May 9, 2019 • 37 mins
Matt Striker and Mike the Roto Cop spend the show looking at some of the top pitching stats from last night. Talking about the strong play of Chris Paddack, Mike asks Matt if he could win in a fight against the Padres pitcher.
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Ladies and gentlemen to the Fantasy Baseball Hello everybody, and
(00:43):
welcome to the Talk of the town. It's time for
the Fantasy Baseball Hour with your host, Matt Striker and
Mike the Rhodo Cop. People are still buzzing from our
debut episode where we got to talk to the sheriff
Chris Paddock ahead of his dominant a performance of the
New York Mets, and now I think, Mike, the word
is spreading around the baseball world is if you come
(01:06):
on the Fantasy Baseball Hour your next start or your
next game, you'll be amazing. What do you think? Yeah,
I think you're right on the money with that. It's funny.
I was watching Fantasy Best Friends Forever yesterday and I
got in the YouTube chat, and I said, Chris Paddock's
been doing really well ever since he appeared on the
Fantasy Baseball Hour. So anybody out there that wants to
shove like Chris Paddock did the other night, And what
(01:27):
perfect timing it was to release that interview that the
day before he went out there and dominated the Mets
and all that controversy that came along with it. Really
awesome timing and really awesome interview for those who haven't
heard it yet. Yeah, and timing is everything. And I
put out a tweet yesterday after Pete Alonso's dong, they
cut quickly to Paddock and he just had a death stare.
(01:49):
And my tweet was that at Mike the Rhodo cop
eats this stuff up and now all he's gonna want
to talk about is wrestling, because yes, it's a it's
a wrest angle with storytelling and good guys and bad guys.
I guess in this regard who are the good guys,
the Padres or the Mets. I would say most people
(02:09):
out there would say the Mets of the good guys
because Patty kind of created this uh on his own,
on his own. Uh. What's the word of fruition, I believe, okay,
or it was fair enough, but I think that on
the flip Paddock is like this anti hero. He's like
a stone called Steve Austin. Now you know he's not
your traditional good guy. What what, He'll beat your ass.
(02:30):
You think you could beat Chris Paddock in a fight.
Absolutely not. I don't know if you've seen his Instagram.
This guy's thrown around like Stacks and Hey in the
off season and really doing a lot more yard work
than I'm I'm accustomed to here in New York. You
know who likes to to throw around stacks of Hey
is another big, tough guy that we should try to
get on the show, as my friend Billy Gunn, remember
Billy Gunn for the new agent Billy Gunn, of course,
(02:51):
the famous Yeah, he's got two words for you. All right,
Speaking of two words, why don't we go and jump around?
Basically is where Mike and I just kind of give
our thoughts about things that have been happening in the league,
maybe things that happened the night before, things that have
been happening gays prior, and the first thing that everyone's
gonna be talking about today, ad nauseum is going to
(03:11):
be Mike Fires no hitter. I wanted to dive a
little deeper into it and just kind of crunch the
numbers he did. He did it on a hundred and
thirty one pitches. In this day and age. That's impressive
because guys are usually lifted right around the hundred pitch mark.
Are you surprised that Fires was allowed to go that
(03:33):
deep into the game considering what he was working on.
It's pretty crazy that he has two career complete games
and they're both came in no hitters. So I mean,
I guess that's the key for him going on. As
long as he give up, gives up no hits, he's
going I woke up this morning and I went on
the on the game cast to see how Nick Senzo did.
I fell sleep early, so I didn't know Fires through that.
(03:54):
I didn't go on Twitter. I didn't know Fires through
the no hitter. And I go to see how Nick
Senzo didn't no hits. I'm looking to the whole line
no hits. No, it's no hits, like holy ship, Mike
Fires doing no hitter. I click on Oakland there it
is no hit or nine and there's no hits. What
the hell is going on? So I um, I watched
the highlights the condensed version of it back to back
and seen plays in the sixth inning. I know you
said you were watching the game pro far that awesome
(04:16):
catch behind first base over there in the short outfield,
and then and then the bad guy Laser Ramon robs
Joey Vatdo of a home run. Then that must have
been insane game to watch. I wish I stayed up
for it now, but Mike Fires throwing a no hitter
was not one of the things I expected to see
when I woke up this morning. Mike, are you happy
that within the first few minutes we've had a stone
called Steve Austin Billy Gun and raising Ramon references? Listeners
(04:40):
can't see the look on my face right now, smiling
ear to ear, so breaking breaking Fires down a little more.
What I saw was that he did this with the
cutter and the fourth scene fastball, and it's just interesting
moving forward as far as spantasy value goes. If Fires
has confidence in these pitches and the league doesn't catch up,
(05:03):
Fires may be worth uh some streaming options. He might
even be worth rostering. I mean, I know I had
him in a few weeks and definitely eating croaks. I
did drop him. I did not have any shares of
him in my seven leagues. But uh, some more numbers
on this no hitter. Ten of his outs came on
the ground, always good to hear, Always good to see
a guy getting out on the ground on the flip.
(05:25):
Eleven of the outs came in the air. And we
also have to take into consideration that this did happen
in Oakland. He had one, uh double play, and his
strikeout to walk ratio was six to two. It wasn't
a a oh my gosh kind of stat line. It
didn't blow you away. He was just, you know, he
was fairly efficient. He didn't on a hundred thirty one pitches,
like I said, and I think it's the three hundred
(05:48):
no hitter in league history. I think I saw that
stat as well. You can either confirm or deny that
I did not see what number was. Three hundreds sounds
a bit high, but I'll take your word for it.
As far as fire as fan value goes, we all
know what Mike fires is. I don't think you're getting
much out of him that you weren't expecting already. Maybe
once a year. Once every couple of years, you've got
(06:08):
a no hitter out of him if you stream him
on the right uh, the right day. But other than that,
I don't think fires has any fantasy value alright, So
that's my first lily pad on this jump around on
the Fantasy Baseball pond. What's your person? I'm gonna start
with a Caleb Smith, the All Star Caleb Smith. If
things keep going the way they're going now. He had
(06:29):
six and two thirds with tour and then eleven strikeouts
last night against the Cubs, which brings him to two
point one one e r A on the season, fifty
six strikeouts, only twelve walks, and forty two winnings pitched
forty two plus sennings pitch, so his his arsenal is
pretty simple. He mixes up his fastball slider, changeup, but
all three pitchers are grading out his plus pitches right now.
(06:49):
The batting average against his changeup is one two, the
batting average against his sliders one fifty nine. He actually
has a sixteen point seven swinging strike percentage league averages eleven.
His old swing like we touched on in the first episode,
thirty seven point five percent league averages thirty point one.
UM a little wary of his bad but only being
to thirty nine, so expect some regression in the year
(07:10):
eight department, but not much because the way he's looking
right now, he really should be an all star. His
next starts against the Mets. And it's just crazy to
think that the Yankees traded him and Garret Cooper for
Mike King, who's in the minors for them right now.
But Mike King is not going to be nearly as
good as Caleb Smith is. And who knows what Garret
Cooper is gonna end up being. He's been up and
down throughout his career so far. The Caleb Smith really
(07:32):
hit the scene hard here, and I'd be uh intrigued
to get some sort of breakdown on Caleb Smith in
our next podcast coming up on Friday. Now. Yeah, if
if only we had someone waiting in the wings that
could possibly break this down, Oh what joy it would be.
But we can't necessarily announce anything until the inc on
(07:55):
the ten day contract that we're trying to sign. This
analyst too is dry. I want to ask you this,
Caleb Smith's team in any way bother you or scare
you off or is his stuff just so good right
now that would you a roster him rest of season
or at least roster him, I know a lot of
people do. Or is he a streaming kind of guy?
(08:15):
How do you sit on Caleb Smith's And he said,
to get off of me, Mike. As as far as winds,
I mean, I'm not really pitching Caleb Smith to to
get more wins. That's not what he's there for. He's
there to to correct ratios, bring down your ear ay,
bring down your whip at your strike cuts. He said
he had eleven strike cuts last night, which is awesome
for him, and it seems like the sky's the limit.
I'm very intrigued to see what he does against a
(08:37):
Mets line that wasn't really hitting until Peter Hanson kind
of broke out again last night. But I'm very intrigued
to see what happens is the next start and going forward. Alright,
So I'm gonna stay with pitching a guy that I
do have rostered, and he did hurt me yesterday because
he took a minus in my points category. And that's
Max Freed. Some people want to call him Max Fried,
(08:58):
but either way, you look at and he was coming
into the last night's start with four wins, he had
a thirty four to eight strikeout to walk ratio. If
those who don't know what that means, the thirty four
strikeouts to eight, watch that's impressive. He also was coming
in with a two point one one e r A,
similar to Smith, but then a line drive off of
his hand took him out of the game. He was
(09:19):
charged with four runs that balloom to z r A.
But it's still under three X rays I've read have
come back negative and Freed should make his next start.
