Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Categories FOR THE PEOPLE Draft Part 2! Rounds 12-22 Picks & Team Recaps! (3/27 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

We continue on with our annual For The People listener league draft! This is a 16-team H2H categories league with OBP instead of batting average, quality starts instead of wins and saves plus holds instead of saves. In part two, we break down the final 11 rounds of the draft and then recap our teams. Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Welcome back into Fantasy Baseball today. This is part two, our two of our live for the people 16 team head-to-head categories draft. And we left off in round 12 where Scott made another pick. And it was AJ Puck, 178th overall. Talk to me, Scott. I think there's a ton of upside. I've been talking about it all spring.

He was a former elite pitching prospect who got moved to the bullpen probably before he should have, just because he was coming back for Tommy John's surgery, and I think the A's were anxious to get him up. He kind of got stuck there for a while, but the strikeout numbers were great in the bullpen. They've been even better with him expanding his arsenal to start this spring. And I want high impact. I want high impact.

You know, I could have gone with a Nolan of Alde, a Nathan of Aldi type instead, and maybe been more assured that he would stick in the rotation, that he would give me quality starts. But the thing is, seven starting, seven pitcher spots, I know I want to dedicate three to relief most weeks. So I only need to come up with four guys starting pitchers who I can count on week after week. And so I think I'm going to take big swings for upside plays like puck

rather than settle for kind of mushy, mid-range type globy, you could say, even type pitchers. One could say. After A.J. Puck, Jose Alvarado, Aaron Savali, Chris, I'm telling you right now, if Savali was there for our pick, I was going to take one of those mushy, globby, boring starting pitchers, because it kind of just feels like that's what our team needs at this point.

Thank you to, I missed the old El Mago, Kobe Corretz. Ah, come on, man. For not forcing me to have Aaron Savali on one of my teams. I really appreciate that. What is wrong with Aaron Savali, man? Come on. After Savali, Cutter Crawford, Nathan Avaldi, team cramful, stowers, whatever you want to call us, Chris. Great pick. Incredible pick.

Chris suggested Mitch Garver. I think there are better catchers available, but I'll give it. I mean, this is basically Chris's team at this point. So, conceding your own picks to Chris now, Frank. I made a suggestion. That is all. We selected Mitch Garver over Sean Murphy. That seems criminal, Chris. That is the first time that you have even considered one of my suggestions. All right, I see right there in Slash, Frank Stample has paused their notifications.

You're not even seeing the messages I'm sending. And you're blaming me? No, sir. No. I saw your message of Mitch Garver. That's why I took him. After Mitch Garver, David Bednar, Tristan McKenzie, James Outman, who is going to strike out a lot.

He's also going to walk quite a bit. So probably gains a little bit of value in OBP. Then Michael Garcia, James Paxton, Anthony Rizzo. I like that in OBP as well. Clay Holmes and Sean Murphy, that should have been our pick, Chris. Mitch Garber. Garver better. Mitch Garber is a great hitter.

He walks. It's just, can he stay healthy? That's the question. Well, it's pretty likely to stay healthy if he's only hitting, one would think. Likelier than he would be otherwise. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I guess this, I have them in the same tier.

So I guess that kind of makes this case in fewer words. but I don't know that Sean Murphy is definitively a better fantasy asset than Mitch Garver. I have Garver ranked ahead. It would require the Braves to play Travis Darneau less often than they did last year,

which they probably should, in which they may. He's no spring chicken. But I don't have any assurances that they're going to do that. All right, here are some fun facts for Mitch Garver, for you Garver fans out there.

His career in Seattle, Oh for 31. I don't care. He's due. That's a pretty big sample, 31 have pets. He also has not been very good as a DH in his career. I know that. He's been much better as a hitter whenever he's been a catcher.

I thought I had those stats available, but I don't. Now do Sean Murphy's second half stats, Frank. Oh, come on, Scott. You're a Braze fan. You know what was wrong. He got hit in the head with a bat, concussion. Okay, but if you're going to explain away his, a small sample

slump than an even smaller sample for small an even smaller sample slump for Mitch Garver is also easy to explain what if he doesn't see the ball well in Seattle like to Oscar Hernandez

that's possible but it's unknowable 0 for 31 is right but like the the example I always think of Mike Redmond you remember that guy former Marlins manager former Marlins GM

for like two weeks. He hit 438 with a 1075 OPS against Tom Glavin. It was 451 plate appearances, right? Like we shouldn't just assume that Mike Redmond single-handedly turned Tom Glavin into a scrub. It's just that in small sample sizes, weird things can happen. That's my assumption with Mitch Garver. I can't say it for sure. but both the as a DH and at Seattle stats are pretty small sample sizes.

All right. Last point on Mitch Garver. The DH thing, 446 plate appearances in his career. 216 batting average 735 OPS. As a catcher, it's 267 and 869. It's pretty big difference. That's a significant difference. I do wonder if a disproportionate number of those DH plate appearances haven't.

come when he's been banged up. That is possible, yeah, giving him a half day while he's doing something. And now that he's committing to it. Yeah. Like I, there may have been some kind of mental block there that he's going to have to figure out how to unblock. And I think you will.

All right, let's catch people up there have been a lot of picks. At the end of round 12, J.P. Crawford, it's a good pick in OBP. And Estuary Ruiz, who I typically do not target, 193 overall. That's pretty late. in a draft. I saw a report that

there was an article on MLB.com projecting the Oakland A's opening day lineup and Estuary Ruiz was not part of it. That doesn't mean that'll be the case.

That's just one beat writer's opinion but that is the latest on Estuary Ruiz. After him, Craig Kimbrel, Nestor Cortez, Adbert Owslai, Kyle Harrison, Jackson Holiday,

who will start the season in the minors, but once he's up, hopefully a good OBP contributor, maybe, you know, 15 home runs, 20 plus steel, something like that. Jack Swinsky gains value in OBP, then Ryan Helsley, Yuan, Duran, and it appears we've made a pick. D.O. Hall, come on down.

