Fantasy Baseball Today - 03/25: Gennett injury, ADP trends, and Spring Standouts

Episode Date: March 25, 2019

The Good News: Jose Ramirez's injury doesn't look like it will be a problem? The Bad News: Scooter Gennett's does. We go through the ramifications of Gennett's injury, break down the latest rotation and bullpen news, look at ADP movers, and try to figure out what matters from spring training as it winds down.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS sports. One, one pitch, basketball, bold and got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now, here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. We've got a ton to catch you up on on fantasy baseball today. After a big weekend of fantasy news, last week in the spring training, I'm Chris Tassie.

We're replacing Adam Azer for a day. He's not available to host. And I'm here with Scott White and Heath Cummings. Heath, that was your weekend. Oh, it was fantastic. He did all kinds of fun things. Yeah? Yeah.

Like what? Oh, you want to know something? I mean, I went out of the Keys, uh, relaxed a little bit. Went out on DeVall Street in Key West for one night. Found out that I'm still old. It was spring break this week. So. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, there was, I went to a place and he said, you can pay $5 for a cover charge or $10 for drink or drink or drink. round. I said, I don't even know what that means. But I did the $10 thing, of course. I don't know if we want to get into what that means. Scott, did you have a good weekend, despite the terrible, terrible, terrible Scooter Jeanette news that we found out on Saturday. Yeah, I have so many shares of him. But I also have a lot of shares of like Jeff McNeil and Brandon Lau in the leagues where I own Scooter Jeanette. So that wasn't so bad. I was able to put it aside. My birthday is coming up and my wife gave me the gift of time this weekend.

Time to spend to myself, which is precious. There's precious little of that with two young kids. So that was much appreciated. It was really a perfect gift because stuff. It's like who has time for stuff and where would I put it anyway. And like experiences, people talk about that, but who has time for experiences? I probably wouldn't want to do them anyway. Your life sounds really great.

right now. You would have time for experiences if she was giving you time. That's the whole point of giving you time. Well, that's what she gave me. And I created my own experiences. And it was doing nothing. Basically, no, basically going to the movies and watching a lot of TV. But I don't have enough time to do that. So it was great. Yeah, that's pretty much all I do with my free time anyway. So like we mentioned, let's get into the big news, Scooter Jeanette. Unfortunately, suffered a groin strain on Friday. He will be out 8 to 12. weeks. Scott, I know you've got a lot of replacement options, but for the people who don't, what does this mean? Who should they go after? It does not mean we should point out that Nick Senzel will be in the majors because the Reds are still keeping him down in spite of Scooter Jeanette's injury. Honestly, those two I named there are still available in a lot of leagues. And I think they both have. Jeff McNeil and Brandon Lau. They both have the upside to be impact bats from that position. So those That would be the first place I looked.

I don't know. You guys got any others? Yeah, Heath, do you have any? No, I mean, I think those are both good options. I'm a little bit concerned with both of those guys about where or how much they're going to play for McNeil, at least. It's a little bit easier because Todd Frazier's starting the year on the DL as well. I think they've got enough room for him now.

Brandon Lowe, I think, has a ton of upside, but they've got like 17 guys. they're still trying to find places for Yondi Diaz to play. So I think those are good options. I'm a little concerned they're going to play every day. And another one I'd name that goes right in that same group with Brandon Lowe is Joey Wendell. And he was very good in the second half last year and available in a lot of leagues. I would also point out.

Of those options the Rays have, though, I will point out that they only signed one of them to a six-year deal in the last week. And that was Scott Kingery treatment. Is Yondi D. And Scott Kingery got a ton of playing time early last year. Did he has got to be the starting third baseman for them, at least on opening day? He is. He is not second base eligible. And that's a good point you bring up because I think they originally planned to have Matt,

oh man, I'm not. Yeah, Matt Duffy is not. Yes, but he's not going to be available at the start of the season. So that kind of freed up some playing time there for, Yandi Diaz and more for Lowe as well. A couple names I would mention, one who is second base eligible to start the season, one who will be second base eligible five or six days into the season. DJ LaMayhew is going really late in drafts.

He's not highly owned. We do expect him at the start of the season to play pretty much every day for the Yankees. And we know what kind of hitter he is. It's not a huge upside hitter, but it'll help you an average. He could do a reasonable Scooter Jeanette impression for a couple weeks. And then I think the best option. Ryan McMahon is not second base eligible right now, but he's expected to be the starting second baseman for the Rockies.

And he gets to call up course field home. And his ADP is still something like 290. He's only 62% owned in CBS Sports League. So if he's out there, he's definitely the guy to get. Going back to the race, real quick, I'm not sure Yandi Diaz is the starting third basement on opening day. I read that yesterday. So is Brandon Lowe starting?

I don't know. Because just looking at this, Joe Wendell, who I assumed would play second base, Willie Adomas is going to play shortstop. I think they've got Choi is going to play first against Ritey's. What this is all sounding like? They have too many players.

Is that the rage? Yeah, Yondi Diaz was announced as the opening day third baseman, but it doesn't necessarily mean he'll play every day. Maybe Wendell's not going to start over there. And that's the assumption you've got to make for a lot of these teams this time of year. Just because you're in the line of opening day, it doesn't mean you're an everyday player. Like, I think there's a big distinction between primary whatever versus every day, whatever. And you don't see too many players declared the everyday third baseman, second baseman, or whatever.

I mean, teams like to have the super utility guys, and they move all over the diamond gift guys days off. I think that will basically be the role Brandon Lough fills. but I think there's a lot of the bats to be had in that role. If you want, I'm going to throw one other deeper name out there, and I think Ryan McMahon was a great name. But Chad Pinder of the A's looks like he's going to play a lot more than expected with Matt Olson missing time with a broken hammate bone. And, yeah, I mean, they're going to shift jerks and pro far to first base a lot

to get Pinder more at bats. They were saying at the S-spring training has been winding down that they were looking to find more bats for Pender. He has some pop, and he's only like 11% on. So that's kind of a deeper league guy. All right. That was a lot of discussion of the raise unexpectedly. I think Adam's going to yell at me if we don't move on from that.

