Fantasy Baseball Today - 02/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: H2H Categories Strategies; Emails & News

Episode Date: February 28, 2018

Starting the show with your emails as we clarify our position on Robbie Ray (4:35), discuss which players have increased value in OBP leagues (8:40), expand on when to draft steals specialists (12:20)... and talk about some SPs we like late ... Latest MLB news including what Yuli Gurriel's hand injury means for HOU (32:10). Plus RPs who are attempting to make their team's rotations out of Spring Training (39:45) ... Recapping our H2H Categories mock draft (42:02)! Adam seems to value SPs more than Scott and Chris do, plus the guys give different options for acquiring steals ... Your emails at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 I care about statistical scarcity more than positional scarcity. Have I killed fun? Yes. Podcast is going off the rails already. They're pop-ups. They're not infield fly balls. These guys told you look at Bip, not E-R-A. So wait for Glover's sale,
Starting point is 00:00:17 but pass on Robbie Rumidor. And pick your milk for breakfast cereal. Mount Rushmore. They'll be there for you. What's up, everybody, and welcome to the Wednesday. February 28th, we got big injury news on Yuleiguriel. We've got a draft to talk about a head-to-head categories mock draft that we did yesterday on CBSports.com. The best format.
Starting point is 00:01:02 And we are going to clear up any Robbie Ray confusion. No Heath today. The old man has a back injury, so he is taking the day off. But young Scott White and younger Chris Towers are here. I'm Adam Azer. Good morning, gentlemen. Hi. Hey, Adam.
Starting point is 00:01:18 We're missing our storyteller at the top of the show. Yeah, we are. There's that Chris Towers Energy. The confusion that we're trying to clear up is which character on Friends Robbie Ray would be, right? Yes, exactly. Question to start the show. Stop with the Marcel stuff. To start the show, which Friends song has been in your head for the last two days?
Starting point is 00:01:40 The original Rembrandt's version or the Fantasy Baseball Today version? probably the original but I kind of did that to myself and this happened two years ago with Kokomo you're like wow that's a really good song I need to listen to that song again yeah it's good and so I listened to just I found a video on YouTube it was just all the friends openings
Starting point is 00:02:05 from all the seasons and I just listened to that on a loop for like two hours that's very strange yeah I'm a strange dude so the thing about all of the all of the theme songs that we've had. They're all great. But the songs that they're based on are all bad. And I just want that to be clear.
Starting point is 00:02:22 Kokomo's bad. We didn't start the fire is track. Good. No, goodbye. No, false. And I'll be there for you by the Rembrandt. Look, I'm sure they're nice guys.
Starting point is 00:02:34 And it's a catchy song. But, you know, not a great... I mean, that's a catchy song. You know, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah, totally.
Starting point is 00:02:43 music snob. All right, so anyway, I just want to say one thing. I've always been pumping up CBS Sports. I love playing on CBS Sports, and you should sign up for a league, CBSports.com slash FBT. But I have a little bit of a beef with our website, because yesterday we did the mock draft, and then we got the email recap. And this line existed. While every draft has a winner, it also has a loser, and this year it was Atamaser. And I like my team, so I guess we'll have to talk about that. I think that's the best team I I've ever drafted, and I had the second Taurus team. Oh, really? In that, so that guy clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.
Starting point is 00:03:21 Yeah, don't take it to seriously. Definitely got to take those recaps with a grain of salt. They're really just based on, like, projections, right? Where you drafted a guy relative to his projections. Yeah, and they're very fun. They are fun. They're fun to read. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:34 So, anyway, we'll talk about that head-to-head categories mock draft, and it's a really different format with different strategies. This will not be the only time we talk about it. head-to-head categories and strategies and whatnot. We'll do live mock drafts on the air, and we will read a lot of emails today at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. If you missed the third base preview yesterday, I gave a note at about one hour and two minutes in of something that I thought was interesting, and it was about Mike El Franco changing his batting stance to help him hit low and away pitches, which he was terrible against last year.
Starting point is 00:04:07 So that's the guy I'll have my eye on this year. And Scott actually drafted him before me because I had to miss the last like four or five. rounds of yesterday's draft. Very late. One of my last picks in a 12-team categories league. So Michael Front. That's just something that I wish I'd gotten to earlier in the third-based preview. I know a lot of people don't listen, don't have time to listen to the entire thing.
Starting point is 00:04:27 A quick round of emails, and, you know, the theme song that we have now says pass on Robbie Ray, but as great as the theme song is, as much as we love Mr. Doc Crotzer. Not so sure we're passing on Robbie Ray. That may have been the case pre-humidor for some of us. Uh, West from Arizona has an email at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. I love the new theme song. I assume it was written prehumidor news. Robbie Ray will be a beast this year with a revamped outfield of Susa Pollock and Paratha
Starting point is 00:04:56 slash Dyson, plus Ahmed at shortstop, Marte at second base. Uh, I predict Ray could be a poor man's Chris Sale this year, just saying. So let's, uh, let's give our official thoughts on Robbie Ray. Uh, he's going to have about three times as many walks as Chris Sale. But other than that, I mean, he was a poor man to Chris Dale last year. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:19 And, yeah, I mean, the main thing we were concerned about is low-bathet for the hard contacts he was allowing. Like, didn't he have the highest hard contact rate in baseball? I believe so. Or it was definitely very, it was definitely up there. But, I mean, now it's going to be contact on damp baseball. So, yeah, no, that should help him a lot. I was a big fan anyway.
Starting point is 00:05:43 I think I was the one who was willing to say he wanted Robbie Ray, even before the Humidor, but now it's no contest. I was probably going to avoid him just because I don't know how somebody walks at that many batters and could possibly be as good as he was last year. But, you know, you talked about the hard contact rate. We talk about Babbitt. If you just want to go with some old school stats, here's why I'm not really that afraid of Robbie Ray anymore. He's just so much better at home. On the road, on the road. Last year, his ERA was 408 at home and 186 on the road.
Starting point is 00:06:14 In 2016, which was a bad year, his ERA was 536 at home, $450 on the road. And in 2015, it was 488 at home and 249 on the road. So he's obviously a guy who has suffered because of Chase Field, and that's just probably not going to happen this year. I still have major concerns. Guy walks almost four batters per night. It was better in his last 10 stars, but we've seen stretches like that from him, where it's been under three,
Starting point is 00:06:42 but we don't see it for a full season. I don't think you can ignore that, but you've got to be encouraged by the Humidor news with Robbie Ray. But still, guys, the walks, they're terrible. What does that mean? Yeah, and he's always probably going to have pretty mediocre control. He doesn't work in the strikes in a lot. That's part of why he gets so many swinging strikes,
Starting point is 00:07:04 is that he's able to induce swings on bad pitches, but when you don't, that can lead to walks. And I don't think he's going to fix that. I don't think he's going to become a great home run prevention pitcher either, although the humidor certainly helps in that regard. But he's so good as a strikeout pitcher that there's really high ceiling. I don't think he has like a low to mid-two's ERA kind of ceiling. Last year, even with the humidor, I think is probably about the best you're going to get from him.
