Fantasy Baseball Today - Five Undervalued Pitchers Based On Early ADP! (12/4 Fantasy Baseball podcast)
Episode Date: December 4, 2025Joe Ryan provides an excellent WHIP base in category leagues. Dylan Cease should bounce back in Toronto. When might we see Gerrit Cole in 2026? Ranger Suarez has been rock-solid the past two seasons. ...Sandy Alcantara was so back in the second half! Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Let's talk about five pitchers Chris is higher on.
Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome in to FBT Express on Thursday, December 4th.
I am, for example, joined by Chris Towers.
Let's take a look at five pitchers that Chris is higher on than consensus right now.
And first up, we have Joe Ryan, who, Chris, you have up at SP 14.
A little bit higher than ADP.
He's at SP17.
What do you like about Joe Ryan heading into next season?
So I think one thing we can all do better at, us as a podcast, us as a nation, is we need to think more about our whip in fantasy baseball because, you know, there's so much talk about ERA and XERA and FIP and Sierra and all this stuff for strikeout.
We focus so much on strikeouts.
And for good reasons, these things matter.
But whip tends to get left by the wayside a little bit in our discussions of Pittsburgh.
pitchers. And I've noticed when I have weaknesses in my pitching staffs, it's often I've got
these high strikeout pitchers who can run good ERAs even, but then I look at the whip and I'm like
first in strikeouts and 11th in whip. And it's like, how did that happen? My pitching staff was so good.
And guys like Joe Ryan are undervalued as a result of that because he is an elite whip guy.
I know his ERA can fluctuate and, you know, he doesn't necessarily have the super high ERA ceiling.
You know, it's usually in the mid-3s, 2020-3, I think, was a 4-5 ERA.
So there's some concern there.
But, man, the whip is always really good.
You know, usually 1-1, 1-0, 103.
So I'll take that from Joe Ryan.
He's not a huge workhorse, but he'll get you 190 or so strikeouts.
He's done that two of the last three seasons when he's been healthy.
So I just think maybe there's a little bit of ERA risk with Joe Ryan, but the whip help,
that's something you don't necessarily get from a lot of pitchers.
Let's move over to Dylan Sees, who you have is your SP17.
He is on the rise in six drafts since Thanksgiving.
The ADP is up to SP19.
I think people getting a little excited about Dylan Seas signing with the Blue Jays.
Chris, we don't know which version of Dylan Sees is going to show up,
but my guess is you are expecting one of the better versions.
Yeah, I mean, who cares about WIP anyway, right?
You draft Dillon Cesar.
No.
In Dillian's case.
How about you draft him and Joe Ryan together and then it works out very well?
And then you'll just have a mediocre whip.
No.
In Dillon Cese's case, we have in the last four seasons, we have two really good ones and two really bad ones.
4.5 ERA or worse, I think 445 and 448, something like that.
Those are really bad.
And last year was 4.55.
Really bad. 133 whip.
Okay.
I get it.
Not good.
If you actually look at the skills, though, 20,
is the bad year.
2025 is just the bad luck year for Dylan Seas.
Like he had a super low strand rate.
He had a super high Bavit.
The XERA, the FIP, Sierra, whatever you want to look at,
was right where you always expected to be 350-ish.
It's not an elite ERA,
and I don't think you should expect that from Dylan Seas,
but what you should expect is great volume.
He hasn't missed a start with an injury since like 2019.
He had a forearm cramp.
last year that was the only scary's had in like the last five years um you're going to get 215
strikeouts he's done that five straight years he's the only pitcher to do that i think it's going to be
a mid three z a i think it's going to be more like a one one five to one two or one two whip which
isn't great but is fine so i just think we're going to get a much better version of delin c's i think
we had kind of everything go wrong for him last season and the skills were still very strong so i'm
very bullish on Dillon C's figuring it out.
It won't hurt that I think he's going to be on a better team in 2026 as well with the Blue Jays.
On top of all that, it should be a better defense behind him as well in Toronto
versus where he was at previously in San Diego.
Let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this.
Welcome back in FBT Express.
Let's take a look at a few more pitchers that Chris is higher on right now.