This is, everyone's being so mean to me. I thought that was a great pick. I like it. He's not going to get any quality starts. He may not. It, like, I don't know, the thing with quality starts is, it mostly matters whether you, you're good. Like that is the primary.

There are few pitchers who when they're pitching well, don't get quality starts, right? Like Blake Snell, when he's pitching well gets quality starts. It's just you can't often or always count on him to pitch well. There are exceptions to that. But if D.L. Hall lives up to his expectations, I don't think they're just going to pull him after five innings every time. So, you know, he's got to be efficient. The control has to be there.

But those things have to be true for D.L. Hall to match. matter either way. Right? Yes. Yeah, he's got to be able to throw strikes. I agree with you. Like, if it all works, then maybe he is going deeper into his starts. And, you know, it could

eventually result in quality starts. I like the pitcher. It's just, you know, with this league's current setup and categories, it's, maybe he's not as valuable. But I hope I'm wrong. I like deal hall. I have him in the Scott White Dynasty League, so I hope it works out. After that, Tanner Scott,

Jonathan, India, Ryan McMahon, Junior Camerrero. So the top prospect stashes coming off the board in the same round, round 13. Scott, you are up. Let's check in. I think I'm going to give myself another option at third base. I was thinking maybe I could fall back on Junior Kamenaro and maybe put Christopher Morel back in the outfield. But I'm going to have to come out of this draft with a third basement.

So I'm going to put ESOK Paretas there. Good OVP, guys. Yeah, and he'll be able to back up first base for me to He'll be able to back up first base for me as well And very quickly on backup Eduardo Rodriguez, the last pick of round 13 Masataka Yoshida, who hits for good batting average Solid OVP guy

Has Juno League on? Not yet Yeah, I don't think so No name dropping, Chris. You're going to get back into the OBP battle here in round 14. It's never too late. One player going to make up all that ground for you?

It's never too late, Scott. Never too late. I might take him here. Oh. I mean, he did have a batted ball over 110 miles per hour this spring. I think he stole two bases, made a ton of contact as we expected. I'm cautiously optimistic about Junghuli being like a better Alex Verdugo. You know, maybe that's Dan.

with faint praise, but Alex Verdugo has generally been a pretty useful fantasy option. I think there might be 20 steel potential there. I decided to go with a pitcher instead. And it was Christopher Sanchez. Not even a second went by before somebody took Jung Hu Lee after I made that Christopher Sanchez, but... Well, thanks for watching Christopher Himerman. We appreciate it.

Christopher Sanchez last year, he improved the control dramatically, something we've never seen from him. in his minor league career, really at any stop, but he gets lots of ground balls. His velocity is up this spring. Which may not be a good thing, but he said if the added velocity wasn't working, then he'd go back to what he was doing last year. So I am trying to stick to the idea that spring training stats don't matter.

And I'm not going to lose faith in Christopher Sanchez because he can have a very good spring. I think the skills are there for him to be an impactful fantasy pitcher. And I'll go ahead and explain the reason why I decided not to take Junkhu Lee. Probably not many homers. Probably not many steals and only nine hitter spots. And do you want to devote one of those nine hitter spots to somebody who isn't going to help you in those two ever important categories? He'll probably be a plus on-base percentage.

He'll probably be a plus and run scored. So I don't think he's a bad pick here. But ultimately, it's just not somebody I want to. feel like I had to keep in my lineup. And I do think he's probably better in just straight roto than head-to-head categories. Because we have more hitter spots. You have more hitter spots.

And also, he might be more of a compiler. Like, he's going to hit lead off. He, I think the runs are going to be very good. I think that was who I wanted you to take, Frank. Thank you very much. This is what a supportive teammate looks like. Junghuli, like, I think it could be 15 to 20. steals, but that's probably the ceiling.

I think it could be 10 to 15 homers. That's probably the ceiling. But over the course of a season from a guy who hits 280 and scores 95 runs, that probably has more impact than like in a head-to-head categories, where most weeks he's probably not going to hit a home run. Most weeks he's probably not going to steal a base. You're dividing those 10 home runs over 26 weeks. And so occasionally you'll get a home run out of that spot.

But how much is that going to really impact the standings for you? Virtually not at all. Yep. All right. After Christopher Sanchez and Jung Hu Lee, Jason Adam, who is a great play in SAFEs Plus Holds Leagues, Sal Freelich, Cal Raleigh, team, our shared team, team, Cranful. Luis Severino, I was debating him in a couple other pitchers,

and I don't know, just lean into the, the upside at this point, Chris, you know? Yeah, absolutely. He's had a great spring. They think they fix the pitch tipping issues. The velocity and movement profiles have mostly been consistent from 2022 when he was really good to 2023 when he was really bad this spring also. So I think the pitch tipping is a very, it's a plausible excuse for why Louis Severino was so bad last year. After Severino, Paul Seawald, who will start.

the season on the IL with an oblique strain. We do have four IL spots in this league. Henry Davis, who is likely to be the starting catcher to open the season. Yasmai Grandal, looks like he'll start the season on the IL. Logan O'Hoppy, Jose LeClerc, Edward Julian, Matt Chapman, Francisco Averaz, and Gavin Stone. We are up to the final pick in round 14. I'm not going to have any Gavin Stone shares. That's frustrating.

Well, you can just pick them up after everyone drops him when Walker Bueller's back. Oh. Oh. And with that, let's take another break. And when we return, into round 15 we go here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back in the final pick of round 14. You say Kikuchi. And the first pick of round 15 is Parker Meadows, someone who's had a great spring.

Some power and speed could lead off for the Detroit Tigers. He's someone that I've really kind of gotten excited about Parker Meadows. I know it's not a good ballpark, but. Yeah, I think you're let I'm not, that's, that's one of those, don't let spring training stats full you the other way, I feel like. You know, spring training is a very favorable hitting environment, if for no other reason, because pitchers aren't unfurling their full arsenal most of the time. And you're playing a lot of double A and AAA pitchers.

and cactus league, you know, you got the desert air, but even the Florida leagues where the grapefruit league where Parker Meadows was playing, you get some wind gusts. But Meadows played 114 games at AAA last season. Batting average bad, 256, but 19 homers, 19 steals could be a really useful roto. I think he'll be Jake Frayley-Light.

