Fantasy Baseball Today - LABR Expert Draft Recap with James Anderson! AL-only & NL-only Strategy! (3/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Welcome to the show, James Anderson! Before we get into the LABR expert leagues, Jurickson Profar has been suspended for 162 games (3:30)! ... What is our strategy in AL and NL-only leagues (6:30)? ... Let's start with James' plan in AL LABR (10:12). ... Zach Neto was his most expensive hitter (19:58). ... His plan was to spend down in the outfield (24:18). ... Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown lead his pitching staff (28:50). ... What was Frank's plan in NL LABR (38:00)? ... He wound up with Elly De La Cruz leading his infield (41:00) but he also spent up on Tatis in the outfield (47:19). ... Did Frank get enough on the pitching side (53:28)? ... We wrap up with Frank's NL-only reserves and how much Konnor Griffin went for (1:01:25).  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to a bonus edition of Fantasy Baseball today here on Tuesday afternoon. Not our normal time.

It is March 3rd. I am Frank Stamphill, and today on the show, We are recapping the AL and NL-only labor drafts from this past weekend. That is the League of Alternative Baseball Reality. The longest standing industry expert leagues going strong since 1994. I joked last night they're almost as old as me. So it's pretty fun there. Welcome to the show to help us break down these drafts.

The lead prospect analyst, senior baseball editor at Roto Wire, one of the hosts of the Roto Wire Fantasy Baseball podcast, James Anderson. James, welcome in, man. thanks for hopping on. Absolutely, Frank. It was good seeing you in Phoenix, and definitely good to be on with you. Yeah, you can follow James on X at Real J.R. Anderson,

and James is a great player, great analyst. I don't believe we've ever podcasted before, so this is a first year on the Fantasy Baseball today's side of things, but happy to have you on. We'll be breaking down his draft, his team from the AL-only draft auction this weekend, and then we'll take a look at my team

on the NL-only. side of things. And I want to just give a shout out once again to Steve Gardner for getting us all together in person once again. It is a monumental task of getting that many people together for a weekend and just kind of fitting in all these drafts and getting to go to spring training games and all that. So shout out Steve Gardner. Job well done. Happy we were able to do these drafts in person once again. Before we get to the drafts, James, we did get some breaking news today. And Jerksson ProFar, man, dude just cannot learn. He is facing a 162 game suspension after testing positive for a performance enhancing drug for now the second time. We remember last

year it was an 80 game suspension for ProFar. The players association say that they plan to challenge the suspension, but I don't know, man. The proof is kind of in the pudding here with Jerksson ProFar. We'll see if it sticks, but ProFar, he has a history here. And in the NL-only auction, he went for $14 in that one. And we were talking beforehand, just looking at the Braves roster, there is not a lot of depth here. I don't really see anyone that stands out to me as, like, of any interest. Maybe you feel differently.

I think longer term, once Sean Murphy is back, I think this is really good news for both him and Drake Baldwin. So what's your take here on the jerks and pro far suspension? Yeah, there's definitely nobody currently on the roster that excites me as someone that would benefit. And Atlanta actually has the weakest position player depth in their farm system of any team in the majors per my top 400 prospect rankings. They've got one hitter in my top 200. And he's a guy who was only played in the Dominican Summer League.

So there's no help coming from the farm for them. And I would look for them to maybe poke around like ESOC Parades or something like that. but this kind of just seems like a cursed season when you factor in the Schwellenbach injury, the Waldrop injury, now they're without one of their few everyday position players that they were counting on, just kind of everything that could go wrong has gone wrong so far for Atlanta. Yeah, and it feels like it's been that way for the past couple of years, right? We've been waiting for this offense in particular to stay healthy altogether. And I think for the most part, we all believe that they're still a really talented group with Akuna and Olson and Austin Riley and Ozzy Albies and Michael

Harris, but, you know, it feels like one thing after another, you know, things have been popping up. For the most part, those guys are still there, but yeah, they've lost, you know, some pitchers with Schwellenbach and ProFar and, you know, they're relying on, you know, guys like Grant Holmes and others that have just dealt with a lot of injuries in previous years. So, Ronaldo Lopez coming back from the shoulder. So we'll see how long those guys could stay healthy. And the parade is call out is a really interesting one, too, because, yeah, he's, kind of on the outside looking in.

We all think he's a talented player, but obviously the Astros have a ton of options there, and I guess they could try him in the outfield, but I don't think that would really work well, and probably not a good idea to play Yordaun Alvarez in the outfield either at this point. So that's a really interesting call out. We'll see if the Braves make any moves here

to fortify their DH position. So let's get into the drafts that we had this past weekend. Again, we don't talk a lot about AL and NO only here on the podcast often, but what are some quick tips, James, that you would offer up in a format this deep? Again, the AL only, NL only Mono League depth. Yeah, I think plate appearances are huge. I mean, that's true in any kind of fantasy format, but you can really fall behind in a league if you're starting multiple short-side platoon players or even taking a zero in a spot, which you can end up being stuck taking a zero if you deal with injuries. So just trying to have as many,

you know, at least strong side platoon players, but ideally everyday players for your hitters. And then I would just look, you know, auction calculator, whatever you want to do, and sort by NL and AL and look at each position because the positional scarcity stuff does differ when you go from Mix League to Mono League and there's certain corks in the AL and the NL that you just have to be aware of and know that like it really does fall off at this position or it's really deep at this position. Yeah, no, that is a fantastic point. And we'll learn later on when we look at my team. I kind of got caught up in the waited too long at a certain position. Oh crap, here's the last player I want in this tier. And as a result, had to pay up a little bit more than I wanted to to get those players.

So that is a really great point. I think if you can try your best to avoid one dollar players for all the reasons you mentioned like in a 15 team or a 12 team mixed auction, a $1 player can still be a really valuable player. In an only, if you have a $1 player on your roster, they are either a short side platoon player, a bench player, or a prospect who is probably not starting in the major leagues. And I think ideally you'd want to avoid as many of those on your team as humanly possible. Some unique rules to know about labor in particular. Again, League of Alternative baseball reality. The team you draft is your starting lineup weekly. So you can only remove a player from your lineup. If they go on the IL, they are sent to the minors or you drop them. Those are the

only ways to get those players out of your lineup. So it's not like you're constantly making lineup decisions. I mean, the team that you draft as long as they are healthy, you are pretty much locked into those players being in your lineup again, unless they get hurt, sense of the minors, or you drop one of those players. So James, that kind of adds. an interesting factor to this as well because, I mean, particularly on the pitching side, if you take any pitchers that, you know, have volatile profiles, I mean, these guys could just get blown up and those ratios are just stuck in your lineup. It's not like you can really play the matchups here. So it's something that you really do. It's a unique quirk and I think something

