Cleaning Up: Roman Anthony Is Finally Here! (Ep. 1043)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's up?

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Friends that welcome in too. Fantasy Pros the Fantasy Baseball
podcast aka Cleaning Up. This is the live show that
we do on our Fantasy Pros discord, which you can
be a part of our live audio. It's a live
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your hand, you can be a part of the podcast,

(00:26):
or you can come in and drop some questions and
we will answer it. That's what we are here for.
You guys can check out the Fantasy Pros Discord, which
we'll mention again here in a little bit at Fantasypros
dot com slash chat. It is me and Joey. Oh,
it's Joe Aurico in the house, and we had some
breaking news just before the show covered, so we're gonna
hit that as well. But Joe, what's up?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm doing well? Man. It's good because these shows were
kind of thinking about what are we going to talk
with today, what are gonna be the hot topics, and
we got a beautiful one right before we started going
on today, so should be fun to talk Roman Anthony.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, one of those things too. We did the Prospect
with the Welsh segment, and I just always feel like
when there are when there's big prospects, because I obviously
don't want to retread information every week, super important not
to do that. But when there are just in your
face players that everyone is just like not patiently waiting

(01:18):
for dying to come up, I feel like we have
to mention. I have to have some mention of it.
And I think there's only two players that really truly
qualify in that range. One is Bubba Chandler, who, you know,
God knows if if the moon aligns correctly at some point,
you know he will get called up. The other is
Roman Anthony. So we kind of did at the very
top of that segment like hey, here's your top three.

(01:38):
These are the no brainers. If they come up, you
just pick them up. And then we went into like
some deeper prospects that you know, one guy might actually
be one of the best pitchers in baseball who just
got moved up a triple A. So go and check
it out on the YouTube. It was un leading off,
but it'll also be on the shorts. We have like
a short form video on Fantasy Pro's YouTube channel YouTube
dot com. Slash Fantasy pros mL BE don't want you

(02:01):
to miss any of it, but we did kind of
do a quick ish gloss through of it and with it,
and I actually didn't see this, So career kick is
giving me some information that I'm gonna need to actually
fix today as well. Is will your Brady apparently is
going to the IEL, which I did not see, and
I think I picked him for the home run contest.

(02:21):
But Roman Anthony as mentioned on the show, Hey, he
could come up anytime soon. You have to roster him.
And then like three hours after leading off airs, bam,
Roman Anthony is officially getting called up. And it looks
like Willier is kind of the piece. Can you look
or I mean, I guess I could look too if
that Willier news is official, because I didn't even see that.
That does make sense though, because there was no like

(02:44):
there's no corresponding move. Yeah, I do see it right here.
Willier is headed to the IL with an issue with
his side. Roman's coming up. He's going to play tonight
as we're recording this batting fifth, what's your level of
aggression for yourself when you look a guy like Roman
Anthony knowing that you know cag leone just came up.

(03:04):
I want you to think about it in a NFBC
sense of course, so everyone's gonna have actually, weirdly NFBC
people might be fighting for CAGs and Roman Anthony this
coming weekend because Caags came up. What was it like
Sunday night or not. I guess that was last week.
So that was last week and they just did that.
But I want you to think of it from the
long term perspective of like NFBC for the week, but
also a short term What level of hold are you

(03:28):
wanting on Roman Anthony? What is your expectations and how
he's been built up, Like what what do you think
he aligns for like an outfielder three and outfielder two.
Do you think there's more upside? Do you think he's overrated?

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh? Man, I think that he's probably an outfielder. If
we're talking like a twelve team kind of thing, he's
probably like in the three to four range. Like he's
probably somewhere in that thirty six to forty eight type
of ranking range. But I'm pretty excited just considering the
lineup context. Boston hasn't been amazing, but if I'm looking

(04:00):
over the last month, they ranked twelfth in the league
in WRC plus at one hundred and three, So it's
a solid lineup that he's going to be entering right
into the middle of with that replacement with a bray.
You we've been talking the whole season with the Red Sox,
whereas whether it's the infield of the outfield about how
they're going to make all the pieces work, and things
generally do kind of figure themselves out. So will you're
on the ten day. That'll give Anthony at the very

(04:23):
minimum a week and a half the show what he
can do. But even if he struggles a little bit,
I think they would still keep him up. He's just
a data darling. Roman Anthony has been fantastic this season
in TRIPAA. He almost has walked as much as he's
struck out on nineteen percent. Walk rate is ridiculous. He
doesn't chase, he makes good contact in the zone. The
swinging strike rate is really low. He looks like a stud.

(04:45):
He looks like an absolute superstar. You are much more
data or excuse me, much more prospect driven, So you're
going to be probably the better person to turn to
for the specifics of Roman Anthony's development and everything. But
I'm thinking that he is worth an ad even in
ten team leagues. In terms of NFBC fab he's going
to go for a lot. I mean, it kind of

(05:06):
depends on what he does this week. But JACKI Leone
was going for two to four hundred dollars, so twenty
to forty percent of overall budgets.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yes, one thousand dollars budget, mind you, because if that
was a five hundred dollars budget, two fifty would be
fifty percent. So percentiles are going to be really high.
Roman Anthony shouldn't have been available, And I understand the
frustration because people are they're kind of throwing it out
with Bubba right now. It's like, why the hell isn't
Bubba Chandler up agreed. I think everybody kind of agrees, like,

(05:35):
outside of the Pirates are kind of stank, why would
you not bring up one of the best pitchers in baseball,
let him kind of develop and at the major league level.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Like do that?

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Why not do it? There's control, there's manipulation and stuff
like that. But at the same time, is as frustrating
as it is Bubba and Roman Anthony. That were the
ones where we just kind of continuously would just keep saying,
just get them. Just be the guy that has them.
If he's sitting out there, regardless of the format, just
have Roman Anthony. If you had to pick one rest
of season, Roman Anthony or Jack Cagle, on what side

(06:06):
are you on?

