Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Categories Mock Draft Part 1! Rounds 1-13 Picks & Analysis (3/15 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

We're doing a 12-team H2H categories mock draft with Scott picking first overall, Frank picking sixth and Chris picking 10th. How did the first half of the draft go? Will Scott regret not getting a solid third baseman? 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.  Make sure to join our Fantasy Baseball Today March Madness bracket challenge here: cbssports.com/baseball Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. It's time for another live mock draft, and this time we're doing head-to-head categories. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

This will be a two-part podcast covering the entire draft and then recapping our teams at the end. So make sure to stick around for that. And if you've missed any of our recent shows, remember that you can always go back and listen on demand. Last week we did Sleepers, Breakouts, and Bus 2.0. Make sure to check those out. And a big thank you to those watching us live.

Please like the video and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the podcast side, make sure to download, follow, and leave a five-star review. We really appreciate it. So today on the show, as we mentioned, we're doing a 12 team live head-to-categories, mock draft standard five-by-five categories.

The lineup is as follows, one of each infield position, three outfielders, two utility spots, and then on the pitching side, two starting pitchers, two relief pitchers, and four pitchers. You can divide them up however you want to. Weekly lineups and a weekly 25 innings pitched minimum.

Scott, what's going? on, man. You are first up. You're on the clock. I am. I am. I don't often get to pick this early. I talk about how Aaron Judge is, I think, the obvious number one choice, regardless of the scoring format. So I'm going to follow through with that. I do have a little bit of hesitation in this scoring format in particular, because as we talked about on the, you know, comparing the strategies for head-to-head points and head-to-head categories, head-to-head categories relative to Roto, you have fewer lineup spots where you can balance the categories, you know,

so if you don't get a high-end base dealer who impacts other categories, I'm not sure it's worth getting a base dealer at all. But fortunately, Judge is at least a decent base dealer. So I like the idea of getting a ton of home runs and having a very good chance of winning that category every week along with probably RBI and very likely run scored. So Judge is the first choice in this draft. Scotty, dropping the hammer. Aaron Judge first overall.

Then Jose Ramirez goes second. I'll be picking sixth in this draft. And our buddy, Chris, here, will be picking 10th. What's going on, Chris? Yeah, yeah, it's funny. Scott says, oh, I rarely get the chance to pick first. Well, you know what, man? You're running the drafts.

You give yourself the first pick. I'm sure you did this time. Meanwhile, I'm stuck in the back. You had some kind of. Stop last time, right? Like some kind of jerk. Unacceptable. I like to mix it up.

Are those the rules? You get to pick 10th this time. See, I originally put you 12th, and I'm like, during these podcast moks, we always have somebody pick 12th. So let's see how it goes picking 10th. And that's too better than 12th. Unless you're talking about round 2, then it's too worse.

Well, we'll talk about round 2 when we get there, buddy. Good plan. Yeah, and it looks like. might take a while. Where is RJ? Where is the enforcer? We need him to make a pick. And there he goes. So Jose Armires, Trey Turner, Ronald de Cunia, and Juan Soto went. Juan Soto fifth overall. This is not an OBP league. I am very excited to get one of the, quote, consensus top five in Julio Rodriguez with the sixth pick in this draft. You know, I've done a lot of mocks. I've done a lot of real draft so far. I don't have Julio Rodriguez anywhere. This is the first time that I

that I have drafted him. And obviously, he's a pretty exciting player to get. So I'm expecting something around 25, 25. Maybe the power takes another step forward this year. But five category contributor, monster season last year, expecting Julio Rodriguez to build off of that once again. Do you guys have a problem with Juan Soto going fifth overall in a head-to-categories with batting average?

I don't think it's the right choice, but I don't think it's such an egregious choice. especially with Julio Rodriguez in particular. I think you can make a case that while Julio Rodriguez has upside that Juan Soto may not have just because he's a true five category guy. I think you can make a case that he's certainly a more volatile pick. And if you're not the type of person who wants to, you know, take on any risk whatsoever in the first round, I think Julio Rodriguez represents probably the riskiest first round pick. Definitely the riskiest going in the top half of the first round.

I could agree on that. It doesn't have the big track record, and the steel slowed down in the second half, but I know there was a report in the offseason that Scott Service is not worried. He wants Julio to run, and so they're expecting him to do a lot of that again this season. After I took Julio Rodriguez, we saw Manny Machado go seventh overall,

and I've been seeing him go a little bit higher in drafts. I'm in an NFBC slow draft where I think he went 9th or 10th overall, so that's kind of interesting. Mookie Betts went eighth. Kyle Tucker went ninth. And Chris, you just made your pick. Who was it? Yodan Alvarez.

I do, I did have Shohei Otani ranked higher than him. And then once I'm actually facing the decision, I'm realizing I would still rather have Yordaun Alvarez, especially with the hand not sounding like it's too big of a concern right now. So I did make the Yoron Averis pick. I also went ahead and changed the order of my rankings to reflect. like that. So truth and advertising here, folks. I do think that Manny Machado pick at 7 is interesting. And if that's something you've

been seeing more of, Frank, I think maybe that speaks to what analysts have experienced over and over again, because obviously everyone in this role does a lot of drafting over the course of March and even before. And somebody picking in the middle like, George Kurtz is, seventh overall, may not like missing out on the high-end third basement so much either. So this was something I was talking about early in draft prep season. I was using like Rafael Devers versus Freddie Freeman as the comparison. I might just go ahead and take the third basement so I don't risk missing out. But that might be, that sentiment might be being amplified now.

It helps that Jordan Alvarez has new concerns that he didn't have a few weeks ago. And maybe he would have been the obvious choice at seven otherwise. But I think it's, you know, I think those high in third basemen are maybe being driven up as people become more aware of the scarcity. All right. Well, after Chris took Yordana Alvarez, we saw Fernando Tatis. Sorry, Chris. A draft where you will not get him. It just feels so weird that he won't be on your team.

Freddie Freeman goes at the turn. It's worth noting, once again, this is a weekly lineup league. So in case you're wondering, why hasn't Shohei Otani gone? This is actually kind of late for him to go. But if it's a daily lineup league, he's the first overall pick. If it's a daily lineup league and it's a single player that you can slot at either pitcher or hitter. See, in Yahoo, which is what this league is kind of styled around, they split up Otani into two players. So if it's a daily league on Yahoo, you're probably not taking Otani first overall.

But if it's a daily league on CBS, then sure, in a daily format. That would make total sense. Yeah, definitely worth, you know, throwing that distinction out there. It's got to be one player in a daily lineup league where you can reap all the benefits of Shohei Otani. And finally, he goes at 14th overall. At the turn, Mike Trout and Freddie Freeman both went to Raymond Atherton. And Chris, you're back on the clock. No Fernando Tatis.

