Fantasy Baseball Today - Worryometer Wednesday; Is Aaron Civale a stud? (07/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 29, 2020

It may be a Worryometer Wednesday but it's also a Scott White Wednesday after JD Davis and Nick Castellanos had big games last night! ... What are the latest scheduling updates regarding the Marlins, Yankees, Phillies, and Nationals (1:50)? How does this affect Fantasy Baseball? Are any Marlins players still must own? ... In our newest segment, Scott and Frank reveal their OMGG (oh my goodness gracious) players of night (8:00). How excited should we be over Merrill Kelly? ... Onto news and notes, Alex Wood has been placed on the IL and Juan Soto might be back soon (17:08). Also Miles Mikolas is done for the season and Cristian Javier is starting for the Astros on Wednesday. ... Did you know Amed Rosario has led off for the Mets three days in a row (25:02) or that Andrew Benintendi was batting ninth on Tuesday? Should Garrett Hampson be dropped? ... Worryometer Wednesday (28:58)! Where is Taylor Rogers? Any concern at all for Freeman or Yelich? How about Mondesi and Khris Davis? ... Is it too early to trade in Fantasy Baseball (42:21)? Are there any buy-low pitchers to target?... BUY OR SELL (44:14)! Can you start any pitcher against the Twins? Is Aaron Civale a stud? Who should you target out of Bradley Zimmer, Tyler O'Neill, and Nico Hoerner? ... 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. What is up, everybody, and welcome to Fantasy Baseball today on a Wednesday, July 29th.

A Scott White Wednesday. Why do you ask that? Well, it's just me and Scotty here. Just the two of us, Scott. And specifically, because your guys, they homered last night, J.D. Davis and Nick Castellanos. We've got a couple of days in a row now. We had Mark Canna on Monday night. We had Castellanos and J.D. Davis on Tuesday.

It's a Scott White Wednesday. What's going on, Scott? I am doing good. Doing good. I was keeping an eye on this Merrill Kelly start because he had a no-hitter going through six and a third innings, but it was just broken up on a Ruegneed-Odoor home run. So that is one one bit of hyperventilating we won't need to do, at least not as loudly. We may still, you know, we may still wax poetically about Merrill Kelly and what seems like some encouraging

signs from him. But we'll get into that in a bit. Yes, we shall get into that in a bit. It got a little bit of a new segment coming up later on. Let us know what you think about it. Today on the show. We're going to get you the latest scheduling updates regarding this COVID situation with the Miami Marlins. We've got some Worryometer Wednesday. We've got some buyer sell. And then we're obviously going to recap as much of Tuesday night's action as we possibly can continue to send us your emails, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. All right, Scott, let's just start off with the latest. It seems like this is obviously an ongoing situation regarding the schedule for the Marlins and now other teams that are involved as well. For more Marlins players, we found out

earlier today have tested positive for COVID, and they are now up to 15, 15 of their 30-man-active roster have tested positive. So in terms of the scheduling, the Marlins will not play again until Monday at the earliest. The Yankees and the Phillies were postponed again last night on Tuesday. The Yankees will travel to play the Orioles Wednesday and Thursday, which is good news for Glaibor-Torres, obviously. The Phillies won't play again until Friday. Again, the Blue Jays, the Nationals will not play their weekend series, which was scheduled to be against the Miami Marlins. Scott, does this mean anything from a fantasy perspective? And I want to ask, should we be changing things in season here? If you play in a weekly

lineup lock, should you consider changing to a daily lineup lock? Because it seems like this is such a fluid situation and more things are going to continue to happen. It just seems like if you have players in your lineup, they'd either test positive and you lose them or another team, you know, has an outbreak and we lose more games. It just seems like a very fluid situation. So how does this affect fantasy overall? Would you be looking to change anything? No, I wouldn't. That's a pretty big change to make going from weekly to daily. And look, it's one team that this has happened to, right? Since Friday, there's been over 6,000 tests conducted. MLB reported and the only positives were these 15 for the Marlins. So, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to overstate the impact of it either. Obviously, losing a week of games that like the Marlins appear to be doing. I mean, that's not, that's not good.

We hope, we hope not to see that from another team. We still don't know exactly who has tested positive. we've heard Miguel Rojas is among them, but we don't know exactly which players. So I'm not even sure who to downgrade in response to this. I mean, you could make the case downgrade the whole team because they're losing a week. But if it is a weekly lineup league, then, you know,

it's kind of too late for that to have, for you to adjust to that anyway. So, yeah, I'm not really sure what to do about this from a fantasy perspective, at least not until we have more information on who has tested positive and whether or not they have symptoms and how much time we think they're going to miss. But in terms of changing the rules, the setup for the league,

I wouldn't do that. One thing I might be open to, and only if the league almost unanimously is open to it, is adding more IL spots if you hadn't already done that going into the season. We recommended you do that anyway. you know, one or two more than you normally have. I think it's probably a wise idea, but, you know, it's not a must, obviously, and if the league isn't fully in favor of it,

then it's probably best to just leave it be. Scott, speaking on the Marlins, I made a CBS Sports HQ hit on Tuesday afternoon. Make sure you watch CBS Sports HQ, by the way. And I said the only Marlins who I believe are must own right now, and it could change if, you know, once we find out which players tested positive and whoever goes on the IL. I said Jonathan VR, Brian Anderson, Brandon Kinsler, and maybe Sandy Alcansara.

Would you agree with that? Yeah, those would be the top four. And really the only one universally, no matter the league size, no matter the scoring format, is probably VR, right? That's the only one who would be universally rostered. You know, Jesus Aguilar has gotten off to a hot start. and I was starting to get interested in him, but only in leagues where you really need another first basement corner infielder type. Beyond that, I don't have much interest in anybody.

So, yeah, I mean, that doesn't make it any better necessarily. Obviously, we still don't want to see a team, a roster go through this. But it does make it so there's less of an adjustment that has to be made in terms of fantasy expectations. We mentioned the Phillies and how they were affected by this. They're not going to play again until Friday, and that will come against the Toronto Blue Jays. And according to Todd Zolecky,

who covers the Phillies for MLB.com, he said that their rotation this Friday will be Aaron Nola, Zach Wheeler, Jake Arietta, Zach Eflin, Vince Velasquez. So, Scott, we saw that report regarding Spencer Howard, potentially starting this Friday. So it looks like either that was not a, true report or they're going to wait until there's another spot open in the rotation because everything kind of got pushed back. Yeah, that report struck me more as a beat writer thinking out

loud. I'm not even sure it was a beat writer who wrote it, frankly. I didn't recognize the, I didn't recognize the thumbnail on the article. But yeah, that's, there's no need for Spencer Howard now because everybody's going to be arrested after taking those two days off. So if nothing else, Spencer Howard's debut is pushed back. If you stashed him already, probably not wise to drop him because somebody else is going to scoop him up. You already won the race to him. So just accept your win and be patient. You probably weren't going to activate him for his first start anyway.

Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, lots of upside with Spencer Howard. Excited about Nate Pearson as well. It's Nate Pearson Day. Well, you guys know the deal by now. We're recording this Tuesday night. It's the Wednesday morning podcast. It's Nate Pearson Day.

It's Scott White Wednesday. Whatever you want to call it. All right, a new segment that I came up with. Let me know what you guys think about this. Send us an email, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. The oh my goodness gracious player of the night. Take it away, Susan. Oh, my goodness gracious.

So, Scott, this can either be positive. It could be negative. Just the OMG. Which player, or even a situation? call your eye most Tuesday nights action. Well, I'm not going to steal yours, but we'll talk about him in a minute. I'm going to go with Oliver Drake.

Hate the Drake, right? He got another save. He got another save. Diego Castillo is back from paternity leave, so you can't blame his absence. Nick Anderson worked earlier in the game, as has been usual, the usual for him this year.

Jose Alvarado, I think he worked yesterday. I don't know if he, he needed a day off or not. He didn't pitch. But bottom line is the rays have two saves. Four games for Alvarado. What was that? I believe he pitched two of the first four games for Alvarado.

Okay. Yeah. Bottom line is the race has two saves and they're both Oliver drinks. So it makes you wonder if this is the plan. You know, maybe not every single time just because that's not the way the rays operate. But if he's more likely than not going to be the one left. to clean things up at the end,

to lock down the lead at the end. And I don't think he's ill-equipped for it, frankly. I mean, you look at his numbers last year. He's a great splitter. And 321 ERA.98 whip 11.3K per 9. I mean, the rays have a way of just manufacturing these bullpen aces, which is kind of part of the reason why it's hard to single out who is the best and who's going to be in line for saves.

But Drake is a deserving candidate, I think. At this point, I'd certainly dump Diego Castillo for him. I don't know if I'd dump Nick Anderson for him, because Anderson's ratios just were on the level of Josh Hader in the second half last year. And if, you know, to points league, maybe there's no reason to hold on to Nick Anderson, but in a categories league,

he's still worth keeping around for the ratios. But Drake, I think, is clearly at this point the leading saves target in the Ray's bullpen, even if we can't say with certainty that he's the guy. Yeah, so on Tuesday night, Nick Anderson came in the game in the top of the seventh. The score was 5 to 1. There were two outs with runners on 1st and 3rd,

so he's being used in these high-leveraged situations, and then he gave up a hit, which made the game 5-2. Chas Roe pitched in the 8th. Oliver Drake pitched in the 9th. phenomenal swinging strike rate last year for Oliver Drake, 16.8%. You mentioned the splitter. It's a very good one. Reminds you a little bit of, you know,

I'm not going to make the expectations too high here, but Kirby Yates. Kirby Yates is someone who, as a reliever, has a phenomenal splitter as well. So, yeah, definite interest in Oliver Drake. He's only rostered in 7% of CBS Sports Leagues. Scott, if you own Nick Anderson, would you make it even more of a priority

to get Oliver Drake on your team? Would you try to have both of those guys? More so in a Roto League. Yeah, I don't know that that would matter to me so much because you're not going to have a great deal of confidence in either being somebody you could plug in every week for saves. So how often do you want them occupying two lineup spots for you? I don't know that that would move me to grab Drake,

but anybody who's in a league where saves are scarce. I mean, Drake is near the top of the. the list of perspective ads. I'd still put him behind Anthony Bass of the Blue Jays, who is filling in for Ken Giles and has been officially declared the fill-in for Ken Giles. I'd put him behind Nick Bertie, who got his first save for the Pirates today. We talked about him yesterday as looking like he was probably in line for that role. He got his first save today.

He throws 98 miles per hour. That's what he averages on his fastball. And, you know, he might not be able to go to. back-to-back very often because of his health history, but he looks like the intended closer for the pirates, at least until Keone Kele returns, which who knows when that's going to be. Yeah, I have a bit of a take regarding that.

I think if Bertie performs well in the closers' role, it's not a sure thing that Keone Kele is going to get the closer's job back when he returns. So something to keep in mind, again, the roster ship percentage for Drake is just 7%. That should be higher, especially with how many Roto leagues are out there. My, oh my goodness, gracious, player of the night. Oh, my goodness gracious. Merrill Kelly, you mentioned the name at the top there, Scott. Very efficient tonight.

He was ridiculous. He gave up only one hit. That was a home run to Rugnet O'Dore. Seven innings pitched. One earned run, one walk, six strikeouts for Merrill Kelly. The velocity, basically in line with where it was last year, working the four-seam cutter, change-up, and curve-bulb. 11 swinging strikes on 86 pitches.

Scott, you know, when we were talking of Zach Gallen, we obviously meant Merrill Kelly, duh. That is who I meant, yes. And here's the thing about Merrill Kelly, because I was not really paying him a second thought coming into the season myself. The overall stat line for him last year was pretty blah. You know, he had stretches where he was useful in fantasy,

but he seemed like a streamer type. and, you know, before Mike Leak opted out, it wasn't even clear Kelly had a rotation spot. But you look back at what he did last September, and it was pretty impressive. Last September in five starts, Merrill Kelly had a 218 ERA 103 whip,

9.5 strikeouts per nine innings, and you think, okay, it's just a five-star sample because it happened to come at the end of the year, doesn't really mean anything more. And my assumption was it didn't. But you take a closer look at his pitches, how his pitches were actually doing month by month.

He picked up a mile per hour on his fastball in September. And that seems to have carried over to this year, which he has now started out with six and a third no-hit innings. You know, obviously the no-hitter was thwarted, but it's still been a great start for Merrill Kelly. and particularly in a year like this one where pitchers are, they seem to be dropping like flies. And the ones who are healthy,

you know, they're not going seven innings first time out like Kelly just has. I think he's pretty high on the list of prospective pickups there at pitcher. I don't think his question, I don't think his ceiling is exceptional. I don't think he has like top 20, top 30 potential at the position. But I think he could be a stable spot filler for you in your rotation and better than we expected him to be coming in.