So the other big news, and thankfully it doesn't look like it's actually that big news, is Jose Ramirez. He fouled a ball off his knee during spring training on Sunday. Had to be carted off the field. It looked like he was in a ton of pain. But so far, all the news has been positive. The x-rays were negative. I don't think they're even sending him from.

an MRI, so it looks like they're considering him day to day. Any concern about that if you're drafting over the next couple of days? I don't really have any concern. I think there's a good chance that he may fall a couple of spots now because of that. And if he does, I'm going to be happy. I got him in a league that you and I are drafting in right now before the injury, fifth overall. I'd still take him fifth overall.

And I just wanted to give a quick shout out when we were all kind of panicking. We've got Dr. Brandon Bowers that does some injury stuff for us on sports line and on CBS. and he would just kind of immediately watch the video and said, the most likely situation here is a bruise. It might be a hairline fracture, and that's what it turned out to be, no fracture. So if you kind of made you feel better, he's a good guy to follow on Twitter. Yeah, it would have helped too because it happened during such a precarious time during draft prep. Yesterday is probably the biggest draft day of the year, right?

And there was this two-hour stretch where we had no idea what Jose Ramirez's health status was, if he was missing half the season or if he was going to be available, opening day. And I got some tweets from people during that wait saying they got Jose Ramirez in round eight, round 11. They got a nice discount just by having a little faith. It didn't even take faith that late. I mean, no, you didn't have any faith at all. I would have been happy to take him to like round four. All right. Some of the other news from the weekend, Pete Alonzo will make the opening day roster for the Mets. We expect him to be the primary first baseman, if not the Every day, first baseman?

Yeah, I mean, Dominic Smith might also, though his spring has kind of slowed down. It's mostly been a bunch of singles that he provided. If he does make the roster, he'll steal occasional starts. But I don't think that many. They've been batting Pete Alonzo second a lot. I don't know if that's the intended spot, but it seems to me like they consider him one of their biggest bats. Any concern when Todd Frazier and Jed Lowry are back? Are they just going to forget about Todd Frazier?

I would assume so. I mean, if Pete Alonzo is doing what he's supposed to do. They are still the mess. I don't think. That's fair. Greg Holland is the Arizona Diamondbacks closer. Scott, you've seemed really surprised about that on Twitter. Any hope for Greg Holland, or do we think R.G Bradley is going to be the closer in three weeks?

I don't know. I mean, like, it surprised me because I had pretty much decided when Greg Holland got of the gate and Cactus League play thrown in the high 80s and getting shellacked. Okay, he doesn't have it. Obviously, it's going to be Bradley. And I moved Bradley away of my rankings. I drafted him a couple leagues. Even though originally I thought it was going to be Holland, early drafts, I was drafting Holland.

So what's interesting about this is we don't know if he's regained velocity. They kind of kept him out of sight on the backfields pitching where there are no radar gun readings. And I asked one of the Diamondbacks for beat riders, hey, is this bounce back? And they're like, we don't know. We haven't seen him in a while. So I assume he must have regained some of it for them to commit to this role. But it's just guessing. It's just, do you believe in the Diamondbacks choice or not?

He would be among my lower ranked closers down there in like, you know, just a little ahead of like Michael Givens or, you know, the Marlins. favorite, I guess, Drew Steck and Ryder, Brad Boxburger, ahead of those guys, but not much, not many else. I just feel duped by the whole thing. I think it's pretty clear at this point, and it might change this season. It might, they might get desperate enough.

The Arizona Diamondbacks do not want Archie Bradley to be their closer. They want, they want to use him in those high leverage situations, and it's no fun for fantasy baseball, but we should probably applaud them from an analytics perspective, because he is their best reliever, and they want to use him in the most important spots. So I don't even know that I feel confident if Greg Holland's velocity is not back and he's bad the first month of the season,

that they won't just give the ball to Horano in the 9th or someone else besides Archie Bradley. It's worth mentioning with Greg Holland. 383 R.A. in 2015. 361 in 2017, but he was in Cores and he was really good up until like the final month of the season that year.

So that's a little better than it looks. But then 466 last year, 383 FIPP makes it look a little better, but that was because despite how poorly everything went for him, he actually had some good luck on home runs last year. will say he was really, really good for the Nationals. Because he started out the year with St. Louis, right?

And it was just a disaster. Didn't look like he'd ever pitch again. Made 24 appearances with the Nationals. Had an ERA below one. The strikeouts were back up. The walks weren't quite as bad. Now, he didn't look like that pitcher the few times we saw him in spring training. But if he gets back to what he was with the Nationals last year, he could actually be a very good closer.

The Braves made some surprising rotation choice. Heath is definitely mad. I'm a little bewildered, Scott. I would imagine you think it makes a little more sense. But they are opening the season with Bryce Wilson, Kyle Wright, and Max Fried in the rotation. Now, only one of those guys is going to stay in the rotation long term because they're starting out with Mike Fulton-Evitz and Kevin Gosman on the injured list.

They should be back relatively soon. I think Gosman may just miss the opening turn. So, are any of these guys worth drafting? or adding, and two, which one do you think is most likely to stick out of Bryce Wilson, Kyle, right, and Max Fried? None of the above. I don't understand. I don't quite understand your anger, Heath, because Tuki Toussaint, he was the presumptive favorite, I guess. But, I mean, these guys are all big prospects in their own, right?

Like, it's not like, you know, Toussont was more inconsistent this spring. These guys had great springs. They had big strikeout potential. They were all top one. I mean, Freed doesn't qualify for prospects list anymore, but in the past he was a top 100 prospect. Right in Wilson, we're top 100 prospects. I mean, this is not particularly disappointing news in my mind. Yeah, I just don't think the Braves have any, for sure, good starting pitchers.

They're opening day starters, one of the worst pitchers in baseball. and they had two guys go down with injuries, and they have Tuki Toussaint, who's shown an ability to strike out more than a bad or per inning in the major leagues. I'm okay with Bryce Wilson. I don't see the appeal at all in Max Fried in your starting rotation. Max Fri.

If we're talking about showed the ability to strike out more than a batter per inning, he had a higher strikeout rate than Tucci Toussaint last year. He was in the bullpen part of the year, though, right? Sure, but he was, he started. Yeah, he had an 11 strikeout game against the Cardin. as Max Freed did last June. Freddie Freeman was telling about him early in spring as if he was the best pitcher in camp. Former seventh overall pick.

