Cash It: Fantasy Baseball Hot Starts We Believe & Waiver Wire Woes

Speaker 0 00:00:03 Oh God. All right, here we go. In 3, 2, 1. What is going on? Everybody? Welcome into Cash It. I'm Howard Bender. Adam Ronis here by my side a day late. Not a dollar short though. But you know what? I was away for a couple of days and so yesterday was Adam's birthday. So normally we don't record on, we normally record on a Wednesday, but with Adam's birthday and with me being away, we, uh, we, we took the extra day here. And, uh, and there we go. Adam, happy belated birthday. Although I reached out to you yesterday. Uh, but, you know, for, for the show here and for everybody, happy birthday. Hope you had a good day. Speaker 1 00:00:44 Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, had a good day. Was fun. Went out to dinner. Uh, the Mets won. Rangers gave me a victory the day before, so, yeah, it was a good day. Now, hopefully, uh, the Rangers can keep it going and gimme some more birthday gifts. Speaker 0 00:01:00 Everything's coming up. Ronis, <laugh>. Um, yeah, let's talk about it cuz you know, Stanley Cup playoffs going on right now. N b a playoffs going on right now. I have a million questions. See, I, you and I, we we're built a little differently here because when I take off three days to go see a series of Phish shows, I try to, I try to get as much of my work covered as I possibly can. And, uh, and I just, I, I like to just clear my mind of, of all sports. I, it's, it's tough to do and I, I'd be lying if I said I didn't like check in on some scores, um, you know, on the, uh, on the way back and forth to the venue. But I really kind of stayed out of it a little bit. You know, I did all my, my fab bidding on, uh, on Sunday, uh, a little dust up in the F S G A league about that, which we'll get to. But, you know, overall, I just, I have to clear my mind, man. Especially if I, you know, the best bets on, you know, for M L B, I was kind of, you know, I was having a super up and down week, and I mean, I just, I, I have to let it go at some point and just, you know, I, I, I think it makes me better in my analysis moving forward. But you, you can't unplug it all, can you? Speaker 1 00:02:11 It's very difficult from a betting perspective. I could, you know, there are days where sometimes I'm just like, all right, I need to take a day off. You know, it, it's a lot of intensive research and everything, and sometimes if you are struggling, you want to take a mental break. So from that I can, but as far as like following all the sports, it's so difficult. Even when I'm on vacation, you know, I'm more relaxed when I'm on vacation, but I'm still checking in. I mean, usually I'm tend to go away in the summer. So at that point, it's really only baseball that's going on. So I'm still checking the box scores every day. I remember when I was in Aruba, I was checking every day because, you know, it is tough in baseball, you fall behind. It's difficult to go one or two days without even looking. Speaker 1 00:02:57 I mean, you're way behind. Um, so I have to check there. Um, obviously there are times where I'm in the middle of fantasy football, slow drafts when I'm on vacation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I have to check in on that. So I know it's obviously healthy just to completely unplug. But I think with what we do, and if you cover multiple sports, and if you're just a big sports fan, it's just really difficult to completely unplug and get away. You probably should, but I'm just not built that way and I have not been able to change. Speaker 0 00:03:27 Well, shit then catch me up, man. What the hell's going on? What am I so far behind on in baseball right now? Like, if you like, just imagine that I, I've unplugged for pretty much most of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. What are the top three things that you think I might be behind on? Speaker 1 00:03:46 Uh, the Yankees suck is one. No, I'm just kidding. <laugh>. <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:03:51 Uh, let's see. Um, I mean, the injuries are, are crazy. Again, man. It's just, it doesn't stop. But I guess the big story now, and I don't know if you saw it yesterday, is, uh, max Scherzer getting ejected for having, um, they set a substance. He said it was rosin. Um, and they basically told him to change his glove after an inning. He did, uh, Scherzer said an MLB official saw him, uh, and he was fine. I guess the Rozen tr tried to wash off his hands. I mean, this happened to Domingo Herman last week, and they did not eject him from the game. They let him in. So, apparently, so Phil Kazi was the umpire. He's the only umpire that has ejected, uh, guys three eject. They've all been by him. You could clearly see he added out for him. He basically shoved shirt his glove back at him. Speaker 1 00:04:38 I'm like, it's crazy, man. So apparently this comes with an automatic 10 game suspension. Um mm-hmm. <affirmative> Scherzer is, you know, could appeal. But apparently there's, uh, a source said that it's gonna happen, that he will not get, he will get suspended and Scherzer after the game. Like, look, you know what players are gonna say, but Scherzer's, right? If you listen to what he said, he's like, I'd have to be the dumbest guy in the world to go out there with substance on my hand after they checked me. And he's right. Like, you know, they already checked you. They told me to switch a glove. You really think he's gonna have some illegal substance on him? Like, doesn't make sense. I mean, we know Sharp shirts a pretty smart guy. So that was the big story yesterday. The Mets were able to overcome it. Uh, Madison Baumgartner was df a I mean, we knew it was a long time coming. Speaker 0 00:05:24 Didn't that happen this morning though? Come on. I'm not that far behind. Speaker 1 00:05:28 Okay. All right. Well, I don't know. Um, Fernando, Speaker 0 00:05:32 I'm, I'm curious as to like, for me to ask this question. It's, it's more about like, what do you think it is that I've missed the most, you know, from these three days? The Surez are news. Yeah. I, I, I saw, I read about it after the fact and, uh, and I, I love the, uh, I lo I love the quote, the quote was, uh, it was Dan Bino who was actually the, uh, the Humpl home played umpire. Phil Kazi was the, um, was the crew chief here, but he said, uh, hi. His hand was quote unquote the stickiest of any pitcher. He's inspected since the new rules came into play two years ago. So, um, I mean, listen, I, you know, and I, and I think that this is a situation that they're, they, they, they're gonna have to, they're gonna have to get more consistent with, I mean, you know, to, to, to bounce Scherzer and, and a mandatory 10 game suspension. Uh, you know, like, why wasn't it, uh, you know, the same for, for Domingo Herman. Why are you making any example, uh, out of Scherzer? Unless it was really bad. Speaker 1 00:06:43 Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Who knows at this point, but I mean, Scherzer's explanation certainly made sense and we just haven't seen anything like this before. So I guess we're probably looking at this suspension now. Um, I would say one of the big stories from a fantasy perspective, I'm pretty sure I spoke with you about it maybe last week or two weeks ago, because I keep putting his name in the waiver wire articles. And I put him in again on Tuesday morning because I thought the ownership percentage was too low. That is Jose Alvarado. And I only picked him up in T G F B I two weeks ago. And I remember that night and I was like, man, cuz he had no saves at that point. And he was not being used. He was being used like the seventh inning, but he was the most dominant arm out of that Philadelphia bullpen. Speaker 1 00:07:33 Kimberly was struggling, Dominguez was struggling, Soto was struggling. So I said, all right, I'm, I'm gonna get Alvarado tonight. And I didn't think I had to go that aggressive because again, he didn't have the job. And I wish I went more aggressive because we're starting to see a turn. So I wrote it on, I, I mean I wrote it Monday night. It's published Tuesday morning, afternoon Tuesday. Alvarado got his first save opportunity, struck out two in a squi of sittings. He got another save opportunity yesterday and locked it down. And he has just been dominant basically since the end of last year. He has not allowed an earned run in the regular season since August 23rd. He has not issued a walk this season and he has 18 strikeouts in seven and a third innings. So I think he's the guy now. And it's probably, I think in competitively cause it's too late. Speaker 1 00:08:25 But when I published it on Tuesday, his 36% ownership on Yahoo. Um, so yeah, eight and a third innings, four hits, one run, no walks in 18 Ks. Uh, he's just been dominant and it's two days in a row now that he's gotta save. So I would check your league to make sure, again, he's probably rostered at this point, but I'm just so mad because I saw it coming and I just should have been more aggressive. But you know how it is when a guy doesn't have a job, you're like, okay, I don't need to spend too much. I mean, I, I wanna go back and look and see like where it fell short again. T G F B. I did get him I think for like 14 bucks. I know tout I was looking at him, the main event, um, it's just now I look back at my home league, I think, yeah, my home league, I think I fell short by a dollar. Speaker 1 00:09:13 So it's just frustrating because like it was right there. And sometimes I guess the lesson is if you feel a certain way and you see something, you know, go the extra few bucks and it could have been wrong. They could have just said, you know what? We won Alvarado in the seventh and eighth. We need to get to the ninth, and then we'll worry about the ninth. And at this point it seems like Alvarado, I, I think he's the guy now, then again the eighth, then he could come and there could be two lefties up. They'll probably bring Alverado w cuz the s doing that. Now with Robertson, it's a little