Fantasy Baseball Today - Injury Updates, Trades & Spring Risers/Fallers (4/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

It was a big weekend of news. Let's start with Jacob deGrom who will be shut down for four weeks (2:12). ... Lance Lynn has a tear in his knee (8:30). Draft Lynn or deGrom first? ... Craig Kimbrel was traded to the Dodgers (12:15)! .... What does this do for AJ Pollock and Andrew Vaughn's value (14:35)? ... Gavin Lux seems in line for more playing time (18:05). ... Does the Sean Manaea trade help his value (21:05)? ... Which prospects made their teams' Opening Day rosters (24:00)? ... Let's talk about CJ Abrams (28:00). ... News and notes (33:40): Max Scherzer has a mild hamstring strain and Riley Greene has a fractured foot. ... Who are the biggest spring training risers (41:05)? ... Which players have fallen the most (53:10)? '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, @CTowersCBS, @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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." 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. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. So much happened this weekend. Let's break it all down. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today.

And welcome to opening week. Monday, April 4th, just three days away from the start of the season. I am Frank Stanful, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. We've got to talk about injuries. Jacob Grom and Lance Lynn, the Craig Kimberl trade, spring risers and fallers. Plus, I want to try to predict each and every bullpen. It's a lot. I'm optimistic. We'll see. How is the weekend, Chris? How you doing? Good. I don't think we need to make waste much time on it. That's true. Let's get right into it. Let's get right into it. Moneybag, Scott, spending a bunch of fab and TGFBI. Yeah. Well, that's the way it turned out the first run of Fab and TGFBI. There are a lot of interesting players out there because we're

We drafted before spring training began, so a lot's changed since then. I thought some of these players would go for 200 plus out of a $1,000 budget because that's the way it played out in my TGFBI League last year. But it did not play out that way this year. So I won all of Matt Brash, a 15-team rode up, by the way. I won all of Matt Brash, Mitch Keller, C.J. Abrams, Alex Colomey, and Art Warren for a combined $489. of my $1,000 budget.

I mean, they're good players to win. They sure are. I'd rather be too aggressive than too passive, but it's a little scary. It's a little scary to use up half your fab budget right away. Indeed it is. We'll talk about a few of those players. Some of them will be among the spring risers, yes.

Yes, we will talk about a few of those players. I have some names that I want to mention that have been confirmed. They're going to be on the opening day roster for their respective teams. and Matt Brash is one of them. But first, let's start with Jacob de Grom. This news came out on Friday. Well, late Thursday night, Scott, we were kind of reacting in real time.

We didn't have much information. And of course, Friday it comes out that Jacob Grom was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right scapula and is shut down for four weeks. As a result, we all lowered him quite a bit outside of our top 50 starting pitchers. Scott, you have him 142nd overall.

I have him down at 175th. And Chris at 163. there were 50 drafts on NFBC Saturday and Sunday. DeGrom's ADP was pick 145. Chris, we'll start with you. Just reaction to Jacob DeGromp here. I mean, if you still have drafts remaining, where are you actually looking to select him?

It would be really hard to take him inside of the first 15 rounds, I would say. You know, you reach a point where the upside is worth the risk. and I don't know, I guess, when you're talking about the 15th round range or the 12th round range, whatever, you know, whatever you want to call it, your chances of hitting on anyone in that specific range are not great anyway. And there's certainly nobody with the kind of potential to make an impact that Jacob de Grom has. But the problem isn't just that he's going to be shut down at least four weeks. Because remember, it's at least four weeks. It's, well, it's actually not at least four weeks. it's definitely a lot longer than four weeks until we'll see him.

But the thing is, it's shut down for four weeks, and then they're going to reassess, take a look at the injury, see if it's healed, and then determine if he can start throwing in. And then he would need presumably another month to get back up to speed. So we're probably talking in an absolute best case scenario, a June return, maybe early to mid-June, that's the absolute best case scenario for a guy who already had injury concerns that weren't related to this, at least not specifically related to this.

I think it's probably fair to assume that these are related in some way. And so, yeah, I mean, it's not just that now we know Jacob de Grom's going to miss two months of the season, but the question of whether he could stay healthy is on top of that. So even when he comes back, he then has to be able to remain healthy, given the concerns we already had, and he already hasn't. So, yeah, I can't say that you can't expect anything from Jacob de Grom,

but at this point, you have to draft him as if you're not going to, as if he's not going to be a key part of your team. And it sucks. It absolutely sucks. Again, like, It's the worst. Baseball and fantasy baseball is much better

when Jacob de Grom is healthy in pitching. I mean, he's one of the best pitchers. We're seeing like a stretch right now, a historic stretch for a starting pitcher. And it's just unfortunate that it's one injury after another right now for Jacob de Grom. Scott, I remember earlier in the offseason, we were talking about how you wanted,

I think it was like six or seven of your top 55 starting pitchers. And basically, that list is dwindling because like there's so many injuries that keep taking place. would you consider Jacob de Grom you know one of those like are you trying is he part of that like top I don't know one of those top 50 or 55

that you'd like to get on your team now well that yeah I'm not I'm not exactly sure where that cut off is anymore because some have entered that group some have fallen out of that group like I've lost some confidence in all three of those Tommy John returnees Mike Clevenger Noah Cindergarde

and Louis Severino so I'm not sure they're part of that group anymore I do have Grom kind of ranked in that range, so a little outside of it. I think I'm probably more willing. I had a couple drafts this weekend, and I didn't draft him in either, but I'm probably more willing to draft him than Chris is. Because it's a stress reaction, that's a bone injury,

and the timetable for bone injuries is usually a lot clearer than muscles or certainly ligaments. Now, because it's a stress reaction, reaction, that means it's caused by stress and what caused that stress may be compensating for the elbow. So that presents a complication. But yeah, I mean, like Chris said, there comes a point where you're not missing out on much to take that chance on DeGrom. And where that point is depends so much on league size and to an extent scoring form, and mostly league size. But then also, you know, since you were citing NFBC data

and that was one of the two drafts I did over the weekend. No IL spots in that. So if it's a league where he's taken up a bench spot for you for some indeterminate length of time, then he probably deserves to go 50 spots later or something like that. I'm shocked his ADP was 145 in the NFBC drafts because those have no IL spots, right? I think in the main event leagues it was much lower.

