4 STARTING PITCHER QUESTIONS! Plus Is Marcell Ozuna the Fantasy MVP!? | Fantasy Baseball Advice

Intro we're nearly two months into the season and Marcel Ozuna might be the fantasy MVP to this point welcome into fantasy baseball today on Tuesday May 21st I am Frank stel joined by Scott White today on the show I've got four pitcher questions it's time to take a deeper look at Danny Jansen who has been awesome three rookie hitters who are slowly coming around and much more but let's jump in is this happening it is well you know what's happening Scott Pablo Lopez Pablo Lopez getting crushed that's what's happening yeah I know such an enthusiastic clip there for a bad pitching performance here for Pablo Lopez against the Nationals he was bad gave up seven runs in five innings two home runs allowed and you know there was a lot of anger over this performance a lot of people were unhappy with it shall we say I will point out that that you know you may be feeling right now like Pablo Lopez has been a big bummer for your fantasy team but he does have a 112 whip which is pretty good in fact it would be a career best that's after this start Pablo Lopez has a 112 whip he has 10.3k per nine which is exactly what you wanted from him uh definitely in line with the past couple years it's just that that erra is 472 which is high there's no way around it it's a high erra but like that's it's not the only stat that matters I feel like there tends to be outsized focus on erra possibly because of the impact that it can have on wins and losses which matters so much in head-to-head leagues especially but even if you look at wins and losses Pablo Lopez currently on Pace for a career high in wins so really it's just the ra that's the only way he's let you down to this point and a lot of it happened in this start but it was on the high side even prior to this start for Pablo Lopez and a a big reason why that's happening is the home runs two more today gives him nine on the season in a year when home runs aren't being hit as often uh if you're one of the few pitchers who's allowing some it's it's gonna hurt all the more and so I think that's mainly what we're seeing here with Pablo Lopez in the erra as to why he's allowing so many home runs I don't know I kind of feel like he's shied away from the change up too much throwing the fast ball a little more maybe become a little too predictable I'm not a pitching coach and I'm sure the twins have somebody better qualified to straighten Pablo Lopez out than I am but I don't think he's like broken or his talent has all evaporated and you should sell sell sell before he wrecks your team I think he's going to be a top 10 pitcher the rest of the way and again apart from ra he already has been yes for all the reasons that you mentioned I noticed that Pablo Lopez is allowing more fly balls this year and I think that's part of what's contributed to the Home Run rate being up it's 1.5 home runs per nine after this start last year it was 1.1 home runs per nine for Pablo Lopez so that's part of the problem I think also Psych logically when you play Fantasy and you take a pitcher as early as you do with Pablo Lopez the opportunity cost of maybe you passed up on a Terk scoble or a Yoshi noobu Yamamoto who just had another great start just knowing that you took Pablo Lopez maybe over some of those names it just makes it sting a little bit more Scott I think uh that's I think part of it for uh for why people might get so frustrated for where they drafted Pablo Lopez he was one of the four pitchers that I had questions about lat on so let's just get to it now doesn't it feel like these starts happen more often for Pablo Lopez though than other Aces and I don't have numbers to back that up but just based on his ER being on the little bit of a higher side last year the underlying numbers now have been much better than his actual erra uh the past two years now with the Minnesota Twins it just feels like when Pablo's off he just gets hit hard kind of in the same way that like an arinola like when things go bad for Pablo they just tend to go go pretty damn bad um what do you think about that doesn't it feel like this kind of happens off more often for him than it does other quote unquote fantasy Aces I guess you could say yes yeah I think that's fair and so if you're if you're hanging on every start it's it's liable to be frustrating having Pablo Lopez on your fantasy team but I don't think that's the best way to play Fantasy to hang on every start I think you you got to take a 30,000 foot view of it and and understand that as long as he's as long as all the underlying indicators are where they should be then in the long run the outcome is probably going to be good and you know no pitcher makes it through a season unscathed so uh I think that's I think that's the best way to play for Fantasy in general and certainly if you're going to invest in somebody like Pablo Lopez yeah and speaking of those underlying numbers they are still fantastic let me get that out of the way for for him I mean the k minus walk rate it's a 353 FIP a 306x FIP after this start for Lopez so I think he's had some bad luck with the home run so far and obviously that was Amplified in this one start I do think better days are coming ahead um but yeah I understand the frustration for someone you probably took in like the third or fourth round of fantasy drafts that is Pablo Lopez I want to talk about Marcel o zunis Scott who has been ridiculous again this year he went Marcell Ozuna three for seven with two more home runs across the double header he's now batting 327 with 14 home runs 43 RBI which is the league lead at this point a 1047 Ops he entered Monday as the 16th overall player in rodo the 16th best hitter in head head points leagues and when you consider where he was drafted the preseason ADP 134.0 for Marcel Ozuna he has been one of if not the most valuable player in fantasy baseball this season even with the fact that he's util only and doesn't really offer much flexibility what he is giving you from where you drafted him is nothing short of amazing and the underlying numbers back it all up he's crushing the ball it was a 16 and a half% barrel rate entering Monday's action that's probably only going to go up uh the expected numbers ridiculous three 32 expected batting average 674 expected slug Scott I'd like to make the case that Ozuna has been the fantasy MVP to this point yeah I mean given the state of offense around the league he's he's one of the few pulling his weight and you got him at a great discount it's my biggest regret from draft season when when we first started with the mock drafts I was getting Marcel Ozuna everywhere I'm sure we talked about it on this podcast more than once and then I kind of just stopped drafting him and it wasn't because I changed my mind about him it was because you know in that round 13 range where he tended to go there were a lot of pitchers I liked and I talked myself into Eloy Jimenez uh JD Martinez and even Byron Buon to an extent being a good value also you can only draft one DH one player for your DH spot and so I took the picture and waited to take those guys instead and uh and yeah that stinks because Marcel ozuna's been great and those guys haven't and I'm sure he's been more impactful than any pitcher I took there even