Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Points Listener League Draft Part 1! Rounds 1-10 Picks & Strategy! (3/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

JOIN OUR FBT BRACKET GROUP- https://shorturl.at/aeZ06 It's our annual 12-team H2H points listener league draft! We're breaking down the first 10 rounds of the draft, picks and strategy. What changes in a H2H points league vs. Roto/categories? Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hey there, welcome into fantasy baseball today, and you're listening to this on Wednesday, March 20th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, we have our live 12-te-to-head points. listener league draft, and here are the Dietz. This will be a 21 round draft using the standard CBS head-to-head points scoring system and lineups, which is one of each infield position, three outfielders, one utility spot, no corner, no middle, and then five starting pitchers and two relief pitchers with five bench spots. So this is a shallower league. Chris is drafting fifth, Scott is seventh, and I am 10th. Womp, womp, womp. Shout out to our league champion. Somebody named Scott White. Ah, boo.

Never heard of him. We'll be live for this entire draft, and then we'll recap our teams at the end. My guess is, usually these are around two hours, but it's a shorter draft, so maybe we'll get out of here in less than two hours.

This will be broken down into a two-part podcast on the audio side, and I think we're pretty much good to go. What's going on, guys? You ready to draft? I am ready. I don't know who I'm picking a seventh.

probably depends who goes one through six. I'm ready to defend the title. There is a player that I went through and looked at all the players that I've drafted and all the leagues that we're going to be playing out so far. I think I have two drafts left. There is a player I do not have on any of my teams yet. And if someone wants to screw me over in this draft in the first four picks, they could really do that.

Otherwise, I'm finally going to draft this player. So we'll see what happens. I know what player it is. I have a pretty... I have a pretty good feeling you will get the player you want. And I texted you guys about it, so I would hope you both know who he is. Yes, that's right. Are we waiting for me to start this or...

Yeah, that's what I was wondering. Who's actually hitting start? I'll hit it. I don't have commission access. All right, we're starting here. We are up and running. All right. Well, the first overall picture shouldn't take too long, but we'll see what happens here.

A lot of ins and outs, a lot of what have you, have you, is, you know? Nathan McCulloch, who was making the number one pick, was celebrating Ronald de Cunia earlier. So I have a feeling. Ronald de Cunia, number one overall, bold. Oh, yes. Good for him. Now, as the defending champion,

I had the number one pick last year, but I took Aaron Judge. So I don't know how much we can credit that for the championship. Hopefully, Acuna works out better for Nathan McCulloch than Judge did for me. And Mookiee Betz goes second overall, who's likely to get shortstop early in the season. So that would be second shortstop and outfield, which is pretty awesome, regardless of league or format. But he is really, really good in a points league.

Juan Soto goes third overall. Chris, you are on deck. Let's see if he had sniped already. The problem is the guy I want isn't actually worth picking number five overall in a point. I have him eight. our seventh in a points league. So I'd actually rather be frank here, but I'm going to do it

because I have not drafted Fernando Tatease Jr. For the brand. And I'm going to more about the brand than the win. Absolutely. Respect, I guess. It still might turn into a win. I mean, Fernando Tatees. That's the thing is if you look at what he did all the seasons prior to last year,

he was like a forfeit. fantasy point per game player and absolutely would be worthy of not just top five pick, but arguably number one consideration if, you know, Ronald Acuna was 25% worse. All right. After your pick of Fernando Tatis fifth overall should mention the other picks, Freddie Freeman went fourth and Chohay Otani. So six, three Dodgers in the first six picks. I'll let you in a little secret here.

I was, uh, I was kind of hoping to get Otani at my pick. So that will not be happening. and Scott, you are on the clock. Yeah, I think I'm going to take a player I haven't had occasion to draft yet. Kyle Tucker, start putting together my outfield here. It is just a three outfielder league. So that takes a little bit of the pressure off,

but I still think even in three outfielder leagues, it's the scarcest hitter position. And I like to fill my hitter positions earlier in a league with smaller lineups like this, because I think you have a better chance of securing an advantage over your competition. if you have a lineup full of studs. Pitchers, especially in a head-to-head points format.

It's a more forgiving scoring format for pitchers. Like bad starts can be absorbed better as long as there's volume behind them. And so I think a second rate rotation, if you have a star-studded lineup to go with it, will still work out pretty well. Of course, right after my Kyle Tucker pick, Spencer Strider goes.

so, you know, that's fine. That's fine. Somebody has to take the high in pitchers. And I'm not saying I'll only take hitters for eight rounds. But, you know, just as generally speaking, I prefer to stand out within the hitter. I prefer for my hitters to stand out rather than my pitchers to stand out. It was back-to-back Braves, actually, Scott, because we had Spencer Strider at eight and then your boy Matt Olson at nine. and I'm just quickly pulling up something to see who I want to draft.

I have a good idea of what I want to do here. And yes, I'm going to go ahead and take Yoron Alvarez, who is better in a points league. I mean, he's good regardless of format, but the fact that he isn't steal bases, I guess knocks him down a little bit in a Categories league. But last year, he averaged 3.9 fantasy points per game. And although there is injury risk,

this is a shallower format, so the replacement value is much better. And I'll go ahead and snag up Yorda. Alvarez 10th overall. Yeah, so Yordon Alvarez last year, 3.94 points per game. So that was more than Kyle Tucker who I took 3.81. And also Matt Olson, who went in between 4.07.

I think Matt Olson, in terms of points per game last year in this format, was the fifth best hitter, Acuna, Betts, Freeman. Fourth best hitter. Yeah, and points per game. So I considered him at the point where I took Tucker, but, you know, I do think there's a chance. I think there's more of a chance Olson takes a little bit of a step back than a little bit of a step forward as much as I've been drafting him this year. And also I think outfield is scarcer, especially without a corner infield spot. Yeah, that's the thing.

I took Bryce Harper in the first round of a draft that I'm doing, head-to-head points draft. And then when I got to, it might have been the fourth round. Vladimir Guerrera Jr. was still there. And so I took him. And the problem is we're in like the ninth round as a slow draft and like Christian Walker and Tristan Kossis

and a couple other first basemen are like the clear best players on the board. And I just can't take them. Yeah. And so that gets really tough in a points league. Howled your perspective of depth changes depending on the format because in those 15 team roto leagues corner infield.

Oh yeah. It starts to seem. shallow after a while. But in a league like this with no corner infield spots, only 12 teams. Yeah, it's, it's really deep. After I took Yordon-on-Alvarez, Corbyn Carroll went 11th, followed by Jose Ramirez and Bobby Witt Jr. at the turn. And I am on deck. We'll see what happens here. Oh, I might have to decide between a couple of players who are banged up right now, so we'll see. I mean, come on. If you get to take Aaron, Judge, you should just take him and be happy about it. I mean, I hope so.

