Fantasy Baseball Today - Live 12-Team Roto Auction Part 1! Early Nominations, Strategy & More! (3/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

It's that time of year! We're doing our annual live 12-team Roto Auction. In the first hour, we focus on the early-round players, building the base of our teams, nomination strategy, bidding and much more. 🏀 Join our Fantasy Baseball Today Bracket Game: https://shorturl.at/zezZC Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv 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, @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/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. One of my favorite podcasts of the year, it's time for our live 12-team Roto Auction. Welcome in to fantasy baseball today.

You are listening to this on Wednesday, March 12th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. And we are getting right in because we have a long night ahead. Are you guys ready? I'm ready. I've been chanting, cool. No, Chris is tilting from the start. This is a new.

I didn't eat dinner until like 12 minutes ago. I didn't have like my spreadsheet ready. I'm not. I'm fine. I like it. I like it, Chris is frassel. I have been chanting cool as a cucumber over and over to myself. in preparation for this, you are going to see the most relaxed Scott White you've ever seen.

I am turning over a new leaf. There's no way. A cucumber leaf. There's no way. I don't even know what it is. The lady doth protest too much. No, you will see. You will see.

I am going to be so chill. It's going to blow your mind. The plan is no plan. Do I look like someone with a plan? No, I don't have a plan. You know, and it's gonna be perfect. You know what? I hate cucumber in my water.

Get that out of here. Anytime I see cucumber and water, I'm running the opposite way. I hate that. I like a good lemon water. Lemon water. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Yeah.

Get out of here. We are taking bets right now in the YouTube chat for over under when Scott does start to tilt in the middle of this auction. We are going to stream the entire draft here on YouTube. The first two hours will be made. into a two-part audio podcast. So once we sign off audio, you can tune in on YouTube

to follow along with the rest of the picks. This is a 12-team Roto standard 5-by-5 categories with a $260 budget. Standard roto lineups, two catchers, one of each infield position, corner, middle, five outfielders, one utility, nine pitcher spots, and six, seven bench spots, Scott.

I didn't write that down. Seven bench spots. All right. Well, somebody named. named Skote Whitty won this league last year. Do you guys know anyone of a scote. Now, I got to give credit where it's due. Scott won the championship last year.

So shout out to you, Scott. You are the reigning defending Memorial League champion. Even though I was tilting out of my mind. So maybe I don't want to be cool as a cucumber. That is true. All right. So housekeeping real quick before we get started. It is that time of year.

Brackets are back and you could get in on the madness today. the CBS Sports app, enter the bracket challenge for the chance to win a new Nissan Armada and trips to the 2026 Final Four. You can also run men's and women's bracket pools with friends and join our pool. If you were in it last year, you're automatically in again. All you've got to do is make your picks. If you want to join our bracket game, find the link in the episode description. Or I tweeted it out on X.

If you're watching us on YouTube, there's a QR code. You can scan that. That will take you right to the link to join. as well. The winner of our FBT bracket game will get a one year subscription to Paramount Plus for free. Play today on the CBS Sports app. No purchase necessary.

See terms and rules for details. With that, we are ready to go. I've got the draft room up and running. And Scott, fire us up, baby. All right. I get to nominate the first player here too. Sometimes I like to go with an oddball nomination early on just to get a feel for how the room's going to react.

But I'm not going to do that for the very first player. I'm going to nominate Bobby Witt. Never saw that coming, Scott. I've heard of him. For a buck. Come on. You got to throw him out for at least 20, right? Scott. Keep this thing moving here. Someone will jump it up. Someone will jump it up. I'll do it right now. Oh, there you go. Chris, up to 30. Let's go. I didn't get him for 30. I did not think that was going to happen. All right. Let's see the bidding. Bobby Witt crosses the $40 threshold, not surprising here. I think we all have him for over 40, closer to like 45 to 50, something like that.

Wow. And the bidding is up to $48 already. We are off and running. We all have him, right? I have him, 45. He is tied. It's a three-way tie, $45 players at the top here.

But it's not uncommon in our, in this league in particular, for the highest in players to exceed their, their projected amount. People thinking stars and scrubs. Yep. That is certainly doable in a 12-team Roto League where the replacement value is still pretty good,

and I think you could get some $1 or single-digit players that are pretty good for good values later on in the draft. Bobby Witt, Jr., by the way, went for $49, so a little bit over-value there. I only have them for 42 on the website. I need to bump that up. I'd probably be willing to go as high as, like, 45 on Bobby Witt this season.

Chris, you were currently in the bidding for Fernando Tatis, but not anymore. Because Scott is on top with a $35 bid on Fernando Tatis. And Scott, you have won Fernando Tatis for $35. How do you feel? Okay. Pretty reasonable so far. All right. I feel all right.

It was exactly what I marked him down for. And so I'm just trying to go with the flow here a little bit. All right. Ooh, Aaron Judge started out there for. a hefty value of 35 right from the jump here. Oh, I know. I like Aaron Judge. Whoa, Chris, 46 bucks. Will anyone bid again?

Bobby Witt went for 49. Oh, $49 for Aaron Judge. I thought about throwing it out there for 50. Just to see. Just seeing if you get it. And there you go. Aaron Judge goes for $49, the same amount as Bobby Witt. and based on this season,

we have a, it seems like a tier of three, a consensus top three between Judge Bobby Witt and Shohei Otani, so they should all go for, I think, relative similar value. What's interesting about Judge going for 49 to the same player that got Bobby Witt. So Raz Bidon is clearly going to go

Stars and Scrubs here. I think he did this last year as well. I think he went Akunia and another top five guy last year. We'll see if it works. I am interested to see how the team turns out there for Bidon, who by the way, will be joining us on our mock draft megastream on

Thursday in the Yahoo head-to-head categories mock draft there. So, happy to have Bidon on. He does a lot of these drafts with us. And Kirby Yates went for $2, Chris. Did you throw him out for two? Just hoping to sneak him? No. No, he went out there

for two, for one. And I don't mind. Like, I I get it that, you know, he's not necessarily a closer. I don't mind spending $2 early in a draft on a guy like that just to like have a little bit of price certainty. Like I know Kirby Yates is going to be good. I won't mind having him around. So I never mind doing that. All righty.

