Fantasy Baseball Today - Weekend Recap; Time To Talk About These Players (08/03 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 3, 2020

What an eventful weekend it was, capped off by James Paxton being terrible! For our OMGG players of the night, should we consider dropping Paxton (1:58)? How excited should we be about adding Tyler Chatwood and just how good can Clayton Kershaw be? ... Onto news and notes, the Cardinals reportedly have positive COVID tests so pay attention to that (9:27). With Lorenzo Cain and Yoenis Cespedes opting out, should we be adding Dominic Smith or Ben Gamel? ... In Astros news, Forrest Whitley is shut down, Yordan Alvarez is apparently 10-14 days away, and Roberto Osuna is headed to the IL (14:53). How much FAAB should we spend on Ryan Pressly? Also, Monte Harrison is being called up, Jairo Diaz is the next closer up for the Rockies and Nick Madrigal is a must-own player. ... It's time to talk about these hitters (25:37)! Who is most interesting from Colin Moran, Teoscar Hernandez, Trent Grisham, Jacoby Jones, Robinson Cano, and Matt Kemp? ... Onto pitchers, Chris isn't a fan of Kyle Freeland but does fancy Spencer Turnbull (38:46). Who does Scott prefer between Yusei Kikuchi and Taijuan Walker? ... For the Drop-O-Meter, is it time to let go of names like Andrew Benintendi and Luke Weaver (43:43)? ... Who were the rest of the studs and duds from the weekend (51:42)? and what bullpen notes stood out most (58:21)? ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Hey there, everybody. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. Happy Monday, assuming you don't own James Paxson. You're listening to this on August. Third, Frank Stamph, alongside Scott White and Chris Towers. Scott, how are you doing, man? I assume you don't own much James Pexton. Not much, not much, but I do have a little bit, a little bit.

There was a stretch there. Remember when he cost next to nothing in some of those teams I drafted in March? And apparently, he was actually worth next to nothing. So we should have all just stayed the course. Chris is here and Chris has a brand new setup. He's got a new microphone. He's got new headphones. Chris, looking snazzy, man.

How you doing, buddy? Yeah, yeah. I guess snazzy is one word for it. I'm rocking my fantasy football today. A t-shirt. Because, you know, anytime you get swag, you got to rock it. And I'm good. I'm focused despite the t-shirt.

I am focused on baseball. Let's do it. Guys, there's a lot to get to from over the weekend. going to recap as much of it as we possibly can. We're going to do a little bit of time to talk about these guys. A lot of players that we're getting questions about, whether or not you should add them, should you drop some of the players we're going to talk about? And then we will look at the week ahead from Scott White, of course, who writes the hitting and the pitching planner on cbsports.com. Let's jump right in. It's a whole different week than we talked about on Thursday night,

just to be clear. Everything's changed. The world is upside down. Everything has changed. And I'm going to start with my. Oh my goodness gracious. You heard the name. I mentioned it at the top. James Paxton going against the Red Sox Sunday night. Three innings pitched seven hits five runs. Only three of those were earned was not helped out by the defense. Zero walks. That's good for James Paxton. Four strikeouts. He averaged 91.5 miles per hour on the fastball. Last year that number was 95.5 miles per hour on the fastball. He will face the Tampa Bay raise this week. I am assuming that you should get him out of your lineup.

Yeah. I mean, look, this is the kind of start where you can't really be sure that guy will make that next start. No, it's a fair point. And I think it wouldn't surprise me we're recording this Sunday night if it comes out later after this, if it comes out Monday morning, that he is currently dealing with something, whether it's mechanically, if he's, you know, still kind of dealing with something with his back.

The guy had surgery five months ago. So, I mean, you have to keep that in mind when it comes to Paxton, and he's been injury prone. But, Scott, I will just ask you this one question because some people have already asked us on Twitter. Would you consider dropping James Paxton right now? Don't think it's outside the realm of possibility in shallower leagues. There are a lot of players who, in particular pitchers, and I know we've all been anxious to get on rosters a couple more added this weekend, I feel like, to that list. And, I mean, he's unusable right now.

throwing three, four miles per hour lower than we're used to seeing. I mean, he's not, he's not navigating that very well. You know, I'd rather hold out and wait and see if he goes on the IL and you can continue to stash him easily enough that way, but you can't use him right now. And if your roster space is limited, your league is small, it might be time to go ahead and cut him there. Yeah, look, in 10 team leagues, I think that you can make the argument, some of the names that are floating around in some 12 team leagues that we've seen picked up over the past week or so, still might be floating around in some Christian Javier, Tyler Chattwood, who had another great start over this weekend.

Chris, would you consider dropping James Paxson for either one of those guys, Javier or Tyler Chatwood? I would hope I have a pitcher with less potential than James Paxton. I mean, this is a guy who 10 days ago we were talking about is a must start, one of the best values in drafts. So, like as much as I like Christian Javier, as much as I am intrigued by Tyler Chatwood, I don't think either of those guys really has the upside that we think James Paxton has if he's right. So you're saying no. I would, again, I would hope given the way this season has gone, how many injuries there are.

Given how many injuries there are, I certainly have lots of guys to put in IL spots or, drop if I want one of those guys. So that was a long-winded way of saying, no, I think. I mean, from Chris Towers? No, maybe. All right, Scott. Why don't you give us your...

Oh, my goodness gracious. Either from the weekend, from Sunday, whether it's good, whether it's bad, hit us, Scott. Yeah, no, you kind of spoiled it there. Tyler Chatwood is my, oh, my goodness, gracious player who looked very good in his first start. against Milwaukee, 11 swinging strikes in that one. Against the pirates on Saturday,

he had 11 strikeouts. He had 20 swinging strikes. He was better than I knew Tyler Chattwood to be capable of being. And given how strong he finished last season, giving some of the glowing reports about him during the preseason, and now given two starts of evidence that he's a changed man, I am going to buy into that everywhere I can. Would I drop Paxton for him?

Well, listen, like Chris, I would hope I have someone I could drop a little easier than James Paxton, but I feel like it would be easier to let Paxton go unowned than Chatwood at this point. I own James Paxton in a few 12-team leagues, and I would not drop James Paxton. As worried as I am about him, I would not drop him for Tyler. Chatwood. But Chatwood is someone that definitely has my attention. 19 strikeouts over his first two starts, 12 and two-thirds innings pitched. He is 70% rostered on CBS Sports.com. And he's kind of changed his pitch mix. Last year he went four seam heavy. And so far this season, he's lowered that while using more cutters and more curveballs. And that has worked out very well for Chatwood. Scott,

he is facing the Kansas City Royals this week, who might be without Alberto Monashie. We'll talk about that a little bit later on. Is he a must start in that matchup? Well, he's in my 10 sleeper pitchers for week three, which is almost completely changed from when you looked at it this weekend. So be sure to check that out again before setting your lineup. Does that mean he's must start though, Scott? No. No? It doesn't mean he's must start.

