Fantasy Baseball Today - 11/05: Most Improved Fantasy Players for 2020 from the World Series (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: November 6, 2019

Welsh, Scott and Towers back on the episode discuss the improved Fantasy values from the World Series participants. Has Juan Soto moved into a no doubt first round pick? Can Stephen Strasburg be a lock down ACE in 2020? Plus Scott drops a few other playoff players that may have improved their 2020 stock. Welsh also talks some Arizona Fall League and the prospects that may impact Fantasy leagues early 2020. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott, Heath, and Chris. Welcome back in. This is Fantasy Baseball today.

I am Chris Welsh. That is Scott White, and the reunion tour continues on. It was Adam Azer in the last episode, Scott, back on the pod. I was going to see the other Chris, but it's kind of like the original Chris. It is Chris Towers on the podcast. Towers, what's up, buddy? I'm fine with being the other Chris. You've done you've done Yeoman's work. And I've frankly, I flaked out.

So I think I can relinquish the title of Chris to you. My favorite thing about me coming on the show for when I've been on was Adam's explanation to say, hey listen, probably maybe the top reason that Welsh is coming on is because his name is Chris and there's literally no edit that needs to be done in the open of the show. That's my favorite. That's a good point. Adam is notoriously lazy. I don't really think of Chris Welsh as a Chris, though.

He's the Welsh. You know what? It's very funny you say that. I was at, I believe it was the Arizona Fall League, which we may get to in this episode. We got a couple things to cover. I was at the Arizona Fall League Championship game. and I was sitting with somebody, a friend of mine, and someone right near me said, Chris,

and I turned around, and all three of them looked at me. And we had this really weird, awkward interaction because it was like, I'm not the guy, and they're looking at me, like, what are you doing, buddy? And I realized, and I made a commitment at that moment, actually, I'll no longer respond to Chris. I'm just going to respond to Welsh, because I think it makes it easier on everybody.

I mean, Towers, do you, can you make that commitment to Towers? Don't you think that's better played? You know, when you work in, like, the sports media world, It's a lot of, like, guys who played high school football, and so they were referred to everyone by their last name anyway. So I'm very comfortable as a Powers. Okay. Just in general.

So it's white towers Welsh. It's like an 80s type of band. We're like a big cinematic, like nine-piece band, two drummers. It's White Towers Welsh. You know, we are definitely a, that's definitely a prog rock band. It's a prog rock. Exactly. On the episode today, we got a couple things we want to cover.

Obviously, we are now living in a post-world series. world. The Washington Nationals, for some reason, I almost wanted to say the Houston Astros, because it felt like that's where we were going. The Washington Nationals is our World Series champs. There's a lot to unpack from the World Series. As I mentioned, we may get because there were kind of two instances

of baseball, kind of ending, signaling in my world, I'm a big Arizona Fall League guy. You guys know I covered and interviewed lots of players out here. That came to a close. As the World Series came to a close, and this is the first time that's ever happened where they've ended simultaneously. So that kind of has completely as a whole ended our baseball season.

But there's some things to unpack there. And I know you guys are going to be into prospects and who can help you in this coming season. And then of course, you've got the mailbag. We'll check out the mailbag and see what is going on. But Scott White, let's start with you. We get to a game seven in the World Series. Look like the Astros. We're going to jump ahead.

Then the Washington Nationals pulled it out. There's so much to unpack. I'm just curious. Give me your world series in your elegant words. if you will, of what you thought of this series, and we're going to talk about the individual players as well, but from issues with Ump, robo-ump calls needed to go in, weird first-base calls.

People want a softball type of first base now to everything. Encapsulate the World Series for me, Scott. Oh, man, you want to get into some of the crazy, crazy little tributaries that are branching off from this River of World Series, huh? Sure. I think, look, I'm surprised the Astros didn't. win. I thought they were clearly the best team in baseball. I thought of the NL teams that could beat them, you know, the nationals did fit that description because the top three in their rotation

was so good. And yet their bullpen was so bad that it's still pretty surprising. They obviously had some hitters step up in a major way and were able to hang with the Astros offensively. Yeah, there's a lot There are some questions that emerged from this In terms of how the Astros You know, what they're thinking with regard to their rotation next year The Nationals have a closer situation They're going to have to look at

But you know overall it's I don't know It's you know part of it like I have a hard time not framing playoffs from the perspective of a Braves fan Because you know obviously there aren't great fantasy implications so my fandom really comes out and it gets frustrating to see now three times a team they beat for the division title

go on to win the World Series when they only had one World Series title themselves. Who are the first two? Yeah, yeah. Are you still going to be a Marlins fan, Chris? Oh, of course. In New York's pretty pathetic. Oh, no, there's nothing better than a Marlins fan in New York.

That's how you know you're a true. Actually, I've seen multiple Marlins hats, not the new ones or the old new ones, but the old old ones. You've seen twos of threes of them walking around. The good ones. Yeah. So there are, dozens of us, Scott. Dozens. Well, you know, the Marlins did win the AFL organization team. They were the team, the best organization in the Arizona Fall League with the prospects they brought out. So you know what? You can't win a World Series, but you can win best team in the AFEL, Chris. You know, there's only one who wins both. So, yeah. All right. So Tars, let me go to you then.

I want to set up what we're going to kind of do in this episode because I think this is a, this can be a little bit squirly for a lot of people, because it's one thing when we're looking at the entire season as a whole. It's another thing when we start breaking down into splits. We're going to look at pre and post all Star break, look at the final month, but then there's the treachered playoff performance. How much can a playoff performance really affect draft value coming into the next year? So we're going to go and talk about a few of the players that probably have the positive, maybe even some that have the negative, but can you give me your overarching thesis, small and small thesis on the idea of letting positively or negatively a playoff run

or even a World Series run actually affect their upcoming value for the upcoming season? Yeah, I would say how much can a postseason run affect the players value? Quite a bit. How much should it? Probably not very much. I mean, Juan Soto, I think, is going to be the poster boy for someone whose value is likely to increase. That probably was going to happen anyway. But the fact that he was so good on the biggest stage and the fact that he's so young and the fact that he's continuing to do.

Did you hear he was 20? Did you hear he was 20, Chris? 21. Oh, did you hear he was 21? He just turned 21. He was four years old. He was four years old last week. Actually, I hope he continued.

I just hope he increases his uniform number every year. Because right now he's one year younger. He's going to pass it at some point. He's got to go to 23 next year. I like that. But no, he is, like he was amazing in this postseason. You saw everything. You saw his command of the strike zone.

