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I'm a sound just like your name was. Podcasts a podcast, It's a
podcat, It's podcast. It's a ride podcast podcast podcast. Hey everybody,
welcome back. It is the raz Ball Fantasy Baseball podcast. I am beat
on, joined by the good looking Gray Albright, the Fantasy master letario himself,
the mustachioed man of mystery. How's it going, buddy? Hey man,
good, I got a I don't know if you can I don't know
if you can see, but I have new glasses on. Yeah, I
can't because they're not just straight black. Then there's a little little in lay
there. I see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have right
here, I have I got. I got glasses when I was. These
are h I got different glasses for when I was when I was looking at
my my glass cases a little car like I'm twelve. That that does feel
very twelve. That feels I mean, I'm surprised there's not a logo there.
Held on, hold on, wait, hold on, I'm gonna I'm
too my head until I put my glasses on, I go. Um,
No, I had a I had a mishap of my black ones. I
was at uh. I was at Handles ice cream. I don't know if
you know Handles. I've never heard of it. Not not not not a
pain sponsor. But if they want to if they want to please, that's
like that's what everyone says on every podcast ever ever. Oh yeah, hidden
bro, Yeah, I know they're not a paid sponsor because you're just talking
about it. I didn't make a read that you heard before the show started,
because I didn't stop everything and just start talking about it. But anyway,
I was at Handles ice cream and I was I was licking the cone,
right, I was looking the ice cream and I accidentally put my whole
face in the ice I got ice cream all over my black glasses and they
didn't really it didn't really come. It was like a sticky because I couldn't
because then I had to go. I had to go to Whole Foods because
it was we were we were out right, and I had to go to
home. I sound like I sound like Norm McDonald's. We had to go
to the hole. We had to go to Whole Foods, right, because
they were all sticky, and uh, I go to Whole Foods to get
water and it's like three dollars to get water to clean off my glasses.
But then but then I couldn't really because all I had was late the eyeglass
case, the cleaner that was in my my car case and all I had
was that, and and then it was got it got sticky. So anyway,
my glasses are super sticky, so I had to put on my backup.
Was this today like or is this like a week ago? We haven't
remedied the situation yet. This was Saturday, so yeah, we're going on
three days. I haven't remedied the situation yet. No, because right now
Coogs is in Palm Springs and I'm in La. We're doing a trials.
No you're not. That's a joke. No, she's got she's doing some
stuff. She's taking care of family business, and I'm in I'm in La
and we have construction going on in the house. Anyway, long story short
is, she would have cleaned my glasses properly. But she's in. She's
child. I have a child with the eye glass case that is a car.
We're children with responsibilities Gray. That is, we literally talk about a
game like your your whole job is a game. I was like, you
know what, and the coops were to say anything to me, I'd be
like, hey, when you're burying me, I was running a fantasy baseball
website. Why did you expect, dude, like this is on you.
I'm sorry, but it's on you. The signs were there. Yeah anyway,
yeah, so um there there you go. That's why I'm wearing different
glasses as a single man. If for the like three women who might be
listening to this podcast, I'm better than that. Just just letting you know,
I'm better than that. This very low bar that Grass said, I'm
above it. Somewhere you're you're you're above the bar that's labeled can clean your
own glasses. You're above that bar. I am that that bar in particular,
I got like it's like it's a bar that is basically right. It's
it's right above an ant hill somewhere barely off the grounds, that little crack
that you trip over, you know, on the sidewalk exactly. Anyway,
Yeah, speaking of I don't know how to transition. Now, I'm gonna
try and transition. Transition this somehow great, but like I got it,
I'm in LA and u Joe, Hey, Latani kind of plays in LA.
So so there's there's that part. But can we just can we just
give him the MVP after the week he had this week? I mean he
had six own runs, he had four thirty five, he had a stolen
base, just just for fun, through six innings of two earned run ball
versus the top scoring offense in baseball. Give him the MVP. And how
do the Angels not make the playoffs with the greatest baseball player that like has
ever put up seasons? What is going on? Yeah? Um, okay,
so I knew this was so. I knew this was coming because you
know, we have an outline. First ever to do outline. Yeah,
because you're the you're our first Razball podcast host. After eight years, we
finally have an outline. So I'm not completely rough in here. I'm not
taking I'm not taking numbers off of the top of the head. I actually
I have stuff that I was able to research, so I looked at this.
So this is kind of interesting. I totally agree with you that Otani
is headed for an MVP season and he had an incredible week. This is
not to take anything away from home, but I just wanted to point out,
and this is kind of water under the bridge at this point, but
I wanted to point out that Otani's last seven days it was actually eight days
technically because they played I guess they played eight days anyway, in the last
seven day play Raider, but it's actually eight days, you know, bringing
that take that up with Rudy, I don't know. But anyway, the
last seven days that Otani's played, um, he had fifty three dollars and
fifty cents worth of value on the seven day the seven day Player Raider,
and it's eight days. You don't know what I'm saying. It's eight days.
It's eight games, but it's seven days anyway, So he had Yeah,
so he had fifty three fifty is what I said. Yeah, Okay,
last year, last year, Aaron Judge, over the course of the
whole season had sixty two dollars and ninety cents worth of value. So not
saying that Otani didn't have a great week, but it just shows you how
insane Aaron Judge's year was last year. Like that's like, that's crazy,
Like that's I know, it's like it's way past the point of talking about
Aaron Judge last year, but it's really insane because if you think about it,
like because right now, on the top of your head, uh is
your hair? No, on the top of your mind is what Otani just
did the previous week, how good he was this previous week, and it
was still a little bit less of what Aaron Judge did last year. I
mean, it's really kind of crazy. Anyway. That was a long way
of saying Judge had a great year last year, which is not new news.
Yes, yes, not new news, but yeah, I mean Otani
Tanny's like I mean, I'm saying, like I said on the website,
U the website like I don't know what the name of it is. I
said in Rosball the other day, Um, when he when he got the
win and he also hit a home run, it was like, I mean,
I think Otani is like the best player ever. I mean, I
know it's like it's a bit hyperbole, but you just I mean he's leading,
like he's leading the league in homer's and he's also a top ten pitcher.
That's insane, Like that's that's nuts like that it really is. I
mean it's like you run out of things to say, like oh and the
Otani um fifty three fifty number was that was just his hitting number. That's
not including his pitching number. So he was actually, you know last week
if you combine his hitting and his pitching. But you know, you can't
do that really, like I know some leagues you have daily leagues where you
can like get most of his hitting. You're still losing some hitting. But
you know, with all that said, he's still I think the best player
ever. It need to be hard. I mean, I know it's like
recency bias is probably playing into this, but I mean, who else is
anything remotely like this? I mean pound for pound, like you know,
leadoff hitter wise, we've had better leadoff hitters, we've had better power hitters,
we've had better fielders, we've had better runners, but just as one
player, we've had better pitchers. But just as one player, one guy
doing all of this, it's so insane, Like it doesn't make sense.
It really doesn't. No, it doesn't. And like he could go play
almost Gold Glove caliber defense in the outfield if he wanted to, but the
Angels won't won't do that to him. I mean, there's no reason for
him to do it. But held like, I have no doubt in my
mind he would be a great outfielder, and that would just add to it.
That's about the only thing that you could even say against him. And
to that, I say, well, yeah, but he takes the baut
In every fifth day, so suck it, like yeah, yeah, suck
it. Yeah, man, suck it. That's a yeah, that's there.
You go. There you have our tightenough for this week. Suck it.
