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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Gentlemen Fantasy the host John rock Falls Welcome everybody, Happy Tuesday to you. This is fan Rag Fantasy Baseball. I'm your host, Il Melk your and uh. Lots and lots of stuff to talk about. With the Dodgers, of course Alex would at the top of that list, so if you're getting to him in just moments, but also the big question Josh Donald's is he or isn't he a shortstop? Maybe sooner than we think for fantasy purposes, and uh, all kinds of other injury news besides what's going on with the Dodgers rotation. Uh. We had a twin bill yesterday with the White Sox and the Twins that produced some interesting performances, including another good start by Carlos Rodon Uh, Chris Stratton putting together some interesting numbers. All kinds of players to talk about, but let's get to it. Um. Alex Wood. He is having some issues again with the sc joint in his left shoulder. That's what caused him to miss a few starts earlier in the season, and according to manager Dave Roberts, it's a little concerning. Uh, that's for sure, very concerning to us fantasy owners as well, So that is going to be monitored. I don't have any further details in terms of the nature of the monitoring or what's been monitored already perhaps, but if you have been tracking this for the last few starts, woods velocity as fastball fastball velocity has been down a bit last four starts in a row now, including last night, his fastball veloss, he has been between the average fastball velocity for Alex Wood. So that's been a little bit of a red flag for a few starts. But now we've got actual symptom to talk about. So um, there may be some other things happening there in the in the Dodgers rotation, of course, they're gonna be bringing up brock Stewart again to start in you Darvish's spot tonight. Darvish is supposed to be back on Sunday. Looking good for a Sunday return. He's gonna uh throw a bullpen session on Thursday. He's been cleared to do that. He worked with pigeon coach Rickhnny cut on some mechanical issues yesterday, no back issues at all, so he's cleared for the bullpen session on Thursday. That that that goes well, we can expect to see Darvis start this Sunday against the Brewers, but maybe Stewart stays in rotation after all, depending on what happens with Alex. Would Clayton Kershaw good news for him. He threw a sim game yesterday and is slated to make a triple A start this Saturday, So maybe we say Kursey Kershaw next week. That's obviously a big one and one final Dodgers note, Cody Bellinger will not be starting tonight at Pittsburgh. He is still doing with the mild ankles brain so at minimum he will be out tonight as well. So lots lots more to get to, like I said, including that Josh Donald Wlson position eligibility issue. And uh well, I'll see save the rest for after this break, so keep you in suspense, sticker out. I will be right back. Hunter Henry Stirling Chew through Michael Thomas. These three NFL softmores are not due to slump, They're due to break out. Just like the Fantasy Sports Radio Network mean year two, things are only getting better. Make sure listen live and tell you the app f F T S y Radio. It's free and it's twent seven, the best fantasy sports ten. He's on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Welcome back, everybody. You are listening to fan Rag Fantasy Baseball. I'm Al melk York, your host, and I'm here to tell you that you can now take the world's premiere seven Fantasy sports radio network with you anywhere you go. Just download the Fantasy Sports Radio app in the iTunes store or on Google Play and listen for free anytime anywhere. You can hear Tony Sencata the treadmill, you can hear Greg Sussman on the subway, or just relaxed with the King on the couch or Jake Sealey when you're jogging. Will keep you updated informed wherever you go. Get the Fantasy Sports Radio app for free right now an iTunes store or on Google Play and take the experts with you. Let's take a peek at the lineups, because they are coming in coming a little faster. I can even keep up with to be honest here, but I have spotted a few things of note. Uh. For one, Jake Lamb is not in the lineup for the Diamondbacks. That is a couple of lefties Patrick Corbin and Tommy Malone. Tommy Malone standing in for Stephen Matt's who is out for the season. H gonna have surgery and I'll talk about that in a few moments. Uh So something in one lefty for another. No Jake Lamb because he has been pretty bad against lefties this year. Um so probably just as well for fantacy purposes. Uh Admirsalis getting the star at third base and batting eight, and the Reds have their Merry go round of right fielders today. It's got Schebler getting the start and batting seventh against John Lackey and the Cubs. And we got White Sox raise Cubs. Uh Marlin's Philly is nothing too big there though to note, so um keep keep track of that. And also in terms of the weather, must be some pretty bad weather in Ohio and western Pennsylvania because the Indians, Reds, and Pirates games all look pretty bad in terms of weather. Uh, Pirates hosting the Dodgers seven o five Eastern at p n C Park, chance of presentation at game time, holding study for several hours after game time, so that's certainly gonna be uh one to keep track of. And as I mentioned earlier. Brock Stewart is supposed to start that one from the Dodgers. Jameson Tyne for the Pirates, so um, tai Own has not been good lately, so just one more reason I think to probably avoid him today. Uh, the Indians looks even worse. Actually, seventy eight percent chance of precipitation at game time. They are hosting the Red Sox seven ten Eastern and Progressive Field. However, the chance does go down after that, so maybe that's just more of a delay situation than a cancelation or a start and then a delay which would be bad for the starting pictures there. And then the Reds thirty four percent chance for precipitation at game time and then gradually decreasing over the following two or three hours after that they're hosting the Cubs. Actually, that's the game I just mentioned with John Lackey pitching for the Cubs, Scott Schebler in right field for the Reds, and the Red starter in that one. I gotta refresh my memory on that one. That's Homer Bailey. So um, those three games definitely need to check out over the next few hours and see how the weather is shaping up there. I'm getting my weather info from Rhoda Grinders and they're chief meteorologist Kevin Roth. All the other games that on schedule look pretty good from a weather perspective, so at least we're contained two whether issues being in that that one part of the country. So back to the news, Savador Perez has been activated from the d L, so we get one of several high end catchers who have been on the d L or out of action lately, get get Perez back. So that's a very good news for him and his owners. And speaking of that, Red's lineup is that Coz arts in it. He's batting second and back at shortstop, so he's he's back in the lineup. Uh. White Sox have called up Lucas Giolito to start tonight against the Twins. That's a seven ten star guaranteed ray Field Central time. UH so get to see Giolito make his White Sox debut and he'll be going up against Kyle Gibson in that one. Josh Donaldson has I mentioned before. UH got us a little intrigued the other day getting getting to play at shortstop, actually making his first major league start at shortstop. UM and Jose but Bautista over at third base, and John Gibbons has hinted that we're going to see more of that. Now. I've seen conflicting reports because I saw one that said that they play regularly. I saw another one that just maybe once in a while. So I don't know. I don't even want to try to hazard a guess as to which it will be, but just the idea that there's probably gonna be a repeat performance of that infield alignment. Uh, that's you know, a lot of leagues, well something jo I need one appearance a lot of leagues. All you need is five in the current season. So four more times for Josh Donaldson a shortstop and you can use Josh Donaltons Donaldson at shortstop. Now that probably won't wouldn't carry over until next year in a lot of leagues, but it's definitely something that's gonna be fun to watch over the last not quite six weeks that are left in the season. So that's pretty cool. Uh. Last night for the Indians, couple of key players leaving early with injuries, Carlos Santana with lower back tightness and Andrew Miller aggravating his right knee patelo tendonitis, So not not good. They're not not good news. Uh. Joey Gallo. I talked about him during the show yesterday. He's on concussion protocol, as is Matt Bush. They had a collision over the weekend. Um, no d L move yet for Joey Gallo, but they both do have concussion symptoms, both he and Matt Bush. According to the Dallas Morning News and Stephen Matts, as I mentioned before, he's out for the season. He is scheduled to have surgery for irritation of the ulnar nerve and his left elbow. So that's gonna be a season ender for Stephen Matts. Who Um, you know, hindsight doesn't sound too surprising that he's been pitching in pain all season long, because he has just not been himself at all. If I talked about that on the show last week with Scott Angle and we sort of surmised that he was probably hurt. So now we know for sure. Uh. And other Mets news. According to New York Post, Jerry's familia maybe back with the team this weekend for the series against the Nationals. So I would not imagine that he's going to close right away. But that's definitely one to monitor because I think sooner than later Familiar will be closing, but he will be back with a matter of days. Agaitors The Angels are placed j. C. Ramirez on the ten D d L with a strained right elbow, and they've also put Andrew Bailey on the ten D d L with a strained right shoulder. Ramires that that's not too biggest of a surprise with him. Uh he I believe he cropped up with that injury. Is last started