Fantasy Baseball Today - ADP Battles; Weekend Updates (3/29 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

It was a big wiffle ball weekend in NYC. Who got the better of who between Chris and Frank? ... How did the 'For The People' listener league draft go (2:30)? ... Luke Voit has a partially torn meniscus and has been shut down for three weeks (7:12). When should you draft Voit now? Any interest in Jay Bruce? How to replace Voit if you drafted already. ... We have bullpen updates with the Reds, Red Sox, and Diamondbacks (14:28). ... Let's hit some other news and notes (19:10). David Price was scratched Sunday, Alejandro Kirk made the Blue Jays, Adbert Alzolay is in the Cubs' rotation and more. ... Is James Paxton back (32:07)? ... We have ADP battles (35:40) ... Abreu vs. Vlad Jr., Muncy vs. Rizzo in H2H Points, Albies vs. Merrifield, and Altuve vs. McNeil. ... We wrap up with a few more ADP battles including Gleyber Torres vs. Javier Baez (50:30)! ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday 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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Happy Monday, everybody. Hope you had a fantastic weekend. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Sample, joined by Scott White. And Wiffleball, Cy Young contender, Chris Towers. I was mowing them down on Friday. Just absolutely, I mean, unhittable. Unhittable, really.

Chris, struck Frank out. All right, well, first of all, Chris. We got to put the headline out there, you know? You're burying the lead here because I got to hit off of you first before you struck me out. That's true. That's true. I didn't have the scouting report. You know, early in the season, you haven't seen guys a lot.

So you got to figure out what works, what doesn't. You know, I did. You were. crowding the plate a little, so I had to throw a little high heat on the first pitch just to, you know, try to back you up. But I figured it out eventually. You said you appreciate guys who get hit by pitches. So I thought I would just, you know, yeah, that's good. How's the shoulder feeling though? You good. I'm good. I'm good. Had a little quad and hamstring soreness. It was honestly, it was so embarrassing how sore I was from playing wiffleball for like two and a half

hours. Like, I, last night, I couldn't, like, roll over in bed. It was, I was in so much pain from my quads and my hamstrings that I just, it was, like, I know what that says about me. And it says nothing good. But I'm, I'm nothing if not honest. Well, I'm right there with you. So if that makes you feel any better. Scott, what are the chances that you get a hit off of Chris and Wiffleball? Well, I don't know. How straight are the pitches? Is he, like, using, the air currents and everything? It was mostly, I was mixing it up. You know, I was mostly fastball change up.

Those are my bread and butter pitches. But I'm mixing a splitter, mixing some curve balls, you know, slider and a curve. You know, a little bit of a cutter. Too windy to try out the knuckleball. It was very windy. And I was playing defense behind Chris a few times and I was trying to scout out his pitch grips.

But yeah, he was trying some funky stuff for sure. It was wild. It was wild. it was good it's good uh scott any draft this weekend how you feeling we just did the i know we did at least one draft together that was the for the people league did you do anything else or that was it uh no not the the two podcast leagues are my last two leagues i'm drafting in so this was my second to last draft tonight and it was one of the weirder formats i play in

the 16 team head-to-head categories with some some kind of scoring quirks mixed in so weird size not my most common format and then, you know, just some oddities on top of it all. So it's been a tough nut to crack for me. In the past, Adam and I would share a team. I think last year was the first time we went solo with it. I don't, I may have made the playoffs. I may have made the playoffs because I know it wasn't the one really bad one.

I think I may have finished fifth. So I think I may have made the playoffs. But, yeah, it's not. it's one that I have yet to really like have an awesome season in. So I went pitcher heavy, of course. You took some pictures that I am not UCU drafting. I had to pause the draft because I was like, wait, hold on a second. Scott just took Walker Bueller.

This isn't, I mean, something clearly went wrong here. Yeah, well, I wasn't comfortable with it. But 16 teams, like I said. So I picked sixth, I believe. I took Shane Bieber in the first round, of course. So 27th overall pick is where I took Bueller because like Flaherty, Kershaw,

like all those other guys I might have considered taking were gone. And I knew if I... I think I'd have to take Tyler Glass now in the third round. Like I knew it was going to be bad at starting pitcher if I didn't just... If I didn't just do it. In a 16 team league, they're all going to be gone.

And I was going to be in the same situation. I've been in that league so many times where I have a bunch of good hitters on my bench and just no place to play him and no place to trade them because everybody, like, there's only, it's only a nine-man hitter lineup.

So I really want to take care of my pitching and make sure that wouldn't be a weakness for me. And I mostly loaded up on just big power bats. Big power bats. It's an O.B.P. League, not a batting average league. I got Mondesie in the fourth round, so I just took care of steals with that one player.

I was planning on punting steals, but, you know. I was so upset by that because you picked right in front of me. And I, like, I thought the last time, I was like, are people really going to let this guy slide this far just because it's an OBP league? And I was like, you know what? Let me take the chance. And I'm not going to do well in OBP probably.

I did get Max Muncie with what, you know, it's a lot of lower OBP guys for the most part. But that's one category you can just win randomly. I feel like in a given week. So, you know, I should do really well in home runs in RBI every week. Stolen pace is a good chance of winning most of the time just because of Mondecine. hopefully my pitching dominates, and that's the game plan for that league this year. Yep, and shout out to everybody who made it into that draft.

That was one of our listener league submissions for the People League. So again, super weird, 16 team, head-to-head categories, weekly lineups, not daily lineups, OBP instead of betting, instead of betting, instead of winning. So it's definitely a unique format. And I believe one that Heath Cummings originally brought to the table just to troll Scott. So I'm happy to see that we... It feels like it. It's like the optimal...

Like the combination of settings I'm against, basically, is what he's settled on there. We just name it like the Troll Scott League or something like that. But we've got time to figure that out. Well, you've adjusted. We're going to do weekly fab now, which helps. Yes, definitely helps. Today on the show, we're not just going to talk about our drafts from the weekend. Luke Void is hurt, so we'll get you up to date on that.

We have a ton of updates. I mean, players who are making teams, making rotations. bullpen updates as well. And we have some ADP battles that we're going to talk about later on in the podcast. For those of you that are still drafting, because I assume there's still quite a bit of people who are drafting over the next three or so days.

I would say the biggest draft days are still to come, actually. I think Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be the two biggest draft days of the year. Historically, they have been. And I don't have any issue waiting this late to draft either. Some people will say, oh, well, you know, all the value's gone by then because, you know, we know all the prospects who are making teams and yada yada.