you do have to pay attention to in this league in particular. Yeah, I think the rules are really fun, but you definitely have to get used to them. And that's such a good point about the pitching like if you're buying a pitcher in one of these auctions, it better be someone that you really believe in or someone who's cheap enough that you can cut them and move on quickly if it's not working out because like if you if you just keep a guy who's just destroying your ratios in your lineup for like a month that could just cost you your season. So obviously any pitcher you're buying should be someone you definitely believe in. Yeah, I remember last year, even in an NL only, you probably wouldn't suspect a pitcher like Brandon Fott would

be on the waiver wire, but he was hurting someone's team so badly when he was in the lineup that whoever had him just had to cut Brandon fought. And there are other players like that. You know, kind of the past couple of years, like Aranola has been kind of like susceptible to some of these blow-up starts. And there are a few pitchers in particular like that. So it's a very specific rule, but if for some reason your league plays with any type of rule like that, keep that in mind. Let's get into James's A. A.L. only team here, and I will pull up the draft board for those watching on YouTube. And there's a lot going on here. So try your best to kind of zoom in and see. If you look at James's team, it's the one with the Rotowire logo right

above there. It's third from the left. So that will be the team that we'll be focusing on. But you can bounce around and see how much players went for. You know, if you play in an AL-only league and you just want to kind of compare and contrast and see, you know, what players went for in this one. So first up, just kind of an overarching strategy question, I guess, James. Did you have a plan going into the auction and if so what was that plan and did you stick to it here right so i obviously had you know rough dollar values on a handful of targets at every position but in terms of a plan i really wanted one of the elite shortstops and specifically i thought i was going to get either gunner henderson or zach netto i typically don't like to spend up in like

the high 30s, low 40s on players in this league. So I knew I wasn't going to get Bobby Witt, but, you know, Henderson or Netto, I just felt like I needed one of those five categories short stops to keep pace and speed and to just kind of keep pace in the other categories because I felt like there was a pretty steep drop off. Like, I mean, I think Jeremy Payne is fine. But like a guy like that going for 27, I just didn't want to be kind of stuck in that range. I wanted to be in the tier above.

I regret not going 36 on Gunner Henderson. You know Sarah's got him for 35. We talked about it later that night, and he wasn't sure whether he would have gone 37 or not if I go 36, but would have at least liked to have found that out because I think Gunner for 36 would be a little bit more preferable to me than Netto for 31, but I don't really have any regrets about that because it was part of the plan.

He did go for a little bit more than I was hoping. The other big thing, was planning on doing was throwing Andres Munoz with my first nomination. I looked at the closer pool in the AL and shortstop and closer were basically the two positions where I just did not want to be left with a second or third option. Just seemed like there were four or five closers I really trust in the AL. I thought that throwing the guy I wanted most early would possibly lead to me getting them for a little bit cheaper. I think that probably work. You know, Munoz for 23 was something I was pretty happy with. The big thing I wasn't really planning on was Garrett Crochet for 35,

but I was willing to be flexible on something like that. Like I had prices for Tariq Scuble, who went for 39, prices for crochet. And he's sitting there at 34. I thought he was at least like a $37, $38 player. I think Scoobel is like at least a $43, $44. player. That doesn't mean you have to pay exactly what they're worth. There's risk, obviously, if those guys get hurt, then you're left with a big deficit in your lineup. But I just couldn't let crochet go for 34. So I got the crochet for 35. Then the same thing happened with Hunter Brown, where I just couldn't let him go for 24, so I got him for 25. So the two aces was not really part of the plan. But I was open to something like that. I knew I was going to go very cheap on

outfield, and that's indeed what happened. I spent less than 30 bucks in the outfield. Yeah, and there's a lot here that I liked from your team that you did, and especially Andres Munoz, I mean, I think I told you at the first break that I really love that buy because you got him for $23. And then a few nominations later, Cade Smith comes out and he winds up going for 26. And I figured that if you get that first elite closer from that tier that the other names after would go for more money and it actually played out that way in your draft did not play out that way in my draft. And we'll talk about that a little bit later on here. you wound up spending 59% of your $260 budget on hitting and then 41% on pitching. So a little bit more of an aggressive pitcher split there was that part of the plan. Did you have a hitter pitcher split plan in mind going in?

Or was it just to be flexible and kind of wind up somewhere in that like 60, 40, 70, 30 split range? You know, every year I spend more on pitching in this auction than I want to. and like I knew that going in. I was like, I want to spend around 95 bucks on pitching. It's the spot that I think the most talent comes in off waivers throughout the season. Like there's just there's always going to just be a stream of exciting pitching prospects coming up midseason. So if I'm weak at like my eighth or ninth pitcher spot, I think that's preferable than being weak at multiple hitting spots. But again, like I just kind of reacted to the prices.

I felt like the most overpriced players, well, speedsters are always just really priced up in this league. But I felt like that second tier starting pitching really got priced up. So I was happy to chop in the top tier. But like you had guys like Bradish going for 20, McKenzie Gore, Tatsu Ma, going for like high teens. Just, you know, all those guys just went for a few more bucks than I. thought they were worth. So ending up with the two aces and the ace closer, not the end of the world, but, you know, everyone in these rooms is pretty sharp. So like guys like Mike Burroughs, Shane Smith, they weren't as cheap as I was hoping. I didn't want to go into the year with

like multiple starting pitchers that I thought were ratio risks. And I think, you know, three relievers is kind of the max I'm willing to go into into the year with. So I felt like spending a little bit more to make sure I got some targets in Burroughs and Smith. It made sense mid-auction to me, but I did spend more on pitching than I wanted to at the end of the day. Yeah, and I do agree. I think some of those second and third-tier pitchers went for a little bit more than at least I was expecting.

You know, someone like Ryan Pepio, who I liked this year, I thought he would be $15, $16 pitcher. He winds up going for 18. Tatuya I Mai went a little bit higher as well. There was somebody else who got up there, too, not coming to mind right now. but, yeah, like, McKenzie Gore went for $16 too, right? And that's another guy where I think, like, all right, maybe he's like a 12, 13, 14 guy. So you get a little bit of inflation on those.

But then, again, it's a zero-sum game. So, like, the money has to be spent somewhere. And I do think some of those higher-end names, like you mentioned Crochet going for 35. I think that's probably a $3 or $4 discount. And then boom, you know, that gets allocated somewhere else in the mid-tier of pitching. Right. Yeah. Right, exactly.

Like, you know, McKenzie Gore, Tatsui Mai specifically. those were guys, well, and Cal Baddish actually. Like I had all three of those guys in different sort of builds that I was thinking about, but I had them all for at least two or three dollars less than they went for. So I'm not upset that I had to switch things up, but it's just it's so tough in these auctions when you, you know, you don't want to let somebody else get a really good deal on an important swing player, but it's just every year in this thing,

I end up spending more on pitching than I planned on just trying to, like get values and try to enforce and stuff like that. Yeah, and you know what? Maybe I should have done the same thing. We'll talk about that a little bit later on. I will, let's take our first break when we return. We'll get into James's specific players, his infield, his outfield, his pitchers. We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today.