or shortly thereafter. Um David Price through from sixty ft on Monday, and depending on how he feels today, may do so again today. It's still no timetable on Price, but if he throws again today, then that's obviously a step in the right direction, and Vika steps in the right direction. Three Mariners starters on the shelf are all making progress. Felix Fernandez starts playing catch today, James Paxton scheduled to start playing catch tomorrow, and uh Sashi Iwakuma through a bullpen session yesterday. So all that all those developments. By way of the Tacoma News Tribune, Vince Velasquez is out for the season. He was placed on the sixty d sixty d L and he's going to have surgery on his right middle finger. Um. Of course, that's what put him on the ten day d L in the first place. He had some numbness there. Turns out that he has a vascular issue that's impeding his blood flow. So that sounds be serious and it is a season under for Vince of Alaska's so um, let's see how the Phillies continue to fill out their rotation rest of season. Of course, right now it's been lively holding down that spot. And a final note in health and injury news here he has is Monty Thomas is out for the season. He's scheduled today to have core muscle surgery, so don't do not plan on seeing him again for the rest of the season. So um, not a real big schedule on Monday, but nonetheless a number of notable performances several coming out of the White Sox Twins doubleheader. Um, both pitching and hitting. And I'm gonna go to the hitters first today. Did the pictures first yesterday, so kind of gave the hitter short shrift time to put the hitters in the spotlight. And Byron Buxton just continues a torrid uh part of the season. I would not even a toward August. Really been hot since about the beginning of July, although he did miss a big chunk of that month on the d L But uh Buxton uh in the double header, three hits, three for eight, including his ninth home run and his tenth double of the season. So going back to the very beginning of July, Buckston has the slash line of three five seventy three and a great combination to see here from Buckston um strikeout rate, which you know for him, look, he's it's under thirty. That's a good that's a good side talk about steps in the right direction. That's not too bad and certainly a big upgrade for for Byron Buckston. So a better strikeout rate, he's getting a lot of in field hits and hitting a lot of line drives, so he's putting more balls in play, and the balls that are the balls that he's putting in play are harder to field. So he's got a high bab if that's maybe somewhat regression proof as long as he keeps this going. So another good day, a slash night for Byron Buxton. So we'll get to some more of that double header, talk about book book versus boog book pal at, this first career home run. Kind of neat story with that one, and a lot more right after this break. Have you ever wanted to have a fantasy expert in the palm of your hand, confeder yet in the pocket of your khakis. We'll check it out now you can. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Download it down to your phone. We promised, no weird viruses, no strange tracking things, just twenty four hours a day, seven days a week of pure fantasy knowledge dropping all over your head. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Stop being a weirdo and streaming it online. Get it on your phone, take it with you every where you go. Wellcome back, everybody. You are listening to fan Reight Fantasy Baseball and I'm your host, Al Melky. You are, and uh talked a little bit about Byron Buxton before the break. But that's really just kind of getting the tip of the iceberg from yesterday's doubleheader with the White Sox and the Twins. Another twin busted out in that twin bills for Hey Polanco, who hit home runs in both games. It's now up to five home runs on the season, so not a whole lot of power. It's it's actually been for the most part, pre pretty miserable season for Polanco, but he's heating up, uh so two for seven in that game. Again, both hits were homer's also walked. But in the month of August, Polanco's batting three five. Those are the first two homers of the month, but he'd already hit five doubles and a couple of triples. And the thing that I'm really encouraged about with Anco is that he's got a line drive rate for the month of thirty three percent. And I liked him as uh kind of a deep sleeper coming into the year because of that, in a large part because of that high line drive rate and the fact that he's been a pretty good contact hitter. Not a whole lot of power there. And actually, the one thing about Polanco that kind of I worry about in terms of depressing his value in him not making good on his potential, was that last season he was a bit flyball prone, and for somebody who doesn't have a lot of raw power, that's going to sap his batting average without a whole lot of upside in terms of power to compensate for it. But I thought, you know, if he kind of just stays within himself as a line drive hitter, he could hit for a very high average. And at least this month he's doing that. So we still have to issue a a small sample alert since we've only had three weeks of August to deal with here, But this is much more of the horror Polanco I was hoping to see this year. Now, on the White Sox side of things, Nikki Delmonico just one hit in the two games last night, but he walked a couple of times. Oh and that hit, it was just his sixth home run in his nineteen career major league game. This is kind of kind of bizarre because he played games at Triple A Charlotte this year. That is a park that is fantastic for home run power, and he had twelve home runs, which is nih you know, really can't really can't come up with a better word than than ni which is not really a word, but you know, just very moderate. That's that's using my words, a little better moderate home run power with such a good park to hit in, and he's already half way to the output that he had in Triple A with that helpful home park and and of course guaranteed ray Field also a pretty helpful home park in terms of home run power. But he's done it in roughly one fifth of the games. He hasn't done He's gone halfway. He's gone halfway to his number of home in one fifth of the games. This is not a complete explanation, but he was hitting more ground balls in Charlotte this year than he had been previously, and then he has been since since being call called up to the White Sox groundball rate, it's been it's come to be the White Sox. I mean, it's not a huge radical change that explains everything. I think. Probably there's a little bit of uh, maybe Chris Shelton, uh, for lack of a better comparison, you know, somebody who's just getting his career off on on absolute the right foot, but not necessarily at anything close to a sustainable pace. But at least there's a partial explanation for why the power numbers in Triple A were just kind of mediocre. So uh, in any event, uh, Delmonico is uh certainly the hot hand and uh a mustown guy in deeper mixed leagues. I think, given the hot start, maybe he's going to become a popular guy in the twelve team mixed leagues. Um, I'm not going to be pursuing him there. I just think that this is a hot streak that's it's gonna end. It's gonna end, probably pretty abruptly. But I do like him as a deeper league option. I think there's enough there. Adam Jones has been red hot as well, and against the A's yesterday went four for four, hit his twenty three and twenty four home runs of the season. So now that he's up to twenty four, we can compare with last year. Well, we've still got, like I said, almost six weeks left, so a little a little less than a quarter of the season, and Jones is only five home runs behind last year's total twenty nine last year just needs five to match that six to exceed it. Uh So basically needs to hit one a week from here on out two uh to beat last year's total, And he's already ahead of that pace now that he's got twenty four homers at the beginning of week one. So it's been been a nice season for for alc for excuse me for Adam Jones, and um, he uh, he's really kind of caught up because this is somebody who's just been incredibly consistent over recent seasons, and again, I think to the point where maybe a lot of owners kind of started taking for granted. And of course, with the increasing power, if you're just sort of keeping pace with what you've done before, you're actually sort of slipping a bit in value. And so when it looked like he was not going to be keeping up his typical pace earlier in the year, that was a little bit alarming. Uh, really kind of called into question Jones is value in in a twelve team mix league, especially the three outfielder leagues. But he's he's right back to where you know where he's been. And then some in the month of August he's hit three forty two with five home runs. So that's gone a long long way towards the getting Jones not just back on track, but actually ahead of ahead of schedule compared to what he did last year, and last year was pretty close to what he had done in the previous couple of years ago. Adam Jones no reasons for worry there whatsoever. Now in that same game, boot Pole went yard, but not the guy with the barbecue stand, not the former Oriole, but Boogpole, who was recently traded from the Mariners to the A's. So with the A's hitting his first career home run, it's the only hit he had. It's actually the only ad bat he had in the game. Uh, he had two other plate appearances and walked in both of those, So a weird line, but a nice game for boot Pole, who is not related to the other boot Pole. But he hit that home run, his first career home run, apparently in the vicinity of the other book Pole's barbecue stand at Camden Yards. So that's pretty cool. And then I saw a story that the two of them I'm going to meet today and apparently there's also a third boog Pole who who's playing in the Little League World Series. And I just said something about