We've seen everyone get boosted up from spring training. Okay, but for every Andrew Vaughn that you drafted a month ago at pick 250, you lost a Carlos Carrasco, a Zach Gallen, a Framber Valdez. So, yeah, draft as late as you possibly can. I have absolutely no issue with that. Let's start off with Luke Voigt, one of those injuries, again, that happened over the weekend. And he has a partially torn meniscus, and he shut down for the next three weeks for the New York Yankees. he could be back in May.

Chris, start off with you here. How much did you lower Luke Voight in your rankings? And at what point in the draft are you actually willing to take a shot on him, assuming he misses maybe the first month of the season? Let me pull that up. I was actually just trying to find some research on. Do you know what kind of surgery he's having? Have they announced that yet?

Have they said, like if it's a... I don't remember seeing that. I know he's shut down for baseball activity. for three weeks. So that didn't, that seemed like the shorter timeline for it. Yeah.

I mean, that is the shorter timeline. Shut down from base. Yeah, I mean, so with meniscus tears, generally you're talking about, if they repair the,

the ligament, it can take longer to, uh, recover from it because you're, you know, attempting to recover from the surgery, all that stuff. Whereas if you have the meniscus removed,

which a lot of people, uh, especially, you know, outside of, I think basketball really, you tend to see, I think, more meniscus removal surgeries and those you can come back in like two weeks. What I'm reading on ESPN, it says repair, Chris, so. Yeah.

So I would assume it's probably, yeah, at least all the month of April and probably much of May is what I would assume. So as for how far I moved him down, I didn't have the rankings up, and I can never, can never remember the password for the ranking. I'm surprised it's going to be that long just because if he's going to be back to baseball activities in three weeks, you'd think it would take him like two weeks

to get ready from there, right? Well, Scott, you just took him in this draft that we did. You took him 134th overall. Right, and I actually kept him inside the top 100 in my ranking. So he was one of the many sluggers I took in that draft tonight. And yeah, it was outside of the top 130.

So I thought it was a nice value. Just in terms of first base ranks. Scott lower, Scott and I both have Luke Voight at 11th overall. Chris has him at 13th. 13th. Yeah. Yeah, I basically, I moved Andrew Vaughn way up after Eli Jimenez's injury and then I moved Luke Voight just to right ahead of Andrew Vaughn. Mm-hmm. I think that makes sense, right? Someone who's going to miss, you know, probably, I don't know. I don't think we're going to see him until May or whatever. I guess it's at least a month. Yep. Jay Bruce will make the Yankees and presumably start at first base as Mike Ford, who actually went 4-4-4 on Saturday,

I love a swing too. Mike Ford's swing is just built for Yankee Stadium, but he was optioned to their alternate training site a few weeks back. Scott, any interest in Jay Bruce, maybe in deeper leagues, just as a power source until Void is back. It seems like he's going to play every day.

I put a low bid in on him in a 15-team league. I put higher bids in on Ronald Guzman if I had a corner infield need, a first-based need of the Rangers. Nate Lowe was actually named their starting first baseman, but they're without both of their DHS right now, Willie Cahoon and Chris Davis, so I presume Guzman, who had a good spring,

is going to get consistent playing time from the start. Yeah, I'm not sure how the playing time's going to shake out between Bruce and Ford. I know Bruce is expected to start, but, you know, he's old, and there's no reason they have to commit to that for weeks at a time. So not especially interested. I've liked Ford's profile, but we're talking about a short-term stint of part-time at bats. Chris, if you are in a 12-team league or shallower, I looked up a few first basemen that were rostered in 60% of CBS leagues or less, and that included Christian Walker, Jamer, Candelario, Joe Votto, and C.J. Cron.

So of those four, Crone, Votto, Candelario, Walker, which one interests you the most if you're just trying to, if you already drafted Voight and you're trying to replace him? I have them ranked Crone, Votto, Walker, and Candelaria. So that is the order in which I would take them. Crone, we're pretty sure he's the starter, but it hasn't been confirmed yet, right? Well, I know Bird got sent out. Yeah. So Josh Fuentes is still there. He's still there.

I'm assuming they need him at third base. Okay. They've already purchased the contract of Crone and he's having a monster spring. He's going to make the team. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I mean, we've talked about him a decent amount this spring, but just the fact that he's at course field and hits the ball incredibly hard. It's not out of the question he has a season where he hits like 280 with 35 homers.

Hey, I don't know if he'll be good as like a baseball player. He usually isn't that good. But with course field as his home, I think he can, you know, really mash the ball. One of my bold predictions on Friday's podcast was C.J. Crohn hits 35 homes. home runs and he is a top 10 first baseman for fantasy. So there you go. We are Sympatico there Chris, CJ Crone in the spring 16 for 47 with four home runs and 7 RBI 340 batting average 11 06 OPS. Scott if you are in a deeper league these are first baseman who are rostered in 40% or less of CBS leagues, Jesus Aguilar, Rowdy Tellez, Nate Lowe, Brandon Belt. Any of those names interest to you if you lost Luke Voight in a deeper format? I could see.

how that might be the best you could do. I'm not super excited about any of them. Tellez should play most of the time, right, for the Blue Jays and has pretty good upside. And I like Nate Lowe's upside for the Rangers, if he does have that job over there, I wish he had shown more of it in spring training. But, you know, spring training isn't the end-all, be-all, of course.

So maybe he'd be my favorite, but, yeah, there's not a clear frontrunner for there for me. Aguilar, I'm not sure he's going to play every day with Garrett Cooper looking for a bat. Yeah, I do like Rowdy Tiles quite a bit. I don't know if he's going to play against every left-hand pitcher, left-handed pitcher,

but he was awesome last year, cut down his strikeouts, he makes hard contact, and he's one of the only lefty bats in a really good Blue Jays lineup, so I'm pretty excited about Roddy Tiles. If you are in a deeper league and need help at first base or corner infield. Before we get to some bullpen updates from the weekend,

I just wanted to remind our listeners that it's still madness time in the sports world with the NCAA tournament as crazy as ever, but you are diehard sports fans, which means you want to stay in the know with all sports, and that's where CBS Sports HQ is your streaming answer. Just think about what's on tap this week alone. NFL draft and off-season coverage.

