Fantasy Baseball Today - Worry-o-Meter Wednesday, Jo Adell's big debut, and 5 trade targets (8/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 4, 2021

Chris Towers and Scott White take a look at six big names to see how worried you should be right now. Is Zack Wheeler still an ace? Is Zach Plesac still worth rostering? What do we make of Jo Adell's excellent 2021 debut, and why you should try to trade for Trevor Story, Aaron Nola, and more. 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. Centerfield 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, welcome to fantasy baseball today. It's August 4th. It's Wednesday. And that means it's time for Woreometer Wednesday. I'm Chris Towers. joined by Scott White. We're going to talk about some players we're, you know, potentially worried about it.

At least find out if Scott's worried about it. That's all really anyone wants to know. We're going to look at some trade targets with, you know, fantasy trade deadlines coming up. I'm going to ask Scott where we're at on some, you know, kind of up and down players and Tuesdays, or yeah, Tuesday's biggest performances, including, well, why don't we just kick it off with,

Scott, can you, can you do me the honors of your best Susan Waldman impersonation? I think you're at this time. I've done enough. Oh my goodness. Goodness gracious. My, oh my goodness gracious player. Scott, you want to go first?

Well, who gets Joe Adele? I'll take Joe Adele. He's been my guy. That's fine. Joe Adele batted sixth in his season debut for the Los Angeles. Angels was called up as expected. Had a really good game. Went three for four with three RBI, had a walk,

had a stolen base. Two doubles, I believe, one single. Only one batted ball hit over 81.2 miles per hour. But that's a heck of a way to start your season for Joe Adele. And it's very promising after his notable struggles last season. Obviously, it doesn't do much to change Joe Adele's outlook. But given that he was really hot at AAA has been hitting well the whole season, it's certainly better than a,

most of the debuts we've seen so far this season from highly touted young players I guess Adele's not technically a rookie anymore I mean Wander Franco's debut was great that was pretty good Jared Kellnick's second game was great so you know it doesn't mean much on its own but you know it it was nice to see for sure

and for all the time Joe Adele was up last year let me check the game log okay you can't really say it was his best game as a major league or so far because he did have a two homer game last year last August but it's his first three hit game still pretty good yeah definitely one of the best games of his career I'll go so far as to say the second best game of his career yeah obviously going against the rangers this year going against the rangers Jordan lyle's not exactly the toughest level of competition but um a very good debut for a guy who frankly looked completely overmatched last season

Had that strikeout rate below 25%. I believe in, what was his last 25 games, Scott? I think was the number you were citing. That's all he has to do. If he can be a 25, 26% strikeout ray, with rate guy with the power that he has, and with the potential speed at least, he does kind of remind me of Byron Buxton a little bit

when it comes to the stolen bases and that he was a really efficient base stealer in the miners, but he never had, you know, huge stolen base. numbers, I wonder if he might be someone who could steal more bases than he actually will, but still projects over a full season if everything goes right to be maybe a 25 homer 15 stolen base guy. So, you know, that's the kind of player we're talking about here with Joe Adele. Obviously, you know, even before his season debut, he should have been added in most five outfielder leagues. And that remains true, I would imagine. Yeah, it remains true. And look, I'm not

saying you shouldn't add him in a three outfielder league obviously it's who you're cutting to pick him up I presume that's going to be much more painful but there there it's never wrong to take a chance on upside and I mean Joe Adele has you know I think if you're if you're talking ceiling 25 homers 15 steals is probably selling him short right right I mean like in the in the near term you know not like all yeah ceiling this is a guy who's been you know, probably one of the three best prospects in baseball going back to 2019.

Right. Scott, what about your, oh my goodness, gracious player? You got someone for us? I'm going to go with somebody who also made his 20-21 debut and in fact his Major League debut and that is Yankees' starting pitcher Luis Hill. Heel. G.L. looks like Gil, but it's Heel.

And he shut down the Orioles over six innings in his major league debut, walked one. Strikeout six. Mighty Orioles lineup. Well, you see what they did to... I mean, look. Who was it just the day before? Oh, Andrew Heaney.

It doesn't matter who you're facing. It's if your first major league start looks like this. It's a good one. Yeah, no, it's great. And I like this stuff is definitely measures up. He hit 98.5 on his fastball. It's a high spin fastball over 2,400 RPM. It would be one of the,

You know, if he sustains that, it'll be one of the highest spin fastballs in the major. So definitely good stuff. He has a slider. He has a change-up. So a well-rounded arsenal here. 23 years old. So it's not like, you know, it's not like they pushed him to get him up here at a crazy young age. Inconsistent minor league numbers.

In fact, his last two starts at AAA. The very last one, he gave up six earn runs in an inning in a third. and walked four. The one before that, six no-hit innings with nine strikeouts. So, like, very up and down season. But clearly this stuff is good. The biggest hesitation for me in terms of whether I would take a flyer on Luis heel is how long is he going to stay in the rotation.

He's getting this chance because Garrett Cole's on the COVID-I-L. Jordan Montgomery as well. Jordan Montgomery's on the COVID-I-L. Yes, Domingo Hermann just went down with a shoulder injury. I don't think we really know the severity of that one. But even so, Luis Severino made a rehab star just today. Yep. So he's on his way back.

Now, you know, obviously life finds a way, right? And if Luis He'll keeps pitching well, maybe there will be a path for him. But I suspect it'll be a short stay in the majors for him. You know, with rookies this season, that's how it always starts. Ooh, ah. Later there's running and screaming. I see what you're doing. Yeah, you know, kind of make another reference to the bloom.