if it was like Nick pavetta who's been very good and uh it's a shame it's a shame I made that decision and like it's it's understandable why he was going that late it seemed like a great value of course a 40 Homer 100 RBI guy from the year before going in round 13 but obviously he hasn't had the most consistent track Rec record uh multi-year down stretches where he he just his swing just it just gets a little off he gets like this slice in his swing and hits Wast too much hard contact to right center and it it turns into outs instead of production and I I don't know that anybody could have felt totally confident he was gonna carry over his approach from last year but it seems like he has and uh he's been carrying the Braves and he's been carrying a lot of fantasy teams teams as well so put that in consistency in perspective 2021 through 2022 172 game sample for Marcel Ozuna he had a 222 batting average with a 675 Ops I mean he has completely transformed himself the past two seasons I guess one and a half Seasons so far um since the start of 2023 and it was a really bad April last year and then he obviously picked things up from May on a couple other names I think you can make the case for I was just trying to figure out well is Ozuna actually the fantasy MVP Ellie De La Cruz everything he's done with the steals I think you can make the argument Alec bow 2 24th overall in rodo so far Bryce terang undrafted in a lot of leagues 29th overall in Roto and Jordan Westberg who was likely undrafted in a lot of leagues 41st overall as well uh but as I mentioned Marcel Ozuna a top 20 player to this point and he would be my pick but there's still lots of baseball to play this season want to give an honorable mention to uh Rafael Des what he is doing lately he has homered in six straight he actually set the Red Sox franchise record for most home runs in consecutive games it was his 10th home run of the Season he's batting 284 947 Ops dealt with some injuries early on but boom de right back on track quick quick reminder that you can listen to fbt and fbt and5 on Spotify if you're watching us on YouTube you can scan that QR code that will take you right to the fantasy baseball today Spotify page or if you have the app on your phone uh it'll take you to the app and uh thanks everyone for watching us live make sure to hit that like button and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven't already let's take our first break and when we return we'll hit the news and notes right after this best couch potatoes come from Pluto TV country and these taters they're like all sorts of different things Survivor Channel Ink Master Channel if it's got a spaceship in it I'm probably watching it three channels dedicated to CSI whatever mood you're in it's going to be easy watching welcome back in the news and notes another day another update on GAR Cole he is scheduled to face live hitters on News: Gerrit Cole update Tuesday the first time he's done that in his rehab process everything Remains the Same the timeline looks like mid to late June assuming no setbacks there with G Cole Zack effin was placed in the iil with lower back inflammation and is expected to miss two to four weeks apparently he uh felt a little tweak in his back in his last start so I don't know if we can use that as the excuse for why he's pitched so poorly so far this season but no I don't know maybe no I mean like I've said before with Zack effin everything looks more like pre- Tampa Bay Zack effin than 2023 Zack effin his one year with Tampa Bay and his one year uh pitching like more than a fringy pitcher in fantasy and everything everything looks more like 2022 Zack effin so maybe that year was just an outlier that's kind of how I'm leaning now not that I'm all the way there and it drop Zack effin out of my top 80 I don't know maybe I have to now that he's gonna miss a couple weeks but and and given how how hard it is to get all the good starting pitchers in my top 80 but that's my leaning on Zack effin Xander Bogarts exited game one of their double header with a left shoulder injury preliminary Imaging came back negative but they are awaiting results on additional uh test again that was for Xander Bogarts it sounds like Luis Robert will play in some rehab games later this week there was some hope that he'd play in games last week but the White Sox decided not to push Luis Robert Bobby Miller is expected to throw a simulated game Tuesday he's been on the iil since April 13th due to right shoulder inflammation kodai senga did not throw his scheduled Bullpen Sunday due to right triceps tightness the hope is that he'll be ready to throw off a mound later this week hopefully it's I don't love that there's just been like I know hiccups here and there on kodai seems a little scary I I don't know what's going on with that but it's it's as somebody I I think codena was my most drafted player obviously it it was for cheap but I have a lot of investment in him I'm patiently stashing him away and the timeline just keeps getting pushed further and further back for different injuries yeah annoying I have him in an nfbc League where there are no I spots and it is getting tough to hold on to some of those injured players man so I have them in one too yep yep waiting on kodai senga ree olssen left his start early after being struck by a line drive in his right hip it's been diagnosed as a bruise and he seems to have escaped with just a minor injury Evan Phillips who's on the I with a right hamstring strain is expected to make two to three rehab appearances before being activated Lane Thomas will begin a rehab assignment at daa on Tuesday and if all goes well could be ready to rejoin the Nationals on Friday Joey Ortiz got hit by a pitch on his right foot thankfully x-rays came back negative the Brewers will re-evaluate Ortiz on Tuesday morning Aaron Boon said DJ lameu will be the Yankees primary third baseman when he returns that could happen I think as soon as this week uh not a priority ad by any means Kade cavali has been assigned to the Florida complex League to begin a rehab assignment former top pitching Prospect with the Nationals is working his way back from Tommy John surgery he's 9% rostered Scott I think you wrote injury stash rankings last week was Kate h on that list by any chance no not even close not even close not even there way there are too many good injured players to put Kade cavali there fair enough uh Joe Ross exited his start due to back tightness and is expected to land on the IM Garrett Whitlock who was on the with a left oblique strain now has right elbow damage and will likely need surgery and Bryce Elder was optioned back to Triple A Darius Vines was recalled and Vines has struggled at Triple A this year 458 er a 125 whip he's only 2% rostered does this matter Scott Darius vines in the deepest of leagues uh Pro I imagine in pretty deep leagues like Ryan weathers is still out there right what's his roster rate up to he just had another great start I think 24% yeah okay it's getting up there a little bit but I don't know I I don't think Vines is going to be a contributor for long there's always a chance he goes on a run with a mid3 z that earns him some a decent number of wins with the Braves but I I wouldn't consider it a high priority what is AJ Smith schaver up to Scott have you