Fantasy Baseball Today - 🚨Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco Traded to the Mets! - Emergency Podcast (1/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 7, 2021

Steve Cohen finally comes through for the Mets as they acquired both Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco in exchange for Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez and two prospects: Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene. First and foremost, what does this do for Lindor? ... Carlos Carrasco now leaves the favorable AL Central division for the tougher NL East (4:41). What does this move mean for Carrasco's value?... With Lindor gone, Cleveland's lineup is barren. Should we devalue Jose Ramirez (7:13)? ... Should we be excited about either Andres Gimenez or Amed Rosario now that they're with Cleveland (11:00)?... Any sleepers for Cleveland's final rotation spot (13:46)?  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday '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: @FBTPod, @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/ 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.

I'm back, everybody. Well, that's because there was a massive trade. Another one goes down. It seems like whenever Scott and I are out, that's when everything seems. to go down in fantasy baseball. Welcome to an emergency edition of fantasy baseball today. Frank Stamphel, Chris Towers, and Scott White here for you. Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco headed to the New York Mets in exchange for Ahmed Rosario, Andres Jimenez, right-hand pitcher Josh

Wolf. He is 20 years old second round pick in 2019. Outfielder, Isaiah Green, a 19-year-old second-round pick in 2020. Scott, let's start with the biggest name here, Francisco Lindor, by some accounts, had a down year in 2020, but was still really good. He's being drafted, early second round. What does this do for Francisco Lindor's value? Well, the thing about this trade is, it's obviously a massive blockbuster from real world baseball perspective. From a fantasy perspective, I don't, it's not the kind of trade that's going to like turn the rankings upside down or anything. I don't think it means much at all for Lindor specifically. Like, I wanted, I wanted to just my ranking for him.

As you said, what he did, like he didn't, he didn't end up finishing high in the shortstop rankings last year, 60 game season, but that's partly because it was such a short season that, other shortstop's numbers weren't able to normalize. He was pretty much the same guy, just a little off pace across the board,

and that kind of pushed him down the rankings. But there, there's nothing about his 2020 performance that brings me concerns. He's a different, player now or anything. This, you know, I,

I, and, and, and, and, and, and, I don't think they,

um, I don't think they, uh, looked at this is, okay, you know, obviously he's an impending free agent. So they had,

now was their only chance to get something for him. But I don't think his performance in 2020 suppressed his value here. I think that's just the way the market currently is right now. Um, and I say that because, I mean, I mean, this looks like a huge hall for a little, with little being given up for the Mets.

Yeah, I think that the hall is underwhelming for what Cleveland got in return here. And you look at Lindor, what happened in 2020, he hit 258, but plate discipline basically on par with his career, still made a lot of contact, hit a lot of line drive still as well, and the Babbitt was actually below his career mark. So I think he'll bounce back. Chris, I'll ask you as well. He is joining a better lineup. Cleveland was 25th and run scored.

The Mets were 13th. So are you moving him up at all? Would you consider taking him? His ADP is 16. Would you take him over guys like Bellinger, Freeman, and Christian Yellich, who are going just ahead of him? I think it's sort of, it depends on how you would build your roster, but I think I would rather have those guys.

But that's not a knock on Lendor. He's an elite player who can contribute in all five categories. The move from the AL to the NL, generally speaking is good four-hitters, although the difference is fairly marginal. You're talking about maybe, you know, historically maybe a point or two in contact rate, you know, a slight increase in stolen.

And actually stolen bases tend to go down, I think. But I don't think you worry too much about that. Look, it's Francisco Indore. You know, we don't have to really overthinking it. Like, it's a neutral ballpark move. It's a good lineup move. it's good for him. It doesn't change his value dramatically,

but there's not much that could. What could change Francisco Lindor's value dramatically? If he blew out his knee, that would hurt his value. There's not really anything that could happen to Francisco Lindor, short of, I don't know, maybe moving to the Yankees

or one of those lineups slash ballparks that could really juice his value. Well, I would have loved that, the Yankees. Yeah, but everybody else would have hated it, and it would have been bad. It's true. That is fair. And so, yeah, I think it's Francis Gildor.

We don't have to, we don't have to overthink it. He's a top 15, top 16 pick. If he falls to the middle of the second round, that's to your benefit. But I wouldn't change my view on him one way or the other too much. Scott, the other piece, the other big piece in this trade, of course, is Carlos Carrasco, who is now moving over from the AL Central, which has a bunch of favorable teams to face, and we'll have to face your braves. You're wearing the hat on your head right now.

but the nationals, the Phillies, Marlins, all right, they might be getting there. What do you think about this move for Carlos Carrasco? Because I know he was someone that you were high on. I think even inside your top 15 starting pitchers, does this affect his value at all? Well, you'd rather a pitcher pitch in the AL Central. Right now, that's probably the best division to pitch in. Or at least it was last year. Now, it's still an open question whether the DH is in the NL in 2021, right?

