Fantasy Baseball Today - Draft Day Cheat Sheet! Players We Draft/Avoid Most! (3/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

What happened in the Dodgers-Padres Seoul series (2:30)? ... What do we make of Yoshinobu Yamamoto's struggles (6:10)? ... J.D. Martinez signed a one-year deal with the Mets (15:49). ... News (19:40): Ohtani is not currently facing any discipline. ... Let's start with the players we draft most, starting with outfield (27:48). Which outfielders are we avoiding? ... Why is Chris targeting Bo Bichette (36:53)? ... Scott keeps winding up with Alex Bregman (40:40)? ... We're all trying to get Jose Altuve (44:55)! ... First base is all about Vinnie P Baby (50:22)! ... Mitch Garver and Henry Davis make for a nice combo (54:59). ... Which pitchers have we been drafting most (59:21)? 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 Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv 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

Happy. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on March 22nd. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we've got ourselves a quick recap of the Dodgers Padres series in Korea. J.D. Martinez finally signed with the New York Mets and the players we draft most and the top fades at each position. Let's get right into this two-game series between the Dodgers and the Padres. We'll start with game one. The Dodgers won five to two. easy save for Evan Phillips.

Tyler Glassnow and you, Darvish, weren't at their best. Combined seven walks for both of those. I had a few people tell me the ump was pretty tight with the strike zone in that game. Glass Now still had 13 swinging strikes on 77 pitches, nearly a 17% swinging strike rate. Darvish's curveball was down three miles per hour

compared to last year. Perhaps he's working on a slower, loopier curve this year. But anything on Glassnow or Darvish before we get to the crazy. easier game. Game two. Chris actually woke up to watch that game. I did.

Was it a tight zone for the umpire, Chris? I didn't notice it especially one way or the other, but, you know, I was a little groggy. You know, I'm not at my, I'm not at my peak at 6.15 in the morning. No. So, I said on the podcast yesterday that if I'm up at 6 in the morning, it's because I haven't gone to bed yet. It's either. because I'm waking up.

I've been up at 6 a.m. twice in the last month, once was to catch a plane, and once was to catch this game. True story. I went to sleep the other day at 4 a.m. woke up in the middle of the night, you know, when most people are just waking up in general.

And I noticed, oh, at 6 a.m. So I watched the first inning of the game. I get an email notification. Scott White has made a trade in score sheet. I'm like, what is, Scott's making trades at 6.15 in the morning. He's getting ready to go to bed. I tried to catch that guy at 11, and he had already gone to bed.

So, you know, I caught him waking up instead. It worked out. Yeah. I got Joe Boyle with that pick. The, I didn't have much of a takeaway from this game. I think it was interesting that, you know, we've kind of assumed Yuki Matsui was maybe a setup man for the Padres. But he pitched sixth inning, I think, in this one, which it's one appearance, who knows. but and the bullpen management from Mike Schilt was kind of crazy both games because clearly the pitchers weren't fully built up yet.

Yeah. And so he kind of treated it like a stacking exercise. So I don't know that we can take much away from that other than Robert Suarez in game two. I'm kind of skipping ahead to game two. Other than Robert Suarez in game two got the four out save, which we were expecting by now that he is the closer to begin the year. But, you know, in game two, Michael King came out. out of the bullpen to pitch how many innings three or two, yeah, three in a third. I don't know.

My, my, just, you know, we're, I'm kind of bouncing between game one, game two here, which I guess game one was kind of boring. It wasn't there was that weird thing with, uh, Jay Kronowahua with glove. That's kind of the only notable thing. Yeah. That actually had, except that Shohia Otani stole a base where he was safe by about 60 feet. Mookie Betts actually stole a base in the first inning of that game. And they called it back for some interference, which I, oh, it was.

Umpire's interference. That was, yeah, that was the, as the, I think it was the catcher clipped the umpire on the way out. So they called umpire's interference. Gotcha. Yeah. These are the details you get from waking up at 6 in the morning, guys. A lot of steel talk with Shohei Otani lately.

Oh, gosh. You know if you guys noticed. Too soon. I wanted to mention, though, that the biggest thing I noticed from the whole series is like, everybody pitch poorly? Yeah. There wasn't a good pitching performance for as high end as these pitchers were supposed to be. And obviously, the one that stands out most for pitching poorly was Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his major league debut.

Yeah. Lasted only an inning, gave up five runs. Command was awful. Very bad. Not as advertised. Yeah. Four hits allowed, one walk, one hit by pitch, five earned runs. The final score of that game, by the way, the Padres won 15 to 11.

So an absolute slobinochre. We had four hit games from each of Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Jake Cronoworth, Mani Machado hit his first home run. Jackson Merrill picked up his first two career hits. But yeah, back to Yamamoto. He threw 40 pitches to get through one inning. It was a four pitch mixed, 33% on the fastball,

26% cutter, 23% curve, 19% splitter. He averaged 95.4 miles per hour on the fastball. His cutter and splitter combined for zero called strikes. the splitter did not get a single whiff. His average exit velocity against 100.7 miles per hour. So this comes after two rough spring outings too. Any concern or do you buy the dip in drafts this weekend?

So the spring outings, I watched, I think, both of the poor spring outings for Yamamoto. And it was very different than this. The first one was a lot of weird defensive miscues. I think both Max Muncie and Gavin. That was the game that, lost Gavin Lux's shortstop job, if you remember. And the second one, he was cruising for the first, like, three innings.

And then he kind of got Babbit to death, I think in the third or fourth inning. It was like four straight soft hit balls to right field. And then he got hit a little harder. So it was very different from this one. I do think, like, from watching him, command has been a problem for Yamamoto. I think there's also been some sequencing issues. supposed to be as big as strength command. Yeah.

He was getting compared to George Kirby as far as that goes. I think the stuff looks really good still. Yeah. I mean, I even watched a couple of the strikeouts from yesterday's game and it looked. The pitches look great. Yeah. The individual pitches. He is, I think the thing to keep in mind is it's a different baseball.

Like literally he is using a different baseball than the one they use in Japan. The one they use in Japan is, a little bit smaller. I think the seams are slightly lower. And the, they're higher in Japan. It's stickier. They're able to get more spin.

Yes, they have, and they also have it pre-tacked, which is what MLB used in the Southern League last year as an experiment. I think we'll see MLB make that switch in the next couple of years, and it'll be interesting to see what the results of that are. But it's to say that, like,

last year, Kodi-Senga, did not pitch in the World Baseball Classic specifically so he could get used to throwing the Major League Baseball. And so I think, remember last year, Kodai Single was not great to open the season. But he had, but he had, Command was supposed to be an issue for him,

unlike Yamamoto. We did see Yamamoto use the MLB ball in the World Baseball Classic last year, and it went well. So I trust he'll come around to it eventually. What he actually said after that start was he wasn't able to execute from the stress. The exact quote, I wasn't able to execute a pitch from the stretch.

