Fantasy Baseball Today - 12/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Roto Draft! Turner 4th Overall!?

Episode Date: December 20, 2017

Yes, Trea Turner went fourth overall! Was that sly or crazy? We'll get to the draft, but first there is a lot of news to cover including Carlos Santana's new deal (2:02), RPs on the move (5:16) and LAA's new infield ... Opportunities emerge for Ronald Acuna (9:05) and J.P. Crawford (16:45). Find out when they should be drafted ... OK, let's talk draft! Thoughts on the Turner pick (19:20), an owner who overloaded on steals (22:30), J.D. Martinez in the middle of Round 2 (36:33) and breakdowns of our teams and strategies. Adam has the best team ever, just ask him ... Email us 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

Not quite the week of gigantic news like last week with Stanton with Otani with Ozuna. Basically everybody involved with the Marlins and Shohay Otani, but we still do have some stuff to get to. And we did a roto draft on Friday. I had basically the greatest draft I've ever had. Wow. Yeah, I crushed it. I just crushed it. A bold claim.

Love to play it out, Scott White. I'd love to play it out. It's put like $600 on it. 500 from you, 100 from me. and I am very excited about this roto team. Can't wait to share it with everybody. How you doing Scott White? Oh, I'm good, Adam.

I am so very good. Oh, what happened? Oh, you know what happened? You know what happened, Adam? I'll tell you what happened. What happened? Benzzi, Benetizzi, Benetis, Benetiz, Benzzi, Benzzi, Benzzi, Benzzi, Benzzi, Benzzi, Oh, it gets hard to say, Benetendi over and over like that.

You're kidding. It's a tongue twister. Yeah, it sure is. The board is back, baby. I'm back with the board. We move Scott into a different room for some previous podcast. Now, he's back in the good room, and he's got the good board, and we're all better for it. So what we're going to do is go through the news and notes briefly, and not that briefly.

And they get into the rhododrafts, 12-team rotoddraft, five outfielders, two catchers, nine pitcher spots, corner infield, middle-infield, deep leagues, much deeper than the draft we did a few weeks ago. But I think the biggest news was Carlos Santana, three years and $60 million with the Philadelphia Phillies. These are the finishes for Carlos Santana at first base over his last four seasons. In points leagues, 7th, 11th, 7th, and 7th. In Roto leagues, 12th, 14th, 10th, and 16th. He is, as Scott has mentioned many times, a player whose value is perhaps affected most by the format. So much better in head-to-head points.

Just parent value. Yeah. It's a much smarter way of, much more smarter way of saying it. Now, when I say 7th, 11th, 7th, 7th in the last four years at first base for Santana in points leagues, when guys retire or lose position eligibility at first base, they leave the player pool. So what it's really showing is of all the players who are currently eligible at first base where he finished in those four seasons. But still, the point is he's been very good in points leagues at first base. And he isn't usually a top seven or eight draft pick.

So he's always a good value there. But value up down to the same for Carlos Santana, who will be 32 years old in April. The value for Carlos Santana is more or less the same, I think. It is a smaller park, worst lineup. You know, I'm not, I didn't really move him in my rankings as a result of this deal. The Phillies lineup is getting progressively better. So by the end of his contract, he probably will have a pretty good supporting cast. But for this year, I think it's about the same.

The most interesting part of this deal to me is I thought the Phillies already had a first basement, both for now and the future and Reese Hoskins, who obviously got some time in left field last year too when he was going on that home run tear at the end of last season. And I guess that's where he's going to be playing full time now, and outfields, which is surprising because that basically started once he reached the majors. Definitely not a natural position for him. And then it also means, you know, one of Nick Williams and Aaron Altair is going to be out of the lineup from day to day. Maybe one of those guys will become trade bait in another deal for the Phillies.

I don't know. But I felt like the Phillies had their corner outfield spots and first base set. Now it's kind of crowded. Okay, and Hoskins, does he go into the year with outfield eligibility, or is this something that he's going to gain? He goes in with outfield eligibility. He is actually among my top ten outfielders. Oh, you love Reese Hoskins? I do.

I do love him, and I hope the Phillies do too. There was that little bit of maybe he's not going to play every day. But come on, his numbers were ridiculous last year. They got to play him every day. All right, Carlos Santana or Edwin and Carnaccio? Edwin. All right. Carlos Santana or Miguel Cabrera?

I'm going to go Miggi there. Not with a great deal of confidence, but I'll go Miggi. Okay. Some bullpen stuff. Minnesota signed Fernando Rodney. Steve Seychek signed with the Cubs. Zach Britton ruptured his Achilles and will miss at least six months. The Mariners signed Juan Naccio.

to a two-year deal, and the National signed Brandon Kinsler resigned him to a two-year deal. How many closers do we have out of this news? We have... We have... Well, there is still a closer in Baltimore. It's not Zach Britain. I would assume it's Brad Brock,

who filled in for Britain when Britain was dealing with all his issues last year, elbow, knee. I mean, I wasn't terribly excited to draft Britain going into this year because of all the injuries he was already trying to overcome. There's a possibility Brad Brock himself becomes trade bait, and in that case you'll want to take a look at Michael Givens. Michael spelled M-Y-C-H-A-L.

Been a pretty good setup man for them the last three years, so he's somebody to have on your radar. But between C-Sheck and Kinsler, I don't expect either to close. Sean Doolittle filled the role admirably for the Nationals down the strip last season, and the Cubs signed Brandon Morrow already. who I would think would get first crack at that roll over C.

Man, Cichick, though, had a great year. He had a 0.81 whip. He had a 201 ERA with Seattle and Tampa Bay combined. He had a really good year. Morrow had a 206 ERA, slightly slightly higher higher. They're basically the same. Morrow had a higher whip. The only thing you did better is he had a better strikeout rate.

But I don't know. There's a case to be made there for Cichick. And I drafted Brandon Morrow in the Roto League before this news. And that's part of the reason why I think I have the greatest roto roster ever. No, you got a good deal on Morrow. We're kind of in no man's land here with Morrow when we're doing these drafts now in December. It's why people don't draft teams in December normally. Round 18.

