Fantasy Baseball Today - Dynasty Trade Targets; H2H Leagues in a 50-Game Season (06/15 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 15, 2020

Today on the show we're going over some trade targets in dynasty leagues but first, we have an announcement. Fantasy Baseball Today now has a YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe at the link you can find below. What happened over the weekend between the MLB and the MLBPA (4:37)? Daniel Descalso offers a fair depiction of the MLB's offers. ... The Yankees are cheaters now, too (8:30)? Who would have thought? ... Our email of the day asks how we should be handling H2H leagues in a 50-game season (11:53). Scott and Chris offer some interesting league settings. ... When it comes to trading in a dynasty league, what do you look for in a player to buy (19:49)? ... We have our first ever dynasty trade-o-meter (22:50)? Where does Nick Senzel rank? ... Is Francisco Mejia a catcher to target (25:26)? ... Can Miguel Andujar get back to this 2018 form (27:49)? ... What do the guys think of his teammate Clint Frazier (30:07)? ... Will Nate Lowe ever get a chance with the Rays (32:24)? Why is Corbin Burnes a 10 on Chris' trade-o-meter (34:09)!? ... When it comes to selling in dynasty, is anybody really looking to trade Nolan Arenado (40:34)? ... How about J.D Martinez (45:14)? ... What players are Scott and Chris looking to sell off (48:43)? ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyCfkdUcqL9UnNpGfkF039Q 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Howdy-do, everybody? Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today, Frank Sample, alongside Scott White and Chris Towers. fellas, I would wish everybody a happy Monday, but there is still no baseball. I made the prediction Friday that by today's podcast we would have a season, but alas, I have that narrator voice just going off inside my head right now. If this were a movie, you'd see the flashback of me making that claim, that prediction, and then it would be like, the season wasn't announced, and that would be here on our Monday. How's everything going, guys? The narrator voice I always

think of is Ron Howard, of course, for his narration on arrested development. But you went much deeper there, much deeper. Yeah, that was a pretty deep narrator voice. Yeah. Did you guys ever see the movie, we're going off the rails already. Did you guys ever see the movie Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell? I have done. Good movie. That's another great movie where you got a narrator. The lovely Emma Thompson, I could listen to her speak all day. I highly recommend that movie, just if we're going to continue with the theme of narrators. How was the weekend, guys? Everything all right? It was good. Yeah, it's good.

Nice. By you, Frank. Our normal Monday responses, I love it. Yeah, well. Nothing too crazy. I went biking. I was just talking to Chris. I was biking around his neighborhood in Brooklyn. There are a lot of people out and about in Brooklyn, so be careful everyone out there if you are from that neck of the woods. If you're not satisfied with our responses, you'd think you'd just stop asking.

after a while. I'm going to keep asking until I get what I want, Scott. Okay. Yeah, I don't like, just, let's just wear masks, guys. It's okay to go out. I've been, you know, going, I like this thing where we're going out and you can like pick up a margarita on the street and just walk at home. But like, just keep your mask on.

That's all we're asking. It's okay. We've got a lot. We've got a lot to get into today. But I want to start with the announcement that we now have a fantasy baseball today. YouTube channel. Nothing is changing. We'll still have the audio podcast on all of your favorite platforms, but we just also now have a video element. If you want to watch us as well, I mean, who doesn't want to see Chris's beautiful Taylor Swift shirt that he's wearing right now?

I just like, this is, it's a, it's a thing that neither of you guys would get, but I love this shirt so much because it's Taylor Swift shirt, yes, but it's based on a Sonic Youth album cover. Which is just too hipster to even put into words. Way over my head. And it's got cats. It's got little kitties on it. Well, yeah. I mean, you have David Bowie right next to you, Chris.

I feel like the next step is that you need to recreate that photo on your shirt. I might. I don't think you really have a choice at this point. Just head on over to YouTube. Search Fantasy Baseball today. And you should be able to find us. Hit that subscribe button and the little bell next to it. So you get a notification whenever a new video drops.

We'll also include the link in the podcast description, so you can find it there as well. You get to see Chris's, well, I was going to say beautifully bald head, but it's not completely bald right now, and you get to see Scott's full head of hair. Oh, yes. And you get to see me in a hat because I will not let my fiancé cut my hair. I will not let her go anywhere near me.

Now that there's a video element, I have to, like, I used to just roll in here with my hair completely unkempt. you know, not caring at all what it looked like, because I guess I have a certain level of comfort with you guys, but now, you know, the masses out there are going to see it. I have to make it look halfway respectable. Scott, you're not alone, man. If I show people the video elements of this about a month or two ago,

I would roll up in PJs, got the hoodie on, hair looking all crazy. I know. Got to look a little bit more respectable now. Today on the show, while we don't have baseball, we do have lots of news. None of it really pertaining to fantasy baseball, but we'll get into it. We have Dynasty Byersel,

some trade candidates in that format, and of course your emails, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. I've already mentioned we don't have a season as of now. It is Monday, June 15th. The MLB Players Association released a statement on Saturday over the weekend. They basically given up.

They ended the statement with, quote, it unfortunately appears that further dialogue with the league would be futile. It's time to get back to work. Tell us where and when. The MLB responded, we are disappointed that the MLBPA has chosen not to negotiate in good faith

over resumption of play after MLB has made three successive proposals that would provide players, clubs, and our fans with an amicable resolution to a very difficult situation caused by the pandemic. Wow. I thought Daniel Descalso, former Cardinal, Diamondback and Rocky,

Basically, summed it up very well in this tweet. Basically, the MLB, do you want half a dozen donuts? The MLBPA, no. Oh, so you want six. That's the same thing. Our mistake. How about two sets of three? Never mind.

Wait, wait, I can give you three sets of two. How's that? Well, I mean, that's like the most recent proposal. Basically, the very first proposal was that like sliding scale that came out to like X amount of dollars. And then after that, they were like, no, no, no, no, no. not that one. We're going to do 50 games. Or no, it was like, yeah, we're going to play like 60 something games.