But he's high on the list. He's probably second or third. So it's, you know, you're probably going to start him if you have him. All right, Chris. Oh, my goodness gracious. I'm not even going to play it. I'm just going to say it for you. Who do you got?

Do we want to go with a positive? one or a negative one. Well, we've each, I've done a negative. Chris's, Scott has done a positive. So it's kind of a... Let's remain positive. Let's, let's be a positive show. Clayton Kirchall's velocity was up two miles per hour

in his debut on Sunday. And he was excellent. Cot swinging, caught and swinging strike percentage was 37%. 14 whiffs on 81 pitches. Average 92 miles per hour with his fastball. Last season, that was 90.3. He hasn't been a bull. above 91 since 2017.

So that's a pretty big deal. I mean, Clayton Kirshaw, obviously last season, was still very good. You know, reports of his demise have been a little exaggerated. In 2017, he had a 231 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 175 innings. He was legitimately still in the discussion for best pitcher in baseball back in 2017 on a pitch for pitch basis. If he's got some of that velocity back, he goes from being, you know, a very good, reliable number two starter, which is probably what you drafted him as, to probably being one of the five or six best pitchers in baseball again.

Yeah, I was going to say, I think if he's throwing 92 miles per hour like he did today, and he did work with drive-line baseball in the offseason, and we've seen results like this from other pitchers before, I think that he is no doubt a top 10 pitcher in fantasy baseball. And I don't think that that is a stretch. Steven Schrosberg is dealing with injuries. I would put him right around that range, right around Patrick Corbyn, right around Walker Bueller,

Mike Clevenger. Scott, I have no problem saying that. 11 whiffs with the slider today. Yeah. Yeah. And the slider plays up when he's throwing 92 miles per hour. Yeah.

It's not like he was far from being top 10 where we drafted him. Right. Yeah. And, you know, the biggest issue with him is still health, especially if he's throwing harder, that almost makes that seem riskier in my eyes,

but you know, it's, you ride them while you got them for sure. Some news and notes, try and get through all of this, and of course there was a lot. It was a very busy weekend in baseball. John Heyman of MLB Network reported on Sunday

that the Cardinals's COVID-19 test results from Sunday revealed new positives. All Cardinals games this weekend were postponed, and now we are left to wait. So, Scott, I mean, assuming we should know more on Monday morning, the test results here, would you, if you don't know whether the Cardinals are going to play or not, would you just try and get your Cardinals out of your lineup to be safe rather than sorry? Yeah, I think so. And I'm going to have to update the sleeper hitters again

because I know I have two Cardinals in there. So that's fun for me. They are scheduled to play the Tigers at the beginning of the week. You're not missing out on much there as far as the hitters go, but, you know, probably take them out too, right? Because they're going to have nobody to play. Yeah. Yeah, I would suspect, based on the way the Marlins were handled, there's more positive tests were coming out day after day. We don't see the Cardinals play for at least the first half of this week.

And it's possible. It extends further than that. And so, you know, if you've got Cubs playing over the weekend, I'm not saying you should sit them all, but if you need a tiebreaker on someone who's close, you know, I think you're probably still starting Chris Brian, Anthony Rizzo, but actually, I mean, even Chris Bryant, like with the start he's off to. And he's dealing with a stomach issue right now, too, where he didn't play Sunday.

Yeah, his stomach issue, he's got that elbow thing that he's been playing through. I think you can consider sitting Chris Bryant. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think that's a fair call, but, you know, by the time you're listening to this, you might already know what's going on with the St. Louis Cardinals. So just keep that in mind. Shohei Otani was sent for an MRI Sunday after experiencing discomfort

in his pitching arm. Obviously this isn't something that you want to hear, but he put up another clunker on Sunday against the Astros. Look, it's a tough matchup, but less than two innings, he did not allow a hit, and he still somehow allowed two earned runs.

He allowed five walks. He walked two runners in with the bases loaded while striking out three. So, I mean, just kind of play it by ear for now, but look, if you're using him as a pitcher, there's just no way. There's no way that you can start him right now. And even as a utility, I mean, I don't, what if he lands on the IL because of this? Yeah, I don't think you would start him this week as a hitter.

His velocity was actually fine to start the outing. Then it started to fluctuate a little bit, and then it just crashed. His last three fastballs were below 90 miles an hour. That is not what we're used to seeing from Shohei Otani. I would be surprised if he didn't go on the IL, given what we just saw. And really how he's pitched since spring training. He, you know, he talked about, you know, not being comfortable, like, letting go yet. And that was why he was struggling in spring training, why his velocity was down early.

But I don't know if it's mental. I hope it's just something mental and I hope it's not another serious injury. But I don't think there's any way you can rely on him in fantasy. right now in either as a hitter or definitely as a pitcher. Lorenzo Kane opted out of the season over the weekend. Take it away, Michael. I once knew a man named Lorenzo. Last name, Kane, like mine, only spelled differently. No E. Of course, we will respect. I like that. No pressure. You can just press a button and it comes out. That's great. We respect the decision of Lorenzo Kane, obviously, for opting out the

season. Scott, I am slightly interested in Ben Gamble because it just seems like he's going to play every day, not in 12 team leagues, but anything deeper than that. Like if you're talking about 15 team roto or NL only, Ben Gamble is someone, I think, is going to play every single day now. Yeah, he's got that going for him. Not a lot of excitement there otherwise. I'm actually more interested in the replacement of the other player we learned just today was opting out in, you know, a bit of a bit of a drama happening there with the Mets.

Jonas Cespitus. Yes, so let's talk about it. Do you assume, you know, Dom Smith kind of steps into an everyday role now with the Mets, Scott? I would assume so. And I was thinking it might be a platoon situation since he's a left-handed hitter and not a very good defender and left. But, you know, they'd mostly been playing J.D. Davis and left and been fine with it there. So they could play Smith mostly at D.H. like they had been Cespittes. Smith had an 881 OPS last year, and his numbers were, I think, actually a little better.

I know the batting average was better against lefties than righties. So I don't think it's necessary they sit him against lefties. They may just choose to because he's a young guy who bouts left-handed, and sometimes they do that. But definitely keeping an eye on it. I know some Mets beat riders thought he was the most impressive hitter in summer camp, Dominic Smith was, and like I said, had a good showing in a part-time role last year.

So that's who I was looking to add in my 15-team Roto Leagues, before I was looking to add Ben Gamble. That's actually a really good call, and I have a few leagues that have not run waivers yet over the weekend, so I'm going to put a few bids in. I definitely like Dom Smith over Ben Gamble, but I like both of them in deeper leagues. Some Astros News, manager Dusty Baker said Saturday that top prospect,

Forrest Whitley. I mean, who on this show would actually tout Forrest Whitley? I mean, it's just so ridiculous. He felt armed discomfort while throwing during summer camp, so it seems like they're going to play it kind of slow with Forrest Whitley for now. Dusty also said that Yordon Alvarez is 10 to 14 days away, and he said that on Saturday, so mind you, I don't know. How does he know?

