Fantasy Baseball Today - 2026 Outfield Tiers! Rankings, ADP, Strategy & More! (1/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

Let's get into outfield tiers, starting with the First Rounders (3:35)! Will Ronald Acuña get back to running? ... Why is Fernando Tatis Jr. in the elite tier but not first round (17:43)? ... The near-elite tier is a weird one (24:45)! They don't feel like OF1s but they might have to be. ... Why does Scott hate Jackson Merrill (30:58)? ... News (43:20): Taylor Rogers signed a one-year deal with the Twins. ... Kyle Stowers and Brandon Nimmo kick off the fallback options tier (48:44). ... The last resorts tier has a lot of interesting names (1:00:14)! Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

And welcome into fantasy baseball today on January 23rd. I am Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we are talking outfield tiers unless we get a Mets trade. I mean, it would be the third night in a row. I don't think anything has happened yet, but because I just said that, I'm sure something crazy will come down. But not yet, as of now. We did get another trade.

Actually, I just, no. Uh-oh, whoa, don't do that. McKenzie Gore was traded over to the Texas Rangers. Chris and I did an emergency podcast for that. So be sure to check it out if you are interested in hearing our thoughts on McKenzie Gore. But with that, a lot of outfielders to talk about, a lot of tiers to talk about. So let's jump in a short podcast. Right in.

And we will mention utility only players along the way. Scott doesn't do just tiers for utility only players. There's like 10 of them. So that doesn't make sense. So we'll just mention them along the way here. The first rounders tier. Not all of them are here, I should point out. I include the DH-only players, or UTIL-only, as you say.

I include them at the position where they'd be most likely to gain eligibility, however unlikely that is. So Bryce Eldridge, I tiered at first base. Ivan Herrera, I tiered at Catcher. But the majority of the DH-only guys will be in the outfield here. I missed those names. Well, I guess we didn't do Catcher Tears, but... Yeah, I brought up Eldridge on the first base one.

You know what? I should have been listening. All right, let's talk first rounders. Aaron Judge, Shohei Otani, who again, it's UTIL only. Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker, Ronald de Cunia, Corbyn Carroll, and Julio Rodriguez. Rodriguez, by the way, is one tier lower in head-ded points. And I will also mention Kyle Schwabber is part of this tier,

but he would be one tier lower in Roto or categories. Again, Otani and Schwaber, they're UTIL only. I guess there's a chance Schwerber could gain in-season outfield eligibility, but I'm pretty sure he has it on you. Yahoo just to start the season because it's it's Yahoo. Have you looked or are you just assuming? No, I have not looked, but that is a, that's like a 99% assumption right there. Yeah.

Yeah. For reference here for the points per game, Schwabre at 3.8, that's why he's in this tier in that format. Julio's at 3.4. That's why he drops down a tier. NFBC ADP in January, we have Otani at 1.1. Judges at 1.9. So very, very close between those two at the top.

Soto at 4.1. Carol at 8.1, Acuna at 8.5. Julio at 10, Tucker at 18. But we know that number will go up for Tucker, obviously. Schwabra is down at 24, but most NFBC drafts are roto drafts. I think the three most polarizing in this group will be Tucker, Acuna, and Julio. And maybe they shouldn't be, but Tucker has missed 110 games over the past two years. I think people are worried about that, even though they've kind of been fluky injuries for him.

Acuna returned from his second torn ACL last year, and he didn't run very much. He ran a bunch in the Venezuelan Winter League, whatever that's worth. And Julio, those first halves are just really, really frustrating. And I think some people just get tired of it. It doesn't really matter to me because he gets there. But Chris, do you disagree? I feel like those three are the most polarizing of this group. I disagree that they should be polarizing.

I think they're all awesome players, and I'd be thrilled to have any of them on my teams. You mentioned Ronald O'Cuna. I, 11 steals and 16 games in the Venezuelan Winter League. The Braves could just say you're not playing in the Venezuelan Winter League. I suppose it might be harder for them to say, okay, you can play, but no stolen bases. I kind of think if they didn't want him to run, he wouldn't be running. And if he's running in the Venezuelan Winter League, kind of think he's going to run in the majors. I'm not saying we're getting a 73 steel season from Ronald Cuna again, but if he's got 11 steals in 16 games in in what are I think it's unfair to say that they are

exhibition games because this means a lot to the players who are from Venezuela, but he's not making $25 million a year playing in Venezuela, you know? So I think we're going to see Ronald Kuna run a lot more than he did last season. And if you can yeah, And he was like kind of an oblique. Like he didn't say for sure, but it was like, yeah, I'm going to run. My understanding that ever since coming back from the second torn ACL, it's been his decision. I know Alex Synthos, I don't have the exact quote. But Alex Anthopoulos, you know, coming into last year, said something to the effect of we're not going to ask Rambla Kuna to stop being Akunia.

That's a big part of his game. So it was more about Acuna himself deciding to go easier on his knee. And he said this offseason, again, I don't have the exact quote, but the gist I got if it was, I'm going to stop doing that. I'm going to get back to being the aggressive base dealer I was. And now we have a bit of evidence with his time in the Venezuelan Winter League. So that's very encouraging. And I think he was my number six.

six overall player for Roto. I think there's a very clear top five in Roto, and I can't see anyone breaking into that. Kuna obviously has that upside, but given the risks, six is where I'd slot him, the highest of kind of the next cluster of first rounders. But the Kyle Tucker trade, him going to the Dodgers, he's now surpassed to Kunu for me, and it shows here in the tiers as the number six overall player, number three outfielder. for Roto. And I really don't get the hesitation with him.

I understood a little more when he was still a free agent. We didn't know where he was going to go. I do think the venue might have made a difference for him. I think Wrigley Field, just looking at the home away splits last year, hindered Kyle Tucker. Been a tough place to hit the last couple years. He has had, he has missed time with injuries the last two years. As you pointed out, Frank,

they were both stress fractures. They weren't the kind of injuries that we expect to be recurring or nagging. And maybe his biggest mistake in both cases was just playing through that. Well, in both instances, they were misdiagnosed, which like, it's bad that that happened twice, but it's not likely to happen a third time. Yeah. And just in terms of production, like, is there beyond the, you know, beyond that obvious top five at the start. start of drafts. Is there a more consistent

five category contributor than Tucker? And now he's with the Dodgers. Maybe one of the most optimal lineup spots in baseball history, because he's either going to be batting behind three Hall of Famers or right in the thick of them. And the run and RBI production is going to be unlike he's ever delivered before for however long he's healthy.

and I can't guarantee health, but, you know, it's, it's more likely than drafters are giving it credit for clearly because that's the only knock I can think of on Kyle Tucker that, oh yeah, he might miss some time with injuries because he has the past two years. I don't think it's compelling enough case for me to look past the upside. He now has in a better venue for his swing and even more than that in one of the most optimal lines. up spots in baseball. So Kyle Tucker, clear number six overall for me now. And then I do want to just point out with Julio Rodriguez. I know we want to move off on, but there's no guarantee he gets off to a slow start every year. I know it's happened so far. No, I think it's guaranteed, Chris. I'm old enough to remember when Adam LaRoche couldn't hit in the

first half, and then he did, you know? Like, that's... Wow, you're old. I'm pretty old. I'm old enough to remember Adam Laroche's son drink. I've never even heard that. But Julio Rodriguez, like, he might just be great the whole season. And if that happens, we're talking about a 25-year-old with supreme athletic ability who has played at a very high level at the major league level. Like, if we get a 40-40 season from Julio at some point, I'm not going to be shocked. Right. Yeah.