It was 75 games, but we'll pay you for, I think, 50. 60%. Yeah, and basically every single successive proposal was like, how about you pay, play 80 games and we'll pay you for 50. How about we'll pay you 50 games, but you play 70. And it's like, even the most recent one, which was like, play 70. something games, 72 games, but we'll pay you 70% if there's no playoffs, 80% if there are. It was 50 games if there were no playoffs and 56 if there were playoffs.

It is wild that MLB would accuse anyone of operating in bad faith when they've done that over and over. It's, oh, this whole thing has been frustrating. But I mean, look, we're getting baseball, right? Like that's the takeaway from that. Am I wrong? Oh, I still don't know when. We still don't know when. So basically the players are holding the owners to their earlier agreement in March

that they will be paid their full pro-rated amount. And that agreement allows the league to set the length of the schedule. So the owners have suggested before that if it's going to be the full pro-rated amount, they're only comfortable playing them for 48 games. So we'll see if they actually hold to that number. There's been reports out there that it would actually be 50-something. Either way, it's not going to be a lot. It's going to create a lot of uncertainty.

It's going to make for a really short schedule and some clever development in fantasy leagues of schedule and playoffs and how that's all going to work. But it will happen. And I think we will know this week. This is not the first time I've said this, but I think we will know this week what kind of season we're looking at.

And there's not going to be, it doesn't sound like there's going to be much back and forth. My question is, why were the pro-rated salaries agreed to based upon there being fans in the stands? I mean, it's mind-boggling. Anybody with a brain knew that we were not going to have fans anytime soon.

So that part to me is just mind-boggling again. But we'll see what happens this week. There's constantly reports coming out from Jeff Passon and John Heyman, and we're looking at potentially 50-something games. We'll see what happens. Ultimately, there was another report over the weekend. This is a fun one. If there wasn't enough going on,

a letter from Rob Manfred to the Yankees addressing a 2017 investigation of the team should be unsealed, a judge ruled on Friday, per the athletic. The Yankees and their players were very vocal of the sign-stealing scandal with the Houston Astros, and rightfully so at the time. But don't throw stones if you live in a glass house. I mean, based on what I've read, this is a little bit different.

This was an investigation that took place back in 2017, saying the Yankees had violated a rule governing the use of a dugout phone. The Yankees have appealed. This came out earlier today. They have appealed unsealing the letter, acknowledging it would cause, quote, significant reputational injury. Doesn't sound too good from a Yankees perspective.

So while we don't have baseball, we do have lots of, I don't know, distractions and drama within baseball. This one, like, we knew the Yankees did something because they were already punished for something in the past. It wasn't, it was never like a scheme like the Astros, but we knew they did something that would later become against the rules. I think that was part of it was the things that the Astro, the Yankees and the Red Sox ended up doing in 2017, you know, the Apple Watch for the Red Sox and whatever the Yankees did.

It wasn't like, it's kind of like Barry Bonds using steroids in the late 90s and early 2000s. Like there was a memo or like you knew it was against the rules that there was no like, punishment. And so it was kind of a, we can't punish you for it kind of thing, I think. Yeah. So look, we'll see what happens. Ultimately, Scott, do you have any, like, it doesn't ultimately matter for anything, but I just find it interesting. It's stirring up a lot of drama on Twitter. Yeah. Yeah, drama that, frankly, nobody needs right now. Seriously. I guess, I guess they're there, they're, stance on it is that the only reason it would come out now is for the purpose of damaging their

reputation and there aren't going to be tangible consequences here other than that but you know we've already seen sort of the mob lead to stricter consequences that were originally there so I don't know maybe is that something people want the mob to decide what the consequences should actually be that's that's fair to wonder too but yeah this this is going to be something that develops further and is probably going to upset some people and and hopefully it doesn't detract from the start of the season when it does start it doesn't actually sound like it's going to be anything from what i understand i could be wrong but it doesn't like it sounds like the letter basically said like don't do that, but it wasn't nearly at the same level as the Astros.

Apparently Adam has a take on the matter, so we'll hear from him tomorrow. He gave me a homework assignment for the weekend. I did do that. We'll reveal some of those results. I know Chris has some results, so we'll talk about those tomorrow, assuming there is no baseball season announced. Email of the day, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. This one comes from Jay, dear Mickey, Royce, Casey, Adley, and Spencer.

Well, Adley has to be the Orioles catcher prospect, Adley Rushman. That is correct. These are all... Former number one overall picks, right? Casey Mize, Mickey... Mickey Moniac. Yeah, Moniac. Royce...

I can't remember any of their names. Royce Lewis. Royce Lewis, Adley Ruchman, and the latest member of the crew, Spencer Torkelson. This one's from Jay. Our League is starting to have discussions on how to play in 2020. We are a 12-te-to-head categories

Keeper League. Keep 9 plus 2 prospects every year. The season seems likely to be about 50 games. What are the best options to play this out? Do we convert to a points league for one year? Not sure it's right to change this up for the year. Do we play a regular season

with multiple matchups and maybe only two or four teams make the playoffs? What are some ideas you guys have heard and like? Scott, I know that you wrote an art basically outlining everything 50 game related and you had some potential ideas for how people should handle this scenario. Yeah, I think I think I'm going to be in favor of the most straightforward. Don't totally remake your league solution.

And that would be multiple matchups per period. I suspect it's going to be an eight-week season if it ends up being. a little more or a little less, obviously, we'll have to adjust the exact number on that. But no more than four teams in the playoffs in a 12-team league that seems perfectly acceptable. So you only have to devote two weeks, two of those eight weeks to the playoffs.

And then you have six weeks, three matchups each, that's going to give you 18 decisions. That's going to be pretty close to what it would be in a full-length season. And like, it still won't be perfect, mostly because of you won't have, you won't have as much time for individual player performance to even out. But we already knew it wasn't going to be perfect.