I know how to fix it. So I think a big route, I think part of what happened to him and going back to what I was saying earlier, what seemed to afflict all the pitchers on both sides was just that they're not quite there yet. I mean, they're playing more than a week before everybody else and they just haven't gotten to midseason form yet. They're still kind of in spring training mode. It still felt like spring training. And it's especially so in Yamamoto's case because he has so much new to get used to. And so I buy the dip to finally get around to answering your question, Frank. This might be enough for me to drop.

If I haven't drafted yet, most people haven't, this might be enough for me to drop Yamamoto behind Pablo Lopez. You might see him go behind Terrick Scoobel too, though I don't think I'd do that as much as I love Scoobel. So I'm not really downgrading. Yamamoto much at all based on this. I haven't really considered moving him down yet. But I also, spoiler alert for what we're going to talk about later, I haven't drafted him yet, either.

I think I have one share. And I have two NFBC drafts this weekend. And if there's any kind of discount, I definitely will be looking to buy the dip on Yamamoto. Joe Musk Grove on the other side, not great either. Two and two thirds innings, five runs allowed,

only two strikeouts. Velocity was fine. I think that's good to see coming back from the shoulder injury last. year. He leaned on his breaking pitches, which is exactly what he's done since joining the Padres, three years ago now at this point. Michael King pitched in relief, three in a third innings, three runs allowed, three walks, five strikeouts. Sinker velocity was down 1.2 miles per hour. He averaged 92.8 compared to 94 miles per hour last year. I think that's something to watch

early in the season. And he also threw a new curveball 20% of the time and a new cutter, 7%. Definitely gave up some hard contact. But yeah, some velocity and some new pitch. for Michael King will be something to watch for him. Curveball had very good results. Cutter, not so much, but the curveball, four swings and misses on seven swings. Two caught strikes, called strikes as well. So 40% CSW, I still don't get that right.

Called strike plus with. Yes, TSW percentage. I got to say though, and I'm interrupting your point, Chris. No, no, no, no. I had just the curveball for being a new pitch looked pretty effective. I got to say, we did a mock draft tonight, so after this series in Korea, and I took Michael King 155th overall.

I hadn't taken him yet in any draft. It just seemed like he was there much later than usual. Doesn't that sound later than usual for King 155? I think he's usually in the 120, 130 range. I can't help but think that rough outing had something to do with it, which, so I guess keep an eye on that in your drafts. If any of those pitchers who underachieved in Korea, if they slide 15 to 20 spots,

you should probably take advantage. Yeah, I'm doing a slow draft, and he went 102nd. It was a head to have points league, but it may have just been a fluky thing. But no, but that was before the start. Oh, okay. So, yeah.

A few quick lineup notes from mostly the Padres side of things. Tyler Wade started both games at third base for the Padres, which I didn't really see that coming. We thought maybe it would be Grand Pauli. He does have some speed for those who, play in deeper and only leagues. And it looks like Xander Bogart's will lead off for them, followed by Fernando Tatis, Jake Cronoward, Mani Matrato, and Hassan Kim.

Wonder if Kim batting fifth, maybe he doesn't run as much as he did last year, but that's just... He did steal a base without the benefit of a hit. I don't think he had a hit. Yeah, he didn't have a hit. He walked. And I think the thing to keep in mind about this Padre's lineup is the top five is actually pretty strong.

it's pretty bad after that. Well, you got Meryl. You got Jackson Meryl. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. You need a home run. You need Jackson Meryl to really live up to expectations. And honestly, like, give Grand Polly a chance. Tyler Wade, come on.

Yeah, let's get Jackson Meryl up to the six spot too. That would be fun. Get Jackson Meryl at six and then Luis Camp Eusano at seven. I think that would be a pretty good top seven for them. Anyway, we've got to move on. Quick things to promote. Subscribe to the FBT newsletter. If you haven't already, scan the QR code

if you're watching on YouTube, or head to CBSports.com slash newsletters. You click on the FBT logo, punch in your email address. It's easy as that. It's hard. And it's free. And I could have told what you were doing it first, Chris.

There you go. For those watching, you could see Chris presenting the QR code to you. And this is pretty cool. We finally made it. We're making a jump to television. But don't worry. Our regular YouTube and audio programming

won't be going anywhere. This upcoming Wednesday, March 27th, At 2 p.m. Eastern, you'll be able to watch fantasy baseball today on the CBS Sports Network, the same show as you know it, just on TV. So help support the show by tuning in live. You can also watch live on the CBS Sports app through your cable provider. Let's take our first break when we return. Some quick news, and then into the players we're drafting most right after this.

Welcome back in. Let's talk some news and notes. J.D. Martite has signed a one-year $12 million deal with the New York Mets, and it was a big bounce back season for him last year with the Dodgers, where he hit 271, with 33 homers, 103 RBI, in just 113 games. He got back to crushing the baseball. 93.4, average exit velocity was a career high.

It ranked in the 98th percentile. Obviously, this is a big downgrade in terms of ballpark and team context, but for where he's been going, J.D. Martinez, over the past week, his NFBC ADP is 285.9. Scott, my guess is that's going to climb quite a bit now that he's signed with the team. We just did a mock draft tonight, and J.D. Martinez went 175th overall.

So I don't know if it'll always be 100 spots higher than ADP, but he will move up. Obviously, when we're reducing, we're looking at ADP over a shorter stretch of time. We can only do that in NFBC, and I feel like NFBC is most reactive. to this kind of stuff. So in our own drafts,

I wasn't seeing J.D. Martinez last to 280, you know. It was more like 225, which, you know, 175 in our mock tonight is still a 50 spot jump over 225. I think that's about the earliest I'd go for him. It's still a tough fit to get a utility-only player in there. I still prefer like Eloy Jimenez and Byron Buxton to J.D. Martinez. It's, you know, I've made the point before, with him that his 162 game pace with the Dodgers last season.

J.D. Martinez was 455 RBI or something. 148. Yeah. Crazy. Crazy numbers. A lot of that had to do with playing for the Dodgers. I mean, batting cleanup for the Mets behind Pete Alonzo and Francisco Lindor. And Brandon Nimmo for that matter. That should lead to quality RBI opportunities. but what does get lost in the bounce back season for J.D. Martinez is that his strikeout rate ballooned. It was over 31%. And normally in his career, he's been under 25%. And so there's a degree of just like not trusting the performance in addition to him not being in the Dodgers lineup anymore. And he's not a young guy. And he's signing late without any kind of spring training. And there's a chance this just doesn't really go

anywhere. And had two IEL since last year as well. Yeah. I'm not saying I want to draft him around pick 200 or maybe even 180. I think that's fine value. But he's not going to be as good as last year. I feel pretty confident saying that. I will say this. Obviously, it's not the Dodgers lineup. The Mets lineup's kind of interesting. I was just looking at it and I had the same thought. It's not terrible. Like the top four certainly not. The weakest spot is Harris. Bader, but he's average-ish if Starling Marte bounces back. You know, like this, this lineup's got some potential to be pretty interesting. I think so too, man.

Like Francisco Alvarez showed some pop last year. I think it makes more sense for him to bet fifth than someone like Jeff McNeil. I'm just looking at roster resource right now. But yeah, like Nimmo, Lindor, Alonzo, the back half. If Marte could bounce back, you know, Jeff McNeil puts the ball in play, Alvarez, Beatty, post-hype sleeper. It's a kind of sneaky lineup. So we'll see what the New York Mets can do.

