Fantasy Baseball Today - 03/18: Five Big Questions; Spring Training Developments (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 18, 2019

Kicking off the show with a Podcast League entry followed by the most important things that happened over the weekend (4:30) which includes news in the ATL bullpen, Trevor Richards' great start and an update on Francisco Lindor ... Big questions for 2019! How good is Trea Turner (11:42)? Who are you we worried about missing out on (16:16)? Why are we concerned about Gleyber Torres (21:50)? Who are some daily league studs (24:00)? Did we find the player who provides the best value in Fantasy drafts (25:35)? ... News and notes (28:40), Spring Training risers and fallers (42:00) and interesting roster moves we made over the weekend (54:15). We discuss Ryan McMahon, Hunter Pence, Aaron Hicks and many more ... 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

It starts with my trial, then we keep that. We'll reach for an ace, that's how deep it gets. I'll keep that in mind as I try to find a strike, but say, and it's but wait, oh no, what a window falls to me. How's the cap strain? It's too early to see. I've got the night pick overall, so who's gonna fall in the be a steel.

Ramirez is next to go. J.G. Max Turner and then Machado. That was a reach for what do you know. Waste of a pick just one more. me but that was too quick now i can't think i start to panic clock ticks away all lies on me i shout aaron judge the wait i tried so hard it was my turn i passed up rice and john carlo my mind went flake i forgot no i passed up baseball today monday march 18th and for those of you listening on the audio version not necessarily

watching on the video version. You just heard one of our awesome parodies from our podcast league hopefuls. That was I Took Judge by Chris Torrey. And you'll hear more songs throughout the show. Welcome, everybody. I am Adam Azer. Hello, Scott White.

Happy Monday to you, sir. Happy Monday to you. Thank you. And Kreeh, Chris and Heath, happy Monday. It's a beautiful day. What's up? Is it a beautiful day?

Why is that? It's just everything is awesome. Okay, great. I'm in a great mood. Okay, good. Happy to be here with you. Had a great weekend. How was your weekend, Adam?

It was really, really lame. It was just a really boring. I went to sleep at 8.30 on Saturday night. I love that. No. That's a great weekend. Now that I'm 30, just not doing anything on the weekends, is great. No, that's just not true.

But the tournament's here, and the bracket challenges are here. do have to talk about that really quickly, and then we're going to get into fantasy baseball, I promise. But a few things I need to promote. Bracket Challenge. Go to CBSports.com, fill out a bracket. It's free. It's really fun.

It's the best place to do your brackets. And there is a podcast league bracket. I want 2,000 people in the league. We had like 1,500 last year. I want 2,000 this year. I am going to tweet out links to it. If you don't have Twitter, feel free to email me, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com and join our bracket challenge.

And why should you join it? because at the end of this first weekend, I will pick one of the people in first place and add you to the podcast league. So there's that awesome thing as well. Podcast League draft is in a week. So again, I will tweet the link to the bracket challenge, and if you don't have Twitter,

you can email me for a link to it. And all you got to do is join and fill out a good bracket, and you have a chance to join the podcast league. Also, sportsline.com has optimal brackets and upset brackets. Those are great. And you can use our promo code Vegas for $1 for your first. first month on sportsline.com. And Heath, I'm going to promote something that you wrote on CBSports.com, believe it or not.

This is weird. Why? This is really strange. Sleepers breakouts and bust 2.0. Sleepers including Tyler O'Neill, breakouts including Malick Smith, busts including Cole Hamels, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Everyone's sick of hearing from me, guys. So what was the most important thing that happened over the weekend?

In anything, your life, fantasy baseball, whatever. I found space camper IPA in my local total wine, and that's always fantastic. It's the second time that it's happened, so I bought a couple six packs of that. Made the weekend much better. Very happy to hear that. Scott, get us back on track. What was the most important fantasy baseball thing that happened? Yeah, I have a couple interesting items here, but the one that affected me the most that got the biggest reaction from me was the Orioles.

sending down Austin Hayes, who I had come to believe had won the starting right field job already with the redemptive spring that really brought home the idea that he was playing through injury all of last season. You remember, I was excited about him as a sleeper going into last year. It looked like he had a chance to win the right field job then. Not only didn't he, but he was bad in the minors after this big breakthrough season in 2017. Well, he was awesome this spring, hit five home runs, and, uh, you know, just had a big game every time he played, it seemed like, but, Scott, that's the problem. He was too good. Yeah. The Orioles, I mean, and that's, of winning games. That is one way of looking at it is that it's, it's an indication of

how much the Orioles value him that they sent him down because they want to make sure they buy that extra year of service time, but it's going to be late April when we see him. I still think he's worth picking up in five outfielder leagues, but to be on your bench. Yeah, I had to choose. We actually had one league, the auction draft free agency or waivers ran last night for the first time. And originally he was my highest bid. And then I put in, when I saw he got sent down, I put in a $3 bid for Jorge Soler. Because I need an outfielder badly.

Right now, I'm starting a minor leaguer. So, Soler will replace Kyle Tucker in my lineup. But yeah, that was disappointing. But still, it could just be a service time thing, as Scott was mentioning. Chris, how about you? Scott had a couple things. We'll come back to Scott. Chris, give me something important that happened over the weekend in fantasy baseball. I'm going to go with the Homer pick and say that the Marlins young pitchers continue to be outstanding.

The big standout this weekend was Trevor Richards. We saw last year. He has that great change-up, one of the best in the game. Struck out a bunch of guys, but control was a little iffy. He threw, I think, six no-hit innings with six breakouts and no walks on Saturday. he has been absolutely incredible this spring, more than a strikeout printing, good control. The Marlins have like three or four sleeper starting pitchers, whichever ones make the rotation either, Trevor Richards, Caleb Smith, Sandy Alcantara, he's been a little iffy this spring,

or Pablo Lopez, whichever of those four win the two rotation spots, and I would guess it's going to be Richards and Smith, I think they're worth drafting in mixed leagues or adding in the reserve round. Homer. No, that was my other one. That was my other one was Trevor Richards. Just to give you the numbers in 19 and a third innings this spring, 20 strikeouts, eight hits, four walks.

