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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Fantasy Best
Speaker 1: Friends Forever. To Do To Do, Dina Do Do Do
Speaker 1: Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Didna do Yeah?
Speaker 1: This as the Fantasy best Friends Forever. Here are the
Speaker 1: Fantasy Sports you're not working alongside Frankie Standfeld. I am Greg.
Speaker 1: Say what's going on about Gregg? A Happy Thursday to
Speaker 1: your bud? One fact about that song? Heard of playing
Speaker 1: at the bowling alley last night? Did you then bullish strike?
Speaker 1: Probably not all right. I think I only had like
Speaker 1: one or two of those across the span of three games.
Speaker 1: Not my best work, your best, do your best you
Speaker 1: can then trying speaking of the best weekend, We're trying
Speaker 1: to provide you the best show we can and to
Speaker 1: do that, we brought in a little help joined the
Speaker 1: program today. For the first few minutes, it's our buddy,
Speaker 1: Brad Ziegler. What's going on, Brad? Hey, guys, how are
Speaker 1: you doing. We're doing really well. Man. How yourself? Oh,
Speaker 1: doing pretty well, just kind of hanging out. And to
Speaker 1: see Frank's last name up on the screen, it was
Speaker 1: shocking to me how many consonants there are. I had
Speaker 1: no idea. Whenever you hear his name, you just kind
Speaker 1: of don't even think about it. When you see it
Speaker 1: up there, it's like, Wow, there's one vowel in the
Speaker 1: long last name. That's unbelievable. Yeah, it's It's been messed
Speaker 1: up multiple times. Throughout my life. As a childhood basketball player,
Speaker 1: I had multiple jerseys that were spelled very wrong. Brad, Um,
Speaker 1: it looks like somewhere in there, for sure, well, it
Speaker 1: looks like it should be stampel or stample and like
Speaker 1: someone just forgot the bottom line on the e. Yeah,
Speaker 1: basically that's the same mistake that everyone else's me. I've
Speaker 1: gotten like stamp fee with like an eye on the end,
Speaker 1: stand fee with a y. I've had stampell, Like you
Speaker 1: said to Brad, Um, you're not the only one. You're
Speaker 1: not alone, right, good? I don't I don't feel so bad. Then, fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 1: I'm glad. I'm glad you guys have figured that out now,
Speaker 1: So so Brad. We obviously have you for a few
Speaker 1: minutes here, and I want to jump right into it
Speaker 1: with you, and I don't want to begin with a
Speaker 1: guy that we drafted together Frankie in the first round
Speaker 1: with the fourth overall pick, and we were excited because
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez felt to us with the fourth overall pick.
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about Josie Ramires and every anytime
Speaker 1: he does anything, we think it's a sign of him
Speaker 1: king out of a slump. Second half of last year
Speaker 1: didn't exactly work out so well. The first month of
Speaker 1: this year was just as bad. Is Jose Ramire is
Speaker 1: just in a deep slump? Can he not hit a
Speaker 1: breaking ball? What are you seeing with Josie Ramirez? It's
Speaker 1: kind of funny like this year is his numbers are
Speaker 1: actually better against breaking balls than than they are for
Speaker 1: his career. He's not hitting the fastball. He's hitting O
Speaker 1: eighty five against the fastball this year, which is just atrocious. Um,
Speaker 1: but he he is such a good fastball hitter that
Speaker 1: you think at some point that's gonna turn around. Um.
Speaker 1: I I you know, on our our show at the
Speaker 1: draft that we did, I was that was the one
Speaker 1: guy in the in the first round that I I
Speaker 1: saw like potentially not ending up a first round player
Speaker 1: because of the numbers against breaking balls. Um, they still
Speaker 1: concerned me. I mean, it's it's a super small sample
Speaker 1: size to to start the year, but um, he's not.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's ever gonna be a really good
Speaker 1: breaking ball hitter in my opinion. And with that being
Speaker 1: the case, UM, I think he's I didn't think he
Speaker 1: was going to be as bad as he's been this far,
Speaker 1: but I think he will be better, um, you know,
Speaker 1: over the course of the season, but not still not elite.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to settle in as like a
Speaker 1: you know, a twenty homer guy, you know, more like
Speaker 1: this year and and maybe um but but you know,
Speaker 1: lower average than he's hit in the past. He's obviously
Speaker 1: not getting on base as much as stolen bases are
Speaker 1: gonna be down. UM. I think that that to me
Speaker 1: is the biggest concern with him. UM. In regards to
Speaker 1: this year because you expect him to hit the fastball,
Speaker 1: and he's seeing a lot of fastballs and he's not
Speaker 1: hitting them. And I almost wonder if it's almost in
Speaker 1: his head about the breaking balls, where he's he's thinking,
Speaker 1: I need to work on my breaking ball so much
Speaker 1: that it is taken away from his ability to hit
Speaker 1: the fastball. And that's a really, really good point, because
Speaker 1: the fastball last year was never an issue, and the
Speaker 1: breaking ball, he pointed out to me yesterday, Frank has
Speaker 1: traditionally been one in his career, so raving right that
Speaker 1: he's just so focused on not missing that breaking ball
Speaker 1: or recognizing the breaking ball, he's just laid on all
Speaker 1: these fast balls under one's batting against a fastball. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And we've been using the expected stats over on Baseball
Speaker 1: Savant using their stat cast data, and his expected batting
Speaker 1: average GREG on fastballs this year is to seventy one,
Speaker 1: So it seems like he's been a bit unlucky. I
Speaker 1: do agree with the point that Brad made that he's
Speaker 1: probably in his own head here regarding the breaking balls,
Speaker 1: and it might be throwing him off a little bit
Speaker 1: with the fastballs, But I mean there's a huge difference
Speaker 1: between his current batting average against fastballs and his expected
Speaker 1: batting average, and same thing with his slugging percentage greg
Speaker 1: to seventy four slugging percentage against fastballs this year his
Speaker 1: expected slugging percentage five three. It just seems like he's
Speaker 1: been a little bit unlucky. I think once the weather
Speaker 1: starts to warm up a little bit, especially you know,
Speaker 1: playing in the Al Central, they played in some cold
Speaker 1: weather locations to start the year, and and Cleveland as well,
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna see the ball will start to
Speaker 1: fly out a little bit as well. But overall, I
Speaker 1: do agree that this breaking ball issue, that's exactly what
Speaker 1: it is. It's an ongoing issue when it comes to
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez. So maybe we don't get the two eight
Speaker 1: plus batting average that we were expecting out of him,
Speaker 1: but he's not a sub two hitter either. I think
Speaker 1: he'll probably raise it up to a round two fifty sixty,
Speaker 1: but he probably won't get to the batting average we
Speaker 1: all thought that he was going, and that means he
Speaker 1: won't get to the value that we all thought we
Speaker 1: were gonna potentially get fine stolen basis too, and I
Speaker 1: think the home runs are gonna come and bunches once
Speaker 1: the weather starts to heat up a little bit. What overall,
Speaker 1: you're probably right about that. Are we gonna get the
Speaker 1: thirty thirty that we were expecting? Probably not, But if
Speaker 1: he settles in Homers and still gives us thirty steals
Speaker 1: with a t S, I think based on this first month,
Speaker 1: owners will probably take that. You're probably right when it
Speaker 1: comes to Jose Ramirez um and what he could give
Speaker 1: us over the next four months after the debacle that
Speaker 1: was the month of April. Speaking about debacles, I feel
Speaker 1: like Tom Haller Rangers are thinking right now. He's spoken
Speaker 1: a lot about this as well this week, particularly the
Speaker 1: conduct extension that they gave their young closer Josie Look.