Starting point is 00:07:38 But there's a lot to like about him. I think he's definitely in the conversation for number one pitcher. Like starting pitcher. SP1. SP1, not number one starting three. You know what. Top 12. You drafted him as your first starting pitcher.
Starting point is 00:07:55 I have him as my number one starting pitcher in the Dynasty League that we're doing. I'm pretty heavily invested in. That's a 24-te-team league. But yesterday we did a 12-te-te-head category draft, and you got them as your number one there. And I feel confident in it. Yeah. Okay, that's Robbie Ray. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:08:11 I mean, I will just say that I don't expect him to have a good whip. I know he did last year, but that was with a crazy low Babbap. I don't expect Robbie Ray to be good at whip. That's fair. Yeah. So that's just something to keep in mind if you're doing a categories league. You might want to pair him with, like, Dallas Keiko. Like, Robbie Ray, Dallas Keiko is a great start because you've got elite strikeouts and not great at strikeouts.
Starting point is 00:08:31 You've got elite whip and not great at whip, and you should get good ERA. So that's okay. Next email is from. Uin from a city west of Kansas City and south of Cheyenne West of Kansas City south of Cheyenne so he's in Kansas
Starting point is 00:08:48 That's no freaking idea Isn't Cheyenne in Wyoming? Yeah so that's like south of Cheyenne That's like west of Kansas city Half the country south of Cheyenne Denver? Denver maybe Salt Lake City Okay
Starting point is 00:09:02 Hey Sean Redd Jamie and Chloe No idea Yeah me either Can you name a few players that receive the biggest upgrade or downgrade in OBP leagues? Maybe one at each position if you have time. Oh, sure. I'm actually doing an all head-to-head and all-roto team,
Starting point is 00:09:20 an article kind of laying out the most representative players in those particular formats. And so, you know, a lot of times the all-head-to-head player, and it's head-to-head points that I'm referring to, is that because he gets on base a lot and his walks aren't rewarded in Roto. So the most obvious one is Carlos Santana. He would be the main guy. Isn't the, aren't guys like Aaron Judge, Joey Gallo, McGill Seno, guys who walk a lot and also strike out a lot.
Starting point is 00:09:55 I mean, that's not a... Santana doesn't strike out a lot, but yeah, usually a lot of strikeouts lead to a batting average. Yeah, that's a difference between an OBP league versus a head-to-head league. OBP leagues, Joey Gallo is... you know, we kind of all agree he's maybe being overdrafted yesterday. And in OBP leagues, I think he might be, you know, a first four-round pick. I think Aaron Judge is a first-round pick in OBP leagues, at least borderline.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Top 15, for sure. Because he walks so much. Right. Now I could see that. I think, you know, you're kind of getting lower in the catcher rankings now, since it looks like he's not going to be the primary option, but Austin Barnes gets a lot of value in this format. Cesar Hernandez.
Starting point is 00:10:39 I mean, he's good in batting average, too. Anthony Rendon, who we talked about on third base preview yesterday. I mean, he's good at batting average, but he's exceptional if you're talking about on-base percentage. How about Tommy Fam? Do you buy that? He had a 4-11 OBP last year. 306 batting average. Yeah, no, I buy he gets on base, and I buy he'll probably hit for a pretty good average, too.
Starting point is 00:10:59 So, sure, him. Anthony Rizzo, Riz Hoskins. Guys who lose value, probably D. Gordon, loses. a little value, although he's still, the stolen bases are still super valuable. Starling Marte loses a lot of value. Caris Davis. I don't know if people are still excited at all about Adam Jones, but he'll get drafted, but he doesn't walk.
Starting point is 00:11:22 Yeah. His ADP is still like 124th. Evan Gaddis doesn't walk. Yeah. Routenet Odor. Doesn't walk at all. Yeah, much better in batting average, even despite the fact that he hit like 11 last year. And then, like, Joey Votto in an OBP league, is he a top five pick?
Starting point is 00:11:40 Yeah. I mean, the thing is, Freddie Freeman and Anthony Rizzo and Paul Goldschmidt are all really good on-base guys, too. Votto's better at them at that particular thing. But Votto is two-on-base percentage of what Jose Al-Tuvae is to batting average. Like, this guy has led, he has led the National League in on-base percentage six, seven out of the last nine years. No, six out of the last eight years. He's led the majors three of those years. The one year he didn't lead the NL and the majors was that crazy Joe Bryce Harper season.
Starting point is 00:12:16 He still had a 459 on base percent. Okay. All right, that'll do it for that. Thank you for the email, Ewan, and Sean, Red, Jamie, and Chloe are Olympic snowboarders. USA! Pat in Philadelphia. Pat in Philadelphia. Dear D, Billy, Trey, and Quit.
Starting point is 00:12:33 The Beatles. Steels, guys. When talking about the value of the elite steel specialists in Roto, I have a point against drafting them that I have not heard anyone mentioned yet. If you spend an earlyish pick on one of these guys, then you're likely to neglect or at least not emphasize stolen bases for the rest of your draft. And an injury to your one guy and your only big stolen base guy can sink you in the category and likely leave you without a backup plan
Starting point is 00:12:58 since you need to replace such a big chunk of your team's stolen base percentage and big steel guys are rarely available on the waiver wire. up steals through a combination of 10 to 20 stolen base guys, other places in your lineup, seems like a safer way to construct your roster. Yeah, and maybe I haven't explained that as well this year as I have in other years. But yeah, that's kind of what I mean when I say you're backing yourself into a corner because you pretty much, like you invest in an early round picking D. Gordon and Billy Hamilton, you really can't focus on steals much, at least in the early rounds, because you have to make up for their deficiencies.
Starting point is 00:13:32 and so you're narrowing your, um, narrowing your, um, narrowing your options in the draft and you're exposing, you're, you're making yourself vulnerable to bad luck, like he said. Counterpoint. Y'all,
Starting point is 00:13:47 building up steals through a combination of 10 to 20 stolen base guys. That's a pretty wide margin. And that's the one thing that you notice is when D. Gordon's stolen bases fluctuate, they fluctuate from, 50 to 60. When a 10 stolen base guys fluctuate, it goes from 5 to 15. Now, 15's good, but that's, you're leaving yourself open to a very slim margin either way. Stolen bases are hard to find.
Starting point is 00:14:20 That's why Billy Hamilton is so valid. But you, like, you can afford to, like, you're expecting 20 steals from a couple guys, they only give you 10. Like, you can make up for that easier than you can. a season-ending injury to D. Gordon or really, what happened? How many steals did D. Gordon have two years ago? Right, if he misses half the season,
Starting point is 00:14:39 but that's true of any third-round pick. Like, your team's going to suffer if you lose your third-round pick for half the season. But if you're putting all your eggs in one bat, you have home runs in other places. Isn't this the same argument against drafting Clayton Kershaw? If you're investing in a volatile, volatile asset?
