Fantasy Baseball Today - James Wood Prospect Spotlight, Corey Seager vs. Francisco Lindor & Mailbag Questions! (3/16 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 16, 2024

JOIN OUR FBT BRACKET GROUP- https://shorturl.at/mvAY0 Let's take a closer look at Nationals prospect James Wood who's having an awesome spring (2:09)! ... Let's get into the mailbag, starting with your Apple Podcast Review questions (9:00). ... How to avoid the GLOB when drafting starting pitchers (12:03). ... How high should Shohei Ohtani go in an OPS league (21:34)? ... Which players gain value in a H2H points league with no strikeout penalty (24:18)? ... Which players should gain position eligibility early in the season (27:20)? ... Corey Seager or Francisco Lindor (30:20)? ... Which of Wyatt Langford, Jackson Chourio and Jackson Holliday will be most productive over the next three years (34:11)? ... Where would Marcell Ozuna rank with outfield eligibility (40:15)? ... Do we have volume concerns with Tarik Skubal and Cole Ragans (43:10)? ... Have we forgotten about Miguel Vargas (47:50)? ... Chris Sale or Blake Snell (51:20)? Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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, @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/ 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 lead. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Saturday, March 16th. Happy 316 day to those who celebrate. I am, for example, joined by Scott White. No Chris Towers, but that's all right.

We'll hold it down for you. Today on the show, we're answering your mailbag questions and another prospect spotlight, and that is where we will begin. Let's talk about James Wood, Scotty. Very fun prospect outfielder with the Washington Nationals. He is your number 10 overall prospect, 6'4-6, hulking human being, 21 years old.

Last year in the minors hit 262 with 26 homers and 18 steals and 873 OPS, got up to 80, games in AA, and I know it's only spring training, but my gosh, I mean, he has looked incredible. So far, at the time of recording this on Thursday, James Wood hitting over 300 with three homers, three steals, an OPS over 1,000, and a 23% strikeout rate, which is certainly manageable. Scott, what do you think about James Wood as a prospect? Because massive upside, but also a massive human. Those players could be hard to project.

they can be and that's part of the reason I ranked him only 10th in my top 100 10th of course is makes him one of the best prospects in the world but some lists had him a little bit higher than that

I was I was exercising a little bit of caution because when he got to AA last year where he spent most of the season he struck out 34% at the time really and hit only 248 at that level but that doesn't I mean, I don't like him, right?

James Wood is a prospect that I think I was high on before the consensus was, and then the consensus may have surpassed me just a little bit, not guarding against that size and that big strike zone as much as maybe I would like. But hey, he's at an incredible spring. Like you said, strikeouts haven't been an issue there, even as he's been facing major league pitchers. Tiny sample, of course, all the usual spring training caveats apply. but it's been such an impressive eye-opening spring for James Wood that I think it's moved up his timeline.

I'm not saying he's going to be on the opening day roster for the nationals, but it wouldn't surprise me if he spent a good portion of 2024 on the Major League roster. Now he is only 21. The nationals aren't contenders. So, you know, maybe pushing him back to, maybe waiting for that September call-up where he would retain rookie eligibility for 2025 and give them a chance of securing draft picks depending on how he does in rewards voting,

awards voting based on that. Maybe that would make more sense for the nationals and the position they're in. But it seems like James Wood is doing his best to force the issue and the upside is very exciting. You know, six foot six outfielder, it's easy to make the Aaron Judge comparison, the kind of ex of velocities he generates.

I know that's, it's almost become too, it's almost become kind of a cliche comparison. Anybody who's big like that and hits the ball hard, gets compared to Aaron Judge, I mean, what can steal bases too? And so I don't even think, I don't know, maybe, I don't know, I don't know what the best comparison is. Is a faster Aaron Judge,

that seems too lofty of a comparison, but it's a big power speed upside bat. And maybe one that's more projectable even than like O'Neill Cruz was when he was coming. out of the minors. That's what I was thinking. Maybe a less speedy O'Neill Cruz, but even that kind of feels like you're underselling James Wood. So I don't know, he's kind of an interesting prospect to project moving forward. And yeah, this new draft pick compensation has kind of created this limbo for prospects,

right, where either a team should have them up on the opening day roster or just wait until September, right? It doesn't really make sense to play that middle ground unless the team is competing and the Washington Nationals not really expected to compete this year. So that's what kind of creates this. When could we see James Wood? I've seen people now drafting him in redraft league, Scott,

so that would lead me to believe some people think that he could be up either on opening day or pretty early on in the season, which I guess it's not crazy. I'm skeptical because of the way the incentives work for bringing up a player now as you

outlined there. It's kind of a similar situation to Paul Skeens. The Pirates may have a slightly better chance of competing than the Nationals do, but I don't think anybody's really expecting them to compete. So what would be the Pirates incentive to call him up so that he would lose rookie eligibility? And they wouldn't have a chance of those draft picks based on his performance during what's officially his rookie season. So I don't know. It's still kind of a new thing.

This is the fourth year of those incentives. and I feel like with each subsequent year, we see teams lean into that more, lean into, okay, we're going to wait until late enough in the season that he won't lose rookie eligibility. So that's why I'm not hopeful of James Wood

being up sooner than that. But I do think, I would have said there wasn't much of a chance of it prior to this spring. And now I think there's at least a chance that he's up soon enough to make a substantive impact in 2024. And we were talking about,

beforehand, the Nationals are giving him a long run here. Over 40 plate appearances. You don't typically see a player play that much in spring. So maybe they really do want to get a long look and, you know, he's making the decision tough on the Washington Nationals. Of course, we're recording this on Thursday. By the time you're listening on Saturday, he might have already been optioned or reassigned to my league camp.

