Fantasy Baseball Today - Weekend Recap; Holy Triston McKenzie! (08/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 24, 2020

Jose Abreu and Manny Machado are awesome! It's about time Frank got something right. Who were the OMGG waiver wire adds of the weekend (1:45)? How good can Triston McKenzie be? Why is Corbin Burnes st...ill available in leagues? Justus Sheffield keeps things rolling. ... Brandon Workman was traded to the Phillies over the weekend (12:53) and there's a whole bunch more closer notes. How aggressive should we be on Emilio Pagan? What's going on with the Pirates and Tigers bullpens? ... Onto actual news and notes, Ronald Acuña could be back this week, Stephen Strasburg is having season-ending surgery, and everybody is hurt (20:38)! Let's take a look at the top waiver wire starting pitchers from the weekend (26:33). What did we make of Sixto Sanchez's debut? Is Elieser Hernandez a must add? ... For waiver wire hitters, is Teoscar Hernandez a must-own player (33:53)? Time to give Jake Cronenworth some love! Where do these names rank on the Drop-O-Meter (41:48)? Is it time to drop Lance McCullers and Jon Lester? ... Before your league's trade deadline, should you try and sell-high on Dallas Keuchel, Dustin May, and Randy Dobnak (48:10)? ... Email us at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.
Starting point is 00:00:24 It was a fantastic weekend, especially if you roster, Jose Ibrahim, and Manny Machado. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today on a Monday. August 24th. Frank Stamphle here alongside Scott White and Chris Towers. We're nearly halfway through a 60 game season, so that means I can take victory laps
Starting point is 00:00:41 on Abreu and Machado, right? That's how this works, guys? Sure, I mean Machado's heated up to a point that his numbers look like they were expected to look in the first place. So I guess that's something to get excited about. But no, I could think about you over the weekend with Jose Abreu
Starting point is 00:00:57 hitting six home runs. Wow, Frank must have moved up a lot of spots in the standings. Honestly, I wish I had more shares of both of those guys. I didn't wind up with enough. I don't know why. I mean, like five days ago, you had plenty of both of them, maybe too much. So, you know, we're still at that point in the season where a victory lap can turn into
Starting point is 00:01:22 a pity parade in, you know, six games. So, you know, let's not, let's, I'm just saying, let's not go anointing everyone. unless it was someone that I liked, in which case, we don't have to wait at all. Yeah, and I have a feeling we're going to talk about a player that you like pretty soon. But let's get that started. Oh, my goodness gracious. This edition will be the waiver ad of the weekend. Take it away, Susan.
Starting point is 00:01:48 Oh, my goodness gracious. All right. Chris, I'll give you first divs at the oh my goodness gracious waiver wire ad of the weekend. And it is... It's got to be Tristan McKenzie. who struck out 10 in his major league debut, one strikeout for every pound that he weighs. He is alarmingly skinny,
Starting point is 00:02:11 but man, was he awesome in his first start? He was able to, I think he averaged 95 miles per hour with the fastball, got a good amount of swinging strikes with that pitch. He just, he looked electric. And he was someone who I mentioned a few times in the preseason just because, like, he, we don't, we didn't know what Tristan McKenzie was anymore at this point, but because he hadn't pitched since 2018.
Starting point is 00:02:37 And really since like, I think it was like almost two years to the day, like four or five days off since the last time he pitched in a game, um, before his debut. And so he could have lost a lot. But this guy was a really, really good prospect before all the injuries.
Starting point is 00:02:53 Uh, and they weren't, I don't think they were like shoulder injuries or Tommy John's surgery. I'm pretty sure it was, like an abdominal issue and then something else. But he, I thought he did have a shoulder problem, but I can. She might have. But it wasn't, I guess that wasn't the reason he missed two years.
Starting point is 00:03:12 He had a different injury. It was, it was sort of like James and Tyone, where like part of it was an elbow injury for Tyone and part of it was another type of injury. And so in McKenzie's case, we just hadn't seen him in two years. And so he was kind of out of side out of mound. he was still a top 100 prospect, but man, he looked awesome in that first start. And, you know, I think he's,
Starting point is 00:03:38 it's so hard to say that he's a must-add player just because we don't actually know how long they're going to need him in the rotation. On the other hand, who doesn't have a pitcher they get dropped for a guy who just did that. On the other hand, if he does that again, there's no way the Indians can take him out of their rotation even as good as, you know,
Starting point is 00:04:01 my Clevenger obviously would be back in the rotation eventually, but, you know, maybe Zach, please, Zach, doesn't get back in the rotation or, you know, yeah, life finds a way. They need, the Indians need a starter at some point this week, I think Wednesday, and they're being, you know, they're being kind of sketchy. They're not being very revealing as to who they're going to bring up,
Starting point is 00:04:23 but they did say, they did say that McKinsey at least earned one more stuff, So he is going to get another turn in the rotation. And I suspect they'll then give him another turn if he performs well in that one. You know, that they don't have room for McKenzie, Clevenger, and Pleseck is the thing. But Clevenger and Plesack, I mean, at this point, now that they have another option here in McKinsey, it's possible that they do start playing the service time game with one or both of them, because they are, like, I think, like two weeks away from them getting another year of control.
Starting point is 00:05:07 And there's, you know, trade deadlines coming. Yeah. And there were, I believe there were some Mike Clevenger whispers in the off season. So, you know, this is an Indians team that really loves shedding payroll while staying competitive. And if Trinston McKenzie can keep this up, they very well could shed some payroll and stay competitive. Speaking of Mike Clevenger and Zach Plesack, they both threw five in simulated games at the Indians' alternate site this weekend.
Starting point is 00:05:38 I have no idea when Clevenger and Plesack are going to be back, but Tristan McKenzie was awesome this weekend. Ten strikeouts, six innings of one-run ball. Obviously a really nice match up there against the Detroit Tigers. He is 47% rostered on CBS. Scott, how much fab would you be willing to spend right now on McKenzie?
Starting point is 00:05:57 Well, I was regretting how much fab I already had spent on other players because I didn't have enough to get him in any of my fab leagues. And I was very excited to pick him up because he did look electric. I was surprised he was able to, they left him out there for as many pitches as they did coming straight up from the minor league site, regardless of him missing a full year with an injury. By the way, it was an upper back injury last year. but there was some question as to whether it had to do with weakness in the shoulder.
Starting point is 00:06:32 And he did miss time with a forearm injury in 2018. So he has had some arm problems. But regardless, he's up now and he's performing now. And pitchers who perform particularly that can be picked up are few and far between. So yes, that's very exciting to pick up. If you want me to pivot to my own, oh my goodness gracious waiver wire claim, of the weekend. Before you do that, Scott,
Starting point is 00:06:59 did you say how much Fab on McKenzie? Oh, I never gave you an answer, did I? Um, I don't know, a quarter. It's really hard to say right now because, like, you might, I think I was looking at one of my leagues the other day and someone had $4 out of $100 or $200. Yeah, that's probably not going to get it done. And a couple of other people had like $180.