Yeah, it's probably just like their organizational timeline that they have for him. Yeah, they said something similar about Orchiti that he's still like two weeks away from throwing. So take that for what it's worth. With Arquitie, that makes sense because like he had, like it's a lot harder to get ready for a season when you're a pitcher. But, like, Jordan Alvarez, if he's healthy, he shouldn't need to. Yeah, I mean, Freddie Freeman basically came back the week that the season was starting,

and he got off to a bit of a slow start, but now he's bounced back. So I don't see why it would take that long for Alvarez, but I'm just a messenger, Chris. When it comes to Roberto Osuna, he was placed on the IL with a right elbow soreness. Ryan Presley is 30% roster on CBSports.com. Scott, if you play in a Roto League and you own Roberto Osuna, how much fab would you spend on Ryan Presley? Maybe 15%. Are we sure he's healthy?

Because he had a... He's dealing with something on his finger. I know he pitched Saturday. Okay. Well, if he's back to pitching, yeah, he had a cut on the cuticle above his right thumbnail during his season debut.

It's like the most baseball injury ever. It's just, no, when that happens, it's so frustrating. Every time you put your hand in your pocket, like catches on your... It's the worst. Am I right, guys? I cannot relate. But yeah, it sounds like he's okay now.

So that does seem like the target. And, you know, it doesn't, I guess we really don't know the severity of Osuna's injury. So, yeah, I mean, add Presley to the pile of potential closer pickups. He is on a good team and he is super talented. So he would probably go near the top of that list. Adelberto Mondesie was removed from the game Sunday

due to a quad-contitudinal. And of course over the weekend, he finally stole his first base, but he's still been batting 6th, 7th in the order, and is off to a slow start. So make sure you monitor him before setting your lineups on Monday. Craig Mish of Sports Grid reports that the Marlins will recall Monty Harrison to make his Major League debut this week in Baltimore. Last season in 58 minor league games, a 270 batting average, 792 OPS,

nine homers, 23 steals, a 29% strikeout rate for Monty Harrison. that was 36% two years ago. Yeah, that was a big improvement. Yeah, he's 8% rostered on CBSports.com. Chris, what leagues, if any, does Monty Harrison need to be owned in? Roto leagues. I think if you... 12-teamers?

Even if you play in a 12-team league, I think you have to consider it just because stolen bases are such a scarce commodity. And, you know, last year was a bit of an outlier for him in terms of stolen base, but 23 and 58 minor league games. I think he's... been right around 80% success in the minor. So there is stolen base potential here. And he was by all accounts one of the best players at camp. So he had six steals. They don't have the stats anymore on baseball reference. I want to say he had six steals in spring training. Yeah. He was running wild.

He was off to a really good spring. He was playing really well in summer camp. If there were no roster or salary concerns, I think he would have been one of the opening day starters in the outfield. So I picked him up in the Four of the People League, which was a 16 team head-to-head categories league, and then later today I dropped him for you say Kikuchi. Was that a smart decision? Well, it's really hard to fit a steel specialist into a three outfielder lineup. So I don't think necessarily, but somebody should probably be rostering him in that league. That someone's going to wind up being Scott, I can already tell.

Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, said Sunday that Gavin Lux is, quote, getting closer. Whatever that means. Mike Trout is expected to return from the paternity list on Tuesday. UNAs Sestpidus, we already spoke about this. He did not show up for Sunday's game, and then he later opted out for the season. We have slight interest in Dominic Smith, especially in deeper leagues. The Rockies placed their closer, Wade Davis on the 10-day I-L with a right shoulder strain this weekend, Scott. And you basically got the full Wade Davis experience in one entire week. You got two saves, you got one blow-up, and then he landed on the IEL.

per Kyle Newman of the Denver Post. Yairo Diaz is expected to be the next man up. He entered Sunday with a runner on second base and two outs of 9 to 6, converted the one out save. He is 4% rostered. Scott, you said that you would spend about 15% of your fab budget on Ryan Presley. If you owned Wade Davis, how much would you spend on Yairo Diaz? I mean, it's really beyond if you just own Wade Davis,

if you need another closer. Right, yeah. If you just mean saves. probably 10% on Yaru Diaz. I, some of my weekly fad leagues, the 15 teamers, like Tout Wars and NFBC, NFPC, no, what do I mean? I mean, TGFBI. Yeah, TGFBI, thank you.

There were a few closers out there in those. There were, there were Diars, Trevor Rosenthal, who I think is in the lead for the saves role, the closer role in Kansas City. Greg Holland stinks. By the way. Who? Greg Holland stinks. Yeah.

J. Reese Familia, Jonathan Hernandez, who I think worked the seventh and eighth on Sunday for the ranger. Struck out four, so it looked good, but clearly wasn't being reserved for the ninth inning. But, you know, that could change very quickly.

So those were the five relievers I was looking at. Diaz, Rosenthal, Solcer, Familia, and Hernandez. And Diaz was the one I was emphasizing there, even over Rosenthal and Solcer, who got his second and third saves over the weekend. Diaz was the Rock, He's closer down the stretch last year.

He has a lot of strikeout potential. He's not, you know, he's not this lockdown guy, but he's clearly the best they have. And Scott Oberg ain't coming back. They moved him to the 45-day I-L. He's got another blood clot issue like he did in the second half of last year. So he's not coming back. I think Diaz might just keep this role and, you know, be an okay source of saves.

at the very least I think there will be little competition for him which we could use after the way some of these teams have been bouncing from pitcher to pitcher. The Pirates Place Mitch Keller on the 10-day IEL with a left oblique strain so that stinks obviously

hopefully you have IL spots if not Chris do you drop Mitch Keller? Yeah. Would you drop him full? I mean we don't know how long it's going to be but he hasn't looked that good anyway so as much as it pains me

