Fantasy Baseball Today - Chris' Unique Tout Wars Draft, Christian Scott Spotlight & Mailbag Questions! (3/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

Chris' Tout Wars league uses OBP, innings pitched and saves plus holds as categories (1:10)! ... Should Juan Soto be a top-three pick in an OBP league (2:50)? ... How did Chris' Tout Wars team turn out (7:25)? ... Our latest prospect spotlight is Christian Scott from the New York Mets (19:30). ... Let's get into your mailbag questions, starting with Shohei Ohtani in daily dynasty league (24:55). ... Who are some relievers that have SP eligibility on CBS (28:30)? ... Does Chase Silseth have sleeper appeal (31:15)? ... Any concerns with Yoshinobu Yamamoto (33:07)? ... What do we make of the current hitting and pitching environments (41:50)? ... Which Dodgers pitchers should you target long term (44:48)? ... Why don't we talk more about H2H points leagues (48:55)? ... Which websites and resources do we use most (54:03)? Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on March 1st. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we're gonna break down Chris's unique Tout Wars draft, our latest prospect spotlight, and your mailbag questions for those watching us live on YouTube. You might be wondering, why the heck are they doing a Kokomo Friday on Thursday afternoon?

Well, we have an early flight tomorrow, Chris and I, so we did have to record a little bit earlier today, but nonetheless, it is a Kokomo Friday. And let's just jump right in. And Chris, we'll talk about your Tout Wars draft. A 15-te-by-5-5-Roto League with a twist, with multiple twists. OBP instead of batting average, innings pitched instead of wins,

and saves plus holds instead of saves, which completely changes the draft board. I'll pull that up in just a second. For those watching on YouTube, you could check it out. For example, you took Juan Soto third overall. Logan Webb, Aranola, Framber Valdez, all went in the third round because They project for around 200 innings.

No relievers drafted until Devin Williams in round seven, which is fun. It's a very unique format. What do you think? Yeah, I think it was, it introduces a lot of interesting wrinkles. I think specifically, OBP is fairly straightforward.

I think the pitching side, though, introduces a lot of really interesting changes that you have to make to how you think about things. And I'm not 100% sure I landed it. And the one thing I want to say is, I've been playing in this league, I think, for four or five seasons now. And this is the first time it's a 15 team league. It's been a 12 team team league in the past.

And that really changes things because it's been, you know, like you said, closers go a lot later, but it's been easier to find closers in this league than it has in the past. This year, it's hard to balance innings pitched and saved plus holds in a way that makes sense and I'm not sure 100% that I did it right. So it's an interesting draft and I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah, we'll talk about your team in just a second. We did get two related questions via email to a league like this format. So the first one is from a listener named Mike.

I play in a 5 by 5 category league and have the third overall pick. We made the switch from average to OBP this year and wondering if I should still take Julio Rodriguez or Bobby Witt or make a play for Juan Soto with his redoubt. ridiculous OBP. What do you guys think? So, Chris, you took Juan Soto. Scott, welcome. You are here in the podcast as well. Let's talk to you. I am. Would you take Juan Soto third overall in OBP or still take the massive steals output of someone like Bobby Witt or Julio Rodriguez? So I've been asked this question a couple times already this draft prep season. I may have heard from Mike actually on Twitter. And I gave the two people I've heard different answers. I

Originally, I told the first person, yeah, I mean, the stolen base output is so massive from Witt and Rodriguez that I probably still take them. But I thought about it some more, and their OBP, especially Witt, especially Witt didn't even have a 320 OBP last year. So he is particularly by early round standards a big liability. It's a negative. Yeah. Yeah. And then Julio Rodriguez isn't great either. I think I would go on Soto instead like Chris did in this draft

because he gives you such an advantage and on-base percentage and it's harder to find on-base specialists than it is Steele's specialists. It's harder to make, like most of the big steals guys are low OBP guys. I don't know why that is, but it is the way it is. So if you're going to take a hit in OBP anyway, chasing steals later, like that's the scarcer category to fill early is I guess what I'm trying to say and Soto fills it in a significant way and you don't even have to worry about if he has this huge resurgence season with the Yankees like so many of us predicting you know he's going to get on base a ton and I think that's the better way to go if you wanted to try and split the difference I think you could make an argument for Corbyn Carroll who was close to a 370 OBP last year obviously not up over 400 like Soto, but he could give you a much better OBP than than Julio Rodriguez and especially Bobby Whitwood. And he would still give you that massive steel total.

That is, if you're not too worried about the shoulder. And the thing with Wonsato is the last two seasons, he's had a 401 and a 410 OBP. And those were relatively disappointing numbers for him. You remember 2021. He hit 313, which was the best. batting average of his career in a full season, 40 points better almost than he did last year. He had a 467 OBP. And the thing about Juan Soto that makes him so much more valuable in an OBP league is not just

that he projects to have the best OBP in baseball, but you get the full value of that. Whereas with even if Juan Soto hits 300, it's a relatively less valuable 300 because of how much he walks in a roto league. He's only getting, I don't know, 550 or so at-bats because of how much he walks. You only get the credit for the walk, for the for the, for the, for the, for the, at-bats in a regular head head or a regular roto league. So he's even more valuable in an OBP league than you're used to an elite batting average source being in a regular roto league. And I'm seeing now. Bobby Witt went 14th overall in this draft.

So I guess the 12 people picking between 2 and 14 came to the same conclusion that I ultimately did and that you did, Chris. And this actually gives me hope because I'm probably going to be picking 14th in my own Tout Wars draft, which doesn't have as many twists and turns as yours does, Chris, but it does have OBP instead of batting average. So I might come away with Bobby Witt. That kind of makes me excited. I'm looking at the bat X projections. And in an OBP league,

they have him as the 13th most valuable header. So that's pretty much exactly where he went. I think there was one hitter who went ahead of him who wouldn't or who is ranked ahead of him who didn't go ahead of him. But yeah, that's that's pretty much right where I think he belongs in this format. Let's get back into your team, Chris. and your first four picks, you took Juan Soto.

