Fantasy Baseball Today - 12-team H2H Categories Mock Draft Part 2! Rounds 13-23 Picks & Team Recaps (3/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Frank Stampfl, Scott White and special guest Michael Waterloo continue their live H2H categories mock draft! In Part 2, we run through the final 11 rounds of the draft and then wrap up by recapping each of our teams. Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CPTowers @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." 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

Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Welcome back in to part two of our live head-to-head categories mock draft here. 12-team league daily formats. Frank and Scott here with special guest Michael Waterloo from The Athletic. And we left off at the end of round 12, where Mike you selected jerks in ProFar. And your first pick of round 13 is Kodi Senga. Talk to me about your two picks here. Yeah, it's one of those things where I'm looking.

And like Scott said, the best player on the board is Riley Green, but I really wanted another safe player to kind of balance out my Adelis Garcia pick last round. And I think profile, if we were speaking about underrated guys, I know I took a brave from Scott. I apologize. But if you're looking at a safe profile across the board, I think he has it. There's really nothing from last year's number that said it was kind of fluky.

I think we finally just saw the player that we've always been hoping that he can be. And as far as taking Senga, I wanted another pitcher. I didn't know who I want. That clock was ticking. And I said, you know what? I'm going to take the top player on my board. And that was Senga. So it's a little pitching heavy for me right now,

but I'm okay with him as my SP4. All right. Yeah, Kodai Senga made his spring training debut here on Monday. I believe it was two shutout innings with two strikeouts for Senga. And yeah, Velocel. down a little bit. He didn't mix in a new sinker. He threw three times in this spring training debut on Monday, but what we really want to see most from Senga is health. He pitches in spring, arm bounces back, okay, shoulder feels all right, dealt with the calf injury last year. So really

just make it through spring in one piece. That is what we want from Kodai Senga, but assuming he's healthy, I think he'll be really good. It's just a matter of how many starts will we get from Senga this upcoming season. After Senga, Riley Green, and Alexis Diaz, Alexis Diaz apparently dealing with a hamstring injury that he tweaked last week, but does say that he expects to make his Cactus League debut this weekend. Again, that's Alexis Diaz. And Scott, you are back up in round 13. Well, in round 13, I'm going to go ahead and take one of these Jack of All Trades, Master of Nun types, just to kind of like give my lineup some stability here, because I think, it's pretty strong in everything except maybe batting average.

Not that Ian Hap provides batting average. That might be the one area where he falls short, but he's just kind of solidify everything, all the advantages I have in the other categories, at least in theory. And I know I said I could wait in outfield. Specifically, I thought I could wait for Josh Lowe, who went 142, and then Jerkson ProFar went,

and then Riley Green went, and suddenly I didn't feel like I could wait so much anymore. So I took Ian Hap. All right. After Ian Hap, Carlos Rodon, Jackson Holiday, here 150th overall in around 13, says that he has a goal of stealing 20 bases this season. And he's already got two steals in, I believe, five spring games. And, you know, he's been exclusively working out at second. Jordan Westberg, when he's been healthy, has been a third.

And it feels like Jackson Holiday has the inside track to an opening day job, assuming he just does not fall flat on his face. next two picks Jason Dominguez and Nico Horner. I am up. Mike, I'm a little disappointed Nico Horner when I thought he'd last longer. That's who I was hoping for my second. Every time we do a mock draft live on the air, it's like, I'm hoping for Nico Horner is my second base man. I don't know.

People are going to think he's the best player in the world. Yeah. He's not, but he's good at batting average and stolen bases in theory and is going later because of the injury tag marks to his name. Yep. Mike, what are your expectations for Jackson Holiday of the season? Obviously, super prospect last year, but just fell flat, didn't work out, but, you know, progress is not linear.

Sometimes these things just take time. What are your expectations for, Jackson Holiday? He's somebody I like to be all over, especially Dynasty leagues. I am all over the post-high prospects. I like doing it too in redraft leagues, especially this kind of format where it's shallower and you can take that high upside. I think he was rushed a little bit last year. It's super, super young.

Growth is not linear, like you said. And we're ready to move on to the next shiny toy. So I think at 150, it's a good pick for him. For Doc, it looks like, is a guy who picked him there. Yeah, I think we're going to see those steals. It's been really nice to see. And yeah, I think he's going to take that step forward and remind everybody why he was that top prospect in all baseball.

All right, after holiday, there was Jason Dominguez, Niko Horner, as we mentioned. And then I selected Randy a Rosa Raina. This just feels like too far of a slide for him. Again, it's not typically a player that I've been. targeting this season, but 153rd overall in round 13. Batting average came down last year, but another, I think, expected 20-20-type bat. He's gone 20-24 seasons in a row.

And Scott, I know we typically don't want these, like, jack-of-all-trades players on your team in this format, but if your entire team is jack-of-all-trades players, then the hope is that you could just kind of compete in all categories, right? So my batting average, I think, is a little bit shaky, but outside of that, I think I have a lot of other players that can maybe just chip in a good amount of home runs and steals across the board. To address your first point, if they're all master or Jack of All Trade's Master of None, yes, if they legitimately are. And it's hard to, that that's a difficult tightrope to walk, especially when you realize,

obviously not all your picks are going to pan out. Yeah, it's fine. We're in round 13. I just took Ian Hap. There aren't that many guys who are going to dominate a category in so reliably that you want to make them a major part of their lineup, particularly when you're talking about here. There are base dealers out there, but the base dealers out there, with a couple of exceptions, are going to be just steel specialists. And that's not ideal either. I think I'm less concerned about that at this stage of the draft, getting a category dominator, just because of the caliber of players that that's less.

After Rosarena, Jordan Romano and Carlos Correa, Jordan Romano made his spring debut last week for the Phillies. He looked good. Velocity is where it needed to be. So the expectation, the hope, is that if he's healthy, he'll be the closer for the Phillies this season. They have some other really good arms in that bullpen as well with Matt Strom and Orion Kirkering. But I do think that Jordan Romano will be first up for saves with the Phillies. All right, we are up on the last pitch. of round 13. This is a 23 round draft, by the way. So we will be here for the entirety of it and then recap our teams after that. The final pick of round 13 was Ryan Presley traded to the Cubs this off-season. And, you know, Scott, they keep making reference

or at least he's mentioned it. I feel like other people in the Cubs organization have referenced that it's a battle for like saves and the closer job. What do you actually think? Do you think it's a battle? for the Cups Closer job? I think it's an ongoing battle.

I think probably Presley has the lick up until if he just holds on to the job, he holds onto the job. But we saw him lose velocity last year. We saw his strikeout numbers go down. I don't know that he's the same guy anymore. Hodge is very interesting, as long as Hodge continues to do what he did

as a rookie last year, which is far from a given, but the talent is there. I think Presley will be on very thin ice and I'm not super comfortable taking him we're at the point in the relief pitcher rankings where it's like you can't do much better but it's it's not a surprise that Presley lasts that long

I guess is what I'll say all right after Presley we are into round 14 the first pick was Jackson Job then Liam Hendricks so I think that's a bit of a surprise here earliest that we've seen Liam Hendricks go in Dress could be in the mix for saves with the Red Sox. And I know he's made two appearances.