And this, I think, will help reduce a lot of the luck that comes from just, you know, timing of matchups. You get to play a lot of your league still. So I think that's the way I'd set it up. You get 18 decisions in there, two-week playoff where the top four teams advance. But, you know, there are some wilder. wilder suggestions out there. And I think Chris in particular might be in favor of some of those. Let's get wild.

You know, it's a season unlike any other. So let's get weird. Let's embrace the uncertainty that this season is going to create. And one of the things that I really like, you know, we all love the draft. It's the best part of the season. Draft two different teams and combine their scores. You're playing a third of a season. Like Scott said, you're not going to have as much time for the season.

stats to to normalize. Well, part of the way that you can get around that is by drafting two separate teams and that way you have a more mixed player pool. You have more options. And your overall stats are going to look at least a little more normal than they otherwise might. I'm thinking now, if you draft two different teams, you basically have to ban trading because you could just trade players from one team to your other team and make a super team, Chris. Well, but your other team would be terrible, and you would be averaging both teams scores.

Okay, all right, I see what you're saying there. If you do play a head-to-head categories league, can you still do those triple headers that Scott is talking about, Chris? I know that you prefer head-to-head categories. Sure. You could do, like, you versus, you know, three different teams at once? Yeah, I think you can. I think the option is available.

I've never tried to set it up, to be honest. I know I've set it up. Oh, well, we set it up in the 30 deep for the basketball league. Yep. So that's a basketball categories league. So I assume so, yeah. Yeah, you have two matchups every week. It comes out to like 56 games over the course of a season, which is, you know,

it just takes out some of the randomness of your standard head-to-head league while still allowing for that matchup-based approach that I think adds a lot to the game. Yeah. And I've had a couple people have asked if you could set. if you're playing multiple matchups in the same week, if you could set different lineups for each of those matchups, which is something that would come in handy specifically in a categories league in a points league,

it shouldn't matter as much. And I don't believe you can do that. I think you just set one lineup for all your matchups, which, you know, I understand is less than ideal, but I still think it's better to have the extra results, the extra outcomes that setting up, multiple matchups per week makes four. Yeah, that's where I think things get a little bit wonky.

You know, in a head-to-ed categories league, you would set your lineup differently in a different matchup based on, okay, well, I don't need strikeouts here, but I need them in another matchup, right? So you would set your lineup differently, but I think it would just make things too difficult to track. So I think you just have one lineup and you can go up against two teams, you go up against three teams so that you can have as many decisions

to help your record later on so it looks closer to a normal season as we could possibly get. Scott, what about the possibility of, you know, if you normally play head-to-head categories, should you just play a Roto league for a season? Should you just transition into that? I'm not going to tell you no.

I think, you know, no matter what scoring format you go with, you're still going to have to deal with the random variable of individual player performance. That's not going away. So if you make enough, understanding that, if you make for enough matchups, I think a head-to-head league will work just as effectively as it ever would. But, you know, it's fine to do that too. If you like really big, expansive playoffs that include a lot of teams

and multiple weeks for each round, obviously that's not going to work. So if you'd rather just have a roto team considering that, that's fine. interest level. The interest level should hold steadier in a Roto league than I think it would in a full length season. That's usually the downside to Roto. It makes for a more deserving winner, but just people get tired of it if they're not really in contention.

But so much movement can happen within the Roto standings in only an eight-week season that it should maintain a pretty high interest level throughout. So it's fine if you want to do it. I think I'd just rather stick with what my league is set up to be, though. I hear what you're saying. I just feel like Roto is probably the easiest scenario for this season in terms of, you know, you don't have to worry about the playoffs. You don't have to worry about double-headers, triple-headers,

whatever it might be. But some people don't like Roto, so I get that. I was just kind of mapping it out in my head. Let's say, you know, say there's a 54-game season, six games per week. That gives you about nine regular season weeks. I know that you laid it out as eight, Scott, but, you know, again, I think you just leave yourself two weeks towards the end for the playoffs,

four teams instead of six or whatever it might be. And I think that's a way that you can make that happen. But ultimately, Chris said it best. Weird season. Let's get weird, guys. Try something that you haven't tried before and see ultimately how it works out. Dynasty buyer sell. Some trade candidates in a dynasty league.

when looking for a player to acquire in Dynasty, Scott, this is somewhat of a loaded question here. What are some things that you're looking for? When a player in a Dynasty League, well, I mean, the biggest variable is how much it would cost to keep the player. And I understand a lot of Dynasty League to keep every player on equal terms, so that doesn't even matter. But if there is, you know, if it's, if it's,

certain guys you keep for $1 and certain guys you keep for $40 plus dollars. You know, that is the single biggest thing. In leagues where that doesn't matter, or if you have to, you know, you're moving on to a secondary factor, it's longevity, I think. Well, longevity and upside. They're both kind of tied in. Provenness, that's going to be a factor.

You know, just the regular assessment you do for how good a player is, you just have to have a long-term focus in mind. but for the most part it's cost. That's the main thing. Chris, what type of factors are you looking into? Because some things that I thought about, you know, if I'm trying to, not necessarily just rebuild, but if you want to buy a player on the cheap in a Dynasty League,

I think about post-hyped prospects. I think about, you know, public perception, has the perception of this player change? Has there been prospect fatigue for a certain prospect? These are all things that might drive down the price on a player that we were once more excited. about. Yeah, I think generally speaking, you've got, you know, the, we've talked about it before,

but the moment when a prospect's value for fantasy as a trade option is highest is probably right when he gets called up unless, you know, he goes, Yossiel Pueig in his rookie season, that kind of taking the league by storm thing where, you know, he'll just continue to. but the best time to buy a prospect is probably a guy who got called up and struggled. The offseason after that happened. You know, you look at someone like Rognito Doors, who I always go back to because that was one that I did buy coming off of, you know, a down rookie season when he was young.