And Bady's heating up. I think he's got three home runs in his last three games. Okay. Something like that. So I was starting to have a little trouble getting hopeful about one of my sleepers. But he's showing some signs of late. All right. Fabian Ardaya of the athletic reports that Shohei Otani is not currently facing discipline,

nor is he believed to be under active investigation by the league. That's in relation to his longtime interpreter being fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following accusations of, quote, massive theft. Kevin Gosman is expected to throw 60 to 65 pitches on Monday, which might be enough to convince the Blue Jays he doesn't need to begin the season on the IL. If you're drafting this weekend, who would you rather take a shot on? Kevin Gosman or Yamamoto? Yamamoto.

Chris? I might still have Gosman ahead without having. having moved Yamamoto down. Let me check. No, I do have Yamamoto. I mean, it's two spots in the overall ranking, so it wouldn't take much to move Yamamoto ahead, but I would take Yamamoto. All right. Next up, both David Bednar and Kenley Jansen made their returns on a Thursday. Bednar allowed two hits, but struck out one. I was watching that appearance. Velocity looked fine. He mostly looked like David Bednar. So assuming he bounces back well over the next couple of days, I just think David Bednar will be ready for opening day.

and Kenley Jansen struck out too over a perfect inning and I would say the same thing for him if his body bounces back all right, ready to go on opening day. Someone who probably will not be ready on opening day. Jordan Romano has yet to resume throwing. He was shut down earlier this week due to right elbow inflammation.

Sunny Gray could make his season debut during the Cardinals' season opening road trip which runs from March 28th through April 3rd. Sunny Gray will pitch two innings in a minor league game on Friday. Kodai Senga will begin... Oh, wait. Romano is hoping to throw this weekend.

Okay. So there is still a little bit of hope that he could be ready for opening day, but like you said, it's probably unlikely. And actually, I saw a quote from John Schneider that mentioned specifically Nate Pearson, Zach Pop, and Brendan Little as options to fill in at closer for the Blue Jays

if they have an opportunity. So that was kind of interesting. If I read it correctly, Chris, I think it was just, those names were mentioned to fill in in the bullpen. And then when they asked specifically about saves or closing out games, that's when he mentioned Yemi Garcia and Chad Green.

But I could be wrong. My reading comprehension is not great. The big promotion for Zach Pop there. I think I would trust your reading over mine. Konaise Senga will begin throwing within the next week. Tim Haley of Newsday reports that Senga's ramp up will likely take at least six weeks. So a May return seems plausible if there are no separate.

for Kodi Sengos. He's been medically cleared, though. Yep. That's the big news there is that all the imaging has come back completely negative now. This one came out late on Wednesday night, but the Rangers signed Michael Lorenzen to a one-year $4.5 million deal. And Chris, is this the end for Cody Bradford? Zero concerns about Cody Bradford. $4.5 million is nothing.

No, look, Cody Bradford is a, I can't even. call him a lottery ticket because I don't think he's that good. He's just a spark. He's just like, I'm not drafting him in roto leagues. It's literally just as a spark for like to start streaming and stuff. So if he falls out of the rotation a month, it's probably because he's not that good. Yeah. If, yeah, that's that's true. But he might be good. I know. We're mostly saying this in with Cody Bradford. Scott, do you have any deep league interest in Michael Lorenzen? Not especially. You're getting a deep enough league, and I'm in several of these leagues. Anybody with a rotation spot has value, but I'm not, I'm not structuring an NL-only league plan around him or anything.

He's just somebody who might fall to me because he's cheap. Well, you can't structure an NL-only plan. A-L-only, yeah. Sex is free. Thank you. Good catch. All good, all good. Stop me if you've heard this before.

Eloy Jimenez was diagnosed with a right foot contusion. Apparently, he fouled a ball off of his foot and is day-to-day. please be okay, Elohimonis. Vodin Francis was informed Thursday that he's made the Blue Jays rotation and has had a solid spring, 338 ERA, 15 strikeouts to four walks

over 18 and 2 thirds innings. He is RP eligible. Yeah, that's the, I kind of feel like that's the spark you should have been going for, Chris, Bowdoin Francis. Eh, maybe. I think he's got, I said this the other day,

I think he's got Tyler Wells upside, good control, high fly ball rate without a lot of damage being done on the fly balls. Kind of interesting there. Still on the lower end as far as Sparbs go. Like I would take Garrett Crochet over Bowden Francis. But I do think Bowden Francis in Deep Enough leagues has some late round appeal.

Alec Marsh has been named to the Royals rotation and he got knocked around a bit here on Thursday. Has had a solid spring. His career, 569 ERA 156 whip, but does get whiffs. 12.3% swinging strike rate 10.3. 3K per 9 in his career. How many pitchers have ever been fantasy relevant with a 572 minor league ERA? Not many.

I mean, the stuff actually seems decent, but yeah, I have no interest until we see some success. I missed the name. Who was that? Alec Marsh. Oh. Yeah, I mean, like the slider's pretty impressive. He's gotten some whiffs before. It is interesting that on the day the Royals,

named him to the job. He had by far his worst spring star. I noticed that with the spring stat lines today. It was like everybody regressed to the mean. All the pitchers who had been dominating all spring got knocked around and the ones who had struggled like Ryan Pepio had an amazing

start. Yeah, he was really good. Yeah. Yasmani Grandal won't be clear to run until at least next week and it's looking good for Henry Davis's catcher eligibility. And Scott is the fantasy jinx. Jonathan Irondo will begin the season on the I.L. After being diagnosed with a fractured right ring finger, he's scheduled to have surgery and will likely miss the next four to six weeks.

I was so upset. Four to six weeks is what you said. Sorry, I trampled that. I was so upset when I saw that. I had just put out my 25 players. I keep drafting article. And he was the 25th player, Jonathan Aronda. That's pretty easy. I had to leave it. Go in and make it. I made a change. I wanted to, I didn't want to reduce it to 24. Yeah. But, yeah. Yeah, you know, because he's 26, or he's about to turn 26. Yeah, it's pretty old. And I just hope his opportunity doesn't pass him by because Curtis Mead goes off or something like that. I want to throw out one sleeper that was mentioned in the MLB.com story about this injury, which is Austin Shenton, who is MLB.com Pipelines number eight prospect for the race. He's another older guy like Aranda, but also like Aranda had a massive season in the minors last year, 304 with,

like a 907 OPS between AA and AAA. That's a name to watch in... It's a name to watch in... On a strikeouts. Yeah, it's a name to watch an AL only. Oh, sure.

Austin Shenton. Austin Shenton. Austin Shenton. That's spelled S-H-E-N-T-O-N. Austin Shenton. Like fantasy baseball legend Chris Shelton, but with an N instead of an L.

