Fantasy Baseball Today - Deep Sleepers to Target Late in 2026 Drafts! (3/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

(3:38)- WBC final is set (4:50)- Updates on Jose Ramirez, Suzuki, Neto, Chase Burns (11:32)- News: Joe Musgrove will start the season on the IL (20:30)- Benge, Eldridge, Max Meyer, Mayo, Grant Holmes (25:34)- Kirby Yates, Jacob Lopez, Caissie, Ozuna, Kyle Harrison (31:07)- Cole Young, Abel, Cam Smith, Canzone, Mahle (37:00)- Luisangel Acuña, Ballesteros, Beeter (42:17)- Strahm, Erceg, Svanson, Liberatore, Nasim Nuñez, Rumfield (48:51)- Bader, Muncy (ATH), House, Josh Bell, Clarke (55:03)- Tyler O’Neill, McCarthy, Dollander, Caratini (1:01:48)- Lowder, Williamson, Robles, Hogan Harris, Severino (1:05:14)- Jesus Sanchez, Garrett, Collins, India, Yastrzemski, Ford (1:10:35)- Ritchie, Fuentes, Gorman, Early, Tolle, Josh Smith (1:15:40)- The rest of our deep sleepers  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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. And first pitch, watching. 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, and Chris. Hey there, welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, March 17th.

Happy St. Patty's Day to all listening. Oh, no. I am for green. I got the green light. Got the green light on in the background. Here we go. My water bottle is kind of green. I mean, teal is a kind of green, right?

Yeah. So we all do we need to change? Are people going to yell at me for not wearing green? No, you're the one wearing green. Well, it's like a, they're both teal, you know? It's in the green family. I feel like it has to be like Kelly. Sort of like Quinn Matthews injuries and the thoracic outlet family.

I hope it's not Quinn Matthews. Quinn Priest. Excuse me. I had the wrong Quinn. Please. Let it not be in. It would have been funny if I had the right Quinn. You know who they have to call to figure out these injuries? Obviously, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

Frank, you're a little too young for that one. Yeah, no idea what that is. Today on the show, we are talking deep sleepers. And mileage on this may vary. I realize not everyone plays in a 15-te-te-league. My league's 700 players deep. These aren't deep enough. But for the majority of the listeners, I would say many who play in 10 to 12 team leagues,

these will be deep sleepers for you and names that you can look at in the final rounds of your draft, or maybe even just scout them early on in the season and see what they do. They are all outside of the top 300 in the NFBC ADP over the past seven days. And it's going to be quick-paced, rapid fire, lots of names that we're thrown out there today. I think we each have at least like 30 names that we want to talk about. So it should be fun. The stage is set. The World Baseball Classic Final.

USA. Venezuela. Let's go. It's a fun one. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait. Ronnie Acuna versus Aaron Judge. Let's go. Yeah, I don't like having to root against Ronald de Cunia.

Then don't. It's going to be a strange feeling for me. Join me in rooting for Team Venezuela. I'm going to root a. against the USA. Come on, Chris. I am. I am. Well, that's on your conscience. It's my wife's home

country, you know. Okay. That's my rooting interest. All right. I don't think we have a starter projected for this game yet, by the way, for Venezuela. So it's TBD up against Nolan McLean. Should be a very fun one. Obviously, we'll talk about it on tomorrow's podcast as well. I think

Nolan McLean's going to get the edge there over TBD. I mean, who could it be? It could be like Oh, actually, I think they said... Probably Eduardo Rodriguez. I think they said on the broadcast Eduardo Rodriguez, yeah, yeah. So, all right, we'll see.

Before we have... Yeah, yeah. Before we get to all those deep sleepers later on, let's just run through all the news and notes from the day. It's a lot of, like, catching up on things that we spoke about yesterday. Some good, some bad, some in between.

Jose Ramirez's left shoulder is apparently feeling much, much better, and it's so good that he's not even going to get imaging done. So that feels all right for now. like we hopefully dodged a bullet. Happy to hear it. I'd still take him sixth overall.

Yeah. A little tinge of concern still. Because a lot of times guys suffer injuries like this and play through them. And then it's like, oh, his shoulder was bothering. Remember when he hurt his shoulder that one time? Turns out it was bothering him all year. Sure. But I'd take him sixth and try not to worry about it.

And then we don't find out about it until like November the next year or whatever. Yeah. Say a Suzuki will undergo an. MRI on his injured right knee. I have not seen any updates on this. I took these notes like six hours ago. So if you guys have seen anything on Suzuki, please let me know, but I haven't. If he does have to miss time, I guess that would open up an opportunity for Matt Shaw to play early on in the season. Does that matter? It depends how long Suzuki's out for. If it's a 10-day I'll send to open the season, that probably means he's only missing a week, in which case,

yeah, it doesn't matter. But it's a deep sleeper. episode. Matt Shaw, deep sleeper, why not? You know, that's going to be a theme during this show. These, the player pool has been chewed over so much that if you're just isolating it to the last week of results, nobody outside the top 300 is, is likely to be very good at all. So it's, it's, oh, I see an inkling of upside there. Deep Sleeper. Matt Shaw, he's on the list. Sure, why not? All right, moving on. We have Zach Netto who hit off a T. and took live batting practice on Monday. He's dealing with that left hand injury.

He said he could return to the lineup as soon as Tuesday. So more good news. Seems like hopefully we dodged a bullet there with Zach Netto. See Trent Rosecrans of the athletic projected that Ret. Louder and Brandon Williamson will be in the Reds rotation over Chase Burns. Now, that's just one beat writer's opinion. Obviously, he follows a team very closely. But...

He's a good beat writer. This is a... real possibility. I lowered Chase Burns to SP 41 earlier today. I don't even know if that's low enough, but I think I had him inside of my top 25 and that needed to change. So, yeah, I mean, it's like we talked about yesterday. Just the vibes have just been a little off with Chase Burns this spring and it might end up being nothing. I like, I want to make clear that I still think he's a tremendously talented pitcher. But the vibes have been a little off. If it would be shocking if he didn't make the team.

I don't know if it would be terribly surprising given... I mean, I've been worried about it for a couple weeks now. Yeah. And I think I've voiced those concerns on this podcast. I mean, just putting, you know, rubber meets the road here, why would you rank Chase Burns? I guess we don't know for sure. It's just one guy reporting it, as you say, Frank.

But I trust him. I know him personally. I know C. Trent Rosa Cranes. I think he's probably right. Assuming he is right, why would you rank Chase Burns ahead of Carlos Rodon, for instance? I mean, when they were healthy, we're probably ranking Rodon ahead.

You can stash Rodon in an IEL spot for a late April return. I would guess Burns probably wouldn't be up before then. So that's probably how far I'd be lowering Chase Burns in my rankings. Yeah, it's kind of a hedge for now, just because we don't know for sure that Chase Burns won't be on the opening day roster. So it's kind of a in-between situation right now. So kind of trying to guard against that a little bit. But yeah, if we find out he's not in the opening day rotation,

then probably drops outside of the top 50 starting pitchers. Still has the men's upside. We just don't know when we're going to see that in the rotation. Zach Wheeler I do want to point out I wasn't really expecting a whole lot more than about 140 or 150

endings out of Chase Burns anyway so it's entirely possible that this ends up kind of being like what we've talked about with Trey Savage where yeah you have to move him down but

if the worst case scenario is his innings are limited early on in the season or he's just not that useful early on in the season that's not bad. All things considered. You'd rather him be in the rotation from day one, but if it's, hey, this gives us a chance to limit his innings over the course of the season,

rather than having to pull him out of the rotation or skip starts or whatever. There could be a silver lining to this cloud, so I don't want to, you know, doom and gloom it entirely. I do think Chase Burns should still be, Even if we get confirmation, he's not in the rotation. Chase Burns should still be drafted in every league. He would become the top minor leaguer to stash. I suppose maybe Connor Griffin would be ahead of him if Griffin didn't make the team.

But I would expect Burns to be up more quickly than Griffin. Because there's really no service time issue with Chase Burns because the clock already started last year. They'd have to leave him down for well over. over half the season to gain any kind of edge here. So it's really just. But it's just a couple weeks to get an extra year team control for anyone. For Griffin. Right. For Griffin.

