Fantasy Baseball Today - 12/04: Catching Up On All the News! (Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: December 4, 2019

What was the biggest move of the offseason so far? Scott White and Chris Towers break down the Yasmani Grandal signing with the White Sox and what it means for the catcher position, and whether Jonathan Villar is worth an early-round pick after being traded to the Marlins. Plus, we break down all of the Padres moves, the latest on Chris Sale's elbow, and your questions at [e-mail] 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. We're fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott, Heath, and Chris. Oh, free agency has started. The hot stove is hot, Scott.

It's December 3rd, and we've had several players signed to Major League contracts. By the standards of the last couple of years, that's a red hot stove. Yeah, I mean, I like the way you said it initially, kind of with a question mark hot. It's not scalding hot, but it's definitely unpleasant to touch. You're not going to want to set your hand on it. It's all relative. You know, it's not, uh, you know, it's not a, a 10 if your oven goes up to 10. Mine goes up to three. It's not a three. It's more like a like a one on mine or like a two and a half on a normal stuff. It's a low.

Low heat. But we've had some actual honest to goodness major league baseball signings that will impact fantasy teams. This is obviously, as you know from your feed the fantasy baseball today podcast.

I'm Chris Towers. That's Scott White and we're going to break down all of the recent signings. We are going to break down the recent rumor mills. We are going to look at some of the notable non-tenders 56 players.

We're non-tendered from Major League rosters. In recent days, we've got some Japanese imports who are going to be posted over the next couple of weeks who could make an impact. But Scott, what is, let's start with this, what is the biggest fantasy impact that has come from the free agent signing so far? I think it's, well, free agent signings.

Or trade. Any kind of move? Offseason moves. We got the whole offseason. Um, I think that's, that's a tough, that's actually a tough question to answer. But I think the one that fantasy owners are going to want. I know I can't spring things on you, Scott. I always forget. No, it's, it's just, there's different ways of looking at it because there are some players who've seen a huge swing in value, but are, they weren't that high end to begin with. And they're still not that high end. But I think Jonathan B.R. to the Marlins was the one that raised an eyebrow for me the most.

there was a lot going on there and there's still a lot going on there he was like the Orioles were they put him on waivers they were ready to be done with them if they didn't find a trade partner for him which it's fairly amazing because he was their best player

last year and a fantasy stud at least in a rotos that's 24 homers I think about 40 steals just just one of the big fines in fantasy baseball last year and he ended up getting traded to the Marlins which considering the number of ways this could have gone, I take that as good news.

I thought it was possible he'd end up with a team just because they have the assets to afford him easily. He'd end up with a team that already had its needs filled and he would just play a super utility role, which would cost him at bats and cost of value, you know, for like a contender. I thought that's the way it was going. But going to the Marlins, I mean, yeah, they're bad. So are the Orioles. I mean, Jonathan V.R. becomes clearly now the best Marlon. He was the best Oriole last year, and obviously it worked out well enough for him.

It's a big park shift going from Camden Yards to Marlins Park, and I'm not counting on 24 homers again. I probably shouldn't have counted on 24 homers again anyway, but he's going to play a lot, and as long as he plays, he's going to steal a lot of bases. What else comes with that? It's fair to question, but those were the biggest very very much. I feel like. And, you know, I'm probably still not going to draft him, given some of his early ADP right now. You've seen him go in like round two, three of Roto League's, which is just insane, given his

inconsistent history. But I'd go as early as round five, I think, specifically in a Roto League where steals are scarce. So I have two things that I want to say. One, I apologize if there are any random noises that get picked up by my microphone. I recently moved to New York. I have a very, very small apartment with a lot of booming acoustics, and I have three pets. So any noises that you might hear, just keep in mind, it's not Scott's tummy. It's my pets, probably.

It could be Scott's tummy. My tummy has been known from time to time to make a noise. And secondly, speaking specifically of Jonathan V.R., I think you probably look at him as someone who, you know, if last year was something like the ceiling, 24 homers, 40 steel, 70s, RBI, 111 runs. That's kind of shocking. He is someone who, for the fact that he can be a batting average liability, he does get on base a decent amount.

He's actually not a terrible leadoff option, you know, especially for a team like the Marlins or the Orioles, 339 on base percentage. If that's the ceiling, then probably 2018 is something like the floor, where he hit 14 home runs, stole 35 bases, hit 260, was a part-time player, only had 100, combined runs in RBI. Still a useful fantasy option, especially considering that only came in 141 games and 515 plate appearances. But like you said, you know, I recently did a mock draft with some of the guys over at

pitcher list, and they did three mock drafts at a time. And so John V.R.'s average draft position was 41st, a high of 27th, like you said, late second round in a 15 team, early third, and a 12 team. the low was 60. I'd love to get him at 60th overall. You know, end of the fifth round, that'd be great value. Yeah, I could stand to do that. I kind of of the mind that stolen bases are becoming overrated, just in general. And I think the way people try to combine all the roto stats into one stat that ranks players,

it's just an imperfect process. Sure. and you don't really need that many steals and you have to pay such a premium for them you know a guy like Jonathan VR who has he's he's not the most what's the right

he's he has a lot of like variables tools but not a lot of like discipline sure and he has been in and out of the lineup a lot in his career He could be trade bait for the Marlins this year. And then, you know, maybe he winds up in that part-time role somewhere else. So, like, it's, and just the pool is so stacked with hitters, like high-end hitters.