The most added starting pitchers on CBSports.com right now. Adam Wainwright, Chris Bassett, Johnny Quedo, Alex Cobb, Kyle Wright, Vince Velasquez, Michael Waka, Kyle Freeland, Jake Arenda, Pablo Lopez. Those are the 10 most added starting pitchers. I would rather own Merrill Kelly than all of those guys. And I don't think that's a stretch to say. That's a pretty uninspiring group. Those are not the players we've been talking up, right?

No, they are not. I think he's probably close with Johnny Quato, but the win potential and the upside there I think is better with Merrill Kelly, obviously, than it is with Quato. Yeah, I mean, to calibrate it, to calibrate it myself, I would obviously put him behind like Ross Stripling

because Ross Stripling is like the top of the list among pitcher pickups this week. And I'd put, you know, without knowing exactly how he's affected by the Marlins COVID-19 stuff, I'd put Sandy Alcantara ahead of him for now, ahead of Merrill Kelly. I'd put Griffin Canning ahead of Kelly because I like the upside more.

I'd put Corbin Burns. We've talked about him as a pickup. I'd put him ahead for upside reasons. But, you know, when you get into, like, the Tyler Chatwood range, I don't think, I don't think Chatwood really has anything on Kelly. Yeah, I don't think they're far off. That's about the point where I'd start to think about him. I think they're probably in the same range right there,

and I have added Chatwood in quite a few leagues, so I'm going to hold on to him for now. But Kelly is, I would say, better than all those most added pitchers that I mentioned, but I do agree with the list that Scott said, the striplings, the Corbin Burns. I'd still would rather have those guys over Merrill, You mentioned a name Ross Stripling, Scott.

And his teammate, Alex Wood, was placed on the IL-wit shoulder inflammation. You hate to see that. And apparently Clayton Kershaw is a, quote, possibility to start Friday versus the Diamondbacks. I saw you tweeting about this, Scott. Dustin May, that means he might remain in the rotation.

He is 63% owned. Would you rather own Dustin May or Merrill Kelly? I think I'd rather own May. But I'm still unsure how this is going to shake out because I tweeted that out before I saw Dave Roberts comments on the wood injury. He said he's had some shoulder soreness for weeks, but it was something they thought he could work through. And then based on the way that first start went, how he felt after it,

they decided to go ahead and sit him down for a short stretch. But it sounds like it'll only be a short stretch. I think one of the things Roberts pointed out was that they noticed his arm angle had changed compensating for the injury, and that wasn't something they wanted to happen, so that's as much why they decide to put them on the I.O. as anything else. So it might only be a turn or two, we're talking about here for Wood, which of course isn't nothing, but it's not a Cory Kluber situation.

It's not even a Justin Verlander situation, I think, where, you know, you're not sure you're going to get anything from the rest of season. Now, that doesn't mean you can't drop Alex Wood, because obviously he wasn't on the level of an ace, coming in. But we were excited about his potential. And the most discouraging part about the way his first start went was he didn't see that velocity spike we were promised in spring training, you know, that he showed in 2017 when he was an all-star. And it's probably- That didn't show up in that first start. Well, if your shoulder wasn't feeling right. Yeah.

That's a reasonable excuse for it. So, you know, I wouldn't be afraid to drop Alex Wood if that's what it took to open up a roster spot. But I'd rather, I'd rather put him in an aisle spot if that's a possibility. I still have some hope he can salvage this season. And as for Dustin May, they'll find a way for him, I think, if he's good enough. I don't think that first start against the Giants where he gave up seven hits in less than five innings. Like, you'll have to be better than that. But the talent is very impressive. And I'm usually, even in this short season,

you know, it's early enough that I'm usually going to side with the upside over the assurance, the assurances. So I would like to have Dustin May, I think of Bramaryl Kelly. Some news and notes. Juan Soto has received back-to-back negative tests. This is a very weird situation that's going on with Soto from MLB's labs and is now just waiting to be officially cleared. The timeline doesn't really add up, in my opinion, considering he tested positive just last week. But hey, look, as long as he tests negative and he clears all the protocols, let's get Juan Soto back as soon as possible. and I will just address that I was offered John Carlos Stanton for Wants Soto in the For the People League, Scott. So I feel like I need to defend myself here. But we are in the midst of a very

long scoring period. So I figured why would I jump the gun and trade Soto in the middle of this first period if he can potentially be back by next week? So if he's not, then I'm, you know, I'll think a little bit harder. Because we talked about it on the podcast. You and I both said we trade Soto for Stanton at that point. Did the guy just offer Stanton too late after that first positive test or that first negative test had already come in for Soto? He offered it like a day or two ago. Did you just change your mind? No, no, he offered it a day or two ago. And it's just we already started hearing whispers about like Soto potentially returning by then. So I'm kind of taking it day by day. Let's see what happens here. I mean, that's the best case scenario. I think even in leagues where

you split up, split off that first weekend as it's only. separate week and missing only two scoring periods for that COVID-19 positive case. I mean, you can't ask for much better than that. Absolutely. Yeah, so let's play it, you know, by ear when it comes to Juan Soto. Chris Bryant, DNP Tuesday, dealing with a mild left elbow issue. Anthony Rizzo led off for the Chicago Cubs. Miles Michaelis is headed for season-ending surgery on the flexor tendon in his right arm.

It sounds like the same injury he suffered back in spring training, if I'm not mistaken, Scott. Daniel Pons de Leon will join the rotation in 12 starts in his career. A 367 ERA, a 126 whip, 53 strikeouts in 54 innings pitched. Daniel Ponsdaleone is 4% rostered in CBS. Any interest, Scott? I'm not disinterested. It depends. I mean, he'll need to wow me for me to actually make a play for him off the waiver wire.

it's interest in kind of like a Chris Bassett sense, I guess, where you see the ratios and you're like, yeah, he could be okay. But, you know, you're probably not missing out on much if you lose them to someone else either. Yeah, I'm going to put them in that Michael Waka category from yesterday. Put them on the watch list and see what happens. The Cardinals activated Giovanni Gallegos from the 10-day injured list. I believe he pitched in the sixth inning in Tuesday night's game.

I don't think that they're going to throw them right into the closer's role, but Kim did struggle in his first save opportunity. So just another situation to pay attention to. Kyle Crick was placed on the 10-day injured list. We mentioned Nick Birdie already. He picked up the save on Tuesday night. Corey Kinebel gave up the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. I am okay dropping Corey Kinebel at this point.

