Fantasy Baseball Today - Early 2026 ADP Risers & Fallers! (1/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Scott is back! Let's get into ADP risers, starting with Devin Williams (4:20). ... Williams or Raisel Iglesias (7:22)? ... We might be getting priced out of Ben Rice (10:30). ... Kyle Bradish and Nolan McLean are getting all the hype (19:05). ... Let's get into ADP Fallers and Oneil Cruz is first up (24:33). ... The people are fed up with Corey Seager's injuries (30:55). ... What do we do with Spencer Strider (35:25)? ... Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers and Austin Riley are all dropping (40:02). ... News (48:55): The Rays acquired Justyn-Henry Malloy. ... Who's rising in the 100-200 range (48:40)? ... Who's falling in the 100-200 range (58:30)? Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, watching. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Which players are on the rise and who's falling down?

Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, January 7th. I am Frank Stamphill joined. Hi, Chris Towers and the returning. Sky Dubs. Scott White. He is here. Happy New Year, bud. How's life?

How you doing? I'm doing fine. I'm coming to you from parts unknown. You'll see that I'm out of grandma's living room or basement or whatever room of grandmother's house you, you liked to identify it as. Now you're in grandma's hallway. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm in an Airbnb in between houses right now.

So this is probably where I'll be for the month of January. And we'll muddle through it. It's not ideal, but we'll muddle through it. And I'm here and happy to talk about baseball after a couple weeks off. Yeah, man. We're happy to have you back. Is it foyer? Is it just foyer?

Does I just fancy that up for no reason? I think most Americans would pronounce it. FOIA. Okay. Yeah. That sounds right. But us coastal elitist. Can say foyer. Today on the show, by the way, we're talking about ADP risers and fallers over the past month. We'll do this by

groups of hundreds, you know, top 100, 101 to 200, all that fun stuff. But let's jump right in and see what's been happening. ADP risers and fallers. We're comparing November to December using NFBC draft champions ADP. It's really the only ADP that we have right now. Those are 15 team, 50 round draft and hold leagues. Each draft goes 750 players deep, so almost every single player is accounted for. There were 22 drafts done in November. There were

25 drafts done from December 1st to January 6th. And I will preface this with, there has been a lot of reliever movement in the early market. So a lot of risers and fallers are going to be relievers and we will obviously talk about that. And relievers also just go really early in these drafts because they are early drafts. They're drafted holds and you need closers because that is one of the categories you need saves. So they are pushed up quite a bit. We'll talk about that. Let's get into the top 100 risers and let's just start off with those relievers. Devin Williams is up 29 picks inside the top 100 from 90 to 61. He signed with the Mets on December 1st. Then Edwin Diaz signed with the Dodgers on December 1st. Then Edwin Diaz signed with the Dodgers on

December 9th. And then I think it was Robert Suarez signed on like December 16th. There was some talk that he could go to the Mets so we didn't know exactly. But basically from mid-December on, we knew that Devin Williams is basically going to be the closer for the Mets heading into the season. 61 is obviously very high. I doubt we'll see him go that high in home leagues. But among closers, Devin Williams is the RP 9 over the past month. And Scott, that seems about right. What do you think about Devin Williams? I'm in the ranks right now. Yeah, I mean, obviously it makes sense.

And, you know, I don't particularly for these relievers, I don't want to get hung up on the exact ADP because it is way too high outside of the specific context of an NFBC league, which, you know, tends to be 15 teams and Roto. And in these, there's no, there's no waiver wires. There's no waiver wires. So you just get the saves that are on your roster. Right.

Right. So yeah, closer values are going to be inflated as a whole. But just relative to other closers, how Devin Williams has moved up, he's ninth since then. Well, I have him 10th. I think maybe, maybe I have Reissela Glacius. Right. I have the same thing, Scott. I have Reisselaul Iglesias right ahead of Devin Williams. I've got Devin. Yeah. Okay. And I think he's going to be great. I don't think there's a lot of, I don't think there's a particularly good explanation for why he struggled with the Yankees so much. It's New York. It's New York, Scott. You know, I don't think that's it. I don't think that's it. I think the underlying numbers showed he's still plenty dominant.

And I think maybe the what really tipped it over was Edwin Diaz been signing with the Dodge. because there was a lot of thought early on after Devin Williams signed with the Mets already that, oh yeah, they're going to bring back Edwin Diaz and have this incredible one-two punch in the ninth. And okay, now that that hasn't happened, Williams is obviously the closer. He deserves to be in the top 10.

He's going to be a big bounceback pitcher. I'm trying to remember there was actually a change that coincided with that huge finish he had in New York, but I didn't include it in the tracker. So I'll have to look it up now. maybe while Chris is doing some talking. I do have some numbers here for Devin Williams. Final 19 games, 250 ERA.8.8.8.

17K per 9. His K-minus walk rate, not just his K-rate. K-minus walk rate was 40%, which is just insane. And his swinging strike rate was 19%. So yes, Devin Williams finished quite strong. We can come back to him if you find what you're looking for, Scott. I wanted to mention the next name up, Raisal Iglesias, who we also just mentioned.

He's up 10 picks from 81 to 71. He re-signed with the Braves back on November 19. The team signed Robert Suarez in the middle of December, but they did announce that Ryssela Iglesias will remain in the closer role. You know, there is some stiff competition there. If he gets off to a bad start like he did last year, Robert Suarez is there to kind of swoop in and potentially take the job if Iglesias struggles. But he also finished extremely strong.

I think we just mentioned this, but, you know, Scott and I have Rysel-Glaecis one spot higher. Chris, it sounds like you have DeVillianz. Yeah. I will say the one thing this is highlighting, and obviously we've gone through our rankings processes, Frank, I don't know if you're done yet. I mean, none of us are done, but I think we all have preliminary. I have them done, but I now need to upload them to the website,

which is like the hardest part. Closers week. After the first six, I know you guys are a little more confident a Roll de Chapman than I am, I think. Yeah, not so much. I feel like outside of that top six, it is extraordinary. really weak. Or shaky, I guess, because there's a lot of talent, right?

Like, Chapman had a great year. Devin Williams has been amazing in the past. Bednar's been really good at times. Iglesias, obviously. But then even, like, I don't know, once I get to 11, I think. It's that next tier that I feel even, I feel pretty bad about, but yeah, there are legitimate questions. I think I have Trevor McGill at 12.