Some of you younger kids may not know. Jeff Goldblum, the Lost World, Jurassic Park. I would assure you Frank does not know. I could see that, yeah. I could see Frank not knowing a reference to Jurassic Park. But I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. All right. So that was our goodness gracious players.

of the day, two players making their 2021 debuts. Joe Adele, obviously, more of a priority on waivers. But, you know, Louise Heel, if you play in a deeper league, especially AL only, definitely worth a flyer. We'll see if he can stick in the rotation. Let's move on to some of the injuries, news, and note from Tuesday, starting with Ilo Jimenez was back in the lineup for the White Sox. That's a good sign.

He's DHed after missing four days with a groin injury. So hopefully he can. stay healthy moving forward, obviously, has been an issue so far this season. Jacob de Grom says his current elbow issue is different from the forearm tightness he felt earlier in the season and that this is the first time his elbow has actually hurt. So I guess that's good news. Sounds like bad news to me. It sounded like he was trying to spin it as good news, but certainly not how I took it.

He does expect to pitch again this season. but you know we'll see. Trey Turner who's on the COVID-19 IL will join the Dodgers on Friday but may not be activated for a few more days. He still has to clear through protocols. Jordan Montgomery, as we mentioned earlier, was placed on the COVID-19 IL after he was tested positive. Jazz Chisholm was placed on the COVID-19 IL as well.

It's not clear if he tested positive or not. And Matt Barnes was placed on the COVID-19 IL, but he has. has tested negative. So could have just been a close contact and sounds like he could be back within, you know, a day or two if everything goes right. So I think that's it for the COVID-19 IL. That is becoming increasingly an issue across the league as cases rise.

Moving on, Kevin Bidio was placed on the IL with neck stiffness. So, you know, that's been he was on the IL earlier with a neck issue. So maybe that can explain why he struggled so much. this season. Mukubat started at second base for the second

straight, or second game that he started at second base for the Dodgers. I don't know if that was the second game in a row that he started, but only three more games until he's second base eligible. Only eight more until he has it for next season. I don't know if that's actually going to happen, but, you know.

It hurts his chances that Trey Turner is about to debut here for the Dodgers. Because I suspect Trey Turner would be making the majority of the starts at second base, but, you know, Bats has made some good plays over there and maybe opened Dave Robert's eyes.

I'd actually forgotten. It wasn't just the miners where Mookiee Betts played second base. Yeah, he played his rookie year for the Red Sox. He played 14 games there. He mostly played outfield, but, you know, got some clear exposure to that position even as a major leaguer prior to this year. All right. Reese Hoskins was back in the lineup after missing second.

several days with the groin injury himself, so that's good news. Trevor Roger was placed on the family medical emergency list. No details on that or any sense of how long he's going to be out. I hope everything's okay. Tyler Glass now will have Tommy John's surgery on Wednesday. Andrew Benintendi left Tuesday's game with a left shoulder strain suffered while stealing a base. Kyle Freeland pitcher for the Rockies left after being hit by a comebacker on the foot. Tommy Lestella should be back on Wednesday.

he's been out since May with hamstring injury and then a fractured thumb. Do you think he's going to play much for the Giants, though? I mean, he wasn't playing every day. Yeah. Even before he got hurt. And certainly since then, other players have had a chance to emerge and entrenched themselves. So I would suspect not. I would guess it's a semi-regular role for Lestella, probably not much against lefties.

All right. Brandon Nimmo was back in the lineup after missing a couple of games with a hamstring injury, Brad Keller with a back injury expects to make his next start. Jose Arkiti will throw off a mound Wednesday or Thursday as he works his way back from a shoulder injury. G. Orshella was placed on the IL back dated to August 1st. It does sound like the Yankees expect that to be a minimum stay on the IL so he could be back within a week. John Axford, this one sucks. He made his first appearance in a major league game on Monday night.

First since 2018, 37-year-old John Auxford. Axford, who was throwing 98 miles an hour and pitching really well in the minors for Toronto, left with elbows discomfort. He's going to have tests. He was placed on the IL. So that's, that's just a bummer for him as he was trying to make his comeback. And the Nationals recalled catcher Riley Adams, who was part of the deal to get Brad Hand to the Blue Jays. Any interest in Riley Adams? The, the Blue Jays just have a factory of interesting catchers. It seems in their minors. Yeah, I know.

I mean, the best one is probably, I hope I get this name right, Gabriel Moreno. It feels like there's been a different best one three years in a row. Right. Well, yeah, I mean, he's missed some time recently with an injury, but first 32 games at AA, Gabriel Moreno had hit 373 with the 1092 OPS. But we're not talking about him right now.

We're talking about Riley Adams. And he's appeared in a hundred, 118 games, 117 games between AAA and double A, 18 home runs, low batting average. So, you know, feels kind of like a Jan Goams profile. Yeah, pretty typical, like, hey, maybe he can be a low-end starting catcher and in a best-case scenario kind of guy. Right. All right, we got a handful of players who are working there way back from injuries, some high upside players. And, well, there's one guy who's not on there.

maybe I should have just left him out, but Alex Bregman, certainly a high-upside player. He returned to the AAA lineup on Tuesday. He had missed a couple of games with the hamstring coming back from that quad injury. Was expected to play all nine innings Tuesday. I haven't seen if he did, but assuming he makes it through that, you know, Alex Bregman could be back within the next couple of days. So hopefully everything's okay there. Alberto Mondesie, this was kind of a surprise.

Obviously, we talked about yesterday. Dayton Moore's comments that, you know, Mondesie, they're not really viewing him as a full-time player, or at least someone that they can rely on as a full-time player moving forward. But I didn't realize he was so close to making his return, but he made his rehab debut on Tuesday. I only played three innings at shortstop.