I want to say it's Sunday against Arizona. So um, yeah,
I think that's my take on Freed and I'm happy
that he's going to make his next start. Yeah, Freeze
(09:40):
Free has been a revelation this year. He uh, he's
making a lot of owners happy. One one thing I
wanted to mention on Caleb Smith before we go for
Freed here. Caleb Smith was drafted behind Jeff so Marja,
behind Trevor ca Hill, behind Matt Harvey in uh NFPC
leagues and that's just insane to think about for weeks.
Five weeks later, I know n FBC is doing more
(10:02):
drafts over Memorial Day weekend. Caleb Smith definitely not gonna
go behind those guys, and he's definitely cannot gonna be
the hundred hundred forty pitcher off the boards. God, I'm sorry, no, no,
what we're gonna say? I said, are you going to
be jumping in into any of those NFBC Redraft League
and tb D at the moment to be decided. I
(10:24):
gotta figure out some finances and how I'm gonna But
he keep this under wrap so my girl doesn't find
out that I spent more money on fantasy baseball this season.
I told her I was done in April, so we'll
see what you in the in the March, so we'll
see what happens with that. But like you said, I'll
max freed. He he really has been great. And the
good news is the X rays are negative so many
(10:46):
times your pitching hand. It's something to monitor, so obviously
keep an eye on it. But as long as he
says he's healthy and the Brave Stay is healthy, just
keep rolling him out there. Yeah, And just so you know,
I want you to know. So evidently my girl and
your girl talk and they listened to the show and
they both text each other back and forth. I just
I saw my girls from with these emojis, these eye
(11:06):
roll and these like vomit emojis, because evidently all we
do is talk baseball, and I think they're both conspiring
to leave us, Like Elma and Louise, They're just gonna
drive off the cliff, but hopefully they still love us.
Is there something else that I caught your eye in
in basic ball in the last few days you want
to talk about before we move on. Yeah, a couple
(11:27):
of things. Last night. Um Ty Butery got the eighth
and Hans A. Robosts got the ninth. That's was something
to monitor there. Butrey got nine, one, two in the lineup,
Robosts got three, four, five, and he shut the door.
So that seems to be a true committee closer committee there.
Anthony Soreza blew another save for the Mariners last night.
He hasn't gotten a saved since April. He came into
(11:49):
the fourth two game against the Yankees ended up giving
up three runs in the bottom of the ninth. At
this point, Ron Selias should be getting the bulk of
the saves, and Carter Kaboom was sent down. This happened
earlier in the day yesterday, So this news has been
circulating for a while, and I don't want to Monday morning,
Monday Morning quarterback the situation. I even added him in Yahoo.
But just a word of advice, even when you're when
(12:12):
you're dealing with FAB, use it carefully because and you
really got to think things out because guys are spending
some of the numbers here in the t g FBI,
which is a great fantasy base of limitational. You'll hear
me refer to it throughout the episodes that we do.
Three fifteen industry guys combined for how many of the leagues,
it was fifteen man leagues, so you can see everybody's
(12:32):
acquisitions over the weeks. In Carter Kaboomen for four hundred
twenty one dollars when he got called up four hundred one,
three fifty seven, three fifty two, three fifty one. The
numbers go on and on. Of your budget, he has
to do some serious damage to return value. So it's
just something to keep an on when you're spending FAB
and on the other side of the spectrum, don't give
up on him next time he gets called up, because
(12:52):
guys don't always succeed in their first their first stince.
Look who Lad Junior is doing. Now. I know it's early,
but he hasn't been hitting too well. Mike out here
two twenty and his first cup of coffee. So don't
give up in carbon the next time he comes up
and say this guy has been up. He sucks. He
can't hit major league pitching. Just just slow play it.
If if I would give any advice, I would say,
slow play alright, something that I wanted to talk about.
(13:14):
So I have a few friends out in the Chicago
Land area, guys like CM Punk and Cold Cabana that
are big wrestling fans and big baseball fans. I would
imagine they'd be big wrestling fans. They make quite a living.
Are they still a big wrestling fan? Him? Well, that
that I I can't speak on. I I that I
don't know, but I do know that he's a big
(13:35):
hockey and baseball fan. And when the Cubbies went on
their six game losing streak, I texted both of them
just with an L O L because I'm a Cardinal
fan and I like to use hit terms like L
O L because I'm young with the kids. But after
that six game losing streak, I wanted to talk about
the cub's last twenty games, going back to April thirteen.
This team is pickteen five. They've won series is against
(13:58):
the Dodgers and the car Those respectively. They are now
the second best team in the end all the fourth
best team in all of Major League Baseball. And in
the last fourteen days, they've been doing it with two
guys that I think have a cool kind of brand
Jolina thing. I call them Brizzo. It's Anthony Rizzo and
Chris Bryant, and those I can't see. Mike is putting
the finger in the mouth vomit sign as I say that.
(14:20):
But Anthony Rizzo in the last fourteen days is hitting
three thirteen with five home runs, fourteen r b I s.
He's even swiped the bag in the last fourteen days.
Chris Bryan's hitting three oh two with five home runs
and fifteen rb I. So Rizzo and Bryant owners, if
you were patient, Look, guys, it's only the first week
in May. Guys are gonna start to do what guys do.
(14:42):
Players are thawing out now in the league is going
to correct itself. So if you're a Rizzo or a Bryant, owner,
Sit tight because I think the best is yet to come. Yeah,
and as far as Anthony Rizzo goes, he's right on
par with what he's on most of his career. As
far as starting the season, slogos, Chris Bryant, all the
all the for fields have been there for him, so
it's just a matter of time before he broke out.
(15:04):
He had the walk off former last night. He's homing
in three straight games and reach safely in seventeen straight.
Like you said, the Cubs are hot. They want eight
out of nine. So if you if you're a Brian
or Rizzo owner, or most of these guys in the Cubs,
hobby bias has gone off to tremendous start. There's a
lot of a lot of hitters and that comes lineup
that you you want to own and if you do
o and just just sit tight because they're gonna break
out if they haven't broke out already. Alright, we're gonna
(15:26):
take a quick commercial break. When we come back, we're
gonna give you our d f S picks as well
as some other funding and gunning when the Fantasy Baseball
Hour comes back after this. Hello, everyone, this is Dedily
the Roado cop. I'm Michael's mother, and I want you
to know that when Michael talked about all of the
data metrics, honestly, my husband, Herb and I we don't
(15:50):
know what to do. But now that we listen to
the Fantasy Baseball Hour, I know what wonda is and
my husband knows what's sip it. And Michael, one day
you'll know what cleaning your room is. Mauthfact to Matt
and Mike. All Right, WelCom back to the Fantasy Baseball
Hour and issues where we go into the bread and butter,
(16:12):
the way we make our money. Daily Fantasy picks. Mike
and I love Daily Fantasy. Mike's big DraftKings guy. I'm
a big band duel guy. And we're gonna give you
some picks for today and then I have some picks
for tomorrow. Today is Wednesday. The first hitter that I
like is a guy that is getting hot in his
last couple of games. His name is Starling Marte and
(16:35):
he faces Shelby Miller, and Marte is hitting four hundred
against Shelby Miller, and I like that, So I'm gonna
spend a little money on Starling Marte today. Mike, you
got a player that you're buying today in DFS. Yeah,
I got a two hitters for you. The first one
being Marcelo Zuna who's going for He is five for
(16:55):
thirteen with the homemorw Jared I cough and I cos
having an awesome season. But to me, he lives in
his own a little bit too much, and I think
Lo Zuna could burn him Zuna's Most of Zuna's power
comes against righty's and he loves hitting in bush Stadium,
so he makes his money against the fourcing fastball and
I caught those at forty percent of the time, so
I see a possibility for a big return there. The
other guy is another power hitter and Nelson Cruz who's
(17:17):
going and he's two for two with the double career
against Trent Thorton for the Blue Jays. It's crazy because
I feel like Nelson Cruise doesn't age. He's in the
ninety percentile and exit Villa ninety percent down hard hit
ninety percent in ex wOBA, and like Ozuna, most of
his power comes against rights. But Thorans actually not that bad.
He throws four pitches plus fastball on ninety four plus curve.
(17:40):
He did go for in two thirds four and runs
last time against Minnesota, so he struggled in that start.
And I expect Cruise to to get ahold of one
and this one too. So I expect two homers in
uh byo Zuna, one by Zuna and one by Cruise
for your lineup today if you roster both those guys. Yeah,
I know. It's funny when I look at Jared I
Cough in the abreviate his first name and is j
I Cough And I look at it really quickly, and
(18:02):
I have to like double take because I'm not sure
it doesn't say what I think it says. Another hitter
that I like is uh, you'll have to spend some money,
but he's gonna be worth it. He's facing Derek Holland
he has a four hundred average against him. Sevent ops.