And I'm not sure Trevor McGill's the closer. Yeah, so I have Trevor and McGill lower for that reason. Yeah. If I was sure, I'd be an easy 11 or 12. Like, I'm not sure Jeff Hoffman's the closer. Carlos Hesterves, I think is bad. Helzley is the closer, but Ryan Helsley was awful last year. I don't know that this is abnormal for early January.

Maybe not. I just look at it and it does not feel good to me. Maybe I'm overreacting or forgetting what it's usually like. But yeah, I just, I look at the state of the closer position and it just does not feel like there are, you know, the usual like 17 or 18 guys who I at least feel okay about. I do think the position feels especially shaky right now. Maybe that'll change by the time spring training rolls around. We get confirmation that Trevor McGill is the closer, confirmation that Jeff Hoffman's the closer. I don't think we need confirmation that Pete Fairbanks is a closer, but maybe we get that.

The race situation, it just, yeah, I don't know. It doesn't feel good to me. Trevor McGill getting traded to a team that needs a closer would be fantastic. That would answer a couple of questions. Arizona, San Francisco, like, come on, guys, step up. That would make some sense. You know, we get basically two closures out of that. I still think there's a chance that that does happen.

We also have a trio of hype guys that keep rising here. Ben Rice. I know we all love Ben Rice. He is up 12 picks over the past month from 65 to 53. I mean, this is pretty crazy stuff. He is now going back to back with William Contreras. He's going just ahead of Wyatt Langford, Brent Rooker, C.J. Abrams. Scott, you gave us sneak peek earlier in the offseason

that Ben Rice could be the player you love on Valentine's Day. Will that remain if he is a top 60, top 55 pick in ADP? Well, first of all, I want to say for Devin Williams, there was a mechanical adjustment he made that coincided with him taking off at about mid-August to the end of the season. He had been rushing through his delivery. Yes, okay, I remember you, yeah. staying closed with his front shoulder.

And that made the results speak for himself. So I think there was just a small little mechanical glitch for him that still allowed him to miss a ton of bats. But he really short things up at the end of last season, all the more reason to be confident in Devin Williams. But we've talked enough about Devin Williams. We're talking about Ben Rice now. And I was looking at that earlier tonight, actually,

how Ben Rice is the number two catcher in ADP. and if you look at just a couple of drafts in January, he's going in like the top 40 picks, which is just a couple drafts. Oh my gosh. It's getting a little scary. And yeah, it'll be in pot. Like, it's too bad because I've already been thinking about some clever lines

to use with Ben Rice's name. But I don't see it. I don't think there's any fun puns or anything to do with Ben Rice. I can't see it. I don't think so. I can't see it. Well, I don't think any of us are going to see it if this trend continues because, like, I'm a realist when it comes to love, you know.

I'm not out there professing my love for, I don't know, Taylor Swift or somebody who's like clearly like everybody's after her. And I have no chance. Like, I'm a realist, you know? And I think too many people love Ben Rice now that I can't, you know, I got to back away and turn my affections towards somebody else. Yeah. It's like I have him 60th.

So it's not like I'm that far off. But even that makes me feel a little itchy. Like, I don't know. And like, Shane Langalear's just had a really good year. Are we sure Ben Rice needs to be like this far ahead of that? Like, it's just Hunter Goodman. Hunter Goodman's behind both of them. Hunter Goodman had an incredible year.

And there's just like no excitement about him. He's still like the Rockies didn't move, right? Like that that there wasn't like some news that Course Field shrank. Like they, their team is still awful, but that was the case last year. Right. Like it can't be worse. I guess like I do think everything, all the reasons I love Ben Rice. still apply. I mean, absolutely.

Look at the actual numbers he put up. Look at the underlying data, including the pole air rate and how much better the numbers could be, particularly if he's an everyday first baseman with catcher eligibility instead of, you know, the semi-platoon player he was last year. But I don't necessarily trust the Yankees to follow through on that. I understand looking at the roster, it seems like they would, but the offseason isn't over yet. And if I was drafting right now, which is obviously what ADP is based off of people actually drafting,

I'd be, you know, 20 spots worth of wary of that when I'm drafting Ben Rice. And so, you know, maybe as the offseason completes and they don't bring in a right-handed hitting platoon partner for Rice or somebody who could potentially become that, then I'll be a little more at ease. And maybe I could talk myself into making him the number two catcher. I certainly thinks he has that kind of upside, but it's just a little too presumptuous right now, I think, to draft him that way.

There was a report earlier this offseason, too, when they brought back Ahmed Rosario that he is going to take some grounders at first base. I think that's kind of a fail-safe thing where if Ben Rice doesn't hit well against lefties early in the season, they can go to that at some point. But I do think that they will start the year giving Ben Rice every day playing time with the Yankees' season. I did see, I think it was Michael Kage. did an interview today on foul territory no it was John Heyman and Sherman's podcast yeah where he basically said he doesn't expect the Yankees to play Ben Rice much at

catcher I think the way it was phrased it was weirdly phrased it was like they don't expect him to play against lefties at catcher and they do expect to get like a right-handed catcher to go along with Austin Wells but then like it doesn't really make sense to bench Austin Wells when he's a very good defensive catcher who hits right he's really well. I think it's like an emergency third catcher situation. I don't expect, and that doesn't change his 2025,

2026 value. There's one, put a dollar in the jar. It doesn't change his 226 value very much, but looking forward, that's something to keep in mind with Ben Rice and your dynasty leagues at least. All right, before we hit our first break, just a reminder to subscribe to the FBT newsletter.

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we are live three times per week throughout the month of January. Expect to see us here on YouTube, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, unless we say otherwise, audio podcast in your feed, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the month. You know what that means. The return of Kokomo Friday later this week. Ooh, hoo. All right, let's take a break.

