Fantasy Baseball Advice | Players Trending Up & Down, Prospects to Watch, MLB Injury Updates (Ep. 1045) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Baseball Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros MLB. This is Leading
Off Live. It is me, Joey p Joe Pizza Pia
with me today is Joe Alrico. So you're between two
joes right here on the twitch twitch dot tv slash
Fantasy Pros. That's right. That's where we are Monday through
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(00:27):
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(00:48):
bill till it goes Dang, Joe Alrico, nice to see you,
my friend. The Blue Jays signs of life right, I mean,
all of a sudden getting after it a little bit,
you gotta feel pretty good. Especially when you lookt the
Orioles who are terrible, the Red Sox who can't get
out of their own way, especially in the rotation. All
of a sudden, those Blue Jays look pretty decent in
the East.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I've been one of the most pessimistic Blue Jay fans
for a long time now, and just looking back over
the last three weeks, the Jays are the most prolific
offense in the league. It's a good time to be
alive here north of the border.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Joe there, Well, it always is. Canadians. I've always referred
to as the better Americans, and that's my whole life.
I always have it, I always will. I love my
Canadian friends. They are just the nicest people, and I
understand why it is because you don't get outside very often,
so you know, when you do see other people, you
want to be nice to them because it's cold there
so often out of the year. Dylan Cease, he was

(01:42):
stone cold amazing yesterday. Seven score listenings, eleven strikeouts. He
was the headliner in yesterday's trade video. If you missed it,
we were talking about trading for Dylan Cees Joe because well,
the expected era, the FIP, all those numbers the x
FIP were all in the threes, despite the fact that
ERA going Yesterray was over four and a half. The

(02:02):
strikeout rate was back above eleven k or nine. The
walk rate has come down a little bit. Now. I
fear that window might have just completely shut for Dylan Ceas.
Maybe you can prime away, but I don't know. After
yesterday's incredible start, I think that window might have closed
very abruptly.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
What do you think, Yeah, I think it really depends
on the league, because some people will still just look
to their you know, season to date rankings and the
look at ERA and the look at WHIP and four
twenty eight ERA one point thirty WHIP. If somebody is
just gonna look at that, you might still be able
to get a nice deal for Dylan Cease. And I agree,
you know, all those expected numbers are still really good.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
The walks are a little bit more in control.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I mean, I know, he walked five guys yesterday, which
isn't great, but eleven strikeouts, seven shutout innings versus the Dodgers,
We'll take that trade off. And I think if you
just look below the surface there there are still gonna
be some inconsistencies with Dylan Ceese like there always are,
but I agree that he's a really nice by target
right now if you can still pull it off.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
If he can, and look, you got one shot at
this bad boy. After yesterday, maybe somebody looks at the
eleven k performance, it goes, oh, go to get rid
of him now because that four era has driving me crazy.
But I don't know. I'm skeptical now. So again he
had a window. This is why, yo, this is why
you subscribe to the channel. This is why you make
sure that you don't miss the videos because this is
very tiny, just hours sometimes available to make some of

(03:15):
these moves. Shout out to Lard Fernal over subwhat Prime.
So did Sean RS. So we appreciate all of you
guys subscribing, resubscribing, get rid of those pesky commercials. Don't
bother with those on the twitch. Let's get to Jose Soriano,
who actually best had ceased with twelve strikeouts. He was
the big strikeout guy on the board yesterday seven innings
was against the Athletics, and the Athletics have been just

(03:36):
terrible here over the last month and change. Joe I
had high hopes that. I thought the Athletics might be
plucky and fun offensively. They have their moments, but my god,
the pitching has been absolutely atrocious. And Soriano's a guy
that has been kind of up and down all year.
What do you make out of this recent start here
with twelve strikeouts for him? Would you be trying to
unload him off that or are you hoping maybe this

(03:56):
is something where he turned a corner.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
I still don't really trust him. The strikeouts have come down,
and they weren't even that great last year twenty percent
strikeout rate. He's lost a couple points and he sent
them over to his walk rate, which has gone from
nine and a half to eleven and a half percent.
The big thing for me is the stuff was always
really good with him the last couple of seasons one eleven,
one oh seven, and it's down to ninety four overall.
So I worry a little bit about what to expect

(04:21):
from him going forward. I think if somebody's willing to
bite after this start, and it was impressive. The Athletics
their struggles have not been offensively, they've been a good lineup,
but he was able to take advantage of them regardless
of that. So if you are able to kind of
use that narrative of he just mowed down a great
team and sell off him, I'd probably be in favor
of doing that.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
I don't think he's terrible, but I think that.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
He's not going to be doing that too many times
rest of season twelve strikeout type of games.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
No, I don't either. I think this is an interesting
sell off at the peak. I don't think it gets
much better than this. We will be answering your questions,
as Jerry pointed out four o'clock Eastern today, But I
have this couple in the chat that are really intriguing.
Lee traded Bubba in a keeper league scenario for Wheeler
no cake value. Am I gonna I'm gonna go for it.
The question is is he going to regret this in
a year or two? I don't know. To me, Flags

(05:07):
fly forever, I want the championship. Are you with me? Joe?

