Fantasy Baseball Today - Week 7 Sleepers! Ohtani Trade Value, Fantasy Justice & More (5/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

So what did Scott think of John Means' no-hitter (2:12)!? Is Madison Bumgarner back (5:10)? What do we do with the curious case of Andrew Heaney? ... We have news and notes (14:40)! Buxton left with i...njury, we have updates on Strasburg and Carrasco, Albert Pujols was released, prospect updates and more. ... How should you value Shohei Ohtani in a trade right now (23:20)? ... Let's get you ready for Week 7 (28:49)! Which two-start pitchers should you be targeting? What about sleeper hitters for next week? ... What should you do with struggling hitters like Alec Bohm, Joey Gallo, and Max Kepler (39:28)?... Should you add Jeimer Candelario plus bullpen updates and streamers for the weekend (49:39). ... We wrap the week up with some Fantasy Justice For All (55:00)! ... Email us at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Happy Cucamo Friday and welcome into fantasy baseball today presented by Lining Cougals more on their great variety of beverages later on in the podcast. Frank Stample joined by the solo podcast host extraordinaire Scott White. The people loved you, Scott. The soothing voice the other day. We got so many tweets and emails. I know. I was told I could put babies to sleep. I think he meant it as a compliment.
Starting point is 00:01:00 I think so, too. But, yeah, I don't know. It was fun. It was, the people were kind. The people were kind in my moment of improvisation. And I relied heavily on your notes, Frank, because I would have no idea where to go next if I didn't have that as a blueprint for me.
Starting point is 00:01:22 Well, I appreciate that, Scott. And I mentioned on yesterday's podcast that that was probably the first time you looked at my notes since we started. started working together. I do pull them up when we're going through emails at least because, you know, people list off like six names and how am I supposed to remember them all to answer the question. Right.
Starting point is 00:01:42 I know I don't pull them up every time. I happen to have pulled them up that time. And it made me think I should pull them up more often, frankly. It's all good, man. You are a professional. You don't need my notes. They're all, they're just for me to look at anyway. Today on the show, we have our week seven pitcher and hitter planners.
Starting point is 00:01:59 We're going to talk about some struggling players. What do we do with them? Did you know? Got a few interesting facts for you. Interesting stats, rather. And we have some fantasy justice for all questions. Before we get to, oh my goodness gracious, Scott, I've got to let you opine on your man.
Starting point is 00:02:14 John Means, the guy threw a no-hitter. You weren't on yesterday's podcast. So anything that you would like to say, congratulate where you're moving up to in the rankings? What do you got? So I had moved him up to 36th in my starting pitcher rankings before the start. I should have moved him up more.
Starting point is 00:02:31 I haven't done it yet, but I was just looking at it here before we went on. I think I want him more than even like Kenta Maeda at this point. But that's more, that's a combination of Kenta Maeda just not looking like the pitcher he was last year too, right? Well, sure. I mean, Kenta Maeda had him in the top 12 originally. But that moves means into the top 30.
Starting point is 00:02:54 And like there's an argument to make him and Kevin Gosman, who I have in that range, Dylan Bundy who I have in that range, Sandy Alcantra, who I have in that range. I mean, I could see moving past all those guys up to 26, just behind Carlos Rodon. I don't know. Frankly, I'm a little stunned.
Starting point is 00:03:13 It's gone quite this well. And certainly he's found a new gear here, his last two starts in every respect, right down to the swinging strike rate. He hasn't had quite the velocity. He hasn't maintained quite the velocity jump he showed last year. It's been pointed. out that when he was at his highest last year it seemed to compromise his command so maybe he's
Starting point is 00:03:34 settled in the perfect spot but really just the way that change up has taken off that was that was another gear he found uh that has allowed him to to really to really jump into the the ace conversation here um and he's such a good control pitcher on top of it i don't know it's uh it's uh it's exciting stuff I would not would not really be interested in selling high on him somebody suggested to me
Starting point is 00:04:06 well somebody told me that they had traded they had just traded him for Lucas Gialito okay if you can sell that high you know I'm not moving I'm not moving means into my top 10 where Lucas Gialito is but like
Starting point is 00:04:19 for the most part I'm just really happy to have John Means and John he's a man of means Absolutely crushing it out there. Absolutely crushing it right now. Yeah, like the John Means business, like everyone's all over it now. So even I...
Starting point is 00:04:36 I know. And they don't even know where it came from. It came from me. It came from Scott, man. We were talking about that back in, I don't know, October, November. His change up, according to pitch values on fan graphs, race out is the best change up in all of baseball. So it really has just elevated his entire game.
Starting point is 00:04:54 Again, John means, I do think, look, some regression is going to come. going to pitch to a sub 2 ERA all season. He has a 100% strand rate at this point, Scott. And he still does pitch in Camden Yards. He's a fly ball pitcher. So there will be some regression, but that's pretty obvious. Let's get into the oh my goodness gracious players from Thursday. Oh my goodness gracious.
Starting point is 00:05:17 All right, Scott. Where would you like to start following John Means? So how about another lefty who doesn't throw all that hard? But he does throw a hard. harder than he used to. And that's Madison Bumgarner, who had another great start.
Starting point is 00:05:36 I mean, these aren't just, okay. He looks like he might be okay. He starts from Madison Bumgarner. Of course, one was the seven-inning non-no hitter. So obviously that would look great. But in this one, two hits in six innings. Against the Marlins, okay, kind of an easy matchup.
Starting point is 00:05:54 But that's a string of four starts for Madison Bumgarner where not only has his velocity been back to basically to pre-20-20 levels to where he was his last couple years in San Francisco when he was still obviously a fantasy asset and not so not only has the velocity been back up for Madison Bumgarner but the actual performance in those four starts just three earned runs allowed just eight hits allowed in those 23 innings across those four starts. And even getting whiffs had 15 on his 85 pitches against the Marlins today.
Starting point is 00:06:34 You know, the last outing was against the Rockies outside of Coorsfield, right? So, you know, that's another very easy matchup, obviously. But before that, it was the Braves, then he no hid. I mean, they're the fifth best team in the majors in OPS. It was the nationals who were at least middle of the pack in offense. It was, you know, it's not like he's just beaten. up on bottom feeders. And as I've said before,
Starting point is 00:07:00 even if he did, doing it four straight, I mean, that's still a string of good luck if you're not a very good pitcher. I think Bumgarner's figured it out. I think he's figured it out.
Starting point is 00:07:12 I think he's back to being a mixed league asset. He has two matchups this upcoming week. He's a two-star pitcher. And I think everybody needs to get him active. He's going against these Marlins again and against the nationals.