Speaker 1 (06:09):
I would probably go slightly to Roman Anthony just because
I think he's gonna provide some speed and might be
actually decent speed. Twenty one steals in the miners last year.
He's got only three so far this year, which is
an amazing but he's attempted six of them, where with
Jack maybe we get a couple, maybe he's in the
two or three range, but the speed is definitely the separator.
With Roman Anthony. He is not going to hit for

(06:31):
as much power probably as Jack is, but still somebody
that could go for about fifteen rest of season, and
he's also in a much better lineup. Kansas City's lineup
has been atrocious the entire year. I mentioned Boston just
over the last month as the twelfth ranked offense in
the league. Kansas City is twenty seventh. The only teams
worse in that span are San Francisco, Texas and the
lowly Rockies. So from a lineup standpoint from a well

(06:53):
rounded fantasy aspect point of view, I think Anthony is
the one who's gonna provide more in terms ofcounting stats, steals,
batting average. I think he is the guy.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
I think there's definitely the possibility. The only thing he
wonder is if he can ever like move up the lineup,
you know, because like Bregman's gonna come back, and William's
going to come back, and if there's a right hand
or Willie's going to go higher. So it kind of
feels like Anthony might be destined to be hitting somewhere
between five and seven across the board. How much wiggle
room are they willing to give? You know, he had
some stuff on him coming into this year where you know,

(07:24):
there were questions about change ups and off speed, like
how is he going to adjust to that? From a
major league perspective, looks like in Triple A, he's really
kind of, you know, answered the call. He had an
incredible May June was a little it's very short sample size,
but a little but you know, really great exo velocities
he strikes. It just hit like almost five hundred footer

(07:44):
this weekend. So it's exciting to see and the ballpark
is a really big advantage. The thing with cagleone that
jumps out to me is that, like even I know
it's like short sample sides like a week now, but
sixteen percent k percentage, he's finding his own big hardhit.
I mean of one thirteen's left and right. I know
his average isn't quite there yet, but like he just said,

(08:05):
was at four for four night, I really feel like
he's coming into his own. He's gonna hit the ball
really hard. I'm actually not sure that Roman Anthony beats
him in a five category if you look at it
from that perspective, like a five category breakdown, but Roman
Anthony might be really really well rounded in that ballpark
might help. So I'm a little bit worried about maybe
some chase and miss stuff. But like the only reason

(08:26):
I'm asking this is, do you think this is a
prime time to try to go and trade Roman Anthony?
Right now? He's up, he's hot, people are excited. He's
going to revamp this offense. Like, do you think the
production will warrant not moving him for let's say say
like a SP thirty or twenty even twenty five, twenty

(08:49):
five to thirty five sp in that market, do you
think his production will outweigh making a move.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Like that, I could get the SP twenty five for
Anthony or for Jack. I would be willing to do it,
just because we know the struggles that rookies go through,
whether it's immediately with like a Matt Shaw situation, or
maybe they hit the ground running and then they struggle
a little bit like Christian Campbell, I think if you're
taking something that is more of a sure thing like

(09:15):
the SP twenty five this year is Freddy Peralta to
date and the guys in that range are Sonny Gray,
Mackenzie Gore, Clay Holmes, Jack Flaherty. If I could move
off of one of these guys based on the hype
and get somebody like that back, Spencer Schwellenbach also in
that range, like I would be looking to do that.
There is always the hype. It doesn't usually match up

(09:37):
to the production when it comes to these rookies, and
it comes to stashers in general. You're holding a guy
you're expecting the moon. And then I had a question
last week about after like three days, should I drop
Jack in a shallow league people just don't have the
patience for the ups and downs of these rookies a
lot of the time. So if you're able to capitalize
on the hype and you're able to move one of
these guys for a top twenty five or thirty sp

(09:58):
it depends on the roster a little bit, but I
would be absolutely willing to do that.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Also, there's no necessary guarantees at this moment, which is
something're gonna have to watch for. You know, they only
did this because William went on the IL. Is this
going to be a stop gap thing? Or is this
going to be like, you know, they get to they're
getting a cheap look and then a move is gonna
have to you know, like, what's gonna happen William comes
off the IL. Are they going to make room like, oh,
Anthony's here, He's got to do it. Or are they

(10:23):
going to have to move off of a of a Duran?
You know, are they gonna have to send down a
Christian Campbell who has just kind of had his struggles.
So those are It's all interesting questions. At the end
of the day, I don't want to take away from
like it's super exciting. It's super exciting when the top
prospects come up. I think it's hard to judge positively
or negatively after one week on any of these guys,
So just make sure you're in the market to manage it,

(10:44):
you know what I mean. We have questions from the audience.
Some it looks like there might be a Roman Anthony
one or two in there that I want to get to.
I want to finish up this last first topic. Then
we'll get to some questions, and we got a couple
other things to hit. Here's here's what I was very
curious about in this same vein how how many prospects
do you currently think I'm gonna use the must own term?

