Fantasy Baseball Today - 12-Team H2H Points Listener League Draft Part 1! Rounds 1-12 Picks & Analysis (3/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Let's get into our 12-team H2H points listener league draft! In part one we're breaking down the first 12 rounds, highlight picks, strategy and roster construction. How far did Mookie Betts fall? How early did Cam Smith get drafted? 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

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. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Here we are final live draft of the off season. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today. You are listening to this on Wednesday, March 26th.

I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we are doing a live 12-te-to-head points draft, and this one we are playing out. Not a mock draft. It is one of two FBT listener leagues that we will be doing on successive nights. We're only streaming this one, though. We are using the CBS standard head-to-head lineup and scoring. One of each infield position, three outfielders, one utility bat,

no corner, no middle, five starting pitchers, two relievers. We also have three IL spots. I will be drafting sixth. Chris is seventh and Scott is 12th. Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't bother me at all. I've always said I love picking at the end.

It's not a bad spot this year. This year it's not. If you go by tears, though, it's really hard to anticipate what's coming back to you. I'd mean in the first round. It flusters me, which everybody listening loves a flustered Scott. But Scott doesn't love a flustered Scott.

I like being cool as a cucumber, sipping on my tea here. And to make matters worse, we're drafting with a bunch of fanboys here. So we know we're not going to get our favorite picks. They're just, they're going to scoop them out from under us, three rounds too early. Can you be cool as a cucumber while drinking tea? It's too warm. Well, you're, there are so many different meanings of the word cool. We went over this last time.

It's not a temperature thing. If you really want to see Scott tilt during tonight's draft, make your picks really fast so that he can't cross names off of his tears list. I didn't want to bring that one. We'll see Scott freaking out again like he was last week. Shout out to last year's champ, by the way. Listener Nathan McCullough actually took down the listener league head to head points league. And so we wanted to give you a shout out before we passed the torch on to the next group of listeners.

And we'll be live on YouTube for the entirety of this draft. this will be a two-part podcast on the audio side of things. And I think with that, we are pretty much good to go. Scott, I think you have commission duties here. I do as well, but I just didn't have the page open right away. If you want to start it up, I could do it as well. And here we go. We are off and running.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Aaron, Judge, here we come. We'll see. Scott's going to do that thing where he speaks, picks, to existence. Well, not that you were going to ever get Aaron Judge anyway,

but it's probably going to be the pick. We'll see. Soto, that'd be a little offbeat. Maybe he goes to Terek Scoobel here. We haven't seen, we haven't seen starting pitchers get pushed up in a head-to-head points league yet. Just making sure Ben is here,

and he takes Shohei Otani. Literally just as Shohei Otani doubled in the spring game that he's playing. So good pick. That's right. That's why he picked him here. all that double. You don't get these points, by the way.

Just a reminder. I do have the game on as well. So a little dual screen action watching some baseball. You don't get that home run he hit in Tokyo either. That's true. We are not including the Tokyo games in this draft whatsoever. The first week, by the way, for those playing in this league if you're watching, will be in 11-day scoring period.

So not just the first four days, Thursday through Sunday. It'll be Thursday through Sunday, April 6th. So everybody's a two-star player. Everybody. Fitcher. Almost. Everybody. Everybody.

Games. First three picks after Otani, Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt. So your consensus for most of the offseason, followed by Jose Ramirez. And I am on deck here. On deck. Nothing surprising going on. How happy would you be if Juan Soto made it to you at six? Come on, Scott.

Why, like, why are you going to do that, man? Just, come on. Maybe, maybe this guy is, uh, anti-Mets and, you know, he wants to go with someone else. Maybe. I think that would be, that would be a, that would have been a fantastic idea. So the top player in my rankings is Kyle Tucker. I have Kyle Tucker on quite a few teams already, but, you know, if we're remaining consistent like we have been for most of the offseason, then the pick shall be Kyle Tucker.

but there was part of me that maybe wanted to diversify a little bit and take Corbyn Carroll. But for consistency's sake, we'll take Kyle Tucker's sixth overall. Yeah, those plate discipline games he made games, those plate discipline gains he made last year really improved his head-to-head points appeal. So I think that makes sense as long as those gains hold. Yeah, he was on close to a 600. 50 point pace in this scoring format, which is a huge number. It's not Shohei Otani or Aaron Judge huge, but it's

not far from what Bobby Whitt Jr. managed last year. Points per game 409 for Tucker versus 413 for Soto. Yep. After I selected Kyle Tucker, Chris, you took Yordon Alvarez, followed by Gunner Henderson, who we know will be starting the season on the IL with that intercostal strain. Then Corby and Carroll. Chris, is Yordon actually your seventh player in this format or maybe even a little bit higher, who knows? Yes, he is my number seven player.

I have him after Kyle Tucker, so the draft went basically in exactly the order that I have it ranked. I have Judge ahead of Otani, but other than that, exactly how I had it. It'll get weirder from here on out, presumably. For sure. After Corbyn Carroll, Vlad Jr., and Francisco Lindor to a team with the name, they took our Job.

That is an A-plus team name. Love that. Scott, you were up for two. Oh, I don't like this at all. So my top two players on the board are Tarek Scuba and Zach Wheeler. Do I want to build around pitching? Absolutely not. After that would be mooky bets,

but I have lowered him a little bit with the concerns over his weight. So the top hitter is Ellie de la Cruz for me. And then after that, Bryce Harper, both of them feel kind of early. Ellie is MVP pick though. Yeah, he is. I think I'm going to take him

and I think I'm going to take Bryce Harper because I have, I vowed after the last two head to head points mocks we did not to pass up an elite first basement when I have a chance

because particularly in this scoring format where you're taking Jake Berger out as a usable option, you're taking who else are you taking out as a usable option? Ryan Malkassel's not somebody you can fall back on. Michael Tolia strikes out too much. They're just unusable in this format.

And the Vinni Pasquantino types tend to get pushed up. So this is the format where you can really get boxed out at first base. I don't want to do that. So I'm taking Harper here with De La Cruz. I'm going to leave those aces and mooky bets for someone else. For those listening, Ellie De LaCruz averaged 3.5 fantasy points per game last season, which is still a really good amount. just not the same level as players who went in the earlier first round.

So, you know, with his plate discipline and strikeouts, you know, he does fall a little bit more in this format. But in a category or head-ted categories of Roto League, L.A. Dela-Cruz will likely be a top six or seven pick in all of those drafts. And we are into round two. How would you guys? Would you guys hate starting ahead-to-head points team Ellie Dela-Cruz and Bryce Harper? I think it's fine. is a strong word, but I will agree. It wasn't what you were hoping for.

