Fantasy Baseball Today - 03/24 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Friday Smorgasbord and Mailbag

Episode Date: March 24, 2017

We've got a little bit of everything - position battles, buy or sell, first round decisions - for you on today's show including a Jose Altuve vs. Paul Goldschmidt debate, reaction to Clayton Kershaw's last start and the positions we like to prioritize in drafts ... A lot of talk about H2H categories leagues and how to fill out your pitching staff ... We touch on late-round picks with upside like Ben Revere and Byung Ho Park and discuss any players whose stock may have changed during the World Baseball Classic ... 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

Sean Mnayakley drinks a cola. Friday, March 24th, you are ready to draft. We are ready to help you. Welcome to fantasy baseball today. Adam Azer, Keith Cummings, Chris Towers. Gentlemen, are you ready to rock and roll? Absolutely. Yes.

I'm wide awake. My hot water heater went out last night, so I got to take a cold shower this morning. I read something about how this is supposed to be really good for your mood and for your body to take cold showers. What? I'm not feeling it. No. I don't buy that for a while. one second. We are going to talk about a lot of things, a little bit of a shmorgasbord

today. I'm going to throw out some stats and find out if they matter or not. I've got some late-round outfielders and just general hitters that are having big springs, and what does that mean? We're going to look at Jonah Carey's breakout list. Only one guy from Jonah Carey's breakout list. Someone we haven't talked about a lot so far. Is he really a breakout? And plenty of your emails, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. First of all, we're doing a slow draft right now, an extended draft three hours on the clock because it's hard to get everybody together so we're just we got this draft all three of us are in it it's a 14 team league and i had the fourth pick and chris had the fifth pick and you know it's just funny that it's march 24th we've done all these mocks i even brought this up on

the podcast categories league mock draft yesterday and i'm just thinking do i really like jose al tuve more than paul goldsmith i'm not sure that i do and in this points league yesterday i went with goldsmith and I'm going to say that I like Goldschmidt better in a points league, Al Tuve better in a Roto league. I get why you're saying that. I'm going to tell you why you're wrong. Well, no, I get why you're saying. It's because of the walks.

It's that, and it's also like the only reason why we're drafting Altuve over Goldschmidt is last year. The previous years before that, it was clearly Goldschmidt. And unless he is really becoming more of a groundball hitter and last year wasn't the fluke, and even with that last year, he still was great. Goldschmidt before last year. What? Why was it clearly Goldschmidt? Because he was much better.

He was just better. Because Jose Al Tuvei hadn't... Well, no, no, no. I'm legitimately asking what the edge was in Goldschmidt's favor in points leagues. I would just think all the home runs and all the run production and he was just better. He was so much better than Al Tuve in 2015 in points leagues. And he was about 40 points worse than Al Tuve in 2016 in points leagues. I would just say it's almost as simple as Paul Golds.

Schmidt is older than Jose Al-2V. And Paul Goldschmidt had already turned into a star, and we were still thinking Al-Tuvi was going to. I don't. I don't think it's that simple. I don't. I think Houston's lineup got a lot better last year. And I think that helps. He went from being an 85-run guy in his previous two years with about 60 RBI to 200 combined.

I don't think that was necessarily a fluke. He moved back into the third spot in the order, so he drove in more runs. but he's got a better situation behind him too. Here's my argument against that, Adam, is you might like Paul Goldschmidt better than Altuve and think Paul Goldschmidt's going to score more points than OZaltuve this year. But you don't like Goldschmidt over Migi or Encarnacione or Votto,

whichever those three is your favorite, more than you like Altuve over Murphy, do you? Well, no. And actually, I didn't think Encarnacion was going to make it back to me in the second round. he did. So I see what you're saying. This was a 14-team league. So I decided to go with the first baseman because I thought second base was a deeper position. And then I ended up with Al-Tuvae and Miguel Cabrera. Right. And Miguel Cabrera and Edwin and Carnaccio fell to his point in the draft

that I wasn't expecting. But yes, I understand what you're saying. You take Al-Tubei over Goldschmidt because you think you can get one of those good first baseman that you just mentioned, Votto, Miggi, Encarnazion, and I think Encarnacion is the most realistic by far. But I was just thinking, like, I feel like I've changed my mind so late in the process here, but I just don't really know. Like, last year is the only reason why Altuve goes ahead of Goldschmidt. In a points league, I get it. Like, he's probably a safer bet for steals, safer bet for batting average.

Fine. But yeah, you know what? It was interesting. And I asked Chris, after I took Goldschmidt, he took Altuv. I said, who would you have taken? And you said probably Altovae. Yeah, I honestly think there's a four-way tie for second place after Mike Trout in both formats, pretty much. Who's the four?

It's not a... Aronado? Yeah. Aronado and Bats, I think. The four of them are pretty much in the same tier. Here's another thing I'm noticing. There is someone in every draft that loves Freddie Freeman. Freddie Freeman went ahead of Encarnaz.

Freddie Freeman went ahead of Miguel Cabrera in this draft we were doing right now. Freddie Freeman went ahead of Encarnacion in the categories league we did on the air yesterday. And there's someone who loves Kershaw and is willing to take Kershaw with a top five or six pick. It seems like he's going to go earlier. Both of them are going to go earlier than we're used to or that when we want to see. But I will say this about Kershaw. Did you guys see his start yesterday? I was just watching the highlights.

He's ridiculous. Yeah, he struck out like 11 in, I don't have it. Six innings. Six innings, two hits, no runs. One walk, 11 strikeouts against Texas. Is that okay? Is it okay to take him top five, top six now? I would probably not take him in the top five,

but I think it, after that, I think he's fine. Yeah, I'm not, I'm just not going to take a pitcher that early. All righty. Does this matter? Does this matter? Yonis Espitus, went super late in our categories, like round seven or something yesterday. And I just want to mention, 2015, Cespitas was a top five outfielder.