that yes or day. So I don't know any with the the deal is with why there's a third Bookpo, I guess I don't need to ask why. I just need to accept that there are three different people named Boopal who are apparently not related to each other. But getting back to Oakland's boog Pal, he's got some kind of plate discipline. The power is something I don't know how much of that we're gonna see, although he has made some improvements in that area. He he hits six home runs uh this year in Triple A and sixty one games. Now. He missed a chunk of the season because of a p e D suspension, but uh, paul in you know, relatively relatively limited sixty one games, hits sick on some runs, which is more than we had seen from him before. But the plate discipline has really translated. I mean, he had walking strikeout rates that we're both outstanding in Triple A and and actually very similar to each other. Uh right around, and I'll have the number right in from me right around for both the walk and the strikeout rates. But his rate of swinging on pitches outside of the strike zone since coming up with the Athletics, I mean, that is elite level plate discipline from a rookie. That's really really impressive for boompal Uh. Curis Granderson has also been very impressive. He was hot in his final weeks as a Met and he has stayed hot in his initial days as a Dodger. Hit a big grand slam last night against the Pirates, part of a two for five night with also a walk. That was his fifth home run and Granderson's last seven games and now in the month of August he has a total of eight home runs. Now, this is sort of an exaggeration of the sort of hitter that Granderson has been for a long time. He has fourteen hits in August, eight of them are homers, two of them are doubles. Those are some pretty wacky ratios for Curtis Granderson. But a lot of power there, but unfortunately not really a whole lot else. But you know, as long as the power binge continues that it doesn't really matter. Uh. You know, if he's hitting five homers in about a week and eight in a month less than a month, two thirds of a month, you could You'll take that and then aj Pollock, this is one of the guys that everybody has questions about. He has had a miserable month. Um, but he did homer last night at City Field against the Mets, only hit in the game, just his sixth homer on the season. And uh, for the month of August, he is hitting one Sunday nine and that was his first Homer of the month. Uh. So you know, I had to break it down because again, so many owners are rightfully so wondering, is Pollock still must start? Do we write it out with this uh pretty severe slump that he's in that really goes beyond the month of August um. And it was really hard to find anything that was really a arming with Pollock. And I've had people ask me, uh, well, where the power go? And the thing is that the power was really only there to two seasons ago in terms of him being a twenty homer type hitter. So you know, I thought, okay, let's let's give a. J. Pollock a break because maybe that's not the thing we should really be be expecting from him. But this power drought, even for him is it's notable. But the batting average, I mean, for for somebody who profiles as somebody who you know, if they slump, a batting average should be maybe to sixty, not not one eight. Uh. And the only thing I could really find, because his contact rate is just down just the tad. It's not really alarming drop. It's barely a notable drop at all. The only thing that really stuck out for me in terms of looking at Pollock stats this season as a whole, because this has been kind of a persistent problem for a lot of the season. He's popping out a lot. He's popping out at a rate and that is unusual for a J. Pollock, So there is something going on there with him. It may be fixable, but like I said, the hip hop uperate is something that really kind of predates even the recent slump, so there's some reason to be cautious and starting a Pollock right now. Anyhow, Uh, we are going to give the pictures there to do on the show. So uh, right after this break break down the latest good start from Carlos Rodan and uh marvel at Dylan Geez first start as a Minnesota twin. A lot more to come, so stick around, deal with that wrong all right after this break Hey, everybody, it's me Joe psil Be, a best selling author of the Fantasy Black Book series, and right now you can get the seen Fantasy Football Black Book on Amazon as we see what are you waiting for? You can get it for e book for your kingdom or for paperback. And it's not just me this year, No, I brought in some friends. I got Jake seely I got Sammy Reid, I got Gary Dad, I wore I got championships and they're waiting for you. Find out why the Fantasy Black Work is number one best selling in fantasy sports for the tenth straight time. You know why because once you go black Book, you never go back. Well, BC, you are listening to fan Rag Fantasy Baseball. I'm your host, Al Melk your and we got some more news and some more lineup. So let's kick off this segment with that. And uh, let's listen yesterday. You know that I had Rob Arthur on the show from five thirty eight and we talked about streaky pictures and Dandy salas Are. We talked about him a little bit. But if you haven't checked Rob's piece out, and you should because it's awesome. Uh. He writes quite a bit about salas Are and how salas are typified, uh, pictures who were streaky, you know, often because of health reasons. Well, Salazar's last start an unusually bad one for him and he is now on the ten d d L with elbow inflammation. So that's a rough break there for Danny Salazar and the Indians. UM have placed Andrew Miller back on the disabled list. As I mentioned earlier in the show, Uh, he aggremated his patellar tendon issue, so he's uh back back on the ten d d L Andrew Miller, Danny Salazar on the disabled list. And as far as some lineups that have come out, we now have the Mets lineup. Uh, they're facing the Diamondbacks and Patrick Corbin. No Dominic Smith to face Patrick Corbin. Uh. Instead, you've got Flora's over at first and Gavin Cecchini over at second base, Ucchini batting eighth, Flora's batting in the cleanup spot. And we've also now got the Royals lineup, which, as you would have expected, does have the just activated Salvard Salvador Perezian they're catching and batting fifth. Um. So I think that should just about to do for now. A bunch of lines did come out, but those are the the impact changes there in those uh, in those lineups. So let's move on to some of the pitching performances from from Monday's games, and already broken down several of the hitting performances in the White Sox Twins double header, Jerey Polanco, Byron Buxton, Nicki Delmonico, but we also saw from each team a notable starting picture performance. We also saw a couple of really bad ones too, and uh Carson Fulmer and Tim Melville, but also Don remains hot. Uh. He went six and a third, giving up two runs on four hits with three walks, but nine big strikeouts UH in the first game of the double header. And so now over his last five starts combined, he's got a nifty two point to five e r A. He struck out thirty seven dots and thirty six innings, and even though he walked three batters yesterday, he only has a total of nine over those thirty six innings. So by and large, control has not been a problem. Walks have not been a problem. And check out the level of competition Rotan has had to face. Me. There's the Twins yesterday, but the four starts before that during a very good run, the Indians, the Red Sox, the Astros, and the Dodgers, none of those teams strike out, especially the first three of the Indians, Red Sox, and Astro's notoriously strike out of verse. All pretty dangerous lineups. And add the Twins in there, that's a great five start run. And on yesterday's show, I answered some some line up questions, some rotation questions. I know one of the options for one of the people who wrote in was to start Rodon. I apologize for not recommending you story, Rodan. Even after those four good starts against four tough opponents, I had some questions about how road On would do this week because I do worry about that. The control has been very inconsistent, and four starts for me didn't really even against good competition, didn't really measure up. So maybe just a way too conservative on my part. Now, rod in a weekly line up league, Rodon is not by any means out of the woods because his second started on Saturday against the Tigers, who are the best hitting team in the Major leagues, against left handed picture left handed pictures. So um, maybe he got himself off to a very good start in building on on a night. So I tend to think that even if he falls off the pace against the Tigers on Saturday, that you probably would have been done, done, just fine starting Rodon this week, But that that even now five starts deep into the stretch against good competition, I still do worry about the Detroit Tigers for a cross rod If he ass that one, then you know, I'll get on board with with what is already patently obvious to everybody else that plays fantasy baseball that Carlos Rodan's really really good in a mustar picture, but I need to see what he does Saturday. Dylan g h was the other picture from that double header who really impressed. He threw six innings and just allowed one run on two hits, was throwing a no hitter through the four first four innings. Gave up two hits, no walks, and four strike ats against the White Sox, who, granted are not a very tough matchup, you know, certainly compared to earlier in the year. But um, he needed only sixty so I don't care what lineup you're going up against. When you can get through six innings on two hits and no walks and throw sixty nine pitches, that is really impressive. Now, this is only the second start this year for g The first one that he made was for the Rangers that they believe it was back in May. But in a season where he has worked mostly as a reliever, he's been pretty