We'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Let's get back into the top risers inside of the top 100 in ADP over the past month or so over at the NFBC. And two hype pitchers we've talked a lot about. We just spoke about them yesterday. So I will quickly mention, not that they're moving up a lot, but it is worth mentioning

names inside the top 100 that move even six picks that's half a round and that actually does matter quite a bit. So Kyle Bradish is up from pick 80 to 74 and Noah McLean is up from 99 to 94. So two names that are

going to have a lot of hype and I get why. Kyle Branish, I think we're all kind of on the train of maybe paying that cost although you know it's getting up there. Nolan McLean. Scott actually,

I don't know if you'd be willing to pay this price on him, it sounds like maybe me and Chris are a little bit kind of pushed away based on that price tag. What do you think about Nolan McLean here inside the top 100 now? I think it's too high. I think it's too high. He's back to back with Framber Valdez who's just done it for so long, man. Yeah, and I've been the skillsets are very similar. Yeah. Well, like, yeah, skill sets are similar and Framber Valdez has about four years of studliness are close to it to fall back on and obviously it's proven to be very durable too which you always worry about with a rookie yeah no one mclean would still be a rookie so yeah you

always worry about anyone early in his career you worry about the kind of workload he could take on not a worry with franbrosealdez so i think a lot of that is as much from bravaldez being underrated which i've spoken to before uh but let me see who mclean who else he's ranked around here in the latest ADP. So he's going after like Yuri Perez and Nick Pavetta, going ahead of Kevin Gosman and Brandon Woodruff. Strider just behind him Glass Now as well. I don't.

I don't really object too strongly. I don't love that range of the pitch around things, honestly. To the pitch. Yeah, I don't object so strongly. to the pitchers McLean is going ahead of, which also speaks to the idea that maybe it's more that Framber Valdez is underrated.

And I'm not saying I'd rank them in this precise order. Like I see Chase Burns is going a few pitchers after McLean. I have burns ahead of McLean pretty easily. 20 picks behind McLean? That seems like a discrepancy. Yeah. But just lining up the names of the starting pitchers, yeah, maybe McLean is,

is going two rounds ahead of him when he should be going in about the same round. But I think it's, I think it's defensible him going ahead of like Pablo Lopez or Emmett Sheehan. They're just a few spots behind him. Cam Schlittler's right there too. And I have a,

I have a difficult time distinguishing between McLean and Schlittler. And the one who really throws me is Treyia Savage. He's quite a bit behind those two, even though I think he may. made the strongest impression of any of them, obviously, with his postseason performance. So I think Chandler's too far behind them, too.

Chandler I have right there also. Yeah, like, to me, I wish I could distinguish between them more, honestly. But they have their strengths and weaknesses and all made, I think, a very strong first impression and all have legitimate upside. And so they're kind of just clumped together in my own ranking. so I don't really understand why McLean is going ahead of them. I think maybe he has a higher floor than those other three, but also maybe the lowest ceiling.

And if you're going to go for a rookie pitcher, why not go for ceiling? It's, I don't have a major objection, is what I'm saying. But I'm just a little confused why him, why he is being elevated beyond those others. Two other risers I'll quickly mention here. Jesus Lazzardo is up seven picks from 78 to 71. Michael Garcia is up five picks from 90 to 85.

Chris, I don't see any clear reason why these two names in particular are moving up outside of maybe people just digging in a little bit more and realizing how good they were this past season. I know Lizarto's surface numbers, you know, we had the two blowups, but obviously all the underlying numbers for both of those guys, frankly, Lizardo and Michael Garcia looked really, really good this past season. So I wonder if... Do you have more robust rankings mover or ADP movers data? Because I wonder if Dylan Cease has moved up a lot. I could see...

I can let you know. I could see the guys who have the ugly ERA, but really good underlying numbers, which I think Hazers-Lissarro and Dylan Sees, that applies to both of them. I could see that being part of it, where like, in the immediate afterglow of the season, It's like, ah, for ERA, who wants that?

And then, like, cooler heads prevail, and you're like, oh, yeah, right, we don't care about ERA. That's, that's not what we're, like, we don't actually predict things based on ERA. So I could see that, but I would guess it's not true. Dillon Cese as well. Sees is up five picks as well. They're actually going the same exact ADP. It's 70.8 for both Lazzardo and Dillin Cese.

Theory confirmed. You have had a lot of theories. My hunches are, my hunches are so good. Let's get to the fallers inside of the top 100. And this is, they started inside the top 100 and some of them have fallen outside of the top 100. Roberts Juarez, this one's obvious. His ADP in November was 78. It's down to 160 and falling.

Makes sense. He signed in Atlanta. He's going to set up for Iglesias. He is one of the top set up relievers in the league. Should get a bunch of holds if you play in leagues with that as a category. But he won't get saves unless Iglesias falters or gets hurt. So keep that of mind. Iglesis lost his job last year.

So I do think we know Robert Suarez is a borderline elite closer. I do think in 12 team leagues with a full bench where you go 350 picks or whatever, Robert Soros should be drafted. Yeah. O'Neo Cruz is down 18 picks from 85 to 103 perhaps. They were listening, Chris. This one makes sense. We spoke about this, our overvalued episode last week.

We know Cruz has big speed. great raw power, but he just hits the ball into the ground too much. And his batting average floor is awful. He just hit 200 over a full season. So I know how we both feel about him. Scott, what do you think about O'Neo Cruz dropping down about

20 picks here outside of the top 100? And you are muted, so probably shouldn't unmute yourself. You are muted, sir. Yeah, that would be a good idea. I have to deal with a little more of a cough where I'm staying now. So I muted myself to do that.

you should be glad. Anyway, O'Neill Cruz, I have 90th. I have him 90th and roto, so I have him right between where he started and where he is now. I would guess, I would guess relative to other hitters, I have him close to where he is now,

because I imagine the ADP we're looking at, obviously they'd have a bunch of more relievers higher than I have them, probably some starting pitchers too. I think there's just more of a premium of pitching in general, a 15 team or than the 12th team leagues I rank for. But I have him, I have him at a point where I don't think I'm giving up high end. Like, I'm, it's only questionable hitters from this point on. Like it's, I have him ahead of Kyle Stowers among outfielders who Kyle Stowers had a very good year.

I generally like him. It'd be a stretch to say he's proven. He didn't even get a full breakout season because he missed so much of the second half with injury. I'm not totally out on O'Neill Cruz. The price has to be right. And I think where he is now, that's at the point where I'm willing to take the leap.

Obviously, if we're talking to roto context, category context, it has to be the right build. I have to have a pretty strong batting average base at that point or just kind of giving up on batting average, which I don't recommend, by the way. but he still stole a ton of bases. He still has off the charts exit velocities. He's getting to an age now where you can't just assume he's going to turn the corner.