No, he's got a really good curveball, Max Freed. And look, So it's going to make a start in April in all likelihood. The way I see this playing out, like the reason I wasn't going heavy after any of these guys. Because they have, they just have so many that I expect it's going to be a situation. Somebody takes the fifth turn in the rotation. You know, when Gosman and Fultonovich come back. Somebody takes the fifth turn in the rotation.

He gets sent down for a bullpen arm. They bring somebody else up to take the fifth turn in the rotation. He gets sent down for a bullpen arm. I don't think you're going to get much consistency for whoever's holding that back in spot. Until one clearly emerges is great. And when that happens, somebody else may be hurt and they may start swapping out a different guy. Or maybe they've moved on from Sean Nucum at that point because he's walking everybody in sight or whatever. I mean, maybe Julio Toron really is as bad as,

Keith proclaims it to be, even though he never had to. Or his peripheral say he is. Yeah, but he's always been a guy who's outperformed his peripherals over a pretty lengthy career at this point. So I think it's fair to just call Tarana a weirdo and not one of the worst pitchers in baseball, but a fine number four starter on a contending team. What? What's your cat's name? Cat's name is Tiger.

Hello, Tiger. For those of you watching Fantasy Baseball today on, on CBSSports.com or YouTube because we are on video now. Tiger is sitting just right on Scott's shoulder. It is delightful into making my morning much brighter. So thank you, Tiger, for participating in our podcast. I'm kind of set up right in front of his station there on the sofa. He has this weird quirk where you set a towel.

Yep. You set a towel or blanket anywhere. And that's where he'll choose to lie down. So it's, you know, it's kind of helpful because he's long-haired cat hair. hair gets everywhere but you can control where it goes hi tiger all right some more rotation news for the dodgers rich hill and clayton kershaw opening on the iL rich hill has a sprained mcel clayton kershaw obviously coming back from that shoulder issue as of now neither of these seems like a huge concern like we could see them in

the next couple of weeks but it does change things and we're seeing the draft dodgers strategy play out. If you had their backups, they're in the rotation already. Julio O'Reas will be in the rotation to start the season. Ross Stripling will pitch the second game in the season. And Jun Riu will be the opening day starter. How concerned are we about Rich Hill? And to a lesser extent, Clayton Kirchall, just because we knew this was happening. We knew this was happening with Rich Hill. We just didn't know it was going to happen

the first three weeks of the season. But he was never going to make 30 starts this year. And so I do think as far as the draft Dodgers strategy goes, this does change the order with which you have to take those starting pitchers. Because Rich Hill was already someone I thought it should have been a 12th, 13th round pick, and he was available in the 16th, 17th, 18th in some drafts. Now I wouldn't be surprised if he's not taking the first 200 picks. I love that. I'll be happy to take him at pick 200.

I'll take stripling ahead of them. I still think Urius goes a little bit later because they sound, when you hear him talk about your rea's, it sounds more like he's the first guy to go back to the bullpen and Stripling's the second guy to go back to the bullpen. But there's plenty of good starters, and don't forget about their opening day starter, Jan Ryu.

A lot of people are forgetting about a guy who had a 2ERA last year and more than a strike guy preening. Now, he's not going to do a 2ERA again, but he's always been a good pitcher when he's been healthy. I think he's been a really solid value all spring. It seems like nobody's talked about him, including us. The other news, mentioned that Matt Olson had surgery to remove the hamlet bone from his right hand,

probably a four to six week kind of timetable, but the thing you have to remember with these kinds of injuries is they can sap your power for much longer than you actually have to sit out. So, you know, Matt Olson, especially someone whose power is kind of 93% of his appeal, probably. You know, the possibility of him hitting 40 homers and the runs an RBI that can come from that. if you have to downgrade his power, I think he's probably still worth owning, but I am much less excited about Matt Olson than I would have been otherwise.

I don't know that he is worth drafting in like a standard 12-team points league where the strikeouts are working against him where you don't have as many roster spots to fill. You know, if you just want to fill an empty IL spot, sure, draft him late. But I don't know that we're going to see regular Matt Olson, like the Matt Olson we were all expecting until the second half. All right, let's move on to ADP trends from the weekend. I went to NFBC's ADP tool. I looked at March 15th through the 21st and then the 22nd to the 21st,

fourth, and looked at the guys who have risen and fallen. And just kind of picked out some interesting names. I want you to tell me if their current ADP is too high, too low, Or if the porridge is, as they say, just right. Hunter Strickland has moved up from 252 over the previous week to 165. What do you guys make of that? Too high. Yeah, but he was probably too low before.

Okay. So he is definitely the Mariners closer. He was a good closer for the Giants before punching a wall and breaking his hand last year and then was terrible after he came back. Bryce Harper ruined. Yeah. But there's no one else to close for the Mariners. and that counts for a lot at a time when we're going to see a lot of bullpen committees.

I would just say, I don't know that I see a huge difference between Hunter Strickland and Alex Colomé. And Strickland has been good in the past, but he's never had a season where he struck out a batter printing. And each of the last two years, he's been at over four walks per nine and over 1.4 whip. So there's a lot of performance concerns with Strickland as well. concerns with Colme. But I just, if I'm waiting that long to take a reliever, I'll just wait another six rounds. And I think the key question is like, we've already seen him get a save. That helps.

And if the Royals had played two games early and Brad Boxberger had gotten a save, his ADP probably would have risen a bunch too. So I think there's some of that. There's probably, you're pricing in the certainty, but there might be a little overreaction to that as well. What about Jung Ho Gong, who was 396, now he's moved up to 289.5? Heath, I would imagine you think that's a little too low based on the way you've talked about him. Scott, I would imagine you might think it's too high.

Yeah, because 289 is not being drafted in a standard 12-te-team points leagues. 289 is not being drafted in a standard 12-team Roto League after the reserve rounds. I will say I don't think he deserves to be drafted in a head-to-head points league. It just depends. I mean, you get to the last couple of rounds, and you're just, if you're, I'm not drafting a lot of hitters in that range. But what I am drafting are hitters that I think have a chance to be major impact players. And what he's shown us is pretty close to that. I just, I don't know if that's true in points.