So keep that in mind. But again, that is James Wood of the Washington Nationals. And remember if you want to hear about a specific top prospect on a future mailbag, leave us a five-star rating on Apple Podcast. drop the prospect's name in the review, and we will eventually get to them. Before we get into our mailbag question, Scott, let's quickly promote a few things. Download and follow our five-minute podcast, FBT&5, wherever you listen to this podcast, and it's that time of year.

Brackets are back, and you can get in on the madness today on the CBS Sports app, run men's and women's pools with friends and enter our bracket challenges for the chance to win a new Nissan Rogue and trips to the 2025 Final Four. Play today on the CBS Sports app or visit CBSSports.com slash play to sign up. No purchase necessary. See terms and rules for details. And if you want to compete against Scott, Chris, and me, we actually have a bracket dedicated to FBT and our listeners.

Click on the link in the pod and the YouTube description. And if you've joined our podcast, our podcast bracket, in previous years, you're already in it. You just have to go in and make your picks again. So good luck, and we will give a shout out to the winner on this very podcast. Let's get into our mailbag question, Scott, and starting with the Apple Podcast reviews,

this one is from Van Dalen, who rhymes with, of course, classic rock group Van Halen. Keeper question for you, 15-team 6x Roto with OPS and innings pitched, Solz, that saves plus holds, and quality starts. So lots going on here.

You can keep one of the following for one year. $5. Grayson Rodriguez, $5.00, Bobby Miller, $5.00, Royce Lewis, and $5.00, Spencer Torkelson. Royce Lewis. All right. I've got Royce Lewis on my bus list,

but it's mostly a cost thing. So I don't definitely don't mind him at $5. Is he your highest ranked player for 2024? That is a good question. To me, it's as simple of a calculation as that. It might be different if it's like, oh, I got, you know, Austin Riley is my third basement, no corner infield spot. Okay, maybe I think about taking Grayson Rodriguez instead, but Royce Lewis is my highest ranked

player. It's only for one year. They're all the same cost. Seems pretty straightforward. Yeah, I do have Royce Lewis ranked ahead of Grayson Rodriguez and Bobby Miller. So good catcher. Scott. Let's go with Royce Lewis for five bucks.

From cool guys, 678, who says he's a former top 30 prospect with the Reds. And I screenshoted this and I sent it to you guys and we were trying to speculate who might, who is this person? And I would love to know. So DM me on Twitter or X at Roto underscore Frank or... It's cool guy. Send us an email.

You know, I think it's telling that he said top 30 prospect and not top 10 prospect. Because you go as deep as 30 in a system and it's a good chance that's somebody we've never heard of. Give the cool guy some credit. Head to head categories. Who would you keep between Corby and Carol in the eighth round or Bryce Harper in the ninth,

Corbyn Carroll's shoulder scares me, but I think it might be worth the risk as Carol has been going in the first round this year. Yeah, I mean, I have him as a top five pick. He says head-to-head categories, so the stolen base contributions are vital there. And as we talked about in our head-to-head categories mock draft that we did earlier this week,

anytime you can get a category standout, the way Corby Carroll was third in the majors and stolen bases last year. I had more than 50. And so he's going to be much more reliable and helping you win that category each week than if you were to distribute those steals across a few different players. So I think I do it regardless of the format,

maybe in head-to-head points. Harper around later, you could talk me into doing that. But given the scarcity of the outfield, the necessity of stolen bases in a head-to-head categories form, Matt. Coral. Coral. Corby and round 8 makes more sense than Bryce Harper in round 9. And everyone

knows I love Bryce Harper, but and I've been skeptical of Corby and his shoulder as well, but I would still take Corby Carol in the eighth round as well. From Johnny Kokomo, dear Wade, Johnny and Jacoby. Brooks, is that are those

Red Sox? I believe those are Red Sox turned Yankees. Red Sox turned Yankees. Okay. Yeah. Wade Boggs, Johnny Damon, Jacoby Ellsbury. Jacobi Ellsbury, yeah. Okay, yep, that makes sense. I am in a 5x5 head-to-head categories league.

We keep seven guys, so essentially the draft is rounds 8 through 22. I have all of my picks within rounds 8 to 15. Who should I target for pitching to keep me out of the glob? I am keeping Zach Gallen, and Cole Regens has my heart as well, Scott. But after him, I am stumped. So, this is something we've talked about a lot. this offseason Scott is how many pitchers to get before we enter the glob, and the glob typically starts around the SP 30 to 35 range.

So you've got Zach Allen. Sounds like you're looking to target Cole Regens. I would say pretty easily try and target two more of our top 25-ish starting pitchers, right, to kind of give yourself a head start to get ahead of the glob. Yeah. I'm a little confused by the question because, is he saying he's keeping Zach Allen, and that's the only pitcher of the seven players he's keeping,

only Zach Gallen? That is what it sounds like. Maybe Cole Reagan's is part of the keepers as well. Didn't really specify, I guess, but... Okay, well, if either five of your top seven players or six of your top seven players or hitters, then yes, I would think pitching should be your focus early in this draft. at least before we get to the glob.

I mean, I don't know exactly who's been kept. Maybe like a Justin Steele is still out there or Zach Eflin, somebody like that. If Cole Regens is somebody you're, you could draft rather than somebody you're keeping, okay, then obviously that's even better. But yeah, I would focus on pitching almost exclusively, unless there just happened to be some amazing value in the hitter ranks.