Christian Javier is lined up to start against the Dodgers on Wednesday. 23-year-old right-hander posted a 174 ERA with 170 strikeouts and 113 and 2 thirds innings pitched last season in the minors. He is 7% rostered in CBS. Scott, I believe you mentioned the name, Christian Javier, the other day when I was doing my little Forrest Whitley bit. Anyhow, how interested are you in Javier?

Moderately interested. So that comes out to 13.5K per 9 he had last year. He did walk a lot of guys, 4.7 per 9, but still had a 0.97 whip because he just didn't give up any hits. He was unhittable, which is how you end up with that kind of ERA. He's an interesting prospect

because he doesn't have, he doesn't have like a traditional pitching prospect arsenal. It's basically just a fastball. I think he has an off-speed pitch of some kind, but it's basically just the fastball, but he varies the way he throws it, so it functions as multiple pitches. It actually kind of reminds me of Freddie Peralta,

who also had great minor league numbers, but obviously that didn't work out so well for him in the majors. And maybe it won't for Javier either, but you got to at least have him on the scout team because those minor league numbers are, you know, you never see a pitcher put up better numbers than those. Yeah, and he's pitching against the Dodgers on Wednesday. So if he does anything,

remotely good against that lineup, then I think you might want to be a little bit aggressive with him. Astros GM James Click said Tuesday that Yerdon Alvarez could soon advance to live batting practice. It doesn't sound like it's going to be next week, Scott. It could change. We'll see what happens over the weekend. But I would be surprised if it's not the week after that where Yurdon Alvarez is eligible to return. Something to pay attention to. Brewer's starting pitcher, Josh Lynn Bloom, left Tuesday night start with back cramps. of the 11 outs he recorded, five were via the strikeout.

He had 12 swinging strikes in 61, with in 61 pitches that he threw. Some lineup notes. Anthony Rendon is making his Angels debut. Currently, as we're recording this, he's batting third for the Angels. Tommy Lestella, Scott, something that you were wondering,

is batting seventh, and he is playing against a left-handed pitcher. So good news there for your guy, Tommy Lestella. David Fletcher is in at shortstop because Andrelton Simmons is nursing a, ankle injury. Eric Hosmer and Byron Buxston also returned for the Padres and the twins, respectively. Amed Rosario has led off for three straight games, all against left-handed pitchers.

Austin Riley got the night off. Johan Camargo replaced him. Aracidio Sikino was in the lineup again Tuesday against a right-handed pitcher. He was batting seventh. Jose Paraza led off for the Red Sox against a left-handed pitcher. Andrew Benintendi, remember that guy? He was batting ninth against a lefty on Tuesday. So you hate to see that. Something else I know Scott hates to see is Garrett Hampson, who has started just one of four games

and that one start came against a left-handed pitcher. Scott, we have to start to have the conversation. Are you thinking about dropping Garrett Hampson where you own him? I think if you drafted Garrett Hampson as one of your primary speed sources in a five-by-five league, you just have to hold on to him

and hold out hope that he finds his way into the lineup more often in the future because there just aren't safe to be found on the waiver wire. Steels. It's just not something you could do. So I think you're kind of stuck with him for now. Obviously, you don't have to start him. But you'd hate to drop him and then he starts playing more often and someone else gets those steals instead of you.

So that's where I am with him. It's encouraging, you know, he's basically platooned with Sam Hilliard in left field at this point. and Hilliard had done nothing until tonight. He has a home run and a double at Oakland, so not even at Coors Field. So that's, you know, that's good for Hilliard,

who has some fantasy appeal in his own right. But, of course, we'd rather see Hampson play and get those steals. So that's, that's obviously a situation to monitor. The Tommy Lestella thing you brought up, yes,

it's good to he was in the lineup against lefties. Andleton Simmons was out now with the ankle injury. So David Fletcher was able to play shortstop. Still don't know exactly how that's going to shake out. But yeah, I'm encouraged every time Tommy Lestell is in the lineup.

Some other lineup situations that may have gone unnoticed so far. J.D. Davis has started every game for the Mets, every game in left field at that. And he was batting cleanup against the left-hand pitch. He was bad to clean up the last two days. Yeah, he had a pesky pole home run today. Yeah, he just looks like the full-time left-fielder,

so that's good. Tommy Edmund has played every game. started every game at third base. He looks like just the full-time third baseman for the Cardinals. We had some questions about his playing time, but he had a big game today too. I think he doubled in homered. Yeah, I know he went two for three.

Definitely hit a home run. Yep. Yep. And for all the platooning the Giants are doing, Mike Yistremski doesn't seem to be a part of it. He has started every game for them. Yeah, and he typically against right-handed pitching, you know, bats near the top of the lineup.

So it's not a great lineup, but it helps with getting some of that volume that we need for fantasy baseball. And he has kind of that Max Muncie thing going on, where he actually had last year better numbers against lefties than righties. Yistrimski sat against lefties quite a bit last year, but he was better against them than righties. So I still think, you know, not a lot of loud start to the season for him, but I still think there's a lot of potential there,

and certainly he's getting the opportunity. Tori Lavulo, how about letting Merrill Kelly come out for the eighth inning? So the final line for Kelly, he's out now. Now, seven and two-thirds, three hits, one-run, one-walk, seven strikeouts. Again, he's rostered in 60% of CBS leagues. Big game. Big game for Merrill Kelly there. Worryometer Wednesday, Scott.

I want to start off with a few relief pitchers. Taylor Rogers has not pitched yet this season. And I'm worried about this the way that Chris was worried about Josh Hader yesterday before he got in that game for the Milwaukee Brewers. Sergio Romo came in for the save Tuesday night in a 6 to 3 game there were two right-handed batters due up in the ninth inning Where is your

level of worry when it comes to Taylor Rogers thus far? That's very interesting that Romo came in because I was about to say Sergio Romo hasn't pitched yet this year either Well the twins have been just blowing everyone out They're just blowing everybody out yeah yeah that's interesting that roma got the save instead of Rogers when Rogers could have used the work

it was a three run lead but i mean none like i don't see how unless there's some kind of injury secret injury situation going on for rogers i don't see how you could look at this and say that if nothing else the twins are planning on splitting up saves this year It's worth noting that the Cardinals scored a run in the top of the eighth inning to make it a six to three game, to make it a save opportunity. So maybe Romo was already warming up in a four-run game and they just kind of let them come in for the save. I'm trying to look at this glass half full. I don't own Taylor Rogers anywhere, but I think if you are a Rogers owner, that's probably how you want to look at it. One to ten, Scott.