And he had more than a strikeout per inning in the majors last year pretty close to a full season. He has one of the best changeups in the majors. It's up there with Luis Castillo and how many whips it gets. And he's added a curveball that seems to really be rounding out his arsenal nicely. So I'm pretty excited about Trevor Richards, fourth late round pick for sure. Okay. Would you rather have Trevor Richards or Michael Waka? Richards.

Yeah, I think. Yeah, Richards. And I actually had three real things. Okay, go ahead. By the way. Besides my fantastic find. AJ Mentor, we've all kind of acted like stay away from Erudus Viscayino because is AJ Mentor is going to get the lion's share of the saves.

It'll be split, and then Mentor's better than him, so he'll get the saves. AJ Mentor is not going to be ready for the start of the season, likely to start the season on the I.L. And I just don't know how long it will be now before he takes any saves from Viscayano, much less the majority of saves from Viscayano probably means that he is... Arrodaus Viscayino is being underdrafted right now. Also, I'm not sure A. A.J. Mentor is better than Arotus Viscayano. I feel like we treat Arotus Viscayano like he's just not good.

but he's been very good in his career. I mean, an ARA under three, I think pretty much every year except for 2016. A lot of strikeouts. It was a little low last year, but Inter's probably better. But given that Viscayano's the right-hander, I would guess he's going to get most of the saves even when they're healthy. Maybe a majority of the save, maybe not most. And then two more that were just both Indians notes.

Francisco Lindor, and we really, I mean, he dropped. to the end of the second round and one of the drafts we did it, has not been ruled out yet for opening day. If he's just fine on opening day, he was a top four pick before he ever had any injury. So he could have been a huge value even in the second round in drafts. And then the Indians also, it sounds like, signed Carlos Gonzalez. I'm not sure there's any chance Carlos Gonzalez is good for the Cleveland Indians,

but this probably puts the final nail in the coffin of Greg Allen's going to get you steals in the late round. Yeah. Yeah, he might get you steals, but it could be like pinch running, you know. It's, don't make him the centerpiece of your steals for sure. So, Heath, where would you draft Francisco Lindor at this point? I think he needs to be in the first round for sure. And we kind of moved Bregman back up when Bregman showed that his elbow injury wasn't that serious. I could consider Francisco Lendor anywhere starting about pick eight, but definitely before pick 12.

Okay. So, so guys, would you take Scherzer? Would you take in a points league, Trey Turner, or Lindor? Is that the range we're talking now? In a points lead, I take Lendor over Tray Turner. I think I'd still take Scherzer first, though. Scott? I'm happy to let Lindor go to somebody else.

It's just a headache I don't want to deal with. Shortstop's deep. There's a lot of high-end options there. Still worried about the Steele's potential with the injury. But, yeah, I mean, so far the rehab's gone. foodly for him. The calf ache you don't want to deal with. Am I right?

Scott's very afraid of the calf. Very afraid. Oh, Scott, are we upping his stolen base total, Scott? Can he steal five bases? Five? Sure. There's a good chance he'll steal at least five. Scott, they're just baby cows.

I don't know what you're so worried about. They can trample you like the rest of them. All right, so I got a segment here called Five Big Questions. So I think they're pretty big questions. You guys can tell me if you agree. But, all right, let's start with question number one. Who is Trey Turner? Very open-ended question.

He's a shortstop for the Washington National. All right. Boom. Question number two. Now, question number one, who is Trey Turner? Just how good is he? Just going through the numbers, it's so hard to pass him up and forth overall in a road over categories league.

But I still think I'm going to. I still think I'm going Aeronado. So then do I take him fifth overall? I don't know, maybe. I kind of want to take out Tuve there. It's very confusing. Who is Trey Turner? Heath, you wrote about him in Breakouts 2.0.

We talked about him a little bit on Friday. Let's go through it again. One last time, at least for now. Expectations for Trey Turner and when he should be drafted. I mean, he's a 25-year-old shortstop with a career 289 batting average that's stolen 124 bases and 360 career games. and his manager just said that he wants him to run 75 to 80 times in 2019. Trey Turner is a potential number one overall player in Categories leagues.

He does have the issue to where we've set such lofty expectations that he's not yet met them, but even in his bad year, he was a top 17 hitter. Trey Turner is safe as a top 20 guy, but also has upside to be number one overall. And I think he should be considered in a Roto league. I don't rank it this way, but I think as early as number four is fine, I would be happy to get him at six or seven. All right, Chris. I mostly agree with that. I think there are some issues with his batted ball profile.

He hasn't hit enough line drives over the last couple of years to get his babb to where you would think it would be. But, you know, overall, he's right around 19% for his career. I think this is one of those guys where we can look at like, well, this year he was this and this year he was that. and then the next year. But, you know, overall he's played 360 games. Like he said, he's a 289 career hitter, 19% line drive rate, 12% home run the fly ball. It all points to him being at the very least and above average hitter, who steals 55 bases probably this year. That's hard to pass up.

Yeah, we're pinning a lot of hopes to that comment from Dave Martinez about how many steal attempts he wants. Turner to have this year because he was, you know, he wasn't anywhere close to first half of the first round discussion before then. And look, stolen bases, as I've said many times before, that's the one stat where somebody can choose to do it and, and that's what matters most. Like, it's a decision-based stat. So, you know, if there's any, if there's any verbal goals set for a stat, stolen base makes the most sense to, you know, take to heart. But, um, he's other than that and runs scored, he's not going to be a standout in any other category.

He won't hurt you in home runs or batting average, but he's not really going to help you either. And that's a lot to sacrifice from a first round pick. It may be worth it because steals are so scarce. I mean, even when he underachieve last year, he was second in the majors. But, you know, if you don't want to prioritize, steals quite that heavily if you're if you're confident in finding them later i think trade turner's

pretty easy to pass up right but let's say you take him in the first round scott and then you take aaron judge in the second round i mean doesn't that solve your problem because turner's going to be potentially like great at steals potentially amazing at steals uh should be great at runs and has a good chance to give you a good batting average so i i know that home runs you what does i mean i don't think he's i don't think he's going to help in batting average like he's not he's not going to hurt and Aaron judge is the same way and the thing about batting average is I feel like that's a category that you really want to get a solid start in because it's it's hard to make up for it later he's a career 290 hitter and he hit 71 last year that's his lowest he was 284 the year

before 284 is helpful yeah that's that's helpful but it's not it's not if if between your first two picks you're you have like a 280 batting average you're behind Altuvae or Turner, guys. Al-Tuva or Turner? I'll take Turner. In Roto. I'll take Al-Tube. I'll still take Al-Tube.