So I would guess this is going to be kind of a lengthy rehab, but it's good to see Otto Mondesi back, and hopefully he can finish the season strong and maybe, I mean, honestly, maybe steal 20 bases in the last two months of the season. It's not out of the question. Luis Severino, like you mentioned earlier, he's coming back from that groin injury

that he was suffered while making his first rehab appearance. He only threw 43 pitches over two and a third inning. So obviously, as we've seen with Chris Sale, you're probably looking at a five or six start range for Luis Severino before he comes back. although maybe a little less just because he had gone through the process of building up his arm earlier before the groin injury.

We'll see. Ian Anderson, coming back from that shoulder soreness, we'll begin a rehab assignment Thursday, and it sounds like he may only need one, maybe two rehab starts before he's back. So, you know, probably not next week for your fantasy team, but maybe the following week. And Pablo Lopez has begun throwing off a flat ground.

He's been throwing from about 90 feet, so still fairly early in the process as he returns back from his own shoulder woes. Scott, fantasy trade deadlines are coming up. I think the default is this week. I know in the Scott White Dynasty League, it was Saturday of last week. I ended up standing pat.

I just didn't get any offers that were worthwhile. I got a few interesting ones, but I wanted to. You weren't making the offers yourself, Chris? You weren't working the phones? No, no, not really. I just don't have much to offer. Like everybody wanted my... Well, you're in the playoff on this year for the first time.

Well, everybody... No, I made the playoffs in that league before. Excuse me. Oh, okay. Sorry. Everybody wanted my star players. I was just like, guys, I'm... I'm a star player. I'm not going to trade my guys.

But yeah, we're coming up on the trade deadline in most leagues, either this week or next week. And what I wanted to do is over the last couple of months of the season, Scott, give me... I don't know if you have five players that you're... looking to trade for, but give me an amount up to five of players you're trying to trade for

before your deadlines, or probably potentially more accurately, five players you would suggest our listeners try to trade for before the deadline. Yeah, that's probably more accurate. Yeah, so I'm mostly focused on high-end types here, because I feel like, you know, I could, I could hype Brendan Rogers again as a trade candidate. He's unroasted in half of leagues currently. So, you know, it kind of goes without saying if it's a deep league where he's rostered that, you know, he would also make for a good trade candidate. But we usually talk about players like that in the context of ads and drops.

So thinking higher in than that, I think the most obvious name is Trevor Story. You didn't get traded. And that was the hesitance. we had in identifying him as a buy-low candidate. Oh, but what happens when the Rockies move him? He doesn't have course field anymore. Look at the road numbers. Look at Nolan Aronado, blah, blah, blah.

Is he really going to have this resurgence if he's out of Colorado? Off the table now. And I should point out, because I've gotten this on Twitter a couple times. People like, oh, you know, players pass through waivers in August and can be traded. That's not true anymore. July deadline is a hard deadline. Now there are no more trades that are going. to happen. It was not July 31st this year, right? No, because they didn't want it on a Saturday

for whatever reason. Yeah. I didn't realize that until like Sunday. As as somebody who don't normally work Saturday, I appreciate that. You don't normally work Friday either. That's true, but you know, we don't need to get into all that. Anyway. Yeah. So same strikeout rate is always for Trevor Story. Ex of velocity, heart hit rate. Everything looks pretty normal. The normal indicators for Trevor's story look normal. And I know we're two-thirds of the way through the season

and there hasn't been a bounce back yet, but I'm still thinking it's going to happen. So Trevor's story is one. Peter Lons. And I will point out his expected home runs this season, which is based on, just like any expected stat on baseball Savant, based on how hard a ball's hit, where it's hit, all that stuff, is 21.6. He only has 13. So that's just something to keep in mind. It might be, I would guess that there's a little

inflation there because the ball travels further in course field, but it's a large park. So they'll give you an expected home run that you might not otherwise have gotten something like that. I don't know, because he has been under his expected home runs each of the last three seasons, but still. we're talking four in 2019 and two in 2020 nine so far this season so yeah Pete Alonzo yes you referred to this yesterday swinging strike or not swinging strike that's all I ever talk about right strikeout percentage strikeout rate is down below 20% for the year first two years it was above 25% it it he's always made more contact than you'd expect for a guy who

is clearly a power first type hitter. But the contact rate this year is like legitimately good. Yeah, 77.7% contact rate for his career at 74%. Yeah, yeah. And he's been hot lately, but I still think there's a chance he has,

well, he could sustain this hot street longer and improve his season long numbers up to 24 home runs in 834 OPS now, batting 256. But I moved him up in my rest of season rankings at first base. I think I moved him up to five ahead of guys like Jose Brayu. And I mean, certainly Cody Ballinger. Cody Bellinger is way down there for me now.

The obvious, there's like an obvious top four. I think it's Guerrero, Freeman, Olson and Muncie. And then Alonzo, I got, I slotted him right behind them. So yeah, he's a good candidate to buy here. Aeronola, I think the most obvious underachiever among pitchers who can clearly make a huge impact to your team. Still has an ERA over four. The home run rate is up. The fly ball rate is up.

And for a pitcher who normally works down in the zone, that kind of clues you into the struggles he's been having. And he's talked about it too. It's just having to keep the ball down. starts have he's done a much better job of that and I think he's going to be good enough self-diagnosis and you know we've seen him overcome kind of rough stretches in the past I think he's well on his way and the strikeout numbers have been amazing all year so nothing to worry about there for maranola the timing may not be optimal since his last two starts were good but you know doesn't hurt to make an offer still has a 430 ERA overall yeah and what I would point out is like maybe

you're skeptical because he did have a bad 2019 or at least a 387 ERA in 2019 was disappointing for sure. That season his peripherals were actually slightly worse than his outcomes. His XERA was 426. His FIPP was 403

compared to the 387 ERA. This season his peripherals are actually a little better. You're talking about a 364 XERA, 346 FIP, compared to a 430 ERA. So that is certainly a reason to be optimistic about

Aaron Nolan. You know, again, like you mentioned, we might already be seeing the turnaround. Frankie Montas. I love the direction Frankie Montas is going here. Again, I'm wondering if it's too late to act because the last four starts have been awesome.