First pick of round 18 for me. Right, right. Nobody was willing to draft Morrow assuming he'll be the Cubs Closer. But obviously, if we knew he wasn't going to be the Cubs Closer, he wouldn't get drafted at all. So he kind of gets drafted in a spot where he won't actually be drafted come March. This was before the Seashack signing, though, and we all suspected the Cubs were going to add another reliever. If that's the only other reliever they're adding,

then it's kind of a big deal for Morrow's value. I just haven't really seen anything to suggest that they aren't going to still pursue a more proven ninth-inning option. Okay, and then do you think Fernando Rodney? I mean, is he going to be the closer for the twins? And do you trust him? Rodney, boy, got off to such a bad start. He had 1260 ERA in April, and then he had 238 ERA the rest of the season with a total of 39 saves and 45 chances.

Oh, I don't trust him. But I do think he's going to get the first crack. I mean, how many years in a row now have we said it's just a matter of time before Rodney loses his job? This is it. This is it. He's 41. He's going to be 41 in March. He's, no, he stinks.

Yeah, well. I've heard that one before. I don't think he's very good. Obviously, he was much better, what, the last four months for the Diamondbacks? Five, yeah. That ERA got skewed there early. But he's 41, right? Yep, in March he'll be 41.

Yeah, I mean, the bottom's going to give out eventually. It's not a big investment for the twins, but I don't know that their closer situation is necessarily resolved with this signing. and Rodney is going to be one of the last 30 expected closers that I'll be drafting. Again, with the assumption that, you know, he's going to lose it, even though it hasn't gone that way in the past. All right. Let's see. We got the Atlanta Dodgers trade, big salary dump that's going to get Acuna in the lineup.

What do you think about the Braves Dodgers trade? What's the big Matt Kemp going to the Dodgers? What's the big fantasy? fall out here. Matt Kemp isn't going to play for the Dodgers. Adrian Gonzalez has already been let go by the Braves. It was really just about rearranging money, about the same amount of money exchanged hands. But the Dodgers have that money spread over two years and the Braves have it all confined to 2018. So that was what that was all about, even though there were some big names involved. Now, Brandon McCarthy and Scott Casimir both

went to the Braves. I would assume McCarthy will enter spring training is a favorite for a rotation spot. Obviously, the Dodgers had like nine potential pitchers, so he wasn't going to see the light of day there. But also Scott Casimir. He had some shoulder issues last year that kept him out, and the velocity wasn't quite right when he did try to pitch.

But he's, I don't know that we've seen the last of Scott Casimir as a major league starter. a fantasy contributor, though obviously on the low end. So that's going to be something to watch this spring. But you mentioned the Ocuna thing, which I don't know. It was a foregone conclusion. Mack Kemp wasn't going to be on the Braves roster next year, and Ronald Acuna was, I don't know if it'll be opening day.

They may do the thing like the Cubs did with Chris Bryan, where they wait two weeks to get an extra year of team control. They probably should do that. but it's pretty obvious now Okunia is the hyped prospect who everybody's going to be drafting in like round 14 and up

Yeah, and he'd get ready for the Akunia Matata team names Of course, right? Akuni, yeah, he actually went round 10 of our roto draft Which is five outfielder league of course I don't know It's a little earlier than I'm going to

to roll the dice on him because he's 20 years old. And I mean, he started last year in high Class A, but obviously Surged through the Miners got better at every stop, strangely enough. Every time he moved up, his numbers were actually better, including plate discipline. Well, yeah. It's just a very exciting prospect.

Here are the outfielders that he went just ahead of with the 11th pick of round 10. It was Ronald O'Cunia. And then it was Gregory Polanco, Chris Taylor, Adam Jones, Marvin Gonzalez, Adam Eaton, oh, I was so pissed. I would have, if I had gotten Adam Eaton, oh, just forget it. I clearly would have won the draft, but I had to settle for Brett Gardner with the next pick. But, yeah, so it's Acuna, then Polanco, Taylor, Adam Jones, Marvin Gonzalez.

Yeah, Eaton and Gardner. What do you think? Do you think he belongs there? I mean, some of those I would take Acuna ahead of them. Some of them might take him behind them. Who would you take ahead? Who would you take ahead of him? I would take Eaton ahead of him.

Of course, great pick. I have Ocuna, let's see here. I have Acuna 45th in my outfield rankings. So I have Gardner ahead of him. I have Chris Taylor ahead of him, Marwan Gonzalez, ahead of him. It sounds like I'm going to, you know, and I may adjust, obviously, spring training plays out. We'll see how much attention, how productive he is this spring, because obviously I used the Chris Bryant comparison earlier.

Chris Bryant surged up draft boards the spring. He, you know, the year he broke through because he had like nine home runs that spring. Fokunia does something like that this spring. I'm going to have no choice but to move him up by outfield rankings. But as things stand now, I have him 45th, which means I'm not planning on drafting him much. And I may regret it. Obviously, there's a lot of upside there, but outfield is a position where there's a lot of upside in a lot of places. And I generally am not one to gamble on 20-year-olds.

It's just exceptionally young. Okay. Fair enough. Other trades, you got Ian Kinsler going from the Tigers to the Angels. The Angels also signed Zach Kozart, who's going to play third base for them. That's a three-year, $38 million deal. Last year, Cozart had a really nice year he batted $2.95. 37, 385 on base, 548 slugging percentage.

Really good year. He said he changed his batting stance, and that helped Zach Cozart. And Evan Longoria, this just came in today. He's traded from the raise to the Giants for Christian Arroyo, Darnard Span, and two minor league pitchers. Is there any question about this? Who's the best player, Kinsler, Cozart, or Longoria, just like best fantasy player?

That's a good question. Cozart hasn't been getting drafted. He didn't get drafted high in either of our drafts. but I think he probably deserves to be the highest drafted of the three, just because he's, I know he's going to be playing third base for the Angels, waste of a glove, by the way. But you're going to play him at shortstop and fantasy.

And I'm not totally sold on what he did for the Reds last year. It was, you know, a 32-year-old doing things he's never done before. But if you just judge him off the peripherals, it's not like anything he was doing didn't add up. It's just, it was completely foreign to us. Zach Cozart doing things like that. The power was better. He walked more.