That's the one question I have. I don't have his points ranking up. But what, I think this moved him into, like, appropriate. Like, I think this is appropriate for him now, like he's saying. I do think there's enough upside there to draft him in the reserve rounds of Roto League. And in our drafts we were doing with other experts, that's where he was going. So I feel like maybe just the rest of the world is caught up to that. The next one, I think we probably all should agree that it's too low because Ilo Jimenez was going like around 119, 18.8p in the previous week before this weekend.

And we find out he signed this big extension, almost certainly will be on the opening day roster, probably batting fourth or fifth for the White Sox in a top of the lineup that's not terrible. And he only moved up just into the top 100 at 98.99. I think that's still 30 or so spots behind Vladimir Guerrero, who we don't know when is going to make his major league debut. I think this is way too low. I hope you guys agree. Well, I thought it was, I thought 99 was too low.

when we didn't know for sure when he was going to be in the major. So I definitely think it's too low. I had him 66th overall, I think, before this. And that might have been a little bit too high trying to prove a point. But I've got him at 60 right now. I'm thrilled to get him in the sixth round. Scott, I have him about a round earlier than this. I have him, I think, 82nd in Roto and then just inside the top 100 in a points league.

But obviously, this ADP is Roto. Yeah, I mean, he had a big game. over the weekend. I think he went three for three with a homer, which he had done nothing this spring. So, uh, there, to me that there are no excuses not to have him up on opening day. And I think he will be. They haven't said for sure, but they've hinted as much. And, uh, Ryan McMahon moved up from 285.7 to 245.5. Which still seems low. That's a, that's a, that's a sign that you can probably still get him with one of your last round picks, especially. I mean, I took him around 160th overall in the editorial league that we're doing,

but that was because I wanted to make sure I got him. I needed someone to fill in at second base. I didn't really have any good options left. So after the first week, he will be my second baseman. But 245 still seems like great value for Ryan McMahon in that park. I feel like he deserves to be the biggest riser of anybody this spring. It's been one of the most impressive hitters, even though Garrett Hampson, who was the presumptive favorite

for the second base job coming in. He's also at a good spring, but McMahon, like, the Rockies seem totally on board with the adjustments he's made to his swing, really shortened it up. So he was getting beat on fastballs last year, which is just no excuse for that for a young player that he's really shortened up the swing. And it showed, I mean, this guy hit 355, I think it was two years ago in the minors. And that was not at, you know, mostly, that was mostly a AA Hartford. It wasn't like a thin air environment or anything. only question for McMahon and why you know I'm not moving him up to

into my like top 12 at first base which I certainly think he has that kind of upside first base being where he's eligible right now of course the only reason I'm not doing that yet is because he is a left handed bat and they probably will have Hampson there's the super

utility guy they're fine to get bats for I could see McMahon sitting against some lefties early on but if he hits like he's supposed to I think that'll end that'll end pretty And we've talked a lot, surprisingly, about Marlins pitchers. What of us is? No.

Yes, Scott White is the one who has. And it looks like Trevor Richards, Pablo Lopez, and Caleb Smith are all going to be in the Marlins' opening day rotation. That hasn't been confirmed. It's possible, I suppose, that Sandy Alcantara can get there, but he hasn't really had a great spring. The walks have been all over the place. But Wei and Chen is opening the season in the ball. bullpen and this opens up three, I think really exciting, somewhat exciting. Do the Marlins have a better opening day rotation than the Braves?

It's less talented, but it wouldn't shock me if they were better. I don't think it was shocked Scott, right? You're drafting these Marlins guys over all of those Braves guys. Maybe not Pablo Lopez. Not Pablo Lopez, but yeah, Trevor Richards and Kayla Smith. Yeah, I'm drafting him. over all of those Braves guys. I mean, not Polonovich, obviously, but...

They're all still well above 300 in ADP, despite moving up across the board at least 50 spots and in a couple of those cases more than 100 spots. So still good values there. The thing I like about Richards and Caleb Smith beyond just the fact that they've had great springs is they both have an elite pitch. You know, Trevor Richards,

one of the best changeups in terms of swings. and misses last year. And that was with basically two pitches. So there wasn't a lot of, there wasn't a lot of manipulation going on there. And then Caleb Smith has one of the highest spin rates on his fastball. It had a really good swinging strike rate for a fastball. I mean, you see what it didn't meant in terms of K-per-9. It kind of had his breakout season interrupted by injury, but he's healthy now, Trevor Richards. He has added a curveball. So now there is a little more deception going on. Yeah, I think there's a lot to like about those two.

They've been basically unhittable in the spring. So really interesting guys there for your last couple round pitcher spots. Heath, don't laugh. I'm just, there is nothing I like more. This used to happen to Al Malkyore quite a bit this time of year as well. When we get just a little bit of reason for hope from Marlins Chris, I love it. I mean, because by May it's going to be angry, Chris. I think they're going to be terrible. I'm not telling you to draft any of their

hitters for sure. They're going to be one of the worst offenses in baseball. I don't think Chris, I don't think Chris would know what to do with himself if the Marlins were, I mean, we know they're not going to be good, a good team, but if they were good. I've never seen him excited about a sports team before. He gets that little glimmer in his eye. A little bit of hope every year that was Justin Boer and Derek Dietrich in the past. I would have to stop rooting for them if they ever actually became good. I think that's obvious. All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with some bullpen stuff.

We're going to talk about the bullpens that are still in flux, try to make some calls there, some more injury news from the last couple of days. And we're going to try to figure out what mattered from spring training. So we'll be right back. Okay, let's talk about bullpens. We've got, from what I can tell, about 7 to 10 that are still, we just don't know who the closer's going to be. So I've taken seven of those.

I want you guys to make a call right here, who it's going to be, or at least who is the more interesting player to draft with these last couple of days in draft prep season, or to add if they're still available on waivers. Start with the Kansas City Royals. Actually, we'll start with the St. Louis Cardinals. They will not name a closer. It's Jordan Hicks. Quote, Jordan is going to get a lot of those opportunities.

Let's not kid ourselves. Okay, so they're not naming a close. Andrew Miller will get some saves. Maybe Alex Reyes will get a couple. But Jordan Hicks is going to get the majority of the save opportunities. How high at this point would you rank him at the relief pitcher position? The problem I have, in points league it's easier. But he does, there seems to be a little helium behind him now.