I think it was about 50 spots lower, yeah. Yeah, I saw one where he went 280. Yeah, I did a draft on. Friday main event for NFBC and he went 225th so it was the last pick of round 15 and again no I L spots I think the person drafted to Grom drafted all the injury guys in a league with no I L spots it was like to Grom Chris Sale Strasbourg Flaherty I'm just what are you doing I don't know it doesn't make sense to me I'd love to I'd be fine doing that in a 10 team league with several IL spots yeah infinite IL spot

you just back fill off the waiver wire and wait for those guys to come back and if they don't, by the time, you know, by the time they do come back, you've probably figured something outside anyway. So, you know, that's why I think in shallower leagues it's much more worth doing. But I would say, you know, if we're talking about all the injured starting pitchers, big starting pitchers who've fallen to injury, DeGrom is, is, should be drafted last of that group. Chris Sale, Jack Flaherty, Lance Lynn, who just went down today. They should all go ahead of de Grom. I have them a whole tier ahead of de Grom.

All right, let's talk about Lanslind. He will undergo surgery to repair a slight tear in his right knee, and he'll have four weeks of rehab, followed by four weeks of ramping up. So like DeGrom, it seems like the earliest, we'll see Lanslind is sometime in June. He was also being drafted as a top 20 starting pitcher, the ADP 58.8, 17th starting pitcher off the board.

That will not be the case any longer. But Chris, Scott already answered this question. He said that he would rather have Lance Lynn over to Crom. How about for you if you're still doing a draft? I don't know, given that the timetable isn't, man, that's a tough question. It would be Lynn. The timetable seems real clear for Lynn. Right, but, you know, that's assuming he avoids any kind of setback. It is a surgery. You know, there's risk there. The way they, they, I think it would have to be Lynn. The way they put it for Lynn is they expect him to be throwing off a mound after four weeks.

So that's pretty definitive. As definitive as you're going to get for the recovery from an injury. And of course, it's to his knee and not arm-related. I think it has to be Lynn, but I don't, I certainly don't feel great about drafting Lance Lynn. My initial thought was to move him down to about 40, you know, 40 to 40-4-3 at starting pitcher. There's upside there. Obviously, Lance Lynn, you know, was a top 20 starting pitcher for me beforehand.

But yeah, it'll be, it'll be tough to draft him within the first 140 picks, I would say. Yeah, so my initial reaction was I moved Lance Lim down to SP 50. I moved them one spot behind Jacob to Grom. Just thinking, you know, best case scenario, if we're projecting both of them to pitch, let's say, two-thirds of the season. Obviously, DeGrom's upside is still much higher. But I think the risk of re-injury is much greater for Jake. Jacob de Grom. So probably got to reconsider that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they go in a similar range in drafts, like whatever, however many drafts are left this week. I kept Lynn inside my top 40, like 39th. I have consecutively, I have Chris Sale followed by Lance Lynn, followed by Jack Flaherty. And then as I said, DeGrom.

I would much rather have sale than Lynn at this point. Okay. I would say. And we're still technically waiting for news for Chris Sale. I saw that he was. he's not throwing again yet. He's not able to go on a throwing program again. But he says he's feeling better. Yeah. That's the good news. Feeling great hopes to be cleared soon. All right.

So look, these pitchers are dropping like flies right now. Jacob Grom, Lance Lynn. Scott, rank these potential waiver ads. It's crazy we're talking about waiver wire already, but a lot of people already did their drafts. And these are names that are rostered in 65% or less of CBS leagues. Jesus, Lizardo, Hunter Green, Tony, Gonsolin, Matt Brash, who has made the Mariners rotation.

Scott, how do you rank those four? Let me see if I can catch up to my rankings here. So I think I have them, Jesus Lazzardo 1, Tony Gonselin 2, Matt Brash, who just looked awesome this spring, three, and then Hunter Green 4. Matt Brash has looked awesome. The fastball, he's throwing mid to upper 90s, got this awesome breaking pitch as well. but he only really throws two pitches. So it's something I want to watch early in the season

to see how effective he is as a result. But those two pitches are really, really good. So maybe he can succeed in spite of that. Chris, how about for you? Lizarro, Hunter, Green, Tony Gonsolin, Matt Brash. Yeah, I would go Lizarro Brash Green. Lizarro, Brash, Gonsal and Green. All right, let's talk about Craig Kimball.

He was traded over to the Los Angeles Dodgers for A.J. Pollack. And he is now ranked inside the top 10 relief pitchers for each of us. He's seventh for Scott and Chris. He is the 10th relief pitcher in my rankings. Apologies to anybody who drafted Blake Trinan recently. Craig Kimbril will be the team's closer. They have confirmed that, though.

I don't know if this matters at all, but he's been pretty bad in spring. He had another relief appearance this weekend. He allowed four earned runs, two home runs. And the last we saw of Craig Kimball when he was with the White Sox, last year. 5.09 ERA, 1.22 whip. Lots of fly balls, lots of home runs. So, Scott, talk to me about this move.

Craig Kimball to the Dodgers. We gain another closer that we feel good about the role and hopefully the skills, but I don't know, spring and his second half was not so good. Yeah, I'm uneasy about the performance. And I was last spring, too, because, you know, he was plagued by injuries, yes, but also awful in 2019 and 2020.

The stuff looked good still, but he wasn't commanding it very well and a lot of injuries. Then he was awful last spring. So I kept myself from drafting him and obviously came to regret that because in 39 appearances for the Cubs, he had a 0.49 ERA, 0.71 whip, 15.7K for 9. It was arguably the best closer in the game at the time he was traded to the White Sox, back to being the best closer in the game. So, you know, I don't know that we should. should put that much stock in his spring performance.

The Dodgers, the Dodgers traded for him and with the intention immediately of making him their closer. So, I mean, that's an organization I trust their evaluation of players as much as any other. But it does make me a little. Look, I'm not somebody who's going to pay for a top six closer anyway. But if I was, you know, I could see going like Ryan Presley ahead of him. if you felt safer with that, I wouldn't blame you.

Yeah, so I have Kimberl at 10 just ahead. I have Jordan Romano, Chapman, who I'm like, don't feel great about either. But Kenley Jansen, Presley, Class A, Diaz, I would take all of those closers ahead of Craig Kimbril as well. Chris talked to me about A.J. Pollack. He slots in as the right fielder for the White Sox, and I know that he's someone that you've talked about liking so far this offseason.

Technically a slight park upgrade for him as well. So what do you think about this move for AJ Pollock? Yeah, I mean, he's been awesome the past two seasons. was a swing change a couple of years ago that seems to have helped out. And it is a park upgrade. And I think it's a slight upgrade in terms of expected playing time. I don't think it's significant enough one to really change how you view AJ Pollock one way or the other. But he is, I think he's going to be very productive when he's in the lineup. And I think he'll be in the lineup more for the White Sox than he was going to be with the Dodgers. So I think it's a good

thing for him. And, you know, Pollock's the kind of guy that you don't really have to draft him inside of the top 200, but he's probably going to be a pretty beneficial player for your team, especially in leagues with daily lineups where you can, you know, take advantage of the times he's in the lineup and then slot him out when he's not. Yeah, I'm, you know, I didn't move him as a result of the trade, but I probably had him ranked higher than you guys did all. I think I had him. He was already inside of my top 200. So yeah, I like AJ Pollock. He's a nice player to have around. Chris also talk to me about what this might mean for Andrew Vaughn. I know Vaughn is someone you've talked about liking this off season and comes with a lot of prospect pedigree. It was a weird season from last year where he's trying to learn a new position and it's his first taste of the majors, kind of like rush to the majors as well. But it seems like there might be a natural platoon there with him and Gavin Sheets as the designated hitter. So I feel like this, uh, might hurt Andrew Vaughn. Yeah, I mean, I think it ultimately comes down to what Vaughn does.