But I do think what we saw from him last year as a hitter is closer to rock bottom than what sort of the mean outcome is going to be for O'Neill Cruz. I think the thing for me, and I've mentioned a couple times, I think there's real risk that he's not every day. player very quickly. He's just, he's so bad against lefties and he's not so good defensively that you can live with it. Like he's just, if he doesn't show real signs of life against left-handed pitching, I think he's on, he's been unplayably bad against lefties so far. I guess I'll say because I think it was like a 540 OPS or something last season.

He had like 177. And the underlying numbers are terrible. He doesn't hit the ball nearly as hard. I just don't know that the pirates have much hope. I don't think the pirates have much of a choice, but to just keep running him out there and hope he figures it out. Because, I mean, he's their star. I don't know that they have a center field.

Jake Mangum can play center field. Can he? Yeah. You played center field last year, didn't he? I honestly just thought he was a corner guy, but I could be wrong about that. No, he started 30 games of center field last season. I don't know.

So that could be an option against lefties, and then they could just, I mean, he's also, he's a switch hitter. They could, and then they could put, like, the password in a corner or something like that. So, I mean, obviously, Paul Skeens is the Pirates top player, but just looking at the lineup, who else is, like, the face of that lineup? It's O'Neill Cruz. I mean, he might be the face of the line. He might be the face of the lineup, but he's also, like, the, I mean, legitimately right now,

he's like the fifth best hitter in that lineup, right? They are, if there's any organization that is going, to give O'Neill Cruz every last chance to figure it out. It's the pirates because what is the alternative? They're going to find more of that. They're trying to win games. Well, they're trying to win games.

Yes. I mean, they did kind of get some guys, right? Look, they got Ryan O'Hern and Brandon Lowell. I'm not saying that the pirates have like made a huge imp, but like they got multiple major league caliber hitters when they didn't have very many of those. Like Jake man. They still don't have many of them. Jake man were a

Jake Mangum was a better hitter than O'Neill Cruz last year. Like just straight up. Like that's that's just true. He had the same WRC plus as Jared Triolo last year. O'Neill Cruz was bad. I think I think he hit rock bottom. Yeah. I like I don't.

I have the belief that last year is forever O'Neil Cruz's destiny. even though I think I am of the belief that the big breakout where he's the first round caliber or second round caliber. Like I'm done with that. But could he hit 230 and go 2040? Absolutely. He could. By the way, I overstated it when I said he had a 540 OPS against lefties.

It was 400. Ooh. Yeah, that's bad. It's like what, a 35, 40% strikeout rate against lefties? It's really bad. 35%, yeah. He walked a decent amount. So good for him.

Next up we have Corey Seeger, who is down from 91 to 106. Again, these drafts are 15-team. Draft and Holds, volume, and playing time is so important. I think generally these drafts are more cautious with injury-prone players, so I might explain it a little bit, but there's no denying. Corey Seeger is getting up there in age. He misses a lot of time, typically. He's still a great hitter.

There's no doubt about that. But he hasn't played more than 123 games each of the past three seasons. He's missed an average of 47 games per year. during that spend. I definitely take the risk in a shallower 12-team head-to-head points league. I doubt he'll even go this low in drafts like that. But Chris, any thoughts here on Corey Seeger dropping outside the top 100? If Corey Seeger's outside the top 100, I'm going to draft him every single time. I just like I get it in this specific instance because it's these 15 team leagues.

You don't get I L spots, all that stuff. Although I think that should be mitigated in a 50-round draft. I mean, you have 27 bench spots. Yeah, you're not taking a zero when he gets hurt. Right. It's just harder to replace because, you know, it's a 13 team league. But, yeah. But, like, you give me Corey Seeger for 110 games and then whoever for the other 50,

I feel very confident that's going to be worth a top 100 pick. That's easier to stay in a league where you get an IL spot. But, like, if all you get in those other 50 games is like seven homers, and someone who hits 260 or 250 with, I don't know, 30 RBI and 30 runs. That's probably too much. 30 RBI and 30 runs. 20, 25 RBI and 25 runs. 20 RBI 20, like either way, I feel very confident I'm going to get 30 homers, 90 runs, 90 RBI out of my shortstop spot.

That's just how good Corey Seeger is when he's out there. That's kind of the bad scenario too. I mean, Corey Seeger, his first year with the Rangers, played 151 games. It's not impossible. But that was four years ago now at this point, right? Still, still. I mean, like, it's how often do we see a spring of two or three injury-plagued seasons? And we're like, oh, you got to avoid him.

He's injured all the time. And then he can't stay healthy yet. He's not. And I'm not saying 151, but 135, 140. Like, it's certainly within the wrong possibility. When the, I've said it many times over the year. When the only argument against a player is that they can't stay healthy, all you need is for them to stay healthy. Like, that's the one thing.

Like, they just need to avoid the hamstring injury. Like, I get that for Corey Sear, that's much less likely for other players. But he is so good that he hit up 33 homers in 2023 and 119 games. Then he hit 30 in 123 games in 2024. Yeah. Like, you don't even need a decent replacement when that's. the baseline. So I will take Corey Seeger

outside of the top 100 every single draft. I do think it's worth bringing up in the context of a roto league particularly one where there's not much of a waiver wire to speak of and just how

to how to fill all the categories, how to meet all your categorical needs in the draft alone. Corey Seeger is one of to the extent we consider Carlos Correa a shortstop worth starting anymore. Seeger's one of like two short stops with Correa that are like a zero for steals. So like that is a position where you're expected to get steals.

Okay, Jacob Wilson, I guess, is part of that group now too. Though I think he's, how many did he end up with? Did he have like six or something? Five or something. Yeah. I mean, he might get like eight to ten or something. But yeah. But even so, close to a zero is Jacob Wilson, sure.

and Seeger's absolute zero. And that's, you know, if, unless you make up for it somewhere else, that that's going to hold you back because, like, that position is a Steels position. So I do kind of get that, but this, that ADP is just comically low for a player of Corey Seeger's caliber. I could see George Springer's there. I could see that being a hard decision. I'm probably still saying Corey Seeker though. Yeah.