That's what I think he'll be. If he was playing in Cincinnati and Jake Fraley was playing in Detroit, I would project even better outcomes on to Meadows than I'm projecting to Fraley. But being that they are where they are, I think their numbers will be very similar. After Meadows, Marcus Stroman, Kerry Carpenter, John Carlos Stanton, and Brian Abreu. Chris, I'm sorry, we won't have Stanton on our team.

You know, I'm, I wish, I did. I don't know if I have him on any of my teams this year, which might be the first time that's ever happened. And he's having a good spring. A lot of that was he hit about a quarter of a miles worth of home runs off of Marco Gonzalez in one game. I don't know if you guys saw it, but he hit it over everything. There's all kinds of obstacles down in the outfield and he hit it just over every single one of them.

I'm very excited about the pick we're about to make because I honestly, this is one of those ones that I just kind of forgot. And now he's here. Best reliever in baseball, baby. Mason Miller. That would be D.C. Miller. He just, he looks so stupid good this spring. I have no idea if he can stay healthy,

but I genuinely think best relief pitcher in baseball is a realistic outcome for Mason Miller. He is, he is averaging like 101 miles per hour with his fastball this spring pitching out of the bullpen he's hit 103 strike rate is like 40%. It's been a pretty bonkers spring.

Does he get more saves than the holds leaders get holds? Um, probably not. Probably not. Yeah, I don't think that's a guarantee. I think it's probably just the one drawback to him,

which yeah, I'm, I'm fine with him in general. He has looked amazing. And I think in a saves plus holds league, you really just want to focus on skills and getting the most talented relievers. And obviously Mason Miller could be one of those.

But the fact that he plays for Oakland, it's like, saves and holds are going to be so hard to come by for him. It happens sometimes that relievers on bad teams get a lot. It's like, I think Trevor May actually had a solid number of saves for the A's in the second half last year. And the second half especially.

Yeah, it was only 21 total. And the team itself, only had 29. Yeah. Which actually... There were against it, yeah. There were somehow two teams in the American League that had fewer saves than the Oakland

Athletics last year. And it kind of makes sense, right? They're never going to blow you out. It's something you can explain after the fact. Yeah. But it's not at all surprising when they just, nobody in the bullpen emerges as a viable starter and option for saves in fantasy. Yeah.

Justin May had 15 saves in the second half last season. I actually had five saves each in June, July, August, and September. So I'd take 30 from Mason Miller. If, because partially I think it's because it's going to come with 110 strike. So I'm really, really bullish on the skill level for Mason Miller. All right. After he went, Max Kepler, Yaneer, Canoe, Tyler O'Neill, Adner, Aribay, and Scott selected Jack Flaherty.

Just want to quickly mention with those two relievers, Yaneer Canoe and Arebe. Obviously not as worried about them not getting saves, but they could just provide really good ratios for Cano and then obviously lots of strikeouts,

I think, for Aribe as well. Scott, Jack Flaherty is someone that you've kind of warmed up to this spring and he's looked really good. The velocity is up. Hopefully the tigers have figured him out. They said they had a plan for him when they signed him.

And it sure looks like it with the spring performance. Ultimately, it may be another case of spring performance not mattering. I do think it's worth pointing, you know, we had a couple years ago, Carlos Rodon, Trevor Rogers, Robbie Ray, all emerge in spring training. If you pick them all up, you probably won your league. But it's more often than not, the spring riser doesn't work out. It's worth saying. There will be some every year that work out. Jack Flaherty

Jack Flaherty's in the long week his matchups I believe are Oakland and the White Sox And so if Jack Flaherty has a bad first week Yeah Yeah you can just drop him The dream is over By the way another guy who

Has pretty quietly had an incredible spring That I think is worth mentioning Is Dalton Varshot Yes Because plate discipline is one of those things that can show up in spring training and be a leading indicator. And he has 10 walks to nine strikeouts in 60 played appearances. He got hot towards the end of last season was much better down the stretch.

He has eight stolen bases. Yep. In 60 plate appearances as well. So obviously all the caveats of everything apply here. And, you know, the fact that he's outfit only now certainly hurts the profile. but I'm going to write about five guys I'm worried I'm wrong about for tomorrow's newsletter for Wednesday's newsletter. Hedge those bets.

He might be on there. Yeah. I'm not sure. I haven't quite ironed it out who the five are going to be because I want two of them to be pitchers. I think he might be on there though. Yeah, Dalton Varsho, as you mentioned, eight steals this spring. And as we know, steals are really. just a matter of intention and I guess wanting to get them.

And, you know, he's been fast enough in the past. It's 16 steals and back-to-back season. So, you know, he could go 2020 this year. I don't think that would really surprise anybody. That is Dalton Varsho. Into round 16 we go. Tommy Edmund, the first pick. Nick Lidolo went to Scott.

The expectation is that Lidolo will make his season debut on April 10th, assuming all as well. After that, Gabriel Moreno, Ryan Weathers, and Casey Mize. We are on deck, Chris. What's the latest? What are we thinking? We have one pitcher spot in our starting lineup to fill.

We have one reliever and five starters, and we got our whole starting hitting lineup filled. So the world is your oyster, Frank. Go find us a pearl. I think pitcher is what it's going to be. scrolling around, seeing what's left. That makes sense. No scrubby closers.

Yeah. There's a lot of good pitchers left if we want to. Okay, the pitcher I wanted is still available. Hopefully we will be adding a category for home runs allowed because Brandon Fott, come on down. You're part of the team. We've got, it's just a weird collection of pitchers that we wound up with here. But we took the two aces early on.

We took Strider and Terrick Scuba. And then we waited a long time. We jump back in with Walker Bueller, who will start on the IL, but we also got Luis Severino, D.L. Hall, Brandon Fott, and then Mason Miller. And the thing when you take two legit aces, like Terrick Scoobo and Spencer Strider, they have to keep in mind as you look through the rest of the pitching staff,

is especially if you're doing it this way, where you take those two guys and then don't take one, those guys cover up for so much more than you really even think. Like, you can look at it and say, say, oh, the rest of the pitching staff is not that good. It kind of doesn't matter with how good those guys are and should be. So, and I actually, I think the rest of the pitching staff is fine. There's certainly no shortage of talent on it.