good. He has a two point eight four e r A. He's thrown six of his pitches for strikes and he's gotten swings and misses on eleven of his pitches. So those are all good, good ratios for Dylan g. And you know, I like the fact too that, um, you know, pitching for Minnesota Target Field a little bit more picture friendly than Global Life Park. Not a huge difference really, but it's I would consider it an upgrade. And uh, you know, there's uh, there's some deep league potential here if he stays in the Twins rotation, and at this point I'm not really sure why he wouldn't, but that's if you've got some deep leagues where you need a little bit of pitching reinforcements. I certainly do. Um that then g is somebody to who you probably could get very very cheaply, and uh might be good, good sleeper for the last few weeks of the season. On the other hand, if you are in a league that is still trading, and some of my my leagues are split, some of my leagues of trade deadlines coming gone, some of them I can trade through the end of this month. If you're one of those leagues where you can still trade and you own Zach Davies, take a look at the market for Zack Davies because he had another really good start. But this was a good matchup a good venue. This was the Giants at a T and T park, and he is on a heck of a run that looks really unsustainable to me. Um. He went six innings in this one, did not allow an earned run, did allow two unearned runs on six hits and two walks with five strikers, so perfectly good line. But again against arguably the easiest matchup in the most picture friendly venue in the major leagues. So he he did well in a situation where a good picture or a decent picture should do well. Uh he did get outdueled by Chris Stratton, who I'll talk about in a minute or two. Uh So despite the good performance, his record fell to fourteen and seven. That's pretty incredible to me that Zach Davies already has fourteen wins this season, fourteen and seven, and he's been great over the last seven starts. He has a one point nine one e r A. However, over those seven starts he's pitched forty seven innings and that's that in and of itself, is really encouraging because that's going into deep going deep into games very frequently, which was something Davies had a lot of trouble doing earlier this season. So he's been very efficient. And part of the reason he's been efficient is that he's pitched to contact. He has only twenty nine strikeouts in those forty seven innings, very very low strikeout rate. He's also issued only twelve walks. So so to his credit, um, he's he's throwing strikes at a reasonable rate enough to work through lineups quickly. Um, you know, gets the ball put in play and and has succeeded. And now the missing piece in this puzzle. Because again that formula said always one that leads to success. That's just a you know formula that might mean that, uh, you're putting allowing a lot of balls to be put in play, and you're giving up a lot of hits. He's allowed only one home run in those forty seven innings over a seven starts stretch. One home run in four seven innings. That's wild, what I mean, that's like a for a full season. That's like a four home run pace. That is unbelievable, especially for somebody who pitches roughly half of his starts at Miller Park, and he's not especially proficient at inducing soft contact or getting groundballs. He's fine in those regards, but not fine to the degree of here's somebody who's on the pace to give up four home runs for a full season. UM, pitching half of those games in Miller Park doesn't add up, doesn't make sense. Uh, screams sell high if you can actually sell, and if you can't, I guess you look at the matchups and you know, see if there's too much risk involved and continue to put Zach Davies out on your your virtual mound. Uh. Now he's had another start this week this weekend against the Dodgers. If you're in a league where uh, you can change your lineup every day, I would sit down. I would not trust Zach Davies against the Dodgers, and that one's going to be at at Dodger Stadium. UM, but you know, neither neither park is really a bargain. I'd say Miller Park is probably a little scarier. But you know, you're talking about a very very scary lineup in a in a park that's not going to do Zack Davies any favor, So UH might might really put the impetus on you if you can trade still to trade Davies by the weekend might be a good idea. UM. Moving on to the other picture in that in that matchup there Chris Stratton, who's um put up some pretty nice numbers, and particularly in this latest start, tossed six scoreless endings against the against the Brewers, but just one strikeout. So right there is a bit of a of a red flag because the start at the Brewers is kind of double edged sword that they can hit for power, they can certainly be a dangerous lineup, but they also strike out a whole lot. So he kind of flipped the reverse and did give up a whole lot. But I got the one strikeout against the Brewers. So six score of sendings on four hits and two walks. UM. I want to dig a little bit deeper though into Stratton's performance on the season, because he's reminded me statistically of another very interesting picture. So I'll get to that and also talk about Mike Brovinger, who's been struggling with it talking about his latest start as well as I hope stick around. I will be right back after this break. Have you ever wanted to have a fantasy expert in the palm of your hand feeder, yet in the pocket of your khakis. We'll check it out now you can. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Download it down to your phone. We promised, no weird viruses, no strange tracking things, just twenty four hours a day, seven days a week of pure fantasy knowledge dropping all over your head. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Stop being a weirdo and streaming it online. Get it on your phone, take it with you every where you go. Welcome everybody, Welcome back. I should say, you're listening to fan Rack Fantasy Baseball. I'm your host, Al Melk your and Uh. I just got there very happy over this break as I was looking through my Twitter feed and the meeting of the boot Poles. It's happened. There's a picture from Jane Lee of MLB dot com picture which she posted of the two boot Poles hanging out on Utah Street just outside of Oriole Park. It's it's very awesome. So go get on your Twitter and check that out and give yourself a smile, because well made me happy anyway. Uh, the simple things. But speaking at the simple things, we got first pitch coming up very very soon and about seven No, I'm sorry, nine minutes. I can't count, really, Uh, Marlins Phillies first game of their doubleheader, Aaron Nola and Dan Strayley in that one. Uh. So let me just shoehorn in a couple of players, uh and their stats before you go into Russia, and uh watch the Phillies and the Marlins play play some afternoon baseball. Uh. In fact, I started to talk about Chris Stratton's nice start against the Brewers in the last segment, six squirreless innings but just one strikeout. But that's kind of part for the course for Stratton. Uh, for the most part. Uh, he has thrown this year thirty one and two thirds innings, and over that course, he has a strikeout rate. So you know, considering all the strikeouts in Major League baseball, you know, just intuitively, that's not a great strikeout rate. And even more alarming, if if you're going to be alarmed, is the eleven percent walk rate. So that doesn't look really good. But much like Zack Davies, so I also talked about last segment, been really averse to the homer, only giving up one home run in thirty one in two thirds innings, so not quite as impressive as Zach Davis, but to be honest, a whole lot more believable, especially since he's put up a twenty four soft contact rate and the average flyball distance that Stratton has allowed this season is two, which is one of the lowest. He's not exactly a qualifier, but for anybody who's allowed is few is ten home runs ten home runs are more. That's one of the very lowest in the major leagues. So, you know who, this sounds a lot like if you're a regular listener, you could probably say it out loud with me. Sounds like Andrew Kashner. Not a very good strikeout rate and not a very good walk rate, but not giving up a lot of extra bass hits and just inducing a whole lot of soft week contact. The difference, of course, well two differences. Uh, Stratton gets a much much better park to pitch in for his home games. He also has a much worse offense to support him. So you know, the point is, you know, I know that you're not going to get get excited about starting Andrew Kashner or Chris Stratton in a twelve team mixed League, but fourteen fifteen team, there's some value there. There's some value there in terms of winds, in terms of quality starts, in terms of E R A. Uh, depending on on the matchups and such. There there's some I think underrated value there. And the last picture that I want to talk about is um, Mike Clevinger, who I think maybe very unwisely. I started for his to start week this week, just like I wasn't believing in Carlos Rodon being very good lately, I wasn't really believing and my Clevinger being bad, and he was very bad against the Red Sox four and third. I thinks four hits, four runs for walks, four strikeouts, that was easy to rattle off. Uh. And three of his last four starts he has lasted less than five innings. Uh. Control has just been abysmal. So um, it's you know that happens when you're throwing your pictures for strikes, which is what Clevinger has done over his last six appearances. Uh, it's it's not just gonna affet your walks, it's gonna affect everything. So be careful out there, don't be like me. Don't start Michael Levinger right now. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the show. I know I did, so go out and enjoy some some midday baseball and I will be back on Thursday four Nando Thursday, so looking forward to that. Stay tuned, we're on target, and take care. Let you see other