frustrating if you have Roberts again yesterday, I understand it was the top of the order. Freddy Freeman was there. Okay, fine. You want him to get through that. And he, he did give up a run. Speaker 1 00:09:52 And then Aino got the same. So I do have Aino in a couple leagues, unfortunately, I have Aino and Robertson in the same league. That's tough because I'm gonna start Robertson most weeks. That's a weekly league. So I feel like I'm kind of wasting a roster spot in a way. But I guess as only as, I don't have too many guys on the, uh, I'll, I'll hold both for now, but a lorado, it was kind of e not easy, but you could see that he was the most dominant arm in that pen. The other problem though is if those guys continue to suck, Dominguez, Kimbro Soto are, they can even get Colorado and get some save opportunities. Those guys did get the, uh, ball to Alvarado over the last couple days. But, um, I think that was one of the bigger fantasy stories over the last three days. Speaker 0 00:10:35 Yeah, and I, and I agree actually. I I really do. I mean, yeah, there was a streak where Alvarado had like struck out 13 or 15 consecutive batters. I mean, it dated back to last season, but where he went. But I mean, you just look at his game log, uh, and it's just, you know, surprisingly did not strike out a single batter yesterday. Yeah, that's rare. Yeah, absolutely. But I mean, you're talking about, uh, what 18, 18 strikeouts right now in eight and a third innings? Yeah. Speaker 1 00:11:08 That's ridiculous. No, no walks. This used to be a guy that walked a ton of guys that was the really, the big issue with them in the past. Um, but I think it, wait, was it Boen? I think it was Boen who, to who I was talking to and I forgot who they, who mentioned to Alvarado. But basically they told him, Hey, just throw the ball down the middle of the play. Like your stuff's that good. He's like, okay. And I guess he's done it Speaker 0 00:11:30 And Speaker 1 00:11:31 It's worked. I would say the other big story too is maybe a continuing trend of what's happened this season. We're seeing a lot of starting pitchers get absolutely shelled. So on Monday, Kevin Gossman, just blitzed in the first inning allowed seven runs, six ud. Fortunately though, you know, usually that happens and the guys take it out of the game. They actually left Gossman in, so it, the damage wasn't as bad as, as it could have been. He went four and two thirds, seven hits, eight runs, seven earned two walks. 5k still not a good line, but, okay, fine. Nick Lalo got absolutely hammered. Uh, that was on Tuesday and they left him in way too long for a young pitcher. Maybe part of it was, you know, uh, well our bowl pin has been, uh, beat up cuz Hunter Green had been removed the day before for three innings. Speaker 1 00:12:17 Uh, Belo Lado clearly didn't have it against Tampa Bay. And that's another story. They continue to mash and hit home runs every day. Lado went four, two-thirds, 12 hits, eight runs, one walk, four Ks, and three home runs. He had been dominant up until that point, just absolutely crushed in that game. Um, but we've seen a lot of starters just get absolutely destroyed, man. Uh, and it just seems like there's two or three every single day making Jordan Montgomery, another guy mm-hmm. <affirmative> too, that got destroyed that day. Um, and I'll say this to me, I don't, I haven't really heard people talking about it, but to me, one of the biggest fantasy steals right now, if this trend continues, he's probably gonna be one of the biggest values in fantasy this year, Yandy Diaz. Because the issue with Yandy Diaz over the last few years is he cannot hit the ball in the air. Speaker 1 00:13:11 We see this guy, he's ripped, he's jacked, he's a good contact hitter, good average, but there's no power. He's hitting the ball in the air. Now his, his five rate over 50% and now he has five home runs. If he's gonna hit 25 home runs this year in this lineup, that's gonna be the steal of fantasy drafts. And I have him nowhere. So I would try and trade for him now, I mean, it might be difficult cuz he's hot, but maybe, yeah, but maybe someone, maybe someone is like, you know what, this is not gonna last. Um, and I think Jim Bon also mentioned it too, that I, did he, do you remember if he talked about on your show that they told Diaz or Diaz had been hitting the ball in the air or started to concentrate on Launch Angle more? Speaker 0 00:13:58 Yeah, well that was, that was the, uh, the interesting thing because somebody had asked me on Twitter, um, you know what I thought between like two or three players and, and I, and I sided with uh, uh, uh, I think it was Fred Cisco Alvarez. I, yeah, I just said that I liked Alvarez's potential and upside. If the Mets can figure out exactly how to use him properly, then I, I preferred his upside to Yandy Diaz and somebody else chimed in and was like, how, you know, how do you say this about Yandy Diaz? And that's, that's the thing, you know, you look at, at Yandy Diaz's numbers over the last couple of seasons. I mean, what's he gonna do for you over, you know, even over 150 games, which I think he's played, you know, twice now in the last four seasons. And that includes the shortened season. Speaker 0 00:14:45 Um, so he's, he, he, to me, you know, it's always been, I mean, what's he gonna hit? You had had 12 home runs on the season, 13 home runs on the season, he's gonna steal you two bags. Like he's great in an O B P league if you just, you know, if you're just looking for somebody who's got great on base numbers, but he doesn't really stuff the stats sheet at all. And so, you know, that that was the, uh, the, the debate back and forth. And then I talked to Jim about it and we talked about the fact that this, you know, that, that Yandy Diaz is, uh, really focused on imp you know, increasing his launch angle and uh, and trying to, you know, loft the ball a little bit more and, and, and use some of that, you know, developing power. I mean, my problem with Yandy Diaz, I mean, really are we, are we really looking at like suddenly like a, a breakout in his age 31 season? Speaker 0 00:15:33 This isn't like, you know, there's not like a spring chicken that we're looking at. And while Yeah, you know, you, you've looked at his, uh, you know, the, the seasons where he has played a full year, you know, he's still one of those guys that I always feel just kind of gets mixed and match, you know, a lot. Like, he'll, he'll go cold for a little while and then he'll sit on the bench for a while and he'll heat back up because he is, you know, just got a, a great pitching matchup for himself and, and then he kind of falls back to the wayside a little bit. But I mean, yeah, listen, if, if Yandy Diaz gonna pop you 20 to 25 home runs, that's a, it's a much different story. It's a great support character. Um, you know, I mean, I don't know what his position eligibility looks like now, uh, but it used to be pretty, uh, pretty strong with multiple spots there. Um, so you believe in him, you're like, you're, you're ready to, to buy into Yandy? Speaker 1 00:16:25 Well, yeah, I mean he's always, he's always hit the ball hard. He's always had been high up in Max exit velocity. The, uh, the reason why I didn't draft him, I'm like, well, where's the power? And Right. You know, if, I know it's only a couple weeks, but for him to already have a flabel percentage of, you know, 49.1%, his career marks 29.4%. So if he did unlock this change and it sticks and this Tampa Bay offense just continues to produce, um, he's always had solid averages. He's a career 2 78 hitter. You've mentioned the O B P, cuz he does move up in O B P drafts. His career obp is 3 73. So I think people, unless someone said, oh yeah, you know, I saw this in the spring and you know, it was easy to see this coming, you know, they kind of got a, a break because they probably pushed him up in the O B P formats, but, you know, he already has six homers in 17 games. Speaker 1 00:17:20 His career high is 14. Um, that was in 79 games, uh, 13 home runs in 2021. But yeah, if he's gonna hit the ball in the air, cuz that was the thing, why didn't I, I didn't, I, I didn't like him. I'm like, look at these ground ball rates the last few years, 49.8, 51.8, 66, 50 point. I mean, there's a ground ball machine. I don't care how jacked you are and how hard you hit the ball if you pound it into the ground and it's not gonna help us in fantasy. But, you know, again, if these changes stick, you know, you're looking at maybe 20, 25 home runs. If this raised lineup contingent hit to hit good counting stats, maybe a 2 80, 2 90 average with a great O B P. Yeah. I mean, I would take the shot and try and trade for him. Now, uh, again, I don't know if, hi, you know, if, if someone in your league maybe has 'em that's not the sharpest owner and maybe they're like, yeah, let me sell high on him, I would put in an offer for him now. Speaker 0 00:18:15 Okay, well listen, that makes, that definitely makes sense. And if you've got, you know, a a, a strength somewhere that you can, uh, you know, afford to, to give it up and, and, and grab in Yandy and if, if the price is right. Sure. Absolutely. Speaker 1 00:18:28 Oh, I I'm sure you saw this too, the other, I mean Jeff Springs bro, like they went from Oh yeah, we'll see they didn't put him on the aisle right away, which was a problem cuz I couldn't put him on the aisle over the weekend in F S G A. We knew he was gonna miss time. So they don't put him on the aisle immediately then it's like, yeah, he will miss about two months and then like five minutes later Yeah, he needs Tommy John surgery. It's like, wait, what? Um, and that was, I only have him in one league. I wanted him, but he started to go earlier, earlier. But man, that is just a, a brutal loss because it was looking like he was gonna have a breakout season and just like that c uh, season over. Speaker 0 00:19:09 Yeah, that was all happening like right before Yeah, late last week when, uh, when they got the results and there was like, it was a strain. It was