Again, you were drafting third overall in a 15 team league here. Juan Soto, Luis Castillo, Corey Seeger, and Boba Sheet. You also wound up with a bunch of injury discounts. You got Seeger at Pick 33, who were hoping to be ready for opening day. Josh Young at Pick 148, Kodai Senga at 153. So talk to me about your early round picks, what was going through your mind and some of these injury discounts that felt to you. So one, I got sniked both on my second and third round picks.

which was frustrating. I literally, the pick before me, I was hoping Vladimir Guerrero would fall to 28. He's not usually someone that I'm drafting this year, but I did write about him on my all-fomo team. I did get some emails. Apparently, some people don't know what FOMO means. Fear of missing out.

It's just guys that I can't, I don't want to not draft. And I would have gladly taken him at 28. I had to settle for Luis Castillo, who is a, should be a very good source of innings, is a lingering doubts about that shoulder issue from 2022. But other than that, he's been a very,

very good source of endings. I think that's the only time he's missed a start since getting to the majors. And then I really wanted Francisco Lindor at 33rd overall. He went off one pick ahead of me. And I don't know if I would say I settled for Corey Seeger because he could be very, very good in this format. But I would have preferred Lindor. So Seeger,

a little bit of a settle there. But I'm happy. with the way the first few rounds went. Obviously Soto and Seeger, very, very good OBP guys. Boba Shet, much less so, but still not a bad OBP. And I think he makes sense there because I am expecting a bounce back and stolen bases. I know Scott and I disagree about that. I think it was a knee injury that he was dealing with last year, really slowed him down.

I would expect more like 15 to 20 steals than what, five like he got last year. And he was dealing with that injury again last year. So there is a chance that Bobauchet could bounce back. And he's a lower OBP guy, but you have so much OBP built in with taking Juan Soto in the first round. So you can afford to- He's an okay OVP guy, Bichet. He doesn't walk much, but he hits for such a high average. That's exactly right. So let's just run through the rest of your team.

And again, for those watching us, you can see the draft board here. And start off with your hitters. You got Travis Darno and Tyler Soderstrom at catcher. You do have Henry Davis waiting in the wings. So hopefully he will gain that catcher eligibility. early on. Your infield, Thai France, Catelle Marte, Corey Seeger, Josh Young, with Bobauchette as your middle, and Michael Bush at corner. Then in the outfield, Juan Soto, Josh Lowe, who we just learned, has been shut down for the next six days due to left hip inflammations.

The one time I draft him. Look, this is part of the problem with drafting early is obviously things could still happen in spring training. The rest of your outfielder's, Nick Castiano, Sharon, and Jung Hu Lee. Thoughts on the offense? I think it's a really strong offense in an OBP league. Probably if I'm light anywhere, it's probably stolen bases. But given, you know, like I have high expectations for Duran. I think Josh Lowe's a 30 steel guy.

I think we can get there. But if this toe injury slows Duran down at all, I think stolen bases are going to be a problem. But otherwise, I feel very good about it. I think Josh Young ended up falling to, the 10th round to me in a 15 team league. And I'm just going to draft Josh Young in every league. It seems like because I have him in TGFBI as well. I really like the value there.

I'm not too concerned about this calf injury. So I think he was a really nice source of cheap power. And I'm pretty happy with the hitting side. It's the pitching side where I think I don't think it's bad. I think it just it kind of went sideways on me in a couple places. So let's talk about that. your pitchers, you got Luis Castillo, Max Fried, Kodi, Senga. Again, you got around pick 150, 153, so a bit of a fall on him.

Gavin Williams, Nestor Cortez, and Luis Severino as your starters. Your relievers, Ryan Helsley, P. Fairbanks, Jason Adam, and you do have Edward Cabrera and Yariol Rodriguez on the bench. So one thing I noticed when looking through this draft, Chris, is where you took relievers, I do wonder if maybe you should have just continued to, like, stack up starters and then just wait and take, whoever was there at the end of the draft, you know? I mean, the fact it was saves plus holds.

So that's the thing, though, with saves plus holds is you either have to, especially in a 15 team league, but I think in any saves plus holds league, you either have to take two closers or you have to start three relievers, right? Because the elite closers are going to get you 35 saves, hopefully or more. the elite holds guys, the high high end guys only get about 30 and more like mid-20s. And so to be able to compete, you do have to have more of them in your lineup. And look, you're going to change that throughout the year. But just as a general rule, to be able to compete, if you're just going with holds guys,

you probably need one more of them in your lineup. And that's where in this format in particular, with it being innings pitched, I needed to either get a couple of more, like you said, in that Ryan Helsley, Pete Fairbanks, range. Probably a couple more starters that I could count on for innings, or I needed to just go two or three rounds earlier and take some elite closers. And look, Ryan Helsley and Pete Fairbanks could both be elite closers.

They certainly are on a per inning basis. It's just they are exhibit A and B among closer injury risks. Yes. So are they actually going to give you the kind of saves totals that would prevent you from having to start a third reliever most weeks? Probably not. I don't know. Yeah.

At least while they're active, they will be. But yeah. Well, when you first shared this team with us and you said you were worried about the pitching, and I didn't know it was innings pitched instead of wins. And so I'm seeing Luis Castillo, Max Fried, and Cotei Senga is your top three. and obviously you're having to hope Senga comes back sooner than later,

but if he does, I mean, that sounds like a good top three by conventional 15-team Roto standards to me. But among pitchers of their ilk, Freed and Senga are probably going to be poor innings sources because Senga gets his start, obviously he's going to miss some time with injury, but beyond that he gets his starts spaced out, little more because he's used to pitching every once a week in Japan every week.