But it's less that they've been awesome than how they've been awesome. 20 plus swinging strikes and three of those four starts, his split finger fastball, which was the key to his breakout two years ago, it's going, it's working for him better than ever, because now he's made it his primary pitch. I mean, even when he broke through with it in the month of July, even when he broke through with it in 2019,

it was like his third most used pitch. I mean, the volume wasn't, he wasn't using it a ton, but it was very effective when he did, and it kind of helped the rest of his arsenal play up. But now it's just like he's just pounded that split. Yeah, he doubled his usage in the month of July, and despite doubling his usage of the splitter, he allowed a 0.096 Wobah with the pitch, a 0.103x Wobah, 57% whiff rate with his splitter, despite doubling his usage. That's a really promising sign, and you're getting some Kevin Gosman vibes there.

Still a 408 ERA for the season, and, you know, if the point, person who has them now has had them all along. They probably had their moments of frustration with him. And a lot of times what can happen in these scenarios is they think they're selling high. And so like, yes, I'm dumping Montas on somebody. But actually, you're the one who wins. So I think Montas could be the ace. He was looking like he was becoming in 2019.

He may be living up to that after all. And one last name I'll throw in here, Anthony Rizzo. I just think Yankee Stadium. is the perfect venue for him. Yeah. The Stadcast expected home run by Park would seem to suggest that. They say he'd have nine more home runs

if he played all his games at Yankee Stadium than he actually has. That's a significant number, obviously. Yeah. And, you know, a guy who pulls the ball in the air a lot. And that's for a left-handed hitter going to Yankee Stadium, that's a very good thing. doesn't strike out much still makes hard contact harder than ever actually this year

so I think there's more in the tank for Anthony Rizzo and it's a good time to buy in on him I agree I agree with all of those Scott good job thank you all right that's gonna that's gonna do it for five players Scott would like to trade for if you have any more if you have any trade questions heading into your deadline I feel like and Friday. We should probably try to answer a whole bunch of trade questions given that the deadline's coming up. So send them over a Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com.

Maybe put trade in the subject line so we can, you know, point it out, pick it out from the crowd and make sure we get to them. But yeah, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com would be the email address for that. We will be right back. And then after we come back, we're going to talk about the Wuriometer. We're going to fire it up, talking about some players. we may or may not be worried about. So stick right here.

We'll be right back. And we're right back. Worryometer Wednesday. I'm never sure quite how to calibrate this because some of the players, I think, are obviously worrisome. Some of the players might not even belong on this list because they're just not good enough anymore. And then some of them, it's just like, why are you even asking? Of course we're not worried. And of the latter, I think the first player up probably falls in there, but I'm interested to see what you think.

7 to 3rd innings today, which is great, but 8 hits versus a bad Washington Nationals lineup. Four and runs allowed, one walk, five strikeouts, only eight whiffs on 105 pitches. He's got a 436 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 33 innings over his last five starts. You know, early on in the season, he was looking like he had put together the contact suppression skills from last season with, you know, the strikeout rates from earlier on. the strikeout rate flagging a little bit. Zero to 10. Where are you on Zach Wheeler on the Worry O meter?

I'll go as high as four. I mean, I don't think Zach Wheeler is going to become a negative asset for you, you know, a detriment to your team. I know that that's not a realistic scenario. But remember, he had that stretch of five starts in May and June where four of them were double-digit strikeout efforts and we're like, oh my gosh, he's becoming the ace of aces.

And he hasn't had a double-digit strikeout effort in now nine starts since then. In fact, just, let me see. Is it even a strikeout per inning? So he had 58 strikeouts in 56 and two-thirds inning. So right out a strikeout per inning during that nine-star stretch for Zach Wheeler, which is, you know, looking at all.

a lot more like Zach Wheeler The Zach Wheeler We've always known So, you know, I'm worried we may have overstated his value at one point

But I'm not worried about Is he going to be good or bad? He's going to be good Even in this start Six shutout innings And they just kind of You know If they had taken him out

After the six inning We wouldn't even be talking About this start right now Yeah one thing that you can see With Zach Wheeler is His swift rates have gone down as the season has gone on. I mean, in May, his curveball had a 65% whiff rate,

which is just ridiculous and was totally unsustainable. He settled in around 41% with that pitch over the last, in June and July. But July, he had his lowest whiff rate for his slider, his lowest whiff rate with his change-up since April. He had his second lowest whiff rate with his four-seem fastball. So, you know, it's just kind of like, it's nothing looks alarming.

it just everything's kind of gotten a little bit worse, which, you know, sometimes the great start to a season turns out to be, wow, this guy is a new player. Usually you won't go broke betting on some regression, and that's what we're seeing with Wheeler. I think we've seen a little bit of that with Kevin Gosman as well. Joe Musgrove might be the ultimate example,

having kind of an opposite Joe Musgrove season, awesome in April, and just worse every month since then. But yeah, I agree with that on Wheeler. He's still likely to be must start moving forward. I think there's very little chance he's not a must start starting pitcher. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, a guy who may not belong on this list at all,

just because we should probably maybe be done with him. Zegh, please, Zach, Zach, five innings, ten hits, six earned runs, zero walks, and also zero strikeouts. He has one quality start since coming off the IL. He has a 574 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 26 and 2 thirds innings. Worryometer on Zach, please, Zach.