Starting point is 00:15:01 If you completely neglect starting pitcher for the next five or six rounds, then yes, that's possible. And that's something to keep in mind. But you're right. If I draft D. Gordon in round three, I am much less likely
Starting point is 00:15:14 to take steals, you know, unless it's just I like the player regardless of the steals. And I think the reason somebody like Heath, for instance, is selling out so hard for steals is because it's the one category, apart from saves, I guess.
Starting point is 00:15:28 It's the one category where you can give legitimately blocked out. Like, you can wind up with close to zero steals if you're not trying to get steals, just because there's that much of a scarcity in the game today. And that's not true of any other category. Yeah, if you lose Clayton Kershaw, it's going to be much harder to compete in ERA and whip because you were probably expecting him to carry you in those categories, but it's at least possible.
Starting point is 00:15:54 All right, so to give an example. Yesterday, we were doing the head-to-head categories draft. Billy Hamilton's value in a head-to-head categories league is very, very interesting because we only have three outfield spots. We don't have that many hitter spots, whereas our standard roto leagues have two catchers, corner infield, middle infield, middle infields, five outfielders. This doesn't have that. So the impact of Billy Hamilton, it's greater with the steals, but it also is greater with all the negative things he does, which is like basically everything else. So he went pretty late. I almost got him at 84th overall.
Starting point is 00:16:25 Chris took Billy Hamilton 80th overall. So because I didn't get D. Gordon, because I didn't get Billy Hamilton, my steals guys, I have Christian Yelich, Ronald O'Cunia, and Brett Gardner. Like, I suck at steals. Yeah, that's really bad, especially because Ronald O'Cunia, like, we think he'll get called up pretty quickly. Yeah. So it's tough. It's tough. It was, I just couldn't really find it.
Starting point is 00:16:51 I couldn't really find that many guys who I expected to potentially get 20 steals. I wanted to get with Matt O'Dore. He went just ahead of me. could get me 15 steals. You want to... You want to target in that situation to line it to shields in the later rounds. But I can't justify him. Like with a lineup that small, I don't know how you can justify starting to line out of the shields.
Starting point is 00:17:11 You're only three outfielders in a 12-team league. I mean, that's... Plus a you two. That's not worth it for that one category. That's a pretty good argument. Like, it's really hard to find steals in a three outfielders league. But I'm saying I don't want... If you're saying I only have nine...
Starting point is 00:17:27 hitter spots to play with, which is standard head-to-head categories league. That's what it is. We usually talk in roto terms where it's 16 or 14. 14 hitter spots to fill versus nine. Yeah, you're telling me I only have nine and I'm going to waste one of those nine spots on somebody who gives me no power, as much power is needed to compete in those categories in this environment. Like, no, I'm not doing that. I'm sorry. I'd rather risk losing Steele's every week, which, by the way, I won't. But I'd rather risk it than have to leave myself so vulnerable in those two other categories. Yeah, Scott did better with Steele's.
Starting point is 00:18:07 He has Kevin Kiermeier, Tommy Fam, and Will Myers in the outfield and at utility. And Chris Taylor. Chris Taylor at second base. So, you know, I just missed. I was one pick away from getting Yohan Munkata. That could have changed everything. But I, and I was four picks away from getting Billy Hamilton. That's how it goes.
Starting point is 00:18:26 If those guys go off the board, like there's just, there's not obvious fallback options. So maybe I should have reached for Yoamancada. I don't know. We can talk about that a little bit later. Here's our... I do... Yeah, go ahead. I do want to point out one thing.
Starting point is 00:18:38 There was a discussion I saw on Twitter yesterday. I think it was Michael Safino from Yahoo, who was talking about Trey Turner spot in the Nationals batting order. Dave Martinez announced that he will be adding second behind Adam Eaton and in front of Bryce Harper. Now he still said, I want Trey Trenner. Turner to be aggressive. But is there a concern that maybe he's just a 40 steel guy?
Starting point is 00:19:02 That's what I brought up on the shortstop preview, right? And that's, I think that's a bigger concern for him, not just because of who he's going to be hitting in front of, but it's a bigger concern for him than the other elite steel guys, Gordon and Hamilton, because he's actually a really good hitter. And, you know, if he does improve the batting average the way I believe he can, if he continues to grow as a power hitter. Like, eventually those guys just stop running. And we don't have a lot of forewarning for it always.
Starting point is 00:19:32 Yeah, but I'm not saying he's going to just be a 20 steal guy this year, but is he going to be the 50 to 70 steel guy people are drafting him to be? I'm not totally sure of that. If Tray Turner steals 40 bases, he's still going to be probably top three or four in the league. Yeah, I mean, he'll still be very valuable. Right, yeah. Okay, final email, and then we'll do some news and notes, and we'll read more emails later in the show.
Starting point is 00:19:54 This is Chris from the Home of the Reds. Dear Lazio, or I think it's supposed to be Laslo, I don't know. John, Marcus, and Miss Howard. I had to look this up. Ah, yes, this is Paddington. Are you sure? Because I'm seeing The Alienist. No, it's, yeah, it's the Alienist.
Starting point is 00:20:11 Oh. Okay. I usually find myself drafting Tanner, Roark, and Aaron Sanchez in rounds 20 through 22. Do you like Roark and Sanchez there? Who are some other late round starting pitchers? I should be looking at. I think both those guys are fine values. We saw what Aaron Sanchez's best case scenario season looks like, and it's pretty good.
Starting point is 00:20:34 Tanner Roark doesn't have that much upside, but he's, you know, should eat some innings and post-decent rate stats. Scott wrote on the website, he writes some spring training stuff, and noted that Tanner Roark's strikeout rate went way up late in the heat in the year. It's not enough to just like buy into that he's going to be a strikeout pitcher, but it's something. It's better than nothing. And I looked at who he faced in those games. And he faced the Brewers who struck out the most in baseball, but he also struck out a ton of Astros.
Starting point is 00:21:08 They had the fewest strikeouts. The Braves didn't strike out much. The Mets didn't strike out much. So it wasn't just like we saw that with Stroman, I believe, two seasons ago. He had these big strikeout numbers or bigger late in the year. He faced the Astros twice when they were like big strikers. strikeout guys. And other than that,
Starting point is 00:21:25 it really inflated his numbers. Not the case with Roark late last season. So maybe there's something there. Well, yeah, the thing about Roark, and I'm not like a huge Roark guy, if I get him at this point, yeah, fine.
Starting point is 00:21:36 I'm pretty happy with that, but he's not somebody I'm actively targeting. I mean, two of the last four years, he's had a sub-3 ERA with a lot of innings for a very good team. And, you know, peripherally, there's not a lot of support for that, kind of production, but he's done it twice over.
Starting point is 00:21:54 And last year he had grip issues. He also apparently had delivery issues that he's been talking about this spring. On the wind-up, he would get a little too over-animated and rockback too much and whatever. Apparently, it was compromising his command. Command's a big deal for him, obviously, since he doesn't have that high-powered stuff that we see from most pictures these days. So, like, you could certainly make the case that two years ago is more legitimate raw, than last year.