2016, if he had played, I don't know why, this random amount of games, if he had played 152 games, which you think is realistic, Cespittus would have been the number eight outfielder in points leagues. Bottom line, with the Mets, Yona Cesspitas is a star, and he's drafted, you know, like 15th or so among outfielders. Does that matter to you that he's been better than that as a MET? Not as a met. It started before he got there.

It started with Detroit. But I think he's made real changes to his swing that have greatly benefited him over the last two years. I will say he's only played more than 150 games twice in his five seasons. All right. I mean, that tier of outfielders was a pretty solid one when J.D. Martinez and Ian Desmond were healthy. now it's Cespitus, Carlos Gonzalez, Christian Yelich,

Gregory Polanco, am I forgetting anyone there? No, Will Myers, if he's outfield eligible, but he's, oh, McCutcheon. Cespotis, is there anyone that I mentioned that you like better than Cessbitus?

I think you said you have McCutcheon ahead of him. Cargo. I have McCutcheon ahead of him. I think I have Carlos Gonzalez ahead of him. But I think Cespitas is actually being a little undervalued this season. I feel like I've gotten him a handful of times in some really good spots. All right.

Heath, does this matter to you? Rajay Davis led the American League in steals last year with 43 steals and 49 attempts. Davis was the top 30 outfielder in Roto last year. Yeah, look, he's getting up there in age, obviously. Rajay Davis is 36 years old. Now he's with Oakland, could be leading off for them. And he's legit 40 steel guy. At least he's got that ability.

We've seen it basically very consistently over his last seven years. Yeah, are people talking about Rajay Davis as a late-round steel source? I saw him in our AL-only Roto League. He definitely went for more money than I was expecting. And I have seen him drafted not so much in our draft when we've done some drafts with guys from outside of CBS. I don't know that this matters as much to me for Rajai Davis as it does is just a good reminder that there are,

there's a lot of steals potential that's going undrafted and a lot of drafts. Is there really... One of those guys, Travis Jankowski and Manuel Margo, two of those guys in San Diego, there's some guys out there that don't really help you with anything else, but could definitely help you in steals

if you fall behind there. I'm going to throw another guy out there that could help you in steals, but I don't know what his role's going to be. but the Liono to Shields for Texas has nine steals in spring. What is your take on this? It might impact Jerks and ProFar. What's going on?

I don't think it will impact Jerks and ProFar, but if Jurex and ProFar is kind of what he's been in the major leagues, if he doesn't give them what they're hoping for in the first couple months, then that may impact the Liono to Shields. I think he's probably at the very best to start the season, a bench guy that pinch runs. All right. And I would imagine they're more likely to give Joey Gallo a look at D.H.

If not, ProFar. They've been, I will say they've been talking him up in the spring. He's made changes to his approach that the team seems happy with. A very realistic scenario for the Rangers is that ProFar sits against lefties and platoons with Ryan Rua. Yeah. So keep that in mind. But ProFar is probably a guy that I should take a flyer. Because, like, you barely have...

I don't think you have to draft Jurex in ProFar. He could be your last pick. So, yeah, you never know with a guy who once was the top prospect. A couple more outfielers that have some speed, one more than the other, that I wanted to mention. San Francisco outfielder DeNard Spann. Is he going to be their lead-off hitter? And Span had a bad year last year. But before that, he was really a points league.

kind of standout, like top 15 outfielder in points leagues two years ago. And Ben Revere. Ben Revere continues to have a good spring. You know, if he's able to be an everyday player for the Angels, Ben Revere is going to be an absolute must-owned in Roto leagues, assuming he's not terrible like he was last year. But these are two guys, De Nards Span and Ben Revere, who are looking to bounce back,

and were once kind of mid-round picks, like 10th, 11th, 12th-round picks, depending on the format. I would rather take a flyer on Revere, I think. But I think Span is fine. He's got a good enough track record that last season isn't necessarily scaring me off of him entirely. Yeah. In league specific, I'd probably value Span higher just because I feel like if I have to bet on one of them being better this year, I'd bet on Span. But if I was betting on one of them having an actual major fantasy impact, it would be Revere.

That makes sense. All right, so just keep those guys on your radar and a couple other things here. Bionho Park is having a great spring, and Scott wrote about Bionho Park for the twins, who was just awful last year. But he gave a couple of reasons why a park may have been bad. One, wrist injury that he played through. Two, he, I guess, has a history of putting a little bit too much pressure on himself when he's trying to impress a new team and a new situation,

and maybe that was at play. So do you buy that Bionho Park in year two could have a... bounce back for the twins and be fantasy relevant? Well, he would need to make the team first. And since he's not on the 40-man roster after being waived earlier in the season, that's not a guarantee. But

I remain intrigued by Biongho Park last season. When he made contact, the ball went really, really far. He just didn't make enough contact. But the power was legit. Like the raw power that he was touted to have.

His exit velocity numbers were all great. His home run distance was one of the highest in baseball for the eight or nine home runs, I think he hit. I just, he's pretty close to being fantasy relevant. It's just getting the strikeouts down. Are we still talking about Joey Gello? All right, that's Bungo Park. I just want to throw out some names,

because we've talked about the guys that you're definitely going to draft, so I want you to know about Ben Revere and Gnard Spann and the Rangers Outfield and Jungho Park. And last thing I want you to know is that Greg Holland seems to be a pretty good value if we are considering him the closer for the Rockies. He's been going pretty late. I got him as my third closer in a rotomoc draft a couple of days ago, and I got him pretty late in the process here.

But I looked at where the Rockies ranked in saves in the last five years, and they were 24th or worse or worse in baseball all five years. They just never get saves. Now, they've never won more than 75 games in that stretch. They've had some really bad years, and I think we expect them to be better, but I'm not sure they're going to be that much better. So, yeah, I don't know.

I feel like Rocky's Closer has not been a spot that you go to get saves. What's your take on that, guys? Well, my first question would be, where did they rank in baseball? blown saves. Because you would expect a team that one doesn't have good pitching and then pitches in a park that magnifies mediocre pitching. You're going to have a lot of blown saves. And not just that, but in that park, you're going to have a lot of blow out both directions.

