Fantasy Baseball Today - 2025 Second Base & Shortstop Tiers! Draft Guide, Rankings, ADP & More! (1/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

Let's get into second base tiers and guess what? There's no first round tier at the position (3:50)! ... Why is Marcus Semien going so much later than Jose Altuve and Ozzie Albies (10:36)? ... Should Jordan Westburg and Luis Garcia Jr. be in the same tier (21:36)? ... There are 10 names in the fallback options tier (27:44)! ... The last resorts tier has nobody (36:40)? ... News (43:02): Paul Sewald signed with the Guardians. ... Let's move into Shortstop tiers (44:45). ... Trea Turner is going later than previous years (50:49). ... Corey Seager can still produce but the injuries are piling up (53:46). ... Somebody is going to be wrong about Bo Bichette (57:46). ... Carlos Correa is going very late in January ADP (1:02:04). ... Why does Scott hate young shortstops (1:07:15)?  Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, January 23rd. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, Second Base and Show. shortstop tears. Not nearly as much news to get to. Thankfully, apologies for yesterday. We had, we had a lot of news to catch up on. So, uh, we did eventually get to the tears, but thankfully we will get to, we'll just dive in right away. We'll start off with Scott's Tears. That's what the people want. And like I did yesterday, I will just quickly mention a disclaimer up at the top. The, the Tears podcast, they're not meant to be deep dives on specific players. We're going to do that on our position preview pods, those are coming out in February. What we're doing on these podcasts is we're looking more at rankings and ADP and groups of players with similar skill sets and just

kind of figuring out mapping out just specific positions and where players lie within the rankings and ADP and all those types of things. We're going to have to dive deeper this time than on the corner infield spots because we got a whole hour to fill rather than rushing through half an hour at the end, you know? Yeah. So there you go. Talk about as much as you want. don't worry about my disclaimer. I just fast forward through that. No, you're right. I mean, this isn't that it's really more how do positions divide up than how good is player X.

That's a different way of examining, examining positions than what tiers are. So you're not, you're not wrong. Your disclaimer is accurate. I was just making a joke. In like one, two weeks, we're going to have, like, like a 90 minute deep dives on every position. So, all right, don't, don't over promise, okay? I think we usually go 90 minutes on those, right?

I thought he was underpromising. I had like two hour episodes. Why not? Let's go for it. All right, second base tiers. No first rounders at the second base position because you guessed it. There are no second baseman going anywhere near the first round of fantasy baseball drafts this year.

So second base starts with the elite tier. and that is Catele-Marty by himself. Coming off an awesome season where he finished 18th overall in Roto. He provided $26.4 worth of 12-team auction value, and his 3.7 fantasy points per game led the position and were tied with other elite bats across other positions.

Gunner Henderson, Francisco Lendor, Mookie Bats. So Cotel-Marty was truly awesome, but it is going to cost you. His NFBC ADP in January is 30. And when I say cost you, I mean cost more than years past when you were getting Catelle-Marté outside of the top 100 picks and sometimes even later than that. So, Scott, the question for you here is,

are you willing to pay the price for the only second baseman in the elite tier, Cotel-Marte? I am because this is, to me, the weakest non-catcher position, and catcher hardly counts as a position. So if there's any position where you want to pay a premium for talent, this is it. And Catele-Marte, I buy into what he did last year.

I know there's been a bit of an up-and-down tendency throughout his career, and that's why his ADP has been so low at times. But if you actually break down the numbers, three of the last four years, he's been really high-end. And it's like, do I have that right, three of the last four? there was 2021 he was a 909 OPS but he only played 90 games so yeah three yeah but I'm on a per game basis yeah yeah that was his look three the last four years he's been really good three of the last six years he's had an OPS over 900 as a second baseman like that's you don't find a lot of that and

even in the years where he wasn't good the underlying metrics were still very impressive it seemed like he just underachieved. So I think Cotel Marte legitimately is this good. You gave the 3.7 points per game for him and compared that across different positions. But since we're talking about how players compare to the rest of the position here in tiers, 3.7 for Cateel Ctele-Marte,

only one other second baseman was even over three. And that was Jose Altuvae at 3.05. So that is how far ahead Catele-Marte was at this position. Now, if you go back to 2023, what Cattel-Marte did this past year was basically right in line with what Marcus Simeon and Ozzy Albees did that year. They were at 3.6 in 2023 versus Cotel-Marte's 3.68 in 2024. So it's not like nobody else that this position is capable of having the year Cotel-Marte did. but there are reasons to be skeptical of Ozzie Albi's and Marcus Simeon bouncing back to those 2023 numbers.

And Jose Altuve too, I think he's in the discussion, but he's in his mid-30s now. You know, he's not going to be able to sustain that forever. And he did have a little bit of a drop off last year. So I do think Al-Tuvae Al-Bis, Simeon, even though in past years that they've approached what Cattel Marte did in 2024, think they belong in a different tier heading into 2025. Is it worth mentioning that there's a chance there's a first rounder at the second base position a week into the season? I think so.

It is worth mentioning. Yeah, sure. Mookie bets. We don't know yet. The Dodgers are seemingly doing a kind of open competition for to fill one spot, but in three different parts of the lineup, if that makes sense, right? like centerfield shortstop and second base they kind of have a competition going and they might put mookie at second they might put them at short we presume it's it we presume it's

a competition the official word is they're planning on mooky bet's playing shortstop right that's the last update we got on december 9th but that's also when gavin lux was still on the team but there's also been some reporting that they are willing to have tommy edmund play shortstop if Petra Pahas or James Alman. Andy Pahas. Yeah. You know, I sat on it and I was like, that's the right one.

And no, it wasn't. Andy Pahas. Or James Outman's still around. Remember, he was an impact player a couple years ago. If they outperform High Sun Kim, they are willing to play Tommy Edmund at short, Mookie a second, and play one of those guys in center field. That's been reported as well.

So there's an argument even if they don't that High Son Kim should just be the shortstop. Yeah, Mookie's not a short stop. I appreciate that he's willing to do it, and I think it speaks volumes to his skills, but I don't think he has the range or the arm to be a full-time shortstop. So to your point, though,

it's, of course, highly plausible that early in the season Mookie Betts is picking up second base eligibility, and that would be a huge deal, given what I already said about this position, how weak it is, how short on high-end talent, that would be the position where you probably want to play Mookie Bet.

but I'm not approaching it on draft day as if he's going to be given where things currently stand for the Dodgers. I'm assuming bets will be their short stops to start out. But yeah, it could change. Opening day for the Dodgers is in two months. I think exactly. I think it's March 22nd. We should know by then, though, you know, most drafts are going to happen around the 20th to the 26th of March. So by the time most drafts are happening,

even though we don't know now, we could have a pretty good idea of whether Mookie will be second base eligible. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it's... Maybe the 21st. It's around there. They're like 18th and 19th, apparently. Roughly nine weeks. Yeah, there's a Tokyo series going on between the Dodgers and the Cubs. Yeah. So, yeah, that's just like a little bit of an earlier start, kind of like we got last year, when the Padres and Dodgers also, they played in, Japan, right? Or was it Korea?