this, it was that. And, uh, there was, there was definitely a lot going on with that. Yeah, that was, that's a huge blow. I mean, listen, he was, he was one of those guys who was, who's a d p was, was rising substantially throughout the, uh, the closer that we got to the start of the season. So yeah, that's definitely a, uh, a big loss for a lot of people. You know, the funny thing is I didn't really have very many shares of, of springs, only because every time I did a draft, somebody was so jacked up on him that, you know, I mean, listen, again, not like a slave to a d p, but you know, for crying out loud, you know, if you're gonna take this dude, you know, six rounds earlier than he should, um, you know, I mean go ahead. Speaker 0 00:19:59 I I I guess I I I won't get him. Well, so I think that that, that brings us to actually a pretty good, uh, a, a pretty good point then as far as like catch me up. So, you know, I think Yandy Diaz is, is a fantastic example of, of players who we n you know, maybe we weren't in on them walking into this season, but the question now is, is that based on the way they've started, and I know we're not even out of, uh, out of the month of April yet, it's only, uh, it's only the 20th of the month, but you know, like the calendar's gonna flip to May in, in a heartbeat. And the question is, is so, so who do you believe in and who don't you believe in? So Yandy Diaz, you're in, uh, on him. Uh, let, let me throw you a couple other names. How about that? Let's see. Uh, Adam Ronis, do you believe in Jared Kanick? Speaker 1 00:20:52 Yes. Speaker 0 00:20:53 Oh, there's hesitation. Speaker 1 00:20:55 No, I mean there's still, I mean there's still a high strikeout rate, although it's gotten better. Um, 24.6% that's okay in today's major leagues. Um, the walk rate is improved. He's got some power. He is got some speed, um, 360 batting origin balls of play. So we know that won't continue. But no, I think so. I mean, I think we tend to give up on these guys when they struggled too quickly. Like not everyone's gonna come up and be Ronald Dec Kuya, Fernando Tais, Swan Soto. It just doesn't happen like that. Even Trout struggled. Alex Bregman was what, like two for his first 33. So I think there was a lot of expectations for Kel Nick coming up. He was a young hitter. He struggled. But yeah, I mean he was a guy too that his a d P really started to move up. I think I only have him in one draft Champions league, but like you had to be pretty aggressive if you wanted him. Um, I mean he started, I don't know what his closing a ADP was, but it felt like he started going the 15th, 16th round and there was always someone who was pretty aggressive. But yeah, I think he's made some changes probably, you know, attitude probably changed a little bit, realizing the struggles and he had to turn things around. So yeah, I like what he said, Speaker 0 00:22:04 A little, a little humility goes a long way, doesn't it? Speaker 1 00:22:07 Definitely. So, yeah, I mean, look, he's, he's looked pretty good so far and I think he's even starting to get some at bats against lefties too, which is key cuz we see a lot of times these young left-handed hitters, they don't get the opportunity. So, uh, he is got 11 at bats against lefties nine oh, uh, four hits a Homer, 360 4 average, extremely small sample. But, you know, I always feel like just let these guys hit lefties, put 'em in there and if they really do struggle and they're awful fine at that point, I get Citi though. But you know, if they don't get to see left-handed pitching, of course they're not gonna hit 'em. They never get the opportunity to. Speaker 0 00:22:43 Yeah, you're pigeonholing him immediately, like early on in his career being like, oh, he can't hit lefties. You remember was, was it Jay Bruce? Jay Bruce throughout his entire early part of his career, can't hit lefties, can't hit lefties, can't hit lefties. I mean he, he didn't, but, uh, you know, it was like immediately take that off the table from him as a young hitter and it was, uh, it was problematic. You are, you're, you're definitely, you're, you're marginalizing, uh, a player by not even just giving him a a, a shot on there. So yeah, I'm with you on, on on ke Nick. I, I just, I, I like the fact that I agree with you, you know, post type sleepers to me are some of the absolute best, you know, all of everybody's in on 'em, uh, great hit tool, great skillset, you know, good power, good speed, and then all of a sudden, you know, they struggle for the first year or two and uh, and everybody goes quietly. Speaker 0 00:23:35 So yeah, I think that, uh, I think that Kel Nick's definitely a guy that you can, uh, you can lock in there with Yandy Diaz as a player to, you know, if you, you can, if you can get 'em for a, a, a cheaper price, because I think ke Nick's one of those guys also who I think somebody's ready to sell high, like really sell high, you know? And it's, it's cuz I don't think, like, like people who drafted Jared Keek this year, I, I don't think they were the same people who are as ravenous, uh, over him for the first two seasons. And I think that that kind of, you know, it helps and maybe you can get yourself, uh, uh, you know, somebody who's just like, yeah, you know, it's a hot start and I'm not gonna, uh, I'm not gonna buy into it here, and if I can get somebody in return, I'll do it. Speaker 0 00:24:21 Uh, so I don't, I don't mind, you know, again, if the price is right, um, all right, here you go, guy who nobody was in on, uh, and that's Jorge, Matt Mateo, uh, you know, everybody was like, well, if you need a guy, you can steal bases and that's it. You know, whatever. That's, that's the guy. But his batting average sucks, and his ob p sucks. And how's he gonna steal another 35 bases? Uh, if he's only getting on base, you know, at like, you know, I don't know, 28 to 30% of the time, uh, and 30% would be generous for, uh, for what he's delivered. Meanwhile, yes, the batting average on balls in play is 3 78, which is significantly higher than anything else that we've seen. Um, but, you know, slash line at 360 2 4 18, 6 38, I think the important factor here is that, uh, you know, an 8.8% walk rate, which is significant improvement over what we've seen, uh, and a sub 16% strikeout rate, um, you know, I mean, three homers great, but that's not why I'm drafting them or that's not why I'm, I'm acquiring them. It's the eight stolen bases that we're looking at. A were you down on him coming into the season not bothering with him because of the on base skills? Um, and, you know, how do you view him now? Is there, is there improvement being made or enough moving the needle that could keep you interested? Speaker 1 00:25:45 Yeah, I was not high on him. I had him last year and that batting average was a concern. You know, the speed was great. I thought there was a chance he might lose playing time, but he's so good defensively that that's kept him in there and now he's hitting the ball so hard, man. A lot of the stack cast numbers look really good. We know sprint speed, 99th percentile. So he's gonna run, especially with these change of rules, like you said, you know, you're getting the stolen basis. You should, you should get 30, 35, maybe 40. So if he's gonna give you, if, if he can give you 10 to 15 home runs and improve the batting average, it's not like if he can get up to two 50 even Yeah. May, maybe two 60, um, then yeah, I mean the, the walk rate increases a really good sign. Even the strikeouts are way down. Again, it's only been two weeks, but he does hit at the bottom of the order, but he's go, he's gonna be a valuable player. So, yeah, I mean, I think you gotta, like what you've seen from him so far. Speaker 0 00:26:47 I, I mean, I think you have to, I think you have to be interested in it. I mean, if his batting average finishes out at like 2 50, 2 60, you're gonna endure a major set of slumps coming up. But I agree with you, man, I, I, to me it's, it's about the plate discipline. It's about cutting down on those strikeouts. Um, you know, his, his, uh, his swing rate outside the zone is nowhere near what it used to be. And, you know, I mean, listen, we're we're only 16 games into it, less than, you know, fewer than 60 plate appearances. But, you know, I mean, for me, he services a need for everybody. Everybody's gonna need stolen bases. Everybody's gonna need, with the amount of steals that are happening right now, uh, everybody's gonna have to, uh, you know, kind of jump aboard, uh, and, and see what they can do. Speaker 0 00:27:40 So, you know, if you know that you're getting the stolen bases, no matter what, you know, sacrificing batting average or O B P or whatever it is, um, you know, nevertheless, you're still getting, you still know that you're getting something of value. So I definitely wouldn't ignore it. And I would, uh, I I'd continue to watch him, uh, as well. I, I, you know, as a Yankees fan, I hate it, but I, I gotta give it up for this Baltimore lineup. Mount Castles looks great. Uh, Adley Rutman is absolutely phenomenal. Uh, you know, Cedric Mullens probably will never be the Cedric Mullens that he was two years ago, but, you know, I still love the skillset that he's got. I think Anthony Santan deer, uh, doesn't get enough respect. I dig this, this Orioles lineup, but don't, don't tell anybody they're gonna pull my Yankees card. Speaker 1 00:28:29 Okay. I'll try not to <laugh>. Although it's now pub it's not public knowledge. Speaker 0 00:28:34 It's, it's like, you know, I've got a recording of you saying that you think the Braves are the best team in the n l east that I can just keep pulling out anytime you get like outta line about your mats, Speaker 1 00:28:45 I speak the truth. Um, and Atlanta is, yes, and Atlanta is off to a great start <laugh> one, which is unique for them because they, the last two years have struggled and then stormed back furiously. Mm-hmm. Now it's the opposite. I mean, they are 14 and five going into Thursday, so, uh, you know, two games up on the Mets, I mean, that's a start