MLB: Leading Off August 19th, 2022 (Ep. 578)

So maybe Chris does dominate the prospect world. I don't know about the fantasy world, so yes, things will be fun to talk about, except probably the top main story that just came down, I believe within the last hour praise. Marcelo Zuna was arrested on Friday morning, yes, in Georgia for driving under the influence. Every time I read this, it says nor Cross, but I want to say it's like Narcos, so then I'm like, wow, this is a much serious injury is an issue. Nor Cross police arrested

Ozuna after failing to maintain his lane. He was booked in around uh four thirty in the morning. That's good for game time. And as you know, Ozuna is I believe, not even a year out of his domestic violence issue that he had. There's no actual other information outside of he messed up, and I would not expecting to probably see a whole bunch of Oza. I mean, maybe I'm overblowing it because it's the DUI, but it's two main issues.

He was arrested. Marcello Zuna probably gonna at least miss a little bit of time, if not maybe major you know. Reactions from the Braves cleg Yeah, I mean, I'm hoping they can find a way to avoid this contract after you both incidentss. I don't know, you know, legally how that works, and if you know his parole stuff, there was some clauses in there about anything like this. But you know, he had already kind of lost his starting spot at this point where he was just playing really inconsistently.

He's been bumped out of the order, bumped down the order, and then completely out and this certainly doesn't help his case. You know, if he's wanting to, you know, bump up that two fourteen bag average he has going on, I don't think this is the way to do that. So I wouldn't be surprised, if you know, even if the Braves have to eat the money if he gets DFA.

given an open field here with whatever happens. I mean, Orlando Arcia comes back, okay, if Alvis comes back in time and both of them okay, But now this is another potential spot that they could maybe play Grissom if they want to run some outfield, DH have him there, and his success is probably one of those reasons. I mean, sometimes these teams get caught. They get caught with like, all right, this is a talented player, we need this

person versus the actions of what they had. Not all teams react correctly, but when you have really other good players that are sitting in the wings and this could just create rest of season opportunity, it's even better for Grissom. Not that there's any application Craig Clegg, because he's already picked up everywhere. If Grissom was not picked up, anywhere you should run is immediately immediately to go pick him up.

But he's not anywhere most likely available. So I don't know what the actual item is that just if anybody owns Grisom, you can probably feel a whole lot better about it.

of an opportunity for him. So you know, maybe that's how to look at it. Maybe the big arrow actually is Contraross with a side arrow of von Grissom, because they're still scenarios you're building where it might not work if wilmcntras is the main DH, and then you do have Albi's coming back and Grissom is still kind of without a spot or a landing spot. If they don't want to move him around, then it may be moot. But Grislam has been awesome. Ozuna not so awesome, not

so awesome whatsoever. Zach Gallon is awesome though striking out twelve, I think it was someone right at the top here. One of the very first comments in Angelo Gallon thirty five Fantasy points yesterday been phenomenal, twelve strikeouts, had seventeen swing and missus led the way against the Giants last night. And I'm looking at some of his stat cast stuff

as well. He had a sixty seven percent swing, a whiff rate sixty seven percent with rate on his curb, his knuckle cur which he threw twenty six percent of the time. Fifteen of the twenty six elicited to swing. Ten of those fifteen were whiffs, which is a bonkers number. And he had whiffs. He had a double digit or multiple whiffs on every single pitch he threw last night. Four of the categorized pitches with at least double digit usage. Zach Gallen has been a monster cleg and really is

one of those guys. If it continues on the bad team. He is going to vault himself up as far as how he's valued next season exponentially if this keeps going on.

So if this trend continues, then I certainly think he's going to push his way up boards for redraft next year. But I still think he's being a bit undervalued. This is kind of who we expected him to be, really when he came up his rookie season and just dominated, and then last year just didn't really go as planned. But now he's back and just absolutely dominant. So I think we can kind of expect Gallon to be this low threes type era with a solid strikeout rate, not

the best, not elite. It's not gonna push himself into ACE territory, but you know, you have to really like what you're getting out of Gallon, especially where he drafted him this season.

I'm actually going to focus on early twenty twenty three ranks, So that's going to be my September of what I release. And do you think Gallen is a top fifteen sp next year or would we go higher to top ten?