Starting point is 00:07:27 Yep. A team that he, two teams that he's looked great now against during this four game span. And he's maybe out there in 10 team leagues. He's 79% rostered on CBS. If he's out there, make sure to get him on your team. And I think he can come close to what he did back in 2019, 3.90 ERA, 1.13 whip, almost a strikeout per inning. The way that he's pitching right now, I don't, I don't think that that would be egregious to say. So Madison Bumgard, or someone who's also rising. up the rankings. We've got to move them up, Scott. I'm trying to think. How far do we move up Madison Bumgarner? I'd rather have him than Patrick Corbyn, right? I mean, that's always kind of the measuring stick, right? I have Patrick Corby at 60, and it's like, if I want this,
Starting point is 00:08:11 all right, he moves inside the top six. I mean, he's way past. Okay. Way past Corbyn. Would you rather have Bumgarner or Robbie Ray, who has also looked very good over his last, I believe it's three starts now? Yeah, I think I got to take Robbie Ray there. Agreed. But, but But, you know, I think Madison Boomgarner in like the Michael Panetta range seems about right. I think, you know, I think both of them are going to have, you know, fall a little short in the strikeout area. But they're going to give you some volume. The whip should be pretty low. So, yeah, I think moving them right inside my top 60, probably ahead of like Sean Manaya.
Starting point is 00:08:52 Yeah, I think in between Tyone and Michael Paneda is where I would slot. bumgarner so I would make him 56th for me. That seems like a good spot. I would take him ahead of Hermann Marquez, who has just been a disaster recently. But I think I'd still rather have Danny Duffy, Sean Mania, two guys that have looked really good so far the season. I seem to like Mania a little bit more than everybody else.
Starting point is 00:09:18 But that's the same range. Duffy's just a few spots ahead. Dillon Seas would be ahead of Madison Bumgarner for me just because of the upside play there. Yeah, I think we're, I think that's about the right area. Let's talk about another lefty. A lot of lefty talks early in the podcast today. Andrew Heaney going up against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Starting point is 00:09:37 He's my, oh my goodness, gracious player from Thursday. Six and two-thirds, shut out, two hits, one walk, 10 strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes on 110 pitches. Joe Madden letting Andrew Heaney throw a ton of pitches in this start. Twelve of those swinging strikes came on his fastball, and I will point out going up against Tampa Bay. second in baseball. They have the second highest swinging strike rate in baseball,
Starting point is 00:10:02 and they are 19th and weighted on base average against lefties. So it's a pretty good matchup for Andrew Heaney. I just, it's hard for me to figure out what to say or do with him, Scott. I would say to add him. He is 66% rostered. But this is kind of what he does. He's going to give you a lot of strikeouts.
Starting point is 00:10:18 He's inconsistent at times. He has four starts with two earned runs or less. He's a two-face, Frank. He's not just inconsistent. It's a total two-faced. Everybody in the world started Andrew Heaney last week against the Mariners. Exactly. And it was a good.
Starting point is 00:10:32 Three home runs. It was a good match. Everybody benched him. But we can't ignore a 14.8% swinging strike rate. You know, Scott, it's, it would rank 11th among starting pitchers to be qualified. It's really good. Yeah. That'd be really good for a closer.
Starting point is 00:10:50 Yeah, I don't know. I mean, obvious, I don't think it's going to stay that high all season. So that's, that's the first thing. You know, Heaney has a 276 X-FIP. That's amazing as well. And really, it is just, like, I know the history here. And so when I see him have a start like last time where he gives him three home runs, it's like, oh, here we go.
Starting point is 00:11:11 Old Andrew Heaney added again. But X-FIP takes into account fly ball rate rather than home-run rate. It kind of normalizes all fly-balls, which is why I've gone to favoring X-FIP versus FIP, which is strictly accounts for the home runs in an era where it's so easy to hit home runs. I thought fly ball was a better indicator of a pitcher's potential to give up home runs than his actual home run rate was. So, you know, kind of an aside. That's why I go with ex-fip now instead of FIP. But anyway, the X-FIP is below three.
Starting point is 00:11:45 The swinging strike rate, I imagine, is a career high. Yeah, though it's, you know, it's always, he's always had a good one of those. I don't know. He's somebody might consider selling high. on because it's going to be difficult for me to have that level of trust in Heaney, particularly if you already have a lot of pitching depth. Like if you don't have much pitching depth and you're struggling to fill those pitchers spots every week, I think you don't have to play this game where you're moving Heaney
Starting point is 00:12:13 in and out of the lineup based on the way his last start went, you know? And so that's probably the ideal scenario. But if you just know you're not going to be able to be that disciplined with him and I don't blame you. I mean, look at his ERA's year by year. He's never had one below four. He has had one below four back in 2015, but anyway, yeah. No, I think Heaney is somebody you could consider selling high on. Would you rather have Heaney or Robbie Ray, both are rostered in under 70% of CBS leagues? I think I'd rather have Robbie Ray. Like, I think, you know, if you're just presenting their numbers to the marketplace, people should say.
Starting point is 00:12:55 Hini's more valuable, but I just, I don't know. I'm going to have trouble trusting it. I don't necessarily think you should drop Hini for Ray, if you're presented with that choice, I guess is what I'm saying. But like, if you're given the choice to trade away one or the other, I'd rather trade away Hini. An honorable mention for the, oh my goodness gracious, to Zach Wheeler up against the Brewers.
Starting point is 00:13:16 He threw a shutout, three hits, eight strikeouts, to zero walk, 16 swinging strikes on 118 pitches. another manager here, Joe Girardi, just letting Zach Wheeler go. Wheeler has thrown over 100 pitches in four of seven starts this season. The ERA is down to 2.83. The whip is down to 0.97. And like many pitchers in baseball, Zach Wheeler is throwing his slider more than ever before. It's not a crazy number.
Starting point is 00:13:44 Like these other guys are throwing it 40, 50% of the time. He's throwing it 23%, but it is up a little bit from the rest of his career. So shout out to Zach Wheeler. He's been very good so far this season. Before we get to news and notes, just wanted to let you know about what's on CBS Sports HQ next week. As always, CBS Sports HQ is your home
Starting point is 00:14:03 to start your sports newsday with live updates kicking off each morning at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, and HQ is always your home ahead of the evening's action with live picks from the best analyst and cappers in the sports world each day at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. On Wednesday next week, NFL experts will be breaking down the 2021 schedule and our cappers will be making preakness picks ahead of Saturday's race. So check out HQ on your computer on CBSports.com or via the CBS Sports app on your mobile phone or TV.