That's within the realm of possibility with his tools. Like, he might just put it all together one year and be the number one player in fantasy. Yeah. I mean, I think the slow start thing is stupid anyway, just because... You get the numbers at the end of the year. Look for the numbers from year to year are very consistent. So, you know, when he was just starting out, when he was just starting out, we might have, we, Royal Wee, might have made two mistakes.

One, thinking his second half stats would translate to the full season the following year and ranking him like second overall. We made that mistake. Two, panicking when he got off to a slow start that maybe something. something was wrong with him. We should know better than that now, too. So, like, to me, it's, it's silly to even make that part of the evaluation. Just rank him according to his full season stat line, and he's very likely to deliver on it.

In a roto context, the distribution doesn't even matter, as long as you trust through the early cold stretch to keep him in your lineup, which, again, everybody should know to do by now. You know, it's going to be fine. And the one year he didn't get the numbers there at the end, he got crazy hot. in July and then had a high ankle sprain that he played through for the rest of the season. So the numbers were going to be there if not for that injury. I agree with you guys completely. But you know at the end of April we are going to get emails and tweets.

I mean, what's wrong with Julio? What's wrong with Francisco Lindor? Like it happens. Yeah. Every single year. Francisco Indoor. For Francisco Indoor, four straight years is a top 12 player, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Every year, what's wrong with Francisco Indoor? I'm going to drop Francisco Indoor. But you do it. You do have to know yourself as a fantasy player. If you get frustrated by players getting off to slow starts, look, there's no shortage of amazing players in the first and second round. You don't have to take Julio Rodriguez if you don't want him.

The numbers more than likely are going to get there, but he's probably going to get off to a slow start. It's just that's the way it's been. The numbers bear that out. His career in the first half, he's a 260 hitter, 737 OPS, 114 WRC plus. Career in the second half, 297, 902 OPS, 154 WRC plus. Like, the numbers just back it up. That's the player that Julio Rodriguez has been.

Last thing I'll mention here, the steals with Juan Soto, we just have no clue. And anyone who tells you they do have a clue, they don't. It's just nobody knows. He had 38 last season. His previous career high was 12. The Mets lost their first base coach, Antoine Richardson, who went to the Braves. So maybe that's a good thing for Atlanta Braves running this season. But that coach was very instrumental in Soto last season.

I would probably expect 15 to 20, but he could steal. steal 10, he could steal 30 again. Nobody really knows. We'll throw that out there. Yeah, I think that's fair. I'm more bullish, more optimistic about him carrying over as a base dealer, continuing as a base dealer maybe than I was at the end of the regular season when he was doing it because those reports about his work with Antoine Richardson came out.

And I always like when there's an explanation, and particularly that compelling of an explanation for a a considerable change of production like that. Is it possible he'll revert to his own ways without Richardson there? Yeah, it's possible. But like, it's not like he's going to unlearn what he's learned, you know? Yeah. So I think there's a good chance he sustains 80% of what he did in 2025 as a base dealer.

And if he doesn't, he's, If he doesn't, it's not going to kill you to take him as high his fourth overall. Yeah, especially non-points. Yeah, you're only to get 40 homers and 100 RBI and 110 runs for Monsota. It's such an incredibly high floor. I will admit, I have Ronald O'Cuna ahead of Monsota. But that's just me kind of planning a flag on Rano Kuhnir. But there's nothing wrong with being the number six player in fantasy.

That quote, by the way, for Ocuna talking about steals. He won the 2025 comeback player of the year in the National League. I believe it was Greg Amsinger who, you know, was interviewing him and said, oh, you're going to get back to running next year. And Ocunia said, quote, you know me. And he started smiling. So sounds like he's going to run. That's what he did in the Venezuel.

I think there was, there had to be something else because that. I think that sounds like too much being made of too little if that's all there is. I mean, you know, he said that and then he stole a bunch in the winter league. So maybe it matters. Let's take our first break before we do that. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. 40K by opening day. We're trying to get there.

And you can sign up. You can subscribe for free. And we have this little QR code in the top right corner that will take you right to where you need to be to subscribe. Let's take that break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. We're talking outfield tiers for 2026. And let's get into the elite tier.

And that includes Fernando Tatez Jr., Jackson Churio, Pete Crow Armstrong, and James Wood. also Yard on Alvarez here probably has outfield on Yahoo again I don't know that for a second You know I just checked and it does say Outfield but I don't know if that's a leftover from last year or not

I'm pretty sure that If you play like two or three games in the out You probably have that eligibility on the He owns an outfield glove I think that's how the eligibility is determined yes on CBS Alvarez is util only but on Yahoo does have that outfield eligibility ADP for this group

Tatis is at 13.9 Trio at 21, PCA at 32, James Wood at 31, and Alvarez right at 40. So Scott, I have to ask, why isn't Tatis in the previous tier, huh? Explain yourself. I think I've come to the conclusion that Fernando Tatis is not a 30-homer guy. Every year, he impacts the ball well enough to be. Of course, he was a few years ago at the height of his career. and he impacts the ball well enough to be a 30 homer guy.

But now that I've become familiar with Polair rate and it's much easier to see for every player, I can see why Fernando Tatis keeps coming up short of his expected stats. And that's just because he doesn't angle the ball optimally off the bat. And I don't see why it would change at this point. So I think he's very good, but I think he is more good in a second round sort of than a first round sort of way. I'll say also, like, I am very uncomfortable with this tier

because Fernando Tatis and Jackson Churio, to me, are very safe second round type of players. And Pete Crowe, Armstrong, and James Wood are very risky third round type of players. And so I don't like the idea of having them in the same tier, but I don't think there is, I don't like either of them in the higher tier and I don't like any of them in the higher tier and I don't like any of them in the lower tier.

