Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - The 2025 All Boom-or-Bust Fantasy Baseball Team! (3/1 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Who makes the all boom or bust team in 2025? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome in to FBT Express and welcome to March. I am Frank Stanfield joined by Chris Towers, the all boom or bust team. We are going to go position by position and Chris starting with catcher. Who do you have all boom or bust? It's got to be Francisco Alvarez. If it goes right, you're talking about the best power hitting catcher in baseball.

Starting point is 00:00:25 He was a plus plus power hitting prospect who hit 25 homers. two years ago. And then last year, everything kind of fell apart for him. He dealt with a thumb injury and a shoulder injury. You think he only had 11 homers. Batting average was still pretty bad. Too many grounders,

Starting point is 00:00:40 too many strikeouts. If things go wrong, Francisco Alvarez is a fringe starter, even at the weakest position in fantasy. Over to first base, someone I know you actually like this season. I'm a big Michael Tollia fan. I think if things go right,

Starting point is 00:00:54 you're talking about the potential for 30 plus homers, 15 or so steals. He was actually on that kind of pace last year anyway. The problem is, I think he hit 207, 218 last year. But here's what I'd like. 244 expected batting average. And over the course of the Stackast era, Rocky's hitters have outperformed their XBA by 17 points on average. You just give him that. All of a sudden, you're talking about a 261 hitter with 30 Homer 15 steel potential. That could be hugely impactful.

Starting point is 00:01:24 The downside is he strikes out 34% of the time, loses his starting job, and he's, a bench player on the weakest roster in the majors. At second base, you have somebody who missed all of last season due to injury. Who is it? Matt McLean for the Reds. He's actually, I think people are being a little, I'll steal a Scott White word here, Blasey about the fact that Matt McLean has suffered a season-ending injury two years in a row, and we're still just treating him like a top 100 pick,

Starting point is 00:01:55 despite concerning plate discipline metrics. But if you're talking about what things could look like if they go right, a repeat of Jaron Durant's 2024. Is that too optimistic, 20-ish home runs, 30 plus steals, a bunch of runs in a good lineup? That's the potential upside. I think the downside is he's kind of a high-rent version of Zach Gelloff. So, yeah, I think things could definitely go wrong.

Starting point is 00:02:22 Over to third base, and we return to Queens with the New York Met. Yeah, McQueen's is a couple blocks away from me, so hopefully nobody gets mad at me. Mark Vientos is my all boom or bust all star for third base. And look, if things go right, I was pretty proud of this one. You know, if things go right, he looks like the good version of Ehuenio Suarez. You're talking 35, 40 plus homer potential, a ton of RBI and a manageable batting average. If things go wrong, you're talking about the bad version of A.U. Hohenia Suarez. Basically, first half of 2024, Euhhenius Suarez versus second half of

Starting point is 00:02:58 2024, where the strikeouts are too much. He doesn't make enough good contact despite the raw power and he's just not usable. I think that's the upside and downside here. Over to shortstop, Chris, one of your Miami Marlins. Yeah, Xavier Edwards, I think is a really good choice for this one, because if things go right, you're talking about what if Bryce Terang was a plus batting average source. What if Bryce Terang hit leadoff and could score 85 to 90 runs instead of, I think he had 72 last year. Bryce Terang was basically a one category guy last year. Xavier Edwards could be a three category contributor. Or he's a really overmatched shortstop defensively. And even on the Marlins, there is a chance Xavier Edwards hits. If he's hitting 255 with no power and he's playing

Starting point is 00:03:47 some of the worst shortstop defense in the league, there's no guarantee he's an everyday player. There's no guarantee he's an everyday player. So that's the downside here. All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in FBT Express, the all boomer bus team here in 2025. We move into the outfield, Chris. You have three names. Two of them are very young. One of them is very old.

Starting point is 00:04:09 Yeah, we'll start with James Wood. What it looks like if things go right, jazz chisholm with even louder tools. I think that's like he is massive six foot seven, two hundred and thirty four pounds and puts every bit of that into use. He's also 85th percent on sprint speed. Only four players listed at a higher playing weight than would were faster in 2025 or 24. If things go wrong, it's O'Neill Cruz with even bigger flaws.

Starting point is 00:04:36 So that's the upside and downside there. Christian Eilich, I mean, it's kind of obvious, right? If things go right, he's a legitimate five category superstar, which is what he was pacing to be last year. If things go wrong, he goes on the aisle in April and never comes back. Jason Mingez, the way I put it in the article on CBSSports.com, what if we, the best case scenario is what if we built the whole plane out of Corbyn Carroll's second half of 2024? And what if things go wrong?

Starting point is 00:05:02 What if we built the whole plane out of Corbyn Carroll's first half in 2024? Except there's also the added wrinkle that he looks completely lost in the outfield right now. Like at least Corby Carroll can catch the ball, Chris. Yeah, he looks like me playing left field right now. So like 20 homer, 35 steel upside, a ton of runs if he's the Yankees leadoff hitter. That's a realistic outcome. I think he loses his job as a realistic outcome as well. This is one of the bigger boomer bus players in fantasy, I think.

Starting point is 00:05:32 All right. We move into the pitchers now. We will start with the starters. You have three names listed here. One, well, two, returning from a second Tommy John surgery and another that has dealt with a lot of arm troubles. Yeah, I mean, Jacob de Grom, is kind of an obvious one. He's, if things go right, he's the best pitcher in baseball for 150 innings.

Starting point is 00:05:53 And if things go wrong, he's probably like the fifth best pitcher in baseball on a perning basis. He just probably only throws 50 innings and isn't worth starting outside of, you know, well, I guess when he's healthy. He should be a must start guy, but it's just he's shown no ability to stay healthy since 2019. Hasn't thrown 100 innings since 2019. We'll move on to Hunter Green. What if, what it looks like if things go right? 2024 improved his quality of contact allowed remained a very good strikeout pitcher and was a really, really good fantasy option when he was on the mount.

Starting point is 00:06:27 The problem is everything before 2024. He had an ERA near 5 in 2023. He struggled to say healthy. There are legitimate skills here. And his fastball was even better in 2024. He added an inch of ride and I think that made it harder for guys to barrel up. but there are so many ways for things to go wrong. And then Shane McClanahan, if he's just who he was pre-injury, you're talking about one of the 12 best pitchers in fantasy. He was a legitimate Cy Young contender in 2022. Otherwise, we saw Walker Bueller come back from his second Tommy John surgery. The timelines are very similar where McClan and Bueller were both starting to throw

Starting point is 00:07:04 at the end of the previous season, never quite made it back. And obviously Walker Bueller was probably the worst, the least valuable player in fantasy last year. So that, that feels like the downside. Yeah. And then the closer that you have here is someone also working his way back from Tommy John surgery. We got some positive reports lately throwing live batting practice sessions, but still a long way to go for Felix-Bautista. Yeah, if Felix-Bautista, if things go right, he makes every hitter he faces for 60-enings absolutely miserable because when this dude was on pre-Tommy John surgery, there wasn't another pitcher like him. He's massive. He's.

Starting point is 00:07:42 He throws 98, 99, 100 miles an hour with a devastating slider and splitter. But he had two surgeries. He had Tommy John surgery. Then he had a second surgery to clean up some stuff. I think he moved a nerve around in his elbow as well, which is always weird when they do that. And we just don't know what he's going to look like. So I think if things go wrong, it's like 20 innings where he just absolutely destroys your ratios before going back on the IL or losing his closer shop. All right.

Starting point is 00:08:11 For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-wave podcast, Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - The 2025 All Boom-or-Bust Fantasy Baseball Team! (3/1 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

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