Forget base dealers specifically, but just guys who could perform like first rounders. Like, they go into round five, I feel like. So it's, I still don't see myself drafting VR. But if this is something that lowers his value, it makes it more plausible to me. All right. Let's go another off-season superlative. The off-season move that people think is important,

but it actually isn't. Scott, what's that one? Off-season. Maybe Mustakis. I mean, it was... Signed with the Cincinnati Reds on a four-year, $64 million deal, finally got the long-term deal

that he's been looking for. Yeah, I don't really see his value changing at all. It's a great park either way. I guess the Reds lineup in general is kind of a downgrade, but he's kind of elevating it just by being there. He's going to play second base, so that dual eligibility or the superior eligibility, I mean, it didn't affect him in his 2020 status either way, but now he's going to have it in 2021 as well.

I just think he just kind of stays the same, and nobody on the Reds that anybody was really counting on suffers because of him going there. So it's not really a game changer for his fantasy value. Yeah, I mean, he's going to hit 250 something. He's going to hit 28 to 35 homers. That's where he's been used to the last two seasons. Decent RBI totals, decent run total. Not someone who gets on base a ton.

Although he has started walking more in his, he's now in his 30s. You know, we all try to stay active. I'm trying to walk more in my 30s as well. Let's talk about the Padres. They've made a lot of moves. I'm not quite sure. I like them, but let's talk about them. They traded for Trent Grisham and Zach Davies from the Brewers,

gave up Luis Erius and Eric Lauer. They also signed Drew Pomeranz to a four-year, $34 million deal. That's about a million and a half dollars for every inning that he pitched in relief last season, which is what he's being paid to do. And they traded for Jerks and Pro Fire? I can't remember if they traded for him or, yeah. So they traded for him. jerks and pro far. What do you make of what the Padres are doing? Let's start with this trade where they

acquire outfield or Trent Grisham from the Milwaukee Brewers along with starting pitchers, Zach Davies. Value up or down for them? No, I'm the one making noises here. It's not my stomach, but my phone, the infamous text tone that for some reason I let it allow to happen again. Scott, come on. I'm not saying you have to put it on snooze. I'm not going to be a dictator who says you have to turn, make it so that you can't get a call. But at least that little notch, just slide it over. Come on. It makes a very satisfying, uh, happy. See, what happens is I forget to turn it back up when it's over. And I'll go 36 hours with no volume on my phone. And I know, you know, a lot of the millennials and younger, they just, they don't have sounds on their phone at all

because it's always right in front of them. That's not the way I live my life. So I need the sounds. millennial, Scott. Technically. I'm on the fringes. No, you are squarely in the middle. No, I'm not. 84? Like, I think 83 is where it starts 82.

Right in the middle. Yeah, all right, whatever. Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, the trade. And train, Grish. We'll start with the Padre side. They acquire Zach Davies coming off a season where he went 10 and 7, 355 ERA, 456 FIP. Not, the advanced numbers don't exactly back up the underlying breakout.

guessing you don't buy that either. Davies, yeah, no, that was, he was overachieving for most of the year and then it came crashing down hard. He's, he's one of those pitchers who has like an really excellent pitch, a change-up, but just not enough to go with it. And that, those always give me some hope they can figure something out, maybe a change of scenery, but, you know, the Padres have a embarrassment of pitching riches coming up through the system. So I don't know how long Davies will hold up there. Most interesting is the hitters. The hitters changing hands,

Luis Arias, Trent Grisham. This is one of those trades that I don't think anybody, like none of these players were going to get drafted in standard mixed leagues, and they're still not going to get drafted in standard mixed leagues, but this may have opened the door

for them to becoming mixed league relevant at, you know, early on in the season. Because Arias, I don't know that he's any less blocked in Milwaukee than he was, with the Padres, meaning that he wasn't really blocked at all with the Padres. They could have easily slotted them at second base. There are other options there are underwhelming.

It would presumably be a shortstop now with the Brewers where they still have Orlando Arcia, but he's pretty much just the glove. They did bring him back. They, I believe, signed into a one-year deal avoided arbitration. Yeah. So he'll be there and he'll still be, you know, a potential roadblock for Arias. But they obviously acquired Aureas because they think he has. upside and you know obviously the scouting reports would suggest as much too he's shown good

exit velocity in the miners some trouble elevating the ball and when he's tried to elevate the ball it's caused him some it's had some some negative impacts on the things he does best so i don't really know what his upside is but in theory he should at least be a good source of batting average and what could be a very good lineup again grisham i i think actually excites me even more because he wasn't great the little bit we saw of him in the majors either, but he showed some flashes and the numbers he put up in the minors last year were just ridiculous. Ridiculous.

Yeah, 300 average 26 homers, 12 steals with a 407 on base percentage, as you were going to say. And he's always shown those good on base scales. It was a breakthrough otherwise for him last year. But, you know, it doesn't strike out a lot. The fact that the Padres have already cleared up a couple spots in their out, field from last year. I think they're making an even clear effort to play him than the brewers necessarily are with Ereus. So Grisham, you know, about the 45 range in the outfield, there's not much to get excited about. And that's already where I have Grisham. I think he'll be a sleeper

for me in that range. Okay. And we've already talked about Zach Davies. Any interest in Eric Lauer, He's shown some flashes, but he has a big park down shift and just hasn't quite been good enough so far. Yeah, I like him better than Davies. Sure. But yeah, it's a problem. It's a problem that he's going to Miller Park now because he has, you know, he's not, he's kind of a neutral pitcher, but, you know, it's not going to be a good park for him. and he's not probably quite enough of a batmisser to stand out in today's environment anyway.