I would focus on pitching until you get to the glob. Yeah, it is. a tougher question to answer because the fact that each team is keeping seven players, even if it's a 10 team or 12 team league, right? It's just a lot of players are going to be kept. So it's just kind of hard to talk about which pitchers will be available. And maybe somebody's keeper list is so stacked that they, that somebody like, I don't know, like a Mike Trout slips through, you know. Okay. I'd have to consider taking Mike Trout in round eight over a,

a starting pitcher. But for the most part, I'd want to focus on pitchers. Yeah, I would say refer to our rankings again on the site. CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. You can click on the little rankings tab and we've got rankings for Roto.

And for those, we get lots of questions about this. The Roto rankings are for category leagues. So Roto and head to head categories. It's kind of confusing because there's also a head-to-head tab. The head-to-head tab is for points leagues. So head to head points. Yeah. And Roto covers Roto slash categories. I'm trying to get that change to make it less confusing.

It's probably a decade overdue. Yes. But we are trying. It is in the works, hopefully. This next one's from S.D.K. Ball. I am in a... Sorry, when I say get that fixed, I mean labeling them clear. There's still going to be those two groups, that the categories,

a.k.a. Roto and the points, aka head to head. From SDK. Ball. I am in a 10-team Head to Had Categories League with deep benches, especially for pitchers. You can keep three players for the salary cap. You draft them forever. I have Trey Turner, Vlad Jr., and Corbyn Carroll, Jackson Holiday, and Royce Lewis all for $1.

I was going to keep the top three and put the other two back, but I was offered the next three years first, and I can probably get a few seconds for Carol. So the question, in three years, will Jackson Holiday plus three firsts and two seconds be worth Corbyn Carroll? So 10-team league where you only keep three players. And they may not even be like the best players since there's a value component to this, right? Yeah, you keep the player for the salary you draft them.

So when you say three first and three seconds, they may legitimately be first and second round caliber players. Worse they'd be is fourth round, fourth and fifth round caliber players. players in a 10-team league. Well, okay, so, I mean, the fact it's a 10-team league, shallower, obviously, and so you really need your product, the higher impact players go, are that much more valuable when there are fewer ways to distinguish yourself in a shallow league like that. So normally, normally we go pretty hard for them.

But that's a lot, that's a huge return. That's a huge return that's going to set you up. that's like one of those NFL trades you hear about in the 90s where they they trade like I don't know what was it like the Vikings traded their whole draft for Herschel Walker to the Cowboys or something like that it kind of feels like that

it's just such an overwhelming return for Corby and Carroll understandably I mean I get why the person offering this trade is offering it but I think it's it's so rich that it's impossible to turn down and look there's chance Jackson Holiday. I'm not, I don't know that I really see a first round outcome for Jackson Holiday, maybe in a points league, which this isn't, because the plate discipline is so good.

But, you know, really high upside player, the number one overall prospect on a lot of lists. Second round outcome is in his future, I would think. So he could turn out to be almost as valuable as Corby and Carroll in the long run anyway. So, yeah, I think I'd be willing to give up Carol. for that hall, that pick hall plus Jackson holiday. The only thing that kind of confuses me about this is you mention you keep three players for the salary, you draft them forever. So is this an auction?

Then how are their first round picks involved? Or second round picks, you know? That's what's kind of confusing me about this. Because each of his players are $1 keepers, it sounds like. then he's getting first and second round picks. That is confusing. I don't know. Yeah. Well, nonetheless.

Maybe they assigned dollar values based on where they were taken in the draft, something like that. That's possible. I mean, I guess Corwin Carroll wouldn't have been a pickup. Maybe a couple of years ago you picked him up like towards the end of the season or whatever. It might have been. All right.

Anyway, the point is, Scott said he would do that trade if you can actually pull it off. Let's take our first break. When we return, we've got a few more Apple podcast questions, and then your emails here on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back in. Let's continue on with some Apple Podcast review questions here on the mailbag. This one's from Fort Irwin Kid. I am in an OPS league last year, Shohei Otani was ranked fifth in my league ahead of Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt, even with the injury. His Ops was 200 plus points higher than both of them. I'm not concerned about position flexibility. His power seems fine, and I love the lineup around him. I'm strongly considering taking Shoaheotani third overall.

what do you think? Well, if you say you're not concerned about those things, then I'm not going to convince you to be concerned about them, I guess. I'm concerned about them. So I wouldn't take them that high, but if you say they don't matter to you, I think it just on a pure, in terms of pure statistical output,

could show Aotani be the third best player this year? Sure, you could probably be the second best player behind Acuna. I'm not saying he absolutely will be. he might only be the 10th best in terms of overall output before you factor in the positional concerns or lack of position concerns, I guess, or the 12th best hitter or the 14th.

But, you know, there's there is a range there, but I think the range goes up as high as second only to Ronald Acuna, presuming Acuna stays healthy and has the kind of year we think he can have. Yeah, the only thing that I would say here, I think I mostly agree that I'm totally fine taking show head.