It wasn't the best possibility of things that can happen in this format for you at the turn there. I might have been tempted to take one of the aces, but. I was tempted. Yeah. I was tempted. I just know that, I mean, from all the drafts we've done, so many, dozens of drafts, it is much more likely that I'm going to feel like I didn't get as many high-end hitters as I wanted than that I didn't give myself a pitching staff that I felt comfortable with. Here's a question.

Would you have felt better if it was Vladimir Guerrero or Francisco Lindorne instead of Allie Daylor-Dal-Cruises? That's what I was hoping for, actually, was Lindoran Vlad? Because he was almost exactly as good as those. guys last year. Cruz? De La Cruz? Yeah. But first base, you know, part of that's the scarcity thing.

There's not near the scarcity at shortstop for this format as for first base. But yeah, De La Cruz has untapped upside that Lindor and I guess he be aware of it. Fairly similar to for Francisco Lindor at least. It makes a big higher than Flats, honestly. We've seen much worse from Blatton. And it makes a big difference given CBS scoring, which gives two points per stolen base and minus half a point for strikeouts. If it was one point for stolen bases and minus a full point for strikeouts, De La Cruz is like a not even going in the first three rounds, probably. But he might strike out a lot less this season with the shortened swing.

He did this spring. By the way, Mookie Betts went right after that pair of picks, 14, the second pick of round two. So didn't fall that much. And we did get an encouraging report on him. He's playing today. He's in the lineup tonight. He's in the lineup. Yeah.

So, yeah. No word on how skinny he looks, but, you know. I mean, probably not any skinnier than two days ago. He looks very skinny. Probably not any bigger than two days ago. He always looks skinny, you know? Yeah. After Mooky Betts, we got Terrick Scoobal, Fernando Tatis, Paul Skeens, and Zach Wheeler.

Chris, I just have to ask if it was Skeens versus Wheeler at your pick. Who would you have taken? I haven't drafted Skeens yet. So I would have been tempted to take him just Just to see what happened, you know? I know you started the offseason with Wheeler over Skeens. Has that remained? Yeah, it's remained.

Nothing has changed for either of those two. Yep. I don't know, just the hype, you know? Maybe you would have fallen into the love fest for Paul Skeens. No, no, no. You know I'm a contrarian, so I don't do that. He's a first round pick in a lot of drafts. Not this one, obviously, as we've kind of,

talked down elite pitching and waiting a little bit more on those guys. But they do go here in the second round. Chris, you selected Zach Wheeler. I took Trey Turner. So I've got Kyle Tucker and Trey Turner to start my team off here. One outfielder, one shortstop. So shortstop is a position that can kind of go sideways fast, the way you talked about first base, Scott.

So I am happy to get Trey Turner and get shortstop out of the way here. I don't feel that way about shortstop. because I am okay in this format with Xavier Edwards or Carlos Correa as my starter. They both excelled in this format last year. Edwards points per game similar to Ellie De La Cruz, Correa, similar to Trey Turner. Not that I'm counting on Xavier Edwards being quite that good again, but he does have, with the two points per steals and the fact he walks a lot,

he does have a skill set that's good for this. and they do get pushed up a bit with people who know what they're doing, but not enough that they're pricey options. And if they don't pan out, you know, it's not like we go deep into the hitter pool in this format. So I think there will be ample fallback options. Yeah. I don't think I have as much confidence in Xavier Edwards and Correa as you do. But if you feel that way, then yes, you can wait on those names at the position.

After Trey Turner, Catelle Marte, William Contreras, and Freddie Freeman. goes 20 second overall does see you all laughed at me for pushing William Contreras into round two of that mock we did that had to head points mock started a trend I am a trend setter I keep telling you to put fantasy baseball influencer in your ex bio but you won't do it I don't know why because I don't call it X mainly Twitter I what do you guys want me to call it now you can call it X that is its name eventually I'm sure I'll start calling it X it X it just doesn't it's just it doesn't sound like its own unique thing like people say x and it doesn't sound like

it's referring to anything in particular you know it's also like when i when i like reference something i saw on a different social media platform like you threads or blue sky or whatever i still want to call it a tweet yeah yeah you know like that's that's what it is still a tweet to me yeah you know after william contraris freddie freeman chrisail and jaron Duran. Are you guys okay with Freddie Freeman here 22nd overall? Just the way everything has played out the spring, the rib and finding out he's going to need treatment on that ankle throughout the season. What do you think? I wish all of that hadn't happened. But given the way first base plays out in this scoring format in particular, I vowed that if I picked at the round two, three turn,

I would not pass up a first baseman there. So I'm fine with it. it. I might have, if I was picking 22nd, which meant third in round one, I might have passed up Freeman there to see if he made it back to me in round three, knowing I could probably fall back on Olson if you didn't. But I would not let that turn pass without me taking a first basement in this format. All right. After Freeman, we got Chris Sale and Jaron to finish out round two, into round three, Corey Seeger, Cole Regens, and Raphael Devers. So, do you want to pull up the name here of Team 2. That's Greg Steinist.

And he, hopefully I'm pronouncing your name correctly. He started his team with, I believe it was either Witt or Judge and two starting pitchers. So it'll be interesting to see the way that offense comes together here and, you know, kind of zigging when others are zagging and grabbing some starting pitchers early on. Also noteworthy that the guy who took Rafael Devers was also the person who took Freddie Freeman. So that's an interesting combo. a lot of people are shying away from those two, but not team Uncle Wax.

Uncle Wax, by the way, is the gentleman who made those one-of-one baseball cards of us, so shout out. Yeah, that was great. All right, are we going to get a timeout? And we may be timing out. Eternal buzz.

Oh. It's out of time. We might need to fix that. pick for him because that doesn't look like an intentional one. Well, well, just, it's not what the top player in the projections is. So I don't know where that would have came from. Yeah. The pick was Marcus Semyon, by the way.

I don't know if we mentioned it. The team name is Eternal Buzz. So he probably thought he had eternity until the buzzer sounded. But it turns out he did not. And he's He said he missed it, so yeah Okay, he's going to pick again

All right We're back up, I am two picks away We're getting dangerously close to a monologue here Trying to figure out what I need to do Got Trey Turner and Kyle Tucker so far And Frank, if the top player in your rankings is there Are you going to take him? Yes

Okay Just need to know so I don't get my hopes up Because Julio Rodriguez has fallen No. Too far. No name dropping. You guys are killing me, man. This is not his best format.

And last year was obviously very bad for him. But in 20203, he had 557 points in this format. That's a borderline first rounder. And he's made it midway through the third. So I think, I think Julio Rodriguez is going to be a great value, whether it's now or if you want to take someone else, I think you should. I think that'd be great, actually.