I would take him probably about the same place that Hunter Strickland is going. I'd rather have him than Hunter Strickland. But it does seem like he's gone before Strickland. And it is worth noting he's walked seven batters and six innings in the spring. He's working on a change-up. Yeah. I've gone back and forth with him because the upside is pretty much theoretical. We didn't see him miss a lot of bats last year.

He throws harder than even a roll to his chatting. He's the hardest thrower in baseball. How much has that slider come along is his secondary pitch? Because he could explode with the strikeouts. But then he's been walking guys this spring. And so I've kind of backed off a little. He was my favorite number two reliever to draft early on. But now, like, I think I'd prefer like a Matt Barnes now

or like a road is this guy, you know now. How much would I have to pay you to stand in a batter's box against Jordan Hicks until he strikes you out or walks you? I'd stand in the batters box against Jordan Hicks for $500. bucks. Okay. Scott? 103 mile an hour fastball from a guy who has zero idea where it's going.

What am I wearing? Pants? Baseball equipment. All the baseball equipment that you want. You can David Ortiz it. I'm going to cut. I'm not going to let you go bury bonds. Okay.

You're not going to be able to go like full transformers. Uh, I'll, yeah, I'll, yeah, 500. And you've got to stand in the batters box. Yeah. You have to be Unless he throws at you, you can move. Yeah. There's no way you're...

Well, I won't have time to move because my reactions aren't as quick as a major league player, I'm sure. It would just be a blur, a white flash coming out of his hand. I don't even think you see it. Well, I'm swinging. Griffith and Rivet. That is the most Hugh Cummings response to that because it's so obviously not true.

Kansas City Royals. He said no. They don't have one. Who is it going to be? That nobody. Who's going to get the majority? The majority of the saves this year. Brad Boxburger or the Wiley Peralta.

Willie Perlta. Wiley. Wiley Willie. Wiley, Willie. He's, he's Wiley. You're not helping me. I'll say Boxburger, I guess. But I'm going to guess that there are four players.

They have at least five saves for the royals this year. And zero players with more than 15. So they're going to get 20 wins? approximately. Scott, you have anything to add? Well, that's, I mean, there's a good chance somebody emerges. Ned Yost is kind of an old school manager. But not anymore.

He's changed. I am very skeptical. I'm with Scott. I'm very skeptical that Ned Yost is all of a sudden like, let's just have everybody. He said that. It's a lot easier to do that when Brad, it's a lot easier to do that in the spring, but when Brad Boxberger saves two games and then Peralta blows one, Boxberger is going to get the next four until he blows one.

And that's the way it's going. I don't know. Now, they may not have to get enough wins to matter. On the subject of Ned Yost, I know this is kind of an old commercial, but me, having not watched a lot of TV until this weekend, I just saw it. The Verizon commercial with Ned Yost talking about falling out of the tree and breaking his hip. Like, they just introduced him as Verizon customer, Ned. Like, how many people see that commercial and have no idea?

He's a world champion, though. Not everybody. This isn't some guy that managed a bunch of TV. teams that won 90 games every year and couldn't close the deal. This is a world champion. Okay, so one, there is no way I would be, I would ever have been able to tell that was Ned Yos and that commercial if I ever saw it. And that's pretty much it.

Yeah. I mean, you know the story. I mean, that's everybody, everybody in our light of work knows about him falling out of the tree and breaking his hip. I didn't. Even if you didn't recognize them. I had no idea. No idea.

Okay. Was that a story? Am I supposed to know about it? Yes. That happened a couple years ago. He was like in critical condition. Almost died. Wow.

Yeah. I had no idea. Good to know he's fun. He is. A relief. Yeah. Minnesota Twins. Trevor May, Blake Parker, doesn't seem like we know coming out of spring.

Scott, who do you think it's going to be? Trevor May, I think it's who's going to be. That's who it was at the end of the last year. Granted, Blake Parker wasn't there yet, but he was so good. Coming back from Tommy John surgery. had way more control than he had ever shown before, which is weird because usually that's a struggle coming off that surgery and missed a ton of bats.

I would be very disappointed if they went with Blake Parker instead. Taylor Rogers, I could understand. He was really good, the final four months of last year, but he's also a lefty. I think it's May. I will just say that Trevor May was the closer at the end of last year. Trevor May got three six. Like, he was not closer for very long at the end of the last year.

And Blake Parker is not bad. He had a 254 ERA in 2017, was legitimately great. 2018 had a 326 ERA, but the peripherals didn't quite back that up. But, you know, this is, he's a pretty good pitcher in his own right. He may not be as good as Trevor May looked in a relief role last year, but Trevor May may not be that good either. He may. May not.

Maybe. I will say this. Like, I like Trevor May in theory, but there is so much uncertainty here that I haven't drafted him once. He's pretty much down there where I was saying, like, just ahead of Michael Givens in terms of my closer priorities. What about Drew Steckinrider or Sergio Romo? Who do we think is the closer in Miami? Stegger, but they've talked about going committee there, Adam Conley, also in that mix. second writer would be my top priority, but really toward the bottom of that list, basically second to last

among, you know, right ahead of the Royals closing situation in terms of how I'm targeting them in fantasy. Milwaukee. Corr Canable is going to be seeking multiple opinions on his elbow. There is no plan expected to be made for him at least until, at least the end of this week, possibly early next week. That doesn't sound good. That sounds like he is desperate for somebody to give him good news. Yeah, and I think he's been pitching with a torn ligament in his elbow for a while for the last couple of years. And they did say it's not fully torn.

Yes. So it's been partially torn for like three years. It's not fully torn, but it's worse. Best case scenario, he's not pitching in the next month. Yeah, I mean, at least like platelet rich plasma injection, that whole process, and then he may not get back. Right. His ADP tumbled. They've got to sign Kimball.

I would hope so. But if they don't, Josh Hayter's going to be a monster. Yeah, do we think Josh Hader's just going to be the closer there? No, I don't think. At the start, he's correct counsel talked about how it does change the way they use and a little more toward the back end of games, he said. So that sounds to me like he's going to be close to a closer until at least. Jeremy Jeffress gets back. I think Jeffress is the one that we should be moving up our rankings because there's a good chance.