Starting point is 00:07:21 And so, like, if you're the $4 person, just skip ahead, hit that forward 30 seconds button because you're not going to get Tristan McKenzie. If you have $180 left, you could probably spend half of that. He looks, he has the potential to be that kind of can't miss waiver wire ad where at this point in the season,
Starting point is 00:07:45 it's halfway done. Who else are you going to spend it on? I keep thinking, though, which is why I'm down to so few fab dollars. Oh, it's not going to get better than this. And then something better happens. So, yeah, I mean, it is relative to what you have. It's relative to what you've been seeing the rest of your league do
Starting point is 00:08:04 with whenever a new player emerges on the waiver wire. So you kind of, it's a really hard question to answer in a vacuum. All right, Scott. So you're, sorry for that cop out. You don't have much fab left, which you just told us regarding McKenzie. So if you're not going to get him, who is someone that you might be able to get? Well, he's been rostered in all of my leagues already for a long time, but he's still rostered in only 60% of CBS Sports League. So I think it is time for the rest of the fantasy playing world to wake up to Corbyn Burns.
Starting point is 00:08:38 We're back. Who is back in the rotatee and is setting it a fire with his arsenal of power pitches, missing tons of bats allowing very few hits. It's actually kind of absurd for, and obviously he spent some time in the bullpen, but it was like long relief, a lot of a couple of three inning outings. Yeah, the strikeout rate versus the hit rate that whatever ratio that would be. Was it double? I don't have it pulled up, but it's big. It is.
Starting point is 00:09:15 He has 29 strikeouts coming into today. Sorry. Coming in today, he had 29 strikeouts to 10 hits. He allowed five hits and seven strikes. out. So it's 36 to 15. So more than double. More than double. There have been some walks. It's a little concerning, but I think, I think this stuff is clearly overwhelming. And I, I suspect that as he's stretched out more, the walks, that walk rate will drop a little bit. And you'll end up starting him basically every week. And, you know, again, the fact that he's still available in 40% of leagues is just,
Starting point is 00:09:54 I'm not sure who fell asleep to cause that to happen. And his BAP is not actually that low. It's $259 right now, which is low. You know, you don't expect him to keep that up. Obviously, he had a 414 last season. But it's not so low that you think that that's what's driving him being good. It really is that he's just been really hard to square up and he's not allowing any contact.
Starting point is 00:10:22 Yeah, and I think you're probably, going to use him if you have him on your team this week because he's going up against the Pirates again. So that's a solid matchup. So if you're looking for a single start stream, a good matchup, Corbyn Burns this upcoming week. Oh, he is better than a stream. Oh, yeah. But yeah, he's in my 10 sleeper pitchers for this week. His fastball is still getting hit pretty hard. It's worth saying. He has sort of moved to the cutter being his primary pitch against lefties, which is interesting. It was his primary pitch. Like, he threw it for four. percent of the time today. Yeah, and honestly, given how hard the four seamers gotten hit, he had a 672 X slug last year and 740 coming into today's game. That might not be a bad idea. It might not be a bad idea for him to just ditch the four seamer. It's not like it's allowing him to hit the strike zone anyway. I'm going to go with Justice Sheffield from this weekend, guys. And we've talked about Sheffield quite a bit here, but against the Texas Rangers on Saturday, six innings of one-run ball, five strikeouts.
Starting point is 00:11:24 That's three straight quality starts in a row for Justice Sheffield. He's allowed just two earned runs during his past three starts with 16 strikeouts to just two walks. So I think that is the biggest key for him is that the command has looked much better for Sheffield recently. 43% rostered. He's at the Angels this week. Not really a great matchup, but I'm pretty intrigued by what I've seen.
Starting point is 00:11:51 you rank McKenzie, Corbyn Burns, and Justice Sheffield, if people need a starting pitcher to add. I think I actually have to put Burns ahead of McKenzie, which, I mean, it's not like I was racing out to grab Burns in all my leagues. But like I said, I already knew he was picked up. So, yeah, I'll go Burns, McKenzie, and then Sheffield, a distant third. Where would you put Sixto Sanchez? I would put Sixto Sanchez between McKenzie and Sheffield.
Starting point is 00:12:22 That's what I figured. So Sheffield is last, even with... Of those four. Yeah, with six those. I mean, I could put other... I'm sure we could come up with some pictures I'd put behind Sheffield. Justice Sheffield or Marco Gonzalez. Actually, Marco Gonzalez.
Starting point is 00:12:37 He's good, man. That's like the Chris Towers special right there. Nobody wants to admit that Marco Gonzalez is good. That's a great duo. I would put Martin Perez behind Sheffield. There you go. There you go. That seems to make sense.
Starting point is 00:12:50 We'll have more on the waiver wire a little bit later on in the show. We saw our first decent-sized trade of the season happen on Friday. The Phillies acquired Brandon Workman and Heath Hembray to help shore up their bullpen. The Red Sox received Nick Povetta and Connor Seabold in return. Brandon Workman then promptly blew his first save for the Phillies on Saturday. He gave up a two-run double to Matt Adams, and he just tried his best to do it. We were like, the game just ended not too long ago on Sunday night, and he was trying his best to blow that one too.
Starting point is 00:13:21 So the game ended on a play at the plate. It seems like Workman is the closer for now for the Phillies, but it's not great. I mean, Hector Nerris was terrible on Saturday, too. It's worth pointing out. I don't think he pitched today. Yeah, I mean, Workman was already rostered everywhere their reward saves, so I'm not really sure
Starting point is 00:13:43 that there's any way to react to this in fantasy. But, like, I'm concerned he's not going to solve their problem. him. He had a 123 batting averages against last year, which is the second lowest for any pitcher ever. And it seemed like it'd be difficult to sustain from your year. He walks a lot of guys. Brandon Workman does. So I'm a little worried about him lasting in that role. You know who walks even more guys? The guy who may replace him in Boston. Matt Barnes has nine walks in 11 innings so far this season. Yeah. And you were talking about Matt Barnes before we started, Chris. I know that you're a big fan.
Starting point is 00:14:20 So how aggressive would you be on Matt Barnes if you needed saves? Look, like he's probably going to be a high three ZRA guy with a high whip. That's what he's been the last few years. He's going to get a lot of strikeouts. He had 110 and 64 and a third innings last year. He walks a lot of guys. He's at 4.3 for his career, 5.3 last year, 7.4 per 9. Whip is going to be a problem for him.
Starting point is 00:14:47 And on a team like Boston, where I don't think I'm telling any tales out of school when I say that wins and saves might be hard to come by, I don't necessarily think he is a priority ad. You know who would be the priority if you wanted saves? He's rosters in only 22% of leagues. Is Emilio Pagan. Emilio!