And Garrett Cole, Chris, you have all the way up at SP28.
He's 35 years old.
coming off Tommy John surgery with the internal brace.
He had that early March of last year.
The hope is that he's back in May.
His early ADP SP 68.
So people are a little nervous, a lot of nervous about Garrick Cole.
I think maybe it's just people are kind of out of sight out of mind on Garrett Cole.
And I think what's going to happen is the Yankees have mentioned he's already been throwing off mountains as he returns from his Tommy John surgery.
he's expected to be cleared to face pitchers at some point during face hitters at some point during spring training
I think what's going to happen is we're going to see garret colgan on the mound he's going to be
about a month further removed from his surgery than spencer strider was last year
different type of surgery so maybe it'll take a little longer but if we see him on a mound I think
what's going to happen is that price is going to start jumping really really quickly maybe he's not
back until May. Given his age, given the workload that he's put up, given, you know,
you look at like Sandy Alcantra, nobody throws 170 in their first year back from Tommy
John's surgery. Well, Aces, workhorses, however you want to call it, they're different. They get
treated differently and I think Eric Cole will be treated differently. I think it will have a
faster schedule. Maybe he won't be any good, but this is a guy we were talking about
the consensus number one pitcher last.
year and has been in that number one SP discussion for years. So I think when people
actually see Garrett Cole and they start to remember that he's going to be pitching
early in 2026 that price is going to rise a lot. Next up we have Ranger Suarez who
Chris you have at SP 31 the early ADP SP 55 I will point out NFBC drafters typically
you know deflate some costs here on pitchers
that haven't signed yet.
So I think maybe just a little worry about where he's going to wind up.
But either way, Ranger Suarez has been a very productive pitch of the past two seasons.
I do think there is some value in specifically looking like a Ranger Suarez and saying,
I'll let MLB teams tell me what they think about him because he's a kind of a weird guy.
We've seen really high ceiling outcomes from him, but usually only for a couple of months at a time.
Last year was kind of the first time that we've seen Ranger Suarez really avoid a big
step back after seeming to break out. He was good for basically the whole season. And now we've got
this two-year stretch, 333 ERA, really good control. I think wherever he lands, assuming it's on,
you know, the 80 to $100 million contract that we've been talking about him getting,
I think we're going to see that price rise. Maybe SP 31's a little too high for a guy that doesn't
have the strikeout upside, doesn't have the inning's upside. I can be talked into moving him
down, but I think that the ADP price is way too low.
And the last name here, we have.
Sandy.
Tell me about it.
Sandy Alcantra, who you have at SP33.
The early ADP is SP50.
First year back from Tommy John's surgery, it was a tale of two seasons, got off to a
terrible start, but in the second half looked a lot like Sandy Alcancra.
Yeah, I think this is one that once he figured it out, and you started to see it around
mid-season. He started to have a lot more of those deep starts. You started this. The stuff was good
the whole time. He was averaging 97 miles per hour with his fastball right away. And the stuff plus
metrics were pretty good. They were pretty close to where they had always been. It was the command.
It was the field. That stuff wasn't there early on. Once he started to figure it out later in the
summer, he ran off that stretch in the final 12 starts, 313 ERA, average like six and a half innings per
start. I think he was back to being who he is and who he is is the best, the highest volume pitcher
in baseball. I think that's going to be true no matter where he pitches. He's someone who's going to go
deep into games. You got a fight to get the ball out of his hands. Once we saw him get back to
being a low 3 ZRA pitcher, I feel pretty good that that's what he's going to be. I'll take the big
volume. Presumably he's going to be traded. That hasn't happened yet, but should be on a better team,
although the Marlins were like an 80-win team last year,
so it's not like it was a terrible situation for him.
I think on the whole, he's pretty much back to where he was prior to the injury.
Maybe it's not winning the Tommy Johnson or winning the Salyung.
Maybe he's not throwing 230 innings,
but I think if you can bet on anyone getting to 200 innings,
it's probably Sandy Alcantra, so you're going to get 180 strikeouts,
maybe 190 strikeouts from him.
I think you're going to get good ERA from him.
and in a points league especially, I think he's going to be a great value.
All right.
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