Fantasy Baseball Today - 12-team H2H Points Mock Draft Part 2! Rounds 12-21 Picks & Team Recaps (2/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Frank Stampfl, Scott White and Chris Towers continue their first live mock draft of the offseason! This one is a 12-team H2H points league. In Part 2, we run through the final 10 rounds of the draft, with analysis on some of the interesting picks. See time codes below: (2:00)- 12th round (7:18)- 13th round (13:34)- 14th round (19:47)- 15th round (25:00)- 16th round (30:34)- 17th round (38:30)- 18th round (42:43)- 19th round (47:30)- 20th round (52:22)- 21st round (57:20)- Recapping 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

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. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Welcome back to part two of our 12 team heads, head points mock draft on Wednesday, February 26th. We left off in round 12, where Scott started it off with Jared Jones.

and then Jason Dominguez was the next pick up. Still waiting to find out what the Yankees' lineup construction will be this season in their first spring training game. Jason Dominguez let off, but then I believe in the next one he was batting cleanup. So they've had him, Anthony Volpe, Cody Bellinger, and Ben Rice all start the spring game. I believe Jazz led off one too, I think.

Yeah, jazz also, yes. Yep. After Dominguez, there was Kevin Gosman and Mason Miller. I am up. Let's see. What do I have on this team? I still need an outfield here. I need a first basement, second baseman. Look guys, I don't like this team. I do not. I don't like this team at all. Oh man, I like mine. Wining up with a lot of players that I just normally don't draft and look, shout out to the room, man. They're doing a good job. They're drafting head-to-head points league players at the appropriate time when they should. So they're making it more difficult, which obviously has put me in a bit of a bind here.

Look, I don't like any of these outfielders for points league. So I'm going to go ahead. I know Luis Garcia is my top ranked second baseman. I'm going to take Zander Bogarts instead to fill out my second base spot. I still think when he's healthy, when he's Zander Bogartz, he's going to hit a lot of doubles, it's going to get on base, not going to strike out all that much. So I don't think he's amazing, but I think he'll be fine. He'll be a low-end starter in this format.

Yeah, better in this format because the strikeout to walk ratio is generally pretty good. It's just there's a lot of second. And those are the two positions I haven't filled yet. Second base and shortstop. But it feels like there's a lot of alike options left. Like the depth of shortstop in particular really shows in a league where there's no middle infield spot. And even second base, you know, we talked about on the position preview. It's not it's not deep with difference makers, but it's got a lot of.

of guys who are pretty good. I think that's more true in a Roto league that because you do have, you know, some specialists like Jimenez and Bryson Stod, who are going to steal some bases. But I think Jonathan India should be pretty good in a points league. I think Nico Horner, if he's healthy, should be pretty good in a points league. Brandon Lowe, I know you guys like. Yeah, I think he's more of a Roto option because he does get more time off than you'd like. But, you know, Jackson Holiday looks like he's.

got the inside track to a second base job. They are still, I mean, people covering the Red Sox are still talking about Christian Campbell as if he's got a chance to break camp, but it's unclear how that would actually work. And that seems like the biggest spring storyline is just can Christian Campbell force the Red Sox into an uncomfortable situation with Raphael Devers? Yeah. So yeah, that is still an option and he's still in the late round discussion as a result. So yeah, I think second base is actually an okay position, even if it's relatively weak in terms of those impact guys.

Although Jess Chisholm and possibly mooky bets and there's someone else I'm forgetting who should gain second base eligible. Oh, Alex Bregman potentially. Matt McLean. Matt McLean. So yeah, there should be some cavalry coming at second base. But while we were talking, there was just a big second base run. It's worth noting. Yeah, after I took Bogarts, there was Bryce Terrang,

Zach Eflin, Luis Garcia from the Nationals, Jonathan India, who is now on the Royals, and Christopher Sanchez, who made his spring debut here on Tuesday, and there was no stat cast data for that game, but I did see a tweet from Matt Gelb, who covers the Phillies, and he said... His velocity was up. The stadium said Christopher Sanchez's fastball was at 96-97 miles per hour,

so something to watch here. I don't know that we want that from him, because he tried it last year. There was some loss of command as a result of it. Yeah. And not really an improvement in results. It seemed like when he took velocity off mid-season was back to being an elite strike thrower,

that's when Sanchez was at his best. But I don't know. In the long run, I suspect he'll have a good season again. I think he's underrated generally. I just don't know that that, for him specifically, to improve velocity is something I'm celebrating. After Christopher Sanchez, there was Carlos Correa who went to Chris and then Bowden Francis

and Byron Buxton. Chris should have gone Sparp here. I should have gone Bowden, Francis, with my first pick there. I was going to ask, are you controlling both your team and Nick Fox's team? Because those feel like players,

you, I don't know that you would have drafted Buston this early here. But Francis, for sure, you know, I want to get some SPARP options. but and now the concern is in terms of ADP the next Barp shouldn't go off the board for a long time but obviously once the first one goes maybe sometimes the second one goes and maybe sometimes the second one goes literally right now

and that is Jackson Job who Chris just took in around 13 I do wonder if it's a reach it's a player that makes sense to reach for given up so like I think he's just being undervalued at this point Job but do you think I don't care for Job is what people are saying I was going to ask Do you think Pulling up Sparps and taking them at this point

Over established high end closers Like Rysel Eglacius and Ryan Helsley Is that maybe getting a little bit Too cute in this format It's possible I would quibble with Ryan Helsley as an established high end closer In a Points League because

He certainly was last year When he saved 49 games he had never had more than 375 points in this format before. And so, you know, it's probably a low 80s win team. Reisel Iglesias, I think that's a fair question because he does seem like a pretty safe bet. Although he's not a guy who typically puts up hugely robust saved totals. So I don't know. Like I think Jackson Job's upside is comparable to those guys.

obviously if they have a 45 save season, then they'll blow him out of the water. But 140 innings from Jackson Job could absolutely still be a 400 point player. And that's what you should be expecting from the non-elite closers. I wanted, go ahead. You were upset about missing out on, on, Bowden, Francis, with your round 12 pick. But I want to draw attention to the guy you actually took, which is Carlos Corray. At this point in the draft, I was hoping I'd get as my number one short. I knew that was your plan at shortstop, yeah.

Points per game last year, obviously missed a lot of time with planter fichitis, but points per game, Carlos Correa 3.33. It was about the same as Trey Turner, who went round two. And of course, you got to factor in some injury risk. I think it's a little overblown with Correa, but yeah, he tends to miss, have at least one I L stint to season. But in a shallow league like this, the waiver wire is bursting with reasonable starters.

And even not studs, but reasonable starters. You want that studly per game production, particularly at this late stage of the draft. And because I, like I said, I had to take some swings. And I think we're going to get to the end and we're going to look at my team. And there's going to be a lot of risk there. And okay, that's fair. That will be a fair criticism to make of this team. But I think circumstances dictated it to a certain extent.