Starting point is 00:15:11 Who I think's being overlooked because he has a 623 ERA so far, but I do actually think he's good. Trust the track record. Yeah. Yeah. And Drew Pomeran's is out for who knows how long with the shoulder strain. So they've already lost Yates for the season, Pomerans now, and looks like Paghan's going to be in that role for the foreseeable future.
Starting point is 00:15:31 Yeah, we actually had a lot of closer news from over the weekend. So Pagan has now picked up saves on both Friday and Sunday. So I agree, if you need saves, you want to be the most aggressive with Paghan on a competitive Padres team. And last year, Kirby Yates just led the league and saves. so there should be a ton of opportunities on that team. And then with the Pirates we saw, Keone Kella is day-to-day with a forearm injury,
Starting point is 00:15:56 though their GM downplayed it. Richard Rodriguez picked up a save on Sunday. He's 3% rostered. The Reyes placed Nick Anderson and Chasro on the 10-day IL. So a gentleman named John Curtis picked up the save for the raise on Sunday. So that's going to be fun. Tampa Bay, as always. Alvarado is out too.
Starting point is 00:16:15 Yeah. So who's left in that bullpen? then. Diego Castillo, but he's been used in like his normal setup. He's kind of just used all over the place,
Starting point is 00:16:24 like wherever they need him. Yeah. They are, they might be pretty close to getting Oliver Drake back, so he might be back in our lives as a prospective save source.
Starting point is 00:16:36 It would be interesting to see them try Jalen Beaks in the closers role. He's been really, really good this season, uh, but more in like a swing role. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:16:47 and it would have, surprise me if there's a bunch of lefties coming up that you see him in the ninth inning. It's just the way that the race like to kind of match things up and I believe he picked up a save last week against the Yankees anyway. Tanner Scott for the Baltimore Orioles picked up a save on Sunday. Cole Solcer threw 33 pitches on Saturday, so I don't really think there's much to see there. Joe Jimenez, you want to talk about bad. You brought up Matt Barnes is bad. Joe Jimenez is quite bad. He recorded just one out on Sunday, allowed a three-run homer. Jose Cisnero stepped in for the save.
Starting point is 00:17:20 He has a 1.76 ERA this season. He is exactly 0% owned. Scott, if you missed out on Emilio Pagan, would you look at Richard Rodriguez, would you look at one of the raised guys, or would you look at Jose Cisnero of the Detroit Tigers? Well, what's interesting about the tiger situation, I don't know, I guess it could be Cisnero.
Starting point is 00:17:47 think Gregory Soto is even better. ERA's higher because he had an outing where he gave up a couple home runs, but I actually think he's better. So he had already pitched, obviously, when Cisnero came in. I'm not sure exactly how that's going to play out. Did you mention Giovanni Gallegos? I'm not sure how available he is, but he looks like he might have been. He might be reinserted to the closer role now after Andrew Miller had a couple of couple of shaky outings on Saturday, I believe it was, Miller started out the eighth, got two outs, and then Giovanni Gallegos got four outs, I think, without allowing a base runner. Correct.
Starting point is 00:18:31 And then on Sunday, Andrew Miller worked early in the game as well. It didn't end up being a safe situation, so he didn't see Gallegos. I think it might be Gallegos's job now on the down low. So he is 58% rostered. He might be... He might be available in some, you know, shallow leagues, some 10-team leagues. Oh, you know who I thought about speculate? I actually did speculate on in a couple of my deeper rotisserie leagues.
Starting point is 00:18:59 This is Jordan Romano of the Blue Jays, who got to save, I believe, Friday or Thursday, recently. And his number's been pretty awesome. 0.69 ERA, 19 strikeouts and 13 innings with only four walks. And I think Anthony Bass, he made a couple appearances this weekend that were not the kind of usage you'd normally see for a closer. So Jordan Romano, I think, is who I'd prioritize after Pagone,
Starting point is 00:19:37 presuming Gallegos has already rostered. All right, so you would go Gallegos, you would go put gone and then Romano and then everyone else is kind of after the Pirates guys I like Richard Rodriguez I just
Starting point is 00:19:52 I there's not I don't know they haven't shown much of motivation to go to him the past couple years when they had closer openings so I'm just kind of suspicious with what's going on there
Starting point is 00:20:06 Craig Kimberle was used in the eighth inning on Sunday he walked two he struck out to Jeremy Jeffers picked up his third save, so that continues to be a headache as well regarding the Cubs. And then Taylor Rogers picked up his sixth save of the season Sunday, but allowed another run to score his ERA is up to 5.23. We have talked a lot about Sergio Romo recently, so just remember the name, Sergio Romo.
Starting point is 00:20:30 And if you own Rogers, you might want to own Romo as well, specifically in a head-to-head categories or in a Roto League. Some news and notes. Ronald Cunia took on. On field batting practice again on Sunday, MLB.com's Mark Bowman suspects that a cunia could be activated ahead of Tuesday nights, serious opener against the Yankees. So cross your fingers, that would be awesome to get Ronald Acuna back. Mentioned what's going on with Clevenger and Plyssack, Glaibor Torres.
Starting point is 00:20:56 Quad and hamstring ran at about 50% on Sunday and said afterwards that, quote, I don't feel any pain. We're looking at two to three weeks for Glaibur Torres. Speaking of the Yankees, James Paxson was also placed on the IL with a forearm injury. and will be shut down for two weeks. Steven Strassburg is having season-ending surgery because of his carpal tunnel syndrome, which means that he will be at a discount next year in drafts,
Starting point is 00:21:22 and will wind up being awesome because that seems to be the trend with Steven Strasbourg. That's the way to draft Steven Strasbourg. You draft him when nobody wants him, and you fade him when everyone does. The Cardinals are considering whether to have Carlos Martinez stretch out at their alternate training site or return to the team sooner in a relief rolls. So I guess that's another name to pay attention to for the Cardinals if he's used in the bullpen. Obviously, he was very good last year as the closer for the team. So just pay attention, Carlos Martinez.
Starting point is 00:21:51 The Blue Jays placed Matt Shoemaker on the 10-day IL with right shoulder inflammation. Pedro Severino departed Sunday's game against the Red Sox, due to right hip flexor tightness. So pay attention to his status before your weekly lineups lock on Monday. Justin Turner was not in the Dodgers lineup Sunday because of a sore hamstring. Will Smith was activated for the Dodgers, which meant Khybert Ruiz was sent back to their alternate site, and Will Smith actually homered in his first game back on Sunday as well.