But Burns, that clock's already started. Yeah, but a couple weeks. I mean, if you're not. But with Burns, it wouldn't, that wouldn't matter because his. It wouldn't matter. But if he's not good enough to make the starting five in week one, why would he be in week two? That's why I wonder if it's just about building him up.

Okay. A little slowly. Maybe. Zach Wheeler is scheduled to face hitters on Tuesday in a 35 pitch live BP session. So see if we can get any numbers, any velocity readings for that. Tori Lavulo expressed confidence that Gabriel Moreno will be available for opening day, despite dealing with forum inflammation. Lawrence Butler is expected to start at DH on Tuesday and could play in the outfield

as soon as Thursday of this week. Shoha Tani is expected to throw three to four innings in his first start of the season as a pitcher. and could be limited early on. I think that was the expectation for most when it comes to Otani the pitcher. Joe Musgrove is expected to open the season on the IL. He's working his way back from Tommy John surgery. He made one spring start.

It was technically an exhibition start, but apparently he just wasn't, he didn't bounce back the right way from that start. I dropped him down to SP 67. That might not be low enough, but I think I had him at like 55 or something, so dropped him down a little bit. You know, he gets proof.

Yep. Boy, I drop him more than that. There's no timetable for this. We also just don't know what the issue is, but it feels a little bit like Shane Bieber last year. I think he had a similar thing where he like made his first rehab start and then they kind of hit pause on it for a couple of weeks and he had to kind of restart.

So I think there's a decent chance we're talking about musker similar to Blake's now where it's just, we're probably six weeks out right now at the best case scenario. Once he starts, we're six weeks out. Once he starts ramping up again. So I, you know, I connected it to Shane Bieber in my mind too. Oh, this is related to elbow ligament stuff. And they're being vague about it.

They're not offering a clear timetable. And since that came out about Bieber, I mean, he's been radioactive in draft. So I think Musgrove is, I don't know. I feel like I'm just trying to be consistent here, both in the case of Chase Burns and Joe Musgrove. Like I understand we've talked up these guys all preseason and we're invested in them to some degree now at this point. And so we don't want it to be, we don't want to back away from that.

And I'm not saying we should. But like if we're just being consistent, the guys who had similar situations happened but weeks ago, they might actually be in a slightly better spot than the guys who are having this stuff happened to them right now. If any case, they need to be treated as being on equal. If nothing else, they need to be treated as being on equal footing. Well, then let's see.

Where do I have Shane Bieber in the rankings? Because I dropped him down quite a bit. I have him at SP 84. So maybe I should have Joe Musgrove at SP85. I have Musgrove at 74. I have Bieber at, let's see, I think it's about 80. Why am I not? 92, okay.

So there's a pretty big gap there, but I think a big part of it for me with Bieber is, I just have very little faith in his ability to stay healthy once he is able to get on the mound. And for me, it's because he came back from Tommy John surgery. It was a very fitful recovery, as we talked about earlier. he ends up during, what was it, about 38 innings, maybe 45 innings total, maybe 60, something like that. It's not very much. And then he has an entire offseason with which to rest, rehab, recover, and he is still apparently dealing with the issues from last postseason. That to me just suggests that there's just not really.

18 months. You're supposed to be golden after 18 months. Yeah, but he hadn't been. throwing competitively yet. And he threw a lot of pitches in that first start and it kind of confused me a little bit because he was coming back from Tommy John's surgery his first spring start he threw like 50 pitches which is not normal. I mean normally you see like 20 to 30 pitches in your first outing he threw something like 50 it was it was just kind of weird the way they handled it's a good call too.

Not really sure why it played out that way but yeah I probably need to lower Musgrove a little bit further there as well. Gordon Westberg said Monday that he remains without a timeline to participate in baseball activities. He's currently out with a partially torn UCL in his right elbow. Jackson Holiday said he'll begin taking live at bats this week. He's working his way back from that ham apeone injury. Matt McLean will bat second for the Reds this season. So that will be right between T.J. Friedel and Ellie Dela Cruz in the lineup.

I moved Matt McLean up to my 10th ranked second baseman in Roto and 13th in head dead points. but second base rankings it's a really low bar to clear so that might sound drastic but I moved them up from like 15 to 10 in Roto and from like 20 to 13 in head dead points that didn't sound drastic to me

I mean I haven't 12th but I could easily be talked into 10th I am 12th behind Marcus Simeon and Jorge Polanco who I think both have a fair amount of upside that isn't being appreciated but McLean probably has the most upside of the three.

Yeah, I moved in my head of both. Just he has the most downside at the three, too. Yeah. Hassan Kim has been cleared to take part in fielding drills. He's working his way back from a torn tendon in his right middle finger. The hope is that he's back with the Braves in May or June. And Emerson Hancock appears to be the favorite to fill in for Bryce Miller in the Mariners rotation to open the season.

Before we hit our first break, just want to remind everyone, once again, that the listener leagues will be announced this Friday. so if you haven't yet, get your submission in. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. That is the place to email and send in something creative or just tell us why you deserve to be in the league. There are two leagues. One will be drafting next Sunday, the 22nd in the evening,

and then the other one will be on the 23rd on Monday. So let us know. It's the head-to-head categories is on Sunday. Head-Ted Points is on Monday. Let us know which league that you would like to be in. And please put FBT list. Listener League in the subject line. It's like, I say it every year.

And it's like, I get a whole bunch of different kind of crazy, like, subject lines. And it just, it makes it easier for me to sort through if you just name the email that. So thank you. You will not get lost in the mix. You will not get extra credit for a clever subject line. No, you will not. So just. In fact, you will automatically be disqualified if you don't put FPT listener league in there.

It definitely makes it easier for Frank to keep track of. Yes, yes, please do that. And subscribe to the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. If you're watching on YouTube, you can scan that QR code in the top right corner. That will take you right to the website, CBSports.com slash newsletters, where you could sign up for the FBT newsletter for free. Let's take that break when we come back. Deep Sleepers, Rapid Fire for the rest of the show.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's talk deep sleepers. Names outside of the top 300 in NFBC ADP over the past week. That includes, I believe, 87 drafts that I saw on the website. And again, let's keep this moving. Let's say 30 second or less per player. And Chris, why don't you get us started, your first deep sleeper?

So we're not like position by position or anything? Nope, it is the wild list. Go it wherever you want. I did it by position. Pick the one, pick the one that you want to block us on. Carson bench? Carson bench. He's still going that late?

Yes, he is. Yes. Oh, yeah, he is. It's 316 over, since I did the month of March, I don't know, you guys might have slightly different numbers because I didn't pay attention to the rules. 346. All right, that's even better.

Carson Benj is hitting over 300 this spring. He is, by all accounts, doing the things he needs to make the team. I don't necessarily know if that's enough to make the team for sure, but he's not striking out. He's getting on base. He went two for two with two walks on Monday night. I think he still is the most likely candidate to be the right fielder for the Mets on opening day.

He went 15 and 22 and 116 games last year. Great play discipline. We made the Brandon Comp, Brandon Nimmo Comp, a lot. And I think that's the kind of player Carson Benj could be. Again, the ADP there is 346. I know Scott has made the Christian Yellage comp there as well for Carson Benj, Benj, the Marlins, Christian Yellich.

And I think we're all in agreement there. He was on the list and now he is stolen. Scott, you are up. Should we just like go from person to person and not have like transition time in between? Just boom, boom, boom. Yep. So let's go. Chris Scott, me, the Bermuda Triangle.

Keep going. Bermuda Triumph. Okay. We're not so drafting it. Bryce Eldridge. He's been going outside the top 300, the whole preseason. It's been freaking me out. Huge power.

Consensus top 25 overall prospects seemingly has a clear path to playing. time as the Giants D.H. He came up late last year. There's a chance he doesn't make the team because there are strikeout issues, but he's six foot seven. They're always going to be strikeout issues and they don't really have anyone else to plug in there. The cost is so low. The upside so high. He might pick up first to base eligibility eventually. Love Bryce Eldridge. That's a price. All right. First up for me, I'm just going to go in the order. I wrote them down from like 305 and down. So I have Max Meyer here who flashed big upside early last season. He has, had hip surgery, which ended his season.