MLB opening day, yes, on Thursday. Bellator 255, golf picks and highlights, of course, unmatched, breaking news coverage, and we can go on and on, but you get it. Sports Never Sleeps, and neither does CBS Sports H.Q. It's available on your computer, your phone via the CBS Sports app,

and your connected TV. Some bullpen updates that I saw from the weekend. Amir Garrett, uh-oh. We were all excited about Amir Garrett, but apparently both he and Lucas Sims will open the year as co-closers. So we got this email, Scott, from Henry. And he asked, he has Garrett and is now looking to add a backup reliever just in case,

would you drop any of Thai France, Hermann Marquez, or Terrick Scouble for any of these relievers? Daniel Bard, Emilio Pagan, Jordan Hicks, Freddie Peralta. It's a head-to-head points league. So Peralta as a sparp is pretty intriguing. But you'd have to drop one of France, Hermann Marquez, or Scouble. Yeah, I would drop scubel for for Peralta. I would. They're pretty close for me, but I'd do that.

You know, I want to be freaking out about it, me or Garrett. This has always been the line. Is that they'll share closing duties? I don't see this. Is it like, oh, my goodness, they're each going to end up with 15 saves now, you know? Like, I imagine by week two will know who the front run. is and I still think it's going to be Amir Garrett. Well, I hope you're right because I have a few Garrett shares and obviously we've been

talking him up. But, you know, when you hear co-closers for a lefty and a righty together, I mean, my mind automatically thinks, all right. That was always the line. And I don't think it was a quote from David Bell for what it's worth. I think it was aggregated based on something a beat writer wrote in a breaking down the roster story. So, you know, that's a simple way to phrase. I'm not, I'm not saying the beat writer's wrong. I'm just saying that's always. been the line. So why would he say anything different? We'll see. We'll see with the Reds there. Again, Amir Garrett and Lucas Sims expected to

start the year as co-closers. Matt Barnes tested positive for COVID over the weekend. He'll be away from the Red Sox for at least 10 days. Chris, Adamadovino is the next man up, we're assuming. Yeah, and I kind of think Adamadovino is just the better pitcher of the two. At the very least, I don't know, I don't see any reason to think the 18 and one-third most innings most recent innings that he threw are more important than the 143 that he threw between 2018 and 19

when he was really, really good. Like his stuff, velocity was the same. Pitch mix was the same. Kind of seems like he just had a bad couple of months, which happens with relievers. I think Adamadovino could really just take this job and run with it. So, yeah, if he gets the opportunity,

he's definitely someone worth adding. Yeah, I will mention, I don't think Barnes, Matt Barnes is having symptoms, right? What I read was that he's not having symptoms. Right. So he could be, like, it could just be the first. He needs to quarantine for 10 days, but it could just be the first weekend of the season that he misses.

So if, if Ottavino doesn't get a chance to really sink his teeth, and then it may just, it may still go to Barnes. One more closer update. We got this one from the debacks. And maybe this one's a little bit more worrisome, Scott, because it was actually their manager, Tori Lavulo, who told reporters on Sunday that he doesn't believe the team has a clear-cut closer.

So we were assuming that Joachim Soria was the closer there. Stefan Kreitin picked up a few saves towards the end of last season, but he has been terrible this spring. And the name that I keep looking at and he's just striking everybody out so far in spring is J.B. Bukowskis.

So do you have a read on the Diamondbacks bullpen situation, Scott? I mean, I'd still guess Soria, but this is this is just how it works. You're not going to get a definitive answer for most managers before they need to give one. Unless it's something, unless they see it as a way to, as a player relations kind of thing,

they want to give the guy an ego boost or they want to preserve his ego or whatever, there's no reason for them to announce it. So I would still invest in Soria, if somebody else started getting saves, I would keep an open mind. I mean, you see a guy get two saves in a row for a team. That kind of gives you your answer.

You know, if it's just a one-off, okay, you can't really make anything of that, even if it's on opening day. But two in a row, you know, these things begin to take shape. Yes, again, that was the Diamondbacks bullpen. And there's a few names that are performing well in the spring. But just if you want those names and you want to pay attention,

Chris Devensky, formerly of the Astros, he's looked good for them, Kevin Ginkle as well, and the name I brought, up J.B. Bukowskis, but for now, we will still assume that it's Soria's job to lose there with the Diamondbacks. Other news and notes from the weekend, David Price was scratched from his start on Sunday with an illness. He will pitch a simulated game on Monday. Obviously, that's newsworthy for fantasy purposes, because if he's not ready to start the season in the rotation, then that means one of Tony Gonsolin or Dustin May would be in the rotation for the Dodgers.

So we'll pay close attention to that situation. And they've only announced, I think, the first four in the rotation. rotation through the first series. Which team? The Dodgers. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. And there's a lot of speculation about who that fifth spot is going to.

It seems like most of the speculation is leaning against David Price, actually. I don't think it matters all that much. I think it's like I don't think any of those three guys, Dustin May, Tony Gonson, and David Price. I'd be shocked if any of them goes more than like three weeks without making a start this season. Yeah, I could see that. I mean, obviously they're going to have to preserve the innings of all three, especially the two younger guys. But just from us knowing how to set your lineup standpoint,

I mean, you want the guy who has a chance of going six. It might be more of a piggyback situation anyway, and two of them go four, four innings. But I don't know. I had the choice in tonight's draft, between all three of them, I think. I know I was debating between Price and Consulin and Went Gonsolin. I mean, it was a Categories League,

so I figure as a multi-inning reliever, I prefer Gonsolin if it came to that. But I'm hopeful now Gonsolin will be the starter. Gonsolin is actually on the mound while we're recording this podcast on Sunday night. Three and a third, eight hits, four runs. Two of them are earned. Well, not going to be him then. I don't know that that matters at all,

but that's currently what's happening. The hell of his case. Both Miles Michaelis and Quang-Hun Kim of the St. Louis Cardinals will open the year on the injured list, Daniel Ponce de Leon. and John Gant will start in the rotation. Alejandro Kirk with the Blue Jays will be on their opening day roster. Yes.

The bigger question is playing time. How will it be divided up between him and David, Danny Jansen? So, Chris, just a guess. I mean, we really don't know, but what are you thinking between Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk? I would guess Danny Jansen gets the majority of the starts at catcher, but I think there's a non-zero chance Alejandro Kirk gets some run at DH. because, I mean, if you, I know it's just projections, but if you look at the projection systems,

he is, I want to say ATC has him as the fourth best hitter, sixth best hitter on the Blue Jays by Wobah. And I think the bat has him similarly ranked highly. So there's a chance that their best lineups will regularly include Alejandro Kirk in some configuration. Yeah. I also think it's a situation where, I mean, come on, how long have they been waiting for Danny Jansen to take the next step forward?

I know Kirk's behind him defensively, but if Kirk is killing it, then I think, I think Danny Jansen becomes the backup at some point this year. I mean, he'll be 26. He's got 626 plate appearances. So it's still early-ish, but I agree. He's got a lot of pressure on him. I wouldn't be surprised if this is not exactly a 50-50 split. Maybe it's 60-40 in favor of Jansen to start the season, but like you guys said, look, we're a couple of weeks into the season.

