Fantasy Baseball Today - Latest News & First 2024 Draft Recap! CJ Abrams in the Fourth Round?? (11/8 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

Scott got his way and the Rangers are World Series champs (4:42). ... Craig Counsell signed with the Cubs out of nowhere (7:05)! ... We had a bunch of options accepted and declined, including Tim Anderson who will become a free agent (13:52). ... We have more news, including Mark Canha traded to the Tigers (28:15). ... Let's get into Frank's first 2024 draft, which took place at First Pitch Arizona (33:50). ... What happened in the second round (39:30)? ... When were the pitchers drafted (48:00)? ... CJ Abrams went in the fourth round (52:50)?? ... We wrap up by recapping Frank's team (1:00:15). 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.  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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hey there, welcome in to Fancy Baseball today on Wednesday, November 8th. I am Frank Stamphill reunited with Scott White.

So much has happened since we last talked. We'll break it all down on today's show. a World Series champion has been crowned. GM meetings are underway. Tons of news to talk about. We've got options, managers being signed, all this kind of crazy stuff. And I did my first 2024 draft.

We'll take a look at that. I have a draft board for everyone watching on YouTube. You can follow along, see where some players are going. First up, no surprise. First pitch, Arizona was amazing. Cannot recommend it enough for baseball fans, fantasy baseball players alike, great people, tons of fun.

I went to game five of the world. World Series. That was awesome. Went to three AFL games, attended the home run derby out there, the Fall Stars game. I got to do a live podcast with the Welsh, which I highly recommend you to check out because we interviewed James Triantos, Cubs Prospect, so that was cool. But awesome stuff. Big thank you to Brent Hershey, Ray Murphy, and everybody else at Baseball HQ. Now, Scott, one of the questions I received most at first pitch Arizona, where is Scott white. And with that, where are you, Scott? What's going on? I'm still here in, I'm still here in sunny South Florida. Didn't make my way over to

sunny Arizona. No. I don't know. It's hard to break away from the family for that long, particularly after, you know, kind of, what's the way to put it? The season is busy. The regular season is daddy's pretty busy during the regular season and so I love this new thing as soon as it's over

for a week and you know leave all the response leave even more of the responsibilities for my wife so it sounds like a fun time but yeah

no that's what I was doing that's what I was doing while you were in Arizona I love this new you referring to yourself as daddy in the third person it's great that's how I'm referred to

most often in life. You know, it's only a season in life where you're known as daddy. And, you know, at some point, you just, you got to embrace it. That's, that's my identity at president. It won't always be. It won't always be. I'll become dad and not nearly as often because, you know, they'll move away and live their own lives, potentially, hopefully. So now, right now I'm daddy. That's the way it is. Yep, that did come up on our live podcast with The Well. We were talking about Terrick Scouble, and I was like, yeah, you know,

Terrick Scuba kind of makes people say and do weird things. Scott White referred to himself as Daddy when ranking TerxCubal, so that was a lot of fun. Let's move on to the World Series, Scott. You haven't had a chance to talk about it. The Rangers are World Series champions for the first time in franchise history. And in the end, you got your way. Yeah, in the end, I think regression hit the,

diamond back's pretty hard. The underdog can only take advantage of the sort of things that happen over a small sample for so long as the playoffs extend, the sample becomes bigger. The team with the fourth best run differential in baseball during the season, the Texas Rangers, I know they barely made it in the playoffs, but they did have the fourth best run differential in all of baseball. And I think of the World Series, that disparity showed against a team that had a negative run differential during the season, was outscored during the season and the Diamondbacks. And congratulations to the Rangers. I do think the better team won, at least in that final round. And I know, you know, first championship in franchise history, that's a lot to be, it's a lot to celebrate.

and they're well positioned to make a run at it next year too, I would say. Like one of the things I tweeted out after they won. I think the one thing I tweeted out was they won the World Series and they still haven't called up Wyatt Langford yet. I mean, the toast of the prospect world is in the organization of the defending World Series champions and right like pushing for a job next spring, I would say. So without even having to spend any dollars, the Rangers, there's a good chance they're even better just by promoting that guy next year.

White Langford. Yeah. And hopefully a full season of Evan Carter as well should potentially see Jacob de Grom at some point, probably in the second half next season too. So congrats to the Rangers, great season for them. Looks like they're set up for a while here. I mentioned I was at the game. Both guys pitched amazing, Zach Gallen and Nathan Avaldi. The debacks had so many opportunities early in that game.

I think they left Corby and Carroll stranded at third in each of the first and third innings. They also had them at third with one out and they couldn't get them in. So like, you know, they had their chances and just couldn't score any runs early in that game. And then I think the pressure just kind of built. And that's what happened. Shout out to Corey Seeger, too. Awesome season and series for him. Let's get into the news, Scott.

And normally I don't lead with managers, but it seems to be the talk of baseball right now. Craig Counsel has signed with the Cubs seemingly out of nowhere on. a huge five-year deal worth more than $40 million that he said he wanted to kind of reset the manager market in baseball. They, you know, they were, I guess, some might say, underpaid compared to other major sports that are out there. Council managed the Brewer since 2015. And I know this is kind of fluky, but I like to look at stolen base tendencies

under certain managers. Since 2015, the Brewers had the third most stolen bases in baseball. It depends which players you have on your. your team. I know that's a big part of it, but I don't know, Scott. Maybe we could see the Cubs run a little bit more in 2024, but your thoughts here, Craig Counsel to Chicago. Well, yeah, I mean, it was a surprise. It wasn't a surprise that counsel was leaving. That seemed like a foregone conclusion. But where he ended up, I kind of thought he'd followed David Stearns to the Mets. The Cubs might be a better situation for him. It just didn't even seem like they were in play for a manager. It seemed like

they were pretty happy with David Ross. And like, the Cubs have a, his story. of doing this. It reminds me of back when they were still under Theo Epstein and they hired Rick Rentarea as their manager. Things seem to be going well. It was like this is our guy. And then Joe Madden becomes available

and just like that, Rick Renteria has shown the door. And that seems to be the case here. You've got to watch out if you're managing for the Cubs if another girl comes along. Sure. Commitments mean nothing.