Otani third overall in this league. And we've seen in OBP formats that Juan Soto goes ahead of Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt typically. So I don't see much of a difference here. Shoi Otani is such a standout in OPS, kind of like the way Juan Soto is an OBP. So if we see Juan Soto go ahead of guys like Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt in that format, and I think it's okay to take Shoio Tani as high as, you know, top three in this one. Yeah. And we've talked before about half of OPS is OPP and we've talked before about in OPP leagues how

Lobby Witt and Julio Rodriguez lose something I just wonder about like Freddie Freeman I rank Freddie Freeman ahead of Shohey Otani even in conventional in conventional roto leagues that don't do OPS well he's great for OPS as well

you know and yeah and does actually play a position and I don't know batting average is also scored along with OPS. There are some details we're missing here that make it harder to answer. But the bottom line is I don't think it's crazy to take Shohei Otani third overall. My biggest concern, and this goes even for non-OPS leagues, is that you're filling your DH spot right away and you're not filling a scarcer spot. All right, this next one's from Wiley Ross.

I play in a head-to-head points league where there are no penalties for strikeouts. Do any of the category studs we move down in points leagues, rise up your boards in this format? Thinking Bobby Witt, Julio Rodriguez, Corby and Caryl, etc. Any other hitters on the rise? I think Julio for sure of that makes God, because he had the highest strikeout rate of those three. So he's probably someone who moves back up a little bit.

Yeah, this is one of those difficult questions to answer just off the top of the head because you have to kind of filter outs. You have to kind of go through the full rolodex of players to come up with names, right? But here are some other ones that I think of. Okay, so I'm sorting by strikeouts last year. Teoscar Hernandez.

Yeah. Would seem to be a lot better. Luis Robert. Nick Castellanos. Luis Robert, sure. James Altman. I have no interest in him in typical points, leagues because of how much he strikes out.

But if he's not losing points for that, great. Austin Riley. Let's see. I've got one, Scotty. Jake Berger. Jake Berger. Yeah, I mean, part of it is he doesn't walk. That's true.

So he's still missing out of those points. And that's also what's missing from this analysis is how much do high strikeout high walk guys? How much of an advantage do they gain over high strikeout low walk guys like? Berger. And it might be so significant that those are really the ones to key in on. Like Kyle Schwerber, for instance. Like, is he a second rounder?

126 walks, 215 strikeouts. They're not losing any points for those strikeouts and you're getting points for those walks. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that would probably make Max Muncie like a fifth or sixth rounder, right? I don't know off the top of my head how Muncie is for,

strikeout. So his strikeout rate was 26.4% last year and his walk rate was almost 15%. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he'd be up there too.

He'd rise quite a bit as well. Adolice Garcia. I feel like we should give him a shout out too. Strikeout rate last year, almost 28%. But he started walking more, 10% walk rate and a 328. Yeah, he had a decent walk rate.

Yeah. Matt Olson. Matt Olson might be a top five, top three. I don't know. I'd have to actually input all the, I mean, look, you can access your own team's stats page and see how guys fared last year and probably answer this question better than for yourself than we can for you. But that should hopefully give you a starting point to begin researching this on your own. All right, let's get into your emails, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com.

That's the letter I. and this one is from Ben. The podcast is an essential part of my morning every day, so thank you. No, thank you, Ben. Could you please do a recap of the players that you expect to gain eligibility at new positions? So I'm going to filibuster a little bit, Scott,

because this might require a little bit of time to think about it, but he says, I know Henry Davis is on that list, but I've forgotten some of the other names that you've mentioned this spring. So Henry Davis is hopefully one of the top ones. He's only outfield eligible on CBS. We're hoping that he gains catcher eligibility. Mookie Betz has second in outfield.

We learned recently that he's going to be the team starting shortstop, so he'll gain shortstop eligibility. And that's all I've got. It's got anyone else come to mind. Those are the ones that came to mind for me. Oh, Byron Buckson. That's the one I just thought of, right? As you were saying, it Byron Bucks.

There's a chance, Eloy Jimenez. There's been some talk of him playing right field, though that might take a while. him pulling out of D.H. How about a lot of the relief pitcher, Scott? Like, AJ Puck, hopefully to get starting pitcher. Same thing with Garret Crochet

and Ronaldo Lopez, Jordan Hicks, right? That would be the hope. Yes, Chris Paddock is in that same boat. Frankie Montas is in that same boat. Michael Bush at first base. That's one. Okay. Maybe Justin Foskew at first base.

Just thinking about my own Dynasty League team now. There you go. Bob Grissom, if he ever returns from injury, he'll gain second base. Yes, he would gain. Maybe Sadane Raphaelah filling in for him will gain second base. Let's see. Who else?

Ooh, let me pull up my tears. I think that will help a lot. Probably find something there. Yep. Zander Bogart's baby. Second base. Jackson Holiday. Second base.

Another one. Yeah. Jackson Merrill, Outfield. Davis Schneider, maybe Outfield. Okay. Now we're talking. We're getting somewhere. We're getting in the weeds here.

Oh, yeah. Getting something into some of those deep sleepers. Hmm. Who else? I think Ryan Weathers is RP only to start the year as well. I don't know. He's not. He's SP only.

Oh, well, I made that. No spark appeal there for Ryan Weathers. But Jonathan India Outfield, first base, maybe third base. He could become a jack of all A versatile guy, a versatile guy, jack of all trades We usually use that to describe people another way. Christopher Morel, third base.

Yes. I got another one here. Sal Freelich, third base, maybe also second base. Mm-hmm. I think that's a pretty good list, Scott. It's a pretty good list. could probably keep going, but we can move on. All right, let's move over to a question from Alex.