Speaker 1: After one month, it hasn't gone all that well, Brad.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I actually think back to two
Speaker 1: years ago with Edwin Diaz, who was this young closer
Speaker 1: for Seattle, and they didn't give him the contract extension,
Speaker 1: but like he was somebody that was coming up and
Speaker 1: everyone was really excited about and he's dunk and they
Speaker 1: had to pull him from the closer role for really
Speaker 1: really about a week or two put him back in
Speaker 1: and then he became the dominant lights out guy that
Speaker 1: we saw most of the last season. Last night, notwithstanding
Speaker 1: la Clark is in this spot where he just had
Speaker 1: beginnings after beginnings after beginnings with Texas and Chris, what
Speaker 1: were their manager was like at this point, we have
Speaker 1: no choice. We have to move move him into lower
Speaker 1: levelage situations. We're sitting here kind of speculating that veteran
Speaker 1: Shean Kelly, who's done it before, we the closer, and
Speaker 1: it's not unfamiliar territory for for you, Brad, as you
Speaker 1: obviously had that role before. A closer is there, they
Speaker 1: don't get the jobs done. You kind of go in
Speaker 1: there and take over. How do you see this from
Speaker 1: both Shawn Kelly's perspective and from the perspective of the
Speaker 1: Rangers and who said the clerk, How do you break
Speaker 1: down this entire situation in Texas well? For me, I
Speaker 1: I think this is a scenario where I would be
Speaker 1: scared um to have the clerk on my team for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year, because it's one thing if
Speaker 1: if it happens with a veteran and and you know,
Speaker 1: at some point there's a track record of bouncing back
Speaker 1: after after a rough stretch. You don't have that with
Speaker 1: the clerk, And so it's it's possible that this is
Speaker 1: a little bit of a longer, a longer issue that
Speaker 1: that you know that you might be dealing with here.
Speaker 1: I think there's a really good chance that Shawn Kelly
Speaker 1: takes his job and runs with it, and and you
Speaker 1: know it is the closer, you know, you know, deep
Speaker 1: into the second half the season, not that the clerk
Speaker 1: won't get a shot necessarily again, and obviously they feel
Speaker 1: like he's the guy long term there. So I would say,
Speaker 1: for you know, any kind of a Dynasty League twenty,
Speaker 1: you're probably fine, um, you know, looking at him, but
Speaker 1: I would be very concerned this year. It's his numbers
Speaker 1: are are scary. He can't close out a three run
Speaker 1: save against the Pirates the other night. Um, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a major confidence issue and for a young a
Speaker 1: young kid, a lot of times that's a really tough
Speaker 1: thing to overcome. So, um, I would be very hesitant
Speaker 1: to expect a lot out of him, especially in the
Speaker 1: next two or three months. Um, hopefully they can get
Speaker 1: him on track pitching it on lower level of situations,
Speaker 1: but even then as they start moving in back up
Speaker 1: the pecking order, uh for Foren or the twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: you know bullpen for Texas. I think there's a really
Speaker 1: good chance that he he kind of gets into that
Speaker 1: seventh eighth inning role is doing well, but Kelly is
Speaker 1: still pitching well in the ninth and if they're winning
Speaker 1: baseball games with him, they're not going to take him
Speaker 1: out of that role slelely to get the guy that
Speaker 1: they paid a little more money to, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: back in that job. They want to keep that guy's
Speaker 1: confidence high going into the next season because I don't
Speaker 1: think anyone, um, you know, thinks that Texas Rangers are
Speaker 1: competing for an a OS title this year, so they're
Speaker 1: they're more concerned about the long term situation, and that
Speaker 1: was why they gave him the contract in the first place,
Speaker 1: locking down long term, try to control his money. Um
Speaker 1: And and right now, you know, after a month into
Speaker 1: the season, it doesn't look like a great idea. But
Speaker 1: I think by the end of the year it'll balance
Speaker 1: itself out and and he'll be ready to go next year.
Speaker 1: But I would you know, for saves this year. Um,
Speaker 1: I think Kelly's a guy for the for a good
Speaker 1: majority the rest of the season for Texas. And that's
Speaker 1: really interesting because you mentioned that contratect extension and tying
Speaker 1: him up for the long term. They have to get
Speaker 1: him right for the long term like that. That's the plan,
Speaker 1: that's why they invested this money. So you think there's
Speaker 1: a very good chance that Sean Kelly runs away with it.
Speaker 1: But as someone that's been there, the Rangers aren't really
Speaker 1: going to compete we think for for the Al West title.
Speaker 1: Maybe this is an opportunity for them to get killing
Speaker 1: the closing role for the next month or two and
Speaker 1: then trade him away and then get and then give
Speaker 1: a clerk his job back. Is that realistic? Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's I mean they're all you're always looking for ways
Speaker 1: to to create value with players, especially veteran guys that
Speaker 1: are they're on short contracts that you want to try
Speaker 1: to move with the deadline. You know, if he goes
Speaker 1: out and has has the next two or two or
Speaker 1: three months where he pitches really well, yeah, he'll absolutely
Speaker 1: be traded and and um then then you have a
Speaker 1: chance in August and September two to get the clerk
Speaker 1: back or or you know, you can get at least
Speaker 1: evaluate where he's at at that time and see if
Speaker 1: he's gonna be the guy, if it will be somebody else.
Speaker 1: But it's not a lot different than the pottery last
Speaker 1: season with brad Hand. You know, like brad Hand is
Speaker 1: not a traditional closer, but but you put him into
Speaker 1: that role. He was doing really well. They got a
Speaker 1: ton back for him and in trade value, so uh,
Speaker 1: it made sense from San Diego standpoint at that time.
Speaker 1: I could see the same thing happening with Texas this year.
Speaker 1: Speaking of closures, Brad, I didn't want to bring up
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim situation right now. Cody
Speaker 1: Allen was very ineffective to start the season. They're not
Speaker 1: exactly tied into him the way that the Rangers are
Speaker 1: tied into the clerk. They signed Cody Allen to a
Speaker 1: one year deal and they have a veteran behind him
Speaker 1: in handled robots has that has been around for a
Speaker 1: little bit and we see, you know, yeah, points to
Speaker 1: this guy type. Butchery has been pitching the seventh, the eighth,
Speaker 1: ending the setup role for them, and he's been very effective.
Speaker 1: How do you think the Angels bullpen plays out here
Speaker 1: moving forward? I would think they probably want to leave
Speaker 1: Butchery in the role that he's in now. UM, he's
Speaker 1: having success there. He's a young guy. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: basically he's got such a small sample size in the
Speaker 1: big leagues that that his September last year is basically
Speaker 1: his April this year. He's he's almost duplicated the numbers.
Speaker 1: Would that be in the case you you you kind
Speaker 1: of don't want to move him around a whole lot,
Speaker 1: because again, I don't know that the Angels. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: they're a team that UM is up playing better down
Speaker 1: the stretch, but they that's you know, you look at
Speaker 1: this division, you're thinking it's it's Seattle, Oakland and Houston.
Speaker 1: They're going after this title, and so the Angels are
Speaker 1: are going to be more concerned with the long term
Speaker 1: development of other players. I don't think there is concerned,
Speaker 1: UM with with their their roles right now. They obviously
Speaker 1: want to win games, because you want to build confidence
Speaker 1: in a in a winning environment. UM, but I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna take a guy who's got a you know,
Speaker 1: a little closing experience. I think you know, Roy's probably
Speaker 1: had two or three saves uh coming into the season
Speaker 1: in his career just kind of in in random spots. Um,
Speaker 1: but he he is a veteran pitcher, he's been around
Speaker 1: a long time. He's had good success year after year.
Speaker 1: So there's a really good chance that that he's gonna
Speaker 1: do fine in that role. Obviously, you know, like you said,
Speaker 1: they don't have a ton invested in Cody Allen. He
Speaker 1: was really bad in the second half last year and
Speaker 1: and down the stretch and so they um to the
Speaker 1: point where the Indians lost lost complete complete faith in
Speaker 1: him and and how to go and get Brad hands. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's I don't think. I think Allan's probably done in
Speaker 1: that role. Not that he can't be uh you know, I'm, um,
Speaker 1: you know, an effective middle inning guy, but he's gotta
Speaker 1: get healthy first. And um, I think Robots is probably
Speaker 1: the guy right now and Buttery, Buttery moves to the
Speaker 1: eighth inning and and um, I still, if it's me,
Speaker 1: I actually would prefer Buttery over Robosts because I think
Speaker 1: because all of his other numbers is gonna be better
Speaker 1: except for the saves. If you need just saves, Robots
Speaker 1: is probably the guy, or or Shawn Kelly like we
Speaker 1: talked about. But um, I think there's a really good
Speaker 1: chance that the buttery is actually the guy that you
Speaker 1: need um to to help all the other the other
Speaker 1: four categories with your you know your you know you
Speaker 1: are a whip strikeouts that kind of stuff, you know,
Speaker 1: Rad Ziegler here and and Rad, before I move on
Speaker 1: to Marlin's pitchers, do you want to eat your thoughts?
