Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Points Listener League Draft Part 2! Rounds 11-21 Picks & Team Recaps! (3/20 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

JOIN OUR FBT BRACKET GROUP- https://shorturl.at/aeZ06 Let's move on to the second half of our 12-team H2H points listener league draft. We break down rounds 11-21 of the draft, picks and recap our teams at the end. Who won the draft?? 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

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Welcome into our two, part two of our live 12 team head to head points listener league draft. This is not a mock draft. This is a league that we are playing out. We left off finishing up with round 10 and we are into round 11. The first pick was Mitch Keller, followed by Nestor Cortez, who will be your opening day starter for the New York Yankees. I did want to mention with Carlos Hordaun. Watch some of his start.

It looked much better. On Monday and he did look much better. It was against the Phillies C lineup, let's say. But just... But the velocity's been better the last couple times. There were more whiffs in this outing. I believe he only allowed... Actually, I don't know.

I don't think he allowed a single hit. So his last two starts have looked much better. I think, yeah, Carlos Rodon at the end of round 10, totally fine pick there. Yeah, and Mitch Keller, who got paired up with him first pick at round 11, that was the other one I was considering when I took Vinnie Pasquantino to follow up from the end of the last podcast, right? Mitch Keller, I think, is a, you know I like him anyway,

but especially for this format, kind of like with the Zach Gallin and Aaronola picks I've already made, the biggest concern for Mitch Keller is ERA, but the volume is going to be significant, and that's going to give him a very high floor from start to start, and I think it's going to be a good pick here in round 11. I wish I could have had him as my number four. All right, next pick was Danesby Swanson,

and Chris, you are on deck. Let's check back in on your team. See what's going on there. You've got Marcus Semyon, Royce Lewis, Bo Bichette, Nolan Jones, Fernando Tatis, and Randy Rosarena. Your three starting pitchers, Corbyn Burns, Chris Bassett and Chris Sale, and your first reliever, Michael King, although, you know, you can't use him as a starter if you want, but I think in this format.

He's staying at home in that RP spot. Let's go, Sparps, baby. And your very next pick was Justin Verlander. We do have three IL spots in this league. Yeah, we got some IL spots to play with. It's a shallower format, head-to-head points league. Justin Verlander is, I think it's probably like two weeks after the start of the season. By all accounts, he's had no issues since first suffering that shoulder issue when he was preparing for spring training.

Other than that, he's been, you know, fine. So I, I'm hoping we're like four turns of the rotation away from Justin. Verlander being able to pitch. And that would only be a couple of weeks into the season. So I'm optimistic. And the latest update we got on Monday morning was that Justin Verlander will face hitters in the next day or two. That was according to his manager Joe Espada.

So I agree, Chris. I think we're getting pretty close. Maybe by the end of mid-sat late part of April, we should see Justin Verlander back with the team. After you selected him, we saw James Paxton go, but that might have been a timeout. So yeah, I'm just following up, make sure that was as it was intended But if we don't get a response here soon, I'm on the clock and I'll go ahead and make my pick Yeah, I mean feel free to pause a draft if you need to scott and into it here. I will. I will

I will But he's not responding, so I think I might go ahead and make my pick I'm gonna start talking about it anyway, so he can't take it from me So Chris was talking about how it's a shallow league And there's three IL spots And you know, It might be time to shoot for some upside Even if you have to wait for it

Uh-oh Garrett Cole Okay, I had him in my queue I thought about it Yeah, let's go I mean it's the kind of thing Especially in this format where If he's healthy for the playoffs

And he's himself That's a huge boost It's a long shot at this point But Well, it's a long shot That he's healthy for playoffs? Yeah, I mean, it's possible he's not, but I don't know that it's a long shot. I think a guy who is currently dealing with an elbow injury is probably a long shot to be healthy by by September.

Maybe I'm being unfair, but yeah, I'd say, but they're presenting a much more optimistic sideline than that. Let's say a point. It's a pitcher, you know, like I think the chances of any pitcher being healthy by September are like 75%. Okay. And he's currently not. So I'm just going to say, it's worse than a coin flip. It's a coin. He has a pinched nerve, right? And it's not a serious injury. Drapey-y-Perez then, Scott.

It's an injury that can have, where the timetable for recovery can vary widely. And so that's kind of scary. But I'll gamble on Garrett Cole being available for it at least half the season. I had him in my queue, and it's the kind of thing where it's sort of in this format. It's sort of like what I've talked about with Tyler Glass now for the Dodgers, where if Tyler Glass now,

there are 70 innings this season, but he's healthy for October, the Dodgers are thrilled. That is mission accomplished for them. And I kind of feel about Garrett Cole that way, you know, where like if your 11th pick bus, all right,

well, there's a decent chance your 11th pick's going to bust. It's definitely not a coin flip. You should hope that you have a better than 50-50 chance, but it'll happen. And most of your 11th round pigs don't have Garrett Cole's upside for the playoffs.

And the shallowness of this league is obviously a big part of it. I mean, I moved Garrett Cole closer to 150th in my rankings, but the reason I've been kind of dodgy about where I want to rank him is because I know it varies a lot depending on how deep the format is. They take them a round pick 125 and a shallower format like this. If it was 15-team Roto, I might push them closer to 200 just because you can't afford to be without any of your players for that long. And especially if you don't have aisle spots.

Right, right. after your Garrett Cole selection, we saw Bryson Stott, Jose Burrios, and I went ahead, and I took the prospect plunge with you, Scott. You took Wyatt Langford earlier. I don't have any Jackson holiday yet, and so I think he's going to be on the opening day roster, and he's looked really good, and you just had another huge game here on Tuesday, two for three with his second homer of the spring.

He's batting 326, two steals, a 998 OPS. I think he's up on opening day. He's going to have to be on my bench until he gained second, base eligibility, but that should be by, you know, the second week of the season or whatever. And I needed a second basement. So Jackson Holiday, come on down. 130th overall. That sounds right, right? Sure. Okay. By the way, he has better format. Because plate discipline might be the thing he's best at. It hasn't been so this spring, but spring is spring. Can I, um, can I derail us for one second? Because I saw something on

Twitter that I think is worth discussing. All right. I'll allow it. I started freaking out because I saw the Dodgers announced their 28-man roster for 26-man roster for the Padre series. And Gavin Stone was not on it. And my first thought was, oh, no,

Gavin. And then I remembered they're only playing two games. He traveled with the team. He's going to pitch in their exhibition games. He's going to be their fifth starter almost certainly. Don't, don't freak out like I did. It's good to know.

After I selected Jackson Holiday, Nick Pavetta, who is, let's check back in. Have the article open. Why don't I just reference it? Nick Povetta. I believe he is my number three SPARP.

Number three SPARP. That's exactly right. I don't even like him that much. Yeah, but as a spark, he's fine. Scott called you out, man. You don't even like them that much. The thing is, when Nick Povetta inevitably has a 4.3 ERA, it doesn't hurt you that much in this format.

Scott drafted Aaron Nolan. He hates Aeronola. Well, Aaron Nola is going to have a 430 ERA going seven innings at a time. Pivotta's 430 ERA might be four innings that. time. That's fair. Hopefully neither has a 430. A.R.A. For what it's worth. That's right. After Nick Povetta,

Shota Imanaga to finish out round 11. And then the first pick of round 12, Sunny Gray, who, you know, he's falling pretty far here, 133rd overall. He's not going to be ready for opening day, but maybe the second time. Yeah, he might be ready by like the fourth day of the season. Right. From what they're talking. Yep. He was tops in my queue, Sunny Gray.