Starting point is 00:14:35 It's always free. It's always on CBS Sports HQ. News and notes, Byron Buckson left Thursday's game early and was diagnosed with a hip strain. He is currently day to day and things are just popping up now. guy. I'm rooting for the guy. He's really fun to watch, but we just can't ignore that. Things seem to pop up with Byron Buckson
Starting point is 00:14:58 more than they do with most players, right? The average player in baseball. So, hopefully he's all right, but this is the risk with Byron Buxden. Steven Schrosberg through 35 pitches in a simulated game on Thursday, manager Dave Martinez, declined to give a timetable for
Starting point is 00:15:14 his return. The Angels released future Hall of Famer. Albert Poulos on Thursday, he was batting just 198 this season but apparently still wants to play. Scott,
Starting point is 00:15:26 how does this affect the Angels? It seems like they just want Jared Walsh in the lineup more consistently. He's going to
Starting point is 00:15:30 play first base. As of now, they have Juan Ligaris in right field, but is a... Well, that's a thing. They have had Walsh in the lineup
Starting point is 00:15:39 consistently already in right field. Yeah. And he was doing fine out there, it seemed like. I was watching the game just before
Starting point is 00:15:46 and they really like his defense at first base. He made a nice play on a double play too. He's probably... That's fine. I'm sure he's better
Starting point is 00:15:52 at first base than he is in right field. But I don't... I find it hard to believe that's the reason they let Poo-Holes go. And when you consider they have two
Starting point is 00:16:04 outfield prospects knocking on the door, Joe Adele, of course, the being the biggest one, Brandon Marsh as well. It makes you wonder if they're plotting a move
Starting point is 00:16:13 there. Now, I would be kind of surprised if Joe Adele got called up in the next week as bad as he was last year. I think, you know, I'm not looking at like a Jared Kellnick situation, like a Wander Franco situation where it could basically be any day now. But I don't know. I mean,
Starting point is 00:16:30 they have better ways of evaluating Adele than I do and the progress he's made and he looked better at the plate this spring. So I don't know. I wonder also if they want to give somebody like Taylor Ward a shot who has had good minor league numbers the past few years. And was great this spring and obviously he's the one who actually got called up I think he's pretty interesting Taylor Ward
Starting point is 00:16:58 former catcher prospect they've since moved into third base and since moving to the outfield and he just hasn't quite gotten that extended look as an everyday player in the big leagues it's just the stars having aligned for him I think he's getting
Starting point is 00:17:11 up there in age he's 27 or 28 now and maybe they want to give him a chance they want to see what he can do before eventually turning it over to Adele unless Ward doesn't let them do that because he's taken off. So he could steal some bases a little bit. So he's interesting.
Starting point is 00:17:29 I'm not saying he's 12-team material or even 15-team material, but if he does start getting it bats for the Angels, I will want to monitor him. Yeah, he is pretty interesting. He's 27 years old now, former first-round pick back in 2015. Taylor Ward is who we're talking about
Starting point is 00:17:45 and his last two minor league seasons an OPS over 1,000 back in 2019 with 11 steals that was in the PCL with the juice ball. But in 2018 he hit 349, 14 homers, 18 steals, 977 OPS. So just tuck that name away on your scout team for now,
Starting point is 00:18:02 your watch list, whatever you call it. And Taylor Ward, someone to pay attention to. Brandon Marsh, someone you mentioned there, Scott, one of the top prospects in the organization. He's an outfielder. He isn't debuting in the minors until mid-May due to a shoulder injury. So everything you said about Adele,
Starting point is 00:18:17 I would double down on that for Marsh. I think they're going to be pretty cautious with him. And if we see him, I don't think it's until June, probably July even. So I think they're going to be patient with Brandon Marsh. Any leagues where you should be stashing Joe Adele right now, Scott. Oh, well, any 15 teamer for sure. I would say, let's see. I think any 12-team category league or deeper with five outfielders,
Starting point is 00:18:42 I would stash him. Yeah, I'm thinking like 350 plays. airs rostered or more, Adele should be among them. It sounded like Carlos Carrasco is getting close to returning, and then the Mets shifted him to the 60-day IL on Thursday, which means Carasco cannot return until May 31st at the earliest. MLB Network's John Morosi reported that Mariners prospect Jared Kelnick isn't likely to debut in the majors until late May. More on Kellenick coming up in just a little bit. Gio Orshella left Thursday's game with a knee injury and is headed for an MRI.
Starting point is 00:19:17 So if you're playing any leagues where you can shift your lineup for the weekend. I know a lot of NFBC leagues do that and a few other leagues as well. Geo O'Hel, you might want to get him out of your lineup. Jun Riu made his return from the IL. He gave up four runs over five innings against the A's but did wind up with the win. Chris Davis with a K started a rehab assignment on Thursday. Scott, do you think this will affect Willie Calhoun's playing time, who just continues to mash?
Starting point is 00:19:43 He had two more hits than a walk. He is batting 328. I doubt it. Not in a significant way. They've been playing, they've played Willie Calhoun a couple times in the outfield, and they're willing to do that. Why wouldn't they be right?
Starting point is 00:19:56 They're a rebuilding club. So, yeah, no, I doubt it'll affect Willie Calhoun's playing time much. Wilson Ramos exited Thursday's game with lower back tightness. Gene Sagura will be activated off the aisle on Friday for the Phillies. Both Jazz Chisholm and Yadier Molina were cleared to resume baseball activities
Starting point is 00:20:14 for their respective teams. Giants pitcher, Tyler Beatt is starting a rehab assignment at AAA as he returns from Tommy John surgery. He isn't eligible to come off the IL until late May. And Tyler Beattie, he was kind of a sleeper candidate last year before he needed Tommy John surgery before the whole season got shut down. And there was some excitement for him. So are you doing anything with Tyler Beattie?
Starting point is 00:20:42 Probably only in deeper leagues. I mean, there was excitement for him. in like a deep league. Maybe this could be a deep sleeper kind of guy. In that respect. So coming back from Tommy John surgery and not even his first Tommy John surgery, I'm going to need to see a whole lot
Starting point is 00:21:00 before I get excited about Tyler Beattie again. Max Stassie was placed on the seven-day IL with a concussion and a few prospect updates. I mentioned Jared Kelnick. He homered off of a lefty in his first game at AAA. So I don't know, John Marosi. Maybe it's a little bit sooner than late May.
Starting point is 00:21:16 We're all hoping so. Well, I'm trying to find where you saw that. And all I'm finding is, including one of John Marosi's own tweets, he's saying, likely to debut later this month. Now that, you know, you could interpret that a few different, later this month is in the later, the later portion of this month or later this month as in later this month as in some day beyond May 7th, you know? Like, you could interpret that either way, right? I would agree with that. I did not double check the tweet myself. I scroll through CBS's player news updates,
Starting point is 00:21:55 and that's where I get a lot of my news items from. So blame them, Scott. Oh, no, I'm not blaming you. I'm sorry. I knew when the words were coming out of my mouth, that's what it sounded like. I didn't mean it that way. No, no.
Starting point is 00:22:06 I just... I hope he comes to... I hope I'm wrong. I hope he does. Because Jerry Depoto, the Mariners' GM, said earlier today about Jared Kellnick. Let me see if I can find that. If I can find...