But now he is back. Hopefully he's healthy. He looks healthy. He showed up the spring. He's thrown seven shutout innings with 12 strikeouts to one walk. He is throwing his sweeper more. He has the opportunity. It's a good ballpark to pitch in. The ADP for Max Meyer is 307. And I am still very interested in Max Meyer and his strikeout ability. Chris, over to you.

I will go with Kobe Mayo, who is a guy we've talked a lot about over the past couple of years without much to show for it at the major league level. He hasn't really gotten that many real extended opportunities. He has one right now with Jordan Westberg opening the season on the IL, likely out until at least May. Honestly, I think it's more likely Jordan Westberg doesn't play this season than he's back by May. Kobe May was hitting 500 this spring with a, I think it's a 91 mile per hour average

exit velocity. I still think this is a 24-year-old who could make a difference. and this is kind of the last best chance for Kobe Mayo to make a major league career for himself. Grant Holmes. Grant Holmes. Pitching herd is thinning out, especially thinning out for the Braves. So he has a guaranteed spot in the rotation. There were some UCL concerns at the end of last year. But he thinks it was a pre-existing thing that just got discovered on examination for something else. what was especially illuminating as far as that goes, especially comforting as far as that goes,

is his most recent spring start Thursday, five no-hit innings, nine strikeouts, 18 swinging strikes on just 64 pitches. He has a killer slider. 13 of the 18 whiffs came on that pitch. Last year, in a limited amount of time, Grant Holmes had five starts with nine strikeouts or more.

and that equaled the number of starts with nine strikeouts or more that Paul Skeens had last year. So Grant Holmes, very cheap, a lot of strikeout potential. Some whip concerns, some durability concerns, but I'll take them at the price. Why are you always singling out Paul Skeens? What do you have against Paul Skeens? He's the best pitcher in fantasy. So if, you know, it's just easy to not the best pitcher in fantasy, but he's, you know, he doesn't have a lot of double-digit strikeout games and or even,

nine or more strikeout games. So Holmes had just as many last year. Yeah, I like that call to Grant Holmes, ADP 3.92. You guys are just sniping me left and right. I don't even know how many names are going to have left by like halfway through this. I think we both have more names than you as well. Yeah, so it might just be you two going back and forth at some point.

Next up for me is Kirby Yates, who is just a late round saves dart here. His ADP is 310, and he is turning 39 years. years old in eight days. I have no clue if he has anything left. Last year he allowed a lot of barrels, lots of home runs, but he is just one season removed from a 117 ERA and 33 saves. He is also reunited with his pitching coach from the Rangers where he had all that success in Mike Maddox. Now they are together on the Angels. And it looks like he will get the first shot. There was a report over the weekend. And there's just like there are a bunch of veterans in that bullpen, but Kirby Yates has the most experience,

and so I would expect him to get the first shot, and if he performs, maybe he just holds it all season. So Kirby has a ton of whiffs last year. Yes, they got a ton of wiffs and a lot of strikeouts, so. Over to you, Chris. Oh, it's my turn. It's my turn to nominate a player. Okay, you guys are going pitcher-heavy,

so I'll focus on that side, a guy that I know we all really like. Jacob Lopez of the Sacramento Athletics. His ADP is 335.2. and he is like my favorite example of weird pitcher. We talked about this. Was it yesterday's podcast? We talked about Jacob Lopez.

His pitches don't really move like anyone else's. He's got this weird, low angle arm delivery. I think he's got kind of like a little bit of an Andrew Abbott delivery, if I'm remembering correctly, where he kind of crossfires. The sweeper and slider, or the slider moves more than most sliders to the love side, the fastballs move more to the arm side than most pitchers. He's just a funky pitcher, and I think funky works for him. And I like the potential for Jacob Lopez to really continue what he did in the second half of last season when he was a pretty effective pitcher for the

athletics down the stretch. So I like Jacob Lopez. Oh, and Casey. This year is shaping up to be a banner year for rookies. There are so many. many high-end prospects at the precipice of the majors, likely to win a starting job for opening day, or if not then, soon afterward. That's easy to lose sight of somebody like Owen Casey, who's been rated among the best power-hitting prospects for several years now, really actualized it last year,

did a better job of elevating the ball for power, delivered a good home run total, than the Cubs system was blocked there, traded to the Marlins in the Edward Cabrera deal, I have no reason to believe he's not going to be on their opening day roster. Nothing more to prove at AAA hasn't generated a ton of headlines this Springs, which I think has helped prevent him from being pushed up in the rankings. But he's a good prospect.

He's a good prospect. Yeah, he had some moments, but he hasn't been like one of those players generating a ton of buzz. But the upside is definitely there for Owen Casey. And the price is right. Yep, the price is 452 over the past. past seven days. Can you tell that we podcast together? There has not been a player that either of you have said that wasn't on my list. So here we go. Now we got to get deeper. Next up is Marcel Ozuna for me and his ADP is 336. There is a lot playing against Ozuna here. So I'll highlight that

first. He is 35 years old. He's coming off a down season where he dealt with a hip injury and he went to a terrible park for right-handed power. So why should you like him? Well, in 2020 3 and 224 combined, he was amazing. He hit 289 with 79 homers, 204 RBI, 916 OPS. Really wasn't that long ago. I mean, we are one season removed from him being that player. I think that he could still get to, you know, 250, 260, 25 home runs and going outside of the top 300.

That's just really, really cheap power that is hard to find in that range of the draft. And in improving Pirates lineup. So I like that aspect as well. Not going to be a great lineup, but hopefully they can get to the middle of the pack this season. Over to you, Chris. I will go with Kyle Harrison. A pitcher I've never really liked all that much in the past, especially like in 2024 when he first came up. He was throwing this four seamer that sat at 92 miles per hour and he was starting at like 70% of the time.

It's like, okay, this isn't going to work. Last year he gets a velocity bump. He pitches a little better maybe, but overall still very much a project. but he's added this kick change this spring. I think it's way too early to know what kind of impact that's going to have on him. But now he's sitting like 95, 96 with the four seamer. And the slurve slash curveball has always looked good. And so if the kick change can give him just another weapon that hitters have to worry about,

that that could fit with his profile. I think there are a lot of things to like about Kyle Harrison. He put up huge strikeout numbers in the minors. I am writing a late round category specialist piece for tomorrow's newsletter, and Kyle Harrison is one of my strikeout picks. So I think there's a lot of strikeout upside here with Kyle Harrison. Although I just forgot about a name that I should have said instead. I'm sorry. Hopefully one of you guys don't say it in the next two picks.

Well, let's see. Probably not. I don't think you guys have been on to this guy, but I'm going to go. go ahead and go there. Cole Young. Okay, yeah. He's on the list. Cole Young has had, is the Mariners opening day second baseman. They were leaning that way from the start. He got a chance there last year.

Didn't it go well? He had very poorly. But he has been a top prospect, basically since the time he was drafted and has always stood out for his just hitterish qualities. But he seemed overwhelmed in the majors last. last year. He added a lot of muscle this off season, did some strength training. Also, tweaked his swing. He has more of a coil to the swing now. And seems to be impacting the ball a lot better this spring. Average exit velocity is like 96 miles per hour. He's already homered as many times this spring as he did in nearly 300 played appearances in the majors last year, four times. And he's a second baseman. He's also stolen three bases, which I wasn't expecting to be

a big part of Cole Young's game, but maybe. Yeah. I think he's definitely on the radar now for those deeper leagues. He also had a max EV of 114 last year, which is a lot more impressive than I think he gets credit for. I'm not saying he's going to be a huge power header, but there is some pop here. The ADP for Cole Young, 665, so I like that call.

Two of his four home runs have had an exit velocity over 108 miles per hour this spring as well. So very impressive there on Cole Young. The name for me is Mick Abel. Is that who you were going to say? That was the one I should have said. That was the one I should say. Mick Abel, Big Riser hasn't risen enough.