to play better. One seven of their last 10, you know, still have some issues. Um, but they played mostly on the road too so far, and they continue a West Coast trip, uh, with four in San Francisco. So by the end of this weekend, the Mets are gonna have 17 games on the road and six at home. And I like getting that West Coast trip out of the way early. Thank goodness. They swap the as, there's no excuse this a's team is absolutely pathetic. I know you do the betting article, I don't know how many times you've put them in there, but I'm to the point where I might just take the run line against the a's every day. I mean, it's that bad. I mean, this team is, Speaker 0 00:29:40 Oh, I did it, I did it two games in a row with your Mets. Yeah. And then what and what happened? I lost them both. Speaker 1 00:29:46 Yeah. I don't, I I, you know, I knew the Mets won one of the games by One Run <laugh>, and then I went back, I'm like, wait two. I'm like, damn. I mean, after opening up the series 17 six, yeah. Then they won three, two, and four three. Um, but I took 'em against the Cubs the day it was ten one. Um, let me see. So those two games against the Mess, they had a one run loss against the Orioles. They beat the Orioles, then it was a four run loss, 4 11, 11 4, 2, they won. They lost by one Lost by six. Yeah. I mean, most of the time they're getting destroyed. So I, I don't know, man. I think, and especially now with this whole situation where they're likely moving to Vegas. I mean, if you're, why would you even show up to the ballpark that you have a possum in the visiting broadcast booth? I mean, it's a disaster. <laugh>, this team is, this team is pathetic. I know they don't play on Thursday. Who do they play Friday? Man? Uh, maybe you get a, uh, they're in Texas. Um, John Gray against JP Sears. I don't know. I might, I might, I might take, I might take the run line against the, a's almost every day until, until I see something change. And they played a lot of games at home. They played 19 games, 12 at home. Speaker 0 00:30:59 Yeah. Listen, I, you know, targeting, listen, targeting against the, the, a's the Nats and the, uh, and the Tigers is, uh, and the royals too. Oh my God, the royals look bad. You know, it, it gives you a nice spot to be, and yeah, you could just conceivably, you know, just take that run line and you'll probably come out ahead overall. You'll, you'll lose some. But you know, if you're, if you're, if you're really in the belief that these teams are that bad, and yeah, they are. And I agree with you. And I, that's the thing also is what's gonna happen when they're just playing to a, of just, I mean, they've always played to a, a relatively empty ballpark. But I think if, if, if the move to Vegas really is, you know, happening, and I believe that the, uh, that the mayor has just, or that the, the team itself has withdrawn from all negotiations with the city, um, right now as of as of I think today or yesterday. Speaker 0 00:31:57 Um, and so yeah, that could solidify that. And you know, who knows? But I'll tell you what, man, I, I think this move to, to Vegas is the best fucking thing in the world for them. Dude. Oakland's a shit hole. The stadium is garbage. There's a reason that I call it e coli Stadium. Um, I mean, there's just, there's nothing nice about that place. You still take a piss in a trough, dude, come on. Who pees in a trough these days? Covid, splash factor, all that other stuff. Come on, man. Drives me nuts. So I actually, man, dude, I, I love it. Break ground down there in Vegas. Build a nice dome stadium so that you can keep it a nice balmy 72 on the regular. Uh, and, and you know what? And give these fucking guys some fans to, to go and, and, and watch it. Speaker 0 00:32:46 Sh you know what's gonna be really interesting, and I think we kind of saw this, you know, with the Raiders in their first, you know, uh, first time in Vegas is that I don't necessarily know if there's like really any kind of home field advantage yet, because you have so much tourism going through Vegas and the idea of being able to like, you know, go see a game. Like if you look at the Raiders schedule, people go look at the Raiders schedule and they're like, shit, my team's playing them at home or in Vegas, I'm gonna take a trip and I'm gonna go to Vegas. Imagine being able to like, you know, just kind of move in and out of Vegas. Nobody likes the, during the summertime, but fuck man, to go to a couple of ball games and everything. I think that'd be a a a just rock solid. I, I'm, I'm so in for that. I'll actually, I'll turn, I'll, I'll become their fan. Speaker 1 00:33:37 Um, you already have a team in the Yankees, but uh, if you want to depart the Yankees, I think that would be cool. Uh, but we, you know, that stadium though in Vegas, Allegiant Stadium, we went tour. That is awesome, man. That was a, that was a ridiculous stadium. They did a good job with that. Speaker 0 00:33:53 Well, I mean, imagine what they're gonna do to a baseball stadium now. Speaker 1 00:33:58 Yeah. Look, it's, it's pathetic what's going on in Oakland. I, I think it's, it's terrible for baseball. I actually just looked, they are actually not the worst team against the run line. There's seven and 12, which I'm like, wait, what? But then again, they won three games. They had the two one run losses to the Mets, another one. So I guess, do you want to guess who is the worst team against the run line this season in baseball? Speaker 0 00:34:17 The worst team against the run line in baseball? I'm gonna go with I, uh, Kansas City Speaker 1 00:34:27 Close. They are five and 14. Colorado is four and 15 Speaker 0 00:34:34 Colorado. Okay. Well that's funny. You know what, it's, it's funny that you should mention that because if you look at the best bets article for today, I have the Phillies on the run line over the Rockies, and uh, and I actually have the Mets on the money line tonight. Speaker 1 00:34:53 Yeah, I have, uh, I mean, they are playing, well, San San Francisco is, uh, leading the majors in strikeout percentage. They've been, they've had games where they've gone off and other games where they've just been bad. Uh, Sega's on the mound, he's been pretty good so far, although he couldn't get through five to get the win against Oakland. Um, but strikeout rate is 30%. Um, Anaya is on the mound too. Uh, yeah, that's short favors on the road. Yeah. A light card here on Thursday. Speaker 0 00:35:25 Yeah. Oh, super light card here. There's only seven games on the, uh, on, on the slate. I, you know, I mean, listen, I don't, I was just, you know, kind of looking at these matchups talk to me about, well, I mean, you know, Koga, um, you know, it was kind of funny. I, I opine cause he didn't have a great game against Oakland. That was that 17 to six game and, you know, yeah, he, I I don't know if it was because he was, you know, sitting idle for, for longer than usual. Um, I opine that maybe, uh, Shinara Fujiyama or Fuji from, uh, from Oakland, maybe he was familiar with his ghost fork ball and he kind, you know, gave the hitters a little lesson in, in what they needed to be looking for. I don't know about that, but I mean, going up against the Giants tonight, a team that's like, you know, they're striking out like 27, 20 8% of the time right now, that is not a patient team at the plate. Uh, and I'm kind of hoping that they're a little aggressive here. I know that the Yeah, the Mets doing this. You, they're wrapping up this home stand, what was it was Oakland, it was the Dodgers, um, Speaker 1 00:36:31 The Giants, yeah, this West Coast trip before they come back home. Speaker 0 00:36:34 Yes. Yeah. So now they get to go back home after that. But I think they steal one here from the Giants tonight. At least that's what I'm, that's what I'm banking on. It's what I'm hoping for. Speaker 1 00:36:43 Yeah. Sega's been, uh, it's just been up and down. He's a lot of home runs. He has a high walk rate, but he's striking out guys getting a ton of ground balls. It's just a very weird stat line early on. But the stuff looks pretty good. Um, and at least the strikeouts have been there, so Yeah, that, that was disappointing against Oakland. Cause yeah, the first two starts were pretty good. And then he gave up two home runs in Oakland. He walked four. So, but overall, he, he's looked pretty good, but then again, his first two starts were against Miami and then he got Oakland. So he has not really been tested yet. And again, the Giants have got a team that strikes out the most in baseball this season. Um, they had a few games early in the season where they went off and put up a ton of runs, but all of a sudden now they're starting to struggle. Speaker 1 00:37:29 Uh, they're six and 11 on the season going into Thursday. And, uh, there's been games where they just kind of struggled to score runs, uh, you know, against the mar. I mean, they lost two outta three to the Marlins in Miami and they scored two, three and five runs. They got, they lo well cuz one game was postponed, they got swept by the Tigers seven, six and seven five. So, uh, yeah, their offense has just been, it's been weird. Um, you know, they had a couple of explosions early in the year where they scored 16 runs. 12 runs seven. But, uh, it's tailed off lately. Speaker 0 00:38:03 Yeah, it definitely has tailed off lately. Should be, um, was it, I i as crazy as you might think, Adam, I I, I'm definitely rooting for the Mets in your, uh, in this series against the Giants. Speaker 1 00:38:17 Okay. Yeah, that is, that is different, but cool. Appreciate Speaker 0 00:38:20 It. I'm just anti, I'm anti, I also wanna see Brett Batty, uh, continue to, uh, to continue to go hitless as much as possible. Speaker 1 00:38:30 Um, he had a hit in his first game. Speaker 0 00:38:32 I know. And then he, uh, and, and then wait, so he went one for four in his first game and they sat him against the, the Dodgers. Yeah. And he inch hit and didn't do anything, and then he went, uh, oh for three, uh, with a strikeout and a walk and, uh, and the next