And I kind of decided to lean into the curve or steer into the curve a little. bit. I mean, a shadow league like this, that's the time to, that's the time to take some, some risks. Let's catch people up on some picks. After Chris took Jackson-Jove, there was Ronaldo Lopez, Ryan Jeffers. Bit of a head scratcher. There's some other, you know, top 10, top 12 catcher options available still. If you don't have a catcher now in a one-catcher 12-team league like this, just

wait until the end of the draft, Jeffers probably would have been there. If not him, somebody just like him. Yeah. After Jeffers, there was Ryssel Iglesias, Felix Batista, and Cedric Mullins. So I am on the clock, and I am debating a few different things. But let's check out here. What's going on? What do you guys have? All right. All right, I don't think I need to do that. So I will go ahead and take Ryan Helsley, because like I just said, I mean, I still think he's an elite option. And it's here in round 13. I just got him 150 second overall. So I will. I will take that discount.

At some point, it is worth grabbing closers in this format. And I will point out what I just did. I feel like other people should make use of this function in the CBS draft room. Like, if you go to roster grid and you change it by draft order, you can see the teams drafting after you and what positions they have. And so I just did that and I figured, okay, I can, maybe I can wait on this player based on the positions that have already been filled. I just loved listening to your internal monologue there.

That's my favorite part of these shows. It's just hearing Frank squirm. I hate this team. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. We'll see how it looks at the end. After Ryan Helsey, there's Nathan Avaldi, the old Wiley veteran. Still solid as long as he's healthy. Jose Burrio should provide a lot of innings in this format.

Scott, you are on deck. Let's check back in. see what you've got going on. Do it. What are you in need of? So you got William Contreras, Vlad Jr., Jazz Chisham, you've got Christian Yelich, Lawrence Butler, Corbyn Carroll, Matt Chapman in your utility spot.

But if we were playing this out, you can move Jazz to second base after the season starts. And then for your pitchers, you've got Aranola, Seth Lugo, Michael King, Jared Jones, and Tanner Bybee. So you are now up, and Clay Holmes is. is gone. The third spark. I was going to say Scott was going to take Clay Holmes here if that hadn't happened.

That probably should have been on my mind, yes. But since he was taken ahead of my pick, it's a moot point. I want to see. Yeah, I thought so. Randy Rosa Raina was pretty much back to normal the final four months this past year. And held his own in Seattle, which is always a question. And in 2023, I wanted to check because you wouldn't think this is his best format. 3.09 points per game.

And I think he was right around there in 2022 as well. Yeah, he was definitely must start two years ago. I will take him with the intention of sliding him to utility once Jazz Chazz Cheson picks up eligibility at second base, sliding Chapman to third. Are you serious? About what? I did not take Randy or Rosa Rana because everyone had outfield filled after me. And I was like, oh, I'll just get Randy at Rosa Rana with my next pick.

I'm sorry. Well, there goes that. Okay. So I kind of went a little boring with my early pitcher picks, ones like Aaron Nola and Seth Lugo, certainly. I want to go aggressive now with the later picks once I've got a good foundation at starting pitcher. So I'm going to take Robbie Ray. I was going to take him. I have a talking point.

I think we all do. Now is a good time to use it. Chris, what do you got? He is, he spent the offseason texting back and forth with Terrick Scoobel. He got a text with. Yeah, he wanted to develop a changeup. Robbie Ray's never really had a good changeup. And he was talking about how he's not really a pronator.

He doesn't like move his arm the way that you usually want to if you throw a good change up. And he decided to reach out to Terrick Scoobal because he has a similar delivery. And he said Terrick Scouble sent him like eight million pictures and videos of him throwing a change up. And so he's working on that. He threw a couple of them in his first spring. start. Just one thing to look at, but love to see a guy still trying to work. We saw some upside from him last year in the seven starts he made.

The fact that the velocity coming back from Tommy John surgery was back up to his Sy Young season. It didn't last long. Like the hamstring injury happened. And so it kind of got swept under the rug. But that was an exciting development for Robbie Ray. Obviously an injury risk. but as my sixth starter here in round 14 in a shallow league,

I'm doing it. Yeah, I thought about taking him with my previous pick. If he had made it back, I definitely would have taken him. If I didn't fill my five starters by now and I didn't take Rodon a couple of rounds ago, I was waiting on Robbie Ray to be my SP5 because I am, the optimism is growing here with this new change up and the fact that last year,

velocity being up 16% swinging strike rate. So yeah, I think there are, There's a little bit of excitement there with someone like Robbie Ray. We're into round 14. Let's take a quick break and we'll catch you up right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today.

We are live streaming a 12-te-to-head-to-head points mock draft and we are in round 14. We left off with Robbie Ray, Taylor Ward, Alec, Alec, Boe, Brandon Lau. I took Adoles Garcia and then there was Andres Munoz. So I did want Randy Rose Arena, the plate discipline's a little bit better. He walks, he gets on base more than someone like Garcia does.

He's underrated in this format. I do have, I have just a bit of a feeling that Adolos Garcia is going to bounce back this season. He says he's healthy. He says the knees feel good. I just feel really good about the Rangers lineup too. If they can all just stay healthy, which Wyatt Langford right now is not, unfortunately. But if they are, it's, they've got Langford, they've got Seeger, Semian, Adolas Garcia. They traded for Jake Berger.

This is a deep lineup. This is a really deep Rangers lineup. So I am looking for them to bounce back as a whole of this upcoming season. After Andres Munoz, there was Nolan Aronado who remains on the St. Louis Cardinals and just one of the weirder

storylines this offseason is Aronado voiding in Astros trade, says he wants to go to a team where he can win. Can't really imagine a better spot than Houston for Nolan Aronado and his specific swing. But I don't know if anything's going to get done

before the start of the season. It doesn't seem very likely, I guess, at this point. Injuries can always happen. I think that's probably the best chance of something now. But yeah, it's not a great situation, unfortunately. After Aronado, there was Usai Kikuchi, who signed with the Angels this offseason. Tage, Bradley, Tyler O'Neill,

who signed with the Orioles. And Chris, we are over. to you. Yeah, we are. Well, both of us don't have a first basement, Chris. So I guess we'll be duking it out. The remaining options aren't great. Don't you wish you had Vladimir Guerrero?

I'm willing to, well, I picked second and you picked 13th, so I didn't really have a chance. You should have taken it, Chris. But I'm not, there's no point in taking a first baseman right now. I think there are a ton of very similar options. I don't expect anyone's going to be taking too many of them as DHS or anything. So I'm fine waiting at first base right now. That's exactly where I'm at. Don't feel great about it,

but no really standout options, I guess you could say, at that position. After Tyler O'Neill, you selected U. Darvish, Chris. Is he your SP5? He's my SP5, yeah.