But you are like, you're a worry war and you're a Yankees fan, so you assume the worst. But like, he went. You were saved from having to take. I'm so saved. The player I took number one overall last year. Yeah, the guy who. It didn't work out, and yet it still worked out.

So that's another thing. And in a league this shallow, like, there's less pressure on every pick. You can afford to reach a little more and sell out for upside more. Because there's the waiver wire sample. And there's plenty of. of fallback options. But it's a moot point.

Judge goes 14th overall just before you. To Craig Gainier. Yes. Aaron, Judge, I believe, hoping to get into a game either Wednesday or Thursday is the last I saw

dealing with an abdominal issue. I am on the clock. Now, do I take the player I love even though he's banged up? Don't be a coward. Yeah, I got to do it. I've got to do it. Bryce Harper, come on down.

I was debating Julio Rodriguez. Whoops, name drop, shouldn't have done that. But Bryce Harper, dealing with some back injury, mysterious back injury, hopes to play later, I believe Friday is what they said, that he hopes to get back in the lineup. Julio Rodriguez goes with the next pick. But if Bryce Harper is healthy and good to go, he walks a ton. His on-base percentage is great.

Helps him a little bit more in this format. Who would you guys take right now between Bryce Harper and Julio Rodriguez in a points league? I believe Harper is who I have ranked ahead. head, but I do have Julio Rodriguez as a second rounder. And Bobby Witt, we kind of just skip past it, but him going 13th overall, it might be an eye-opener for somebody who is used to playing in a categories league where Bobby Witt is second or third generally. But poor plate discipline.

We've talked about it a lot. Bobby Witt was only 3.65 points per game. Still are taking at 13th overall, but that's why he's not a top five pick. I am. That's the thing is that Julio is worse in this format. He also scored

what was it 560 points in this format. He's still pretty good. He's still really good. Yeah, 3.6 fantasy points per game is a very good mark.

But just to put that in perspective, guys like Kyle Tucker, Judge, Belanger. Yeah, it makes sense for Julio to be more of an early to mid-second rounder

in a points league versus in a categories league where he is very often, you know, top a top three pick. After I selected Bryce Harper, Julio did go. And then Corey Seeger, Seeger is great in this format. We're still waiting to find out if he's going to be ready for opening day. But although the reports have been very positive. Well, I don't know if we talked about this, but if you guys talked about it last night, but he took live batting practice yesterday.

He was having competitive swings. I think he had a home run from what I saw on video. So I'm kind of just assuming Corey Seeger's going to be good to go for opening day at this point. All right. Well, if we knew that for sure, then I think him going, you know, 17 overall does make a ton of sense. Scott, you wound up taking Trey Turner to pair with your Kyle Tucker. Talk to me about it. Yeah, he's the top player on my board. I don't think there was a huge difference between him and Francisco Lundor. And look, Francisco Lundor goes right after. Turner is somebody who's a little less valuable in points leagues than in categories league, I would say. But still a high-end shortstop. I think in a shallower league like this, shortstop will be one of the positions

where you might have some trouble. You might end up with a lesser option than most of the other teams if you don't make it a priority early. So I'm happy to get Turner here. I was hoping Julio Rodriguez would make it to me. But I was off by a couple picks. So it didn't happen. All right. After you took Trey Turner,

Francisco Lindor with the next pick. And Chris, I feel like this is a player you often want to get in the second round, but I've never seen you take him. So here you go. This is the draft that you've, I feel like you normally,

this is how you want to start a draft. You get Fernando Tatsis and Corbyn Burns. Yeah, I'm happy with that start. And let me check my spreadsheet because I did, you know, look at everyone that I've drafted so far. And I want to see if I have drafted Corbin Burns in any of my league.

that count. And this is the second time I will have drafted Corbyn Burns. So there you go. Getting some slightly new faces on my teams. And I have high hopes for Corbyn Burns. I think he's the clear number two pitcher now with Garik Cole out for the first couple of months at least. And, you know, even in a head-to-head points league, which I think it can be easy to go overboard with starting pitcher. I think this is a fine spot to have him.

I think I had him 15th in my overall rankings. I want to mention something here because I'm seeing a few comments like people are perplexed by some of the players being drafted this early. I don't know if they're just, they just aren't accustomed to points leagues. All the people who have been asking us to do more analysis for points leagues, this is like your moment.

So you should relish this. But other people out there are confused, apparently. And yes, it is a different order that the early round players are being drafted in because of the less emphasis on stolen bases, more emphasis on plate discipline. But I would say that the differences are more, in rounds one and two,

especially round one, are more extreme this year than I can remember them being in a long time. I think it's such a deep class of elite hitters that you can be more particular about who you take, who's especially tailored for your certain format. And it just so happens guys like Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt move down in this format. while others like Bryce Harper and Matt Olson and Corey Seeger move up.

All right. After Chris took Corbyn-Burns, Jose Al-Tuve went 21st overall, and last year Al-Tuvei averaged 3.9 fantasy points per game the same amount as Jose Al-Tuve. So he is really, really good in a points league, followed by Zach Wheeler, Pete Alonzo, and Ozzie Albies to finish out round two. Let's take our first break when we return. We'll catch you up on round three right after this. Welcome back in. We are into the third round.

of our 12 team head to head points listener to league draft and this is a draft that we're playing out. This is not a mock draft. This is for real zies. So the second round ended with Ozzy Albies. The third round, Austin Riley, Pablo Lopez, Raphael Devers, Cody Bellinger, Chris, you selected Marcus Semyon,

then Mike Trout. He's a little bit better in a points league as well. Scott, you were on the clock, but Chris talked to me about your Marcus Semyon pick. I think he's just underrated in this format. if he's falling this far. Marcus Simeon has been over the 500 point mark,

really four straight seasons. The one exception is 2020. He's been at the 590 or better mark in three of those four seasons. There's going to be a ton of runs in that lineup. He's going to score 120 runs. He's going to drive in some runs. He walks a decent amount. I think Marcus Simeon falling to 29 here is terrific value.

I think it's great. I really wanted to get one of the three elite second basement leaving mooky bets out of it with my third round picked like i i thought about reaching for hose al tuvae in round two when i took trey turner instead because i thought it was that important to get one of those standout second baseman in a format where ideally you want to stand out at every position so i was frustrated to see you take simian after altouvae and albys both went um mike trout went after your simian pick and then i was up i took alex bregman that was a that was another format specialist type of pick. Alex Bregman with

terrific plate discipline. He actually was as good on a per game basis in this league last year as as who was Austin Riley. They're both 3.33 points per game. So he's a stud in this format at third base and I have

him now to go with Trade Turner and Kyle Tucker. Gosh! I wanted Luis Castillo and he went one pick before me. Now I'm kind of mad at myself for taking Bryce Harper because Vlad is here at the end of the third round, and I don't really want to take another first baseman.