I think that's, that's a pretty good value there. Yep. After that, Zach Gelloff, oh crap, I am on the clock. I should probably figure out who I want to draft. All right, let's look around. I had a few names that stood out to me, and I need another outfielder.

So, I'll take Josh Lowe, shallow league. I know Nick Castellanos is the top on my board, but I feel like Ian Haptus plays up so much better in a points league, and he gets on base. He's healthy again. He was dealing with the hands, hamstring, but he was out playing in the outfield.

I think he's good to go. And yeah, his skill set is one that I think plays up a little bit better in this format as well. So to get him as my third outfielder, I'm pretty happy with that. The plate discipline was kind of a new thing for him last year, right? It's been off and on. I think he walked 90 times last year, like 45 times the year before. And I think it was like in the 70s the year before that. Yeah.

So it's been a little up and down. An even three points per game for, Ian Hap. That's pretty good at this point, right, Scott? Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. It's a little better than fine. Come on.

I mean, there are other outfielders you could do that, but what are you looking for, Frank? I was taking Josh Lowe, who went two picks later. No, I was looking to see how much Nick Castiano's average. It was 2.9. So I made the right pick. Let's go.

Ian Hap. And not that they're going to do the same exact thing. Margins. Castianos is my most drafted player this year, by the way. Wow, I wouldn't have guessed. that. After I took Ian Hap, Josh Young, and then Josh Lowe, probably because he mentioned his name, Scott. But you are on the clock, and who will it be? Yeah, I'm going to take a pitcher this time, a healthy one, because the injured ones are kind of bottlenecking at the top of the draft board here. Don't want to end up with too many.

Christian Javier, who's had a good spring overall, and there were signs that maybe he was regaining his fastball shape even late last season. So I'm hopeful he has. His last spring start was not very good. But trying not to read too much into that. I think Christian Javier's on the right track and there's still a lot of upside there. So I'll take them as my, is that my number four? I went really high end with my top three. It's my number five. Well, Cole's my number four. That doesn't count. My number four to begin the year is Christian Javier. And I think that's obviously totally fine. After you took Javier, Pete Fairbanks and Chris, you selected Jordan Montgomery, who remains unsigned. Have we heard anything? I feel like Boston makes the most sense. I believe that, I believe his white,

is doing a residency in Boston, right? Arizona could make some sense if Eduardo Rodriguez's hurt. The Angels were supposedly both in on both Snell and Montgomery. Okay. We haven't heard much, but you know, it just happens. Snell just happened out of nowhere.

I've already moved Verlander and Montgomery into my reserves, so I still only have three starting pitchers for the start of the season. I'm assuming neither Verlander nor Montgomery will be available for the first couple of weeks, but, you know, if they're ready shortly after that, it'll work out. After Jordan Montgomery, Taiwan Walker.

What is, did I miss something? Did the Taiwan Walker gain like five miles of velocity today or something like that? I have not seen any Taiwan Walker news. Yeah, that's, I think it's a little bit too early. But maybe a lot of players in this range have been taking kind of innings eater type. So maybe that's kind of the strategy with the back end here. Yeah, I mean, he won 15 games last year. If your standard for evaluation is what did you do last year, Taiwan Walker was, you know,

he outscored Joe Ryan. Well, anybody. I think he outscore Bailey over. After Taiwan Walker, Brian Beo, who will be the Red Sox opening day starter. Brian Hayes, Brandon. That was the one I was reacting to, not Brian Beio. K. Brian Hayes. You have a third basement already, right, Chris?

Yeah, I do. You wanted him as your U-Til? I wasn't going to take him right now, but. But I want to have Cabrion Hayes around. He looks so good this spring. Yeah, he looks awesome. It's, yeah, I think he's only got like four strikeouts, three home runs. He's been incredible.

I believe I saw a stat that, that obviously it helps because O'Neill Cruz is on the team. But the Pirates lead spring training and home runs by far. It's no team is, I think, within 10 home runs of them. They're going to be feisty. They might be. I hope so. They're going to be in contention for that division. That's my hot take.

And if they are, Chris, that's good news. for Paul Skeens. I think we could see Paul Skeen sooner if the pirates are competing into June, let's just say that. After Brandon Nimmo, the first pick of round 13 was Ryan Pepio, who is he, yeah, he's a SPARP as well, followed by Bryce Miller, Hunter Brown, and Chris, you are on the clock. There goes Nick Cassiano, who I named dropped earlier. Did you want Castellanos? No, no, not necessarily. You already have too many shares of him. I just, yeah, I'm kind of unsure about what to do here.

I'm going to take a starting pitcher. I would feel better about the starting pitcher I'm going to take if he wasn't pitching so poorly this spring. Spring shming. Is it the guy I was about to take Chris? Were you about to take Hunter Green? I was. I mean, he's the second Hunter. color pitcher to be taken, I guess.

So that makes me feel Hunter Brown went a couple picks before him. So I guess that makes me feel a little better about it. But yeah, Hunter Green has not. They both sound like paint colors, right? Like you'd paint your walls. The Hunter Green is a color, right? Hunter Green is a color. It has to be, yeah.

He has not had a great spring. He has not been great in his major league career, but there's still a lot of upside there. So I'll chase it. And Scott, you are back up. Yeah, I think I'm just going to keep going pitcher here for a while, actually, because I don't see a lot of distinction between the hitters. And I got most of my lineup filled out anyway.

So my next pitcher, who's healthy, is Christopher Sanchez. Oh, okay. Yeah, sleeper of mine. That's right. Got a ton of ground balls last year. One of the best changeups in the game. He also vastly improved his control, so hopefully that carries over into this season.

And if it does, we've got ourselves a nice little sleeper there with Christopher Sanchez. Let's take another break. When we return, catch you up on the picks right after this. Welcome back in, I'll catch you up on the picks. That's it. There haven't been any picks, so. Not much going on.

So I'm two picks away. I have an idea of what I want to do. I probably would have done that. I didn't realize he was available. Brian Wu. There goes Brian. Who. Last week, I believe, through four perfect innings with five strikeouts.

What a guy. All of his strikeouts were against right-handed hitters. Brian Wu has had struggles against lefties. So I want to see more. I want to see more. But I still do like him as a breakout this year. All right.

All right. Well, there goes that. Yeah. Not going to be on my team. Do I have a fifth starter? I don't think I do. I know. I have George Kirby, Logan Webb, Freddie Peralta, and Billy Ober.

Okay. Well, I've been just talking a bunch and not paying attention that, you know, starting pitcher is getting pretty depleted here. It is. Yeah. Everybody's been ignoring relief pitcher. I think our sixth just went off the board. Mm-hmm.

Seventh. Yeah. Plus three, four sparts so far. Uh-huh. Paul Seawald was the pick. I am up. I'm going to join in on the, the injury parade with you guys

and select Walker Bueller. I think he's such an obvious value there in a head-to-head points league because you're playing weekly that I almost took him and that probably would have been a mistake. So I'm glad you took the temptation away from me. Yeah, I kept saying the next healthy pitcher

on my draft board. And I don't know how much longer I could have put off Walker Bueller. But I was trying to push the line limit after already taking Garrett Cole. Yeah, I already have Verlander in Montgomery. So I, yeah. I debated taking Walker Bueller with my previous pick because I didn't know if you would make it back. The latest report that we got is that Walker Bueller through three innings of live batting practice recently and his fastball is up to 97 miles per hour. So apparently he's looked really, really good in these live batting practice sessions. And I kind of think he's just going to be an ace once he's

ready. Remember, this was a guy in 2021, 2020. gosh, how long ago are we talking about now? He was a 600 point pitcher in his last full healthy season, which was 2021. He had 638 points. That's a ridiculous, ridiculous number for a pitcher. So if he gives you anything like that on a per game basis, you're going to be thrilled. After my Walker Bueller pick, Riley Green, who's actually having a really good spring. Shout out to you, Chris.

