Fantasy Baseball Today - Buy or Sell These Players Off to Hot Starts? (3/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: March 3, 2026Will Jarren Duran play against lefties this year? Is Jac Caglianone a breakout and is Matt McLain a sleeper? Will Mick Abel and Charlie Condon be on their respective teams on Opening Day? 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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Buy or sell these early spring training success stories.
Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome in to NPD Express on Tuesday, March 3rd.
I am Frank Stample joined by Scott White.
And let's do a little buyer sell here.
Scott, up first we have Jaron Duran of the Red Sox,
who already has three home runs.
Two of those have come against lefties,
and there has been some chatter this offseason
that Jaron Duran might not start against left-handed pitching.
So buyer-sell, Jaron,
Jaron Duran will actually just be fine against left-handed pitching this season.
I don't know that I'm willing to say based on a couple spring homers off lefties.
I know you said one was Chris Sale before we started recording.
So that was obviously a very good lefty.
I don't know.
I don't know that I'm ready to buy that he's just going to be good against lefties.
I don't know either, though, that I buy the report is going to sit.
Yeah, yeah.
Let's modify this.
Buy or sell, Jaron Duran will still be an everyday player.
Yeah. I mean, I'm inclined to buy that. I found it a little far-fetched to begin with just because he is one of their most valuable players, clearly.
And you don't do that to one of your star players. The numbers against lefties have been bad.
Left-handed batters usually don't hit left-handers very well, but you establish yourself as a certain caliber of player.
And, you know, they just let you go. And they've let him go the past.
years, he's delivered them very good years. So,
will you or Brayu? I know part of that is they want him to play
against lefties more, not that his numbers are amazing against lefties.
But it becomes a personnel issue too. I mean,
teams carry four-man benches these days, and one of those is a catcher.
So how many platoon options can you keep around?
I don't really see a path for them having a dedicated platoon mate for
Jared Duran. So, you know, maybe to whatever degree they were considering
it. The two homers off lefties this spring has them reconsidering. I would still approach
Duran as if he's a full-time player. Let's talk about Jack Caglione, who was the sixth overall pick
by the Royals back in 2024. One of the top prospects in baseball entering last season. He is off to a
nice start this spring. He had a batted ball over 120 miles per hour and then a different
batted ball, which was a 460 foot home run off of a left-handed pitcher. So, buy or sell, Jack
Caglione as a breakout this season?
I'm afraid I'm going to say bye to all of these because I am.
I am definitely buying Jack Caglione, hook line, and sinker.
Yeah, only a handful of players in the history of Stacast have ever hit a ball
120 miles per hour.
It's guys like Aaron Judge and John Carlos Stanton and O'Neill Cruz, like the hardest
hitting players.
And yeah, Jack Caglione had that reputation coming out of college.
So he seems to fit right in.
He was making a high-quality contact in the minors actually performed.
It was part of the same draft class as Nick Kurtz
and performed a lot like Kurtz in the minors last year.
Didn't it go so well once he reached the majors,
but only struck out 22% of the time.
That's amazing for a guy who makes that kind of that high-quality contact.
And it's not just the single 120-mile-per-hour hit either.
I mean, say to Homer, 116 miles per hour, had a double over the weekend that was close to 117.
I mean, he is throttling the ball Caglione and doesn't have the swing and miss issues that normally accompany that.
Clear path to playing time in Kansas City.
They move the fences in there, which can only help at Coughman Stadium.
So, yeah, I think things are shaping up for Caglione.
I'm going to call him a post-type sleeper rather than a breakout, but the bottom line is,
well worthy of your attention and drafts of any size.
All right, let's take a quick break.
We'll be back right after this.
Welcome back in.
We're doing a little buy or sell for some spring training early success stories here.
And next up we have Matt McLean, who just had a two-homer game on Monday.
He's now eight for 14, three homers, three walks to one strikeout.
It is a very small sample size.
I totally get that.