No utility spot. You can do it. No, I'm not going to do that. Outfielders available. The hitters are looking rough right now. I felt like Alex Bregman. I guess you could argue Vladimir Guerrero. Those were kind of the last two I would accept

before I started dipping into pitcher a little bit. All right, I'm going to go ahead and continue on. I'm going to go ahead and continue on with the pitching here. I'm going to go ahead and take George Kirby. So back-to-back Mariners, pitchers. If I didn't have Bryce Harper, I would have taken Vlad Jr. But don't really want to fill the utility spot this early. There are some utility bats that I like later on.

And, you know, it just limits the flexibility. So we'll wait on filling that spot. A couple other picks that happened after Mike Trout, Scott selected Alex Bregman, Gunner Henderson, who I probably would have taken Gunner Henderson if he was there as well. Luis Castillo. And then I took Kirby in the very next pick, Vladimir Guerrero, which makes a ton of sense. should have been your pick.

No, come on, Chris. I already let you influence me once in this draft. I can't let you draft the whole team for me. Gosh. Maybe I should have taken Julio earlier and then I could have got flat now. Oh, well, whatever. Live and learn.

We are up to the final pick of round three. I did want to mention with Marcus Semyon, by the way. Something I do like to target in points leagues as well are hitters that bat at the top of lineup of really good lineups because that voluble. It just sounds so obvious, but the more plate appearances, the more opportunities for fantasy points. So Marcus Simeon has 724 plus plate appearances three years in a row. That is the same.

Hasn't missed more than a game in any of the last three seasons. And 2020 is the only game where he's missed more than three since 2017. He's been remarkably durable as well. Great pick, Chris. The final pick of round three was Kyle Swarber, who is... Better in points leagues. Much better in points leagues. Again, some of these differences, people will hear Kyle Swarber in the third round and think,

oh, my goodness, what is going on here? But last year, Kyle Swarber averaged 3.2 fantasy points per game. And even more than that, because, you know, in theory, scores a lot of runs. It's a ton of home runs. That should be valuable in categories in Roto leagues, too. but it's just such a difficult way to build your team to get a 200 batting average guy that early. And it's been two years in a row

where Schwerber's batting average has been around there. So it's just, he's more, like if you're just doing Roto rankings, he comes in higher Schwerber does than where I actually want to take him just because I know he's going to be so hard to work with. But it doesn't matter in points leagues,

he scores points. Yeah, that's exactly right. And it's kind of, similar to Marcus Samian. 720 plate appearances last year for Schwabber. Not a prototypical lead-off hitter, but the fact that he does lead off for one of the better lineups in baseball

with the Phillies, he's going to see a ton of plate appearances, get on base, walk, and score a ton of runs. So, yeah, I think this obviously is a much better format. That's why you see him go at the end of the third round. The next pick, Kevin Gosman, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto. So we are here into the fourth round. Do you want to go ahead and take the top hitter on my board?

fill a second outfield spot or go ahead and continue on with another starting pitcher and I think that I will go the starting pitcher route Logan Webb is someone I've talked a lot about this offseason he was among the league leaders in quality starts last year we get bonus points for quality starts in this league he led all of baseball innings pitched

we get three fantasy points per innings pitched in this format so yeah to go with Kirby and Logan Webb don't have to worry as much about strikeouts in this format I just really want the volume, and I think both Kirby and Logan Webb will provide that. After Logan Webb, Luis Robert, Michael Harris, Scott, you are back up. And let's remind the people. Big relief there. I've never been more relieved to take Zach Gallen, who I believe was on the championship team last year.

I think you're right. My biggest concerned with him is ERA, and that doesn't matter so much. I'm confident he'll get volume unless he gets injured, which you could say about every pitcher. So I'll take him And if he had gone Just before me where Michael Harris went I would have been sad and probably tilting So it would have been better content

Ah, come on, you had one job But I'm happy to get Zach Allen Can I just, I can pretend to tilt if you want And we can't the best of both worlds Scott Remind yourself, we're here for two hours There will be plenty of opportunities for you to tilt throughout this draft

Your first three picks You got Kyle Tucker, Trey Turner, Trey, and Alex Bregman, and then here in the fourth, you got yourself, Zach Gallen. So your first starting pitcher. And the next pick was Terrick Scuba. That's probably what I would have done if Gallen had win. I would have taken Scoobel, but I wouldn't have felt good about it. I do want to comment on Harris and Louise Robert, who were the two picks before mine.

Outfield, so we talked about Outfield, the breakdown and outfield, nine first round caliber hitters there. That's still true in points leagues. But then the gap that follows, I think, is even more pronounced in a point. points league because guys like Louise Robert and Michael Harris, and that's just the start of the list really, they are better in Roto. They especially stand out in that five category production, but they lose some points for plate discipline for the most part.

I mean, Harris among them, he hardly walks at all. Harris last year was 2.82 points per game in this format last year, which, let's see. Lordus Gurriel was 2.76, you know, not that far off. He was Masataki Yoshita 2.85. Harris was significantly better in his first season, 3.2 points per game. So just worth pointing that out. But yeah, I agree. And the move up, the lineup will help.

You know, if he's batting sixth instead of ninth like we expect, that should be an extra, honestly, it might be like an extra 10% of plate appearances. So if all it does is, adds 0.3 points per game to his total just from extra volume. That gets him close to where he, where you want him to be for this range. But I agree. It's, it's, it's not,

it's certainly not his best format. All right. After Scott selected Zach Allen, we mentioned Terrick Scubal. Chris, you got Bobichette, followed by Brian Reynolds, Framber Valdez, Adolis Garcia,

and L.E.D. La Cruz. So I think two really interesting picks here, back to back to finish out the fourth round. Adoles Garcia has improved his plate discipline steadily over the past couple of years to the point where he averaged 3.4 fantasy points per game last season. That was more than Alex Bregman. And we talk about how good Alex Bregman is in this format. So I just, I want to give Adoles Garcia his credit.

He's really, really good in this format. I mean, he's good regardless of format, but he's really good in a points league as well. And L.A. de Cruz, I mean, that one might be a little bit of an eyebrow razor at the end of the fourth round. but he was better than Michael Harris on a per game basis last year. He was better. I don't know if he was quite as good as Luis Robert, but he wasn't far off. It was probably like 0.1.3.3 is what L.E. De La Cruz was.

And I've run the numbers before, but I am going off memory here. But I believe even in the second half when L.E. De La Cruz hit under 200, he was like the 13th best shortstop in points leads during that stretch because the stolen base volume was so high, two points apiece over and over. again that it adds up. So he's surprised that's

that's kind of a difference this year to points leagues versus past years because the threshold for stolen bases is increased across the league

well it loses some of its relative increase in roto leagues because you're comparing that increase across all players but in points

leagues it's just two points every time. Yeah it's just additional points added over on top of what was already there. It's not a balancing,

it's not a relative thing relative to other players thing. So that makes elite base dealers more valuable in points leagues now than they used to be. Overall, I would still say the elite base dealers are more valuable in Rota leagues, but the gap is closed

a bit because of that if I explained it properly. All right. I have two players at the top of my queue. One is old and boring, and I have drafted that player three times already. The other is young, and exciting and I've only drafted them once. I should go with the young and exciting player, right? No, no, definitely don't ever do that. All right. I'm drafted Royce Lewis.