Last year was in Japan. I could be wrong. But anyway, yes, we do have an earlier series before the actual opening day between the Dodgers and the Cubs. The near elite tier includes three names who Scott has already mentioned, Jose Altuve, Ozzi Albies, and Marcus Semian, three veterans who've performed at a high level for a long time now. And last year, you know, of the three, Altuvae was the only one that really kind of returned value. He finished 35th overall in Roto. He went 2020 last season, still provided a very good batting average.

Based on January 80P, one of these players is not like the other. So Altuve is going at pick 57, Albi's is going at pick 60, and Semion is all the way down at 87. So, Scott, explain why Marcus Semyon still deserves to be in this tier after a down season. I'm more want the people who are putting him in a separate tier to explain why, because I don't see the argument for keeping him out of this tier. I understand he didn't quite live up to his usual production last year. Though if you look at the underlying data, it was very similar across the board. In fact, it was virtually identical to the 2022 season, and we weren't dropping Marcus Simeon down our rankings.

based on the way he performed that year. He stole more bases that year, so I think that's why, like, the stolen bases kind of salvaged him that seems like too strong of word, because he wasn't that bad last year. He was just kind of underwhelming. But I think the stolen bases kind of salvaged him in 2022

in a way they did it last year. But even then, 81st percentile sprint speed for Marcus Simeon last year, even the stolen base, the way they dropped off, seems kind of fluky. So the whole thing for Marcus Simeon, the fact he hit only 237,

the fact he stole only eight bases, he still hit 23 homers, which is fine. The fact that he's 34, I think, plays a big part in it. I think there's just an unwillingness

to bet on a bounce back for a 34-year-old. He's basically being drafted at what he did last year, which I think I agree with you. I think it leaves plenty of room for profit there because Semyon, like you said, the skill set hasn't changed.

The floor still seems super high. Like, he's still going to be a must-start player. And so it's just a question of, do you think he can get back to being a 30-homer guy who hits 270? And I don't see any reason to think he can't. It may be- He doesn't need to hit 30 homers.

He just, he hits between 20 and 25. He gets back to stealing 15 to 20 bases. He gets that batting average backup over. 250. And he's going to be a nice value. Yeah. I mean, even as bad as he was last year, just a 308 on base percentage, he still scored 101 runs.

And that was with the Rangers lineup taking a pretty big step back from the year prior when they won the World Series. So I think we're all kind of expecting at least somewhat of a bounce back for their entire lineup and, you know, progression from Wyatt Langford and hopefully Seeger and Adoles Garcia are a little bit better. And just as a result, that will help someone like Marcus Semyon. But also, excellent points league player, too. Yes, points.

He actually, Simian actually had more head-to-head points per game than Ozzy Albies. And we could talk about Ozzy Albies because he also underperformed last year. But Albies has missed a lot of time over the years. Marcus Simeon misses zero time. So I mentioned head-to-head points per game last year. Marte was distant number one. Al-Tufe was the only other one over three. So those are your one and two and head-to-head.

head points per game at the position. It looks like Marcus Simeon was fourth for as disappointing as he was, fourth most head-to-head points per game among second baseman. So I don't know who else you're looking for here, considering that was a down year for him and it still looks like bounce back potential is there. And furthermore, since you brought up the age, Chris. He's 34 and so people are thinking he's dropping off.

I dug really hard into the data to see if I could see any indication. of age-related decline there because I'll be honest. I have plenty of incentive to do that because I have to write a busts column every year, and it would be nice if I could come up with 12 players that I could actually make good bust cases for. So I wanted to be able to call Marcus Simeon a bust like I did Paul Goldschmidt because he's getting old last year. It worked out great. I would have loved to be able to do that for Marcus Simeon this year. I couldn't find it.

I couldn't find any evidence of age-related decline there. So it's possible that's what's going on with him, but I just don't see the evidence for it. Ozzy Albies, by the way, worth mentioning that he only played 99 games last season due to a fractured toe in April and then a fractured wrist in July. So things that were out of his control,

Scott, you brought up, let's talk about Ozzy Albies. I think he's a pretty interesting player because we haven't outside of 2023 when maybe the ball was a little bit bouncier again. you know, there have been some inconsistent, you know, power seasons here from Ozzy Albies. Chris, I'll throw this your way because I feel like you're always kind of outspoken on Ozzy Albies, but what are you expecting here in 2025? A high 700s OPS and a bunch of counting stats.

I don't think he's a particularly great player, hitter, sorry. But he has a well-rounded skill set. He's in a good lineup. Like, I don't really have a problem with Albies in this tier at his. his ADP, I think it's all more or less fine. It's just when he's been a second round pick, that's where I worry about what is a pretty fragile skill set. You know, because he's not like,

he's not the dead pole hitter that Marcus Simeon is, where he just like clockwork deposits 25 to 30 homers in the left field bleachers. You know, he's, he's not quite as reliable as that. He has to rely on producing so much of his offensive production against left-handed hitters, left-handed pitchers, excuse me, because he's sort of just okay against righties and then crushes lefties. And so when it's a second round pick, it's like, I don't know if Ozzy Albies is worth it. It's pretty fragile. In the fourth, fifth round, I have no problem with him there.

So Frank mentioned that. the production from Ozzy Albiz has been kind of inconsistent from year to year. I think it's just the opposite, with two exceptions. Every year he's basically 25 to 30 homers batting average in the vicinity of 260, 270, a lot of runs, a lot of RBI, decent number of steals, except the two years where he kept breaking bones, 2022 and 2024. The abats were way down, but the OPS also happened to be way down those years. It was low 700s instead of high 700s.

And you might say, okay, it's because he kept getting hurt. But 2022 and 2024 were also the two years in Ozzie Albiz's whole career where the ball wasn't playing as well. It wasn't playing as well for offense. It didn't seem to be carrying as well. And because he doesn't have those great exit velocities, that those consistent pull tendencies like you were talking about, Chris, will his power play in an environment where the ball isn't carrying as well? Because those years also were the injury shortened years, I think it's inconclusive.