We know you love Riley Green. Definitely not us. Jordan Walker is the next pick, final pick of round 13, who still does have some post-hype, I guess you can call it breakout appeal here in his second season. Wasn't bad last year, but underwhelms, I think, based on the hype, obviously. And we are here into round 14. I am up in two picks.

Let's take a quick look at the team, see what we've got going on. I've got Bryce Harper, Max Muncie, O'Neill Cruz, Ian Hous. Hap, Yorana Alvarez, Seyaz Suzuki, Marcelo Zuna, Jackson Holiday on the bench, who hopefully will be my second basement after the first week of the season. And my starting pitchers, I've got George Kirby, Logan Webb, Freddie Peralta, Bailey Ober, and Walker Bueller in the reserves. He'll start on the IL. We have three IL spots, and I probably need another healthy pitcher, so let's see who will be available.

Adres Jimenez, the first pick of round 14. he's got, I think I saw he has four steals already this spring and he ran wild in the second half last year. He's always been fast enough. If new manager Stephen Vote just gives Andrus Jimenez like free reign, I think you could steal 40 bases, but he's fast enough to do it. We'll see. Thanks to everyone watching us live, by the way.

Almost, you know, just over 350 people watching us. Like this video, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. we appreciate you being here. There's another injured pitcher, Kodi Senga. Kodai Senga, who the reports have not been as positive. It feels like he's... He got pushed back a week.

Yeah, he's been pushed back a few times here. I don't think we're going to see him until May. But, I mean, it's fine to take him here. I'm kind of disappointed now because it's like, there were all these injured pitchers everybody was avoiding. I don't want to end up with all of them. And now the only one I'm going to have is Garrett Cole, probably.

And you probably don't want to leave the draft with two IL stashes because guess what? Players get hurt and you're going to need as many of those spots as possible. In a shallower league, I'm usually happy to take the discount for the higher impact, higher upside player. That's just me. Look at you taking your guy, Aaron Savali. Got to get your guys. Aaron Savali is the pick.

He will be my fifth healthy starting pitcher on this team, my sixth pitcher overall. And I know he was not good when he joined Tampa Bay last year, but the underlying numbers actually did get a lot better. The strikeout rate went up a ton, and I just trust Tampa to figure things out for Savali. I think he's a very similar pitcher to Zach Eflin, and look what they did with Zach Eflin.

So hopefully, they did something similar. Yep, and Charlie Morton was the next pick. Mm-hmm. A better pick in points league, I would say, because you don't worry about the whip damage. I mean, hits and walks count against them, but... But the innings and the wins that he's going to get accumulating all those innings for the Braves,

I think are going to be more beneficial than, oh good, are going to be more beneficial than the walks will harm you. Yeah. Same thing with the RA whip. You know, you don't got to worry about those ratio stats as long as the volumes there. That's the simpler way to say it for Charlie Morton. and then Jaron Duran went and I was happy because Stephen Kwan didn't go

and I think Stephen Kwan is potentially really good in this format and even if he's only as good as last year 2.9 3 points per game he is certainly a valuable starter as a third outfielder so I'm going to take him very low strikeout rate and what was his point per game average as a rookie

let me look that up real quick the pick before was Jaron expected to lead off for the Red Sox. Hopefully, could stay healthy, has had some toe issues, had some, I think he blit,

I think he had surgery last year towards the end of the season and had a bit of a delayed start to spring, but he's been out there, he's been playing all of as well. The lead off hitter for what we think will be a good lineup. Oh yeah. I mean,

I am especially excited about the Red Sox lineup this year. If they could stay healthy between Duran and Tyler O'Neill, they'll get Vaughn Grissom back at some point. but yeah, there's a lot to like. Obviously they have Devers and Yoshida and all those names. Trevor Story, someone I like a lot to. After Jared Duran, Scott selected Stephen Kwan, then Jeff McNeil, and Chris, you selected AJ Puck.

Let's go, Sparks, maybe. Top Spark left. Ryan Pepio got pushed up about, I don't know, 60 spots ahead of his ADP. AJ Puck, I think I pushed him about 60 spots ahead of his ADP, so it was the right time. Okay. It was 2.98 points per game for Stephen Kwan in his first year versus 2.93 last year. So the difference actually wasn't as big as I was thinking. But I think it'll be a three points per game guy for me.

I'm happy with him. All right. After AJ puck, Tristan McKenzie, who I believe his last start out was a little rough, but the couple starts before that were good. If you could stay healthy, I still think there's some upside there with Tristan McKenzie. Lane Thomas is having a great spring. He's running wild. He's still going to hit near the top of that national lineup.

Not that it's a good lineup, but he'll get a lot of plate appearances, obviously. And then Kyle Harrison, who slides down the pecking order for the Giants with the addition of Blake Snell. And I think that's probably a good thing. You know, there's less pressure on him. You know, if he was the SP2 going into the year, that's a lot to expect from a young pitcher. So I think it's better for the outlook for him to be the third starter in that rotation. And they've got some names coming back, too. Alex Cobb, he's getting ready to throw a start here on Friday.

He's ahead of schedule. I think he'll be back sometime in probably late April. Robbie Ray later on in the season, probably closer to the second half. But the Giants, yeah, come second half, that rotation looked pretty awesome. Yeah. You know, I think in a draft like this, especially where we're kind of getting into the bench spots now, right? and it's shallow, like we said, there's, there's,

the replacement level on the waiver wire is very high and you can afford to take some big swings. I don't know that, I think we're already to a point in this draft. We're about pick 170, where it just, it doesn't even matter where the players ranked, what ADP is.

Just take the guy you want. Get your guy. I think the shallower of the league is, the more justifiable, that is, for all the reasons I've already mentioned. And I think we're already there with this one. So, AJ Puck, I mean, I don't actually rank them much lower than where you took them, Chris. But even so, it's good.

Good thinking. Thank you. You're welcome. After Kyle Harrison, Ryan Helsley to finish out round 14. The first pick of round 15 is Gavin Williams, who will start the year on the aisle because of an elbow issue. It's a good pick, though. Yeah, I think this late 169th. Next pick, Andres Munoz, followed by Nicola Dolo.

Sounds like Nicola Dolo will join the team, I believe April 8th or April 10th. But yeah, it sounds like he's mostly healthy. Justin Turner and then Chris, a great pick, man. 173rd overall, Christian and Carnaccio in Strand. I've talked a lot about recently. I moved them up my draft board. I just don't have a spot. I have Bryce Harper.

I have Marcelo Zuna. And I didn't really want to draft him from my bench. So it's great pick. Yeah, I think this format with his play discipline, it's certainly not his best format, but if he hits 35 homers, which he's perfectly capable of in that park, I don't think it's going to be too big of a deal either way.

I needed it to the first basement. It was between him and, I'll say, Reese Hoskins was the other guy I was considering there, even though he's not my highest rated one. But I decided to go a little younger for some upside, because frankly, I hadn't taken a hitter in like eight rounds, I'm pretty sure. And Cardassio and Strand, Chris, how many home runs would you project for him this season?

Oh, gosh, project? Probably like 25. Okay. But I don't think that's the ceiling. Good, because I bet him over 23 and a half home runs. There you go. And Cardassio and Strand. After that, we saw Jose Alvarado and Scott, you selected Junghu Lerner.

Lee, who's been slowed by a hamstring injury, but before that, he looked really good. He was hitting the ball hard, expected to be the leadoff hitter for the Giants. And, you know, some of the columns we've heard is, you know, Louisa Rize-esque with a little more juice. So, yeah. Yeah. And for my utility spot, that's what I'm hoping. Jung Hu Lee fills.