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Gentlemen Fantasy the host John rock Falls Welcome everybody, Happy Tuesday to you. This is fan Rag Fantasy Baseball. I'm your host, Il Melk your and uh. Lots and lots of stuff to talk about. With the Dodgers, of course Alex would at the top of that list, so if you're getting to him in just moments, but also the big question Josh Donald's is he or isn't he a shortstop? Maybe sooner than we think for fantasy purposes, and uh, all kinds of other injury news besides what's going on with the Dodgers rotation. Uh. We had a twin bill yesterday with the White Sox and the Twins that produced some interesting performances, including another good start by Carlos Rodon Uh, Chris Stratton putting together some interesting numbers. All kinds of players to talk about, but let's get to it. Um. Alex Wood. He is having some issues again with the sc joint in his left shoulder. That's what caused him to miss a few starts earlier in the season, and according to manager Dave Roberts, it's a little concerning. Uh, that's for sure, very concerning to us fantasy owners as well, So that is going to be monitored. I don't have any further details in terms of the nature of the monitoring or what's been monitored already perhaps, but if you have been tracking this for the last few starts, woods velocity as fastball fastball velocity has been down a bit last four starts in a row now, including last night, his fastball veloss, he has been between the average fastball velocity for Alex Wood. So that's been a little bit of a red flag for a few starts. But now we've got actual symptom to talk about. So um, there may be some other things happening there in the in the Dodgers rotation, of course, they're gonna be bringing up brock Stewart again to start in you Darvish's spot tonight. Darvish is supposed to be back on Sunday. Looking good for a Sunday return. He's gonna uh throw a bullpen session on Thursday. He's been cleared to do that. He worked with pigeon coach Rickhnny cut on some mechanical issues yesterday, no back issues at all, so he's cleared for the bullpen session on Thursday. That that that goes well, we can expect to see Darvis start this Sunday against the Brewers, but maybe Stewart stays in rotation after all, depending on what happens with Alex. Would Clayton Kershaw good news for him. He threw a sim game yesterday and is slated to make a triple A start this Saturday, So maybe we say Kursey Kershaw next week. That's obviously a big one and one final Dodgers note, Cody Bellinger will not be starting tonight at Pittsburgh. He is still doing with the mild ankles brain so at minimum he will be out tonight as well. So lots lots more to get to, like I said, including that Josh Donald Wlson position eligibility issue. And uh well, I'll see save the rest for after this break, so keep you in suspense, sticker out. I will be right back. Hunter Henry Stirling Chew through Michael Thomas. These three NFL softmores are not due to slump, They're due to break out. Just like the Fantasy Sports Radio Network mean year two, things are only getting better. Make sure listen live and tell you the app f F T S y Radio. It's free and it's twent seven, the best fantasy sports ten. He's on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Welcome back, everybody. You are listening to fan Rag Fantasy Baseball. I'm Al melk York, your host, and I'm here to tell you that you can now take the world's premiere seven Fantasy sports radio network with you anywhere you go. Just download the Fantasy Sports Radio app in the iTunes store or on Google Play and listen for free anytime anywhere. You can hear Tony Sencata the treadmill, you can hear Greg Sussman on the subway, or just relaxed with the King on the couch or Jake Sealey when you're jogging. Will keep you updated informed wherever you go. Get the Fantasy Sports Radio app for free right now an iTunes store or on Google Play and take the experts with you. Let's take a peek at the lineups, because they are coming in coming a little faster. I can even keep up with to be honest here, but I have spotted a few things of note. Uh. For one, Jake Lamb is not in the lineup for the Diamondbacks. That is a couple of lefties Patrick Corbin and Tommy Malone. Tommy Malone standing in for Stephen Matt's who is out for the season. H gonna have surgery and I'll talk about that in a few moments. Uh So something in one lefty for another. No Jake Lamb because he has been pretty bad against lefties this year. Um so probably just as well for fantacy purposes. Uh Admirsalis getting the star at third base and batting eight, and the Reds have their Merry go round of right fielders today. It's got Schebler getting the start and batting seventh against John Lackey and the Cubs. And we got White Sox raise Cubs. Uh Marlin's Philly is nothing too big there though to note, so um keep keep track of that. And also in terms of the weather, must be some pretty bad weather in Ohio and western Pennsylvania because the Indians, Reds, and Pirates games all look pretty bad in terms of weather. Uh, Pirates hosting the Dodgers seven o five Eastern at p n C Park, chance of presentation at game time, holding study for several hours after game time, so that's certainly gonna be uh one to keep track of. And as I mentioned earlier. Brock Stewart is supposed to start that one from the Dodgers. Jameson Tyne for the Pirates, so um, tai Own has not been good lately, so just one more reason I think to probably avoid him today. Uh, the Indians looks even worse. Actually, seventy eight percent chance of precipitation at game time. They are hosting the Red Sox seven ten Eastern and Progressive Field. However, the chance does go down after that, so maybe that's just more of a delay situation than a cancelation or a start and then a delay which would be bad for the starting pictures there. And then the Reds thirty four percent chance for precipitation at game time and then gradually decreasing over the following two or three hours after that they're hosting the Cubs. Actually, that's the game I just mentioned with John Lackey pitching for the Cubs, Scott Schebler in right field for the Reds, and the Red starter in that one. I gotta refresh my memory on that one. That's Homer Bailey. So um, those three games definitely need to check out over the next few hours and see how the weather is shaping up there. I'm getting my weather info from Rhoda Grinders and they're chief meteorologist Kevin Roth. All the other games that on schedule look pretty good from a weather perspective, so at least we're contained two whether issues being in that that one part of the country. So back to the news, Savador Perez has been activated from the d L, so we get one of several high end catchers who have been on the d L or out of action lately, get get Perez back. So that's a very good news for him and his owners. And speaking of that, Red's lineup is that Coz arts in it. He's batting second and back at shortstop, so he's he's back in the lineup. Uh. White Sox have called up Lucas Giolito to start tonight against the Twins. That's a seven ten star guaranteed ray Field Central time. UH so get to see Giolito make his White Sox debut and he'll be going up against Kyle Gibson in that one. Josh Donaldson has I mentioned before. UH got us a little intrigued the other day getting getting to play at shortstop, actually making his first major league start at shortstop. UM and Jose but Bautista over at third base, and John Gibbons has hinted that we're going to see more of that. Now. I've seen conflicting reports because I saw one that said that they play regularly. I saw another one that just maybe once in a while. So I don't know. I don't even want to try to hazard a guess as to which it will be, but just the idea that there's probably gonna be a repeat performance of that infield alignment. Uh, that's you know, a lot of leagues, well something jo I need one appearance a lot of leagues. All you need is five in the current season. So four more times for Josh Donaldson a shortstop and you can use Josh Donaltons Donaldson at shortstop. Now that probably won't wouldn't carry over until next year in a lot of leagues, but it's definitely something that's gonna be fun to watch over the last not quite six weeks that are left in the season. So that's pretty cool. Uh. Last night for the Indians, couple of key players leaving early with injuries, Carlos Santana with lower back tightness and Andrew Miller aggravating his right knee patelo tendonitis, So not not good. They're not not good news. Uh. Joey Gallo. I talked about him during the show yesterday. He's on concussion protocol, as is Matt Bush. They had a collision over the weekend. Um, no d L move yet for Joey Gallo, but they both do have concussion symptoms, both he and Matt Bush. According to the Dallas Morning News and Stephen Matts, as I mentioned before, he's out for the season. He is scheduled to have surgery for irritation of the ulnar nerve and his left elbow. So that's gonna be a season ender for Stephen Matts. Who Um, you know, hindsight doesn't sound too surprising that he's been pitching in pain all season long, because he has just not been himself at all. If I talked about that on the show last week with Scott Angle and we sort of surmised that he was probably hurt. So now we know for sure. Uh. And other Mets news. According to New York Post, Jerry's familia maybe back with the team this weekend for the series against the Nationals. So I would not imagine that he's going to close right away. But that's definitely one to monitor because I think sooner than later Familiar will be closing, but he will be back with a matter of days. Agaitors The Angels are placed j. C. Ramirez on the ten D d L with a strained right elbow, and they've also put Andrew Bailey on the ten D d L with a strained right shoulder. Ramires that that's not too biggest of a surprise with him. Uh he I believe he cropped up with that injury. Is last started or shortly thereafter. Um