Starting point is 00:22:21 Okay, so he said, it's time to take a look at Kelnick, and that's coming sooner than later. Again, there's not really much specificity there, but, like, I don't know. I'm interpreting it as every day now. He said a couple weeks ago, they wanted to see him show some improvement
Starting point is 00:22:39 against left-handed pitchers, and so far he's acing that test at the alternate training site was how he put it. I think they're dropping some hints here. It's going to be real soon. Jared Kelnick is 76% roster on CBS, likely not out there in any leagues, but just in case,
Starting point is 00:22:57 get Jared Kelnick on your team. Giants outfield prospect, Elliot Ramos, has homered in two straight at AA, and he had a great spring training as well. Yankees first round pick in 2020, Austin Wells. He's a catcher, outfielder hybrid.
Starting point is 00:23:11 He's gone four for nine with a home run, five RBI, five runs, and a solo and base through two games, where at least, low A ball, so we're not going to see him anytime soon. Email of the day, this is from Rosendo. If I wanted to move Shohei Otani in a league where he is one player that you either use at utility or at starting pitcher each week, more often than not, I'm guessing you're
Starting point is 00:23:31 going to use him at utility. What should I target? How do you value him in a trade? Otani, of course, on Thursday, hit his 10th home run of the season. He's batting 266 with 22 runs scored 24 RBI, six steals. he's averaging 3.9 fantasy points per game, which is tied for 12th among hitters. So points league, Roto, it doesn't matter.
Starting point is 00:23:53 He's been awesome. He has the third highest max exit velocity this season, the highest barrel rate in baseball. He's got a 303 expected batting average, 698 expected slug. The guy's amazing, Scott. I would go as far as to say, I think Otani is the most fun player
Starting point is 00:24:09 to watch in baseball right now. But what do you do? If you're trying to sell high on him, You should be able to ask for a decent bit. Yeah, you should. You should trade him. You have to value him according to who he is as a hitter. Because if you're not going to get pitcher production,
Starting point is 00:24:30 I understand it actually adds to his value to have that little bit of flexibility. But as things stand now, nobody's going to use that flexibility. They're just going to start him as a hitter. So I don't think it's reasonable to expect to, to, to value him beyond his value is a hitter. And that being said, he's been an awesome hitter. And, you know, despite his, him being tied for 12th among hitters in a points league, I think he holds a lot more value in categories leagues because the plate discipline
Starting point is 00:25:00 really is not very good. And a big part of his values that he runs so much, he's up to six deals already. And that power speed combo in a roto league, you know, it's hard to find. It's hard to find. It's very important. So I don't know. No. I mean, you'd have to target somebody really good. Like, I'm thinking Kyle Tucker's been the go-to with outfielders, right?
Starting point is 00:25:24 When you're selling high and a guy and you're buying, you know, the combo, buy, low, sell high, you're buying low on Tucker. I wouldn't even, I wouldn't do it, Scott. I will want to do it either. You've got to go higher than that. So that's a top 15 outfielder for me. I don't think I'd trade Otani for Springer. I don't think I'd trade him for, like, Judge. Nope.
Starting point is 00:25:45 If he was eligible in the outfields. If he was eligible in the outfield. I'm thinking he's top five right now. I don't think I'd trade Cody Bellinger for him or Christian Yellich. Wait, I don't think I'd trade him for Cody Bellinger. No, I understand what you're saying. Yeah. I think the only way you're trying to trade Otani right now, Scott, is if you have a lot of holes.
Starting point is 00:26:08 And there might be teams that do have a lot of holes with all the injuries that are going on. We spoke about this yesterday with Chris. And there's, he said, there was more people placed on the aisle in April this year than the last two April's combined. So it's, like, there is a crazy amount of teams, fantasy teams, that have injuries and holes. So if I have Otani on a team where I'm struggling elsewhere, I would try to get, you know, two starting viable, worthy players and two players that are like really good at a position, maybe, you know, a top 15 outfielder and a top
Starting point is 00:26:41 20 starting pitcher, something like that. Like, yeah, well, if you're, let's say, you could probably trade Otani for like a Kyle Tucker and... Louis Castillo. Maybe a Carlos Rodon with him. Yeah, I was thinking, Louise Castillo, do you think you could get Castillo and Kyle Tucker in a two-for-one giving up your Otani in a Roto League? I don't think that's a crazy ask. Do I think I'd want to? Again, this is if you have holes, you know, Scott's my pitching already.
Starting point is 00:27:10 Yeah. Yeah, no, that's a reasonable ask. I think it could maybe even aim higher, is what I'm saying, with the pitcher. Yeah. So look, the way that basically, if the season ended today, or if we were playing out a two-month season like we did last year, Shohei Otani might be a second or third round pick in next season's fantasy baseball draft. So that's, you know, currently what we're valuing him as. And of course he comes with injury risk.
Starting point is 00:27:33 A lot of people do. But the guy is playing like one of the 10, 15 best hitters in fantasy baseball right now. So you should be able to ask for the world for Shohei Otani. We're going to take a quick break, but when we return, we're going to get to the week seven pitcher and hitter planners here on fantasy baseball today. Let's jump into the week seven pitcher and hitter planners presented by lining Coogles. How is the schedule shaking out for next week? Well, nine teams have seven games, 18 teams have six games,
Starting point is 00:28:01 and three lonely teams only play five games next week. The Chicago Cubs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the New York Mets. By my estimation, the must-start hitters on those. teams, Chris Bryant, Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo, Wilson Contreras, Mookiee Betts, Corey Seeger, Justin Turner, Max Muncie, and Will Smith. Notice, I didn't mention any Mets. So I just, I think they're kind of fringy right now, the way that they're playing, and they only have five games, Scott. So between, I put Chris Taylor in this mix, too, Chris Taylor for five games and all the Mets hitters. Do you have to keep them in your
Starting point is 00:28:37 lineup? No. No, I mean, the one, I mean, it's a question of how shallow the league is of course in a five outfielder league at my sitting michael conforto no can't imagine doing that uh in a league with a middle infield spotted then they could be hard to imagine you have a way to not start lindore i know he's been awful but there aren't there are only so many short steps to go around but if you're talking about a head-to-head line up with only three outfield spots and just one spot around the infield then yeah you could you could be a little more you could be a little more judicious, I guess.
Starting point is 00:29:16 Discerning. Yeah, with the Mets hitters. I thought you're gone again for a second. No, I mean, I can leave, Scott, if you want. Let's jump into some of those two-star pitchers, Scott, that you like heading into week seven. Who you got? Okay, so it's actually a good week for two-star pitchers
Starting point is 00:29:33 that might actually be available in your league. Robbie Ray, we just talked about earlier, coming off an amazing start, and really two of his last three have been great. He was looking the best he's looked since 2017 when he was a fantasy ace, more or less. At Atlanta versus Philadelphia, matchups aren't anything to write home about,
Starting point is 00:29:56 but the bottom line is, I think he's a really good pitcher and he's making two starts. Adbert Alzala, now he's available in 65% of CBS Sports League, is widely, widely available, and it needs to change. I think it'll change over the world, weekend because his matchups at Cleveland at Detroit. It doesn't get better than Detroit.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Detroit is a distant last in team. OPS right now. So matchups don't get any better than that. And then Cleveland's a pretty good matchup too. Madison Baumgartner, who we mentioned earlier, Marlins and Nationals. Brady Singer. He gets the tiger for one of his,
Starting point is 00:30:32 the tigers. That's not just one tiger. 26 of them. He gets the tigers for one of his two starts and the white socks for the other. Jordan Montgomery, who he had one good start at the beginning of the season, right? He's been pretty blah. But at Tampa Bay, that's fine.