It's, you know, those guys who are really young who struggle, they're more likely to come back and be a viable player. If you're talking about like a 24-year-old prospect, you know, someone like Scott Kingery coming off of his 2018 and even really right now, I'm not necessarily sure he's the kind of guy who should be a dynasty by low because he is an older prospect. He's probably not going to get hugely better. And he's probably, he doesn't have enough time before he reaches that physical peak to, you know, really improve. I think that's the way I would look at it. So I haven't done any meters yet here on the show. I know that you guys have a like a Wuriometer Wednesday

that you normally would do in season. So we'll wait until the season starts. But let's do this, Dynasty Trade O meter. Is it Ometer or Ometer? Isn't that something you guys argue about? Yeah, I don't think there's, we've never, philosophers have debated that going back to ancient Greece.

Just whichever sounds best, I think. So if it's Dynasty Trade O meter, does that sound better than Dynasty Tradeometer? I think ometer usually sounds better. It sounds more sophisticated, certainly. I'm not a sophisticated kind of guy, Scott. So let's go with Dynasty Tradeometer. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you want to buy this player in Dynasty?

And I'll throw a few guys your way. And if there's someone that really stands out to you, you can talk more about him. If not, just give me where he ranks on the scale. Nick Senzel on the Dynasty. rateometer. I will go I will go seven.

I was going to go four. I am going four. He's an older prospect. He's going to be 25 in 14 days, two weeks exactly from today. Nixon Zell was the kind of guy who was rated as high as he was as a prospect because there was upside, but also because

he was a relatively sure thing. He was a college bat who had produced at a high level in the SEC and was relatively polished and shouldn't have needed much time in the minor. Injuries ultimately ended up forcing him to need a lot of time in the minors. He only ended up with a thousand and twenty-eight plate appearances in his minor league career over basically four seasons. So all of a sudden he's drafted as a 21-year-old. He hasn't really established himself as a really viable.

viable fantasy option until, you know, after 25, hopefully. That's a narrow needle to threat, I would say. Yeah, he hasn't gotten a ton of reps yet either because of the injuries. So I'm not really sure I know who he is yet. I'll continue to buy into the hype, especially if others are giving up. Yeah, is coming off a torn labrum, of course. So talk about injuries. It is risky to acquire him. But great ballparked hitting, great lineup. He was on pace for 18 home runs and 21 steals last season. Nixon Zell, I think, yeah, the jury is still out. Let's see.

Francisco Mejia, Dynasty Tradeometer. I want Chris to go first. Chris. I think that's another one. He is 24. Give us a number, a number. Don't go into your whole spiel. Yeah, give us a number.

He doesn't like to give his grade the trades. He doesn't like to give his scale numbers. Come on, Chris. I was going to say five, too. Five. I will admit, trading for a catcher in dynasty is somewhat risky, but you guys have references, Adam has references. Over the final three, four months last season,

once he returned from injury in June, Francisco May he'll look pretty good. Yeah, he did. I'm just, I'm not sure he'll ever. Hedges is still there. Austin Hedges is still there, and he's great defensively, and it doesn't sound like, it sounds like at best a 50-50 split going in,

and that just makes it harder for Mejia to really gain a foothold at a position where they may never feel totally comfortable playing him that regularly. And I mean, this is kind of, I'm assuming it's a one-catcher league. I'm assuming it's a one-catcher league. People complain about the two catcher leagues and how deep you have to go into the catcher pool when you're in one of those. But in a one-catcher league, it makes it so the threshold for being a starting caliber where catcher is pretty high because you go so,

you don't go deep at all into the catcher pool, only as many are rostered as our teams in your league. So that's going to be a difficult threshold for Mejia to meet at this point, I feel like, though he does have the upside. Any retort, Chris, or I guess you guys don't need a retort because you're on the same page, right? I think there are multiple catchers who you can say what, like the case for Francisco Mejia, you know,

also applies to Carson Kelly for sure. Sure, and to Danny Jansen. And I don't see any reason to make prioritizing Mejia a worthy approach given that. And I, you know, the fact that the Indians sort of gave up on him, you know, they, that plays apart for me too. Maybe that's not fair. but it really seemed like they had kind of lost hope with him. All right, Scott, trading for one torn labrum and dynasty isn't enough,

so I'm going to throw another torn labrum your way, and that is Miguel Anduhar, Dynasty Trado Meter. I'm going to say six here, and the only reason it's that low is because I'm not confident in the playing time in the near term. but I think he'll play like maybe two-thirds of the time this year, and then as some of those older players get pushed out, he'll be able to get more of a foothold in that lineup. Chris, where do you put Anduhar on the tradeometer?

And what Scott mentioned, isn't that a reason why, if you like Anduhar the player, you should be trying to acquire him now? Because most people view him as, you know, there might be some worry over his playing time. Well, I mean, it depends how much you want to use him yourself right now, right? I mean, I guess if you're a rebuilding team, it makes sense. But I mean, it does, the longer it takes the player to get a foothold, you know, the riskier he becomes long term.

So I get what you're saying. I guess I guess my confidence level in Andrew Har isn't so high that I'm considering that a reason to buy him. him. Chris, Miguel Anduhar. Eight. Eight. I would say, given the fact that he's, one, proven that he can hit at the major league level, and obviously, you know, we didn't really expect him to repeat his 2018. However, you know, he does have a skill set that should make him pretty, that should be pretty conducive to continued success.

You know, he should hit for a good batting average, if not, you know, 297. He should hit for some pop, if not, you know, 30. homers. And he's coming off a lost season, and there are concerns about his playing time. And so when you have those things, it's a thing where it says, well, his short-term value is a little lower. But that long-term appeal is still there. You know, he did hit at the major league level as a 23-year-old.