I kind of wish I could have two separate tiers of two. But a tier of four is already so small in a position as big as Altheid. So I think I'm just going to live in the discomfort of having them sorted the way I do. I will also say if Yordon Alvarez remains a fourth round pick in a 12-team league, I'm just going to draft Yordon Avarez.

everywhere. And I have said I want to diversify my teams more and not be as exposed to a single player blowing up all my teams. But Yaron Averez is, there are not many players who could hit 300 and hit 40 homers in the same season. I think Yaroni Navarez is one of those guys. And I kind of just think that's what he's going to do as long as he avoids the freak injuries, which last year it was what a fractured hand that got misdye. And then Houston Astros, by the way. Yeah, and then he sprained his ankle crossing home plate. He was running across home plate and his ankle just like turned on the plate. He's not the first player that that has happened to. Oh, Scott. The Royal's first baseman way back in the day who like broke his leg on home plate. Oh, Kendry Morales. Kendri's Morales, yes. But like that was a while ago. You generally don't expect players to hurt. themselves crossing home plate very often. I know he has a long injury history. He's a very large human. He has chronic knee issues. But the knees haven't really been a problem the last two years.

He missed like a week in 2024. But he's, the knees have not been. It's always kind of lingering, though. You always hear about it like, ah, you know, his knees are kind of bothering him. I will just say this. The thing that I always say is if the only thing that you need to go right is he stays healthy, that's a player I'm going to buy, especially if it's at a very discounted price like it is with Yard on Alvarez. Because Byron Buxton couldn't stay healthy until he did. There's going to be a season where Yard on Alvarez plays 150 games and just puts up monster numbers. I mean, two years ago, two years ago he played 147, right? Yeah. Like, yeah. Three and of the last five years, Alvarez has played at least 135 games. That is a steal in the fourth round, if you get that.

And his ADP, his ADP last season, just for reference, was 16.0. I do think it is a different, just because I was making a similar case for Kyle Tucker, how the fluky nature of his injuries, how unlikely they were to happen again. I do think Alvarez is a legitimate injury-prone. I think that's fair. He's very, very large. Yeah. And has some health issues that are never going to go away.

and even if the knees itself don't bother him, the favoring of the knees could lead to other injuries. Having said that, this is a guy who pretty much ever since he was promoted, we'd been drafting as a second rounder, maybe even a first rounder. And skill-wise, nothing has changed here. I agree he will hit 300 and deliver a 40-homer pace. He's never actually hit 40 homers, but he's always missed. some amount of time.

And you can take that to the bank. It's just you've got to be a little bit fearful of another scenario where he plays only 50 or 60 games. But I think that's baked out at the price. He's a big player for me depending on what size of league you play in. 12 team points league, I'm all over Alvarez as a third round pick. 12 team roto, I think I'm a little bit more cautious about it,

but I think I can still get behind it. anything deeper than that, like 15 team roto, it's just like the replacement value is going to be so bad if he's to miss time. So maybe you push him down a little bit in those. No caution here. I'm drafting him everywhere. 10 or 12 team leagues. That is the one,

that is legitimately the one guy. If I leave every single draft with Yaron on average, I'm happy with it. And now, and fast forward to us doing the episode of the players we drafted the most, Chris is like, hey, I only have one share.

Yeah, what's going to happen. Well, because I'm stupidly saying it. out loud in front of a bunch of people I'll be drafting with. Don't listen to me. Completely agree with you, Scott, by the way, on PCA and James Wood. I think I ranked them as late third round picks, but I just never, I never feel like I'm the person to press draft on them so far in the drafts that I've done.

And it just, again, it's, it makes me a little nervous drafting those two based on the way that their seasons ended. So I think they're both extremely talented players, but I think they're flawed as well. And so I think I need to see more before I'm using a third round pick on either of those guys, PCA and James Wood. Let's get into the near elite tier buckle up. We have 11 names in this one

and that includes Byron Buxton, Wyatt Langford, Christian Yellich, who's Util Only, George Springer, Coy Bellinger, Brent Rooker, Randy Rosa Rana, Riley Green, Sayas Suzuki, Jaron, Duran, and Roman Anthony. This ADP range, this group, ADP ranges from 48 with Langford down to 125 at Yelich.

If we exclude him because he's, again, Utah only, then this would end with George Springer at 94. So basically 50 to 100 is where this group is being drafted. And Scott, these feel more like second outfielders on your fantasy team, but you just might not have the opportunity to grab the other names we spoke about, right? Those are all first or second round picks,

and if you're nervous about James Wood and PCA, you might not want to use their third round pick on those guys. and then boom, next thing you know, it's like round four, five, and six, and you might wind up with one of these as your outfieldered one. So we talked about this range of outfielders recently, and really you could kind of put the next two tiers in the same category of outfielders that you're just not going to be that thrilled to draft, for the most part.

I'm sure we can all pick out favorites here. but for the most part it's doubtful that they're going to really exceed their draft position and there's a fair amount of risk with most of them too and so you kind of just want to say oh I'll keep waiting in the outfield but that doesn't get better right in fact the drop off there comes a point and it's it's not it's not within the next couple tiers but you know everybody needs a lot of outfielders. They go quickly and there comes a point where the drop off is steep and if you haven't,

if you haven't addressed outfield in a major way at that point, you are going to be hurting. So if you don't have an outfield, you don't draft a first rounder, let's say, or you don't get Tatis or Chirio in round two, you bypass Crowe Armstrong and Wood. You know, you're going to have to bite the bullet and take, you know,

maybe George Springer, maybe Jaron Duran, maybe you're going to be the one who reaches for Roman Anthony, who I think, you know, this tier is wide enough that his ADP is within this range, but I have him toward the back end of this tier, whereas ADP has him closer to the front end of this tier, Roman Anthony. So it's people reaching for upside to avoid settling for what they view as a regression risk

or just a middling. And middling's not entirely fair, but just a medium upside guy. Yeah. What's the quote? This is the worst here at Outfield, except for all the other ones behind it. It's kind of how I feel about it. It's like I think Outfield has depth, but then I get to every point in the Outfield rankings. I don't know if I actually love this position.

But yeah, there's a lot of good players here. They're just kind of all, they all have question marks for. sure. They don't feel like outfielder ones, you know, in the traditional sense, right? It feels like normally the third or fourth round outfielders, you know, we just have more confidence in or there's just more of them to go around usually.

But again, these guys are more like, you know, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round picks, things like that. In this current draft that I'm doing right now, it's a slow draft, 12 teamer over at the NFBC. I waited until the end of round five to grab my first outfielder. You guys tell me if you would be alright with this. I have

Roman Anthony, Jaron, Alex Burleson, Ian Hap, Kerry Carpenter, Josh Lowe, as my six out-go-in-off. Is it 15-team or 12-teamer? 12-teamer. It feels okay. Yeah, it's a little light on...

