don't think Miley's very good. He does have a matchup against the Tigers.

For that matter, Eliezer Hernandez, who has shown some potential for the Marlins in the past. He has those same good matchups that Pablo Lopez does. I just, I can't, I can't go all the way to recommending them, especially, especially this first time through. And there's so much, you know, every new season, there's so much mystery attached to every play. You're getting into Scrubsville here.

I'm not saying they'll never be useful, but I think everybody has to have a full allotment of pitchers at this point that are more attractive than them. These are mostly just guys to watch. I want to say a name. I don't know if he makes two starts this week, but I am much more interested in Tyler Malley than I am in Wade Miley. He had a 399 FIP or XFIP last season.

He got really unlucky with the home runs, and that's been a thing that's happened in his brief major league career, but he's actually got pretty good stuff, great control. There is room for a Tyler Malley breakout, and it's very confusing that him and Wade Miley are being talked about in the same sentence because it kind of sounds like you're just saying one of them with an accent and the other not.

Also, Dylan Sees is 20% rostered in Yahoo Leaks. So just throwing that. But I think Yahoo's more 10-teamers than CBS. But yeah, he's not going to get drafted in 10-team leagues for the most part. By the way, I think Descliffeani expects only miss one start. Okay. So that makes sense.

Tyler Malley, I can kind of get behind. That might not make him a two-star pitcher, though. So I'm actually going to remove Anthony Desclafani from the two-star pitcher rankings. So I would not advise picking him up. I would say of the names that we've... It could be wrong. I know, but I'd rather not call somebody a two-star pitcher and then them not be a two-star pitcher. I'd rather err on the side of caution with that.

Look, I don't want to be the reason that Scott changes his two-star pitcher rankings or article, and then it all comes back to me, and he's like, Frank, you suck, you messed it up. To be honest, I didn't even know Descliffeani went on the aisle, so I clearly wasn't listening to you yesterday. I'm glad you pointed out. Well, thanks, Scott. Before we get to the hitting planner, I do have to ask you guys a question. Did you see Dr. Anthony Fauci's first pitch?

Not great. It's just like, there's nobody in the crowd. just get rid of all of the pregame ceremonies this is like it just it feels like even more weird I thought that was a nice touch I thought you're in Washington it's the beginning of sports you know like having but like having a video with Morgan Freeman like it just like the whole thing just feels even more weird and out of place like when they're doing the everybody clap your hands and there's nobody in the crowd like the whole thing. thing is very odd. Can we just like dispense with the pageantry and just like play a game of

baseball? I just imagine them creating like the cardboard cutouts, but like with cardboard hands that like clap together. See, I would be down for that. Like let's get weird with it. If you're going to get weird with it, put robots in the crowd and have them react. Yeah, I'm down with that. Adam, do you think you could throw a better first pitch in Dr. Fauci? Yeah, I do. I do. I was rooting for him. That was a little unfortunate. That was almost like that cover we heard of about a girl that I've been laughing about for two days straight. Yeah, I do. My brother threw out the first pitch at a Marlins game five years ago, something like that. And he nailed it. He was awesome. Nice. He's pretty. He's standing on the mound like Dr. Fauci. I don't know. I don't know why

they had this 80 year old standing on the mound. That seemed like, that seemed like it was destined to fail. You know, everybody thinks it's easy. And then you get up there in front of all those people. And, uh, you know, the, the nerves get the better of you. All those hard boy cutouts. I would say like 95% of American men believe they can throw a good first pitch. And most of them are wrong. I don't think I could, but I do think I could do better than Fauci. I could. I'm not going to say I would. Frank could. I will. That one opportunity. that one toss. Yeah.

I don't know if it's going to be a strike. I mean, I'll get it somewhere in the vicinity. I have trouble asking the waiter for extra salsa. I'm not sure I can manage the pressure of throwing out a first pitch. What did you, Chris, did you say salsa? Yeah, like, you know, like it's like, say salsa, Chris. It sounded like you said salsa, like rhymes with Tulsa. Where are you where you're ordering extra salsa?

Any, like a, you know, a Chevy's. Do you have to pay for it? on the border. Are you willing to pay for it? Or do you expect it to be complimentary? Well, yeah, it's complimentary. But that's why it's kind of awkward to ask for more. To ask for, I got you. I didn't understand. I wasn't quite making the connection there. I'm just saying I'm an incredibly awkward person. And so I'm not going to guarantee that I can step on a mound with like, you know, Mike Yostremski standing behind a home plate waiting for me to throw one in and guarantee I'm not going to bounce it. There's a pretty good chance I'm going to mess that up.