The first one was great. The velocity was where it was up a little bit compared to what we were expecting. But then second outing gave up a three-run home run, did Liam Hendricks. So I think the Red Sox closeer battle and just that battle for saves there is still kind of up in the air with Liam Hendrix,

of oldest Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, maybe some other pieces in the mix as well. After Liam Hendricks, Alec Bohm goes, someone I was thinking about because I didn't have a third baseman yet,

could have used some batting average help. And now I cannot do that. That's one thing he's good for. That RBI. Feels like... It's kind of a... We are staring at the edge of a cliff here. So I don't know if anyone else needs a third basement,

but I'm going to go ahead and take AU. Hennio-Swaris just to make sure. I do get an okay starter, a back-end starter at the position. Another one, like Jake Berger, I mentioned earlier, a tale of two seasons last year. First half awful for Suarez, and then obviously went on that massive run. But I'd expect some like 25 to 30 home runs

and hitting in the middle of that D-BACs lineup, the counting stat should be great once again for A. Eugenio Suarez. Scott, what are your expectations for the Red Sox bullpen as of now? Hendrix, you know, velocity was up a little bit. You know, maybe that was a positive, but then second timeout gave up a three-run, home run, in spring training. I care less about the home run than the velocity. Yeah.

So I am more encouraged than I've been for Hendricks in a long time. I've been saying all offseason, I thought, Roldest Chapman was the eventual winner here. I'm hedging on that. Not to the point that I'm putting Hendricks ahead of them has happened in this draft, but to the point that I'm putting Chapman behind like Chris Martin, who I don't think is a certainty to take claim the Rangers job. But of everyone on the roster right now, he certainly makes the most sense.

So, yeah, I'm kind of just hoping to avoid it unless somebody slides a really long way because I don't have a good read on who the Red Sox are turning to for saves. And Justin Slayton's part of that mix too. So it's pretty murky right now. After I took Suarez, Renaldo Lopez, Cedric Mullins, and Yori Perez. Yuri Perez, who's going to miss at least the first half of the season we expect. And then once he's back, he's probably going to be handled with caution by the Marlins. Next pick Christopher Sanchez.

So this has been a bit of a wacky round for starting pitchers. Mike, I did want to ask you, you know, Jackson Job went with the first pick of this round here in round 14. And typically we've talked about him as a sleeper because he's going outside the top 200 picks. maybe some of that sleeper appeal gets sapped out a little bit when he goes 157th overall. What do you think about Jackson Job and where he went in this draft?

Yeah, I think you know, he's been such a good value in early drafts. I haven't looked at the latest two weeks of NFBC data or not to see how high he's climbed. But yeah, I think as we get closer and closer and people are seeing

more and more of what he's doing and they talk about him breaking camp, I think we're going to see that going up. So I think in a few weeks, we're going to look at 157 to say, hey, that was a really, really good value that Nick Fox got there on Jackson Job. And that's what we talk about every spring training and draft season. Is this these prospects, they might look like good values earlier in the offseason. But once we get to spring training and we see these guys in action,

it's just Wyatt Langford, we saw the helium get all the way up inside the top 100 picks last year. And maybe we're starting to see that with Jackson Job now as well. after Christopher Sanchez, Scott, you selected David Bednar, then Francisco Alvarez, Shea Langalears. So back-to-back catchers there. When Alvarez was taken, I was like, wait, isn't Langalear's still out there? And right after Kayla Walts gobbled him up, she's been like, making a, like, gobbling up all the value in this draft,

I feel like every time it's like, oh, that guy's gone, lasted too long. She takes them. So her team's probably looking pretty stout at this point. Yep. Talk to me about David Bednar, your pick here, Scott. Are you expecting him to bounce back and be the closer for the Pirates again this season? Yeah, I know Pirates Manager introduced some doubt by refusing to name him the closer right away. But who else is it going to be?

And I know he had a good outing last time out. I think he was derailed last year by that oblique injury early on. I think he's going to bounce back and have a solid. season and the closers are running out. So it seemed like a good time to take my second one. All right. After Langalears, we head to the turn where Mike selected both Kenley Jansen and Ezekiel Tovar. So I believe Janssen was your second closer here and then you also take Tovar, your second Rocky hitter. And Mike, something I kind of caution in head-to-head leagues is taking multiple Rockies hitters because are you going to play all of these when they're on the road? It feels

like, you know, in a headset format, maybe that can sink you a little bit. What do you think about, you know, drafting multiple Rockies hitters in this specific format? I don't like it, and I don't like to pick at all, to be honest with you. It was one of those where I had a whole at Shorestop, and I was like, all right, am I taking him? I taking Zander Bogartz. I'm I taking Anthony Volpe. And I don't really like the profile for Tovar. And I did see I had Breton Doyle and I'm like, man, do I really want that second Rocky?

I don't. I didn't want Kenley Janssen either for the record. but that's kind of the position I put myself in by waiting too long on shorestop. So I wouldn't be surprised if I draft another one that I really like and just try to rotate them in if I can. But yeah, not really my favorite pick of the draft. I do think that is probably the way to go about it. If you play in a shallower format and you have bench spots that you can mess around with,

especially if you got Rockies, is just you might want to just bench those guys in a daily lineup league when they're on the road. And if you, I don't know, if someone falls to a good value, if you get an Anthony Volpe or a Mason win, whoever it might be later on as a second shortstop, you could just kind of play the matchups. Tovar when he's at home and maybe another shortstop when he's on the road. So I think that is a pretty fair strategy to try and pull off in a daily lineup league like this one. Sorry, I'm talking to myself. Don't worry. I saw I was one of three teams that needed a second baseman.

And I thought the other two were on the other side of the draft. So if I passed up Xander Bogarts to take Bednar, I'd be fine. But there are two Nick F's in this draft. And so I confused the Nick F's. So the one picking right before me took Bogarts. All right. After Tovar, there was Bowdoin, Francis, and then Zander Bogart. So I am sorry, Scott, but you are up.

We'll use take a second baseman now. No. No, Zander Bogartz was. Clearly the best one left. I will take another closer. One who I'm surprised has lasted beyond Kenley Jansen and Carlos Estevez, who I'm not even sure as a closer. And that's Pete Fairbanks, who is almost certain to spend some time on the IL this year. But he's my third closer.

And so I feel good about that in round 15 of this kind of format. In this format, Scott, would you? you think about pairing him with an Edwin Useta later on just to have another closer with good ratios in your lineup. And if anything happens to be at Fairbanks, you could just have Edwin Usato

ready to go. Yeah, I don't know if it's going to happen because Usaita's in this format where we tend to see more middle relievers draft a daily lineup. You can kind of swap them in when starting pitchers have a day off. There's a good chance somebody just beats me to him. But yeah, ideally

that makes sense. after Pete Fairbanks, Ryan Pepio and Mason Win. So sorry, Mike. You won't be getting Mason Win as your second shortstop. After Mason Win, Spencer Arredetti, I am on deck here. Let's take a look at the team. What do we need here? I need a second util.