The ADP is 337 over the past seven days. Came over to the twins in that Yon-Duran trade last year. This spring, 13 and a third inning's two runs allowed, 17 strikeouts to one walk. He has racked up a ton of swinging strikes, especially in the first two outings. Hasn't been as plentiful the next two outings, but overall his spring has been very impressive.

No doubt that he has swing and miss stuff. last year in the minor's 10.4k per 9, 29% strikeout rate, 12.8% swinging strike rate. And he has outperforms Eddie Matthews this spring. So there is a chance that he is just in the opening day rotation. Someone who should be on everyone's radar is McAbel. Over to you, Chris. Yeah, I think McAble's going to be in the rotation at this point. All right, my pick will go away from the pitchers.

It's been a lot of pitcher talk lately. And my pick is going to be Cam Smith, who it feels like is just completely forgotten because he wasn't very good last season. He made his major league debut. He played 134 games. He had nine homers. He had a 670 OPS. He didn't elevate the ball consistently.

He didn't pull the ball in the air to the pull side as often as you'd want. I still just kind of look at it as he was 22. He played 30 games before getting called up. I'm still going to believe in the talent that Cam Smith has shown. and the Astros still seem to like him. They have been looking for different ways to get him in the lineup. They've been playing him at center field this spring. I think that all suggests an organization that still has some faith in Camp Smith.

He's a big dude. The raw power is there. Max E.V. 114 last season. He's got to cut the strikeout rate. He's got to elevate the ball more consistently than he did last season. But I am willing to give him a mulligan for how poorly his rookie season went. 95th percent out. sprint speed as well.

I think there could be double digit steel 20 homer pop here for Cam Smith. So I am still going to have some faith in him when it costs so little to have that faith.

I am going to stick with the Mariners. My last pick was Cole Young. This pick is going to be Dominic Canzone. From your list also, huh? Dominic Canzone clobbers the ball

during his time in the major last year, 92 mile per hour. Average exit velocity, 116 max. And I believe his time in the minors, the exit velocity data was, let's see, it was pretty much the same. Yeah, the average was a little lower,

but the max about 116. So Dominic Canzon hits the ball very hard, and during his time in the majors last year, two, he slashed 300, 358-481. So it wasn't just theoretical. He performed. Now, the Mariners have seemingly freed up more at bats for him this year because playing time was the main issue last year.

He has a left-handed hitter, and he's 28 years old. So it's not like he's an obvious building block for them. He may just get stuck in a platoon role all year, but I think he's good enough that in five outfielder leagues, he could be useful in a platoon role. And if things break a certain way, he might just escape that platoon roll and become a full-time player. And I think that would be a very exciting development for Dominic Canzone.

I agree. His ADP over the past seven days is 413. Again, that is Dominic Canzon. Next up, I am going to talk about Tyler Malley, who has an ADP of 338. 16 starts last year, 218, 118, 1-13 whip. Not many strikeouts. The underlying numbers did not buy it at all. But the good news is he is a fly ball pitcher who will make his home starts in San Francisco.

And he has also had an impressive spring so far. 10 shutout innings, 13 strikeouts to seven walks, too many walks. Delt with a lot of injuries too, but I just really like the setup here, pitching in San Francisco, and I think he'll be kind of a high floor option and someone that you could stream in the right matchups. Totally fine with him in like a 15-teamer or an only something like that. So Tyler Malley for me, and Chris, over to you. It might be too early for a hold-your-nose-pick, but I'm just going to do it.

They're all kind of hold-your-nose picks. Yeah, but this is a guy I really just don't. actually believe in, but... Okay, go for it. Luis San Helicunia. He is trending toward being the opening day center fielder for the Chicago White Sox. I think that's kind of a fun lineup. I don't know if they'll be good, but I think they'll be feisty.

It's a pretty good ballpark. Luisana Helikuna is a very, very good athlete who should be able to handle center field. I know it's been a part of his skill set, even though he's a converted infielder. I'm not sure this dude can really hit, but his average X velocity this spring is 95 miles an hour. It's a very small sample size, only 27 bad at balls. He's made enough contact. You know, the contact rate in the majors has been right around 19%.

He just hasn't impacted the ball hard. When he does, he tends to hit it on the ground. There are limitations here, but he stole 16 bases and 193 plate appearances last season. I think Lois-on-Hell-Cunia could be a $2.5,000, hitter with 10 homers and 30 steals. That's useful. T.J. Friedel has been useful

with those kind of numbers in the past. So, yeah, Luis San Helicunia. Not a huge bet on talent like some of the other guys we've talked about, but opportunity and a useful fantasy skill set for Louisanne Helicocia. Moises by Ysteros, sort of like Bryce Eldridge. I imagine he'd be drafted everywhere if he wasn't DH only to begin the year.

and look, maybe he'll remain DH only. He was a catcher coming up through the Cubs system. Very fast. They couldn't slow him down because of the bat. It's just such a polished, hits everything kind of bat for Moises by Esteros. So the bat arrived before the glove was ready, and they have two good catchers there already. He did catch, I think, one game last September, but he hit well last September. He hit so well, in fact, that they were willing to move Seizizziuki back to the outfield to get by.

Astero's in the lineup as the regular D.H. It's the contact that stands out most, but with high exit velocity. So if he can learn to launch it a little better, I think there is an all-around good hitter here in Moises by Esteros. We've made comps for him. We've tried making comps for him before Alejandro Kirk has been thrown out there. Pablo Sandoval. Pablo Sandoval has been thrown out there. Both of those comps, I think, focused mainly on the rotund build of Moises, Biosteros, and maybe aren't being totally fair to him in that way, because I'm going to throw another comp at you, Victor Martinez. I think Biasteros, in an upside case, has a chance to be a Victor Martinez-type performer for fantasy.

That was a guy who regularly hit 300 with 20 to 25 home runs. The ADP for Biasteros is 506, and next up for me is another late-round dart throw for saves, and that is Clayton Beater, who has an ADP of 3.45. He is on the Washington Nationals, and I don't even know who else would be an option for saves here. I guess maybe Cole Henry. He's a former top prospect in their organization. He has not developed into a starter like they hoped.

But Clayton Beater, he does get lots of whiffs. He also walks a ton. His slider is disgusting. It had a 49% whiff rate in the majors last year. Overall, he had a 14.4% swinging strike rate. So lots of whiffs. lots of walks. I think he probably gets the first save opportunity for the nationals this season.

They're also probably going to be really bad. But maybe he's someone that can get like 20 saves, very late in your drafts. Let's take a quick break when we return. Go right back over to Chris. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. We're talking deep sleepers. And Chris, you're up.

Well, if we're going to spend as much time this spring dumping all, on Carlos Estevez and his 90 mile an hour fastball, we got to make some room for the guys who might replace him. So I'm going to double up here. This is kind of cheating. But Matt Strom and Lucas Ersig should both be on your late round radars in any league where saves matter because I think they're both potentially better pitchers than Carlos Estevez. I actually think in Matt Strom's case, I feel very strongly that Matt Strom's the best pitcher in the Royals bullpen.

It's just do they want to go with a lefty? as their full-time closer, but Matt Strom, like his numbers over the past three seasons are outrageously good. 271 ERA, 1088 strikeouts per nine, really good control. I think if it was just, hey, who's our best reliever is our closer? I think Matt Strom's a closer, and it might not take long for Carlos Sestif has to lose that job, given that his velocity this spring has been down five miles an hour. If it's not Matt Strom, it would probably be probably be Lucas Erseg, who was really good two years ago when they traded for him from the A's. Last season, the ERA was very good, but the strikeouts disappeared. I'm not 100% sure what's behind that,

but that, you know, he's shown the skills, so maybe he can get back to it. But either way, I think Lucas Ersig and Matt Strom are your, I don't know if you want to call them insurance for Carlos Estevez, because you probably don't want to draft Carlos Estevez if you're listening to a fantasy baseball podcast on March 17th, 2026. You definitely don't want to draft. Carlos Estabez, because none of us do. You don't want to, but if nobody wants to, you might end up drafting it. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm not excited about it. Certainly. Yeah. Okay. I'll continue the closer run or perspective closer run here with Matt Svanson. Spelled just like Swanson, but with a V instead of a W seems that is the actual

pronunciation is Vonson. It seems too easy. but it's true. Now, I think the go-to response for who's going to be Cardinals closer is Riley O'Brien, but Riley O'Brien doesn't qualify for this exercise. He's being drafted inside the top 300s. So I'm going with Svanson instead, who might actually be better. I was kind of hoping the Cardinals would turn to him down the stretch last season. He was a rookie at the time, ended up putting together a 194ERA.