Starting point is 00:22:22 Michael Brantley was activated off the IL for the Astros and was in their lineup. The Mariners placed Dylan Moore on the 10-day IL with a right wrist sprain. Salvador Perez was placed on the IL with that eye injury. Like, there's so many, I'm just reading off. there's so many names that are being placed in the IL. Scott, if you owned Salvador Perez,
Starting point is 00:22:44 you're looking for a catcher to add in a one catcher league, would you go with Joey Bart, Yaddeer Molina, or Sean Murphy? Oh, Bart. Bart, I think, has doubled in all three of the games he's played in, including once off the bench. Very, very strong... How do you double off the bench? It's in foul territory.
Starting point is 00:23:03 Very strong first impression for Joey Bart. And I think somebody in a one... Catcher League probably could use him. Chris, if you're in a two catcher league, who are you most interested in here? Chance Sisko, Jacob Stallings, or Austin Hedges? I think it's Chance Cisco. The strikeout rate is absurd right now.
Starting point is 00:23:24 He's struck out 20 times in 53 plate appearances, but he's walking a decent amount. He's a former top prospect, so I would bet on some of the talent there. Is, where's Horhe Alfaro? as far as roster rate. He's Al Farrow away. Pulling up the
Starting point is 00:23:46 roster percentage for Jorge Al Farrow, it is 32. He would be, he would definitely be one of the guys I would want to look for in a two-catcher league or even in a one-catcher league. You know, if Bart's not there,
Starting point is 00:24:00 Al-Farro, you know, he's not a great bet, but there's certainly talent there. Ryan Mountcastle was promoted by the Orioles on Friday. He went a combined three for nine with three walks over the weekend. He is 22% rostered. Scott, where would Mountcastle rank on this group of hitters? Randall Gritchuk, Wilmer Flores, Robbie Grossman, and Mountcastle.
Starting point is 00:24:29 Rank those four? I will go. Okay. So I will go, you know, Gritchick was terrible over the weekend. I mean, not surprisingly. Yeah, not surprisingly. Probably didn't become a brain. Like, you know, he has power.
Starting point is 00:24:52 Yeah. That's my point is I'm not sure we need to be giving him preferential treatment at this point. It might be Mountcastle number one, especially if you need first base help, which a lot of people do. he's starting out eligible there. He's going to pick up outfield very soon here. You know, I can't promise he's going to be great right out of the gate. But if I was, I made an upside comparison for him on Twitter when he got called up to Jose Ibrahim, but it now seems a little ridiculous because that was six home runs ago.
Starting point is 00:25:28 But, you know, in terms of being a highish batting average guy with 30 homer potential but doesn't walk much. I think that's what we're looking at with Mount Castle upside-wise. So I'll go Mount Castle 1. Then I'm going to go with Grossman 2, Gritchick 3, Flores 4. Gosh, man, no respect for Randall Gritchick. I've been beating the drum a little bit for this guy. Yes, we know who he is, but he's doing things a little bit differently. He's striking out less. He's hitting a lot of line drives as well. So I will say this, if any of these four, including Flores, was available in like a 12-team Roto League with the five outfielders, you know, full Roto lineup.
Starting point is 00:26:10 They wouldn't be available for long because they'd be putting in a claim for them. That's the kind of, that's the caliber of hitter we're looking at on the waiver wire in that format. If you're wondering what to do with your MET, they've had no further positive tests. And if everything checks out on Monday, they should be able to start their scheduled series with the Marlins on Tuesday. Let's hit up the Waver Wire and talk about some of these other names that performed well over the weekend. We already spoke about Sixto Sanchez and Trissa McKenzie, but let's just talk a little bit more about Sixthosanches.
Starting point is 00:26:46 Chris, I don't know if you caught this game or had the opportunity to see some highlights, but, you know, what were your takeaways from Sixthosanches, five innings, three earned runs, four strikeouts, zero walks. He averaged 98.5 miles per hour with a fastball in his debut. Sixtho Sanchez looked exactly as advertised and pretty much exactly how he looked in the Myers. Good control, not as many strikeouts as you think he should get given the amount of, you know, sheer stuff he has. And that's kind of been the story of his career. He's overpowered people, but not necessarily by getting a ton of strikeouts. he looked really good.
Starting point is 00:27:30 He's an incredibly talented pitcher. And I think you should, look, if he's out there in your league, you should definitely go try to get him. I think he shouldn't be on waivers in any leagues. There are rare opportunities to get a talent like this mid-season. And given the fact that he was just okay in his first start, and Tristan McKenzie was awesome, you might be able to sneak Sixto Sanchez in for a relatively low bid.
Starting point is 00:27:58 that being said, I don't necessarily know if there's Ace Fantasy upside. It was the third best debut, I think we've seen from a starting pitcher this year after, okay, fourth best. Fourth best, I'll go, McKenzie, Tristan McKenzie, followed by, now I'm forgetting all of their names, Casey Meis and Dane Dunning. It was just, it was sort of Dustin Mayish. He had a 12.1% whiff rate. and, you know, whiff rate in one start.
Starting point is 00:28:29 How telling is that stat? But he did have eight whiffs on 66 pitches. That's pretty good. And he got three each on a slider and change up, which you threw a quarter of the time. So, like, this looks like a fully fleshed-out arsenal here for Sixthos Sanchez, which makes me optimistic. He's going to be pretty good from the start here.
Starting point is 00:28:48 It's just what degree of good is he going to be? Stick with the Marlins. Eliezer Hernandez. I don't think that he's considered one of the stallions, right, from last year? Who technically was? It was like Pablo Lopez, Trevor Richards, Pablo Lopez, and Caleb Smith. He was kind of the primary stallions, and then they were ancillary stallions. Sandy Alcantara was like an auxiliary stallion.
Starting point is 00:29:14 Auxiliary style, like a pony. Yeah. And, you know, Eliezer Hernandez is, I think he's okay. He's pretty good. he is he is maybe not just a one pitch pitcher anymore you know that that might sound sort of like faint praise but you know his career has mostly been defined by his slider being really good and then nothing else
Starting point is 00:29:39 being particularly impressive but he's gotten somewhat better results with the four seamer so far this season and you know if he doesn't get hammered on that pitch he does have a true really, really excellent put-away pitch. All right, Scott. I'm just going to list off a bunch of names that are available,
Starting point is 00:30:01 widely available in CBS leagues right now from the weekend that had pretty impressive starts. So, Eliezer Hernandez, Danny Duffy, five innings of one-run ball against the twins, Dakota Hudson, four and two-thirds, only one hit allowed against the Cincinnati Reds. Matthew Boyd, he's 64% rostered. He's probably been dropped.
Starting point is 00:30:22 in a lot of leagues, but completely changed this pitch mix over the weekend, started throwing his change-up a lot more than we've seen before, and the slider took a back seat. We had the Giants guys, Tyler Anderson threw a complete game out of nowhere. Logan Webb was awesome Friday. Trevor Cahill, all three of those guys
Starting point is 00:30:38 were really great over the weekend. Martine Perez, Quang Yun Kim was good, six shutout, Annable Sanchez was very good on Sunday. And then Luke Weaver, where, you know, we might actually be a lot sing his name again. That's how good he's been.