Speaker 1: And we don't have a couple of minutes left with you,
Speaker 1: but what do You're a pitcher and you go like this,
Speaker 1: You point to the guy like you think it's pop up,
Speaker 1: and it consistently goes over the fence as handel robeless
Speaker 1: constantly does How do your teammates react to that? Uh, well,
Speaker 1: it happened to me, or well, at least one time
Speaker 1: in my career. No one, unfortunately, I don't know anyone
Speaker 1: else in my team saw it, but it did happen.
Speaker 1: Hector Sanchez on the Giants hit a fly ball to
Speaker 1: center field in San Francisco, and it was one of
Speaker 1: those random games where the day game in San fran
Speaker 1: the wind was blowing out to the center and and
Speaker 1: it legitimately, you know, should have been a fly ball,
Speaker 1: but it was. It was one of those days in
Speaker 1: in San Francisco was a really high sky, no clouds
Speaker 1: in the sky. Um, and and so it would be
Speaker 1: one that you know, we hit it high enough and
Speaker 1: and far enough that it would be easy for for
Speaker 1: a center fielder to lose. So I pointed up and
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, unfortunately it landed in like the
Speaker 1: front row of the seats in center field. And um,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a good feeling because I just walked away
Speaker 1: from it thinking like he I really didn't think he
Speaker 1: hit the ball that well. And you know, the thirty
Speaker 1: wind on the on the bay in San fran you know,
Speaker 1: put pushed it out, but um, from road lays to standpoint,
Speaker 1: like at some point, you know, in in the minor
Speaker 1: leagues in in you know, when you're in in America,
Speaker 1: at least in high school and college, a lot of
Speaker 1: times you play on fields where the lighting isn't that good.
Speaker 1: And you know, whether it's daytime, nighttime. You know, even
Speaker 1: in a day game, you may not have a great
Speaker 1: backdrop behind the hitter. Um, so you end up up.
Speaker 1: You just kind of learned as a as a picture
Speaker 1: to point at everything in the air, whether it's to
Speaker 1: the catcher, whether it's to the outfielders whatever, because you
Speaker 1: just want to let them know if they didn't pick
Speaker 1: it up off the bat where it's at in the
Speaker 1: big leagues. That's a tough habit to break because you
Speaker 1: don't need to do that with the with the lights, um,
Speaker 1: the you know, there are a lot better on most fields.
Speaker 1: They've got good back drops behind the hitters most of
Speaker 1: the time, um for the fielders to see. So it's
Speaker 1: it's it's a tough habit to break. And at the
Speaker 1: same time, UM, you know, if they're hitting home runs
Speaker 1: when you're doing it, it's not a not a good
Speaker 1: feeling as a picture. And um, at some point, you know,
Speaker 1: there's probably gonna be somebody to say, like, dude, you
Speaker 1: gotta stop doing it. Um. I know we had a
Speaker 1: break in about a minute. You have like five more minutes.
Speaker 1: You can hang with us, just talk about the Marlins. Awesome, Okay,
Speaker 1: So we got the break coming up, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk to Brad. We can come back. And we had
Speaker 1: this conversation throughout really April, and it was how to
Speaker 1: rank these Marlins starting pitchers and we've been through it
Speaker 1: with it was basically everybody, but who say, you're right
Speaker 1: there right, like Caleb Smith and Trevor Richards and Sandy
Speaker 1: Alcantara and Pablo Lopez. And we're constantly trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how are we going to rank these guys? And
Speaker 1: my thoughts are Frank you give his thoughts in Florida
Speaker 1: wouldventure and everybody gave their thoughts. What I wanted to
Speaker 1: why I wanted to ask Brad was he pitched with
Speaker 1: most of these guys a year or two ago, or
Speaker 1: at least had seen them up close, so he knows
Speaker 1: there's stuff way better than we do. And we can
Speaker 1: talk about Pablo Lopez all we want, but I thought, Brad,
Speaker 1: I'll be very, very incightful with that. So coming up
Speaker 1: after the break, we're going to get into the Marlins
Speaker 1: and we're going to get into what Brad seas and
Speaker 1: how we ranked them and how badly you should need
Speaker 1: them and want to pick them up. Also, coming out
Speaker 1: a little bit later on next Or will be joined
Speaker 1: by Dr A from Inside Injuries, and we'll go over
Speaker 1: everything from Corey Kluber all on A. J. Pollock and
Speaker 1: what you do there and how you assess the situation. Well,
Speaker 1: of course, for the next two hours go over everything
Speaker 1: from last night as well. It's a whole lot to
Speaker 1: do is Fantasy best Friends Forever. Here from the Fantasy
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Speaker 1: don't want white beaters and people that are putting child
Speaker 1: children in harms way. You don't want them running around
Speaker 1: the football field when people know something may have happened.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, what do you do You
Speaker 1: have to You can suspend them for a certain period
Speaker 1: of time, but you know it counts to Ruben Foster
Speaker 1: and Kareem Hunt and now Tyreek Hill. If the if
Speaker 1: the legal system isn't gonna do anything about it, what
Speaker 1: is the NFL is supposed to do? On Saturday's eight
Speaker 1: am Eastern on the Fantasy Sports networking on your popular
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Speaker 1: Frank Snaffle, Gregg Sousman. Here, Brad Ziegler hanging out with
Speaker 1: us another few minutes and Brad we we jumped into
Speaker 1: the bubble pens. We jumped him to josieer Mirrors, a
Speaker 1: guy that you had talked about before the season began
Speaker 1: up with us, and now I want to jump in
Speaker 1: with the Marlins. Nobody really expects all that much from
Speaker 1: the Marlins, and understandably so it's a rebuilding here have
Speaker 1: a they have nine way on the season, and yet
Speaker 1: Caleb Smith is three and l with a bright e
Speaker 1: r a, a ton of strikeouts and everything looking good.
Speaker 1: People seem to love Pablo Lopez coming into the season.
Speaker 1: I was really all about sandy 'all, Gantara, how do
Speaker 1: you break down this Marlins rotation? There's there's no question
Speaker 1: about that. He had the big time strikeout numbers last
Speaker 1: year too before he got hurt. So, um, he's he's
Speaker 1: uh or I might have been two years ago. I
Speaker 1: can't remember when when his surgery was, but he's he's
Speaker 1: big time. He's got great stuff, He's got strikeout stuff,
Speaker 1: and he has a strikeout mentality that that a lot
Speaker 1: of younger guys don't have. So, um, you know, you
Speaker 1: can say what you want about some of the Marlins
Speaker 1: trades that they made, but they basically stole Caleb Smith
Speaker 1: from the Yankees and and he's working out really well
Speaker 1: for him. Um you know, I like, actually like um
Speaker 1: Trevor Richards quite a bit that he's just getting dinged
Speaker 1: up by the home run ball this year. He's his
Speaker 1: batting average a gifts is really good. It's it's been
Speaker 1: consistent over the course of the season, and it's it's
Speaker 1: the last couple of games and he was giving up
Speaker 1: a couple of homers in each game, and it's it's,
Speaker 1: you know, ended up kind of ruining bad starts for
Speaker 1: him or ruining good starts for him. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: Lopez has good stuff, but he's it's kind of funny.
Speaker 1: Is for a guy that throws ninety four he's kind
Speaker 1: of a finesse guy. He he pitches with change ups
Speaker 1: a lot. He's kind of a command guy. Didn't have
Speaker 1: a power breaking ball. Um, I feel like you're kind
Speaker 1: of getting even though they're a different style pictures, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get the same the kind of the same stuff
Speaker 1: out of out of Lopez and and Richards um al
Speaker 1: Contra is he's a little more um of a of
Speaker 1: an enigma because you watch him throw a bullpen and
Speaker 1: at times you're like, there isn't a picture on earth
Speaker 1: who could throw a better bullpen than what he just threw,
Speaker 1: and then he gets out in the game and it's
Speaker 1: just not the same. It's, you know, he's tentative. Um.