And I'm not betting on a full repeat, but considering shortstop is a position where it drops off pretty quickly after the top five or six, the Zach Cozart is as worthy of a gamble as anyone outside. side of that group. Yeah, cool. I think you took him for me in the Points League draft that we did a few weeks ago, like really, really late.

And let's just see where Kozart went in this roto draft. He went toward the end of round 14. Pretty pretty good. I'm trying to think if there was anything I did at age 32 that I had never done before. You said Cozard had never done that. I don't think so. I think 32 is a pretty boring year for me. You, uh, I don't know.

I guess you were already 33 when you got married. Yeah, that's where I was going with that. Yeah, 33 was like right at the beginning of a year. age 33 got married. Everything you did at age 32 you'd done before. I think you're playing it a little too safe, Adam, this whole life thing. 31, I got engaged. You know, you only live once.

Yeah, I know. Which, by the way, you know, people say you only live once is an excuse to do reckless and dangerous things. I think you only live once means you should be a little more cautious, protect that one life you have. But that's just me. I think Yolo has been completely mischaracterized. It's actually a call to prudence. Oh, wow. I never thought of it that way.

Wow, what a boring take on Yolo. Boston Sign Mitch Moore. That's from here. There you go. There you go. Okay, Boston Sign Mitch Morland, to a two-year $13 million deal. He's a defensive player for them. An Astro player told Sports Illustrated that U.

Darvish was tipping his pitches. in the World Series, and he was terrible in the World Series. San Diego acquired Freddie Galvis from Philadelphia for a minor league pitcher, and that means we got another prospect alert, right, Scott? Sure, Aniel de Los Santos? No, no, no, for Philadelphia. Oh, right. I was going to say, yeah, that's not terribly exciting.

Okay, so, yeah, well, J.P. Crawford, who I played some third base down the stretch for the Phillies last year last September. and again whether they traded galvis or not i felt like they were going to find a lineup spot for crawford even if it came at the expense of michael franco who's been pretty disappointing the last two years but now they can just play them both crawford's going to enter next year with as only a third base eligible player he's going to regain shortstop eligibility where he'll be more valuable and he's been on the prospect radar for a while if you just look at his his season long numbers triple last year, and really the last couple years, you might be underwhelmed.

But he's always a player that the scouting reports have favored. He's always had terrific plate discipline. And over his final, I think, like month and a half or two months at AAA last year, he turned the corner. OPS a little over 900, batted about 280 with power. And again, a high on base guy. So I am more excited to draft Crawford next year than I am maybe like Ahmed Rosario for the Mets. I just feel like he's shown a little more recently and has a little more to fall back on with that good walk rate.

J.P. Crawford did not get drafted in our Roto draft, which starts a middle infielder. It was 12 teams. It was 23 rounds. I'm sure he would have been drafted with a bench spot. I'm sure he would have been drafted if he was already shortstop eligible since we were only drafting starting lineups. On the Rosario went around 21. Would you rather have Cozart or Crawford? Cozart. Okay.

And finally... I have Cozart ranked ahead of Sandra Bogart's. It's pretty clear to me nobody's going to draft him that way, but I would. I wonder... I know you really have an anti-Bogarts thing. All right. All right, Texas acquired Matt Moore from San Francisco. No thank you.

And Cole Hamels is donating his mansion. It's gigantic mansion like 100 acres to charity, a charity for special needs children. Very cool story. Very good stuff, Cole Hamels. Well, let's talk about the greatest team ever and the roto draft that we did on Friday. First, some noteworthy picks. Trey Turner went fourth overall. Fourth overall for Trey Turner.

He definitely has 60 steel potential if not more. But yikes. Fourth overall, what do you think? Yeah, say it with me, Adam. Stolen bases. Scarcity. People are scared of it. The scarcity scares people.

It should. But not this much. It shouldn't scare them this much. I have Trey Turner about 11th. About 11th. I do have him 11th in my rankings. Which isn't to say I don't think this spot could work out, I'm going to bring up points leagues because it's easier to make these kinds of

comparisons. But Trey Turner on a per game basis was actually the best player, the best shortstop in points leagues last year. And obviously you're not worried about a stolen base scarcity in that format. So he could be uber valuable. But he has to obviously maintain the stolen base pace he's on and they're getting a new manager in Washington. I feel like hitters as good as Trey Turner is. Rarely sustain that kind of stolen base pace for long. And I do think Trey Turner is a better hitter than he showed last year, which is part of the reason why this could turn out okay.

Well, he got up to a terrible start and then. Well, and just looking at the part of the reason I thought he could sustain his rookie batting average or close to it was because his line drive rate was one of the best in the majors as a rookie. And then last year, his sophomore season, it was one of the worst in the majors. So if he just finds the middle ground there, he's going to improve the batting average a good bit. It could end up being a fine pick. But I think there's enough downside that I wouldn't want to pass up a, you know, the very next player is Nolan Aronado. It doesn't get any safer than that. And there's, you can get stolen bases after this point. Yeah. I just want to do some quick math here. Okay,

Remember 128, Scott, okay? 128. Oh, basically a full season. He's played 171 games in the major leagues over two seasons. In those 171 games, Trey Turner has scored 128 runs. I mean, that's like 125 runs or so in 162. That's incredible.

So you're not just getting steals, you're getting runs. You're getting runs, and you may get batting average, and you'll get hopefully a decent number of home runs for a shortstop. I mean, he's a first rounder without question. It's just where does he compare to the other first rounders? And I think I would go safety over upside at this stage of the draft. Well, the thing is about, okay, so it went Trout, Altuve, Goldsmith, Turner, Aronado, Stanton Six, Harper, Betts, Blackman, Curshaw, Correa, Machado. I had the 12th pick, Scott at the third pick. Chris Towers had the 10th pick.