But you do have Yordaunt Alvarez. I have Yordaun Alvarez, and I'm considering what to do here. And it's down to either Vlad Guerrero and Raphael Devers. ever do the I'm going to take the third baseman thing, but I'm going to take the third basement. It's not really so much that it's Vladimir Guerrero. I'm not worried about the knee. I think he'll be fine. But I'm not sure he's so much better than Raphael Devers to make up for the positional scarcity gap there. And so I'll see what it looks like when I make a point to take a third basement early. Hey, you have two of three of Scott's perfect draft strategy. So

Yurdan Alvarez and Rafael Devers. Pretty good so far. Will you take a second basement at the end of the third round? Probably not. Well, we will find out. What if it's jazz chishol, Chris? Whoa. No name dropping. Come on, Scott.

After Raphael Devers went to Chris, Vladimir Guerrero and Bobby Witt are off the board. Oh, I am, I'm on decks. I guess I should figure out who I want to draft. I'm not going to throw any names out there yet because I want to see who George Kurtz takes, of course. Bobby Witt at 17 overall. It might be a top.

touch early for us, but I think around the industry, that's probably the right spot for Bobbywood Jr. That's about right. I've got him 20th. It makes more sense than the top eight pick that he was in NFC drafts, at least early on. And by the way, Frank, if you want to turn the sound notifications on your draft, we can do that. I did realize there's a way to prevent the sound from coming out on the audio. Oh, okay. Well, that's only on the stream, though. You recorded on your own. Forget what I said. All right, yeah, because I was a little confused. I'm like, we don't need any sound here.

I think we'll be all right. So Bo Bichette goes, so George takes Manny Machado at 7 and then Bobichette at 18. I think that's a pretty awesome start. I got Julio Rodriguez in the first, and I'm going to go ahead, and I will take that third baseman. I'll take Austin Riley. So I've got some speed with Julio, of course, and tons of power. I mean, between those two, I probably have 55, at least home runs, probably 60 plus.

So, yeah, I think that's a pretty fun start between those two. Austin Riley and Julio Rodriguez. Well, I take a second baseman in the third round. So here's the question. Does Scott take Nolan Aronado? If it's even an option to me, it may not be. I've certainly seen Nolan Aronado go late second. If Scott doesn't get Nolan Aronado here, he might start spiraling.

I kind of hope to want to, yes, yes! Now someone needs to take Jose Altuve and we'll really see Sparks Fly. Oh, yeah. That should make for some fun podcasting. We just cheered because Nolan Aronado went off the board, 20 first overall. I'm sorry, Scott. But, you know. Yeah, no, I mean, look, I've been seeing it more and more.

And I kind of wanted to, that that's sort of what I wanted to experience is. What if I just don't ever have a shot at one of those high and third basemen, which picking first overall makes that the most likely. Did that give you some pause about taking Aaron Judge instead of Jose Ramirez? Well, we'll see. We'll see how it ends up going because that is something to consider. Obviously, if you're picking first overall, you could just take Jose Ramirez, who's my second overall player, and then you could avoid that conflict entirely.

I was doing an ADP review earlier today, and I'm kind of amazed by how late... Let me see here I'm trying to talk and make my pick at the same time So I definitely want to take Jose Al Tuvei Unfortunately it looks like my rankings are defaulting to points Leagues here

Yeah they are same So that's unfortunate Also I'll definitely take Altuvae And who am I going to pair them with here So I think Let me double check my rankings I think Pete Alonzo is the best player to take but you could argue that's a little overkill with Aaron Judge already.

You could, but I don't think overkilling power is such a bad idea and a head-to-head categories. Sure. Because obviously you're going to be, you need reliability to, you need reliability to, you know, feel like you're going to have consistency in a category. You need the more the merrier, I think. And there's a lot of volatility week over week in terms of home run output, even when you have, you know, some of the best. I mean, I'm considering Michael Harris instead. Obviously, he plays the scarcer position. Obviously, I have some concerns about him.

He would give me some steals that I didn't get a ton of in round one. But I think I'm going to go. I think I'm going to go Alonzo. Yeah. That's more fun, too, Scott. I mean, you know, you get the home run bash bros in New York. Judge Appianzo. If it was a five outfielder league, I would have gone Harris for sure.

But I think it being a three outfielder league. Fielder League. I really like, and I think it's more important in this format even than Roto, but even in Roto, I really like building a big power foundation early on because I feel like it just frees you up to do so many different things later than if you're feeling like you have to claw back into the home run race, which gets pretty difficult. Now, now that the juice ball era is over, it gets pretty difficult to do that. Big power sources late are generally going to drag you down in batting average severely or have major health or playing time issues. So I'd rather not mess with that group if I don't have to.

Lots of picks off the board since Nolan Aronado went 21st overall. Garrett Cole, Corbyn, and then Jose Altuve went to Scott to close out round two. Starting up round three, Pete Alonzo, Spencer Strider, Matt Olson, and Sandy Alcantara. And I am on deck. I've got Austin Riley and Julio Rodriguez. and yeah the rankings are kind of throwing me off a little bit because they're using heads head points Marcus simeon goes so I do not think I will be starting with the outfield third base second base Scott White strategy I think I'm probably going to wait at starting pitcher

Francisco Lendora is an option at shortstop just continue building up power speed power speed uh jat's real muto in a one catcher league probably not there's nobody I love here at this spot I think I'm going to go Francisco Lindor and just see what pitchers make it back to me that could wind up being a mistake maybe I should take a pitcher here

I still do like getting one of my top you know 8 to 10-ish guys but we'll see if those guys make it back to me or not so my team to start I've got Austin Riley Francisco Lindor and Julio Rodriguez so again each of those good for at least 25 home runs, I would say,

and then Lindor and Julio probably combining for somewhere around 40 steals. So I like it. I like it so far. Batting average, you know, it's probably just mediocre. 275-ish, 270 in that range. After I took Francisco Lindor,

Max Scherzer goes off the board. Jazz Chisholm! Woo! Chris, one pick away, man. You could have got jazz. You could have had the second base. You're getting jazzed for jazz? I was thinking about taking

jazz there. Yeah, I had three players in my queue and he was certainly one of them. So, not going to get him. And it, it would have been a good pick, I think, you know, just because I do need some stolen bases after a start with Rafael Devers and Jorda and Alvarez. I mean, I could opt to punt and frankly, the guy I was going to take just got taken before my pick. That's a little frustrating. That was J.T. Raimuto. So a little bit of a sniping there. And I'm going to take a guy that I have not taken at all this year and see how I feel about it. That's Michael Harris, who I don't love when he's a top 24 pick,

but 34th overall, that starts to get a little closer to where I think he should go. I think there are concerns about him replicating last year's power production, especially. I think there are some concerns about how he'll handle lefties, but I have him ranked 36, so it's right around where I think he should go. In theory, he's a five category. contributor at the weakest position. And I do think he is a five category guy. It's just a question of like the quantity.