(11:06):
Let's think in like twelve team must own to like
you should own, and then that's gonna tell us who's expendable. Obviously,
there are players that like league pending and stuff. You know,
you're not gonna cut this guy, cut this guy. But
I'm curious that, like, how many we really think are
no doubters? Jacob Wilson no doubter, absolute, no doubt, Rookie

(11:28):
of the Year al minus five hundred. Right now he's
hitting the world even though he doesn't counting stats. Absolute,
no doubt or correct.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, Jacob Wilson's fantastic. He's brilliant.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Jason Dimingez relative no doubt. I'm not sure he's like
must must must own, but I mean, I guess I
I should probably pull up the stuff. But what is
your initial reaction to Jason Dimingez. He's hitting two thirty six,
six homers, eight stolen bases. We know this sky high potential.
Is he in that twelve team must own territory? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, he's like on the on the cusp. For me,
I don't think if we're talking redraft that he is
somebody that I'm really hugging in the super shallow leagues.
If it's a ten or at twelve team league where
you start three outfielders, let's see.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Field twelve team. I want to think in those terms
because I think we could justify almost anybody could be
cutting those ten teams. So let's go five outfield twelve team.
We're keeping.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Right, probably, probably, but I don't know that. It's the
thing that I like. He has six home runs all year,
three of them came in that one game in that
stadium in Sacramento. Strikeout rate is thirty plus percent. You know,
the speed has been okay, he's got eight steals, but
it's not been like game changing speed. He hasn't been
He hasn't done a ton, even in a great offense,

(12:46):
he hasn't really been amazing. So is he a top
sixty outfielder. He probably is. But if there is a
guy sitting on the waiver wire, that is a really
really solid option for you. Like if you had Roman
Anthony sitting on the waiver wire, I wouldn't mind dropping
to Mangas for him. That might be a hot take,
but that's kind of where I'm at with them.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I think that's fine. All right, Roman Anthony, we're gonna say,
you know, at this moment, he is cag leone, right,
We're gonna throw CAGs into like that must own ish
territory you need to own, right, Yeah, Okay, now some
bigger questions. I think this is an interesting one, Nick Kurtz,
he started to pick up before he got hurt. He's rehabbing.

(13:26):
It looks like he's really close, Nick Kurtz. Is he
in that must own territory?

Speaker 1 (13:32):
I think he is. Yeah. I believe he's gonna be
back this week based on what I've seen. The strikeout
rates still a little bit concerning, but we're talking twenty
eight games. He, like you mentioned, he had started to
pick things up before he got hurt. So I would
be holding Kurts, especially as we enter into the summer
months in Sacramento, like we might see see some serious
power production out of Nick Kurtz.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Okay, so we've got five guys right now, and it's
not that expensive. Marcelo, yeah, your name Phil.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
I like him. I like Marcelo Mayor. I don't like
the way that the Red Sox are kind of doing
this with pinch hitting him and playing him at a
position and all this stuff. I don't really love it
so much. But yeah, he is worth holding for now
for sure.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Oh yeah, so you think he belongs in that territory
for now? I mean, I just understand this. This You
don't we don't have to have everybody. That's fine if
he is, but I don't want you. I'm not goading
you into making all these players in there. But we
can put him in the mustone twelve team category right.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Now, for now, for now. But I wouldn't hesitate to
drop him if we're two weeks from now and he
has two hits in that timeframe or something, like that
he's not somebody that I'm just holding and holding and
hoping out for while he's in the middle of the
Red Sox lineup, playing pretty much every day. Then yeah,
but I'm not married.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
To him cam Smith.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
I need to take a quick peek at cam Smith
because I think.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
I want to blow through the rest of these ones.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
But initially three homers, I don't think he's mustone. No,
I wouldn't say Stone and a twelve.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Teamer Chandler Simpson, even though he's in triple A right now,
those stolen bases, but he's not here.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
If you can afford to hold him, then I don't
mind holding him. But I don't think that he is
somebody like if you're in eighth place fighting for your life,
that he's a mustache. If you're in first or second
or third and you're a team that could still use
a little bit of speed, I think he'll be back
up at some point. But I think it's kind of
a situational thing with Chandler Simpson. I'd try to hold
if you can.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
I don't think like the new guys like Kyle Teal,
Ryan River, Auto Camp, is there anybody else in forgetting
in the rookie space that's kind of like here that
you like. I don't think Jackson job. Is there anybody
else that warrants the question that you can think of
that I'm forgetting, no.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
But I really like Kyle Teal. I think that he's
going to be really, really cool.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Do you think he belongs in this conversation.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Depends on who you're rolling out as your catcher, But
I think I think he's on the cusp of of
twelve team viability just given that he's going to play
a lot the on bas skills, the speed from behind
the play. I think he's I'm going to redo rankings
in the next week, but he's probably around that twelve
or thirteen mark for me. So I think it's dependent
on who you got right now, But I think he's
worth picking up in a lot of plays. So certainly,

(16:11):
if you're in a two catcher league, go pick him
up right away.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
What about like Cad Horton, Zebbi Matthews, do any of
those belonging there? And Ha, Zebbie just got hurt.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Zebbie just got hurt. So him, I think it would
be a little bit tougher depending on your team. Cad Horton,
I've been kind of impressed with I think that there
are some things he needs to work on. Still he's
not a fully finished product, but he's holding his own
to this point. I think that I would prefer to
hold Horton over Matthews, especially with the injury.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Okay, and there was some content and it wasn't even
about neither one of them. My main point of this
is like, how many prospects are really worth rostering as
of someone that liked prospects and talking. That's all this
experiment was. I feel like we maybe put more in.
I think some people might be a little bit more discerning,
but we put Wilson, Domingez, CAGs, Anthony Kurtz, Marcelo, and Horton.
There's seven and one pitcher, So is that what painter?