I throw my money at Nolan Arroonado. I just think
that the matchup is just way too good. That's my
(18:24):
second hitter. Pictures. You and I both like the same picture,
so I'll back off and I'll take a different picture.
And again, I know it's chucky, but I think that
this picture needs this matchup to get off the schneid
and to start to become who he is, and that's
Chris Sale pitching against Baltimore. I know that Aronado and
Sale are gonna be pricey, but sometimes you gotta spend
(18:46):
a little to win a little. So those are my
df sor's for today. What about you, Miguel. Yeah. Matt Boyd,
who I think everyone out there should like. His his
ownage percentage will probably be very high today. He's having
a fantastic gear three oh five ye or a eleven
point five seven case per nine and he's really took
the next step doing it with his four seamen slider,
(19:07):
especially the four seam. It's grading out as his best
pitch this year and it's been really effective. He has
a swinging strike grade of fifteen percent. Like I said earlier,
I think I mentioned that the league average was ten
and he's having success at home this year. The Angels
who he's facing today are collectively hitting one ninety four
against Boyd, and they're dead last and average against left
handed pitchers at two oh five and twenty six and
(19:28):
ops first left handers. So look for Boyd to have
tremendous success today. And he's the third third most expensive
picture off the board. I think Sale was won Boyd's
three at nine hundred dollars, but I think he he'll
be worth every penny. Yeah, And and Boyd leads the
league in war and fifth, And like I said, I
know it's only the beginning of Maybe that's a nice
little tribute question. If you would ask a hundred people
(19:49):
who leads the league in war and fifth? How many
of the man Italia it's Matthew Boyd or Matteo boy
as they call him in h If you are looking
at tomorrow, just a peak headed Thursday. I know the
lineups aren't gonna be out, but just just a quick look.
Justin Turner has great success against Patrick Corbin to Turner
like sliders. Corbin throws sliders. Turner sitting four fourteen against him.
(20:12):
I think he's like five extra bas It's another kind
of chalky pick that I do like. Is George Springer
against Mike Miner, Springers hitting like three fifty something. I
know a lot of people are on Mike Minor, but
I just think that Springers numbers are impressive against him.
And lastly, Carlos Carrasco owns Chicago White Sox hitters, and
(20:34):
he's another guy after getting beamed in the leg. I
think it was. He also kind of needs to start
to put his owners heads to bed, as they say.
So if you're looking ahead of tomorrow, those are some
some cute little options. If you like him, you've got
anything for tomorrow. You're not even there yet. You are
living the moment kind of guy. No, I'm not even
there yet. But you mentioned Justin Turner. He did hit
three bombs last night, so it would be nice to
(20:54):
get him during this breakout or at the beginning of
the breakout, I should say, because he seems to be
turned in the corner. And the other two options you said.
Carrasco seems like a good bet against the White Sox.
I know he's struggled a little bit here lately, but
he'll eventually turn around. All his pro field say that
he will. So I don't mind those picks. I think
any of them, any of your picks today or tomorrow,
should should play pretty well. All right. That's the goal here,
(21:17):
to win people money, and it's we have it in
our profile. Look. I like to use math and physics
and numbers, and baseball can be a guessing game, and
baseball can be a gut game. But if you watch
the game and you look at numbers, you have a
better opportunity to win some money. And UH, to me,
that's what it's all about. So, Mike, I have a
(21:38):
question for you. Are you ready to put on your
lab coat? I am? You? Are you ready to get
your Bunsen burner lit? I am? It's been a while,
but I am. Do you have your safety goggles on?
I do, because you had him on from before. I know,
you perverted animal. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, is now time
for us to go into the labs. Into the lab
(22:01):
without a all. Right. Into the lab is where we
basically break down a particular saber metrics stat so that
everyone can understand it. I said recently in an interview
for the guys over at fan Tracks and Joe Pezippila
that I want to be able to explain whip to
my grandma, and if I could do that, then I
(22:23):
think that I could explain these metrics to anyone. I
was younger, I was able to explain whip to my
grandma Genie, and I love her, arrest her soul. So
Mike and I today we are going to break down
the wonderfully sounding Saber metrics stat of wOBA. Now in
my profile I have my girlfriend knows what wOBA is,
(22:45):
and I can't tell you how many people have messaged
me to say that they think that's funny, but it's true.
And the fact that she knows what wOBA is makes
her incredibly, incredibly enticing to me. Then once she starts
yelling at me, it really doesn't matter that she knows
what wola is. So, Mike, your your thoughts initially on
the wOBA stat and why it's valuable. Well, I don't wanna.
(23:08):
I don't want to steal your thunder and give too
much away. Here you are the teacher, so I'll let
you explain what wOBA actually is. But as far as
the value of it, I think it's it's just another
step in the right direction and determining and determining what
a player's value is and what a way to great
out what they're doing on the field more accurately as
opposed to counting everything the same. Like I said, I
(23:28):
don't want to give too much away, so you could
dive into that, g Mike, I think I appreciate you
leaving some food for the rest of us to eat,
all right, So basically, and again you gotta understand that
I I need to dumb this down because I'm not
as bright as the next guy. So WHOBA waited. On
base average is basically accounts for how a player reached
(23:52):
base instead of simply considering whether or not he reached base.
And I hope that makes sense. It It measures of
players overall offensive contributions every time he goes to the plate.
It shows me here's overall productivity. Now. I know people
will say, well, what about slash line If you don't
know what slash line is, that's batting average, on base percentage,
(24:12):
and slugging, But they don't tell the whole story. Like,
the value for each method of reaching base is determined
by how much that event is worth in relation to
scoring runs. So an example, a double is worth more
than a single. So am I starting to explain this right? Yeah?
I think you're on the right track. Okay, So all
methods of reaching base are not equal, right, So, like
(24:34):
I said, batting average and on base percentage, it only
goes so far in measuring a players value. But wOBA
assigns the proper value to each event as far as
scoring runs, and I think as far as fantasy goes.
It's a great way to measure of players all around
talent at the plate. The better for the requencing average
when it gives the same value to a bluep single
(24:56):
as it does to a home run, so to speak.
So WO was just a better look into offensive value.
And to give you some ideas, an excellent wOBA is
four hundreds, an excellent batting average is three great, yeah,
great WOB is three seventy, and above average WOB is
three forty. And just so you know, the league leaders
(25:19):
currently our Cody Bellinger with a five four WOBO, which
is beyond excellent, Christian Yellows with a four four WOB
beyond excellent. You hit it on the head, and it's
pretty cool that we could do this in each episode
and and discuss all these advanced metrics for people that
don't know and we're not assuming everyone out there doesn't
know what wOBA is, but for the few that don't,
(25:40):
this is a this will be a good tool for
them to use in their fantasy leagues. Just one thing
to keep in mind, um, the Fangraph's library has all
the definitions of all the advanced metrics, and it's really
a great, a great tool that you could use to
find out what things are on how things work. But
fan graphs WOLLBA does not adjust for park factors, so
players that hit and hit are friendly parks have slightly
inflated wolba's, So that's just something to keep in mind.
(26:02):
It shouldn't make too much of a difference in how
you determine uh players value considering their wOBA. But there's
some guys on this list that you would think aren't
the real deal, but then you see their advanced per
fields and advanced stats, like Brandon low Is in the
top fifteen in WOLBA, Christian Walker's in the top twenty,
train Man see these twenty one, Jeff McNeil's twenty two.
So it's interesting to see some of these guys that
(26:24):
people probably think are just flukes or or whatever the
case may be, and them having such high wolba's and
having such other numbers like w r C plus and
all the other things that we'll get into over the
course of the next couple of weeks. So it's just
something to keep an eye on when you're when you're
valuing or determining the value of players that you're considering
maybe trading or dropping. You might want to think twice.
(26:45):
You might want to think twice. Don't you threaten me?
Mike so um our our first episode came out and
my gosh, you know, like when you open up your
phone and you see that you have seven messages, six
alerts whatever. Opened up my phone and it was just
like buzz buzz, buzz buzz. There was like forty seven
(27:06):
text messages, sixty three alerts. My Instagram was going off.
People really loved the show, Mike, And the one complaint
I got was they asked, who's the other guy on
with match Striker? And I want to know, like does
that does that? You know, does that hurt your feelings?
Or are you going to try to to win over
(27:26):
the fickle crowd? You really threw me under the bus here. First, first,
you guys take me out of the graphic and that
I didn't do that. I't talking about this. I guess
one baseball is not big enough for two faces. Huh,
that's what she said, you know, all getting aside. A
lot of the messages were that they really believe that
we're friends, so we have them fooled completely. It's called
(27:50):
I believe If it were I wouldn't tell you, buddy,
you know, can I say something wrestling related here while
we're on air because I just got to hear your sponse.
I can see that's face. You guys can't see Matt's
face when I say this, So it's pretty funny, pretty
pretty funny in my face is funny? Thanks? Um. I
was watching the Dark Side of Wrestling. I don't know
(28:11):
if you're familiar with that. Of course, on Viceland are
good buddies over Adviceland make these great documentaries. Which one?