You know, they should just promote Junior Caminero. You cowards. Make it happen. Absolutely. Anyway, let's get to those players that we draft most and the ones that we avoid most

at each position. and the idea is for this to basically be your ultimate cheat sheet, going into the biggest draft weekend of the spring. These are lots of names that we've talked about, but I have a feeling there are people checking into fantasy baseball podcasts late in spring here, just trying to figure out who am I drafting, who am I avoiding, and that's exactly what we'll tell you. So I did not count the Scott White Dynasty League

because there are so few players available in that draft, but so far I have done 11 drafts that I'm playing out. Six include waivers or fab, five are drafted hold leagues. So 11 leagues total. Let's start with the outfield. We always start with catcher. Who cares about catcher? Let's start with outfield. Work our way backwards. Scott, the outfielders that you're drafting most, and reminder, you've got to keep it moving. Got to keep it moving. Okay, Mike Trout. I'm drafting him a ton. I think he's undervalued in round four. The correction's gone too far. And, you know, it's particularly if I

don't have an outfielder by that point. I got to get one. Let's see. Who am I drafting a lot of? Evan Carter, that's a recent development. I think he's going to be a great source of runs in RBI, batting on the higher end of that lineup in Texas. Should get on base a lot. Not sure where the home runs and stolen bases are going to be.

He might only be Christian Yelich as far as that goes, but I think it's a great value. And I get him a lot. Jackson Chorio, of course, I've been drafting him a ton. it's going to be harder to draft him. I don't know that I'm going to get any more shares of him now that he's confirmed to be on the Major League roster, but I think he could have a Julio Rodriguez-type rookie season. That's obviously the upside case.

But the downside case is, I don't know, 15 homers, 25 steals, still pretty good. So, yeah, love Jackson Shorio. Is that enough names? You want more? Three is probably fine, but if there are any other that stand out to you, you can mention it. You know, I will, I was surprised how many shares of Kyle Schwerber I had

because I haven't been motivated to draft him in Roto leagues, but I got him in salary cap drafts or auctions. And I think it makes more sense in that format. I think sometimes it's a good value because everybody's scared off by the batting average. But in that format, you can obviously be more selective about who you, who you match up with Schwerber on the rest of your roster. You can really focus on batting average after that. And so I think that's what I've done.

Plus, I like Schwerber in points leagues where the batting average doesn't hurt you. So in the right context, I think he is a good pick. I think it's a really good point, Scott, because in NL Labor, I don't typically target Max Muncie or these guys that could bat around 200. But I got Max Muncie because I also had Freddie Freeman and Jeff McNeil on my team. And so I felt like I had enough batting average buffer there to take that shot on Max Muncie. Chris, outfielders that you're drafting most. What did Nick Castiano's do to everyone to make them hate him so much?

I'm asking you two specifically because I know you hate Nick Castellanos. He is my most drafted player this season. I have drafted him in five of 11 leagues that I'm counting for this exercise. We don't need to get into which ones I am and I'm not counting. I'm playing in too many leagues already. Was that a rhetorical question or do you want me to answer that? What the Castellanos did? Well, I just, I feel like this is a guy who has basically had one bad season.

in his last, what, four or five. He's been a consistent 100 RBIs, a consistent 27 to 35 home runs. He stole 11 bases last year, which I don't think people realize. He stole seven the year before. I think it could happen, I guess. I think Nicosianos is a non-zero source of stolen bases. Mike, he was just bad his first year in Philadelphia. Last year he was good, but with a surprisingly high strikeout rate for him,

so I don't entirely trust it. And that's basically it. I'm not saying I wouldn't take Nick Castianos at cost, but I'm not eager to. And to be clear, I have him ranked ahead of his ADP. I'm actually drafting him lower than his ADP. I calculated my ADP for all my guys.

And my ADP for him is 105.4. His actual ADP is 100.9 in the month of March. So I'm still getting a discount. I've also got Jaron Duran, which should come as no surprise to anyone. I love Jaron Duran. I think he's got 20. Homer 40 steel potential, 100 plus run potential at the Red Sox lineup.

It's possible, Jared Duran is like a top 25 player in fantasy this season. That's a realistic outcome for him. And another one where my ADP for him is lower than his actual ADP. So even though I like him a lot, it's mostly when I'm waiting on him that I get him. And then one deeper outfielder I'm drafting a lot is Max Kepler. Another guy I've talked about a lot. Took a big step forward and quality of contact. I had by far the best quality of contact of his career struck out a little bit more.

But I think on the whole it was a change worth making. He was super aggressive on the first pitch. And I draft Max Kepler a lot in the later rounds. Chris, I think if Jaron Duran breaks out, you should dye your hair and beard the same color as his hair. Maybe not the beard. But maybe I can, yeah, you know what? 20 homers, 40 steals, 100 plus runs. I will bleach my hair like Jaron.

If anyone hasn't seen it, go check out these interviews with Jaron Duran. I mean, this guy dyed his hair like he's Hulk Hogan. He's got bleached blonde hair now. It's awesome. The outfielders I'm drafting most, Sayas Suzuki, you got to come through, bud, because I got you on five different teams. And, yeah, look, we've talked a lot about Sayan Suzuki.

I think he's going to break out. He showed flashes at times, and the plate discipline is there, the power is there. I think he's fast enough to steal some bases, too. He's batting second in the Cubs lineup. Speaking of the Cubs, Ian Hap, I have on four different teams. A lot of these drafting holds that I've done are NFBC, 15 teams with five outfielders. Ian Hap is just that boring.

Plug them in your lineup. I usually get him as my third outfielder. You look at the plate appearances the past three years. All he does is play. He's going to give around 20 home runs and 10 steals. He's boring, but he just gets it done. And surprisingly, Mitch Hanigar. I have Mitch Hanager on three teams.

I like that. He's having a great spring. 13 for 29. He's got four home runs. If he could just stay on the field, quality of contact was still pretty good last year. I think he could pop 25 home run still. So, you know,

in those deeper leagues, I do like McHanager. We've got to move like a lot faster. So outfielder that you're avoiding most, maybe just give me some names. I haven't drafted Michael Harris. I don't think that means I'm avoiding him, but I get like Cody Bellinger.

This is kind of my bus pick, but I think I've drafted Cody Bellinger once. And I haven't Michael Harris. So I think for me with Michael Harris, It's just as much as I like him as a player, I think someone's always a lot more excited about him. And I think there are still limitations to what he's likely to do.

For me, I'll give out three names. Corbyn Carroll talks a lot about this officer. I haven't drafted him yet either. He goes in the top five picks, and I just haven't ranked lower than that. I'm more worried about the shoulder than other people are. Luis Robert, I think there are just too many risk factors for a third round pick, the health,

the team context, the plate discipline, and S. Cerey Ruiz. He's speed only, and I think there's risk of him losing playing time throughout the years. The funny thing about Luis Robert, I also haven't drafted him, but I'm higher on him than you guys are. But he had like a grade two knee sprain, I think. But it was like two weeks before the end of the season. So he only missed like the last 12 games. And it didn't really matter.

If that happened in April, he might have missed like a month and a half. And we'd be drafting him 50 spots later, even if he was the same player. Well, yeah, I co-signed to the Luis Robert, not drafting him. because I would rather wait around to get Mike Trout because I don't feel like the injury risk is that different. And I think Trout on a per game base is going to be much better. So, yeah, no Luis Robert for me. You have to twist my arm to draft Jazz Chisholm.