I'm glad you brought that up because that is the one way you could look at it and say it's not. split role. And so maybe that's what's going on. But after the twins acquired Romo, I think it was from the Marlins last year, they kind of had him split saves with Rogers. And then I think Romo got hurt and missed some time and it became just Rogers job again. So like I, I drafted Romo in an AL only league thinking, okay, maybe I could get a handful of saves from him if they go back to that plan. So it's, I think it's very much on the table here. I doubt I doubt Rocco Baldelli would

have anything insightful to say on it after the game, but that's something we may be able to address tomorrow. So what's your level? 1 to 10 here, Scott. Worryometer on Taylor Rogers. Seven. Seven. All right, I'm going to put out of five for now.

Right there in the middle, let's kind of see what happens here. Sean Doolittle might be a little bit more worried about him. He pitched in the seventh inning down three to one on Tuesday night. He averaged 89.3 miles per hour on the fastball. Last year he was at 91. He was at 93 back in 2018. I texted Adam Azer about this earlier tonight,

and he said, he is done, period, done. Adam's analysis on Sean Doolittle. Worryometer Wednesday. Where do you said it, Scott? Yeah, that's probably an eight or nine for Sean Doolittle. I'm there with you, man. He was splitting saves down the stretch and in the playoffs last year, so I wasn't even sure he had any benefit of the doubt coming into the season.

Yeah, I'm going to set it at a nine as well. Look, they haven't had a save opportunity yet. I believe the one game that they won, Daniel Hudson did pitch in the ninth inning that was against the Yankees. So, yeah, definite worry here about Sean Doolittle. Scott, you're wearing the brave shirt. I am. Freddie Freeman had a golden sombrero on Tuesday night.

He is batting 143. That was his first golden sombrero since August 5th, 2016. Worryometer Wednesday on Freddie Freeman. Well, he's actually on the back of my shirt here. So apologies, Freddie, for however that may have contributed to your performance today. Bad luck, Scott. On the Worryometer, it's, it's, I'll put it as a one. The only reason it's not a zero is because, you know,

it sounded like he had the worst COVID case of anybody, and you just wonder if he's physically recovered from it all the way. But, you know, based on his performances, I didn't have any reason to really worry about him prior to a four-strikeout game. And it just happens sometime. That's probably all this. It's probably nothing. He had been walking a ton.

certainly had a presence in the middle of that Braves lineup. I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried at all either. I'm going to set it at a one for Freddie Freeman. Christian Yellich, another first round pick. I've just got to ask. He went 0 for 4 Tuesday with two more strikeouts. He now has nine strikeouts on the season with one walk.

And I will frame it this way, Scott. Maybe he is pressing a little bit because he doesn't have much protection in that lineup. Brewer's lineup is very bad. They lost Grandal in the offseason. They lost Mike Mustakis in the offseason. Like they've kind of, it's a makeshift lineup. You know, they sign Justin Smok. They have, you know, Ben Gamal plays here and there, Eric Sogard. Outside of Kesson Heura, Scott, I don't think that the Brewer's lineup is very good. Are you worried at all about Christian Yellich? I'm not. It's a zero. And I'm not worried about Ronald Ducunia either. I don't know if he's coming up next. I think between the two, they have a total of like four hits.

Acuna went over two Tuesday night. He's batting 143. He did walk two times, which you like to see, but he had another strikeout as well. Yeah, he's been striking out a ton too. I'm just not worried about it. I think it's just getting getting into the flow of things. I know Ocuna's had issues with that in the past when he first got called up and like basically every time he moved up a level on the minor league ladder, he was slow out of the gate. Yeah, usually we ignore that stuff, but if you need the encouragement as an Acuna owner, then there it is.

I'm going to set my Wuriometer for Christian Yellich at a two, which is just slightly higher than Scott. But it's enough where I'm just not worried about it. I don't think the Brewers lineup is very good, Scott. I mean, I have not thought of it in terms of being bad or really anything less than good, I understand they went bargain hunting to fill some holes this offseason,

though I like most of what they added. So maybe that's coloring my view of things here. But you make an interesting case there. Adelberto Mondesie is now two for 21 on the season. He has nine strikeouts and zero walks. After the game, Mike Mathini was asked about the struggles of Mondesi to start the season, and he said, quote, this is one of the most underrated players in the entire game of baseball.

I don't think the baseball world has any clue, any idea how good this guy can be. Well, he hasn't been very good thus far. And as somebody who spent $34 on him in an auction last week in a 15-team league, doesn't feel great, Scott, at Alberto Monasey, off to a very slow start. Yeah, look, I mean, you had to know what you were getting into with Mondi. He strikes out a ton. His bat skills are poor. He's going to have stretches like this.

And in a 60-game season, you know, you can't necessarily count on an evening out. At the same time, you took him where you did because he thought he would lead the majors and steals. And I think he's still the odds-on favorite to lead the majors and steals, even getting off to the slow start.

You can't steal first, Scott. What's that? You can't steal first base. You can't steal first, but I promise you he will have have his so far I think he's been on first base one time because one of his two hits was a double. I don't know. Maybe he reached on a fielder's choice or something that I can't see here.

But he hasn't, he hasn't, he obviously hasn't had many opportunities to run. He will have more in the future. And I think he will steal a ton of bases. I can't promise it'll be with good numbers otherwise. But I wouldn't have promised that going in, which is why I don't, I'm not heavily invested in Modesty. If you are heavily invested in him, though, you need his steals. You need to keep him in the lineup.

You need to trust he will be a little better than this going forward. So I'm laughing here, Scott, because, you know, a name that I am personally worried about, and for Adelbert Tomondisi, I'll set it at a three. I'm not overly worried about it. Because I went four. Yeah, I think he'll be right. It's just, again, his plate does the plane, he is going to go through stretches. I think you're absolutely right about that, Scott.

But Chris Davis, someone I've mentioned before, looking at the box score right? now. He's 0 for 3 with another strikeout tonight. Seven left on base. He's batting a whopping triple zero across the board. Wariometer Wednesday for Chris Davis with a K. Scott. Listen, I felt like I was on my own among the fantasy analysis community by saying, you know what, guys, we can't be so sure that it was the hip injury that ruined Chris Davis last year. Like, he's pretty old. He has some bad contact skills himself.

