Fantasy Baseball Today - 03/21 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: More Breakouts; Deep League Drafting

Episode Date: March 21, 2018

Beginning with a strategy question, how do you approach SP if you have the second pick in the draft or a similarly early pick (1:20)? Then we get into our deep league strategies (5:30)! How much does ...position scarcity matter? And who are some potential saves guys that are worth drafting in these formats (11:08)? ... Thoughts on Steven Matz and Matt Harvey (18:41), Blake Snell's outlook (21:32), Gregory Polanco's potential (22:30) and whether a quesadilla is a sandwich ... Scott gives us his sleepers (27:14) including Marco Estrada and Jason Kipnis and breakouts (35:35) including Kevin Gausman ... Your emails at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hope you enjoyed Heath's Sleepers Breakouts and Buses on yesterday's show. Today we are bringing in Scott White and putting him on the spot. Spot White. And we are going to get his. Yeah, that's funny. Sleepers Breakouts and Bus. I like that. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:00:31 Welcome back, Scott. Good to be here. Good. And Chris is here, whatever, right? Crad him. I like that Scott's initial reaction while responding to you was to nod. And then, like, a half second later, he realized he needed to actually. I wasn't on the podcast yesterday. I'm all out of practice.
Starting point is 00:00:49 Rusty, rusty. Okay, so today, yeah, Sleepers Breakouts and Busts, an interesting Twitter poll. Drafting in deep leagues, met starting pitchers, a note on Blake Snell, a note on Joey Gallo, a note on Gregory Polanco, what may be happening with the Dodgers catchers. An interesting quote from Angels GM, Billy Epler, about spring training stats, and specifically Blake Parker, who has been terrible in spring training, but he does. It doesn't seem that worried, at least Billy Up or hasn't declared a closer yet. All right, so we'll catch up on everything there. But let's read an email first.
Starting point is 00:01:21 Our email address is Fantasy Football at CBSI.com. And by the way, anticipating announcing our podcast league contestants tomorrow. So Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. This one is from Ash. My draft is this weekend. I have the second pick and I'm debating strategy. I would like to take two pitchers with my first five picks. I have the second pick.
Starting point is 00:01:43 I know I'm not going to get one of the super races. So would you recommend taking one at the two three turn, if I'm Garner, Cindergarde, or Strasbourg, along with, say, Donaldson and J.D. Martinez? Or should I take hitters with my first three picks and go for two of the Darvish Verlander-Rae range with picks four and five? Well, what kind of noise was that? Very interesting noise.
Starting point is 00:02:13 Yeah, so I think probably the hitters makes more sense. And, you know, it doesn't have to be a situation where you could commit to two pitchers here and two pitchers. There, you could maybe do what a beach. But one thing I wrote about last week was just how, yeah, we talk about how there's a big drop-off at starting pitcher. But there's a big drop-off at hitter, too, at beyond the top. I think we set the line on an earlier podcast as around Brian Dozier. And what happens after that is a lot of interchangeability between hitters, really hard to differentiate yourself at any position. position. So while at starting pitcher, the drop-off is more about just not being good at the position.
Starting point is 00:02:52 At hitter, it's not being good relative to your competition. So, like, I wouldn't want, like, if the pitchers are, if you're having a hard time deciding between the pitchers anyway, like, go ahead and take advantage of the hitters before they drop off. So again, the question was, I have the second pick. I know I'm not getting a super ace. Should I take a pitch? Should I take a pitch? pitcher at the two three turn like Bumgarner, Cindergarten or Strasberg, and pair that pitcher with Donaldson or J.D. Martinez, or should I take three hitters to start and select from the Darvish, Verlander, Robbie Ray range, take two of them with picks four and five. And Chris, I think what stands out is in my drafts, I'm not sure Darvish and Verlander are available at the end of
Starting point is 00:03:36 rounds four and five. Maybe this is a 10-team league. I'm not sure. That changes things. what would really change things for me is if we're talking about Carlos Martinez, Robbie Ray, and Chris Archer at 4 and 5, I'm much more likely to take a pitcher at the 2-3 turn. I just... But to finish my thought, if you think that you can get Verlander or, for me, I like Darvish a lot there, especially Verlander, then it definitely makes sense to wait.
Starting point is 00:04:04 It's a matter of which of those pitchers will be there out of those top 16 or 17. Rerlander Wall. Yeah, that's right. But I think two of them will. Like there will be two good starting pitchers available there who aren't that much worse than the guys you would get at the two-three turn, I would say. Whereas the hitters that will be available at the four-five turn will be significantly worse. Yeah, so what would you do?
Starting point is 00:04:27 Personally, I would take Bumgarner and a pitcher and a hitter. Scott was leaning towards two hitters. Chris, how about you? Three hitters. And I would say, Ash, you got to catch them all. Catch them all. Okay, Scott, I won't apologize. Did I speak for you, Scott, out of turn?
Starting point is 00:04:46 No. I mean, I think definitely with the second pick, I'd like the hitter that was there and not see much difference between the pitchers that were there. Maybe with the third pick I would take a pitcher if, you know, there wasn't a hitter who I liked who was filling a scarce position, like a Sanchez or a Corey Seeger. Like, I don't know that Josh Donaldson, well, maybe. No, no.
Starting point is 00:05:12 I could see going either way, but definitely only one pitcher if you're going to take a pitcher at that two-three turn. Okay. So let's talk about drafting in deep leagues for a little bit. We will get to Scott Sleepers Breakouts and Busts maybe after the 20-minute mark or so, but stay tuned. So what changes for you? And I think Deep Leagues for me is anything more than 12 teams. Shallow leagues is 10 or fewer. Normal league is 12.
Starting point is 00:05:36 That's kind of how we draft and when we talk about ADP and rounds. we usually use 12 teams. What about an 11 team? Yeah, that's like I'm going to say. Like, why do people play? I mean, I get some people play in 11 team roto leagues, but I'm not talking to you people. You guys are just weird. Yeah, you're weird.
Starting point is 00:05:51 We'll do a separate podcast for odd number leagues. But, yeah, so what changes for you when you're drafting in a 14-team league or deeper? I don't go, like, certainly in 10-te-team leagues, and to a certain extent, 12-te-team leagues, especially the 12-te-to-head leagues with a smaller roster size. I'm a little more invested in upside and dismissive of the players who I know don't have it, but are just reliably competent, like an Ian Kinsler, for instance. But when you get in the deeper leagues, those safe guys, I feel like start to look a lot more interesting because things are going to go wrong with a lot of the upside players.
Starting point is 00:06:39 and when they go wrong in a deeper league, there's really no recourse except to hopefully pull off a trade where somebody else has access and you take advantage of it. But you don't want to have to rely on that. You'd rather rely on the waiver wire to fill your holes. And obviously, there's not as much to the waiver wire the deeper your league gets. Yeah, so for me, I care more about position scarcity. Chris has been the kind of guy who's like there's no such thing as position scarcity
Starting point is 00:07:07 except for catcher. And I like it. I mean, I think it's a really interesting theory. I wouldn't go that far in a 14-team league or deeper. I do care more about position scarcity. And, of course, category scarcity, if you're playing in a category or a Roto league. Yeah, and I'll give you practical examples. I'm actually, we're doing a 14-team draft right now.