All right, second question. Who are you worried about missing out on? I really got to get this guy in at least some of my teams. I don't want to miss the boat on whom? Juan Soto. We've all, I think, kind of been a little down on him. Well, no, no. You have got him in a breakouts.

I've got him top 24. Yeah. and I think that's too high like the brain part of me thinks that's too high and then every time I see him hit like a 440 foot home run in spring training I feel a little bit dumber

so I need to make sure I have him on at least one team just because I gotta hedge my bets on this one fair enough Heath nobody because Heath's rankings are perfect I do struggle with this question just a little bit

I think I'll go with the two short stops who were hurt in spring training, both Bregman and Lindor. And I've already got Lindor on a team yet. I don't think I have Bregman yet. But both of them, I believe, have that top five potential and fell into the late first, second round because of injuries. And both look like they're probably going to be fine at the start of the year. Okay. Scott, how about you?

Who are you afraid of missing the boat on this year? For being excited about him, and I think one of the most vocally excited about him, I don't really have many shares of Hermann Marquez, who I think among the non-Aces has the clearest chance of being an ace, considering that's what he was for his final 17 starts last year. I think it's just a matter of wanting to be too perfect getting him for the value where I can, where, you know, I can cash in on it and say,

hey look at what a great value I got. And just missing out on him over and over again. So hopefully I end up with him a little more going forward. Got to reach, Scott. How early are you going to go on Armand Marquez? Yeah, I think round seven is the earliest I'd look at him. And it's... It just hasn't lined up for me yet.

Okay. That's round seven in a 12-team league, which would be beginning with pick 63 overall. That's been true in 15 team leagues too, which is why I probably missed out on him a lot. You know, here's one that I kind of want some shares of. I think Scott might disagree, at least based on ADP. He has him in the overvalued section of ADP, overrated. Cody Bellinger.

I think that they don't want to platoon him. They want him to take the next step. Dave Roberts said Cody Bellinger needs to be our guy. They are going to be relying on him a little bit. And you know me, if you listen to the show, I believe in the sophomore slump, not that it happens every time, but I believe that it's an explanation. Pitchers are just. Guys struggle in their second year, and a lot of them have a track record of bouncing back in their third year.

So, I mean, Bellinger was so good as a rookie. And he was disappointing last year. There's no question. He has this weird history of some very good years against lefties and some very bad years against lefties, including one of each already in the majors. Chris Towers pointed out earlier this year that Bellinger's batted ball profile wasn't so bad against lefties

his numbers shouldn't have been as bad as they were so I while on one hand I can see that he might be being drafted a little bit early but on the other hand I see immense potential I see dual eligibility which I love and I definitely want to get a little bit of Cody Bellinger in my life

I absolutely agree with you Adam I'm definitely higher on him than anybody else in this room and in this podcast. There's two of us Yeah, I'm in the top 50th percent. I think there's potential for 40 homers and, like, is 20 steals off the table? Yeah. Like, they have the playing center field.

I mean, he stole 14 last year. Right. In 162 games. Sure. Could get better. I don't think it's unreasonable to think he could run six more times over the course of the season or seven. It's, it's, what gets difficult for me is he has an ADP of 4. And I believe Jose Abrae's ADP is in the 70s.

Right, but Jose Abraeu is not going to do what Cody Ballinger could do. Well, even coming off the great rookie season, they were drafted in about the same range last year. I mean, Cody Bellinger could help summon bases and has the potential to out-homer Jose Abrae. Jose Abrae is going to hit a lot of home runs, though, with a good batting average. I mean, he was consistently 290 prior to last year.

They're both coming off a down year, which is why Jose Abray lasts so long. But there's nothing in the profile that has me concerned a Bray won't bounce back. And meanwhile, Cody Bellinger was sitting against left-handers down the stretch last year. So while the plan I know is for him to play every day, if he doesn't get it together against left-handers with the way the Dodgers handle platoons, I think that's for the 42nd overall pick. That's too big of a risk factor for me. I don't necessarily disagree with what Scott said, but I still agree with what Adam said

because I think the upside is he's worth a second round pick next year. I do think there is some risk there that's not baked into his ADP, but even at that ADP, he has upside beyond it. Yeah, all the arguments make sense, and there I guess are wide range of outcomes for Bellinger, who was second among first baseman last year with those 14 steals. Only Ian Desmond had more. All right, big question number three.

we all seem to be a little down on Glaber Torres. Like he's going too early. He's second-based and shortstop eligible. And he's going in like the fifth round. So maybe six rounds. So why not Greg, I mean, Glaberthor. Why not Glaber Torres? He was a top prospect.

Was that on purpose? Yes, yes, it was. Great rookie season. And I agree. I mean, I'm a little down on him too. I think he's being drafted a little too early. but why not Glaver Torres? A lot too early.

A lot, you look at the bad of ball. Basically, all he did last year was hit home runs, which are great, but you can find them anywhere. He didn't really stand out in any other way. In fact, if you look at the bad of ball profile, it matches up line for line with, like, Paul DeYoung, who's going, like, 180th overall. He was outscored Torres on a per game basis in points of leagues last year

by Eduardo Escobar. And somebody else scrubby, whose name I'm forgetting. Jorge Polanco. It wasn't really that big of an performance. I mean, if you're just, like, if he was going closer to, like, 80th, 90th overall, I could get excited about him in the sense that, okay, this is a young player, top prospect with Upside, who contributed right away. And maybe he'll, you know, take steps and become a more well-rounded player this year.

But since he's going that early, it's easy to pass him up and say, guys, he wasn't that good last year. Yeah, I just don't buy the home run to fly ball rate. and he's going to hit in the bottom third of the order. I just, I don't, I wouldn't have that much interest in the eighth round. I certainly don't have interest where he's going now. I could see him hitting fifth or sixth. No, I could see him hitting fifth or sixth. I mean, I think Lemayhew and Tulowiceky are behind him,

but I don't think he's batting ninth again this year. But honestly, he could. Lemayhew and Tulwitsky and Glaber Torres aren't all in the lineup together. Some days they will. You're right. Some days they will be. I don't think Glabor is going to be all in this sitting. No, but I don't think.