It's similar to this. I think it's a similar profile to Stephen Kwan or Louisa Rice, like he said. and I think it's well suited for this format. I wasn't thrilled to make the pick, but I'm looking at the starting pitcher pool right now, and I'm wishing I'd taking more starting pitchers by this point, because it's looking pretty sad. There are some intriguing late round options there,

but it's like there are so many of those that I'm not sure which to choose, and so I just went with the hitter instead. I don't know, maybe I'll regret it. Maybe there'll be a huge pitcher run. The pitching run will continue and they'll all get depleted further. I wanted to take Junghuli there

and I didn't and I wish I had. Okay. Maybe we can work out a little trade. Maybe. Trading is loud in this league. It's a novel thing for fantasy sports. Ah, maybe I made a good pick. I selected Wilson Contreras.

The very next pitch was Yainer Diaz. And for people watching, you might have noticed when it comes to my pick, I keep looking at the roster grid to see what the teams after me already have because I know I could see, all right, if I won a third baseman and they already have it,

then I did that earlier. I saw they already had third baseman, so I did not take Max Muncie with my first pick because I figured they wouldn't take him, and it worked out. And right now I took Wilson Contreras because I saw both teams after me didn't have a catcher yet.

So I wanted to go ahead and get my guy, Wilson Contreras. So had a big second half last year. I don't know. The Cardinals, weird vibes last season. They were kind of blaming Wilson Contreras for their pitchers being crap. It was weird.

But when he's healthy, I think he's still, you know, one of the top five or ten catchers in the game. Mm-hmm. I agree with that. After I took Contreras, Yonner Diaz, Yuri Perez, 180th overall. We're still kind of in limbo. We know that he's dealing with some elbow soreness

and has gone for some imaging and visiting a specialist. We haven't gotten an update yet. Yeah, I'm kind of surprised we have. haven't heard anything yet. That's, it's been so quiet. Is that a little bit more scary that we haven't? I don't know.

I don't know what. I'd rather not try to read anything into it because I have no idea. I mean, I think all the injured starting pitchers who have been taken ahead of them were worth taking ahead of them. And I don't have a problem with them being taken here, 180th overall. But I am,

I usually strike a pretty hopeful tone with the injuries and I'm not striking it with Yuri Perez. All right, Scott, well, you mentioned how depleted starting pitcher is getting, and I'm going to go ahead and take Brandon Fott. Shout out to the Welsh. I think he'd be happy with that one. No, we don't get fantasy points for home runs allowed in this league because that would make Brandon Fought amazing.

But he has thrown a lot of innings in the minors. He did so last year. He looked much better in the postseason. Spring hasn't been so kind to Brandon Fott. Scott. First time. First time I got sniped. here.

Yeah, I took Fought. Scherzer was the next pick and then Gavin Stone. Yeah, I was like, you know what? I've been annoying loving Gavin Stone lately. I just need to do it.

But I miss my chance by one pick. I don't know who I want to take. That was the pick. I kind of wish I took Stone now to get that reaction. Right. It's fine.

Oh, let's take Let's take Luis Severino I think that's a fine pick too Who's looked good this spring? Yeah, I need to stop like beating around the bush here At starting pitcher and just take some guys Even though I'm not really sure what order I want to take them in I want to get as many as I can

And you just got to start taking him. So Severino As my first healthy bench pitcher, I'd like to have more at this point but he's my first one. And, you know, he was really good two years ago. His first full year. I think people forget that.

There was the, the multi-year absence because of injuries for Severino, but he looked like the Severino we remembered two years ago. And then last year was just an absolute disaster. And it seems like pitch tipping may have had a lot to do with it. Yeah, I mean, the shape of his pitches and like the stuff metrics looked more or less the same in 2021. in 2022. It was just the results were so bad. That's why I'm optimistic and that's why

I think the pitch tipping explanation makes sense. Yeah. And I saw him say today, Severino first Healthy Spring since 2018. So that's good too. He's been on my sleeper list since the very first back in January. So I'm with you on that one.

I would like to have taken him in this one. After Severino Starling Marte, Chris, you selected Mitch Garver and then Michael Waka. Mitch Garver, again, you want volume, you want played appearances. He is likely going to be the team's DH and he should get more played appearances than the average catcher in this format. He was at the top of my queue for like four rounds in a row and I just kept playing

chicken with it. Like seeing how long I could take it and nobody wanted to take him as their catcher. So I finally pulled the trigger. Mm, relief pitcher run here. David Bednar and Frankie Montas, who you might not think of. as a reliever, but yep, he has that RP eligibility. Opening day starter for the Reds. Yeah.

I always find it so interesting when a team signs a pitcher to a one-year deal, and then boom, they're just in there right away on opening day. But it's not like the Reds have a bunch of proven pitchers on their team, so I get it. I think there are, by the way, two Sparps who have not been taken yet, who are worth taking. And then after that, you start to get into some pretty crummy options. Maybe three. Okay.

The final pick of round 16, Chas McCormick, who look at a 192nd overall. Gosh, I mean, he was either he went 2020 or he was really close to it last year. And earlier in the offseason, the Astrode said that he will be an everyday player for the team. So, yeah. In that lineup, could work out. I mean, look, 3.05 points per game last year for Chas McCormick, and that's factoring in that a lot of those games came off the bench early on. So could be huge.

But that's true. He never goes that early in drafts, and nobody seems to believe in him. I just don't think there's much risk to taking him where he generally goes. Can we talk about the team name for who selected Chas McCormick, to the window to the walker? To the window. Win as a Mason win.

window, yeah. Yeah, I thought Wallner would make more sense, though. Yeah, that's the way to go. Yeah, not that. I'm not trying to choose your team name, whoever made that pick, but it is a great team name. Nathan, Nathan, who got Ronald de Cunia. Maybe, yeah.

To the window, to the wall,ner. Next up, we saw Eloy Jimenez, is 194th overall. My gosh, how the, I would say how the mighty have fallen, but it's been a while since Eloy has been mighty, I guess. The problem is, this has this has this has also just never been a good format for him true you know you look at his career

he's missed a lot of time career high is 355 fantasy points I don't think iloh men is just eyeballing it outside of 2020 has ever averaged even three fantasy points per game he doesn't he doesn't walk yeah yeah he doesn't walk he doesn't score a lot of runs so he's actually weirdly a better roto player even though he doesn't run we usually think of stolen base guys as better Roto players. But I think he's an example of a player who's better in Roto despite not running. All right, let's take our final break.

And when we return, we'll catch you up on the latest picks here on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back in our live 12 team head to head points, listener league draft. Not a mock. This is something that we're playing out. So we're stuck with these teams. We'll see how it works out. We'll keep you updated throughout the course of the season. After Eloy Jimenez, Willie Adomis, Sean Murph,

Chris, you selected Reed Detmer's and Salvador Perez. Talk to me about Detmer's. I know you have him as a, I think a sleeper, right this year? Yeah, I think he's a post-type sleeper. Something I've pointed to a lot is he just was weirdly awful against lefties, which is not something you typically would expect for a left-handed pitcher who throws 96 miles an hour with his fastball and has a really good slider to that point as well. So I think just some natural improvement there is going to make Redetmer's better.

And, you know, you look at his spring, it's spring, but over his, he walked four and had two strikeouts in an inning in two thirds in his first start. In three starts since then, which is like 11 and two thirds, he has 18 strikeouts to four walks. That's more like what I want to see from Reed Detmer's. He had seven strikeouts in his start today. He's at at least a strikeout per inning or more than a strikeout per inning in every start so far. so I've got nine starting pitchers on my roster now. I don't think we have a, this isn't like Scott White Dynasty League.