Closers are starting to go. I only have Mason Miller. I don't know if there's anyone else out there. Let's check out Relievers. There's Kyle Finnegan. There's Jason Foley. There's Justin Martinez, if you believe in Well, I guess I waited too long for my second closer because they're still closers.

I mean, it doesn't sound too great. Yikes. Now you know why I took Pete Fairbanks. Yeah. And Scott, I have to ask you with David Bednar, the pirates picked up Justin Lawrence off of waivers. Is that anything that kind of gave you any pause whenever you're thinking about, okay, we know that their show and hasn't really named Bednar is going to be the closer. or they bring in somebody else or not too worried about that? I would be very surprised if Justin Lawrence coming off the year he just had

and the Rockies letting him go in the middle of spring training if he had time to secure the closer role. Does he have at his best if he regains his sweeper, does Justin Lawrence have closer caliber stuff? Yeah, but I think Bednar would have to fail first before the Rockies turned to him. Yeah, I'm still here thinking about what I want to do. I was going to take Robbie Ray.

He went the pick right before me. I was getting excited to take him too. Obviously, you would have gone before I did. Yeah, I was actually worried you were the one that was going to take him, Scott. Yeah, yeah. I kind of wish I did now seeing Aragetti and Robbie Ray go back to back. I only have three starting pitchers.

All right, I'm going to go ahead, and it's a gross pick, but I'm going to take Kyle Finnegan. I think he will be the closer for the nationals. They non-tendered him earlier in the offseason. They brought him back on a one-year $6 million deal recently. and my hope is just to get 25-ish 30 saves from Kyle Finnegan. The ratios might be questionable, but I think later on I will try and take a few high-end setup relievers

just to kind of leave in my lineup in the daily format to maybe kind of mitigate some of that ratio risk from someone like Kyle Finnegan. So we'll see if that works out. And not just that, but if you're taking high-end setup, and not only you're getting the ratios up, you're getting prospective closers. The role is going to change hands. That's going to happen in several bullpins around the league this year.

And if you have them ahead of time, which is more likely to happen in this format since set up men have increased value, then you might be fine. You might be fine that you went light on saves. After Kyle Finning in, Nick Povetta, now with the Padres and Max Scherzer, who has looked so good so far in his two starts with the Blue Jays.

Strikeouts have been there for him. It's like my whole Sleepers 2.0 going right now. Yeah. Well, didn't it just come out today, Scott? So everyone read it and now they joined this draft. There you go. I'd like to think so. No, Povetta and Robbie Ray were both in it.

I thought about putting Scherzer in it, but I didn't. Yep. After Scherzer, there's Kirby Yates. to finish out round 15, the first pick of round 16. Victor Robles. And the first set-up man taken, right? Kirby Yates? Yes, I guess if you think he's a setup man,

like depending on who you ask, maybe there's people out there who just have confidence that Kirby Yates could take over the saves and the closer roll from the Dodgers. But it sounds like it is Tanner Scott's to lose and he's first up and obviously got paid that massive contract. But, you know, I think, Kirby Yates was better than Tanner Scott last season.

So if he's better again, maybe he's getting saves. Victor Robles here to kickoff round 16. He is a player that could offer that, you know, extreme stolen base upside. You know, he gave a lot of steals last year and just changed a profile with the Mariners. He hit the ball harder, hit for a good batting average. So we'll see if he can carry that over here into 2025.

After Nick Castellanos, there was, Andres Jimenez. Oh, I'm on the clock. I've got to make a pick. I wanted to do something crazy. Let me see. Do it. Go crazy, Frank.

Take Spencer Steer. Luis Arise, who I never draft, but a category specialist, you will not find a better batting average contributor than Luis Arise. I never draft him. But looking at my team, I have people who sink batting average.

Marcus Semyon, A. E. E. E. H. H.e. O.e. Oswe. C. J. Abrams. maybe Luis Robert. Randy or Rosa Raina hit 220 last year. You know what? I've got a little power. I've got some speed.

I'm going to back it up with Luis Arise. Back it up. How about that? I have no idea if it's going to work, but you know what? Felt like the right pick for this specific build. Yeah, again, the small line of thing kind of makes me less inclined to take them,

but it's at this point in the draft. You don't worry about that that much. Yeah. After Luis Arise, Tyler O'Neill, Zach Gelloff, and Kevin Gosman, Scott, you are on deck. Mike, you mentioned earlier that, you know, you do, it sounds like you're roof for both the pirates and the Blue Jays.

What do you think about Kevin Gosman? What are the chances on a bounce back season here for Gosman? Yeah, he's somebody I kept looking at my cue, and I'm like, do I want to take him now? Do I want to take him now? Do I want to take him now? And I'm kind of glad I didn't get him just in case he doesn't bounce back. But he's one of those guys I like more in a Roto League

that I'm hoping could just give me that volume that I want. But if he doesn't bounce back, I feel like there's a lot that can go wrong for him on a week-to-week basis. So I want to thank Doc again for taking him and saving me from having to draft him. I really, really, really hope for a bounce back. I am a Blue Jays fan before anything else. And we finish second and everything else. So hopefully, Galsman, can I finish first and something there.

There you go. After Gossman, Porter Hodge and Scott, you are. On the clock, round 16. All right. I'm going to go with one of my bust picks here, and it's a bust pick I feel pretty strong about. Uh-oh. But Pete Crow Armstrong is going 50 picks after ADP.

I don't know. It's weird. Like, I pick my sleepers, my bus, largely by ADP, by where they're going. And then I get in drafts, and the people I'm drafting with all seem to have the same tendencies as me. So we're all avoiding Pete Crow Armstrong for five rounds. He could be on the late base dealer.

He did get scratched today with a little bit of a hamstring thing, but they described it as precautionary, and I'm taking their word for it for now. So maybe that contributed to a slide. But part of my take on Pete Crow Armstrong avoiding him is like, oh, why take Pete Crow Armstrong when you can have Josh Lowe this many rounds later? We can have Cedric Mullins this many rounds later. Well, both of them, Lowellons, went rounds ago.

So I guess I'm taking Crowe Armstrong this time. All right. After that Pete Crow Armstrong pick, there was Trevor Story. Bryson Stott. Mike, you are up for two. Let's take a quick break. When we return, we'll find out who you drafted right after this. Welcome back in.

We are in round 16. Mike, you are up for two picks where you selected Anthony Volpe and Kerry Carpenter. So you do back up Tovar with Volpe. You go play the matchups with those two. And then, Kerry Carpenter. are you more likely to select a player who could be a strong side platoon in the daily lineup format and just throw him in there whenever he's in the lineup? Yeah, that's exactly why I took him.

I'm a big fan of him. I love his batted ball data. He really just hits the heck out of the ball. And really big Carpenter fan, especially with this kind of team build that I have, where I do have a couple of wrists in the outfield depending on how you look at it. You have Breton Doyle, if you're not a fan like Scott, who just hates all the fun guys, even though his team's super fun. Or, you know, you don't want to start him whenever he's out of course field.