We have Ellie Dealer Cruz is out and he's up to $43. Going once, going twice, sold to Tim Kannock for 43. So I pushed him up to 42 to get that. have last $43 bid in. I would have been willing to go a couple dollars over for somebody who's going to totally dominate a category like Dela Cruz is going to. And obviously there's a potential for him to do more than that. So this is interesting.

Doc Eisenhower is in this. Somebody nominated Caleb Durbin for a dollar, which you'd think, okay, obviously he's going to go for a dollar, except it wasn't Doc Eisenhower who nominated him. I think it was a little bit of a fishing expedition. except now he's up to $5. Now he's up to $6. Oh, gosh. This is insane.

Doc Eisenhower will not be denied on Caleb Durbin. I like Caleb Durbin a little bit. He was my deep sleeper pick for the brewer. But, Sky, you're going to have to write about this. That's a $1 player. Yeah, this is one of those bids. He ends up going for $10 to Doc Eisenhower, obviously. Would have been, it was almost, I wonder if it was almost a Jed Jerko there situation

where somebody got stuck with Durbin for nine. because Doc Eisenhower refused to go the $10. But yeah, this is one of those bids where it's like, yep, I'm going to have to write a sentence about that. I mean, that's the kind of thing, though, that, like, you've got to know in your auction that if there's a certain person or people in your league who like a certain player or team, you might be able to take advantage of that.

Well, I'm going to keep the Doc Eisenhower train running here because I nominated Wyatt Langford, someone I know he drafts in almost every single mock that we do. usually it's in the third or fourth round and I threw him out for 10 he's all the way up to $26 right now Wyatt Langet is He hesitated going for 27, Doc did

Oh, he's up to 29 Wow! And I will say like Getting your player Makes sense But like this is what we talked about About like having a plan And not getting thrown off

Because you have a plan Is like when you say I have to get a player You're gonna like you're you can be prone to overspending and we just saw that. So while Langford winds up going for $29. I believe our consensus on the site is an $18 player there for White Langford. So we'll see. I mean,

he could certainly live up to that. He could. I mean, you're making a big bet on yourself. I personally do not think I am that accurate at projecting how any player will perform in the upcoming season. So I know better than to go that far over the projected amount on a guy. I had already from experience. I had already put in the nomination box, Roki Sasaki, $10.

And someone threw him out there. We pick before my nomination for 10. He's going for 15. That is 16. 16 now, yes. That is, I guess, where I have him. But that feels like too much for Roki Sasaki. I don't want that.

So I'm going to move. We're lower than the consensus. I have him as a $10 player. He ends up going for 16. That would be similar to where I have like Bryce Miller, Bailey Ober. Yeah. Pablo Lopez.

I don't want to go ahead. And Rokey Sasaki pitched on Tuesday. And it was not nearly as interesting as the first time he pitched. The fastball velocity was down about 1.5 miles per hour. The fastball shape is still pretty bad. So I think that pitch is going to be more hitable than you would think. So I'm happy to let him go to someone else for 16 personally. There was another player in there.

I want to quickly mention Logan O'Hopi went for six. This is a two-catcher league. And I think we're collectively a little bit down on O'Hopi this year, but even at six bucks, that seems like a pretty good price for him. Yeah, that's a perfectly fine price for Logan O'Hopi. I kind of wish I had been there to hit plus six. I just, or plus one. together to six. And Chris, you threw out Raphael Devers, who was supposed to make his

spring debut on Wednesday of this week. That's been pushed back to Saturday later this week. He's still kind of working through some of this shoulder stuff. Sounds like he's going to open the season as the team's DH. So kind of a sneaky move just to see how much he goes for here. And Scott, you were the one who won him for $23. Yeah, that's reasonable. Yeah, I feel like I got a nice little discount there. I think he'll probably be in the lineup and from the start and more or less Raphael Devers, it's obviously a little bit of a risk. But to get a potential second round bat for $23,

I'm willing to take that risk, especially since it's only a 12th teamer. That's right at what I have. I had him for 21. So it's right where I have him. And I can't get a read on this situation. Part of me thinks it's like a quiet hold-in, you know, where he's like just not happy

and he's healthy, but they're just trying to solve this situation. And that's probably the best case scenario, right? Yeah. Like, it would be worse if six months after he went on the IL, he's still not able to play because of the shoulder injury that supposedly had no structural damage. So, in the meantime, Shohei Otani went off the board for $52. Remember, Bobby Witt and Aaron Judge,

went for $49 each, and you might have heard a little O from me. I bid 50. I was trying to get in at like 48, 49, so I didn't really want to go $50 on him, but I wound up getting outbid anyway on Shohei Otani. And Terrick Scoobal, the first pitcher, first, excuse me, first elite, I guess you could say, top tier pitcher off the board to Chris Towers for 31 bucks. Yeah, it's a little more than I would want to pay, but it's fine. You know, I love to have an elite pitcher on the,

board. I do think he is the best pitcher in fantasy this season. So, not going to quibble over a couple of dollars there. I think it's a pretty good price. He's consensus 30 bucks on the website, and ATC has Terrick Scuba for $41 in a 12-team Rotterle league this year. So Robbie Ray is the next player out, and this should be an interesting one because lots of excitement on Robbie Ray right now in spring. He's learned the Terrick Scoobble change up. We heard Nick Pollack on yesterday's podcast pretty excited about Robbie Ray as well and he is going to go for $12. So an interesting one, Scott, you were the one who threw Robbie Ray out there. Is that because you didn't want him and you wanted to see how much he would go for or did you have interest in? I knew there was so much

buzz around him right now that he wasn't going to go for a price I'd be willing to pay. Gotcha. Even if he lasted toward the end, it would be the sort of guy everybody was saving their money for. He ends up going for 12. I have him at 8. It's not as much of an overpay as I was

hoping for. But I have found with every auction, every salary cap draft we've done, I have pitchers priced a little

too high relative to pit to hitters. And we'll see if that holds true for this one too. Scoobal was the first starting

pitcher nominated, right? And he went for $2 less than I have him for. Ray went for $4 more, but he's a trendy player.

