Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Categories Mock Draft Part 2! Rounds 14-23 & Team Recaps (3/15 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

We continue on with our 12-team H2H categories mock draft. How did the second half of the draft go? Who made the best sleeper or breakout picks? We wrap up by recapping each of our teams. Who had the best squad? 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

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today. This is part two of our live head-to-head categories mock draft, and we are picking up with round 14. The first pick is Jeffrey Springs. Now I'm happy I took Jesus Lazzardo because I was debating between those two, and if I passed on both of them and didn't wind up getting one, I would have been pretty upset.

So Springs has looked really good so far in the spring. No pun intended there. and he was awesome last season as well. Now can he go a little bit deeper consistently? Can we get some six-inning starts out of Jeffrey Springs? That is the question. Scott, close your eyes, close your ears. I'm sorry to announce,

but Miguel Vargas has been taken 158th overall. Hey, I have three third base, I mean, three first basemen. That's true. That is true. I didn't have a lineup spot for him. Obviously, he's expected to pick up eligibility at second base in short order. But yeah, again, one of our drafts, he goes 158 overall. even without Doug Rowe here. He goes 100 picks ahead of his ADP,

which I was amazed to find out doing that ADP review. 253.4 overall. Now, I think a lot of that has to do with, he just started getting at bats late last week after having a fractured pinky. He was still playing the field. He was still standing at the plate, holding the bat watching the pitch go by.

But he just started swinging a bat, has been swinging it very well, as I'd expect. And I think he's one of the most undervalued players in drafts. I loved him even when he was going 50 picks earlier than this on average. I thought I wanted him in every league.

But now it's just gotten ridiculous. The out of sight, out of mind thing, I guess. All right. You know, one thing I do have to point out about Miguel Vargas is like, I've seen some like, wow, it's really impressive that he drew walks when he wasn't swinging the bat. And it's like, well, no, it's not.

he wasn't making those choices. He just wasn't swinging. Right. He just wasn't swinging at all. So it was not like, oh, wow, look at the plate discipline here. He just wasn't swinging the bat, guys. Yeah. But he does have a very good plate discipline.

Yes. He has a good eye as well, in addition to the fact that he walked four times while not swinging the bat. I think it says more about the pitchers that Miguel Vargas. The quality of competition being faced in the, yes. So after Miguel Vargas went 150. This is fun. Back-to-back Mariners relievers. Who will close? Nobody knows. Paul Sewell...

Matters less in this format, though. That is correct. Paul Seawald went to Chris, and then he was followed up by Andres Munoz, Drew Rasmussen, M.J. Melendez, great value, 162nd overall. I took Scott's favorite player in the world, Ahmed Rosario, because I have recently drafted a good amount of power hitters with lower batting average, so I wanted to pick up that batting average and maybe pick up a few more steals as well. do that with Ahmed Rosario. I'm sorry, Scott.

Frank. Hey, you waited too long. You have no one to blame but yourself, bud. Well, you're supposed to wait as long as you can. That's the whole point. Nico Horner went at the end of last round. Of course, his ADP is much lower than Rosario. And this is, you know, again, why I don't like picking late?

Because normally it's just like, oh, Horner goes, I'll take Rosario. Rosari goes, I'll take Horner. But, you know, there's so much time in between that you can't time perfectly. So I'm going to have to reach a little for my shortstop. Uh-oh. It's one of the players I've also talked about being the most undervalued in drafts this year, Ezekiel Tovar of the Rockies, who goes about 230th overall on average. I'm taking him 169th here. But I can't afford to miss out on him. And I think he has five category potentials. Since he's playing in Colorado, certainly he produced like that in the minors last year.

A lot of advantages being in that home environment. And fingers crossed, it goes like I hope it will. Couldn't you have taken him one pick later? So I could have accurately predicted round 15, Isikil Tovar. When did you predict that? Around like round five, I think. When you didn't get it,

I think after I took Carlos Correa, whenever that was. I was going to ask, do you have a crystal ball? Because, man, that was spot on. When did you, so where did you predict that? In our private chat?

No, no, on the show. Oh, I guess I wasn't listening. Yeah, I was going to say, yeah. Okay. Scott's clearly paying attention to the draft. I must have been thinking about my pick or something. All right, so Ezekiel Tovar 168, and I'm pairing him with a player who... I love it.

A lot of buzz today specifically, read Detmer's of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who I already liked as a breakout pick. Of course, I've cited his stats after being sent to the minors midway through last season, working on a slider, came back throwing it harder, and at least by the ratio stats, is pretty close to ace-like, Reed Detmer's. Well, came out today that he is throwing that slider even harder

and that fastball, too, his fastball velocity is way up too. He spent the off-season working with drive-line baseball. Surprise, surprise. Reed Debtmers averaged 93 on his fastball after returning from the miners. It's been 95 to 97 this spring. He averaged 87 on the slider.

It's been 89 to 91 this spring. And so that makes for potentially an even bigger breakout than I was expecting. Of course, the downside is six-man rotation with the Angels. So in a head-to-head league like this, not going to be able to take advantage of two-star weeks with Reed Detmer's. But I think the one-star weeks could be impressive enough that I'm happy to get him here in round 15. Love it.

I think Detmerge is someone that's going to just continue to rise as we get closer to opening day. And for good reason, let's catch people up on picks. In round 14, I took Amanda Rosario, then Chris Bassett, Tyler Stevenson, Jose Miranda, Jake Cronoward, and Scott at the turn took Ezekiel Tovar and Reed Detmer's. Now we're into round 15. Alec, Alec, Jeff McNeil, Catelle, Josh Bell,

I took Tyler Glass now, then Kendall Graveman and Jordan Montgomery. It is pretty risky. I mean, I took Glass now knowing that I also have Joe Musgrove. It's just so late. It's 174th overall. Stashed Glass now on the bench until he's ready to return. Hopefully, you know, early May, mid-May, something like that. But he will be my SP5 by the time he returned.