Were you watching? The Montreal screw Job one? And Jim
Cornett probably said the word k fabe twenty times in
the span of like four minutes. It was probably the
funniest thing. And my girl just kept saying, this guy
is funny. And I'm like, if you only knew the
(28:32):
story behind Jim Cornette, I don't know if you'd be
saying he's too funny. WHOA see? Now, that's the problem.
Too many people listen to wrestling podcast, they read dirt cheats,
they think they know what story are you talking about?
Jim Cornett happens to be one of, if not the
premier minds in our sport, and this man Jim Cornett
has um, don't flip this on me. I didn't say no.
(28:55):
I'm not saying anything bad about it. There are a
lot of new generations of wrestling hands that don't like
him because he has poo pooed on a lot of
the newer guys and and attacked their psychology and things
like that. And the thing about pro wrestling, the same
thing about baseball is the game changes, and the difference
is that I don't think Nolan Ryan is looking at
(29:16):
Jordan hixing on in my day, I threw one oh four.
You know, It's just it's different. But Cornett has his
flavor of ice cream that he likes as far as
wrestling goes, and he feels that a lot of the
new stuff it doesn't belong in his ice cream, and
he's allowed to think that the same way the new
stuff has a place in other people's ice creams. So
(29:37):
I think it's all just flavors of ice cream. And
now all of a sudden, all I want is ice cream?
What are you doing with It? Goes back to the
whole bathflip situation tradition in the game, the way it
used to be to the way it is now. So
it's kind of a similarity that, like you said, between
the wrestling and baseball side of things, he likes them more.
I would. I'm just going out in here by what
(29:57):
he said on the documentary, he's more of the tech
thin called wrestling type of guy, the more of the
you don't pray k fabe everything is supposed to the
illusion is still there, so correctly, if I'm wrong, You're
always wrong when it comes to wrestling. But the beauty
is that the uh, those those documentaries on Viceland are
are really insightful and they really give a different side
(30:19):
to a sport that people don't realize as far as
pro wrestling goes is there's such a human side to it,
the lives and the toll that the business and sport
take on the men and women that choose to dedicate
their life to it. It could be incredibly sobering and
a lot of times we can lose sight of that.
(30:41):
So I encourage people to go seek it out. I think,
like I said, it's on Viceland, there's a on Ericje
there's a Bruiser Brody one. Now Mike's talking about the
Montreal screw Job one. Uh. For those that are not
going to go seek those out. There's a great slate
of games tonight, and a pitching matchup that jumped out
to me that I wanted to get your thoughts on,
Mike was the Diamondbacks at Tampa Bay. It's Robbie Ray
(31:04):
going against Charlie Morton. Uh would you touch that game
in the DFS? Yeah? Why not? I think there's a
couple of values to be had in the Tampa line
up against the left handed pitcher. Morton has been great
all year. There's there's signs of a little bit of
regression in his periph fields, but I don't know if
that's gonna start tonight against the d Backs. I was
hoping you would, uh say the Mets Padres game, because
(31:26):
that's sitting there I'm totally getting. I was gonna eat
my eggs and talk about the Mets Podres. So the
thing I love is so Mike and I are on
the East Coast in New York, so when the Mets
actually this game will be a three for DPM Eastern
time game. In the past two nights, there's been baseball
on at midnight, which is why my girlfriend hates, which
is awesome for me. But yeah, the Padres will throw
(31:47):
Matt Tram, a guy that I own in a few leaks,
and the Mets will go with an opener in Wilmer Font.
But considering the long game they had against the Brewers,
I don't know how tax that bo and still is.
I know that the other night they Grom gave them
quite a few innings. But do you think wilm or
(32:07):
Font goes more than I don't know, five innings. No,
I don't think he's been stressed out that far yet.
Mom curious to find out and ask you, do you
think anybody gets thrown out in this game last time
they see each other for a little bit. No, I
don't think it's like that, But I don't know, you know,
if it's a big day yesterday, Alonzo had a huge
(32:27):
night last night. And did you catch after the Alonzo
home run, the umpire went up to him and mentioned
to the way that he discarded the bat, And when
you watch the replay, you heard along and was like, yeah,
I have a lot of pine tar on my glove,
so I had to kind of like flick the bat off.
That's the only thing I can see there being some
retaliation on. But it makes for a very fun, fun series,
(32:50):
and I just like watching the Padres play baseball, to
be honest with you. Yeah, they're They're really awesome to
watch this here. They got such a young team and
guys are really really excelling. M I was a little
upset ed when Diaz gave up another run last night.
He gote to a bit of trouble in that ninth inning.
He walked Garcia, then Kinslar and rays Father the two singles.
Then there's just a disaster for a little bit, but
(33:11):
eventually he got eric osmon strikes and then Hunter runfro
to ground now to to end the game. So that's
definitely gonna be intriguing matchup today. Like you said, the
Tampa Diamonbacks game is going to be intriguing, and whenever
Clayton Kerslaw pitches, it's intriguing. So that's another one to
keep an eye on for the ten o'clock Eastern game. Yeah,
and the one one last game that catches my eye.
It's a guy that I own this picture, and I
(33:33):
also think that a lot of people should try to
go out and buy low on this picture because I
think owners that I don't know as much or on
his patient might be getting frustrated with Jack Flaherty, who
goes tonight for my St. Louis Cardinals against ja I
cof of the Phillies. Are you buying low on Jack Flaherty.
(33:55):
I'm kind of timid when it comes to Flowery. I'm
I'm not necessarily buying low or not buying. I'm just
I'm just staying away at this point. And because the
verdict is still out of my opinion on what he's
bringing to the table. He should be better than he's
been so far. I'd expect that to happen. So I
don't know if I necessarily go out him by low
or just wait and take away and see approach. All right?
(34:16):
In another game that that piques my interest only because
it involves your favorite team and a guy whose name
I love to say. It will be the Mariners against
the Yankees. The Yankees are starting Jonathan Lowizga. You were
one of the first guys to talk up Domingo her mom.
You and I had a conversation in the beginning of
the season, who's going to make the roster, whether it
be Lowizega or her mom, who's gonna be the starter?
(34:38):
And you were tabbing her mom the whole entire time.
But on the flip it's the Mariners and you say COUCHI,
I say Cakuchi, Kuchi. Qu what do you think of
the lefty so far? He's wanted one. He's pitching to
an r A a couple of points under four, and
he's got thirty five strike guns. Yeah, he's been he's
been pretty pretty good their mother and his endings is uh.
I think it was his last start of the stop
(34:59):
of for that Justice Sheffield coming in relief. So I
don't know what to expect that Kokuchi for season long,
but you should be good tonight against the Yankees. The
Yankees have a bit of trouble against lefties, and the
same goes for the Wisago. He should have a good
start today too. He really brings it. He has a
lot to bring that table. I like his approach when
it comes to pitching, and I think he'll succeed in
(35:20):
the short stint he's gonna have, or maybe even longston
he's gonna have here in the big weeks. Can you
just say the name of the Mariners starting picture today
for me? At please? Yeah? You say Cokuchi, no no, no?
Say the second part of his name said his name?
Come on, man, just say at once. I can't do that.
I can't. Maybe maybe if he if he goes out
and throws a no hitter tonight, I'll say it in
(35:41):
the next episode. There you have it. If you say
Kakuchi throws a no no, Michael, come on the next episode.
And now I'm gonna you're gonna sing. You say Cockuchi,
I say Kakuchikuchi ku, and you're gonna do it in
a British accent. Understand, all right? And what's what's the
bet going the other way? If he doesn't throw it out,
you don't even need one out alright. Alright, folks, We've
(36:04):
we've broken down a metric for you. We've given you
some DFS options. We talked about what's been going on
in the league. Please feel free to email us or
tweet us or instagram us. What's it called on Instagram?
Message us on Instagram. We are at Fantasy b b
our On Twitter. I am a real match striker on Instagram.
(36:28):
I'm Matt Underscore striker Underscore on Twitter, writing for raz Ball,
appearing on Rhodo Wire. And I just told me that
I can change my Twitter handle. I did not know that,
yes you can. You gotta really keep up with the times,
my friends. You could see me on Twitter at Mike
the rhodo Cop. Obviously, we're podcasting now for Fantasy Radio
(36:48):
at Fantasy Baseball Hour, like Matt said, and you can
see some of my DFS stuff at picture list dot
com and some of my writing at mesmerized online dot com.
There you go, check us out on iTunes, us out
on audio Boom. Of course, a big thanks to the
Fantasy Sports Network for Mike the Rhodocop. I am Matt Striker.