So I'm not, I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about it at all. After Brandon fought, Robert Suarez, Jordan Hicks, who had the 10 strikeout game on Monday night, 20 swinging strikes against the Oakland A's in that outing. and we spoke extensively about him yesterday. Colton Couser, who has made the Baltimore Orioles, sounds like he might be a fourth outfielder to start the season.

I'm sure they'll work him in a couple of times per week, but maybe not as much as we want early on. I would imagine. I would imagine he plays no less than Ryan O'Hern and probably more between the three outfield spots and D.H. So let's say a six-game week, Scott. How many games do you think Colton Couser gets in there? three or four.

Four. Four. All right. After. Start out, he may earn more playing time. After Kouser,

Bo Naler, AJ Minter, who's great for holds in this format. Chris Bryant, Jordan Romano, finally, 254th overall.

Could turn out to be a great pick. Jared Kelnick, Brent Rooker, is the last pick of round 16, and then Yoel Pyeamps, the first pick of

round 17. Worth mentioning, Abner, Aribe, went, I think, at the end of round 15, so, A little bit of a pick difference there.

And maybe it makes sense because the upside is probably higher for Aribe, strikeouts. Maybe he's a higher whip guy. But again, you're just saying it. If you're focusing on upside at relief pitcher. If you're focusing on talent, I think is how you put it. Yep. Arriba is probably a clear or bus case than Pai-A-Ops. But if Pye-Ops isn't like his very best self, then he's pretty fringy in this.

league where there's always going to be other hold sources on the waiver wire. After like, go ahead. Jared Kellanick did finally hit his first spring home run today and has generally been better in the week or so since the Adam Duvall signing. Maybe that was just a, you know, lit a fire under him. And there's been a lot of talk about the work that Scott, they're hitting. Kevin Sizer has put into quiet his swing and change his hand placement and stuff. This is work that he's done with Michael Harris and Ronald O'Cuna,

and he's widely considered to be one of the better hitting coaches in baseball. So, you know, it might be that it just took a couple weeks to click. He had a 452-foot home run today. Yeah. No, I mean, there's still a lot of enthusiasm for Kelnick as bad as. It makes sense when you hear Kevin Siteser's explanation is just he wasn't direct to the ball with the placement of his hands. And so he was getting his hands in positions, he was very late constantly.

And so he's kind of had to rebuild a swing this spring. And he struggled to get his timing down with it. But the timing is coming now at the end of spring training. The huge outcome may still be coming for Kelnick, who hits the ball very hard and is tremendously athletic. All right. Well, where do we leave off? That's right. Pye-amps.

Jake Croniworth, Sadan, Raphaela, who will be on the Red Sox opening the Rost. Sean Mania, who's looked pretty good this spring. Josh Spores is a reliever with the Rangers. Will Benson, who will play a lot early in the season for the Cincinnati Reds. He strikes out a lot. He also walks a lot. So gains a little bit of value in OBP. Kenta Maida, Luis Campu Sano.

Great early season streamer, Kenta Maeda. I learned that from Scott White's pitching preview. There you go. Luis Camp Usano, Mitch Hanager, who's looked great. We've talked about that a lot recently. He's healthy for now. I think he has five home runs. in the spring.

It's not really a matter of talent with Hanigar. It's just, if he stays on the field, he's probably going to hit like 25 home runs. After that, it appears our team has selected Michael Kopeck. The shouts to Terragensler in the chat, who said Chris is going to take Kopeck and Miller and have the failed starters version of the Bash Brothers. I like that comment so much that I had to do it.

Yes, that's what we're basing our picks on now. Chris, come on. After Copac, Renato... Look, Michael Copac had like 105 strikeouts as a reliever two years ago. Let's let's pump our breaks on the jokes. I just love that.

We just had a conversation about how talented Mason Miller is, but he might not get any saves or holds because he's on a bad team. And then we took Michael Copac who was on the White Sox. 60 saves between them. Coming up. Guaranteed. Let's go. Let's get it.

After Copic, Renaldo Lopez, T.J. Friedel, who will start on the aisle, Jonah Heim, Paul Skeen, someone I was thinking about. If the pirates are still alive, I mean, look, they're not going to be out of it by May or like mid-May, but if Skeens just shoves the first month of the season and the pirates are in shouting distance in the Central, like I think he's going to get called up.

After that, Scott, you selected Max Scherzer, and then Devin Williams, so back-to-back IL stashes. Is Scher your first starting pitcher stash? Yes, he's my first. my first injury stash of any kind, I believe. Okay. Though I may not be long with Tyler Glass now as my ace. I might take another starting pitcher stash here as well.

Hmm. Should I do it? I have so few injury stashes and there are four IL spots in this league. So let's do it. Kyle Bradish. There he is. Scottie's back. Kyle Bradish,

who has been throwing some bullpens and the last we heard from GM Mike Elias is that Kyle Bradish will be back some early in the first half is how they phrased it. So it's kind of big. Scottie's back. Does that mean I'm known for drafting injured pitchers?

And now that I've taken to back to back, I am back myself. Is that what you were intimating? I feel like you said that you're back and so I just repeated what you said. Scottie's back. I could just be making that up. To be completely honest,

I pulled up your sleeper pitchers article so I could see who has good matchups early in the season. So I'm trying to focus on that while also analyzing this draft. So there's just a lot of things going on right now. Shane Baz was there too. I think I accidentally...

Cole Keith finally goes. I had accidentally halfway crossed out Shane Baz's name. He might have been better than Braddish. The next thing. the next player on Scott's sleeper pitchers list is Tyler Wells, so come on down. You are a crampful. It was between him and Braddish.