You can plug somebody like Carrie Carpenter in. Or Adelice Garcia, we know there's risk with him not bouncing back. If he doesn't bounce back, I feel pretty good about having a Jorxen Proffer and a Karen Carpenter in there that I'm able to kind of play those matchups a little bit more. All right. After Carrie Carpenter, Colton Couser and Jesus Lazzardo, Scott, back to you in round 17. Oh, yeah. Yes, it is back to me, isn't it?

So I have a few thoughts. Not sure I want to share them all. But I will go back to me having just three starting pitchers at that point, at this point. So I'm going to take another one. I'm going to take my top one, and it's you say cacucci. All right, you say cacucci with the sign with the Angels this off season. We'll see if he can pick up where he left off that huge second half once he got traded over to the Houston Astros. He did mix in a new sweeper this past weekend.

I think he threw it 10 times. So it could be a new pitch for Kikuchi to utilize. I was confused by that because obviously what Keats has turned around with the Astros was a lot more sliders. I think he threw it about 40% of the time with them. And if you look at his slider sweeper usage from that spring start combined, it's about 40%. So I wondered what was going on there. Did he talk about having a new sweeper or was it just, is it like, is it just, he's thrown his slider two different speeds and it's reading it as separate pitches?

I don't really know. Yeah, so we'll have to learn more about that new sweeper. I didn't see any quotes or anything, but I do believe the stack has data for that start. He had the slider registered and then the sweeper was a separate pitch. So maybe it's just, you know, he's planning to throw, you know, two different slidery, sweepery type pitches this upcoming season. Yeah. The actor Scott selected Kikuchi there was Ben Joyce, Evan Carter,

Michael Tolia, and Matt Shaw. Look, I think in this format, man, if you could play Michael Tolia whenever he's at home in Cores Field, big power, a little bit of speed. I think the batting, I think he'll hit for a little bit of a better batting average than he did last season, maybe in that like 240 to 250 range. but I think that's a really, really sneaky pick at this point in the draft. And I think, let's see what's going on here

at starting pitcher. Okay, I think I want to go back to reliever. I've only got Mason Miller and Kyle Finnegan so far. And I'm going to go ahead and select one of my favorite relief pitcher sleepers this season, AJ Puck, who was just dynamite when he went to the Diamondbacks last season.

I know it's a fierce competition in their bullpen right now. Like everyone has pitched well this spring. Justin Martinez, Puck. Kevin Ginkle has pitched well. So all lies there. We'll see. Maybe they mix in match, but I think they're all really talented relievers.

We'll see who gets the most safe opportunities. Yeah, I like Puck a lot. And I think they very well could go with him. I know Justin Martinez looked great this spring too and has, I guess, pitches are very impressive looking, you know. It wasn't quite as, it wasn't really nearly as effective as puck last year, let's be honest. But you could see why there'd be enthusiasm for Justin Martinez as a closer and why the Diamondbacks went with them in the first place. I think it's pretty close to a coin flip.

And you actually took Puck before Martinez went, right? Yeah. Yeah. Just after A.J. Puck was Clay Holmes. I thought about taking Clay Holmes, too. Yeah. Oh, you're the one who's been complaining how much he's been rising. You see him go like 2.15 in your league.

And it's like, ah, it's too early for Clay Holmes. Yeah, I thought about taking him instead of Kikuchi. But, you know, I was greedy. I wanted to get them both. And I thought Clay Holmes had a better chance of getting back to me. It's an interesting battle that you have to play throughout draft season because we have like 80Ps from all. offseason kind of embed, embedded in our heads.

And then, you know, as players start to rise, we think, okay, we might be able to get this player, but now everyone realizes how good this, like, how good Clay Holmes looks in spring. And it's like that battle of can I wait to get them or do I kind of be aggressive and pull Clay Holmes up the board. I think it's. And you obviously, like, all it takes is one person taking them to not be in line with ADP anymore. For what it's worth, those last 35 games in NFBC, which is basically the last week of drafts. Clay Holmes 240th is about where he's going, so it was still pretty early relative to that. You know, Scott, you kept bringing up the name Justin Martinez. I was trying to draft both of them. How do you talk about AJ Puck without talking

about Justin Martinez? Oh, I did a great job doing that. And if I drafted Justin Martinez, I was going to talk about him too, but he is gone. So I won't be able to employ that strategy. Yeah. Sorry. All good. Yandy Diaz, Justin Martinez, Nick Ladolo here in round 18. And let's see. Who else can we take? I believe I only have four starting pitchers so far.

There's no one that's really, really talking to me here. Talk to me. I'm going to go, I think, back to Reliever. And this would give me four, but I do like to have maybe three or four. my lineup in this format. I'll go with a roll of Chapman and just hope I can kind of squeeze some saves out of all these options and compete in that category every week. So now I've got

Mason Miller, I've got Kyle Finnegan, I've got a roll as Chapman, and I've got AJ Puck. So even if Puck and Chapman aren't the closers for their teams, they'll both still give a lot of strikeouts and ratios for Puck, you know, the whip will be high for Chapman. So maybe

he'll hurt you a little bit there. but hoping that he just gets some saves there with the Red Sox. We'll see. Are you getting tired of talking? Oh, I am. I am, Scott. Whenever you want to jump in, feel free, man, because it's all you. Yeah, I'll be honest.

I thought you were going to go a different route when you said you were taking a reliever there rather than Chapman. I don't know. My pick is coming up on one spot away. I still don't have a second baseman, but I don't think I'm going to go for that. right now. Jorge Salere just went final pick before mine. I'm going to take Lucas Erseg who might

just be the closer for the Royals, especially since Estevez isn't healthy at the moment. They've talked about maybe it being a committee anyway. If it's not, you know, I want high-end relievers anyway to plug in this being a daily lineup league to plug in on the days where

one of my starters isn't starting. So let's just take Ersek and maybe I'll get some saves out of it too. that's a good pick yeah i i need to update my relief pitcher rankings because uh i i still have ursac a little bit lower so probably would have made sense ahead of maybe both a j puck and uh a roll this chapman there so i think that's a good pick a couple other ones that happened ronel blanco mackenzie gore hose barrios horace soler i like the oh i didn't see go yeah i was hoping to get him i just don't really know you know this is this is probably of the

three main formats. Roto, head-to-head points, head-to-head categories. This one is probably the one we focus on least head-to-head categories. And I just don't know how the late rounds are going to play out at starting pitcher, you know? It kind of feels like... I may be a little too sanguine about it

because we're seeing a bunch of starting pitchers go now. It feels like a lot of the kind of, quote-unquote, boring high-floor pitchers are just being passed up for maybe some upside options here. because a lot of the names available are those exact types, the kind of veteran boring guys. After Lucas Erseg, there's Brandon Woodruff, Shane Boz, and Mike back over to you for two,

Brandon Fott and Edwin Useta. I'm sorry, Scott. You won't be getting Edwin Ussa. I could have taken him instead of Erseg. I did have Useta queued up to take necks to pair with Fairbanks, but I was torn about whether I actually wanted to do it. So maybe by taking him, taking Edwin Useda. I'm going to Michael made my path clearer.