You saw the power. the power that, you know, this year we weren't quite sure was actually going to be there because of how many balls he hit on the ground. This year, he takes another step forward with the power. Some of that may be, you know, we're playing with a juice ball. We'll have to figure out what that means because I get the feeling baseball is going to dejuice the ball again. What do you say? What do you mean, Chris? They never change the ball.

The ball's never changed. What are you saying? Either that or they're just wildly incompetent. And either way, you have to factor that in. But Longstone was so young, like we said, he's only 21. He's going to get better. And I think the fact that he was so good on such a big stage, people are going to continue to build him up into what I think will probably end up being,

you know, at least a second round, ADP, if not high. Oh, I mean, I'm totally on board with second round. But Chris Welsh, we actually did our first mock draft of the offseason. and we'll get into a full review of that, probably next week. Chris Welsh actually kind of embodied the way Soto's value can go up here following this World Series. He took him ninth overall in that draft. And that was a Roto League, so not even one that directly rewards the plate discipline, which is one area where Soto clearly excels over the typical player,

the typical early rounder even. So, you know, I don't think it's certainly not too much of a stretch to think he'll return first round. value but I thought I thought it was a little bit of a stretch with guys like Nolan Aronado still out there Freddie Freeman but you know and that's and that's the heart Welsh clearly buying in yeah I mean I'm

buying in especially in you know from like a safety perspective I'm locked into four categories on a very high level and I was able to as well you know unpack in the next episode I was able to piece mail my stolen bases but he's got a really high variance and I mean we'll just jump right into him But the only thing I would ask, and Scott, I'm curious, do you think, though, the playoffs X World Series into that

can be a really dangerous sample size in the same run? Like obviously, biggest stage, we're all watching, you know, obvious values are going to adjust. But at the same time, you know, a simple world series is going to change, did change values coming into this season. And as fun as it can be and as fun as is to talk about, I think it's also pretty dangerous. And like you said, I might have embodied that, but I was already top 10 Soto coming into the playoffs.

So that's where I already was. But I think people are going to start justifying like top six. So it's a dangerous small sample size. Yeah, it is. And I think the further we get away from it, maybe some of that will die down. You know, obviously Juan Soto was already regarded as a stud in fantasy circle. So it's just the hype generated by him excelling on this national stage is going to make people more eager to draft him. So it's

probably a difference of a few spots we're talking about with him. You know, same with Strausberg, who I think looked more like an ace than maybe ever before. But he might have been at the top. He might be at the top of the

adjustments. Here, let's do this, because I don't want to jump too ahead because the Soto thing before we move off of it, because I want to talk about Strasbourg, because he might be the biggest improver, I think, in my mind, of all of these guys that, because I thought he teetered, but as you were saying, I'm interrupted you, Scott. I apologize.

But Juan Soto, in the playoffs, he led the way, I don't believe tied with Jose Altuve, led the in-El and homers during the playoffs with five. He was second coming into game seven with 13 RBIs. In game seven, he ended up having an RBI two hits. And I believe Anthony Rendon was able to get, he had one, so he was one above him during that time. So, you know, the, the run that he had, maybe a little bit sub-average where it was in the 260s,

270s through the playoffs 300 in the World Series. I mean, biggest stage performance was at the top level. Average suffered a little bit. Do you think the justification of Juan Soto inside the top 10, be it what he did in the playoffs or the season, is going to be justified? Like, do you cringe when you see me take Juan Soto at 9? No, I don't.

I think the one thing I will. say when it comes to, I would say specifically Scott and I on the podcast relative to the rest of the industry. We, and I'm speaking for Scott, so correct me if you think I'm telling tales out of school. But I think we tend to push back or pull back on the young hyped guys. Sure. You know, like there, because there's a lot of, you know, either like, this is my guy, or this is the year it's going to happen. And there's a lot of guys who get drafted based on what they could become rather than what they currently are. And I think Scott and I tend to be a little more measured.

And I'm not saying that's better or worse. But we're less likely to be the ones who take Juan Soto in the first round. However, we were also probably the ones who were less likely to take Juan Soto in the third or fourth round last year. And well, don't we look up to it? I mean, Ronald de Cunia, we were both. skeptical of him as a first rounder. He ended up being, I think, the top overall player in standard rotos scoring. So, you know, obviously it could work out.

Cringe is probably too strong, but it's just, I really just don't want to mess up the first round pick. And I think there are enough full-proof players there. And look, Juan Soda is obviously great. So it's hard to say he's risky by comparison. He just, in order to justify that spot, he has to do something he hasn't done yet. and I don't really see the reason given the alternatives to invest in that, invest in that level regardless of what happened in the World Series. It's sort of my go-to analogy, which is with Nolan Aeronado and Juan Soto,

Juan Soto could be anything. He could even be Nolan Aeronado. Like if Juan Soto next year hits 315 with 41 homers and 220 combined runs in RBI, we will lose our minds. And that's the season Nolan Aeronado just had. I mean, but there's already, if you hadn't heard, he was 20 years old this season, guys. But he had 220 combined runs in RBIs, 34 homers and hit 382. So are you asking a player that, you know, coming in at 19 years old,

who has progressed to become one of the game's best hitters over two years, hasn't hit that type of slump and is maybe one of the more patient better bats in all of baseball, and he's sub 25 years old, to ask him to hit six more homers and add, you know, what, 20 on the batting average, 30 maybe. I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. No, it's not. It's not. Yeah.

So, I mean, the argument for me with Juan Soto, and I can't, like, here's what I can't do. I can't go in and construct a team drafting Juan Soto, then Fernando Tatez Jr. And then Pete Alonzo. And I'm like, hey, look at me, guys. I got all the young guys. Nope, that doesn't work. You have to minimize the risk. But Juan Soto is so established at this point, even when the stolen bases at this young

career, I only still see upside, but it's a fair point if you're like, hey, he could be Aeronado if you think they're already not quite on the same level. I think they are on the same level. I think the deficiencies that Soto might have, they counteract the ones that you're giving to Aeronado. There's more stolen bases, that type of thing. Does that make sense? And the thing about Wonsoto is like, based on what he's done, like, just to put it in perspective, based on what he's done, it's not outlandish to say that there's like a 50% chance he ends up being a Hall of Famer. Like based on, like just the fact that he is an everyday player for two years before he turned 21,

that means he's more likely than not going to end up being a Hall of Famer just based on the number of guys who have done that in the past. So like, we are dealing with rarefied air when it comes to Juan Soto. So there's no real argument that you can make against him. Yeah, that's good. That's just. It's just the uncertainty. I get it. It's the uncertainty in the youth.