Darvish gave up two singles to start off the ninth inning or eighth inning, Yeah, it was the top of the ninth I think it was, and they bring in Josh Hater, and Josh Hater allows a pair of inherited runs to score and recorded a pair of outs on Thursday which in this appearance he does not look right, could not throw strikes, he walked the bases loaded, which brought in a run, and then subsequently another run came

in off of a sackfly. Josh Hater has an eight point one ERA with a over two whip, four walks, four strikeouts in four appearances with the Padres so far. Claig what is wrong with Josh Hater?

So I've struggled to really pinpoint with him what exactly is wrong. But there's something totally off with him.

strikes properly, like he couldn't. He looked like he had no feel And as the announcers were talking about, one of the things that's happening, he's working behind himself so much that the early count stuff is killing him because then hitch our hitters are just looking for one pitch, especially when he's not commanding. They're looking for one thing later in the count, and they're taking advantage of it.

that good. At least we get some information. I love information, so then I don't have to worry about it. I don't have to freak out and be like, all right, let's go pick up Josh Young. Let's be crazy. I mean, I didn't think he was coming up tomorrow. I said, let's actually watch, let's maintain, let's see can we get him up. I still think September is an opportunity and it's and the reason this question is coming up Claig

is because he's hitting four hundred. He's aating four to twenty four in Triple A right now, where he hit two forty in the complex, but he's up to three twenty five on the season. I believe it is, or what is the total number here? I'm actually I think I'm saying no. Three forty five on the year, where he had another homer earlier in the week with a thousand slug And there is a question we can ask, like, what is this doing for him? Being in Triple A

guy's hitting four hundred, what else is he learning? Maybe they've got things we don't know about that he's working on, but they say it's not imminent. I don't think that means he doesn't come up at all. But I do think that means you can clear your mind right now because if the Rangers, I think the Rangers give him a couple I don't know if it's a big plan for it. Bottom line, the guy needs at bats. He will get them in the AFL this year. I have zero point zero percent question that he will be in

the AFL. It's just will they, in your mind give Josh Young at bats at the major league level this year, knowing the time he's missed.

obviously make that team better. But right now, you know, I don't know. Yeah, obviously you want to wait until he can at least keep his rookie service clock through next year. So at that point, I think that date is August twenty third for the service time where he could come up and still be rookie eligible next year. So it's possible we see him in September, maybe mid September, but I don't really see him have anything left to prove at Triple A at this point.

week before. And I think that's right at September, because maybe they stick him through through the Triple A season, which I think goes through like July eighteenth or fifteenth or something like that, right in that range, and then you've got a couple of weeks where I think they would want to throw him into the majors, and then he'll come over to AFL which starts October third, which I will be covering, and there'd be no reason to give him any type of a break in between there,

so he will get me. I have zero percent concern or question that he will get at bats. I just don't know if they'll be big impactful as far as like us trying to go and pick up the big next player. Keep an eye on it, but at least they gave you some information that it's not imminent, so maybe you can just look elsewhere. Also, the shows off, Elvis Andrews is signing with a White Sox after being released by the A's, and there's some weirdness around that

there without Tim Anderson. Jeff Passen reported this, Elvis Andris going to the White Sox for whatever value that's actually going to be, which is pretty minimal. On the injury front, Brandon marsh is going on the ten day IL with a bone bruise in his left knee and left ankle. Spring Anthony Sinzetela was lifted from Thursdays start as Saint Louis due to an apparent left leg injury. And just you know, the Cardinals James Paxton is being evaluated for

left lap tightness. We don't ever talk about him. I kind of forgot he existed. And an MRI and Tyler Moley's right shoulder turned up clean, no structural damage and it looks like it's not gonna be anything bad clig, which is beautiful, right, Oh yeah, for sure. Here's a fun fact. Yesterday we had a good you know, when we're talking bets, we had a good call on Alex Bregman talking about the total base when I was digging

in he was not the odds on favorite. But what I do every single day, we'll do shortly, is I pick the number one on the prop cheat sheet and then I take where that could be, whatever type of juice up money. Then I go find the positive money. And Bregman was a positive money and Bregman had a day well. Alex Bregman had two homers and two doubles. Since nineteen oh one, this has only been done one hundred and eighteen times. In comparison, there have been two

hundred and ninety five cycles in baseball. A wild stat. Two homers, two doubles only one hundred and eighteen times in baseball since nineteen oh one. That's that's bonkers.