If Vaughn hits the way the White Sox clearly hope he can and the way we think he can based on his prospect, pedigree, and his minor league production, then I don't think playing time's going to be much of a concern for him. He'll fill in at first base occasionally. He'll play the outfield when A.J. Pollack's not playing the outfield. And then he'll DH. So it's just a question of whether he can figure it out.

And Paul Canerico had some really, really praiseworthy things to say about Andrew Vaughn today and just his approach and his swing. So that was interesting to see. But yeah, he's definitely someone that I think has more risk of not playing every day as a result of this. And I wouldn't expect him to be in the everyday lineup. But if Andrew Vaughn gets off to a hot start, I don't know, maybe Gavin Sheets will be enough to keep him out of the lineup. But like I think Gavin Sheets is pretty good. but Andrew Vaughan is an important part of what the White Sox want to do moving forward. And he's presumably the future at first base with Jose O'Reu in his mid to late 30s.

So I can't imagine they're going to block him completely, like have him on the short side of a platoon if he's hitting. No, I can't imagine that either. But I can't imagine them just like making Gavin Sheets a bench player either because they do seem to like Gavin Sheets. And he was, he bats left-handed. and he was at least last September getting more of bats than Vaughn. I don't think that's how it's going to play out now. Sheets was one of those players I dropped to pick up all those players in TGFBI. But I'm a little worried about Vaughn with this.

Meanwhile, on the other side, you've got another Gavin, Gavin Lux, who suddenly has a much clearer path to playing time for the Dodgers. Presumably they'll continue to platoon him, though they don't have an obvious right-handed hitter who needs to be in the lineup anymore. Yeah, I mean, his situation is just, he needs to hit. Like, it's sink or swim time for Gavin Lux. And he's not so old that like it's entirely down to this,

but with the Dodgers, with the way they handled someone like Jock Peterson, if you remember, he was a top 10, top 20 type prospect when he got called up. and they were pretty willing early on to just have him be a part-time player. So if Gavin Lux can't hit lefties, and really so far in the majors, he hasn't really shown much of anything. There really isn't all that much in his major league numbers, you know,

in terms of the overall production or the underlying. But obviously Gavin Lux was, you know, he had, what, 340 in 2019 in the minors? He was one of the top prospects in baseball. I'm excited to see a, a somewhat more clear path to playing time for him. He just, he's got to do it now. Yeah, I just, I don't know where he pops off the screen, right?

It's, he had a strong September and maybe I use that term loosely. He hit 360 with a 9, 67 OPS, but, you know, ISO was terrible. It was like a bunch of singles. It was with one homer and one steel, you know, only 17 games. So it's, it's a small sample size. I mean, you look good down the stretch. They were fine.

They wanted to find ways to get Lux in the lineup. They were playing him in the outfit. in their most pivotal games in the postseason because they wanted Gavin Lux's bat in the lineup. So I think they still like him. He's just, you're right. He's got to show us something. He's got to do something. Right now, he doesn't pop out of the off the screen.

Like there's nothing about what Gavin Lux has done at the major league level that makes you think this is a future key part of a very good team. So it's mostly just belief in a pedigree and what he did at the high minors. I mean, he was arguably the best hitter in the minors in 2019 between AA and AAA and AAA. He put up, you know, bonkers numbers. And so, you know, I'm moving him up for sure as a result of this. And, you know, he's now someone that goes from, I didn't really care if I drafted him to, yeah, I'll take a late round flyer on him. He's using my top 24 second baseman now. A very deep name to pay attention to for the Dodgers, Edwin Rios.

They said that they were comfortable making this trade because of the spring Edwin Rios is having. And he has gone seven for 21, three homers, five walks to five strikeouts. and a couple of years ago, he had a monster season in the minor. So they still like this guy. And if he's performing well, they got a lot of injury prone players on this team. So he could work his way into playing time as well.

Yeah, they could have him DH. They could stick Max Muncie at second. Yep. Yeah, there's a way they can form their lineup with him in and luck's out. Yep. So, NL only leagues for now.

And then, you know, if he plays well, then maybe he'll work his way up. Sean Mania was traded over to the San Diego Padres in exchange for two prospects. and I think it's a big upgrade for Mania in terms of team context and run support, obviously, but you could argue tougher competition here. Dodgers, Giants in the same division now. He's going to have to pitch some games in Coors Field, obviously.

I moved him up a few spots, SP 31. I've been ahead of the pack. I had a few guys on Sean Mani. He's someone that I do like drafting quite a bit. But moving him up was more so a result of just moving other pitchers down. Like Blake Snell, I started to move down a little bit, Luis Castillo. And as a result, Sean Mania is someone. that moves up a little bit. Scott, what do you think about this move? Does it matter really for

Tomoniah's fantasy value? I mean, I'd rather impitch for the Padres than the athletics. The truth is I probably, if I really expected him to stay with the athletics all year, I probably should have ranked him lower than I had him, because after this trade, I looked at it, and I said, okay, do I need to move Shamanai up? And, well, remember, I've been grouping him with Nathan Avaldi and Tyler Malley all this time. And, well, I still think I'd rather have Nathan Evaldi and and Tyler Malley. It's a pretty crowded situation. It sounds like they're going to go,

well, I don't think they've ruled out going six men. A lot of teams are going six men at the start. So maybe that, we don't need to hold that against him. But Mike Clevenger will be on the aisle to start the year with a knee issue, minor knee thing. I think more than anything,

they just want to give them time to get ready coming back from Tommy John. And then, of course, they still have Nick Martinez. If they go six men, I guess that still leaves room for McKinsey. Gore, but the point is when... Chris Paddock, who was in Trigger. Oh, that's true.