Okay, so Scott, then not to just go crazy on Juan Soto here, but I do think he's kind of, the, you know, the pick of de jour here. He's the guy that everyone wants to know kind of coming in because of any of these guys that weren't maybe already in the first round. Juan Soto is pretty much establishing himself. Can you tell me, without giving too much away, who are a few of the, Scott, ranged players, the same range of players that are clearly, you're clearly taking Soto over, like Aeronado specifically, like you don't need to tell me, you know, Yelich and Acuna and stuff, but who are his range of players that take the jump over Soto, regardless of this great run he's had. Aronado and Freddie Freeman strike me as being safer bets for batting average,

if not anything else. I mean, obviously Aronado playing in course field, he always gets a ton of RBI. And that gap, I think, narrows if you're talking about a points format where you're factoring in plate discipline, especially in the case of Aronado, who doesn't walk much. But traditional five by five, I'd take Trey Turner. I'd take, I'd take Anthony Rendon. You would take take, Trey Turner. I don't believe you. I don't believe you. I got Soto as a mid-second rounder, and you took them late first round. So it's kind of nitpicking, and we should probably move on, because there's a lot of other things to get to. And my second round pick was super sexy, so it kind of counteracted it. I interrupted you when we were talking about Strasbourg,

but I just wanted to finish up on Soto. End up having five wins, 47 strikeouts and 36 innings, a sub-1 ERA, only had four walks, just an absolutely dominant playoff performance from Strasbourg. And he's a guy to me that was kind of straddling this, I don't know if I want to say elite, because I don't want to make too much about something. But it was like this range of, you know, everyone's always a little bit uncomfortable, the injuries. And he kind of straddled this range of that to, I want to draft him. And in anything, I might have more shares of him because his cost is going to come cheaper

than some of the elite elite pitchers. So what do you think the playoff run did to Strasbourg and how you're going to value him? It may have caught up the layman fan. fantasy player to what the analysts were already seeing. Because for me, it doesn't change anything, right? I mean, maybe if Stephen Strasbourg was somebody who was unheard of or just establishing himself, then this kind of World Series run would be something you could consider a breakthrough.

But Stephen Strasberg was coming off. It wasn't definitively the best season of his career, but he stayed healthy and he excelled in a way that looks like he's really figured things out. He's done a lot of tweaking with his arsenal over the years. He kind of refined it in a way that I think got back to his strengths and like featured the curveball more like he did when he was first breaking in and that made him much more of a ground ball pitcher while still having the huge swing and missability. So it was kind of the perfect profile to attack what this offense.

environment, what it currently is right now. And because he also stayed healthy for only the second time in his career, I think I am comfortable calling him an ace maybe more now than ever before. Towers, Scott had had, where did he go, number 10 on his pitcher ranks when we were doing the episodes. He was the 10th best pitcher in baseball. Do you think you've seen enough, especially through this playoff run, to justify that Strasbourg sits behind Bueller and Flaherty to maybe jumping them and being in the same range as guys like Bieber and Clevenger? I'm going to say both yes and that I am probably less likely to draft Steven Strasbourg this year than any point in the past couple of years.

Do you believe you're going to pay for last year? You're going to pay this year for last year's stats by a hamburger today? And sometimes that works out. Garrett Cole this year worked out. Jacob de Grom worked out. But there's a lot of times when you pay for the guy coming off his best season and it ends up not working. Now, I don't think it's going to end up not working in a way that will really hurt you very much. Like, Steven Strasbourg is good. He was good coming into this season.

He was amazing back in 2017. I feel like that has kind of gotten memory hold, but he had a 252 ERA. I think he was top two or three in the National League in an ERA plus. He was exceptional. And so I'm just, I'm less likely to pay for Steven Strasbourg coming off to 209. And really it's 240 something inning season than I am coming off the 130 inning season just because I don't want to pay that premium. Scott, do you still feel comfortable with the range, you know, where I mean, we're, what, a couple weeks past our SP preview ranks episode. Do you feel, I don't know, do you feel like you want to make an adjustment, like you want to jump him in?

Or just maybe he jumped a tier. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, he kind of marks the bottom of a tier for me. He's in the same tier as like Walker Bueller and Jack Flaherty. He's just at the tail end of that tier because there's still that injury history. But I think after him you go from clear aces to sort of, you know, we're 90% sure they're aces after Strasbourg. And this portion of fantasy baseball today is brought to you by C. Seek geek promo code fantasy.

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Garrett Cole, 47, essentially did what Strasbourg did. 47 strikeouts in 36 inning, sub 1 ERA. Garrett Cole definitively, and I know, Scott, you and I talked about it a decent amount over the last couple months, that Garrett Cole went from like teetering to like, is he number one? He's probably close to number one, too. This is our guy pending, most likely pending, the destination he has in free agency. So Garrett Cole did nothing to hurt, if anything, just established himself as baseball's number one pitcher with most likely outside of Colorado destination, probably not having too much of a factor.

Yeah, that run he went on his final nine starts of the regular season, all of them with double-digit strikeouts. I mean, 110 strikeouts in 61 and two-thirds, Zinnigs with a 161 ERA. Yeah, I mean, the postseason was just a continuation of that, basically, and I didn't even need to see it for me to be convinced he's my number one pitcher, just because of the advantage in years he has over both Berlander and Max Scherzer, who would be the other candidates there. I wish he was still going to have the Astros backing him, because obviously then improves win potential, but I don't think he's going to some seller dweller. So it would basically be only Colorado. Even Texas, I'd be fine with. What if he went to Chris's Marlins? He won't.

I know, I know. I'm just trolling. Great part. He's not going to the Tigers. He's not going to the Blue Jays. So yeah, we don't have to worry about that. He's great. He is number one.

Chris, does Garrett Cole have any of the same Steven Strasberg thing that we're just talking about? I mean, the cost is going to be absolute maximum. I'm not totally sure. where you are, at least walking into 2020 as far as your need for starting pitching early on. But do you want to have shares of Garrett Cole? Because, I mean, he established himself as the constant of constant. Oh, I mean, I'd love to have him on my team. And the difference between him and Steven Strausberg is just we're now coming off three straight 200 inning seasons for Garrett Cole. You know, he did have elbow issues back in 2016. But, you know, you're looking at four out of five with 200 plus three in a row now coming into 2020. The only thing, I guess, if I had to nitpick, yes, he's coming off a career year, but it's not like this came out of nowhere.

It was a continuation and a building upon what he did in 2018. The only thing that I guess if I had to poke a hole in it would be just the fact that I guess he did run out of steam just a little bit. Now, he was still incredibly effective. But in the World Series and in the ALCS, his swinging strike rate was down. They talked about this on the broadcast, especially with the forcing fastball. It wasn't as effective. The strikeout rate was down in those three starts, but it's three starts at the end of a long season. You're not knocking Garrett Cole because of that.