game. I'm just, you know what it is, to be honest, I'm a little bitter. I'm a little bitter. And I guess this is, this is one of those things where I said earlier I was, you know, pissed off at the F S G A, the, the, the waiver rules are driving me nuts. I mean that, you know, whatever, I mean, the rules are the rules and, and they're, and they're set there. Um, but when you're sitting there and like, you know, at one o'clock in the afternoon, and I mean one o'clock eastern on a Sunday, and everybody, and their grandmother is reporting that the Mets have said that they're going to bring up Brett Beatty, uh, for Monday. And, uh, and then, and then like, you know, even, even with the rules that, you know, in the, it says in the rules that players can only be picked up if they're on the big league roster. Okay. But like if you're, if you're being told this on a Sunday afternoon and everybody's reporting it and everybody knows it's gonna happen, like really we can't, we still can't bid on him. Speaker 1 00:39:49 Wait, really? Then that's okay then. Uh, I'm gonna get you more pissed off here then. <laugh> and my F S G A league Beatty was picked up, Speaker 0 00:39:58 Get the fuck out. Speaker 1 00:39:59 Yeah. Speaker 0 00:40:00 This past week. Speaker 1 00:40:01 Yes. Sunday night I put in a bid. I didn't win 'em, I put in a bid of one 12. He went for 200. Speaker 0 00:40:08 Oh, well you damn right. I'm gonna go fucking bonkers on that now. Speaker 1 00:40:13 I mean, I didn't, unless they reversed it. And let me see, let me go to the Speaker 0 00:40:18 Yeah, please. Person's right. Please go. Because all of a sudden I'm gonna light my fucking league on fire if that's the case. Speaker 1 00:40:25 Were you the only one to bid on him? Speaker 0 00:40:27 No, no, no. There were like six of us who bid on him. And I mean, and I think I, I won him by like a couple of bucks and I wait a second big fucking bid in on him. Speaker 1 00:40:36 Wait, did they really reverse it? I'm looking at the guy's roster. He's not there. Holy shit. But I didn't see anything on the message board or email. Wow. Holy shit. So did they give him his money back? Let me see. Speaker 0 00:40:51 You have to, yeah, it happened to me. Speaker 1 00:40:53 Wow. So, oh wow. So hold on, let me make, make sure I don't see him on his roster. So let me go to try and put in a waiver claim for this week. See, that's messed up now because now we, we saw a bid, we already saw a $200 bid. That's Speaker 0 00:41:09 That's what I'm fucking talking about. I won him. I, I just beat out and I beat out six other people who in this league, like, again, like we had, we had an issue. So Speaker 1 00:41:22 Yeah. Wow. They reversed it. Holy shit. Speaker 0 00:41:25 But I didn't, Scott's Scott Swane went to pick up Brett Beatty and like, you know, like, like our, our second waiver, uh, period. And uh, and, and he got 'em for like a song because nobody else bid on him at all. And, and so, you know, and all of a sudden, you know, somebody chimed in and was like, Hey, according to the rules, you, you know, you can't pick 'em up and is on the big league roster. And so they they reversed it. Yeah. They Speaker 1 00:41:54 Reverse reversed it. I see it now looking at Commi Commissioner, reverse it. See, I think that's bullshit. I think you should be able to pick up players whenever you want. Speaker 0 00:42:03 I agree with that. Uh, of course. But again, you know, the, the, the thing is, is like if, if a team says, if a team announces that a player is coming up, they are bringing him up. They obviously don't have to make that roster move until right before game time. But you know, they're making that roster move. The team said it, every beat writer said it, everybody said it, it was all happening on Monday. Like, really, we're not gonna, we have to like sit there and watch him play for the first week. And maybe that'll change people's minds on bids. Well, Speaker 1 00:42:38 Okay, let me gar to be fair then, like, so in my situation then, well, Jeffrey Springs wasn't officially placed in the il Well, we all know he is gonna miss time. I couldn't put him on the io. So that's the thing. You ca you gotta have it one way. You either go officially by what the rule is because then you, you open up too many things because I should have been allowed to put springs on the aisle L Right. We knew he was gonna miss time. They said he was missing a couple months, but he was not officially on the aisle. L I couldn't put him on the aisle. L I have to wait. So you can't have, well, we know beats covered up, so just let's do it. Well then what about me? You know what I'm saying? So I, I agree with your, your premise, but then you have to look at the other side and the other situation and then what are we gonna do? Well, okay, you could put Springs on the aisle. Well, but he's not officially on it. So that's, that's why you can't have interpretation. It's gotta be one way. So if you want to go by officially by the rules, then you gotta do it. The problem I have is that in this league, why are we saying he's gotta be on the 40 man roster? Let people pick up who they want. Speaker 0 00:43:39 Well, I agree with that as well. I think that it's, you know, it's, it's dumb to, to kind of put this in. Like, I don't even know, like how, how do you think you're leveling the fucking playing field or something like that? Why? Because not everybody is up to date on the daily transactions. That's their fucking fault. Speaker 1 00:43:55 Yeah, man. Like look, if someone says, and I put Beatie in the fab article on Saturday on fantasy alarm before we knew he was coming up. I said, Hey look, the guy's tearing it up in the minor leagues. He's by far number one in Max ex of Lasty. Now's the time to speculate and pick him up. And I wrote that, you know, Friday published Saturday early se like 11:00 AM noon. So if you read that, maybe you picked them up, you should, you should be rewarded because if you pick 'em up at that point, whether it's first come first serve or fab on a Sunday, you get 'em cheaper. You get 'em cheaper. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> now, I believe, so in the N F P C, their role is, you do have to be on the 40 man roster. So had Beatty been called up Friday and played Saturday, he would've been in the pool since he didn't play Sunday, he wasn't officially called up unless he was drafted and dropped. So I did draft him and the N F P C main event and after week one dropped him, someone picked him up the next week. But in like the online championships, if he wasn't drafted or dropped, he will be available this weekend. So Speaker 0 00:44:57 How could they, if you dropped him and somebody picked him up the next week, but he is not on the major league roster Speaker 1 00:45:02 Because No, the rule is though, if you, if they are drafted and then dropped, you have a one week period. So if no one picked him up that week, yeah. So someone picked him up right away. Um, Speaker 0 00:45:12 Right. So you can make fucking exceptions. Listen, I, my, my home league for years and years because, you know, it was also, it was a, uh, you know, a blind bid draft and whatever, but you know, coming into the league when we were talking about setting up position eligibility for, for players and, and and things like that, we had a, uh, we, we had a rule in there, like a clause saying that if the team specifically, not if somebody not, if a beat writer suggests that they could move him or or anything like that. And I, I think this, this was, it was most prominent when, when Alex Rodriguez came to the Yankees and he was gonna play third base and they weren't moving Jeter. So in, you know, standard fantasy leagues, he was, he only qualified at shortstop. But if you, you know, in our, in our league, you could, because the team officially said he will be playing third base. Speaker 0 00:46:09 That's what it, you know, that's, that's what the case was. I think if, if the team and makes the, if the team makes an announcement that they're going to do something, I think that should be like the equivalent. We know that there's a delay in the timing because the, the, the team can just wait and see what happens. Get, you know, medical reports on everybody on the team in time before, you know, making that, that ultimate decision of what they want to do with a player and bring 'em up or, you know, move them, you know, off the 40 minute, whatever the case may be. But if the team is announcing it, I, I just, I feel like that should be enough. You know, when, when you're talking about, you know, certain things, if the raise said specifically Jeffrey Springs will miss significant time and that they're planning on putting, or they expect to put 'em on the IL on Monday, but then yes, I, I think a team announcement should be able to override that. Uh, you know, I'm sure that nobody wants to like, have to like go into the fucking system and Yeah. Speaker 1 00:47:13 See that's the problem, you Speaker 0 00:47:14 Know, change shit around. Well, oh what Lazy, lazy commissioners is what you're saying. The Speaker 1 00:47:18 Problem is. No, but I mean, you know, it's just, there's too much opening interpretation Speaker 0 00:47:24 With some these I'm not, there's no interpretation. The team says it's happening. It's not. Andy Martino of s n y Sig, you know, thinks that the Mets are gonna bring up Brett Beatty. No, it's Andy Martino is saying reporting. The Mets have said they are bringing him up tomorrow. Speaker 1 00:47:45 No, I'm talking about Springs. You did you see my point? You see my point? Speaker 0 00:47:48 I do see your point. Absolutely. Look, hundred Speaker 1 00:47:50 Percent. Here's the solution man. Let anyone add anyone they want. Who cares. So they might add a player that might be in the minors for three weeks. So now they're carrying a guy on the roster cuz let them do it. I don't see what the, why we have to wait for just let anyone add anyone. That's how my home league is. I mean even tell Yeah, it's how you can pick up players that are in the minor