If Alejandro Kirk is performing well, we could easily see that flip to 60, 40 in favor of Kirk. And then even more, he could just widen that gap as the season goes along. Yeah, Kirk, Kirk's only play, his career high in games played as 92 as a professional. And he's only, is he 21 yet? He's 22. Okay. So it's also possible that they don't want to, you know,

have him playing like 70% of the games at any point this season anyway, just because, you know, that'd be asking a lot from him. Adbra Aalai made the Cubs rotation sending Alec Mills to the bullpen, Scott. I know that this is someone that we were excited about early in draft season, and then we didn't really know if he was going to get the opportunity, but now confirmed Al-Zalai will be in their rotation. We didn't know, and he wasn't pitching well, and I really cooled on him, but apparently that slider that he discovered last year,

he needed to rediscover it this spring. And I think his last two outings, I think it's two. He's looked a lot better, gotten a lot more. gotten a lot of strikeouts. It was his best swing in this pitch last year, and he never really had it before then. So, you know, clearly David Ross, he had other ways he could go

with that fifth spot, and he decided to give it to Alzalai. So that's, I think, a good sign. He's back to being a deep sleeper. Yep, definitely a name to pay attention to in NL-only leagues, deeper mixed leagues as well. Robbie Ray will not make his first start of the season, as

he heard his elbow falling down the stairs. We mentioned that last week, but now now confirmed, so maybe we'll get him by the second or third week of the season. Drew Pomeran's returned on Friday for the Padres and through a perfect ending with two strikeouts. Chris, are we still expecting Emilio Pagan to be the closer

from the get-go for San Diego? I don't think we should expect any one closer at this point until they tell us that there will be. The only thing we really got, I think it was like an MLB.com reporter speculating that Emilio Paghan would be the closer, right? So, yeah, I think

It was, may have been San Diego Times. Yeah, either way. You know, it's the thing with Pomeranz is he was awesome last season, and they still went out and got a closer. And this offseason, you know, they went out and got Mark Malanson. Clearly, it wasn't just to be the closer, but they have Malantz and they have Pagan. I can imagine a world in which they just viewed your Pomerans as, like, we want to keep him for the highest leverage situations against the lefties.

Sometimes that'll be in the ninth inning. it is, he'll get a save. I wouldn't imagine it's just going to be, it's your job now. San Diego Union Tribune. I said the paper's name wrong. But, yeah, I don't even know that they're only other lefty is Tim Hill. So I don't know if, like,

they'd want Pomerant's to just be slated for the ninth day. Right. Yeah, I think Pomerant has the longest odds between him, Paghan and Mlanson, actually. But I think they're going to show us before they tell us. I'm not sure they'll ever tell us, you know. Yep. And similarly to the Philadelphia Phillies, I was reading today that Jose Alvarado is the only lefty in their bullpen too. So I don't think that bodes well for his chances to be the closer in the ninth inning. I think typically Gerardi has always gone with just one guy as his closer. But if they only have one lefty, you know, they could save Alvarado for whenever, you know, a bunch of lefties are due up earlier than the ninth inning. So keep that in mind for the Phillies bullpen. Tristan McKenzie and Logan Allen. The Logan Allen, that was drafted back in 2015

because the Cleveland Indians drafted another Logan Allen last year in 2020. So when you're looking these players up, please, you know, try to differentiate it because it's very confusing

they're on the same team. Also, as we learned in one of my drafts last week, don't draft. If there's only one Wander Franco in your draft room, don't take him. Because that's the one who plays

for the Royals. Not the one who plays third baseman Wander Franco. Yeah, that's such a best. That used to happen back in the day. There was like an Adrian Peterson on the Bears. Oh, the best, I saw someone in one of my leagues put David Johnson, the Steelers

tight end out as the first player nominated. Oh, no. And got like $60 before we backed it out. Oh, gosh. Yeah, that actually happened to like one year in our salary cap draft, we threw out someone named Vladimir Gutierrez and it was the year that Vladimir Guerrero was getting called up. And someone bit him up to 20 bucks before they realized, wait, this is Gutierrez. And I think we made, we made him keep him too. That's a jerk move. It's pretty messed up. Back to Logan Allen.

Logan Allen, by the way, he has been awesome this spring. And 14 innings pitched, one-earned run, 18 strikeouts. And he has really strong minor league numbers as well. 3.31 ERA, 459Ks in 440. And a third inning's pitch. Scott, any interest in Logan Allen in deeper leagues? Yeah, I was trying to read if I could find anything about what's going on with him, why he's been so dominant this spring.

Kind of really find much. And there's just so many other pitchers that are scarcely owned that I'm more excited about, like Logan Webb, who I was happy to win in a couple leagues first run of fab tonight. A great change-up for the Giants. Dalton Jeffries, presuming he wins the athletics fifth starter job. Carlos Rodon. Tristan McKenzie on his own team.

Well, he's pretty widely rostered, right, McKenzie? Yeah, I mean, I'd certainly prefer him to Alan. Um, yeah, I'll look up the roster percentage for Tristan. Oh, 88% on CBS. Yeah, 88%. Yep. So he's probably not available anywhere. Only if you're in deeper leagues, remember the name, Logan Allen. Another especially deep name.

We're going deep today, but Bruce Zimmerman made the Orioles rotation and we'll start the third game of the season for them. And so far in the spring, nine shutout endings, one hit, three walks, ten strikeouts. And I saw a stack-ass numbers a couple of weeks ago, and he's throwing harder than ever before. and he has, I believe it was pretty good minor league numbers. So Bruce Zimmerman, for anyone, an AL-only deeper mixed leagues. It sounds a lot like a John Means situation, actually,

because it's not like he's, he was a soft-tossing lefty, Zimmerman was in the minors and just succeeded on like location and deception. So, you know, never much of a prospect because the stuff didn't look good. If he's, you know, throwing two miles per hour harder, two, three miles per hour harder, and he still has that other stuff,

going for him. He could be, I think he's allowed one hit this spring, you know, with a bunch of strikeouts. Obviously, 10, 11 innings, not a big sample. But, and I'd put him below those other guys I mentioned. I wasn't really putting any claims in for Bruce Zimmerman, but he's definitely on the scout team at the start of the year. Somebody I'm going to be watching closely. Carter Keyboom was optioned by the Washington Nationals, which means Starlin Castro will start a third base for them, while Josh Harrison will start at second. Jameson Tyone will not start for the Yankees until April 7th. Their sixth game of the season, the team is being overly cautious with him coming off of his second Tommy John surgery. Taylor Tremel outfielder for the Seattle Mariners has