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (05:11):
I think if you're in a situation where you can
compete now, I have no problem with this Bubba.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
We don't know.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Like they called up that mud Zinski guy today, they
just have no incentive. It seems like the call up Chandler.
So maybe it's another month and a half you're waiting
on him. If you're going for it this season, I
think that's a good work to make, all.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Right, Matt On the Mound Morning, Joe and Joe, I
was offered Trout for an arm. Excuse me, Trout and
an arm for Jackson Merrill. What do you guys think?
Hard pass for me? That knee is still bothering him.
We're gonna talk about that later in the show. That's
why he's only dhing. And the fact that it's still
bothering him enough that he's only dhing tells me that
we have not seen the last of Mike Trout to
the IL this year.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
The fact that it's unarmed leads me to believe it's
kind of a throw in arm, So it's not gonna
be a top twenty five or thirty sp Merrill is
the true asset there that you should prioritize. Unless that
arm turns out to be somebody brilliant. I wouldn't I
wouldn't make that move, all right.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Speaking of brilliant, Grand Holmes nine strikeouts yesterday, five and
a third innings of three run baseball. Max Freed still
continues to be excellent. You know, I do have some
I do have a bet on Max Freed for Cy
Young just in case the schoolble thing fails. And it's
at a pretty decent number. So I'm still I'm not
rooting against Turry's Google so much as I'm rooting for
Max Freed. I just want to put that out there.

(06:28):
A good game for Austin Wells too. He drove in
a bunch of runs yesterday actually, and if you look
at the two for four with a double five rebies yesterday,
Aaron Judge in another home run. But I wanted to
pull this up here because there was another stat on
Max Freed that I found was assembling some stuff for
Sunday Show and I found this stat here I thought
was really interesting. The Yankees have a plus sixty two

(06:50):
run differential Max Freed's fourteen starts this year, So despite
the fact that he's pitching to a sub to era,
he really hasn't needed the help.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
I mean part of that is he's only given up
eighteen runs in eighty eight innings.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
He's just easy, brilliant.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
I mean, Max Free is somebody that I was a
little bit worried about, just from a health standpoint. He
had a couple of four arm injuries and consecutive seasons,
and I still think he's going to come back down
to earth. But he is one of the better bargains
of draft season, it looks like to this point of
the year for sure.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
And you know, I know people want to give the
Braves crap for not resigning him. The Braves were never
going to give him that many years. It was never
going to happen, So like, just understand that, realize that.
Don't be tough on the Brais. Personally, I thought the
Yankees were crazy for giving him that long of a contract.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Me too.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
So it's been really good so far. He has saved
this rotation period. End of story. Ian hap Hoomer twice
walked twice. Great day for Ian Halp, Andrew Abbott, chi
Ching got that one right yesterday plus money Baby two
or three for the Bets yesterday. By the way, first
complete game was a three hit shutout of the Guardians yesterday.
One nothing. So Red's offense continues to be all or nothing.

(07:58):
But what else is new? That's been the story all day,
all year, I should say for the Reds. The story
a year for Lucas Giolito has been. He's been awful,
just terrible. So I wanted to bet against him yesterday.
That did not work out. Joe one unearned run over
six innings. Ryan Peppie, on the other side, was really good,
three runs, five to two thirds, struck out nine. That's

(08:19):
a season high for Pepio, who's been terrific. And I
got what I expected out of Pepio. I did not
get what I expected of Giolito. I am not buying it.
He's one of the most dropped guys in Fantasy baseball
over the last two weeks. Do you leave him on
that waiver wire if you see him there?

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Joe, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
The strikeouts are just gone. The swinging strikes have always
been pretty good twelve thirteen, fourteen percent. He's down at
eight percent and the strikeout rate is down at seventeen percent.
There's no wiggle room there, especially when the ratios are
what they are. And it's not even a situation where
he's getting really unlucky. He has a five eighty eight
expected era, he has or a four to forty eight Sierra,

(08:59):
so he's not just getting screwed or something. It's not
a Babbitt issue. It's not a strand rate issue. He's
just not really that great anymore.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
I don't think Lee wants to know.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Well.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
I see Joe Piezapia at the Mets parade in November.
The Mets are like Thanos. They are inevitable. A big
win for them last night. The only thing inevitable when
it comes to the Mets is disappointment, as heartbreak, pain, agony,
all of those things. But I'm here for now. I
have more life experience and I'm here to just embrace
it now at this stage of my life. If they
do somehow win, that'll be amazing. But I'm prepared for

(09:31):
them to be. You know, just like last year, I
recognized I was having fun for the first time in
a long time, even you know, back when they made
the World's Series against the Royals a couple of years back,
I was I was in pain the entire time. It
was just painful. I really enjoyed the Mets run the
playoffs last year. I'm gonna try my best to enjoy
this for as long as it lasts. Inevitably, it will
come to a very sad ending. I'm sure I kind