The Guardians also have themselves a manager. They signed former catchers to even vote as their manager. He's a first-time manager. So we'll be interesting to see how things work out there. Obviously, Terry Francona was with Cleveland since 2013. And, you know, we kind of associated Francona with having good pitchers and leaving his pitchers in and kind of letting them go deep into games and having a set closer every year.

And, you know, since 2013, the Guardians were, also third in stolen bases. So Terry Francona for fantasy, say what you will, he was great. So I don't know if we'll get any indication on what Stephen votes tendencies are, but it should be interesting to find out in 2024. Yeah, I will say, you know, this is kind of an outside the box pick, obviously. I wasn't vote the bullpen coach for the Mariners. So he wasn't something like that.

So he wasn't, you know, out of the coaching field completely. but a newcomer to it and wasn't doing it for long. You talked about some of the players you interviewed in Arizona. I haven't interviewed a ton of players in my role here with CBS, maybe a couple dozen over the years. None of them, none of those interviews stood out to me like Stephen Vogt. Like he was just such a thoughtful guy and such an engaging guy. Like, I came out of the conversation feeling like I just made a new friend.

Like, I became Stephen Vote's biggest fan that day, like, regardless of whatever he was doing on the baseball diamond. Like, I just, like, that's a guy I want to get behind. And that's a very good quality in a manager. So if that's, you know, my one interaction with Stephen Vote that went that way, I can understand how he aced his interview to become a manager of a major league team. And so hopefully he's successful in that role. I keep talking about things that don't have any relevance to fantasy. I know, so I should probably get back on track with that.

We don't know his tendencies, you're right. If I could circle back to the point you were making about Craig Counsel with the Cubs, and maybe they run more based on the Brewer's tendencies under him. Well, Horner already, the big base dill for them last year was Nico Horner, right? How many do you end up with, almost 40? Yeah, I think 38. Yeah. No, no, 43. He eclipsed 40 with 43. So I don't know how much room there is for him to improve. Dansby Swanson's stolen base total was pretty disappointing in his first year with the Cubs.

He had only nine of them a year after having 18. And I definitely have some names that could run. Ian Hap, Suzuki, Christopher Morel. Yeah, Morel, that was the one. because we like when he got called up obviously he's been some time in the majors in 2022 also but when he got called up in

2023 the thinking was okay as long as this guy doesn't strike out too much he's going to be a power speed threat and he wasn't a speed threat at all he stole just six bases let me see what his sprint speed was 81st percentile

so yeah those are the two I would maybe reserve some hope for improving their stolen base output under Craig counsel, how much that managerial change is going to impact that is hard to say, but they at least have shown the capability in the past to do that. Yeah, I believe the Cubs were eighth in stolen bases last year, so they were already pretty aggressive, but hopefully

counsel keeps that up or maybe even improves that aggressiveness on the base pass. We had one other managerial hire, the Mets brought in Carlos Mendoza, who was the Yankees bench coach for the previous four years. Obviously, we don't know much about the tendencies there either, but his first time managing, we'll see how that works out. Teams that remain without a manager, the Astros, Angels, Brewers, and Padres. Actually just saw before we started recording, the Angels are interviewing Ron Washington, the Braves third base coach for their opening. So we'll see what happens there. We did have a front office hire. The Marlins brought in Peter Bendix, who is now their president of baseball operations.

was the raised GM under Eric Neander the past two seasons, you know, that Kim Ang is no longer in the Marlins organization. And Peter Bendix is going to be the new name running the show there. Did you mention Bob Melvin? I did not mention Bob Melvin, but I think we mentioned him recently. Maybe you weren't on that podcast. Maybe not. Yeah, I think he, yeah, he signed a couple of weeks ago, right? Or was it last week? I think it was a couple months ago. I don't think it would have been able. I think it was last week. Okay. It wasn't a couple weeks ago. Do you have any thoughts on it? Not really. All right. Well, yeah, Bob Melvin. You're a manager. Yeah, yeah. Should be good. The options. Again, we had a bunch of these accepted, declined. I think the big one and kind of saw the writing

on the wall here. The White Sox declined their $14 million club option on Tim Anderson. I'm sure there will be lots of interest. It's already been reported that Anderson was playing with that knee injury since he first got hurt way back in April. So perhaps a bounce back on the horizon. I know you've already expressed some optimism with Tim Anderson. I think the other side of this for the White Sox God is it could lead to an opening for their top prospect, Colson Montgomery, to potentially get an opportunity. I don't think it'll be opening day or even early on. But maybe in the second half of the season, I saw Montgomery out in the AFL.

the first game I saw he struck out twice and he looked really bad doing it. And then in the Fall Star's game, he hit a 400 foot home run off of a lefty, left on left. So that was pretty impressive. Any thoughts on Tim Anderson and Colson Montgomery? Yeah, I've expressed some hope for Tim Anderson having a bounceback season. And I expect the price is going to be very low, like a late round middle infield option. whose underlying numbers don't suggest as rapid decline as the overlying numbers would suggest

but it's going to require a team to actually sign him to be their starting shortstop or I don't know, maybe they can move him to second base, but he needs to get the at-bats. And given that he's not a high OBP guy, I don't think it's a foregone conclusion he will sign to be an everyday player somewhere.

I think that's something we're going to want to monitor in the offseason where Tim Anderson ends up. Colson Montgomery is a great prospect. I think he's going to be consensus top 10 overall prospect. Huge on-base guy in the miners. Really good plate discipline. The power has been more theoretical than actual so far. But, I mean, clearly, you saw how far he could hit a ball as an eyewitness in Arizona.

And I think he could take a huge step with the power production in the minors this year. And that might determine when he ultimately gets called up by the White Sox. That's Colson Montgomery. We do have a few more NFBC drafts that have been completed. 18 now done in the books and Tim Anderson's ADP, 311.4. So a very, very late round pick. I'm sure once he signed somewhere and we learn more, we'll probably see that ADP jump about 50 spots or something.

Right. The uncertainty, I think, is driving down the price. But, you know, if he signed somewhere to be a utility guy, maybe the price drops even more. The White Sox also declined their $15 million, dollar club option on Liam Hendricks. He's expected to miss most, if not all, of 2024 following Tommy John's surgery. Eduardo Rodriguez opted out of the final three years of his Tigers contract.