David Price through from sixty ft on Monday, and depending on how he feels today, may do so again today. It's still no timetable on Price, but if he throws again today, then that's obviously a step in the right direction, and Vika steps in the right direction. Three Mariners starters on the shelf are all making progress. Felix Fernandez starts playing catch today, James Paxton scheduled to start playing catch tomorrow, and uh Sashi Iwakuma through a bullpen session yesterday. So all that all those developments. By way of the Tacoma News Tribune, Vince Velasquez is out for the season. He was placed on the sixty d sixty d L and he's going to have surgery on his right middle finger. Um. Of course, that's what put him on the ten day d L in the first place. He had some numbness there. Turns out that he has a vascular issue that's impeding his blood flow. So that sounds be serious and it is a season under for Vince of Alaska's so um, let's see how the Phillies continue to fill out their rotation rest of season. Of course, right now it's been lively holding down that spot. And a final note in health and injury news here he has is Monty Thomas is out for the season. He's scheduled today to have core muscle surgery, so don't do not plan on seeing him again for the rest of the season. So um, not a real big schedule on Monday, but nonetheless a number of notable performances several coming out of the White Sox Twins doubleheader. Um, both pitching and hitting. And I'm gonna go to the hitters first today. Did the pictures first yesterday, so kind of gave the hitter short shrift time to put the hitters in the spotlight. And Byron Buxton just continues a torrid uh part of the season. I would not even a toward August. Really been hot since about the beginning of July, although he did miss a big chunk of that month on the d L But uh Buxton uh in the double header, three hits, three for eight, including his ninth home run and his tenth double of the season. So going back to the very beginning of July, Buckston has the slash line of three five seventy three and a great combination to see here from Buckston um strikeout rate, which you know for him, look, he's it's under thirty. That's a good that's a good side talk about steps in the right direction. That's not too bad and certainly a big upgrade for for Byron Buckston. So a better strikeout rate, he's getting a lot of in field hits and hitting a lot of line drives, so he's putting more balls in play, and the balls that are the balls that he's putting in play are harder to field. So he's got a high bab if that's maybe somewhat regression proof as long as he keeps this going. So another good day, a slash night for Byron Buxton. So we'll get to some more of that double header, talk about book book versus boog book pal at, this first career home run. Kind of neat story with that one, and a lot more right after this break. Have you ever wanted to have a fantasy expert in the palm of your hand, confeder yet in the pocket of your khakis. We'll check it out now you can. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Download it down to your phone. We promised, no weird viruses, no strange tracking things, just twenty four hours a day, seven days a week of pure fantasy knowledge dropping all over your head. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Stop being a weirdo and streaming it online. Get it on your phone, take it with you every where you go. Wellcome back, everybody. You are listening to fan Reight Fantasy Baseball and I'm your host, Al Melky. You are, and uh talked a little bit about Byron Buxton before the break. But that's really just kind of getting the tip of the iceberg from yesterday's doubleheader with the White Sox and the Twins. Another twin busted out in that twin bills for Hey Polanco, who hit home runs in both games. It's now up to five home runs on the season, so not a whole lot of power. It's it's actually been for the most part, pre pretty miserable season for Polanco, but he's heating up, uh so two for seven in that game. Again, both hits were homer's also walked. But in the month of August, Polanco's batting three five. Those are the first two homers of the month, but he'd already hit five doubles and a couple of triples. And the thing that I'm really encouraged about with Anco is that he's got a line drive rate for the month of thirty three percent. And I liked him as uh kind of a deep sleeper coming into the year because of that, in a large part because of that high line drive rate and the fact that he's been a pretty good contact hitter. Not a whole lot of power there. And actually, the one thing about Polanco that kind of I worry about in terms of depressing his value in him not making good on his potential, was that last season he was a bit flyball prone, and for somebody who doesn't have a lot of raw power, that's going to sap his batting average without a whole lot of upside in terms of power to compensate for it. But I thought, you know, if he kind of just stays within himself as a line drive hitter, he could hit for a very high average. And at least this month he's doing that. So we still have to issue a a small sample alert since we've only had three weeks of August to deal with here, But this is much more of the horror Polanco I was hoping to see this year. Now, on the White Sox side of things, Nikki Delmonico just one hit in the two games last night, but he walked a couple of times. Oh and that hit, it was just his sixth home run in his nineteen career major league game. This is kind of kind of bizarre because he played games at Triple A Charlotte this year. That is a park that is fantastic for home run power, and he had twelve home runs, which is nih you know, really can't really can't come up with a better word than than ni which is not really a word, but you know, just very moderate. That's that's using my words, a little better moderate home run power with such a good park to hit in, and he's already half way to the output that he had in Triple A with that helpful home park and and of course guaranteed ray Field also a pretty helpful home park in terms of home run power. But he's done it in roughly one fifth of the games. He hasn't done He's gone halfway. He's gone halfway to his number of home in one fifth of the games. This is not a complete explanation, but he was hitting more ground balls in Charlotte this year than he had been previously, and then he has been since since being call called up to the White Sox groundball rate, it's been it's come to be the White Sox. I mean, it's not a huge radical change that explains everything. I think. Probably there's a little bit of uh, maybe Chris Shelton, uh, for lack of a better comparison, you know, somebody who's just getting his career off on on absolute the right foot, but not necessarily at anything close to a sustainable pace. But at least there's a partial explanation for why the power numbers in Triple A were just kind of mediocre. So uh, in any event, uh, Delmonico is uh certainly the hot hand and uh a mustown guy in deeper mixed leagues. I think, given the hot start, maybe he's going to become a popular guy in the twelve team mixed leagues. Um, I'm not going to be pursuing him there. I just think that this is a hot streak that's it's gonna end. It's gonna end, probably pretty abruptly. But I do like him as a deeper league option. I think there's enough there. Adam Jones has been red hot as well, and against the A's yesterday went four for four, hit his twenty three and twenty four home runs of the season. So now that he's up to twenty four, we can compare with last year. Well, we've still got, like I said, almost six weeks left, so a little a little less than a quarter of the season, and Jones is only five home runs behind last year's total twenty nine last year just needs five to match that six to exceed it. Uh So basically needs to hit one a week from here on out two uh to beat last year's total, And he's already ahead of that pace now that he's got twenty four homers at the beginning of week one. So it's been been a nice season for for alc for excuse me for Adam Jones, and um, he uh, he's really kind of caught up because this is somebody who's just been incredibly consistent over recent seasons, and again, I think to the point where maybe a lot of owners kind of started taking for granted. And of course, with the increasing power, if you're just sort of keeping pace with what you've done before, you're actually sort of slipping a bit in value. And so when it looked like he was not going to be keeping up his typical pace earlier in the year, that was a little bit alarming. Uh, really kind of called into question Jones is value in in a twelve team mix league, especially the three outfielder leagues. But he's he's right back to where you know where he's been. And then some in the month of August he's hit three forty two with five home runs. So that's gone a long long way towards the getting Jones not just back on track, but actually ahead of ahead of schedule compared to what he did last year, and last year was pretty close to what he had done in the previous couple of years ago. Adam Jones no reasons for worry there whatsoever. Now in that same game, boot Pole went yard, but not the guy with the barbecue stand, not the former Oriole, but Boogpole, who was recently traded from the Mariners to the A's. So with the A's hitting his first career home run, it's the only hit he had. It's actually the only ad bat he had in the game. Uh, he had two other plate appearances and walked in both of those, So a weird line, but a nice game for boot Pole, who is not related to the other boot Pole. But he hit that home run, his first career home run, apparently in the vicinity of the other book Pole's barbecue stand at Camden Yards. So that's pretty cool. And then I saw a story that the two of them I'm going to meet today and apparently there's also a third boog Pole who who's playing in the Little League World Series. And I just said something about that yes or day. So I