Okay. Just building some depth. At this point in the draft. Next two picks were Ronell Blanco, and then the first pick of round 15 is Michael Conforto, 169th overall. I think this is maybe the earliest we've seen him go all offseason. I really like Michael Conforto's sleeper appeal.

I haven't drafted him once yet because it seems like there's always someone, always one person in the draft willing to really push the envelope on him rather than letting him fall to, his normal spot. So, I mean, I think,

given the shallowness of this league, round 15, you kind of throw ADP out the window, just take who you believe in. And so it's fine. I just, I hope I get a chance to draft him in some of the leagues that actually count. Yeah,

there is no, one, whatever excitement for him exists in the mock drafts we're doing does not seem to be carrying over to any other leagues. his ADP remains close to 300 in the month of February, I believe. So I think you will have some chances when you're drafting with people who don't listen to your podcast, where you talk about how much you like him. But every indication is that he's not a platoon bat.

Like I was reading a piece just the other day from, I think MLB.com, that there is just there is no sign that Michael Conforto is going to be anything. thing button everyday player for the Dodgers, which is what we thought introductory press conference about how they think he can handle left-handers. So it's, yeah, that's, you know, the Dodgers have some questions about playing time. And I did see today the Heison Kim might start in the minors, actually, which could answer some of them. But Michael Conforto, if he hits and the underlying numbers were very good last year still. and it's a massive, massive park upgrade. I think it's a bottom five home run park for lefties in San Francisco

and a top five one in Los Angeles. It could be a really big. After Conforto, Chris selected Nick Ladolo, and then we got Shane Boz, Ryan Walker, Robert Suarez, Brendan Donovan, and A Eugenio Suarez. I am on the clock and I'm thinking about doing something crazy. Let's see. everything else.

We can't miss your... I have a couple things that I want to say about the players drafted, but I don't want to miss your internal monologue here. So... All right.

Well, here we go. Internal monologue. I'm going to do it. I'm going to take the next spark and it's probably too early. But someone we are, I think, collectively excited about is Grant Holmes. He's going to start the season

in the Braves rotation. Skills looked great last year. Yeah, I mean... Alex Anthopoulos seems excited about him. So we think so. Yeah. So, Grant, Grant Holmes in the rotation. Once Spencer Shrider is back, it's a little less sure, but Ian Anderson didn't look great in his spring debut.

And I think if Grant Holmes pitches anywhere close to how he did last season, he will remain in the rotation even after Shrider returns. So someone I'm excited about and maybe a little bit more so in this format where you can use him as a spark. I hope he does. I'm less sure of it than you are that he'll remain in the rotation just because neither he nor Ian Anderson have a high. options. So that's why they're expected to fill the last two spots. Grant Holmes has relief experience and he pitched well in the role. Ian Anderson doesn't. So I hope that's not the determining factor.

If Ian Anderson is as underwhelming as I kind of expect him to be, then maybe it'll be a moot point. They'll just need Holmes in because he's the only one pitching well. But if Anderson is pitching well, too, I could definitely see Holmes returning to the bullpen when Spencer Strider is back. after I selected Grant Holmes there was Danesby Swanson Yohan Duran and Luis Heel

Scott you are up for two Okay so I wanted to say Ryan Walker went with pick 172 here in round 15 you know I like Ryan Walker a lot I think he's a true number one type of closer I was about to abandon my rule of taking a closer

with my last couple picks in a head to head points league for Ryan Walker because I thought he had a chance to be that impactful so that was a good pick by Steve Gianaspros. Is that how you say his last name? I wanted to give him a little credit for it because I know we've ragged.

We've ragged on some of his picks. He took Ryan Walker. It was a good pick here. Okay. I'm going to take a couple of players who are currently injured, but they don't look like long-term injuries. And these players both have significant upside in this format. And they are Nico Horner,

who does actually sound like he'll be ready for opening day. And to put his upside in this. format into perspective two years ago, 3.36 points per game, that would have made him easily the second, second baseman last year, Jose Altuve 3.05 last year. Again, Horner was 3.36 two years ago.

Okay. And then Sean Mania, of course, is the other one. Not going to let him go to anybody else, not in a format this shallow where he'll be easy enough to stash for hopefully what will just be the first two weeks of the season. All right. So we are into round 16. As Scott just mentioned, he left off there with Sean Mania, who is dealing with that oblique strain, likely to start the season on the IL. But at this point, Scott, you're drafting me as a bench pitcher. So I think it makes total sense. And once the season starts, you put them on an aisle spot, and then you use that roster spot to pick up someone else. Speculate on another upside pitcher, someone that flashes in the first week of the season, whatever it might be. So. I think that makes sense. Let's check back in.

It's about time for my internal monologue. I don't have a first baseman yet. And then it's all reserve picks from there. So, Chris, we're on an island, buddy. We're just, we're waiting for first base here. Real quick, did you just say, did you happen to bring this up that I had to fill a second base spot? Like, I had to take a second base eligible player.

Even though, even if I was planning on starting jazz chisholm there, I got to fill that spot in the draft. so Nico Horner also fills, satisfies that purpose. And he might just remain my second basement, who knows? I did not bring that up, so it's a good point that you did mention Scott. And noticed you don't have a shortstop filled yet. So we're all on this island together of we're waiting on one starting position for the final rounds of the draft. And that is the way that the cookie crumbled, unfortunately.

After Sean Mania, there was Tanner Hauke of the Red Sox. And then Nick Povetta, who is now in San Diego, we're hoping bigger ballpark. Maybe he doesn't give up as many home runs as we've seen in years past. And then Ryan Pepio, who kind of has the opposite problem. There's talent. He's got some upside. But moving from Tropicana Field into George Steinbrenner Field this upcoming season,

same dimensions as Yankee Stadium. And he's a fly ball pitcher, does give up some hard contacts. So just some concern there. about maybe Ryan Pepio and the rest of the raised pitchers giving up some more home runs this upcoming season. Yeah, he's a bus pick for me, but obviously the point we're at in the starting pitcher rankings now, totally fine to gamble on him. Well, let's take a shot on another pitcher who's going to give up a lot of home runs. That is Brandon Fott, who we learned throughout the pitching previews that I kind of like, and I think neither of you guys really too like this upcoming

I just added him to bus 2.0. He's just a, he's a weird pitcher because there were some really, really, like stunning high points. I think it was, he was one of just a handful of pitchers to have multiple starts of 10 strikeouts and zero walks.

Last season, I think he had four starts of at least 10 strikeouts. A great set. But then, like the overall strikeout numbers are pretty, like they're not bad, but they're not amazing. And I know he's someone who ranked highly in K-minus walk rate,

which usually, is a good indicator, so. Yeah. But yeah, I just, I can't quite figure him out. Yeah, he had about a strikeout per inning. Very good walk rate, but I do worry that just the stuff isn't good enough to live in the zone as often as he does. And that always is going to lead to inflated ERAs.