So I've already got Lazardo, I got Musgrove, got Lance Lynn, and also have Brandon Woodruff. I think now was the right time to take that risk or war chance on Tyler Class Now. After he goes, I mentioned Kendall Graveman, Jordan Montgomery, Ian Hap and Chris, your backup. Do you still need pitchers? Probably, right? You're muted. Yeah, I need some pitching. And since Scott took the breakout starting pitcher that I wanted, I'm going to take a different left-handed breakout starting pitcher, more like a bounce back. Trevor Rogers.

Nice. I know when we were doing breakouts 2.0, we introduced the term re-breakouts, Chris. You know, it's subjective. Can you be, can you break out twice? I tend to agree with you. I think you can. And I wrote him up in breakouts 2.0 as someone who I think can get back on track. He's had a good spring.

He finished the season strong with like the two or three starts that he made at the end of the year before getting shut down. So I like it. Says his command is better than it ever has been. I think he has one walk so far in the spring, which is a good sign. Spent the offseason working on a sinker. We'll see how that goes. Also working to increase the break on his slider because he's got one of those

sliders, especially last season that it was mostly vertical movement. There wasn't a whole lot of horizontal drop on it. And given the fact that his change-up is such a valuable pitch for him, I think he probably needs a little differentiation there. a little, you know, horizontal movement. So I'm excited by what we've seen so far from him in the spring. And just think he's a super talented pitcher. After Chris took Trevor Rogers, Mitch Hanigur at 179,

A Eugenio Suarez, the last pick of round 15. Scott, I know that Mitch Hanigar is dealing with an oblique strain right now. We don't know if he's going to be ready for opening day. But this is clearly later than he has been going. Does this sound like the right range for Mitch Hanager? Yeah, I mean, I guess I haven't ranked here. There are a couple of outfielders who I'm surprised haven't been taken yet that it would have taken instead. I've never been excited to draft Hanigar.

I think there's a lot of volatility there. Health-related and he's in a bad park and he's in a place for a manager who likes to mix up lineups a lot. I suspect Hanigar's not going to fall into that as much as other hitters in that lineup, but it still, it still raises the concern. And in the end, even if everything goes right, you might get a 250 hitting 25 homer guy.

So was it really worth it? I don't know. To kick off round, go ahead. It's a low ceiling player, a low ceiling investment, Hanaker, I would say. Yeah.

I still think there is some upside there. I mean, we saw a couple years ago, what, near 40 home run season? That's not the expectation. But just to know he has that capability in the bag, It's like, all right, maybe he can give us like 30 plus home runs. Not that I'm expecting it again. To kick off round 16, J.D. Martinez, Anthony Rendon.

And Chris, you took Tony Gonselin, 183rd overall. Dealing with an ankle injury, they're saying they're going to kind of slow roll it with Tony Gonslin. Was really good when he pitched last year. But on top of that, he also kind of has this like forearm thing that he was dealing with. So lots of concern. But when he's on the mound, he's been really, really good. Yeah, I expect him to be very good when he's on the mound. And like I said earlier, I think in this format,

that might have been on the previous podcast, actually. In this format, I'm less concerned about players with innings issues because you're going week by week anyway. So I feel pretty good about them. After Tony Gonsland, Andrew Heaney, Hunter Brown. It's a nice pick there, 185th overall. Brandon Nimmo, one of, I believe it was eight, one of eight or ten players to score 100 plus runs last year, was Brandon Nimmo.

I am on the clock and all right, let's see I still have a utility spot open there was a hitter I saw earlier Ah, there he goes And I haven't wound up with him yet in any drafts

And it's about time I got Riley Green Someone I think we kind of collectively like Here on the podcast 187th overall That fills out my entire hitting squad So I'm gonna have to focus on some pitchers The rest of the way

But he's been crushing the ball in spring and speaking of which, you should be reading Scott's spring training roundup that comes out every week. And in that, you talked about how Riley Green's swing feels perfect right now and that it's completely leveled and not hitting as many ground balls this swing

and this spring. And hitting the ball really hard. He's been posting some really big eggs of velocity. So I'm getting more excited about Riley Green this season. So I didn't have the most up-to-date information because statcast isn't available at every spring training stadium. but something like he had already hit eight balls, 105 plus miles per hour,

and seven of them were off the ground, which putting the ball on the ground last year was something that was difficult for him. Now, he hasn't tried to improve his launch angle, but he's focused on putting backspin on the ball. And, you know, whatever works, it's kind of an old-school way of thinking about hitting, but that's not necessarily wrong. And he's putting up not just big,

stats, but big data here this spring is Riley Green and Mike. He was just getting plundered here. One thing, you know, one thing when we talk about like swing changes and a lot of the times when we're talking about

you know, those kind of changes that players make. I've used Christian Yelch as an example where he talked about how he said he wasn't trying to hit the ball in the air more. He was trying to meet the ball farther along in his swing when his swing is already on the up swing.

Because he hits the ball really hard already. And so, you know, a lot of it is like when Riley Green talks about hitting the ball with backspin, a lot of these are more like hitting cues, you know, like for me when he says trying to hit the ball with backspin, that that means more like trying to get under the ball. It's not necessarily like I'm trying to, you know, upper cut swing it. It's just I'm trying to hit the ball at a different place. And I think that's something. to keep in mind when, you know, oh, this guy needs to hit the ball differently, but he didn't

change his swing. Well, those changes can still happen, especially when a player is as young and inexperienced as Riley Green. After I took Riley Green, Thai France, then Andrew Vaughn, that's good value on Vaughn, 189th overall. Key Brian Hayes, Edward Cabrera, love it. And Scott, you know what? Look, for waiting until the last pick of round 16 to come away with Javier Baez as you're starting shortstop. It's not. Oh, he's not right. You took Tovar. Well, that's He's insurance for Ezekiel Tovar, yeah. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's perfect. Yeah, okay.