It's hard to know. But it's suspicious. It's very suspicious. And that's why, like, I think you can look at it both ways. There are two outlier years in terms of offensive production form. 2019, 852 OPS, 2023, 849 OPS. Well, 2019 was the juice ball year. And then he has two seasons.

High OPS. Then he has the two seasons, 2022, 2024, with a 700 OPS, basically. That's why I think you kind of throw both of those samples out and just throw it all in the average, right?

Like his career line is 270 average, 792 OPS. That's probably what you should expect for Mazi Albies. I don't love it for a second rounder. I'm not 100% sure he's better than Boba Shet, who's 90 picks later,

although we've talked enough about how Bubesh has just misvalued. But again, when it costs a fourth or fifth round pick, I don't care nearly as much about the fragility of Oz Yalbis. All right, let's take our first break before we do that. Just want to thank everyone for watching us live. We do appreciate you being here. Make sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. We are on the path to 30,000 YouTube subscribers.

We are actually closing in on 28,000 now. We have a ton of content coming up on the channel. We have full-length podcast. We have FBT Express videos. And in February, we'll be going five nights a week. We'll start up position previews. We'll have live mock drafts. So there's a lot to come.

And if you don't want to miss any of it, make sure to subscribe to the channel. Let's take our first break. And when we return, we'll continue on second-based tiers right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Continuing on second-based tiers. The next best things tier includes Jordan Westberg

and Luis Garcia Jr., who is one tier lower in head-to-head points leagues. These are two young up-and-comers. Garcia finished as the 91st overall player in Roto last season. Westberg did not rank as high because he did miss some time with a fractured right hand, but when he played, he was pretty damn good. And the underlying numbers all look good for Westberg. They're pulling in the left field fences and Camden Yards. Everything looks pretty, pretty good for Jordan Westberg here.

They're not too far off in January ADP. is at pick 90. Garcia is at 115. Scott, why is Garcia one tier lower in a points league versus a category league? Poor plate discipline. I guess they both have poor plate discipline. They both don't walk much to be specific

and that holds back points league value. So really the distinction between the two formats for Luis Garcia is the nationals weren't playing him much at all against left-handers. I would have liked for them too, but they weren't. And I don't have much faith that that's going to change.

Hopefully it does, but I don't think you can draft Luis Garcia as if it is. I am really excited about Jordan Westberg, though. He is going to be one of my breakout picks for this year. I think it's going to be a clean sweep, right? Yeah, I had him in breakout. He made Franks and he was in mine too. Okay, so we're all very excited about him. The data looks great.

Expect a batting average last year, 281, expected slug 491. Those are both 92nd percentile on stack. I mean, the actual numbers, if you just pace them out, they look great. But I think those tools, all that red on a stat cast page is going to play better. I think it's fairly obvious it's going to play better with the moving in the left field fences at Campton Yards, because he's another right-handed hitter, kind of like Ryan Mountcastle. Right-handed hitter hits the ball very hard in a place where that is punished, or at least it was, until this year.

I got to say, I, one, I've got a 50 spot difference between Westberg and Garcia in my rankings. I like Westberg a lot more. I think Garcia is more in the next year for me in Roto. You used to love Garcia. Well, that's the thing is I always liked him in like a, hey, I want to see this guy, you know, get a chance. And maybe there's some, but like now that I got to spend a top 100 pick on him, it's like, well, hold up. Not top 100.

His ADP is 115. So. Okay. But is there another first 10 round player? who we're pretty sure is not an everyday player. Like that's a hard thing to get past. Yeah. Well,

it's a weak position. Yeah. He's a, he's a help and batting average, at least theoretically, which is hard to find. And he gives you steals that West Blake doesn't. I think he's going to get the chance to,

to play every day to start the season. Now, will that last? I'm not entirely sure. And that runs the risk of screwing up that good batting average if he's not good. Look, and look, I banged the drum along with everyone else last year that they should have

been playing him every day against lefties just to find out. And there was no reason. Like, it didn't matter if the nationals won, I don't know what, what they went? 74 games last year, 76 games. Like if they won one or two fewer games because he was terrible against lefties, at least you know. So I thought the way they approached it was very silly. But it also makes me think, well, if the stakes are that low and they weren't trusting him against lefties, do I really think they're going to do it this year? Maybe. I hope so. But I don't buy But I just, I also just think Jordan Westberg has a really strong skill set. I've been, I've taken to kind of calling him like a diet Gunner Henderson.

Like he's, everything is very, very similar, just about 10% worse. Like the quality of contact, not quite as good, but really good. Plate discipline. Gunner Henderson doesn't have great plate discipline. Jordan Westberg has pretty bad plate discipline. Jordan, but the one thing with Jordan Westberg is what we saw with Gunner Henderson last year. I remember saying it before the season. He is fast enough to steal 20 plus bases.

And then they let him. He didn't do it his rookie season or his first full season. Westberg, only six steals last year. 91st percentile sprint speed. So that's the thing where like I can see he wasn't that far off of like a 28, 29 home or pace last year. I could see like a 3015 outcome for Jordan Westberg where. Suddenly you're talking about him as a top 30 player next year.

By the way, every second baseman we've mentioned so far, Cotel Marte, Jose Al-2, Vaisalbies, Marcus, Simeon, Jordan Westberg, and Luis Garcia, I am higher on than the consensus NFBC ADP. I don't know why I said consensus. I'm higher on than NFBC ADP. And that confuses me because it seems like I am, Maybe I'm giving second basement extra credit for position scarcity reasons and NFBC ADP isn't. It would kind of make sense because those are mostly 15 team leagues and 15 team leagues position scarcity means significantly less because there comes a point at every position where it just runs out.

But I guess I guess what I'm trying to say is for for shallower leagues, the typical league of people listening to this podcast, regardless of what tier you. you choose from. You'll be pretty happy with your second basement, the value of your second basement from all the tiers mentioned so far. The one thing I will say about second base is it's lower on the high end guys. I kind of like the depth at second base. Yeah. It's a good position to get your middle infield from.

Yeah, like the mushy middle at second base is kind of not great. Like the next tier we're going to talk about, I don't love. But it's big. It's big. There's a lot of options. It's passable. in those deep roto leagues. And some of these guys are just being totally overlooked in a way that I don't think

makes a ton of sense. Let's talk about that mushy middle. The fallback options includes 10 names. Zander Bogart's, Bryce Terang, Nico Horner, Brendan Lau, Glaber Torres, Luis Renhifo, Jonathan, India, Andres Jimenez, Bryson Stott, and Luis Arise. India is one tier lower in a Categories League. Jimenez is one tier lower in Hethead Points,

mostly established names here, but we do have some changes. And so is Stott. Hemenas and Stott both are tier lower and points leagues. All right. India, tier lower in categories. Might have missed that then. But mostly established names here, but we do have some changes. Lau playing his home games in George Steinbrenner Field.