Jackson Furio is really good. Hey, you know what? It is kind of tempting, but, uh, I, I do rank Churio ahead of Rodriguez. I think you should probably take Jackson Churio. I think, nope, I know that you want Julio Rodriguez, Chris. I know that you don't have them and you want him somewhere. I'm not just about denying Chris. I'm going to take the player that's at the top of my rankings right now.

If they're both outfielders and I rank O'O ahead, then coward for following my rankings. Let's go. Who, you know? Third round. I've noticed I now have Jackson Churio several spots higher than both of you. So I guess I'm the weird one. And Chris, you're going to have to change your team name because it's Jackson Meryl, like the Pokemon Meryl. Well, maybe.

Turo over Jackson Meryl. Maybe I'll just go three outfielders in my first four picks just so I can keep the team name. You never know. That would be something if Jackson Meryl made it all the way back to you, huh? Yeah. I don't expect that. and I probably wouldn't do that even if he did, but we'll see. All right, well, catching people up after Devers.

Matt Olson, Logan Gilbert was the pick right before me. Then I took Julio Rodriguez and Jackson Trio. So I've got J. Rod, Kyle Tucker, and Trey Turner. Chris, you have Jackson Chorio to go along with. Zach Wheeler and Yordon Alvarez. So it's pretty good. Big volume pitcher. Alvarez, obviously, there's some concern about

the playing time with his injury history, but he is a superstar in any format. And I still think we're going to get a 50 homer season from Yardot-on-Avarez at some point. His career high is only 37, so that would be a big outlier. But the combination of quality of contact and quantity of contact is, I might need to go grab a Diet Coke. I'm feeling it right now. The combination of quality of contact and quantity of contact for Yon-Aa-Aa-Avres is something very few players in this game can match.

So, yeah. All right. Well, the next three picks, Jazz Chisholm. Well, there was Jackson Merrill. Then Jazz Chisholm, Austin Riley. And Garrett Crochet, Scott, you are back up. Your first two picks were Ellie Dela-Cruz and Bryce Harper. Yes, yes, yes.

What am I going to do? I'm tempted to take a pitcher again. I didn't last time. I'm tempted to do it again because Corbyn Burns is still there. But I don't think I'm going to. I'm definitely going to take Manny Machado. He's the last at the tier there, the last of the elite third basement. And maybe better even for this format than Austin Riley and healthier than Raphael Devers.

So I'm fine with that. It comes down to do I want to take Jose Al-Tuvae. first at second base because I know that position can also thin out for this format particularly where you don't have those category specialists to latch on to do I want to take Kyle Schwerber just because he's good in this format I think I'm going to pass on Schwerber I think I just really want a star studded lineup and so I'm going to take I'm going to take Jose Altuve and that way my whole infield is studly now a harper Altuvae Machado, Elie de la Cruz. No outfielders. No outfielders yet. Yeah, but it's only three outfielder league. And yeah, I'm happy with that.

I don't think I have Altuve on a team yet this year either. So it'll be good to have some investment in him. And I'd rather do it in a shallower league like this where if he just collapses or something because of his age or he gets hurt, which he's been known to do from time to time, not all hope is lost for me. All right, into the fourth round. The next pick was Wyatt Langford.

Let's take a quick break and we'll catch you up right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today, doing a live 12-team head-to-head points draft. And this is one of our listener leagues. So we are playing this one out. And we'll catch you up on the fourth round after Wyatt Langford went 38th overall. We got Kyle Schwabber and Corbyn Burns.

Chris, you are on deck. Talk to us. I would have taken Corbyn Burns if he was there, but he was just taken. And I'm not sure what direction to go in now. Do you have a first baseman yet, Chris? I do not have a first baseman yet. I suppose I could go with Pete Alonzo. I am also considering Marcelo Zuna as the top remaining utility,

not really considering any of the pitchers here. I was also considering Ronald Ocuna, who is the top player in all three of our rankings, obviously going to have to manage for a month, but I don't hate the idea of Ronald Acuna for the final five months of the season. So I'm going to draft him and just move him to my bench right now so that I know I still need an outfielder early on.

Yeah, this is the format to do it in. You've got IL spots, a couple of them anyway. And only three outfielders. We only go so deep into the hitting pool, as I've said. So the quality of the Acuna fill-in is going to be pretty high. And then obviously when he's back, he's potentially a league-winning type of player. So that I think makes sense. And I may resent you for.

for it come May. I was thinking about taking one of the Util-only bats to Marcel O'Zuna, Brent Rooker, still out there, but wanted to grab that first starting pitcher, Framber Valdez, who just, I think we all like in general this season if you wait on starting pitching a little bit and grab them in round four, five, six, sometimes in round six, he's there. But in this format in particular, he goes deep into his starts. He's a workhorse. regularly goes, you know, six, seven innings,

and getting ground balls allows them to be efficient. Should win a lot of games, obviously, pitching for a good team, contract year. So we know that can help pitchers stay on the mound and just stay on the field in general. So happy to get Frambervaldez there in the middle of round four as my SP one. You know, you guys both referenced potentially taking Ozuna,

who had a great year last year, obviously. But I'm surprised how big, the gap is between him and Schwerber, who also went this round. Schwerber 3.41 points per game last year. Ozuna 3.24. So nearly two-tenths of a points difference there. Swarber is so good in this format. Yeah.

It may not sound like much, but it is. Azuna outscored him. I guess Schwerber did play 12 fewer games. O'Nah played every game last year. So, yeah, I guess. the plate that's a plane is a little bit different because ozuna doesn't walk as much and schwarber walks a lot and i mean they're both going to strike out you know a decent amount here but the walks and the o bp is really what i see as the biggest difference between the two kyle schwarber yeah marcel ozuna there's like

the difference between marcus simeon and brendan donovan last year two-tenths of a point or the difference between uh bryce tarang and Jordan Westberg, Westberg being the higher one there. So yeah, it's not nothing. After I took Valdez, Dylan Sees, Blake Snell, Logan Webb, and Alex Bregman. So a bit of a pitching run here. And then Bregman, who, that will shock some people, but this is his preferred format. I know he didn't walk as much last season, but a typical Bregman year, it's great plate

discipline, more walks than strikeouts, big OBP. And just playing in Fenway, it feels like Bregman's going to have a huge season. Yeah, it's a really good park for him. I think it's a slightly worse park than the one he just left, but the shape of his production will be different. I think he'll still be incredibly productive. I think it'll be fewer homers, more doubles and singles, but that's not a bad thing in this format because you do get,

you directly get points for singles and doubles in a way you don't in a Roto League. So I think it's a, it's early relative to where he was likely to go and where he usually does, but it's totally defensible. We're doing our bold predictions podcast tomorrow. A little sneak peek, though. Bold prediction for me.