Does he even, can you even calibrate the Worryometer for him? Or is this a drop a meter situation? Yeah, I think I've passed the point of worrying about him. So I guess that makes him a 10. you know that last stat you cited 14 strikeouts in 26 and two thirds inning since returning it's about as bad as it gets

he is a great control pitcher I think he's validated that from that year you know he's kind of like he's kind of like Josh Tomlin 2.0 for the or is that the right guy Josh Tomlin you know what makes me think of is Ricky Nalasco

you always want to compare everybody to Ricking Alaska Nalaska was actually good at getting strikeouts though He had a couple of... He had a couple of good seasons. Josh Tomlin, elite control pitcher who serves up a bunch of home runs and doesn't miss bats.

Yeah. That's what Pleasak looks like right now. Yeah. I dropped them in a 12 team league recently that is... I'm doing horribly in. In fact, it may be the worst I've ever done in a fantasy baseball league this league.

And yet, Zach Plisack wasn't even good enough for me there. So, yeah, we're done with Zach Plysack, I think. At least until he, you know, unless he starts looking good again at some point, but it hasn't happened this year. It seems kind of unlikely. All right. Move on to Tyler Malley, who, you know, has kind of been in a slide for a little while.

On Tuesday, he allowed four runs and five innings versus the twins, six hits, two walks, five strikeouts. What about Tyler Malley on the Worryometer? I don't know. Well, that makes me think it's a good question. Yeah, I'll say, I'll go right down the middle of five, I guess, because I don't want to make it sound like I'm more worried about Zach Wheeler than than Tyler Malley.

I just think this is kind of the way, this is kind of what Tyler Malley's been doing all year, right? Too many walks and not enough innings. The walks are where it's gotten really bad lately because it, had been at least under control, but he's at, coming into today, he had 16, so he's got 18 walks in his last 30 and two and a third innings over six starts. That's where he's really getting into trouble lately. Yeah, he feels like just a guy to use when the matchups are right

or when he's making a two-star week. Still, still pretty good of missing bats, you know, still well more than a strikeout per inning. So it's not like, it's not like we're on the verge of dumping, I don't know, maybe in like a 10-team league, you might consider it, but most of us won it. I just think he's, you know, you got to keep your expectations in check with Tyler Malley. He hasn't been an emerging ace. Like, we thought he potentially could be coming into the year, but then again, that was pretty obvious early on.

Yeah. You know, I'm looking at this, and I feel like Kent and Maeda probably doesn't belong here. He did give up five earned runs in five innings, seven hits, nine strikeouts, which is very good continuing the trend for him. And he had a 215 ERA coming into this start over his previous five in the month of July. Are you a zero on Kentimaeat at this point? Or a one? Maybe a two?

Two, I'll go two. Yeah, I mean, it's still a really low number. Definitely looked great in July. It looks like his splitters fixed. I still don't know. know, I still don't know exactly what a fixed Kinta Maida is. Like, is he, sure. We had 11.

We had 11 great starts or 12 great starts, whatever it was last season. Yeah. And so I don't, I don't want to expect 2020 Kinta Maeda, but I mean, he's back to being an asset in fantasy where for the first three months he wasn't. What about Taiwan Walker? gave up four run runs in five and two-thirds inning is against the Marlins. Obviously, Taiwan Walker got off to a really good start, made the All-Star game. Worryometer on Taiwan Walker.

Four straight awful stars, the area has gone from 250 to 386 during that time. And, you know, the underlying numbers were never favorable. The ex-fip, that some would say I cite too often. you know, for most of the year, it was about what his ERA now is. It's gone up as the ERA has gone up here. But, yeah, it was, it turns out it was telling no lies about Taiwan Walker. And so I would say Taiwan Walker is a nice, solid eight on the Worryometer. Yeah, he's got 19 strikeouts to 15 walks over his last 25 and two-thirds innings of work.

not exactly what you want to see. And let's go with a hitter. A couple weeks ago, I was a zero on Whitmeryfield. I think we, when we did one of our Q&A panels coming out of the All-Star break, I think one of the questions was something like, who's going to break out in the second half? And my pick was Whitmeryfield and has not happened so far.

He is hitting 221 since July 1st with a 19.6% strike rate, 19.6% strikeout rate would obviously be pretty good for most hitters, but it would be the worst of Whitmeryfield's career. He did have a 12-game hitting streak coming into today. You probably didn't hear about it because it might have been the worst 12-game hitting streak in Major League history. He had a 634 OPS, exactly one hit. I believe in 11 of the 12. So Whitmerfield, 0 to 10, where are you on the Worry meter?

Worry O meter. maybe like a one maybe like a one he's he's he's had two excellent months and two terrible months but even the terrible months he's

ran a lot you know he's the stolen bases have been there he's had no fewer than five steals in any month and he's only been caught stealing once all season so you can continue to do that you're going to remain valuable in fantasy

I thought it was kind of strange that, you know, he was rumored to be somebody who could be moved at the trade deadline. Yeah. With the Mariners specifically showing interest and there was talk about how the Royals asking price was very high for him. And, you know, it seemed like Mariners fans

were enthusiastic about getting him. And it just wonder. I mean, obviously, he's valuable in fantasy, but he's a low OBP guy who doesn't hit for much power. You know, his OPS this year is low 700s. I'm just not sure. I mean, this is kind of not a fantasy relevant point. But I wonder, I feel like his fantasy value has exaggerated his real life value.

Yeah, I mean, he was a 3.6 war player in 2019. He's been at 3.2 in 2020 plus 2021, which is 164 games. So, you know, solid starter, you know, low-level all-star player, probably, you know, on a team that had more deserving all-stars, maybe he doesn't make it. But, you know, I don't know, he's a good player. He's not a great player. It is interesting. He was actually caught stealing on his very first attempt of the season. So he has 20, he had a steal and a caught stealing in that game.

He was caught in his first attempt. He has 27 straight steals without being caught. That's pretty impressive. Go to it, Merrifield. And remember 2019, I think, we thought he might stop running. And he's 20 out of 30 that year. Yeah. Led the majors two straight seasons now, I believe.