All right, let's go through some of the other transactions. We haven't talked about Yasmani Grandaal on the podcast. That was about 10 days ago, but he ends up signing with, I completely blanked on it. Geez, the white socks. Not a great, I'm sorry. It's the offseason, guys. But Yizmariandandall, the first,

Domino to come off the board to mix my metaphors, coming off an outstanding season. Is this an improvement for him, though? Leaving Miller Park for guaranteed rate field is what they call it. I'm not sure it really impacts his value. It's a great hitters park either way. I do think there might be some playing time concerns since the White Sox had, still have an all-star catcher James McCann.

He's still there. And maybe they'll trade him, maybe not. Yeah, he's not nearly the defender, Grundaul is. He's not really, you know, like the hitter he is, even though he was an all-star last year. But he's good enough that you could see them wanting to find time for him. And prior to joining the Brewers last year, Grondal always had a sort of high-end backup

who stole more playing time from him than was probably deserved. and I'm afraid that could happen again, but now, of course, with the White Sox's the DH spot, maybe it's less likely there. They're obviously devoting a lot of money to Grandaul. It's just, it's a very small concern that's worth bringing up. But otherwise, I think Grandal, he went in as my number four catcher this offseason, and he's still there for me now.

I think he's going to have a typical season. More, for me, it shows, it's the clearest indication yet that the White Sox are kind of shifting they're thinking from rebuilding to contending. And I think that's very good news for Louise Robert, who is going to be probably the highest drafted pure minor leaguer. He's in Roto leagues where I think he's going to have the biggest impact because of the stolen base ability. He's almost in my top 120.

And, you know, this move actually might be enough to nudge him over. And just to set the stage, Louis Robert, 328 last season, and 551 plate appearances between three levels made it from high a to double a to triple a and got better as he went along now obviously the well not didn't get better high a he had a 14 1432 ops it's hard to get better than that but 880 ops and double a 974 in triple a doesn't have a ton of swing and miss in his game doesn't walk a ton either but makes a ton of loud contacts 32 homers 36 still and bases like you said last year, what are your expectations for him? My expectations are, I think there's a wide range of possible outcomes here because he

doesn't have good plate discipline at all. And that's, that makes me, that always makes me a little nervous. But the tools are so loud. And like you said, it's not like he's a guy with a worrisome strikeout rate that you just halfway expect to be overmatched. I think conservatively, you know, you think a batting average in the mid-200s, but, you know, I think, depending on when it gets called up, and I wouldn't count on before late April, but I think, you know, they're not going to hold him back this year. So I would think 25-25 is totally on the table with the mid-200s batting average.

Yeah, obviously, it could get worse than that, but that seems reasonable. So how about this? 122 games, 266 batting average, 31 homers, 79 RBI, 69 runs, and let's say 22 stolen bases. Would you be happy with that? Oh, you'd have to be happy with that, yeah. Because Elo Jimenez, I think, viewed as a disappointment coming off his rookie season just a bit. Now, he got really hot. Yeah, he really salvaged it at the end.

But that's what he did last season. That was, you know, he obviously the stolen bases. He had zero. Yeah, he doesn't do that. Luis Rovere to have, or Robert. to have more than zero stolen bases, but that was his line otherwise. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, no, I think if, and it's hard to say who was the better prospect at this point because Louis Robert has moved up so much in the past year. I think the biggest difference, well, other than the steals, that's a big difference, but the biggest difference is Loy Jimenez

looked like super polished hitter with a great strikeout to walk ratio and still struggled initially, didn't have such a great strikeout to walk ratio in the majors and Robert maybe not as polished as that but just really loud

more like a Yasio Pui comes up and with these really loud tools and obviously it worked out great for Pui at least in the beginning the hope is it can for Robert as well. It's just really hard to say I've you know play in the game of

who's going to be an instant success and who isn't I have a lot of misfires playing that game. So as long as the price tag is reasonable, I'm happy to go after upside. So are you going to be the guy who drafts Luis Rover? We'll see where he actually goes.

If it's round 10 or later in a roto league, absolutely. If he's going around six, like, yeah, I don't think we're going to see him go as early as we saw Vladimir Guerrero going last year. And obviously that didn't work out so great for people. And by the way, Vladimir Guerrero, based on early mock draft results, is going just as early this year, even though he disappointed in his first taste of the majors. And even though third base is just insane and its depth, high-end depth.

But that's kind of, that's neither here nor there. So for some context, Luis Robert, in those pitcherless mock drafts, highest he went was 92nd. He went in the 90s in two different drafts. Went as late as 173rd for an ADP of 127 overall. You're saying pitcherless mock drafts? Pitcherless mock drafts, yeah. So you were just drafting hitters?

No, no, no, no. Pitcher list.com. Pitcher list, the site. Okay. I did a... That's a weird... That's weird to try and make that work. I did a mock draft with them a couple weeks ago.