Starting point is 00:07:27 It started yesterday. We're about three rounds into it. We've done 39 picks. So we're at the end of round three. Pick 12 of 14 to round three. I took Carlos Correa in round two. Well, first I took Corey Klobber, I think, in round one ahead of Bryce Harper, because there's a three outfielder league. So I took Kluber ahead of Harper.
Starting point is 00:07:47 And in round two, I took Kurea ahead of Joey Vado and Freddie Freeman because first base and outfield in this league are going to be the deepest position. So I did prioritize the shallower positions, and I will continue to do that in deep leagues. And in the third round, I took Zach Rankie because I wanted two aces, and I wasn't going to get that second ace. in the fourth round. He will not be available on the way back. So, yeah, position scarcity matters a lot more to me in deeper leagues. Chris, since you've been the guy who says take the best player available more often than not, what do you think about that?
Starting point is 00:08:23 I think you should take the best player available. And if there's, like, if it's a tiebreaker, go for it. Yeah, like, I think that's fine. But first base is definitely the deepest. but you're also more likely to use, you know, in this league, I guess it's only two first basemen, but in a roto league, potentially three. And so all of a sudden, the depth starts to run out once you consider that. Yeah, I just, I don't think, I still, even in a 14-team league, you know, we like the depth at
Starting point is 00:08:58 second base. We like the depth at shortstop. We don't necessarily love the second tier at third base. I'm not really sure I like the depth at Shortstop. I mean, that was... Second base, yeah. That was what we... I mean, there are guys at Shortstop
Starting point is 00:09:14 who will not be world beaters, but who we like. Guys like Orlando Arcea or Tim Anderson, guys that... They're not great, but they do things that are valuable in fantasy. Those guys might go 2020 this season. I'm also going to counter your approach, Adam, with a different point.
Starting point is 00:09:35 And, yeah, I mean, obviously, I'm going to give some thought to position scarcity. I thought the Klubor over Harper move made sense, considering it's a three outfielder league. But I feel like in shallower leagues, that's where I'm probably going to emphasize loading up at the thin positions more, where they actually exist. And I do think Carlos Correa is a big enough advantage over what the majority is going to have at shortstop in a 10-team league. certainly Gary Sanchez at catcher. Because the shallower your league gets, the harder it is to get an advantage anywhere. And if there are positions where you can get a clear advantage, even knowing it's riskier. And I do think Carlos Coray is riskier than most of those elite first basements.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Certainly, Gary Sanchez, like any catcher, is riskier than a hitter you could draft some other position. But again, it's a shallow league. So there are fallback options if things go wrong. And you just need to take advantage of where you can actually get. get an advantage. Yeah, I said something similar about Gary Sanchez yesterday. I agree with that. But I just want to make sure clear, I didn't take Carlos Correa over Bryce Harper.
Starting point is 00:10:44 It has to be close. It's kind of like what Chris says. It's a tiebreaker. I think that it's totally reasonable to take Correa over Joey Vado or Freddie Freeman. And I wouldn't necessarily do it in a 12-team league or a 10-team league, but I would do it in a 14-te-te-league because I can get it. It's reasonable. It has to be reasonable.
Starting point is 00:11:00 It has to be reasonable. value and then I will favor position scarcity. Okay? So we agree on that, right? Yeah. Yep. Yeah. All right.
Starting point is 00:11:08 How about deep league closers? Somebody sent us an email. Who are some, if you're in a deep league and you're looking to make some speculation on closers, who would you draft? AJ Mentor's the number one guy. This is actually something I plan to write today or at least start today. The best non-closers to own at relief pitcher. I'm still working on the headline.
Starting point is 00:11:31 I like it. AJ Mentor is number one for me because I think he eventually is going to be the Braves closer. He's better than Erotus Viscayino, but he's hardly proven at the major league level, so they're going to ease him into that role. The best reliever the system's developed since Craig Kemper. He looks like Billy Wagner when he pitches.
Starting point is 00:11:51 He's going to be a good one. Texas still hasn't figured out what they want to do a closer, but they seem to have decided they don't want Alex Claudio in that role because they like the versatility he offers in earlier innings. So I guess to me that makes Keone Keller the frontrunner, but he's not for sure the guy because he has durability issues. It wouldn't surprise me if the Rangers are ultimately the team that signs Greg Holland, but until that happens, there are a few speculative safe sources there.
Starting point is 00:12:25 A couple others, Matt Bush, maybe Jose LeClerc, maybe Jake Deekman. So that's definitely a bullpen to look at. For the Marlins, assuming Brad Ziegler becomes trade bait, if he doesn't just get old and get bad. Which he was last year. Yeah, he was last year. There are a couple guys there, too. Kyle Bearclaw got some saves down the stretch last year.
Starting point is 00:12:51 I also like Drew Steckenrider a lot. It's a potential save source. He had a big K-per-9 last year. And then we still don't know what's going on in the Dynetlau. back's bullpen. Mm-hmm. And we don't know what's going on
Starting point is 00:13:04 of the Angels bullpen. I have a hunch it's going to be Brad Boxberger. Like, there's no, they haven't tipped their hand
Starting point is 00:13:11 at all, except in the past saying that they still like Archie Bradley as a starter long term, so that's kind of
Starting point is 00:13:18 contributing to my thoughts on the matter. But Brad Boxberger was an all-star closer once upon a time and had a nice bounce-back year last year.
Starting point is 00:13:27 So that's my hunch there. Okay. And for the Angels, I guess I just get into it now. So Blake Parker has a 1620 ERA. Camberjoshan is a 476 ERA. They both struggled on Monday against Seattle.
Starting point is 00:13:40 Their GM, Billy Epler, doesn't seem to care much about spring training stats, and this is what he said about Blake Parker. Quote, the velocity is there. We'll roll with that and what he did last year. Nothing there is sounding an alarm in my head yet. Okay. Yeah. I hope.
Starting point is 00:13:54 I mean, neither one of those guys has like a really long track record of success in the majors, so it's not like, you know, we can just completely ignore any concerns. But yeah, I think that's generally the philosophy most people and teens should have, that you shouldn't worry that much about spring training. Yeah. And I would also point out that apart from that John Heyman going team by team and offering a few notes, I haven't really seen any suggestion that Cambert Rojan is ahead of Blake Parker in that battle. but that being said
Starting point is 00:14:30 seems like the Angels are a team that could wind up with Greg Holland too you know and it could all be a move point and that being said draft Greg Holland he's a good source of a speculation yeah if you're taking someone
Starting point is 00:14:45 late it just seems to make sense the teams I've heard speculated are the angels the Rangers and apparently the Braves have also checked in which wouldn't be so great because that would in the AJ Mentor excitement but but he's He's still going to get a job.