So the thing about fantasy baseball, if you ever get a chance to play with Justin Mason, Justin is in this draft. He took Trey Turner fourth. He is a fantasy writer for fan graphs and fantasy alarm. And he makes stolen bases a lot more scarce than they used to be. Because Justin Mason's first three picks were Trey Turner, followed by Francisco Lindorrs, like a 20-steel guy, and then D. Gordon. And then in the seventh round, he took Billy Hamilton. So not only does he want to win steals, he doesn't want you to have any chance to win steals. But it was an interesting strategy. It was very interesting.

Because not just, oh, he's overkilling it on steals, but in an era where home runs are, you know, it's, you got to even make them more. conscious effort to keep up in home runs. He has, I would estimate, maybe 30 to 35 home runs between his first three picks. 30 to 35. Oh, oh, okay. Well, you know what, that's selling it short. I forgot Lindor himself hit 33 last year.

I don't expect Lindor to hit 33 again, but, you know, let's say more like 45 home runs between his first three picks. Yeah, but then his next three picks combined for 112 home runs last year. So his first six, seven picks were Turner, Lindor, D. Gordon. That's like 150 steals there potentially. Then Edwin Encarnacion, Nelson Cruz, and Justin Upton, who combined for 112 home runs. And then Billy Hamilton.

So he's got, in his first seven picks, he has like 220 to 230 steals potential with four guys. And last year in one of our Roto leagues, 172 steals won the category in a 12-team Roto League. And he's got a lot more than that. I think it's overkill personally. And the one thing that you'll notice is that Justin didn't draft a pitcher. So his pitching staff is, I think, really bad, but it's a lot of high upside guys.

But it's Michael Fulmer, Luis Castillo, Alex Reyes, Garrett Richards, Luke Weaver. Alex Wood might have been the first one taken. Alex Wood, Castillo, Weaver, Richards, Fulmer, Alex Reyes, Blake Trinan, Chase Anderson, and Archie Bradley. So he might be bad in Saves. I mean, I don't see a closer here, except maybe Trinan in Oakland, maybe Bradley in Arizona. Oh, yeah, actually, oh, we didn't talk about that with Fernando Rodney gone. So, yeah, Bradley could be the closer.

That could be great. He could be I'm going to reserve judgment on that situation because they've expressed reluctance in the past to use Archie Bradley as a closer because they still intend for him to be a starter someday and Patrick Corvin has been on the trade market this offseason I mean, Zach Ranky's gotten some mentions

as potentially being a trade option but more realistically Corbin could be on the move and that could open a spot for Bradley in the rotation in which case they'd have to look elsewhere for a closer. But in either scenario, Bradley would be gaining value. Definitely something to monitor. I wonder if Justin, who took four steals guys with his first seven picks, he took Hamilton in round seven.

I wonder if he would have taken Chris Archer if you didn't take Archer one spot ahead. The next pitcher off the board was Zach Godley, then James Paxton. Nobody has proven as Chris Archer. Dallas Keikles there. but I wonder if he would have done that I don't know First of all I would never spend my first seven pick I'm not insulting Justin

Maybe he knows what he's doing And this is not my best format necessarily Yeah But I would never spend my first seven Let's see eight Nine Ten I'm just saying when he took a pitcher

11 10 picks on hitters And that to me I just can't do it in this In this landscape Yeah I mean It's he's kind of committing to And it could work out but he's kind of committing to a higher maintenance strategy here where he is purposely overdoing it in steals,

like going to get first place in that category by a landslide barring something unforeseen. And of course, you don't even necessarily need to win the category to, you know, that's not necessarily what you're trying to do is win any one category. I think if you, for most people I would say if you get any one of Turner, Gordon, or Hamilton, you don't need to get either of the others. But he's purposely overkilling in his deals relying on making a trade later. And for the pitching staff, it's going to depend on him playing the waiver wire pretty aggressively. Because you can't assume, although those pitchers have upside, yes, but you can't assume they're all going to hit on their upside. maybe half of them will. And even the ones that do, they're going to have innings issues,

so you're going to have trouble keeping up at wins and strikeouts. You're going to have to play the two-start pitchers a little more often than somebody who invested in the higher-end starting pitchers. So there's going to be more work that needs to be done for this team than there would be for maybe a team that followed a more traditional approach. But that's not to say it won't work. You kind of have to know your own style of play and how likely you are to be able to make trades in your leagues, what the waiver wire is going to look like afterward, et cetera. Let's talk about our first picks, and what was different for you in this league as opposed to maybe a points league.

Because you do have to think about categories now, not just position scarcity, but category scarcity. So Trout, then out Tuve, then you took Paul Goldschmidt. Yeah, yeah. So then in Turner, Aeronado, Stanton, whatever. But, I mean, I guess the top three are kind of easy picks, but you took Goldschmidt here. Yeah. And for me, it would have been between Goldschmidt and Aeronado. Trouton, Altuvae are my number one and two.

And I'm not really going to think about it twice if I get the chance to take either of them. But Goldschmidt, I think, is not quite as safe. is Aeronado, but pretty darn safe. Obviously going to give you some stolen bases that Aeronado won't. And that first tier at first base is going to be depleted by the time the round two gets back to me, for sure. I'm not going to have a chance of Freddie Freeman or Anthony Rizzou or any of them. When at third base, you know, a couple rounds from now, you can still look to Josh Donaldson, Justin Turner a little after that. And, you know, they're a lower rung than Aeronado, but I don't feel like the gap is as wide as that first group of first base and what comes after that.

So I opt for Goldschmidt over Aeronado for those two reasons. And you took... I felt like I was given a book report. You took a third baseman in the second round with the third to last pick. You took Jose Ramirez. I did. Well, I actually took Jose Ramirez to play second base. Okay.

And I suspect most people will. He's the number two second baseman for me. He's the number four third baseman, and yeah, second base drops off a lot faster. So I think of him as more of a second base, but because I hadn't already filled third base, when I drafted Ramirez in the second round, it gave me options. If a good second baseman happened to fall in my lap, I could have moved Ramirez to third. Sure. All right, Trout, Altuve, Goldsmith, Trey Turner, Aeronado, John Carlos Stanton, Bryce Harrow,

Mookie Betz, Charlie Blackman. What do you think of that order of outfielders? Stanton, Harper, Betz, Blackman. It would be different from mine. Mine would be Blackman, Harper. I'm sorry, mine would be Harper Blackman, Stanton Betts. And Stanton only recently moved ahead of bets for me with the trade to the Yankees.