Actually, I'm totally fine with that. Your team through five picks, Chris, you have Marcus Semyon, Royce Lewis, Bobichette, Fernando Tatis, and Corbyn's. Only one starter through five rounds in a points league. You're all right with that. I'm all right with that for now. We'll see. Because my strategy in head-to-head points, everybody who's drafting with us, don't listen, although I'm sure they're going to do this. I'm going to guess. I'm going to guess. the Sparps are going to go very early in this draft. All the all the sparks that we've talked about. I wrote for CBSSports.com today.

Yesterday. When did I write that? The days just blend together at this point. They really do. I wrote about the top 12. What's that? Came out Monday. Okay.

I wrote it Monday then. Maybe I wrote it Sunday. I don't know. What day is it? I wrote about it when it came out. I ranked the top 12 sparks, top 13 sparks for head to head point. leagues and I wouldn't be surprised if 15 sparks were drafted today given that we're drafting with our audience and we talk about them a lot and all that stuff.

I'm tempted to take the first sparp here. It's a player I like a lot. Oh, oh! There's one player on the board that I take over Cole Riggins. And it's Aaron Nola. It's Aaron Lola. That's the opposite of Cole Riggins. Just like my SP1 pick, I am, my SP1 pick.

was Zach Allen. ERA is my biggest concern for Aeronola. Not that big of a deal in this format because you know the volume's going to be there. You know he's going to go seven plus innings with consistency. And if he has a great season, I mean, he could be my both valuable pick here in round five if he has a good Aaron Nola season. But even a bad Aaron Nola season, I think he's worth taking 55th overall in this format. And so, you know, I talked a big game about building my team around hitters and here through five rounds. I have two starting pitchers already.

Cole Rangans goes right after Nolo, which isn't surprising. Oh, yeah. Because I said his name. Sorry, I had to do it. Were you going to say something, Chris? I feel like I cut you off with a ray gun. Oh, no, no. You're fine.

Okay, let's catch people up on the picks. The fifth round started with Max Fried, followed by Tyler Glass now. 50th overall, I think that's great value. Again, the replacement value is really good in this league. So willing to take on that risk and why, All he's healthy. I think he'll give a very high points per game total. After that, Adley Ruchman, Mani Machado,

Chris selected Royce Lewis, Evan Carter, 54th overall. All right, that's the highest I've seen him go. He is, he just have a really great eye at the plate. He's going to get on base. He should hit right in the middle of that Rangers lineup. I kind of worry that maybe he'll sit against some tougher lefties, but maybe that's just a concern of mine,

and we'll see what actually happens once the season starts. But he has not been good against lefties. so far in his brief major league career or in the minors. After that, Scott selected Aranola, followed by Cole Reagan's Logan Gilbert. And so here we are. Let's take a look at the team. I've got Bryce Harper, Yordaun Alvarez,

Logan Webb, George Kirby. Guys, it is time. Finally, I haven't been able to draft him yet, and I'm finally going to do it. 58th overall, I don't care if he's better in a road or a category league. I want this man on my team, and his name is O'Neill Cruz. I, you know, earlier today, I was thinking this is going to be the one I drafted O'Neill Cruz in, because he's another one I have not drafted yet.

And not going to happen today. When you said you were debating a young fun player and an old player, Chris, I was so scared you were going to take O'Neill Cruz. Well, you know what? You know what, Frank? It's okay. You and I are drafting together next week. Oh, gosh. It's going to be so fun. I'm actually looking forward to it. I think it's going to be great. If O'Neill Cruz had made it to, so you take him in the middle of round. five. If he had made it to the middle of round six with my next pick,

even for having already drafted a shortstop, Trey Turner. Yeah, I would have done it. I mean, I'm, I'm thinking it's time. It was time last year. We were denied the O'Neill Cruz breakout season, but it's feeling good about it happening this year. And I...

Seven spring home runs, a 14-77 OPS. And of course, it's not just the fact that he's hitting home runs. It's that all these home runs are like 110 plus miles per hour. 105 plus miles per hour. It only eight strikeouts in 36 plate appearances, which is about a 20% strikeout rate at least? Yeah, factor in the nine-game sample for O'Neill Cruz last season, his spring training last season,

his September, and his rookie season. It's been a long time since he struck out 30% of the time in a month. I understand those aren't all... 42 games, yeah. Those aren't all high sample or high competition samples, but still, to the amount we can gauge the progress there, O'Neill Cruz is making progress in terms of making contact. It's, if nothing else, it's what we want to see from him.

It doesn't mean it will continue moving forward, but it's the exact type of progress we needed to see from O'Neill Cruz. And I spent all day Tuesday updating my rankings, at Dead points, Roto, and I moved O'Neill Cruz inside of my top 60 in both formats because I'm welcome. I wanted to reflect ADP. I wanted to give myself or anyone using my rankings a legit chance to get O'Neill Cruz,

and that's why I did that. So he's looked so great. These home runs that he's hitting effortless. He's just like flicking his bat out and they're traveling 400 feet. It is insane stuff. But enough on O'Neo Cruz. After that, Justin Steele and Christian Yellich

to finish out round five, and we are into round six. Let's take our second break. And when we return, I'll let you know who I drafted here on fantasy baseball today. All right, I am a little conflicted here. I have a couple. That said you were going to left us know.

I can't speak today. You said you were going to let us know, Frank. What a tease. What a tease indeed. All right, so there's a lot of picks before it returns back to me. Let's see, I'm picking 10th overall. There's exactly 20 picks before it comes back to me. So I want to lock up my SP3.

I think there's probably going to be another starting pitcher run. Another one, I think Freddie Peralta is probably better. in a roto format because of his strike odds and doesn't typically go all that deep into his start, into his starts, but when I'm getting him as my SP3, I don't need him to do as much. And I just want to kind of solidify that pitching staff.