I hope someone out there's like, Escher didn't bring Garrett Cole in the ninth inning. He's got to go down. They didn't believe in him. They didn't trust in him. By the way, Justin Erlander hasn't won a World Series game. He's garbage. I want all those takes. I want to hear all those takes.

I mean, they definitely should have brought him in. It's ridiculous that they didn't bring him in. But I hope they hold it against him. That's what I want. I want them to be like, Gary, cool, they don't trust him. A couple other guys that had really, really good performances to tie into 2020.

Jose Altovae also had five homers. He was with Soto, 338 average going into that game seven. He was up there with doubles. He had a couple stolen bases, which is good to see. And Anthony Rendon, I mean, if there's an argument,

this is one I struggled with. And Scott, you might like this, and you might be with, you kind of referenced it before. I wanted to take Anthony Rendon in the mock that we had because the playoff run, I mean, he was at the very tippy top of batting average.

He had a couple homers, most RBIs, most doubles, more walks and strikeouts. He was beyond elite. And if there is a guy that you can trust, if you don't want to get it wrong in the first round, that screams Rendon, Scott. Yeah. I feel like

the gap between Aeronado, Rendon, and Bregman, those top three third basement has become so narrow that on a different day, I'll decide. Totally. I put one versus the other two. I think it's easier in traditional five by five to just to go with Aeronado as the top option because you don't have to worry about, you know, he doesn't walk as much as the other two.

But I would probably put Aeronado third in a points league for that reason. I do wonder with Rendon, I mean, regardless of format on a per game basis, he was the third basement this past year. He's been the best third basement in points leagues for a couple years in a row now. But, you know, he was so good overall that even in Roto leagues he was number one on a per game basis. So there's the injury history there. That's one thing. But the other thing I worry about with him is most of his gains were with his hard contact rate spiking. And so you wonder how much somebody like him would be impacted by a ball change. And, you know, this ball change is so theoretical because there was the ball change, there was the juiced ball change of like

2016 and then there was the juiced ball 2019 and are we going back? If they made a change, would it be from the uber juiced ball to the less juiced ball or would it be pre-2016 ball that wasn't juiced at all? We don't know. We don't know if it's going to happen at all because we don't, they're not even talking about it. So I don't even know how much to factor any of that in. I just feel like this bunch of scientists with white coats sitting around. They've discovered the nuclear bomb and they're just like, we don't know what to do with this thing. and like nobody knows how this are like you know a collider they don't know what they've built they don't know what they've done with the baseball no one can identify outside of baseball players being like hey

by the way the seams are tighter that's about the only thing they don't know what they're doing i i i can't factor that in i don't know about you guys i can't be in that world where i factor if the ball is adjusted again like if you are identifying anthony rindone as a benefit beneficiary of the juice ball i can't have that be any factored in my brain of why I would negatively, I would negatively impact him because they might fix the juice ball because I don't think anybody knows what's going on with that.

Well, and he's really good regardless. I think it's more about the guys like a, you know, I would say Adi Grigorous would be the kind of guy who hits a lot of wall scrapers and obviously if he doesn't go back to the Yankees, he would lose a ton of value anyway, but then he's another guy who, if he loses five to ten feet off of a fly ball,

that could really impact him. Or Scott wants to say, I think it basically makes the difference. Based on what he did this past year, first rounder, clearly. Points or Roto. He deserves to go in the first round. And he went 19th overall in this mock draft were referencing, which was well behind Aeronado and Bregman.

And I thought crazy low form. I think I have him 14th personally, Rendon, and Roto leagues. In points leagues, he is a first rounder for me. And I think he's only behind Breg. I think I go Bregman, Rendon, and Aeronado in points leagues at third base. I'm excited to talk about that mock. I'm excited to get into that. Just a couple other guys.

And then I actually want to hit the inverse. But Scott, I know you added a few players on here, potentially on the positive run. Howie Kendrick was incredible. I mean, thanks to Howie Kendrick. Jose, your Kiti, it was really interesting that they gave him the number four spot. We actually saw him in this game.

And then there were even a couple other guys. So let me just open it up to both of you. We'll start with you, Scott. Any other postseason positives that you might want to hit that are going to affect 2020. Well, speaking specifically for the two teams in the World Series, yes, it was interesting the way the Nationals handled Howie Kendrick in the playoffs, because one of my frustrations during the regular season, and they never came close enough that it was ever really worth bringing up, was how, why weren't they playing him that regularly during the regular season? And he's old,

and maybe it was to spare him, but, you know, usually even in that situation, it's a three days on, one day off sort of deal like the Brewers with Ryan Braun. And it wasn't, you know, at times the nationals would go a week without playing Howie Kendrick, even though you look at his numbers. I mean, he was basically

Cattel Marte. He had a Cotelmarty type breakthrough as a part-timer. And then we see him come through in a major way this postseason. So what makes it especially interesting is he's a free agent. And is that going to be a motive

for him and choosing a new team, someone that wants to play him every day? Is he at an age where he just recognizes that's not something he can do? I think that's something to watch closely because he could be pretty sneaky, late round pickup as a middle infielder, depending on how that plays out.

And then Erkiti, yeah, I presumed Wade Miley if they never needed a fourth starter and the Astros aggressively chose to just use their top three in the ALC. but they did turn to a fourth starter in the World Series, and it was Rikidi. I assumed it would have been Wade Miley, but I guess he finished the season so horribly

that they didn't want to go that route. Well, that, I mean, Urquiti to me was part of this blob of interesting pitchers that the Astros kind of experimented with during the season, and, you know, I wasn't really sure who was in the lead of that group, and I think this suggests that it definitely was or Kiti. But they're losing coal, right? He's walking free agent. We assume.

They're getting back Lance McCullors. He looks good. A lot of video out there of him throwing currently. He was hitting low 90s. So he looks pretty good. Forrest Whitley, after a terrible season in the minors, you know, spoiler alert, really bounced back in the NFL and still has a high prospect standing. I presume Erkiti has a job going into next year based on this.

But there still is, there still is a lot for him to content with. It feels so Josh James to me. I have a hard time. I have a hard time with overall evaluation of prospects with the Houston Astros. Outside of, you know, the highly projectable long-term starters with incredible stuff, the Astros just do weird things. I mean, Towers, Erkiti, is he a guy for you? Because we fell, I didn't, but I know a lot of people that fell into the Josh James

trap this past year. We've done it in past years with Frankie Montas. The Astros do this to us. I'm not willing to bite on Arcidi this year. Are you? It depends what the price is. What if it's Josh James? I mean, Josh James last year was mostly going in like the 250s.