That's what I'm going off, just because that's the most recent one that I've done. There's obviously, we've done a couple. There's a ton out there. but that's what I've done so far. 173 is the latest he's gone, so I would never expect him to be there, but that round 9-10 range right now sounds good, and then we'll see, you know,

once the beat reporters start filing their stories in February, how much he starts to increase, especially if, you know, the White Sox pull a Padres and really are going for it this year, make that big splash and free agency, brought back Jose Obrayu, could be a pretty good lineup there. Yeah, it could be, and they have a lot of up-and-coming pitchers, too.

I mean, the timing is right. I don't know if they're going to be able to unseat the White Sox, I mean, the twins, but the Indians are on the way down. Obviously, the Tigers and Royas are close. So they're, you know, they just had Gilito, Lucas Geolito breakthrough for their pitching staff. Michael Kopex coming back from Tommy John surgery and looked great the little bit we saw of him in the majors before that. They have other big prospects on the way, Dylan C,

is breaking through. They get like a Zach Wheeler to really stabilize that rotation. They could be on to something. All right. Let's talk about some of the other guys who have signed. Zach Wheeler obviously hasn't, although there are rumors that he has at least one $100 million offer, which that's a lot of money for Zach Wheeler. I know it's fine. It's what he's probably worth on a free market, but it just makes me feel a little antsy. But let's talk about some of the other signings. Kyle Gibson signed with the Rangers for three years, $30 million. Any interest in Kyle Gibson for next season? Where does he rank among starting pitchers? I don't have my rankings pulled up. I'm not quite as bullish on him as I was at this time

a year ago, but I still love the peripherals for him. It's kind of a fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me situation that I'm holding back. And obviously going to Texas doesn't help. But how much credit do the Rangers deserve for making this sort of signing twice last off season kind of under the radar? He's shown signs of being good in the past. They didn't have to invest that much money in him. I'm talking about Lance Lynn, Mike Minor. They both came through in a very big way for the Rangers. I don't know how much credit the Rangers deserved for that if it was just totally coincidental.

But maybe there's a chance they bring Kyle Gibson's best out of him because I think there's more than he's shown so far. I mean, just look at the ex-fip last year, 380 versus a 484 ERA. Gibson's got some skills. Really good slider. Here's a sort of tangential, but I'm looking at the Texas Rangers baseball reference page.

You know how they do the team pitching at the bottom of the team page and they break it up by starting pitchers, relief pitchers, and then everyone else who doesn't neatly fit into one category or the other? They only have three pitchers who qualify as a team pageers, and they only have three pitchers who qualify as a starting pitcher. I'm not sure what the exact qualifications are. Maybe it's you made more than half of your appearance as a starter, but that is a rough look for the 2019 Texas Rangers. Do you know who the third one is? Well, other than minor Len and Gibson? Yeah, made 18 starts.

Because that would be a fourth one, right? That's the third. After minor Lynn and Gibson? No, no, they don't have Gibson yet. This is just a master. Oh, okay. All right. So made 18 starts. I'm kind of cheating here and looking at their roster. I can't remember who made Ariel Harado. That is the one. Okay. All right. That one of three starting pitchers, according to baseball reference, for the Texas Rangers in 2819.

Travis Darno signed with the Braves for two years, $16 million. Where does he come out in your catcher ranks? Just a number two, or? He's a number two, but he's an interesting number two. I think the fact that we know he's going to be a number one on a team now, which I was doubtful of going into the off-season. You know, he adds to what is increased depth at still obviously the weakest position, but not nearly as weak as it seemed at this time a year ago.

Granted, most of his production happened in just a monstrous July, but I think health and consistency, the fact that he's working with, well, with the race, he worked with an old hitting coach to help recapture a swing that was lost with a bunch of injuries with the Mets.

I think there's decent hitting ability here, enough that he could push his way into the top 12 if he stays healthy. All right, and then talk to me about Evan White. We're going to go rapid fire after this through the rest,

but talk to me about Evan White signs a six-year 24 million contract. I believe that's the largest contract in Major League history for a player with no major league experience. Seattle Mariners prospect was a first round pick, 17th overall in the 2017 MLB

draft. Are we going to see him in opening day? Is he worth drafting? Is he worth drafting? No. Okay. Moving on. Well, not in a standard mixed league anyway, but he's

making the jump from AA. If this, if this means he is indeed making the major league roster as a lot of people have assumed it does really good defender, some good bad on-bought ball skills, not totally sure he's

got the power of a first basement. He kind of reminds me of like a JT Snow, if we can go that far back in terms of what the scouting reports are saying he's going to be. I wonder what it means for Daniel Vogelbach.

Sure. You know, honestly, one of the biggest, one of the most surprising non-tenders was Domingo Santana. And the fact he's out of the picture there, I think, frees things up a little more now, looking back at it. They got, they seem, it feels like they have a spot for everybody they need to be playing now. That Domingo Santana's out of the mix. All right. And let's go rapid fire through the rest of these. Stop me if you hear anyone that you think is worth talking about.