Um Yeah. No, I mean, I think, honestly, I
think with Otani, like if you look at his like just his like just
as a a a like one in bat, just looking at him like and
just like down to the like the just the going microscopic on him, game
my opic to bringing this back to eyeglasses, getting my opic on like what
he's able to do. If you just look at one in bat, the
way he's able to hit the ball four hundred and fifty feet the opposite way,
it's like this is not normal all. Like you just watch him and
you're like, like you see Aaron Judge and you're like, well, yeah,
I mean he's what six six seven, two hundred and seventy five pounds
of muscle. Yeah, I mean I'm expecting him to be able to hit
the ball hard. But Otani's like it looks like he's barely trying, and
he hits the ball the opposite way four hundred and fifty feet and You're like,
whoa bro, what even man? It should not be possible what he's
able to do? Like it really, I don't know. It's just like
he's like made in a lab that has been able to like perfect a situation
where it's like he's able to hit and pitch in such a way that's like
so good, it's so good. Oh my god. I mean and I
honestly like this week because I don't have him in one league, you know,
bringing this back to fantasy and bringing this back to my teams, because
you know, why else are we doing this? But yeah, I mean
I had him. I have him in one league. It's a weekly league,
so I either am getting him for his as a hitter or as a
pitcher, which you know, I think that reduces his value a little bit.
But as a hitter this week I had, I had him hitting because
he had you know, the one one matchup pitching wise, which was in
Texas, which isn't even a great matchup. But I mean he's still pitched
well, like I said earlier. But I mean, thank god I had
him hitting. Otherwise I don't know if I would have made this podcast,
if I would have won, if I would have missed that week, Oh
man, I would have Yeah, I might have had to cancel. Oh
thank god, thank god. Yeah, he's been amazing. I was actually
looking in the in the Memorial magazine league that you I don't know if you're
in that one this year, but you've been in it with with me,
with all the like CBS guys and everything. You know, I need I
need home runs, And I was looking at Otani and I'm like, I
don't even know what I could put together. They would they would get oh
Tanny and would did. I wouldn't feel like, you know, kind of
a you know, a jerk for offering and come in and undervalue because he's
he's worth so much. And especially in the daily league. This one's not
daily, it's weekly. But even then, like it's it's ridiculous and thank
yes, thank goodness you had him in your lineup, Gray, I uh,
we wouldn't have heard the end of it ever, So for everybody,
really we really wanted them for everybody's sake, we're happy you did it.
Gray. Yeah, it's true, man, I would have been talking about
that for years, so it would be an every article, like for forever
forever. Ever, like you mentioned Otani, they would just you just copy
paste it. You would. You wouldn't even write it anymore, it would
copy paste. It would be a paragraph just complaining about the week that you
missed. Be like I missed a quarter of his value for the season in
a week. Yes, true, it's true. You know what I can't
lie that is it does exactly what happened. All right, Let's let's move
on to another thing that we're excited about. And that is the Luis Matos
call up from San Francisco. And by the way, is this some weirdly
like the most commonly used name of a baseball player. There's like five Luis
Matos in baseball history somehow, is there? I yeah, I'm blanking though,
Is there? Really? They all didn't like only two made the majors.
This is this being one of them, but there were three through the
miners as well, So like randomly there, don't you know what would be
you know, you know, it would be super random if it was like
Rodan or Door and they were all brothers, that would be super weird.
Wouldn't like who would do that? Why would somebody do that inside their own
household? But so this year in Triple A, in twenty four games,
Matos has seven on the runs, six stone bases, twenty one, twenty
on the on the runs and RBIs he's hit in three ninety eight, four
thirty five, six eighty five is a seven percent k rate and a six
percent walk. Great because he's just he's hitting everything, So why would you
walk if you just hit it? So far he has four games up,
he's hitting three thirty nine or three thirty three five, twenty nine, four
seventeen. He is a Stotlin base seven runs, hitting out of the six
or eight spot already. Somehow David VR was activated at the same time,
but for now it looks like Matos is playing in vrs is bench where you
had on Matos every add in every league. Yeah, yeah, no,
I think, yeah, I think so. I I wasn't able to add
him in every league because you know, some leagues are fab leagues, and
well, you know, I just didn't. I didn't. I didn't be
Yeah, I didn't been enough in uh in some leagues. I'll uh oh,
Actually, let me look at what he went for in my leagues.
This is this is interesting for for people hearing me type, you know,
you know, it's really in my league he went for forty six dollars out
of and this is one thousand dollars budget. But everybody, you spent a
lot of money and all of us are running low. So yeah, in
one league, actually in one league of mine, he went for like four
hundred dollars. But that was NL only um and crazy enough, that was
out of a hundred dollars. No, that was that was out of a
thousand obviously, But yeah, yeah. I mean he went for four hundred,
so that's a lot. Yeah, yeah, I mean, and you
know, it kind of depends on what you need. Um. Anyway,
I was able while you were talking. I was able to bring up what
he went for in my leagues. So he went for forty eight dollars in
one of my leagues, that's actually a pretty good price. Running up was
twenty seven US out of a thousand, obviously. Uh. And in my
other league he went four let's see more one seventeen. Uh. Running up
was thirty five though, so that that person could have he could have been
a little bit less. But you know what, you have no idea.
If you need a guy, you need a guy. Yeah, I don't
remember what I've been on him, but i'd been you know, i'd probably
been like roughly around forty dollars in both of those leagues. Um, I
don't have that much money to be bidding. So you know, again,
it's like it depends on a team situation. I think he's totally worth rostering
though in all leagues, Like he looks like he has good power and speed
and actually a good hit tool. Um, you know, like in t
Plea that he had it was only twenty four games, but then he had
under seven percent strikeout rate. That's you know, we've been doing this a
while. I don't remember hearing about an under seven percent strikeout rate from a
guy in in Triple A who was only twenty one years old. Yeah.
Yeah, like that feels like like I don't obviously I don't know off the
top of my head, but that's gotta be just about as a lad as
you're gonna find for a strikeout rate on a twenty one year old I don't.
I don't know. Maybe maybe I'm wrong, but it sounds it sounds
elite. Uh yeah. And also just the fact that he had like in
Double A, this is but he had a higher walk rate than strikeout rate,
Like wow, like he's really like that's super talented, Like I wouldn't
be It wouldn't be totally shocking for him to have like a three eighty or
above i'm base percentage as a rookie, which is like, you know,
that's nuts. Um, I you know, I could see him potentially because
he's like, you know, unlike like a Rise or some of other guys
who are or like or some other hitters who are you know, strictly average
guys. Matos could actually hit for average, and he has power and speed,
not elite power. You know, he's like maybe a seven to twelve
homer guy at least this year, you know, maybe even less, maybe
five to seven homers this year in the majors. Maybe next year with a
full season, maybe we're looking at like twelve homers. And he has better
He has better speed than that, like probably fifteen to twenty steel speed.
But with you know, with the average, it's better than like say,
you know a guy who comes to mind, like a Stephen Kuan is like,
you know, a low power, some speed, good average guy.
But I think Matos is probably gonna be above him next year, So does
that make him above him this year? You know, It's like it depends
on how the Giants play it because like I saw, you know, just
randomly, I saw in the in the lineup because I was looking for fab
I was looking to see where guys were batting in the lineup. So I
saw Matos. I think was hitting in the bottom of the lineup yesterday,
yesterday being Sunday, when his first game up though he hit third. He's
more or less like he should be hitting leadoff. I think, you know,
at worse he's hitting second. It depends on what they want to do
with Estrada. Estrata has been hitting third though, so yeah, I mean
I think, you know, anyway, Mattos next year probably above where you
took Quan this year. For this year, I think he's roster bowl in
every league. I mean he you know, with rookies, you never know,
but he could easily put together from this point forward better season than Quan,
you know, And that's you know, and I keep saying Quam because
that's sort of like that's how I see him basically, like you know,
oh like pretty iffy on power, but nice speed and good average. Yeah,
I mean, Stephen, Quan's the rare one where like he came up
and stole more bases than he had ever stolen in the minors. And why
that is, I'm not sure, but he was. He was also you
know, kind of fast tracked through that through the organization as well. Matos
is very much the same. And you mentioned the strikeout rate in Triple A
over twenty six games, so just a couple more than Matos. He had
a six point seven percent k rate, Steve, that's Stephen quand so there's
there's another connection that that that's seven percent k rate or lower. He had
five home run and two stolen bases to Matos's seven and six, so you
know, there is a little bit something to be said about that, although
no Matos started there, actually they both started a double I So yeah,
I mean, that's that's about as even as you're gonna get as far as
production other than Matos being kind of in the PCL on that That'd always been
a nice place to go for hitters, right, Yeah, So that's why
even maybe I'm over estimating Matos's power a little bit because of where he was
playing in Triple A, he did have some nice power there, but yeah,
because I know when he got called up, I believe he had hit
six homers in six straight games. Yeah, that'll do it. Yeah,
So you know, and that's PCL though, So I mean he might not
hit six homers for the rest of the year in the majors, you know.