Yeah, it's missing a third outfielder, I think. Burleson doesn't cut it for me. Ian Hap? Probably now. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, Ian Hap is... Hap's okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, it's not a strength of your team, but I think you can work with it. I honestly, I don't think I have a lot of strengths on that team. So the pitching is pretty good, but I think maybe I leaned a little bit too hard into pitching on that one. Looking at this now,

I probably need to move Cody Bellinger to the top of this tier. I thought I had already ranked him, presuming he was going back to the Yankees, but maybe I was fence straddling a little bit. Now that he's back with the Yankees, such a favorable venue for him. Yeah. He's got to go to the top.

I will say, my number 11 outfielder is not in this. tier. Uh-oh. Oh, I know who it is. Yeah, yeah. Scott hates that guy. I don't know.

He hates him. He hates the San Diego Padres. That's true. Scott has daddy issues. Wow. Wow. Another fan base that's going to be in the mentions this year, Scott. Uh-oh.

Padres join the Cubs. Yep. I think he was saying some bad things about saying her Bogart's the other day. All the Mets fans are getting mad at me lately because, you know, I've been doing the bit. What does it say about? player who just signed that the Dodgers didn't sign him. The joke being the Dodgers can get whoever they want. And so if they don't want this guy,

well, what does it say about him? And lately the Mets have been making all the big moves. So Mets fans who don't follow me and aren't in on the joke just think I'm just like, you know, dismissing all of their big acquisitions. And it's not the Mets that he hates. It's the Padres. Yeah.

And the Cubs. Yeah. I mean, We know that. You know, Scott, you should turn on this feature on Twitter X, whatever you want to call it, where you only see the mentions from people that follow you. It's a very cool feature, and I have it on. You know, Scott, you already got Greg Maddox.

You don't have to spike the football on the Cubs. Yeah. Derek Lee? Yeah. He didn't. We had him for a hot minute. Oh, he was on the Braves. You're right, right.

Let's move on to the next best things tier. that includes Jose Altuve, Michael Harris, Jackson Merrill, Tyler Soderstrom, and O'Neill Cruz, both Harris and Cruz, both one tier lower in head-to-head points leagues. Obviously, Cruz strikes out quite a bit. Michael Harris barely walks. Michael Harris's OBP last season was 268. I think Michael Harris had like nine more walks than I did last season. That is insane.

So the name that Chris was referring to earlier is Jackson Merrill, who you have as your 11th rank. to outfielder. Scott has in this tier and not the previous one. I mean, we spoke about it last week, but Scott, would you like to rehash why you dislike Jackson Merrill so much? I'm just not confident that I really know who he is. It's not, he was a big prospect prior to his rookie season, but he was the sort of prospect where you're just kind of trusting in the scouting reports because the production isn't there. And then he gets to the majors and he's hugely productive right away. So it's like, oh, okay, look, right? Everybody. I knew what they were talking about.

Great. And then he follows it up with the season he had last year, where I know he was dealing with injury for a part of the season, but you know, you dig deeper in the numbers to see if that's really what it's about. And I can't conclusively say that. He stole one base, one base. And it's not like he stole 20 as rookie season.

He stole like 14, 16, something like that. So, but after stealing one, it's hard to say you can count on him for anything in that category. So take steals off the table for Jackson Merrill. So how good is he as a hitter? Well, he has a good hit tool, but he is not a disciplined player at all. And one of my longstanding takes about that,

something that's served me very well in identifying potential busts over the years, is against Major League pitchers, if you're not a disciplined enough hitter, They know how to take advantage of that in a way minor league pitchers don't. You give them enough time, they'll figure it out. His exit velocities are pretty middling. His pull air rate is in the blue.

I think he could be good still. I just am not willing to assume it to the point of taking him as the 11th outfielder. I think ADP has him as the 16th outfielder. I want to safeguard against the possibility that last year wasn't just about injury. it was about him performing over his head as a rookie, catching the leave by surprise, just getting his 90th percentile outcome, whatever. Because I think there's enough evidence within the data

to suggest that's the case. So I can disagree with anything you just said. The only thing I would point out about the steals is that he did have two leg injuries last year, and I think that could be a very easy reason for why he didn't run. I think it was a hamstring and an ankle that he dealt with. It was a hamstring early, right? It could be.

It could be. Yeah. I don't know how I can know that. There's not enough of a track record here. That's the part of his production I'm least confident in. I'm very confident Jackson Merrill is going to be a very good source of batting average. I think he's going to hit 25-ish home runs with a lot of room to grow because he is only 22 years old. For me, it's just a bet on a guy we thought was a top 20 player a year ago.

And now he's a top 60 player or 70 player in ADP? Where's he going? He's right around 70. Yeah. Like that's just for me, it's, I will bet that we were more right last year than we were wrong than this year in terms of the pricing. Because if I'm wrong and he's just the 80th best player in fantasy, I can live with that. I think the floor is still pretty high. Yeah.

And I want to stress that I'm open to that possibility. I just don't know. I just don't know because there isn't. There's been no established track record. There was one year where he was very good. And really as a professional, that's the only year where he was very good. And so it could be all injury and he could bounce back and it could be great. It's just at what point am I willing to make that same wager you are,

that he's closer to being the guy two years ago than last year. And for me, it's a little lower than consensus. Just as a reference point, Jackson Merrill's ADP last year was 27.9. And again, it's right around 70. I guess you can, if you just want to make that argument without talking about, you know, the skill of a player and diving in, Jaron's ADP last year was 22.3 and he's actually going a little bit later than Jackson Merrill. He's going at a... The big distinction there is 72.

23 years old versus 29 years old. Let me ask you this, because you guys were just railing against Michael Harris. And I think for good reason, he has that same flaw that I pointed out for Jackson Merrill. that he hardly walks at all. And it was especially bad last year, Michael Harrison, maybe major leaguers caught up to that and were able to exploit that weakness, unlike they ever had before. But in theory, Michael Harris and Jackson Harris,

Michael Harrison and Jackson Merrill. Jackson Merrill, thank you. Michael Harris and Jackson Merrill, in theory, are the same from a five-by-five perspective. Batting average standouts with good, but not great power who will contribute some steals. They're the same.