This has been your truncated Fantasy Baseball Hour. Good luck,
(37:11):
to be safe, have fun. I'll see you out ye
Hey, thanks for downloading the podcast, and remember, if you
want to listen live, download the I Heart Radio app,
download the tune in app and just search for Fantasy
Sports Radio Network and you could listen to this program live. Also,
if you want to watch the video of this podcast,
check us out on YouTube, on Twitch, or on Periscope
(00:21):
and type in you guess did Fantasy Sports Network. You'll
find us there. Enjoy the show and thanks for listening.
Ladies and gentlemen to the Fantasy Baseball Hello everybody, and
(00:43):
welcome to the Talk of the town. It's time for
the Fantasy Baseball Hour with your host, Matt Striker and
Mike the Rhodo Cop. People are still buzzing from our
debut episode where we got to talk to the sheriff
Chris Paddock ahead of his dominant a performance of the
New York Mets, and now I think, Mike, the word
is spreading around the baseball world is if you come
(01:06):
on the Fantasy Baseball Hour your next start or your
next game, you'll be amazing. What do you think? Yeah,
I think you're right on the money with that. It's funny.
I was watching Fantasy Best Friends Forever yesterday and I
got in the YouTube chat, and I said, Chris Paddock's
been doing really well ever since he appeared on the
Fantasy Baseball Hour. So anybody out there that wants to
shove like Chris Paddock did the other night, And what
(01:27):
perfect timing it was to release that interview that the
day before he went out there and dominated the Mets
and all that controversy that came along with it. Really
awesome timing and really awesome interview for those who haven't
heard it yet. Yeah, and timing is everything. And I
put out a tweet yesterday after Pete Alonso's dong, they
cut quickly to Paddock and he just had a death stare.
(01:49):
And my tweet was that at Mike the Rhodo cop
eats this stuff up and now all he's gonna want
to talk about is wrestling, because yes, it's a it's
a wrest angle with storytelling and good guys and bad guys.
I guess in this regard who are the good guys,
the Padres or the Mets. I would say most people
(02:09):
out there would say the Mets of the good guys
because Patty kind of created this uh on his own,
on his own. Uh. What's the word of fruition, I believe, okay,
or it was fair enough, but I think that on
the flip Paddock is like this anti hero. He's like
a stone called Steve Austin. Now you know he's not
your traditional good guy. What what, He'll beat your ass.
(02:30):
You think you could beat Chris Paddock in a fight.
Absolutely not. I don't know if you've seen his Instagram.
This guy's thrown around like Stacks and Hey in the
off season and really doing a lot more yard work
than I'm I'm accustomed to here in New York. You
know who likes to to throw around stacks of Hey
is another big, tough guy that we should try to
get on the show, as my friend Billy Gunn, remember
Billy Gunn for the new agent Billy Gunn, of course,
(02:51):
the famous Yeah, he's got two words for you. All right,
Speaking of two words, why don't we go and jump around?
Basically is where Mike and I just kind of give
our thoughts about things that have been happening in the league,
maybe things that happened the night before, things that have
been happening gays prior, and the first thing that everyone's
gonna be talking about today, ad nauseum is going to
(03:11):
be Mike Fires no hitter. I wanted to dive a
little deeper into it and just kind of crunch the
numbers he did. He did it on a hundred and
thirty one pitches. In this day and age. That's impressive
because guys are usually lifted right around the hundred pitch mark.
Are you surprised that Fires was allowed to go that
(03:33):
deep into the game considering what he was working on.
It's pretty crazy that he has two career complete games
and they're both came in no hitters. So I mean,
I guess that's the key for him going on. As
long as he give up, gives up no hits, he's
going I woke up this morning and I went on
the on the game cast to see how Nick Senzo did.
I fell sleep early, so I didn't know Fires through that.
(03:54):
I didn't go on Twitter. I didn't know Fires through
the no hitter. And I go to see how Nick
Senzo didn't no hits. I'm looking to the whole line
no hits. No, it's no hits, like holy ship, Mike
Fires doing no hitter. I click on Oakland there it
is no hit or nine and there's no hits. What
the hell is going on? So I um, I watched
the highlights the condensed version of it back to back
and seen plays in the sixth inning. I know you
said you were watching the game pro far that awesome
(04:16):
catch behind first base over there in the short outfield,
and then and then the bad guy Laser Ramon robs
Joey Vatdo of a home run. Then that must have
been insane game to watch. I wish I stayed up
for it now, but Mike Fires throwing a no hitter
was not one of the things I expected to see
when I woke up this morning. Mike, are you happy
that within the first few minutes we've had a stone
called Steve Austin Billy Gun and raising Ramon references? Listeners
(04:40):
can't see the look on my face right now, smiling
ear to ear, so breaking breaking Fires down a little more.
What I saw was that he did this with the
cutter and the fourth scene fastball, and it's just interesting
moving forward as far as spantasy value goes. If Fires
has confidence in these pitches and the league doesn't catch up,
(05:03):
Fires may be worth uh some streaming options. He might
even be worth rostering. I mean, I know I had
him in a few weeks and definitely eating croaks. I
did drop him. I did not have any shares of
him in my seven leagues. But uh, some more numbers
on this no hitter. Ten of his outs came on
the ground, always good to hear, Always good to see
a guy getting out on the ground on the flip.
(05:25):
Eleven of the outs came in the air. And we
also have to take into consideration that this did happen
in Oakland. He had one, uh double play, and his
strikeout to walk ratio was six to two. It wasn't
a a oh my gosh kind of stat line. It
didn't blow you away. He was just, you know, he
was fairly efficient. He didn't on a hundred thirty one pitches,
like I said, and I think it's the three hundred
(05:48):
no hitter in league history. I think I saw that
stat as well. You can either confirm or deny that
I did not see what number was. Three hundreds sounds
a bit high, but I'll take your word for it.
As far as fire as fan value goes, we all
know what Mike fires is. I don't think you're getting
much out of him that you weren't expecting already. Maybe
once a year. Once every couple of years, you've got
(06:08):
a no hitter out of him if you stream him
on the right uh, the right day. But other than that,
I don't think fires has any fantasy value alright, So
that's my first lily pad on this jump around on
the Fantasy Baseball pond. What's your person? I'm gonna start
with a Caleb Smith, the All Star Caleb Smith. If
things keep going the way they're going now. He had
(06:29):
six and two thirds with tour and then eleven strikeouts
last night against the Cubs, which brings him to two
point one one e r A on the season, fifty
six strikeouts, only twelve walks, and forty two winnings pitched
forty two plus sennings pitch, so his his arsenal is
pretty simple. He mixes up his fastball slider, changeup, but
all three pitchers are grading out his plus pitches right now.
(06:49):
The batting average against his changeup is one two, the
batting average against his sliders one fifty nine. He actually
has a sixteen point seven swinging strike percentage league averages eleven.
His old swing like we touched on in the first episode,
thirty seven point five percent league averages thirty point one.
UM a little wary of his bad but only being
to thirty nine, so expect some regression in the year
(07:10):
eight department, but not much because the way he's looking
right now, he really should be an all star. His
next starts against the Mets. And it's just crazy to
think that the Yankees traded him and Garret Cooper for
Mike King, who's in the minors for them right now.
But Mike King is not going to be nearly as
good as Caleb Smith is. And who knows what Garret
Cooper is gonna end up being. He's been up and
down throughout his career so far. The Caleb Smith really
(07:32):
hit the scene hard here, and I'd be uh intrigued
to get some sort of breakdown on Caleb Smith in
our next podcast coming up on Friday. Now. Yeah, if
if only we had someone waiting in the wings that
could possibly break this down, Oh what joy it would be.
But we can't necessarily announce anything until the inc on
(07:55):
the ten day contract that we're trying to sign. This
analyst too is dry. I want to ask you this,
Caleb Smith's team in any way bother you or scare
you off or is his stuff just so good right
now that would you a roster him rest of season
or at least roster him, I know a lot of
people do. Or is he a streaming kind of guy?
(08:15):
How do you sit on Caleb Smith's And he said,
to get off of me, Mike. As as far as winds,
I mean, I'm not really pitching Caleb Smith to to
get more wins. That's not what he's there for. He's
there to to correct ratios, bring down your ear ay,
bring down your whip at your strike cuts. He said
he had eleven strike cuts last night, which is awesome
for him, and it seems like the sky's the limit.
I'm very intrigued to see what he does against a
(08:37):
Mets line that wasn't really hitting until Peter Hanson kind
of broke out again last night. But I'm very intrigued
to see what happens is the next start and going forward. Alright,
So I'm gonna stay with pitching a guy that I
do have rostered, and he did hurt me yesterday because
he took a minus in my points category. And that's
Max Freed. Some people want to call him Max Fried,
(08:58):
but either way, you look at and he was coming
into the last night's start with four wins, he had
a thirty four to eight strikeout to walk ratio. If
those who don't know what that means, the thirty four
strikeouts to eight, watch that's impressive. He also was coming
in with a two point one one e r A,
similar to Smith, but then a line drive off of
his hand took him out of the game. He was
(09:19):
charged with four runs that balloom to z r A.