(17:02):
But he's not here. I don't think he's a must own.
We don't know when the hell he's coming up, and
that's you know, I would probably throw Bubba into this.
I guess if we're having the deeper conversation of like,
you just got to try to have him, so you
got two pictures, you've got whatever the hell that ended
up being five six hitters, that there's a decent amount
but then if you know, if you start pushing the
envelope here, if you really pushed it, like I think

(17:25):
Jacob Wilson, CAGs and Anthony are the three that like
would be at the very tippy top, and CAGs and
Anthony because of the sky high potential and not enough
time to tell us a story. Jacob Wilson has only
really been the only service one Christian Campbell I could
have put in there. Christian Campbell doesn't belong in it.
It's a bigger discussion just for people to remember when
you're making your moves of how many are really panning

(17:46):
out and hold that like you can't come off of
them range. Jacob Wilson's about it, truly about it, Like
Caggs and Anthony are super fun. The rest of the
guys have unfortunately kind of been failures or gets. You know,
Logan Henderson comes up and he's gone and he's back
down that you don't want to know site of your
roster to me, yeah lol or exactly. I mean, the

(18:07):
Dineback should blow it up soon. But there's only so
many that really belong And I think if we push
the envelope and we're a little bit more Picky. I
think this would have been Wilson Cag's Anthony, maybe Kertz,
and I'm not sure if anybody else would have really
fallen in that range. But you know, everyone listening can
kind of decide and let us know. You could also
let us decide and help us figure it out by

(18:29):
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(18:50):
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of this show. You can do that, all right, Let's

(19:10):
go to some listener questions we've got here? Gamova said,
what do we do with Bubba? He just by himself
in DOUBLEA. Now, yeah, he's the last of those guys.
I think I've kind of answered it. I think he's
just so at the tippy top of like what the
strikeout value and stuff can be that I want to hold.
But I also think he's vulnerable offense sucks. He's had

(19:30):
walk problems this year, you know, the must hold category.
I really didn't even put him into that, like really
really hardcore, like ten team one. But you should be
paying attention to him. Do you have any other feelings
about it? I know you've been You're not you're not
a prospect guy, and all you've probably been hearing is
Bubba Chandler, Bubba Chandler. He never comes up. Is he
someone that you actually think you need to stash or

(19:51):
if you've been stashing, could you possibly dump him for
a pseudo hot arm.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
I don't think so, so, I think especially if you've
been holding. Yeah, I try to avoid the whole sunk
cost thing, but you've been holding him. If you drop
him right now, he's gonna get called up next week.
It's just the way that these things tend to work.
But at the same time, the wins are not going
to be there. I mean even in Triple A, they're
not even there. Twelve game twelve starts, two wins. But

(20:19):
look look at Paul Skins, right every time out, he's
going seven innings, six to two thirds, seven and two thirds, whatever,
and he never gets any run support. He never gets
any wins. And I worry a little bit that Bubba's
gonna come up and they're gonna have some kid gloves
with him. Initially, maybe we don't see him going six
to seven innings, and the win potential is going to
be the same, if not even a little bit worse,
because he'll have less control over his own destiny, having

(20:40):
to rely probably more on the pen than Skins is.
At this point, I don't see them bringing up Chandler
and having him go seven innings every time, So the
wins are probably not going to be there. But other
than that, just based on the profile we've seen at
Triple A, he seems like the kind of guy who
can come up and have immediate success. And even Paul
Skans and we're looking at what he did last year,
I mean one ninety six era point nine to five

(21:03):
whip are not going to happen. Probably that was a
charmed rookie season. But I think that Bubba can be
somewhere in the three type of ra with a one
to ten or so whip and that's valuable even if
it's not coming with victories. Those ratios are so hard
to find, so hard to come by on the waiver wire.
So I'm holding Chandler. I think it's only a matter
of time. I know we've been saying that for a

(21:25):
long long time, but every day that goes by, it
means we're one day closer to Bubba Chandler. At the
end of the day, they're not going to keep him
down the entirety of the season. He will come up
at some point. And now we're pushing the halfway point
of the year. It's got to be any week now.
And I think if you're holding, you still got to
continue to hold unless you see some crazy name sitting
on the wire, But I think you got to hold them.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
If you've held this long, what are you doing, Like,
this is not the time to now you don't make
the cut. I think he could also go the way
of like Jared Jones and Jared Jones had an incredible
first half, things did come back down to earth. Also
kind of a fastball slidery guy, but one of the
best graded fastballs in all the minor league. I'm I'm
here for it. I think you need to hold and

(22:05):
try to make do, especially because you've done so so far.
And if he's out there, go pick him up. A
game said what, No, this is how sorry? Would you
rather trade away Machado or Camonaro, both using up third
base and util so I think we would probably both
quickly answer, don't do either regardless. But if you had
to trade one, who you're trading Machado or Camonaro.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yeah, you struck gold with these two. I wouldn't trade
either unless you got blown away. I guess I would
maybe move Machado just because he's older and more things
can pop up. But I think you're just holding unless
somebody really knocks your socks off.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
I feel like I'm moving camon Aro in this one.
I think Camanaro might have as much value as Machado,
and maybe even a tiny bit more in some circles
for redraft. This is not a dynasty thing in redraft,
and I know exactly what I'm getting out of Machado,
especially when they're going to start getting into like a
really tight Pennant race and stuff like, I think I
want to bank on Machada. The ballpark does favor Cam

(23:02):
and Arrow more, but I'm I'm gonna say I keep
Machado and try to get a haul for Cameron Arow.
You're on the other side, and that's so cool.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
The only thing that worries me is just that he
has a little bit of an injury history at this
point and he's like ten years older. But what you're
saying makes sense, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
A career kick had. This is kind of that Roman
Anthony stuff and we'd already talked about it, but mentions Willier,
thinking is Roman up for good or is this dependent
on how he does while Williers on the shelf. I
think it's a little bit of that. I don't think. Yeah,
Williams's not gonna be the expense of his playing time.
Williams is not gonna go away unless they did decide

(23:38):
to move him or trade him, which I kind of
just don't think they will, even though I know he's
popped up as well. But like, if Roman is awesome,
they're gonna have to make a serious decision. I would lie.
I at this point think I know it's dangerous to
have lots of prospects. You gotta you gotta get rid
of Trevor's story. Like Trevor story is, he's falling down.