He's just the full-time closer this year. But I mean, you still have to be hesitant about it. He still has to get healthy. And there's still the chance they could sign Kimbril, which would totally pull the rug out from under that idea. But yeah, I think Jeffers is worth drafting. We have breaking Marlins news. The Marlins have released Dan Strelieley. Wow. They are going with all the young. Oh, this is amazing. Zach Gallen's going to be in the rotation now. The Brave should sign Dan Staley.

This is so exciting. No. They could have a good starter. You know, I don't need to fly more the kids. No, that's fun. Yeah. Great. That's good.

So this means Alcantara's got a pretty good shot, you think? He's been so bad in the spring with his control. Zach Allen has actually been really, really good. I think he's a guy that they got in the Ozuna trade. Yeah. So I'm not, I would not be excited about Alcuner. if he had the role. He would be like...

I'd be excited about him if he was the closer, maybe. Yeah. But probably not as a starter. Philadelphia. David Robertson, we think he's going to get the majority, but we don't think they're going to have a closer. It'll probably be like Sir Anthony Dominguez last year, where he would have been probably on pace for like 25

if he had been in that quasi role at the start of the season. They had nine different players record a save last year. they had 16 for Dominguez, 11 for Hector Nairus, 5 for Pat Nishik, 4 for Tommy Hunter. You know what the problem for him, David Robertson is? All those guys are still there, right? Yeah, but... Yeah, they're not David Robertson, though. They started this season with Hector Nairis as the closer,

and he was just not good enough. And then once it turned over to Sir Anthony Mingas, he was not the closer. No, he had 16 save. But he got the majority of the saves. I'd be reluctant to grab Robertson in like a head-to-head scenario. But in Roto, I think he's going to get a minimum of 25 saves. It's going to be plenty valuable. I think 25 is definitely possible.

25 feels to me more like the ceiling, though. I mean, the thing about the high leverage thing, yeah. A lot of save opportunities are high leverage. Right, exactly. A lot of times the highest leverage situation is the ninth inning. For the save, you know, more often than not, in fact. All right, we'll move on to, oh, we'll move on to other topics. Let's close out with San Francisco. Is it Will Smith or Mark Melanson?

Have we gotten any sign yet? Melanson's been terrible this spring, but I haven't seen anything firm on that. I'm assuming Smith. I am assuming Smith, it does feel just a little. little bit like a Diamondback situation where they really, really want it to be Malanson. Yeah. And they're just wanting him to show something that makes them believe. And one thing that I did read early in the spring from the giant beat writer for the athletic,

I can't remember his name, but it was whoever the closer is is not going to be the closer in July, maybe not June, maybe not May. They are actively looking to move a lot of bullpen pieces because it's one place that you can start to get value for mid-season. So keep that in mind, whoever the Giants closer is probably won't be a closer for long. So don't reach there.

Let's get to some other news before we go on to some spring standouts. Try to figure out if those matter. Aaron Hicks remains in extended spring training. He is, quote, very limited per manager, Aaron Boone. He's had two cortisone shots in his back. Doesn't sound like he's going to be there

for the first couple of weeks of the season. What's interesting is the Yankees did send down Clint Frazier. So it's going to be Brett Gardner every day of stuff They made a trade for a Rockies outfielder Mike Tockeman I believe And he is going to be their fourth outfielder Okay

He has impressive minor league numbers He's in his late 20s now Maybe keep him in mind in an AL only league You'll get some time with Stanton and Gardner Another interesting outfield move that happened Again more from a deeper league context You're Marlins, Chris.

Peter O'Brien, who I think we're presuming, would win the right field job. They sent him down, and apparently that job is going to... I'm having a hard time coming up with names this year. Garrett Cooper, that's it. Oh, I like Garrett Cooper. Yeah. He's an interesting hit. So excited.

Yeah, Garrett Cooper might be the Marlins' best hitter. Yeah, I said about 400 this spring. He's had some really high batting averages in the minors as well. And was their starting right fielder, I think, going into last year, but got hurt on the second day of the season and ended up not playing much. But he's got some interesting offensive potential. And I'll only. Nobody's saying he's a mixed league option here. Yeah.

Jason Kipnis will be shut down at least for the next week with a calf injury. The Indian signed Brad Miller. It looks like he's going to be their second basement to start the season. Any interest in Brad Miller? No. I mean, it wouldn't be a long-term thing. And he's been a couple years since he's been relevant when he has boys. Scott, you are all in on Ronald Acuna base stealing machine, right?

He's batting four. No, not exactly. All you have to do. All you need for stolen bases is the desire and the freedom to steal stolen bases. He is free to run. Now he's all he wants. We need to find out if he wants to. Yes.

Because we don't know if he wants to. Nicker did say he's free to run all he wants from the fourth spot, which implied to me that he wasn't free to run. from the first spot, which would make sense. I mean, fourth spot, you don't have great hitters hitting behind you. First spot, you do, so you wouldn't want to run into an out. But that's historically, I mean, certainly last year, that's not the way it played out for Acuna. And Bray's recent history, they haven't had many great base Steelers except out of the leadoff spot.

So I don't know. I mean, I'm not ruling out the possibility. He's a 25 steel guy this year. I'm still not betting on it. And I would still feel better if he would. was a batting leadoff, but that was an interesting comment from Snitker. I think an appropriate way to look at it for Snickr. I'm just skeptical it's actually going to happen.

And he's going to have two high on base percentage guys in front of him. He just may not have that on any opportunities given how many extra base hits he's going to And he's probably not going to hit cleanup for more than a couple of months. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. It seems they want him there. Yeah.

So, you know, as long as NCRte's okay, he was Donaldson. Yeah. What's interesting is Encearte and Acuna both are slow starters. So I do wonder if just to shake things up, they'll end up moving things around. But I mean, Acuna is hot right now in spring training. I don't know. We'll see. All right.

Francisco Lindor did play in a AAA Louisville spring training game. He went two for four with three RBI. And it looks like he could be ready for opening day. I don't know if he's guaranteed he won't. He's starting the year on the IL? Yep. Okay, but you can backdate that and he could be up within what four or five days to start the season? Yep.

It's better news than we were thinking at the start. So hopefully he's 100% healthy and doesn't suffer any setbacks. Jesse Winker hit two home runs on Saturday. That was a good sign for someone who's having just an absolutely abysmal spring and someone that we have basically. What's that? Trevor Bauer, I think is who he hit. him off of. There you go. Great.