Paddock's there. Yeah, the point is when everybody's healthy, it's a really crowded group. And I'm not saying Sean Mania is going to get bumped because of that, but there's more pressure on him to perform. I mean, I'll say it's possible. Yeah. Like, Sean Minia

hasn't been such a can't-miss pitcher that this is a situation that he couldn't lose a spot in a strong rotation. I mean, he had a four, five, VRA in 2020. His peripherals in 2021 were a little all over the place. If you look at XERA, he was above four. So I'm not, I think there's a chance on Shamanai loses a rotation spot at some point. Come on, guys. I'm right here. Like, there's nothing personal. You act like is your son,

no, that's fair. Um, so I'm gonna pay attention to early in the season for him is velocity. So I think there was one game where there was some velocity readings for Manaya in the spring and they were down compared to last year. A big reason why I've liked drafting him so far this offseason was his underlying numbers were much better than the surface level numbers. And he had a big VLO jump last year. So I do want to see that carryover, obviously, into this season with the Padres now. Players who have made their opening day roster, you know, a lot of these players, I think we've,

it was kind of a foregone conclusion, but we've got some confirmation over the weekend. Bobby Witt, Jr., John Heyman reported it of all people. I'm just like, all right, no royals, beat writers, or anything else. I guess it's a big story, but just thought that was interesting. Bobby Witt will start on opening day and likely be the third basement for the Kansas City Royal. Spencer Torkelson will be the starting first basement for the Detroit Tigers. He's made the team. Matt Brash, we mentioned earlier, will be the fifth starting pitcher in the Mariners rotation.

He's 33% rostered if you suffered some injuries early on and you want to look to add a starting pitcher. Steven Kwan, someone I mentioned recently in our Deep Sleepers episode, with the Cleveland Guardians. He's made their opening roster, and they need help in the outfield. So this is someone who makes a lot of contact, could hit for batting average.

I think he has a few steals in the spring as well, so maybe chip in a little bit of speed. Spencer Strider, Scott, your boy, Spencer Strider. He made the Atlanta Braves, and he's a candidate to be a starter if they want to go with a six-man rotation. I don't know if they've actually revealed their plans yet completely with that,

but Spencer Strider will be on the team, at least. Yeah, well, it's a 20-8. eight-man roster, his last spring start, he got knocked around pretty good. And I was reading one of their beatwriters and they think he needs more work on his secondaries. And of course, he started out last year at low A. So that's not surprising. I think he's going to be up to be a reliever with Tucker Davidson filling the fifth spot

if they need, or the sixth spot if they need to go six-man. So I would not expect Strider to stick around long, but and not in a role that's going be particularly useful, but of course, if he blows the doors down, that could change things. And then there's a few other names here. Chris, if a player hasn't been optioned to this point, do you feel good about that prospect making the opening day roster? I mean, three names that stand out to me very clearly. Julio Rodriguez, who had another monster game on Sunday. Bryson Stott, who's hitting, I believe, over 500 for the Phillies. And then CJ Abrams, who I really thought it was like a very slim chance of him making the opening day roster. It actually looks

kind of likely now. So what do you think about those three? Yeah, I mean, AAA season starts on the fifth, not the seventh. So they actually have to be ready a couple days early. And I think there are probably some extenuating circumstances with some players who haven't been option. But yeah, with Rodriguez, Staten Abrams, I think at this point, I'm assuming those guys are going to make their teams. And that is incredibly exciting for Rodriguez, who is an absolute must-draft and probably in top 150 pick at this point. I keep moving them up. I keep moving them up and not getting him.

What's the argument for him being significantly behind Bobby Witt? I mean, Bobby Witt played at AAA, which Hulio Rodriguez didn't get as, did Hulio Rodriguez make it to AAA? No. No. Okay. So Bobby Witt presumably more ready, certainly more seasoned. More proven in the minors, I guess.

I don't think the upside is significantly different. for these guys. I mean, these are both potential fantasy superstars. And so, yeah, Hulior Rodriguez needs to be moved up a lot. Yeah. He is up to 148 for Scott. I have him inside my top 140. He's someone that just keeps climbing for me too. 136. I think he's right around my 40th outfielder now in the rankings. And I think once we get that, one 30, once we get that actual confirmation that he's on the roster, I mean, I could see moving him up even further. Now, he seems like the most surefire.

Like, I'm not, I would be very surprised if Julio Rodriguez doesn't make the roster at this point. Stott, I think, you know, Alec Boehm's been doing work with Kevin Long to shorten his swing and the past couple days have gone better. I think if, I think if the Phillies decide they want Bowman third base, Stott's going back down. So I'm not necessarily counting on that one. The one we need to really talk about here, though, I think is C.J. Abrams, because we have

We haven't really discussed him as a realistic possibility, and he's a consensus top 10 prospect himself. He would be making a very big leap, sort of like Julio Rodriguez would be. But the Padres have shown a willingness to do that with Fernando Tatis himself, with Chris Paddock, guys who, you know, they just made such a strong impression in spring training that the team decided they were ready, and it worked out great for both of them in their rookie seasons. Abrams has 80 grade speed Pretty much top of the scale contact ability too And

Scouts were hoping he'd develop power He's hit for power this spring at least So like there's an all-around sky More than anything the speed is something we need to be excited about Like that alone should get him drafted in rotissory leagues It's not clear that he would be We were talking before And I think you said Frank you saw somewhere like

he'd start out as a platoon at shortstop. Yeah, strong side platoon, bat against right-handed pitching. That's what Bob Melvin was saying. Right, because he bats left-handed. Of course, if your up-and-coming superstar is playing well, I think that's only going to continue to earn him more of bats. He can play center field, you know, when Tatease comes back, if Tatees is shown he can play the outfield too.

So, like, I don't think it's going to be, like, if Abrams is up and he performs, he's not overwork. well, like he's going to be up all year. He's going to be playing a ton. I wouldn't even really consider role so much for him. It's just, is he here or is he not here? And if he's here, then he should be rostered everywhere. And, like, that was one of the guys I blew out my fab budget for in TGFBI. And I'm surprised no one else did. And again, that's a 15-team Roto League. So speed is hard to come by. And it makes sense that you're being aggressive there in terms of the fab bid. Scott, loaded question here.

prospects who either have, they're basically all having good springs. We know with O'Neill Cruz that he's not going to start with the Pirates, but O'Neill Cruz, Jeremy Pena with the Astros, who there's been some buzz about, C.J. Abrams, Bryson Stott. How do you rank those four? Okay. It depends on the format. O'Neill Cruz won, C.J. Abrams, two, but closing in on one. And then there's a gap. I would go Peña over Stott in Roto. I would go Steyno. I would go Stott over Pena and points. All right. Makes sense to me.

Before we get to some other news and notes, there's a bunch of stuff that happened this weekend. Thank you so much for all of your listener league submissions. We appreciate all of your thought and creativity. Some really great stuff that we received. There was a video like recreating the clown scene with Scott. It's like someone like made an animation out of it. It was it was amazing.