I don't think we have a nine starting pitcher. We don't, no. Maximum, so I should be okay there. I technically only have seven starting pitchers for the start of the season, so I'm going to grab a couple more before the end of the draft. But yeah, I like Redembers. After Redembers, Salvador Perez, Eric Fetty went to Scott. That was the, I believe, the wandering eye on Valentine's Day, right?

It was. So we've kind of taken a circuitous route to drafting Eric Fetty here because I started out loving him because nobody else did. And I think I got everybody else on board with Eric Fetty right about the time I started to lose enthusiasm for him because he wasn't striking anybody out in spring training. And so now I've talked about losing interest in Eric Fetty. And so I think he's beginning to slide again. And so it's kind of a Benjamin Button meat in the middle thing here where, you know, I'm down on Fetty, but everybody else is now down on him too.

So here we are. Pick 199. I'm taking Eric Fetty in a points league. Gosh, that's the first time I thought about CGI baby Brad Pitt in years. After you selected Eric Fetty, we saw Francisco Alvarez, D.L. Hall,

another one of those sparps and maybe one that I was thinking about taking. But he's gone, so I went ahead and take a, I took a traditional relief pitcher. Craig Kimbrel, expected to be the closer for the Orioles, followed by Jordan Romano, 203rd overall. And in the relief pitcher ranks, this is where I have moved Jordan Romano too, right around the Craig Kimbril range. So it's up in the year. We don't know exactly what's going to happen right now with Jordan Romano. My guess is he starts in the IL because of that elbow injury he's dealing with. And hopefully we learn more soon. Logan O'Hopi, the last

pick of round 17. And then Christopher Morel, who has loads of power, should snag a few bases. If I hadn't already... Filled my third outfield in my utility spot, I would have taken Christopher Murale by now. He, even though he strikes out a lot,

2.90 fantasy points per game last year, just because the power production on a per game basis was so good. And hopefully he'll be dual eligible soon, outfield and third base. And I just think he's a good upside play. It may not work out. He may not be able to hold up defensively at third base.

He may fall into one of his deep funks and Craig Counsel loses faith in him. But the upside is there for him to outperform this draft position, even in a points league. All right. Well, I don't have a second reliever yet. Let's see what's going on over here. Okay. I could do that. I'm thinking out loud.

I'm on the clock. I've got 30 seconds left. We got four picks in this trip. draft left, right? We have one, two, three, yep, four picks left. And I'm going to go ahead and take the starting pitcher. I'm going to go ahead and take Tyler Wells. And I think he is a good pairing with, if you take any of these injury stash pitchers,

Tyler Wells will be in the rotation at least until Kyle Bradish's back. And if he pitches like he did in the first half last year, maybe he just stays in the rotation all year. So. Maybe. Maybe. I had him cute up. I was going to take him.

I liked Tyler Wells. I liked him last year, too. He's well-suited for Camden Yards as an extreme fly-ball pitcher. And he doesn't walk anybody. He was the Orioles ace in the first half last year. Everybody forgets that. And it's just like, it was weird how he got removed from the rotation. They just said he was running out of gas.

And I don't know. I don't really understand what happened there. But Tyler Wells has looked good again this spring. And I think he's kind of a poor man's Bailey Ober, honestly. Yeah, well, why not just get both of them on your team, right? Billy Ober and Tyler. Honestly, my team is probably going to lead the league in home runs a lot between

Tyler Wells, Ober, and Brandon Fought, but yeah, that's all right. Tyler O'Neill is the next pick, and Scott, you're on deck. Let's check back in on this team. See what you got going on. Defending champions, Scott Way, worth mentioning a game. I haven't mentioned it. I know, I know. I was the one who brought it up first.

I brought it up first. Your lineup, you've got William Contreras, Vinnie Pasquantino, Matt McLean, Alex Bregman, Trey Turner, Kyle Tucker, Stephen Kwan, Wyatt Langford, and Jung Hu Lee. Your starters, Zach Eflin, Aaron Nola, Christian Javier, Zach Gallen, Christian, Christopher Sanchez, and on the bench, Garrett Cole, Luis Havrino, Eric Fetty. What is next?

I don't know. And what's going to be Tyler Wells? Ha! Um, do I want to take him? Do I want to take another injured pitcher? Do it. Elbow responding well is the latest report on Kyle Bradish from earlier today. If you can't have Tyler Wells guy, you might as well take Kyle Bradish.

I'm going to take Kyle Bradish and have two players to pick up at the start of the season as I put Bradish and Cole in my IL spots. Just aim it for upside here, trusting that the waiver wire will be plentiful all season long. and, you know, it may not work out for either, obviously. I think Bradish is more concerning since it is UCL issues. But we've seen pitchers, Zach Gallen, for instance, a couple years ago, overcome that, come back from it without needing surgery and still not needing surgery. And I'm hopeful Bradish is on that path for the Orioles.

Obviously, this is an extreme discount if he is. Was your plan to take both of them, Scott, to take Tyler Wells first and then Bradish, have you made it back? I might have. I might have. I don't know that I thought that far ahead. Okay. But they were both high in my cue. After Kyle Bradish, Kerry Carpenter, someone who I wrote up in Breakouts 2.0, it looked really good last year. I hope he hits well enough against Rydies to earn everyday playing time with the Tigers. Next up, you say Kikuchi to Chris, then Kyle Gibson, Dean Kramer.

And Chris Kikuchi last year, I mean, you highlighted the numbers, I think, over his final, 15 or 20 starts. He was really, really good. He found a pitch mix that works and hopefully he can carry that over here in 2024. Specifically, it was the curveball that he integrated last year over his final 21 starts. I believe it was like 11K per 9, 3.4-ish ERA. So he's constantly tinkering and he's added a change up this spring that he hopes can finish off his arsenal. It's a circle change. he'd had like a splitter before that, but it had never really been a great pitch for him, so he's hoping that can help. And I did notice, you say Kukuchi has only made two starts this spring,

and I started looking into it. Nothing to be concerned about. He has started, I think the way the schedule lined up, they just happened to be playing the Yankees, I think twice when he was scheduled, and he's supposed to face the Yankees in his first start. And so from what I understand,

they just had him pitch on the backlots in those two turns in the rotation. instead of pitching against the Yankees. So no concerns there. I think he's going to make his final spring start on Saturday. And yeah, I like Kukuchi as a, you know, ideally a reserve round pick in either format, but he is on a whole bunch of my teams now.

I think this might be the fifth time I've drafted him. Yep. All right. After Kikuchi, Kyle Gibson, Dean Kramer, Bow Naler, and that's part of the reason why we do say you can wait at catcher in a one-catcher league because, I mean, to get Bo Nailer 250. overall. That's pretty awesome.

Nolan Gorman, the final pick of round 18, a name that both Chris and I like, followed by Kent and Maeda to start off round 19, and Trevor Story, who do like much more in a categories league. I think he's going to go 2020 this year. Batting average, probably going to be not great,

probably in a 230 to 250 range. He's going to strike out. But, you know, if he kind of, if he breaks back out and goes, you know, 20, 20, or 25, 25, I've been encouraged by his spring. I've been encouraged. They've talked about how Trevor's story had timing issues coming back from that elbow injury last year.

And just the pitchers were so far ahead at that point in the season that he just couldn't catch up. And now he's starting on equal terms this spring. And he's having a very good spring. And we know he's going to steal a lot of bases because that was one thing he did last year, even as he was struggling to hit. So I'm, I was a downer on Trevor Story. early in draft prep season. I think I've kind of caught up to where you guys are with him now. All right.