made their opening day roster and is poised to start in left field. So far on the spring, I'm very excited about this. 13 for 43, five doubles, three homers and two steals. So a little bit of pop, some speed here. Again, the name, Taylor Tremel, another deeper league name if you play in five outfielders, five outfielers. Average 38 steals per 150 games in the miners. With a decent success rate. So, you know, he's always been one of those guys who the scouts

were always pretty high on compared to the numbers. Like the numbers always lagged the scouting reports. And this is one of the things about this season is he was getting, you know, pretty good reviews from the alternate site. And it might have clicked for him. And we just never saw it. in which case, you know, maybe this spring is for real. And he can be a, you know, he was a consistent, you know,

top 70 prospect before the last year or so. And he came over last year from the Padres in, it was a reliever trade that they made last year. And he's Taylor Tremel, only 18% rostered on CBS Sports Leagues right now. Miles Straw outfielder for the Astros was removed from the lineup Saturday due to health and safety protocols. Sounds like this is a COVID situation. And if that's the case, Miles Strahl will not be ready for opening day.

So pay attention to that. I believe Chas McCormick is the next outfielder up there for the Astros. Jazz Chisholm will be the Marlin's starting second basement to open the season. And we spoke about him a little bit towards the end of last week. Last but not least, Ty Butchery was optioned on Sunday. Scott, do you have anything to say about Ty Butchry? Give the people what they want. No, I don't.

Sorry. I forgot about that. I do want to talk about jazz chisholm, though, because that's kind of, like, he was the one who... He was the one getting the $200 bids in the first run of Fab and, like, TGFBI. So it's a pretty big deal.

I mean, high variance profile. He strikes out a lot, and maybe that'll ruin him. But he showed enough potential this spring, power, speed. I mean, if he's a 20-20 guy or beyond this year, year, it wouldn't be so shocking.

And, you know, it's going to be eligible at second base. I saw Scott Kingery was also option for the Philadelphia Phillies. So Oduble Herrera will be the starting center fielder for the Phillies, at least against left-handed pitching. So keep that in mind. Last thing that we'll hit on before we get to some ADP battles. And James Paxton, is he just back? Because on Saturday, he was awesome.

Once again, four shutout, two hits, two walks, nine strikeouts. I moved them all the way up to SP 47. I can't tell if I'm being too aggressive, not aggressive enough, but it sure seems like James Paxon is back. Chris, are you as optimistic as I am? What I'm looking for is the velocity. It looks like it was back the first two outings.

And so, you know, if that's the case, yeah, I think you should be excited about him. I'm trying, where did I move him up to? Okay, I haven't moved him up enough. I moved him up to 61 recently, but in looking at it, yeah, I'll move him right next to Corey Kluber at 51. That seems like the right.

He might actually feel better about him than Kori Kluber at this point. Cory Kluber got hit pretty hard today. Yep, and he struggled with command. I think he had four walks for the Yankees on Sunday. So, yeah, I think we're getting pretty close to with both of those guys. Scott, what do you think? Who would you rather have Paxson or Kluber? Yeah, I know I have them basically right next to each other as well.

That's a tough one. I might, I might do it. I'd probably, I'd probably lean Glover. But that's, yeah. I thought we were getting a ranking change. I'm thinking of Paxton's health history there, and I don't think he's ever had even 150 innings in a season before. So I think that would have me leaning Klubber.

But, you know, it's kind of, it's kind of just preference at this point. Before we get to those ADP battles, just want to remind everyone to sign up for all of our CBS Sports Newsletters, but specifically the Fantasy Baseball Today newsletter. It is free and it's delivered right to your inbox every morning. Just go to CBSports.com slash newsletter, punch in your email address and boom, you'll get it Monday through Friday. And also join our Facebook group.

Search Fantasy Baseball today on Facebook or click the link in the podcast description to chat with other FBT fans. If you're watching on the video side, don't go anywhere. If you were listening to the podcast, we're going to take a quick break. But when we return, we have ADP battles here on Fantasy Baseball. today. So let's go position by position. We'll start off at first base. And I'm using NFBC ADP over the last two weeks. Obviously, just so many drafts are being done right now. And we've been using fantasy pros for a while, but those also include drafts going back to like January and February.

So I wanted more recent data. And so we're using the NFBC data from the last two weeks. And during that time, Jose Ibrahim-Brayu is at pick 41 and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is at pick 42. Obviously, Jose Abraeu was fantastic last year. He won the American League MVP. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has a career OPS of 778. This is really just safety and basically buying a player coming off a career year versus projecting a young player to do something he's never done before. So, Scott, if you were on the clock in that fourth round range and you're looking for some pops and batting average,

who would you rather have between Abraeu and Vlad Jr.? I mean, come on, you know, I'm taking a brayu. I've always been I've always been a little less a less than enthusiastic about paying the full price for Guerrero I can understand

the thing you got to remember about NFBC if we're going to use that and let's just we'll just say it once here at the top is that you know people are trying to beat like 500 other people to win the big payout and so to do that you see

the high variance guys pushed up I mean Guerrero could deliver a first round outcome I suppose technically a brayu could too because he was right there last year. But I think people expect, you know, if a brayo regresses to the mean, which I expect, that the Guerrero is the more likely of the two to deliver first round numbers. But the more likely of the two to satisfy you at his cost, I think is a brayu. I do want to mention, even though it's way in the past now, that Paxton, just to clarify,

He did have a 160 innings season. That is his career high, 160 and a third. So that's what I was referring to earlier. And I think he might have gotten to like 180 if you include a minor league rehab assignment. Maybe, maybe right, I don't know. We are grasping at Strauss here for James Paxton Love. Well, we just did that for the people draft, 16 teamer.

And I took both of these guys. It took a Brayu and Paxton. I think it was at a Brayu and Paxon. A Brayu and Vlad at pick 48 and 49. So not really far off from that ADP. Chris, I know that you have recently moved Vlad way up. Would you be willing to move him ahead of Jose Abraeu? I don't think that's what I did.