I'm here with James Anderson of Roto Wire to recap the AL-only and NL-only labor auctions from this past weekend. And let's start with your infield here, James. you wound up with Salvador Perez at $21, Bo Nailer at 27, Miguel Vargas at 14, Chase Middraught at 13, Zach Netto for 31,

Royce Lewis for 16, Brian Rochio at Middle for 6, and Cosma Okamoto at Corner Infield for 16. This seems really strong in an AAL-only. I know Netto was your most expensive hitter here at $31. You spoke about wanting to get one of those elite shortstops. I also know that you like him a lot, you know, just listening to your podcast

and seeing some draft boards and things like that. Jason and Jason Collette and I were joking before the draft. We're like, how much you want to bet James winds up with Zach Netto? Boom, you did. Yeah, I mean, nothing sneaky about that, of course. I mean, we all know in these leagues, like, who our targets are.

I get, you know, I feel bad for, for, like, Enosaris. Like, everyone knows who he wants. Right, right. Every interesting Ray, everyone knows that Jason Collette's going to be in on them. And, yeah, not surprised that you guys could figure out that I was going to be interested in Netto. Yeah, I love the Okamoto buy as well for $16. Scott, Chris and myself, we are all in on him as well. What do you expect here from Okamoto first season with the Blue Jays? Yeah, you know, I mean, you want to be making buys in the auction where there's profit potential.

And I think there's just, there's obviously profit potential in any player who's coming over from Japan where we're just not sure what they're going to give us. We're not going to be baking in like the full ceiling. And I think he fit well on my team just because I didn't really have anyone that I thought was going to be a real nice batting average anchor for me. And I think Okamoto will hit for a pretty high average in year one based on what he did in NPB. And he just really seems to fit in with this Blue Jay's team.

Like every time I would see him working out before the game, like it just seemed like he was one of the guys. I think he's just a really strong pure hitter. I think he's going to hit 20 plus homers, good average, good counting stats. 16 was a little bit more than I thought he'd go for, but not mad about that one at all. And I think there's a chance he adds first base eligibility in season. Yeah, and to your point about just fitting in with the Blue Jays, I think from a hitting perspective, he fits in a lot as well. Because what they did last year of blending this contact and power approach, that feels like Cosma Okamoto to a T, at least based on what he did in Japan.

So hopefully that can carry over here into the Toronto Blue Jays as well. You get Royce Lewis for $16 and I've liked drafting him this year as well. And then of course last Thursday he was scratched with the right side tightness. He's back in the lineup today. In fact, he already has his second steel of the spring. So nice to see that he's running already again like he did late in last season. Did you think that you would get more of a discount on Royce Lewis because we just had the fresh news about him dealing with that right side tightness. Everyone's thinking, all right, well, here we go again

with Royce Lewis. You know, I think just the prices of other players, I feel like I did still get a discount. Like, I think, you know, he goes for a dollar less than Andres Jimenez. He goes for $3 less than Caleb Durbin. He goes for like $5 more than Luis San Helacuna. Like, these aren't, you know, really established commodities that we can bank on. Like, their production that we're going to get from them. Royce Lewis obviously isn't either. Very well-documented injury history. But at the end of last season,

he was going right and we saw what he was capable of. I think he had like 10 steals in his last 30 games or something like that. And just speed gets pushed up so much in this league. Like I mentioned, like Andres Jimenez, you wouldn't think that would be a guy where people are going crazy. You know, Jose Caballero goes for over $20 in this league. That's how expensive stolen basics. are. So spending 16 on Royce Lewis, I feel like he probably is worth that over half a season

in this league. And I have a ton of third base depth. Like I have Okamoto, I have Miguel Vargas, I have Blaise Alexander, all eligible at third base. So if I have to I L. Lewis for a stretch, that's fine. I didn't mind the price there. All right. Let's take a look at your outfield and utility bat. You've got Colton Kouser for 12, Dominic Canzone for seven, Hazu Sanchez for five, Denzel Clark for three, Brooks Baldwin for one, and Blaze Alexander for two. So was it a conscious decision to spend less on your outfield? I mean, do you worry less about positions within the auction and just trying to get as many good deals and values and players you like as possible? Like, was this part of your plan as to maybe spend down a little bit in the outfield?

Yeah, it was definitely part of the plan. I looked at all the positions. I felt like first base and outfield were the two. that I didn't mind kind of shopping towards the bottom of the position just based on the depth. And I think there's just more of a chance of outfielders coming through during the season that you want to add than infielders. So I thought I was going to be spending kind of in the mid-30s on my outfield. I ended up only spending in the mid-20s. So I thought I would probably have a slightly better outfield than this.

You know, Brooks Baldwin for a buck, that might turn out to not be that great. But there's also a chance that he's a strong Sight of the Toon guy for them. So, you know, we'll see about that one. But, yeah, I definitely knew that Outfield was going to be my weakest group of positions. So were all these names on your list? Maybe not Baldwin because you just brought him up, but were they all targets for you? Or did you get to a certain point where you're like, all right, I just have to take whatever's left, whatever's available to me at this point? Yeah, so Kouser, you know, Kouser was sort of a rough target.

I thought $12 was a good price on him. He's a guy that could steal 15 bases pretty easily at outfield. Canzone was a target because I wanted someone that I thought could help my batting average a little bit. And he's, you know, the platoon aspect, it's just not that big of a deal in AL only at seven bucks. And then Denzel Clark was probably the biggest target of my five outfielders for three. I actually threw him out for three. And nobody went four, which like maybe it was the perfect nomination. maybe I could have gotten him for cheaper, but I just think, like, again, the speed, how much it gets priced up in this league,

Denzel Clark's glove is just so damn good that he's going to be in the lineup every day. He might be hitting ninth all season, but if Denzel Clark's in the lineup every day, I think he's going to steal 20 plus bases, hit double-digit homers, and there's still a chance. Like, he has the raw tools that we could see, like, a mid-20s breakout from him. He's always been struggling to kind of get the ball in the air a bit more consistently, but Clark's physical tools are pretty nice. and then the playing time that comes with the defense, I thought was great at three. Yeah, and then you also got Blaze Alexander here. I know on the screen he's your third baseman, but I guess ostensibly your utility bat here.

And does give you some position flexibility there. He looks like he's going to start the season at second base until Jackson Holiday is back, which could be pretty early on in the season here. And then Kobe Mayo filling in at third base for Jordan Westberg, who is currently injured. So what do you see, I guess, like long term as the season plays out, like Blaze Alexander's role being with Baltimore? So first off, this is probably my biggest regret of the auction.

I don't know what I was thinking. I wanted Jacob Melton this whole time. We get kind of towards the end of the auction. And I, for some reason, I talk myself into maybe I can get Melton in the reserve round with my first pick, just so stupid. It wasn't even really part of the plan. And of course, Jason tells me. me during the break that he's going to take Melton. So I should have just let Colton and the Wolfman

get Blaise Alexander for a buck. I was playing a little defense there. I thought that was going to be a good buy for them for a buck. But it cost me Jacob Melton. And so I definitely would like a mulligan on that. But I just don't trust Jordan Westberg to play. Like I just think he's so brittle at this point. And, you know, maybe Kobe Mayo succeeds right out of the gate and Blaze Alexander gets phased into a utility role when holidays healthy. But I think it's more likely that Mayo gets sent back to AAA, and Blaze keeps playing every day and once holidays back. And then we'll see what happens when Westberg's eventually healthy.