So I've got three hitters, three pitchers through the first six rounds here. I've got Bryce Harper, O'Neil Cruz, Yoron Alvarez, my pitchers, George Kirby, Logan Webb, and Freddie Peralta. I got quite the dilemma coming up. So O'Neil Cruz, just to add a little more,

color. He, only 18 of his 28 batted balls have been tracked by stat cast so far this spring. He is averaging a robust 97.8 miles per hour on those 18 batted balls. Now that's, it's 18 battered balls, although that's most of the balls in play that we've seen from Mano Cruz so far this spring. But that's, that's impressive. That is. Aaron, Judge, eat your heart out. kind of stuff. That's exactly right. So Nico Horner is the next pick. Nico Horner is an example of a player who was surprisingly good in this format last year

because you think mainly, oh, he steals bases. Well, he's a lot of bases and he's good at avoiding strikeouts. 3.36 points per game is what Nico Horner had last year, which, you know, compared that to Glaber Torres, 2.97. Not that Torres is gone yet, but just if you're just ranking all hitters by points per game, it would it it's it's reasonable that Nico Horner would go here yeah I mean he went after Cotel Marte

but Nico Horner actually outscored Cotel Marte by about 15 points in the same number of games now it's it ends up being about 0.09 points per game total so it's not a huge difference but yeah and Cotel Marte is a very good points player as well because he makes a ton of contact so that that just shows you that You know, Nico Horner, if he repeats what he did last season, can still be very good in this format.

Yeah, and I should mention Catelle Marte was the first pick of round six. Nolan Aronado, I took Peralta, then Horner, Tristan Kossis, another player who is on the rise, just hit another home run here on Tuesday. And theoretically, should be awesome in any type of points league or OBP format. He's going to get on base and obviously going to likely hit a lot of home runs this year as well. Scott, you are up with three seconds left. Yeah, so Nico Horner was when I said I had quite the dilemma coming up. He was one of the three I was considering, and it was down to two.

Actually, Tristan Kossis going in between. I wasn't happy to see that because I keep not drafting him. Somebody goes for him earlier than I'm willing to. But anyway, I end up taking Zach Eflin over the other guy was considering. The other one was a hitter. I'm not going to say who it was. But I just think we're in a stretch of hitters now. Nico Horner was kind of an exception.

We're in a stretch of hitters now where there's not a lot. of distinction and it's going to be that way for several rounds. That's kind of why I go so heavy on the hitters early, especially in this format,

is when all the categories are blended into a single point total, that mid-range at hitter is just, there's not a lot of separation. So, yeah, Randy or Rose, Raina ends up going two picks later.

That was the hitter I was considering. But he was last, last year Randy Rosa Raina was 3.0. Yeah, just over 3. Points per game. Okay, that's, I mean, that's not bad,

but compare that to oh, Stephen Kwan. Stephen Kwan was 2.90, and in a bad year for Stephen Kwan, at least what we think was a bad year. So I just, I don't know, just didn't seem worth the upcharge when I could get Zach Eflin and potentially another really high-end pitcher there.

All right, so I believe there was six rounds, We have the same distribution. We have three pitchers and three hitters each. After you selected Zach Eflin, Merrill Kelly, that's a little earlier than we're used to seeing. Randy Rosarana to Chris, you Darvish.

By the way, this league will not count the Dodgers and Padres game series in Korea, which is starting up in about, let's see, if my math is correct, eight hours from now. I won't be awake, unfortunately. I would love to watch.

I'm going to try. I'm going to try to make it till six to, to start and then I already told our editors that I'm going to like wake up and write something in there about the game. Okay.

Newsletter tomorrow. So what's the difference between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Right. It's a big difference. Yeah, it's a pretty big difference there. Like four hours. We all admire

your dedication, Chris. I just love baseball. So much, guys. If I didn't take Freddie Pearl Chris, Randy Rosarana would have been the pick, so I love it. Yeah, I think, you know, Alfield's starting to get a little thinner. I was hoping I think Christian Yelich at one point was going to make it back to me and he didn't. So, you know, got to get a couple outfielders because been very infield heavy so far.

Latest picks, U. Darvish, Glaber Torres, Zander Bogartz, who will gain second base eligibility early on in the season. He's only shortstop for now on CBS, but keep that in mind regardless of where you. you play, he's going to gain that second base eligibility. And the final pick of round six is Paul Gulchmidt. So there have been a couple of interesting picks that I don't think we'd see much

in the analyst leagues we usually do like you Darvish here in round six strikes me as one. There was also Evan Carter in round five that we kind of glossed over. He went in between Royce Lewis and Aaron Nola. That's probably the earliest I've seen Evan Carter go this year. You can make the

arguments better for points. He's better for points leagues because he walks so much, but at least as Rookie last year he struck out a lot too. So I'm not sure I'm not sure which format he'll be better in. But it did seem like kind of a reach for me. Darvish here seems like kind of a reach. I guess you can...

I mean, Darvish is a more extreme version of like Aranola because you can probably count on volume from him, but just what is the performance going to look like? I don't know. It was kind of a... It was an eyebrow razor for me. The first pick of round seven, Blake Snell, who signed a two-year-old,

deal with the Giants last night. He has an opt out after the first year. And Scott, the Welsh and I obviously broke that down. Chris, you were not on. Do you have any thoughts on Blake Snell to the Giants? It's about as good of a landing spot as you could have hoped for. The Giants are obviously at a very good ballpark. He stays in the NL West. And, you know, there was the report over the weekend that he made a 60 pitch four-inning simulated game in front of scouts. That seems like a good sign that he could be ready relatively quickly. I would think certainly not the first turn through the Giants rotation, but maybe the second is possible, maybe the third, but either way, probably only a couple of weeks.

So I think it's fine. I wasn't moved to increase him in my rankings, but I certainly wasn't. I'm not moving him down. Do you have pitchers still available pitchers who are? were ranked ahead of like Snell, who goes here 73rd overall. I believe I have two who I have ranked ahead of him.

Yeah, that was maybe four. Maybe three. That was the same for me. I had two starting pitchers ranked ahead of him. And I don't know. I mean, I might soften that stance. You know, the Charzar's art. You're running out of time.

You're running out of time to soften your stance. Now we're never, Scott. I got one draft left, Scott. I got one draft left. Well, we got a weekend. most people have not drafted yet. The vast majority of people have not drafted their teams yet. So, you know, there's time.

What was I going to say? I lost my train of thought. Something about Blake's now? Yeah, it's not important. All right. Let's keep going. After Blake's now, George Springer, Edwin Diaz, Josh Hayter, and Nolan Jones went to Chris.

I will quickly mention with the closers. Yes, this is later than we're used to seeing them go in a categories league because they just don't score as many. fantasy points in this format. But I think this is probably the right range for them, for those elite names to come off the board. And Chris, I thought your Nolan Jones pick was great. I'm not just like saying this to prop you up.

All the picks that you're making are the ones that I would have made. So if Nolan Jones made it to me, I would have taken him. But yeah, I mean, you know, we're talking about like points per game. Nolan Jones last year was right around 3.3, which is very good. I think, Scott, that's right around like what Austin Riley was doing, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, obviously, it's a super high variance profile, but Nolan Jones is someone who I have drafted now four times. He's, he's broken the tie with Christian Yelich. I think that's a super interesting pair. I'm going to write about the two of them together in the newsletter tomorrow. But I'm a Nolan Jones believer-ish for the most part, kind of, maybe. Yes. I hope so because I got him in tell. Wars last weekend. I think I think he could be like Trevor Story was

where like he might just hit 285 at Corsefield just because Corsefield is so hell. Like remember Trevor Story was hitting 295 most years in coursefield despite striking out 25% of the time because he was running 360 Babips every year. So I think that that's not unrealistic for Nolan Jones if not you know the most likely outcome.