No, he's still behind a brave. Five spots in the overall one spot at first base, but it's pretty close. The one thing I will say about Vlad, and with the caveat that we are dealing with incomplete information when it comes to spring training, but it does seem like nearly all, if not all of Vladimir Guerrero's games have been played

in front of the Stackass cameras. His barrel rate is up this year, which is what we wanted to see. But it's only up to about eight degrees, which is not really a significant enough improvement to, we're dealing with small sample sizes, so it's hard to say one way or the other. But he was at 6.7 degrees in 2019,

4.6 degrees in 2020. So obviously it's an improvement, but it's not enough to say, hey, Vladimir Guerrero, you know, with confidence, is going to be this guy who crushes the ball and hits him in the air regularly. We're still dealing with small enough sample size

where, you know, it could be that he gets there. But he started out in spring, hitting the ball in the air a lot. And the last like 10 days to 14 days have been a lot of ground balls. And so, you know, we're talking about splitting the, we're talking about splitting the sample size and half. And so you just look at the overall, it's a modest increase.

And I think he's still a risk. He's just, he is a risk worth taking. It is worth noting he only has one home run in spring. He's crushing the ball. He's hitting 500 or something. Yeah, he had a big game that wasn't official. I think maybe he had like a two homer game that wasn't official. His best game of the spring.

But, you know, If we're relying that much on whether to include that game or not, it really goes to show you how small the sample is that we're talking about. He hit one recently. Okay. Again, that is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. versus Jose Abraeu. And we'll just sweep it across the board here. I'll take Jose Abrae ahead of Vlad as well.

But, man, flat is growing on me, and I had to get at least one share of him. And I did so today, well, on Sunday during our draft. Let's look at Anthony Rizzo versus Max Muncie, specifically in a head-to-ed points league, because these guys both excel in that. that format. They both have fantastic plate discipline, walk quite a bit, but are also coming back from just really awful seasons last year, where they were both really hurt by Babbib. Anthony Rizzo, 218babbat last season, career 286 mark. Same thing for Munty, a 203 Babbap last year, 266 for his

career. So, Chris, if you are looking for a first baseman in a head-to-head points league in those middle rounds of the draft, who would you rather have between Rizzo and Muncie? Yeah, for me, it's not even close. It's Rizzo. In head-to-head points specifically, although I think you can make a case in either format, but in head-to-head points, Rizzo's been better every year of Monsi's career. He was the number three first baseman in 2019 in this format as well. So I think it's definitely Rizzo. I'm expecting, you know, that whole Cubs offense to bounce back.

And yeah, I think Rizzo's. going to be a fine pick around 100 overall in most leagues. Scott, what do you think, Rizzo versus Muncie, if you're in a head-to-head points league, and you need a first baseman. I feel like we haven't talked about Muncie very much, but I believe you drafted him in our draft on Sunday. So what do you think about those two?

It was a little different because it was an OBP, an OBP categories league and, you know, the bigger home run hitter of the two, if they're going to have a similar OBP. I think it would be pretty similar. You know, it made sense to take that. I'd probably lead Muncie anyway in most formats. I know you're specifying if you need a first baseman,

but the fact that Muncie's eligible is second and third as well. Like, that's enough for me to lean him instead of Rizzo. And I was a little concerned. Muncie, Rizzo hasn't been a 30 homer guy since 2017. So, like, the power's been on the decline. I just wondered if the decline, you know, if last season small sample and all, but maybe it was a continuation of that.

I am... He was on a 30 homer pace for what it was. Yeah, that's true. I am encouraged that the, it sounds like the Cubs are trying to work out a long-term deal with him and they would know him better than anybody. So if they still have that level of confidence in him, that I think that means something.

But just to answer your question, I'd still prefer Muncie to Rizzo. I'll throw out there, Rizzo's only a year older than Muncie, which is kind of surprising. Yep. But I mean, Muncie is technically that would make him 30, right? But he's a young 30 because he hasn't, you know, obviously had a starting job for his entire career.

I've never started in Major League Baseball and I'm a pretty old 32. So I don't know how much that matters. I'll break the tie here. I like both them a lot in the head's head points format. But I do like Anthony Riverso just a little bit more one year older. Obviously a little bit more wear on him there, but more of a track record as well. And he was better than Muncie in both 2019 and in 2018 in terms of fantasy points per year. game. So I'll give Anthony Rizzo the slight edge, but I do like both quite a bit. Let's look at

second base and this one specifically in Roto. I think we've talked about this quite a bit, but let's remind the people, Ozzie Albies, who is going at ADP 37 versus Whitmerfield at ADP 39 between those two, Scott. Ozzie versus Whitmerfield. Who do you like more in Roto? I like Whitmore. I think he's going to have twice as many stolen bases, at least, possibly more than that. That's really the category where I think they're the furthest apart, and it just so happens to be the most important category. Like the main reason you're drafting them that high is for stolen bases. Merrifield's got an easy edge there.

I think he has a slight edge and batting average. And I think powers, you know, I'd give Albee's the edge, but it's not like they're way off in terms of how many home runs they're likely to hit. I'm not really understanding the justification for Albee's except, okay, he's young. Maybe he takes a step forward. Maryfield, I guess, getting older, maybe he takes a step back. But that's, that reasoning isn't compelling enough for me to take all these over

Maryfield. Yeah, Maryfield is really a compiler, which is not a bad thing. He has missed four games over the last three seasons. Think about that. In a day and age where so many guys get days off with Maryfield is an absolute Ironman. But I think there is something to, I can project a little bit more for a 24-year-old versus a 32-year-old. So I guess it's, do you just want to go with what you've seen in the past with Whitmerfield or maybe projecting a little bit more upside for Ozzie Albies? Chris, what do you think between those two in Roto? I'm with Scott. I think, you know, most signs point to Merrifield being the guy. I think the argument for it would be one lineup, although I think that Royals lineup is okay. It's pretty good. I think it's fine this year. I don't know if Mondesie hitting third is necessarily fine, but it seems like that.

that's what's going to happen. The thing with Albies is he has actually a fairly large hole in his game that he needs to improve to get better. And I don't know if he can. I don't want to say he can't hit Ritey's. He can hit Ritey. But he has a 256 career average against Ritey's. It's very weird. He is much better against lefties.

And obviously when two-thirds to three-quarters of your plate appearances come against the guys that you're not. as good as it, it puts a bit of a ceiling on what you can do. Now, that's not to say he can't get better. It's not to say he can't perform better, but even in 2019, which is his best season in the majors, he only had a 778 OPS against Ritees. That's fine. That'll be more than good enough. He had an 8.50 something OPS overall. But he hasn't shown that growth again as a left-handed batter that makes me think that he's likely to take a big step forward. No, and that's a fair concern. And it's something that I always thought

it has been so weird for Ozzy Albies as a switch hitter who just does not perform particularly well against right-handed pitching. Yeah, I think it comes down to what you want more. And typically, I guess you would want more of batting average and steals in the early rounds. That's where a win is going to excel. I still, I think Ozzie can run more.