Every six days. And they've said that that's going to be the plan this year, even when he's healthy, even before the injury. And then freed, I mean, obviously he missed some time with injury last year, but he's never had, he's never had even a hundred. So he's weird because he threw 185 innings, I think, in 2022, and he averaged six and a half innings per start, I'm pretty sure. But so his issue is not necessarily going deep because he tends to be.

be pretty efficient. And last year when he came back from the injury, I think he pitched, you know, he was throwing 95 plus pitches pretty regularly. It's just the injury risk is significant there. Only once even 170 innings in his career. So it's,

I mean, they, freed especially like a win specialist is kind of how I think of. I think of them could put the Braves offense there. But with innings replacing wins, his value is diminished. And yeah, I'm a little concerned.

turned about your pitching. Balancing innings and saves plus holds. That was the biggest thing in this. And then obviously that's a very small subset of leagues, but that was much more difficult in the switch. That was the most difficult thing by far in the switch from 12 to 15 teams that I was not necessarily expecting.

And I think if my team went sideways anywhere, it was there because I do, like I like Nestor Cortez and Luis Severino as sleepers. even in a best case scenario, I'm probably not going to get a ton of innings from them. I probably could have used, Gavin Williams actually for a young pitcher, I think has a pretty solid innings projection

if he stays healthy and effective. Because I think he threw like 150 last year between the majors and the minors. But yeah, I think I probably could have used, frankly, like a boring Jose Burrios type or something like that. But he went 110th overall. It's so interesting to see those guys get pushed up, right?

Like Chris Bassett went in the eighth round. You know who you took, who you could have taken before Berrios went 110th? That's the pick. No, this pick you made right after Berrios went. Never mind. I was going to say Nick Castianis, who I'm not sure you really needed because you had two outfielders already. And he's an OBP liability. Somebody who loses value in OVP league.

So that seemed like a splurge where maybe a pitcher would have been better. Couldn't have been Jose Barrios because he went. eight picks earlier. Honestly, I think what I should have done, and it's easier to say this in hindsight now that Josh Lowe's hurt, but if I had not taken Josh Lowe and I had taken, I know a lot of people are out on him, but Dylan Cs has never missed a start at the major league level. He's going to be a good source of innings and a lot of strikeouts. It's just a question of ratios. I had him hoping for an eighth round pick where I took Nick Castianas instead. So he was available, Seath.

He was available when I took Josh Lowe. In the seventh round, yeah. So just a couple of straight thoughts that aren't specific to Chris's team here, unless you had a comment on Chris's team, Frank. No, I was just going to add where you took those three outfielderers in a row, Josh Lowe, Castiano, Sharon Duran. You could have taken like a Merrill Kelly who went a little bit later on or even like a Jordan Montgomery.

I know we're still waiting on him. But yeah, it's just like something to keep in mind. If anyone plays in the innings, pitched leagues, like just kind of boring guys like that, You try to wind up with like one or two of those guys in the middle parts. So my stray thoughts here were the fact you got Corey Seeger in round three of a 15 team, OBP League. I think that's a steal. You didn't, because you took Juan Soto with your first pick, it maybe wasn't the best fit for your team.

I know you pointed out, but just for the general person out there listening who plays in an OBP league, I mean, Corey Seeger is a 400 plus OBP guy. potentially and those aren't available. As late as round three even usually. And so I think it's a, I think it's a, it's kind of a blessing and disguise that he's had this sports hernia surgery recovery for those leagues specifically.

And you should take advantage of that. The other thing I wanted, since we've kind of backed into this Josh Lowe injury, I was reading about it right before we went on the air here, you guys actually pointed out to me that it happened, it slipped by me. They don't sound that concerned. I think they're just shutting them down for a couple weeks,

and opening day is still the expectation. So I want to freak out and lower Josh Lowe a bunch in your rankings. I'm not going to anyway. I mean, obviously, if after a couple weeks he's still not playing and there are concerning reports, okay, maybe. But right now, I don't think it's, like, I would be more concerned about Josh Young's calf still than even though the injury is a little older, just given the nature of the injury.

I'd be a little more concerned about that. All right. Again, that is Chris's unique Tout Wars League, and you can read more about that on the website, cbsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. So this one came in from Tim on our Apple podcast reviews, and he wanted to hear about Christian Scott, a starting pitcher in the New York Mets organization. Tim added, quote, with the injury to Kodiysanga,

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Christian Scott. He was probably going to make starts. in 2024 anyway, but now we'll almost certainly have more of a role with Senga missing time. Worth noting the Mets did say that they won't rush any of their pitching prospects as a result of the Kodi Senga injury, but I do think that we will see Christian Scott at some point this year. Regardless, 24 years old, big right-handed pitcher, 6'4-enjoyed a breakout season last year, 257 ERA, 0.86 whip, 107 strikeouts, over 87 and 2-thirds innings. did get up to 12 starts at AA.

Definitely older for the level pitching at high A and AA last year, but Scott will start with you. Your thoughts on Christian Scott pitcher with the New York Mets. Yeah, this was somebody who caught my attention around the middle of last season, and I was surprised we weren't hearing more about him.

It seemed like it took a while for him to show up on all the prospect guru's radars. And I think that's because he was mostly a reliever in college and the Mets were transitioning him to the starting role. So he started out so far down the rankings that he had to work extra hard to get people's attention. But he certainly did with his performance. He showed both elite control and elite bat missing characteristics. So his strike rate last year was 69%, which is about as good as it gets.

and his swinging strike rate was 17%, which you'll occasionally see higher than 17% in the minors, but by Major League standards, that's, you know, not, I think maybe Strider was better than that last year, but it's considered elite. And so he's combining those two things as Christian Scott, and he's taking on, you know, it wasn't one of those situations where he was going three, four innings

and looking, taking on the workload of like a glory, qualified long reliever. He was taking on a true starter's workload and he was putting up those kinds of numbers and he was doing it. You know, he reached double A. It's not like he was a 24-year-old overpowering a bunch of kids who had never seen a change-up before. His change-up in particular is a really good pitch, is Christian Scots, but it was effective even once you got into the higher levels. And I, it's it's the sort of, it's the sort of pitching, prospect, Christian Scott is the sort of pitching prospect where, you know, it's not like he's Paul Skeens and anything short of an ace outcome would be a disappointment. I mean, there's,

there's a wide range of outcomes for somebody like Christian Scott, but I think when pitching prospects in general don't always come from the highest pedigree guys. Like, eight pitchers in the majors don't always come from the highest pedigree prospects. And I think Christian Scott, the underlying numbers are so impressive that it's possible he becomes that. He's also, I'm reading right now, he's working on a sweeper. His slider has been more of a gyro, you know, or a vertical break pitch. He's adding a sweeper to his arsenal. So only makes the strikeout upside, you know, even more realistic, I guess.