I'm saying, you can't have Lameau and Tuluwitzky behind him. I would imagine he bats in front of whoever the first baseman is. All right. Look, it's a good point. It played appearances will drag him down, which is one of the reasons why Torres did score fewer points per game than the scrubs that Scott mentioned. All right, we can move on to our next one. Yeah. The Hay Polanco was the other one, by the way.

Yeah. Eduardo Escobar and Jorge Polanco. Are Kyle Schwerber and Shohei Otani studs in daily lineup leagues? No. Not studs. They're better. Much better. Otani, though. I mean, 1043 OPS gets righties. Yeah. When he gets back, O'Tonnie might be. Because he steals bases too.

And yeah, when he was in the... Right. What's that, Scott? I missed that. Oh, you were talking in my ear because a video started. I thought you were... I had a video auto playing on one of the articles I had pulled up. I thought you were talking for the podcast.

That's why I stopped talking. Okay, that was very weird. Yeah. Yeah, whenever Otani was in the lineup, he did amazing things last year. And yeah, you'll want him in your life. Like, if you play in a daily league where you can change the lineup like that,

there's, he's a really exciting play. Whenever he comes back, which should be some point in May. You got to fix this auto play issue, man. Yeah. You got to just hit, There's a little button.

If you right click on the tab, and you can just mute it, and it will mute it for that site. Just go ahead and do that. Hey, Scott, this is real Adam talking now. Why is Corey Seeger? That's our last big question. Why is Corey Seeger not the best value in fantasy drafts? It's 76th overall, Scott White.

He might be. He might be. I don't have many shares of him, because there are so many other short stuff to take that by the time we get to the 76 pick, it's usually already full for me. But I think I did draft them as my middle endfielder and the mixed rotisserie auction league. So that's a solution if you play in a format that has that middle infield spot. You know, that's about the point where I would be looking to take like a Hermann Marquez.

So sometimes there are just other priorities, especially if shortstop's already filled. But this is a guy who, after his rookie season, we were drafting him in the first. first round after his sophomore season. I think we were drafting them in the second round. And now coming back from Tommy John's surgery, which, you know, position players seem to come back from just, I mean, pitchers usually do too, but especially position players. Glaber Torres for all the home runs he hit last year. That was, I think he got called up basically a year after Tommy John surgery, maybe a little

less. So Corey Seeger, I think, is a good value there. He may be the best value. The only argument against it, and I totally agree. agree. I think he's been a great value all draft season long. I think people are overreacting too much, but he hasn't played in a Cactus League game. He's not going to play in a Cactus League game. He'll appear in maybe two out of three of the, I don't know, whatever they, the freeway series or whatever they call it, that they're going to play right after spring training. And that's all he's

going to get as far as game action before the regular season starts. It's possible he's fine. It's also possible that it's like Ryan Zimmerman last year when he gets off to, to a really bad start because he just didn't have the reps early on. So that's my only concern, especially coming off hip and elbow surgery. But if he's even 90% of the guy he's been, he's a great value in the sixth round. Yeah, Corey Seeger's a very similar player, I think, to Zandot or Bogart. I mean, they have some differences. Seeger may be better in batting average.

Bogart's maybe better at OBP. And Bogart's did make some good plate discipline gains. in the year and through the playoffs, we'll see if that carries over. But Seeger's going 30 picks after Zander Bogart's, and that just strikes me as very good value. And we haven't heard a lot from Heath. So Heath, I'm going to make you talk about the news and notes in just the moment. I want to give a quick shout out to a couple of our listeners. Marty and Nick.

Nick wrote an email. Look, I won't get into the details. A very touching email. We get a lot of emails that are kind of personal in nature. I want to give a shout out to Nick. So he and Marty have been friends for 25 years since kindergarten. and they've been playing in the same fantasy baseball league for 16 years, and Nick just wanted us to talk about the importance of fantasy baseball

and how it brings people together. And yeah, that's good stuff. So I won't go into it. It was a very personal email. And Nick, I want to thank you for that email. Shout out to you and Marty. Marty, thank you for listening. Okay, Heath, you ready for news and notes?

Yes. All right. Bryce Harper, Bruce Foot, appears to be fine. I'm already fine. Clayton Kirshah, unlikely to be ready for opening day. I think he's going to throw live. this week, so this could be a big step. I think this is an underrated headline, Heath.

Michael Taylor, Nationals outfielder, are going to miss significant time with a leg injury. Why do I think, Heath, why do I think this is an underrated headline? Because it really lessens the chances that Adam Eaton's going to sit against left-handed pitching and probably needs to be moved up on draft board now. Do you agree with that or do you think that's just what I think? No, I agree with you 100%. I think it's absolutely true.

Yeah, this guy is a top 20 outfielder when he's head. healthy, especially in points leagues, maybe more like top 25 in Rodo when he's playing every day at a meeting. And Taylor was an obvious platoon partner. Matt Carpenter has back tightness, Heath. No big deal at all, he said. No big deal. Not a big deal.

Not worried at all. Bobby Carpenter doesn't even have a bat. Nobody be worried. He is fine. He's the healthiest player in baseball. That shape of his life. This is the downside to Matt Carpenter. This is why he's in.

My bus column. But Heath and I have gone back and forth on that a few times. Tommy Fam is going to play the outfield today. That's good news. Joey Gallo has a groin strain. Doesn't seem to be anything major. A.J. Minter, as Heath mentioned earlier, unlikely to be ready for opening day due to his shoulder injury.

Aaron Hicks will miss the first series of the season with a back issue. And, like, honestly, he might only miss one series. It could be a short stint on the DL. He does have an injury history. Right, but. On the what? on the aisle, on the aisle. But based on the draft we did on Friday, he went, gosh, I don't remember, somewhere in the

140, 50 range, I think. I mean, I feel like Aaron Hicks, people might be overreacting a little bit, guys. What do you think? For all the guys that we downgrade because of injuries, the guy who's currently hurt should probably be downgraded the most, especially because he's never made it through a major league season without going on the DL. I mean, I'm less likely to ding a guy because they're in or because of injury prone concerns. But when you're actually currently injured, I think there's a big difference there. And he's not a sure thing anyway. You know, like they did give him a long-term

contract. They do like him. But it's not like they gave him superstar money. Like if Aaron Hicks is a fourth outfielder, that's a pretty good deal for the Yankees still. So I don't think there's a Darren. A seven-year deal? A $70 million deal for a fourth outfield? Yeah, I think that's bad. $10 million a year. That's an average player.