(23:59):
Let me go be your third baseman or i'm sorry,
your shortstop, and let Campbell be your second baseman. And
then you've got Anthony and wrote right field you're golden,
and will You can be your DH and you can
just play between those things. That's what i'd like to see.
I don't know if they'll do it, but if Roman
Anthony struggles, guess what built an excuse? When Will You's back?
If he's awesome, then they're gonna have to make a

(24:20):
tough decision somewhere, whether it's maybe they know they have
a trade looming, or you know, DFA a Trevor story
or what the hell ever? You know, Abraham Torro has
been playing well, but maybe you cut bait on one
of Roman or a Rome I'm sorry, Romy Gonzales or Toro,
and then you move Trevor story over to be in
some first base platoon. So they'll find a way they

(24:43):
want to find a way. They'll they'll find it, and
I think that's been the most frustrating thing of why
he's not up. Do you have anything else outside of that?

Speaker 1 (24:49):
I think if I was running the team, I'm giving
Devers a first base club and I'm saying, you're playing
first base. Toro's done, and then you'll do that. He's
already he refuses, what are they gonna do? What does
he get to do?

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Like or maybe they've lightly I don't mean to cut off.
They have said he's not interested in it, and I
think he had mentioned in the past if they were,
like if they forced him to, he would, But they've
come to him and he's like, nope, So that's the problem.
Like they they obviously do not want to be the
team that forces a player to do it, especially when

(25:22):
you have someone so unwilling to be helpful for your team.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
It's just so baffling to me, Like that would solve
all the problems pretty much, you know, and then you
can rotate those four outfielders around with the age spot.
It just makes so much sense. Story as well, I mean,
Story hasn't done really. I think he's had a couple
of decent games lately, but for the season as a whole.
He has a sixty nine WRC plus. He's thirty one
percent worse than league average. He's not a plus defender anymore.

(25:50):
I don't know what we're doing. I don't know what
they're doing. I don't either.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
M grabs says, does Bubba Roman have a better shot
at being keeper worthy in a five cat head to
head league twelve team? Four keepers?

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Though?

Speaker 2 (26:04):
I think both of those guys are pretty tough to
keep in a fore keeper unless your team stinks.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, totally agreed. I think that it would be a
stretch for either of them. Is one of them more likely?
I guess the fact that Anthony is up now, if
he does, you know, if he knocks our socks off
and goes twenty twenty the rest of the way, maybe
you'd give you a tough decision. But yeah, I think,
like well said, it would have to be a pretty
bad roster for him to be one of the four,
for either to be one of the four.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
But you know, there are plenty of times I've seen
rosters where it's like three keepers are just so they're like,
oh I got a Kunya Tatis and you know, whatever
the hell, Ellie, and then their fourth keeper is like
they're trying to figure out if they should keep you know,
an aging Matt Olsen, Luis Robert or Roman Anthony. And
let's say that's the case. That actually is a scenario

(26:49):
where Anthony could be viable. Olsen's added down this year,
he's getting older. If Anthony kind of pops off, By
the way, I totally understand that scenario. I already said
two outfielders, but you get what I'm doing. I do
think there is the possibility that Roman anthe could be that.
I do not think Bubba is going to be thrown
into that the Pirates. Bubba would have to be like
Paul Skeins, which is a definite I guess, I guess possibility.

(27:12):
But I would say Roman Anthony has he has an out.
He has the better shot of that question. Dexter says,
is Barger a must add in ten team? What do
I think? What do the advanced metrics say about him?
He absolutely pops off as far as expected stats go.
Baseball Savant page is beautiful. That's why I've been talking

(27:32):
about him for a couple months. Two sixty two seven homers,
fifty two percent hard hit rate, ridiculous, tops of the league,
and average and max exit velocity expect a batting average
is thirty points higher than he has barrel rates good,
It all looks sexy. Is he good enough to hold
in a ten team? Is he a muscle or must
pick up? I guess if he's available.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
But my home league is a ten team league, and
he was my Alex Bragman replacement. The timing worked out
beautifully for Barger's little run here, but I think that
it's beyond I shouldn't even minimize it. It's more than
just a little run. There are serious improvements. I'm a
Blue Jay fan and I've watched him throughout the last
few years, and he is a different player than last year.
He was striking out a lot, a lot more, he

(28:14):
was chasing more, he was making less contact in the zone.
He is a different player this year, and the power
metrics really backed that up. His barrel rate went from
eight percent to fifteen, hard hit from thirty eight to
fifty two. The average exit velocity went from eighty eight
to ninety four, and the max exit velocity last year
was one ten. This year it's already at one sixteen.
He is a different player the Blue Jays as a whole.

(28:37):
I talked a little bit about how team has been
performing over the last month. The Blue Jays have the
third best WRC plus over the last month, one point
behind the Yankees and the Dodgers. It's been an unbelievable
thing to see Toronto turn things around offensively, and I
think Barger has been a huge part of it. So
long story short, I think he's worth adding everywhere, even
if you're using him in a utility spot. I think

(28:58):
the power's legit, the lineups jit his defense is very
legit as well. Not a ton of reps so far
this year, but he's already plus two defensive run saved
and outs above average at third in just two hundred
and thirty innings. He's gonna stick in this lineup, and
this lineup right now is very very good. So I'd
add him wherever you can.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, I think for the most part, I'm kind of
in that same space with you that in a ten team,
he is so hot, the metrics look good. I think
you should do it. But what if I ask you
you can only add one Barger or Roman Anthony.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
I'm gonna get called a homer, but I think it's
probably Barger just because he's already gone through the ups
and downs of the miners. He's had a bad stretch
of major league play last season, and I think that
that's an important piece of the puzzle of guys having
to kind of go through the lows and figure things out.
And he's already rolling right now. There's a chance that
Anthony comes up and he does kind of something similar.