So I would be trying to buy Miguel An Duhor. Chris, let's go right back to those cheating Yankees, those scoundrels. Clint Frazier. on the Dynasty Trano meter? Man, I think Scott was sort of starting to like put some hype on him early in spring. I would say three. Like he's another guy, he's going to be 26 this year. There are reasons why he hasn't been able to establish himself at the major league level,

but the fact remains that what you're looking at over 162 game pace for him right now is 21 homers, three steals, 254 average. I just, I don't know how much upside I see in Clint Frazier. If someone's giving him away for nothing,

which they might be, but yeah, for me, it's like a three. Three was actually the number I was thinking too. Have you forgotten about the toe tap?

No, I haven't forgotten about it, but everybody's healthy again. Everybody's healthy again. So where's the opening for Frazier? And plus, it becomes a question of how big your league is.

I'm assuming we're mostly addressing the 12th team mixed dynasty league. And you only have so many roster spots. I just think a guy who is clearly running out of chances on a team that already has a surplus at all the positions he plays. I just think you could do better with that roster spot. Even if I'm not totally down on the skill set for Frazier, it's pretty apparent that the Yankees are and you know it would really

it would take some kind of trade or another situation where a third of their lineup gets hurt all at once I think for me to be interested in Clint Frazier again and also he's been pretty mediocre at AAA as well you know this was a really high level prospect but a lot of it was betting on tools betting on talent turning into a really good baseball player. But Yucca's minor league numbers.

And it's not exactly the most electrifying profile. And now that he's almost 26, the chances of those tools turning into, you know, a legitimate, well-rounded baseball player seem pretty slim. Scott, another player who is currently blocked on his team is Nate Lowe of the Tampa Bay raise. You know, to me, he's so interesting

in terms of his minor league profile because he shows this blend of good plate discipline. He can walk a decent amount. He doesn't strike out all that much. And he has hit for some pop in the minor leagues. But again, he's blocked. So what do you think about Nate Lowe? Yeah, he's blocked.

And the race have so many redundancies. But it's different from Clint Frazier because, you know, it hasn't been, they haven't passed up the opportunity of introducing low enough yet for me to lose faith that they have faith. That makes sense. I'm going to put it as an eight, presuming you can get him for really cheap

because he is not a big name. He was never a big name prospect. His prospect eligibility expired before he had a chance to become that. And, you know, there isn't a lot of buzz around him making an impact this year. So, and you know, if it's only a 12-team league, he probably is only a fringy, rosterable player. But I do like the upside at a position that's getting pretty old and you don't see a lot of long-term choices at first base right now. So I'll put him as an eight, again, provided it's a next-to-nothing cost. I would say six.

All right. That's it. Just going to leave it there, Chris? I don't necessarily disagree with anything Scott said. That's fair. But given that he's probably a fringy guy, even if he does hit, it just doesn't make it a real priority for me. Trade him away, Tampa. Come on. All right, Chris, I'll give you someone who I think will be a priority for you. Corbyn Burns. 10. 10. Because he's going to cost you nothing. He's still incredibly skilled. He has a 610 ERA in the majors, so that's going to scare people off.

he was argued with the best pitcher in the minors in 2017. And then over the last couple years, like he's continued, well, okay, he was good in relief in 2018. He's been bad pretty much everywhere else. But the stuff is undeniable. Some of the best stuff in the majors, really high spin rate, good velocity, tons of whiffs. For me, it's just a question of, you know, figuring out those home runs, obviously, which was a big issue last season. But, you know, that doesn't seem like something you can't fix.

I think it's worth betting on the stuff when the price is as low as it likely as for Corbyn Burns right now. Scott, an 8.82 ERA, the underlying numbers were much better. His ex-fib was 3.37. And apparently his slider, one of the best in baseball, 56% chase rate, 35% swinging strike rate. What do you think about Corbin Burns? He was thrown it a lot harder in the initial spring training.

I certainly see the upside to Corbyn Burns. I actually, a few weeks back, I never officially made an offer, but I was looking at the roster of the person who had Corbin Burns and was trying to think up a buy-low offer I could make in a 24-team Dynasty League. And that's kind of the sticking point is,

you know, it's kind of what I was saying about Clint Frazier. Like, these prospects who have, their value has fallen so low that they're now barely draftable if they're getting drafted at all in a redraft league. I just don't see the point in making a big investment in them in the trade market. Unless your confidence is just totally through the roof and maybe Chris's confidence level is higher than mine. But I'm only going to go like a four, a five, let's say, a five on Corbyn Burns. Yeah, for me, it's, I am confident in the stuff. I want to bet on that because I think, based on what we've seen, like, even if he can't be a starter, I think there's a chance he can just be a high end reliever in the long run.

And so I'll just bet on the sure stuff, given that I'm expecting, you know, the cost will be low. Guys, are there any other names that come to mind just off the top? any post-type prospects, anyone that you are looking to buy right now in Dynasty. Scott, you mentioned, you know, in your 24-team league you were looking to acquire Corbyn Burns. Are there any other names you've been, you know, scouring on teams to find and trade for? Well, obviously, the 12th, in a 24-team league, the standards are much lower than the typical format we're talking about. but I'm looking at some of my post-type sleepers here article came out two weeks ago. I would absolutely be pushing hard for Kyle Tucker right now.

I think his value is the lowest it's ever going to be right now. Michael Kopeck, people seem to have forgotten how elite of a pitching prospect he was coming back from Tommy John surgery. And he made some huge strides just before getting hurt, control-wise. Austin Riley Absolutely I talked just last week about how I think there's a decent chance he leads the Braves and home runs this year

like Carter Keyboom seems to have become a post type sleeper right just because he had such a bad two three weeks or whatever it was last year in the majors but minor league track record very consistent that national seem to have a lot of faith in him I'll say let's throw Brendan Rogers out there too another guy who really struggled last season But, you know, the question for me is, is he going to keep playing in course field?

Are they going to trade him? If he does get to play in course field long term, though, he looks like a guy who's going to win some batting titles. Yeah. Yeah. He was drafted. What part of the, what draft class was he a part of? Was it Harper's? It was the one with Danesby Swanson, wasn't it?