Sure. So there would just be less save opportunities for both teams, I would assume. I don't have the debt on that. Here's the problem with save opportunities. Save opportunities when you look at the stat, it's not just a three-run leader or less in the ninth inning. Save opportunities come to earlier points in the game, so it's a little deceiving. That's why I went with saves instead of save opportunities. But I can try to find blown saves if that makes you.

Well, last year between Carlos Estevez, Adam Adivino, and Jake McGee, those three guys blew 16 saves in 49 chances. They had the fourth vote. They had the third most blown saves last year. In 2015, I'll tell you in a second. Go ahead, Chris. So it's not necessarily that they didn't have a ton of save opportunities. Like the three guys that saved games for them last season had 49 save opportunities between them. That's not that bad.

And they had the fifth, oh, no, they had the third most in 2015, too. But again, a blown save can happen in the seventh inning and the eighth inning. You know, it's a hard thing to actually calculate. But you're right. So you think better than they see more save chances, more saves, more saves for a Rockies closer. He's still one of the very lowest end closers. Yeah, I just, because he's not a guarantee, because of coming back from Tommy John's surgery, because he's pitching in Colorado, because he's pitching for a team that might be good, but very well might be mediocre for the, I don't know, 2060 or in a row.

he's definitely not enough of a sure thing to move him past Cam Bedrozen even. All right, it's interesting because he was probably the best reliever, or on the very short list, the best relievers in baseball for four years. Yeah, but he hasn't pitched for the Royals in two years now, so he doesn't have that boost anymore. All right, that's Greg Holland. Other position battles that we want to talk about here, other closer battles, do we feel like it's coding?

to Glover. Do we feel like it's definitely Cam Bedrosian? Yes. I've pretty much moved Bedrosian to where I think he should be as the closer, and I've definitely moved Glover past Sean Kelly now. Anyone else? The Phillies, the A's... Phillies came out the other day and said that Gomez was still in the driver's seat. I would say he's going to crash eventually, but until that happens, He's the guy in Philadelphia and Ryan Madsen will lead a,

maybe the four horsemen of saves this year. They're all kind of good though. Yeah. They're not bad. I think that's kind of the problem in Oakland and potentially in Colorado is I think they could have really good bullpens. And if you draft the guy who's going to get saves right away, there might be a couple of weeks stretch where he struggles and all of a sudden you lose it. Are you worried about Tony Watson and his bad spring?

And, you know, he might just be one of those pitchers who's been overused. And it's a little scary because he's had, I don't remember what the stat is. But Tony Watson's been among the leader in appearances over the last, like, three or four years or something. Are you worried about him keeping that job in Pittsburgh? As much as I am, any reliever that ranks outside of my top 20. Okay. Daniel Hudson, I think, would probably be the next man up there. Yes, sounds about right.

But, you know, he had a terrible year last year. He had a 522 ERA Hudson, and as I recall, I think they were limiting him. I don't know that he pitched on back-to-back day as much, because they were a little worried about his arm. Yeah. So that's a plus for Watson. It doesn't seem to have major competition. Yeah, unlike Holland or Madsen, there's a plus. there's not a ton behind Watts.

I will say this, though, as I look at the game logs, I don't know what this matters, but Hudson got a lot better late in the season. He had a 186 ERA in September, two more scoreless outings in October, and he did start pitching in back-to-back games during that stretch in September and October. So, I don't know. Just names to keep in mind. Hey, guys, I got to tell you, I was lucky enough to go on camera last week and do a fantasy baseball segment on a local CBS station in New York City.

and you gotta take my word for it because you guys don't live in New York, I looked really good. And it wasn't like my hair or, you know, my face or anything. It was my Indochino suit. I got to wear my awesome custom-made Indochino suit, which fits me so much better than like the five or six off-the-rack suits that I have and never ever want to wear. This, you know, this, if you don't have a, gentleman, if you don't have a custom-made suit, you need to go to Indochino.com right now and get this. I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O. Indochino.com. And let me tell you something about these custom-made suits. You're usually going to pay $700, $800, $900, maybe even more for a suit.

Indochino, any premium suit for $389 with our offer code, F-B-T. You go to Indochino, you get your suit. You type in F-B-T, as in Fantasy Baseball today at checkout. You're getting 50% off the regular price for a made-to-measure premium suit. shipping's free. This is an awesome deal. I can tell you personally that you're just going to feel better. You're going to look better. You're going to have a little bit of a swagger to you. You can get a little monogram or a little message on the inside of the jacket. You can customize so much of it. Indochino.com. I really look forward to telling you more about it. But go there and use our offer code, FBT, any premium suit for $3.89 and free shipping. All right. Jonah Carey had a list of breakouts. Jonah Carey is one of our baseball writers. Does some awesome. stuff. He has the Jonah Carey show on Fridays. You can catch it on CBS Sports.com, or you can hear the podcast in iTunes. One of the breakouts that he had on his list that we haven't talked much about

was Daniel Norris. And there's a little bit of hype for Daniel Norris, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. He's going to be 24 years old next month. He had a 330-E-R-A, but a 140 whip last year. And kind of turned it on late. Last 10 starts. 304 ERA. Again, kind of of a high whip, but 55 strikeouts and 56 and a third. And in his last six starts, Norris had between 11 and 16 swinging strikes in all of those six starts during which he did very, very well. Do you see breakout potential for Daniel Norris? Another guy who I really am not seeing get drafted much.

He improved his control in those last 10 starts after getting called back up. only 19 walks and 56 and a third innings. That's the big thing for me. I know the whip wasn't great, but maybe the 315 BAP has a little bit to do with that. Yeah, he's definitely someone with some breakout potential. Yeah, I kind of think, and it's a bad analogy, because he's not as big of a prospect or as big of a upside,

I don't think, is no more Mazarra, but he's kind of the pitcher version because he wasn't bad. add last year if you look at his numbers, but there's a lot of reason to suggest he wasn't as good as his numbers. On the other hand, he's a young pitcher you can get for almost nothing. Would you take Daniel Norris or Jake Oteresey? Probably Norris. I have not drafted either. I probably have Oterese ranked higher and I should probably change that. I definitely have Oterese rank higher and I was actually thinking about this yesterday that there are guys I have ranked in the draftable range that I just

never draft and probably never would. But like, I can't not rank Jeff Samarja, because by the end of the year, he's going to be one of the top 200 players in fantasy baseball. It would be stupid not to rank him, even if I would never personally draft him. So that's kind of how I feel about Jake Oteresey too. You're fraud.