(09:53):
of feel like Butter's in that episode of South Park
when he gets broken up with and he's sitting there crying,
and it's the one where stand gets dumped by Wendy
and he's like, but Butters don't. And he ends up
with the Emo kids and he's like, but Butters, you
know your heart's broken, and he says, yeah, but it
makes me feel alive and it makes me feel more human.
So that's what I am. I now Butters in my

(10:14):
old age. That's it. Bead wants to know. Is Andrew
Abbot for real? Joe Rigo, I can say unequivocally yes,
I have had it with people questioning Andrew Abbott. I
don't know what more this guy has to do. He's
a good major league pitcher. Do I think he's a
front rotation guy in Fantasy? No? Is he a really
great three to four? I think yes? What do you think? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (10:35):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Coming into the year, I didn't think too much of him.
What we've seen in his first couple of years was okay,
but nothing to write home about. The strikeout rate dropped
dramatically last year, but he's rebounded back up to twenty
six percent. The hard contact isn't too bad thirty percent
hard hit rate. It is really good. The nine percent
barrel rate is just fine. But overall he's made a
lot of improvements this year. Will they stick to this extent?

(10:57):
I don't think he's a sub two era guy. The
stop still isn't amazing, so there is some regression coming.
But I think that he is, like you said, a
very very serviceable mid rotation fantasy arm. Yeah, pitching in
Cincinnati worries you a little bit. The last couple of years,
he has had a bit of a home run problem,
but he seems to have figured that out this year
to some extent. So if somebody's willing to give you
the moon for him, I would take it. But I

(11:17):
think that he is a really really solid mid rotation arm.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
I feel like he's one of those guys. He got
him cheap. He's worth more to you than he is
on a trade block. I mean, like he got him
so cheap, he's more valuable to your own roster. Lucero's
has gore reached a status now. I wasn't aware that
he wasn't at that status.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, I think that he pretty much is is the strakeoats,
the strakecoats jumping up where they are thirty five percent
while he's also cut his walk right. The whips had
always been a huge problem for him. One fourth seven,
one four zero, one four two. He's at one twelve
and a lot of those expected numbers are right there
with his actual era A two sixty three fip A

(11:54):
two fifty two Sierra.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
He is fantastic. I think that he is an ace, Yeah, Joe.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
I think part of the reason you see the inflated
peripherals with him was the inefficiencies. You know, when you're
a five inning pitcher, your era, your whip, all that
stuff's going to be higher, just artificially anyway, because you're
not pitching deep enough into games. So now that he's
going a little bit deeper into games now and he's
becoming more dominant, you're seeing those numbers start to even
out a little bit. All Right, we got to talk
about this. Sandy al Contra shut out the Pirates for
six innings. I struck out six guys. Now here's the thing.

(12:23):
Last good start turning the corner, hopefully was against the Rockies.
This one was against the Pirates, a very very lowly
Pirates line up at this stage. So how much do
we want to take out of this and the real
question is do we want to start him in the
next outing against the Phillies who are down Bryce Harper
and have had their own issues Right now, what do

(12:44):
you think, Sandy al Contra after yesterday? Do you start
him against the Phills?

Speaker 3 (12:49):
I don't think that I could.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Now the Phillies, they have been pretty cold as of
late without Harper as well. Like over the last three
weeks I mentioned the Blue Jays stats have been fantastic.
Philadelphia has the twenty sixth ranked offense over the last
three weeks without Harper.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
It makes me a little more willing to do it.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
But if you are in a weekly league, this is
a two start matchup where he'll have to face Philadelphia
and then Atlanta. So if it's a weekly you got
to lock him in for both of those.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
I don't know that I.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Can might get lit up in those two starts.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
I just don't know that I could do it.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Like yes, I like that we've seen some improvement of
the last couple starts, but it's come against Pittsburgh and Colorado,
so I kind of want to pump the brakes.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
A little bit for people saying Sandy is back, Maybe
maybe he is, Maybe that.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Command is figured out because it does take a little
while after Tommy John to get the feelback. That being said,
I kind of need to see him do it against
the legit offense, and he'll be doing it on the
benches where I have him in a couple of draft
and hold leagues still and there's there's no way I
can put him out there for those two matchups.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
And that brings us to today is Chasing It Challenges
segment brought to you by Microsoft. Just like the athletes
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challenges you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to

(14:06):
say bring it on. And in this segment, we want
to spotlight the challenges faced by those who have held
on the Sandy al Condra. It's gotten better, certainly over
the last two starts against the worst two teams in
the National League. That is the rub, that's the question,
that's the issue. I'm where Joe Rico is. I don't
think I can start against the Phillies, and I certainly
don't want to start him against the Braves. I just

(14:27):
don't trust it. I am rooting for Sandy on contra
despite the fact I traded him away in a package
deal against Benzer Schreider last week and yesterday, I'm not
gonna lie hurt. A little bit made me a little
worried about what that trade might look like. But I
got Strider against the Rockies this week, so I'm hoping
potentially I get to reap the rewards of that start.
But Sandy leaves you in a tough spot. He might

(14:48):
be getting better, but it's really difficult to judge based
upon the competition he's been currently facing. When you're facing
the worst, you better be great now. Anything positive is
a step in the right direction. The question is we're
walking right back into the lions den here with the
Phillies and the Braves at these next two starts, and
I fear we might be. So that is this week's

(15:09):
Chasing Challenger segment. Remember Microsoft AI solutions and power you
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All right, Joey boy, let's move on with the show
here and let's do a little Uh what do we have?