But it's still under three X rays I've read have
come back negative and Freed should make his next start.
I want to say it's Sunday against Arizona. So um, yeah,
I think that's my take on Freed and I'm happy
that he's going to make his next start. Yeah, Freeze
(09:40):
Free has been a revelation this year. He uh, he's
making a lot of owners happy. One one thing I
wanted to mention on Caleb Smith before we go for
Freed here. Caleb Smith was drafted behind Jeff so Marja,
behind Trevor ca Hill, behind Matt Harvey in uh NFPC
leagues and that's just insane to think about for weeks.
Five weeks later, I know n FBC is doing more
(10:02):
drafts over Memorial Day weekend. Caleb Smith definitely not gonna
go behind those guys, and he's definitely cannot gonna be
the hundred hundred forty pitcher off the boards. God, I'm sorry, no, no,
what we're gonna say? I said, are you going to
be jumping in into any of those NFBC Redraft League
and tb D at the moment to be decided. I
(10:24):
gotta figure out some finances and how I'm gonna But
he keep this under wrap so my girl doesn't find
out that I spent more money on fantasy baseball this season.
I told her I was done in April, so we'll
see what you in the in the March, so we'll
see what happens with that. But like you said, I'll
max freed. He he really has been great. And the
good news is the X rays are negative so many
(10:46):
times your pitching hand. It's something to monitor, so obviously
keep an eye on it. But as long as he
says he's healthy and the Brave Stay is healthy, just
keep rolling him out there. Yeah, And just so you know,
I want you to know. So evidently my girl and
your girl talk and they listened to the show and
they both text each other back and forth. I just
I saw my girls from with these emojis, these eye
(11:06):
roll and these like vomit emojis, because evidently all we
do is talk baseball, and I think they're both conspiring
to leave us, Like Elma and Louise, They're just gonna
drive off the cliff, but hopefully they still love us.
Is there something else that I caught your eye in
in basic ball in the last few days you want
to talk about before we move on. Yeah, a couple
(11:27):
of things. Last night. Um Ty Butery got the eighth
and Hans A. Robosts got the ninth. That's was something
to monitor there. Butrey got nine, one, two in the lineup,
Robosts got three, four, five, and he shut the door.
So that seems to be a true committee closer committee there.
Anthony Soreza blew another save for the Mariners last night.
He hasn't gotten a saved since April. He came into
(11:49):
the fourth two game against the Yankees ended up giving
up three runs in the bottom of the ninth. At
this point, Ron Selias should be getting the bulk of
the saves, and Carter Kaboom was sent down. This happened
earlier in the day yesterday, So this news has been
circulating for a while, and I don't want to Monday morning,
Monday Morning quarterback the situation. I even added him in Yahoo.
But just a word of advice, even when you're when
(12:12):
you're dealing with FAB, use it carefully because and you
really got to think things out because guys are spending
some of the numbers here in the t g FBI,
which is a great fantasy base of limitational. You'll hear
me refer to it throughout the episodes that we do.
Three fifteen industry guys combined for how many of the leagues,
it was fifteen man leagues, so you can see everybody's
(12:32):
acquisitions over the weeks. In Carter Kaboomen for four hundred
twenty one dollars when he got called up four hundred one,
three fifty seven, three fifty two, three fifty one. The
numbers go on and on. Of your budget, he has
to do some serious damage to return value. So it's
just something to keep an on when you're spending FAB
and on the other side of the spectrum, don't give
up on him next time he gets called up, because
(12:52):
guys don't always succeed in their first their first stince.
Look who Lad Junior is doing. Now. I know it's early,
but he hasn't been hitting too well. Mike out here
two twenty and his first cup of coffee. So don't
give up in carbon the next time he comes up
and say this guy has been up. He sucks. He
can't hit major league pitching. Just just slow play it.
If if I would give any advice, I would say,
slow play alright, something that I wanted to talk about.
(13:14):
So I have a few friends out in the Chicago
Land area, guys like CM Punk and Cold Cabana that
are big wrestling fans and big baseball fans. I would
imagine they'd be big wrestling fans. They make quite a living.
Are they still a big wrestling fan? Him? Well, that
that I I can't speak on. I I that I
don't know, but I do know that he's a big
(13:35):
hockey and baseball fan. And when the Cubbies went on
their six game losing streak, I texted both of them
just with an L O L because I'm a Cardinal
fan and I like to use hit terms like L
O L because I'm young with the kids. But after
that six game losing streak, I wanted to talk about
the cub's last twenty games, going back to April thirteen.
This team is pickteen five. They've won series is against
(13:58):
the Dodgers and the car Those respectively. They are now
the second best team in the end all the fourth
best team in all of Major League Baseball. And in
the last fourteen days, they've been doing it with two
guys that I think have a cool kind of brand
Jolina thing. I call them Brizzo. It's Anthony Rizzo and
Chris Bryant, and those I can't see. Mike is putting
the finger in the mouth vomit sign as I say that.
(14:20):
But Anthony Rizzo in the last fourteen days is hitting
three thirteen with five home runs, fourteen r b I s.
He's even swiped the bag in the last fourteen days.
Chris Bryan's hitting three oh two with five home runs
and fifteen rb I. So Rizzo and Bryant owners, if
you were patient, Look, guys, it's only the first week
in May. Guys are gonna start to do what guys do.
(14:42):
Players are thawing out now in the league is going
to correct itself. So if you're a Rizzo or a Bryant, owner,
Sit tight because I think the best is yet to come. Yeah,
and as far as Anthony Rizzo goes, he's right on
par with what he's on most of his career. As
far as starting the season, slogos, Chris Bryant, all the
all the for fields have been there for him, so
it's just a matter of time before he broke out.
(15:04):
He had the walk off former last night. He's homing
in three straight games and reach safely in seventeen straight.
Like you said, the Cubs are hot. They want eight
out of nine. So if you if you're a Brian
or Rizzo owner, or most of these guys in the Cubs,
hobby bias has gone off to tremendous start. There's a
lot of a lot of hitters and that comes lineup
that you you want to own and if you do
o and just just sit tight because they're gonna break
out if they haven't broke out already. Alright, we're gonna
(15:26):
take a quick commercial break. When we come back, we're
gonna give you our d f S picks as well
as some other funding and gunning when the Fantasy Baseball
Hour comes back after this. Hello, everyone, this is Dedily
the Roado cop. I'm Michael's mother, and I want you
to know that when Michael talked about all of the
data metrics, honestly, my husband, Herb and I we don't
(15:50):
know what to do. But now that we listen to
the Fantasy Baseball Hour, I know what wonda is and
my husband knows what's sip it. And Michael, one day
you'll know what cleaning your room is. Mauthfact to Matt
and Mike. All Right, WelCom back to the Fantasy Baseball
Hour and issues where we go into the bread and butter,
(16:12):
the way we make our money. Daily Fantasy picks. Mike
and I love Daily Fantasy. Mike's big DraftKings guy. I'm
a big band duel guy. And we're gonna give you
some picks for today and then I have some picks
for tomorrow. Today is Wednesday. The first hitter that I
like is a guy that is getting hot in his
last couple of games. His name is Starling Marte and
(16:35):
he faces Shelby Miller, and Marte is hitting four hundred
against Shelby Miller, and I like that, So I'm gonna
spend a little money on Starling Marte today. Mike, you
got a player that you're buying today in DFS. Yeah,
I got a two hitters for you. The first one
being Marcelo Zuna who's going for He is five for
(16:55):
thirteen with the homemorw Jared I cough and I cos
having an awesome season. But to me, he lives in
his own a little bit too much, and I think
Lo Zuna could burn him Zuna's Most of Zuna's power
comes against righty's and he loves hitting in bush Stadium,
so he makes his money against the fourcing fastball and
I caught those at forty percent of the time, so
I see a possibility for a big return there. The
other guy is another power hitter and Nelson Cruz who's
(17:17):
going and he's two for two with the double career
against Trent Thorton for the Blue Jays. It's crazy because
I feel like Nelson Cruise doesn't age. He's in the
ninety percentile and exit Villa ninety percent down hard hit
ninety percent in ex wOBA, and like Ozuna, most of
his power comes against rights. But Thorans actually not that bad.
He throws four pitches plus fastball on ninety four plus curve.
(17:40):
He did go for in two thirds four and runs
last time against Minnesota, so he struggled in that start.
And I expect Cruise to to get ahold of one
and this one too. So I expect two homers in
uh byo Zuna, one by Zuna and one by Cruise
for your lineup today if you roster both those guys. Yeah,
I know. It's funny when I look at Jared I
Cough in the abreviate his first name and is j
I Cough And I look at it really quickly, and
(18:02):
I have to like double take because I'm not sure
it doesn't say what I think it says. Another hitter
that I like is uh, you'll have to spend some money,
but he's gonna be worth it. He's facing Derek Holland
he has a four hundred average against him. Sevent ops.