0.88 whip 10.1K per 9. Leads with the sinker had incredible groundball rates in the minors on top of that strikeout ability. And this spring, Cardinals B. Riders have been talking him up as part of a committee, what's going to start out as a committee. So they're not just defaulting to Riley O'Brien or even Jojo Romero. It sounds like Svanson, it's going to be part of it. And I think he has a decent chance to emerge as the head of the committee, maybe just becoming the closer outright. The ADP for Matt Svanson is 495, and let's stick with the Cardinals here. I'm going to talk about Matthew Liberator, and a consistent theme with a lot of these players is just opportunity.

And he is, the opportunity is there. Like, there's not much in the Cardinals' rotation. Liberator is starting on opening day, made a bunch of starts last year, and actually went deep into his starts pretty consistently, you know, right around six innings per start. Having himself a nice spring, 10 innings, three earned a run. runs, 14 strikeouts to one walk. He's getting a bunch of whiffs on his slider the spring as well. He already has a really good curveball. He throws six different pitches. So, uh, very diverse pitch mix. And I know, you know, Eno Sarris likes him and I trust Eno Sarris. He's really smart. It's really good with pitchers. And so let's go. Matthew Liberator. Chris, over to you.

All right. I'm going to go with a guy who's starting to get a little bit of buzz in the fantasy world. and that's Nassim Nunez, who should play every day for the Nationals. And this is another one where I'm not sure the bat is very good, but he makes contact. And we just want to see him get on base. He walks a ton, at least in his minor league career. Even last year at the Major League level,

he walked 9% of the time. If he can just hit like 250, he might get on base enough to steal 40 bases. He's probably going to hit near the bottom of the lineup. He's probably not going to hit for any, power, so this is purely a speed play. But if you're looking for a late round speed source, okay, Jose Caballero is probably the better choice, right?

Like, that's a better bet for stolen bases, but, uh, Nassim Nunez might play more and might give you more of the counting stats and the bat might be equally as bad, so at least you'll get more runs in RBI. So I, um, I think Nassi Nunez hit 45 steals last season in only 100. And two games is what it looks like. So I think there is some big, big stolen base potential here with Nassim Nunez. Good defender too, so we should stick around. I'm going to go with the guy who I've already drafted in a couple of 24 teamers.

So money where your mouth is here, it is T.J. Rumfield of the Colorado Rockies, a crowded first base competition there. But the new front office led by Paul D. Podesta made a point to go out and get this guy from the Yankees. No, wait, he actually came before then, didn't he? Now, did he come in the bird trade last year? No, he was acquired this off-season. He was required, okay, yeah, okay. So it was Palti Podestas.

And, like, he looks like straight out of moneyball in terms of, you look at his minor league stats, 25 years old, wasn't a highly regarded prospect, got on base a lot down in the minors, and has had a big spring, T.J. Rumfield has. walked five times struck out just once, four home runs. That is in the Cactus League, and the exit velocities, you know, they've been decent this spring.

In the minors, they were pretty average. But it looks like he's the front runner now for that job in Colorado. And if you have any kind of hitting ability whatsoever, you have a chance to matter if you're playing every day for the Rockies. So I think T.J. Rumfield is definitely worth

taking note of at this point. I love that call. 666 is the ADP there on T.J. Rumfield over the past week. Next name up for me is a boring one, Harrison Bader. But again, opportunity. Signed a two-year, $20.5 million deal with the Giants this offseason. He still is a strong defender so you know he's going to be in the lineup. And he was solid offensively last season. Hit 277, 17 homers, 11 steel, 796 OPS, 10% barrel rate was the second highest of his career. The pulled air rate has been up over 22% three years in a row. I think Harrison Bader can hit 250 with like 15 homers and 15 steals, which again is very boring.

But as a fifth outfielder in a deeper league, I think is serviceable. So Harrison Bader, he's the guy. Chris. We are starting to get some questions about Max Muncie, not that one, the other one, the one for the athletics. I didn't think you guys were going to go there. He was a prospect of some renown in recent years. He was a first round pick in 2021.

He has mostly struggled at the major league level, putting up a 31% strikeout rate in a 628 OPS, 638 OPS. Something bad. But he's having a nice spring. He is still only 23 years old. He's making a lot of contact. He is hitting 410 with a 1269. OPS. The average X velocity is 92 miles per hour. He's elevating the ball well. He has a 52% hard hit rate.

Look, it's probably mostly against minor leaguers, and you should take that with a huge grain of salt. But when you're talking about this deep, we're just looking for reasons to be excited. And or at least, not even excited. Excited is the wrong word. Reasons to be interested, to be intrigued. And I think we should be at least mildly intrigued by what we're seeing for Max Muncie right now, because I could see 1515 out of him. And we usually pay a lot more than that. Well, I mean, he was just a rookie last year. I'm going to, I was say,

I thought this was a sleeper for the late rounds. I didn't think I would get Max Muncie. Either of you would take Max Muncie. I just want to point out that he did do a lot of, he made a lot of changes to his approach. Like he is more focused on hitting a, in a certain spot rather than just trying to react and also looking for a certain pitch again

rather than just trying to react. He had a pretty good minor league career. He's a pretty high draft pick, Max Muncie of the athletics. So I am with you. He looks like he's trending toward being there starting third baseman. And I believe he carries second base eligibility too. So that's handy. I wanted to take him in the last round to TGFBI,

but somebody beat me to it. I'm going to throw another third basement out there who was also bad as a rookie, but that doesn't mean he's condemned to be bad forever. Having a good spring, it's Brady House. Brady House. Power is supposed to be his caring tool. He has homered. Let me see. Did I lose his page?

He has homered three times already this spring. batting like $4.50, not that he's going to do that. Plagenzblane isn't great, but he hits the ball hard, he hits for power. And one thing I've noticed as somebody who tracked Brady House as a prospect is, he was very difficult to rank because he'd have one year where he'd look awful and one year where he was like, oh, well, there's the Brady House we thought we were going to see. It was on again, off again for him, so he'd keep sliding all over the prospect, rankings. And that may happen to him in the majors too. Again, he looked terrible last year,

looking better this spring, has enough of a of a pedigree and enough raw power there. That there's reason to hope. You know, he's going to be playing every day for the nationals at third base. All right, the ADP for Brady House is 593. And next up with me, I'm just going to keep the train rolling here on some boring veterans. And Josh Bell is next up. 477. He, again, he's boring, but he just kind of does the, thing. You expect 250, 20 home runs. Still really good plate discipline last year. 10.7% walk rate, 16.5% K rate. And still hits the ball hard. 90.4 average EV. 12% barrel rate, the second best of his career. Underperformed his expected stats last season as well. Probably going to be traded

midseason, hopefully to a contender. But yes, I do believe Josh Bell is going to play every day. And we're back over to Chris. This one's kind of a blind faith one. but it's a guy I really like, and I think he has some really interesting tools, and that's Denzel Clark for the athletics. I just, one, maybe this is stupid. I kind of think if you're as good defensively as Denzel Clark is, you got a decent chance of figuring it out on offense.