Is he the 30 homer guy he looked like last year? No. I think he's probably more like a 20 homer guy. I think we're going to see worse production for Michael Harris this season than we got last season. But I still think he'll be very, very good. Yeah. I mean, that's why I struggle with him is like, okay, look at the ground ball rate.

very high, too high to sustain the power he produced last year, we would think. The plate discipline pretty bad. Normally, you're not going to be the consistent 300 he's been between the majors and the minors, consistent 300 hitter with plate discipline that bad. But it's one of those where, like, if he is legitimately who, if Michael Harris is legitimately who he was last year, then, like, we really, like, we really need him to be that, you know, at this range in the, the draft, that's just like the perfect pick if he is who he is. And so that's why, that's where I'm

like, yeah, I don't know that I'm so stuck on how right I'm possibly going to be with this bust call. Like, because how often do I get bus calls right in a good year 50% of the time? And, you know, it might be more like. And there are there are grades to that too. You know, there are bus calls that you definitely get right. And then there are guys who you think, like I think we all feel about Michael. Well, Frank, I don't know if you have him in your bus, but Scott and I do. I do. Yep.

And it's less this guy is bad and more he might not be as good as we think. And those are very different things because Michael Harris could be the 50th player next year, be a little bit of a disappointment and still be a very useful fantasy option. So I think that's probably more like what we all expect than, you know, oh, it's not going to be a blanking on the Yankees rookie of the year guy. He didn't end up winning rookie the year, but he was number two to Shohei Otani. Miguel Anduhar? Miguel Andahar. Yeah, it's not going to be a Miguel Andrewhar situation. Yeah, that's what we think.

You know, I hate every time Michael Harris comes up because I got to talk him down. And it's nothing about the player. He's awesome. National League Rookie of the Year. It's just, it's the price tag for me. And I just, I still don't like him going in the third round. If he slips far enough, you know, maybe I'll, I'll take a shot at him. But in most drafts, someone likes Michael Harris more than I do.

So I just, I wind up not drafting him. And things did work out okay, because I wind up getting Brandon Woodruff, and I'll talk about him in just a bit. But let's catch people up on the picks after Chris took Michael Harris, Justin Verlander, and Randy Rosa Rana to finish out round three. Starting up round four, Corey Seeger, Corbyn Carroll, Chris took Ozzy Albies. All right, so doubling down on the Atlanta Braves.

Edwin Diaz went, Jacob de Grom, Shane O. Mac. Here comes the money. Here we go. Money talks. Here comes the money. That's Shane McClainahan. I took Brandon Woodruff, then Alex Breggman, Zach Wheeler, and Kyle Schwaborber. Scott, I know you're coming up, so I'll throw this your way, Chris.

Corey Seeger and Corbyn Carroll at 37 and 38. I mean, these are two players. we've talked about all off season long, how much we like these guys. There's a lot of hype around Carol. I think he had a near 110 exit velocity batted ball on Tuesday. So he's starting to show more of that throughout spring. Has the hype gone too far? What do you think about the price tag on those two?

It's too early, I think, for both of them. But it's not far from where I've got Corey Seeger, for instance. I do have him inside of my top 48, so I think the price is overall okay. Carol is more like 60, but I'm realizing this year or, you know, as we continue to more drafts this year, that I'm not going to end up with Corby and Carol on my team. It's just I'm going to have to make a point to draft him at some point because even at 64, which I think is ahead of his ADP, I'm not ending up with him anywhere. So he is obviously an incredibly skilled player and someone who I think I'm going to have to make a reach for at some point. All right, after Alex Breggman went, Zach Wheeler, Kyle Schwerber,

Luis Robert, and Scott, you are up. Looking at my rankings, it looks like, I don't know, 10 of the top 11 players on my list are all starting pitchers. Scott, what are you going to do? Yeah, I'm thinking it through. So obviously, I got a couple of mashers and Aaron Judge and Pete Alonzo and haven't really addressed steals at all.

She'll get some from Judge. I'm going to go ahead. take Cedric Mullins here, get another outfielder. He is more of a Steel specialist than I'd like to draft this format, but he's going to get between 12 to 15 home runs probably, and I have a nice home run surplus already and the fact that he meets a scarce position. I'm okay with it. For this other pick, debating between a manual Class A,

I don't normally take a stud closer. I'd be more inclined to do it in this format. And O'Neill Cruz. Corey Seeger's already gone. But it is a league without middle infield spot. So short stops can slide a long way. And so I think I'm going to go, I think I'm going to go to a manual Class A here, which is more by the book, I would say, by going by ADP, definitely, than O'Neill Cruz is.

If it was a real league, I might go cruise because I don't think I have crews in a real league yet. But let's go with Class A and see if I end up happy with my shortstop situation. I suspect I will. It is worth noting it's a two at utility league. So there's a decent chance that someone's going to have three short stops in their lineup, in this league, as would happen in a normal Roto League, potentially. All right. Well, let's take our first break here on. fantasy baseball today, and when we get back, we'll catch you up on the latest picks.

All right, welcome back. We had a few picks while you were gone right after Scott was debating a manual Class A or O'Neill Cruz. Guess what? O'Neill Cruz goes 50th overall. No surprise there. You gotta wonder if that name hadn't come out of my mouth. I don't know that everybody participating is watching, but that does seem to happen a lot, right? Yes. And, you know, it's, it makes for good content, right? As soon as you bring up a name, boom, goes off the board. after O'Neill Cruz, Aaron Nola, George Springer, and Shane Bieber. And, yeah, at the top of my rankings, I still got a bunch of starting pitchers here. But I don't think I need to kind of force the issue.

Let's take a look at my team. I've got Austin Riley, Francisco Lindor, Julio Rodriguez, and Brandon Woodruff. Taking a look down. Dolly Scarcia is my top-ranked hitter available. What does this team need? Got some speed Got some power Maybe a little bit of batting average

I think it's time I'm gonna go with One of my favorites One of my breakouts Every year he's a breakout for me I'm gonna take Eloy Jimenez Get my second outfielder off the board I think it gives me

You know 280 plus batting average And hopefully he could stay healthy And finally deliver that 30 to 35 home run season That I think he's capable of But some power to go along with batting average And I already got a decent amount of steel so I don't think I needed to force the issue or anything with Adolice Garcia. And Chris, you're coming up before we do that.