This late in the draft, why not? Yeah. Well, yeah, I feel okay about my shortstop situation, all things considered. But, like, the problem is I'm kind of duct-taping it together while also just having to settle for crap at third base. And this is why, this is why I have to get a third baseman in round two. because this always happens when I don't. I just end up with total sludge there.

I'm not willing to reach quite early enough for the few scattered, exciting choices. And I wasn't even, I didn't even necessarily need an exciting choice this time. We saw, just since my last pick, we saw Alec Bome, Eohenio Suarez, Anthony Rendon, and most recently, Kibrian Hayes all go off the board. And that's it.

You know, like, there's nothing left that is worth paying up for on any level. Not that I was about to take Cabrion Hayes. He was the last of him, two picks before my pair of picks here. I don't even like Cabrion Hayes that much, but it's like, okay, well, maybe there's some untapped upside there. He hits the ball pretty hard. I know some people are still eye on the middle. He's give me some stolen bases, but he's gone too. So it's just like, I'll take whatever's left to third base.

and probably be stuck with crap there all year because there's just not enough, not enough upside plays. After Scott took, Scott just disappeared out of nowhere. I hope everything is all right. After Scott took Javier Baez, he took Scott Barlow, Brady Singer, went Patrick Sandoval, Alex Cobb, Oscar Colos, 197th. There was a bunch of prospects sent down, reassigned. to minor league camp on Tuesday,

and Oscar Coloss was not one of them. So that makes me feel pretty good about his chances of making the White Sox. I took Evan Phillips 198th overall. I'll explain that in a second. I hate that pick. Which one? Evan Phillips, because I wanted him.

So you mentioned this earlier, Chris, with Paul Seawald and Andres Munoz, where ideally you want your reliever to earn saves. But if they don't, in a format like this, head-to-ed categories, you just kind of plug them in your lineup, continue to rack up good ratios and strikeouts.

And Daniel Hudson is really the only other reliever I really worry about, you know, there could be other names, but Hudson getting saves for the Dodgers. And he's dealing with still knee and ankle issues, probably not going to be ready for opening day. Evan Phillips was amazing for the Dodgers last year. So I'm just taking the shot here

that he could start off as the closer. And if he does really well in that role, maybe he just kind of runs with it all season. So I don't know if you had anything different to add to that, Chris. No, that's exactly the thought process here is that I'm not so concerned about saves, but I do want to get a bunch of good relief pitchers to give myself some flexibility and how I handle my pitching staff because I've got enough starters now that I feel okay about. I could probably use a couple more.

But yeah, I would like to have had a very good reliever who's got. chances and there's not a ton of those guys left. After I took Evan Phillips, Jose Orkidi, Tyler Malley, who has looked pretty good so far this spring. I think you had a not so great start recently. After Malley, Luis Garcia, Chris, you took Seia Suzuki, Jack Flaherty, and Von Grissom. So you also have Bryce Harper, Chris. Are you worried about having to stash two guys to start the season in Suzuki and Harper? No, because Suzuki is not going to be gone for us. long and I'm assuming we would have IL spots if we played this league out so I'm not too

concerned about that there will be guys to pick up in free agency so if you do have IL spots I think it's a way to take advantage of that yeah all right the first pick of round 18 is Jared Kelnick at 205th moved them up quite a bit in the rankings update as well Scott does it sound like the right range for Kelnick yeah Once we get past pick 200, and we are here with pick 205, I just say get whatever upside play appeals to you. Now, maybe in a 15-team league or deeper, it'd be a little more cautious than that because you can't afford to leave too many RBI and run vacuums in your lineup. But in a 12-team league like this, particularly just three outfielder, there are going to be able to. alternatives who can just kind of compile for you. They're going to be available to you off waivers.

And I like that next pick too, Oscar Gonzalez, someone I wrote up in Sleepers 2.0. Just an interesting blend of makes a lot of contact, hits the ball decently hard, has a 31 homer season in the minors, and low key, he's fast. Really good sprint speed for Oscar Gonzalez. I don't know if he'll run, but there's a possibility with the new rules. So maybe he can chip in a little bit there too. Chris, you're on the clock with five seconds left. Yeah, and I'm taking Joey Menaceus. He's not someone I've drafted at all this year. But, you know, I think it was Scott on the podcast a couple days ago talking about, you know, the possible.

I think it was all the podcast. The possibility, like, what if this guy is somewhat for real? He's been really good in the world baseball classic. Also, I'm watching it currently. Mexico's jerseys are incredible. I did not realize they have like a pink and baby blue jersey. It's so cool looking. But also, this dude Harry Ford has been, like,

one of the players of the tournament for Great Britain, just had a double. I think he had a two-homer game. Top-catching prospect for the Seattle Mariners. I think he's, Scott, he's like 50th in your rankings coming into the season. This is totally unrelated to what we're talking about, but I just wanted to throw it out. It's like a 20-year-old catcher prospect.

He's too good to catch. Like, he's kind of mooky-bets-like, I feel like, in terms of his offensive potential. And I'd like to see them move him off-catcher, the Mariners. I don't know if it's going to happen. But he is not the top catcher prospect, but the most exciting catcher prospect is somebody who should get on base a ton, steel bases, for average, probably for power.

The comp I love, anytime there's an athletic catcher who gets on base is Jason Kendall. should be better. I mean, Kendall had a long productive career. Kendall had a long productive career, but he should be like... Show some respect. Contribute in a wider variety of ways than Kendall did. Well, a rabbit hole on Harry Ford

actually started with Joey Menaceus as the picked at Chris at 207th overall, followed by Ryan Mountcastle, Oswald Paraza, who had a home run on Tuesday night. He's trying to fight off Volpe. We'll see what happens there. Alex Lang, the supposed hopeful closer for the Detroit Tigers.