Bradish or Bradish's replacement. Who I like a lot too, Tyler Wells. I think he is a poor man's Bailey Ober, basically. Yeah, lots of fly balls, which should work out in the new and improved Camden Yards. And as I've mentioned on previous podcast, whenever I take an IL stash pitcher, I like to pair them with Tyler Wells. It just feels like it makes a lot of sense. So we have Walker Bueller on this team, and now we get Tyler Wells.

So hopefully he helps us out during Walker Bueller's absence. After Tyler Wells, Ryan Presley, great in Saves Plus Holtz, Kenley Jansen, Alex Lang, the reliever's starting to go. Zachary Netto, who's had a great spring, former first round pick, pushed aggressively by the Angels last year and actually hits the ball hard for a, you know, you would think a smaller middle infield type.

It's like a 90 mile per hour, exe velocity. It's pretty good for him. Julian Meriwether, Jose Ibrahim, and Zach Lattel, someone you've talked up recently, Chris. Yeah, I think it makes sense to just bet on guys on the race to a certain extent. They're going to maximize the guys that they get.

And I'm not sure he's much less talented than Aaron Savale, who went quite a bit earlier. So, you know, Lattel has elite control, and, you know, that's a decent building block for a team like the race. After Lattel, Ryan Mountcastle and Kevin Ginkle. It's a nice little pick there. He's likely to...

I don't like the way you said that, Chris. I love the way you said that, Chris. Kevin Ginkle likely to fill in for Paul Seawald, who's starting the season on the IL with an oblique injury. Probably going to miss the first... month for six weeks of the season, something like that. And the first pick of round 19, Lars Neupar.

Yep. Ready to take him. Another injury stash. I mean, we're 15 picks away from me, so. The nice thing about Ginkl in this format in particular

is it's not just a month pick. You're going to get holds. That's the nice thing about any of those, Griffin Jacks, Brock Stewart, and any of these guys. It's not just picking them up for one month and then probably dropping them like a standard road

only you're going to get holds from them they're going to be useful the rest of the way if they're good after larz nuepar frankie montas your opening day starter for the cincinnati reds i was going to add with new bar when everything is working well when he's at his best he does walk a lot so for those who play in ob b b formats he does gain value doing him up and i don't think he's going to be out for very long and he had talked about how he he worked on elevating the ball to his pole side this off season with Nolan Aronado who might be the best player in baseball

at doing that. Esoc Perettas, I guess, has an argument too, but Aronado's done it for longer and Noobar was trying to do the same thing. So I was getting fired up about him before he fractured those two ribs and would have liked to have him here.

Waited too long. Carlos Estevez, the Angels Closer, who, you know, they've really kind of backed him up this offseason, even after signing Robert Stevenson, they've come out and said, Estevez is the guy, at least for now.

We know Stevenson is starting on the IL with a shoulder injury. Justin Turner, perennially outperforms his draft value. Just kind of solid. 270 plus hitter, 20 homers. He's going to bat in the middle of that lineup.

While we're on that, by the way, came out today that Vlad Jr. expected to bat second in the Blue Jays order. So I imagine it would be Springer, Vlad, Bichette Turner, top four in their lineup, right? Does that make sense? That would make sense, yeah.

That's a lot of... It gets a little rough after that, but yeah, it's a top four. That's a lot of Ritees, man. It's four Ritees in a row to start your lineup. Maybe Dalton Varsho betting fifth for them. After Justin Turner, Jeremy Pena, J.P. Sears. Let me check my Slack chat,

make sure Chris hasn't typed anything to me in all caps lately. He hasn't. The last thing I got was, Mason Miller, Mason Miller, Mason Miller. That was... I don't think you really translated the... The fervor, but, you know,

that's the text. All caps, baby. J.P. Sears. I think J.P. Sears is on... Yep. He's on Scott Sleeper pitchers. First week in of the season. Four week one. Facing the Guardians.

Let's make it clear. I mean, at this point... You're going to have to set your line of 20... six times, Frank. Let's not get stuck on week one. I like Tyler Wells, the pitcher in general. No, I like that pick two. Outside of just week one.

J.V. Sears, worth mentioning it, it sounds like he's working in a sinker this spring training. And the results have been pretty good. So, you know, he's not going to get many wins, but pitching in Oakland as a fly ball pitcher, it helps mitigate some of the damage in that ballpark. After Sears, Orlando Arcia, Ezekiel Tovar, Hector Neris.

Oh, interesting. Was that for my pick? M.J. Melendez. Wow, I've made both of you frustrated with my picks so far tonight. Yes. I can afford. I have my utility spot open. I have utility spot and three bench spots.

So those three bench spots are going to relievers, obviously. I was going to get M.J. Melendez for my utility spot. Who actually is one of my sleeper hitters for the long week one, which is what we're using here in this league, combining the first weekend with the first full week. I mentioned that like five players I think I might be wrong about or I'm worried I'm wrong about. I don't know what the right way to phrase this is, but he's definitely on there because I haven't really considered taking him at all this year. And I kind of took another look recently.

And there's some really good stuff in MJ Melendez's profile. I average exit velocity 96 percent down, 93.2 miles per hour. Max X Velo was really high. barrel rate, hard hit. Tons of strikeouts, 28%. But I don't know. Like there's some decent signs even within the plate discipline metrics

where like he doesn't chase all that often. I don't know. Is that a really good spring? Yeah, there could be like a 25 to 30 homer outcome for MJ Melendez. Now I don't even know why I bother to say that because I have, like the Royals, I think, more than any other team

playing in the Cactus League in spring training and then playing their home games where they play them. There have been more hitter fakeouts over the years in spring training with them than any other team. So maybe MJ Melendez's spring is like that. But he does have an interesting skill set that you could see turning into a pretty high ceiling. I mean, he had a, didn't he have a season in the minors

where he hit 40, homers, right? 40 plus owners. Yeah, she's probably ever seen the miners. 2021, the Royals had the three highest homer totals

in American organized baseball, right? Yeah. Wasn't that Prado, Melendez, and Salvador Perez all hit 40?

Sounds right. I got to take somebody for that utility spot and I think I want it to be an outfielder, but it should really just be best hitter available, right?