And as of now, the Tigers rotation includes Terrick Scuba, Matt Manning, Reese Olson, Sawyer Gibson Long, and Casey Mize, all 27 years old or younger. Again, they can sign someone in the offseason, we'll see. But as of now, they've got a young rotation and a decent bit of upside. I don't know, kind of excited for the Tigers pitchers. Marcus Stroman opted out of the final year of his Cubs contract passing up $21 million. It seemed a little surprising to me. He won't get more than $21 million annually.

I guess he probably wants to get another multi-year deal, but a little surprising. Yeah, I think, I'm with you. I think it's less about the annual value there than just getting some more years in the bag. and I think given the current state of pitching, he's going to have too much trouble getting a deal he's happy with. The Braves picked up Charlie Morton's $20 million option. So he's back with the team. We know the ERA was solid, 364.

He had a bunch of strikeouts again. The whip obviously is a killer. So we'll see, I don't know. I don't think we want to bet on a 40-year-old kind of getting better at this point in his career. No, I'm definitely beyond hyping. up Charlie Morton, I would say I've done my starting pitcher rankings now. I've done all my position by position

rankings. I am jealous. FYI, it's just a matter of combining them now into overall rankings. Charlie Morton checks in 63rd for me at starting pitcher, which means he's got to get drafted in all but the shallowest of leagues.

He's in the glob. Oh, he's firmly in the glob. He's like he had 183 strikeouts this year. That's useful. and wasn't very good last year either and had 205 strikeouts. And kind of my guiding principle at starting pitcher this year,

and I've alluded to this in the past, is it's kind of a back-to-basics approach at starting pitching, where like strikeouts, that is the one thing a pitcher has the most control over, how many strikeouts he gets. And it just so happens that there is a pretty clear correlation between strikeouts and overall success.

So, you know, that's kind of a secondary issue, but it is so that if you're not allowing contact in the first place, you're probably going to do better. I don't know that that's necessarily the case for Charlie Morton. Again, it's a secondary point, but that is also one of the thoughts behind going all in for strikeouts of starting pitcher. But the primary reason for this is the one thing a pitcher can control. it's the one predictable thing in a very, in a very unpredictable era

at starting pitcher. That's what the globs all about, right? So go for the thing that you can, for sure, count on being there. The fact it's a counting stat as opposed to a ratio stat also helps with that idea.

Like, you sell out for strikeouts, you're probably going to lead your league in strikeouts. And you may just end up with a great pitching staff overall. So that's, that's the maybe the rationale for taking Charlie Morton at a low cost

but we're also at a point where you have to expect he's going to hurt you and whip at least if not ERA yeah and as we saw with some of the older guys this year Verlander Scherzer I mean

it can happen like that right so he's got to improve the control not sure that it's going to happen I would say expect a bad whip maybe solid ERA still pitches for a great team so should get you some wins and obviously lots of strikeouts

there for Charlie Morton. Josh Bell exercised his $16.5 million player option with the Marlins, which I think is fine. He's going to have a starting role. He's probably a corner infielder for fantasy. He played 53 games with the Marlins hit 270 with 11 home runs and an 818 Ops. He was pretty good with the Marlins. The speaking of the Marlins, Jorge Solair declined his $13 million player option.

He's a free agent. The twins exercised options on both Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler. Justin Turner declined his 13. $1.4 million player option, earning a $6.7 million buyout in the process. So that seems like a no-brainer for him why he would do that. And hopefully this helps the Red Sox find playing time for guys like Williare U.R. Abreu and Jaron and Ceylon Raphaella next season. The end of an era, the Reds have declined their $20 million club option on Joey Votto. He spent 17 years in Cincinnati. Obviously makes sense. They got all these young kids coming up and they obviously

you need places to play them. Apparently, Votto already receiving some interest in his home country team, the Toronto Blue Jays. So we'll pay attention there. Filled a Brandon belt roll there next year. That's right. I also want to mention like the Justin Turner thing, freeze up a log.

You did mention it, but I want to stress it even more. Like the log jam that existed there between outfield and first base for the Red Sox. This hopefully means full-time advance for Tristan Kossis. who I had already ranked ninth at first base for next year. You mentioned William Bray, who I like a lot, hits the ball hard, and draws walks. And also, Ceylon Raphaela,

who could carve out a nifty role as a part-time center field or part-time shortstop, as we saw in September. I mean, it's possible the Red Sox bring Justin Turner back. He obviously had a very good year for them. But I hope they don't. I hope they don't, because I would like, like to see that logjam freed up and some of those other players get a chance to shine. Yeah, I agree with that too.

The Padres declined their two-year $32 million team option for Michael Waka, making him a free agent. Seth Lugo declined his $7.5 million player option. The Padreys rotation as of November 8th. Joe Musgrove, U. Darvish, Matt Waldron, Pedro Avila, and Jay Groom. So not really sure where they go. Maybe they make a trade this offseason. Also, this crazy story came out over the weekend.

We were talking about it beforehand. The Padres took out a $50 million loan, according to reports, to help cover short-term expenses, including player payroll. And apparently, they're also looking to lower payroll. So I don't know that anyone's going to take on, like, Bogarts or U. Darvish or Kronoworth or anything like that. But I think the Padres could be busy this offseason. I'm kind of stunned.

A.J. Preller still has a job. right I mean to go so in so hard that you're taking out a $50 million loan like you've got to win and he didn't even make the playoffs

crazy I feel bad for him because I thought you know their team certainly looked amazing on paper I think everybody had it had it as a playoff team and I enjoy

watching him work in the off season he's about as aggressive as the GM can be but like I'm kind of surprised he's still there because that seems like a gamble. That seems like a huge gamble that ended with huge failure. Let's run through the rest of these.

The Rangers exercised their $6.25 million option on Jose LeClerc and a $13 million option on Andrew Heaney. The Cubs exercised a $16 million option on Kyle Hendricks. Their rotation entering the offseason, Justin Steele, James and Tyone, Hendrix, Jordan Wicks, and Javier Assad. Javier Baez will not opt out of the remaining four years, $98 million on his deal with the Tigers. Oh, really?

There was some talk that he was going to opt out, but that clearly is not a good decision. Somebody must have talked some sense into him. Right. You're not that good anymore, Javier. No. Mike Clevenger declined his $12 million mutual option with the White Sox. The Dodgers declined $18 million option on Lance Lynn. Blue Jays declined their $18 million mutual option on Whitmerfield.