I throw my money at Nolan Arroonado. I just think
that the matchup is just way too good. That's my
(18:24):
second hitter. Pictures. You and I both like the same picture,
so I'll back off and I'll take a different picture.
And again, I know it's chucky, but I think that
this picture needs this matchup to get off the schneid
and to start to become who he is, and that's
Chris Sale pitching against Baltimore. I know that Aronado and
Sale are gonna be pricey, but sometimes you gotta spend
(18:46):
a little to win a little. So those are my
df sor's for today. What about you, Miguel. Yeah. Matt Boyd,
who I think everyone out there should like. His his
ownage percentage will probably be very high today. He's having
a fantastic gear three oh five ye or a eleven
point five seven case per nine and he's really took
the next step doing it with his four seamen slider,
(19:07):
especially the four seam. It's grading out as his best
pitch this year and it's been really effective. He has
a swinging strike grade of fifteen percent. Like I said earlier,
I think I mentioned that the league average was ten
and he's having success at home this year. The Angels
who he's facing today are collectively hitting one ninety four
against Boyd, and they're dead last and average against left
handed pitchers at two oh five and twenty six and
(19:28):
ops first left handers. So look for Boyd to have
tremendous success today. And he's the third third most expensive
picture off the board. I think Sale was won Boyd's
three at nine hundred dollars, but I think he he'll
be worth every penny. Yeah, And and Boyd leads the
league in war and fifth, And like I said, I
know it's only the beginning of Maybe that's a nice
little tribute question. If you would ask a hundred people
(19:49):
who leads the league in war and fifth? How many
of the man Italia it's Matthew Boyd or Matteo boy
as they call him in h If you are looking
at tomorrow, just a peak headed Thursday. I know the
lineups aren't gonna be out, but just just a quick look.
Justin Turner has great success against Patrick Corbin to Turner
like sliders. Corbin throws sliders. Turner sitting four fourteen against him.
(20:12):
I think he's like five extra bas It's another kind
of chalky pick that I do like. Is George Springer
against Mike Miner, Springers hitting like three fifty something. I
know a lot of people are on Mike Minor, but
I just think that Springers numbers are impressive against him.
And lastly, Carlos Carrasco owns Chicago White Sox hitters, and
(20:34):
he's another guy after getting beamed in the leg. I
think it was. He also kind of needs to start
to put his owners heads to bed, as they say.
So if you're looking ahead of tomorrow, those are some
some cute little options. If you like him, you've got
anything for tomorrow. You're not even there yet. You are
living the moment kind of guy. No, I'm not even
there yet. But you mentioned Justin Turner. He did hit
three bombs last night, so it would be nice to
(20:54):
get him during this breakout or at the beginning of
the breakout, I should say, because he seems to be
turned in the corner. And the other two options you said.
Carrasco seems like a good bet against the White Sox.
I know he's struggled a little bit here lately, but
he'll eventually turn around. All his pro field say that
he will. So I don't mind those picks. I think
any of them, any of your picks today or tomorrow,
should should play pretty well. All right. That's the goal here,
(21:17):
to win people money, and it's we have it in
our profile. Look. I like to use math and physics
and numbers, and baseball can be a guessing game, and
baseball can be a gut game. But if you watch
the game and you look at numbers, you have a
better opportunity to win some money. And UH, to me,
that's what it's all about. So, Mike, I have a
(21:38):
question for you. Are you ready to put on your
lab coat? I am? You? Are you ready to get
your Bunsen burner lit? I am? It's been a while,
but I am. Do you have your safety goggles on?
I do, because you had him on from before. I know,
you perverted animal. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, is now time
for us to go into the labs. Into the lab
(22:01):
without a all. Right. Into the lab is where we
basically break down a particular saber metrics stat so that
everyone can understand it. I said recently in an interview
for the guys over at fan Tracks and Joe Pezippila
that I want to be able to explain whip to
my grandma, and if I could do that, then I
(22:23):
think that I could explain these metrics to anyone. I
was younger, I was able to explain whip to my
grandma Genie, and I love her, arrest her soul. So
Mike and I today we are going to break down
the wonderfully sounding Saber metrics stat of wOBA. Now in
my profile I have my girlfriend knows what wOBA is,
(22:45):
and I can't tell you how many people have messaged
me to say that they think that's funny, but it's true.
And the fact that she knows what wOBA is makes
her incredibly, incredibly enticing to me. Then once she starts
yelling at me, it really doesn't matter that she knows
what wola is. So, Mike, your your thoughts initially on
the wOBA stat and why it's valuable. Well, I don't wanna.
(23:08):
I don't want to steal your thunder and give too
much away. Here you are the teacher, so I'll let
you explain what wOBA actually is. But as far as
the value of it, I think it's it's just another
step in the right direction and determining and determining what
a player's value is and what a way to great
out what they're doing on the field more accurately as
opposed to counting everything the same. Like I said, I
(23:28):
don't want to give too much away, so you could
dive into that, g Mike, I think I appreciate you
leaving some food for the rest of us to eat,
all right, So basically, and again you gotta understand that
I I need to dumb this down because I'm not
as bright as the next guy. So WHOBA waited. On
base average is basically accounts for how a player reached
(23:52):
base instead of simply considering whether or not he reached base.
And I hope that makes sense. It It measures of
players overall offensive contributions every time he goes to the plate.
It shows me here's overall productivity. Now. I know people
will say, well, what about slash line If you don't
know what slash line is, that's batting average, on base percentage,
(24:12):
and slugging, But they don't tell the whole story. Like,
the value for each method of reaching base is determined
by how much that event is worth in relation to
scoring runs. So an example, a double is worth more
than a single. So am I starting to explain this right? Yeah?
I think you're on the right track. Okay, So all
methods of reaching base are not equal, right, So, like
(24:34):
I said, batting average and on base percentage, it only
goes so far in measuring a players value. But wOBA
assigns the proper value to each event as far as
scoring runs, and I think as far as fantasy goes.
It's a great way to measure of players all around
talent at the plate. The better for the requencing average
when it gives the same value to a bluep single
(24:56):
as it does to a home run, so to speak.
So WO was just a better look into offensive value.
And to give you some ideas, an excellent wOBA is
four hundreds, an excellent batting average is three great, yeah,
great WOB is three seventy, and above average WOB is
three forty. And just so you know, the league leaders
(25:19):
currently our Cody Bellinger with a five four WOBO, which
is beyond excellent, Christian Yellows with a four four WOB
beyond excellent. You hit it on the head, and it's
pretty cool that we could do this in each episode
and and discuss all these advanced metrics for people that
don't know and we're not assuming everyone out there doesn't
know what wOBA is, but for the few that don't,
(25:40):
this is a this will be a good tool for
them to use in their fantasy leagues. Just one thing
to keep in mind, um, the Fangraph's library has all
the definitions of all the advanced metrics, and it's really
a great, a great tool that you could use to
find out what things are on how things work. But
fan graphs WOLLBA does not adjust for park factors, so
players that hit and hit are friendly parks have slightly
inflated wolba's, So that's just something to keep in mind.
(26:02):
It shouldn't make too much of a difference in how
you determine uh players value considering their wOBA. But there's
some guys on this list that you would think aren't
the real deal, but then you see their advanced per
fields and advanced stats, like Brandon low Is in the
top fifteen in WOLBA, Christian Walker's in the top twenty,
train Man see these twenty one, Jeff McNeil's twenty two.
So it's interesting to see some of these guys that
(26:24):
people probably think are just flukes or or whatever the
case may be, and them having such high wolba's and
having such other numbers like w r C plus and
all the other things that we'll get into over the
course of the next couple of weeks. So it's just
something to keep an eye on when you're when you're
valuing or determining the value of players that you're considering
maybe trading or dropping. You might want to think twice.
(26:45):
You might want to think twice. Don't you threaten me?
Mike so um our our first episode came out and
my gosh, you know, like when you open up your
phone and you see that you have seven messages, six
alerts whatever. Opened up my phone and it was just
like buzz buzz, buzz buzz. There was like forty seven
(27:06):
text messages, sixty three alerts. My Instagram was going off.
People really loved the show, Mike, And the one complaint
I got was they asked, who's the other guy on
with match Striker? And I want to know, like does
that does that? You know, does that hurt your feelings?
Or are you going to try to to win over
(27:26):
the fickle crowd? You really threw me under the bus here. First, first,
you guys take me out of the graphic and that
I didn't do that. I't talking about this. I guess
one baseball is not big enough for two faces. Huh,
that's what she said, you know, all getting aside. A
lot of the messages were that they really believe that
we're friends, so we have them fooled completely. It's called
(27:50):
I believe If it were I wouldn't tell you, buddy,
you know, can I say something wrestling related here while
we're on air because I just got to hear your sponse.