gonna be. And he has some outputs like this this day in Baseball nineteen twenty one, Ty Cobb gets hit number three thousand of Boston pitcher Elmer Myers. At thirty four years old, he's the youngest to ever do it. I liked that wonky piece here that she put together. And then I have a trivia question and I took the answer off Cleig, so you can play along on Thursday. Albert poolhols it is sixteenth Grand Slam of his career, sixteenth of his career tying him for tenth on the

all time list. Who is MLB's all time leader in Grand Slams? Do you know?

we've talked about it this year. Stat heroes Alex Bregman four for six, two homers, a stolen base as well as a little combole action and six RBI, take four runs. Every bet on him paid off. Brian Reynolds, we talked about continues to heat up, keeps it going three for four, two homers, four RBI. Andrew mccutchon had two bombs as well three RBI, three runs, Chas McCormick a homer, five RBI twenty one runs. We didn't really mention yesterday the Astros put up on the white Sox. Wilson Contreras had

two homers. Hunter Renfro perfect three for three with a home run. Lars Nootbar, but I think we mentioned on the DFS stacks to take a look at he was two for three with a homer, two RBI. Springer five for five, Albert Poohols with that bomb in Yondi Diaz two for four, homer three RBIs. On the pitching side, we talked about Gallon. He had seven and one third,

only give up four hits with twelve strikeouts. JD. Brewbaker seven and seven, Adam Wainwright seven and seven, you Darvish eight and one third, six strikeouts, and Max Fried seven with six caves. JD. Brewbakers another one of those guys that has just been like sneaky production in the right matchups. Clegg, is he one of those like on your eye, get him in a rotation of streamable pitchers for the rest

of the season into the playoffs, because he's definitely been that. Really, I'm asking like, is he streamable or is he a guy you want to hold on to for matchups through the rest of the year.

the Red Sox last night. But still, I mean, the production's there and I almost think he's a hole, and you roster him and you plug him in really in almost any matchup, because for the most part this year he's been pretty serviceable, especially in a deeper league if you're in like a fifteen team or I think that brew Baker's one you can really run with moving forward and rest of the season.

four with three strikeouts yesterday. I feel that Grisham one real hard and Cody Bellinger, we know they're gonna start giving some rest and you should have rested him on

the waiver wire weeks ago. Pitchers Lucas Gielito three innings, seven earned runs, Woolf Zach Log seven earned runs, Antonio Senzatela didn't even get into the second with that injury, but he gave up five earned runs to boot Logan Web four and two third nine hits with three earned runs, zero strikeouts, and Frankie Montoss six earned run, eight hits, two k's. Had a parlay bet yesterday of team total through the first five one and a half on the Pirates, one and a half on the Blue Jays for both

of those attacked. Frankie Montass that's smacked in the second inning. Shout out to my boy John Legaza who had that on his free Patreon sheet. I loved it. Team totals are kind of the fun way to play right now. First five is really rough. Lines are really rough total bases. I'm about to tell you how crazy total bases are getting right now. So if you can get some team

totals in attack, it worked out. And I hit that one in the second inning yesterday and that one was a nice little plus money two hundred and I had a little boost on it for three hundred. So get them bets in here. Homer leaderboard, we don't have one. We don't have an updated homer and leaderboard, but I can update you that we got a tie. Deeblum Manny Machado. Homer last night got him tied with high Cubby forty four. Forty four Go Cards and Mike Mayor both had Machado

as well. They are on the heels at forty two, tarry down at forty one. We had a little bit of action lower getting up, but we have five people in the forties and it is a tight race as we get to the back half of the year. And I think I would have hit my guy as a total base prop, but not my actual player. And that takes us over to the king of sports betting, even the Queen. Yes, bet MGM, let me get this on

bet MGM, the king. The promo code Lee off one thousand dollars risk free bet you can bet today and I might wear this. Yes, Cleig, I want to tell you a quick story yesterday. If everyone can see, boy, this is not this is not a flattering tiara. If you don't know on the podcast what's happening, the tiara is back. Everybody you can see this is a different tiara Because I stepped out of my house and I saw a package on my door, and I go, yeah, And by the way, I just realized, Craig has absolutely