After your Nolan Jones pick, Luis Arise, and Scott, you took the plunge, baby. White Langford, 79th overall.

Mm-hmm. Yep. I think in a points league, I'm going to lean him over Jackson Chorio and to get him around pick 80 in a points league. I said yesterday with the Welsh,

that in a shallow league, I'd be willing to do that. In a points league, I mean, White Langford, I think he's going to walk a lot. He may strike out a lot, but sort of like with Nolan Jones,

if you're walking enough. It's not going to be a big deal. I hope he bats relatively high in the Rangers lineup has a lot of run in RBI opportunities. He hasn't technically made the team yet, and it's going to be harder to preserve him on a bench in a shallow league like this, and I'm just going to have to give him my investment in him. But hopefully he makes the team, and hopefully he has a good rookie season, and round seven, he's my guy. I think the pick right before me was more interesting, though. Luis Arise, 78th overall. Hardly. strikes out.

So, I guess you could say this is a format, but 2.96 points per game last year. No, that's right around Glaber Torres, who went last round. That was with Louisa Rise hitting 350, which we don't expect him to do again. That's just 140 runs plus RBI and 147 games for, even in a bad lineup,

even for a guy who doesn't hit for power, that feels unsustainably low, right? you just think he's going to make up for the loss in batting average with more runs. I think there will be some regression in that regard. I can't, I don't know, like the top of the Marlins lineup isn't terrible. He'll bat probably lead off. And, you know, I can't remember who pointed this out first. So I apologize.

But I think someone wrote about it on baseball perspective, is that Luis Raiz did start hitting four power kind of at the end of last season. five home runs in September. That was half of his season total. And there were some seemingly conscious changes to his swing that point to potentially hitting for a little more power. And I think he's someone like, his average edge of velocity was 88 miles an hour last year. That's not great. But we're not talking about Estuary Ruiz here.

You know, Luis Arise does hit the ball medium, not hard, but medium. So I could see a 15 homer season for him. I wouldn't have taken him there. There's another infielder in particular, who I think should have gone by now, even in a points league. But I think it's fine. In September, you're right, Chris.

He arise hit 384 with five homers and a 630 slug. So we'll see if he can tap into it a little bit more, maybe 12 to 15 homers with a like 315 batting average. and you're, I mean, if he gets on base, it's about 24. It's, I looked it up. It's about 45 picks higher than you guys haven't ranked. It's about 65 picks higher than I haven't ranked.

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't do it. But by the way, it was Nathan Grimm on baseball perspectives who wrote, the headline is okay, but what if Louisa Rice has power now? It's worth checking out. Yeah, if he gets on base at a 350 clip, I have to imagine he scores more than. Yeah, like 71 runs, 69 RBI, even with his weird profile, even in the Marlins line. lineup, that's way too low. Like, did he get picked off like 37 times when we just didn't realize it?

What happened there? No, I mean, it was just the Marlins lineup. That's kind of what happens there. I'm going to go ahead and take someone who is a little bit better, not a lot, not a little bit, a lot better in a points league, and that is Max Muncie. He is a lot like Kyle Schwerber. He is a player. I don't target in Roto or categories because he's probably going to hit between 200 and 220,

but he walks a ton and he gets on base. And he's going to hit in the middle of one of the best lineups in baseball. And that stuff matters more in a points league. So I needed a third baseman. And I go ahead and snag Max Muncie. Do you guys know if there's any way to check how often a player was on base for a grounded into double play? The Marlins, I believe, led the majors in double plays last season. Maybe that's it.

Maybe Louisa Rias was on base like 40 times when there was a double play. Maybe I'm going with that. Every single one of the Marlins league high. 50 grounded into double plays last year. Sorry, 159 is the exact number. 50 is a different number. Every single one of them was Luis Arias on base. That's what I'm going with.

Look at Scott taking over the Frank roll. He's like, come on, wrap it up. We can't. We've missed so many pick. I don't know why we just talked about Luisarize for like 10 minutes, but we did. After Scott selected Wyatt Langford, there was Bobby Miller and Grayson Rodriguez.

It's kind of like a little, a hype tier of starting pitchers. We're having a little pitcher run here. Yeah. RIP, Uri Perez. I took Sayas Suzuki as my second outfielder. Someone, we've talked a lot about this offseason, he was great over the final two months.

He's got a good eye at the plate too, so I think he's going to get on base. Batting second. Expect it to bat second for the Cubs. That's right. The final two picks of round seven were Jesus Lazzardo and Christian Walker. I think Christian Walker was a great pick.

I really, I wanted him. I was between him and Nolan Jones with my last pick. After Christian Walker, Joe Musgrove, Dylan C. So there's that pitcher run, back to back Padres now. I took Max Muncie, then C.J. Abrams,

which we all know he's not going to walk all that much. He's going to steal a ton of bases. I mean, to get him in a eight round. He was 3.01. That was better than a rise. I think he should have gone a couple rounds ago. I think that's a great pick. I think so, too.

I think he fell too far. And then, 89th, Jackson Chorio. So I might have gone, Wyatt and Jackson Chorio back to back here fortunately Matthew Barile saves me from that Barill

I know how to pronounce his name I'm going to take Matt McLean I'm going to take Matt McLean who averaged 3.41 points per game last year I have my doubts he can do that again he's been pretty banged up this spring but it sounds like he should be ready to go

for the start of the season and look if he's basically who he was is a rookie this is a steal I haven't drafted a second baseman yet. It gives me a chance, you know, well beyond the point where the Jose Altuve, Marcus Simeon, Ozzie Albiz went. And it gives me a chance well beyond that point to get somebody who can separate me at second base because I just don't see many options out there.

They're all going to be a lot of, most everybody's going to start a 2.9 points per game player there. And Matt McLean could potentially be half a point per game better than that. I don't want to thank everybody who picked at the back end. of round seven, front end of round eight for kind of clarifying things for me because I had a cue full of like Dylan Seas and Joe Musgrove and Jackson Chorio

and I was like, oh my goodness, what am I going to do? So it's sometimes helpful when your cue gets depleted like that. It's clarifying in a way. Matt McLean is who I go with. And worth mentioning with Matt McLean that he was scratched from Monday night's game with left shoulder soreness

but is expected to be fine, so hopefully we see him back in spring game soon. After Matt McLean, Nathan Avaldi, and Chris Bassett goes to Chris Towers. Is he your SP2, Chris? He is my number two SP, yes. Okay, pairing him up with Corbyn Burns. Yeah. Yeah, you have filled your entire outfield. Let's check in on the offense. It's pretty fun. Marcus Semyon, Royce, Louis, Bobuchette, Nolan Jones, Fernando Tatis, Randy Arosa Rana. Would be a great Categories League team too. I think it's pretty good for points. But yeah, it's got a little bit of a category's lean.