Let's talk about Spencer Strider. Also a name we've talked a lot about lately, but Scott, donning his Braves fleece here, hasn't had the opportunity to defend Spencer Strider, or maybe you agree with this drop. We'll find out in a second. Yeah, we need to see more in spring training,

or at least I do, before I buy anywhere near this price. I should mention it's down from 95 to 103. So not like a huge drop or anything, but now outside the top 100, Scott, your thoughts on Strider dropping down a little bit here. I'd be curious where he ranks

among starting pitchers, which I know is hard to figure out from NFPC's easy. I can probably tell you that. I know Nolan McQueen was the SP26 and Strider's right after him, so SP 27. Okay, so I actually have him a little lower than that. I have him

let me see if I can find it real quick. I have Strider 31 at starting pitcher. And I could, I'd be more likely to move him down than up from there. I think the concerns about Strider are totally valid. He did not look like himself last year. And so counting on him, you're kind of relying on something unseen by drafting him even as high

as that. I think, I don't think, Riders, just any pitcher. I think we see, you look at his backstory, how he completely remade his delivery after college to turn into the weapon that he was in the minors and early in his career. And he's so, like, into the pitching lab stuff. And we have seen, like, Shane Bieber, for instance, some of the work with the pitching labs able to regain loss velocity after injury.

To me, just from the naked eye, it didn't seem like striders' mechanics were totally right last year, and that may have contributed to, it's even more than the loss velocity on the fastball is the loss of induced vertical break, like the shape of the fastball changed, and the shape is what made it to lead. Velocity, of course, helps, but the shape was the biggest thing of all. So I think just knowing how in tune Strider is with these things and his work ethic and his competitiveness, like he is not going to rest on his laurels and just accept that this is who he is now. Whether it's regaining the fastball or broadening his arsenal, I think he will show up with looking different in some way this spring.

And will it be enough? impossible to say but knowing the upside you know it's just where within the pitching ranks is that reward of that worth the risk and to me it comes out

just a little beyond the top 30 and you know I can adjust up and down from there depending on how spring is going I am not somebody who really drafts any leagues for real maybe a couple before spring training begins so

So, you know, I'm happy to adjust based on what I'm seeing. But I, that, if you have strider ranked lower than this, in like Nick Pollock's case, I know it's much lower, that is why I'm optimistic relative to that. But if you have strider ranked higher than this, higher than I do, like ADP still currently shows, I think maybe you're not factoring in enough of the downside risk. Because I think the chances of him getting back to old strider are pretty low. they're pretty low. But can he be good? I mean, look, he flashed greatness at times, even this past year for as bad as it was.

Like we saw signs. It's a really good, like, four-start stretch and like, yeah, I think. And the slider still look great. So, like, I think he could still be a really good, if not a number one type of picture or number two. But there are a lot of questions right now. And I think it makes sense for his ADP to be fluctuating.

Yeah, I mean, his pre-surgery, he was the SP one, right? He was the top pitcher in fantasy. If we can get, you know, 75% of that pitcher, you know, maybe that's a high-end SP2 or a solid SP2. But again, there are lots of questions. And I think we hopefully will get some answers once spring training rolls around with Spencer Shrider.

We do have three big-name hitters that are dropping as well that I want to quickly mention. Mookie Betts down from 47th overall to 59th. Rafael Devers from 53 to 64. and Austin Riley from 70 to 80. Just trying to figure out why. I mean, Betts, he's 33 years old, had a down season,

maybe mostly related to that kind of stomach illness he had before the year. He might be cooked. I don't know. It's possible. Devers hit just 236 in San Francisco. His K rate jumped up to 29%. And it's a bad park for him, obviously.

Austin Riley has missed extensive time the past two years and hasn't been as effective as a hitter when he's been on the field. He was better in the second half of 2024, but then obviously got off to a bad start last year as well. So Chris, you agree with all three of these kind of big name, aging, I guess, veteran hitters dropping here,

or would you like to buy the dip potentially? I'll buy the dip on Raphael Devers. I understand and I acknowledge the concerns. I get it, and I share them. San Francisco is just about the work park in baseball for left-handed hitters. That is fair. We saw it in action. He struggled. Kind of. You know, like, like, yes, the 234 batting average was bad. Do you know what his 162 game pace was in Oracle Park for home runs? Let's say 35. 37. Like, sold. Well, I'm just, I'm just saying,

like, one, that's only half his games. Uh, and two, like, haven't we seen Pete Alonzo hit 233? before, like fairly recently, like two years ago, something like that. He hit like 240? Haven't we seen Matt Olson? I think he had a 219 batting average season very recently. Yeah, like haven't we seen Matt Olson's batting average drop that far before? Yeah, Pete Alonzo hit 240 with 34 homers, 88 RBI, 91 runs two years ago, 2024. I just don't think there's that much difference between him and Pete Alonza.

Like, yes, Pete Alonzo should go first. He's in a better situation, better home park. all that's fair. But like, what's the discount here at this point? Like 40 picks? Yeah, I think Pete is probably around pick 30 or something like that. 26. And Devers is at 64.

So, yeah, I mean, that is almost 40 picks, yeah. Yeah, like, that just, I'll take that. Like, I get the concerns about Raphael Devers. I get that the skill set seems to be declining, and there's some concerning quality of contact stuff there, especially. I haven't really limited him so far. I just think this is an overreaction on Rafael Devers case.

So I'll definitely buy that dip. I'll buy the tip a little bit on Austin Riley. I do have some concerns that there have been some skill set declines for him over the past couple of seasons. Betts, I think I have him 55 or something, so I'm not far from his ADP. He's one that I kind of want to see in spring and did he put weight back on? Yeah. Yeah, I just, I kind of just want him to see.

say it. And maybe he already has that like, yeah, my season was wrecked by the illness before the year. I mean, that is a very likely outcome. But again, he is getting older. So I agree with you, Chris, on Devers and Riley. I think I'd be trying to to buy the dip. If there are any in the leagues that we play in, I would definitely be looking to do that this upcoming season. You weren't encouraged by the way that's finished, not just in terms of overall production, but the eggs of velocity ticking up again. I mean, I think the, for me, the proof was kind of in the pudding for him. Not that not that he's entirely

worry free at his age. I don't think you could say that about anybody who's how old is he now? He's 33. 33, yeah. But I thought it was telling.