After Trevor's story, Brendan Donovan, Griffin Canning, and Chris, you selected J.D. Martinez. Have we heard anything on J.D. Martinez? I don't think there's been any updates. I think the Mets a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, that was the last about a week ago that there were some reports there. And, you know, apparently there might be some fire there to the smoke, But they also know that they need to save D.H opportunities for Starling Marte to keep him healthy. So I think that's the biggest hang up right now for the Mets.

I think they could certainly use him. I read an article the other day that they're considering, seriously considering using G. Manchoi as their T.H. So they might want to sign J.D. Martinez. There are a lot of teams that could use J.D. Martinez. I don't know. I don't know what the holdup is. I thought about taking him from my bench in this league since he is going so late 221st to Chris. He was 3.31 points per game last year,

which is good. But that was while pacing, his 162 game pace was 47 homers and 148 RBI. He's not going to pace for that again. Yeah, his place this was very bad. Right, right. So I'm not sure. I'm not sure the impact. in this scoring format will be worth giving up the, you know,

first stashing away potentially at the start of the year and then only being able to use them in the utility spot. So that's why I ultimately passed him up. But here, two picks later, so I missed out on Gavin Stone a couple of rounds ago and was upset about it. It was the one time I was sniped in this. Another late spring riser for me at starting pitcher.

Jack Flaherty. Jack is back, baby. What's dead you never die? His last two starts have been scintillating this spring. And his fastball has been averaging what it did. Last time it's been averaging what it is now was 2019, which was the year. He was a young contender.

Don't ask Jack Flaherty about his fastball velocity. He got mad about that last year. He learned that last year. He's apparently come around. And you know what? The Giants, not the Giants, the Tigers pitching coach Chris Feders, I believe his name is.

He's gotten a lot of good pub recently. He seems like he's a. They are throwing like every pitcher on the Tigers is up two miles per hour right now. It's, uh, it's pretty impressive. It's, it's this, this, uh, Jack Flaherty kind of rising late here in spring training. It kind of reminds me of Carlos Rodan a couple years ago, a has been who everybody was kind of out on. But then he was just so electric in spring training that he became a popular like early waiver wire pickup. And went on to have.

He was still with the white socks at a time, but pitched like an ace, basically. So I don't know. Maybe Flaherty can be this year's version of that. Yeah, I've drafted him a few times outside the top 300 in, like, deeper roto leagues. But given how deep we've already gone in the pitching pool here, I think he's a perfectly fine pick there. Chris, I would like to add in addition to your SPARP article. Okay. Garrett Willlock.

Oh, he's going to make the rotation? Yep. I don't know if there's anyone else left. I've always been a Gary Whitlock fan, yeah. Whitlock and Halk have been confirmed for the Red Sox rotation. Halk is interesting, too. I mean, I think it even deeper leagues than this, but Tanner Hout. They're talking about the velocity has been up for him.

And he's always had good swing and miss stuff, but just hasn't really been able to put it together yet. So, yeah, I like Garrett Whitlock this late in a draft, obviously. After that, Reese Hoskins, Ronaldo Lopez, another spark. He will be the fifth starter in the Bravesville. The first pick of round 20 is Clay Holmes. Closer for the Yankees. And we are into the second to last round of the draft.

What do I have left to fill? Yep, my second base spot is open because I've got to wait for Jackson Holiday, so I'll just draft. I'll take a second base with my last pick. You know what? My two picks are remaining, Frank. What two spots I have left to fill? My guess is catcher.

No, no. Pitcher. All right. I forgot you took William Contreras. But yeah, I mean, that's what you typically say you like to do in this format, right? Yeah, if I can help it. Sometimes the values are just so great that I have to. And we got close to that point in this draft, but there was always something I wanted more.

So my last two picks are going to be a relief pitcher. There's some sparks out there I like. There are some closers out there. And there will be closers who go undrafted. Okay, so you just took Garrett Crochet, Frank. I think that's who I would have targeted first as a spark for one of those two relief pitcher spots. that's fine. There are some legitimate closers out there still,

and there always are when there are only two relief pitcher spots to fill, and some of them are filled by Sparps, obviously. After Clay Holmes went, John Gray, and then I took Garry Crochet, who will be the White Sox opening day starter. Life comes at you fast. But speaking of fast, man, Gary Crochet, 99 miles per hour on the fastball. He's got that huge leg kick. He's looked very good in the spring so far.

He's got a wipe out slider. You know, how long will he last this season? How many innings will he be allowed to throw? Those are all very fair questions. I can't imagine he throws more than like 100 innings this year, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. After I took crochet, Paul Skeens, all right, interesting pig. Jacob de Grom stash him on an IL spot.

And Scott, you are up with a relief pitch. Adbert Al's a lie. That's my first choice. Okay, so you're not scared off by the recent reports. there's no set closer in the Cubs bowl. I'm a little uneasy, but if it doesn't work out, I'll swap them out because that's what you can do

in a league where saves are not scarce. Ultimately, I think Craig Counsel's going to go with Albert Alzalae. He was just too good last year and why rock the boat? I don't know why he's playing coy, I guess just to give himself an out. But I expect the first time the Cubs have a save opportunity. It'll be Alzalai coming out for it,

and this will all be water under the bridge soon enough. All right. The Cubs also signed Hector Neris this offseason who pitched very well last year. He does have some closing experience.

So I would say he's probably the biggest threat to Albert Alislai if there is one in that bullpen. Julian Maryweather is pretty good but I would agree. Narris is the threat. Next up, Edward Julian.

And then Chris, you selected Jonathan India. So, okay, I waited to my last round pick to fill my second base spot and you guys sick I wanted to ask. So part of my thought there is he's only second base eligible right now.

The way we know the Reds want to use Jonathan India, he could get like triple or quadruple eligibility. I mean, they want to play him in the outfield, third, first. Yeah. So the other thing is, Scott, I don't know if you're keeping track of such things, but he's got to be one of the highest remaining point per game players from 2023, because Jonathan,

Indian India was actually 3.05 last season which is I've discovered I found one other player

who had a higher points per game than that. But that's pretty high for this part of the draft.

Yeah, it is. Yeah, no, that's a good pick. I didn't, I did not

think about that. And it's not like, you know, a couple weeks ago, playing time would have been a major concern

for Jonathan India. It's not a concern anymore with T.J. Friedel's broken wrist and no LV.

Marte's 80 game suspension. And even what's his name? Luke Rayleigh left no. Luke? Jake Freyley. Jake Fraley, yes. Gosh, yeah.

I didn't see it. Seems like he got his bell wrong. Yeah, it seems like he's okay, but he left. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was a and McLean's got this shoulder thing that doesn't sound too serious as well, but again, life finds a way. It certainly does. After Jonathan India, Ranger Suarez. Ranger Suarez, by the way, we haven't talked about him.

I don't know how real this is. He has not allowed to run this spring. He's looked pretty good. He threw five shutout innings with four strikeouts here again on Tuesday. How many walks, Frank? I don't know. It's a good question. How many did he have?

Like five walks. Did he really? I had something like that. Oh, well, I guess I just looked the other way on the walks. But, yeah, it's not like he's, the velocities up, or there's a new pitch or anything. So that's why I haven't really been too inclined to move Rangers Suarez up. No, it was zero walks in that game. The game before, he had four walks in three and two-thirds innings.

Those two-thirds' innings the spring, though. It's only four walks and 15 innings of spring. It's just that they all came in one start. So that's what I remembered. After Ranger Suarez, Louis Varland, who will be in the Twins rotation on opening day, followed by Henry Davis. All right, pretty. Oh, Chris.