I completely agree on Oteresee. But if you play in a league with daily lineup changes, And you can, I guess it doesn't really matter. Look, you can start Oteresey at home and you sit him on the road. It's kind of that simple, but he's not great at home. So I don't, yeah, I don't waste my time with Oterese. We know who he is at this point. I know what you're saying.

That's a rankings dilemma that luckily I don't have to deal with. Injuries, news, and notes looking at the Mets lineup. Looks like they're going to probably trot out. Jose Reyes leading off as Droval Cabrera, Yohena Sespitus, Curtis Granderson, at the top of their order. Jose Reyes leadoff hitter. Thoughts. Anderson batting clean up is gross.

Yeah. Jose Reyes is a guy that definitely has much more potential than where he's been drafted. Being underdrafted for sure. That Mets lineup, you just stunned me. It really felt gross. I don't know that I think it makes a lot of sense for him to be. lead off hitter. He's fast, ish. Yeah, but I don't know that I'd expect him to walk hardly at all. I don't know if I'd expect a good on-base percentage. It's not like it's a great

lineup to be at the top of. It's not that bad. They have Neil Walker, they have maybe Michael Conforto. Jay Bruce. Right, those guys aren't really going to help the guy that's leading off if they're hitting five or six spots behind him in the order. Yeah, I don't know that it stays this way forever. But... That's true. I did want to point out something that we haven't talked about this week that I think we should. There was a New York Times article about Jay Bruce.

He is buying into the fly ball revolution, spent the offseason digging into the statistical analysis of his swing, the analysis of his results when he puts the ball in the air, and he has made it his goal to, I think he's made it, his goal to, I think he said he doesn't want to hit a single ground ball all year. I mean, he'd been a guy that was well over 40% fly balls. Well over two years ago, 41% last year. And most of his career, he's been 44 to 45%.

Yeah. I don't know how many more fly balls he can hit. He's trying. He's setting his sights for a 50% fly ball rate. Because he hit, there's actually some numbers, he hit 168. on ground balls hit to the pool side in his career. And he's a pool hitter. So he's realized that there's just, there's no,

there's no value in a ground ball for him specifically. The nerds are taken over sports, I tell you. So that's something to keep in mind. I'm not, I'm not a Jay Bruce fan. I think Michael Conforto's just a better baseball player at this point in their careers, but worth noting. All right, Miguel Cabrera may not be ready for opening day due to a back injury. Dun, done, done.

Wariometer, I'm Miguel Cabrera. 4.3.7. Yasmani Tomas is expected to be ready for opening day. Tomas hurt his oblique on March 6th, so that's good news, but he will have not had much of a spring training. All right, this is kind of significant. Luis Val Buena is out four to six weeks with a hamstring strain. We've talked a little bit about C.J. Crone, but he stands to benefit from this Luis Val Buena injury. Crone is 27 years old.

16 home runs and 116 games last year. He had 16 home runs and 113 games in 2015. Over the last two seasons, Crone has averaged on a 162 game basis. 270, 23 home runs, 85 RBIs. Nothing special, but maybe somebody you want to plug in a corner infield, C.J. Cron? Let's C.J. Play. Yeah. Let's get him 150 games. All right.

Good luck. I'm not sure he's better than Luis Val Buena, but sure. AJ Pollack hoping to play today Jung Ho Gong has reportedly been denied a work visa We don't know when or if he's coming to this country Is he completely, is Jung Ho Gong off draft boards? Assuming that your league does not have a restricted list spot To put players on?

Yeah, I would say so. Seattle option Dan Vogelbach to AAA. That means Danny Valencia is going to be, what, their everyday first basement. That's what that means. And it's definitely too bad that we got this news on a podcast when Scott wasn't here. He hates Danny Valencia? No, he loves Danny Valencia. He loved in the past tense.

I like Danny Valencia's bat. I'm not sure that's the best thing for the Mariners, but, you know, I like the bat. Is C.J. Crone ahead of Danny Valencia? Yes. I think I'd rather have Valencia. Oh, okay. Max Scherzor, back to his original fastball grip. I mentioned it yesterday.

It looks like Scherzer is going to be. pitch the third game of the season. Strasbourg will pitch opening day. But he's back to his original fastball grip. But Scherzer did not guarantee that the stress reaction issue and his knuckle won't come back. But are you guys back on Scher being the number two overall starting pitcher? Yes. He was always there for me.

He's always there for everyone. He's a good friend, Max Scherzer. As long as we're talking about marginal first baseman in this segment, Yonder Alonzo hit his fourth home run yesterday. Oh, who cares. Who cares? Who cares?

Who cares? Who cares? Who cares? If Yonder Alonzo can turn his career around because of this whole fly ball revolution thing, then it needs to be bought into, like 100 percent. You have a leg kick. All right. You know what else needs to be bought?

Yonder Alonzo, very nice guy. I interviewed him. Great dude. Team name Tuesday on a Friday. Yeah. That's right. We're breaking rules here. We'll get to your emails in just a little bit.

This is from Dave in Richfield, Minnesota. Do you want to build a Stroman? That's good. Excellent. Now it is good. I'm going to say, Dave, you said it was a terrible team name because you said it's, do you want to build a Marcus Strowman? Get rid of Marcus.

Do you want to build a Stroman? Good team name. This is from Jeff. You need to draft some combination of Matt Harvey, Alex Cobb, or Tyson Ross, and a late-round flyer on Bung-Ho Park. And then you have Welcome to Therassic Park. I like it.

Yeah, it's pretty strong. And from Carl, the Fusili Jeres. Like Jerry's Svelia. I don't get it. That's a Seinfeld reference. Fisili Jerry. Jeries. Actually, it's pretty good.