I'll probably trip on the way to the mount. Quickly promote a few things. If you're a fan of the podcast, we're not asking you to tell the world. But if you could just tell one friend about the podcast and why you like it, we would greatly appreciate that. And while you're at it, we would appreciate a five-star Apple podcast review. Drop a question in there and we'll answer it on a future podcast. We'll take a quick break here. When we get back, we're looking at the hitting planner. We're back here on fantasy baseball today. Looking at the schedule for the 11-day week, again, for hitters.

And then I'm also going to reveal some of the teams that only play five games if your lineup resets on Monday. But let's look at the scheduling for the 11-day week. Most teams play 10 games, but these six play nine games. The Pirates, the A's, the White Sox, the Brewers, the Astros, and the Twins. Most of those lineups are great ones. You'll start those players. And then you have Josh Bell who you're starting.

And then Brian Reynolds, too. If you play in a five-Alfieler league, you're probably starting him in a three-alphiler league. Maybe you have somebody better. These three teams only play eight games in the 11-day week. The Cardinals, the Rangers, and the Rockies. The Rockies, only three of those games are in Corse Field, and they are against the Padres.

I have these as like the fringe players on those teams that play eight games. Colton Wong, Matt Carpenter, Paul DeYoung, Tommy Edmund, Shinsu Chu, Willie Calhoun, Danny Santana, Isaiah Kinerfaleffa, David Dahl, Garrett Hansen, Sam Hilliard, Daniel Murphy. Does anyone stand out there? I sat David Dahl for Aaron Hicks.

Hicks had two more games. And Dahl was really bad on the road last year. And three of his eight games are at home. So I love David Dahl. I really wanted to get him in a lot of my drafts, but I'm not super into him. where less than half of his games are on the road or are at home, and he's already down games compared to everybody else.

So I think, you know, Hampson, if you want to, I don't know about the steals, you know, but how many games is Hampton going to start in an eight game week? Four? Yeah, I mean, I thought more than that, but you don't really know. That's going to be a big one to watch his playing time. But I think they've got Rogers up too. Hampson, like, if it's a full Roto League with all those lineup spots to fill, and you know he's one of your primary steel sources.

You probably just start him. And in any other scenario, you probably sit him, at least until we see how much he's playing. I'm probably the biggest Willie Calhoun fan, and I would bench him too, because eight games, he's coming off the hip injury. I think he appeared in a summer camp game on Wednesday, and I think he went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

So I've got to see a little bit more from Willie Calhoun. I'm most likely benching him if I have someone that I can start instead. Scott, some of the sleepers that you have for the 11-day week, some of the Mets that you like, J.D. Davis, of course. Yuenus Cespitus, Amidus, Amidro, Zario. They have six games against the Braves, and they have four against the Red Sox. Scott, would you start someone like J.D. Davis and Cespitas over David Dahl? Would you... 10 games versus the eight, only three in Coresfield for Dahl?

I mean, I would J.D. Davis. I think J.D. Davis is must start. It's one of those situations where I don't quite believe the ownership percentage us showing up right now, but I can't ignore it and leave him off this list. So, yeah, I mean, him over David Dahl, that might be something I'd do anyway, regardless of matchups. But Cespita over Dahl, like, I have enough questions about Cespides and how back to 100% is he really after three leg surgeries and how much is he going to play since Dominic Smith had a huge camp.

Yeah, I have enough questions there that I'd probably stick with doll eating with the bad matchups, but it would at least give me pause. One player I really like this week, the Padres have, in my mind, the best matchups of any team for the extra long week one. That's what we're talking about here. We haven't jumped to week two yet. Padres get that series at Colorado, and they face the Giants rotation three times. So I like Will Myers a lot.

I might consider him over Dahl. I like Trent Grisham a lot, though he's unproven, and so that would probably be more of a deeper league situation. Well, Adam Eaton, it's too late to start him, I guess. But he was on this list, and he has homered already, and they played the Seinfeld theme as he trotted around the bases, which I thought was a nice touch. I haven't really heard that application for the Seinfeld theme before,

but it worked, I think. Great call, Scott, by the way. I mean, hey, you touted Adam Eaton, home run off of Gary Cole? A little pat on the back there, Scott. I wasn't necessarily putting him on this list for his matchups against the Yankees. Right. More of the Blue Jays and Marlins later in the week, but we're off to a good start. Yeah, I don't think he's coming out against lefties, by the way.