They are not, like, it's very hard for this to be a bad deal for the Yankees. I don't think teams should pay fourth outfielders. Chris, come on now. But they do. Like, that's something that has happened before. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Clint Fraser starts for the first couple of series of the year, gets hot, and then Aaron Hicks is an everyday player. I don't think that's crazy.

I think it's... That's crazy. Yeah, he's in everyday play. After the two years he had and the investment they made in it. Like, if anybody's getting moved pumped out for Clint Fraser, it's Brett Gardner, I would think. But, I mean, part of, in terms of downgrading him, what did you say the ADP was for Hicks, Adam? I mean, like a lot of, we're usually talking about high-end players, like the kind of what you'd be sacrificing to draft them is of an elite value in its own. right and that's why it's easier to

go the ultra cautious route and say I'd rather draft this other guy instead but Hicks I feel like has a lot of upside for a range that isn't particularly exciting right so Scott Aaron Hicks is ADP is 119th overall

and on Friday he went at the end of round 14 so that's 137 on NFBC over the last three days yeah no that's that's great value for the guy who should bat lead off for the Yankees with a high OBP, you know, all those sluggers behind him.

And, you know, 25-15 potential on his own right, 25-home or 15 steal potential. We didn't talk enough, Heath, about Luis Severino because we were doing the draft when the news broke. The earliest Severino will be out, we'll be back is May 1st. So in this draft, he fell pretty far. he went 107th overall, 108th overall to Scott. And when would you be comfortable taking Severino? And then we also have to talk about,

looks like Luis Sessa is definitely going to make the Yankees rotation. He added a cutter or two seamer or something. He's having a great spring, but has not been an exciting Major League pitcher. Then there's Domingo Armand, Loisag's had a bad spring. So we'll talk about the Yankees rotation briefly, but when are you comfortable taking Severino? Yeah, I think ninth round is a good. time for Severino. I dropped him back to right around 96th and head-to-head in Roto. It's outside of the top

100, but not too far out of the top 100. There is risk here that Luis Severino is not ready at the start of May. Rees Severino doesn't help you this year. But there's also the upside that 1st of May rolls around and you have a top 10 starting pitcher. So you just have to balance those two things. There's no actual certainty. And I don't think there's even really a right answer. It's just within the draft you're looking at your roster can I take that type of chance? And are there any Yankees replacement pitchers here that you guys want to draft?

I'm drafting Domingo Hermann. I think Jonathan Loisagga's probably blown his chance with the way he's pitched this spring. Yeah, okay. Meanwhile, Hermann has been dominant. If people who listened in the middle of last season will remember

there was like a two-month stretch where I hyped him every show, it didn't work out, but he has three above average swing and miss pitches and has struck out 18 and 11 and two-thirds innings this spring. So there's a chance. Yeah, I mean, it would take a path of probably another pitcher going on the DL at some point, but there's a chance that's just so good the Yankees try and figure out a way to keep

him around. Who's in the rotation for like the first couple of turn? So it's packed. I think hermonds going to get sort of it. Yeah, because Sabathia is going to miss the first. series at least, right? Five games? More than that. Probably a couple weeks. Yeah, so there's going to be an opportunity for

Armand there. If he's in the rotation at the same time as Luis Sessa, I'll bet on Herman keeping that. The only thing is, I don't know if you mentioned it already, but the Yankees have made an offer to Gio Gonzalez. They've been kind of circling each other for the last couple of weeks from reports, and the offer was not what Gio wanted, but it does sound like Gio's going to end up there. Okay. All right. Just last thing on

Armand, I know the 557 ERA, but 33 walks, 102 strikeouts in 85 and 2 thirds. So there's talent there. Also, if you look at his first start and look at, I think, Freddie Peralta's first start. His first start, Armand, was six scoreless innings, nine strikeouts against Cleveland. Peralta, if I remember correctly, was at Colorado when he pitched a gem. And it just goes to show you, like, you don't want to overreact too much to one start. So I'm sure that I'll come up at times during this season. Let's get through the rest of the news and notes here.

had a great start in his first spring training start, so that was good to see. We mentioned this, but Austin Hayes sent to AAA by Baltimore. Shohei Otani could take batting practice in the next week. Dustin Bidroia is not a lock for opening day. Garrett Hampson is back. He is having a great spring just like Ryan McMahon, but Hampson stole his six base. He leads spring training with six deals, tied with Victor Robles. So that's good to see that Hampson is back.

Mike Fultenevich could be ready in mid-April. Jorge Alfaro could be ready for opening day. A listener wanted me to mention Boston reliever Darwinzen Hernandez, who he thinks is a sleeper to be the closer. I don't see that happening, but Darwinsen Hernandez is a name that we should probably know. He's a very talented pitcher. Cleveland signed Carlos Gonzalez to a minor league deal, as we mentioned. And Jeff Samarja thinks that baseball should have ties in a point system like soccer or hockey.

So that you just don't play – no extra innings. Right. No extra innings. I don't understand the perspective that, well, I guess I could understand it from a player's perspective, but I don't understand the fan perspective that extra inning baseball is boring and bad. Like, when it feels like the bottom of every inning is basically sudden death. Like, that's really intense. Is that really a thing?

I think the issue is that the games go on too long. I don't think anybody like actually minds extra innings. The problem is extra innings when the game started at 7.30 and it's a little. 11.45 at night. And I would guess the TV people don't like extraining me because they don't know when their next programming is going to happen. Oh, I'm sure they love it. Nobody's watching. Nobody's watching the next top bass fisher. I don't know.

I don't know. They're like, you're going to get five, ten times as many people tuning in. Who's staying up late at 1130 to watch tomorrow? Who's staying up late to watch a bass fishing tournament? Because they watch it. You staying up late to watch the fourth rerun of some spring. training feature. It's absolutely great. Live sports are way better.