It's got the whole Mets. Seinfeld's a Mets fan. There's a lot of Seinfeld episodes. There are. Yeah, there are. It's amazing to see the people who have been guest stars on Seinfeld. I think my favorite is

Michael Chickles in season one, I think, in the Dingo 8 Your Baby episode. Oh. Yeah, he doesn't look anything like he does now. Does he have hair? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had hair. Yeah, that's kind of his trademark.

And he's not just like, you know, this ripped... He's one of my favorite actors, the Shield Forever. Do we have position battles to talk about? Like, is Joe Musgrove going to win that? I feel like Mike Fires might. I think it looks like Brett Anderson probably has a leg up on Mike Montgomery. Anything you guys want to talk about here?

Back of the rotations? We talked about closer. Nate Carnes won the fifth spot in the Royals rotation, if you're wondering. Oh, I already mentioned it. He's always been an intriguing pitcher. Yeah. He'll get some strikeouts. I think he had nine in his most recent spring start.

Danny Valencia won the first base job in Seattle. I exceed. No problem. Well, what do you think about Muskerrower? because he's, you know, nobody wants to draft Mike Fires, but I don't know. But if you draft Joe Musgrove, just be aware in a week, you might, it might be announced that he's not the, well, Colin McHugh, by the way, might not be ready for the first turn of the rotation.

So you might see both of those guys, Musgrove and Fires, make the original rotation, but not for long. I mean, a guy that you think could be good if he makes the club, but Mike gets into the minors is exactly what you use your last round pick on. So if you have faith in Joe Musgrove, go get him in the last round. Yeah, I'm not sure Musgrove will be as good as his really good minor league numbers indicate. The guys who have kind of mid-linked stuff but get by with command and control on the miners, that sounds like Mike fires.

So I'm not 100% sure his ceiling is all that high, but he's worth a late-round flyer just in case. We know that Stephen Wright, Drew Pomerant, and Eduardo Rodriguez are going to be in the rotation at the beginning of the season before David Price. I think we know this, right? Before David Price is ready to pitch. Is Drew Pomerantz okay? I think so. I don't remember the last update on his tritips. Oh, I think it was nothing. I believe he's been pitching.

It was nothing from what I understand. But how would you rank those three, Stephen Wright, Drew Pomerantz, Eduardo Rodriguez? Rodriguez Pomeran's right Heath Rodriguez Pomeran's right Yes Okay And I really am going to back off

My Luis Severino thing He's just had a bad spring I don't want to make too much Spring numbers But a guy like that Like he got to show me something Yep And Jose Berrios guys

You know He's got really good stuff Watching him the other night In the World Baseball Classic Is he going to make the twins rotation? I'm not sure. I know he pitched pretty well

in that game in the World Baseball Classic. I think he struggled in his previous one. But I'm not sure if he's going to make the rotation. I mean, there's not a lot of competition there. Here's the thing. He pitched great for an inning. He struck out the side. And then he got blasted. He gave up

three runs in an inning in two-thirds when it was all set and done. And that's kind of my concern with him. I'm not sure that he can get through an order twice. And obviously he's facing a pretty damn good lineup in Team USA, even though it had McCutcheon in it. There are definitely concerns about him as a prospect just being able to hold up to a starter's workload because he's kind of a smaller guy. And I'm not sure he has, like the stuff looked pretty good in that start, but that's not

been the book on him has been more as like a pitchability guy. Okay. All right, so that's Jose Barrios, not really being drafted. I know Heath, someone who's been high on him as a, you know, just take a shot. And, yeah, you know what? Let's read some emails. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. And we got to talk about head-to-head categories, leagues, and RP strategies.

And I think that this email from Chris from Cambridge should be, you know, something we focus on. Chris from Cambridge, Ontario says, hey, what up? Frank, Kurt, Lion, and Luke. Frank Kurt Ryan? Lion, L-Y-O-N. I have no idea. How do you not know that? It's clearly from the CMJ New Music Report, December 17, 2001, page 55, says Google.

Yeah, I have no idea that is either. Standard 5-by-5 Head-Head Categories League. The pitcher lineup is two starters, two relievers, and four pitcher spots. I think, like, this is kind of, I don't know if it's standard, but for Yahoo Leagues, you do see a lot of this type of combination with just, like, random pitcher spots. So how do you, he wants to know, how do you structure your lineup, two starters, two relievers for pitcher spots, starters or relievers. How do you feel about a reliever-heavy strategy getting three of the top 15 relief pitchers and even possibly a fourth a little later with the hope of locking down three of the five pitching categories every week? I like it. There's two qualifications I would make.

And one is this can be a pretty popular strategy in this type of format. And if all the relievers start to go off the board in the fourth or fifth round, then I'm pivoting immediately. The second thing I would say is I like the three of the top 15 relief pitchers, but I'm probably not going to take any of the first four or five. Because I want to get as many rounds as possible taking hitters. because you have to have good hitters to win with a strategy. Yeah. Another thing is I think a lot of it depends on whether it's a league where you get a win per week versus six wins for six categories.

Because I think if it's the former and you just have to win six to get a win, I think you can get away with punting a lot more easily in that format. So you're more likely in a league where it's just like you win more categories, is your 1 and 0, you're more likely to do that strategy? I'm more likely to punt, and not just that strategy, but also just loading up on Sparks. Loading up on Sparks. And just punting Staves as well. Okay.

Yeah. I looked, I have a league that's very, very similar, almost identical to this, a Yahoo League, my Keeper League. And I looked this morning at the results from last year, none of the top three teams, unfortunately, I wasn't one of them. I think I was like fifth. none of the top three teams did this. So you don't have to do it. I also had a head-to-head, a 10-to-head Categories League two years ago that I won, and I did not do this strategy.