I believe. He was the third pick in 2015. It was Danesby Swanson, Alex Bregman. Don't take Kyle Tucker. Okay. All right. Good, Frank. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's, it's like he's maintained an elite prospect standing for that entire length of time. He was just so young when he was drafted and more recently here's gotten hurt. But yeah, no, I'm with Chris. Brendan Rogers. Every time we've done a prospect's only draft and we've done like four of them during this extended preseason. I'm always shocked by how late he goes because he's. there's no legitimate reason why his stock should have fallen.

People are just tired of Brendan Rogers. Yeah, let's take a break there. When we come back, we'll talk about some players you might be looking to sell in a Dynasty League. Nolan Aronado, Frank, have you lost your mind? We'll talk about it right after this quick break. Already, we're back here on fantasy baseball today,

and I tease it a little bit before the break. Nolan Aronado, is he someone that you would actually look to be selling in a dynasty league right now. Dynasty Tradeometer, Scott. I will preface this with a lot of the candidates that I chose here are, look, if you are competing in any way whatsoever in your Dynasty League, no, you should not be looking

to trade these guys. But if you are looking to, as Scott would call it, retool, maybe not completely rebuild, Scott, how much are you looking to trade Nolan Aronado? One to 10, 10 being you want to sell him off in a dynasty. League. Where does he rank on that, on that scale? He, look, I have a top 150 for Dynasty

League's like a Dynasty startup rankings, my top 150. I still have Aeronado 16th on that list. There's the downside of him possibly getting traded out of Colorado, but, you know, 28 years old for a profile that should age really well and obviously has a terrific track record. I still have him very high. So I don't think I'd be looking to sell him. And I'd be worried if I tried to sell him that the person on the receiving end would be like, well, you're obviously just selling him because he wants out of Colorado. And they would try to lowball me. Can't be lowballed on Nolan Aeronado. If you're doing this, it's because you're expecting a haul in return. And I think the only kind of dynasty format where you're going to get the kind of haul that makes it justifiable is one where

you do keep players on unequal terms, where the prospects you're getting back are much cheaper to keep than Nolan Aeronado. But personally, like, in the Dynasty League, I wouldn't trade Aeronado for even Wander Franco. Again, a straight-up deal. I wouldn't do that. So that sounds pretty low for you, Scott. What, like a one or two? Oh, yeah, I got to put a number on it. Sorry. Um, I will say, I'll say three. Chris, 265, 799 OPS. Nolan Aronado's numbers on the road in his career, but you don't want to be low-balled. What do you do with Nolan Aronado?

I would say he's a minus five on the cell highometer or whatever we're calling. Dynasty tradeometer. He is someone you should be looking to buy because the concerns about him leaving Corse Field are real. I don't want to downplay them. However, the last time we saw a player of this caliber, you know, leave the Rockies at the point in career where Nolan Aronado is, was Matt Holiday.

He was there for the first five years of his career. He was an elite player. Probably should have, could have won the 2007 MVP. I'll maintain that David Wright actually should have won that one, and it's a travesty that he didn't. Don't at me, Phillies fans. He gets traded and gets traded to Oakland in that offseason, coming off of the 2008 season.

Hits 286 in Oakland, while that's a tough place to play. It's traded to St. Louis. Over the next five years, he hits 304 with an 899 OPS. He averages 25 homers, 97 RBI. The numbers aren't quite identical to what he was doing in Colorado, but you're also talking about his 29 through age 33 seasons.

So it's not actually that surprising that he might start to fall off. Basically, Matt Holidays didn't really lose. lose all that much value at all leaving course field. And I think we could see something similar for Nolan Aeronado. I think the skill set is very good. And the road OPS is as much a result of the course field hangover where pretty much all hitters hit worse in their first series outside of course field. And that goes for the Rockies who will be most impacted by that because they will play all of their road games after playing at course field. Yeah. So I wrote about this and I did point out that, yes, I know what the road numbers are for Nolan Aronado. No,

I don't think he's going to hit 265 with a 799 OPS if he were traded away. He's probably more of like a 280 hitter with an 850 OPS. It's a very good player. And again, this is all speculate. You don't know if he's going to get traded or not. I tend to lean towards he's probably going to be traded at some point, but Scott's right. I mean, you can't just trade him for the sake of trading him. You're probably going to wind up with some low ball offers. So if you do try and shop Nolan Aronado. Make sure that you're getting a fair return. You should get a pretty good haul for someone of his caliber. Another player similar to Nolan Aronado, to me is J.D. Martinez. You look at the numbers that Martinez has put up each of the past three seasons. His average

season is 313, 98 runs scored, 41 homers, 113 RBI, and four steals. That's his average season over the past three years. But Chris, he's turning 33 years old in August. He has dealt with some injuries. There's a chance that he can be the next coming of Nelson Cruz or David Ortiz, or there's a chance that the injuries catch up to him. So Dynasty Tradeometer,

you're trying to sell J.D. Martinez. Where does he rank? I would guess you're going to get lowballed more than he's, or for much less than he's worth. And so I would probably be keeping him. So I would say, you know, maybe a three. You probably, like, he's probably closer to his first home run or his last home run than his

first, or at least his last elite season as a fantasy player than his first. But we haven't really seen much of a decline. Like last year, yes, he was worse than he was in 2017 and 2018. However, part of that was a weird power drought early in the season. But if you actually look at the splits and you look at the supporting data, it mostly suggests that he was pretty much the same player he's always been. And so I don't think we've really seen that sign of decline from him. And it could come any time.