Starting point is 00:30:54 So Weaver, Anabal Sanchez, Quanghan Kim, Martin Perez, the Giants guys, Dakota Hudson, Danny Duffy, Aeaser Hernandez. Does anybody stick out to you from that group? I think the one who the one who we didn't already
Starting point is 00:31:14 have some hope for, who's actually shown something different this year and maybe elevated his stock as a result, I think it's Aaliyzer Hernandez who Chris just talked about because the whiff rate has been so good. And, you know, he's mostly been limited to five innings at a time, but it's been very impressive. And you look at his minor league numbers.
Starting point is 00:31:36 I know one year he had just had ridiculous numbers down there. So Ailesa Hernandez is somebody who is worthy of some note in all formats. I'm not saying he's must add, but like. he would be on the short list of players I'm adding in most of my leagues. Matthew Boyd is obviously was the most drafted of this group coming in and is still rostered in a good number of leagues. But his last two starts, it seems like he's trending the right direction here. He gave up a lot of home runs two starts ago,
Starting point is 00:32:17 but got a lot of whiffs with the slider. It was his best whiff game by far this year. year. And what's most interesting about this start against Cleveland is he actually didn't use the slider that much. He leaned mostly on the change up. Didn't get as many whiffs, but obviously the outcome was good. So I don't know if he's still figuring out his arsenal, clearly. Boyd is. He know he means more than just the slider, even though it's his best pitch. He actually had a good line about there being chocolate cake in the fridge, but you need to eat more than chocolate cake or something like that referring to the slider.
Starting point is 00:32:52 So if like the changeup is going to become something, maybe that's it that fully rounds it out and he can really take that step forward finally. I don't think we need to bury Matthew Boyd, even though he's not trustworthy right now. I totally get that. But aside from Eliezer Hernandez, he would be the only one on this list that I have any real enthusiasm for.
Starting point is 00:33:16 Can you repeat that list for the listeners? Yes, it was Luke Weaver, Annabal Sanchez. Oh, Luke Weaver too, sorry. Quang-Hun Kim, Martin Perez, Trevor Cahill, Logan Webb, Tyler Anderson, Matthew Boyd, Dakota Hudson, Danny Duffy, Aliezer Hernandez. So it's like a who's-who of a bunch of pictures there outside of the ones that we obviously led off the show with.
Starting point is 00:33:41 Tristan McKenzie is at the top of the list, I would assume, and Corbyn Burns. But yeah, lots of pictures. Quang-Hung Kim, I actually don't mind. him as a sneaky start this week going up against the pirates. Chris, Teoscar Hernandez, has now homered in three of his last four games. He's up to 10 home runs. Is he a must-own player, even in a points league? I really struggle with this because he's never been that before, and I'm not sure. We've seen stretches where he hits a lot of home runs before, and that's
Starting point is 00:34:14 never made us think that Teoska Hernandez was someone who needs to be on your roster in every league and like he's still striking out way too much. His plate discipline is really bad. And so I just, I have a hard time believing that he's all of a sudden a very different hitter. I think he's probably just really, really hot. And I guess you can add him while he's hot, but like I have a hard time seeing him being worth starting in a three outfielder league. He has a 61% hard contact rate according to fan graphs, which I can't pull up the leaders right now. I would have to imagine that's up there. 59.7%
Starting point is 00:34:53 on baseball Samant too. He is hitting the ball incredibly hard right now. It's just it's probably just a hot streak. He does have four steals also after stealing two bases on Sunday. So 10 home runs, four steals.
Starting point is 00:35:08 And obviously he's owned in all category leagues, I would assume, with about 75%. That's his roster percentage. right. So I'm sure he's owned in all of those leagues already, but in the, like, the thing is, if you do need an outfielder and a three outfielder points league, the Blue Jays have really good matchups. So if you're, if you're, you know, scouring the waiver wire anyway, I don't think it's a bad idea to take a chance on Hernandez, see if you can put together another week like this with good matchups. But man, my overall takeaway is the same as Chris's, where it's just he's hitting the ball harder. That's really the only change we're saying. seeing. I'm just not sure that's something you can count on him sustaining all season. And his already bad plate discipline is so much worse. He's up to 38% out of zone swing rate down on swing rate in the zone from 73% to 64%. First strike rate up, swinging strike rate
Starting point is 00:36:08 up. Basically everything you would want to see on a plate discipline basis is moving in the wrong direction. And I mean, look, if you're hitting the ball as well as he is, it doesn't matter. You shouldn't walk. But he probably can't keep this up. Since I've been apologizing a bunch recently to players and fantasy owners, let's apologize to Jake Croninworth, because I have not given this guy enough credit for as good as he has been thus far for the Padres. He has now started 10 straight games for them. He's batting 347. He has an OPS over 1,000. He makes a ton of contact. He walks a lot. He's a 31% line drive rate. He has first, first, second, and shortstop eligibility on CBS
Starting point is 00:36:51 is 37% rostered, play six games this week with three of those in Cores Field. Scott, how excited are you over Croninworth, at least for this week, the rest of the season? He's been pretty good. I was waiting for him to become an everyday player, which, yeah, a couple lefties. He started against Stephen.
Starting point is 00:37:13 So that looks like it's something that's happening. And crazy thing is about Krono'North, I mean, you mentioned he hardly strikes out. As good as his overall numbers are, and, you know, he's batting, what, like 350 with an OPS over 1,000. His expected stats are even better. His XBA is 402. Oh, my gosh.
Starting point is 00:37:37 That's the amount and quality of contact that Jake Kronenworth is making. and, you know, it's not many of bats, but he's at lefties well, too. Like you said, triple eligibility, yeah, that's, that is somebody we need to start giving a lot more credit to, and in points leagues too with that kind of strike out the walk ratio. Yeah, for sure. I'm excited. Three games in course field this week, too. Look, I just think if you need to plug any of those positions, I was reading the names
Starting point is 00:38:06 earlier. Everyone's heard. Everyone's on the IL. So someone like that can really, really be of value. in fantasy moving forward. Chris, a few other hitter names. I'll just do what I do with the pitchers and just read off a bunch of names and you tell me if you like any of these guys. Miguel Rojas returned on Friday with a three-run homer off of Patrick Corbin. Yandy Diaz, three straight multi-hit games. He's got a 64% ground ball rate. Don't love that.