Just have a quick read. It's bracket time and the Ion College Basketball podcast is your destination for top-notch March Madness coverage for the next three weeks. Join Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander as they offer four region-by-region previews, plus a mega-bracket preview with all the advice you need to win that office pool. Download and follow Ion College Basketball wherever podcast. are found. After I took, Eloy Jimenez, Brian Reynolds, Gunner Henderson, Tim Anderson are all gone. And so, yes. I want to talk about Gunner Henderson here going 56th overall. Because what I was saying, as we were coming up to the end of round two, remember Nolan Aeronado went, and I was saying, yeah, I was just doing this ADP review. And I was kind of marveling at how late Gunner Henderson

goes by ADP. He goes beyond the 90th pick. you know, 15 picks after Corbyn Carroll on average. And so, you know, that got me thinking, well, maybe, maybe I'm a little too stressed if I can get Gunner Henderson that late. But this is him going 56th instead of 90th. It exemplifies why I still don't want to do that, because you don't know exactly when in your own personal league that one player. He's the one player, right?

I guess Alex Bregman is still out there, but... No, Bregman's gone. More safe than exciting. more safe than exciting. Breggman went in the fourth round, Scott. He's gone. So, Breggman already went. Yeah, yeah.

Like, it almost requires you to reach for him if you're that invested in filling third base. And you can't just sit around and wait for the ADP. This goes back to the ADP word discussion we were having earlier this year. I mean, it's one thing to know where on average he tends to go. But when it's the one example of the player who fits this need, it makes it all the more likely somebody's going to jump in two, three rounds earlier and take him, as happened here.

Well, Scott, there's another young, exciting third baseman that you might have to rely on a little bit later on. We'll see if you're the one who makes the pick or not. We'll see. After Gunner Henderson, I mentioned Tim Anderson, Chris took Dylan Sees and Alec Manoa. Dylan Sees made a spring training start on Tuesday and he didn't give up 11 earned runs,

so that was nice to see. That's like the victory. Chris, I was wondering if you were going for the 4,000, the Marmull strategy because you started off with four hitters, but it turns out you were just kind of waiting on starting pitcher a little bit. Well, you can still do it, but I mean, you look at the the way the draft has gone so far and what 15 of the first 61 picks have been pitchers. Clearly, there's a there's a tilt in this draft room specifically right now and it's away from starting pitchers. And so, you know me, I'm going to zig when everyone else is zagging. And if, you know,

I don't love Dillon C's, but if I can get him at 58th overall, I'm not going to complain at all about that kind of value. So that's, you know, very un-Christ Towers team so far, three of my bust picks on my team. But the, the value's mostly been right on those guys. So I'm okay with it. All right. After you took Dillant-Seas, Alec, Alec, Manoa and Julio O'Reas to finish up round five, Starting round six, we see Tommy Edmund and Josh Hader go. Chris, you're back on the clock, and you took Dalton Varsho. That's good value, man. 63rd overall.

That's good. I wanted to Ramoso in the previous, or not the previous term, but maybe the one before that. No, it was the previous turn in the fourth round or third round. Yeah. Anyway, I wanted him there. I'd love to get the out of position steals, especially when I start out. Theordon Alvarez and Raphael Devers, but Ramuto was not to be, so I'll settle for Dalton Varsho and, you know, the 18-ish steals that I think I'm going to get from him. All right.

I was starting to get excited there, then he might make it all the way back to me. Because before, you know, I went with a manual Class A. I was debating O'Neill Cruz. Dalton Varsho was in that, in my head there as well at the four or five turn. I didn't bring it up, obviously. But I think in this format where you have just the 10 hitter spots to get a potential 2020 catcher, I think it's more valuable in this format than any other. All right. After Chris took Dalton Varsho, U. Darvish, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Starling Marte off the board.

Starling Marte returned to game action on Tuesday after getting hit by a hit in the helmet with a pitch the other day. I'm debating taking a starting pitcher. I don't think I need to yet. I mean, this guy's just going so late. I brought up his name last pick that I made in the fifth round, and I'm going to go ahead and take Adolice Garcia. So my outfield is full. I've got filled three outfield spots already.

We do have two utility spots as well, but I've said it time and time again. I don't think that there is a huge difference between Adolice Garcia and Randy a Roserana. Garcia, one of four hitters to go 25, 25 last year. there is some risk. The plate discipline, he's a little bit older than you'd like him to be. But man, to get someone that gives me power and speed like that in the middle of the sixth round,

I'll take it. It feels like no one wants to do, Ace Garcia. So I'll continue to be that guy. I get being skeptical about the plate discipline and his age, but it's also, we literally did the exact same dance last year. And then he came out and had just as good of a season, arguably. and I don't know. He was better, Chris.

I mean, he improved. And so, like, I get the, I get that there's some risk there, but it does feel like he's probably being unfairly dinged for the risk factors. Yeah, there's probably not that much of a difference between Cedric Mullins and Randy Rosarena and Adolice Garcia. After I took Garcia, Luis Castillo,

Max Muncie, 69th overall. This is not a heads head points league or an OBP format, so that seems pretty early for Max Muncie. They're just trying to deny me in my third basement, Frank. That's exactly what it is. They're vindictive. And I'm here for it because we'll get Scott tilting in about 30 minutes from now. After Will Smith goes, the catcher, of course. Rysel Iglesias and Scott, you are up for two.

I'll remind people of your team. I believe you do not have a starting pitcher yet. I'm about to take one. All righty. The last in a tier for me is Max Reed. Okay. Not going to be studly with the strikeouts, but should be studly in the other three starting pitcher categories

ERA with and wins, pitching for the Braves. So I think of him as a borderline ace. I could go with another pitcher here, maybe a Framber Valdez, Zach Gallen. I was kind of leaning toward a crue. Now I forgot who I was going to take. Oh, I remember. Okay.

I was kind of leading toward Devin Williams. Ooh. After already taking a manual Class A and just accepting the value and saying, all right, I don't have to worry about drafting closers anymore. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to practice what I'm preaching here and make sure I get impact out of my catcher spot. Make sure I get more of a power foundation with a guy I'm continuing to draft more and more. Salvador Perez.

I think he is the most likely to lead his position in home runs. I think he's the most likely to lead his position in RBI. It might be a significant amount in both areas. And, you know, I basically feel as

he's the same player that I thought he was going into last season. It's just he's coming off a much more disappointing outcome in part because he was playing through a thumb injury for so long. And when he came back, he was much better.