leagues now. They have to go into your lineup for that week. So you're getting a zero for the week. You want to take that shot? Sure, go ahead and do it. Um, but I don't see why we're not letting people add guys, whoever they want. Like just let it be. Why do they have to be on the 40 man roster? Shouldn't someone get, shouldn't someone get rewarded for having the foresight to pick up Beatty for a dollar like a week ago? Speaker 0 00:48:42 Yeah, I think so. I think so. Yeah. And f its GA rules. I didn't make 'em, but I mean well, Speaker 1 00:48:50 You know, and I had, it's so crazy. I had no idea until you brought it up and I was like, wait, I didn't see anything. Someone picked up Beatty and then I just looked and I saw the commissioner reversed it. I didn't see any messages on the message board or nothing. Speaker 0 00:49:02 Wow. We had a, we had a whole email chain. Fucking Howard came and, and Steve Gardner were like hall monitors on that one. As soon as, as soon as the report came into the fall, you know, that morning. Cuz I guess it, it took a while for everything to process on, on RT Sports and there was a fucking email out and I was like, you gotta be shitting me, man. You gotta be shitting me. The team says they're bringing them up and nope, nope, nope, we're not gonna do it. We're not gonna allow it. I'm like, all right, fine, I'll abide by it. But I think it's bullshit. I think it's crap. Yeah. And, and, and for, for an industry league too. That's, that's, I guess that's probably why I'm, I'm so annoyed that it is, it's a stupid fucking rule. Uh, you know, for an industry league, this is supposed to be F S G A Experts League, the Champions League supposed to be the cream of the fucking crop. Why are you policing 'em with bullshit rules that don't really make any sense? Speaker 1 00:50:03 I agree. I think it doesn't make any sense. I think you should be allowed to add anyone whenever you want. You know, you know, people should get rewarded And look, you might add someone that, like Brandon fought right from Arizona. Everyone. Oh, bump garner's, dfa. It's gonna be him. Nope, it's not him. He's not coming up. So, but now you would think, all right, at some point he could be up. You should be able to add him now if you want stash him. Yeah. For two, three weeks. Like, why do we have to wait and what everyone, so then everyone gets a crack. Like you should be rewarded for having the foresight to pick someone up cheap. And, you know, some rosters, it's not gonna work. You're at the bottom of the standings. You can't wait. But you should be able to. I, I just, I don't see the reasoning. Could you imagine like this happening in fantasy football, <laugh>? Oh, you can't pick up this guys on a practice squad. Speaker 0 00:50:51 Well, I mean, that, that doesn't bother me as much as, as this bothers me. I mean, just, you know, guys coming in and off the practice squad, whether or not I saying Speaker 1 00:51:00 Football, you could Speaker 0 00:51:00 Pick up Speaker 1 00:51:01 Any saying fantasy football, but in football you could pick up anyone whenever you want, as long as you're in a player pool, right? There's, I know it's different. There's no minor leagues and everything, but I just don't understand like why you can't, so that, that, like Brandon Fu I think's a good example. I'm assuming he was maybe drafted and dropped or not drafted. So you gotta wait now until he gets called up. That's bullshit, man. Speaker 0 00:51:24 I agree. I agree. Because, you know, unless they bring him up midweek, you know, that's, you know, if, if they turn around and they say next week, you know, like Sunday they announce that, you know what, we're gonna bring him up. He's gonna make his, he's gonna make his debut. We're off on Monday, but he's gonna make his debut in the big leagues on Tuesday, cuz that's his set pitching day anyway. Right. Could you imagine that? Is that, you know, like, so now all of a sudden, now, you know, he is coming up, you know, he's starting on Tuesday, but you can't pick him up cuz they're not gonna make that roster move until Tuesday morning. Speaker 1 00:51:58 Yeah. I hate the garbage, I hate the rule. I didn't even know it existed. This is my first year in the league. Uh, I did read the rules, but that one might have bypassed me <laugh>. Um, and like I said, I put in a bid, I just didn't get him. And then when you mentioned it, I was like, wait, he was added to my league. Let me double check. Oh, yep. Commissioner reversed it. So, uh, good to know. So now I know. All right, don't bid on Brennan fought this week. Cool. Speaker 0 00:52:25 Yeah, isn't that great? It's great. Speaker 1 00:52:28 And you would've won 'em, you said? Speaker 0 00:52:30 Yes. Speaker 1 00:52:31 Ah, so now you gotta wait till this week and hey, you probably hope he has a shitty week so the bid goes down. Speaker 0 00:52:36 That's what I'm saying. Right. I just said to you, I hope he doesn't get a single hit for the rest of the week here. Speaker 1 00:52:42 And then what are you still? And then what? Are you gonna still bid the same? Speaker 0 00:52:46 No, I'll have to, I still have to go up by like a dollar or two. Yeah. You know, everybody's like, oh fuck. Bender's gonna put that money on him now. Oh, son of a bitch. Son of a bitch. Speaker 1 00:53:00 Brutal rule. I, I recommend not having that in your home leagues. Let people pick up who they want when they want. Speaker 0 00:53:06 Seriously. Just let 'em do whatever they want. Run their teams. Like that's that, you know, when you make it all that that constrictive, I get it. You need rules. We don't need anarchy. But for the same token, be a little flexible. Let people do what they want to do. Like, you know, and, and I don't mind the rule that Tout Wars has, if you pick up a guy, he's gotta be in your starting lineup for that week. Okay, I'll do that. If I have to take those zeros from him because he doesn't get called up yet, I will do that. I'll put 'em on my bench afterwards. But I'll, I'll take that that week off of, you know, getting stats if it means that I can, you know, if that's, if that's my fucking trade off to getting a player ahead of time at a much bigger bargain rate. I mean it's gonna be ridiculous. Uh, beat's gonna go for like 3 50, 360, 3 70, uh, in, in the league this week. I guarantee you, I guarantee you. Especially if he's just, you know, if, if he starts, if he starts catching fire a little bit and starts getting a little hot, so what's gonna happen? We're gonna end up seeing it. Speaker 1 00:54:12 Yeah, that's a Speaker 0 00:54:13 Less, I digress. I piss and I moan. What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? How's the NBA treating you? Speaker 1 00:54:24 Um, yeah, it's been an interesting start here to the post season. Um, obviously the Warriors are the big story right now. Um, and they have a pivotal game Thursday night, uh, the day we're recording, they're down two zero. They were pretty substantial favorites in this series. Even though the Kings have home court advantage. A lot of people thought, oh, the Kings don't play much defense. But they played pretty well in the first two games. Um, and they actually have one of the best road records in the N B A. They actually have the best road record in the Western Conference 25 and 16. But we all know the Warriors at home 33 and eight. So, um, I hate the scheduling that the N B A did on Thursday night. They have the Warriors Kings at 10:00 PM and the Sun's Clippers at 10 30 absolutely atrocious. Speaker 1 00:55:09 Those are, those are two of the better games that we're gonna see and that's how you have it spaced out. So I understand both are on the West coast and you know, at Philly, Brooklyn who cares at seven 30, um, Brooklyn just terrible matchup for them against Philly. But, you know, golden State and Dream on Green suspended for this game, um, for stomping the chest of Saboni. So, uh, that's a loss for Golden State. I, I would think they win this game. I mean we have not seen Golden State down two Zero in a series since 2007. Uh, but I would expect them to get back in this series, but I don't think they're going far this year. I mean this road situation has been a problem all year. I think a lot of people felt that they can just flip the light switch on and turn it on the playoffs. Speaker 1 00:55:53 It doesn't look like that's gonna happen. And I think maybe people didn't give Sacramento enough credit. They were great all year. I know they didn't have a lot of injuries but man they were not intimidated at all. Like they stood up to Golden State and the first two games at home and looked pretty good. D Fox, um, was outstanding. Malik Monk's been good. So I think we have some really interesting series First round the Sun's Clippers as well, you know, no poll George for the Clippers. And they won Game one. Coulda won Game two. Phoenix came out shot really hot. But the concern I had about Phoenix after that trade, when they, they acquire Kevin Durant, they have nothing on the bench, you know, they just have no depth. And we do see starters play 40 plus minutes in the playoffs, but if they're gonna get a long series here in round one against the Clippers, and if they do win that, then you gotta go to most likely Denver and the altitude of round two, it's gonna be tough here for Phoenix. Speaker 1 00:56:40 So, um, they have Cameron Payne's been out, they really need him back cuz they are extremely thin. It's basically their starting lineup. Um, I think, you know, Milwaukee obviously a big win on Wednesday without Giannis and 10 Kupo who's out with a back issue. But I think even without him they get by Miami. You know, Miami did play well and took Game one and now Giannis uh, if he, they play Saturday in Miami so maybe he could be back for that game and get essentially a week's rest. Maybe they're like, you know what, it's one one, we'll sit him out and maybe bring him back Monday. But I still don't think Milwaukee wins that series. Cleveland had a big win in game two against the Knicks, just destroyed them. You know, I think everyone pretty much thought that was a series going six or seven games. Uh, Boston will take care of Atlanta easily. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, I mean really the intriguing matchups are in the west, um, Sacramento, golden State Clippers, Phoenix and Milwaukee. I mean, uh, Memphis and, and the Lakers. You know, that was, Speaker 2 00:57:38 I was just gonna ask, I saw the Lakers lose last Speaker 1 00:57:40 Night. Very disappointing. The Lakers had an opportunity put their foot on the throw to Memphis. Ja Morant was out and for them to come out and not win that game and play as poorly as they did. That's real disappointing. Especially if you're backing the Lakers or if you have a Lakers ticket because look, the Lakers have the ability to get to the N B A finals. They also have the ability to not make it past the first round and lose to Memphis. Um, but with Ja Mo you gotta take advantage. I mean Anthony Davis has 13 points. Like, are you kidding me? Four 14. Really? Anthony Davis, come on. Um, you know, LeBron in 28, uh, Deandre Russell had a bad game. Uh, Rui Hamo continues to play well. He had 20 off the badge. Maybe that's a guy's problem we gotta look at. Um, I think it was only 10 and a half points. Speaker 1 00:58:26 Um, cuz you know, he is really been quiet but uh, the first couple games of the playoffs here, he's been stepping up big time for them. And um, you know, TAUs Jones is a really good backup point guard. I mean he is not Ja Morant, but you know, I was playing his props a lot when Ja was out before they started to go up. But he's a really good point Guard didn't score a lot, uh, 10 points, but at eight assist six rebounds. So, you know, he filled in well and you know, they got contributions from all five starters, Xavier or Tillman with a huge game, 22 points, 13 rebounds. Uh, but the Lakers, this was an opportunity to really take control, go into Memphis without Ja, go up two zero and go back home. And now, you know, who knows, maybe Jah plays next game or the game after that. Uh, so now this looks like it could be, uh, a long series as well. But yeah, the West is very interesting. Um, where I think you have three intriguing series in the first round. I think you only have one in the east. Speaker 0 00:59:22 So how's bedding been going then for the playoffs? I mean, if we're seeing a couple of things that we weren't quite expecting and you know, and and whatnot, where are you at with that? Speaker 1 00:59:31 Well, you're continuing to see the Kings get no respect. So game one, they were one and a half point favorites of a golden State. They win game two, they're two and a half point underdogs. It's like, wait, they won game one. So that's where the history of Golden State comes in. And then you know how it is, right? The zigzag theory, well, game one they lost, uh, they're gonna win game two. Well, it didn't happen. So I'm sure a lot of people took Golden State and Game two and it didn't happen. And what do you know, Thursday night Golden State's favored by six at home without Draymond Green. But this is a pivotal game. I mean, if Gold, I would be stunned if Golden State lost this game. I expect Curry to Curry shoots 45% from three point range at home, 40% on the road. Speaker 1 01:00:16 <laugh> Clay's much better at home. Clay Thompson. So yeah, they don't have Draymond Green, but um, yeah there's six point favorites. So, um, I'd expect them to win. So yeah, I mean, you know, it's, it's a day-to-day thing. Um, we saw in the playing games the dogs were covering for the most part. Now it's just, you know, each game is different. Um, I think you feel good though about Boston and Philly covering, I know they have to go on the road now. Philly was favored by like double digits and now on the road it's only four and a half. Speaker 0 01:00:48 Do you, uh, I mean do you, when when you stick with your betting, I mean are you betting M L B A a bunch right now or do you stay focused on finishing out the N B A season? Speaker 1 01:00:57 A combination of both. Um, you know, yeah, I'm doing both right now. Um Okay. Not, not it, you know, not heavy, heavy in a baseball but dipping my toes in. Right. Um, and can still looking at the N B A cuz we're having, we're basically having three games a night right now it looks like. Um, I think on the weekend do we go back to four? Yeah, Saturday there's four games. So you basically have the whole day and I believe Sunday as well. Sunday there is four games as well. So yeah, basically starting at one o'clock on Sunday and then they'll go back to two to three during the week. I mean they really spread it around here, man. You know what I mean? This first round's not gonna end till like what the end of April. I mean it's insane. Speaker 0 01:01:42 Do they fucking milk it as long? They really do nuts. Speaker 1 01:01:45 Yeah. I mean cuz they don't wanna put four games on on a, on a Tuesday Wednesday. Although I do see, uh, you know why it's cuz it's if necessary. I see the night of the N f L draft Thursday, April 27th, they have a potential four game sixes. I think the reason why they did that is they know some of these series are not going six. Like they have the Celtics Hawks and the Sixers Nets that night. There's a good chance that neither of those series goes six, they have Suns Clippers that night. I'm pretty sure that will go six nuggets. Timberwolves, there's a chance that doesn't go six. So that's probably why they do it. But in the early portion of the playoffs, you know, they, they want to have like three because if you have four, you're just not gonna get the the viewership. I know the N H L does it, but I, Speaker 0 01:02:34 Because they've got, they've got dedicated viewership and that's it. Like they Right, they know that they're not, they're, they're not hoping to like lure in like, you know, Joe six pack and have them come in and likely start watching hockey Speaker 1 01:02:48 The Thursday night and we're recording. Thursday is such a disappointment, man. Like King's Warriors at 10 and Son's Clippers at 10 30. That's brutal, man. There's awful, it's awful scheduling. I mean, there's, there's a way to fix, they, they could have fixed this. I mean, I guess I they couldn't do it yesterday. You're already spreading these fucking teams out. Put one of them on Friday then fuck it. I mean, you're already like, some teams had like two, three days off. I mean the Nick's schedule's so spread out. Nick's played what Tuesday and they don't play again till Friday. So why couldn't you push one of these teams back, man? Like, you have to know the matchups. I just don't get it, man, because like Philly, Brooklyn, who gives a shit now? I get it, it's East Coast, so you can't put King's Warriors, right? Like it's seven. I get that. But like, okay, let's see. Friday schedule, you got the Nuggets Timberwolves at nine 30. The Knicks are playing a game at the garden at eight 30, which you never see. So, and they, I guess they bury what ball? Yeah, Celtics Hawks at seven. Nick's Cavs at eight 30. So why don't you just, huh? Nuggets Timberwolves played last night. Speaker 0 01:04:02 Well why don't you just put the Knicks in the and the calves at seven 30. Dude, just put 'em, you know, earlier there. Speaker 1 01:04:08 Well they're trying to space it out. So like basically, all right, Celtics Hawks, seven people will watch it and then, oh, okay. It's a blowout. All right, let's switch to Nick's calves, uh, at eight 30. But they should've, they should found a way to separate the King's Warriors Son's Clippers, cuz those are two appealing series to watch and to have them on basically the same time. That is not ideal. They should have figured out something cuz like tomorrow, I mean Nuggets timbers, uh, it's two zero Denver. It's just not as appealing to watch. I mean like, well Speaker 0 01:04:45 I mean maybe when they, they put the schedule together, they figured that the, the Warriors would just blow through the, the Kings nice and quick Speaker 1 01:04:53 I guess. I Speaker 0 01:04:54 Dunno, you know, Speaker 1 01:04:55 Well I guess because based on the odds Yeah, the Warriors I think were what, minus two 60 I believe Twitter. Speaker 0 01:05:01 Yeah. Cause I mean the league's just following what, where the money is. There's like, we'll, we'll we'll build this schedule around what we can get for TV time and sponsorships and all the other shit like that. Like it's not about, it's, it's not about convenience or rest of the players or anything like that. It's like who's paying what and how much are we getting, Speaker 1 01:05:24 I guess. But yeah, cuz they did do this schedule before, so Oh yeah, Speaker 0 01:05:29 It's the almighty do. Speaker 1 01:05:31 But here's the other thing though. Even if you did think that the Warrior team people watched Curry, clay Thompson, the whole storyline, like that's a team you're gonna watch. So, right. Speaker 0 01:05:41 But are you gonna, you Speaker 1 01:05:42 The Speaker 0 01:05:42 Thing to, are you gonna get full Curry and Clay Thompson if the Warriors are blowing them out in three fourth straight games? Speaker 1 01:05:48 It's the, I mean I, no one thought they were blowing out fourth straight. You could say, well the Warriors are gonna win the series. But no, not blowouts. No. I mean that, that is too disrespectful. The game on, on the other side though, the sons were pretty heavy favorites, so maybe that's what they looked at. Um, and maybe people are surprised that the Clippers have hung in there. You know, one game one and Kawaii Leonard's just different in the playoffs, man. Like I get it. He sits in the regular season and the low Kawaii Leonard's one of the best players in the N B A when he's healthy. This guy is just ridiculous. And Westbrooks played really well. Even in game one, he shot three at 19. He, he was the biggest factor down the stretch. Getting offensive rebounds playing defense. Yeah, he shot poorly, but he was phenomenal in that game. Speaker 1 01:06:31 Like you would be like, wait three for 19. No, he had a huge