San Francisco is not a great part for power necessarily. So yeah,
I mean, but still, like I said, totally rosterable in every league.
Yeah, before anybody starts yelling at there, you know, listening device,
it was six homers in six games. He had two homers in one
game, so it wasn't a streak, but that's that's how it happened.
He had six and six games prior to getting called up. He's hitting the
ball well and he doesn't strike out. I mean, that's that's a good
combination for a pickup m Yeah. Yeah. There's no I in team,
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indeed might Shehan got called up for the Dodgers and ten starts twelve appearances this
year over fifty three innings. He has a one eight sixty r A,
a zero point eight eight whip, forty two percent k rate, and an
eleven percent walk rate in the minors. He has a ninety six millar fastball
change up as nice slight. He has a slider that's okay. First start,
he went six innings nowhere in three k's, two walks, and they've
already said he's going to get at least one more. Start with Arius and
center Card both on the io where yeah, uh, you know M and
she and another guy who I was pursuing heavily and I didn't end up getting
him anywhere. Actually I did get him in our RCL league, but I've
dropped him since that's a twelve team mix league. Uh, and you know
I have her. I have uh the braves ass already so um A J.
Smith Chauvr. So the fact that you know, I just didn't want
to keep uh Chauvr and she in. Anyway, that's my own that's my
own situation. I did pursue him in every league though she in. That
is I pursued. I pursued Chauvr too, But that's beside the point.
M Emma schauver m and she and I think looked better on paper than he
ended up looking in the game. To be honest, I thought he looked
good. I actually I watched this game. I watched a good I probably
watched like seventy five percent of it. I thought he looked very poised for
a first start, but he didn't really know where the ball was going,
Like his command is kind of wonky. I don't know, Like it depends
on like if he's able to get in front of like hitters, if he's
able to get up in counts that may not play as hard as it was
occasionally in the miners, like in the miners here at three point nine walk
per nine, if he has above that in majors, which you would think
a guy who has like an almost four walk per nine in the miners in
double A. You would think that would you know, translate to the majors
and become like a four and a half or worse walk per nine, And
if that happens, he's gonna be unusable. So I and I honestly was
watching. When I watched him, I was like, I thought he looked
good, Like he definitely he was able to strike out some hitters, so
you know, don't take this the wrong way. Like he looked like he
had decent stuff, but it was the Giants, and he didn't strike out
a ton of hitters either, And he and he really looked wild, like
the ball like it would come out of his hand on counts. Like you
know, what really shows me when a guy is like in a two oho
or or a one oh count and he throws the ball so wild that the
hitter would never swing at it. It's like, you don't you don't want
to fall behind two or three oh, Like it's you know, it's a
kind of a telltale sign when a guy is, you know, looking in
an account where he should be throwing a strike and the ball is just over
even over the catcher's head. Even at times like it was just he didn't
He didn't look like he could really command his pitches, and that's how his
minor league numbers also back that up, Like you know, So it wasn't
nerves necessarily. I think I think it is who he is right now,
and that can backfire real fast. So while I did go out and pursue
him, I didn't. I didn't bid very high, so I obviously I
didn't get him in any league, So I didn't like I you know,
I went like in the thirty to forty range out of a thousand on fab
and I didn't get him. Other people, other people been much more than
me. He looked good, he looked like he could be great, but
he also looked like he can be a disaster at a time. So I
would just be careful. Like I said, I've already dropped him in a
twelve team mix league because I just don't need the headache of having another rookie
pitcher I have, you know, like honestly, between him and Chauver,
since I mentioned it, I would go Chauver, but I think she and
could be potentially as good. It just depends on whether or not he can
locate yeah, I would. I would tend to agree with everything you have
to say. And he's he only has one more start guaranteed. Whereas you
know, it seems like Jobber is going to be in the rotation unless he
kind of collapses and then they'll little a cycle whoever they feel like the next
guy in. But it feels like his spot is at least more secure than
than Jan's right now, because there's a various is definitely coming back at some
point. He's gonna take a rotation spot, Syndergarden. You know, I
don't know if he necessarily deserves a rotation spot or if you'll get one,
but you know he's coming back as well. Yeah, and for what it's
worth again, like it depends on you know, the leagues or whatever.
But in my fab leagues where he went, he went for more than matos,
which you know in in at least the fifteen team mixed leagues, he
went for sixty nine in one league, and he went for one hundred and
twenty one in another league. Um, so you know I like him.
Actually, actually I did get him in one of those leagues. At how
many leagues I have I forgot? I got him? Okay, So yeah,
I mean I like him. I got it. Obviously, I bid
enough to get him in one league, so I do like him. Um,
but I worry that he could explode. Also in the league where I
got him, my pitching is such a mess that you know, it was
like it sometimes you gotta take upside gambles in certain leagues. So yeah,
but I do. I do like him. I just think the command is
was really not very pretty as what I saw at least of the command.
Now it was only one start. Maybe there was nerves, it didn't seem
like nerves. It really didn't like it seemed like he just wasn't um you
know what, you would call it, uh locating and in my uh and
for what it's worth, in my NL only league, he went for three
hundred hours, so you know, so he went for a little bit less
than Mato's in that league. But and that's obviously out of a thousand.
So anyway, long story short is, I would be worried in in shallower
leagues. I would be a little bit more hesitant. In the deep,
the deeper tole league. It's like sometimes you gotta take camp. Just grab
him, Yeah, you just grab him and see what happens. Would you
start him? It looks like he's lined up for Houston at home? Would
you would you start him there? Yeah, it's not it's not safe,
but I would in like fifteen team mix leagues, I would start him there.
Um. In twelve team mix, yeah, I probably wouldn't in a
twelve team mix, not in a ten team mix. That's too shallow for
him. Yeah, I think that's that's appropriate. And if you're in it
depends on again, what you're looking for it. If you're kind of set
in pitching, I wouldn't really take the risk and face that blow up.
But yeah, numbers you know in my uh in the RCL league where I
dropped him, Like, I don't know if I have the best pitching,
but I have probably closed for the best pitching, and I just don't need
it like I have. I have so many good arms at least right now,
you know, you know, knock on wood, but I don't need
it, So I didn't. I didn't want to. I didn't want to
risk it. Yeah, you are currently third in an RCL in pitching,
so you're you're sitting pretty pretty solid in there. I'm I'm not, Oh,
you might want to try she and then he may be getting added to
the roster. You know, it's it's it's been a disappointing, disappointing season
on the pitching side over there, but that's okay. We're moving on and
actually it's getting better, like my pitching is actually rounding into form. Anyways,
nobody cares about my team. Somebody might care about your team, they
don't. Finally don't care about mine. Um Bo bow Naylor was called up
by the Guardians. People care about that. Sixty games in Triple A,
thirteen home runs, two stone bases, forty five forty eight. He's in
two fifty three, three ninety three, four ninety eight with a nineteen point
three percent k rate and an eighteen percent walk rate. And to make it
official that he is, you know, the roster they have DFA Mike Znino.
Yeah, about time. That was that was such an obvious like service
time, uh manipulations. I mean it was so obvious. It couldn't be
more obvious. Yeah, I mean, Zannino really and as soon as we
passed the Super two, it's like, oh yeah, zanin da oh imagine
that shocking anyway, So yeah, Biler, you know, I think we
were also gonna talk about Henry Davis. You want to just talk about Henry
Davis and Bono, let's talk about the catchers. We we ain't catchers anyways,
so don't even spend a bad time so so, because I feel like
they're kind of gonna be, you know, in most leagues, they're gonna
it's gonna be. People are gonna be looking at both of them and wondering
which one they prefer. And I think, you know, like I was
saying, I think on the site, um, I think Henry Davis is
probably uh just all right. So here's my thoughts. They're both gonna do.
They're both projected for pretty similar things. Like they both have power.