(15:32):
We have some transactions. Craig Kimbrel signed a minor league
contract with the Rangers. Can you sense the idiots who
are going to pick him up thinking he might close?
Because I can he sends him.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, I can feel it, and it's you know, considering
the state of the Rangers pen this year, it's kind
of hard to blame them if they're playing in a
deeper league. Like, if you're in a shallow format, you
probably don't even take a chance on this. But if
you're somebody who has been on the closer carousel with
Robert Garcia and Luke Jackson and all the rest of it,
I could see people picking him up. I don't think

(16:03):
it's going to lead anywhere, but I could see people
doing it for sure.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
I've got another stat I was gonna share it for
another show tomorrow, but because somebody's asking a question, I
think it's important we talk about it. Sin Brown today
against the Phillies. Okay, so let's talk about Brown for
a second, because as we're going through some of the
splits on some of these guys, here's Ben Brown's day
night splitz. Today's a day game against the Phillies in

(16:27):
just an hour from now. In the night games seven
games A three six eighty RA one point two zero whip,
Day games seven six seven ERA over six starts one
point seven to four whip. My answer is no, wow,
wow wowie woo wow. You like that stat Joe, you
like the stat nuggets.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
That is eye opening for sure.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
I've had a few people ask me the same question,
and I've been on the same train of He's probably
not somebody I would start. Even with the Phillies kind
of struggling, I think it's a little bit of a risk,
But I think Brown, if he is sitting anywhere, I
think that he is somebody that is worth picking up.
The strikeouts really good, really good. Recently, there was a
couple of bad starts in there, Cincinnati and Miami blowing
him up isn't giving you that warm fuzzy feeling. But

(17:07):
the previous two starts against Cincinnati six clean innings with
nine strikeouts and against a good Tigers offense, seven innings
to run, seven strikeouts. So pick him up, sit him
and reap the vampire.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, don't, don't.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
Don't start him in the daytime he melts in the sun,
just saying, all right, let's do a little rookie lookie Rowan.
Anthony got his first career hit yesterday, which is nice
because you know, he got called up so quickly two
days ago that his parents couldn't make the game, which
was kind of sad. I didn't realize that at the time.
So they got there yesterday and obviously good things. Yesterday
he got his first hit. Mick Abel again considered, you know,

(17:41):
my many to be a kind of a flyer until
Nola comes back. Well, Nola is not coming back anytime soon.
We learned that yesterday. More on that. In the injury
segment to come. He gave out a couple of solo homers.
That was about it against the Cubs tough lineup. So
once again Mickabel giving you some quality innings. If you're
a Phillies fan, you gotta love that. And Jacob Mazerowski
also called up. He's gonna start Thursday. He's four and

(18:01):
two with eighty strikeouts in sixty three innings. He also
has thirty one walks over that period with a two
to one three era. Is this a one and done
for Miserowski here or do you think he sticks around?

Speaker 2 (18:13):
I would imagine that this is not something that's gonna stick,
And a lot of it comes down to how they
have used Henderson. Logan Henderson was brilliant and everything he
possibly could have to stay up right, and they still
sent him down. You're gonna laugh at me. But eventually
Brandon Woodruff probably is gonna come back. Who knows, who knows,
who knows, but he is probably gonna come back. They'll

(18:33):
have Nestor Cortez coming back at some point. I think
that it's probably just a spot start, and it comes
against Saint Louis, who recently hasn't been great. Over the
last three weeks they've been pretty poor. But this is
not like I saw just looking at Yahoo there were
twenty thousand ads of Miserowski yesterday. These people are probably
gonna be dropping him again in a week's.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Time, probably, I would agree. I do think though next year,
when you've got theoretically Peralta, then maybe Woodrof Misowski Henderson.
It's a really good looking rotation. In fact, it's such
a good looking rotation that it makes you wonder too,
like do they this offseason make a move for a
bat and try to fortify that offense because that pitching

(19:13):
looks like it's pretty good. And since you mentioned Brandon
woodro If, I want to introduce a new segment to
the show called Dark Joe. And I think this is
a really good situation. Brandon Woodroff's never coming back, it's
never happening. He'll be on rehab starts forever and ever.