So I don't know why I wasn't on him earlier in draft prep season, but I find in like this round seven range. I'm drafting Salvador Perez more and more. Yeah, I saw Dan Zimborski from Fangraphs had him as a bust. And he's a really smart guy, invented the Zips projection system. I think it's a, you know, a decent case. But I also look at, you know, the projection that he's referring to was his like 20th percentile outcome, which was like a 240 average 195 ISO.

And it's like, if Salvador Perez plays every day, stays healthy, hits 240 with a 195 ISO, he's probably hitting 30 home runs. And he's probably driving in 85 to 90 runs. And it's like, I agree that there is some risk there given his age and his contact profile. And there have been some, I think some concerning in zone contact rate trends for him. but like it just feels like it's the only 30 homer guy that you can get at the catcher position or the only rough,

relatively sure thing 30 homer guy at the position. Plus I think it's reasonable with Perez. Everything before the thumb injury, just throw it out. Like he clearly wasn't swinging the bat like he's capable of because his thumb was hurting. And so that seems like a pretty easy variable to factor into your analysis, but sometimes with projection systems.

It doesn't happen. After Scott Sook, Salvador Perez, we see Jose Ibrahim, Christian Javier, Framber Valdez, Kevin Gosman, all three in a row. Really wanted one of Javier or Kevin Gosman as my SP2, but it was not meant to be. So I wound up taking Ryan Presley. He is my first closer.

Wanted to get one of those top tier elite type closers. A little bit older, but obviously still really good numbers last year. the swinging strike rate was back up and, you know, closes for one of the best teams in baseball with the Houston Astros. After Presley, Anthony Rizzo, Devin Williams, and Xander Bogarts.

Chris, you are up. Let's get back in. He's pretty early for Rizzo, right? Yes, it was early for Rizzo and for Max Muncie earlier. Jose Abrae is still out there? No, he's gone. Oh, okay.

All right, so far on your team, you have Dalton Varsho, Ozzy Albies, Raphael Devers, Yordaun Alvarez, Michael Harris, and just one starting pitcher, Dylan Sees. Yeah, I'm going to go with a closer, I think, kind of the, I would say pretty close to the end of the tier, if not the end of the tier, Jordan Romano. You've got like Ryan Halsley and Kenley Janssen

and Camilla Duval left. I think, you know, there's a little bit of a Jordan Ramon, a bit of a tier drop there. So I'll take best closer available, just because I feel like the hitters that are left, I don't necessarily love all of them. Yeah, no, I think that's totally fair. That's exactly where I was at. And that's why I was either looking at starting pitcher or a closer.

But Chris takes Jordan Romano. And one pick later, Byron Buxton, which is earlier than it usually goes. The ADP is around 100 for Buckson. So he goes 83rd overall. Chris, any regerts that you. You didn't get, you didn't take Buxon. No, I mean, that would just, that would have been a third outfielder in my first seven picks. That's probably a little too much.

There's nothing wrong with that, Chris. Believe me. No, no, there's nothing wrong, especially in a two utility league, because you do get a little bit of added flexibility there. But it just, it didn't seem like the right, right time for it. Although, you know, probably going to, it's, it's funny. I'm the Byron Buxden guy, but I don't end up with him in like, even half. my league. Seems like you're pretty chill about it when it happens.

Like how many times have we had this conversation? Oh, Chris, is your heartbroken? I can understand the risks. And, you know, I don't have to have him in every league. All right. Showing a little bit more restraint this year, Chris. I appreciate that. I feel like I didn't have him in every league last year either.

That's true, that's true. Might have been close, though. After Bucks in, Felix. Definitely the year before. Felix Bautista goes with the last pick of round seven. Felix Bautista made his spring debut on Tuesday coming back from knee and shoulder troubles and he pitched a clean inning and struck out two.

The velocity was down like 1.2 miles per hour, but I would say that's pretty normal for pitchers, their first appearance or so in spring. So of course, you know, I'm glass half full. So I'm always going to try and make the case for Felix Bautista and I feel pretty good about where he's at so far. Zach Allen goes with the first pick of round eight, followed by Carlos Rojan. Okay, so.

Yeah. I was thinking about Rodon. 86th overall, based on the way we've been talking things out. This is about SP 24. So I think it makes sense at this point. I mean, when I heard, okay, he was dealing with this same thing. Opposite side of the elbow, the strain from the UCL, and he was dealing with the same thing last May and just pitched through it.

It's like, all right. This doesn't sound like anything to be that freaked out about. And of course, he's going to give you a ton of strikeouts, which would have paired nicely with Max Fried for me. So I was kind of eyeing him for my next pick, Carlos Rodan. I also want to go back to the third pick of round seven, Christian Javier, two picks after I took Salvador Perez. Remember I was saying, oh, I could take Framber Valdez, Gallen.

I think I just need to move Christian Javier up into that same tier with Max Fried, because I never get to draft him and I'm tired of missing out. I just added him to, well, next week I'm adding him to breakouts 2.0. Me too. Yeah. So I need to, I need my rankings to reflect that. I need to give myself a chance to draft Christian Javier

because I just straight up forgot about him in that range. Yep, I just moved him directly behind Max Fried. I want to move him even higher, but the guy I have directly ahead of Max Fried is Dylan Sees. And I can't really make a case for Christian Javier ahead of Dylan Sees because I, My criticism of Dylan cease as a breakout or as a bus candidate this year is

a lot of his improvement last year was tied to quality of contact suppression. Well, that's also kind of true of Christian Javier. He's got that fastball that does a really good job of generating weak contact and I have to be consistent at least some of the time. Some of the time. Yes, we appreciate it. Chris, you took Wander Franco at 87th overall. Love the pick. I was looking at him last round, but as we say often, if you take shortstop early, you're just kind of in this predicament where do I want to take another shortstop? We do have two utility spots here. So I easily could have done it, but I pass on Wander Franco myself. And the one thing that the build that I have right now really does need is batting average. Don Varsha is not going to be a good batting average source. Ozzie Albies, even if I'm wrong about him being a bus, probably not going to be a good source of batting average.

So I could use some batting average help. And that's the one thing we feel very confident Wander Franco is going to give us, even if the breakout doesn't happen. And I wrote him up as a breakout in Breakouts 2.0. I think he was hampered by injury all year last year. This is Wander Franco we're talking about. And he was really good in April.

So hopefully, you know, that little small sample sizes is more of what's to come for Wander Franco. And after Chris took him, Clayton Kershaw, Adley, Ruchman, Ryan Helsley. I took Joe Musgrove as my SP2. It sounds like he'll miss one or two starts to open the season with that fractured toe.