So between that and songs and poems and people make it. up lyrics and just like great stories that we received again we really really do appreciate all of your submissions i don't know how i got like my facial construction in cartoon form it's like it's like it's like he turned me into a south part character it was it was very strange it was so good uh maybe i'll play it at at the end or beginning of i was literally shaking after watching it was good it was good but these will be the names i have chosen the names uh who will be in this week's 16 team head-to-head categories for the people draft. Again, Tuesday, April 5th, 8 p.m. Eastern Time will be doing that draft live on YouTube.

We'll turn it into a podcast as well. We had 12 spots available since Scott, Chris, me, and whoever wins the FBT Bracket Challenge. We're still waiting for the national championship game on Monday night. Those will be the four other spots. But without further ado, here are the 12 that will be competing against us. Neil Kaplan, Jocelyn Corkham, Brendan Sargent, Andrew Skalicki, Tanner Frost, Colin Faint, Adam Nijemi, Matthew Burnett, Jason Gallup, Joshua Weddle,

Ashley Harper and Doug Rowe. If you heard your name, please come to the front of the classroom. No, I'll reach out to you and I'll get your email and I'll send out some invites and we'll get everything set up before Tuesday's draft. But if you just heard your name, I'll be in touch and we'll make it happen. Let's take a quick break, and when we return, talk about Max Scherzer, Zach Wheeler, Ronald Acuna, a few other notes, and then we'll get to spring risers, fall orders, and some bullpens as well. Here, fantasy baseball today. All right, so let's talk about Max Scherzer. He tweaked his hamstring on Friday. He'll throw a bullpen session on Tuesday,

and if all goes well, should be able to start on opening day. Zach Wheeler threw 45 pitches over two innings on Saturday in a minor league start, and Joe Girardi said that Wheeler is expected to throw 60 pitches in, his next outing on Thursday. And if all goes well, he should make his season debut next Tuesday. That's April 12th against the Mets. So far, so good for Zach Wheeler. Ronald O'Cuna played in a simulated game on Saturday.

The plan is still for him to return in early May. Tiger's outfield prospect, this was a big one this weekend, too. Riley Green diagnosed with a fractured foot. He won't have surgery, but he'll be out six to eight weeks before he can go on a rehab assignment. So this one's looking more like eight to ten weeks, maybe something like that. So we see him the middle of June, end of June.

Maybe if they want to play it safe, we don't see him until the second half of the season. He would have been, I think he would have been on the opening day roster, if not for this. So that's super frustrating. Yeah, he was having a strong spring as well. I'll pull up the numbers here for him.

He was nine for 21, two homers, three walks, six strikeouts, 429 batting average, 1548 OPS. Small sample, but Riley Green, looked awesome. Scott, if you're still doing drafts, do you look to select Riley Green with the hope of stashing him on the IL?

Well, actually, no, no, no. You're probably not going to be able to stash him because he's going to be on the minor league IL. So yeah, you won't even be able to- Yeah, I would assume they option him down. Yeah. I'm not sure. Is he on the 40-man roster?

If he's on the 40-man roster, then he may go on the 60-day I-O, but I'm not sure. Well, but why would they put them on the 60-day aisle? It's not necessarily a... I don't think they have a... Okay, he's not on the 40-man roster. No, he's not.

Yeah. I'll almost certainly be an option back to AAA. So that makes it harder to draft him, Scott, because we can't even put them on an I-L spot then. Yep. All right? Yeah, I probably won it. Yeah.

Yeah, in a 12-team league, I don't think you can. It's tough, yeah. Justin Upton was designated for assignment by the Angels, and then they said that Joe Adele, Brandon Marsh, and Taylor Ward are all in line for significant playing time. So good news for our guy, Joe Adele there. Justin Upton, he was having a strong spring. I think he'll probably wind up with another team soon. DeBacks Utility Man, Josh Rojas, will be out, quote, weeks, not days with a grade two right oblique strain.

Geraldo Perdomo is a name to watch in deeper leagues if you need speed. He has two minor league seasons with 24 or more steals. again the name there, Haraldo Perdomo, likely to start at shortstop for the Debex. Austin Meadows exited Sunday's game with quad tightness in both legs. If he can't go to start the season, maybe we see Vidal Bruhan back on the roster, maybe Josh L, so something to pay attention to there. Mike Clevenger was scratched from Sunday start with knee sorenness. He's a candidate to open the season on the IL, as Scott mentioned,

which would allow Nick Martinez to stay in the rotation. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said Sunday that Adle of Ruchman has resumed hitting and throwing after dealing with a tricep strain. Good news, Scott, for Ranger Swarres. He's expected to make his regular season debut on Monday, April 11th, against the New York Mets. Garrett Crochet will undergo Tommy John surgery and then two trades that went down over the weekend.

The Marlins acquired Cole Sulcer and Tanner Scott for a comp B draft pick, Antonio Veles, Kevin Guerrero, and a player to be named later. Chris, I'm not sure that we want anything to do with either of these bullpins right now, Marlins, Orioles, do you have a lean here? I don't know. You have to think they made this trade with the idea that not having Dylan Floro, they needed

some more back-end bullpen's help. So maybe they lean Solcer? I don't really have a feel for it. Like the Marlins want a closer. They're definitely a team that prefers to have one guy if they can. But I have no idea. who that guy's going to be right now. Yeah, I hated seeing this trade as somebody who just drafted Dylan Floro again last night,

because now they're just... If Solster's getting it done right away, or maybe they go Anthony Bender instead still, if they're getting it done by the time Floreau gets back, I mean, there just may not be justification to change. It's not like he was some... It's not like he was some relief ace who was always destined for the closer role, you know? Yeah, Anthony Bender was...

Bender's good. Yeah, Bender's good. 2.79 ERA last season, 1.06 whip, 10.4K per 9. He throws hard, averages 97 with the fastball. He's got a strong slider. He gets ground balls, nearly 50% ground ball rate. I think he's a good pitcher. He's having a strong spring too.

So if I had to guess who the first person up for the Marlins is, I think it's going to be Bender, but they have some names. They have BAS, they have Cole Sulcer as well now. So we'll see. And for the Orioles, I mean, it gets worse and worse. They just don't have anybody. They have, like, Jorge Lopez was better as a reliever last season. Somebody tweeted at me, Felix Bautista.

He has 11 saves in the minors, lots of strikeouts, but... You know, I think as somebody who was starting to maybe flirt with the idea of drafting Cole Sulzer, I'm kind of relieved this trade happens because that would have probably been a poor investment, given how few saves the Orioles are going to have and how inconsistent and how you know, just what's happened with him the past couple years is basically no one's ever,

they haven't gotten safe chances often enough for anybody to really seize the role. And I suspect that's how it's going to go again. And they just, they spread it around too. Brandon Hyde has been there since 2019. His two full seasons,

he hasn't had a reliever with more than 11 saves. So pretty gross. Which is also a product of not having many good relievers, which is also an issue for the Orioles still. So it's, yeah. Like, if they had one good reliever, I'm sure they would settle on him. But this is a team that is not trying to win games. Yeah.