They need him in the lineup. Did you listen to Thursday's podcast, Adam? Because I said exactly that. When we got the Juan Soto News, I said, Adam, if you're listening, pretty sure Adam Eaton's going to play every day now. They don't have a choice, really. A few other names here. Alex Verdugo we spoke about as well yesterday.

He gets the Orioles. He gets four games against the Mets. And really, like, outside of DeGrom, the Mets rotation is kind of a mess, in my opinion. And then he gets three against the Yankees. And Shogu Akiyama, he plays 10 games. Six are against Detroit. Four are against the Cubs.

Both pitching staffs, in my opinion, stink. Hendricks is okay. Darvish is fine. How many lefties? So he might get boyed twice. and the Cubs have Lester. That's going to be the determining factor for him, I would think, is whether they're facing lefties.

I think it's because the Philip Irvin is really the only platoon option there, right, since they sent Aristides Aquino down. And they also have Jesse Winker, who you would think would platoon. So I'm not so sure Akiyama won't play every day, actually. Certainly if he performs, I mean, they got him. to be a table setter, best, you know, not best, but terrific track record in Japan. Right now, roster resources showing him as not being in a platoon. So I'm not so sure it's going to be a strict lefty-righty thing with him.

Yeah, seven of those games are in Great American Ballpark as well. What I'm looking at is he will definitely face Lester midweek, and he will definitely face Matt Boyd, obviously on opening day. He will not get Matt Boyd for Boyd's second start. Boyd will face the Royals instead. So he'll face at least two lefties that I can see as of now. I do like it, though. I like Akiyama for-

Shogo Akiyama is somebody who I could see his ownership surging here early in the season once people realize how much he's playing, how good the Reds lineup is, how much he's getting on base, obviously. It's contingent on him actually doing that. But I could see that absolutely happening with him. For lineups that are set on Monday, there are 19 teams that have seven games next week. So you really are going to need that volleyball.

especially if you play in a points league. But again, those three teams that I mentioned that only play eight games in the 11-day week, they also only play five games for the start of week two if you're weak resets. And those are the Cardinals, the Rangers, the Rockies.

Scott, I would say that if you're weak resets on Monday, that I think Trevor Story and Nolan Aronado, out of all those players on those teams, are the only must-start players I would consider Gallo and Goldschmidt even on the fringe

with as many teams that have seven games compared to these that only have five. Blackman? I think he's closer to Gallo and Goldschmidt. Two of the five are on the road, right? Yes. You've got the three at home? Yeah, I think that's right.

Three at home for the Rockies, three of the five. I would say in a roto league, you're starting Charlie Blackman. Yeah, no, I think Blackman, I think Aeronado, I think Trevor Story are obvious for the Rangers. I would say Gallo is an obvious start. The Cardinals have just five games too, right? Did you mention them? Yes.

I mentioned Goldsmith as someone who might be on the fringe. But the thing is, like, the others, you could consider sitting them. Would I go so far as to burn a roster spot picking someone else up to start over them? Probably not. I'd probably just say, okay, this might not be their strongest week. You know, sometimes they surprise you in those five game weeks.

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is. Or game or something. And it's like, all right, it was worth it. Yeah, if Charlie Blackman has a five hit game, boom, he was worth starting. Yeah. Yeah, I just want to add, you know, it is the first week of the season. Guys are going to sit. So someone who was a seven game week might only have a five or a six game week.

On the other hand, someone was a five game week, might only have a four game week. Although you think they're probably less likely to sit those in those particular instances because they have the built-in days off. But I wouldn't plan, it's like it happens with a double header. You know, you go, oh, this guy's got eight games. Well, they don't usually don't play both games of a doublehead. I can play eight games in seven days. So if you go with a guy who's not a very good hitter because you think he's got seven

games, there's a good chance. It's not going to happen. He might not even play five. So don't go crazy, I guess. Yeah. And those five game weeks are going to be, I'm pretty sure all of them are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So it's not like there's like there's like full.

or five games in a row where they might need that day off. So it's probably less likely that those players playing five games are going to get a day off. We have a few questions from our Apple podcast review. This one comes from Austin Frankie. Dear Rogers, Eddie, Knapp, and Joe. Those are Hall of Fame second baseman. Apparently, his second baseman with the highest OPS ever. Hornsby.