This upcoming season instead of Tropicana should boost offense for their hitters. Claibor Torres signed a one-year deal with the Tigers. Jonathan India was traded to the Royals, and Andres Jimenez was, traded over to the Blue Jays. Also worth mentioning that Nico Horner underwent surgery to repair his right flexor tendon and has not resumed throwing or hitting

and is currently uncertain for opening day. This ADP is a pretty big range here from round 12 through 21 with Bryce Serang up at the top coming off his massive steel season and then Jonathan India all the way at the bottom. So Scott, I know this tier is very clearly called fallback options.

But would you actually be okay with one of these as your starting second baseman in fantasy? No, not in the typical fantasy league. You get into some of those deep 15 teamers where you're going to be lacking somewhere, multiple somewheres. And okay, they're probably fine in that format. But part of the issue there is the ones I like most from this tier are also the ones you don't necessarily. want to put all your chips in a league without much of a waiver wire because it's like branded loud that's Nico Horner that's guys who you can't trust are going to be available all season long those are the most interesting to me from this tier and in a deep league like that you'd be scared to make them

your starter i'm kind of a little bit excited about jonathan india i think he's a little overlooked i think he belongs in this tier but i i think this could be like the move from cincinnati to Kansas City is bad for power and he might only be like a 10 to 12 home run guy. He might score 105 runs in that lineup though. And I think he might hit 275. Like he's going to be their lead off hitter. He's going to go on base a ton. It's not like a great lineup overall, but at the top, it's pretty solid.

And Kaufman, despite being a tough place for power, has been the fourth best park for offense over the past three seasons. So I think there are going to be a lot of doubles, a lot of triples, and a lot of times on base for Jonathan India. I drafted him as my starter in our points league mock on Tuesday night. I'm perfect. I actually think he might be like a top 12 guy in a points league. He's got to stay within himself. He had a walk rate of 11% his rookie year.

Then it was 7% and it was below 10%. So the next two years below 10%. And then it was back up a career. high 12.6% last year. He's got to be he's got to walk that much. And and if he if he if he's frustrated by the reduced power production playing in Kansas city. That starts pressing.

Yeah. Unravels. But if he just sticks to getting on base, getting extra base hits, he should remain a solid starter in points leagues like you're saying. I think either way, his roto value is pretty heavily diminished, which is why I have a tier lower in that format. I think he's a run specialist. In as much as a run specialist exists,

I think that's what he is in a road only. I think the shape of his production will change where, and you kind of touch on this, Chris, I think the batting average could go up. Maybe it's closer to 270. Less home runs 10 to 12. Can he push 20 steals? He's not the fastest 68th percentile sprint speed,

but the Royals are pretty aggressive on the base path. So I don't think it's crazy for him to hit 270, 3, 30, 340 on base, 10 to 12 home runs, 20 steals, 90 plus runs. That's, it's not a, it's not a league winner, but that's a really good second baseman. It's a plausible scenario. I don't know that you should, like, target Jonathan India expecting that. No, you shouldn't expect it, but I think it's a possibility. And I also, that's not his like 95th percentile outcome.

That's maybe like 75th percentile. I also want to point out, I think Xander Bogartz is fine. I think he's being kind of written off a little bit too much. Remember he had that shoulder injury last year, got off to a miserable start, had the shoulder injury. He was pretty good in the second half. Not a ton of power, seven home runs in 62 games, but hit 292 stole nine bases. I do think Xander Bogartz is going to be very helpful in at least two categories and potentially three. I think runs and batting average

he'll be helpful and if that steals pace from last year is real at all I mean if he's like a 15 to 20 steel guy I think that's a nice bonus too well he probably is because his first year in San Diego he had a 1919 season yeah remember

he was basically a 2020 season so yeah it's it's been kind of last year was kind of weird for him but I think he's more or less fine it's just fine now and San Diego for Zander Bogart's means probably topping out at 20 homers

rather than what he was doing with the Red Sox so you do have to just downgrade him overall but yeah I like him I like his price as a fallback option but

yeah I don't think he below like he definitely belongs Jordan in a tier below Jordan Westberg and I think like that's the thing about the Louis Garcia thing where I'm like I have him a tier below Jordan Westberg, but I do think he's ahead of these guys too.

Right. So would you do it differently? Would you have Jordan Westberg alone in that next best thing's tier? And then you have a separate tier for Luis Garcia and Zander Bogartz, the fallback options. And then drop everyone else, Bryce Terang, Nico Horner, Brandon Lau, et cetera,

through Bryson Stott and Louisa Rise, would you drop them into the last resorts tier, separate from Luis Garcia? Zander Bogart's because I definitely understand the argument for that. I have to, I would have to Rang in that one just because of the stolen bases only in Roto, but I can also see the case for him not belonging there just because that is

that's a skill set that feels like it could completely collapse. Yeah, I have him as a bus this year to Rang. I feel like it did collapse in the second half if you look at his numbers then. So I, I'm out on Tarrang and I'm kind of ranking him tiering him pessimistically here. Still like a 50 steel pace, but yeah, everything else was horrible. And I'd love Nico Horner. I'd tear Nico Horner.

I could be talked into tearing Nico Horner with Jordan Westberg if he was completely healthy. But there is the question of what shoulder. Didn't he have shoulder surgery? I think it was elbow. It was flexor tendon. It kind of gives me Tommy Edmund vibes from last off season. I just hope it doesn't linger, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. So you got a downgrade and because of that. This is the tier where I'm okay at second base if I don't get my starter early. And I do want to get a starter early. I agree with you. I think the values on the first six guys are all really good. But if I don't, I'm totally fine waiting until like 200 and getting one of these guys. Yeah. So I'm probably not.

That probably means I'm just not getting Xander Bogarts. Yeah. Because the value, I mean, his value is fine, but the value is so much better on like a brand, in Lao or, I mean, if you like Jonathan, India as much as you seem to, the value's incredible for him. I mean, Lao and India are both outside the top 230. So love both of those guys. Yeah, and that head to head points mock that we just did, I actually took Bogart's as my starting second baseman. I think around pick 140. And I didn't love it, like you guys are saying, like I felt fine. He was an okay starting second baseman. But I didn't mind the ADP either.

like taking him at 140. So maybe I would agree that he should be a tier higher or maybe he should be in this tier and then you push everyone else down. But I do kind of feel like maybe Bogart's is just a little bit better than some of these other names. But not sure that that's completely fair.