The Mariners signed Kendall Graveman. for a one-year deal. He was interesting at one point. The Marlins claimed Jesus Aguilar, the Diamondback signed Stephen Vote, and the Cubs acquired Jarrell Cotton. That most interesting is Aguilar, because as far as I can tell,

he's going to be an everyday first baseman now for the Marlins. And that great 2018 season, there were some warning signs, but it also didn't come out of nowhere. I mean, he was that good as a part-timer in 2017, as well, and it was mostly against left-handers, but his splits against righties were solid. So it was more like two years where he was, you know, performed at like a high-end pace. So I'm not totally ready to discount Hesus Aguilar as poorly his last year went for him.

Brewers gave up on him pretty soon, and he never really got much time with the raise either. So at Bats with the Marlins could be a good thing for him, could resuscitate his value. And I'll just throw out there that I've always been interested in Jarrell Cotton. he makes the Cubs rotation. There were a lot of notable non-tender, non-tendered players. Let's run through some of those. Again, stop me if you hear anyone

that you want to talk about, Blake Trinan. You're stopping me? He wasn't going to close for the ace. This is what happens, right? Like, a guy has a career season and he still has arbitration years left. So he gets paid a lot in arbitration because of that career year.

and if there's a big drop off the next, it's really hard to justify the pay increase that comes with every year of arbitration. So he's a casualty of that. And I don't expect him to close anywhere. Travis Shaw, Greg Bird. Yeah.

Pulling out for Greg Bird, the biggest name on this list. Yeah, end of the Greg Bird here. Adam's, Adam Azers said about that. But, no, Shaw's probably the biggest name on this list and it's just a terrible time for him to have a terrible season. And I don't really understand why he went so wrong. Um, you know, if he has, if he has a good spring and wins a starting job for somebody, I think he's going to be a sleeper.

All right. Kevin Gosman, Addison Russell. Jimmy Nelson, someone if he catches on somewhere and, and shows a little bit in spring training, I'll be interested in him as a sleeper. Obviously, last year coming back from those, was his shoulder and then a knee injury, just didn't, uh, look right and obviously only has one really good season under his belt to go on. Uh, Cesar Hernandez, end of an era. pour one out, another one of our podcast favorites.

Sarah Heath, Michael Franco, Kevin Pilar, Taiwan Walker, Stephen Sousa, C.J. Cron. And Domingo Santana was a very useful fantasy option, especially early on last season. Yeah, Chrome was too. So those were both kind of surprising. I was totally expecting them to be with the Twins and the Mariners again this next season.

Good chance they sign on somewhere else to be starters. I mean, Miami's bringing all these castoffs on. I mean, it seems like Domingo Santana could fit the bill there. But they won't be high end, obviously, even if they do have a full-time job somewhere. All right, let's talk about some news and notes. Shohei Otani has been cleared to begin throwing off of what the notes say is a mount. Also has been cleared to throw off of a mound.

He is not going to be starting. pitcher eligible in CBSports.com leagues to open next season, correct? Because he did not make any appearances there. I want to say that's incorrect, only because he immediately came into the player database with starting pitcher and utility out dual eligibility. And it's just a weird situation where he's the only player in the database, who is both pitcher and hitter eligible, that I think we're just kind of throwing that criteria out the window with him. That's my guess. What are your expectations for him as a starting

pitcher next season? Obviously, Shohay Otani has established himself as a, you know, I think one of the best hitters in baseball. What do you think he's going to look like as a pitcher? That was what he was you know, more well known for coming over as a prospect from Japan. I expected to pick up where he left off. I'm not sure how much they'll curtail his workload because it was already limited. He was only taking every sixth turn for that one third of the season before he got hurt. It was only like a third of the season that he was healthy, right? I think there was another injury earlier and it got. Oh, that's right.

Yeah. So it ended up pitching that much, but he, you know, he looked like an ace. Yeah, I expect him to be, I'm trying to remember where I have him in my rankings. I think he's, some will have him higher for sure because of upside. but I think the durability questions and just the inconsistency, you know, the fact he's never going to have a two-star week. Well, here's an interesting one. Who would you rather have?

De Nelson Lemette or Shohei Otani as a starting pitcher? Oh, Tani. I'd rather have Otani. I mean, Lamette shows a lot of potential, but we're still not completely sure he's good. And I'd rather have to prove it. I'm 100% convinced. You're 100% convinced. Yeah, I mean, good, you know, he's in the majors.

well relatively speaking to is he somebody that you're going to want to start every time he's starting and don't think that's totally clear yet i will at the start of the season we'll see how i feel once he has a few more starts under his belt yes okay what about uh i'm trying to remember i think it's like 40th where i have otani like the dividing line between the pitchers i trust and the pitchers i don't really trust. And then Lemette, I think, is somewhere in that 40 to 50 range. All right, what about a Zach Gallen or Shohei Otani

as a starting pitcher? If it's true that I have Otani 40th, and I wish I had my rankings handy here, I don't. I'd have to boot up another computer to see them. If that's true that he's 40th, then I have gallon higher. Okay. So there you go. Somewhere in between Zach Allen and Denelson

LeMette is where Showing Otani should go off the board solely as a starting pitcher. Chris Sale has been cleared to begin throwing after meeting. I put these notes together in a hurry this afternoon and said that he has been cleared to begin throwing off a mound after meeting with Chris Sale. Obviously, that is supposed to be Dr. James Andrews. Usually, when you meet Dr. James Andrews, it means bad things.