Look, I think we've all been in a situation where you wake up in the morning and you're really excited to watch that episode of Bassmasters. And then all of a sudden, it's the 13th inning. And you didn't record. I mean, it's very frustrating. So I can understand that's probably where Jeff Samar is coming from. I want to play another song. It is about John Gray.

I teased it on the podcast on Friday. But people said, I want to hear the whole thing. So we'll be right back after this message. and then we will hear one of our podcast league entries. We'll be right back. Okay, let's hear it. This is from Jason in New York City. It is called John Gray.

John Gray. Get your lighters out. You can draft him if you want to. I think he's playing this guitar, by the way. A high ERA. A good K per nine. So, and we thought he was a breakout last year. So I kept him on my roster too long.

He's even worse away from Coorsfield So I know that there's something wrong with his pitching Yeah, yeah I'm not drafting him It sounds like Scott It's not You say He can eat on game day

He's losing all this weight succumbing to the pressures of starting in the big leagues How home a two-fly ball rate But his stuff is so good Eventually it's gonna play Isn't that right? Scott White, right, right. You say

we can give up on John. Yeah. All right. Jason, he's in, right? I mean, that's good enough? I mean, if I'm making the decision, yes. If everyone submitted a stay parody, everyone would be in the podcast leave.

We do have to have a certain number of spots for people that can't sing. Yeah, yeah. So we've gotten like five music tracks, and not all of them are going to make it. But the two you've heard, and then the last one that you're going to hear at the end of the show, which is like five minutes long. I'm just going to play you out. Yeah.

The last one's probably the best one, right? It's the... Yeah. It's the Cheryl Crowe Kid Rock cover of pitcher. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that one's in. That's a podcast leager for sure. But don't worry.

If you didn't do something unbelievably creative like that, you can still get in. And, of course, join our Bracket Challenge, which I'll be. tweeting the links out. Let's talk a little bit about spring training guys. Any other risers and followers? Should we talk again about the Garrett Hampson, Ryan McMahon thing? I think it's looking more and more clear that kind of what, and Scott mentioned this earlier in the spring. It really looks like what they're doing. I expect Ryan McMahon's going to play second base to start of the season. Garrett Hampson's going to be the super utility guy. Over the weekend, I think he played five innings of left field and then started a shortstop the

next day. So it's looking more and more like that. They both played too well to go back down. Ryan McMahon is clearly, I think, one of the biggest risers of spring training. He's made some kind of adjustment or I read it. I don't remember exactly what it was,

but some kind of adjustment that's allowing him to now hit Major League pitching more like he did minor league pitching where he hit like 355 two years ago or something ridiculous. He's going to be a course field. He has power. going to have second base eligibility.

I got him in the reserve rounds of our mixed rotisserie auction. I got him like with the last reserve round pick. And that was just a week ago. And in that time, I feel like it's looking like an incredible value when at the time I wasn't sure. Like that's how much McMahon has risen up my rankings in a short period of time. Yeah, Heath, can you look up his more reasonable? recent ADP, because overall... I'm looking it up right now.

Yeah, Ryan. 90 over the last weekend. Where is it? Wow, it's still too low. What'd you say it was? 290. 290. Since Friday.

Okay. But who would he rather draft? Hampson or McMahon? Still Hamson. Yeah. The Stolen base scarcity is kind of driving that. But it's... I think McMahon's return is safer.

I think the Abats are safer. I mean, shortstop, obviously, for the Rock. is Trevor Story. That's one of the positions Hampson can play. I can't imagine he's taking too many starts from Trevor's story. So it's really going to come down

to how the split happens at second base and how much outfield Hampson plays. I will say I'd much rather draft Ryan McMahon because I can't draft Gary at Hamson. He's going in like the 15160 range. I've got no interest in him there

compared to McMahon at 290. He's going a little later over the last couple of days. It was 174 since fries. I don't think I'd spend a top 200 pick on him. Would you spend a top 300 pick on Lewis Brinson, who's still having a good spring, or Jorge Soler, who's also having a nice spring?

Brinson and Solair. I mean, that's like the second or third pick of the reserve round? Sure. Yeah. You can get him like 298? I don't think there's a... It's not likely that either one of them hits, but, you know, especially in Brinson's case,

if he is making some kind of leap, and he's starting to figure it out, there's power speed potential there. And, you know, if he can get a strikeout right down to like 250 or 25% and hit like 250, 260, there's potential for a ton of value in the return. I think if you're drafting those guys at that range, you have the right idea, right?

You're going for the upside at a stage where it's not going to hurt you if it goes wrong. It's low probability picks, but potentially impactful ones, and that's what sets you apart. if a couple of those guys do return big value. And as far as Soler goes, he did hit last year. He just once again for the fifth year in a row couldn't stay healthy. But he had an 820 OPS, hit 265.

I mean, I think he's probably, if he actually plays a full season, you're pretty safe at assuming a 25 homer guy that was an 800 plus OPS. It's just he never stays healthy. But it doesn't matter at that right. Right. Yeah. So, oh gosh, the Roto, the auction draft that we did on the air, my outfield is Mike Trout, have, oh, Cole Calhoun, and then it's going to be on opening day, Louis Brinson, Jorge Salare, and Delano de Shields. Delano de Shields also, yeah, also having a good spring. He has four steals. He's hitting well. He can't hit. I mean, he can't hit.

But hopefully he can hit enough to play in that game. Yeah. I'm tired of taking that bait. I'd rather have him than Greg Ellen now. Me too And like Malik Smith couldn't hit Until he started the hit right Yeah I guess Which And that was like two

Basically two seasons Of him not hitting Yeah this is four Season four Five I believe For the Shields He's hit enough in two of his seasons Right

If he could hit 260 He gets on base You know I just want him to hit enough To stay in the lineup Because I think he could steal 40 bases But I don't trust him To be an everyday player

throughout the year, but I think he's, you know, those DeShields is certainly worth a late-round pick if you need steals. We don't care about Hunter Pence. This is the point every season where we start hyping to Lion of DeShield. This is the third year in a row this has happened. I'm not hyping him.

I just think that if you're desperate for steals, he's going to steal bases. Just please don't be the worst hitter in the world. We don't care about Hunter Pence, right? I put in a claim for him, a pretty sizable claim in an A.L. Only league. I think he is going to be the primary outfielder to begin the season. And he did one of those coaches who always gets mentioned among flyball revolution.