heard anything about AJ Smith schaver recently I I mean last I checked the numbers weren't good in the miners 610 ER 152 whip right right uh I did hear mention I I saw a tweet about it and I didn't investigate much further but Ray Kerr a left-handed relever that they've used for multiple Innings recently there's been talk of stretching him out to start so that's another name all righty Three pitcher questions let's get into some of those pitcher questions we already spoke about Pablo Lopez Chris Sail has been so awesome that is three straight scoreless outings for him he was up against the Padre's he threw seven shutout five hits zero walks nine strikeouts 18 more swinging strikes seven of those on the fast ball seven on the slider four on the change up he actually use the slider a little bit less in this start uh use the fast ball and the change up more s has been awesome uh he's allowed a total of two earned runs over his last five starts he has 42 strikeouts just two walks over that five start stretch and overall it's a 222 ER and a 86 whip I know the rankings updates are coming Scott and we continue to push Chris Sale up there I but I here to ask you how many starting pitchers would you realistically take over Chris S right now ah it's a good question it's a difficult question I mean there there can't be any performance concern with sale anymore it's just is he is the same thing going to happen to him that's happened four years in a row and some kind of fluky thing happens freaky thing happens and he winds up on the iil for two months if only two months and yeah I can't predict that it's a possibility with any pitcher there are uh occupational hazards there that are kind of just baked in for all of them so is it even worth worrying about at this point point you know I I I have Tyler glass now in my top five and you glass now he's he's even more fragile than sale I think most people would would agree so why shouldn't sa be realistically would I take Pablo Lopez over him at this point I just said Pablo Lopez top 10 rest of season I'd have a hard time pulling the trigger on that if somebody offered me Lopez for sale straight up so I guess sale needs to be top 10 but that means somebody good is being pushed out and yeah I don't know I'll I'll wrestle with this probably two days from now I I I will I will mention 20% change UPS used in this one he's really up the usage of that in his last three starts and his strikeouts have been 10 N9 so he was like striking out six and seven earlier this season and and then he's brought in that change up and it's been more like 10 and nine strikeouts and uh that's he he might be he might have he might be reaching another level by incorporating that into his Arsenal it certainly hasn't held him back in any way yeah so that's even more reason to be excited about sale 10 and 11 in my starting pitcher ranks are Cole Reagan and Dylan C Cole Reagan having a fine season not proven has injury risk as well Dylan C having a fine season uh had a rough start here against the Braves on on Monday but you know he has an inconsistent track record I mean there is a real real debate for Chris S to be top 10 maybe even top eight starting pitcher right now just the way that he is going right now yeah yeah it's probably time I saw llad Sedler a good fantasy writer and player had him third he had sail third in his rest of season pitch rankings I believe he had him ahead of Terk scoel which I I can't get behind that but it's it's not crazy to talk about him in the top 10 yep again that was Chris S let's talk about framber Valdez who got crushed by the Angels he gave up eight earned runs over five innings he allowed 10 hits three of those being home runs in this start and he allowed 10 more hard hits he's up to a 432 ra 132 whip obviously the home runs kind of doomed him in this start what's WR with him so far this season Valdez um and look it's not like he was terrible entering this start the numbers were you know pretty much fine but he's giving up more hard contact and Valdez is someone who typically gives up a lot of hard contact I mean it's even higher this year and the babip is up potentially as a result of that the strikeout rate is down so you're not getting strikeouts and the ball is getting put in play more and you're giving up hard contact when it's in play I mean yeah bad bad things are probably going to happen for framber Valdez the question here Scott I love or heck no on framber VZ I'm gonna go out I'm gonna I'm gonna play hunch here and say that you could buy pretty low on him right now and part of the reason I'm saying that is the sort of reactions I'm seeing online anytime a good pitcher has a bad start it's like the sky is falling and why did I invest in this guy and uh just just totally over-the-top reactions and on the one hand okay on the internet you're going to see over-the-top reactions on all the time but I think it's easier to blow bad starts from good pitchers out of per out of proportion in this environment that is so skewed toward pitching right now like any misstep unlike last year when it's like every other start every pitcher was getting blown up uh this year it's very different these blowup starts seem isol more isolated and more uh damning I guess and so I I think because of that particularly less sophisticated fantasy players are going to be more likely to bail prematurely particularly in a trade context I'm not saying you're gonna see fber Valdez wind up on waivers in a lot of leagues but you know he's had more not so useful starts than useful starts this year and he had an elbow injury so yeah might be lingering in the back of people's minds too I think he's good I think he's going to throw a lot of innings I think he his ground ball rate is 65% so the weirdest thing about this start is he gave up three home runs more than doubled his season total in one start here uh as an extreme ground ball pitcher so we're not going to see that happen much forber Valdez in this home run environment especially giving up that many yeah I I think he's a I think he's a good by low uh he'll be it'll be interesting to adjusting him in the rankings I I feel like I remake my pitching rankings one through 80 every week because it's such a it doesn't take much to drop a guy when everybody's pitching so well like there there's so little margin for error to hold your place in the pitching rankings which is kind of what I was saying in terms of the trade market and I don't you know you're trying to think rest of season outlook here but you know even even what seemed like obvious regression cases like Ranger Suarez and Seth Lugo are performing so well so ridiculously well that you're reluctant to rank them too low because it just looks it just looks stupid it just looks stupid if you got Seth Lugo outside of your top 80 now uh but somebody has to be yep no I get that I saw this tweet from Chandler Rome who covers the Astros for the athletic after the game said uh Joe asata framber Valdez and janner Diaz all said that Valdez went away from the game plan in the seven run fifth inning quote Jer did a really good job calling pitches I was the one that decided to try and change the game plan I had to deal with the consequences that was a direct quot from uh quote from framber Valdez something went very wrong that inning that's