Not that we've seen him do it, but I think he's capable of like a 25-20 season. Oh, of course. He just hasn't done it yet. Probably half the players in baseball. payable of a 20 to 25 steel season. It's just been deemed not worth the risk anymore. I'll take Ozzie, but I'm on an island there,

and I understand all the reasons why you guys want Whitmerfield. He's very safe. I think there's a little bit more upside with someone like Ozzy Albies. Stick at second base here. How about Jose Altuvae versus Jeff McNeil? And we're hoping that Jose Altuve can bounce back and be someone that provides batting average. I think we're pretty confident that that's at least what Jeff McNeil is going to do.

Altuvae was not good in the regular season. Obviously coming back from the cheating scandal, all the Houston Astros were bad, basically all of them. I think Michael Brantley was still solid last year. But in the postseason, Jose Altuve really took off 375 batting average with five home runs. Jeff McNeil gets off to these slow starts, but by the end of the season,

he's usually pretty damn good. So Chris, what do you think about Altuve versus Jeff McNeil? Altuve is going to pick 91. McNeil, I pick 93. Yeah, I mean, if you just combine Altuve's regular season and postseason, he hit 10 home runs in 61 games, that's about a 28 home or pace, 27 homer pace. So I think he's probably less finished than his 2020 numbers would make you believe. And Scott kind of turned me around on McNeil and the idea that he might just be a zero for power, or not a zero.

but as close to being a zero as you can be for a top 100 pick in today's climate. You know, he had, he had that big second half in 2019, but four home runs last season that was in a four game stretch, all four of those. That's funny. Three home runs in 63 games in 2018. I just, I think you can look at his 162 game average and say, well, he's hit 20 home runs per 162,

but I just don't think that quite captures it. There's really only been like one 60-game stretch of his career where McNeil, in the majors at least, has hit for even above-average power. Yeah, the fact that he kind of became a power hitter leading up to his promotion for the Mets is why I retain hope that there is power there for McNeil. But I'm...

The thing about it is, you are... drafting McNeil going off fantasy pros 99th player off the board McNeil David Fletcher is the 209th

player off the board if Jeff McNeil isn't a power hitter he's David Fletcher so you're wagering 110 spots that Jeff McNeil is a power hitter

and that what we saw from him in the second half of 2019 is the more legitimate version and that's a lot that's a lot I'm not saying I never do it

I have him at the end of a tier. So, you know, there comes a point in the draft where it is worth taking that gamble. But I don't go into any draft with that as my aim. And I'd certainly rather gamble on the upside of Altuvae, who for most of his career has been a first round caliber hitter. So is that Altuvae for you, Chris? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I would take Jose Altuva as well.

And I've been off of them the past couple of years. But the ADP, I mean, now around, you know, 91 the past two weeks, I mean, It's been that case basically all offseason where you're getting all the Houston Astros players at good discounts. And between him and Correa in the middle infield, I really like getting both those. I don't mind Jeff McNeil. I hear what you guys are saying about the power.

But, I mean, I keep calling him DJ Lemahue Light. 319 batting average in 248 games in the majors. And that's like, you know, if he's hitting 320, that's a plus plus contributor in that category. And obviously he makes a lot of context, so he's helpful in points

leagues as well. Can the dual eligibility? helps. Yeah. Second base and outfield for Jeff McNeil. So we like him, but we do like Jose Altuva a little bit more.

How about this is always an interesting one? And we have that whole, I know, Scott, we've talked about this tier a lot, and it's really just the bounce back candidate. It's for the shortstop position. And Glaber Torres at pick 61 versus Javier Baez

at pick 69. And both were just awful last year. And it's so weird because Glaver was coming off that monster season that he had in 2019, where he did do most of his damage against the Orioles. so it's worth bringing that up because their pitching staff was historically bad.

And then Javier Baez complained about not having the in-game video last year and his OPS went from 847 in 2019 to 599 last year. So between these two, Scott, Glaber versus Javier Baez. Who do you like more? I know I'm invested more in Baez.

I'm not sure I've ever actually had to decide. I think I have Dora's ranked ahead. It's very much a situation where if I'm needing a shortstop, up at that point. I'm just going to take whichever of the two hasn't been taken yet. I feel like Baez has more upside. I do. I hate that he's been terrible this spring. Torres has been awesome. Baez has been terrible, but you shouldn't put too much stock into that. I just, you know, I can't, I can't help but feel a little better if it was the other way around, you know?

Yeah, look, Javier Baez is entering a contract year. Glaver Torres is a few years younger. Chris, what do you think about these two? Glaver versus Javier Bias? Is there a chance? There's always a chance, but that the plate discipline, the lack of plate discipline for Javier Bias, is just finally catching up to him.

It's possible, but I don't know. He's 28 years old. You know, it's not like he's 33. I have Glaver, six spots higher in the overall rankings. He's one spot higher at shortstop. So I think it's basically a toss-up. And I have Glaver higher

and I believe in that ranking. But I would have an easier time making the argument for Javier Baez than I would for Glaber. And it's mostly just because of the stolen bases, which I don't know if like that it's probably not a big enough. I think what it comes down to is it's not a big enough edge for Javier Baez to upend it. But, you know, he, he's the one, like I don't think Labor Torres's 38 Homer season was real.

It's basically what it comes down to for me. So, you know, when you're talking about the upside, at like Scott Stead, I do think Bias has higher upside because of the stolen bases. Whereas, you know, I had a stat for Glaber where, you know, he had, what, 11 of his 38 homers against the Orioles? 13. Something like that, 13, which is just amazing. And I looked up the history of players who had hit more than 10 home runs against one team in a given season. And I think the average, they dropped like 30% in home run total, the next.

year because yes, he gets to play the Orioles again, but he's not going to hit 13 home runs against them again. You know, that's just the kind of thing that doesn't happen. There's a reason it was an MLB record. So, yeah, I think it's close. Yeah, I think it's very close. And all of the projection systems on fan graphs have Javier Baez projected for between 11 and 14 steals. They only have Glaber Torres projected for between five and seven steals this season. So yes, Javier Baez will have a slight advantage there. I would still go with Glaber just because I think the power upside is higher and just the lineup context. Not that the Cubs have a bad lineup, but obviously the Yankees, you know, hitting in Yankee Stadium with all those other hitters around him.

I think I'll give him the slight edge there. But, you know, Scott, I mean, if you're getting a round or two difference, which I've seen happen at times between the two, then I understand why you would just want to wait and take hobby. Bias seems to fall more. Bionkees seems to fall more often, I think. Yeah, I mean, there's just a little bit more luster around Glaver because he's younger. Obviously, you have to pay a tax for Yankees players, which is annoying in itself. But yeah. How about this one? Kyle Tucker and Luis Robert, specifically in Roto, because we know Robert's going to go quite a bit later than Tucker in a head-ted points league because of his lack of plate discipline. But I think that we're probably projecting these two players similarly.