Michael Conforto did not opt out and is returning to the Giants for $18 million. Ross Stripling. That's another. Yeah. Like, what? Duh, you know? That was Michael Conforto after the year.

He just had going to turn down 18 million. Yeah, I think the same thing could probably be said for Ross Stripling. He exercised 12.5 million dollar option with the Giants. Your Braves declined Eddie Rosario's $9 million option, potentially opening up a spot for Vaughn Grissom to play the outfield. maybe they signed somebody, I'm not so sure. Yeah, I was a little surprised by that one. Nine million seemed like a reasonable amount to pay for a guy who had 21 homers and 74 RBIs.

A platoon bat was actually a gold glove finalist in left field. I never thought of Eddie Rosario as a good defender, but he was. Interesting. A gold glove finalist. And only nine million. I don't know, kind of surprising. It does make me think that. they're ready to transition Von Grissom to the outfield

and see what he can do in a full-time role. I don't think there's a ton of power there. I don't think there's a ton of speed there, but he has shown a penchant for getting lots of hits, and maybe that would help round out the lineup a little better, a lineup that's full of big power bats already. Like, come on, Scott, do they really need to round out their lineup? Well, you know what I mean,

just like a different style. of hitter so that there are more dimensions to the lineup, I guess. All righty. Sean Mania opted out of a one year, $12.5 million deal with the Giants. Drew Smiley exercised his $8.5 million player option. He's back with the Cubs and the Marlins exercised their $3.5 million option on John Bertie. And I also want to clarify when I say I don't think there's a lot of power and speed there

for Von Grissom. I think he could maybe be a 15-home or 15 steel guy, but I don't see a. like a 25, 25 season in Vaughn Grissom's future. Let's take our first break when we return. Some other news and notes, I've got some qualifying offers and just some the latest rumblings here from the hot stove.

We'll do that right after this. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today. We also had a trade. Not really a big trade, but a trade nonetheless. Mark Kana was shipped over to the Tigers for right-handed pitcher Blake Holob. And Kana had a solid season. He had 262, 11 home runs, 11 seals.

He turns 35 years old in February. Rasta Resource has Kana in left field for now. Parker Meadows in Center. Riley Green and Rightfield, Kerry Carpenter at D.H. Again, they can still make a move. Maybe Kana turns into like a fourth outfield platoon type option. But he's with the Tigers.

Whatever that's worth. Not worth much. Not worth much. All right. Seven players received the qualifying offer, which was a one year $20.3 million deal. No surprise on lots of these names. Shohey Otani, Cody Bellinger,

Matt Chapman, Sonny Gray, Josh Hader, Aaronnola, and Blake Snell. None are expected to accept, which means those teams will earn draft compensation when if those players signed with a different team. Other random news and notes, the Dodgers signed Max Muncie to a two-year $24 million extension with a $10 million club option for 2026. Clayton Kirshaw underwent left shoulder surgery to repair ligaments and his shoulder capsule. He's hopeful to return to play at some point next summer. And I'm interested to see what the Dodgers do with their pitching staff,

Scott, if anything, because as of now, it looks like they would have to rely pretty heavily on the kids. Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepio, Emmett Sheehan, Dustin May in the second half of the season coming back from Tommy John surgery. My guess is they probably either sign or trade for somebody. Well, they also have Walker Bueller coming back from Tommy John surgery. Yep. And I mean, Miller, Pepio, and Sheehan look great down the stretch. They, I want to see them get as many innings as possible next year. I would imagine they'll add some innings eater types,

maybe another reclamation project in the Andrew Heaney vein, rather than make a big splash for a starting pitcher. But I could be wrong. Well, they're the Dodgers. They obviously have tons of resources. and pretty much do whatever they want. But I think those young pitchers showed enough promise that they won't want to block them next year.

I do think it's interesting that Kershaw says, you know, he's hopeful of returning next summer. I wasn't sure he was going to return at all. I thought we might have seen the last of Clayton Kershaw. So apparently not. Apparently he's still going to be in the mix next year. But not until the second half probably. And so not going to demand much draft.

capital. All right. Last Friday, we heard from Astros GM Dana Brown. He said that Yiner Diaz, quote, will be the main guy at catcher next season. Mentioned we have 18 drafts worth of NFBC data. Yiner Diaz, the fifth catcher off the board at pick 138 on average. Casey Mize has been throwing at Tiger's spring training complex and will be a full go for the start of spring training. And the hot stove heating up a little bit early on in the offseason. The Red Sox have talked to Jordan Montgomery. Jonathan India is a popular name among executives at the GM meetings. We've talked about this. I think it makes sense. Obviously, the Reds have middle infield prospects, corner infield prospects. They need somewhere to play these guys. They need pitching too. So I think maybe flipping Jonathan

India for some pitching makes some sense for the Reds. Sounds like the White Sox are willing to listen to trade offers on Dylan Seas. They have a first time GM in Chris Gets. and I was reading some of his quotes he kind of had a presser on Tuesday yeah he seems like he's willing to trade anybody so like the doors are open in Chicago the phones are open rather

and they should be yeah cease he mentioned Eloy Jimenez possibility so not a lot there beyond Colson Montgomery worth keeping around indeed Luis Severino has a Louis Robert yeah do you talk about Louise Robert

uh he no I didn't see his name mentioned but I did see Eloy and Dylan cease names popped up there Luis Severino has already generated interest from as many as eight teams, and here's a kind of old name. I can't really say fun name. Eric Fetty is drawing interest from MLB teams after dominating the KBO this past season. 20 wins, a two ERA on the nose, 0.95 whip, 209 strikeouts, over 180 in a third innings.

And there's like a whiff of like Miles Michaelis here and Merrill Kelly. Those guys went to the KBO kind of recreated themselves, came back and had some success in the majors. I was listening to the RotoWire podcast with Tim McLeod, who follows everything kind of overseas with Japan and KBO, and he had some really great things to say about Eric Fetty. So I don't know that he's going to be like a great starter when he returns, but there is a chance. So just kind of follow that name away,

and we'll see if and when he signs. I'm the top prospect, not when he was working his way at the national system and entered the mix at a time when they, were loaded. They had Jerzer, they had Geo Gonzalez. They were, you know, one of the premier teams in baseball. I'm not sure he ever got the opportunity

to, I know he got opportunities, but to thrive, really. I think I think he deserves a second chance, particularly given how things have gone for him in Korea. So I'm pretty interested in that too, Eric Fetty. Yeah, I always liked him. All right, let's talk about my first

real draft that I did and technically it's only half draft. I drafted 23 rounds worth. We're going to pick up the other 27 rounds in January. It's going to be a slow draft from here on out. But this is the NFBC draft champions format. It's a 15-team league, five-by-five roto draft and hold. 50 rounds total, no waivers, no trades. You just set your lineup each week. And again, it's roto-style lineups. So two catchers, one of each infield position, a corner infielder, middle infielder, five outfielders, one utility bat and nine hitters.