We'll see how that goes. over the course of the evening. All right. Well, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is up, and I just put in a $36 bit on him. Scott, you got Fernando Tatis for how much again? 35.

35. Okay. So I'm imagining a similar price. They usually go late first round, and I am on the board, Vlad Jr. at $36. You feel pretty good about it. Yeah.

Steel relative to the contract he was looking for. So what were the details that came out that he was offered close to $500? million dollars he was offered close to 500 million but with deferrals it was more like 430 in present day value which still seems like more than i'd want to pay vladimir guerrero if i'm being honest is he going to get more than that on the open market i mean maybe it's a possibility if he has another season like last year he could yeah because he's going to be 26 but i i think he's not necessarily the guy would want to be trying to sign to the 500 million dollar deal all right well

William Contreras is the current player up and going once, going twice sold. $25, the top catcher in fantasy this season. We have as a consensus $24 player on the site, so pretty close there on him. Let's take our first break and when we return, we'll catch you up on what's happened here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today, live 12-team roto auction here tonight. We are going to be live streaming the entire thing on YouTube, the first. two hours will be on the audio side. If you are here watching,

make sure to hit that like button, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. 30K by opening day. We are marching towards our goal and the latest player to be drafted, Ryan Malkassel for $6. Scott, I saw that you were in on the bidding for Mountcastle.

Yeah, one of my favorite sleepers. I have him as a $5 player. I wasn't willing to go beyond that. It's the sort of thing where Mountcastle tends to be a later draft guy and a lot of later draft guys, especially with some of the big bids we've seen so far, are going to go for less than we haven't projected for.

Most of them will, I expect. So it didn't make sense to me to go over five on Mountcastle. He ends up going for six. All right. Jose Ramirez, next up, $42, one of the most consistent players in fantasy baseball over the last handful of years. And I believe that was $1 less than Ellie Dela Cruz,

which they usually go in that four, pick four to six range, and I think it makes sense for them to go for a similar cost in this draft, and I think an okay one there on J-RAM. Yeah. That's a good nomination. George Kirby is up, and he is dealing with shoulder soorness, so we'll be a very interesting one to see where he winds up.

I think he is still in the SP 25 to 30 range for all three of us, and yeah, he's consensus. this 98th overall player for us on the site. And he is currently going for nine bucks to Chris. Oh, oh. Do we have an FBT duel here? Scott and Chris, back and forth?

Will it end? Unless somebody else bids, I'm going to let Chris have him for 11. Okay, 11 bucks to Chris. I'm okay with that. I have him at 15 still, so that's okay. Okay, let's see. I haven't at 13 for whatever.

it's worth so I could have forced the issue. I'm still in the mindset of I think I probably have every pitcher for a little too much. And I didn't want to test that theory with Kirby an injured arm. All right. I threw out, especially since I already got Devers. I threw out Gunner Henderson to kind keep with the theme early on here to see where banged up players are going for and how much of a discount they could be had. He's still priced out as a $35 a player on the website. We'll see if he does get up there. He is our ninth overall player. Okay.

For Scott and I, for Chris and I, Scott has him one spot lower at 10th overall in the rankings. He is, the latest that we've heard is that he's taking swings. Still uncertain for opening day. He's dealing with that, sometimes they say side, sometimes it's intercostal. I mean, I think it's all kind of related. Yeah, it's all related there. It's that strip of water between the beach and the main. land in Fort Lauderdale.

Gunner Henderson goes for $37 and that is one more dollar than I paid for Vlad Jr., which I think makes sense. Just relative to everything else that's going on and kind of where we dropped Gunner Henderson 2 in the rankings right now. Jacob de Grom, an interesting one

who we have talked a lot about this week, made his spring debut over the weekend, and it sounds like he is throwing with less velocity on purpose this season and perhaps that can help him stay healthy we'll find out perhaps perhaps I'm still skeptical it's it's exactly what I wanted to hear from him

it's the one glimmer of hope I have for him potentially ending ending the constant breakdowns from his arm just not holding up to the rigors of pitching but it's still a long shot right 36 year old age 37 season actually coming back from Tommy John surgery not not a hundred innings since 2019 he ends up going for 19 all right yes Jacob Graham for 19 next up we have Wilson contraris the brother contrarai what are we what are we calling the plural

contraris Chris is a contrarai uh the big willie style uh yes William and Wilson and Wilson up to $17. The early discounts on William Wilson Contreras have mostly evaporated. He's up to, I think, fourth or fifth in catcher ADP over the past couple of weeks. And yeah, your chance to get him outside of the top 100 in your drafts. Pretty much gone. And yeah, I don't know. Yeah, we have as a consensus $15 player on the site.

He is now up to 20 and could be a cheat code this season playing first base for the Cardinals. The guy who took William Contreras really wants him. Yeah, I mean, whenever you can get brothers on the same team, you've got to try right. Yeah, I mean, he's not going to get him, though. It's Doc Eisenhower jumping in with 21. 21.

Wilson for 21, William for 25. The hype continues on Wilson Contreras. Robert Suarez thrown out there for $8 by Chris. See if anyone else bites. Maybe a little early for. close. I was, yeah, I was wondering

because I thought eight might be a good, because I haven't been as a $15 player even though I'm not really into him. Oh, I have him as an $8 player. But I thought throwing him out for eight might freeze the room a little bit and it almost worked.

All the way up to 14 now. I'm getting the sense. Like, I'm worried that I've overpriced pitching here, but it seems like Chris has priced it even higher than I have. Seems like it, yeah. There are going to be discounts at some point in this trap because some players here are going for more than they should, maybe more than projected value.