Alex Bregman sets a career high for batting average this year. What is his career high like 315? No, 290, I believe. He had a season over 300. That sounds right to me. It looks like. 296. All right.

So, yeah, he would have to hit close to about 300. Yep. All right. Well, Scott,

you can't use that one tomorrow now. You have to come up with another bold prediction because... I can still say it. It doesn't take long to say. Then you short change the people

out of a bold prediction. You can't do that. Come on, Scott. We need another one now. Nobody wants to listen to a draft right now. They've already tuned out. It'll be fine. No,

let's get back into the draft. At the 4-5 turn, we got Ozzy Albies and James Wood followed by Seth Lug Brian Reynolds and Michael King. That's Seth Lugo pick. Very interesting. Talk to me, Scott.

If last year happens again, it's a great pick. 541 points last year. That's a huge number. Nobody's ranking him that high, but it's not unthinkable. I like him as a around 40th at starting pitcher where he tends to go. And maybe a little higher than that in this format. Let's see. I rank Lugo for this form.

format where you're not as concerned with strikeouts and where you really love that volume. I rank them closer to 35th. But this is early. It's a little early, yeah. All right. Well, the next pick was Anthony Santander, and we were talking about Ozuna in round four. He's here in round five. Chris, which one do you prefer, Ozuna or Rooker?

I'll let you have it. You pick first, so it's up to you. Who do you want more? Come on, let me know. It's whoever you want. You know who Chris wants me. I'm going to take Ozuna, let you have Rooker. I know you like Rooker a lot as well.

That worked out pretty well for both of us. Yeah, I think that I was, as I said, considering taking Marcelo Zuna before. I don't think there's much difference between Rooker and Ozuna. If anything, I think Rooker maybe has a little higher upside. Just because Ozuna is older, you think there's a little room for decline. Rooker obviously has only done it at this level for one season. but I think both are great picks there. Way to go us.

Yeah, virtual five. How much does your fondness for Brent Rooker have to do with your fondness for Michael Rooker and the role he played in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise? I will say every time I watch Guardians of the Galaxy too. And he does his little thing about how he may be your father, but I'm your daddy. Gets me every time.

I cry every time. American Poppins, y'all. Phenomenal in the Walking Dead. We love, this is a pro-Michael Rooker podcast is what we're saying. Always happy when that dude shows up. Frank has no idea who we're talking. I had to Google who it was. I mean, I guess this is just how normal people in life operate.

They just know who actors' names are and can just visualize who they are off the top of their head. I am not one of those people, but I do know who this person is. I've seen Guardians of the Galaxy. He was in mall rats. Classic. Svenning in mall rats? What a legend, Michael Roper. Oh, man.

A legend, you know who else is a legend? Scott White, who is on the clock, let's catch people up. After Chris selected Brent Rooker, Adley Ruchman, Marcus Semy and CJ Abrams, Cody Pellinger, the rise continues. I looked at first base and said, maybe I'll take Cody Bellinger in round six.

Well, maybe not. And Scott, you're up for two. Oh, man. I don't love any of my choices here. Josh Naylor I'd be fine with, but I already have a first basement. So they let him go longer than some of the recent mocks we've done. I don't have any outfielders yet. I have a little bit of fomo about Lawrence Butler

because I think I only have them in one league we're playing out. So I think I'm going to take him here, and I think I'm going to pair him with another outfielder who excels in points leagues especially, and it was one of my big spring risers. on the special we did for CBS Sports Network today, and that is Christian Yelich. Butler and Yelich.

Take that. I did. I can't remember. I was talking to someone at Tout Wars weekend when they were in town, and they were talking about, I can't remember. Will Carroll, the injury guy. And he did say, apparently, that this injury, this specific type of surgery tends to have pretty good results.

and as far as returning to a previous level of play. So I was downer, downer on Christian Yelich than I had been. And then I kind of started talking myself into him a little bit more. Not as much as Scott. But I'm a little frustrated that I don't have Christian Yelich. I don't think in any of my teams. I mean, if there could be anything more reassured. assuring coming off this back surgery,

than three home runs in his first six games back in the lineup. I don't know what it is. I'm not saying he's going to return to MVP level, but I do feel like he's going to be about as good as he was last year, at least, and possibility of more. Remember last week when we did that episode, we talked about players, we keep drafting, and we ended the show with FOMO players.

Lawrence Butler was one of those players for me, Scott, and you were supposed to let me have him. Oh, no. Very mean of you. Why would you do that? Well, semi-fomo for me. I think I only had him in my home league. And this is the draft.

This is the draft to take your fomo guys. As I've been stressing all along, shallow league replacement value is high. Right? That's the way you phrase that. Yes. So if you've, miss on a pick, even an early pick. It's not going to sink your season. And so I am, you know, those

were both kind of reachy picks for me, but I didn't mind it in this league because I feel maybe, I don't know, maybe pitching will eventually reach a state where I'm like, man, I wish I'd taken more pitchers. But that's been pretty rare throughout this entire draft season. And I just kind of want to fill out my lineup to the degree I can stand it before taking a pitcher. All right. After Scott selected Christian Yellich, again, we're in round six. there was Bryce Miller, Pablo Lopez, Josh Naler, and Aaron Nola, Chris, you are up. Yeah, and it's, I'm running into the problem

that I often run into when I take outfielders early, which is just that... There are a lot of good outfielder's left. A lot of good outfielder's left and a lot of good pitchers left, and I don't necessarily... Everybody's being very... What's the word? I'm really struggling with the words.

today. You want to go grab a Diet Coke, Chris? I might need to. Everybody's being very conscious about not overpaying for pitchers for the most part in this draft. And so it's led to a lot of really good pitcher values at this point. And part of the problem is you wait around too long. Everybody else is going to realize that there's good values of pitcher and take them.

And I don't fall into that trap before. Yeah, I don't want to take a pitcher right now. because there are many left in the good glob, but I don't want to wait too long and miss out entirely. So it's a balancing act right now. I think the pick you made makes sense. Yeah, I took Wilson Contreras, which is higher than I normally have him,

but with him playing first base, we do think that there's a chance he's going to have a big playing time edge on most of the other catchers. We know he's a great hitter. I'll cite this stat again, but the last two seasons, he actually leads all catchers in way to runs creative, created plus. He's been the best hitter at the position,

just hasn't had nearly as many plate appearances as his younger brother, William. Oh, I think it's a great pick. Oh, and that was a great pick. And no, that was what I was debating is do I take Jordan Westberg or Spencer Schwellenbach? Oh, you should have taken Schwelley, man. I know, but I don't have second or third, so I figured I can kind of move Westberg around. He's your Cy Young pick. What are you doing?