But, you know, second and third eligibility, I think he's going to be playing quite a bit, at least early on, on a pretty good offense. So I don't mind the $2 buy in a vacuum. But I think Jacob Melton could be just a monster breakout rookie this year in the AL and cost me that. So I'm not happy about it. All right.

Get into the pitching side of things here. Again, you did spend up a little bit on some big names. You got Garrett Crochet for 35. Hunter Brown for 25. Andres Munoz for 23. And then Mike Burroughs for 8. Shane Smith for 7. Simeon Woods Richardson for 4.

Louis Varland for 2. Tage Bradley for 1. And Kyle Finnegan for 1. So you mentioned this earlier that getting two Aces wasn't particularly part of the plan, but you just got those guys at good values. What was the plan? Was it just to get one? an ace and then maybe another $15

pitcher and then build it out from there. What was the actual pitching plan going into it? Yeah, you know, the rough plan was get Hunter Brown and then get either braddish as the SP2 with Hunter Brown or get like two of Tatsui Mai, McKenzie Gore with Brown, you know, maybe like Pepio and Emai with Brown,

like something like that. But like I said, it just those backup, those original plans, all those secondary pitchers I mentioned went for more than I was expecting. So, you know, I think it's, you don't want to go into an auction like this with just a very rigid plan, even if it's just your pitching. Like, you just don't know what order players are going to get nominated. You don't know what the prices of the guys you want are going to go for. So you have to be able to kind of pivot on the fly. Yeah, I, I didn't. really have my A plan unfold the way I wanted to, but I'm not mad about how the pitching went down.

Yeah, I think in hindsight, it actually worked out very well for you because you got Crochet and Hunter Brown for favorable prices when you didn't know how much that Braddish, Mackenzie Gore, Tatuya, I, My Group was going to go for, and then they all wound up going for more than we all expected. So in hindsight, it actually worked out really well for you there to get the two aces up top. You also have like deep sleeper de jure here. with Mike Burroughs, Shane Smith, Simian Woods Richardson, and Taj Bradley. We're all four of those targets,

and what do you like about those four pitchers in particular? Yeah, so if I'd pulled it off perfectly, I would have had Joey Cantillo instead of Taj Bradley, but, you know, Cantillo, Burroughs, Cody Ponce was another guy I really wanted. You know, all those guys went for just a few more bucks than I was hoping, so it couldn't fit them all in. Shane Smith, you know, I just think what he did over the final couple months last year,

fastball is one of the best in the game just because of how well he locates it and just how well his secondaries play off of it, the way he tunnels. I just think you look at the way he finished the year, underrated arm for this year. And Burroughs, you know, another guy, like you look under the hood. It's almost more impressive than the surface. And again, he got better as the season went on last year, better team. contacts this year with Houston. Simene Wood Richardson, it's, this is sort of, you know, some of my friends are kind of

tracking this one because Simmian Wood Richardson is not a projections darling at all. So everyone I know who's just a big projections drafter is kind of dubious of this one. But I just look at how good he was when he introduced the splitter late in the year last year. He became a completely different pitcher. He was showing off the splitter in his first start of spring. Got a great whiff on Roman Anthony with it. And I just think since he's added that to his pitch mix, he's been basically like a number three starter.

And we'll see he's only four bucks. So if Simian Wood Richardson is killing me in April, I don't mind moving off of him and taking an L on that one. But he was just really, really impressive down the stretch last year. Yeah, I think I saw he got kind of touched up a little bit earlier today, but I haven't looked into his pitch mix for today. start, but the previous two in spring so far, he was throwing that splitter around 28% of the time. So I found that encouraging that he used that pitch ending last season and it worked out very well

for him. And he's picked it up so far in spring. And it's looked like a pretty good pitch for him. So I'm with you there as a very deep sleeper on Simeon Woods Richardson. Let's take a look here at your reserve picks. And you wound up with Kate Anderson of the Mariners, Sean Burke with the White Sox, George Cawson with the Angels, Jack Perkins, with the Miles Straw with the Blue Jays and Colby Thomas with the athletics. I guess that's a nice little handcuff situation there with Denzel Clark, if anything were to happen. So I see you draft prospects. You're a prospect guy. And the light bulb goes off of my head. I'm like, all right, like, you took Kate Anderson. You took George Cawson. So what do you like about those two?

When do you think we see them in 2026? Yeah, I've gotten higher and higher on Kate Anderson over the past. a couple weeks or so. I mean, he was the best prospect on paper in last year's draft, the best college pitching prospect in a draft that was loaded with college pitchers. And coming from LSU, coming from the SEC, just sort of seeing how quickly the blue chip talents from the past draft moved to the big leagues, you look at Kurtz, Keglione, Chase Burns, Camp Smith. obviously not all those guys lit the world on fire, but I also look at that Mariners depth chart.

And honestly, like if somebody got hurt in April, I wonder if Cade Smith would be the guy. Like I'd look at the options behind their top five and he's just so clearly the most talented option. So I think he could be up for three, four months if something were to happen to one of their top five guys. And I just ended up taking him over, Peyton Toley, who I really love as well, but I just, I think it's more likely Tolly spends like

three plus months in the minors than Kate Anderson does at this point in the offseason. But tough to decide between those two talented lefties, I really let the depth chart kind of be my tiebreaker there. And then with George Claussen, another guy who really kind of dominated down the stretch last year was really nasty in spring already. He's always had some of the pure stuff in the minors, and it's just been about throwing strikes, and he's been making gains in that department again, like dating back to the second half of last year, and obviously we know the Angels are not going to make him prove it multiple turns through the PCL. Like, I think we could see Claussen up for a good chunk of the season this year.

All right. Let's wrap up here with your team, and just any other overall thoughts that you had on this team, if you could change anything about it, was there another buy in the draft that you really liked? I think all of those answers might just be Gunner Henderson for you, but. Any overall thoughts here on your team? Yeah, I mean, the Jacob Melton one really stings. We'll see how that plays out. He's been really impressive to me this spring.