I took John Gray, just another upside starting pitcher that I can play the matchups with in him. Masataka Yoshida at 212th. Tristan Kossas, all right, little Red Sox hit a run. Josh Young, very late, 214th overall. Not bad. And Scott, we're making our way back to you. Will Smith goes.

All right, so I think some people might have saw my tweet the other day about Will Smith being reunited. with Bruce Bochy. Scott does not buy it one bit, but I think there might be something there. I would definitely still take LeClerc over Smith. I agree with that. Smith was not very good last year.

Smith was not very good the year he closed for the Braves. And he was perfect in the postseason that year, but he was not very good just in a general closer sense, was constantly on the verge of losing his job. So I think even if Will Smith starts out in the role, because Leclerc is banged up, which I don't think is a given. I don't think it'll last long.

I don't think it'll last long. All right, so I'm up here for two. I still have an outfield opening. I still have a third base opening, but screw that. I'm going to take two outfielders that I try to take in every category's draft, Garrett Mitchell and Jake Fraley, who I think both have considerable upside. and speed too, speed, both of them.

Mitchell has a ton of speed. Mitchell, if he stays healthy and hits well enough to stay in the lineup, I think 40 steals easily. He stole eight, I believe, in 30-something games for the Brewers last year. But Fraley didn't run so much last year, but he's certainly shown the ability to do that in the past. Of course, it's going to be easier to steal bases this year. He's been running a lot in spring training, and he was very productive after coming back from a knee and during the middle of last year

really seemed to benefit from playing in Cincinnati after playing in Seattle previously. So I have Mitchell and Fraley both as big breakout possibilities in the outfield and multi-factor, multi-category contributors in the outfield as well. Scott, knowing everything you know now and that you don't have a third basement yet, would you think more,

think more about potentially taking Jose Ramirez over Aaron Judge when you have the first overall pick like you did in this draft? You know, I don't think so. I mean, it happened last year, right? Judge could hit twice as many home runs

as Ramirez. And I don't, like even if he regresses this year, even if he regresses by 10 home runs, he could have twice as many home runs as Ramirez did. I just think there's such a difference there in terms of ceiling. No, I don't think I would.

I think people are factoring in way too much regression for judge because, oh, he'll never hit 62 home runs again. Okay, but what if he gets 52? Like, that seems very likely. He's done it before, apart from the 62 homer season. So, no, I think I'd still take judge number one. All right, after you took Jake Fraily, we see a couple of Reds hitters go in a row,

Will Myers, then Noah Cindergarde, Luis Arise, Kyle Finnegan, I'd take Jose LeClerc. Yes, I think there's a chance. Will Smith could steal some saves there, but I agree with Scott. I still would take Leclerc first, but just for, you know, deeper format, draft and hold leagues.

Will Smith, I think, is a name that you should know. The disrespect finally ends. I mean, nobody wants Jonathan India. 223rd overall? I mean, if I know what I, if I knew what I know now, I wouldn't have taken Andres Samenez back in like round 9 or 10 or whatever.

just wait forever and then take Jonathan India. After that, Daniel Hudson, Nathan Avaldi, Chris takes Jesse Winker, and Merrill Kelly. So the start of the Mount Rushmore. Yeah, somebody even said in the chat, Mount Rushmore Run. That's like that's a terrible nickname because it's not, it requires so much explanation, right?

It's just that they're old, you know? That's, that's, I mean, that's not why I called them about what. Executive decision, we're changing the name. You know what we're going to call them? Okay. They're the golden girls. But they're not girls.

But they're golden. They're golden. It's true. And more importantly, they're old. Plus, I can make it. I can make a still in the prime of their lives, notably. I can make a sound drop out of that too, Chris. So I think we're, I think we're on to something here.

Thank you for being a friend, Merrill Kelly. But Mount Rushmore is actually catching on. It's ridiculous. that it's catching on because it's such a bad nickname. I think Golden Girls will catch on just as quickly. Let us know. Let us know in the comments on YouTube. Should we call Scott's group of four,

I guess you could call them boring pitchers? The four boring pitchers who figured out what it takes to succeed in a post-juice ball league. Scott, you're not allowed to say those words on the podcast anymore. I don't know if you've got the memo. One angry tweeter is not going to stop me. from saying juice ball era. We are now going with the JBE and we're just leaving it out that.

No, I hate acronyms for not doing that. Juice ball era. Let us know in the comments. Say it again, Scott. Let us know in the comments. Do you want us to go with the Golden Girls or the Mount Rushmore for Scott's group of four starting pitchers there? And before we catch you up on the picks, let's take another break here in part two of this

live mock draft. CBS Fantasy Baseball Commissioner lets you run your league, your way with endless waste. customize your scoring, rosters, schedule, and more. I think I have to pause this read to make a pick. I totally forgot that I was about

to be on the clock. So let's see who I want to take. I'm going to go ahead of take Sunny Gray, who there's been some good news about so far in the spring. Anywho, again, CBS Sports Fantasy Baseball

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Again, that's CBSports.com slash FBT. We are in round 20. And the latest picks, Matthew Boyd, Martin Perez, Rwanzi Contreras, love it, Chris,

Alex Wood, Brandon Drury, Cody Bellinger, I took Sonny Gray, and then Jose Barrios and Sean Mania. Mania. Man, I mean,

one bad WBC start for Jose Barrios, and he is just plummeting down draft boards, even worse than he was before. It's kind of like Charlie Morton where like there wasn't like a really good explanation for why he struggled so much last season. There was like like his spin rate and velocity were most of the same. It was just like he just wasn't commanding anything. He was leaving his fastball up and he was just getting clobbered. And that's what it looked like against.