I thought I could get him in the seven. Oh, man. You need to have the whatever of your convictions. No, but I love Westberg, too. I love both of them. You know, it's just I was playing a dangerous game there. I don't know. Maybe I should have taken Shwellenbach.

I took Westberg, by the way. There was Michael Harris, Salvador Perez, Schwellenbach, Devin, William, Shota Imanaga, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. and we are into round seven here. I think Chris just went to get a Diet Coke. I think so. Hopefully that's always getting.

Oh, man. That one really hurts. I was playing chicken, Scott. I was playing chicken. You know what? Schwellenbach was on my FOMO players because I don't have him in a single league. So I don't know.

Did Chris put on a sweatshirt? What happened? I've been wearing a sweatshirt. I may regret this in about four hours. Yeah. The nectar of the gods. Oh, it'll wear off before four hours. I do want to go back to Westberg for a second.

I know this is not his preferred format. He didn't walk very much last year. But if he breaks out the way that we think he will, then it probably won't matter if he's just awesome. Yeah, I think second base is weak. Yeah, I see that. Especially in this format. Well, yeah.

There's depth in Roto, but not so much in points. So Al-Tuve, Al-Bees, Simeon, they all had less than their usual seasons last year. Among those four, put Westberg in with Al-Tuve-A-Lbiz-Semian. Points per game, Westberg was second behind Al-Tuve. He was ahead of Al-Bes and Simeon. I don't think he will be this year, even with the breakout, because I expect them all to bounce back to some degree. Yeah. but it goes to show you

like he was a stud in this format even last year on a per game basis hey Frankie who we thinking I don't want to I don't want to get my hopes up I don't know I'm I only got one name I don't like this this seems a little collusive to me it's not collusive I'm just I'm just making sure I don't get my hopes up for who I want

because it's someone I haven't drafted yet catching people up on picks by the way if you're I'm not taking Jacob to Grom So if you want him, you can have him. It's not Jacob de Graeme. Into round seven, O'Neill Cruz, Sandy Alcantra, Teosca Hernandez, and Emmanuel Claucet.

So I don't know. What do I need? I need a lot. Catcher, first base. Yeah, first base, it's all the red crosses at this point. It's who do you take a chance on? I mean, Christian Walker is playing. Vinnie Pasquantino, less certain.

If Pasquantino didn't have the injury though He would be gone two rounds ago in this format All right cool I wasn't going to take Tyler Glass now I am going to take get it ready Get ready to hit the button oh no I don't have him yet Oh no pick Let's fill that third base slot slot spot

Hit it Gamineero Camminero Let's go. Yeah. I feel it. It's good. It's potentially a reach, but that's actually where he's going over the last week or so in NFBC drafts.

It's just, it was 80th overall. If he lives up to his expectations, he's probably a little better in Roto. He's not like a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. type as a prospect with the plate discipline. But if he lives up to expectations, he's going to be a monster in both. formats. I took Glassnow, Chris to Caminero, next pick was Max Fried. Which combo would you guys rather have?

Jordan Westberg and Tyler Glassnow or Schwellenbach and Cominero? Because that's basically my two for two right now. I would probably go Schwellynbach, but I'm a little less bought into the hype than everyone. I didn't move him up this spring.

And I know pretty much everyone else did. Just because he was about as good as I expected. Also, bad in his last start. If everyone was moving him up after his 10 strikeout start, got him moving back down after yesterday, right? What did he do yesterday, Chris? It was like two runs and four innings.

He wasn't actually bad, but... He stinks now. He should have felt with me. Gosh, I'm so upset. Whatever. I'm over it. Forget it. After Max Fried, there goes Bailey Ober, and Scott, you are up in two picks.

I hear a lot of moaning and groaning. I don't know what's going on. I was hoping to pair free. read with over here and they they both go a little before i don't know there's some hitters here who i feel like shouldn't be here anymore and um i say just keep going hitters scott i might i might tbh hmm well i am up and apparently this guy whose name i didn't cross off is in fact gone there are two pitchers left in my start of good glob tier and their names are Spencer Strider and Jacob de Grom

oh my love that oh no I'm tempted well you gotta do it now I mean yo low right only two strikeouts and four innings today for Jacob de Grom gave up three runs yeah boy he looks awashed although strider only pitched like

like what, one inning in his most recent start? So I'm definitely taking... I'm definitely taking strider. The other names I'm considering here are Vinnie Pasquantino. I think he needs to be gone. I already have first base filled. And because it thins out in this format, I'm kind of tempted to take him so that one more team has a bad first baseman, you know?

Don't draft out of spite, Scott. Come on. It's not spite. There's, you know, there's a strategic element to it. but there are plenty of other hitters who would suit me in my utility spot. So if it's not Vinny Pasquantino, it's not Jacob de Grom, it would be Zach Gallen, workhorse, but there are a lot of workhorses there. I'm taking DeGrom.

I don't care. I tell all of you all preseason, don't take DeGrom, don't take de Grom. And here I am last draft on record. I'm taken to Grom with Spencer Strider. It's don't take the Grom 50th. Yeah. Well, 85th is fine. I did have him outside of my top 100 originally,

but I did move him up with the reports of him. Once you saw that lower velocity, you're wrong. Yeah. I will say they took our job, selected Mike Trout, 83rd. When I took Caminero, it was between Trout and Camerro. And if I hadn't taken Acuna, I probably would have gone Trout. because he's another one that I want to get on at least one team and I don't know if I have so far.

Do you have him on A of Labor or am I making that up? Oh, yeah, I think I do. I always forget about that one. I'm getting plaudits for my Jacob de Grom picks. See, this is why you never say never. You don't know. You draft with people who, you know, absorb your every word. Sometimes they're going to take it a little too far.

I agree with listener Ben. You've been, you've been a white man can't jumping everyone on Jacob Kron. You've been talking him down solely so you could get him in this one league. What is that called? What is it called? I can't think the word for it. Yeah, I don't know. Usually think of it in terms of pool playing pool.

Yeah, shark. No, that's not it. Hustle. Yeah. Hustle. you all. Look, man, those the 180 innings you got from Jacob to Grom and Spencer Strider combined are going to hit so hard.