And I think Michael Harris has a history of doing it several times over. I think the big distinction for me would be lineup spot. That's exactly what I was going to say, yeah. Michael Harris might bet eights. Yeah, he's projected to bat he's bad eight

and Merrill's going to bat third or fourth. Yeah, so I think that like just that alone, it changes the counting stats trash. Jack to Merrill might get 10% more plate appearances. Yeah. Okay, but every time I brought that brought that up in the past with Michael Harris, everybody was like, oh, this ill move up. It'll be fine. I have Michael Harris ranked ahead of his ADP. I do have Jackson Merrill higher. I think Michael Harris is a great, like, what if we don't get the bad stretch candidate? it. I just think Jackson Merrill's struggles last year are more easy to excuse. And maybe that's not fair.

Like, I like Michael Harris a lot. Michael Harris is only, I think, he is within three months of like every other, every rookie of the year finalist on the NL side last year. He is either no more than three months older or in like, I think he's like five years younger than Issa Collins. But like, people forget that Michael Harris is still so young. He's three months younger than Drake Baldwin, who is like the future of the Atlanta Braves, you know? So like that, I do think Michael Harris is another one like Julio Rodriguez where it's just like, what if he's just hot for five months instead of two? But Jackson Merrill, for me, I think the dip in hitting production, like he was hitting 304 with like an 840 OPS when he had his concussion in mid-June.

Then he was dreadful for two and a half months. Then he was awesome in September. And the thing about concussions, and this is speculative for sure. But with concussions, you can be cleared to play without actually being fine. Because they can slow- Anthony Rizzo. Yeah, Anthony Rizzo, I mean, they ruined Joe Mauer's career, Justin Moreno's career. Like a lot of guys have had their careers ruined by concussions.

So I just kind of give him. a pass for the bad two and a half months that he had. This is motivated reasoning. I will admit that. You can make a case for any of these guys. For me, it's just Jackson Merrill's struggles have a better explanation than Michael Harris. Because Michael Harris is just, sometimes Michael Harris just goes two months where he can't hit at all. And it's happened three years in a row now.

And yet he has a track record. Yeah. My point is just Michael Harris and Jackson. and Merrill, they rate similarly as players. They're coming off disappointing seasons. Maybe Merrill has the higher ceiling, but Harris has the more established track record. I don't know why I'd separate those two guys in my rankings. They sound way too similar. I also think that we have, yes, Harris has the track record, but I mean, the two years, the past two years in particular, 722 and 678 OPS, like his OPS since joining the league, 853, 808, 7208, 720s,

22, 678. Like, it's a... That's mostly OPP. Very clear trend for him. Like, the underlying data, he still hits the ball hard. You wish he put in the air more, but it, the expected stats, like he underperformed last season. So, I mean, he should bounce back.

And just based on where he went last year, his ADP was around 40. Now you're getting him around pick 100. It's just, if you want to buy the dip, Michael Harris is a totally fine name to do that with this season. And that OPS... And that OPS thing you pointed out with Harris, which I said is most...

OBP. That's why he's a tier lower in points leagues. There is separation between Harris and Merrill and points leagues. Honestly, he might need to be like two tiers lower in points league. He's a really... O'Neill Cruz. Three outfield or points league? Is that guy

even worth drafting? He walks a decent amount, but yeah, I don't know. I mean, the CBS Points League formula, two points per steel. I guess, yeah. Let me see if I can find... I think in ESPN, you lose a full point for strikeouts.

Like, O'Neal Cruz is actually like a non-ent. That's the thing about points leagues is like every platform has its own set. It makes a huge difference. CBS, half a point for strikeouts for hitters, two points for steals. Again,

the points league where it's a full minus one for strikeouts and just half a point, or just one point for steals, it totally changes the, I think, the evaluation of the entire player pool. I haven't looked at it, but I would guess, O'Neill Cruz is not a viable option in a ESPN points league.

Probably. No. No. There's, and that's why when you see ESPN ADP come out, it's so wonky. It's because I believe their default is just their points league, and it's minus one for a strikeout, and it's only one point for a steal. And, and again, Luis Sorayas has been a very good player in ESPN points leagues in a way that's not true in other form. Like Scott said, just completely changes the player pool. So keep that in mind. No, you're scoring. That's, you know, one of the basic principles of playing fantasy. Let's take our final break when we return some quick news and notes back into the outfield tiers right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. A quick look at the news and notes. Not too much going on.

I didn't miss any trades, right? There's nothing crazy that has happened. Hopefully not. Oh, wait. You're just going to keep getting me, huh? The twins signed Taylor Rogers to a one-year deal. He's coming home. He was drafted by this team, spent the first six seasons of his career there, and he was okay. last year, 338 ERA 138 whip over a strikeout per inning. The walks have been rising. He has 83 career saves on a team where there was no clear closer. Scott, do you think Taylor Rogers gets the first shot here in Minnesota?

Maybe. I mean, Rocco Baldelli is gone now. Derek Shelton is there. Derek Shelton's a little more conventional of a bullpen usage guy, less likely to go the committee route. I think Cole Sands might be better than Taylor Rogers, but it's not like he's an obvious closer candidate. He didn't get the first shot down the stretch last season

after they moved on from Yohan Duran. So I don't know. I don't know. I'd probably lean Sands, but Rogers is in the discussion with the lack of a clear frontrunner. I got to say that what does it say about Taylor Rogers but the Dodgers The Twin Cities are going to be after you.

It's a good bit. It's a good bit, right? You know, they say Minnesota nice, but that means they're mean. Let's talk about the Angels. They are bringing back Yoan Moncada on a one-year $4 million deal. What does it say about,

no, I'm not going to do it. Moncada is 30 years old. He doesn't seem like he has much left. Chris, does this matter at all? Go on Montgomery. You know, just to climb on my hobby horse for a second, there are a lot of switch hitters who probably shouldn't be.

And Yoha Makata is like at the top of that list. For his career, he has a 332 Woba against Ritees and a 283 against lefties. That is a massive difference. And he still showed some signs against Ritees last year. He just can't stay healthy and can't hit lefties. So he probably doesn't matter for fantasy. But what could have been, Yohan Munkata?

if he could stay healthy and not try to hit right-handed because he can't do it. He hit 12 homers and 84 games last season. This probably doesn't matter, but 14% barrel rate. That was a career high. 26% pulled air rate, also a career high. So, I mean, it did something that looks like it should have tapped into more power, but it didn't really. I mean, 12 homers over 84 games.

There's just not too much going on there. The updated Angels lineup via roster resource, Zach Netto, Nolan Chanuel. Mike Trout, Yo-Mon Moncada, Joe Adele, Josh Lowe, Jorge Soler, Logan O'Hoppy, and maybe Christian Moore, maybe Vaughn Grissom, who knows. Yvonne Herrera was cleared to begin a throwing program earlier in January and is expected to begin hitting end defensive drills this week. Herrera underwent surgery in November to remove bone spurs from his right elbow. But it sounds like he will...

