Ryan Wormeli expressed significant regret over his preseason decision to trade Kristian Campbell straight-up for Cam Smith in a high-stakes fantasy league. Wormeli rationalized the initial move by noting third base scarcity, preseason uncertainty about Campbell making the Red Sox roster due to David Hamilton's potential competition, and Cam Smith appearing promising in spring training. However, early season outcomes have flipped this narrative dramatically—Campbell has started strong while Cam Smith has severely underperformed, leading Wormeli to label this decision as an early-season loss. Wormeli specifically emphasized the costliness of the league and the negative impact of this early misjudgment.

Mike Maher expressed regret over preseason excitement for Cam Smith, acknowledging that early returns have severely disappointed compared to preseason praise from Astros management and beat writers. Despite clubhouse raves in spring training, Smith’s early regular-season production has noticeably underwhelmed. Maher specifically regretted trading Kristian Campbell straight-up for Smith in an expensive high-stakes league before the season, largely due to fears Campbell wouldn’t make the roster. Early struggles from Smith, already performing worse than Matt Shaw without the benefit of Shaw’s walks (.316 OBP), reinforced Maher's disappointment. He admitted prematurely designating Smith as an early-season loss for fantasy managers counting heavily on immediate impact, suggesting his own hopes for Smith might have been significantly overestimated.

After previously mentioning Cam Smith's recent slump (one hit in his last 17 plate appearances), Scott Reichel doubles down by advising Smith under 0.5 total bases prop at plus odds. He reiterated Smith's rookie struggles at the plate and tough upcoming matchup against Logan Gilbert and Seattle's strong pitching. Smith currently appears overwhelmed at the major league level, leading Reichel to anticipate another hitless outing as he continues fading the struggling rookie.

Scott Reichel advised betting against Cam Smith to record a hit at -110, primarily due to Smith’s ongoing slump of one hit in his last 17 plate appearances. He underscored that Smith is overwhelmed at the plate as a rookie and faces a difficult matchup against Seattle's Logan Gilbert, who has allowed fewer than six hits in five consecutive starts. Gilbert’s hits prop is aggressively priced at only 4.5 hits allowed, indicating another low-hit outing is expected against the Astros. Given Smith's struggles and likelihood of fewer at-bats due to potential substitutions, Reichel sees significant value in fading his chances today.