Not necessarily higher because he struck out a lot of guys in the miners. but yeah, has a chance to even add to that. And Chris, it seems like a 2024 debut is inevitable, right? Because the injury to Codai Senga, Luis Severino is injury prone. Adrian Howser feels more like a depth SP6, SP7 on most teams. It's hard to pinpoint exactly, but when do you think we could potentially see Christian Scott in the majors? I mean, he already got, what, 60 innings at AA last season. So I think once you reach AA, you're always a good month away from getting called up.

And he had a couple of really good months. So I would guess he starts out at AAA. And he's probably seventh on the depth chart, maybe sixth. So it's just a question of if, no, it's a question of when one of Sean Mania, Tyler McGill, Adrian Houser, Luis Severino. I mean, Jose can, like, this is looking like a pretty bad rotation right now. there will be a need at some point, whether it's injury or performance related, as long as Christian Scott can continue to pitch well in AAA. Again, that is Christian Scott starting pitcher prospect with the New York Mets.

And remember if you want to hear about a specific top prospect on a future mailbag, leave us a five-star rating on Apple Podcast, drop the prospect's name in the review. Before we take our first break, reminder to sign up for our FBT newsletter, CBSports.com slash newsletters, or you can scan the QR code if you're watching us on YouTube. And we have another bonus fantasy baseball today and five coming out this Saturday. Make sure to download and follow FBTN5 wherever you listen to this podcast. Let's take our first break when we return your mailbag questions right after this. Welcome back in. Let's answer some mailbag questions. First up, Apple Podcast reviews, and this one's from Tim likes

tacos, don't we all? We're to show Hey Otani rank in a daily lineup dynasty startup, seven by seven categories with hitter strikeouts, OBP, quality starts, and home runs allowed. I pick sixth. Is it crazy to take Otani there or go with someone like Juan Soto or Fernando Tatis? This is interesting for daily

lineup Dynasty Leagues because we know Otani is not going to pitch this year, but in future years the hope is that he will go back to what he did before. Being a hitter every day and then pitching every fifth or six day, however it works out. So in leagues where you can use him as both a hitter and a pitcher,

we've often said Otani should be the first overall pick in that format does it change at all in Dynasty what do you think? I mean the injury is the fact that he's not going to get to do that now and that may be coming off a second major elbow surgery we can't be totally sure what kind of pitcher he's going to be

I guess but I still in a dynasty startup where you're anticipating keeping Otani for years to come I would still say he should be number one so you'll be lucky to get him at number six and if he's not there who would you guys prefer between Soto and Fernando Tutsis.

What were the extra categories? OBP and hitter strikeouts. Soto. Probably Soto, yeah. Yeah, I think so too. This next one's from Javum B. The league I'm in is a 5 by 5-5 roto, 23-round draft,

allowing a max of eight National League players. Wow, that is interesting. How should this 8-N-L player max impact my player rankings or draft strategy? My first year, last year, it seemed like most of the league waited longer on National League players and wound up with a 15-8 split. Obviously, that is the most that you can have.

First off, it's a really weird rule. I would say, don't let it affect the early rounds and make sure you find sleepers you like in the American League. Yeah, I mean, we get questions with weird rules like this all the time. We got one, I think, last week where you couldn't draft an AL Central player or something like that. Something like that. Yeah, my thought would be any elite NL players,

if there's any kind of discount on Fernando Tatis, Ronald Acuna, guys like that, take it gladly. And yeah, just focus on your ALSleepers. But I think if there's any kind of early round discount on NL players, I would take advantage of that, get eight really, really good NL players and just make the rest of your roster about the AL.

All right, this next one is from LaFleur, 2023. I'm in a head-to-head categories Keeper League with five keepers. If we keep a player, we lose the draft pick based on Yahoo ADP. If we have multiple players with similar ADP, we lose the next round draft pick. I'm keeping Julio in round one, Tatis in round two, Trey Turner in round three, Garrett Cole in round five.

How'd you manage that? Who would be your fifth keeper? Nolan Jones in round six, Luis Robert in round six, Anthony Volpe, in round 10. Wait, Garrett Cole's ADP? in Yahoo Leagues is round five? I don't know.

I mean, he technically is keeping four players who have a borderline first round 80s. So I guess they just keep moving down, but why wouldn't he be round four? Yeah, why wouldn't it be round four? Yeah. Maybe a typo. Who knows? I prefer Louise Robert to Nolan Jones. Agreed.

At the same cost, yeah. Standard 5 by 5. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah, Luis Robert. All right. This one's from B. Mulk. I play in a daily head-to-head points league with

seven max starts allowed from our starting pitchers for our weekly matchup. However, some players in our league are super valuable because they are SP slash RP eligible. Guys like Matt Strom, Javier Assad, and Carlos Hernandez because they don't count as starters, but you can tack on more points throughout the week. Who are some of guys this year I can draft my last picks that have SP slash RP eligibility and will be in the pen when the season starts? So, this gentleman is looking for our passps. So the reverse of Sparps.

Relief pitchers with starting pitcher eligibility. Some names that I found on CBS, Nick Martinez, if he doesn't make the Reds rotation, John Brebio at the White Sox, Sean Armstrong with the Reyes, JT, Chagua with the Marlins, Ryan Walker with the Giants, Scott Alexander with the A's,

the aforementioned Maastron with the Phillies, Brennan Bernardino with the Reds, socks, Shintaro Fujinami with the Mets, and Caleb Ferguson with the Yankees. So that isn't a murderer's row of relievers by any means, but we usually do get some form of this question where people are looking for, I guess, that kind of cheat code, relief pitchers with SP eligibility. I've got a couple, Sixtho Sanchez is if he makes the Marlins roster and is healthy, he's going to be a relief pitcher.