Trevor Bauer was upset about not being the open day starter, though. So he was in his feelings that they don't count. Chris Paddock is starting on Monday in Padre's last couple of tune-up games that makes him in line for a Saturday Major League debut. All

but guaranteed he's in the rotation at this point. That was a question. There was a little thing in selection at the end. That might be a little strong. He is the first Padreys pitcher I would draft, though. And I say that even as somebody who's excited about Matt Strom and even a little bit Joey Lucchasey. Dakota Hudson will be the Cardinals fifth starter.

Had a great spring, a decent prospect, but not someone who has a lot of strikeout potential from what we've seen. So I'm taking more of a wait-and-see approach with him. Domingo Raman will be the fourth starter for the Yankees to open the season. I think Jonathan Loisig is actually in line to be the fifth if and when it comes up. and Heath, I'm sorry. Ian Hap was optioned to AAA. I don't think it makes any sense.

No. The Cubs bench is... The Cubs are bad. Horrific. Yeah. The Cubs might have one of the worst benches in baseball. It's wild. They could get ugly there.

Hopefully Ian Hap goes down. He had a really bad spring training. Hopefully he can go down to AAA, work some things out, make a little more contact. There will be playing time available. They are counting on multiple players. that have have really old or a major concern. Yeah. Some other injury news before we move on to spring standouts.

To close out the show, Jimmy Nelson had a core zone injection in his elbow. He is being shut down for the time being. That is a bad sign for someone coming back from shoulder surgery. I've been drafting him a decent amount in the late rounds, but unless you have an injury spot, it does not look like Jimmy Nelson's going to be contributing for a while. At this point, maybe not at all, given this.

injury. Well, it doesn't sound like a bet. They're treating it more like spring soreness than an injury just to point that out. I don't know. I mean, sure. I won't disagree with that necessarily, but given that he's coming back from a shoulder injury and has dealt with forum

and elbow soreness this spring. Earlier it was, they said, because he tripped on a mound in the bullpen, but you know, now it's an actual elbow issue. So I'm concerned. Alex Cobb will not start on opening day for the Orioles it looks like. Sorry.

To adjust our plans. Danny Duffy will not join the rotation until late April and has actually talked about moving to the bullpen. Justin Upton left Saturdays game after a collision with the wall. No details on what that means for his knee, which has been an issue over the last couple of weeks. Mark Trumbo opening on the injured list, and Austin Hayes suffered a thumb injury sliding into a base in minor league spring training.

Guy can't get out of his own way. I had a great spring. They sent him down and now, hopefully it's not serious but that's disappointing it bent backwards they said but i haven't they i haven't seen any mri results yet they're they're coming they're coming for you scott they'll send them uh probably via pdf i have two more news uh things the orio sent chance cisco down yep who was like their best hit of this spring too good don't want him up but i do have him as a second catcher on a couple of teams so if you're in that situation you may need somebody else

Williams Estudio is going to make the twins opening day roster, I believe. Yeah, he's my first catcher on some teams. And then the other thing, if there will be for the people emails coming today, for the people league drafting tomorrow night, 8 p.m. Eastern. You can come beat team scam like everyone has ever played in this league. What time is the original podcast league draft tonight? I think 8 p.m. 8 p.m.

Okay. Sounds right. All right. let's close out the show with spring standouts. We're going to fire up the old, old trusty doesn't matterometer. Okay, what's the scale? You guys know how it doesn't matter.

Zero to ten? Zero as it doesn't matter. 10 is it does matter. Okay. Based on spring performances. Y'amankata was second in OPS in spring training. He hit 354 with a 789 slugging. 11 walks, 15 strikeouts, and 60 play appearances.

Doesn't matter. Four. Sure. Four sounds. good. That's interesting. I didn't, there was not a single game he had that jumped out to me, the box score results, and made me say,

I got to take it. So I'm surprised he has such a good spring. Steady, Eddie, Omancada, that's what we call him. You missed it, Scott. Apparently. All those columns. Heath, here's one for you. Yes. Jorge Salere was 13th in OPS, hit 281 with a 614 slug.

15 strikeouts and 64 played appearances, seven walks. Doesn't matter. Ten. Ten on the doesn't matter. Matters a bunch. So you've moved him significantly up your rank? Moved him way up. He's like in my top 85 outfielders now.

Wow. Yes, he was around the 100 mark. No, listen, I do think because he's going to DH and not play in the outfield, he's less likely to get injured. If he just does what he was doing at the start of last year and plays a full season, stays healthy in that DH slot, then he's someone that you're going to use as a fifth outfielder in a Roto League. Scott, does it matter? Yeah, fifth outfielder in a roto league is how I've been approaching them based on this spring.

So I'll give it like a six. Here's another one for you, Heath. Good. Travis Shaw had 46 plate appearances entering today. I guess there might be still another game. I'm not sure. 22 strikeouts, zero walks for Travis Shaw in spring training. Doesn't matter.

Zero to 10. Zero. And I'd like to have. Thank Travis Shaw. You're not at spring training. People don't go to spring training games to watch you take a walk. You're not Joey Votto. He's swinging for the fences as hard as he can.

Thank you, Travis Shaw. Thank you, Mayor. Scott, doesn't matter? I think it does. A little bit. It's weird. I don't really think it matters. I'll give it like a three.

But it's weird. So I will say there has been some research done on like what correlates between spring training and regular season. One of the things that at least does have some relationship... When Heath's favorite players do bad. Yes. But also, strikeout to walk ratio. When you have real outliers for both your career and just in general, and 22 strikeouts to zero walks is a real outlier,

it's not a strong relationship, but it can be a sign of something in the skill set. So it's just worth pointing out. No. I'm glad you did. You're welcome. Eh, Eugenio Suarez, 217 with an OPS under 600, 4 walks, 19 strikeouts, and 50 plate appearances. Does that matter?

10. What's your real answer? I was going to say one. What's your real answer? It seems like the least relevant. Five. He's not a proven star. And this is really bad.