But I do think they need to go basically in secession like they did here in the first round. I wouldn't get Carlos Correa mixed up with them. He comes a little later in round one. I wouldn't get Clayton Kirchow mixed up with them. I think more or less it's what people should be looking to do. I made a change based on the Stanton trade. I waited a long time to get a first baseman because it is a really deep position.

And I took Greg Byrd. And I think I did this because I'm a homer. and I have a crush on Greg Byrd. But I took Greg Byrd with the last pick of the 15th round. And then I didn't pick again for another 24 picks, another two rounds. I was going to take Justin Boy. I was deciding between Boer and Bird. And before the stand in trade, I would have gone Boer.

I probably should take Boar anyway, but I believe in Byrd. But I just think, like, in terms of runs and RBI's, Bird is in such a better spot than Justin Boar now. But Boer went so late. I almost got Justin Boer as my corner infielder two rounds later, 24 picks later. But Chris took him two picks before I did. So he went with the 10th pick of round 17, Justin Boar. I thought that was tremendous value.

And I thought Greg Byrd with the 12th pick of round 15 was good value too. I know you don't really like Greg Byrd that much. But I just think it goes to show you that there are going to be a lot of first-based eligible players that you'll like late. draft. Yeah, I mean, I'm in a weird spot with Boar because he may be on his own there in Miami. I mean, they already traded their two best hitters, Stanton in Ozuna. Yelich wants out, Real Muto wants out. I don't know that either of them are going to get their way, but there's a chance.

And Boar might be all alone out there. And while he did show some encouraging signs last year with the plate discipline and some of the batted ball profile, I'm not sure he's a player who can carry himself like that. So, yeah, I don't know that, like you said, I don't really love Greg Bird, at least relative to the masses. So I don't know that there's going to be a real boar bird predicament for me, but bore relative to somebody like Josh Bell. Boroughbaud. Borebird Bell. Yeah.

Yeah. Rank them using last names only. Bell, Bore, Bird. Bell Bivd-Divot. Two of them are members of our animal kingdom. Bell-Bor Bid. Our animal kingdom, yes. Not some other planet's animal kingdom.

Thank you. It's good to know. All right, so, again, it's Trout, Altuve, Goldsmith, Turner, Aeronado, Stanton, Harper, Betts, Blackman. It gets a little more interesting after those first nine picks. Chris Towers to Clayton Curshaw? What the heck? Did an alien invade Chris Tower's body? What?

Oh, there you go. Clayton Kershada, Chris. Sergio took Carlos Correa. I took Manny Machado with my 12th pick, and then I had the 13th pick. I took Max Scherzer. And Scherzer was the easy one for me. I took Machado over Bryant because I would actually rather have Bryant at third base, but at the time, it seemed like Machado was going to get traded and had a really

good chance to gain shortstop eligibility. Now there's talk today that they're not going to trade him, perhaps. They might pull off the offers. That doesn't mean he won't make five appearances at some point. But the fact that Machado could earn shortstop eligibility, that's why I took him over Bryant. Yeah, that was the most interesting pick of the first round, I thought. It earned Machado the cover photo for the write-up of this draft, and I wrote about him in the lead. because it did seem like a pick inspired by some of the chatter going on during hot stove season.

You know, you could have just asked. You could have asked me. You could have asked me, Scott. Well, I would have told me. But I felt like we were sympathetic. And I could just tell. It's true. I could just tell what you were thinking at him.

Team scam. Team scam. Team scam. I would have taken Brian ahead of them. But I understood your thinking. If Machado is for sure a shortstop within the first, by week two of the fantasy baseball season, you can start him as shortstop, then he's more valuable than Bryant. And Bryant's not outfield eligible anymore.

Nope. He was last year, but not this year. All right. So the first dual eligible player who is going to be drafted in fantasy is Jose Ramirez. Oh, okay. Trey Turner isn't anymore. Manny Machado isn't, or as Bryant isn't. You got to go till Ramirez.

usually it'll be in the back half of the second round. Second round looks like this. Scher, Bryant, Vado, Freeman. I don't think I really need to get into why I took Max Scherzer. I think people know by now. I want an ace. And there are four pitchers that are cut above. They all went within the first 18 picks.

And I got the second one, Max Scherzer. So Scher Bryant, Votto, and you get your first baseman run here. Votto and Freeman, Sale and Kluber. This was an interesting pick. Seventh pick of round two, J.D. Martinez off the board. And then Anthony Rizzo. I mean, you want safety with the eighth pick of round two. You got like the safest player.

Anthony Rizzo. That's a great pick. But what did you think about Jady Martinez going in the middle of round two? I don't have a problem with it. He went after Stanton in this draft, which wasn't the case in our first draft. I did have a problem with that. I would rather have Rizzo than Martinez. but

you know between Martinez and what comes afterward Lendor Jose Ramirez Aaron Judge George Springer

first of all I think he fits he's in the right spot there among the outfielders and if you're not

you're not as focused on the position scarcity drafting wanting to fill that short stuff spot with Lendor

I think Martinez the overall production is probably going to be better and obviously there's five

outfielders spots to fill so I don't have problem with it at all. I mean, he is really good. He had 45 home runs in 119 games last year. And that'll probably be his record pace, but he had 38 home runs in basically a full season in 2015. He's really good, J.D. Martinez. He actually homered more frequently than John Carlos Stanton last year. If he hadn't missed that time the beginning of the year, I think, with a foot injury, then maybe he's the guy threatening 60 home runs. I don't know that he can do it again.