Yeah, it was pretty late. Or late. So, you know, if it's that cost, I don't mind paying it because there's no such thing as a bad pick there. Now, if he's someone who like locks into a job early on, people start talking him up and he starts climbing and climbing and climbing and gets like, I don't know if Nick Pavetta, is the right comp, but that kind of thing where everybody starts targeting him as a sleeper, and he ends up moving into like the 150, 100, that's when I start to get scared. But I can't see that happening with him.

So if it's more like a Josh James situation, then I think I'll have some shares. Chris, what about you? It could be World Series or playoff in general, just open it up to ending the playoff run. Are there any players that you think their stock improved enough, even just simply through a playoff run that you're going to count for 2020? Well, I do think, you know, you mentioned it, but I do want to point out that, you know, Jose Al-Tuvae, obviously really great postseason. I think was close to setting a record for most hits in a postseason. That was building off of his really strong second half. That's a really encouraging thing to see that he was able to keep that up against the higher level of competition in the postseason.

That makes me think moving forward, hey, Jose Al-Tube might be past these knee issues and, and, and might be someone who can be a high-level contributor yet again. Scott, you had a couple of the guys that were looming out that I don't think were even necessarily World Series. Let's drop and kind of finishing this conversation with the playoffs and the World Series run. A couple of the guys you think improved that stock? Well, not necessarily improved it, but I think a couple of noteworthy developments from the playoffs were the way the Yankees handled all their hitters,

specifically leaving Luke Voigt off the ALCS roster and he was on the ALDS roster but strictly as a bench bat. He was playing a lot down the stretch as he was early in the season but they went strictly with Lemayhew at first base,

Labor Torres at second, D.D. Grigorous at short and Giorichella at third. You know, they even left Boyt off in favor of John Carlos Stanton who we now know was dealing with a pretty severe injury that kept him from being

a major contributor. And yeah, it's kind of like the Astros with their rotation. Like there are enough openings that could develop that he still ends up having a big role next year. And there are also enough other players in the mix here that he could not. It's just so much remains to be seen here. D.D. Gregorius is a free agent, right?

So that, you know, could potentially make Labor Tour's the full-time shortstop. LeMayhew full-time second baseman, maybe Voight Slot. in there. But then they also have Mike Ford, who I think peripherally looked even stronger than Boyt this year. Also got Anwar who's going to come back. Yeah, Miguel And they could sign a big time third base. They could sign a guy like Rindo. And then they could-Megel.

Miguel And DuHar is a terrible third baseman in Geo, Urchella. You know, obviously they were relying on him over Void. And also, you got a factor in Void ended up needing hernia surgery as soon as the season was over. So he was playing through a pretty severe injury himself. and who knows how much that impacted his production. But yeah, the Yankees infield and the Yankees are going to be a team to watch this offseason just in terms of following along with their plans.

I mean, they're always a team to watch because they could always make a big play, right? But they have a lot of different directions they could go specifically with their infield this offseason. And this only, I think, creates more questions there. What about your guy, Flaherty? Did you hit Flaherty? Yeah. Well, it's, you know, two of his three players. all starts weren't very good, and that was after him being just completely untouchable for the entire second half.

And it just makes me rethink whether I should have him over Walker Bueller, because my case for that was, okay, well, Bueller, for the full season, his peripherals are a little better, but Flaherty was just so unbelievable to end the year. And it's close enough that I kind of want to see if he found a new gear there that maybe puts him past Walker Bueller. I'm not sure about that anymore. Don't fall for it. Full season statistics are more predictive than half season statistics. But when he goes from having like a five ERA in the first half to a point six three ERA, yeah, he had a 275 ERA. He was really good.

I was hoping you guys were going to keep going. I just wanted to like keep hearing it. I felt it like it was brewing up and I was like, oh, we're about to go. Let's go. But that's good. I like those. I want to pull up the specific numbers, so I don't exaggerate here. So he had...

That's pretty close. 464 in the first half, 0.91 in the second. He was awesome, but like, he's not going to be a 0.91 ERA guy. Of course. Of course not. He could be a 275 ERA guy, which is what he was. And that was better than Bueller, but, you know, peripherally in terms of like swinging strikes and I don't even remember.

But, you know, Bueller was a little more attractive from like the analytical standpoint. But was the gap there enough that you're going? going to go against the guy whose value is skyrocketing. I don't know. I know even less now since Flaherty wasn't, couldn't keep it going in the playoffs. All right. Let's take a quick stop and let me tell you about a couple of our friends here.

And let me tell you about one of our good friends here. And then I'm going to flip this conversation into a different place. Justin Verlander, most earned runs with 17 of them, a 433 ERA in the playoffs. That leads me to an email. Brandon emails. He says, hey, Chris and Scott and Chris, and that works on both Chris's here.

I know this is more of a concern that Adam brings up a lot, but any worries about Scher and Verlander for next year, considering both they're getting older and both have deep postseason runs adding to their innings totals. Adam always talks about that, but I'm not sure if there's any strong evidence to back it up. Sale immediately comes to mind, but not sure if he can relate his struggles this season to a deep postseason run last year. So, Towers, let's start with you here, since you are,

Chris and it was labeled to a Chris. Do you have age concerns to Scherzer and Verlander and especially the innings that both of those guys put on here when walking into next year and Verlander also had some subpar results? Less so because of the postseason, although it was Scherzer. The postseason actually does play into my concerns because it was a continuation of the back issues that he was dealing with that finally caused him to miss some time for really the first time in his career.

I think he had a finger injury back in 2017 that might have cost him a start or two. But this was really the first time that we'd ever seen Max Scherzer look fallible. And going in the next season, we talked a lot the last couple of seasons, and it ended up being true in a couple of cases with Clayton Kershaw, where once he started having that back issue, it just kept popping up. And it never debilitated him. And it never stopped him from being very good. But it made him risked.

Well, Max Scher's five years old. looked okay but really clearly wasn't at his best, but he was dealing with a back injury. The fact that that's a continuation of what he was dealing with in the regular season, that's what gives me pause with Max Scherzer. And let's not forget, I mean, Verlander and Scherzer are used to this, right?

Verlander went to another World Series with the Astros. They both together went to two World Series with the Tigers. So they're used to pitching deep into playoffs and it hasn't impacted them in the past. I do worry about the age. I do worry about what's starting to become the potential for some nagging injuries here with Scherzer. As Chris said, that's a big reason why I decided to rank them both behind Cole for next year.