I was drafting 13th overall, and we'll get to my team a little bit later on. We'll just focus on the early rounds here and get a little taste for where players are going early in the off season. If you're watching us on YouTube, I got the draft board pull up here. Admittedly, it's going to be pretty hard to see.

There's lots of names going on here and lots of different colors and everything, but if you're watching on a TV or maybe you could just kind of zoom in a little bit, you can take a look at the draft board there, Let's start with the first round. Scott, no starting pitchers in the first eight picks of this draft. Ronald Acuna, Bobby Witt, Julio Rodriguez, Mookie Betts, Corbin Carroll, Kyle Tucker, Trey Turner, and Freddie Freeman.

Sounds about right. It feels like Freeman should maybe be a touch higher. Interesting to see that Turner's late season surge kind of got him back in the top eight picks here. Does anything kind of stand out? It seems pretty straightforward to me. Yeah, it's not so different from my initial ranking. and like I said I have to combine my position my position ranking still but I have published what I would like the first two rounds to be and mine starts out a Coonio-Wittio Rodriguez just like this one does Corbin Carroll and Mooky Betts they're flipped for me it's Carol over Betts but you know those are the next two so the top five more or less is exactly the same as I have it I agree Freeman's a little low He would be sixth for me instead of, what is it, eighth? Six, seven, eight.

Yeah, he'd be six for me instead of eighth. And Trey Turner is a little on the high side, but I've bumped him up since this article was published even because he's capable of such a big stolen base total, you know, in addition to providing power. And at times I know this year I expressed doubt that Trey Turner was going to be a great source of batting average again. but, you know, basically from the start of August on, he was the same Trey Turner we've always known from before his time with the Phillies.

So I think he basically got right. I don't know. The more I think about it, I don't know that I'd object to taking him seventh overall. I think my ranking show him a little lower than that, but it's close enough. It's a pretty type group after the, to me, the top six. of Acuna, Witt, Rodriguez, Betts, Carol, and Freddie Freeman in some order. And then to me, there's a tier of like 10 players or so that I could almost talk myself into any order. And Trey Turner is certainly a part of that group, as is Kyle Tucker, who went sixth tier.

The back half of the first round, again, this is a 15-team league. I realize many people listening, you probably play in like 10 or 12-team league. So it's going to sound a little bit different to you. But again, just getting an idea for where players are going. Spencer Shrider, first starting pitcher off the board at 9th overall, followed by Jose Ramirez, Matt Olson, Bryce Harper, Fernando Tatis to me at Pick 13, followed by Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Honestly, I was pretty shocked.

Scott to get Fernando Tatis at 13. I know he's kind of a polarizing player. Going into this draft, my plan was to get one of Jose Ramirez or Bryce Harper. And honestly, I saw those two guys go, and I just assumed Tatis was gone already. I was about to click on Aaron Judge and just draft him. And then last second I realized, oh, crap, no one took Fernando Tati.

So I just took him. Anything else stand out here? Maybe a touch early on Maddles. Maybe, but it's again, part of a enormous tier. Yeah. All of these players are. None of these players stand out as

really like a problem pick. Maybe Juan Soto at 14. The fact that he went ahead. of Aaron Judge. It's been a couple years since Juan Soto was a real asset and batting average. And he, considering how he measures up to these other players in the home run and stolen base categories, you really need him to thrive in batting average to justify a first round pick.

Not to say he should go much later than this, but Judge, and some hitters you haven't even mentioned yet, like Corey Seeger and Jordan Alvarez. To me, they all need to go ahead of Juan Soto pretty clearly. You know, maybe Juan Soto has a bounce back season where he competes for a batting title. Maybe he gets traded to the Yankees and becomes more of a 40-homer guy than a 30-homer guy. Yes.

But based on what we know now about all these players, I think the safer bet is to drop Juan Soto to round two, especially given the caliber of hitters that you can draft instead and treat the possibility of the rebounded batting. average as you know less of a certainty than just you know it would be a nice outcome it would be a nice outcome if it happens but you're not paying for that with Juan Soto anymore the second round got kicked off with Corey Seeger followed by Garrett Cole who was the SP2 off the board at pick 17 then Yorgon Alvarez went to me so I paired Alvarez with Fernando Tatis then Chohayotani Bo Bichette Ozzie Albies Austin Riley Raphael Devers Pete Alonzo

I realize I threw a lot of names your way, but there's a reason why I did that. So first off, I'm going to mention a month ago, I did an early mock draft. I got Yoron Alvarez in the second round. I said, there's no way that's going to happen again. And here we are. I got Yuron Alvarez at pick 18 here.

So, I mean, first off, that's pretty surprising to me. Otani at pick 19. I think that probably sounds about right. He's recovering from Tommy John's surgery. We know he's not going to pitch next season. He's a free agent. We don't know where he's going to pitch yet. They want him to be ready for opening day.

I'm not exactly sure. So that's the next point. And the reason I mentioned all those hitters got, I think they're all great. And I think they're worthy of going in this range. There's not much speed. That's a common theme that I noticed here in the early second round. It's, you know, maybe Albies gives you 10 to 15,

Boba Shet, maybe 10 steals, but. Yeah, he's really dropped off in that. Otani, if he's ready on opening day, he'll probably give you 20 plus steals. But really, a lot of those names, they'll give you power, maybe some of them batting average, but there's really not much speed.