don't know any with the the deal is with why there's a third Bookpo, I guess I don't need to ask why. I just need to accept that there are three different people named Boopal who are apparently not related to each other. But getting back to Oakland's boog Pal, he's got some kind of plate discipline. The power is something I don't know how much of that we're gonna see, although he has made some improvements in that area. He he hits six home runs uh this year in Triple A and sixty one games. Now. He missed a chunk of the season because of a p e D suspension, but uh, paul in you know, relatively relatively limited sixty one games, hits sick on some runs, which is more than we had seen from him before. But the plate discipline has really translated. I mean, he had walking strikeout rates that we're both outstanding in Triple A and and actually very similar to each other. Uh right around, and I'll have the number right in from me right around for both the walk and the strikeout rates. But his rate of swinging on pitches outside of the strike zone since coming up with the Athletics, I mean, that is elite level plate discipline from a rookie. That's really really impressive for boompal Uh. Curis Granderson has also been very impressive. He was hot in his final weeks as a Met and he has stayed hot in his initial days as a Dodger. Hit a big grand slam last night against the Pirates, part of a two for five night with also a walk. That was his fifth home run and Granderson's last seven games and now in the month of August he has a total of eight home runs. Now, this is sort of an exaggeration of the sort of hitter that Granderson has been for a long time. He has fourteen hits in August, eight of them are homers, two of them are doubles. Those are some pretty wacky ratios for Curtis Granderson. But a lot of power there, but unfortunately not really a whole lot else. But you know, as long as the power binge continues that it doesn't really matter. Uh. You know, if he's hitting five homers in about a week and eight in a month less than a month, two thirds of a month, you could You'll take that and then aj Pollock, this is one of the guys that everybody has questions about. He has had a miserable month. Um, but he did homer last night at City Field against the Mets, only hit in the game, just his sixth homer on the season. And uh, for the month of August, he is hitting one Sunday nine and that was his first Homer of the month. Uh. So you know, I had to break it down because again, so many owners are rightfully so wondering, is Pollock still must start? Do we write it out with this uh pretty severe slump that he's in that really goes beyond the month of August um. And it was really hard to find anything that was really a arming with Pollock. And I've had people ask me, uh, well, where the power go? And the thing is that the power was really only there to two seasons ago in terms of him being a twenty homer type hitter. So you know, I thought, okay, let's let's give a. J. Pollock a break because maybe that's not the thing we should really be be expecting from him. But this power drought, even for him is it's notable. But the batting average, I mean, for for somebody who profiles as somebody who you know, if they slump, a batting average should be maybe to sixty, not not one eight. Uh. And the only thing I could really find, because his contact rate is just down just the tad. It's not really alarming drop. It's barely a notable drop at all. The only thing that really stuck out for me in terms of looking at Pollock stats this season as a whole, because this has been kind of a persistent problem for a lot of the season. He's popping out a lot. He's popping out at a rate and that is unusual for a J. Pollock, So there is something going on there with him. It may be fixable, but like I said, the hip hop uperate is something that really kind of predates even the recent slump, so there's some reason to be cautious and starting a Pollock right now. Anyhow, Uh, we are going to give the pictures there to do on the show. So uh, right after this break break down the latest good start from Carlos Rodan and uh marvel at Dylan Geez first start as a Minnesota twin. A lot more to come, so stick around, deal with that wrong all right after this break Hey, everybody, it's me Joe psil Be, a best selling author of the Fantasy Black Book series, and right now you can get the seen Fantasy Football Black Book on Amazon as we see what are you waiting for? You can get it for e book for your kingdom or for paperback. And it's not just me this year, No, I brought in some friends. I got Jake seely I got Sammy Reid, I got Gary Dad, I wore I got championships and they're waiting for you. Find out why the Fantasy Black Work is number one best selling in fantasy sports for the tenth straight time. You know why because once you go black Book, you never go back. Well, BC, you are listening to fan Rag Fantasy Baseball. I'm your host, Al Melk your and we got some more news and some more lineup. So let's kick off this segment with that. And uh, let's listen yesterday. You know that I had Rob Arthur on the show from five thirty eight and we talked about streaky pictures and Dandy salas Are. We talked about him a little bit. But if you haven't checked Rob's piece out, and you should because it's awesome. Uh. He writes quite a bit about salas Are and how salas are typified, uh, pictures who were streaky, you know, often because of health reasons. Well, Salazar's last start an unusually bad one for him and he is now on the ten d d L with elbow inflammation. So that's a rough break there for Danny Salazar and the Indians. UM have placed Andrew Miller back on the disabled list. As I mentioned earlier in the show, Uh, he aggremated his patellar tendon issue, so he's uh back back on the ten d d L Andrew Miller, Danny Salazar on the disabled list. And as far as some lineups that have come out, we now have the Mets lineup. Uh, they're facing the Diamondbacks and Patrick Corbin. No Dominic Smith to face Patrick Corbin. Uh. Instead, you've got Flora's over at first and Gavin Cecchini over at second base, Ucchini batting eighth, Flora's batting in the cleanup spot. And we've also now got the Royals lineup, which, as you would have expected, does have the just activated Salvard Salvador Perezian they're catching and batting fifth. Um. So I think that should just about to do for now. A bunch of lines did come out, but those are the the impact changes there in those uh, in those lineups. So let's move on to some of the pitching performances from from Monday's games, and already broken down several of the hitting performances in the White Sox Twins double header, Jerey Polanco, Byron Buxton, Nicki Delmonico, but we also saw from each team a notable starting picture performance. We also saw a couple of really bad ones too, and uh Carson Fulmer and Tim Melville, but also Don remains hot. Uh. He went six and a third, giving up two runs on four hits with three walks, but nine big strikeouts UH in the first game of the double header. And so now over his last five starts combined, he's got a nifty two point to five e r A. He struck out thirty seven dots and thirty six innings, and even though he walked three batters yesterday, he only has a total of nine over those thirty six innings. So by and large, control has not been a problem. Walks have not been a problem. And check out the level of competition Rotan has had to face. Me. There's the Twins yesterday, but the four starts before that during a very good run, the Indians, the Red Sox, the Astros, and the Dodgers, none of those teams strike out, especially the first three of the Indians, Red Sox, and Astro's notoriously strike out of verse. All pretty dangerous lineups. And add the Twins in there, that's a great five start run. And on yesterday's show, I answered some some line up questions, some rotation questions. I know one of the options for one of the people who wrote in was to start Rodon. I apologize for not recommending you story, Rodan. Even after those four good starts against four tough opponents, I had some questions about how road On would do this week because I do worry about that. The control has been very inconsistent, and four starts for me didn't really even against good competition, didn't really measure up. So maybe just a way too conservative on my part. Now, rod in a weekly line up league, Rodon is not by any means out of the woods because his second started on Saturday against the Tigers, who are the best hitting team in the Major leagues, against left handed picture left handed pictures. So um, maybe he got himself off to a very good start in building on on a night. So I tend to think that even if he falls off the pace against the Tigers on Saturday, that you probably would have been done, done, just fine starting Rodon this week, But that that even now five starts deep into the stretch against good competition, I still do worry about the Detroit Tigers for a cross rod If he ass that one, then you know, I'll get on board with with what is already patently obvious to everybody else that plays fantasy baseball that Carlos Rodan's really really good in a mustar picture, but I need to see what he does Saturday. Dylan g h was the other picture from that double header who really impressed. He threw six innings and just allowed one run on two hits, was throwing a no hitter through the four first four innings. Gave up two hits, no walks, and four strike ats against the White Sox, who, granted are not a very tough matchup, you know, certainly compared to earlier in the year. But um, he needed only sixty so I don't care what lineup you're going up against. When you can get through six innings on two hits and no walks and throw sixty nine pitches, that is really impressive. Now, this is only the second start this year for g The first one that he made was for the Rangers that they believe it was back in May. But in a season where he has worked mostly as a reliever, he's been pretty good. He has a two point eight