Starting point is 00:30:52 At Baltimore, that's really good. It's available in 32% of leagues. I can keep going. It's a really good week for two-star pitchers here. Luis Garcia, now he's 85% available. He's kind of the deeper league play, I guess. But I actually, you know, he's probably going to be like seventh for me and my sleeper hitters sleeper pitchers for this week.
Starting point is 00:31:14 Luis Garcia gets the angels. Okay, that's not so great. He gets the Rangers. That's really good. I just like, I think there's a lot of swing and miss there. I'm not sure how often he's going to go five innings, much less six, but like the strikeout ability for Luis Garcia. J.T. Brewbaker, Cincinnati and San Francisco.
Starting point is 00:31:32 Really good with the ground ball rate there. Those are probably the only ones worth highlighting. I think I've exhausted the list. Let me see if there are any borderline calls among those who are rostered in a lot of leagues. Okay, so Dylan Cese, you get him for two starts right away, one of them Kansas City, that's pretty good.
Starting point is 00:31:53 Alex Wood, he survived that game at Coorsfield, and now he gets the Rangers and Pirates. Love that. As his reward, yep. Too late to pick him up. Maybe not in Yahoo or ESPN League, but CBS is too late to pick them up. Oh, here's an interesting one.
Starting point is 00:32:10 Chris Bassett. At Boston, distant number one in OPS, and at Minnesota. I think you probably start him. I think so, too. He's pitching really well. Yeah, but those are tough matchups.
Starting point is 00:32:25 For sure. What about Nathan Avaldi? We haven't talked about his start today. He lines up for two next week, and the matchups are less than favorable, Oakland and the Angels. Three of his last four starts. Avaldi has been bad.
Starting point is 00:32:43 I think four run runs or more in three of his last four starts. Yep, that's correct. Yeah, ERA rising from 208 to 462 during that time. Now, I still have him as a start. I'm not that worried about Avaldi. Still at 328 X-FIP on the year, that's really good. Like a mid-3s ex-fip, you know, a stat that normalizes in that way to get mid-3 ZRAs.
Starting point is 00:33:08 I consider that to be pretty good. So I have a low-3 ZRA, low-3-X-PIP, 328. That's really good. Still a good swinging strike rate on the air. I don't really, I still see a lot to like in of all the end. I wouldn't be sitting him for a two-star week.
Starting point is 00:33:26 But I could understand with those matchups why he might be a little reluctant. I still rank him in my two-star pitcher rankings. I still had him ahead of some of those sleepers. I mentioned. I haven't met a Brady Singer and Jordan Montgomery. and Luis Garcia and J.T. Brubaker.
Starting point is 00:33:39 So just keep that in mind. I do have them behind Aalai, if you want to pick up Aalai and start him instead of Nate Avaldi. Yeah, it seemed like Avaldi got babbiped a little bit on Thursday. He only allowed three hard hit balls against the Tigers, but somehow still gave up six earned runs. So I didn't get to check in on that game, but it seems like he was a little bit unlucky.
Starting point is 00:34:00 The underlying numbers for Valdi still really good this season. So those are some two-star pitchers you can look at. Scott, single start pitchers that might be available that you're looking at? All right, so this isn't a very interesting group by comparison. I only have two one-start pitchers in my top-10 sleeper hitter. Top-10 sleeper pitchers for week seven. I only have two one-star guys.
Starting point is 00:34:23 And one of them's Taiwan Walker, who barely makes the cut 79% roster ship. He had his best start of the season today, right? Seven innings, only one hit. One hit allowed, no earned runs, eight strike. workouts. The whiff rate's not very good. The walk rate's not very good. The ground ball rate's not very good. He still has a 397
Starting point is 00:34:44 X-FIP, which I think could be a lot worse considering. But I don't know. He's a guy who's kind of defied the usual metrics for, he certainly did all of last year. So with a start against Baltimore, I'd definitely be comfortable running
Starting point is 00:35:00 him out there. And then Johnny Quato, he comes off the IL this weekend Sunday. So we'll get to see if he makes it through that start okay. If he does, next week he'll be at Pittsburgh, which of course is another great matchup. All right, so let's move on from the sleeper pitchers, and let's get some sleeper hitters, Scott. These are
Starting point is 00:35:19 names that are rostered in less than 80% of CBS leagues. Who are you looking at for week seven? Okay, so I think I recommend him every other week, but CJ Cron has actually been hitting better the past couple weeks, and Rockies are home for all seven games. and like I said, Coors, it's getting warmer there,
Starting point is 00:35:40 starting to play more like Coors. I think C.J. Cron is the top guy to look at. Of the seven pitchers they're facing, six are righties, so Dom Nunez, definitely want to get him in the lineup. Garrett Hampson, Rymel Tapia, who's been hot. Like a lot of Rockies this week,
Starting point is 00:35:59 the Giants are one of the two teams. No, they don't physically. course, never mind. But the Giants have good matchups as well. I like Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt from their lineup. Uh, so who is visiting the Rockies? It's the Padres. I don't have any of those. And the Reds. Yeah, I don't have any of those either. Yeah, not a good time to not, not too good rock those aren't good rosters for picking sleeper hitters, apparently. A couple of hot hand plays here that I like because of their splits. Andrew Benintendi. Of course, he's been on a role lately.
Starting point is 00:36:34 the royals are scheduled to face six Rides in their seven games but really it's the fact that they're on the road if you look at his home away splits for this year Ben and Tendie's done much better on the road maybe it's just because he happened to get hot when they were on a road trip but Kansas City not known for being a great place to hit I think it's a little extra reason to consider using him Andrew McCutcheon tends to do much better against lefties Phillies have four of those on the schedule and he's been showing some signs of coming around
Starting point is 00:37:03 So I like Andrew McCutcheon this week as well. All right. There you have it. And while we're on it, we'll just mention the five teams with the best hitter matchups. The Reds, the Astros, the Giants, the Padres and the Rockies. We mentioned quite a few of those already. And the five teams with the worst hitter matchups in Week 7 would be the Mariners, the Cardinals, the Mets, the Brewers, and the Dodgers.
Starting point is 00:37:25 So there you go. The Week 7 pitcher and hitter planners presented by Line and Coogles. And it's May 7th. I'm still waiting for the weather to heat up here in New York. It's supposed to be 50 degrees raining this weekend. What is going on? Anyway, you know what makes me feel like I'm sitting poolside on a warm, sunny day? A lining cool summer shandy.