I think it's worth pointing out his ADP is 210. So 236 is lower than that, but it's not. Two whole round, Scott. By the way, it's just. Is Tyler Anderson one of the Golden Girls? Am I remembering? Is that the fourth one? Yeah, he's one of the...

The Mount Rushmore. The Mount Rushmore, yes, Chris. I'm not comfortable calling the Golden Girl. I don't know. I kind of like it. Let us know. In the YouTube comments or tweet at us, Golden Girls or Mount Rushmore, what are we doing with?

We're doing a Twitter poll. Scott, we're going to get to your picks in just a second. I wanted to bring up a note about Sunny Gray, which I read in the Mining the News article, which if you don't read them, you absolutely should be reading them. Really great articles from Jeff Zimmerman over at Rotographs.

Last year, Sunny Gray was not ready for the start of the season because the holdout, he kind of fell behind and he said that that led to some of his injuries. He came out to spring and he was either throwing harder or got a bunch of whiffs on his breaking pitches. Look, this late in the draft, I'll take a shot on Sunny Gray,

but I think there is reason for some optimism when it comes to Sunny Gray. And Scott, with that, you wind up with one of your favorite pitchers, Miles Michaelis. Yeah, one of them out of Rushmore. I'm at such good shape in this draft for pitching that I'm not as concerned about getting them. Tyler Anderson's still out there. I could go with him, but I think I'm going to try for some upside.

Maybe even an outside shot, this guy gains third base eligibility. And that's Anthony Volpe. Ah, I was thinking about taking him. Yeah. I mean, so we know Isaiah Kynar Philef is not going to be the shortstop. We got confirmation of that today. Aaron Boone said they're going to work in center field because he's transitioning to a utility role. He did not suggest who was going to take Kiner Folef's place at shortstop.

Of course, Oswald Parraza, who hasn't been taken here, is the, entered as the favorite. But he has been kind of banged up this spring, hasn't done a lot when he's played. Volpe continues. to set the world on fire. And notably, he didn't get optioned on a day when Christian Incarnacion Strand did, Ian Anderson did, Bryce Elder did, Anthony Volpe did not.

So he is, I think, truly in the running for a job here. And I know scouting reports suggested third base might actually be his best position and what are the odds Josh Donaldson holds up all year. So I'm going to start with the craft third baseman no matter who it is Ryan McMahon just got taken oh well but Anthony

Volpeg gives me the chance of maybe at some point not having a crappy third basement the start of round 21 Scott took andy Volpe then Jorge Lopez Ramon Loriano Ryan McMahon and Kyle Bradish someone who has looked great in spring training as well and he's generating some buzz as a sleeper in the fantasy baseball industry as well and our RJ White has chimed in with a potential name for that group. We may have to redo the poll because I think the expendables

is a pretty great name too. That is really good. All right. What? Explain it to me. I'm not sure I get it. I don't know. I think Arnold Schwarzenegger was in it and Bruce Willis, a bunch of

old action stars from like 10 years ago. I never saw it, but that's like, okay, so it was a bunch of has been? I don't, that's rude. Well, I'm saying, like, if it was burrios and Flaherty, if that's the group we were talking about, then maybe that would make more sense. I'm not, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure I want to lose the momentum of Mount Rushmore. Really? Catch it on. Well, I mean, A.

The streets are ablaze. We found a movie that I saw that you guys haven't seen. And B, it doesn't surprise me that it's like a terrible movie. I haven't seen it either, Frank. Yeah, I mean, you probably shouldn't. It's a really bad movie. Like Space Jam? Oh my gosh I mean Chris I didn't get your take on the space jam debacle

But we did a mailbag last week And it was me Welsh and Scott And Scott just had like He had a laser take He's out on space jam He said it wasn't good at the time And it's like I'm saying as a movie

Go ahead explain Scott It's forgettable and I'm not sure why it's revered in this way That we it deserves a sequel 20 years later A movie that includes Michael Jordan the Looney Tunes, Bill Murray, is a forgettable movies. I understand it was a promotional, it was a promotional event that they made a movie around. Like, that's not the best way of phrasing it.

I had a good phrasing the other day, but it's not coming to mind right now. It is a very, it's a cynical enterprise. I think it's fair to say. The, the Genesis of Space Jam was not, hey, let's make the best movie we can possibly make. You know, that wasn't the thought. Let's get Michael Jordan with the Looney Tunes and try and write a script around it.

And surely people will come to see it and buy a lot of merchandise for it. And that's what happened. But predictably, the movie was just, yeah, it's not a great movie. I think we're over thinking. This is not an Oscar-nominated movie, and I don't think anyone's saying it is, but it is a great. People are a fear it, Frank. It is a great,

they are a fun movie. I could say this is an average movie that we really shouldn't still be talking about to the extent that we do. Let's catch people up outside of Scott's bad takes. Carlos Estevez, I took him because I'm just trying to load up on relievers that can maybe grab me some saves here

at the end of the draft. Andrew Benetendi, I was I about to say Andrew, that was weird. Hayden was Neske. Nice. I wrote him up in sleepers, 2.0. Sir Anthony Dominguez, James and Tyone, Chris, Yandy Diaz, and John Birdie. Is this next round, the final round of the draft? No, we've got two more to go. Okay.