for sure yeah uh let's talk about Taj Bradley who had a mixed start up against the Red Sox seven Innings five runs zero walks 10 strikeouts two homers allowed but 22 swinging strikes so it's like one good thing one bad thing one good thing one bad thing um I love that he only has three walks total in his first three starts because walks were a huge problem for Taj Bradley last year obviously the 22 swinging strikes phenomenal in this start but yeah I mean the five earned runs you know you can't kind of ignore that that happened here obviously the question on taj Bradley Scott is will the hard contact continue to hold Taj Bradley back because that was a big problem for him last year and it's been a really big problem for him so far this season as well yeah I just feel like the stuff looks so much better this year I talked about how he's throwing the cutter harder and it just seems to help his entire arsenal playup of those 22 swinging strikes for Taj Bradley eight were on the fast ball nine were on the cutter five were on the splitter so all three pitches were playing up spectacularly did give up five earn runs he gave up two home runs four of the five runs were on the two home runs he gave up six base runners total uh I don't know if he had a hit by pitch but he six hits and no walks in seven Innings and five earned runs so it was it was kind of a issue of the hits all happening in the same inning and then a poorly timed home runs and that sort of thing I I would say even though it was the worst Dr the most runs he had given up in his three starts this was the most impressive start Taj Bradley's had in terms of sizing him up for the long term and if you picked him up for the two starts I'd be I'd be excited about holding on to him all right let's slide over to some waiver wire hitters and let's have a deeper look at Danny Jansen someone we Waiver wire hitters haven't talked much about he has been crushing since he came off the I with the Blue Jays three for five with his fifth home run added five RBI in this game he's pretty much taken over as the team's main catcher there he's batting 333 he's got an Ops over a th000 at this point he's cut the strikeout rate it's 11 and a half% 20% for his career he's barreling the ball up he's hitting lots of fly balls and the expected stats look G great 305 xba 561 X slug for Danny Jansen 35% roster it's got is there an argument for Danny jansson to now be rostered in one catcher leagues as well as he's playing and how often that he's playing for the Blue Jays yeah I mean I I still wish he was playing a little more often Alejandro Kirk looks like he gets about a 40% share there behind the plate uh so that's you know jansen's the primary guy but it's not it's not like he's a true everyday catcher for the Blue Jays so you have to factor that in but think about some of the catchers that have eliminated themsel from catcher League consideration at least for the time being Bo Naylor and um Gabriel Moreno Ruiz injuries too Wilson grz and Francisco Alvarez so yeah I think I think Danny Jansen belongs in that discussion and I don't know that it's just oh he's really hot right now his ground ball rate this year is 18% that is I mean 25% is an amazingly low ground ball rate and Danny Jan's is 18% all of his contact is maximum damage his strikeout rate is 11 and a half percent. he's basically haved both both his ground ball rate and his strikeout rate which were both pretty good to begin with but now they're amazing um yeah he's just he just looking he's looking really good he's looking really good and catcher hasn't been quite as deep as we hoped it'd be he's put himself in the discussion would you take Danny Jansen over somebody like Luis campusano or Logan o' hoppy in a one catcher League I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with it I don't think I'd do it personally just because those guys play let me double check on campusano but I think they play more regularly campusano not quite as much as ohappy yeah I I think I got a rank Jansen behind them but I you know if you want to go particularly if it's a 10 team one catcher league and you just want to play the hot hand I wouldn't have a problem with that all right let's talk about two players if you have a Need for Speed Scott Luis Ren heo quietly running wild this season two for five with two more steals he's betting 312 he's got 12 steals total on the season he's up to 69% rostered and has four different position eligibility second third short stop and Outfield and Jacob young with the Nationals continues to run as well two for four with two runs two RBI and his 15 stolen base he doesn't really offer you I shouldn't say that he doesn't offer you any power that's for sure but he's hitting 270 he's got 23 runs scored he's got 15 steal I mean Jacob young is doing some things Scott would would you add either of those if if you need speed well Ren heo yeah I think pretty easily the problem with r heo he's already 69% so he's probably just not rostered in points leagues I would imagine but he might need to be as versatile as he is how many positions is he eligible at four four y um and he doesn't strike out much which obviously helps his points League appeal if if he's gonna steal this many bases and he's not going to strike out much he's GNA be worth starting in points leagues even so I think 69% that could stand to go up Jacob young I have less confidence that he's going to be somebody the Nationals will want starting every day all season long but he I was expected batting average is 269 that's actually better than I was expecting he has he has a low Fly ball rate which for somebody who doesn't hit the ball very hard like he's not going to be a power guy that that's good you want ground balls you want line drives he's doing that he's opposite field f focused he is he is sold out for batting average and that might be enough to keep his batting average at least in the respectable range that's kind of where I've landed with um uh the Brewers terang Bryce terang that's kind of where I've landed with him too is he's kind of optimized for batting average lowering the Fly ball rate going the opposite way more and so it's it's working it it probably works works better in a post shift League than it did prior to that and these speedsters are coming in and taking advantage and we may have dismissed them in the past in fantasy because like you got to have a certain amount of Pop to make it maybe that's not true anymore particularly if you're going to steal the Absurd number of bases that they are Jacob young and Bryce durang I do Wonder with Lane Thomas coming back will Jacob young continue to get as much playing time I good point I think he should because I mean the Nationals routinely play guys like Joey manessis and Joey Gallow look you could put Eddie Rosario at DH if you want and you know just get Lane Thomas back in the out look if Jacob young is do continues to do this I I think he's going to continue to play do either of these two hitters need to be rostered in more leagues than they currently are uh kry Carpenter is having a solid season the problem he just doesn't play enough he went two for three hit his sixth home run he's batting 285 he's got an 893 Ops I mean on paper those numbers are fantastic uh but just doesn't play against lefties he's 74% rostered