Speaker 1: He he you know, will will leave pitches up when
Speaker 1: you know in the bullpen he's not doing that. And
Speaker 1: and I don't know exactly what changes I you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to see him enough to
Speaker 1: to really try to evaluate it, because in his bullpen
Speaker 1: he's he's just, um, always under control, got really good
Speaker 1: body control, good, you know, good smooth the every and
Speaker 1: then he gets in the game and everything is just
Speaker 1: a little different. I don't know if it quickens up
Speaker 1: for him a little bit, um, but he's He's had,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously some some rough starts this year, you know,
Speaker 1: with a couple of good ones mixed in. And I
Speaker 1: really don't know that any of the three guys are
Speaker 1: guys that you really want to count on unless you're
Speaker 1: in a super deep league. Um. But Caleb Smith, I
Speaker 1: think he's absolutely legit. I think he's a real deal.
Speaker 1: I think what you're seeing right now. I don't know
Speaker 1: that he's going to carry a two e r A
Speaker 1: all season, um, but I think the strikeout number is
Speaker 1: gonna be there. And and he is walk rate is
Speaker 1: a little lower this year, which is a good sign. Um.
Speaker 1: I I really like him I think he's he's got
Speaker 1: a you know, a really good season ahead of him,
Speaker 1: and and a next good next few years ahead of
Speaker 1: him too. I agree totally regarding Caleb Smith. This tweenie
Speaker 1: strike rate second in all of baseball right now, behind
Speaker 1: only Blake Snail. So that tells you the type of
Speaker 1: company that he's been in. And he's got what thirties
Speaker 1: seven strikeouts to eight walks three and oh even with
Speaker 1: you know the Marlins offense backing him there, he's giving
Speaker 1: you linked now to he goes seven innings pitched last night.
Speaker 1: Absolutely love mygree Caleb Smith. I'm I'm ready to say, Greg,
Speaker 1: he's the top forty starting pitcher right now, maybe even higher.
Speaker 1: We might even have to put him into the top thirty.
Speaker 1: He pitches in a great ballpark, two in Marlins Park.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest key for him this year as
Speaker 1: compared to last year is the walks being down for him.
Speaker 1: I mean that that was a bugaboo for him, but
Speaker 1: at least eight strikeouts in three street he has at
Speaker 1: least six strikeouts and all six of his starts. Caleb
Speaker 1: Smith is absolutely legit. I agree, Bread, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I will say before I go there. This is a
Speaker 1: off topic, but but um, this is a guy touted
Speaker 1: early in the season, and obviously Greg Holland is pitching
Speaker 1: probably better than anybody um thought he would in Arizona.
Speaker 1: But I mentioned the guy um when when we were
Speaker 1: at that draft in New York. Juan Lopez is the
Speaker 1: lights out for his owner right now and he's moving
Speaker 1: up the pecking order there and if Holland struggles at
Speaker 1: some point, gets hurt at some point, Lopez is going
Speaker 1: to be the guy there. So if you have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to grab him, that's that's a guy. He's guys,
Speaker 1: you know, high strikeout numbers, He's he's not walking guys. Um,
Speaker 1: He's he's gonna be the guy I think. Um, you
Speaker 1: know at some point there he's gonna be the long
Speaker 1: term closer in Arizona. There you go. You want Lopez,
Speaker 1: the guy that Brad has been touting since March to us.
Speaker 1: You may not have a shot yet because of Greg Holland,
Speaker 1: but keep your eye out for him, Brad. Before we
Speaker 1: let you go, where can people listen to you and
Speaker 1: uh find out more about you? I'm doing a podcast
Speaker 1: for the Athletic now, UM that that's been a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. It's it's a lot of fantasy football. Um. Uh,
Speaker 1: we dabble in fantasy baseball a little bit. But um
Speaker 1: with the draft comp you know, having just happened, we
Speaker 1: were digging into football quite a bit right now. Um.
Speaker 1: It's it's you know, if you have an Athletic subscription
Speaker 1: the show, it's called Sports Unsealed. Uh, it's it's a
Speaker 1: lot of fun and and you know, hopefully I'll be
Speaker 1: seeing you all every Thursday for for a long time now,
Speaker 1: we hope. So man, that's Brad Ziegli. Listen to his
Speaker 1: podcast on the Athletic and follow him on Twitter as well. Brad,
Speaker 1: we appreciate the time. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 1: Sounds great. Thanks yess. Also there we go for major
Speaker 1: League reliever. Brad Ziegler joins us each and every Thursday
Speaker 1: around this time year on the BFS. So, Caleb smith Man,
Speaker 1: that's kind of this one of the biggest stories we're getting.
Speaker 1: Corey cluer that's one of the biggest stories coming out.
Speaker 1: Oh the last night, how he was stolen really from
Speaker 1: the Yankees. Brad Casher doesn't make any bad trades. This
Speaker 1: seems to be a big loss for them. And I
Speaker 1: don't even think he was part of the standard trade, Greg,
Speaker 1: he was partly, was not part of the stand Trede.
Speaker 1: We just got international money, I believe. Is that what
Speaker 1: it was. It was a very just kind of low key.
Speaker 1: I know I thought it was. It was not part
Speaker 1: of the stand I know it's not part of the
Speaker 1: standard trade. It was part Well you looked at up
Speaker 1: Cable Smith has that's why. Okay, so you're right, So
Speaker 1: I knew it was Garrett Cooper, but it's Garret Cooper
Speaker 1: that almost went to Miami with him in exchange for
Speaker 1: picture Mike King and bonus money. So here right, it
Speaker 1: was basically bonus money. Yeah it was. Yeah, it's it's been. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one of the one of the bad moves that Cashman
Speaker 1: has done. And Cashman has done great work overall, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean to see what Cable Smith is doing right now.
Speaker 1: He's got two point zero zero e r A on
Speaker 1: the season. It's fifth two point eight one his X
Speaker 1: fit two point nine six guys Ill Smith, pretty damn legit,
Speaker 1: he's not gonna pitch to a two R T E
Speaker 1: r A. Uh, similar to what Brad was saying. But
Speaker 1: can he pitch to a low three's e r A.
Speaker 1: He's got eleven k per nine, he's got a zero
Speaker 1: point eight three whip right now. This guy is absolutely legit. Greg,
Speaker 1: I think he's been one of the biggest breakout starting
Speaker 1: pitchers alongside guys like Tyler Glass. Now he's been amazing.
Speaker 1: The craziest thing for me is you can't count on wins, obviously,
Speaker 1: especially out with the Marlins. The fact that he's with
Speaker 1: three three three of the ninth category contributor. Either way,
Speaker 1: he's gonna give you e ra's gonna be whip, he's
Speaker 1: gonna get you kouts. He's not gonna give you saves, obviously,
Speaker 1: because he's a starting pitcher, um, and it helps him.
Speaker 1: He's need more of a flyball pitcher. Surround ball rade
Speaker 1: for the year, he's forty point eight percent flyball, so
Speaker 1: years more towards fly balls when he gives up contact.
Speaker 1: I mentioned the swinging strike grade second in baseball behind
Speaker 1: only Blake Snell. So he doesn't give up a lot
Speaker 1: of contact, but when he does, it's flyballs. And it
Speaker 1: helps Greg that he pitches in Marlins Park. Obviously, when
Speaker 1: you give up fly balls as your main source of context.
Speaker 1: So it seems like everything's working right for for Caleb
Speaker 1: Smith right now. Yeah, absolutely no reason to sell. I'm
Speaker 1: not selling. I don't either now unless someone comes to
Speaker 1: you with some crazy offer, like they're going and like
Speaker 1: head over heels right now to try and get Caleb
Speaker 1: Smith like a classic cell high by Low do you
Speaker 1: trade him for If someone comes to you right now
Speaker 1: and they're like, I've had enough of Walker Bueller, you
Speaker 1: Walker Buller for Caleb Smith. Yes, I'm doing that. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm doing that, Frank, Frank, I'll played the fifth. I
Speaker 1: don't know, man, Caleb Smith is nasty right now, Frank, nasty?
Speaker 1: All right? Canybe this year is like Blake Snell light
Speaker 1: Why can't he He's unbelievable, unbelievable, walks her down. I
Speaker 1: don't want to trade him. I don't want to turn Okay,
Speaker 1: keeping Caleb Smell on the rust shows your room, allow
Speaker 1: to run yesterday pup his fifth save. The other side
Speaker 1: of this game was Corey Klueber, who would affords you
Speaker 1: thirds three runs on eight hits, struck out three uh,
Speaker 1: much more importantly than that comeback or off the arm,
Speaker 1: and not only they originally like there's a broken forearm,
Speaker 1: and that changed after the game, right Frank, which is
Speaker 1: or is a bruise warm and then became a broken farm.