But in this case... I think it was the other guy, actually. I don't think it was Dr. James Andrews. I thought it was Dr. James Andrews. Either way, he had a PRP. He had a PRP injection in his elbow, shut down at the end of the season in April, left elbow inflammation, season ended with a 440 ERA, 101.9 whip and a boatload of strikeouts

and probably one panicked podcast discussion for every strikeout that he had last season. Where are you ranking Chris Sale next season? He's still one of those first two or three round pitchers. Yeah, yeah, I'm ranking fifth. A regular fifth. I took him at the end of round two in our first in-house mock draft, so 24th overall. I mean, other than you look at everything that normally tells us how good a pitcher is. He is still one of the super elite.

He had, I think, the best swinging strike rate in baseball. I'm going totally top of mind here. I could be. But I think he had like the third best ex-fit behind only, the obvious two Scherzer. and Cole or I don't know. I may be citing these all wrong, but the point is he was still studly by everything we normally look at.

Yes, the ERA was over for. Yes, he had a terrible win-loss record, but we normally don't pay as much attention to that as the other stuff, and particularly for a guy with Chris Sale's track record as Cy Young contender every year, he deserves all of the benefit of the doubt. If we do any two-man drafts,

you're going to end up with a lot of Chris Sale. I know. I'm not sure which one of us to call the Chris Sale truther, because I'm not sure what the, you know, kind of the mindset of the general public is right now. I think right now I'm the Chris Sale truther because everybody feels burned by him, but. Yeah, I mean, looking at this, he went 7th or 8th,

starting pitcher right behind Shane Beaver and Mike Clevenger in this pitcher list. to mock draft 30th overall so still being valued as a very high end pitcher right above Blake Snell, Jack Flaherty, and Steven Strausberg. So he was third and ex-fit behind Garricola

Max Scherzer. Okay, I got that right. In terms of swinging strike rate, he had 4.2 for his rate that would have placed him that would have, and it wasn't first. He would have been seventh. I'll just admit I'm a little worried.

I don't doubt that he can be good. I don't doubt that he can be very good. I don't think he can be, like, flirting with a 2ER good, but he doesn't need to be. He ever been that good. Maybe one year he was that good. He's usually been 325-ish, occasionally 350-ish. 211-ERA in 2018, but we do have to keep in mind now.

He's had two injuries, two injury short in seasons in a row, 27 starts in 2018, where he was arguably the best pitcher in baseball on a perning basis, and then 147 and a third in 2019 coming off that elbow injury. I'm a little wary. More so the health than the performance. He'll be 31 right around opening day. I don't know if we start before April 1st this year, but March 30. We do.

earliest ever this year. All right. So he will be 31 on opening day, and that makes a big difference than being 30 on opening day. You know, because the top two, well, not Garrett Cole, I guess, is probably going to be number one. But the number two and three, they're only like 35 and 36 years old. Yeah, it's going to be really interesting. Another tangent, but it's going to be really interesting to see where exactly Garrett Cole goes, because I have seen some people in some of these early mock drafts taking Garrett Cole number one.

And I don't just mean among starting pitchers. I mean number one player off the board. I haven't seen that yet. I have seen that. Interesting. I've seen him go as high as. fifth. I think the highest I could justify sixth, and I may actually rank him sixth,

because I think the top five are fairly obvious, even if we disagree about the order. Troutaconia, Yalach, Bats, Bounder. Yes. Yes, I think they're really, I have a hard time making an argument for anyone ahead of any of those five. But I have all three, Cole, Verlander, Scher,

in that order in my first round. It's the most pitching loaded the first round has ever been for me. Interesting. Yeah, I think it's deserved it. A pitcher who will not be going on the first round is Rich Hill. Rich Hill had elbow surgery to repair a ligament in his left elbow. It was called Primary and Revision Surgery. Sounds like it's a variation on Tommy John surgery

that could allow for an earlier return, but likely still out until June at the earliest. Probably not someone that you need to draft unless you are really playing in a deep. league that's got multiple iL spots right yeah probably so i mean he's one of it's it's you know it's a few dozen but there's a sharp divide between pitchers who you can actually count on for good numbers and ones who you're just rolling the dice every time you use him and he's on the right end of that but he just pitches so rarely and obviously it's going to be even less this year all right harvey polanco had ankle surgery he will be 100% for spring training coming off a season where he hit 295 with an OPS in the mid-800s.

Very good season. Let's go to the rumor mill and then we'll close out the show with some of your emails. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. We are going to be answering your emails all throughout the offseason. Again, my dog is making noise. I apologize for the tippy-tappies going on. He's got long toenails. Rumor meal, Zach Wheeler, could get $100 million plus.

Where do you have Zach Wheeler? and do you really care where he lands? I have Zach Wheeler. I should have pulled my rankings up for the podcast, right? I think I have him around 30 years. And to a degree I care where he lands. Yeah, I mean, the White Sox wouldn't be as good as other destinations, but I don't think, you know,

I don't think it's a total disaster for me. They're a division with two rebuilding clubs, which should be a decent line. I mean, probably not that much worse than the Mets, honestly. All right. The Brewers have made Josh Hader available in trade talks. That's an interesting one. The Mets have been linked to him, I think, as the team that's been the most active.