The last resort's tier, none. Well, kind of. Remember that we said that in the previous tier, Jonathan India is one tier lower in a roto or categories league and Jimenez is one tier lower in head-to-head points. So depending on which format you play in. And Bryson Stott is too.

No, Scott, I looked this up. In your article, there's no carrot next to Bryce and stuff. Oh. It's here in my document that I'm looking at. I don't know why I can make it. I'm going to have to fix that in the article. But yes, you should listen to Scott. That's, uh, Bryce and Stott is also in this here.

So it depends on which format you play in. Jimenez, I did, I did just want to point out. Bad plate discipline. So obviously that's why he's lower here in a headhead points league. I think even in Toronto, they don't run all that much. He's really fast. I think he's still going to give them 25-ish steals. He's not really.

going to do much else, but I don't mind Adris Jimenez as my middle infielder in a Roto Categories League because I'm typically looking for steals at that point in the draft, you know, the pick 150 to 200 range. And yeah, I think he's pretty bankable for 25 steals. Bryson Stott's at over

30 the last two years. The only thing with him is I worry that he's sat against lefties last year and I think that's going to continue. Jimenez, I just think he's going to play every day. Yeah, I hear that. But the home and stolen base totals for Stott

have been even more bankable than for Jimenez. Sure. The Leftover's Tier includes 25 names. I'm not going to read off all of them. Obviously, should have mentioned, again, these articles and tiers are live on the site, so you can follow along and you can look at all these names. But no analysis. Just give me one or two names you like here as like a deep league middle infielder. The Leftovers. Well, I think we have to mention, Jack. Jackson Holiday. He's in my breakouts

1.0. And it's one where it's like, there's almost nothing to point to positively except that he was the consensus universal top one number one prospect a year ago. And he's 20. Prospect pedigree and the bloodlines. So it's just a bet

on him figuring it out. I call that a blind faith pick. But it's not really that blind just because he was the top prospect. But yeah, there's no stats to back it up. You should draft Christian Campbell in any league where 300 people get drafted. We did a head-to-head points league today. I don't know if he got drafted in that one, but that's like a...

He did. Yeah, I think round 15 or something. And we only go like, what, 2.80 deep in that one total. So, you know, I'm not sure. It was... It probably shouldn't happen in that format, just given the way Benches work. But it sounds like he's going to compete with Von Grissom to be the starting second basement for the Red Sox, which kind of sounds like Christian Campbell's got a

pretty good chance to be the starting second basement for the Red Sox. Yeah, I'll have to move him up in my rankings if I didn't see that report, but that would require a move up the rankings for sure. A couple other names here. Zach Gelloff, obviously we had big hopes for him at this time year ago, and he's going to be playing in that minor league stadium in Sacramento this year, which should be good. Tyro Estrada, as kind of a poor man. Jimenez or Bryson Stott playing in Colorado.

He was injured basically all of last year. So I don't know that it's, I think he's kind of been forgotten about. I think it's really sneaky Tyro Estrada. Yeah. He was good in 2022 and 2023. And also Caleb Durbin, if he wins a starting job for the Brewers,

he came over in the Devin Williams trade with the Yankees, had a ridiculous Arizona Fall League performance and throughout his minor league career, lots of walks, lots of stolen bases. The problem is like they have 19 different versions of Caleb Durbin between their AAA and Major League rosters. It's like Tyler Black and Caleb Durbin are basically the same guy, right? Like it's, it's they have so,

and this is part of a problem with, with Bryce Terang is that just all of those guys may be expendable if they get off to a bad start. Yeah, Joey Ortiz too kind of some, some similarities there. Yeah, just wanted to mention a few other names that were on the move this offseason. Spencer Horwitz was traded to the,

Pittsburgh Pirates, he's expected to start at first base for them. You mentioned Tyro Estrada, Caleb Durbin, Brendan Rogers was non-tendered by the Rockies, he remains a free agent. Gavin Lux was traded to the Reds. Let's see where Jorge Polanco signs. I don't think he's done yet. Yankees? That would be really interesting. I don't think it's crazy, so we'll see. And Heysung Kim was signed out of Korea and we'll be competing for a starting job with the Los Angeles Dodgers. our final break when we return some quick news and notes and then we'll jump into shortstop tears right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. News and notes, not much going on here. The Guardian signed Paul Seawald to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026.

Sounds like Seawald will be a middle reliever for the Guardians because their bullpen is just so good. So even in holds leagues, I don't really know that Paul Seawald's going to have much value. Agree. All right. According to to Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports. Pete Alonzo is still in play for the Blue Jays even after signing Anthony Santander. Chris, you brought that up as a possibility yesterday. They could do a few different iterations here. They could play Vlad at third base. They could play Alonzo at first. They could put Santander at D.H. Or they could put Santander in the outfield. Play Alonzo at D.H. Keep Vlad at first. So a couple of different options if the Blue Jays choose to sign Pete Alonzo.

Danes v. Swanson, who underwent core muscle surgery in October, expects to be a full participant in spring training. We mentioned this one already, but Christian Campbell, one of the Red Sox top prospects, will compete with Von Grissom for the starting second base job during spring training. The Angels signed Tim Anderson to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. He could provide Zach Netto insurance.

Netto had surgery on his shoulder back in November, and it's kind of uncertain. I don't think he's going to be ready for. opening day, so perhaps Tim Anderson can fill that void. He has not been helpful for fantasy since 2022. Honestly, 2021, if we just look at what he did back in 2022. And lastly, Chris, I'll have you know that the Blue Jay signed Richard Love Lady to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. That's a big one. Yeah, if you know, you know. Shortstop tears. Shortstop feels very different than second base in that there are a lot of elite options up top.

loaded position up top with talent. But it kind of feels like it drops off and it's not nearly as deep with middle infield options, but you will quickly learn that as we go along here. The first rounders tier, Bobby Witt, Gunner Henderson,

Ellie De La Cruz, Muki Betts, and Francisco Lindor. Ellie is one tier lower in head-to-head points. He averaged 3.5 fantasy points per game last season. The other four in this tier

were 3.7 or better. These are all elite players in the sport, they're all clear first rounders for fantasy. Maybe with the exception of Lindor, who usually goes at the one-two turn. His ADP right now is 15, so yeah, maybe an early second round pick, but

you know, worthy of being a late first. In the first round conversation. Sure. Three questions for this two years, Scott, starting with Bobby Witt, up at the top. Who would you rather have? Bobby Witt or Otani, who are you taking first overall? I'm taking Otani, but I

I'm not saying that with a lot of conviction because Otani's coming off shoulder surgery. He injured the shoulder, stealing a base. And so will that disinclined him to run so much? It would be if I was as important as O'Tani is. And yeah, I think those are the two main concerns there. For as much as you're investing in him, you want to make sure you're getting everything you were promised. And I can't say that for Otani as confidently as I can say it for Witt or Aaron Judge. I think it's clear top three. I still have Otani in Roto number one in points number two,

but it's one bit of bad news, I think, would cause me to drop them to third. Yeah, I have Witt first, but I'm acknowledging I'm kind of a coward with that one. Yeah, I also have Bobby Witt first in Roto. I have Otani first in Head-Hed points. I'm not sure that makes sense. Maybe I should move Judge up there, but in a Categories league, I will take Bobby Witt ahead of Otani. You're splitting hairs, basically.