(29:48):
But I think just considering the state of the Blue
Jays offense and the fact that Barger is pretty much
guaranteed an everyday roll, there's no chance that he's leaving
the lineup at this point, where with Anthony, two cold
weeks and I'll break you back could mean he's back
in triple A. So I think Barger is the safer call.
Anthony has the more upside, but I think Barger is
is the way I would go in a lot of so.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
I kind of think that is the right answer. I'm
gonna say Anthony, though, because I think the upside is
really tremendous in that offense. You and I completely agree
something I would have made as a statement if you
told me after one hundred and fifty at bats that
Anthony could be hitting two sixty with seven Homers, you
know at three twenty five or three forty, let's say
obp like, I'd be ecstatic. I'd be like, oh, yeah,

(30:27):
it's working out. That's where Barger is right now, So
definitely possibility. I'm gonna go with the upside though. Let's
do a little burn and turn on some of these
so we can get through them and we'll get to
our last topics.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
Here.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Would you guys accept or decline? This trade got offered
Lindor Devers and Chandler Simpson for Hunter Brown, Mookie and
Matt Shaw. This is a ten team keeper, so they're
getting Lindor, Devers and Simpson but having to give away Brown,
Bets and Matt Shaw. I instantly want to say no,

(30:58):
but you're getting two top thirty hitters. Lindor is a
little bit older for a top pitcher and then a
top hitter, and then the differentiating factor is Simpson versus Shaw,
which is kind of tough. I don't know that, and
it's in team keeper. I think I'm leaning Bets and
Brown here, but Lindor and Devers is a pretty damn
good offer. What do you think?

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, the thing with Lindor getting older, that's kind of
is on the other side too.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
That's is as well, so you're kind of if you
figure swapping those two. You can look at this as
like Devors for Brown, and.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
I would almost always take the hitter over the pitcher,
just in a vacuum, given the injury risks. I My
initial lean is the Lindor and Dever side, but I
think I think it's fair. I don't think anybody's getting
ripped off here, but I think that the Lindor side,
for me, is a little more is a little more interesting.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
I think as long as they're all keepers too, I
guess I'm gonna still lean the bets Brown, but more
i'm thinking about it, Lindor Devers might be the better haul.
Simpson and Shot probably don't come into equation unless this
is like a deep key. Joseph said, keep your trade question.
Would you trade Ivan Herrera, jung Hu, Lee, Clay Holmes
and a fifth rounder to get Cal Raley, Seth Lugo
and a twelfth rounder? So you're trading Herrera, Lee, Holmes

(32:11):
and a fifth to get Lugo and RALEI.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
I think you're giving up too much. Lugo is we're
running out of time where Lugo can still be productive.
He is he thirty seven now, thirty six, thirty seven,
I don't know how many more years you're going to
have out of him. Raleigh has been brilliant, but I
also don't really expect this pace to continue. He's pacing
for like a sixty home run twenty steel season with

(32:37):
a three hundred batting average. I'm not saying he's like
a big cell high, but I think he's playing over
his skis a little bit. I really like Ivan Herrera,
I really like Jung Hu Lee. The Dodgers have been
linked to him, and Clay Holmes is doing really good
things this season, So I would personally want more if
I'm going to move off of Herrera and Jung Hu
Lee and Holmes.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, I think so too. Like there's also an element
of if you're like, well, I want Raleigh and Lugo
because I'm play for now, it's like, well, I'd rather
have Clay Holmes and Lugo and Herrera's not that far
off from Raleigh. Is that worth the upgrade to also
get rid of Lee in the fifth rounder? Maybe? Yeah,
maybe cal Rally has been incredible, but I really do
love Ivan Herrera. I'd like to do this as like

(33:16):
I trade Herrera in a fifth for cal Raley, or
you know, maybe I upgrade the pick to a fourth
Herrera in cal Raley. I might work something like that
the Big Dance Autokemp, or let's do Lightning round on
these Auto Kemp or Ronnie Mauricio.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
It would have to be Mauricio for me. I think
Kemp is just a short term guy. I think Mauricio
could stick, especially with what you've seen recently. Camp.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I don't know if Harper is too short term here.
I'll say Ronnie Mauricio, but I don't think we should
sleep on Kemp. How would you guys rank Torklsen, Kurtz,
Ben Rice rest of season in the Daily Lineup League?
What's your rank?

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Probably in the order you have it laid out there,
Torkles and Kurtz and Rice.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
That's interesting. I am inverse order, Rice, Kurtz, Torkelsen. Rice
has expected numbers that are I think we're going to
get back to where we saw early. His averages definitely
dip back down, but I think he's going to bounce
back still a really great profile. Kurtz was starting to
find it Sortson's fine but I'm going to go reverse
order rest of season, and the answer might be Kurtz,

(34:17):
by the way, who we had in the middle on
both of those, Joseph, what do we like rest of
season in a category league? Westburg or Mikel Garcia.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
I'm not really married to either, but Mikel Garcia has
been one of the low and bright spots in Kansas City.
He's been really good, so I think i'd probably lean
with him, although I think that's probably gonna be an
unpopular choice.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
I think his production is impossible to drop. But I
also think Jordan Westburg from moving forward could be the
more valuable player, so kind of take that, like, I
guess I'm gonna say Jordan Westburg, but like, how do
you cut Michael Garcia right now? I don't even know
how you end up doing that. Who is up first?
Christian Moore or Bubba Chandler? And and then the secondary
question is who is a better keeper value, Bubba or Christian?

(35:03):
More so, who's up and who has better value?