So it's just something that stood out to me. Yeah, and I think that's, I think that's why I've ultimately decided, okay, as much as I like Mickey Betts, as much as I like Freddie Freeman, the top four in a Roto league need to be Acuna with Julio Rodriguez, Corbyn, Carol, guys who've shown the capacity for 40 plus steals,

if not, you know, 50 plus. deals. In a Kunia's case, 70 plus deals. Nobody's debating cocooney out number one,

obviously. But those others with Rodriguez, Carol, they have to go ahead of boots and

bets and Freeman because like they give you such a such a strong foundation and stolen bases, which are much

more plentiful and you don't have to fill them in the early rounds anymore. But to get that many from a player who does so many

other things so well is just like it It makes your path so much easier. And so conversely, if you're not somebody who's picking that early in the draft, well, that means the non-based Steelers are the ones, you know, still first-round caliber hitters, but they're not giving you tons of steals for the most part.

And that lasts for the first couple rounds. So that's kind of a problem. And I guess that justifies moving Trey Turner up as how. happened in this draft, him going seventh overall, Kyle Tucker 6th, same thing. I have Kyle Tucker about that high. But Turner is the one I'm kind of hesitating on. I guess that would be the justification for it,

is if you don't give yourself that strong steals foundation in round one with a Tucker or a Turner, then it's not going to be there in round two either, at least not without reaching for it. We'll see how the rest of the draft goes, but like it's less, it is also worth noting that it's a less essential now to get those stolen bases filled early

because there's so much more widespread. But, you know, you'd rather have them than not. Yeah, you've got to get them. No matter what stage of the draft you're talking about. There are more seals available, but you also need more seals to compete than ever before. So you still have to find a way to get seals on your team basically is the point. Yes, you can get them in the middle rounds,

but yeah, I mean, why wouldn't you fill them early if you had that possibility? You're more likely to sacrifice in something else if you're trying to make up ground and stolen bases, then you're not really sacrificing anything

if you're taking care of them in round one. Yeah, exactly. And that's exactly why you want those guys. The back half of the second round, remember I left off with Devers and Pete Alonzo. So it was Alonzo at pick 24. Then we got Adoles Garcia,

Ellie De LaCruz. Marcus Semyon, Jose Altuve, Gunner Henderson, and Francisco Linderre. Ellie De LaCruz, when I picked 26, he was paired with Corbyn Carroll in the first round, which is incredibly fun, Scott, but I think does leave yourself to a little bit of risk, obviously, you know, two young guys. I think Carroll's pretty much proven. I've mentioned the shoulder over and over again, but, like, L.E. De La Cruz's batting average, I have no idea.

Like, does he hit 220? Does he hit 260? I don't know. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. This is where I say things that can sometimes come back to bite me. So I'm going to try and put it, I'm going to try and put it a little differently than I have in the past. Because Ellie Dela Cruz has enormous potential.

He could have a, he could be a top five player overall next year, and this pickle look great. But nobody can honestly tell me today that he will be a top five player. Maybe he will. We all acknowledge he has a possibility to be, but he had major contact issues in the second half especially and didn't really put the ball in the air enough to take advantage of his massive power potential either. So like there's some growing that still needs to be done.

Maybe it'll happen just this off season and he'll turn into a mega stud next year. And then people will say, oh, Scott, you were so wrong about Ellie Dela Cruz. but I'm just being honest. Like, I can't say this will happen for L.E. de la Cruz next year. So to take him this early in the second round

is a major, major gamble. That could pay off. But you're passing up some pretty good players for that gamble. And particularly from the guy who took Corbyn Carroll in round one, like he doesn't have to stress about speed at all. The way, you know, somebody who took,

Freddie Freeman, let's say, in round one. one has to. So it's, it's just, it's kind of an odd pairing. Uh, like I could, I could, I think the justification for taking Ellie, Ellie de la Cruz in round two. And it, you know, it's worth reminding everybody 15 team leagues. So would this technically be a round three pick? Yeah. And a 12th team league. Early third. Yeah. Yeah. Pick 26. Still, it's high. Any way you look at it. Like, if, if, if, if, if you're going to just, like, the justification for that would be, okay, well, he's probably a 40 steel guy, regardless of what happens. with the bat and I wanted to take care of the steals that I missed out on with my first

pick or two picks. But that's not the case coming from the guy who took Corby Carroll. So just a weird, I have a weird pairing there, I would say. Yeah, I think maybe someone like Semyon or Francisco Lindor paired with Corbyn Carroll. They just feel safer, higher floor. Just looking at the players that went just after him. So, I don't know, kind of thinking out loud on those two. Let's take our final break. When we return, we really haven't talked about pitching.

all the pitching? We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back in. We're going over my first draft for 2024. This is a real draft. It's going to be played out. It's a 15 team 5x5 roto draft and hold format. And we left off where is all the pitching? Only two pitchers drafted in the first 31 picks. And then we saw a bunch of pitchers go in the third round. Zach Wheeler at pick 32, Corbyn Burns at 34, Luis Castillo at 35, Kevin Gossman at 36. Pablo Lopez at 42, and then I got Zach Gowan at pick 43. So again, the first eight starting pitchers drafted in order. Spencer Strider, Garrett Cole, Zach Wheeler, Corbyn Burns, Luis Castillo,

Kevin Gausman, Pablo Lopez, Zach Gowan. Does that sound about right? About right. I think there's a clear top seven at starting pitcher. I think Gowan is in it and Lopez isn't. I was actually worried I was ranking Lopez too high at, 12th overall because he was a big source of strikeouts last year unveiling a new sweeper that

in addition to already having that great change up he had a big strikeout total the ERA was kind of high but the ERA estimators were much lower and so I get it I get wanting to elevate Pablo Lopez I think people just most people are going to look at the ERA he finished with and you know Pablo Lopez's track record is kind of mid, I would say.

So they're going to look at him having a 366 ERA and having that mid-track record and say, I can't draft him as high as 12th or where he went here, seventh, among starting pitchers, right, seventh. But maybe it's justified. I do think there's a, like, if you're selling out for strikeouts,

I do think Lopez is more likely to, between Lopez and Gall and Lopez is more likely to have more next year. But it was a good get there. gallon, I think, for you toward the end of round three. And I think just in terms of the general approach to pitching that was taken in this draft, it's the way to go. I'm a little disappointed to see it.

I'm both disappointed to see it because I can't take advantage of other people mixing in more pitchers in round one and two and building a greater lineup as a result of that. So I'm disappointed in that aspect, but I'm also... feel validated because other people are taking the approach, I feel, is the right one to take. Where Spencer Strider, Garrett Cole, if you're going to draft the pitcher early, it's got to be one of those two. But no one else is worth drafting until the true stud hitters are off the board. And there's probably 25 or so stud hitters, if not more. It was actually more that went off the board before the third starting pitcher did.