But, you know, not quite to the same level as Nolan Aronado, but I would still need quite a bit to look to move J.D. Martinez. Scott, Chris said that he thinks that you'll also get lowballed for J.D. Martinez. You know, if you're trying to sell him to a team that is close to competing, and they think that this might put them over the edge, I tend to think you might be able to get a solid package in return for them. I think I'm more with Chris on this. I'd give it a four,

so I'd be a little more likely to do it than Chris, maybe. But it's just seeing the dynasty startup mucks we've done, J.D. Martinez is one of those guys who falls like seven, eight rounds in a dynasty startup mock. People are really scared of that 32 number referring to his. age, of course. I feel like, though, you get a player who's pretty

unathletic to begin with, you know, not a great defender. If he makes it to 32 without any drop in skill level, but he's, I'm not sure there's room for him to lose much more athleticism at that point. Like, I have a feeling he's probably

just going to cruise from here, especially since he's kind of become a perma DH guy, the way Nelson Cruz and David Ortiz, they just didn't age. And I could see J.D. Martinez following that same

aging curve. So I'd be reluctant to give him up without a haul in return knowing that he's you know, in terms of what he's offensively, what he provides offensively and just what he's doing

with the bat. It's just too much to give up without getting a serious return. And I'm skeptical you'll get that serious. return. I think people who look by J.D. Martinez want to buy low on him because of his age. All right, Scott. Let's see if I can find a player that you will rank higher than a four on the Dynasty Trado meter in terms of... Well, there are some here on your list. Okay. There are some. Well, you know what? I do want to get to some email. So, how about you just... Who's the name? Starling Marte. Okay. He was the next one up. And he's turning 32 years old in October.

Yeah. And he's somebody... Not much play discipline, hardly walks at all. His game is very reliant on his speed, which doesn't tend to age well. You know, the athleticism, when it fades for him, I'm not sure what kind of player you're left with. And I think just because of the premium on stolen bases,

at least if it's a Categories League, a five-by-five categories league especially, somebody will pay a premium for him just because of the scarcity of that category. So I think now's definitely the time to chop Starling Martin. in a dynasty league. And you wouldn't even necessarily need like a haul

to pull the trigger on him. You just need a couple good long-term assets. And I think I'd be willing to do it. Chris, the other names that I have on this list, including Stalling Marte, are U. Darvish, DJ LaMayhew, Eduardo Rodriguez. Do any of those names stand out

as someone you'd be trying to sell in a dynasty league and potentially someone that you think you could get something fair in return for? I think Rodriguez is definitely a sell high, but I'm not sure how much you get for him in return. So the name I would focus on is DJ LaMayhew. He's about to be 32. He's coming off the best season of his career. And he's about to be a free agent at the end of the 2020 season.

Are the Yankees really going to invest much in bringing him back? It's possible because of how good he was last season. But given the glut that they have at first base at, middle infield, I kind of think they're going to let him walk. And DJ LeMay, he's good. I don't think he's going to ever do what he did last season again. And if he takes a step back, he's more like an 18 to 20 homer guy, 290 to 300 on a lineup that's not the Yankees.

You're probably talking about a potentially pretty fringy fantasy option, a good one, but certainly not someone who we'd be talking about a top five second baseman or a top five first base in which I think you guys I think he's a consensus top five guy for you at first base between the two if not top six it's not it's not far off let's see what we got here pulling up the ranks I have DJ LaMayhew fifth Scott has him fifth so you both gave me a look yeah your ranking's better than you do there you go Chris Scott are there any other names similar to I threw it out for, you mentioned you were looking to acquire Corbyn Burns in one of your dynasty leagues.

Are there any players that you have on your teams that you're trying to sell right now if you're looking to retool that you think that you can get a fair package for in Dynasty leagues? I traded Max Scherzer in a Dynasty League. Just can't feel confident he has many dominant years left. He's already in his mid-30s. And just because of the scarcity of high-end pitchers, I mean, he's one who goes in round two normally. I was able to get a really good return for him and included Zach Gallen as well as some other long-term stuff. So yeah, I was happy to do that.

Whitmerfield kind of along the same lines as Starling Marte. If he stops running as he gets older, what are you left with? Probably nothing that interesting. So he would be another one. You know, I mentioned I singled out Scherzer, but really any pitcher who falls, any of the high-end pitchers who are in that age group.

Justin Burlander, Zach Granky, Charlie Morton, who may actually retire after this season, he's talked about it. That might drive down his value to a point

you don't want to do it, but given how desperate most teams are going to be for high in starting pitching, it's at least worth looking into because you may get something really good in return. Chris, any names for you?

You're trying to trade away in the dynasty? I mean, I think you kind of got to consider trading guys coming off. career seasons like a Marcus Simeon, who I do like for 2019, but he is a little older. He's not, you know, 24 or 25. It seems likely we've seen the best season of his career and he's coming off of it. And at his age, I think you're probably okay looking to move him. And I would also consider it's riskier with the likes of Ctele and Marte and Josh Bell. But it's possible those were career years for them. And it's possible that their value in a dynasty league may never be higher.

So I would at least consider guys like that if I can get a real haul for them. Risky business there, Chris. Citell Marte and Josh Bell, a little bit younger there on the spectrum. But now you're right. Look, if someone's willing to overpay, then look, no offer is off the table in a dynasty. You've got to be able to shop as many of your players as you possibly can to see what you can get in return. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt to shop and feel some trade offers there.

Emails, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. This one comes from Kyle in Tampa. Hello, George, Thomas, Abraham, and Theodore. Those are the munchkins. The munchkins. That is correct. I play in a yacht. Chimmunks, are they, what?

I don't even, I messed that one up. What? The chipmunks. Are you being serious? Yes. The chipmunks. This is Mount Rushmore, Chris. What?