Chris, this one's for you. Would you actually take Ellie in the first round? He's in this tier. His ADP right now in January is 4.2, so lots of people are willing to do this. But if you take Ellie that early in a roto draft, it will take a specific build to kind of round everything out. So what do you think? I think he can be worth that price. I will probably not be the one who does it.

Like you said, it mostly comes down to he is basically a three category player. And even then, kind of a two and a half category guy, what do you at, 26 home runs, 23 home runs last year? I think 25, but right around there, yeah. And so like that's not bad, certainly, but it's not super helpful. The RBI won't be there.

The batting average is probably going to, going to be bad. And so it's the biggest leg up in stolen bases of anybody in the game, a lot of run. And then it's kind of iffy after that. And it just, it cuts you off from drafting speed specialists later when they might be the best player on the board. It means you really have to be conscious about drafting power and batting average, which is hard to do both.

Yeah, I mean, batting average. If you don't get batting average in round one, one in rounds one and two, you're probably not going to do great in the category. So like I have toyed with making like Yordon Alvarez ahead of Ellie Dela Cruz. I'm not going to do it because again, I'm a coward. But I think Yordaun Alvarez's skill set is more difficult to find in fantasy baseball right now

than what Ellie brings to the table. I just think Ellie is so impactful, where he's impactful, that I'm gonna just rank him ahead, but I'm probably not going to have Ellie Dealer Cruz on any of my teams this year. If you do take Ellie in the first round

of a Roto Categories League, Freddie Freeman just feels like a really good pairing with him. You might fall a little bit behind in power, but to get that 280, 290 plus batting average to pair with Ellie, feels like a pretty good pairing. In a 12-team league, Ellie plus Yordon is actually viable.

Like, that could happen. Or if there's any way Vlad slips a little bit. That is, if that happens, that is phenomenal. Like, man, if you could start, imagine starting Ellie, Yoron Alvarez, Ronald Acuna. That's a realistic start. And boy, that would be a lot of fun. For now, it is a realistic start.

Yeah. I also think Jackson Meryl in the third round, I almost said Merrill Kelly, what's going on here? But Ellie Freeman, Jackson, Merrill, that feels like it kind of helps the batting average boost up a little bit after taking Ellie in the first round. Just one other question on Ellie Daly-Da-Cruz in a points league. Scott, you mentioned that he's lower.

Where are you actually willing to take him in a points league? Well, if I pull up my handy-dandy points league rankings, which I don't have ready to go here. Actually, it's in the... I have it on the rundown, but Scott just hates my rundown for some reason. Okay, tell me what. You tell me then, Frank.

I don't know. I'm trying to set you up, you know? I'm the host. I mean, I could have just told people. But Scott, you have him 15th, as do I. And Chris has Ellie 18th in points leagues. Okay. So there you go.

Early. He's still a good points league player. Yeah, yeah. He's still 70 paces. That's worth a lot of points. This is one of the- bring him down more. This always happens with the speed specialist where people tend to overreact to them in

points leagues. This was the Trey Turner thing for years. He would go way too late. And like, he was probably just a first rounder in points leagues anyway. Ellie is a borderline first rounder. Yeah. Yeah.

The also elite tier includes just one name and that is Trey Turner who bounced back in his second year with Phillies, but unfortunately he missed time due to a hamstring injury. He hit 21 home runs with 19 steals across 121 games. His full season pace, that's 28 home runs, 25 steals. I will continue to point this out. Point it out. Before he hurt the hamstring. Tell him.

Trey Turner had 10 steals in 33 games. That is a 49 steel pace over a full season. I think he's still capable of stealing 30 to 40. He could steal 40 plus bases if he wanted to. I don't know that he actually wants to or that's going to happen. But I think he's capable. So I'll just start out there. I mean, look, he hasn't had a 40 steal season since 2018.

He's only had 135 steel season. I'm not expecting it. Since 2018 and it was 2019. So I think like Tray Turner's just a 30 steal guy, which, okay, 30 steals with the good batting average, 20 to 25 homers, good run total. Yeah, it's the second round player. I've seen him falling to round three and I may have even seen him slip to round four before. It's kind of nuts how far Trey Turner sliding. It's like people just got bored with them or something.

I think we have this tendency. So for tomorrow, for Thursday's FBT newsletter, I'm doing a who could be in the 2026 first round. And Trey Turner's on my list. And I made a point of saying, I wanted to pick an old guy because I feel like every other player is like, yeah, Jackson Churio, Jackson. Yeah, of course, those guys could be first rounders next year. We tend to think that the error bars are a lot smaller for veterans than they actually are. But like, if he steals 40 bases next year, he's probably a first rounder. I'm not saying that's the

likeliest outcome, but if Tray Turner just does everything he's done the last few years and steals 40 bases, like you're talking about a guy who might lead the league in runs, who's going to hit 25 homers, who's probably going to hit close to 300. Like, that's a first round player,

even though he's 31 and we don't tend to think that those guys have upside, you know? Jose Ramirez just had the best year of his career at 31. Yeah, we just need the Phillies to change their, their ballpark construction

so that all of Trey Turner's fly ball is just turn into home runs like they did for Jose Ramirez in Cleveland last year. But the ADP for Trey Turner in January is 24.8. I like talking about these pairings. I don't know why I always just think of things this way like

which players make sense that fit together. And Trey Turner with Aaron Judge it just feels like it makes so much sense, right? Like you just cover all bases. You get good batting average from both a ton of power from Judge Sneaking a Zach Wheeler. Could get like 25 to 30 steals from Turner.

It just feels like it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, that's a good start. Yep. The near elite tier is also just one name. Corey Seeger, who is still a very strong per game producer, but continues to deal with injuries. Last year, Seeger had surgery for a hernia on his left side back in January. That was before the season.

News came out of nowhere. We didn't know if he was going to be ready for opening day. He was ready. He got off to a really slow start and then pick things up. But then his season ended on the IL because Seeger had another surgery in September for a sports hernia on his right side. So two hernia surgeries in one year. He had arthroscopic surgery on his left hip back in 2018.