They don't really have much speed. They have like a good a decent hit
tool, but they may not hit for more than two forty or something this
year, because you know, catchers just don't hit for very good averages.
But their hit tools are okay, They're not like gonna hit for a good
average like say like an Adela Rushman or something like. They have. Their
main attraction is the power. And Henry Davis's power looks really amazing and Bone
Naylor's power looks great, like they both look like they have really solid power.
So my thought is Henry Davis has been playing the field a lot in
the miners. He's looked proficient enough in the outfield where I think the Pirates
could actually play Henry Davis, you know, a decent amount where not even
behind the plate. They might even like they could d h him. They
could play him in the outfield. You know, he might even get some
at bats at first or something like. Henry Davis could play other positions,
which is just gonna help him with counting stats if nothing else. So I
think I'm going Henry Davis over bonnail Or for that reason and that reason alone,
really because I think they're probably gonna be both very similar. They're both
twenty three years old. They're gonna be, you know, super similar in
projections. It's just Henry Davis could potentially play just a bit more. So
I'm going Henry Davis. But that honestly is just like you know, you're
flipping a coin basically with both of them, like they both they both could
be terrible, they both could be great. One could be good and one
could be bad. Like you don't you don't know as a rookie like you
just don't know how it's gonna play out. But for right now, right
this second, I'm saying, Henry Davis, Yeah, I agree, And
I think Henry Davis is primarily going to play in the outfield. I don't
think he's going to really have regular catching duties. So I'm with you that,
I'm going Henry Davis. And on top of the reasons you said,
there's more more plate appearances, it's less wear and tear, but he doesn't
have to learn the pitching staff, at least thought to the amount that Boat
Naylor is going to need to learn the pitching staff, And so that's just
a lot less time that he has to spend away from the hitting side.
Because that's why catchers are so random, is they just they don't get the
same time hitting that than every other hitter on the team does because they're out
working with the pitchers. They have to be in different meetings, like it's
different for catchers. So I'm completely with you that I'm going Henry Davis.
It's about Al's the thing about just like logically you think about them being in
the dugout and a pitcher is like you know, a picture wants to talk
to him about how they're gonna approach the next inning. They're not looking at
the picture and preparing for their at bat. They're thinking about how to attack
the other team's hitters, right, you know. So it's just like,
yeah, it's like little things like that that I think could potentially, you
know, stop boonail Or from being as good as Henry Davis for at least
this year. But you know, it could work out either way. I
you know, in one league, I actually did grab bonnail Or over I
finally cut bait on Alejandro Kirk because that was a nightmare. Ye oh my
god, he's been so bad, you know, like I really just like,
I mean, never again. Man. I don't even think he was.
He must not have been like that high of a draft pick, because
I wouldn't have taken him if he were, because I just don't believe in
drafting catchers high. But he I don't think he was going for that cheap
either, So I don't know how I ended up with them, I really
know. I don't know. So how I got him on my team.
I must have looked at like the war rooms value Excuse me, I must
have looked at the war rooms values. And he must have went for less
than what it was saying he was worth. So I just I bit on
him and I got him. But man, he's been awful. Yeah,
it's been awful. Yeah, oh God, free, free for everybody.
I'm not spending more than five dollars on the catcher in L ORL only,
so you can just pencil that in for me. I'm not doing it.
And one of them will be a dollar. There will be one catcher that's
a dollar. Yeah, yeah, no, definitely, and that's yeah,
it's usually my angle. But I guess he must have been like it must
have been, Yeah, it must have been super low. Whereas like,
you know, like if someone's listed on the war room for like say,
I don't know, fifteen sixteen dollars and it's at like I would I would
still be in the bidding at that point. But obviously that backfired with Alejandro
kirk Um. I don't know, but I'm not you know, Henry Davis
though, it would be my my go to, but he wasn't available yet
because he hadn't yet debuted. So yeah, Henry Davis would be my preferred
one. Yeah, he'll be up next week. I think in all the
NFBC leagues that he wasn't drafted in, So that'll be a bid for next
week. What are you putting in if you're if you're looking for a catcher.
Oh yeah, see I bo Now. I think it was like two
dollars out of that's out of one hundred. Uh And I wouldn't bid more
than like twenty out of a thousand, like you know, in the in
the twelve to seventeen dollars range usually for catchers, unless you're really desperate.
I mean, if you've lost like a catcher or something like if someone's hurt
and you've been like scrambling, like I think in one league, you know,
I have Connor Wong. I don't even know how I got. Oh
oh, I lost Logan o'hop. So I've been kind of looking for a
catcher in that league. So maybe i've been you know, fifteen to twenty
dollars. But yeah, I don't really I mean, like you said,
you don't bid on them when you know in the draft, I don't really
look that hard at like fab for them either. It just happened to be
that, you know, Alejandro Kirk was so awful and it's a twelve team
mixed league, and I really need a better catcher a kirk. So I
was like, I've been two dollars on Boone nows. It's like, yeah,
what the hell is? See what happens? Yeah, yeah, I
think I've probably spent up to thirty maybe even forty if I just have fab
sitting around. I don't in any of my leagues, But if I just
hadn't sit around, I wouldn't mind spending spending it on Davis again, just
because I think he plays pretty regularly if he hits, and so there's a
chance that he just kind of played appearances his way to a good season.
And oh yeah, and also right, and also I think I mentioned this
on the site. But also it's, uh, we're saying that like with
Henry Davis and Bone Nailer, Like, well, I already mentioned that Bone
Nailer was a service time thing. Henry Davis is obviously a service time thing
too. So I mean the fact that they called them up the Guardians and
the Pirates aren't gonna like not play them like they're gonna play. So like
as much as a catcher plays like you're you know, like we're saying with
Henry Davis, he could play more because he can play the field. But
like bone Nailer becomes you know, the automatic, you know, number one
catcher there, and the Pirates will play Henry Davis, so like a bats
won't be an issue, like they're gonna play. Yeah, yeah, all
right, another call up here. Michael Bush was actually recalled by the Dodgers,
come back up. Munci is going to the IL with a hamstring.
I don't know if he's necessarily gonna play regularly, but he is coming back
up as possible. Chris Taylor just kind of has an everyday position for a
little while. But in forty five games in Triple A, he has seven
home runs, a stolen base thirty nine, thirty eight, and he's had
hitting three thirteen, four, twenty eight and five forty. Where's Michael Bush
on this? On the ad beater? Yeah, I mean I'm not adding
him anywhere. I didn't even I didn't even add him in the NL only.
I don't know. I mean, he's fine. I like you said,
I don't think he's gonna play, so it's not really worth it to
add him in any leagues if he's not playing, um, except for NL
only, where I mean more than likely he's already rostered in NL only I
you know, I would probably look at him as you know, the best
as case scenario I think for him, as the Dodgers make some sort of
move and trade him to a place where he can actually play. So maybe
in July his like outlook will look better. But right now, I just
don't think he's gonna play. And even and that's even with the month'sye injury,
he's not gonna play like whatever he did to like the Dodgers. They've
really buried Mike Michael Bush. Like he he looked like a you know,
a pretty interesting prospect at one point, and now he's like twenty five and
you know, not even a young twe I mean, he's gonna turn twenty
six in a few months, well in November, but still, I mean
he's more than halfway through twenty five. Do people celebrate their half birthday?
I do. Anyway, Michael Bush is like getting buried by the Dodgers.
I don't know, I don't get why, but you know, hopefully he
gets at it somewhere where he can play. As of right now, I
don't think he's worth anything in any in any league really, except for maybe
n know, only where you're just like totally strapped or something. Yeah,
I if you if you need something, then yeah, and then only he's
always you can always use something. I guess maybe the most obvious place he
could get playing time would be if he platoons on which would be the strong
side, since he hits from the left side and like Miguel Vargas isn't hitting
well, Chris Taylor is just like the streakiest player in the world, also
injury prone. Yeah, Miguel Rojas doesn't really need to ever swing a bat.