So I think that's right. I think that reflects the breakdown of the starting pitcher position. right now where there were light on standouts and deep in the middle, I guess. Still haven't decided exactly where the glob cutoff is. Obviously, it's later than guys like Luis Castillo and Zach Gallin and Pablo Lopez.

But you want to get a couple, at least, of the pre-glob pitchers, I would say, if not three. And to be clear, I did not want to take Zach Gallen with my third round pick, which will lead into the discussion of my fourth round pick. I was looking at guys like Michael Harris, Luis Robert, Randy and Rosarena, all those guys went in the middle of the third. And I think it did right.

I think it did the right thing. I mean, you already had Tatis and Alvarez, two outfielders with big impact potential. I mean, either one of them could be their league's MVP next year, I would say. Fernando Tatis, we acted like he was a big disappointment. You know, after missing almost the first month. finishing off his suspension, coming back from a couple major surgeries,

wrist and shoulder, and had a 25-home-or-29 steel season. We're thinking, oh, this is a big disappointment. Well, that just shows you how high the upside is for Tatis, because I think those numbers in and of themselves could justify you taking them where you did. So you have a really strong hitting foundation. I think by the time your third round pick came up here,

late in round three. Like all the super stud hitters are gone. Yeah. To me, they ended maybe around Francisco Alvarez, Jose Altuve, late in round two. I don't know, maybe you could make the argument Vladimir Guerrero is part of that group two. He went in round three. But I don't think Michael Harris is part of that group. I don't think Randy Rosarina is part of that group.

Maybe Luis Robert, but you're gambling a lot on health there. He managed to stay relatively healthy this past year, but that's been the exception for Luis Robert, I would say. and just especially given that this is a 15 league, how quickly pitching is going to start flying off the board. I think Zach Gallen was absolutely the right call there. All right, so let's get into my fourth round pick. This is my first kind of wild card type pick, and I tweeted out my team,

and some people just lost their minds. The player I took was CJ Abrams, and some people were like, wow, Abrams, great value. Some people said, what are you kidding me? This is someone that we were drafting outside the top two hundred, hundred last year. And, you know, now you got to take them in the fourth round.

Are you crazy? I don't know. I will explain my thinking, Scott, and obviously you can respond. We'll find out. Sure. My thinking, I felt like I needed more speed because I took Alvarez in the second round. I didn't really love any of the players that were available in this kind of early fourth round, which sounds crazy to say, it's like still so early in the draft. But some guys that went right after I took CJ Abrams.

Freddie Peralta, Jazz Chisham, Christian Yelich, Royce Lewis, George Kirby, Cody Bellinger, Christian Walker, Nolan Jones. Look at Nolan Jones, round four, yes. And then there was this huge pitching run after that too. So maybe the one exception, Mike Trout went to pick 68, which seems pretty late, but oh yeah. I couldn't take, in my opinion, I couldn't take Trout and Alvarez on the same team. It just seems like too much injury risk.

especially in a 15-team league. So I know Abrams is not really proven, but I felt like I needed the speed. And I really didn't love those hitters and pitchers that went right after him. So what do you think, Scott? CJ Abrams, pick 48. I don't love it.

I get... I mean, when you sent me your team and I saw you'd taken CJ Abrams round four, okay, just absent all other context, I don't know what the shortstop situation looks like at that point. I don't know what the stolen base situation looks like at that point. And I don't think, you know, remove from all context, it didn't strike me as a big issue

you're taking Abrams there. Okay, maybe those were needs that were urgent to fill at that point in the draft. You know, I'm usually thinking in terms of 12-team league and sometimes adding those three extra teams can create different scarcities than you're used to seeing in a 12-team format. But now that I have the full draft board here, and I see Hassan Kim going more than two rounds later, I actually have Kim ahead of Abrams. Their numbers were very similar this past year.

Part of it is just Kim is going to be triple eligible, and Abrams is shortstop only. So that's part of the reason I give the slight edge to Kim. But two rounds difference. me Kim. And then even beyond that Bryson Stott trying to see if he's shortstop eligible.

I can't remember. I think he's only second base. I think he's only second base. So, it doesn't fill the shortstop knee, but he went five rounds later. Yeah, he went after the top 100. Then CJ Abrams. And I expect CJ Abrams to have the most deals of those three,

but not by not by more than 10 to 12. You know, it's a couple 30 to 35 steals guys and then a 40 to 45 steel guy. In theory, I don't know. Like the one thing I might be underestimating here with Abrams is that, okay, I'm looking at the total number of steals he had this past year and it was 47. Great total.

He could get better. Well, that's what I was going to say. Like 47, 33 of them were in the second half. In fact, he only had nine stolen bases after the first. first three months. So the final three months, he got 38 of those 47 steals, which I mean, if he just, he just decided to start running basically. And if he continues to run at that pace next year, then maybe he's more like a 60 steel guy. So that would like, there's a 60 steel guy. This looks a lot different. But I think just given the relative value for other prolific base

deal, compared to other prolific base dealers with power issues like Hassan Kim and Bryson Stott. Two rounds later for Kim, five rounds later for Stott. I don't know that Abrams was the greatest pick. I would agree with that, by the way. I mean, given the context, it's just... First draft of the year, you don't know where those guys are going to go. Exactly. What makes his draft so fun is I had no idea.

Like, I had no idea where anybody was going to go. So it was pretty crazy. Usually I see early draft results, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I got to redo my rankings. I'm not feeling that way looking at these. I think I think I pretty much nailed it.

Is there any hitter or pitcher that went right after Abrams that you think was like a slam dunk pick that I passed on

because I really don't feel that way. Let's see here. So, your boy Tarek Scouble went at the end of the fourth.

I guess I could have done that. Yeah. I'll tell you so the other player I was debating with Abrams was Tyler Glassnow.

And then I got him at the end of the fifth round. So which should not have happened. I have Glassnow ranked ahead of Scoobles, so I wouldn't have. Right. I thought I was crazy ranking Scoobled 9th. But I have Glassnow 8th. So maybe I'm crazy to do both.