And when the rays go get a guy like that, they've been extremely right in some cases in the past. So that's probably the big one. It's just not having Jacob Melton in a league where speed is so prized. All right. Let's take our final break. When we return, we will get into my NEO-only team. We'll talk about that.

right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. I'm here with James Anderson of Rotowire. We're breaking down the AL-only and N-L-only labor auctions from this past weekend. And let's pull up the N-L-only draft, which is the one that I was participating in here. And so I mentioned earlier that James went with a 59-41 split in terms of his $260 budget. I wound up $6733, which was pretty close to what I wanted. I wanted to be in that like 65, 35, 35 range there,

170 on hitting and right around 90 on pitching. And James, generally, I like to plan out everything to a T and have a plan A, plan B, and plan C at each position, right? So even if I don't get a higher end name, you know, I can kind of pivot to the mid tier and low end and so on and so forth. This year, I wanted to be more flexible because every auction that I have done in the past, there would always be a few players that either during the auction or afterwards I would say man that was such a good buy like why didn't I get in like why didn't I at least price and

force on a player that I kind of like this season and I would look back and say oh well you know he wasn't part of my plan my very kind of rigid plan of a plan B plan C at each position and so I wanted to be more flexible and so this year like I had a few ideas I wanted a $30 hitter I wanted an elite starter I wanted an elite reliever I wanted at least one good, maybe great catcher. And then everything else, I was like, I'll kind of let the draft come to me. I think it turned out okay. But, I mean, while it was going on and then even right afterwards, I kind of,

I didn't love it. Like, the lack of structure, I just felt like it was too overwhelming for me. So it was weird. Like, I wanted to try it out. But in hindsight, I think, like, now that I'm planning for Tao Wars in a couple of weeks, I think I'll probably try to meet a happy medium where it's like, I'll have a plan, but I could still be flexible because I think I was just like way, way, way too open and way too flexible in this one. You know, I'm kind of, I'm jealous of like the caliber of pitching staff you were able to put together though going as like you spent, you spent 34, 35 percent on pitching.

Yeah, 33. Yep. Yeah, like this is this is a good staff. Like I think even if you'd spent a little bit more than that, I wouldn't mind this staff. So it's just so tough in these only leagues. right like you you're just you're gonna have some some parts of your roster that don't look great at the end and you just kind of hope that you can kind of get by with that but you know I thought you I thought you got some some really nice buys on the the

pitching build even though he went cheap yeah well we'll get into that a little bit later on like you know I wanted to get one of like Christopher Sanchez or Chris Sale or Yamamoto and and those guys just went for more than that I was willing to spend and also because of what I did on the offensive side I just I didn't have the funds that I didn't have the funds left that I thought I could spend up on some of those names. So we'll get into that. And again, if you're watching on YouTube, I've pulled up the draft board here and my team is right smack in the middle there. It starts with Francisco Alvarez. If you want to just check up and down and see how much I paid for players here.

Let's start with my infield. I had Francisco Alvarez for $16. I got his teammate, Luis Terence, for $1.00. So I guess let's go Mets. Pavin Smith for $5. Ozzy Albies for 14. Ellie De La Cruz for 33, Alec Boem for 18, Nassim Nunez for four, and Connor Norby for seven. So I plan to spend $25 combined on my two catchers, and I actually wanted Tyler Stevenson as my catcher too.

I was in on the bidding. I wanted to spend like eight or nine on Tyler Stevenson. He wound up getting up to 10, so I didn't want to go 11 for him. And I made the classic mistake of Alvarez was the last top catcher available in that tier. And so I wound up in a bidding war with Steve Gardner, wound up spending $16 on Alvarez, which I think in a vacuum isn't terrible, but you look at some other prices. I believe Augustine Ramirez went for $1 more. Like, yeah, I would probably rather have that

over a Francisco Alvarez. Again, in a vacuum, like, I'm fine with him, but as a result, I didn't get Tyler Stevenson. Freddie Fermin went for like $7 or $8. I didn't want to do that. And so all those third-tier catchers went for a little more. And so I just said, all right, Alvarez gets hurt sometimes. I'll just lock up the Mets catcher situation and kind of hope that works out. But what do you think about that, James, is kind of, if you miss out on Fermin and Harry Ford, just kind of locking in one catcher situation as your two catchers in a league this deep. Yeah, I mean, the only thing I would have done differently is just get, like,

because I think Torrens at one is fantastic. in an NL only. Like he's one of my favorite third catchers in a DC right now, just because, like you said, Alvarez, like Alvarez isn't going to set a hundred point of games, right? And Torenz, I think there's interesting stuff under the hood with him. I think, like, you know, I would rather have Goodman for 20 or, like you said, Ramirez for 17, but then, like, if you go 21 on Goodman,

I know Derek Carty's projection system loves Goodman. Is he going to go 22? And then, you know, I think Ramirez is a steel at 17. If you go 18, is Brian Walton going to go 19? So, you know, you don't want to play that game necessarily. But, yeah, 16 for Alvarez does seem a little high. But I do think Toranz, for one, kind of makes up for it. Yeah, and I've never done it before where you just kind of take an entire catcher backfield.

But I think one like this makes sense where, again, Alvarez has dealt with a lot of injuries. And, you know, Terence has looked like a cromulent hitter at times. his career. So if anything happens to Alvarez, I could just plug him in there. Pave and Smith was not really a target at all, but it was really late in the auction. And I originally had Ryan O'Hern penciled in as my first baseman. I did win him, but then I threw him in the outfield, because I needed a fifth outfielder and all the outfielers left were terrible. So then I looked at first base and said, all right, like Paveen Smith, maybe he can hit 15 to 20 home runs as a, you know, strong side platoon. And that's how I wound up with him. Also, I overspent on Alec Bone for,

$18 here. That was another one where he was just the last clear starting third baseman in the tier. I needed batting average at that point. And so I wound up spending up to $18. You know, I've told people this before. I start with ATC as kind of like a base for my values here. And ATC had him at 17. So it's not like terrible compared to ATC projections. But in hindsight, like Austin Riley went for just $2 more. I would much rather have Austin Riley for 20 than and Alec Bome for 18. Yeah, like Matt Chapman and Bregman went for 18 too. Exactly.

Yeah. But like, you know, I will say like, boom, like, you know, sometimes you tweet out like the screenshot of like your roster and like people be like, why, why do you spend that much on this guy? And it's like sometimes it's just really different in the only leagues. Like Bome is just a classic only league type of guy where he's going to play every single day and he's not going to hurt you anywhere. And just that those plate appearances really matter in and only.

not the end of the world, obviously, even though there were some better buys at the position. Let me ask you about Nassim Nunez here, because I got him as my middle infielder for $4. And I remember earlier in the offseason, I think it was you and Rob, Rob Silver. Maybe Dustin McCoy, or it might have been Rob, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I know you guys were talking him up,

and I took a deeper dive, and he has some massive stolen base seasons in the minors, and like the nationals are terrible. So I kind of feel like they're just going to let Insene Nunez play, at least early on, and see what he can do. And, you know, if he does anything offensively, they're probably just going to let him run wild.

So my thought was, all right, maybe he gives me 20 steals, but there's an off chance where if he just plays well, I mean, maybe he can get like 30, 40 steals this season. Yeah, man, I think that's one of the better buys in the whole, on the whole auction, Nunez for four in an only league. I mean, like we talked about how much the speed got pushed up in my auction. Nunez, even if he's not starting, probably gets 20 plus steals. And if he is starting, yeah, look out.