But he's an above average batmisser who gives up really hard contact. And he had like a near seven ERA over the last two months. And they have great alternative. it is. I mean, Ryan Nelson was terrific down the stretch. He doesn't currently have a spot. Neither does Jordan Montgomery, who they're paying a lot of money. Yeah, I do wonder if they are a candidate to trade at some point. Again, if injuries continue to happen, maybe even the Mets, right? The Mets can use a starting pitcher. So we'll see if that happens. I did just want to mention with Brandon Fott, the skill indicators that we talk about all the time. He did have a 471 ERA, but they came

with a 361-fip, 358X-fip, 365 Sierra, and an 18.8% K-minus walk rate, which was tied for 16th among qualified starting pitchers. After I selected Brandon Fott, Jesus Lazzardo, another mock draft where I don't get Jesus Lazzardo, that stinks. Brandon Woodruff, Chris Bubich, Andrew Painter, who I think we're not expecting to see until June or July-ish

with the Phillies, Jake Berger, and then Chris, another spark to you, Nick Martinez. Yep, just going to, like I said in yesterday's podcast, I would like to have three sparts to choose from. I want multiple pitching options on my bench to play matchups and two start weeks with. So that's all part of the plan. All right. Well, Jake Burger's gone, Chris. Who are you going to take as your first basement now?

The thing is I was never going to take like Jake Burger, even when he's good is pretty bad in this format. I'm not actually like, I would, I'm not sure his points per game were better than Michael Toghle is last year. And Michael Toglio was pretty bad in this format. So, yeah, I, I'll, I'll play chicken with you, Frank. I don't need to, I don't need to get on that one yet. Yeah, it's virtually identical to Lerger points per game last year. Though I do, I do expect Burger to be better in the Rangers lineup than the Marlins lineup. up. After Nick Martinez, Jeff Hoffman went with the last pick of round 16, expected to be the closer for the Blue Jays. And then first pick of round 17 is Reese Olson, who I believe we all have as a sleeper. At least Scott and I do. Chris, I don't know if you're in on Reese. I don't think he officially made my list. But yes, in the deeper, you know, in the in the true meaning of a sleeper, yes, I do I do like Reese Olson very much. Three pitches. I believe with a whiff rate.

At or above 40%. Two pitches, yeah. Just the changeup and slider? Yeah. Curve ball is pretty good too, if I remember correctly. I think he just has to tweak it a little bit. His fastball gets hit really hard. I think maybe mixing in some more of those secondaries

and his sinker could help. Yeah, I think switching to a primary sinker, at least against right-handed batters is probably the move. Stick with the four-seamer versus lefties. But yeah, the four-seamer gets crushed. And so it's figuring out the right approach. getting to spots where he can put batters away. Once he gets to those spots,

he seems very well equipped to be a good pitcher. And so it's just figuring out what that next step looks like. After Reese Olson, Chris, you selected Walker Bueller. And then there was Drew Rasmussen, who is a spark in this format, hopefully has a spot in the race rotation, followed by Jackson Holiday, Mackenzie Gore, Ranger Suarez. I was looking at McKenzie Gore. I think he's an interesting breakout candidate.

I know you're excited about him, Scott. but it's just in a points league, he's so inefficient, he walks so many. I think quality starts are going to be really hard to come by for someone like Mackenzie Gore. Well, I mean,

let me look here. Six of his last seven starts, six innings or more. Yeah, for me, that's the thing about breaking out is that tends to improve too. Yeah, for me it comes down to, um,

one, the defense is bad. I think the hope is that'll be better, but CJ Abrams has been a pretty disaster. shortstop defensively. Sounds like Paul DeYoung is starting at third base for the nationals. I don't know if we mentioned that because it doesn't really matter a ton for fantasy, but maybe that's a defensive upgrade.

But he's got to be more consistent. He's got to be able to sustain that 96 mile an hour velocity with the four seamer. And his command, Walker Bueller is so weird because he's like, McKenzie Gore, McKenzie Gore, excuse me. He's a big lefty who throws 9. 96 to 98 miles per hour and gets crushed by lefties.

It's the weirdest thing. He had like an 830 OPS against left handed batters last season. And it's been that way his entire career. And it's, I don't know if it's his foreseamer command against lefties is especially bad, but he just gets hit really, really hard. And so you would think that would be a natural advantage.

If you can get righties out, you should be able to get lefties. And he just hasn't figured that out yet either. I was gearing up to take McKenzie Gore for what it's worth. So I was disappointed to see him go. I was in the mindset of taking him as well. After McKenzie Gore, there was Ranger Suarez, Jeffrey Springs, who is now with the athletics. And then I selected Gavin Williams, who I'm more confused about than anything,

but there are smarter people in the industry that seem to like Gavin Williams as a post-hype breakout. And he was a huge prospect and lots of expectations. He had the elbow injury last year, so that was a problem. And here we are in round 17. Scott White gets sniped from Xavier Edwards. Well, a few picks before mine. But yeah, I was gearing up to take Xavier Edwards as my shortstop. I know it's a little bit ridiculous to point this out, but I will point it out.

He averaged 3.46 points per game last year did Xavier Edwards basically the same as Elite de la Cruz. don't think he's going to average that many again. But, I mean, the line he put up was similar to what he did at AAA the past couple years. It's just, we've talked about Xavier Edwards a lot. And it's, you know, it's either going to work or it doesn't. For 70 games last year, it worked. The slap hitting speedster became a thing again in the majors. And at this point in the draft, it seemed like he had the most upside left among short stops.

So I was willing to gamble on it knowing the fallback options would be pretty good on the Waver Wire. Yeah, this is his worst format, but he's also... 3.4, 6 points per game. I'm not so sure. Well, I think in the format where he's valued less, let's say. But because his ADP is like 135, 140 in Roto leagues right now. And I don't love that price. I think he's fine here. but I think the price in Roto Leagues is probably too much.

After Xavier Edwards, there was Max Muncie, Alec Berluson, Scott selected Max Scherzer. We did get a comment in the chat. Edwards was never making it to you, Scott. So I kind of wish Devin didn't take Xavier Edwards because then if Bidon did it one pick before you, it would have been even more dramatic. A true snipe, yeah. That's okay. Life goes on.

I'm going to take a couple pitchers I really like, well, really likes a little strong. Yeah, I was about to say that the pictures left. I'm excited to get outside the top 200 in a head-to-head points league. One of them, Max Scherzer, I said he was going to get drafted. I didn't know it was going to be by me. But it'll either work or it won't. And if it doesn't, then I think at this point the draft, no harm, no foul. He looks okay today in his debut for what it's worth.

Yeah, if it does work, then he might be must start for me for as long as he's helped. And then a pitcher who I am known for, and I wouldn't touch him in a Roto league at this point, but I think in a points league he's still pretty darn valuable, and that's Mitch Keller. Probably going to have an ERA over four, but going to work deep into games a lot. And the low points aren't going to hurt as much as they will in Roto,

but the high points are going to make a big impact for you. You know, with Mitch Keller, if you just eliminate his 10 worst starts lesson. I'm just kidding. We are into round 18. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll catch you up right after this. Welcome back in.