I want your thoughts on Corey Seeger versus Francisco Lindor, potentially in the third round. I believe Corey Seeger's ADP is just too low. The more I'm reading online, I'm seeing that he potentially may be ready for opening day. I think his current ADP indicates otherwise, which has me reaching for Corey Seeger a bit earlier in mock drafts. I know Lindor provides many more stolen bases, but Corey Seeger passes him in almost all other categories. I'm wondering realistically what his ADP should be given he is ready for opening day.

I know all of you are big fans of Lindor at his ADP, but should Corey Seeger be going before him? So, I mean, I think we have a pretty clear indicator of this, Scott, before the injury, the sports hernia surgery for Corey Seeger back in, I think it was late January, early February. He was an early second round pick. He was part of that, your group of 16 or 17 first round caliber hitters.

He was up there with Matt Olson. You know how much I love Olson? So he was ahead of Francis Goodlandor. And then he dropped, you know, into the, I would say somewhere in the third round. For some people, if they're more optimistic, it's early third. I think for us it was probably more of the late third round. But I don't know if we're getting more optimistic reports here of Corey Seeger being ready for opening day. Does that make it a closer question between him and Lindor?

You know, I'd want to see him actually. actually play and look like himself, I think. And I don't think that's going to happen. It's one of those things where you're trying to come back that quickly from hernia surgery. It could really affect your core strength. And if your core isn't built up properly, then you could start to have back issues. And it could just really spiral out of control. So I'm not saying that's how I think it's going to play out for Corey Seeger,

but I do think you need to be a little cautious because of that. the possibility that it's not like he comes back and everything's just magically okay. There may be consequences to this injury that we don't necessarily foresee coming. And so that's why I've been on the more cautious. And that's why I think the consensus is on the more cautious end. it's not that I think he's going to miss all of April or anything like that. It's just, yeah, it's not, it's not going to be a totally straightforward recovery. And there was already a lot of injury risk with Seeger even before that, Scott.

Sure, that too. But I will say, the shallower of the league, the more likely I am to take that chance. I think the one league where I've drafted Corey Seeger since the injury was our head-to-head points auction league, which is shallower end, only 252 players rostered. It's also the head-to-head points format, which is a better scoring format. I am as a top five player overall in that format before the hernia surgery.

And so I think in a league that's shallow with a format that is so beneficial for him, I was willing to be the high bidder. And it was somebody I targeted going in because I hope to get him at something of a discount. I think I got him around $30, which seemed like discount enough in that form. format. So I'm not saying it's wrong to, to want to draft Seeger earlier than everyone else.

But I do think caution is warranted. Yeah. And I'm typically somebody who likes to play it as safe as possible in the early rounds. Lindor has just been a workhorse. He just goes out there and plays year in and year out. He's going to give you power and speed. So if we knew Seeger was healthy and ready to go and there wasn't risk for re-injury like I think there is, then it's a much closer call, but I would still lean with Francisco Lindor. This next one's from Paul. Who would you target to draft and potentially keep for the next three years?

Best short term to long term bet. Jackson Turyo, Jackson Holiday, Wyatt Langford, Scott. So three of your top four prospects, a lot of our time spent, we spent a lot of our time talking about their impact for this year, right? Redraft. But, you know, look into

the crystal ball, Scott, three years from now. Who do you think we'll be making the biggest impact. Jackson Turyo, Jackson Holiday, White Lankford. Well, the three-year window Paul is talking about includes this year. So that is a big part of the calculation. I do have Jackson Holiday is my number one overall prospect, but I do have him as the lowest of those three for this year. And by a healthy margin, I would say.

So I am going to put for just talking the next three years, I am going to put Holiday third still it's possible by that third year he's outperforming Jackson Chorio and Wyatt Langford but it's a small enough time frame that I'm emphasizing the short term between Jackson Chorio and Wyatt Langford I'm going to say it depends on the scoring format and a points league I'd go Langford over Choreo

for the plate discipline if it's a categories league I go Choreo over Langford for the stolen base upside I think I would just take Wyatt Langford Scott and it doesn't really have anything to do with this massive spring that Wyatt Langford is having. But I do wonder if there's more of an adjustment period for Jackson Trio than we've kind of let on this year just because he's so young, you know, like 20 years old entering opening date.

There's a chance that he just hits the ground running and he's awesome. But we have seen, I think, at previous minor league years and stops, Jackson Trio has kind of struggled a little bit at each level when he's been promoted and then take some time and then he starts to get going. So I wonder if that's going to happen again. Again, he's 20 years old. White Langford a little bit older, a college player, dominated last year. I think maybe there's just more of an impact this year right away for Wyatt Langford. All right. So this is the stat that I think people are sleeping on with Jackson Chorio because you look at the overall stats and they're impressive enough. Jackson Chorio hit 283, 22 homers, 44 steals, an 805 OPS and a 21.4% strikeout rate.

year spent mostly at AA for as young as he is he made that big leap to double A cut way down on a strikeout rate 21.4% is a pretty good strikeout rate as it is. He was playing in the league in the double in the double in the double A league the Southern League where they were using pre-tacked balls in the first half which dramatically improved the spin for pitchers. It made it such a pitchers league and it made strikeouts go way up and that's the Choria was playing in the that league in the first half of the year. In the second half of the year, when the Southern League ditched the pre-tacked balls,

Jackson Chorio hit 324 with a 917 OPS and just a 13.4% strikeout rate. Microscopic for a player with that kind of power and speed potential. I understand he's young. I understand he didn't even make it to AAA last year. So we're talking double A. But I don't see a huge distinction between double A. AA and AAA. I think he's going to be,

I think he's going to be amazing. I think Chorio could have a rookie year like Julio Rodriguez did. It's certainly possible. You know, looking back at his 2022, you know, he got called up to, he got promoted to High A later in that season as well and played 31 games there,

hit 252 with an 805 OPS. So again, it's just, you're certainly right about the, the different baseballs that they used last year, and that could totally be a reason for why he's, I just, I look back at previous stops as well, and there have been times where he's called up to a new level and there's a bit of an adjustment period. So I just, I have slight concerns.