It's kind of like what happened last year with the Cincinnati Reds. Like, I'm sure they want a closer, but, you know, no one's really stepping up and getting it done. One other trade here, the White Sox acquired Reese McGuire from the Blue Jays for Zach Collins. Scott, I saw you tweeting about this. Do you think this could actually affect Alejandro Kirk's playing time? Yes, I do. I took the tweet down because I wasn't as confident. The more I looked into it, them getting Zach Collins back.

Okay, that's a third catcher. Collins has options, as I understand it, and Reese McGuire doesn't. So it still seems likely they're planning on beginning the year with just two catchers. And if you have only two catchers on your roster, it's difficult to play one at DH, because then if he has to replace the catcher, you lose the DH spot. So, you know, I'm not saying I'm, I'm off Alejandro Kirk because of this, but it's, it's not what you want to see. It's not what you want to see. Let's get into spring risers and fallers. Let's start with the good news there. The players that have been moving up our

draft boards, moving up our rankings. Chris, why don't you get started? A few names that have been climbing up for you. Um, well, Joe Adele, who didn't need. to have a good spring, but it's, it's been very good to see him having a good spring, hitting the ball very hard, and the plate discipline's been, you know, good enough, eight strikeouts and 36 plate appearances. You know, that's the big concern for Joe Adele. I've liked him all along, obviously. Anybody who's listened to the podcast knows that, but, yeah, Joe Adele is someone that I'm

drafting pretty much in all of my leagues if I got the opportunity. And, you know, I don't think there's any question that he's got a ton of upside. he's showing it in spring training. So I'm very excited about Joe Adele, three homers, three steals in 13 games. You know, we talk about Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt, and I don't know if Joe Adele has that kind of upside, specifically with the stolen bases. But, I mean, he's that kind of prospect. And just because he's been around for a while and we've been talking him up,

I mean, you can go back to 2019 and listen to preseason 2019 podcast, what we're talking about Joe Adele and saying he's someone potentially worth stashing. So I get why people have some fatigue with him and think, oh, maybe he's not that guy anymore. But all he's done is produced in the minors since then. He had a really bad 2020 in the majors, which, given circumstances, I don't hold it that much against him.

He showed promise last season and signs of improvement. Joe Adele, very, very excited. Good spring. And again, the home runs that he's hitting, these are monsters. too. Like, we've mentioned it in the stat cast ability. It's, uh, the max exit velocity and the sprint speed. Like, the tools are there. It's just, you know, can he make contact enough? And so far this spring and, and last year when he got his opportunity in the majors again, he did that.

So I think, again, he makes contact. Good things will happen for Joe Adele. Scott, some players that have been rising of the ranks and draft boards for you throughout spring. Well, I have a long list of names here. Let's go. Miraculously, we've talked about many of them already. so let me just rattle off a few so that we've... Yeah, I didn't want to mention names that we've already mentioned or that I know you guys are going to mention. I'll just go ahead and rattle some of them off. Matt Brash, Hunter Green, Bryson Stott,

Jeremy Pena, Spencer Torkelson, C.J. Abrams, Gavin Lux. Although, one thing I did want to bring up with Matt Brash. Okay. He's not necessarily... Did George Kirby get sent down already? Yes. No, he's won the job.

He's been confirmed. No, no, no. I just wasn't sure if George Kirby still had a chance to make the roster. Okay. I will confirm it, but I am like 80% sure I saw. Yeah, he will begin the season at AA, George Kirby. Okay. Yep.

He's very exciting as well. The Padres B writer for MLB.com, A.J. Casavelle, who is the one who's really talking like C.J. Abrams, has a chance of winning the everyday job. He is also saying that Robert Suarez is looking like a strong bet to begin the year in the closer role for the Padres. So that is somebody I would consider a riser.

He was a closer in Japan the past couple of years, a very successful one, especially last year. He had a 116 ERA. Throws a lot of strikes, gets a lot of ground balls. They have alternatives there. doesn't work out, but they seem pretty happy. They seem pretty happy with what they've seen.

Well, that's interesting with that fastball slider pairing, but it's... He's having a rough spring. And you just... Yeah. Was he bad today? Because he was really... His numbers were really good before today. It might have been today, then.

I was looking at six strikeouts and four innings, one run allowed before today. And I know something that has prevented good relievers from getting closer rolls in the past is, like, you have to be available a lot to be a closer and given Lamet's history. I don't know that they're in a place right now where they can count on him to be even if maybe

they will be at some point. Well, Jesus Lazzardo, we haven't talked about him yet except enlisting pictures we'd like to have. But yeah, his velocity way up this spring. He's been throwing his

breaking ball a lot more which is exactly what we want, even without the velocity. jump like that that looked like that was going to be the key to his breakthrough because his fastball just wasn't that effective of pitch but he had good secondaries and so we had some hope that the marlins would get him and change up his pitch mix and maybe that would allow him to meet his potential now he's throwing his fastball like 99 miles per hour maybe it'll be an effective pitch too and we get the best of both worlds so lizardo you've made the comparison before frank

to lucas gilito needing a couple years taking his lums for a couple of years before just suddenly taking off. And I think that's a, I think that's a interesting comp for Jesus Luzardo. Stephen Kwan has made the Guardians opening day roster. And last I looked, hasn't been updated with today's stats, but last I looked, he had not struck out in 29 plate appearances this spring. And that's, you know, you look at his minor league crack, record. he makes a ton of contact.

He started hitting for power between AA and AAA last year, hit 12 home runs in 77 games, slugged 527. I would love to see some stack-ass date on him, either from the minors or from spring training, just because if there's something behind those 12 home runs in 77 games last season, it makes him a lot more interesting. If not, I'm super wary of the good plate discipline, no power profile. He's free, though, is the thing.

Oh, yeah, yeah, no, no, that's, he's worth drafting. It's not clear that he has a job. Like, he's free even in, like, 15 team leagues. Yeah. I drafted him at a 10-teamer tonight, but it's one with, it's a full minus one for strikeouts, full minus one point for strikeouts for hitters. So it just seemed like he was well-suited for that format. But anyway, yeah, it's not clear he has an everyday job yet for the Guardians,

but, like, their outfield is, yeah, trash, so. Oh. I'm not saying the people. No, that's deserved. That is deserved. Okay. People get offended when you say, you call players trash, okay? Like, obviously I'm talking about their numbers being trash.