180. Oh, my. Let's catch people up. There were a few in round seven. I don't think that I read off. There were Sayas Suzuki. I pick 82. Mike Trout, then Strider to Scott. Into round eight, Jacob de Grom, Willie Adamas, Edwin Diaz, Bobauchette, and Vinnie Pee. Baby. There he goes. Vinnie, Pasquantino, and Chris, you are back up. Yeah, I'm not sure we're still kind of in a place where a lot of interesting pitchers are left.

So I'm going to. Oh, wow, Christian Walker's still there too. Yeah, thank you for pointing it out. Thank you for not pointing it out before I made my pick. Come on, man. I needed a first baseman. This is like the one head-to-head points league where first baseman, the cost wasn't driven up. And that's where I make sure to get one in round two.

And only 380 points last year, but 470 and 570. the two years before. It's the per game. Love the lineup. Yeah. Love the lineup. Things are going to be very, very good there. Love the park.

I think there is, I would be lying if I said I didn't have any Jose Abraeu concerns here with Christian Walker, because it's basically the same contract that they gave Jose Abraeu, if I'm remembering correctly, and basically the same age. But Walker hasn't shown any signs of decline Jose Abraeu had. so I am still expecting big things from Christian Walker. All right, we'll make it a first base run because Vinny P. Christian Walker, I selected Tristan Kosses, not that I felt great about doing it in round eight,

but kind of- That's another one. Represents a fall-off at first base, at least for me. I wish I felt better about him. I've talked about how Jake Berger and Ryan Mountcastle and Michael Tolia are kind of removed from the draftable range. this format. Kossus, I think, has the upside still to be great in this format, but if the strikeouts are as big of an issue as we saw last year, I don't know. I don't know that he's going to, even in like a good scenario, be quite the starter we're looking for in a head-to-head points

context. He does walk a lot. Yeah, I still have a lot of faith in the skill set. I know the strikeouts were up last year. And that was before the injury. Before the injury too, but he does walk a lot. there's a lot of OVP and hitting cleanup in that lineup. It's just counting stats for days. We know he's going to play against both lefties and righties. So the playing time, the counting stats should be really good for Tristan Kossis. At this point, I'm just trying to make myself feel better about the pick. So that's why I'm talking it up.

Luis de Rye's got pushed up. So we did get a first baseman pushed up. Yeah. After Tristan Kossus, Mason Miller, Justin Steele, Luis Arise, and Hunter Green. So, Arise at 94th overall. This, based on his skill set, Scott, this should be his better format. But even at his best, he's like around three fantasy points per game. What do you think about it?

Arise? Yeah. At his best as in when he hits 350, yeah. But like a normal Arise season, which we just got, he is 2.74? I do just want to say. I'm going to hammer this again. I think I've said it a couple times. I think the Padres and Marlins have misused him.

He is not a lead-off hitter. Put that man third or fourth in your lineup, and he's going to drive in like 110 runs with how much contact he makes. I think there is a world in which Luis Arias is a better fantasy option, but he's miscast because of, I don't know, preconceived notions

about what a cleanup hitter is supposed to be, I guess. Well, he technically does get on base at a solid rate. He's a bad base runner. The problem is he's only going to get on first. And so then he's not going to like go first to third on a single because he's a slow base runner. So like the best way to use his skill set is with guys who are already on base and he can drive them in with his elite contact skills. But Padres aren't listening to me.

Certainly not. Nor should they. At the turn, we got Luis Castillo and Zach Gallen. Finally, Gallen goes. Round nine where we get Rysel Aglacius. So, closer's falling a little bit further in this drive compared to others because they just don't score as many fantasy points. And in a points league, they typically go a little bit lower than a roto or category.

It's the main thing. Yeah. Because we have Sparps. You only need to start two of them. You could wait until the final picks of the draft and still find a closer who has a job. It is interesting that Iglesias and Mason Miller have gone before Josh Hader.

A little interesting. Not enormously interesting, but I do have him in a higher tier than those other two. All right, back-to-back picks and polar opposites of each other, I would say Stephen Kwan, who makes a ton of contact

and is going to get on base a lot for the Guardians. And then Brenton Doyle, who might strike out quite a bit, but offers a lot of power and speed. Much better in a roto or categories league. What do you guys think about Doyle in round nine? Pick 100. Is that enough of a drop in this format?

There are other outfielder I like more for this format. Well, I mean, including Louise Robert, who I don't especially like for this format, but I would take him over Doyle. All right. searching around. It's time for a monologue, I think.

Let's see. I've got two outfielders. Outfield still looks pretty good for now. I think it's back to starting pitcher. And yeah, I'm going to go ahead and take Joe Ryan. So that'll be Framber, Glassnow, and Joe Ryan. I feel pretty good about that top three. Pretty, pretty good, huh?

Yes, sir. I have been playing. starting pitcher chicken for like four rounds. You only have Wheeler, Chris? I only have Wheeler. I was hoping Allen would get back to me that round. I'm going to kind of continue to play starting pitch or chicken. Hmm.

By taking George Kirby. Oh, okay. Is an ace when he's right. And the last report I saw was that he had started to play catch over the weekend. And he's going to stay behind at my. League camp, but he said the quote was something like, I'm hoping to get back there by mid April, back up there by mid April. I don't know if that means go on a rehab assignment by mid April, but if George Kirby ends up only missing three weeks. Yeah, this is a fantastic.

That could be huge. Yeah. If he were healthy, he'd go in round four. Yeah, top 50, top 60. Maybe around five, the latest. Yeah. So you're getting potentially four rounds of value here missing a couple of starts from Kirby and obviously with a shoulder there's always a chance of a setback so you factor that in but there's been apparently nothing structural wrong and and he's is throwing so yeah I I don't know I'm he was my top to rank starting pitcher George Kirby but I've seen him he's been ranked there for a long time for me and I see him usually go much later than I've ranked in. So I was kind of hoping that happened here.

Yeah, I have him around 100. And I have a little more exposure to George Kirby than I'm frankly comfortable with. But, you know, I think the pitcher pulls deep, especially in this format, although there will be a lot of pitchers drafted. Most people will have three or four pitchers on their bench at least. But I'm willing to take that risk here. All right, after Kirby, you get Ian Hap, Tanner Bybee, Brandon Nimmo. So two outfielders, and this is earlier for Nimmo, but both he and Hap excel in this format. Yeah, very good in this format.

Great OBP, in Ian Hap's case, he's going to lead off, so lots of played appearances, more opportunities for fantasy points. But Nimo, great OBP, a little bit of power, should have hit in the middle of that Mets lineup and does excel in this format when he's healthy, of course, which right now it looks like he's healthy. so we'll see if that remains the case. Scott, you are on deck. You are on the clock. Robbie Ray. Wait, Robbie Ray.