After Musgrove, Danesby Swanson, Reese Hoskins, with Merrifield. I have a note on Merrifield. We'll come back to him. To say, Oscar Hernandez, like, yeah, that's really good value. 95th overall at the end of round 8. And Scott, you're on the clock for two.

Oh, Scott, you're... I was like, is Scott frozen? Your mic is muted. Ah, sorry. Too much coughing. Yes, this is where I don't like picking up the ends because it's hard for me to. anticipate what's going to happen.

What I'm going to do here, since I've gone pretty light at starting pitcher, is take my chances among the hitter ranks, within the hitter ranks. This being a format where we don't go as deep into the hitter ranks because there are only 10 hitter spots to fill. And I'm going to go back to back with a couple of pitchers who I think have 200 plus strikeout potential. Since my ace is Max freed, he doesn't have. have that presumably going with Robbie Ray.

And I'm a little bit of a reach here since I'm picking at the end. But he tends to go earlier. And earlier in drafts, Chris Sale. Ooh. That's who I'm going to pair him with. Nice. So that gives me a top three of Max Fried, Robbie Ray, Chris Sale. I think there's a lot of upside with that group.

I think they complement each other well. And I also have a stud closer and a manual class A. All right. So we are getting into round nine here. Let's take our second break here in hour one, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today. After Chris took, after Scott, excuse me, I was reading Chris Sale. That was the name I wanted to say, and then I just combined them together.

Scott took Chris Sale, first pick of round nine, then Alejandro Kirk, Clay Holmes and Kenley Jansen. All right. Clay Holmes before Kenley. That's kind of interesting. Don't really see that happen very often. Clay Holmes. People really don't like drafting Kenley Jansen. I've discovered, which is why I keep drafting Kenley Jansen, just not when I draft Class A. I agree.

I mean, look, he's a little bit older. I get it with Kenley Jansen, but he's so proven, and the Red Sox have been dying for a closer for the past like five years or so. Right. So I think he's pretty safe. And Clay Holmes, I would say the exact opposite about it. I don't know how safe he is. I mean, even when he was healthy in the postseason last year,

the Yankees went to multiple relievers, dealt with a back issue last year. He completely fell apart in the second half. I'm not as excited to ever draft Clay Holmes. I don't think I've wound up with him on a single team yet. I mean, there comes a point where he's more, he's a better bet for 30 saves than most of what's left, but not with Kenley Jansson's still on the board. It's been a few years in a row of this. Okay, this is, Kenley Janssen's on the verge of losing it and then he never does. Oh yeah, the fantasy baseball community has written off Kenley Jansen like four or five years in a row now.

What's dead may never die? Lee Jansen. After he went, we saw Trista McKenzie. I took Andres Jimenez. Somebody I'm not overly excited to draft this year. I think he's fine. He gives you power and speed. The stack cast numbers, not great. The expected numbers, also not great for Andres Jimenez last year. But to get him at 100 second overall as my starting second basement, I'm good with that. Before we get back to the picks, I've got one more read here for you. It's a great time of year. We've got spring training baseball, the world baseball classic, and of course, college basketball brackets are about to begin.

Compete against Scott, Chris, and me and our FBT March Madness Bracket on the CBS Sports app. All you have to do is scan the QR code in the top right corner of the screen or go to CBSports.com slash baseball. The link can also be found in the podcast or

YouTube description. And after you join our bracket, make sure to run men's and women's pools with friends and family for the chance to win a new car and trips to the 2024 Final Four. Play today on the CBS Sports app or visit CBS Sports.com slash play to sign up. No purchase necessary. See terms and rules for details. All right. So John Carlos Dane went after my Andres Jimenez pick, George Kirby

at 104th, then Luis Severino. And Carl's Correa goes to you, Chris, and you took Wanderfranco with your previous pick. So you'd... Telling in that utility spot. You did exactly what I said I didn't want to do. It's just, well, I don't want to fill my utility spot early. I don't think this counts.

I've only got two lineups spots, three lineup spots left, including my other utility spot. So it's, it's not like, you know, I'm really limiting myself here moving forward. That's partially,

partially because I've only taken two pitchers so far. But also just like, Carlos Coray is awesome. And I just got him at 106th overall. It just, it feels like we're taking the Carlos Correa skepticism too far. I know the concerns about his ankle based on the failed physicals. That's something you don't generally see particularly often. And I get that that's scaring some people away.

But it just, it sounds like that's more of a like year three, year four thing. And maybe it'll just be an issue right away. But he really hasn't had any ankle issues in the majors. So I really, I don't have very. many short-term concerns about it. I think he's going to be better than he was last season in terms of the counting stats. He had the weirdly low RBI and run numbers, but otherwise he was very good. I think he's just plain undervalued right now.

Yeah, I, like, it's, Carlos Correa was really good last year. It's just he had him having 64 RBI and 70 runs batting high and the twins lineup. seems like one of the biggest statistical oddities in all of 2020. And it's not going to happen again. It's like Raphael Devers. You know, only having 84 and 88, it's just that's not being held against him in the same way. Correct. It wasn't as good as Raphael Devers.

But I think I'm expecting if he hits 290-ish again with 20 plus homers, I think you're going to get 85 and 85 out of him at least. However, Chris However I'll cut you off, Frank I'm mad at you I'm mad at you Oh no

I mean it's partly my fault This is why you can't anticipate When you're picking up the ends I looked ahead Okay, I'm one of only two teams Who needs a shortstop There's Correy out there There's Willie Adomas out there

Maybe I'll be okay Maybe one of them will get back to me You take Correa as a utility And somebody else Ray Atherton took again is a utility so the two teams without a shortstop

remained without a short stop and we're and there's a gap now you've got Jeremy Pena Nico Horner Javier Baez Ahmed Rosario

I think I know who you're gonna end up with but it might be a little while before we see him we'll see we'll see Chris after a little round

15 Ezekiel Tovar maybe let Frank catch us up after Chris took Carlos Correa, Logan Webb, and Sean Murphy to finish out round nine. Then Willie Adomis, great value, 109th overall. Jorge Polanco, Chris took Bryce Harper at 111th, Brandon Lau, Tyler O'Neill, and Hunter Green. I'm going to go ahead and take my SP2.

I can already tell you, even before we get to the recap, I'm not going to like the pitching staff that I wound up with, because as much as I like Lanselin, I like him as a 3. I do not like him as an SP2, and so he's my SP2 to go along with Brandon Woodruff. I've got Ryan Presley as a closer as well. But I think I probably overdid it with hitting throughout this draft. We'll see ultimately how it turns out. Yeah, I already have three pitchers before you got two, Frank. Maybe I overdid it with pitching.