Starting point is 00:14:59 I feel pretty confident in that. With a week out from the season started, will he be ready to go for opening day? I don't know. Short reliever, there's a chance. But I feel pretty confident he's going to get 30 plus saves this year. All right, that's Greg Holland. And that makes what Scott said about the teams that have been connected to him,
Starting point is 00:15:20 makes you breathe a little bit easier if you own Sean Doolittle, if you own Brandon Morrow, other rumors that we heard earlier. So let's move on and see some, you know, we're talking about Blake Snell. We'll talk about the Mets rotation, some other stuff. But let's talk about Seek geek people because it's time to start going to games. All right, I can't wait to go to some Yankees games when the season starts. Got great concerts coming up, basketball playoffs, whatever you want to go to. Hey, March Madness out there.
Starting point is 00:15:46 You want to save 20 bucks. We got a great offer for you. Just download the Seatgeek app, okay? Search for Seatgeek or go to Seatgeek.com. Our promo code is Fantasy. You type in fantasy. you get 20 bucks off your first Seat Geek purchase. And you're already getting discounts on seats because Seat Geek saves money and time by searching
Starting point is 00:16:04 multiple ticket sites to compare prices and to find amazing deals. You're going to get the most bang for your buck because Seekkeek grades every ticket based on value. So you can immediately identify the best seats that fit your budget. And I personally have used Seat Geek. I know, it's double digits by now. I mean, I've used it for basketball, for baseball, for football, for college sports, for concerts. I love seats. It's my go-to app.
Starting point is 00:16:25 all the time. And every purchase is fully guaranteed. You can shop for tickets on Seekkeek with confidence. So again, what we want you to do, next time you need to go to an event, you download the Seekek app, you use the promo code, Fantasy, get 20 bucks off your first Seekkeek purchase. The promo code is Fantasy. So I was trying to go through Scott's Twitter feed yesterday to find out this whole controversy about cake and pie or whatever the heck he was riled up about. And I didn't see it, but I did see some interesting fantasy baseball stuff, which is more important, I'd say. I don't tweet that often.
Starting point is 00:16:59 You're going to find it? I think it must have been replies to people and they weren't in your feed. I still don't know how Twitter works. I could find it for you if you want. Yeah, eventually. That a little bit of a rant there. He was just mad because he doesn't think that casadillas are a sandwich when they obviously are. No, they're not.
Starting point is 00:17:17 They're not a sandwich. Yes, they are. Like, why can't we just accept sandwiches for what we've grown up to know sandwiches as? What? You mean meat and cheese and vegetables inside of two pieces of flour-based receptacle with which you eat them? This is the end of it. This is what I would say to you. Chris Towers, you own a restaurant.
Starting point is 00:17:37 Name the restaurant, you know. The cassidia sandwich restaurant. No, that's not what it's going to be called. You own a restaurant. The sandwich place. It serves everything. Where we serve hot dogs and tacos. This was reply.
Starting point is 00:17:49 This was... Wait, hold on. I have to ask this question to Chris so you can really think about this. You serve casadias. You also serve like ham and cheese, tuna sandwiches, stuff like that. You have a section on your menu that says sandwiches. Are you really putting the cassidyas in that section? Are you really?
Starting point is 00:18:08 I fail to see why I wouldn't. Because you'd put them in a separate section. You haven't made a compelling argument for why a case. Because I've never in my life. You just keep saying it's not a sandwich because it's not a sandwich. I've never seen case. I actually have seen that once before. Oh, Scott.
Starting point is 00:18:23 At a place where there were no other Mexican offerings, they did have a chicken cassidia and it was listed among the sandwiches. It would usually be in appetizers or something because people know not to put it in sandwiches. Yeah. All right. Tell me about your tweet in a second. Let's talk baseball real quick. Met's starting pitchers.
Starting point is 00:18:43 Stephen Matt's had a great start. People are very split on Matt Harvey. Which one of them would you rather take a flyer on? I think Harvey. I think Harvey. because it's still like if there is genuine enthusiasm in Mets camp about the way he's pitching and I will
Starting point is 00:19:02 I'm happy to say like looking at his game log this spring there isn't a single start that you know makes me open my eyes wide there's not one that makes me like shake my head either they're all just kind of fine so I don't know I don't know if the Mets enthusiasm is justified
Starting point is 00:19:20 or if it's just a lot of PR but they have you know, the last year's superstar pitching coach is their manager and a pretty good pitching coach just as a pitching coach. And they both seem excited. And he's twice been, you know, in the best pitcher in baseball conversation. So I'd go, Harvey. But I am now excited about Matt's, the way his last two starts have gone most recently striking out nine and six innings Monday. It seems like they figured out that he wasn't following through on his pitches. The bad habits developed as he was pitching through injury last year.
Starting point is 00:19:51 and that's why he was getting sheled at the start of spring training. But, I mean, we know he has really high ceiling himself. So I would be calling him a sleeper today. My issue with Stephen Mats is that we've never seen him pitch well in the majors without a slider. And he's not throwing that slider. He stopped throwing it last year because it was causing him elbow issues. And he got shelled. His other pitches don't really rate out.
Starting point is 00:20:21 particularly good. Like his change of whiff rate is okay. His curveball whiff rate is really bad. Do you know he's not throwing a slider this spring? Yeah, I haven't seen anything. I've looked, I'm very interested from having watched him. There were no sliders thrown that I saw against the Houston the other day. I've read multiple reports.
Starting point is 00:20:42 None of them have mentioned a slider. So at this point, I don't think he's throwing it. Maybe he is and nobody's talking about it. But it was such a big deal. You know, the development of that slider was something that a lot of people talked about with him, that I have a hard time believing that it wouldn't get mentioned at all. The great thing about both of these guys, Harvey and Matt's, is that it's like your last pick that you're taking them. So there's really no downside.
Starting point is 00:21:10 And I mean, the way Matt's is closing out spring training, like it seems worth it to me. Let's see where this is. Right. And I'm much more skeptical of. of Harvey in particular, and probably both of them than Scott is, but he's so cheap that there's no downside. Okay. So that's Matt's and Harvey. Blake Snell, saw Scott retweeting an article about Blake Snell,
Starting point is 00:21:36 who had some personal issues last year. And if we say that Adrian Beltray is one of the best values in fantasy, I would say Blake Snell has to be right up there on that list, too. 208th overall. Higher than that on our website, I think he could go, let's see, Where are we? 175th, I think. Blake Snell, something like that.
Starting point is 00:21:55 But we all seem to really be very optimistic about him. His last start was great. He's had a nice spring. So, Snell it up. Right? Yeah, he struck out nine in his last spring start too, but it was like in four innings. There's something.
Starting point is 00:22:11 It was, he's been, every start like that has been like that this spring, just striking out everybody in sight. After showing improved control down the stretch last season, And he basically said, yeah, his head wasn't in baseball last year. And that's not the kind of job you can halfway do, you know. Sure. And Gregory Polanco, what did you read about Gregory Polanco? I retweeted Jason Stark just talking about how he's had a great spring.