He was one of my favorite breakouts, yeah. I assume you would drop him for Chatwood and Javier. Would you drop him for Spencer Turnbull? Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to add Spencer Turnbull where I can. The Reds plays Joey Vado on the IA with COVID symptoms on Sunday, though he has not tested positive. Twins manager, Ron Gardenhire,

made it sound like Casey Mize was going to get the call Sunday for the Tigers doubleheader, but ultimately they went with Daniel Norris. So, Scott, is now the time to stash Casey Mice? He's 40% rostered. one of the top prospects in baseball last year at 255 ERA 0.94 whip between high A and double A. It sounded like he was going to get the call, but ultimately, I really don't know where the tigers stand with him now. Yeah, I got the sense. Ron Gardenhires said today, after

the reporters learned it would actually be Daniel Norris, he said that's not my department. So I'm just not, I'm not sure he's that, there's a lot of conferring going on there between him and the GM on who's getting the call next for the Tigers. And probably should not take that comment too seriously. I had some claims put in for Mize until I saw he wasn't on the way up and I just canceled him. The Padres placed Eric Hosmer on the 10-day IL retroactive to July 29th with

gastritis. There seems to be something going on. on around baseball, I mean aside from COVID, obviously, with some kind of stomach bug because Terry Francona had it as well. And of course, Chris Bryant. So pay attention to Hosmer if you had him in your lineup heading into the week. The White Sox plays Tim Anderson on the 10-day IL Saturday with a right groin strain. Nick Madrigal was called up on Friday. And he went four-for-four Sunday. He's 42% rostered. Chris, how imperative is it that you get Madrigal on your roster? Is he just a roto play because of the speed? Or is he someone that you

can actually consider in head-to-head points leagues as well. Yeah, I think you could absolutely consider starting him in a head-to-head points league. I think he needs to be rostered in every single category-based league because he has, you know, rare ability to help you in batting average. Like, this is a guy who, if he hits 325 this year, you wouldn't blink. And presumably has some stolen base, considerable stolen base upside. Obviously, what we've seen with the White Sox is that they haven't been willing to let guy, run all that much despite their speeds.

So we'll see on that. But at the very least, he'll help you in those two categories and could be elite in batting average. We were talking for a points league. Yes. Specifically. Well, any league, what do you think, Scott?

Well, I just, in a points league, there's rarely an opportunity for me to carry a backup second baseman. Right. And if Nick Madrigal doesn't run, he is David Fletcher, right? Yeah, or Luis Arias or someone, yeah. Who certainly, you know, they have their place in fantasy,

but probably not a points league roster. So I don't know. I want to be so quick to run out and grab them, especially at the expense of like an extra arm, carrying an extra arm. Sure. But that's- In points, yeah.

I do, I had him on a points roster. I want to say it was the first podcast league that we did. And so I just slid him in there because I didn't really have a good second. in basement. Sure. Mookie Betts is day to day with swelling in his middle finger, so pay attention to that for Monday. And Mike Musakis is his day to day after being hit by a pitch on his forearm on Sunday. All right, time to talk about some of these players.

The first one I wanted to get to was Tyler Chatwood. We spoke about him earlier on. So let's talk about Colin Moran, who is tied for the league lead with five home runs. He is 48% rostered in CBS Sports Leagues. And so far this season, Scott, I mean, he has changed the approach. Yeah, it's tough because I don't want to play. put too much stock in the batted ball data this early on, but I think that you should use it for people that are doing things differently

than they have before. And so far, Colin Moran has a career high, 40% fly ball rate, and he's pulling the ball a ton, a 70% pull rate. And he has started every game in the season for the Pirates. He's not sitting against lefties. I don't think that you're going to use him necessarily in a points league, because third base is just such a deep position. But I think in Roto leagues with a corner infielder,

yeah, you probably should be adding Colin Moran. Yeah, it's time to take a flyer on him in those leagues where you have more hitter spots to fill. I'm skeptical of what he's doing. And my hunch is it's just a hot start. But it's, you know, you look at what other hitters are available on the waiver wire and there's not many out there offering much more reason for excitement than him, much more reason to believe something may have changed.

So, you know, I put like J.P. Crawford. ahead of him. That was the number one hitter I was targeting on the waiver wire this weekend because, I mean, not only is he hitting well, but he's hardly striking out at all and he's walking a ton and just showing to me signs that clear are signs, I think, of a breakout there, J.P. Crawford. But Moran was was up there among the hitters I was looking at. Yeah, like the tough thing with this is, you know, we had some, I had someone on Twitter. ask like, is this for, are the batted ball, does the bat at ball data say that this is for real? The bad of ball data says he's actually been a little bit unlucky with his 497 Wobah.

He has an ex-Woba 518. He's crushing the ball so far. But if, if this was real, Colin Moran would be one of the best hitters of all time. He has a 97 mile per hour average average axis velocity. That is not what Colin Moran is going to be. He is just hot right now. And whether he settles in as a new kind of player who is really productive and can sustain like a 91 mile per hour average exit velocity,

that would probably make him fantasy relevant. But it's one where if you just look at the bandit ball dead and say, wow, look how good he is. You're probably just falling for a hot stream. Scott, would you rather roster, or for this week, would you rather start Colin Moran or Kyle Seeger, who is also off to a hot start? He's betting 294 with 10 RBI.

his 10 RBI are fourth most in the MLB right now. Of those two, I would rather... Does one have more games than the other? No, they're both in line for seven, and they both have jumps in terms of how good they are. I'd probably rather start brand between those two, but that's a lot of an exciting choice you're giving me. Even though he's been in the majors for five years.

Right, yeah. It's just out of nowhere. Let's see if it's for real with Colin Moran. To Oscar Hernandez, another one who's kind of been around and he's flashed at times. He had a big second half last season in the majors. Four homers and two steals so far this season. He's rostered in 56% of CBS leagues. And so far he's lifting the ball.

25% line drive rate, 50% fly ball rates, and has started every game for Toronto. So Chris, probably not in a three outfielder league, but in a five outfielder league, how interested are you in Teasca Hernandez? Not the most interesting outfielder that we're going to talk about here, but the problem is

Teoscar Hernandez is hitting the ball really hard, which is what he's always done. The problem is he's still striking out a lot, and that's always been the thing that's held him back. He's always had the power. He's always had that skill. And so my assumption is the bottom's going to follow out. At some point, he's going to go back

to being a friend G. fantasy option. But in a five outfielder league, I would start him for now. Someone who you might like more as another outfielder on this list just below him, Trent Grisham, who is off to a great start. 364 OBP. We talked about the OBP skills in the offseason. He has a 15% walk rate thus far, not striking out very much either, 22% strikeout rate, which normally is right around league average. Three homers, two steals. Chris, Grisham is someone you would rather own than Tiaska Hernandez, right? yeah that that one's another bit of a mystery box like we kind of know what teoscar

hernandez is when chrenc risham's kind of new and kind of shiny he did play 51 games last year and was okay but you know he had 26 homers and 12 steals and only 97 games at triple a or in the minors last season most of it was actually at double a and so you know that's the kind of thing where i think i would just rather take a chance on him being you know, a top prospect who's figuring it out, or at least a, I guess, a former top prospect. Yeah, I would rather take the chance on Grisham's pedigree.

I, in our podcast league, which is a head to head points league, the standard podcast league, longest running podcast league, I dumped Avicel Garcia as my third outfielder for Trent Grisham instead. And, you know, I talked to Garcia a lot in the preseason.

I'm not turning the page on Garcia necessarily. He hasn't gotten, you know, the Brewers had some games canceled over the weekend, so he hasn't gotten as many opportunities there. But with Grisham, what I'm seeing is like it may be now or never when you act on him. And you see what he did in the miners last year. He's walking a ton like he did then.