Although Chris just said has Robert Svarez $15. He went for $14. I have Roberts for $10. Let's see if anybody's gone for less than I have them for yet. The eye of the beholder so far. I guess just Devers and Kirby. Yeah, what about Caleb Durbin, Sky? You don't have them as a $15.

I haven't as a zero dollar player. As a matter of fact, Paul Skeens is up and Chris, you got Scoobill right? What was it 30 or 31? 31, I believe. Oh, scoble went for less than I have them for. And it looks like Skeens is going to now too. I had Skeens at 32.

He just went for 31. So basically on point. But yeah, I may have, I may have priced pitchers as a whole, just a smidge high. I have a spreadsheet where I put my valuation plus the ATC projections plus the bat and just average them out. And the biggest values so far are scoobel for 31, Skeens for 31, William Contreras is a couple of bucks cheaper.

George Kirby projection systems still really like him. I don't know how much they've factored the injury in. So yeah, a couple of values. It's not getting blown out yet. All right. Paul Skeens went for 31, the same price. as Scuba does seem like elite pitching might be going for less than elite hitting so far in this draft. And Scott, I can't let you have that.

Francisco Lindor is up to 32. Scott has him up at 33, and I will not be bidding anymore. If no one else does, he's yours. Welcome back to the championship team. Francisco Lindor. All right, so you've got Lindor and Fernando Tatis, 33 and 33 and 13. $35 respectively. And two players, if everything works out, you're hoping for 25, 25, probably from each.

Yeah. Yep. I'm happy with that. I had that's $3 less than I project Lendor for. So that's what I'm looking to do. That's the cool as a cucumber approach. Just sit back and wait for the discounts. At some point, you're not going to be able to take advantage of them all, but particularly

in the early rounds here, in a shallower league when you want as many studs as possible. anytime you see a stud go for a discount. Just jump in there and take it. So no planning. Just see what studs you get and then build around that. So Lindor, Tatis, Devers, that's my start. All right. I like it.

I like it quite a bit. Mason Wynn goes for $10. A little more than we have them on the site. We haven't projected as a $7 player. So Mason Wynn, a popular sleeper candidate this season, hoping to steal 30 plus bags this year. He's had a really rough spring, but I'm not personally worried about it.

I think his job security is extremely safe. Ronald Acuna is out there. Somebody I am personally avoiding, coming back from another torn ACL. He has torn the ACL in both of his knees, but when he is on, he's one of the best players in fantasy. We'll see what version of Ronald de Cunia we get this season.

He's up to $26. $26? Will he stay? And he will. $26 for Ronald Acuna. It's about right. I was tempted to go 27, but that would be uncool with me. Trying to stay cool. Keep it cool. Ronald Acuna is a cool guy. Different kind of cool, Frank. Cool isn't chill. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Freddie Freeman's out there, a player who has had an up and down spring in terms of, I guess, our expectation, right? Like, he's coming back from the ankle surgery.

He was delayed a little bit. He also has looked like Freddie Freeman. He's hit three home runs already. He's looked awesome. Welcome back to the championship team. Freddie Freeman. Scott is out here spending. $12 discount from what you got Freddie Freeman for last year.

There you go. Freddie Freeman. We're getting the team. team back together, guys. We are getting reports that he's not going to play day games after night games this season. He's going to need treatment on that ankle. But it sounds like you are not overly concerned about that, Scott. No.

No, first base, I wanted to stud there, ideally, because I feel like it's a position where you can get squeezed out pretty easily. And I like building a nice batting average base early. Freeman certainly helps with that. All right, while we were talking, a sneaky Jung-Hulibid of, $4 to Bidon, who also got those big names in Shohei Otani and Bobby Witt, so we shall see. Jazz Chisholm is out there. Somebody I don't believe I will be bidding on.

But lots of excitement this year. First full season with the Yankees has third base and outfield eligibility, expected to gain second base early on in the season. And he is up to 28. He is sold. for $28. Janice. Yeah, for me, based on the values I've got,

it seems like the second tier of hitters have been a little more expensive and the first tier of hitters have been right on. So make of that what you will. All right, Grayson Rodriguez, another player. We don't really know what to expect right now dealing with elbow inflammation. We dropped him way down our rankings earlier this week.

And he was about to go for three. and Scott said, not today on Grayson Rodriguez, which if he returns and he's healthy, could turn out to be a tremendous buy, or he needs elbow surgery and you get nothing from him, Scott. And I wasted, if that happens, I've wasted four bucks, and I can still rest easy. Yeah, I think that is totally fair.

Let's see, let's get another pitcher out here. Gonna nominate Corbyn Burns for 15 bucks. 15 bucks. little man cannot continue singing that song. Grayson Rodriguez again went for $4. Jay and Bob, anyone? Chris? Oh, yeah.

You look like a big Jay and Bob kind of guy. That was a hit in the Tower's household. And Corbyn Burns is... That 23 is a good price for him. Sold to me. So, one reason I threw Corbyn Burns out there,

and this is something that R.L. Cohen talks a lot about who's a great auction player. When you see players going at prices that you like, at positions that you want, so I noticed elite pitching is going for a little bit less, or right on par as it should. I figured I wanted Corbyn Burns coming into this draft, and I'm going to throw them out there

because I think I'd get them for a pretty good price based on how this draft has gone so far, and that's exactly what happened. Corbyn's 23. You got to be careful with that, though, because I feel like, Chris, you were part of this, in the head-to-head auction, the head-to-head points auction we did the other day.

There's so little framework for a head-to-head points auction that the prices are just are very scattershot. It's hard to know what to expect in a given moment in the draft. And we're past all the studs. They were all gone. They went for very high prices. We're in kind of the mid-range targets, and we're seeing extreme discounts.

Like mid-range players going for five. And I think a lot of us got it in our head, oh, well, this is just the going right for these players. I'll wait for my favorite one. And then the favorite ones ended up going for like 13. Like that happened over and over and over again in that draft. So it's, you can never be totally sure how the room's going to respond to things. But it's, it's not uncommon for whatever you're thinking to be what multiple others are thinking as well. Would you agree though that $23 is pretty fair for Corbyn-Burn-Bernscott?