I know they're very different skill sets, but he's going to get the run because, man, Denzo Clark, I think he's just the best defensive centerfielder in baseball already. like the stuff he was doing last season in like I think he was like fourth or fifth and out above average with like a third as many innings as the guys ahead of him it was bonkers stuff he's an elite athlete 97th percentile sprint speed it was about 80th percentile bat speed average eggs of velocity was actually 90 miles an hour he hits the ball pretty hard his hard hit rate was above average he strikes out a ton it was 38 percent last season that is holy holy untenable. He needs to get a lot better at that fast, but I think he's going to get the chance because of how good defensively he is. I'll bet on the tools. I think if it works out, you could be looking at something like a 20 steel 15 homer upside. So I like making a bet on Denzo Clark in this kind of format or in this kind of context. Tyler O'Neill. I don't know why

everyone has forgotten that Tyler O'Neill hit 31 homers two years ago and that wasn't the best year of his career either back in 2021 he had 34 homers and 15 steals for the Cardinals like the guy has massive biceps huge power he's hurt a lot he was hurt pretty much all of last year and so I signed a big contract with Orioles and it was a dud the first year he's he's had years where he's been a total dud strikes out a lot gets hurt a lot but when he's healthy, he has for a lot of power. He's had a killer spring. Now, it's a crowded outfield, and so he may not have a full-time role right away, but they still owe him a lot of money for the next two years. So if he's producing it all, they're going to have all the incentive in the world to play Tyler O'Neill.

I think he could be a very cheap source of potentially big power. And on that topic, I couldn't figure out if I wanted to include Dylan Beavers on my list. Because I'm just not sure he's going to make the team. I was reading just today that he just had a big game today. And one of the Orioles beat riders, I forget which one scene was suggesting that he's kind of cementing his role on the team now. And he had been struggling before this.

I think it was floating the idea of a Beaver's O'Neill platoon, actually. Because it's a lefty and a righty. I don't know how strict of a platoon it would be. And, of course, somebody could get hurt and open up a spot for both. But, yeah, I mean, if Beaver's does get sent down, which isn't, which I guess is still a possibility, then all the better for Tyler O'Neill. Back to Tyler O'Neill for a second. I think he's a name that needs to be on your radar, especially even in shallower daily lineup leagues,

play them on opening day. You have to play him on opening. He homers every year on opening day. Yeah. Started on opening day. You've got to do it. Well, let's keep it going with another boring veteran. That is Jake McCarthy, who we spoke about yesterday.

I got him on my Toutworth team. I got him in NL labor as well. So let's go. Jake McCarthy traded over to the Rockies this offseason. Another player just with an opportunity. He has had productive seasons. 280 plus batting average in two of the past three years. He has 23 or more steals three years in a row.

He already has six steals this spring. And it sounds like he could lead off for the Rockies this season. kind of the odd late round flyer that you can get batting average and speed from it's just like really weird that he's going as late as he is uh but i think maybe people didn't expect him to play as much but i think he's gonna at least start against righties and maybe just be an everyday player for the rockies this season that is jake mccarthy chris i did not include jake mccarthy on my late round sleepers and i got to update that that's a great call or my late round categories specialist is actually what this call him.

So I got to get him in there. Obviously, I think he's a better bet for stolen bases, but I think if you really are targeting him, it's also because of batting average, like Frank said. So I think that's a good call. Scott, do you have any Rockies on your list remaining? I do. Okay. Because I kind of, you want to do a Rockies run?

Jake McCarthy was on my list. And I will also throw, now, is yours a pitcher? No. No. Okay. It shouldn't be, but I'll be the dumb one who mentions a Rocky's pitcher. And that is Chase Dallender, who was in the discussion for best pitching prospect in baseball before he made his major league debut. And it went very poorly, as things tend to go for pitchers who play half their games in course field. He had a 652 ERA last year, 510XERA. he has been registering some of the absolute best stuff in baseball so far this spring.

Like every start I've seen all these various stuff metrics have been popping for Chase Dallander. His velocities up. He's averaging 99 miles an hour on his fastball. He's got a full arsenal. And I'm just a little bit more hopeful about the new brain trust in Colorado just giving him a better chance. to figure it out. It's going to be an uphill climb pitching half his games in course field, but just getting a slightly more modern pitch development and pitch approach out of a coaching staff, I think could help Chase Dallender reach his potential. So I'm not giving up on a dude that

talented. I don't really want to stick with your Rockies run here. Rockies run. Rockies run. Let me just stay. Rockies run. Blake Street Bombers. Blake Street Bombers. Charlie Condon was in that first base competition, too, and has looked great this spring. He's shown the power that he wasn't in the minors. Doesn't look like he's going to make the team, but he'll be among the higher prospects to stash. So that was the name I was thinking of, Charlie Condon. All right, I got another one. Can I, let me give you a boring veteran that I've actually been drafting a lot, and it's Victor Keratini of the twins.

He has become my go-to second catcher in two catcher leagues so deep that you actually have. to start drafting bad ones since you know it's such a deep position um i'm thinking those 30 team rhoda leagues especially but victor carotini yeah 15 team roto league sorry what i say 30 or 30 kentat 10 team roto where 30 catchers are drafted uh victor carotini is consistently been about a 260 hitter if you pro rate the number of home runs he hit over 100 if you pro rate the number of homers he hit last year over 150 games it comes out to 16 like this isn't huge production, but, you know, the reason I'm pro-rating it over 150 games is Victor Keratini spent most of his career as a backup, and he might just think that's all he's doing for the twins with

Ryan Jeffers there. But no, in addition to backing up Jeffers, he's supposed to be their primary DH. So he's going to play a lot more than the average catcher, and I think can live up to that 150 game projection. If he does, he's likely to give you J.T. Real Muto type numbers. not that J2 Real Muto is great shakes himself these days, but you'd be pretty happy to get him as a second catcher in most two catcher leagues. Victor Caratini, you could do it much cheaper. The ADP for Victor Caratini is $4.99, and here we go.

10 minutes left into overdrive. 30 seconds per player. I'm going to give you a Reds double dip. Rhett Louder, Brandon Williamson. We've talked about these guys a lot lately. Opportunity is there for one of them, maybe both, and louder, the higher-end prize. Suspect, seventh overall pick back in 2020.

Really strong season in the minors back in 2024. Dealt with some injuries last year. He throws a bunch of different pitches. He's the one that I like more between the two. And then Brandon Williamson, a big old lefty, six foot six. He's returning from Tommy John surgery that he had back in September of 24. And has also had himself a nice spring. 11 innings, two earned runs, 13 strikeouts to two walks.

So just two names that could be in the rotation for the Reds there, Rhett Louder. and Brandon Williamson. Victor Robles. I think he is being treated as if 2024 was definitely a fluke. And look, he hit 307 that year. This is a 247 career hiter

who hit 245 last season. So I think the skepticism is reasonable, but it is worth remembering that he played in 10 games last season before suffering what was, I believe, a fractured shoulder. Frankly, I'm not even sure how you fracture your shoulder.

He did it by diving into the state. and getting caught in the net. And when he came back, he was playing pretty regularly, but obviously wasn't hitting well. That seems reasonable coming off a shoulder injury. He makes a lot of contact. And the quality of that contact in 2024 was a little better than I think you might think. I think there's some batting average upside here.

There's definitely stolen base upside, though. He has 40 steals. Sorry, 36 steals in 109 games since joining the Mariners. I think Robles is going to play pretty much every day. and I can see a 40 steel season here. So I'm willing to bet on Victor Robles as a very cheap source of steals. I'm going to do the double-dip thing too. I'm going to double-dip a couple of athletics here.

One is who I, it has been reported to be the front runner for saves in the committee, which is Hogan Harris, a left-hander. And so that might hinder his chances of becoming the closer outright. But he did get the most saves after they traded. away most Mason Miller at the deadline last year. I got four of them had a 116 ERA in those two months without Mason Miller. So Hogan Harris looks like the front runner there. A lot of weak contact more than Miss Bats.

But still, they seem to like them. And then the other is Luis Severino, who was his two World Baseball Classic starts and his spring start before leaving for the World Baseball Classic. three. All of his pitches have been up one and a half to two and a half miles per hour. I'm including that, I'm emphasizing that spring start because it wasn't just the adrenaline of pitching in that tournament. He is throwing harder, a lot harder on everything. And I don't know what to make of it. Every time he pitches all the reporting is really just relating to the drama of the

World Baseball Classic. They're not getting into, oh, what are you doing differently? So I haven't gotten an explanation for it, but it's been consistent for Louisville. Severino and obviously he used to be a good pitcher so I think it's worth noting. I think yesterday's start in the World Baseball Classic was the hardest fastball velocity he's ever recorded in a start or it was the highest since 2017, one of those. So yeah, that was pretty bonkers. Jesus Sanchez, I will not quit you. I never can and I never will.