He's out of options. So they're going to have to do something with him if he's healthy enough to pitch. and Yadio Rodriguez for the Toronto Blue Jays is SP eligible. They're giving him a chance on the Blue Jays to make the rotation, but it sounds much more likely that he's going to pitch out of the bullpen, and he could absolutely be a multi-inning reliever for them. Now that we've given some names, I just want to point out, a lot of these names are probably not worth using for this,

because there's only a non-closing reliever he has only so much upside in an appearance when he's not getting saves. And so they have to be like pretty clean innings that he's giving you. And certainly like Shintaro Fujimami, I wouldn't count on that. That was fun last year.

Remember I thought that guy was going to be a thing that didn't really work out, but I'm still rooting for him. Let's go, Fujinami. On to your emails, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. That's the letter I. and a quick reminder, try and keep your emails as concise as possible, short and sweet, get to the point.

We are getting a bunch of emails right now, so it's really tough to get through the longer that they are. I get some leagues, you need the details. I get that, but let's try and make it quick whenever we can. This one's from Dan, any interest in Chase Silseth as a deep sleeper or more of a streamer? Scott, I know towards the end of, I think, SP preview part three. You just kind of quickly brought up his name

towards the end of that podcast, but is there anything you'd like to elaborate on with Chase Silsef? Yeah, I was impressed by his strikeout upside down the stretch last year, and it's been a while since I've taken a deeper look at like the pitch breakdown. Slaughter and Splitter are both pretty good swing and miss pitches.

Yeah, yeah, so he was emerging as somebody who seemed like he could be a good source of strikeouts, and I think, didn't he season end early with, some kind of injury. Here's the thing, though. Here's the thing with Chase Silseth. The Angels are reportedly in on Blake Snell. They're reportedly in on Jordan Montgomery.

And I saw some reporter, I can't remember who it was, saying the odds are good that they'll sign one of them. So presumably Chase Silseth would be the one bumped if that were to happen, which doesn't mean he won't have an impact at some point this year. I mean, no team makes a lot. it through the season with five

with just five guys making starts. But yeah, it's, in most leagues, Chase Silseth can probably go undrafted and just keep, just keep them on your scout team, I would say. I do hope the Angels make a move.

They could use an anchor at the top of that rotation there. But at the expense of Chase Silseth, Tyler Anderson, we can get him out of here. Right. I've seen enough from Tyler Anderson. I agree. But I imagine.

get first dibs. Yeah, so Silseth in the second half, he had both a 10 strikeout start and a 12 strikeout start in which he had 21 swinging strikes. So I think there is some intriguing upside there. All right, this next one's from a different Dan, watching Yamamoto's first innings and the broadcast did comment on being able to see his grip from the centerfield camera, though what I saw was the fact that the ball is not hidden for half of his delivery. I feel like pitchers used to do that. I randomly remember or misremember Sid Fernandez and or I guess that would be Ron Darling doing that, but have since gone to hiding the ball

as long as possible. Do you think this is something that is going to be a problem once teams really start scouting Yamamoto? Also, just because you can't use cameras during the game doesn't mean they couldn't later compare the camera angles front and back. This would help hitters identify what the pitch is from the way the glove is presented

with position or whatever. That said, he looked awesome. Chris, any thoughts here on Yamamoto's first outing? I can't say that it's not possible that he either tips his pitches or doesn't hide them well. I think if it was an issue, like they also have high-speed cameras in Japan. I think if there was a way to exploit it, he wouldn't have had an ERA literally less than half the league average over the past three seasons. So I'm not too concerned. I think it's, I mean, all the stuff models suggest Yamamoto is immediately.

one of the most talented pitchers in baseball. He's got great command. I see no reason to fade him. Okay. This next one's from Matt. Hi, Willie Moe and Pena. That's Willie Peralta, Mo Vaughn, and Jeremy Pena, obviously. How do you know when it's time to cut your aging superstar for young up-and-comers in a keeper league?

I can keep two out of three. Aronado, Jesus Lazzardo, Grayson Rodriguez. Are these young pitchers worth cutting Aronado, who's been on top for so long? Obviously, that's one part of the question, but we do get some version of this question often, where it's how do you weigh a high floor aging superstar who's done it for so long versus some of these young up-and-coming, either pitchers or hitters for that matter. I think it's totally dependent on how much turnover is happening in your league. If this is a basic 10, even 12-team league where every team keeps three players,

then I don't think you need to be so long-term, mind. because the draft pool is so robust every year that you'll have plenty of chances to get younger guys in the future. And I think you should just keep the three players who you think are going to help your team this most. Help your team most this year. And then I'm not saying I'd never pass on an Aeronado for a younger player,

but they'd have to be pretty closely ranked in my regular redraft rankings for me to do that. I think I'd keep Aeronado over Luzardo, for instance. That wouldn't be a particularly difficult call. Now, if it's a deeper league, if you're keeping 10 players, 15 players or more, your entire roster, if you want, very different story.

And you have to approach it as if any player you throw back, you can't reasonably expect to get again. And so I can't give you an, exact guide for okay it's time to move on from aronado and hold on to um let's use junior common arrow as an example because it's an easy example like it was a prospect that high end who you think has that bright of a future yeah in a league where there's not much roster turnover you're definitely throwback aronado for that guy but if it's nolan aronado versus i don't know, Brett Bady, or there's probably a better example than that, because I think that might

actually be a pretty close call, Aeronado and Bady. What about like Colt Keith? I mean, it's the same thing. But yeah, I think you probably keep Aeronado over Bady and Keith. It kind of depends how deep the league is. One thing I want to add is, especially when you're comparing an aging hitter to a young pitcher, as Scott said, you know, you don't want to be so future-minded when. and it's a shallower keeper league.

I think just in general, like, you can't, I love Hazers-Lazardo. I think he's super talented. I don't think you should think three years down the road with Hazel Zanzardo in basically any format because there is so much that can go wrong for a pitcher like him. And even Grayson Rodriguez, who doesn't have the injury history that Hazers-Lazardo does.