He's already stolen two bases. Those were two things we didn't see in his 51 game stretch with the Brewers last year, him walking at least to this extent. And him running, you know, he stole only one base in those. 51 games. So those are things we know he can do from his stint in the minors. And if he's doing that, you know, the power is almost extra at that point. But it's possible he ends up being a good power hitter too. Man, shout out to the Padres and Jace Tingler, man. First year manager,

and he is letting the Padres run. Entering today's action, they had 14 steals. The next closest team was the Mariners with eight. So the Padres are off and running so far. Tommy fam. Tatis is running as well. And it's a really good spot in the lineup for Grisham 2 to bat second right there, right behind Fernando Tatis and right ahead of Manny Machado who, hey Chris, Mani Machado's off to a pretty good start.

If I must say so myself. I mean, it's not a John Carlos Stanton stop. He had a 724 OPS before today. Oh, come on, Chris. Don't rain on my parade. That's like John Carlos Stanton's on base percentage. Oh, gosh. All right, here we go. Jacoby Jones.

Scott. We spoke about Jacoby Jones a little bit last week. Does he rank firmly behind Trent Grisham and Tiasca Hernandez? He's betting 423 with three home runs, roster in just 33% of leagues. He's behind them both. Yeah. I think he's

I think he's more in the Hernandez class than than like the Grisham class. I would put Grisham significantly ahead of both. And Jacoby Jones, like Jacob Jones is aspiring to be to Oscar Hernandez, I feel like. That's kind of the upside we're talking about where he's, you know, an adequate fifth outfielder for you because he's

providing enough power. Yeah, it's been a, it's like he has enough of a pedigree that I'm not just completely ignoring this, but, you know, he was pretty useless his first few years in the majors. So I don't, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not speeding to pick him up either. Yeah, I would drop him behind those guys as well. In a five outfielder league, you might need help there. But much better lineup for Tiaska Hernandez. as compared to Jacoby Jones as well.

A few other names. Robinson Canoe was off to a very slow start. He has 11 hits over his last six games. He has a 38% line drive rate and a 50% hard contact rate. Chris, he has moved up to the fifth spot in the lineup the past two games and with Cespitis opting out. I assume he's probably going to stay there.

Your interest level in Robinson Canoe. He probably needs to be in the discussion for the top 12 second baseman. like he was not great last year, but his ex-BA was 284 and his ex-slug was 457. So he was better than the baseline numbers. And he was really good in 2018. I think that's something that's been kind of forgotten

because he missed a lot of time with the suspension. And then there was, you know, the really bad 2019 season and kind of this assumption that, well, he was only good because of the PEDs in 2018. But I don't know, man. he still seems to have a lot of the skills that made him such a good player. Now, I think for a few years,

he was actually a little overrated for fantasy, but at second base, you know, someone who can probably hit close to 290 in a good spot in the lineup with a little bit of pop. I'm thinking that was interesting. Yeah, I mean, if you want to talk about interesting second base,

and we should probably mention Donovan Solano as well, who had two more hits and two walks on Sunday. He's batting 484 with a 1210 OPS. Scott, do we do anything with this? That was a not-so-graceful transition from Robinson-Kinode to Donovan Salon. Donovan Solano, I believe, has the highest batting average in baseball since the All-Star break last year. Former Marlon Great. Marlon's legend.

He hit 3.30 last year. And I'm not even saying he can't be an okay source of. batting average. That's all he would be. Like Hanser Alberto of the Orioles is probably a better source of that. And he's off to a great start too, by the way. But that's all he is. Like Hanser Alberto is not like he's going to be rostered in all leagues. It's just four deeper leagues with larger lineups if you need a batting average specialist. Maybe Donovan Salano can be that. It's not a ringing endorsement. Yes. If 15 teamers are deeper or in NL only. He is playing every day just because he's on the San Francisco Giants.

The last name I wanted to mention here among the hitters, Matt Kemp. He is 4% rostered. He is homered in back-to-back days. Yes, while playing in Colorado. Both of those were off of Ritees. I am interested in Matt Kemp in daily lineup leagues. When he is in the lineup, especially when he is playing in Colorado. I am interested in getting Matt Kemp in there. And you know what? Sam Hillier didn't play today. And who's the other gentleman? The the outfielder that they have there. Ryan Maltapia. He wasn't in the lineup either.

Garrett Hansen actually was. That was the first time, Kemp. This was only the third game Kemp had started, and that was, I believe, the first one against a Ritey. Any interest, Scott, in Kemp? What? What was that? Any interest in Matt Kemp?

No, I think you put it best. I mean, if this becomes a trend and he's just playing every day, you know, and homering it back-to-back games, maybe it does further it, but I'm not, I'm not making it. a move for him yet. I can see how you might want them

in a daily lineup league like you said. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball. Today we're closing it on 1,200 subscribers. Thank you to everybody who has subscribed already. Yeah. Like a rocket ship. Let's get it.

Let's continue to grow the YouTube channel. And make sure to leave a five-star Apple podcast review. Drop a question in there and we will answer it on a future podcast. We'll take a break here. When we come back, we'll look at some of the pitchers that we need to be talking about and some other performers from the weekend here on Fantasy Baseball today.

Who are some of the pitchers that we need to be talking about right now? We left off with Matt Kemp, a hitter out there in Colorado. Kyle Freeland, let's not forget. A couple of years ago, had a sub-3 ERA, quality starts in each of his first two starts this season against the Rangers and the Padres. Chris is laughing. He wants nothing to do with Kyle Freeland. Look, I got to bring up the name.

He has changed the pitch mix, and he is pitching well so far, Chris. I would rather have Matt Kemp. pitching on your team? Maybe. No. I mean, Matt kept had a strong arm at one point. No, I just,

there are so many, like he could be a top 60 pitcher, but unless he has like an outlier, Strand Raid or Babbip, I just don't see much reason to think he's going to be very good for fantasy. Like, yes, he was pretty good in 2018.

Let's talk about what happened in 2019. I just, I just don't think he's good. Yeah, there's definitely a limit on the upside there. I will point out that Freeland has been working on a change. I've been through it a lot more often. He says it's been his number one pitch so far. It's taken him a long time to develop it,

and he's pleased with the way hitters are responding to it right now. Maybe it could be something that unlocks a little more consistency from him, but the upside's only so high. I agree the upside is so high. He faces the Giants this week. It's in Colorado. Keep that in mind. Look, if you're desperate, you need a streaming pitcher this week.

Yeah. I'm not opposed to Kyle Freeland. He's definitely behind Spencer Turnbull and the other names that we've been talking about. Tyler Chatwood and Christian Javier for sure. Let's talk about Spencer Turnbull. Mention him at the top. He went up against the Cincinnati Reds this weekend. Six innings pitched, three hits, two earned runs.