He's come up a couple times and been my highest ranked player. And I just try to talk myself into anybody else. Estuary Ruiz. Nicasinos. I'm not actively avoiding. Yesterday Ruiz is too hard to build around. I mean, I understand there are, you may be that desperate for steals,

but I try not to be. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, the rest of the players we're targeting and avoiding right after this. All right,

let's get into the shortstop that we are drafting most. And Chris, why don't you kick us off here? Surprisingly, Boba Chet. I have drafted Boba Shet in four of my 11 leagues. I think a bounce back in his stolen base production is likely. I think that

lineup will be better than it was last year. I'm in on Bo Bichette. But again, my ADP for him is 50.8. Oh, wow. Yeah. So I'm getting him really late when I'm drafting him. Scott, shortstop, you are drafting most. Jackson Holiday is up there for me. He's, even though he's the consensus number one overall prospect. He's not getting nearly the hype that Wyatt Langford and Jackson Chorio are. I don't feel confident his power as developed,

but players with that pedigree can progress quickly. And he does enough other things well that I think outside the top 120. He's great. Plus it's just like the way shortstop breaks down. Once you get Zander Bogart's off the board,

in deeper leagues, I'd say once Dan's Byswant is off the board too, there's just not a lot more I'm interested in. And I think Jackson Holiday is the most, is the upside play that I feel most comfortable with, actually. So I end up with him a lot. Also drafting a lot of Jackson, Merrill, and Tim Anderson really late in deeper Roto League's.

All right. Probably the position that's most spread out for me is shortstop, because there are many different skill sets, I believe at shortstop. And it really just depends on what you need throughout the draft. but Zander Bogarts and Trevor Story are two players that I have on multiple teams already. Bogarts isn't really a target, but just no one seems to want him. Nobody wants him.

Nobody wants the guy who went 1919 last year and is hitting leadoff in a top heavy lineup. He's hitting lead off with Fernando Tatis and Mani Machado behind him. That's still pretty good. And Trevor Story is having a great spring. Talked a lot about him. I think he's going to go 20-20 this year. The batting average, probably somewhere between 230 and 250. but I have been prioritizing batting average early in drafts,

and then I could go ahead and take someone like Trevor's story a little bit later on. Give me a shortstop name that you guys are avoiding. Anthony Volpey. Okay. Like I saw his home run yesterday, this like new swing, and it was like the wimpiest home run I've ever seen in my life. Oh, come on, Chris. It might have gone out in Yankee Stadium because he hit it to right field,

but it was like 316 feet. It was. They used to say the same thing about Moogie Betts, Chris. I have no faith in Anthony Volpey. Okay. Scott. He's being overdrafted. Bobauchette.

That's why Chris keeps drafting. Yeah, I are constantly yelling at each other off the air, by the way. This witty repartee between us, fully a thing for the cameras. But when the cameras are off, we're fighting nonstop.

Yeah, no, we're not. but Bo Bichette is yeah I just I just don't trust that the past couple years the power or speed to justify the pick the batting averages should be good maybe he bounces back with the stolen bases but you know I don't feel confident in that I did get him in one like salary cap situation where he just was the perfect fit for my team but in drafts it's never at the point in the draft where he goes. It's just like I'm never looking his way. The shortstop that I've been avoiding L.E. D. LeCruz in the third round, though I'm starting to feel more and more like I'm going to regret that, but we'll see. Obviously, he's a pretty polarizing player. Third baseman that

you are drafting most, Scott, you're up first. Okay. Oh, I can say this with authority. It's Alex Bregman. Alex Bregman. So I counted up my 11 teams, and there are only three players who are on five of the 11 teams. And Alex Bregman is one of them. He's the highest end of the three players on five of my teams. And I think the reason for that is, one, he's my plan A in head-to-head points leagues at third base. I don't think Austin Riley and Raphael Devers are worth the cost in that format. I think Bregman's just as good, and you can usually get him around, if not two, later.

My plan B, by the way, is Max Muncie, but I haven't had to resort to plan B very much. And the second reason I think I'm getting a lot of Alex Bregman is I like his cost in Roto leagues too, because that's, you know, like round seven, round eight. He's one of the best bets for run an RBI production at that point. And those are maybe the two most difficult categories, batting average. You could talk about that too. But runs in RBI's, it's hard to make up ground to those categories later in Roto drafts. That's really the studs domain. And Bregman is there a lot later.

to help with that. Chris, the third baseman that you are drafting most. I thought Scott and I would actually be an agreement on this one. And I'm disappointed that he hasn't drafted Cabrion Hayes more. I haven't drafted him once. I know I'm kind of disappointed. Because I have him in four of my league. And I mean, we've talked a ton of back of Brian Hayes.

The changes he made after coming back from the IL last season, the work he put in when he was in the minors on his rehab assignment, added a leg lift, added a leg kick on his swing. started driving the ball to the pull side in the air more often. He is having a bonker spring. He's hitting 4.15. He's got two strikeouts and 42 plate appearances with three home runs. I think we're finally going to get the Cabrion Hay season. I think 25 and 10 is not the floor,

but it's kind of my expectation at this point. There are three third baseman that I have on two of my teams, and Austin Riley is one of them, Jake Burger and James. Camer Candelario. So it's very clearly, I'm trying to get Austin Riley in the second round if I can. And if I miss out on that, then I'm waiting for one of Jake Burger or Jamer Candelario as a fallback option. Yeah, I got some burger too, of course. One of the players I love, though not so much in points leagues. I think that's probably worth stressing because sometimes that message gets lost in all the, all the love, effusive praise.

Yes. What about a third baseman that you are avoiding? Chris, up first. I haven't drafted Austin Riley. I can't say I'm avoiding him. If I'm avoiding anyone, it doesn't feel good because I love him. Mani Machado, I just,

and he crushed a home run today. So, you know, who knows? But I just, the fact that he's like had multiple setbacks seemingly with this recovery from elbow surgery, it just,

it's a little scary, right? Like a guy who's DH only for the start of the season because he can't throw. That just, it feels like things could go wrong. Scott? In a major turn of events from last year, I think it's actually Nolan Aeronado.

Not because I think there's anything wrong with Nolan Aeronado. I just am that confident in Jake Berger. I think by the 5 by 5 categories at least, I think he's going to be better than Aeronado. I think he's going to hit more home runs with a similar batting average. And more home runs could potentially mean more RBI, even though he's in a worse lineup. I also think Josh Young might be better than Nolan Aeronado and goes later.

So, yeah, I had a chance to draft him in that, take him in that draft tonight at cost, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it, knowing the third base options that would be there later. All right, the third baseman that I've been avoiding is Royce Lewis. Just don't want to use a top 60 pick on a player that hasn't proved that he could stay on the field yet. Although I will admit he is, looks like he is. We're drafting him next week. We're getting him. immensely talented.

There is no doubt about that. Can Royce Lewis stay on the field? I'm not willing to pay a top 60 pick to find out. Second baseman that we are drafting most. And Scott, we will start with you. Okay, because I'm very prepared to give an answer. Maybe it's to start with Chris. It's Jose Al-Tufe.