Oh, it's fine. Yeah, I had them at 24, so it's totally fine. Yeah, it's continuing on with that theme so far, that elite pitching is pretty much going on brand or within a dollar or two of where they are projected to be. A couple other picks catching people up. Yvonne Herrera went for five, Jose Altuvae for 21 to Chris, and Yusay Kikuchi, $8 to a different Chris.

So, Towers, Chris Towers. Talk to me about Altuve for 21 and you threw out Kikuchi were you expecting to win him at six bucks?

No, no. I figured that was one where I'll put him out for six. If he sneaks through, that's fine, that's great. I'll take, you say Kikuchi and the potential 200 strikeouts,

but I was never going to bid up from there. So I was fine seeing him go. I like him, but he's a little replaceable. Yeah. Did five for, Ivan Herrera surprise you guys? I thought about hitting plus one on that one.

I really like him. I've talked a lot about it. What do you have him at? Four. Yeah, I only have him at one. I think relative to Logan O'Hoppe going for six might be a little bit high for Herrera. Yeah. It just seems like the

kind of buzzworthy players, the ones who get talked up a lot as sleepers or whatever. They're the ones that are exceeding their price tag by. Well, because they're getting thrown out early in this one. Five plus dollars. That's what's happening is that if these guys had lasted until, you know, the 150th nomination, they'd probably go for what they're supposed to. But because this group drafts with each other fairly regularly and they all listen to the podcast and know who we like, they're going to push. the envelope on those

buzzy players and then see if we can get people to bite and so far it's working. All right, after Kukuchi Juan Soto went for 42, big name there off the board and typically a mid-first round pick, I believe J-Ram and Ellie went for very

similar prices there, so does make sense for Soto who looks amazing already as the New York Met breaks my heart every time I see him crushing the ball. It's going to be a long season, man. I mean, between Soto and Clay Holmes potentially just being awesome for the Mets and Garret Cole already heard. It's a rough go man. It's tough.

It is not what you want. No, no it is not. CJ Abrams went for $19 to be done as well. Kent. Maybe he's got somewhere to be. He's looking to spend that money. Pretty good price though on Abrams. We have him for a consensus $19 player on the site. You know what? That's the thing though. If you want to get out of the room earliest, you can't spend your money early. you got to be able to hit the hammer at the end and get the fill out the rest of your line. He's going to be sitting there with $1 player

for the final like seven spots of his roster. That's fair. He's here forever. But you know, he can spend his money and then come back later on whenever he's got to now meet a player, I guess. Plus there's a reserve draft so nobody can actually leave early.

Just want to remind them all if they're listening. You can't actually leave early. You're here forever. Forever. For the next four hours, at least. Oh, Scott is going crazy today. He's got a couple $25 players already and trying for Corbyn Carroll.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We'll see. Frank jumps in and denies me. For now, you can go higher, Scott, if you'd like. Did you not really want him? No, no, I did. I wanted Corby Carroll.

Yeah, I wanted, I said I didn't have a plan coming in. I had a very loose idea of what I wanted to do. I wanted one strong batting average, four-category player, and then I wanted Corbyn Carroll. So I wanted like one of Judge or Flas. That was your lynchpin right there. Yeah, I wanted Carol. So I was waiting until the last second

to get in on the bidding there and wind up getting him for 36, the same price for Vlad Jr. So you raised my hopes. Did our first dollar player, a first dollar player just snuck through? Yeah, Patrick Bailey for a dollar. Beaton is going to need a lot of those.

So there you go. I think Patrick Bailey has a little bit of breakout potential. I hate the ballpark. but his quality of contact metrics were very good last year. He was one of the biggest underperformers among catchers along with, I believe, Austin Wells. And he's a really good defender, so he should... Yes, maybe the best defender in the NL.

His playing time should be really safe this season. Again, that's Patrick Bailey. We get back-to-back giants, Elliot Ramos, for $6. Elliot Ramos, not a name that we've talked a lot about, but the power metrics were legit last season. and he just had huge left-right splits. And so something I worry a little bit about where is there a, you know, 10, 15, 20% chance he becomes a short side platoon this year.

If he just can't hit right-hand to pitching, it's a possibility. There's a chance, but it's an interesting bet because there just are not that many players who truly can hit lefties and can't hit righties. It's just, there are some, Lane Thomas who has like 180 point spread in his career OPS, but for the most part, that type of player is pretty rare. And so, yeah, I could see a world where Elliott-Ramos is like a 770 OPS against lefties and 80 Ops against lefties, and he's a pretty good hitter. Yeah. Last year, I think it was like a 650 OPS against Ritees and 1,200 against lefties, you know, it was. Something crazy for Elliot Ramos. Yordon Alvarez just went off the board.

Let's take another break, and when we return, we'll catch you up on his price right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today, doing our live 12-team roto auction draft. And reminder, this is one that we are... Oh, sorry, I didn't know I was up to nominated a player. My bad, my bad. This is a league that we're playing out, by the way.

This is not a mock draft. We are actually playing this league out this season. And Yordaun Alvarez we left off with went for $37. And Mitch Keller, a $2 player, the very next player. And now Kyle Tucker is up. And he is up to 37 buckaroos. I feel like the studs going off the board now,

kind of the last, the stragglers of the studs, they're getting priced up relative to the ones who are nominated right away. 30, 38 for Kyle Tucker. Yeah, that's spot on. Yeah. 42 for Soto seemed high. Yeah. And Alvarez going for 37.

That was a couple dollars high. Don't say. I think people are feeling the pressure to get one before they're all gone in a way they weren't before. I was going to say, Scott, do not say Corbyn, he was. And there's really only two. That was a great buy. By me. We'll see.