Or no, he didn't lead the majors last season. His teammate did, but he was up there. All right, so that's it for the Wauriometer. Let's, uh, I just want to take, take your temperature on a handful of, uh, pitchers who I, feeling good? Yeah, I'm okay. Nobody's putting me on the I. All right, good, good.

So where are we at on you say Kukuchi? ERA's 389 had a rough July, but the underlying numbers have been. I mean, really, as they have been for most of his career, when things have gone bad, his underlying numbers were still pretty good. He went six innings, gave up one-earned run, six hits, two walks, five strikeouts against the raise on Tuesday. How do you view you, Yaseikuchi at this? point. I was hoping you could tell me out of you. You say Kukuchi. You know, it's not just that the

production has been down. The velocity's been down since the start of June. He's tweaked his pitch arsenal in some ways that I don't necessarily think have been super productive for him. He threw his cutter a lot less in the month of July has changed up a lot more. You know, I don't know. The problem there is the cutter has gotten hit hard recently. And so maybe that's a decent tradeoff, but the overall numbers didn't really justify it, at least in the month of July. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like he could be one of those pitchers who just kind of has too much of an arsenal for his own good, which we talked about with you, Darvish recently. And I think Joe Musgrove, that might be kind of his problem as well. Yeah.

And, you know, it can make him pretty inconsistent at times. The star was good. Yeah. And, you know, overall, he's having a good season. So I think I'm still in a good place with you, say, Kukuchi, but obviously my trust in him is diminished a bit, you might say. He's now on the outer edges of the circle of trust and being firmly in it. He's kind of been between 45 and 55 at SP for me pretty much all.

season. Yeah. He does have a 23.4% home run to fly ball rate, which is, you know, I think obviously unsustainable. However, his XERA is actually slightly worse than his ERA. It was 428 coming into today's start. He had a 401 ERA. So that's just that, you know, maybe it's not all bad luck.

You know, he does get hit pretty hard. A 10% barrel rate allowed 91 mile per hour average exit velocity. He could be one of those guys that just for whatever reason underperforms. you know, his kind of surface level numbers. So I think we're kind of at the same place we've been at with Usaikuchi all along, or at least for me. You know, I was high on him coming into the season. He's been right around 45 to 55 for pretty much the entire season for me. Where are we at on Dylan Cease, who had an extremely, extremely good start today, 23 whiffs, I think, on 100 plus pitches, 11 strikeout, six innings, one hit allowed.

two walks. That's coming off of a 533 ERA in July, and it was just his fourth quality start in 12 tries since June. Is Dillon C's the most frustrating pitcher in baseball right now? I could see that. I could see that. I don't really, I can't relate to the experience of having Dillan Cese much, because for as much as I've liked him and I've talked him up this year, I don't think I actually have him anywhere. but I could see how that would be frustrating fortunately his previous start was good it was quality start at the Royals so hopefully that convinced you to have him active for this game and I think it was in line for

two starts as well so there's a good chance he was started in a lot of places where he's rostered so thankful for that there was some concern about like his I think his spin rates dropped precipitously they did in June and they were fine today

and you can look at that and say well maybe he you know maybe he maybe that's why he's struggled but like

he's actually been pretty much just as consistent as he was before that I mean he's been above a strikeout per inning in

all but three of his start since the start of June Dylan sees has so it's just really hard to figure out at

the same time, I looked at this stat line and I said, you know, especially taking into account all the swinging strikes, wow, did Dylan Seas just have his best start of the year? And I looked through the game log here and I was like, well, no, you could say that one's better, and that one might be better, that one might be better. You know, he's had

several awesome starts like this. Yeah. I would say where I'm at with Dylan Sees is you know, not super trustworthy, but, you know, the strikeouts are going to be there. And just like, from a development standpoint this year has been very encouraging huge step forward yes especially compared to where

we were on him last year where he struck out less than seven per nine and i didn't i didn't know if he was ever going to put it together at that point definitely definitely on the right track now and dylan cease is going to be the reason why i'll always be interested in mitch keller yeah i could see that where we had on max freed six shutout innings seven strikeouts one walk four hits allowed against the Cardinals today. I had a 466 ERA in July with 32 strikeouts, 10 walks, and 29 inning pitch. Is Max Freed the most frustrating pitcher in baseball?

No, I wouldn't say so. I'm in a good place with Max Free. Three of his last four starts have been great. I just mean holistically. You look at the 402 ERA in 2019, 225 in 2020, 432 entering the start. Obviously, it went down a little bit. Yeah, if you looked at Max Fried's numbers from last year, 225 ERA, 7 and O Wrecker, 5th and Cy Young voting, and you thought, and you thought that's who Max Fried was, then I could understand you being frustrated with him.

But if you were listening to this show, that wasn't who you thought Max Fried was because we were telling you overachieve. last year. Since April, because remember he got off to a horrible start, and then he went on that IL for like a month. So since he got back from the IL, which goes back to May 5th, he has a 335 ERA. That's pretty good. Yeah.

Yeah, 335 ERA, right out of strikeout per inning, the whip. And I can't figure out exactly what the whip is, but it's not bad. Yeah, he's been good. All right. And one more. Where are we at on Hyunjin Ryu? He has only gone at least six innings and three of his last six starts since July 1st. He went seven today, two earned runs, eight strikeouts.

But with a 267, ERA, 30 strikeouts, and 30 30 and a third innings, are we pretty much where we expected to be on Hyunjin, Ryu now? I wouldn't say so. He's been less of a strikeout pitcher, and I'm not sure he's going to get that back. We got to remember he's 34 years old. Yes. So three of his last four starts have been great. You know, not as much of a strikeout rate as we're used to seeing, but a good outcome.