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Starting point is 00:38:26 that they brew. What do we do with these struggling players Let's start things off with Carlos Correa, who is 0 for 19 over his last five games, and the batting average is now down to 254. Scott, any consideration with benching Carlos Correa? Would you be looking to buy him if you don't have him on your team? Oh, I'd be looking to buy him. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:50 Agreed, 100%. I think, gosh, so how many games has he been in a slump, you said? His last five, he's 0.19. Okay. Well, that'll happen this early in the season. and you go, oh, for 19, it'll put a dent in your batting average, but it's worth pointing out less than a week ago he was batting 303. That's the other side of the coin.
Starting point is 00:39:08 Yep. And nobody should have had any reason to worry about Carlos Correyes. So, yeah, no, I think Carlos Correa is fine. I think he's on the path to having a good rebound season. I'm not saying he's going to be a top five short stuff like we used to C&B, but I would still bet on top 12, certainly, and probably top 10. Even with that 254 batting average, his XBA, according to the stat cast, stands at 307.
Starting point is 00:39:32 His expected slug is 497. So certainly looks like Carlos Correa is bouncing back so far this season. It's a contract year for him as well, if you're into that kind of narrative. Alec Bohm, he hit his fourth home run on Thursday. And the counting stats look all right. 14 runs scored 16 RBI, two steals. But he's only batting 219, Scott. You were a big fan of Boeum last year coming into the season.
Starting point is 00:39:58 what you saw in the minor leagues, but then you thought that the price coming into this year was too high. He was like a top 110, 120 pick in drafts this season. What is going on with Alec Bomes' batting average so far? Well, he has been hitting the ball really hard. He has an expected batting average XBA of 277, so much higher than his actual season mark. So I guess that's reason to be encouraged, right?
Starting point is 00:40:25 but a big part of what makes what should make Alec Boem tick is how disciplined a hitter he is a lot of walks, a lot of strikeouts in the minors it had me comparing him to guys like I don't know the extreme best case outcome was
Starting point is 00:40:43 probably like Anthony Rendon not the most likely outcome but you know the extreme best kicks outcome and like that's not how his profiles looked here in the majors especially this year. His strikeout rate is over 25%. His walk rate's only like 5%.
Starting point is 00:41:01 So that's near the bottom of the league in terms of drawing walks. It could change. And, you know, he could go on a walking streak. We see that happen sometimes where players play discipline suddenly looks a lot better. I don't know. The fact that he actually didn't hit for much power last year,
Starting point is 00:41:22 I don't know. He seems pretty marginal at a deep position to me. I'd rather have him than Austin Riley, I guess, but I think they're in the same category in terms of how rostered they should be. The issue for Bohm last year was that he had a very high ground ball rate, 53%. It's pretty similar so far this season. 49%. He is hitting the ball harder,
Starting point is 00:41:45 and his expected numbers look a little bit better. So if you own Alec Bohm, I think you should keep him in the lineup. Those counting stats still look pretty good. and I would bet on the batting average bouncing back based on what he showed in the minors and what he did last year as well. He's not going to hit 338 like he did last year, but I certainly think he's better than a 219 hitter. I guess that's kind of weird to put Joey Gallo in this conversation because he's, I guess
Starting point is 00:42:08 he's been better recently. He's not technically struggling right now. He was struggling before his last six games where he has six hits during that span, including two home runs. He's now up to four home runs on the season for Joey Gallo. but his batted ball of data, Scott, is just all over the place. He's got a 39.6% ground ball rate. That's by far the highest of his career.
Starting point is 00:42:30 36% fly ball rate, by far the lowest. And his, just his quality of contact, Stack has usually Joey Gallo's up there, you know, just hitting the ball as hard as anybody. That's really not the case this year. So I don't know that I can say for certain that he's going to bounce back and be Joey Gallo that we've seen. But yeah, it's just kind of been a weird scene.
Starting point is 00:42:50 for him. Yeah. I mean, he is the face of high variance to me. Yes. So he could hit seven home runs the next two weeks, and suddenly his numbers look a million times better, and probably he's a cell high at that point, right? So, I mean, to me, there's not really much benefit
Starting point is 00:43:10 into digging into the stat cast data or the bat of ball data or anything like that because it's just, okay, clearly, clearly he's not on the right side of streaky right now. I'd feel more confident if, you know, the 60 games last year, he had a single hot stretch. But we knew going into last year, too, that that was probably going to play out one of two ways for Joey Gallo. Either he was going to hit 25 home runs in those 60 games, or he was going to hit however many he ended up hitting. And unfortunately, it was the latter end. So I don't know.
Starting point is 00:43:45 I mean, you knew what you were getting into drafting Gallo. you're probably counting on him for a ton of home runs. If you're high in the home run rankings, even with as little as he's done so far, maybe you can afford to sit him until he shows signs of coming around, but otherwise, you know, talking to a Roto League, a five outfielder league,
Starting point is 00:44:03 I think you just leave him there and trust in what you paid for. The last name I wanted to mention here was Max Kepler, he hit his first home run of the season on Thursday. However, he's batting 200. He did test positive for COVID, so that could,
Starting point is 00:44:17 definitely be affecting him. But I feel like we're just kind of holding on to this 2019 season Scott for Max Kepler where he had this 855 OPS, 36 home runs. Sure, fine, it was great. He's been 760 OPS or less every other season. He can hit lefties. He's still 91% rostered.
Starting point is 00:44:36 And maybe he gives him the benefit of the doubt. He's better in points leagues. But I just kind of feel like we're overvaluing him based on that 2019 when there was a juice ball. Well, maybe. It was like he had nine home runs in 48 games last year. So that's about a 30 homer pace, right? But he did it with a, I think it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah, about a 30 homer pace. What were you saying? He did it with a 760 OPS, which is, you know, it's, yeah, it's just, yeah. The batting average was low. He puts a ton of balls in the air. So he's not, he's a low bab-up guy. That's what he's kind of more developed into over the years in order to maximize his power potential.
Starting point is 00:45:15 I don't know. It's really hard to assess. It's really hard to assess. 2020, we've seen so many players bounce back from 2020, like it was nothing. Like, just completely rendered the 2020 number, the 2020 stat line obsolete to the point that a player like this is like,
Starting point is 00:45:34 okay, so we're saying the 2020 stat line matters for Kepler, but it doesn't matter for, for, I don't know, Carlos Correa or whoever you want to point to, who had an awful 2020 season. And then you got that out of impact of him missing time with COVID-19,
Starting point is 00:45:52 and we're not giving him a pass for that. Look, I'm not saying Max Kepler's undroppable on the three outfielder league. I think that's fine. But I'm not ready to write him off either. I suspect from today forward he'll perform at about a 30 homer pace, probably with a batting average south of 250. but I guess I'm saying I think if you drop Kepler now
Starting point is 00:46:16 well it's totally fine in three outfielder league you got alternatives he's not he's probably not going to be a high end player at some point somebody else will want to pick up Max Kepler because I think he will have a stretch that puts him back in that conversation did you know both Marcus Semyon and Boba Bichette each have seven home runs
Starting point is 00:46:36 and six stolen bases so far this season which puts them that is a pace of 35 homers and 30 steals over the course of 150 games. So I know we had some concerns whether or not Bo Bichette was going to run as much as other people did when he's being drafted in the second, early third round in category leagues. But he's running. And so is Marcus Semyon so far as well. So I've been completely wrong about Marcus Semyon. I kind of just thought he was another one where he was just overvalued because of that 2019 season. But he's looked really good thus far and now he's leading off
Starting point is 00:47:14 or he was at least leading off on Thursday for the Toronto Blueview so it's a really good spot to be in. I mean it's a weird to mean the weird one to break down because prior to the four hit game today he was hitting what like 220 and had been there from the start
Starting point is 00:47:29 I mean obviously having seven home run six stolen bases at this stage of the seasons really good pace he's on for those counting stats. That's the biggest thing Scott is that even with a lower batting average he was still giving you so many counting stats, you know? Well, okay, but if he continues to do it.