He was actually performing quite well last year with the Barlins. He got traded to the Astros and just tanked. He was awful with that. them. And it might say something that the Astros need outfielders and they still traded him away this offseason. But he's always had great bat speed. He hits the ball hard. He has started to run more the past couple of years. And I just like the idea of getting hitters onto the Blue Jays where they can work with that coaching staff that did such a great job getting so much out of their hitters last season. So again, his skill set making contact and hitting the ball really hard.

I think that's one that bodes well with that Blue Jays' coaching staff. And so Jesus, maybe it could be like a 2015 guy this season going very late. And Chris, back over to you. I will make a Homer pick, and that is Braxton Garrett of your Miami Marlins, our Miami Marlins, really, America's team. And he was a pretty good pitcher before Tommy John surgery. Throughout 2023, he was clearly hurt. 2022, 2021. It was, or maybe it was 2022, 2023, whatever it was, the two good years.

He had an ERA between 359 and 368. He wasn't getting a ton of strikeouts. It was right around one per inning, but good control, good results on balls and play. This spring, his first back from Tommy John surgery, he's throwing about a mile and a half, maybe 1.5 miles per hour harder than he did. The Marlins were talking about, you know, you were good when you were just a command and control guy. We think you can be great with the better stuff that you're showing. There will be some rough patches, Tommy John's surgery.

Guys don't always come back immediately and pitch well, but I think there is some upside with Brax and Garrett. I'll do another double dip. Royals hitters here. I want to call him Isaac. Isaac Collins got a chance to play regularly for the Brewers last July and August, hit 295, reached base at a 383 clip over those two months, stole some bases,

popped a few homers, and then they kind of faded him in September, stopped playing him. The Royals like what they saw, though. They went out and got Isaac Collins. He's going to be a regular part of their lineup. I'm treating him as a T.J. Friedel type.

Friedel tends to go, you know, 100 plus picks earlier. And so in those deep leagues, if I miss out on him, I like taking Isaac Collins. OPP, again, some power, like a little bit of power. and then a decent amount of speed. And then the other one is Jonathan India. I don't want to forget about Jonathan India. Jonathan India was terrible in his first year with the Royals.

But if you look at the underlying data, it was basically the same as it always was. They moved in the fences there. The last time the park layout was as it is now, early 2000s, it actually played as a pretty good hitter's part, pretty good part for power. So I think there's a chance, obviously the Royals are sticking with them. I think there's a chance Jonathan, India,

and his triple eligibility can get back to performing like he did with the Reds. I muted myself. You are muted, sir. All right, Scott, I have an Atlanta Brave, and his name is Mike Yistremski. Another one, just with the opportunity, boring, but signed a two-year, $23 million deal this off-season. Cheap exposure to that lineup. I know we've said it once. We've said it a million times.

I believe the Braves lineup is going to bounce back. If they can stay healthy, I think they're going to be a really good offensive team. Mike Ystromski will play almost every day, maybe not against lefties, but again, he's getting paid. So I think he's going to play. He'll hit his 240, 18 to 20 home runs. And actually quietly slashed his strikeout rate from 26% to 19% last season. So perhaps that batting average could move up a little bit. Not that I'm expecting it, but interesting note there on the strikeout rate. Chris, back to you.

Let's go with Harry Ford, Washington Nationals catcher who has been a top prospect for a while and has put up really interesting minor league numbers you know 20 plus stolen bases multiple times he only had i think eight last season i want to say he was dealing with an injury though and the athleticism should still be a big part of his game he makes a decent amount of contact this type of profile scares me a little bit just because bow nailer just had a very similar profile and it didn't work out as you can see by bow nailer's numbers. He's been pretty bad. Maybe I'm falling for it again with Harry Ford because I was big on Bo Nailer as a breakout, but I do think Cabo Ruiz is not a big roadblock, even with the money that

they have still to pay him. And if Harry Ford, either this spring or sometime this summer, shows enough to just take that job from Cabo Ruiz, I don't think anything can stop him. So I'm pretty excited about Harry Ford in that number two catcher discussion. I'm worried he doesn't make the team because of all the time you missed in the World Baseball Classic. But he's kind of dropped behind Victor Keratini for me as to go-to second catcher in those deeper leagues. But more upside for sure. Harry Ford has. All right.

I'm going to throw another double dip at you. A couple Braves pitchers. The Braves are going to need pitching at some point. They've already lost a bunch and they're relying on. Several guys who missed significant time last year. Two young pitchers have stood out for them this spring. If it was truly a merit-based thing, I think they'd be making the team. And those two are J.R. Richie, who I think profiles pretty similarly to Nolan McLean

in that he has a deep six-pitch arsenal capable of missing bats, but that is less his strength than generating weak contact. and J.R. R. Ritchie's going to be up soon. The other is Didier Fuentes, who we actually did see a little bit last year, but he was rushed to the majors, clearly wasn't ready for it. He has been lights out this spring. His fastball has been up a mile per hour consistently. His sweeper has been up like three and a half miles per hour.

And he's been a huge bat misser in the little bit of time he's pitch. So those two for the Braves, probably not going to be useful right away, but definitely names to file away if nothing else. of my favorite deep sleepers this year has been Nolan Gorman and he's still just 25 years old. He hit 27 home runs in just 119 games back in 2023. I still think that player is somewhere. This was a top prospect with legit light tower power. The strikeouts are a problem. They always will. Always will be the batting average will be low as a result. He puts the ball in the air a lot and lots the strikeouts, but I think it's someone who can hit 30 home runs who has second and third base

eligibility or is going to gain that. So he's going to be middle end corner as well. He's looked solid to spring. He's already hit three homers, a 976 OPS and 32 at bats. And another one who just has the opportunity, expected to be the everyday third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. Cheap power late, that is Nolan Corman. I'm going to double up here on Connolly Early and Peyton Tolly, neither of whom is going to make the Red Sox rotation as things currently stand, although I don't, that's not a guarantee. I haven't really seen a ton of talk about it, but like Patrick Sandoval is not going to be ready, right? And Yoan Oviedo, has Yohan Oviedo been good this spring? I don't think he has. He has a 159 ERA with a lot of strikeouts. There's been a lot of optimism for Oviato.

Yeah. Okay. Perhaps. Perhaps. unrealistically, but there has been. Yeah, I, I, Yohovaeato very much feels like just a guy to me. Like, I think he can be a league average pitcher, and that's valuable. I think Brian Bejo is a league average pitcher, and that's valuable. But Connolly Early and Peyton Tolly both have upside to be more than that.

They're both lefties. Peyton Tolly has arguably the best fastball, certainly in the minors, but one of the best fastballs among starters. He's developing the rest of the arsenal. Connolly Early was hugely impactful for the Red Soxie. down the stretch last season. I'm surprised that they might not open the rotation with them,

even though they have a lot of options, and those guys have minor league options available. But, yeah, I think Pan tolling Connolly and early, they're going to get their chance at some point. Someone's going to get hurt, and they both could be absolute impact pitchers. This is kind of along the lines of Jonathan India. I may actually like them more than Jonathan India

if you're looking for a triple eligible player on the cheap. Josh Smith. Well, shoot, he's going to be quadruple eligible soon because he's projected to be the Rangers every day, second baseman. He already comes in with first base, third base, and shortstop. So all four of the infield positions soon enough for Josh Smith. I talked about this on yesterday's show,

but it's even more fitting for this one. Already up to six home runs this spring. Never been much of a power hitter, at least in the majors. He had some couple of years. in the miners where he was pretty good with the slugging. But hasn't been much of a power hitter. He changed his approach at the plate, actually made the same sort of adjustment

that George Springer made last year, which is to swing with more intent on pitches that he can handle, to not swing so defensively. A lot of guys, a lot of these high-contact guys get in their head that to swing and misses to fail. And so they start swinging defensively. And that's what has been, that's what was determined to be the issue for Josh Smith. And, you know, obviously it's spring training.