James and Tyone, Chris, I know he's someone you've talked up as a sleeper. I haven't really been paying attention to him in spring to see what he's been doing, but I'll try. I have not seen that either, but the case for him as a sleeper in case you haven't heard it is he's got good control, good ground ball rates, hasn't really been a strikeout pitcher, but he's introducing a sweeper to his arsenal this offseason with the intention of getting more swings and misses. I think it could be the put-away pitch

that he's been looking for, and I'm intrigued by the possibilities here. All right, so his most recent start last week, March 9th, he gave up four runs. And yeah, it's less than ideal. Obviously, we're not paying too much attention for like veterans in spring training, but I guess

if we saw them doing better, obviously that would be a good thing. A couple of relievers go off the board here, round 22, Michael King and Brock Burke. Not necessarily relievers that are going to get you saves, but guys that you could plug in and get you hopefully good ratios and really good strikeouts as well.

Chris, with the Homer pick, you go ahead and take Dylan Floro. Love Dylan Floreau. No, no, you don't. No, I'm just, it's a closer. or a possible closer. A possible closer. Yeah.

Skip Schumacher, new manager of the Marlins has already said that they are going to go with a closer by committee. Some of their relievers have been banged up this spring, but they recently made their debuts.

It was A.J. Puck and Tanner Scott and Matt Barnes has been pitching in spring. So they've got about four different names that could wind up grabbing saves here for the Miami Marlins. And that's an annoying pick because I wanted to do

draft, Brendan Fott, who is a pitching prospect with the Diamondbacks. That name is spelled P-F-A-A-A-D-T, if you're looking him up. Really good numbers in the minors last year. Actually led the entire minors in strikeouts. He went six-plus innings a bunch of times. So it seems like he's ready to pitch in the majors. It's just they have a few other names there out in Arizona with Dre Jameson and Ryan Nelson. Frankly, I think they should just kind of give up on the Zach Davies thing and and probably go with multiple of these prospects, but what do I know? I'm going to go ahead and take another reliever here.

There was a report that came out on Tuesday that the Cubs apparently view Michael Fulmer and Brad Boxberger as the leading candidates to pick up saves in the ninth inning. So I drafted Michael Fulmer. Somebody else, feel free to draft Brad Boxberger. I will not be taking both of them. I think between the two Fulmer is the one to take because they, when they signed

him, they brought up the possibility of him being the closer, but he said he kind of inferred from that conversation that he had to earn it. But like as part of the courting him process, the fact they, they tip their hand that that's what they would like, Fulmer to do, I think is pretty revealing. Of course, we don't know what the courting process was like with Boxburger, but still. Yep. A couple other pigs after I took Fulmer, Kent and Maeda. Love it. Nice little sleeper pick. bounce back candidate for the twins.

Michael Conforto, way too late. 261. Spoke about him the other day, made some changes to his swing, and he hasn't played in a while. I get that, but it looks to be healthy so far. He's got four home runs this spring, and so not the greatest park, I guess,

for left-handed power out in San Francisco, but we'll see with Michael Conforto. Scott, we're coming up on your pick, and those will be your last two picks of the, draft. They will. They will. Yeah.

And I'd like to have three more picks, to be honest. There's one thing I planned on doing that I don't think I'm going to be able to do now.

And that is pair O'Roldus Chapman with Scott Barlow. Scott Barlow, I think, is the most vulnerable of the presumed closers, of the ones

who we really think, okay, this is the closer. And after signing Aroldus Chapman, the Royals GM said Scott Barlow is our closer. So I think it's fair to say he is a closer.

But of the ones, of the closer, Scott Barlow is the most vulnerable because why would a rebuilding team like the Royal sign Chapman to a one-year deal if not to potentially flip him at the deadline and the best way to resuscitate his value is by giving him safe chances?

So I think mostly he just has to prove he's deserving of those chances because he didn't with the Yankees last year. but if he does he'll be at least a constant annoyance for Scott Barlow so I I planted Barlow thinking I'd take Chapman with my last pick but Tyler Anderson's still there so I'm going to take the last of the Mount Rushmore and thank you for being a friend my final pick is going to be my third baseman oh I'm going to fill the spot with

Brett Beatty for now and just if he, in the off chance, he's able to win the job for the Mets because at least there's upside there. And if he doesn't, I'll pick up Eduardo Escobar or Justin Turner or whatever scrubby guy I can pick up to fill that spot.

But I'll give myself a chance with Bady of hopefully getting something more than scrubby there. And I was watching the Mets earlier today. Brett Bady, he's put on some muscle, man. He looks a lot bigger than I remember seeing him last year,

and he's performed really well this spring, so perhaps playing his way into a job there. You know, he could play third, maybe Escobar at DH, and they talked about maybe using Escobar on left field. Clearly, they want to find a way to get Brett Beatty's bat in the lineup, and frankly, I don't blame the Mets. A couple other picks here in round 23, Travis Darno, Ranger Suarez, Danny Jimenez,

and Hassan Kim, who's hit some home runs out there in the World Baseball Classic as well. I'm going to take my last starting pitcher. It's Ross Stripling, someone I talk about a lot as a sleeper. Lean into his changeup last year, it's a really good pitch. And he was awesome in the second half. Now moves over to the Giants. Great ballpark to pitch in, obviously.

So I do like Ross Stripling. Definitely like him as my last pick in the draft. Lance McCullors, who you can stash on the IL and wait for him to return. He's recently started a throwing program. so hopefully some good news on him, unless of course you like Hunter Brown, of course. After Lance McCullors, Jock Peterson, Trevor May,

Chris, you took DJ LaMayhew and Gabriel Moreno. Two picks that I like there. Lots of eligibility with DJ LaMayhew. Hit a home run on Tuesday, and when he plays, he could be the lead-off man for the Yankees as well. I think, you know, like, gosh, who was it?

The Salvador Perez with the, wrist injury last year. I think there's a very clear delineation for DJ and LeMayhew when he started playing poorly. And it was when he had the toe injury. He tried to play through it clearly didn't work out for him. But before that, he was having a season somewhere between, you know, 2021 and the, no, not 2021. He was not good. Right.