But I don't want to overstate the risk either. They are certainly at a point in their career where they could just fall off in a year. You and I have, you and I have talked to the age. And we've talked about the falling knife syndrome that happens in fantasy. I always like, and I call it, it's like the David Ortiz thing to me. There was like a three-year run where everyone was like, well, listen, I can't get down with David because it's going to fall off and it's about to fall out. Nelson Cruz is another example.

I think it's easier to ignore it and correct to ignore it, its starting pitcher, because the risks are already so inherent there that would you rather have, would you rather have the guy who keeps doing it? And one of these years he won't, but you don't know when, or would you rather have the guy who, you know, did it for a year or two, but doesn't have that extended track record of being able to handle that kind of workload and being able to perform at that elite level. I think I'd rather have the first guy.

Do you almost look at that like Max Scherzer versus Blake Snell? Would that be a fair kind of comparison to what you're saying? I know it's a little bit. Sure. Okay. Is it the same general area? Or you know, like Luis Castillo, Lucas Golito, something like that. I mean, obviously that's a little further down again. Yeah, yeah, if you want to go in the, yeah,

and I think you can make bigger calls on that type of stuff. As far as negativity goes then, since we're on a little negative run, let me finish up the negativity. Two players, I'm very curious that your guys is. take if what happened in the playoffs is going to have a negative effect to what their postseason value was starting to look like. Are their post-regular season value for 2020? And the two guys are Cody Bellinger and Carlos Correa.

Cody Bellinger ended up only hitting 2-11 in the playoffs. Had 7Ks and 19 at bat. It's only one extra base hit. You add that on top of the second half drop where we've talked about it, where he was hitting 336 in the first down to 263. I feel like Cody Bellinger moved from a lockdown top four, maybe five pick to maybe closer down to eight or nine. And then Carlos Correa, you know, though, was hitting the ball. And his main thing was just healthy.

He still had a really subpar average. I think he hit, he was better in the World Series. But overall, he was right around 200. I think he led the way in strikeouts for the playoff run. So Towers, do you think that Bellinger or Correa hurt themselves through the playoffs coming into 20? I don't think so. And especially with Bellinger, like, yeah, he only hit 21 in the second half. He wasn't quite as good. He was never going to keep that up. He was never going to hit like, you know, peak Mike Trout like he did in the first half. But a lot of that was a 266 Babep, which maybe you can say,

okay, maybe he won't be a super high Babbip guy. He has a lefty. Maybe he can get shifted. But I think overall, you know, he hits 261 with a 266 Babep, even if you just give him a 290 Babbip and he hits 280. Perfectly fine with that is my top five pick. That's not really changing, especially because he does have speed. He's obviously got great power. I really don't have any qualms with him. Correa, I don't know.

I could see Correa kind of like George Springer did this year, finally having that season where he just puts it all together without really the sign that it was coming, although he was very, very good this year. It's just a question of whether he can stay healthy. If he does get a discounted price, I'm fine drafting him. But shortstop is such a deep position that it is tough for me to consider reaching for a guy who may not, I would say at this point probably isn't going to hit for a great average, isn't going to steal bases. He's had six since 2016 total. So that's where it gets tough for me with Correa.

It's not so much that he had a bad postseason. And it's just, is he just a three category guy at a position where there's 12 to 15 guys who are really good? I have a problem just like giving up on Carlos Correa. Like I always seem to find myself with him and a little bit more of a spoiler alert to the mock draft. I took Carlos Correa. And I got, which I think is an extreme discount. But it comes back to Scott. What you and I've talked about for a little while is, and what Towers just said, the position is deep.

And I actually had an internal battle of a very young shortstop to be excited about versus Carlos Correa. But because I had gone a little bit young at the top with Juan Soto, I went against it. And I said, I'll take the discount with a Carlos Correa than trying to buy in on the young shortstop here. But the position is so dang deep, Scott. It's amazing the big names that are outside of my top 10 at shortstop and third base, both. So, yeah, I mean, Carlos Correa just the fact that he has an injury, degree now it makes them harder it makes him someone that among that group is harder for me to invest in now here here's one thing to keep in mind with carlois is you know i made the george springer comparison

well george springer i think was 30 maybe 31 this year uh carlos caro just turned 25 and we're talking peak peak carlos carra is what you're alluding to we're coming into peak just the fact that like there could be an absolute monster season coming from carlos carrie and we've seen like little glimpses of it 2017 he stays healthy plays 109 games but has a 941 OPS 2019 plays 75 games

has a 926 OPS it's really it's a question of whether he can stay healthy but if he does stay healthy you know look back at drunk Carlos Stanton in 2017 I just I just hate that it's back stuff with Correa sure but the cost is so cheap

I mean the car I mean he's like sub top 50 sub top 50 for Carlos Correa seems like a worthwhile investment. I mean, in 75 games, he hit 21 homers. Average wasn't in the range where we want to vomit. It was 280, 279 to be technical. Yeah, he was fine. He was fine when he played.

We were in a good spot. The power seemed a little bit overinflated. But I think seemingly we would have walked away with probably close to 100, 30 plus season. But unfortunately, it's on par with so many good short stops right now. So you can't pay the high cost, but that's what Correa doesn't come with, which makes them so interesting. That's it.

Okay, good. I silence the crowd. That's beautiful. So as many of you know, I've only said it three to 400 times since I've been on this show. I'm in Arizona, and we just had the end of the Arizona Fall League.

Just ended up, and I've been three, four, five games a week. I'd get out to interviewing players. Interviewed a lot of great players that you guys will be drafting very soon, if you're not already in Dynasty Leagues. But the transition I would ask you guys real quick, and I'm going to set the stage for some AFL guys, which is just to say some young prospects for you guys, I had to look at in 2020.

The Arizona Fall League did one thing that was very interesting. They experimented with the robo-ump. That was the biggest call through the playoffs. I saw everyone's like, hey, get the dang robot in here. Well, I had firsthand of it, and we didn't know it at first. And I have a very vivid memory. I'm watching as his prospect for the Cardinals, name is Griffin Roberts.

And he's up there, usually throws in the high 90s. He's throwing about low 90s, and I'm sitting next to, I don't know who this guy is, but he's like really excited. He's like, come on, come on. And then the pitch comes in, the ump waits two seconds, calls it, and this guy freaks out. And he freaks out. And I'm like, what is happening? And he turns over and he goes, ah, they're using the robo-ump system.