Maybe, you know, between 25 and 30 home runs, close to 20 steals for each of them. Robert is running in the spring. He has five steals already so far this spring. So, uh, Chris, we'll go to you first this time. Kyle Tucker versus Luis Robert, specifically in Roto, which one would you rather have? The next two are very funny because I literally have Kyle Tucker

and Luis Robert separated by one. Luis Robert, excuse me. I think it's Robert now. I'm back to Robert, so we're going with that. I have Kyle Tucker 31st. I have Luis Robbert, 36. I would like to be a video of him saying Robert. So, yeah, Kyle Tucker 31,

Robert 32, flip a coin. I think Robert probably has more upside across the board. I think he has slightly better tools, but Tucker's a more advanced feel for the game is I guess the best way to put it. Yes, and probably more downside for Robert too just because he strikes out so much more than Kyle Tucker does. Scott, do you have a more definitive answer

in Tucker versus Robert? I know I'm not taking either of these players unless they fall. Robert has been more likely to fall. I think Robert has more upside. I think he has much more downside. And so for that reason, I think I lean Tucker,

but they're really close. Yeah. Again, that's Kyle Tucker versus Luis Robert. And I think similar players, they're both young. They're both in really good lineups. The White Tuck's lineup,

probably better than the Astros, I guess, at this point. Yeah, I would take Kyle Tucker. I do think he is quite a bit safer. And I've talked about this a lot, especially when, like, comparing Freeman versus Bellinger. I like safety in my early round hitters,

and I do think Tucker is quite a bit safer than Luis Robert. How about Michael Conforto versus Nick Castellanos? And these players are quite similar as well, but that's why we need to have these battles to help people figure out who to draft. So, Scott, I know you love Castellanos. Who would you rather have between the two? Definitely Castianos.

Definitely Castianos. It's not really a debate for me. Conforto is a fine player. We've never seen him do anything like he did in terms of batting average. Last year we've never seen him do anything like that before. And I don't think we're going to see anything like that again. It was built on a 412 BAPIP.

So, yeah, I don't think so. I think Castellanos is other than last year, very reliable source of batting average and getting better because we still haven't seen his best case scenario outside of maybe the worst park designed the worst park design he could play in all those years with the Tigers and now Cincinnati much much better much better for the way he drives the ball to opposite field we saw it reflected in the the home run increase last year we saw it reflected when he played in Chicago for half

a season but that aside and then you know the line drive rate was still elite the strikeout rate was the worst it's ever been last year but I suspect that to norm that will normalize and I think it's possible I mean that bold prediction show we did last week, Frank. What was I saying? In 305 with 38 home runs, I think that's totally within the realm of possibility for Castellanos. Castellanos for Scott. What do you think, Chris? Between Michael Conforto, who's going to pick 73 over the past two weeks, Cassiano's going to pick 77. So very close together there. Yeah, I have Castianos 56 and Conforto 57 in that and Roto. So I guess I am slightly higher on Nkastiano's, but I think they're both pretty good.

You actually look at the last three seasons, and their numbers are remarkably similar. Castiano's has 64 homers and 196 RBI, Conforta has 70 and 205. Castianos is a better bet for average, but their OPS is actually separated by 5,000ths of a point. So I think they're pretty similar. most of that was in Detroit for Castiano's to be fair right but you know half the time he's been out of Detroit has been pretty stinky yeah I know love bad at the power was great in Chicago the power was great in Cincinnati his strikeout rate did spike last year it's it I mean he might have been selling out for power a little bit more and you know being in the smaller park there and great American

ballpark in Cincinnati so maybe he was selling out a little bit more castianos was but he still hit a lot of line drives and I think it was, you know, 23 qualified hitters had a 25% line drive rate or better last year and Castellanos's 257 Babbup was by far the lowest of that entire group. So I think just natural batting average regression coming from him. And even if he sacrifices some power, the strikeout rate, you know, if it could come back to where it was a couple of years ago, that will obviously help for the batting average. We'll wrap up with this one here with three pitchers who are going within three picks of each other in the third round. And it's Jack Flaherty versus Brandon Woodruff

versus Clayton Kershaw at picks 33, 34, and 35. Scott, looking to the heavens. I hate the stress

stretch of pitchers. I know I know I didn't like taking Walker Bueller in that draft tonight because those three were already gone. You know,

I'm not sure. Was Woodruff gone? I think so. He was a second round pick in this 16 team league. Yeah. And he's rising, too.

Woodruff is. Should I have taken Woodruff. Anyway, I have Flaherty ranked first, but I don't know. I mean, the thing about Clayton Kershaw, very reliable, but he's not going to measure up to the others, the other aces in terms of strikeout total. He's just not. He's going to top out at about 180 when, you know, some of them are going to cruise right

past 200. And so, you know, I'd prefer him as like a number three, but it's just never, never possible to get him there. So I'm going to say Flaherty and I hope for the, I mean, I still trust the profile Flaherty. Last year, I mean, everything looked fine except for the ERA. So I'm going to keep your faith with him. And Flaherty was forced to throw bullpen sessions in his hotel room against a mattress on the wall. So sort of tough, tough situation to be in for a pitcher.

All right, Chris, I have your rankings up, so don't lie to me between these three. I never lie. Kershaw, Flaherty, and Woodruff. I'm actually, ask any of my friends. I am famously truthful to a fault. It's gotten me in trouble before. Clinton Kershaw. I actually have Woodruff and Flaherty separated by two spots in the overall rankings,

so 11 and 12 at starting pitcher of 39 and 41 overall. And I have Kershaw 23rd as my SP7. So Kershaw is the guy for me. Yep. And Kershaw has been great the past couple of times. year's velocity ticked up a little bit last season it did you know drop off as a season went on but he's still like really good and he's going to give you strong ratios probably going to give you just over a strikeout per inning i do think the strikeout upside is higher for both brandon woodrow

oh yeah and jack flarity uh and i would give the edge jack flarity of of the three just because he is the youngest and he just kind of has like that workhorse build at this point and i you know i'd expect them to go you know probably not 200 because i wouldn't really project anyone for that but like 180 plus. I think that's definitely doable for Jack Flarity this season. But I don't mind getting any of the three more so as like an SP2

in that third round range if you can get them. All right, we're gonna wrap there. For Scott and Chris, I'm Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today.

We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Bye!