It's just there's no such thing as a pitching prospect works both ways. and it's they come out of nowhere and they go nowhere very quickly and very unexpectedly. So I think the longer the horizon is when you're talking about a player's value, the less you should value any given pitcher. I also want to say,

just to prevent any emails, we know who Willie Mo Pena is. Okay. Scott, the emails are fine, man. Not the Beatles. Embrace the chaos. But William Pena. I love the chaos we get from these.

With that being said, I am just higher on Lazzardo than you guys So I would keep Lazzardo and Grayson Rodriguez Just because I have both of them ranked higher than him this year But completely reasonable if you do like Aeronado More than Lazzardo this season This next one's from Kurt and yes, I remember reading this one I think we're probably gonna need Chris's help most on it Hello, I am significantly older than all my league mates

And they have no clue what I'm talking about With the creative team names I think of My team name last year was Joe versus versus the Volpano. This year is in my salary cap league. I'm keeping Nolan Jones for $2. Also keeping Josh Lowe for $3 and Cole Regens for five. I'm debating two names that I'm sure they won't get

and I would love your input. Me, E, E, E, and Mr. Jones. Keep those doggies, Nolan, Raw Hyde. I'm assuming that's the Counting Crows song, Chris. No. Mr. Jones or is that something completely? different. Well, there's, yeah, there's, the way he says it,

I think is me and Mrs. Mrs. Jones. Oh, okay. I think that's what he's going for. All right. Yeah, that's fair. Because the role, the Count and Crow song is Mr. Jones and me. Right.

Yeah. I put that in reverse order. Yeah. Um, I liked Joe versus the Volpano better than either of these team names. I think it's a step back. But they're more like. to get number two, I would, I would think.

I don't know what that, what is number two? Rawlide. You don't know Rawlhyde? No, I do. Rolling, rolling, rolling. Keep those doggies rolling. Oh, okay, okay. All right.

Sounds familiar now, but. I would be one of those people in your league, by the way, who has no idea what your team name is. So yeah, my problem, like you said, Frank, you said that like I'm the person asked here, but like, I really like intentionally bad puns. So, like, my first thought, and this is, I admit, horrible. But my first thought was no country for old land.

Because you're splitting Nolan Jones into two. Yeah, no, that, right. I'm not, I'm not happy about who I am. That's like, it's like, what was Heath's team name in the podcast league all those years ago? Gzmani, money, Tomas problems. God. It was so proud of it too. I was also thinking with Josh Lowe and Cole Riggins.

And again, I want to stress that I do this and I'm not proud of it. But maybe something like Doritos Low Cole Tacos. Oh, no. I'll give you credit because you're coming up with these off the cuff, which is very hard. Underrated taco shell, by the way. Oh, I had one the other day. Are you kidding me? The gordita crunch with the Doritos taco shell inside of it?

Amazing. So good. So good. I'm not a big fan of the Locos tacos. Free advertising here on the podcast. All right. Well, good luck, Kurt. You know, choose to go with one of your two or one of those amazing team names that Chris came up with.

Let's take our final break when we return. more questions here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back in. This next question is from Mark. Starting pitcher ERA is up and incredibly volatile and the offense is also up. That said, we are out of the juice ball era and we have fewer 300 hitters than ever before.

When I do our deep dive on hitters for fantasy, I feel like it's not as deep as you would expect with this uptick in offense. Are we just seeing the increase and runs in stolen bases? Can you explain the disconnect here? disclaimer, I am not using any hard data on this, but this is just my inclination based on being way too obsessed

with fantasy baseball. We have fewer 300 hit... Wait, how many hitters is you talked about? That said, we are out of the juice ball air and we have fewer 300 hitters than ever before. Like 300 batting average hitters. So like ERA went up last year, but we don't necessarily feel it

on the hitting side. And that's true because I remember when you looked into what you needed to compete last year, Chris. It's not like home runs are not. up, obviously. It's stolen bases are way up. Run scored or up, but it's not like that. Babbib and batting average actually didn't climb as much as we thought. Oh, they climbed a lot. They climbed over 10 points. Babbip did. No, I think I think it was only like five points here over year. I'll double check that. It climbed, but I feel like it was something we thought earlier in spring

training and earlier in the season. And then it kind of just, I remember you said that and I disagreed with you at the time too, but it's literally right in the middle of you guys. It's Seven points. Seven points. All right. It's not nothing. And look, look, we had a guy hit 350 last year. We had some high batting averages.

So I don't know that batting average. I mean, look, batting average have been trending down for a long time because strikeouts are going up. And I'm not sure that trend is going to reverse any time soon. So if that's specifically what you're zeroing in on, okay. My impression of the hitting pool has been different. I think there's, I mean, we've talked about it. I think all the infield positions are very deep. There's more than enough to go around in leagues that don't use corner infield and middle infield spots,

which hasn't been true every year. There is, if you're talking about overall production, what the floor is for a viable starter in fantasy, I think league trends are bringing that down too, because there's more like specialization. more player splitting time and, you know, lineups are less stagnant overall. So you're seeing more variation in lineups from day to day, which is, again, dragging down the floor for what a usable player is in a league where you go deep enough into the player pool for that to matter. But I think this year compared to last year, compared to what we're looking at last year

when we're coming off a big resurgent year for pitching, I think that's, think it's much better. So I just, I reject your claim, sir. This next one's from Edward, wondering about the Dodgers starting pitching rotation this year, next year, and beyond. I am not an L.A. guy, but it seems like having one to two Dodgers pitchers is always a good idea for a fantasy team. There are about 29 starting pitchers on their roster. Tyler Glass now. Like, ow. Yamamoto, James Paxton, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Bueller, Bobby Miller, Emmett Sheehan, Dustin May, Tony Gonslyn, Otani, Gavin Stone, Ryan Yarbrough, etc. Wondering who are key guys to target in Keeper Leagues now and in the future,