And then Kayla took Christian Campbell, who I was hoping would be my second basement eventually. All right, Scott. Well, you've got a little bit of time here to decide who you want. But Mike, talk to us about your picks, Brandon Fott and Edwin Ussetha. Yeah, I think Brandon Fott is everybody's wide-awake sleepers. I like to call them. Oh, he's a boss for me. Oh, he's a boss for you.

Okay, okay. Okay, very interesting. You know, at this value, I think a 216 is the exact spot. Like, I'd usually go around 180 on him. So when I heard Frank talking about, hey, I need a starter. I'm like, no, please don't take five. Please don't take five. He was super, super on lucky last year.

And, you know, I think it was, what, 75 or no, not 75. A third of the runners found their way on base against him ended up scoring. And, you know, you look as ERP, ERA indicators. and it uh you know there's a lot of unlockiness to happen last year so i'm really really big on him especially this point in the draft where i really like my rotation that i have and i felt like i could take a little bit of upside there to kind of bake that in because i have to keep reminding myself like scott had to remind himself he drafted ellie day lecruz in the first round i have another half pitcher in shoah al tani so it's really really nice to have that luxury i have to keep reminding

myself of that and as far as wusseda goes he's somebody i had in my queue and i know scott like him. So whenever he said he's going to go with a reliever, I got pretty nervous there, but I kind of threw up my mouth and I still have not recovered from it after taking Kenley Jansom last round. So I feel a little bit better now, especially if he's able to get some saves for me as the season goes on. After Edwin Hussaita, Christian Campbell, Nolan Jones, and Scott, you select your wandering eye, Sean Manette. Yeah, couldn't let him slide any further, 220. He's gone about 250 in NFBC league since getting injured, but of course that's NFBC where injured players tend to slide a lot further than other leagues that offer IL spots.

And I just didn't want to mess around with it anymore because I think the impact for Sean Manaya is, once he's healthy, once he's recovered from the oblique injury, presuming no setbacks. I think he could be a very impactful pitcher with his new delivery that he unveiled in his final 12 starts last year. All right, after Sean Maniah, Brady Singer, Reese Olson, Jason Foley, and Calvin Foshae. So some saves hopefuls there with the Tigers and the Marlins bullpins. I did see the New Marlins manager Clayton McCullough, I believe that's the name,

mentioned that there could be multiple pitchers in the mix for saves there with Calvin Foshae, Jesus Tenoco, and I believe he mentioned Anthony Bender as having a saves experience. Or like a competition. He just mentioned like those three have closer experience or saves experience. And so, you know, it could be any of those three. But I think Calvin Fosier is the name that actually popped up individually earlier in the offseason. Yeah, I think he has the most buzz. He's looked good this spring.

And he only lost the job last year because of injury. You'd hate for there to be a committee in the Marlins bullpen because they're not going to get that many save chances. Yeah. No, I think that is, that's fair, especially because I got him in NL labor. So let's go, Calvin Fosha. Hope he is the main saves option for the Marlins. I went ahead and took Zach Eflin. He's one of those boring types, but felt like he used us here way too late.

225th overall. You know, did get better once he went over to the Orioles last season. Someone you're expecting to get quality starts from. Not many strikeouts, but the win potential is good, playing for pitching for good Orioles team. So I will end the slide there on Zach Eflin. Next pick is Chris Martin. I think we all expected the Rangers to sign another reliever at some point this

offseason. They just never did. So I guess it's Chris Martin for now. There's still a chance. I mean, they have a history with David Robertson and Greg Kimberl's out there. I don't know why everybody's just forgotten about him. He doesn't get ridden about nearly as much as Robertson. Maybe just because he was bad at the end of last year.

I don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me. We just saw Jose Cantana signed with the brewers here on Monday. So it's not like those free agents are forgotten. It still wouldn't surprise me if the Rangers brought one in to close ahead of Chris Martin. And I presume it's on everybody's mind too, which is why Chris Martin went this late. After Chris Martin, John Carlos Stanton, who is going to start the season on the IL, then Lane Thomas. We are into round 20 with.

Max Meyer and Brendan Donovan. Let's take our final break when we return. Want to talk a little bit about Max Meyer. He made another spring start here on Monday. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in the fantasy baseball today. We're doing a live 12-te-head-tategories mock draft. Daily lineups here.

And we left off with Max Meyer, the first pick of round 20. He made another start here on Monday. Two shot-out innings with two strikeouts. Velocity remains up. He threw five different pitches. Mike, do you have any? optimism in Max Meyer as a sleeper this season. A little bit. I like pitchers with that kind of

great pedigree that we have, a fantastic home ballpark for him. So I think at this point, yeah, it is definitely fine to take him there and just kind of hope for the upside to hit. All right. After Max Meyer, Brendan Donovan, Jock Peterson, we do have two util spots in this draft. I took Ryan Malkassel and then Griffin Jacks, wanted to grab a little bit more power on my bench

after selecting Luis Arise who's going to give me no power. Is it your first baseman? No, no. Arise? I've got, Arise is one of my two utility baths. Oh, okay. Yeah, I've got Vinnie P. and Marcus Semian at first and second.

I didn't want to have to take Mount Castle, so I'm glad you took them because I was feeling like I was feeling like we were getting to that point. Yep. If you've been sleeping all off-season, the Orioles are pulling the left-field walls back in a little bit in Camden Yards. And the hope is that it will help right-handed hitters with power once again in Baltimore. So Ryan Mountcastle, Jordan Westberg, Adley Ruchman, who's a switch hitter.

But there's... Oh, and Tyler O'Neill. So it should be good for him as well. After Mountcastle, Griffin Jacks, another strong setup man who can perhaps grab a few saves throughout the course of the season. Tyler Kinley, he'll give you a saves, maybe. Might not give you much else.

Might actually be pretty hurtful in the ratios. Ryan Weathers, another sleeper candidate in the Marlins rotation, and then Max Muncie. I was actually debating Max Muncie or Ryan Mountcastle, but I think both are fine options if you're looking for power later on in drafts. And then Scott, you went ahead and selected Nathan Avaldi.

One of those boring pitchers I was talking about. Yep, just need to fill out my staff, and he seems perfectly serviceable. ERA runs a little hot, but everything else is good, and hopefully I've built in enough ERA contingency here. Terek Scoobles smooths a lot over a lot of that, doesn't he? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yeah. Scott, are you buying the Ryan Weather's sleeper case?

He apparently has taken up a new diet this offseason. he's lost some weight, best shape of his life. But he pitched well with the Marlins last year, and now we're hoping we can get that over a full season in Miami. And I know Doc Eisenhower, it's one of the, it's one of like three players he seems to take every draft. So he's especially high on him. In a broad sense, I like weathers.

I just, bad team. Even when it was good, it was, I think it was less than a strikeout per inning. I just don't know that we're getting. deep enough into the player into the pitcher pool. You know, I just took Avaldi to pick before. And I don't think, I just don't think they're in the same discussion at this point. Maybe Weathers, you know, maybe it's a situation for Weathers. He could be anything.