But I still do like Jackson Trio. He actually did make it to AAA at the end of last year for 24 plate appearances. You know how many times Jackson Tchorio struck out in those 24 plate appearances at AAA? Five. One. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Let's take our final break.

When we return, we've got more of your questions. on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back in, continuing on with your emails, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. This one's from Dan in SoCal. I play in a 12-team Head to Head Categories League on Yahoo, where Marcel O'Suna has outfield eligibility.

I listened to your discussion on him on your Util-only preview and was wondering where you would rank him as an outfielder and which round you would start targeting him in a draft. So I thought this was helpful, Scott, because obviously there are lots of people who play on other platforms, Yahoo being one of them.

And yeah, if Marcelo Zuna has outfield eligibility, this actually could help quite a few people. So what do you think? I wasn't writing about this exact topic. Gosh, he made two appearances in the outfield last year. Why is he outfield eligible? That is... You only need one, I guess.

All right. So I was writing about this, about something kind of related to this with Marcelo Zuna, my 16 underrated players, by ADP, and I put all four of the DH-onlys, the non-Otani DH-onlys in there. And just looking at the numbers again and talking about it, it is absurd how late they're going for the kind of numbers they could provide all four of them. But Osuna especially, given that unlike Eloy Jimenez and Byron Buxton, he was actually

really good last year, 40 homers, 100 RBI. I mean, if he does that again, we're talking about like a Adoli-Scarcia level production, but almost 100 picks later, right, with the DH-only status. The big advantage, there are a couple advantages Adoli-Scarcia has over them. The biggest is the outfield eligibility, which is being eliminated in this scenario. The other being, okay, Ozone has had a lot of extremes ups and downs in recent years, so can you just pencil them in for those same numbers again? No, you can't. But the outfield one is the bigger one.

If you're giving Marcel Ozuna outfield eligibility, let me look real, I should have had, should have been pulling this open while I was talking. I've got, I got ADP pulled up, Scott. And so Marcelo Zuna is 137.2 overall. I was thinking up around Nick Castellanos,

who's going at Pick 100. I'd go higher than that. Okay. I'd go higher than that. I would go. Well, then we get into like Brian, Brian Ronald. I would put him as a top 25 outfielder.

I'd probably put him in like the Brian Reynolds range. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask next, which Brian Reynolds is going around 77 in ADP as a 20th outfielder off the board. And he could be a bargain there. If Ozone is who he was last year, he's a bargain there. Yeah. It's just you need him to be a little bit of a bargain,

given the downside risk. Yeah, that's why I think I would probably put him around the Nick Cassiano's range ahead of Cassiano's, but my guess is in the 90 to 100 range is probably where I would have him ranked overall if Marcel Ozuna was an out. fielder on CBS, which he unfortunately is not. This next one's from Jonah,

dear Leto, Jessica and Paul. What do those people have in common? Jessica, Paul? Logan Paul, Jake Paul. I have no idea. We need Chris here. Jared Lido, right?

That's who that's referring to. Who's Jessica? Who's Paul? I don't know. I'm sorry. We need Chris. I listen to the pod. So, of course, I love Terik Scoubel and Cole Riggins.

I'm just worried about the Vol. if they are my SP1 and SP2. In a points league, I'm picking third overall. Is it still a good strategy to take hitters in the first three rounds? Or should I try and grab a, quote, chore thing volume-wise, like a Logan Webb or Pablo Lopez type? I think I have probably expressed the most concern, just when constructing a roster of starting pitchers,

I think I'm a little bit more wary about putting too many, quote-unquote injury risks or players who don't have a very long track record together on the same team. I don't mind having a Terrick Scouble and Cole Regens, but I think you have to surround them with a Logan Webb or a Franber Valdez and maybe a Chris Bassett later on or Jose Burrios just to kind of balance some of the injury risk or track record risk with some of those higher floor pitchers. Yeah, you know, I actually got Terrick Scoobie. and Cole Reagan's both on my Tout Wars team. And you know what safe high volume pitcher I put with them? I'm sorry.

Derek Cole. Yeah. So that didn't work out. Look, I think if you're going to take Scoobel... It kind of feels like... If you're already... Wait, is he keeping these two? Sorry.

I was looking... I was looking up Lido, Jessica, and Paul. Apparently it's a Dune thing. I haven't done the Dune thing. No, I haven't either. No, he's not keeping them. I think he's trying to focus on drafting them. It sounds like in maybe rounds four and five

and taking hitters with his first three picks. So he's maybe asking, should he take like a Logan Webb in round three to kind of give him a higher floor guy if he wants to take those pitchers a little bit later on? Okay. So it's a more conventional drafting question. Yeah, I mean,

I think my standard approach applies here. I'd rather take hitters until all the MVP caliber bats are gone, which usually happens at some point in round three. And then I'll take the best of the ace caliber pitchers left until they're all gone, more or less. And I would put Scoobel in that category. I would put Regens in that category, and I'm one of the few who would put Reagan's in that category.