Starting point is 00:22:24 And if that's the case, you're maybe getting a top 30 starting pitcher. Okay. Any other? Just give me names. Late round pitchers you're looking to take. Sean Maniah, Josh Hader, Luis Gahara,
Starting point is 00:22:38 Jameson, Tyone, Tyler Glassnow. Okay. That works for me. Those are good. Does Mike Clevenger count as late? He goes a lot later than I feel like you should. Yeah, he counts. What about Blake Snell?
Starting point is 00:22:52 No, I don't think. Not late enough. Okay. Garrett Richards. Gary Richards. That's a late one. Sean Newcomb. Jimithy Nelson.
Starting point is 00:23:02 Yeah, Jim Nelson. I like investing in Jim Nelson. Jim Nelson. Just stick him in that Jimmy Nelson. Joe Musgrove has a spark. Oh, speaking of sparks, I have a list of pitchers who are going to try to make the rotation and we'll have R.P eligibility if they do. We can talk about that in just a little bit. Right now we have to talk.
Starting point is 00:23:22 Funny. In the desk funny. Thank you, guys. Right now we have to talk about Seat Geek, the best way to get tickets, the smartest way, the most efficient way, the most cost-effective way to get tickets, and really the only way that I go to games now or concerts or comedy or whatever, I always use my Seekek app. I've got it on my phone. I'll be going to a bunch of Yankees games.
Starting point is 00:23:41 So what I'm going to do, I'm going to type in New York Yankees. I'm going to select the event, and then Seekkeek does its work, searches multiple ticket sites, brings in the results, compares the prices, and finds the best values, and gives every seat a grade based on value so you can immediately identify the best seats that fit your budget. And by the way, if you want to save a little cash, buy a few hot dogs with the extra 20 bucks you'll be saving, you use the promo code fantasy. That'll get you 20 bucks off your first Seekkeek purchase. The promo code is fantasy.
Starting point is 00:24:10 So legitimately, I really do use Seekek all the time, and I've told so many people about it, and now they use Seatgeek. My brother-in-law and my sister went to a Florida Panthers game last night, and I hope they And they use Seekek. That's just what they do now. It's just the cheapest way, the best way to go to games. I strongly recommend it. And you want to save $20, no matter what you're doing, you can do that with the promo code fantasy.
Starting point is 00:24:34 Again, download the Seekek app and enter the promo code fantasy for $20 off your first Seekek purchase. News and notes, MLB teams will be required to store baseballs in an air-conditioned room. We talked about this a little bit with our shortstop preview. Okay. I just believe that, well, I don't know what the effects of this will be. I believe that baseball wants to reduce the amount of home runs that were hit last year. So what do you guys think about this whole thing? Let's discuss. I don't think that's going to accomplish it.
Starting point is 00:25:09 And I don't know that that is what they're after with this move. I think they're just trying to justify allowing the Diamondbacks to do it when they already justified it for Colorado. and even that was kind of like, why did they get to do that? But now it's even harder to justify for the Diamondbacks since the offense wasn't as extreme as it was in the early days of course field. So they want baseballs stored in an equitable environment
Starting point is 00:25:38 across baseball. If the air conditioning doesn't accomplish it, they're going to have everyone, they're looking into everybody using a humidor next year. But the thing is, you know, most environments, that baseball games are played in. They aren't the dry environments you see in Colorado and Arizona.
Starting point is 00:25:55 They're temperate environments. They're ones where the 50% humidity is often, you know, it's often higher than that, when the game is actually being played. So what the humidor or the air-conditioned room will do in this case is actually dry out the baseballs. And, you know, it's really about the contrast of what the humidity of the baseball versus the air that the baseball is traveling through.
Starting point is 00:26:22 There's a good chance in places like Atlanta, Miami, wherever. It's going to actually improve offense. I guess. I know they want fewer homers. He's talking about that. Which is stupid. MLB thinks air-conditioned rooms will fix the juice ball. That is a headline I'm reading right now on Yahoo.
Starting point is 00:26:45 Apparently, that is an intent. MLB doesn't think there's a juiced ball. Well, no, yes, they do. They may not say it publicly, but everybody knows there's a juice ball. I just, I've said it before. I think it's stupid. I think it will have a bad effect on the game. I think it will make the game much less interesting, given the era that we live in.
Starting point is 00:27:06 I think the game is pretty interesting. I don't think that's true. I think action, like home runs aren't action. There is no action in baseball right now. I know. Exactly. But this is a step toward regained action. It can't be the only thing because they need to figure out how to reduce strikeouts too.
Starting point is 00:27:25 But how are you going to reduce strikeouts? Well, they've talked about changing the strike zone. That won't necessarily reduce strikeouts. That might change the distribution of strikeouts. I mean, I don't know how, but I agree it's a good idea to counteract that effect. Yeah, take away home runs from baseball right now and you're going to lose. a lot of offense. And it's not just going to be a small effect.
Starting point is 00:27:52 We've seen runs per game go up like 0.7 runs, I think. Yeah, okay. It was really low. We were in like a mini dead ball era before the last couple of years. Right. And we don't want that. But they're not changing. Okay, so I mentioned the headline of the Yahoo story.
Starting point is 00:28:10 And then later on in the story. But at the same time, controlling the temperature of the balls won't fix one of the issues that pitchers complained about last season. lowered seams. And while it might help the issue of tighter winding, another issue that pitchers mentioned, it doesn't really address why pitchers were complaining about any of this in the first place. Those complaints are about actual physical differences in the ball, differences which have been catalog, research, and blah, blah, blah.
Starting point is 00:28:31 So it's not going to change the seams of the ball, which, you know, pitchers didn't like. And I don't know what the effect is going to be. But I do think that they want to reduce the home runs. I think that might be counteracted by the limit on mound visits, which I anticipate will help offense, especially from a sign-stealing perspective. It's all speculative, but I know they want to get away from what they had last year. And I personally, I don't blame them, but without personal feelings aside, like I do worry about a guy like Jose Ramirez, who had a huge increase in home runs.
Starting point is 00:29:06 I worry about a guy like D.D. Gagorius, the only thing he does is hit home runs. If they were actually talking about changing the ball, then I think it would be worth worrying about those guys. storing them in an air-conditioned room, I don't think it's going to do that. We don't know, like, we don't know what the control is. Like, we don't know how teams were, specific teams were storing them. It just, this doesn't seem like something worth spending a lot of time worrying about, just because we, there's so much that we don't know here. Okay, then we'll move on.
Starting point is 00:29:37 Mark and Stroman has inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Jacob de Grom may not be ready for opening day, which is early. He could still be ready basically early in the season. Aaron Judge, he's got lower back sniff as stiffness, Jacob de Grom. Aaron Judge says his shoulder won't be 100% until opening day, and Ioannes Cespitas has shoulder soreness.
Starting point is 00:29:58 Strowman, de Grom, Judge, and Cespitas. Three of them dealing with shoulder issues. Judge has had the surgery and that he's still sort of recovering from. They're taking it slowly. Do any of these injuries move Stroman de Grom, Judge, or Cespitus down in your rankings? Um, Strowman fell.