We have our Cardinals team preview coming out on Monday. the gentleman I spoke to Jeff Jones, who covers the team, said he expects Herrera to actually catch quite a bit early on in the season, which is music to our ears. Exactly what we want to hear. I want to get, let's have him start behind the play the first five games of the season. Yeah. DH the rest of the way. Well, you get 15 the rest of the way. Maybe like the first 10 games of the season for, you know, like NFBC leads and all those.

But CBS will only need five, so that's good news there. And his price is already spiking. in NFBC leagues. I saw recently, I think in January, he's up to like 160, I think an ADP is what I saw, which that's a lot for a util only player. Granted a util only player that we expect to be. Yeah, he's 151. Higher, I was supposed to say higher.

Yeah, 151 in the month of January. And look, if he gets catcher eligibility, I'd rank him even higher than that. I think Yvonne Herrera is not a significantly worse hitter than Ben Rice. If he had... And you give me a hundred pick discounts between those guys. I already don't like Ben Rice's price, but that just makes it look even worse. If he had catcher eligibility already, Yvonne Herrera, I think he would probably be going around... I think he's a top 100 pick, easy.

Augustine Ramirez and Drake Baldwin, and those guys are going 75 to 80. Yeah, I think that's the right tier for him at catcher. And probably would deserve to go... Do I actually tier him that way? He probably deserved to go ahead of that. those guys. I genuinely think if you were ranking every catcher

just as a hitter, I don't think he's any worse than five. No, no. Cow Raleigh, William Contreras. I think he's right there with Ben Rice. Shailang Lears. Maybe Ben Rice ahead of him, but yes, it's close. Jake Berger is fully recovered from left wrist surgery and has been

working in the batting cage on regaining his pulse side power. I mean, he's a name that has been left for dead as well. So if he's healthy, You know, we could see a bounce back like 25 homer season out of Jake Burger this year. Let's get back into the outfield tiers and the fallback options. 13 names in this tier. We have Kyle Stowers, Brendan Nimmo, Andy Paez, Joe Adele, Lawrence Butler, Teasca Hernandez, Jacob Marcy,

Taylor Ward, Luis Robert, Jerkson Pro Far, Ian Hap, Mike Trout, and Chandler Simpson. Simpson is one tier lower in head-to-head points leagues. Obviously, huge stolen bases and batting average. helps in Roto in category leagues. These are definitively outfielders two and three. I mean, probably more three, but I mean, we've definitely moved past

the possible outfield one range, maybe even two. Their fallback options. Yeah. The ADP range on this group starts with Joe Adele at 119, which kind of surprises me and... Yeah, it feels a little high.

Down to Mike Trout at 191, how the mighty have fallen, but I expect it to be in, on Joe Adele this year. I was very excited about what he did last season, all the home runs. He expected stats were great, too, improvements in plate discipline. But everyone's thinking the same thing. And now he's inside the top 120. So I always want to draft him, but I feel like I can't pull the trigger that early. And I think he's a bust this year. I'm going to have Busts 1.0 coming out on Friday. And I did not include Joe Adele, partially because I did not want to have to

explain why I think he's the bust. I just, I don't believe in him. I understand he underperformed his expected stats last year, but I think the overall skill set is just too precarious. It relies on contact gains that I don't necessarily believe in. And I just, here I am. I didn't want to have to explain it. And I'm trying to explain it and I'm coming up short.

I just don't believe in Joe Adele. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I'll just say, let's just move on. Chris, who are you most likely to target from this year? Because it is an interesting one. Boy, I don't like a lot of guys in this tier.

Joe Adele, by the way, I will just point out, 17% barrel rate last year, 96th percentile. That is bat speed 99th percentile. I don't know. I might be talking myself into it. Kyle Sauer and Joe Adel are like the Spider-Man meme for me. And they're very similar priced. Is a 19% barrel rate, unless you're Aaron,

judge. 17% yeah. Okay. But it's very high. It's hard for anyone, particularly with Adele's, you know, history of not being very on target with the bat to sustain a barrel rate that high. And so I think if anything, that just, it explains why his expected stats are so high, but also why I don't think he can sustain his expected stats and what it means for the actual stats. We'll see.

But anyway, we're moving on for Maddow. What do you got, Chris? I think Joe Adel might just be Rias Salar, with everything that that comes with, including if we get like a 45 homer season out of Joe Adele, not going to be shocked. He wasn't that far off last year. But if we get a season where he hits like 210 with 22 homers, not going to be shocked by that either. I like Kyle Stowers. 37.

Yeah, he wasn't that far off last year. I like Kyle Stowers and Joe Adele probably best out of this group. Just because they are breakouts whose breakout is not quite going to cost you to face value. Like they were better than their cost last year. So there's a little bit of room for regression for both of them. But on the whole, like Taylor Ward is probably fine. I don't think he's going to be as good as he was last year. But very good cheap source of RBI.

He won't kill you. I, man, I really don't like this range, but then I look at the next range and I don't like that range either. I mean, fallback options you're not supposed to love. I would say that my favorite, so this fallback options tier is kind of a mishmash of volatile high upside guys, which to me would include Adele, but also Lawrence Butler and Louise Robert and Mike Trout, I guess you could put in that category. well a little high upside guys and then like super safe underrated guys which to me is Brandon Nimmo

Taylor Ward you could put Taylor Ward in there but I I think his most likely outcome is lower than like a Nemo or maybe even like a Jerks and Pro Far certainly an E and a half

but yeah let's call those the safe guys Nimmo Taylor Ward jerks and Prophar Ian Hap within this tier I gravitate more toward those guys because I think with the exception of Ward, they're just undervalued to begin with. Again, that's Nimmo, ProFar, and Ian Hap.

And I would say especially Nimmo and Hap, most of all. Profar is a little bit, still a little bit unsure who, what kind of hitter he is because of the way last year played out for him. There were some encouraging signs, but there were also some discouraging signs and he didn't get a full season because of the PED suspension.

So ProFar is a little riskier. But Nimmo and Hap, if I'm looking for a third outfielder and either of them is out there in this tier, I am gravitating toward them. And I think just the way ADP works, I am most likely to get them from this tier. Especially in Points Leagues, too. I mean, those guys are super undervalued in that format.

Nimmo and ProFar and Hap, I mean, they're good OBP sources, and they are going to hit near the top of their respective lineup, so they'll get a bunch of plate appearances. So I definitely like those names in points leagues. Taylor Ward, I mean, I know it's a change of scenery, going to Baltimore. He kind of feels like a slightly discounted version of Joe Adele and Stowers. I mean, I guess he's not as, like, sexy or exciting because he's not, like, you know, new to the scene. He wasn't a big prospect or anything like that.