Miguel Rojas made a deal with the devil to get like every year and
not do anything else, not actually hit the ball. Yeah, it's kind
of a yeah it is. Yeah, Michael Bush is like the Joe Odell
of the opposite side of the city is yeah, exactly, even if Anaheim
was actually in Los Angeles, that would make sense. Maybe they just need
to trade them, maybe, like they'll just trade them across the city and
they can be benched by the opposite side of the city. Yeah, no,
completely, Yeah, I don't see the Dodgers like could probably use an
arm like they don't really well, I'm not that you know, we're not
playing Dodger GM right now. So anyway, long story short, as Michael
Bush doesn't have any playing time, all right, move on, all right.
So we should have talked about this guy when we were talking about Bow
Naylor and Henry Davis. We won't spend too much time on him, but
he was called up a couple of weeks ago. We didn't really talk about
him because we don't really talk about catchers generally speaking. But Patrick Bailey,
since this is a catcher centric podcast, he has He's sitting three or four,
three thirty seven, five thirty two with three home runs in twenty two
games for the Pie. It's are you where's Patrick Bailey on the Davis Naylor
Patrick Bailey? Is he at the very bottom? Yeah? He's third.
Also, I think we didn't talk about him because I think we both figured
that he was just going to be a temporary replacement for Joey Bart and then
I don't know whatever happened with Joey Bart. He's not on the miners right
now. Did he get demoted? Yeah? Man, he is really flamed
out. Yeah, I mean I Patrick Bailey to me looks like like right
now he's hitting over three hundred, but that's with an insane babbit. He
doesn't walk at all. He strikes out a decent amount, he doesn't have
any speed. He's got some power, but not really even like great power.
I don't I feel like Patrick Bailey is best case scenario a twelve homer,
zero steel two thirty hitter. It's you know, it's pretty bad.
That's not great. So I don't know. I don't know how his glove
is, to be honest, but you know that has nothing to do with
fantasy anyway, So you know, I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know if I'm really like I think Patrick Bailey isn't even uh like
he's not even necessarily on my radar for like even outside of the Henry Davis
um you know, bow Nail or watch McCall, even outside their call ups.
Like if you were to take Patrick Bailey and put him against like I
don't know, caber Ruise or something, and Patrick Bailey is still not on
the radar, like you know, like if you were to go against like
guys who are actually playing but not playing that well, I would still I
still probably wouldn't pick Patrick Bailey. But if you were to say, like
Patrick Bailey and uh, you know an NL only league or like a fifteen
team mix league with two catchers and you need you know, you need a
catcher and you're like looking at like Patrick Bailey, I mentioned him earlier,
like Connor Wong. It's like Patrick Bailey or Connor Wong, that's kind of
what like that would be a toss up for me versus like like Henry Davis
and Bone all where I think are actually kind of interesting, where Patrick Bailey
I don't think it's that interesting. Yeah, I would tend to agree,
except that I'm I'm actually starting Patrick Bailey and have been for the last two
weeks. It's gone well actually these last two weeks, so I'm not disappointed
yet. But I am going to be in on the bidding for Henry Davis
next week and I might swap him out for Nick Fotas if if this has
any signs of slowing down immediately, And that's not a great decision either.
Vick Fortess isn't exactly somebody I'm loving, but he's been painting a little bit
better, and yeah, actually I would I would probably lean Nick forts to
be honest. Yeah, I think he's playing, but they're closed. I
mean, Baily and for Tz is the kind of toss up that I would
be looking at. Yeah, it's kind of a riding while they're hot in
right matchups, and then it's probably gonna go bad real fast. But it's
catcher, so a lot of them are gonna go bad fast. So you're
kind of just in with everybody else. Yeah, di Ron Blanco, I
have no idea if I said that right, So apologies to him if I
did not. And Samad Taylor are called up for Kansas City. We don't
normally talk about thirty year old prospects as as Blanco is, but here we
are gray. But he leads the league, leads the minor leagues in stolen
bases in forty nine games, he has forty or forty seven stolen bases.
He's sitting three forty seven, four forty four and four fifty one. Let's
talk about Blanco first and then we can talk about Taylor afterwards. Yeah.
I actually I grabbed Blanco in one league because of h I mean, that's
so forty seven steals in forty nine games. Room room, baby, room,
sagnoff, baby, let's go, I'm in it. That's that's crazy,
And on top of that, the Royals seem like they're actually playing them,
at least they were last week. Now the tailors called up. I
don't know, maybe maybe not, but yeah, I mean, I don't
know if there's anything else to say about him, To be honest, I
think he's just a straight sagnoff guy. Maybe I don't know, maybe a
little bit like if he can hit for like a two fifty or better,
that's kind of interesting and that helps at least. Um, I don't know
if he's gonna be able to do that though maybe maybe close maybe two thirty
five. I think he's probably. Yeah, I mean he's got right exactly.
Yeah, I mean that's actually I mean that's a good point. Like
he does get on base. It's not like you know, the old saying
of like you can't steal first, Like he actually does walk his uh,
you know, his walker and the miners ten point six percent. It's pretty
good. It's actually really good. So yeah, I mean, if he's
able to, like, if he can figure out some sort of like niche
role with the uh, the Royals, he makes more sense as a leadoff
man than Nick Prato. I mean, I like Nick Prado don't get me
wrong, but he's got no business like leading off like Blanco would make more
sense there. Um and even maybe you know Taylor good, you want to
intro Taylor. Yeah, I mean the Royals just love doing a flip flip
lineup where like the guys who should lead off or at the bottom and the
guys that shit like middle of the lineup or sitting one two. It's it's
pretty awesome. Um, But Sabot Taylor is is twenty four. He's not
a thirty old prospect. This year in Triple A he had six on runs,
thirty four stolen bases, fifty runs, thirty seven RBIs. He's hitting
three or four four or nine four sixty three. He has a sub twenty
percent k rate in a just over fourteen percent walk rate. And he's a
guy he's walked like the last three years. Blancos was kind of ticked up
this year a little bit like Taylor's walked pretty much since he's got out of
like low a ball, he's taken walks. And again, he's a he's
a younger prospect. He might have been a super two guy like that might
have been the triggering for the Royals to call him up. That might be
while we sell Blanco a little bit before him. But regardless, we have
Taylor, where are you adding him more over Blanco? Yeah, I mean
I think Taylor. Taylor to me makes more sense for the Royals to go
into like a future, you know, if they're looking to the future,
Taylor makes more sense for them to play him, because like, why would
you play like Blanco to me feels like a pinch runner, you know,
like a little bit. I mean, the forty seven steals in forty nine
games is really it's really kind of fun. But I mean, Taylor speed
isn't necessarily that much worse, and he's actually young. So if you're looking
to the future, why didn't you go for Taylor over Blanco? Like that
just seems like it makes more sense to me, So I would think i'd
probably lean Taylor. I mean, like I said already, like in I
think I got Blanco in a league I did no one bid on him.
I got Blanco for you know, ten dollars out of a thousand, So
that's like a dollar bid in a fifteen team mix league. In twelve team
mix leagues, I'm not even looking at Blanco Taylor. I would look at
if you started doing something in a twelve team NEX league, that is,
in a fifteen team mix league, I can see Taylor being you know,
actually very interesting, and especially if he's playing. I don't know how the
Royals are gonna, you know, like I don't know how the playing time
is gonna shake out necessarily because like they have you know, Massey. At
some point, Massey will return, you know, I don't think his injuries
that bad from what I've heard, you know, like he should He's probably
like a minimal stay on the il, so he returns. Then Nicky Lopez
gets the boot, so that still could potentially leave Taylor. But Blanc's Blanco
due does Blanco not play at all? I mean maybe, I don't know.
I'm just saying like it depends on playing time, but Taylor potentially Taylor
could get interesting for a twelve team mix league where Blanco. I don't think
that's ever happening with Like, I think Blanco's just gonna be like, you
know, you play him for a week, maybe you get three to four
steals and then you know you can drop them next week or something where Tailor
could potentially have like you know, ramifications through all mixed leagues. Yeah,
Bloco is like the filling guy on a short scheduled day in daily leagues,
where you're just like, maybe I get a cheap stolen base, just gets
in. Maybe I don't even have to have to get a plate appearance.