He's a good control pitcher. He's a good ground ball pitcher. He doesn't necessarily need the strikeouts. And ZRI is back down to 322 now. I was shocked when I saw that. Yeah. Not having a bad season. It's just a testament to how good he's been the last couple of seasons.

seasons that we could feel like that we could feel let down by him because the numbers you know still still a very valuable picture. All right. Moving on. Is there anything here with Chris Bubich six innings, three earned runs, eight strikeouts versus Chicago White Sox. Anything worth looking at here? There may be four quality starts in a row and I I wanted to check and see how consistent it's been, you know, with those four good starts, if his change-up has consistently played up because I know he got five whiffs on 22 change-ups in this start.

It's obviously a solid whiff rate. Let's see here how that change-up has been doing in general. Because the change-up was like... The pitch. That was a killer pitch for him in the minors. You look at Boo bitch's minor league numbers. He was carving up those guys with that change up. Change of which, you know.

Change of whiff rate over the last three starts. It was 40% or better in two of the last three, only 24% before today's start and the last start before today. But pretty much the best stretch of the season for him as far as his change up whiff rate goes. Yeah, I just wonder if he's like regained the feel for that pitch or something. Because that was that was. that was kind of his everything. And, you know, it was beating up on hitters in the lower levels in the miners, so maybe they'd just never seen a change up before.

I don't know. But yeah, he was dominant down there, and that pitch was often cited as the reason for it. So if he's getting better results with that pitch now, you know, I don't think there's a huge ceiling here for Chris Bubich, but it's possible he could be back to being a streamer type in fantasy. 15 teams worth rostering. I mean, he's right on the verge of that now. I'd be reluctant to start them yet, I guess, if I was looking to preserve ratios.

But there may be something here. Anything here with Nick Knighter, three-runs against the mats, five strikeouts. He has a, I believe around a four ERA for the season now. He's only made a handful of appearances. Anything here outside of NL-only leagues. I would say not at this point now What about Alex Jackson

Let's just keep the Marlins train rolling baby The most interesting team in baseball Alex Jackson Hit his first career home run from Miami And the slightly more interesting thing Is that the Marlins started Jorge Alfaro in left field You gotta get that Alex Jackson bat in the lineup Is he someone who has any?

value in a, let's say, a 12-team two catcher league. I would say not. I would be very surprised if he hit well enough to have that kind of, oh, you know what? His numbers of AAA this year were much better than they have been. His numbers overall at AAA are kind of bonkers. Yeah. He has 42 home runs. 42 home runs and 150 games at AAA, not nearly as good in double A, but had, you know, hit

earlier in his career. That's why I asked. He was somewhat of a prospect. Yeah, no, he was. I had pretty much written him off. He hadn't realized how productive he had been at AAA this year. He was, it was a straight-up trade, him for Adam Duvall, right? Yeah, I believe so.

So I was kind of surprised that's all the Marlins wanted, given my interpretation of who Alex Jackson was now. Okay, let's keep an eye on him. Let's keep an eye on him. he had he has moved in he has moved into and out of the prospect radar as many times as I can as as a player ever has and former former number six overall pick for the Mariners and then fell off the map and the brave spot low on him and moved him back to catcher and then he was back on the prospect radar and then he would stunk and he was back off and yes yeah we'll see and watch out only for four more appearances for Jorge Alfara to get outfield eligibility. It could be a game changer.

We wait with bated breath. Here's a guy who could pick up outfield eligibility. Hoy Park started and hit lead off for the Pirates versus Adrian Houser. He went one for three with three RBI and a walk. Yankees fans kind of turned Hoy Park into a

folk hero this season for how good he was hitting at AAA. 327 with a 1,042 OPS, 46 walks, 46 strikeouts, and 48 games, 10 homers, 8 steals. There is the potential for a pretty appealing fantasy profile here for the 25-year-old Hoy Park. Is there anything here? Maybe. I think any time a player puts up numbers like he has in the minor leagues, you got to pay attention to it.

Never really hyped as a prospect before, and it didn't seem like the Yankees held him in high regard, obviously. So I'd bet against him becoming a viable fantasy asset, but, you know, it's at least worth keeping an eye on him. All right, let's talk about some bullpen notes. Dylan Floro gave up his first run since June 14th, but still got the save for the Marlins. does appear as if he is the closer for the Miami Marlins.

Jose Alvarado got the save for the Phillies. That was probably because Ian Kennedy through 49 pitches the previous two days. But with Ian Kennedy giving up two run home runs or two run, two run home runs in consecutive games since joining the Phillies, it's at least worth noting that Jose Alvarado was the one who got the save with Kennedy unavailable,

with, you know, Ranger Suarez moving to the rotation as well. Yeah, I'm putting it together a bullpen report where I kind of give the pecking order of some bullpins that are currently in flux. And I had left Jose Alvarado completely out of the pecking order for the Phillies. I had several guys ahead of him. So now I'll move him up in that pecking order. He looks like the backup option for saves. I don't know.

It might be a matchup saying with him in Aris. But of course Ian Kennedy looks like he has the job. Yeah, I think it's Ian Kennedy. these job unless he loses it. Right. Diego Castillo got the save for the Mariners with Paul Seawold working the eighth inning. So it does seem like that's going to be the case

moving forward, even if Castillo's been a little shaky, had blown his previous save attempt. Alex Colomé got the save for the twins. No surprise there. Heath Hembray gave up three runs, blew his save opportunity today. They are pretty much

back at full strength now, right? Lucas Sims is back. Lorenzen is back. Lorenzen. Is he back quite yet? I don't think he's back quite yet. I just think he was gearing up to return.