Starting point is 00:38:29 Brian Reynolds, six hits over the weekend. Luis Garcia, three hits and three runs scored on Sunday. He is batting 357. Isaac Perides hit a Grand Slam on Friday, three more hits on Sunday. and then Stephen Piscotti has multiple hits in two of his last three, and low-key, he has 21 RBI this season. So I thought that was pretty interesting. Piscotti, Paredes, Garcia, Brian Reynolds, Yandy Diaz, Miguel Rojas,
Starting point is 00:38:54 any interest there, Chris? Yeah, there are a handful of interesting hitters there. Obviously, Brian Reynolds was, you know, very startable last season. I don't think he's just, you know, completely lost it, sorry. And so, you know, if, he's available, he's probably the priority
Starting point is 00:39:13 ad. I would say Luis Garcia is probably second for me. And, you know, this is something that I've talked about a little bit so far this season, but, you know, with the fact that we don't have any minor league games, Luis Garcia was, if not the youngest player in his league
Starting point is 00:39:29 last year, one of the youngest, he just turned 23 months ago. He turned 20 in May. So he was 18 for the first month of last season playing, I believe, in AA the whole year. So it is possible that he took a huge step forward and we just didn't get to see it coming
Starting point is 00:39:51 because he wasn't playing in games. He is a top prospect, even though the numbers haven't quite shown it. And he is definitely the guy I'm most interested in here. Scott, don't think that we're going to let you off the hook there, Scott, because we haven't heard the phone ringing in a while, but... I wasn't sure if this new might be. Oh, I didn't hear it.
Starting point is 00:40:13 I heard it. It was very... This was actually a tweet from Chris that I just now got. I think he sent it like 20 minutes ago or longer. I'm so sorry. I hope it was about how hot Justin Thoreau is in season three of the leftovers because my goodness. Oh, I need to talk to you about the leftovers.
Starting point is 00:40:31 That's beard. Man, you show. That's just like, who. Oh, man. Chris, hot and bothered here on a... Sunday night fantasy baseball today. Gotta love it. Some deeper league ads. If you are desperate for an outfielder, Cedric Mullins has started eight straight games. He has 11 hits during that span. He hit leadoff Sunday as well for the Baltimore Orioles. He is 2% rostered. If you need steals in a deeper format,
Starting point is 00:41:00 Miles Straw really does not play all that much, but he has five steals and he is one of the fastest players in all of baseball. And Justin Dunn, I don't know where this came from, Scott, against the Rangers Sunday six innings, one hit, one walk, six strikeouts, any interest, even in deeper league. I mean, he was a prospect of some note coming in. 15 whiffs
Starting point is 00:41:22 in this start. I mean, it's a very good start independently of all the others. It's just he had shown nothing in the previous starts, and I can't tell, I can't see anything that's changed. So I'm not saying nothing has changed for Justin Donne,
Starting point is 00:41:37 but based on the evidence in front of me. I'm just going to call this one a fluke for now, and we'll see what it does next time. The dropometer. Let's fire it up. Chris, we'll start with you. Adrian Houser at the Pirates on Friday. He did go seven innings, but allowed four earned runs, one walk, three strikeouts,
Starting point is 00:41:58 71% rostered. This is now three lackluster starts in a row for Adrian Houser. Where is he on the dropometer, Chris? Like a five. I've hung on to him in my points leagues where he, He's RP eligible. So it's not a priority to drop him. Scott, Jake Oteresey was hit with a line drive on Friday. He went just three innings, five earned runs in that start. Only one strikeout.
Starting point is 00:42:24 He is 79% rostered. Jake Oteresey. I think he landed on the IEL too. With a chest contusion. Oh, I will go seven on Oterese. John Lester. Wow. It was only a matter of time, but against the White Sox on Friday,
Starting point is 00:42:44 eight earned runs over three and two-thirds innings. I know it seems ridiculous that we're talking about John Lester, but he's rostered in 88% of leagues, Chris. So where is he on the dropometer? Like a six or seven. He's not someone who needs to be on your roster in even a 12-team points league especially. Totally fine, dropping him.
Starting point is 00:43:07 Yeah, I was thinking like 10, honestly. Um, yeah, I mean, if you, look, if you plan a 12-team runner league, like, it's hard to find pitchers whose arms are still attached, so. Fair. Scott, Lance McCullors was at the Padres on Friday. Another interesting name, like, it feels like we shouldn't be talking about Lance McCullors dropping him, but four earned runs over five innings, just two strikeouts. He's really only had three solid starts, and those came against the Mariners twice,
Starting point is 00:43:36 and the Giants once. So, where are you at with? Lance McCullors in terms of dropping him. Yeah, he's searching for it a little bit, first year back from Tommy John's surgery. I think, you know, two turns, I don't know, it was three turns ago at this point where he had one, seven one hit innings.
Starting point is 00:43:54 And then followed that up with a solid start against the Mariners. So, I mean, if you just look at his last three starts, two good, one, not so good. I think he's trending the right direction. and I would, I mean, it'd have to be a really shallow league where I'm like, my lowest player is Lance McCullors and I need to pick up Tristan McKinsey
Starting point is 00:44:18 and, you know, I'm not even sure that's a move everybody should make. So I'll go three on Lance McCullors. I would definitely drop him for Tristan McKenzie for what it's worth. Okay. Andrew Heaney allowed five runs over four and two thirds on Friday. His ERA is up to 5.52.
Starting point is 00:44:35 Chris, Andrew Heaney. he always hurts me I'm always like he has a 316 FIP he's getting a lot of strikeouts his control is still decent I
Starting point is 00:44:48 I still want to believe that Andrew Heaney can be good I would definitely drop him for Trista McKenzie so I'll say it's a five or six Tarek Scouble was not much better
Starting point is 00:45:06 in his second start I need to get a lot of strikeouts at Cleveland. But two in a third, three hits, one earned, five strikeouts, 69 pitches to just get the seven outs that he recorded. Scott, where are we on, Tarek Scuba? I dropped him in our 16-team podcast for the People League, so I guess I'd go eight here on the dropometer. I mean, the talent is evident,
Starting point is 00:45:31 but is he going to progress enough that he's usable within over the next five weeks basically soon enough during that stretch for you to actually justify reserving a roster spot for him. I'm skeptical about that. Of course, it could go out and dominate next time out
Starting point is 00:45:50 and then we're all rushing to pick him up. But I think in most leagues I could find options on the waiver wire I'd prefer to have instead. Scott, where are you on the... Does Matt Manning get called up if Tariq Scooball continues to be underwhelming? o meter. He's the third of the tiger's big pitching three. Yeah. And they did say he was behind the
Starting point is 00:46:14 other two in terms of development, which wasn't so obvious coming into the year. I mean, the fact that they showed a willingness to call him Mize and Scoobel already, like I expect to see Matt Manning before the year is done. So could it be in place of scuba? I don't see why not. Or a Matthew Boyd trade. Seems more likely. That would not be surprising if we saw Matthew Boy traded. Take a quick break. Just remind you to drop a five-star Apple podcast review. If you can, we'd appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:46:47 Leave a question. We'll answer it on a future podcast. And join our Facebook group. Facebook.com slash groups slash fantasy baseball today. Lots of interesting questions, some discussion on there as well. It's a lot of fun. So make sure to join our Facebook group. All right, we'll take a break when we come back.