Currently it is not. Currently it is not. They would need to strike a deal, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, assuming it's not, then I don't know, maybe just by virtue of going to the league with the DH to the one without, it's actually a slight upgrade for him. But again, it's not one where I'm going to be repositioning Carrasco in my rankings.

Part of the reason he is where he is is because of his track record and because of his history accumulating any. over a course of the season, which is going to be a bigger differentiator coming off this really short season where all the up-and-comers hardly got any innings, than it would be heading into a normal season. So, yeah, not really a move in my rankings there,

but again, like, just from a real baseball perspective, this is a transformational deal for the Mets. Lindor becomes their best player overall. Carrasco becomes their second best best. pitcher and really makes their rotate. I mean, their rotation goes from being bad to now pretty good, obviously with DeGrom at the top and then Marcus Stroman there as well. Yeah, at some point this year, we're going to see a rotation that includes Jacob de Grom, Noah Sinigard, Marcus Stroman, and Carlos Carrasco, those four at the top and then they'll mix and match. You'll figure out

Stephen Mads, David Peterson, whoever they throw at the five there, of course. And I mean, there are so many moving parts of this, but you mentioned that Lindor becomes the best. player overall for the New York Mets, but it also boosts the value of everyone else around him, I think, as well. Because now, I mean, it just lengthens that lineup a little bit more. I think it gives you a little bit more reason to be excited about guys like Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonzo and Conforto who are going to hit in the middle of that lineup. But on the other side, Chris, Jose Ramirez with Cleveland now, this lineup, we were talking about this before we started. It is bad. This is such a bad lineup. They were 25th and run scored in 2020. They were 27th and

weighted runs created plus. Now they lose Francisco Lindor. Yes, they gain Anders Jimenez and Amade Rosario and we'll talk about those pieces in just a moment. But how does this affect Jose Ramirez who is being drafted as of now at pick 10? He is a solid first round pick. People are excited about what he can do, hitting home runs and stealing bases. But the lineup around him is just, it's dreadful. I mean, we can talk about Andreas Jimenez and Ahmed Rosario now, but it's not going to change the outlook. Like those guys, have their merits and some people like both of them quite a bit, but you're not expecting either.

The ceiling for both of them is like average offensive player, average hitter for sure. This is a bad lineup. The second best hitter in this lineup is Fran Mill Reyes, who we like a lot, but who I don't think we can say is a good hitter for the majors right now at this point in his career at least. it's bad.

But it was bad before. I mean, he did just hit 40 home runs to her 38. Sure, but it was with like, yeah, it was like an 8-11 OPS or something. It was,

it was fine. He was fine. Yeah, and I might be looking into this a little bit too much. Scott, I mean, Scott,

what do you think about Jose Ramirez? Would you downgrade him at all because he loses his partner in crime, Lindor? I mean, that, you know, Lindor's a top 10 player in baseball.

And now he's not in that lineup. But, you know, I kind of talk, I tried to talk myself into worrying about Juan Soto entering last season because the Nationals lost Anthony Rendon and it really didn't matter

Juan Soto is just Juan Soto so are you downcrating Jose Ramirez at all? I feel like Jose Ramirez's skill set isn't so dependent on supporting cast. I mean obviously you'd rather have more guys to knock him in, more guys for him to knock in there will still be guys. They're not as good but they will still be there.

But the things that really sets Jose Ramirez apart is he makes a ton of contact and he steals bases while also hitting for power. He steals a lot of bases. He's one of the few reliable base dealers who contributes much in the way of anything else. And certainly in five by five leagues, that's going to make it almost impossible to downgrade him.

And even in like points leagues with that low strikeout rate, it's hard to envision him being anything less than, you know, a round one-two turn stud. So, yeah, I'm reluctant. to talk doomsday for him. I think if there is a ripple effect for this deal, kind of going back to the Mets lineup, it's the clarity it brings to the Mets infield

because they got rid of two guys who they need to define a bat's for, Ahmed Rosario and Andres Jimenez, and added one in Francisco Lendor, which means now J.D. Davis looks like a lock at third base. Dominic Smith looks like a lock in left field, unless, of course, the DH becomes available. But either way, it looks like both of those guys are going to get theirs for sure.

And I guess the Mets are just willing to take the defensive hit on the left side there, apart from Lendor. So, you know, I'm going to be drafting them, Smith and Davis with more confidence. Yeah, that's... Smith and Davis a thing? You know, after I said it, I realized it might have been a local store. where I grew up. It was called Smith and Davis.

Chris, speaking... I'm trying to place it. I don't think I've ever heard of that one. Chris, you know, Cleveland receives some major league talent,

major league ready talent here in Amidro Zario, who has been a disappointment, I think, to this point in his career. Very odd that he just didn't steal a single base in 2020. And Jimenez did quite the opposite.