There's some speed there. But no, it's, I think it's very good. And I've got some ground to make up at pitcher. And, you know, let's see how he pulls it off. We're kind of seeing a run of, I guess you could call them boring innings eater types. Nathan Maldi, Chris Bassett, Eduardo Rodriguez. Let's have the talk now. Eduardo Rodriguez left his start just now.

Oh, I did not see that. Literally like 20 minutes ago with, I don't know what. So cue up the... Not much of the talk to have then. News I would have liked to have known yesterday or whatever. Yesterday. What is. Yeah.

Yeah. What I saw on Twitter was during a warm up toss between innings, he kind of shook his arm out and left. So that's not great. Bad sign for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Oh, I wanted to say. say there's only been one pick since Edward Walter Rodriguez, Jazz Chisholm, who

fell because it's a points league. Jazz Chisholm last year to explain why he fell 2.81 points per game. So not especially impressive. The Max Muncie pick that went in between the White, Langford, and Jack Centurio picks. It was a great pick. It was a great pick for a points league. Max Muncie

3.29 points per game last year. And when I go into a points league draft, was it your pick? Yeah, that's why Like you're saying it's a great pick. When I go into a points league, did you already talk about Max Muncie a lot? I did. I did, scone.

Okay. Well, when I go into a points league draft, I'm going to make this additional point. I'm kind of either aiming for Alex Bregman, who I took or Max Muncie, who you took. Because third base, kind of like outfield, you know, I think of third base is deep. Outfield is shallow. But third base like Outfield gets ravaged in a points league because the high-end guys, Austin, Riley, and Raphael Devers, they lose value. They're no better than Alex Bregman. and then like the Jake Burgers and Josh Youngs of the world,

they strike out so much that they lose value too. So there just aren't that many, there aren't nearly as many separators at third base in a points league as there is in a categories league. So yeah, I think Max Muncie is somebody absolutely worth elevating like that as it sounds like you already covered, Frank. Yes, and that's exactly what I was thinking. He kind of seemed like the end of a tier in a points league.

And so that's why I snagged old Max Muncie. Jazz Chisham, you mentioned the pick. He did have a big game here on, Tuesday, two for three with a double dong, five RBI. After three straight plate appearances. Yeah. He's going back to yesterday. He's turning up. Shane Bieber

was the next pick. He was named the Guardian's opening day starter and I believe his last two starts have looked really, really good. So I had him as a bust earlier in the offseason. I think there's still a lot of injury risk with the forearm that he dealt with last year. But in a contract year,

say this all the time. Guys, find a way to stay on the field and And so if that increased velocity that we saw in the drive-line videos, if it's there for Shane Bieber, and it has been this spring. He absolutely could be. He could be a huge breakout, I guess re-breakout again this year if he's healthy.

After Shane Bieber, Will Smith, the catcher at the end of round eight, followed by Yandy Diaz and Ryssel Iglesias. Yandy Diaz, you know, we're going to kind of- I had him queued up. Sound like a broken record here, but much better in a points league. He's going to lead off all those plate appearances. he walks, he gets on base. Even if he doesn't hit for home runs,

those are usually doubles, so he's... 3.45 points per game. It was a career year, both for batting average and home runs, and I don't think he'll be 3.45 again, but it'll be over 3.4.5 again, but it'll be over 3. And there's not many hitters out there still who you can say that about. So, yeah, I mean, I think...

The longer I do this, the wider variety of formats I'm exposed to, the more I believe in selling out, for the format when you draft. Just kind of, if it doesn't feel right to take the player here, but the format says you should, just do it. Just do it. Like, if it doesn't work out,

at least you're trying to build the best team you can within the framework given to you. If it does work out, and it'll probably work out more often than not, then it was a brilliant pick. And I think Yanti Diaz is an example of that. I kind of think the Will Smith pick is an example of that, too. Great plate discipline catcher. catcher's deep.

And, you know, I like waiting until the end of these shallow league drafts to take a catcher. But it's hard to find advantages when you only have nine hitter spots to work with. And I think Will Smith does represent one, you know, even if you could get a surprise high performance catcher later. In fact, you know what? My pick is up. I don't do the same thing. It's too late. Yeah.

I'm going to take William Contreras. You got him as the number four catcher because, J. T. Romuto just went. That's very good value for William Contreras. The latest picks in round seven after Rice Hill Iglesias, Anthony Santander, J.P. Crawford, will come back to that pick. Chris, you selected Chris. That is selling out hard for format. J.P. Crawford, pick 100. Hey, I don't, I think that's, I would have to see the name of that team. But, yeah, J.P. Crawford, who is going to get on base. At least he did last year, a ton. He's going to lead off for the Mariners. Chris, you selected Sale. And then J.T. Romuto, William Contreras, back-to-back catchers here.

This feels like the right time. I know that Sale has been a, you know, he's gained a lot of helium this spring. He's looked good. He's been healthy. The velocity is up. That's what clinched the William Contreras pick for me because it was between him or sale. I was trying to figure out. I was thinking like there are some decent hitters left.

I actually thought about William Contreras as well. But I have another hitter in mind specifically that I think I'm going. to try to take if he makes it back to me, we will see. We shall see. But I figured there was a much better chance of Chris Sale going than the hitter I'm talking about because the hitter I'm talking about is seemingly perpetually undervalued. Well, everyone is grabbing, well, not everyone, but some people are grabbing pitchers and we're talking about Chris Sale.

And I have been a big fan of this player and I haven't been able to get him yet. And I'm going to go ahead and snag Bailey Ober. That was another one I was thinking about. who like Chris Sale, he's been on the rise this spring with the ADP. Velocity has been up mixing in some new pitches, and I don't even know that he really needs to improve that much. He's been a very solid pitcher in his career so far. I think it's like a 3-6 ERA and a 115 whip.

He's been really solid, but this improved velocity and additional pitches, I think it kind of raises the ceiling for Bailey Ober. I really want to see the twins kind of just trust him and let him go deeper into his starts too, because towards the end of last year it was like five innings and out. But, you know, trust them a little bit more. Let's get those six innings, quality starts.

And yeah, I think we could get a big season here out of Billy Ober. The other picks between William Contreras and mine, Tanner Bybee and Emmanuel Class A. Class A, the fourth reliever off the board, true reliever, I'm saying. It's pretty late. Reissel Iglesias was taken here earlier in round ninth.

That's the third reliever. Interesting pick. He could get a lot of saves for the Braves, of course. So they go in round nine as the third and fourth closers. The first two closers, Josh Hader and Edwin Diaz, went round seven. I think that's pretty typical for points league like this. It's just we all have only two relief pitcher spots to fill, and you get starting pitchers with relief pitcher eligibility added to the relief pitcher pool.