I know. We're each listening to each other too much, Scott. So you're listening to me. You're maybe drafting more pitchers now, and then I'm listening to you, and I'm waiting on pitching. And nobody's listening to me. Everyone listens to you, Chris. Where do you stand, Chris?

Talk to me about Bryce Harper, Chris. 111th overall. I actually did a huge rankings update here on Tuesday afternoon. And I have him right around 133rd overall. And I think that was the lowest of all of us. That is higher than I would take that I would normally take him. However, I am leaning into offense and offensive upside in this draft. It's a shallower league than you typically see with categories. So I, I don't think there are many players who have as much upside as Bryce Harper when he is right. Obviously, we don't know when he's going to be right. We don't know if he's going to be right. But just felt like an opportunity to add huge upside here. All right. After Bryce Harper, I mentioned that pick.

Lanslin, I took at 115 Camilo Doval. Jordan Walker goes off the board. And dealing with a shoulder strain, he returned back to game action on Tuesday. So it seems like all good on the Jordan Walker front. Yeah, I mean, that pick earned a grimace out of me because I was preparing to take him. Yeah. It's always a day late, a dollar short.

If you don't go, you don't get in the front door at third base. You know what I just realized? I have Joe Musgrove on my team. Forget everything I said about Lansselaing being my SB2. I completely forgot that I have Joe Musgrove on my team. So I've got Woodruff, I've got Musgrove and Lanslain. That's not bad. In hindsight, if I remembered that correctly, I would have taken Blake Snell.

I feel like Snell would have fit my team more, gives me more strikeouts. And those first two pitchers are relatively safe. So, yeah, if I could do it over, I probably would have taken Snell over Lance Lynn. But alas, here we are. Snell went 119, and Scott, you were up. You took Nate Lowe with one of your picks. And now we're into round 11. So this is the position I hate being in.

and it's more likely to happen when I'm picking at the ends and have to anticipate, have to wait so long in between picks. But nonetheless, here I am. I'm going to make up for what's going to be, I'm going to be, at least on paper, one of the worst teams at both third base and shortstop, which I hate, especially when there's only 10 lineups. So I'm going to make sure both of my utility spots

are filled with quality bats. and I'm going to double tap first base here, which seems to have been neglected little. I'm going to go Nate Lowe, as you mentioned, and I'm going to pair him with Christian Walker. Well, he shouldn't have taken Carlos Correa, Chris. What goes around, comes around. Oh, gosh.

Well, that's what I get. I was thinking about taking Nicolodolo as a little upside SP4 breakout type, but that won't happen because he is gone. I don't have a first baseman yet either, so I probably should start to look at that position. but yes we are here into round 11 read off my team I've got Andres Jimenez Austin Riley

Francisco Lindor Eloy Jimenez I've got both Jimenez guys I didn't even realize that nice Adolias Garcia Julio Rodriguez so lots of combined home runs and steals the only one that doesn't really contribute is Riley and then Elihanes but they'll give me a ton of power and then my starting pitchers I've got got Brandon Woodruff, Joe Musgrove, and Lance Lynn, and I've got Ryan Presley as my

loan closer for now. And I think I'm either going to take a first basement or a catcher. And I don't love the first basement available. Christian Walker, definitely the last of a tier for me. I know I'm a little higher on him, but. Right. One out there that Frank likes. I mean, there's a couple that are worth liking. I just, uh, I think there's probably a lot of similarities between the remaining first baseman, so I'm probably okay letting them go. Yeah, there is.

There is a first baseman. And, you know, there's still three catchers that I have kind of within the same tier. Although it's pretty late for this one guy. Should I take him? We'll see what happens. Let's chance it here. I'm going to go ahead and take Wilson Contreras in the middle of the 11th round. Sean Murphy already gone.

So he went ahead of Wilson Gattreras. There's a few other catchers laughed, but this just feels really late for Wilson Gantiris, who's now with the St. Louis Cardinals, much better lineup than he's than he was in last year, at least with the Cubs. First half, amazing, second half not. He was playing through some ankle injuries and some trade rumor type stuff that I think probably affected him on the field as well. But I like Wilson Cteris quite a bit, especially if you can get him at a discount.

After Nicola Dolo went Pete Fairbanks, Jeremy Pena, David Bednar, went off the board. I took Wilson Contreras, Logan Gilbert, and Lars Newpar. I mean, if there's one thing you could bet on every single mock draft, Tim Kanek is in here all the time, he will take Lars Newpar and probably 50 spots ahead of ADP just to make sure he gets him. Is it always him? Always.

Is that what happens? Every single draft. And when we draft with Doug Rowe last year's podcast winner, Miguel Vargas goes 100 spots above ADP. Right. So, you know, they're kind of warping our sense of reality here, us too. That's true. Newpar is someone I also moved up in the rankings and I think I moved them up to around 170th overall and maybe that's not high enough. It's at least in these drafts that Tim Kannick

is a part of. I will not get Lars Neupar. Christian Yelich goes 129th. Just kind of boring, safe play. Keep the line moving. Give you some stats. Chris, you are up and where are you going? Yeah, I view Christian Yelch and Chris Bryant very, very similar. They're kind of a mini tier at outfield with Christian Yelich going off the board. I'll take Chris Bryant. And I still only have two pitchers. So it's a...

Whoa. And one of them's a reliever. So I only have two starters right now. So it's a... It's an interesting tack that I'm taking in this one. And I feel okay about it so far. Okay. You know, obviously hitting.

Very good. Pitching. A little weak. A little weak. A little weak. I hate... Yeah, well, I mean, but like I've said, like, and why I've been... until this draft, I guess,

pushing the envelope at starting pitcher. Not that I have one of the deepest staffs. I just went deeper than you two. Like, I have yet to come out of a draft this year feeling bad about my pitching staff because there are so many that I like in the mid

and even lower tiers. And this is a format head-to-head category is 25 innings per week is a very low minimum. It's the kind of league where a lot of the concerns that I have about, you know, Spencer Strider at the high end, but even some of the lower end guys,

like not having the innings potential. I don't care as much about it here because, you know, it's not about the total numbers that you put up. You're going to have to fill in across the season anyway. So I think you have more flexibility to build a weaker pitching staff in this format. After Chris to Chris Bryant, Dustin May and Alexis Diaz go off the board. That is the end of round 11.

Chris, any concern with Chris Bryant apparently has been dealing with a stiff back the past couple of days expected to return on Wednesday? Yeah, a little concerning that he's missed a couple of days in spring with an issue that was, you know, held him back last season. So it's something to keep an eye on, certainly. You never want to see a guy at the beginning of the season dealing with that kind of injury,

although it's worth pointing out that there are more. injuries in spring training than any other point in the season. So, you know, the idea that like, well, it's the start of the season. It's bad sign that he's already hurt. Well, that's also just kind of part of spring training, right? Like, this is the first time that these guys are doing this every day since October. Injuries happen. Yep.