(19:34):
All right, there you go, Dark Joe. Whenever you mentioned
Brandon Woodriff, that's what happens now from now on, it's
a news segment on the program. All right, let's get
to fun facts. Mitch Keller is one and nine with
a four to one five ERA as quality starts ten
times and fourteen tries this year, and he's gone zero
to seven in the nine starts in which he's allowed

(19:55):
two or three runs. He gets the Cubs next week.
Mitch Keller can help a lot of teams. I want
to say, if there's a like the Boston Red Sox
right now could use Mitch Keller, you know, like there's
a lot of teams right now that could use another
the Arizona Diamondbacks, they could use Mitch Keller. Mitch Keller
might be, dare I say, one of the best guys

(20:16):
on the market in the next month here at the
trade dying line. Your thoughts on those stats I just
gave you, which are pretty absurd considering the Pirates of
I mean, this is why I'm not going crazy about
the Sandy unconscience dark, because the Pirates are that aturo Sha.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
That's miserable for him.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
You got a feel for him on a human level
that he's going out there every time out doing his job,
and yet he's sitting here with a one in nine record.
I'm not a huge Keller fan like I from a
fantasy point of view, the win potential is obviously non existent.
The strikeouts aren't really there. But there are, like you said,
a few teams that could really use him. My Blue
Jays I think could really use a starting pitcher. Yeah,

(20:49):
if they keep things up, they could go after Mitch Keller.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Let me see, what, what does his contract look like.
He's got a couple of years left still. He signed
through twenty twenty eight, so you know, pirates could probably
a little decent return for.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Hey, Durant's got a couple of years that there's a
there's a deal helps everybody.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
You know, maybe to throw in something else as well
as Keller maybe maybe, I.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
Don't know, you know what, They're gonna have a logjam
when a Bra comes back, and Rafaela is gonna end
up being a bench player despite the fact he's a
better defensive center fielder. That's just gonna happen. You're not
sending Roman Anthony down after all this, like, it's just
not happening, folks. So he's here to stay. He's here
to play. The question is who's the odd man out there?
And you can either keep doing this and throwing your
head against you know, the wall with guys like Walker,

(21:32):
Muehler and guys like Gilito. Where he can you know,
try to get some other bodies in the air and
see if he could shake things up a little bit.
Maybe move Walker to the bullpen. I don't know, We'll
see what he does today. Kyle Schwarber was Welsh's pick
for home run yesterday over five three strike gas. I
just thought that was fun, So Welsha, enjoy your root
Canal today. Also yesterday also fun a little bit of
stuff going back and forth with the mascots. So apparently

(21:55):
last week Dinger, the mascot of the Rockies, was shooting
a shot in case you missed it on missus Met.
Who you know, missus Mett. You know, as far as
the mascots go, you know she's a hotty right well,
we all recognize that missus Met call me. The sign
says he's holding up now. Last night, I guess missus

(22:15):
Mett decided to go after him here and she had
a sign herself. It says, my husband has bigger biceps.
Take a hike, Barney ouch. I think the Barney one
really hit home there. I thought that was a low
blow there. So missus Met says, I'm a married lady,
you know, get out of my dms. What do you think, Joe,

(22:39):
This is a real picture right here. This really happened
in the game last night. I was watching the game
and this really happened. And I missed the thing that
happened over the weekend because I was coaching flag football
all weekend. And then I said, they did a recap
of this story, and I said, this is hilarious and
I wanted to share with you, Joe.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Rico, I'm so glad you saved it for my time
on the show, or that it just happened to work
out when I was going to be on the show,
because I'm not here very often. But it's good to
see some fun.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Well, I mean she called him Barney. That's very emasculating.
If your dinger, just like as if the Rocky season
couldn't get bad enough, you had Missus met bury you.
That's pretty bad, pretty pretty bad. All right, Let's get
to the three up and three down. Alejandro Kirk three
for five with a Homer Man, he's your boy's been
red hot, Joey al Hunter is the second day in

(23:26):
a row he's made the ups. Take a minute for
Kirk and then we'll go through the rest of ups
and down.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Well, this is kind of the first year where I
wasn't really super in on Kirk after the previous couple
of years of disappointments. And he's cut the strikeout right,
He's got the batting average way up. It's a three
twenty three. Is he going to maintain this pace?

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Probably not.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
But if you landed on him as a late catcher
or especially in those two catcher leagues like you, you
kind of struck gold, especially with the state of the
Blue Jays offense right in the middle of that order
and doing great things other than runs. Only seventeen runs
is kind of crappy, but it's hard to complain about
a catcher hitting three twenty three.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
No, you'll take that, especially nowadays with batting average being
tough to find. Jackson Curio two for four with a
two run dinger and Louis Robert two for four with
a homer.