Starting point is 00:47:02 I have some sell-high candidates, potential sell-high candidates, and we'll look at the rest of the action from this weekend here on Fantasy Baseball today. Should we be trying to sell high on these pitchers right now, and is it even realistic? Can you get anything good in return? I guess we're about to find out. Scott Dallas Keiko on Friday against the Cubs, eight innings, one run. ERA is down to 2.65. He does, however, have a 3.97 X-FIP.
Starting point is 00:47:28 He's changed up the pitch mix this year. His sinker usage is down 18%. He's throwing more cutters. He's throwing more change-ups. do you think it's realistic to sell high on someone like Dallas Keikle? He might still have some name value in some fantasy circles if you can trade him for Carlos Carrasco right now. Is that something that you would do?
Starting point is 00:47:48 Carlos Carrasco had another not great performance on Sunday, four earned runs over three and a third. So where are you at with Keikle and potentially trying to sell him for Carrasco, Scott? I mean, I'm fine with that. It's kind of like the trade I recommended last week, Zach Wheeler for Luis Castillo. if you can do like a combo, sell high, buy low.
Starting point is 00:48:06 I think Keikl's good. I think he's definitely not great, but, you know, good counts for a lot at starting pitcher right now, just because there's so much, there's so many people just trying to hold it together there at that position. So when you,
Starting point is 00:48:22 you have one that's strung together this many good starts consistently, and you offer them to a guy who definitely needs pitching. I mean, yeah, you're probably going to get some bites on that, but you need to make sure you have. have enough pitching to account for that loss. Fair. Yeah. Regarding Dallas. Look, he's been very good, but he's just doing it to Dallas Keiko. Wait, it's not, it's not flashy. He's not getting a lot of strikeouts. He's getting a lot of ground balls. And then what I love about it is he joined the White Sox and
Starting point is 00:48:52 immediately started throwing his cutter more because Don Cooper just can't help but be Don Cooper. But it could be working for him. He actually has, Keikle actually has the third highest swinging strike rate of his career, which is a pretty long career at this point. He hasn't gotten many strikeouts with it, but maybe he'll start to. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:49:15 Chris, I'll throw two names your way. Dustin May, five innings of one-run ball on Saturday against the Rockies. He has now allowed two runs or less in all six of his starts. He's got a 279 ERA, but a 4.30 X-FIP, and then our boy, Randy Dobnack.
Starting point is 00:49:32 five endings of two-run ball on Saturday against the Royals. He has allowed two runs or less in all six starts. He's only reached six endings in one of those. It seems pretty obvious that twins are not going to let him go very deep into starts. Do you think it's realistic to sell high on either of these names, Chris, Dustin May and Randy Dobnack?
Starting point is 00:49:51 I think if you could get a top 50 starting pitcher for Randy Dobnack, I would do it right now. I would give up, I would give him up for Dallas Keikle for sure. He's like, he's like aspiring to be Dallas Keikle. Right. He makes Dallas Keikle look like Chris Sayle, like pre-injury. Like Randy Dobnick has a 13.5% strikeout rate right now. It's not impossible that he can continue to be effective at that strikeout rate,
Starting point is 00:50:22 but it's going to take a lot of things to go right. And you shouldn't count on everything going right for him. ever moving forward. Like that's just really hard to do. Um, Dustin May, I just, I don't know. I don't know what the perception of Dustin May is. Uh, if there are people who think he could be an ace or is an ace, or even is like a starting pitcher number two, I would try to trade him because I just, I think his approach caps his ceiling. And like, if you want to trade him, go to Twitter.com and do like a search for pitching ninja Dustin May. and just send the results to the person you're trying to trade him for
Starting point is 00:51:03 because when you watch Dustin May, he looks way better than he actually is. I think he's good. I just think he might be like Marcus Stroman. Yeah, look, and that's not a bad thing necessarily, but there is a lot of hype around him. He has an 8% swinging strike rate, so really just does it with two pitches.
Starting point is 00:51:23 He doesn't get a lot of strikeouts. So, yeah, look, I, if you could turn, if you could trade Dobnack or Dustin May for, like, Lance McCullors right now, Chris. Is that something you would try to do? I'm less optimistic about McCullors than Scott is right now. I just, I think he's throwing his fastball and change up too much. It needs to get back to throw in the curveball.
Starting point is 00:51:43 It's his best pitch. But nothing's stopping him from doing that. Right. He's just not yet. And I'm just, I'm less optimistic about him turning it around than, I believed I would have been before the season. so I don't like, I don't dislike the idea Lance McCullors is like if you can find someone in the top 40
Starting point is 00:52:08 yeah, I would do that. Like Carlos Carrasco, if I could get Carlos Carasco for either one of those guys, I would do it in a second. Yeah, I'm not really worried about Carasco either. The only thing that's, the only thing in his line that's worrisome right now or in the underlying stats is just that he's walked so many guys, which wasn't even the issue today against the Tigers. He gave up.
Starting point is 00:52:33 He just started getting hit hard in the fourth inning for some reason, a couple doubles, a couple home runs. But I think the stuff is intact, and I think you'll figure it out. These players were on fire over the weekend. I mentioned Jose Abraeu and Mani Machado, Abraeu seven hits this weekend, six of which were home runs,
Starting point is 00:52:54 three homer game on Saturday, a triple dong. We don't see that very often. He finished a week with 64 and a half fantasy points on CBS. What's up? Four at bats in a row. Tied the Major League record. Yeah. Oh gosh. He is awesome. 64 and a half fantasy points.
Starting point is 00:53:12 It's just, wow. It's insane. Mani Mutato, multiple hits in five of his last six games. He added his eighth Homer and third stolen base of the season on Sunday. Trent Grisham, four hits on Saturday, including a triple dong as well. Trey Turner. If you were ever worried, hopefully the steals continue to come. But six hits this weekend, including his fifth homer.
Starting point is 00:53:31 His second steel, now batting 316 with a 949 OPS, is Trey Turner. Travis Darnow, three more hits on Friday. He hit a home run. His expected batting average is 331. He's averaging the second most fantasy points per game for catchers behind only J.C. Rio Muto. So Travis Darno has been awesome. You Darvish, I think it's time to get him inside my top 10 starting pitchers
Starting point is 00:53:54 rest of season on Sunday, 7. seven endings of one-run ball, 10 strikeouts, just one walk. His ERA is down to 1.70. And Kyle Lewis, Scott. Eight game hitting streak, including three hits Saturday, his seventh home run of the season he hit on Sunday. The emails are rolling in regarding your Kyle Lewis takes, Scott. To which you say?