There's like three or four of them. He did rework his swing with that guy. And, you know, it's having to bring spring, won a job it looks like. I don't think he's like there's so many more attractive outfield pickups in a mixed league that it would be hard for me to take that leap on Hunter Pence at this point. But, you know, it could come a point where mid-May he's performing. and a lot of those guys aren't, and he does end up being widely picked up. Any other spring standouts that you guys want to mention good or bad?

We've said enough about calling McHugh Spring. No, say... It's been a standout in a bad way. Yeah, so does that mean you're not driving him? I did see something about how he's kind of never been good in the spring, so maybe we should give him a little bit of a pass, but he's been awful so far, and the velocity hasn't been there yet. Austin Barnes is having a good spring.

He's kind of my deep sleeper catcher after I was too high on him last year. It turned out. But he was playing injured much of the year. And, you know, obviously didn't get close to the bat's we were expecting. Well, now he should be the Dodgers primary catcher. And he swinging the bat more like he did two years ago, getting on base a lot, showing a little bit of pop. I think as your second catcher, he's a really good choice. Jesse Winker has hit 161 with a 575 OPS.

He struck out eight times and walked once. That's not terribly surprised. Coming back from shoulder surgery. You should expect him to get off to a slow start, I think. Yeah, here's why I'm not discouraged about that one. The Reds Beat Writer just yesterday published another story talking about how the starting outfields, you know, is Winker, Shebler, and Pueg, with Senzel coming up later, most likely. So even though Matt Kemp's had a great spring, it doesn't seem like it's impacting the Reds thinking there.

Two, Winkers Homer twice, which I think is a good sign for the shoulder. Three, he's only walked once, and that's like his game walking all that. So I think it's that kind of brings home the point that it's just spring training, him getting ready. Yeah, I mean, he can, I don't think his playing times in concern, because. he's been bad, but it's just a reminder that he could be bad in April. He could be bad halfway through May. Yep. I mean, shoulder surgery is hard to say.

We should definitely also talk about Victor Robles. Yes. He's been awesome. Yeah, he has an OPS over 1,000. He has six steals, eight walks, six strikeouts, 3.51 batting average, two home runs for Victor Robles. He's, you know, he's looking very good. There's a chance that by this time next year we're talking about him like we've talked about Trey Turner.

I really think that's true. I think there's a chance that he hits 15 to 20 homers and steals 40 plus bases this year for the nationals with a good average. This is what, I think, five years in a row, four years in a row as a top 100 prospect, basically three years in a row as a consensus top 10 guy. The upside is massive. He's still only 21. Get excited. There was a weird note from the Padres spring training that both Fran Mill Reyes and Hunter Renfro were being rested because of fatigue. The two guys competing for right field have played too much this spring and they're tired.

Yeah. No, that's, I was working, because I saw it about Reyes first and I was like, is this meet if he's already tired, how can he play every day? But then I saw it for Renfro and I was just like, okay. This is just clearly a managerial decision going on here. And, you know, not something specific to anybody. Okay, two things. They have used an alignment, though, more than once with both Reyes and Renfro in, Will Myers, and Center. Like, it'll be how much are they willing to sacrifice defense out there to get both the big bats in the lineup?

Something. That would be great for fantasy. Yeah, I'd be terrible news for fantasy owners that drafted Chris Paddock, Matt Strom, or Joey Lucasey. They're going to miss so many bats. It won't matter. Okay. I have been dying to ask a question about Hunter Pence

for like the last five minutes, and this Hunter Pence question needs to be asked. If he is going to play, who is sitting for the Rangers? Because they better not meet the Lionelieu to Shields. I'm pretty sure he's the fourth out, the other. It's not going to be Gallo. I think the bigger thing is that Willie Calhoun had a chance to come in and earn a job,

and I don't think that's going to happen now. I think it is going to be DeShields, because I keep reading Gallo is going to be the primary center field, center fielder, and that would seem to exclude DeShields, right? Scott, why? I'm trying to hype up the liner to Shields here, like we do every spring.

He won't let me. I'm pretty sure Hunter Pence is going to be a fourth outgiller. Okay. A hundred Pence is terrible. Why did they keep saying Gallo's going to play center? I've seen Gallo is playing. Some center I have not seen. I may have missed the things that you've seen

is that he's going to be their everyday center. Yeah, I can't remember. What's the Rangers, new manager's name? It's Chris Woodward, right? There you go. Yeah. He has talked up Joey Gallo a lot in a lot of really interesting ways,

talking about him stealing bases, talking about him playing center field. He seems to be a really big fan of Joey Gallo for whatever that's worth. It's definitely not going to be him losing playing time. I mean, Hunter Pence, if you want to take your final reserve round pick, that's fine. But he's been so bad the last couple of years, and it's not just an 18-year-part thing. As with the way this normally goes, I imagine performance will dictate playing time between DeShields and Pence.

But I don't think defense is going to give DeShields a pass here because they do seem confident with Gallow and center field. So we'll see. All right. Last one that I wanted to mention was Luis Castillo, not having a good spring. And I don't know how much it should matter, but for a guy that I have high hopes for, I would like to see him having a better spring. So hopefully he can turn it around in his next start. Because Luis Castillo's got an ERA over 12 right now.

That's no good. I wanted to do overdrafted players, but we'll save those for tomorrow. We'll do overdrafted and underdrafted players. You can read about it on the website, but we should have a little bit of debate about it here on the podcast. So a little ADP review tomorrow. We had waivers run yesterday in our 12-team, 5 outfielder, two-catcher, Roto League. And did you guys make any interesting ad drops

that you would like to tell our listeners about? I have not yet. I did not. One of the pitchers I was picking up in all, because I had waivers run in all the leagues we've done so far last night, the first run, I picked up Brits. Brandon Woodruff. And I think all of those leagues who, it looks like both him and Corbyn Burns are going to be in the rotation to start the year with Jimmy Nelson beginning on the DL.

And they're so much more talented than a lot of the locks for the rotation like Zach Davies and Ulyshasine. So I can definitely see them sticking around. And they're both RP eligible, which helps in points leagues. Burns and Woodruff. Woodruff, I think, has the leg up, but, you know, they're both in, and whoever pitches better, probably sticking. I do want to clarify. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Scott. I tried to pick up Austin Hayes, but got outbid for him. I tried to pick up Jorge Saler at him, but you outbid me for him, and specifically in this five outfielder league. Those are a couple others that I was putting claims in for. Damn right. Now, what would Chris like to clarify?