There's only two left. You're saying, Chris. First round caliber player. Julio Rodriguez and Mookie Betts. Yeah. There's several second round types. Yeah. In the meantime, Max Freed went for $15.

That was not less than I have him for. Same price as Roki Sasaki, I believe. I'd rather have Freed. Me too. Me three. Even with me being, I think, the most cautious about Max Fried this season, I would still prefer him over Roki Sasaki. Julio Rodriguez all the way up to 36.

Was he thrown out for that price? He was thrown out for 35. Okay, so then whoever thrown out for 35 was hoping to get him at that, and then $1 bid after that, and Julio Rodriguez goes for $36. So those late first, early second round

players all seem to be in that $35 to $37-38 range. Billy Ober thrown out for $11. One of Scott's bold predictions early in the offseason. Bailey Ober wins the American League's Siong this year. I'm probably not sticking with that prediction when we actually pick our Sanyong winners. It's a bold one, you know.

Yeah, it could still be your bold prediction. Yeah, you can have a regular prediction and then a bold prediction. Now, I say you just go for it. Then a prediction in italics. Just go for it. Bailey over, baby. Let's go. I don't know.

Bailey over for 16. How do you feel about that, Scott? Spot on. Spot on, okay. It's a dollar too much, really. Trey Turner, thrown out there as a mid-second round pick in most roto drafts this season.

Let's see what my buddy, Ariel Cohen, has him for. All right? Got a little idea here. Do I want to jump in? Should I bid 30? Nah, I didn't do it. Scott did, though. Scott's going for all the $30 players.

And he's already got Francisco Lindor. Is he going to do it? Wow. It's done. All right, Scott. I mean, you don't have any money left, but you have the players. Yeah, I'm going to have to slow down here, but I consider that a discount. I had him at 32.

Got him for 30, and he helps him batting out. average in speed, both of which I wanted to take care of. Actually, it shows him for 33. I thought I lowered him to 32. I'll have to check that. Anyway, I got him for 30. All right. Next up is Corey Seeger, who's up to $23. I thought there might be a discount there, but there is not.

No discount, really. Guys, I'm thinking the Rangers lineup bounces back this season. obviously a lot of it is health related if Seeger can stay healthy, Adolas Garcia dealing with the oblique, but last year just felt like a clear World Series hangover, hoping that Langford's gets to go, Semin

one of the most consistent healthiest players in the league. I think the Rangers lineup bounce back this season, so. Does that mean, does that mean, Corey Seagher should go for $25? I'm not sure. Any time you have

like the Diamondbacks. You know, we talk a lot about how they were the best lineup in baseball last year in terms of runs scored. They'll probably fall off, right? Like that's just generally how it happens. So the Braves and Rangers were the best scoring teams in 2024, or 2023. They fall off in 2024.

Pretty good bets to bounce back this year. Just based on natural regression, even if, you know, I don't necessarily think this is the best lineup in baseball. They can be. they could certainly be one of them this season. Corey Seeger mentioned went for 25. Byron Buxton,

the next player went for... We're going to redo the Buxton one, and we're going to redo this Olson one, too. All right. Olson for $2. Great buy. Great buy there. That was not real.

It was actually Chris Towers in the chat that said, I wanted to bid seven on Byron Buckson. That was the other Chris. Oh, my bad. My bad. But it would make sense, though. sometimes the room has some little quirks and somebody gets locked out of the bidding.

So it's important as a commissioner to, you know, be generous. Be generous, be gracious when somebody has a technical glitch. We do appreciate it, Scott, because online auctions could be a little crazy at times. So that does totally make sense. Byron Bucson goes for $8. and Matt Olson is thrown back out there. I already have Vlad and Carol, so I don't think I'm going to be in here.

That's not a bad price, though, $22. Oh, three people hopped in at once. Chris is going to get stuck. Oh, I'm fine. I liked him at $23, less $2 less so at $25, where I got plus one, but someone got in at 26, which could be a totally fine price for Maddell.

Yeah, it's a little more than I have him for, but it's not the discount that we, I jumped in too. I was one of the three who jumped in, even though I've got no money left. I think we were all thinking the same thing at 22. And it was at like, we were all like 23 sounds good and then three of us hit it right at zero at one second. That is a good teaching moment though,

where if you're in an online auction, the best way to input your bids is probably just to, click on the offer button and enter in the amount that you want to. Nah, I live dangerously. Press one every time. The fact that we are podcasting and doing a draft at the same time, it makes it infinitely harder to do that.

So I almost, almost always do that. I almost always type it in. I never do. I live at a keyboard so I can do that very efficiently. Maybe the average person can't. But yeah, I don't,

like it could totally. sink your your your auction if you if you end up spending $25 on a player unexpectedly we are at the let's see if I can sneak through a catcher for one dollar portion of the draft it did not work for Connor Wong it does work for Danny Jansen goes for one dollar it should have worked for Wong too I think so yeah Danny Jansen on a one-year deal with the raise looks like you'll be their everyday catcher at least not at this stage it's still too early to cry about a one dollar bid you don't get. If I nominate a true one dollar player and he goes for any amount more than that, that's a win because I've bled some more dollars out of the draft room.

Tristan Kossis up to 11, a solid breakout candidate this season. If he could stay healthy, I mean, if he does, batting cleanup in that lineup behind Jaron Duran, Alex Bregman and Raphael Devers should be a pretty good spot for Tris and Kossis to be in who does wind up going for $12. Pretty good price. Yeah. I just know in this like mid-tier range there are going to be some crazy discounts because of the amount of money already spent. Oh yes. Oh, I am up next. So let me try to figure out who I'm going to throw out here. Okay, so I am going to throw out Zach Wheeler. This is something I spoke about on our auction strategy podcast. The last of the elite pitchers.

I already have Corbyn Burns. So I know that I'm not going to be in on the bidding on Zach Wheeler. So I want to get money off the table. I presume he'll go for somewhere close to Skeens and Scoobel. That was like $31. So with me knowing I'm not going to bid on him, I do want to get some money off the table. And he is the last of that elite tier. So maybe he goes for even a little bit more than expected here.