four e r A. He's thrown six of his pitches for strikes and he's gotten swings and misses on eleven of his pitches. So those are all good, good ratios for Dylan g. And you know, I like the fact too that, um, you know, pitching for Minnesota Target Field a little bit more picture friendly than Global Life Park. Not a huge difference really, but it's I would consider it an upgrade. And uh, you know, there's uh, there's some deep league potential here if he stays in the Twins rotation, and at this point I'm not really sure why he wouldn't, but that's if you've got some deep leagues where you need a little bit of pitching reinforcements. I certainly do. Um that then g is somebody to who you probably could get very very cheaply, and uh might be good, good sleeper for the last few weeks of the season. On the other hand, if you are in a league that is still trading, and some of my my leagues are split, some of my leagues of trade deadlines coming gone, some of them I can trade through the end of this month. If you're one of those leagues where you can still trade and you own Zach Davies, take a look at the market for Zack Davies because he had another really good start. But this was a good matchup a good venue. This was the Giants at a T and T park, and he is on a heck of a run that looks really unsustainable to me. Um. He went six innings in this one, did not allow an earned run, did allow two unearned runs on six hits and two walks with five strikers, so perfectly good line. But again against arguably the easiest matchup in the most picture friendly venue in the major leagues. So he he did well in a situation where a good picture or a decent picture should do well. Uh he did get outdueled by Chris Stratton, who I'll talk about in a minute or two. Uh So despite the good performance, his record fell to fourteen and seven. That's pretty incredible to me that Zach Davies already has fourteen wins this season, fourteen and seven, and he's been great over the last seven starts. He has a one point nine one e r A. However, over those seven starts he's pitched forty seven innings and that's that in and of itself, is really encouraging because that's going into deep going deep into games very frequently, which was something Davies had a lot of trouble doing earlier this season. So he's been very efficient. And part of the reason he's been efficient is that he's pitched to contact. He has only twenty nine strikeouts in those forty seven innings, very very low strikeout rate. He's also issued only twelve walks. So so to his credit, um, he's he's throwing strikes at a reasonable rate enough to work through lineups quickly. Um, you know, gets the ball put in play and and has succeeded. And now the missing piece in this puzzle. Because again that formula said always one that leads to success. That's just a you know formula that might mean that, uh, you're putting allowing a lot of balls to be put in play, and you're giving up a lot of hits. He's allowed only one home run in those forty seven innings over a seven starts stretch. One home run in four seven innings. That's wild, what I mean, that's like a for a full season. That's like a four home run pace. That is unbelievable, especially for somebody who pitches roughly half of his starts at Miller Park, and he's not especially proficient at inducing soft contact or getting groundballs. He's fine in those regards, but not fine to the degree of here's somebody who's on the pace to give up four home runs for a full season. UM, pitching half of those games in Miller Park doesn't add up, doesn't make sense. Uh, screams sell high if you can actually sell, and if you can't, I guess you look at the matchups and you know, see if there's too much risk involved and continue to put Zach Davies out on your your virtual mound. Uh. Now he's had another start this week this weekend against the Dodgers. If you're in a league where uh, you can change your lineup every day, I would sit down. I would not trust Zach Davies against the Dodgers, and that one's going to be at at Dodger Stadium. UM, but you know, neither neither park is really a bargain. I'd say Miller Park is probably a little scarier. But you know, you're talking about a very very scary lineup in a in a park that's not going to do Zack Davies any favor, So UH might might really put the impetus on you if you can trade still to trade Davies by the weekend might be a good idea. UM. Moving on to the other picture in that in that matchup there Chris Stratton, who's um put up some pretty nice numbers, and particularly in this latest start, tossed six scoreless endings against the against the Brewers, but just one strikeout. So right there is a bit of a of a red flag because the start at the Brewers is kind of double edged sword that they can hit for power, they can certainly be a dangerous lineup, but they also strike out a whole lot. So he kind of flipped the reverse and did give up a whole lot. But I got the one strikeout against the Brewers. So six score of sendings on four hits and two walks. UM. I want to dig a little bit deeper though into Stratton's performance on the season, because he's reminded me statistically of another very interesting picture. So I'll get to that and also talk about Mike Brovinger, who's been struggling with it talking about his latest start as well as I hope stick around. I will be right back after this break. Have you ever wanted to have a fantasy expert in the palm of your hand feeder, yet in the pocket of your khakis. We'll check it out now you can. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Download it down to your phone. We promised, no weird viruses, no strange tracking things, just twenty four hours a day, seven days a week of pure fantasy knowledge dropping all over your head. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Stop being a weirdo and streaming it online. Get it on your phone, take it with you every where you go. Welcome everybody, Welcome back. I should say, you're listening to fan Rack Fantasy Baseball. I'm your host, Al Melk your and Uh. I just got there very happy over this break as I was looking through my Twitter feed and the meeting of the boot Poles. It's happened. There's a picture from Jane Lee of MLB dot com picture which she posted of the two boot Poles hanging out on Utah Street just outside of Oriole Park. It's it's very awesome. So go get on your Twitter and check that out and give yourself a smile, because well made me happy anyway. Uh, the simple things. But speaking at the simple things, we got first pitch coming up very very soon and about seven No, I'm sorry, nine minutes. I can't count, really, Uh, Marlins Phillies first game of their doubleheader, Aaron Nola and Dan Strayley in that one. Uh. So let me just shoehorn in a couple of players, uh and their stats before you go into Russia, and uh watch the Phillies and the Marlins play play some afternoon baseball. Uh. In fact, I started to talk about Chris Stratton's nice start against the Brewers in the last segment, six squirreless innings but just one strikeout. But that's kind of part for the course for Stratton. Uh, for the most part. Uh, he has thrown this year thirty one and two thirds innings, and over that course, he has a strikeout rate. So you know, considering all the strikeouts in Major League baseball, you know, just intuitively, that's not a great strikeout rate. And even more alarming, if if you're going to be alarmed, is the eleven percent walk rate. So that doesn't look really good. But much like Zack Davies, so I also talked about last segment, been really averse to the homer, only giving up one home run in thirty one in two thirds innings, so not quite as impressive as Zach Davis, but to be honest, a whole lot more believable, especially since he's put up a twenty four soft contact rate and the average flyball distance that Stratton has allowed this season is two, which is one of the lowest. He's not exactly a qualifier, but for anybody who's allowed is few is ten home runs ten home runs are more. That's one of the very lowest in the major leagues. So, you know who, this sounds a lot like if you're a regular listener, you could probably say it out loud with me. Sounds like Andrew Kashner. Not a very good strikeout rate and not a very good walk rate, but not giving up a lot of extra bass hits and just inducing a whole lot of soft week contact. The difference, of course, well two differences. Uh, Stratton gets a much much better park to pitch in for his home games. He also has a much worse offense to support him. So you know, the point is, you know, I know that you're not going to get get excited about starting Andrew Kashner or Chris Stratton in a twelve team mixed League, but fourteen fifteen team, there's some value there. There's some value there in terms of winds, in terms of quality starts, in terms of E R A. Uh, depending on on the matchups and such. There there's some I think underrated value there. And the last picture that I want to talk about is um, Mike Clevinger, who I think maybe very unwisely. I started for his to start week this week, just like I wasn't believing in Carlos Rodon being very good lately, I wasn't really believing and my Clevinger being bad, and he was very bad against the Red Sox four and third. I thinks four hits, four runs for walks, four strikeouts, that was easy to rattle off. Uh. And three of his last four starts he has lasted less than five innings. Uh. Control has just been abysmal. So um, it's you know that happens when you're throwing your pictures for strikes, which is what Clevinger has done over his last six appearances. Uh, it's it's not just gonna affet your walks, it's gonna affect everything. So be careful out there, don't be like me. Don't start Michael Levinger right now. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the show. I know I did, so go out and enjoy some some midday baseball and I will be back on Thursday four Nando Thursday, so looking forward to that. Stay tuned, we're on target, and take care. Let you see other