Jose Al-Tuvae is one of them anyway. I think because I make it a high priority to draft one of the high-in second baseman in round three and I rank Altovae the highest of those three second basement for both formats. He had clearly the best points per game last year, and he is the best bet for batting average between him, Marcus Simeon and Ozzy Albiz. And I think I'm alone in ranking him the best of those three,

which is why I keep ending up with him. I also want to put in a word here for Nico Horner in a similar vein to Kyle Schorber. where I think if you've been listening to us throughout the preseason, I tell you, yeah, I think Nico Horner's overvalued. I don't think he deserves to go that much higher in drafts than like Bryson Stott and Andres Jimenez and all them. And I think that's true. But again, salary cap scenario is different.

And I don't know. I think I've found that the cost has been more reasonable than what you see in a draft. And Nico Horner is actually kind of the perfect pairing for Kyle Schwerber. So I think I've ended up with more shares of Nico. Horner than I expected because I ended up with more shares of Kyle Schwerber than I expected. And also like Schwerber, Nico Horner might be even more valuable in points leagues than categories leagues because the one deficiency, the home runs doesn't hurt you as much in points leagues. The sum of his contribution still adds up to a lot of points.

Yeah, that's basically the case. I think people think, oh, Nico Horner, base dealer, batting average, that's a categories guy. but it's so many stolen bases and such a low strikeout rate, his head-to-head points per game production was significantly better than like the Bryson Stotz and Andres Jimenez's of the world. Chris, second base that you, second baseman you're drafting most. Nobody. This is a weird thing about the 11 drafts that I'm talking about here

is there is not a single second baseman that I have drafted more than twice. The three second baseman I drafted twice are Glaber Torres, Cattal Marte, And Gavin Luggs super late. So I guess those are my answers. I thought it would be Brandon Lowe, but I guess it's not because I've only drafted him once. I guess I wait too long every time for him. But that does happen.

You get, you see a guy who's an extreme value and you get in your head. Okay. I can wait. I can wait. Yeah. And you wait forever and somebody takes them out from under you. And, but yeah,

I guess the takeaway there is just second base. is the position that I'm least intentional about. So I'll take... I've got a ton of different guys at second base, rather than one guy I've got a bunch. I have three of each of these names.

Jose Altuve, Ozzie Albies, Bryson Stott, and Tyro Estrada. So like I mentioned with third base, I am typically targeting Altuve or Albies in the third round of drafts. And then if I don't get one of those two, I'm falling back on a Bryson Stott, or even a Tyro Estrada a little bit later on.

Second baseman that you are avoiding. Chris. So I said I've pretty much taken every second baseman like once. The one exception is Ozzy Albies. I have not drafted him yet. It's it's not necessarily that I'm avoiding him. I just. Chris, do you hate the Braves because Michael Harris?

He probably does. Austin Riley. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of. Yeah. I mean, that was man. Ozzy Alps.

He did Braves Marlins rivalry. I mean, when the 97 World Series. beat the Braves in 97? Oh my God, that was huge. Levant Hernandez, great umpiring work in that game. No, I, I just, I just, I struggle. You see the highlights from that Levan Hernandez start now.

It's incredible. It's incredible. No, no umpire has ever been better at their job than that guy. Greg something. Eric, Eric, Greg? Eric, Greg, there you go. Albies, I just kind of have trouble wrapping my mind around. a guy who I think is like a good but not great hitter

that early. It's mostly just that I think I have him ranked like three spots lower than his ADP and he never goes later than his ADP. And I like Marcus Simi and Jose Al-Tubei more. So I've taken both of those guys before Albies. Scott, second baseman to avoid. I am avoiding Luis Arise. Same. Yeah, I think he's going to hit 315 instead of 350 and that's going to make him

pretty fringy. And, you know, I'm not saying there aren't certain roto builds where he's the right pick if you've really neglected batting average. But I haven't had such a build yet. So I've seen no value in taking Luis Arise. Although I am a fraud because I took Luis Arise in Tau Wars. They've been the right build for it, Frank. Yeah.

I came close to take one of those leagues where I got Kyle Schwerber, I came close to taking Luis Arise. Yeah, I think the one league I have Arise was also a league where I had Schorber. And yeah, similarly, what happened was I knew I wanted to get Jake Berger later on, so I wanted a high OVP middle infielder and that's why I went and got loose a rise. Let's move over to first base,

first baseman that we are drafting most. Chris, we'll start with you this time. First baseman that I'm drafting most. Officially it's Vladimir Guerrero, but I've only drafted him twice. That's another position where I'm not especially I almost said conscious of. But yeah, whatever term I'm thinking of,

I'm not going in with a conscious plan of, I'm going to get this guy. That's a draft where I more take what falls to me. So, like, Yandi Diaz is another guy. I have a couple of shares of, but there's nobody that I have more than two at first base. So I guess it's Vlad Jr. and Yondi Diaz, but the answer is really nobody.

Conscious would have worked. Yeah, it felt weird. It felt wrong coming off the bat. I don't know. Okay. Low exit. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Scott, first baseman So this is another one of the three players that I have in five of my leagues is Vinnie P, baby. Baby.

Yeah. So I think it's just, it's weird how everybody's out on him. His ADP has been, so he was probably, he was drafted about 80th overall last year, right? Am I remembering that right? Now he's going like 160th.

And I want to say Tristan Kossis is the first basement I draft a lot because I think he has huge breakout potential and upside. But knowing Vinny Pasquantino is there 80 picks later, 75 picks later, I just, I can never pull the trigger on Casas. And I end up with all these shares of Pasquantino, who I think the upside's a little lower than Casas, particularly in terms of home runs. But I think they are similar profiles.

And I'm happy to take the discount on Pasquantino. Yeah, Pasquantino's ADP last year was 92.9. The ADP over the past week at the NFBC, Tristan Kossis 89.5, Vinnie Pasquartino, 168.4. The value on Pasquantino is great. Yeah. Yeah. For me, Bryce Harper and Anthony Rizzo between you two, somebody stay healthy because I think I have three of each of those guys. Bryce Harper, who's dealing with the back injury, hoping to get in games on Friday. Obviously, we'll find out. If not Friday, hopefully some point this weekend.

And Anthony Rizzo, before the concussion last year, he looked really good. hitting well in spring so far. Expected the back cleanup behind Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. So I think there's pretty big upside there for Anthony Rizzo. First baseman that you are avoiding. Scott. Paul Goldschmidt is one I'm avoiding. He's a bust candidate for me.

And there are just so many later first baseman I like, like Casas, like Christian Walker even, certainly like Vinnie Pasquantino. Just don't see much reason to take Paul Goldschmidt. I'm looking real quick. If there's anyone else. No. You know what? I haven't been that thrilled to take Vlad.

I just, I feel like if you're going to take a non-base dealer that high, you've got to be sure he's going to deliver massive numbers elsewhere. And it's hard to feel certain of that with Vlad, because it hasn't happened the last two years. I think it could happen again. But there are other places I turn in round three. Chris, avoid at first base. I have not drafted Paul Goldschmidt.