Starting point is 00:22:42 And it's true, he has three home runs and seems to be making hard contact again, which two years ago was one of the, well, the first half of two years. ago was one of the ways he was really standing out. And yeah, there's a lot of upside there that I think has been largely forgotten because it's been so long since we've seen Gregory Polanco actually play well. But he's pretty young still. And as, yeah, I mean, as a fourth outfielder, I think it's worth the investment. And something that kind of you think about like stolen bases and you think, well,
Starting point is 00:23:20 someone's heading in the heart of the order. Maybe they won't run as much, but this is a Pirates team that was letting Andrew McCutcheon steal 20 to 30 bases every year when he was batting second or third. Gregory Plonko is going to bat third. It looks like based on the way the spring training has gone,
Starting point is 00:23:37 and that means there's going to be plenty of RBI opportunities. They should still let him run. I think there's 30-20 potential here. Between him and Tyler Glass now, like this is why I could see the pirates actually being decent this year. I know everybody wants to write them off as the next 100 lost
Starting point is 00:23:52 team. I don't think they'll lose 100 games. I think they're a very high variance team. I can see them winning 85 or 70. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know about them being over 500, but even if they went like 70, 75 games, that would be fine for their closing situation.
Starting point is 00:24:11 Yeah, I mean, you could see the path to them being an above 500 team. Like, the best case scenario for the middle of the order, the best case scenario for the top the rotation. Like, the best case scenario is good for both, so you could see it. Okay, well, if Gregory Polanco does have a nice season, then, you know, I was just a year
Starting point is 00:24:31 too early. Would you take the, they're going back to back, would you take the relative safety of Adam Eaton or the big upside of Gregory Polanco? Eaton. Like, I don't know which of those is going too early and which is going too late. I think they're both going too late. Okay. Yeah, they're in the 40s in outfield.
Starting point is 00:24:48 They're 150th overall. Yeah, I think they're both great values. And since I don't do sleepers, breakouts, and busts, in a points league, Adam Eaton, to me, is a sleeper. Because he's not going to have an amazing season, but that is a guy who is a lot better in points leagues. He hits doubles, hits a lot of triples, and he should score a lot of runs and get a ton of it bats. Before his injury, he wasn't that different from Christian Yellich. Like a very similar player, not a ton of power, maybe a little less than Yelich, but, you know, 10 to 15 homers, 20-ish steals, a ton of runs,
Starting point is 00:25:23 our batting average. It's a good player. Yeah. All right. So, batting lead off. Scott, what's going on with you and Cake? What are you so fired up about?
Starting point is 00:25:34 I don't know how Cake got thrown into this, but basically, a band cake? Someone suggested to me. Someone suggested to me on Twitter that, you know, cake is just bread. And I had enough at that point based on our series. is soup conversation on the podcast
Starting point is 00:25:51 the other day. Like, why, why does every food have to fit into four different categories? So, I tweeted out, spaghetti is soup guys, so is ice cream. Pizza, obviously a pie. Steak is steak, but so are pork chops, chicken thighs, and codfilets. Not a burger because that's a sandwich,
Starting point is 00:26:07 just like a hot dog. All tacos are salads, but salads like potato and macaroni are also actually soup. See, here's, of course, ridiculous. Here's where you got. Tacos are not salad. Why not? Tacos are a sandwich. Why not? It's lettuce. I don't see anything wrong with other vegetables.
Starting point is 00:26:22 I don't see anything wrong with some meat. You can have meat on a salad. Yeah, everything else you said is perfectly reasonable and fine. But tacos are a sandwich, not a salad. Tacos are a sandwich, not a salad. But it's only one piece of bread for a taco, you know? I mean, if it's a lettuce-less taco. I don't even know why I'm in.
Starting point is 00:26:42 I don't even know why I'm. You sucked me into this. Now I'm actually trying to defend it like it's legitimate. Yes, this is a, I don't. Outstanding stuff. All right. We'll do news and notes in a little bit. We got a Twitter poll.
Starting point is 00:26:53 I said if Mike Trout and Jose Altuva are off the board, who are you taking third overall in a roto or categories league? A, Trey Turner, B, Nolan Aronado, C, a starting pitcher, D, other, for whatever reason the first time I did the poll, nope, none of the Nolan Aronado votes were counting. He was at 0%. So I redid it. We have a much more accurate poll.
Starting point is 00:27:12 I will tell you that in a second. Scott, sleepers, breakouts, busts. I wanted about four of each. Give me some sleepers. sir. About four of each. Well, you already told me that I'm not allowed to use Stephen Matt's because we talked about him. But I'm going to start with Glaber Torres, who I feel like, I feel like other than Ronald de Cunia, we're not really getting excited about any of the other prospects.
Starting point is 00:27:37 It could be very early in the year. And I think Torres is among them. You know, it was kind of sad how the Yankees freed up two spots for him, trading Headley. and Starlin Castro and then kind of filled them as spring training was getting started with with Branded Drury and Neil Walker. But I think part of that was just they've always liked Drury as a potential super utility guy. And they've always, and the price tag for Neil Walker was just too good to ignore the way free agency dragged on. And, you know, Tora's coming back for Tommy John surgery.
Starting point is 00:28:11 Let's give him a chance to make sure he's right. But this was a guy they were gearing up to call up last June before he tore. UCL and top shortstop prospect in baseball, the guy who I feel like is trending the same way Carlos Correy was leading up to his promotion and could be a stud. Could be a stud as soon as he gets the call this year and a shortstop. He won't be playing shortstop in the majors unless D.D. Grorius gets hurt, but he shortstop out of it. Don't ever say D.D. Goreas gets hurt, ever.
Starting point is 00:28:44 If he gets hurt, you may not miss him. Oh, stop that. is one sleeper for Scott. Give me another. And then another and another. Another is the guy we've talked about liking at, Marco Estrada, who was great again in a spring start yesterday.
Starting point is 00:29:04 And I don't know, like, I don't know why. I don't know why everybody's just completely dismissive of him this year. Through May last year, you know, I'm not sure exactly the date, but roughly through May, first 10 start. or so. He looked like a Cy Young candidate. He was awesome. His strikeout rate was more than one per inning, and the whip was typically low. The ERA was, you know, right around three. And then it just fell apart on him. In a way, we haven't seen since earlier in his Milwaukee career, which by the way, it was also mostly very good. But anyway, he discovered this offseason that his arm was
Starting point is 00:29:49 visibly slowing down on his change-up, and the change-up is his make-or-break pitch. I mean, he throws 88 miles per hour on his fast-ville. He needs that change-up to be good. He was tipping it, and it totally makes sense. You see the way his season turned on a dime, and which of those two portions, the first 10 starts are what followed were closer to the Estrada we've seen for the rest of his career? I would say the first 10 starts.
Starting point is 00:30:13 Maybe he won't be in the Sy Young conversation, but for costing nothing. I think he's going to be a reliable option. I think kind of everyone in the Blue Jays rotation is a little undervalued right now. Yeah, yeah. Jay Hap is a pretty good pitcher with a pretty good track record at this point, and he's another guy that just doesn't really get drafted much. And, you know, Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, both have their own issues, but I think they're all kind of values.