Two of the six home runs I'm counting were in an exhibition against Brazil's World Baseball Classic team. So he hasn't always been facing great pitchers. But it's definitely an eyebrow raiser's most recent home run equaled the hardest hit ball he's had in regular season play ever. And so he genuinely seems to be hitting the ball harder. and it's always had good play to blend, going to play a ton, a little bit of speed too. I think Josh Smith absolutely fits the bill here. All right, we do have to start to wrap things up here.

So I have five names left. I'm just going to quickly rattle all of them off and I'll give you guys an opportunity as well. Max Scherzer, we spoke about him yesterday. Opportunity is there. Jose Burrios is hurt now. So is Shane Bieber. It's good this spring.

The end of his season was really bad, but his first 11 starts. He was serviceable, 360 ERA. 108 whip 8.4k per 9 again that's max scherzer simian woods Richardson had a great september last year five starts 233 era a point 81 whip 12k per 9 he started throwing a splitter really up its usage in that september through it 27% of the time and that pitch had a 33% whiff rate brandon sproat top prospect who was traded to the brewers in the freddie parol to deal this off season velocity has been up this spring he is throwing a new cup

It's a great organization for pitching development and another place where there is an opportunity. Quinn Priester is hurt. We know Brandon Woodruff has dealt with a lot of stuff the past couple of years. So could be one of Sprote or Kyle Harrison in that last spot in the rotation. Reese Hoskins, the Guardians need power desperately. He had 12 homers in 90 games last year. Not sure how much he has left, but like the quality of contact was still solid. 90.2 average EV with a 10% barrel rate.

And the last name I want to throw out here is Anthony K, who is coming back from Japan. He signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the White Sox. And in 24 starts in Japan last year, 174, ERA.98 whip, 56% ground ball rate. He's looked good this spring. Velocity has been up quite a bit from the last time we saw him in the majors. He is also throwing a new sinker,

which he didn't previously have when he was in the majors. A very deep league name there, Anthony Kay. Does he have RP eligibility? Yes, he does. There you go. Deep League's spark for those who play in points leagues as well. Chris, I'll let you throw a few names out there before we wrap up. Okay, some shortstop prospects.

Aidan Miller for the Phillies, Jet Williams for the Brewers. They're not going to be on the opening day roster. So these aren't really stashes. They're more guys to know. But if anything happens to Bryce and Stott or Alec Bohm, I think Adam Miller is going to get the call. Or Trey Turner, Frank. So the three options he could play, Jet Williams, he's played a little outfield, he's played

shortstop. I think there could be options for him in Milwaukee as well. Carson Williams is a name to keep in mind. He had a very, very poor first taste of the majors last year, struck out a ton. Strikeouts are always going to be an issue for him, but he's got this lift and pull swing. There's real power here. There's some athleticism. I think you could see some best case scenarios for Carson Williams where he looks like Willie Adamas. you know, poor batting average, but a lot of power and a little bit of speed. And then a couple of pitchers. Let's go with two guys coming back from injuries who are kind of going under the radar.

Justin Steele is one who, I mean, I think last I heard, I think he's about six weeks away, right? Like he's just starting spring training right now, basically. He's coming back from Internal Brace. We know the track record there is not great. Can't guarantee Justin Steele is going to be good, but he's going to have that Cubs defense behind him. I think he's going to be pretty good when he gets out there just in part because of that. So I'm willing to take the chance on him. Corbyn Burns, he made his first bullpen throw off a mound for the first time since having Tommy John surgery.

He's probably more June July timetable. But he hit 91 miles an hour in his very first bullpen session. Very first time throwing off a mound post Tommy John surgery. That feels really impressive. That feels like there's a lot of room to grow. So, Carbon Burns was obviously someone we were drafting as an ace last year and the year before. So I think Corbyn Burns is a name to know. And then Quinn Matthews for the Cardinals is a lefty who was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball entering last season, had a really bad year where he dealt with a shoulder injury most of the season.

His velocity's been up this spring. He's looked good from what I've seen. And I still remain pretty bullish on Quinn Matthews for the Cardinals. Okay. I am going to go with Ben Brown of the Cubs, who doesn't appear to have a rotation spot, but he has a new sinker that he learned from working out with Clay Holmes this offseason.

That's a good guy to learn a sinker from. And we've seen a lot of these guys with big fastballs, but limited arsenals take a leap once they start mixing in a sinker. That's a very trendy thing to do. So he could matter later on. So could Tyler Wells, who came back from injury last year, and I think validated himself as a whip fiend.

He walks nobody and gives up a lot of fly balls that they turn into home runs sometimes, but not a lot of hits in play. So the whip is always excellent for Tyler Wells, and he'll eventually at some point this year be part of the Orioles rotation once somebody fails or gets hurt. I also want to mention Kyle Caros here, who son of Eric Caros, if you remember him. Kyle Caros is projected to be the starter at third base for the Rockies.

He's had a big spring, always hit for average in the miners, showing enough exit velocity that there could be more power. He's, I think he's homer three times this spring, but always had high line drive rates in the miners and like at all fields approach. There may be a little more there for Kyle Caros. He said he wants to be the best third base in baseball the other day. So. Hey, his mouth to God's ears.

All right, Colt Emerson, let's mention him because J.P. Crawford's had a hard time staying on the field this spring. I don't know if he's going to be ready for opening day. I don't know what they're going to do at shortstop. Cold Emerson was floated at the start of spring as someone who could win a job like Kevin McGonagall, like Connor Griffin. He was in that conversation. I think it kind of died down once they got Brenton-Donovan. but Cole Emerson reached AAA last year and performed well there. So he could be up sooner than later.

If J.P. Crawford struggles the remains banged up. Hassan Kim, I think, is a good aisle stash along the lines of shortstop help. He was, there's 15 homer 30 steel upside there with some good on base skills. And he'll be back in mid-May. Short stops can be hard to find off the waiver wire in deeper leagues. So it wouldn't be bad to stash him ahead of time. I mean, this is wishful thinking, I think, because his velocity's been down this spring. But Reynaldo Lopez has been performing well this spring.

And last we saw him, he had a sub 2ERA. He's holding down a spot in the Braves rotation. It's worth a flyer in a deep enough league. I'm not going to quit on Joe Boyle. His stuff is electric. Just needs to throw enough strikes. The rays are maybe the best organization about... getting guys who struggle to throw strikes to throw strikes.

I think they just say, hey, your stuff's good enough. Just throw it down the middle. And that works out a lot of times. Hopefully they can work that magic on Joe Boyle. I think he'll, he's either the next man up. Either he or Ian Seymour is the next man up. Hey, Ian Seymour could work for this exercise too. But I'm more excited about Joe Boyle.

And let me just double check. Make sure there isn't anyone else I want to mention here. How about Lordus Gurriel as an IL stash in a five outfielder league? He should be back from knee surgery in mid-April or so. A little bit of cheap power there. And if he doesn't work out or Jordan Lawler doesn't work out, don't forget about Ryan Waldschmidt, who got sent down pretty early in spring,

but was looking great before then hitting some balls very hard. Tremendous plate discipline for Ryan Waldschmidt. I'm going to want to keep him in mind. mind. He had, I believe, two more batted balls today that were over 109 miles per hour. Yeah, what, yeah, 10.8 and 110.4. I mean, he is. Oh, he was, he was playing with the big club today. Yeah, sometimes like they get reassigned to minors camp, but they stick around and they just continue to play. And yeah, two batted balls over 109 miles per hour today. So one guy I want to mention, he technically qualifies for this. He's well known to everybody, but Jason Dominguez has had a huge spring.

And Trent Grisham has had a horrible spring. And it may only be a matter of time before the Yankees pull a switcheroo there. He hasn't been sent down yet, right? He has not. It's expected, but he hasn't been. Like, I know Spencer Jones got sent down and so George Lombards. So they're making those cuts. That's not to say Jason Naminguez, all indications are he will be sent down at some point.

But I don't think it's a guarantee necessarily. All right. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.