And I would say like all three of these guys, I'm at least two rounds ahead of this most recent ADP batch on all three. Yeah. So, and I'm looking at some of the players that are going ahead of them. Like, I don't know why, I mean, Brent Brooker's a fine power-hitting outfielder. I don't know why you would have more faith, just as a matter of faith in him than Raphael Devers.

You know, one of the curious things about Devers to me is how the strikeout rate spiked after joining the Giants, which, wouldn't seem like it's all venue related there. So I don't know. I think part of me just wonders, you know, you got these risers, bin Rice going so much earlier. Like some people just have to get pushed down. And these three guys coming off worse seasons than we're accustomed to seeing from them,

they just feel like they're unsexy picks, Austin Riley, Moogie, Betts, and Raphael Devers. But I still think of them as high end. I mean, certainly Devers and Riley, relative to position, I think you have to consider him high end because there's so few third basemen that are. And then Betts is, you know, he's slipping, but he's still, he's still one of the three faces of the most dominant lineup in baseball. Yeah, the one thing I want to say, because you mentioned Brett Rooker, I don't know if we, the royal we, the communal we. and I do include myself in this. I don't know if we have like fully acknowledged how extreme Sutter Health Park is for hitters.

Like it was by park factor, not course field. Number two, and it was a pretty healthy number two, a 108 overall park factor. Number three was 105 last season. These are noisy single year numbers. We usually want three years of data, but that was our expectation for Sacramento. And it played like a really extreme hitters park. So I do think there could be something to the market

needing to react more to Sacramento hitters in a way that makes me think Brent Rooker's price could be very reasonable. And he's been very good the past couple of years. So, I mean, he's like a near elite player, Perhaps playing in some of these 15 team leagues, having five outfielders to fill, like maybe Brent Rooker gets pushed up a little bit because of that as well. Let's take our final break when we return.

We'll quickly talk some news. There's really not a lot going on. I say that every single day. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Quickly run through the news and notes. The raise acquired Justin Henry Malloy from the Tigers in exchange for cash considerations. Maloy is turning 26 in February.

He is a former top-ish solid prospect with the Tigers. He has put up some really nice numbers at AAA in the minors, but just hasn't worked out so far in the majors. Chris, I don't think this is like a major move by any means. Could matter in, you know, AL-only leagues or something like that. Probably a short-side platoon if he's even on the major league roster. Any thoughts on Justin Henry Malloy? The Rays have some interesting-ish guys,

but I don't see any reason to go into the season with hopes for him. We continue to get a bunch of rumors, but again, there's just not much action. Ken Rosenthal suggested it's increasingly unlikely Boba Chet will resign with the Blue Jays. We also got another report that they are turning their attention to Kyle Tucker now. So trying to add Kyle Tucker to that outfield. Maybe they lose out on Boba Chet. Obviously they signed Cosimo Okamoto. But we'll be interesting to see if where Bobichette winds up, if it's not with the Blue Jays.

Buster only said it seems inevitable. The Mets will land one of Framberval. or Ranger Suarez. Makes sense. They need pitching. Only also reported the Red Sox won Alex Breggman and have signaled a willingness to pay him big money. If that were the case,

deal would probably be done already. So I'm not sure what big money is for the Red Sox and for Alex Breggman. But hopefully we learn soon. All right, Chris, let's do a little rapid fire here. We did lose Scott, so internet thing. So we'll see if he jumps back in. But in the meantime, we'll see how much we can move

through the rest of these. 101 to 200. So inside the top 200-ish risers here. Tons of relievers. I'll just get these all out of the way again. It's just huge risers. Emilio Pagan, he's back with the Reds. He was very successful this past season.

Terry Francona likes him a lot, so he's back in the closer roll. He is up from pick 199 to 100. I'll just list off all these, Chris, and then you can react. Ryan Helsley is up from 147 to 70. That is a big price tag. He's signed with the Orioles on November 29th.

He is expected to be their closer, obviously. Abner Arebe is up from 194 to 140, which is interesting. We've heard Trevor McGill trade rumors, but it hasn't happened yet, so perhaps people are just trying to get ahead of that trade if it does happen. Pete Fairbanks is up from 142 to 118. He's signed with the Marlins on December 24th. Looks like he'll be their closer, at least until the trade deadline. Daniel Palencia is up from 159 to 136.

I think this is just the Cubs not adding another experience closer. They do have some solid relievers behind him. They added Phil Maton. They added Hunter Harvey. So we'll see on Palencia. Jeff Hoffman is up from 143 to 124. They brought in Tyler Rogers, but again, there's not much actual closer competition there. I don't think so either.

Kenley Jansson is up from 129 to 112. He's signed with the Tigers on December 13th. And Dennis Santan is up from 16th. to 147. Again, I think this one is just, the pirates haven't really brought in much. They brought in Gregory Soto, but, you know, he's,

control is so bad, and he doesn't have much, if any, closing experience either. So lots of relievers on the rise here, Chris, are there any that you don't agree with rising as much as they have? I don't really get the Uribe thing. He might be the Brewers closer.

And he might just be the closer right now. But yeah, I mean, up 54 spots for, with, yeah. Nothing tangible to go on is, yeah. I think people are really just expecting Trevor McGill to get traded. Then Pagan, RP 13, I can't disagree with it. I think I have him 14 or 15, so it's the right range.

Same with Ryan Halsley as RP10. It's not far from where I have them ranked. It just highlights how it feels like there's like three or four guys missing from the relief pitcher pool. I don't really want to be the face of defending Emilio Paghan, but I don't know, man. I really like what he did this past season, and I know he's a flyball pitcher in Cincinnati. That usually does not end well, but he was really, really good. So as your second closer, I like that a lot. I probably would not like it as much if he's my first closer.

But yeah. I look at this, and ERA is not everything. ERA has very little predictive value. blah, blah, blah, all that. 4.43, 2.99, 4.50, 2.88. That's the last four years for Amelia Pagan. That just sums up the Amelia Pagong experience. That's not to say he's going to have a 450 IRA next year.

I don't think it's, you know, faded that he's going to struggle in the next year. It's just that feels inherent to the skill set. Yeah. And to your point about relievers feeling a little bit more risky or questionable right now. I've brought this up before. I know Kenley Jansen, Hall of Famer, he will get the first shot to close, I believe that.