Speaker 5 (24:09):
Two.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Lance mccullors wasn't great. We're gonna get to him in
a second. Logan Evans making the start with Miller out
five strikeouts five innings but allowed four runs.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
No A.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Cameron got destroyed by the Yankees six runs. Yak's just went,
you know, bananas last night. We'll see what happens today.
They're gonna face boobage. That's gona be a really interesting test.
Boo bitch and the Yankees too. I want to see that.
And Lance mccollors on extra rest, four runs, six strikeouts
over five innings. So this was against the White Sox,
a start that I think all of us were going,
oh yay, he's been so good, let's start him against

(24:41):
the White Sox. And this was a reminder, you know,
he just didn't look sharp. He didn't look like he
had the breaking stuff early on in this game. Maybe
it's just a one off, you know, or maybe this
is just again the ride that is Lance mccollors. So
do you think there's a lot of people having buyer's
remorse last week over spending on the Colors after this start?

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Maybe a little bit. But also the White Sox have
been not too bad as of late. I think their
lineup is actually looking kind of decent, as crazy as
that is to say. Talkman at the top me, Droff,
Ben and tend He's been good, Vargus has been a
good contributor, Caro and teal Luis Robert hitting seventh. It's
not as bad of a lineup as we probably perceive

(25:20):
it to be. So I'm not going to panic about
this for McCullers. He's not going to be a savior
for you. But I think if you did purchase him
in fab or pick him up on waivers, you're still
going to be pretty happy with that as long as
you weren't spending you know, ten twenty percent of or
overall budget. I think most people got him in the
five to seven percent range, and I think that that's
kind of proper. Honestly, I think I think that makes
a lot of sense, and I think he'll be a

(25:41):
pretty good return on investment.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
All right, Let's get to the injuries, and there are
a ton Joe Logan Gilbert six strikeouts over five score lists.
That was a great rehamp star for him yesterday and
triple A. So my guess is after five innings you're
probably going to see him activated very soon. Also, Bryce
Miller shut down from throwing for two weeks. He's going
to get that PRP injection. He return in four to
six weeks and I could grow hairback on my head.
We'll see what happens. First, Diamondbacks put Justin Martinez on

(26:05):
the io with a ucl sprain his right elbow. You
won't see him again this year. I guarantee it. Aaron
Nola was shut down after being diagnosed with a stress
reaction in his right rib. It's starting to feel like
a lost season for Aaron Nola. Are you getting that vibe, Joe?

Speaker 2 (26:19):
I am, yeah, And I think it means that it's
probably Mickable time, and it might make it even easier
in a couple months for it to be Andrew Painter time,
depending on the way the rest of the rotation shakes out.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
I'm not sure how that'll work.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
We'll have to see how Lozardo faars I kept thinking
that he was going to go on the IL. I
can't believe he's making this start today against the Cubs.
But we'll see what all plays out there. But yeah, Nola,
I wouldn't drop him necessarily, but I wouldn't expect a
ton from him either.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Gian Carl Stanton played around the corner for me. Yes,
Ray two for three with three ribbis and double a summerset.
So Yankees expect to get him back soon, which would
be interesting how he fits back in that DH spot
and where everybody else starts moving around. Do you think
this hurts Ben Rice time?

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I'm really not sure how it's all going to play out,
because they have been putting Rice behind the plate a
little bit here and there. He plays first, I honestly
don't know. I think maybe Trent Grisham is the one
who loses playing time just because he is really cooled off.
But I'm not sure if they want to put Bellinger
in center necessarily, but I feel like it's probably not
Ben Rice. If I had to pick one guy in

(27:22):
the lineup who probably loses the most playing time, I
feel like it would be Trent Grisham.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
That would make sense. That was smart, smart answer. Nadie
Evaldi is on track to throw a bullpen this weekend
with his triceps injury. Sean man Iah dealing with that
oblique two and two thirds scoreless innings Tuesday in a
minor league rehab start for High A Brooklyn. Sea McClanahan
said that imaging revealed his arm. Quote couldn't be better
end quote. Structurally, However, there's still no timetable for Sea

(27:48):
mcclanahan's return, So I don't care. I don't care if
everything's great. If you're not with a timetable by now
it's the eleventh of June. We don't have a time
frame for you right now. That's not good. Matt Chapman
has been diagnosed with a hand sprain. He's gonna see
a specialist for further evaluation. And speaking of the Giants,
Justin Verlander, he's gonna face hitters on Wednesday. Now, they've

(28:09):
got an interesting situation here because bird Songs pitch well.
Harrison had a good start yesterday. I don't know if
I'm I know he's gonna come back and kick one
of them out of the rotation. The question is do
you kick out Harrison the lefty, or do you kick
out bird Song?