I just did like a normal, I filled out my pitching staff the way I usually do. But I will say, and we have another email from Ryan and Columbus, says, hey, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will. Stranger Things. Oh, Stranger Things. Yeah. Every year I play in multiple head-to-head categories league with very low innings minimums, 10 per week or less. There are always two to three managers that try the all-closer RP strategy. Any tips on how to beat this during the week I face them or over the entire season?

And I will say to Ryan and to everyone, I hated playing the team that did that. It was actually one of our podcast listeners that jumped in one of my leagues, and he did that. And he's like, I hated playing him. but he didn't win. I did, and I don't remember if he made. I think he was like fourth or something that year out of ten. But yeah, like, what do you do? I don't really change my strategy.

I just sort of, you know. Don't play any closers against that person. That's true, yeah. Like, that's a lost cause. You need to load up on wins and strikeouts. Yeah, but if you have five starters, three relievers, and he's got nothing but relievers, you could still win whip.

You could still, it's harder. That's the problem with not playing any relievers against him is if you're starting a typical number six or number seven starter over a reliever, that's going to hurt your ERA and whip. Probably. Sure, yeah. Like, there are going to be downsides to both, but that person's likely going to have a really, really good ERA and whip no matter what.

He's starting pitchers whose jobs are much easier. But he's also one blowup away from having that strategy completely ruin him. Yeah. Look, I mean, you can do this strategy. It was something that I never really considered because I didn't play in this type of league. And then I kept getting more and more people emailing about it. And I saw it in my own leagues. And it works to a degree. But it is absolutely not a guarantee.

and I personally, if I were the commissioner, I would make an innings limit that would discourage it. However, just speaking generally about a head-to-head categories league, especially if you can change your lineup daily and you can substitute starting pitchers off your bench. In this league that I just talked about, this Yahoo League, we have our draft next week, I'm going to draft, I would guess four closers. and then just hope, like have a strong stable of starting pitchers and four closers because I do think it's more beneficial to have closer depth and start them all the time when you can make daily lineup moves.

Yeah, daily lineups are bad. I don't think daily lineups are bad. I think daily lineups are bad if you play in a lot of leagues. But, yeah. If I played in one league, I'd probably. would do a Daily Lineup League. Okay. Let's read another email.

Let's see what we got here. We've got one from JJ and San Marcos. Dear, Andre, Jamal, Miles, and G. Baby. Isn't this from the movie Hardball? I have no idea. Isn't G. Baby the one who gets shot? What the hell is Hardball? The Keanu Reeves baseball movie?

Yeah. G. Baby gets shot. He's the one who sings... Thanks, Chris. You've seen Biggie on the mound when he's pitching. I do now remember that. That's a good movie. It is a good movie.

Is it really? Yeah, come on. It's got Keanu. It's like John Wick without all the action. Do you guys want to know what movie I recently just watched? Which movie? Okay. Movie that I saw in my childhood didn't really like it.

Decided to give it another shot. Kind of like it now. The original Star Wars. Jesus. I know. I never was a Star Wars fan. Always thought it sucked. I thought it was boring.

It's pretty good. It's a good movie. Yeah, I am still where you were. We went back over Christmas, and we're back in Missouri for like eight days. We don't, there's not a lot of things to do some of the days. So we started having a Star Wars marathon, and I don't think we made it to the first one. What was? Great.

You guys are ridiculous. Which episode did you start with, Heath? The earliest made. And you didn't like it? I really liked it. I liked it. I thought it was great. I didn't dislike it, but my kids were like, what is this? The acting's not great in a new hope. No, it's not. Especially Carrie Fisher. She's terrible. Mark Hamill's really bad in that movie. Yeah, he's bad too. Harrison Ford is a delight.

And my boys were, like, excited to watch it. No. Yeah, we were, we were a Star Wars family. I've always been. We saw it when they re-released it in the 90s and theaters. We went and saw them on opening night. I think I've seen every Star Wars. I don't. on opening night since then. Wow. In a costume? I've never done a costume, no. When I was in high school, we did have, like, lightsabers that we brought with us, and we had, like, lightsaber fights in the lobby

until we got in a couple. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I don't know that I could have been your friend in high school. I just, that would have been there. I'm sure you were so cool, Adam. Hey, I don't know that I buy that. I, uh, you know this.

He probably knows that I definitely mentioned it on the football podcast. I was nominated, didn't win, but was nominated. for both Homecoming King and Prom King. Yeah, but it was like a carry situation. Wait, Homecoming Queen and what? Homecoming King and Prom King was nominated for both. Yeah, it was a carry situation. I was cool.

They were just trying to mess with them. They were just hoping you would win so that they could boo you and cover you in pig's blood. Well, jokes on them because I didn't win. All right, another email. This is from JJ, same one. Which player stocks are rising due to their performance in the World Baseball Classic? uh, Seth Lugo. I don't think he's going to get a rotation spot, but man, he gets a lot of spins on his curveball.

He looked good. Um, he's not bad. He really isn't. I don't think anyone's stock particularly changed. Maybe some people might be higher on Marcus Stroman than they were, but I think Marcus Strowman is a breakout candidate before I saw him pitching the world baseball classic, so I don't think that changes anything for me. I don't think I'm worried about Nolan Aronado struggling.

Um, no. So, yeah, I, I don't think anything's changed. Correa has absolutely unquestionably elite talent, and he had a good series, because that's what elite players do. But he hasn't put it all together yet. There's one guy that jumped up for me, and it was Drew Smiley. Just that one start, uh, was it against the Dominican? Yes, and his velocity was up. And I, like I said at the time, Smiley was pitching on extended rest, which probably probably helped him. It was Seattle, or Venezuela, sorry. Venezuela, which is still a good lineup.

Yeah. Gregory Polanco had a great world baseball classic. He was 11 for 19 with one home run, two doubles, but pretty darn good, and he didn't strike out. There are actually a few guys that I feel I could get off to slow starts because they barely played. Alex Bregman had four at bats. Daniel Murphy was on the team, right? Reportedly. And Goldschmidt. I mean, yeah, Paul Goldschmidt sucks now. He couldn't even get off the bench.