I mean, he has been a solid player, fantasy, a very solid power hitter. But that was a new level for Martinez that I'm not totally convinced he can sustain, but what's the downside? It's still probably a borderline second round outfielder. And you're getting a good batting average from him lately, too. I mean, well, last four seasons,

315, 282, 307, 303. It's a, yeah, he's a very good player, without a team, as of right now. The rest of round two after J.D. Martinez and Anthony Rizzo is Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Aaron Judge, and George Springer. I got to be honest with this guy. I knew that I had 12, 12 and 13, picks 12 and 13, and then I know I didn't pick again until 36 and 37. I was considering, very briefly, in a two-catcher league, considering Gary Sanchez with one of my first two picks. Get out of town. It would have been early, but I knew I wasn't going to get him.

at the end of the third round. But he went a lot later than I thought he went in the middle of the third round. I thought Gary Sanchez would be a late second round pick and a two-catcher league. So it surprised me how late he went. He didn't go in one of the first two rounds. So then round three begins with an interesting pick of Madison Bumgarner. Do you trust him to be the number five pitcher and the 25th player off the board, Madison Bumgarner? He's my number seven pitcher.

So I guess technically no. I have Granky and Verlander before him, but there's a theme there. all reliable 200 innings guys. I know Bumgarder fell short of it because of a freak incident last year, but very reliable 200 inning guy before that. And I think that's what you're paying up for, somebody who can deliver ACE production and has already proven he can extend himself like that over a full season. So somebody wants to take him fifth among starting pitchers. I don't have a huge problem with it. It's just, are the Giants going to be any better this year? And I don't know that Longoria is going to be enough to turn the tide there, but at the same

time, they have some other hitters who they, or some other players who they're hoping will bounce back. And maybe it ends up being an okay season for the Giants. All right. We move on to the rest of round three, and then we'll talk about our teams, our strategies. I'm guessing we will not have a show next week during Christmas week. Are you in next week, Scott? No, I am not. So we will not have a show. Well, maybe I'll be in, so maybe Chris and I'll do something. I don't know what his schedule is. But happy holidays, by the way, to everybody out there. Madison Bumgarner, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seeger, D. Gordon, Gary Sanchez, fifth pick of round three, Alex Bregman. Whoa. I thought I was high on Bregman in the points

league draft, you went even higher in the Roto League draft. Well, I'm going to guess Lorre Michaels drafted him in both. No, I drafted him in the points. Oh, did you? Okay. But Laura took him over... The Lord Michaels was a participant, Lorne Michaels of... SNL. S-N-L-L-L-A-W-R? I think I'm pronouncing it right. L-A-W-R. I think you are, yeah.

Lorne. But the SNL guy is also Lorne Michaels, right? No, it's Lorne with the... Lorne Michaels, okay. I hadn't made that connection before, so that was interesting. Really? Really? You are the only person. I'm going to speak for Laura Michaels.

You're the only person in the world who's ever seen his name and not made that connection. You know how many S&L jokes that guy's gotten? And I've never even met him. Well, my point is he seems to have some very fixed opinions on players. He paid up for a lot of the same. guys in both of the drafts we did. I got you. Joey Gallo, Keras Davis,

and there are a few others. I got you. I like Bregman a lot. I think he's got a chance to be that breakout guy. But I wouldn't take him over Josh Donaldson. No, I wouldn't. One pick after him. I mean, the difference,

the biggest difference is Bregman is you can play him at shortstop. Right, right. Donaldson could win, you know, he could put a first round caliber numbers again. I don't think it shock anybody. You're getting him in here in the middle of round three. I still take Donaldson,

even with the eligibility. I'd take Donaldson over D. Gordon. I'd take him over Corey Seeger, probably. He fell farther than he should. But if you started your team with Paul Goldschmidt and Carlos Correa, and you had power but no speed, you would take Donaldson over Gordon? Mm-hmm.

Okay. Yeah. I don't want to. pay that much for speed if I can help it. And I know I ended up in a pretty good shape as far as speed goes. Oh, by the way, I said I'd take Donaldson over Corey Seeger. I was the one I took Corey Seeger in this draft. So maybe I won it.

I did already have Jose Ramirez at that point, but I guess I just wanted to... You know what? I knew I had Justin Turner as a fallback, and I was able to draw. draft him in round five. So that's why I did that. But anyway, getting back to what I was saying about speed, there are other speed sources out there. You don't have to get the guy who's going to give you 50 or 60 steals. There's Whitmerfield is part of the player pool now.

There's Tommy Pham. I'm just looking at guys I drafted because I feel like I ended up in pretty good shape for speed. Why don't you take a look at the guy I drafted at the end of the fifth round? Best pick of the draft. Who is it? Starling Marte. Sure. Oh, what a pick by me.

You don't have to get, you don't have to rely on one guy to carry you in steals. In fact, it's probably better if you don't because if that guy gets injured, your whole plan crumbles. But can we just praise me? I'm sorry. Okay. Go ahead. There's no way Starling Marte is going to be drafted 60th overall in a Roto League. That was the end of round five?

Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty good. It was terrific. I mean, I see Reese Hoskins went right before him, and if Hawkins is a top ten outfielder, so, you know. Well, he went before him, Scott, there's nothing I can do about that. I didn't have that pick. If Carlos Santana is the most points league-specific player,

the biggest, the one who gains the most value in that format, then Starling Marte is the other side of the coin, the player who gains the most in categories-based formats. I feel like, I don't know if you could look this up, but I feel like Marte was a second round pick in Roto last year. I think it was third round. Yeah, at the latest it was third. Yeah. But you're relying on him bouncing back all the way.

I mean, he wasn't, there was the steroid suspension, of course, the PED suspension, but he also really wasn't himself when he did play. He hit only 275. And a lot of what you're paying for is batting average. He ran just as well as he always has. He still was on like a 45 steel pace. So, I mean, you still get that. Okay, so anyway, moving on, back to round three, finishing off round three after we had Bregman, we had Donaldson, then Jose Abrae, Stephen Strasbourg, who says he might not pitch in the All-Star game anymore because it messed up his routine. Brian Dozier, Luis Severino, and Jacob de Grom.

And let's talk about, you can see all the results here on the website on Fantasy News on CBSports.com slash fantasy. but I think it's more interesting if we talk about our teams and what we did and you know you do need to get a mix of power and speed but Scott and I are both not exactly willing to overpay for speed like others would You have to be conscientious of speed throughout the draft and when the value makes sense if there is a speed guy you should probably take him I didn't think that was great value for Dee Gordon with Josh Donaldson's and Gary Sanchez still on the board. But, for example, I did draft Whitmeryfield, who stole 33 bases last year, I believe it was.