Good pick. Sneaky later on. I keep forgetting. I already have my cat. it's fine. Yep. After Davis, Lance Lynn,

the final pick of round 20. We are into the last round, round 21. Dane Dunning, followed by, there you go. Chris's boy. Cody Bradford.

You got to be tilting right now, Chris. There goes the sparp. I've already got, do I have two sparpes? Yeah, I could have taken a third spark. It's fine.

It is what it is. I debated Crochet versus Lettel, and I see you have Latel ranked higher on your list, Chris. I thought there was a better, chance he would make it back to me than crochet just because crochet's been

in the news a little bit more but and probably in the shaller league it makes sense to aim for the upside anyway yeah I do like Lattel but probably more of like a higher floor pitcher he was solid with the race there are two other sparts

I believe who will be in rotations available I don't think I'm going to take either one because I want to add to my most drafted list Oh, this is the fifth time I'm taking Casey Mize this preseason. Not sure he's going to be in the Tigers rotation still, but he's looked really good. Ooh.

More Chris Fetter's love. Sneaky. Jackson Merrill. Yeah. Final round. All right. He just falls through the cracks a lot. We'll get a look at Jackson Merrill, not we.

Whoever stays up to watch that game in about, I don't know, seven hours from now when we're. live doing this. Chris says he will. I mean, I don't believe it. We're going to try. No problem. If not, they're re-airing the game at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Oh, all right, yeah. Let's do that. That's the coward's way. That sounds much better. I want to take Tanner Scott as my second reliever. He's the highest ranked. No way. Nobody wants Tanner Scott. No.

I mean, he's probably the closer, but who knows? Yeah. He knows for how long. Well, he'll probably come out and just like dominate everybody for all the walks he's had this spring. I'm going to play it a little safer and take Robert Suarez. That's your guy. Yep. Don't get the advantage of any saves he gets in the Korea series because we're not counting those games for this league.

No, we are not. But I think it's pretty clear he's the Padres closer and could be pretty good. And my last pick, I need a second baseman to fill in until I get Jackson Holiday. So Tyro Oshrata, come on down. Not really good. Not that great in a points league, but he'll suffice for the first week or two. Between our picks, there was Mason Miller and Clark Schmidt. Mason Miller, a zero ERA this spring.

I don't care what they say. Like, he's going to close games. I don't care. I'm calling my shot. Maybe it's not really that bold, but. Problem? him. He's SP only.

Reverse spark. Right. He's a relief pitcher who you can only start at starting pitcher. And so how long... And the entity is closing. He's got to make 10 appearances to get relief pitcher eligibility. You're probably not going to want to use him in a starting pitcher spot. Yeah, that's fair.

I'm not going to say you absolutely won't. Is it 10 appearances in season? Yes. Five appearances. Five starts to gain starting pitcher eligibility, 10 relief appearances to gain relief pitcher eligibility. All right. Here we are.

That might not be until... sometime in May. Yeah, that's tough. Yeah, that's a really good point. How do you consider that, yeah? Final two picks of the draft, Matt Manning. We mentioned the Tigers, pitchers, all their velocity is up. Matt Manning is part of that.

And then Mr. Irrelevant, who might be relevant? Trevor Rogers. Trevor Rogers of the Marlins, who's been getting some whiffs this spring as well. And there we go. First Listener League, in the books, 12 team had to add points. And let's take a look. It's kind of amazing that then the shallow league of ours, as we Matt Manning and Clark Schmidt get drafted.

We just go so deep into the starting. Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I have 11 pitchers on my roster. My entire bench. Yeah. Yeah, I've got one hitter on my bench. So yeah, that's kind of the reality of these leagues. We probably go,

and especially with how few relievers get drafted, maybe 20 true relievers got drafted. So we're probably talking 100 starting pitchers getting drafted in this league, if not more. Yeah, I've, I've only got one hitter on my bench, and that's Jackson Holiday, just because I have to wait for that eligibility.

Let's recap our teams real quick, and we'll start from the front to the back. And Chris, you're up first. We're drafting fifth overall. Your hitters, Mitch Garver, Christian Encarnacion Strand, Marcus Semyon, Royce, Bo Bichette, Nolan Jones, Fernando Tatis,

Randy Roserena, and Jonathan India. I know you took Corbyn Burns in the second round, but a lot of your early round picks were hitters, how do you think the offense turned up? I think it's really good. I believe I went like 10 of my

first 11 picks, or no, probably not that many. Probably eight of my first nine picks were hitters. So yeah, I feel pretty good about my offense, obviously. Yep. And go ahead. I do feel like

you went the opposite, like when I was talking about leaning into the format and taking players that are tailored for the format. I kind of think you went the opposite direction, maybe taking values from players who aren't so. Specifically, I'm thinking Bo Bichette and Christian Incarnassian Strand, neither of whom really excels in this format, to a certain degree, like Fernando Tattis doesn't,

but he's Fernando Tattice. He might score 600 points either way. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, that's one observation I have. I think the biggest thing is I'm more of a Bichette believer than Scott for sure and I think then Frank as well I think there's going to be a bounce back

he's had a really good spring his average XIVa velocity actually he was I think he's like had the most batted balls tracked by Stackass and I think his average X velocity is like 92 miles an hour so that's been very good for him and I just I expect better

from the Blue Jays I think they're all disappointed they know what they did last year and they know they have to be better so I think the counting stats will be better I think a bounce back to 2022 levels when he was 470 points. That's pretty much what I'm expecting. It's kind of what you're hoping for, yeah. Just to put it all out there,

2.90 points is what Bo Bichette had, which was less than Brandon Nimmo. Yeah, he was not good to name one player. Yeah, so just, you know, keep that in mind if you're drafting in a points league, Bo Bichette, you want to fade him a little bit. There's a point where he's a value, obviously, for the upside. And he was much better before he got hurt last year too.

So obviously worth mentioning that with Bob's here. And I got him 44th overall. It's not a screaming value, but I think it's okay. Your starting pitchers, Chris, you got Corbyn Burns, Chris Bassett, Chris Sale, Hunter Green, Reed Detmer's, your relievers. You got the Sparps, A.J. Puck and Michael King. And on the bench, Justin Verlander to stash, one of three IL spots. Jordan Montgomery, waiting for him to sign, Casey Mize, and Yusei Kekuchi.

So you got that ace and then you waited a little bit. You also got some really good sparse. How do you feel about the pitching staff? I think I'd feel better about it if I had one more spark and I might go try to get Shamaniah or one of those guys when I can put Justin Verlander on my aisle. So, you know, we'll see. I think, yeah, I think it works better if I have a third spark to slot in there.

I probably should have gone with a garret crochet or someone like that instead of you say Kikuchi. But if Jordan Montgomery and Justin Verlander are pitching by May, I'm going to have a lot of good options. So I think it'll work out. I feel very good about this team top to bottom. It just requires a couple of assumptions for sure. Yeah, by May, that pitching staff could be Burns, Sell, Bassett, Montgomery, and Furlander.

That could be really good. Yep, could work out. Let's take a look at Scott's team. He was drafting seventh overall. And the offense first, William Contreras, Vinny Pass Guantino, Matt McLean, Alex Bregman, Trey Turner, Kyle Tucker, Stephen Kwan, Wyatt Langford. You were the lucky one, Scott. And Jung Hoo Lee as your utility hitter. Yeah, I mean, you have guys that obviously stand out in this format.