Eddie. Oh, which one's that? Hey, you guys are older than me. You're supposed to know your history. Morgan or the other. Is that how you pronounce it? I thought it was. Naplahoy, but...

That actually sounds more right. I've never heard that name said out loud. I've only read it. Who's the Joe? Eddie Collins? Is that a thing? He was like a baseball player, right? He sounds like a baseball player.

It definitely sounds like a baseball player. Ten team Roto Keeper League. I went heavy on pitching and didn't target a second baseman as early as I would have liked. Oh, it is Eddie Collins. I thought it is any comments. He has one of the five highest OPSs for a second baseman. On base percentage, 424.

No, it's OPS. A-53. That's, okay. Yeah, no, no. Well, move over. He's good. Hall of Famer. Robert E. Canoe is coming.

Yeah. Two-time MVP. All right, sorry, Frank. Go for it. This gentleman, Austin, did not target a second baseman as early as he would have liked. His middle infield consists of Ryan McMahon. He is Trey Turner at shortstop. He has D.D. Gregorius as his middle infielder,

as well as Caesar, her, is on the bench so he can swap those guys around. Is this viable in a 10-team keeper league? Or should I look to pick someone up on waivers or possibly move a pitcher? They're playing roto this year and then they're moving to head-toed points. Pitchers are Scherzer, Charlie Morton, Lucas Gilito, Brandon Woodruff, Zach Allen, Julio Arias, Nick Anderson, Edwin Diaz, Zach Britton. Look, I mean, none of those guys besides Turner seems like a long-term Keeper option. Anyway, so I'll just say go get Howie Kendrick if he's available.

He's not going to have much long-term value. But even in a 10-team league, it's very possible if he hits as well as he did last year playing DH every day. It's entirely possible that he's a top five-second baseman. I mean, if he hits anywhere close to what he did last year. Yeah. One thing to remember with Kendrick is he played every single game in the playoffs last year. Like when there was off days for him, when there was opportunities,

to use the DH, like the Nationals considered them a major part of their line. If he won NLCS MVP, and now they have the DH and they're missing Renton and Soto. So he's going to play a ton. That's a good call. There's a good chance Kendrick is available in the 10-team league. I would make that move if you could. I think Danes B. Swanson might be available in a 10-teamer.

He's only 42% owned. I haven't going to have to go ahead and disagree with my esteemed colleagues here. I don't think Howie Kendrick is going to be the answer. You could go get him and see how you do. But I think if you want to be, if you want to stand out in a 10-team league at second base, trade one of your pitchers for a stud second baseman because you have pitching depth.

But I don't think you have to do that immediately. Sure, go get Kendrick and see what happens. Yeah. Or McMahon. McMahon had a huge, huge build-up to the season, another great performance in the pre-season. I don't know if it was spring training and summer camp combined, but he had like five or six homers.

He probably played like all of his summer camp at Corris Field. He's so bad on the road. All in Arizona and Corse Field, he's got a ton of strikeouts. I don't know. Ryan McMan is someone a lot of people still have hope for. I do not. But he does hit the ball hard. He's still very early in his career.

The data wasn't good last year and what was his first real opportunity. But, you know, drop Cesar Hernandez, because you know he's Scrub City in a 10 team league. dropping for Kentrick if he's out there. And especially in Roto. Like, I think in head-to-head, you could make a case that he might be, you know, someone you can hang on to in a head-to-head points league.

But, yeah, Roto, I mean, it's really you're hoping for batting average and runs. Are you guys done? Are you guys done bashing Caesar Hernandez? The only response I have to that? This next one from Corey Wisely. I mean, the way this is going, Cesar Hernandez is going to hit a home run tomorrow. Of course he is. 5 by 5 standard categories league

and could use a few more stolen bases. Do you guys warrant me dropping Fran Mill Reyes for Kyle Tucker? I have solid power throughout my lineup. You've got a worse hitter than Framow Reyes. I mean, don't drop Franmell Reyes. My bold prediction is going to lead all baseball on home runs.

Yeah, like I want Kyle Tucker on my team. Find a way to make it happen, but can't drop Reyes. It's got to be a small league if Kyle Tucker's unowned, right? I cannot even tell you, I did a Yahoo draft on Wednesday night. It was Kyle Tucker, I didn't even see him because their rankings are so different than ours. He must have gone in almost the 20th round. I mean, he was so late.