We are in round 18 of our head-to-head points mock drafts. Scott kicked it off with Mitch Keller, followed by Christian Campbell and then Cody Bradford. So Christian Campbell getting drafted here in this format, I would assume as a bench piece at this point. But, you know, drafting early, seeing what happens throughout spring, maybe he does earn a spot on their roster

and they play Bregman at third and Devers at D8 or first base, whatever they might do. But yeah, we'll see how the rest of spring plays out. Scott, no interest in Cody Bradford. I know he's someone that... Oh, there was interest. Typically like, yeah.

There was interest. It was close between him and Mitch Keller. If I didn't have a point to make about Mitch Keller, I might have taken Bradford instead. I'm not disappointed to see him go because my bench is full, so I can't take another starting pitcher. But yeah, he was in the discussion for me.

It's not 100% he has a rotation spot. As bad as Kumar Rocker's first spring start looked. It's not over, obviously, the competition. But I think Rocker is, he already has a hurdle to overcome to win a spot. And he didn't help his case. All right. After Cody Bradford, there was Michael Tolia. and Quinn Matthews.

I selected Quinn Matthews who made his spring debut here on Tuesday and he looked pretty good. He was breakout pitching prospect last season for the Cardinals. It was only one start. He threw two innings.

I think it was three strikeouts. One against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But if he does get called up at some point, or I mean, I don't think he's going to make the opening day rotation. I guess crazier things have happened. But he was a workhorse last year

in the minor. So once he gets called up, I kind of think the Cardinals are just going to, let Quinn Matthews go and and give them some innings. So that is, let them cook. That is the hope.

Yeah, the problem is he's probably seventh in line at best or seventh in the depth chart at best. So he probably needs a trade and an injury. I think he's not on the 40 man roster as well. So it's just, I love Quinn Matthews. I think he's super talented.

and one of the only rookie pitchers who could legitimately throw 175 innings this season. It's just, I wish I could see a clearer path to getting him on the opening day roster. Yeah, I don't think it's going to happen on opening day either, but if he picks up where he left off and the minors, you know, life finds a way, right? So May, June, potentially, hopefully that is the case for Quinn Matthews.

After him, we saw Chris Bassico, then Zach Netto, Clark Schmidt, David Bednar Luis Severino and Chris you are back up round 18 I am on the clock I'm gonna take a guy that I haven't taken yet but you know we'll we'll see if he can there's been very little hype around Tomoyuki Sugano from the

Orioles he was a very very successful pitcher in his time in Japan and we'll just you know see he's in the rotation he's got a good team backing him up a good defense a good ballpark or at least an average ballpark. So I'll throw that flyer out there. And I think if his skills translate and the fact that he's a veteran, Chris, he's someone that you would expect to eat innings for the Orioles.

Yeah, I mean, I would be surprised if he, you know, he won't make 33 starts, you know, because they'll probably throw him every five days. But, and the one thing to keep in mind is I think his numbers overall were pretty similar to showed him a Imanaga and the like kind of approach is superficially similar right he's a shorter lefty who throws actually he's a righty I think

throws in the low 90s but he's got like good shapes it's just he got a lot fewer strikeouts than himinaga did in his final year in Japan so expectations to certainly not be anywhere near that high but a serviceable guy outside of the top

200 we'll see all right at the turn we saw Ryan McMahon and Merrill Kelly go. We'll see if Merrill Kelly can stay healthy and get back on track closer to the pitcher he was in 2023. And then Chris, another spark. Mike Soroka. I said I wanted to get three and that's my third one.

If you're looking for a Reynaldo Lopez type, Mike Soroka found some success in the bullpen last year with the White Sox, switch to a four seamer slider approach. we'll see if it carries over. He got a ton of wifts, ton of strikeouts in the second half of the season.

It was like July 1st on. It was like a 41% strikeout rate. Only 25 innings. No guarantee he carries it over. But the replacement level is very high in a league like this. We will find guys who are useful if he doesn't work out. I was going to ask why Mike Soroka over Drew Rasmussen. But I see Rasmussen went 20 picks ago.

and so that's fine. It looks like all the Sparps worth drafting are gone now, right? Hayden West Neski, Luis Ortiz are still out there, but I wouldn't bother. Personally, I wouldn't bother with either of them in a 12-team league. I just don't think the upsides there. I could see it with either one, but no, I agree. They're not especially, I mean, most of these guys are probably just dropped after the first couple of starts, right? Like it's not an especially strong spark class.

I wouldn't drop Jackson Job that quickly, but if I drop Mike Soroka after the first week or two of the season, I would not be surprised at all. It's just taking flyers to see what works out. Probably what, the top three, the top three being Bowden, Francis, Jackson Job, and Clay Holmes. you're going to give them pretty much all of April to show they don't belong, right?

But then the rest, you're going to have a pretty quick hook for them. Look, if they stick, great. But if they're struggling out of the gate, you're probably not sticking with them for long. I'd put Nick Martinez in that conversation as well, just because he has had some solid success as a starter already. But yeah, I mostly agree. Yeah.

But just like to drive the point home. And we talked about this a lot in our head to head points, discussion and Scott's going to take a couple of these guys at least because he's the only person who doesn't have at least one RP. There are two other people who don't have two. But Jordan Romano is still out there. Trevor McGill, Tanner Scott, Pete Fairbanks, Carlos Estevez, Ryan Presley, Kenley-Henley-Jansson, Alexis Diaz, are all guys we think are closers and are all still available. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if Scott makes one of his last two picks, AJ Puck. because I know he likes him a lot.

So there are replaceable, there are replaceable RPs out there if the sparts don't work out. After you took Mike Soroka, we saw Ryan Weathers, Bubba Chandler, Luis Renhifo, Michael Waka, Edward Cabrera. I ended the skid. My starting first basement is Paul Goldschmidt,

which is, congratulations. Here we are. The year 2025, I am starting Paul Schultzschmidt as my first baseman. You're starting Paul Goldschmidt. You waited the whole draft to draft the first baseman, and it's still Paul Goldschmidt. That is a credit to a shallow league without a corner infield spot is...

It could be fine. You can survive punting any position, you know? Ideally, you want high impact at every spot, but you're probably not going to get high impact at every spot. And Goldschmidt might be fine, and if he's not, something... but he's going to emerge on the waiver wire because the league's so shallow. And so I'm taking the same approach at shortstop. I'm kind of assuaging myself by saying that. I'm taking Mason Win.