Just, I don't hear you say it often, Scott. So when you do, it catches me by surprise. Like a little Scotty slam dunk all over the Cleveland Guardians outfield. Yeah, Rosso resource has Stephen Kwan in a platoon for now. But again, the name's here. Bradley Zimmer. Owen Miller, Owen Miller, I think, is having. having a good spring. Oscar Mercado, he's had chances, hasn't been able to do anything. So,

look, if Stephen Kwan hits, he's going to get an opportunity. For me, Justin Verlander, mentioned him a ton so far the past couple of weeks. He's up to SP15 in my rankings. He's got a 1.3-2 ERA in spring. Velocity is there over a strikeout per inning. He looks like Justin Verlander so far. Matt Brass, you mentioned Scott, Spencer Torkelson. Torkelson only has four strikeouts in 30 plate appearances. I thought that was really impressive for him. And some deep league names. We're talking ALNO only 15 team roto. Merrill Kelly, I brought

his name up once before. Yeah, I meant to bring him up. Yeah, he's been really good so far and Brent Strom is the pitching coach in Arizona now, so seven innings pitched just one hit, 13 strikeouts. Isn't his velocity up to? It wasn't, it was up in his first start. There was actually stat cast data for his second start

and it was up like half a mile per hour. Because he's been getting a lot of strikeouts too, and he said he put in a lot of work in his change up this off season because he says it hasn't it hasn't been very good the past two years. So he's made a, what sounds like, could be a significant arsenal change. Because he's in the Cactus League,

we don't have a lot of data to really back this up. But looking at the results and looking what's being said about him and the fact that Diamondbacks just over the weekend signed him to an extension. So they like what they see. Merrill Kelly is in deeper league somebody who I'm starting to get kind of interested in. Other very deep names, Diego Kest,

not the reliever for the Mariners. Projected to start at second base for the Pirates. He's hitting 321 with five homers in spring. Kevin Smith now with the Oakland A's. He's been hitting 333, three homers, two steals. Kyle Higashioka leads all of spring training with seven home runs. He's batting 4.78, 11 for 23. So far, he's...

He, like, reworked his swing. He modeled it after Josh Donaldson. He's always had some pop. I think I moved him up. into my top 20 catchers just because why not? There's not very many good ones anyway, so.

In two catcher leagues? Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. Is he's someone who's worth adding? I'd rather have him than Carson Kelly in a two catcher league and at least just hope that there's some kind of lightning and a bottle thing going on

there. Yep, good lineup. Ballpark to hit in as well. A lot of playing time. Yeah. I know they traded for Jose Trevino over the He's likely going to be the backup catcher to start the year, but Hegasioca is the guy. Garrick Cole really likes him too. So, you know, if nothing else, you have the support of the ace on the pitching staff. Mickey Moniac is the last one I wanted to mention here.

Former first overall pick back in 2016, a long time ago. He's nine for 29. He's hit five home runs and apparently working very closely with Kevin Long. Everyone wants to work with Kevin Long now. He reworked Kyle Schwabers swing last offseason. We saw the results there. but he is very respected as a hitting coach, and he's done this time and time again,

and apparently Mickey Moniac might be the latest there with Kevin Long. A couple deep names that I'm sure we haven't really brought up on the podcast before that just caught my attention this weekend. Paul DeYoung of the Cardinals, he worked with some hitting guru this offseason, and we've known, I forget which one, one of the famous ones who's worked with a bunch of other hitters to help them fix their swings.

We've seen guys have big turnarounds because of that. And he's put a, he's had a huge performance this spring. So I think he's back to being something of a sleeper there at shortstop. And David Peralta suddenly hitting for power, I believe his story is similar. I don't have it ready to go off the top of my head. Okay, so here it is.

He, okay. No, he worked with somebody to fix his swings. Sorry. No, I saw something similar too, Scott, and then the numbers are jumping off the page so far, nine for 27, four homers, three doubles. Now, again, these are deeper league plays. I'm not, if it's a standard head-to-head line of three outfielders,

one shortstop, you're never going to get to David Peralta and Paul DeYoung. But, like, if you're in leagues where over 300 players are drafted in late rounds and, you know, the obvious, some of the more obvious spring risers like Matt Brad, Jeremy Pena, they're all gone. You know, it doesn't take much to, you look for upside anywhere you can find it. Like it doesn't take much for you to squint and say, okay, I could see how this guy could have a bigger year than people are expecting.

And I think David Peralta and Paul DeYoung fall into that category. All right, let's get over to some fallers. We're not going to get to bullpens today. I'll save that for tomorrow. We've got bold predictions coming up tomorrow as well. We'll hit the bullpens. We haven't talked about each bullpen individually in a while, so I just want to quickly run through that

and try and predict whoever we think is going to lead their respective team in saves. Chris, why don't you get us kicked off here with some fallers throughout spring? Okay, it's harder to do spring fallers, but I don't think you can do this conversation without talking about Cody Ballinger, who's just, I mean, he fell to 142nd in a draft that I'm current. doing a slow draft. He has 17 strikeouts and 28 played appearances.

That's almost a two-thirds strikeout rate. That is just impossibly bad. He's, you know, he's been talking about how he's, you know, he doesn't seem too concerned about it. You know, he's talking about how he's working on his swing and there was a funny quote about getting the,

getting the strikeouts out of the way now, so they don't, they don't, aren't there in the regular season. but this was the, you know, we, there's been a lot of Cody Ballinger versus Christian Eilich discussion this season or this preseason. And one of the things that made me prefer Christian Yelich was that he just kind of, it seemed like he just needed to get health or be health, whereas Cody Bellinger, like, he looked lost. There wasn't anything promising about Cody Bellinger last season, even the postseason when he, you know, had like a 900 OPS.

It was a lot of singles. And so, you know, even the underlying numbers, he wasn't hitting the ball hard at all. It just, we're hearing nearly daily reports about him changing his swing and his setup. And I don't know, maybe it's all an overreaction and it won't matter and all that. But I don't see how you can't be pretty terrified about Cody Bellinger right now. Well, we got an update on Friday. Apparently, Dave Roberts said that Bellinger may have found a. batting stance that he likes.

Quote, I think he's found a consistent setup and now he just needs to get the repetitions. I don't know. Maybe it was some cruel April Fool's joke. It's... Like I said, I drafted him 142nd overall when he fell there and it had to head

points. Like, it wasn't like I needed an outfielder, but it was one of those things where Cody Belanger just kept falling and at some point the talent's worth it, but it's terrifying right now. Like, this is I know spring training doesn't matter, but this is not a guy who just needs to go through the motions,

at least from my perspective. Like, Cody Bellinger has something to prove to me. Right. And, that's the thing. I mean, it's one thing for Dave Roberts to say,

oh, yeah, now he's fixed. You know, but like, he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anymore. Yeah. Chris,

who would you? So, I was going to say, who would you drive, Chris, right now, a riser versus a faller, Julio Rodriguez or Cody Belanger?