I don't have to get that um and and Taylor, You're right, like
he could he could just take over left field. It could be his.
I guess Blanco could maybe platoon with Drew Waters. Neither of them are really
great hitters. I assume Blanco can at least cover some some distance with his
speed. He may not quite have Drew Waters, you know, coverage.
That's that's why he Drew Waters plays. He's he's just a great fielding center
fielder. But maybe Blanco gets sometime in a little split there, but it's
gonna be the wrong side probably, so still not great. H Yeah,
No, I was just looking to it like the bids on Samad tail Or.
Samad Taylor did go for more than Blanco in my in my fab leagues,
Uh, he went a Samad Taylor went for forty seven and Blanco went
for thirty three to one person. And then like I mentioned, he went
for ten to me in this other league where Samad Tailor I think went for
fifty and the other league. So yeah, yeah, Simond Tailor obviously more
interesting and could have staying time and playing time and could be actually very good
where Blanco is just you know, maybe you get a couple of steals.
Yeah, and for whatever it's worth, it's it's two games. But Samad
hasn't struck out yet, and he already has I think a couple of walks,
so at least for what it's worth, like he has has two walks,
no strikeouts. That's that's a good start. Yeah, all right,
non prospect stuff. Since you said you liked Spencer Strider, he's just he's
gone in the tank. I completely blame you. Last two starts, he
has thirteen runs, fourteen k's over those third over nine innings, with four
walks in that period at Detroit and versus the Mets. Not exactly the powerhouses
there. And I mean not not that we've been complaining about him, because
he's been great up until these last two, but he hasn't had like an
unearned run outing since April twenty fourth. It doesn't really matter what the case
and he gives you, but is spencer Strider broken broken way Uh no,
stick, No, I don't think he's broken. I think he's just uh.
I think he was just probably mislocating, you know, And it shows
like he has his homer per nine is up and his walks are up a
little bit, so he's probably just low hating badly with a pitch. I
don't know which pitch I don't have. I don't have all his numbers in
front of me, but I'm sure what it's gonna look like is he's just
not locating with a pitch or two. And you know, if you're not
locating out of the zone, you can also not locate in the zone.
And if you're you know, you leave it over the heart of the plate,
even if you are a spencer Strider, some guys are gonna hit it.
So yeah, I think he's fine, though, I you know,
it doesn't look like anything like I did look at like, you know,
his velocity's down a little bit, but he's still throwing ninety seven. You
know, I don't see any real big concerns. His strikeouts are actually up
to fourteen point five k per nine versus thirteen point eight last year. I
mean, it looks good. It's just you know, he probably he probably
just got gave up a couple of homers in a bad situation. So yeah,
I would be buying. If anything, I don't I'm not really concerned.
Yeah, the slight drop in velocity. Has been wondering if they might
give him a you know, a phantom. I l stant the Braves have
you know, bigger plans than just getting to the playoffs. Maybe they just
let him rest up his army again. He's still a young guy. He
throws the ball so damn hard. I think maybe he just needs a little
bit of time. He's he's at seventy eight and EANs. He threw one
hundred and thirty one last year, so you know, he's about about half
a little bit over halfway of probably where they'd like him to get to this
year. They could give him a stretch or two, or give him a
six man rotation for a couple times through yeah, or maybe you know,
skip him going into the All Star break and that gives him like you know,
ten days to two weeks off or something. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
they could definitely find some time for him to I will say that,
like now, when you were talking, I was looking at hislocities, and
it looks like his fastball velocity was hired to start the year and has it
has come down you know, almost almost two about one and a half miles
per hour. So yeah, I mean that's a little bit concerning. I
mean, he is maybe potentially he's coming off of like a big season last
year where he you know, he probably he's he's throwing a lot of innings
that he wasn't necessarily throwing, you know, in previous seasons. You know,
last year was a big year, a lot of innings last year.
This year is going you know, if he stays in the rotational year,
it's going to be a ton of innings. And then you think about like
the playoffs, So yeah, a fan of my el stint probably wouldn't be
the worst thing for him. Maybe an ill stint in July, so then
he has to all star break and an ill stint and he gets you know,
two and a half weeks off. Potentially, I don't know, I
mean, and just you know, it's just all conjecture, but it looks
like he could be a little bit tired. Yeah, would you potentially be
trading him away or trading for him? I would be buying him for sure.
Yeah, I mean it depends on the price obviously, Like whenever,
you know, whenever anything is discussed in a trade, it's always about what
the actual you know, the prices that you're paying. But in you know,
in a vacuum, I would take Strider as a buy versus a cell.
But you know, someone were to say to me, like, I'll
give you a kuna for a Strider, I would take a kunya. I
mean, you know, like it depends on it depends on what the trade
is, obviously, but in more more than likely scenario, it's gonna be
like, you know, a route rejuvenated Michael Harris the Second or Strider.
I'm still taking Strider, like I you know, I never thought. I
never thought Michael Harris a Second was going to be you know, terrible to
the point where he was. But I also am still you know, not
convinced he's like, you know, a huge thirty thirty guy or something like.
I still think there's a ceiling for Harris where Strider. I mean,
I don't I don't have the strikeout numbers in front of me, but I'm
guessing he has the most. He has the highest k per nine probably in
the league, right, I mean his kaper nine is insane. I mean
yeah, I mean it's gotta be like he's got a fourteen point five.
That's nuts, you know, like if you have a fourteen point nine or
four excuse me, a fourteen point five k per nine, like you can
get away with like a five walk raade and still be good, like you
you don't, like, you know, but yeah, he has the best
ker nine by two strike goats per nine, like above Hunter Green. Hunter
Green's number two at twelve point three. Like that's crazy. Like so Striders
still, I mean, to me, Strider is like, pound for pound,
like the best pitcher in baseball, if not best, he's the top
three. Like you know, just stuff one and after stuff you know else,
it's like there's luck involved in e erra and whip, you know,
and just you know, you throw out everything else and you just look at
k per nine and Spencer Strider is far and away better than everyone else by
a lot. Yeah. Yeah, he's just he's been great up until this
little stretch. You know, the seasonal numbers took a little bit of hit
across that one, but again, he's he's been great. I think there
is going to be kind of either an ale or a six man around the
All Star break. Give him some time off. Just just three eighty three
with four home runs, two stone at the bottom line up though, you
know, I'm still saying buy you probably can't buy him quite as low as
you could have, you know, two weeks ago. But I still think,
you know, his owner might potentially let him go, especially if that
person maybe bought low at the right time. Person happens to be me.
Well, you would have him, would have traded for him. I wouldn't
have him, so I wouldn't be able to trade him away. Yes,
I would exactly. Actually, Galaxy Breining, I would trade for him just
to trade him away, just to teach him a lesson. You know,
on the Seven Day Player Raider, he's actually number two behind Otani uh and
Eddie Rosario is number three. Eddie Rosario is having a great month of June.
Um. Yeah, anyway, Yeah, I mean with Michael Harris the
second, I you know, I just have like I have issues with his
approach. As I've mentioned many times before, the more the more the fantasy
aspect is like the hitting the hitting ninth. You know, there's some there's
some problems there, as I just said with like he was number two on
the Seven Day Player Raider, So hitting ninth doesn't kill all value. Like
there's still potential, you know, for some value there. But like I
still think he's like you know, he's like he's a twenty twenty two sixty
hitter, which is fine, which is good. I mean, that's not
terrible. But there's you know, there's some Definitely there's room for slumps as
we saw in the first like two months of the season. Like you know,
his approach is it's slump prone his approach unfortunately, because like you know,
he has hit like a lot of grounders. He hits the ball into
the ground. He hits he could he could potentially get like you know,
a hidd into like a bad babbit. Like and if he hits into a
bad babbit, as we saw, whoa, Hey, who's speeding? I'm
I what's going on? I'm I'm you know how old I am. I'm
running down the street yelling at cars old getting license plates of speeders. Hey
man, slow down, there's kids here, not my kids necessarily, anyway,
Michael Harris is like, you know, he could potentially slump as we
saw So that's my biggest concern with Michael Harris. Like he is, but
he is like luck neutral. He is a twenty twenty two sixty ish hitter,
So that's got value, Like there's something to that. It's just like
you gotta be ready for like when you know they April and May of him
comes along and he is like, you know, hitting one seventy five for
a month and you're like, oh wow, should I drop him? You
know? So yeah, I just want to point out that he was also
you know injury over that period. So yeah, so there's you know,
there's a there's a there's a reason that might happen. But he does have
a lot. I mean, come on, you gonna admit his launch angle
isn't exactly set up for home leads. Uh, it's still better than your
boy. Launch angle is lower than Christian yellowch Right now, we can,
yeah, we can. We can always go down. We can always do
it right now, we can always do now we cannot now we can we
cannot? Sorry, all right, well not going down the Boba Schett line.