Starting point is 00:30:44 They're all kind of like number... low in number two to low and number three pitchers in real life context and that it's hard to get excited about that guy in fantasy but i feel like where we are with pitching and you know the inning shortage yeah i've been harping on it all draft prep season and just can't rely on guys to increase their innings the way they used to like that's certainly not in the case of stroman and estrata like you know they're going to give you ends so that's valuable on its own Glaver Torres, Marco Estrada, two sleepers. I have three or four pitchers, more than that, but these three pitchers who I noted as good spring training stories so far. Lucas Gialito, he was great last time out, but strikeouts other than one outing haven't been great for him. Julio Tehran, who's got an 8.8.3, but 12K is in 20 and 2 thirds. And then Estrada, spring training so far, one walk, 11 strikeouts, and 13 innings, 2080. How would you rank those three, Gialito, Tehran, and Estrada?
Starting point is 00:31:49 I would rank them to Ron Gioledo Estrada, but they are all pitchers who I feel like aren't being appreciated now. Yeah, Gialito's been very impressive in spring training, and there was a fan graphs article the other day, noting that he's lowered his arm's slot. Looks a little like James Paxton from the right side. Seems to be getting better velocity. Then he was late in his call-up last year,
Starting point is 00:32:16 getting a ton of swing strikes. The curveball looks like it was. supposed to, which is a big swing and miss pitch. So I'm starting to get really excited about Lake Cus Julito. I was watching him yesterday. He looked really good. And to Ron, who's basically been untouchable this spring, as much as a pitcher with, you know, less than K-per-9 stuff can be. He worked to refine his arsenal this off-season. His slider's always been his best pitch, but it wasn't quite up to snuff last season.
Starting point is 00:32:41 So he worked on that. And he also developed a change-up that he plans to throw a lot more. So there's more weapons at his disposal. and he didn't just rest on his laurels. He's a little poor man's Jeff Samarsja-e. Yeah. But that's not necessarily the worst thing in the world. Oh, not given who's saying it.
Starting point is 00:33:00 Yeah. Exactly. All right, Torres Estrada and more sleepers? Okay, so what about Jason Kipness? Is that too spring-centric? And I understand, like, he homered six times early and hasn't much since then. But it's just kind of like,
Starting point is 00:33:21 you look at Jason Kepden's track record, and he's very productive, basically every year, except the two years where he was battling injury. There was no bleak in 2014. There was a hamstring that limited him to 90 games and put him on the DL a couple times last year. One thing he said early this spring was that, like, when you're injured like that and you're trying to play through injury,
Starting point is 00:33:45 you spend so much time getting treatment that you're not able to do your normal pregame routines, your normal video work, your normal cage work. And maybe some guys, it seems like some guys are better at playing through injuries than others. They just don't need that prep time. But Jason Kiptis, apparently, is somebody who does, and he's healthy right now. I mean, just two years ago, it's a 40-double, nearly 20-homer, nearly 15-steal season.
Starting point is 00:34:12 I mean, there's particularly those middle-infield of the leagues. He's somebody who is definitely worth drafting late. Kipness or Kinsler? I'll still say Kinsler, but I don't think there's a lot separating them. All right. One more sleeper. How about Tanner Roark? Another pitcher there.
Starting point is 00:34:32 Yep. He loves him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, part of it's, again, the innings. Very reliable innings pitcher with a great offense backing him in an environment where that in none of itself, is just hard to find.
Starting point is 00:34:48 But he was really good in terms of ERA, in terms of WIP, and obviously getting the wins when you do that. And you pitch the endings he does for the Nationals in 2014 and 2016. Last year wasn't, but it sounds like he had some mechanical issues. In 2015, he wasn't, but that was the year they were jerking him around, like in the bullpen and the rotation back and forth. So, like, I feel like they're an experience. excuses to make for his bad seasons, and because the good season happened twice over,
Starting point is 00:35:23 I think it could happen again. Tanner Roark. Tanner Roark or Marco Estrada? Roarck. All right. So it's Torres, Estrada, Kipness, and Roark for Scott. But there are a lot more sleepers. You can see them on the website.
Starting point is 00:35:34 Let's go to the breakouts. The breakouts are the most excited. I love breakouts. I mean, you've got to get some of these guys on your team. You've got to have a little bit of Bregman or Benintendi for Heath or Raphael Devers. or some of the guys Scott's about to talk about. You got to get some breakouts. These guys are going to have better seasons than the sleepers.
Starting point is 00:35:53 I think that's what separates them. Like sleepers and breakouts, they both have draft value. We think they're being drafted a little too late. But the breakouts are the ones that can have the much bigger seasons. So, Scott, who are some of your favorites? So this one's going to get Chris excited. Kevin Gosman, I think, is finally ready to turn the corner because the story with him was always a really good split-finger fastball,
Starting point is 00:36:14 doesn't care to use it until mid-season. And you look at his career splits, first half, second half, dramatic difference. I mean, last year was especially so, but throughout his career, that's been the case. He decided to start throwing earlier this offseason because he wanted to have his full arsenal ready from the get-go. Imagine that. And he's been throwing a splitter this spring, been getting good results with it. I think what we saw from him over his final, let's see what it was. well, just from the All-Star break,
Starting point is 00:36:46 and I think if you narrow it down further, the numbers look even better. Oh, here it is. Okay, his final 19 starts last year. That was when he first started throwing the splitter 25% of the time. Obviously, it wasn't always 25% of the time thereafter, but it was up.
Starting point is 00:37:01 339 ERA, 1-2-1 whip, 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Probably shocking, looking at the overall numbers for Gosman last year. That tells you how bad he was before he started featuring the splitter. but in 19th starts, he did what looks like number two fantasy pitcher type numbers. That's reason to get excited. Cool. Kevin Gossman. You like it better than Roark?
Starting point is 00:37:26 I do. Okay. Certainly has more upside. Right. Give me another breakout, Scott White. Another breakout is a player who, I guess he's kind of a post-type sleeper, too. Expect him to get sent to the minor. to begin the year, but had a really strong finish
Starting point is 00:37:46 the spring training. That's David Dahl. Yeah, he started to hit a little bit better, too. Yeah, he had like an 0 for 19 start I'm just pulling that number out of the blue, but it was something really bad like that. So the batting average is still down. The last three weeks or so, he's been great. And you've been running a lot, too, which is, I think, an undervalued part of his skill set,
Starting point is 00:38:09 particularly at a time when everybody's short on steals or at least feels like they're short on steals. Obviously, Coorsfield is his home. We saw what he could do as a hitter two years ago. Today, he's probably better than both Harardo Parra and Ian Desmond. It's just going to take the Rockies realizing it, which I think will happen sooner than later. I think something that people don't really realize about David Daw.
Starting point is 00:38:33 He played 149 games at AA and stole 38 bases. Like you said, it's an unappreciated aspect of his skill set, but that's like way better than I think. anybody gives him credit for. I think people may be look at him as like a 15 to 20 steel guy. There could be 25 to 30 steel potential there. All right, two more breakout, Scott White. Man, I wonder if I'm going to disagree with any of these. Getting to some fistfights over it. Go ahead, Scott. Well, I don't know. How about this one? Tyler Glass now.