But there are other really talented relievers in that bullpen, too. There's Kyle Finnegan who looked amazing once he joined Detroit last season. There's Will Vest who looked great for most of the season too. So I just and AJ Hinch has done weird things with his bullpen, so I don't know. It's probably just going to be Kenley Janssen, but

I am approaching that one with I guess extreme caution there out in Detroit. Tatsuya I'm who we've talked a lot about lately, he is up from 173 to 141. And again, this is really mostly December. So this is before he signed in Houston. That number's probably going to climb even a little bit more. He's all the way up to SP 41.

I think this is people just kind of getting excited and hearing smart pitching analysts kind of hype up, Tatsuya I'mai. I don't know, man. I might be getting priced out early here. Because again, I think it's going to continue to rise. I think he's going to be drafted inside the top 40, maybe top 36 starting pitchers by like February or March.

Yeah, and that's probably too much. I think he's talented, but as we talked about in the podcast last Saturday, I believe. Yeah. The people running major league teams know more about these guys than we do. That's true of every player, but I think it's especially true of the guys who have not played in the majors. They have access to more and better data than we do.

And the people who run major league teams did not think, Tutsui Imi was even as good as Michael King who's coming off basically a lost season with a bunch of injuries who is three years younger or older than Tutsu Yemi. I got 54 million over

three years. Michael King got 75 million over three years with same contract structure for both. And where is Michael King going? I have to imagine it's later. Okay, right around the same price. Almost exactly. 140.

Yeah. I think I'd rather have King, even with the injury concerns. So I do think we should acknowledge the reality of the contract that he might signed and what that tells us about how the market views him, which is not as an impact arm. I like the talent. I don't mind taking a dice roll on him, but I have him as SP 49. So it's-

I have been that same range, yeah. It's about 20 picks lower overall. It's closer to where his original price was. I think I haven't won 60th overall. Two other hitting risers inside the top 200, Alec Berluson from 201 to 184. The Cardinals traded away Wilson Contreras. They said Berluson will be there every day first baseman.

I expect them to play against both righties and lefties. He actually performed well against lefties last season. And Bryson Stott up from 201 to 188. I don't really get this one. Maybe it's just the second base position not being great. and he can give you like 25 to 30 steals. Yeah. I am much more likely,

I won't say that. I think I'm likely to draft both of these guys. Bryson Stott is just kind of a boring middle infielder who will give you some speed. But I've said this before. I like Alec Berluson a lot, especially if he's going to get the opportunity to play every day. So I'm in, even at the, you know, 15-pick-Rise on Alec Berluson.

I can't get there on Burleson. I don't know what it is. I just... Josh Naler 2.0, baby? I've never been much of a believer. in him. It feels like something's missing from his skill set. Like, it feels like he should steal 15 bases.

And if he did, the whole thing would make a lot more sense to me, but everything else, he's kind of a burly dude, man. Yeah, I don't know if we get 15 bags out of him. No, I know. That's why I'm not like, he's very slow. He's like 15th percent on sprint speed or something. But like 280, 20-ish home runs and like 80 plus RBI. It's kind of boring.

But to get a good batting average around 185. I think the batting average needs to carry a lot of weight there. Because I just don't think he does anything else well. That's the biggest concern for me. And it's a 275XBA last season. So I. But that's good. That's actively helping though.

Yeah, that's helpful. But when it comes with 20-ish homers, which is pretty replaceable, and it comes with pretty middling counting stats, I just. I'm in. I can't, I can't get there. on him. Yeah. Let's take a look at some of the followers in the 100 to 200 range. Will Vest started at 177.

He dropped to 302. That makes sense. Kenley Jansen and Kyle Finnegan are both on the Tigers now. Roki Sasaki from 184 to 243. My guess is people drafting back in November thought Sasaki might be the closer,

and that was before Edwin Diaz signed. Is 243 a good price for starting pitcher Sasaki? What do you think? probably not it won't be me but it's fine like it

I get it look at the names he's going around it's like Jack lighter Joe Muskrow Bryce Miller like sure just yeah you're not missing

on much a shot in the dark I might I think I'd rather take the flyer on Musker of and Miller in particular but they're all shots

right none of these guys are projectable at all next that we have Shane Bieber who's down from 124 to 162 we got that story

back in I think November or December that he was dealing with forearm fatigue during the playoffs. The team said it's a very realistic outcome that Bieber is ready for opening day. It's a very weird thing to say about forearm fatigue in December. Also, he picked up his player option

instead of hitting free agency where he was projected to get like three or four years, 60 to 80 million, something like that. Michael King contract probably, yeah. Yeah, so it's curious. I fully agree with him dropping down. a little bit. I actually, and I liked him a lot before I knew about this, so I'm kind of upset about it, but, and maybe it all works out, but yeah, I totally agree with Bieber dropping down, at least to this range, maybe even a little bit lower. I've got him around 170. Yeah. It's the turning down

that, or accepting the team option rather than hitting free agency, then the weird report about, you know, he's expected to have a normal offseason. and we think he'll be ready for opening day, blah, but it's like, well, I didn't think there was any reason to be concerned here. And now there seems to be like a lot of reasons to be concerned. So it very well could work, but there's a lot of worrying signs.

Carlos Rodon is down from 166 to 193. We learned back in October that Rodon had surgery to remove loose bodies and shave down a bone spur in his left elbow. I think this is people just not wanting to take on that risk until we learn more. It sounds like the hope is he's back late April, early May, but again, elbow, there's always a risk for setbacks

and things like that. And I think maybe he pitched a little bit over his head last year. He faded down the stretch, but I also read that he also, he couldn't straighten his arm. So he probably was pitching through stuff for a while last season. Do you think this is an appropriate range, like where you would jump in on Rodon, or is it just kind of a stay away for now?

I think 193 is perfectly fine, yeah. Connolly Early, who, we spoke about yesterday. He's down from 188 to 215, not currently projected for the Red Sox rotation. But again, like I said yesterday, I think this creates a buying opportunity here with early. You just bank on talent. And usually that wins out, especially when he's going up against Patrick Sandoval and Cutter Crawford and guys like that. He looked like a stud down the stretch, Chris. I think this is a clear buying opportunity. I'm all over a Connolly early at 215. someone's going to get hurt in spring training.