and Luis Garcia has a similar problem two for four with his fourth home run added three RBI he's batting 281 he's got seven steals as well he missed three games recently with a heel injury but before that it it looks like Luis Garcia was starting to play more consistently he is 47% rostered Scots you think either either of those need to be higher Carrie Carpenter Luis Garcia no and in fact I'm kind of surprised Carrie Carpenter is as high as he is I I mean I I love the profile but presumably if he keeps hitting like this the Tigers will have to start playing against lefties because look at their lineup but hasn't happened yet and the the kind of shallow three outfielder leagues where he's available I don't think you need to wait for that to happen and pick up Carrie Carpenter I don't think that needs to be something on your mind as for Luis Garcia I think they expected stats have kind of returned to Earth for him they're still good 269 xba 466 X slug but those they don't jump out like they did earlier in the season I guess right right it's more of a pale red on the stat has page than a dark red and he's striking out a lot more than not that it's a bad strikeout rate but it was an amazing strikeout rate last year so he's kind of traded some there's been a bit of a tradeoff there yeah I I think about 50% for Luis Garcia is fine two names in five outfielder leagues Jesse Winker has homered in back-to-back games he's only betting 232 but he has six homers and five Steals on the season and Eddie Rosario over his last 14 games is betting 348 with five homers 13 runs 14 RBI and five steals he's been amazing uh are you looking to add either of those in five alfha the league Scott Jesse Winker Eddie Rosario you know I was to the I I picked up Jesse Winker in a lot of five Fielder leagues early on and I was on the verge of dropping him prior to this game so that's more where I am with him I guess the fact he's 33% rostered a lot of people already have dropped him but I think he's I think he's fine I think he's right on the fringes in five outfielder leagues the top 60 type outfielder is Jesse Winker and I could see him climbing 20 spots from there I could see him dropping 20 spots from there it's it's a little unclear what path he's going to take here after a few awful Seasons but uh you know he was a fantasy standout prior to that and had some injuries that possibly brought him down during his time in Seattle and Milwaukee Eddie Rosario it's it's kind of looking like Marcel Ozuna last year where he was so bad in April that it just it took forever to get his season year-to date stats up even though he was hot he's been hot for a long time he's been hot for the all of May Eddie Rosario and is still batting 190 so I don't think there's great urgency to pick him up just because who's gonna pick up the guy batting 190 but we've seen him be a useful fantasy player in the past it wouldn't be surprising if he did again I would prioritize Winker over Rosario but they're both worth keeping an aisle and did want to quickly pull up the Nationals team stolen base total because they are just running they have the green light anytime those guys are on yeah they're second in baseball and steel 77 right behind the Cincinnati Reds who have 79 so for all these guys uh Jacob Young on Lane Thomas is back Rosario win these guys are running and it has been great for their fantasy values uh two names in deeper leagues middle infielders Paul D young had himself a game three for four with a sock and the shoe his seventh home run his second stolen base and Michael Massie is doing some nice things with the Royals three for four with his fifth home run he's batting 284 has his Ops up over 800 expected stats look okay for Michael Massie uh you looking at either of those players Scott in you know 12 or 15 team Leagues with with a middle infield spot well not so much D young because D young even though the stats look decent his K rate's the worst it's ever been 35% his expected batting average is 194 which is third percentile and I think it's pretty fake Paul D young Michael Massie though I was a big Massie guy going into last year my deep sleeper at fir at middle infield and uh didn't work out I I'm kind of I'm kind of one on the Fly here I'm wondering if my Approach in fantasy moving forward particularly in those deeper 15 team leagues skip the rookies skip skip the guy they may not technically be rookies but they're going into their first full season just skip them just skip them and they'll stink as rookies and the next year you come in when everybody's written them off because they stunk as rookies and obviously you have to you have to factor in what they're going for Jordan Walker didn't go for that much of a discount this year and he's been bad so it was it was a waste to pick all over again but Michael massio is a complete afterthought and there are other players like that who were not very good as rookies and we're seeing some results from them now Michael Bush comes to mind a few others Jordan Westberg Colton cower oh yeah yeah definitely and uh you know maybe that's maybe that's the way to go here because I've talked for a few years now about how rookie hitters are not not setting the world on fire anymore by and large um and I think maybe it has to do with just more breaking balls than ever I that that's something you hear cided I haven't looked into it how many more breaking balls are being thrown now than used to be and they don't see as many of those in the minors and so maybe that's because there are more and more breaking balls being thrown in the majors that is that is making for a more difficult adjustment period for rookie hitters and they just need a year to get it all figured out Michael Massie seems like another example of that strikeout rates down to 133% you mentioned that the expected batting average isn't great but doesn't really take into account spray angle flyball rate is good for Michael Massie pull rate is terrific for Michael Massie he is swinging for power and delivering on it with a low strikeout rate so maybe a delayed breakout here I'm not saying Michael Massie is a huge priority except in those really deep Roto leagues but uh somebody to keep an eye on two names in the deepest of leagues Michael canani who plays for the Cardinals uh had himself a game two for four with a sock and a shoe his first home run his fifth stolen base and Nick Gordon who is now with the Marlins has been hitting well in the month of May betting 327 with two homers two Steals and 833 Ops I mean this is probably like NL only stuff's got any interest in either of those two I spent so long T talking about Michael Massie that I'm just gonna say no to Michael canani and Nick Gordon so we can move on to other things let's take our final break and after that we will do just that we will move on to other things right after this there are some things in life that you can't quite explain an extraordinary story maybe it sounds Flawless looks effortless or makes you feel like a part of History the first ever goal for BFC and when all of those phenomenons come together Soph it's it's perfect Pitch Perfect welcome back in let's talk waiver wire pitchers from Monday's action not the most exciting group of Waiver wire pitchers pitchers but we'll quickly run through some of the names