Speaker 1 (35:07):
I would imagine the answer to both is probably Bubba,
but the Angels are pretty aggressive with how they promote prospects,
so more could be up first, but I would prefer
to have Bubba.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
I agree, I'm going to go on both. And then
finally Joe Hulee, is he droppable for barger.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
If you need a third basement. Third basement are a
lot harder to come by than outfielders. I'd prefer to
hold Lee, but I would understand the move.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Yeah, I think you can. I think you can make
that move. I want to remind everybody whos we're answering questions.
If you're listening and you're like, oh man, I got
a question, well guess what. Wednesdays on our YouTube YouTube
dot com Slash Fantasy Pros MLB at four pm Easter Eastern,
not Easter, we are live for you for a full
hour answering questions. It is usually Joe Pizza Pia and myself.

(35:53):
It will not be this week. It will actually be
to Joe and Joe Show. It will be Joe Rico
and Joe Pizzapia this week, four pm Eastern for a
full hour answering questions. I'm out for that part. I'll
be on leading after in the day, but I won't
be here for that. The doctor's thing dentist as a
matter of fact, but you guys can come and bring
all your questions to the Joe and Joe Show. So

(36:13):
make sure you're subscribed on the YouTube channel YouTube dot
com Slash Fantasy Pros MLB. Make sure you are subscribed
and notified so whenever we go live, you don't have
to do any work. Like every four pm Eastern on Wednesday,
we're here live. You'll just get a notification and you
can do easy stuff. So come and check that out
and join it in today the.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
Joe and Joe Show.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
Weeni in the Butt a couple of things I want
to get your take on, and then we're going to
get out of here. Two rest of season pitcher questions,
Uri Perez. We are playing a very dangerous game right
now because we are recording this before Uri Perez makes
his debut. He's going up against the Pirates, which is
very nice. We love that. Probably going to be capped
to some capacity. He's coming off with this injury. He's

(36:56):
had a very long, extended rehabitantst of season. What do
you think Euri PRES's value is as far as an
sp goes and do you think it is better to
trade Uri right now in inherent value when where things
could go or you should hold on because of what
the return will look like.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
So I think, and I got this question the other day,
and I thought about it for a long time, and
I think a reasonable expectation is probably a top fifty
or sixty starting pitcher just because you've got a factor
in Miami is going to win Nada. They are not
going to be a lot of win opportunities coming for him.
But the actual production is where I really struggle, because

(37:37):
I'm not sure what to make of his command. What
we've seen from a lot of from pretty much everybody
coming back from Tommy John is that the command is
the last thing to come back. And what we saw
in his rehabs in the minors was an increased walk
rate that was well over ten percent. So I worry
a little bit. Like in single A he was at

(37:57):
seven percent walk rate, whatever he went up to triple
A the thirteen percent, And if the command doesn't come
back the way we're hoping for, then it might be
a little bit of a tough road for him. But
at the same time, the talent is absolutely through the
roof that I feel like even if his command isn't
quite up to par, he could still get by just

(38:17):
because he's going to have something like a thirty percent
strikeout rate. That's where he's been in his rehab twenty
eight percent. So I think that he can get by
if you're at a twenty eight twenty nine percent strikeout rate,
even if you're walking eleven percent, we can see success
with that. It just makes it a little bit harder.
So if you can trade him, it really depends on
what you're trading him for. If it's a keeper league,

(38:37):
I wouldn't do it.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, we're not talking keeper at all, but just.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
For redraft purposes. If somebody is going to offer you,
I guess the bar would have to be for me,
like a top one hundred and fifty overall player or
maybe even one hundred and twenty five or so.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
I feel like you're talking like down when you said
top like fifty SP. I think expectations are a little
bit higher. I think market is like a higher cost.
So you actually might personally benefit if you're not as
high on him from trading him, because I think I
think a reasonable reasonable in like the Fantasy Baseball trademinder,

(39:14):
is that like, hey, Ury can come in and be
like a top thirty SP, he can come back and
be a similar. Think of like, now, I know it
didn't work out, but think of like Strider, Streider and McClanahan, like,
oh they're back, they're pitching d Dad, this is what
they can be. I think that's the relative expectation because,
like I wanted to ask you this rest of season,
Uri pez Orjesus Lozardo, oh Man and LAZARDA has just

(39:36):
gotten smacked around his last couple.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
The worry for me with Blizardo is that you don't
usually see a picture of that caliber get absolutely lit
on fire twice in a row. You will Steve everybody
get blown up here and there. But twelve and eight
earned runs and consecutive outings leads me to think there's
something injury related going on potentially, and I've been waiting
for some kind of move. He's still scheduled to start

(39:59):
against the Cubs on Wednesday, and waiting for some kind
of move, But it looks like they're going to send
him out there so they think he's healthy. Then I'm
willing to buy into that. Afhillies are kind of an
interesting team with health sometimes, but I'm willing to buy
into it, and I think I would take Lozardo still,
he's been so so good. I mean, this wouldn't have
even been a question a week ago. We would have

(40:21):
all taken Lozardo pretty easily. And I think the two
starts are concerning, But there are also concerns, like I
laid out with Perez, the wins are not going to
be there, the command might be kind of shaky, you
might be looking at some rough whips. So I think
it would be Lozardo. I wouldn't fault anybody for wanting
to take a chance on Uri, but I don't think
we should give up on Lazardo after what we've seen either.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
I do think Lozardo has the advantage, like the team context.
You know, there's a lot of there's gonna be run support.
There's wins support there that's not going to be there
with the Marlins. We also think there's probably gonna be
some type of a cap. But I do think that
Uri Perez can toe the line of a top thirty
sp So with that question, I think you inherently kind
of have to say Lizarda right now, but I think
it's a very thin line. I think one more, I