Yep. And I took him in round seven, I want to say. Round six, actually, end of round six. I took Whitmeryfield. But, you know, that was around guys. guys like Mustakis and Hosmer and Justin Upton, really into the second tier of hitters. So, you know, I wasn't passing up an elite option for the stolen base potential of Maryfield.

By the way, I like a lot. I know he kind of came out of nowhere. But the batted ball profile, the contact rate, his minor league track record, they all pretty much support what he did last year. So, okay, great, it's good to know. I always let you go first But since I'm so excited about my team I'm going to go first And I did put more of an emphasis on pitching

Than I usually do So you might not love my lineup But you should Because it's good So I actually pretty happy To get two guys that I think of top ten Potential at Catcher And I got them fairly late

I have Evan Gaddis Who I took at the end of round Last pick of round 9 And Wilson Ramos Who I took with the first pick of round 16 Gaddis and Ramos there And Gattis apparently is scheduled to be the full-time D-H for Houston.

So, I mean, you really might have a top-five catcher there. That doesn't take much to be a top-five catcher. We've said that a few times for Gattis, and it's never really worked out. But I'm there again. I mean, it's so hard to get production at catcher. Yeah, it sounds like, again, this could be the year for Gattis. Greg Bird at first base, I waited a long time. Daniel Murphy at second base, hoping he's ready for opening day.

The nationals are optimistic. I'm thinking he won't be, but not long after. that. Manny Machado at third, Elvis Andrews, who I took right at my two back-to-back picks, 60 and 61 overall. We're Starling Marte and Elvis Andrews, so that helped me address speed. I have Jason Kipnis at middle infield, Uly Guriel at Corner Infield. This is the one that really hurt me because I really wanted Justin Boer there, but he went two picks before me, so I settled on Gouriel, who showed some promise late in the year. Jay Bruce is a really underrated outfielder. He's like 30 home runs and 90-something RBIs, and it almost seems like

set in stone. He's a little streaky. Yeah, but... I'm going to be concerned if he winds up in San Francisco. That would suck. But otherwise, I agree with you. I think he doesn't get the credit he deserves. And he's back to being a 250 hitter. He's not that 220 hitter. That was a total drain on your batting average. Let's see, 69 home runs and 200 RBIs in his last two seasons. So Jay Bruce Starling Marte, Brett Gardner, Kyle Schwerber, and Aaron Hicks. And I didn't love Aaron Hicks as my number five outfielder, but it was pretty thin at that point. Also, I think I had gone on the air to do a different podcast while I was – oh, a football podcast while I was drafting. So I finished off with Chris Davis of the Orioles as my utility.

You could do worse as like your last hitter. Well, that was Mr. Irrelevant, Chris Davis. Was it? Yeah. auto picking. I must have been Adam in my queue. I had him in my queue. I said as the draft was winding down, I think we had two rounds to go.

I was amazed that Chris Davis, in a roto draft, Chris Davis, Mr. Home Run, still hadn't been taken yet. And I, you know, if we're just basing it on last year's numbers, it makes total sense, but he's always been a guy who

strikeout rate makes for a lot of volatility there, and it could swing back the other way this year, you get a great production out of them. Yeah, I think the biggest problem that I have in Roto Leagues is I don't pay enough attention to batting average. So when I have guys like Jay Bruce, Kyle Schwabre, Chris Davis, Evan Gattis, I've got a lot of guys who could really kill my batting average. So you have to make sure you balance it out.

And you do have Marte and Yule Gueriel who should help some to balance out. But I don't think it's enough, especially if... You know, you don't get the best case scenario from Greg Byrd and you don't get the best case scenario from Kyle Schwerber. You know, those guys could hit 240 or lower, and I don't think it's shock anybody. Okay. So it's something you're – oh, you also have Daniel Murphy there that counterax. Yeah, it's good too. You do have something to work with there in terms of batting average.

And my pitching staff, I like a lot. Scher, de Grom, Dallas Keikle, John Lester. Rich Hill Sean Minaya and I have three closers I have well I hope I have three closers I have Greg Holland Corey Canable and Brandon Morrow

So it's Scherzer de Grom Keichel Rich Hill Lester and Mania And when I took Mania There were like five pitchers on the board That had a lot of upside So you know There were good ones available late

And then the closers were Holland Canable And Brandon Marr So I think I have a very strong pitching staff. I was very happy with the way the team played out. Definitely a good closer trio and can't complain about numbers one, two, and I guess three in your pitching staff. Is who, Keikl?

Yeah. Scherzer de Grasman, Keikle. Kikel could be an awesome number three. He could be a pretty ordinary number three. He still seems like a wide range of possible outcomes for him. Yeah, but when Rich Hill pitches, he could be, like, my number one. That's not good. Yeah.

All right, so let's see Scott White's team. So basically, I didn't want to overpay for speed. I did prioritize pitching. I thought there were good hitters late. I think Jay Bruce is underrated. I think actually Aaron Hicks is worth taking a flyer on late because before his oblique injury, he was having a breakout year, and they were always pretty high on him. They thought the Yankees thought there was more potential there for Aaron Hicks than what he had shown. So oblique injuries can really derail a guy's season.

So he's not an awful, awful fifth outfit. He's a good fifth outfielder. I'll just say that. He's fine as a fifth outfielder. I don't think he's what he was at his best. No, me either. He does have good play discipline. He does have some power, some speed.

But the batted ball profile, pretty much a horrid line drive rate. One of the worst you'll see. That's what he's said about D.D. Gagorius. Or he said that about his hard contact rate last year. Yeah, I think line drive rate is even more damning for, for Aaron Hicks and what's going to happen to his bat-up, and consequently his batting average. So that's just something to keep in mind.

Is it a fifth outfielder who cares? That's not enough reason to avoid him. Exactly. And the other point I wanted to make was, in these two catcher leagues, I like to feel like I have some type of advantage at catcher. It doesn't mean I need to have Posey and Sanchez, but I don't want to be awful at catcher. All right, Scott White.

