Fantasy Baseball Today - 03/11: Sleepers! Plus Auction Takeaways and Late-Round Picks (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 11, 2019

Need some sleepers for your draft? Scott and Heath start the show with a couple of their favorite sleeper first basemen (2:10). Then we've got big news to get to as we react to Vladimir Guerrero's injury (9:15), Adam Jones in ARI (15:02), ATL's bullpen news (16:45) and more ... More sleepers (20:22)! Don't forget about Luke Weaver, Danny Jansen and Reynaldo Lopez. We also give you a bonus round of Fantasy Regulators (35:00) ... Finishing up our auction talk with some takeaways (39:00) including how to build a pitching staff if you miss on the aces and some of our favorite bargain picks (49:10) ... Your emails at [e-mail] 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. With fantasy! Now here's Adam, Scott, Heath, and Chris. All right, it is Monday, March 11th. Welcome, everybody.

This is Fantasy Baseball today. And if you listen to our Friday show, we did an auction, and we just finished about 10 minutes ago. At least it sort of feels that way. Welcome to the show here on Fantasy Baseball. Today it is Adam, Scott, and Heath, and it's such a shame that Chris Towers isn't here today, guys, because I have a segment called Chris Messed Up. Should we do it anyway?

Oh, 100%. Okay. It's easier to talk badly about him behind his back. Oh, it's much more fun when he's actually here, Scott. It's much more fun. But I assume Chris, who's a little under the weather today, will be back tomorrow to defend his honor. So Chris messed up. Get excited for that segment in a little bit.

send us your emails at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com, and tomorrow you will find out how to get into the podcast league. Heath, are we going to be doing two podcast leagues this year? Well, we'll do one podcast league and one league for the people. Perfect. But they're for podcast listeners, so that's the podcast. For the people. For the people. Okay.

Today, we're talking about- I'm already getting stressed about that second one. Don't worry, Scott. I'll take care of it. We're teammates. just let me do all the work. That'll never happen. All right.

So, I'll listen, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as an oblique strain. Clayton Courtschall is going to throw a bullpen session today. We got Adam Jones going to the Diamondbacks. And Sleepers is our big topic today. And, of course, we'll finish up on the auction, tell you some interesting $1 players, players who were drafted in the reserve rounds. Guys, we haven't really had a chance to talk about. And also some takeaways from that draft.

Let's start, though, with Heath Cummings. Favorite Sleeper for 2019. Then we'll get a few more later in the show. Go ahead, Heath. It is Jake Bowers, and I was so pleased to see the other day on Twitter that Al Melchior is on board with the Jake Bowers hype, and he was actually wrote a piece talking about how he'd move Bowers down his rankings a little bit, but was still 50 spots higher than anyone else in the industry. And I'm in a similar spot.

I really think there's some excellent potential with the way, how hard he hit the ball when he hit it in the air. And I think there's one of two things that happens. Either he goes to Cleveland, which is a much better park for left-handed power hitters, and turns into a 25-30 homer guy, or, and he's talked about this, possibly maybe not going for power quite so much. He's always been a really good contact guy in the minor leagues. It shouldn't be that surprising this year if he's actually a decent batting average guy. Most importantly, I expect him to hit in the middle of an Indian's order

that has a lot of really good hitters at the top, and not many people to challenge him for a spot in the lineup below him. Who would you rather have in a roto league? Jake Bowers or Carlos Santana? I'd still rather have Santana, and he's a really good value as well. But I think they're both good choices. Okay. And Scott, you don't really feel the Jake Bowers love, right?

I mean, there's a lot more first baseman and a lot of first baseman and outfielders. I like that. And I'll give you one right now if you want. Oh, is this your sleeper? Yeah. Okay, I was promised a sleeper that was kind of new, kind of different. This is new to our sleeper discussion. I mean, for me anyway, we talked about him before, but I find myself over and over again drafting Pete the bat, Pete Alonzo, rookie for the Mets, who has massive power potential that he's been showing off this spring pretty nicely.

some scouts get him an 80 power grade which is which rarely comes along and he's a guy who walked a lot in the miners last year too the Mets have said their GM has said even before spring started that he wanted him to be the Mets opening day first baseman I'm still skeptical they're going to let him rather than give him the two weeks he needs in the minors to then get called up and buy an extra year of team. control that way, but it's not a long wait, either way. And, you know, not any longer than Aloy Jimenez or, I guess Vladimir Guerrero is dealing with an injury now, but either way, it's going to be a little weight for all of those guys, not any longer for Pete Alonzo. And yet he goes very, very late. Nobody seems to be investing that much in him. I love getting him as my utility option or my corner infield option in a roto league. I think he could put up Reese Hoskins type numbers potentially this year. Pete the bat, I'm all in. Pete Alonzo.

So, Heath, would you rather have Pete Alonzo or Jake Bowers? I'll still take Jake Bowers. I do think one other thing that we didn't talk about with Bowers that he'll provide that Pete Alonzo is not going to is I expect that Bowers is probably going to steal 10 to 12 bases. Okay, there you go. You have some first base options. It's not the deepest position.

So Jake Bowers and Pete Alonzo, you can get them late. And those are a couple of sleepers. We're going to have a lot more for you later on in the show. Who's ready for Chris messed up? Yes. All right. I really wanted him to be on, but Chris, I know you're listening, so I'm just going to tell you that you drafted Luke Voigt. You got him in the auction.

You should have drafted Greg Bird. Okay? You messed up, but he should have. This is 30-man rosters. I took Greg Bird with the last pick in the draft, 12 teams, 30-man rosters. That is 360 players. You're saying he should have hedged his bet and gotten both. Yes. He should have gotten both.

Okay. I thought you were saying. It's already birds. No, no. He shouldn't have drafted Void at all. He could be. I'm glad we're having this conversation because now I don't have to touch on Voight as my sleeper. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, Aaron Boone made it clear the other day at both Aaron Moon and Brian Cashman that there's only room for one of these first basements. So whoever wins the job is the first baseman. It's there's no threat of a platoon here, which is what I was most concerned about bird being left-handed hitter, Voip being the right-handed hitter. Not going to happen. It's either or. And I also kind of feel like that favors void, right?

I can't. Can you imagine them sending him down? No, it's hard. After the way he finished last season, I mean, I guess it's possible, but it would be shocking to me. Yeah, and they're both having good springs. I just think that it's not a bad idea. Sometimes it's a good idea to take two closers if they're both battling it out. Like if you want to draft Pedro Strope and Brandon Morrow,

if you want to draft two Diamondbacks closers or, you know, closer options, the White Sox with Herrera and Colomé. you know, it's not necessarily a bad idea to use two roster spots if they're late enough on one player. And Voigt, you can't get all that late. But Byrd, obviously, I mean, I got him 360th. Nobody wants him. It's not a bad fallback option just in case Luke Void, who's going 201st overall, does not win the job. And Scott, Luke Voight, Jake Bowers, Pete Alonzo, rank him.

I go Alonzo, then Void's. Then Bowers, for me pretty significantly behind. Heath? But yeah, I look. Yeah, I'll go Bowers, then Alonzo, then Voip. All right. A couple things to promote for you. We got the commissioner product for all you serious fantasy players,

CBSports.com slash FBT. You're going to love it. Great stuff. I talked about the league history. That's very a great feature. Made me actually feel good about what I've done in the auction league that we've been doing for years. And Sportsline.

Okay, I tweeted about the who. do I keep tool? So Chris Towers, I believe this is a Chris Towers jam. It's really cool. You can plug in, you know, player X in round eight versus player Y in round four. And we have a tool that will help you figure out the best value who to keep. There's so many great things, including the Aces story that we've talked about on Sportsline. And if you want to try it for just $1 for your first month and then $999 after that, go to Sportsline.com and sign up with the promo code, Vegas. Promo code is Vegas. Scott, have you ever been to Las Vegas? I have not. It's very fun.

Heath, tell him what he's missing. What's that? Tell him what he's missing. Well, I'm trying to think of things that Scott's missing that Scott would enjoy. I like Vegas, and I don't do a lot of things that Scott doesn't do. Go ahead, sorry. I have been four times, and I don't know that any of those trips involved things that Scott would want to participate. participate in. Well, then I'll tell Scott, there's great food, there's theater, there's gambling, you're going to have to gamble. Why?

Because trying to sell me on Vegas. I just think you should go. You should go. All right. Maybe someday. News and notes. Let's talk about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He's out at least three weeks with an oblique strain.

And he's been working on his conditioning this season. He's not the trimest guy in the world. Heath, what do you make of this Vladimir-Garrier Jr. It's not good. Now, I didn't have him ranked as like a top 50 player overall, and so I don't feel quite as nervous about it. I've got him at 63. I don't think I'm going to drop him down yet.

I expected that he was not going to be up on opening day. I wasn't 100% sure that he was just going to show up magically five days after the season started to make sure his service time was right. And the way they've talked about him, this spring. It's been, for the most part, insulting. He's probably their best baseball player. But now that he's got this issue, one that we know does linger four-hitter sometimes, it's really more of an excuse for the Blue Jays to take things slow with him. I think there's a chance that we don't see him until May now, which would be really bad. So how far should he

drop in overall rankings? He's a fourth round pick, you know, in the 40s. ADP is currently 48. Yeah, sometimes you might slip to the fifth round. I think that was too high in the first place for me, but I still think because of his upside, and he could, like, he's one of the guys that we could be talking about next year that's just all of a sudden a first round pick because of how good he was in two-thirds or three-fourths of a season this year. I still think if he's there in the sixth or seventh, you've got to think really hard about it. Yeah, I'm thinking sixth round too. And it probably does change his timetable slightly because they probably will want to make sure

he's really swinging the bat normally before he comes up. So I'm kind of thinking May 1st, too. It can still be middle of April, but, I mean, the timetable works that it could still be middle of April like we were expecting all along. But I'll give him a couple more weeks, say May 1st. So would you take Matt Carpenter or Vladimir Guerrero? Carpenter. I would probably take Carpenter and points,

but I think I'd still take Guerrero and Roto. And last point about Guerrero, wouldn't he be better in points leagues? Because his plate discipline is so good. Well, it should be anyway. It depends. Is he going to hit 3.30? Yeah, I mean, I don't think he's going to be very format specific, to be honest. It's more a case of Carpenter with that comparison.

Carpenter, obviously, selling in points leagues. Clayton Kirshall will throw a bullpen session today. He could be ready for the start of the season. Anybody buying that? I'm not really. No, I'm not. I wouldn't say, I'm not opening day.

I wouldn't say I'm buying it, but it does bring up the point. I've avoided Kershaw recently. I have him on one or two teams that we drafted a little bit, a couple of few weeks ago. I do think it brings up a point that the way he's falling in drafts right now, he could be one of the best draft day values if he happens to stay healthy. Right. It's just like, okay, even if he recovers from this gets back in opening day

or misses one turn through the rotation, It's just a reminder of the risk that you're taking with Clayton Kershaw. But the risk is largely being priced in now. Oh, yeah, I'd say so. So who should go first? Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Clayton Kershaw? Kershaw. I would say Kershaw for sure in a points league.

And Roto, it's really close. All right, more notes. Ryan Brazier, Boston relief pitcher. He's making progress. He's recovering from a tow infection, but he has not pitched in a spring training game yet, which would seem to indicate that Matt Barnes is the first. favorite and Scott got Barnes for $1 in our auction league. He might have gotten the Red Sox closer for a dollar.

I took Brazier in the reserve rounds. Now that's an example, Scott. If Brazier had been there, I took him one of my, we had seven reserve rounds after we auctioned off 23 players per team. Would you have taken Ryan Brazier if the, you know, if the opportunity had been there? And hedged my bet? Yeah.

I really think it's going to be, I really think it's, like he's the stated favorite, even before this tow thing came up. So I don't have much doubt it's going to be him. So I probably wouldn't have. I just want, has Barnes had a little bit of an injury issue as well because he's only made one appearance this spring and absolutely got lit up. Yeah. I don't know.

They might be slow playing him. I haven't heard anything about an injury. But I think he has the potential to be really good at the closer. His 14.0K per 9 were six among all relievers last year. ERA, FIP, X, VIP, C. All suggests that 365 ERA he had was on the high side, and that should have been closer to like, should have been closer to like 270.

So, you know, obviously the Red Sox team that you would think would provide ample save opportunities. So Barnes, this is great. I was having trouble narrowing down the four sleepers I was going to talk about it. We crossed off Voight. We cross off Matt Barnes. Matt Barnes, one of my favorite late rounders to target for saves because he's going to be so good with the strikeouts too. So now I am down to four. All right, good.

I just think that it does make sense to also take Brazier. If, again, if you're not giving up much, I mean, if you're doing a 30-round draft, you could get Brazier round 25 or later or something like that. I just don't know that there's a harm in that, but Barnes should go first. And, you know, Barnes is a little scary, four and a half walks per nine. But it's not so uncommon for closers. But here's my bold prediction, and you shouldn't draft on this. I'm just going to say it.

So when it actually happens, everybody says, oh, Azer, great call. Felipe Vasquez will be the Red Sox closer after the All-Star break. They will make a trade at some point. Let's see, Adam Jones, one year $3 million deal. He had a pretty bad year last year, but his home run to fly ball rate was basically cut in half. If it had been normal, probably would have had a normal Adam Jones year, which is fine. Is he an everyday player, Scott? Should Adam Jones be drafted in mixed leagues?

He shouldn't be drafted in mixed leagues. There seems to be a question as to how much he's going to play. They had Cotel Marte ready to take over as the team's regular center fields. He's flanked, of course, by David Baraltos, who's not going anywhere. And Steven Souza, who has injury issues, has consistency issues. I think it could come to pass that Susa just falls out of the lineup, that maybe Marte goes back to the infield. But obviously, I don't think either of those is going to be the plan from the start. But we'll wait to hear more.

Jones, I think, is a better bet for deeper. Leans. Well, and the thing about their position with Marte, and he can play three different positions. They've talked about wanting him to play three different positions. I mean, right now they've got Wilmore Flores slated as their starting second baseman, and Nick Ahmed slated as they're starting shortstop.

There's a lot of opportunities for guys to get played appearances. There's very few guys that have to be in a lineup every day. But does it hurt Catele Marte? Does it make him less than an everyday player? I don't think Cateel Marte is going to be the guy that plays less. I think he's going to play as much as he can. And where he plays, we don't

yet. Heath, Jose Altuve will not return until at least this weekend due to side soreness. So not, I'm glad that I didn't get him in our oxygen. I did. No, I'm not worried about him yet. If it bleeds in the next week, then maybe I start getting concerned, but right now I'm fine. Scott, the Braves are going to use two closers. What's your take on the Braves bullpen?

That's kind of the way I saw playing out, going matchups with the lefty, A.J. Mentor, the righty erodes viscayino it's not totally clear whether viscayino is healthy so i mean obviously if it's if it's a true split lefty righty it would favor viscayino he would get the majority of the saves there but i have a feeling it's going to be close to a 50-50 split or maybe minter overtaking viscayino sooner than later depending on health and uh you know once that happens you might just keep the job but there's always a chance the brays go sign Craig Kembral, and this becomes a move point. There you go. Heath, Jorge Alfaro has knee inflammation.

Have you dropped them in your rankings at all? I've not yet, but I've probably left to consider if it drags on for another week. He is one of those guys that the floor is extremely low for Al Farrow, but once you get past those top 12 or 13 catchers, you're just looking for somebody that has the upside to possibly be good. I still think as hard as he hits the baseball, he has that upside, but it won't matter if he can't get on the field. Tyler Skaggs, already the injuries begin.

He was scratched with arm fatigue. They really are downplaying it, and MRI was negative. He said he was messing around with a new pitch in the bullpen, and his arm got tired. So I'm just going to take Tyler Skaggs at his word. He seems like an honest guy. Are you still going to Tyler Skaggs? I am going to Tyler Skaggs. Yes, hopefully this is no big deal.

Kyle Seeger, on the other hand, we are awaiting MRI results on his wrists, which he hurt over the weekend. The Royal signed Martine Maldonado to a one-year, $2.5 million deal. is Maldonado the starting catcher for the Royals? Yes. And we don't really care. Probably not. I was hoping they signed Evan Gattis to be their catcher. They love the former Braves.

Yeah. He's a borderline number two catcher. Okay. Blake Snell, not happy about his small pay raise. I don't blame him. Jimmy Nelson's going to make his spring training debut today, and Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are engaged. That's great news.

They should go to Vegas. Jose Canseco is not happy about it. He's not? He was tweeting about that. What? Not happy at all. He actually tweeted his phone number last night asking J-Lo to call him because he had some stories he wanted to share with her. Are you serious?

I'm serious. Geez, he's like- Did you call the phone number? An anarchist. I did not call the phone number. Maybe we should. Maybe we could get our studio to call him and like Skype him in. We could get an interview.

That would be fantastic. I think it would probably be a very good podcast. All right. we got some sleepers from Scott and from Heath. We have helped Scott eliminate the ones he thought he might want to talk about. So he's excited to give you three or four more sleepers. Heath will do the same. We will come right back after this.

All right, Scott, let's get your sleepers. Give me a few. So you gave us Pete Alonzo earlier in the show. Who else do you want to talk about today? We also talked about Luke Boy, Matt Barnes. A guy I'm drafting a lot and we have talked about him quite a bit is Bromil Reyes, who I believe is the most talented outfielder in terms of bat skills that the Padres have.

And that's including Will Myers. Obviously not as proven as Myers, but I think he could be better. He, if you look at what he did after coming back from the miners last year, I mean, the numbers at their face are impressive enough, but he was pretty awful on his initial call-up

and then got significantly better after the return. From that point forward, that was like at the start of August, he hit 318 with 10 home runs and a 933 OPS. His strikeout rate was way down. It was like 20%, which is closer to what it was in the minors and not high at all for a power hitter, actually very low for a power hitter. He hits the ball to all fields with pretty much evenly, so he's not going to be a guy who's vulnerable to shifts or anything like that. And his average exit velocity was, I think it was top 15. It wasn't far behind like a Giancarlo Stan. He hits the ball really hard.

He hits it everywhere, and he hits it consistently. So you're talking about a guy who could certainly hit for power. I mean, you just double last year's home run total. You're talking a 32 home or season. That's how many he hit between the majors and minors last year. And he could probably hit for average, too, looking at the rest of the profile there. I'm very excited about him. I'm not sure he's going to be an everyday player right away.

So that's why it's a little harder to draft him in a head-to-head points league with three outfielder league, but certainly five outfielder leagues. I love taking him as my fourth or fifth guy. And I think when he eventually does claim an everyday role, you'll be excited to have him in any format. That's Fram El-Raeus going 288 overall. Some of the outfielers going ahead of him are Randall Gritchick, Domingo Santana

Shinsu Chu Max Kepler Would you take him ahead of all those guys? I mean I kind of like Kepler But some of the names you were mentioning Yuck Yeah I would take him So Chu, Kepler

Who else did you say? I said Domingo Santana And Randall Wichick Yep Yep take him over all of them Yeah Yeah no All right let's go to

Let's do a Heath sleeper now Heath go ahead Well let's talk about Domingo Santana. Why don't we? He is a guy who is going to have an everyday job, hits the ball extremely hard, has shown the ability to steal bases in the past. I mean, he's available after Pick 200, and he has a 30-15 season already on his resume. He's been crushing the ball so far in spring training. I expect him to hit pretty close to the middle of the order because the Mariners don't have a very deep order, but I don't think it's because the Mariners don't have any

talent in their lineup. They're still going to have decent hitters in front of him. This is guy who could be looking at a 30-100 season. It doesn't hurt you in batting average. He's kind of what we hope Fran Mill Reyes might be able to be, minus the steals. Well, it's also, we're hoping that Domingo Santana could be that because he obviously struggled last year, but he was number 22. Playing time was a concern last year, yeah. Yeah, he only played 85 games.

He was sent to AAA. But in 2017, Domingo Santana was 22nd and points, 16th in Roto. And as he'd said, 30 home runs, 15 steals. and 29 doubles as well. All right, so Heath would take Santana over Reyes. Scott would take Reyes over Santana. They don't necessarily agree on those two. Although I know that Scott doesn't really love in Domingo Santana,

but Heath, how do you feel about Framot Reyes? I don't necessarily disagree with anything Scott said about Fram El Reyes. I mean, obviously the full season statistics are more predictive than what he did after he came back, but it was encouraging. My bigger problem is I don't really see how they can play Will Myers in center field every day. I don't think they're taking Hunter Info

out of right field. That's where I expect him to play. And so I do think it's going to be difficult for Reyes to get regular playing. Playtime. You know the word I'm trying to say. I don't know when you're talking about a guy breaking into the big leagues

that full season numbers are more predictive. Like maybe full season majors and minors combined. but, like, you know, he obviously was overwhelmed, I think, that first stint up, which is why he got sent back down. I mean, you got to give a guy a chance to develop before you start digging into the numbers like that. All right, Heath, give me another sleeper. He was obviously really hot at the end, but I don't think that's necessarily what we should expect either. Oh, no, not.

Well, no, not. Minor League numbers in that first. Yeah, yeah, no. We shouldn't expect him to do what he did. The last 31 games, he had a 978 OPS and a 395 Babb. We're not expecting that from Reyes. Heath, give me another sleeper. I'll go with Luke Weaver, who we've talked about quite a bit on this podcast.

I think he has a good chance to be a change of pace guy. He has been one of those pitchers that really has kind of bought into the technology. I think he went and bought his own Rapsoto machine, which is something that kind of helps you see the details of your pitches a little more clearly than you can see with a naked eye or even on video. And he has really apparently improved his curveball. I'm expecting Luke Weaver to be a solid number three or number four starter this year, and he is free on drafting. All right. I am going to look up how much it costs to buy a Rapsoto machine.

And Scott, give me another sleeper while I try to do this. Yes, I am going to give you Marco Gonzalez, who is my favorite late-round pitcher to target. When I'm drafting with Chris Towers, I rarely get him because I think. he and I are in the same boat here, but pretty much always get him when I'm not drafting with Chris Towers. And really, it's, you're not going to, you're not going to find that lack of downside in the late rounds. He is well equipped for run prevention. Two of the three legs of the fifth triangle, he actually dominates on us. It's kind of like Miles Michael is that way.

He had the ninth lowest fly ball rate of any qualifying pitcher last year, the fifth lowest walk rate. and he struck out more like a batter per a batter per nine inning more than mild michaelist last year but really you know just the fact that he's a control artist who in a groundball specialist if he hadn't tried pitching through a neck injury in august eventually succumb to the dL but he had a few starts where he was trying to pitch through it entering august he had a 337 er a spinstime on the dL comes back in september has a 171 era in four starts. So you're talking about a low 3ZRA if you take out that stretch where he tried to pitch through injury and end up with a 4ERA on the season. So that kind of shows you the extent how good he is at preventing runs. And he's their opening day starter. So they're going to ride

him pretty hard this year. Yeah, who do you guys like better? Heath's sleeper, Luke Weaver or Scott's sleeper? And not to say that Heath and Scott don't like Luke Weaver, Marco Gonzalez, but just the guys that they threw out, Scott throughout Marco Gonzalez, Heath threw out Luke Weaver. Who do you like better? Me? That doesn't matter. Gonzales. Weaver.

I figured as much. Okay, so should I get the... I thought that was one of those, like, listeners that answer along at home. Who do you like more? Should I get the $200 travel case for the Rapsoto machine? Well, I think you want to. I mean, you're not, like, are you only going to use this at home? You're going to need to go to the park and use it in places.

You don't want to spend $4,000 on a machine. and then have it break down on you. How'd you know how much cost? And then there's the upgrade kit. I'm going to get the upgrade kit and the year's subscription. It's that $700,000, $1,550. So we're talking about $5,600 without taxes for the Rapsoto machine. That's quite a commitment from Luke Weaver.

Good for him. Scott, give me another sleeper. Danny Jansen, the Blue Jays expected starting catcher. It became pretty clear he was going to be the main guy back there after they traded Russell Martin to the Dodgers. And he has a very interesting batted ball profile. One that it's hard to imagine him failing, really, based on the standard for comparison there at catcher. It makes a lot of contact, you know, like a one-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio in the minors. It has some power enough that you expect them probably to hit between 15.

to 20 homers, maybe even a little more, given the current offensive environment in the majors. Depends how many of bats he gets, of course. But I think he'll get a lot. And he lengthens what seems like a very small window for you

to grab a catcher who's going to make a difference for you in fantasy, even in a one catcher league. There's so few of them. It's one fewer now that Salvador Perez is out for the season having Tommy John's surgery. Danny Jansen tends to to drop a couple rounds behind the last of that group.

And includes Yadir Malina, Buster Posey. Those are probably the stragglers from that group. So Danny Jansen, somebody I end up with a lot because I'm just not ready to pay the premium at the position. I have other priorities at that point in the draft. End up with Danny Janssen as my starting catcher, and I think he's going to be a real difference maker there. All right, Danny Jansen.

He's eighth for Scott. He's seventh for Heath. Heath has Janssen ahead of Yadier Malina. and Scott does not. But yeah, he was a top nine catcher, and then Salvador Perez out for the year with Tommy John. So now Jansen is a top eight catcher. A very limited Major League track record.

It just goes to show you what this position is like. I mean, top 12, we're talking Wellington Castillo for Scott, Jorge Alfaro, for Heath. Heath, give me another sleeper, please. I'm going to do the thing that I always criticize and talk about splits within season. Because Reynaldo Lopez had a weird, weird, weird, weird year last year. There was a big portion of the year where he was not very good,

but he had some very good batted ball luck and kept his ERA below four and kept pitching deep into games. But then late in the year, his last seven starts, he went seven innings and four of them, at least six innings and six of them. He had a 1.38 ERA actually struck out more than a batter per inning, and his fifth was below three as well. And so the beginning of this year in spring training,

he hasn't been very good so far, but he is still striking out a lot of guys. Lopez is a guy with good pedigree. Look like he started to figure some things out in the second half of last year. And again, like Luke Weaver, pretty much free on draftry. Okay, so to recap, Scott told you Pete Alonzo, Fram El-Raeus, Marco Gonzalez, and Danny Jansen as sleepers. He had Jake Bowers, Domingo Santana, Luke Weaver, and Ronaldo Lopez as his sleepers. And those are just eight.

There are a lot more. please go to the website, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball and get a whole list of sleepers. Yeah. 2.0 is up for me.

Version 2.0 is up for me. Heath, I think, is writing his version 2.0 this year. This week. This week. I hope you're writing this year. Yeah. Yes. Other names you'll read about include Nick Senzel and Brad Peacock. So I'm really.

So here's my thing about Brad Peacock. I gave the stats on Friday's show. He was so good as a starter in 2017, pitched exclusively as a reliever in 2018. But at the later stages of 2017, Peacock really cut down on the walks, which had plagued him for basically his entire career. And then as a reliever last year, he was under three walks per nine. Very, very good, very encouraging stuff. What I don't understand is why wasn't it just obvious to put him in the rotation? You know, the Astros may know something we don't know, but based on how good he was in 2017, how good he was as a reliever last year, the improvement in control.

It should have been a layup for him to be the fifth starter. Like, they didn't need to go out and sign Wade Miley. They had enough guys. Yeah. I think the concern is, and it was evident, even when he was really good in 2017, he was just barely more than five inings per start. They have a lot of young guys that we expect to move into the rotation at some point this year. year. And so I don't think they see him as a long-term answer as starter. He's more of a guy that's going to give you five innings. Maybe he goes six once.

But that's kind of, in today's game, that's kind of the norm for a fourth, fifth, maybe even a third starter, right? I mean, you're not getting a lot of length from the- I think less than six innings is not that surprising. I think just barely more than five is a little different. Okay. He had a lot of starts where he's going four innings. Well, look, maybe it's more important in a roto league Or a league that doesn't count quality starts Or something like that But there's a lot to be excited about with Brad Peacock

I'm pretty pumped about him And he went for a decent amount in our auction So I think I can look it up I remember You remember what I think it was four bucks, five bucks You know He probably could have gone for a dollar If he was nominated at that stage

Right I think my values have him at four But you know It depends so much on when a player gets nominated and how the rest of the auction plays out in terms of how aggressively we bid for higher-end players, how much money's left at that point. Yeah, he went for $5. We'll talk more about the auction in just a minute. I want to give a note. Like I said, we're going to have a podcast league entries, hopefully tomorrow I'll make an announcement about it.

And we're going to do the drafts. These teeth, I won't speak for you in the People League, but the regular podcast points league will certainly be after the two games in Japan. Right, Heath, for the People League? I would say yes. Yeah. So we'll tell you how to get in, hopefully tomorrow, and you'll have some time to get in, so you don't have to rush.

But we're getting a ton of emails now, and it's awesome. Fantasy Baseball at Cbsi.com. I just want to let you know. I can't read all of them on the show. I can't respond to all of them. So, you know, I know some people will respond like three times of the email. Hey, how come you're not reading my email? I just have a full inbox and I can't get to everything.

I can, however, get to this next one. because it requires some regulating. All right, one fantasy regulators, and then we'll get our final auction takeaways and tell you what else you need to know from spring training. This one is from the Big Dog. I think it's a very mean fantasy regulators. Big Dog, I think you're crazy.

But I would like to know what Heath and Scott have to say. Okay, Big Dog is the commission of his league. That means I'm the real fantasy regulator in my league. But I wanted to settle this issue once and for all. I wanted to raise my league buy-in to $100. But the rest of my league won't comply because they are either all broke or scared. I think this should give me probable cause to kick these people out from the league and replace them with people who make more money.

Big dog out. It depends. It is cruel. Because the way you phrased this is like nobody else wants to do this. If that's the case, then maybe they should kick you out of the league. Yeah, I think so. Big Dog. But if it was a situation where you had 11 owners that wanted to play for $100 and one guy who didn't, then I would agree with Big Dog.

I mean, you're putting in the legwork, right? You're setting up the league. You're recruiting everybody. Like, it's kind of your league, right? I think the nicer thing to do would to start a secondary league that plays for $100, which, I mean, that's a lot for me. Yeah, I wouldn't want to be in your league. Yeah, it's a hundred bucks. That would be the nicer thing to do.

But if you don't want to have two leagues, I mean, if you think you can fill a league full of guys who want to play for $100, that's, I think it's fine. I think you're letting these other people down. But I, you know, unless one of them is willing, one of them can step up and become the commissioner of a separate league if they want. Yeah, I think the big dog is kind of a mean commish.

I don't really approve of your tax. But I'll also say, Scott, if $100 is too much for you for a fantasy baseball league, you probably should not go to Vegas. All right. So how'd that auction turn out? I hope you all enjoyed the podcast on Friday. And it took over four hours to complete. That's why we didn't do the whole thing on the air. I don't know how...

Somehow I'm projected to be like last in like every hitting category almost, except for batting average. Your team's really bad. It does look pretty terrible. It does. But you know what? Because right now I have Kyle Tucker and Gregory Polanco in my lineup, and obviously I have to replace them. I think you may only have two outfielders that are going to be playing on opening day.

And that's a good point. Because I know I've said, I don't think outfield is like super deep. I don't think you can just forget about it or else you end up with my crappy outfield, which does include my track. What I don't understand is you had a chance in the reserve draft. And you got one. You got Cole Cahum, but you had a chance in the reserve draft. to take several outfielders who have full-time roles right now.

I know Nick Marquakis was when he passed. I was going to take him. He got taken. Yeah. Yes. No. So I have an outfield problem, but I really think that I'll be able to plug and play at outfield.

I'll be able to get by. So that was... You have like four backup closers. I have two backup closers. So I have Brazier and I have Greg Holland. And Kelvin Herrera. and Andrew Miller. Oh, you're right.

You're right. Okay, so that was my philosophy. My philosophy was like, we drafted fairly early. It was the eighth. And I drafted Jordan Hicks. So I took Andrew Miller because I didn't want to draft Jordan Hicks and have him not get the closer's role, and then I don't have the Cardinals closer. I'm going to drop these guys before the season starts. Like, we have plenty of time.

This is not my opening day roster. I covered my basis. But I won't talk. I have a couple of takeaways from the draft that I think can help people. One, pay attention. I didn't pay close enough attention at times. And that's how I ended up with Kelvin Herrera, because I accidentally nominated him.

But he honestly might be the closer. Like that might end up being okay. He was great last year for what it's worth. He could be the closer at some point. I don't think he's going to be ready for opening day. Yeah, it's a shame. But hopefully he goes on the DL. I just put him right on the DL.

And then Colomace terrible the first time out. And everybody thinks, oh, I wish I had come in a room. I think your DL might be full. Okay, my team sucks. but Heath, what were some of your takeaways from the auction? Not just auction takeaways necessarily, well, whatever it is. You go nuts. I mean, I think the biggest thing, and this is probably too simplistic,

but you really have to pay attention to how your auction is going, more so than with a draft. And it's true with a draft, too. Certain positions go really early. You've got to adjust. This auction to me, and Scott, you can say if you agree or not, it felt different than just about any auction we've been. done with this similar group of people in the past. There was not a period like there usually

is of just enormous overpays for 20 or 30 players and then all of a sudden great values. It seemed like it got, Adam, you referenced this. It got really weird with some people nominating one and two dollar players and them going for five and seven. But there wasn't a lot of overpay for the 30 or 40 players. They mostly went right about where I had them. And so I didn't end up going with the strategy that I generally plan on, which is studs or stars and scrubs. I ended up with a pretty balanced roster instead. Okay. Like we said, every auction just has its own personality.

And that's, you know, you can prep all you want. I think you have to know. He kind of said, I go in there with a player A, I want. If I don't get him, here's my player B. And if I don't get him, here's my player C. That's not a bad approach. You have to have backup plans because things will go kind of haywire. I think that's where it helps to have a set of auction values you're working off of.

Not that you have to be, like you shouldn't be really strict about following the auction values. But it gives you a sense of, like, you want to know if those early players are going for too high or too low so that you're aware there's going to be money left or there's not going to be much money left later and there's going to be a lot of bargains. By my auction values, the high-end guys still went for more than I had them. So from the perspective of my auction value, some of those late guys did go for less than I had them for. I thought the bargains were decent. It wasn't as extreme as past years. But, I mean, one of my takeaways was just the closer role, where you had the top guy, Edwin Diaz. I think he went for 18, which was too little, I think, by all of our...

By what we set our auctions, well, we all set our auction values for him to be. But it seemed like every closer with a guaranteed role went in the $13 to $18 range. There wasn't a lot of variance there. But then the guys who were available late and there were, you know, maybe they're not as assured of getting being the full-time saves guy. But guys like David Robertson, Matt Barnes, I think Archie Bradley would. with the great Greg Holland Spring is gone, not throwing very hard, getting crushed. I think they're all pretty safely,

the number one safe sources for their respective teams. And I got them for a combined $6. So I still feel like, you know, closer's not in an auction environment, the difference in value can be so great that it's still not something you want to pay up for unless you're getting great, great ratios, like from an Edwin-Diaz,

and he's not going for 20 plus, you know? Yeah, Diaz went for 18. We were surprised that Craig Kimbril went for 19. He ended up being the most expensive closer. It was weird, but that does happen sometimes. But yeah, the closers, you're right. That's a good point about closers. One of my takeaways, it's just we know it to be true.

But when you play in, like I said, this was like a, this league in terms of league depth is like a six out of ten, 60 out of 100. It's a little bit on the deeper side, but it's not a L only and a lonely. is waiver wire, good players on the waiver wire, but third base is just so deep. And if you're going to wait somewhere or, you know, not spend big somewhere if you really want to save your money, it's not a bad idea to wait at third base. There's just so many good players. I got Justin Turner for $10. I also have Gurriel for $1, and he's third base and first base eligible. This is my other takeaway, multi-position eligibility, I think is very helpful. And it comes in a play where I took Alex Bregman for $37.