He does seem like he fits the profile of someone who would have a precipitous decline. And yet, even I say that to declare that a victory now would be confirmation bias. We just, it's just too soon. It's just too soon to say, especially with that bad and bald profile. He's a guy who could have extended slumps too, just like at Alberto Mondesie. you know what? It's so early that it's not even guys with that. It's not entirely guys with that bad at ball profile who are off to that kind of start. Brian Reynolds, who has the opposite batted ball profile, a guy who is geared for batting average, he was hitless before today when he

finally had two hits. So it's just too early to say. So, Sky, you're not doing anything, you know, rash with Chris Davis, right? You're not. No, I know. I mean, I could see in three outfielder leagues, you could make the case to drop him because you're not that invested in him. He was a late round pick, obviously. But even if you're dropping him, you're still keeping an eye on what he's doing from here because it can turn around quickly.

So I'll put him as a six on the worryometer, but like he probably started out as a four or five for me. Yeah, that's a good number. Five or six. I'm just worried because I own, so many shares. Scott, why didn't you tell me, you know, why didn't you give me that breakdown before the season started when, you know, before I drafted him everywhere, Scott, and now there's nothing I could do. I'm not going to drop him. I'm going to hold on to him for now.

But you wouldn't do anything, you wouldn't drop him for like, Yueness Sestepidus, right, Scott? I would not. I mean, Yohenus Sestpitas isn't off to a great start himself. I think he struck out in seven of his 14 at bats. He does have the home run and he has been playing a lot. But yeah no that's that's not a move i would be moved to make all right let's take a quick break here when we come back we will look at some buy or sell situations uh is there any players that we can buy is it too early to trade it's something we could talk about here i do want to quickly promote a few things you should leave in apple podcast review if you haven't already we would really appreciate it a five star apple podcast review and drop a question in there we'll answer it on

future podcast. And also, you should tell a friend to listen to Fantasy Baseball today. Just tell one friend. You don't have to tell the world. I know you don't want to tell your league mates about how great the show is, where you get all your sneaky nuggets of information and how you keep dominating your league. But tell one friend about Fantasy Baseball today. All right, when we come back, buy or sell here on Fantasy Baseball today. We're back here on Fantasy Baseball today. Buy or sell. Scott, is it too early to trade in Fantasy Baseball? We're almost a week into the season here. Is there just like a rule?

Is there an unwritten rules? Are you already going out there and sending trade offers? It's never too early to trade in my mind. I love trading. I don't get to do it as much just because I'm in so many leagues. I tend to just trade in my dynasty leagues because I'm more invested in those teams, obviously, having worked with them for several years. But I like trading.

It's difficult to trade, and it's especially difficult at this. stage of the season. So if you are trading, you need to do so with extreme caution, you probably shouldn't be influenced by too much by anything anybody's actually done, you know, except maybe trying the whole buy low, sell high trick. But, you know, if you're with a pretty savvy group, that doesn't work too often. So I don't know. I don't think it's probably something you can count on doing right now, but it doesn't hurt

to try. Scott, you wrote an article on CBSports.com highlighting your concern level for 16 shaky starting pitchers through the first couple of days of the baseball season and two that stand out to me who are in the low category and I believe they should be are Jose Berrios and Lucas Giolyto. Do you think there's any chance... Low in terms of concern level.

Yes. Any chance you think you could acquire those guys on cheap? Probably not, right? Probably not. I think maybe you'd have an easier. time with Gialito because of I think most people who drafted him are aware of his history what he looked like two years ago versus what he looked like last year

but the improvements he made last year the increased velocity the better change up those those were still very much in play in his first start even though he had a bad outcome against the twins so I haven't really lost any faith in Gialito he's still 10th in my starting pitcher rankings it's worth a try Is there anyone in particular, you know, outside of those two names that you would be looking to acquire right now? Outside of those two names, maybe Granky because there was a velocity decline there, and I just don't think it means much for him. His velocity really isn't his game anyway, and he's his kind of always shifts around.

But I could see how somebody would be worried about that. Like, mainly starting pitchers is what I'm, there's hitters. if it's not clear already, it will be soon. They're just hitters out the wazoo. And you don't really have to worry about filling your hitter spots too much unless you play in an especially deep league. But any time I could get a potential difference maker at starting pitcher, that's something I'm looking to do.

All right, Scott, some buy or sell situations. We'll start with this. We mentioned Gialito, got blown up his first start against the Minnesota Twins. Buy or sell, you cannot start your starting pitchers against the Minnesota Twins this season. I sell it. obviously you approach it with caution, the fringy guys, maybe you shy away from it,

but I'm still starting the studs against them. I understand Gialito had a bad start. Carlos Martinez, like Carlos Martinez, I don't think his problem today was just that he was facing the twins. Like he had, his concern level would at least be medium

if I was including him in that column of 16 pitchers because his velocity was down three or four miles per hour from, will we last saw him as a starter, much less last year out of the bullpen. And for all of the guys who we've seen struggle with velocity first time through, you have to wonder how much of that is just the hurried ramp up. But the Cardinals seemed confident he was ready after seeing him throw when he reported late,

remember, because they were on the fence for a while about whether they would put him in the rotation, and they seemed to think he was fine. I don't know what to make of it at this point. This is kind of uncharted territory the way pitchers built up for this season. So I don't want to react too rashly. I don't want to drop Carlos Martinez based on this start. But if he goes out next time and is still throwing more like 92 than 96 and gets knocked around again in a nine-week season,

I think you've really got to think about dropping him. The final line for Carlos Martinez Tuesday night against the Twins, three and two-thirds innings pitched, seven hits, six earned runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. The fastball velocity was 92.9 miles per hour on average for his career, 95.5 miles per hour

for Carlos Martinez. Scott, you mentioned you wouldn't drop him just for everyone else out there. You wouldn't do it for Merrill Kelly either who had the big game tonight. No. I would for Ross Stripling. That's kind of the exception.

Ross Stripling is the name you can. The golden boy. exception. And you know what if Rich Hill is still out there in your league, I'm still buying into that. I'm still, I'm still, uh, still tooting the horn for Rich Hill. So those would be exceptions if you play in a league shallow enough or a league disinterested enough that those guys are still available. Ross Tripling is 73% owned. So it's getting up there, but should be 100%. By ourselves, Scott. Aaron Savale is. a stud. Aaron Savale on Tuesday against the White Sox, six innings pitched, seven hits, two earned runs,

one walk, nine strikeouts, 16 swinging strikes, he threw five different pitches at least 10 times. His next start comes against the Minnesota Twins. By or sell, he's a stud, Scott. Well, I wouldn't be starting him against the twins. I can tell you that much. he was the talk of Twitter among the fantasy baseball community Tuesday night. So it's, you know,

we probably should have gotten to him earlier in the show than this. But, you know, he is 87% owned on CBS Sports Leagues. I would guess it's a lot lower on other sites. I'm kind of surprised it's that high on ours. Maybe he had a favorable projection that made him show up higher in the draft room or something.