It was so stupid. So I'm a little concerned that they just didn't have spring trainings. But I don't think you can make the World Baseball Classic really influence you all that much. Yeah, I look at it very much, pretty much exactly the same way I look at spring training. I will say both Drew Smiley and Felix Hernandez were throwing harder in their respective starts against one another. And I think that is, like anything in spring, that's a more meaningful sign than just results. All right. From Matt, could we have some time dedicated to A-L-only and N-L-only?

Yes. Yes. How about a minute? Ready? Go. A-L-only pitching is not as deep, but closers are probably deep. I don't, I like the corner infield options a lot more in the American League late. And hitting, hitting in general, I think it's easier to come by in the American League because of the DH.

For obvious reasons, there's just more opportunities for guys. In both formats, like I talked about it yesterday, the day before, how I like to be a little bit riskier in Roto leagues because I'm playing for first, I'm not playing to make the playoffs. in an AL or an only roto, I think take that to an extreme. A lot of people will make safer picks because they know they can't replace them. It doesn't matter anyways. Go for a huge upside and try to win the league. Yeah, you're going to, chances are you're going to have a guy. I think every league specific draft I do, there's one or two guys in my lineup at the start of the season,

who are not going to open the season with their club or have an opening day job. and that's just kind of the nature of the beast. Like, it's either that or you're going to start somebody who actively hurts you. All right. This is an email from KCO. Says, Dear Chris Jenkins, T.J. Sorentine, and Bryce Drew. I have no idea. Did they all play at Valpo?

Sure. They all hit game-winning shots in the NCAA tournament? Great games yesterday. T.J. Sorrentine did hit a game-winning shot. Bryce Drew hit a game-winning shot. Well, there you go. Oh, yeah, I think that's what it is. Classic March Madness.

Oh, damn. Kansas. Woo, feeling good? I was really upset that Chris didn't watch the game, so I couldn't talk about it with anyone this morning, so I appreciate you asking. If they play like that, they're unbeatable. They don't play like that, I don't think, for three more games. But if they do, the tournament's over.

Who's their next game? Oregon. Oh, they're going to destroy Oregon. We're like Oregon. Yeah. All right. So he wrote an email, KCO. What about me?

I am Eduardo Nunez and will be the everyday third basement for the Giants with shortstop eligibility. Well, not anymore. No? It's not to start the season it doesn't look like. Why? He heard his shoulder yesterday. Oh, he did? I believe so.

I didn't see that. I hope I'm not giving fake news. I believe he hurt his shoulder. Sad! Fake Nunez. Fake Nunez. Let me make sure. I was definitely, I'm pretty sure I was reading this last night.

An MRI on Eduardo Nune's shoulder taken yesterday determined that surgery won't be necessary. That is the roto world blur, but he did have a cortisone shot in the front and back of the shoulder. So, yeah. Generally speaking, do you believe in Eduardo Nunez? No. No, but I believe I drafted.

him in one of the recent mock drafts that we did just as a a source of steals. I believe in him as a source of steals. I don't really believe in everything else he did last year. All right. Next email from Brandon from Derby K's. All right. Dear James, Jack, Hugo, and Charlie.

What is with? Lost, right? Oh, okay. Good for you, Heath. I haven't heard much talk about Brandon Drury this year. Brandon Drury with the potential trade of Nick Ahmed. It doesn't matter. Just Drury is going to be the starter.

Sorry, I know I'm kind of talking to myself here. Bold prediction. Could... What a weird way of saying this. Could Brandon Jury have better numbers than Matt Carpenter? Also, everybody just please forget about the last 30 seconds. That was just terrible Adamazer. Could Brandon Jury have better numbers than Matt Carpenter this year?

If Matt Carpenter gets hurt I agree But I think Brandon That's an unnecessarily glib and dismissive Way of answering Shocking coming out of you But Brandon Jury is a nice sleeper candidate Yes

Showed good power in the miners Hit 16 home runs last year I think he's got 20, 25 homer potential playing in that park And it's a pretty good lineup And he will have a lot of position eligibility, right? Sounds right He played.

I think he'll only have Third and short. Yeah, I think he'll have third and short. But he's going to be their second baseman. Okay. We don't have him as shortstop eligible. Okay, then only third base. And outfield.

So I think he's going to be third base, outfield, and second base eligible. The Brandon Drury of the segment of the podcast was really spectacular. There you go. Okay. It's going to run in the best of FBT. More like Brandon Drerey, right? Hugo and San Diego. Dear Zach, Tim, Tom, and Brad.

What is happening today? No idea of these people. These are two common names. I know. I'm going to say they're Power Rangers. Sure. Generally speaking, which position or positions are you least likely to wait on in your drafts? I probably...

I would say I'm filling in my infield before most people. I was going to say outfield. So that's perfect. Number one out. I'm filling out both my infield and outfield before anybody else, I think. So I'm not waiting on outfields. This would be a little repetitive, but because we obviously already covered this. Catcher.

If you can get one of those top three in the first five rounds in a 12-team league, maybe the first six rounds in a 10-team league, might be who of you to do that, especially, I would say, more so in a one-catcher league than a two-catcher league. I think it's the exact opposite. I think it's way less valuable to get one of them in the one catcher league. Well, that's because you don't think that they have as much separation from the pack as the rest of us do. Yeah, but I think it's more valuable to get one of them in a league where you need two catchers and a bunch of teams in your league are going to have two bad catchers.

Like literally the two positions that you cannot play baseball with Hallen, Chris just thinks anybody can do them. Exactly. Well, I think in a two-catcher league, my strategy, okay, so here's the deal. In a two-catcher league, those have been the ones that we've done. You can play baseball without a first baseman? Yeah. Interesting. All right.

So in a two-catcher league, those have been the leagues where we have done, where we also have a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfield spots. So I haven't really been able to prioritize Gary Sanchez and Posey and Lucroy because we have so many spots to fill. So that's why I've mostly been passing on them. But my strategy is to definitely not have two. bad catchers. Like, I'd like, say,

Wheaters and Russell Martin, something like that. Yeah, I'm aiming for two of the mid-range guys. Grandal and Weeters is a good combination. But in a one catcher league, I think there's 12 starting caliber catchers. There's not, like, I don't reach a point where I just, like,

feel gross about myself if I'm starting Cameron Rupp or Matt Weeders, guys that go in the 12, range. I feel okay about it. Yeah, that's fine, but yeah, okay. It depends how much separation you see from the top to number 12. First base, I'd like to get early if I can. It's really easy to get an early first baseman.