If both were sitting there, I think I would take Julio Rodriguez because there is a better chance that people are just going to keep passing on Bellinger. Scott? Based on what I've seen this week at least. Scott, would you take Julio or?

I would definitely take Julio. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Definitely. All right. Honestly, I have more confidence in him. Yeah. No, I'd look. it's hard to blame you. Again, like, Spring, for the most part, for veterans, does not matter, but for players that we need something,

we need, you know, players who should be out to prove something, right? Like, prospects or players coming off down seasons or injuries. Like, you need to see something. And Bellinger is one of those names. And so far, again, we haven't seen it. And I feel like strikeout rates one of the things that matters more, especially when it's excessive one way or the other. Like I mentioned it for Kwan,

and I'll mention it for Bellinger too. Yep. All right, Scott, any fallers for you? Why, yes. Well, the question is... Bollinger's the biggest one. It's harder to find fallers than risers. Yeah, just because you don't want to bury anybody

based on spring stuff. But of course, Dylan Floreau's a faller for reasons we mentioned earlier. Alec Bones a faller, faller given the potential for him to lose his job to Bryce and Scott. Although he's been doing work with Kevin Long and has been hitting better in recent days. So I think I already said that this podcast, right? Yes. Mike Clevenger's a faller. He hasn't looked good.

Luis Severino, he's had a lot of reasons for concern. Those last start was good. I'd still call him a faller. Blake Snell, a faller. Luis Castillo is a faller for me. Yeah, that makes sense. Blake trying in an obvious faller for reasons he can't help. So here's one I want you guys to

Tell me how you feel about it Because I may be on an island here But I was really high in Aeronola coming in I was the highest on him I think we did a rankings dispute on On him at one point he was like my number eight starting pitcher And I've moved him down In the time since then

Let me see He is 12 for me So not not so far down But it's not the production in spring training He's giving up some home runs I'm not worried about that. That's not the thing that I'm worried about. I'm just, the more I start to, the more I think about it,

the harder it is to get a past, just how bad this Philly's defense could be. And the fact that he did see a rise in his fly ball rate last season, you know, the peripherals all suggest things should be fine for Aaron Nola. But if there's one way in which you can underperform your peripherals, it's with really, really bad defense. And he had really bad defense last season, but maybe that's a reason to think that he's not just going to bounce back

to what the peripherals suggest the way that I hoped he would. I'm more worried about the home runs than the defense. And I didn't like that he was giving up so many home runs early in spring. He made a start Sunday. It was amazing. He's loud one hit, a home run, struck out nine against the Tigers. A ton of whiffs. Yeah.

Yeah, but the thing is, I mean, the Phillies had the worst defense in baseball last year. It's hard to get worse than the worst. But it was already an issue for him. Yeah. Well, it's not like... His issue last year was home runs. What I was about to say is, like, the home runs were what brought him down last year pretty clearly. It wasn't the defense.

And I think just by law of averages, I mean, certainly if they remove Alec Bohm from third base, that's going to help the defensive situation. but you know they had they had Zach Wheeler who nearly won a Sy Young last year Aaron Nola you know it wasn't so much the ball's in play was the balls out of play that hurt him and obviously he misses a ton of bats so I I hear what you're saying I just I'm not worried about it

in the same way I think he's I think he's the sort of pitcher who you don't worry about that so much because yeah like I said for me it's less that I'm like worried and more that the story I was telling myself about him figuring it out or about him getting to the peripherals last season,

it's a little harder for me to tell myself that story, I guess, is the way I would put it. The bad at last year for Aranolo too, it was 308. That was his highest since 2017. So that might have been related to the defense. And it's higher than his career mark too. So, you know, he was giving up more fly balls and typically fly balls lead to, you know, more doubles.

And obviously, don't account for Babbitt, but yeah, things just kind of spiraled for Nola last year. And I added him, Chris, to my bus 2.0. I removed. I added him to my bus as well. I removed Carl Swardan and I put Aaron Nolan there. I just never find myself drafting him. If I'm in the third round, I'm taking Sandy Alcantra or I'll wait until the next round

and take Lucas Chilito instead or something like that. I was drafting him earlier, but I don't think I ended up with him on any of my leagues that I'm actually playing out. Yeah. For me, I wanted to mention Jesse Winker. he's won for 26 this spring. I don't think it matters all that much, but I do think maybe there could be a transition period here,

moving over to a new team, not as good of a ballpark to hit in, and Winker is someone that you need to perform, when he's healthy, because he misses so much time. So if he gets off to a slow start, and that's something that can really affect his overall production. So Jesse Winker...

He's just a faller from the start of spring because he got traded to a worse situation. Yep, for sure. I dropped him in my rankings when he got traded to the Mariners. There was a few names I wanted to ask you guys about. Scott, Kyle Hendricks, I know someone that you liked earlier in the offseason. He's given up 12-earned runs, six homers over 11 and a third innings so far this spring.

I don't know that it matters much for him, but he is someone who, coming off a very bad season. I kind of wanted to see something from him this spring. What do you think? I would prefer to see something than not to see something, sure. Ultimately, I feel like he's the sort of pitcher. who you should ignore his spring. I mean, we've talked about it before. If he's not impeccable, then he's likely to get pounded.

And it stands to reason during your warm-up phase. You're not going to be impeccable. He's identified the problem as not locating down and away well enough last year. So he's been working on that. And I've talked about it before. He had a stretch like 15 starts in the middle of last season where he was awesome. So it's not like he was running. from beginning to end.

So I think it's still in there, and, you know, I'm treating him the way I would most veteran players, where if I don't have obvious reason to think there's diminished skill, I'm just not worrying about the spring numbers. Chris, Nelson Cruz, old gray beard. I've seen this guy playing a few games already spring,

and I'm not used to it. It's like, he's got a lot of gray in his beard, he's getting up there. He's three for 30 with 10 strikeouts. He's probably someone who doesn't even want to be, in spring training. So I don't know that this matters very much, but he's older and, you know,

strikeouts are something that I think we should pay attention to. I like the way you framed it. Like, he's getting up there and he's older. Nelson Cruz was getting up there a decade ago. He's just there. He's just up there. He's been living there.

For about seven years. Yeah, no, I, I don't know. Like, I guess there's a little bit of concern because of how bad he was with the raise last season and maybe that was the start of, you know, a decline for him. But I don't know, he was bad in spring last season and it didn't carry over into the regular season. I can't get myself worked up about anything with Nelson Cruz in spring training.

He's, I feel like the very definition of going through the motions would be how I would assume Nelson Cruz's spring training goes. Makes sense to me. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott. Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fantasy baseball today. back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.