I don't know. Maybe it was my ranking, Scott. Maybe it was. Maybe it was. I know he had a lot of backers. I didn't quite see it for him. He wasn't. He didn't have, he didn't show good bat missing skills last year.

He didn't show a good ground ball rate. Any of the things I would normally look for in a pitcher in 2020. But he got the swinging strikes today. 16 on 100 pitches, nine strikeouts in his six innings of work. And really what people were focusing on, on Twitter, was the pitch selection for him. He led with his cutter instead of his four-seem fastball. which is not a bad idea when your fastball isn't very good.

You know, it's, and I think, what was his breaking ball that was, was it the curveball that was responsible for most of his whiffs? I will pull that up for you while you're talking about. Basically, today's hitters are really good at hitting fastball. So a lot of the breakouts we've seen come out of nowhere the past few years, I think of like Patrick Corbyn and Matthew Boyd, they came from a pitcher deemphasizing his fastball. And maybe Savale follows suit there

and ends up having the breakout that others saw coming and I didn't. I don't know if this is how they were expecting it to happen or not. I don't know, Frank. Is this how you were expecting it to happen? Of course, this is how I was expecting. No, honestly, I didn't think he was going to be a big swing, and miss pitcher. I thought that he was going to be more like a Mike Soroka. that was who I comp him to in my breakouts column.

And I thought that he would get a lot of ground balls. I thought he would have a really good command, and he would not walk a lot of ground balls last year. Yeah, it's something that he did back in the minors. Okay. But yeah, he didn't get a lot of ground balls last year. But you asked about the breaking pitch, and he used the curve ball.

He threw the curve ball 22 of his 99 pitches. He had six swinging strikes on those 22 curve balls. Yeah, that's good. And that's good. And obviously, it goes without saying one start. of with 16 swinging strikes. It's just one start. It's still just one start.

We don't know that this is the new air in Savale, but because there was an altered pitch selection there and because others who I respect thought highly of Savale going into it. I think it's noteworthy. I think it has me moving him up my rankings quite a bit. And, you know, if he was available in any of my leagues, I'd be picking him up cautiously,

because I still really don't know what to expect from him. Adam Plutko, who started the second game of the doubleheader for the Indians, he had 17 swinging strikes, and I'm just not making anything of that at all. Yes. So, I mean, it just happens sometimes. The pitchers get a lot of swinging strikes. Yeah, it's worth noting the White Sox are without Eloy Jimenez right now, so they don't have their A lineup out there.

It's Nicky Delmonico's playing Adam Engel, so it's worth mentioning. Savale, the last thing that I will say, his final start in summer camp, He also had a lot of swinging strikes. I remember talking about that. So this might just be who he is. It's definitely a situation to monitor. I don't know if you ever answered the question, Scott. It was by or sell, he's a stud.

I'm going to lower the threshold a little bit. By or sell Savale is a top 40 starting pitcher moving forward. I have him in my top 50 when I moved him up in my rankings. And I did my first thorough rankings overhaul tonight, putting together a trade chart. So I made a lot of changes. that was one of the biggest Savale is now in my top 50, but not quite

in my top 40. Alec Mills, Byer Sell, is a waiver-wire target, Scott. Alec Mills on Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, six innings pitch, two earned runs, three strikeouts. His curve ball is 67 miles per hour,

which is just awesome. He threw four different pitches at least 16 times in this start, only seven swinging strikes on 77 pitches. By or sell, he's a waiver-wire target, Scott. I'm going to sell it for now. I'll keep an eye on him. It was a good first start.

And last year in a split role between rotation of bullpen. I like the swinging strike rate. I like the ground ball rate. I think maybe there is some potential there. He didn't really show those kinds of skills in this start, even though it was a good start. So I don't think it's a situation where you have to fend off others for him just yet. But I'll keep an eye on Alec Mills.

I'm going to throw him. We'll come up with a name for it. I'll come up with a name with a bucket. that is the Michael Waka bucket, right? Like the scout team bucket. Throw him in that bucket for now, along with Christian Javier, Michael Waka, and Zach Godley, who we talked about yesterday.

Back from the Dead, what's Dead may never die. Walker Bueller is just fine, Scott. Byer Sell, three and two-thirds innings pitch, three hits, two earned runs, one walk, three strikeouts against the Houston Astros in his first start. 56 pitches. I would imagine his next start, he probably works up to like 70, 75, I think that's fair to say.

Yeah, I bide that he's fine, but I was hopeful, like, one of the Dodgers reporters tweeted out before the game that the Dodgers were willing to let him go five innings, 75 pitches in this start. He went only three and two thirds and 56 pitches. So that means, you know, he's probably a start behind where he could have been if he had gone the maximum that the Dodgers let him go. So, you know, it's still, we're still one start down, probably one more to go where he's limited.

And then maybe he'll be back in full force. But I think the stuff looked fine in this start, even though the final line wasn't great. Scott, of these three hitters that are all owned in 35% of CBS sports leagues or less, which one are you most likely to pick up? Which one are you buying? Tyler O'Neill, Nico Horner, or Bradley Zimmer. Zimmer is someone that I know you like, and he homered in the first game of the double-heder

against the White Sox. But Tyler O'Neill has also looked pretty good. He has started each game for the St. Louis Cardinals. And he's homer twice. O'Neill has. It's Zimmer. I think it's Zimmer. Horner does look like the Cubs' primary second baseman,

and that's noteworthy. I'm interested in him in deeper leagues. Sure. Yeah, I'm interested. interested in all of them in deeper leagues. But the one who I think has the best chance of transcending the deeper league and becoming just a full-fledged fantasy stud is Bradley Zimmer, actually. If you can keep getting the playing time, big summer camp, off to a great start now.

Homer did and doubled today, or Tuesday night, I should say. And at one point in time was an elite prospect on the level of, I think he was kind of up there with like George Springer in the outfield outfielder prospect rankings. He was pretty up there. So yeah, I think he has a chance of catching a lot of people by surprise this year. Some bullpen notes to hit on from Tuesday. Brad Hand allowed a run but did pick up his second save in the first game of the doubleheader with the White Sox James Karen check struck out the side and the seventh. He's just absolutely filthy. Joe Jimenez, the first closer with three saves this season, just like we all predicted. We mentioned the Ray's situation.