Like you could get to 40. And so like right now, there's just a lot of moving pieces on that Nationals depth chart. I am pretty confident that they're done with Luis Garcia as a regular middle infielder. So, you know, move him over to first base. And there's definitely a spot for Nunez unless, unless they're, They want to give prospect of bin to Letk Ortiz the first base job and keep dealing with Luis Garcia's terrible defense. But yeah, I love that Nunez buy for four.

Like, it's just so hard to get that many stolen bases for that price. Yeah, and I actually threw him out very late when I didn't have much money left. My max bid was four. So I threw him out for one. Somebody went two and then I went four immediately just because that was my max bid. And I think at that point I maybe needed two or three more roster spots. And so I was like, all right, I'll bite the bullet and get a few $1 players here. But I needed to know at that point if I was going to have speed

or if I needed to pivot to another speed option at middle infield. So that's why I played out that way. And yeah, I mean, in hindsight for four bucks, we'll see what Nassim Nunez could do. Taking a look at my outfield and utility, I've got Fernando Tatez Jr. at 31. Brian Reynolds for 14. Ryan O'Hern for 12, Jacob McCarthy for 8, Joshua Baez for 1, and Marcelo Zuna for 9. So let's go pirates. Lots of pirates here.

Reynolds, O'Hern, and O'Zuna. I do think the lineup just has to be better just based on where they've been in previous years. I thought my biggest mistake in the draft was getting two $30 hitters. And going in, I wanted one that provided power and speed.

I wanted, you know, ideally, I really wanted a cunea, but I knew after his huge game on Friday, the Grand Slam and two seals, I'm like, all right, he's probably going to be a $40 player and he wound up going for 40 on the nose. So I kind of wanted to live in that $30 to $35 range.

I would have been open to Juan Soto, but he went for 39. So Ellie got thrown out earlier, and I won him for 33. And then Tatis was slowing down at like 28, 29. I'm like, all right, well, I've got to jump in here. I just think it's a really good price on Tatis. So I got him for 31. I think both of those were great prices. But in hindsight, if I would have got my second,

second hitter was $25. I could have invested that a little bit more on the pitching side or maybe for my catcher two. And I think it would have made the team more complete. But James, in a vacuum, I think the prices that I got Ellie for 33 and Tatis for 31, I can't complain about, but then obviously I had to pivot within the auction. Yeah, I think that's all really good to point out. Like, I think those are good prices.

Like, I bet any sort of auction calculator would tell you those are good. good prices. But then it's just sort of like, you know, maximizing your roster. Like you can, you can make good buys in an auction and not maximize your roster. And especially like when you're talking about like the $1 buys, you know, you never know how that's going to go. Sometimes you can pull it off. But, you know, it's, you know, buying players that are that good for below market deals. Like that's, if that's your problem, it's not the worst problem to have. Yeah. As I mentioned earlier, I actually drafted Ryan O'Hern to be my first baseman, but later in the auction, like, all the outfielers were gone.

So I pivoted to Pavin Smith for $5 through him at first base, through Ryan O'Hern in the outfield. And then with Barcelo Zuna, I know we should not bet on a 35-year-old bounceback. But if his hip is better, man, 2023 and 2024, 79 combined home runs, great batting average. I know it's a bad ballpark, but I had him down. as like a $12 player and so I got him for nine. I was willing to take the discount there on Ozuna,

even with the lack of flexibility throwing him in my U-Till spot there. Joshua Baez, my last outfielder for a buck, and as I mentioned, this was like one of my last players, and there was nothing left later on. I tried for Charlie Condon for a buck, and then someone went to two, and I was pretty upset about that. So I pivoted to a different prospect and one that I know you like a lot in Josh Baez.

What are your expectations? When do you think we see him with the Cardinals this season? Yeah, I mean, you're definitely not lying about the options because I'm currently working on my updated rookie rankings for 2026 redraft leagues. And I'm going to be moving Ryan Waldschmidt ahead of Joshua Baez on that. But Waldschmidt went for three in this to Eric Carrable. So it's just, you know, you kind of are left with what the room gives you.

And I mean, Baez, he's so talented. He has such a massive fantasy ceiling, and that's why I've got him ranked so high. I'm just not sure when they give him the keys. And, you know,

love that he's on the 40-man roster. I do get the sense that they are going to kind of go into the year, expecting to have him at AAA for at least a couple months, and kind of go, go from there, but, you know, who knows what Jordan Walker is going to look like. If Jordan Walker is just terrible through six weeks, maybe they, and bias is mashing, I could see bias up in May. But I think as long as Walker keeps his head above water, as long as they don't deal with, you know, too many bad injuries, it might be a few months on Baez,

but this is the thing about these only leagues the labor leagues is you get to throw him in your minors and then you bring up the password to plug into your active lineup until Baez is up. So it's a nice little gambit to run for a buck in an NL only. Like Baez could be up. Like say Baez isn't even up until,

you know, after the All-Star break, He could still steal 10 bases in a couple months. So, yeah, for a buck and looking at the other outfielders who went for a buck, don't mind that at all. Yeah, and that's all I was left with at that point again, because I went to my max bid with Nassim Nunez at four, and I think I had two or three more roster spots to fill there. One was the second catcher, one was a fifth outfielder,

and I think one was a pitching spot. So I typically, based on the rules that I mentioned earlier, you can only remove a player from her lineup if they go on the I, sent to the miners or you drop them. I usually like to wind up with one prospect hitter and then one injured pitcher just because it gives me a little bit more flexibility to move guys around my lineup and things like that.

So my expectation is I'm probably not going to get anything from Baez until June or July at the earliest. But again, as he mentioned, I can plug in Yostinkin Garcia, who I took in the reserves, the password, or pick up whatever outfielder emerges and play that guy until whenever Joshua Baez is. up. So we'll see if that works out in the long run. We'll take a look at my pitching staff here,

and I've got Yohan Duran for $24, Jesus Lozardo for $20, Nolan McLean for $16, Merrill Kelly for $10. Please let that back be okay. Justin Steele for five, Tyler Malley for four, Luke Weaver for four, Chad Patrick for three, and I got Grant Holmes for $1. So earlier I mentioned you got Andres Munoz for 23, and I loved your strategy of nominating. him early and he was the first reliever thrown out and then kind of the assumption that the other relievers would go for more and it worked out that way this draft it did not i did not throw out duron uh as my nomination but he was the first reliever thrown out and i told you the night before i'm like whoever gets thrown out first i'm going to go after that reliever because i assume the others are

going to go for more so i went heavy on deron he went for 24 and i was fine with that price i figured you know like $22 to $24 on him. Like I'm good with that. Just thinking that Mason Miller Diaz, maybe they go 25, 26, 27, they all went for $24, James. I was within the auction. I mean, that is like one of the worst feelings.