Michael Waka turned in a strong start against the Tigers seven Innings two runs three strikeouts he's turned in three straight quality starts after a pretty rough stretch that he had before that Tyler Mill was solid in his returned from the I at the Guardians five innings three runs only two of those earned had seven strikeouts 13 swinging strikes and the fastball velocity was up to 96 miles per hour in this start from Mill Ben Lively pitched well against the Mets five and twoth thirds one run allowed seven strikeouts Mitchell Parker turned in a quality start against the twins six Innings three runs seven strikeouts with 13 swinging strikes for him and Ryan weathers has pitched very well recently he was up against the Brewers seven Innings only two hits two runs eight strikeouts with 14 swinging strikes in that one four straight quality starts for weathers he has gone seven plus innings in back-to-back outings Scott how would you uh not rank this group but I don't know do you have a favorite or two or are you actually interested in adding any of these names I mean it's a pretty interesting group I think in a 12 team context it's going to be hard to bring myself to to add this them just because there are so many quality pictures like these guys aren't breaking into the top 80 you know um but they're interesting and I could see them becoming Good Michael Waka of course was good the past couple years I don't think in this environment he gets any benefit of the doubt as a non- strikeout guy who's had some inconsistency fine fine as a streamer he was among my T sleeper pitchers for this week in line for two starts and I'm obviously for that exercise having to pick through the leftovers to find the hidden gems um so I I think I think Michael W needs to stay there though is a somebody you could potentially stream Tyler McGill I really like the splitter he has going that he kind of honed with the help of kodai SGA it looks really nasty he doesn't throw it enough he doesn't throw like he has a few interesting secondaries but he's throwing his fast ball 50% of the time and I think it's holding him back hopefully that change is going forward not that this was a bad start but it wasn't good enough to really move the needle for Tyler Miguel Ben Lively has been good but he's probably the least interesting of this group he's very high flyball rate gives up hard contact doesn't get a lot of whs I I think Ben Lively is not gonna last long Mitchell Parker uh I like he he's he's introduced the splitter to his Arsenal this year and um you know he's he's got a 332 ra and the RA estimators are pretty much in line with it really good control a high enough ground ball rate that he's good at home run preventions not a ton of strikeouts for Mitchell Parker but I think he'll be like Michael Waka and he'll remain streamable for the time being if there is one pitcher here who I think is most likely to take that that next step and become somebody rostering in 12 team leagues not that he's there yet but could he and I I think it's Ryan weathers who uh has a 55% whiff rate on his sweeper a 36% whiff rate on his change up very high whiff rates on those pitches that combined he throws he throws them more than half the time so why does he not have more strikeouts why is a swinging strike rate low it doesn't make a lot of sense I I think it's just kind of a sequencing issue struggled to put hitters away but clearly the pieces are there for Ryan weathers to be a good uh bat misser and he was at least in this start with the eight strikeouts and seven Innings with the uh 15 swinging strikes but it like has he put it all together yet I wouldn't say that with confidence and obviously he has the Marlins lineup backing him which is going to hold him back further so Ryan weathers isn't there yet but he's worth keeping an eye on would you take any of the pictures we just mentioned over either Chris Paddock or Alec monoa who we spoke about yesterday no all right is it time I think it might Drop Reid Detmers be time Scott Reed Demmer crushed again he was at the Astros obviously a tough matchup a very tough lineup to navigate but he allowed six earned runs over four Innings he allowed two more homers and over his last six starts a 99 erra a 176 whip more earned runs allowed than Innings pitched during that time he is still 72% rostered I know we spoke about him last week and we tried to keep the Fate Scott and the underlying numbers they still look interesting and he gets whiffs and he's you know the swinging strikes are there for Reed deur this is just this is too bad I I think this is too bad right now would you drop him for any of the pitchers we just talked about no not for the ones we just talked about for Alec Manoa if that deur was clearly the choice to drop then okay I could go along with that I'd like to hold on to him because it does still seem like a ton of upside with as many whiffs as he gets it's just whiffs aren't as big of a differentiator in a a league context where contact isn't doing as much damage and the contact redemer is allowing is doing a lot of damage because nine home runs uh during this six start span where his erra's gone from 119 to 580 that's yeah that'll do it that's a problem obviously you cannot start him it's a shame he was making two starts this week and in points leagues I even said okay you probably have to start him not anymore that's that's out the window until he shows signs of turning things around I think the fact that his slider was up 1.4 miles per hour in this start is a step in the wrong direction it kind of tells me that he's he's really searching and probably in the wrong places I I'm not opposed to dropping him if there's somebody good out there but I I do think there will come a point again this season where depur is worth picking up three rookie hitters who are slowly Three rookies coming around coming around and I would just say maybe throw them on your scout team and let's see where this goes Colt Keith is someone who we did like as a borderline sleeper I guess coming into the season he put up some great numbers in the minor leagues over his last 10 games he's batting 406 with two doubles just not seeing any power yet he does not have a home run on the season the expected numbers look better than what he's done overall so far so I think better days are coming maybe once the weather heats up a little bit uh in Detroit better days will come for Colts Keith Mason win is picking things up for the Cardinals he went two for four with two RBI over his last 12 games he's batting 341 with one Homer and two Steals and Nolan Shanel of the angels has quietly been pretty solid since the middle of April he is betting two 287 with four homers 10 runs 13 RBI since April 17th so that is a 29 game stretch Scott any thoughts on these players I don't think we're looking at but I would say let's just follow and and see where they go from here and Mason wi's another example of a player who looked like he was he was totally inept at the play last year he still retained his rookie status so I don't know if he qualifies as somebody who was worth buying in post hpe um but he's probably the most useful of these three just because he steals bases I am invested in Colt Keith in a couple of 15 teamers in fact I've picked him up in in tout Wars where he was dropped