Heath was making eyes at me. Presumably with the implication that I forgot to make waiver wire claims yesterday. I did not. I saw Scott's reminders in all the leagues that I'm playing with him. How many claims did you make yesterday? None. Because looking at my rosters, I have guys who are injured who I can't put on the DL yet because we don't know what they're going to be.

And I'm not really dropping anyone that I drafted yet. You drafted too well. Obviously. Right. I love my team. That's always my... I always draft too well, and then I can never drop the guys that need to be dropped

because, you know, there's just such a great reason why I draft them in the first place. But you do bring up a great point. Commissioners, you should allow people to put players on their DL before the season starts, if we know for a factor going on the IL. I have D.D. Gagorius. You should absolutely give them license to ill. Oh, he waited 53 minutes, folks, to make that joke.

Let's finish the show with some e-mets. and then I will play you off with a beautiful song about pitchers. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. This is from Ryan. I have the sixth pick in my head-to-head points league. I'm deciding between J.D. Martinez and Max Scherzer. Who would you take in a points league, J.D. Martinez or Max Scherzer? I would take Scherzer in a points league, I think.

I would. I'm going to say Scherzer. I have Scherzer, 6, Martinez, 7. There you go. I don't think you're wrong either way, be honest. This is so close. I just did my inaugural head-to-head category Keeper League, one pitcher, one pitcher, one hitter in the first year.

In the later rounds, I drafted Nate Lowe, who was promptly sent back down to the minors. Should I hang on to him or drop him for C.J. Cron, Jed Lowry, Nick Marcaquis, Lordus Gariel, or Adam Frazier. I think those are good enough that I'd drop him. In a league of a certain depth, I think he's worth keeping around for the upside, but it doesn't sound like your league is quite deep enough for that. It's a Categories league, right?

I think I'd lean C.J. Crone get some power production there. Okay. So this is Nate Lowe. I'm assuming he means Nate and not Brandon Lowe, but Ray's first baseman, Scott's talked about him. Okay, so Scott votes for C.J. Crone, Creeh? I'd probably go Jed Lowry. I'm not particularly enthused by...

This is why Chris doesn't make waiver claims. Yeah, I mean, he dropped it. Nate Lowe. Come on. Why would he drop him? Maybe... I actually think Adam Fraser is not a bad option. He could... He'll probably get on base. He might lead off. You know, he could be a decent option. All right, this is from Walker.

Dear Bella, Edward, and Jacob. I know that one. I can't. Oh, yeah. Yes. Because this question is about Detroit outfielder, Kristen Stewart. We need to talk more. We need to talk more about Kristen Stewart, according to Twilight fan Walker.

So should we draft Kristen Stewart? Yeah, and five outfielder leagues and other leagues of a similar depth. I think so. I think he's going to bat. Walker's in a team league. Okay. So is it five outfielders or three? It says 10 team roto, but I... So probably five. I mean, he's obviously on the fringes there.

But I think he's going to be an impactful player. He's going to bat either probably second in the Tigers lineup with good on base skills and power. The profile reminds me of Carlos Santana a little bit. So, you know, that's why in a three outfielder league category is probably too shallow. But five outfielder, yeah, I think you can do a lot. worse. I would not be drafting him in that format. Yeah. And I think it goes without saying, this is Kristen's what we're talking about. It goes out saying we're all Team Edward here. This is from AJ. At the end of my draft, I got auto-drafted

Chris Taylor in a six-by-six roto league with average and OPS. Chris Taylor wasn't really on my radar, but I haven't heard you talk much about him. I'm tempted to drop Taylor for Ryan McMahon or Jeff McNeil. This is a 12-team league with a fairly deep bench. So Taylor, McMahon, and McNeil. Heath, who would you want to have here? I was thinking about this this morning, and I understand why we all got down on Chris Taylor after the disappointment of last year and concerns about him possibly having some playing time issues.

I think we've probably gone too far with that, especially if we're talking about dropping him for someone that might not be an everyday player. I would keep Chris Taylor. Oh, I would go for the upside, man. Either one of those players, I like the upside more, but I think especially McMahon at this point, he could be, I think McMahon could be a stud.

I mean, we do probably need to remember that Chris Taylor is a guy who's basically given us a $290 season with 2020. Yeah, but it's hard to believe. The Babbiff was so inflated. And they have Enrique Hernandez, who they're going to try and find a Bats for. He's got a 347 career Babb Babb Bip. I mean, he's going to be a high Babb Bap guy. I don't, one, I don't think he's going to play every day, Taylor.

And two, I don't think the upside really compares to something somebody like McMahon. And I think in a points league specifically, I don't think the upside. compares to McDi-L either because the strikeout rates are so disproportionate. I do think the one thing I do want to say with McMahon, and it's not to overreact because it was only like 220 plate appearances, but he was disastrously bad for Corse Field last year. Now he wasn't playing regularly enough, but we have seen him in the majors, and he was worse than Chris Taylor. So I don't think

we should just ignore the possibility of really low downside. And Jeff McNeil, I mean, he's had a single good season basically as a professional. And you're talking about the back end of your roster, one of your last players drafted. I think that's where you totally go for upside.

Right, but Chris Taylor does have upside. Guys, we got to go. So I need to ask this final question here. It is from Adam from West. And he says, are you starting the starting pitchers in the Japan Man games. Those starting pitchers are Marco Gonzalez, Mike Fires, you say Kikuchi and Kikuchi and Marco Estrada. Are you going to be starting them on March 20th and 21st? I'm not starting the athletics, guys. I'm starting the honors for sure.

Yeah. This is a great spot for Kikuchi because he gets like two weeks off after this. I'm going to write an article tonight. It'll probably go up tomorrow about who you should start and sit from that game, assuming, you know, that that if you are tying that series into week one who's worth it and who is it well that is it for our show if you're watching on video we will say goodbye to you if you are listening to the audio version of this podcast please enjoy pitcher by scott and a female accompanist who i did not get the name for but congratulations scott and female accompanist you are in the podcast league for scott for heat for chris i'm adam we'll talk to you on tuesday see you later everybody

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