Starting point is 00:30:19 Maybe Stromen. In that draft we did yesterday. He went 147. Yeah, because there's a difference, I mean, I think, between inflammation and, you know, soreness. Like, I feel like, I feel like we get a lot of these reports in spring training, and 90 to 95% of them are meaningless. Maybe that's even underestimating it. So it's better not to worry about it. think unless. Strowman does have a lower margin for error than these guys.
Starting point is 00:30:50 It is interesting that, you know, Aaron Judge is a good example of the inconsistency and how we treat off-season surgeries. Sometimes it's, this guy had off-season surgery, let's watch out. And then sometimes it's, this guy had off-season surgery, it's going to be fine, it's going to fix. And it's just like, we don't know. This shoulder could be an issue for him. Well, it was an issue in the second half of the season.
Starting point is 00:31:13 Right. And so depending on whether we. We like Aaron Judge, or we don't. We're either going to say, it's fixed it. He's going to be fine. He's going to be the guy he was in the first half last season. But there's risk here. Yeah, there is.
Starting point is 00:31:26 Okay. And then Texas is going to sign Tim Linzigum. I don't think anybody's rushing. Would you pick him up in an AL-only league, Lin-Sikam? No, although there was some buzz on social media that maybe who could emerge as a closer candidate. I think going from, hey, this guy's actually worth a one- million dollar major league deal to Antica close for us is a pretty big leap to make and I feel like the Rangers have their share of decent closer candidates already so I'm not counting on anything there
Starting point is 00:31:56 like we saw him pitch two years ago it's not like he's been away from baseball for a long time we we know what this guy looked like two years ago and it was he gave up more than a run per inning yeah he looks like the kid from dazed and confused and euliguriel this is the big news Yuleiguriel had surgery for a broken hand, broken hemate bone. He is out six to nine weeks. Is Yuleiguriel worth drafting? Yeah. I mean, certainly in Categories leagues with the batting average help, he presents late in a draft.
Starting point is 00:32:30 I mean, you don't see a lot of that at that stage of the draft. So if you have a bench, if you have DL spots, you can stash him in. I think it's worth doing. No. I just, these injuries tend to have long-term trailing effects after the surgery. You know, Ian Desmond was never really right last year after having hand surgery. The fact that he's probably going to miss the start of the season, the fact that the Astros are one of the teams that does have a ton of contingency options. He was already going late enough that in a standard mixed league, I, I, I,
Starting point is 00:33:10 think you can probably avoid him, which is, I mean, the thing is, he is going. I love you. Like, what's the, like, let's say, worst case scenario, he's Ian Desmond from a year ago. Without steals. That's pretty, okay, but my point is, what have you lost? The chance to draft Yonder Alonzo with your late round flyer. But that's, that's a guy, that's a guy with 35 homer potential in a good lineup. Yonder Alonzo has 35 homer potential. When did that happen? He hit 28 last year. That's not a big jump. He hit 28 while not playing every day. He's not going to be playing every day again.
Starting point is 00:33:47 Yonder Alonzo was good for That's one guy I picked off the top of my head. But Yol D.UL. He's only really a batting average help. Like, RBI as well. He's going to... He was a 20 homer guy last year. Didn't we just... But you, I mean, you call him a sleeper, Chris, in the first base preview. And he is late. He's one of the
Starting point is 00:34:09 few guys you can get. late that actually help in batting average. So I don't see that. Before this injury. That doesn't change. Unless you just don't think he's going to be good. If you want to take a late round flyer on him, but there are enough guys in the late rounds that I'm not going to,
Starting point is 00:34:23 I don't really see the need to take a flyer on a guy who's coming into the season hurt with an injury that tends to sap hitting a bill. Like a points league, there's no way. But if it is a roto league where it's like, you're getting to the end of the draft and you're like, I'm really worried about my batting average, it seems this could be a blessing. I don't think it's a crazy thing to do. Now, what is interesting is what it means for the rest of...
Starting point is 00:34:45 Right, that's what I was going to say. So this keeps Marvin Gonzalez in the line of you. Tell me, what happens now? Presumably. That would be my initial thought was minor league leader, A.J. Reed, who we thought was this top prospect two years ago. Maybe he gets a chance to deliver for the Astros early in the year. But more likely, it's probably going to mean Marwin Gonzalez has his position for the start of the season,
Starting point is 00:35:07 which is good news for him. It's good news for Evan Gattis. It's good news for Derek Fisher if he is the one who wins the left field job. Has Josh Redick ever played first base? Not that I can recall. All right. Well, I think, yeah, I think it is good news for those guys. He's played one inning.
Starting point is 00:35:24 He's got it. Who knows? But why wouldn't they just use Marwin there? That's a lot more. At least most of the time. They'd probably still want him to move around some. Okay. Cool.
Starting point is 00:35:35 So six to nine week injury for Yulee Guriel, broken hand. Miguel Sino will make his spring debut today. Jonathan Scope has brisitis in his elbow. It is not supposed to be serious. Detroit signed Francisco Liriano to a one-year four-million-dollar deal. He has already hurt. The Mets first baseman Dominic Smith is having a bad spring. He was late for something, and then he got benched, and now he's a strained quad.
Starting point is 00:35:59 White Sox's third base prospect, Jake Berger, will miss the season with a torn Achilles. Jake Berger was the first round pick, right? Yeah. Yeah. Jake Berger, doesn't that name sound like something, like some jock would have done to some nerd in high school. Like, I'm giving you a Jake Burger. Dude, did somebody give you a Jake Burger, Scott?
Starting point is 00:36:22 Like, isn't that what it sounds like? No? I don't think so. I don't think you're alone. Amelia Estabaz in the Breakfast Club gave what's his name a Jake Burger. Is that what you're saying? Felix Hernandez was hit by a comebacker on the arm, but he is fine. In other news, nobody wants to draft Felix Hernandez.
Starting point is 00:36:39 Do you guys? In that late-round pitching group? Yeah, I mean, he doesn't have a ton of upside, but he's not that far removed from being useful. Like, his 2016 wasn't great, but he was useful. I think he's toast. Toast. Done. Felix Hernandez.
Starting point is 00:36:59 Yeah? What? Speaking of Emilio Estevez? Oh, no, I said Felix. Remember that Parformation Impossible where he's like, toast? I have never seen that movie. Nobody, like, I'm on an island here today. Did you miss this bit of news that just broke within the last few minutes?
Starting point is 00:37:19 I'm sure I did. Royals have a new first baseman. Uh-huh. And that first baseman's name is Lucas Duda. Eh. Well, give me your instant fantasy reaction, Lucas Duda. Nah. Yeah, I'm not interested, but.
Starting point is 00:37:37 A-l-only material. What is it? Who's going to play in the outfield for them? It's probably going to be Whitmerryfield, right? Alex Gordon. I think Salair's going to be the primary D.H. So Lear, like, I know he hasn't been great in the majors, but I was looking up his double A and triple A numbers,
Starting point is 00:38:00 and that dude has still destroyed the upper miners, including last year. No, he was, he and Chris Bryant were basically neck and neck coming up. I'm going to have a piece The latest spring Observation's piece is going to include him He had two home runs yesterday And lost 20 pounds in the off season Changed his batting stance
Starting point is 00:38:21 Move the hands in to get the bat through the zone quicker And yeah, looking at that minor league track record Looking at what he was regarded to be coming out of Cuba There's a chance This is the year Jorge Saler breaks out Only 26th He was considered one of the best Cuban prospects to come out.