just in case just in case it heats up and and he gets going I I think there's a lot of upside there still one three hit game isn't enough to really move the needle though Leftovers, bullpens, streamers some pitching leftovers and the first group includes yoshinobu Yamamoto who turned in another quality start six in the third Innings two runs allowed had eight strikeouts 14 swinging strikes on a 100 pitches that was the first time he's thrown 100 pitches in a start this season so I thought that was notable for Yamamoto Jose buos turned in a quality start against the white socks six Innings three runs allowed six strikeouts there uh Tanner Hal pitched pretty damn good game against Tampa Bay seven shut out with five strikeouts and Ronaldo Lopez turned in another quality start he was facing the Padres six in a third two runs allowed four strikeouts for him he's allowed two earned runs or less in seven of eight starts that is Ronaldo Lopez Scott anything to add on him H Jose bios and Yamamoto yeah I still think some regression is Gonna Come here for Lopez I mean he has 154 ra so obviously I I imagine home runs are how it's going to happen when the weather heats up and the ball's carrying a little better because he's he's been a little too good at home run prevention I would say Tanner ha is interesting to me because it does seem like he's been a little less sharp here in May he's not getting whiffs like he used to and um the the the whiff rate on his his slider and splitter is actually down considerably on both from a year ago uh but he's so good at home run prevention and so good at throwing strikes like he's an outlier in both of those areas I I don't know where the strike throwing came from because that was not something we would have imagined for Tanner how coming into the season but it's true he's so good at those two that I'm I'm not sure we we really need him to get that many strikeouts so maybe it's no big deal I I do worry about the strike throwing with Tanner H and how great he's been at limiting walks so far this season that's been a big problem for Hal in the past and right maybe he just has more confidence and you know he's filling up the strike zone whatever it might be um but it's it's not even just the walks he's thrown 68% of his pitches for strikes which could also regress but usually if those two numbers aren't in line that that would be more worrisome would you consider hka sell high right now uh underlying number is still great like a 22p and a 287 X right because round balls and walks are so good yeah I I mean more than some pitchers more than some if he's not doing if there's a pitcher out there who's not doing everything right then you could make the Casey's a sell High because there are so many other pitchers to fall back on right so like if if I'm if I'm negotiating a trade for a stud bat and somebody's like no I really need Tanner haal in this deal I'm not going to let that keep me from making the trade probably would you trade him for framber Valdez if you could do it straight up I mean I'm sure I'm gonna rank Valdez higher h i that wouldn't be a trade I'd make with a ton of confidence but I think it is a trade I'd still have to make today pitching leftovers part two Logan Gilbert turned in a not so quality start but yes it was a quality start at the Yankees six Innings three runs allowed one walk one strike out and he's just looked a little bit more V vulnerable over his last three starts Marcus strowman had his best start with the Yankees versus the Mariners seven and a third one run allowed six strikeouts and he did tweak the pitch mix in this one he faded his Sinker a little bit he threw more Splitters sles and Cutters and throwing that splitter more seems like a pretty good idea for Marcus strowman Sunny gray had himself a solid start against the Orioles five and two thirds three runs allowed only one of those earned with six strikeouts and Dylan C had himself a rough outing at the Atlanta Braves four innings five runs three walks five strikeouts two home runs allowed and I did just want to point out with the home runs Dylan CE is allowing a lot more fly balls this year 51% fly balls and a lot more barrels so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that he gave up some home runs here and there probably still is going to be a little bit more home run regression coming for Dylan CE moving forward anything else to add on that group Scott uh not I don't no not really not really I understand being a little frustrated with Logan Gilbert and sunny gray lately I think both were due for regression and they haven't been so horrible that I I think anyone's close to abandoning ship here strowman's pretty fringey despite this good start he's he's somebody who's not in my top 80 and not really threatening to be yeah he had 15 walks in his previous four starts only had one walk in this outing so obviously that's a a huge part of it it's you know if he can limit the walks it's he's not really someone that gets a lot of strikeouts so he's he's got to walk that fine line Marcus strowman does uh but he did a good job of it here on Monday some hitting leftovers Bo bashet is hitting a little bit better in the month of May four for four with three doubles and so far in the month batting 263 but only one Homer one steel 709 Ops uh maybe he should be picking the brain of Danny Jansen to learn how to raise the ball and elevate a little bit more I know I you know I actually looked up did Danny Jansen go to drive line this off seon because that would make me feel even better about what he's doing like it was reinforced to him this is what you need to do yeah B bashad could use a dose of that I think he was 0 for TW you mentioned his May numbers but I think he was prior to this four for four performance he was 0 for 11 in his previous three games so it's it's hard to say he's trending the right direction okay Salvador Perez continues his great season two for four with his ninth home run he's batting 341 with 38 RBI and a 969 Ops crushing the ball expected stats look awesome for Salvador Perez Gunner Henderson has now homered in four straight games he went one for three with his League leading 16th home run of the season and Kyle Tucker continues his great season one for three with two walks and two steals he is batting 288 with 15 homers nine Steals and a 1039 Ops God bless Les Kyle Tucker in a world of Julio Rodriguez's and Corbin carols yeah be a Kyle Tucker yeah that's the guy I mean entering next year top three pick top four pick I mean it's way too early to say to commit to that but sure he's he's been who's been better than Kyle Tucker this year mookie bets sh Otani Ellie de Cruz yeah yeah it's fair to say I'm not trading I'm not trading Ronald dunia for Kyle Tucker so quit asking couple Bullpen updates for the Guardians Emanuel class a pitch a clean ninth for his 14th save he's currently the league leader in that department for the bruers Trevor Mill got the ninth with a one-run lead he gave up a run on two hits and took his first blown save for the Padres in game one Robert Suarez pitch a clean ninth for his 13th save for the Braves in game two rice H glacia Truck out one for his 11th save for the Yankees it turns out Klay Holmes is human after all he entered this outing not allowing a single earned run he got the ninth with