And he goes, that's my son. It's Griffin-Robberts dad who's sitting there. And they had all been informed that the robo-ump is there. And throughout the AFL guys, there was plenty of videos. I think it was Jacob Hayward with the Giants. He was thrown out of a game. for one of the calls and there was somebody in the championship game, one of the games,

I'm completely drawing a blank right now, but two guys were thrown out of games with the robo-ump. And when finally everybody got on track, they realized what was going on. The players didn't know who to get mad at. So, do you have thoughts on robo-umps after the playoffs? Towers,

let's start with you. I'm curious, because I do have firsthand knowledge of seeing how it went down, and I don't think it's as pretty or as eloquent as everybody thinks it is, but people want it. Well, it's worth noting that in Arizona, I believe they were using a different tracking system

than the one that Major League Baseball is installing next year. So that's worth noting. I'm not sure what the difference. I think one uses lasers. One uses Doppler. I don't know which one is which, but I know they are different systems. So worth saying that.

It's also worth saying that the pitch tracking technology is not quite as accurate as the dot that shows up on your broadcast graphic makes it seem. There is an error bar of, I think it's about a half an inch on average one way or the other for various reasons. And they've calibrated them and reduced that gap. But I'm generally skeptical of the robot hump. I would love to watch a Sunday night baseball game where they take the K zone away. But don't tell anyone that it's a robot hump making the strike calls because I bet people would get just as

mad because one, when we're watching at home, the perspective is off center or it's up, and we can't actually tell what a strike or a ball is. Because the way the ball moves and the flight and the path and where it crosses home plate, we're getting mad at stuff that we can't really know is a ball or strike anyway. So I'm generally, I'm sort of becoming like a sports luddite, get replay out, get robot umt out. Yeah. Well, that's what I was going to say. Like, people think they want robot They look just like they thought they wanted review in football and in baseball and I haven't done any polling or anything, but just kind of reading the room. It seems like people are over over the replay system in football and definitely over it in baseball. And it's, I mean, how much like how much to me it also comes down to how much of the sort of the show do you want to give up to in the name of like, you know, pinpoint.

Like, yeah, like extreme precision. Well, here's the biggest problem with it. It's just kind of clinical, right? Like to a point that at the end, this is just entertainment. In the AFL, the biggest problem is, and it has nothing to do, I don't even think, with where the zones were, where the balls were coming in, is the system was like a bad Skype call. You know, you've been on a bad Skype call where everyone's two or three seconds behind. The pitch would come in, we'd all sit there for one or two seconds, and then, shoot! And then everyone would stare at each other.

and then the guys, they just, they didn't know what to do with themselves. They wanted to freak out. Some would just laugh. But the um, what would the ump do? He go, I got the call. They have headpieces in. They have little head pieces in and they're waiting for the call. It makes the game awkward.

And I think that's something that, it's one really good thing that we pulled from the AFL is as much as everybody's calling for the system, they've got, they've got data. They've now got quantifiable data that they can show not only to the accuracy to what it does to the game. and it wasn't perceived well. It was really bad. Though I would tell you, the heckling in the stadiums, A plus.

A plus with robots. Binary code. It's all ones and zero zump. All that type of stuff was super fun. Now, either of you guys, prospect guy. Towers, are you a prospect guy at all? I mean, you already told me you don't want to draft the young guys,

so I feel like I know my answer. But like, how in tune are you? I always like, football takes me away. And then in the off season, I do my deep dive, Scott's all Scott's stuff and and I get back into it. So I'm a little rusty. But I know that I'm looking at the names.

I know these guys. I know the big names. Okay. So let me present to you guys a couple players here. I want to get your take on it and please throw anything at me because I've got, I've got three areas here from the Arizona Fall League. I saw every single player in the Arizona Fall League a multitude of time, which is actually really hard to do.

I mean, there's only six teams. So you might be like, oh man, you got like six. weeks, you can catch them all. It's actually really hard to catch all these guys at the same time. Plus guys leave. There were, you know, some really good players. Joey Bart was only there for a couple weeks. Jared Kelnick. I've got three players for you that I think are going to have early season impact that people need to watch for. And Scott, we'll start with you because I would be curious at your take if you are with me on them. Number one is Joe Adele, who is an obvious, if you're any type of a prospect person or even not, you should know who Joe Adele is. This was my

crowning achievement at the end of my prospect one interviews. I got to interview, a very long interview with Joe Adele going through a multitude of topics. He finished the Arizona Fall League, getting 273, three homers, had a couple stolen bases, nothing great. But the power that this guy shows, Jim Caldus gave him the top power tool in all the Arizona Fall League. It's a completely different sound. He's a pro already, and that was something I talked to him about with growth. And he's on to Team USA right now. Number two was the AFL MVP, Royce Lewis with the Minnesota Twins,

who had a really bad season. And unfortunately, I decided to start my interview with him asking him about that. And that was stupid. That was a dumb move by me, though he's the nicest person on the planet. He ended up winning the MVP here hitting 353, three homers, five stolen bases, and played four different positions here. Shortstop, second, third base, and center field. So versatility.

And then obviously, Forrest Whitley, who we talked about. And the reason I bring this up, sorry with you, Scott, is that in drafts, especially bigger drafts, you are going to want to find and pinpoint the spots where you can take advantage of guys that would come up early and have big impact. Like players we saw this season, like Pete Alonzo, like Bo Bichette, in years past, Eloy Jimenez, and Ronald Acuna and all of that. And I believe that Joe Adele, Royce Lewis, and Forrest Whitley are those players. Do you disagree, Scott, that the juice isn't worth the squeeze this coming season? I would expect in most standard mixed leagues, Forrest Whitley and Joe Adele will be drafted. I think Forrest Whitley has a very good chance of debuting at some point in April for the Astros.

You talked about how Lewis had a bad season, Royce Lewis. Forrest Whitley, I mean, he was considered the top pitching prospect of baseball coming in was supposed to make a midseason debut and just was terrible. 799-ERA, 44 walks, and 59. innings, but he did strike out 86. It was weird. This season or last? Yeah, that was last. That was the previous season, which he was in the fall league last year as well.

It was, it didn't make it. People couldn't figure out what was going on with him. And the stuff still look great. The fact he was great at, um, and the Arizona fall league, I think puts him, should relieve a lot of concerns. And I, I think, you know, his, his prospect stock hasn't fallen in there, despite that awful showing. Something I can tell you, too.