There are some short stops that rank higher still available. Anthony Volpe, Jeremy Peña, Ezekiel Tovar. Mason Win was as good as all of them on a per game basis. And I perceive him to have more growth potential than Volpe, Peña, and Tovar. if for no other reason because he set a goal of stealing 40 bases. And he didn't steal that many last year. So there's a lot of room for improvement there. I kind of considered him the ultimate fallback.

Makes a lot of contact. Yeah. And he's expected to hit lead off for the Cardinals. So that helps too. And I will take my first reliever, the best one on the board, Trevor McGill. Plenty happy with that. After I took Paul Goldschmidt, there was Roman Anthony with the Red Sox, Tanner Scott, Brady Singer.

Scott took Mason Wynn and Trevor. McGill, and we are here into round 20, our, I believe, second to last round of this draft. Yes, that is correct. All right. Roman Anthony, I noticed, you know, very small sample size so far, but he's been playing for the Red Sox. He's looked pretty good. We'll see if he can keep it up.

I don't really see a way where he is on the Red Sox opening day roster unless, like, two other players get hurt or Yoshita's just not healthy enough to play. but yeah that would be a little bit tough for him after Trevor McGill there was Kumar Rocker and Shane Bieber so two I guess you could say stash candidates because Rocker maybe he starts in the bullpen not sure he'll be in the rotation he made his

I think he'll begin in the minors but it yeah a lot of spring to go obviously yep made his spring debut on Tuesday gave up four runs over one inning of work and then Shane Bieber working his way back from Tommy John surgery should be back June, July, maybe second half of the season. Now he's a little easier to stash

because you could do it in an IL spot. Yeah. Unless you have a ton of IL spots, there will probably come a point where it's like before Shane Bieber comes back where it's like, ah, I got to, I have too many injured players. Do I really hold on to Bieber?

So I would say it's a long shot that Nathan Judah sticks with Bieber all that time because he's just going to need to use his space some other way. But it doesn't hurt to gamble on it at the start of the year that maybe you can hold on to him because he should be good when he returns. All right. After Beber, there was Kyle Harrison.

I just realized, I'm up. So I've got to figure out what I want to do. Let's slide on over to the starting pitcher and see what is out here. It's not a lot. Yeah, there's not too much going on here. Let's do I want to go with the old Reliable? Do I want to go with the upside guy?

Let's go with the upside guy. David Fest is someone who, I do like as a deep sleeper. Got a ton of wifts last year, but did get hit hard at times and gave up a good amount of home runs, but he was a prospect of note in the Twins organization and fighting for a rotation spot this spring. So hoping that works out for David Festa.

We do see another spark. Hayden Wesniewski go off the board. Think he will be in the Astros rotation as well. And then Jameson, Nestor Cortez, and Shay Langalears, Nester Cortez was the other player I was debating. Chris, who would you take? David Festa or Nester Cortez?

I have Festa or Cortez ranked higher, but I think the, if you're thinking about it from an upside versus safety perspective and you wanted to prioritize upside, Festa probably has more. Although, Cortez, if the strikeout rate creeps up just a little bit this year, he does so much else well. And it is probably a slightly better ballpark. So I can see Nestor Cortez working out. I want to make a clarification here because Steve Geng Gasparo. There's got to be a better way to say. Steve Geng Gaspro, who I credited for the Ryan Walker pick in round 15, but heavily criticized for the Ryan Jeffers pick a few rounds early.

We said, oh, you could wait until the end of the draft to take him. Apparently, he accidentally clicked on Jeffers. It was a misclick, yeah. And he did let us know, and we just ignored him because we're busy recording a podcast and not paying attention to the league chat. But yeah, just wanted to clear that up. He ended up taking Shay Langalears just now,

and I imagine he's going to drop Ryan Jeffers right away. And he did hook us up with the phonetic spelling of his name. So Gene Gaspro, Gene Gaspro. There you go. There you go. Gene Gaspro. I can say that. Good pick.

Chris, you got your first baseman and it's Nate Lowe. He does get on base a lot. Yeah, I'm kind of talking myself into Nate Lowe as like a fallback option and an OBP or points league. I think it's weird that the Rangers basically swapped him out for Jake Berger because I think Nate Lowe's just a better player. But the Rangers apparently specifically struggled against fastball's last. year and that was the thought process behind making that replacement so that that was the thought process there but yeah he was a pretty consistent low to mid four hundreds guy before last season so if he bounces back um he'll certainly play every day in washington all right after we got that langlears

pick there was tyler Fitzgerald chris you selected nate low ryan presley and francisco alvarez we have made it to a final round of the draft here and chris it's your last pick yeah and all take another first baseman just in case it doesn't work out with Nate Lowe. And it's Ryan Moucastle who's not great in this format. Even that one year he had 33 homers. It was only 395 points. So I imagine that's why he made it as far as he did. But with the Orioles moving the fences in and left field,

we do think Ryan Malkassel has a chance to break out. The quality of contact metrics have been very good the past couple of years. So that's the thought process there. All right, after Mount Castle, there was Pete Fairbanks and Pete Crow Armstrong. You know, Pete Run. Yeah, it's true. Speaking on Mountcastle, you know, I was looking at Michael Bush for my first base, and he does get on base.

I feel like he would work out pretty well in this format. It's just the fact that they signed Justin Turner, and I don't think he's going to play every day now. He's probably going to lose some at bats against lefties. If memory serves right, I don't think he was terrible. lefties last season, but the fact that Justin Turner is there, I think he's going to play a little bit, so it takes some playing time away from Michael Bush, unfortunately. Agreed.

Yep. After the Pete's, we got Tyler Stevenson, Victor Robles, and I am on deck. You got to fill out the bench with pitchers, I think, in this format. You want to get as many pitchers as possible, some upside. I was going to take Justin Verlainter, so nothing like being sniped in the final round of the draft. As you're like building up to the pick. Yeah, I was just filibustering to get my Justin Verlander. And now he's gone.

So I will not be taking Justin Verlander. I will take, I don't know, let's take Jose Soriano, who has a little bit upside, I think, with the angels. He gets a ton of ground balls. He throws very hard. He's got an awesome curve ball. Hopefully if he can limit the walks a little bit, goes a little bit deeper into his starts.

That is Jose Soriano. And here we are. Up to the final picks of the draft. Scott, you are in control of Mr. Irrelevant for this draft. The very last point. Oh, he'll be irrelevant for me, though, because he'll be in my starting lineup. There you go.

So I might just replace him on a whim because he's a closer, and that's what you can do with closers in this format. That's exactly right. Well, let's check out the closer position, see who we got. Name drop everybody, because it doesn't matter at this point. Kenley Jansen, Carlos Estevez.

Alexis Diaz, Jordan Romano, Kyle Finnegan, I wanted to mention Kyle Finggan, back to the Nationals, where I assume he'll just be their closer again, right? That's what I'm assuming. I would at least assume

he's ahead of that Lawfarer Lopez group that was vying for it before. Yep. Yeah. I mean, they're closer the last two years,

made the All-Star team last year. It's not a great closer, obviously, but... 38 saves last season. Neither, yeah, neither would the alternatives be a great closer. At least Finnegan has shown he can do it.