Starting point is 00:54:19 Well, I think the way I worded it for Kyle Lewis was Kyle Lewis is not good this is the hill I will die on I may have been overstating it a little I may not need to actually die on that hill I maybe can just you know
Starting point is 00:54:40 get beaten down to the point that I'm still like coherent enough to recognize that okay there are some things changing here and Kyle Lewis's skill set that backs up the production a little more like the strikeout rate, which started out awful this year, just like it was last year. Suddenly it looks like good. It doesn't even look okay.
Starting point is 00:55:03 He's survivable. It looks good. He's just stopped striking out. Real underlying improvements there as far as like his swing rate overall is down, but his swing rate on pitches inside the strike zone is actually identical to last season. He has just cut his swing rate on outside of the zone pitches from 36% to 22%. That's massive. That's a really good way to.
Starting point is 00:55:24 avoid strikeouts is if you stop pitch, hit it, swinging at pitches you can't hit. And, you know, his contact rate on pitches outside of the strike zone and inside of the strike zone, they're both up a little bit. But his overall contact rate is way up because he's swinging at fewer of the pitches that he can't hit. And so that's a really good sign. And even in terms of like how hard he's hitting the ball, I mean, it's,
Starting point is 00:55:50 he still doesn't rank very high there, but like, it's gotten better since I last looked at it. So he, and then you look at the expected numbers, 297, expected batting average, 524, expected slug. I mean, those are obviously good numbers. He's, I don't think
Starting point is 00:56:07 anyone would try to argue that he's actually as good as his overall numbers suggest, which is, you know, like a 360 batting average OPS 100, like he's not going to sustain that. Is he going to be good enough to be a starting caliber fantasy outfielder all season long.
Starting point is 00:56:27 I mean, if I have him, I am hoping for that outcome now. I am not just trying to sell him. I am thinking that's a definite possibility. Kyle Lewis is actually good. Maybe not great, but actually good. For what it's worth, like he's been a power standout so far in his career, 249 ISO, 217 this season. that's the part I might be most skeptical about.
Starting point is 00:56:54 You know, his max exit velocity through, you know, what, 50 games over two seasons or 60 games is 110.9 miles per hour, which is fine, but usually, you know, if you're talking about a really good power hitter, it's usually a little higher than that on the max. Like 10.7% barrel rate, 33% hard hit rate, 87.8% or 87.8 mile per hour exit velocity. I think he's probably more just like an average power hitter.
Starting point is 00:57:25 But with the gains he's made as a strikeout, you know, in terms of his contact rate, it could be enough. Some weekend leftovers. Kyle Lewis, by the way, is a top six outfielder in points league right now. I don't think that that is going to remain. But, you know, he has made some tangible changes this season in terms of his play discipline. So it's really, it's nice to see things are coming together for him. Some of the leftovers from the weekend, Aronola had a clunker on Friday.
Starting point is 00:57:52 He had this to say, I got myself in a lot of bad counts, a lot of two-oh counts, Nola said, it's hard to pitch when you're that far behind. Three walks, lead-off guys on base. It was pretty bad, all around, all night. Again, that was Aranola.
Starting point is 00:58:06 I don't think there's any concern here overall. I think everyone's kind of due for a bad start here or there. Again, for Aaron Nola. Zach Davies. I mean, gosh, like, How long is he going to keep this up, Scott? Eight innings, two earned, seven strikeouts against the Astros.
Starting point is 00:58:25 It's not the same lineup because they're missing a few people on Saturday. But three runs are less in all six of his starts. He's got a 303 ERA. What are we doing with Zach Davies? Are we just continuing to throw him out there? He's a little different this year. He's a better version of himself. He's made his change up his primary pitch.
Starting point is 00:58:48 which, you know, kind of the noxymor on there. But it was always his best pitch, so that makes sense for him to do. And it's still, like the ratio still aren't good. They're just better. They're not terrible anymore. He has a 416 X-FIP, which, you know, if he's pitching deep into games,
Starting point is 00:59:08 it's going to make him a decent streamer-type pitcher. But I wouldn't expect more than that from him in the long run. It should be said. He had a 1.3080. RA through six starts last year and was below three through 14. So like the most likely outcome is Zach Davis is being dropped everywhere in a month. And I probably should have put him in a month because the season will be over. Right. I probably should have put him in the cell high candidates. I think he's another one in that mold. I think if you can get, you know, like a Carlos Carrasco
Starting point is 00:59:42 for him, that's probably like the prime by-low candidate that we keep bringing up. I would trade him for Matthew Boyd even. I'd rather stash away that upside. Lance McCullors, I would rather have. Last but not least, Alec Bome and Dylan Carlson on the same day hit their first career home runs on
Starting point is 01:00:00 Sunday. Three hits for Bome and Dylan Carlson went two for four. Guys, is there anything else that you wanted to add from this weekend? There was a lot, as usual, try to get through as much as we possibly can. Anything else? Dylan Cease is not bad. He isn't. He's actually
Starting point is 01:00:16 been quite good six endings of two-run ball, five strikeouts, three walks at the Cubs this weekend. Outside of his first start, two earn runs or less in five straight. I just don't know why he's getting so few strikeouts. That's the thing that's really hard to make sense of. He has a 16% strikeout rate. You know, given the stuff he has, and the fastball is playing up even more, you know, in terms of velocity, but all of a sudden his whiff rate on that has collapsed and that's a little concerning. But given the fact that he's managed to be, you know, pretty effective so far without, you know,
Starting point is 01:00:57 harnessing the full potential of his stuff, I think is a reason for optimism. I would like to say, yeah, I agree. I mean, the whiffs have gone up. The last three starts for CZ's been using a slider more. And this was this was a rare test against, an actually pretty good team
Starting point is 01:01:17 in the Cubs when he's been mostly facing bottom feeders. He has a bottom feeder this week in the Royals. The ex-PIP is 463.
Starting point is 01:01:25 So if the whiffs don't come around, I still think in the long run it spells trouble for Cs, but he's trending the right direction. I wanted to mention,
Starting point is 01:01:33 since we kind of, we mentioned the name, but not exactly what he's doing. Wilmer Flores. He homered in a third straight on Friday. I think he's up
Starting point is 01:01:41 to seven home runs on the year. I don't see anything in the underlying numbers that would suggest he's a changed player I think I mentioned on the last podcast I think he's always been a pretty underrated player makes a lot of contact, decent power and he's getting to play every day for the Giants has a lot of versatility
Starting point is 01:01:58 but his best stretch of the season I think is pretty safe to say it's behind him already. That'll do it! No, no it's not. That will not do it, Chris? Final thoughts? No, I was just going to like, did the,
Starting point is 01:02:12 Giants moving the fence in have that big of an impact. Actually, we'll talk about this over the next couple of days because someone sent an email about offense being up in Oracle. So that is something worth looking into. We'll talk about it over the next couple of days for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today on our YouTube channel. We'll be back again tomorrow.
Starting point is 01:02:32 Bye-bye.

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