He could be Nathan Avaldi. That kind of thing. So I get why there might be some enthusiasm for him. I just think it would have to be a pretty deep league before I really acted on it. Doc did write in the chat here that Lance Brozdowski put out a great piece on Weathers's metrics. today looking sharp. I did see that. If you haven't, subscribe to Lance Brasowski's newsletter because I get that in the inbox and yeah, I was reading about Ryan Withers as well. I'm in. I do like

him as a sleeper as well. After Avaldi Jeffrey Springs, Luke Weaver, Gavin Williams and Jordan Walker at the turn, Taj Bradley and Garrett Mitchell. So Mike talked to us about your two picks here. Two, I think, pretty obvious post-hyped sleepers. The question now, is can they live up to some of that potential that they have? Yeah, we spoke about that earlier with Jackson Holiday, right? I said, I'm always in on post-type sleepers, especially when they're great value. And I don't know if you can find better value right now on Gavin Williams or Jordan Walker,

especially Jordan Walker. And he spent all off-season working with his hitting coach, and he was just one of the top prospects in baseball. I understand it hasn't turned into anything in the league yet. but it's too early to give up on him. I'm a big believer in pedigree and kind of buying into those players. Did I need another outfielder there, given that I have a few on my bench? No, I didn't, but the upside is so huge for him.

And Gavin Williams, I'm a big believer in him adding that cutter last year and kind of bring another swing and miss pitch to his repertoire. It seems like he changed his mechanics a little bit, and the guardians were very, very aware of that as well. If you look at his first start, his fastball, look really, really good. I understand it's two winnings, I think, that he threw, but it had nice moving on it, increased movement. And yeah, he's

one of those guys that everything's there, it just needs to click. So both guys at this point in round 20, round 21, 242, 41 overall, I'm hoping one of them hits and I'll be pretty happy with it. All right, after Garrett Mitchell, Scott, you selected Cody Bradford,

then Roman Anthony, the top prospect in the Red Sox organization, Michael Garcia, Victor Vodnick. Brian Abray you, I selected you Darvish, and then Grant Holmes. I was thinking about taking Grant Holmes. So that one, kind of right in the heart. But Scott, talk to us about Cody Bradford. He's someone I know you like as a sleeper.

And the velocity has been up so far this spring too. Yeah. And meanwhile, Kumar Rocker has really struggled. And I thought it was a long shot. Rocker could beat out Bradford anyway, as bankable as Bradford was down the stretch for the Rangers last year. But yeah, his velocity's been up.

He's looked really good. I like the skill set to begin with. I think it's kind of a poor man's, you know, like Bailey Ober, Bryce Miller, that kind of profile. Low, low, whip because he walks so few batters and gives up fly balls, which can present some ERA risk, the fly balls,

but it keeps the whip low, and the strikeout rate is not bad. If the velocity is up, the strikeout rate might go from not bad to pretty good, And I think Cody Bradford is someone I'm often drafting to round out my pitching staff. And I will point out,

you know, we've got two rounds left. There are a lot of hitters that I, you're just not used to seeing go undrafted. And I have on my mind, I'm forgetting his name, the guy who we talked about head-to-head category, with the other day. Joe O'Riko. Yeah, Joe O'Riko. I have in mind what he said, his approach is, as far as filling out your bench in a Yahoo style, head to head categories league, four pitchers,

one hitter. Well, I already got one hitter. And so I'm trying to take his advice there and to have all those pitching options to mix in. But man, it's, it's tough to leave some of those hitters out there. Yeah, I just took Alec Berluson, and I mentioned I like the profile for Burleson. He makes a lot of contact reminds me a lot of Josh Naler. I just usually shy away because I think he's only going to be a strong side platoon, but this is the format to take him in in a daily lineup league where whenever he's in there against a righty, you can throw Alec Berluson in your lineup. So yeah, any daily lineup league, I would be looking to take him in particular as a late round pick because I do like the skill set. After Alec Berluson, there was Spencer Steer, Reese Hoskins,

Paul Goldschmidt. So this was a huge slug. for Spencer Steer. Round 22, 257th. Could start the season on the IL. He's been dealing with a shoulder injury. But even then, I mean, the second to last round of the draft, Scott, this seems like a pretty big slide for for Spencer Steer. Well, that's what I was referring to. One of the two players I'm referring to. I'm going to take the other with my pick. I'm up right now. I don't know. yeah, I was seeing Spencer Steer slide and it's like, oh, he can't keep sliding. But I don't know when I think about it, how I can justify taking Spencer Steer ahead of Zach Netto at this point. Because Zach Netto, I think, is from a five-by-five, from a five-by-five context anyway, Zach Netto profiles for the better numbers.

And his injury, it seems like there's a clear timeline. They don't know what's going on with Spencer Steer's shoulder. They don't know when he's going to be able to swing a bat again. This could drag on for a while. So I'm, you know, if I was, if we're playing this out for real, if it wasn't just a mock, I don't know that I'd take Netto now. I might take another pitcher. You know what?

I'd probably take Netto and just knowing that I can move into an I L slot and pick up a pitcher off the waiver wire. But I definitely prefer Netto, I think, to steer at this point, given what's going on with steer shoulder. after steer, Reese Hoskins, Paul Goldschmidt, Cade Smith, one of the best relievers in baseball, a setup man for the Guardians, I think makes a lot of sense to draft and just leaving your lineup in this format. Zach Netto to Scott, then Dustin May.

Quinn Matthews, who was reassigned to minor league camp, will not be in the Cardinals opening day rotation, but the hope is that he will be up soon after May, June, whatever it might be, looked good in his brief time in spring training this season. One of the best pitchers in the month. minors last season. Mike, we are over to you for your final two picks. Who do you have? Yeah, so I started with Tanner Halk. I wanted another pitcher, somebody who I felt could get me

170, 175 innings. I realize it's a week-to-week thing there, but I want somebody I feel like is going to be available for me most weeks to kind of go ahead and put in there. And my last pick, like I said at the beginning, I will not take a catcher until the end of the draft. So I'm drafting a starting catcher right now, logo Hoppy. And I'm very, very happy to get him here at 265. You only need one catcher. And yeah, I'm very, very happy with both of those picks.

I think I like all of those picks more than maybe my last four or five combined. So yeah, they're very happy to end the draft on a high note. Yeah. I was reading about Halk the other day and how he took on so many more innings than he was used to lost some, I'm confirming that he actually lost velocity over the season. They said he lost velocity. I'm not sure that it's actually showing that when I pulled it up. But they feel like he just wore down over the course of the season.

That's why he had the stark difference there in first and second half splits. Maybe it's too convenient of an excuse, but it just kind of opened my eyes again to maybe having some hope for Tanner Hauk. it's easy to have hope for so many pitchers this year and you kind of just have to narrow down who you have the most hope for, you know? Yeah, I think Howick's fine him going here but there are probably some others. You know, like Chris Boobitch, I like the upside of Boobich

and a few others that it's like, well, I might prefer them to Howk. It's just you kind of have to pick your favorites because you can make an upside case for any of them. Howl looked great in the first half last year with elite control out of nowhere. good strikeout numbers and good ground ball skills. So if he can recapture that, he's really on to something.