But I find in my own drafts that I have to put them in that category, or I don't get them. All right. So I wouldn't stress so much about, oh, they don't have the track record, the volume. Pitching is so volatile. I just don't know that it's worth stressing about. The upside is there.

That's the most important thing. This next one's from Nick. Dear Frank and the Fantasy Wizards. Does that mean I am not a Fantasy Wizard? Hmm. 16 team head to head points league get to keep six in addition to three minor league players. I have Jackson Holiday hopefully coming up this year.

Yes, hopefully on opening day. That's what it looks like. And I'm struggling to find six solid keepers. I was proposed this trade offer. I give Corey Seeger. I get Christian Yelich, Corbin Burns, and Tyler Glassnow. I am thinking it's a no-brainer. Thoughts.

And it is a 16-team league, so I think getting quality depth is even more important. Yeah. I think that's fine. I think because you're getting Burns, I mean, look, in redraft leagues, Burns is going ahead of Seeger because of the issue Seeger's had with his, with the hernia surgery.

Gosh. So, yeah, I think that's fine. I think it's good. I think it's a good enough return for him. I understand wanting to hold on to Seeger in a head-to-head points league especially. Like I also said, he has top five potential in that format. But you're getting a nice enough haul here, especially with Jackson Holiday coming up.

You know, honestly, it's less about holiday coming up than the fact that you're just getting so much for Seeger. Yeah. I think, I guess in a league as deep as 16 teams, you'd want to have a replacement shortstop ready to go if you're going to move Seeker. But I think that's less the issue than just you're getting burns and glass now. And also, yeah, it's for good measure. This next one's from Dave.

What happened to your breakout from 2023? Oh, I probably should put his name in there. The name was Miguel Vargas. Is he still alive? Haven't heard him mentioned. So. Oh, so he was talking to me. I'm the you in this scenario.

I mean, I liked Miguel Vargas last year, too. I drafted him on a few teams. Yeah. I read a few times this offseason that the wrist or the hand injury that Miguel Vargas dealt with in spring training last year really kind of derailed his entire season. I know that the eggs of velocities were not impressive in the minor leagues. I still think there's a player there, man. Like such good play, there's a plan and trikeout rate. I think it'll work eventually.

the eggs of velocities weren't impressive in the minor leagues last year when presumably he was also dealing with the wrist entry I don't know what the eggs of velocities were before that I don't think they were ever like amazing but I don't have an exact number to cite other than last year and last year it seems reasonable we could give him a pass for that here's what he actually had to say

this is something I saved from early in spring training Miguel Vargas said coming into the spring with a broken finger and then in the middle of the season getting hit on the hand again I think that led to a lot of bad habits at the plate I was dealing with a lot of pain and didn't fully and didn't fully allow me that didn't fully allow me to be myself

and okay it seems plausible we're going to need to see evidence this year he was productive in the minor last year when the Dodgers sent him down, which makes me skeptical it was all about the wrist and him being in pain, and maybe the ex-velocities were like that all along.

But I just think we need more information. And we may get it. I know the Dodgers have mostly been using Miguel Vargas in the outfield this spring, but Gavin Lux has been a problem no matter where they've put him. And right now it's second base. He switched place with Mookie Betts.

But even then he's having throwing it. shoes. And obviously second base was the position Miguel Vargas was playing last year. So he may get his opportunity sooner than people are expecting. And I think there are a few different paths here for Miguel Vargas. You mentioned Gavin Lux. Jason Hayward, God bless the guy. He was awesome

last year. We'll see if he can replicate that again. But, I mean, if he starts to show his age and it doesn't come around, Miguel Vargas does have some experience in the corner outfield. So I think there are a few different avenues here. and maybe we overstated what we thought the upside could be for Miguel Vargas, but just thinking about him more, if it works out, I see like a Masataka Yoshita type player here, right?

Where it's 15 to 20 home runs, but he does it with a good batting average, he gets on base, and if he does stuff like that in the Dodgers lineup, I think he could still be a valuable player. So not completely forgetting about Miguel Vargas, he's not someone you need to draft, but I think he's someone you could throw on the scout team and let's see what happens. You're really lowering the bar there, though. I'm hoping for more like Alex Bregman,

but... Fair enough. It's possible. After the year he had, maybe it's fair to lower the bar. Yeah, I think it's still possible. I don't want to sell his upside short, but I guess just thinking about it, you know, realistically, just based on everything I've seen so far

from Miguel Vargas. This next one's from Hans Soto. I'm having a hard time valuing Blake Snell above Chris Sale. I know Sale has been hurt the last few seasons, but Snell has only pitched 130 plus innings twice in eight seasons, or just 25% of the time, excluding the 2020 COVID season. Career numbers favor sale in ERA and particularly WIP,

and they're almost identical in K-per-9. Do we think there's at least a 25% chance that Sail pitches 130-plus innings this year? If so, shouldn't he be valued above Blake Snell? What do you think? I love all the the sale hype all of a sudden people coming around to sale Hey it's good for your Atlanta Braves too Scott The past couple years I love it it's great to see Valid I would say valid points

I think the biggest reason I don't rank sale ahead of snow is because there's no reason to rank sale ahead of snow. You rank sale ahead of snow, you're passing up the chance to get snow, and you're probably reaching for sale. But maybe that's changing because of the big springy's having, the fact that Braves traded for them. I don't know.