I was reading more about this and those things are all kind of related hip and hernia and groin and all that just kind of region. So I wonder if, you know, there's just been a lot of wear and tear for Corey Seeger over the years and lots of injuries. Scott, Corey Seeger, the ADP in January is 48.4. He is somebody I'm much more likely to take in a 10 or 12 team league because the replacement value is so much better and I almost expect him to miss time throughout the year.

I get that. Most of his time missed though have been like, they've been like I need surgery here, you know, I need surgery on this hernia. Oh, I need it operated on again. I've had, he had Tommy John surgery earlier in his career. I think he had a hip surgery that same offseason. I'm struggling to put it exactly how I mean it,

but he doesn't feel like the classic injury prone case. Do you know what I mean, or does that not make sense? I don't know what I mean. I got you. No, no, no, I hear what you're saying. There were a lot of like hamstring issues. early on for Corey Seeger in his career less so lately, but in his Dodgers days,

he missed a lot of time with like lower, lower leg injuries, if I'm remembering correctly. He's not getting any younger. He turns 31 in April. Look, you know, I think Corey Seeger's the best hitter at the position.

That's not the best fantasy player because he doesn't steal any bases and his injury history, but like, I've got him about 14 spots ahead of his ADP. I think that's partially a NFBC, no IL deeper league context. And that's just a harder,

pill to swallow there, but I think when he's on the field, Corey Seeger is a superstar, and he's going to help carry your team for long stretches of the season. In a 12-team league, if he's falling to the end of the fourth round, early fifth round,

you should draft that every time. Even if you already took a shortstop, just I don't care. Middle infielder utility, it's fine. And I rank him lower than I used to. I used to always be, like, leading the point on Corey Seeger. This is going to be the year he's contenting for MVP.

So I guess I am factoring in some of that injury risk. But I'd be thrilled to take him where I have him in this near elite tier as the only player there. Like if there comes a point in the draft where everybody from the elite tier at each position is gone. And I'm looking at what's available at every near elite tier, at every position. and Corey Seeger's there all alone. I'm probably going to take him.

Part of maybe why I have him a little lower than in years past is that he, for Roto Leagues, this matters anyway. He's like the only shortstop who's going to be a zero in steals. He and Carlos Correa, who's going much, much later. Pretty much everybody gives you steals at this position, except Corey Seeger. So that does for Roto League's kind of alter, it kind of boxes you into a certain approach

with your remaining picks if you take Corey Seeger as your shortstop. But it does a lot of other things really well, of course. All right, the next best things tier includes O'Neill Cruz, C.J. Abrams, Willie Adomas, Bobauchette, and Matt McLean. A very interesting mix of names here. Worth reminding people that Cruz is slated to play center field for the pirates this upcoming season, but he still has shortstop eligibility for 2025.

probably not going to have it after this year and moving into other future years. But Adomis is now in San Francisco. McLean is returning from multiple injuries. He missed all of last year. He had shoulder surgery and then had a stress fracture in his rib cage while he was rehabbing in the second half of the season.

If you look at the range of ADP here, it's a pretty massive range. We're looking at rounds four through 11. O'Neill Cruz is on the high end at 42.6. And as we've talked about a lot this offseason already, Boba Chet is all the way at the bottom at 132. So I know the fallback options are up next, Scott, and I said this the other day, I think about the first base position,

but I'd really like to get my starting shortstop by the end of this tier, if at all. If I can make that happen, I'd be pretty happy with that. I mean, I think the names of the tiers kind of makes that clear, because this is true basically at every position. Once you get to the fallback options, you kind of hope to already have the position filled and not have to rely on a fallback option.

So I'm with you on that. It's probably going to be Bo Pichet in a lot of leagues where I don't happen to fill shortstop early because the value is just so insanely good. I just wrote about him for my sleepers 1.0 and so you can read the whole spiel there, but it just is, I can't even make sense of why people are dropping him that far down the rankings.

And I've, I've always kind of thought Boba Chet was overrated when we were taking him in rounds one through three, which by the way, was just last year. He was a third rounder on average. And now people are letting him fall to round 12. So whatever.

Wild, yeah. Yeah. 26 years old. Somebody, somebody's going to be very wrong about Bichette, either this podcast or the ADP because, I mean,

look, here's the thing, man. If he's like the 90th, best player in fantasy this year, we're not wrong. That would split the difference, I guess. I mean, that would be, that would be the consensus got it way wrong. So I'm fine with that. I think what's, what's becoming clear is that every time I'm in a draft with Chris,

I can't, I can't, I can't expect to get Bo Bichette at going rate because one of us is going to jump in. I've got him ahead of William. Yeah, that's about where I have. I've got him ahead of. Willie Adomis, actually. Okay, I haven't behind Adomis, but in that 70 to 80 range, yeah. Yeah, I was looking to get Bichette in that draft, too, and I think Chris is the one who wound up with him.

Yeah, I mean, this is, there's a lot of upside here with O'Neill Cruz. Some people argue there's a lot of untapped upside for C.J. Abrams. Of course, Willie Adamas was huge last year. It was like a top 20 hitter overall, right? I don't think he's going to do that again. I have him as a bus this year, but I can only have him so far down the rankings based on what he just did. And then we talked about Bichette.

And then there's Matt McLean, who on a per game basis two years ago was studly. I think he overperformed. I think a lot of the underlying metrics suggest that. But there's power there, there's speed there. He should be an everyday player. If it's at second base,

then I have him ranked too low. And I think, the expectation today is it will be second base. It's just the acquisition of Gavin Lux throws that into doubt. Yeah, for what it's worth, Ross, the resource currently has Matt McLean at second base with Gavin Lux at DH, which I just don't see that happening. I mean, they have... It's going to be a different lineup every day, I think.