But maybe he just needed a full season under his belt, getting
further away from all those injuries he dealt with in 2024.
So Scott, buy or sell Matt McLean as a sleeper in fantasy right now.
The ADP right around 200.
Yeah, I think you have to buy him as a sleeper just because the ADP is so low
and because there are so few potential standouts at second base.
And because as recently as last year, a lot of people thought he could be a standout.
He showed that kind of potential as a rookie in 2023.
And I think it's certainly possible that after a year loss to injury,
he was he was just kind of refinding his form last year and um another year removed from that
it's going to come in healthier uh and just more prepared to to pick up where he left off in
that impressive rookie season now does the the home runs do the home runs this spring really
change anything for me do they do they themselves make the case that oh yeah matt mcclain
is fine now. I think that's reading too much into them. But there is certainly, it's not hard to
see the glass half full for Matt McLean, just given the cost and given the need that so many
drafters are going to have for him. All right. Next up, here we have Mick Abel of the
twins who came over from the Phillies in the Yawand-Doran trade last year. He has looked disgusting so
far. Six shutout innings, three hits, 11 strikeouts, the zero walks. His fastball velocity has been
up. He has 22 swinging strikes on 89 pitches so far, which is just insane stuff. But even without
Pablo Lopez, it is a crowded Twins rotation right now. So not buy or sell McAble as a sleeper,
Scott. By or sell, Mick Abel is in the rotation on a big day.
That'll give me something to sell. I do buy him as a sleeper, but I sell that he's going to
going to open the year in the rotation just because I think the twins have too many,
too many people ahead of him in line that they're going to want to give the first shot to.
And, you know, someone like Simeon Woods Richardson's no minor league options left.
He's probably in the rotation.
Zebby Matthews, Taj Bradley, I think they would probably be ahead in the pecking order too.
Bradley only has one option left.
So like, just because of the, uh,
of it all, I think the odds are Mick Abel's on the outside looking at to begin the year.
But with a very easy way in, if he just continues to do what he's done this spring at AAA,
love what I've seen from him.
You mentioned 11 strikeouts to no walks in just six innings.
All those swinging strikes, I think two-thirds have come on the fastball roughly.
And if you're missing bats like that on a fastball, your ceiling is high.
Control has been an issue for Abel in the past.
but again, no walks in those two starts.
So very encouraged by what I've seen.
I think he's definitely a sleeper.
Long shot to make the rotation, though.
Let's wrap up here with Charlie Condon,
who was the third overall pick by the Rockies back in 2024.
He is 7 for 15 so far.
He's got three home runs.
He's made some really loud contact.
I know one of the home runs was 115 mile per hour exit velocity.
Another one of them went of 450 feet.
So showing off some of that power potential here,
Scott, buy or sell.
Charlie Condon will be the starting first basement on opening day for the Rockies.
Again, I think the logistics are working against him.
So I'm going to sell it.
But he is making a real battle of it.
And the Rockies said at the start of camp, he would have a chance.
So if they were legit in their thinking,
then I think there's at least a possibility.
Charlie Condon could break camp with the team.
And it's been,
there had been few signs of encouragement.
Start of his professional career, very discouraging,
given the hype surrounding him coming out of college,
was a record-setting home run hitter there,
third overall pick, I believe.
Yeah.
And just did not deliver the power production that was expected of him.
But the way he's impacting the ball this spring,
it's not just the home run count.
It's the contact quality, the high exit velocity.
He's not quite on Jack Caglione's level.
but not far behind either.
And he's, one thing he has shown during his time of the miners,
miners is a good batting high, good on base skills for Condon.
So somebody like Troy Johnston or Blaine Crimm or who's that guy they got from the Yankees.
T.J. Rumfield, my boy.
DJ Rumfield.
They might edge out Condon to open the year,
but Condon, I think, is opened eyes this spring and is somebody we're going to be paying attention to at some point.
this season.
All right.
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