And like you just kind of shake it off and keep moving, but there was no way to know that things were going to play out that way. Yeah, but I just think this is good to talk about like for the listeners just because, you know, it's just it's auction dynamics, right? Like if you don't go to 24 on Duran, he goes for 23. But then, you know, when Miller gets nominated, when Dias gets nominated, you know,

are you going to go to 25 then when those guys are at 24? And then as the guy was at, and then as the guy was at 24, are they going to go to 26? Because we did see the top closer nail price wise go for 26. So like it hurts to get Duran for the same price as Diaz and Miller. but if you don't buy Duran for 24, you're probably spending more than 24 for one of those other guys. So, you know, it's just a couple bucks. It's as long as Duran's healthy, I don't think that's going to kill you.

But I bet that, you know, whoever was at 23 on Duran was probably thinking the same thing as like you and me with just the idea of like, all right, I'm just going to get the first one. So you just probably had somebody else thinking the same thing in the same room. Yeah. And you know what? I think it was actually Brian Feldman, who had the $23 bid, and then he wound up getting Edwin Diaz for 24. So actually, he should thank me. Next time I see Brian, he should thank me for going $1 more on Duran,

and as a result, he got Edwin Diaz for the same price. So you're welcome, Brian Feldman, if you are listening. So remember earlier I said, I kind of wish that my second hitter was like a $25 hitter instead of having a $2.30 plus. I just wish I had that $6 extra to spend on a top-tier starting pitcher. And I'm okay in a Mono League with Jesus Lozardo, like in a vacuum as your SP-1. But I really did want one of, you know, Yamamoto and Sanchez in particular.

They both went for 2930. I don't think I would have got there regardless. But still, I could have got a Hunter Green or a Chris Sale. I think those guys went for $25 and $27, respectively. or I could have spent up more on my SP3. Instead of getting Merrill Kelly, I could have got somebody like Nicololo, who I like a lot this season.

So that was interesting, James, to kind of figure out within the draft. Ultimately, I think it turned out all right, but I think I would feel better if I had either a better SP1 than Lazzardo or a better SP3 than Merrill Kelly, someone like Nick Lidolo, who I like a lot. Yeah, you know, like I said,

I think obviously you went in planning to spend basically what you spent at pitching. And I think you, I don't think you could have done much better spending what you did spend. Obviously, you're getting Kelly at a discount because of the injury. But like Justin Steele for five in this format where you can IL him until he is off the IL and just plug in whichever one of your bench pitchers. is the better matchup that week. Like, I think that's just a huge steal. Gosh, no pun intended there, but, you know, he, like, we don't, there's no guarantee, like we saw last year with Spencer Strider.

Like, there's no guarantee these guys come back and they're awesome. But steel was just so good before the injury. I feel like we're probably going to see him sometime in May. So I love that pick. I love Chad Patrick as a Brewer's observer. I think he's great. $3 on Patrick. Like that's the price.

I think Patrick's like on par with, you know, the guys I was getting like Shane Smith, Burroughs, et cetera, Seaman Wood Richardson. So the fact that you got him for three cheaper than all those guys I got in the, in the AL, I think that's a great price on him. So yeah, I mean, I just think it's a really good staff. Obviously, it'd be an even better staff if you had a true ace or like you said, a better SP3,

but I think you could win a league with this pitching staff in the NL. All right, that's why I got James Anderson on here. He's making me feel better about the team. I love it. I was, and we talked right afterwards, pretty shocked to get Nolan McLean for $16 because that was really just a price and force

that I was okay with at the time. I wanted to get one $15, $16 pitcher. I mean, I wanted two going into the draft. but obviously I had a group of McLean and Nicola Dolo and Emmett Sheehan that I was willing to spend, you know, around $16 for. But I just kind of assumed, based on how your auction went, that, you know, Braddish went for 20 and all these other guys got pushed up, that McLean would get close to 20. And at 16, he went less than Chase Burns and Woodruff and Michael King and Emmett Sheehan. I was pleasantly surprised to get Nolan McLean for $16. Yeah, I think that's just a really nice value.

And I think in these, these auctions, at least in my experience, prospects get sort of, there's not as much prospect buzz in these auctions as there might be in your home leagues or even in like a high stakes league just because I think everyone's so like, I don't want to be the sucker who's overspending on these prospects. I haven't proven anything. But I think that got like a little overemphasized with a guy like McLean where like, I mean, he's just. he was so so dominant in like every facet of pitching when he was up last year he's got an awesome team context and you listed off those other pitchers that went for the same price as him or more like Brandon Woodruff Michael King um yeah I mean like I've taken McLean like all day uh over those two and they both went for 17 like I think McLean might throw twice as many innings as Woodruff this year so I'm surprised that the bidding stopped at 16 yeah yeah likewise there and I like what you said

about Chad Patrick. I like him as a deep sleeper this year. I was willing to go up to like five, six dollars to get him. Another one of those kind of five, six dollar upside pitchers that I wanted was Braxton Ashcraft, but everybody else wanted Braxton Ashcraft too, because he wound up getting up to $10, which is, it's pretty crazy for Braxton Ashcraft. That happened in my, I did a high stakes auction like a week ago, sort of just to kind of knock off the auctioning rest. And I got Ashcroft. grafting that for like six when his like prior average AAD was like three. So it's definitely like this the part of the calendar where these these sleepers that like everyone's in agreement on like the price is just going up.

Yeah, for sure. And lastly, we will wrap up here with my reserve picks. I've got Adrian Houser, Chase Dolander, Abamelik Ortiz of I shouldn't mention what teams are on. Adrian Houser of the Giants, Dolander of the Rockies, Ortiz of the Nationals. Yostingsin Garcia of the Pirates, Jose Buto of the Giants, and J.R. Richie with the Braves.

I was pleasantly surprised that Adrian Houser made it to the reserve picks. I thought maybe he'd be like a $1 to $3 pitcher there. Dolander, people might scoff at Rocky's pitchers, but in a format like this again where there's not too much flexibility, you can just play him whenever he's on the road. And he was actually pretty good on the road last season. Like a mid-3 ZRA, 1-15 whip, like 8.3.

K per 9, and he's throwing 100 miles per hour in the spring. So pretty excited about that. Any of these reserve picks stand out to you, James? Yeah, I love your reserves. Like you said, perfect format. Like Dolander's the type of guy. No one was going to buy him in the auction. But like he's a perfect reserve pick because you could pick when to start him. I love the Abimelech Ortiz pick. I don't know if you were kind of synchronizing this with the with the Nunez pick. But and then like the part where you're sort of like weak at first base with Pavin Smith. But like I think Ortiz is just a really nice compliment in case they decide to go with him instead of Nunez as a regular.

Then you have Ortiz. And then, you know, maybe maybe the Diamondbacks eventually kind of phase out Pavin Smith at some point. And then you have Ortiz to pop in there. So I think he just really fits with your roster very well. Yeah, I was just looking at someone who, you know, obviously they consciously traded for this offseason. They got him in the return for McKenzie Gore. And he's put up some pretty good numbers in the minors. He's got pretty solid power.