Starting point is 00:38:59 I mean, I can't really. He's going so late that I can't really disagree with it. But I'm just so afraid of walks. And boy, did he walk, what, like seven batters per nine last year in the majors? In the majors. Sure, he's, of course, he's a sleeper. Of course, Tyler Glass now is a sleeper. In the minors, though, really figured that out. I mean, he'd been a guy who had always walked the 4.5 batters per nine in the minors.
Starting point is 00:39:22 That was always an issue. But he got sent to the miners last year, and 13 starts there after getting sent down. 2.6 walks per nine. And his final seven starts, it was 1.8 walks per nine. He was a control artist. He's had an up and down spring, but when he's been on. on the strikeouts have been through the roof as you'd expect um he's talked you know they're working with him on the best ways to attack hitters at that high level and only recently only in his last
Starting point is 00:39:56 spring start was he um trying to make hitters uncomfortable by going in and uh it got good results with it like that you'd think a guy with his you know 98 miles per hour it actually looks harder because he's 6'8 and he has these long arms. Like, you'd think a guy like that would have been busting guys inside from the get-go, but he wasn't, apparently. So that's something that could help him break out. I don't know that he's, like with doll,
Starting point is 00:40:21 I don't know that he's going to have a job from the get-go, but it's... Although, he's not going to take long. He survived the first round of cuts. He did. So that's a good sign. He's still in the mix. And even though he's had an up-and-down-spring,
Starting point is 00:40:33 like you said, 11-urn runs and 12-and-third innings, that's bad, officially. One star was awful. A lot of that was one. Seven runs. One's in one start. Only five walks in 58 batters faced. Even when he hasn't been good, the control has been fine.
Starting point is 00:40:49 Yeah. So that's a very promising sign. That's important. I need to see it first from the poor control guys. But, you know, because that's why I didn't buy into Blake Snell at the beginning of last year. And that's why I needed to see it from Carlos Rodon because it just takes them a while. But if Glassnell has shown it, except for in his how many innings last year, he thought, 62 innings with 44 walks last year in the majors.
Starting point is 00:41:14 You know, if he hasn't shown it, if he's shown it enough in the minors and in spring training that you guys are buying into it, then sure. This guy's got a lot of talent and... It's just, I think, totally within the spirit of breakout where this guy could go from being almost valueless to being one of the 10 pitchers, best pitchers in baseball inning for inning.
Starting point is 00:41:33 Yeah. There's realistically that kind of potential for Glass. And I think you can say the same thing for Lucas Golito. and it's important to remember, you know, Alex Reyes is considered the top pitching prospect in baseball still after coming back from Tommy John surgery. We're going to get excited about him whenever he does get his chance. It's another guy who had control issues in the minors. Okay. Oh, they just don't care about the throwing strikes these days. One more.
Starting point is 00:41:55 Blake Snell? Like, yeah, exactly. Although Blake Snell actually didn't really have control issues in the minors. He just has in the majors. Oh, really? Right? That wasn't great in the minors. I don't know that it was as bad as glass now, but it was like,
Starting point is 00:42:08 I want to say it was a lot of like 3.8s per 9. Well, I'll tell you guy who's had a nice spring training in terms of control. You're right. Is the Nelson Lemette, you know? He's probably more sleeper than a breakout, but he's got a 3.30-80 RA in spring, but three walks, 11 strikeouts, and 10 and 2-thirds. And that's a big deal for LeMette. He needs to cut down on the walks, and so far he has.
Starting point is 00:42:30 Yesterday was like his first. I think only his third official start. Yeah. And it's only one of any real length. So we don't have a lot of data from him this spring. But apparently he's really trying to develop that third pitch. I think I was seeing on Twitter last night and there wasn't, I feel like these beatwriters take off whenever their team plays a night game
Starting point is 00:42:50 because there wasn't a lot of stuff written even this morning about Lamet's start last night. But I feel like I was seeing on Twitter last night. He was throwing a curve ball. Yeah, that's the pitch he's working on right now as the curveball. He kind of had a show me change up last season and they're just, they're looking for something to get lefties out. and it doesn't really matter which pitch it is. The fastball slider combination for him is as good.
Starting point is 00:43:15 It's good as anyone in baseball, really, in terms of the results he generated last year, but he had like a 300 point OPS split versus lefties. And, you know, until he can fix that, it's going to be a problem. But if he can, that's another guy who has top 20 upside. So that's the Nelson Lemette. And he, okay, struggles against lefties. He faced the Reds last night. It had a great start, but did not face Joey Botto, so that helps.
Starting point is 00:43:40 We'll do busts tomorrow since we're running out of time. So, Scott, give me one more breakout. Okay, this is going back to breakouts 1.0, but I feel like it's worth getting into again, based on the spring he's had. Nick Castellanos, I think, is about to take a stud turn here. It may have already happened in the second half last year. His numbers then 299 batting average, 16 home runs, 882 OPS, over those final two and a half months.
Starting point is 00:44:07 16 home runs in two and a half months. That's impressive on its own. But what's great about that, the 299 batting arms, the 882 OPS, 316 BAPIT. It was basically the same that it was in the first half. And with the quality of contact he was making, question Comerica Park or not. From what we can tell, it was some high quality contacts, like Freddie Freeman level, line drive rate, and just crushing the ball. Totally by the increase of power, too. Like, if that much power from Castellanos yields that kind of batting average, I mean, he could be a top five third baseman.
Starting point is 00:44:47 All right. The Castellanos. So sleepers were Torres, Estrada, Kipness, and Roark, breakouts, Gosman, Dahl, Glassnow, and Castianos. And always more on the website, CBSports.com. We will do CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. and we will do some busts tomorrow. News and notes. Well, first of all, the Twitter poll.
Starting point is 00:45:08 Let's go back to that. If Mike Trout and Jose Altova are off the board, who are you taking third overall in a Roto or Categories League? And Nolan Aronado is your winner in a landslide, 57%. Trade Turner, 25%, a starting pitcher 8%, and other 10%. So, you know what made me feel a little bit better about going with Aronado.
Starting point is 00:45:32 I'm with the people. but I know you guys like both of you put your fingers on the scale on this one because I saw you guys talking about oh the results aren't right Nolan Aeronado blah blah you put your finger on the scale
Starting point is 00:45:43 I have trade Turner I have trade Turner the results are skewed I think the results may be skewed because the second poll was a response to everybody being like why can't I vote for Aeronata now
Starting point is 00:45:55 the Aeronado lovers came back in droves while everybody you responded to the first poll was like eh why bother you're giving a giving me way too much credit on Twitter. Our votes don't count. All right, news and notes.
Starting point is 00:46:10 Aaron Boone said he will rotate the DH for the Yankees and that John Carlos Stanton will deach quite a bit, which is nice because he gets injured quite a bit. Justin Turner does not need surgery on his wrist. Does that... We still don't know what the timetable is, so it doesn't change my opinion on it Because wrist injuries still, they can ruin seasons.