Yep. And so it matters. a little bit. Speaking of Proven Stars, yes. Max Muncie had like a 519 OPS. He hit 178 with four walks, 16 strikeouts, and 51 plate appearances. I don't think he had a home

run. Does that make you worry at all? Does it matter? One to ten. Zero to ten. Well, I'll give it a four. It matters a little more. Not because I think he's bad all of a sudden, but because he's fighting for playing time constantly

as a member of the Dodgers lineup. So that might make them a little hesitant to use them some in the early going. I think of the long run, you know, it's probably going. Like in all of these cases, these players are probably who we thought they were. Yeah, we have less information on who Max Muncie is. So it probably matters a little bit more to me. Maybe I'll go six. The one thing that was positive for Muncie,

and I don't remember who was tweeting this out this weekend, so I'm just going to steal it and not using credit. it. But there was some talk about Dodgers playing time. And there were a few interesting things that I read. First off, that Enrique Hernandez is the starting second baseman. Chris Taylor is a super utility guy. And the only true platoon they plan on having is Jock Peterson not playing against lefties. Yeah, I mean, the one thing that I will say about Max Muncie, it's actually 54 played

appearances and 17 walks. He struck out another time yesterday in three played appearances. his spring training plate appearances are about one-ninth of what he did in the majors last year. So when we talk about a small sample size of spring training, yes, it is a small sample, but so is the track record of his actual success in the major. So it's worth keeping that in mind. Another guy that we like, Zach Eifflin, 3.54 ERA, 18 strikeouts, 20 in a third innings. They've already sent Jared Eikoff down to the minor, so Zach Eifflin is in the starting rotation.

but does his spring performance matter? Did it just solidify him as the fifth starter, and that's all it means? I think so. I'd give it a five. This is, I mean, this is about what we expect him to look like, right? If things go right for him, mid-3 ZRA guy with about a strikeout for any. All right, how about some concerning ones? Sean Newcomb, honestly, probably shouldn't be in the rotation based on this spring.

That is like... No. 529 ERA, 9 strikeouts, 15 walks, and 17 innings. Can we get over the idea that we need to make rotation decisions based on a spring? He's not, it's not like he's this proven above-average pitcher. No, but it's not like that walks haven't been an issue for it. It have been an issue, yes. He walked 15 guys in 17 innings.

He also made 30 starts last year with a sub-foriori. Yes. And Julio Toron's their opening day starter. Yeah. Okay. We've already established. He should be in the rotation. Iran probably shouldn't be in their rotation.

Scott doesn't agree. Scott, doesn't matter. Oh, it matters. Yeah, this is, I agree with you, Chris, with all their young arms. I'm surprised Sean Newcomb gets a free pass. Because even having a sub-for ERA last year, like the peripherals were pretty concerning. And there's a good chance, you know, if Max Fried is awesome, first turn or two, if Bryce Wilson is, whatever, that, yeah, they do send Newcomb down.

when Fultenevich comes off the deal or whatever. I think it's totally possible. And Newcomb was terrible for like the final two or three months of the season, too. Yeah. I mean, obviously, if Newcomb hits is great, then that will happen. But if he keeps struggling like this. U. Darvish coming back from his injuries, nine walks and 12 innings, still had a 225 ERA, 14 strikeouts.

Doesn't matter at all that his control was bad. He's been dealing with a blister as well. No, I think I take his spring as an encouraging sign. I mean, this stuff is clearly there. It doesn't look like the elbow has impacted his production. And I think I'm surprised his draft stock hasn't improved more. Since he joined the majors, we've drafted him like an ace, basically. And because of an eight-start stretch with the Cubs, where for the first five of those starts, he wasn't very good.

Or I guess the first four of those starts. Three of the last four were really good, is my point. But, yeah, I'm surprised his stock hasn't improved some. based on the health he's shown this spring. I'm always conflicted anytime we talk about you, Darvish, because I'm stuck between where his ADP is, and I think he's being drafted too late, and he's a very good value,

and between the idea that we should treat him like the pitcher that he was before 2015. He's 32. He's 32 years old. There are like six pitchers in Major League Baseball that have thrown more innings than him, if you count what he threw in Japan. Wow. And he's really, like, in 2017, he had a 386 CRA.

He's always been a little higher ER& Webb guy than you would expect. He was like 11 strikeouts per nine innings, right? 10.1, which is very good at about six innings a start. Yeah, I mean, 2016, it was 11.8. That was the first yearback from Tommy John's surgery, right? Yeah, he is the best strikeout starting pitcher in the majors, probably. He could be. Cape for nine.

I mean, he has. Keter nine, yes, total strike. strikeouts no chance because he's not going to throw 200 innings. All right, well, let's move on to one more pitcher who had a just abysmal spring. And that's Tyler Glass now. Long track record of success, as we all know. 1038 ERA, 2.00 whip, eight walks and 13nings. Did strike out 16, but given how many base runners he allowed, that was probably like a 25% strikeer, right?

It's not nearly as impressive as it looks on the surface. So the last one before we close out the show, Tyler Glass Now, Tyler Glass Now. I am frustrated about Tyler Glass Now because joining the Rays down the stretch last year finally seemed to overcome the control issue was looking great, dominant pitcher like he always should have been. Then he shows up to spring training and he starts altering his delivery. He adds like a hesitation to it thinking he's going to throw off hitters timing more. and then he's walking everybody inside it. Like, why do you do that?

Why are you tinkering like this Tyler Glass now? You finally figured it out. Now I'm concerned. I don't know that he knows what he's doing. Yeah, this Springs got me feeling more like Tyler Glass-Naw. I think the Reyes have enough options with their opener, with Yanni, with Yarbrow, that if they want to try to figure things out with Glass Now, he doesn't necessarily have to be in their starting rotation.

I think this is a seven. Yeah, it's definitely concerning because like I said, not a model of consistency, Tyler Glass now. And really, the good times have just been pretty good and not dominant like we hoped for. So it's definitely a concern. At the same time, if it goes out his first start, throws six innings, strikes out 10. I don't think anybody, any of us are going to be terribly surprised by that. I mean, we're talking about marginal drops in the rankings here.

That's definitely. Slight. All right. So that's it for the fantasy baseball today. Podcast, Adam, will be back on Tuesday. Can I help you? No, I was just watching the outro. It's going to be great.

That's it for the fantasy baseball today. Podcast Adam Azer will be back for Heath Cummings for Scott White. I'm Chris Towers. I'll see you tomorrow.