You are up. You are the third pick, which you took Paul Goldschmidt, with which you took Paul Goldsmith. Tell us about your team. All right. I will go through my team. I went with the bargain basement catching duo of Austin Barnes,

Francisco Mejia. I think there was a ton of upside with them. And I drafted them. I should probably keep the rounds open here. If I'm going to reference them like this, I drafted them both very late. Austin Barnes looks like he's going to be the Dodgers primary catcher now.

Had an incredible strikeout to walk ratio on-base percentage as a part-timer last year and in the middle of that lineup, not necessarily the middle, but just being in that lineup, I think he could do a lot of damage. I got him around 21, and I got Mahia in round 23.

Mejia, of course, being the Indians' top prospect, not sure he's going to open the season with a job, but they were playing him at third base this off-season. in anticipation of calling him up to play that spot instead of catcher. So a lot of potential there. Paul Goldschmidt, of course, is my first baseman. Jose Ramirez, my second baseman, Justin Turner, who I got in round five, actually two rounds after Donaldson. He's my third baseman.

And Corey Seeger is my shortstop. So Goldschmidt, Jose Ramirez, Justin Turner, Corey Seeger. So you love infield, huh? You can see I invest in it in infield. I just, I know outfield thins out faster, but. you know, filling those, you have those very specific slots to fill on the infield.

And I just hate the idea of getting cornered out of any one of them. When outfields, it's just a big giant pool that you can use to fill all those spots. So Whitmeryfield is my middle infielder. A lot of stolen base help there. Travis Shaw is my corner infield. Pretty good. Clearly, I paid a pretty good amount even for the middle infield

and corner infield spots. So... Let's talk outfield now. Let's talk outfield. Yes, let's do that. Tommy Pham, who is the top 12 outfielder for me, and I think I spent a fifth round pick on him. So I definitely paid for him.

After that, though, we go Adam Jones, Eric Thames, Avi Sal Garcia, and Austin Hayes, as my fifth outfielder. I don't dislike it. Tell me about Austin Hayes. What about Austin Hayes? Tell me about Austin Hayes. Let's talk about Austin Hayes.

Austin Hayes is going to be the Orioles opening day right fielder. I firmly believe he is there, I think I'd say he's their top prospect. I guess maybe it depends on what source you can salt, but yeah, I think he's. he's their top prospect. Pretty much everywhere. Okay.

And last year between high Class A and AA, he hit 329 with 32 homers and a 958 OPS. Very low strikeout rate. So, you know, that was a fairly legitimate 329. Obviously, hasn't done it at the major league level, but got his feet wet at the end of last year, hit a home run in 20 games. And they really seem to like him. So as my fifth outfielder with the second to last pick, I think that's a good upside pick. And, you know, Adam Jones,

probably a better number three than a number two, but he's very safe. And then you have Eric Thames and Avicel Garcia, who I think are both kind of questionable, but they're coming off good years overall. I know Thames was very front-loaded, but the end of production was pretty good. and they complement each other well.

Avi Sele Garcia with the batting average, Eric Thames with the big time power. I think it's a fine starting five. It's not the best in the league. But considering the amount I invested in my eight end field, I think it's pretty good. I mean, honestly, I don't think it's a very good outfield. I think, again, it's Tommy Fam, Adam Jones,

Avi Garcia, Eric Thames, and Austin Hayes. I think that your outfield's going to look very different by the end of the year. But that's fine. I mean, there are still a lot of outfielders that you'll get off waivers. But you know what? I mean, it's the price you pay

when you have a great infield. You can't be great everywhere. Right, exactly. Matt Olson is my utility player, and I think he's going to hit 40 plus home runs this year, and I'm very excited to draft him in this format. I was very excited to get him in round 12. So I drafted my fours.

starting infielders, my middle infielder, my corner infielder, and my utility within the first 12 rounds. How many pitchers did you have at that point? How many pitchers did I have at that point? Well, let's look at my pitching staff. My pitching staff begins with Chris Archer. Round seven. Continues. That's interesting. Because in points leagues, there's no way you're waiting seven rounds to take a hitter, to take a pitcher. Well, there's no way Chris Archer is available on round seven. Well, that's true. But, okay.

All right, go ahead, go on, continue. Sunny Gray is number two, who is my 21st ranked starting pitcher. Garrett Cole is number three. I have three of my top 36 pitchers. So, you know, archer's a low-end ace, but I don't think I've really lost pace with my number's two and three there.

It's not as good as your number two and three, But whatever. It's pretty good. And then there's some upside picks here after, you know, four through, four through six starting pitchers. Wow. Wow. All right. Billingy. Yeah.

Mike Clevenger and Blake Snell. So it's Archer, Gray, Cole, Bundy, Clevenger, Snell, and three relievers. Six of my top 50 pitchers. I have Snell 50th. I don't know. This does not feel like a Scott. white pitching staff. What is a scout white pitching staff?

A little more, your number two pitcher would be better than Sunny Gray. Yeah, that's fair. I, you know, it kind of depends on the flow of the draft and where I think the value is as the draft is unfolding. Interesting. Yeah, I just didn't like the value up until I took Chris Archer. I thought the value was better among some of those infielders I was taking. So I think you can get away with. with that a little easier in a roto league

and I meant to bring this up when we were talking about Justin Mason's team as well like you know he took it to an extreme obviously and I would be a little worried about the wins and strikeout potential with with so many questionable innings

there but overall innings aren't as important in this format as they are in a points format they don't count for anything in and of themselves sometimes a surplus of innings can actually hurt your ERA and whip. So, you know, if you're middle of the pack and wins and strikeouts, you could still very

much win a roto league. And I don't think I necessarily put myself in a position where I'm condemned to being in the middle of the pack in those two categories. So I'm okay with it. All right, everybody. You can see the results. Scott's relievers are Sean Doolittle, Shane Green, and Ricel, Eccalias. Ecclesias, Doolittle, and Shane Green.

You can see the results of this draft on CBS. com slash fantasy we're going to get out of here everybody have a great great holiday just have an awesome time enjoy yourself you might hear from us next week if not you'll hear from us in january thanks to scott white i'm adam azer we'll talk to you soon everybody take care