and who are the key guys to roster this year, winner draft them, who to stash away, etc. I will point out one thing that I've read recently that Gavin Stone was tipping his pitches last year and he's bolted up in the offseason, he's kind of figured out some things, he's working on some new pitches, and he is someone that was a big-name pitching prospect, big numbers in the minors, does rely mostly on a change-ups. I worry a little bit about those pitchers

and how they translate to the majors, but if he's tinkering with the pitch mix, the Dodgers are an elite organization in terms of pitching development. I think Gavin Stone as like a cheap option in a keeper league and just kind of taking a shot later on. I think that's totally fine. Yeah, him and Emmett Sheehan, I think,

are the two cheap guys that you want to target in a keeper league, whether it's with the Dodgers or if they get traded, I think both. those guys. I mean, over the last two weeks in NFBC leagues, Gavin Stone's ADP is 611, and he's been drafted in 54 of 108 leagues. So he's going to be real cheap to acquire right now, and I still think there's a lot to like about him. He's a super talented pitcher. And Ms. Sheehan, you know, same thing. He wasn't great last season, but the individual pitches all look pretty good, and I think he's got a chance to figure it out.

And specifically with Emmett Sheehan, it seemed like he really turned the corner over his last three appearances. I can't say starts because one was technically out of the bullpen, but it was a multi-inning appearance. Obviously a small sample, but he just looked more like the dominant pitcher we saw in the miners, a 190 ERA, 0.73 whip, 15.8K per 9, 23% swinging strike rate in those three appearances. And he had like a 20% swinging strike rate at AA early in the season

when he first was appearing on our radar. And, you know, I was talking about Kristen Scott's 17% swinging strike rate earlier, how impressive that was. Sheehan was doing well above that. So I'm especially excited about his upside for fantasy this year. You know, I think there's going to be so much moving pitchers in and out of the rotation and management of innings that I'm just not sure he's going to have a chance to make a huge impact,

but if you're talking long-term, Love Sheehan's upside. A little less certain how things are going to play out for Gavin Stone, but he does kind of deserve a pass for last year. For the reasons you mentioned, Frank, there was a pitch tipping issue. There was also a blister on his big toe in spring training that kind of messed up his delivery. And so he was dealing with the mechanical consequences of that all season long,

which is why his minor league numbers weren't up to where we were. We saw them in 2022 even. But yeah, Gavin Stone, not a loss cause yet and worth the second book. Just thinking out loud for next year, my speculation is that it would be Otani, Glassnow, Yamamoto, up top. James Paxton is a one-year deal. Kershaw, I guess you can never rule it out, but I think we're getting closer to the end. Really would, like, Walker Bueller is a wild card. Don't know what's going to happen this year.

He's entering a contract year as well. I think my guess is that he probably will not be on the Dodgers this time next year. So I think Bobby Miller has the four. And then again, it's like some combination of Sheehan, Gavin Stone, and all these other young guys who couldn't, you know, work in in the future, Dustin May, Tony Gonsland. But that's just me kind of projecting for next year with the Los Angeles Dodgers. This next question is from Pete.

Question. Can you guys please do a better job of covering head-to-head points leagues on your podcast? So I wanted to talk about this because this is something that Scott and I actually talked about offline the other day. I do think that, look, we could always do a better job. That's fine. But just comparing to the rest of the industry,

no one talks about head-to-point leagues. And I'm not justifying us, but we are the only ones that ever talk about head-to-head points. Look, our first inclination, I think, is like when we talk about a player, our minds go to roto or categories. We love playing in points, leagues. We try to work it in as much as possible. The truth is, we have an hour every day to

talk about a lot of things that are going on. And it's just, it's just kind of tough to fit everything in. So I think Scott, I think Scott's primary focus is points leagues when he, when he analyzes players more so than, than mine certainly. Yeah. No, I mean, before Chris was on the podcast, this isn't like a blame Chris thing, but it's, it's, it is my, it's just the way things have evolved. before Chris was on the podcast, I feel like I feel like Categories leagues and Roto League's got second shrift

because we were so points league-focused and so we've kind of gravitated more the other way because so much of the talk within the industry is categories-focused. As you said, Franks, like most people don't even bother with points leagues, which I think is a shame because a lot of people play points leagues and it's deserving

of its own unique analysis. but we do give it that. I mean, most of what we do here is evaluating players. There's some amount of strategic talk, and I always enjoy the strategic talk even more, but you can only go so far with that. Most of what we're doing the day-to-day stuff is,

here's a breakdown of this player, what's going on with him lately, what it's upside is, et cetera. And that's applicable across all scoring formats, obviously, when there are distinctions between his points league value and his categories league value, we make them, I feel like. It's pretty rare that we don't bring that up.

So I don't know. I think, and obviously we do like the standard podcast league, it's a head-to-head points league. We're going to do a live draft of that on the air. You're going to get tons of points league talk with that. I just don't know how much further we reasonably can go with it. Yeah, it's not too, I'm not just like singly, you out Pete, because we do hear this a lot in terms of emails and people tweeting at us and stuff.

Again, it is tough because we only have an hour and we try to work it in as much as possible. I thought this was interesting too, and this isn't the only data point, but I put out a poll on our YouTube community tab the other day asking which fantasy baseball format do you play in. And 4,500 votes, 19% roto, 42% head to head points, 39% head toad categories. 58% of the people who, you know, voted on this poll on YouTube, they play in a Categories League. So I don't know that that's the exact breakdown,

but my guess is it's probably closer to 50-50 with a slight lean towards categories. That would be my guess. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That would have been my guess even before that poll. And look, Head of Points League is my favorite format.

It's why that original podcast league is set up that way. It's why the Scott White Dynasty League that we're always referencing is set up that way. I love it. My longest standing home league, Keeper League is heads head set points. Yeah. So I'm happy to, I'm always happy to venture into Points League territory. But I guess, I guess I'm curious, and you could follow up with this email Pete or anyone else who has the same complaint. What specifically are you looking for?