Oh, yeah. It might be him. You know, there's a one in seven or however many rotation guys' chance of that, but probably someone's going to get hurt in spring training. So even if he is the sixth starter right now, six starters pitch a lot. So I think we'll see him before long, if not in the opening day rotation. And it's entirely possible that he's just irrepressible. and they just can't afford to keep him down.

He just forces their hand in spring training. If he pitches like he did down the stretch, he may do that. Taylor Simpson is down from 144 to 166, and I think this is people realizing the risk. And I had him actually written down for our overvalued by early ADP episode, and we didn't get to him. But yeah, I agree with this drop completely. It's a low OBP, bad defense, one-trick,

pony. I understand his upside for fantasy. I mean, he can give you a 60 plus steals, but it comes with nothing else. Well, maybe a good batting. It should be a good batting average. I think it'll be a very good batting average. Yeah. But again, it's like if the defense is bad and he's not getting on base, if he gets off to a slow start, I mean, this could end very quickly, I think for Chandler Simpson. Yeah, that's the thing. When you think back to like Billy Hamilton and how many seasons Billy Hamilton was fantasy relevant. He was a hugely, controversial player and how many seasons did he get 600 plate appearances? Looks like it was twice and he had 5.51 other year. It looks like the other years he was hurt. So he was pretty much

an everyday player five years in a row. Billy Hamilton was an incredible defensive center fielder, one of the best in baseball. Chandler Simpson is a bad corner outfielder, or at least was last year. Now, he is so fast that you figure he's got to be. playable. He's got to get to the point where he's playable. Yeah. And if he does, then I think that mitigates a lot of the playing time risk. But as it stands, if you're not a

plus at either defense or offense and he's not, it would be entirely reasonable for the race to just pull the plug on Chandler-Stimson after three weeks. If he's hitting 290 but with a 320 OBP and no power

and he's playing bad defense, like they actually, they don't have a good outfield, but they got a lot of dudes, right? Like, they seem to like Johnny DeLuca. They added Jake Fraley. They just traded for... They traded for Jacob Malta. They traded for Jacob Melton as well.

True. Yep. I think there is significant risk that Chandler Simpson is just not even close to an everyday player very early. So I've moved him down quite a bit throughout the rankings process to the point where he's barely inside the top 200 for me. Hey, Scott is here back like he never left. And perfect timing. I'm actually convinced that Scott was waiting until we got to this player on the rundown to hop back in

because it's Ozzy Albies. He's down 16 picks from 160 to 176. And I understand people being scared, Scott. Obviously, like the wrist hampered him in the first half last year. Then he came back to life. And then unfortunately, he suffered another wrist injury late in the season. I think it was like a hit by pitch or something. but at 176 man at a bad second base position

this is just like an easy buy for me what do you think yeah that seems like a layup let me see where I have them quite a bit higher than that and I do wonder it's hard for me to compare my 12 team rankings to 15 team rankings because pitchers are just going to go higher in a 15 teamer so you know I I think it would be easy to bank on a bounce back season for Ozzy Albiz, if not for the fractured hamate bone, right?

Which is... Yes, that's what it was, yep. Which is the kind that is known to have lingering effects, particularly when it comes to power. And we already saw Ozzy Albiz deal with that last year coming back from a different hand slash wrist injury. So just when it seems like he was in the clear, then he suffers this bad one. But, you know, part of my thinking here is... do you want to win your league? The best way to win your league

is to have a good player at every position and there just aren't any second baseman that qualifies good players. Okay, can I derail us for about 15 seconds because I think I know why Ozzy Albee's price is going down. Do you guys follow Ozzy Fishes on Instagram? So I almost brought that up because I just watched that video before.

I'm not going to get up. I'm not with this letter right here. I'm not going to have. What is happening there? He's got this like 500 gallon fish tank with these like like the biggest fish I've ever seen. These fish look like they're like. Chris, Chris, just on Twitter or X, just hit that little speaker button on the bottom. Or I was going to say you could play it, but just hit the speaker so we don't hear it.

But yeah. He's like obsessed with fish. Oh, yes. And he's got like dozens, hundreds of fish in his home. and he had to like go scuba diving inside of his fish tank. What? Because like the fan. I don't really understand why.

I think the thing that circulates the air. But like these are like the biggest fish I've ever seen. It's terrible. Yeah. And he feeds them. He feeds them before diving in and they are going nuts. It's a feeding frenzy. And I actually feel it's crazy.

I feel like I can relate to Ozzy Albiz. that video because he is apprehensive about getting in the tank after watching that feeding frenzy. Isn't one of that? Like, I think he said something about like a piranha being in there or something. Like it's, I mean, they look like giant catfish mostly. Those like, but they're huge. And I've seen a lot of videos of him diving into his own fish tank, which is not something

people who have fish tanks normally have to do. But these are enormous fish tanks with enormous fish. So I think people are just, people are. concerned that he's going to like get his fingers bit. That does add an extra, an extra layer of risk. I mean, my takeaway from this is that if he is like, he looked plenty nimble in that fish tank, he looked healthy to me. He didn't have a plastic bag wrapped around his hand.

Exactly. So I took it as a good sign. And I don't, I mean, look, I don't think he's seriously. His stock is changing one way or another because of a fish video. No, I just want to show it to do it. It's so weird. He's an entertaining. guy, Ozzy.

Yeah, he's got like goggles and like a snorkel to go into his fish tank. I think the way you're going to value Ozzy Albies and drafts highly depends on the kind of league you're playing in. Because the way I just summed it up, do you want to win your league? Okay, good a good player at every position. How many second basemen honestly have a chance of being good?

The shallower the league, the more that, logic applies. So again, we're looking at ADPs for 15 team leagues about as deep as as the average person would even consider playing in. And it's not necessarily true in a league that deep with 14 hitter spots that you need a good player at every position and say, okay, maybe you just accept I'm not going to have a good second basement. It's not worth taking the risk on Ozzy Alps. But I do think performance, like if we're just assessing him on performance, I do think Ozzie Albies is still good. It's just, is he going to be okay? Or are we going to go through another year like last year where his swing just isn't right because

he's not healthy in his wrist yet? And having seen it play out that way last year, I think it's reasonable to be apprehensive about that. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again on Thursday night. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.