I have not drafted Spencer Steer, and I'm pretty unexcited about him. I'm more likely to draft him now, though. You ought to get him. A little bit, yeah. I almost took him in the mock tonight. And then I, there has, I don't think in, I don't know, 25 drafts that I've done this year, counting moks. I don't think there's been a point where I've even considered Alec Bome. I just find him so boring.

He's fine. Like, he'll hit for a decent average. He'll get some RBI. but I just, ugh, he's so boring. He is, he's such a great,

he's a great deep league player, Chris. Yeah, sure, yeah. He's like a nice stabilizer, but he is like the definition of a jag at this point.

The first basement that I've been avoiding, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt, Bellinger also has outfield eligibility. It's mostly because I'm always looking for something else at that point in the draft. So those guys are going typically in round five. I draft a lot of pitchers in round five, and I just like either Bryce Harper early

or I'll wait past this point and try to get Tristan Kossis or like a Josh Nailer or Andy Diaz or even later than that or someone like Anthony Rizzo. So it just doesn't make sense for the way that I've been building teams Cody Bellinger and Paul Gulchman. Catcher that you are drafting most.

Chris, up first. All right, so the actual answer is also the player I'm going to be dropping the most because I drafted Tyler Soderstrom in five leagues and got sent down to the minors. Jeez. It was all 15 team or AL only league. And I will say there are three catchers that I have drafted three times each.

They might have all been in the same draft. One of them is technically not catcher eligible. It's Henry Davis. But I kind of think in a two catcher league, this is my perfect combination. I draft Mitch Garver around 180th overall. I draft Henry Davis around 200th overall. Maybe a little earlier now, the helium's starting to catch up. And then with my very last pick.

either in the reserve round or if I have to take him before the reserve round, Travis Darnow, whatever. I'll just cut him as soon as Henry Davis is catcher eligible. And I've got Mitch Garver and Henry Davis. And I think that is an unbeatable catcher combination for the price. I noticed today, Chris, that I have Renee Pinto on three teams. And I'm like, why do I have Renee Pinto? It's because those are Henry Davis teams.

Yeah. You just got to get a warm body for six days. That's exactly right. Scott, catcher that you are drafting most. Well, in one catcher leagues, which includes the head-to-head points leagues primarily, for us, it's all over the place. It's just my favorite that's there at the end of the draft,

or if like William Contreras, is that the right contraris? William Contreras is like an extreme discount. Like in the podcast league, I'll take him. So it's all over the place there. But in Roto leagues, there are a couple that I have several shares of. And it's kind of surprising names, actually. It's Cal Raleigh, who is maybe the best bet for home runs at the position. And surprisingly a good source of runs at RBI.

He plays a lot for the Mariners. And so if I feel like I have a good batting average base and I'm more worried about those counting stats, I'll go for Cal Raleigh. Also, Alejandro Kirk, I started to gravitate toward him as a number two catcher thinking, I like this guy's top 10 last year. And, you know, he could still be good for batting. average, now Danny Jansen's hurt. I was taking him even before that, but that gives him a chance to really, hopefully, you know, sink his claws into the position and hold on to it.

So I think Kirk, no reason to take him in one catcher leagues because the position is deep enough already, but in two catcher leagues, he's an ideal number two, I think. Jansen could be back in mid-April, though, from what I was saying. Sure. Hopefully, Kirk's already, you mean mid-Apr. Yeah, mid-Apr. May April. Yeah, hopefully Kirk's off to a hot start.

Wilson, Catreras, the other contraris, not the one that Scott is drafting. Wilson, I have him on five teams. So really need him to come through this year. I have Cabo Ruiz on a few. Yeah, I really do. I just thought he got off to a weird start last year. Yeah, absolutely. First year with the new team with the Cardinals.

And then the second half, he was great. Statcast numbers are still awesome. He's a catcher that's probably going to hit 250 with 20 plus homers and a handful of steals. And I think that's pretty valuable. Catcher that we are avoiding. Quickly mention, Yiner Diaz. He's going 40 to 50 picks ahead of Wilson Gutierrez,

and I would take Contreras straight up over Yainer Diaz. So I have just been avoiding him. Chris, catcher, you're avoiding. I have not drafted Adley Ruchman. I have not drafted J.T. Romuto. I have not drafted Will Smith, and I have not drafted Yiner Diaz.

So I guess it's those guys. Every early round catcher, except for William Contreras, I guess I drafted once. Okay. Scott? I mean, I'm not paying Adley Rushman costs. I could see the right league context if they fall enough getting somebody like Rushman

or William Contreras, which I did in the podcast league, or Will Smith, which I did in my home league, just because it was the right setup and the right value for a stud catcher. The one I'm most likely to avoid and can't see myself drafting at all is J.T. Real Muto. I think he's on the decline. I don't think he has the plate discipline of those other guys anymore. and I don't really need whatever steals he's going to provide. And for what it's worth, the two times I've drafted, Willing Pintreras, he fell 20 spots below his ADP.

I got him 92.5 is my ADP for him. So, yeah. Starting pitchers, we can probably do a whole podcast on just the pitchers that we are drafting most. But Chris, again, we will start with you. Which starting pitchers do you wind up with? All right. I have two starting pitchers in four of my leagues. that's Yusay Kikuchi and Casey Mize. Super late picks.

I really like the upside for Kikuchi, especially. Mize, it's just a dart throw. It's just a lottery pick. Among the earlier round pitchers, Pablo Lopez is on three of my leagues, and I've actually drafted him higher than his ADP, so I guess I'm the Pablo Lopez guy. And Justin Verlander, I have on three leagues.

I think he's probably back in mid-April. He's faced live hitters for the first time this week. Sounds like he might pitch in like a minor league game towards the end of spring training. And yeah, I think Justin Verlander is going to be okay. Scott, over to you, starting pitchers that you are drafting most. So I will say I have fewer shares of Cole Regans than you'd believe because I am way far ahead of the consensus on him. And yet it seems like every time I draft,

somebody in the draft is on the same page with me for Reagan. and takes him instead. I did get him in Tout Wars at least, but I wish I had a lot more Cole Reagan. So just getting that out of the way. Terrick Scouble, I have gotten a lot of him, my AL-Sai Young pick. It's great when I can get him as number two,

but I'd be fine with him as number one. Justin Steele, I feel like he is, I was down on Justin Steele. Famous Justin Steele guy, Scott White. I don't know what happened. Nobody's drafting him like he was a Cy Young contender last year. That's what happened. Okay.

Well, I think Justin Steele is a good pitcher. I think he's like a poor man's Max Fried a nice stabilizing force there as number three in Roto. So I'm getting him a lot. Chris Bassett. ERA's shaky and I had him in the globber originally because of that, but I think he's going to be good for everything else. Throw so many innings will be a big strikeout total,

hopefully a big win total. Good Whip guy. Love getting Chris Bassett as a number four, sometimes number three. Mitch Keller, I have a decent amount of him. We've talked about him a lot. Oh, the third player who I roster in five of my leagues is Kodi Sanga, who we got some good news today with him. All the times I drafted him were after the shoulder injury, so I got him very cheap, in my humble opinion.