I just want to add to it. And I mean to interrupt, because I asked you. question, but Whitley did talk about this. And he talked about that he found out that it was a mechanical issue and it was with his shoulder. And I don't know if I've talked about this before. I might have done it on Prospect One, but he did some interviews that what he realized when he came out here to Arizona Fall League, he had identified that he was dropping his, I believe it was his left shoulder. Yeah, his left shoulder too far down and it was getting him off kilter. And he was completely losing all command. And then what he ended up doing is he was able to straighten it out.

and he ended up having a 2-8-E-R-A-A-A-R-A out here in the fall league, and I believe he led the way with 32 strikeouts in 25 innings. The smallest changes can make the biggest difference in baseball, I tell you. Now, Joe Adele, I'm not as confident we're going to see him early. I mean, Cole Cahoon presumably is walking and they'll have an opening and all of that, but he got promoted to AAA at the end of last year and struggled at what was an even more hitter-friendly environment than the majors. So I don't know. I mean, he could have a huge spring

and then he's on the fast track suddenly too. I'm just, I don't know that I'm going to be the one to invest in Adel. And in the case of Royce Lewis, I mean, I think he still has stuff to prove in the minors. He does. And beyond that,

there isn't really an opening for him, right? I mean, I would argue the versatility. That's one of the big things with him. Like, he kind of pooped it with me when I interviewed him because I kind of was like, hey, man, you know, are you done with being a shortstop?

And he's like, no, I'm a shortstop. He's like, but they gave me the, option to not come here or I could play some other positions. I think that was a little bit clouded because he played third base prominently. He played some second and he was in center field and he shined in center field. So the reason I put him on the list of coming up earlier than you expect is I think with the versatility and a successful start to the season and what you guys are going to see in spring training, that's going to, the twins are going to want to bring him up because he's got,

I mean, better versatility than any player they've got and look at how much Byron Buckson gets hurt. It's a tough, it's a tough balance, of course. Yeah, I mean, I think it's just the fact he hasn't really mastered even AA. As encouraging as the AFL showing was, I mean, he hasn't mastered high class A if we're going to be, if we're going to get right down to it. That's what we did move up to AA. And, you know, you got Jorge Palanco coming off a six win season at shortstop. Luis Saras looks really good at second.

Miguel Sineau obviously is going to have a lineup spot, presumably at third. And something could go wrong in any of those spots. and if Lewis is firing all cylinders, then yeah, maybe he does get the call. I'm just not ready to presume that with him. Towers, what does it take for you? Not going too much further into this. And really, I feel bad because it's horrible, cheap plugs.

But I would suggest if you want to learn a little bit about either of these guys, Adele and Lewis, go listen to my interviews on Prospect 1. Adele specifically, because he's really in-tuned and smart, smart hitter. He's very analytically in-tuned. A lot of hitters gave me this, like, stupid answer I hate hearing about like I don't want to hit for power just want to hit for gaps and I kind of pressed him on that. I'm like a lot of guys keep saying that and he's like it's kind of a stupid answer. He's like this is what I do. And he's like really smart about it. But I think

Solon bases are going to go by the wayside. All of that aside, what does it take for you to invest? And what's the maximum investment you're willing to spend to potentially buy on the next Ronald de Kuna? Because that's how Joe Adele is being viewed. Him and Luis Robert are players that you are going to have to spend a top for 150 pick, maybe closer to 125, is it something that you can do with the potential to have, you know, the absolute big breakout season? Another one where I'm less likely to do it. But if the price is 150, then I'm more likely to do it. What I don't like to do is what we were doing last year with Elo Jimenez and Vladimir Guerrero, where, okay, Eloy ends up hitting well towards the end of the season. It's not a total loss on

either, but clearly neither was worth the pick that you were investing because you had to go get them in, you know, the third or fourth round in Vlad's case and, you know, in the 80 to 100 range in Eloy's case. And so those are still really valuable picks. Those are still picks where you can get impact players, obviously, especially the third, but even going down to 100. And so going out and getting, you know, the next big thing who hasn't proven it yet, you're just baking in a lot of risk with that pick. So if it starts to get into the double digit picks, then I can't do it. But if you're talking 150, that's fine. I have a much easier time doing it for Luis Robert than Adele, too, I would say. Why? Robert was a terror at all levels last year. And it was clearly just a service time

manipulation issues. The only reason he isn't already in the majors. So he's coming up in mid-April next year. And based on what he's already accomplished in the miners, I feel comfortable. saying he's going to be of some value. I don't know if he's going to be a total stud right away, but with his level of power and speed in Roto leagues, I mean, I have them outside of my top 120, but I think there's a case to be made that might be too low. Yeah, I think that's about the range.

I've been with Robert since he came stateside. I remember the day he came stateside over here because the complex is like 15 minutes from my house over at Camelback Ranch. And he's always impressed me. And last year, the popular thing was to hate on the, Luis Robert, if you cared about prospects just because no one believed the power hadn't developed and no one really believed that he could stay healthy. Kind of like what we've talked about with guys like Carlos Correa.

Well, last year he did it. 30-30 season in the minors stayed healthy, hit the ball really hard, flies around the bases. And even though he could strike out a lot, he's actually surprisingly patient. I've seen him for, I've seen him, you know, for I guess two and a half years now in person over so many different levels. I agree. I completely agree. And there are prospects that are worth investment.

and one of the fun things to do is to monitor places like the Arizona Fall League because it's a it's a stomping ground for guys that are close to the major league level. So you guys are trying to get an edge on 2020, do pay attention because the amount of guys I talk to, and this is the tease for these future episodes, I'll keep dropping some nuggets. How about in the next episode where we're going to review the CBS mock draft that Scott White put together? I will get you some mid-year guys, I'll drop down because the amount of guys I talk to that they're ready. They're expecting to be at the major league level. And there's some big names out there.

And there might be opportunities for you deep league drafters to take advantage of. And that's what we're here for. So, all right, we're up against it. Chris, I'm so excited that you came. Finally, I mean, this is the first show that we've done together. People can find him on Twitter at C Tower CBS. Are we going to get you for a bunch more? Yeah, well, no, I just moved from Fort Lauderdale to New York City.

And like three weeks ago, we moved. And the movers finally got here. so I have my podcasting equipment. I'm ready to go, and hopefully next time I won't be fighting a cold. Boom, yeah, well, me too. I've been doing that. Scott, you're the healthy one right now, and you're my boy. You can find them on Twitter at CBS, Scott White.

I'm excited to keep talking about prospects, Scott. So, well, we're going to get that mock draft. Give us a quick little teaser. What's a teaser people need to know for this upcoming mock that you did? Ah, teaser. I'm putting you on the spot. I want you to sell it. I want you to really sell it.

The way I led it was with Juan Soto going in the first round. We already got well into that. So I would say there are a lot of interesting stolen base picks and not even necessarily at the high end. There are some guys who, particularly if you tuned out in kind of August and September when football was going on, you'll be surprised to see some of the names that go in like the round 10 range. I like that. All right. So get your stolen bases ready and get your draft prep ready.

because we got you with a mock draft breakdown on the next episode. He is Scott White. That is Chris Towers. I am Chris Welsh. We are out of here.