Yeah. At this point, I'm going to take Matt Walner, who's had a terrible spring, but I don't think it's cost him his job, and it stands to reason with his profile. He'll run hot and cold. Three true outcomes guy who should play better in OBP than batting average leagues for how much he walks. He had a 370 on base percentage in the majors last year. And I'm hoping the power will be significant enough that he can actually have weeks that he, you know, single-handedly wins me that category.

presuming I keep him on my roster long enough to find out. I wanted Braxton Garrett, who just went to the last pick of round 19. The latest picks there were after Melendez, Nate Lowe, who's also an injury stash. John Gray, Edward Cabrera, Whitmerfield, Scott took Matt Walner. Then the final pick of round 19 was Braxton Garrett. Let's take our final break. When we return, Scott's pick right after this.

Welcome back in. We're into round 20. One T. End. The first pick was Cabot Ruiz. Then Scott selected Jeff Hoffman, followed by Orion Kirkering. We spoke about Hoffman yesterday in our bullpen breakdown. Saves plus hold, Scott. You just want to draft talent.

Hoffman, it looks pretty talented this spring. Yeah, he went very slider heavy with the Phillies last year and emerged as like a bullpen ace for them. 241 ERA. 0.92 whip, 11.9K per 9. I think it'll be mostly holds, but it doesn't matter as long as as long as he's getting one or the other.

And I plan to go with three. These are the last three picks, so I've lived up to my word here. I'm going to fill my last three spots with three relievers who are probably more in line for holds than saves. Jeff Hoffman is my first. I assume there's not going to be a fab run

before opening day. Is there? Are we going to do one Wednesday night? I don't know. Should we? You let me know. Yeah, we probably will. So maybe I don't even have to draft three right now, if that's the case.

After Kirkering, there was Alex Cobb. I was thinking about taking Cobb, Chris. We could have thrown them on the IL as well, but too late now. Daniel Hudson and Davis Schneider. I think I want to go back to the pitchers. And someone who's looked good this spring, and we've talked up as a late round sleeper, Garrett Whitlock in the Red Sox rotation. So we'll just kind of keep adding to some of these upside pitchers later.

Iran and hopefully it works out. What do you think, Chris? Garrett Whitlock. You in? Good pick. Yes. Look at us. It only took us two hours and ten minutes, but here we are, Chris. I've been very supportive of all your picks. I just, I just want to put that out. I drafted a bunch of guys you wanted Mitch Garver, Luis Severino. You've made some, you've made some really sharp picks. Yeah, that's how we're framing this, huh? After Whitlock, I roll this Chapman, lots of strikeouts. WIP could be high, but I think ERA should be pretty good. He's going to get holds for the pirates.

Vaughn Grissom going to start the year on the aisle. Could be back soon. I think mid to late April is what it sounds like for Vaughn Grissom. And personally, I don't worry about what is his role when he returns. I think he's just the starting second baseman. They'll probably go Raphael in center field. Duran and Tyler O'Neill in the corners. Yoshida at DH.

Unfortunately, it puts a damper on Wiliara Bray of someone we liked earlier in the offseason. Yeah, that's the thing is the fact that they're apparently not really considering Saddam Rafael as a second baseman seems to bode

pretty well for Von Grissom's chances of just sliding right back in. He's already swinging, so it could be mid-April. Yep. After Von Grissom, Michael Waka, Griffin Jacks, who could be the fill-in closer for the twins early on. Andrew Nardi, lefty with the Marlins.

Lots of strikeouts, good ratios for him. James Wood, who was sent to AAA. And kind of like the Pirates, if the Nationals find a way to stick around until mid-May and James Wood is just mashing the first month of the season, it's not inconceivable that he could be called back. back up. So, or called up for the first time.

But I'm betting against it. I did not include James Wood among my top 12 prospects to stash. He would probably be on like a top 15 prospects to stash. But I did actually make a point to put an explanation why in that article. Why I left out James Wood specifically. And it's because the nationals being non-contenders, him being 21, I think. And didn't perform particularly well at AA last year. it's very likely they want to preserve as a rookie eligibility for next year

and that they could justify preserving it no matter how well he's performing given the stage of development he's in. Was Dylan Cruz in that top 13 or 12 whatever? No, Dylan Cruz. So you have James Wood ahead of Dylan Cruz? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it could change, but I think just based on the way Spring went,

they're both at AA. They're both at AA and haven't fully mastered that level yet, Dylan Cruz and James Wood both. Oh, they're starting them at Double A? No, Dylan Cruz is starting at AA. James Wood at AAA. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, they were a AA, I guess, last we saw them, and didn't look like they had fully mastered it yet. The latest last couple picks, what do we have? We left off with James Wood. Louis Varland, Andrew Heaney, Ryan Nelson, to finish out round 21. And then David Robertson, Reed Detmers, Andrew Vaughn, Dane Dunning, Lance Lynn,

Chris Paddock. What do we need, Chris? We have two reserve picks left. I guess one of them should be another reliever, right? Third reliever? Yeah, three relievers. So yeah, that makes sense. And then we've got one outfielder.

We don't really have much in the way of positional flexibility, but there's no like glaring holes in our team. I guess if we were to take a hitter, not an outfielder since we have five of those who aren't eligible anywhere else. but yeah i think if there's a multi-eligible infielder somewhere we can consider them okay uh we are up last couple picks uh garret crochet your white socks opening day starter griffin canning adam duval what are we thinking uh we're going to go with a reliever

okay and somebody which reliever that is remains to be seen i have an idea I'm gonna slack you it. Just say it out loud. Brock Stewart. Let's do it. Just draft talent, baby. Strikeouts. He was second on my cue.

Let's do it. Love that. Who's first, you may ask? We will potentially find out in three picks. David and Kobe. You guys have to take relievers. And hopefully who Scott wants. We'll find out in no more than four picks, I suppose.

Adam on Avino, I'm guessing not one of them, Scott. Nah, he doesn't like Adamadovino. Scott's a Babe Ruth guy. Shout out to Babe Ruth. Shout out to Adam Ottivino. Hunter Harvey, was he one of the ones, Scott? Nope. Nope.