Starting point is 00:38:40 Okay. So Jorge Salar, yeah, he is the DH. It looks like Paolo Orlando could be. And Billy Burns. Jorge Bonafacio will get some looks there. Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of. Yeah, I would guess more than often than not. It's Gordon-Mariefield, Bonifacio with Solera DA.
Starting point is 00:38:57 Hunter Dozier is a thing. All right. Honestly, like last week, last Wednesday when I wasn't here, I just listened to the show last night. the podcast you guys did without me. Sorry. And there was way too much Carlos Gomez talk. So I am just cutting off this Royals outfield talk about it.
Starting point is 00:39:17 Like, I am not going on. The Carlos Gomez Road again, no way. And CJ Crone. Oh, my God, it was the CJ Crone show. No way. Not happening. Scott loves CJ Crone. I thought the pacing was a bit off too, Adam.
Starting point is 00:39:30 First round pick. First round pick. This is why we need you, Adam. This is why you're pivotal to the podcast. Except I was hoping. We can make do without you, but we could. never survive without you. Well, you could definitely survive without me.
Starting point is 00:39:42 I was hoping to be at the 25-minute mark instead of the 40-minute mark right now. So here we go. Here are some relief pitchers who are trying to become starting pitchers. For Texas, Matt Bush and Mike Miner. For Miami, Jarlin Garcia, for the Yankees, Chad Green. That's probably an emergency plan. For the Dodgers, Ross Stripling, for the Padres, Brian Mitchell. Matt Bush, Mike Minor, Jarlin, Garcia, Chad Green, Ross Stripling, and Brian Mitchell.
Starting point is 00:40:08 We know Mike Miner's one of the top SPARP options, and he actually, I think, what was encouraging as a reliever last year yesterday, he had a 255 ERA, 22 walks, 88 strikeouts, 1.02 whip in 77 and 2 thirds. So great numbers for minor. He threw a fastball, a change-up, a slider, and a curve. Mostly fastball slider, but still, four-pitch arsenal from a reliever, who used to be a starter, that is good. Is there anyone else on the list that, sorry, Chris,
Starting point is 00:40:38 Is there anyone else on the list that interests you? Matt Bush, Jarlane Garcia for the Marlins, Chad Green, for the Yankees? Again, not supposed to make the rotation. Ross stripling for the Dodgers, probably the same situation. Brian Mitchell for Padres. Did you already point out Minor is the top spar? He's definitely interesting. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:56 He's the only one. I mean, Matt Bush is interesting in like, can he go from being a third baseman to a reliever to a starter? I think he has the best chance. I think he's the best combination of upside and chance beat. Behind Miner. But he's A-O-only. Well, we'll see. I mean, head-to-head points.
Starting point is 00:41:14 In draft. If he for sure does win the spot. The thing, though, about both him and minor and every other Rangers pitcher, as they are, you know, we talked about the Angels going six-man because to accommodate Otani, the Rangers are also planning to go six-man this year,
Starting point is 00:41:29 like just from the get-go. So that would limit the two-start possibilities for all of those pitchers. You see Matt Bushy had a 370-80RA last year he had a 298 ERA in his first 50 appearances. He had a terrible month of September. His last seven appearances, Bush had a 1350 ERA. So it was 298 for most of the year.
Starting point is 00:41:51 Bad month goes up to 378. Make of that what you will. In 2016, he was pretty awesome. 248 ERA. 0.94 Witt. But a lot of guys can do it in the bullpen, can't do it in the rotation. So let's talk about the head-to-head categories draft. I would like to save some time for emails, but this is probably more interesting for people.
Starting point is 00:42:08 Head-to-head categories mock draft. It is a different type of format. Now, as we mentioned, it was catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, three outfielders utility, plus five starting pitcher spots and two relief spots. Now, there are a lot of head-to-head categories leagues that give you a lot more just like pitcher options, and guys and fantasy owners will load up on relief pitchers. Nobody did that in this draft because you have to start five starting. pitchers. So keep that in mind.
Starting point is 00:42:40 Secondly, I know on Yahoo, a standard head-to-head categories league does have more hitters, maybe two or three more starting hitters. Personally, if I have the CBS Commissioner products, CBSports.com slash FBT, I would like to add a couple of hitter spots to this. My preference is roto positioning in a head-to-head category. No, because two catcher leagues are the dumbest thing on earth. I don't know why they exist. Let's have two of the crappiest hitters in the game on our roster.
Starting point is 00:43:10 Sure. You can take one of the catchers out. Maybe like a corner infielder, a middle infielder, a fourth outfielder, and get rid of the utility spot. Does that seem like you're netting two hitters there? Sure. But I think the point is you should have some more roster spots in head-to-head categories leagues. But you don't have to. But, you know, it does make every – like Scott said, you don't want to have too many weaknesses because they are magnified.
Starting point is 00:43:36 Scott said that in his write-up of the draft that you can read on the website. Right. And if you eliminated the DH utility spot, you would have no place to put the DH-only guy. So I guess you can't do that. Right. It's too bad. Add an outfielder and another utility. Just add two more hitters or something like that.
Starting point is 00:43:55 Just 15 utility spots. Add an infielder and an outfielder. There you go. So anyway, let's talk about how we went about it. I want to know who your first four picks were. How did you structure your team? Your first four picks. Oh, my goodness.
Starting point is 00:44:10 My first four picks were, this went about as perfectly as it possibly could. I had the third overall pick, third overall pick in a 12-team league. Started off with Trey Turner, went Anthony Rizzo, Aaron, Judge, and Reese Hoskins, and that is just,
Starting point is 00:44:27 it's perfect. If I could start every draft that way, there is no better combination of the five hitting categories that you could put together realistically with your first four picks than those four guys. What kind of batting average do you expect from Reese Hoskins? I actually posted something on CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball yesterday.
Starting point is 00:44:48 Talking about expected floors and ceilings for like 12 notable sluggers, and Reese Hoskins is one of them. And he's a guy that I think just has outrageous. Freddie Freeman, Joey Votto kind of upside. Just looking at the skill set that he showed last season. Chris, what kind of batting average do you expect from Reese Hoskins? Expect would be right around 280. There you go.
Starting point is 00:45:15 Thank you. So you've got in that lineup with Judge Rizzo, Hoskins, and Turner, three hitters that you expect to hit 280 or better. Or Rizzo to be around there. And Rizzo and Hoskins both have 315, 320 kind of upside. Great. And, okay, Scott, your first four picks. I said great, so, like, mockingly, I didn't meet it that way.