That would be a bad thing for Josh Hater. Going to the Mets? Yeah. Where they already have two viable closing candidates? Yeah. Yeah. He's my number one reliever, Josh Hater. but that's presuming the brewers will handle him like they handled him this past year

or if he gets traded that his new organization will. Because obviously if he's not the clear number one option for saves, it doesn't even necessarily have to be exclusive. But if he's not a clear number one option for saves, then he can't be the number one reliever, I don't think. It would be very hard. Yeah. He would have to be very good.

The Cubs could trade Wilson Contreras. That's another kind of surprising one. Not a lot to react to unless something actually happens there. But Starling Marte also seems destined to be traded. The Pittsburgh Pirates finally have a general manager and a regular manager, which helps when you're going into the off-season where you're trying to rebuild. And seems like Starling Marte is going to be on the way out. Coming off a very good season, kind of always steady.

Eddie, what are your expectations for him? Do you think he's definitely on the wrong side of 30? Do we start to see the decline? I thought we were seeing the decline in 2018, and then he surged back with, in my mind, a career season. So I have him as like a fourth rounder. You know, he deserves higher than that based on what he just did. But I'm playing it a little cautiously.

I don't totally trust the power. And, you know, he's at an age where the deals could start to decline too. And then what's left? Just 18 home runs and the 280 batting average. Yeah. All right. Omar Narvaez, another guy who could be traded. That would mean that the Seattle Marins would probably go with an Austin Nola Tom Murphy platoon.

That's another way that they could open up playing time at first base slash DH because Austin Nola did spend some time backing up Daniel Vogelbach last season. The Orioles are working on a trade to, uh, move Dylan Bundy, that's someone who, have you given up on Dylan Bundy entirely? No, not entirely. He's not really on my draft him radar. He's off that.

But, you know, look at what Lucas Gialito just did. Granted, it wasn't as many years of total humiliation for Lucas G.olito, but, you know, that talent, it doesn't take much to totally flip the script. and I think there's still a lot of talent in Bundy's arm. The Orioles don't exactly have the best track record developing. Yeah, look at what happened after Jake Arietta left. Exactly.

Dodgers have had discussions about trading Jock Peterson. The White Sox are actively involved in those discussions. He is coming off his own career season, but still not someone who necessarily plays enough to live up to the expectations for fantasy. What do you think with him? Do you think that's something that could happen? this year? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, the Dodgers, it seems like they're going to have to move them at some point. They just have too many viable hitting options that they could fit in a lineup. And even with heavy platoon tendencies, they're running out of spots. So, yeah, Jack Peterson makes sense the stage he's in in his career, the nearness to free agency. It makes sense to move him. And pretty much anywhere else would be an upgrade. because for his fantasy value because it would mean more consistent playing time. The Rockies, unfortunately, have no intention of trading John Gray, according to reports.

That is, uh, I mean, he's not someone who has actually been, uh, historically worse at Coorsfield, but you'd still like to see him. Yeah. I just wonder if pitching at Coorsfield half the time in order to survive there, it changes his approach everywhere. Sure. Yeah, I mean, there's been research on the hangover effect for hitters at Coorsfield. I'm sure there's something like that for pitchers.

All right, let's get to your emails, not your emails, Scott, obviously, but the listener's emails. Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com is where you send us your questions, and obviously it's going to be a lot of keeper questions in the offscenes, and we're happy to answer them. Head-to-head categories, leagues. Jordan needs help choosing six keepers out of the following players. James Paxton, Trevor Bauer are those two obvious ones. We're keeping them. They look like the only pitchers you'd consider.

Paxton and Bauer. Let's see what kind of hitters he has. Anthony Rizzo, Adelberto Mondece, Trevor's story, Matt Chapman, and I... That's not the entire list. I jumped the guy. But Whitmaneryfield and Jordan Alvarez are on that list. Yes. That is what I was going to say. I thought I was going to say that's your six.

The two pitchers and those four hitters. But it looks like you're going to have a... tough decision, Jordan. Because you've got Whitman at Witt-Mariefield, you've got Jordan Alvarez, you've got Matt Chapman, Trevor Story, at Alberto Monasey, Anthony Rizzo. Are you still keeping James Paxson and Trevor Bauer, or are you going with the six hitters?

I am putting a premium on pitchers that are in my top 40 because I think the drop-off is so steep after that. And Paxston and Bauer are both in it. I wish they were higher-in-than-they-are-are-than-that-that-is-old-old-than-that is already being kept. So yes, I would keep Paxton and Bauer. Definitely stories, borderline first rounder. That's up to three. Definitely Alvarez. Alvarez over Rizzo. Yep. Yeah, Alvarez over Rizzo.

That brings us to four. So we got two more between Rizzo, Maryfield. Mondicey Chapman. I would go Rizzo Maryfield and leave out Mondicey Chapman. But it's a close call between If you strongly prefer Chapman to Rizzo or Maryfield, I could be talked into it. Okay. Maryfield, another one who hasn't been a ton of rumors about him getting traded. It doesn't seem exactly like the Royals know what they want to do with him. The fact that, you know, we didn't mention it during the news and note segment,

but the Royals do have a new manager or a new owner, which is even more important than a manager, could obviously play a huge role. I'm relying on obviously a lot as my crux. word tonight, Scott. Yeah, I do that sometimes too. Obviously. Philip emails us CBSI Fantasy Baseball. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.