Alejandro Kirk went for a dollar while we were talking. And Wheeler is all the way up to 29. I mean, that's pretty fair. Two dollars less than Scoobol and schemes? That seems perfectly reasonable. I think so. Yeah, we have him $28 on the site, so he winds up going for 29.

I think that's pretty good. Again, pitching, elite pitching has been pretty true to our projected value so far. And Marcus Semyon is, thrown out there for 14 bucks. It's not a bad price. Oh, I didn't. Ah, I wanted to hit 15 and I got in at 16 bucks for Semyon, which I think it's still okay.

And I get Marcus Semyon. There you go. I got plus one a little bit there. Yeah, that's a nice value. Yeah, we have him for an $18 player on the site. So I'm all right. Marcus Semyon for 18. See, now, Estock Paredes is someone I would definitely expect.

to go for more than he should in this specific draft. Yeah, I was not I was not holding out any hopes for him. Nine's not bad though. Oh, he just got bumped up to 10. Which is about what I have him for.

Let's see if anybody goes higher. I thought about it. And another player to B-Don. How much money does B-Don have left? Let's see. They're coming for him. All right. I'm assuming it's the right time.

Yeah, let's do it. It's a player with $78 left, so that that would be done. Drake Baldwin thrown out there for a buck by Chris. Will he sneak him on by? No. No, up to three, four. Oh my gosh. I thought about putting him in for two, but apparently that wouldn't have worked either.

He's looked good this spring. I know some of their pitchers, Chris Sale, most notably, has talked about they like throwing to Drake Baldwin so far this. He's expected to fill in for Sean Murphy as he recovers from a fractured rib early on in the season. But, you know, Baldwin went for four bucks and like Alejandro Kirk went for a dollar, I think. Yeah. Connor Wan went for two. So unless you think Baldwin just kind of Wally Pipes Sean Murphy probably should go.

And there's a chance. Yeah, it's a non-zero chance. Murphy's owed a lot of money so they would have to make a tough decision there. but like the last couple of seasons, there have been long stretches where it's basically been a timeshare between Olson and Travis Darnow. And they could have brought back Darno

for a modest sum, so I think part of that was Alex and Thoppel, this is way of forcing Brian Snitker's hand on playing Murphy. And then Murphy got hurt. It's possible Baldwin, Wally Pips, Murphy,

but if Murphy's timeline is what it's been presented as, he'll be back by the, third week of the season. And I just don't think Baldwin will have a chance to get a foot hold during that time. Jackson Trio for $30 to me. What do you guys think? $30? I'd rather have him for 30 than Turner for 30. So yeah, that's good job. I wish I wasn't talking. I'm at a bid. I do have to slow down a little bit here. I am, I have an idea of how much I want to spend on my hitting versus my pitching. And I am pacing a little bit too much. In hindsight,

Getting in on Semyon probably was not the best idea, but we'll see how that turns out. Ryan Walker, $13. We haven't really seen many of the top tier closers thrown out just yet. But 13 feels okay, maybe a touch high for Ryan Walker. Yeah, it's a little higher than I would go, but it's probably fine. All right, I'm nominating Xander Bogartz. I have two short stops already. second baseman, but I am, I'm basically, I have $107 left to spend on a bunch of roster

spots. So I am for the next long while just nominating players that I don't actually want. No, $7 for Bogarts isn't bad, but it's not the sort of discount I'm looking for within this range of the rankings. So that's, you won't see me bidding much for a while. I'm not going to promise I won't at all. You never know. The price is right.

But yeah, I got to dial it back a little bit. Still cool as a cucumber though, you know. Yeah, you've got $107 left for 18 players. I got five really high-end hitters and also Grayson Rodriguez. So I'm not stressing about filling out my roster. We'll be interesting to see how the outfield comes together, Scott, because you did allocate a lot of those funds to the infield. Freddie Freeman went for 28.

You got Devers for 23. Lindor for 33 and Turner for 30 as well as Tatis for 35 so we'll be interesting to see how it comes together there Jackson Merrill up to 27 so the jacksons going off the board four picks apart trio for 30 Jackson Merrill for 27 based on other players in that range I mean that's like a late second yeah it's the same price base a dollar less than jazz chisholm and Freddie free Freeman. Okay. So it's,

I mean, it's a little bit optimistic on Merrill, I think. Yeah, I think it's fine. Mookiee Betts, the last,

I think, clear first round player being thrown out. If you have him as a first round, right, I think most people probably do.

And he was jumped all the way up to 27, 30, 31, jump in, 33. Chris is in. Let's see if this

becomes a bidding war. Chris, you have tough. Tucker, right? Yeah, I got Tucker for 38. So wouldn't mind seeing bets go for the same price, but it's not going to happen. Yeah, he goes for 36, which is the same as Holi Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrera Jr. and Corbyn

Carroll. Those guys all pretty much right next to each other in the rankings, too. Yeah, I think that makes sense. Walker Bueller thrown out for two and quickly escalated to three by Doc Eisenhower. we had Nick Pollack on yesterday asked him about Walker Bueller he said I don't know I don't know what to make of Walker Bueller

we haven't had any statcast data from Bueller let yet the spring he's looked good but we don't have velocity readings or you know spin rates for that specifically I'm waiting to see if his slider that the big increase in slider movement that happened in the postseason has carried over because that would be the game changer for Bueller

if that's not there then I'm skeptical he's going to be able to to, you know, bounce back and and be a halfway decent fantasy option. So we have $1,307 spent on, according to my values, $1,191 worth of player. That's quite a bit of inflation there. Yeah, it's about 10%, which is pretty typical, I would say, for the first 100 picks. and then you start to get the values. Ozzie Albies is slowing down a bit and not making me feel too great about Marcus Semy.

I think that's going to be just the one that kills me all draft. Now I'm going to keep thinking about Marcos. 16, that's fine. 18 bucks. Yeah, okay, that's $2 less fine. And Ozzy Albies too. Oh, the guy who said he was stopping. Scott is a liar.