And neither was Jack Peterson because Jack Peterson isn't a reliever. Though, Jack Peterson, not a bad pick here. Yeah. Generally, yeah, he walks, you know, he's generally like a 350 OBP guy. at least he was the last two years, even though we think of him as a low batting average guy. So platoon player, but at this stage of the draft,

not bad at all. I am going to go with Pierce Johnson. Ah, we should have known you said that yesterday on the podcast. I know. That's why I was nervous. Somebody would figure it out. Pierce Johnson, also a breaking ball heavy reliever after joining the Braves.

It's breaking ball didn't work so well, Coorsfield. After joining the Braves, 0.760. a 0.89 whip 12.2K per 9 and he figures to be their primary right-handed set-up man. Okay, I'm up again. Do I want to take a hitter? I feel like I'm using like a Moira Rose inflection there. I don't know. I don't know what was happening. We've all just kind of lost it by this point in the off-season. Just pick a reliever, David. I am going to take

I don't know that any of my guys is officially going to be on the IL to start the year, so I'm going to take Shelby Miller. Love it. You know I love it. Betting against Alex Lang. Not that it really matters. I know you're a cruel commissioner, Frank, and don't force people into,

don't force obvious I.L cases into IL spots before the lineup lock. Cruel commissioner? Cruel. Very cruel. Not even Max Scherzer is on the IEL yet officially. How is that possible? Get your act together, Rangers. Scott, you know how much work we got to do?

Oh, wait, you do know. I do know. I mean, God bless you for stepping up and doing it. You know, you're a commissioner in these leagues too. You could do it if you want to do it. Yeah, I mean, I just didn't, wasn't sure you'd let me. I'm willing to. I'm doing it for so many other leagues already.

Scott, I wouldn't get mad at you if you would want to put people's players on the IL for them. The only reason I don't do it is because I don't have the time to do it. it. But if you want to do it, you certainly can. I don't want to overstep my bounds here. Scott, you can take over to these leagues for the rest of time if you want to, too. I'm not volunteering to do that. You can look through 300 listener league submissions next year. No, no, no, no, no. It's all you. I would not. If that, if that task was assigned to me, I would just find the first 12 good ones and go with them. Or I guess in this case, the first, what, 13 good ones. Next year, I'm hiring a PA to help me out

and go through all these emails. After, what do we got? Scott took Shelby Miller. There was Trevor McGill. I think that was a good pick at the turn as well. We're into the final round, round 22. Gavin Lux, Josh Bell, Alec Berlinson, Yemi Garcia.

Oh, crap, we are on the clock. Just looking through, see if we missed any injured players that we could draft and put on the IL. And, oof. We could do that. There's a couple of pitchers. Is it time?

Is it a J.M.B. LLC, Chris? J.M.B.L. John means business? Oh, sure. Yeah. Is he gone? No, he's there. All right. Is he the one? Is there anyone else you see? Well, let's do it. The other one was at Ms. Sheehan that I was thinking.

Yeah, I like Sheehan. He's almost never going to give you a quality start. Let's go what John means. Let's do it. Yeah, he's back. John Means, we've got two IL stashes between him and Walker Bueller. Just, I like to, you know, if they're there, you might as well use them at the end of your draft. It opens up a roster spot where you can add somebody,

you know, before the game start or I guess after. If you have to wait for the IEL designations, whatever it might be. The next pick is Kyle Finnegan, who will be the closer for the Nationals. The ratios might not be all that inspiring. The save total might not be all that inspiring. I would not have taken Kyle Finnegan. Ah.

Scott, with the slam dunk. Final round of the draft. More like a rejection. Okay. Like a blocked shot. It was rude you could argue, but, you know, it's the big leagues. You're playing with the big boys now. Sometimes you got to be rude.

Sometimes, yep, that's it. after Kyle Finnegan, Jeff McNeil, Joe Kelly, Jason Dominguez, Jacob de Grom, Alejandro Kirk, Emmett Sheehan, all the IL stashes. Something interesting with Dominguez, I don't, do you think he'll be placed on the major league IL, or will he be reassigned to the minors

and then placed on their IL? Because if it happens in the minors, he won't be eligible for an IL spot. Just something I don't know. I thought about with Dominicans. I don't know. I don't know exactly how that works. works. I've long wondered exactly how that works.

I mean, I think if you get hurt in the majors, I would guess the Players Association would be pretty unhappy if you got sent. Because you get, you paid based on the majors if you're up to, so I would guess that he's going to be on the major league I.L. But I don't, I certainly don't know for sure. For all I know,

he might have already been placed on the 60 day IL. Let's quickly pull up his. Now, Now, that could be an issue for Shane Boss. Because it's been such a long time that he, but I'm not sure. Second to last pick and got another sigh for me. Taylor Ward is who I would have taken. If I knew I'd be able to slot Max Scherzer in an aisle spot ahead of time.

All right. The final pick of the draft, Mr. Irrelevant, could be very relevant in the second half. Jeffrey Springs, another IL stash there. Well, we've done it, Chris. How did we do? Sharing a team. It was quite the adventure, I would think. I think it was great.

I think it was entertaining for the audience. I think we learned something about ourselves. And I think we drafted a heck of a team. Hey, man, we have Ellie Dela Cruz. That's fun. Let's take a look at the squad. We were drafting 10th overall. And that catcher, we have Mitch Garver, followed by Spencer Torkelson,

Nolan, Gorman, Ellie Dela Cruz, C.J. Abrams, Nolan Jones, Jaron Duran, Riley Green, and Anthony Santander. Scott, tear us apart. How did we do? Oh, you're going to be great at OPP. You're going to win that every single week. The OBP is bad, but we might have lots of home runs and lots of steals. Yeah, yeah.