Wow, I really do need to go to bed, Scott. Philip writes in to Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Please choose three from this list. Clayton Kirshaw, Luis Castillo, Jesus Lozardo, Jose Altoouet, and Trey Mancini. It's an interesting list. Yeah, it's Altuvae, Kershaw, Castillo. Okay.

Yep. You know, if it was a deeper list than this, I could understand Luzardo just for the long-term implications. But if you're only, if everybody's only keeping three, there's a lot of turnover. No, he's got seven other players that are being kept. So it's worth no. It is a little bit deep.

Okay. But Luis Castillo is young. Yeah. All right. Then you got a good list of keepers if you got to throw one of those back. I still think I'd throw back Luzardo. All right. Chad writes in, Dear Sammy, Rubin, and Juan.

I think I know who it is. I don't, I haven't looked it up yet. But that sounds like the early 90s Texas Rangers outfield. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Samisos, Rubin, Sierra, Juan Gonzalez. Yes, I think that's probably right. Let's go with it.

Chad says, love the pods. We love you, Chad. I could really use some help picking my keepers. 12 team 5 by 5 Roto League standard categories Need to keep exactly 8 players No contracts or salaries to consider So just the eight best players Also consider no minor league teams or supplemental roster

So any prospects he keeps, he has to stash He's begun trying to rebuild his team And he's hoping to be back to contending for league titles In the 2021 season So not with an eye on 2020 Here's the list Mani Machado, Blake Snell Matt Olson, Brandon Woodruff, Joe Adele

Let's start there How many of those look like absolute must keep? I need to keep exactly eight. Okay. Is Joe Adele someone who he has to keep him on the active roster, doesn't have the minor league spots, but he's playing for 2021. Yeah.

I'm not convinced. I mean, obviously he could be, but I'm not convinced he's going to be better than any of the names ahead of him here. So Joe Adele, I think, is an easy out while we're still thinking about Machado, Snell, Olson, and Woodruff. Fran Mill Reyes, Noah Cindergarde, Jose Abrae, Carlos Correo, Carrasco, excuse me, Jared Kalanick, Julio Rodriguez, Dylan Carlson, Chris Davis,

Austin Riley, Jesus Luzardo, Christian Robinson, and Marco Luciano. Yeah, I think he's going deeper into prospects here than he needs to. You have enough proven high-end options that you don't need to do that. So we're picking eight from this list? Yes. Chado, Snell, Olson, Woodruff, Cinderguard, Luzardo, sure. And then probably Jose Abraeu and Carlos Carrasco.

They're both on the wrong side of them. I'm keeping Joe Adele over Jose Abraeu. Okay, okay. No, that's fair. That's fair. Adele is a high-end enough prospect that you could do. And you could talk, you know, you could think about Julio Rodriguez instead of Carrasco also because who knows how much Carasco has left in the tank.

He's older than I think a lot of people think he is and obviously coming back from a very possibly life-changing health issue. Yes. And just I think it's interesting and worth discussing just kind of very quickly how much when you're building for a Keeper League do you prioritize now versus the future? Because I tend to prioritize the now. It really depends on the rules. There are a lot of different variations.

A league like this, only 12 teams, eight players being kept, that is a shallow league with a high amount of turnover, or at least a middle-to-high amount of turnover. And I think that means you focus more on the now. But when you get prospects as high-end as Joe Adele, you know, if you're keeping as many as eight as opposed to like four or five, then I think those guys are worth holding on to, but like the Christian Robinson's who still have a long way to go and not sure exactly how high in they are, whether they're,

you know, probably top 100, but top 20, does he have that kind of potential? I don't know. It's still, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you're not, you're not in a deep enough keeper league to really put much value in him. All right. And then last one, again, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. Nick writes in, commissioner of a, head-to-head points league on CBS Fantasy. I am proposing a tweak to the scoring system that would increase the reward for run scored from one to one and a half points

while decreasing the reward for hitting a home run from four to three and a half points. Note that the overall reward for hitting a homer wouldn't change, it's still six points, but guys who score without driving themselves in would get some extra deserved recognition. Do you like Nick's idea? I think it's an interesting one

because of the Homer happy environment that we're in. Yeah, but who knows? Right. Who knows how long that'll last. And then what do you change the rules again? I think this is in a way that doesn't necessarily reflect real life value. It's just kind of applying an artificial change because you're looking for more balance. And that's, I don't think you're thinking through all of the ramifications enough. But on the other hand, on the other hand, Scott, in real. real baseball. A home run is only worth one run. Technically, two. You can say it's an RBI and a run. Fine. A run scored is just as many runs. Now, he didn't drive that run in, but in the scheme of things. Why does you do the same with RBI then?

I don't know. I didn't make the rule. Well, I think... It seems like complicated. If you're playing fantasy, if you plan for this to be a long-standing league. There's going to come a time where you regret doing this and yeah, you shouldn't do it. All right. Awesome stuff, Scott. That's it for this week's episode of Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. We'll be back next week, Scott. We're going to have, we've got, well, I wasn't asking. Oh, okay. I didn't know where you're going with that, Scott. We've got your top prospects for every position available on CBSFantasySports.com right now.

CBSports.com slash fantasy. I need to go to bed. It's late. I don't work nights like Scott White does. But thanks for listening. Go check out Scott's top prospects for every position. For Scott White, I'm Chris Tower. We'll see you later.