And we already talked about any Razzari. It was crazy performance. How
you'd ignored my boy DONC team and told him that Eddie Zario's trash. You
don't need him on your roster. You need to pick up who wasn't what
what useless player did you pick good? You know, I want to say,
I want to say it was someone as useless as like J. J.
Bladay, But I mean, honestly, that would probably that's a lie
because I've had Oh I see, uh, actually I'm looking at my team
right now. I see lance Lynn just got put on the briefing list.
He's uh, he's going to the funeral for my fantasy teams because what he
did to them. And then you sat him last night. I sat him,
Yeah, I sat him for his sixteen strikeout game. That was that
was fun. You know, Like, Honestly, if you're gonna be terrible,
it being terrible. But if you're gonna be good, be good.
Just don't be good and then terrible and then good and then terrible and then
good, because that's landing, bro. Like, that's that's where I have
a problem. When you're not when you're not gonna do the same thing.
If you're just gonna be awful, then I'm like, you know what,
he's just not good. That's fine. But if he's not good, and
then he comes back and he throws sixteen k's, so like, come on,
man, come on, see that's just being mean. Throw me a
fricking bone here, Come on, Lanceland just just the worst. Oh man,
where when we look back at like his season and he's gonna have like
the same line as ever, I'm gonna go back through or remind everybody like
you sat him for sixteen ks, you sat him for ten k's. You
definitely sat him for like the other seven k like nowhere in run spots,
like you didn't start him for any of these. Don't don't be giving me
his overall no, you know, honestly, if Lanceland's actually not a bad
guy at it discussed briefly because like his strikeouts are not bad, Like he's
got a right now he has a ten point nine ka per nine and his
walk rade is just out of control, terrible and well for him at least
it's three point yeah. Yeah, it's like lance Lynn when he would have
like a four point seven seventy ar a uh like just not just not a
good walk rate. And I mean that because he's shown he can have a
better command. Like it's sort of like why I was back in on Charlie
Moore in this year, like a guy, like you know, a guy
who has good command, who are at least has shown he has good command,
can get better, Like lance Lynn shouldn't be this bad, Like he
really shouldn't. I'm not you know, I'm not just saying that because he
just had a sixteen K strikeout game. I would love to be able to
dismiss lance Lynn forever from my life, But he really isn't. Like if
you look at like his peripherals, he's not really this bad. But you
know, he was. He was very bad for many months. And I
think even like even in a good scenario, like best case scenario, he's
still especially at this point because his ear a is so awful that he would
need to be so good for the rest of the year for it to fix
itself. But I still think he's probably like an over four ear A guy.
So you know, like in most leagues, that's not I mean,
that's not great. You know, like in a twelve team mix league,
you can stream that probably and do better. So but in a fifteen team
mix league or deeper, I mean, like I still have Lancelin on my
teams, and you know a bunch of leagues. I was like, you
can't. I had him on the bench for sixty gage strikeout game, and
now I'm moving him into my lineups. And I'm sure his next games would
be awful. I just know it will be just the way it goes.
So you know, it is what it is at this point. But yeah,
his next game is supposedly against the Red Sox in uh in Chicago,
so you know, hope. Yeah, we'll see how that goes and then
we'll we'll complain next week. Yeah, exactly. All right, let's let's
move on to the bullpens. Gray Um Alex Lange has been struggling. They're
kind of moving to this committee. Are you interested in in anybody in this
committee? Or is this a deep league if you're really chasing situation? Uh?
Yeah, No, I think Foley has looked pretty good. Like I
don't I don't necessarily know, you know, if they go to a if
they go to a committee, then it's just bad. Like a committee would
just not be good. But if they go to Folly, then that,
you know, then then that's worth you know, potentially picking up and going
with that. Like I think like his numbers like he's got really good command,
and you know, good command can go a long way. Lang has
looked pretty bad so and and fully got the last save, you know,
on Sunday. I don't know, you know, it depends on where people
listen to this, but you know, fully may already have blown the next
opportunity. But anyway, I mean fully, as of right this second,
I would grab Folly. I don't necessarily think like he's gonna be you know,
great, Like he doesn't have like huge strikeouts. He's uh, he's
a good command guy. He's got like, you know, he's basically like
two two to three pitch pitcher like he's got he's got a hard fastball at
ninety seven, but it is really like slider change. But anyway, yeah,
I mean he looks like if he can potentially put together because he got
the last save as of the recording of this, if he can get them,
if he can get the next like saver or two, I could see
him being the closer for the rest of the season. Then again, by
this time next week he may not be the closer at all. So I
don't know, but he's worth looking at. I kind of like, fully,
I'm interested, Okay, so I grabbing him if you're if you're chasing
some saves and you're looking to kind of speculate on and who might be taking
over situations, that's always what we're looking for. Ryan Helseley has the injury,
he's going to il. It's been it's been Jordan Hicks, not Geo
Gegos like be. It kind of speculated since he seemed like he was getting
the extra you know, the day off saves and used in the high leverage
areas. But Jordan Hicks has coming in and gotten two saves. Gray Yeah,
Yeah, And I you know, I grabbed Hicks in all the leagues
where I could. I think, I think Hicks is probably a time bomb
waiting to happen. But for right now, I mean, he does you
know, he has put together back to back saves, so you know,
and nothing else really, nothing else really matters, as hilt as nihilistic as
that sounds, I mean, nothing matters if a guy's getting saves and Hicks
got the last two. So yeah, I would go Hicks. Yeah.
Another another Sagnaw situation, although I will say, for for whatever it's where
since May started, Hicks is throwing at two eight four r a So,
I mean he's been he's been significantly better that the first month of the season
he was. He was absolutely horrendous. But the Cardinals bullpen has kind of
turned itself around and then hell's it got injured as soon as as soon as
that happened. But it seems like they're going for Hicks for now. I
still don't know that I'm dropping being Diegos if you're in a you know,
a speculating situation, because if Hicks reverts back to what he was doing at
the beginning of the season all of a sudden, I don't think they hesitate
to move Diegos, right, Yeah, no completely. I think if you
need saves, you're holding Diegos for now because like, if Hicks blows the
next game, Diegos is the closer again. Yeah, I think it's a
very fluid situation. Edward als Lay seems to be in a committee or maybe
taking the job away from al Leder Junior in Chicago. Is this Are you
interested in Alza Lay at all? Or is this another kind of, you
know, if we're chasing only type of scenario. Yeah, I think if
you're if you're really desperate, I could see grabbing him. The one good
thing is with als Lay, he's been really good. Even outside of saves.
He's got a one point nine seven here a as of the recording of
this, He's got you know, decent k's. He's commanding his pitches.
He looks good. I think it's desperate because I just don't see him getting
like right now, he has four saves. I'd be surprised if he got
to twelve saves on the year. I just don't see I don't see him
getting a ton of saves like I think you know David Ross has been using.
He uses them all over the place. He uses Lighter sometimes as the
closer. I just don't think there's really going to be a closer there.
Yeah, that's fair. I think Al's Lay is, you know, the
one your roster if you're gonna roster one of them. Again, as you
mentioned, his numbers are good. He's the only closer when he comes in,
or the only reliever that comes in for the Cubs that I don't immediately
grab a vomit bag for. So you know, he's he's the one you
want to rosters. Has Lighter been bad because his numbers look pretty good.