Okay, he was, yeah, he is not quite back yet. Could be, he made three appearances at AAA, Louisville during his rehab assignment. Okay, yeah, so no timetable specifically, but, you know, it seems like Lucas Sims could be back soon.

so something you can eye with Hempry imploding. Yeah, I would say Hempry doesn't have that job on lockdown. I mean, I wonder if Michael Givens is going to become a factor at this point. Yeah, closer experience. And he'd put together, like, he's the one guy in that bullpen with a good ERA, right? And he was doing it at Colorado. Yeah. So I'm surprised the Reds didn't do more to upgrade their bullpen.

I mean, I guess they're. playoff chances are only so good. But, yeah, it's been a mess all season, and I don't think there's there's no clarity in sight. Sure. All right, let's talk about some, well, I guess we got a list of pitchers. Go ahead.

I didn't want to mention one bullpen note from the late games here. Tyler Clippard got his second save. There's nobody else in that bullpen. And Tyler Clippert is legitimately a good reliever if he is of sound body. he missed the first almost four months with injury, only recently returned. But he already has two days as yet to allow an earned run.

Tyler Kliberd for the Diamondbacks. Yeah. We've got a list of pitchers here. I don't know how much there is to take away from anything from this list. But Patrick Corbyn, when seven innings gave up four run runs, eight strikeouts, one walk. It's fascinating how his velocity is like kind of back at its peak.

He averaged 93.7 miles. hours per hour with his fastball. And yet he had 14 strikeouts in 26 and the third innings in the month of July. So we were so interested in Patrick Corbyn's velocity back in the spring. And it turns out it doesn't matter. He's just not good anymore, I guess. Well, this is the highest has been all year, right? It was the second highest, yeah.

Yeah. And he did get 14 swinging strikes, eight strikeouts. So maybe there does become a point where it's high enough to help him. And again, he also served up three home runs. So I'm not, I'm not eager to jump back aboard the Patrick Corbyn bandwagon. Yeah, that makes sense. Adrian Houser had a good start, six and a third, no hits allowed, one earned run. Always interesting how that happens, but you get five walks, that can happen.

Four strikeouts. Houser's actually got a decent ERA. He gets a lot of ground balls, but he's pretty much just a streamer, right? Yeah, too many walks, high whip, not enough anything. generally. All right. That's it for Auser. Let's talk about some hitters.

I was disappointed in Luis Patino's follow-up performance. Yeah. I would point that out, especially since it came against the Mariners. And you know how it is against the Mariners. He could have thrown no hitter. Three run runs in five innings, five hits, two walks, only three strikeouts in that one. Yeah.

Yeah. So I put in some pretty big bids for Petino in the leagues where he was available this weekend. I didn't win him in all of them. I got outbid and some. so I'm not eager to turn around to drop him right away. He's still got 12 lifts on 100 pitches, 12 swingy strikes. So, you know, kind of like with Tuki, Tucson, give him a little bit of a leash.

There does seem to be potential here. Sure. All right, we'll move on to some hitters before we close out with a look at Wednesday streamers. Abraham Toro hit another home run. That is three and four games, I believe, for him. George Springer, two for four with a home run, his third and six games. He's got 11 hits in that span. George Springer, you had to be patient

with the injuries to start the season, but man, he has been, I mean, really as good as ever when he's been healthy this season. He's been incredible. Mitch Garver also as good as ever, hit another home run today. Jonathan India, we talked a lot about yesterday, two for five with a home run today. And Jorge Saler was hitting second for the Braves, hit a home run. It does appears if he's hitting relatively high in that lineup, which is kind of surprising. It is kind of surprising. Not exactly the guy who, not the type of profile you necessarily want at the beginning of the top of the lineup, but if he's going to hit up there and he's going to stay hot like he was

before the trade, you know, there's certainly some appeal there for sure. All right, let's talk about some Wednesday streamers, not necessarily the best crop, but let me know who you like best out of this group, Josh Fleming versus the Mariners. Matt Harvey versus the Yankees Palo Espino versus the Phillies Stephen Matt's versus Cleveland and Jake Oteresee

versus the Dodgers who you like best out of that and if there's anyone I left off who you like more by all means I sure hope there's somebody you left off because I don't want to sign my name to any of these names

golly I mean Jacobo Rizzi is probably the pitcher I trust the most but he's going against the Dodgers Mm-hmm. I don't know, maybe Palo Spino, who throws strikes and gives up a lot of fly balls that so far haven't turned into home runs. So, you know, fly balls that don't leave the park are generally outs, and that's why he's a good ERA and a good whip.

I will say. I think Josh Fleming's okay. Against the Mariners, he's not a strikeout pitcher at all, under 6K per 9, but good control, very good ground ball raid. 15 ERA which isn't great but I could see a pretty decent start against the Mariners coming from Josh Fleming. It could happen. I I would not be better. It's not impossible folks. What about Stephen Brawl against the Brewers making his debut is 20-20 numbers were pretty good actually? The Brewers aren't a are not a good match-up anymore. I definitely would not want to

to rely on him in that one. Oh, what about Tyone? against the Orioles. I wasn't sure if he qualified as a streamer. That could be good. I'm very skeptical of Tyone and his

recent turnaround, but if he is available in your league, he could be worth using. I would actually say Eduardo Rodriguez is 80% rostered, so not a lot of leagues

where he's out there, but he's going against Detroit. He has quite good underlying numbers and quite bad numbers. So, also the roster

percentage is pretty high here for Zach Thompson, but him going against the Mets, I'd be okay with that. I'd say Tyone and Thompson are my favorite. They're both, you know, there's a good chance they're not available in your league, but if they are and you're looking for a streamer, those I can at least kind of get behind.

All right. That's going to do it for Wednesday's episode of fantasy baseball. Today, we'll be back on Thursday. Man, I'm doing it again. I thought I had somewhere to go with the outro, and now I'm just rambling. So I'm just going to close it out here. Thanks for listening.

Fantasy baseball today. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye.