Fantasy Baseball Today - 03/14: Players We Love; Position Battles; AL/NL-Only Strategies (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 14, 2019

A lot to cover on today's show but we'll start by giving you our official Player We Love in 2019. Feel the love! Then we recap the news and notes (13:22) with Francisco Lindor appearing in a Triple A game, Jeremy Jeffress likely to start on the Injured List, notes on the STL rotation, ATL batting order and plenty more ... Fantasy combos (22:22)! Comparing pairs of players to figure out the best draft values. Plus Spring standouts (30:00) such as several Padres and Marlins SPs, Dan Vogelbach again and a BAL OF you need to know about ... We discuss important position battles (37:10) around MLB and then get into our AL-Only and NL-Only strategies (49:30). How does position scarcity change? Why did Adam find it easier to build a pitching staff in NL-Only? ... Email us 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. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. And we are spreading the love today on Fantasy Baseball today. Players we love. We're going to give you that one player that holds a special place in our hearts here in the 2019 fantasy baseball season.

Welcome, everybody here on Thursday, March 14th, Adam, Scott, and Heath. No Chris Towers today, but I do know the player he loves, and I will be sharing it with all of you. We'll read some emails at the end of the show at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. And I think that Heath is going to tell us that one of the players, or the player that he loves, got sent to AAA. Is that true, Heath? That is 100% true. You love AAA. You love AAA Fantasy Baseball. Well, I mean, I don't love it as much as you do.

like Greg Byrd But I do love The player that just got sent to AAA Okay, I know who your players now I was thinking it was somebody different And so I thought this was breaking news to me But I No, you love somebody else

Everyone knows who my player is already If they've listened to this podcast Over this preseason Yeah, I don't know You're kind of You kind of been stringing some people along, I think But it'll be interesting to hear Well, who did you think it was going to be, Scott?

Who did you think Heat Sky was? Jake Bowers If I was Jake Bowers And I heard the way he'd talk about me I would assume I was his His eternal love But

Apparently there's somebody else out there Yeah I'd be feeling betrayed If I was Jake Bowers I definitely know who Scots is How do you guys feel Do you feel like you know Who my player that I love will be

I mean you can narrow it down To one of 25 players I think it's Greg Byrd It's not. It's not. I don't do repeats. Okay. Also on today's show, position battles, spring standouts. Chris Paddock is having an amazing spring. Scott wrote about Chris Hayes. Dan Vogelbach is once again having a good spring. Dan Vogelbach once again having a good spring. He leads all hitters and walks. Adam Eaton's having a good spring. So we'll talk about some of these guys. I'm going to try to institute a new segment where we talk about players for 20 seconds at a time just so we can get to more guys that we haven't. Talked all that much about. And news and notes. Francisco Lindor played in a AAA game yesterday. That was nice to see.

Okay, let's do it. Players we love. And Scott, I'm going to let you go first. I feel like, yeah, you know what? It's Adelberto Mondesie, isn't it? How can I go with anybody else? I wrote a whole column on Adelberto Mondesie. He's the most pivotal player in rotisserie and head-to-head categories league.

this year just because his skill set is one of a kind really. The potential line that he brings, stat line that he brings, is so useful in today's environment and just incapable of being matched by anyone, and that includes trout and bets. If you project out his numbers over basically half a season's time last year, it comes out to close to 30 homers and close to 60 steals. obviously he doesn't need to get anywhere near that pace to live up to his ADP. And, you know, the badbip was a little high.

He doesn't walk much. But there wasn't anything, there isn't any major red flags in the batted ball profile. And even if you say, well, the minor league track record isn't great. Yes, but he was considered a high-end prospect during that time. The breakout was presumed to be coming. from Scouts Everywhere. And his final year in the minors, which was just, I think, 2017, the home runs,

they jumped. They jumped, and he carried it over to the majors, and he ran like crazy. He will continue to run like crazy because it's the Royals, and that's what they're built to do. I think even if you normalize the BABIP, even if you, you know, pull back on that home run and stolen base pace just because it's ridiculous,

there's a very real chance. he's a 250 hitter with 20 homers and 50 steals this year, which, my goodness, that, that, getting that number of steals from a player who also provides power and not having to use a first round pick on it, that could totally make your season. I love that Alberto Mondesie. And even in points leagues, that upside is so high that, you know, he should go much later, but he's a good, great value where he tends to go. Okay.

I sort of wanted to not love that Alberto Monashy just because it's a small sample size and it seemed to be surprised you. But I'll join you. I'll be in, I'll be in, Scott, and not necessarily in points leagues because 11 walks 77 strikeouts. And if he had played 155 games at his pace, he would have been the number seven shortstop in points leagues. That's not so good.

It would have been a lot better in Roto. But I do agree just being in the Royals lineup. He's not going to bat ninth because Billy Hamilton is in that lineup. You pointed that out before, he's going to steal bases. I just don't see how that doesn't happen. So even if it's not 80 steals or like you said, 50 steals, I don't see how that doesn't happen. It's a lot, but it seems like a good bit. All right.

I mean, he's a great defender. They have no other options of shortstop. He's clearly a foundational piece. He's not losing his job. And he's going to run if he's in the line. That's the downside of Adelberto Mondesies, a ton of steals. Right. Yeah, I mean, I didn't want to love him at first either because I'm like, come on, he hasn't done it that much.

It's just such a unique fit in today's player pool that you can't let it fall that far in drafts. All right, Heath, who's your AAA All-Star? Yeah, I mean, you would talk about a guy where there's no question marks in his track record in the minor leagues. It's Eloy Jimenez. And yes, the White Sox just sent him down. I do not expect this to be a long visit to AAA because he's already proven that he's too good for AAA. Last year, 228 played appearances. He had 355 with a 996 OPS.

In 108 minor league games last year, he had 22 home runs. There's legit 300 with 30 home runs and close to 100 RBI upside if he gets up the first week of the season. Maybe it takes two weeks. Maybe it takes three weeks. but I don't really think there's that big a concern even about the White Sox lineup in front of him because I expect he's going to hit behind Jose O'Reu. This guy, in my opinion, is right there with Vlad, maybe not for the long term, but definitely for this year. And the way that I determined who's the player I love is I just let the consensus rankings tell me,

I'm 50 spots higher than him than the industry average. Close to that much higher than him than ADP. He's available after Pick 100 in most drafts that I'm not. not in. I'd take him in the sixth round and absolutely love it. I think he's going to be a contributor across four different categories and an absolute stud of a hitter. Just not steals? Just not steals. There's no reason to think he's really going to run. And he doesn't, I mean, he's not going to be on first base that much.

Eloy Hemp, that's often a bad thing, but at this case, it's a good thing. Eloy Hemeanez is Heath's guy. So who do you think, who do you think I'm taking? Greg Bird. No. James Paxton. I was thinking about that, but yeah, go ahead. Can I bring, can I let the suspense build a little bit and bring up the point about Aloi Jimenez that, I think we're springing up. You know, last year, Ronald Acuna was in this position where, okay, they're just waiting

for the day when they've secured that extra year of team control and then they're going to call them up. But Ronald Acuna and Chris Bryant was a high profile case. of this a few years ago too. What they both did in spring training was completely knock the door down, made their teams look foolish for sending them back down. And Aloia Menace didn't have that spring. He had four hits and all of spring training. It was not a good showing at all. So I think it's going to be critical for him to hit the ground running at AAA to follow through on this timetable. If he gets off to a slow start, like he's going to. He's going to

going to have to hit before he gets called up, I think. I'm just a little worried that it's going to happen quite as soon as we're hopeful it does. I think he's a great value, too. That may be true, but it'd be completely stupid if it is, because if they're going to put one week's worth of plate appearances in AAA up against 220 from 2018. That might be what the White Sox do, but it doesn't make any sense. Well, the numbers will eventually get there.

I just think he has to be hot before he gets called up. That's kind of what the Brave said with Acuna, too, because remember, After that great spring, he had a slow start, and it took, like, a week longer than we thought it would. Yeah, I'm not saying that doesn't ever happen. I'm just saying it's stupid if it does. Yeah. Okay, here we go. My player that I love is a veteran, a savvy veteran.

I am all about the U. U.S. Darvish. Yeah, I think he's a really good option, especially if you don't love your pitching, if you missed out on aces and you feel like you need to take. You can talk about all these young pitchers with a lot of upside. U. Darvish has been an ace before. I am willing to completely throw out last year. He was hurt basically the entire season. There are some concerns. There are definitely some concerns. The walks were too high last year, and so far in spring training, he hasn't pitched much, but the walks were a little high. But I don't know. I just have a lot of faith in him. And I think if you can get him as your number three, maybe even number four starter, he's being drafted after pick 100.

I think it's a great pick. And U. Darvish could end up just bouncing back from an injury plague season. being a 200 strikeout, way more than that. He's got potential for a lot more than that. 350 ERA, 15-win kind of pitcher. Top 20 pitcher, I think, is very, very doable. I think we all like you, Darvish. We all like you, Darvish. I love you, Darvish.

Yeah, we're all making eyes at him, but he's yours. Okay. I don't know, the only thing I don't know that I agree with is the has the potential for a lot more than 200 strikeouts, just because we've really only seen him reach 200 innings once in his career. Is that true? No, twice. Yeah, twice. And 198 three times.

So, you know. I had him at 186 in 2017, 191 in 2004. I'm sorry. I included postseason. So you're probably right. I'm totally stunned. He lasts as long as he has because he was consistently drafted among the top 15 starting pitchers. He was part of that ace tier that we so often refer to every year.

And it's not a health thing because no limitations from the elbow. I mean, he's going to be ready to go. His velocity wasn't down at all. Last season, he did struggle on his eight starts. But I feel like we got to the bottom of why. It's a mechanical issue. Couldn't find his release point seemed to fix it just before having the elbow issue. Yeah, I think he's kind of the mid to late target.

If you're mapping, if you're trying to create a roadmap of how to land. and as many pitchers with legit ace upside. And I think the only way we know that a pitcher can be that in 2019, with all the, you know, with workload increases, you know, you can't take those for granted. The only way we can know that in 2019 is if they've done it in the past. So, you know, you have your true aces that goes through Zach Ranky for me. And then you kind of, you take like a Hermann-Marquez a little later.

who was that in the second half last year, you take a Chris Archer, you take a you Darvish, even later. It's John Gray, John Gray is part of that group too. And I feel like you can put together that that's your best chance of landing a starting rotation with tons of upside. Guys, let's do some news and notes. And let's go quickly here. And I have a lot of segments. I want to make a kind of a fast-paced show because I also need to talk about AL-only and N-L-only. We did our roto drafts for AL-only and N-L-only leagues on Tuesday.

and Wednesday, and I have some takeaways. I'm just going to tease it right now, and I found absolutely amazing about those drafts. Let me just get the exact stat out. So if you look at Fantasy Pro's average draft position, and you look at starting pitchers 13 through 38, that is a 26 starting pitcher range. 19 of them are in the National League. And that is where you can really build your pitching staff. And I'll talk about that a little bit later.

News and notes. J.D. Martinez left with back tightness. Is anybody concerned? Not yet. Okay. Francisco Lindor played in a AAA game. He did not run at full speed. Does he look like he's ahead of his timetable?

Is anybody fired up about Lindor? I think he's right on his timetable. It's hard to know exactly what this means because they can modify the terms of the game so much. Like he was only supposed to jog to first base if he got a hit. No ground balls were hit his direction, but he wasn't supposed to go all out on defense either. So I think this is mostly about making sure his bat is up to speed whenever he does clear those biggest turtles, which would be running the bases and playing defense.

But it does sound like he's on track right now, and opening day may even be a possibility. Justin Upton, it looks like he might begin the season on the injured list. He still has this knee tendonitis. And do we need to start dropping Justin Upton in our ranking seat, in our drafts? I've actually considered it lately, but the problem was he was already going three or four rounds after I was willing to take him in drafts anyway. So if I drop him, I'm still going to get him. I'm just going to take him two or three rounds later. I think he's still a very good option.

If everybody starts to lay off of him now in the seventh and eighth round, ninth round, I'm happy to take him there. Upton's been a better points league, a better Roto player than a points league player. He was the number 30 outfielder in points last year. He was number 20 in Roto. Of course, the year before he was top seven. both formats. Carlos Martinez will start the season on the injured list. Let's go back to Heath. Tell me what the likely scenarios for Carlos Martinez are. It sure sounds like they still want him to join the rotation at some point, but I'm getting

very concerned. I heard there was something earlier this week that said May and even included or June. So I don't know that there's, unless you've got multiple DL spots, I'm not sure there's even reason to draft him right now. Wow. Okay. Andrew Heaney will likely begin the season on the I, with elbow inflammation. Remember, it's IL now. It's the injured list, not the DL. Heaney had a 415 ERA through 180 innings last year and struck out 180 batters.

He had a 120 whip. Great at home. Pretty bad on the road. Yeah, I don't, I'm not sure. Are you guys in on the Andrew Heaney hype? Scott, do you in on the Andrew Heaney hype this year? I was. This has forced me to take a bit of a step back.

But, yeah, I mean, he showed the potential to pitch deep into game. with at least a strike out per inning, which is the main, that combination of skills is mainly what I look for in a starting pitcher these days. It was a very spotty game log in terms of high highs and low lows, but I think the skills are there for him to maybe, I mean, even if he just is who he was last year, that's pretty good and maybe there's a step forward.

But now it seems like he's probably going to slip to the late rounds because of this injury and you have to have an IL spot or an injured spot ready to go. Yeah, but I don't know that. That might be an overreaction. I mean, this might be a great thing for And Trujini because he might miss, like, one turn. Now, it might be longer. I don't know.

But they are not... Yeah, we have no idea. That's such a vague... Yeah, the problem is it's a guy who's really never been able to stay healthy except for last year. And now he's hurt to start this year. Right. And even when he did stay healthy, he was fine, but not particularly great. Right.

So it's got to be a very late pick. Okay. They just don't seem too concerned right now about Heaney, but you get that a lot. Team doesn't sound concern. It ends up being worse than it is, so you don't know. Pedro Strope thinks he'll be ready for opening day, and Milwaukee relief pitcher Jeremy Jeffress, unlikely to be ready for opening day due to a shoulder issue. Are you guys treating Cory Canable as if he is the Brewers Closer?

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. This is what clinched it, I think. I mean, now that there's not going to be anybody to swap. out for him in the ninth inning. I think it'll just be him, and if he does what he's supposed to do, I don't know why they'd remove him from the role. I'm not treating him as if he's going to be the only closer for the entire season quite yet, because if I was, I think he'd probably be my number

five or six closer. I've still got him at nine. I do think he's probably going to be the only closer for the first month of the season. I just, I don't trust that there won't be times during the season where Jeremy Jeffress gets three saves in a week. Cesar Hernandez expected to return from injury today. Alex Reyes is not going to be part of the St. Louis rotation to begin the season. Is there a reason to draft Alex Reyes? Not in like a standard head-to-head-sized league. If you get to a league where like 350, 60 players are rostered,

and you're not constantly having to make use of your bench and there's not a lot of great options on the waiver wire, then he's a good draft and stash just like you would with the top prospect. Okay, this is pretty big news. Ronald Ocuna looks like he's going to be the cleanup hitter. Those are the trends right now. Ender NCRte looks like a lead-off hitter. That's going to potentially mean a lot more steals for NCRte

and a lot fewer steals for Ronald O'Cuna. Is that how fantasy owners should be interpreting this? I think NCRte is a safe bet for 20 plus steals. And obviously, I'd feel better about Acuna's stolen base chances if he was batting leadoff because, you know, he did about half the time last year and stole 14 of his 16 bases from that spot. But I don't think it's a foregone conclusion he won't run batting cleanup. You know, I think we're talking about the difference between maybe 12 and 24 steals. like somewhere in that range and I have him falling closer to the bottom in if he bats clean up all year but this isn't a year long commitment necessarily either right yeah you got to remember

what the Braves did last year I mean they they were swapping things around all the time and NCRte what while he did steal bases as a leadoff hitter he was absolutely awful as a hitter from the lead off spot he hit 23 with a 559 OPS and 254 plate appearances there I don't really believe in some hitters are worse hitting leadoff or better hitting sixth or whatever. But with that having happened last year and that large of a sample size, if he gets off to a bad start, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Braves are switching up the lineup again quickly. Seattle sent shortstop J.P. Crawford to the miners.

Marcus Stroman is going to be Toronto's opening day starter. Just a reminder, he was in 2017, Stroman was the number 16 starting pitcher in points leagues, number 26 in Roto. He had a great year. Probably won't be that good again. But I do like him as a late round pick in points league specifically. And Major League Baseball is going to have one single trade deadline on July 31st. And a $1 million prize for the home run derby winner.

I would love to compete in that just to see maybe I can get that. We would all love it if you competed in that. And it wouldn't even take that much time. I think they should let you. What if I stood at second base? How many home runs do you think I'd hit? Zero. Yeah, agreed.

And I don't like the three minimum batter thing. Starting in 2020, relief pitchers have to face at least, all pitchers, I guess, had to face at least three batters. I hate that rule. I hate that rule. That rule stinks. Terrible rule. Terrible rule. I don't have much feeling about it.

You should. I think it'll make for some interesting strategic decisions, like even more interesting than the kind we have today, where it's, you know, a little too lefty, righty, individual matchup. focused. I'm honestly interested to see some of the ideas managers come up with to deal with this rule. The thing. So I think it could be fun. I wonder if it makes them not quite as willing to bring in those guys.

And it seems like a lot of relievers start off, like Jose LeClerclerc in his career, start off with just sometimes an inability to throw any strikes at all. And that kind of puts you in a bad spot if he comes in and he's having one of those appearances and he walks the first two batters on eight pitches. Sounds like you don't like the rule. You've got to leave them out there for another better. Yeah, sounds like you don't like the rule, Heath. I don't really, I don't know.

You don't like it. I don't care. Trust me, you hate the rule. It's terrible. One thing we all love is March Madness. The Badness is here. You can follow it all on CBS Sports HQ. CBS Sports HQ is a free 24-hour streaming sports news network.

It's going to provide tournament highlights, analysis, and picks. It's really awesome. I actually watch HQ all the time. It's just a great way to catch up on your sports, and it's going to be great during the tournament. So CBS Sports HQ, it's always on. It's free. You can stream it live on your devices on the CBS Sports app and CBSSports.com.

Let's do some fantasy combos. All right. Tell me which combo you'd rather have. Let's try to get a shortstop who's going to steal bases. Trey Turner and Cody Bellinger or Alberto Mondesi and Freddie Freeman. Turner and Bellinger or Mondice and Freeman. Scott, who would you rather have? I would rather have

I'd rather have Mondesie and Freeman I'm not my expectations for Mondesie I'm not sure he's going to be all that different from Trey Turner he's going to lose some batting average probably and Freddie Freeman I think more than makes up for it not surprised that you chose that side

how about you Heath Turner and Bellinger or Mondicey and Freeman I think I do Mondesie and Freeman as well it's closer for me and I do think there's probably a significant drop-off in batting average from Turner to Mondesie and likely in run production as well. But I think there's a bigger drop from Freeman to Bellinger. I like Freeman more than Scott does. Okay, let's get a third basement and a second basement. Chris Bryant and Jose Altovae?

Or Noah Aronado and Whitmerfield? I'm going to go with Aronado and Merrifield. I feel more confident in Aronado being the just steady, elite hitter and Maryfield's going to help you a lot in average and steal more bases than Altuve likely. Yeah, I mean, just knowing what to expect, I think from that group is, like, Brian, I still really don't know what to expect. And even Al-Tuvae, I mean, the fact that he's missed so much as spring training with

his side injury, I don't think it'll impact his availability, but I'd rather see him playing and doing Jose Al-Tube like things coming off the year he had. Right. So when I hear that, you're taking Aeronado and Meryfield over Brian and Altuve. I hear that I sort of think that you should, and maybe you already are. I'm not sure where you stand on this. You should take Aeronado over Altuvei if you're looking at the fourth or fifth pick. I have Altuve higher, but I have Merrifield, I think, a round higher than Bryant.

Okay. I do think I have Aronado higher. But same thing. I mean, it's a bigger difference between Maryfield and Bryant for me. All right, let's get a catcher and a pitcher. J.T. Raimuto. and Luis Castillo or Yasmani Grandal and Patrick Corbyn.

Reaamuto and Castillo or Grandal and Corbyn. Heath, what the combo are you going with? I kind of hate this one. Because the problem is I don't have a hard time believing at all that Luis Castillo could be close to what Patrick Corbin is this year. And I really do think that J.T. Raamuto could be like absolute star

in Philadelphia this season with just career highs across the board. A Christian Yelich type got out of Miami breakout. But I think I have to go with Corbyn and Grandal. It's just, first off, it feels much safer. Yes, I would also go Corbyn and Granddall. This is one of my new sayings, I think. The best predictor of being a fantasy ace is having been a fantasy ace before,

and only one of those two pitchers has. Okay. And Grandal is really, I think, I think discounted. Nobody really seems to be giving him a huge bump. He's going like 130th overall. Whereas I sort of felt like he'd be in the eighth round or so, and he's just not there. Look, I think if you look at the park factor data,

there's not probably as big a difference for left-handed power hitters between his former home park and Miller Park. There is a difference, but it's not very big. That park's not bad for left-handed power hitters. The thing is he's so geared for power with how many fly balls he hits at the expensive line drives that just a few more home runs leaving the park is going to make such a difference for his batting average two. And you could really see it all kind of going up at the same time, all the numbers across the board. But I agree. His ADP has him behind both Wilson Contreras, which I kind of understand, but also Buster Post.

He's the fifth catcher off the board on average. I think he has to be third. Okay. Yeah, definitely I take him. He's very close to Posey. But Contreras, they're all in the same range. Contreras, 123, Posey, 129. And Ramos is there, too.

Yeah, where's Ramos? Oh, Ramos is ahead or behind them? Or right behind them? Yeah, right behind them. I don't know in terms of ADP. Yeah, right behind them. So a big group of catchers there if you don't get one of the top two. You can wait a long time to take the number three catcher,

and beyond. By the way, playing an A-L-only league, it's Gary Sanchez, and then Danny Jansen is the second best catcher in the American League. It's like that across the whole

infield. The NL wallops A-L in the infield this year. And really, it seems to be deeper overall. It has less first-rounders, but, like, NL is much deeper than A-L this year. I found shortstop to be sort of balanced,

Other than that, yeah, first base, second base, third base, and catcher all the time. Last combo, here we go. A pitcher in an outfielder. Max Scherzer and Charlie Blackman, take a pitcher in the first round, an outfielder in the second round. Scherzer and Blackman, or Yelich and Sale. Who would you rather have? Scherzer and Blackman. This might be the easiest one.

Because, well, I do like Yelich more than Blackman. It's with me being not totally. sure how much, how far, how much yellage really was too good to be true last year. And then the fact that there are questions about Chris Sales Health and Velocity this spring, I think make the gap between him and Scher's are pretty big too. Cool. Agree. Heath, good.

Yep. Great. Yep. 100%. Wonderful. Awesome. You want to talk more about the three batter rule? I didn't have a question about it.

Okay. Like, you bring a pitcher in in the eighth inning with one, out and runners on base and he gets a double play, that means he has to pitch to two batters in the ninth inning and you can't bring your closer in? No. Oh, it doesn't carry over from one inning to the net. Oh, okay. Well, then it's fine.

It's a fine rule. That does make it better. That is a good clarification. All right, I want to talk about some spring standouts, guys that are moving up the draft board, or maybe it's just spring training and we don't care. Let's talk about it right after this quick break. All right, guys, spring standouts. Chris Paddock for the Padres has been arguably the best pitcher, one of the best pitchers, certainly in spring training.

Is he a must-draft guy at this point? I think so. As much as Jesus Luzardo is, I kind of put them in the same boat. They both dominated thoroughly this spring and are still in the conversation for an opening day rotation spot. I don't know if they'll get there. But at some point, they're going to have to preserve their innings, the athletics, Lizardo, the Padres with Paddock, but it may be a situation where they're on the opening day roster and they send them down later when they're ready to pull back on the innings. And then the service time thing is a non-issue still.

So, yeah, I think there's a real chance we've seen them both at the start of the year and they're great for as long as their innings last. The funny thing is I'm not even sure Chris Paddock has been the best starter for the Padres this spring. Matt Strom has thrown nine innings. He's given up six base runners, zero runs, and he struck out 12. And this is a guy who we've seen have success in the past and actually got his innings up to like 140 in 2017, I think it was, or 2016. So I think he's another guy moving into that range that needs to be drafted even in a points league. You know, it's funny.

When the Padre signed Manny Machado, it's like, oh, look at this lineup. There's so much potential here. It could be a great lineup, but where's the pitching going to be? Between Paddock, Strom, and Lou Casey, Joey Lucasey, that's a pretty exciting trio. I mean, the innings will become an issue at some point, but inning for inning, I think they're going to be really good. I think they're all pretty much must draft in a standard Vicks League right now. And by the way, the Marlins pitchers have been, there have been a few Marlins,

pitchers doing showing exciting potential this spring as well and entering the mixed league discussion right you wrote about Caleb Smith Trevor Richards yep one other guy I'm sorry I forgot his name Alcantara that's not who was in the comment no it was Pablo um I'm forgetting his name now too about the only Lopez Pablo Lopez yeah I think there's only room for two of them my guess is Lopez is the odd man out but I mean we're excited about Caleb Smith or early on last season, and he had a lat strain, a bad lat strain that ended it early. But he, spring debut yesterday, four perfect innings with six strikeouts.

Tyler Malley for the Reds. Also, Scott wrote about him. He's making some adjustments to his arsenal. He needs to mature as a pitcher. He basically needs more of an arsenal. But he did some good things last year. Was fantasy relevant for a very brief time. But there's something there to build on.

So I guess when you look at these Padres pitchers, these Marlins pitchers, Tyler Malley, I see Jordan Zimmerman's also having a very good spring with one walked, 14 strikeouts, and nine innings. Yeah, I guess who would be the ones that you would single out is actually, could be all of them. Could be all of them. I just, even if we just talked about them, just say the names that fantasy owners need to have in their queue at the end of their draft or toward the end of their draft. So all three Padres pitchers I want, probably the order I draft them would be Chris Paddock, Joey Lucke. and Matt Strom. For the Marlins, I'm not quite as interested in them,

but I think certainly Trevor Richards and Caleb Smith are in that late round discussion. Trevor Richards might have one of the best changes. We always talk about Luis Castillo having the best change up in baseball. Trevor Richards is right there, and he's worked on adding to his arsenal and making it fuller. So he's definitely interesting. Heath, anything you wanted to add on that?

I think he named them all. Okay. So Austin Hayes, Scott, for the Orioles. Yeah. Yeah, you might remember. He was one of my favorite sleepers last season. He had his first full minor league season was split between high class A and double A. The numbers were virtually identical, and they were awesome.

He hit, like, he hit well over 300 with 30 homers combined. He even got a call-up late in the year, and it looked like he was in the discussion for the starting right field. job last spring but then he showed up showed up had a shoulder injury early on his back was bothering him went to the miners to begin the year and just wasn't right turns out he had a a he was playing with a hairline fracture in his ankle um that he uh you know he he it messed up his mechanics he worked to fix them this off season he has been performing this spring like we hoped he would last spring he looks like he is back and it's pretty much a foregone conclusion now he's going to be in the Orioles opening day lineup.

I think that he's a post-type sleeper. You know, I think it's a pretty safe bet already looking at what else is on the roster. There's a good chance he's the Orioles, All-Star Representative, you know? Like, you're talking to five outfielder league? I'd be comfortable drafting him as my fifth outfielder right now because I think the upside is that high, and I think he's showing signs of making good on it after. a year that in retrospect, it's easy to understand why it was lost. All right, that is Austin Hayes for the Baltimore Orioles.

Heath, I want to ask you about Dan Vogelbach. He was the star of spring training last year. And he barely got any run for the – is that a thing you say in baseball? Barely got any run? I don't think so. Barely got any playing time for the Mariners had a terrible season in less than 100 of bats. But he leads all hitters and walks, 12 walks, five strikeouts, 333 batting average. Vogelbach, is he fantasy relevant at all?

I think the better thing is we may get a chance to find out because with the Kyle Seeger injury, it sounds like they're going to play Ryan Healy at third base, which I think makes it more likely that Vogelach gets a shot at DH or first base early in the year. He's going to have to be better, because so far what he's looked like is a spring training and quadruple A hitter.

He's very good in the minor leagues. He's been disastrous in 146 plate appearances and the majors, has a 197 average and a 616 OPS. There's a little bit of hope there, but I'd be far more excited about someone like Austin Hayes. All right, and I think it's good to see Adam Eaton is having a good spring, just so I can talk about Adam Eaton, who I was so excited about last year. And here's the deal. If Adam Eaton does not sit against lefties, he's going to give you great draft value.

If he does sit against lefties, it's going to be very, very frustrating. He batted just 222 against lefties last year. But typically he's not that bad against left-handed pitchers. And Eden was off to such a great start before an early injury. So I think he has some bounce pack potential. I just want to see him be close to an everyday player. I think we've got to talk about position battles. And AL only, NL only will probably finish the show with that.

I'm not sure if we're going to have time for your emails today. I hope I can get to them. But position battles. So CBSports.com, not the fantasy site, but just the regular media site. On the baseball page, CBSports.com slash MLB. There was a story with one position battle for every team. I picked some of the most interesting ones. You know who else has a position battle story, Adam?

You? This guy, top 30. Well, we never talk about your article, Scott. We need to talk more about something Scott wrote. If it were Chris's, I would have mentioned it for sure. Okay, so check out Scott's position battle story. But as I mentioned on yesterday's show, this was not on CBS, but on Cleveland.com, they projected the Indians lineup, and it did not include Greg Allen as a starter.

It had Leonis Martín, Jake Bowers, Tyler, and Akewerex. and Hanley Ramirez starting at D.H. and outfield. So if you're sitting there saying Greg Allen is going to be the centerpiece of my steals, that's risky. So just know this is not a lineup set in stone, but... You know what else is risky? Counting on Hanley Ramirez to be in your lineup. Yeah.

But Greg Allen can't hit, really. Like, he can run. So... Yeah, I'm not sure Hanley-Herrhus can hit. He hasn't hit the majors. He hasn't hit the majors yet. You know. But it is...

It is a word of caution because it doesn't seem like they are very excited about getting Greg Allen in their regular lineup, and he's more of a fourth outfielder. Okay. I think it's a better way to say it. But obviously, you heard the names. Tyler and Aquin, Hanley Ramirez, Leonis-Martine, there's opportunity there for Allen to play. Now, let's talk about some closer battles that we don't know about yet. White Sox, Royals, Boston, Atlanta's there. So, best guess for the White Sox.

Colome. Best guest for... Yeah. Herrera's back there. Calvin Herrera, I'm not even sure he's pitched. Yeah, I think he made his debut. He did. He pitched on Tuesday.

Yeah. Royals. Nobody. Ned Yosha said he's not going to have a closer. Red Sox, we think Matt Barnes is the favorite, as Ryan Brazier's been recovering from a foot issue. Would be nice if Matt Barnes got someone. out. Atlanta they're going to put

he's not doing well in the spring training. His first outing I think he gave up four runs and got two outs. He's not that good. He doesn't have his curveball yet, which is a spring thing that happens. Sometimes takes a while

to get the feel for that. But he's not exactly someone with an extensive track record that would make Boston say, we don't really care what he does in the spring. We know he's our closer. I mean, if he hasn't found the curveball yet by the end of spring training, I might be concerned. But if, you know, all it takes is one outing, oh, there it is. And I think he's fine.

I'm approaching him like he's definitely the closer. I'd be shocked if he was the closer in June or July. Why? I just, you think they're going to acquire somebody? They have to. I do. I do, yes. Yes.

And I think Brazier definitely could overtake Barnes because he does walk a lot of bad. He struck out 14 batters per night. So that's awesome. He also walked four and a half. Barnes did. Barnes. Brazier's not a big strikeout guy, but he's a better control pitcher. He had a .77 whip last year.

But Barnes has a leg up. No question you should treat it that way. But I think the Red Sox are going to be a contention. They're going to – Felipe Vasquez is going to be their closer. That's my bold prediction. It's the second time I've said that, so now you'll remember it. Diamondbacks closer? Archie Bradley, because Greg Holland has been –

awful and not just in terms of performance but in terms of stuff doesn't look right giants closer it's bradley and i i haven't heard i i still don't know i mean will smith is the obvious favorite but mark malanson last i saw was still in the mix there any other closer situations that we need to update right now no i'm talking it goes okay yeah i mean brave since looks like it's going to be a time share we've talked about that before yeah Brave starting pitchers, we've talked about this as well. Tuki Toussaint is going to be in the rotation, it seems. Kyle Wright's having a very good spring.

That's somebody that we're looking at as well. Could be temporary. Brad Peacock, the favorite to be Houston's fifth starter. Hine Barrier could be the Angels fifth starter. Dodger's starting pitcher, we've talked a lot about that. Ross Stripling seems like he has a chance to be in the opening day rotation of Kershaw's out. Julio O'Reis could be there at some point. Jeremy Helixen could be the fifth starter for the Nationals.

Brandon Woodruff appears to be the favorite. This is all according to CBS Sports.com. Brandon Woodruff, not the fantasy guys, appears to be the favorite in Milwaukee over Freddie Peralta and Corbin Burns. Frankie Montas could be the fifth starter for the raise. Jordan Liles could be Pittsburgh's fifth starter. Cattel Marte.

So there was a story. Cotel Marte is going to get the majority of starts in centerfield, according to MLB.com. He will play second base and shortstop when Adam Jones is in center field. And Jones is going to rotate around in all three outfield. positions. Jones should pretty much never be in center field.

Okay. He can play right and left still, but I don't think he can play center anymore. I think he said Frankie Montas for the raise at him. I said the A's. I meant to say the A's, yeah. A's. And that is Luzardo's competition. He's his Luzardo's competition.

Ah. Okay. I think they could probably... I think they could probably fit both in there. That's my guess. They have a pretty bad rotation. They've got room for four more starters. Greg Bird, Luke Voigt, Pete Alonzo, Dominic Smith.

Those are the Yankees and Mets' first base battles. We think it's going to be Voight and Alonzo. Carson Kelly. Yeah, I'm not. Oh, go ahead. I feel less confident in both of those. Yeah. Like, I think Alonzo, you know, obviously the Mets GM has been very vocal about,

he doesn't care about that, the service time thing. That's what he says. but I think when push comes to shove, it might be kind of hard to justify Alonzo on the opening day roster, but I expect it to be up before the end of April, either way. You don't feel confident in Luke Voight, Heath? Well, I don't feel confident that what we saw from Luke Boyt last year was really real, and Bird's been awesome in the spring,

and if they're only going to keep one, it's going to be interesting. It is going to be interesting. Arizona, we're hoping Carson Kelly emerges there. They might use three catchers, Kelly, John Ryan Murphy, and Alex Avila, but we're hoping for Kelly. Cincinnati outfield, Matt Kemp appears to be the odd man out, so it's Senzel, Winker, and Pueig, looking like pretty regular outfielers. Is that who we feel?

If Senzel already. Yeah, I mean, they're presumably going to try and sneak in at bats for Kemp now and then, especially against lefties. But in the long run, I think there's a good chance Kemp is just, they just get rid of them. if Winker hits like he's supposed to I'm just worried Winker sits against lefties It's just He'll sit against some

For as long as Kemp's around Yeah But it's not supposed to be a strict Lefty-Righty platoon Okay Garrett Hampson Ryan McMahon So I took Hanson Fairly Hampson

Pretty early in the NL only draft That we did yesterday Because you know It needs some steals It's Roto League And based on what Scott said I feel like Hampson's going to be playing a lot I just don't know.

They've both been really, really good this spring, and I think Hampson should just play center field regularly. He can play second base, maybe against good lefties when they want to sit McMahon. They can rest Murphy. I love that plan that both of them just get 500 played appearances this year. What we've seen from the Rockies in the past, that doesn't seem particularly likely to me, but that's what I'm hoping for. Okay.

Jung Ho Gong, do you guys think he could be Pittsburgh starting third baseman? Yeah. I mean, they said he had a chance to win the job. His competition is Colin Moran, who I don't think showed the potential of being a true guy who deserves to start in the majors. And Gong, I mean, absolutely was before his troubles began. I don't think by his spring performance, you can say, okay, he's about to win the job, necessarily. He does have four home runs, but those are his only four hits. But there's potential there, and I like him in deeper leagues as a bit of a sleeper.

Jung Hoagong. Okay, Austin Hedges and Francisco Mejia are San Diego's catchers. Hedges very good defensively, so we're not sure. Heath, how much playing time do you think Francisco Mejia is going to get? I think it will probably be determined by Francisco Mejia. The nice thing they have Hedges, who's about as replacement level of a catcher as you can get. So as of right now, I'm expecting Mejia to get maybe 60%, but it feels a little optimistic. Okay, we just talked about Dan Vogelbach, and if you look at Seattle, Outfield, and D.H., they've got Hanager, Domingo Santana, who won't be ready for the games in Japan on the 20th and 21st, I believe.

Malik Smith, oh, no, Santana will. Malik Smith won't be, I apologize. Right. Jay Bruce, Edwin Encarnacion. So, you know, what am I missing here? That's five names plus Vogelbach. So Hanager's obviously going to play. Then you got Santana, Smith, and Bruce. Are they vying for two spots?

I don't think Bruce is really part of the outfield plans. Okay. So then who's deaching? Is Encarnacion playing first base? And Bruce is deaching? Is Vogelbach not playing at all? I mean, Bruce himself could play first. base. I haven't seen what he's been playing more this spring. I know he's having a very good spring,

Jay Bruce, and has a lot of people convinced he's healthy after a year where he wasn't with the Mets. And obviously that led to a huge drop in production. So there is, there's starting to, you're starting to see some enthusiasm build for Bruce. But it's, yeah, I don't know how that impacts Vogelbach. I don't know how it impacts Domingo Santana. I think that's something we're just going to have to see play out in real time. Right, because Ryan Healy could play first base as well when Kyle Seeger gets healthy, and somebody is going to lose out in that situation unless there's an injury. Yeah, I hope it's not Healy, because Healy does not look like somebody who deserves to be starting.

You hope he doesn't play. Maybe. Okay. We got St. Louis Outfield, Harrison Bader, Marcelo Zuna, and then there's going to be a little battle in right field, Dexter Fowler, Tyler O'Neill, and Jose Martinez. Please, no fowler. And Tampa Bay, I don't know if you guys are excited about Austin Meadows, but do you think he's an everyday player? Do you think he's platooning maybe with Avi Garcia? What do you think about Austin Meadows right now, Heath? I would expect there's going to be a little bit of platoon unless he gets hot.

They're a team that has probably 30 players right now that should or could be on the roster or in the lineup regularly. None of them have yet, or very few of them, have proven that they definitely need to be all the time. So I think he'll play some outfield. And they're talking about playing Avicel Garcia at DH a little bit too. Okay. So let's, more position battles on the website. Scott wrote a column about it, I just heard.

Fantasy, C-Betsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. We got to talk about AL only and NL only. Okay, we do have a good portion of our listeners that play in these types of leagues. I'm going to give a couple of quick things that I like. and then I'll let you guys take it away. Use Rastorresource.com or some other website that has depth charts that you trust. They're not going to be 100% right, but they can help. So if you come up on a player and you say, oh, man, is he going to play every day?

You know, just take a look at some depth chart projections and have that handy, especially for the end of your drafts. I think that in these types of formats, multiposition eligibility is really, really helpful. Jirks and ProFar, I like him more in a points league. I'm a little worried about him in general because he did so well at home and he's going from Texas to Oakland. I know Scott really likes Juris and ProFar. But all that aside, he's eligible at first, third, and second, right?

First, profar? Or short, short, first short and short. No, I'm sorry. First, short, and third, but he's going to pick up second base very early in the season. Right. So that's really helpful. It gives you flexibility in the season and during the draft. Cody Bellinger is outfield eligible.

Ulygoreal I've been taking first and third base in deeper leagues. I think DJ LaMayhew is going to move around enough where he's going to pick up a lot of eligibility. Garrett Hampson is not second-based eligible yet, but he will be. Even Ben Zobris I took in the NL-only draft yesterday. He's outfield and second-base eligible. Daniel Murphy and Reese Hoskins will also pick up eligibility quickly. And yes, the other thing, the last thing I want to talk about, I'll turn it over to you guys for the most part. Again, starting pitchers number 13 through 38 in Fantasy Pro's ADP,

19 of those 26 starting pitchers are in the National League. So I think I took hitters with each of my first four picks yesterday in the NL only draft. And I actually like my pitching staff. I have Wheeler, Castillo, John Gray, Rich Hill, Sunny Gray, Jordan Hicks, and Sean Doolittle, and I think maybe Andrew Miller. So I think it's much easier to focus on hitters first in NLIN. L only than AL only, because so many of those high upside guys that could make the jump into the next tier are in the National League this year. All right, Heath and Scott, tell me about AL only and NL only.

Heath, I'll throw it to you first. Don't use full Roto rosters if you're playing AL only and L only. Nobody wants to draft two catchers in an AL only league. Nobody wants to draft five outfielders. No one wants to have three players on their team that aren't going to have jobs to start the year. So that would be my first advice if you're setting up your AL in a only league. If you do get into a league like that, I think you just have to accept, like you're not going to be able to miss the guys you want or hit on the guys you want

at every single position. You're going to have a couple positions that are just terrible. I am more willing to take risks on the quote-unquote injury prone guys or the prospects that are coming up in an AL or in only points league. or I'm sorry, in a rotisserie league, because it doesn't really matter if you're in sixth place in that league anyway, and those big hits can make a much bigger difference. In a points league, I'm probably playing it a little bit safer

because there's still not a ton available on the waiver wire, but you don't have to aim quite as high in the regular season. Okay. Scott, yeah, you know what to talk about that? I was going to give kind of the opposite advice in that. I mean, the bigger risks you take, like, taking risk in mixed leagues makes a lot of sense when you know there's a waiver wire to fall back on. But in these deeper leagues, there's not. There's, you're not going to fill holes off the waiver wire. Pretty much you can just assume it.

So the players we tend to think of as boring in a mixed league, they end up being ranked high enough that they're even in the discussion because you know they're safe. You know they're going to get a ton of it bats. and those players are ones I tend to gravitate toward in these league-specific formats because finding at-bats, finding innings, that is a challenge in and of itself. And if you have players who you know are going to get them, that gives you a really big advantage right out of the gate. And they're usually productive major league players. You know, if they're productive enough that they're in the mixed league discussion at all, they're just boring.

They're productive players, and they're good for this. format. I would also say that the things that this if you're talking about a five, uh, categories leave, the categories that we think of is scarce, which are mainly saves and stolen bases. They're doubly so in these formats. You are going to have to draft a closer much earlier than you're comfortable doing. You may only need one because there's so many few safe sources, so much fewer safe sources to go around. Uh, but you, you're going to have to take it earlier than you want to. And I think that's, No one true in the NL only for saves.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's not enough for everybody to get two. So you want at least one. Probably shouldn't expect to, but if you get two, great. Steels, it's amazing how the guys were relying on for steals. They are so much more in the AL right now than the NL that goes for high-end guys, like Trout Maltouva, Jose Ramirez, and the later specialists like Jonathan V.R., Malick Smith,

Billy Hamilton. They're pretty much all in the AL. So in the NLs, particularly, that's something you're going to have to reach for. I feel like the only two great steel sources, the ones we expect for 30 or more, are Trey Turner and Starling Marte. Maybe you could throw Lorenzo Kane in that mix, too.

But otherwise, you're kind of going piecemeal feeling, filling in steals in the NL, when A.L. You can afford to wait. There might be people who overestimate the scarcity just because they don't realize how concentrated it is on that side. And there was an instance in the recent AL-only Rotisory Mock we did. Even knowing how much I like out Alberto Mondesie

for his potential to impact steals, I chose the ace, Trevor Bauer, over him, in the second round. Because I knew I could get steals elsewhere. and not sure wasn't sure i could get pitching elsewhere because after the ace class the al's looking pretty weak there yeah and scott that's why i took garret hampson i actually think i did okay in steals i have asi albys garret hampson i'm ed risario and hopefully i could compete i don't think i'm going to win the category but i did take hampson fairly early i took him in round eight in this 10 team league so that was 73rd overall in a 10 team and a lonely league

And it's a risk. It's a big risk because I don't know what his role is going to be. But I did feel like that was one of my last chances to get a Steals guy. It is scarce in the National League. You look at first base, the top five first basemen are in the National League. In some order, Freeman, Goldschmidt, Rizzo, Carpenter, Vado. Seven of the top eight are in the NL. And Jose Abraeo really stands out in the AL.

Same thing with Catcher. It's so bad in the American League. It's Gary Sanchez and then it's Danny Jansen. So, you know, Gary Sanchez and Jose Abrae, feel like they are better in AL only than they are in mixed leagues. To me, do you guys agree with that? Yes. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, and Scott mentioned the infield just better in the National League than it is in the American League. Severino and Kershaw. More likely or less likely, Heath, to take Severino and Kershaw in AL-only and only formats compared to mixed leagues. Like I said, and I agree with all the things Scott said about AL and those boring players. I just look at that more in points leagues. I'd probably be less likely to take those guys in points leagues.

In a roto league, I might be slightly more likely to take them. Okay. Did you find anything that worked for you? We got about two minutes left. Anything that worked for you that you want to share with our listeners in these drafts? I felt like Outfield was a lot more plentiful in the A.L. I wish Outfield were just more plentiful in general. It's like, don't just sit there.

Outfield, I can wait. Okay. Yeah, I guess you're right. Here are my outfielder is in AL only. Stanton, and then I waited a long time. So I did wait. So you tell me if this is a good enough outfield. Stanton, Piscotti, Jorge Soler, Leonis Martine, and Clint Frazier.

Martine, I think, is a 20-steel guy if he stays healthy. I think it looks like a lot of people's outfields will look in a five outfielder league-specific format. But I think that's where you feel the scarcity of outfields the most. Five outfielders, league-specific. We've talked before on the podcast about how I've been filling up my infield early and going with upside outfielders late. I didn't do that in these drafts.

I think I had four outfielers in my first eight picks and both. So I pretty much filled up the outfield as much as I could right away and relied on the depth in the infields, which worked out better, I feel like, in the AL actually, even though the NL appeared deeper, you know, on the high end of infield spots. But I'm not disappointed with the way either team turned out. I think it's a approach I'd take again going heavy on outfield early. Again, we're talking five outfielder leagues.

And a three outfielder league would probably be a very different story. I think if you do a three outfielder league with one catcher and you do a 10-team league, A-L-only and L-only, I'm not big on these types of leagues, A-L-only, but I think that's fine. I mean, I think you can get enough good players. You're not really reaching. You don't have to start a backup catcher or anything like that. So I think those leagues can be really fun.

So give it a shot and go to our website. CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. See the results. See what may have worked and what did not work and figure out how you feel about some of our teams. I'm sorry we can't spend a little bit more time on it. Please feel free to send your emails, Fantasy Baseball at Cbsi.com. We are done for the day. We're going to have a little bit of a later show tomorrow because we are doing a live draft on the air.

Get excited. It's going to be a head-to-head categories draft. We will talk to you on Friday. Thanks to Scott Heath. I'm Adam. See you Friday.