Speaker 2 (28:27):
They probably send bird Song back to the pen. They shouldn't, so,
I mean, Verlander should be sitting on a porch somewhere
with a nice tea. I don't think that he really
should be pitching in major league games anymore, but.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's probably bird Song.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
As much as I hate that for how much exposure
I have to him, but I think that that's what
they'll do. He's only been in there for a few starts.
I think they'll they'll send him back to long relief.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, let me tell you something, man. This is why
I picked up Kyle Harrison a couple of weeks ago.
This is why I was pushing for it because I'm like,
you know, I think bird Song is probably the more
likely guy to go back into the bullpen because I
think it helped the most, and I get nobody wanted
to hear the two weeks ago. Everybody said I was
crazy and they're right, but I could be correct about this.
Let's see. Let's see if I'm right or wrong. Jacob

(29:09):
Wilson was scratched yesterday hamstring titaness, so just monitor that
in Daily Transaction League. Zibbie Matthews has a I want
to get this right. A moderate subscapularis strain. I hate
when my subscapularius car It's like, you know, when you
get to forty it's the first thing to go. He's
gonna be shut down from throwing for two weeks. Spencer Arraghetti, though,
is throwing bullpens as good? Show a Otani forty four pitch,

(29:32):
three inning, live batting practice. Give me a date you
would see sho he al Tani throw a pitch in
the major leagues by Joe Rico.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
The fourth of July.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
What that's soon?

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well, if he's the way, if he's already up to
forty five pitches, you get another three weeks. Let's say
even they throw him every six days and expand on
that by ten or fifteen pitches. I think that makes sense.
I don't think it makes a lot of sense for
the Dodgers to push him so much. Like I've feel
like they probably should either have him go just a
couple of innings here and there, or maybe hell have

(30:06):
him as the closer. I don't know if that would
even work out necessarily, but with the revolving door of
Tanner Scott's been eh, Kirby Yates has been kind of
up and down. I wouldn't hate that just to preserve him.
But considering Justin Robleski is throwing the bulk of innings today,
maybe they want him back in the rotation. But I
feel like, yeah, we're about three weeks to a month
out from when we're probably gonna see him. They're not
gonna just say a hundred pitches.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
But look at this comment from Michael Ohtani makes twenty
stars before Woodroff makes one. Might I might you know
they've they've most starting pitchers in the major leagues use
this year. The Dodgers fourteen fourteen different starters this year.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Every single picture that they acquire is a guy who
has a history of injuries or is a high risk
guy in some way or another. So it kind of
makes sense that a lot of their guys get hurt.
But at the same time, it's like there's gonna be
a thirty for thirty. If they still even do those,
they're gonna do something about the Dodgers.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
And the problem is they do them, but they're like
on the most obscs, there's like this guy table tennis
or this guy who ran a marathon in Zimbabwe once,
like I just I want a thirty for thirty on
Charles Barkley or something like I want something entertaining for
God's sake. I don't really, it's like, you know this,
this guy was a member of the you know, Icelandic

(31:17):
Bob sled team, Like, eh, we need thirty for thirty
on that ESPN And it's like it's like six hours long,
three parts too.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yeah, they're always right.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
Have you noticed this?

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Oh god, I missed those. I missed those.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, but I miss them when they were about players
I knew in sports I watched. Oh god, stop it.
They're so bad. And I used to love the thirty
for thirties and it's so bad. Now you're just so random.
I think there was one like a video game thing.
It's like, what are we doing? What are we doing here?
BMX Rider three part documentary series, seventeen hours long, thirty

(31:58):
for thirty Blake Snell fifteen pitch bullpen session yesterday, so
keep your fingers crossed. The first time he's throwing a
ball since April. April, Mike Trout remains in the DH
roll again, lingering Soren, it's in the left knee. I'm
telling you right now, boys and girls, if you don't
get out for the Mike Trout thing, that's on you.
It's on you. Chote Managa is gonna make another rehab

(32:19):
start Saturday, hope as they get him back in that
rotation next week. And your Nolvarez has still not resumed
swimming a back. So Joe, do you take advantage of
this rock bottom price for Alvarez or do you just
want nothing to do with him in a trade because
you just don't think he's gonna be who he is
when he comes back.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
After seeing the ineptitude of their medical staff with Kyle
Tucker last year and that whole debacle, like what he
come back in September and played a handful of games
or something, we might be looking at the same thing
with yourd on. So unless it's truly dirt floor cheap
you're getting him for nothing, then I think it's probably
a little bit too risky because people are still gonna say,
look at your Valvarez when he's healthy, he's a first

(32:57):
round player, and they're gonna still try and talk you
and given up more than you probably should. But at
this point, I don't think there's a ton of value
there for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
All right, let's see we can find some value. Two
for three yesterday, it's time to get to the best
bets of the day with Joe and Joe. That's right,
So here we go. Let's give once again New York
Mets on the run line. Let's do it again, this
time with David Peterson. Why because the Mets are arguably
one of the best teams of baseball, which makes it
easy to bet on them, and the Washington Nationals have
a lot of issues. Irvin's on the mound the other

(33:26):
side with the four era, let's go. Peterson's been terrific,
especially at home. Give me. I can't believe I'm doing this.
So either I'm embracing this or I'm cursing at Joe.
I'm not sure which one. Jack Lighter over four and
alf strikeouts against the Minnesota Twins. So if he does
it today and he has a good start, he has
killed the NEPO baby persona. It's dead, it's gone. If

(33:48):
it's a huge if, we'll see. But over four and
alf strikeouts, let' see if you can get it. And
if he doesn't, I'll be so sad tomorrow, so depressed.
San Francisco Giants on the run line. Minus one and
a half two, minus one fifty four right now is
what you're getting. Robbi Ray on the mound, he has
been terrific. Just continue to go at the Rockies whenever

(34:10):
you can. So give me. I'm basically betting on Robby Ray,
Peterson and mister Lighter today. We'll see how it goes.
Joe Rico, what do you have for the people today?