And I just figured as young as the nationals are, they'll probably give him a shot at some point. I mean, it could be right away for the nationals. So, yeah, he's another one where I thought maybe he would go for a buck or two in the auction. And I was pretty surprised to get him there as a reserve bat. Jose Bouto, I should mention with Luke Weaver, I went to $4 on him. My strategy for the second and third relievers was just to take bites at the apple of bullpens that I'm not confident in their closer. And the Devin Williams thing is kind of polarizing because all his underlying metrics were so awesome last year.

And he has a great track record, obviously, as a closer. but I don't know if it was, I was just too close to the situation last year as a Yankees fan. I don't know if he can close in New York. I just really don't know if he kind of has the mental makeup to pull that off. So I'm kind of, I've just been fading Devin Williams. And as a result, I go with Luke Weaver, who I think could have good ratios and strikeouts. And if Devin Williams fails, then then he's kind of the next one to jump in there. And same thing with Jose Buto.

Like, I don't know if Jose Buto is good, but I don't know if Ryan Walker is good either. So it was like, maybe he could just. get saved. So taking shots on the Mets and Giants bullpins here. I did want Cole Henry. He lasted until the reserves. He went one pick before me in the third round. So I was I was a little upset there that I missed out on Cole Henry with the Nats. Yeah, you know, I mean, I definitely understand where you're coming from with Devin Williams. I've been kind of like agnostic on him. Like I don't have him anywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if he bounced back and was great. but like you, I was not surprised to see him struggle with the Yankees last year.

And I don't know, I'm not touching him this year. Weaver, you know, I would have hoped you could have gotten Weaver for less than four, but I'm guessing everyone else was sort of thinking the same thing with Williams. He got thrown out for three. And at that point, I was like, I need a second reliever. And I like him. So I was like, I'll just go the extra dollar there. I like the strategy, though, of just targeting closers that you're lower on.

I totally get it with Ryan Walker. Like, I got stuck with him when there was just crazy closer inflation in my auction the other week. But I don't know. There's nothing on the depth chart that says you should be worried about Ryan Walker, but I just don't trust Ryan Walker to have the job all year. So it is. And I've read some quotes that, you know, Tony Vitello and Buster Posey saying they could go with a kind of committee approach in the bullpen. I know Ryan Walker has figured out some mechanical things this offseason.

and he does have some closing experience, but there's just not really much else in that bullpen, right? There's Yuel Paguerro, and again, I took Jose Buto here. I know he's a hard thrower, but he also walks a bunch. So we'll see what happens. I did want to just get a quick thought here on J.R. Ritchie, who I took with my last reserve pick. I was debating him or T.J. Rumfield,

because I thought Rumfield could maybe be the starting first basement for the Rockies. He's off to when I start the spring, but maybe it's one of him or Condon. J.R. R. R. R. R. I took him because I have Grant Holmes and that pitching staff is really thin with a bunch of injury risk. So I just kind of looked at it as a handcuff situation and the minor league numbers for Richie are really good.

So any thoughts on him? Yeah, yeah. I mean, they're suffering so many injuries that they might have to turn to Richie way before they wanted to this year. I really like him. I think I might have taken Rumfield in a vacuum

but I think with you getting a Bimlech Ortiz already having Pave and Smith, Ryan O'Hern, eligible at first base. I don't think you need like a fourth first base spec there. So having the Richie pair up with Holmes, you know, Holmes could be great this year, but like he definitely could just get hurt right away. So I like the idea of backing him up with Richie. All right.

And then a few other names here in case people are wondering, I'm sure they are. Connor Griffin went for $13 in this auction. the same amount as J.J. Weatherholt. So two big name prospects and obviously Connor Griffin getting a lot of hype. I mean, James, his ADP in the NFBC over the past week is 147 with a minimum pick of 84. And I know it's kind of a rapidly evolving situation. It's really on a day-to-day basis.

I think people are, A, reacting to what Connor Griffin is doing in spring games, again, on a daily basis. And also the fact that we've heard whispers that the pirates are open to a contract extension. So if that were to happen, Connor Griffin is up on opening day and he probably should be a top 100 pick. But right now, you know, people are kind of hedging with that ADP at 150. So any thoughts here on the price of Connor Griffin, $13 and just kind of like where this ADP roller coaster is headed? Yeah, you know, I would have gone 14 on Griffin there. I just think this is like the perfect format for him where you can throw him in the miners if, you know, he doesn't break camp, but, like you referenced where he's going in like ADP, that's, you know, that's more like

$18, $19 in auction terms. And I think he's making the team. I, you know, I've been saying all offseason, it made sense for them to come to terms on a deal before opening day, just make sense for the team. They're going to, they have all the leverage. This is the only time where they have like that type of leverage to get a deal done like this. He's, you know, Every projection system thinks he's one of their three best offensive players. He's been their best offensive player in spring training. So I think he's going to be up. I think there's almost too much focus on trying to find like historical comps with him from like an age.

Like has there ever been like a 19 year old who like, you know, blah, blah, blah. Like I just think the minor leagues have changed just so rapidly in like the past 10, 20 years for sure. but even just since the pandemic, I think the minor leagues have changed a lot. I think players are getting into pro ball more ready than they've ever been to have success. And I just don't think you're going to find many examples of a 19-year-old, tooled-up shortstop doing what he did at single-A, high A, and double A last year. So, like, he could bust as a rookie. I also think he could exceed expectations as a rookie.

I think it's like all on the table. And the tools are insane. And I just think in this format, I think he's going to be worth more than $13 when it's all said. Yeah, I said this recently with Chris Towers on one of our Melbach episodes. And it's not the only way to look at it, but it's very black and white situation. I kind of felt like the two most likely outcomes for Connor Griffin is he's a top two round player next year, or he's just being drafted around pick 150. Because to me, that means he got called up and he was amazing and he's a top two player.

or he's not called up until like August or September. And then, you know, we're just kind of drafting him as the top prospect. Maybe not 150, maybe like around 100 or something like that. But yeah, obviously the high end outcome is massive there for Connor Griffin. It could be a lot like Bobby Witt Jr. We saw him get called up when he was a rookie and then, you know, he was a first round player like the very next season. That is James Anderson.

He is the lead prospect analyst and senior baseball editor at RotoWire, one of the hosts of the Roto Wire Fantasy Baseball Podcast. make sure to follow them on X at Real J.R. Anderson. And James, I appreciate you hopping on. Anything else you'd like to promote before we wrap up here? Yeah, I got top rookies for 2026 fantasy baseball leagues coming to Rotowire on Thursday. And you can use YouTube 15 and you can get 15% off road our subscription if you don't already have one. And you can check those out.

And then obviously the big sort of end of spring training update to my top 400 prospect rankings. I've got March 20th. penciled in for that big update. So lots of reasons to subscribe to Roadwire. Yeah. And you guys do great work over there, man, on the podcast. I'm constantly, whenever I'm editing our own podcast, I always have something else playing like on my side monitor on YouTube usually.

So I'm usually cycling through a bunch of different content. So yeah, always watching you guys and you put out great content. So I definitely wanted to give you a shout there. We are going to wrap there for James Anderson. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a follow. five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and I will be back later tonight.

Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.