I can see that's face. You guys can't see Matt's
face when I say this, So it's pretty funny, pretty
pretty funny in my face is funny? Thanks? Um. I
was watching the Dark Side of Wrestling. I don't know
(28:11):
if you're familiar with that. Of course, on Viceland are
good buddies over Adviceland make these great documentaries. Which one?
Were you watching? The Montreal screw Job one? And Jim
Cornett probably said the word k fabe twenty times in
the span of like four minutes. It was probably the
funniest thing. And my girl just kept saying, this guy
is funny. And I'm like, if you only knew the
(28:32):
story behind Jim Cornette, I don't know if you'd be
saying he's too funny. WHOA see? Now, that's the problem.
Too many people listen to wrestling podcast, they read dirt cheats,
they think they know what story are you talking about?
Jim Cornett happens to be one of, if not the
premier minds in our sport, and this man Jim Cornett
has um, don't flip this on me. I didn't say no.
(28:55):
I'm not saying anything bad about it. There are a
lot of new generations of wrestling hands that don't like
him because he has poo pooed on a lot of
the newer guys and and attacked their psychology and things
like that. And the thing about pro wrestling, the same
thing about baseball is the game changes, and the difference
is that I don't think Nolan Ryan is looking at
(29:16):
Jordan hixing on in my day, I threw one oh four.
You know, It's just it's different. But Cornett has his
flavor of ice cream that he likes as far as
wrestling goes, and he feels that a lot of the
new stuff it doesn't belong in his ice cream, and
he's allowed to think that the same way the new
stuff has a place in other people's ice creams. So
(29:37):
I think it's all just flavors of ice cream. And
now all of a sudden, all I want is ice cream?
What are you doing with It? Goes back to the
whole bathflip situation tradition in the game, the way it
used to be to the way it is now. So
it's kind of a similarity that, like you said, between
the wrestling and baseball side of things, he likes them more.
I would. I'm just going out in here by what
(29:57):
he said on the documentary, he's more of the tech
thin called wrestling type of guy, the more of the
you don't pray k fabe everything is supposed to the
illusion is still there, so correctly, if I'm wrong, You're
always wrong when it comes to wrestling. But the beauty
is that the uh, those those documentaries on Viceland are
are really insightful and they really give a different side
(30:19):
to a sport that people don't realize as far as
pro wrestling goes is there's such a human side to it,
the lives and the toll that the business and sport
take on the men and women that choose to dedicate
their life to it. It could be incredibly sobering and
a lot of times we can lose sight of that.
(30:41):
So I encourage people to go seek it out. I think,
like I said, it's on Viceland, there's a on Ericje
there's a Bruiser Brody one. Now Mike's talking about the
Montreal screw Job one. Uh. For those that are not
going to go seek those out. There's a great slate
of games tonight, and a pitching matchup that jumped out
to me that I wanted to get your thoughts on,
Mike was the Diamondbacks at Tampa Bay. It's Robbie Ray
(31:04):
going against Charlie Morton. Uh would you touch that game
in the DFS? Yeah? Why not? I think there's a
couple of values to be had in the Tampa line
up against the left handed pitcher. Morton has been great
all year. There's there's signs of a little bit of
regression in his periph fields, but I don't know if
that's gonna start tonight against the d Backs. I was
hoping you would, uh say the Mets Padres game, because
(31:26):
that's sitting there I'm totally getting. I was gonna eat
my eggs and talk about the Mets Podres. So the
thing I love is so Mike and I are on
the East Coast in New York, so when the Mets
actually this game will be a three for DPM Eastern
time game. In the past two nights, there's been baseball
on at midnight, which is why my girlfriend hates, which
is awesome for me. But yeah, the Padres will throw
(31:47):
Matt Tram, a guy that I own in a few leaks,
and the Mets will go with an opener in Wilmer Font.
But considering the long game they had against the Brewers,
I don't know how tax that bo and still is.
I know that the other night they Grom gave them
quite a few innings. But do you think wilm or
(32:07):
Font goes more than I don't know, five innings. No,
I don't think he's been stressed out that far yet.
Mom curious to find out and ask you, do you
think anybody gets thrown out in this game last time
they see each other for a little bit. No, I
don't think it's like that, But I don't know, you know,
if it's a big day yesterday, Alonzo had a huge
(32:27):
night last night. And did you catch after the Alonzo
home run, the umpire went up to him and mentioned
to the way that he discarded the bat, And when
you watch the replay, you heard along and was like, yeah,
I have a lot of pine tar on my glove,
so I had to kind of like flick the bat off.
That's the only thing I can see there being some
retaliation on. But it makes for a very fun, fun series,
(32:50):
and I just like watching the Padres play baseball, to
be honest with you. Yeah, they're They're really awesome to
watch this here. They got such a young team and
guys are really really excelling. M I was a little
upset ed when Diaz gave up another run last night.
He gote to a bit of trouble in that ninth inning.
He walked Garcia, then Kinslar and rays Father the two singles.
Then there's just a disaster for a little bit, but
(33:11):
eventually he got eric osmon strikes and then Hunter runfro
to ground now to to end the game. So that's
definitely gonna be intriguing matchup today. Like you said, the
Tampa Diamonbacks game is going to be intriguing, and whenever
Clayton Kerslaw pitches, it's intriguing. So that's another one to
keep an eye on for the ten o'clock Eastern game. Yeah,
and the one one last game that catches my eye.
It's a guy that I own this picture, and I
(33:33):
also think that a lot of people should try to
go out and buy low on this picture because I
think owners that I don't know as much or on
his patient might be getting frustrated with Jack Flaherty, who
goes tonight for my St. Louis Cardinals against ja I
cof of the Phillies. Are you buying low on Jack Flaherty.
(33:55):
I'm kind of timid when it comes to Flowery. I'm
I'm not necessarily buying low or not buying. I'm just
I'm just staying away at this point. And because the
verdict is still out of my opinion on what he's
bringing to the table. He should be better than he's
been so far. I'd expect that to happen. So I
don't know if I necessarily go out him by low
or just wait and take away and see approach. All right?
(34:16):
In another game that that piques my interest only because
it involves your favorite team and a guy whose name
I love to say. It will be the Mariners against
the Yankees. The Yankees are starting Jonathan Lowizga. You were
one of the first guys to talk up Domingo her mom.
You and I had a conversation in the beginning of
the season, who's going to make the roster, whether it
be Lowizega or her mom, who's gonna be the starter?
(34:38):
And you were tabbing her mom the whole entire time.
But on the flip it's the Mariners and you say COUCHI,
I say Cakuchi, Kuchi. Qu what do you think of
the lefty so far? He's wanted one. He's pitching to
an r A a couple of points under four, and
he's got thirty five strike guns. Yeah, he's been he's
been pretty pretty good their mother and his endings is uh.
I think it was his last start of the stop
(34:59):
of for that Justice Sheffield coming in relief. So I
don't know what to expect that Kokuchi for season long,
but you should be good tonight against the Yankees. The
Yankees have a bit of trouble against lefties, and the
same goes for the Wisago. He should have a good
start today too. He really brings it. He has a
lot to bring that table. I like his approach when
it comes to pitching, and I think he'll succeed in
(35:20):
the short stint he's gonna have, or maybe even longston
he's gonna have here in the big weeks. Can you
just say the name of the Mariners starting picture today
for me? At please? Yeah? You say Cokuchi, no no, no?
Say the second part of his name said his name?
Come on, man, just say at once. I can't do that.
I can't. Maybe maybe if he if he goes out
and throws a no hitter tonight, I'll say it in
(35:41):
the next episode. There you have it. If you say
Kakuchi throws a no no, Michael, come on the next episode.
And now I'm gonna you're gonna sing. You say Cockuchi,
I say Kakuchikuchi ku, and you're gonna do it in
a British accent. Understand, all right? And what's what's the
bet going the other way? If he doesn't throw it out,
you don't even need one out alright. Alright, folks, We've
(36:04):
we've broken down a metric for you. We've given you
some DFS options. We talked about what's been going on
in the league. Please feel free to email us or
tweet us or instagram us. What's it called on Instagram?
Message us on Instagram. We are at Fantasy b b
our On Twitter. I am a real match striker on Instagram.
(36:28):
I'm Matt Underscore striker Underscore on Twitter, writing for raz Ball,
appearing on Rhodo Wire. And I just told me that
I can change my Twitter handle. I did not know that,
yes you can. You gotta really keep up with the times,
my friends. You could see me on Twitter at Mike
the rhodo Cop. Obviously, we're podcasting now for Fantasy Radio
(36:48):
at Fantasy Baseball Hour, like Matt said, and you can
see some of my DFS stuff at picture list dot
com and some of my writing at mesmerized online dot com.
There you go, check us out on iTunes, us out
on audio Boom. Of course, a big thanks to the
Fantasy Sports Network for Mike the Rhodocop. I am Matt Striker.
This has been your truncated Fantasy Baseball Hour. Good luck,
(37:11):
to be safe, have fun. I'll see you out ye
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