But, I mean, he just hit a bunch of home runs close to 40, and you're getting him, like, 30 or 40 picks later than those guys. So I actually don't mind Taylor Ward. I like to Oscar Hernandez. I mean, we're getting him 75 picks later than last year. I understand, like, he was disappointing, but in that Dodgers lineup, like getting exposure to that Dodgers lineup around pick 130, when he's probably going to hit 25-ish home runs and good counting stats

and, like, maybe 8 to 10 steals. It's not, again, it's not exciting, but I like buying the dip on Teoscar Nandez. I will say relative to price, I think I like Teosker better than Andy Pahez, who I just do not have very much faith in at all as a hitter. There's bus potential there for sure. Yeah, anytime you can spend like a 10th round pick on a guy who was benched for the World Series, I think you got to do it. But then he made the catch of the century. And on that, oh, God.

I think there's bus potential for Hernandez, too. Sure, yeah. Given that he's 33. He hit 25 homers last year, which was a drop off from 33 the previous year. Nine of those 25 came in April, March slash April, the first month. And then... It was pretty bad after that. It was pretty ugly after that.

Pretty sure he was playing... Including the playoffs, right? Pretty sure he was playing through an injury, wasn't he? I feel like there was a nagging thing all season with him. Well, but even though. 33, right? 33. 33 with a skill set that I don't feel like it's going to age well.

So he may be... We may have seen the start of the drop-off for Teasca Hernandez. I don't think the price is bad. I think the risk is worth it at this point. But that's another reason why I might. might take like an Ian Hap instead. One guy I want to highlight here is Chandler Simpson. Because I actually think as an offensive player,

I know who he is. And who he is is, guy's probably going to hit 290, 300. Probably if you cap it, if you rate it out by playing time, I think he's probably the best base dealer in baseball. I think you could get a decent amount of runs from him. I actually just think that the question is defense with him.

Like, if you could guarantee me Chandler Simpson as just a league average corner outfielder, I might draft him with a 10th round pick. But I think there is real risks that is there a chance Chandler Simpson's just not on the team on opening day? Yeah. I think there's a real chance. I don't think the front office likes them that much. Yeah. And I think it's just the defense. I think they'd be fine with the skill set if he was it like he's not a great hitter because there's just no power and he's not going to walk much. But if he could be an impactful defender, I think they'd love him. But the fact that he's a bad defensive corner outfielder, it's just it might be untenable. And what I haven't I haven't seen any quotes supporting this, but just kind of reading between roster decisions and lineup decision. I sense Kevin. in cash values what Chandler Simpson's brings to the table more than the front office does.

And so that tension puts a lot of pressure on Simpson's bat. But speaking in terms of tiers and how Simpson fits there, I kind of think he's removed from tears. Chandler Simpson. It's just what you need. If you need steals. Yeah. Steals and batting average.

Like there, I think most roto builds, you don't need to bother with Chandler Simpson. But if you have that certain roto build where at this point in the draft. man, I really need steals, man, I really need batting average. I got plenty of power. Well, okay, Chandler Simpson's the perfect pick. So he's either not a good pick or he's the perfect pick. Yeah, you took Aaron, Judge, and Cowrally with your first two picks. Probably need to make sure you circle Chandler Simpson for a 12th round pick or whatever.

But yeah, you need to pull them off the board because once you start your draft with those guys, you almost need Chandler Simpson. And if you miss out on him, where do you go from there? Right. I mean, you can win a league like punting a category, but obviously you'd rather not do that. There is no league where I would draft Chandler Simpson

this season. It just is not going to happen. If I got to that point in the draft and I missed steals that badly, then oh well, that's on me like I messed up my draft. The way that I draft is I got to get power and speed early on as much as I possibly could. I don't want to depend on a player like him, especially when there's risk

that he could lose his job. And if that's the guy you're depending on to give you all your steals and he's out of a job, then you're not getting any steals. And we've done this with Esther Ruiz, who is a very good comp for Chandler Simpson as a guy who doesn't bring a lot to the table offensively and is not a good defender. I will say, we got to pay close attention to what they're saying in spring training. I think that's the biggest thing. If they're still publicly talking about his defense in a negative way, I think you've got to

stay away from Chandler Simpson. And they've acquired a lot of outfielders this offseason. And look, he's only 25 years old. He could improve, but last season, 11th percentile in outs above average, playing a corner outfield spot. And so, you know, he's originally a middle infielder. He had to transition to outfield.

This isn't natural for him. He could get better, but we need to see him get better. And we haven't seen that yet. It could get better yet. Very quickly. Let's get it to the last resort tier. There are 18 names. Do I want to put people through me reading off 18 names.

Absolutely. Is what I'm deciding right now. All right, I'll do it. Trent Grisham, Noelvi-Marte, Dalton Varsho, Ramon Luriano, Brian Reynolds, Seidon, Raphael. Brenton, Doyle, Stephen Kwan, Sal Freelich, Dylan Cruz, Jason Dominguez, Alec Berluson, Williare, Abrae, Elliot Ramos,

Kerry Carpenter, Anthony Santander, Addison Barger, and John Carlos Stanton. The ADP on this group ranges from Noelvi Marte at 133, down to John Carlos Stanton at 251. So about 120 picks, obviously, there's lots of names. Barger and Stanton should be in this tier. I think I moved them up and was debating moving Barger up at third base and decided not to.

So let's leave Barger and Stanton out. It ends at Anthony Santander. Well, there was one name that stood out while I was reading it, and it was Jason Dominguez, Scott. And now that Bellinger is back, I kind of feel like he's out of a job, right? So maybe he should be in a lower tier team. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. Stanton could very easily get hurt before opening day, and then, boom, Dominguez is playing. could turn into a pumpkin, Ben Rice. I mean, sadly, he could not be the full-time player. We're expecting him to be. That is impossible. Scott, he's going to be amazing. You know what I want to point out.

Let's just do, you guys want some baseless speculation? Just absolutely nothing to it. Sure. Cameron Mabin yesterday, earlier today, tweeted, man, just got some inside info on a major, all caps, major player, quietly working on a position change. If this sticks, it could reshape the entire roster. I'm extremely curious how the team adjusts around it.

This one could get interesting. You think you're on Carlos Stanton bought a first basement? Come on, right? That's the kind of thing that would just make the Yankees roster make a lot more sense. Or even judge, but if you could throw one of those guys at first base, which they probably should. If Stanton does one split at first base, he's out for the same. season. That's fair.