So I did move him up. I moved him ahead of like Jason Foley, actually, because I have more confidence in how Dave Martinez is going to handle Finnegan than I am, than I do in how AJ Hinch is going to handle Foley. All right, Scott. So who's the pick? It's Jordan Romano. He's the best closer left.

Maybe he's not okay after elbow surgery. But if he's not okay, I'll swap him out for maybe Kyle Finns. again or maybe somebody even better. All right. That is the end of our mock draft. 12 team head-to-head points. Big thanks for everyone who came to watch us live. Hit that like button, subscribe to the

channel if you haven't already. Thanks to everyone who joined us in the draft as well. Let me back out of the draft room here. I'll pull up our team so we can do a little quick recap and see how things turned out. Was my team nearly as bad as I said it was? I don't know. I guess

we're going to find out here. But we will start with Chris's team who was drafting second overall. Just at the top, Chris, the way that everything played out, do you regret passing on Bobby Witt for Shohei Otani? I don't think regret is the right word, right? If Shohei Otani has a 50 homer season again, it's going to be fine. It did present some complications. And in addition to everything that we talked about in the first podcast,

there were definitely points where I passed on the best player because it was an outfield. and I already had two outfielders and there was just no there was nothing I could do right like I already had two outfielders I didn't want to take a third because then I'm cutting myself off again so yeah it just it creates some complications when it's your first overall pick and yeah it was it was tough I'm not I'm not totally in love with this team all right well let's take a look at the lineup first batters that you wound up with you've got Yiner D as a catcher followed by Nate Lowe Catelle Marte Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa, Teasker Hernandez, Wyatt Langford, Jurkson Profar, and Shohei Otani. What are your thoughts on the

the way that the lineup came together, the hitter portion of it? It's not safe. So if you're the type of person who catastrophizes and worries about how things are going to go wrong, this is not the team for you, but there's plenty of upside here.

You know, we talk about having potential difference makers. Well, I think, you don't really have to squint too hard to see a potential difference maker at every spot in the lineup except for first base. I agree. It's just what happens when Carlos Correa's foot starts acting up and what happens when Royce Lewis eventually inevitably, you know, gets an oblique injury three days into the season and, you know, Wyatt Langford is currently hurt. Like there are a lot of ways for this to go wrong.

there are potentially few avenues for it to go right. But if it does go right, it could be really, really good. I think you're being too hard on it. I think I like the upside you have at every spot. And if you're going to go risky, the shallower form like this is time to do it. So I would go to war with this lineup. And the pitching staff, I assume you will also go to war with

because the pitching staff is great. You've got Corbyn Burns, Dillon C. U. Darvish, Zach Gallen, Jacob de Grom. So, what, three top 20 options, and then Zach Gallen gives you another top 36, and then U. Darvish, who you waited on to get your SP5. And then for relievers, you've got the Sparps, you've got Jackson Job, you've got Nick Martinez.

You also have Mike Soroka on the bench, along with Walker Bueller, Nick Ladolo, and Tomo Yugi Sugano. So tons of upside here at starting pitcher. I would guess this is one of, if not the best, pitching staff in the league. I mean, for as long as Jacob de Grom's upright, like, because I think between Burns, season de Grom, that's three top 12 pitchers for week one. It's just how many weeks is that going to be available?

And I think in retrospect, what I probably should have done was instead of Walker Bueller and Nicodolo, who are upside guys, maybe found a couple of more high floor projectable guys that I can put in my rotation when Darvish missed time or DeGrom or even Gallin missed time last year. So that... Yeah, I mean, new ones will emerge. Yeah. I don't...

Yeah, I don't know. Hot take, I like the hitters more than the pitchers. Obviously, there's no complaining about Corbyn Burns and Dylan sees at the top. And I am someone who's catastrophizing about Jacob de Grum, I'll admit. So that pick looks worse to me than maybe it would to the average person. but just in general, I don't love the depth after Burns and Cease. You know, that's, that just means it's an imperfect team. That doesn't mean like you can't win with this team.

I think you absolutely can't. Yeah, it might just be, there might be too many points of failure on the team, you know? Yeah. All right, let's take a look at whatever I put together here. drafting eighth overall, the hitters that I have are Adley Ruchman, Paul Gulchmidt, Zander Bogartz, Mani Machado, Francisco Lindor, Adolas Garcia, Ian Hap, Kyle Tucker, and Kyle Schwabre. So I used my first five picks on hitters, didn't take a starting pitcher until round six. And, you know, looking at it now, it doesn't look so bad. What do you guys think?

Yeah, yeah. I, as somebody who doesn't have... have a lot of confidence in Adolice Garcia. I see two pretty weak spots. First base with Goldsmith, third outfield spot with Garcia. Bogart's a little underwhelming as your second baseman. So while Chris had one clear weak point in his lineup, I think you have two and a half.

And I use my first five picks on hitters. I will say, I think the key distinction is you probably don't have as much high end potential. Like I think Zander Bogart's the best case scenario is he's just pretty good And Garcia like only has the one year where he's averaged three fantasy points per game So if we're talking about like that difference making upside I think that's what you're talking about There are fewer ways this goes wrong though

And I will point out your good hitters Kyle Tucker Francisco Linder Mani Machado Adley Rushman all have the potential to be like the best at their position Yes yeah You know, I do just still wonder. I understand Adley Rutchman should be really good in this format, fifth round pick on him. But whenever I take a catcher early in a one catcher league, it just feels like the opportunity cost

where maybe I could have grabbed the first basement at that point and didn't have Paul Gullsman or a second basement to get, you know, I think Semen was still available at that point or something like that. Well, let's take a look. I mean, Rushman feels like a safer stud to me than Simeon does. Yes. So you passed on there weren't really any first baseman drafted.

Christian Walker went a couple of rounds later. Yeah. Would you feel better if it was Christian Walker and Francisco Alvarez instead of Adley Rutchman and Paul Goldschmidt? Not really. Yeah, I don't think so. I think it's pretty similar. So it also like how much of a chance do you give Paul Goldschmidt to bounce back?