Starting point is 00:46:35 We don't know the timetable, but I feel like we kind of know the timetable, because it's always pretty much the same for a broken bone. If there's no displacement, if there's no surgery, if it's just immobilize it and wait, four to six weeks. Freddie Freeman didn't have surgery on his wrist, right? But he broke it in seven places. Like, it was a really bad, like, it was a significantly worse break, it sounds like than Justin Turner.
Starting point is 00:46:59 And I know I'm only guessing, too. But I was kind of surprised by the reaction I got. I hadn't seen what you'd written about Turner yet or heard it, Chris. But I was kind of surprised last night when I was like, you know, I'm not really moving him down to my third base ranking. I moved him down in my top 300, but there was already such a big gap between him and Devers that. Like, I don't think it's going to be that much longer of a weight than Acuna, and we're not really downgrading him for the weight.
Starting point is 00:47:25 And I just got totally crushed for that on Twitter, which is fine. Acuna, like, we think there are reasons for Acuna's rise that aren't necessarily tied to how good we think he is likely to be this season. It's all hype and upside, and Justin Turner doesn't have that hype. Well, but we,
Starting point is 00:47:45 but we buy into that hype and upside, right? We want Acuna at his going rate. Do we not? I do. I don't. Okay. I do. I think Justin Turner is going to be better than Acuna this year. Like I think that like I could certainly see Acuna being better, but the odds favor Justin Turner being the better hitter of the two of them. I definitely think the version of Justin Turner that I thought we would get this season would be better than Ronald Cunia. I thought he was a value where he was going.
Starting point is 00:48:12 I just really, really worry about guys coming back from wrist and hand injuries. We've seen that just completely derail seasons, even when guys are healthy enough to play. You know, okay, maybe Frey Freeman's. form of injury to rear the season. I don't know that there's anything special about this one. I feel like most times a player gets plunked on the hands. He serves his time. He comes back. He's fine. There are a lot of examples of that not being true. And it might just be anecdotal. It might just be cherry-picking, but Freddie Freeman last year saying he felt like he was swinging a wet newspaper. He also had a 900 OPS after retired. Yeah, it was like an 860.
Starting point is 00:48:49 890 from the day he returned. But that wasn't as good. Like that was a step back from the level he established in 2016. But he was like a 1200 OPS before. Right, but I'm not even talking about the 1200. I'm talking about the level he established in 2016 after we saw that he broke out. We thought he was like a thousand OPS guy. George Springer was another guy, came back from a fractured wrist. He hit 300, but the power was completely gone. Ian Desmond last year, I know that was a Hammett bone, but that's still in the wrist area. John Carlos Stanton's 2016 season, I think, was completely ruined by the Hammett bone fracture in 2015. It can take... A full year to come back from me.
Starting point is 00:49:29 But a lot of times it doesn't. Sometimes. Sometimes. This is one of those situations where I've sat in this seat for so long and made so many cases for so many different things and obviously regretted some of them. Like this is one of those where I went through a stretch where I was like, oh, hand injuries are awful. And more often than not, I felt silly because the guy came back and he was fine. Like I don't have a lot of good examples of that. I just...
Starting point is 00:49:53 Just the history of doing this podcast. Next up, Jose Abraeu has a hamstring strain. Do we have to downgrade Jose Abraeu right now? Not like right now. They're calling them day-to-day. I mean... The problem is... The hamstring injuries is like day-to-day turns into week-to-week pretty quickly.
Starting point is 00:50:10 I've seen some seasons wrecked by hamstring injuries before. Jason Kipnis last year. That's what I just said. Those hamstring injuries are bad. That is not what you just said. I just said day-to-day can turn into week to week. That is completely different than what Scott just said. Scott said...
Starting point is 00:50:25 I would be... But Scott was not actually arguing in good faith. Oh, okay. So I think we'll know more about this Abraeu injury tomorrow, but if I'm drafting, like, right now. If you had fractured his hamstring, I'd be worried. It's seven different places. Yeah. Yeah, if I were drafting right now, I'd be a little nervous, I guess.
Starting point is 00:50:43 You know, because he was just running to first base, right? I mean, that's kind of scary. But Baltimore signed Alex Cobb to a four-year $60 million deal. Is he better than... Would you rather have Marco Estrada, Tana Roar, Kevin Gosman, Alex Cobb, where does he fit in with the guys we've talked about? Probably towards the back of that group. He doesn't have the safety of some of the safe guys. He doesn't have the upside of Kevin Gosman.
Starting point is 00:51:07 So it's just kind of like, all right, like the issue last year he didn't have the feel for the change up, right? And that was kind of hindering him all year as he was coming back from Tommy John's surgery. He's not safe, given the injury history and the ballpark he plays in and the division he plays in. And I'm not sure he has like a huge upside. Yeah, I feel like he's closer to the Lynn range and not as safe as Lynn, I feel like. Also, there's reports he's going to begin the year in the minors to get up to speed. That's Alex Cobb, who had a 246 ERA at home last year, 472 on the road, and now he's in a much worse ballpark.
Starting point is 00:51:42 Alex Cobb. Michael Conforto played center field in a minor league game. He's making good progress. And Yueness Pesestis is back in the Mets lineup. Luke Gregerson is back, a probable closer, I guess, for the Cardinals. He hasn't allowed a hit. He's only pitched in three innings this spring, but do you think Gregerson opens the year as the Cardinals closer?
Starting point is 00:52:00 That's still my guess, yeah. The Mazzellate quote where people kind of felt like maybe the Cardinals were leaning in Dominic Leone's direction began with because Gregerson's injured, right, when asks who would be the closer if the season started today. Obviously, this is a lot of making, like really reading, between the lines here. But I feel like what he was saying was,
Starting point is 00:52:29 well, Gregerson is injured today, so obviously he couldn't be our closer today. Matt Carpenter did play third base yesterday, so that's good to see. The Marlins' starting pitcher Dan Strelie has forearm tightness. Was Dan Strelie on your... Well, he's probably an N-aloney guy, but he was having a good spring, I think.
Starting point is 00:52:46 Stream everyone when they have a series against the Marlins. Their starting rotation looks like it's going to be Jose Orania, Justin Nicola. Ostrasamer Despagne and Eliezer Hernandez. You have been just butchering names here. And it's terrific. Odrysimer Despagier. And I'm pretty sure it's Urania.
Starting point is 00:53:06 Or it might be Urrana. I thought it was Arrania. I don't think there's a till day there. Either way. Dan Strayley, noted strikeout artist Dan Strayley, leads this bunch in career K-per-9 with 7.8. Okay. Nobody else is within two strikeouts per nine of him.
Starting point is 00:53:24 They're bad. It's going to be amazing. MLB.com shows an Inye over the end for Arania. They never said it. They never said it on the broadcast. Maybe they're all saying it wrong, okay? Maybe. Irvin Santana's timetable was closer to 12 weeks from the injury rather than two weeks from when he got her,
Starting point is 00:53:41 rather than 10 weeks, excuse me. So push him back a little bit. J.T. Raamuto, confident about being ready for opening day despite a bruise back. So that's good news for the Marlins. Yeah. Michael Brantley will make his Cactus League debut today. There was a note on Joey Gallo that I saw Chris talking about on Twitter about his new approach with two strikes, and he's not striking out as much in spring, right?