Between De La Cruz and Abrams, you legitimately might win stolen bases. I mean, that's not even all you have, Jaron Duran. Home runs. will you win home runs every week? No, but you'll win home runs sometimes. I see, for a nine-man lineup, I see three home-run liabilities, which is a lot between Jaron Duran,

I would say Riley Green, and also C.J. Abrams. Not that they'll be zeros for home runs, but, you know, would I pencil them in for 20? I would not. But you got some pretty good home run hitters too. So I don't know. I don't love the offense.

going to be honest, but I may not love mine either when we get around to analyzing that team. Let's take a look at the pitchers. We started our draft with Spencer Strider. This was kind of the bizarre draft because I didn't have any Spencer Strider, any Ellie Dailer Cruz coming into this draft. But that was part of the plan. The one thing Chris and I agreed on beforehand, if Ellie is there in round two, we're going to take them. And that's what we did. It's the FOMO draft. But our starting pitchers, we've got Spencer Strider and Terrick Scouble up top. And then we've got Louis Severino, Walker Bueller, D.L. Hall, Brandon Fott, we've got John Means, Garrett Whitlock, Tyler Wells.

Those are the starters. And our relievers, we've got Mason Miller, Michael Kopeck, and Brock Stewart. So lots of strikeouts, hopefully. We'll see what we get, saves and holds wise. But what do we think? Chris, you can react this time first. What do you think of our pitchers? I think it's hard to go wrong in any direction

once you have two guys like Terrick Scouble and Spencer Strider on your team. I think saves plus holds could be somewhat of a liability just because Kopeck and Miller are on bad teams. But I think if they're the closers from the jump, they can get to 30 saves. And I think they'll be really, really, really good along the way. And Brock Stewart should be a very healthy source of saves plus holds, even if he's not the Twins closer when Duran is out,

which I think you very well may be, because he put up some pretty bonkers numbers. So I'm, you know, like, we're going to put Walker Bueller on the IL. We're going to put John Means on the IL. We're going to take a couple more flyers on starting pitchers. We're probably, you know, there's a decent chance we drop Brin of Fott and D.L. Hall and some of those guys as the season goes on.

But they've all got upside, and that's what I'm aiming for at starting pitchers. Well, and like I said earlier, it's probably in part one of the podcast at this, point. If your plan with only seven pitchers spots is to fill three of them with relievers,

which if you're not drafting a stud closer, who will get 35 plus saves, it probably should be. So you'll get enough holds or combined saves and holds. Then that only leaves four pitchers that you, four spots that you have to fill with starting pitchers. Okay, two of them are going to be Strider and Terrick Scoobel for you.

When Walker Bueller comes back, he's going to be one. And then you just need to find one. I think Tyler Wells could be that guy for you any one of them could be that guy for you that the issue is you got Luis Severino too could be him the issue is if any of Scoobel Strider

and I would say Bueller also if any of them end up getting hurt missing more time than expected it could become a big problem so it's it's a it's a strategy that could work but you're counting on

You're counting on good luck to some degree. I think that's fair. Let's slide over to your team, Scott. We're drafting 15th out of 16 teams. And your hitters, Will Smith at catcher, Bryce Harper, Andres Jimenez, Esauk Parades, Corae, Luis Robert, Christopher Morel, Evan Carter, and your utility bat is Matt Walner.

Wow, what a drop off there to the utility spot. I mean, Matt Walner could work out as the three true outcomes got. in an OBP league, or he could not work out, he could sit too often, he could strike out a bunch and get sent to the minors. But it is just one hitter spot in a league where you don't have to go as deep as you think, given that's 16 teams into the hitter pool. So I feel confident there will be somebody out there on waivers,

not that I have an obvious choice to pick up now, but there will be somebody worth picking up when I decide it's time to move on from Walner. rest of my lineup. I think it's pretty good. You're probably going to beat us in home runs in OBP when we play. Yeah.

Go on a limb there. Maybe OBP. Stolen bases would be the weakest of the three, but I do have Jimenez, who I think will be 40 plus steals. And Louise Robert, Christopher Morel, Evan Carter, and Bryce Harper, even.

We'll chip in 15 to 20 apiece. So I think I think I'll win stolen bases a lot, but not against you guys. If there's one thing Team Cranful is good at, it's stealing bases. Let's take a look at the pitchers.

Tyler Glassnow, Chris Bassett, Jack Flerty, Nick Pavetta, A.J. Puck, Michael King, Christopher Sanchez, Max Scherzer, Kyle Braddish, Nick Ladolo. So you got some IL stashes there, and then your reliever, Shelby Miller, Pierce Johnson,

and Jeff Hoffman. You got your ace up top. with glass now, you got quality starts with Chris Bassett, and then really just loaded up on a bunch of upside, and I would say there's a pretty good chance. At least some of these guys work out. That was the plan, yes. As I was saying for you guys,

I need to land on four that I can rely on every week. If it's more than four, that's still great. I can play two-star weeks and not sacrifice as much in strikeouts from week to week by starting three relievers. But that was what I intended to do, particularly when the early rounds didn't play out like I wanted it, starting pitcher, Tyler Glass now being the only

early round option, obviously a risky one, but an impactful one when he's healthy. I think he'll do a lot for me in ERA and WIP and strikeouts when he's healthy for however long that lasts. And hopefully during the stretches where he isn't healthy,

enough of these. What I see is a lot of high upside breakout cases between Povetta and AJ Puck and Michael King and Christopher for Sanchez even. Of course, Max Scherzer and Nicolodolo when they're back from injury, Kyle Bradish too. Hopefully enough of them have solidified their place in fantasy that starting pitcher is a strength for me, given my relatively low investment in it.

All right, Chris, anything else to add? What do you think about Scott's pitchers here? I think it's pretty good. But yeah, after Glass, Now and Bassett seems pretty safe at this point. After that, yeah, it's it's pretty iffy. And Glassnow is obviously super iffy for a, for, you know, a one-ace build. But the volume probably will make it work out.

You know, you've got, what, 10 starting pitchers on your roster? Five of them should be pretty good. Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, when you go with that volume approach of just drafting a bunch of pitchers, It's just, you know, you don't have as many that you're going to rely on early on in the draft, but you're just hoping to hit on a few of those guys a little bit later on. All right, well, there we go. Our final draft of the season, our 16 team for the people, head-to-head categories draft. We are going to rat there for Scott and Chris.

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. Bye-bye.