Well, that's the thing is that we're denying you. Points League's analysis, it's. a little more straightforward in how you value players, right? It's just like obviously every player, the production and the shape of how they get their points is different, but it just comes down to who gets the most points. And then you want the guys with the most points on your team and you want to score more where in Roto and categories,

there is just more room for nuance in how you value different players. And so I think that it just kind of lends itself, to more robust discussions, you know, how you value a stolen base guy like Estuary Rarees versus just a pure power guy like Kyle Schwarber. Points Leagues don't have as much room for that discussion, I think. So I think that's also,

it just kind of naturally lends itself to more discussion. But that's not me saying one version or the other is better. I think, like, whatever you enjoy playing is the best format for you. But just in terms of, discussions, I think there's just more room for it on the category slash Roto side. Let's wrap up with this question from Dan in Albuquerque. It's, I guess, more of a suggestion about a segment. I'd love if you could do a segment devoted to teaching us all how you

research. We could do a whole podcast on this, but again, it's, we can just quickly run through some of the things that we use. They say if you give a man a fish, they'll eat for a day, but teach them how to fish and they'll eat forever. Share with us what sites you use to get your numbers, which are the easiest to navigate and manipulate data. Are there certain industry guys you follow to get the fastest injury updates, so on and so forth? So I will just say I am infamous for having way too many tabs open on both of my computers

at all times, but the ones that I frequent the most are Fangraphs.com and Baseball savant.com. And Fangraphs, you can find what feels like anything that you're looking for there. There's player pages. You can look at specific stats, splits. You can look at game logs, and you could sort it by specific dates,

and anything that you're looking for there. There's stat cast data, there's strikeout rate, walk rate, there's surface level numbers, there's deeper numbers. And they do have a glossary that explains things, too, if you want to figure out, okay, what the heck am I looking at? So, Fangraphs, for sure, baseball savant, has really evolved over the past couple of years. They give out statcast data.

Use it a ton in season to look at box scores, where you could see pitch mixes and velocities and what people are doing differently and how many swinging strikes they're getting. So there's many different things that you can use. I would say fan graphs and baseball savon are the two that I use most. It's a triumper for me. It's those two baseball savon fan graphs.

And it's also baseball reference, which isn't as big on the advanced stats, the exit velocity readings and the ground ball rates and all of that. But if you're just looking for baseline stats, I think that's the easiest to navigate. If for no other reason than because if you go to a player's game log, you click on the, and you're looking for his stats over a certain period of time,

you click on the starting point of that span of time, and you click on the ending point of that span of time, and it calculates the stats and gives you the numbers you're looking for. So I probably spend more time there than anywhere, with the exception of maybe Savant, because that's obviously where you get all that exit velocity and hard hit rate and all of that stuff. Fangraphs is probably third in priority for me

because baseball savant has taken a lot of the stuff it did well and done it better but it still has its uses I'm trying to think specifically what I use for. FanGraphs also just their content's really good they have really smart writers so I learn a lot from reading their stuff

sure picture lists their pages their player pages are really useful that's one that they've redesigned over the past couple of years and the ability, if you want to dive deep into a pitcher's arsenal, they have it set up so you can tab through. You know, I'm looking at Gavin Williams' page, his four seamer. I can look at the pitch characteristics,

the results, ground ball rate, swing a strike rate for all that stuff, switch over to slider. So that's one that I want to give a shout out as well. Pitcherless, their player pages have gotten really, really useful. I'm happy you brought that up, Chris, because what I've done a lot this off season is when you look at a player's page on Pitcher list, you look at their repertoire,

you click on the All tab, and they'll show you all their pitches, and you can see swinging strike rate on each individual pitch, which is harder to do on Fangrass, because you have to go into the splits and you have to go to a specific pitch, and it just takes longer.

Here, you can see it all on one page. Again, it's not to disparage Fanggras because I use them all the time, but it's just, it's a different way of looking at the data. So Pitcher List has swinging strike rate for individual pitches and contrasting.

That's in contrast. to baseball savant having whiff rate. Correct. With free individual pitch. Whiff rate is whiffs divided by swings. Swinging strike rate is whiffs divided by total pitches, I think would be the best way.

I think they both basically serve the same purpose. It's just a matter of familiarizing yourself with what a baseline is in each of them so you can know if a pitcher's pitch is especially good at that or not. And I'll also point out for injuries, prosports transactions.com. Yep. Is invaluable because you can search any given player.

You can search every time they've missed a game, every time they've gone on the IL, every time they've been called up or down to the miners. So that's super useful. Fox Sports actually recently added, or I don't know if they recently did, but their player pages have a player's full injury history as well. Baseball prospectus has really good injury tools. I think the four-year injury dashboard, the recovery tracker. uh has that that's proved really useful when i'm looking for uh injury data like looking to compare how long certain guys have missed with a certain type of injury so yeah and then i've got lists on twitter with every beat writer for every team uh so yeah there's a lot of a lot just just just just

just yeah just follow all the people i'm following on twitter and you'll do fine i can Look, I can post the link to the list if you want. Yeah, I have something similar, Chris. I have it set up with MLB beatwriters. And every offseason, I just literally search Pirates Beat on Twitter. And I add, I follow and add anyone who comes up and seems like a beat writer or whatever, a writer somewhere. And I add that to the list.

So it's just the easiest way to track live information. And I know Twitter and X could get crazy at times. but it is a really useful tool if you use it the right way. So yeah, just being able to see live up-to-date information from people who are out at the games is a very valuable tool this time of year. I've got a notification set up for, I get notification on my phone every time John Heyman, John Marosi, Ken Rosenthal. Right. Probably a couple other guys every time they tweet, Jeff Passon. So it's less useful when it's like, hey, look at this podcast.

But like, that's the way I never fall for fake tweets. There you go. If I didn't get it on my phone, it's not real. All right. Well, we're going to wrap there. Chris and I are off to first pitch Florida this weekend down in Clearwater. So if anyone is in the area or if you're going to be at first pitch, Florida, we're going to go to some spring training games.

Don't be a stranger. Come say hello and we'll have some fun. For Scott and Chris, I am 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'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.