I think Ellie de la Cruz and Christian and Carnacian, Strand are probably the only two guys who like are going to be in the same spot in the lineup every day. The fallback options tier includes Zander Bogarts, Zach Netto, Carlos Correa, Xavier Edwards, Tyler Fitzgerald, and Dansby Swanson. This is a mix of old and new in this tier could be starting options in deeper leagues. Netto had right shoulder surgery back in November. He could miss opening day. I mentioned that earlier. Danesby Swanson had the core muscle surgery. He is expected to be ready for spring training. Xavier Edwards and Fitzgerald both flashed in the second half,

but we are dealing with small sample sizes with both of those guys. Correa, he missed extensive time, like he usually does, this kind of recurring foot-ancle issue that he keeps dealing with. But when he played 3.3 fantasy points per game were better than William Damos, Corey Seeger, C.J. Abrams. So, uh, and a- He was right there with Trey Turner in terms of points per game, Carlos Correa.

an elite mark if you do wait on the position in a points league, where obviously the replacement value is much higher. So, Scott, these names, they feel very situational, I guess, except for Bogarts. You could probably draft him just regardless of format. But Netto, if you draft him, you're probably going to need an IL spot. Correa, I think is better in like shallower points leagues. You know, Edwards and Fitzgerald, I think you really only want those guys in category leagues. And then Swanson, I think it's actually a better deep league.

option. He just feels like a okay floor guy that's just going to play every day. And that hernia, that hernia surgery could be impactful because he's, I was reading about it today. He said he, he suffered that injury in 2023 and just tried to play through it last year. And so that could explain why he had such a down season. And he was better in the second half. Yeah, he really came on strong at the end. Closer to like an 800 OPS in the second half, I remember incorrectly. Largely salvaged it. But it's, It's a good point that he may be, he may bounce back in an even bigger way than I'm expecting coming off that hernia surgery.

I think he belongs in this tier pretty definitively. But yeah, there are a lot of different, there are a lot of different concerns in this tier. Carlos Coray, of course, has the health concern, which, stop me if you've heard this before, said it for like two other players on this podcast. I actually think it's kind of overblown because he averaged 140. games the previous three seasons. 140 games is okay you're missing a few with injury but that's not like

it's viable. It feels like this foot thing is only getting worse though, no. So he did miss about two months with it last year it's it's tough because it's an injury that you kind of just have to manage and it might be fine and it might completely ruin his season

and it's just it's really hard to say but at his price I don't care. It's, it's, because it's a leap, like last year felt like a real, a lot hinged on last season for Carlos Correa's fantasy value because we had performance concerns at that point. 2022 is first year in Minnesota was fine on an individual level, but it was bad for fantasy because the runs in RBI were way low. Didn't make sense. But it was kind of a disappointment performance wise. We're giving them a pass.

2023, he just wasn't himself. And it's like, okay, well, if I can't count on this guy to perform when healthy, then what's the point? And so I can understand his draft stock cratering. He really needed a bounce back season performance-wise last year. And he gave it. He was awesome. But he missed some time with injury. So it's like he doesn't get any credit for that bounce-back performance.

That doesn't seem right. And for some context, it was a 3-10 average with a 2-10 average with a, 280 XBA, so not quite backing it up, but still very good. A 205 run plus RBI pace and a 26 homer pace for Carlos Correa. He was really, really good. Maybe I'll start team. That's one of those things where it's like, if he misses two months, I don't care. I already banked the production.

I'll get, you know, whatever replacement level guy. And this is a 12-team context. A 15-team league, I can see why. you'd be hesitant to buy in, but even then, 240. So low, and he might not miss two months. Yeah, that's not a given at all. And so. And if you take him that late and he gets hurt, you can just drop him.

Yeah. I have, if he's 240 and 12 team leagues, that is stealing money. I haven't ranked about 100 spots higher than that to put it into perspective. I have him not quite that high. So there you go. All right. So, uh, there you go, Scott. You don't have to worry about Chris Sagan, Carlos,

Correa from you, apparently. He did. He did in the points. I think, oh, I can wait forever to draft this guy that I love more than anyone else. Loves him. And then I wait too long because Chris who has, you know, it's not quite love, but he has an affection for Carlos Correa. We'll jump in there. All right.

The last resort's tier. We have five names. Anthony Volpe, Ezekiel Tovar, Jeremy Pena, Mason Wynne, and Sadan Raphaela, who is one tier lower in head to head points leagues. Scott, why do you hate young shortstuffs? The love for each of these guys is a head scratcher for me. Anthony Volpey, the Love Fest continues. He is a certain liability in batting average.

Probably not much help in home runs. Give you a decent number of steals, I guess. He might be a one category player. He feels very Andres Jimenez-e. And he's going like 50 picks on, I think. Or maybe he breaks through finally. It's possible, but I'd rather gamble on Carlos Correa just staying healthy. I'd rather gamble on Zach Netto coming back after a couple weeks into the season.

Then gamble on Anthony Volpe suddenly figuring it out and turning in the season that his prospect, Pettigris said he should deliver on. Ezekiel Tovar feels like above average home run threat at the position, but not much else. very one dimensional batting average is not a huge help but it's not hurting you it's better than you know other players that we talk about so

yeah but it's a limited profile it's obviously even worse in points leagues yeah he's basically useless in points leagues yeah um Jeremy painia's fine but he's only fine Mason win you know there was a report out to the other day that he's looking to steal 40 bases this year

yes okay yeah I'll have him rank too low if he does that but a couple years ago, Ozzy Albee said he wanted to steal 40 bases. I don't know how serious. It doesn't mean nothing to me because stolen base is the one like central fantasy stat

that a player's, how do you put it, Chris? It's, uh, I've referred to it as a decision-based stat. Yeah, there's an intent to do it. And so just, yeah, if he really wants to steal 40 base, he could just decide to steal 40 bases,

but there are other things that factor into the decision-making there that I'm not just going to pencil them in for that. Yeah, Mason win I did write up in breakouts 1.0. Chris, I think you did too. Same. Yeah. Mason win 87th percentile sprint speed, and he stole a lot of bases in the miners

with a very high success rate too. So I think he's capable and he's saying that he wants to do it. I don't know if he'll get 40, but can he get 25 to 30 with a pretty good batting average? after he moved to the leadoff spot last year. His batting average wasn't great, but I actually do think that's a strength for him because he makes a lot of contact

and hits a lot of line drives. But after he moved in the leadoff spot, I believe it was 102 run, 20 homer pace and only four steals in like 100 games. And so that's where if he's not going to steal bases, then yeah, he's an afterthought for fantasy. He's just a middle infielder and probably not a particularly good one.

If he's a 30 stolen base guy and he can hit 275, and he can hit 20 homers and he scores 100 runs. That's a really interesting player. A lot of ifs. Bryson Stott could theoretically do that. Yeah, 100%.

Andres Jimenez could theoretically do that. I think if Mason Wynn becomes a 30 steel guy, he is more likely becoming as good as those two rather than surpassing them. But sure, it's possible he could surpass them. And then the leftovers here has 11 names. Again, not going to read off all of those. I did want to mention Hassan Kim, who is in this tier,

remains a free agent. He had shoulder surgery in the offseason might not be ready for opening day. And that shortstop depth is not great. So there was 11 names in the shortstop leftovers versus what did I say earlier, 25 in the second base position. So just to put that lack of depth in perspective for everybody.

But if you do want to check out those tiers again, they're all live on the site. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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