And I remember in the timeline it was 2020. He was awesome. 2019. He was very good. It was like somewhere between 2021 and 2020. 19. I think he can still be DJ LeMayhe

can still be a very useful fantasy option, especially in that lineup. What are they got to do with all those infielders? Even if they only take one of Paraza and Volpe with them to New York, and even if Isaiah Kinejana

for left is just a bench bat, they still have won too many infielders, you know? Yeah. I get the impression. LeMay he's going to play quite a bit. if he's not playing every day, is he going to be productive enough to factor

if it's not literally every day? And I have doubts about that. They're trying to find ways, Scott. I know that the Yankees have tried Aaron Judge in left field so that they can play Stanton in right because right field is smaller in Yankee Stadium but now with this beta injury,

I guess they could play, you know, judge in center or they've got some options. They've got, you know, kinder-fleff out there and Oswaldo Cabrera. It's a good problem for them to have. I'm frankly, so surprised that they haven't made a trade to this point. And it's the Yankees. There will probably be an injury at some point.

I feel pretty confident in saying this is not a team that has a great track record when it comes to keeping their best players on the field. So, I mean, obviously that injury could be to DJ Lemayhew, but I think these things like, if DJ LaMahue hits, they'll figure it out. If he doesn't hit, then I'm going to drop him either way. Yeah. But I do think he's going to play enough if he's good enough. And the last pick of the draft, Mr. Irrelevant, is Brendan Donovan, who could lead off against right-handed pitching.

And he's looked pretty good so far this spring as well. Let's take our final break. And when we return, we'll recap our teams here on fantasy baseball today. Let's recap our teams. And we'll start with Scott, who is drafting first overall. And he wound up with Salvador Perez, Pete Alonzo, Jose Altuve, Brett Beatty, and Ezekiel Tovar. in the infield. Catcher, first base, second base.

Oh, that's great. Brett Beatty. Yeah. That was exactly my thought while I was reading it. I was like, wow, this team is really good. Oh, oh. Let's get into the outfield.

Aaron, Judge, Cedric Mullins, Garrett Mitchell, two utility bats, Christian Walker and Nate Lowe, so that helps pick things back up. On the pitching side, Robbie Ray,

Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Chris Sale, Reed Detmer's as the starting pitchers, your relievers in the lineup, you've got Emmanuel Class A, Daniel Bard, and Scott Barlow. On the bench, you've got some fun as well.

Javier Baez, two of the Mount Rushmore, Tyler Anderson, Miles Michaelis, and then Jake Fraley and Anthony Volpe. What do you think, Scott? I know I asked you the question about Judge versus Jose Ramirez. Was there another chance for you to grab a third baseman that you kind of wish you did?

What do you think about the team? Well, I really hate that I have a black hole at third base, and that always seems to happen when I don't prioritize it early. And it wasn't my fault in this draft, picking first. My only, unless I took Jose Ramirez first overall, my only chance of getting a stud third baseman was if Nolan Aeronado made it to the end of round two, which he normally does, but you can't be certain that he will. If he did, I definitely would have taken him, but he didn't.

So I was on this path of trying to mitigate damage at third base for the entire draft, and I just never worked out in part because picking at the end, there were a couple of third base runs that I missed out on. So I think I approached it the best way I could considering I kept missing out. The strength, where I have more than I usually have, because of that lack of third base, I think, is starting pitcher. I'm deeper and higher in there than I normally am. My top three, I know we haven't got to it yet.

My top three, oh, you did talk about it. Max Fried, Robbie Ray, Chris Sale, and then having Charlie Morton, Reed-Depmer's there, four or five. Like, there's more upside there than I normally get. I don't have any of the Mount Rushmore in my starting lineup, for instance. Only a couple on my bench. I'd rather have the stud third basement. So looking back, I took Robbie Ray and Chris Sale back to back in.

Let me see, what round was that? Sale, that was 8-9. And then who was the next third basement to go off the board? Jordan Walker, who I would have felt much better about slotting at that position. So I probably just should have been a little more aggressive for Walker rather than taking the two starting pitchers. there given that my pitching is probably it's it's more than I usually get and more than I think I'm going to need certainly there are going to be options emerging on waivers can't say that about third base so I'm praying for a miracle there with Brett Beatty and if it doesn't work

out I'm just going to have to write a scrub maybe I'll be able to work a trade with the pitching surplus. I mean, I potentially may have ended up with a shortstop surplus since I have Ezekiel Tovar is my starter there. Javier Baez and Anthony Volpe both on my bench. Obviously, I need only

one of those guys to work out of them works out. And there's a good chance all three of them do. And if that's the case, I might have an opportunity to make a trade down the line. But I'd much rather just have somebody good at third base than

it be this big eyesore like it is. So overall, I like my team. But that ward is a glaring wart. And that's what I try to avoid in every draft, because it's so easy to do with that position. You know, frankly, I thought you'd be tilting more, Scott, so I'm a little bit disappointed. But at the same time, I'm happy that you like your team.

So let's slide over to Chris. Let's slide over to Chris's team. He was drafting 10th overall on this one. starting with catcher Dalton Varshow followed up by Joey Meneses at first base Ozzy Albies Raphael Devers Wander Franco that's the infield in the outfield Chris Bryant Yordaan Alvarez Michael Harris with Carlos Correa and Jesse Winker as the two utility bats at starting pitcher Dylan Sees Kyle Wright Rwanzi Contreras Trevor Rogers Pablo Lopez Tony Gonselin couple of relievers you wound up with

Jordan Romano and Paul Seawald. On the bench, you've got DJ LaMayhew, James and Tyone, Bryce Harper, Dylan Floreau, and Sayas Suzuki. Do you think, in hindsight, Chris, obviously, Joey Meneses, you know, maybe it could work out at first base. Like, that's a potential need. And starting pitcher, would you have done anything differently with those two positions? Yeah, I probably could have invested a little more in starting pitcher. And maybe the Bryce Harper pick around 100 overall was a little overly aggressive or maybe too cute. The one thing I would say is like I've got Bryce Harper, I've got Sayu's Suzuki, I've got Carlos Correa, I've got Jesse Winker between like four players for like utility basically.