Speaker 1: So it was I think that's ultimately what happenedt he
Speaker 1: goes for the X rays, m R I, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: it comes out that he has a fractured forearm, and
Speaker 1: we'll find out more an hour to what the timetable
Speaker 1: is looking like for Corey Kluber. That's a really tough break,
Speaker 1: no pun intended for the Cleveland Indians and for fantasy
Speaker 1: owners alike. Right now, one of my buddies in one
Speaker 1: of in my home league has both Corey Kluber and
Speaker 1: Mike Clevinger, So just a huge hit if you drafted
Speaker 1: both of those guys or if you're the Cleveland Indians
Speaker 1: to lose both of those starting pitchers. Who know, Corey
Speaker 1: Kluber was not has not been himself so far this year,
Speaker 1: but my Clevinger was awesome. So hopefully we get an
Speaker 1: update on my Clevinger moving forward sometime soon. I was
Speaker 1: watching the game the other day. I know he's just
Speaker 1: kind of started up when we have started throwing a
Speaker 1: little bit, but Corey Kluber greg at five point eight
Speaker 1: zero e r A, and we had concerns over him
Speaker 1: coming into the year. We couldn't exactly put our finger
Speaker 1: on what it was. Maybe it was just the fact
Speaker 1: that he's throwing so many endings over the past couple
Speaker 1: of years, he's getting older. It seemed like, you know,
Speaker 1: the fastball velocity and his this overall, the success or
Speaker 1: lack thereof of the fastball the past couple of seasons
Speaker 1: and last year specifically, we were worried about it coming
Speaker 1: to the year. I don't have any shares of Clueber.
Speaker 1: I don't think you have any shares of clueber Um.
Speaker 1: And we ranked him maybe slightly lower than the consensus ranking.
Speaker 1: We weren't completely off on him, but it just seemed
Speaker 1: like it. But if it was him or someone else
Speaker 1: in that range on the board, more often than that,
Speaker 1: we were going away from Clueber. Yeah, I remember, I
Speaker 1: would have taken Bower over Clueber. You know, you know
Speaker 1: it's actually crazy. No, yes, I would have as well.
Speaker 1: But I think back to the last draft I did.
Speaker 1: I was drafting me from my friend and so the
Speaker 1: highest guy on his board was Corey Cluber and I
Speaker 1: was I wasn't homes I didn't have like the draft
Speaker 1: board in front of me. I had like emails. I
Speaker 1: was kind of going back and forth and whatnot. But
Speaker 1: so I missed that Corey Club didn't get drafted, and
Speaker 1: instead I drafted the next highest picture I thought on
Speaker 1: his board, which turned out to be Steven Strassburg. And
Speaker 1: I apologize now. I apologize to him. He's just honestly
Speaker 1: like it's close enough, Like I don't have him that
Speaker 1: far away anyway, So it's all good. Shoot, h A
Speaker 1: text does man something? Sure? It does, man. It's working
Speaker 1: out right now. I mean most people wouldn't have done that,
Speaker 1: just in fact, even I wouldn't have done that. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have taken Strasberg over to Clubber. But the way
Speaker 1: that the first month is played out, and I mean
Speaker 1: all of these things are relative. Right now. We're only about,
Speaker 1: you know, six seven starts into the season for most
Speaker 1: of these starting pictures, so small sample size. But from
Speaker 1: what we've seen, something is not right for Clubber. Um.
Speaker 1: That's not the reason why he broke his forearm yesterday.
Speaker 1: But you know, we'll see what the timetable is like
Speaker 1: from Dr A and hopefully comes back and and it's
Speaker 1: closer to the picture that he's seen the past couple
Speaker 1: of years, the Indians having just brutal injury re luck
Speaker 1: Man with with Clev, with Bauer, I'm sorry, with Clev,
Speaker 1: with Kluber, Lindor Early exactly, Kiftness early as well, really
Speaker 1: really struggling. Unfortunately for the Cleveland needs and their lineup
Speaker 1: is hasn't put it together yet either. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know they were facing Caleb Smith last night, but overall
Speaker 1: their offense, even with lind Or in there, has been
Speaker 1: lack luster. They're starting to get these guys back. Lindor Hittness,
Speaker 1: we spoke about Cargo the other day. A little bit
Speaker 1: coming around here. I think gets one hit. I think
Speaker 1: positive regress. I just realized I had a dream that
Speaker 1: involved Carlos Gonzalez and you, Like I don't remember the contact.
Speaker 1: I just remember Carlos Gonzalez being like a major part
Speaker 1: of Finn in the argument with you over him, which
Speaker 1: might have also happened in real life. But I did
Speaker 1: had this vivid dream of Carlos Gonzalez. I knew in it.
Speaker 1: You don't remember. I don't remember the context. I just
Speaker 1: remember now. I would have much rather have been Malix Smith, Greg,
Speaker 1: it was not mal Smith. It was Carlos Gonzalez. I
Speaker 1: promise you. I promised you. Was um anything else with
Speaker 1: this Marlins Indians game before we move on. Frankie Um no,
Speaker 1: I mean pretty standard spoke about the lineup really underperforming
Speaker 1: right now. I gotta give them at least the next
Speaker 1: two three weeks. By the end of May. If we're
Speaker 1: not seeing this Indian's line up turning around with Jose
Speaker 1: Emiraz and Francisco Lindor, I'm gonna really start to push
Speaker 1: the panic button because at that point, like to meet Greg,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know where your cut off is, Greg,
Speaker 1: But when we get some Memorial Day I feel like
Speaker 1: that's enough data for teams overall and players overall. We
Speaker 1: have two months of data at that point where we
Speaker 1: can kind of make some serious judgments on them Memorial Day.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna give the Indians until then, and if
Speaker 1: they don't turn it around, that's when I'm starting to
Speaker 1: put push the panic button on this offense. I usually
Speaker 1: put my barometer around April ten. Yeah, you know so rational.
Speaker 1: You're not a rational Fantasy baseball so Memorial Day is
Speaker 1: irrelevant to me. Um, But in all, in all seriousness,
Speaker 1: it's a case by case basis, right, Like there's certain
Speaker 1: guys that Malex Smith being one of them. He brought
Speaker 1: him up that I don't need to wait around to
Speaker 1: Memorial Day. I'm cutting him for a guy like like
Speaker 1: on the Indians and pictures and whatnot. It's case by case.
Speaker 1: It's what they've done, it's what I believe they can do.
Speaker 1: It's a prospect that it can be guarant Hampson is
Speaker 1: another one. I know you talking about him a lot
Speaker 1: because I had him. I wasn't winning around until Memorial
Speaker 1: Day to see a guarant Hampson figure it out. I
Speaker 1: got the playing time, he he doesn't play. I cut
Speaker 1: him a guy like Ryan McMahon who's gotten relatively cold
Speaker 1: as of late. I'm not gonna say I'm gonna wait
Speaker 1: around it for a Memorial Day for him. We'll see,
Speaker 1: Like if a second baseman gets really hot, they haven't
Speaker 1: been second basement that I've gotten hot, like Day of
Speaker 1: Santanna has second base eligibility. But I'm not gonna necessarily
Speaker 1: wait around for that. Now. We somebody tweeted us before,
Speaker 1: like yas C. L. Plea is a really good example
Speaker 1: I'm waiting around towards Memorial Day for Yas Week. But
Speaker 1: you get into June and yea, if week still batting
Speaker 1: under two hundred, then you can fairly have the conversation
Speaker 1: is if we should cut Yasale we that's a fair
Speaker 1: conversation to have in June. It's not a fair conversation
Speaker 1: to have now. I agree with that. It is a
Speaker 1: case by case basis, and I would make the argument
Speaker 1: that you presented Ryan McMahon. I think he's a He's
Speaker 1: a good one to hold onto to see through the
Speaker 1: month of May, because Colorado is about to have a
Speaker 1: ton of games this month in coors Field and go
Speaker 1: up against some questionable pitching staff. So I would actually
Speaker 1: be on the other side of the fence when it
Speaker 1: comes to Ryan McMahon. I know he was a player
Speaker 1: that a lot of people picked up, and normally, if
Speaker 1: it's a guy that you just pick up and they're
Speaker 1: not performing, i'd say, all right, you could probably cut
Speaker 1: that player. But when it comes to Ryan McMahon being
Speaker 1: part of the Rockies lineup and coors Field and you
Speaker 1: have all these kind of advantages, I gotta hold onto
Speaker 1: him through May until Memorial Day and see what happens
Speaker 1: when he has these games in corps Field and going
Speaker 1: up against these questionable pitching staff so on on the
Speaker 1: other side of the fence. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: when it comes to players that we just pick up,
Speaker 1: I think you can have a looser, shorter leash rather
Speaker 1: when it comes to some of those guys, no, no
Speaker 1: question about it. Now, a guy that you were very
Speaker 1: very out on coming into this season, and not that,
Speaker 1: not just you. I'm not calling I'm not calling you out.