His value is super low right now, I think. It might also. It might have been a league that drafted in March when it wasn't clear he had a role. Or when it was starting to look like he didn't or even, I mean, three weeks ago, Dusty Baker all but said, Josh Reddick was going to be the starter and Kyle Tucker didn't really have a job. Let's guess his ownership percentage on CBS. Kyle Tucker?

He's below 60%. He was one of the guys I wrote about he's 58%. Oh, geez, let other people play. Well, there's the game. 58, yeah. Yeah, I wrote about Juan Soda replacements earlier today

and he was the top one. So that probably means he's like 4% owned in Yahoo Leagues. Yeah, Rick, probably. All right, let's wrap. What do you got, Scott? Anything? I was just going to say,

I still don't think it's completely clear that Kyle Tucker, even with Jordan Alvarez out, is an everyday player. Dusty Baker was talking about putting... A Ledmus Diaz. Yeah, that's the name. Yeah. At the very least, I'd worry about it being a platoon

between the two, and so that would be reason enough to prioritize Framil race, regardless of your category needs. All right, let's get a few rapid-fire questions in here. This two-parter from Zach, 10-team 6x-Roto with OPS and quality starts added on top of the typical stats. We have an NA spot designation on our rosters. Would you hold on to Nate Pearson or Dylan Carlson with that top spot to start the season?

Scott? Pearson. Also, I didn't do too hot at second base in my draft. I ended up with Howie Kendrick, apparently might be pretty good, according to Chris. Colton Wong, but have Starling Castro, Tommy Lestella, and Lordas Guerrille, Jr., must be a Yahoo League because Guriel has the second base eligibility. How would you rank those five second baseman Chris? Kendrick, Colton Wong, Starling Castro, Tommy Listella, Lordas Guerriel Jr.

Kendrick Guriel. Really? Kendrick ahead of Guriel? Wow. I guess. I guess Colton Wong? Yes. That's right answer. Timmy Lestella and Starlin Castro. I really like Tommy Lestella. He's another guy that if what he did last year was for real.

he's going to be a he was playing like a top five second baseman last season. I really like Tommy Lestella. I do not think Chris, I think Chris really did not like Tommy Lestella all last year. I remember you arguing vociferously against him. I was very skeptical, but that was when we were talking about like, is Tommy Lestella top 10 second basement rest of season?

Now it's like, does Tommy Lestella deserve to be drafted? Was the question. And I drafted him in, I don't know, maybe all of my leagues. Last question of the day. This one's from Shane Deere, Nick, Isaiah, and Rugnod.

Those are ranged. Those are Odors. Isn't Rugnett O'Dor's brother named Rugnid? Yeah. Or his cousin or something? Yeah. Very weird. They have a different last name.

Please pick one pitcher to start in my 10-team points league. Lance Lynn at home versus Colorado and at San Francisco. Lucas Gialito versus Minnesota and at Cleveland. Robbie Ray, your future Cy Young winner. at San Diego and Home versus the Dodgers. You guys are going to call me crazy. I'm going to like Lynn. Yeah, I got to go with Gialito.

I understand Lynn's got great matchups, but you can't draft Gialito in the third round and not start a bit of two-star week. I'm sorry. Yeah, I jumped a good. Pitching stuff to this guy. Yeah, he's deciding between Gialito and Lynn. And, oh, yeah, Robbie Ray's hanging out there too.

That's a good situation to be in. But you're going to pick wrong a lot. of times. Lance Lynn is, I think, a must-start pitcher in most circumstances. Yeah. And he's got, I mean, Colorado's a bad lineup outside of Cores. And San Francisco, again, I'm saying Gialito. I'm sticking to it.

I'm saying Gialito too. At Cleveland is a sneaky tough matchup. The Indians score a lot of runs at home. Scott, are you going to tie this bad boy up and say Lance Lynn? My heart says Gioito. I'm going to go with Lynn this time. Yeah. I've been backing Lynn all preseason.

So with that disparity in matchups and me thinking they have similar upside Lynn and Gialito, I'll go with Lynn. Listen to me, your brain. I hope that helps, Shane. Adam and I say Gialito and these two schlubs are going to go with Lance Lynn. All right.

That'll do it for the, weekend. Enjoy everyone. We have a whole weekend of baseball. Holy. When's the last time we could have said that? Like nine months ago. A really, really long time. For Adam, Scott, and Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today on our YouTube channel. We'll talk to you again on Monday. Bye-bye.