And then the Logan O'Hoppy pick, it's with one catcher leagues, like I either want an elite one or I want to just wait until the very end of the draft like you did with Logan O'Hoppy. If I can't get an elite one, certainly William Contreras and Natalie Rushman fall into that category. Yiner Diaz, Salvador Perez,

Cal Raleigh, William Contreras. I think they probably, for this format, fall into that category. I might not say the same in like a points league. But then if I don't get any of them, it's like just give me whoever's left at the end because there are more than enough adequate catcher starters to go around in a 12th team,

one catcher league. After Logan Ohabee, Clark Schmidt, Osvaldo, Bito, Jonathan, India, Andrew Painter, and Caleb Durbin, that's another Doc Eisenhower special right there. I feel like he drafts Caleb Durbin in every draft that he can. Mike, I did want to ask you one more question about Logan O'Hoppy. How much do you think

Travis Darno will eat into his playing time this upcoming season? I'm not too worried about it, to be honest. And, you know, even if he does, that's what I get for taking him at 265 overall. There's going to be some risk. There's a reason he was still there. But you know, he's a big part of that

future there for the Angels. So I don't see it being any more than like a 60-40 split. So I I'm more than okay with that. And if it turns out to be weird. For what it's worth, it was a 75-25 split for O'Hopi last year. So 60-40.

Not that I'm complaining about where you took O'Hopi, but that is kind of my just... I have them as a bus pick for this year, too. Just worried about the impact Darno is going to have. Scott, why do you meet Mike's team? I mean, all of his picks are on your bus. I'm just presenting the other side of the argument. How could you?

That's totally fine. That's what we want to hear. We want to hear both sides, the case for and case against some of these players. Last couple of picks after Caleb Durbin, Edward Cabrera, Christian Anacranoccion Strand, who could have more of a role early in the season with Spencer Steerhurt. I selected Jason Adam and then Shane Bieber in the last round. You could stash him, hope you get him back by June or July. Then Victor Scott and Luis Rehnhefo. That's a pretty big fall as well.

I know Renhifo, I think, was scratched from the lineup with a hamstring on Monday, but there's still enough time for him to get right, and he looked really, really good last season with the Angels and very aggressive on the base pass there. So the draft is over, 23 rounds done. We will take a look at each of our teams here. We will pull them up for those watching on YouTube so you can check it out and see who did the best.

But we will start things off with Mike's team if I can get this to work. On the hitting side of things, you have Logan O'Hopi, Tristan Kossis, Cotel Marte, Issoc Paredes, Ezekiel Tovar, then Brenton Doyle, Adelaus Garcia, and Michael Harris in the outfield.

You've got Shohei Otani and Jorxen Profar as your two utility hitters. And on the bench, you have Anthony Volpe, Carrie Carpenter, and Jordan Walker. So talk us through your batters here. How do you think it came together, Mike? Overall, okay. I was happier.

in the early parts of the round, I really went with kind of a balanced approach. Obviously, Otani kind of gives you a leg up there. I feel really good about my power, my average overall. There's a little bit too much risk in my starting outfield with Adelaise Garcia and Brett and Doyle, depending on how you feel about him. And having two Rockies is not something that I recommend in this kind of format. But I like back him up with Anthony Volpe.

Ezekiel Tovar that would be in Kerry Carpenter. Really like having him as a bench bat. But I think my favorite pick is Isok Perades. I really love him in Houston. And I just was very, very thrilled to get him there. So overall, I'm pretty happy with this offense, have some things that have to work out, whether a hoppy bus like Scott thinks he will,

Doyle bus like Scott thinks he will, or well, any of my other players bus like Scott thinks they will. That I have some. Fott was the other one. Yes, yes. You know, I drafted one of my own bus picks, too. The thing about bus picks is it's less than 50% likely they'll bust usually. They'll probably be okay.

It's just that they present more risk than – or they present more risk than the upside is worth or than the cost is worth, I guess is how I'd put it. And in Fott's case, it's like I just – I don't really see the upside for him. I think the upside is like a Jose Barrios type. But he got him later than Jose Barrio. so that's fine. Yeah, yeah, that's also we get to take into the equation with them, right? Like you said, it's all about the value

and what you're investing in them. And I don't feel like I've reached on any of them to kind of put me in a position where I'm like, okay, that's really going to come back and bite me. The spot in the draft where they landed, I felt like I got pretty good value on all of them. Tovar is really the only pick that I don't love just because I'm not a big fan of his profile,

but the pickings were very slim at shortstop at that time. But yeah, overall happy with this offense. And I just hoping they hit that less than 50% bust rate. All right. Well, let's take a look at your pitching staff. You wound up with Spencer Schwellenbach, Zach Wheeler, Emmanuel Claude Jansen, Shoti Imanaga, Brandon Fott, Kodaisanga, Edwin Useta.

And then on the bench here, you have Tanner Hauk. And you also have. Gavin Williams. Gavin Williams, excuse me, yes, Gavin, William. So you do have some upside picks there on the bench. You wind up with three relievers. Is this typical for you in the head-to-head categories daily lineup format, you know, winding up with only three relievers in your lineup and the rest of those being starting pitchers? Yeah, that's typically how I go about my drafts. I want to have one

lockdown closer. I don't like being the first person to draft on, which I wasn't this draft, but that's okay given where I was picking and who was going to be available to me on the way back. But yeah, I typically have one lockdown. was that you took Class A? I want to say it was a fifth round, the first pick of round five. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I believe that's when it was, which I feel pretty good about that just because I want to get one of those top guys and I wouldn't have on the way back.

I hate Kenley Jansen there. I was hoping that Bednar would fall to me, but Scott took him three picks before I could, even with the great Justin Lawrence there in Pittsburgh to scare everybody away. But no, yeah, that's typically the approach I take. I like to have that one lockdown guy and really just try to find the next guy that I can. Like Edwin Mousseda, I really, really like him a lot. I think there's going to be some save opportunities there. And people's jobs are going to ebb and flow throughout the year or two.

So I just have to be active on the wire to kind of get those saves that I want. But yeah, typical balance. And I really, really, really like my starters. This is a typical Waterloo rotation. So very happy with it. Yeah, I think it's, you know, you're a lockdown with Wheeler, you got Imanaga, Spencer Schwellenbach, someone I love the season. So you've got that top three locked in. And then you've got some other upside options here with Fod and Kodi Senga and Gavin Williams and maybe Tanner Hawke is a bit of an innings eater.

And you use him in the right matchups as well. Well, if my computer would ever start working, then I'll go over to Scott's team. But Scott, in the meantime, if you want to pull up your team and kind of, read us read us off well you're frozen over there yeah we do see the screen now it's just frozen yeah I just can't move my

mouth so nothing is okay nothing is all right so here is my team catcher I got yiner Diaz first base Josh Naylor second base waited till the very last round it took Jonathan India

third base Jake Berger shortstop Ellie de la Cruz outfield is Ronald de Cunia Lawrence Butler Ian Hap with Pete Crow Armstrong to work in when Acuna's out. And then I got two studs in my utility spots,

Marcel Ozuena and Kyle Schwerber. So that's a very strong offense, right? I feel good about that. Certainly enough power between Naylor, Berger, De La Cruz, Ozuna, Schwerber, Butler. Acuna just seems like excess. And then speed between De La Cruz, Acuna eventually.