He's definitely has his own. He's definitely had some struggles. Um, I
don't know, it just he just doesn't And I said, al, I'm
at amant Mark. I don't know. I'm just mixing up my lighters here.
Um, it just hasn't looked he has. It just hasn't looked good.
He's given up like Kants, he's walking people like the like the March
Brothers. It's al Mark and Zippo, all different lighters. Anyway, Sorry,
now that's perfect, fine, No, it's just it's just kind of
watching them. Um, I've just noticed ladders. I mean, he's not
very great. So I think there's a potential that they're they make a swap
at some point. Yeah, yeah, I mean maybe. I think it's
probably just gonna be a committee for the rest of the year because the Cubs
aren't really doing anything. Yeah, and if they can potentially sell one of
them or absolutely yeah, if they get Yeah, if they can trade one,
then they're gonna I mean I don't know if they will. If they
were smart, they would, so we'll say I don't know, well,
then they're probably not. Yeah, Right. Moving over to Arizona, Andy
Chaffin has been not not very good for a couple of weeks here, Scott
McK is actually entered back into the conversation and him and Miguel Castro both got
saved this week for Arizona. Chafin did not. So are we adjusting how
we're approaching the Arizona closer or are you just ignoring and avoiding this situation as
much as possible? Yeah? I mean I would like to avoid it if
I could, so, if you have enough saves, it's not worth like
wading into that mess. But if you need saves, i'd probably go MC.
Right now, I'd probably say MQ, Chafen, Castro, but it
could be MC, Castro, Chaffin. I think you know. I think
Schafen and Castro though, are kind of like two A and to be and
MC is one A if that makes sense. Yeah, No, I understand
what you're saying. Yeah. Moving over to Tampa Bay, Pete Fairbanks came
back from the IL. He got his two saved quota and two opportunities since
returning. Do you trust the race to let Fairbanks close or would you potentially
look at selling high on Fairbanks because the Rays will never let him close?
M No, I think I think Fairbanks is going to be good, and
he's he's good even if he's not getting saved, So I have no problem
rostering him. I think I think he's probably you know, the Rays will
win a bunch of games, Fairbanks will get his fair chance at saves.
I think I think he's fine. I have no problem going with Fairbanks.
Okay, I have him and a lot of teams. I've just been he's
literally gotten two saves a month, like that's how he It's worked for him
every month so far. So I'm just hoping they let him stay in that
role. Maybe just saying it out loud on the podcast so that it's it's
out there and maybe they'll hear me. Maybe maybe somebody. I'm sure they
will. Actually, I didn't realize that. Oh no, he's got seven
saves on the year. Wow. Wow, is his kaper nine down.
I hadn't really looked at Fairbanks. I think he is the closer though,
but oh my god, he's only he only has eleven strikeouts on the year.
What did he become a pitch to contact guy? Wow? I really
did not. I don't have Fairbanks, so I really had no idea how
terrible his peripherals were. Outside of raa obviously as a one point three five
ra So, I mean he's doing fine, but wow, his case in
are terrible. Yeah, it's uh, the case have not been there as
a Fairbanks owner. I don't know, it's it's possible. It seems like
the raise and in pitcher injuries just kind of go hand in hand. Yeah,
recently, Um, the Nationals committee, this might be worse than the
Cubs committee. Fittigan, Harvey, Carl Carls Junior. This is what I
think I'm avoiding, and I'm I'm just saved desperate in a few leagues.
I really don't want any of these guys. Yeah, no, I feel
that. I think outside of NL only, you're not really getting anything here
that other than like a headache. Yeah. And it is gonna hurt.
Yeah, one of them or all of them is gonna hurt. And it'll
probably be in a non safe situation. Just to rub it in a little
bit more. Um, in Minnesota, Griffin, Jack's got to save this
week. It's been a month since he's allowed to earn run. Do you
think that maybe he's he's kind of jumping in with Duran And I mean Stuart
gets one every now and then, as well. But do you think he's
entering the conversation of Minnesota's weird bullpen closer committee thing. Um, you know,
bald Delli likes to mix a match, so it wouldn't shock me to
see Jack's get a few more saves here and there. But I think Duran
is the closer and Stewart is the setup guy. So Jack is third for
saves there. But I could see him getting a handful, not like over
the course of the season that is so like not necessarily having you know,
zero chance of getting another save. But I think he's behind two other guys.
Okay, sounds good. So it's really just a you know, in
those very very deep leagues where every backup his own, then maybe Griffin Jacks
gets picked up. Otherwise you're pretty much on you know, Derayner or Baby
Stewart. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think Jackson is probably
like there's you know, there's al only where he's probably roster it. And
then there's leagues like a twelve team like an RCL, like a twelve team
mix league. But but it's daily and I could see churning Jackson and out
of like an RCL team's line up just because he's been good for you know,
so long, and he could potentially maybe grab a save here and there.
So I could see Jack's potentially being interesting in like a daily league and
in a very deep league. Yeah, I agree. All right, great,
let's talk about some more some more interesting people to look at in our
pickups. Okay? Uh so Christian and Carcone Strand whatever happened with that.
He's the one persons still left in the reds Miners Gray, and so I'm
sure the one who was coming up first, you know, I'm sure he
probably feels the same way. He's like he's at the lunch table and like
all his buddies are like graduated. He's like he's like the kid who stayed
behind in high school and all his friends went on the college. Christian and
Carcio Strand is Matthew McConaughey. Uh yeah, I think. Also, Leotie
Tabaris has been really hot. He's been good. I actually dropped him in
one league and I immediately regretted it. Eddie Rosaria, who we've mentioned earlier,
has been like amazing and probably should be rostered in every league as of
right now. You know. And then there's like guys like Ryan O'Hearn,
who has he's been hot. He's not gonna stay hot, but he's been
hot, you know, coming in since today at least. H Matt Verling
has been really good. He's been hot. He I think he had a
little bit of a back issue, but you know, if he's okay,
he's been good. H Andy Abanya's same team, Tigers. The Tigers looked
pretty good the last couple of weeks, so they were hot. Um,
Mike Tuckman, for whatever reasons, hitting leadoff. I don't even even know.
Yeah, I don't even start. I don't I have no clue what's
going on there. Donovan Solana has been hot. Uh. And Mike Ford
a random little name there for you, he's been hot. Uh, let's
see. And uh, Brandon Crawford is high up on the seven day Player
Raider and I didn't realize he was hot, but it looks like he's been.
He has been, he's been, he's been hitting the ball, you
know, just tearing the cover off on the pitcher side. If you have
I L slots and you're just you having them open tweaked Scooble and Matt Manning
or finishing up rehabs. It seems like Scoobles maybe a little bit ahead.
So they're looking at at least one more start, or each of them maybe
two more or three more starts permining. But they're both on their way back
as far as starts for this week. Dean Kramer versus Seattle. I'm just
gonna keep saying Dean Kramer until his roster percentage goes up a little bit,
because it doesn't. It just stays very low. Julio trey Ron of all
people versus Arizona. He's been good this year. You can start the JP
sears Paul Blackburn Orioles at Cleveland. I think that, you know, I
think that's fairly safe. Cleveland's not exactly scary right now, and they've both
been good recently. Tenner Baby versus Milwaukee. Rich Hill versus the Cubs.
Chris Bassett has had a couple of tough outings recently, but look for him
to get back on track. Versus Oakland, although Oakland's been not completely awful
at least the last couple of weeks, and Drey Jamieson has been good in
the pen. So if you're kind of speculating in deeper leagues, I think
you look at Drey Jamison, He's gonna give you good numbers when he while
he's in the pen. And I think he could be moving to a starter
sooner rather than later, because well the rotation is awful there there, all
right, If you have any other questions, you want to looking at any
other pickups trades whatever it might be, confined us. I'm on Twitter at
raz beat On. Gray's the owner of the at Razball account, rate review
us, comment wherever you get your podcast. Go on YouTube dot com slash
Razball Fantasy and watch us. If nothing else, go watch the opening.
Feel like Gray's the most animated during the opening and there's always something you kind
of kind of need to see in person right off the bat for the show,
So go check that out again. Well, we'll answer comments out there
as well until next week, Gray talk you letter all right, Lates,