For me, the biggest key is that he didn't walk many people in this start. Just one walk and six strikeouts. The walks were a huge issue for him last year. And basically, he has ditched the curveball, which was a very bad pitch for him last season. The fastball velocity is up. He's basically fastball slider change up, and he's throwing a lot more first pitch strikes.

It's like a 70% first pitch strike percentage. He's 35% rostered. Scott, what is your interest level in Spencer Turnbull so far? Oh, I thought you were going to go to Chris. Because Chris says he's trying to get him everywhere. Yeah, I do really like Spencer Turnbull. Tell us, Chris. Someone who I've been interested in for a couple of years

hasn't really shown much before this, although the slider's been a pretty good pitch for him before. And, you know, throw your good pitches. Don't throw your bad pitches. Feels like a pretty good strategy to me. The velocity is up a tick. Not so much with the four seamer. It's about half a mile per hour,

but the sinker especially is really interesting. He's throwing a sinker 95 miles per hour. Anytime you're dealing with added velocity, and he seems to have actually taken a couple of ticks off the slider, which, you know, that velocity separation could make a difference. I'm very interested in what he's done so far. Tons of strikeouts. Yeah, I like Spencer Turnbull.

Scott, I'll throw two names your way. Seattle Mariners, You Say Kukuchi and Taiwan Walker, both 21% rostered on CBSports.com. Kikuchi on Saturday against the A's. Six shutout innings, one walk, nine. strikeouts, 20 swinging strikes on 89 pitches. He's throwing a new cutter this season, 44% of the time, which has basically been his main pitch, and he's throwing that pitch 93 miles per hour.

Last year, his four seam averaged 92.5 miles per hour. So he's throwing a cutter harder than his four seam last year, and he's throwing his four seam 95 this season. Taiwan Walker also against the A's this weekend on Friday, eight strikeouts in seven shutout endings. Scott, who are you more interested in picking up? you say Kikuchi or Taiwan Walker or none of the above. Oh, Kukuchi. Kikuchi, after Tyler Chatwood, I thought that was the most important pitching performance

in terms of you might want to pick him up after doing that. Because, you know, I'm not even sure, like, depending on whether you look at Brooks Baseball or Statcast or whatever, like there's some, there are some confusion over what to call his pitches, the fastball versus the cutter versus the scottor. slider. There's a lot of mixing up of those. But the bottom line is he's throwing whatever pitch he throws the hardest. He's throwing at about three miles per hour harder than last year. And he just had a 20 swinging strike game. Yeah. You know, nine strikeout performance. Like this is, he could be completely transformed here. And, you know, it was somebody we were pretty excited about heading into last

season before obviously knowing how badly that was going to play out. But there's, there's obviously reason to suspect there's a good pitcher in there. And he, That pitcher certainly showed up on Saturday. The drop o meter. Let's make this kind of brief, guys. Just give me number 1 to 10, how you feel about these hitters right now. Yandy Diaz is batting 167.

He does have nine walks to five strikeouts to start the year. Chris, Yandy Diaz, where is he on the dropometer? Eight. I thought it was pretty fringy already, so. Probably only really rostered in roto leagues, I would assume, as a corner infielder. Yeah, probably. Brian Reynolds got someone who,

I was pretty excited about coming into the season, batting 143 with eight strikeouts, four walks, and only one extra base hit. I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with Brian Reynolds. He's just off to a slow start. I don't think in a three outfielder league, particularly a points league, you could still drop him if there's something more exciting out there.

Mike Gistrimski, if he's still out there. So I'll say it's a five for Reynolds, just accounting for the wide variety of formats, but he's going to be fine. Another outfielder off to a slow, start Oscar Mercado. He is batting 0.080 with zero steals and he's batting near the bottom of the lineup for Cleveland. Chris where does Oscar Mercado rank?

Probably only like a three. The biggest issue in my eyes is the batting order position. He's been batting ninth pretty much all season. You know that's going to limit your fantasy upside even when he does start hitting. There's no reason to hold Mercado in a points league. right? Sure. It's just basically a steel source.

Yeah, he can't be a top 35 Alfielder padding knife. Andrew Benintendi is betting 0.83 and he's not playing against left-handed pitching. He did not play on Sunday against James Paxton. Scott, Benintendi, wow, what a fall from Grace. Where does he rank on the droppometer?

Seven. Oh, seven. I might, in five Elfielder leagues, you might hold out for some recapturing of some upside there, but not. Not too. I'm surprised the name. he skipped on this list. I don't know if you're going to go back to

it, but I thought it was the most interesting one. Yeah, I'm just... 29% strikeout right for Ben and Tendi, by the way. And frankly, kind of wish he had been able to go up against Jane Paxton. Might have been the slump buster he needed. Yeah, honestly, you're not wrong. The way that he's pitching. And I'm just lumping the hitters together for now, Scott. And then I'm going to get to all these names.

Chris Davis with a K. Gosh, maybe I should be answering this one. Oh, my goodness gracious. Wait, hold on a second. Oh, my goodness gracious. He is batting, he has one hit in 19 at bats. He has a 38% strikeout rate. He has started one game in the last four games for the Oakland A's. And for some reason, I just can't bring myself to drop Chris Davis.

So I will, I will set it at a four. But I don't feel good about it. I don't feel good about Chris Davis right now. Anyone disagree? Chris Davis? I was going to say like six. Okay. It's a rough goal. The thing is, like, I was the downer coming in on Chris Davis,

and if not for the fact that he's been sitting so much lately, I would not think much of anything about the start. Yeah, it would seem just like confirmation bias for somebody who was in the position I was. But, yeah, sitting is a problem. Humble brag alert for Scott. Another Oakland A, Sean Mania. He has a 7.00 ERA, a 1-22 whip,

hasn't allowed a walk, which is good. He's a 51% ground ball rate, which is also good. But Scott, the numbers for Shaw Manaya are not. Where is he on the dropometer? 9 or 10. There's not a league where I have him that I didn't drop him for somebody else this weekend. Drop him for Kukuchi? Yeah, I would drop him for Kakuchi, sure. Like, I didn't really know what we were getting into with Manaya this year.

I knew he was good for five starts last year. and in the kind of pitching landscape we were looking at coming into the season, that was enough to, you know, kind of put him in the middle of the starting pitcher rankings, but, you know, there's not enough of a track record of... You would think we would learn. Like, you would think we would be burned by, like,

the guy who has a good 80 innings and be like, oh, we got to be skeptical of a small sentence. Shamanite, like, on the one hand, he's only thrown nine innings so far this season. On the other hand, that's only 20 and two-thirds fewer than he threw less. season. Like, I don't have any, I don't really want to say we were wrong to invest what we did in him because the range of pitchers we were ranking him in was with like Mike Fultenevich and Masa Hiro Tanaka.