Like there's no way. So that's nothing. But it always kind of felt like it would make sense for Judge eventually. Please do that. Thank you for that nothing tangent. Yeah, you're welcome. It was great. That's what I bring to the table.

No, I do, you know who secretly might be my favorite player in this range in this tier? That's not a secret anymore. I really like what Dalton Farsho did last year. Me too. Like Donne Verso, I think. don't think Dalton Varshot gets enough credit for what an absolute freak he is.

Like, you remember that dude was a catcher as a prospect, and then just started playing centerfield and was immediately like the best center fielder in baseball? Yeah. Well, last year, he kind of did the same thing, where he had always been one of these, like, weak contact lifting pool hitters who just had to sell out to the pole side to hit for any power whatsoever. Well, last season, he started hitting the ball really hard, or at least a lot harder than he had before.

Hard hit rate was 40% highest of his career. 9.9 mile per hour average average edge of velocity, two miles an hour harder than it's ever been. Barrel rate was like twice what it was for most of his career before last season. Don Varshal might just be like a legit plus power hitter now.

And I think there's going to be some batting average concerns, but he might be a 30 homer guy. He hit 21 or 20 and 71 games last year. That's a, his 162 game pace last year was 46 home. And he had the eggs of velocities to support it. you point out. I wrote about Dalton Varshu and my breakouts 1.0, which came out early last week. And yeah, John Schneider, the Blue Jays manager, compared the mechanical change that unlocked Dalton Varshow's power to the mechanical change that very famously unlocked Jose Bautista's power. One of the most famous mechanical changes of all time.

And it seems like there's a lot of excitement for him with the Blue Jays. I think if not for his time lost to injury and some of the in and out of the lineup stuff that was related to that, Varsha would be a much bigger deal in fantasy than he is. So I'm with you on that. I'm going to have to where do I actually have Varsha within this tier? I was third in the tier. But I maybe even need to move him up to the prior tier because that's the more I dig into it, the more I like Dalton Varshow. I have the breakouts. Another name in this tier that I want to highlight is Ramon Luriano.

Mm-hmm. Because... Similar thing, yeah. I think I have priced him appropriately here, given that it kind of unexpectedly became what he became last year. Really, it was the second half prior. He turned into this must-start fantasy player. Nobody really saw it coming.

But he sustained it for a year and a half now. He sustained it across three different organizations. And I don't know why the discount for him is so steep. I feel like my own ranking where we list him here, that's pretty discounted for what Ramon Luriano's actually been. But ADP, he's the 55th outfielder off the board on average. Behind Jordan Beck, behind Daly and Lyleon Lai. Yeah.

Like behind the- Dale is pretty good. Maybe. Maybe. He was, he had a pretty good partial season as an older non-prospect first appearing in the majors, but. But yeah, I would still rather have Ramon Laureano. I did just want to highlight some just pure bounce-back candidates

from where they were going last year. Brian Reynolds is going over 100 picks later than he was last season. and his first half was terrible, but the expected stats were still pretty good. Strikeout rate was rising, but I still feel like he's mostly the same player. He's always been Brian Reynolds. I want to move him up, too.

Anthony Santander is another one, too. I mean, I've just been all over this all-offseason. I know completely wrecked by injury last season, it was a shoulder, it was a back. John Schneider talked earlier this off-season and said, we have a lot of faith and confidence and Tony contributing and being a big player for them. this season and he really just kind of fits what they want to do he makes contact he

obviously can hit for power and santanair's going like a hundred twenty five picks later than he was going last season too so i just kind of like blindly buying the dip on on both of those guys brian reynolds and santander i don't disagree especially with reynolds i don't i don't think reynolds actually changed as a player i just think we saw his bottom of the barrel outcome um just part of year-to-year variance that happens in baseball and and he will bounce back with typical Brian Reynolds numbers next year. Obviously, I don't think you need to rank him like that. But with the discount, it's a pretty steep discount,

and my feelings about who Brian Reynolds is a player haven't really changed that much. Yeah. I do want to just highlight for Ramon Luriano to put some context. Since the middle of June of 2024, he ranks 20th among all hitters. in WRC Plus. He is ahead of Freddie Freeman tied with Freddie Freeman ahead of Auhaneo Suarez, Fernando Tatis,

Rafael Devers, Mani Machado, Matt Olson, Gunner Henderson. That's really impressive. How is that the 55th outfielder draft? Yeah, it's only 714 plate appearances, but still, like, if it's real at all, and it's not like he's a part-time player.

He should be an everyday player. That's more than a full season's worth of plate appearances. And again, across three teams, which to me makes it more viable. Yeah, three-hitting environments, yeah. Yeah. Granted, I think he was the worst with the most recent of those teams, San Diego, which makes sense, and that's where he remains San Diego.

But, and I wouldn't say that he actually is the 20th best hitter. Like, I don't think he's going to remain that high just because of the past 720. Yeah, he's being drafted so far below that. that to me it's just I don't want to call him a sleeper but I think he's clearly among the most underdrafted players Ramon Morion I think it would be totally fine

to have him as a classic definition of a sleeper yeah I think 100%. If he regresses from the 20th if he regresses from the 20th best hitter in this range to the 60th still a good pick yeah last name of what I guess you're right I mean people are sleeping

on him I get in my head that a sleeper has to get better and Ramon L'Oriano's not going to get better but no, it's just people are sleeping. That's what a breakout is. Breakouts get better. Yeah. For me, Scott, I mean,

sleepers, whenever I write the article, it's like, oh, always synonymous with undervalue. I just look at, all right, who can provide profit potential and that's usually who I choose as a sleeper. Last thing I wanted to mention here is Sal Freelick. I feel like he's very similar skill set to Stephen Kwan and he's going 30 or 40 picks later. I feel like I do this for a lot.

Like, oh, you know, he's the same player that you're getting 40 picks later, but this was the player. Freelick was always supposed to become. It's pretty good batting average and, you know, 20-ish steals and, you know, maybe 10 home runs. And there's just, the drafts I've done so far, whenever I get to this point in the draft, I feel like maybe I can use a little bit more batting average

and a little bit more steals. And South Freelike always kind of fits that like a glove. So I kind of like them. Brewers have a type. They love a short king. Yes, they do. I agree with your Stephen Kwan comp. I think Juan's playing time.

is a little safer, but they're back to back in my rankings. They're not 30 spots apart. And then the Leftover's Tier has way too many names. I didn't even try to count because there's like probably 30 plus names in this tier. So if you want to see all those names, you can check out Scott's tiers on the website next week or just look at his Outfield rankings. And you can see anywhere from Adolese Garcia down is in the Leftover's Tier. So there you go.

We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. Frank, thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again next week, maybe sooner. There's a lot going on. Bye-bye. On podcasts.