He was cool as a cucumber. I said you never know if the price is right. I'm going to jump in there. I think $20 for Albis is pretty clutch. I would rather have Albi's for 20 than Semi and for 18 soon. 16. You got Simeon for 16. Oh, 16.

That's what I thought. Wow, I feel so much better about it now. I kind of do. All right, Scott. Your infield is amazing. Again, I'm interested to see how the outfield comes together for you. Well, I got Tatis. but yeah the rest is

we'll see we shall see yeah it's okay I'm still cool as a cucumber the one I might like the one I might like to have back is Tatis for 35 it was so early on that I didn't know how

you know the studs often go for several dollars more than they're projected before and Tatis 35 is pretty much spot on I would have rather had bets for 36 Yeah. You can't predict the future and part of the cool as a cucumber go with the flow approach is just

particularly with these high-end guys that you know are rarely going to go undervalue. You just, when you see the price is right, you just go for it. You know, and not worry too much. The thing that I know about being a cool guy is the more you say how cool you are, the cooler you are.

I was just going to say, whoever's listening to this podcast, drinking game. Every time Scott says cool as a cucumber, you have to drink, which means you're not going to make it through the draft. That is my mantra. And it's cool as in chill, not cool as in like

hip. We get it, James Dean. All right. Somebody please tweet at me tomorrow with a counter on how many times Scott has said it so far. Bryce Harper for $31. Right after Tomo Yuki Sagano went for $3.

Japanese import this offseason to the Baltimore Orioles has looked pretty good so far in spring and Brent Rooker is up to $17 util only to start the season could gain outfield eligibility and according to our

prices on the website that is spot on 17 bucks yeah how long before we see Swarber and Ozuna nominated now would guess it's going to be pretty quick that's generally how this works Yeah.

Jason Dominguez. Seems like he will provide power and speed, but can he catch a fly ball? That remains unknown. You know, D.H. is wide open in New York. And Trent Grisham has two home runs this spring. He hit one against Paul Skeens here on Tuesday. So they could play Grisham in the outfield. D.H. if they wanted to go that route.

Sounds like Ben Rice is in the mix for some D.H. at Bats season. Here's my deep sleeper for the Yankees, Ben, rice. Lots of excitement here on Dominguez, who goes for 15 bucks. All right. Tell you what, makes me feel a little bit better about Marcus

Semyon for 16. Marcus Simeon for 16 was fine. I know, I'm just going to keep bringing it up. I wish I had that money back, but it's okay. Jeremy Pena for three. He's one that like every time I look at a projection

system, he comes out fairly high. and I just can't buy it. I just, I think he's so boring. And maybe that's my own fault. And maybe I'm falling for the, you know, overrating potential.

But I just think Jeremy Pena is, him and Ezekiel Tovar, like the two short stops where it's like, yeah, they'll probably be useful, but I have zero interest in them. Projection systems, they favor the boring.

Yes. Right? Just by their very nature, they favor the more. Players that are... That they provide is going to prop them up in a way that the more volatile players that you're not going to see with them. The playing time is a big key for projections. And someone like Pena and Tovar, they're good defenders.

They're going to play. Like, you know they're going to play. And the ATC projections for Pena, 261, 15 homers, 77, runs, 67 RBI, 17 steals, all seems fine and doable for Payne. But with that, he grades out as an $11 player, according to ATC and a 12 team league. And he just went for six bucks. So could turn out to be a bargain for Payne. Well, probably not because some of those volatile players are going to leapfrog him when all said and done.

It's just the projection systems aren't in the business of predicting which of the volatile players are going to leapfrog the boring ones. Right, but if Pena provides you 10 to $12 of value by the end of the season, it's not a huge win, but if you get wins like that up and down your roster, it does add up. No, I'm saying he won't, though. I'm saying he won't because some of the volatile ones

were leapfrog him and make that dollar value end up less. Right? Am I doing it right? I would have to look up where Pena finished in the player rate or last year, like how many dollars he earned because he was basically that player last. season. Yeah, it's probably pretty close.

He earned $12 of value last season. But that, yeah, there are being present accounts for a lot. Yes, for sure. Let's catch people up. Lots of players going here. Mani Machado for 23 and then O'Neill Cruz for 27. So relatively speaking, that Machado buy looks really good at $23. But O'Neill Cruz is also, O'Neill Cruz is also a buzzy name and tends to go for a good amount in auctions, I think.

Machado and Devers and both ended up going for 23 so it turns out there was no injury discount on Devers. I don't believe Riley has gone yet so that'll be another interesting test case. Should be I would say a couple dollars more. Should be.

Chisholm was 28 but he'll have second base eligibility so could be worth an extra $5 you know, relatively speaking. But yeah, I like that price on Alonzo. $19. I was really struggling about whether I wanted to go to 20, and I probably should have. Marcel Ozuena, so the second of the big four,

or no, the third, I guess, of the big four util hitters this season. I don't count it. Otani's too good to be part of that. He's part of a trio, you know? It's him, Rooker, and Schwabber. Usually go off the board at a similar range and similar dollar amount, so we'll see.

Oh, Chris. Sorry. It wasn't even up there that long, you know? You battle me out here for Ozuna? Should I do it? Should I go an extra? Do it, Frank. Do it. Don't do it. Nah, I'll let you have them. $17 for Marcel Ozuna. I have him as a $18 player on the side. Yeah, I have him at 18 as well.

I could have, you know, it's just, I like Ozuna the player. It's just, I'm still going to be hunting for values throughout the course of the draft. So, opted to pass on Ozuna. Pretty good value. You guys had them at what? 18. I had him at 20. Yeah. But I think... Not too far off, but...

I think... I think your values taper a little quicker than mine do. Jonah Heim for a buck. And with that, we're going to sign off our one on the podcast side of things, the audio side. But make sure to check back in for part two, our two of our live, Roto Auction. Paramount Podcasts. Thank you.