I think I should phrase it like this. What positions do you wait for? And usually I've been waiting at second base and shortstop. But as I said yesterday, I'm not sure I want to do that anymore. Hey, fantasy baseball is not easy. You've got to make sacrifices. If there was one correct answer to any of these questions, fantasy baseball would be a lot easier and more boring.

I'd like to have one top 10 outfielder, one top 12 starting pitcher, and a top five first baseman. ideally. How's that? That sounds good. Okay, good. Let's talk about Brandon Drury.

No, let's talk about this e-mail from Matt. Matt from D.C. Hey, Marcus, Brandon, and John Carlo. World baseball classic players? Oh, yeah, I guess Crawford. Yeah. Right? Sure.

Stroman, Crawford, Stanton. I'm starting to find myself drafting Logan Forsyth and mock drafts. Are we sure for? Forsyth is the full-time starter for the Dodgers, or will Utley still playing time? I would expect him. I mean, they gave up quite a bit for him. I would expect him to be the everyday player. If he struggled against Ritey's, maybe Utley can fill in from time to time, but I think he's going to play a lot. All right. Let's read a few Limericks.

Yes. Send people into their weekend. Here's one from Chris from Pennsylvania. Mr. Cummings is a man so loyal. Ranks rise quickly, if you've been. a royal. In Herrera, we trust. Wade's elbow cannot bust. In the podcast league, your theory I will spoil. That's from Brent. That's from Brent. Excuse me. I like it, Brent. Pretty good. This is from Chris. There once was a March Madness contest that ended up only causing sadness. My email has been spammed. If only I could have planned to do a limerick instead. It didn't rhyme, but...

Hashtag blame Adam. But it was cute. Rupert in Scotland There was a fine pundit named Heath Who lost all his clothes to a thief So for a shirt he used FIP For his shoes he used whip And he covered his dongs with a leaf That's fantastic

Rupert's in Rupert might be in All right this was a lot of work From Mike Summers in North Brook Illinois I love Adam He is a sport When he is away, Heath and Chris have a dong report. I love Scott.

His fantasy baseball advice will make you rich. As long as you don't go believing what he says about Hanager, Mitch. I love Chris. He's really smart. But when it comes to drafting pitching, he just throws a dart. I love Heath. For older players, he has pity, unless they happen to play for the team in Kansas City. I love fantasy baseball today.

The theme song is really hot. Don't worry about Mike Fires. Joe Musgrove will take the final rotation spot. I like it. It's very good. Good stuff. How many of the, have you made your selections? I have made zero selections.

I put some stars. It's still wide open. Oh, yeah, still wide open. I've starred some of the ones I like, but this weekend I will make all the selections. We will announce the podcast leaguers and read your limericks on Monday. Fun. Finish off the show with some buyer sell. Buyer sell that I can find it in my notes before the end of the show.

F. Renfro. Buy or sell. Hunter Renfro is going to have a big year. Sell. Byersel he's going to have like a solid year. He'll be a major league player. I think he probably will be a major league player for the whole year. He definitely has breakout potential, but I'm definitely not buying a big year. By or sell. Felix Hernandez will be a steal in drafts.

Bye. Bye. Felix's velocity is up. Velocities up. And I just think we're probably overreacting to last year. He was hurt. Oh, so it matters with Felix. It doesn't matter with Matt Harvey.

Yeah. Well, it matters with Matt Harvey, but it doesn't matter with Felix. Matt Harvey's being drafted in the same range as Felix. I just don't think that makes a lot of sense. Was Felix pitching hurt? He just got hurt. I don't know. He was pitching better than Matt Harvey.

Yeah. Yeah, but But Felix didn't have surgery It wasn't like a It wasn't like a one-year thing with Felix Like we're kind of seeing He was the number 16 pitcher the year before But getting worse

You have to give me that Yes But now it is getting to the point where yeah And Harvey too Harvey I took in like I don't know round 15 or something like that As my fourth or fifth starter In round 15 yes

Matt Harvey's fine You are giving up way too early I'm at Harvey. I might be. I just, I don't know if he has good enough command. I don't know if the secondary pitches are good enough for him to live at, like, 93. I don't know that he's going to. What?

Why would he live at 93? He was throwing harder than that in his last spring training outing, and it's spring. He touched 95, 96. I think, like, I think there's a bit too much made of, like, him hitting 95, 96. He was sitting 93-94. It was March 20th or whatever. Like, he's going to develop his arm strength. He might be a slow starter.

I think what I disagree on Harvey is this particular season what his upside is. Because we all pretty much agree that his floor is you're dropping him. Yeah, I agree with that. And so he has to have top 15 upside to be a top 35 pick. But he's not, I don't think he's going there. there anymore. Maybe 35. If he's dropping, but where he's been going, his ADP is in like the 130 range, that's where I don't like.

Oh. It's maybe a little early, yeah. But his ADP, his ADP probably is falling, I would guess, Harvey. Yes. I had one more. By herself, John Gray won't be worth starting at Corse Field this year. I know he had. He was better at home than on the road last year, right?

Yes. Yes. I don't think that's going to be the case. I think he's going to be an ace on the road. I think he can be startable at home. He had some really good starts there, but it's just he's definitely not going to be startable every time. I will hedge on that.

I'll start him at home against the Padres and a variety of other bad teams. I will not start him at home against good teams. And that's it for fantasy baseball today. If you're drafting, good luck this weekend. On Monday, we'll be back to talk about everything you need to know. I'm sure a lot of people were still going to be drafted. into next week. The season starts next Sunday. We can't wait. We're Heath Cummings and Chris Towers. I'm Adamazer. Have a great weekend.