Oliver Drake picked up to save. Sean Doolittle, Velocity was down. And then, of course, Taylor Rogers has not pitched yet this season, and Sergio Romo picked up the save for the Twins. Scott, is there anything else you wanted to highlight from Tuesday night? Bradley Zimmer came a couple years after Springer. Just wanted to clarify that. Austin Voth, some people were kind of excited about him as a sleeper,

and I had him among my streamer pitchers for week, too, because he was making two starts. he was okay in five innings today, but only two strike gouts, I think only two swinging strikes. That was more in line with his minor league track record than what we saw down the stretch last year when he got a taste of the majors. And I really don't think there's anything too exciting about him. Greg Holland, he pitched a scoreless inning. It was the seventh inning. It was not the ninth inning.

Trevor Rosenthal did follow him up in the eighth inning. And there was no ninth inning for the Royals in a loss. Ian Kennedy did not work at all in that game. But the bottom line is, seems like that situation is very much up in the air. Mike Mathini has apparently joined the nerds and is going by committee late in games for the Royals. So I wasted a lot of fab dollars on Greg Holland.

Me too. I don't know, maybe not. I'm not going to drop him right away because I'm invested in him now. And it's still possible. I think he emerges as the guy. he's he's not the guy yet so he'd definitely rather have anthony bass or nick birdie or oliver drake at this point than greg holland um anything else uh will myers off to a really

good start second home run today's been walking a lot did you mention him already no but i'm happy you did because he's someone i really did like coming into the season yeah yeah you know we we kind I think we know who he is based on his track record, but it's still nice to see him get off to a good start. Isaiah Kiner Folefa was back after missing a little bit of time with an injury and still excited about him as a bargain catcher who may wind up putting up top five, top six numbers at the position, just because he plays so much.

Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com. Your emails will answer a few of these here to end the show. Scott, this one's from Jake. I currently compete in a very competitive Roto Dynasty League with 15 other teams. So a 16 team, Roto Dynasty League. I was offered Tyler Glassnow, Andrew Vaughn, and Gary Sanchez

for my Mooky Betts. I'm currently in last place. What do you think about that, Scott? Glassnow, Vaughn, Sanchez for bets. It's really hard to answer this without knowing kind of the economy of your league. I understand 15 teams. It's fairly deep.

But I just, in terms of minor league keepers there with Andrew Vaughn, are you keeping him on equal terms with major leaguers? Is he kind of a discounted keeper because he's a minor leaguer? Like, that makes a big difference. I just have to assume you're keeping him on equal terms based on the information you've given us. And I mean, that's a pretty good, that's a pretty good haul. It would take a haul to get bets.

That's pretty good. I still think I'd stick with bets. I would let other people in my league know that mooky bets is available in a dynasty league before I pull the trigger ever on a trade. This isn't a bad return. I think you're right, Scott. And we've talked about Vaughn as potentially having, you know, first or second round value from a fantasy perspective in the future.

I mean, that's like his ultimate upside if he reaches it. But I would just throw the name out there, bets, and say, hey, look, best offer gets him. And you'll be surprised what some people are willing to throw up there. And say, I have a strong offer. already. Yes. Because, you know, people just might think

you're looking to dump bets and it'll start lowballing you. If they know they have to beat somebody else, they might bring their best to the table. This next one's from Christian dear Peter Ray, Winston, and Egon. Ghostbusters. Who are you going to call?

Scott White! I'm very worried about Chris Bryant's start and have been offered Joey Gallo for Bryant, straight up in a 12-te-to-head categories league. Should I accept this trade? And Brian is dinged up now with this elbow injury. Yeah, I have not moved him down based on this elbow injury

and what he's actually done at the plate means nothing to me at this point. Gallo got a steal Tuesday night. He has a home run. You know, whatever. I valued Brian over Gallo if only slightly a week ago. So I'm going to continue to now. but it's in that format specifically the Categories League. It's a slim margin, so like, do what you want.

It doesn't make a big difference to me. Yeah, I'm trying to pull up my outfield ranks and see where I think I wound up having them pretty close. I had Chris Bryant as my 26th outfielder, and I had Joey Gallo at 29. So it's close enough. Brian's dealing with the injury. I'm right doing this deal.

I would take Joey Gallo for Chris Bryant. This next was from Andy, dear Rick, Willie, Roger, and Jake. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

These are... Oh, oh, that's obviously... Major League? Yeah, Major League. Okay. Who's Rick, though? Willie Mays Hayes, Roger Doren.

Rick Vaughn. Wild Thing. Oh, that was... Okay. Okay. I never thought of him in terms of a Rick. He was just Vaughn. Lots of...

Lots of Joey Gallo trades right now. I was just offered Joey Gallo for Zach Gallen in my 6x-by-6 roto league, the extra hitting category being OPS. That definitely helps Joey Gallo. Trade Gallo away for Gallo. Nah. Nah.

Nah. I mean, you know I want all the pitchers I can get, but there is no draft I would have done where I would have taken Gallo ahead of, gallon ahead of Gallo, except for maybe a points league, which this clearly isn't. We didn't get to Gowan over the weekend.

A couple of people tweeted out of us. Sorry, guys. I mean, there's a lot to get to over the weekend. But his first start, four innings, five walks, six strikeouts. Just general takeaways from Zach Allen's first start? It's frustrating because the walk rate was the one area in his major league debut where he underwhelmed and it was in stark contrast to who he was in the minors. It really came down to three starts he had where he just walked a ton of guys.

guys. And so maybe this is just something he does from time to time. It's not what you want to see, but it's not really changing my perspective on Gallin either, just based on what he went through last year. I mean, even with more than four walks per nine innings last year, again, mostly because of three starts where he walked a lot of guys. He still ends up with great numbers. So I'm not, I'm not changing my opinion based on that start. Yeah, me neither. And I'm not going to make this trade. I'm going to hold on to Zach Gallen. I used to work with Craig Mish, who covers to Miami Marlins, and he said speaking with Gallen, while Gallen was still with a team, that he was really just kind of nervous about his first couple of starts, and that's why,

you know, he wound up walking a decent amount. So maybe nerves got to him in his first start of the season as well with the Diamondbacks, but definitely something to monitor. We've got to get that walk rate down for Zach Allen. All right, Scott, first two-man show in the books. Not bad. A lot of fun here on the show today, Scott. We're a couple of fun guys. That'll do it. Yeah, we're, I'm a fun guy. That's Kauai Leonard. If you couldn't tell. Poor Scott, 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.