I got my tight pants. I got my tight pants. And I thought about taking Robbie Ray just because it's another one of those FOMO guys, but I have Joe Ryan ranked so much higher. So got to remain consistent with the rankings. Scott, you're up. Yeah.

Okay. Boy. Hmm. Well, since there was a little bit of a pitching run here, I feel pressured to take one. Because we're nearing the end of the end of the good glob tier. So I'll take Hunter Brown. I am agonizing over something that I'm not sure I totally want to verbalize. So, like, do I just take Luis Robert?

He's fallen so far. Yeah, this is pick 109. I don't have a single share of him. I don't care for him. This isn't his better format. He did look good this spring. I don't care for Roeb. Yolo draft, Scott.

Do it. All right, I'm taking. I'm taking Louise Robert. Ah, there we go. What's the worst that could happen? Oh, I don't know. A hip injury plays for the White Sox. I don't know.

Where does he normally go? I can pull up CBS ADP and look at specifically in this format to see where he goes. Which probably is tied closely to his projection, which is not a half bad projection. But yeah, I mean, I pick, what are we at? It was like 109. I mean, that's a pretty big fall at this point. Yeah, that's, it's great value. Like, it's not his best format, even when he's at his best.

I would be surprised if he even got to 500 points in that 2023 season when he had you know he only had 458 played 145 games that's still great value for Luis Robert. We know how high the upside is. We know when he's right. He's a must start player. I think it's fine. All right, Scott,

I hate to inform you that Luis Roberts, ADP and head to head points leagues on CBS is 112. So. Oh, you reached two spots high. higher than he went than he usually goes. Disgraceful. How could you? But yeah, I mean, this is about where he goes.

I don't know. I do rank him higher than this, but it's, it took what seemed to be to me, incredible value for me to actually pull the plug on, or pull the, I don't think he's done. Pull the trigger, which is actually sounds harsher,

but is a more favorable phrase. Mm-hmm. All right. Well, I am back up. Tell you what, Sunny Gray is near the top. I've lowered him. With everything that's going on this spring, I have enough shares. It won't be Sunny Gray at this pick. I can tell you that. Somebody I don't think I have too much of, but he's been a big riser. And yeah, I was wondering when he was going to go. This is about the right time for Christopher.

I probably should have taken him. Christopher Sanchez. Well, you took Freddie Peralto, which I... Yeah, nobody was going to take. Freddie Peralta. Everybody hates Freddie Peralta. I should have taken Chris. Freddie Peralta. To be fair.

I think it's an okay pick. Well, no. Freddie Peralta last year, his mechanics got messed up. He talked about this earlier in the spring. He actually had to switch which side of the mound he was throwing off of because he said he couldn't get his fastball at the right angle to righties with his mechanics. But he thinks he solved that this spring.

He's back to the third base. I can't remember which side he was. He's back to the side he was on before making the switch last season. So I do think, expect hoping for some kind of bounce back from Freddie Peral to make sense. All right. Catching people up after Scott selected Luis Robert. We got Jack Flaherty, Riley Green, Brian, who Matt Chapman, Freddie Peralta to Chris, Christopher Sanchez to me, and Essoc Parades, who I was thinking about taking. I thought, I might make it bad. Yeah. A good format form.

That was one where I said I didn't want to reveal what I was thinking. Like, at 109 or whatever it was just seemed to her for Berettas, right? I thought you were referring to Christopher Sanchez, actually. I have a few interesting players in my queue. Yeah. I would hope so. I would make it back to me. It's only the 111th pick.

If Berettis had made it back to my next pick, it would have been automatic, but. I would have taken him before. you so I guess it wouldn't have happened but yeah it's not great is for none of us well I mean we keep talking about oh he always goes outside the top 160 and then he never he goes like 110 for us granted it's a head-to-head points league where which is better for him but but still 50 picks is a big move up maybe justified maybe justified but hard harder for me to pull the trigger on that as much as I like him all right after I took Christopher Sanchez. There was Paratus, then Matt

McLean, Clay Holmes, followed by Zander Bogart's, Cal Raleigh, and Mark Vientos. We are into round 11. Clay Holmes at pick 118 as the top Spark drafted. Is it too early?

What do you guys think? Nope. No. I hoped to get him with my next pick if I didn't get Perettis. All right. I think it might be too early. Like, you You look at him compared to like the top relievers on the board and you hope that Clay Holmes has more impact on a per week basis than a high end reliever.

But it's not a guarantee. And given likely workload limitations, like what did Rinaldo Lopez finish with last season? 372 points. That was 26 cards. It's more about the impact he can make in a singular week versus a closer. It's not entirely that. But that matters more to me than what the final point total ends up being. Yeah, I think the like five two-star weeks that he's probably going to get,

very few closers are going to match what he does in the good two-start weeks. It's probably only 20 to 25% of the weeks, though. I think we have reached the point of people just taking the players that we like a part of the trap. because last couple of picks we were into round 11. Mark Vientos, Roki Sasaki, Jurkson Profar, and Josh Hader. So this is much earlier than we're used to seeing Jerks and ProFar, but he should be really good in this format. And to Uncle Wax's credit, he did say sorry in the chat before he made the picks.

That was the other thing I didn't want to verbalize. What I was going to say is it was approaching my last pair of picks is we just saw, we just saw Ian Hap go, we just saw Brandon Nimmo go. We just saw Dylan Cruz go. I feel like the outfield, the usable outfield pool for points leagues was dwindling quickly. And I just, I couldn't bring myself to take Profar ahead of Louise Robert. I felt obligated to take Robert instead. And we'll see.

We'll see how that goes. Obviously, ProFAR's last year, his last year, last year, meaning 2024. I don't know how many times I have to phrase it. ProFAR's 2024 was better even than Luis Roberts 2023 in this format. But can ProFAR be anything close to that again? It's still reasonable to ask that question, I would say. All right.

I think it's more likely Robert could repeat his 2023 than ProFAR is 2024. After Profar, we got Josh Hader. That was a pretty big fall. I feel like we were talking about Ryssel Iglesias two rounds ago. and then Josh Hader goes here in round 11. Then you say Kikuchi, and I was in a bit of a pickle.

There's no one that's really kind of jumping off the page right now as someone that I should take. And so, Yainer Diaz, it felt like he just fell really far in this draft. 126th. I didn't have a catcher yet, so I went ahead and took Yiner Diaz. And Chris, you took one of your boys, Carlos Rodon. Yeah, I think, should we need? win a decent amount of games.

I think there will be plenty of strikeouts. There will be some headaches, but I actually might like him more in this format just because the ratio risk isn't as significant with Carlos Rodon on the head to head points league. Well, there is no ratio risk. So, yeah, I did consider Gavin Williams. I don't like him as much as Scott does, but I get it.