But it was a range where you're like, well, I can see how this guy could be good, but it probably shouldn't count on him too much. But I feel like it was higher than he'd ever been drafted before. Maybe. And it was based on 29. Yeah, he was a fringe top 50 starting pitcher heading into the season. I didn't really want anything to do with him. I wound up with him in one league. It was an auction league just because he was going for way too cheap. But, yeah. I mean, I'm a right dropping, Sean.

How about Luke Weaver? Where is Adam when we need him? He has allowed 12 earned runs over his first two starts against the Padres and the Dodgers. He's allowing a 72% hard contact rate, Chris. Luke Weaver. He's not going to keep allowing a 72% hard contact, right? Unless he might just not be a professional baseball player.

if he does, but I would bet that that's not going to happen. But I'm fine with dropping him. I feel like what I said about Manaya, I could say about Weaver, except it was 12 starts instead of five. Scott. And he had a little more of a pedigree and a little more of a background.

Like he, Luke Weaver did have, it was a 2017 when he was, like it was kind of him and Jack Flaherty. And I want to say some people were higher on Weaver. Yeah. Going into 2018 than Flare. Yeah.

Yeah, look, it's a dreadful start so far. There's really not much to back it up outside of the velocity looking good and swinging strike rate is actually up for Luke Weaver. Did you actually give a number, Chris? Eight. Eight on Luke Weaver. Scott, we've got to put you on the spot. Josh James, seven earned runs, 11 walks over his first two starts,

just six innings pitched. What are we doing with Josh James and his SPARP eligibility? I don't see how you could justify holding on to him in a league where there's somebody you want to add. He's probably your bottom guy at this point. I do want to say. Framber Valdez came in and pitched six and a third really good innings to replace Josh James today. Yeah, he did. and I, from Burwell, does, he's interesting.

He's a guy whose potential has always fascinated me. He eight strikeouts in six and a third scoreless innings, 15 swinging strikes, and he has like elite ground ball skills too. He's kind of, it's kind of Lance McCuller's like, actually, probably not as much strikeout potential, but, you know, he could definitely be a useful fantasy pitcher. He already had a rotation spot, though. Just James went so short in this one that they had to burn him,

and now maybe they're moving Christian Javier up a day so that he's a two-star pitcher next week. Nothing else for me to fix. But, yeah, Josh James, getting back, you know, 11 walks and six innings in his two starts. Like, I don't want to give up on him forever because I still think there's a lot of talent there, but, like, I don't know that the Astros are going to give him another turn.

Yeah. And I certainly want to put him in my lineup right now. That's just suicidal. Keep an eye on Brandon Bialik, who I believe would be next up in line if they do decide to call on another starting pitcher. Studs being studs from the weekend, guys. I'm going to run through this. If there's anything that you want to stop me to talk about, feel free to do so.

Aaron Judge has hit a home run in five straight games. He is very good. I'll just sort of the L up now. Another one that I'll take the L on early on so far this season. You Darvish against the Pirates, six shutout endings, seven strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes on 86 pitches. Zach Gallen. Remember when people were emailing us after his first start?

Oh my God, all the walks. What is going on with Zach Gallen? Well, he went up against the Dodgers. Six innings, two earned runs, one walk, nine strikeouts. Nice. 18 swinging strikes on 98 pitches against the Dodgers. Ace. Mm.

You like to see that from Zach Gallen. Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez both had four hit games on Saturday, each with a home run. Both look like they're just. just going to be total studs for this entire season. I don't want to overreact too early, but Robert and Eloy looked great. Whitmeryfield, another one. You should have just took my bus column and just drafted everyone off of it,

because Whitmeryfield, three for five with a home run and two RBI. He has three home runs already this season. Not sure that I was expecting a power output from Merrifield. Kyle Tucker, he had three hits on Friday, and then he was hitting cleanup on Saturday. Scott, if he was dropped in any leagues, how imperative is it to get Kyle Tucker back on your team? I mean, he needs to be rostered in five outfielders leagues for sure.

There's still a lot of upside there. He's getting chances for now. I don't think it's clear at this point that he has, especially with the way Dusty Baker was treating Merlea on, that he's won the right field job when Yordon Alvarez comes back, which could be in like a week. But, yeah, he's at least starting against every right-hander and is in, you know, not just buried at the bottom of the lineup either.

So he's getting the chance he needs now to break through and earn a more permanent role. So five outfielder leagues for sure, you need to have that stashed away in case he does break through. I'm not sure that Griffin Canning is a stud, but I will lump him in this conversation because against the Astros, six innings of one-run ball, five strikeouts on Saturday. Very strong performance. and he goes up against Seattle. I know that he is one of your favorite sleepers for this week. Scott referring to Griffin Canning again.

Kentimaieta against Cleveland on Saturday. Six innings, one hit, one walk, six strikeouts, 15 swinging strikes on 83 pitches. The breakout looks imminent for Kent and Maida. Julio Arias, six innings pitch. You like to see that going deeper into this one. 90 pitches, five strikeouts, 12 swinging strikes for Arias. Nick Castellanos, a double dong.

He's now up to four home runs. had that double dung on Sunday Aaron Savale against the Twins guys I don't know where the strikeouts are coming from he has a very interesting pitch mix he throws five different pitches his two seam is like ridiculous I saw a pitch that he threw to Jorge Polanco

today and I was just like what happened six innings pitched it's interesting because according to baseball Savon he hasn't been throwing his sinker at all this year I don't like it was a 91 mile per hour fastball that had two seem I mean, it was breaking back over the plate to a left-handed batter. Yeah, that's the cutter, right?

I mean, he's basically leading with the cutter. No, it was going the other way, so it wasn't a cutter. It looked like either a two-seamer or a change-up. Instead of it broke off from off the plate over the plate? So it broke away from a lefty. Like, it was Horri Polanco batting left-handed, and it looked like the pitch was coming right at him and then broke over the plate.

So it had like screwball action. It was just, it was a wild pitch. What I was going to say, is he stopped throwing his two seamer, his sinker, which, unless you've got an elite sinker, you probably shouldn't throw one. Yeah. Because it's just not just by results, it's a really bad pitch for most pitchers. I'm not going to say it across the board for everyone, but for most pitchers, you get worse

results on your sinker than just about any other pitch. You don't get swinging strikes. You create a lot of contact. And generally speaking, it doesn't suppress contact, hard contact the way you would hope it. should. Is baseball savant calling it his fastball the four seamer then? Because Brooks baseball still shows him as basically not having a four seamer and throwing a sinker.

Yeah, it could be one or the other then. I think, like he's just throwing his fastball less than his secondary pitches more and his secondary pitches are better. That's, that's, that's, yeah, I sum it up without getting into the weeds too much for Savale. 18 strikeouts over his first 12 innings pitch the season. I think Aaron Savale has entered. must start territory.