None of them are first base eligible. So Joey Manessus and DJ Lemay here are the only first baseman on my roster. And I think it'll work out with between those two guys. Maness is a bit of an upside power play. LeMayhew, I think it's just kind of a safe overall hitter. I wish I had a better first baseman on the roster. I wish, given the utility depth that I have, I wish one of them had first base eligibility or at least a path to first base eligibility.

So, you know, overall, I love my offense. And that makes sense because I went heavy on offense in this draft. But just like in terms of positional flexibility, I think that's probably the one place that I'm a little lacking here. And I partially screwed you the way you screwed me at Shortsy. Yes. Taking Carlos Correa for one of utility spots, I took two first basemen back to back for both of my utility spots.

Nate Lowe and Christian Walker. I didn't do it to screw you. I did it because they both lasted a lot longer than they normally do. It was just a nice side effect. they have so at that point I already knew I was had a problem at shortstop and third base so I wanted to make sure my utility players were as impactful as possible so these two big bats that lasted a lot longer than they normally do and so I just took them so I thought I was gearing up to take Christian Walker with my next pick too yeah yep and I would feel better about my team if I had Christian Walker and instead of you know I don't know who I ended up picking there let me see if I can I ended up with Chris Bryant. Like, I would feel better

if I had Christian Walker at first base and, you know, a comparable outfielder instead. Hey. But, you know,

I like just from like a build perspective, I haven't really addressed the category balance amid all the positional talk. I got some huge sluggers in Salvador Perez, Pete Alonzo, Altuvae force position

is a big slugger, judge, of course. And then Walker and low in my utility spots. And yet I still got stolen base threats. I mean, Judge and Altuvae will provide a fair amount themselves, but I have Garrett Mitchell in my lineup.

Cedric Mullins, I mean, they might combine for 70 to 80 steals, those two. Ezekiel Tovar should be a base deal. Any of the three shortstops I drafted by is or Volpe, I'll probably get steals out of that spot. So I feel really good about the balance of for not investing as much in hitting. I shouldn't say that because what, my first four or five picks were all hitters. but for maybe going a little,

maybe going after starting pitcher a little earlier than I do, I still think the hitting came out really impressive for my team. Let's wrap up with my team that I drafted sixth overall and starting with Wilson Contreras at catcher, Rowdy Tellez, Andres Jimenez, Austin Riley and Francisco Lindor in the infield, in the outfield, Eloy Jimenez, Adoles Garcia, Julio Rodriguez,

and my two utility bats were Ahmed Rosario and Riley Green. You know, I feel like I invested in hitters early, but it feels like there's something lacking. Maybe it's just name value or star power, whatever it might be. I think it's okay. I think it's balanced. I'm trying to see maybe it's a little bit, a little light on power, but not really.

Got Rowdy Tellez. I don't know. What do you guys think about the offense there? Yeah. I think it's good. I think it's good. I think it's a lot of kind of across-the-board contributors

as opposed to guys who'll be hugely impactful in one area, you know? Yeah. How many, like, how many, like, definite 30 home run guys are here? Riley. Lindor, probably, but not a guarantee.

Eloy, not a guarantee. So, Les probably been on a guarantee. Yeah, Julio Rodriguez, probably, but not a guarantee. Like, there's a lot of, like, 25 to 30 homer guys here rather than, like, 30 to 35. But, you know, that's not the worst thing in the world because you do have, you know, good banning average sources. You have guys who are going to steal bases. Like, it is, like Scott said, it's not super heavy in any one place, but it should be pretty good all around. For the head-to-head categories specifically, because we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're,

used to thinking in terms of roto leagues. I prefer the really impactful in one area guys because you know they're going to consistently be delivering from week to week in that one area when if you have

more across the board contributors, it's hard to say exactly what they're going to give you win and it may not be as reliable from week to week and that may lead to more volatility for your team. So it's kind of a minor point but I think it's worth bringing up

if you have the choice between, say a Corey Seeger, who's going to be very, we think going to be very reliable for batting average versus a Francisco Lindor who does everything pretty well, but nothing exceptionally well. On the pitching side,

I wound up with Brandon Woodruff, Joe Musgrove, Lance Lynn, Tyler Glassnow, Hayesuz-Lazardo, on the bench. I've got Sunny Gray, Ross Stripling, John Gray, as the starters, and then the relievers. I've got Ryan Presley, Evan Phillips, Jose LeClerc, Michael Fulmer, and Carlos Estevez.

So like we were talking about on yesterday's podcast, just kind of talking through strategy. I usually like to have, you know, five or six relievers that I can plug in my lineup that will either give me saves or in the case of like an Evan Phillips. Even if he's not giving me saves, he'll help out with ratios and strikeouts. And I think the pitching staff turned out right. It's going to have to wait a little bit for Joe Musgrove. Tyler Glass now, probably a month or a month and a half or so. Yeah. I think it's fine.

So good team. Yeah, I think so too. It's hard to mess up pitching this year. Really, the more I draft, the more I think that's true. Yeah, and there's just so many fun ones, too, in those later rounds. Like, when you took RedetMERS and I took Hazis Lizardo, Jeffrey Springs goes off the board, Chris takes Pablo Lopez. It's just, man, like post-150, it just feels like there's still like a lot of really, really exciting pitchers.

So you want to save some spots for that later part in the draft, maybe get two or three in those first 10 rounds and then kind of load up on some fun upside guys later on. But that'll do it. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.