He had nine steals in just under 50 games. He's going inside the top 200 picks over at the end of BC. 1.95 is the ADP for Andres Jimenez. So how excited are you, if you are, if you are, about either one of these players, Jimenez, and Amade Rosario, who should have everyday jobs now with Cleveland?

Well, I wouldn't say I'm excited. That definitely wouldn't be the word I would choose. I like Commence. I like Jimenez, man. I know some people like both of them. I think you're basically hoping that they can steal some bases. And in Rosario's case, I don't know why he didn't run last season.

I haven't seen anything about it. He only attempted one stolen base. It's not like he tried to steal five and just got caught every time. But the biggest thing for him, like, yeah, it'd be nice if he stole some bases, but he's also just not a particularly good hitter. And so you're hoping for 15 to 20 steals from a guy who you're also, like you need to hope that he can be playable as a hitter. Jimenez, you know, I think the stolen bases are more sure.

but I just don't see the bat playing as much in order to make him much more than just a steel specialist. Maybe he could be something like what we saw. We hoped Oscar Mercado could be for the Indians, you know, probably less power than we were hoping from Mercado. It's not a lot of power. Not a lot of power from either of these guys. They're kind of similar in their profile and that hopefully batting average probably enough. to matter in that category. I have a little more hope for Jimenez than Rosario from that standpoint.

But they're not high impact players for fantasy. They're just kind of peripheral pieces. And I guess, you know, their value goes up slightly just because they're more assured of playing time. But they're not, they're not going to, they're not going to get to a lot of sleeper hype or anything like that, I don't think. I think Jimenez may. Yeah.

Heman is someone that I do like personally 28 steals in the minors in 2019, 38 steals in 2018, a career 278 hitter in the minors. So if I'm projecting him, probably not much more than like 250 to 260, but I do think he can get to double-digit homers and potentially 20 to 25 steals, which in a Roto League, Categories League, definitely useful as a middle infield bet. The last question I want to ask you, Scott, on the Cleveland side, Now that Carrasco is leaving the rotation that does leave an opening,

we know that Bieber, Plyssack Savale, and Trissa McKenzie seemingly will have the first four spots, and then we probably see one of Logan Allen or Cal Quantrell duke it out for the fifth spot in the rotation. Anything to see there, because I have seen some really, really deep sleeper hype on one Cal Quantrell. Yeah, this is...

The thing is, this is still a really strong rotation after losing Carasco. Yeah. And it's, you know, you wonder if they're going to be able to compete even with such a stronger. I mean, look, Bieber, Plessack, Savale, McKenzie, that's. It's a lot of guys who were pretty good or very good in very small sample sizes facing only the AL and NL Central. I just like, there's going, there's a lot of confidence.

And I think that the Indians track record as an organization in turning guys into better than we expected pitchers has earned some of that. But, you know, we do have to remember that, like, Aaron Savale was not someone we had much interest in at all. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, that's not true. He's a darling. I'm not a huge fan of him personally,

but he's like a fantasy baseball community darling Savale. And he was heading into last year, too. Okay. I mean, I don't know, like he's got a 376 FIP, 422XFIP. Let's just... I'm just saying. I'm just saying, like,

I'm not trying to be the Aaron Savale guy, but I'm trying to be, you know, fairly representing him. We've seen him be a strikeout pitcher for 55 innings. And he threw 115 innings in 2019 with 6.8.5K per 9.

He threw 55 and a third last season with 9.27 per 9. He could be that guy. It is a small sample. But it could be a bad rotation. I would not bet against it just because they have been a pitching factory. They just trim these guys out left and right. And PLEASC did make tangible changes in 2020, which has people very excited about.

Scott, you mentioned how some people are excited about Savale. There is a contingent of people that are very, very excited about. I just like please act like inside people's top tenet starting pitcher. I get it. I understand just going to be the wet blanket on it. I totally view by your question. I think, Frank. Do you like Calquantral Scott?

Not really. I mean, he's been a high enough prospect recently enough that particularly in the hands of this organization, I'm not just going to ignore him, but he's not going to be in the draftable range for me at starting pitcher unless he, you know, unless he's having this, unless he's lighting it up in spring training or something. Maybe he could enter into that.

So, no, I don't get excited about anyone in particular filling that fifth spot. By the way, Smith and Davis clothing still open in Fayetteville, Georgia. There you go. 4.6 stars on Google reviews. An institution. Yes. Oh, man, again, the final deal, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to the Mets for Ahmed Rosario, Andres Jimenez, and two prospects, Josh Wolfe, who is 20 years old,

and Isaiah Green, who is 19 years old. for Scott and Chris and Smith and... What was the other one? Davis. Smith and Davis. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching this emergency edition of fantasy baseball today. Scott and Chris will be back with you again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.