no idea what's happening with this. You haven't been around for what's going on. So I have a package. I set it aside, I go out, I come home and I'm like, what is this package? I open it up and there are ten tiaras at my front door, and I kind of sit there and I go, what is happening here? And I realize somebody who has not announced themselves sent me ten. I'm gonna call them official BETGM tiaras. We will never now be without a tiara for all

of our reads. So yes, it is officially back on Friday, and Clig if you're wondering, our boy Joe Piezopia has this beautiful crown that he would always wear, this big king's crown. So when he left, I didn't have a crown. But my daughter has some tiaras, so I put on the tiara and then she hid it from me. So someone decided to order. So now we've got some tirras. If I do an auction at some point, some game used,

we'll do game used tiaras at some point. But yes, Bet MGM, yeah, they thought you thought you might like that, Bet MGM promo code leading off, support them, support us, support the Tiara clig. I got four bets for you, and I want to get your take on which one you like the most. As always two strikeout bets. One is the top algorithm play. One is the only plus money or the top money plus money play. And then same thing with total bases. So the top I'm gonna

take this off. By the way, we don't need to do the whole read with it. It does not it is not flattering, fitting on me or anything. The top strikeout play and I think the top play of any of them today is strikeouts three and a half Cutter Crawford with Boston versus Baltimore. It's juiced at minus one fifty nine, but they're projecting six and the numbers only at three and a half, So that's your top play.

Your money play over on the betting pros mlbprop cheat sheet is Tristan McKenzie for strikeouts five and a half is the over under. They project him at almost six and a half and it's plus one twenty now on the hitters the total bases, the top play is Ruben and o'dor so. On the other side, they love Cutter Crawford, but they like Rugi. Rugi projected at almost two total bases. You only need one, but it's one seventy three. This

was the wild one. I had to scroll pages to find the first plus money today, and the first one I found was one Soto on the third page of the betting pros cheat sheet. One Soto versus Washington total bases one and a half projected it to plus one ten. So Clig, big old mouthful, Cutter, Crawford, Tristan McKenzie, Odoor, and Sodo considered the juice. What plays do you actually like?

go back. He only struck out four on sorry two on July twenty eighth, but other than that, you'd have to go back to June eighteenth to find an outing where he struck out less than three or less than four, I guess, per se, So that one seems pretty safe, and against Baltimore seemed like you could go with that pick.

We'll try to uncover it. We got plenty, plenty of pretty ones. It does not sit very I got to figure out how to really like wear it. Well, it's a you know what, Clegg just for you. I'll bring you one during first pitch. I'll bring you one if.

Sandoval is eight seven. There's some big implied run totals across the board. Milwaukee, San Francisco, Dodgers in Saint Louis all over five. I believe the Giants were projected at six if I'm remembering correctly. So if you want to attack any of the same players that we've kind of been doing, you know, take top of the lineup Milwaukee, San Francisco, Dodgers and Saint Louis, let's end it out. Home run calls guests have been pretty on fire. I don't think I've hit all week. I've been so close.

I talk myself out of one. I talk to myself out of shee Leangaliers, Cleig, what do you think? What do you got for home run call for today?

good calls, and the mystery is gonna live on. Jag In Here says Nope, it was not him. Buster says Amazon Package it was Jeff Bezos. It could have been. I like Wonky's goodness. If I can get your address, I'll order an adult male Tiara, which I guarantee, which is very true. So the mystery lives on. I don't one hundred percent know there are it's out there. We're going to try to uncover it. But the tir is

officially back in our stat line for the day. Doctor Glenn has given me an outing a perfect nine, well not perfect, but going nine to earned runs nine strikeouts is my performance for hosting today, which I've had a very good run this week, but it's all thanks to the Tiara. It was I got some run support, if you will. I gave up to earned runs, but I had some run support from that awesome guy right there, Chris Cleig and the Tiara. We were able to go

nine almost like Darvis should have done last night. Get nine, give up a couple, get some good strikeouts. That's my performance. I wonder what my era was this week, Clig, what's going on, my friend? What do you got going down? Podcast wise, article wise, anything people need to know.

that list. So that was a clutch call there he came up you know, or he got the call a few hours after that published, so that was fun to see. And then over at Fantracks as well, doing some dynasty and prospect work there.