I don't know. Crazy like a fox. Yeah, slam dunk. Okay, so the hitters, like I'm pretty sure my top 300 is going to have Cody Bellinger ahead of CJ Abrams and he went later

Royce Lewis he'll probably be ahead of Abrams and frankly I'll probably have Nolan Jones ahead of Abrams okay

Mike Trout I'm still kind of floored he went as late as he did I thought I was because I haven't met at Bellinger even but do you think

like roster construction-wise you could pair Trout with Alvarez it seems too risky to me me me

I mean, I know Alvarez can get a little annoying with the injuries, but he's still, how many games do you play? He played, I think, like, 130. He played 114, which isn't that many. But he hit 31 homers, he drove in 97 runs. That's bad, man, like 114? I know, but 31 homers and 97 runs. Like, he's so...

But the real... But the prolific hitter. And Trout's kind of in the same boat, where even though he misses more time than you'd like, I know it was even more than usual this past year, but he played just in 2022. Trout played 119 games, 40 homers. Yeah.

You know? It's just the replacement value when those guys are out. In a 15-team league, it's so bad. It's just, I know, but their numbers are good without even, without even, like, pro-rating it. Their numbers are just, their totals are good for guys who play only three-quarters of the season. Well, that's what I'm saying. for guys who play three quarters of the season.

Their numbers are good, and it just so happens that they only play three quarters of the season. I had a bunch of things planned, a bunch of players I wanted to talk about. We do have a mock draft that's coming up soon, so we'll have the opportunity to talk about a bunch more. I'll quickly just run through the rest of my team, Scott, and you can give a quick critique on it. The offense that I wound up with Salvador Perez and Austin Wells as my two catchers, the infield Vinny Pee, Baby, Vinnie Pasquantino, Claibor Torres, C.J. Abrams. I've got Jake Berger at third base, Jamer Candelario as my corner,

Zach Gelloff as my middle, and then in the outfield I've got Fernando Tatis, Yordaun Alvarez, Josh Lowe, Lars Nupar, and Sal Freelik. I do not have a util hitter yet, so I'll get one of those when things pick back up.

Oh, this ain't over. No, no, no, no. We picked this draft back up in January, so the final 27 rounds. There's still a lot to happen. I think batting average could be a problem. You know, Abrams, Gelloff, Berger, Wells. I think all those guys could hit under 250.

I don't know. It's all right. Well, you know, we could talk about the pitching staff, too. If I known I could have gotten Zach Gelloff two rounds after Glabert Torres. I probably wouldn't take him Gleber Torres and probably would have taken a pitcher there. But what do you think of the offense? I like it. I, my one takeaway and you hadn't sent me quite this much of your team.

So your rotation is Zach Allen, Tyler, Glew. Now Michael King, round 11 as your number three starting pitcher. And I think I would have liked another starting pitcher somewhere between Glass Now and King. Yeah, I agree. Maybe instead of like Glaber Torres, who you took in round eight, especially, you know, I have the foreknowledge. You're going to get Zach Gell off two rounds later. It just seems like if you have, if, like I prefer Gell off to Torres. So if you're going to get Gell off two rounds later, there's no reason to take Torres in round

eight and pitchers you could have had there, Kyle Braddish. Bradish is the one. He's the one that really stands out to me. Yeah, I think he's my favorite. Next round, you see like Gavin Williams go. This is kind of where my pitching ranks differ from what happened to you in this draft because Sunny Gray and Bailey Ober both go in this range too and I have them lower in my rankings because they're not big strikeout guys.

Yeah. So that's probably like I would, that's the range of the draft where I would load up a more on starting pitcher than you did. I mean, especially now that I have more rounds at my disposal here, you got Jake Berger in round 15 of a 15 team league. That seems great. Yeah. That is the kind of power bat that I would not expect to be available that late.

I think in ADP, when I looked at it, he's a 12th rounder. So, again, I think it's just everyone is drafting for the first time, and some guys are slipping through the cracks. So I needed a third basement desperately. My plan was to take Burger and then Stephen Kwan. I think those two are pretty good pairing later on in drafts. I took Burger and then Stephen Kwan went with the very next pick. So I couldn't pull that off.

I think it would have helped the batting average out a little bit. I don't know. Burger might not be so bad for batting average based on the adjustments he made after joining the Marlins. Yeah. I'm trying to see. So the third basement I have ranked just a little ahead of Burger, Noel V. Marte and the Ray's guy.

Caminero. Junior Cominero, yeah. Noveli Marte and Junior Cominero, they both went in round 12, so three rounds earlier, then you took Burger. Yeah. And then where's Max Muncie?

Max Muncie went in the 10th, five rounds earlier. Yeah, I mean, I'd rather have Burger in round 15 than Muncie in round 10, especially, maybe not in a points league because Muncie gets all those walks,

but in a categories league, I mean, I expect Muncie to be a worse source of batting average and potentially a much worse source of batting average than Burger. Yeah. Quickly read off the starting pitchers I wound up with.

I mentioned Zach Gallant, Tyler Glassdown, Michael King as my SP3, Aaron Savali, Christopher Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, John Means, Sawyer Gibson Long, and my relievers. I got Rysel Iglesias in the sixth round, and I got Kyle Finnegan in round 19 as my second closer. I agree completely. I feel like I need another pitcher in there. I like Savali.

I think he's sneaky. Like maybe the Rays can work some kind of Zach F1 magic with him for a full season. It's very gloppy though. Yes. I was just looking for boring innings at that point, but every time I queued somebody up like Merrill Kelly or Jose Barrios, they would go right before my pick and

so I just missed out on a bunch of guys. Strowman is probably like that. just kind of boring innings kind of guy, but I need more. I think I want four pre-glob starting pitchers. Even in a 15 teamer like this. And you got two and a half in gallon glass

now and Michael King. I'm calling King half because I think he's certainly proved capable of transcending the glob, but obviously very unproven in the role having just entered into it for the last month and a half of last year. I'll tell you what, Scott, if you want to pull that off, you're probably looking at four starting pitchers in your first 10 picks, which means you're either going to have to sacrifice like a closer are one or you know five of your first 10 picks are going to be pitchers so it's something you you know get the wheels turning and you start thinking about it but you know at that point five hitters five pitchers in your first 10 rounds I mean we substitute

Kyle Braddish for Glaber Torres it's basically done yeah but then do you feel good about the offense is the question yeah I think so all right well lots to learn first draft is in the books and again if you're watching us live on YouTube you can follow along with the board here, but we are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.