It is a better park, a better lineup. plate discipline should still be decent although the strikeout rate was concerning especially in the first half. So yeah, I think it's fine. Yep. Let's move on to the pitchers again. I didn't take one until round six

but then I loaded up from there. I've got Hunter Brown, Sunny Gray, Shoti E Managa, Bailey Ober, and Carlos Rodon. Typically, I want at least four of my top 40. Here I got five of my top 40 and you know, that doesn't include any of my top 15, but I really lived in that quote unquote

good glob. I've got five between 18 and 40 in my starting pitcher rankings. And then I've got Ryan Helsie and Grant Holmes as my relievers. I think it's fine. I don't think it's like the best pitching stuff I've ever seen, but I think it's fine. It feels more like a higher floor team than anything. I don't know that this team is shooting for upside and has like first place potential, but you know, you sneak into the playoffs and

and then you see what happens from there. You should have a good chance to make the playoffs. Looking at our two teams so far, it's easier to see me finishing second or tenth, and it's easier to see you making the playoffs. Let's wrap up with Scott's team, who was drafting 12th overall on this one. You've got William Contreras,

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Nico Horner, Jazz Chisham, Mason Wynne, Lawrence Butler, Corbyn Carroll, Christian Yellich, Matt Chapman in your utility spot with Randy Rose Arena on the bench. you do have some flexibility here, Scott. Once Jazz gets second base, you can move him, you can put Chapman up to third,

you can put Randy in your utility spot, and you might be waiting for Horner to get healthy too. One of Nico Horner, Matt Chapman, and Randy Rosa Raina will be in my lineup, and the other two won't be. And I feel good about it. Obviously, shortstop is weak. That's my weak spot,

which I took with my third to last pick. I didn't want to go quite that week, but I just kept pushing. the limit, pushing the limit, missed down on Danesby-Swanson, missed down on Xavier Edwards. Could go fine with win. If he increases his steals this year, lead off guy, he could have a breakout season, and I'm not searching for a short stop. Ideally, I'm not searching for anything coming out of a shallow league draft like this,

but I don't mind searching. Like, if I have one clear week spot, knowing that the waiver wire is going to be fertile, knowing that we're not going to, like, there are going to be players emerging who we didn't see coming. And I remember last year, I think it was in the podcast league. I had a draft,

the draft played out so that I didn't get a good second basement. I basically punted on second basement the way I punted on shortstop in this draft. By week two, Jordan Westberg was my starting second basement. And it just wasn't a problem all year, you know? So if you can really fixate on, okay, I know I need help at this position, So if I see somebody looking like they're breaking out, I'm just going to go for it.

Then I think that punted, punted position, quote unquote, in the draft ends up not being such a big deal. And I think that's kind of an underrated thing. I think people like fixate too much on like I can't have any weaknesses. And then this is true in fantasy football. It's true in fantasy baseball. But I think people look at it and like too many people think I can't take a bench player until my lineup is filled. And that is the wrong way to view it because one, you can't, you can't know for sure what your weaknesses are going to be. Because Mason Wynn could just hit 285 with 15 homers and steal 30 bases this year and then it's not a weakness at all.

But two, you're going to have a weakness somewhere, probably multiple weaknesses. And like Scott said, there is something clarifying about going into the season knowing every shortstop who shows something. you might have to take a flyer on them just to see. And it can save you some headaches and it can save you wasting fab knowing, hey, this is what I need. And looking at the waiver wire, like, Ezekiel Tovar is out there.

If you have to start him, it's not the worst thing in the world. Jeremy Pena, kind of the same thing. We did see a season not very long ago, two years ago where J.P. Crawford was basically a must start option at the position. and if Anthony Volpe's games with plate discipline from last year stick and he's hitting leadoff, the case could be what you made for win, but with Volpe.

So there are options. Jacob Wilson could be useful in this format. So there are options at shortstop. Let's take a look at the pitchers. And Scott, you have Tanner Bybee, Jared Jones, Michael King, Seth Lugo, Aaronola, and then your relievers, Trevor McGill, Jordan Romano on the bench, Mitch, Keller, Sean Mania, Robbie Ray, and Max Scherzer. So I think this is pretty typical. You waited at least until the fifth round to take your first starting pitcher. And then

there is some upside there on the bench as well. Yeah, I love the upside on the bench. I love that I have nine starting pitchers and that the five are are strong pitchers that I expect to keep on my roster all season long. I really like this pitching staff. It is probably going to be among the best pitching staffs I draft this year, which makes sense because I went with the starting pitcher in round five and six earlier than usual, because that's when it appeared that all the stud hitters were gone. I like this team. I like this team a lot.

Maybe you guys feel differently. I know you were complaining about your teams, and then I saw your teams and thought, oh, those teams are pretty good too. But I like this team a lot. I find that when I draft 12th in a 12th team league this year, I tend to like the results. I think it's because in round two, you're basically getting a first round pick.

And then in round three, four, the players available are just as good as in, that's two, three. I think in a 12 team league, it's different to 15 team. Yeah, but I think in a 12 team league, nine through 12 is more of an ideal spot. Obviously, look, if, if Aaron Judge or Shohei Otani repeat what they did last year, then picking in the top two is going to be hugely advantageous. because 700 points is just such a massive number. But assuming there's some regression there, and obviously I think there's a little bit of risk there,

I do think the pairs you can put together at the end of the first round are really, really strong this year. I do just want to quickly take a look at B. Don's team because I mentioned he started with pocket Aces. So I wanted to see how the lineup came together, the batters at least. And he's got Gabriel Moreno at catcher Pete Alonzo at first, Luis Arise, Junior Camerro, C.J. Abrams, O'Neill Cruz, Jason Dominguez, James Wood, and Taylor Ward. So I think this is just the way that Bidon drafts. It feels like it would be better in like a roto or category.

Yeah, this is more of a roto lineup. Yeah. I mean, look, there's upside for sure. It's a lot of young guys that still have potential, but maybe not hitters that necessarily excel in this format. Yeah, I mean, the one thing I will say is like the outfield, there's a lot of swing and miss there. with Wood, Dominguez, and Cruz. They're also all very patient hitters. So in theory, you can see a world where all five of them become 500 plus point guys. Abrams less so because he's a free swinger, but Cominero has big upside. So when we're talking about like my lineup having the one spot where there's no upside or not as much upside, this one is probably catcher, second, short, and utility don't really have the upside. In theory, I mean, a lot has to go right.

This team, he has some really clear weak spots in Gabriel Moreno, Luis Reyes, and Taylor Ward. And then his strong spots, he doesn't have a single hitter who averaged three points per game last year. And so he... Tough. Look, I don't want to rag on B-Don. He won our head-to-head points auction league last year. So he clearly knows what he's doing. But I wonder if, given the way his line...

lineup turned out he would have preferred to go hitter hitter at the start there. On the other hand, those weeks where Paul Skeens and Terrick Scuba line up for two starts? And he's got and he's got Devin Williams and Clay Holmes as his relievers too. That's that's 80 points right there. Yeah. And the rest of the rotation, Roki Sasaki, Luis Heel, Strider. So shooting for upside, lots of upside here. But I guess if you play in a shallower format, you can take some more chances on upside. I don't know that you want maybe the majority of your team to be upside, but you can take more chances and then

you just need more like found. You need hitters that you can bank on, you know, and he doesn't have a single one. Yeah, not trying to be overly critical, but just wanted to come back to this team to, to see how the pocket aces worked out there. All right, well, that

is going to do it for our first live mock draft of the off season. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. 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. Paramount Podcasts.