So it's a deeper relief pitcher pool and fewer spots to fill between the 12 teams. And I believe Emmanuel Class A was the highest scoring reliever last season in the format. Just because he got so many say. It might have been Devin Williams. It was Devin Williams, sorry, 447.5. 18 starting pitchers outscored him in this format. So that just shows you why relievers go so much later, why spartps are potentially so valuable, also the two-start thing.

That's why I think if you're going to go the spark route, you probably need to get like four of them. So you have a lot of two-start opportunities to take advantage of. Is that a foreshadowing for one Cody Bradford, Chris, or what? Are you taking Cody Bradford this draft, Chris? Probably not with my next pick. I will probably pass on Cody Bradford 115th overall. I can't believe you ranked Garrick Crochet behind Cody Bradford.

What did Garrett Crochet ever do to you? Well, that was, I think that was before we knew he was the opening day starter. I saw the article. You said, now confirmed to be the opening does. stated it. Yeah. I actually read your article, Chris. Wow. Thank you for reading the article for the first time. I read everything you write, Scott, but it's okay. After I drafted Bailey Ober, we saw Hassan Kim go off the board, Camilo Doval,

and Joe Ryan, the first pick of round 10. And I have a few ideas in mind here that I am thinking about, and I am on deck. so let's try and figure this out. Man, do I want to... I'm thinking about something. Should I do it? I think Hassan Kim is an okay pick here. I don't think he's any worse

than a lot of the second baseman we've seen go recently. He's going to be 2.9, but he gives you that triple eligibility. And since you don't want to have to use up any bench spots or at least as few bench spots as you can on hitters in this league so that you can maximize playing two-star weeks

and matchups and everything with pitchers. To get a triple eligible guy like this, I think could be really handy just to help preserve your bench space. By the way, I want to, I just switched over to Scott's rankings real quick. And I think we should have a conversation about the guy that Scott has ranked

as the second highest player. And I assume you just haven't updated your rankings, but we haven't talked about Jordan Romano yet. And I figure we should probably do that before the second episode. of the podcast because that's exactly right he has uh elbow injury um dealing with elbow inflammation taking anti-inflammatory injections and he'll be shut down hoping to throw later this week mri showed no damage a little concerning especially because um blanking on the name of their setup guy

eric swanson eric swanson is also dealing with forearm tightness again mri came back fine, they could both be back by opening day, but we should probably talk about that Blue Jay's bullpen. Yes. Yeah. Well, go ahead, Scott. I mean, I don't plan to, like, tank Jordan Romano in my rankings. I'll probably move him to the end of his tier, like behind

Andrus Munoz, probably about where I have David Bednar, who's also we're not sure about his availability for opening day. MRI came back clean. It doesn't sound like a big injury. Could it put him on the aisle to begin the year? There's a pretty good chance of that. Who would fill in for him? If it's not Swanson?

I don't know. I think Yemi Garcia is the name. Yeah. Jimmy Garcia and Chad Green were the two names thrown out there. Is Nate Pearson healthy? I believe he is. And I read an article on MLB.com. They said,

who would be the next pitchers up to just fill in bullpen rolls? Not necessarily the closer roll. And they mentioned Nate Pearson as a name that could be in the bullpen if they have to fill those spots. I remember him, big time pitching prospect from a, few years ago has dealt with a lot of injuries. He's another guy, I think, who was working on a splitter earlier in spring training, has nine strikeouts and seven innings so far this spring.

So just a name to keep an eye on. Yadilla Rodriguez, I believe, has been not throwing this spring. He's dealing with something. So, you know, he was someone we thought might be in the closer conversation. He made his first start the other day, Chris. Oh, okay, okay. And are they treating him as a starter? I think they're still, yeah, he, I think he threw two or three innings.

So, yeah, I mean, Yeriel Rodriguez is, you know, he's back, he's healthy, but, you know, if Boden Francis is the fifth starter for the Blue Jays, which that's what it sounds like right now, then maybe Yeriel Rodriguez can work his way into the back end of that. Yeah, I don't think there's going to be enough time for anybody to work their way into anything. It could always, it could, it could, it could turn into a setback after setback thing for Romano. It could. But I don't imagine that happening. And like, I'd take a flyer on either of the twins. guys over any Blue Jays guy for saves and and I take a fly over either of the Brewers guys or any of the Twins guys. Yes, absolutely. So I updated the rankings and I moved Jordan Romano down to around 140th and maybe

that's too low, but I do think he's going to start on the IL and obviously there is risk for this to turn into something much worse. So I'm going to play it safe with Romano and I think I moved Yemi Garcia up to my 40th ranked reliever. And again, that is behind both the twins and Brewers relievers. that we've talked a lot about this week. Let's catch people up in round eight. Joe Ryan was the first pick

followed by Byron Buxton, 110th overall. And that kind of set the alarm off. And I went ahead and took Marcel Ozuna with the very next pick, followed by Spencer Steer, Josh Naler. Scott selected Vinnie Pee! Baby! After that, Jamer Candelario,

Chris selects Michael King, who is probably the second rank spark, right, behind Cole Regans. And then Marcus Strom. and Spencer Torkelson. Scott, if I didn't take Marcel Ozuna, would you have selected him over Vinnie P? No, I wouldn't have.

But what did happen to influence the Vinny Pasquantino pick is Spencer Steer and Josh Naylor went the very two picks before. And suddenly some of my cushion there at first base was depleted. Vinny Pasquantino, I got him in our other points league, the salary cap draft we did. I'm pretty well invested in him now, but especially in points leagues because the plate disobeys. because the plate discipline is so good.

I think he could be a real standout in that format. You know, there are a lot of ifs there coming off the shoulder surgery and a season where he got hurt. But I think the upside is significant for Vinny Pasquantino in this format. And then Jamer Candelario went with the very next pick. And then Spencer Torkelson, a couple picks after that. So I'm glad I didn't wait around at first base. I was planning to go a different direction here with that round 10 pick,

but I saw the run happening. And I'm glad I got one of the first. of the what probably would have been my first choice within that run for this format. Vinie Pasquantina. I was trying to play coy when I picked Chris Sale and I said there was another hitter I wanted. Josh Nailer was the hitter I wanted. Okay. So that's that's frustrating.

He was 3.2 points per game last year, a ton of RBI. I love him in both formats. So not going to happen. I'm sorry, Chris. After your Michael King pick, there was Marcus Stroman, Spencer Torkelson, Teasker Hernandez. and Carlos Rodon. That is the last pick of round 10. We are basically at the half point of the draft.

Let's take, not a break. We're gonna sign off the part one of our live 12 team head to head points draft, but when we return, we'll go into our two here on Fantasy Baseball today.