And I think I'll get three quarters of the season from him as performing like a number two. So I draft even more of Kodi Senga if I could. and then a couple of spring risers who I've drafted a lot recently Luis Severino the pitch tipping issue that the Mets discovered and appear to have fixed

judging by his spring got him on three of my teams and AJ Puck who I think I was ahead of the hype on him and I still think he's kind of an industry secret I think if you're drafting

with a bunch of normies they're not going to be looking that hard at AJ Puck but I mean big strikeout numbers as a reliever. He's expanded his arsenal this spring and got huge strikeout numbers. Former elite pitching prospect with the A's who got moved to the bullpen because of injuries. I think this is AJ Puck's time to shine.

Yeah, he went for $4 in my salary cap league earlier this week. I don't know if that's higher or lower than I would have thought. I think based on the hype later in spring, it's a 12 team league. Yeah. I think that probably makes sense. And it's a keeper league. So there's a little a little inflation there. Yep. So my season is riding on these three names. These are the ones

that are going to bring me to glory. Probably not. But Logan Webb, Shota Imanaga, and Aaron Savali. Each of those I have on four plus teams.

I think I have Logan Webb on six teams. Which scares me. I mean, Logan Webb is a lot. I haven't drafted Logan Webb actually because you keep doing it, but I'm with you on that one.

Imanaga and Savali kind of feel very similar. It's just, can they avoid giving up 38 home run. I really, I think that's what it's going to come down to for both of those guys. Yeah. Logan Webb, man, he's had a terrible spring too.

So I've, I don't worry about that at all. It probably doesn't matter. I've tried to back off, but I think I wound up taking him in the points league listener league draft the other day. And three other names that I have on three teams. Justin Steele, with you, Scott,

he seems too undervalued. Going into the Tout Wars auction last week, I looked at my rankings and, projected auction values, and I said, who is the ugly duckling? Who is the one that no one wants? And it's Justin Seale. And you're just getting it for too cheap. Jose Barrios is another one as an innings eater type,

similarly to how you like Chris Bassett, Scott. And James Paxton has found his way on three of my teams. Can I give some of the names who are on three of my teams as well? Go ahead. Chris Paddock, Reed Detmer's, Nestor Cortez, Luis Severino, and Gavin Stone. They're all basically outside of the top 200 where I've taken them, But I think there's significant upside with all of them.

And I was really upset that I didn't get to draft Gavin Stone in a draft we did tonight that we are not playing out. I know. I got to get some. I mean, I only have one, maybe two drafts left. I have three drafts left. Got to give me some Gavin Stone. Yeah, I think I want to get. He's going to be really good. He's got a bigger glove to help stop the pitch tipping. I love that detail. His glove is a half inch bigger. So he's fine. He's not going to pitch it tip his pitches anymore. A spring riser for me that I've been drafting a lot is, actually Jared Jones with the pirates. Yes, absolutely. He is a prospect

with them. He throws extremely hard, and I think he's going to be their fifth starter. And he's looked really good this spring. Starting pitchers that we are avoiding. I'll quickly start us off here. Zach Gallen, just worried about him throwing 240 plus innings last year between the regular and the postseason. Aaron Nola has a

446 ERA or higher two of the past three years, still being drafted as a top 12-ish starting pitcher. And Joe Ryan, issues with home runs and lack of second secondary pitches has me worried about Joe Ryan. Scott will go over to you. Pitchers you are avoiding. Pitchers I'm avoiding would include Max Freed, actually.

I just, for the price, I need more strikeouts than that. And the volume has never really been there for Freed. And I don't expect that to change, especially coming off an injury, a year where he was injury plagued. I'm also avoiding Tyler Glass now. Big time volume issues there. Same. I'm also avoiding. Who else by avoiding?

I'm avoiding. Joe Ryan. Join me, join me, Scott. Joe Ryan. Oh, definitely Joe Ryan. He's like my most confident bust pick. But like the Bobby Miller's and Grace and Rodriguez, they just go too early for me.

They're 20 high quality pitchers going after them. I like the upside in theory, but it's not a secret to anybody, and they're maybe being overvalued on that upside. Chris, who do you avoid outside of Tyler Glassnow? So I haven't drafted Zach Wheeler, Yoshinob Yamamoto, Kevin Gosman, or Zach Gallen, but I wouldn't say I'm avoiding them. I just, I'm not usually looking for pitchers there, or if I am, it's usually Pablo Lopez, apparently. Freddie Peralta, I think, is the one I'm avoiding. His car, I just, I can't justify a top 60 pick for, for a guy who, I don't think has ever thrown even 170 innings has had at times with problems. I just, I get it.

Strikeouts are awesome and that's the one thing he does really, really well consistently. But everything else has been very inconsistent for Freddie Peralta. And there's workload concerns. I just, I can't justify the price. It's, it's kind of like Tyler Glass now. except, you know, a little cheaper. Yeah, I think he's typically going two rounds later, right? Glass now at the three, four turn.

I usually see Freddie Peralta, mostly in the fifth round. I would say of drafts. I'm mostly just avoiding pitcher in that range anyway, is really what it comes down to. Okay, let's wrap up with relief pitchers and just give me names. So we don't have to really get into analysis here, but just give me the relievers that you guys find yourself drafting most. You are muted.

Chris. Oh, darn. I was going to jump in there with Jose LeClerc. And more recently, Robert Suarez, I've been taking him over LeClerc. Now that he has a save,

he's the only, one of two pitchers, I guess, with a save. I don't know that he'll be discounted anymore. Oh, I'm analyzing. You told me not to. Yeah, those two.

Robert Suarez and Jose LeCler. Chris? I have Kenley Jansen and David Bednar in three leagues, so I guess I love lat injuries. And I have Carlos S. Estevez in two. So yeah.

All right. Reisel Iglesias, I have on three teams, and then I have each of Paul Sewald, Carlos Estevez, and Will Smith on two teams. The relief pitcher that I've been avoiding most, Alexis Diaz. Issues with control last year, Velocity was down, bad ballpark to pitch in.

Scott, reliever you're avoiding. Any one who goes ahead of Paul Seawald? Basically. All right. I just, there have been occasions where I've taken somebody from that group, but I'm not being that selective about who I get. It's just if it's such a great value that I can't pass it up, then, you know, I might take a

Camilla Duval or there was one draft where I took Josh Hader just because nobody was willing to take a closer for like seven rounds, but that's, that's rare. Chris? Alexis Diaz, I'm right there with you on that one and Tanner Scott. Oh, yeah, I wrote him up in Bus 2.0, so. Yeah, his last three outings have been better. They have. He's looked better.

He may have fixed his issue. He's got a long track record of not throwing strikes, and I just, and like, it's not like, oh, he walks four per nine. Tanner Scott was like six. Before last year was like six, seven per nine. So, yeah, I think there are a lot of ways that things can go very wrong for him. All right. Good luck to everybody in your draft this weekend.

And we are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in tough 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. Oh, Mason Miller! Ah!