Speaker 2 (34:19):
So I also have Robbie Ray. I agree with you.
Target the Rockies wherever you can. They strike out almost
more than any team in baseball just over the last
couple of weeks. I like to use three weeks as
a sample size two, something that I've kind of started
doing a little bit more recently, just because that equals
like a full season's worth of plate appearances for a
player for the whole team. So it's like six hundred
and fifty seven hundred play appearances. It gives you kind

(34:40):
of a good idea, and the Rockies is striking out
twenty five percent of the time. When you go up
against the guy like Robbi Ray who is striking everybody out,
this feels like a pretty attainable number, even at seven
and a half. I know it's a high number, but
it feels very attainable at even money. David Festa, I
know rockaball Deli hates us all rock a ball Delhi
would probably pull him at four and two thirds in,
but considering he's facing the Rangers, and the Rangers are

(35:02):
a team that strikes out a hell of a lot
and their offense has just been awful this season. Truly,
I think they might be the most disappointing team in
baseball offensively. So I think Fest that even if he
gets a short leash, can still get over five and
a half, and I think get plus money, it's a
really good bet to make. And then going back to
the Rockies game, Kyle Freeland, you know, the walk number
is a little bit interesting here. I thought we would

(35:24):
see a little bit more of a juice number at
over one and a half, but plus one forty five.
He is somebody that I don't really trust too much,
and the Giants actually walk a fair clip about ten
percent walk rate as a team, so this feels like
a very very achievable number against the pitcher who is
just not very good. So David Festo over five and
a half strikeouts, Robbie Ray over seven and a half strikeouts,

(35:45):
and Kyle Freeland over one and a half walks.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
I think that's the best bet of the day right there,
especially if you can do a little research and find
out who the umpire is at home play today. If
they have a smaller zone that might be one you
bet a couple of units on because umpiring has not
been great the last few weeks at the home plate.
Make sure if you're making your bets, you go over
fancybros dot com slash leading Off, where new customers bet

(36:09):
five bucks, get two fifty and bonus bets if you
win again. That's only a Fancy pros dot Com slash
of leading Off, and download the Betting Pros app today.
Get the premium tools for free for seven days when
you use that promo code leading Off. Bet smarter, not harder.
Let's get to our home run calls for the day,
and let's see the board and see what we got here.

(36:30):
We got walky Penguin at twenty one. I'm I'm let's see,
did I hit a home run yesterday? No, Junior Kamenaro
did not hit a home run yesterday. So I'm still
just floating behind that board. Joe Rico, are you even
in this contest? Broh?

Speaker 3 (36:42):
You know, with my kidney stones and my am in
my ankle, I.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Hit a home run lot two days of the season,
and I was thinking, Oh my god, I'm gonna win
the jersey. And then I was on the shelf for
so long that I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have
to do something crazy to I'm back into it here,
so we'll see.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
It's a judge. Just take judge every day. You might
be able to catch up. If you take judge every day,
you might get on the board, you know, and if
you hit a couple of times, maybe when he's on
off days. Nothing's impossible. Right now, Let's get a look again.
Francisco Lindor's my pick today, plus three sixty. He's got

(37:24):
great numbers in his career against Irvin. So give me
Francisco Lindor. I'm going on Mets today. What could go wrong?
Jo Rico, Where are you going for your home run
call today?

Speaker 3 (37:32):
I'm going Elliott Ramos.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
I believe it was plus two to ninety on the
book that I was looking at, but shop around against
Kyle Freeland at course Field right e versus Lefty. This
one feels like it's going to happen. He was the
guy that hit the home run for me on the
first day of the season. So let's run it back.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
And as Jerry saying, see everybody four o'clock today YouTube again.
Subscribe to Fancy Rose MLB. Join us there for the chat.
It's all Q and A. It's all your questions, all
your needs for fantasy getting answered and taking care of
it one time. Joe, Rico and I will be there
while Welch sits in the dentist chair and gets those
Veneers finally put on, which we've been waiting for for

(38:08):
a long time. That'll do it for us, but the
story of the game goes on for Joe. I'm also Joe.
We'll see you next time.

Speaker 5 (38:14):
Giz, thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts
or Spotify. Follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at
Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube
dot com Slash Fantasy Pros MLB

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Fantasy Baseball Advice | Players Trending Up & Down, Prospects to Watch, MLB Injury Updates (Ep. 1045)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Fantasy Baseball Advice | Players Trending Up & Down, Prospects to Watch, MLB Injury Updates (Ep. 1045)