He's going up against the White Sox again this week. Joey Gallo, three for four with his third home run on Sunday. He also has two steals in the season. His swinging strike rate is down. His strikeout rate is down considerably as well. So Joey Gallo taking the necessary steps to improve as a player all around. And then Trevor Bauer against the Tigers, a seven-ending complete game.

Two hits, two walks, seven strikeouts. Throw up another L for you guys on Trevor Bauer. His first two starts have been great. They've both been against the Tigers, so do with that what you will. Some duds from the weekend, Scott. Luis Castillo, five runs against that same Tigers lineup.

That was a little shocking. Blake Snell, still only through three innings against the Orioles. Mike Clevenger, five walks. Otani, we already talked about. Who are you most worried about here? Castillo, Snell, Mike Clevenger?

I'm most worried about Snell because it's taken him a long time to ramp up here. He's still only gotten up to three-pit, three innings. And, you know, it's not like his, it's not like his ratios in terms of like ERA and Whip. It's not like you can just plug him in and expect to get that kind of help. I'm not sure he's start a poll right now in other words and really basically any format. Luis Castillo, he was just, he was $8,000 on draft kings.

He was the chalk play of the night, and that's why he pitched so poorly. That's, that's the, that's the expletion. You know what's hilarious about that, Chris? ruined everyone's lineups and drafts. Is that we play in the same contest together every Friday night. And when I saw his salary, I said, they know something. They know something that we don't.

Like, it's way too obvious that you should have Luis Castile in your lineup. And I still used him, but you're right. I mean, it's almost like they knew something that we didn't. And I just couldn't put my finger on it. Yeah,

I think it was like 85% owned in that lineup in that tournament. Scott, in terms of the bullpen this weekend, I have a ton of notes. I don't know that we should run through every single thing that happened. But if there are a few things that you think are most pivotal

from the weekend regarding bullpins, what are those? Yeah, I kind of got into some of this earlier. We talked about Sulsar and Jonathan. Hernandez, right? Jonathan Hernandez. Hernandez, gosh. Yeah, Jonathan Hernandez.

But, you know, some other stuff that happened. Sergio Romo did get a save again Sunday. It was a second. Obviously, there was a little bit of concern about that last week. Taylor Rogers had pitched two straight games and three of the previous four. So I'm not really looking too much into that again. Trevor Gott pitched the eighth inning, setting up for somebody else,

and ultimately, you know, nobody, ultimately there wasn't a save after that, but he was pitching up the eighth inning, more like a setup role. But what was interesting about that is Nick Solac, Willie Calhoun, and Joey Gallo were up for the Rangers. So I feel like Trevor Gott Even though he pitched the eighth That's Gabe Kapler's version of a closer

Right Just the high leverage guy Which will often be the ninth inning I think Gott is pretty firmly in the lead For saves for the Giants Even though he'll get caplored from time to time Edwin Diaz got used in the seventh inning The Mets broadcasters thought it was just to give him some confidence

He walked one struck out one He complained about going too long between outings last time. He said he doesn't, like, he said something to the effect of it would help if I didn't go five days between pitching. So I would assume they're going to try to use him more,

no matter what the role is. Yeah. And Kirby Yates might be causing a freak out for some people. His first two outings have been awful. Drew Pomeranz has now picked up two saves. I think, I don't know if both were bailing him out, but the one this weekend was.

But like the velocity seems fine. And Jace Tingler said he has a lot of confidence in him still. He'll go right back to him next time. I'm not sure it's worth freaking out about Kirby Yates yet. But it might just be the hurried start to the season. He's just not in mid-season form yet. I don't know. But they're sticking with him.

I'm sticking with him too. Don't know what's going to happen with Craig Kimbril. He looks pretty awful. Yeah. He came in on, I believe it was Friday, and he allowed back-to-back homers to. Josh Bell and Colin Moran. I guess what he has going for him

is everyone else in the Cubs bullpen is terrible too. Yeah. Rowan Wick picked up a two-out save on Saturday. He did allow a hit in a walk, so it's not like he was shut down either. Kyle Ryan came in with a four zero lead, and he allowed three runs.

So you're right, Chris. He made it a safe situation. It's not a great bullpen. It's just, and given the, financial investment in Craig Kimberl. I think they're going to try and let them work through it, but look, if you're playing a deeper league, maybe try and grab Rowan Wick as well

if you own Craig Kimberle. And notably the notable lack of financial investment in anyone else in the bullpen. Yeah. So they opted to let a couple of guys walk this offseason and did not spend any money to replace them. It's almost like a Wade Davis situation with the Rockies. The Rockies know Wade Davis is not good,

but they still open the season with him as the because he's just making so much money. Scott, take us home with your weekly planner here heading into, I don't know if this is week two for some people, week three, the week that starts on Monday, August 3rd. It's week three officially is what we're calling it, but it might be week two for some people. Yeah, so we talked on Thursday night,

or Friday was probably when people were hearing it. We talked about how the Orioles were playing only four games and the Yankees were playing only five, and they were, you know, the worst two hitting matchups for, well, the worst two matchups for hitters. They both have had three games added since then because of the way the Marlins and Phillies' schedules were reworked. Sounds like both of those teams,

they haven't played this whole past week. It sounds like they're both going to be ready to go here at the start of week three. The Marlins beginning on Thursday. I mean, I'm sorry, the Marlins beginning on Tuesday and the Phillies beginning on Monday. So now the Yankees are playing eight games. and the Orioles are playing seven, and the matchups are fine.

You can use whatever hitters you want from those two lineups. Yeah, I mean, the teams I'd be worried now are the Cardinals, as we talked about at the top of the show, the Cardinals and the teams facing them, which are the Tigers and the Cubs. And especially the Cardinals, they'd be really reluctant to start any of their hitters or any of their pitchers for that matter.

And, you know, one thing that comes to mind having seen the way this first couple weeks have played out, I'm not sure how much you want to be pursuing two-star pitchers in a weekly league, just knowing how quickly games could be lost out of nowhere. You know, when you pick up a two-star pitcher, typically the only reason you're doing it is because you're expecting them to make two-starts. I just don't know how safe you can feel about that. Like, I think you need to prioritize, I think you need to de-emphasize volume in that way, I guess, and focus just on who the most talented players are.

And oftentimes you're going to end up better doing that anyway. But like, you just can't count on, you can't count on the week's schedule, the upcoming week's schedule to actually hold. And if you saw the number of edits I had to make just from Thursday, changes happening all over the league, you would understand why I'm saying that. It's going to be, we're not going to have a lot of foresight into these things.

Yeah, I agree. Look, you start your studs for the first part of the season here, and obviously things are changing very quickly in MLB regarding schedules and teams testing positive, and hopefully, you know, the Cardinal situation is not so bad. Cross your fingers, we want the baseball season to continue. We didn't get to your questions today,

but continue to send those in Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. 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. Bye-bye.