And the same thing happened with Anthony Rizzo recently, where he deals with chronic back issues. And he was back in the lineup on Tuesday. I saw he had a pretty hard hit ball to a very high exit velocity. So hopefully everything good with both Anthony Rizzo and Chris Bryant, but we're paying close attention there. To start round 12, we saw Anthony Santander, who I don't want to overrate World Baseball Classic stats, but man, this guy is locked in.

He is crushing the ball right now. He's having an awesome, you know, three games so far at least. Yeah, he's looked awesome. Then CJ Cron, Chris took Kyle Wright, Matt Chapman, Jake McCarthy, and Glaber Torres. Well, this worked out because I took Wilson Contreras, and I am now going to take that first baseman who Scott was referencing earlier,

and it's my man. Rowdy, Rowdy, Teless, who has a few bombs already in spring training. I believe he's playing for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, but... I believe so, yes. You know, with the shift restrictions this year, I expect the batting average to get, you know, up to around 2, 40-ish,

you know, not be a complete drain like it was last year, but, you know, up over 30 home runs, hitting in the middle of that Brewer's lineup. Great ballpark to hit in for left-handed power as well. So I take Roddy Thales at 139 and Taylor Ward. I think that's a really good value on him going 140th. Scott, we're coming up on your pick here. Got anything in mind?

What are we thinking? I do have a couple of players in mind, but I'm sure if I say their names, they'll immediately be taken. So I'll keep them to myself. but I like the value for both. All right. So Scott is still lacking a third baseman and a shortstop.

He needs a third outfielder. But as he mentioned last time, he took both Nate Lowe and Christian Walker. Just to kind of sure up some of those hitting stats. And the latest couple of picks, Craig Kimbril, Nestor Cortez, and Stephen Kwan. Which player did you want there? I want a Nestor Cortez.

Yeah, this is really late for Nestle. I almost took. with my last pick when I took power, right? Yeah, and I was trying to push it a little. I thought about him last time. But that Red Cross, the fact he hasn't pitched, I don't think he's pitched yet this spring with a hamstring issue, but the expectation is he'll, well, I don't think he's made an official spring start.

I think he's made some, like, minor league starts or whatever. But he's only expected to miss turn with that injury. So I'm definitely going to take Daniel Bard here. want a second, potentially prolific save source to pair with Emanuel Class A. And that's another one like Kenley Jansen, where just nobody seems to want them. So I end up with a lot of them well below ADP. Not as reliable as Jansen, of course, but had a very good year last year and could potentially do it again. The question is whether I want to go with a starting pitcher here.

or not. I am thinking I do. Which one? I'm going to go with Charlie Morton. I'm not going to make the same mistake I made in the salary cap draft we recorded last week of passing up Morton, looking that gift horse in the eye.

Because, again, my ace is Max Fried. I think it's, I think it's a good idea to target pitchers who have big strikeout upside. And as disappointing as Morton was last year, he had 205 strikeouts. So that is something I feel confident he can do. And of course, I have reasons to believe he's going to bounce back apart from that. In addition to having a lot of strikeouts, going to bounce back with the ERA and whip and wins and all of that. I think Charlie Morton is done.

I think he stinks. He burned me last year. Wow. I mean, I'm a little bit more nervous than Scott is. I get it. One year further removed from the broken leg that he suffered the prior year in the World Series, I think that's something that can help Charlie Morton and maybe bounces back to the form we saw in years past. But I just, there was something off with him last year in terms of the command, the control, falling behind accounts,

and then just kind of grooving a pitch in there and getting crushed. Well, that's the thing is like, okay, he's 39 years old. So the assumption is clearly he's on the decline. He's on his way out. But what was off with him wasn't an age-related thing. Velocity wasn't down. Control could be, though. 3,000 RPM.

Yeah, but I'm saying that's a correctable thing. That's not the sort of thing. Oh, you're just not capable of throwing strikes anymore because you got too old. That's not something you ever hear happening. He's old. He can't throw strikes. He's old to throw strikes. Yeah, no, look, I think.

Not having pinpoint accuracy, though, what your pitches got. I think is something that maybe could come for an older pitcher. So I worry about that a little bit. And everything else you're right about. I mean, I think that's something to watch early on in the season with Morton. Where is the control? Is he struggling with walks? He typically has been a slow starter.

But it's something that I want to watch early on in the season with Charlie Morton. After Scott took him, Hunter Renfro, Yon, Duron, Lucas, G. Lito, William Contreras, I think it's great value there at 149th. I think Sean Murphy was maybe the first pick of round 10, and William Contreras goes in round 13. I think that's just really good value. I took Jesus Lazzardo, Freddie Peralta, Grayson Rodriguez, Chris, you're on deck.

I wound up with Jesus Lazzardo as my SP4, and things are coming together. I've got him, Woodruff, Lance Lynn, and Joe Musgrove. So I actually kind of like it. Nice. Good job for you. Yeah, it's pretty good. I definitely had, Hazel Lozardo in my queue.

I was hoping that he would be there and I could go a little double-tap Homer pick. One of them's not a Marlin, but as a former Marlon, that's who I took here, Pablo Lopez, who I did add to my breakouts 2.0 column. I'm going to allow myself to overreact just a teeny tiny bit to the big velocity spike that we saw in his most recent start. Two miles per hour plus is one of the hardest throwing starts he's had in his career. rear. And there were also some other signs there that were interesting. He was throwing his curveball about 20% of the time. He had a sweeper that, uh, you know, he's mostly used like a cutter as his primary glove side breaking pitch. He didn't throw a cutter at all in that,

uh, world baseball classic start. It was all forcing fastballs, changeups, curveballs, sweepers and singers. And, um, you know, I think it's an interesting, uh, pitch mix. His cutter was his worst pitch last year. So, you know, abandoning that could, uh, could help him unlock something. I think it's well laid out, Chris. I'm getting more interested in Pablo Lopez, myself, who changed teams from the Marlins to the Minnesota Twins. And it seems like they willingly want him to throw this curveball slash sweeper more. And it could unlock a new level for Pablo Lopez, especially with the velocity up. I don't know if he'll maintain that, but it was pretty interesting to see him pumping, you know, 95, 96 consistently in that world baseball class.

classic start. After Chris took Pablo Lopez, we see Nico Horner and Joe Ryan. That is the end of round 13. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to wrap up part one here on the podcast, but please hop over to part two and join us for the rest of this draft.