Starting point is 00:47:46 I mean, his expected stats are about as low as it gets. Like, it's a Calvin Bigio situation. 199 expected batting average. Yeah, and a 402 expected slug. So, you know, I'm not saying he can't outperform those. They're not gospel, obviously, but that's what the data says he should have. His number should look like right now. And I don't know.
Starting point is 00:48:10 He outperformed them in the one season that really matters, 2019. So maybe he will again. But I think there's still reason to have skepticism for Simeon. And if you want to consider him as so high, obviously the emphasis is on the high, as always. It's not on the cell. Not just trying to dump them. Plenty, plenty of reason to keep starting them right now.
Starting point is 00:48:32 But I don't know that we can count on him sustaining this pace. Some leftovers from Thursday quickly mentioned, Happy birthday to Jose Al-Tuvie. Went two for five with a three-run home run against my Bronx bombers. Yurdon Alvarez had three hits and a double-dong himself. He's betting 3-37. John Carlos Stanton extended his hitting streak to 12 games
Starting point is 00:48:53 with his ninth home run in the season. It was his third straight game with a home run. Jamer Candelario has back-to-back three-hit games. He's betting 298 and is 53% rostered. Now, that's a guy I wanted to talk about Candelario. Hit me. Because his batting average is, up to
Starting point is 00:49:10 298 298 yeah 2908 now and that was after hitting over 300 last year now if you look
Starting point is 00:49:18 at the stack has data for him it's it's not as bad as simian because it doesn't get much worse than simian but it shows him
Starting point is 00:49:23 hitting 230 something candelaria for the season but I you know going a little old school here I'm looking at line drive rate for candelaria hold on
Starting point is 00:49:33 you can't do that man it's it's stack cast or nothing nowadays well I can't I can, I can and I will. Because Candelario's line drive rate is approaching 30%, which is unbelievable. That's where you see like Freddie Freeman and Whitmeryfield.
Starting point is 00:49:51 That's the best kind of line drive rates in the league. And obviously line drives are the sort of hits, are the sort of batted balls that are most likely to result in hits by, I think, pretty considerable margin. And that's how you get a 370-ish babbip or whatever Candelario is working with right now, hit that many line drives. Line drive rate was good last year too. Better this year. But, you know, the two-year trend of being a good line drive hitter has me thinking maybe can't be a good batting average source.
Starting point is 00:50:24 And it wasn't just a fluke last year, despite what statcast is saying, what kind of XBA Stapcast is giving him now. Nick Gordon, former first round pick for the Minnesota Twins way back when in 2014 had appeared in appeared in his first major league game on Thursday. He went one for two with a walk and two steals. Luis Arise is on the seven-day concussion IEL. So, just
Starting point is 00:50:49 remember the name in deepest leagues. Nick Gordon, if you play in AL-only category leagues, I'd actually want to pick them up. Cesar Hernandez has seven hits over his last five games, including a home run. Randall Gritchick went two for five with his sixth homer of the season. He's batting 306 with an
Starting point is 00:51:04 858 OPS. 67% rostered is Gritchick and should play. play every day with George Springer out once again. The call to the pen on Thursday for the Red Sox, Adamadovino picked up his first save with Matt Barnes pitching the previous two days. Taylor Rogers was used in the eighth inning in a tie game,
Starting point is 00:51:24 but was facing two lefties. He struck out the side. For the Mets, Edwin Diaz allowed two hits, picked up his fourth save. Yemi Garcia got his fifth save. Will Smith got his seventh for the Braves. And for Cleveland in a four-zip game, James Carincheck came in the eighth inning.
Starting point is 00:51:40 He faced 9-1, 2, and 3. And Emmanuel Class A pitched in the 9th. Streamers for the weekend, Scott, your favorite part of the podcast. Let's start with Friday. Choose three of these names. Zach Davies versus the Pirates. Wade Miley at Cleveland. David Peterson versus Arizona.
Starting point is 00:51:58 Matchamaker at the Tigers. Mike Fultonovich versus the Mariners. And Anthony Disclavani versus the Padres. Okay. Don't love it. Don't love any of it. Don't love any of it at all. Okay. I mean, I guess I'm going to recommend Descliffeani just because I think he's the best pitcher.
Starting point is 00:52:18 Don't feel good about it, though. Wade Miley at Cleveland. No, you know what? David Peterson versus Arizona. Desclafani versus San Diego, Peterson versus Arizona, and then Wade Miley at Cleveland. I do like Wade Miley an okay about it. That's how we'll phrase it. For Saturday, Carlos Martinez versus the Rockies in St. Louis,
Starting point is 00:52:41 Trevor Williams versus the Pirates in a revenge game. Garrett Richards at the Orioles, Daniel Lynch versus the White Sox, Vince Velasquez at the Braves, and Adrian Houser at the Marlins. I'm going to start including the White Sox in here because their lineup is pretty depleted now. I would go with Carlos Martinez versus the Rockies, though that's really mostly about the matchup. I know he's had some good starts recently, but I'm not buying into. to Carlos Martinez in general.
Starting point is 00:53:10 I'll go with Garrett Richards at Baltimore. Actually, I think I like him a little more than Martinez. Richards at Baltimore, Martinez versus Colorado. And the third will be Williams versus Pittsburgh. Yeah, I was eyeing. Williams or
Starting point is 00:53:23 Hauser? Which one is Scott going to go with? For Sunday, Nick Povetta at the Orioles, Eric Lauer at the Marlins, Adam Wainwright versus the Rockies, Tyler Anderson at the... Cubs. Yep. Cole Irvin versus Tampa Bay and Johnny Quato versus the Padres.