impact. He had a Lever rebounds eight assists. I think six offensive boards did score 28 and game two and shot the ball better. But Paul George will not play in this series. Uh, but the Clippers can cause problems for the Suns. So maybe that was it too. I think the suns were minus 402 in the series, maybe minus four 50. So that was probably part of it too. Maybe they figured, all right, you know what, one of these series could be two oh or whatever, but it just sucks, um, to have those games kind of opposite each other tonight. Speaker 0 01:07:06 I understand that. That's why you got two TVs, Adam, so that you can watch 'em both at the same time. I don't know. Speaker 1 01:07:14 Yeah, well one on, one on tv, one on the laptop. Speaker 0 01:07:17 There it is. See that's why isn't that ever said, everybody just sit there mindlessly in front of the, they've got the TV going, the laptop's open, they're watching. Then Speaker 1 01:07:26 I have to The Mets their phone, then I have to, the Mets are 9 45, so, but it's April. So I could just follow that along. I'm, I'm gonna prioritize on the Rangers play eight o'clock. Yes. Speaker 0 01:07:38 See that's, that'll be today. I'll be, I'll be locked into that. Or at least trying to Speaker 1 01:07:43 Yeah, I will too. Yeah, for you it works. The Yankees play at four. So yeah, Yankee, uh, Rangers Devil's seven 30 on Thursday, so yeah, I'll have that on. Um, cuz I, I don't think the basketball game will be competitive and by the time that's over the two good basketball games will be on, so, Speaker 0 01:07:57 Oh shit, I gotta record, I've gotta do the show from, from six to eight. So I'll miss the beginning of the Ranger game and then I gotta record the DFS podcast with James Grande tonight for tomorrow morning show so that I won't be done until six 30 my time. Nine 30. All right. So I'll catch the third period of the Ranger game, which will be nice, and then I can dive right into, uh, into the Mets, uh, Mets Giants game. I don't give a shit about Speaker 1 01:08:27 Basketball. I know, Speaker 0 01:08:29 I know. I just, I just like to say that too, <laugh>. Speaker 1 01:08:34 But I was, uh, I was, I think this actually though has been, is the most intriguing first round in the NBA that I can remember in years because usually it's like, all right, yeah, whatever, not much going on. I mean, I think there's, like I said, the Nick's calves I feel is gonna go deep and it's an intriguing series and then you got three in the West, which is rare. I mean, it's just the way it, it is this year with the matchups and the injuries and you know, we didn't even know the matchups until the final day of the regular season. Speaker 0 01:09:05 Yeah, sorry man. My give a shit meter is just, it's not registering <laugh> right now. <laugh>. You wanna talk to me about hockey or baseball? I'll be, I'll be, you know, you'll see some movement on that needle for the, uh, for the N B A. I just, I don't know man. I don't know you. I know you love it. Yeah, it's so funny. I mean, not funny in the sense that it's like weird. It's just, you know, it's some, some things just don't do it for me. I don't know. Did you play hoop growing up? I Speaker 1 01:09:35 Mean, you No, I did not. Nah, I'm not a basketball player. Speaker 0 01:09:40 Yeah, see like that was, that was the reason I never really got behind basketball was that, you know, I, I was short and, and I had zero three point shot. Speaker 1 01:09:51 Yeah. I never really played basketball much growing up, which is crazy growing up in New York City, cuz that's pretty much what everyone did. Basketball courts all over, but I just never got into it. Um, I was always playing football, baseball, so I just, you know, I love the four main sports. Um, but basketball, everyone asks What's your favorite? I'm like, I don't know man, I can't pick one. It's like football, baseball, and basketball, like kind of all up there, you know, hockey's a little below. It's just tough, man. I love the Rangers, but I just, I, this is like, as the years go on, I watch 'em less and less, which sucks, but, um, I will, I Speaker 0 01:10:30 Think, I think the NHL is just falling off. I mean that's, that's the problem. Speaker 1 01:10:33 And the, and the thing is like playoff hockey is phenomenal, man. It really is. When you, yeah, when you get like a, a tight game over time. I mean, if you're not, I will say this, I know there's a lot of people like, oh, I hate hockey. Look, I know there's so much going on now. There's basketball, there's baseball. If you can try and watch a hockey playoff game, especially if you see it's like two, two in the third period or overtime, just watch it. It is really phenomenal. Um, and night one, well Tuesday we didn't get a lot of competitive games. Um, I didn't get to see any hockey last night. I saw the island was lost in overtime, which is great. Um, and the B Broons lost to the Panthers. I was like, wait, what? I mean the brooms were like historic. One of the best teams ever. And that series is one. One. Yeah. Let's get the B bros out of there. Speaker 0 01:11:18 Oh, that would be phenomenal, man. If the Bruins got upset in that first round because everybody's locking in on Boston winning, or at least come being the team that comes out of the east. Speaker 1 01:11:27 Yeah. 135 points. They had 65 wins, man. Just unbelievable. Only 12 losses. But yeah, the east is tough man, because the devils and ranges are both good and one of 'em is gone cuz it is stupid fucking setup they have in the N H l Speaker 0 01:11:41 <laugh>. Speaker 1 01:11:42 It's the dumbest playoff format I've ever seen in my life, bro. Like, why didn't they just keep what the NBA had one, what they have before one verse eight, two verse seven, three verse six. Why are we got oh, division you really? So we're two verse three, like, come on man, it's so fucking stupid. Like, think about it. Okay, if the Rangers win, right, they have to beat the Devils, then they probably have to go through Carolina, then Boston. Speaker 0 01:12:09 Yeah, that's a gauntlet. Speaker 1 01:12:11 That's insane. I mean, I know you gotta beat who you gotta beat, but just the setup is so dumb. Like the Rangers should have been based on the previous setup, the Rangers would've been the five seat and they would've played, let me see, 1, 2, 3. They would've played Toronto in the first round. Speaker 0 01:12:32 Okay. It's still not a gimme there. Speaker 1 01:12:34 No, but you know what? I would've rather done that. We know Toronto historically doesn't do well in the playoffs. Right? Every year they wound up going home. I would've rather played them than the Devils Speaker 0 01:12:48 <laugh>. Speaker 1 01:12:51 But nothing, nothing you could do now. But again, and I know a lot of financial fans that hate it too. I just, I don't know why they change it. I mean, we see all sports changing, adding teams, whatever. Some are good, some are bad. I hate the N H L setup for the playoffs. Speaker 0 01:13:04 Bring me, bring me back. The Patrick, the Adams. Yeah, the Norris and the Smith division, please. Speaker 1 01:13:10 That's right. Old school, man. Speaker 0 01:13:12 Like, bring me back the, those te like you can, you can still, you know, have your expansion and, and increase the size, but you know, come on. Like there, there are certain traditions that you, you, you just, there's no reason to fuck around with it. The Metropolitan Division, I don't even know. I don't even know. Like, you know what it was, I lost out, I lost hockey when, uh, when the Rangers refused to rebuild after winning the cup, citing that, well, you can't rebuild in New York. You just, it won't happen, dude. The diehard fans will definitely let you rebuild. They will you, you're still gonna sell out the fucking garden for every fucking game and your corporate sales are gonna go through the roof once again. Even if you are rebuilding for a couple of years, they wouldn't do it. So, and then, and then the fucking Rangers, they pick up Eric Lindros and I was like, there's no way I'm rooting for the fucking team while Lindros is on the, uh, on the roster. Uh, and then like, then he was gone and then they had the strike and then all the new rules and everything like, and I was just like, aye y Like it was, it was as frustrating. It was, it was almost as frustrating as it was watching baseball these last couple of seasons with all the bullshit that they were dealing with. Speaker 0 01:14:29 Couldn't do it. Could not do it. All right. That's, I can't believe how much time has gone by. Like, Speaker 1 01:14:37 Real quick. So I was looking at Rangers playoff tickets for Saturday. How much do you think a standing room only ticket is? Speaker 0 01:14:45 1 2481 95. Speaker 1 01:14:48 Get Speaker 0 01:14:48 The fuck. What are you looking? You're on StubHub. Speaker 1 01:14:50 Ticketmaster. Speaker 0 01:14:53 Oh. But uh, but it's, it's their secondary market. Speaker 1 01:14:56 Oh. This is through the Ticketmaster. I mean, section four 17, row seven is $416. Speaker 0 01:15:03 Get outta Speaker 1 01:15:04 Here. Yeah, man. Crazy. Right? Speaker 0 01:15:05 Sit in the fucking blue seats. Speaker 1 01:15:08 Yeah, bro. Rose for, for round one. <laugh> in Jersey it was like two 50 they had seats. So. Speaker 0 01:15:17 Well thank you all teams for making it so easy for us to attend games on the regular. Speaker 1 01:15:24 Yeah, right. Speaker 0 01:15:26 Garbage, garbage. But all right, we gotta get out outta here. Lots of stuff to do, uh, here to close out the week. Uh, big waiver period for you guys for fantasy baseball. So, you know, Adam's article will come out on fantasy alarm again on, uh, Saturday, right? Speaker 1 01:15:43 Yeah. Fab article. Yeah. Speaker 0 01:15:45 Fab article on Saturday. You gotta be on the lookout for that. Um, make sure you're, uh, you're picking up on everything. And, uh, yeah. And we'll, uh, we'll go from there. But for the time being right now, it's all the time that we've got. So for Adam Ronis, I'm Howard Bender. This has been the Cash of Podcast. Catch you next time.