Starting point is 00:54:01 Joey Gallo? Yeah, he has only struck out nine times in 45 plate appearances, which we can write off as small sample size, except his best stretch last season was 11 strikeouts in 45 plate appearances. And it's not to say Joey Gallo is not going to strike out. He's going to strike out a buttload. But if he can just be like the fifth worst strikeout hitter in baseball instead of the worst, Then you're talking about a 32% strike rate, and then it's a lot easier to see him hitting 240 with, you know, a ton of upside. I wrote about it on CBSSports.com yesterday.
Starting point is 00:54:35 Where? If you, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. If you just project him out to 650 plate appearances last season, just what he did, you're talking about 50 homers and, like, 190 combined runs in RBI and 10 stolen bases. Okay, and then the Nationals sent Victor Robles to the miners. Tomorrow we'll talk more about good and bad spring training, but I think the Angels bullpen note was interesting. We've talked about Gialito, Taran, Estrada, and LeMette. Joey Votto's having a terrible spring, but don't worry.
Starting point is 00:55:08 He is as many walks of strikeouts. He had a terrible spring last year. I think we really got to talk about Robbie Ray, five walks yesterday, and just a very interesting player. So when Heath gets back tomorrow, we'll let Scott and Heath get mad at each other over Robbie Ray. Got to talk about Miguel Suno. Not again. Got to talk about Miguel Suno.
Starting point is 00:55:24 He was on Heath's bus list. He's having a great spring. We still don't know about the suspension. And Austin Barnes is having a terrible spring. He has Moni Grendal is having a great spring. So that's interesting. So that'll be tomorrow. Let's finish with some emails from Michael.
Starting point is 00:55:41 Who's a better sleeper in an NL only or a deep league? Louis Brinson or Matt Kemp? Brinson, obviously. All right, from Kevin or Kev. I know of Robles and Acuna Are there any other prospects that will start day one in AAA Because of service time And get like a May call-up that I should consider drafting.
Starting point is 00:55:59 Scott, have you written anything about this? Funny, you should ask that. It was going to It was going to go up yesterday But there was some family stuff I was dealing with it. Oh, it is up now. All right, great. The 10 prospects,
Starting point is 00:56:13 apart from Acuna, the 10 prospects most were stashing in fantasy baseball and obviously time table is a big part of that. We don't know exactly when any of these guys are coming up, but guys like Austin Hayes, who is the favorite for Wright Field, Ryan McMahon, glaver Torres, who I mentioned earlier,
Starting point is 00:56:35 you could see it happening sooner than later. There are just placeholders there in those spots right now. Even Victor Robles, who you just mentioned, I feel like Michael Taylor is basically a place. holder who performed over his head last year. And probably won't happen again. Next email is actually a tweet from Joey. Should Jose Reyes be ranked higher?
Starting point is 00:56:57 24 steals and 15 homers last year. Great Spring so far. Should Jose Reyes be ranked higher? I have drafted Jose Reyes like three or four times already, and I never feel great about it, but it's always like, well, I need a little bit of speed or I need a utility guy. And, you know, he's not going to play every day. but yeah he's probably going to steal 20 bases by the end of the season. What's the shallowest league you've drafted him in?
Starting point is 00:57:22 Oh, probably. It's mostly been 15 team leagues that I've drafted him in. Yeah, I like him there. Yeah. 12th team doesn't seem worth it. It doesn't seem necessary, first of all, because you know, like if he was to find his way into every day at bats, he'd be out there.
Starting point is 00:57:38 But yeah, I feel like he's been an underrated option the last two years. More power in this environment than he even had in this prime. Jose Erez. All right, this is Chris in New York. I can keep two of the following. Who is the odd man out? Francis Martez, Matt Manning, or Hunter Green? Prospects question.
Starting point is 00:58:00 Are the Astros going to trade Matt Manning? Or Francis Martis? No. He doesn't really... But he will, right? Like, you don't think he's going to get bumped... As highly regarded as he is, getting bumped to the bullpen. I mean, maybe they'll trade him.
Starting point is 00:58:14 Yeah, he was kind of thought of as a bullpen guy, though, maybe. They're all good, first of all. Martis is closer probably doesn't have been like Martez is closer Green has the biggest ceiling So I think Manning's the odd man now Email from Don Dear Michael, Santino
Starting point is 00:58:28 Frederico and Tom Are those like Godfather Them names? Yes they are They're Corleones I believe Something or they're god It's godfather I got a sleeper for you
Starting point is 00:58:42 Marco Gonzalez with Seattle He's not being mentioned at all Ever anywhere Hey Hey He was just in the latest spring takeaway. Hey. He gets mentioned every blue moon.
Starting point is 00:58:54 He is someone, I think, who added some velocity last season after the trade to Seattle. Might have lowered his arm slot, actually, I think. So he's minor league numbers are very good. He was kind of a fringy prospect. He had a really good showing for the Cardinals in 2014 and then a slew of arm problems after that. So I think the biggest thing is just that he's healthy. I don't think he has like a Stephen Matt's type ceiling or anything like that. But, you know, he could be solid, a solid, like, number four in real life, number, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:59:32 I could see him being like a number seven or eight in fantasy potentially. All right. And Gary Schaefer from Oswego, Illinois, says, I have a good suggestion for getting rid of the antiquated Mendoza line. Actually, now we call it the Madozier line, would be to say that the player is hitting in the gallows. In reference to, obviously, third baseman for the Texas Rangers, Joey Gallo. Who hits around the Mendoza line, or in the Galloes, yes. Can I just point something out about the Madoger line? We all believe Anthony Rizzo is well north of the Madozier line, right?
Starting point is 01:00:03 In terms of draft quality in the first 30 picks, yes. Not the actual Mendoza line, yes. Would you like to know who of Brian Dozier and Anthony Rizzo outperformed the other one in Roto each of the last two seasons before taking into account position scarcity. He's been top 15. It's Dozier. It's Dozier both times.
Starting point is 01:00:26 Yeah. So just wanted to point that out, and that's kind of I failed to bring that up in the Anthony Rizzo second base discussion we had the other day that like, we might move Anthony Rizzo up a lot if he's second base eligible, but Brian Dozier actually does play second base
Starting point is 01:00:43 and doesn't seem to get that. And I get that the batting average and he doesn't, he appears, risky because he's a late breakout but like this is three years well i mean like five years of being a very good fantasy player yeah just just wanted to give brian dozer some love since we've we have given him he's on the right side of the name's sake of the me yeah line the guy's on the right side the guy's been a top 15 hitter he's the he's the cutoff he's the cutoff yeah but he's probably a little undervalue yeah all right then uh let's uh let's wrap it up we're done for today
Starting point is 01:01:18 back tomorrow helping you get ready for your drafts announcing podcast leaguers probably see you then

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