Starting point is 00:45:38 Scott, you had the six-pick. No, it's fine. Who were your first four picks? Nolan Aronado, Chris Sale, first time I've gotten one of the big four starters, Corey Seeger, and Jose Abrae. So I think I got three, two-90 hitters are better. But no steals. I love it.
Starting point is 00:45:56 Yeah, no steals. But as we mentioned, he got Keirmeier, Chris Taylor, and who was the other? guy. Will Myers and Tommy FAM was actually my fifth pick, another guy who I expect to help in batting average. Yeah, it's pretty good. That's excellent. Anthony Rizzo might steal more bases than those three guys combined, but it's fine. Anthony Rizzo. Okay. Now, Tommy Fam is really a pivotal player in any type of categories or roto format. It's how much do you buy him as a player? How much do you buy the steals? Because before last year he didn't steal at all, right? And last year he had over 30. It's off top of my head.
Starting point is 00:46:33 Well, before last year, he didn't play all that much. He stole bases in the miners. Not 30, but... He had 25 and 128 games last year. Yeah, consistently in the 20 range, I'm not sure I would expect him to steal 30 bases. But, yeah, he'll be a power speed. The power is interesting. I mean, one thing you have to, like, in terms of speed, athleticism, for Tommy Fam. He is bumping Dexter Fowler to left field because he is that much of an athlete, Tommy
Starting point is 00:47:07 Fam, that good at tracking down fly balls. So he can certainly run. Okay. So he's what he wanted to last year. So Chris addressed steals with his first pick with Trey Turner. Scott, they both address batting average. Scott has good batting average through his first four picks with Nolan Aronado. Great batting average with Chris Sale.
Starting point is 00:47:27 And then round three, Corey Seeger, great batting average. Round four, Jose Ibrahim, who hits $290 to $300 every year. And then he had no steals, so he got Tommy Fam in round five and some late outfielders slash Will Myers to help with that category.
Starting point is 00:47:41 I had the 12th pick, and I took Max Scherzer and Carlos Correa with my 12th and 13th picks. And then picks 36 and 37, I took... Where are you? Me? Where am I?
Starting point is 00:47:54 Noah Cindergarten and Christian Yellich. Noah's Cindergarten and Christian Yellich. I don't know why I didn't take Andrew Benintendanty. I sat there. are Benintenni. Yelich, they're kind of the same player. I want Yelich. I don't know why. Benintendi's still going ahead of Yelich, and I'm not sure it makes all that much sense. I feel like Benintendi has ten more steel's potential.
Starting point is 00:48:15 What do you like better about Yelich? I think the power is going to be better in Milwaukee. Well, and just the track record. You're the sophomore slump guy. Right, but he's a junior year. Christian Yelich has been doing it for five years. and he's been consistent, consistently good, a five-category kind of contributor.
Starting point is 00:48:38 Right, I would imagine. I mean, it's still close. They're right next to each other in my ranking. Just after Yelich went to Milwaukee, I flipped him. Okay, okay. I mean, I think it's yours choice, right? So I took an outfielder that I think will give me some power, some speed, some of everything, basically.
Starting point is 00:48:54 And, yeah, so my first four picks, again, I have two starting pages. I think that's a big difference here. You have zero starting pitchers in your first four pitchers. right Chris? Yes. And I have Scherzer and Cinderguard. And maybe that, look, let's be honest, maybe that's why I don't have steals.
Starting point is 00:49:08 Because I have awesome pitching. I have Scherzer, Cindergard, Dallas Keikl is my number three. Looking at the way the round went, I think both of you probably should have taken Starling Marte. Was he gone by then? Which round? He went to Heath in round four with the eight pick,
Starting point is 00:49:26 which was after both of you picked in the fourth round. I thought Jose Ibrahim in round four, though, was such a value. Like, I couldn't pass up that value. And there we go. Here is the head-to-head category's dilemma. Can I justify taking Starling Marte over Andrew Benintendi or Christian Yelich or Jose Abraeu? And I see arguments for both sides.
Starting point is 00:49:46 Yes. Scott? Maybe not all of them, but like over Andrew Benintendi or Christian Yelich, yeah, I think so. You're talking about a legitimate. 30 to 50 steel guy. Now that's a large range, but he's still 47 the last time we saw him. He was on a 40 plus page last season. Yeah. A legitimate 290 hitter. It just depends on how much you want to build your team around steals, though. And since I don't care to, I think there's a lot of variability in home run potential there. I think there's even some variability in batting average because while he has been consistently a high average guy, it's relied. on very high BAPS, and that didn't work out for him last year.
Starting point is 00:50:33 Maybe as he's getting older, he's almost 30 now. Maybe he's not going to be able to make the same quality of contact he used to as a mid-20-year-old. Yeah, if the floor is 275 in a season where, like D. Gordon, he had a suspension derail his season, and we don't know how long. Because D. Gordon got off to a miserable start in 2016, and it was because he failed the test. I mean, I don't know if it was because, but he said he knew he failed the test in spring. the team knew he failed the test in spring training and that was just the appeals process playing out and it just kind of sidetracked him so but if if starling marty hits 270 again he's like a rich man's
Starting point is 00:51:12 kevin keirmeyer i mean he's probably going to steal more bases than kevin keirmeyer maybe maybe yeah well you really like kevin keirmeyer but we've never actually seen him put together that see i don't blame you for liking him but we've never seen him put that season together i okay here's one thing that i took two players that I think are interesting in this format. If in your early picks you get some speed and you get batting average and you have Jose Abray or Anthony Rizzi, like you feel good about it, right? Let's say you think you're getting batting average and steals from Starling Marte, who, by the way, in Roto, was a top 12 outfielder each of his previous two seasons before
Starting point is 00:51:48 last year when he didn't play much. Jay Bruce and Evan Gattis, I have both of them. they are to me batting average liabilities, but Gattis, I expected at least 25 home runs. Jay Bruce, 32 or more, and maybe 95 RBIs or something like that or more. So that's kind of how, I don't know why I got such a bad grade from the email projections, but I kind of tried to balance batting average with power. And if you have good batting average and you need power, put Evan Gattis on your team, put Jay Bruce on your team in the middle rounds.
Starting point is 00:52:26 I think, again, I think that email, and I'm sure everybody who plays on our site gets them and has gotten frustrated with them before, it's just looking at where you drafted players relative to where projections said you would have drafted them. It's not looking at the overall composition of your team or even, you know, like what our rankings say. It's, you know, it's a very narrow grading scale. So don't get too working out of that. But what do you think about the strategy, though, of putting those types of things? of mostly home run dependent sluggers on your team if you address batting average early? Because it's much easier to find that in the middle rounds than batting average.
Starting point is 00:53:06 My priority, and it shows in the four hitters I took with my first five picks, my priority in the early rounds of this, and to a lesser degree roto leagues as well, is to give myself a nice safety net at batting average, really make sure I don't stray from that in the early rounds so that I can so that it does open up my options in later rounds. If I feel like I need more power, I can draft a J. Bruce. In this draft, I took Will Myers, who's probably going to be one of my primary stolen base sources.