a three-run lead he gave up four runs on two walks and four hits I watched this game it was lots of slow grounders and and blue pits it I I mean I can't imagine if I was Klay Holmes on the mound it was just I'm not making any excuses things happen but it was his second blown save and first loss of the season for Klay Holmes for the Mariners andr Muno struck out two for his ninth save for the Royals Chris Stratton entered with two outs in the eighth the bases were loaded with a five-run lead and he got Spencer tolon to ground out Stratton then stayed out there for the ninth and picked up his third save of the season for the Cardinals Ryan Hy walked one but picked up his 14th save for the Angels uh Carlos Estes got the ninth with a three-run lead he gave up one run on a walk and two hits but converted his seventh save and then uh Daniel Hudson got the ninth inning with a two-run lead and picked up his third save I think pretty clearly the Fillin closer while Evan Phillips is on theil here to stream or not to stream on Tuesday and who did we say yesterday I think I liked Casey M at the Royals Alec Marsh at home against the Tigers and Robert Gasser at the Marlins and I liked Zack latel against the Red Sox on Wednesday this is not that cre of a list yeah I mean Jake Irvin against the Nationals I mean the Nationals are I mean thewin twins the twins are pretty cold right now so maybe you could do that KY probably the best one it's Kyle Gibson gets a Revenge game against the Orioles uh Austin gomber at the Oakland A's he's been pitching well lately but he has and he's on also Austin gomber you don't want to get gomber it's the last remember a couple years ago Scott PE uh I don't know some people picked up Austin gomber for a two start week and uh I think he gave up like 10 runs in his first start of the week it was uh and then the term being gomber kind of was I mean the first week of this season Kyle Freeland was in line for two Road starts against what were thought to be weak offenses right oh I remember that you started them in NL only and an NL only yeah yeah and Chris said I I will not win erra and whip this year in that League well I'm here to tell you Chris wherever you are I'm currently fifth in erra and Ninth and with I I was really hoping that you would look it up and you'd say I'm last and both that would have been pretty good let's wrap up with team name Tuesday big thanks to everybody for sending these we have a lot of submissions so apologies if we don't read yours uh this week we'll try to get to them on a future episode These are from John and they are happy Madison Edition so uh right up my alley Shooter McGavin Stone sure nudy magazine day I guess like Nar niy NY yeah I think I think you need to pronounce that a little differ uh to to today junior cero I like that one maybe I shouldn't it but I do stop looking at me Quan what is that I can't quite place that but it sounds familiar I think it's Billy Madison stop looking at stop looking at me Swan Swan okay I think so I think that's where it's from uh High qualo H2O Tani oh I see I see these are these are all happy Madison okay yeah it's a little slow here sorry all good uh the wedding Brady singer that is the best Adam Sandler movie IMHO that is you didn't like that you didn't like that that's kind of a take that's uh that's the best one I might have to hit up Adam AER and and send him Scott whites takes here that that scene where he's singing that angry song and and like the range of emotions Drew Barrymore's character goes through as he's singing that song it's just it's just it was just fantastic acting to me I love that it's a great movie there's no doubt uh this next one be Doyle rules Brenton Doyle be Doyle rules okay and uh I'm glad I called that fry I had to look up where this was exactly and you had to look it up this is in Billy Madison when Steve bumi comes later on and uh yeah I don't want to go through the whole scene but uh yeah Adam Sandler's like I'm happy I called that guy I'm glad I called that guy David fry by the way underrated second catcher in deep two catcher leagues yeah I was gonna bring him up today and then I felt like he wasn't playing enough but he's doing some things he's he's he plays positions other than catcher so I think there's room for the playing time to improve this next one from Stephen sha you mouth okay it's pretty good from Scot not Scott White D young and dless sure and head for the Mount Castle Bush yeah okay from Mark the incredible H I like it elegant scoble diving ah yeah that works gracing us with your presence ooh that's real clever Mark and I are on the same wavelength there oh you're going to love this one Scott adulis Garcia later Ellie Gator no no that's you get that second one in there it's got to be seamless okay it if you get multiple names in there it can work but it's got to be seamless if you got if you have to like slow down as you read it not worth doing not worth getting that second name in there I enjoy the ones that are over the top because a I know you hate them and B is they're so so bad they're good so next two are from Tom shake shake shake shake your boo sure burger and aad of fries spelled f r y so that's three names and it's not bad it's not bad as a three Namer from Tony Dunning up that hill sure if you ain't kiting you ain't caben MH yeah a bird in the hand is worth woo in the bush yeah yeah two names in there four wait four names if you includ like a throwback to Greg bird and Brad Hand Brad this guy says there's four names in there I think Jake bird is a reliever on the Rockies think uh yoshida's Island sure dude you're getting Adell I I feel like that was popular a few years ago but it's it's not it's it's it's solid from Kevin Joe Joe and Joey Allah Ed Ed and Eddie Joe Adele Connor Joe Joey lero got kind of a deep cut but yeah I like it I feel it and these last few are from Jake gof mil lawn sure Jake and the fotm f I don't know why I said man Jake and the F to give it the the asinet of thought yes uh yeah if you have to pronounce fat wrong for that like I just did you have to pronounce f wrong for that to work Morel relativism all right bag again Christian sure computer halker yep terang test don't know that I get that one you get that one I I looked it up there's some so tering test is like a thing I don't know what it is uh the tering test originally called the imitation game by Alan tering is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligence Behavior I don't know okay there I was pre- laughing at the next one this next one is roboot should we just should we just end the podcast with uh Robo Scott up here hey hey look at that another show without Robo Scot whoever whoever you are guy on Twitter who told me to increase my temporary internet file space you are a legend and you've earned the the responsibility of me coming to you with all my computer problems in the future just sliding into your DMs hey how do you fix this because you know you You' you've fixed the unfixable apparently apparently and last but not least I Can't Believe It's Not cutter there you go there you go we're going to wrap there for Scott I am Frank thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today please make sure to follow and leave a five star rating on Apple or Spotify and we will be back again tomorrow bye-bye