Butler should give me speed. Happen, India, a little dose of speed. I guess Dela Cruz is mostly carrying me in the speed there. But when Acuna gets back, there'll be plenty. And you could plug in Pekar Armstrong as long as Ronald de Cunia's hurt. I mean, if there's one thing Pete Kerr Armstrong can do, it should be run. If I'm light on anything, it's batting average, I guess, because I started with L.A. De La Cruz who might hit 260 unless he has just a monster breakout, which is possible.

Butler, same thing. Could be a great batting average. Could be a terrible batting average. Hap is going to be on the lower end. Burger's going to be on the lower end. Naylor probably going to be on the lower end, though we've seen him go back and forth. But I got Yiner Diaz. I got Ronald de Kuna.

I got Marcelo Zuna. They should be good batting average guys. That's a category that's difficult to predict from week to week anyway. So I think I'll be, I think I'll win the category sometimes and sometimes not, basically. So yeah, I think the offense is great. Let's take a look at your pitching staff. You wound up with Terek Scouble and Bryce Miller. Then David Bednar, Tanner Scott is your relievers.

Then you've got Lucas Erseg, Pete Fairbanks, Usaic, Kikuchi, Joe Ryan, on the bench. You've got Cody Bradford, Nathan Avaldi, and Sean Mania. So you've got four relievers in your lineup here. you've got three lockdown starters with Scoobel, Bryce Miller, Joe Ryan, and then kind of maybe playing the matchups with Cacucci, Cody Bradford, Avaldi, Sean Minaya Scout. What do you think about the pitching staff? Yeah, so it's a little thin. It's a little thinner than I usually go.

Normally I like to get five of my top 50 or so, and I only got three. One of them is Terik Scouble, though, which helps a lot. And, you know, Manaya, of course, used to be. and I hope to get them back midway through April and he'll maybe give me a fourth. But if I went weak on anything with this team it is starting pitching apart from Scoobel.

I like that I got three and a half closers there counting Lucas Urseg is the half and maybe some of them will lose their jobs but in theory you only need two of those guys at any one time. And I plan to, if we were playing it out I would plan to mix in those four relievers

when I didn't have a, when I had an open pitching spot that day because the starter wasn't starting. So, I don't know, when I put Acuna and when I put, who did I draft for my bench? Zach Neta. When I put Acuna and when I put Zach Netto

in my I L. spots, maybe I'll pick up a couple more relievers. Maybe I'll pick up a couple more starters. I know Chris Boobitch is still out there. All right. Let's wrap up looking at my team. I was drafting ninth overall in this one. And for the hitters,

I've got Wilson Contreras, Vinny Pasquantino, Marcus Semen, A. Eugenio Suarez, C.J. Abrams, Mookie Betz, Luis Robert, Kyle Tucker, Randy Rosarena, and Luis Arise. So it is a pretty unconventional team of hitters that I put together here. You know, the batting average seemed a little bit low. That's why I picked it up with a rise later on. I think there's a decent amount of power and speed throughout. Maybe, is it light on speed?

I don't know, Semion gives you a little bit. Abrams should give you a lot. Betts and Robert, Tucker, they all mix in some. A Rosarena will give you hopefully 20 plus. I think the power- I think the power in speed is probably a right. And then I've got some more power on the bench with Ryan Malk Castle and Alec Berluson.

Mike, what do you think about this lineup? Be brutally honest. If you hate it, that's totally fine. What do you think of it? No, I like it a lot, to be honest. Just seeing Mookie and Kyle Tucker right back to back there is just like, it's just perfect.

The only thing that really stands out a lot is Luisera. It's just whenever you're looking through it, there's one name that just kind of like pops out of you really big and it's him. But hey, at least you're covering some batting average there. But no, I like this, I like this offensive lot. At first I thought it was going to be light on speed. But then when you started going down, I'm like, no, like he has all the bases covered with it. So yeah, I think you did a really good job. A lot's going to depend on Marcus Simeon, kind of giving you that speed that we're hoping for that the sprint speed is still showing. Eugenio Suarez, hopefully that's second half is the real A. E. E. E. Hennie O'Swaraes and Vinnie P. Baby, hopefully this is the year that we see him, put it all together, and that we have that power that we're hoping for. The only question mark I really think you have is Randy Rosarena and just kind of seeing what he's going to give you. Is he going to give you a 2020 season? Is there any reason to kind of worry about performance last year? But overall, I think you did a great job with your offense. I appreciate it. If I am going to critique myself, I will, I think I wound up with a lot of

players that have been very streaky so far in their career. Will that continue? Not entirely sure, but to this point, CJ Abrams, Luis Robert, and Randy Rosarena, have all been very shrieky players in their career. So you play in a head-to-head format, you want week-to-week consistency. We've talked about this. It's kind of hard to measure week-to-week consistency or predict who is going to be consistent throughout the course of a season. I mean, there's just so many ups and downs. But those three players in particular have shown to be pretty inconsistent players so far in their career. On the pitching side of things, I've got Logan Gilbert and Sunny Gray as my two starters here. Relievers, I've got Mason Miller, AJ Puck, Jason Adam, Arollous Chapman, Kyle Finnegan.

So I wound up with five relievers. That might be a little bit too much, a little bit of overkill. Also have Tanner Bybee as a starter, and then I've got you, Darvish, Zach Eflin, Spencer Strider. So a little bit light on starters here, especially while I'm waiting for Spencer Strider to get back. I think once he's back, I do have some, I think four impact starting pitchers there. And then Scott, my plan here was just to kind of piece together saves and a couple names that I think could provide really good ratios, even if they're not their team's closers. Guys like AJ Puck and Jason Adam in particular. Yeah, I think that makes sense. I don't know that you can really have too many relievers.

I guess if you're not mixing in enough starts. But you have two bench bats, it looks. looks like Mount Castle and Berlison. Yep. And I assume you'll pick up a pitcher when he put Strider on the I.L. Yeah, I think look, a lot hinges on Spencer Strider when he comes back and how he looks when he does, but you could definitely see this working out for you.

All right. Well, that will bring us to the end here. Who did it best? Mike was drafting first, Scott was drafting fourth. I was drafting ninth. Let us know in the comments on YouTube or in the chat. if you're watching along. Who had the best team of the three?

But we are going to wrap there before we do it. Mike, I do just want to thank you again for joining us here and give you the opportunity to promote your work and let people know where they can find it. Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. I've been listening for a long time ever since the Nando day, so it's great to kind of be on here and draft with you guys. Yeah, you can find me on Blue Sky at Michael Waterloo.

And also on Twitter, a little less accurate. there now, but the same handle at Michael Waterloo. And you can find my work at The Athletic. Just put out my top 300 points rankings last week there and have some more good stuff coming there. As well as my twice a week newsletter, Walking Bucket. Not the Walking Bucket, but just Walking Bucket. So yes, thank you for having me on, guys. I appreciate it.

All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Michael. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.