Speaker 1: I'm calling me. I mean in the entire industry, and
Speaker 1: rightfully so, because every underlying number about John Lester said
Speaker 1: he sticks, and I get it. He's thirty five years old.
Speaker 1: There is no side when it comes to John Lester.
Speaker 1: So everybody just left Lester on the board. And again
Speaker 1: I get it. I'm not calling anybody. I'm not calling
Speaker 1: you out either, Frankie, but draft the John Lester because
Speaker 1: he was like that guy on the board that you
Speaker 1: looked at and you're just like, this guy is still there.
Speaker 1: I guess I'll take him. And I felt so gross
Speaker 1: about it. On draft day I tried to trade him
Speaker 1: along with Wilson Wilson Traris for Jose Kantana. Literally as
Speaker 1: my draft was going on, I was attempting to do this.
Speaker 1: But Lester has been pretty good going into yesterday. I
Speaker 1: know he was on the I L briefly Mrs Stark,
Speaker 1: but he's in't pretty good and yesterday against admittedly a
Speaker 1: cold Seattle lineup. Now, yesterday he was at his best.
Speaker 1: He allowed one hit, one walk, struck out eight over
Speaker 1: seven innings of work. His ear RAY sits at one
Speaker 1: point seven three right now for John Lester, who has
Speaker 1: been every bit as good as you could have possibly hoped,
Speaker 1: honestly better when you took him in the middle rounds
Speaker 1: of your draft. Now, much like last year, he's fipping
Speaker 1: x fit significantly higher. Right last year his ear A
Speaker 1: finished at three point three to his ex fit was
Speaker 1: at four point four three. This year that e r
Speaker 1: A sits at one point seven three, where it will
Speaker 1: not stay. He's X at three four two. Difference is
Speaker 1: frank and he gives me a three point four to
Speaker 1: e r A or around there. I'm cool with it. Absolutely, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a valuable picture. I would like to take this
Speaker 1: time to personally apologize to John Lester and Madison Bumgarner,
Speaker 1: who we have to talk about at some point today
Speaker 1: as well. You're absolutely right. You hit the nail on
Speaker 1: the head, Greg. When it comes to John Lester and
Speaker 1: his X fit this year three four two. Even if
Speaker 1: he regresses from a one seven three e r A
Speaker 1: up to a mid three's e r A, that's a
Speaker 1: picture worth owning. I will say this. His swinging strike
Speaker 1: rate is nearly identical to what it was last year.
Speaker 1: So when you look at the strikeouts overall in the
Speaker 1: Caper nine being over nine right now, he should probably
Speaker 1: be closer to where it was last year year, you know,
Speaker 1: seven and a half, case for nine, maybe eight. I
Speaker 1: do like that at the command to control the lack
Speaker 1: of walks has been much better this year for John Lester.
Speaker 1: We can talk about this a little bit more when
Speaker 1: we come back, but overall he's doing some really nice things.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, John Lester. We'll talk more about Lester and
Speaker 1: another veteran coming out here. The BFFs, the Fantasy Sports
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Speaker 1: a really interesting question I just saw on the short
Speaker 1: and someone asked, I was mighty and peg you trade
Speaker 1: away to Mingo Santana and Chris Archer to get Marcelo Zuna.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. My initial reaction is that seems
Speaker 1: like a lofty price. Yeah, I don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's a little it's a little thought. It was interesting.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's the value of Marcello Zuna right now.
Speaker 1: It's interesting. He's been absolutely dominant he's been awesome. We
Speaker 1: talked about that the other day. I mean, he was.
Speaker 1: He was one of the guys that we missed on
Speaker 1: because we were worried about the shoulder injury during the spring,
Speaker 1: and as he shut us up. He's been absolutely awesome.
Speaker 1: And Domingo Santana and the Mariners have, you know, quieted
Speaker 1: down a little bit. They they've become a little bit cold.
Speaker 1: But I still have faith in Chris Archer. Once he returns,
Speaker 1: we'll see. I could see if if you're like loaded
Speaker 1: with starting pictures, Greg, maybe you make that move. But
Speaker 1: I would still imagine Mingo, Santana and Archer together maybe
Speaker 1: if you get more than Marcel's. I don't know, I
Speaker 1: under undervaluing I'd like to think you can. Maybe we
Speaker 1: still are undervaluing him, but i'd like to think you
Speaker 1: can now during the break, I guess not fair during
Speaker 1: the break, but like during the lead up to twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: one of the main reasons you didn't like John Lester
Speaker 1: was because nothing had changed. His arsenal was still the
Speaker 1: same last year and it just wasn't nearly as effective.
Speaker 1: He had the great defense behind him, Sure, but you
Speaker 1: look for changes in a picture as a reason to
Speaker 1: buy or as a reason to fade with John Lester
Speaker 1: this year, one of the reasons that you're in on
Speaker 1: him is because of a change in pitch selection. What
Speaker 1: are you seeing when you look into the underlying numbers
Speaker 1: when it comes to John Lester. So, John Lester is
Speaker 1: obviously an aging picture. He's a veteran and he's got
Speaker 1: to do things a little bit differently. Reminds me of C. C.
Speaker 1: Sabathia or the past couple of seasons. How he's been
Speaker 1: able to maintain a you know, sub three seven e
Speaker 1: r A each of the past three years because he's
Speaker 1: changed up his pitching style. He's using more breaking pitches,
Speaker 1: He's throwing a cutter a lot more. And it seems
Speaker 1: to be the case with John Lester here so far
Speaker 1: on the season, he's throwing his cutter thirty three point
Speaker 1: nine percent of the time. Last year that number was
Speaker 1: twenty four point seven percent of the time. So he's
Speaker 1: using that cutter more. And it's additioned by subtraction is fastball.
Speaker 1: He's he's a smart pitcher. Again. He knows that his
Speaker 1: fastball velocity is diminishing and with that, the effectiveness of
Speaker 1: his fastball is also diminishing. So he's lowered his usage
Speaker 1: on his fastball about eight percentage points this year, and
Speaker 1: he's up to his cart car usage by eleven percent
Speaker 1: and it seems to be one of the biggest differences.
Speaker 1: I do think that there is gonna be some regression
Speaker 1: at some point. He's not going to maintain a one
Speaker 1: seven three e r A. So you're gonna have him
Speaker 1: in the in your line up for those starts where
Speaker 1: he gives up three runs, maybe four runs, He'll probably
Speaker 1: get that e r A up to around the mid
Speaker 1: three is um, you know, three, three, six, whatever it
Speaker 1: might be. But overall, I mean, if he gave you
Speaker 1: that with the run support of the Cubs, you're gonna
Speaker 1: get a lot of wins from him too. So overall
Speaker 1: all this has been pretty good man Lester and the
Speaker 1: Cubs beat the Mariners eleven nothing yesterday on the other side,
Speaker 1: So this was, uh, this is very interesting, Frankie, you
Speaker 1: had I'm very confused by this. Now, this is this
Speaker 1: is this has to be backwards. The Mariners pitching staff
Speaker 1: is just like wrong. They're assuming Marco Gonzalez got started,
Speaker 1: got rocked, right, Okay, So I don't know what has
Speaker 1: Tom Murphy ahead of on the Tom Murphy's a catcher,
Speaker 1: so that doesn't make sense picture alert ESPN has it
Speaker 1: like that anyway, So one of Gonzalez started probably stop
Speaker 1: when an inning in two thirds allowed five hits, six runs,
Speaker 1: three of them will earned three walks to strike as
Speaker 1: even really good thus far is his first loss the
Speaker 1: season was fight going into last night or yesterday after
Speaker 1: what happened, he ran into a tough lineup. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs. Um that's exactly what they are. They're a
Speaker 1: tough lineup. They're They're a team that takes a lot
Speaker 1: of pitches. They're patient. Uh, they wait for the right pitch.