And that allowed me at the end of the auction I hadn't filled third base. And I think I ended up using Bregman at short. But yeah, I did. But I was looking at both the third baseman and the shortstops to see what was left. And if shortstop happened to have somebody better who was left, I would have moved Bregman to third base and now I can bid on a shortstop instead of bidding on a third baseman. It just helps. So players with multi-position eligibility, I think it gets a little overlooked sometimes,

and that's another takeaway that I had. I have one more, but Heath, let me get you. Yeah, my takeaway was how different this auction was. I don't know that I necessarily have another one. Oh, okay. Scott, how about you? Do you have another one? No?

Well, pitchers, the elite tier of pitchers went for a lot in this one. I think we all recognize how irreplaceable that is in, a modern environment. Those pitchers aren't just emerging from the middle of the pack with the consistency

they used to in the past. You may get one, maybe two true ace breakouts at starting pitcher these days. And at a position

with that many options, obviously you're talking about threading a needle in terms of blanding those guys. So we all wanted to ensure we got one. I think most of us were probably hoping for two of them.

And they very consistently went for more than I had them for. I think it's a reflection of what we're seeing in fantasy baseball as a whole, people really valuing those guys more than ever before. And that brings me to my final point. Now, you missed this. This wasn't on the air, but there was a moment that really screwed up my entire draft.

I was editing the podcast while doing the auction, and I missed the one player that I really wanted to get. Because if you heard the show on Friday, you know I missed out on all the aases. I did not get an ace. Instead I had Stephen Strasbourg for $24 where all the aces were going in the $30 range or so. I think Garrett Coe ended up going for like $33, something like that. DeGrom and Scherzer were $36. So I had Strasbourg for $24 and there was one other player that I was determined to get.

And it was James Paxton and I could have gotten him for $21. And I missed the nomination. He went for $20 and it threw off my entire strategy. I ended up instead getting James and Tyone for $19. and I would much rather have Paxton for two more dollars if I miss out on all those aces. So my goal was if I didn't get one of those top 13 or so aces to get both Strasbourg and Paxton, I believe that when they are healthy, or if they stay healthy, I believe Strasbourg and Paxton, their upside is Say-Young.

I think they could have that kind of season. I don't think there's a chance that James and Tion has that good of a season. So I guess it's not just for auctions, but that's my takeaway is if I miss out on those aces, I might get two of those very talented, very high upside guys who have some risk. Strasbourg and Paxson would be two great examples of that and hope that kind of makes up for not getting an ace. Luckily, I got you, Darvish for $14, and he's, you know, he's an ace. He just got hurt last year.

I'm very confident in you, Darvish. But, yeah, my team sucks because I don't have Paxton. It was basically what I was trying to say. And, yeah, go ahead. Does Paxton play the outfield? You know. Actually, outfield. I'm looking at your team now, Adam.

You got some nice buys. I think Brian Dozier for $2 is probably one of the standouts of the entire auction. Jose Abraeu for 15. Dozier, he was actually like playing through injury for all of last year. He says that's something that he feels like an MLB player is supposed to do. So he was quietly playing through a very bad bone bruise in his knee, which might help explain why his year was so bad. So getting him for $2 was nice.

Justin Turner for $10, I think, was good value. it's just that outfield is it's going to take some work for sure yeah you got something to work with here even your pitching rotate even your pitching staff strasberg tyone

darvish glass now are your top four oh no there's a lot of upside skaggs is my ace it's gonna take a lot going right oh skaggs is your ace I mean there's upside even there for him there's not a lot of

there's not a lot of high probability picks there but you can can definitely see it going right for you if only high it packs the You know, I was looking at the projections. I didn't love my team. And I looked at the projection. I said, oh, I'm projected to, like, be close to the league lead in strikeouts.

But those were hitter strikeouts. Certainly not pitcher strikeouts. Also, I just want to tell everybody the text message I sent to Scott, Heath, and Chris yesterday, telling them what we needed for today's show. Number one, a few succinct takeaways from the auction. So, Heath, a few succinct takeaways. takeaways from the auction. I'm just, you know, it was pretty clear. It was a writing there. Right. I had a takeaway from the auction. Scott had one. You had one. That's a few.

Okay. Thank you. I did want to go over some of the interesting players that were drafted in this auction. Most of them were like a dollar or they were reserved round picks. I'm going to say an aim, and I want a quick reaction about these guys. All right? A $1 Kyle Schwerber. Heath, go. I there's definitely upside there but I get a little bit concerned he just doesn't look like you can hit lefties and I'm not sure he should play against him what if you had a lead what if you were in a daily league like is Kyle Schwerber a sneaky play because he is great against righties much better in daily leagues yes yeah okay Scott a $7 Ryan Braun that was one of the worst buys of the draft I know he's I know he made some changes to his swing hoping to elevate the ball better this year and and maybe it'll lead to better power production than the kind of

the downward trend you've been on, but it's he's kind of old to be making that change, and not only that, but he's kind of the Clayton Kirshaw of hitters in that we know there are going to be built in periods of rest. It's hard to rely on him

in a weekly league. I won't even get a huge reaction on this one. Heath got, I think it was Heath, Paul DeYoung for a dollar. I loved it. He got so overlooked. There was a huge reaction, a fist pump for me when I got him. Yeah, that was a good one.

Paul DeYoung for a dollar. Some infielders. I thought Scott got a great value on Ryan McMahon. He was one of your last picks. He was in the reserve rounds. Ryan McMahon. He was my last reserve round pick, yeah. Yeah, it was great.

He could be the starting second basement. What is the probability that Hampson and McMahon share playing time? 90%. 90%. That's a lot of percent. I mean, I think Hampson has a spot, for sure. Whether it's everyday second baseman, whether it's super utility guy, I think he's in. It's just a question of, is McMahon in as the primary second basement or not?

The way the Rockies have handled them this spring suggests to me that that's the way they're leaning. McMahon as their primary second baseman, Hampson playing some second base, some shortstop, some center fields, getting close to every day at bats that way. So I'm more enthusiastic about McMahon than I was before the start of spring training when I just thought the job was going to go to Hampson. How about these infielers? Catcher eligible, Isaiah Kinerfalefa, Pittsburgh third baseman, Jung Ho Gong, Padre, second baseman, Luisar Rias. All exciting.

Yeah. Yeah. They definitely, like, I like them more, and I think in a deeper league than this. Like, when you go to 15 team leagues, certainly league-specific format. They're kind of that depth of sleeper for me. and don't often make the cut in a standard mixed league. But you definitely see the upside there for all of them. Jung Ho Gong sounds like he could win the third base job outright.

And you look at his numbers from his first two years in the majors, pretty good power hitter. Arias, I'm not sure, has the power, but he seems like a very safe profile, a guy who's going to hit for a good batting average, get on base a decent amount. Philef is just kinder Philef is just interesting because he plays so much.

for a catcher eligible player. He's kind of the Rangers super utility guy, some of that coming at catcher. I don't think the numbers are going to be that exciting, but just the volume could put him higher in the rankings than you expect. Would you rather have Isaiah Kineffa or kind of Steady Eddy Wellington Castillo? Castillo. Yep.

Okay, how about these outfielders? Harrison Bader, Tyler O'Neill, Ramon Luriano, Leonis-Martine, Cedric Mullins, Austin Meadows, and Detroit Outfielder, Kristen Stewart. A couple of Cardinals, Harrison Bader, Tyler O'Neill, Ramonlea, Leonis Martinez, Cedricin Mollins, Austin Meadows, Kristen Stewart. All pretty cheap. Heath, who interests you in that group? Well, O'Neill is the one that I drafted, so I guess I should say him.

I think he actually went in the reserve rounds, and I just don't. know why Dixter Fowler started off the spring two for 16. He was worth negative two war last year. Jose Martinez or Tyler O'Neill should be starting in right field. O'Neill's been crushing the ball so far this year. And he's got power. You know, bad plate discipline, but... Yep.

When I go the bargain basement route in a five outfielder league, which I did in both my 15 teams, leagues this year, Tout Wars, and TGFBI. O'Neill's one of the guys I love driving for my bench. drafting him. I love drafting Clint Frazier. Got a couple shares of Lewis Brinson. Just those upside outfielder who you could see taking a big

leap forward this year, even if they're not guaranteed playing time from the start. What about Harrison Bader or Luriano, Leonis Martinez-Martinez. Yeah. Bader and Loreano are the two from this list that I drafted in this league. And what I like about both of them is they seem to have both

power and speed. I'm not sure that they have enough to be 20-20. But in a five outfield league, in a league where stolen bases are in high demands, even like a 15-15 guy, is pretty valuable. And there's a chance they could sneak up with 20 either one or the other. So they're interesting to me as a way of kind of rounding out a roto roster. Another guy I like a lot from this list you gave is Kristen Stewart, who I don't think has many concerns about his playing time on a tiger's team with nothing going for it. and he was impressive down the stretch last year. Really good play discipline, a lot of power.

I think it's kind of a Carlos Santana-like profile, which might be a little more exciting at a points league because of all the walks. But, I mean, there's a chance he hits more like 260 than 230. So I think Stewart is somebody who's high on my, I guess, kind of my deep sleepers list. Heath, how about these major league starting pitchers? I'll get Scott's thoughts on the minor league starting pitchers who were drafted, but these major leaguers who were taken late, Miami starting pitchers,

Trevor Richards and Sandy Alcantara, Minnesota starting pitchers Michael Paneda and Kyle Gibson, and Giants starting pitcher Jeff Samarja. Who do you like? I think Gibson's probably going to be the best of these five starting pitchers, but he also may be the least exciting to me. I'm looking forward to seeing what Panetta can do, and I really think the Marlins, at the very least,

have three pitchers that you should be okay. with starting when they're at home. So it's not a bad guy to have as on your bench to start the season. Okay. Yeah, it's so weird. Gibson has never had a whip below 1.29, and yet he's had two good ERA seasons. Strikeouts, I think we're up last year.

Scott Minor League starting pitchers. Chris Paddock, geez, those numbers. Jesus, Lazzardo for Oakland, Justice Sheffield for Seattle, Forrest Whitley for Houston. Paddock, Lazzardo, Sheffield, and Whitley all got drafted. Yeah, I think that's deserved it in a league of this depth. I'm kind of newly coming around to Chris Paddock here,

who I wasn't giving much of a chance at all of being on the Padreys' opening day roster. He has so little experience. But they're really talking him up there. He had seven strikeouts, I think, in four innings in his most recent start. He says he's trying to be the opening day starter, which might be a stretch. But if he's on the roster, you know, he's not going to last all season because that inning buildup is so limited. But he could maybe get to 1.30 or so of the earnings with a great strikeout to walk ratio. Luzardo's kind of in the same boat, I think, in terms of how much innings he can provide and potentially...

I mean, they're all kind of in the same boat. They're going to be limited with the innings. I think Paddock and Luzardo have the best chance of cracking the opening day roster. But Whitley, I expect to contribute as a starter at some point this year. Sheffield... I don't think he should have been drafted. profiles as a starter in the long run. Yeah.

He's starting out of the bullpen. He's a highly regarded pitching prospect. He's control issues, has kind of a limited arsenal. Like, it really screams relief to me, Sheffield's profile. But he's a starter for now, and maybe he'll surprise me. I do think Lazzardo, he threw 110 innings, 109 innings last year. So I think he's got a reasonable shot to be able to throw 150, 160. They came out, I think it was yesterday or the day before, said he's not,

going to be making the trip to Japan with the team, but is still in the mix to be in the rotation on opening day. And we've got to finish the show now, but I just want to say, like, Chris Paddock, his career in the minors, he has a 182 ERA, a 0.8 whip, 20 walks to 230 strikeouts in 177 and 2 thirds. That's like, it's unbelievable. Holy cow. And that's it for our fantasy baseball today here on Monday.

I'm sorry that we didn't get to your emails. I promise I'll make time for emails on Tuesday. So send us your emails at Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com for Scott White and Heath Cummings and Chris Towers. You made a big mistake by not drafting Greg Byrd. I'm Adam Azer. We'll talk to you tomorrow.