Starting point is 00:53:38 You know, if I took an expected or possible 260 hitter in the early rounds, like Edwin Incarnation, or even like an Aaron Judge, who I think Chris and I both worry about is batting average dropping to that point, it would have been much harder to justify. it would have been Yeah, it would have been much harder to justify Taking Myers. So how come you guys didn't
Starting point is 00:54:01 prioritize pitching more? Because I have Scherzer, Cindergarde, Kichel, Rich Hill. I took them all pretty early. Trevor Bauer, Jacob Farad. Honestly, I planned to, based on the way drafting nine pitchers with my first
Starting point is 00:54:17 13 picks turned out in the most recent head-to-head points mock we did. but it just seemed like the hitters were the better picks with every pick. And one thing that was nice, I said this was the first draft where I took one of the big four super aces. One thing that's nice about doing that is it really takes the pressure off.
Starting point is 00:54:37 Because I've had so many drafts we've done where, like, I draft Zach Granky or Robbie Ray or Chris Archer as my ace. And it's like, well, that's, you know, you kind of need someone else who's ace like to safeguard against the. the possibility that guy falls a little short. I don't worry about that with Chris Sale. So I think my number two pitcher, who did it end up being? You have it pulled up there, Adam?
Starting point is 00:55:02 My number two pitcher is pretty good. Zach Godley? Is that right? Yeah, you have Chris Sale, Zach Godley. Oh, your pitching kind of sucks, though. Danny Duffy. That's a tough thing to say to Scott. He gets very defensive about his time. Well, I mean, it kind of sucks.
Starting point is 00:55:17 It's Chris Sale, Zach Godley, Danny Duffy, Chase Anderson, Mike Clevenger, and Lance Lynn. It's like, I mean, it's a lot of guys that you like, but everything would have to go. I don't know. I think you're – but you have Corey Knavel and Craig Kimball. I guess I should factor that in. You have two top five closers. If they're just who they are last year, I don't think –
Starting point is 00:55:36 the only one of my pitchers who, you know, would have a one-two whipper higher is Duffy. Well, I guess Lynn would, but he's on my bench. I think so. And, yeah, like you said, Adam, I got Kimbril and Corey Kneville to help the – Yeah, that helps a lot. The big thing with this format is it's so shallow, especially at pitching. You need 10 hitters and seven pitchers as your starting line up, right? Nine hitters and seven pitchers.
Starting point is 00:56:05 Yeah, just nine hitters. Okay, nine hitters and seven pitchers. But five starting pitchers, two relievers. You have to draft two relievers. Some people aren't going to do it until the very end of the draft. There's just, it's really easy to find value late in drafts. I think I did a pretty good job with that. And in this format, that's the way I want to go.
Starting point is 00:56:25 We went through this last year. You can find value late in drafts, but, I mean, nothing has changed. I think it's the difference is between head-to-head points and head-to-head categories. Where head-to-head points, you want reliability. You want volume. Head-to-head categories, I think searching for upside is a more viable play because the volume just doesn't matter. That's interesting. I don't find that to be the case.
Starting point is 00:56:48 I don't approach pitching any different. differently into head-ed categories than I do in points. But I'm not saying I'm right. I just think that's an interesting thing. I think it should. Like this is, whenever we've talked about if it's worth drafting Kimbril or Janssen or Chapman, I've always taken the side that no. And then I did it in the sixth round.
Starting point is 00:57:05 I took Kimbril and then doubled down by taking Corey Kenebel in the ninth round. Those were the two leaders in strikeouts among relief pitchers last year. Both had 126 last year. Certainly, Kimbril, you expect an elite ERA and whip. and Coneville showed that kind of potential last year as well. So, yeah, those ratios are going to count for more in this format where ratio stats are rewarded than they will in head-to-head where it's really just about volume and how many saves does your closer get.
Starting point is 00:57:36 Adam, is my pitching lacking? Robbie Ray, Massahera Tanaka, Jeff Samarja, Marcus Stroman, Jameson, and I've got four pitchers on the bench who all have upside. Yes, you're pitching. Kevin Gosman, Louise Gahara, your pitching is extremely... It's extremely lacking.
Starting point is 00:57:53 Extremely lacking. Because why? Well, first of all, Stroman's not really that great in this format because he's kind of a high whip, a low strikeout guy. I do like your first two picks of Ray and Tanaka. But after that, like Samarj is a guy
Starting point is 00:58:07 that's probably on the waiver wire at some point. Tyone? Yeah, strong disagree on that one. Here's what you're missing. And what I think a lot of people who, you know, like to react negatively to my pitching staffs on Twitter are missing. Like, yeah, Adam, your top three of Scher, Sindegard, and Kikl is better than the top three either of us have. But look at the third guy for most every other team.
Starting point is 00:58:32 Like, there's just not that many pitchers who you could classify as guys who are going to really carry your rotation. And you invested super, super heavy in those three guys. And one of them pitched 20 inning class season and the other ones missed like eight. teams starts over the last two years. Yeah, Granky went right before Cindergarde. I would have, I think, is that what happened? Yes. I probably would have gone.
Starting point is 00:58:55 With the humidor, I probably would have gone Granky over Cindergarde. But I don't know. I don't mind. Look, this is a shallow format. They're going to be hitters. There are going to be hitters out the wazoo on waivers throughout the year. I don't feel the same way about pitchers. So it's just like... I'm with you in a points league, but when you have to worry about batting average
Starting point is 00:59:16 and stolen bases, there probably aren't going to be a lot of hitters who contribute big in those categories. So I think it makes a big difference. They're both head to head, yes, but categories versus points. That's a great point. In a category, in a weekly categories league, you do reach a point of diminishing returns in any given category. Like, you can only win each category by so much. You don't have to beat 12 people. You have to beat one person every week. So that's something to keep in mind is, like you might have really good starting pitchers, but if you're beating everyone by a huge margin in the starting pitching categories, that doesn't have as much value as it does in Roto where you're looking to be number one.
Starting point is 00:59:59 I, okay. I mean, look, I think you guys are making really good points. I think a lot of people probably agree with you. I feel like we might be overthinking it a little bit, and just I still think pitching is shallow and hitting is deep. So, you know what I mean? Like, it just, it boils down to that. My philosophy doesn't change based on the format.
Starting point is 01:00:18 I do, I think I would have liked to have exchanged one of my pitchers for a steals guy, but the value just never really felt quite right. And sometimes that happens when you have the 12 pick out of 12. You know, you have to go out of your preferred ADP sort of, you know, you have to reach for guys sometimes. That's just the way it is. So anyway, I could see that. However, I still think my approach is hitting his deep, pitching is shallow. So I like to take more pitchers.
Starting point is 01:00:45 You guys make good points, and it's a lot to think about. I am sorry that we didn't get to more emails, everybody. It was my goal, but there's time for it. Later, probably next week. We've got Outfield Part 1 tomorrow, Outfield Part 2 Friday, starting pitchers, parts 1 and 2 next week. Then we'll do some drafts. We'll read plenty of emails.
Starting point is 01:01:05 We'll catch you up on spring training notes. We'll have some fun. We'll make some friends. We're going to end the show. Bye.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.