Speaker 1: If you don't give it to them, they're gonna walk.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be next man up mentality. Uh and every
Speaker 1: now and then you're gonna run into one of these
Speaker 1: games where they're gonna blow you up. I mean, hovey.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of talent on this team. They
Speaker 1: have Javier Bias, they have Wilson and tradrist, Chris Bryant,
Speaker 1: Anthony Rizzo. Another one yesterday, he goes deep. It wasn't
Speaker 1: off Marco Gonzalez, but that's the depth of this lineup,
Speaker 1: So he ran into a really tough lineup Greg. And
Speaker 1: this is gonna happen from time to time for Marco
Speaker 1: Gonzalez because he's not a picture that gets swings and misses.
Speaker 1: He pitches to contact, and if there's a day where
Speaker 1: he runs into the wrong team Greg and he's pitching
Speaker 1: the contact and they're making hard contact and not the
Speaker 1: soft contact he's used to getting, then he's gonna be
Speaker 1: prone to some of these starts. He's got a three
Speaker 1: point to eight e er A, he's got a four
Speaker 1: point four nine x fit right now, So there was
Speaker 1: some regression coming from Mark Hogginzalez. Overall, I still like
Speaker 1: him a lot, but I just know there's gonna be
Speaker 1: some inconsistency at time. They're like you, he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that you just leave him in there. You
Speaker 1: take the good with the bad. Yeah, he's one. He's
Speaker 1: one of these like Rhodo pictures End of the year numbers,
Speaker 1: like he's probably gonna give you a mid three z
Speaker 1: r A a solid wit because he doesn't walk a
Speaker 1: lot of guys, but he's not gonna give you strikeouts,
Speaker 1: and you just take the good with the bad. But
Speaker 1: there's gonna be bad because he pitches in contact and
Speaker 1: when he runs into a hot lineup like the Chicago Cubs,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna be prone to some of these pretty
Speaker 1: big glow ups. Greg. Now you had, as you mentioned
Speaker 1: the home runs yesterday, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Biez, Wilson
Speaker 1: and Trairis as well. Contrairis has his eighth home run
Speaker 1: of the season already. Anthony Rizzo number one catcher thus
Speaker 1: far this year. Through a month he has Money Grandall
Speaker 1: number two. Um. Anthony Rizzo his seventh home run of
Speaker 1: the year. We we poop poo rizzle a lot. It's
Speaker 1: only seven home runs in the season already. Frank will
Speaker 1: obviously take that and run with it. Javier Buys his
Speaker 1: homewarwn was his tenth hole run of this season. I
Speaker 1: read an interesting note about Bias. It looks like he's
Speaker 1: gonna continue to start every day at shortstop. Addison Russell.
Speaker 1: When he's elder world come off the suspension list will
Speaker 1: be option to triple A. Yeah, interesting note there. I
Speaker 1: do want to touch on Wilson Trairis a little bit. Greig,
Speaker 1: this is another one of those guys that we've said
Speaker 1: the past couple of years, kind of similar to Marcella Zuna,
Speaker 1: Christian Yellows all in the same division. What do you know,
Speaker 1: the National League Central if he's just would up his
Speaker 1: launch angle a little bit, stop hitting as many ground balls.
Speaker 1: You know, his first three seasons in baseball, he's been
Speaker 1: a fifty two percent plus groundball percentage hitter. That is Wilson,
Speaker 1: k and Treiers. He hit only ten home runs last year.
Speaker 1: He already has eight on the season and it's May second.
Speaker 1: Why part of that is his groundball rate, He's lowered
Speaker 1: by twelve percent Gregg, It's forty point seven percent groundball
Speaker 1: rate this year for Wilson and Tis. The fly ball
Speaker 1: rate right now a career high forties six point three percent.
Speaker 1: Last year, he said a previous career high of thirty
Speaker 1: percent fly balls. So he's consciously trying to put the
Speaker 1: ball in the air more greg and at hard hit
Speaker 1: rate as well for Wilson con Trairis. So everything is
Speaker 1: pointing to, you know, Wilson and Trairis keeping up this
Speaker 1: hot streak right now. The strikeouts are a little bit worrisome.
Speaker 1: He's got a twenty eight percent strikeout rate um, much
Speaker 1: higher than his career average. That's but he's hitting the
Speaker 1: ball hard, he's lifting it more, he's walking more as well.
Speaker 1: So look, if that's what needs to happen, If if
Speaker 1: he needs to keep his strikeouts up for us to
Speaker 1: get the rest of this production from Wilson contrators, I'm
Speaker 1: perfectly fine with it. And this is just another example,
Speaker 1: Greg where please remind me next year during draft season
Speaker 1: when it comes to players that have serious pedigree, kind
Speaker 1: of just throw the underlying numbers out the window. Because
Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger, we know what his pedigree was coming into
Speaker 1: the year, and I wasn't necessarily on Cody Bellinger, and
Speaker 1: I'll admit that he but he had immense pedigree, he
Speaker 1: had immense upside, and we see what he's doing right now.
Speaker 1: Wilson and Trairis another one of those players, jo want
Speaker 1: Mankata kind of just probally underlying numbers out the window
Speaker 1: because these guys who have pedigree, more often than not, Greg,
Speaker 1: if they're sticking around in the majors, they're gonna figure
Speaker 1: it out. We're seeing it with a lot of these
Speaker 1: guys right now. I mean specifically, but Bellinger, Wilson and
Speaker 1: Rariss and uh y'aw Moncada. You kind of throw those
Speaker 1: underlying numbers out and especially in draft season. I mean,
Speaker 1: all these guys were undervalued, and if you have any
Speaker 1: or all of them, you're sitting pretty right now. Greg, Absolutely,
Speaker 1: You're You're You're feeling really, really good at the moment
Speaker 1: if you own any of those guys. Absolutely. Frankie John
Speaker 1: Lester I mentioned as a veteran that has changed it
Speaker 1: up a little bit. And you're buying him. We're not
Speaker 1: buying him. I mean, I don't mean you're buying him.
Speaker 1: You're buying that. This is real, is what he's doing
Speaker 1: to this degree, you know what I mean? Like, I'm
Speaker 1: not going out there and trading for Johns. The point
Speaker 1: was another veteran who you didn't like coming into this
Speaker 1: season was Madison bum Garner and Bummy yesterday against a
Speaker 1: fierce Dodgers lineup six innings four hits, also struck out eight,
Speaker 1: allowed two walks in just one run, throwing a fourteen
Speaker 1: pitches over his six innings of work. Didn't get the win,
Speaker 1: as the Giants wouldn't score until the bottom of the
Speaker 1: ninth anyone Buster Posey walked it off. But Madison Bumgarner
Speaker 1: now is the r right under four You hated him
Speaker 1: coming into this year. Has your opinion changed at all? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it absolutely has. I mean, there's another apology to do
Speaker 1: here for Madison Bumgarner, same as John Lester. Maybe it
Speaker 1: was just, you know, the wonky stuff that's been going
Speaker 1: on in the past couple of years. The the dirt
Speaker 1: bike accident, the you know, getting hit on the hand
Speaker 1: last year and and basically breaking his hand or breaking
Speaker 1: his fingers, whatever it was. He's had a lot of
Speaker 1: weird stuff going on in the past couple of seasons, Greg,
Speaker 1: But what he's doing this year is working. The underlying
Speaker 1: numbers are there for him. He's got an eleven point
Speaker 1: one percent swinging strike rate, that would be his highest
Speaker 1: since his first pitch strike percentage seventy two percent. He's
Speaker 1: really attacking the strike zone early on and counts better
Speaker 1: than he's ever done before, and he's because of that,
Speaker 1: it gives him the ability to do different things later
Speaker 1: on accounts to try and keep hitters off balance his oatswing,
Speaker 1: his chase rate. Basically, he's getting opposing batters to chase
Speaker 1: pitches outside the strike zone nearly thirty six percent of
Speaker 1: the time. If the season ended today, Greg, that would
Speaker 1: be a career high for medicine. Bumgarner, we're talking about
Speaker 1: a guy who is thirty, about to be thirty years old,
Speaker 1: and well not about to be in August. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be thirty years old. It seems like he's much older.