And then you got Wyatt Langford. You got the big prospect hype. How do you feel? I like it. I think I think the I think I I think I went pretty high end at most of the spots first base

third outfielder and utility would be the exceptions but in each of those spots I got what I feel like is going to be a standout in this format specifically because of the strikeout rate Vinie Pasquantino at first base Stephen Kwan is my third outfielder Junkoo Lee as my utility so I I really like it

I don't think Kyle Tucker and Trey Turner were the were as good of a first and second round pick as I hope for in a points league they're just they're fine where I took them you know I just

I wish I got like a like a monster like a you know like I wish Matt Olson fell to me in round two or I got like Freddie Freeman in round one or something like that I had to accept what was given to me picking seventh overall

so it's not like I botched those picks I just wish my first two hitters were a little higher end for this format, but they're fine. The thing to remind yourself of with Kyle Tucker, though, is he spent almost all of last season batting, I think fourth, primarily fifth in the Astros lineup, and he's going to bat third this year. So that's one thing to remind yourself of is there's going to be a little more volume there. And even if he's just the same guy he was last year, you know, you could see an extra 5% just because he's hitting higher in the lineup. And, you know, 3.81 points per game is what he had. That's first round caliber that's better than Bobby Witt and Julio. Yeah, he almost got to 600 points.

Rodriguez, but, you know, he wasn't moogie bats. He wasn't Freddie Free. I just, you know, that's kind of the nature of picking seventh. I did want to clarify on Kyle Tucker. Chris, I know you mentioned he's going to bat third. I think Joe Espada said earlier that Yoron Alvarez will bat second and then Bregman's going to bat third. So I have that left right left. But still, I mean, he's going to be top four.

I think he was still batting fifth or even six, like earlier in the season last year, and then he moved up. So the fact that he's just locked into batting cleanup, we don't have to worry about that, and the counting stats and played appearances should still be great for Kyle Tucker. The pitching staff, Scott,

you went with Zach Gallin, Zach Eflin, and Aaron Nola, three of your first six-round picks, and then the rest of your pitchers, Christian Javier, Christopher Sanchez, the relievers, Adbert Alzely, Robert Suarez. On the bench,

Garrett Cole, Luis Severino, Jack Flaredi, Eric Fetty and Kyle Bradish. We have three IL spots in this league. Two of them will be occupied with Cole and Braddish. I assume you're going to pick up some hitters. Probably not. Okay.

Not unless somebody is hurt. I try to keep as few hitters on my bench as possible. If I ever have more than one hitter on my bench, I feel like it's a problem in a points league. Okay. It's because I want to maximize two start weeks. So, you know, I don't know offhand what pitchers are out there, but when I put

Garrett Cole and Kyle Bradish on my IL, I'm not saying I absolutely won't pick up a hitter, but it's not like for sure the thing I'm going to do. We'll see if Jung-Hul-Lee is healthy for the start of the season, for instance. So, you know, obviously there's no complaints about Zach Gallin, Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin, one, two, three. It's just four and beyond.

I wish I had a better looking four and five. It's kind of a high-low build at starting pitcher. And like I said at the, you know, early on in the draft, a podcast to go if you're listening to it that way. This is the more forgiving format for starting pitchers is if you're maximizing volume, they don't have to be that studly. And they can have suspect ERAs and whips if they're giving you innings. It'll be fine.

It'll be fine as long as your offense is good enough. So I went with, I went into this build with that in mind. I wasn't necessarily aiming to get three starting pitchers with my first six picks. I think the fact my four through 11 are a little lower and then I'd like is made up for by the fact that my one through three are higher and then I would have aimed for. So I feel okay about the pitching end too.

All right. Let's slide over my team. I was drafting 10th in this one. And I've got Wilson Contreras, a catcher, followed by Bryce Harper. Please stay healthy or please be healthy. Second baseman Tyro Estrada until Jackson Holiday is ready to go, gains that eligibility. Max Muncie, O'Neill Cruz, Ian Hap, Yordon Alvarez, Seyoszuki, Marcel Ozuna. So it feels like it's missing an elite player or two.

I took Yordan and Harper to start and then pitchers in rounds three and four. So that's why, I mean, I passed on some hitters early on in this draft. But I still think I wound up with guys that excel in this format, and I've got some breakout options in Sayas Suzuki and O'Neil Cruz. so overall, I feel pretty good about it. What do you guys think? Yeah, I think the hitters for not having invested a ton in it, I think is overall pretty good. You know, you're betting on an O'Neill Cruz breakout because that's if he's who he was as a rookie,

he's probably a pretty fringe starter. Although he could be like a 400 point guy if he's just who he was as a rookie. so I guess that's okay. But the lineup looks a lot better if he takes the big step forward that we're all hoping and expecting from him. I think he'll probably be looking to upgrade at second base as soon as you can

with Tyro Estrada there, 2.76 points per game when most everyone else has a 2.9 or better second baseman. Scott, Jackson Holiday. Right, right. Okay, there you go. You got one built into your roster already. So that works out.

You just need Estrada. hold you over for the first week. Yeah, believe me, Tyro Estrada, if that was the only plan, I would not be happy with that. What I was building up to is even if you didn't have Jackson Holiday already, there are only 12 second basement started in this league. So there's a good chance.

One is going to emerge on the waiver wire soon enough for you to take advantage and make the switch there. My pitching staff, I hope it looks better because I took pitchers in rounds three and four. I've got George Kirby, Logan Webb, Freddie Peralta, Bailey, Ober, and Aaron Savali. my relievers, Craig Kimbrel and Garrett Whitlock as a spark on the bench. I've got Walker Bueller, who I will stash in the IL.

I've got two more sparps with Garrett Crochet. Whoops, I lied just one, Garrett Crochet. And then Tyler Wells and Brandon Fott. So Tyler Wells, you know, I think will be fine as long as Kyle Bradish is out. And I think he's a good pitcher to mix in with some of these injury stashes. And so I got Walker Bueller. And I think it's fine. You know, I got three of my top 30.

that's what I'm aiming to do. I got a breakout candidate in Bailey Ober. Savali has sleeper appeal. So, yeah, I feel pretty good about this as well. Any objections? Freddie Peralta was your number three, right? Yes, I think I took him in round six. Because I'm lower on Freddie Peralta.

I have him as a bust anyway, but he's also not great in this format. Career high is like 422 fantasy points. That's probably okay as a number of, number three starting pitcher, but probably even fits in more as a number four, honestly. Would you have taken Zach Eflin over him, Chris? Yes, I like Zach Eflin more personally. Yeah, I mean, on a per game basis last year, I would, he's lower in points leagues,

is Freddie Peralta, because it's mostly strikeouts where he excels. Those get deflated in a points league. He just doesn't, he doesn't pitch deep. Right, right. But he was still. 14.1 points per game last year. That was better than Jesus Lazzardo, better than Sunny Gray,

who was Cy Young Runner Up. I think at worst, Freddie Peralta is the number three. I wouldn't say, he's not a number two like he is in categories leagues, but I wouldn't say he's a number four. Okay. Yeah, you know,

in the third round, I kind of got backed into a corner, taking George Kirby. Luis Castillo went one pick before. I had Freddie Peralta cued up at the point you took him. I don't think there was anything wrong with that. Yeah, I was just with that third round pick. Castillo went just before and then Vlad Jr. was at the top of my board,

but I already had Bryce Harper. And I'm happy I passed on it because I got Marcel Lozuna what I thought had a pretty good value later on. So I think it worked out. But we'll see. We'll play it out and we'll let everyone know what happens because again, this is our listener league. And so hopefully, you know, I'm rooting.

If it's not me who wins, I'm rooting for Chris. because then it would be each of us have won the league three years in a row. I won it in 22. Scott won it last year. Chris is your year.

So we'll see. All right. We'll do it. We'll do it. All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank.

Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.