Scott is struggling. There were four players I was hoping would make it back to me. And there were Esauk Piraeus, Clay Holmes, jerks and pro far, Gavin Williams. Came very close on Williams. Well, everybody looks up to you, you know? I thought about taking Nico Horner at my pick and now he's gone. I have Jordan Westberg. I still don't have a third baseman slash second so I can kind of move him around.

So I could have put Horner at second and then Westberg at third. but it appears I waited too long because now he is gone and then there was Gavin Williams who continues to rise 129th overall here. I saw I was reading Enosaris's bold predictions piece today and he had a bold prediction about the Guardians having a top five starting rotation

this year and within that subsection I think he said Gavin Williams has the highest stuff plus of any pitcher who's any starter who's been tracked this season. So again, I'm not as high as Scott is on him, but there is a lot to like. And Gavin Williams actually did in this piece. I don't know if it had been reported anywhere else,

but he talked about how the elbow injury last season exactly what we thought. It limited his ability to throw his slider. He said he wasn't able to get behind the ball as much because of his mechanics. And he has that back. as the slower slider with more break that he had before last season. It's better than the cutter he was throwing.

It's better than the harder slider he was throwing last year, I think. And with his fastball playing up the way it has, there's big upside here. All right. After Gavin Williams, we got Kodai Senga, Cam Smith of the Houston Astros. 131st overall. He will be on the Astros opening day roster. If you haven't seen the video, go watch it. I was taking an Uber home.

from an outing today. And I'm sitting in the back of the Uber just, like, sobbing, watching the two videos of him and his mom. It is very emotional. It's your jerker indeed. So go check it out. Scott, at the turn, you bit the bullet, and you took Sunny Gray. Yeah. Thanks for falling on that grenade for us.

He'll probably be okay, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. Yeah, I mean, Sunny Gray, Jacob de Grom, Spencer Strider, all in the same rotation. What could go wrong? What could go wrong? And I will pair him with J.T. Real Muto, who I think I prefer over Will Smith at this point. Okay.

I think I agree with that, yeah. And Will Smith is still out there, right? Yep. He hit a home run tonight off of Big Jack. Jack Kohanowitz. All three of us have a catcher now, I believe. So we are basically the only ones that have only been six catchers drafted, I think. And there goes Will Smith.

Next pick. and go, Will Smith, that's a fine pick. I have my concerns about Will Smith, but 135th is perfectly fine. Yeah. Yeah, and I think anybody who doesn't have a catcher yet should just wait till the last round to take one. There are still Shea Langaliers. I don't like them as much for this format.

Yeah, not great in this format. So I'd probably just wait until the end of the draft to take one if I didn't have one yet. All right. Brandon Lau went in between the catcher picks there, by the way, who on a a game basis should be pretty good. Maybe, you know, in that close to three point per game range, obviously playing in Swamper in her field this year as a left-handed hitter. We expect pretty good things there from Brandon Lau.

We do have three IL spots, so when he gets hurt, you can put him in an IL spot and pick somebody else up. I was going to ask you guys if we should have bumped up the IL spots from three to four or five. I've been thinking about it for years, and then I just always forget to do. do it before the league starts and now it's too late to do it so you know i always prefer more iL spots yeah um it would really change it would change some things i think it would change this draft most of all because uh obviously you might see those injured players pushed up quite a bit

because you know you're going to get a decent replacement off the waiver wire once that becomes an option. So maybe, I don't know, I could see the case for having more IL spots because it's a shallower league, exactly because that. And also why that would be worse for a shallower league. Catching people up on some picks here after Will Smith, Grant Holmes, followed by Felix Batista and Carlos Correa. So we are starting to see the Sparps go, is this too early for Grant Holmes?

Obviously, he's looked good in spring. He's in the Braves rotation. but what do you guys think? I don't know if too early is even a relevant question to be asking in this draft because I don't think any of us have him ranked anywhere near that high. Right. It's just in a points league where Sparps are so valuable is the 12th round and okay time to take Grant Holmes. I mean, at my last pair where I took Sunny Gray and JT Real Muto, there wasn't an obvious choice to me.

And so I considered it. I was like, should I just make a bold move for a spart pier? Jackson Job goes off three picks later. Yeah, Joe was the one I was considering, actually. I was the one who took him. I don't really ever take him. But again, we're kind of at this point where the draft is kind of flattened out a little bit. There's no one that's really jumping off.

And so if I can get an advantage by having what I think should be a pretty good spark, then I'll go for it here with Jackson Job. So actually, Chris, I was a little surprised you didn't take him because I know you like Joe quite a bit. Yeah, I'm considering Sparps, and I don't want to say anything more than that. All right, we will shut it down. After Job, there was Shea Langaleers and Ronaldo Lopez.

I believe I saw Lopez starting the second game of the season for the Atlanta Braves. Scott, where you at on Ronaldo Lopez? I mean, I can't say, I can't ask if the concerns are gone, because I think they're still kind of there, the velocity being down and the arm issues he had last year, but is this an appropriate range to kind of take the shot on a... Yeah, I mean, it was my highest ranked starting pitcher available. It's...

We're outside of the good glob now. I've moved him outside of the good glob, so it is kind of flat here. And I don't think... Renaldo Lopez is obviously the next best pitcher available, but he is my high... He was my highest ranked pitcher available. and if not for the velocity being down this spring,

I probably would have taken them with my last pair of pigs. Like, yeah, that's a concern. I pointed this out on the special we did for CBS Sports Network earlier today. The velocity is down a couple miles per hour for so many pitchers across the league. It's hard to single out once to worry. about. You're just kind of using it to ding the ones that you already had some kind of

bias against in Gray's case because of he had some forearm issue at the end of last year and Lopez's case because he kind of came out of nowhere and overachieved and all of that. Oh, so the velocity's down. You're just looking for an excuse to back down from the guy. You know, Bailey Ober's

velocity's down a couple miles per hour, Joe Ryan, Max Fried, plenty of pitchers. A lot of pitchers. and I'm not sure what to make of it. It's probably just spring thing. It's probably just I'm paying closer attention to that this spring than any spring before it.

That's probably what it is. And we won't really know if it's a real issue for any of these guys until the regular season starts. All right. After Renato Lopez, Renel Blanco, Byronin Bucston, Andres Munoz, and we are into round 13. But before we move any, further. Let's wrap up

part one here on the audio side of things, but if you want to hear the rest of this draft and our picks, we'll recap our teams at the end. Make sure to tune into part two here of our live listener league head-to-head point track. Mount Podcasts.