Starting point is 00:53:44 So I'm not really buying into Irvin either. I'll go Adam Wainwright versus the Rockies, number one, Nick Povetta, Baltimore, number two. And number three, Tyler Anderson at the Cubs. Let's wrap up the week, Scott, with some fantasy justice for all. This is replacing formerly known as the regulator segment that you guys used to do here on the podcast. We can no longer play the regulator's music for copyright reasons. But if you're having an issue with your league, commissioner, it's not fantasy related, right? It's not, oh, do I make this trade? Blah, blah, blah, blah. It's, you know, something weird that's
Starting point is 00:54:21 going on in your league. Email us, put fantasy justice in the subject line. So let's serve it up, Scott. This one's from- People's Court here. This one's from David, the commissioner of our league. Two weeks into the season dropped Anthony Rizzo when he was playing like hot garbage. I instantly put in a waiver pick for him. Two hours and 17 minutes later, my waiver pick up was gone, and he was magically back on his team and never mentioned anything to the league. I pointed it out, and he claims he never dropped him,
Starting point is 00:54:56 and it would have to have been an accident, so he re-added him to his team. This is the process he would have needed to do to, quote, accidentally drop him. Unlock his phone via face ID or pass codes, scroll and find Yahoo app, Click into app, click my team, find Rizzo, click Rizzo's name, go to the bottom of the screen, click drop, confirm you want to drop Rizzo.
Starting point is 00:55:20 I should also mention he is notorious for sketchy trades. What should we do? Oh, that's added information because I was going to say, you know, I don't know how long this league has been in existence, how long this guy's been commissioner. But something you really have to keep in mind as a commissioner is like you need to be squeaky clean. Like you need to never be put yourself in a position where you're going to
Starting point is 00:55:47 be accused of using your commissioner powers to benefit yourself. So that when you make an honest mistake, the league actually believes it's an honest mistake because it's too easy to think it's not. If you haven't
Starting point is 00:56:03 developed that reputation of being an honorable commissioner. I think accidental drops happen. The process you described there with the phone and everything. I mean, not everybody plays fantasy on their phone. And you don't know what going on in their head when they're like, they may be absentmindedly clicking things, thinking about something else. And they meant to drop another Anthony, like Anthony Descliffeani or something. And they were just, you know, distracted while they were
Starting point is 00:56:29 doing it and click the wrong guy. Like, I think that can totally happen. But you're saying this guy has a reputation for being kind of sketch anyway. It doesn't help. I don't know what you can really do about it. I think you and your league mate should go protest outside of his house until he drops Anthony Rizzo or trades him to somebody else. Yeah, I mean... This is pretty sketchy, man. You have to...
Starting point is 00:56:57 All you can do is gather a group of people who are as frustrated with you are and petition for a changing commissioner and, you know, see if he goes for it. and somebody will have to want to step up and do it because the commissioner is pretty thankless job, you know? You know, the ultimate, the ultimate card to play is, all right, I'm out of the league, but then you don't get to play in the league anymore. So you got to decide how much, how much it bothers you, I guess.
Starting point is 00:57:28 I don't know if that's helpful or not, but it's sketchy, man. Yeah, you've got to do something about that because even as a commissioner myself in multiple leagues, I would just have a guilty conscience. if I did something like that, you know? Like, I agree with you, Scott. You have to be squeaky clean. You can't, you just can't do stuff like this if you're the commissioner.
Starting point is 00:57:48 It's not right. So, get him out. This one's from Joel. I have been shopping around Anthony Rizzo. In my league, I have too many good bats. I had an owner. Let's call him Murray. Agreed to a trade for him over text.
Starting point is 00:58:02 Then later he pulled back and asked for a lower price. I reluctantly agreed to the new lower price. Then he pulled back again, asking for Corbin. burns to be added to the deal at no additional cost. I am frustrated at Murray for not honoring his word. When twice we had a deal agreed upon, my league has a three strikes and you're out policy for fantasy managers,
Starting point is 00:58:22 usually relating to managers remaining active. Should this count as a strike for Murray? No, no, I don't think a deal is agreed to until the deal is clicked on and accepted until it actually goes through. That's bad. That's bad fantasy etiquette, though, Scott. That is... No, I agree. I agree. This guy is making it so you don't want to trade with him next time. So that's the consequence for him is you're not going to be as motivated to do a deal with him next time because he's going to be flaky like this.
Starting point is 00:59:01 But it's not technically a violation for him to do it. It's just annoying. Yep. I agree. I don't think it should be a strike for that person in your league. For Murray, let's call him. But, yeah, it's bad fantasy etiquette. Fantasy karma is coming his way. I will say that. Fantasy karma is a real thing. You do something like this. Something bad is going to happen to your team. I've seen it happen way too many times in my life. So, uh, no strikes there, but it's, uh, it's bad. This last one's from Tony. As a 20-year player of fantasy baseball, I've finally hit my breaking point. Please tell me if I'm being a fantasy snob. or if I am justified. We are in a fairly deep league. 12 teams, 5 outfielders, 8 pitchers, 3 IL spots.
Starting point is 00:59:46 Should give you a decent basis. A player in our league has dropped 14 of their first 20 picks, and 7 of those were their first 10 picks. Half of those drops happened after week 1 and 2. He has dropped the likes of Glaver Torres to pick up Jose Iglesias. He dropped Kyle Hendrix to pick up Kyle Gibson, Jesus Lazzardo to pick up J. Hap. John Carlos Stanton to pick up Avicayel Garcia.
Starting point is 01:00:09 I believe this is a real issue because his drops are saving other teams' rosters. No one seems to care except myself. The stance is he paid his money so he can do what he wants. If this was football and someone dropped Aaron Rogers for Drew Locke after week one, they would lose their friggin' minds. That's not you're saying they don't know fit baseball as well. Is that what you're saying? Maybe.
Starting point is 01:00:31 They take fantasy football more seriously. You should take fantasy baseball more seriously, for goodness sakes. It's a bigger investment. and less reliant on luck. But anyway, this is kind of tough because I do, on one hand, I agree that if this person paid money
Starting point is 01:00:47 and these are the moves that they want to make, even though, I mean, you see what Don Carlos Stanton is doing now, you know, who are we to say? If this person winds up winning the league doing this and just riding the hot hand all season, then all the power to them. But yeah, no, I agree. You are making other teams better
Starting point is 01:01:05 by allowing them to pick up someone like Stanton. It doesn't reflect well on the quality of the lead. You shouldn't just invite anybody to play in your fantasy baseball league. I understand I have an endless pool of potential players to draw from and not everybody's in that situation. But don't invite him back next year. That's, yeah, I mean, I don't know. Is it his first year playing and he's going to learn some lessons?
Starting point is 01:01:29 Like, you know, maybe he'll turn out to be a great fantasy player, if that's the case and he's just taking his lumps now. So you've got to keep that in mind too. But you've got to let him make his mistakes. mistakes and I don't know. I try to find a league with more seasoned players in it if you don't want to encounter this again. I don't think you could do anything about it, but yeah, look, if he keeps helping other people win and his team is terrible come the end of season, kick him out. He's gone. All righty. I think justice has been served. For Scott, I am Frank.
Starting point is 01:02:07 Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.

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