It seems like people are open-minded to drafting sale again. And they've gotten a lot closer in my starting pitcher ranks. You know, every day that goes by that Blake's Snell remains unsigned. again we're recording this on Thursday maybe he signs by Saturday when you're listening to this but I've got Blake Snell down to

I thought I lowered him more than that I don't know he's around SP 25 and I have Chris Sale at 29 so yeah they're two spots apart for me pretty close in the rankings here I was debating it I almost move Snell behind sale it's it's a valid it's a valid argument especially

since as late as it is it's hard to imagine Snell's going to be ready to go for the start of the season, even if he signs by the time you're listening to this podcast. All right. This next one's from Eric, who plays in a 5-by-5 OBP Roto League

with a $260 budget, $25 Corey Seeger or $6, Cody Bellinger, is $19 in savings worth the step down from Seeger to Bellinger, who, I mean, Seeger, man, in an OBP league, that's just so money. Yeah, I think I'd stick with Seeger. It's enough of a discount.

Those legitimately elite players, those MVP caliber bats I keep referring to, are just, they're what you sell half your team for as the season's playing out. You're trying to make those consolidation sort of trades that nobody ever accepts anymore. So if you can get any kind of discount on them at all, I think it's generally. generally more valuable than a huge discount for a lower tier player. Not that Cody Bellinger is like a low tier player, but he's a lower tier than Seeger is. Right. This one's from Matt.

Hey guys, what do you do in A.L. only leagues with what has happened with Garrett Cole and Dylan Seas. It gets bad really quickly. And the top 50 guys have names like Louis Varland and John Brebia. Yuck. That's A.O. only kind of getting depleted here up at the top, Scott. I think I could do better than those two. And if you look at my top 50, I don't know.

Let me pull up in my top 50 right now. A.L. only. Okay, so what do you do to answer the broader question? Yeah, those are two big strikeout sources, especially, that have been removed from the player pool. Garrett Cole's not removed. He's still going to go for a reasonably high price in an AL only. Unless by the time you hear, you're listening to this,

been ruled out for the season. But presuming he hasn't been. Come on. This is not loading. As fast as it should. So around the top 50 for me, I've got Griffin Canning, Joe Boyle, Jack Flaherty, Chase Silsett, Tyler Wells.

That rounds out the top 50 of my... Yeah, that's a lot better than Louis Varlane and John Grebia. I do have Varlane at 53, so it's not really far off. I have Varlane. Ricky Tiedman in that mix. I have Varland 85th. In A.L. only? Yeah.

Oh. Well, why do you hate Louis Varland's guy? He doesn't have a rotation spot, does he? I think he does. I think he's there SP5, no? Oh, who did I think was there instead? Oh, Desclafani. I guess Desclophani's going to be getting you on 9.

Hey, get him out of here. I probably need to move Farland up then. Okay. Well, I mean, look, Barland, if he's in the rotation, he's not a... There's some strikeout upside there. I think it probably deserves to be a top 50 option. Who else do I have around there? Griffin Canning.

Did you mention him? Logan Allen's there. I think he's undervalued. I think that's a good name. I think Riggie Tiedeman, kind of sneaky. Yep, I am 57th. J.P. Sears, who's looked really good this spring. I like it.

I mean, this isn't answering the broader question, which is just what do you do about starting pitcher on AL in AL in AL-only leagues? And I think they already went for a premium compared to mixed leagues. I was surprised and caught off guard when I did our own AL-only auction, how much the high-end starting pitchers went for. And it's going to be even more now. So I ended up building my staff around mid-range innings-eater types, just hoping, you know, because in a league that time,

deep, an AL-only league, it's a struggle just to keep your lineup filled with players who are contributing, you know, and particularly at pitcher, you're going to have two or three middle relievers starting at most points in the season, I would say, just because you don't have enough decent starting pitchers to fill it out or closers, obviously, those are especially scarce. So I was hoping to make up for my lack of ace caliber. pitchers with by having more of those mid-tier pitchers who feel

like a, feel like they have a pretty safe floor for ERA and whip and innings like Shane Bieber is there and Jose Perrios is there and... I think you got my guy Aaron Savali on that team. Aaron Savali is there. Yeah, he seems like a great fit for that.

So I think that could work in a league that deep. You're just counting on most of the other teams having to fill out there pitching staff with really low-end guys that drag down the spectacular ratios of the high-end guys. So you could build it, you could go either way with that.

If you want safe, high-end, impactful pitching, you're going to have to pay a lot for it. And is that worth it to you? Yeah. He doesn't say he's doing an auction. He's doing a draft. And in a draft, do you have a little more control over the situation or less control of the situation?

It depends how you look at it, right? Because the bidding could get out of control on them in an auction league in a draft you kind of know where they're supposed to go. And so you can game plan around that a little easier, I think. So, yeah, if it's a draft scenario, I would probably use one of my first three picks on a pitcher for sure, maybe two of my first four picks on a pitcher, and go from there.

Yeah, I'm looking at just, again, the top of the AL-only SP ranks, and it feels like there's a pretty clear drop off after like the top 10 or 11. Like I've got Eflin at 10, I've got Grace and Rodriguez at 11, 10 or Bybee at 12. Maybe you include them in that mix, but I'm not saying you have to get one of the top five names,

but I would try to get at least one in like the 6 to 10, a Kirby, Valdez, Regens, Gilbert, Eflin. Those guys are going to blow you away, but an AOL only to have one of those guys as your anchor. I think that's pretty damn useful. And that's what I did in my NL-only labor team. I wound up with Logan Webb.

I had to pay a pretty good amount to get him, but I got Logan Webb, and then I kind of built some kind of upside around him after that. So that's what I would be looking to do. We are going to wrap there. For Scott, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

And we'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.