Speaker 1: It's because he's been around forever and he's thrown as
Speaker 1: many endings as he has, and seemingly he's putting together
Speaker 1: underlying numbers that are career highs. Right now, he's got
Speaker 1: a three nine two ear a. You mentioned, he's got
Speaker 1: the ear a under four. The fit is three to six,
Speaker 1: the x FIP is three six three. He's around a
Speaker 1: strikeout for ending the command again one point four four
Speaker 1: walks per nine massive. Bum Garner has been awesome. I mean,
Speaker 1: just to be honest, he's I'm looking at the pitch
Speaker 1: usage too. It's not really anything that he's changed up.
Speaker 1: He's throwing the change, the changeup on it not you know,
Speaker 1: pun not intended. He's going to change up a little
Speaker 1: bit more this year overall, throwing the curveball last. I mean,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like he's really changing anything up to
Speaker 1: his arsenal overall, but for whatever reason, he's keeping hitters
Speaker 1: off balance. I think a lot of it comes down
Speaker 1: to the command of his pitches, just establishing the strike
Speaker 1: zone early on accounts and keeping hitters off balance. You know,
Speaker 1: it gives him that ability to do things later on
Speaker 1: and counts that maybe he hasn't been able to do
Speaker 1: in years past. He's really and it's weird to say
Speaker 1: he's been around forever. He's maturing as a picture. He's
Speaker 1: awesome right now. I apologize, who would you rather have
Speaker 1: John Lester Mass Bumgarner going forward? I'll take Bumgarner just
Speaker 1: because he's younger and he pitches in a better ballpark. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Like, if if I own either one, I
Speaker 1: feel times better than when I did on draft day.
Speaker 1: Drafting these guys like you would have had to pin
Speaker 1: me into a corner Greg somewhere to force me to
Speaker 1: draft one of these guys like I could have either
Speaker 1: to them on any of my teams. I think I
Speaker 1: have six or seven re draft teams where I set
Speaker 1: my line up every single week. I don't have either
Speaker 1: of these guys, and that's by design, and right now
Speaker 1: it looks like I'm mistake. Is a guy that you
Speaker 1: have on one of those teams? Young John Ryou I
Speaker 1: don't have any shares of Ryue either. Well, he was
Speaker 1: fantastic yesterday as well. Eight innings, four hits, one run,
Speaker 1: struck out six, didn't walk anybody. The injuries, no doubt,
Speaker 1: always a concern with him. When he's healthy, he's really good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just more of the same man. We know how
Speaker 1: good Ken jin Ryu is. I mean he was awesome
Speaker 1: last year as well. He pitched to a one nine
Speaker 1: seven e r A. The problem was only eight two innings.
Speaker 1: The guy hasn't thrown more than a hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: six innings since two fourteen. That's a long time. So
Speaker 1: there's no doubting Kin Jin Ryou. And really, when it
Speaker 1: comes to the Dodgers pictures, I know, Modica calls it
Speaker 1: the Magical Mound. I mean, they just know how to
Speaker 1: turn pictures around, kind of similar to the Houston Astros.
Speaker 1: Anyone who pitches for the Dodgers seems like you know
Speaker 1: they've been awesome, unless you know Walker Bueller this year
Speaker 1: with a real Walker Bueller, please stand up. It's not
Speaker 1: a it's not a matter of talent when it comes
Speaker 1: to hing and righty, Greg, we know how good he is.
Speaker 1: He just has to stay on the field. Cody Bellinger
Speaker 1: stole his sixth base of this season yesterday or anything
Speaker 1: he can't do. He went wonder for four and it's
Speaker 1: still batting four twenty five on the season. Folks, It's
Speaker 1: May second and Bellinger is still batting four with what
Speaker 1: fourteen home runs, six dollar bases. Give you the exact
Speaker 1: line here, Greg, here's what we have. Yety eight hits
Speaker 1: on the season, fourteen home runs, thirty eight ribbies, six
Speaker 1: dollar bases, thirty two runs scored, four five average, five
Speaker 1: ov P. That's a thirteen sixty seven o P s Folks,
Speaker 1: nationally m V pond they pick him. I know, we
Speaker 1: both chose Anthony Rendon, which was going quite well until
Speaker 1: you know, I like you might have we both we
Speaker 1: both chose Anthony Rendon. Cody Bellinger right now and May
Speaker 1: second looks like the nationally MVP. If christ Meli can
Speaker 1: get healthy. I mean, I'm sure he's something to say
Speaker 1: about that. He has been awesome as well, but and
Speaker 1: just all around five tool production. Like we knew Cody
Speaker 1: Bellinger can steal bases, you might have expected, all right,
Speaker 1: maybe ten on the aggressive side, fifteen I know we
Speaker 1: had fifteen last year, he's got six stolen bases. It's
Speaker 1: a maze. Second. I don't want to do the on
Speaker 1: pace thing right now, Greg, but I'm gonna do the
Speaker 1: on pacee thing. The guy's on pace to hit like
Speaker 1: seventy home runs with basis what's going on? It's insane,
Speaker 1: absolutely insane. How about Alex Verdugo. Huh his first first
Speaker 1: game without a j. Pollock starting in center field, two hits.
Speaker 1: It's a lefty. A stolen base for Verdugo, I mean,
Speaker 1: something that we didn't really expect from him. Do you
Speaker 1: think that's an organizational philosophy thing? This year? Greg, the
Speaker 1: Johns has just come out and saying, hey, we just
Speaker 1: got beat by the Red Sox, who were one of
Speaker 1: the most aggressive teams last year. We're gonna take a
Speaker 1: page out of their book. I think so. I think
Speaker 1: so too. Ave Roberts has the manager absolutely. By the way,
Speaker 1: we're just looking this up because I was just confirming
Speaker 1: that I chose Anthony Rendon, which I did. Do you
Speaker 1: know Chris venture choose is a m v p mm hmm.
Speaker 1: If you guessed who's a Ramirez, you'd be correct. Oh man,
Speaker 1: Still time you might get the award for least valuable. Listen,
Speaker 1: still time. Let's not forget Matt Carpenter's April last year.
Speaker 1: Just saying again, guys, it's May second. Let's not overact.
Speaker 1: Who did I have as my MVP picks? We both
Speaker 1: had judging rendown. That's not that sucks, that's thanks. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my L m n L Rookie of the Year Peter
Speaker 1: Alanso doesn't look so bad. Got a shot. It's great
Speaker 1: right now? Yeah, I think I had. Yeah, it's pretty
Speaker 1: good too, Ao come back. Hitter of the Year of
Speaker 1: Dustin Petroia. It looks so good, never came back. What
Speaker 1: did I have for that? Is actually playing really well?
Speaker 1: Batting ever has been a right? I think only has
Speaker 1: one home run? My a I'll come back. Picture of
Speaker 1: the Year was Michael Pineda, who got bombed? You chose
Speaker 1: Aaron Sitches? Were you good? Yeah, he's been right so far,
Speaker 1: and I'll come back. Hitter was Danny Murphy. You know
Speaker 1: he starts to come back. You chose You chose Jungo
Speaker 1: gang By ale My NL picture was Alex riz and
Speaker 1: your picture was Jose Kitana. Yeah, Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose.
Speaker 1: We will we will certainly look back at that, coming
Speaker 1: out later this summer and checking on stuff. Man, I
Speaker 1: think that's what that's really the lesson here. I think
Speaker 1: I told Gary Sanchez, it's my m v P. Last year,
Speaker 1: I chose. She chose Judge two years in a row.
Speaker 1: You chose Samurinos, your Cy Young Award winner last year too.
Speaker 1: We gotta just get away from the Yankees, man, not
Speaker 1: so good. Not's okoy? All right, We're gonna take a break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, will be dot by Chris Venturo,
Speaker 1: the Closer will join us and we'll all talk to
Speaker 1: Dr A later on. These hours with Chris took over
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of stuff from last night we haven't
Speaker 1: gotten to yet, and it was talk to doctor and
Speaker 1: the will wrapping things up. Fantasy BFS. One hour down
Speaker 1: and one we're to go here on fanc s y