No, it's George Thomas, Abraham and Theodore. Alvin. I play in a Yahoo 10-man, 6-by-6 head-to-head categories league that adds OBP and quality starts to the traditional 5-by-5. We drafted at the height of uncertainty regarding the 2020 baseball season amid the coronavirus pandemic, and I wanted to go pitcher-heavy in the early rounds. I didn't expect to wind up with Garrett Cole, Max Scherzzer,

Justin Verlander as my first three picks. I also added Charlie Morton and Carlos Carrasco in the later rounds. And I have Adrian Houser and Michael Kopeck as well. Should I target safe pitchers to round out my rotation, like Kyle Hendricks, for instance, or search for upside plays, like Jesus Lazzardo? Or should I consider shopping one of my aces

for hitting reinforcements? My hitting core consists of Jose Ramirez, Kesson Hiura, Marcus Semyon, Nelson Cruz, Michael Brantley, and Starling Marte. Remember, 10-team league. I think you got plenty of safety already. I mean, the pitchers you got, they're both safety and high upside.

That's why they cost so much. I don't think Hendricks would be any safer than any of them. And you might have trouble starting them because you have so many high-end arms there. So I definitely go after the upside and go with somebody like Luzardo, especially in a shortened season where his value figures to play up even more.

I don't think I'd want to shop them. I think I'd be happy with what I had. Chris, how dare you work when David Bowie's trying to play? Yeah, this is why you want to subscribe to the YouTube channel because you can see David Bowie trying to get my attention while I'm doing the podcast. Chris, Garrett Cole, Max Scherz, or Justin Verlander, that's kind of overkill.

I might look to trade one of those guys for an elite hitter. Yeah, on the one hand, elite pitchers. generally provide the best return on investment at the position. And so what I might consider would be just sticking with Colchers or Verlander and trying to trade, you know, Morton or Carrasco and see what you can get to bolster your offense.

And then from that point, try to kind of maybe find safer starting pitchers and just kind of use that. Like that core of those three guys is going to get you so far that it would be really hard to mess up the rest of your pitching, in which case you don't necessarily need

a Morton or a Carasco, and you can actually go buttress your offense. This next one is. It's got a really strong offense already, though. Well, it's a 10-team league. It is a 10-te-league. Still, I mean, he has, you know,

Jose Ramirez, Kestan, Hira, Marcus Simeon, and Nelson Cruz, they all have the potential to be, the best at their position. And, you know, Michael, Michael Brandley, Starling Marte, even in a 10-team league,

they're still must start. Semian, the best at his position, Scott. Who? I mean, he was last year. He was last year, yeah. I don't know how you, how you could say he doesn't have that. That's always, like, that's always a tough,

uh, because like on the scale of short stops with upside, on the scale of shortstop upside, Is he in the top five? No. If you just put every shortstop's best case in area? He's probably not. Probably not now.

I don't know if he's in the top 10. He might, I mean, last season was really good, and that's probably his absolute upside. And, you know, there probably aren't, I don't mean, does Boba Shett for 2019 have top five overall hitter upside

like Marcus Simeon was last season and head to head points? Probably not. Fair enough. This next one's, what do you got, Scott? I think there is probably a way Bo Bichette could be the best shortstop in 2020, but it's not a high enough percentage bet that I wouldn't feel as confident of Bichette as I am in Simeon. Like Simeon, I'm not upgrading my shortstop if I drafted Simeon for that position.

I may have a need. I understand it's riskier than like a Lendor or something, and I may have a need to upgrade at some point later in the season. but just going in, I feel pretty secure without how my shortstop spot looks with Simeon there. This next one's from Ben, dear Nick, Schmidt,

Winston, and Coach. Ah, yes. The boys of New Girl. I had no idea what this was. I have not watched it at all. Is it good? It's good. Very funny.

All right. I have... Coach was in and out. He wasn't a regular character. He had stretches where he was... It was because he was a regular on a show called Happy Endings, which if you like the new girl, go watch the happy endings. Yeah.

A highly efficient joke machine. But between Nick Schmidt and Winston, who were there from the second episode on, I can never decide which one I like best. They're all so good at their roles. Just really good cast. I've got nothing. I think it's Winston. Winston's like the sleeper, but I kind of gravitate toward Winston, too.

but like the thing is Nick, Jake Johnson, plays him. Anytime I see him in anything, I laugh. Like, he doesn't even have to do anything. I just see him and I laugh. And then I think Schmidt is probably the most popular choice for the best of the three. So how do you choose? I can't. You guys talk about Zach Gallen quite a bit,

and I think this takes a little attention away from Luke Weaver. What are your opinions of Weaver, Scott? I find I'm not drafting him much. I'm not totally confident that he's healthy. And I'm not as confident in the sort of breakthrough he was having before getting hurt last year. Like there isn't the clear explanation for it like there is for Frankie Montas who made a similar number of starts. I think a few more actually. Yeah.

So I don't know. Luke Weaver doesn't seem like. I feel like I already have my pitching staff good to get put together by the time Luke Weaver goes off the board and I'm not any more confident in him than I am in somebody like Mike Fultenevich who it feels like just a coin flip at best that they're going to be a reliable part of your rotation this upcoming season.

So yeah, I tend to stay away. Chris, I think there's top 30 starting pitcher upside there with Luke Weaver and he was, he's SP 53 right now in ADP. He was trying to find that third pitch for years. He kind of found it last year with the cutter using it 14% of the time. He has an excellent change up. He has solid fastball. But it seems like that cutter really helped him excel.

It's just you obviously have that injury risk. He missed so much time with the forearm straight last year. Yeah, he also, you know, he did change the shape of his curveball. You know, generating a different. I think it had more break than it did the previous year. And so, you know, that could explain some of it, although the curveball was not necessarily a great pitch for him. I don't necessarily think the stuff is there to be a high-end pitcher

in the way that I think it is for Zach Allen, who, you know, has four legitimate pitches that I think, you know, can all be at least pretty good. And so, yeah, I think you're probably looking at someone with upside in the top 30, but probably not top 15 upside. I do like Luke Weaver, though. I think that's fair. Someone to round out your...

rotation, but that injury risk is definitely real. That'll do it, though, here for today on a Monday. For Scott and Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching on our Fantasy Baseball today, YouTube channel. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.