(41:02):
think public sentiment deteriorates if Lozardo gets lit up again
and if Ury does go out and he goes let's
say five inning, six strikeouts, gives up one in and
run and eighty two pitches, I think like people are
gonna be like, hey, we're back, We're back on Uri Prez.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
The thing with Uri too, is that the matchups this
week are at Pittsburgh and at Washington, So you couldn't
get more of a cupcake to start in your return.
So if he really does well in these two matchups,
then I would I would look to see what people
are willing to offer you, all right.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Final one, George Kirby absolutely lit it up this weekend.
Fourteen strikeouts after coming off of the IL and some
questionable results, just look dominant, really kind of lowered his
splitter percentage. It was just to me, I've been liking
it as like he just got back to basics basketball

(41:55):
sinker slider, got it done, got his whiffs, bunch of strikes.
The first question, really quick is do you think Kirby
is all the way back or roughly all the way back?
Did that outing give you the confirmation you needed to say, oh,
we're back in the George Kirby business.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
It did, especially because the Angels have been good offensively lately.
They've been like a top five or seven team over
the last three weeks. With Trout coming back, Joe Dell's
been doing good things. So it's not like this came
against the Rockies when you'd have to maybe give it
a little bit more of a second thought. But I
think Kirby is all the way back. That game against
Washington where he allowed three home runs is the big stinker.

(42:34):
Other than that, I've liked what I've seen from him.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Okay. Then this leads to the question George Kirby or
Spencer Streider rest of season? As Stryder hit a second
all time low on his fastball, his average v low
is down. He's fastball slider stuff plus numbers kind of famously.
Now if you go over to Fangrafts you can check
out the stuff plus numbers are down. It's very short

(42:57):
sample sizes and whatnot. But Spencer trying to find himself.
Who would you rather rest of season? George Kirby or
Spencer Strider.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
I think I would go with Kirby at this point,
I'm pretty worried about Strider. He's been really bad. The
numbers below the surface are bad too. It's not like
he has a huge era and all the estimators are
good and everything like, No, there are a lot of concerns.
He's not striking guys out. The velocity is not where
it once was. The team is a joke. The Braves
are absolutely miserable this season. There's not a lot going

(43:30):
for Strider right now. I think that he is somebody
that you should look into trading. I'm kind of concerned here.
Five game started, five losses, strikeouts aren't there, tons of walks?
Nothing good, at least with Kirby. I have been even
before this start a little bit encouraged, like the home
run to fly ball rate. The homer per nine was
really out of kewe just because of that one start.

(43:50):
But the strikeouts are up for Kirby twenty eight percent
strikeout right. The command has been there, the team has
been very good. He has a better home park to
pitch in. I think Kirby is the same for play
at this point. I do too.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
I'm super torn on where and how I want to
feel about Strider. I don't want to be I don't
want to be a massive alarmist where it's like, oh
my god, he's got to get out of here, like
he's too talented. We've seen him be, you know, one
of the premier strikeout pitchroll, freaking bulldog on the mound.
But there's something off. And it's not just the vlos down,
it's the stuff doesn't look as good. And then on

(44:24):
top of it, you're just this like two pitch pitcher,
you know, you don't have anything else really to rely on,
you know. And interesting enough, we saw what did de
Grom do earlier in the year. He leaned more what
was it on his change up, you know, more than
he had in quite some time, and maybe that kind
of helped him kind of get right reset the fastball.
Strider just doesn't do that, really, and I worry about that.
I do think he's so talented that if the sentiment

(44:46):
is so low, you could buy on him. But if
we are in a world where you can still compare
Strider and Kirby, I'm going to take Kirby like hands down.
It's a big command guy. I think that's the way
I want to go, and I would consolidate. So I
think there's a b in a cell argument on both
sides of Strider. But I also feel that I think
Kirby's back. I don't like that he tinkers too much.
I hope he doesn't tinker go crazy, Tinker, Taylor whatever, Soldier.

(45:11):
But I want George Kirby to be the Kirby that
we know, and I'm going to bank on it, and
we're both gonna take Kirby over Strider. There you go,
didn ex.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Yeah, I think with Strider. For me, I think I'm
just gonna buy the dip next year. I think this
year is kind of I wouldn't call it a lost season.
There's still a lot of games left to play, but
I feel like the production is gonna end up even
if he really writes the ship. Rest of season. Projections
at Fangrafts have him going like the bat projection rest
of the season as a three eighty seven era. You

(45:40):
tack that onto his five forty. Right now, we're ending
up in the fours, and I think next year will
be a good chance to buy the dip on him,
more so than he's a great by low opportunity in
redraft right now.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Yeah, I think if you're in a dynasty league, like
you're saying, go buying him right now, you can buy
in him my dynasty for next year. If you're out
of it because you're going to be buying low on him.
So I think I'm in agreen on that side. Friends,
there you go. That is the show. Thank you to
everybody that hung out with us in the Fantasypros discord,
Fantasypros dot Com, slash chat. Take your right to the discord.

(46:10):
You can lock up and sign up. I think it's
free there the other again, there are some like premium
elements to it, but you can come and hang out
in this show. You can raise your hand, be a
part of it. We do special shows. We've got an
awesome community and we got tons of rooms from trades
to start and sit to the home run calls and more.
So make sure you go and check that out today.

(46:31):
You can find Joe on Twitter at Joe Rico ninety nine.
You can find me at is It the Welsh and
you can catch over on Leading Off because Leading Off
is live Monday through Friday twelve pm Eastern on our
twitch Twitch dot tv slash Fantasy Pros. You can watch
Piece of PM myself live every single day and if
you can't make it, it jumps up on the YouTube
within the hour. So lots of good offerings, lots of

(46:53):
good stuff. Catch me there and catch mister Joe Rico
with Piez of Pa on Wednesday on our live YouTube.
Joe Rico I Chris Welsh. Thank you guys so much
for hanging out with us, and we'll talk to you
next time right here on Fantasy Pros MLB.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
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Cleaning Up: Roman Anthony Is Finally Here! (Ep. 1043)

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